It’s an election night! This time it’s in Washington (but Wisconsin, too). So get that ballot postmarked by today or take it to a drop box. Then, please join us for another evening of election-watching under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally.
We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks will show up before then for dinner.
Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday, 7:00pm at the Hub Restaurant. The Shelton Drinking Liberally meets next Monday 6:30pm at the Grove Street Brewhouse. And the Everett chapter of Drinking Liberally meets at the Buzz Inn in Snohomish next Monday at 7:00 pm. There are 234 chapters of Living Liberally, including thirteen in Washington state and six more in Oregon.
http://www.nwprogressive.org/w.....ml#respond
“Man of the People”…my ASS.
Remember when Eyman was supposedly in control of the anti-gay initiative? He got into a dispute with the pastors of churches who were collecting signatures, they wanted to turn them in directly to the Secty of State, he insisted they had to turn them in to him.
There is some rationale for Eyman’s position: they need to know how many signatures were collected, and someone who is serious about the process would check to make sure there weren’t duplicates.
But I doubt those were Eyman’s motives. I think he just wanted to get the names and addresses to add these people to his mailing lists to dunn for contributions for future initiatives. The pastors, on the other hand, didn’t want that to happen – they wanted their church to be the primary source of any donations, and didn’t want the competition from Eyman.
This wasn’t paranoia on the part of the pastors, it is a frequent problem when guest speakers/singers come into churches. Some try every trick in the book to get the names and addresses of those attending. Then you get fund-raising appeals from them into perpetuity, and it becomes a nuisance – especially if the pastor decides that it was a mistake to give them access to the pulpit in the first place. I’m still getting a monthly magazine from one speaker who came to our church once more than a decade ago, despite several letters from me telling them not to waste their money.
I’ll give money to feed the poor, foreign missions, etc., but there is no way I’m going to help some evangelist buy a private jet simply because it’s more convenient than commercial travel (yes, that was one of the appeals I received).
I heard Monson going apoplectic over the unanimous vote putting the $60 car tab on the ballot. Gee Dori. isn’t allowing city residents the right to vote BEFORE raising taxes on themselves democracy in action?
So Dori you can either:
*Vote and accept whatever the majority decides.
*Move outside the city limits.
*Admit that you’re a Totalitarian and pretend that any taxes you personally disagree with are an egregious infringement of your rights. (Some people confuse this position with Libertarianism.)
Is the weekly Drinking Liberally post an O.T.?
@3
God, what a shit heel.
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If I lived in Seattle, I’d tell by council member to go big or get out. They should have made it $80.
Cindy Woolf is all kinds of awesome, btw.
http://www.cindywoolf.com/
It seems that Christine O’Donnell’s finally got a paying gig, she’s published a memoir/campaign diary/position paper/rallying cry. But the e-book version carries an introduction which warns the reader that it is a work of fiction.
Christine O’Donnell Memoir’s E-Version Called ‘Work Of Fiction’ By E-Publisher
Personally, I think every time a Republican politician/celebrity opens their mouth, there should first be a pause while an automated voice warns that every sound eminating thereafter will be a work of fiction, with no resemblence to the actual facts.
@6
I think O’Donnell should run for something every year!
#7 Nailed it.
Roger Rabbit unfortunately has been unable to attend DL for several months now, because of health problems, and is having more surgery this week so may not be posting this weekend.
GOP Leads In 1 Wisconsin Recall Race
As we saw last week, early returns don’t mean much, but here are the early returns in Wisconsin’s two recall elections:
District 12 —
Sen. Jim Holperin (D), 3,257, 54%
Kim Simac (R), 2,813, 46%
District 22 —
Sen. Robert Wirch (D), 4725, 44%
Jonathan Steitz (R), 5,982, 56%
Fewer than 20% of precincts have reported in both those districts.
In an hour or two, donations to Rachel Beckwith’s cause will have topped $1,150,000. A little over a week ago, with only a couple weeks to go and donations tailing off, I started to believe that Rachel’s campaign would likely fall well short of the $1,000,000 that I and others like Roger had held up as a goal. I was wrong. Even within the original 30 day campaign time-frame, she easily blew past that. My hat is off to the NYT’s Nicholas Kristof and the NBC Today Show for helping Rachel’s story to reach many more people.
http://www.mycharitywater.org/.....n_id=16396
@13 I think $2 million is a stretch (but possible), but more realistically I think she could raise over $1.5 million.
Democrats Now Lead In Both Wisconsin Recalls
In District 12, Holperin (D) has maintained a very steady lead over GOP challenger Simac all evening, roughly 55% – 45%, with 44% of precincts now in.
In District 22, Wirch (D) has jumped to a 55% – 45% lead over GOP challenger Steitz, with about half of the precincts in.
It’s still too early to get excited, but it’s looking good so far … and Kathy Nickolaus doesn’t get to count the votes in either of these races.
Wirch (D) has widened his lead over carpetbagger Chicago lawyer Steitz to 56% – 44%, with 70% of precincts reported.
I’m not going to call either of these elections yet, but I like the way this is going.
District 22 — With 94% reporting, local media have called this election for Wirch, 56% – 54%. One GOP slimebag down, one to go, and that one looks rock solid.
Still too soon to call District 12, but it looks really really good for the Dems retaining both of their Wisconsin state senate seats tonight.
I’m thinking the same, $1.5 million for this campaign. I seriously doubt that it will come up short of that, but whether or not it goes beyond that depends on a few things. This started as dying kid’s birthday wish, a local word of mouth thing, and then took off through Facebook and other social media, quickly reaching $100,000. That was a “good news with a heartbreaking hook” story. But the story is much bigger now. It now includes the very remarkable response of tens of thousands of people from across the globe. I didn’t foresee this and I certainly have no idea what is to come. If the story gets bigger, anything’s possible. For example, if someone big into the cause of bettering life in Africa like Bono starts singing “Happy birthday Rachel, your birthday wish is coming true”, then look out.
It’s about more than water now. Like so many countless others, I sorely needed my own faith in humanity restored. It has been and that’s a wonderful gift to have received. Thanks, Rachel.
Wisconsin Update
@19 — I feel pretty comfortable with $1.5 million – $1.75 million as a final figure.
District 12, with 71% reporting, has narrowed to 53% – 47%, but with a 2,400-vote lead and only 29% of precincts to go, I feel pretty good about this one. Too soon to call it, though.
It does appear the final result of the Wisconsin senate recalls will be that Democrats whittled the GOP’s senate advantage from 19 – 14 to 17 – 16 seats. They can call that a “victory” if they want to.
Sen. Holperin’s lead over Simac has jumped back up to 54% – 46% with 77% in — Holperin now leads by 3,500 votes with less than a quarter of precincts still out. Almost time to call it.
Democrats Win Both Wisconsin Recalls
With 78% of precincts counted in District 12 and 99% counted in District 22, local media have called both races for the Democratic incumbents.
It’s 8 PM in Seattle, and you can now direct your attention to the election here.
@19. Steve spews:
It’s about more than water now. Like so many countless others, I sorely needed my own faith in humanity restored. It has been and that’s a wonderful gift to have received. Thanks, Rachel.
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Billionaire, when are you going to donate that $100K in gambling money you have, you lying phoney;
“17. Steve spews:
@8 As somone (sic) involved in billions of dollars worth of development, I can tell you that development is no more a good in itself than any other value. Development is only good when and if it is good. This is Gig Harbor’s call, not yours and not the developer’s. Gig Harbor doesn’t want the big box. You’ve got issues with that? Tough shit.
As for your “I bet 99% of you” remark, would you care to back that up with a $100K bet? If not, then crawl back in your shit hole and STFU.”
07/22/2011 at 6:44 am
@25 I will not indulge you further, troll, other than to say that, if you ever cast a shadow on my door, you’re fucking dead. Try to understand this – I do not value your life. Not one little bit. When a life is as worthless as yours, it is undeserving of neither protection nor preservation. Fuck with me in person and I will cause you the greatest imaginable harm. And I’m quite certain that God will forgive me for the very horrible things that I will do to you, cuz I figure God sees your life as being as worthless as I do.
@26 No, don’t kill him, let’s create a nature preserve just for him and put fences around it like the ones in Jurassic Park so he can’t get out. Throw a chicken over the fence now and then, so he doesn’t starve, and tie up a goat so he doesn’t get lonely.
@27 A fake goat maybe, but not a real one. There very well may be a Great Mother Goat Spirit out there somewhere in the spititual void and I want to have all my deity bases covered. Hey, I know! We’ll give him an inflatable goat with no orifices. That’d be living hell for our fucktard troll.
Shoot, it’s been a long time since someone won a Golden Goat Award, hasn’t it? Our trolls must feel unappreciated. We surely don’t want them to feel that way, do we? Should not the committee gather? Nominees, anyone?
Yeah, I’ve got a nominee. Fucktard @25.