Goldy

It’s been a bannering year for the Federal Way School Board, which is now considering banning cell phones and other electronic devices:

Federal Way School Board is exploring a ban on iPods, MP3 players, CD players and electronic games from campuses. Cell phones still could be brought to school, but they’d have to be turned off and stored in backpacks or otherwise out of sight.

Why ban cell phones, an object as integral to the lives of modern teens as weird piercings and moodiness? School board members have been coy, but one district insider tells me that the real concern is that too many Federal Way High School students have been using their cell phones to call Al Gore.

Is “The Straight Talk Express” really headed straight for the White House in 2008?

McCain’s political colleagues, however, know another side of the action hero — a volatile man with a hair-trigger temper, who shouted at Sen. Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor to “shut up,” called his fellow Republican senators “shithead,” “fucking jerk,” “asshole,” and joked in 1998 at a Republican fundraiser about the teenage daughter of President Clinton, “Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.”

I’m just askin’.

As of next month I will no longer be employed by Entercom. Unfortunately for the righties who would like to see me off radio altogether, my paycheck will simply be signed by another company.

In what I suppose is a big shakeup in the Seattle and San Francisco radio markets, Entercom is trading KIRO, KTTH and KBSG to Bonneville for KOIT, KDFC, and KMAX. I’m not really sure what this means, but after the meeting today in which Entercom CEO David Field delivered the news, there wasn’t any wailing and gnashing of teeth in the office.

So I suppose this could be good for KIRO. Or bad.

State and city leaders met for hours yesterday to decide the fate of the Alaska Way Viaduct, but couldn’t come to a decision. That’s pretty much because city leaders refuse to accept the rebuild option, and state leaders refuse to pay for anything but that. But as recalcitrant as the participants were, one new idea did emerge from the meeting:

The joint statement says there are two options, build an elevated replacement or, “Reprogram funding to the 520 replacement project.”

I think this was supposed to be a threat or something, the implication being that the city risks losing $2.2 billion in state funds if we don’t budge on a rebuild. But if the governor does repurpose the Viaduct money towards the 520 bridge, it could actually end up saving local taxpayers a ton of money.

Stick with me on this one.

The region needs to replace both the Viaduct and the 520 bridge, but the total amount of money thus far committed by the state towards construction of the two projects combined is less than the projected cost of the 520 bridge alone. Who makes up the difference? Local residents, via various city, county, port and RTID taxes. And possibly tolls.

If the governor forces through a rebuild, not only would Seattle get a double-decker freeway it doesn’t want, but we’d be forced to tax ourselves to pay the difference between the state share and the total cost. Talk about adding insult to injury. And then we’d also have to tax ourselves to make up the difference between the cost of a new 520 bridge and the state share of the project.

But… if Governor Gregoire were to repurpose the state’s Viaduct commitment towards the 520 bridge, local taxpayers would pay much less for their share of that project. And then freed from the strings that come with state money, Seattle could choose a surface-plus-transit alternative that costs much less money than a Viaduct rebuild.

Think about it. The state share of the cost of the two projects remains the same, but the combined cost is substantially slashed. This saves local taxpayers money.

As far as I’m concerned, this might be the perfect political compromise. The state refuses to pay for any Viaduct replacement that reduces capacity. Fine. Don’t. We’ll use our own money to tear it down and do what we want with it. It is our city afterall. But as long as the state keeps the money in the region, local taxpayers don’t actually lose a dime. Indeed, by choosing a less expensive surface alternative, we actually save money.

Sounds to me like a win-win situation.

These days, when local Drudge wannabe Orbusmax takes offense at one of my posts here on HA, he describes me as a deranged “710 KIRO talk show host” rather than merely as a deranged “liberal blogger.” I suppose his hope is that if he wakes up enough people to the awful danger I pose, perhaps KIRO will fire me.

It’s kinda flattering.

Well yesterday conservative radio industry blogger (and former KIRO host) Brian Maloney picked up the Orb’s lead with the screaming headline “MORE ‘EXECUTION’ TALK: Second KIRO Host Calls For Presidential Death Penalty.” (The first, he claims, was Mike Webb, who’s been off the air since 2005.)

Now, a second KIRO host has kicked up the rhetoric several notches, going even further by posting such thoughts on the Internet. In two examples found at HorsesAss.com, David Goldstein (known as “Goldy”) has called for Bush Administration executions.

Hmm. Nice fact-checking Brian. I suppose you didn’t link to these “two examples” because, um, you couldn’t actually find them, huh? (Hint: they don’t exist.) And… uh… it’s HorsesAss.org.

In fact, I’ve never called for Bush administration officials to be executed. Hell, I oppose the death penalty on principle. All I snarkily asked was that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld be treated humanely, so I’m not really sure what Brian is getting at when he accuses me of “kick[ing] up the rhetoric several notches.” But I’m pretty damn sure I understand what he’s trying to achieve by branding me an unhinged, hate-talking, fringe extremist:

Here’s the big question: if lefty talk didn’t pan out for Air America, why does KIRO believe going even further to the fringe extremes will fare any better?

Well… the national audience for Brian’s Radio Equalizer may only be about the same size as my puny, fringe, local blog, but there’s no denying the respect he commands from industry insiders. Yesterday he questions the business sense of KIRO putting a kook like me on the air. And today… well… I just got notice from KIRO management that… they’ve doubled my weekly airtime.

That’s right, starting this week “The David Goldstein Show” can now officially be heard from 7 to 10PM on both Sunday and Saturday.

(Hey Brian… wasn’t that your old time slot on 710-KIRO?)

Brian claims to be some sort of radio industry expert, but he seems to have missed the most basic lesson of Talk Radio 101. If I succeed at KIRO, it won’t be because of my politics — it will be because I have a knack for entertaining and engaging my audience. If Brian understood this simple rule — and had the talent to act on it — then perhaps he’d still have the radio show and I’d be the one blogging about him, instead of the other way around.

“Stefan has an accuracy rate that Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf would envy…”

That’s what Ron Sims spokesman Sandeep Kaushik told me when I asked about Stefan’s suggestion on (un)Sound Politics that the King County Executive was “actively seeking” the Port of Seattle director’s job.

Sims’s candidacy for Port director sounded fanciful. But I’m told Sims was actively lobbying for the job (The annual compensation is over $350,000, more than twice that of County Executive). Sources familiar with County Council backroom dealings report that several Councilmembers were already jockeying for the appointment to succeed Sims.

“Sources”…? Uh-huh. Stefan should stop listening to those voices in his head.

Besides, councilmembers are always jockeying to succeed Sims. (Sources tell me that Larry Phillips and Bob Ferguson actually carry carpet swatches with them whenever they visit the Executive’s office.)

Kaushik described Sims as a little annoyed that this rumor persists despite his blunt denials to several members of the press. According to Kaushik, Sims said that he never sought the position, never put his name in for consideration and never asked anybody to recommend him on his behalf. “I’d swear on a library full of bibles,” Sims told Kaushik.

From what I hear, Sims not only fully intends to fill out his term, he has not yet completely ruled out running for reelection in 2009. Of course… a cabinet secretary appointment from a Democratic president could cut Sims’ tenure short. So Bob… Larry… keep those carpet swatches handy.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

Our fearless leader Nick tells us that the Alehouse is open, and DL is going on as usual. I’ll be there if I can manage to get my car off the Graham Hill Glacier.

Not in Seattle? Washington liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s eleven Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

Article IX, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution is pretty damn clear:

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.

“Ample” is not synonymous with “adequate” — it means “more than adequate,” “abundant,” “liberal” or “copious.” And a “paramount duty” is one that is “chief in importance or impact”… “above others,” and “superior in power or jurisdiction.”

Attorneys might semantically nitpick over the subjective meanings of these words, but us normal folks understand that when our per-student education funding ranks amongst the lowest in the nation, our state can’t possibly be living up to the spirit of Article IX, Section 1.

A suit was filed last week challenging the state’s inadequate funding of K-12 education, and I agree with the Seattle P-I editorial board’s assessment:

While it is regrettable that public dollars will need to be spent on lawyers, experts and depositions, it is more important that words in our state constitution have real meaning. The state can’t win this suit. One way to limit legal expenses would be to negotiate a settlement that honors the words and intentions of the state’s founders.

But it is not enough for our state’s editorialists to simply join the civic-minded chorus demanding more education funding. It is time they start laying the groundwork for the type of tax restructuring necessary to assure that the state has the resources to live up to its paramount duty.

Gov. Christine Gregoire’s new budget already provides several hundred million dollars more for education. But even though this is still at least a billion dollars a year short of the mark, her spending “increase” has already generated faux outrage by those who either refuse to, or are incapable of understanding the true nature of our state’s long term structural budget deficit. It’s not state spending that is out of whack — it continues to steadily decline as a percentage of the overall state economy. The problem rather, is the antiquated, early 20th Century hack of a tax system that simply cannot grow revenues at a pace sufficient to keep up with the demands of our post-industrial service economy.

Both the governor’s mansion and the state legislature are controlled by Democrats. Does anybody really believe that the Democrats wouldn’t spend amply on such a popular item as K-12 education if they had the money to do so? For all the recriminations we continue to focus on the wrong end of the problem, and the Democratic leadership is just as guilty as the obstructionists across the aisle.

We need to start having a grown-up, mature and informative debate about tax restructuring. We need to be willing to broach the idea of an income tax without fear of political retribution.

But we’re never going to get that debate unless our state’s editorial pages start leading the way.

Whoops…

As Tikriti fell to the gallows, his head was taken off by the rope noose, and the body and the head fall to the floor while Bandar swings on the rope.

My only hope is that when Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney are held accountable for their war crimes, that they be punished more humanely.

…I am as deeply concerned about our troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy and the secure while we create hell for the poor.

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words:

“Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.”

[…] The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways.

In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war.

— Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

(Hat tip to The General.)

Both the Eagles and the Seahawks have been eliminated from the playoffs, so what better way to distract yourself from your sorrows than to tune in tonight to “The David Goldstein Show” from 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO. Subject to change, here are the topics for tonight’s show:

7PM: Are Eastern WA taxpayers getting screwed? Boosters of the Black Rock Resevoir out in the Yakima Valley are asking for $4.2 billion in state and local subsidies on project the Bureau of Reclamation says will only return 30 cents on the dollar. And yet we constantly hear complaints from Eastern WA legislators that tax dollars flow East to West. Are Eastern WA taxpayers getting screwed? Or deceived?

8PM: Sweet Relief. Author Jennifer Abrahamson joins me to discuss her book“Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story. Ruzicka was a relief worker who championed the cause of civilian victims of war, and was tragically killed by a suicide bomber along Baghdad’s notorious Airpport Road. Abrahamson chronicles the life of her friend and the people she championed.

9PM: Who is your fallen hero? We all have ’em. Contemporary or historical figures who we hero worship… until we learn they’re only human… and then some. I’m going to share a couple of mine, and ask you to call in with some of yours.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

In writing about the Black Rock project it wasn’t really my intent to trash the notion of a new Yakima basin reservoir. Mainly, I saw the $2 billion miscalculation as an opportunity to chide Eastern Washington voters for constantly complaining about tax dollars flowing East to West (they don’t) when in fact the irrigation, electrification and transportation infrastructure that makes their economy possible was large built courtesy of huge state and federal subsidies.

I understand the imperative to maintain the Yakima region as a productive agricultural center in the face of the increasing strain placed on the water supply by climate change and population growth, so I don’t want to dwell on the negative side of this project without sufficiently educating myself on the details. But an astute observation by HA regular Roger Rabbit deserves broader consideration. In the comment thread Roger asks what should have been an obvious question: “Is Black Rock a Perpetual Motion Machine?”

One of the alleged “benefits” touted by Black Rock promoters is hydroelectric generation. Apart from the 600% error in calculating power sales, let’s examine where the water that generates the power will come from in the first place.

It will be pumped UP to Black Rock Reservoir, elevation 1778 feet, from Priest Rapids Dam, elevation 390 feet. Then it will flow through turbines at Black Rock dam and into the Yakima River, which flows into the Columbia River below McNary Dam, elevation 340 feet.

Someone please explain how you get net power generation from pumping the water that generates the power uphill in order to generate the power? Are these folks saying the water in Black Rock Reservoir will generate more power than is consumed getting the water up there?

[…] When they talk about Black Rock hydropower generation, all they’re talking about is recapturing a small percentage of the energy that was used to get the water up to the reservoir.

The Yakima Basin Storage Alliance originally touted revenue from power generation at $2.4 billion over forty years, but after discovering a calculation error, revised that figure downwards to only $412 million. But if the Black Rock Reservoir sits at a higher elevation than its source, then any power generated by Black Rock’s turbines could only amount to a fraction of the power it takes to pump the water into the reservoir in the first place. Indeed, the Bureau of Reclamation estimates the annual energy costs alone for operating the pumps at $62 million — that’s $2.48 billion over the same forty year period. (I asked my 9-year-old daughter, and she assures me that $412 million is indeed less than $2.48 billion.)

But this post isn’t really about math. It’s about honesty.

Understand that whatever their accuracy, the YBSA’s power revenue projections were put forth within the context of a discussion over recouping the estimated $4.2 billion cost of construction. But since the laws of physics dictate that it will take more energy to pump the water into the reservoir ($62 million annually) than could possibly be generated drawing the water out ($10.1 million annually,) any discussion of energy “benefits” within this context is entirely bogus. And always has been.

Yet it took the sometimes rabid Roger Rabbit to do the minimal legwork necessary to dispel the YBSA’s misinformation — legwork that consisted of little more than browsing the source documents and applying a little logic. For even after the YBSA admitted a 600 percent miscalculation, the journalists covering this story never bothered to challenge the underlying assumption that energy revenues could be used to offset the cost of construction.

I thank my friends in the legacy media for calling this story to my attention. But chalk one up for the blogosphere for setting the record straight.

My Philadelphia Eagles are in New Orleans battling the Saints, so tune in to hear a very distracted and anxious Goldy tonight on “The David Goldstein Show” from 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO. Subject to change, here are the topics for tonight’s show:

7PM: Who wants to tax a millionaire? No doubt I’ll be a little distracted watching the second half of the Eagles-Saints game, so I’ll just fall back on an old standby, and rant and rave about why we need an income tax in Washington state. State Senator Rosa Franklin has introduced an income tax bill, so at least one state legislator is willing to talk about real tax restructuring. Anybody else?

8PM: Can the Republican Part save our nation? That’s what I suggested yesterday both on HA and Huffington Post, arguing that only overwhelming opposition from his own party can force President Bush from leading us into a broader conflict in the Middle East. Yet co-blogger Will argues that the same kind of bipartisanship I’m urging nationally should be avoided at all costs in the state legislature. Will we join me hash this one out.

9PM: Has the US committed war crimes in Iraq? That’s the question a panel of experts will explore next week in Tacoma, holding a war crimes tribunal of sorts. Organizer Lietta Ruger joins me to discuss the event.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Oops…

Supporters of the proposed Black Rock reservoir near Yakima are admitting they made a $2 billion error in estimating how much money would come from electricity produced by the project.

[…] Charlie de la Chapelle, a Yakima Valley fruit grower who is vice chairman of the alliance, said the grass-roots group regrets the mistake.

“We apologize for the error. We vow to scrutinize numbers we release more carefully and stand behind our other public statements,” de la Chapelle said.

Chapelle should run for President.

The Yakima Basin Storage Alliance now estimates that power sales will generate $412 million over forty years. Due to a calculation error an initial report had estimated power benefits at $2.4 billion.

Correcting the error reduced the current projected Black Rock benefits to $3.8 billion, an amount that is less than the estimated construction cost of $4.2 billion.

Of course, the US Bureau of Reclamation estimates that the reservoir would only return about 30 cents on the dollar, but I wouldn’t worry about the over $2 billion discrepancy because, you know… the YBSA has vowed to “scrutinize” its numbers.

Hmm. I don’t know enough about the environmental and economic impact of the Black Rock project to take a position one way or the other. The Yakima Basin is a crucial agricultural region to our state and our nation, and with global warming threatening the Cascade ice pack, water shortages could reach crisis proportions within decades. But it’s stupid-ass shit like this that makes taxpayers suspicious of all big, public infrastructure projects.

Overestimating the power revenues by 600 percent. Gimme a break.

Let’s be clear. Whatever the reservoir’s merits, the YBSA and its political supporters in Benton and Yakima counties are seeking to finance this project primarily through huge state and federal subsidies. If the project makes economic and environmental sense, fine. I could support it. Just be honest about the numbers.

And while you’re at it, why not be honest about the flow of tax revenues in this state, and stop lying to your constituents by perpetuating the myth that dollars flow East to West? Your dams, your irrigation projects, your freeways and your universities were built primarily with state and federal tax dollars. Nobody’s asking for any “thank you’s” — we’re just tired of all the “fuck you’s.”

I’ve written two posts over the past couple days suggesting that President Bush intends to lead us into a broader war with Syria and Iran… you know, the kind of posts my righty trolls like to see because they think it makes me look like a paranoid, crack-smoking nutcase. Well apparently, I’m not the only one smoking crack these days.

Yesterday, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) — a presidential candidate — specifically asked her if “the president has plans to cross the Syrian and/or Iranian border.”

Sec. Rice couldn’t say no: “Obviously, the president isn’t going to rule anything out.”

This exchange prompted a comment from Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a conservative Republican who also is purported to have presidential aspirations. You know how it usually goes — a Democrat grills a representative of the Bush administration, prompting a Republican to come to his or her defense with prepared comments and questions.

But these aren’t usual times:

SEN. HAGEL: When you were engaging Chairman Biden on this issue, on the specific question — will our troops go into Iran or Syria in pursuit, based on what the president said last night — you cannot sit here today — not because you’re dishonest or you don’t understand, but no one in our government can sit here today and tell Americans that we won’t engage the Iranians and the Syrians cross-border.

Some of us remember 1970, Madame Secretary, and that was Cambodia, and when our government lied to the American people and said we didn’t cross the border going into Cambodia. In fact we did. I happen to know something about that, as do some on this committee.

So, Madame Secretary, when you set in motion the kind of policy that the president is talking about here, it’s very, very dangerous. Matter of fact, I have to say, Madame Secretary, that I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam. If it’s carried out, I will resist it.

I guess Sen. Hagel is smoking crack too. Or perhaps he’s just put partisanship aside because he cares more about his country than his party?

I can’t prove that the Bush administration is insane — that it is in fact being guided by a kind of group psychosis — but then, I cannot find any evidence to the contrary. If the President directs air strikes or troop movements across the Syrian and/or Iranian borders, our military commanders will follow the orders of their Commander in Chief, with or without Congressional authorization. Short of preemptive impeachment, there is absolutely nothing the Democratic controlled Congress can do to prevent the president from following this disastrous path, regardless of the illegality of such an escalation.

If the President intends to choose this path, only the Republicans can save our nation from a catastrophe of historic proportions. Only a Republican Party unified in opposition to their President can persuade him that the political risks are as real as the military ones.

If you are a Republican, and you oppose escalating this war into a broader regional conflict, it is incumbent upon you to contact your party leaders and elected officials at all levels of state, local and federal government, and plead with them to publicly oppose any policy that would lead to war with Syria and Iran. Follow Sen. Hagel’s lead, and let your party know that if this policy is pursued, you will resist it.

At the height of the Watergate scandal our nation stood on the edge of a constitutional crisis. It was only when President Nixon became convinced that he had lost the support of his own party — that the threat of impeachment was real — that he finally backed down and resigned. President Bush needs to understand that he cannot legally expand this war without Congressional authorization, and that if he does, the political consequences will be brutal, swift and bipartisan.