I have a dirty little secret that likely disgusts the Seattle Times editorial board as much as it nauseates me: I sometimes agree with them.
Take today’s editorial in support of newly appointed Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, simply titled “Give the supe a chance.”
Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more.
Though, if we really want to give Goodloe-Johnson every chance to succeed, we need to give her the tools to succeed as well, and that means giving her (and every school superintendent) adequate funding to teach our children.
How much extra money are we talking about? PTSAs at some of the most sought after public schools within Seattle and its surrounding suburbs raise about $1000 per student to pay for essentials like smaller class size, classroom assistants, art, music, PE, tutoring and other enrichment programs. And rarely do they raise much more than that, no matter how well-heeled the parents. It seems to me that the market has spoken — our wealthiest and most demanding consumers of public education have determined that we’re spending about $1000 less per student than necessary. Don’t all public school children deserve the same opportunity as theirs?
$1000 per student. About a billion dollars more a year. Roughly a 10-percent increase in state K-12 education spending. A thousand bucks extra per student plugged straight into the classroom, where each school can determine how to spend that money best. Just the way it works at the public schools in our wealthiest neighborhoods.
And so I am asking the Times to join me in leveraging what influence we have, to give Goodloe-Johnson the one tool she can’t possibly bring to her new job: adequate funding. Public opinion and politicians are influenced by editorials — the Times knows this — thus if the editors at our state’s largest newspaper truly want to give Goodloe-Johnson the chance to succeed, it is incumbent upon them to use the full force of their soapbox to relentlessly persuade the Legislature to fulfill its paramount duty to the children of our state.
No, money isn’t the only solution, but it is certainly part of it. And perhaps if the Times had devoted as much talent and energy to increasing spending on education as it has devoted to cutting taxes on millionaires, Goodloe-Johnson’s challenge wouldn’t be as daunting as it now seems.
IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America)
How did your congressional representative vote?
DEMOCRATS
Sen. Patty Murray gets a rating for supporting the troops of A-
Sen. Maria Cantwell gets a rating for supporting the troops of A-
Rep. Brian Baird gets a rating of supporting the troops of B
Rep. Adam Smith gets a rating of supporting the troops of A-
Rep. Norm Dicks gets a rating of supporting the troops A-
Rep. Jay Inslee gets a rating for supporting the troops of A
Rep. Jim McDermott gets a rating for supporting troops of C- SHAMEFUL
Rep. Rich Larsen gets a rating for supporting the troops of A
Washington Democrats GPA for supporting the troops: 3.625
TROOP HATERS i.e. Republicans
Rep. Dave Reichert gets a rating for supporting the troops a FUCKING D+ ALMOST A GOD DAMNED “F”!!!!!!!
Rep. Doc Hastings gets a rating for supporting the troops a whopping C A notch better than Jim McDermott.
Rep. Cathy McMorris gets a rating for supporting the troops a FUCKING D ALMOST A GOD DAMNED “F”!!!!!!!
Washington’s TROOP HATERS GPA for their unwillingness to support our troops: 1.33
The IAVA Rating is based on this legislator’s voting history since September the 11th, 2001 on issues that affect US troops, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and military families. ALL pieces of legislation that effect veterans are listed not just a select few as Puddybud tried to portray on an earlier thread. SHAME ON YOU PUDDYBUD for insinuating that Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans would be so underhanded. STOP shitting on the troops at every chance you get just because conservatives HATE THE TROOPS!!
Fat, dumb, and unpatriotic is now way to go trough life, you TROOP HATERS!
Click on this link to take you to the web site of the IAVA a non-partisan, non-profit, veterans group. http://www.capwiz.com/iava/dbq/officials/
Now, Puddybud, are you going to waiver from the truth or are you going to say Republican leaders DO NOT SUPPORT THE TROOPS!
Which is it Puddybud, your moral principles or your political leaders unprincipled hatred of our troops?????????????
“Honesty is above all else. I have never wavered from that
Pud
04/12/2007 at 2:44 pm”
Exposing the real TROOP HATERS is my new mission. I’m sick and tired of Ass Holes posting links pictures of unpatriotic Anarchists and then saying they’re on the side of Liberals. FUCK YOU ALL!
Puddybud, PacMan MTR, janet s., Right Stuff, Jack Burton, JCH, YO, PBJ, Richard Pope and the rest of you cowards, what do you think of your elected TROOP HATERS that you support?
Just wondering… does it bother any of you Regressive Moonbats that Iman Sharpton and Iman Jackson were successful in destroying someone who said something they didn’t like?
You guys throw around a fear of Murka becoming a “theocracy” and how awful that would be.
Sure looks to me that as long as the theocrats are librul racist hate filled kooks that you’re OK with it.
Goldy – Tell me… why the fuck would anybody put their kid in a Seattle school? Hands down the worst school district in the state. And not even a hyphen named woman of color is gonna change that.
Why would you subject her to this? To make a politcal statement? And fuck up her life? You are an asshole.
Here’s the facts:
Goldy can’t afford to live where the schools are well run. He’s so full of himself and full of hate against Conservatives that he chooses to stay where he is and live down in the bilges of society. What’s worse, he also drags an innocent victim down with him and forces her to attend a school where most of the chern get “free” lunches and test scores are heads and shoulders below state averages.
It’s one thing to make a political statement. I’m OK with that. But to drag an innocent victim along with the ride is detestable.
Say, Mark, good buddy, bet welsher that you are, got a question for ya: Just exactly where is that daughter of yours going to school? You, know, the daughter you had with your dead crackwhore ex-wife?
No chance, is there, that maybe her genetic contributions have had any effect? I mean, we all know you contributed to your daughter’s overall charm, sociability and rationality. You demonstrate that every time you grace us with your presence here.
So, come on n ow, and come clean. Let us in on what a superior job you are doing as a parent.
We’re all waiting for your superior insight into just exactly where there is the Mecca of superior educational possibilities (Oops, sorry about that little slip. . .I know how senstive about references to our Islamic brothers. . .)
It would be heartbreaking for you to see any of your dead crackwhore ex-wife showing up in your daughter, so I’m sure you work with her everyday to prevent that. . .
C’mon, now, share your secrets for superior parenting.
Aw, Jeff, er I mean Mark, you gotta share with us. . .
Goldy
I don’t say this often, but I agree with you.
The funding should go directly to the districts. Every penny.
Take the WEA out of the Picture. Make children attend 12 months a year, 8 hours per day. Get them used to the work world, so they are productive.
Take the 40 million slated for 3 days, yes 3 frigging days to educate only the Math and Science teachers in this state. Hell they are teachers, why do we need to pay them 40 million for 3 DAYS of schooling, don’t they already know math and science???? They are currently teaching the subjects now.
That same 40 million would help out 40,000 students at Goldy’s $1,000/student need.
Schools in this state are the childrens social club. Expectations are low, but at the same time, the children Expect to be passed onto the next grade, just like their buddys. The touchy feely shit needs to stop. School is work, and play comes as Recess.
The 10% increase in state education funding needs to go to the property-poor districts that can’t raise very much money with local levies. Seattle doesn’t happen to fall in this category — it is about the most property-rich per student district in the state.
The Super
Do we have a choice?
Has anyone heard this lady? She seems to know as much about the SPS as she would of their branches in Beijing. She talks about a uniform curriculum and seems b;issfully aware of the busted budget.
Sure, she deserves a chance but what is her background suggests she is up to the task?
Seattle Public Schools problems are not in “educational leadership.” In fact, by most statistical measures, the schools do rather well! The are doing better on the WASL than the rest of the state, kids in comparable socio-economic classes do better in Seattle than elsewhere.
Whay this lady, obviously uninformed about THIS district is going to add ain’t much of what her past experience brings to the table.
What the District needs is political leadership.
Someone needs to take the unPC step of telling the AA minority that it is a minority. “Color” does not mean AA.
Someone needs to tell all the District that the District does NOT represent the kids whose parents send them to the schools. the District represents ALL the kids who should/could be going to the public schools if the schools represented all of Seattle.
Someone needs to understand that Parents own Kids .. not that the Schools own Kids. Telling AA parents that there kids needed to e bussed so we did not close north end schools was racist. Telling white parents that they need to send their kids to inferior schools to even the playng field is also racist.
So give the lady the benefit of the doubt but worry that someone hired by Chery Chow is NOT necessarily the person to fill this job.
re 8: What makes you think the WEA has anything to say about school budgets?
“Kiroking says:
Goldy
I don’t say this often, but I agree with you.
The funding should go directly to the districts. Every penny.
Take the WEA out of the Picture.”
Take the WEA out of the Picture, and put Kiroking into the picture?
All Kiro news does is report on fires and car accidents. Some example you are setting.
Photo of Jack Burton(aka Burt Ward)
http://www.robintheboywonder.c.....or_18.html
Lucy
You are truly crazy…
Budgets include Teachers Salaries, and who represents the Teachers? Clue: A Union (hint WEA)
KiroKing is a Screen Name. Did you really think someone from Kiro or King was really posting on this blog….
Since you are in Gullible mode I can assume you think the 41 million is acceptable for Teachers for 3 Days……
2 Mark, as a matter of fact, it does bother me.
3 Mark (again) you’ve got to be kidding. Federal way, to mention just one district, has been skating on the edge of losing its accreditation for decades.
We put both of our kids through Catholic grade school. One of them went to Blanchet, the other to Nathan Hale. Both had their good and bad aspects.
re 13:
Kiroking logic 101:
a) Teachers’ salaries are in the school budget.
b) Teachers belong to the WEA.
c) Kiroking Konclusion: The school budget is controlled be the WEA.
Note: I know Konclusion is spelled with a C and not a K. It’s, ahh, kind of a little tongue in cheek joke.
re 13: The only other thing you could mean is: 1- That we should take the teachers out of the budget because they belong to the WEA. 2- Teachers should pay their WEA dues not from their salary, but from money they earn at the swap meet.
Goldy — while I’m sympathetic with your objectives, there’s one wee little problem: Where will the $1 billion come from?
A billion bucks divided by 6.2 million state residents is roughly $160 per year for every runny nose and hairy ass — on top of the taxes folks are already paying.
And that’s on top of the $16.4 billion that local officials want for regional transportation, which is on top of the additional nickel per gallon gas tax the entire state is already paying.
And that’s before you add $400 million for a basketball palace, another $200 million for a speedway (never mind that we already have a speedway whose only defect is the wrong people own it), and a long list of other wants that all require new taxes.
Where is this money coming from?
Are you going to ask barbers, waitresses, and cab drivers to pay more taxes — on top of existing taxes — from their meager incomes? Is that fair? What about young people who just took on large mortgages to get into small houses and can barely afford the payments — is it fair to ask them to pay higher property taxes for better schools?
As laudable as spending another $1,000 per pupil is, like everything else in life, it boils down to affordability.
Now Goldy, I know you’re not a big fan of initiatives, and your stock answer to tax-cutting initiatives is: We elect representatives to make those decisions, and if we don’t like their decisions, we can replace them in the next election. Well, since that’s what you believe, shouldn’t it work that way for raising taxes, too? And doesn’t it follow that our elected representatives have already determined how much taxation we can tolerate, and therefore how much education we can afford? And doesn’t the fact we re-elected them indicate those decisions accurately reflected the people’s will?
It seems obvious to me, as it should to you, that if you want to boost school funding by $1,000 per pupil you will first have to figure out where the money will come from.
I don’t think it can come from barbers, waitresses, cab drivers, bank tellers, young families with large mortgages, or retirees on fixed incomes. So here’s my idea: Let’s tap the one remaining reservoir of untaxed wealth in our state: The incomes of affluent households.
Yep, I’m saying we need an income tax to improve our public schools, and the income tax has to be enacted before the imrovements can be enacted.
In fact, let’s tax the shit out of affluent households! Most of them are Republicans, so we should raise their taxes for the sheer pleasure of it, and because those bastards have it coming! It’s also for their own good. Redneck simply can’t be trusted with money. When Redneck has money burning a hole in his pocket, he gives it to Roger Rabbit by pouring the Rabbit’s gas into his SUV! That’s a good thing for me, and maybe even it’s a good thing for Redneck — who loves my gas more than he loves his money — but it’s not a good thing for the environment, and probably not a good thing for other drivers who have to share the road with him. So, we should tax the shit out of Redneck and his ilk, and give the money to the kids so someday they can have four degrees, drive Hummers, and write five-figure alimony checks like Redneck does! And taking Redneck’s money away from him will do him good, because it’s obvious that letting him keep his money hasn’t done him any good at all. Here’s where letting Redneck keep his money has got him:
He married a crack whore
The crack whore divorced him
His crack whore wife dropped dead
Now he has to pay vagimony and child support to a dead crack whore
See what I mean? The crack whore never would have married him if he didn’t have money, and even Redneck would agree he’d have been better off if his dead crack whore ex-wife hadn’t married him, so it follows that we’re doing him a favor by confiscating his money and giving it to schoolkids. And I don’t see why Redneck would object to it, because at present, he’s voluntarily confiscating his own money and giving it to Roger Rabbit. You see? He’ll end up with the same amount of money, only the payee is different.
So, let’s raise Redneck’s taxes.
Lucy
I never once implied that the WEA controlled the Budgets you did that on your own.
Picture does not = budget
@4 “chern”
Are we supposed to believe you went to a “good” school where they spell “churn” c-h-e-r-n? Frankly I suspect you’re a product of some fucking one-room Bible school in Arkansas.
Is phonetic spelling the “in” thing among wingnut intelligentsia?
re 19 re11: Unless you are just stringing together unrelated thoughts, I’d say there was a connection there — maybe unintentional on your part — but there nontheless, and to the contrary, notwithstanding!
KiroKing says:
“The funding should go directly to the districts. Every penny.
Take the WEA out of the Picture.”
@13 “KiroKing is a Screen Name. Did you really think someone from Kiro or King was really posting on this blog….”
Hell, why not? You probably think I’m really a rabbit.
Lots of swarmy liberal asswipes today…. well lets see what they got-
Definition:
Is
hehehehehehehehhehehehehheehheehhhhehe
Ah, Mtr, you spiteful little bastard, nice way of distancing Don Imus from his own remarks:
Just wondering… does it bother any of you Regressive Moonbats that Iman Sharpton and Iman Jackson were successful in destroying someone who said something they didn’t like?
Not that Imus said anything demeaning or hateful about some talented young women who didn’t deserve those remarks. What an asshole you are. But that’s to be expected. Jerk. And I mean that in it’s original sense. Check out KV on it’s origin.
They want to shut down anybody who doesn’t embrace their ideology, and they want to criminalize those who don’t embrace their ideology. Today it’s the race baiters. Tomorrow it’s going to be some other cause, but liberalism is what it is, and it exists to silence people who don’t agree. They can’t win the debate, which they admit by their own actions. They don’t want debate.
ROGER:
YOU BRING UP AN IMPORTANT TOPIC BUT I BELIEVE YOUR CONCLUSION IS FATALLY FLAWED.
LET’S START WITH THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND WORK DOWN TO WASHINGTON. YOU CAN MAKE AN EASY ARGUMENT FOR REPEALING THE BUSH TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH BY LOOKING AT DEFENSE. THE SOLDIERS, SAILOR, MARINES AND AIRMEN PROTECT THE RICH MAN’S LIFE AND WEALTH. SO THE RICH MAN OWES IT AND HE CAN EASILY AFFORD TO PAY IT. YOU CAN JUSTIFY HIGHER TAXES ON THE RICH FOR THINGS LIKE SCIENTIFIC AND HEALTH CARE R&D WHICH HAVE MADE MANY PEOPLE RICH AND DIRECTLY BENEFITED PEOPLE OF THAT ECONOMIC CLASS. YOU CAN EASILY JUSTIFY HIGHER TAX RATES ON INVESTMENT INCOME AND GAINS BECAUSE THE RICH MAN DOESN’T HAVE TO SWEAT FOR THEM. BUT NOT TOO MUCH HIGHER THOUGH BECAUSE YOU WANT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO SAVE AND INVEST AND SHARE IN THE BENEFITS.
NOW AFTER MAKING THIS KIND OF DEAL IF THE RICH MAN STILL DOESN’T LIKE HIS TAX RATE HE CAN DIRECT HIS REPRESENTATIVE TO FIND A WAY TO SPEND DEFENSE MONEY MORE WISELY. HE CAN ARGUE FOR A BETTER SET OF SPENDING PRIORTIES FOR THE THINGS THAT BENEFIT HIM OR HER.
HOWEVER YOU GET INTO TROUBLE WHEN YOU HIT UP THE RICH FOR THINGS THAT ARE TOTALLY OUT OF THEIR ORBIT. THE NEW SENATOR FROM VERMONT, BERNIE SANDERS, WANTS THE RICH TO PAY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION. THIS DOESN’T BENEFIT THE RICH MAN IN ANY WAY. HE CAN AFFORD SPECIAL EDUCATION FOR HIS KIDS. HE WILL RESENT THIS AND TELL HIS REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE THAT THE MIDDLE CLASS AND POOR SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR OWN SPECIAL EDUCATION. IT’S THEREFORE NO SURPRISE ALL REPUBLICANS IN THE SENATE ARE OPPOSED TO SANDER’S INITIATIVE.
HERE IN WASHINGTON YOU HAVE TO TREAD CAREFULLY AS WELL. I’M SURE THE RICH HAVE NO PROBLEMS PAYING A HIGHER RATE TO FUND PUBLIC SAFETY OR INFRASTRUCTURE THAT BENEFITS THEM OR THEIR BUSINESSES BUT THEY’LL PROBABLY BALK AT BEING HIT UP TO SHORE UP PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS AND POOR. MAYBE A SMALL PORTION, A “HAND UP”, IS NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK BUT AGAIN YOU’LL GET INTO TROUBLE IF YOU OVERREACH.
I BELIEVE IN PROGRESSIVE TAXATION BUT I ALSO BELIEVE THE RICH MAN SHOULDN’T BE SHOWN A TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT SORT OF PROPOSITION.
They want to shut down anybody who doesn’t embrace their ideology, and they want to criminalize those who don’t embrace their ideology. Today it’s the race baiters. Tomorrow it’s going to be some other cause, but liberalism is what it is, and it exists to silence people who don’t agree. They can’t win the debate, which they admit by their own actions. They don’t want debate.
You’re kidding, right? Otherwise, you’re a complete idiot.
The Friday Night Document Dump
Executive Summary: They lied to Congress.
“By LAURIE KELLMAN, AP
“WASHINGTON (April 14) – The Justice Department weighed political activism and membership in a conservative law group in evaluating the nation’s federal prosecutors, documents released in the probe of fired U.S. attorneys show. The political credentials were listed on a chart of 124 U.S. attorneys nominated since 2001, a document that could bolster Democrats’ claims that the … Justice Department has become … partisan during the Bush administration.
“The chart was included in documents released Friday by the department to congressional panels investigating whether the firings last year of the U.S. attorneys were politically motivated …. The documents also included indications that senior department officials had replacements in mind for the outgoing prosecutors nearly a year before the ousters, … contradicting testimony last month by Gonzales’ former top aide. …
“Kyle Sampson …who resigned under fire last month, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 29 that ‘I did not have in mind any replacements for any of the seven who were asked to resign’ last Dec. 7. … Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse [also] maintained that, except for [“caging list” czar Tim] Griffin, no replacements were selected before the prosecutors were told to resign. …”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/33rxzy
Dear Dan @ 26
Another wingnut who knows nothing. Imus is LIBERAL. Have you ever noticed who appeared on his show? There sure as hell weren’t any Republicans. Why do you think that was?
He got what he deserved. The market place decided he went too far. He did it for years. Rush is next baby. And he is one of yours. Dumbass!
They don’t want debate.
DOOFUS IS PROJECTING AGAIN. DOOFUS FAVORS THE CHIMPANZEE STYLE OF DEBATING. FIRST, HE LETS THE DEM SIDE HAVE THEIR SAY.
AND THEN HE SAYS:
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR VIEWS. WE WILL NOW DO THINGS MY WAY.”
“FIRST WE’LL ENRICH MY BUDDIES AND THEN WE’LL CALL YOU NAMES LIKE ‘TRAITOR’. THEN WE WILL GET MORE RUBBERSTAMP REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS BY SUPRESSING THE VOTES OF POOR PEOPLE AND MINORTIES. NO ONE WILL NOTICE THEIR MISSING VOTES, THEY ARE POOR AND THEIR SKIN IS DARK.”
TO DOOFUS’ DISAPPOINTMENT, TOO MANY PEOPLE WERE ANGRY THAT A CHIMPANZEE WAS DESTROYING THEIR COUNTRY. ALL THE NASTY VOTE SUPPRESSION WAS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED BY THE DISCONTENT.
@27 Let’s review:
1) A person earning wages of $50,000 a year pays a marginal tax rate of roughly 33% (about 25% + 7.65% FICA).
A person earning capitals gains of $50,000,000 pays a marginal tax rate of exactly 15%, with no FICA deduction.
2) A person earning wages of $15,000 a year gets personal deductions totaling about $10,000 (personal exemption + standard deduction).
A person inheriting $1,500,000 gets personal exemptions totaling $1,500,000.
3) In Washinton State, a household in the lowest 20% income bracket pays 17% of their income in state and local taxes.
In Washington State, a household in the highest 20% income bracket pays 4% of their income in state and local taxes.
Methinks you could impose a LOT of new taxes on the rich before they’d even be paying what the rest of us pay.
ROGER,
YOU SHOULD ASK, NEVER IMPOSE. MOREOVER YOU SHOULD ASK IN THE RIGHT WAY OR MAKE AN OFFER THE RICH CAN’T REFUSE.
IF THE RICH STILL DOESN’T LIKE THE DEAL, GIVE THEM A BETTER REMEDY THAN FUNDING A STINK TANK LIKE EFF OR AN IDIOT LIKE SHARANKSY.
OF COURSE THEY CAN AFFORD IT. THAT’S NOT IN QUESTION.
Raise the tax on cheap booze. That way most of the cost will fall on Pam Roach.
Republican Crook #23487651
Wolfowitz Conflict of Interest Scandal Explodes Into Open At World Bank
Wolfie Padded Girlfriend’s Paycheck and Performance Review, Then Lied About It
“By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
“The New York Times
“WASHINGTON (April 14) — The World Bank’s executive board was deliberating today what action to take regarding its president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, amid new evidence that he had not been entirely candid about his role in giving his girlfriend, a World Bank employee, a raise and transfer.
“Documents released today by the executive board called into question Mr. Wolfowitz’s earlier assertions that bank ethics officials had been kept informed about the new post for his companion, Shaha Ali Riza.
“The papers also indicated that Mr. Wolfowitz was more involved in securing the new post for his companion than he has let on. In August 2005, for instance, Mr. Wolfowitz wrote a memo to the bank’s vice president for human resources in which he virtually dictated the kind of job Ms. Riza should be given. ‘I now direct you to agree to a proposal which includes the following terms and conditions,’ Mr. Wolfowitz wrote. …
“The executive board documents released today, while cautious and almost cryptic in their tone, would not seem to strengthen Mr. Wolfowitz’s hopes of holding on to his job. …
“On Thursday, the World Bank’s 24-member executive board … held hurried meetings amid mounting speculation that it might … ask him to resign.
“In a chaotic day of revelations and meetings at a normally staid institution on Thursday, Mr. Wolfowitz apologized for his role in the raise and transfer of Ms. Riza to the State Department, where she remained on the bank’s payroll. He made the comments to a few hundred staff members assembled in the bank building atrium, only to be greeted by booing, catcalls and cries for his resignation. Earlier, the bank’s staff association had declared that it was ‘impossible for the institution to move forward with any sense of purpose under the present leadership.’ …
“The events injected a new ugliness into what had already been a bitter rift between Mr. Wolfowitz and many of the bank’s employees, who have questioned his suitability for the job as a former deputy secretary of defense and architect of the Iraq war, and have challenged many of his policies at the bank ….
“Wolfowitz apologized at a news conference Thursday … after the staff association disclosed that it had found the dated memorandum from Mr. Wolfowitz to a vice president for human resources at the bank, apparently instructing him to agree to the terms of a raise and reassignment for Ms. Riza. The transfer and … raise … took her to a pay of $193,590 from $132,660, tax-free because of her status as a diplomat, and exceeding the salaries of cabinet members. …
“Mr. Wolfowitz said he had been seeking to avoid a conflict of interest by having Ms. Riza, with whom he had a personal relationship, transferred from his supervision.
“What drove the anger at the bank was not that Mr. Wolfowitz had denied earlier that he had sought Ms. Riza’s transfer, but that he had been less than fully candid in discussing it until documents surfaced showing his direct role. Even before the release of the documents today, his earlier insistence that he had consulted with ethics officials was disputed by some of them ….
“Mr. Wolfowitz, in his talk to the bank staff, essentially implied that his fate was up to the board. … He also appealed to the staff members to look beyond his role in planning the Iraq war …. ‘For those people who disagree with the things that they associate with me in my previous job, I’m not in my previous job,’ he said. Many bank officials said board members were likely to wait to decide what to do after checking with their finance ministers ….
“At the White House, Tony Fratto, a spokesman, said: ‘Of course, President Wolfowitz has our full confidence’ ….
“The storm over Mr. Wolfowitz has been brewing for a week, following disclosures by the bank’s staff association and the Government Accountability Project, an independent watchdog group, that Ms. Riza had received an unusually large raise. They questioned whether the proper procedures had been involved. …
” … Mr. Wolfowitz asserted that he had consulted the board and the bank’s general counsel, the board’s ethics committee director, and the human resources director to arrange the transfer. These officials then contradicted Mr. Wolfowitz ….
“Alison Cave, chairwoman of the bank’s staff association, said the amount of the raise and the procedures followed seemed to violate bank rules. Ms. Cave also said the records showed that Ms. Riza was to return to the bank at the higher salary level and be given a rating of ‘outstanding’ in her performance reviews while with the foundation. Mr. Wolfowitz did not deny his involvement, but Thursday was the first day that evidence surfaced of his direct role.
“Bank officials said they were somewhat mystified that the details of the transfer, worked out in 2005, did not get out until now. Some attributed it to the changed landscape in Washington. Mr. Wolfowitz has also been … weakened by his recent tangles with the board. For example, … Mr. Wolfowitz … suspended aid to India, Chad, Kenya and other countries without consulting the board. Uzbekistan’s aid was suspended after it ousted American troops in 2005, leading to charges of political motivation.
“Last month, the bank adopted a new … policy that insisted that Mr. Wolfowitz consult board members, and it placed other restrictions on his ability to act. Resentment of Mr. Wolfowitz … extended to his two top aides, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, both of whom worked with him on defense matters in the Bush administration. …
“He also appeared a victim of his own declaration that he would bring a new era of accountability to the bank. He boasted that he had doubled the staff of the public integrity division so it could prosecute cases of graft against corporations and bank employees, stirring resentment throughout the bank that he saw them all as corrupt.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/ytqxm6
@33 “YOU SHOULD ASK IN THE RIGHT WAY OR MAKE AN OFFER THE RICH CAN’T REFUSE.”
How about a law giving them a choice between paying up or standing in front of a firing squad?*
* Just kidding!!! Hey, if Ann Coulter can crack death-jokes, why can’t I? Why should she have a monopoly on death-humor? Republicans want a monopoly on every fucking thing!!
My last post went into the spam filter and may not emerge until tomorrow.
Executive Summary: Neocon warmonger and public enemy Paul Wolfowitz is engulfed in scandal. He was caught using his position as president of the World Bank to pad his girlfriend’s paycheck and performance reviews, and lying about it. Wolfowitz publicly apologized to the bank’s employees — but they booed him. The staff wants him gone! Apparently the board does, too. And there’s a good chance he’ll be ousted when the finance ministers meet.
AIRPORT SCANDAL: FAA Orders Controllers to Fly Landing Aircraft Taxiing Aircraft to Boost Airline Profits!!!
What a fucking horror story:
“By Alan Levin
“USA Today
“(April 13) – A controversial air traffic procedure has nearly caused midair collisions during takeoffs and landings …, according to federal records, controllers and pilots.
“Passenger jets arriving at Memphis and several other airports routinely fly directly over the top of planes landing on another nearby runway.
“Earlier this year, a midair collision between a Northwest Airlines DC-9 and a commuter plane was narrowly averted in Memphis, according to a report on the incident. …
“Dangerous configurations where planes travel on crossing runways or nearby runways with intersecting flight paths can also be found at other airports ….
“Close calls … have prompted a pitched battle within the FAA. The agency’s Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service, an independent investigative arm, demanded in an April 2 memo that … managers stop the practice …. But the agency’s air traffic division has ignored the demand.
“Memphis … has had a series of close calls associated with landings on two nearby runways. One of the worst occurred Feb. 18 at 6:13 p.m., according to a report by Peter Nesbitt, an officer with the Memphis unit of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. A Northwest Airlink Saab 340 was about to touch down when its pilots radioed the tower to say they were aborting their landing. At the same moment, a Northwest Airlines DC-9 approaching another runway was headed for the Saab. A controller ordered the Saab’s pilots, ‘Stay low, stay low!’ said the report. The controller then told the DC-9 to climb. It flew over the commuter plane. ‘Only … luck and … quick action by the controller prevented a midair collision …,’ said the report.
“Pete Sufka, who heads the controllers’ union in Memphis, said controllers can’t always prevent accidents in similar circumstances. …
The Memphis procedure and others like it around the country allow more flights than if controllers had to keep planes farther apart. In Nesbitt’s report, he said an air traffic manager insisted on using the procedure ‘because it helps (airlines) make money.’ Nesbitt concluded, ‘We are placing profit over safety against the objections of many controllers who are forced to deal with this unsafe situation.’
“Newman said pressure to move aircraft is compromising safety. … ‘There is a tremendous push to increase capacity.'”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/2t2usp
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Unsafe drugs. Tainted food (human and pet). Criminals running amok because thousands of FBI agents were pulled off domestic crime-fighting and not replaced. Now this — planes in landing approach are ordered to FLY OVER taxiing aircraft! What fucking next?!!! This criminally corrupt administration is spitting out a scandal-a-minute!!!
erratum — headline should read:
AIRPORT SCANDAL: FAA Orders Controllers to Fly Landing Aircraft Over Taxiing Aircraft to Boost Airline Profits!!!
Also in today’s news, klake is still a nazi.
Would you fly on a plane if you knew the pilot was political appointee who never attended flight school? I sure as hell wouldn’t! Well, now that you know who’s running the traffic patterns at our airports, are you going to get on another plane before Jan. 2009?
Try to imagine yourself sitting in the window seat right smack where the plane gets broadsided by a DC-9 …
… whose nose cone makes contact with your rib cage at 180 knots.
Is there ANYTHING these Republican assholes aren’t determined to FUCK UP???
Stuff Like This Didn’t Happen Before Bush’s Political Appointees Got In Dep’t
Newsday, Wednesday, June 18, 2003
“Dozens of pilots have shown up to fly commercial airliners legally intoxicated in the past year and a half … last year the number of pilots who failed … Breathalyzer tests before flying doubled from the previous year.
“Since January 2002, 35 pilots have failed alcohol tests at the airport ….”
http://tinyurl.com/2dczng
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Wikipedia indicates drunk-pilot incidents used to be rare, citing only one case before 2001. http://tinyurl.com/2eqwcu
Yet Newsday reports “dozens” of pilots showed up for work intoxicated in the 18 months after Bush took office. Obviously there are serious problems with FAA enforcement and oversight. Is it fair to blame Bush? Yes, because he has systematically staffed federal agencies with party loyalists who are not competent for the jobs they’re put into, and the FAA is no exception. And the results speak for themselves: Dangerous drugs have made it to market, people and pets have been sickened or killed by tainted food, identity theft and other domestic crimes are soaring, and, of course, federal disaster relief is notoriously nonfunctional.
It’s hard to believe anyone could fuck up an entire society so thoroughly, but the Smirking Miserable Failure has achieved a level of corruption, incompetence, and public injury beyond what anyone could have thought possible.
But what the hell could we expect from a guy who hates our government, and have dedicated his administration to making sure everyone else hates our government, too?
Smirking Chimp and his idiotic supporters have turned America into a tinpot third world country.
Pam Roach Supports Arena Because She Hates Seattle
The Sonics Welfare Act came up for a key Senate vote Friday, and Sen. Pam Roach (R-Auburn) supported it.
Roach said “she voted in favor of passing it out of the committee because she liked the notion of a major project outside of Seattle.
“‘Everything is so Seattle-centric,’ Roach said. ‘If you’re Auburn, particularly, you just get a little tired of that … all the benefits going to the city of Seattle all the time.'”
http://tinyurl.com/2l4vl5
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I wonder if Roach would support Al Qaeda if they promised to blow up an office building in Seattle? Next time I see her, I’ll ask her.
Clay Bennett Is A Certified Grade-A Wingnut
That article also tells us what the true colors of the new Sonics ownership is:
” … Bennett’s in-laws, the Gaylord family, … own the state’s biggest paper, The Oklahoman, and have used it to support conservative Republican causes.
“Two of Bennett’s partners in the ownership group, Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward, were among the top donors to a national group opposing gay marriage.
“Sonics spokesman Jim Kneeland called such criticisms ‘character assassination.'”
(same link as above)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I appreciate Kneeland’s sensitive feelings; I wouldn’t want anyone calling me a Republican, either.
They’re Even Fucking With Chocolate
“Confectioners sound the alarm to ward off changes in chocolate
“By Jerry Hirsch
“Los Angeles Times
” … Two of California’s oldest confectioners, See’s Candies and Guittard Chocolate, are battling an attempt to loosen government rules that dictate what ingredients go into the sweet stuff.
“Legally, the candy that melts hearts and comforts the broken-hearted is made with cocoa butter and, in the case of milk chocolate, whole milk. But … a trade group, wants to let confectioners substitute cheaper ingredients ….
“Guittard and See’s … want chocoholics to complain loudly to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before April 25, when the agency will stop taking public comments on the issue … [and] urged lovers of the candy to visit Guittard’s DontMessWithOurChocolate.com Web site, where they can electronically submit complaints to the FDA.
“Substituting vegetable oil for cocoa butter, a natural component of the cocoa bean that is the traditional source of chocolate, irks Andrea Langston, of Long Beach, Calif. ‘I would feel like I was being duped,’ said Langston ….
“Langston … should be worried about producers substituting oils for cocoa butter, said Kristy Choo, artisan chocolatier … in Venice, Calif. ‘It will have a waxy taste,’ said Choo ….
“Price is at the heart of the argument over whether manufacturers should be allowed to change the ingredients of chocolate, said Kinstler, of See’s …. ‘You can make chocolate a lot cheaper with vegetable oil,’ he said. A pound of chocolate contains … $2.30 worth of cocoa butter, according to Guittard, … the same amount of vegetable oil is 70 cents. …
“The proposed rule change is part of a strategy by Hershey and other large producers to segment the industry, lowering the quality … of everyday candy bars while creating … high-priced premium chocolate, said Marcia Mogelonsky, an analyst with market-research company Mintel International.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/2xd6yu
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Big companies vs. little companies; profits vs. quality … it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how this will turn out, does it? The Bushits on the FDA have adulterated everything else, and they’ll lick big business’s boots this time, too. At least you now know whose chocolate not to buy.
The Bushitters may have gone a bridge too far this time. You can start a war with lies; you can torture innocent people; you can corrupt federal law enforcement; but fucking with the ingredients in chocolate bars is asking for impeachment!
This may be the scandal that brings Bush down.
Wingnuts love to tout how great the economy is. The truth is, Bush’s economy sucks:
“Consumers feeling the squeeze on pocketbooks
“By DAVE CARPENTER
“The Associated Press
“CHICAGO — … Prices on everything from cereal and milk to soft drinks and red meat are on the upswing …. High energy prices also remain troublesome, … and clothing costs are up this year, too.
” … Federal Reserve policymakers cited ‘uncomfortably high’ inflation readings … [in] minutes released [on]Wednesday of their private discussions last month.
” …'[W]e could be in for a period of higher inflation … for a year or two or three,’ said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. … Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank in Chicago, says he’s concerned that productivity growth is slowing down, labor costs are rising, and food, energy, health-care and education costs are on the move — all at the same time.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info, see http://tinyurl.com/36kgqd
Germany is training its soldiers to imagine that they are shooting American civilians who have insulted them:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/.....y.race.ap/
re 26: Having a fairness doctrine in place that gives liberals a chance to counter with fact and reason the corporate and rich old-crank supported conservative media hate-filled spewings is not silencing your spew. It’s merely making it more fair and balanced.
Why do conservatives fear that having a point of view counter to their own get fair media play as “silencing them?
Because conservatives know they are weak followers or rich oppressors. They don’t want the news spreading too fast.
You guys are done. You are in retreat.
I am training myself to imagine shooting Democrats. (Just kidding. Honest!)
not not Roger Rabbit
is at it again! Pretty pleeze .. this is an important thread! Why oh why oh why oh shit. Why must you use EVERY post for your own torrents of posts? Unfair to folks interested in responding to the post ON THE BLOG.
Roger needs his own blog .. or a cabbage patch.
It’s time to raise taxes on the rich and break up the corporate farms. Tax the corporate farms out of existence and use the money to help family farms.
There you go, Karl Rove. No more danger of family farms being taxed away.
Life is a zero sum game. If you tax the rich less, you will pay more taxes.
Watch how nuts conservatives get when you say the world economy is a zero sum game.
Their whole stupid cheap-labor ideology falls flat on its ass when people understand that.
re 54: Hand me that bullet, Barney Fife!
re 54: It’s a “compelsion”. Isn’t it?
re 55: I like Roger’s posts.
Roger! Roger….
Roger Rabbit’s posts een like a recooked version of the Drudge report .. maybe that ois what he needs his own cabbage patch.
Lookee here …
Air traffic controllers wanna save maney because their boss is an ex nazi
Wolfowitz has an ayrab girlfriend he pays with WorldBank funds … story eemrging.
and so it goes.
I coulda woulda filled the thread with 30 or 40 miniposts in Roger’s inimitable style but not Roer Rabbits confine our rabbit droppings to the bunny box.
Where’s your pay raise?
It’s in the government bond the rich guy bought with his tax savings. Where will the interst payment come from when he cashes it in?
Out of your “Right to life” heinie, that’s where.
Zero sum game. There’s only so much to go around at any given point. Think about it. Don’t let the rich obfuscate the truth with the likes of a Klown like Milton Friedman.
re 61: Many blues songs begin with the phrase, “Lookee Here!”
Who are you?
It’s all about percentages.
And speaking of the wealth of nations, Adam Smith said : “All weath is created by labor.”
Think about what Adam Smith really said next time a conservative starts blathering about “the producers”.
“The Producers” work in an Asian sweat shop — and don’t forget it.
@56 Where do you expect me to post all of today’s important news? In last week’s thread, where no one will see it? I have a better idea … use your scroll key.
@62 Are you a wingnut? You sound like a wingnut. Are you Kevin Carns having a bad coffee day? Next time, buy Starbucks. Yes, I own Starbucks stock, and this is a commercial message! If you don’t want to read the news here, buy a fishwrapper!! It costs only 50 cents and Frank Blethen will thank you!
Why doesn’t Roger get his own blog? He’s afraid no one will read it. Of course, he will never know if he can make it unless he tries.
This thread is supposed to be about the Seattle superintendent. Why don’t all you right-wing folks take your venom and idiocy and peddle it elsewhere? If you have something valid to say about Seattle education, say it but otherwise shut up and go away.
Now about what Goldy said. Sure, money would help but all the money in the world is not going to change the culture of the bureaucracy at the Stanford Center. They are hard-working people with medicore minds. It is not going to change my belief that, in the end, Dr. G-J is going to do more harm than good. She’s bright, she’s qualified but she is also distant, sure she’s right and has no real ideas (based on her trite, rote answers at the interview forum). She also has a terrible School Board to work with (and a real chance that she’ll have 4 new people there after November, for better or worse). She actually listed “creating a database of birthdays of central staff and principals” as one of her to-do items for the first 6 months. Not facing school closures which, hey Maria!, is going to be one of the first things staring her down when she gets here.
My last child is in his last school in the district. It’s a great one, too, so no worries for me (at least until he starts driving). But I sure do worry for all the other parents and students in this district.
Totally agree Westello . . . not only mediocre minds but too many of them. The bureaucracy is overwhelming within the SSD.
I read about the two candidates and was truly hoping for the guy. From what I read about this candidate’s credentials, she’s not innovative, particularly risk-oriented nor experienced in dealing with conflicting and demanding groups. This does not bode well for Seattle teachers or kids. More of the same. So disappointing.
Oh, I think this district must divide itself and lose the effing bureaucracy!
Let’s see: WA is 17th in taxes collected and 47th in Education spending-and Asshat Democrats wanna spend 1/4 billion bucks on bike trails, another few billion on tunnels, the SSD is sending kids off to a “white guilt” conference and Asshats like Goldy wonder why Johnny STILL can’t read! What a joke. No doubt you’ll be shocked when you discover the kids can’t read the exit signs in your tunnels and on your trails.