Archives for May 2013

I didn’t realize that this is happening next month (h/t, h/t), but it’s rather great that it is.

The Trans*Pride march will include community members that identify as Trans* in some way such as folks who identify as Transgender, Transsexual, Gender Queer, Gender Non-Conforming, Trans Men, Trans Women, Drag Queens and Kings, Cross Dressers, and our Friends, Families, Co-Workers, and other Allies. The purpose of the march and rally is to raise awareness and support for the Trans* community and to elevate the challenges faced by Trans* and Gender Non-Conforming people in Seattle and more broadly in Washington State, the United States, and Internationally.

We are very excited about the speakers that will be participating in this event, who will be addressing issues of gender identity and expression and how they intersect with sexual orientation, race, poverty and class issues, ability, and the many other intersections of identity we all have. The speakers will be announced soon. If you are interested in speaking or suggesting a speaker, please check our performers page.

I’m glad that Seattle is accommodating enough that the Department of Neighborhoods is a sponsor. It’s Friday, June 28, and if you’re interested in checking it out, here’s the schedule:

5:00pm – 6:00pm – Assemble in Front of Seattle Central Community College
6:00pm – 7:00pm – March to Cal Anderson Park
7:00pm – 7:30pm – Welcome & Speeches
7:30pm – 8:00pm – Music by: Rae Spoon
8:00pm – 8:30am – Seattle Trans* Organizations Highlights
8:30pm – 9:00pm – Keynote Speech: Julia Serano
9:00pm – 9:30pm – More of Seattle’s amazing Trans* Community Organizations
9:30 – 10:00pm – Comedy by: Ian Harvie
10:00pm – Thank you and Good night!
10:30pm – Trans Pride Official After Party!!

They’re also raising money here if you’re interested in supporting it monetarily.

As EvergreenRailfan has been noting in the comments, today Amtrak will have another round trip from Bellingham to Seattle. From their press release.

To help travelers pass the collapsed Skagit River Bridge severing Interstate 5, the Washington state-sponsored Amtrak Cascades train service will roll out two extra train trips daily between Seattle and Bellingham.

“Travelers need more options for travel and with the help of Amtrak, Sound Transit and BNSF, we were able to offer this great travel option,” said state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson. “We are so fortunate that we have the relationships to make this urgent service a reality so quickly.”

This third, temporary round trip will depart Seattle at 8:15 a.m. and departs Bellingham at 5:15 p.m.

“Sound Transit is pleased to provide a Sounder trainset during the time this temporary service is in operation,” said Sound Transit Board Chair and Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy. “This additional service will help citizens avoid traffic congestion during the construction period, saving the public travel time as our organizations work together to bring a vital regional transportation artery back in operation.”

If passenger demand persists, the added round trip could remain in service until the Skagit River Bridge is repaired, rail officials said.

Hopefully it will help with congestion.

As I mentioned last night, former Microsoft employee Jamen Shively’s press conference with former Mexican President Vicente Fox went down today:

Shively described grand visions for his pot brand — hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, tens of millions of customers, more than 1,000 jobs just at Diego Pellicer’s Seattle headquarters.

“Yes, we are Big Marijuana,” he announced.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last March, the company wrote that it had raised $125,000 of an anticipated $625,000. Shively suggested those were outdated, but did not provide different figures.

I’m far from someone who has concerns about a commercial marijuana industry. I find it natural that once marijuana is legal and regulated, there will be companies that will grow to resemble the large brewers and distillers in this country. They will even pander to heavy smokers and largely not care about people who develop dependency issues with their product. As far as I’m concerned, this is still far better than settling turf wars with gun battles and not having any government oversight into their production processes.

But I’m somewhat annoyed by what Shively is doing here (even beyond what I mentioned last night about the risks he’s taking with respect to provoking the feds). What annoys me is that there’s a sense that he can become “big marijuana” just through marketing and good corporate gamesmanship alone. As we develop this new market, I have hopes that the Liquor Control Board errs on the side if giving out more licenses to more folks to foster an atmosphere of competition. If someone is going to become “big marijuana”, I want them to get there by having a superior product, and by working their ass off to grow a good company. Not because they have connections and a lot of capital.

It has been rolling across the country for a while, and today the fast food worker’s strike has landed in Seattle.

Taco Bell was closed, along with a number of other fast food restaurants around the city as workers walked of the job in a rolling strike that is continuing today.

The strike, organized by Good Jobs Seattle, is demanding higher wages for fast food workers. The Lake City Burger King and a Subway on Capitol Hill also closed temporarily for lack of employees, and picketers have targeted Qdoba, Chipotle and Taco Del Mar as well

“They’re done with having poverty wages,” said Reagan Jackson of UFCW 21, who joined the picket lines outside the Georgetown Arby’s earlier today. “They’re requesting that they have a new living wage of $15 [an hour]”

Good for them. As someone who eats at several of those places, I’ll just say that I’d gladly pay a bit more for the food if the workers were paid a living wage. And I would eat even better knowing that it came out of CEO’s pay.

– The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation discovered radiological contamination in Magnuson Park in 2009 and fenced off the area but did not publicly announce the problem, officials acknowledged in an unusual public meeting Wednesday night. (Seattle Times link)

– Congress manages to get a lot done. If by a lot, you mean naming post offices.

– The Damsel in Distress part 2.

– just because he looked like a hero compared to the rest of the dipshits and reprobates in the Bush administration doesn’t actually make him one.

– I can’t be the only one who thinks the people of Spokane are having a sigh of relief about what’s going on in Toronto knowing that Jim West could have been worse.

– Despite the fact that I don’t like Sarah Palin’s politics, I think it’s pretty cool for Republic that she’s coming to town.

– I love this discussion of enclaves of Olympia.

– The Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge

This gets more interesting:

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is arriving in Seattle on Wednesday night to meet with local marijuana entrepreneur Jamen Shively.

On Thursday, Fox will join Shively and other leaders at his Kirkland-based company, Diego Pellicer, for a press conference at the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle. They will announce details of the company’s new acquisitions and plans to expand domestically and internationally.

A lot of people have been breathing a sigh of relief that the DOJ has been very quiet about their intentions so far. But that doesn’t mean nothing will happen. Everything they’ve said and done in recent years has been centered around one basic truth – if you get too big, you become a target. In fact, San Francisco’s U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said exactly that when it came to her decision to target the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the country, Harborside. As the war they’ve been foolishly fighting for decades slowly falls apart, nothing raises the ire of drug warriors more than seeing people get rich in an industry that they’ve been conditioned to believe is illegitimate.

Shively is an interesting individual. At this month’s Cannabis Freedom March, he spoke about how he’s only recently discovered marijuana, when a “brilliant programmer” he worked with at Microsoft introduced him to it. As a corporate strategist, he obviously knows a lot about how to set up and run a company, but it’s not clear he knows what he’s getting into when it comes to the drug war. Mark Kleiman, our state’s marijuana consultant, thinks Shively may be trying to scam some folks out of investment capital without actually crossing any lines that would get his ass arrested. I’m highly skeptical of that, but Shively’s approach really has me scratching my head. I guess we’ll see what happens at the press conference tomorrow.

Well shit.

Sen. Mike Carrell, who has been receiving stem cell transplants since last month for a blood condition, died Wednesday from complications related to his treatment. He was 69.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler said Carrell died at a Seattle hospital of lung complications from his ongoing treatment of stem cell transplants from his brother and chemotherapy. Schoesler said that Carrell died in his sleep with his wife, Charlotte, nearby.

Earlier this year, the Lakewood Republican was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, also known as pre-leukemia. The chronic disease affects blood-forming stem cells.

When we last checked in on professional genius and part time legislator Representative Ed Orcutt, he was complaining about all the carbon bikes were pumping into the air. Before that he was calling hungry families special interests in defense of keeping loopholes for private jets and out of state banks. What I’m saying is the people of his district clearly insist on electing only Mensa members. So his latest email to constituents should come as no surprise.

Since the incident, I have been on a conference call with the Governor (which included WSDOT and WSP officials); two briefing calls with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials; and have met with NTSB officials on the deck of the bridge. From NTSB to WSDOT, it is clear that the reason for the collapse was due to a collision with the super structure of the bridge — not a lack of structural integrity of the bridge. The bridge would indeed be standing today had the truck’s load NOT rammed the super structure of the bridge. In fact, 11 of the 12 sections of the bridge are still standing.

I suppose the person who emailed him wanted to be able to rest assured that if a truck hits other bridges that those bridges won’t collapse. But instead we get 11/12 of the bridge is still up. Look on the bright side!

Now I know what you’re thinking. “What? Is? ?????? Fuck!” But if you’re anything like me, you’re also wondering if Representative Orcutt is drunk emailing constituents. Because if that’s the case, he maybe needs help instead of the constant mocking he gets from here. I don’t know. But if this is a call for help, maybe don’t do it at the expense of Washington citizens.

Start your summer right left! Please join us tonight for an evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier than that for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another nearby DL meeting over the next week. The Tri-Cities chapter also meets tonight. And next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima, South Bellevue and Olympia chapters meet.

With 204 chapters of Living Liberally, including sixteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and two more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– I hope you had a good Memorial Day.

– But the bigger lesson to learn from the Skagit River bridge collapse is that government matters.

– So, basically, the Washington Post just made me less likely to agree with them because they didn’t seem to understand what the actual stakes were. Just because James Rosen isn’t a North Korean intelligence asset (or the dupe of one) doesn’t mean that he isn’t stupid enough to do just as much damage as if he were.

– Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, you’ve got some explaining to do.

– I would have assumed the IRS would be more politically sophisticated than to devise the crude screen they used during those cycles. But they did have an obligation to check.

– It’s always a bit tough to tell from pictures, but it looks like a good turnout in Olympia for the day of action against Monsanto.

In 2010, King County Council member Reagan Dunn was a conflicted man. Driven by his Inner Socialist, he huffed and puffed and took his ball and went home after the King County council considered sequestration cuts that would hit the Sheriff’s office. At the same time, his Inner Teabagger adamantly opposed new taxes, or even putting a tax measure on the ballot to let the voters decide.

In other words, “gimme my Gov’ment funded security, but keep your bloody hands off my money!”

Well now, thanks to sequestration cuts, Mr. Dunn’s inner Socialist has reared its ugly little head again:

“This airport is critically important to King County and the region,” said Dunn. “Congress must act and guarantee that the Renton Municipal Airport and others like it have the needed funding to operate fully and continue contributing to the local economy.”

Dunn joined his comrades, Council member Julia Patterson and King County Sheriff John Urquhart, in writing a letter to Congress stressing the importance of Big Government sponsored airport infrastructure, and its value to the local economy.

Wait…isn’t this a job for local governments? Aren’t they in a better position to understand the local needs? Or, better yet, can’t the Free Market fix this along with everything else it has on it’s To Do list? Surely the sequestration cuts will lead to a booming economy sowing magic beans that sprout into new private sector infrastructure to fill the void left by Shrinking Government, right?

Apparently not. Reagan wants his Big Government funded infrastructure. But don’t count out Reagan inner Teabagger just yet—we have yet to learn how Mr. Dunn wants the Feds to fund the Renton air traffic controllers….

Last week’s contest went unsolved (as of Friday night). It was Brier Terrace Middle School in Brier.

This week’s is related to something in the news from May, good luck!

Galatians 5:12
I wish that everyone who is upsetting you would not only get circumcised, but would cut off much more!

Discuss.

Sam Seder speaks with Katherine Harris about scandals.

The IRS/Tea Party Scandal:

• O’Donnell: The Republican ‘ignorance-fueled war’ on the IRS and Pres. Obama.
• Stephen: Boehner and the IRS/Tea Party scandal.
• Mark Fiore: Money for Nothin’.
• Jon asks, “What the hell happened?!?”
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The Real I.R.S. scandal. Part 1.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The Real I.R.S. scandal. Part 2.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Conceited Sen Ted Cruz vs. the Republican Party he ‘does Not trust’.

White House: West Wing Week.

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Happy Memorial Day.

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

The Daily Show catches up with Dylan Ratigan (via TalkingPointsMemo).

Obama’s War on War:

• ONN: Obama aims to limit civilian casualties with switch to Taser drones.
• Stephen: Obama’s Flying Deathbot Program.
• Maddow: End of war. Part 1
• Maddow: End of war. Part 2
• Sam Seder: Obama calls for repeal of AUMF

Jon does Bill-O the Clown.:

Young Turks: Jon pwns O’Reilly

Thom: The G.O.P. punks ABC News.

John Fugelsang: Barack Obama — Worst. Socialist. Ever.

Obama honors Carol King.

Young Turks: AZ Athiest lawmaker addresses House with his own prayer.

I5 Bridge Collapse:

• A bridge collapsed in Washington
• One Minute News: Collapse.
• Officials weigh-in
• A guy who ended up in the drink speaks.
• Maddow: Bridges and infrastructure
• Young Turks: Bridge collapse.

Young Turks: Historic ban overturned.

Alyona: Saluteghazi!!!

Sam Seder: Glenn Beck sees “false flag” atheist conspiracy in Blitzer question.

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

Transparent President:

• Jon: Priorties USA
• Ann Telnaes: The once transparent President.

Sharpton: The G.O.P.’s rebranding FAIL, as outreach extended to white supremacists!.

Mental Floss: 50 Common Misquotations.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Jon on Peggy Noonan (via Political Wire).

The Republican War on Women™:

• Ann Telnaes: Anti-Women Trash.
• Thom: Why some G.O.P. men should experience labor.

Thom: How electric cars save human lives.

John Fugelsang: Anthony Weiner is running for Mayor. Gentlemen, start your puns!

Maddow: Foolhardy budget cuts cripple government.

The Onion Week in Review.

Ann Telnaes: What the G.O.P. and the White House are NOT focused on.

Virginia is for Haters:

• Maddow: Social conservative extremists fill Virginia G.O.P. slate.
• The Virginia “Dream Team”

Bashir agrees with Ted Cruz on one thing.

Maddow: The GOP’s ‘Guantanamo closure’ road-block: .

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

On May 24, 1941, Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota. No information is available regarding whether his first cries were hoarse and nasal. Certainly they were unintelligible.

Zimmerman is better known, of course, as Bob Dylan. On this day, “the voice of a generation” turns 72. I’ve been a Dylan fan for a long, long time — at least a generation, probably closer to two. I don’t think I bought his debut album Bob Dylan in 1962, the year it was released, but I’m certain that when I did acquire it a year or two later I could choose between mono and stereo versions of the record.

I’ve taken note of the turn of Dylan’s calendar quite a few times over the years, in a couple of settings:

• When he’s 64…, written on Peace Tree Farm in 2005
• Medicare Part D-ylan, which appeared in 2006 on both DailyKos (that’s the link) and PTF
• 2010’s Time flies…, written at PTF
• The very brief HBD, Bob! at PTF in 2011
• Last year’s Happy birthday, Bob, another dual dKos-PTF post

Dylan rarely celebrates his birthday on the road any more. By my reckoning, the Never-Ending Tour has had a late-May break in all but three years since 1996 (comprehensive tour schedules, set lists, and reviews available here). I haven’t a clue how he marks the occasion, but I bet he’s enjoying it.

The title of this essay refers, of course, to one of Dylan’s hundreds of familiar tunes. A particularly apt one, to be sure. Here’s a video of Bob and The Band playing Forever Young at The Last Waltz in 1975.

Dylan wrote the song in 1973, over half a lifetime ago (he was 32 at the time). One wonders whether he was envisioning himself four decades later. It’s clearly one of his favorite ditties — he’s played it in concert 493 times (his 27th most commonly performed song), starting on January 3, 1974 and most recently on November 21, 2011.

So, I wish a very happy birthday to Bob Dylan, and hope for many more. I can’t think of a better salutation to Dylan on his birthday than his very own words:

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.