Archives for January 2014

The GOP in the State House of Representatives isn’t going to pass any legislation any time soon. So it has freed them up to introduce crap and then writepress releases about said crap.

Washington House Republicans introduced legislation on the first day of the legislative session designed to help people who have lost their insurance keep some form of affordable health care.

In the wake of Washington being pretty successful, at signing people up for health care (Seattle Times Link) this is totally the thing to focus on.

Recently, President Obama and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have responded to reports that millions of Americans have been kicked off their coverage due to Obamacare. To mitigate the cancellations, both have announced policies that allow people to either keep their existing health care plans or be exempted from the individual mandate tax penalty and buy typically cheaper catastrophic care plans. Washington state’s Democratic insurance commissioner has not been supportive of allowing individuals to keep their pre-Obamacare plans.

Right. Because coverage was bad. The GOP are going to pretend that insurance coverage was awesome before? Anyway, let’s skip ahead from criticizing Obama for being Obama and Mike Kreidler (although not say his name) for not being Obama.

To overcome the Obamacare obstacles Rep. Matt Manweller has introduced two bills. The first would allow Washington residents to buy catastrophic health care plans in other states. The second bill would instruct the Office of the Insurance Commissioner to enter into compacts with other states to facilitate the purchase of health care plans from other states. This bill is similar to legislation introduced by Sen. Linda Evans Parlette which passed the Senate last year and was passed by the House Health Care Committee, but died in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and Information Technology.

Damn you House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and Information Technology!!!!!!!! Damn you to hell.

Oh, actually, really? That sounds like a bad idea. Washington State has worked to make sure that insurance actually means something. But what about states where it hasn’t? Let’s get our insurance from there. And by the way, I’m sure that if your cut rate, out of state insurance doesn’t live up to its promises, the Missouri, or wherever, Insurance Commissioner will be thrilled to take up your case.

I should say, though, I normally criticize the GOP for not having a plan, but this is technically a plan. Not a very good one, doy, but it’s something. Anyway, pressing on.

“The Democrats who control our state leaped into Obamacare before they looked. They drove people off the health care plans they liked and eliminated all the low cost plans they could afford. Even President Obama has realized the mistakes of his plan and offered the American people an out,” said Manweller, R-Ellensburg. “Unfortunately, the plans President Obama said we can keep don’t exist in Washington anymore. Therefore, we need to let people buy them in other states. That will bring fairness back to our health care system.”

We’re doing a better job subsidizing coverage for people who need it now, but in exchange for that, you know, there are higher minimum standards. Therefore, get your insurance from another state, where they haven’t been as good at signing people up in the first place, obviously.

I don’t know enough about the specifics of the state constitution or state law to know if the AG’s office is right that localities can ban marijuana shops. The law is the law and if the office has come to that conclusion, then, they should say as much.

Nonetheless, I’m glad to see that this isn’t the last word, and that the ACLU is going to fight it. It won’t do as much to stem the illicit trade if you have to drive another county or two to purchase marijuana. Especially with the current setup where it’s legal to own marijuana but there’s nowhere to legally purchase it.*

Still, the politics is perplexing. I suspect given this, and given their history the Pierce County Council will try to ban marijuana shops once again. In a municipality that supported legalization and a market by 54%. The exec vetoed it last time, but her argument was that state law ought to be the driving force. Not that hey, we don’t want to encourage drug dealing on the street corners, so we should have a better place to go. Not, hey, we can best make sensible regulations if it’s legal. Not that localities should tax marijuana when budgets are still tight.

Now, in fairness, that’s a good deal of speculation on my part. I don’t know if the County Council will try again, and I don’t know if Executive McCarthy would veto it. But the argument she relied most heavily on is now gone, or at least weakened.

And I can’t help wondering if part of the reason is a fear by some politicians, especially outside of urban areas, of being labeled one of those damn hippies if they support this reasonable policy. I mean how can you possibly support a legalization policy if you aren’t lighting up yourself? How can you support a live and let live policy on these sorts of issues? Of course, it’s silly; It seems like people unwilling to support marriage equality for fear that people might think they were gay in the not too distant past. Still, I think the fear of the attack ads they’ve written in their minds is worse than the reality they would face, at least in municipalities that supported I-502.

I’m also worried about what this will do to medical marijuana patients if the law gets interpreted that way by the courts. It looks like the legislature is moving toward pushing medical users into the recreational market (Daily O link). If the state outlaws collective gardens, that could be problematic anyway. But if they outlaw collective gardens and they aren’t replaced by shops in some cities and counties, that would seem to be more problematic.

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– Don’t let the NRA have this one

– Wait, is Jesus the 12th Man?

– It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but it seems neat to let 16 and 17 year olds preregister to vote (TNT link)

– That really is the only conclusion to draw from opposition to hate crimes laws based on the fear that hate crimes will criminalize preaching

– 6 Shocking Realities of the Secret ‘Troubled Teen Industry’

– So, I don’t want to make a big deal about this, but I just realized that I’ve been blogging for more than a decade (although there was a break between blogs 1 and 2).

In the wake of the DREAM Act passing the Washington State House, I had a pretty cynical response assuming that it would die in Rodney Tom’s Senate. Well, I still think that’s probably the bill’s ultimate fate, but unlike me, Andrew at NPI took the opportunity to write his Senator (Senator Tom, as it happens).

The DREAM Act has to do with education. So it’s within the purview you outlined to the Seattle Times’ Olympia correspondent, Andrew Garber.

Do you have a fallback excuse to explain why this legislation won’t be coming up for a vote this session, even though the House of Representatives has just voted, giving the Senate ample time for consideration?

If you’re truly the majority leader, as opposed to majority leader in name only, you should be able to bring this bill up for a vote in the Senate.

I mean, besides you, just one other vote from your caucus would be needed, and then together, with the Democrats, there’d be twenty-five votes for this bill.

The instinct to push forward, to write, over the instinct to just throw your hands up is one I wish I had shared with Andrew. So here’s my letter to a Seattle Democrat who would almost certainly support it anyway if it comes up.

I’m writing you today to ask that you do whatever you can to support the Washington State DREAM Act recently passed by the State House. I understand that as a member of the minority party there is only so much you can do, but common decency demands that you do as much as you can. People who are in this country, who came here through no fault of their own, deserve the chance to make it in this country, and in this state.

It’s good for the state’s long term economic prospects to have a highly educated workforce, and this will help provide that. It’s in our interest to be the kind of state that attracts the best people no matter their background. But mostly, it’s the right thing to to.

Thank you

Carl Ballard

If you want to write your Senator, or one or both of your Reps — on this or anything else — you can find them here. My recommendation is be polite but tell them exactly what you want.

Goldy has the details.

With the Washington State Legislature proving absolutely incapable (unwilling?) of addressing our transportation needs, King County Executive Dow Constantine is rolling out a proposal that would ask voters to approve $130 million a year in new local taxes to avert a 17 percent cut in Metro bus service, while providing additional money to maintain deteriorating city and county roads. Constantine will also ask the county council to approve a new low-income fare category—$1.50 per trip—that would provide a substantial discount to as many as 100,000 Metro riders who are struggling to cope with recent fare increases.

[…]

Rather than the more progressive motor vehicle excise tax (MVET)—a tax on the value of your car—that Olympia had promised King County but never delivered, Constantine is proposing raising revenue under the county’s existing but unused Transportation Benefit District (TBD) authority. The TBD would raise a combined $130 million in 2015; $80 million from a $60 annual vehicle license fee (VLF), and $50 million from a 0.1 percent increase in the county sales tax. (The $60 VLF would come after the current $20 “congestion relief charge” expires in June, so vehicle owners would only see a net $40 annual increase in their car tabs bill.) Sixty percent of the money raised would go toward filling a projected $75 million a year shortfall in Metro revenues, with the remaining 40 percent going toward city and county roads, allocated based on population.

The election to decide that will come up pretty soon, so that might be more interesting than whatever is happening, or not happening, in the legislature. I wonder if the opposition to the license fee will be out in as much force as it was in the Seattle election a few years ago. I hope it turns out better. Will the people who opposed it because it was regressive but haven’t lifted a finger to push Olympia for a better option be out again?

Will the promise of a lower bus fare make this package more progressive, so easier to swallow? In that election, there were vague promises that City Light would look into better rates for lower income people to offset some of the problems with the flat rate license fee. In this package, the lower rates are baked in. Goldy didn’t mention it in the piece and I forgot to ask him at Drinking Liberally, but I wonder what the mechanism will be for enforcing the different rate. It seems intrusive to have to prove that you deserve rate, but maybe it wouldn’t be. And with ORCA Cards, it’s probably a bit easier to just bloop the thing (THE TECHNICAL TERM) than to have to show a separate pass. Of course lower income people are probably less likely to have ORCA Cards, by and large.

Sure, I realize that there may be more important issues than this, but shit’s important to me. The other day at work, I sent an email with “obvs” like I do on HA sometimes. A coworker thought it was important to let me know that the proper abbreviation of obviously is “obvi.”

Now, I don’t want to besmirch my workmates, but that can’t possibly be right, can it? Maybe?

There are a few things that make me worry that I maaaaay be wrong. First, the spelling: “Obvi” clearly cuts off in a logical place. “Obvs” really doesn’t. Second, when my coworker told me it was “obvi” I could pronounce it correctly. It took me 3 times to pronounce “obvs” and it’s my word. Finally, I’m not sure where “obvs” came from. I feel like I’ve always just abbreviated it that way.

So in conclusion, why am I talking about this? Good night!

Last week we had a DL surprise. We showed up at the Montlake Ale House only to find that the pub was closed! The business had been sold and a new restaurant is planned to open in its place.

For us, this marks the end of a nine year run at the Montlake Ale House. But this is an opportunity to try someplace new. Therefore, we will have a “traveling DL” for a month or two, trying a different location each week until we find someplace new (or, perhaps, even return to whatever the Ale House becomes).

This Tuesday we will meet to discuss new places to try. So, please join us for some pub punditry over a pint at the the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally. Starting time is 8:00pm.

This week only, DL will be held at the College Inn Pub at 4006 University Way NE, Seattle, in the heart of the University District.

Can’t make it tonight? Check out another Washington state DL over the next week. The Tri-Cities and Vancouver, WA chapters also meet this Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Bellingham chapter meets. For Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. And next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 214 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.

– SPD has pictures from a person of interest in the Neighbours NYE arson.

– If only we had more people guns in movie theaters

– The Washington State DREAM Act passed the House (h/t). Anyone else excited about it dying in Rodney Tom’s Senate, despite having the votes to pass?

– 137% of people agree that Fox News is bad at polls.

– When evangelicals support Phil Robertson…

– Mark your calendars, the NPI Spring Fundraising Gala is 4/25

So, the legislature has started up again, and as night follows day, Rodney Tom has said something stupid.* Regarding the $15 minimum wage, Genius McGee had this nugget of, um, let’s say gold.

The majority leader looked down his nose at the current drive in Seattle for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. It was spurred on last week by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s executive order that city departments implement that wage level for about 600 city employees currently below it.

“(Mayor Mike) McGinn filled up our (Eastside) office towers and a $15 wage will fill up our retail space,” Tom quipped.

As Joel notes:

Actually, if Tom walked around the downtown Seattle neighborhood where the City Club held its luncheon, he would find plenty of recently located retail business and lots of buildings going up nearby in such places as South Lake Union.

So, either Rodney Tom doesn’t know that Amazon has expanded within Seattle proper, or he doesn’t care. Either way, holy shit, this fucker is making economic policy for the state! The GOP gave power to this asshole who either doesn’t know that Microsoft has a presence in SLU or, I guess just forgot. I mean, every state GOP senator voted as their leader this person who is unaware of the Russell Investments’ move.

Now there are real problems in some neighborhoods with attracting storefronts. Pioneer Square — for example — is mostly full in the offices, but they still haven’t been able to refill the old Elliott Bay Books location, or other places. At the beginning of the recession a lot of stores near me closed, and while most have come back, some are still vacant. So there might be an argument about the $15 minimum wage scaring people away.** Still, the whole thing is based on faulty assumptions, so I wouldn’t put much faith in it.

Now, to be clear, I hope for only good things for his district and for the rest of the state. We’re in it together, and all that. If the offices are as full on the Eastside as Tom says, great. More jobs for people. More tax money for education and social services. More money for Metro.

In any event, I don’t know how you can wish a poor wage on so many of your constituents. I mean, there are plenty of people who live in Redmond and Kirkland — hell, I bet even parts of Medina — who make below $15. It must be awesome to be told by their State Senator that they’re worth so little.

Finally, dumbfuck is a STATE legislator and the ostensible leader of the entire Senate. He’s supposed to work for the interests of the entire state. If the state’s largest city were hurting as badly as he claims — and again, it’s not he’s just either stupid or dishonest when he says it — he should be sad, not gloating. He should be trying to figure out how to help.

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– Many Republicans and Christie admirers aren’t sure how best to respond, but they’ve taken a long look at the available evidence, and have decided to ask the question that matters most to them: “Isn’t President Obama awful?”

– In case you’re wondering why the GOP’s only plan for health care is repeal the ACA, well it’s because their other ideas are crap.

– Feminized culture made it not OK to cause traffic on the GWB?

– The EPA is Evil. Save me EPA.

– Regardless of your stance on prosecuting online hate speech and/or explicit threats, we, as a society, need to start accepting the fact that the internet is real. The internet is not a fantasyland without consequences—it’s a real place of real joy and real danger where real flesh-and-blood people exchange real ideas and real threats.

– Emmett has another metanomy piece on Olympia.

Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky. It was Painesville, OH.

This week’s is a random location using the Google Maps 45 degree views, good luck!

Mark Fiore: One minute Middle East update.

Polar Vortex Politics:

• Alyona: Limbaugh’s conspiracy theory.
• White House Science adviser explains the polar vortex.
• Polar vortices and global warming
• Young Turks: Did the Liberal media create the Polar Vortex?
• We the Geeks: Extreme weather events.

Whose side are they on?

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

David Pakman: Pat Robertson’s 2014 predictions.

Zina Saunders: Paul Ryan Koch toy:

Ed: Rep. Gov. Scott Walker thinks only kids are affected by minimum wage!

ANOTHER 60 Minutes Failure:

• Thom: 60 Minutes, are you watching news or infomercials?
• Ana Kasparian: Why Does 60 Minutes Keep Screwing Up?

Young Turks: Dumbest talking point ever.

Thom chats with Kshama Sawant.

Maddow: Lt. Governor problems.

White House: West Wing Week.

Pap: GOP sociopaths learn empathy.

The Pot-Texting-Industrial Complex:

• Jon mocks Bill-O the Clown over Chinese texting and pot smoking
• Young Turks: Bill-O is embarrassed by Jon.

David Pakman: Mitt criticizes Obama for doing exactly what he did.

Thom: Who are the real ObamaCare hypocrites?

Chris Hayes: Extreme cruelty is the Republican “war on poverty.” Part I.
Chris Hayes: Extreme cruelty is the Republican “war on poverty.” Part II.

Young Turks: Republican pollster Frank Luntz gets depressed and hides in his mansion:

Chris Christie’s Own Bridgegate to Nowhere:

• Sam Seder: Christie aid is BUSTED.
• Absurdity Today: Chris Christie’s Top 5 Alibis
• Scandal grade: incomplete.
• Pap and Thom: Christie’s Nixon moment.
• Young Turks: Chris Christie bully mash-up.
• Lawrence O’Donnell and David Corn: How the bridge scandal will affect Christie’s presidential prospects
• Christie on the bridge closures
• David Pakman: Chris Christie bridge scandal leads to woman’s death.
• The Guardian: Gov. Christie’s apology in 2:40
• Young Turks: Bridgegate Lawsuit.
• About “Callous”
• Chris Hayes: Christie’s political future?
• Ed: Christie says he is not a bully!
• Sharpton: Did Christie lie?
• Five clips of Gov. Christie being a bully
• O’Donnell: The Christie gang takes the fifth.
• Ann Telnaes: Gov. Christie Insists he is not a bully .
• Christie politics: See how it’s done
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter Nevermind Prez in 2016, will he still be gov in 2015?
• Maddow: An alternative theory of the Christie scandal.
• Maddow chats with Mayor Mark Sokolich, Part I
• Maddow chats with Mayor Mark Sokolich, Part II
• Lawrence O’Donnell: “I am no bully”
• Ed, Pap, and Fugelsang: Christie better lawyer up!
• Christie croney repeatedly pleads the fifth
• Thom: Chris Christie is a bully
• Chris Hayes: Jersey city Mayor calls out “petty Christie-Crats”

Can your booze predict your politics?

Richard Fowler: Paul Ryan lectures the Pope on Capitalism.

Thom: Boeing goes to pieces…screws the U.S..

Mental Floss: 30 (more) life hacks debunked.

We Aren’t Going To Have Liz to Kick Around Anymore:

• Liz Cheney quitting means nothing to the Republicans
• Sam Seder: Liz Cheney has no heart for a crushing defeat.

Young Turks: Someone who really shouldn’t criticize free lunches, does.

Sam Seder: FAUX News chief is a slimy asshole.

Thom: The Republican sabotage of America.

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

I suppose in a way it’s progress that the GOP are pretending to give a shit about the science of global warming instead of just sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling “we’re in the majority in the State Senate, so lalalala I can’t hear you.” But this seems more like a PR friendly version of that.

The GOP statement from Sen. Ericksen and Rep. Short said CLEW’s work assignment—crunching the data on any proposed solutions—needed to add another year. In their press release, Sen. Ericksen, also chair of the senate’s environment committee, said: “It is vital that legislators receive accurate information about the economic costs and the potential environmental benefits surrounding any carbon-reduction efforts.”

Some of the things in the mix: a carbon tax, a cap and trade system, expanding hydro capacity, investing in nuclear power, and foregoing “coal-by-wire”—transmitting coal-generated electricty from out of state. (The legislature passed a historic bill back in 2011 phasing out the state’s last existing coal-powered plant.)

And look, I’m all for studying things more. Yay! We can, and should continuously update legislation. But at a certain point, complaining about the fact that we don’t know for certain all of the possible impacts of a policy is just a way to kill that policy. For we also don’t know all of the impacts of doing nothing for another year. In any event, if that was a concern before, they could have raised it before.

It isn’t like we’re stuck with any policy for ever. If a cap and trade strategy is as bad as Ericksen pretends to fear, it can be adjusted or gotten rid of. I’m glad to see that the Democrats will actually push for something.

Ranker’s press release, which came second in the volley (he says he got a text from Ericksen the previous night alerting him that the Republicans thought the CLEW process should continue, but was caught off guard by the press release which he disparaged as “negotiating in the media”), was brief:

“I was surprised to see the press release from the Republicans on the CLEW committee, especially considering all sides were still talking and weighing options. While I’m disappointed, I’m also optimistic that Gov. Inslee, Rep. Fitzgibbon and I can continue to work on solutions to this very serious issue that impacts every person in our state and planet. Doing nothing is the only option not on the table.”

If the GOP were willing to show themselves as good faith actors, their let’s wait another year theatrics might be worth something. As it is, it’s probably fair to say they’re hoping to have an excuse to not do anything until the next election.

I suspect there will be more and more demands to study things as an excuse for inaction in the coming session. That’s really too bad.

The State Supreme Court issued an order that the legislature isn’t on track to fully fund education by 2017:

“The State clearly made strides in 2013, which should not be overlooked: But the court is very concerned that measured by the current rate of progress, the state is not going to be in compliance with the constitution by the 2017-18 school year,” wrote Chief Justice Barbara Madsen.

The order, signed by eight of nine justices — conservative Justice Jim Johnson did not sign — told the Legislature to deliver a plan by April to phase in a full school funding plan.

The Legislature did budget $982 million in 2013 to bolster education, but the court noted that this amounted to only a 6.7 percent increase over the current, constitutionally inadequate level of support to the state’s public schools.

In the post looking forward to the legislative session, I’d said that there probably wouldn’t be too many accomplishments, and that probably still holds. But maybe this will actually shake some money loose for education. Hopefully it doesn’t come from further dismantling the social safety net. I’m not sure that education works as well as possible for hungry children.

“I did not have selective lane closures with that Bridge…Mr. Washington.”

Oh, the humanity!