– 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

Well, this is great news.

That is, until today, when the Supreme Court overturned section 3 of the 1996 law as unconstitutional, so now the Starling-Littlefields can enjoy all the financial benefits and equal dignity of a recognized marriage.

“I’m in tears,” Starling told ABCNews.com right after the decision was rendered. “Today’s ruling means the federal government will no longer be allowed to treat some American families differently. Now all same-sex couples who are married or who have the freedom to marry will be able to provide their children the necessary legal and economic protections they need in life.”

The 5-4 decision read: “DOMA violates basic due process and equal protection principles applicable to the federal government. Under DOMA same sex married couples have their lives burdened, by reason of government decree, in visisblt and public ways.

“By its great reach DOMA touches many aspects of married life from the mundane to the profound”

They’ve also dismissed the Prop 8 appeal. So yay, and there’s more work to do.

– The Supreme Court strikes down part of the Voting Rights Act.

– This is a bit old, but a hearty cheer to the people who got the Alpine Lakes Wilderness & Rivers Bill out of the Senate.

– Speaker of the House under the GOP is the worst job ever.

– The publicly financed election bill is now in the Seattle voters’ hands.

– Super Fast Internet is coming to some neighborhoods.

– Still riveted by SB5 in Texas.

– Still no budget. Maybe by the time we get off work?

– Everybody Wins

Maybe there will be one when we wake up.

We’ll see if that amounts to an actual budget deal. But it’s what Governor Inslee tweeted out (h/t to Goldy). I have no idea if this is real, and if it is what’s in the deal, but I hope Democrats don’t give away the farm.

– Power of Ridicule

– In petitions: The General has a petition to investigate that pervert Rep. Michael Burgess, and The Transit Riders Union wants to save Metro from devastating cuts.

– I’ve been riveted by the abortion hearings in Texas. I probably would have missed a lot of it if not for Jessica Luther

– Capitol Lake has mud snails.

– A bicyclist has died in Woodinville (Seattle Times link)

– I am very sorry that white people began experiencing great violence in 1860. But for some of us, war did not begin 1860, but in 1660. The brutal culmination of that war may not have allowed us to ascend into a post-racial heaven. But here is something I always come back to: In 1859 legally selling someone’s five-year-old child was big business. In 1866, it was not.

No, as of when I started writing this at 5:00. So, we’re still a few weeks out from a budget shutdown in Washington. I thought we were supposed to have something. I don’t see any reports that there’s a snag, so who knows? If we run out of time without a budget, well, terrible things:

During a briefing Thursday, the Governor’s chief of staff Mary Alice Heuschel said that 34 state agencies would shut down completely, including the Governor’s office, the Auditor’s office and the state Lottery. The Governor, himself, would remain on the job.

The plan calls for 24 agencies to shut down partially, including the Department of Ecology, Employment Security, Fish and Wildlife and the Health Department.

“The Department of Corrections estimates that approximately 3,000 of their 8,000 employees would be [laid off] and they’re an agency that has federal mandates to continue a large portion of their operations,” said Brown.

Services for the needy would be cut back, including child care subsidies and food and nutrition programs.

Twenty-five state agencies would remain open, including colleges and universities and departments that don’t rely on the operating budget for funding.

But you know, Rodney Tom probably won’t personally suffer, so who cares?

– If we put a fund together, I bet we could get enough to change the Tacoma Dome to the “HorsesAss.Org Awesomedome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

– Police are warning about a woman posing as a DSHS employee to steal money from very vulnerable victims, and detectives believe there could be many more targets who have not yet come forward, possibly because of the language barrier between themselves and police.

– 8 Ways Not To Be An “Ally”: A Non-Comprehensive List (h/t to my friend M on Facebook)

– I don’t know what else to say. I’m not surprised, because I am a white person who has been a white person her whole life (!) and thus I have spent a lifetime interacting with other white people who presumed that, because we are both white, we are both fans of racist humor. Or cool with racial slurs. Or will definitely agree about their solid and totally original theories on some ancient racist narrative.

– I was just talking to someone from West Seattle about cycling on the Spokane Street Bridge, and now there’s a counter.

– Please — that’s only 45 words. That’s not even a blog post — it’s almost a Tweet. Clearly trivial.

– Fun Facts are my favorite Tom the Dancing Bug, and Fun Facts About New York City is my favorite in a while.

Here’s another post about the vote to restrict abortion. Now I’m thinking of the GOP cries of state’s rights and the will of the voters. Usually, when there’s a discussion of Roe, some conservative will inevitably say that if Roe is overturned it will go back to the states. That it’s just a state’s rights issue. But I think Washington State is a good example of why they don’t mean it.

Specifically, I’m thinking of Initiative 694 that would have banned third trimester abortions. I happen to remember making calls for NARAL, and can remember when it lost. So it seems to me that to the extent that you can tell the will of the people from one vote over a decade ago, the state’s rights Republicans should be saying that Washington doesn’t want restrictions on abortion.

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.

Darryl has written about the science (or lack thereof) behind the recent vote to ban abortion at the federal level due to fetal pain. A fetus can’t feel pain, so basing abortion policy on that is going to result in bad policy. But there is someone in the decision to have an abortion who can feel pain, the one who is pregnant.

Even when it goes well, and the child is wanted, pregnancy is often a miserable, painful experience. As is childbirth. That’s might be one reason why more than 60% of the people who seek an abortion have a child: they know what they’re getting into.

So no, if the people who voted for this were concerned about pain, they would have voted to protect abortion rights. The fact that they see imaginary fetal pain as more important than the actual pain of the pregnant woman is really all you need to know.

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