Comments for The Stand

Comment on How do we build a better, stronger U.S. labor movement? by SeattleSparky

SeattleSparky — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:52:07 +0000

We really need to spread the word and get as many people replying and active as we can. Now is not the time to sit back and watch it happen!! It is a crucial time in the labor movement , and we need to do all we can to activate our members!!

Comment on Austerity cuts aren’t working, except for America’s top 1% by sorscher

sorscher — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:31:54 +0000

Public policy is driven by political power.

Global businesses have built *plenty* of political power. The outrageous inequality in the video is exactly the desired outcome for the 1%. They organized their political power and got what they wanted.

Civil society has lost political power through globalization, and decades of rhetoric to discredit government, weaken institutions of civil society and de-legitimize policies that raise living standards.

Today’s “Must read” in The Stand email digest — http://www.thestand.org/?p=21318 — is exactly the right move. Civil society needs to see itself in historic political terms, not as individual issue-oriented organizations.

Investor interests have successfully framed every policy around “making business succeed” – bad trade policy, dismantling public education, regressive taxes, erosion of social programs. We need a coherent unified political voice from civil society that builds social capital.

We all do better when we all do better.

Comment on ILWU: Mitsui planned lockout in Vancouver by Tacomanorske

Tacomanorske — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:27:07 +0000

Mitsui is one of the corporations that is working behind the scenes to get approval for a coal terminal in Coos Bay, OR.
Proponents of the coal terminals say they will provide good union jobs…,,

Comment on Plan to end Saturday mail ‘misguided, counterproductive’ by pnwfemale

pnwfemale — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:35:21 +0000

USPS provides a vital service. I would support any efforts in removing the postmaster general.

Comment on Support KVCH nurses’ picket Thursday in Ellensburg by pnwfemale

pnwfemale — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:39:42 +0000

I’m all for nurses having fair wages and benefits; but, if it ends in a strike, who is left to care for the patients? I have worked as a nurse and never been part of a union. In my book, the patient must come first.

Comment on Nobody’s ‘crying out’ for this self-serving Senate Tom-foolery by lorenbliss

lorenbliss — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:52:05 +0000

Not sure what sprucetree is saying. With the Teabaggers in control of the Senate, it wouldn’t matter if Mr. Habib had won by 100 percent, or if the Democrats had all the seats in the House.

Just as Teabagger control of the House in Congress has totally paralyzed the federal government save on defense and nullification-of-the-Constitution measures, so does Teabagger control of the state Senate totally paralyze the government in Olympia.

Probably that’s a big part of the Republican scheme — shut down government for two years in the hope the (politically ignorant) public will follow the lead of the state’s Right-leaning media, blame the Democrats and respond with a Republican landslide in 2014 and 2016.

Indeed the very fear of such an outcome almost certainly guarantees the (typically spineless) Democrats will give the Teabaggers everything they want, exactly as it now appears they’re (again) doing in Washington D.C.

As I said above, the coup has effectively turned Washington into a “red state,” the popular will be damned.

Comment on Nobody’s ‘crying out’ for this self-serving Senate Tom-foolery by sprucetree

sprucetree — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:49:58 +0000

What part of Cyrus Habib 60% does he not understand?

Comment on Nobody’s ‘crying out’ for this self-serving Senate Tom-foolery by lorenbliss

lorenbliss — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:11:53 +0000

Despite the number of Polly Anna optimists putting a brave face on the possibilities of resistance to the Republican coup in Olympia, the real-time effect of it is to turn Washington into a de facto “red state.”

Any progressive intentions Governor-elect Jay Inslee and other like-minded Democrats may have brought into office are now hopelessly obstructed by the cunningly schemed treachery that gave the Republicans — the majority of whom are Teabagger fanatics — absolute control of the Senate.

Indeed it is impossible for me to believe the Democrats did not see this coming. In fact I cannot escape the suspicion they may even welcome it as a sneaky way of saying “no” to public demands for progressive solutions to the budget crisis.

In any case the coup is the death knell for in-state implementation of federal health-care reform. It also dooms any other social service the Teabaggers despise. At the very least, state government is thus paralyzed for the entire 2013-2014 biennium.

Moreover the lack of state funding for mass transit is now insurmountable. This is undoubtedly the final blow to bus service in Tacoma, where the Teabagger/suburbanite war against transit-users is turning the city into the largest municipality in the United States – possibly in the entire industrial world – without an adequate transit system.

Once again, the writers who have characterized Washington state as “Mississippi on Puget Sound” are proven correct — probably more horribly correct than they themselves imagined. And once again – in true “red state” fashion – lower-income people, especially those of us who are elderly and disabled, are the chosen victims.

Comment on Commemorate WTO, join fight for fair TPP on Nov. 30, Dec. 1 by lreish

lreish — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:59:44 +0000

There are some additional actions planned in Olympia:

Tues. Nov. 27, 6;30pm Movie night featuring The Heist
Wed. Nov. 28, 6;30pm Discussion of the TPP with Celeste Drake and Kristen Beifus

Both events are at the WSLC building in Olympia 906 Columbia Way SW

Comment on Expanding Medicaid in our state will save money, lives by pnwfemale

pnwfemale — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:04:41 +0000

I think that Medicaid should be expanded. It is one step closer to having Single Payer. However, I would also like to see Medicaid cover what it used to cover: Dental care for adults. Now, Medicaid will only cover emergency dental care; not, preventive dental care. If adults get that preventive dental care regularly, it could mean less need for emergency dental care.