Goldy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8P_DJ7rTKE[/youtube]

Silly question, but a pretty informative answer nonetheless.

FYI, there has been some conversation amongst Sound Transit officials and bike enthusiasts as to whether the bike racks initially installed at the stations will be nearly sufficient to meet demand. If not, they’ll look at options to expand bike facilities near stations.

My mail box is being flooded this morning with press releases and advisories announcing a major new solar power facility to be built just north of Cle Elum:

A privately-held solar company today announced plans to install a 400-acre solar park on property north of Cle Elum, Washington. The Teanaway Solar Reserve is designed to generate about 75 megawatts of renewable energy — enough to power approximately 45,000 households — making it the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar project ever proposed in the Northwest.

[…] The Teanaway Solar Reserve will employ PV solar technology to directly convert sunlight into electricity. The power it generates will be connected to the utility grid and will offset about 275-million pounds of carbon dioxide every year compared to the equivalent amount of energy produced from coal. The target date for completion is fall 2011.

It’s not entirely clear, but it sounds like the company plans to build a manufacturing facility near the site to build the 400,000 panels necessary to complete the project… which would surely be an economic boon for the county, lasting far beyond the solar reserve’s initial construction.

And since I just took a shot at Sen. Maria Cantwell in a previous post, I suppose it’s only fair to give her a shout out on an issue on which she has shown great leadership:

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) says, “Last year, I fought to pass my bipartisan clean energy tax incentives bill, and now, thanks in part to that legislation, we’re seeing this project get off the ground. Washington State is leading the way to transitioning our world to a clean energy economy, and I am so proud that our state will be home to one of the largest solar generating facilities in the nation. This groundbreaking project will create construction and manufacturing jobs, bring hundreds of millions of investment dollars into Central Washington, and generate fuel and emissions-free electricity for our citizens.”

2011 seems like an awful ambitious target, but we need to be ambitious when it comes to renewable energy.

Two local rallies are being held today to send a clear message to Sen. Maria Cantwell that her constituents need and want substantial health care reform.  For those of you up in Everett, Dying for Universal Healthcare will host a rally  at 11:45 AM at Senators Cantwell and Murray’s joint offices, 2930 Wetmore Ave, while down here in Seattle MoveOn.org will be holding a rally at 12:15 PM at Cantwell’s office at 915 Second Ave.

From all accounts, Sen. Murray is a strong supporter of a public option for health insurance, but Cantwell can best be described as wavering in her opposition, instead promoting the formation “co-ops” like Group Health… which I suppose for those of us here in Group Health territory would mean no reform at all.

That’s just not good enough, not for the poor, not for the middle class, not for anybody.

I’ve been self-employed or a small business owner for most of my adult life, and at times, I’ve even made some decent money at it. But individuals like me no longer have access to full health insurance with robust preventative care at nearly any price.

For example, and to get very personal, there is a history of colon cancer in my family, but as an individual I can’t find affordable insurance that will cover a colonoscopy as part of routine preventative care before the age of 50. If I worked for the government, or big company, yes, but as an individual, that option simply isn’t available.

“So what?” you may say, “Stick with your catastrophic coverage and pay for it yourself.” And I very may well do that. But if I do, through the simple act of denying the claim, the procedure will cost me maybe a couple thousand dollars more than the pre-negotiated price between my provider and my insurer. I’m already not particularly inclined to let somebody stick something up my ass, so charging me an extra couple thousand dollars for the privilege doesn’t exactly incentivize responsible well care.

And now Regence wants to raise my premiums another 17%, the third year in a row of double-digit increases.

As an individual subscriber I’m doubly penalized for not being an employee of a large group. First I must pay a higher premium for my insurance, and then I must pay retail for the many services not covered. And for many American families, paying retail for preventative care, let alone a serious illness or injury, can result in thousands of dollars of bills they can’t afford. It’s a silly system in which Regence won’t pay for my cancer screening, but they will pay for treating my cancer. Where’s the sense in that?

The fact is, if co-ops like Group Health were such a cure-all, we wouldn’t have so many uninsured and underinsured individuals here in Washington state. But we do.

Let Sen. Cantwell know that the status quo simply isn’t good enough.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTN8cQLhM-k[/youtube]

This morning the media was invited along for a “How to ride light rail” lesson conducted by Mayor Greg Nickels, and once on the train I had the opportunity to shanghai King County Councilmembers (and Executive wannabes) Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine with the kind of hard hitting questions they never get from the legacy press.

So which candidate supports light rail more? Watch the video to find out.

Oh, and by the way, the trains, the stations, the schedule… it’s hard to imagine Seattleites not falling in love with light rail once it starts service next week.

Back when Microsoft first started fearing that open standards/platform independent web browsers could threaten its lucrative operating system monopoly, they set out to destroy Netscape, the dominant player in the field, by giving away Internet Explorer for free. And it worked. Sorta.

Yesterday, Google announced its new Chrome OS, and its intent to give away the operating system for free. Wonder where they got that idea?

There are a lot of things I just don’t get. And this is one of them.

Didja know that Ted Van Dyk worked in the Johnson administration? Ted reminds us.

It’s pretty damn wonky, and it’s not overtly political in the normal sense, but there’s an interesting piece in AppleInsider on a brewing HTML 5.0 standards battle, that I think might surprise some locals as to Microsoft’s history of anticompetitive practices, and how its relentless opposition to open standards has adversely impacted both web developers and consumers alike.

I don’t ever remember reading coverage like this in the local press, but perhaps I just missed it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNrUo6snlx4[/youtube]

It’s not like any real news was made at yesterday’s big press conference at Sound Transit’s Link Operations and Maintenance facility, though you’d think a public gathering featuring our Mayor, Governor, US Senator and US Secretary of Transportation might be news enough to make it into our city’s only remaining daily.

Apparently not.  Not even a mention in a measly blog post. Not even an ironic jab at say, Gov. Gregoire, for talking almost entirely about highway spending while standing before a backdrop of spanking new trains. Huh.

Obviously, the purpose of media events like this—and I’m assuming Sec. Ray LaHood is holding them around the nation—is to show the public that stimulus dollars are actually being put to work building infrastructure and creating good paying jobs. You know, like the 75,000 jobs here in WA state that Gov. Gregoire claims these federal dollars have already helped create or save.

And that’s an important message to get out, especially as some of are nation’s leading economists are beginning to make the argument for another round of stimulus spending… an argument that will fall on deaf ears if the public doesn’t believe that the first round of spending has actually accomplished something. And if papers like the Seattle Times fail/refuse to pass on this message… well… if a tree falls in the forest, and all that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiNUkME9D9k[/youtube]

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood held a press conference in Seattle today at Sound Transit’s Link Operations and Maintenance facility on Airport Way, to highlight how the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (i.e., the stimulus package) is funding sustainable transportation projects and putting people back to work here in Washington state. Joining Sec. LaHood at the podium were Gov. Chris Gregoire, US Senator Patty Murray and Mayor Greg Nickels, a pretty high-power group, but I thought the best explanation of the impact of stimulus dollars on our local economy came from Lee Newgent of the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council, so that’s the video clip I’m posting first.

More clips coming as I slog through the editing process.

I can empathize with nearby residents inconvenienced by light rail, and I sure hope Sound Transit does its best to prevent or abate those unexpected screeching noises on the run through Tukwila. But… I have trouble feeling sympathy for homeowners complaining about noisy trains “knocking down their property values” when the homeowners knew full well that they were buying next door to busy train tracks:

David and Laurie Shumate, who moved into their remodeled 1920s home two years ago, take issue with Sound Transit’s November noise readings… “We don’t want to move, but … ” David Shumate said, sighing deeply before finishing, “I don’t know.”

The woman who’s lived in her house for 60 years… she’s got a reason to complain. But the Shumates, not so much. It’s like folks who buy houses near airports, because they’re such a good value, complaining about noise from airplanes flying low overhead.

Sound Transit is in the midst of conducting further tests, and if they determine there is a problem they will try various noise abatement methods, including soundproofing affected homes. But…

“That doesn’t help when we’re outside,” Laurie Shumate said. The Shumates spend their spare time converting what they disparagingly call the previous owner’s “English garden” into a lush yard full of plants native to the Duwamish River area.

Again… they bought a house across the street from elevated train tracks, and they expect to enjoy their lush garden in piece and quiet? That’s just bad planning.

My daughter and I are back from Brownsville, Oregon, after our annual orgy of small town Americana—a 4th of July weekend filled with horseback riding, softball, fireworks, swimmin’ holes, community pancake breakfasts… and of course, about five and a half hours straight of tossing pizza by a backyard, wood fired oven.

And let’s not forget the beer, a keg of some hoppy, ever-so-slightly fruity elixir from Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene.

Yum.

Now some might argue that the way we Americans tend to celebrate our nation’s birth—with fun and food and lots and lots of beverages—somehow trivializes our founders’ daring and dangerous struggle for independence, and the many hardships they endured, but I’d argue exactly the opposite. For what freedom is greater, and more worth celebrating, than a freedom we are free to take for granted? And what better way to honor this freedom than to do exactly that?

We live in the wealthiest, most powerful and most secure nation in the history of the world. I hope you enjoyed America this weekend as much as I did.

I’m on the road to Brownsville, OR for our annual 4th of July beer and wood fired pizza fest, and I’m traveling sans laptop. So don’t expect much posting from me this weekend apart from an occasional iPhlog. Um, like this one.

Assuming his numbers can be trusted (and that’s a huge assumption), Tim Eyman has apparently turned in enough signatures to qualify Initiative 1033 for the November ballot, his most vindictive, dangerous and mean-spirited initiative yet.

I-1033 is a “TABOR” initiative, one of many, similarly constructed spending-cap measures that have been peddled in the initiative states nationwide, and have been funded by a shadowy network of ultra-wealthy, right-wing extremists. Thus, unlike most of Eyman’s initiatives, don’t be surprised to see a fair amount of out of state money flooding into Washington to fund the “Yes” campaign.

The Washington State Budget and Policy Center has a great analysis of I-1033 and its consequences, and I encourage you to watch their slideshow, but don’t think it an exaggeration to summarize the measure as the end of Washington state government as we know it.

I-1033 caps government spending at the previous year’s spending, plus population growth and inflation, and while that may appear to be a formula for fiscal stability, it is in fact entirely and intentionally the opposite.

As I’ve previously explained, Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) for Personal Consumption Expenditures, the inflation index I-1033 uses, comes nowhere close to measuring the rising costs of providing government services. For example, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, the cost to consumers of durable goods has plummeted 14 percent since 2000, while the cost of consumer services has risen 29 percent.  Over that same period of time the IPD (generally accepted to be the most accurate measure of inflation) has risen 21.6% for Personal Consumption Expenditures as a whole, but over 42% for State and Local Government.

So why has the inflation rate for state and local government services risen at nearly twice the rate as that for consumer expenditures?  According to a report compiled by the Washington D.C. based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it mostly comes down to productivity:

Proponents of TABOR-type tax and expenditure limits sometimes contend that a growth formula based on population plus inflation would be adequate to maintain public services at a roughly constant level. But researchers long have recognized that the services provided in the public sector, such as education, health care, and law enforcement, tend to rise in cost faster than many other goods and services in the economy in general. This analysis was first put forward by economist William Baumol, who pointed out that technology and productivity gains may make goods cheaper to produce, but the services that government provides are different. Baumol said public services typically rely heavily on well-trained professionals — teachers, police officers, doctors and nurses, and so on — and technology gains do not make these services cheaper to provide. It may take far fewer workers to build an automobile than it did 30 years ago, but it still takes one teacher to lead a classroom of children. (In fact, as education has become increasingly important, the trend is toward more teachers per pupil, not fewer.) Doctors generally still see patients one by one, and nursing care remains labor intensive despite technology.

Even in a stable economy, population plus inflation just can’t keep up with the rising costs of providing government services, resulting in government spending power dropping year after year after year (as is already happening in WA state under our current unfair and inadequate tax system these past fifteen years). But of course, our economy is not stable, and here is where I-1033’s true destructiveness comes into play.

I-1033 would limit annual spending to that of the previous year adjusted for population growth plus IPD, which means that during every economic downturn, the base level of spending from which future increases are calculated will be ratcheted down to the lowest revenue point, creating an ever widening gap between projected spending increases, and those actually allowed under I-1033.

Of course, Eyman chooses the trough of our worst economy since the Great Depression on which to base future revenue increases, but even if he hadn’t, the inevitable result would still be a dramatically smaller government, and in short time. For example, had I-1033 been implemented in 1995, revenues during our current, already squeezed biennium, would have been $6 billion lower than they are now.

How much is $6 billion? That’s the current state budget for higher education, natural resources, public health, early learning, corrections and the Basic Health plan… combined!

Like I said, it’s not an exaggeration to describe I-1033 as the end of state government as we know it. In fact, the consequences would be so unbelievably dramatic that there is almost a sense of complacency amongst the opposition—we simply can’t believe that the majority of voters could be so stupid as to pass such an incredibly irresponsible measure.

But it’s ignorance, not stupidity that frightens me.

If I-1033 draws in national money from the usual pro-TABOR suspects, this could be an awfully tough fight. The TABOR camp has spent years honing their rhetoric and talking points, and Eyman has been dutifully aping their instructions since filing. It’s going to take a lot of voter education to defeat this measure, and with the weakened state of our local media, and the generally timid demeanor of our political leaders, I’m not entirely confident that we’re properly prepared to defend against this latest assault on our quality of life.

My Fuse Sizzle Award didn’t come with a large cash prize, but I did receive a free beer and a framed caricature of myself. And oddly, it wasn’t my first caricature of the day.

I occasionally meet with foreign journalists through the World Affairs Council, and yesterday I met with a group of visiting political cartoonists from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. And afterwards, several of the cartoonists presented me with drawings they sketched up during our conversation… all focusing on my apparently largish forehead.

The drawing above is from Imed Ben Hamida of Tunisia, a cartoonist for numerous publications, and a university professor.