HorsesAss.Org

I’ve been meaning to tear into Danny Westneat for his credulous puff piece on the state senate Republican majority, but haven’t had the time. Fortunately, Bill Lyne at the United Faculty of Washington State blog has done it for me:

On [higher education], he’s convinced that “the Republicans blew the Democrats out of the water. The GOP,” he tells us, “is proposing to slash tuition but at the same time send tens of millions of dollars to the universities to make up the difference.” Representative Hunter said the same thing about this that we here at the blog tried to say to Westneat the last time he slobbered over the Republican tuition proposal: It’s not true. The Republicans say they provide enough money to cover the tuition cut, but the cold, hard numbers in their budget say they do not. Go read it, Danny. Better yet, call the university budget offices and see what they say. The Republican rhetoric on tuition sounds great, but the gap between that rhetoric and the reality of their budget would leave lots of students actually paying more in tuition because it would take them longer to get their degrees.

Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.

As for Westneat, well, sigh. I know he likes to think of himself as an independent voice adrift in a sea of partisan bickering—an equal opportunity eye-roller, or something. But more often than not, he’s just part of the problem, cynically working to erode the public’s faith in government rather than working to offer and advance creative solutions.

Which is a shame, because Westneat has both the talent and the platform to make a difference.

opEN threAD

by Carl Ballard — Friday, 6/5/15, 8:02 am

– Oil, gas, coal industries want Washington, British Columbia as permanent home ports

– I get what Goldy’s point is here, but Goldman Sachs would be a lot more creditable if they hadn’t recently helped crash the world economy.

– Chart of the Day: Novels about men are more likely to win major literary awards

– There was a Comcast outage recently, and if you’re upset, here are some things you can do about it.

– Here’s hoping there’s some Safe Routes to School money in the final budget.

– Everyone keeps saying how good Daredevil is. I’ll have to check it out.

The Best Example?

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 6/4/15, 6:00 pm

I’m pretty sure this is my favorite lede ever.

For the last six weeks, what appears to be a broken down van has been parked outside the offices of Bonneville Seattle, home of KIRO Radio, 710 ESPN Seattle, KTTH and My Northwest.com, despite official notice warning the owner to move it or face towing.

City law prohibits vehicles from remaining in the same spot for more than 72 hours.

It’s emblematic of a longstanding but growing problem around the city, as parking becomes harder to come by in denser neighborhoods.

Oh man, if I look out my window, I can really see there’s quite a problem. Sometimes I have to walk past it when I go to lunch. This particular story is one everyone can relate to, right? The story of a van in a not particularly well trafficked neighborhood?

I thought the there’s-traffic-congestion-on-my-way-to-work stories were my favorite example of unnecessarily overly personal “reporting” but I think this is way better. Talk about hyper local.

Would Kshama Sawant Be More Acceptable If She Were an Ex-Republican?

by Goldy — Wednesday, 6/3/15, 4:11 pm

So, self-described “democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders, who has never ever run for office before as a Democrat, slaps the big “D” next to his name for a presidential run, and that’s totally kosher. In fact, a lot of rank and file Dems are thrilled with his candidacy. And now former Rhode Island senator and governor Lincoln Chafee declares his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, and the Democratic National Committee sends out an email welcoming the ex-Republican to the race, and that’s cool.

But local Dems wanting to endorse socialist Kshama Sawant for a non-partisan council race—that apparently is some sort of monstrous outrage or something.

Go figure.

Open Thread 6/3

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 6/3/15, 6:59 am

I’m dragging a bit, so I think I’m going to try to sleep on the way in to work. So here’s a placeholder instead of some links. Sorry.

TSA’s Security Theater Gets Bad Review

by Goldy — Tuesday, 6/2/15, 10:19 am

Longtime readers know I’ve never been a fan of the Transportation Security Administration. So I wasn’t the least surprised to read this:

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday reassigned the acting director of the Transportation Security Administration and ordered the agency to revise its security procedures after screeners at airport checkpoints failed to detect weapons and other prohibited items 95 percent of the time in a covert test.

… In the investigation, undercover agents were able to get prohibited items through security checkpoints in 67 of 70 instances, according to ABC News, which first reported the findings.

I’m not a terrorist, but if I were, I’m pretty sure I’d have no problem sneaking prohibited items through airport security. In fact, no sneaking required. Twice, I’ve inadvertently passed bottles of water through security—once in the outer mesh pocket of my backpack, and once in my back pocket. On multiple occasions I’ve forgotten to take my toiletries out of my carry-on luggage before scanning. And once, I flew round trip between Seattle and Philadelphia only to realize after the fact that I’d left a 10-inch serrated knife in the bottom of my backpack.

Oops.

The truth is, there is nothing that TSA has done at the security checkpoint since 9/11 that would have prevented another 9/11, because that was achieved entirely by requiring reinforced cockpit doors. That was the weak point in the system—a secure cockpit door combined with the memory of 9/11 is all that is needed to prevent a similar tragedy. (On the other hand, a locked cockpit door apparently played a crucial role in enabling the suicidal crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, so there’s that.)

What would I do to improve the system? Drop the ban on liquids and gels, and go back to simple metal detectors. One good bomb-sniffing dog would be a helluva lot more effective than a dozen TSA agents ogling at porno-scanners.

Commercial air travel is by far the safest form of transportation. TSA’s security theater mostly just succeeds in making it less comfortable and convenient.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 6/2/15, 6:25 am

Please joins us this evening for another cocktail-enhanced and conversation-packed edition of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. Our starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks stop by earlier for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. The Long Beach, Tri-Cities and West Seattle chapters also meet tonight. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. And on Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

There are 190 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

What Olympia Needs Is a Two-Thirds Compromise

by Goldy — Monday, 6/1/15, 12:22 pm

If you want to know why the Washington State legislature can’t seem to pass a budget, it’s because Republicans have forgotten how to do math.

Oh, I’m not talking about budget math; Republicans have never been very good at that. I’m talking about electoral math. The Democrats control the state house. The Democrats control the governor’s mansion (and have for over 30 years). The Democrats control both US senate seats, six of ten US house seats, and seven of eight statewide executive offices. The Democratic nominee has won Washington State in seven straight presidential elections.

Washington is a Democratic state.

Yet weirdly, Republicans believe their three-seat majority in the state senate somehow gives them an electoral mandate to unilaterally impose their will on the rest of the state:

Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, said Democrats are wasting taxpayers’ dollars by keeping lawmakers in Olympia longer.

“There’s just one thing standing in the way of a deal — the House Democrats’ unreasonable insistence on raising taxes solely for the sake of raising taxes,” Benton said in an email.

Right. It’s the Democrats who are standing in the way of a deal. Gimme a fucking break.

Look, the Republicans control the state senate, so they deserve something. Can’t pass a budget without them. No doubt about that. But compromise is a two-way street, and the problem is that today’s Republican Party is ideologically incapable of compromise on many key issues. For example, taxes. A majority of Republicans will never vote to approve something called a “tax.” For any reason. Ever. So they demand that the Democrats fold entirely on that.

Then there is transit. The Republicans largely have the transportation funding proposal they want—lots of tasty pork for their home districts. But they’re ideologically opposed to funding light rail, even when it’s not their money. And so they refuse to give Sound Transit the $15 billion in local taxing authority it needs to go to voters with a package that builds enough rail in each of the subareas to give it a chance of passing. Instead, they think they have an electoral mandate to insist on an ST3-crippling $11 billion in authority—not enough to get to either Tacoma or Everett, and not enough to get to both West Seattle and Ballard. Because Republicans can’t do the electoral math.

But the bigger danger would be if the Democrats can’t do the electoral math either.

The Democrats control two-thirds of state government. And if they want to hold on to the two-thirds they have (and have a hope of retaking the senate) then they can’t disillusion the Democratic base by rewarding the three-seat senate Republican majority for their uncompromising obstruction. Politically, capitulation is neither a responsible nor viable option.

The Republicans control only one-third of government. Give them a third of what they want. If Republicans want anymore than that, force them to make a case for it at the polls.

Open Thread 6/1

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 6/1/15, 8:01 am

– No, traffic accidents aren’t accidents. They’re unacceptable and preventable.

– Most smoking bans make sense, but outside in parks seems like too much.

– I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how pro-Iraq war the GOP is even today, but damn.

– I love the World Cup, but I don’t know how I’ll possibly be able to justify to myself watching it in Qatar.

HA Bible Study: Exodus 35:2

by Goldy — Sunday, 5/31/15, 6:00 am

Exodus 35:2
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.

Discuss.

That’s quite the accusation, Mr. ‘Cruzader’

by Lee — Saturday, 5/30/15, 8:59 am

From last night, maybe the most unintentionally hilarious tweet I’ve ever seen:

@lee_rosenberg magnified by the reality that Islam is a system of imperialism propelled by terrorism since inception. @eliottkroll

— ن CRUZADΞR ن (@AlphaRomeo223) May 30, 2015