With the possibility of snow this evening, I may not get out tomorrow to pollute the wooded areas of a small patch of Western Washington with poorly struck Titleists, but it also reminded me of a conversation I had with my wife earlier this month.

She mentioned that when she was in elementary school in South King County, she was taught the famous adage that March goes in like a Lion, out like a Lamb. I was taught that too in Elementary school (in Pennsylvania), but I was kind of surprised that it was an expression here too. After all, the weather doesn’t change all that much over the month of March here. So I just looked up some numbers.

If you look at the average temperatures between February and April in other American cities, the expression makes sense:

New York
February – [avg temp (F)=33.6, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=20] April - [avg temp (F)=52.5, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=1] Chicago
February – [avg temp (F)=25.4, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=25] April - [avg temp (F)=48.6, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=7] Atlanta
February – [avg temp (F)=44.8, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=11] April - [avg temp (F)=61.5, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=0]

The changes from February and April in all three places are only matched by the reverse changes in November. But here, the average weather changes between February and April are less pronounced than several other three month swings:

Seattle
February – [avg temp (F)=44.3, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=4] April - [avg temp (F)=50.4, avg extreme weather days (< 32 F)=0]

So, I guess my question here is for the Seattle (and Washington State) natives. Is that a common expression here?

Ever wonder what kind of grizzled veteran of world affairs and international trade has the kind of credentials to win a $300 million Pentagon bid to supply ammunition to our troops overseas?

Well, you can check out his MySpace page.

The whole amazing story about how a tiny Miami company being run by a 22-year-old was being paid with our tax dollars to send boxes of ancient ammunition to our troops is right here (more at TPM here).

This week, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank plans to introduce a bill to decriminalize the personal possession and use of marijuana. When announcing it on Real Time with Bill Maher, he jokingly referred to it as the “Make Room for the Serious Criminals” bill. Out here in Washington State, Edmonds resident and travel show host Rick Steves continues to fight for similar reforms. He has a column in the Seattle PI and, as always, he does a great job of explaining why we need to completely re-think our marijuana laws:

Some concerned U.S. parents are comforted by the illusion of control created by our complete prohibition of marijuana. But the policy seems to be backfiring: Their kids say it’s easier to buy marijuana than tobacco or alcohol. (You don’t get carded when you buy something illegally.) Meanwhile, Dutch parents say their approach not only protects their younger children, but also helps insulate teens over 18 from street pushers trying to get them hooked on more addictive (and profitable) hard drugs.

After a decade of regulating marijuana, Dutch anti-drug abuse professionals agree there has been no significant increase in pot smoking among young people, and that overall cannabis use has increased only slightly. European and U.S. government statistics show per-capita consumption of marijuana for most of Europe (including the Netherlands) is about half that of the U.S., despite the criminal consequences facing American pot smokers.

When it comes to marijuana, European leaders understand that a society must choose: Tolerate alternative lifestyles or build more prisons. They’ve made their choice. We’re still building more prisons.

To be fair, though, I should probably point out this news article from November to provide an example of the how dangerous this drug can be:

Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne fired back Thursday at criticism of his leadership and allegations of inappropriate behavior published in the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that Cayne was playing bridge and golf and was often out of touch from his embattled Wall Street firm this past summer while its hedge funds collapsed and helped to spark a credit crisis in global financial markets.

The Journal said that during what it described as 10 critical days of the crisis in July, Cayne was playing in a bridge tournament in Nashville, Tenn., without a cell phone or an email device.

Cayne shot back in a memo to Bear Stearns employees that he “stands by” his 14-year record at the firm and that allegations of “inappropriate conduct” are “absolutely untrue.”

The paper also reported that Cayne has sometimes smoked marijuana after bridge tournaments, citing attendees at the tournaments, although the paper did not say whether he did so in Nashville in July.

Cayne denied one specific alleged incident in 2004 that the paper asked about, but it reported that when it asked more generally whether he smoked pot during bridge tournaments or on other occasions, he said he would respond only “to a specific allegation.”

Remember kids, if you smoke pot, the stock holdings in the company you run might fall from $1 billion to less than $100 million. Stay away from that shit.

As I was finishing up my recent post on religion, I put off raising this issue that Josh Marshall posts about today:

Here’s one other point I want to raise about Wright. Having watched the full sermons that his sound bites were grabbed out of, it’s pretty clear to me that the snippets running on Youtube were taken out of context and heavily distorted. (But that’s life, to a degree — political hits don’t usually come packaged with extenuating context) I’m also not going to get into the business of full-scale defenses of someone who has apparently suggested that the US government had some role in “inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.”

But in the debate about Wright, which Sen. Clinton has just reignited, it seems to be spoken of now as an unquestioned assumption that Wright traffics in racist rhetoric or hate speech. But is that really true? I’ve seen some stuff that strikes me as whacky. I’ve heard soundbites that critics would not have much trouble spinning as anti-American. But are there really quotes that justify the charge of racism? I’m not saying that purely as a rhetorical question. I have not made myself a full Wrightologist. But I do get the sense that a lot of people believe he’s so radioactive that it makes no sense to point out when others are treating as granted claims that appear demonstrably false.

I often get annoyed at how easily some liberals throw out the racist tag when it’s not deserved (see: Imus, Don), but this looks a case where the shoe is on the other foot. Criticizing America, even being insanely paranoid about our own government, isn’t the same thing as racism. Has Wright said anything that qualifies as being racist? If so, what?

My series of posts in tribute to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode “Space Mutiny” continues after a long break. The latest is called Rising Up Against Captain Santa Claus and it covers religion, the first 5 years of the Iraq War, and other topics.

Previous posts in the series can be found here:
1 – Mutinyblogging Pours the First Drink
2 – Seattle vs. Jakarta: The Monorail Challenge – Part 11
3 – The Mutiny

Unfortunately for bowling fans in Ballard, Sunset Bowl was not built in the Googie architectural style. It’s scheduled for demolition this year to make way for new condos, but Sunset’s regulars are trying to figure out how to keep on bowling:

Jim Bristow knows he can’t save Sunset from the wrecking ball but he’s hoping to pick up a spare. Bristow is collecting signatures on a petition in hopes of convincing the developers to build a bowling alley on the first floor of their new condo project.

It’s a solution that allows for the builders to move forward while keeping the ball rolling too.

“We are allowing more and more buildings and thousands of people to come into the neighborhoods but there is less and less for us to do,” said Bristow.

The developer, Avalon Bay, recently had a meeting with the Save Sunset Bowl group. They are considering the proposal and looking into the feasibility of incorporating a bowling alley into the condo project. However, they aren’t making any promises.

This week’s Birds Eye View Contest doesn’t even have wild-ass guesses yet. I may have to post a clue for this one.

UPDATE: Also, if you haven’t already seen it, check out Joel Connelly’s column on Rick Steves’ marijuana conversation initiative.

Normally, I deal with the stupidest of the stupid posts from up here in the northwest over at my other playground, but every once in a while, a special occasion rolls by and it just belongs here at the Ass. This is one of those times. Eric Earling at Sound Politics has completely lost all contact with reality over the past week. First by displaying some world-class hypocrisy by attacking those who criticized Ken Hutcherson, then having a 5-alarm freakout over Jeremiah Wright because of his “bigotry” (psst, Eric, paranoia is not bigotry). Second by still attempting to maintain that the Republicans still have credibility when it comes to national security and Iraq.

I’ll post about Wright after this weekend, but to help with the latter point, here’s a rundown of the recent polling on the war in Iraq. Despite what Earling has convinced himself to believe, public opinion on how things are going in Iraq has not changed over the past few months. The American public still overwhelmingly believes the following:

– The Iraq War was a mistake
– Any kind of “victory” in Iraq is not still possible
– We should withdraw from Iraq within the next year

Somehow, though, Earling still attempts to refute this by linking to this set of polling, which shows that a lot of Americans still buy into the belief that we’re actually keeping a lid on things while our troops our there. Even with that, however, a plurality of Americans still believe that we’re more likely to be attacked by terrorists if we stay in Iraq than if we leave. This is a pretty extraordinary rejection of the GOP propaganda that has been almost universally adopted within the traditional media. And it should be a strong indication that the folks that John McCain is pandering to have become “the fringe” when it comes to Iraq.

With that said, I want to wander through his post and hopefully help our friend from across the aisle wrap his head around this stuff:

Dear Local McGovernites with Modems,

A couple of your blogging comrades were kind enough to enunciate some thoughts at a recent post of mine discussing everyone’s favorite Netroots candidate, Darcy Burner.

Daniel K and thehim, at #1 & 2 as well as #24 & 25 respectively, noted they didn’t quite agree with my take on the matter.

Hey, that’s me! I was kind enough to point out to Eric that his last post indicated some faulty logic on his part. For instance, the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress is not a result of their being too far to the left on the war, but instead is a result of their being too wishy-washy in their opposition to the President on both the Iraq war and his attacks on our civil liberties. I also pointed out to him that Americans trust Democrats more when it comes to Iraq, something even the GOP-leaning Rasmussen Reports has indicated.

thehim in particular, while kindly offering modest praise of my intellect, argued I have it all wrong on the topic of Democrats, Iraq, national security, and this fall’s election.

Certainly, no one can predict the future, but this claim from Earling’s earlier post was several light years out into La-La-Land:

Coming out of the gate talking about Iraq is peculiar given the degree to which the Democratic Presidential nominee isn’t actually going to want to focus on national security issues.

Exactly why would the Democratic Presidential nominee not want to focus on national security issues? Not only do Americans clearly trust Democrats more when it comes to Iraq, but the Republican nominee is openly expressing a desire to continue an occupation that the American public overwhelmingly wants ended. And according to the poll that Eric himself linked to, the American public even thinks that staying in Iraq will actually increase the chance of a terrorist attack. Somehow, I don’t think the Democrats are going to be shy about this topic this year.

Back to the most recent post:

Indeed, he asserted that the public is displeased with the current Congress because Democrats are “not antagonistic enough” in confronting Administration policy toward Iraq.

Exactly, and that’s why Darcy Burner, and a growing number of Democratic candidates are supporting the Responsible Plan, a plan for getting ourselves out of Iraq efficiently and responsibly. And while the netroots certainly like it, the good people in the 8th Congressional District who are understandably frustrated by the fact that they’ve been represented by an empty suit who has brainlessly cheered on the Iraq fiasco for the past 3 years, have good reason to like it as well.

But Earling is only getting warmed up here. This gets much better:

With that in mind, I have a request. Please do encourage all your favored candidates to be more “antagonistic” about Iraq. Please do raise a ruckus to keep them running to the left of the current Democratic Congress, especially on that topic.

Not to go too far above Earling’s head here, but people who want us to leave Iraq to the Iraqis are not “to the left” of the current Democratic Congress. They are those who have a more libertarian view on foreign policy. Principled isolationist conservatives like Ron Paul are sure as hell not “to the left” of the current Democratic Congress. These kinds of “live and let live” views on foreign policy have not been very widespread until recently and it appears that this phenomenon is one that Earling is trying his best to both ignore and mislabel. The occupation of Iraq has re-shaped many Americans’ views on the limits of our military might, and shown the wisdom of taking a more hands-off approach to the Middle East. This is happening not just on the left, but across the political spectrum. In fact, the two candidates receiving the most donations from members of our military in this election cycle have been Ron Paul and Barack Obama.

By all means, as Iraq steadily fades from the eyes of the news media and the public, please make this your issue du jour. Don’t worry, that part where Americans say they aren’t too keen on the “get out now!” strategy is probably just a bad polling sample…or something.

Amazingly, as much of an unpopular disaster as the Iraq War still is, it won’t be the Democrats trump card this year. The economy will be.

Also, you may recall this blogger doesn’t have the warmest feelings for John McCain. Please don’t let that dissuade you from encouraging your candidates to challenge him on Iraq – and all manner of national security issues too for that matter. I think I might like to see that.

I’d love to see it. Especially since the old geezer once again demonstrated how little he knows about what’s happening in Iraq by actually trying to claim that Iran was training Al Qaeda forces. Exactly how does someone who purports to be the “war candidate” and is set to become the Republican nominee for President have such a piss-poor knowledge of what’s actually going on over there? We’re five years into this thing. How does he not know that the Iranians and Al Qaeda are ideologically opposed to each other? How does Earling think that someone with such basic misunderstandings of the region and the players involved is going to solve any of these serious problems?

Lastly, while you’re at it, and if I’m not being too impertinent, could I beseech you to insist that candidates earning Netroots support also run to the left of the current Congress on domestic issues too? Especially on taxes and healthcare. I think that would be bracing, perhaps even cathartic.

Absolutely! If there’s one thing I’ve learned about voters in the 8th District, they’re terrified of universal health care. They love overpaying for prescription drugs. And they really enjoy the thrill that comes with knowing they could lose their life savings because of an illness. It’s so exhilarating!

Thank you for your attention and careful consideration of this request. In the meantime, I remain your faithful and eager antagonist,

My hat’s off to you, sir. Most people as smart as you would have had enough pride to stop doing this to yourself by now.

P.S. If you could accomplish even part of this, I really would be happy to buy you a pitcher or two at a Drinking Liberally gathering in the future. Since I no longer drink (grumble) thanks to family health history, that’s more beer for you!

Any time.

Tonight’s Sonics’ score is not a misprint. They lost to Denver 168-116. Only one other team has given up that many points in a regulation game since 1962. At least Northwest hoops fans can still root for Wazzu, a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Gonzaga (7 seed), Oregon (9 seed), or Portland St (a 16 seed playing Kansas). Both Wazzu and Gonzaga play Charlotte area teams, Winthrop and Davidson. Unfortunately, Gonzaga has to play Davidson in Raleigh. Wazzu plays in Denver. The fun starts Thursday.

Between a Monday St. Patrick’s Day and the first round of March Madness, this will be the most unproductive work week in our nation’s history.

Here’s a website where citizens can leave feedback and provide ratings for the police officers in their community. As you might have guessed, this site has generated some controversy, but it’s still up, and I definitely think it can be a good instrument for improving relations between communities and their police officers. I’ve gone through the listings for SPD and see a mix of both positive and negative feedback. If only I knew the name of the officer who broke up an obnoxiously loud UW graduation party on my street at 4am last June I could give him a 5 star rating.

My walk from the office to the bus in the evening takes me through Pike Place Market. Normally, it’s the same thing. Dodging slow-walking tourists, walking through some family’s photo in front of the original Starbucks, and pretending I can’t hear people asking for change because my headphones are too loud. Today there was some actual excitement:

Crews are shooting various Seattle scenes this week for “Traveling,” a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart.

From about 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. Wednesday, filming will be done around the Market and Post Street Alley. Pine, Stewart and Virginia streets between First and Western avenues will be closed most of the day.

They had a crane sprinkler system set up at the corner of Virginia and Western, raining down fake rain on Eckhart (he was the guy from Thank You for Smoking) as he held a briefcase over his head during the one shot I saw. A fake traffic jam filled the market with slightly more cars than there normally are on a nice day.

Hopefully, Eckhart fares better than the last person I saw filming a movie in Seattle.

[via Balloon Juice]

I’ve been too busy this week to closely follow the most recent incidence of Democratic spinelessness over the Bush Administration’s illegal wiretapping, but I have a question that I don’t think has been asked yet. The issue here revolves around immunity for the telecom companies who complied with the Bush Administration as they broke the law. I think that what the telecoms did was inexcusable and I certainly don’t have much sympathy for the executives who went along with it. But there’s obviously a bigger problem here, and that’s the fact that we had an administration in the White House that was putting pressure on these companies to break the law in the first place. The question I have is: Are the Democrats in the House even considering the possibility of granting the telecoms immunity in exchange for information that could incriminate high ranking Bush Administration officials? If so, I’m fine with giving them immunity in exchange for having a few of them testifying under oath in front of the House with the details of how the Bush Administration broke the law. I don’t see what would stop them from doing this, and even if it remains impossible to actually indict the Bush Administration officials who are fingered, it would still make it even more clear that the Justice Department under Bush looks the other way when it comes to the crimes that this administration has committed. As I said, I haven’t been able to follow this too closely this week, so I want to throw this out to the wind to see if I’m missing something.

Lebanon

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut has called on its nationals to leave Lebanon a day after a US warship was positioned off the country’s coast.

The embassy on Saturday sent SMS messages to Saudis living in Lebanon urging them to leave the country as soon as possible, Al Jazeera’s correspondent said.

Gaza

Israel vowed to press its campaign against militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday despite an international outcry over the deadly onslaught that prompted even the moderate Palestinian leadership to cut off all peace talks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to continue the ground and air operation that has killed 71 Palestinians since Saturday following the death of one Israeli civilian last week and earned the Jewish state international condemnation for disproportionate use of force.

Iraq

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said in Baghdad on Sunday that the “Iranian and Iraqi nations will always stand by each other.”

In a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani, Ahmadinejad called his landmark visit to Iraq “a new page in the history of the relations between the two countries and cooperation in the region.”

The Iranian president arrived in Baghdad on Sunday morning and was received by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie.

Talabani, who grinned broadly and eagerly shook Ahmadinejad’s hand, called the visit “historic”, AFP reported.

Throughout this decade, we’ve been led to believe that the first two stories are examples of freedom being on the march, while the third example is a setback. In reality, they’re all setbacks, with the third story being the indication of the failure of the approach used in the first two.