Frustrating weekend

On Friday, I read an article about the Port of Seattle again delaying the purchase of the Eastside Rail corridor. Because they didn't think it was a good time to go begging to Wall Street for $107 Million. Because there were not 107 millionaires willing to buy the bonds, because they're all trying to find secure places for their money. Rich people are stupid. Hello, Tay! Over here!!! Instead of looking for 107 rich silver spoons, how about asking if King County has a million people who would be willing to buy a bond for $107? We've already expressed interest in helping, you just need to make the municipal bonds available at denominations we can afford! Unthinkable?

Next was all of the hype about how unfair it is to tax AIG bonuses at 90%. Because it's targeting just those people. The Republicans are right, that is unfair. So let's make it fair. Let's tax EVERYONE who makes more than $3.5 million a year at 90% for every dollar earned above $3,500,000. Would that make it fair?

And then this article in the Boston Globe about millionaire audits taking a dive in 2008. What, you thought they would increase in an election year?

Frustrating weekend, news-wise. But, I got to speak to my sons twice! That's the kind of bonus I like.

Letter to Verdeim Software

Re: Edison PC Power Management Software

I installed Edison a few weeks ago, and found that I actually didn't need it, although thank you for helping me find the Power Options through the Control Panel.

I uninstalled the Edison software from Add/Remove programs, but it refuses to go away. I can go into the Power Controls and delete the Edison Power scheme, but when I reboot the computer, it reappears.

This is a problem because I am unable to control my computers power use at all now. When I walk away from the system for more than 10 minutes, it goes into a Stand By mode where the CD-Rom light, Hard Drive light and power light are continuously on, and I an unable to wake up the system through the keyboard or the mouse. I have to hold the power button down for about 6 seconds, and do a hard reset of my system, which causes me to lose anything that I am working on.

So, uninstalling did not work. The other option is to go into the Registry and clean it up so that the Edison power scheme stops reappearing in the Power Option Properties. Can I get help finding that in the Registry and getting rid of this problem once and for all?

---

Note to anyone reading. I don't recommend Edison PC Power Management. Just take control of how your system works through Power Options via the Control Panel.

About expanding Convention Place Station

I sat in a meeting of the House Committee on Community & Economic Development & Trade, and heard my own Rep. Scott White testifying about a bill he is sponsoring seeking to allow the construction of an expansion of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center on top of the transit center at Convention Place Station. Along with Rep. White, the CEO of the Trade center, a representative from the City of Seattle, and a union representative spoke in favor of the bill. I heard from the CEO that this project would employ 3,000 people during the construction, with further gains in long term employment thanks to the jobs created by the expanded convention center. There was another project mentioned that I wanted to look up, a hotel at the location of the Greyhound building downtown. Another potential 3,000 jobs plus long term employment for the hotel staff.

The Seattle Times wrote about the expansion project here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008453960_conventioncenter01m.html

The article says that it might compete with financing for a potential expansion of Key Arena. It will be interesting to see which of these projects gets the most attention.

On Sir Edmund Burke

A mailing list post got me searching for information about a State Income Tax, and I found that Senator Franklin has introduced SB 5104, creating an Income Tax. Of course, I found this through the conservative bill tracking service, WashingtonVotes.org.

And I got into it with some of the posters who were whining about spending, etc. Same argument as ever. Until I saw this comment from "glhadley":

What we really need are term limits and a restriction on voting to those who actually pay more taxes than they game the system for. If we could remove from the voting rolls, those who are simply voting for people who promise the most, we could really have a non-self-destructive society.

My answer was that he sounded like Edmund Burke:

The occupation of a hair-dresser, or of a working tallow-
chandler, cannot be a matter of honour to any person —
to say nothing of a number of other more servile em-
ployments. Such descriptions of men ought not to
suffer oppression from the state ; but the state suffers
oppression, if such as they, either individually or collec-
tively, are permitted to rule.

I found this quote on Archive.org, and it got me reading a bit more. Burke goes onto quote Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 38, which I think he completely misunderstood. It talks about honoring labor, and that in spite of the fact that people who do hard work are rarely consulted in political matters 2,000+ years ago, they "they will maintain the state of the world, and all their desire is in the work of their craft."

Burke thought that the ancients were saying that the workers "should not" be consulted in politics. I read the passage as cynical lore, saying that even if they are not consulted, they maintain the foundations of our lives, and should be honored for it.

What do you think?

Answering the Cato Institute's NYTimes Ad

I'd rather have the government hire someone as a last resort for 40K per year than give a $100,000 tax cut to someone else and have the person who needs that 40K go begging for a job. Kind of rough, but if you look at the proposal that Bush put out in the 2000 election, giving a 500 Billion Dollar Tax Cut in order to "create 5 million jobs", that's what he was saying. If I need capital to start a business, I don't go to a rich friend, I go to a bank. (I don't have any rich friends, and don't really want any.) If my business idea has merit and if I can sell the idea that I would be able to earn money from it, the bank gives me a loan that I have to pay back. But even more important than that, I don't need financial capital to start a business, I just need demand for my product or service. Without that demand, I'll stay working for someone else.

If it were true that giving tax breaks and more financial capital to people at the top of the income ladder created more jobs, then wouldn't it also follow that giving ALL of our financial capital to THE richest person in the world would create the MOST jobs? That's what I call failed logic.

It IS true that by giving more money to people who will spend most of their income increases demand for products and services. It does NOT follow that giving all of our financial capital to everyone equally would create paradise. But at least people would be able to eat, live in a house, go to a doctor and send their kids to good schools.

The Brookings Institute is here: http://www.brookings.edu/

The Cato Institute is here: http://www.cato.org/

Conservative Economics, also called "Supply Side" economics, has failed. It failed in the 1920's and created the Great Depression. It failed in 1981 and created the Recession of the early '80's, but Congress didn't have the guts to reverse the tax cuts. Those policies started being reversed in 1993, but the 1994 election (thanks to the broadcasts and illusions cast by people from the CATO Institute and other groups like them) stopped it. Now we might have another chance to fix the mess, put regulation back to work trying to protect our country against fraud and abuse. But I would expect that Congress still won't have the guts to restore the top marginal tax rates to what they should be. If we don't do that, then the fraud and abuse will be coming from the people with the most finanical capital, able to buy and sell elected offices.

If "supply side" were true, then retailers would want to maximize inventory so they have whatever their customers want to buy. Retailers instead try to keep inventory to a minimum, because inventory is a cost, and unsold inventory is a loss. Would you rather have a few people who can afford multi-million dollar homes, or a LOT of people who can afford homes that they can be proud of?

The role of government is to establish and maintain a foundation for the private sector to build on. Without that foundation, everything falls apart. Physical, financial, social and legal foundations are what make our country as great as it is. Selling off that infrastructure in bits and pieces so that private corporations can make money off selling services for higher prices than should be charged for basic needs like water, electricity and other elements of the commons is the best way to destroy that foundation. That's what we've seen happen over the last 8 years, and for the 20 years before that.

Dear President Obama

Let me make this perfectly clear.

Raise my G-d Damned Taxes!!!

You read that right. You can get another take at Danny Westneat's column today. We don't need tax cuts. We need jobs. We don't need rebates. We need infrastructure.

Please drop ALL of the tax cuts from the Recovery package. Tax cuts will not boost the economy. Sorry, but they won't. What we need is more opportunity to get a better paying job, not a chance to save big.

Reverse the Bush Tax Cuts. Reverse the Reagan Tax Cuts. Put corporate taxes and capital gains taxes on the same tax rate scale as income taxes.

Balance the scales, pay OFF the debt, and get this country moving again. Everyone knows that capital from the top is toxic. Capital at the bottom is a foundation. Give people jobs and pride, not tax cuts and shame.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

Balance the budget

Letter sent to Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA-07)

Dear Rep. McDermott,

Please do whatever you have to do to make the 2010 budget a Balanced Budget. Raise taxes however you need to, on everyone. Reverse the Reagan tax cuts. Equalize the tax brackets among all sources of income.

We must take control of the Federal Budget, and it must be balanced. There is no other option.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

I just turned off my wireless router at home

http://www.naturalnews.com/025181.html

I also noticed this one:

Cell Phones May be Wiping out Bees and Affecting Health of Humans

http://www.naturalnews.com/024524.html

So, let me remind everyone of a specific advertising campaign:

http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/08/att-more-bars-i.html

The human race is committing suicide. There's no other way to say it. I think we should stop. What do you think?

Уважаемые русского народа

Dear Russian People,

This is not a game. The Cold War ended in 1991. We are no longer rivals. Our world is in danger. We must solve these problems together.

Это не игра. Холодная война закончилась в 1991 году. Мы не враги. Наш мир находится в опасности. Мы должны решать эти проблемы сообща.

I do not know why our leaders still argue with each other. And it no longer matters. We have the Internet. We have Google Translate. We can talk to each other. We can learn from each other. We can help each other. There should be no walls between us.

Я не знаю, почему наши руководители все еще спорят друг с другом. И это уже не вопрос. У нас есть Интернет. Мы Google Translate. Мы можем говорить друг с другом. Мы можем учиться друг у друга. Мы можем помогать друг другу. Там должно быть никакой стены между нами.

There is something you can do. It is something that we had to learn to do again. Talk to your neighbors about the future. Put aside your fear. Make your democracy work for you.

Существует то, что вы можете сделать. Это то, что мы должны были научиться делать снова. Поговорите со своим соседям о будущем. Существует больше ничего бояться. Сделайте вашу демократию работа для вас.

Re: Rev. Rick Warren's Speech

I'm starting to rethink the Warren thing. At first it didn't really bother me too much. I'm honestly interested in listening to his speech to see what he says to the Evangelicals around the country about the change that is coming. But then I saw the Facebook group against the speech.

I'm starting to see that this 2 minute speech is the first opportunity for people who feel strongly about a progressive cause to rally together and stand up against something that Obama is doing that people feel is not in the nations best interest. And it seems to be the first appointment, granted just for 2 minutes on that day, that people are organizing to stop.

DFA's mantra is "power to the people", right? I've seen complaints and objections raised to several of Obama's cabinet picks, but no organized movement has started to lobby against them. If Rick Warren's appointment does nothing else, it will help people understand that the power is still in their hands if we can get enough people to stand up and say no to this. Even if we can't get the President-Elect to pull back the invitation, "turning our backs on bigotry" at the event itself will be a strong message to the inside the beltway crowd that we don't have to, and won't, put up with Right-Wing nonsense any longer.

The speech Rev. Warren gives may be 2 minutes long. Our ability to organize around our own objections to this appointment may result in something much longer lasting.

Stand on two feet

One of the frustrations that I've had over the last 4 years has been the attitude that the membership door is a one way valve. That if you're not doing what the party organization is doing that you're not really helping the Party. That if you're not attending the meetings, you're not really a Democrat. It goes to the perception that the "Democratic Party" is a election machine, and nothing else. That perception is not held by people on the inside, but it is often what we hear from people who feel like they are on the outside.

I want the Democratic Party to be able to say that we support Democracy. Democracy stands on two feet. The first is political, and we have responsibilities as an organization to fulfill our responsibilities to provide a place for candidates and campaigns to get endorsements and report their successes and needs, as well as a responsibility to provide a way for our members to get access to our elected officials.

But the other "foot" is economic. Job security, economic security, etc. That's what we're all striving for, and any organization that ignores this for political posturing is not going to be a strong organization for long. We've started over the last 5 years to regain a picture of what we lost in the 1990's when the party in King County started focusing on finding candidates instead of recovering the support of the voters, but we haven't regained it yet. I think we can, and I want to empower people with ideas so we might get closer to that.

Meetings are twice a month for the executive board, and once a month for members who don't want to attend the eboard meetings. 2-4 hours isn't enough time to get anything done, but it is enough time to talk about and report on what we do outside the meetings. Let's turn the Democrats back into a Community Organization, rather than just an Electoral Machine.

digital frustrations

Shockwave keeps crashing, AVG takes forever, and Gmail has been super super slow over the last week. GRRRRR!!!

A day in the life of a digitalholic, I guess.

Dear President-Elect, on Water

Dear President-Elect Obama,

I hope that our national and local water systems that draw from natural sources, provide the water for our homes and businesses, and process the waste water and sewer systems so we can return that water back to nature in the same or better condition than how we received it will be on your priority list for the infrastructure improvements and investments being considered. So many people in our country take water for granted, and I don't think we can afford to do that any longer. We must recognize that our future depends on linking our residential, industrial and commercial systems into the natural systems that we depend on for survival.

Appointing someone within the Interior Department as the Deputy Secretary for Water would be a huge step in the right direction. This position could coordinate Federal regulations and laws to push state and local governments towards sustainability. Our growth management standards must reflect reality, not just draining aquifers until we turn land into deserts.

I look forward to hearing other ideas on this important topic from within the administration.

Email thread on Gun Control

Why should it require the ability to kill someone else for us to feel safe in our own homes? Why not give people jobs so they don't have to steal to get what they want?

As far as the lack of law enforcement, how much of the budget of your local police department is now under threat because of the loss of tax revenue? Do you believe that taxes should be increased so that we have police officers walking the street to prevent crime instead of simply recording it after it happens? So do I.

I don't need a gun to protect my property. I need a society where people don't feel the need to steal. Crime has gone up over the last decade because of the loss of employment opportunities and the erosion of our social and legal foundations. What I have worked for throughout my life is for security. I personally feel like having a weapon in my house would make me less secure. If a gun is registered to me, there would always be the threat of having that gun stolen and used in another crime. I don't want that to happen. I feel safer not having a handgun, and I don't need or enjoy hunting. I'm a good shot with a rifle, but only at a shooting range. I actually enjoy archery more.

Country, Firearm Homicide rate per 100,000 people vs. overall Homicide rate per 100,000

Source: Wikipedia

Canada, 0.54 vs. 1.58
England & Wales, 0.12 vs. 1.57
Australia, 0.31 vs. 1.57
United States, 2.97 vs. 7.52

Which of these four countries is statistically safer for us to live in?

Violent crime does not depend on guns. Violent crime depends on criminals who don't care what the consequences of their actions are. That's not going to be changed by giving everyone the ability to kill their neighbors. It will be changed by giving people the ability to employ their neighbors and/or to find employment themselves so they can support themselves and their families, feel secure about their future, and live the American Dream.

I served 6 years in the US Navy, defending the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I consider the fear that people have of other members of our own community to be the greatest enemy we have or will ever face.

Darold Stenson

Dear Gov. Gregoire,

To take a life is evil. To repeat such evil is to condone that evil. I oppose the death penalty on that principle. I am willing to pay the taxes necessary to give Darold Stenson his life. I do not believe that the end justifies the means. By showing compassion, we would show the world that the means become the end.

Please grant Darold Stenson a chance to teach us how to prevent such crimes in the future, instead of ending a life.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

Can we please stand for something?

In a conversation last night about the upcoming Elections Director election on February 3rd, I made the mistake of bringing up the platform of the King County Democrats as being important for getting the support of the County machine. I was told "the platform doesn't matter, we just have to win this one."

I'm tired of the Democratic Party being considered by people on the inside and the outside as being an electoral machine. Just throw them a bone now and then, and let them do the work of the campaign season.

Here's that bone back. BONK!

Winning elections is a positive result of effective organizing. Organizing people for a political campaign requires that the people working on that campaign know what the candidate stands for, and supports their vision strong enough to distract them from their lives enough to help with an election. The alternative, which seems to have been the standard for the last 20 years, is to get lots of money and hire people who know enough about election machines to win the election. Oh, and who can come up with some bones every now and again.

I'm tired of those kinds of candidates winning elections and pushing legislation and executive decisions that make me want to scream.

When filing is over on December 12th, I hope that the King County Dems will organize a candidate forum, inviting every single candidate. The first part of the event should be a presentation of what the party platform says about elections, as it applies to this new King County Elections Director. Then we hear from the candidates, and find out what they stand for. Then we open it up to questions from people who want to join a campaign that stands for what they want. Then we build the campaigns of the candidate that we support, and at the reorganization meetings we hold endorsements votes. Then we build the campaign some more.

Then we win.

We can weather failure

"I have this great idea that will get people engaged, educated and empowered! If I just build this brand new website, or conduct this training that I've been trained myself to give, then everything will come together and we'll be on our way into a brand new world!"

Ever heard this? Ever said this? I have. And I've been left holding the bag, or the website, or the bill for the meeting location when 5 people showed up for a place capable of handling 150. It hurts. And it's left me with an understanding of what it takes to build a movement, sustain a movement, and succeed at something with a movement. I'd like to give everyone that chance to learn, and give our district, our party and our country a chance to succeed.

If you have an idea, and I'm talking mostly to North Seattle mostly but it applies to anyone anywhere, and you think you can make something work, conduct a training, hold an event, or whatever, ask me. If I like your idea, if you can sell your idea, I'll support it however I can. Because we can weather failure. We can learn from mistakes and do things better next time. We can do that.

What we can't do, and shouldn't do, is not try things. We can't waste energy, but we shouldn't be afraid to invest with risk if the payoff might be good.

Dear President-Elect Obama,

I am reading news articles saying that President George Bush's administration will be able to escape any and all investigations into what they have been doing over the past 8 years. I believe this is the wrong signal.

The only way to move into a future filled with hope and promise is if we learn the lessons of the past and take steps to ensure that the mistakes and the abuse cannot be repeated by future administrations. If crimes have been committed, they need to be investigated and the criminals brought to justice. That is a foundation of our laws and moral code.

Turning the page does not mean covering up the past with paperwork. I worked hard over the last 12 months to elect a leader who would fulfill my hopes for the future. And part of those hopes depended on holding the current administration accountable for the erosion of our foundations. Legal, Social, Financial and Physical, all aspects of our national foundation need to be secured for future generations.

Please. Let Congress fulfill their duty to the American People. Let the investigations continue, and let Justice roll down the mountain like a mighty river.

It's a new day!

Activism is defined as finding an answer to three questions. "What decision is being made", "who is making that decision", and "how can I influence that decision". Frequently in political circles, those questions are directed towards legislative, executive or judicial decisions. For a political organization, our focus becomes the voters that we are trying to influence to support our candidates, our campaigns, and our positions on important issues. Between election cycles, we pay close attention to our elected officials and the bills that they are considering and debating. It's easy to get lost in the effort of supporting this policy, that bill, or that court case. It's easy to get totally focused on an election season or specific campaign, which many of us can relate to from the experience of the last two years or for some of us even longer.

It's sometimes harder to keep our attention on the real reason we are making the effort, and the reason that those efforts are worthwhile. I'd like to have us keep in our minds a different level of activism. Community activism can still be defined as finding an answer to the questions above. But the focus is different. When we work on community activism, we make contact with people who are trying to decide whether they should buy a gallon of milk, or a gallon of gas. We talk to people who are deciding whether to save for retirement, or save for their children's education. We work to help people worried about whether to pay their medical bill or their mortgage. People are making those choices in our community right now, from the person riding next to you on the bus to the person working next to you all day long. Your friends may be facing hard times, and even your own family may be affected. So how can we influence those decisions? By getting, and by staying, active.

What our Democratic Party organizations are focused on are kitchen table issues. We want to influence the development of policy, legislation and our courts so that people making the really hard decisions about their lives get a little more confidence that they can make those decisions with a sense of their community at their back, instead of feeling like their lives are a burden on their back.

2008 was a transformative election year. But the work goes on. As we begin to focus on local city and county races, as we pay close attention to the upcoming legislative session in Olympia and Washington D.C., as well as the ongoing debates about policy and municipal legislation that affect our ports, our cities, our schools and our trees, let us keep our focus on our community, making those daily decisions a little easier for ourselves and the people around us so that we can walk into the future together.

It's a new day. Let's make it a great one.

Click. Watch. Awaken.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

I'll probably get called a conspiracy theory nut for posting this. I don't much care. There is truth behind this, even if the details are skewed by bias.