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Drinking Liberally — Seattle, SOTU Edition

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DLBottle The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally is still “on tour,” searching for a new permanent home. We’ve received a number of excellent suggestions, and will be following them up and voting on new locations to check out in the coming weeks.

This evening is, of course, the Presidential State of the Union Address. And that will be followed by a “response” from the highest ranking Republican woman in the House, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R WA-5).

We’ll watch those while checking out the state of the Union Bar, 5609 Rainier Ave S Seattle. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm, but this week we’ll start at 5:30pm for the 6:00pm start of the SOTU address.

The Union Bar assures us they will have the SOTU on the TV. But I am not sure what the acoustics are like. Bring a radio and ear buds if you must hear every word.






Can’t make it to Seattle to watch the SOTU? The Northwest Progressive Institute will host a SOTU watching party at the Bellevue Regional Library, Room 1, 1111 110th Avenue NE, Bellevue.

Besides the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally, the Tri-Cities chapter meets tonight and every Tuesday night. And next Monday, the Yakima, South Bellevue and Olympia chapters meet.

With 213 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Open Thread 1/28

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– This is the polite way of saying the CRC is fucked, right?

– I have nothing to add about Dinesh D’Souza, but his defenders make me sad.

– After a while, I stopped linking to Macklemore local-boy-makes-good stories. I mean he was crushing it, so whatever at a certain point. But I will say, I’m glad he’s pissing off the right people.

– Oh, Northwest rate payers are subsidizing Kentucky. Seems fair.

– Will the last Republican woman turn out the lights?

– Who could have predicted that Rodney Tom would keep dicking people around?

– I dig the Seattle buildings turning blue and green, but holy cowThe Empire State Building blue and green.

Presidential Aspirations Gone to Pot

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As the scandals around Chris Christie continue to pile up, it made me revisit the story of how Christie handled – well, mishandled – the implementation of New Jersey’s medical marijuana program. I didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time, but it was certainly a reason that drug law reformers were some of Christie’s loudest detractors in the 2013 campaign for governor.

From April 2011:

The aspirations of New Jersey’s first medical marijuana businesses range from modest to potentially massive, but marijuana advocates say the state’s startup dispensaries have stronger ties to traditional medicine than most — and an unusual number of politically connected people involved in them.

Christie inherited the law from his predecessor, Jon Corzine, but has done just about everything possible to keep it from being implemented in a way that might actually help people – well, not counting well-connected people hoping to make money.

Fast forward to this month:

A state appeals court today ruled the state Health Department must produce a report within 45 days that explains how New Jersey’s medical marijuana program has been implemented, the status of dispensaries that have not yet opened, and whether there are enough growers to meet patient demand.

The decision, however, is only a partial win for the patients and physician who sued the Christie administration in 2012 for intentionally delaying the program. The plaintiffs wanted the court to nullify the health department’s choice of three nonprofits that have yet to have their plans for dispensaries approved nearly three years later.

Yesterday, Jay R. Lassiter in PolitickerNJ also called out Christie for this horrible track record:

Now that the entire universe knows about Chris Christie’s insatiable appetite for recriminations, it’s a good time to reexamine the scandal-plagued Governor’s role in destroying NJ’s medical marijuana law. Why? Because the five-year-old program — signed into law shortly before Christie took office — has been a case study in big-government incompetence.

Yes, worth taking a much longer look.

Will Of The Peopzzzzzzz

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Sen. Michael Baumgartner has a bill to lower the minimum wage for teens. Because of course he does.

To combat Washington’s high teen unemployment rate and generate more opportunities for teen employment, Sen. Michael Baumgartner has proposed Senate Bill 6471. Baumgartner’s “Teen Summer Jobs Act” will provide employers the latitude to pay seasonal teen workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25 from June to the end of August.

Is there any evidence that our teen unemployment rate is particularly high? I couldn’t find recent stats. He’ll mention them later on in the press release, but not have any link or much context. I mean, our unemployment rate is about the middle of the pack, and probably worse the further East you go. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the teen unemployment rate is higher. But is it higher than in states that have lower minimum wages? In any event this press release certainly doesn’t provide any evidence to support this claim.

“Right now, too many teens are losing the chance to develop a strong work ethic because they can’t find summer jobs,” Baumgartner said. “We need a change that can give today’s teens the same chance at the American dream that I had.”

There was a minimum wage in the early 1990’s when Baumgartner was a teen. It was less than it is now — that’s why we had that initiative to raise it — but as far as I can tell it was the same for teen and adults. So, when he was a teen he had the same opportunity as when it’s now, more or less at least regarding the minimum wage.

Baumgartner, who represents the 6th Legislative District, notes that teen employment has been dropping in recent years, creating what can be described as an “experience gap.” The Department of Employment Security has published data expressing if someone is unable to find a job during their teen years they are much less likely to find satisfying work later in life. Baumgartner says while it may seem counterintuitive, requiring employers to pay a lower wage to workers until their 20th birthday will actually entice employers to hire more teens and summer help.

Don’t worry, he doesn’t link to the DOE findings.

Also, now is as good a time as any to mention that Spokane County went 79224 to 48180 in favor of Washington’s minimum wage initiative. I don’t know how his district went, but I’d guess it was pro the minimum wage. Of course, a lot can happen in over a decade, but I doubt slowly dismantling the minimum wage is the reason his constituents voted for him.

Also, too, holy shit, his bill applies to 18 and 19 year-olds? Good thing nobody ever had to raise a family at 18 or 19. God.

“Statistics for 2013 were just released, showing Washington’s teen unemployment rate at thirty percent,” said Baumgartner, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “If we don’t make a move to provide more of these kids with job opportunities, we’ll really be doing them a disservice later in life when the time comes to begin their careers and become fully-functioning members of society.”

Again, I still don’t know what that means. I don’t know if it includes every child who is looking for work, or if it includes teens who aren’t looking for work. We still don’t know how it compares to the national average, or if his policy would take jobs away from people being paid higher wages, and give them to lower wage children.

I don’t know if he just made it up.

Anyway, there’s a bit more press release, but I’m done. And look I did a metacommentary piece without any swearing; I must be losing my touch.

Open Thread 1/27

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– Dear bigots, please feel free to leave Washington. Sorry people in states without marriage equality.

– December numbers for Washington’s exchange.

– I still love it when national media mention lil’ ol’ Washington. But maybe not when they make fun of our stuck tunnel machine.

– Oh hey Texas, enjoy the next however many months of this garbage.

– I agree with Oliver that marriage equality is hurting the religious right. But I don’t think they’re on the run, as evidenced by all the anti-choice (for example) legislation.

– Pie Fest is coming to Olympia in February.

– I know I goof on Seahawks fandom here, but I am pro it. I’m more against early or annoying fandom. What I’m saying is I for one look forward to all of the green and blue vomit we’ll get next Sunday.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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David Pakman: WI Republicans propose 7 day work week bill.

N-S-Ay What?

Stephen discovers a Chinese knockoff.

White House: West Wing Week.

Because Freedom!

Stephen: Net neutrality.

Thom: Could a Rand Paul candidacy be the best thing ever for liberals?.

Absurdity Today : The end of democracy, justice, AND cat videos.

Fighting World Poverty:

David Pakman: SF’s $10.74 minimum wage has not hurt the economy.

ONN: Onion Week in Review.

This Week in the Wingnut War on Women™:

Young Turks: Dinesh D’Louza.

Mental Floss: 33 fun facts about Colleges.

Republican Voter Fraud Fraud:

Maddow: Does fracking cause earth quakes.

Stephen: Mars has doughnuts.

G.O.P. Corrupt Governor’s Club:

Chris Hayes: ‘President Obama is black’ is the latest FAUX, right-wing racial freakout.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Dear Senator Murray;

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Thank you for opposing a sanctions bill against Iran at this time. While we don’t know the future, it’s important to give negotiations a chance to work, if we want to find a long-term fix to Iran’s nuclear problem. While most of the hard work remains, it would have been hard to imagine getting this far, even a year ago.

If future negotiations fail, there will be time to impose new sanctions. If we have to go back to more belligerent actions and rhetoric, at least let us say we did what we could to have real peace.

And hopefully these sorts of negotiations will lead to advances on human rights and other issues where we differ with Iran. Being able to sit at the table and make real progress can often lead to more sitting around the table and making more progress.

Thank You Once Again,

Carl Ballard

You can write Senator Murray here if you want on this or any other issue.

$12 Minimum Wage

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That’s the proposal from Representative Jessyn Farrell for the entire state. Goldy has the details and some speculation about what it could mean for Seattle’s efforts.

Washington’s current inflation-indexed minimum wage of $9.32 an hour is already on pace to exceed $10 an hour by 2017, so the actual net increase on final phase-in would be less than $2 an hour. But that’s not nothing to the half-million or so Washingtonians who see their wages go up. It’s also arguably good for the economy and good for taxpayers.

“If families have more money in their pocket, it lessens the demand for government assistance,” Farrell explained in a press release. “That saves all of us money.”

True. Although it’s first and foremost a moral issue. People ought to be able to survive and raise a family in this state. And a minimum wage ought to be reflective of that. I’d still prefer a $15 minimum wage statewide, but this is an obvious improvement.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers SOTU Response

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The news broke today that Cathy McMorris Rodgers is going to do the rebuttal to the State Of the Union. I think it’s actually a decent choice to not have it be someone who is running for president. The linked piece makes it sound like she’s going to talk about her personal story. The only policy stuff they mention is:

She said through Boehner’s office that she was “honored” to be sharing the Republican vision for the future: “one that trusts the American people and doesn’t limit where you finish because of where you started.”

So it leaves us guessing exactly what she’ll be talking about. Maybe how the Democrats’ support of strengthening the Violence Against Women Act, The Affordable Care Act and talking about immigration reform, are against American Values. Maybe she’ll talk about made up fetal pain and her party’s plan to force women to stay pregnent. Perhaps she’ll complain about how high taxes are even though Federal taxes are lower for most Americans than they’ve been in a long time. Maybe she’ll talk about her brave opposition to Sandy relief. Perhaps she’ll finally be able to name some of the specific spending cuts she’s for. She’ll probably try to turn the rhetoric of the war on women on its head. Maybe she’ll just make stuff up about marijuana.

Oregon Can Not Kill Someone, If It Wants

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I’m glad that Oregon’s death penalty moratorium was upheld, but this is one of the strangest cases I’ve ever heard of.

Oregon death-row inmate Gary Haugen’s legal quest to force his own execution ended Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider his case.

Without comment, the court denied his petition for writ of certiorari. The court turns down the vast majority of requests it receives each year to review a case.

[…]

But two weeks before Haugen’s planned execution date, Kitzhaber issued a reprieve and declared he would not allow any executions as long as he is governor. Kitzhaber criticized capital punishment as “morally wrong” and argued that Oregon’s system “fails to meet basic standards of justice.”

Haugen sued Kitzhaber. The late Senior Judge Timothy Alexander in 2012 agreed with Haugen’s arguments that the inmate had to accept Kitzhaber’s reprieve in order for it to be effective. But on appeal, the Oregon Supreme Court overturned that decision, finding that the governor’s action needed no such acceptance.

Here’s hoping Oregon can end their death penalty on a more permanent basis than who is governor. Still, even though it’s not an ideal way to do it, it would be a good example to Governor Inslee.

If It’s So Rad For You, Why Are You Trying To Stop It?

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In yesterday’s Open Thread, I linked to a piece about two Senators who are trying to preempt SeaTac’s $15 an hour minimum wage initiative. The state minimum wage ought to be a floor. If localities want to do better, there’s no moral reason to preempt them.

It’s a shitty enough idea on its own, of course, but it’s also an attempt to preempt Seattle’s $15 process. And thinking about this piece of legislation rattling around in my mind hit loose this from last session: It seems rather similar to the attempt to preempt the Seattle Sick Leave/ Safe Leave law. And I also thought of this Rodney Tom piece of work from a week or so ago. Again, Rodney Tom thinks that the sick leave/safe leave law (I assume that’s at least part of the shorthand for McGinn) was a boon for the Eastside because it harmed Seattle. He also thinks that it’s his job to harm Seattle if it helps the East Side.

It seems like only two of those three things can be true. If the Rodney Toms and John Brauns of the legislature thought their job was to have “filled up our office towers” at the expense of Seattle and that liberal laws at the local level were doing that, they wouldn’t propose legislation to preempt those laws. So at least one of those things is a lie. Since they’re proposing — and in the last session passing through the Senate — these laws we can assume that they want these laws passed. That leaves either Seattle and SeaTac’s laws aren’t as harmful to business as they say, or those legislators aren’t as anti-Seattle as they say. Given their willingness to fuck with Seattle on a whole host of issues from the cost overrun provision* of a state highway to treating Seattle like a piggy bank to not letting Metro fund itself, they clearly have issues with urban King County, and Seattle specifically.

So that leaves the Sick Leave/Safe Leave law and the $15 minimum wage being bad for business. Given their other two positions, it seems like this is the weak point. As I said in that previous post last week, Seattle is doing OK with our employment regulations. Maybe those legislators are more worried that their constituents will be see what Seattle and SeaTac are doing and want it for themselves.

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