Local Elections in Roanoke

A quick post just to remind registered voters in Roanoke City about the local elections May 6th.

Not only is it important that you personally remember to cast your ballot between 6am-7pm on Tuesday, but it is also critical that you encourage everyone you know to get out and vote. It is possible that only a few votes could decide who will be Roanoke's next Mayor, councilmen, and school board members. These elected officials will be making the decisions that directly impact our daily lives.

There will be phone banking for local Democrats on the ballot at our campaign office from 1:00PM-8:00PM on both Sunday and Monday. Please stop by the office at 5524 Williamson Road even if you only have a small amount of time to help out.

This is an election where one vote could make the difference!

Today's Victory, Tommorrow's Opportunity

Today's Victory, Tomorrow's Opportunity
April 3rd, 2008


Dear Friends,

I am writing to you in a time of great possibility and hope. I am thankful and proud to be the presumptive nominee of our party for the 6th Congressional District and I look forward to the challenges ahead. I am thankful that Drew Richardson entered the race and allowed us to discuss crucial issues in our district. I am honored to carry our banner into the general election of 2008. We as a party have the chance now to move forward united and energized to re-capture this Congressional District for the good of the people. I am now prepared to continue an aggressive and grassroots driven campaign as the presumptive nominee.

We must not however, lose perspective. We must stay focused on the upcoming caucuses and district convention. I will need your help to become the nominee officially, in accord with Virginia State Democratic Party rules. I urge you to caucus for me or stand as a delegate on your respective localities' caucus date, April the 19th or 21st. We still have a few delegate slots which are open in the district. Please contact me at 1-877-SAM-2008 (726-2008) or email me at info@samrasoul.us if you would like to be a delegate or would like more caucus information. These delegates will be needed at the convention on May 24th in Lexington to cast their votes for me, as well as the presidential candidate slates they will be part of. Your voice is still necessary and essential to the successful completion of our nomination process. This is why I am asking for your continued support and participation.

We are working hard each and every day. I will need your continued support if I am to have the chance to run a competitive campaign for November. We are currently hiring on a full time staff-a full time team of advocates for issues which we all care about who will work endlessly towards creating a positive and powerful campaign. I intend to continue running a determined effort to fight for you and for this district. Please help me in this war.

Once again, thank all of you for the support you have given and I look forward to joining with you to provide a voice for the people of our district and a defender of the Constitution.


Warmest Regards,


Sam Rasoul

BEEF RECALL HITS 6TH DISTRICT SCHOOLS

2/18 Message from Sam Rasoul:

Roanoke, VA-The largest beef recall in U.S. history is extremely troubling due to the fact that "downer" cows were used for processing beef products for human consumption. We believe that Congressman Goodlatte and the House Committee on Agriculture should investigate further into the need for adequate oversight to ensure the safety of our nation's food supply.

The fact that "downer" cows could be non-ambulatory due to the fact they could have BSE (mad cow disease), salmonella, E. coli or other diseases means that these cattle could potentially harm humans if consumed.

Congressman Goodlatte has consistently opposed the banning of "downer" cows from being processed for human consumption.

As experienced in 2003 with a sharp decline in beef exports, disease outbreaks in cattle can also have a profound effect on the cattle industry as a whole. Large beef importers such as Japan and Mexico have refused in the past to purchase beef imports from the United States due to a mad cow disease outbreak in 2003.

The Sam Rasoul for Congress campaign believes we must be diligent not to let powerful lobbyists and special interests impact the quality of our nation's food supply by preventing proper oversight. Not only do we risk endangering the health of our citizens, but we also risk damaging our agricultural industries.
###

3/28 6th District School Systems Affected By Beef Recall:

AMHERST COUNTY
SHENANDOAH COUNTY
AUGUSTA COUNTY
BEDFORD COUNTY
HARRISONBURG CITY
ROANOKE COUNTY
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf

The Importance of Positive Campaigning - Column by Sam Rasoul

Life can be rough.

All of us have hit rough bumps along the road. Growing up in a working-class family, sometimes carrying the burden of bringing home the presents for the family during the holidays, convinced me a teen-ager should not have to take on such responsibilities.

In perspective, though, my challenges growing up are trivial compared to the real problems so many around the world, and even in our local communities, face every day. The stories I have heard in my year of campaigning for Congress in Southwest Virginia would humble the worst of complainers.

The hardships of our world make many of us into cynics, constantly wondering why the proverbial glass is half-empty. Complaining is so easy and cynicism can become second nature to those “stuck” in the routine of life, just trying to get through each day.

America needs a reason to believe why we can accomplish the improbable. Just as “ask what you can do for your country” landed humans on the moon, our country needs a reason to believe again.

Our grassroots movement over the past year is larger than any one election or than my candidacy alone. My values guide me to a commitment that delivers a positive message full of reasons why we can be practical idealists. This practical idealism gave birth to a nation yearning for freedoms and justice for all.

Elections and candidates will come and go. Hopes and dreams built overnight into tall peaks can be swept away by a flood of corruption, selfishness and power scavenging.

I believe it important for me to stay steadfast in my convictions to deliver a positive vision that sees an America 50 years from now with a generation that can promise a prosperous future for their children. This American spirit is why we love our country so much, and though the temptation of negativism that pervades our political arena will sometimes whisper in my ear, I will not, and must not, allow that darkness to pull me in the wrong direction.

While others will most surely use negative tactics against me now and in the future, I owe it to the citizens of our great Republic to remain a carrier of truth, an explorer of knowledge, and a champion for justice.

American Made Energy

Here is a recent column by Sam that I thought you should all see.

ENERGY SOLUTION: MADE IN THE USA
Column by Sam Rasoul
FEBRUARY 29, 2008

Last September I bought a hybrid car, which I had long wanted. The decision to buy at that time was a practical one: campaigning in the 6th district required driving from Roanoke to Woodstock with a side trip to Lynchburg. I had to decrease gasoline costs. At the same time I wanted a comfortable ride. Just when I needed it most, I was able to buy the first American-made hybrid sedan on the market.

That car symbolizes the solution to three serious problems we face.Despite Congressional efforts to ignore the facts, over the past decade the United States has lost 3 million jobs in manufacturing, jobs that paid a living wage and provided benefits such as health insurance and retirement packages. Over those same ten years, our leaders slowly and reluctantly acknowledged a potential global environmental crisis and accompanying energy crisis. While lobbyists push Congress to keep $18 billion in big oil subsidies, every hour we spend $41 million on foreign oil, oil we buy most often from countries that lack stability or democracy, threatening our national security.

We can no longer afford denial or procrastination. One answer to the three-pronged environmental, energy, and job crisis, a sustainable solution, is the creation of "green collar" jobs. We can and must produce clean, renewable energy, and we can and must insist every phase of that production takes place in the United States at the hands ofAmerican workers. At the same time, we must increase energy efficiency, including retro-fitting buildings, jobs which by their very nature will stay at home. Wrapping up a house and sending it to China for aninsulation upgrade is impossible, of course, but we also must make sure our wind turbines and solar panels are not manufactured offshore. As George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, explained "it makes no sense . . . to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil only to become dependent on other countries for products in sustainable energy production."

Private industry is already increasing production of wind and solar and other renewable energies. For instance, when a Maytag factory closed in Newton, Iowa, a company making wind turbine blades decided to take advantage of the skilled workforce already in town. This company once built boats but moved to turbines a few years ago because they saw more opportunity for growth. The wind turbine company guaranteed 500 jobs within three years with decent entry salaries.

However, private industry can't carry the burden alone. We can make an opportunity out of a crisis, an opportunity to put America back to work while at the same time taking the first steps in long-term solutions to energy, environmental, and national security issues. The Apollo Alliance, dedicated to creating high-wage jobs and energy independence, projects that with sufficient federal commitment, we could add more than 3 million jobs to the market over the next ten years.

But do we have the political will? The federal government will have to provide incentives and make a serious investment in our future. We need a Congress that will extend the investment tax credit for renewable energy. We need a Congress that will extend the tax credit for efficient new housing and commercial building and appropriate additional funds forthe Weatherization Assistance Program. We need a Congress that will invest in job training programs geared toward clean energy production.We need a Congress that will help US automakers produce cars that rely less and less on petroleum and a Congress that will significantly raise fuel economy standards (raising the standards from 27 mpg to 35 mpg over the next 15 years is neither significant nor serious) . We need a Congress that will encourage local sources of renewable energy and open the electricity grids. We need a Congress serious about the environment, energy, jobs, and national security, a Congress, as I have said before,that sees beyond the next 4 years to the next 40.

A Different Recession

A Different Recession
The Old Remedies Won't Work This Time
By Harold MeyersonWednesday, January 16, 2008; Page A15 (The Washington Post)

In a normal recession, the to-do list is clear. Copies of Keynes are dusted off, the Fed lowers interest rates, the president and Congress cut taxes and hike spending. In time, purchasing, production and loans perk up, and Keynes is placed back on the shelf. No larger alterations to the economy are made, because our economy, but for the occasional bump in the road, is fundamentally sound.

This has been the drill in every recession since World War II.

Republicans and Democrats argue over whose taxes should be cut the most and which projects should be funded, but, under public pressure to do something, they usually find some mutually acceptable midpoint and enact a stimulus package. Even in today's hyperpartisan Washington, the odds still favor such a deal.

This time, though, don't expect that to be the end of the story -- because the coming recession will not be normal, and our economy is not fundamentally sound. This time around, the nation will have to craft new versions of some of the reforms that Franklin Roosevelt created to steer the nation out of the Great Depression -- not because anything like a major depression looms but because we face an economy that's been warped by two developments we've not seen since FDR's time.

The first of these is the stagnation of ordinary Americans' incomes, a phenomenon that began back in the 1970s and that American families have offset by having both spouses work and by drawing on the rising value of their homes. With housing values toppling, no more spouses to send into the workplace, and prices of gas, college and health care continuing to rise, consumers are played out. December was the cruelest month that American retailers have seen in many years, and, as Michael Barbaro and Louis Uchitelle reported in Monday's New York Times, delinquency rates on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages have all been rising steeply for the past year.

What's alarming is that this slump in purchasing power doesn't appear to be merely cyclical. Wages have been flat-lining for a long time now, the housing bubble isn't going to be reinflated anytime soon, and the upward pressure on oil prices is only going to mount. As in Roosevelt's time, we need a policy that boosts incomes and finds new solutions for our energy needs.
FDR's long-term income remedies included Social Security, the Wagner Act (which made it possible for many workers to join unions) and public works projects -- including a massive electrification of rural America. A comparable set of solutions today would include the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would enable workers in nonexportable service-sector jobs to unionize without fear of being fired. It would include a massive, federally financed program to retrofit America, creating several million "green jobs" in the process.

On these issues, there's a clear difference between the two parties.

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and the congressional Democrats favor these measures; the Republicans oppose them (though John McCain at least has begun speaking about creating green jobs).

What Republicans favor is simply more tax cuts, which will do nothing to address our deeper problems of income distribution and energy dependence.

The second way in which the current downturn echoes the Depression is the role played by our deregulated financial sector. Now, as then, the financial foundations of our leading banks and other lending institutions have turned out to be made of mush. Now, as then, this news has come as an appalling surprise not just to consumers but to many of the banks themselves. Now, as then, the banks created such complex and deliberately opaque financial vehicles -- all devised to make them a buck every time they swapped some paper -- that they long ago lost track of the paper's true value.

In his time, Roosevelt, through the Securities and Exchange Act and other legislation, compelled banks to be both more prudent and transparent. Over the past 30 years, however, Wall Street has created a host of new, unregulated institutions (such as private equity companies) and devices (such as the bundled, and bungled, resale of mortgages into ever-larger investment pools). Now it's time to enforce some transparency and prudence regarding financial institutions that have been gambling with other people's money and lives.

When it comes to reining in Wall Street, however, the Democrats have been AWOL almost as much as the Republicans have been -- not least because their presidential candidates get so much money from Wall Street. By refusing to take on the Street, however, they forfeit what could be a potent issue this fall and lay the groundwork for yet another recession.

Article About Goodlatte's Broken Promise On Term Limits (2002)

Copyright 2002 The Daily News Leader (Staunton, VA)All Rights Reserved The Daily News Leader (Staunton, VA)
July 28, 2002 Sunday

Staunton, VA- U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte ended months of speculation about his political future Saturday morning, telling a gathering of 6th District Republicans that he intends to seek office after his next term in Congress ends in 2004.

The announcement nullifies a 12-year term-limit pledge Goodlatte, R-6th, made in 1992 when first running for office. "While it is too soon to launch any future campaign, I intend to stand for re-election beyond this year," Goodlatte said, much to the delight of the party faithful crammed into the Staunton City Council chambers.

Frank Nolen, chairman of the Augusta County Democratic Party and a former state senator, was surprised by Goodlatte's announcement."I thought he'd be a man of his word and keep his word," Nolen said. "I'm disappointed with him." Goodlatte, who will be unopposed in November in his bid for a sixth term, supported failed attempts to mandate term limits after Republicans took control of the House in 1994.

Since then, Goodlatte said he has come to the conclusion that term limits can only be effective if they are applied universally. "If only conservatives continue to leave after six or 12 years, then liberals will continue to become more powerful through their knowledge and seniority," he said.Nolen was not satisfied with Goodlatte's explanation."He didn't mention that when he said (he would serve 12 years)," Nolen said. "He knew at the time he couldn't impose them on everyone." While Goodlatte said he still supports term limits, Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, said he opposes mandatory limits and was pleased with Goodlatte's announcement."I'm sure many people will think he's gone back on his word, but I've never thought term limits were a good idea for the legislative or executive branches of government," Saxman said. Though Goodlatte said he was urged by many throughout the district to run again in 2004, he does anticipate a possible negative backlash. "Obviously when somebody changes their mind on something voters are going to have to pass judgment on that," he said.Bill Thomas, a 16-year resident of Rockbridge County, said he was pleased that Goodlatte will continue to run for Congress."I think he's done an excellent job, and I would hate to see him not run," Thomas said. "He's got a right to change his mind. I don't think that (term-limit pledge) got him elected." Nolen said Goodlatte's decision to continue to seek office was for "mostly personal" reasons, but said the aborted term-limit pledge will not be a major issue for Democrats in 2004. "It won't help us mobilize anyone," he said. "It's much easier to get someone to run for an open seat than against an incumbent."In his five previous bids for office, Goodlatte has run unopposed twice and taken no less than 60 percent of the vote in his three contested races. Pat Haley, chairman of the Staunton Republican Committee, thinks Goodlatte will continue to be a strong candidate.