Revived Citizens Party

Our Nation Needs a Third Party Statement For a Change Fresh off of the campaign trail for Congress in the 9th Congressional District, I am considering a campaign for State Representative in the 30th Legislative District of Washington, a special election in 2015.  This would mean foregoing the present campaign for Director of Elections (King County), but I may do just that if I think I have a good chance of winning in the 30th, as the comparatively smaller jurisdiction gives a candidate not funded by corporations (their PACs) or individuals acting on behalf of corporations a better chance of getting their name out and meeting the electorate one-to-one.  For the first time in a long time, I may campaign door to door, something that you can't do so well in a huge county election.  Alternatively, the Revived Citizens Party may sponsor someone besides myself for the special election, which would mean that I'll definitely keep on course for Director of Elections.  None of the

Rampant internationalism that has been detrimental to American citizens for decades, and that should be dramatically scaled back, was a key platform issue in Mark Greene's campaign for Congress and was addressed as such in his voters' pamphlet entry.  For all the people who voted for the status quo in the Congressional primary last 5th of August, Burger King's move to Canada shouldn't have surprised any Smith voters.  Corrupt so-called American companies, but really internationalist ones with internationalist barons running them, are moving to foreign countries by the hundreds, maybe thousands, to take advantage of weak U.S. tax laws that allow them to get out of paying taxes that pays for the national infrastructure and educational development of the national workforce that they are dependent on.   There will be no long essay about the intricacies of tax inversion, here, but Congress could put a stop to it with a simple bill.  Some commentators on MSNBC/TV were sayi

A lot of voters in the 9th District may be in a quandary over who to vote for from the pitiful Top 2 choices for United States Representative after the probable certification of A. Smith and D. Basler.  The answer, however, is to vote for neither.  We will write-in our vice-chairman's name: Ashley McCormick; call it a protest vote if you will, and we urge our supporters to vote for Ashley as well. 

I'm always behind the curve, time wise, in seeing the best movies, but I just saw Moneyball with Brad Pitt about a couple of weeks ago.  Suddenly, I started comparing politics with baseball, again, as I did with "Leo's Maxim" some time ago.  In Moneyball, basically, the Brad Pitt character had to deal with the lowest budget, or close to it, of all the other major league teams in baseball, yet also try to build a competing team for the American League championship.  Pitt's character, Billy Beane, the General Manager, succeeded by making the playoffs in the year 2002 by having one of the best records in A.L. history, 103 victories, and setting the A.L. record for the most consecutive victories in history, 20 in a row. Beane and his Asst. General Manager devised a system of using statistics to overcome their money disadvantage and it proved that numbers can override money with persistence and strategy.  I believe that the same principle can apply to politics, and

If the vote has been counted correctly, Mark Greene received 3% of the vote for the United States House of Representatives office in the 9th District, and maybe that'll go up a point by the time they're finished counting.  This means that most of the rest of the 96% - 97% probably voted according to whatever party label they have affixed onto in the past: (D) or (R), and we kind of doubt if the majority in the overall aggregate vote count read the voters' pamphlet comprehensively.  Voting on automatic pilot hardly ensures good governance, but it will definitely ensure the status quo. It's hard to see how 2 out of 3 voters could vote for Adam Smith in the left-of-center 9th District if they actually knew how this congressman has put the country on the wrong road with his brand of "Blue Dog"/"Boll Weevil" politics.  Do those who voted for Smith care if we have a right to habeas corpus, as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, anymore?  As for the little

To those Citizens of Washington who would like to run for office under the Citizens Party/Revived Citizens Party label, we invite you to peruse these blogs, decide for yourself if our party sounds like something you would want to join, and send us an e-mail to attend our meetings in the Puget Sound area.  The meetings are usually once or twice a month, though members are not required to attend every one.  Our goals for 2016 are expansive though plausible.  We want a full slate of candidates running in the great majority of offices in that year, and some local offices in 2015.  For 2016, this includes having at least one legislative candidate (state senator of state representative) in each of 49 Washington districts, so that we will have bragging rights for being the only 3rd party for covering the full expanse of the state, from the Pacific Coast to the border of Idaho, and from the international border of Canada to the border of Oregon, but more important than that is that this wou

The Revived Citizens Party is recruiting for potential candidates to run for Congress in 2016, who will be twenty-five years old or older before the year 2017 starts or within the first few days of 2017 (for local offices 18 or older before 2016 or within a few days), and who are learned to some degree in politics or government, even just reading, so no degrees required, good speakers, youthful to elderly, live in Washington, and of either gender.  You must be able to learn how to debate, thus the "good speaker" qualifier, and you must be able to attend Citizens Party meetings about twice a month.  No fakes/moles, please.  If interested, send note to e-mail which can be found in  "profile," the link to which is in the "About Me" section (in right column).  Other candidates are needed to run for local offices.  Carpe diem! -- Chair of the Revived Citizens Party, Mark Greene [revised on 10/31/14] Related next-to-succeeding post:  Future WA Politicia

The Citizens Party needs your contributions so that we can recruit candidates, hold forums, start petition drives for initiatives or offices, pay for on-line sites and office space, and generally promote our platform and policies in the public arena.  This is the most reliable 3rd party in Washington state challenging the status quo.  For instance, this is about the only party in the state that would not pay for the wars of foreign countries between each other.  This is the only party in Washington that would use foreign aid money mainly for humanitarian purposes with few and stringent exceptions.  This is the only party that believes we need to start a 5-year Marshall-type Plan to confront climate change and global warming, now, not tomorrow, or next year, and definitely not more talk without taking concrete steps.  This is the only party that thinks we should start a government jobs-for everyone-that-needs-one program for the long-term unemployed.  The government can hire everyone

According to conventional, popular wisdom, America dislikes Congress and thinks it is about the most unpopular institution in the nation.  Actually, no, that's only what Americans tell pollsters, how they really feel is how they vote, and going by the 97% - 98% re-election rates, at least on the House of Representatives side, but no lower than 90% on the Senate side, we would say that America loves Congress and the status quo, at least for now. Mark Greene will probably never run for the House of Representatives, again, but will likely run for the U.S. Senate or other statewide offices someday.  Nonetheless, the Citizens Party is always recruiting citizens to run for political office and we would like to see one of our own run against Smith or Basler in 2016.  Maybe, our own Ashley.  Time will tell.

Even with a mediocre number of the overall initial vote count, I do not concede races early anymore after what happened to me in the '04 G.O.P. primary (I am not identifying with either major party anymore) in the 9th Congressional District .  I very much thank all of the two thousand seven hundred thirty-seven people (2737) who voted for me, and supporters who weren't able to vote for me for whatever reason. Major party-line or automatic voting is an immovable mountain at times unless the person contesting the major party line vote is a billionaire like Ross Perot or somebody like that, yet the corrupt, dismal major parties in America must be contested and resisted if democracy in America is going to thrive.  On the other hand, there have been a handful of 3rd party successes in America in recent times through the efforts of ordinary, non-rich citizens, so there is hope.  I happen to think that all citizens have a stake in democracy and government, so the Citizens Party wil

The Republican Party in the 9th District of Washington has been pleasantly surprised by the success of my coalition campaign to attract all parties and my common sense platform to fix the economy, turn America inward from the foreign wilderness and to keep a traditional outlook in political affairs.  They also like the fact that if I became a congressman, that I would not be a puppet of Wall Street, but a representative of Main Street.  They know that I am a true friend of their party, and they want somebody in the General Election that has a real chance of winning, not another Postma or Muri that can only attract intra-party votes and has no real chance of succeeding in the radically redrawn New 9th District, especially with Basler, as the Seattle Times put it, hardly waging a campaign.   -- Mark Greene, candidate for Congress, Congressional District 9, Citizens Party Note:  I just found out that a prominent Ron Paul website has been playing up Adam Smith's Democrat chall

Link updates or specials:   Revised Legislative & Congressional Primary Endorsements (updated 7/27/14);   Citizens Party Appeals to All;   Uncle Sam's Clients; President George Washington's common sense; The Vice-Chair of the Revived Citizens Party;   Citizens + "Party of the People" Could Change Politics As Usual;   Citizens At Bay; Stop sending taxpayers' money to world; Time for America to turn inward. About opponents: Rivers Needs a Secretary;   Basler's Coming Million Dollars; Basler & Rivers refuse debates.   Smith rates himself the most qualified, BUT ... Citizens Party's U.S. House Campaign needs. How supporters can help this campaign with just a few days before voting finishes on August 5.   The Citizens Party's Predictions for the August 5, 2014 Primary (9th District Contest).   The only thing that matters about this election is what you, the voters of the 9th Congressional District of Washington, think

Lest We Forget: Smith Voted For Proviso That Unconstitutionally Ends Judicial Review At Govt.'s Discretion   While the Seattle Times was lauding Congressman Adam Smith for his "detention" efforts, trying to improve the conditions in a holding facility, they conveniently forgot to remind you that Smith voted for the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 107–40; 50 U.S.C. 1541) that breathtakingly and with alarm in intellectual quarters around the United States said that the government had the right to indefinitely detain persons, including citizens, without any kind of judicial review whatsoever.  We have a Bill of Rights and a general Constitution that is forthright in pointing out that this particular N.D.A.A. proviso is unconstitutional, and you hardly have to be a scholar to understand the plain language of that part of the Constitution.  Senator Diane Feinstein from California attempted to correct the statute by amending the 2013 N.D.A.A. to restor

The Newspaper That Once Endorsed "W" Endorses Adam Smith, Again Surprise, surprise, surprise!  The Seattle Times endorsed Adam Smith, today.  This is why nothing ever changes in Washington, D.C., because institutions like the Times and people, generally, keep making the same predictable decisions when it comes to Congressional representation, and then have the gall to complain about the moribund, dismal Congress that exists.  The Times throws around or implies terms like "perennial" and "not credible," but credibility, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder and if anything is perennial, it is these same, old "Wall Street" functionaries in Congress pulling the wool over our eyes time after time and holding on to the reins of government incessantly, while chaos breaks out on the border, high unemployment continues unabated, the nation's infrastructure erodes, foreign policy goes from inexplicably mindless to shambles, and

Non-Smith Democrats Reject Rivers and Join Citizens Coalition Today, I was shaking hands, discussing politics and passing out campaign cards in and around the intersection of 320th & Pacific Highway, the heart of the City of Federal Way, and the reception that I got was hugely positive.  The people are so sick of the major parties that they'll vote for anything else.  One woman said that she agreed with most of what I had to say, and she's looking forward to voting in the primary, presumably for me.  With feckless government policies that have brought widespread cynicism to the American people, the people are beginning to understand that the best way towards the overall revitalization of the nation is to put in new parties and independents.  Non-Smith Democrats are not about to vote for a cranky Don Rivers, who has about as much chance of overtaking Adam Smith in the primary as winning the Powerball jackpot.  However, these Democrats will vote for me, realizing that I

They are getting better, "they" meaning the press: for instance, the Seattle Times conducted a fair editorial board meeting of the 9th District Candidates for Congress, but  Reliability can hardly wait for the memory of Gomer Pyle to shine when they make their actual endorsement.  Although, it doesn't look like the Times is going to do a pre-primary article about the sparsely covered 9th Congressional District primary for U.S. Representative where the only candidate who has any money, apparently, is the incumbent, Adam Smith.  No money, no story.  So one step forward for civic faith, kind of, and one step back.  The Tacoma News-Tribune at least thought the race deserved an article, which they published recently, but no editorial board meeting with the candidates.  Why go through the motions, after all?  Still, little mousy web journals and puerile, partisan little non-daily local news fillers couldn't so much as make a notice about the Bellevue Library Candidate E

Rep. Adam Smith gets truckloads of political money from special interests and big business to fend off commoners like me who would truly represent the common man and woman.  Here's a handy link regarding who Smith's big-time funders are: http://nationreform.blogspot.com/p/rep-adam-smiths-funders-who-he-really_6143.html By the way, I have decided, through my legal prerogative, not to file with the F.E.C. unless I receive/spend an aggregate $5000 in campaign funds. -- Mark Greene, Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional District 9 [revised on 7/10/14]

As long-time readers of my blogs know, my relationship with the media has been acrimonious at times, though I realize, of course, that the press is an essential part of politics and democracy in our nation, and of course the relationship between politicians and the press is going to be often disharmonious because they have distinctly different interests.  That doesn't mean that one or both sides cannot be at fault at varying times, and both sides often are. So with all that in mind, my first thought today is, though I am sure that the H-1B system for hiring temporary foreign workers has been widely abused, there is a big distinction between that system and the system for permanent residents being in the job market.  In the interest of my views being as publicly accurate as possible, I'll say this: I more or less support the law that infers that official permanent residents should be treated the same in the job market as citizens are.  In a completely separate earlier inter

Theodore Roosevelt -- Republican and Bull Moose Parties One of the Revived Citizens Party's heroes is Theodore Roosevelt, the president of the United States at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, 1901 - 1909.  The historian Edmund Morris's iconic name for him is Theodore Rex, as individualistic, intimidating and no-nonsense as one might imagine one of those large, gruff-looking dinosaurs was, like the T.-Rex replicas on display at museums, in the prehistoric era.  Roosevelt's administration had no tolerance for shenanigans by avaricious big business interests, and was famous for busting up monopolies, or trusts, in the Ragtime Era.   Roosevelt also took a huge interest in environmental concerns by creating national parks and taking other bold steps to protect the environment.  "Theodore Rex" stared down international antagonists ("Speak softy and carry a big stick."), mediated a peace treaty, and invited educator/activist Booker T. Washingto

UPDATED AND REVISED AT 4:30 P.M., July 3, 2014 2 of my opponents for the 9th District U.S. Representative seat, to be voted on in the August 5th primary, are ducking debates, so far.  Congressman Adam Smith is on official Congressional business, however, so he cannot attend.   A 2nd debate can be scheduled, however, that would be more befitting to Smith's work schedule.  Doug Basler and Don Rivers still have until July 7 to respond to my invitation from a few days ago to debate at Bellevue Library's largest meeting room, which might be televised by TVW.  This could be called the Challengers' Debate.  These two turning down debates would be truly baffling considering that the 9th District primary is barely a blip on the media's radar.  Basler and Rivers will be deemed non-candidates by me if they do not respond affirmatively to debates by July 7, or do not have a good reason for not attending.  There is no other public candidate forum scheduled before or after the Aug

I had hinted at this in a May 29th post on this blog, "Opponent's Non-Campaign," but that was pretty much tongue-in-cheek as the Republican candidate just came out of nowhere to appear on the ballot in the last hours of the last day of filing, but his "non-campaign" then seems like an actual non-campaign, now.  It's beginning to look like Doug Basler was put on the ballot to basically block any third party or independent candidate from getting a Top 2 slot in the General Election, namely to block my campaign, by merely appealing to the Republican party-line vote through just being on the ballot. Basler (R) has not responded to my debate call, so far, and neither has Don Rivers (D).  Basler, as far as I can see by checking websites, is not responding to questionnaires from political organizations.  If Basler is getting out and actually doing person-to-person campaigning, it's not readily apparent in the 9th Congressional District, but I have to admi

Please, click on link  below to see Rep. Adam Smith's campaign funds from Political Action Committees (PACs) : you'll be very surprised -- or maybe you won't be. Congressman Adam Smith's P.A.C. Bankroll (Who Congress Really Represents - Not Us!)

The "Reliability" Blog is Growing Stronger and Just In Time for Primary Election   Reliability just got a thousand pageviews within a 30-day period for the first time as more people are becoming interested in the Washington Primary Election that's just around the corner.  The ballots will be mailed out in mid-July and the election results displayed on August 5.  I have a feeling that, finally, there will be a little redemption, through my electoral success this year, for the stolen 2004 Republican Primary, in which I was denied a rightful victory due to the incompetence of former Director of Elections in King County, Dean Logan.  I realize, of course, that it's not politically correct for politicians to complain about their election losses  -- you know, just let them steal it and say nothing -- but I'm not one for being quiet about wrongdoing in regards to our democracy, even if it appears self-serving, because in rare instances being such is just being

Jay Winik was very tiny when he was born, but thanks to his mother's, and presumably father's, loving care, and good doctors and nurses, he grew up to be one of America's best historians.  I have a couple of his books: "The Great Upheaval" and "April 1865."  It just goes to show that anybody, despite debilitating circumstances, can grow up to be a giant of their profession or trade, or even like, from sickly boy to president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt (Republican and "Bull Moose" Parties), a giant of history. -- Mark Greene, Candidate for U.S. House, 9th District of Washington (Citizens Party)

The scions of Hollywood are opening up their pocketbooks to Congressman Adam Smith, as they have done for decades, and may be considering doing the same for Smith's major party opponents, Don Rivers and Doug Basler.  Anything to keep social conservative, Mark Greene, from getting a foothold in the Top 2 Primary and thereby within striking distance of a General Election victory in November.  Hollywood's greatest concern: Mark Greene's morality education program for public grade school and high school students that he plans on putting in a bill, if elected, that will not be based on religion so as to respect the constitutional separation of church and state requirements.  This is Mark's one exception to the  Uncommon Core essay from a few days ago, but an important one that may have Hollywood rolling out the red carpet for Smith.

Today, I sent e-mail invitations to all 3 other candidates for the 9th Congressional District U.S. Representative seat, which if at least 3 of 4 candidates agree to participate, will be held at the large meeting room in the main Bellevue Library on 110th Avenue on July 11, and possibly could be televised, as in 2004, by TVW, the Washington state cable news network that specializes in civic and political affairs.  The library has already approved the event.  For Challenger Congressional campaigns that have all but been ignored by the media, so far, you would think that  Rivers and Basler, especially, would jump at the opportunity to get more community interest in this election.  You would think, but so far no word.  Interestingly, in 2004, Lord, Losey and Smith didn't let the first day go by before accepting debates.  However, the candidates, including the incumbent, Smith, have until Independence Day to respond to the invitation one way or the other, and if one or more don'

There is Nothing So Powerful As a Big Lie That Everybody Believes   The lie makes its rounds at convenient times, in other words, opportunistically, during campaigns and elections for political office in America.  The lie is very powerful and potent, and its effect is amazingly consistent and dominating, and it goes something like this:  "We have a two-party system, and don't you dare step outside it, because any other parties or political forces outside of our Democrat-and-Republican controlled apparatus is essentially misfit, trouble-making and unAmerican."   The problem with this lie is that even the relatively short history of the United States negates it as multiple parties beyond just two played a much more prominent role nationally in the first hundred years of the republic, and even since 1876, political parties outside of Democrats and Republicans have helped to shape and define the political landscape, especially on the state level.  So let's be absolu

For practically decades, now, 9th Congressional District Republicans have been trying to deny Rep. Adam Smith reelection with the typical Republican politician, with one or two exceptions, from Hollywood Central Casting, and they came closest with Dick Muri in 2010, but still fell behind by several percentage points.  Now, that the currently shaped 9th District lined out half of all Republicans in the old 9th District, including Mr. Muri, a lot of Republicans have thrown up their hands in disgust since the 2011 redistricting deal was brokered and practically gave away the 9th to the Democratic Party, apparently in exchange for Rep. Dave Reichert (R) having a newly reshaped 8th District that is weighted a lot more to easy reelections for him than his used-to-be closely contested races.  Some conservatives in the 9th District, however, like councilwomen Lisa Jensen (Newcastle) and Dini Duclos (Federal Way) are not necessarily persuaded that Adam Smith is unbeatable, and are willing to

I am trying to revive the old Citizens Party that was, in its existence in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, environmentally and socially conscious, economically progressive, and was trying to counter the so-called two party system that was then and is now more accountable to big business interests than the people at large that continually vote for it. Even Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, trust-buster and environmentally conscious, saw the need to shake up the Republican/Democratic domination of politics by starting the "Bull Moose" Party when he was out of office during the second decade of the 20th century. We can do the same in this second decade of this century, but we're going to have to break out of the "familiarity breeds comfort" pattern, because right now the familiar means spending a lot of money on boondoggles that have nothing to do with either domestic tranquility or real defense, and we, as Americans, just going by the little that I already k

A fairly big swath of the City of Seattle is in the 9th Congressional District since the 2011 redistricting took place, but somehow a local Seattle cable program could not bring itself to have any candidate forums or presentations about the coming August 5th primary regarding this U.S. representative election, despite that they had many programs about the 1st Congressional District representative primary, in which not a single part of Seattle is located in, in 2012.  The same is true for other supposedly non-partisan media outlets and organizations.  They have decided that it's better not to call too much or any attention to these 2014 elections than to have traditional, oriented-to-democracy discussions, debates and programs.  This is blatant, partisan incumbent protection.

I'm not a big fan of educational standards coming out of bureaucratic, partisan obsessed, centralized oriented Washington, D.C., so if I am elected, I will have no problem sponsoring a bill to cancel "Race to the Top" and "Common Core."   I am not going to sit here, today, and propose detailed curricula for our public schools in Washington, because that's better left to the education professionals who have the training, expertise and experience, but I will say that I am more interested in teachers just teaching than worrying about an over abundance of assessments, tests and general scoring.  Sure, we need all of these data at some point, but too much of a good thing often ends up being counter productive and has students being trained by rote and conformity rather than giving them the space that they need to be exploratory and intellectually innovative, both of which have been important factors in the past for the United States being at the for

As a result of the incompetence of the Iraqi Maliki regime, and the perfidy of Bush/Cheney 12 years ago, Iraq appears to be on the verge of a major civil war after several years of skirmishes between ethnic, religious and political divisions.  Now, politicians in America want Uncle Sam to get involved in that morass, again, after many of these same politicians are the same ones that started it in the first place when they backed Bush II's call for the invasion of Iraq from 2002 - 2003.  This new call for overt interventionism should be rejected.  Our nation must defend against threats from fanatical organizations by choosing our battles judiciously, wisely and without creating a climate that would broaden regional sympathy for religious fanatics or terrorists.  Getting mixed up in the Iraqi civil war in a major way would not be the least bit smart, and lest we forget, Congressional consent is necessary for new military interventions that are not logically connected with the consen

Mission Impossible:   Trying to Get Democrats to Disaffect from Corporate Democrats I was a little shocked when the Young Democrats from Pierce County invited me to be a part of their endorsement process for the 9th District Congress office.  Imagine, Democratic activists, of all people, not giving the corporate incumbent congressman, who has a "D" next to his name, a free pass to another two years in Congress.   I got over my shock and answered their questionnaire, and now I'm waiting for their decision. Little has been more nerve wracking in this campaign for Congress than for Democrats in this now overwhelmingly Democratic district to tell me they're effectively going to vote for Adam Smith because he has a "D" next to his name, the party-line vote.  Smith votes for more bad legislation that ordinary Democrats would disagree with than you can shake a stick at, but he gets a pass because most people don't know how he votes; in other words, the b

Someone actually queried me recently with a rhetorical "You don't really think you're going to win, do you?"   In the past 5 years, because of politics, I have been ostracized from the private and government employment market in the Seattle metropolitan area, humiliated in a city council race in the small town that I lived in for 8 years, contemptuously "banned" from getting coverage in the Director of Elections race by the state's biggest "newspaper," lied about by sophomoric "journalists" of littler papers, and unfairly scorned by the region's political ratings kingpin, and one only had to look at a single contemporaneous rating comparison to realize the ridiculousness of that.  Yet, consider who these detractors really represent (hint: it's not the average populace) and what kind of politics they are trying to stop: economic populism with a conservative consciousness. Yet, none of that gets me down for long, as I have pr

Now, that I have been front and center in calling for "Church - Pike" type hearings in Congress, like in the 1970s, on various governmental agencies and departments, such as the C.I.A. and the N.S.A., you just know that I am on their radar screens.  That's something I'll live with, though unlike Rep. Adam Smith, who sits in Congress and goes along to get along, if I'm elected, I would not stand by and say nothing or pretty much nothing about torture, "extraordinary renditions," and military and C.I.A. rules of engagement that need to be reviewed and possibly overhauled.  Not to mention breaking the 4th Amendment through the surveillance of law-abiding American citizens who may be critical of government actions. Torture and extraordinary renditions should be banned, period, and the definition of torture is too narrowly defined in several instances, it seems.  The laws, the Constitution and the universal moral code must be respected and accountability p

Weakness and Strongness The computer put a red line under "strongness" in my subtitle.  Too bad, I like it, so I'm keeping that "non-word." Call it my invention, if you will.  You cannot imagine the emotions that welled up in me last night watching an old 1980s movie called "St. Elmo's Fire."  It's a movie that I never saw at the time that it first ran, circa 1985, but kind of watched it since then, off and on, after it aged 20 years or so, and began seeing it on television from time to time.  Last night, I came upon it about 15 minutes from the start, and watched it more closely than ever until the end.  I love the theme music, though non-lyrical, it's part of the magic of the movie, I believe.  In the 80s, I was just slightly older than the main characters in the movie.  It really brought back a lot of memories from that decade, particularly a period from the years 1980 - 1981, and it's amazing how watching a movie can trigger

While areas in the United States, including right here in Washington's 9th District, are in need of repairs to infrastructure, new infrastructure and general upgrades to the commons, Congress and the White House continue to give out lavish foreign aid money, such as a billion and a half dollars per year to the brute regime in Egypt.  Saudi Arabia said that if American foreign aid was pulled from Egypt, then they would fill in the gap.  Then they might just have to do that, because America should cut back from giving out lavish foreign aid, generally, especially when our cities, towns and rural areas are economically troubled, and what foreign aid we do give should be dramatically hollowed out, thought out and measured more carefully than it has been by President Barack Obama and the Establishment in Congress. [revised on 6/6/14]

The following is a list of some of Congressman Adam Smith's worst votes in Congress:   1999:   Smith voted for Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act: the law that dismantled the Glass-Steagall Act which had separated financial institutions' commercial and investment branches from involvement with each other, and thereby kept customers' accounts from being exposed to risky banking gambits. 2008: Smith voted for U.S. - India Nuclear Agreement: this agreement undermined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act (N.P.T.), despite that this deal involves the energy sector, by cooperating on a nuclear level with a country that has long refused to sign the N.P.T. 2008: Smith voted for T.A.R.P., otherwise known as Wall Street Bailouts:  while Wall Street was giving their executives million dollar-plus bonuses, before and after the passage of T.A.R.P., the American taxpayer was footing the bill for this outlandish give-away of government money. 2011: Smith voted for the '12 N.D.A.

Ninth District Republicans can be sure of one thing, Rep. Adam Smith wants the novice, Basler, in the Top 2 rather than formerly G.O.P. candidate ten years ago, but now Citizens Party candidate, Mark Greene.   Smith, who you just know prefers an opposite major party novice as his General Election opponent, is probably worried that Mark Greene will make the Top 2 and thus would become the first 3rd party candidate to get on the General Election ballot by overcoming a major party candidate, as Smith realizes that a strong coalition of Republicans, Democrats, other Third Parties, and Independents can send him scurrying to the White House begging for an ambassadorial job if he is sent packing, if not to K Street where he would be welcomed as a lobbyist.  The cover has finally been blown on Smith's votes in Congress that are completely out of touch with the wishes of his constituency, and Smith's last hope is for the loyal opposition to put up the same old typecast can