A worthy choice: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is to be awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. During World War One, chemical weapons were used to a considerable degree. The Geneva Convention of 1925 […]
Monthly Archives: October 2013
LIVE from Bellingham: Council candidates share their vision for Whatcom County
Here comes the home stretch of yet another election season. As campaigns move into get-out-the-vote mode, volunteers are phonebanking and knocking on doors, candidates hope to make an impact on more civically active voters by speaking at forums. While many of these just serve to engage the base and get a few more people to […]
Latest Republican thinking: We’ll vote to pay our nation’s bills for a few more weeks, but we won’t reopen the federal government
Sorry, Republicans.… not good enough: House Republicans, looking for a way out of a budget standoff they began, plan to vote as early as Thursday on a plan to raise the debt limit through November 22. But because the House proposal would not allow a vote on a Senate-passed measure to finance and reopen the government, […]
President Barack Obama nominates Janet Yellen to be the next Federal Reserve Chair
History was made today at the White House when President Barack Obama announced that he has decided to formally nominate Janet Yellen as the next chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Yellen, who currently serves as vice chair of the board, would be (if confirmed) the first woman and the […]
The Seattle Times sensibly joins the coalition opposing Tim Eyman’s self-serving I‑517
In an editorial just published to the Web this evening, The Seattle Times’ editorial page — which we have not always been in agreement with — has wisely come out against Initiative 517, the latest scheme to roll out of Tim Eyman’s initiative factory. I‑517, which NPI has been helping organize opposition to for almost […]
New set of polls shows Republicans could lose the U.S. House of Representatives
Ever since the conclusion of vote-counting in last year’s presidential election, the number seventeen has taken on a special meaning to Democrats. That’s the number of seats Democrats need to win next year to get back the United States House of Representatives and relegate the Tea Party extremists who control the House Republican caucus to […]
Outside right wing groups playing outsize role in Republican government shutdown
The New York Times has a great article today that delves into the origins of the House Republicans’ government shutdown. It turns out that powerful right wing groups, including the vast political machinery assembled and funded by the Koch brothers, have been agitating for a shutdown for a long time, and were finally able, with […]
Curtis King and Rodney Tom’s transportation “listening tour” adds more stops
A few weeks ago, when Senate Republicans announced the dates and locations for their autumn transportation listening tour, we criticized them for not scheduling stops in places like Seattle (the state’s largest city) or Bremerton (one of the state’s ferry dependent communities). At the time, I wrote: Transportation is a major issue for Washingtonians who live […]
Wendy Davis makes it official: She’s running to be governor of Texas in 2014!
Big news out of the Lone Star State today! Progressive hero Wendy Davis, who did an incredible job leading the fight against legislation to roll back reproductive rights in Texas back in the spring, has announced that she is running to replace Rick Perry as the state’s governor. At an event in Haltom City, Davis laid […]
Let’s not forget: House Republicans forced this federal government shutdown to happen
We are almost through Day One of the first major shutdown of the federal government in seventeen years, and sadly, it still appears that House Republicans are unwilling and unready to do their jobs. They could have easily averted the shutdown days ago by simply passing the continuing budget resolution the Senate sent them, and […]