Revelation 1:9
We suffer because Jesus is our king.
Discuss.
Revelation 1:9
We suffer because Jesus is our king.
Discuss.
- This week saw the release of the Washington State Liquor Control Board’s draft regulations for the new marijuana markets legalized under I-502. Here’s a sample of what product labels could look like early in 2014.
- The most controversial aspect of the rules might be that hash and hash oils cannot be sold in the retail stores. Ben Livingston provides more context on why this is a mistake and goes against the intent of I-502.
- The Seattle Times calls for clarifying the medical marijuana rules in this state so that they make sense alongside I-502’s regulated market. Medical marijuana providers have already been fearing this outcome and I’m convinced it’s going to happen.
- I-502 got over 55% of the vote in this state, but at least one gentleman is still not won over.
Stephen takes on Heritage Foundation’s racist immigration study (via Crooks and Liars).
Viewpoint: Creationism in schools and the G.O.P. War on Science.
Chris Hayes: Dysfunctional House Republicans ignore remarkable shrinking deficit.
DOJ Scandal:
Robert Reich: The hollowing out of government.
Jon on 2016, 2016, 2016.
Ricin-laced letters: sent to Spokane Judge and Post Office.
Sam Seder: GOP Hispanic outreach director resigns, registers democrat.
Liberal Viewer: Can minorities be racist?
BENGHAZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!1!11!!!:
Stephen does Rep. Gwen Moore.
Bashir: Is Darrell Issa qualified for “oversight” role?!?
Maddow: Republicans fall dead silent in face of historic Obama 2013 deficit success.
Thom: The real, G.O.P., scandal.
Sam Seder: Do these “scandals” weaken Obama?
Greenman: Weather Channel covers Dark Snow Project.
Stephen on 3-D gun makers.
New rules for pot distribution.
The Great IRS (non)Scandal:
Lawrence O’Donnell: Conservative editors warn Republicans.
Maddow: Investigators narrow cause for West, TX plant explosion.
White House: West Wing Week.
Roy Zimmerman: Oh frack, “The Faucet’s on Fire:
Sam Seder: Umbrellagate!!!!!11!!1!
Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very Very Ugly.
Elizabeth Warren and the student debt crusade.
Sharpton: Insane House G.O.P. tries to repeal Obamacare for the 38th time.
Same Sex Marriage in MN:
David Schuster: Meghan McCain calls out G.O.P. hypocrisy.
Maddow: Media not unscathed by scandals.
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
N in Seattle already mentioned it, but, this is a surprise.
From his botched announcement last November to this abrupt end, Burgess’s campaign never caught the tailwind many expected. He was considered a leading challenger last year—a sort of mayor in waiting, after Mayor McGinn’s two years of floundering—but McGinn seems to have found sea legs at City Hall, and a pack of heavyweight contenders crowded into the race in January and February. In particular, state senator Ed Murray and to a lesser extent Council Member Bruce Harrell have emerged in the race as safe bets for institutional backers that represent downtown business, and, unlike Burgess, can’t be portrayed as conservative outliers (Burgess infamously sponsored a controversial aggressive panhandling bill that failed in 2010).
Burgess has also been unraveling this week.
After the news that the 36th District—Burgess’s home district—would split its endorsement between him and Murray, yesterday came the news from PubliCola that Burgess fired his spokesman. And then the 46th District Democrats, who represent the relatively wealthy, white district of northeast Seattle that seems like Burgess’s base, didn’t endorse him at all. Also the city council’s biggest advocate to bring back the Sonics, Burgess took a blow when the NBA nixed the deal Wednesday.
At the beginning, I’d thought he’d make it through the primary, so that’s obviously yet another Carl Ballard prediction wrong. It also means I won’t have a chance to do a metacommentary on this old Seattle Times op-ed he wrote before he was elected to City Council. And his dropping out this late means we won’t have to deal with some Republicans.
Perusing the list of candidates who have filed for office this year, particularly in light of today’s stunning news in the Seattle Mayoral race, I ran across a nice, pleasant surprise:
Yes, that green arrow points to the name of one of HA’s favorite commenters! Richard has run for office before … many, many times. For Attorney General, for King County Council, for County Prosecutor, for County Assessor, for District Court Judge, probably for other positions as well. This is at least his fourth run for a position on the Port Commission.
Richard is several steps above the crank perennial candidates like Mike The Mover (though you have to admire how he gets his business’s name in front of millions of Washingtonians for peanuts), Goodspaceguy, and Stan Lippmann. Richard has been an endorsed party candidate. He has come in second any number of times. In his 2006 race for District Court, he actually finished on top in the primary before losing in the general election — I participated in the recount of that primary, which entailed determining which of the other two candidates would face him in November.
Richard Pope may be the most cost-efficient candidate this state has ever seen. He spends little more than the filing fee, yet in his statewide runs he’s received about one-third of the votes. That’s literally just a few pennies of expenditures per vote. Contrast that with, say, Rob McKenna in 2012. According to Ballotpedia, he frittered away $15,135,367.82 and fooled 1,488,245 Washingtonians into voting for him. So McKenna’s votes cost him $10.17 apiece.
The incumbent in the No. 4 position on the Port Commission is Tom Albro, one of the corporate-shills on the Commission. He’s pretty colorless and quite invisible in the role. There’s no compelling reason to vote for Albro, and (IMHO) plenty of reasons not to.
Thus, unless someone really good jumps in at the last second — and there are only a few minutes remaining for that to happen — my vote for Port Commission Position No. 4 will go to Richard Pope.
UPDATE: Goodspaceguy threw his hat in the ring at the last minute. He’s running for County Executive, as are wingnut Alan Lobdell and someone called Everett A. Stewart. Who knows, maybe Goodspaceguy could make it to the November ballot!
I love these activists almost as much as I hate Tacoma’s response.
One morning, they were just there: Crosswalks and a short bike lane in a Tacoma business district to help people get across a dangerous street.
Business owners loved it.
But the city recently spent $1,000 to grind away the illegal crosswalk paint, leaving one business owner to ask King 5, “How much is paint versus having this grinding machine…?”
I mean if the community liked it, you should consider leaving it. I assume there are legal concerns about treating something that isn’t a crosswalk according to the law like it’s a crosswalk. Still, it seems like they could just change the fake crosswalk into a real crosswalk with some legislation.
In an interview with Publicola, even with Josh Feit softballing it, Rodney Tom decides to act like an asshole. When asked why he’s endorsing someone who would undo the progress made on civil rights for gay people, he decides to attack Seattle.
I think that there is a lot of talk of that. The politics over there get a little weird. If we’re measuring any of their politicians from a Seattle basis, they think Seattle’s crazy, and Seattle’s probably going to think they’re crazy. But overall, she’s an intelligent legislator that I think can serve her community well. I think she’s an intelligent lady that can work her way through some very complicated issues that we need more of in Olympia.
I’ll defend Seattle any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but that’s pretty fucked up. Oh those awful Seattle folks with thinking gay people deserve not to be discriminated against and that workers deserve basic rights. Crazy.
Also, it doesn’t really paint a picture that Rodney Tom respects Eastern Washington either. “Vote for Sharon Brown, you crazies” is maybe not as great a slogan as he thinks it is.
Anyway, later Josh asks him why he didn’t support the DREAM Act on the floor of the Senate if he supports it in theory (the aside is Josh’s):
Sen. Tom: I don’t know. If 25 and 50 are the magic thing to get anything past out of both the house and the senate, that’s a very different element in the way this place has been run. There’s a ton of votes over in the house that I can get 50 votes for that never see the light of day. If that’s going to be the measuring stick, let’s use it for both the house and the senate. [PubliCola, has, in fact, pointed out this Democratic double standard before.]
PubliCola: Can you give an example?
Sen. Tom: A lot of the workers’ comp type issues. A lot of labor issues. Pension issues. There’s a lot of business-centric Democrats like myself over in the house that would be voting for these things that don’t stick in labor states—you know, they don’t love it—but our business communities and small businesses in particular need some of these reforms.
If you wanted to have a say in how the House does business, you probably shouldn’t have left that body. Also, the difference is that the Speaker HASN’T SAID HE SUPPORTS GUTTING WORKERS COMP. The House Speaker killing a bill he doesn’t like is not analogous to the Senate Majority Leader killing a bill he says he is for.
See, that’s why the analogy doesn’t work. If Chopp was trying to convince people he really wanted to gut worker’s comp, then that would make sense to make that comparison. But the leader isn’t going to have a vote on gutting workers comp because he doesn’t want it to pass. In fact, the only way the analogy works is if Rodney Toms critics are right and he doesn’t want the DREAM act to pass. So, we’re all on the same page then.
- The mechanics of getting death penalty drugs to states that use them is both fascinating and disgusting (h/t).
- I would hope Pam Roach’s plan to make it easier to recall elected officials would include abusing staff.
I’m writing to urge you to adopt rules federally banning states, cities, and other municipalities from paying for sports arenas for professional teams. Or better, prohibit teams in leagues with over some amount of assets to play in municipally built stadiums. Model it after Seattle’s initiative, so municipalities have to be able to make money off the deal or no deal.
With the NBA telling the Kings they can’t relocate, part of the underlying reasoning they’re staying in a smaller media market with a worse offer is that town is willing to shill out an obscene amount of money to build an arena. The amount that cities are willing to bilk their taxpayers is a large part of the reason the Kings aren’t coming to Seattle. So, while it would probably be too late to get the Sonics back this time, this would better lay the groundwork for future.
It would also be fundamentally more decent. After all, these sort of deals are out of control, and most cities with sports teams are on the bad end of these types of deals, having to take much of the risk with any financial gain going to the teams. The teams rely on taxpayers to make themselves a profit.
It’s the sort of problem that, really, can only be solved at the national level. After all, as long as different cities in different states are competing for these things, the threat of leaving is going to be too great. These leagues that span the country are the sort of interstate commerce that Congress should be regulating. I don’t know if it could get through the dysfunctional Congress, but it’s worth a try.
And would this be punishment for the NBA for leaving in the way that it did, and then voting not to let us get another team? And to a lesser extent to MLB and the NFL for foisting bad stadium deals on is in the first place? Sure. But it’s still a better idea than having municipalities fight over teams with taxpayer stadiums.
Hugs and kisses
Carl Ballard
horsesass.org
Do you feel pleased when you contribute to charities? Do you feel even more pleased when those contributions are augmented by the contributions of others? If so, then today is your red-letter day.
The Seattle Foundation — that estimable organization, headed by former Mayor Norm Rice, devoted to doing good for King County and its environs — has declared May 15 to be GiveBIG 2013. If you make a contribution to one of the 1400 organizations profiled on the Foundation’s website, all of them 501(c)(3) charities, before midnight tonight, it will be “stretched” by funds from the Foundation and its partners. They have something like $850,000 waiting to be distributed to worthy causes.
I just finished donating to eight organizations that I support both financially and emotionally. They do good work in a variety of fields, from Planned Parenthood to the Seattle Shakespeare Company, from the Seattle Public Library to the Center for Wooden Boats. I didn’t give much … the amounts ranged between $10 and $35. But thanks to GiveBIG, those organizations will receive between [$10 + X*$10] and [$35 + X*$35], where X is the percentage by which today’s contributions will be stretched.
I know that all HA readers, even the trolls, share the impulse to do good. Believe me, participating in GiveBIG will brighten your day. So I hope you’ll all join me in this endeavor. And by all means, let your fellow HAers know that you’ve made some donations today. No need to say where you chose to target your donations, though I’d hope you would feel good about adding a plug for your choices here on teh internets.
GiveBIG!!
There was a hearing last night at King County. I wasn’t there, but any time you can get hundreds of people into a government meeting on a lovely day, you know it’s an important issue.
It was standing room only Tuesday at a public hearing on the future of Metro. The transit service is facing budget cuts that will seriously affect riders.
Ultimately, King County is going to need the authority to tax itself on a more permanent basis. And that’s where we need to make sure to contact our legislators. You can find your legislators here. As always be polite but firm that you want them to let Metro keep funding itself.
It’s Tuesday. And that means the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets for an evening of politics over a pint.
We meet every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier than that for Dinner.
Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Longview, Lakewood, and South Seattle chapters meet this Wednesday. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. Next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.
With 204 chapters of Living Liberally, including sixteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and two more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.
- It’s filing week, everybody.
- Is anyone following the British Columbia elections? Joel is disappointed that they aren’t talking about marijuana.
- If you want to tell Metro to save Metro, here’s where to do that.
- Macklemore is not happy with the Thunder using Can’t Hold Us (h/t to Will on Facebook). I’m confused as to if NBC didn’t understand that Detlef Schrempf’s tweet contained a pun, or why else they put the [sic].
- Y’all are reading about Tom Hardy and a puppy, I hope.
- In yesterday’s Open Thread, I said Thomas Friedman was beyond satire. I stand corrected.
From Think Progress:
Issa: Obama Covered Up Benghazi Terrorism By Calling It An ‘Act Of Terror’
That’s even stupid for a car thief!
- I love Seattle’s dedication to fair play. But maybe we give less time to Sacramento media on Hansen.
- The free market isn’t always the best way to make health care decisions.
- At least it’s a bit more transparent now.
- Bicyclists are helpful to bicyclists.
- This piece on swear words was interesting.
- Congrats to Thomas Friedman on being beyond satire.
Doing a little work under the hood tonight. Things could get funky. Perhaps a few comments might get lost. (Hopefully not, but who knows?) Anyways, don’t be alarmed.
Last week’s contest was won by Liberal Scientist. It was West Memphis, AR.
This week’s is in Google Maps 45 degree views, good luck!
Luke 19:23-27
Why didn’t you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest.”Then he said to some other servants standing there, “Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much.”
But they said, “Sir, he already has ten times as much!”
The king replied, “Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything. Now bring me the enemies who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!”
Discuss.
Geoff Tate: Fixing the economy.
Ann Telnaes: Life begins at conception.
Thom: More Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.
Maddow: Heritage Foundation, “Low IQ immigrants are parasites & their ‘unborn’ children will be too!”.
White House: West Wing Week.
Heavyweight Governor:
Maddow: Obama’s IRS scandal in context.
Sam Seder: Judge slams Obama administration over their right wing Plan B stance.
ONN: The week in review.
Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Another state falls to gay marriage.
Lush Rimbaugh:
The Point: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor regrets Bush v. Gore in 2000.
Thom: The Good, The Bad, and the Very, Very Ugly.
Maddow: Alarming ineptitude revealed in care of U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Jon on the Jodi Arias coverage.
Sam Seder: Republican warmongers beating the war drums.
South Carolina is Still Crazy:
Young Turks: Elizabeth Warren wants students to get bank rates on their loans.
Ann Telnaes: America the armed.
Maddow: G.O.P. war on student voters violates the law.
Mark Fiore: iEvade.
Thom: Should Obama send troops to Texas?
Benghazi Brouhaha:
Young Turks: Enron CEO to get reduced prison term.
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
It was nine years ago today that I relaunched HorsesAss.org as an “almost daily blog on Washington State politics and the press.” You can read my very first post here. It is a touch fascinating to look back on how I managed to preserve the original vision of HA without at all anticipating how it would ultimately take over my life.
Anyway, in celebration of this milestone (and prodded Darryl) here is a list of some of my nine favorite and/or most influential posts, in chronological order. Thank you all for the past nine years, especially to all my co-bloggers who have carried on the HA tradition in my absence. And enjoy.
Stick a Foulkes in it, this case is done! (02/23/2005)
I’ve always been particularly proud of my legal analysis. In this early post, I explained exactly why Dino Rossi would lose his election contest, months before the court ultimately ruled.
FEMA director Mike Brown, a “total fucking disaster” (09/02/2005)
You know that Arabian horse story that hastened the demise of incompetent FEMA director Mike “Heckuva Job” Brown? This is the post that started it all, and first brought HA to a national audience.
Raging Bullshitter: the sad twisted tale of the Irons family feud (10/20/2005)
The day before this post hit, explaining why his own mother wouldn’t vote for him, King County Council member David Irons Jr. had a small lead in the polls in his bid to unseat Executive Ron Sims. After the media storm I generated, Irons ended up losing by 17 points.
Luke Esser fucks pigs (10/17/2006)
It is a sad irony that one of my funniest and most outrageous posts was written in defense Rodney Fucking Tom.
HA EXCLUSIVE: Seattle Times election day redesign revealed! (10/23/2006)
A rare display of my extraordinary Photoshop skills.
Falwell That Ends Well (An Ode To The Mortal Majority) (05/16/2007)
For a change of pace, some poetry!
Goldy’s Adventures in Muniland (04/25/2008)
In which I masquerade as David Postman and accept his Municipal League award.
Young woman quit DNR after being sexually harassed by Commissioner Sutherland (07/15/2008)
And election-changing bit of muckraking that all the other papers had, but refused to run with. Until after I did.
A layman’s refutation of Rob McKenna’s bullshit lawsuit (03/29/2010)
More than two years before the US Supreme Court surprised pundits by upholding Obamacare on Congress’s taxing power, I explained why the court would uphold Obamacare based on Congress’s taxing power.
| Obama | Romney |
| 98.9% probability | 1.1% probability |
| 311 electoral votes | 227 electoral votes |
[Read more... ]
The Monte Carlo analysis gives Inslee wins 751,986 times, and McKenna wins 243,119 times, suggesting that, in an election held now, Inslee would win with a 75.6% probability and McKenna would win with a 24.4% probability:
[Read more... ]
You weren't an Elector, nor was I. However, I was a whole lot closer to matriculating at the Electoral College than any of our readers -- had Maria Ehsan, the Elector chosen at the 7th Congressional District's Democratic caucus back in May, been unable to attend the Electoral College meeting in Olympia, yours truly (the Alternate Elector from WA-07) would have taken her place as one of Washington's 12 Electors.
So I was right there in the State Reception Room in Olympia's Legislative Building at noon on December 17, peering over the shoulders of the Electors as they cast their votes.... [Read more... ]
The Podcast returns from a long vacation hibernation incarceration a coma the dead to tackle the big political issues of the day last many months. The discussion starts with bold analyses of the recent election: the panel re-litigates The Tunnel (long after the topic is hip, relevant, or even interesting), and contemplates the meaning of the pro-tunnel vote for Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. The discussion meanders into a referendum on Seattle itself (whereupon, Goldy briefly attempts to re-litigate the Chihuly Museum, long after the topic is hip, relevant, or even interesting). Circling back to the election, the panel ponders the piss-poor performance of King County Councilmember Jane "37.9%" Hague, and the remarkable candidacy of challenger Richard Mitchell. Catalyzed by another lame-ass Seattle Times editorial, the Podcast closes on the topic of public employees, education and (of course) Seattle schools.
| Powered by WordPress. A proud member of the JOA News Co-op. |
|
|