Carl doesn’t always have a lot to say, but he’s constantly pointing me towards interesting people who do. Like this nice, pithy piece from Washington Outsiders, a local blog I’d never even heard of.
Remember when the Washington State Republican Legislators announced they had a plan, a “Commitment to Washington”? Well they have a progress report on their plan. And it turns out their plan is to take credit for what the Democrats have done!
Apparently, House GOP Floor leader Doug Ericksen — the only Republican to join 30 Dems in co-sponsoring HB 2370 — now claims the bill’s passage as a GOP victory.
Hmm. Don’t know why they feel the need to pad their legislative accomplishments. For example, we’d never have that new bill banning fake sex offender notices, if not for the actions of the House GOP.
Doug Ericksen: Penchant For Assclownery
Not only do they want to hijack your comment threads, but apparently the Democratic victories and accomplishments. Sheesh, what a bunch of low-life leeches.
Goldy,
I’m not surprised you’ve never heard of us, we’re waaaay up in Whatcom County… the sticks, as it were. Republikan Fußbodenführer Ericksen is (supposed to be) one of my Representatives (42nd LD). Hopefully we’ll be replacing Dougie-boy this year; we’ve got a great Democratic candidate Jasper MacSlarrow… And another great candidate Jesse Salomon running against Senator Brandland (R – 42nd LD)
Washington Outsiders
Hmmmm … hard to visualize the Goopers voting for a communist bill like low income energy assistance, but they did — HB 2370 passed both houses by unanimous votes.
Somebody ought to check how much Bush cut low income energy assistance at the federal level.
Here we go — Bush cut $162 million (about 8%) from the low income energy assistance program in FY 2006 budget and another $379 million (about 17%) in the FY 2007 budget.
http://national.unitedway.org/.....Budget.pdf
http://budget.senate.gov/democ.....020706.pdf
As Marie Antoinette would say, “Let ’em freeze!”
Roger Rabbit has posted 62.5% of the comments on this thread! If you don’t like it, go fuck the armadillo you rode in on — it’s lonely!
I wonder why Stefan won’t share the proceeds of his lawsuit against King County with the generous donors to his “legal action fund” who paid for the lawsuit?
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Checked it out – nice blog. REAL content.
RR, those cuts are Bushwack’s way of ‘inviting’ the poor into his soon to be ‘public housing’ areas. I am sure he will treat the US Citizens with ‘compassion’ as he has all of the non-connected ‘invitees’ in his Cuba Project.
GayBob sez about Washington Outsiders Blog:
“Checked it out – nice blog. REAL content.
Comment by BOB from BOEING— 2/21/06 @ 2:03 am”
Here is citizensteve’s post from that very Blog:
“There are some words for what Republican Floor Leader Ericksen and his GOPals are trying to do, and the polite ones are: lie; perjure, equivocate, fudge, palter; beguile, cozen, deceive, delude, dupe, fool, gull, hoax, hoodwink, kid, snow, take in, trick; defame, libel, slander, traduce; falsify, misrepresent, misstate; distort, garble; dissemble, dissimulate; misguide, misinform, mislead”
Yep….a whole lot of content there Bobby!
PS May I refer to you as “GayBob” since you are the one who came out of the closet on this Blog and made an issue of your gayness?? It is obviously important for you to have group recognition from us. If not, you wouldn’t have made an issue of it.
Yes, that’s the new GOP. Steal and the lie proudly about it.
The GOP agenda:
1. Deny
2. Lie
3. Whine and cry
4. Repeat as needed
Daddy Love, you just described Mr. Oink to a tee.
oh, but I forgot. Mr Oink used to be a Democrat, then the party left him behind and he found love in Enumclaw.
Roger and Gang there is still hope for you all can vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02.....nted=print
Op-Ed Contributor
A Card We Should All Carry
By DOUGLAS McGRAY
San Francisco
AS states get ready to comply with a law passed last May and roll out Real ID’s (think 50 flavors of enhanced drivers’ licenses that will also, for lack of anything more suitable, regulate access to airplanes, bars and banks), it might be time to consider a national identification card. Unfortunately, two camps own the conversation.
Security heavies and cultural conservatives say a national ID is necessary to protect us from Islamic terrorists and illegal immigrants. Libertarians and government-wary leftists fret about privacy. Progressives and moderates have never shown much enthusiasm for the debate. But there are lots of reasons they should find the idea of a national ID appealing. Among them:
HEALTH CARE Today, if you go to the emergency room, your medical history is whatever you remember to tell your doctor. Health care reformers long to build an electronic health database so medical records can follow patients wherever they go. Congress passed legislation in 1996 to safeguard just such a database. A national ID network could provide the backbone, and the security.
VOTER EMPOWERMENT In 2004, Republican Party officials sent thousands of volunteers to challenge voters at the polls. They claimed Democrats were registering felons, illegal immigrants and people with fake names. Democrats said Republicans were trying to discourage voting in Democratic-leaning counties. Enough already: a national ID could replace voter registration bureaucracy and speed all citizens to the polls.
POVERTY Without a stable address or the cash to pay registration fees, the homeless struggle to get a valid photo ID. Even the working poor can find themselves without ID if a few parking tickets hit at the wrong time, and their drivers’ licenses are suspended. A national ID would make it easier for the now officially anonymous to claim benefits, apply for work, get health care, cash a check, enter a government building or open a savings account.
EDUCATION The No Child Left Behind Act relies on broad and potentially misleading measures to guess at school quality, because there is no way to track individual children from grade to grade and see how they progress. School districts have no way to know which students quit school and which ones have just moved across town, which means federal accountability schemes have no way of factoring in dropout rates. A national ID database could allow for more honest accounting.
SOCIAL WELFARE The tangle of agencies that work with the disadvantaged have no good way to share data. It was only a decade ago, for example, that researchers began proving that federal spending to reduce homelessness cuts costs in the prison, health care and welfare systems. A national ID database might lead to better allocation of resources, and quicker responses to emerging needs.
IMMIGRATION A national ID would help Immigration and Customs Enforcement shift its emphasis off impoverished undocumented workers and onto the often unscrupulous businessmen who hire them. For now, if a businessman, a farmer or a labor contractor gets pulled over driving a truckload of illegal immigrants, they can play dumb — even if they sold the workers their fake ID’s. “The workers aren’t going to say anything, because they need the job,” says Brian Poulson, the customs enforcement chief for California’s Central Valley. “Am I going to get any material witnesses? No.” The government’s only real option is to arrest the laborers. “It’s only the little guy that gets hurt,” he says.
All this is not to dismiss privacy concerns. They are huge. But the notion of a national ID created to empower citizens, rather than just monitor us and protect us from foreigners, might inspire progressives and centrists to design a card that works. Or at least broaden the conversation.
Douglas McGray is a fellow at the New America Foundation.
klake, can’t ya just link it? :p
I just can’t wait for part 2 of the Republican plan: Blame the Democrats for what the republicans did. Thats when you’ll know that they’re self-aware political hacks.
This blog eats about half my posts. What is the big deal? Spend a half hour and then it stalls, is blank and nothing posts.
Really — Goldy, the only place I post with such problems. What is the code?
Klake @16,
In the future, a link and an excerpt, please.
I’m going to have to start deleting posts that violate “fair use” (and clutter the comment threads) by embedding entire, copyrighted articles.
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Oink – get some help. You have a tumor on the brain about gay people. It can be cured.
Gay and lesbian and Bi and Trans people surround you. Take a closer look. Some are in your family, at work, down the street.
World wide liberation has happened. Every country, every city. It is a new world, need to adjust. See someone.
Catholic Spain has legal marriage for gays, and so do the Scots, Irish and Brits. Portugal soon. America has come a long way – there are gay bars in small Southern cities in the Bible belt.
New world Oink. Changed forever.
Goldy: Will you be evenhandedly implementing the fair use policy? It seems that you pipe up when a lefty complains about a righty, but never the other way around. RRabit destroys your “fair use” policy at least once a week and nary a peep; nary a peep!
I am opting out of the National Identification Card; excuse me, Real ID Act of 2005. I will ask for a non certified drivers license rather then submit to this fascism. Anyone who reads the full text of this bill, Dem, Repub, Lib, conserve or independent (me) should be scared sh-tless. I do not lie. Especially because of the following paragraph:
SEC. 203. LINKING OF DATABASES.
(a) In General- To be eligible to receive any grant or other type of financial assistance made available under this title, a State shall participate in the interstate compact regarding sharing of driver license data, known as the `Driver License Agreement’, in order to provide electronic access by a State to information contained in the motor vehicle databases of all other States.
(b) Requirements for Information- A State motor vehicle database shall contain, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) All data fields printed on drivers’ licenses and identification cards issued by the State.
(2) Motor vehicle drivers’ histories, including motor vehicle violations, suspensions, and points on licenses.
It is a token protest, as my Military ID card (retired) will get me access to any federal institution that is not classified. But freedom is not something that is taken away overnight. It is slowly removed bit by bit until one day you realize your living in 1984 instead of just reading about it:
The Life and Death of Public Records.
Buried in a 2004 law on terrorism is text that could bar public access to birth and death certificates for up to 100 years.
puddy: I was complaining about it because it was wrong to do. Look up [i]Fair Use[/i] (regardless of what you apparently think, it is a real legal ‘thingy’), and see whats up.
Windie: I have no problem with Goldy policing fair use. It’s the RR’s of the world that insert their own thread jumping topics over two or three blog entries, and no one on your side complains. If we complain, someone like DJ will say this is Goldy’s blog and tell us to screw off. So I suggested a fair implementation is good for all!
Pudwhacker: Screw off! This is Goldy’s blog! If you don’t like how he runs it, go post in some wingnut cistern like Sucky Politics or Freep.
DOCTORS AND LAWYERS REACH MALPRACTICE COMPROMISE; GOP WHINES
Representatives of Washington’s doctors and lawyers, meeting at Gov. Christine Gregoire’s request, have worked out a compromise of their differences on medical malpractice suits. The compromise will be presented to the Legislature.
Meanwhile, the Washington State Republican Party, which doesn’t believe in compromise and whose governing philosophy is “our way or the highway,” complained “this agreement [is] ‘a minor fix,’” and continued to demand “a limit on attorneys’ fees.” Fuck ‘em.
http://www.king5.com/localnews.....33918.html
Hey Puddingbrains, does THAT violate “fair use?” If you don’t like it, pay your girlfriend a visit, she’s lonely. http://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/a.....-unger.jpg
Thanks for depressing my hits yet again.
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Big, big score for the Gov. – saw the press conf. on cable, she quipped right smartly -“You know I am good at negotiating settlements.”
The Gregire list grows – and, oh my God, budget suplus stashed by D E M O C R A T S for the future to boot. 750 million of real dollars. Don’t tell Bush, the Feds might levy the state treasury for the war.
Go Christine, go. Show your stuff.
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The filter – I don’t think it is personal. Like AOL and the kids.
I had a great time Sunday. Posting on a blog called liberalsexposed or something. I wrote the truth, and with no profanity. I hate the little babies that think they need to call people names… After a couple of hours, and 10 or so posts the righties took down all my comments.
I did not write a single word that was not true. I guess they want some sort of blog, where only righties can comment, and are free to be wrong without contradiction……
They have a blog, and will not leave my posts up, just because they point out a few hundred of Bush’s shortcomings, lies, and crimes.
Cowards.
If the righties are all that convinced Bush is the 2nd coming of Christ, why don’t they defend him, instead of just taking down posts that point out obvious facts…..
http://www.ChangeAmerica.net
BOB I THINK YOU GOT HIT IN THE HEAD WITH ANICE BOX RIVET.NOW YOUR BRAIN DEAD BUT WE ALL NEW THAT.NOW GO BACK TO WORK MAKING THOSE CLUNKERS YOU CALL AIRPLANES. SORRY FORGOT YOUR A JANITOR.GO CLEAN YHE MENS ROOM AND DONT SMELL THE SEATS IN THE LADIES ROOM.