Meanwhile, here in Washington:
▪  Today from AP -- Report recommends more access to quality health care by 2012 -- Every person in Washington should have access to affordable and high-quality health care in five years if the state takes decisive action now, a commission appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire says.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- Schools, health await action -- Chopp brought up what’s expected to be a major attempt to expand health insurance coverage. He said many people get seriously ill and then slide into debt and bankruptcy because of it: “This is morally wrong, and this must change.” (Learn more in the latest edition of the award-lacking WSLC Legislative Update newsletter.)

Other legislative news:
▪  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Nurses voice concern in care for the elderly -- The Washington United for Quality Nursing Home Care coalition (including SEIU 775) rallies on Day 1 for $60 million to care for the elderly and the disabled, considerably more than the $15 million in the governor’s budget.
▪  In today's King Co. Journal -- Thumbs-up for crackdown on payday lenders (editorial) -- The Center for Responsible Lending says that one in five service members took out such a loan in 2004 and that someone who borrows $325 pays an average of $800 in charges.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Viaduct funding needs public vote (editorial) -- Mayor Greg Nickels, to his credit, has agreed to abide by a vote of the people. The council ducked one opportunity to hear from voters. It should not attempt to run around -- or fear the wisdom of -- voters a second time.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Seattle City Council to ask state to pay for advisory vote on viaduct
▪  At Times' Postman on Politics blog -- Sen. Carrell backs speedy restoration of felons' voting rights 
▪  At Times' Postman on Politics blog -- Move to regulate paid signature gatherers -- Rep. Sherry Appleton wants to prohibit per-signature bounties. Tim Eyman complains -- but no one cares.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Democrats have a decided edge in Capitol -- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown said one of her biggest fears is that the Democrats will become "factionalized," with urban liberals, suburban moderates and rural conservatives working at cross purposes.

National news: 
▪  In today's LA Times -- Civil rights activists decry Wal-Mart -- Religious and civil rights leaders say Wal-Mart stands in the way of Martin Luther King Jr.'s goals of civil and economic equality. Says one: "Too often, we hear that for our communities, any job is a good job. We reject the idea that minority communities should settle for low-paying jobs without a future." 
▪  In today's Olympian -- Democrats' labor ties may delay immigration reform -- The AFL-CIO, which represents 53 unions with more than 9 million members, ratchets up opposition to a temporary guest-worker program, a key element of Bush's immigration plan. At the same time, two powerful unions in the breakaway Change to Win coalition have tended to support the provision.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- TSA screeners may get union rights -- As part of a bill to follow through on 9/11 commission recommendations, Democrats have included a provision that would give union rights to about 43,000 airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Minimum-wage bill stirs controversy in Pacific Islands -- After years of protection from the likes of DeLay and Abramoff, employers on the Northern Mariana Islands would finally have to pay workers the federal minimum wage under legislation before the House. But American Samoa and the tuna industry that dominates its economy would remain free to pay wages that are less than half the bill's mandatory minimum.

Last Throes update:
▪  Today from AP -- Democrats to challenge Bush's Iraq plan -- In advance of a nationally televised speech describing his proposal, Bush is telling lawmakers he will send up to 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq's two most troubled regions. Democrats are resisting the plan as a major escalation of a 3 1/2-year-old war, but are divided on whether to deny war funding or allow the increase in exchange for a commitment to begin withdrawing U.S. troops within six months.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Past time to get real on Iraq (editorial) -- Too many times, President Bush has promised a new strategy on Iraq, only to repeat the same old set of failed approaches and unachievable objectives. Americans need to hear Bush offer something truly new -- not more glossy statements about ultimate victory, condescending platitudes about what hard work war is, or aimless vows to remain “until the job is done.”
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Iraq War: We're all ears (editorial) -- The president is set to announce an intensification of violence (that's what Sen. John McCain honestly foresees from the "troop surge" he supports). Bush will guarantee one thing: The war won't end on his watch.
▪  In The Independent -- Iraq admits 23,000 civilians died in 2006 -- That figure is smaller than United Nations data claiming that some 28,000 civilians were killed in the first 10 months alone of 2006. Both estimates pale beside the one in The Lancet medical journal in October 2006, that some 600,000 people had died violently since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.
▪  Of the 3,014 U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far, 2,877 have died (see a list) since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations on May 2003; 2,548 have died since Saddam's capture. More than 5 years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is at large.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.