The 42nd Campaign funding race as of 09/24/2012

As of today in the race for the 42nd Legislative District, the Democrats (McClendon,Krogh) are losing the campaign funding race by $47,235.  Examining contributions to the 42nd Legislative District of WA as of 09/24/2012. All data from the PDC.  Legislative Candidates for the 42nd District of WA. Campaign Funding as of 09/24/2012:

The tripling of US arms sales

The tripling of US arms sales

German energy company to shed 10,000 jobs despite huge profits

German energy company to shed 10,000 jobs despite huge profits

"The Bourne Legacy"

Warning: This is a plot spoiler review and also a socio-economic/technological review of "The Bourne Legacy" now playing at Regal Sehome 3 in Bellingham, WA

"You have a plan, right?" "You're a doctor, so you've thought this through?" says Jeremy Renner ("Aaron Cross") to Rachel Weisz ("Marta Shearing") in the Bourne Legacy .  Marta, a virologist taking part in genetic modification of soldiers, does not have a plan. As most members of the professional classes would, she suffers psychological collapse as her superiors in the military industrial complex  brutally hunt her down.  Aaron Cross,on the other hand, has a plan and it doesn't involve being hunted down.

Condemned to Republican representation....

With all but 200 votes counted, here is how nearly 40% of Whatcom registered voters cast their ballots for U.S. Senate and Wa Legislative Districts in Whatcom County::

Race	Candidate	Votes	PercentageOfTotalVotes
United States U.S. Senator	Maria Cantwell	24,723	54.973
United States U.S. Senator	Michael Baumgartner	13,296	29.5644
United States U.S. Senator	Art Coday	3,111	6.9175
United States U.S. Senator	Glen (Stocky) R. Stockwell	1,030	2.2903
United States U.S. Senator	Chuck Jackson	886	1.9701
United States U.S. Senator	Timmy (Doc) Wilson	842	1.8722
United States U.S. Senator	Mike the Mover	611	1.3586
United States U.S. Senator	Will Baker	474	1.054
Total		44,973
Legislative District 42 State Representative Pos. 1	Natalie McClendon	13,625	44.111
Legislative District 42 State Representative Pos. 1	Jason Overstreet	17,263	55.889
Total		30,888
Legislative District 42 State Representative Pos. 2	Matthew Krogh	13,626	44.2288
Legislative District 42 State Representative Pos. 2	Vincent Buys	17,182	55.7712
Total		30,808
Legislative District 40 State Representative Pos. 1	Kristine Lytton	9,692	100
Legislative District 40 State Representative Pos. 2	Howard A. Pellett	2,255	20.1663
Legislative District 40 State Representative Pos. 2	Jeff Morris	8,927	79.8337
Total		11,182

Some obvious thoughts:

(1) Populated south Whatcom county (e.g. most of south Bellingham) is now so Democratic the Republicans don't bother to run candidates in the new 40th District.
(2) Overall, Whatcom county leans Democratic as can be evinced by Maria Cantwell's primary victory of nearly 55%.
(3) Krogh and McClendon will need a voter registration and voter turnout miracle to beat Overstreet or Buys in the 42nd.

Redistricting has nearly guaranteed legislative votes that cancel out each other in the Fourth Corner. The gerry-mandering seeds almost the entirety of Whatcom County's geographical presence to the Republicans, links the 40th Orcas Island liberals with South Bellingham of the same and cuts off working class North Bellingham from Democratic support:

And that's probably not going to change much in November unless Matt and Natalie can galvanize farm workers, WCC students and core Democratic neighborhoods like the Lettered Streets, Cornwall, Birchwood,  and Columbia in Bellingham.  Unless they can  find a way to transplant some of the 16,000 returning WWU students to 42nd  district address....I don't see much Democratic legislative representation for those of us who live in neighborhoods north of downtown in Bellingham. Here is about as clear a picture as I can screenshot tonight of those Bellingham neighborhoods north of downtown now condemned eternally to Republican legislative representation:

The Carbon Trade in the Fourth Corner (Part I)

Cherry Point and Lake Whatcom Basin 1 from NASA WorldWind

"Nearly three weeks after the group’s initiative to prohibit the use of gas-powered craft from operating on Lake Whatcom Reservoir, city and county attorneys ordered a recount using a different law than the one usually usedlocally for the validation of signatures.
The new criteria was taken from a state law brought forth by initiativeopponents who call themselves “Lake Whatcom Stewardship Association” (LWSA).”That law would limit the length of time allowed for gathering signatures to sixmonths and would require disregarding more than 400 signatures.
At their Sept. 13 meeting, City Attorney Joan Hoisington told City Councilmembers that they could not try to salvage the initiative for the Novemberballot.. “There is no initiative,” she said.
“This isn’t about boats any more, it’s about democracy,” Crozier said. “The powerful mustn’t be allowed to ignore due process and violate civil rights ofcitizens who are trying to make a difference.”" (quoted from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/whatcomgreenparty/message/2841?o=1&d=-1 )

 It may be the case that Judge Snyder's rejection of anti coal initiative represents sound legal practice. But if water quality activist Sharon Crozier were still with us, she might beg to differ.  Sharon, a fiery grandmother and cancer survivor (a phrase she didn't like), had a golden heart. She was the type of activist Noam Chomsky's prototypical 'elite' would hate the most: a committed idealist with a passion for truth and reform. And thus the legal and political system of Whatcom County tormented her. She shrugged off flailing criticism from liberal and moderates and political intimidation and from the right wing in Whatcom County.  All of this criticism simply because she wanted to remove motor boats from our drinking water source. Her worst opponents, the 'property rightista' class attacked her campaign savagely. At one point she received a death threat in a Hagen's parking lot while seeking signatures for the "Motor Boats Off" petition . I believe the exact words of her tormentor were: "If you f*ck with my property values b*tch, I'm going to take you out to that lake and drown you."  Sharon devoted herself to the cause despite all the hatred and intimidation that was sent her way. She had good reason to. Still today, Whatcom County's cancer incident rates are number three in a state with higher than the national average incidence rates to begin with:

County	Annual Incidence Rate† over rate period(95% Confidence Interval)	Average Annual Count	Rate Period
Washington 5	476.8 (474.4, 479.1)	31,534	2005-2009
US (SEER+NPCR) 1	465.0 (464.7, 465.4)	§	2005-2009
Mason County 7	554.6 (530.3, 579.8)	413	2005-2009
Grays Harbor County 7	540.0 (518.1, 562.6)	474	2005-2009
Whatcom County 7	527.5 (513.2, 542.1)	1,064	2005-2009
Pierce County 7	521.6 (514.1, 529.1)	3,816	2005-2009
Snohomish County 7	517.6 (509.4, 525.9)	3,187	2005-2009
Skagit County 7	509.8 (492.8, 527.1)	704	2005-2009
Thurston County 7	506.7 (494.2, 519.4)	1,299	2005-2009
Jefferson County 7	497.2 (467.7, 528.5)	251	2005-2009
Cowlitz County 6	495.3 (476.7, 514.3)	555	2005-2009
Kitsap County 7	489.8 (477.6, 502.2)	1,278	2005-2009

Yet somehow, Whatcom county residents can't put together the fact that dumping unburned hydrocarbons into their water supply is a toxic practice that may be killing them. Sharon and her environmental partner Tim Paxton, never got the chance to put their initiative on the ballot. I doubt Coal-Free Bellingham ever will either.

Personally, I find the arguments against a Coal-free Bellingham contrived. Sure, we need a strong interstate trade act. But you could extend that argument to justify everything from the shipping of toxic waste to continuance of the slave trade. A community like Bellingham should have some control over the burdens placed on it from the mountains of coal that will eventually be trafficked through their downtown and residences.  Currently, there is no legal framework to give a community such control.  In another era, would we have been justified in using the laws that govern interstate trade to allow the transport of slaves from free to slave states? Fifty globally warmed and polluted years from now, equating the carbon trade with the slave trade may not seem so outrageous.

The problem is that the law is subsumed by needs of power and money in a capitalist society. The needs of the people count second. Whatcom County has historically always been a "resource class" colony : Timber, Coal, Silver, Salmon, Raspberries, Dairy, Energy, Oil. Here in Whatcom County, we ship our resource products the world over.  Only recently have we established strong service sector economies in health, education, tourism, property. To understand how the carbon trade may come to dominate the fourth corner, consider our region's strategic energy assets:

"Kiss the concrete"...

When I was younger and growing up in east Oakland, I would listen to news stories about drive by shootings. The cops would be called on the carpet because indiscriminate drive by shootings were tragically killing the old and very young.  The gangs were just bulleting neighborhoods to establish territory, but if you were too young to react to the street or too old to "kiss the concrete" fast enough, you ended up full 9mm slugs. "Kiss the concrete" is the operative phrase to keep in mind.  "Keep your head up" is one I kept in mind when I walked the mean streets.

I find it ironic that the recent great 'terrorist' events of our time have been the work of young, male college students apparently all suffering from a disturbing mental illness: Seung-Hui Cho, Jared Loughner, James Eagan Holmes.  Worse than this are the revelations that university officials in all three cases had forewarning of their illness and (for one reason  and to some degree or another) punted the ball. Existing media reports make the case of James Eagan Holmes to appear to be especially disturbing and noteworthy in this regard.  Of course, plenty of other mass shootings have occurred recently by non-students in America and around the world.

The Progressive Voters Guide....

REMEMBER TO VOTE TONIGHT:

If you are a 'progressive'  in the 42nd district (Whatcom County) and you are looking for someone to list their recommendations and compile supporters for each candidate you could try here:

http://progressivevotersguide.com/2012/washington/primary/county/whatcom/42nd/

The ballot is long this primary...

Oil tankers from Vancouver...

Excellent article from the Globe and Mail on the Kinder Morgan proposal to double existing pipeline capacity and ship Suezmax style tankers from Vancouver. Great graphic features here.  With the addition of multiple coal ports, Shale Gas facilities, and Alberta oil exports, the fourth corner could become the Rotterdam of the West.

We thank the PDC of WA...

We thank the PDC of WA for the detailed maintenance of its political contribution database. Although the PDC has its critics, it is the essence of democracy to understand who is driving the political process. Sorting by contributions for all Washington elections in 2012, these are the contributions over $100K to date (August 4th, 2012) :

Name	Contributor	Date	Amount
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	GATES BILL	2012-06-19	800000.00
VOTERS WANT MORE CHOICES - SAVE THE 2/3RDS (MIKE FAGAN)	ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON BUSINESS PAC	2012-06-29	265000.00
NEW APPROACH WA	STEVES RICK	2012-07-17	250000.00
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	GATES BILL	2012-06-07	200000.00
VOTERS WANT MORE CHOICES - SAVE THE 2/3RDS (MIKE FAGAN)	ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON BUSINESS PAC	2012-05-30	185000.00
SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTL UNION WA ST COUNCIL PAC	SEIU WASHINGTON STATE COUNCIL	2012-04-24	150000.00
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	BEZOS JACKIE	2012-06-13	125000.00
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	BEZOS MIKE	2012-06-13	125000.00
NEW APPROACH WA	AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WA FOUNDATION	2012-07-19	100000.00
NEW APPROACH WA	STEVES RICK	2012-06-29	100000.00
OUR WASHINGTON	SEIU 1199 NW	2012-07-07	100000.00
SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199 NW PAC	SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199 NW	2012-06-26	100000.00
VOTERS WANT MORE CHOICES - SAVE THE 2/3RDS (MIKE FAGAN)	WASHINGTON BEER & WINE DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION	2012-05-11	100000.00
WA UNITED FOR MARRIAGE	SEIU WASHINGTON STATE COUNCIL	2012-05-24	100000.00
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	BEZOS JACKIE	2012-06-22	100000.00
YES ON 1240 WA COALITION FOR PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS	BEZOS MIKE	2012-06-22	100000.00

Remember to Vote!!

The Whatcom County Primary Election is Tuesday, August 7th!!  Remember to return your mail-in ballots soon! You can find further information from the WA Secretary of State at "My Vote"  County ballots locations are pictured here.   Please make sure you have your ballot and have voted before August 7th!.

The Bellingham Festival of Music is here!!

This season's internationally acclaimed [1] Bellingham Festival of Music opens tonight at WWU's PAC, featuring Jeremy Denk on piano. On Monday, classical violinist Joshua Bell will rock the Mt. Baker.  The full schedule for the next two weeks features these guests for artistic director Michael Palmer's classical extravaganza:

• Pablo Sanz Villegas
• Paul Johsnon
• Lynn Harrel
• Rita Costanzi
• Tamara Mumford
• Charles Robert Stephens 

and many others[3,4].

Arctic drilling creeps forward now, and in 5 years | ajc.com

Bellingham, WA is in the news nationwide this week:

Arctic drilling creeps forward now, and in 5 years  | ajc.com

Troop hospitalizations show mental toll of war - News - Stripes

Troop hospitalizations show mental toll of war - News - Stripes

"Iran threatens Israel; New EU Sanctions take force"

Iran threatens Israel; New EU Sanctions take force

People for Natalie McClendon

""The State Democratic Party, and each of the local party organizations, work for the rank-and-file Democratic voters, not the other way around. We need to trust and respect the Democratic voters of the state to know what their best interests are and to make good choices for our communities, state and nation. We need to build a party that reflects this reality."
From Natalie McClendon Previous Chair of Whatcom County Democrats 

I am very slow to endorse politicians or contribute to existing political parties.  An observer would say that I am a victim of my own self-developed cynicism and disappointment with the democratic process.  But then, I may not be the only one who is afflicted as such.  Nevertheless, every now and then there is reason to pull back from the darkness and wish for hope and change, even knowing that it might not come.   And so, dear reader, I recommend you invest some time considering supporting once Democrat county chair Natalie McClendon for the 42nd legislative district. As a distant observer of Ms. McClendon, what I like most is her  marked ability to combine effectiveness with a passion  for electoral participation. Under her chair, Whatcom County has significantly increased voter registration and turnout. Whatcom County has also returned some remarkably important electoral results. Most notably, the turn out for President Obama in 2008 and the turnout for Rick Larsen in 2010. I'm sure Ms. McClendon would graciously credit others for some of these achievements.  In reality, few leaders  in local  politics bear the responsibility for energizing a local voter base more than the county chairs of the various local political parties.

Egyptian junta stages coup against parliament

Egyptian junta stages coup against parliament

Russia prepares army for Syrian deployment

Russia prepares army for Syrian deployment

Some film and quotes for Memorial Day

My recommendation for two brilliant films to see for Memorial Day:

• "The Ground Truth" (2006)
• "The Veteran" (2011)

Both available on Netflix. Some quotes I find appropriate for this Memorial Day: 

"About 18 veterans kill themselves each day. Thousands from the current wars have already done so. In fact, the number of U.S. soldiers who have died by their own hand is now estimated to be greater than the number (6,460) who have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Eleven years of war in two operating theaters have taken a severe toll on America’s military. An estimated 2.3 million Americans have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and 800,000 of those service members have been deployed multiple times."
"Anthony Swofford on the Epidemic of Military Suicides"
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/20/anthony-swofford-on-the-epidemic-of-military-suicides.html

"The organizing principle of any society is for war. The basic authority of the modern state over its people resides in its war powers. Today it's oil, tommorrow water. It's what we like to call the GOD business: guns, oil, and drugs. But there's a problem. Our way of life. It's over. It's unsustainable and in rapid decline. That's why we implement demand destruction. We continue to make money as the world burns. But for this to work, the people have to remain ignorant of the problem until it is too late. That's why we have triggers in place: 911, 77, WMDs. A population in a permanent state of fear does not ask questions. Our desire for war becomes its desire : a willing sacrifice. You see? Fear is justification, fear is control, fear is money. You're a brilliant soldier and I could still use someone like you."
Actor Brian Cox in "The Veteran" (2011)

Is War with Iran next?

It is a beautiful, bright spring day in Bellingham, WA.  Here at the edge of contiguous United States, busy educated professionals mingle with international visitors who are mostly British Columbian shoppers, but anyway...at least they're polite most of the time. Lulled by the serenity of North Puget Sound, the Salish Sea, Bellingham Bay...and protected by Joint Base Lewis McChord,  Everett Naval Station, Bremerton and Bangor/Kitsap Nuclear Submarine Base, Whidbey Island Air Force Base.  Here in the topmost corner of what was anti-communist Henry M. 'Scoop' Jackson  second WA congressional district, most of us don't often think too much about being the gateway to the most important West coast naval bases in the United States.

Even most war protesting here is often a sedate affair. But a new war in the Middle East could change this. The drumbeats for 'War with Iran' have been beaten by two U.S. Presidential administrations for almost ten years now. For my money (which mean free analysis only), William Engdahl covers the roots of the Iranian-U.S. conflict with as little nonsense as possible (1, 2, 3, 4) . I will sum up his viewpoint: 'Never mind all the crap you read about a nuclear Iran threatening Israel. Our government wants a friendly client state in the Middle East so they can neutralize Russia and China.'  It looks like Russia and China have no illusions about about our imperial motivations.  So will Iran become the flashpoint that re-ignites the cold war? What would the effect of such a war be on our national and local economy? Not exactly topics that the main stream media is covering now, are they?  Perhaps there won't be any media build up to such a war. After all, trying to rationalize the Iraq war through the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" logic wasn't a stunning publicity coup last time round.

Is the Obama administration militarism based on getting American imperialism done as quietly as possible while mollifying domestic liberals with leftist social policies?  Hard to know, I suppose.  However, we can know that war with Iran (and indirectly with Russia and China) could have unique international and domestic consequences. Clearly, Russian under Putin is signalling it will respond.  Here are some recent links on  War with Iran:

• US 'tells Russia to warn Iran of last chance' 
• US amasses stealth jet armada near Iran 
• US intensifies confrontation with Iran 
• Russia prepares for a US-Israeli military strike against Iran
• Azerbaijan and Israel work against Iran  
• Rethinking Our Approach to Iran's Search for the Bomb