Archives for July 2013

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 tonight? Check out another Washington state DL. The Tri-Cities chapter meets every Tuesday night. The Bellingham and Burien chapters meet on Wednesday, and the Woodinville chapter meets on Thursday.

With 207 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– All the people who don’t like Elizabeth Warren make me like her more.

– Seattle Children’s Hospital will be a major sponsor of the Puget Sound Bike Share.

– I am very glad to see the advice that General Martin Dempsey gave President Obama on Syria. Even if it took John McCain being John McCain to get it.

– City Council set a target to prevent flooding around Seattle’s drains and pipes by capturing stormwater and reducing rain runoff by implementing emerging green technologies. This “Green Stormwater Infrastructure” (GSI) includes raingardens, vegetated roofs, rainwater harvesting and use of permeable pavement in Seattle neighborhoods.

– If you believe in the Bible, then abortion is never an option — it’s a requirement. And it must be performed by a member of the clergy in the house of God, just as the Bible says.

Jean Godden has an opinion piece in The Seattle Times on Seattle’s unacceptable wage gap by gender, the city taskforce to fix it, and what can be done now (h/t, Seattle Times Link, obvs).

In response to the city’s report, Mayor Mike McGinn announced the formation of a Gender Pay Task Force to “develop short-term and long-term strategies to address gender-pay inequities.” The task force would report this fall and develop a gender-justice initiative by January.

We know the causes of the pay gap are complex. We know that our male colleagues find the study conclusions as maddening as we do.

The task force should be bold and innovative in finding solutions both inside city government and beyond, such as ensuring that workforce-development training and apprenticeship programs — programs designed for family-wage jobs — are targeted at and utilized by women. My council colleagues and I should consider adopting elements of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which has yet to pass Congress, to strengthen equal-pay laws.

We should encourage flextime policies that make it easier to balance family obligations with a career. Only about a third of employers allow some of their employees to work from home on a regular basis. We should expand access to child care so that women do not have to choose between higher-paying jobs and taking care of children.

I’m encouraged that Council Member Godden isn’t going to just wait around, and I hope that her Council colleagues will join her. It’s great that she has some solid proposals (I’m not thrilled about the bit making public employee pay easier to access, but in general, I think what she’s saying is good). That whatever the task force ultimately decides, the city can get started now.

I also want to echo her call for the task force to be bold. Sometimes task forces and other government agencies looking for solutions to problems will come up with a pre-compromised version in the hopes that it can get passed. It’s understandable, but Seattle deserves the best solutions presented for this problem, especially with the Seattle area being the worst of the top 50 metro areas for gender pay equality. It’s up to our elected officials to see how far they are willing to take any recommendations (and it’s up to the public to hold their feet to the fire). If the Council and the Mayor don’t like all of the recommendations, they don’t have to implement them, and the public can decide if they want members who will. But they ought to be given the best options, so we can judge them against that.

Of course, I hope that elected officials actually pass something, and that the recommendations of the task force don’t just get reported on and then sit on a shelf collecting dust.

– “One of the things over the years that have begun to lay the foundation for it are opt-in principles. In other words, people very much in this country want to be able to say: I’m in charge of my information and my data,” Wyden told a noontime audience of several dozen tech workers. (h/t)

– The Klan is handing out fliers in Des Moines.

– I think the most likely explanation here is that Issa was simply trying to cook up a scandal, even though it did nothing to address the genuine problems with the way campaign finance and tax laws are written. He probably figured that in the best case scenario, he’d be able to get away with his fraud. And in the worst case scenario, he’d get a slap on the wrist from a few reporters, but endless approval from his political supporters.

– Darryl mentioned the president’s Trayvon Martin speech after it happened on Friday. Some conservatives weren’t happy with it.

– And if I’m linking to Salon, in fairness, what the fuck, Salon?

– I don’t know what’s strangest about this scene: how much of Downtown I recognize, how much is different or the fact that there are no people out during the entire chase.

– You can talk about the royal baby if you want (of course), but I can’t be assed to find a link.

Last week’s contest was won by Geoduck. It was Valparaiso, Chile.

Normally, the third Sunday of the month has been a location in Washington state, but I feel like I’m looking at the same views over and over again to find a good contest location. So starting this weekend, we’ll go state-by-state, where the images can be a little tougher, but for a smaller geographical area. This week’s is in Alabama, good luck!

Exodus 22:31
You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

Discuss.

ONN: Week in Review.

Mental Floss: Fictional Character Names Revealed!

Thom and Pap: Time to Stand our Ground against ALEC.

Spawn of Dick Cheney:

• Ann Telnaes: Lizz Cheney announces
• Young Turks: The Wyoming Senate race.
• Young Turks: Another Cheney brings a reign of terror in government.

Obama and soldier’s exploding fist bump (via Political Wire).

Maddow: The Smoking gun in the Gov. Bob McDonald corruption case.

White House: West Wing Week.

This week in the G.O.P. War on Voters™:

• PA GOP official admits voter ID law “helped a bit” to hurt Obama (via Political Wire):
• Sam Seder: Politician admits the purpose of voter ID law
• Maddow: Confession.
• John Fugelsang and Rep. Shelia Jackson: Bipartisan refinement of Voting Rights Act is possible.

John Oliver on Weiner and Spitzer.

Young Turks: Michele Bachmann on “spanking Obama’s magic wand”.

Thom: More of The Good, the Bad and The Very, Very Ugly.

Obama speaks on the Affordable Care Act.

Matt Binder: Lawmaker Proposes LGBT rainbow flag ban in Louisiana.

Stand Your Ground (and Shoot a Boy):

• Liberal Viewer: Why George Zimmerman was found not guilty for killing Trayvon Martin
• Thom: Should there be a boycott of Florida?
• Young Turks: Obama, “This could have been me.”
• Mark Fiore: Zimmerman is off the hook.
• Young Turks: Proof that Ted Nugent is a racist.
• Maddow: Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act.
• Ann Telnaes: Wild West Mentality
• Liberal Viewer: Trayvon Martin family lawsuit could challenge stand your ground law necessity?
• Tavis Smiley “disarms” Bill-O by suggesting arming every black person in America.

John Fugelsang: ‘Rush Limbaugh is so racist…’.

The awkward moments when a Tea Party rally turns racist.

Stephen does Elliot Sptizer (via Political Wire).

Sam Seder: Republicans cave to Nuclear Option.

John Oliver: CNN’s “Rock Block”.

Red State Update: The week in review.

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

Ann Telnaes: Gov. Perry thinks the justice system is color-blind.

Cover of The Rolling Stone:

• Stephen on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
• Sam Seder: Rolling Stone got it right.
• John Fugelsang and friends: The Rolling Stone comver
• Young Turks: Was the cover wrong?.

Nancy Pelosi on the G.O.P. lady problem.

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

I like this idea from Goldy.

When nature destroys a US city, we open up our hearts and our wallets. But when economic forces beyond the control of local citizens—forces that are the direct result of our nation’s free trade policies—wipe away jobs and savings and even entire landscapes, we turn a collective blind eye. Why?

US taxpayers have spent over $60 billion rebuilding Iraq and nearly $100 billion in Afghanistan, and with questionable results. So what would be so awful about spending $20 billion to help rebuild a major American city?

This! We have lost the notion that we’re all in this together. We have lost the notion that there is a common good. You can lecture about moral hazard, or responsibility, or bootstraps all you want, but we have lost our collective responsibility to help one another out in this country. On the individual level and from region to region.

We have lost the idea that when our policies, quite naturally, produce large swaths of economic losers that it is up to the places that have gained to help out. Much of the country has benefited from free trade, but Detroit has been crippled. It is up to those of us who gained by being able to sell planes, software, and agricultural goods around the world to help the places that have lost their advantage selling cars. We have to be able to help them find out what’s next for them.

While Detroit, or the Midwest, or the rust belt, or however you want to define it is the place currently in trouble, it’s only a matter of time before Seattle’s — or Washington, or the Northwest or however you want to define it — turn comes. That’s how our current vulture capitalism works, I’m afraid. When our hour of need comes, I want us to be able to say to Detroit, “we had your back” and be able to mean it. It’s the moral thing to do and in our long term best interests.

As promised, here are some groups that have endorsed for the primary.

– The Stranger has their endorsements. Other newspapers have their endorsements, but I don’t really care. I mean on the one hand, it seems to be the only time The Seattle Times notices downticket or suburban races, and I’d like to encourage that. On the other hand, do I really think people who normally can’t be bothered to figure out about downticket or suburban races should tell people how to vote in those races? No, not really. I also don’t know what other newspapers are behind soft paywalls and I don’t want to waste y’all’s or my limited hits.

– NARAL Pro Choice Washington and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest have endorsements to let you know who will be most pro reproductive rights.

– The Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club has endorsements in only a few races, and as far as I can tell, Washington Conservation Voters has only endorsed in the Mayor’s race if the environment is your issue, and you literally only live in Seattle [via Willisreed in the comments, WCV has endorsed in multiple races].

– Individual unions have also endorsed in the mayor’s race, but I can’t find anything downticket or for the rest of the state on any of their sites. And there isn’t a more general labor friendly voting guide or scorecard as far as I can find.

– The Downtown Seattle Association put out a scorecard in the mayor’s race. My instinct is that they’re wrong about everything, so pretend that unfilled in circles are good (except the transit half of the transportation one, that I can’t figure out how they separate for people who got half).

– And finally and least importantly, the only individual in this list: I’m endorsing Kate Martin for mayor. She was the only candidate to turn in answers to the candidate questions, in essence the others were saying “I’m terrified of a few open ended questions that I can answer in writing at my leisure. I’m too lazy to even just give it to an intern, and that’s probably indicative of how I’ll govern if elected mayor.” Other candidates can feel free to answer, but I’m assuming they won’t since the ballots have already dropped and the questions were sent out quite some time ago.

If you think some other group’s endorsements are important, please leave them in the comments.

– The bitter truth is that this verdict is neither an aberration, nor is it exceptionally unjust when viewed from the point of design. It is a systemic byproduct of our legal framework attempting to expand to accommodate those it was never designed to fit.

– If we increase maternity leave, then employers will treat women poorly. Oh you need proof? How about the fact that France exists?

– Four things that happened

– Love your neighbor as yourself.

– This Is Not a Post About Trayvon Martin

– I’m going to be doing a roundup of the various endorsements from groups. If you have ones you’d like included, let me know.

Ben Schiendelman at Seattle Transit Blog has the latest on studying the Ship Canal Crossing.

In order for this study to give answers that the city needs in time for Bridging the Gap and Sound Transit 3, it needs to start at the beginning of 2014. It takes three to four months after the council approves funding for a project for the scope to be written, bid on, and the contract awarded, so the funding has to come well before the beginning of 2014 – really, now.

So on Monday, council member O’Brien ran an amendment to the first quarter supplemental budget to fund the study starting now, instead of in 2015, where it’s currently scheduled.

O’Brien, Conlin, Bagshaw and Harrell voted for it, and the other 5 opposed it. So it failed, and as such:

This may have been the last chance to have the ship canal crossing study done early enough that it could influence BtG or ST3. I plan to get more details from SDOT about the shortest possible timeline for the work, and whether it could still provide guidance before being entirely complete. I’ll report back on a path forward in the next few weeks.

OK. Ben goes over the reasons they opposed it and here’s what he has to say about Licata:

Licata, the same day as the amendment, ran an insert in the Seattle Times with one of the worst false premises I’ve ever seen in Seattle politics. On Metro, it says: “We must not reduce its service in order to build major new rail projects.” This is unreal – in no universe is Metro’s funding shortfall related to rail. The worst part about a campaign message like this is that it makes people less able to understand what’s going on with transit funding – and because they’ll waste their time on a fake battle, it makes getting Metro revenue harder. It’s completely irresponsible on Licata’s part.

Sound Transit has a different budget than Metro. Neither one is controlled by the Seattle City Council. Spending city money on rail, or in this case, studying a rail corridor doesn’t take county money away from buses. This is so confusing. I really just wish I could follow his argument here.

Also, I feel like maybe with the ad implying that buses are the most reliable form of transit, neither he nor whoever wrote the piece has ever been stuck on a bus as it inched along stuck in traffic. Maybe they never had a bus pass them at a stop even though it isn’t even near full (or for that matter when one is full). Maybe they’ve never seen two or three of the same route bunched up together after waiting a long time. Maybe he’s never had One Bus Away screw up* or been on a snow route.

Don’t get me wrong: yay for our many aspects of our bus system. It’s pretty amazing in the urban core with the bus tunnel and with 3rd Ave closed off to traffic. If you don’t mind waiting you can get pretty far out. What it isn’t, what it can’t be as long as it uses the same lanes as cars, is reliable.

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Tim “Biggest Lie of My Life” Eyman’s I-960 and I-1185 require “advisory votes” for tax increases passed by the legislature. Unfortunately, it comes with a lengthy and burdensome voter pamphlet statement:

The Secretary of State’s office says explanations for last year’s measures added about eight pages to the voter pamphlet, which cost about $100,000. Using the same layout, this year’s measures would add about 20 pages, and $240,000.

And then there is this:

But Tami Davis, the voter education and outreach manager, is looking for a way to cut pages and costs.

So on top of the printing costs, the initiatives force us to use state employees to write, proof, and figure out new layouts that save money. All that costs money.

Eyman defends himself:

…whatever the cost may be, it will be “chump change” compared to the taxes those five new laws will collect. Voters deserve a chance to weigh in, he said.

Except that the advisory votes are only…well, advisory. Very expensive ones, at that.

Has the process done anything besides bloating the voter pamphlet and require the legislature to raise taxes to pay for bloating it? Well…maybe. Rodney Tom indicated he used these advisory votes in his decision to join the Republican caucus. And the result was a cluster fuck….more gummed up government leading to a wasteful double overtime legislative session.

The scam Eyman has going here is self perpetuating. He preys on unpopular topics—essentially forcing voters to give a thumbs up or down to raising their own taxes—in order to pass initiatives that gum up government. And when the government gets gummed up, people become unhappy with government. They make a statement through their next initiative from the Mukilteo Menace.

This is the very definition of wasteful government—the very thing the admitted liar is supposedly against.

Eyman isn’t against wasteful government, of course. It is a sham. The only thing Eyman is interested in is lining his own pocket.

Please join us this evening for some 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 one of the other DL meetings this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Shelton chapters meet. The Lakewood and South Seattle chapters meet this Wednesday. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet.

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

– RIP Kip Tokuda

– “I’m appalled that Alaska Airlines is trying to stop SeaTac citizens from being able to vote on the good jobs initiative. What are they afraid of? Why don’t they want to share the success of the company with me and my community?” asked Chris Smith, a SeaTac resident and worker at Sea-Tac Airport. See also, Goldy.

– This is not our system malfunctioning. It is our system working as intended. To expect our juries, our schools, our police to single-handedly correct for this, is to look at the final play in the final minute of the final quarter and wonder why we couldn’t come back from twenty-four down.

– It is strange that the city cut down the cycle tracks that activists put up and then put up its own. But whatever, it looks nice, and I’m glad they responded to activist’s concerns.

– The overall push is laudable. Indeed, given Tukwila is so diverse and yet economically disadvantaged, transformation into a truly urban center, with plenty of transit access and walkability, could improve things. Tukwila seems to be making a real push for renewal, so hopefully it continues successfully.

– Zimmerman gets justice