Archives for March 2009

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s days are numbered, but there’s still time for their editorial board to set the record straight on the new domestic partnership legislation being debated in Olympia, and the blatantly misleading, anti-gay TV ads that are using the P-I to validate their lies.

Of course, the legislation does not “redefine marriage” as the ad claims, nor does it require schools to teach that homosexuality is normal; it merely extends to domestic partnerships the same rights and responsibilities under state law that are currently available to married couples.  The bill does not legalize gay marriage, so all you gay-bashers out there can rest assured that same-sex couples will still be denied the 1,138 rights and protections enjoyed by married couples under federal law.

Yeah, sure, these are the types of lies and exaggeration we’ve come to expect from social conservatives on issues concerning gay rights, but this ad goes one step further, deliberately misquoting a state legislator in a smear campaign that borders on libel.

The sponsor of this law says, those who disagree with homosexual marriage should “face being fined, fired, and even jailed until they relent.”

The sponsor of this bill is Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle), and he said no such thing.

The alleged quote comes from a May 20th, 2008 guest column in the Seattle P-I from David Benkof, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.  Benkof wrote:

Openly gay Washington state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and a representative of the largest Michigan gay-rights group, the Triangle Foundation, have both told me that people who continue to act as if marriage is a union between a man and a woman should face being fined, fired and even jailed until they relent.

This is, of course, not a direct quote, and as Sen. Murray complained five days later in a letter to the editor, it was a “deliberate misrepresentation” of his views on the issue:

In an e-mail exchange, Benkof posed to me numerous hypothetical scenarios in a world where same-sex marriage was legal. One such scenario was of a business owner who “was just stubborn and wouldn’t treat wife-wife couples equally” to heterosexual couples for religious reasons. What should be made of their “principled stand,” Benkof asked me.

[…] I wrote to Benkof: “The law should be enforced, just as it was when either King or Gandhi engaged in civil disobedience. Both ended up in jail despite the righteousness of their cause.”

A state legislator urging that state laws be enforced… who’d a thunk?

So how does Sen. Murray’s reasonable statement get transformed into a fascistic call for jailing people who oppose homosexuality?  It is tempting to blame the lying, amoral scaremongers who put together that ad… but that’s kinda like blaming a pig for wallowing in mud. It’s what they do.

No, it’s the P-I who really deserves the blame here.

Benkof was entitled to his opinions—that’s the whole purpose of publishing guest columns—but the editors at the P-I had an obligation to at least make an effort to verify his statements of fact, and anybody who is at all familiar with Sen. Murray would have been immediately suspicious of such an uncharacteristically impolitic assertion on such a sensitive subject.  A simple phone call would have sufficed… you know, the kinda basic fact-checking the legacy media so often accuses us of bloggers of neglecting.

Now, as is often the case in political campaigns, the lie, which first appeared in print, is being compounded and exaggerated on TV, and given even more weight by the bogus claim that the alleged statement appeared in a “Seattle P-I Editorial,” as opposed to a mere guest column.

The P-I failed in their obligation to fact-check Benkof’s column, but they still have time to make amends.  I’m sure there are plenty other topics on which they’d probably prefer editorializing during their final days, but it would serve them well to acknowledge their error, correct the public record, and demand that this misleading ad be pulled.  As this incident proves, newspapers do matter.  It would be nice to see the P-I prove that they matter in a good way.

Nobody could have predicted.

The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Seattle said it didn’t meet a regulatory capital requirement at the end of last month because of the declining value of mortgage-backed securities.

The FHLB of Seattle, a government-chartered cooperative, said in a statement Monday that because of the capital deficiency it is disallowed from paying a dividend or repurchasing capital stock.

The Seattle bank in January became the second FHLB, after San Francisco, to warn of a potential capital shortage and take steps to guard reserves. As many as eight of the 12 banks may fall short of capital requirements after writing down holdings of so-called nonagency mortgage securities, Moody’s Investors Service predicted.

As Atrios relays:

Awhile back I met someone in the mortgage broker business who had, unsurprisingly, seen his business decline and seen many of his coworkers laid off. At the time he told me, ominously, that all the action had just moved to the FHLB system…

Round and round it goes.

Richard Roesler at Eye on Olympia notes the Washington House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prevent cities and counties from prohibiting recreational vehicles in parks, an apparent attempt to provide people with a residence of last resort.

And of course a growing tent city in Sacramento has drawn international media attention.

Wall Street gets the TARP, everyone else gets a blue tarp. Pass the beans.

Hoop Dreams
The Seattle Times editorial board, one of our state’s biggest cheerleaders for a cuts-only approach to our $8 billion budget gap—even if it means a 20-percent cut in funding to the UW and the rest of our colleges and universities—devotes scarce op-ed space today to cheering on the Huskies’ men’s basketball team.  It’s good to see the Times editors have their priorities straight.

The Oklahoma Mariners?
Oops… I guess it’s time to build a new baseball stadium…

For the first time since moving into Safeco Field in 1999, the Mariners reported a financial loss last season, according to documents filed by the team Monday with the Public Facilities District.

The club reported a $4.5 million deficit, owing in large part to having the highest player payroll in franchise history at the same time that attendance dropped during the 101-loss season.

I mean, after all, how can we really expect the Mariners to make ends meet, playing in an antiquated, 10-year-old facility? If Seattle really wants to be a big league city, it’s time for us taxpayers to play ball.

Feet of Clay: Insert Directly in Mouth
And speaking of teams leaving for Oklahoma City, I don’t really miss the Sonics Thunder, but as a blogger, I surely do miss owner Clay Bennett:

Bend It Like Bennett, one of the most hilarious basketball blogs out there, has a glimpse inside of Un-Sonics/Thunder owner Clay Bennett’s household. Bennett’s 16-year-old son, Graham, has the following listed as one of his favorite “quotations” (with “Dad” assumed to be Clay):

I guess in Bennett’s defense, he didn’t call anybody a nigger.

Dear driver of the big white van who decided the perfect time to suddenly move from the middle lane to the left lane (and of course, without using blinkers), was just at the moment I was merging into traffic from the left lane on-ramp at Island Crest Way and I-90… fuck you!

I’m preparing to move HA to a new server to better handle some of the changes coming up, so please be prepared for some downtime.  I’m just sayin’.

The conventional wisdom in political circles is that incumbents like Dave Reichert should become more secure the longer they hold office, but it’s beginning to look like the third-term Republican is becoming even more of a DCCC target than he was the previous two elections.  Reichert already has a challenger in the form of a female, ex-Microsoft executive (and no, her name isn’t Darcy Burner), and now finds himself one of only five Republican incumbents being targeted with radio ads for his vote against President Obama’s economic recovery package.

[audio:http://aufc.3cdn.net/38715940c2c9fd0336_odm6b6426.mp3]

The ad is paid for by Americans United for Change, a labor group, and it asks whether Reichert will continue to embrace Rush Limbaugh and his partisan divisiveness, or whether he’ll work with President Obama to enact real change.  (My guess is, the majority of his constituents would prefer the latter.)

Thanks in part to the complicity and/or laziness of our local media, Reichert has done a good job in recent years portraying himself as a “moderate” (whatever that means) while continuing to vote the Republican party line whenever his vote really counts.  A relentless campaign over the next two years to educate voters about the real Reichert could pay off handsomely in 2010.

And now a follow up on this post from yesterday, which had its genesis in a Joe Turner article about the Senate killing an asbestos lawsuit bill in retaliation for newspaper ads runs by the firm employing former state senator Brian Weinstein.

Readers may recall that not only did Senators kill the asbestos bill, it looks like they also killed off the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights, something that Weinstein worked on very hard when he was in office. Here’s a nugget from Turner’s article yesterday, because scrolling down is so difficult:

In four years, he (Weinstein) never really learned a thing about how this place works,” Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, said Saturday. Hatfield was supporting a couple changes that Kastama and Haugen wanted to make to the original bill, changes that Weinstein’s firm did not want.

How “this place” works is this: Not only did the senators kill SB 5964, they also killed the so-called Homeowners Bill of Rights, a measure that Weinstein had championed for most of term in the Legislature and which he nearly got passed. It passed the Senate, but died in the House.

I talked to Weinstein this morning, and he sounded pretty incredulous at the turn of events, especially when it comes to the current Homeowner’s Bill of Rights.

“I’ve never lobbied for the current bill, I didn’t go testify, I haven’t even read the bill,” said Weinstein.

Over at Publicola, Josh reports that an “insider” offered the “conjecture” that a vote on the HBR is being put on hold because they “Just gotta wash the Weinstein off.” To which one can only offer a shake of the head, and the all too frequent observation that a lot of politicians have their heads where the sun don’t shine if this is how they view things that impact regular citizens. Talk about losing sight of why they were elected in the first place.

Weinstein pointed out this moring how nuts this all has become. “It’s totally absurd for the Senate to be punishing homebuyers by trying to punish me when I had nothing to do with this (current) bill.”

Indeed. We all know what needs washing, and it’s ain’t Brian Weinstein. The insider, frat-boy-sorority girl behavior may be acceptable and common in OIympia, but frankly given the economic calamity facing this state it’s pretty offensive.

Now tell me why I need to support a tax increase, Legislators. Or are you going to kill that bill to teach me a lesson?

Yet another name once bandied about as a potential challenger to Mayor Greg Nickels has officially dropped from contention, with Nick Licata announcing that he will instead seek another term on the Seattle City Council:

“After considerable reflection on how to best serve the community I love, I am happy to announce that I will run for re-election to the City Council.  A number of you urged me to run for Mayor, but I feel my role as a legislator, writing the laws that govern our city, is the one that suits me best.”

Greg Smith, Richard Conlin, Tim Burgess and Licata had all floated the idea of challenging Nickels, and all have backed down. According to the local rumor mills, that leaves only one potential serious contender left with a chance of unseating Boss Nickels this November:  popular former City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, who reportedly beats Nickels in at least one private poll… for whatever that’s worth.

Now that would be an interesting race.

UPDATE:
Of course, just as I hit the publish button, Publicola posts that former Sonics star, and current city council candidate James Donaldson is about to jump into the mayor’s race.  I dunno.  Doesn’t seem like a smart political move to me, and while I’ve never met him, everybody tells me that Donaldson is smart.

McClatchy is laying off the equivalent of 1,600 workers, and others are having salaries cut as part of a restructuring.

The four McClatchy newspapers in Washington state are The Olympian, The News-Tribune, The Bellingham Herald and Tri-City Herald.

Some well-known papers owned by the firm around the country include The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee and The Miama Herald.

McClatchy has some very fine reporters here, around the country, and in its DC bureau. This is a shame.

Last week’s contest was won by 2cents. The location was Mississauga, ON. Here’s this week’s, good luck…

Still trying to wrap my head around this one. Joe Turner of the News-Tribune has an article posted about the death of SB 5964, which had something or other to do with asbestos lawsuits. Some mean lawyers ran newspaper ads trying to stop changes to the bill, so the Senate has apparently just spiked it. Or at least that’s what it sounds like from Turner’s report. Check out this bit:

The targeted senators lay most of the blame on a former colleague, Brian Weinstein, a Mercer Island lawyer who until December had been a Democratic senator representing King County’s Eastside communities. Weinstein is now a member of Bergman Draper & Frockt, the Seattle law firm that paid for the ads and which has been lobbying for passage of the bill.

“In four years, he (Weinstein) never really learned a thing about how this place works,” Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, said Saturday. Hatfield was supporting a couple changes that Kastama and Haugen wanted to make to the original bill, changes that Weinstein’s firm did not want.

How “this place” works is this: Not only did the senators kill SB 5964, they also killed the so-called Homeowners Bill of Rights, a measure that Weinstein had championed for most of term in the Legislature and which he nearly got passed. It passed the Senate, but died in the House.

Let’s review how being a citizen works in this state, shall we?

Citizens bring up needed consumer protection legislation, and then it never ever ever ever fucking gets passed.

Geebus. Notice how the Legislature doesn’t ever pass bills, especially consumer protection bills, in retaliation for over the top political advertising (cough cough BIAW cough cough.)

Democrats: a circular firing squad of cats who won’t be herded towards a gun safety class where free tuna is being served.

Oh this is hilarious.

According to the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, sales of Atlas Shrugged hit an all-time high last year, and have “almost tripled” in the first seven weeks of 2009 against last year.

Michelle Malkin is the Norma Rae of this Galt moment, walking the virtual shop floors of the country’s “wealth producers,” but instead of “Strike!” her sign reads “Going Galt!”

I’m not so sure Norma Rae is the correct analogy. Maybe more like “The Creature From the Black Lagoon” meets “Risky Business,” with a soupçon of “Weird Science” thrown in, with Malkin in the role of the tormenting brother.

This would be so awesome. What’s stopping them? Anyone stupid enough to “go Galt” is likely a drag on the economy in the first place. Go ahead, righties, go Galt! Ha ha ha ha. In this economy there will be twenty people to take your place. Dear me, who on earth will we get to cook up new derivatives schemes? We’d most likely need to search the prisons for that skill set.

It’s always breathtaking how the most privileged (and often crooked) are always the victims in rightist mythology. Ayn Rand. Bwhaaaaaha ha ha ha. I needed a good belly laugh.

From The Big Picture:

Yesterday, in Backdoor Bailouts for Goldman Sachs?, we noted that GS, as well as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank, were all made whole on their bad bets with AIG.

That’s right, what was misleadingly described as systemic risk turned out to be in large part little more than a counter-party bailout — money for the very same people who helped cause the problem.

Only the $25 billion figure I mentioned was off by 100% — the WSJ is reporting this morning it was $50 billion dollars, almost a third of $173 billion total AIG loot:

Here is the link to the WSJ article.

Meanwhile, what has become known as The Scariest Chart Ever has been updated (props to The American Prospect:)

Here’s the link to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Flickr posting of the chart.

Someone should make a chart projecting sales growth in pitchforks, which is my growth industry of the day. (In best lunatic stock picker-screamer voice: “People, I am telling you to buy stock in pitchforks, now, because there is only one way pitchfork stocks are going, and that is up up up up up.”

If the Obama administration thinks they can continue the Paulson plan while employment goes off a cliff I’m afraid they are sadly mistaken. My crystal ball is being tuned up so I can hopefully get another 10-15,000 miles out of it somehow, but the “let them eat cake” aspect of this crisis is getting hard to dismiss. Sure, it’s early in the administration, and yes, the stimulus package, flaws and all, did get passed. But good Lord. Exactly how long are the American people supposed to stand for this outlandish thievery by Wall Street?

Is the RICO statute still around?