Archives for November 2007

Since when are we taking our cues from these guys?

This isn’t about the personal religious beliefs of a pharmacist. This is about enforcing a religious code that governs the behavior of individuals. Women who want to avoid pregnancy use Plan B to avoid having to make the choice of abortion later. But that’s not good enough, apparently.

I have heard stories from women who go to the drug store to get Plan B. They tell me that the pharmacist has told them that they’re a “whore,” or that they need to find Jesus. This isn’t about a pharmacist’s personal beliefs governing their own actions. It’s about their personal beliefs governing yours.

A lot of court rulings in the news today, and it’s fascinating to hear local talk radio (ie, conservative talk) responding. When the court throws out Tim Eyman’s I-747, because, you know, it violated the Constitution, we get outrage, absolute outrage. And not just at the court, but at the legislature and the governor, who had nothing to do with ruling. (Because that’s the cynical purpose of the outrage, spinning some political advantage for 2008.)

Yet when a federal court throws out the state Pharmacy Board rule requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions…? [audio:http://horsesass.org/wp-content/uploads/crickets.mp3]

What this tells me is that the folks on the right believe in the rule of law, except when the court rulings don’t go their way, prompting folks like my friend Dori to start talking about an armed tax revolt. Of course, he was only joking. The type of joke that would get a liberal like me labeled a hate talker, or possibly even jailed. But then, we’re the ones with all the guns, so I can understand the distinction.

Speaking of the rule of law, it looks like Lt. Ehrin Watada dodged a bullet — metaphorically this time — when a federal court ruled that military attorneys so totally fucked up his court martial, it would subject Watada to double jeopardy to be tried again. Of course, they could have just discharged Watada for refusing to go to Iraq, say, the way they would a qualified gay soldier who actually believes in this war and wants to fight it, but no, they had to try to make an example of an officer who boldly took a principled stand, whatever the consequences. I’d say the military’s execution of their case against Watada is an apt metaphor for the Bush administration’s execution of it’s war in Iraq: immoral and incompetent.

And nearly as incompetent as the army’s efforts against Watada in the court of law is NBA commissioner David Stern’s efforts on behalf of the Sonics in the court of public opinion:

“If the team moves, there’s not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad.”

Oh yeah, now that’s going to win you public support. Some rich white guy buys the team and attempts to blackmail local taxpayers out of half a billion dollars… and then you threaten the loyal fans who faithfully supported the team and the league for 40 years? And after one of the team’s Oklahoma City based owners publicly admitted that they never planned to keep the team in Seattle in the first place? Oh, well in that case, here’s your new arena.

Jesus… has Stern bothered to even read our local papers? This is a region where taxpayers refuse to pay for the things they need let alone the things they want, and he’s blaming Frank Chopp? This has nothing to do with Seattle — Clay Bennett and his buddies wanted an NBA team in Oklahoma City, so they went out an bought ours — and if Stern is happy swapping a big market for a little one, that’s up to him. But don’t come back and threaten us that we’ll never get another team because we refused to play ball with a blackmailer.

What an asshole.

The Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice hold discussions on political topics every Friday night at the Keystone Church at 5019 Keystone Place N in Wallingford. This week, they’re looking at the drug war with the film “American Drug War: The Last White Hope”. Here’s who will be there:

Larry Gossett – King County Councilmember
Nora Callahan – Founder and Executive Director of The November Coalition
Chuck Armsbury – Senior Editor of The Razor Wire
Matt McCally – Former Probation Officer
Douglas Hiatt – Criminal Defense Attorney
Sunil Aggarwal – Immediate Past President of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Matt McCally is a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). Having thousands of current and former law enforcement officials advocating for ending the drug war is one of the major reasons why public perceptions on this issue have been changing so rapidly.

Oh goodness:

A doctor can’t be held liable for resuscitating a baby who was born without a heartbeat and survived with severe disabilities, the state Supreme Court says.

The baby’s parents filed a malpractice lawsuit after the baby’s 2004 birth. They claimed doctors in Vancouver, Wash., were negligent when they continued to resuscitate the baby for almost half an hour, after he was born without a heartbeat.

The parents also said the medical team should have gotten their consent before continuing to revive the baby.

I don’t know how many XBox’s/toys/TVs/trips to Disney Land you have to buy for your kid to make it up to them, but I’m guessing it’s a lot.

daimajin:

* They counted 1,250 Seattlites of their 5,004 voters. That counts Seattle as 25% of the region instead of 20% as it is. And, in turnouts, Seattle performed worse than other areas.

* Their “rest of King County” did not show where they came up with those 1,998 voters. Were they all in Federal Way or Bothel? It’s a big county.

* They only counted 646 Snohomish County voters, half as many as Seattle voters, when far more Snohomish County folks voted than Seattle folks.

Even if this poll is shoddy, people do care about global warming. Do they care enough to trade in their comfortable, convenient, privately-owned automobile for a city bus?

Maybe you want to talk about something that isn’t Roads and Transit? Anyway, I miss Do-Nothing-Doc. Sure, he wasn’t investigating Tom DeLay or any other Republican corruption. But at least he wasn’t riding herd on the opposition to basic gay rights:

Representative Doc Hastings of Washington, who led the Republican effort to get a vote on the amendment, said he opposed the overall bill in part because many states already had similar laws and because he viewed it as intrusive. “I do not think it is the place of the federal government to legislate how each and every place of business operates,” Mr. Hastings said.

No: the states, counties, and cities where gay rights aren’t protected are the very places where basic gay civil rights are needed the most.

Goldy talked about how he’s going to vote no on everything:

We gave you your gas tax. We gave Ron his buses. But you refused to give us our light rail. And you did so believing that despite being dicked over on the one thing we really wanted, we would remain good progressives, pragmatically voting to tax ourselves for good infrastructure projects, whenever they came our way. Well fuck that.

What’s more, if Ron Sims “green transit package” looks like some BRT, variable tolling piece of shit, then I’m out. Fuck ’em. People who talked absolute shit for months about Prop 1 and then demand that I be reasonable and negotiate? Fuck them. Ron Sims and the Sierra Club savaged the proposed line to Tacoma for months, and I’m supposed to shrug that off and roll with it? Erica C. Barnett’s title says “Pro-Light Rail Enviros May Have Swung Prop. 1 Election.”

Well, but…

The Sierra Club didn’t campaign on a pro-transit theme. They campaigned on an anti-global warming theme (I remember, I was there).

All the players in this game are figuring out what this election means, and what the next step is. I want to see Sound Transit go right back to the voters in November of 2008, a high turnout election where liberals will vote in droves, with the same 50 miles of rail and the rest. To me, anything else is unacceptable, and will get a big fat ‘no’ vote from me.

Dear Pro-Roads/Anti-Rail Guys,

Fuck you. No really… fuck you.

And I’m not just saying “fuck you” out of anger, though hell yeah, I’m pretty damn pissed right now. No, I want you to remember this post as a threat of things to come, rather than just a cussing out for deeds past, for mark my words, you’ve made an enemy, and I hereby promise to do whatever I can to stick Prop 1 so far up your ass you’ll be wiping shit out of your ears with a Q-tip.

You see, you think you were so clever with your $157 billion lie and your SOV-loving Seattle Times endorsement and the way you used the dupes at the Sierra Club to cover for your selfish, car-fetish agenda. But while you may very well have succeeded in killing light rail expansion for a decade or three by defeating Prop 1, I’m going to do my darnedest to turn lemons into more lemons — bitter, spiteful lemons — and vehemently oppose any and all road or bus proposals that subsequently come down the pike. And you know what, I’m guessing that there are an awful lot of Seattle voters who are with me on this.

See, we didn’t just vote to defeat I-912 and preserve the gas tax increase, we progressives fought like hell to defeat it, because raising the gas tax was the responsible, right thing to do. A year later, when Ron Sims came to us and asked for an increase in our regressive sales tax to fund expanded bus service countywide, we Seattle progressives voted for that too. And even when you insisted on tying a roads package to our light rail package, forcing us to vote for highway expansion we didn’t want, we continued to be our usual pragmatic selves, recognizing that some of these roads projects were structurally necessary, while others were politically necessary, and that in the end, the pros outweighed the cons. And then you fucked us.

We gave you your gas tax. We gave Ron his buses. But you refused to give us our light rail. And you did so believing that despite being dicked over on the one thing we really wanted, we would remain good progressives, pragmatically voting to tax ourselves for good infrastructure projects, whenever they came our way. Well fuck that.

Yes, our transportation needs are great, and in some cases desperate, and I’m sure you’re counting on that reality to incrementally achieve everything you want, piece by piece, outside of a mega-package, all the while denying us the one thing that can’t be built incrementally: rail. For example, 520 is just too important to this region, so push comes to shove, Seattle voters just wouldn’t reject funding a new bridge, right? Don’t be so sure.

See, I’m tired of being reasonable. I’m tired of being sensible. I’m tired of being pragmatic, only to have amoral fuckers like you use my pragmatism against me. As far as I’m concerned, the 520 bridge can sink into the fucking lake, I don’t drive it more than three or four times a year anyway. Traffic on I-405? That’s Kemper Freeman Jr.’s problem, not mine. The Viaduct? Screw the Port, screw DOT, screw the state… just tear the fucker down and be done with it. I live in South Seattle. I’ve got my light rail. Everybody else can fend for themselves.

Really.

You opposed Prop 1 because you figured you’d get most of the roads stuff anyway, if incrementally, but hell if I’m going to reward you for your cynicism. I-5’s Ship Canal Bridge could collapse in an earthquake, and I will fight against any tax or fee increase to replace it, unless… we get light rail expansion with it. So here’s the deal: first, you give us rail, and then we’ll give you some roads money, because we clearly can’t trust you the other way around. And if that’s not good enough for you then have fun watching your precious gasoline excise tax revenues eaten away by inflation and declining per capita consumption, because you can’t pass another increase without us.

Sure, it’s just little old me talking right now, but while most Seattleites are too polite to swear like me, and perhaps aren’t quite as spiteful either, I honestly believe you’ve underestimated the depth of opposition you’ve generated through your cynical maneuvering. In relying on the absolutist “no new roads” meme enunciated by your allies at the Sierra Club and The Stranger, you may very well have laid the seeds of your own destruction. That’s a meme I intend to seize upon without compassion or remorse, consequences be damned.

We had the opportunity to work together on a regional transportation solution, but instead you chose to fuck us. Prepare to be fucked back.

Love,
Goldy

One initiative is born. Another initiative dies. Just days after voters approve Tim Eyman’s blatantly unconstitutional and laughably unworkable I-960, the state Supreme Court throws out Timmy’s laughably unconstitutional and blatantly unworkable I-747. It’s the Tim Eyman version of the “circle of life.”

“A voter reading the text of the initiative could believe that he or she was voting to reduce the property tax limit by 1 percent instead of by 5 percent, a substantially different impact on the public coffers, as well as the perceived benefit to the individual voter’s purse,” the majority, led by Justice Bobbe Bridge, wrote.

To sum up the 5-4 decision, the majority ruled that I-747 technically violated the state Constitution, while the dissenters argued that yeah, sorta, but voters weren’t confused. Personally, I’m a big fan of the rule of law, so I side with the majority.

Eyman has passed six initiatives since achieving celebrity status in 1999, four of which have now been thrown out by the courts in whole or in part… with I-960 sure to make number five. And while it would be fun to tease Tim about his woeful inability to write laws that are, you know, legal — and I’d absolutely love to poke fun at the legal eagles who share credit for crafting I-747, state Attorney General Rob McKenna and state Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson — I think I’d rather take this opportunity to post a more constructive commentary.

Eyman has arrogantly challenged the Legislature to respond to today’s court ruling, and I think they should do exactly that, by reimposing I-747, but at a more realistic limit factor on revenue growth of 4% or inflation, whichever is lower. This would allow local governments to continue to provide services at current levels without being forced to go to voters every couple years for special purpose lid lifts, while providing the kind of budgeting stability afforded the private sector. With energy and health care costs continuing to skyrocket, I-747’s 1% limit factor is simply unsustainable.

At the same time, Democrats in Olympia need to take the lead on providing targeted and meaningful property tax relief to those who need it most, without bankrupting the local governments that provide the bulk of our essential public services. I have long championed a revenue neutral Property Tax Homestead Exemption tied to median county home prices, that would partially reverse a decades long trend in which tax burden has gradually shifted from commercial property and the very wealthy to working and middle income homeowners. But the folks at the Washington State Budget & Policy Center have a better, if more complicated, proposal: a Property Tax Circuit Breaker.

Circuit breakers provide targeted, revenue neutral relief by providing a graduated tax credit that kicks in when property taxes exceed a certain percentage of household income, and unlike a homestead exemption, the credit can be made available to renters and homeowners alike. In a state that earns the dubious honor of having the most regressive tax structure in the nation, a well-designed circuit breaker would not only provide substantial relief to low- and middle-income households — say, a 15% reduction in property taxes — it would also restore a bit of fairness and equity. Lower income households would still pay a higher share of income in property taxes than wealthier households, but the size of the imbalance would be lower.

This is a smart and progressive proposal that lowers property taxes on the majority of voters while raising those on the wealthiest households by only about 2 percent. It is time for Democrats to seize control of this debate from demagogues like Eyman and the GOP leadership, by offering real leadership and real solutions. It is time to approve a property tax circuit breaker.

“Fox News shows more sexualized violence and humiliation than probably any other network — all in the name of condemning it — while under-showing violence in Iraq, all in the name of supporting it.”
— Gloria Steinem

Hell if the family values party would condemn the network that leads the charge in spreading their lies and propaganda. But you can. Sign the petition telling the FCC that you should not be forced to pay for FOX’s smut. Demand a la carte cable.

Is this what Bush means when he talks about supporting our troops?

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

[…] Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

“We’re going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous,” said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.

Not to worry; compassionate conservatives assure me that most of these people want to be homeless.

From the New York Times on Democrats’ attempts to get a sane budget past Bush’s veto pen, our righteous senator hits the nail on the head:

“The president is appealing to a very small conservative base of people, his last few friends in the country, to say, ‘I am conservative,’ ” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat involved in mapping the party’s spending strategy. “But the problem is, he is playing with American lives while he sends his message to his friends.”

Old White Guys Against Rail. These guys are the real winners when Prop 1 went down. I bet their old bellies are full of whiskey and Ensure right about now:

Photo credit: Tom Reese of the Seattle Times.

Ughhhhh.

I think Eli Sanders really captures the sad irony of Pat Robertson’s endorsment of Rudy Giuliani:

See how that works? Let your followers know that you agree that legalized abortion and gay rights were responsible for 9/11, and then, a few years later, endorse a man who is for legalized abortion and gay rights, saying he’s the only person who can defend the country against the “bloodlust of Islamic terrorists.”

Josh Marshall has some fun with it too:

As I noted earlier, Robertson’s reasoning is that God has withdrawn his protection from us because of America’s collective embrace of a godless, secular, gay-loving culture. When you put that together with his claim today that Rudy, a paragon of the secular culture, is the one to protect us from the terrorist hordes, the upshot seems to be that Robertson has more confidence in Rudy’s leadership and national security skills than he does in God’s. And that’s one hell of an endorsement.

Yeah sure, I’m depressed over yesterday’s election, but when I sat down to write a thorough race-by-race analysis and looked for a clear message in last night’s results, two things immediately jumped out at me: A) a thorough race-by-race analysis would take me days to write; and B) there is no clear message in last night’s results. So I think I’ll discard with A), opting instead for a series of individual posts analyzing individual races and issues. As for B), I suppose that’s the silver lining to the dark clouds filling my head today, for while yesterday’s election certainly sucked — and sucked hard — I see nothing to suggest any long term good news for the folks on the other side.

In purely partisan terms, yesterday’s election says very little. Republicans won the only truly contested partisan race in King County, but they did so on a bullshit theme of non-partisanship, so while they certainly keep the tactical advantage of holding the PAO, it’s kinda hard to argue that this is in anyway an embrace of Republican values. (As for my friend Jim Nobles… how does it feel to draw a substantially smaller percentage of the vote than Richard Pope?) Meanwhile, across the county line to the north, Democrats romped in high profile Snohomish County council races, while Democrat John Lovick appears to be squeaking by in the nominally non-partisan sheriff’s contest.

Across the region Republicans continue to hold their own in so-called “non-partisan” races, though that’s always difficult to analyze when candidates refuse to cop to their party allegiance and our local media plays a complicit role in perpetrating the charade. Still, progressive candidates appear to be making gains in both Whatcom County and Tacoma, while Gael Tarleton’s win means control of the Seattle Port Commission now hinges on the outcome of the nail-biter between incumbent reformer Alec Fisken and pro-business lackey Bill Bryant. We’ll see.

Looking to the ballot measures for trends is equally fruitless. Prop 1 infamously split the progressive community, so there’s no clear message from voters there, other than the usual “we want more, but we don’t want to pay for it” crap, while I-960’s public policy disaster is emblematic of the same muddled thinking. R-67 was simply a battle between good and evil, and the failure of Simple Majority… well… um… I’m just stumped.

Of course, all this took place within a national context, and there Democrats have reason to be optimistic. Dems lost the governor’s mansion in the southern state of Louisiana, but picked up one in a bloodbath in the border state of Kentucky. Dems also picked up Senate majorities in Virginia and Mississippi, while expanding legislative majorities in Maine, New Jersey and New York. As for Ohio, that continues to be a disaster in the making for Republicans, where Dems now hold the mayor’s office in the once red state’s ten largest cities. Ouch.

So what does this all say about our local prospects for 2008? Not all that much. But if you’re a “no news is good news” kinda person, then I suppose that might take a bit of the sting out yesterday’s very disappointing election.

UPDATE:
Of course, I didn’t even mention turnout. Turnout sucked. Yet another reason not to read too much into these results. Apparently, Republicans turned out a bit better than Dems, but I’m told the real fall off was with independents… who tend to vote with the Dems on many issues.