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If possible, please, contribute to Mark Greene's council campaign.  For the rest of this month of September, we're aiming for ten 10 dollar donations in order to buy a hundred dollars worth of buttons (Greene for Council) that'll be handed out in Newcastle.

N.P.R. missed tonight's council meeting due to the editor's busier than usual work schedule, but this should be an anomaly and not a long term problem with N.P.R. keeping up with the latest Washington political news.

Please vote for I-522 this November, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW about whether of not the food you buy is genetically modified.

Generalness is Popular, Specificity is Better

Remember Walter Mondale's frankness about taxes in a 1984 presidential debate with President Ronald Reagan, many said that it set the stage for Reagan's 49-state landslide that year.  Voters didn't appreciate Mondale's candor since people, generally, don't like politicians giving them negative news even if it's true, which is why it wasn't particularly politically astute for me to be the messenger of austerity in the Newcastle News interview, but matters of principle, like being specific and frank in politics, should take precedence over political ambitions, I think.  Of course, everybody wants million dollar streets to drive their vehicles on, but if at the same time people don't want their taxes raised by a single cent, then something has to give.  Newcastle can't spend two million dollars a year on streets every year unless the economy rises significantly or taxes are raised, and right now, in this period of economic stagnation, I simply told the News reporter the truth about finances, and said that the expenditures for roads may have to be cut by half (with the implied caveat: if constituents don't want their taxes raised).  That was one of several specifics in the article's portion about me.  Regarding John Drescher, however, the majority of politicians in America wouldn't mind saying the same words as him in that article, in some sense, which gives you an idea of how general his statements were.

-- Mark Greene, Newcastle City Council Candidate, Position 6  

[revised on 10/13/13]

Tricky Labels/Non-Labels

Drescher is Probably Not a (D) [as in Democrat]

In the '09 "non-partisan" King County Council primary for Council District Nine, 92% of the electorate voted for either of 2 Republicans, despite that the third candidate (Mark Greene) was an independent.  Many Democrats thought that one of the three candidates was a (D), because she made a seemingly concerted effort to cloak herself that way and received the endorsements of nonsensical so-called alternative news sources that usually support (D's), though actually she was an avid supporter of then Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R).  This tactic successfully got the Palin fan into the general election with Reagan Dunn, whom she was soundly defeated by.

The moral of that story is that voters in the Newcastle City Council election for Position 6 should be aware of the strange bedfellows-type endorsements of "Blue Dogs," like Adam Smith, and charlatan turncoats, like Rodney Tom, that happen to have (D's) after their names, because council candidate John Drescher supported Senator John McCain (R) for president and has a testimonial on the front page of his campaign site from an anti-apartments city commissioner. This is hardly "Ripley's Believe It or Not," but a little tricky to get a handle on, nonetheless.

Anti-Interventionist, Too

N.P.R.'s partial blog profile describes our Party of Commons as economically progressive, culturally traditional, by and large, and anti-interventionist re. foreign policy, by and large, but the local (Newcastle) town paper left out the very latter in the recent article about council position 6 as they pointed out the former two positions.  Why foreign policy was left out, N.P.R. has no idea, although, there's no sacrilege committed if councilmembers or candidates, from any city or town, speak out on foreign policy, although city officials generally have no direct responsibility for enacting policy. Nevertheless, foreign policy affects cities and towns almost as much as anything else, so there's no reason for the hush-hush.

[revised on 9/15/13]

Previous post: "Correction: Latin Term Mix-up"

Please vote for I-522 this November, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW about whether of not the food you buy is genetically modified.

Correction: Latin Term Mix-up

For someone like myself who had an early familiarity with Latin as an altar boy, I'm a little surprised that I twisted up the term "quid pro quo" in N.P.R.'s recent "Green Ideas" essay (now corrected), but this was just from probable tiredness and possibly rushing, not ignorance.  Northern Pacific Report goes out of its way to have correctness in all manners, including truthfulness, general grammar, and spelling of names and terms.  If you see something that you believe is not true, please, make a note in the comments section.  All comments are modified, but only for fitness for publication, in order to keep things on subject.

-- Mark Greene, N.P.R. Editor

Please vote for I-522 this November, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW about whether of not the food you buy is genetically modified.

Let Others Know

Please, let others know, especially in Newcastle, Washington, about Northern Pacific Report.  URL: http://commonsnorth.blogspot.com. Tell them this is an informative blog about governmental issues and affairs that focuses on Newcastle, but from time to time reports on Washington overall, and the nation and the world in general.  There is also commentary on this blog.  Any effort to spread the word about N.P.R. by readers will greatly aid Mark Greene's election chances for city councilman in Newcastle this year.  Thank you!

Please vote for I-522 this November, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW about whether of not the food you buy is genetically modified.

Restraining Gentrification

Low income and working class families in Newcastle have been increasingly displaced by gentrification policies.  Gentrification is basically the buying and renovating of old property to upscale standards, which often means the displacement of the working class, because generally, the radically increased rents are unaffordable.  Unfortunately, city councils across the nation and in Newcastle, in general, do not insist that only measured increases, for instance, not more than 10% annually, can be put on renters already on the property at the time of sale to the gentrifying real estate barons, or alternatively, a lump sum payment equal to twelve months rent or however many months the renter has lived on the property, whichever is lesser, to those who would be displaced.  This kind of policy would not stop gentrification, which in a modified form may not necessarily be all bad if particular property is very seriously dilapidated, but it would put some needed restraints on gentrification gone awry in America, and keep money in the pockets of the poor, the low-income and the working class.  City councils should do more to restrict and restrain gentrification.

Please vote for I-522 this November, YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW about whether of not the food you buy is genetically modified.