Goldy notes the flat jobs numbers for August.

But not to worry, if the lack of jobs really was an issue for the majority of real Americans, I’m sure Congress wouldn’t have put off President Obama’s jobs speech so as not to preempt a Republican presidential debate.

I don’t think the people who’ve been obsessing about deficits (Democrats included) are going to be able to do what’s necessary to get jobs back on track. We need something as large in scale as the Tree Army and we shouldn’t pay for it until the economy is doing well again.

No more belt tightening in the hope that it’ll impress Wall Street. If we want jobs, we can create them. Not tax breaks. Not magical thinking. We have enough need in this country, we have willing workers. We ought to make it happen.

– Republicans sure are Assholes.

– Who think they’re funny when they’re being assholes.

– Reuven Carlyle passes this on about 619 Western.

– So, when’s the rally to protest this outrageous waste and misuse of taxpayer’s money?

– Flying While Black & Reading Antique Aviation Books (h/t)

– An amazing looking moth.

Since a lot of the farmers markets in Washington run through late September/early October, and since we’re in a great harvest time, it seems like the right time to mention that you should go to a farmers market if you haven’t yet (or even if you have). I’ll vouch for the Ballard, U District, Columbia City, and Lake Forest Park markets as good places to shop this year.

I love the interactions at the booths, both the pride people take in what they’re selling and their suggestions for what to do with the food once you buy it. I love the food, fresh, tasty, great for you.

One thing that I never tire of reading is foreigners who come to America and share what they found. From Alexis de Tocqueville to the countless immigrant stories, to more recently Jonathan Raban and Stephen Fry there’s something charming about seeing an outsider’s perspective. While you don’t expect them to get everything right, a different set of eyes is interesting. And quite naturally, I especially love people coming to Seattle.

So I was glad Seattle Bike Blog linked to this piece about someone from England cycling around the world. It’s always a bit mystifying to think about people who only know us from TV.

I explored the sculpture park and talk a walk to the Space Needle, and followed bike lanes through the city. I was soon south of the downtown core and took a route along a lake where the road was closed to traffic every Sunday and was taken over by cyclists. It was a wonderful atmosphere. South of the city I picked up the Cedar River Trail and followed it south before camping down a side trail which resembled the Amazon rainforest, except for the busy highway overhead.

The recession is still bad. So what should Washington do about it according to The Seattle Times? Make sure to fire people!

The Times recently reported that state full-time equivalent jobs are down a total of 7 percent in fiscal 2010 and 2011. That does not include higher education, which has had few job losses. It includes everything else.

The New York Times reported that? The Times of London? Oh, you mean The Seattle Times. Nobody calls it that, Ryan or possibly Joni. Well that’s pretty terrible for the people involved, don’t you think? I mean at least have a bit of compassion for people who’ll get kicked off work. No? Nothing.

No downturn in decades has been as deep or as long as this. It is news.

I like the implication that if the downturn was as bad as some in the 70’s or 80’s, it wouldn’t be news. Skipping ahead.

There is a thought that the state should not do this — that its layoffs are making the downturn worse, and that it should keep everyone on the payroll. It is a warm thought, but who would pay for it? The state cannot do it with bonds. New taxes on the private sector would probably snuff out as many private jobs as public jobs sustained.

Layoffs are making the downturn worse. Public sector, private sector. It’s not a thought, it’s a fact. The laid off people have less money to spend, they have less money to save and invest. They produce less economic activity. The argument that paying to not lay people off will make the economy even worse, well that’s at least an argument that acknowledges that there are tough choices. But yes, if we lay off teachers, or state patrol or anyone else in the public sector, on top of losing what they do for us, we also lose some of their economic output.

– Leadership, sure. Courage, well, no, not in Seattle.

– A real charmer at KIRO.

– I thought Al Qaeda’s number 3’s were always killed. Did everyone step up a notch when Bin Laden died?

– But if storms aren’t Jesus telling us things, how could they possibly have happened?

– Bus branding is a concept that I hadn’t even thought of.

– Our smooth universe.

– Tom Fucoloro is mostly right here, but he seems to think The Seattle Weekly might produce good journalism if it wasn’t trying to protect its parent company’s child prostitution notification business.

– KBR is simply godawful.

– What Richard Trumka said.

– People are driving less. Maybe because of low car diets (h/t).

– I cannot tell you how much I like this picture.

– I like The Decemberists (as you’re required to if you’re from the Northwest) and their newest video was directed by one of my favorite bloggers ever (Ken Tremendous, formerly of Fire Joe Morgan).

One of the things that doesn’t get discussed enough in politics is the fact that we don’t know what the future will hold. I think we all know this in the general sense, but we tend to discount it when discussing policy making.

It struck me recently after the debt crisis. We were told the debt ceiling would have to be raised to avoid downgrading US debt and keep the stock market from going crazy. Well, the debt ceiling was raised and the debt was downgraded (by one agency) and the market went crazy. There were also all sorts of possibilities before the vote about what might happen if we had defaulted from it wouldn’t be so bad to it would have been horrible.

So who was right and who was wrong? Well, we know what happened after we passed the debt ceiling, obviously. But we don’t know what would have happened if a better deal had been reached or if we’d defaulted. We can make educated guesses, but in an unprecedented situation like a default, it’s only a guess.

And the same holds true in international affairs. At the start of the Libya conflict, Lee wrote about the potential humanitarian catastrophe there, and “the possibility of a massacre that could’ve taken 100,000 lives” had we done nothing. Not to put any faith in Gaddafi, and certainly not to dismiss the possibility, but we don’t know if it would have been 100,000 or far fewer people. And while the war is hopefully reaching its end now, it was tough to know how it would end a few months ago. We also won’t know for some time how the administration’s arguments about the War Powers Act will be used by the next president.

The point here isn’t that we can’t make decisions or move forward. Of course we can. I just wish we’d acknowledge some uncertainty at the start.

Joni Balter has a column mostly arguing that McGinn should start doing things he’s been doing (and saying he shouldn’t have put the car tabs on the ballot, but I’m here to focus on her lecturing him to do the things he’s already done).

For example, McGinn could return more cops to the street. Budget woes stopped a five-year police hiring program, but any mayor can fund his priorities. He can and he should.

Return to the street implies there are fewer on the street now. It took me all of a couple minutes to find out that:

Despite the fact that SPD hasn’t hired any new officers for more than a year, it increased the number of patrol officers over the past year from 684 to 693.

Now you can argue that Joni meant that we should hire more police, or that trouble may be coming down the pike if we don’t hire police. But she used the phrase “on the street” so I think it’s fair to say she just doesn’t know. And can’t be bothered with a Google search or that pesky fact checking.

McGinn needs to ensure the Families and Education Levy passes. At least supporting schools and students are things most Seattleites can get their arms around.

Yes. The levy doubled in part because of his leadership. And now he is pushing for it.

At several stops, the mayor told neighbors that education was an important way to enhance public safety and that the levy would help ensure that every child in Seattle had an opportunity to learn and succeed. Staff said the mayor delayed a family vacation in Massachussetts so he could participate in the levy kick-off event.

Maybe it’s unfair to expect Joni Balter to know that. I mean who the hell reads The Seattle Times any more? Still, while the media (and Balter in particular) were bashing McGinn as a one issue mayor, he was actually doing other things.

– If Obama hadn’t been biking and golfing, I bet the earthquake wouldn’t have even happened.

– Cascade Bike’s Energizer Stations

– I’m embarrassed about how few of these books I’ve read.

– Both sides are equally Zzzzzzzz.

– Me too, also, too.

– A nice side effect of doing the right thing.

I sent the following questions to all of the candidates for Seattle City Council. I’ll put the answers up in Tuesdays and Thursdays: Sept. 6 & 8 for position 1, Sept. 13 & 15 for position 3, Sept. 20 & 22 for position 5, Sept. 27 & 29 for position 7 and October 4 and 6 for position 9. First candidate to respond on Tuesday, second on Thursday. There is a good chance some of the candidates won’t respond, if that’s the case, I’ll probably make up snarky answers for them.

1) Crime is down in the city, but we’ve seen some horrible incidents with the police in recent years. How do we ensure public safety and not have those sorts of things happen in the future?

2) Now that the Viaduct is coming down, what should the waterfront look like?

3) As the great recession drags on, the city budget is still hurt. What do we need to cut, what do we need to keep, and do we need to raise more money via taxation?

4) With its budget shrunk at least until the end of the recession what should Seattle parks look like?

5) What is the Seattle’s role in education and public transportation given how important they are to the city, but that other agencies are tasked with them?

– Seriously, BackPage, just do photo ID.

– Rick Perry seems to have given up on the book he wrote last year.

– Sad to say, I didn’t know much about Jack Layton (h/t) or Nick Ashford in life.

– The liquor initiative sure has a lot of money on both sides.

– Best bike rack ever!

– Even as things are going well, I’m much more skeptical about Libya than Lee. But there is still a lot of uncertainty.

– I think we should care about this wasp not because it has utilitarian value to us, but because it is another example of the amazing evolutionary history and diversity of life on earth.

The Seattle Times had an editorial a few days ago about the results of the School Board primary. Not to worry, they’re exactly as pro-insider as you’d expect.

Challengers raised valid concerns about the School Board’s failure to provide stronger oversight of former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson or get ahead of serious problems uncovered by state audits.

Voters want to hold elected officials accountable. This is understandable at any position, but especially with the school board. The school board is a mess. Goodloe-Johnson’s tenure was horrible. The teachers are sidelined by the administration. I can’t imagine why anyone would support any of the incumbents.

The Times editorial board endorsed all of the incumbents and one challenger in a nod toward stability and experience. The candidates we endorsed stood out in a crowded field marked by inexperience and unfocused answers about solutions.

THEIR EXPERIENCE WAS FUCKING UP! That’s what they did. All of them. Jesus, by that logic you can never vote against any incumbent. Hell, you can never fire anyone by that logic.

– I did not mean to imply that Bachmann might have been anything other than awful for the country thus far.

– Time to Play on Rainier Ave.

– This pastry prevents Rick Perry from explaining why he thinks Social Security is unconstitutional.

– The Civil War Isn’t Tragic.

– Dave Reichert’s unemployment line.

OK, this has been bouncing around my brain for a while. In an open thread a week or so ago, I made a passing reference to the fact that unions are more grassroots than large corporations or one rich guy. The background is that 3 initiatives qualified for the ballot: one a Tim Eyman initiative largely funded by Kemper Freeman, one a let Costco sell booze initiative funded by Costco and one a home healthcare initiative funded by SEIU.

It paints a nice picture if you’re a reporter or a journalist. Tut tut, all sides do it. But I’m sorry to let the people using that sort of construction know, no they aren’t the same. The editorial makes a special case that one person funding an initiative is particularly bad. Fair enough, I guess. Still, corporations, especially large ones like Costco, are nearly as unaccountable. But one of these things is not like the other. Unions are accountable to their membership.

SEIU (and all unions) have to be accountable to their membership. That’s a more engaged group than disinterested shareholders or boards of directors who are often buddy buddy with the CEO. If SEIU’s initiative fails, they’ll rightly be held to account by members who paid dues and elected union officers. When Costco’s last liquor initiative failed, there was no fallout. They just put another one on the ballot.

And membership does hold its officers to account. Those of us in or with family or friends in unions know plenty of people who take active part in union activity. My aunt was a teacher in another state and she and some of the other teachers in her district ousted the old guard who were, “on the take.” This sort of thing happens regularly in unions, but hardly ever in the corporate world.

To get back to this initiative season, SEIU’s home health care initiative is not only something that benefits the union and its membership, but is also of benefit to anyone who needs to hire a home healthcare worker in Washington. We’ll know that our loved ones and ourselves are in good hands. Even if you think Costco’s initiative is beneficial, they only put it on the ballot to make money. So, no, when a union gets something on the ballot that benefits its members and the state, it’s not the same as when a corporation buys itself a law.