Archives for July 2010

If you thought yesterday’s post on dog poop bags was just a quick toss-off, well think again, for the moment I saw the Seattle Times/AP piece on cash-strapped Everett spending $8,430 on plastic dog poop bags, I immediately recognized an opportunity to provoke a conversation on what I believe to be the most pernicious aspect of today’s conservative movement: its stubborn insistence on choosing ideology over reality.

And at least in this regard, my comment thread did not disappoint:

6. Rae spews:

How about dog owners’ be responsible and thus, bring their own poop bags? This isn’t a public service at all, but yet another way the liberal government is sending a message that people aren’t or don’t have to take responsibility for their own actions. Want to have kids? Let someone else feed them, clothe them, provide day care for them. Want a dog? Provide poop bags. Get real.

07/27/2010 AT 10:21 AM

22. The Riddle of Steel spews:

Why cant dog owners(who apparntly can afford to own a dog) purchase their own shit-bags instead of making everyone else pay for them?

This has to one of the stupidest fucking govt programs I have ever heard of. Its shit like this that pisses people off and keeps them from voting for higher taxes.

mommy govt at its finest…..

07/27/2010 AT 4:30 PM

Of course, in a sense, both Rae and Riddle are right; dog owners should be more responsible about cleaning up after their pets, and there are many other things I’d rather spend taxpayer money on than plastic poop bags. Personally, I rarely leave the house without a ready poop bag in my back right pocket, and neither should any other conscientious dog owner. (Next time you see me, ask me to show you my poop bag; I bet I’ll have one.)

But this ideologically driven, moralistic approach ignores the fact that the free-dog-poop-bag policy itself has proven damn effective at keeping dog shit off the soles of our shoes, and out of our waterways.

Fecal coliform bacteria is one of the most serious pollutants in many of our nation’s urban streams, and modern DNA tests routinely trace the majority of the contamination back to dog waste. That’s why, in an effort to combat both this very real health concern, and the general nuisance factor of unpicked-up poop, municipalities nationwide have pursued a coordinated campaign that includes general public outreach and education, the creation of dedicated off-leash parks with adequate waste handling facilities, and yes… providing and stocking taxpayer funded poop bag dispensers at parks, trails and other popular dog walking routes.

Municipalities maintain this expense, even in the face of dramatic budget cuts, because it works… not just due to the convenience, but because the mere visible presence of these bag dispensers and waste receptacles is socially reinforcing, resulting in a dramatically higher compliance rate with existing pooper scooper laws. From a public health and quality of life perspective, few public expenditures produce such bang for the buck as the $8,430 Everett spends on plastic poop bags.

But that’s not good enough for the personal responsibility crowd. The mere notion of spending public dollars on something individuals should do for themselves offends their sensibilities. And so they would prefer to see their public sidewalks, parks and trails covered in shit than admit that sometimes, reality trumps ideology.

Substitute poop bags with condoms or sex education or health insurance or the minimum wage or unemployment compensation extensions or carbon credits or marriage equality or “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” or any number of other issues, and you begin to understand why conservatives are so passionately opposed to so many of the policies we in the reality-based community consider no-brainers.

This is the real problem with modern conservatism… not the ideology itself, which even I admit has something to contribute to the public debate, but its relentlessly dogmatic exercise. Today’s conservatives seem so obsessed with how people should behave, that they have little or no tolerance for how people actually do behave. So steeped in faith — faith in God, faith in the market, faith in American mythology, faith in their personalized reading of the Constitution — nothing will stop today’s conservative leaders from advocating what should work over what actually does.

And that’s why, when finally given the reins over both Congress and the White House, the Republicans so spectacularly stepped in it.

UPDATE:
In the thread, HA reader Rae only reinforces my thesis by attempting to defend her previous comments:

I don’t know if I should be flattered or po’d. But you’ve missed the mark. By providing poop bags, the government has just reinforced their beliefs that the population is incapable of being responsible. And I personally object to being thought incapable of being responsible.

She objects, on principle, to a policy that works. Exactly.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has blocked parts Arizona’s new immigration law, just one day before it is scheduled to take effect. Good for her.

“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new [law]. … By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose.”

Think about it. Let’s say you are a latino, legal resident or citizen, stopped for a traffic violation, and you don’t have your papers on you because, well, you don’t have any papers, because like most Americans, you don’t walk around carrying your passport. Under the AZ law, you could be arrested.

Perhaps that’s the kinda America that some people want to live in, but not me.

Well, no, the Seattle Times hasn’t endorsed Sen. Patty Murray, yet. But as I’ve predicted before, they will, and not just in the primary.

What makes me so confident? Well, the Times ed board is so pertinaciously ungenerous to the candidates they oppose, that if they weren’t already preparing to endorse her, they would have never gone out of their way to throw Murray a compliment like this, and so close to a contested election.

THE timing could not be better. As consumer confidence dipped again in July over worries about a sluggish job market, Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have pushed for a new small-business lending fund.

[…] The amendment is part of a larger package of legislation for small business and Main Street America that has attracted scant Republican interest or support. Nothing should be more nonpartisan than putting people back to work.

And a dig at Dino Rossi’s Republicans to boot. Talk about telegraphing your intentions. And with realtors, cops, fire fighters and the Times all endorsing his opponent, talk about yet another Rossi campaign going flat.

Judging from his response, I’m not sure Mayor Mike McGinn realizes it, but he was the big winner in the Seattle City Council’s decision to delay until February signing contracts with the state on the Big Bore tunnel. For in a region where inertia, not money, is the mother’s milk of politics, anything that delays the project makes McGinn’s dream of stopping it all the more possible.

As for the council, what were they thinking? They had the votes by an 8-1 margin to pretty much do as they please, and a pro-tunnel media establishment to to back them up (they coulda routed an off-ramp through McGinn’s living room, while sticking him personally with the cost overruns, and the Seattle Times editorial board would’ve cheered their conscience driven independence). But inexplicably, they balked. Now McGinn has six more months to talk up his side of the controversy, and while he hasn’t quite yet gotten the hang of the mayoring thing, he’s certainly an accomplished talker.

If, as the council seems to be counting on, the bids from the two remaining tunnel contractors come in under budget, they should have little political trouble signing an agreement with the state. But if the final bid comes in over budget, well, Katie bar the door!

I’m just sayin’.

Please join us tonight for another Tuesday evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning at about 8:00 pm. Some of us will be there even earlier.

Note to Bill-O: That’s Dr. Madam to you!

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 309 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

On the same day that he enjoyed a high donor fundraiser courtesy of the ultra-right-wing US Chamber of Commerce, Republican senatorial wannabe Dino Rossi refuses to answer questions as to how he would vote on the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that enhances disclosures and disclaimers in the unlimited campaign spending (thanks, Roberts Court!) by corporations and other special interests.

Sen. Patty Murray on DISCLOSE:

“The Citizens United ruling has given special interest groups a megaphone they can use to drown out the voices of citizens in my home state of Washington and across the country.  And the DISCLOSE Act would tear that megaphone away and place it back in the hands of the American people, where it belongs.”

Dino Rossi on DISCLOSE:

”                                                                                                                                       “

Of course, Rossi’s silence on DISCLOSE is understandable considering the fierce opposition to the bill from his financial patrons at the US Chamber, but considering his recent promise to vote to repeal both health care and Wall Street reform, it’s pretty easy to guess which side of the issue Rossi falls on: the US Chamber’s side.

But I wonder how well this will play at home. The Seattle Times editorial board for example, have been vocal champions of public disclosure and sunshine laws, and to their credit. Will they hold Rossi’s feet to the fire over his lack of support for the DISCLOSE Act? Or will they ultimately prove themselves to be hypocrites on one of their pet issues?

So, the Seattle Times has this tradition of endorsing two candidates for every seat in a contested primary, which personally, I find kinda stupid, but well, it’s a tradition, so what the heck. So on those rare occasions when the Times chooses to endorse only one primary candidate, you just know there has to be something dramatically wrong with the opponent:

Of the three candidates for Position 2, we are drawn to the fiscal restraint championed by Republican Heidi Munson. She is endorsed over Democrats Luis Moscoso and Dave Griffin.

Munson is essentially running on pledges of leaner government, tighter spending and an open mind about new ways to doing government business, including working toward a greener environment. Her earnest rhetoric fits the times.

Moscoso knows the inner workings of Olympia, but the challenge for him is to broaden a perspective shaped by representing the Washington Public Employees Association/UFCW 365 and union issues for Community Transit workers and drivers. He knows the territory, the question is how tough he can be in the interest of all taxpayers.

Hear that? After 33 years of public service and community volunteerism, Luis Moscoso is so totally unacceptable to the Times, that they’re forced to break with their dual endorsement tradition, and endorse only a single Republican in a primary for a race to replace a retiring Democrat in Democratic leaning district. Because, of course, Moscoso is a labor leader and a party Democrat. And that, for the Times, is an instant disqualification from public office.

The fact that Munson is a crazy-ass teabagger, well that’s just fine with the Times, as long as she never represented any unions.

So my question for the Times ed board is: why do you hate working people?

And this is news, why?

Dog owners in Everett don’t need to bring dog-waste bags when they visit the local park. Taxpayers are providing the bags for them.

As Everett officials have been cutting millions from the budget, the city spent $8,430 last year on plastic bags for pet waste. The Herald of Everett reports the city bought 120 cases of pet waste bags, which volunteers use to stock 36 stations at city parks and trails.

Um, anybody at the AP or the Seattle Times ever visit a public park? Seattle parks provide poop bag dispensers, as do King County parks. In fact, you’ll find them at parks, trails and popular dog-walking routes in municipalities of all sizes throughout the nation. So judging from the lede, I can only assume that the editors at the Times and the AP found this particular dropping of non-news newsworthy, I suppose as an illustration of wasteful government spending… which, of course, is a complete and utter load of crap.

Poop bag dispensers are a basic public service that helps keep our sidewalks and parks clean. Honestly, would you rather spend a few cents a piece of taxpayer money to encourage and enable your fellow citizens to fulfill their civic duty, or would you rather, you know, step in it? I know there are some who insist that government should be limited to arresting criminals, building roads and deporting brown people, but that’s a libertarian dystopia that would quickly have all of us routinely scraping dog shit from the soles of our shoes.

So thanks AP/Seattle Times for pointing out the little things government does to improve our quality of life.

UPDATE:
Alternative Theory: perhaps the Times objects to unfair competition from publicly funded poop bags, because picking up shit is the most natural and beneficial use of the plastic bags their paper comes wrapped in? Kinda like the same way they would oppose the free distribution of rubber bands?

UPDATE, UPDATE:
Alternative Theory #2:  Frank Blethen hates dogs.

Polls should always be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s hard not to be optimistic about Proposition 19 after a PPP poll has it ahead by a wide margin, 52% to 36%. This is after Survey USA had it ahead 50% to 40%.

Of course, there are still special interests and other political dinosaurs who will fight this initiative, but so far their efforts have been less than inspiring. And I’m not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to start a No on Prop 19 Facebook page, as it’s already overrun with a fascinating mix of legalization supporters debunking the silly arguments and jokesters pretending to be clueless prohibitionists.

All that said, the voting in November won’t be done on the internet, so it’s best not to be too confident just yet.

UDPATE: Nate Silver coins a new phrase, the “Broadus Effect”, to describe a discrepancy he’s seeing with minority voters between automated polls and live operator polls on Prop 19.

According to a report on stadium food safety from ESPN.com, one-third of the food vendors at Seattle’s Qwest Field have cited by health department officials for critical violations, specifically, for having inadequate hand washing facilities. Yuck.

That ranks Qwest Field a middling 19th in food safety out of 32 NFL stadiums (tied with Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field), but dead last in the NFC West.

FYI, only 16% of Safeco Field vendors have been cited for critical violations, either for inadequate hand washing facilities or (double yuck) not using the hand washing facilities they have.

Yum.

Of course, everybody knows that we Democrats are a bunch of terrorist-loving, soft-on-crime pansies, which I suppose explains why in the U.S. Senate race, law enforcement organizations are endorsing Democrat Patty Murray.

Huh?

Perhaps the 4,500 members of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS) understand that being tough on crime takes more than just saying that you are tough on crime; perhaps WACOPS members appreciate the millions of dollars of federal money Sen. Murray has brought the state for training and equipment, fighting meth and preventing gang violence (you know, the kinda much needed funds Dino Rossi derides as “earmarks”)? Perhaps Sen. Murray’s hard work giving their members the funding they need helps explain why WACOPS joins the Law Enforcement Administrators of Washington, the Washington State Patrol Troopers Association, the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters and other first responders in endorsing Democrat Sen. Murray over pro-law-and-order-except-when-it-comes-to-paying-for-it Republican Rossi?

As for Rossi, I can’t seem to find his first responder endorsements on his web site. Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t have any?

Yes, I’m back in Seattle, but I’m also in meetings all morning, so I won’t have much time for posting. In the meanwhile, I highly recommend Danny Westneat’s must-read column in the Seattle Times: ‘Self-made’ myth divides us.

Of all stories we tell ourselves, the one about how we’re a merit-based nation of lone wolves has got to be the most enduring. The most intoxicating. And the most baloney.

Nowhere is the myth as confused with reality as in rock-ribbed Eastern Washington. The place depends utterly on the government and communal resources for its existence, from the New Deal irrigation system still being paid for by taxpayers elsewhere, to farming subsidies and crop price supports. Yet in their own minds, they are mavericks living off the land.

“We don’t need the government to come in and try to prop things up,” a Lincoln County grain buyer told me as the economy was collapsing in the fall of 2008. As if the local economy weren’t already propped up.

It’s not often I recommend something in the Times for anything but ridicule, but Westneat nails it. Really… read the whole thing.

Last week’s contest was won by Ludicrus Maximus. It was the office in Albuquerque, NM where a man went on a shooting spree and then killed himself.

Here’s this week’s photo. As always, it’s related to something in the news from the past week. Good luck!

I stepped outside last night for the first time in days, to grab a cab to the Daily Kos party at House of Blues. It was hot. I stepped outside again this morning to grab a cab to the airport. It was still hot.

Fortunately, next year’s Netroots Nation promises to be much more comfortable, and much more interesting in terms of the local setting. Near the end of his funny, passionate and energizing keynote address last night, Sen. Al Franken had the honor of announcing that NN 2011 will be held in his home town of Minneapolis. Not your typical tourist destination, but then neither was Pittsburgh, and we all had a lot of fun there. Plus, there are several nonstop flights a day between SEA and MSP, and that always makes for a much less annoying trip. (Well, except on US Airways; they can pretty much fuck up anything.)

So if I’m still blogging this time next year, I’m planning on being there.

As for this year’s NN, I’d say it was worth the trip, even if it wasn’t necessarily the most fun I’ve had at one of these confabs. (I don’t gamble, I done patronize hookers or strippers, and I can’t afford the extravagant shows, so Vegas isn’t really my kinda place.) Gatherings like this are all about making and reinforcing relationships, and the close connections I have to other bloggers nationwide, both national and local, make me a better and more influential blogger. It’s the community aspect of the Netroots movement that has always been its not-so-secret weapon, and nothing builds community like meeting face to face.

And while there certainly wasn’t the same energy and buzz as there was in the heady summer of 2008, I can safely report that the alleged death of progressive enthusiasm has been greatly exaggerated. When the final attendance numbers are tallied, NN 2010 may turn out to be the best attended NN ever. Indeed, there were considerably more first-time attendees at NN, than total attendees at the shadow “Right Online” conference down the street. Doesn’t exactly fit with the media narrative, but then, the facts often don’t.

As for me, I’m coming back to Seattle fired up for perhaps one last burst of personal advocacy on an issue that most Americans tend to ignore, but which threatens to undermine the ability of our nation to maintain a functioning democracy. But much more on that later.