Archives for June 2013

Zina Saunders: Hell rejects Margaret Thatcher.

John Fugelsang presents: ‘The Deeply Embarrasing Senator of the Week Award’.

Michele Quits:

• Stephen on Michele Bachmann’s greatest hits.
• Katrina vanden Heuvel: Good bye and good riddance
• Dave Rubin: Michele says goodbye.

Sam Seder: Mitt Romney thinks Hurricane Sandy was to blame.

Bill Maher with some new rules.

The Rob Ford crack-smoking video leaked.

Thom: Why California will be the new face of Obamacare.

Lawrence O’Donnell: The ‘rape’ men of the GOP.

Sam Seder: GW Bush uses Vets to relieve himself of guilt.

John Fugelsang: People who supported NSA Condoleezza Rice can’t criticize NSA Susan Rice:

Ann Telnaes: The military version of zero tolerance.

Surveillance Nation:

• Stephen on NSA surveillance.
• Liberal Viewer: FAUX News espionage act hypocrisy.

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Scandal! State of America.

Young Turks: When God saved Boehner.

Jonathan Mann: Ode to the NY Times legal force.

Kimmel: This week in unnecessary censorship.

Sam Seder: GOP Senator blames hormones for military sexual assaults.

Maddow: GOP’s & FAUX News’ History of Fake ‘Obama Smoking Guns’

• Part I.
• Part II.

Stephen on Superman.

Thom: Why are “We the People” subsidizing the Tea Party:

Sharpton: GOP tells ‘car thief’ Darrell Issa to ‘cool it’.

Mental Floss: 31 Strange Medical Conditions.

The week in Chris Christie:

• Jon on Gov. Chris Christie.
• Sam Seder: Christie spends $12 Million to protect his reelection
• Young Turks: Christies big fat election.

Bill Maher: Pot is the new gay marriage.

O’Donnell: Incompetent Rudy Giuliani was an ‘unwitting accomplice’ of Al-Qaeda.

White House: West Wing Week.

ONN: Week in Review.

Jon says goodbye.

Young Turks: Is Roger Ailes insane?

Maddow: Not much for GOP to build on in outreach to women voters.

Ann Telnaes: More sexist nonsense from Republicans.

John Fugelsang and Dan Savage: Interrupting Michelle Obama.

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

For the most part, I like what Emmett O’Connell is saying here about the Northwest attitude and the difficulty of outsiders to get it.

The same study pointed out that the typical Northwesterner was very open, but also very introverted. So, take that with the very sane label, I could see why crazy extroverts from other parts of the country would have trouble here.

So, long story short: we have a regional personality here in Cascadia. It is open, quiet and sane. It isn’t for everyone, but it was what defines us. There’s Southern Charm, Northeast brashness and up here we have Cascadian Calm

Right!

Still, I think he understates some of than animus toward people from the rest of the country. I mean it has warn off some, but Emmett Watson made a living hating Californians. And while the California hate was probably stronger than the rest of the country, East Coasters and people from all over get it too.

It’s not fair to say Rodney Tom doesn’t have a budget. He totally does. You just can’t see it. It’s, um, in Canada. But it’s totally real.

The Senate Majority Coalition Caucus called a 6-minute press conference on Thursday to say that they’ve made a counter-offer to the House on the budget. But they released no details about what’s in that offer.

[…]

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom said the Senate made a “comprehensive offer” back to the House on Thursday morning, but would not say what that offer entailed.

Look you guys, I don’t want to use this press conference about my budget to bring the media into the budget process. But my budget proposal is real. It’s real. It’s just so awesome that if you saw it you’d be sad that it wasn’t your budget, so I can’t show it to you.

That press conference was so bizarre that even Josh Feit, who usually bends over backwards to give the conservative side, was flabbergasted.

Tom’s response to the proposal was breif and bizarre.

Asked about the Democratic proposal today, Tom said it wouldn’t meet the “dependable funding” requirement of the McCleary decision because the money from closing tax loopholes was going to the public for a vote. “This isn’t the old Soviet Union where you can guarantee an election,” he said.

However, the Democrats’ proposal to close $255.6 million in seven tax loopholes is not attached to a public vote. Sponsor Carlyle says: “There is no referendum clause. There never has been. Absolutely not. Unequivocally. Emphatically. Period. End of sentence. Have a nice day.”

In Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa We’re Doomed news there are radioactive birds at Hanford (Tri-City Herald, I think they have a limited number of clicks):

Work stopped Wednesday morning at parts of the Hanford vitrification plant after radioactive contamination was detected under a bird’s nest, according to Bechtel National.

I know where this leads: Soon they’ll bite people and then those people will have super powers. Like shitting on people from 100 feet up. I’m already terrified. The only question now is if they use their super powers for good or evil. Probably evil because how you could possibly use that power for good?

Or maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit.

The contamination is suspected of coming from mud used for the nest, which may have belonged to a swallow, said Bechtel spokesman Todd Nelson. Only a small amount of contaminated soil was found, and the contamination was at a low level.

– A progress report on the ex-offender hiring bill in Seattle.

– On the other hand, the fact that Obama didn’t hesitate to announce his appointment of Rice on the day after he defied Republican obstructionists with his three judicial nominees is a good sign.

– While here in Washington we’ll have to get even modest background checks on the ballot, Oregon may get a measure passed through their legislature.

– The Power of Choice Awards are coming up.

– The way I see it, if you can’t look the people in the eye and listen to them then you don’t belong in public office.

– The 2013 Seattle Bicycle Master Plan is out now. There will be time for public comment, and then after it’s finalized, politicians can ignore it.

– Like Paprocki, Mohler refuses to imagine any possible view of “moral truth” other than his own. Anyone who makes a moral argument challenging his own moral assertions, he claims, must be attacking morality itself.

The State House has just put forth a new budget plan (S/R link, I think they have a limit, but I’ve never hit it).

House Democrats offered to trim back spending and drop many proposals on taxes as part of a compromise they say would allow the Legislature to pass a 2013-15 operating budget before time runs out in the special session.

The $33.6 billion plan for the next biennium spends an extra $700 million on public schools in an attempt to meet a state Supreme Court mandate, although less than their leaders proposed at the beginning of the year.

It closes fewer tax exemptions and preferences and would not extend a business and occupation tax surcharge or higher taxes on beer that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. A separate proposal would close or reduce seven tax exemptions, raising an estimated $256 million. That money would be dedicated to specific programs in public schools or colleges if they pass as separate legislation.

Well, I mean sure. It’s pretty shitty, but maybe at least now there can be a compromise. I guess a bad budget is better than no budget. I don’t want to give the impression I’m happy that the Democrats blinked, but they have to pass a budget that people like Rodney Tom’s Republicans Republicans can support.

But the coalition of 23 Republicans and two Democrats that holds the 25-24 majority in the Senate, was less enthusiastic.

“I’m disappointed that this House budget proposal is balanced on the backs of Washington’s school children,” Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, the majority leader, said in a prepared statement. The coalition “will not let political expediency get in the way of fulfilling our obligation to provide for our schools.”

Seriously, fuck you Rodney Tom. If you’re concerned about the obligation to provide for schools, how about raise taxes? But Rodney Tom is bitter asshole, a man so consumed with keeping his ill-gotten power that he would almost certainly kick kittens and then blame Democrats for not stopping him. Maybe other Republicans will be better. I’ll just go over to the House Republican Caucus page and see what they’re doing. Surely they’ll be more reasona…nevermind.

“I am also concerned about the process they decided to use – going through the media via a press conference and using two separate bills. To me, this looks like a step back from the negotiating table. Negotiating through the media by staging press conferences by the governor and House Democrats doesn’t bring the two chambers together.

I know, because all the indications were that the budget negotiations were going soooooooo smooooooothly before this. That’s why there’s a special session and it’s also why there have been warnings that we might go over a cliff. Because the process was working too well before people actually put their ideas forward for the public. Christ.

I don’t do much metacommentary any more. But when conservatives like Michael Medved are terrible, well, what can you do?

Should Eleven Year Olds “Come Out”?

It probably depends on the circumstance. Wait, what?

Should eleven year old boys who haven’t even reached puberty make public declarations about their sexuality? Of course not, but the disastrous new policy by the Boy Scouts of America encourages children to proudly announce their own homosexuality. Scouting is open to all boys at age 11, and those who’ve completed Cub Scouts with an “Arrow of Light” award join as early as age 10!

Medved has flipped all logic on its head. The Boy Scouts isn’t going to kick people out if they come out, but that’s very different from encouraging anyone to declare their sexuality. Saying that if at some point between 10 and 18 someone lets people know they’re gay, then that someone can still be a Scout is a very different thing than forcing children to declare their sexuality. In fact, the opposite is the case now, as before the Scouts had a de facto policy of making all of their members declare themselves heterosexual.

Anyway, please continue by making up some science.

But precious few children have formed fixed sexual identities at that age: every scientific survey of intimate behavior shows that even among the rare adolescent males who’ve experienced gay sex before 18, the majority grow up to identify as exclusively heterosexual after 25.

??????????????????????????????????????????

I feel like I’ve probably overused lots of question marks as a joke recently, but seriously, what the fuck?

The Boy Scouts still claim to ban both same sex and opposite sex intimacy, but raising questions of orientation at wildly inappropriate ages contributes to the destructive trend to sexualize immature children.

That’s why they stopped.

With summer on full display, please join us this evening to quench your physiological and political thirsts 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.

Here is Wall Street Journal editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz going off on the evils of bicycles and the evil bicycle sharing program recently launched in NYC. Note…this is NOT parody.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. And on Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma 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.

Dylan Matthews has a graph-filled post at Wonkblog digging into the data behind the just-released report on the racial disparity in marijuana law enforcement.

When I first saw this on Twitter yesterday, I was certain that the disparity figures reported by the ACLU marked a decrease from previous years, but they’re mostly unchanged over the past decade. Historically, the disparity for all drugs is even higher, particularly because of crack-cocaine enforcement.

I’ve been thrilled to see sharp, wonky folks like Matthews dive into this subject more and more since marijuana was made legal here and in Colorado (and here’s another post from Talking Points Memo, which has begun covering this topic with more frequency as well). But I think Matthews undersells the seriousness of the problem when he writes this:

How important is this? Well, while making up a quite small share of our prison population, marijuana possession charges make up nearly half of total drug arrests:

Obviously, being arrested without going to jail is a lot better than getting arrested and going to jail. But it’s still a major nuisance, leading to fines, long hours of community service and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The downsides of having a marijuana arrest are often far worse than just fines and legal fees. Many of those arrested end up taking pleas in order to avoid jail. Part of that deal is that you plead guilty to a felony charge in order to avoid that jail term. And that felony charge goes on your record and follows you around for the rest of your life. For a young black man, often with little financial resources to get ahead in the first place, this makes it just about impossible to further their education or find employment. They become doomed to what has been appropriately described as the “new Jim Crow”, a second-class status that keeps them outside of the walls of opportunity for life.

The 4 to 1 disparity discussed by the ACLU doesn’t even take into account what happens after these arrests. Those with the resources to fight back can often get their charges reduced or thrown out. Those without them end up being told to plea guilty by an overworked public defender. To see the kind of impact this is happening in our major cities, just take a look at this chart within Matthews’ post:

For so many of the urban areas listed there, these arrests are portrayed as a public safety need. But they’re exactly the opposite. When you have an urban area that has problems with gangs – which thrive from the policies of prohibition in the first place – all this does is give those gangs more young people to recruit, young people that might have other avenues if they didn’t have a felony on their record holding them back. It’s not a coincidence that Chicago’s astronomical arrest figures for at-risk youth go hand-in-hand with its astronomical homicide figures. It’s what you should expect to happen when you do this.

Last month, as part of the celebration of HA‘s 9th anniversary, Darryl walked us through Nine years of HA trolls. It was quite the stroll down memory (some might mispronounce it marummy) lane.

Coming in as #5 on Darryl’s troll hit parade was the priggishly self-righteous Piper Scott, aka Scott St. Clair, an “investigative journalist” once (still?) employed by the odious Evergreen Freedom Foundation. His self-important droppings have been seen in many Washington state online venues, from Crosscut to some minor blog called unSound Politics (or something like that).

Some have suggested that blog commenters like St. Clair — right-wingers whose primary purpose appears to be incessantly inflammatory and/or derogatory on liberal or progressive blogs — are somehow paid to interfere with civilized discourse. I’ve seen that supposition confirmed only once, in the case of Kevin Carns, professional troll, one-time Political Director for Washington’s House Republican Organizing Committee and Executive Director of The Speaker’s Roundtable (the WHROC’s PAC). He haunted HA in its early years.

The evidence regarding St. Clair’s status as a professional troll may have been strengthened by something I chanced upon today. I was looking at some of the numerous testimonials and remembrances of the recently-departed Senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg. I grew up in the Garden State, so big events there always interest me. I first registered to vote in New Jersey, and my first Federal election ballot in 1972 included the very same Class 2 Senate seat held until this week by Lautenberg. (I voted proudly and happily for Clifford P. Case, the incumbent Republican Senator … one of only two GOP votes I’ve ever cast.)

In reviewing the obituaries, I chanced upon one in NorthJersey.com, the website of the Bergen Record. The Record is a daily publication in Bergen County, located in the upper-right corner of the state, directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan. With the innumerable major media outlets right across the river, it’s really a minor part of the press presence in New Jersey, perhaps a step or two above a community newspaper. So imagine my surprise when I glanced at the comment threads and saw this [click on the image to enlarge it]:

Why in the world would a guy from Washington write a lengthy (and derogatory) comment on the website of a minor newspaper in New Jersey? Why would he have “Top Commenter” status there? Why would he have 114 subscribers to his comments on that website, a continent away from his home?

Across the nation, there must be hundreds and hundreds of media websites on a par with NorthJersey.com. How many of those list The Piper as a heavily-subscribed Top Commenter? If he isn’t being paid to troll obscure websites all around the country, what possible reason could he have for being there?

I’m amused that the first two replies to St. Clair’s comment list their locations as “Everett, Washington” and “Everett CC”. Not only does The Piper ride teh intertubes clear across the country, he brings a couple of fanboys with him!

If there are paid wingnut commenters, I suppose that some liberal/progressive blog commenters must also exist. There can’t be as many lefties as righties, though. Just about every newpaper, television, and radio website is populated overwhelmingly by conservatives, libertarians, and worse. I used to think that most of those were local crazies venting their spleen, but perhaps I was wrong.

– Congrats to John Lovick?

– The attention her discovery has brought Barre-Sinoussi has changed everything, just like her friend warned, she says. It even won over the man who told her at the start of her career that a life in science would be impossible for a woman. He contacted her many years after the HIV discovery.

– You must remember this paragraph anytime someone tells you that the black ghettos of Chicago are “no different” than other white immigrant ghettos. Such a person is speaking in ignorance of the actual math and should be immediately instructed to put down the hair tonic.

– Interesting debates on the nature of food aid going forward.

– Seasonal service changes for transit agencies. (PS, I dig the new look at Seattle Transit Blog).

– I don’t even know what a hipster is, really.

1) Now that I-502 has passed, what will the purchase of marijuana look like within city limits? Will medical marijuana collective garden storefronts in Seattle have to abide by the 1000-foot rule established by I-502?

Since the medical marijuana dispensaries have served and do serve as suppliers for the recreational users as well – especially underage ones – my perception is that we have too many of them and it’s good that they have gotten notices to move further away with the 1000 foot rule. That said, I don’t think banishing marijuana storefronts makes any sense or sends a good message. We probably should have saved the old state liquor stores and used them for outlets. I attached the speech I made at the Cannabis Freedom March for some background on my thoughts. [a copy is here – Carl]

2) With Metro’s ability to fund itself at the whim of the legislature, what should the city’s role be in public transportation? As mayor, how will you both make sure we get our fair share, and that the system serves the entire region well?

My suggestion for METRO funding is called ORCA Tabs. Here’s a post I made recently called METRO Rx. http://katemartinformayor.com/2013/05/14/metro-rx/

3) What should the waterfront look like after the Viaduct comes down? Will there be a streetcar or other transit?

I think the upper deck of the viaduct should be preserved as an open space. Here’s a post I made recently called The Viaduct Park. http://katemartinformayor.com/2013/05/09/the-viaduct-park/

4) What should happen in the next 4 years to make sure that police reform both satisfies the Feds, and works for Seattle citizens?

Here’s a post from earlier in the campaign – pre Diaz retirement. http://katemartinformayor.com/2013/01/30/seattle-police-department-path/

Here’s some current commentary on that…

I sincerely hope that the selection process holds off until after the election. I believe the new chief should know who their boss will be for the next 4 years (at least).

When we do open up the search, we need a chief who I describe as a dichotomy. The person must be strong and able to command the respect of the force in an organization with a military-style hierarchy. Previously, although former Chief Diaz was on paper the chief, he didn’t exactly function like the chief. Command staff below him and union leadership seemed to dominate.

In addition to being able to actually function as a respected chief, the chief must lead by example and must be a woman or man with compassion for humanity and agility with a variety of tools beyond just force. The problem of excessive force and racism is an epidemic across our nation’s police forces, so a new tradition must be instilled. That is not something you can make people do and it’s nothing they can fake. They must have the aptitude and the proper professional development and leadership for it to happen.

Additionally, I think that the police force must be rested and healthy. With the $16.8M worth of overtime last year at SPD, I think we have to take a serious look at the relationship between overworking our force and the performance standards we desire, in addition to the budget implications of such practices.

I’d also like to see more neighborhood-based hiring to connect communities to the police forces in a social, neighborly way.

And finally, I understand that there have been inadequate levels of professional development. For all of our City workers, we must invest in their professional development. For the police, for instance, I understand that it has been 8 years since training for domestic violence. That is unacceptable and that’s not the only area lacking in professional development.

5) When there are police incidents, the response from the top is important. With hindsight, in the wake of John T. Williams being killed by a Seattle police officer what, if anything, should the mayor’s office have done differently what, if anything, did it do right?

We need a police force we can trust. I don’t think we’re any closer to having that than we were 2 years ago.

I believe the right response is to trace the incident back to a systemic problem and then fix that problem. I think that professional development of the force has been neglected. There are so many new officers and so little training. The force needs more tools to defuse situations – especially in cases with mental illness and addiction involved. It was just a couple of months ago when a father called 911 up near Carkeek Park because his mentally ill son was acting out. I am certain that the outcome that father was looking for was not the death of his son, but that’s what happened when 10 cars responded to the incident and a guy with no gun or knife was shot dead. Authentic, effective professional development must be stepped up so that every officer has the tools they need to successfully manage the tremendous variety of situations they encounter every day.

– The pride flag will fly above Seattle City Hall.

– So let me be very clear: If you claim to be “pro-life” and yet you don’t support this bill, I have to conclude you are, at best, a sanctimonious hypocrite and not someone whose proclamations on “morality” are deserving of any attention or respect.

– Lindy West continues to be pretty awesome.

– RIP Frank Lautenberg

– I don’t know why anyone would have lutefisk as part of a diet. In my family, it’s mostly just an excuse to have cream sauce.

Last week’s contest was won by Jay S. It was the site of the shooting of Ibragim Todashev in Orlando, Florida.

This week’s is a random location somewhere on earth, good luck!

1 Samuel 18:25-27
“Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.

When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

Discuss.