I publish this opening passage from PASSIONS OF THE PATRIOTS in honor of George's birthday. Of course, I knew him well. Happy Birthday, George..."Thomas Paine"

George Washington wrapped himself around the young Marquis. Lafayette sighed with pleasure.

It was their fourth such rendez-vous since that delicious denouement in Philadelphia. Each new encounter involved a progressively deepening experience, full of confusion and doubt at first (at least on Washington’s part) but now blooming into a supremely sensitive trans-oceanic detente.

The Frenchman stared deep into the taller man’s eyes, then down. There was an inexpressible connection between them, and the promise of so much more. The Franco-American alliance was making possible the defeat of the British. Now it would achieve a more perfect union.

“Soon, mon cher, we shall get married. No law shall stop us. Our love transcends all churches and all state hypocrisies, and renders all Puritans impotent. Their rage shall be as nothing when our passion washes over them.”

After nearly a half-century of steady decline, American unions are showing unmistakable signs that they’re finally reversing direction.

The clearest evidence of that comes in a survey by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the percentage of workers belonging to unions grew last year for the second consecutive year– from 12.1 to 12.4 percent of the workforce.

Although that might seem insignificant, the percentage increase meant union ranks grew by more than 425,000 in 2008 to a very healthy figure of more than 16 million. That indicated to economists that union growth is likely to continue at that rate – or perhaps an even greater rate – in the years ahead.

Last year’s growth came despite the steady decline in job growth and increase in unemployment. Unions also had to cope with the fierce anti-union pressures of the Bush administration.

Significantly, two-thirds of the new union members were public employees, who generally are not subjected to the employer intimidation that workers in private employment often face when trying to join or form unions. Overall,

SEATTLE, WA. Feb. 17, 2009 – A 57-year old Seattle coffee bean entrepreneur hopes he just brewed a pot of trouble for former president Bush and others in his administration.

On February 7th Bob Alexander his wife, Arminda and local volunteers, mailed a copy of legendary prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi's book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, to 2,200 local district attorneys across the US. Each of these prosecutors has had at least one soldier from their district killed in Iraq.

Bugliosi is best known for his prosecution and conviction of Charles Mason. As a Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney, he successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and several other members of his "family" for the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six others. He lost only one of the 106 felony cases he tried as a prosecutor, which included winning 21 out of 21 murder cases

While Bugliosi's name may be familiar to some, Bob Alexander's is known only to customers who purchase premium coffee from his SuperBeans.com Web site. Bob and his wife were motivated to take personal action after reading Bugliosi's book.

Peace and justice activists in Virginia's Fifth District were thrilled last November when we and our neighbors replaced Congressman Virgil Goode with Tom Perriello. We got together and held a couple of meetings to discuss what we might begin talking with the new congressman-elect about. On February 17th we finally met with him. This brief report may prove somewhat useful to others meeting with their representatives and senators, and I've included links to useful materials to modify as needed and bring along to your meetings.

Congressman Perriello has thus far introduced and passed one piece of legislation, a section of the stimulus bill creating a tax credit for higher education. While tax credits may not be the ideal stimulus, backing education is a very welcome move.

Perriello has also expressed a willingness to challenge his own party on behalf of his constituents, according to his website:

Of course, former Congressman Goode didn't always march to the Republican drumbeat, but his own music was worse rather than better, and his attitude toward his constituents was one of poorly disguised manipulative contempt.