This has been quite an election season, one that we’ll be talking about for generations. As we head into the final stretch, here’s a roundup of what’s been on my radar:
– Andrew at the NPI Advocate is helping out Roger Goodman in his 45th Legislative District race. Andrew and I are hardly identical in our political outlooks, but we both recognize the potential that he holds. Roger’s a unique kind of politician with tremendous leadership skills who deserves to hold on to that seat. I’ve hit the phones for him and hope that others are inspired to help out in any way they can.
– Medical marijuana patients in Washington have been split down the middle on the Governor’s race. There are some who think that Christine Gregoire’s interference in the process to identify limits is reason enough to vote for Dino Rossi. And there are others who think that Dino Rossi will likely be worse for patients. About two weeks ago, two individuals tried to issue a press release with the title “Medical Marijuana Leaders Support Rossi.” When pressed who those leaders were, the two gentlemen then gave a list of four names – two of whom did not support Rossi. Steve at Reality Catcher has more about the silliness here.
– I’m still planning to vote for Republican Marcia McCraw in the Lieutenant Governor’s race, but she’s every bit as nutty as Brad Owen. But she gets my vote because her nuttiness doesn’t potentially threaten the freedom and well-being of Washington residents the way Owen’s radical prohibitionist views do – especially considering that either one of these guys is next in line for the Governor’s mansion.
– The increasing level of hostility that’s been seen at Republican Presidential rallies this fall reminded me of something that my old roommate at the University of Michigan experienced back in the election of 1996. She’s African-American and was taking a political science course. As part of her work for the class, she had to do exit polling at a poll location about 20 minutes from Ann Arbor in rural Washtenaw County. She came back to the house in tears at around 6 o’clock, well before the polls closed, after several hours of being called just about anything you could imagine by rednecks and other assorted racists.
I have a bad feeling about what’s about to transpire this Tuesday at polling places across the country. I hope my fears are unwarranted, but if bad things do happen, the burden is on John McCain to be a goddamn maverick again and tell the morons in his party that this kind of nonsense is the real enemy within.
What Does Light Rail Really Cost You?
According to an article in today’s P-I the total cost of Prop. 1 is $22.8 billion of which $12.1 billion (53%) will be spent on Phase 2 of light rail. The new sales tax is said to raise $7.75 billion; if we assume 53% of this would go for light rail and there are 1.2 million households in the taxing district, the cost of Phase 2 works out to $3,423 per household. Divide that by 20 years and you get $171.15 per year, not the $69 that proponents claim. And that’s for something that many of today’s senior citizens won’t live long enough to ride on, because it will take 20 years to build it under Sound Transit’s pay-as-you-go financing plan.
I voted “no.” I think expanding the regional bus system will provide more immediate traffic relief, more practical mass transit, and cost less.
Btw, in contrast to the $7.75 billion Prop. 1 raises from raising the sales tax, the total contribution to capital costs from fares, other revenues, and interest income is only $362 million. It seems to me those figures should be reversed so that elderly taxpayers who have to choose between buying food or medicine aren’t required to subsidize commuters who have many times the seniors’ income.
If bad things do happen… and McCain doesn’t win, he’ll be too devasted by the loss to say anything to anybody. And if he does win, well, the end justifies the means.
Is the obama campaign going to tell its morons not to assault old men?
http://www.local6.com/politics.....etail.html
Once again the left shows that violence is okay against those that don’t agree with them. The hate from the left is increasing.
Hell, that seattle liberal rag posted addresses of people with mcsame signs on their property so the left wig-nuts will know who to assault.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/54360.html
Fuck you, Stamn, fuck you….you are a hateful piece of shit.
@3 “Hunter was displaying a sign for Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, and he was asked to leave by a group of people who were displaying signs supporting Democratic presidential candiate Sen. Barack Obama because Hunter was causing a disturbance, according to a dispatcher’s log.”
Hmmm, looks like the old guy with the McCain sign instigated the trouble by harassing a group of Obama sign wavers — just what I expect from Republicans. I wonder what he did to provoke the guy who pushed him. Probably called him a “terrorist” or “un-American” or pushed first, because that’s what Republicans do. Hey Stamn, do you agree that 75 is too old to be inciting riots?
I don’t know if the thug who shot and killed the 12-year-old trick-or-treater and wounded his dad and brother last night is a Republican, but there’s a 50% chance he is.
@6
Well we know the guy’s a gun nut, so it’s probably a better than 50% chance that he’s a Republican.
I’m not too worried about Tuesday; I’m worried about the four years following Tuesday.
Here is the NY Times praising Fox News:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11.....ef=opinion
Fox was exposing the “Joe the Plumber” foolishness.
Which cabinet post would McCain give “Joe”?
@9 Joe the Plumber, like the McCain campaign itself, is a fraud.
No plumber’s license.
Suspended driver’s license.
Tax deadbeat.
Traffic court scofflaw.
No plan to buy the business.
No $250K income.
Not registered to vote.
Who the hell would listen to a guy like this talk about Israel (or anything else)?
Joe the Plumber is a total myth. The guy exists but his story is a sham.
I guess if you repeat a myth enough people come to accept it.
History however will record it as a lie.
It sure would be sad for this country if McSame/Failin’ squeaked out a win on the back of this phony baloney campaign prop.
Of course I don’t expect that to happen. “Joe” will assume his rightful place as a forgotten footnote.
@7
Well, I’m worried about that too. I think what happens on Tuesday will likely be a barometer for what we can expect going forward.
@ 7 He is a convicted felon, so the chances he is a Republican are pretty close to 100%
A person saying “fuck you” to me is calling me a hateful piece of crap.
Priceless.
Nope, he’s a democrat. He’s a convicted felon.
“harassing?” Good one, he was exercising his free speech rights unless you have some proof he was committing a crime.
Say, wasn’t it obama that told his supporters to argue and get in peoples faces??
Why yes it was…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....e=politics
Why the double standard rabbit?
But the facts say that democrats kill many more people with guns.
You see, the media doesn’t tell you of the slaughter of citizens in democrat controlled cities since they can’t blame it on republicans.
Did you know since summer started, more citizens have been murdered in chicago than killed in the war? Should the federal government pull out of that vietnam, quagmire, civil war?
@6 Probably some recently armed liberal.
If only republicans are convicted felons, why do democrats want them to vote so badly.
We all know that convicted felons vote democrat, which is why democrats are so willing to have felons vote.
I hate to change Lee’s mond, BUT I am supporting the same LG that he is. Guv too!
I assume this will be enough to get him to vote for Rossi~Owen!
13 Hell, he could vote here in King Co as many
times as he wanted, being a felon and all.
Damn, is william ayers that old already?
Say rabbit, with your law experience do you have any clue why the LA Times wouldn’t release a video that makes obama look bad?
Maybe because the video is old news, and it might be of poor quality.
And the individual you want to link Obama to has closer links to McCain. After all McCain provided him more than $400K
@17
Did you know since summer started, more citizens have been murdered in chicago than killed in the war?
And there are roughly 12 times as many U.S. citizens in Chicago as there are in Iraq. And the wars in both places (the war on drugs being what’s killing so many Chicagoans since it’s almost entirely gang violence) were started by Republicans.
Jump, Marvin, jump!
Drinking Liberally to Meet in Moscow!
Really .. take a look!
Has Lee blocked my posts here?
Drinking Liberally to meet in Mscow Next Tuesday!
see it here:
Chicago is a war zone?
Props to obama for making his city a war zone.
Say, I never saw your post after the conventions.
I didn’t see any right-wing protests at the rnc, saw a bunch of left-wing protest at the dnc.
You are you man enough to pay off your debt?
Old news? Poor quality?
Those are the lamest excuses I’ve ever heard.
How about this Marv, its in their possession and they get to decide what to do with it.
And again, McCain has much more to do with the individual on it than Obama.
You got nothing but misdirected rage at the media.
Do you have any real issues, Marv?
@16 Yeah sure, he walked into the middle of an Obama group and “exercised his free speech rights.” If a Democrat with an Obama sign walked into the middle of a McCain rally how much “free speech” do you think he’d get?
@22 “Say rabbit, with your law experience do you have any clue why the LA Times wouldn’t release a video …”
I’ve already commented on this several times, but for those who can’t read, or don’t bother to, I’ll repeat it: The tape is the private property of a person who didn’t give the LA Times permission to release it. What part of “private property” don’t you understand, Stamn?
@17 So the argument is that it’s okay to send other people’s kids to die in your recreational wars because people get killed here in the USA? Figures. Why don’t you explain to the family of a dead soldier that their kid’s life was worth the same to you as a gangbanger’s life?
Getting back to the guy who drilled the 12-year-old, he put 30 rounds through the door with an assault weapon because he allegedly thought a robber was on the other side. This, btw, won’t fly as self-defense and this yahoo is history. There’s one Republican who won’t be voting on Tuesday.
@29 “How about this Marv, its in their possession and they get to decide what to do with it.”
Actually, that’s not true, K. The source of the tape put conditions on what they could do with it.
Do you notice the Repubs — from McCain all the way down to Marvin Stupid — are still ranting against Obama and have yet to offer people anything to vote for?
When you have 1 side screeching about the opposing candidate’s aunt while the country is worried about starving, the election shouldn’t be close. Obama ought to get 90% of the vote.
@28
I didn’t see any right-wing protests at the rnc
Um, dummy, there was a protest convention in Minneapolis with Ron Paul supporters that actually had higher attendance than the actual RNC.
Jump, Marvin, jump!
@28
Chicago is a war zone?
Props to obama for making his city a war zone.
Wow, so Obama ran the city of Chicago? Man, you are a special kind of stupid.
Jump, Marvin, jump!
@31
Do you have any real issues, Marv?
Marv has some pretty fucking serious issues.
Pelletizer@31: Real facts vs idiot rabbit speculation.
The old “IF” issue again with you. Hard to put it down eh?