Archives for December 2009

This is one of those bizarre journalism ethics things I just don’t understand. All over the local media this morning is news of a leaked photo of Maurice Clemmons dead body (here, here and here, for example). Yet nobody’s willing to actually show the controversial image. (Slog provided a link, but that’s as dead as Clemmons now, so it doesn’t really count.)

So if the photo isn’t safe for public consumption, why the hell are you teasing us with it? It’s either news or it’s not news, and since there seems to be unanimity in our local media that it is news, don’t you think you owe it to your readers to treat them like adults, and give them the option of viewing the photo for themselves?

I’ve searched for the photo and didn’t find it in Google’s cache or anywhere else, but I trust my readers. So if anybody has a copy of the photo and wants to pass it along, I’ll post it here to HA and give you all the choice of viewing it for yourselves.

UPDATE:
Several readers have sent me the photo via email. Thanks. Here it is.

Frank Chopp may be getting the message that his opposition to the marijuana decriminalization bill introduced last year wasn’t just misguided and backwards, but also bad politics. There will be a lot of people watching what he does in 2010 to push that bill – and drug law reform in general – forward as we continue to battle with our serious budget problems.

There’s also a heated debate happening now over whether Washington is ready to just leave Frank Chopp and the legislature behind and push for full legalization and regulation through a statewide voter initiative. There have been few, if any, quality statewide polls on the subject, but Gallup’s recent poll on the subject gives us enough data to get a good estimate of where the state’s voters might come down in such a poll.

While the poll linked above only broke the country down into regions (Washington is lumped into “West”, which had 53% support for legalization), it also broke down the percentages among people who self-identify as “liberal”, “moderate”, and “conservative”. Liberals supported legalization at 78%, moderates at 46%, and conservatives at 27%. Using another Gallup poll from this summer that broke down the percentage of each of those groups within Washington state, we can get a reasonably rough estimate of what the overall support might be (and Darryl could probably spend the next two weeks calculating the margin of error by doing it this way).

Liberals – 26% (of Washington residents)
Moderates – 37%
Conservatives – 33%
Other – 4%

Using the percentages Gallup found for the first three groups, of the 96% who identified as liberal, moderate, or conservative, just over 48% of them would support legalization. Certainly, these polls aren’t taking into account likely voters, nor are they taken within the context of a statewide initiative where the subject is being debated very publicly, so I wanted to compare my methodology with one truly reliable statewide poll – the failed 2006 legalization initiative in Nevada. That initiative garnered 44% of the votes. Looking at their political ideology breakdown:

Liberals – 22% (of Nevada residents)
Moderates – 37%
Conservatives – 37%
Other – 4%

The 96% who identified as liberal, moderate, or conservative would theoretically support legalization now at 46%, which is arguably in line with the 2006 result (as you’d expect slight increases over time).

What this means is that Washington truly is on the verge of being able to pass a statewide initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana. 2010 might be a tough year because the mid-terms are likely to draw larger numbers of conservatives to the polls, but it’s hard to imagine one going down to defeat in 2012.

UPDATE: Senator Jim Webb’s effort to create a commission to look into America’s failing criminal justice system has a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee today.

6:41 I’m in a mostly empty auditorium as people filter into McGinn’s last (?) town hall of the transition. There are a few kids hula hooping on stage, and people gossiping a 5 rows in front of me. I guess the event starts in 20 minutes or so, and I’ll update with interesting questions and answers as they happen.

6:53 Still waiting for any action, and I want to discuss McGinn staying in the community since his election. There is a lot about the transition that has been a bit off kilter, but by far and away McGinn still doing townhalls, still soliciting questions from the community, still being involved is marvelous, and I hope he keeps doing these sort of things as mayor.

Also, I should note fairly early on if other events are any indication, my notes are going to be incomplete because I don’t type as fast as people talk, and inaccurate because I’m sure I’ll miss things. I apologize in advance.

7:00 We’re about a quarter full now, and no sign of starting. But I’d like to give kudos to the event organizers for finding a place where my ClearWire works. Much better than on that score than Hillary or Governor Gergoire’s campaigns.

7:09 The Mayor Elect is wearing a tie (as am I, I’m coming from work). The last time I saw him at an event he had an open collar. And at least at this event, no obvious bike hair, or at least not obvious from the second to last row. Any way, it should start soon, and then less goofball nonsense from me, and more substance.

7:14 Same kids hula hooping, they’re doing a great job rallying the crowd. By being adorable. Seriously, we’re totally starting soon, I think. And I can’t believe I forgot my camera again.

7:28 McGinn is opening the meeting: Where we are and our objectives. Election’s over, and on January 1st he officially becomes mayor (applause) so now we’re in transition where we get from the heat and action of the campaign so we have to build a good team and chose priorities and get off on the right foot to accomplish change.

The goal is to hear from everybody not just the team. So doing community outreach: inviting people, and collecting information from activists. Put up a website, and put on town halls. We invite you to invite other people to submit information to see what that tells us to do next.

What do we do first: We want to hear ideas, and we want to know where to start because it’s important to do the right things first. We want to know what’s important and what to work on. We’ve appointed transition facilitators, 2 deputy mayors and a chief of staff. Those are the top layer of leadership, feel free to communicate with us during the transition. That’s the big picture, I’ve probably spoken too long, tonight I want to hear people’s views, and I’ll probably say a few things during the meeting, but tonight is for us to listen to you.

7:31 Darryl Smith is saying you can go to: ideasforseattle.org and new.seattle.gov for ideas, if you’re interested in feedback.

7:37 First Question: I see the differences between schools in the North End and the South End I’m concerned about jobs. There aren’t employment opportunity in Southeast Seattle I want a community college in Southeast Seattle to have educational values and have jobs in the community.

These are more listening, so I may not post every question/comment. [updating later to note that these are questions, and I love most of them, some live from the audience some on cards]

7:48 Building team I hear a lot about racial equity and economic opportunity. I don’t see that explicitly said. So here’s my question: Children and families are struggling. Low income children and family. What can we do and what is the obligation of the city?

7:50 One of the most pressing issues in the city is gentrification, specifically the displacement in the city. The other question is Seattle has the most well educated baristas in the United States. We’ve got low paying jobs, and what can be done to create jobs?

7:53 Will it be possible to have more public housing? People can’t afford a mortgage in the immigrant and refugee community.

7:58 I work at a homeless shelter downtown for single women, and I have to turn away single women. All the emergency family centers are full, we need to have more shelters because we’re turning too many people away.

8:00 I am very concerned about and would like to recommend a department that deals with civil rights and social issues. I think it would be a department that would expedite information to you, and one that would be beneficial to you and to various communities that comprise the city.

8:05 Youth violence: We see a lot of money being spent in the name of the youth, but not a lot of people are seeing the benefits. In a tight budget situation, we need to support grassroots organizations directions like the Rainier Beach Youth Initiative and youth sports, and Seattle vocational initiative. We need transitional housing for youth. Mother’s Reach Outreach, Black on Black Crime Coalition are getting the short end of the stick when the budget is getting cut.

8:06 How do you build a better relation between SPD and the community?

8:12 Transportation is important to me. The one thing I want to do is walk my children to school on sidewalks. 2 out of 3 most direct routes in the school are scary. Sometimes these things seem like small things, but it’s really big for children and all aspects of our population.

8:23 McGinn: If I jumped up to respond to every comment, we wouldn’t have heard as much.

It’s valuable to hear from people directly. Sidewalks are important to me. Knowing your children can be safe outside is a big thing.

This is the first time I’ve ever been a candidate. I learned about being a candidate. When you go in public, and people hear about what they care about, something happens. We’ll do our best to keep this open.

What we’re trying to do right now is see what the priorities are. Issues of inequity. We see statistics around employment, arrest rates and housing are shocking, we must improve on the work in the prior administration.

The economy means that we’re getting less money in the door and we have more needs. Transit and safe neighborhood for everyone are critical.

We’re going to have to ask the community to do more. But the community wants to do more. Around youth. Around facilities. Education, sports, arts etc. We have to partner with the community better than we have in the past. I’m going to ask you to hold us accountable.

Issues around transportation will remain large. Job creation generally and youth jobs are the types of initiatives we’ll come up with. That’s about where we are right now. We know we’re up to the challenges we face. They’re difficult but people show up and we’re going to work with you.

Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP

Eight more deaths in British Columbia from H1N1. Not a stellar day for Mark Griswold.

Carl has already thoroughly fisked it over at EFFin’ Unsound (yes, I know Carl, you hate the etymology of the term, but find me a better word that describes what you do), still, I just couldn’t let this Seattle Times editorial pass without comment.

METROPOLITAN King County Council members must be forward-thinking and willing to select an independent or moderate to fill the council seat vacated by new County Executive Dow Constantine.

You know, exactly the kind of “independent or moderate” (whatever that means) the voters of Constantine’s predominantly liberal Democratic district would never choose.

Why? Well, according to the Times, despite that fact that the office nominally became nonpartisan last year, council members still tend to caucus and vote along party lines, leaving a 4-4 split between Democrats and Republicans in any effort to choose Constantine’s replacement. So the Times’ solution: the Democrats must cave.

That’s right… it’s not up to the Republicans on the council to do the right thing and accept a replacement who largely reflects the values of the voters of Constantine’s district, but rather it’s the Democrats’ responsibility to settle this quickly by appointing a so-called “independent” who would surely tilt the balance of power on the council to the other side, and perhaps marshal the advantages of incumbency to win the seat for good next November.

What a load of crap.

Constantine won and held that seat as a progressive Democrat. Constantine ran and won the executive’s office as a progressive Democrat. It would thus be a disservice to the voters of his district and the county as a whole to appoint anybody who doesn’t largely share Constantine’s values. And if the Republicans on the council choose to be obstructionist about this, then they’re the ones who deserve the criticism.

Of course, this whole logjam wouldn’t have been possible if that incredibly stupid, naive, dishonest and shortsighted charter amendment making the council nonpartisan — you know, the one the Times strongly endorsed — hadn’t passed. Under the old system, the Democratic PCO’s would have presented a list of three suitable candidates to the council, eliminating the opportunity for kind of partisan gridlock the Times now claims it seeks to avoid.

Kinda ironic, huh?

I know a lot of my fellow Dems are disappointed in President Barack Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Not me. For unlike a lot of my fellow Dems, I’ve always held my expectations of Obama in check.

I can’t even remember what Obama promised on the campaign trail, but I never labored under the assumption that he could quickly withdraw us from Iraq and Afghanistan. Personally, I would have preferred to have been told that we were ready to start bringing our troops home, but that clearly is not the conclusion that the White House has come to, and so given no reason yet to question Obama’s motives or intellect, I suppose that’s a decision I’m willing to accept.

I remain convinced that the U.S. had an opportunity to do things right in Afghanistan, and leave that country more prosperous, peaceful and secure than it was before we justifiably invaded, but that opportunity was squandered when President Bush turned our attention to Iraq. I’m not convinced that eight years later, that opportunity still remains.

But I suppose we’ll find out.

Join us tonight at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally for an evening of politics under the influence. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm.

The doors open at 5:00 p.m., so some of us will be there early to watch Obama’s first official Address to the Nation, where he is expected to announce another troop increase for Afghanistan.

Come on down. Everyone’s welcome. No purity test here….

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 340 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

The folks at Seattle Weekly were doing some dangerous, investigative research, when they came upon this:

According to a “Safe Browsing” advisory from the search giant, Eyman’s site, www.permanent-offense.org [don’t click, for the love of humanity!], is “listed as suspicious” and “may harm your computer.”

It seems that destroying our state’s tax base, abolishing affirmative action, opening up HOV lanes to single-driver SUVs, and legalizing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation were not sufficiently malicious gambits for Eyman to attempt. Now his malware is extending beyond public policy into the digital realm itself.

According to the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page:

Of the 16 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 6 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-11-24, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-11-11.

Malicious software includes 6 scripting exploit(s).

Malicious software is hosted on 2 domain(s), including newtechnologyconference.co.uk/, ppl-14.ru/.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including ppl-14.ru/.

One can only conclude that either Tim is in league with the Russian hackers, or he’s just as irresponsible in running his own website as he is in attempting to run state government.

Mark Griswold may not have much talent as a writer, journalist or rhetorician; in fact, he may not have much talent at all. But in his new role as (un)Sound Politics’ most prolific contributor, Griswold has certainly been an upgrade in the crazy department…  and that’s saying something considering the proud legacy of Stefan’s tin foil hat, and the ongoing competition from Pudge.

Take, for example, Griswold’s personal reaction to the tragic shooting of four Lakewood police officers:

Today was not a particularly stellar day for me.

But then, when you’re Mark Griswold, what day is?

While listening to Laura Ingraham this morning (sorry Kirby, Glenn Beck went to commercial) I became infuriated at the story of Michigan abortionist Abraham Hodari, who continues to practice despite countless instances of forced abortions and even, what one might generously label, the negligent homicides of four young girls.

Well, there’s your first mistake, Mark. In your quixotic quest for a stellar day, perhaps you shouldn’t start it off by getting your morning news from Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, and Operation Rescue.

And then there’s Maurice Clemmons and his cold-blooded murder of four Lakewood Police Officers, among them a distant cousin but a relative nonetheless, Tina Griswold.

Which of course, ruined Mark’s day. Damn you, Maurice Clemmons!

What do these two tragic cases have in common?

They somehow remind Griswold of himself?

They represent a failure of the system.

Like I said.

I don’t have some grand illusion that life is suppose to be fair.

No, they’re more like grand delusions.

There are some sick folks out there and sometimes really bad things happen to really good people. It may be tragic but it’s life.

And that pretty much sums up the Republican approach to health care reform.

The grand illusion that I do carry around is that, while life may not be fair, government should be.

Because in Grisworld, reality and government have nothing to do with each other.

And by that I mean government needs to uphold and enforce laws that help to prevent tragedies like those I just mentioned.

Just like in the movie Minority Report. All of Griswold’s most deeply cherished beliefs are derived from cheesy action movies.

The crimes committed by Hodari and Clemmons should never have happened.

Tom Cruise should have stopped them.

Hodari should have, at the very least, been stripped of his medical credentials long ago for forcibly aborting pregnancies. In my opinion he should be rotting in a Michigan prison.

And “my opinion” is entirely based on something I read on the Operation Rescue website.

Clemmons should never have been pardoned by Gov. Huckabee and certainly should not have been released on a scant $150,000 bail after being charged with child rape. He, too, should be rotting in prison.

But neither of them are and what are we left with?

Um… a less than stellar day for Mark Griswold?

Who knows how many more young girls may be forced to go through forced abortions? In the case of Clemmons I suspect justice will eventually be served and he’ll be placed behind bars without the possibility of parole but I doubt this will be the last time that innocent people must die at the hands of a felon walking free. So I ask you, what are we suppose to do?

Obviously, we need to establish an elite “Precrime” unit, in which three genetically altered “Pre-Cogs” are used to predict crimes before they happen. Sure, occasionally the Pre-Cogs get their prediction wrong, putting Tom Cruise in peril, but that’s a small price to pay when we’re fighting a war on terror.

Some may say, “Well, we still need to rely on the system. Sure it may have some kinks but it’s still the best on Earth.” Others may advocate reform at the ballot box. I’d certainly hope that whatever idiot judge that granted Clemmons bail be retired as soon as possible, but is any of this really enough?

Well, it depends on how much faith you place in hippie-dippy liberal values like the rule of law.

I’ll add one more name to the list: Khalid Sheik Muhammad.

So just to be clear, Griswold’s list now includes the self-professed 9/11 mastermind, a convicted felon who brutally gunned down four police officers… and a gynecologist. It’s good to see he hasn’t lost any perspective.

What is this guy doing receiving a criminal trial? He’s already admitted to planning 9/11. Why is he not already six feet under?

Apart from that rule of law bullshit, I don’t know. Perhaps there’s a movie from which we can draw an important lesson? Maybe… Death Wish?

All the criminal trial is going to do is serve as an opportunity to plead not guilty on the grounds that either a) only 2800 people died on 9/11, not the 3000 that the government is charging him with or more likely b) everyone that died on 9/11 deserved it because they were infidels. Either way he’ll use the time to rail against the evils of the very country that is allowing him the opportunity to do so.

Judgement at Nuremberg?

This can’t continue indefinitely, folks. We can’t keep relying on “the system”.

Dirty Harry?

I’m not advocating blind vigilantism.

Hmm… no blind vigilantism. So I guess the movie Blind Justice doesn’t help us out much.

As much as I can empathize with someone who takes the law into his own hands and blows away the guy that raped his daughter, it’s not right. I don’t agree with the guy that murdered abortion doctor George Tiller either. Abortion is still, unfortunately, legal and, to the best of my knowledge Dr. Tiller, while a despicable human being, wasn’t so despicable as to forcibly abort any of his patients’ pregnancies.

Or at least, he hasn’t been accused of such by Operation Rescue. Still, I’m sure there must be some Hollywood blockbuster out there that we can all look to for guidance.

But when “justice has been served” and the verdict is not guilty on account of the guy didn’t get read his Miranda Rights or, as in the case of Dr. Hodari, he laughs at his accusers because he believes he’s above the law (and apparently rightfully so if you go by the State of Michigan’s actions) what must be done?

Wait for it… wait for it…

In the hugely underrated film National Treasure, Nicholas Cage’s character Benjamin Franklin Gates sums up the actions of the founding fathers by saying

If there’s something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action.

No truer words have ever been said and what that means to me is that if I have the ability to take action on Clemmons, Muhammad or Hodari, if I am put in a position to take any of these guys out, you’re damn right I will and I won’t regret it for an instant either.

Oh. My. God.

Forget for a moment that Griswold equates an abortion provider with a mass-murdering terrorist and a serial cop-killer, or that he not only advocates for sighted vigilantism, but narcissistically imagines himself in that role. This is a guy who looks to a cheesy action flick like National Treasure for guiding moral principles? What a fucking nutcase.

Good thing for Griswold we don’t have a Precrime unit, or Tom Cruise likely would’ve taken him into custody years ago.

If you disagree then I welcome a better suggestion. I’d encourage you though, before you post, to ask yourself, “if it had been my daughter who’d died at the hands of Dr. Hodari, or my brother who’d been in Forza Coffee Sunday morning about to start his shift, and I came across their killers, what would I really do?”

What would I do? Well, if I had come across Clemmons, I probably would’ve trembled with fear as I frantically dialed 9-1-1… which I’m guessing is exactly what the police would’ve preferred me to do. (The 9-1-1 part. I don’t think they’d care much about the trembling, one way or another.) But I certainly wouldn’t have been stupid enough to imagine that I could single-handedly take on a guy who had just gunned down four police officers. That’s just crazy.

As is, by the way, Griswold’s admission that “if I am put in a position to take [Dr. Hodari] out,” he’d kill him without regret.

Somehow, I doubt that attitude accurately represents the moral philosophy of National Treasure’s screenwriter, let alone our founding fathers. And it’s not exactly a recipe for a prosperous, peaceful and civil society.

For all the drama of yesterday’s manhunt, in the end, suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons was shot and killed by a lone police officer on routine patrol in South Seattle.

Assistant Chief Jim Pugel said a Seattle police officer “was patrolling this area when he came across an unoccupied stolen vehicle. The officer radioed the location and license plate, and he then detected some movement behind him and got out of his car.” Then the officer “recognized the person who was approaching him as looking like … the possible suspect of the tragic homicide in Lakewood.” The officer then asked man to show hands his, but, Pugel said, “the person would not show his hands and began to run away… and would not stop.”

“The officer fired several rounds,” Pugel continued. “All indications are that he is deceased.”

Pugel said a gun recovered from the suspect had the “identical serial number” to the one taken from one of the murdered officers.

Assuming all that information is correct, it looks like the police got their man, which should be a huge relief to the family, friends and comrades of the fallen Lakewood officers… as well as anybody who even vaguely matched Clemmons’ description. I don’t know standard police procedures, and I certainly don’t mean to question the officer’s actions, but I wonder if under normal circumstances the officer would have been so quick to shoot just any suspect fleeing from the scene of a stolen car?