Neither Cantwell nor Murray have been effectively confronted because they are meticulously protected by Ruling Class media and Democrat Party functionaries.

I know this because I worked as a volunteer publicist on the campaign of Hong Tran for the Democrat senatorial nomination in 2006. Though she was not only ignored by mass media but continually sabotaged by the Democrat Party apparatus, she did manage to get 5 percent of the primary vote.

However, based on Councilwoman Sawant's example, that sort of methodical disempowerment of alternative candidates may no longer work.

As to the longshore and transport unions, they are trying desperaterly to protect their jobs in a viciously anti-union economy in a state in which the Democrats render lip service to unionism but are in fact as anti-union as the Republicans.

Part of the problem is that deliberately agitated envy of unionized workers has combined with fanatical Democrat support for forcible civilian disarmament to turn much of the state's Working Class electorate into avowed enemies of unionism who now reliably therefore vote Republican.

In rural Washington, where unions are an issue of much less importance, you often hear it said, "Neither party gives a damn about working people any more, so might as well vote Republican -- at least they'll let us keep our guns." This is a genuine survival issue in a land of bears, cougars and outlaws, where emergency response times can run as long as an hour.

There's also the fact the term "anti-union progressive" probably originated in Washington state, where it describes a substantial portion of the Democrat electorate, particularly those employed in the (lavishly salaried) computer industry. Note for example what was done to the Boeing machinists -- especially how the blue-collar union-busting (which is what it was) was led by white-collar Democrats.

Wal-Mart slaves and fast-food slaves hardly factor into the equation at all. Because they depend on food stamps and other social services to survive, they are forced to support the Democrats, who are less hostile to these programs than the Republicans. But mostly they don't bother to vote because they know it's pointless -- they're fucked no matter which party wins.

Also, Murray and Cantwell carefully schedule their public appearences so they are effectively closed to anyone working the hours typical of minimum-wage employment.

The bitter truth about Washington state for lower income people is it is amongst the harshest states in the union -- the most regressive taxes and worst mass transit combined with disproportionately high living costs. Most lower income people therefore live in constant terror of losing their jobs. Thus are they subjugated to silence...the very silence Councilwoman Sawant seems to be (finally) breaking.

Indeed until Councilwoman Sawant's stunning victory, from the malevolent perspective of the Ruling Class, Washington state was perfectly governed: no taxes for the One Percent, diminishing social services for the rest of us, and -- just like in Medieval Europe -- most of the former public-access lands closed to everybody but definitively wealthy equestrians.

Chuckle8,

No doubt some positive changes did occur, but nothing that would truly undo the crash of '08, threaten the status quo, could not easily be undone or possibly turn out to be a boon for big pharma and the insurance industry or the big banks. TPP would destroy our sovereignty as a nation which, if you go by the dictionary, would be High Treason. We would be the United States of America in name only, and once our whole government is dismantled by these plutocrats, of which Obama is one, we will be known as the United States of the American Republic of China. Romney made a killing on the auto bail out. (See Amy Goodman's piece) Most of the jobs "saved" bailing out Detroit went to Mexico and China and now Detroit's in bankruptcy. Time will tell..and speaking as a member of the LGBT community, I think the only reason our rights expanded while other minorities were screwed (stop and frisk, huge increase in deportations) was because the richest demographic in the country consists of white male same-sex couples.

Loren, could you clarify exactly what you mean by "fanatical Democratic support" for public disarmament? I'm not refuting you, necessarily; I'm just a tad confused. That's hardly how I would characterize pleas I've heard for firearm registration. You've made a strong case for the necessity of firearms, living out in the wild country amongst bears and mountain lions. I just don't understand how licensing & registration would jeopardize that... unless I'm missing something. - AIW

Quote Aliceinwonderland:Loren, could you clarify exactly what you mean by "fanatical Democratic support" for public disarmament?

Aliceinwonderland ~ I might imagine that what Loren is talking about is that gun registration is just the first step in a much broader public disarmament agenda. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Loren. However, that is the way I interpret it; and, considering the underlying fact that mental health was never seriously addressed concerning all these public shootings and gun control was the first and only official response, I must say that I completely agree with Loren.

Palindromedary ~ That sure is good news. I hope our representatives have the good sense to flush this nonsense down the toilet. It would renew my faith... somewhat in government.

By the way, I've skimmed this blog rather quickly this morning because I don't really have a lot of time. I could have sworn I saw a post with you referring to Dr. Steven Greer on Abbey Martin's show? I didn't catch it; however, I'm somewhat familiar with Dr. Greer's work in the "Disclosure Project." Did I miss anything interesting?

Palindromedary ~ That's brilliant! Tapping into zero point, unlimited free energy and propulsion technology. What better way to let the air out of the International Corporatocracy balloon?

DAnneMarc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixiwsUZtU6c

Quote Palindromedary:To know that a very far advanced life form may have the ability to annihilate us, should they chose, or that our leaders are actually selling us out to these extraterrestrials in exchange for advanced technology is most likely just too much of a shocker for the majority of human beings to take.

Palindromedary ~ A most fascinating idea. I just got that link and am watching it now. I haven't yet seen "Sirius". However, I have heard lots of stories and theories that might explain your statement, "...that our leaders are actually selling us out to these extraterrestrials in exchange for advanced technology..." I'm curious as to exactly what you meant by that.

What I understand is that these little Greys are actually genetically engineered slaves of a more dangerous reptilian race called the Draconians. The Greys want to use us for genetic enhancement of their own dying race. The reptilians want us as slaves, entertainment, and a food source. At least that is what I gather from listening to Alex Collier; and, some others. Of course, in this extraterrestrial research one must be very vigilant due to the persistence of an abundance of misinformation. You appear to be much more experienced in this matter, and I trust your wisdom. I'm particularly interested in hearing how you respond to this post... Thanks for a most engaging conversation.

Aliceinwonderland ~ We've already discussed this issue and for the most part I believe we fully agree. I hate finding my back against the wall on such an obviously rational position. However, that is what the media wants to do--pit like minded people like ourselves against each other. They do a great job at that. Know that in my heart I would proudly advocate the registration of anything that can do any substantial harm to another human being, be it guns, automobiles, pepper spray, or, even baseball bats. Unfortunately, the current world paradigm makes that impossible.

Back to Loren Bliss. I reread his post and discovered that it may be also likely that his statement meant to convey that gun control in these urban areas is being used as a wedge issue in order to artificially pump up the membership of the Republican party; thus, perpetuating the myth that a two party system that is almost equally divided in this country actually exists. Just a though, I thought I would share. Peace!

We have set before us today an economic system that can be described as “Conspiratorial Capitalism”. The economic conspirators of today have morphed into a destructive force entity prophesized by Thomas Jefferson: "In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositaries. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree." - Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782, Thomas Jefferson

At what point is greed enough said Senator Ted Kennedy in his 2007 assault on Congressional Republicans, demanding: “When does the greed stop?” The greed has spiraled into an ugly destructive force entity. The Rich can be defined as a contrast to the poor, and the greater the contrast, the greater the Rich.

Profit over people must be revealed and stopped by participation of every American getting involved; e.g.” Tag your it” (Thom Hartmann’s phrase). I suggest a fantastic book! A must read! Thom Hartmann takes you through a history of cataclysmic episodes, and juxtaposing them to happenings of today with only one foreboding conclusion: a crash. Just like a doctor can diagnose cancer, see the diagnoses of the coming Crash of 2016.

Considering the mess on your desk right now, I'm impressed at the length to which you've answered. Mind over matter!

Anyway Loren, while I believe some form of regulations are justified regarding firearms, that's not to say that I assume they are established and/or enforced the right way, or (just as importantly) with the right motive behind them, given our current socioeconomic freak show. Your concerns are well justified. Regarding access to guns, I'd say Washington's law would be justified against perpetrators in cases of domestic violence; especially repeat offenders. But this simple minded, arbitrary exclusion of anyone who "ever saw a mental health professional even once and for any reason" is of course, ridiculous.

Far as mental health is concerned, I don't know which problem is worse: the lack of funding allocated to public mental health services in our society, or the barbaric, out-dated techniques used to treat it... not to mention those quack pharmaceuticals! At the dawn of 21st Century America here we are, still stuck in the dark ages when it comes to mental health. I don't have facts or figures in front of me, so I'll just say that it wouldn't surprise me if, upon examination, embarrassing statistical contrasts were to emerge between mental health treatments & outcomes here in the USA, compared to, say, countries like France or Norway. In all likelihood it would parallel the discrepancy with healthcare between us and them. Such comparisons always leave the U.S. looking like shit, as well it deserves to.

A few years back, I read a book titled Mad In America. Can't remember the author, unfortunately. But it was a real eye opener about mental health care in America over the past century. Seems that mentally ill individuals don't fare much better now than they did a hundred years ago. What really blew me away was learning that schizophrenics with the best odds for recovery are those receiving no "treatment" at all!

Well Loren, as always it's been a pleasure chewing the fat with you... even if the subjects under discussion aren't always so pleasant!

Enjoy the weekend. - Aliceinwonderland

I cannot vote for democrats as the lesser of two evils., I remember being so very disappointed in president Clinton for pushing reagans NAFTA., then years later in retrospect, the Phil-gram, and kass-steal deregulation happened on Clinton's watch. Today i feel this same disappointment with obama. And neither democrat admin even went after republicans for war crimes (no small thing to be sure).. Reagan for selling weapons to the enemy, bush/cheny for lying to start a war. All this stuff is what republicans do; everything to benefit only the 1-percent.

Because democrats are only 10-percent (if that) to the left of republicans (this makes democrats, moderate republicans). In this case the philosophy of voting the lesser of two evils, assures big money will stay in control (rather than the people).. Whereas Voting your conscience for the green party (actually the party of the people), will force change in the democratic party (if the peope lead, the leaders will follow).. Democrats only talk like liberals to get elected. Think in terms of big money controlling both parties like puppets, and this will make sense (Big money wins either way).

Aliceinwonderland: No, some are "crazy like a fox". They are, like some in "thumper land" or "ET land", finding it quite lucrative in convincing people to buy their books or pay for seminars that they lecture at...especially the so-called "workshops" that you have to pay even more for once you've paid the general admission to see their "teaser" lectures. It's a bit of a fuzzy line between "crazy" and being taken in by hucksters with incredible tales.

Yes, I remember those people who were taken in by incredible (actually..incredulous) tales of Hale Bopp. I remember people like Rev. Jim Jones who trapped people with his non-sense. I remember David Koresh and his Branch Dividians. I remember the 2000 Rajneesh followers in Oregon who didn't exactly die for stupidity but did stupidly lose a lot of their "worldly goods" to old Rajneesh and who put some nasties on salad bars...poisoning people. I remember the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack in the subway in Japan. These examples, and many more, are reasons why people shouldn't "believe" in, and should be very wary of, incredible things.

And yes, casting demons out of people into swine, walking on water, bringing dead people back to life, feeding the multitudes, dying on the cross then resurrecting 3 days later, a God in heaven who answers prayers, Satan in hell and all of the demon stories, along with ridiculous also manipulative stories of extra dimensional aliens who replicate the more ancient Ahura Mazda/Ahriman...God/Satan (good/evil) are all total Bullsh!t.

There's good aliens and bad aliens don't you know! The good aliens, the Nordics, look more like us......the bad aliens look more like giant grey ants or lizards (no offense to the cute little Geico lizard). And not to be out done, the whole panopoly of extraterrestrial creatures tend to mirror our more ancient mythological inventions...just like Christianity plagiarized those more ancient myths to create their new cult as well. They are all new mythological stories invented by people to control and manipulate other people...the suckers who fall for it.

It's one thing to be entertained and another to be taken in to the point where you lose all your worldly goods...your house..your savings...and often, your life and the lives of your loved ones. Besides, believing in such nonsense can make you crazy...do crazy things...like performing exorcisms on children who die from it..or taking poison as a way to get to the next dimension before the world is destroyed by Hale Bopp. That warm and friendly preacher may just one day be your executioner as the followers of Rev Jim Jones found out.

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
― Margaret Thatcher

"The problem with capitalism is that you eventually run out of markets (also...other people's money)."
---me

Sorry, I couldn't resist...I caught that Margaret Thatcher quote from reading some of the Star Sneech reviewers of Thom's book on Amazon. In fact, the few detractors are such right-wing disinformation specialists that it would be fun, but a waste of time really, to take them down a peg or two.

One idiot bought Thom's book by mistake and was now complaining because he found out Thom was not a right wing blow-hard like he wanted. He said that "other countries have passed us in manufacturing and design". Well, who's fault is that? But, in fact, the Japanese long ago surpassed us in manufacturing and design...because they designed and manufactured things to work right the first time..while American designers and manufacturers were more interested in maximizing short term profits while sacrificing reliability.

Who was it that sold out American workers by squeezing wages and benefits and sending our jobs to those other countries in order to maximize their profits in the shortest amount of time.

Whose fault was it when they made it easy for those other country's workers to come to the US, for less pay, taking away our jobs, picking up trade secrets, and going back to implement them in their own countries?

Whose fault was it that "declaring we were a 'service economy' rather than a 'manufacturing economy' years ago..." implicating, of course, that we were psyched into accepting our doom by someone other than the ones who actually did the psyching...the capitalists who gravitated to the F.I.R.E. economy for fast looting of everyone who bought into it.

The (F.I.R.E) Finance-Insurance-and Real Estate scams created by the capitalist pigs who knew they could morph everyone else's wealth into their own...a "giant sucking sound" of wealth from our pockets into theirs. And now the capitalist pigs and their toadies want to make the argument that the fault was ours, the working man and woman, and.... the evil Chinese.

And now, see, it was fun...but I wasted my time rebuffing these hopeless right-wing, capitalist-pig, disinformation, propagandist toadies.

Quote Aliceinwonderland:The problem with capitalism is that eventually, you run out of poor - and working class - people's money to steal. - Aliceinwonderland

Which is why they run out of markets...

And I certainly agree with you about old Maggie Thatcher...Reagan with lipstick! Very funny and very true.

Quote DAnneMarc:As a result, I must agree with you 100%. Until there is concrete solid proof of the existence and origin of such creatures and their technology, all these stories, testimonies, and sightings are no more than fairy tales designed to amuse, distract, and generate revenue; while, the real predators rob us blind. I don't buy the idea that all our technological advances came from extraterrestrial sources. And, finally, the entire idea that an advanced extraterrestrial race would have a message to deliver to mankind that they were incapable of communicating themselves is preposterous. A waste of time to be sure; however, as you know science fiction and mythology are two of my favorite hobbies. Like you, I just can't get enough of it.

While I certainly agree, I must say that I must hold open a little bit of possibility that some of these things may be true. There may be other dimensional beings...the earth may have been visited...or have even existed here for hundreds or thousands of years...but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence otherwise it all amounts to unsubstantiated blind faith which is something that is often used by charlatans for exploitation purposes. And although many have made some extraordinary claims...they have not yet provided extraordinary evidence to support their claims.

I have been watching some of those videos:
I wonder, though, how many people would even view any of these videos and then say that the people interviewed were not being honest...that they did not believe totally in what they were saying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9pzfckUc8 Son of an Area 51 Technician.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGYNJEA4Ag Bill Uhouse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSCzddYA4GY Roswell Revisted-Col. Philip Corso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkwxuHE03aM Astronaut Gordon Cooper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeMT7ieiYR4 Don Phillips

And there are a whole lot more videos of witnesses on this subject at http://www.youtube.com/user/csetiweb/videos?view=0&shelf_id=1&sort=dd

But, of course, even if they believe what they are saying is true, it still does not "prove" anything. But it is very entertaining for sure...at least it is for me. I'm glad you find it entertaining as well. I guess I have "wasted" time and a little money on this over the years as I've gone to Gulf Breeze, Florida...Roswell, N.M on the 50th anniversary of the 1947 crash...camped out at Area 51...and visited the Car Barn in Georgetown (Washington, DC). "La Plume de ma tante. ay, Dimme?"

Socialism would certainly be better than what we have now., but like the animal farm story, where the pigs lied and took over, likewise in capitalism the 1-percent took over..

The problem isn't the system (socialism or capitalism), its the power hungry nut jobs like the cartmann caracter in south park, because they are the ones driven to attain positions of power (then abuse that power).. The best system is a combination; certainly fire, roads, military, medical, schools, etc, should be run like socialism. Selling burgers, comic books and TV's would work best with the capitalist system.

The keywords that would fix everything are ethics, social justice, free press (informed rather than boondoggled electorate).. Then let an informed electorate decade.,

Palindromedary,

I doubt the green party would ever actually win, because the democrats would notice and change from within before they lose power (therefore i see voting green being the only way to drive politicians back towards resenting the people.. The saying goes; "If the people lead, the leaders will follow)".. We the good guys, are locked in an eternal fight against power hungry nut-jobs.. The other saying gies "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

"bobbler"- Thom has talked about socialism many times. If my memory is correct ('cause it's been awhile), Thom's understanding of socialism matches my own. A socialist system does not translate to state-manufactued consumer goods. Socialism is about protecting and maintaining what should comprise the commons: education (schools, libraries), healthcare, energy (utilities), the postal service, fire department, law enforcement, road maintenance, etc. Nobody's suggesting things like fast food, comic books or tennis shoes should be provided by the state. - AIW

Truthdig article by Alexander Reed Kelly on
Three videos by Dutch filmmaker Marije Meerman who exposes Wall Street.."the dark and dangerous future of investment and trade".
The three videos are available at this web site: (But 2 of these 3 videos appear to be the same film.)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdigger_of_the_week_documentary_...

DAnneMarc: I've watched about 14 of about 68 or those videos and find them more believable than you do. Gordon Cooper is pretty old and hard to understand...tis true..that is part of getting old for most people...but aside from his brief religious comments I tend to believe what he has to say...ie: I believe that he believes that what he is saying is true...and that he is not trying to delude us in any way. None of these people are claiming they were abductees and were given special messages for mankind. At least not of the 14 I've watched so far.

Many of those old guys had signed an agreement not to divulge information for a term of 50 years. 50 years would have been up in 1997 on what they knew back in 1947. In fact, 50 years ago would have been 1963. There was one younger man, that I watched, who was rather careful in what he divulged and a couple of others would not divulge the names of others they were associated with in order to protect them. But, at this point, if the government believes that they have sufficiently bullied or propagandized the majority of the population into thinking the whole subject is nonsense and if they were to start assassinating people, especially old people, for speaking out then that might make more people start believing that there is something to the ravings of these old people. And a lot of these old people, while they may have worried about losing a pension at a younger age, know they don't have much longer to live anyway and just want to clear the burden that they've carried all these years. And perhaps they are seeing the kind of criminal, corrupt government and institutions, and no longer feel they owe any loyalty to them any more. Even young Snowden, when he found out how sinister and corrupt the US government is, he took a very big chance to set the story straight. We need many more people like Edward Snowden. Or all will be very bad for us all in the future.

By the way, I understand that Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, astrophysicist and cosmologist is coming out with an updated version of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series called "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage".

http://www.space.com/24243-cosmos-tv-series-neil-degrasse-tyson.html

I watched those videos on Truthdig about Wall Street highspeed Trading (HST). Very interesting! They talked about the "Flash Crash" on May 6, 2010, and in 2012.

And here is a 4 part story on how one young guy, Heim Bodek, is bringing down the HST behemoths:
"The Dark (Pool) Truth About What Really Goes On In The Stock Market"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/dark-pool-truth-about-what-really-goes-sto...

Heim Bodek is prominently interviewed in the above videos as well.

Quote Palindromedary:And here is a 4 part story on how one young guy, Heim Bodek, is bringing down the HST behemoths:

"The Dark (Pool) Truth About What Really Goes On In The Stock Market"

Palindromedary ~ Thanks for that link. I read the story and noticed they mentioned Schwab had been hoodwinked in the same scam. That is a notion that is too hard for me to believe. Schwab is a old and proven company that is way ahead of the game; and, the idea that some anonymous rep from a lesser firm knows some profitable little detail they don't is laughable. Sounds like an elaborate con to me. Like the first comment suggested,

Quote swnmguy:I don't know enough to be able to tell if this is bullshit or not, but it sounds about right to me.

However, it doesn't sound right to me--it sounds like pure bullsh!t. Don't be hoodwinked.

Hi Alice, our pres. should be allowed to operate w/o a fox news machine strangling him. The fox machine needs shut down now. People are hurting.

Do you guys have any laws we could pass to deal with extraterrestials? I love the distraction as long as it keeps distracting. Having so many problems with terrestials it is subtracting from its power of distraction.

AIW -- Chronologically, Reagan was Thatcher withour lipstick (the poetry is not nearly as good).