Archives for May 2014

It’s happening again. The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally is holding its weekly gathering for an evening of politics over a pint.

Please join us tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. The starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks show up before that for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out another Washington state DL over the next week. They’re everywhere! The Tri-Cities chapter also meets this and every Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the Bellingham and Burien chapters meet. And next Monday, the Yakima, South Bellevue and Olympia chapters meet.

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

It is an irony that a nation that makes such a show of celebrating its war dead does such a crappy job of taking care of our war living. The real scandal is not that the Veterans Administration has failed to do better with the limited resources it has, but that we spent so lavishly sending armed forces to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with so little thought to how we would take care of these veterans upon their return.

Remember all those hundreds of billions of dollars in additional appropriations that were routinely passed during the Iraq war with very little congressional debate (because to question it would have appeared unpatriotic and anti-troops)? That’s the sort of attitude our lawmakers need toward VA funding if we’re going to adequately take care of our veterans over the next several decades.

Last week’s contest was won by zzippy. It was Kahului, HI.

This week’s is triple the fun, three locations that were in the news in May, good luck!

Yes, yes, and double yes:

IF public policy were based just on what we know works, universal pre-kindergarten education would already be the law of the land. The public duty to educate children would not, magically, kick in at age 5 for kindergarten. High-quality preschool would be a foundation for school readiness, leveling academic disparities across race and income lines.

But such a utopia is not to be found. The Washington Legislature is moving, slowly, in that direction; Congress, less so. Cities have begun to redefine the public duty to the tiniest of students. That is why the City of Seattle’s proposal for a universal, high-quality preschool experiment seems promising.

At the risk of sounding ungracious, my own complaint with the Seattle Times editorial board on universal preschool is that they didn’t take the lead on it sooner. For all their strong words in favor of charter schools, increased testing, and other so called “reforms,” high quality early learning is the only educational reform absolutely proven to work. If the editorial board had focused more on improving education and less on busting the teachers unions, perhaps Seattle might have moved toward universal preschool a couple years sooner.

Genesis 6:6-7
The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Discuss.

Jonathan Mann: The Arctic is melting.

ONN: The Onion Week in Review.

Chris Hayes: Fox’s “ace” “criminal-reporter” James O’Keefe’s BUSTED on latest bogus claim:

Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Is Mitch McConnell about to lose reelection?.

David Pakman: Right-winger, Dinesh D’Souza, pleads guilty to felony.

Mental Floss: 47 charming facts about children’s books.

Refining Marriage:

• Sam Seder: Judge strikes down same sex marriage ban in Oregon.
• Richard Fowler: Gay marriage backers win out in Pennsylvania.
• Ann Telnaes: The evolution of marriage.
• WaPo: Philly celebrates ruling against same-sex marriage ban.

Adam Carolla for President.

Thom: The birth of the Kochtopus.

FCC responds to net neutrality ruling.

David Pakman: Ex-Christie aide says Christie was told about Bridgegate plans.

Thom: If the fast food industry can’t pay its workers a living wage, then it has no business doing business in America.

Young Turks: Rush Limbaugh deaf, dumb, and colorblind?

Macklemore than Meets the Eye?

• Newsy: Anti-Semitic stereotype or harmless fun?
• David Pakman: Macklemore dresses up as offensive Jewish caricature.
• Young Turks: Macklemore “Jewish” costume, is he stupid, racist or both?

Jon on the NRA’s opposition to smart guns.

Sam Seder: (Wheel of Fortune’s) Pat Sajak is a climate change denying nutburger.

WaPo: The music of the civil rights movement.

Mark Fiore: AntiTrust Us!

Dept. of Veterans Affairs Cover-up:

• Jon slams GOP for VA scandal hypocrisy.
• Young Turks: Rush Limbaugh deaf, dumb, and colorblind?
  ‘>Bill-O challenges Rove on VA care
• Young Turks: VA Scandal explained

Chris Hayes: “Repeal The World”, the Teabagger’s Kamikaze platform.

David Pakman: The most sickening political stunt of the year.

Ed: Pat Sajak’s “wheel of climate denial”.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sharpton: A ‘kinder’ GOP unveils new mean manifesto to roll back America 50 years.

Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Is PA about to elect their most Progressive governor ever?

Jake Tapper’s political cartoons.

Kimmel: This week in unnecessary censorship.

Some Yahoo Named Yoho:

• Sam Seder: Wingnutburger Ted Yoho (R-FL), “Only property owners should be able to vote.”
• Sharpton: Republican Ted Yoho suggests only ‘property owners’ should vote!.

Jorge Ramos: Latinos will remember GOP racism on immigration in 2014 & 2016.

Ed: The GOP’s lies and misinformation about the U.S. Postal Service.

Thom: Sarah Palin’s death panels:

Jon: The Tea Party’s new host.

Maddow: Majority leader Eric Cantor abandons immigration reform. I.
Maddow: Majority leader Eric Cantor abandons immigration reform. II.

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

In the last week I was on the same bus as an old co-blogger from an earlier blog, I saw a writer of a blog I used to read back in the day and who was a Drinking Liberally regular at the Columbia City Farmer’s Market, and randomly bumped into another friend — who isn’t associated with politics or blogging — while out walking. That’s more than most weeks, sure, but it’s hardly uncommon. And I wonder what it is about Seattle (and me) that makes that sort of thing happen.

Part of it is simply that I’ve lived in the area for a long time so the number of people to accidentally run into is higher. But part of it is Seattle. I ran into those people on transit or on foot, and the city and county have invested a lot of money in those things. Of course, the primary reason for those investments is to get people around, but it’s a nice side effect to run into people you know.

I don’t really think of it as a suburban thing.* When I lived in suburbia (both growing up without a car and as an adult with one) there were a few places where you would see people. So at a coffee shop, a restaurant, a bar, or even the Post Office, you would run into a bunch of other people also there for the coffee shop, restaurant, bar or post office. But not as much out and about or commuting.

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Seattle City Council members are being lobbied hard by a group of immigrant and minority small business owners—mostly Asian—fighting to weaken the city’s proposed $15 minimum wage ordinance. So I just thought I’d take a moment to drill down to the core of their argument and remind council members that there is nothing particularly noble nor rational about defending the rights of immigrant business owners to pay poverty wages to immigrant workers.

And that’s basically what these immigrant business owners are demanding.

I suppose somewhere in the ID there might be a white suburban teenager busing tables or washing dishes or stocking shelves, but we all know that’s not the workforce we’re talking about here. Whereas minimum wage workers in general are disproportionately people of color, minimum wage workers at immigrant owned small businesses are almost entirely so. Thus any concession we make to immigrant business owners largely comes at the expense of their immigrant workers.

Yes, I know, this is a nation that was largely built on the backs of cheap immigrant (and slave) labor. And many of these immigrant business owners worked crappy, poverty-wage jobs themselves when they first came to this country. They were exploited when they first arrived, and now it’s their turn to do the exploiting. It’s the American way. Hooray!

But that doesn’t make it right.

Besides, the same economic arguments that apply to other businesses apply to immigrant owned ones as well. The personal stories of the owners may be more compelling than that of the guys my ex-colleagues at The Stranger have pimped for, but the economics are no different. Some immigrant owned businesses might struggle to pay their workers $15 an hour. Some might lay off workers. Some might move out of the city. Some might close up shop. But most will figure out a way to adjust and to thrive. Because that’s the American way too.

After the defeat of Prop 1, Eli Sanders wondered why suburban voters like light rail, but not buses.

Seattle is surrounded by a ring of voters who appear to hate the idea of funding buses. But in 2008, voters in that same suburban ring voted in favor of funding light rail. (Take the suburban city of Kent, for example. Only 27.2 percent of its voters wanted to save Metro bus service this year. But in 2008, returns showed 50.8 percent of Kent voters in favor of funding light rail.)

These were different measures, of course, but that’s very much the point. There was something in this year’s proposal — whether it be car tabs [to fix roads and fund bus service], the focus on bus transit, or Metro Transit itself — that alienated suburban voters. The result was a marked decline of support that cannot simply be attributed to anti-transit sentiments.

So what was it? The influence of the Prop-1-bashing Seattle Times on suburban voters? The weirdness of an April election? Something about the winsomeness of trains that buses just can’t match? Theories?

As a suburban voter (and a long-time Metro rider and supporter), I wish I had a better answer to this question. I was frustrated to see Prop 1 go down, but I wasn’t all that surprised. The roads near my house were littered with signs saying ‘No $60 car tabs’.

Part of the problem is certainly that trains are seen as a more efficient mode of transit than buses. But I also had a recent conversation with someone who was convinced that Metro was bluffing about the need to cancel routes, and won’t actually cancel them. They cited the Seattle Times, but I’m not even sure the Times went quite that far down the rabbit hole (or maybe it did, I honestly don’t read their shit anymore). So maybe it’s not as much a negative view of buses as it is a negative view of Metro itself.

Either way, as a suburbanite who relies on the 102 bus to get to my job downtown, I have one thing to say to Seattle with respect to preserving the regional character of the Metro system.

Save your routes and don’t worry about us.

I know that I might be fucked if things continue in that direction and Metro starts to de-emphasize suburban routes, but seriously, it would be hilarious to watch traffic go to levels of shit previous thought unimaginable as all of us bus commuters get back in our cars. Let’s bring it on! Carmageddon!

In a 5-4 decision, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled today that Sea-Tac Airport workers have the right to sue their employer for providing lunches that fail to accommodate their religious beliefs:

Due to security concerns, the workers at Gate Gourmet can’t bring their own lunches to work. Nor can they leave work on their 30-minute lunch breaks.

Instead, the company provides their lunches. While there are ostensibly vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, the workers say the vegetarian options include animal by-products and allege the company switched from turkey meatballs to beef-and-pork meatballs without telling them.

Omiallah, is it possible to be a more awful employer? This is a company that is actually in the business of providing meals that comply with special dietary needs—from Gate Gourmet’s own fucking website:

Our chefs hail from different regions and countries and are experts in their respective native cuisine. With Gate Gourmet, you can count on a partner with expertise in ethnic and cultural cuisines as well as dietary and religious customs. Gate Gourmet can provide any type of special meal to cater to any specific dietary need, in full accordance with IATA specifications.

And yet they couldn’t bother to do the same for their own Muslim workers? What an utterly reprehensible display of disrespect!

One of the ironies* of the $15 minimum wage movement is the oversized role that Alaska Airlines and its Sea-Tac Airport contractors played in pushing the issue over the top. For years, airport workers had been protesting their low pay and abusive work conditions to no avail. The SeaTac $15 initiative was initially conceived as a means of pressuring Alaska to force its contractors to the negotiating table; organizers never believed they’d really have to go to the ballot. But Alaska chose to play hardball, and the rest is history.

* (A further irony is that a nation that wets itself at the thought of Islamist extremists appears to go out of its way to put Muslim immigrant workers behind airport security gates, only to pay them crappy wages, feed them pork, and fire them for praying on the job. Given our obsession with airport security, you’d think that if we can’t bring ourselves to respect these airport workers as actual, you know, people, we might think it in our self-interest to at least try to pretend.)

– I’ve been asked a couple times to sign the $15 minimum wage initiative. So far I’ve declined, waiting for the process to play itself out. But if the process plays out badly (second piece) I’ll be glad to sign it.

– The Republican base had a choice to become more inclusive as the demographic tide advanced on them, or to double down on maximizing the racist white vote.

– These are possibly the NIMBYest NIMBY’s in all of NIMBYdom.

– Rainier Valley is Fueling Link Ridership Growth

– The Case for Reparations

– I’m pretty sure this XKCD What If got written for the hover text for the penultimate picture more than anything else, although the answer itself is fun enough.

According to the latest census estimates, Seattle’s population grew by 2.8 percent last year, the fasest rate among the nation’s 50 biggest cities. And that’s not all:

Seattle didn’t just surpass other big U.S. cities in 2013. For the second consecutive year, it outpaced its suburbs — and the new census data show this trend is accelerating.

Seattle grew at double the rate of surrounding King County between 2012 and 2013. That is significantly faster than in the previous year’s census estimates, which clocked Seattle’s growth at 25 percent faster than its King County suburbs.

Among all places in Washington with at least 50,000 residents, Seattle had the fastest rate of growth, and was followed by: Sammamish (2.2 percent), Auburn (2 percent), Richland (1.7 percent), and Redmond (1.7 percent).

Clearly, Seattle’s tax-and-spend liberalism is destroying our city and driving people away! Or something. Will the last person leaving Seattle please turn off the WiFi router?

Obviously, I’ve known intuitively after the Oregon ruling that the entire West Coast has marriage equality. But still, it’s really great seeing the map.

The linked post says there’s a lot to do, and of course that’s right. Also, marriage equality isn’t the end all be all of gay rights or of modern civil rights struggles. But as of this week, you can drive from Canada to Mexico in marriage equality states. While the Northeast, Midwest, and Arizona feel like islands of equality, the entire West Coast feels more substantive, even if it’s fewer states than the Northeast.

Pediatric neurosurgeon and accused stalker Monica Wehby easily beat second place Jason Conger 50 percent to 37 percent yesterday in Oregon’s Republican US Senate primary, after voters ran out of time to make an informed decision.

A police report detailing allegations that Wehby repeatedly stalked her ex-boyfriend at his home, entered without his invitation, and harassed his employees, did not emerge until Friday, May 16, the last day in which Oregon voters could be reasonably assured of putting their ballot in the mail and having it arrive by the state’s Tuesday, May 18 received-by deadline.

Wehby will go on to be trounced by Democratic incumbent Senator Jeff Merkley in the November general election.

Every election season our state’s editorial boards chime in with demands to switch Washington’s postmarked-by Election Day ballot deadline to Oregon’s more restrictive received-by deadline. The argument is that forcing voters to return their ballots sooner would result in faster election results. But as I’ve repeatedly explained, it won’t. Our elections departments can’t keep up with the volume of ballots that already arrive during the final couple days of the election. All switching the deadline would do is disenfranchise thousands of additional Washington voters.

But the Wehby incident illustrates another disadvantage to Oregon’s received-by deadline: it effectively shortens the election season by three or four days, leaving many voters unable to respond to late-breaking news like Wehby’s stalking scandal. In Washington, you can drop your ballot off at your neighborhood post office as late as Tuesday afternoon and be reasonably assured that your vote will eventually be counted, but in Oregon you damn well better put your ballot in the mail by Friday, Saturday at the absolute latest. Sure, first class mail sometimes arrives next day when mailed within the same urban center, but sometimes it doesn’t. So you’d be crazy to post your ballot on a Monday.

In practice, Tuesday’s proximity to the weekend essentially moves Oregon’s vote-by-mail Election Day to the previous Friday.

There are many advantages to a vote-by-mail election, not the least of which being the vastly reduced opportunities for voter suppression. But there is no reason to exacerbate the system’s weaknesses in pursuit of maybe reporting election results a tiny bit faster.

– Everyone seems to like Mayor Murray’s choice for police chief.

– Maybe guns in bars might not be such a good idea

– Hey bicyclists, be careful.

– Please jot this down and re-read it the next time you knee-jerkingly and douchily deny you are privileged. Thanks.

– Here are some names of parties that people used this year (Spokesman-Review link).

– Congrats Oregon and Pennsylvania on human dignity.

– I haven’t been watching Cosmos (I’ll probably catch it when it comes out on DVD because I am 1000 years old) but it’s always fun to watch creationists lose their shit.