Mayor’s Ties To Developers Threaten To Derail Plan For Better Homeless Shelters In Nation’s Capital

Washington, D.C.’s primary homeless shelter is a dangerous, decrepit place and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) plan to replace it with several smaller, distributed housing and shelter facilities has almost unanimous support from the advocacy community.

But that popular plan may now be in jeopardy.

Most of the sites Bowser proposes building shelter spaces are currently owned by people and companies who donated to her campaign, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. These landowners would see a windfall from the plan as currently designed.

Meet The Most Powerful Political Organization In Washington

WASHINGTON -- Coverage of the influence of money in politics tends to suffer from the same weakness that all horse-race politics writing does: it almost never connects day-to-day movements to any broader reality or purpose. We learn about the size of ad buys or overall spending plans, but there’s no so what? Following the 2012 presidential election, the political press decided, rather unanimously, that all the talk about the Citizens United decision had been overblown because, after all, Democrats more or less matched Republicans on the spending front, a Democrat was reelected to the White House, and the party even hung on to the Senate, so no rich conservative was able to buy the election. Sure, Republicans later took over the upper chamber in 2014, but plenty of Democrats still managed to win.

Cooks And Janitors At U.S. Capitol Strike In Protest Of The British Company We Pay To Serve Senators

Workers who serve food at the United States Capitol went on strike Tuesday morning to protest their low wages and call attention to retaliatory actions they say their employer has taken against workers who want to unionize.

That company, Restaurant Associates, holds the federal contract to operate the cafeterias in the Capitol Visitors Center and in the Senate itself. The government contracts out janitorial and food service work at many public buildings, paying taxpayer money to private companies rather than employing service workers directly.

Republican Congressman Threatens DC Mayor With Arrest Over Marijuana Legalization

Come Thursday, city officials in the nation’s capital will allow residents to grow and possess small amounts of marijuana. But a handful of Republicans in Congress are desperate keep the drug illegal in DC—so desperate that they’ve resorted to intimidation.

“You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here,” Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz warned in an interview Tuesday with The Washington Post, referring to DC mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials. “We’re putting them on notice.”

Protests begin as Congress tilts toward upending D.C. law legalizing pot

D.C. officials and activists for marijuana legalization launched a long-shot bid Wednesday to halt a federal budget deal that appeared poised to upend the city’s successful ballot measure last month to legalize the drug.

The day after Congress came to a tentative budget deal that included language intended to block the city’s measure, proponents chanted and marched to Capitol Hill, held a sit-in at the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and promised to keep urging congressional leaders to let the District govern itself.

What's Wrong With Washington? We Ask Those Who Left It Behind

WASHINGTON -- Americans view Congress more negatively now than at any point in our nation’s history.

Which raises the oft-asked question: what’s the matter with Washington?

We decided to ask those who were once in power and have left, figuring they might have some perspective. What have they come to realize matters most about the legislative branch? And what did the political world treat as important that, in retrospect, was trivial?

Law Doesn’t End Revolving Door on Capitol Hill

A top aide to a Republican congressman from Arizona helped promote a legislative plan to overhaul the nation’s home mortgage finance system. Weeks after leaving his government job, he reappeared on Capitol Hill, now as a lobbyist for a company poised to capitalize on the plan.

A former counsel to Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee left Capitol Hill a year ago. He, too, returned to the Hill just months later, lobbying committee aides on behalf of Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg L.P.

Washington State Vote to Label GM Food Defeated By Corporations’ "Sophisticated Propaganda Machine"

As a measure to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods fails to pass in Washington state, we speak to one of its major supporters, David Bronner, the grandson of Dr. Bronner who founded Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, who spent $2.3 million on the "Yes on 522" campaign, but was outspent 3-to-1 by opponents. The campaign against Initiative 522 drew millions of dollars from major corporations and out-of-state organizations who spent more than $22 million to defeat it, including Monsanto, which donated more than $5 million, and DuPont, which gave almost $4 million. Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Nestle dedicated more than $1.5 million each. This comes as a recent New York Times poll found 93 percent of Americans want labels on food containing GM ingredients. Sixty-four countries require it. Bronner notes votes are still being counted and the measure is not yet officially defeated, and says similar measures are pending in Connecticut and Maine.

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Source: democracynow.org
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The Voters Of Washington State Don't Want To Know If Their Food Was Genetically Modified

SEATTLE -- SEATTLE (AP) — Voters in Washington state have rejected a ballot measure requiring mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

The campaign over Initiative 522 drew millions of dollars from out of state and was one of the costliest initiative fights in state history.

How to Win in Washington

Kurt Bardella is not a guy you can easily root for. He activates your radar and not in a good way. He laughs too much and too loud. He hangs out in cigar bars. When he talks with you, you suspect you are being worked.

 I liked him instantly.

By that I mean Bardella gave me a headache, but I liked that he flouted the norms of the smooth Washington hustler. In a city where even the most rabid striving must be cloaked in nonchalance, Bardella never pulled this off or even tried. He was not shy about sharing — on his Facebook page — his ultimate ambition: to become the White House press secretary. He was not reticent in acknowledging a danger of his brash style: “I’m never that far away from blowing myself up completely,” he told me once. “It’s all part and parcel of my inferiority complex.” But generally, Bardella added, he was pretty good about channeling his demons in a way that benefited his boss, Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California.

Peaceful Protester Tasered Outside DOJ While Demanding Wall Street Prosecutions

WASHINGTON -- Carmen Pittman had no intention of becoming an activist, but her bank, the Department of Justice and Occupy Atlanta turned her into one. Shortly before her grandmother died in 2011, the family realized that JPMorgan Chase was preparing to foreclose. HuffPost interviewed her late that year for a story on Occupy Atlanta and found a bewildered and desperate 21-year-old, talking about her childhood home in the past tense.

"My every Christmas, my every Thanksgiving, my every birthday, my every dinner was in this house," Pittman said then of a home that had been in her family since 1953. "This was the base home. We could not stay away from this home. This home is my every memory."

Keystone XL pipeline takes centre stage at Washington protest

WASHINGTON—Canada’s carbon-intensive oilsands industry was the guest of dishonour in Washington on Sunday, where the largest in a series of nationwide climate rallies demanded President Barack Obama call a halt to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Though precise numbers were in dispute — organizers claimed upwards of 50,000 supporters, with other media assessments suggesting half as many — activists appeared to have met their target of achieving the country’s largest-ever climate rally.

Thousands to Rally in Washington DC Against Keystone Pipeline

WASHINGTON – On Sunday, February 17, thousands of Americans will gather on the National Mall to make #ForwardOnClimate the largest climate rally in history, calling for rejection of the mammoth Keystone XL pipeline and limits on power plant carbon pollution to prevent disastrous climate change.

"Join this historic event to make your voice heard and show President Obama we can't afford to wait any longer for strong climate action." Said organizers in a statement.

Several American Indian leaders stand in opposition with environmentalists against the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline coming down through the Plains states has caused great concern, particularly among the Oglala in South Dakota.

Washington Gay Marriage: Legislature Has Enough Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

OLYMPIA, Wash. — As lawmakers held their first public hearing on legalizing same-sex marriage, a previously undecided Democratic senator on Monday announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married.

The announcement by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, that she would cast the 25th and deciding vote in favor of the issue came as hundreds of people filled the Capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage.

In a written statement issued at the end of a Senate committee hearing on the bill, Haugen said she took her time making up her mind to "to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy."

"This is the right vote and it is the vote I will cast when this measure comes to the floor," she said.

The state House is widely expected to have enough support to pass gay marriage, and Gov. Chris Gregoire publicly endorsed the proposal earlier this month. If a marriage bill is passed during this legislative session, gay and lesbian couples will be able to get married starting in June unless opponents file a referendum to challenge it. Opponents have already said they will.

A referendum can't be filed until after the bill is passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gregoire. Opponents then must turn in 120,577 signatures by July 6.

Occupy Protesters Gathering At Capitol

WASHINGTON -- Protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement will meet outside the Capitol in Washington for what participants hope will become the largest gathering of Occupy activists from around the country.

Participants say they plan to decry the influence of corporate money in politics and show the House of Representatives what real democracy looks like. The House reconvenes Tuesday after its winter recess.

The protest comes as the nation's capital has emerged as one of the strongest bastions of the Occupy movement, in part because the National Park Service has allowed protesters to maintain their encampments in two public squares near the White House.

Participants say the daylong demonstration will be peaceful, although it's possible some will risk arrest.

Original Article
Source: Huff 

Occupy Wall Street Comes to D.C., but Can It Take Root?

Occupy Wall Street is spreading so fast to so many cities -- close to 1,000 at last count -- that the movement is already struggling to maintain its focus and identity. Will it become an arm of the labor movement? Will it get swallowed up by what Robert Gibbs memorably labeled "the professional left"? Or will it stick to its resonant critique of a federal government looking out for corporations and the wealthy and to hell with everyone else?

If all of this sounds technical or trivial, it's not. The future of Occupy Wall Street as a political force may well depend on how well it conveys its message and mission. "We can no longer afford to let corporate greed and corrupt politics set the policies of our nation," the group says on its main website. The dire consequences are found on a companion Tumblr, "We Are the 99 Percent," about all those suffering in a recession economy in which the richest 1 percent own 40 percent of the nation's wealth.

There's no better example of the perils and distractions ahead than a confusing multi-day protest at Freedom Plaza here in Washington, D.C. At a kickoff rally Thursday, most of the literature and some of those milling on the plaza were from Occupy DC, and local media repeatedly characterized the rally and a march to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as part of Occupy DC.

Tacoma, Washington Teachers On Strike For Fourth Day Despite Judge Order

TACOMA, Wash. -- Students in Washington state's third-largest school district are taking a fourth straight day off Friday as opposing sides in a teachers strike meet with a judge, after the instructors defied his order to return to the classroom.

The Tacoma School District teachers walked out Tuesday over issues including pay, class size and how job transfers are handled.

A state judge issued an order Wednesday that they go back to class, but the teachers refused.

On Thursday, about 93 percent of the nearly 1,600 teachers gathered at the Tacoma Dome arena and voted overwhelmingly to keep picketing.

Many students have joined the picket lines and hundreds rallied in front of the Tacoma Dome before and during Thursday's vote.