I know I come across as a skeptical bastard on this blog. And often times with good reason. The fights get ugly, and people’s lives come to harm far to often as a result of poor decisions made in various city halls and county council chambers, in Olympia, and in DC. Yet for all of the problems, for all the bullshit, for all the fights and arguments, I love politics because they’re a way to improve people’s lives.

Really, we fight so hard because this matters. I mean holy shit, we get to help chose the president, and on and on down. We get to influence the direction of our country and our state. And critically, we get to complain when things don’t live up to our standards.

We get to complain about the people on the other side of the aisle. We get to complain that the people supposedly on our side far too often acting mealy mouthed and pathetic. We get to complain about the influence of money. We get to complain about the operatives on the other side and the apologists for mediocrity on our own side.

So if it looks like I’m buried in snark and in skepticism, well I probably am. But I’m also so glad to be able to have this platform. I really approach it joyfully.

– More GOP races today? I think Rick Santorum wins Alabama and Mississippi. Romney wins Hawaii and American Samoa. That means we’ll be up pretty late to hear his victory speech.

– I appreciate the intent behind these sort of bills to get us talking (and obviously, I’m linking to it here continuing the discussion) but surely there’s a better way to go than joke laws that would objectively be worse policy to object to actual laws that are terrible policy.

– Anyone going to the official reopening of the Burke-Gillman Trail?

– Anyone going to Chocolate for Choice?

ASFCME’s most important endorsement ever.

– If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the other room banging my head against the wall.

– Make Pullman a National Park

– Bus Driver Appreciation Day is coming up.

– A hell of an uptick in campaign spending.

– Occupy West Seattle protesting Chase tomorrow.

– Hug Gate goes all the way up to the Queen of England.

– The Huskies deserved a spot.

You guys, the Republicans are still doing this shit. Can’t it be the brokered convention yet? Darryl doesn’t seem to have posted anything so here’s your results curtsey of me, several hours late.

Kansas:

Santorum 15,290 Votes 51.2%

Romney 6,250 Votes 20.9%

Gingrich 4,298 Votes 14.4%

Paul 3,767 Votes 12.6%, but his supporters will probably make up some delegate math that proves they won.

I can’t find the numbers for Wyoming but apparently Romney won it and also Guam Virgin Islands, and Abramoffville the Northern Mariana Islands.

Here’s the press release I got emailed today.

Democratic candidate for governor, Jay Inslee, today announced that he will step down from his seat in Congress to focus full time on his campaign and talking to voters about rebuilding Washington’s economy and creating jobs for the nearly 300,000 people still out of work.

“I am excited about focusing full-time on talking about my job-creation agenda and building a new economy for Washington state,” Inslee told a group of supporters at his campaign headquarters today. “We have a great chance to seize our own destiny, build our own industries, and create our own technological revolutions right here at home.”

“I am not one for half measures or half-hearted efforts,” continued Inslee. “I am going to leave everything on the field. I am going everywhere and I am going to listen to everybody. If you have an idea, I want to hear it. If you have a problem, I want to know it. If you have a business, I want to help you grow it. I am all in.”

Inslee, who is currently leading in fundraising and running neck-in-neck with his opponent based on recent polls, said he made the decision very recently after watching the GOP presidential nominees visiting Washington with what Inslee described as a “divisive social issues agenda” and then seeing state Republicans offer budget proposals that slashed education funding.

“It was a difficult decision, but what I need to do right now is focus all my attention on talking to people about what’s really important – creating jobs and growing our economy,” said Inslee.

Inslee’s resignation is effective March 20.

For what it’s worth, while this will probably play well with the legacy media who are always complaining he’s talking about national issues, I can’t say I’m thrilled with it. I know going back to DC and here to campaign is a pain in the ass, and God knows you want to not associate yourself with Congress to the extent possible. But I don’t think the best way to ask for the next job is to quit the one you’re in.

Also, does anyone know if there’s going to be a special election to fill the seat or if it stays empty until after the November election? Also also, what happens to constituent services until there’s another member of Congress?

Liss has the details.

A person identifying as a woman and/or having a uterus shall retain all of the full, basic, and fundamental rights of a US citizen as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Congress and the States shall make no law that infringes upon a person’s life, including but not limited to access to life-saving or life-improving healthcare, and/or medicines and procedures deemed necessary or beneficial by a medical professional and/or by the person having the uterus, procurement of which shall not by denied in and of itself by the presence of a uterus. Congress and the States shall make no law that infringes upon a person’s liberty, including but not limited to autonomy over hir own body and the ability to make decisions regarding hir own healthcare. Congress and the States shall make no law that interferes with a person’s pursuit of happiness, including but not limited to access to a full spectrum of reproductive options, freedom from forcible reproduction, and the ability to make decisions regarding family planning and family resources.

Please sign the petition in support of the Personhood Amendment here. Once it has 1,000 signatures, it will be delivered to Senators Patty Murray (WA), Al Franken (MN), and Kristen Gillibrand (NY) with a request to introduce the proposed amendment into the legislative session.

The Reproductive Parity Act was a casualty of the budget bullshit. But there’s going to be a special session, and the people who pushed it during the regular session are pushing it again.

The bill died in the state senate last week, when several Democrats voted along with the minority Republicans to oppose the bill. Although the legislation failed 26-23, it could be resurrected in a special session, which seems all but inevitable now given Republicans’ and Democrats’ inability to come to consensus on the state budget after the GOP staged a surprise budget coup last Friday night.

The senators Planned Parenthood is targeting are: Jim Kastama (D-25), who is running for secretary of state and who voted in favor of gay marriage; Steve Litzow (R-41), a onetime NARAL board member who has historically voted pro-choice; Rodney Tom (D-48), a former Republican; Cheryl Pflug (R-5); Andy Hill (R-45); and Curtis King (R-14).

Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest has a way to contact your legislator with a pre-made letter. I think it makes more sense to find your legislator here and write your own.

I miss making fun of Sharkansky, so here’s some nonsense that took me about 30 seconds of Googling to find that it isn’t correct.

The Seattle Times Nicole Brodeur’s column today is thoroughly hysterical — in all three senses of the word — “Politics again playing tough with women’s bodies”

It’s 2012, and the battle for control of the American uterus rages on …[Rush Limbaugh] reignited a new national debate about how women can maintain ownership of, and responsibility for, their own bodies.

Of course, neither Limbaugh nor anybody else of consequence is advocating that government restrict access to contraceptives, as Brodeur implies.

First, if you can’t get contraceptives because they’re priced out or unavailable on religious grounds, that’s the access to them restricted, even if it’s not the government restricting them. But second, and to the point he’s trying to make here’s Rick Santorum, winner of the second most GOP contests for president this year, on birth control:

One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.

Anyway, I was just going to make fun of that, but what the hell, I’m already here. Let’s make fun of the rest of Sharkansky’s word salad.

Brodeur’s central premise is that women can “maintain ownership of, and responsibility for, their own bodies” only if the federal government forces third parties to provide free birth control supplies.

The government forces third parties to do all sorts of things. I’d prefer universal single payer, but this improves the current system that in many instances means people who might want to use birth control don’t have that choice.

How is this different from the proposition that people can’t take responsibility for brushing their own teeth and wiping their own rear ends without a federally-mandated supply of free toothpaste and toilet paper?

Who the hell gets priced out of toilet paper and toothpaste? If brushing your teeth or wiping your rear end* cost in the order of magnitude that prescription medicines like birth control, then we’d need a more equatable way to distribute them in society. It would be bad for the people who couldn’t wipe their butts, of course, but it would also be bad for society to have lots of shit covered asses around stinky and unhealthy. That would be one solution, I guess.

God this is a stupid metaphor, but pressing on. If 58% of people who used toothpaste used it for reasons other than (although sometimes including) dental hygiene then it would probably also be more important that society make sure it was available to everyone.

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Goldy has the details.

With only hours left in the regular session, the Washington State House just rejected the Senate Republicans’ coup budget on a 56-43-ish vote (I neglected to write down the tally). Not that it’s news, but this sorta-officially guarantees a special session.

Also not news, Republicans are bunch of fucking liars. Listening to the TVW broadcast it was often hard to figure out whether the representative was a Republican or a Democrat, mostly because the Republicans kept accusing the Democrats of cutting funding for education, when in fact it’s the other way around, and kept attacking the Democratic budget for its “gimmicks,” when the R’s balance theirs by skipping a pension payment. But you know, I guess if they repeat it often enough, voters might believe it’s true.

– Since Buck O’Neil was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, it’s been one of those things I think about visiting but never actually do. Now, not so much.

– If you’re going to imply, for example, that Rebecca Traister is a hypocrite and sellout only willing to criticize MSNBC hosts on listervs, you might want to spend a minute or two looking into whether she’s, say, written an (excellent) book that extensively discusses the sexist treatment Hillary Clinton received at the hands of Olberman et al.

– Aphra’s Reading Room: Women’s History Month Edition, Part I

– While, of course, we should take things like potential threats to Rush Limbaugh seriously, it seems Glenn Reynolds jumped the gun.

– Noooooooooooooooooo

The Senate Republicans and turncoat Democrats are still up to their bullshit. They may try to oust Ed Murray as Ways and Means chair if he doesn’t negotiate for their budget.

But here’s the thing. As Goldy mentions, we don’t have to hurry to get a budget passed. A budget passed the last session and since it’s biannual* it isn’t required to pass another one this session. While that means (depending on how the economy does) we’ll have to pass another budget at some point, it doesn’t have to be now.

So here’s my suggestion: the House Democrats pass their ideal budget fix and then say take it or leave it. If the Senate leaves it, have Gregoire call a special session a month from now to see if they’re in a better mood to pass it. If not, we can keep waiting. She can do the same thing until the Senate agrees.

Of course neither the legislators nor Rob McKenna could raise any money if we do that, but the second half is my favorite part.

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– The Safe Speed Bill becomes another casualty of the budget debacle.

– The C line.

– Snow in West Seattle (Downtown was snow free)

– Also – should add, Utah does NOT have a 72-hr waiting period for purchasing a firearm.

– The Laurens County Republican Party has some new requirements for office.

– Washington is the 11th most popular state.

– 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying

The more I think of voter ID laws and their potential to disenfranchise large swaths of people, the more I think the obvious solution is in the 14th amendment.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

With the 19th and 26th amendments, presumably that includes women and anyone 18-21. It seems to me that courts could do it now, but it’s probably better if Congress decides on a reasonable formula. It seems to me if states are going to disenfranchise their citizens, they should lose some representation.

– Saving the PI Globe.

– Employer Authorization for Contraception

– A view from the deck.

– Rush Limbaugh’s non-apology.

– What’s the matter with white people? is obviously a provocative title, but well worth the read.

– Freewayblogger is looking for slogans about climate change for the next tour.(h/t)

– Yes, this is mostly an excuse for the Democrats to get you on their email list, but you can commit to the Democratic caucuses here.

– Rushed Apology

Hey, remember when Ed Murray sold teachers down the river in an effort to secure votes for the budget? How’d that work out?