I have been reading with interest about the so called zero option in Afghanistan. That is, after the end of the war to have 0 American troops in the country. I don’t know if it’s serious or an attempt to wring concessions out of Karzai or if there’s some other plan at work. But I hope you’ll use whatever space you have in the Senate to make the zero option more viable.

America’s longest war has gone on long enough. It’s time, frankly it’s well past time, to bring all of the troops home. They have done their jobs admirably, but the mission was never clear and has only managed to get more muddled with time. So I hope we leave that country a clean break.

Thank You
Carl Ballard
HorsesAss.org

You can write them about this or whatever you want here.

– A swap of development rights from rural King County to South Lake Union.

– Rick Perry won’t run for another term as Texas governor. People are saying it frees him up for a presidential run, but I’m not sure it’s actually helpful.

– Unfortunately, he’s still the governor now.

– I want you to start asking why every salon doesn’t have at least one person who knows how to handle textured hair. Because the world is getting more and more diverse and your niece, your grandson, your daughter – they might have hair like mine.

– Jim McDermott’s article about what America’s relation to Iran should look like in the wake of Hassan Rouhani’s election.

– Anyone going to Bastille Day?

On this lazy Monday evening, I thought I’d mention some of the free things in and around Seattle, and hope that you add your own in the comments.

– First, art walk is first Thursdays most months, but the second Thursday this month since the 4th of July was a Thursday this year. And the neighborhood art walks are often lovely also.

– Also free and artsy fartsy, Seattle Shakespeare Company is doing outdoor productions in the Puget Sound area. I’ve never seen The Tempest, so I might stop by one of those productions.

– Those will be in some lovely city and county parks, and even if you’re not going for the Shakespeare, the parks are great. I should also make a pitch for Port of Seattle parks, just because they’re rad. A few weeks ago, I was at Jack Perry Park and a jazz band were practicing. I just read my paper and listened for a half hour or so with a view of the water. Jack Block has the best views of the Seattle skyline.

– Port of Seattle has some great trails, as well as those city and county parks. Obviously, the Burke-Gilman and Sammamish River trails are great. The Interurban trail is barely more than a bike lane in the City, but it opens up in North Seattle and in the suburbs. Seattle Bike Blog links to another blog making the case for the Iron Horse Trail.

– I’ve mentioned the Seattle library system recently, and I’ll put in another pitch for it here. I’ve recently decided to return books at some other branches. So far only ones in walking distance of me or on the light rail, but it gives a chance to see some of the rest of the city that I might be too lazy to go to very much otherwise.

So what do you like to do that you don’t have to pay for?

– How forced cutbacks will affect Madigan (TNT link)

– Sea Tac is maybe not a place bring your gun

– And leave it to the guy who invented “Crunchy Cons”, the non-existent group of conservatives who are also hippies, to dream up an old-age exception for despicable bigots.

– With Texas still pushing to move abortion back to the bad old days, it’s important to know what the bad old days looked like (NY Times link)

– Stop us before we are forced to commit journalism again!

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

A few weeks ago when the US House of Representatives passed a bill to restrict abortion to 20 weeks, I wrote a post wondering if they’d forgotten their alleged commitment to state’s rights.

But of course the vote by Washington State Republicans in Congress to restrict abortion rights beyond what Washington State voters rejected puts the lie to the state’s rights claim. They don’t care about Washington’s rights to write our own abortion laws, they want the big mean Federal government to override it.

Well now it’s the Senate’s turn as Marco Rubio has introduced a companion bill in the Senate. And while I doubt very much that even if it makes it to the floor, that our Senators would vote for it, it doesn’t hurt to contact them to let them know you’ve got their back in opposing it.

I know this is a few days old, but CNN decided to have a segment N Word Vs ‘Cracker’: Which Is Worse? Presumably, there was a pitch meeting at some point.

Producer 1: Did you hear that Trayvon Martin may have called George Zimmerman a cracker?

Producer 2: Are you pitching me a segment?

Producer 1: Yeah. Let’s make it a debate between that and the N-word.

Producer 2: What?!

Producer 1: You know. We’ll have LeVar Burton, and we’ll ask him when it’s OK to use that word.

Producer 2: I’m sorry. I must have heard you wrong. I thought you just pitched me that we would have the actor who played Kunta Kinte on our news show and ask him if it’s OK to use the N-word.

Producer 1: Yeah, that’s a good idea. But we’ll make it a debate about if that is as bad as calling someone who is stalking you a cracker to your friend you’re on the phone with.

Producer 2: Well, does anyone think they’re equivalent?

Producer 1: Sure!

Producer 2: This is a terrible idea.

Producer 1: This is CNN. Can I do it?

Producer 2: Fine whatever. If you need me I’ll be drinking myself silly and then pissing almost as fast as we piss away any remaining credibility.

– It looks like Rodney Tom has fucked over transit in King County so badly, that he might as well put his dick in the tailpipe of a Metro bus at this point.

– To say nothing of the Columbia River Crossing.

– There might be a longer piece given the amount of time Lee and I dedicated to making fun of him, but Lou Guzzo has died.

– Congrats to UNITE HERE for their contract with Hilton.

– The metonymy of Olympia is especially galling

– Jean Godden is more confident than I am of the Tunnel Machine. Hope she’s right.

– The Teanaway is all things to Washington recreationists and wildlife lovers. Its North Fork road gives access to renowned trail destinations in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and Wenatchee Mountains — Ingalls Pass-Ingalls Lake, Longs Pass, Van Epps Pass and remote Lake Ann. The river valley is in rain shadow, allowing car campers to enjoy sunshine when it’s drizzly west of the Cascade Crest. A wolf pack populates the river’s remote West Fork.

– Call your kids whatever you want, celebrities.

There’s something magical about opening a book from the library and seeing the card punched with a few dates. They have an electronic system so there’s no need to do that anymore, and the newer books don’t even have that ancient card. Still, at least 3 people picked out and, presumably, read this particular copy of Edmund Wilson’s Patriotic Gore. Twice in 1964 and once in 1972. There seem to be different methods of checking it out as one has numbers written next to it and one has WS (something to do with the West Seattle branch, perhaps?).

Of course, the library is more than a random question about where this book has gone. And I have rediscovered it in the time since I decided my computer should take a dip a few weeks ago. The mixing chamber* in the Central Library gave me the chance to stay a bit connected connected, and to post a little something.

Even since I’ve got the computer back in working order, I’ve still gone back and written some posts looking at the city, and checked out some books. It’s free for any Seattle resident, and I’d highly encourage you to check out your local branch.
[Read more…]

– Well, we have a budget, but Rodney Tom managed to fuck transit.

– Meanwhile in the Oregon legislature, they recognize that Citizens United is bullshit.

– A fast-moving wildfire killed 19 firefighters Sunday afternoon after the blaze raced through an Arizona community, a state forestry official told The Associated Press.

– On DOMA, the VRA and The Perfect Opportunity

– There was an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine over the weekend about one of the marijuana venture capital firms.

– Nothing to hide

Just a reminder that the Trans* Pride folks are assembling at Seattle Central now, and the march is at 6:00. It’s a lovely day for a march and an outdoor event.

…The parade just turned up Pine. I didn’t bring my camera since I didn’t know if I was going to be here this morning. I’m also terrible at estimating crowds, but I’d say there were a couple hundred people marching. It took about 10 minutes for the crowd to pass walking at a regular pace for a march down the street.

I’m still trying to process what’s in the budget (.pdf). It was a rolecall on its way to passage in the Senate when I started writing this, and will pass the House shortly.

The fact that the loopholes are mostly still in place is problematic. And there is more money for education, but I’m not sure it’s enough for the McCleary Decision. Still, without structural reform, the best we can hope for is to put off the tough decisions until the next recession. So far from what I can tell, it could have been worse, but it still isn’t good.

Unlike the last dozen or so non-starts, I think this budget is actually going to be a budget.

Gov. Jay Inslee joined state lawmakers Thursday in announcing they had reached a deal on a $33.6-billion two-year budget, allowing the state to avoid a government shutdown on Monday.

Inslee issued a statement saying he expects the budget to pass and arrive on his desk before 5 p.m. Friday.

‘Course, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame that all those state workers will be temporarily laid off. I still haven’t seen the details. And oh God are we going to have transit? So many questions. I’m heading out to dinner, and will be away from my computer for several hours. But if we actually have something that looks like details after I get back, I’ll put up another post.

… In the Comments Roger has the Seattle Times article on it. Still, I don’t see the actual bill on the legislative website.

– Pam Roach loves herself some junket.

– The ugly SCOTUS voting rights flim-flam

– A budget framework is not a budget, the Senate.

– The AP is sure a news outlet.

– Now that more people are using Metro, it’s a perfect time to cut services.

– Ana Mardoll’s piece on #StandWithWendy is a work in progress, but I’m looking forward to coming back.

– And I hope that it’s a reminder to lefties everywhere, myself included, not to write off the South.

– Those of you on Instagram who want to follow Patty Murray, now you can.

Last night, like hundreds of thousands of other people, I watched from a thousand miles away as Wendy Davis spoke and spoke and spoke. She was amazing, and I’m sorry to say, I couldn’t help but contrast it with the cowardice you’ve shown all session. From your declaration that this session won’t have social issues, to your refusal to have a vote on pro-choice legislation you say you support, to your attempts to pry the safe leave from women who work in Seattle and are stalked or raped.

I’m afraid you don’t stack up very well. It turns out that state legislators can garner a lot of attention and support, but not when they’re for the powerful. That’s what people expect in these cynical times. They can garner attention when they help make people’s lives better.

I guess what I’m saying is, you were a sniveling asshole before. Now, you’re a sniveling asshole in the light of what a decent state legislator looks like, and that’s much worse.

XXOO

Carl Ballard