Archives for April 2012

Atrios is right that the housing market isn’t going to recover while the crooked, thieving banks are all crooked and thieving.

I’m not sure how anyone expects “the housing market” to “recover” when buying a house now involves handing a bunch of money over to a bank which will then proceed to steal your house from you.

This behavior will continue until lots of people go to jail. And that, apparently, is off the table.

Of course there is another option. And that’s to make it impossible for the banks to steal your house from you. And it seems the simplest way to do that is by putting a moratorium on banks foreclosing until the documentation gets sorted out. It might increase the cost of lending since there are a number of legitimate foreclosures that wouldn’t happen.

Ideally this would happen at the federal level, but I don’t think it’s something you can get done with the current House of Representatives. So, it can happen at the states. It’s 4 years past time, but I’d like to see some creative state legislator here in Washington propose it in the next session.

This week’s Stranger has an awesome story by Dominic Holden on the Seattle Subway proposal:

A group of transit nerds, working with allies in local government, are developing a way to do it and do it fast. With lines above and below grade (more than half of the New York City subway is aboveground), the Seattle Subway would transport riders from downtown to Ballard in nine minutes, according to estimates for modern subway technology. Travel from downtown to West Seattle would take 10 minutes—no matter the traffic. Trains could arrive every five minutes.

Here’s how it would work: Seattle voters would take advantage of the City Transportation Authority, created by the state legislature in 2002, which was intended to fund the monorail. That authority still allows voters to establish a motor vehicle excise tax of up to 2.5 percent for “a transportation system that utilizes train cars running on a guideway.” An initial vote as soon as this November or next year could pay for relatively inexpensive analysis and design work for the first line—probably to Ballard and West Seattle. A subsequent vote would pay for constructing the first line. Repeat as necessary until that map you see is complete.

“It’s a great concept,” says former mayor Greg Nickels, who was integral to building the light-rail lines we have. He agrees the current construction schedule for light rail is “frustratingly slow.”

Read the whole thing…it’s good, thought-provoking stuff.

So…Dominic Holden is now pro-tunnel?!?

Democrats have pushed the fact that Senator Zarelli wants to eliminate Disability Lifeline, but is on a different disability program. I’ve never been a fan of accusing people of personal hypocrisy because they live differently from how they govern. So someone supports public transit, but drives a lot doesn’t concern me; I’ll take the transit, and if other people want to drive a lot with these gas prices, go for it. People who take farm aid and oppose it don’t concern me. And Zarelli opposing disability programs is much worse than the fact that he opposes the program while he benefits from a similar program. But the Tacoma News Tribune feels the need to not only defend him, but to make strange metaphors.

The two kinds of disabilities involved aren’t merely apples and oranges; they’re apples and zebras.

Are apples and zebras the most dissimilar things the Trib can think of? I mean you could eat both of them, for example. Here’s one of my nonsense lists to help them out the next time they want to grope for a metaphor about how things aren’t the same:

• Apples and plastic
• Apples and the concept of fear
• Apples and explosions
• Apples and cars
• Apples and people with black mold in their brain who benefit from the program that Zarelli wants to cut
• Apples and the people who Zarelli would make homeless with his awful budget
• Apples and the people who’ll die if we pass Zarelli’s budget
• Apples and declining state revenue as a share of the economy
• Apples and the concept of time
• Apples and mustaches
• Apples and TV shows
• Apples and Higgs particles
• Apples and corporations
• Apples and Unnecessary Capitalization
• Apples and Mispellin the word Misspelling

Lots to talk about. Let’s see…the Washington legislature has a stalemate with a huge deadline tonight, Newt is bouncing checks, Santorum has suspended.

Let’s talk about it. Please join us tonight for an evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

Seattle DL meets every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. We begin at 8:00pm, but some folks show up even earlier to enjoy a peaceful dinner.

SPECIAL EVENT: This Thursday (April 12th) the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) will hold their 2012 Spring Fundraising Gala Mercer Island Community Center, 8236 SE 24th Street.

The event will benefit NPI and will feature food by Frankie’s Pizza (my favorite pizzeria in the PNW), music, memorable speakers, and great company. The speakers include Senator Maria Cantwell, Congressman Adam Smith, the Honorable Ron Sims, and NPI’s Andrew Villeneuve.

The reception begins at 6:30 PM, main program to begin at 7:15 PM. Tickets are available here or at the door. (The individual rate is $60, household rate is $90. Those living lightly can get in the door for $20, and students who want to volunteer with event setup and takedown are welcome to come for free.)

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? You’re in luck…there are DLs meeting all over Washington state. Tonight there are also meetings of the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and Vancouver, WA chapters. And on Thursday, Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets. Next Monday there are meetings of the Woodinville, Olympia, Yakima, and Shelton chapters.

With 233 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

– Just put a school downtown.

– It’s not a future many in the Northwest had considered in the past. A region that prides itself on green energy, new economy jobs, and a clean environment is about to crown a new king—coal.

– Republicans on Twitter have found the real racists.

– The best encapsulation of every problem with Slate.

– Because we were in Iraq promoting freedom (h/t).

– Whatever you think of Obama’s policies, this GIF of him reading Where The Wild Things Are is pretty great (h/t).

– Middle aged is different for sports stadiums than for people, but I think the Safe is going to be around for a while.

When I talk about car culture, people say I’m being overblown. But how else do you explain The Seattle Times deciding that it’s super important for the city to continue forcing builders to build more parking spots? I mean, I don’t think the market will solve all of our problems, but usually The Seattle Times does. Not today.

The proposal is part of a package to lighten regulations that discourage investment and development. Seattle is a highly regulated city, sometimes to the detriment of reasonable development, and generally this package of reforms is good. But to allow the spread of housing without parking is utopian and anti-family.

No. Plenty of families don’t have cars. When I grew up in a city with functioning public transit, we took it everywhere. When we moved out here, we became a 2 car family.

It is utopian to think that many people will abandon their cars. A few will, but the vast majority who can afford market-priced housing in Seattle will have a motor vehicle, now and always. If they have a vehicle, they will park it — somewhere.

This is such a circular argument. One part of the reason it’s expensive to live, and raise children, in the city is because it has tacked on the cost of parking even to families that don’t drive. I mean people on the cusp could afford a house in the neighborhood and give up their car. Let them chose. If there’s still the demand for parking, people will still build parking.

Anyway, the type of person who buys a house near light rail or a well used bus stop is less likely to drive than the typical person moving into the city, or if it’s a family with 3 people over 16, maybe they’ll just have 1 or 2 cars instead of a car for everyone. Maybe it’ll be a good house for people who’ve retired and don’t have to drive to work every day. The list goes on and on. Let them decide for themselves.

More city people these days have bicycles also, as the mayor does, but they still drive, particularly if they have children or elderly people to take care of. Seattle is famously a city with a low proportion of children, said to be second only to San Francisco. Still our leaders should think twice about making Seattle any less welcoming to families than it already is.

First off, thanks for the random shoehorning of hatred of bicycling, McGinn, and San Fransisco in case anyone needs to prove that this piece was written by Joni Balter. Second, if Seattle residents are disproportionately childless, that undermines your argument that we should build houses to accommodate your version of child rearing. Finally, and once again, you don’t have to drive to get your children around. Yes, it can be tough in Seattle’s not great public transit system, but plenty of people make it work. It saves money. And many people prefer the interactions with their kids on public transit (where parents can give them their full attention) than when they’re driving.

Late last week, media sources, both local and national, were abuzz with the figure $770,000 released by Secretary of State Sam Reed. That is, supposedly, the “cost” for a special election to replace Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-1). Inslee recently resigned his seat to run for Governor.

Last Friday I listened to KUOW’s Weekday Friday news round-up as they spent quite a bit of time on the topic of this special election. (Aside: I was a little surprised that the four esteemed journalists in the studio didn’t understand that the Governor cannot appoint a replacement for a Representative…it’s in the Constitution.)

I was puzzled by the figure. I mean, the special election will take place on the same days as the primary and general election. Does it really cost $770,000 to add one race to the ballet for about 11% of the state’s voters? Is that the cost of adding a couple of pages to the voter’s guide for residents of the old 1st CD?

Now…if Inslee had resigned just days earlier (before March 6th), it would have required a stand-alone special election. I could imagine a new election costing taxpayers $770,000. But that isn’t what happened. Inslee, intentionally or not, delayed his resignation and a stand-alone special election was avoided.

For the answer to the puzzling cost figure we turn to TNT.

Katie Blinn, the co-director of elections with the Secretary of state, said there isn’t really an increase in election costs only a change in how those costs are distributed. County elections offices divide the cost of elections among the government entities with matters on the ballot. But state law dictates that the state doesn’t pay anything for state and federal elections held in even-numbered years like this. It only chips in for special elections that are normally held in odd-numbered years and for any election to fill an unexpired U.S. Senate or U.S. House position.
[…]

So there are not additional costs other than the postcard mailing. What Blinn’s response seems to indicate is that the costs will be shared by an additional governmental entity. As state costs go up, the costs borne by local governments will go down.

In short…the election itself costs taxpayers almost nothing extra. What we are talking about with the $770,000 is the transfer of funds between different government entities; budgetary shuffling. Somehow, the mainstream media missed that subtly. And maybe it’s because Sam Reed wasn’t particularly clear about what the $770,000 is.

The Democrats, of course, point out that Sam Reed is the McKenna campaign’s Thurston County co-chair, and that “[t]he conflict of interest is clear.”

The SOS office is also requesting $225,000 to do voter education—essentially to mail out postcards to educate voters about the confusing special election in the old 1st and the regular election in the new first. I’m not sure why the voter’s pamphlet—you know, that document sent to all voters that educates them about the elections and candidates—cannot be used to educate voters about the special election. Perhaps it violates the RCW or something. I don’t know.

So boos and hisses to the majority of the MSM that hyperventilated over the $770,000 “cost” of a special election.

And boos and hisses to the SOS office for failing to clearly communicate to the media the meaning of the $770,000 figure. It’s an integrity issue, given how a high-ball estimate would look like conflict of interest. Reed should have gone out of his way to explain exactly what the figure means, and provide an actual estimate of taxpayer’s costs.

Finally, Reed should have been out front with corrections last week when the media was hyping the figure incorrectly.

– I had seen links to the John Derbyshire piece, but hadn’t read it until he was fired.

– I’m all for leveling the playing field, but I don’t think rejecting bus ads is the way to go.

– Who knows why people take the Ryan plan seriously.

– I don’t know who God prefers, but I like kind atheists.

– My favorite local news stories are the ones where they can’t decide if they’re trying to titillate or moralize.

– Yep, they are consolidating behind Romney…like a jar of bacon grease in a cold ass room is clearly the greatest political metaphor ever.

– Obviously, the standings in early April don’t matter too much, but it is nice that the Mariners are 3-1.

Last week’s contest was won by wes.in.wa. It was Porto, Portugal.

This week’s contest is related to a TV show or a movie, good luck!

Programming Note: My life is generally uneventful enough that I can ensure a contest will be posted every Sunday at noon, but as my wife is due sometime in April with our second child, if a Sunday passes without a contest, you’ll know why…

Luke 18:32-33
He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

Discuss.

Thom with The Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very Ugly.

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Jesus was a Jew; Obama is a Muslim.

Stephen does Nikki Haley.

Sam Seder: James Murdoch resigns as BSkyB Chairman.

Young Turks: Rep. Allen West…Gay Marriage not important.

Pres. Obama speaks at Easter prayer breakfast.

Episode 9 of the Not Exactly Rick Snyder Show.

Thom: Some more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Young Turks: Crazy new FAUX News conspiracy theory.

The Republican War on Women:

• Young Turks: Of course there is a GOP War on Women!
• Roy Zimmerman with a Kansas version of Vote Republicans:
• Jennifer Granholm: Sixteen-year-old Laela Zaidi weighs in on the Republican War on Women.
• Alyona’s Tool Time Award: The GOP’s war on the War on Women
• Maddow: Sen. Murkowski ‘gets’ what GOP does not.
• Ann Telnaes: The Republican woman problem.
• Young Turks: Nikki Haley, “Women Don’t Care About Contraception.”
• RNC Chair says GOP War on Women fictional as War on Caterpillars?

Pap: The death of the GOP.

Thom with some Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sam Seder: Supreme Courts strip-‘n-probe ruling.

Jon on Sarah Palin’s “Today Show” gig.

Ann Telnaes: Real aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

Stephen: Disheartening improved employment news.

Thom: The President strikes back.

Mark Fiore: Abraca-Tax-Cut.

Jon: Can you make Bill-O pay $4.00 for a shrimp.

Obama: The story of “Fired Up, Ready to Go:

Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Paul Ryan “misspoke” on calling Generals liars.

White House: The Google White House tour projet.

Obama speaks at the White House forum on women and the economy.

Thom: A well-oiled machine to privatize colleges that doesn’t depend on facts.

The G.O.P. Primary Reality Show:

• ONN: Romney to travel back in time to kill liberal versions of himself.
• Mitt Romney versus Reality.
• Mitt Romney is lying AGAIN!
• Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Mitt’s jealousy of Air Force One.
• Actual Audio: Mitt’s funny story.
• More Mitt Romney versus Reality
• Ann Telnaes: Unzipping the inner Mitt.
• Romney v. Obama on tax breaks for Big Oil.
• Jon: Rick Santorum’s big night of losing
• Buzz 60: Poll shows Santorum losing in his home state.
• Young Turks: Santorum campaign staffers are complaining.
• Kimmel weighs in on pink balls (via Indecision Forever).
• The Newt Gingrich “Open Marriage” campaign.

Young Turks: The Wingnut “Obama is a bully” theory.

Sam Seder: GOP-er fights against Gay Marriage until she realizes she is gay.

Pres. Obama’s Passover message.

Ann Telnaes: Masters of their universe.

Maddow: “You have one new message from the Secretary of State”.

The White House Carpet Crisis.

Jennifer Granholm and Karen Middleton (President of Emerge America): Getting women into politics.

Alyona’s Tool Time Award: Rep. Steve King (R) on DADT in the workplace.

ALEC ATTACK:

• Ed and Pap: ALEC scoundrels exposed.
• Young Turks: Stop ALEC and its founder’s efforts to disenfranchise minorities.
• Thom: ALEC may have met its match.

Newsy: Olbermann talks it.

Progressives hold Republicans accountable for Medicare vote: .

Buzz 60: March Jobs report.

Sam Seder: Surprise! Repeal of DADT has caused zero problems.

Young Turks: Ayn Rand, Glenn Beck, and Teabaggers.

Bill Maher and friends on Zimmerman.

Maddow: Update on the Michigan story.

Alyona: How much of your tax dollars go to the Military.

Jon on The death of the GOP.
w.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/04/06/the-daily-show-on-barack-obamas-email-spam’>Obama’s email spam.

Thom with even more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Because the governor might die, or otherwise have to leave. And also because Owen often does annoying things. Mostly deciding the unconstitutional 2/3 requirement was rad. Also, on the plus side of the ledger, he doesn’t fuck around when Gregoire is out of the state, and he could. But while I want the Democrats’ budget to pass, I don’t know that this is the best thing (if he’d actually do it).

It’s a 24-24 tie in the senate because Republican minority leader Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-16, Walla Walla) one of the 25 votes that gave the GOP (and a couple of conservative Democrats) the majority for the GOP version of things, is out recovering from surgery.

Conservative Democrat Owen, who’s made momentous decisions before (ruling against the Democrats by deciding that repealing tax loopholes is tantamount to raising taxes and requires a two-thirds vote), could step in a give the Democrats the budget vote they need.

I mean I’d prefer we win the day because someone realizes that the GOP position is horse shit not because someone needs surgery. I mean the people of Walla Walla deserve representation in this budget mess. That said, I wouldn’t shed a tear if it happened. The Democrats have a better budget than the Republicans and the people voted for Democrats in the majority of both houses.

According to some Travel and Leisure magazine (no, I didn’t know it existed either). Seattle is America’s 6th greenest city.

Seattle did, after all, come in fifth runner-up. And No. 1 was our sibling rival to the south: Portland.

Savannah, Minneapolis, Denver and Chicago also beat out Seattle on the list. But at least the magazine had a lot of nice things to say about Seattle

Yes, if you click the link, one of the things that gets mentioned is that if you bring your own cup to coffee places, you might get a discount. Is that really one of the top 40 environmental things about Seattle? I don’t know what it takes to get higher on a probably mostly arbitrary list, but I say let’s keep trying.

… Sorry, I put the wrong link. I meant to direct you to the Big Blog post that was blockquoted instead of the article mentioned.

The right-wing media has a huge breaking scandal….

The Democratic Party’s newly appointed Jewish outreach liaison is pictured on Facebook in a series of provocative photos with her friends holding dollar bills and referring to themselves as “Jewbags” and the “Jew cash money team.”

Dani Gilbert, who has been a staffer in the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), was recently appointed as the Democratic National Committee’s Jewish outreach liaison, according to her Twitter feed.

Ooohh….that sounds weally, weally, wascally really, really bad.

The whole thing supposedly exposes a huge riff between Pres. Obama and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Here is the offending picture….

There she is kissing the money!

Except, wait. That Facebook page is from January 2006. I presume Ms. Gilbert was in college (or maybe high school) and was goofing around with some friends.

Inexcusable still. It’s scandalous!

Clearly, Ms. Gilbert should be fired and forbidden from participation in politics.

And kept away from young children.

Rachael Maddow has a pretty remarkable story here….