News you shouldn't miss about the issues that matter most, from the desk of Jim McDermott, U.S. Congressman, Washington State District 7: http://www.mcdermottforcongress.com/
NEWS ITEMS OF NOTE
• Deep Throat & Me
• Double Jeopardy
• The Oil Factor in Bush's "War on Tyranny"
• A Radical in the White House
• The Chinese Connection
WEB SITES I LIKE
• HorsesAss.Org
• Daily KOS: The Ongoing GOP attack on Congressman Jim McDermott
BOOKS I'M READING
• Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment
• Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East
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• Join the American Values Team
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FEEDBACK
Your feedback on the issues—and this newsletter—is very important to me. Send your thoughts to: emailsignup@mcdermottforcongress.com
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This fall I will again be in court for providing information about Republican wrong-doing to a prominent newspaper in 1997. In my case the information was published in the New York Times and led to Newt Gingrich being ousted from power. Recent headlines about "Deep Throat," the Washington Post, and Richard Nixon have me seeing parallels, as you might imagine. To find out about my case and see how you can help, please see the link below.
• Get the Facts
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
The Seattle P-Is longtime ace political writer Shelby Scates looks at the Republicans' case against me through a reporter's lens. His main concern is how a negative decision could expose journalists to lawsuits and other legal actions by lawmakers. "First Amendment protection, as we have known it for at least a century, and the reason it exists—to give citizens the right to know what's happening to public policy under the sheets—hangs in jeopardy," Scates writes.
• Read the article
THE OIL FACTOR IN BUSH'S "WAR ON TYRANNY"
Are the horrors we witness in Iraq every day only the beginning of a perpetual state of war to protect the interests of American oil companies? That's the awful specter raised in this article by F. William Engdahl. He reports on the Bush administration's targeting of nearly a dozen counties, including Venezuela, Indonesia, and Malaysia, for daring to make plans that U.S. oil companies fear would cut into their profit margins—thus making them "tyrannies" in the eyes of the administration.
• Read the article
A RADICAL IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Read this and weep. Marking the 60th anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bob Herbert of the New York Times recalls FDR's goal "to make a country in which no one is left out." In a radio address delivered shortly before his death, Roosevelt called for decent housing, adequate health care, and a good education for all. Herbert compares FDR's vision to the policies of the Bush administration, which seek to "throw government money at people who already have more cash than they know what to do with." Kind of says it all, sadly enough.
• Read the article
THE CHINESE CONNECTION
Can you believe that the stability of the U.S. economy is now dependent on low-interest loans from China, of all places? These cheap loans are a big reason why interest rates are still low despite enormous borrowing by the Bush administration to pay for the budget deficits created since Bill Clinton left office, much to support Bush's war in Iraq. Paul Krugman explores the consequences that may await us as a result of our growing addiction to the loans from China. Could a housing bust be in the works?
• Read the article
Here are just a couple of the Web sites I find refreshing and informative.
• HorsesAss.org: http://www.horsesass.org
Find out why David Goldstein was named Best Activist/Hell-Raiser last year by Seattle Weekly readers. On this site "Goldy" posts his daily blogs and occasional columns. If you're ever looking for an immediate antidote to same old songs in the mainstream press, this is a great site to bookmark. And if you're wondering about the name of the site, it comes from Initiative 831, the campaign Goldstein spearheaded in 2003 to have Tim Eyman officially proclaimed a "Horses Ass." Which I'm sure we all remember fondly.
• Daily KOS: The Ongoing GOP attack on Congressman Jim McDermott: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/27/20135/6111
I never dreamed I'd count kossacks among my supporters. But here you go. The Seattle Kossacks are a group of online bloggers who provide daily "rants" on the state of our nation. Members of the group have written about my case, and recently invited me to visit them to learn more about blogging and its possibilities in helping citizens stay informed and active about their government. Take a look at their page for a different perspective on my case, and to get a feel for what blogging is all about.
Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment
By Floyd Abrams
Most Americans take their free-speech rights for granted. It isnt widely known that those rights have come under repeated attack, especially in the past three decades. Abrams was at the forefront of the major cases, defending the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers trial and NBC in a libel suit brought by singer Wayne Newton, among other disputes. Abrams recounting of the intricacies of these cases makes for a fascinating read, and the underlying theme that our First Amendment rights require our constant vigilance is one that always bears repeating.
• Get more details
Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East
By Clyde V. Prestowitz
I have to raise an eyebrow when an official from the Reagan administration writes that Americans consume too much. Isn't that absolute heresy coming from a Republican? But indeed it's one of the many thoughtful observations Clyde Prestowitz makes in this wake-up call regarding the likely consequences of the move to capitalism in China, India, the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere. Here is a sobering and prescriptive analysis that provides a welcome flipside to the pro-globalization slant of Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat.
• Get more details
• Join the American Values Team
• Make a donation
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