Todd's blog

Something stinks in Alaskan Senate Election

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:16:55 -0500

Three votes.

Right now, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich holds a three vote lead over incumbent Senator Ted Stevens in the Alaska Senate Race. If Begich somehow holds on and win, then maybe there will be nothing to cry foul about. However, if Stevens wins, this could be another race that was stolen from the Democrats. Why? Begich was up in nearly every poll and a week before the election was up on Stevens 52-44. Then Stevens was found guilty of a felony charge in federal court of receiving illegal gifts. Steven's favorable ratings of 42% a few days before the election almost always equates to a loss of an incumbent.

Why I voted for Obama

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:50:57 -0400

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...

-The Declaration of Independence

Bailout must address needs of working families

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:16:23 -0400

A few weeks after the tragedy of 9/11, Congress nearly unanimously passed the Patriot Act. Rushed to a vote with little debate, the need to solve a crisis took priority over the trampling of civil liberties that was included in the Patriot Act package. Had Congress deliberated and vetted the Patriot Act, perhaps they could have agreed on a law that would have protected us from terrorists and protected our constitutional rights.

Another crisis has Congress working all hours to put together a package to bail us out of this financial mess. Whereas, 9/11 came out of the blue, the economic crisis has been brewing for years. The recipe for disaster? Financial markets that have no oversight, a banking industry stripped of regulation, a decade of trade agreements that have shipped millions of manufacturing jobs overseas, high gas prices and a war that is a drain on our economy.

Crisis? Now it's a crisis?

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:42:51 -0400

I wish I had time to type up a more detailed essay about the economic crisis. Problem is, economic crisis are hardly overnight occurances. The Great Depression was not caused by one bad day on Wall Street, but a continuing breakdown of the economy. Same here as the writing has been on the wall (pun intended) for a while. Too many jobs exported, too many foreclosures, too much deregulation. Senator John McCain is pulling a political stunt as he and 99 other Senators, one Bush Administration and the entire House of Representatives have been asleep at the switch for too long.

Guess who is going to have to bail them out? Probably the working families of America.

Want a plan to fix the economy? Ask Bernie Sanders.

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:42:17 -0400

Thank you Vermont for giving us Senator Bernie Sanders.

Please take a moment and read his op-ed on fixing the financial mess we are in. Here is the meat of it:

In my view, we need to go forward in addressing this financial crisis by insisting on four basic principles:

(1) The people who can best afford to pay and the people who have benefited most from Bush’s economic policies are the people who should provide the funds for the bailout. It would be immoral to ask the middle class, the people whose standard of living has declined under Bush, to pay for this bailout while the rich, once again, avoid their responsibilities. Further, if the government is going to save companies from bankruptcy, the taxpayers of this country should be rewarded for assuming the risk by sharing in the gains that result from this government bailout.

Specifically, to pay for the bailout, which is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion, the government should:

a) Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue;

b) Ensure that assets purchased from banks are realistically discounted so companies are not rewarded for their risky behavior and taxpayers can recover the amount they paid for them; and

c) Require that taxpayers receive equity stakes in the bailed-out companies so that the assumption of risk is rewarded when companies’ stock goes up.

(2) There must be a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages. Among many other areas, we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and moving our country from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Further, we must protect working families from the difficult times they are experiencing. We must ensure that every child has health insurance and that every American has access to quality health and dental care, that families can send their children to college, that seniors are not allowed to go without heat in the winter, and that no American goes to bed hungry.

(3) Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999. That means re-regulating the energy markets so that we never again see the rampant speculation in oil that helped drive up prices. That means regulating or abolishing various financial instruments that have created the enormous shadow banking system that is at the heart of the collapse of AIG and the financial services meltdown.

(4) We must end the danger posed by companies that are “too big too fail,” that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up. Right now, for example, the Bank of America, the nation’s largest depository institution, has absorbed Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and Merrill Lynch, the nation’s largest brokerage house. We should not be trying to solve the current financial crisis by creating even larger, more powerful institutions. Their failure could cause even more harm to the entire economy.

Updates on pending Free Trade Agreements

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:11:34 -0400

I just received this update regarding the pending free trade agreements before Congress from the Washington Fair Trade Coalition. Perhaps there will be a call to action to contact Congressional reps about this. Perhaps the best thing would be to lay off them until January and let a new administration deal with them.

Colombia: Recent reports indicate that the rate of murders of trade unionists is higher in 2008 than 2007 (see article in Further Reading). However, President Uribe is scheduled to visit Washington DC in the next few weeks, and we know that President Bush is still pushing for this FTA's passage. Uribe has also made claims that Jimmy Carter supports the FTA, although the Carter Center says he has not taken
a position.

Panama: Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, who is wanted in the United States on charges of killing a U.S. soldier in 1992, stepped down on Monday as president of Panama's National Assembly. His role in the country's congress has been the primary political impediment to the passage of this FTA (besides all the flaws of the NAFTA model, which are of course very important!). However, President Bush has indicated in recent statements that he will not push for a vote on this until after the Colombia FTA is voted on, since that agreement was negotiated first.

South Korea: Recent statements by officials in Seoul indicate that many officials are losing hope that the proposed FTA between the US and South Korea will be passed in the near future - if at all. During an interview with The Korea Times, Lee Hye-min, Korea's deputy minister for trade and chief FTA negotiator, said, "It is certain that the U.S. will not be able to ratify the agreement until the presidential election." It was indicated that the election Barak Obama as president might make its passage even less likely.

Why Gregoire beats Rossi

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:52:11 -0400

The biggest race in Washington State will be the rematch between Governor Gregoire and GOP (not Republican) opponent Dino Rossi. In the highly controversial 2004 election, Gregoire won the third recount by a mere 129 votes. I don't think the race will be that close and here is why:

Governor Gregoire inherited a $2.2 billion state budget deficit and turned it into a nearly billion dollar surplus.
Under her leadership, the nonpartisan, independent Pew Center on the States ranked Washington as one of the top-three states for managing public resources.
Forbes Magazine ranked our state as one of the top-three best states for business. The Small Business Council ranks Washington as the fourth-best state for small business.
When she stepped into the Governor's mansion, Washington had the nation's 2nd highest unemployment rate. Now we are near the bottom.

So on the typical Republican (I meant GOP) talking points of cutting government, being good for business and fiscal responsibility, Gregoire has excelled. And she has made a commitment to improving health care in our state, which will be a major issue in this election. Perhaps the biggest reason is that she learned from her campaign mistakes in 2004. During that election, Gregoire was far too King County-centric. That was safe (Dem-leaning) territory with all the big media outlets. And yet it bit her in the ass. She lost the suburbs big time and was beat in Pierce County, which should never be won by a Republican. But this time around, she is making it a point to be seen across the state, especially outside of King County.

Congressman Adam Smith to support clean elections

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:02:41 -0400

Logan Welfringer, our intern, and I joined a delegation from Washington Public Campaigns in a meeting with Congressman Adam Smith at his Tacoma office on Friday. The purpose of the meeting was to ask for his support of publicly funded campaigns for congressional races. With some races (like Darcy Burner's in Washington's 8th District) approaching costs of $5 million per side, we have to do something about the runaway costs. It was a great half hour session as Smith asked for more details and then stated that Congress needs to do something to regain the confidence of the people. He then agreed to cosponsor legislation that would move toward providing public financing of congressional campaigns. It was a great success, as not that often one walks into a meeting with a member of Congress and you get exactly what you are hoping for.

"Cover Everyone"- the common theme to Healthy Washington public forums

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:29:11 -0400

America In Solidarity is part of the Healthy Washington Coalition, a broad-based group of labor, advocacy groups and business, pushing for health care reform in the state. This summer, Healthy Washington has had a series of public forums to discuss our health care crisis and gauge what the public wants when we talk about health care reform. Part of the program involves a community discussion and vote upon what "values" are important. Overwhelmingly at each of the meetings so far, "cover everyone" is the leading votegetter.

Hopefully the politicians are listening.

Show this to every Clinton supporter

Sat, 24 May 2008 16:49:29 -0400

Keith Olbermann's latest rant on Hillary Clinton should be shown to every remaining Clinton supporter. I've always thought that in her mind, winning the presidency was worth sacrificing everything and anyone. Olbermann calls her out for her remark tying the Robert Kennedy assassination and invoking it as reason for her to stay in the Democratic race.

If you are still wavering about Clinton as president, watch this video.

Korea-US Free Trade Agreement

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:21:59 -0400

Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) asked me to weigh in on the pending Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. Like most FTA's it is agreed to in closed door meetings and finding out the facts about what it would do is oftentimes difficult to find, if not grasp. I'm still working on an official letter regarding America In Solidarity's position (and please help if you are interested), but here is what I emailed his aide regarding it:

I still have not had time to craft a letter to Adam about the Korea FTA. I haven't had time to do a lot of research to back up with facts my working hypothesis. While I think the KORUS would open up lots of opportunities for some parts of our economy (beef, farming, natural resources), we are concerned that this will result in an even larger trade deficit. The difference in wages will result in even more losses in American
manufacturing and at some point we can't continue to "reeducate" by the millions because there are no jobs to replace those we lost. I hate being against every agreement because there is the simple fact that
my livelihood (as does your husband's, father's, etc) benefits from trade, but I think there has to be a better way because I think these trade agreements benefit only the corporations, infringe upon worker's,
environmental and community rights, and gives too much influence to organizations like the WTO, that don't have our interests at stake.
Sometimes, when its hard to decide which side of the fence to be on, I look at who wants these agreements and who doesn't and I am quite weary of the players that are always pushing fta's and the liberalization of the markets. I recently read Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" and it scares me that the next wave of profit for the few is the United States. Anyway, I respect Adam's interest and knowledge on the subject, and I really respect that he wants our opinion and seems open-minded on the subject, so I'll craft a letter soon, but if he needs a quick answer feel free to forward him these thoughts.
-Todd

Todd Iverson
President and co-founder, America In Solidarity
www.americasolidarity.org

Bush and Fascism

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:15:44 -0400

America In Solidarity co-founder Mike Jagielski forwarded me a great article pointed out that the Bush Administration has followed 14 characteristics common to the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet. Scary stuff...

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Clinton fails to pay health care bills

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:07:47 -0400

Most that have talked with me about presidential politics know how I feel about Senator Clinton and her bid for the Democratic nomination. But for someone who touts her health care experience and advantage on the subject, I find it funny how she has failed to pay the tab for health care costs of the campaign:

Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.

Read the whole piece.

Obama on race

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:52:24 -0400

The left wing pundits called it "the first great speech of the 21st Century" and the right-wing spinmeisters picked it apart and continued to rail on Senator Obama's former pastor and his remarks.

Truth is, Obama had to say it. Someone had to say exactly what he said. "We can get beyond our racial divisions."

Listen to the speech. Please.

Great Quote

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:38:54 -0500

It's almost 1600 years old but I think it works for what we are facing today.

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.” - St. Augustine.

Iraq, health care, corporate greed, Blackwater, CEO pay, there is a lot to be angry about. I hope thee will be enough with the courage to do what is right.