Archives for April 2010

The only “will of the people” that counts in this state is if you’re Tim Eyman or a Republican. If you voted for smaller class sizes some years back, tough cookies.

The budget cuts millions from K-12, higher education and other state services. It directs state agencies to save around $50 million through furloughs or other pay reductions for some state employees.

For K-12, the budget cuts mean $120 million less for the state’s public schools. Education advocates say those cuts, on top of the ones made last year, are going to hurt.

Lawmakers, for example, eliminated $79 million in funding for the class-size reduction initiative, I-728.

“That was one of the last pots of discretionary money that districts had,” said Dan Steele of the Washington State School Directors Association.

OTOH, if you’re a coal fired power plant “the people” are with you. The Republicans keep carping on the meme that state government is broken and doesn’t respond to the will of the people. Yeah, no shit. People voted by a large margin to tax themselves to get smaller class sizes, yet here we are again. But we have to call special sessions to deal with certain initiatives, lest the editorial board fainting couches collapse.

As usual the GOP-editorial board complex has it bass ackwards–the biggest problem is a viciously regressive tax system that relies far too heavily on revenue that crashes and burns during economic downturns. Then we cut education, rinse, repeat, seemingly at least once a decade. Way to compete in a global economy!

I’m sure all those candidates out there wandering around claiming they are about “job, jobs, job,” will acknowledge all this. Or not. Easier to start screaming about sex offenders I suppose.

I don’t even really bother following the session that much any more, it’s all so predictable. Fuck you, Washington students and teachers, you eat it again. Maybe the coal mine will reopen.

I just finished answering a rather lengthy opinion poll conducted by McGuire Research out of their Las Vegas office, and while the woman on the other end was awfully nice, I couldn’t stop chuckling at the some of the questions, as well as the fact that she continually referred to Sen. Patty Murphy. It was also rather amusing when she got to the section reading back statements of what some of Dino Rossi’s critics had said of him, and two of them could have been lifted directly from my blog.

But the best part was when I not only answered questions on health care reform, but went on to elaborate when the pollster expressed surprise. For example, she didn’t know that HCR eliminated pre-existing conditions, or that it didn’t cover 100% of all Americans, or that it didn’t reduce Medicare benefits. Now she does.

Anyway, needless to say, Sen. Murray came out on top with at least one respondent.

I just got finished listening to 25 minutes of Rep. Dave Reichert recorded at his recent campaign kickoff fundraising breakfast, and from his rambling, pointless and incoherent speech, one might think his head injury was more serious than was first let on… that is, if we didn’t already know Reichert for his rambling, pointless and incoherent speeches.

In fact, what’s most striking about Reichert’s comments is not what he says, but what he doesn’t say. Mostly he talks about his head injury, his hospitalization and his hair, with a sprinkling of platitudes about how he stands with Americans and for freedom. But what he doesn’t talk about are any issues. Nothing about the economy, nothing about unemployment, nothing about the environment or immigration or  Wall Street regulatory reform or any of the many other problems we send our representatives to the other Washington to solve.

In fact, the only policy issue Reichert even remotely addresses is health care, and even then, only to regale his audience with tales of his own brush with our health care system, and to reassure them that he took advantage of every opportunity he had to vote against extending health care access to millions of under- and uninsured Americans.

Speaking of which, here is a clip of one of the biggest crowd pleasers of the morning, an anecdote where he compares the removal of medical tape to waterboarding:

[audio:http://horsesass.org/wp-content/uploads/Reichert-Torture.mp3]

Hey, I was tortured while I was at the hospital. Uh, have you ever been in the hospital they put this tape on , for IVs and stuff like that. They use super glue. You know that? I’m not kidding. It’s super glue. I had six IVs: one on the top of my left hand, one on the top of my right, one in each wrist and one on each elbow, and they use super glue.

And uh, so when I’m being released, you know, they got to rip this stuff off. I mean I think I’m tough… am I tough Jon? I thought I was tough. The guy told me, the nurse came in and said, “Hey this is going to hurt.” I said okay, I think I can handle that. And he goes rip. And I go “Holy —!”  Sorry. I said, then he goes, he goes, “I’m sorry.” Yeah right, so he does another rip and I said “Shit…!” You know, I say “Why don’t you just water-board me? What do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything you want to know!”

That’s a joke everybody. I mean, if anybody’s got, if you got your, you got your little video phone or somehow, and post this on Google… I’m against torture. Except if you’re in the hospital, I guess it’s the same. Yeah that hurts, man I’ll tell ya.

So I guess there was a policy statement in there after all, as I suppose we can deduce from this anecdote that Reichert apparently believes that waterboarding is indeed torture. But then, he also believes that ripping off a Band-Aid is torture too, and he’s not afraid to say so, even at the risk of somebody posting it “on Google.”

Oh man… can’t get enough of those torture jokes. Hah, hah!

State Senator Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has been talking to Drudgico:

Benton warned that Rossi might find the 2010 campaign a less hospitable environment than he expects.

“Democrats have already attacked Dino. He doesn’t have any money in the bank, he doesn’t have any money raised. He doesn’t have the foundation. The talent pool is pretty much committed for this election cycle. It’s too late for him to become a viable candidate in this race,” Benton said, adding: “I think he would make an excellent governor and hope he decides to run for governor again.”

Okay then, Benton has spoken, Dino. Your move!

Maybe another Moore poll, followed by a Rasmussen poll, followed by a Chris Grygiel post at Strange Bedfellows? You guys seem to have that all worked out, you might as well try it once again. It got Rossi to the brink of not running and having no money.

As has been the case throughout most of our nation’s history, the public debate on immigration is fueled by emotion a helluva lot more than it is by logic. But former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich cuts through the heat to suggest how our immigration policy can have a significant impact on our efforts to assure long term solvency for Social Security and Medicare:

Forty years ago there were five workers for every retiree. Now there are three. Within a couple of decades, there will be only two workers per retiree. There’s no way just two workers will be able or willing to pay enough payroll taxes to keep benefits flowing to every retiree.

This is where immigration comes in. Most immigrants are young because the impoverished countries they come from are demographically the opposite of rich countries. Rather than aging populations, their populations are bursting with young people.

Yes, I know: There aren’t enough jobs right now even for Americans who want and need them. But once the American economy recovers, there will be. Take a long-term view and most new immigrants to the U.S. will be working for many decades.

Get it? One logical way to deal with the crisis of funding Social Security and Medicare is to have more workers per retiree, and the simplest way to do that is to allow more immigrants into the United States.

Immigration reform and entitlement reform have a lot to do with one another.

But then, why be logical about such things when there’s so much to gain politically by blaming brown people for our economic woes.

According to an article on TPM, the teabaggers are attempting to rebrand their “movement” as less violent, less racist and less, well crazy. But judging from Eli Sanders’s coverage of a Tea Party rally in Yakima over the weekend, they still have a ways to go.

Whether it’s explaining that “the only difference between Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler” is the Jew killing thing, or inexplicably attempting to vilify Patty Murray by magic-markering a yarmulke on the Senator’s head, the Yakima teabaggers haven’t quite internalized the kinder/gentler message yet. The crazy/racist/anti-semitic stuff though, now that they have down pat.

And yet these are the folks to whom Rob McKenna has chosen to pander in attempting to solidify his position as the GOP frontrunner for governor in 2012. Go figure.

Some breaking news this morning:

BOTHELL, Wash. — The Seattle Times printing facility in Bothell was evacuated this morning due to a strange odor that made some workers feel sick.

The incident happened around 6:30 a.m. just off 120th Avenue NE, near NE 195th Street. At this point, officials don’t know what the odor is or where it is coming from.

They have not activated a full hazmat response.

Answer: they both blame Google for stealing their business…

At a staff meeting this afternoon, the managers of the Lusty Lady announced they were going out of business and would permanently close their doors in just two months.

[…] The internet has also steadily eroded business. “We had our all-time high in 1998,” Davis said. “The fact that you can get massive amounts of fairly high-quality pornography for free has had a definite effect.”

As it’s had on the Times.

I’ve never patronized the Lusty Lady (as I’m way too uptight to enjoy women stripping for money), but I’m guessing as far as Seattle institutions go, there are many who will mourn the Lusty Lady a helluva lot more than they would the Times.

Goldy has already had a few posts about the immigration rally, and there is other good information elsewhere. But at these sort of things, I always like to see what people are writing on their signs. So here’s the text of some of the signs.

First, a quick note: This isn’t meant to be comprehensive, and sometimes there were more than one sign that said similar things, so I only included one. I tended toward handwritten signs, but some of these were mass produced. Also, some things work fine as signs, but are tough to put onto a blog post. Most signs were in all caps, but to make it easier to read here, I’ve added capitalization and sometimes punctuation to try to stay faithful to the message.

– Immigrant rights are human rights
– I’m related to immigrants and I VOTE
– United we dream
– Skagit Immigrant Rights Council
– Immigration Reform Now
– We are one America
– Mr. President where’s the love? Immigration Reform Now
– We pay taxes. Soc. Sec for years. Where are our benefits?
– You must befriend and be in solidarity with the immigrants. For you were once Immigrants. Deuteronomy 10:19 El Camino De Emaus Lutheran Church
– You shall not mistreat or oppress the immigrants for you were once immigrants. Exodus 22:21 El Camino De Emaus Lutheran Church
– We need immigration reform now
– Let Washington State lead the way on immigration reform
– $1.5 Trillion to the U.S. Economy
– Rep Doc Hastings support our rural communities sponsor immigration reform
– We are not criminals
– College students fighting for equality and opportunity
– Act now
– The time is now
– Microsoft engineers 4 immigration reform
– This is part of our country. We need freedom. No more deportations
– One America, justice for all

Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky for the second week in a row. It was South Charleston, WV.

Here’s this week’s, good luck!

Proverbs 12:26
The righteous should choose his friends carefully,
For the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed.

Proverbs 22:24-25
Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.

Normally I just post these verses without comment, but considering his recent embrace of his party’s angry, violent, radical fringe, this week’s HA Bible Study is dedicated to Rob McKenna.

Discuss.

Speaking backstage at the 10,000-strong pro-immigration reform rally in Seattle today, Rep. Jim McDermott puts aside the moral argument for reform, and presents it as a straight-up pocketbook issue:

“People have to understand there is a direct connection between cheap food in this country, and the fact that we have this workers who are coming from other countries.”

Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food now than they have at any time in our history, steadily falling from 24.2% of income in 1930 to  9.6% in 2008, and part of what makes our food so cheap is all that cheap immigrant labor. So while I suppose we could, with great effort and expense, seal off our borders and deport millions of immigrant laborers, we all better be ready to give up those 99-cent value menus in return.

I’m at the pro-immigration reform rally in Occidental Park, where thousands of enthusiastic supporters have already gathered in advance of today’s program.

No angry sign-waving white people, so we’ll see if the media gives the rally the coverage it deserves.

I guess this is the kinda thing that many in the teabagger rabble fervently wish for President Obama and the Democratic Congress:

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country’s highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 96, officials said.

Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland’s political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.

It’s not hard to imagine the Pat Robertson types celebrating such a tragedy as a vengeful act of God. I wonder if the Polish opposition is as twisted politically as ours is here in the U.S., or if democracy is still so novel and cherished to them that they honor it even in losing?

Washington states scores big:

…from Tacoma.

(And there are some fifty more media clips from the past week in politics at Hominid Views.)