Big head, little arms:

I wish the kids at The Stranger cared half as much about light rail as they do car sharing.

I’m a Zipcar member too, and I’ve had plenty of access to cars since their switch-over. But they’re a private company trying to make money in this dog-eat-dog world. I feel bad for all of you balloon-headed PCC members who got your special rate eliminated, or you college kids who lost your special UW rate…

You got issues, I got tissues.

Ten and a half bucks an hour is not a sin against God. It’s still cheaper than buying a car, fixing it, and parking it. I loved Flexcar, and I like Zipcar too. That said, carless folks aren’t entitled to car sharing at cheap rates any more than folks with cars are entitled to cheap gas and parking. If you don’t like your options, do a couple of things:

1.) Expand mass transit in the city.

2.) Start a non-profit alternative JUST for Capitol Hill.

3.) Buy a plug-in hybrid for the neighborhood, and then charge people to use it.

If Zipcar is living too high on the hog, then maybe they need competition.

…because he has little T-Rex arms.

T-Rex arms, with bloaty, pasty sun-damaged skin. A sure thing, America!

Dino Rossi takes credit for the 2003 state budget:

Ultimately, Dino became a leader on state budget issues and was the Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee in 2003 when the state faced the largest dollar deficit in history.

In this leadership position, Dino worked across party lines to balance the state budget without raising taxes, while still protecting the most vulnerable.

…but wasn’t he just following the Governor’s lead?

The Republican budget has much in common with the all-cuts plan that Democratic Gov. Gary Locke unveiled in December. In fact, Rossi opened a press briefing yesterday with a PowerPoint presentation titled: “Following the Governor’s Lead.”

So when some liberal interest groups attack Rossi’s 2003 budget for cutting teacher COLAs and poor kids off Basic Health, how far will some go to apologize for it?

Funny thing, they refer to a Rossi budget, rather than a Rossi-Locke-Chopp-Reardon budget.

If the budget ain’t Rossi’s, then he can’t take credit for it. If he takes credit for the budget, then he gets some of the blame as well. It would be cool if the press looked in to this. Until then, more flip floppin’ from Dino is expected.

Today at 5:30pm, Starbucks’ across America will be closing early to train their staff on how to make better coffee.

“We will have all new standards for how we create the drinks,” said spokeswoman Valerie O’Neil. “They will be trained in creating the perfect shot, steaming the milk and all the pieces that come together in a drink.”

Not to be out done, local conservative bloggers will be closing early as well, but not to make better coffee:

“We’re going to use the blog’s downtime to figure out a way to make Eric Earling’s posts interesting to read,” said Sharkansky. “I mean, Snohomish County? Who gives a fuck?”

Mark Gardener of the Whacky Nation blog announced some changes as well.

“We’re going to give our readers what they’ve been asking for, and that’s fewer YouTube clips of Lou Guzzo, and more clips of kangaroos masturbating.”

Frankly, I don’t know how successful these guys are going to be, but I’m looking forward to better espresso.

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if Chris Gregoire had taken the plunge in 2000 by running for the US Senate. She was heavily recruited, but decided to stay in Olympia as Attorney General, and Maria Cantwell won the race. I think that Senator Gregoire would have been a tough customer, and I’m even more sure of it when I read about Governor Gregoire’s trip to DC:

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire should be celebrating her state’s robust economy and record exports. Yet sagging tax collections are lowering an estimated budget surplus by $400 million.

In this slow economy, states are struggling. People are spending less and state governments are taking in fewer dollars.

The financial bottom line is a top worry for many governors in discussions as their annual meeting about paying for public works and energy projects.

“Everything’s been going great for us and now the national downturn has slowed us up,” said Gregoire, a Democrat.

State governments have to do the heavy lifting whenever the federal government shirks it’s duty. Gov. Gregoire has made some tough choices but always looks out for those who don’t have lobbyists to make their case. I mean, who’s going to stick up for kids without health care? Students? Seniors? Not Dino Rossi, thats for sure. Rossi, a Bush Republican, named his dog after the president.

The dog’s name?

“Useless Flea Bag Who Pisses The Carpet.”

Or “Dubya,” I’m not sure exactly.

“No Country For Old Men” wasn’t better. The ending sucked. Yes, Javier Bardem was amazing as the sociopath killer with the awful haircut, but nothing beats George Clooney’s turn as the “fixer” who gets to the bottom of a mysterious case in “Michael Clayton”.

“The Truth Can Be Adjusted,” indeed.

In the several years I’ve lived in Belltown, you’ve been a good neighbor. The people who take classes with you are most nice, well-adjusted kids, and they don’t cause trouble. You’ve got a nice location, right on the waterfront. I use your parking garage often whenever I grab a Flexcar Zipcar for a few hours. All in all, it’s been a good relationship thus far. But there’s something on your campus I’ve got my eye on.

Your basketball court.

See, the City of Seattle took away a half court when they put in the dog park at 3rd and Bell. The closest public basketball court in now up at the Denny Playfield, which doesn’t get the love it should.

Belltown is home to some interesting open space. There’s the Belltown cottages, Victor Steinbrueck Park, the aforementioned dog park on 3rd and Bell, and the Olympic Sculpture Park. The latter has a sign which says, “no active sports allowed.” So while my neighborhood has a gigantic typewriter eraser sitting on a grassy burm, it doesn’t have a b-ball court.

Is there an agreement we can come to that might allow Kurt Rambis-types such as myself the chance to shoot hoops at your court, until the city finally puts up some rims under the Viaduct? I want to play some pick-up basketball without having to leave my neighborhood.

Can we make this happen?

The Seattle Times fires off another editorial ripping Democrats for caucusing:

Washington voters pride themselves on their independence. Many had trouble reconciling the fact that they had to sign an oath of allegiance to a party for their vote to count. The parties insisted on that.

Can you believe it? The Democrats insist that only Democrats* participate in their nominating process. What assholes!

You know, if independents and Republicans get to decide who gets the Democratic nomination for president, I should be allowed to weigh in on who the Seattle Times endorses. It’s only fair.

*or people willing to say, for one day, that they are a Democrat.

More from Josh Feit’s interview:

Sure, endorsing Obama was calculated political pandering. But we like being pandered to.

To believe that Gregoire endorsed Barack Obama for political reasons is just wrong. Clearly, the “smart political move” would have been to not endorse in the race. Gregoire pissed off a lot of women by not endorsing the woman in the race. (My mom, for one.) Clinton backers would have dumped some fat checks on the Gregoire ’08 campaign. They may not, at least not for a while.

Hey, I got an idea… Maybe Gregoire was actually inspired by Barack Obama in the same way she was inspired by John F. Kennedy? Why it always has to be a “calculation”, I don’t understand.

Yo know, some of this governor’s biggest achievements have been non-political in nature, such as reaching an agreement between insurance companies and lawyers, or on water rights in eastern Washington.

And you know what? Maybe rushing into the implementation of a cap-and-trade isn’t the best thing. Says Gregoire:

We’re trying to get everybody to stay together. Here’s why: It’s one thing to get a bill passed, but it’s another thing to get it implemented. The way to make it move forward is to get everybody committed to implementation. This isn’t about taking away from Ecology. It’s saying, “Ecology, you develop a cap and trade, but bring it back to the legislature for approval,” versus, “You have the authority to adopt the rules and implement them today.” That’s the difference. That’s what they [business interests] want, and I’m okay with that.

Considering Gregoire ran the Ecology Department under Gov. Booth Gardner, I think she knows what it’ll take to get this done in a way that get all the parties on board. It reeks of competency and cooperation, not calculation.

If you haven’t, you should read Josh Feit’s good-but-too-snarky interview with Gov. Chris Gregoire. The part that jumped out at me was about light rail:

Gov. Gregoire:

I would do north before south. I’ve said to both the mayor and Joni [Earl, Sound Transit executive director]: Let me see what it is.

Josh Feit:

Wrong answer. The right answer: “I’m excited to see their plan, and I’m excited to promote light-rail expansion this year.” After all, she was gung ho about a light-rail plan that included 185 miles of new roads. Why so finicky about light rail only?

I think the Governor is focused on replacing the 520 bridge and pushing ahead with the Alaskan Way Corridor Project. Light rail is a local issue, and besides freeing up MVET for use by Sound Transit, the Governor should not be a major player on the issue.

The fact that Josh is asking Gregoire to do heavy lifting for a light rail package that doesn’t exist yet is goofy, especially considering The Stranger’s ignorant slagging-off of light rail between the airport and Tacoma. I mean, what happens when Sound Transit 2.1 comes out and they find that not enough of it is being built in Capitol Hill?

One of the most entertaining local blogs in the Seattle area is run by my friends Carl Ballard and Lee Rosenberg. While also posting at Horse’s Ass, they also blog at EFFin’ Unsound, a blog dedicated to skewering slow-witted, doughy headed right wing bloggers. EFFin’ Unsound is in heavy blog rotation.

Check out the post by Lee in which he describes Dino Rossi sycophant Mathew Manweller’s foray into the blogosphere. Or this post, wherein Carl dissects Eric Earling’s shit swallowin’ vote for John McCain. It’s good stuff.

“Matt Manweller”… What is that, his porno name? Not quite as good as “Lou Guzz-oh”, but still decent.

This is an Open Thread.

This should be good:

Chamber co-presents CityClub event on Seattle’s changing neighborhoods, March 7

Support for urban density and affordable housing is one of the Chamber’s four policy priorities for 2007-08, and the Chamber is pleased to co-present this CityClub discussion on Friday, March 7:

Urban Development: Do we recognize the changing face of our neighborhoods?
Unprecedented development is reshaping Seattle’s neighborhoods unlike any other time in the city’s recent history. From Ballard to Capitol Hill and South Lake Union, neighborhoods are adapting to a new, denser urban reality. What do these developments say about the future of Seattle and how we define vibrant, livable urban neighborhoods?

Panelists to date:

· Jim Diers, Author, Neighbor Power
· Ada Healey, Vice President of Real Estate, Vulcan Inc.
· Leonard Garfield, Executive Director, Museum of History and Industry
· Diane Sugimura, Director, Department of Planning & Development, City of Seattle
· Moderator: Jim Vesely, Editorial Page Editor, The Seattle Times

What does Vesely know about Seattle neighborhoods? What can a Mercer Islander really add to a discussion of Seattle neighborhoods? The panel looks like it was taken right out of some big wig’s Blackberry.

If you’re going to this event, let me know and report back. I’d love to witness the huffery and puffery for myself, but the 40 bucks is a bit steep.

Joni Balter (surprise!) disses the caucus. Some of the goofs are just too dumb to let slide.

Taxpayers are spending almost $10 million for 19 delegates to be awarded in a race Republican Sen. John McCain has all but won; and so Democrats can stage a high-profile, show-and-tell event with no delegates forthcoming from the results.

And for us Democrats, the primary is a dumb waste of money. That’s why we don’t use it to award delegates. (There are, you know, constitutional issues too.)

For one thing, local election officials have a better record tallying votes. The best proof that the caucus system is full of holes came with the premature announcement by Republicans that McCain had won, while Mike Huckabee was still too close for that call to be made.

For fuck’s sake. Our caucus went off without (much of) a hitch, and our turnout was fifty times their turnout. Just because Luke Esser and his “short bussers” can’t count votes doesn’t mean the caucus method is broken.

Caucuses are quaint gatherings that are unwelcoming to the military,

Theoretically, yes. For all those Democrats serving in The Big Sandbox, getting together on a Saturday to discuss politics can be a tough one. Solution: bring the troops home.

the disabled

This would come as a big surprise to the disabled folks who attended my caucus. We had to negotiate some stairs, yes, but everything worked out ok.

and a variety of other voters who don’t want to sit around with their neighbors and hash out the decision.

Like Seattle Times columnists, apparently.

The Democratic race is very much alive and close. State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz knows voters will be furious with him when they realize they have to sign a pledge affirming they are Democrats to cast a primary vote — only to have the votes not count toward delegates.

Dwight Pelz could give a shit. He’s just protecting the integrity of our presidential nominating process (such that it is) by ensuring that Democrats (or people who want to sign a piece of paper saying they’re a Democrat) will have their votes count towards the selection of delegates.

But I am going to make a wild prediction. Our election system with caucuses and primaries is so convoluted and confusing, and the Republican tallying so troubling, that the parties will come to their senses by 2012 and abandon the caucuses.

My prediction is that in 2012, columnists will still be whining, ill-informed, about the nature of our caucus system.

Don’t get in an accident in Prosser:

Ambulance response in three lower Yakima Valley towns may take twice as long if money doesn’t show up soon.

It’s a nice country, Central Washington. I like to visit, but I think the next time I drive out there, it’ll be in a borrowed ambulance. You know, so I don’t die waiting for one of the local ones.

The publicly funded Prosser Memorial Hospital owns Emergency Medical Services, he only ambulance program responding to 911 calls in the Grandview, Prosser, Mabton area. But hospital CEO Jim Tavary says they need public money by March 15 or the ambulance service may be cut back in a business decision.

Nine-one-one: I file it under “government services I don’t use but am glad I pay for,” right along with meat inspectors and the 82nd Airborne.

If there isn’t an influx of money, the hospital plans to reduce services by 70 percent starting May 1 — closing a station in Grandview and laying off employees. That will raise response times in emergencies.

But who cares, right? Like the GOP says, practice some goddamn personal responsibility. If you’re having a coronary, it’s your responsibility to swallow two aspirin and drive yourself the 30 miles to the hospital.

The ambulance program has faced a $425,000 shortfall since 2006 when government Medicare reimbursements were restricted. Voters in the hospital district also rejected a levy increase last November.

Ultimately, if folks don’t vote for the levy, it’s their own damn fault. Sure, their taxes are lower (better business climate!), but what’s that worth to you if you die waiting for emergency help?