to the Whatcom Progressive Grassroots Network, where you can find activities and groups you can start working on today! We are here to help you connect with the people in our area that are already actively pursuing the political goals you want to support. If you wish to start something no one else seems to be working on, please contact us.

Meeting schedule change
Please note that we are moving our regular monthly meeting to the Third Tuesday of each month. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 19 at 7 pm (prefaced by potluck snacks at 6:30 pm) at the SEIU meeting room on the second floor of the Labor Temple at 1700 N. State St. just north of the bridge over Whatcom Creek (for one time only - NOT the usual Dispute Resolution Center).

Email us or call us at 360/671-0248 to become a participant of WPGN, sign up for our list to receive email notices of meetings, events, and actions or to discuss your ideas or questions.

We will have our monthly meeting and a few of our most important events listed on the Sustainable Bellingham Community Calendar just until the webteam can get our own WPGN calendar up and running.

www.wpgnetwork.ning.com - Visit our forum, video links and more at our ning site. It will take some time to get the Home page set up with a good description and info on how to use this social networking site. It is perfect for our needs but we will need to use it to learn how to use it.

Our intention is for the News, Events, Issues, and Actions links on the top navigation bar to be activated and updated, but this network is all volunteer so it depends on how soon and if people volunteer to help with these updates when these features will be functioning. If you want to help with this, please let us know. We will greatly appreciate it. WW - WPGN Webteam.

The WPGN brings together politically active groups and individuals from all over Whatcom County to facilitate and encourage each person’s work for the common good. We also provide opportunities for activists to network with each other and explore different points of view in the pursuit of greater unity and more effective strategies. The Network doesn’t endorse particular actions, strategies, or goals – you decide what your priorities are.

We started coming together after the election victory of Barack Obama as President in 2008, seeking to build on the momentum and enthusiasm of the many people in Whatcom County who participated in that great accomplishment. There is a long history of active involvement in Whatcom County that predates the 2008 presidential campaign and made success possible. The WPGN serves to strengthen that rich tapestry by making it easier to explore the interconnections among these movements. The WPGN also provides a forum for analyzing, criticizing, reacting to, proving feedback for, and/or supporting the current administration’s many policy initiatives, as well as dealing with the many challenges and crises we, as a community, face on all levels of government.
As a group, we are continuing to evolve and you are welcome to participate in shaping our future as a network as well as our future as a community.
Groups and individuals participating in WPGN are already engaged in addressing the full range of issues confronting people in Whatcom County, from the economy to the environment, health care to human and civil rights, gay and lesbian pride, the peace movement, veterans issues, sustainability, the labor movement – all are welcome. We are preparing a complete list of participating organizations, that will be published here soon. More..

Health Care Reform Under Sneak Attack

At the 7/6/09 meeting of the WPGN (Whatcom Progressive Grassroots Network) Larry Kalb, Senior Policy Analyst on Healthcare for the Northwest Progressive Institute, reported that conservative elements within the Democratic Party (the DLC = the Democratic Leadership Council) have been seeking since 5/1/09 to co-opt the term “Public Option” by using it to describe their “reform” plan to give the public only one “option” – to choose which private insurance company they want to pay (or subsidize with taxpayer dollars).

This Big Lie has a very deliberate purpose – to peel away Congressional support for the original Public Option proposal of the Obama administration, which would give people the option of subscribing to a publicly funded health insurance plan similar to Medicare. These conservative congressional Democrats hope to please their insurance company paymasters by getting their “Public Option” proposal incorporated in at least one of the (House or Senate) bills that are likely to pass before the summer congressional recess in August, giving them the chance to trot this phony reform out to their constituents and build public support for regressive legislation in the Fall that would reverse the trend toward more progressive health care reform.

This is an attempt to muddy the waters and ultimately could increase private insurance companies’ profits while stifling chances for even the mildest reforms in the right direction. If you also desire meaningful health care reform in 2009 it is imperative that you spread the word to as many people and organizations as you know throughout the nation as soon as possible.

Also visit: www.wpgnetwork.ning.com - for our Discussion Forum, Blogs, Rss feed, Videos and more being developed soon!

Health Care Reform: excellent articles and videos links

http://weiner.house.gov/tv.aspx?p=107
Rep.Weiner's blunt analysis and single payer proposal - stunning video clip of him - phone your support

Bill Moyer's interview with Wendell Potter on Health Care - 7/10/09

Blue Dog Dems Want to Reform the Health Care System Without Reforming the Health Care System

Sebelius says Obama is working to permanantly block single payer

Obama Campaign Vow of Public Debate on Health Care Fading

Doctors Protest Exclusion of Single-Payer at Senate Finance Committee

Baucus’s Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer Advocates at Senate Hearing on Healthcare

Want to see what can be done with ning.com? Here are some examples:

Do Peace - http://dopeace.ning.com/

Transition Whatcom - http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/

Following a suggestion from the MoveOn team, I posted WPGN's info on Maria Cantwell's Facebook "wall" and you can view it in "photos" by hovering over the Whatcom Progressive Grassroots Network jpg - View - Lynnette

Website by: Lynnetters - Copyright WPGN.net 2009

"Disruption of Congress"

Local Activists, please send us
your relevant photos