Fixing our monetary system

Our current monetary system has three major flaws. What we have to do is find a way to manage these flaws.

The first problem is Fiat Currency. We need currency based on something tangible, not just promises to pay. But we can't go back to the gold standard, and the suggestion of sunshine that I saw in an earlier comment wouldn't work because it would give equatorial regions an advantage. My idea would be a currency based on carbon. Not carbon credits, but actual carbon pulled out of the atmosphere and stored in bulk. It's physical and measurable.

The second problem is Fractional Reserve Banking, where banks only have to maintain a fraction of their deposits in the central bank in order to give out loans. This is simply a matter of law. In the 1930's, with the bank reforms pushed through by FDR, the reserve requirement was pushed up. The higher the reserve requirement, the less money the private banks could just invent out of nowhere. This helped keep inflation under control, but I don't think it ever got above 26% in the US. It's much higher in some other countries.

The third problem is Compound Interest, where we pay interest upon interest upon interest again and again and again. I recently got a debt consolidation loan that had a fixed rate, without any compounding. It's wonderful. I think all loans and credit cards should be like that. Need a loan for 10K at 10%, you'll pay $1K in interest for a total of $11,000. That's it. This could be required by law.

The banks would fight these changes tooth and nail every step of the way, but if we made changes like these it would bring our monetary system to heel and make it a servant of the people instead of our money being our master and us being the slaves.

From Washington State Democrats, how to help Oso

Like you, we are stunned and devastated by the destruction caused by the Oso mudslide.

We’ve already lost over a dozen Washingtonians. With many still missing, this could be one of the deadliest natural disasters in state history.

We wanted to let you know about one way you can help. Donate to the Red Cross today at this link. All proceeds made through this link will go directly to the relief effort.

When one community in our state is hurt, it hurts us all. Our hearts are breaking for the victims taken by this disaster, their families, and all those affected.

With tragedies like this, heroes emerge. We learn about the strength in our communities that we didn’t know was there.

We thank and honor the first responders, relief organizations, civic and government leaders, volunteers, and all those who are working day and night to help those affected.

It’s hard not to feel powerless at times like this. But a donation to help the relief effort is one way that we can do our part.

In solidarity,

Jaxon Ravens
Washington State Democrats Chair

Learn more about the ACA (Obamacare) at Planned Parenthood!

Want to learn more about the Affordable Care Act?  One of the best places to go (in my humble opinion) {Wait, have I ever had a "humble" opinion?} is Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest.  They have twelve ACA In Person Assisters (ACA-IPA) {Sounds like a beer from Elysian}, and they are in PPGNW clinics in the following cities:
Centralia, Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville, Olympia, Port Angeles, Puyallup, Shelton and Tacoma.

In addition, clinics in King County are looking for a few good volunteers {Interviews in progress} to provide assistance to people looking for more information.  It's an unfunded contract, but if you're interested in helping people that's a great place to go!  And they will be there until coverage begins in January, at least.

Here's a web page to learn more:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ppgnw/affordable-care-act-41851.htm

And here's a paragraph from that page that applies:

"If you are interested in talking to an assister or setting up an appointment for enrollment assistance: Call 206-320-7610 or send an email to ipa@ppgnw.org.  Include your zip code, and someone will get back to you."

The path across the Rubicon

I saw a post on Facebook linking to an NPR article about how the US Treasury is paying down $35 Billion dollars of the National Debt. This is the first time in 6 years that they have done this, so before the 2008 crisis. A couple of questions come to mind.

First, how are they doing this? Are they retiring some of the Treasury bonds early? Normal Treasury bonds are 30 year bonds, although they have shorter term bonds out there as well. Which ones are they paying off? Who owns them?

Second, if this was done 6 years ago, sometime in 2007, why don't I remember hearing about it? Is this something that the Treasury does on a semi-regular basis, no matter who the President is? It reminds me of posts in 2009 up to today clamoring for the President to re-install the solar panels on top of the White House that Reagan had removed in 1981. Actually, if you truly pay attention to the news, you would have knows that President Bush reinstalled them through the National Parks Service near the end of his first term in 2003. Not everything is black and white. I wouldn't have expected a Republican President to direct the Treasury to pay down the National Debt, but I guess he must have.

Third question came from another search result that came up when I was looking for more information. It seems that NPR did a story about a government report from the year 2000 talking about the changes that would need to happen if the Federal Government was able to retire ALL of the debt. There are some major foundational aspects of our financial and monetary system that would have to change, and the report talks about them.

First, investors looking for an asset free of credit risk can no longer count on an abundant supply of U.S. Treasury securities, and Treasury securities may no longer provide a reliable benchmark for other interest rates.

Second, the Federal Reserve may have to change the mechanisms by which it conducts monetary policy.

Third, continued surpluses after the public debt has been paid off will require the Federal. government to acquire assets; either directly or though the Social Security Trust Fund. This raises issues about what kinds of assets might be acquired, and the best way to manage this task.

This research brought me back to a concept I've been thinking about for several years, wondering how a government agency could operate without debt. I believe that our monetary system has flaws, and they have been identified many times in many different venues. The most blatant expression of them was in the movie Collapse, which is about the work of Michael Ruppert. He identifies three main issues with the current monetary system.

• Fiat Money, value set by a promise, not connected to any real commodity like Gold.
• Fractional Reserve Banking, with banks only required to hold a percentage of their on-book assets in the central bank.
• Compound Interest, meaning that we pay interest on interest on interest when we take out a loan.

There are solutions for these issues. It's not easy, and it takes a great deal of change in the way we think about money. But it would be possible. If anyone is interested, I can expand on these ideas and continue. But please let me know that you're reading by commenting below.

Basic Mortgage Rules

This is a list of the fundamental rules that should apply to all mortgages, at least if we want the housing market to be part of the foundation of the economy.  Any relaxation of these rules, at least given our current monetary system, threatens to undermine the entire system.

1. 30 year fixed rate.  No  more variable rate mortgages.  If someone signs to buy a house, it needs to be a fixed rate for the entire length of the mortgage.

2. Max 30% of household income.  If someone doesn't earn enough to pay the calculated mortgage payment based on the 30 year fixed rate, then they can't afford the house and should not qualify for the mortgage.  It's just too hard on families to have 40%, 50% or more going into housing.

3. Minimum 20% down payment.  Saving money is a critical skill, and if someone can't save up money to pay a down payment on a home, then they don't have a handle on their finances well enough to be a secure credit risk.

4. Mortgages may not be sold to other banks.  No more mortgage backed securities or derivatives.  If a bank goes out of business, that's another can of worms, but a bank should be held to the risks of the loans they issue.

These are severe restrictions on the current housing market.  I know that.  I also know that foundation level rules like this create a way to prevent people crashing through the floorboards and our entire economy held hostage by foolish investors who don't live in or care about the communities they are lending to.  It's just too expensive not to establish rules like this.

Minecraft and the Industrial Revolution

I've been playing Minecraft for about a year, and I'm having a lot of fun.  My son got me into the game, and it's pretty much an addiction.  Go figure, that's why it's one of the  most successful independent games out there.

What I've been enjoying the most is the Mods that are out there, and the skill and imagination that people are putting into their work.  I've watched most of the Youtube videos from people like Direwolf20 and Zerzera, and it's amazing how they can get the different components of multiple mods to connect and interlink to create incredible machines and systems that do what they want done.  It's people like this who I want involved building space stations and moon bases.  I'm not kidding.  If we give our kids games like this, open sandboxes with resources, tools and self-defined goals, they'll train themselves to be able to put things together that will amaze us all.  And even better, this is an international movement.

What I was thinking about this morning was from the book that I'm currently reading, Peak Everything.  The Industrial Craft mod adds generators that burn coal, and oil that you can burn or refine into fuel, which is more efficient in generating electrical power.  The Forestry mod adds biogas and other plant derived fuels like peat which you can burn like coal.  The goal, of course, is to have more and more power available in various forms to run machines and tools.  Just like in the real world.

What seems to be missing is costs associated with it.  There's no pollution from burning the coal, there are no lasting effects from the oil that gets spilled in water or on land.  There's no way to see environmental impacts.  Of course, it's a game, and such things would spoil the game environment and make it "too much" like the real world.

But it is real.  And while I can understand wanting to play a game without the costs, some of us are thinking about and working on solutions to these problems in the real world and we're looking for help from the imaginations of our kids to find the solutions that will keep our real world able to support us for the long term.  So something needs to be added, as an option, to help keep pollution and environmental effects in mind.

The best example of what I'm looking for already exists in the game, but it's part of a non-technical mod, although one that many people who play and record the game are using as a technical mod.  I'm referring to Thaumcraft2, a mod that adds magic to the game including "vis" for positive energy and "taint" for negative energy.  Players can research how to use resources in new ways to create new tools and machines, and can even give themselves the ability to see the levels of vis and taint in the surrounding environment (which is a 16x16 block going from the top to the bottom of the world).

What if, and I'm posting this because this is far above my own programming skills, burning coal in Industrial Craft caused pollution, and spilling oil on water or land caused additional pollution in the surrounding chunk.  And there would be a way to create a visor or something that lets you see the level of pollution.  And maybe a new machine that would help you reduce the pollution from the chunk.

Again, this would be an additional mod to Industrial Craft itself, so optional only if you want to use it.  But it would bring the game a bit closer to the real world, and get our kids aware of sources of pollution and what they could do about it.

In 2003, one of my last classes at the University of Phoenix was State and Local Government. One of my projects was to attend a local political meeting, and I found the 46th LD meeting just up the road. That was May, 2003, a meeting that will live in infamy. LaRouche supporters standing on chairs singing protest songs until the police came to take them outside. I couldn’t wait to get involved.

I was elected as an At Large member in 2005, KCDCC Male Rep in 2007 and Chair in 2009. It has been a lot of work, and a lot of fun.

In 2009, my youngest son moved up from California to live with me. He is a great kid. I have tried my best to find a balance between my family and my political activism, and it’s a very hard balance to find. I’m afraid searching for that balance is outside of my technical and leadership skills that have served the district so well over the past 10 years.

The June meeting of the 46th District will be my last meeting as Chair. I am not abandoning the ship, I’m simply asking for someone else to step forward to take the captain’s chair. Shea starts high school in September, and I want to give the new chair the time to learn the details in time for us to have a successful election, helping President Obama and all of our statewide candidates win state-wide majorities with the help of the strongest and most capable Legislative District in the State. I’m VERY proud of this district and the many people who work so hard to keep it together. The Eboard is ready to help a new chair get the job done.

Can you believe that 128 people filed to be PCOs?! The next highest number was the 36th and 34th, which were tied at 111. Scott and his team are continuing to call new people to ask them to step up, and we appoint new PCOs at every meeting. That’s the kind of strength I’m talking about.

The June meeting will be at Aljoya, and I’ll be talking about how the District Organization operates, how people can get involved, and we’ll also do a PCO training to show Votebuilder and how we can be most effective for the Primary and General Elections.

Thank you for the past 10 years. I couldn’t have done it without the examples of our former chairs.

Chad Lupkes

Chair, 46th District Democrats

Resignation from King County Democrats

Dear Steve,

I want to thank you for your leadership of the King County Democrats over the last two years.  You stepped forward to lead when it was needed.

At this point in time I need to step back.  My son, Shea, begins high school in September, and my activities in politics over the last 3 years have been at the expense of my family.  I have come to the point where I need to make a choice.  And the choice was easy, once I realized that I was unable to continue to do both.  Family comes first.

I hereby resign my position as 3rd Vice Chair of King County.  I know you will find someone to take the position and help you lead the party through the end of the cycle.

Leadership comes from example, and it is time I be a good example for my son.  Good luck.

Chad

Something missing from the Komen vs. Planned Parenthood narrative

I was infuriated beyond reason when the Susan G. Komen Foundation decided to yank funding from Planned Parenthood. I threw out some pretty heavy twitter posts demanding the resignation of the Vice President of Komen who was a former conservative Republican elected official in Georgia, I watched the twitter attacks and goaded them on, and I was relieved when they reversed their decision.

Except they hadn't.

Here's the problem I see that is not getting enough coverage. Conservatives have been saying for decades that welfare programs and other programs that help the poor by using tax money are beyond the scope of our government because the non-profit charities and churches should be sufficient to cover the need. They know they are lying, but they keep saying it.

At the same time, they are putting people into positions of power within those very non-profits that are focused on helping people, and then coming out with statements like this:

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Right and fair? No. Heck no. Because what this says is that anyone in Congress can put together the paperwork to begin a "criminal" investigation against a group helping the poor or with a politically motivated bend, and they can again pull the plug on donations.

It's not the mission of non-profit groups to "fulfill a fiduciary duty to their donors". That's insane. That's corporate speak for not giving a zing about their communities and the people they are supposed to be serving.

It's not time to pull back on the social media coverage on Komen and the larger problem of conservatives taking over our entire society with their "I don't give a ding about those people over there" ideas. It's time to double down. And it's time to kick the entire Conservative Movement back across the ocean, which we did originally in 1776.

On the subject of PCO elections

The following is a comment that I have been building and collecting from comment threads where I have been defending the lawsuit filed by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties against the Secretary of State to keep Precinct Committee Officers an publicly elected position.  I just don't understand why media institutions and editorial pages are getting behind this.  It seems they are in denial of the Constitution and the core foundations of our democratic institutions.

In the event of a vacancy, the State Constitution says that the County Central Committee of the party of the person who left the seat shall present three names to the County Legislative Authority so they may appoint a replacement to fill the seat. The RCW says that the County Central Committee consists of Elected and Appointed Precinct Committee Officers. This is not a private function, it is a public function, and one that we have to be ready for at any time. The King County Central Committee just went through that process to replace Senator Scott White in the State Senate. This is a critical public function for Precinct Committee Officers, and thus the political parties are asking for the PCO position to be filled by a public election within their precinct.  Contrast that with the Olympia City Council, which had to go into closed executive session to discuss the qualifications of candidates to fill a vacancy, or the King County Council which was made "non-partisan" by referendum a few years ago and had to go through months of haggling to fill the seat vacated by Dow Constantine.  If these decisions were made by elected members of a party, the entire process would have been open and it would have been done quickly so our representatives could get on with the business of governing, which is their job.

Another example that I see in these comment threads:  The Electors whose votes are counted and sent to Washington DC to elect the President of the United States are elected at Congressional District Caucuses held each Presidential year. The delegates to those CD Caucuses are elected by Legislative District Caucus delegates who are in turn elected by Precinct Caucus attendees. The Precinct Caucuses are presided over by the Precinct Committee Officers, who up to now have always been elected by the public and are recognized and trained publicly elected officials presiding over these neighborhood meetings to ensure that they are organized and run properly and efficiently as to not waste people's precious time. This is a critical public function, and an important part of our democracy. To close the process off from public election at the lowest grassroots level would damage our democracy and hurt our state.

Another point I would like to make is that the political parties have tremendous power in regards to our electoral and political process, power which can be either concentrated or distributed.  In our society, it is in our best interest to have that power distributed as much as possible, and having PCOs elected from the public INTO that party structure at the grassroots level ensures that power is distributed and not concentrated in the hands of a few.

Certainly there are plenty of internal Party politics stuff, and I would mostly agree that they should be dealt with internally. But for me the bottom line is not the meetings and activism, it's the core purpose of having locally elected public officials, so that when important decisions on who represents a district in the event of a death or resignation, it's as public as possible. Or when it comes time to identify our Electoral Collage members so that Washington State's voice is heard in Washington DC for the most important election in the world, the people who run the meetings at the very beginning of the process have some idea of how to run a meeting.

People who object to the parties outright make me wonder if they are basing all of their stated opinions on what they read in the media instead of real personal experience. Political parties are groups of people who really care about our communities. If you doubt that fundamentally, then we really need to have a longer conversation. I got involved in the Democratic Party in 2003 because I shared the idea at the time that they were closed groups making decisions in smoke-filled back rooms. As soon as I got involved, I realized I was wrong. It's not the parties that have been strangling our state, it's our political atmosphere that fosters the notion that the only way to get anything done is by achieving power through the exercise of control, rather than reaching for peace through the exercise of cooperation. That goes much deeper than the parties, and includes the transformation of our media, our education system, and our core values as a country.

Like I said, this needs to be a much longer conversation than just about PCO elections. The people of Washington have always had an independent bend, and that hurts our understanding of the purpose of political parties from the very start. I grew up in Kent, so I'm not an outsider. I just know we've been wrong about political parties since our ideas of them were skewed by the Grange in the early 1900's, and most people don't give the parties a chance to do what they are supposed to be doing.

What these editorial boards are suggesting is that PCO elections be paid for by the political party.  As if we having democratic institutions paid for is not the purpose of government.  This would likely result in the PCOs being appointed by the political party leaders instead of the public, which would result in much more of a closed political party structure making all of these important and representative decisions in a closed room instead of public officials meeting in public to make public decisions. This is not healthy for our democracy, and it is the wrong direction for our state.  And all of the major political parties, Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians, see it the same way.  All three have signed onto this lawsuit.

Our democratic processes cost time and money, just as any process does in the public or private sphere. While many of the functions of PCOs, Legislative District Organizations, County Central Committees and State Party Organizations may seem strange and arcane, they exist in order to amplify the voices of activists who freely choose to get involved in order to ensure their voices are heard in our government. It is worth the cost to ensure that these democratic processes are maintained and kept in the public sphere. Too many of the important decisions that our government makes are behind closed doors, with the voice of the public not heard or outright ignored. Please don't create or advocate for a situation where our political parties also close the door on the public, simply because county auditors are unwilling to do their duties as defined by the Constitution and the RCW.

What is the alternative, and where would that alternative lead us in terms of our bottom up grassroots people powered democratic institutions? Just saying "I don't want to pay taxes for this" isn't enough. What is the opportunity cost? I see it as Tammany Hall or a hyper powered party with no regard to the voice of the public, and I don't want to go there. Having tax money go to pay for PCO elections to prevent the corruption of our political process is well worth those tax dollars. At least to me.

Investments report, 2011

2011 was a crazy year in a lot of ways, but my investment strategy seems to be working just fine.

I ended the year with a total account value of $8,114.17.  I had put in $2,400 directly from my paycheck over the last 12 months.  My total dividends for the year added up to $650.64, up from $266.65 the previous year, mostly because I was putting so much in myself.

Over the next 12 months, I'm currently calculating a dividend return of $974.69, or 12.02% yield.  Of course, I'll be putting in another $2,400, plus buying additional shares and getting dividend reinvestments along the way so the dollar total will probably increase.

As far as share value goes, I only look at the summary screen, and it is telling me that I have lost $44.97 or 0.78%.  That's overall based on the original purchase of each share compared to now.  My highest gain in dollar terms was AT&T, which gained $363.55 or 24.17%, and my greatest loss was Chimera Investments which lost me $273.42 or 35.01%.  CIM is still paying a 20.08% dividend yield, probably because the share value has dropped so much, but as long as it is paying it's worth holding on to until the share value reaches 20% of what I bought it for.  CIM is one of the shares that pays me over $100 per year in dividends, and until that changes I'll hold on to it.

Overall, 2011 was a good year for my investment strategy.  I am up to 2.17% of my goal, which is to earn $45,000 per year from dividends alone.  I have a ways to go, but I can see it happening within 15 years or so.  Just in time for early retirement, as long as the world is still here for me to enjoy.

What is the natural world worth?

Beautiful answer from Pavan Sukhdev:

So take a planet like Mars with no biosphere, no plants, no animals and no humans.  Mars does not have an economy, natural or otherwise?  Let's call that zero.

Now take a planet like Earth with a biosphere, plants, animals and humans.  Earth does have an economy, both natural and economic.  Let's call that one.

What is the natural world worth?  Well, take the economic value of Earth, 1, and subtract the economic value of Mars, 0.  That's the difference between the value of Earth vs. Mars.  Then divide it by the value of Mars, 0.

The value of a natural world is infinity.  The opportunity cost of denying that our natural world is threatened, meaning what we would pay if we did nothing to mitigate climate change and the other effects that humans ARE having on Earth, is infinity.  What does it mean to pay infinity?

You can answer that yourself.

How to pass the Occupied Amendment

H.J.Res.90 is the House Resolution proposing an amendment to the US Constitution that reverses Citizens United.  It was introduced by Ted Deutch (D-FL19) on November 18th.

The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee when it was introduced on November 18th, and from there to the Subcommittee on the Constitution on December 2nd.  That's where the bill sits.

Activism means finding answers to three questions. What decision is being made, who is making that decision and how can I influence that decision?

The decision being made right now is whether the Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold hearings on this Resolution. There can be no action on the floor of the US House of Representatives until it passes out of the Subcommittee and then the full House Judiciary Committee.  So we need to push for hearings.  Here are the members of the Subcommittee on the Constitution:

Trent Franks (R, AZ-02) - Chairman
Jerrold Nadler (D, NY-08) - Ranking Member
Mike Pence (R, IN-06) - Vice Chairman
Steve Chabot, (R, OH-01)
Randy Forbes, (R, VA-04)
Steve King, (R, IA-05)
Jim Jordan, (R, OH-04)
Lamar S. Smith, (R, TX-21)
Michael Quigley, (D, IL-05)
John Conyers, Jr., (D, MI-14)
Bobby Scott, (D, VA-03)

The Subcommittee does not have a separate website, but here is the list of Subcommittees for the Judiciary Committee:

http://judiciary.house.gov/about/subcommittee.html

Phone number for the Subcommittee: (202) 225-2825

In addition to the House Joint Resolution, Senator Sanders (I-VT) introduced S.J.Res.33, which is the same bill on the Senate side.  Currently only Senator Begich (D-AK) has cosponsored this bill, and it sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Here are the members:

Patrick Leahy, Vermont, Chairman
Chuck Grassley, Iowa Ranking Member
Herb Kohl, Wisconsin
Dianne Feinstein, California
Chuck Schumer, New York
Richard Durbin, Illinois
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Al Franken, Minnesota
Chris Coons, Delaware
Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Jon Kyl, Arizona
Jeff Sessions, Alabama
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
John Cornyn, Texas
Mike Lee, Utah
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma

So, given all of this information, what do we do?  We contact our friends who live in the House Districts or States of the members of these two committees, and ask that the Resolutions be brought up in committee for a hearing, then put to a vote so that they can be considered on the floor of each chamber.  Please let me know what additional information you need, and I'll see what I can find.

Fix Citizens United!

The Occupied Amendment

Rep. Ted Deutch: The OCCUPIED Amendment, H. J. Res 90
Senator Bernie Sanders: Saving American Democracy Amendment, S. J. Res 33

Rep. Jim McDermott (WA-07) co-sponsored on December 2nd

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) co-sponsored on December 13th

Two down, seven to go.

Am I running for the House seat in the 46th?

Since I submitted a questionnaire, I've had several people contact me after reading it to ask me this.

I'm comfortable as the Chair of the 46th District Democrats. During an eboard meeting to prepare for the upcoming Special Caucus on November 10th, we discussed the necessity of having three names submitted to the King County Council for the Senate appointment. I was asked to fill out the Questionnaire. I filled it out like I was a serious candidate. How could I not? That would dishonor the position and the PCOs who have to make the decision.

I don't like making "the ask". I like hearing other people's views. So let me ask this question in response: Do you WANT me to run?

I know our platform. I like to say that I'm about as "progressive" as you can get. Does that make you want me as an elected representative? The best person is a balance of passion, experience, connections and an ability to work within the system, at least in my mind. I won't be deciding who I support until I write a name on the ballot.

I guess it's up to the PCOs in the 46th.

Scott's ghost said "hi" today

I'm a believer in ghosts, to some extent.  I believe that as long as we hold someone in our hearts, their spirit and memories come back to haunt us in ways we don't expect.  This morning as I was finishing up the Demogram, I did what I always do and searched for a previous email to our printer that had the correct description of the steps necessary to print out a 6 page newsletter.  It's smaller than normal this month.

The only email that came up in my search was from October, 2007.  It was an email from Scott to Trade Printery about that month's Demogram.  That was the last time we had a 6 page newsletter, and it was the last Demogram he edited as Chair of the 46th.

History and memories create some very powerful ghosts on Samhain.

November 5th, Carl Sagan Day

Remember remember the fifth of November
Science, Sagan and Rational Thought.
Let us ensure that Carl Sagan
Shall never be forgot...

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

I'm really impressed by this.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

THIS DOCUMENT WAS ACCEPTED BY THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are their allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known:

§ They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

§ They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

§ They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

§ They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

§ They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

§ They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

§ They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

§ They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

§ They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

§ They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

§ They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

§ They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

§ They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

§ They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

§ They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

§ They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

§ They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

§ They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

§ They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

§ They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

§ They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

§ They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

§ They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

§ These grievances are not all-inclusive.

Join the movement at http://www.occupytogether.com

Senator Murray asked for my views.

Dear Senator,

Thank you for asking our views. I'm a hard core progressive, so my view on how to reduce the deficit and pay down the debt comes from that perspective. First, the deficit is a problem because our economy is in the tank. To improve the economy, we must get people back to work. To get people back to work, the overall demand in the economy must increase. The Federal Government can best help with that by awarding contracts for projects. I do not believe that ANY tax cuts will do ANY good, even "targeted" tax cuts meant to "help" the middle class. Those are failures from the word "cut". People don't mind paying taxes when their income is sufficient to pay their bills and put some money aside for the future.

One important aspect of the Contracts must be this: No foreign companies. None. Not one good or service paid for by US Tax Dollars should originate outside of our borders, and not one of those dollars should go to the profits of a non-US (tax-paying) corporation. If doing this means we have to withdraw from the WTO, do it. If this means we have to withdraw from NAFTA, do it. There are no shortcuts or substitutes for putting our own citizens back to work.

Second, take Social Security and Medicare off the cuts table. Period. Social Security should be changed so that it is self-funded forever, which could be done easily by eliminating the cap on the FICA tax. We also need to add a savings component, something similar to a National 401K, where anyone can put additional money into the Social Security Administration which would be invested in Treasury Bonds, Bills Notes or Municipal Bonds of their choosing.

Medicare should be expanded by initiating a public option where any US citizen can buy into the program. Nothing else will do more to help eliminate the deficit in Medicare funding.

Military contractors should be shown the door. No private company should ever be given a contract to do what our own soldiers are perfectly capable of doing. I mopped floors in the Galley when I was in the Navy. Now I hear we're paying people from the private sector more than an E6 to do that. That's insane, and stupid. End that.

Rebuild our roads, our water systems, our sewer systems, our power grid and our rail system. Do what Eisenhower was not able to do by putting rail lines alongside every Federal Highway.

Reverse the Bush, Reagan and Kennedy tax cuts. People in the top 1% of income earners should be paying 70% in taxes. People in the top 0.1% should be paying 90%. Prevent the concentration of wealth and power that leads to the corruption of power in Washington DC and everywhere else by making them understand that all the money they are earning belongs to the country, not to themselves personally. If they don't like that, they are welcome to fund Space Exploration so they can move to the Moon or Mars.

I'm a hard core progressive. Those are my views. Enjoy.

More work in Victory Creek Park

My son and I continue to work on Victory Creek Park, just East of the QFC along Northgate Way. We're focused on the Eastern ravine, which we believe belongs to the Seattle Department of Transportation because it aligns with the right-of-way from 12th Avenue down to Northgate Way NE. I don't think anyone has touched that portion of the park for years.

Here's the report I gave to the Parks Department via their "Report Illegal Dumping" form:

My son and I found a bunch of junk while working in Victory Creek Park. There is a large soft bottle of black oil sludge of some kind in the Eastern ravine. The bottle does not have a lid. The remainder of the junk including two tires, some metal pieces and a planter box with some broken glass bottles are across the walkway, visible from Northgate Way.

If you have any questions, please contact me. My son and I work in that area every Sunday.

Correction, this is what I would have sent as a comment if their comment character limit wasn't 150. Which is way, WAY, too short for me.

Here's the response I got when I submitted the form:

Thank you for your message to Seattle Public Utilities regarding Illegal Dumping. We will respond to your report as quickly as possible.

If the illegal dumping violation is on public property, Seattle Public Utilities will dispatch a clean up request to the appropriate department or agency. Public property includes alleys, sidewalks, planting strips, streets and rights-of-way. Our goal is to inspect reported complaints within 10 business days and remove debris within 14 business days.

Private property dumping is a civil matter between the property owner and the violator. For information on illegal dumping on private property, please contact the DPD Code Violation Complaint Hotline at (206) 684-7899.

We share your concern, and appreciate your message. It is citizens like you who help to keep our communities clean and beautiful.

Sincerely,
SPU Customer Service

I don't think this is NEAR fast enough. Of course, I'm not sure how many reports per day they get of people dumping stuff within the Seattle city limits. Probably way to often.

Here are some pictures of what we found.

I'll add more pictures as soon as we get them uploaded.