The Yakima Herald-Republic’s article about Tim Eyman being escorted out of the Yakima City Council chamber was pretty amusing. But I found something else to laugh about in it (my emphasis):
In addition, Eyman complained that his request for a guest commentary on the Ensey blogging issue had been denied by the Herald-Republic’s editorial board. He argued that his sympathetic-to-Ensey perspective would be valuable because he once had been nailed for not telling the truth about receiving monetary compensation for his political work on initiatives.
On Wednesday, Herald-Republic publisher Michael Shepard said the paper’s editorial board denied Eyman a guest commentary on the grounds that Eyman was neither a member of the community nor had any special expertise on the subject.
“Tim having been reared in Yakima doesn’t give him standing on City Council issues, nor is he an expert on blogging ethics,” Shepard explained. “We offered him the same letter-to-the-editor opportunity that Bill Lover and Rick Ensey took as well as 98 other readers. We would still consider a letter from Mr. Eyman.”
Wait a minute. Eyman was seriously arguing that he has expertise that warrants a guest commentary because…he was caught lying?
That’s rich!
You may recall that Eyman previously stole money donated to his initiative campaign, and used it to pay himself a handsome salary. Worse yet, he repeatedly said he wasn’t doing this. Essentially, he was lying his ass off to his donors: “The biggest lie of my life,” he finally admitted.
Later on, he was found by the PDC to have violated multiple parts of RCW 42.17 (Campaign finance and disclosure laws). As a result, Eyman was fined $50,000 after stealing over $200,000 from his donors.
So…come to think of it, Eyman actually does have a point. As an admitted liar, he can certainly comment with some authority on the ethical shortcomings of others.
And, apparently, the Herald-Republic came to the same realization. According to a comment left in the Horses Ass comment thread, Mr. Eyman claims that a limited guest commentary has now been accepted.
Unless, of course, Tim is lying again.
Apparently he also thinks that posting in the comment threads of a blog most people of his political persuasion routinely refer to as a “cesspool” somehow enhances both his reputation and his credibility.
You know, Tim’s really showed his true colors here with his “unelected representative” comment. There’s two types of unelected representatives: royalty and dictators. Tim’s ego is so out of control he thinks he’s royalty; he thinks he’s King Eyman of Washington. It’s funny, but it’s also kinda scary.
Now we see Tim Eyman gets a rise out of Darryl too. The hate and venom for Tim has jumped to another product of NEA education.
Uh Darryl, what about those two year old indictments of Tom DeLay again?
http://hominidviews.com/?p=105 By Darryl No Comments »
What, no one wanted to weigh in?
People like Tim Eyman make it difficult for government to operate. That’s good, because we give government a lot of power, and the opportunity to abuse that power is tempting for ordinary people. All those folks in government are just ordinary people.
Whether Tim Eyman is a “worthy” character is what everyone is fighting about. A lot of people in the relatively unrepresented sections of the state love him, and he’s evil incarnate in Seattle.
Clinton lied. Eyeman lied. Everyone lies about something. So what? When Eyeman lied, nobody died.
One of the reasons I don’t respect a lot of you people on here, is that when people who you like or politically agree with do some of the things you blast Republicans for, you remain silent. That’s why I don’t respect you. I respect people who bash the act, not the person.
Republican Blogging Ethics:
“I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.”
— former WH communications director Dan Bartlett, on conservative blogs
Hey, ya gotta go with your strengths!
BS at 5: Okay, let’s not be hypocritical. Let’s hold to the same standards, regardless of whether the subject is a Republican or a Democrat. Accordingly, we should subject Bush and his administration to the same high levels of scrutiny as the Clinton administration:
A special prosecutor should immediately be appointed to investigate (any one) of the Bush scandals (there are so many to choose from). The prosecutor should be the most partison Democrat available. His authority should be limited only by a federal judge, who is himself a strong partison Democrat. Although appointed to investigate one scandal, his authority is unlimited. He should have the power to compell the production of records and testimony under oath of anybody in the Bush administration, without being limited by any executive priviledge. He should threaten all former friends, family, co-workers and friends of Bush and his family and administration with federal prosecution and imprisonment, unless they agree to implicate Bush in a crime, regardless of whether they insist that there was no such guilt.
He should also share files and resources with extreme left-wing groups financing private lawsuits against the Bush administration, not with the goal of resolving the subject of the lawsuit, but so that they can compel a series of depositions and then leak the contents thereof within hours of their conclusion, despite a federal court gag order to the contrary.
Then, after all that, if they find that there is absolutely no evidence that Bush did anything wrong other than lie about whether or not he had one fling with an intern, then Bush should immediatly be impeached by the House and sent to trial before the Senate.
There – that would make things equal.
I don’t get it. Tim Eyman seems to really really have an honest interest in the affairs of government (whether you agree with his positions or not), FAR more so than any ‘normal’ citizen (going to meetings, briefings, committee hearings). Why the hell doesn’t he just run for town council, state representative or governor?
There is no such thing as “unelected representative”. You can just wander the downtown streets saying calling yourself the King of Seattle, but unless you ACTUALLY run for an office where people have to vote for you over ‘the other guy/gal’ then you’re just blowing hot air.
In other words, Tim is not an ‘unelected representative’. Sure you have the right to show up and question your government. But Tim’s ONLY representing himself, as one citizen out of a population of millions. He can’t “claim” to represent any block, district, county or region unless he actually RUNS for some damn office and wins. Otherwise he’s welcome to show up and bitch at his government (it’s a national past time in our country after all), but he’s doing it as a single citizen, not a representative of some vague grouping that exists only in his head.
F*** Timmy Eye-man and the rest of his ilk…that said, i do think the paper in question could give him a few lines with another writer giving counter-point.
like it or not the boob has become somewhat of a ‘known’ person…as long as there is someone to tell the readers what he is known for i say why not?
@5
Clinton lied. Eyeman lied. Everyone lies about something. So what? When Eyeman lied, nobody died.
Yes, but when Eyman lied, he get richer off of the fools who support him. When Clinton lied, he just postponed getting yelled at by Hillary and sending the Nanny State America brigades into a hissy-fit.
He does seem to be getting far more than his 15 minute share doesn’t he.
Are we…perhaps…enablers?
How about if we stop referring to him by name and in the first person and talk about him in the third person….or better yet…..THIRD TROLL?
Don’t feed the trolls!
@9…David…
You are clueless!
In Washington, we have four branchs of government: legislative, executive, judicial, and, per the Washington Constitution, the people acting as a super-legislature.
Tim Eyman is the de facto Speaker of the House of the Fourth Branch.
How so? Because of his track record; Tim wins even when he loses. Witness I-747.
You bitch and moan because his political POV is supported by the people, while yours isn’t.
That Tim has been and can often appear to be a rascal along the lines of a fun loving frat-boy makes him all the more endearing to Washingtonians. Like Bill Clinton – no slouch in the lying and capers department himself – he’s charming, and people can’t help but like him…even when they don’t like him.
To those of us out here among the great unwashed who routinely feel powerless in the face of grasping, rapacious, greedy, and foolish state and local government, we look to him to lead the charge and smite the heathen hip and thigh.
That it infuriates you is of zero consequence since yours is exactly the POV in the cross-hairs of Eyman initiative thinking.
Big, bloated, blunt-object government isn’t a civic good. Confiscatory taxes, foolish proposals (Prop 1), and the attitude that the taxpaying public exists to serve as the bottomless fount of wealth for social engineering pet projects and the “mission creep” of government that can’t or won’t say, “No!” to every cheese-ball request for public funds that comes down the pike, have to not only be thwarted, but stomped to death.
Eyman initiatives are the way a majority of Washington voters consistently remind the Porky Pig’s in Olympia and other seats of local government just who’s in charge…and who needs to pay closer attention to and provide greater respect for their pocketbooks and purses.
What do you do? How many initiatives have you successfully sponsored? When was the last time you drove across the pass to testify anywhere? When was the last time you put it on the line to defend an unpopular cause or person?
Sure, Tim is imperfect, he’s made mistakes, and he’s gotten whacked…hard! You all love to pile on when someone with whom you have issues falters, yet when someone of your own persuasion commits even more serious malfeasance, you defend to the death their right to be sleazy.
I give you Representative GasBaghdadJim McDermott, D-Hubris.
The pot calling the kettle black.
In the meantime, the HA Happy Hooligans all strut their stuff, preen their feathers, and think the minisucle barnyard in which they defecate their posts is the world writ large, which it ain’t.
Yet I applaud your efforts, which serve to drive you further to the margin, convince the curious how weird you are, and provide me with endless and enjoyable grist to grind in my mill.
Perpetually clueless and enamored of self, I still hold you in deep affection for the enjoyment you bring me! I’ll bet Tim Eyman would say the same.
The Piper
For a person who loves the media glare, Timmy has a remarkably thin skin. He is overly defensive and sensitive, and incapable of taking a fair hit without squawking. Poor Timmy. He wants immunity from criticism while he fucks our state. You can’t always get what you want, Timmy.
Piper, you ignorant slut: Initiative campaigns are expensive. They were meant to be a venue for the people to express their political will, but they have been corrupted with the money of rich, conservative, political cranks.
But, in the Piperian mind, those are the only people that really matter.
The Piper’s a Pharisee.
“Perpetually clueless and enamored of self, I still hold you…”
Piper, that’s the first accurate statement you’ve made on this site.
Piper
The people of this state do not find Timmy “endearing.” He could not get elected to any statewide office, even in a low turnout election year. Timmy gets initiatives passed by crassly appealing to the short-term self-interest of the electorate. He counts on people not reading the fine print of his initiatives, but voting on the basis of the usual blather–“oversized government, Olympia out of control, squeezed by taxes, yada, yada . . .” He is a charlatan, who profits handsomely from his whoring.
@18…DJ…
Not me, baby…YOU!
BTW…tomorrow’s my 58th…What swag shall I expect from you all?
The Piper
Piper:
I see a lot of grand philosophy and very little facts coming from you. Your basic point is that Washington state is a big bloated government and that ….what?
What happens when “small government” advocates are actually elected?
Well – look at the Bush administration- huge deficits, corruption (let the private sector run things), no transparency, crony appointment of inept people (Brownie, the whole rebuild Iraq group including Bremer, Gonzalez..)and trampling the constitution and our privacy rights.
the bottom line is that these people spout “small government” but what they do in office is make government worse and spend more.
Eyemans initiatives make government work worse. How did the “gambling” intitative propose to help the state?
No – Eyeman is in it for the profit. the Building association and others who favor unrestricted growth and no regulations to protect our health and well-being are financing him. The only over-riding philosphy is greed and only fools who are not paying attention cheerlead for a liar who can’t even write a legal initiative.
@19…PL…
Whatever…
He’s not running for Sunday School Teacher of the Year.
Do his initiatives pass? Do a majority of voters in Washington support what he offers? Do a majority reject your mean and venal characterization of them?
Want a clue? Quite implying the people are stupid. Typically, liberals demean the voters when an election doesn’t go there were. After the demeaning come the threats, which is what Goldy did after the Prop flop – he threatened to oppose everything everywhere because he didn’t get his beloved light rail.
That don’t play in anyone’s version of Peoria!
But it’s a theme among the HA Happy Hooligans: snidely debase the public as stupid or suckers or greedy in the short-term, which is essentially what you did.
If you don’t think this gets around – that people out there don’t pick up on how little you respect them – you’ve got another thing coming.
Ever wondered how many votes Eyman initiatives get because of the strident, potty-mouthed opposition of HA? Why do you think Tim posts here? And every time…you all fall for it.
Yours isn’t the majority POV…either learn to live with it and respect the majority who decides what POV they support, or perpetually remain in the minority when it comes to Eyman initiatives.
BTW…if you don’t think your own taxes are high enough, what plans do you have to pay more?
The Piper
@14
In the meantime, the HA Happy Hooligans all strut their stuff, preen their feathers, and think the minisucle barnyard in which they defecate their posts is the world writ large, which it ain’t.
If we’re so meaningless and unimportant, then why are you here 24/7 making a complete ass of yourself?
@22
Yours isn’t the majority POV…either learn to live with it and respect the majority who decides what POV they support, or perpetually remain in the minority when it comes to Eyman initiatives.
Our POV wasn’t the majority POV on Iraq in 2002 either. There are people in this world who understand the consequences of their actions (we call these people responsible) and there are people in this world who don’t (these people are the ones who have been making Tim Eyman rich and themselves poorer for the past 10 years).
@20
BTW…tomorrow’s my 58th…What swag shall I expect from you all?
You can expect from us what you always get…pure, unadulterated shock that a man your age could be so unbelievably naive as to how the world actually works.
@22
BTW…if you don’t think your own taxes are high enough, what plans do you have to pay more?
We’re not arguing that taxes are too high or too low, you fucking retard!! We’re arguing that focusing on how high our taxes are instead of focusing on what our government spends its money on is foolish and irresponsible. How many fucking times do we have to explain this to you? Do we need to have a 3rd-grader come in and explain it to you? Are we using words that are too big or something? What the hell is so hard to understand about this? You’re a man in your 50s for Christ’s sake. Use your fucking brain!
Piper: “snidely debase the public as stupid or suckers or greedy in the short-term, which is essentially what you did.”
There is simply no reasonable argument that the electorate fully considers and comprehends the potential longterm impacts, if even the specific language, of the budgetary initiatives Timmy promotes. Hell, I don’t comprehend them (of course, I don’t even try as I’d never vote for anything Timmy promotes). Piper, I am simply recognizing reality and being honest in so saying. I know that reality and honesty are anathema to folks of your political persuasion, but talking up the electorate as you do with regard to initiatives makes you look particularly phony. I know you know better. Besides, your party is the party of snide disregard for the common folk–people like Bush have made an artform of screwing the common people while pretending to be on their side.
@21…CnR…
You make a fair point on the national level. Nobody was more pissed at the national Republicans than the Ol’ Piper when they lost their way on fiscal and governmental conservatism.
That the GOP got its head handed to it in 2006 was not only foreseeable, but justified. Bloated government, fiscal profligacy, tolerating the likes of Mark Foley, etc., didn’t present an attractive alternative to voters.
Why should it?
No one gets angrier than me when one of my own betrays the public trust. I look at a guy like Jim Dunn, and I seethe. We don’t send people to Olympia to potty-mouth a waitress in a bar, we send them to do the people’s business.
I get less angry when one of your own fubars figuring fury ought to be your response, which it rarely is.
Neither Tim Eyman nor the BIAW are the Great Satan’s you portray them as. Your “to the extreme” hyperbole is so much Chicken Little, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” Get a grip…
Conservatives don’t worship government, we see it as a necessary tool, albeit as minimalistic as possible. We do love our freedom and liberty, and this includes the freedom to live as we please and make the largest amount of kwan possible; each to his own.
It’s nobody’s business how much anyone makes in a legal enterprise, yet liberals are always ranting that this guy is overpaid or that severance package is too rich. Who made you God? If you’re not a shareholder of the enterprise, butt out!
You want government to regulate every jot and tittle of life, but you have no problem with a 13-year old girl going to planned parenthood without her parent’s knowledge to such a child down a sink. Or even allow the grotesque butchery of late term abortion. Or other forms of debauchery.
Yet when the public rears it’s head, your deeply ingrained elitist nature shows its true self: you hiss and snarl at those of us in the Peanut Gallery who deign to take matters into our own hands in order to push back the fiscal encroachment government makes into our lives.
We’ve seen state spending in Washington baloon out of proportion to both inflation and population growth. Here’s something I posted at Crosscut on 12/1:
“The Washington Office of Financial Management estimates state population as of April 1, 2007 to be 6,488,000, an increase of just under 2 million (43.3%)over the 1987 figure of 4,527,098. Couple this with an inflation rate in approximately the same period of 61%, and you still can’t explain a growth in state spending of $18.5 billion or 188% since the 1987-89 biennium.
Certainly, the General Fund State spending increase of 26.5% in the three-years since Christine Gregoire took office can’t be explained by “inflation” or “population growth.” ”
The more government grows, the less free we are. The more government taxes, the less freedom I have to spend my money as I see fit.
I will continue to support Eyman initiatives because they are a legitimate, lawful, and highly successful means by which to express my own beliefs and opinions. That the HA Happy Hooligans find this distateful is of no never mind since they find much about democracy distasteful.
The Piper
@23…Lee…
It’s my mission in life to evangelize the lost.
To borrow from the Apostle Paul’s teachings in I Corinthians 9, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
If I speak the truth long enough, some will listen and learn. I’m doing you all a great service for which I neither expect nor will I ever receive gratitude. But that’s not why I do it.
Once, in my youth, I was a liberal. Experience and National Review cured me. I wish the same for you.
The Piper
Piper Scott,
Eyman’s record is much weaker than you suggest:
Plenty of failures to go with his successes. He seems to have particular difficulty writing initiatives that fall within the bounds of the Constitution.
@27…PL…
George Orwell, no friend to the left, once said, “”Some ideas are so stupid, only an intellectual could believe them.” Big government and high taxes are ideas often supported by intellectuals, who, at the same time, think they’re better than the common folk.
But it’s the common folk who are still in charge, still running the show, which royally pisses off intellectuals. Just because someone is educated doesn’t make them either smart in the immediate sense or wise in perspective.
The older I get, the more content I become with the whole notion of democracy, even when I lose, which in Washington is often givent he number of Democrats who hold office. Increasingly, though, I’ve learned that to respec the will of the people instead of despising them for not bowing to one’s own is the mark of a genuine, small “d” democrat.
Can you be content bowing to the will of the people as they continue to support Tim Eyman initiatives?
The Piper
@26…Lee…
The best way to get government to focus on spending is to choke off the supply of what it spends. That’s why the front-end fight over taxation is important.
Remember, the rallying cry was never, “No spending without representation!”
I would rather keep my money in my pocket than have government take it while giving me back only a small portion of what it took.
I think my thinking on this more closely mirrors majority sentiment than does yours.
The Piper
@28
You make a fair point on the national level. Nobody was more pissed at the national Republicans than the Ol’ Piper when they lost their way on fiscal and governmental conservatism.
They lost their way decades ago. Reagan expanded the federal government far more than Carter. The idea that Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats is a myth that’s been around for my entire life.
That the GOP got its head handed to it in 2006 was not only foreseeable, but justified. Bloated government, fiscal profligacy, tolerating the likes of Mark Foley, etc., didn’t present an attractive alternative to voters.
Those were certainly part of it. But the major reasons were Iraq and because people started to see George Bush and the Republicans as a more direct threat to their freedom.
No one gets angrier than me when one of my own betrays the public trust.
Then why aren’t you mad at Tim Eyman over how he stole money from his supporters?
Conservatives don’t worship government, we see it as a necessary tool, albeit as minimalistic as possible.
So do many liberals. And in 2007, many more liberals have minimalistic views of government than convservatives. That’s the opposite of what has traditionally been the case, but that’s the reality today.
It’s nobody’s business how much anyone makes in a legal enterprise, yet liberals are always ranting that this guy is overpaid or that severance package is too rich. Who made you God? If you’re not a shareholder of the enterprise, butt out!
We all share an economic system that each of relies on for our basic needs. None of us could survive today without this system. EVERYONE is a shareholder and EVERYONE gets a say in what rules get made over how this economic system works. That’s what liberty is about.
You want government to regulate every jot and tittle of life, but you have no problem with a 13-year old girl going to planned parenthood without her parent’s knowledge to such a child down a sink. Or even allow the grotesque butchery of late term abortion. Or other forms of debauchery.
No one here wants government to regulate every jot and tittle of life. That’s a myth and you know it. And to demonstrate how ridiculous it is, you actually demonstrate your own hypocrisy over how big government should be by demanding rules over what people can do with their own bodies! Most liberals have a logical basis over what things government can and can’t regulate. It’s based upon whether there’s an impact upon our environmental or economic systems (things that we all share and are potentially affected by). Whereas you complain about using government to impose morality on people. Can you possibly be a bigger fucking hypocrite?!?
Yet when the public rears it’s head, your deeply ingrained elitist nature shows its true self: you hiss and snarl at those of us in the Peanut Gallery who deign to take matters into our own hands in order to push back the fiscal encroachment government makes into our lives.
We’re not hissing at you because we think it’s wrong to push back against irresponsible government. We’re hissing at you because you’re doing it the wrong way.
The more government grows, the less free we are. The more government taxes, the less freedom I have to spend my money as I see fit.
Bullshit, and someone as old as you should understand that. That entirely depends on WHAT GOVERNMENT SPENDS ITS MONEY ON. You’re not a 10-year-old any more. Life is a bit more complicated than this.
For example, government can use tax dollars to build infrastructure which allows for companies to grow and provide a better range of products and services for you to spend your money on.
As I’ve tried to explain to you over and over and over again, government has the ability to spend taxpayer money in ways that expand our freedom. Spending it to impose morality on people (as you want to do with abortion) is how government WASTES money. So, for the hundredth time, when it comes to fiscal responsibility, YOU ARE A H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E.
@30…Darryl…
What’s your point? That he doesn’t bat 1,000%?
With his average, were he a MLB hitter, he’d be at the top of the list.
Curious, too, that a couple times (695 and 747) when SCOW, decisions considered by many to be extreme judicial reaches not usually extended to similar issues presented by others, the legislature and governor quickly enacted into law the terms of Eyman’s intitiatives.
Eyman has called his efforts, “Permanent Offense,” not “Always Successful.” Yet…how many times must I stress this point?…he’s successful AT THE BALLOT BOX WHERE IT COUNTS…more times than anyone else.
Where are your initiatives? What ideas have you for the voters to consider? What freedoms and property rights do you wish them to cede to the state?
Lay it down for the people, Darryl, and see how they regard YOU!
Your worshipful nature of the piety and purity of SCOW’s decisions to declare Eyman initiatives unconstitutional is convenient. If courts are perfect, I have some Plessy v. Ferguson I’d like you to swallow.
Face it…Eyman rules the initiative roost…you don’t.
The Piper
Piper, while it’s refreshing to see you actually bring numbers to your bloviating, those numbers don’t take into account the reduction in federal dollars coming into the state that has occurred over the same time frame.
You seem to think that our state government is just throwing money down the rathole because it can. That is stupid on its face. In the first place, the Democrats didn’t control the legislature during that entire period…were your Republican heroes lighting cigars with $100 bills too? In the second place, if the people, smart as they are by your own measure, concluded that their tax money was being wasted, wouldn’t they have voted the bastards out?
Or perhaps the majority of the voters in the state actually think the services they are getting are important and worth spending the money on. They might even understand that the state government must make up for losses from the Feds if they want to keep up the desired level of service.
Piper: “But it’s the common folk who are still in charge, still running the show, which royally pisses off intellectuals. Just because someone is educated doesn’t make them either smart in the immediate sense or wise in perspective.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. And, I most certainly do not consider myself an intellectual (I play the banjo, for God’s sake). I thoroughly believe in the principles of democracy as set forth in our federal constitution. I do not, however, think that initiatives involving budgetary matters promote good government.
@29
It’s my mission in life to evangelize the lost.
You can’t do that when you’re stupider than everyone else.
If I speak the truth long enough, some will listen and learn. I’m doing you all a great service for which I neither expect nor will I ever receive gratitude. But that’s not why I do it.
You’re not doing a great service to us. You’re making a complete ass of yourself. You are a 58-year-old man who understands the world about as well as I did when I was 11.
Once, in my youth, I was a liberal. Experience and National Review cured me. I wish the same for you.
When I graduated from college, I was a conservative. Now I consider myself both a libertarian and a liberal. National Review just got busted for printing completely fabricated stories on Lebanon for several months, even though several experienced journalists wrote them directly and told them that their guy was making stuff up. If they’re the reason you don’t listen to “liberals”, then you’re even stupider than I thought.
@32
The best way to get government to focus on spending is to choke off the supply of what it spends. That’s why the front-end fight over taxation is important.
Um, no. That’s wrong for the exact same reason that trying to stop drug abuse by cutting off the supply doesn’t work.
Remember, the rallying cry was never, “No spending without representation!”
You might want to remeber that the rallying cry wasn’t “No taxation even with representation!” either.
I would rather keep my money in my pocket than have government take it while giving me back only a small portion of what it took.
So then I take it you don’t invest in stocks or bonds or other investment vehicles either? Why is it that government is automatically a negative investment? The creation of the middle class in this country is due to progressive taxation.
I think my thinking on this more closely mirrors majority sentiment than does yours.
As I said before, it did in 2002 on Iraq too. Some of us choose to believe things because they want to believe them. Others have rational bases for what we believe.
There’s a very big difference between people like Tim Eyman and people like me. People like me think you’re stupid. People like Tim Eyman know you’re stupid.
Piper Scott @ 29
Frankly, you come off more akin to one of those homeless persons who appears to be gesticulating and mumbling lines from Shakespeare–apparently under the impression of being a great thespian in the midst of a stunning performance.
@38
That’s funny, I was on a bus recently, and some guy in the back seat was drunk and talking to himself. I was going to ask him if his name was Scott, but then I realized that Piper probably isn’t smart enough to figure out how the bus system works.
Eyman makes me ashamed to be a Coug. I like the initiative process in general although it can be abused. The failings of the process is the focus on one specific area. If I had a yard full of weeds, I would take steps to take care of it while tending the other areas of my home. What happens in the initiative process is a mandate to tend to the weeds at the expense of everything else. Like it or not, our elected representatives have to govern looking at the big picture and the interrelationships between organizations.
I have felt for years the Governor should publicly appoint Eyman to one of the Commissions (Transportation would be ideal). He would have to decide whether he is ready to help or hinder.
As for being electable, one of his Lts. ran in the Tri Cities area and didn’t get out of the primary. I suspect the same would happen to Mr. Eyman if he did throw his hat into the ring.
Here’s some perspective for who are interested:
Here’s a link to the press release sent to Yakima’s media outlets Tuesday evening which fully explains what happened. It was during the public participation portion where any citizen can talk about any topic for three minutes. It speaks for itself:
http://www.permanent-offense.org/Yakima.pdf
I went there to calmly read the column I wrote which the Herald had refused to print and then walk out the door. I had come to town for this:
http://www.yakima-herald.com/p.....12?print=1
The Herald and I came to an agreement where they will print a short version of my column and include in it a URL link to the complete version — http://www.permanent-offense.org/Yakima.pdf — a fair compromise.
If you watch the video …
http://video.syndication.msn.c.....tner=en-ap
… you’ll see me smiling broadly as I read the opening sentence: “As this city’s highest ranking Unelected representative, I want to comment on the Ensey/Bonlender thing.” The Yakima Herald made a big deal about the Mayor, the highest ranking Yakima official, asking Ensey to resign. It was my way of responding to that.
As you have proven time and again, those on the left can’t see the humor in anything, can’t take a joke, can’t recognize satire.
rent a comedy and learn to laugh — you’ll live longer.
Proud to be a Yakimaniac
#37 Lee says:
Is it even possible for you to try and make a point without name-calling and insults? Did you grow up in a family where insults and name calling were commonplace?
Is it even possible for you to try and make a point without name-calling and insults?
Yes, it is. THE FIRST TIME I EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO SOMEONE. If the person continues to make the same idiotic comments that have been thoroughly refuted time and time again, why the hell shouldn’t I resort to name calling? Obviously explaining it rationally and calmly didn’t work.
Did you grow up in a family where insults and name calling were commonplace?
No, but I did grow up in a family where stupidity and ignorance were not rewarded. Clearly, you and certain others did not.
Eyman is free to waste his sponsor’s money in filing and campaigning for initiatives which can’t pass constitutional muster. You would think that with all the money he wastes in the process, they could afford to hire a lawyer to help write the intiatives correctly.
But perhaps that is the point, and he’s not as stupid as he seems. Perhaps he knows that he can’t get the initiatives passed if they are written correctly. Or perhaps he knows that if the initiatives are passed, the market for his public existence/business dissapears. I, myself, have wondered what would happen to the NAACP and other such groups if they were ever able to win their battle against racial discrimination.
Perhaps Eyman is one of those who can only exist by playing the victim, and campaigning as a “reformer”. As we found out beginning in 2001, sometimes the worst thing that can happend to those claiming to be “reformers” is to actually be put in charge of the government, when their policies are proven to be failures and their incompetence is clearly visiable for all to see.
But regardless of how many people Eymen can talk into signing a petition or voting for one of his referendums, I still have the freedom to point out the stupidity of the measures. 50% of the vote, plus one, may sometimes become the law of the land, but that doesn’t mean I have to think its a good idea.
Piper:
Did you even read post 30?
I see you know nothing about baseball. He would be benched for the UNPRODUCTIVE outs. He has struck out in 10 of his 14 at bats. He is batting .285. That is also his on base percentage. Which would earn him a ticket right back to the minors.
It is all in how you look at the numbers. You can choose to focus on just the hits, but that is hardly a the complete picture.
For a 58 year old man you don’t show much understanding. I think you should be happy with your Denny’s discount and leave the reasoning to those who can see the entire picture.
Happy Hanukkah!
29
All you do is show your hubris. Nothing more and much less.
@43
But perhaps that is the point, and he’s not as stupid as he seems.
That’s actually very true. Tim Eyman is a lot of things, but he’s not stupid. He knows exactly how to play the rubes of this state like a fiddle.
#42 Lee says:
Have I asked you this before? That would make this the first time. And look, you’re yelling. So you can’t even tell the truth about something as simple as this.
Sorry to hear you weren’t rewarded as a kid. :(
Piper@28
You prove Benjamin Disraeli correct. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Rewriting your statistics the state has increased in population by almost 50% from 20 years ago. Inflation has decreased today’s dollars by 60% and the state’s general fund has only increased 66% from 10 billion to 30 billion. Seems flat or decreasing to me.
A one day storm costs this state 1 billion dollars in damages. Funny how Eyman made a big show in Yakima, not Chehalis.
@48
Have I asked you this before?
I wasn’t referring to you.
Once again, Tim Eyman demonstrated that it would have been utterly superfluous to take a public vote on whether or not he is a horse’s ass.
Piper,
I don’t know what you’re prattling on about. I was agreeing wholeheartedly with the sentiment you expressed. “Perpetually clueless and enamored of self,” you are one of the more entertaining members of your political persuasion to grace these virtual halls.
@3 Didn’t you once promise to never post on HA again? Seems like a long time ago now. How time flies.
@4 “People like Tim Eyman make it difficult for government to operate. That’s good, because we give government a lot of power, and the opportunity to abuse that power is tempting for ordinary people. All those folks in government are just ordinary people.”
Timmie didn’t stop the Busheviks from abusing the power of government. He’s more interested in stopping the public benefits of schools, roads, and jails.
@5 “Clinton lied. Eyeman lied. Everyone lies about something. So what? When Eyeman lied, nobody died.”
Aren’t you leaving someone out? http://www.bushorchimp.com/
@9 “Why the hell doesn’t he just run for town council, state representative or governor?”
Being a gadfly pays far, far better.
@11 Why doesn’t he write a letter to the editor, like the rest of us?
George says:
It is amazing that Eyman is still so important in this state. And if Rossi beats Gregoire, Eyman better get the spotlight at Rossi’s victory party.
I do not follow his every track, but if I am not mistaken the Yakima Herald is owned by the Seattle Times.
Somewhere in the Yakima parody of a city council meeting is the truth that people do not get thrown out of city council meetings anywhere for reading a brief statement during open comments, never ever, anywhere, no place.
Most such moments, the statement is read, someone leading the meeting says an insincere thank you and the meeting moves on. The fracas in Yakima is a real free speech fiasco.
Messed up Yakima City Council…. had I been there, as an old real life lefty guy, I would have been shouting loudly, “let him speak” and booing loudly as well.
Then, I would have expressed my personal scorn to Tim for having tried to take away civil rights for gay people two-three years back. His repeal initiative of the historic Anderson-Murray Civil Rights bill failed in the signature drive, as we all remember.
Tim, I think you are a scum bag for that attempt. All is not forgotten.
to: George
The Yakima Herald’s editorial page agrees with you (that I’m scum but even scum are entitled to free speech protections):
Eyman’s harangue should’ve been allowed to continue
YAKIMA HERALD REPUBLIC EDITORIAL BOARD
Published on Friday, December 7, 2007
http://www.yakima-herald.com/p.....1751585772
How about the 9-1/2 cent gas tax increase??
We were PROMISED certain projects by the Governor & her staff.
Within weeks of the 9-1/2 cent “victory”, we were told they couldn’t do all the projects PROMISED.
Isn’t “bait-and-switch” a lie??
Perhaps Tim can start an Initiative to rollback the 9-1/2 cents because of the BIG LIE!
I’d contribute.
How is that traffic gridlock in ClownTown these days?
Has the Alaska Way Viaduct fallen down yet?
Why not just improve the Bus System?
With all the money spent on “planning” “replanning” and “re-re-planning Light Rail and other COST INEFFICIENT options, we could have had more pavement and a world class Bus System.
Perhaps a Gas Tax Rollback Initiative would force State & Local Government to answer for their ineptness & waste?
George @ 58–
“Booing” is not allowed at City Council meetings during Public Comment.
Had you done so, you would have been the scumbag.
Also, “personal attacks” on private citizens like Tim Eyman are frowned up.
What Eyman said was NOT a personal attack.
Saying “George is a HorsesAss” would be a personal attack.
Eyman, you’re a grandstanding piece of shit, and you’re not fooling anyone. Go peddle your watches and leave the state of Washington alone. We’d be much better off without you.
YIKES@60
What world are you living in? Don’t you remember I-912?
What promises were broken? What projects aren’t being built?
The viaduct is fully funded by the state, it’s the city that’s dragging their feet.
@20, Happy B-day Piper, a tiny bit late!
Just start catching up on the boards. Still, I hope it was a good one, sun shining and all earlier today.