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Open Thread 12/12

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– Crazy ass guesses about what Bertha ran into

– So it turns out selfish assholism isn’t a great way to run one of America’s premier brands.

– Yesterday I said our being near the top of signups for health care should probably be divided against state population. Here’s that, and it’s less yay Washington and more yay Vermont.

– I don’t know the difference between taxes and fees in the budget deal either. Maybe we can have a high earners income fee in this state?

– Boeing chief meets with union reps who opposed 777X deal (Seattle Times link)

– I’m digging Joe Posnanski’s 100 greatest baseball players list. Especially the ones I haven’t heard of.

We’re Number 4

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Washington is the state with the 4th most signups for health care via exchanges. Looking at the list, I think it’s in terms of raw numbers, so extra bully on us as a medium sized state.

More than 175,000 Washington residents have signed up through the state exchange to date, according to data on wahealthplanfinder.org. Many are newly eligible for Medicaid when the public health program expands in January.

More than 18,000 residents have signed up for qualified health plans that are sold through the exchange, and another 43,000 have filled out applications, but have yet to make payments.

Obviously, it’s a bit silly to make a state-by-state comparison. Some states will have more people who need the exchanges and some will have less. And unless you divide by population, it’s not that useful of a metric. Still, it shows that a governor and a legislature committed to making the exchanges work can make the exchanges work. Imagine that.

Can You Take A Transit Free Victory Lap?

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It’s kind of strange that the State Senate GOP (er, Majority Coalition (er, GOP)) are talking about how awesome things have been under their leadership.

From an unprecedented boost in support for K-12 education and the first college-tuition freeze in nearly three decades to a sustainable new state budget that was balanced without general tax increases, the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus racked up a remarkable list of achievements in its first year.

Your Caucus was pushing for differential tuition and you totally would have spent the money we’re getting from having a somewhat improved economy on tax cuts instead of education. Also much of that “boost” to K-12 education comes from teacher pay, and that’s not really a boost so much as moving money around within education.

But it’s that “remarkable list of achievements” that caught my eye, since they didn’t even propose a transit package: They killed the Columbia River Crossing and didn’t replace it with anything. In the wake of the I-5 bridge collapse they decided low taxes was the priority. They heard King County ask to tax itself and they’ve pissed away any time to make it happen.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottlePlease join us this evening for some politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm.




Can’t make it tonight? Check out another Washington state DL over the next week.

The Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and Vancouver, WA chapters also meet this evening. On Thursday the Bremerton chapter meets. The Centralia chapter meets on Friday. And next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 212 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 near you.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

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So we got a few flurries, but not much during work. It’s sort of sticking but not really. Since I’m safely on my way home, and since it probably won’t stick, I couldn’t be happier with the prospect of snow before it warms up.

With that said, moisture offshore will move inland and as that collides with our cold atmosphere, there’s a chance of snow for all of us later today. The coastal communities will see the snow first (a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for the Long Beach Peninsula through 11pm Tuesday) as 1-2″ of snow is likely. We won’t see that much in the way of accumulations across the lowlands, but the chance of light snow will greet us later today.

Did you have anything where you work? Are you dreading the prospect of shoveling your walkway, small as it may be? Do you have kids who you are are hoping won’t miss school tomorrow? Are you just making a nice lentil soup so what the hell, you can have a walk in the snow if it comes and warm up after?

Open Thread 12/9

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– I try not to link to the same blog twice in one open thread, but there are two really good pieces at Seattle Transit Blog recently. So please, either read this about standing on the bus or this on the rail options to Ballard. But not both!!!

– 6 questions for the media about the Soho anti-prostitution raids

– In the larger context, note that when the Obama administration moves the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See closer to the Vatican, the right deems it “anti-religion.” When conservative slam the pope’s economic views, that’s fine.

– Things that aren’t gaffes if they’re fine in context aren’t gaffes.

– I knew most of the Mark Driscoll is terrible stuff here, but it’s helpful to see it in one place.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Cillizza: Obama speech looks past policy to legacy.

Ann Telnaes: Boehner thinks the House is working hard.

Where hate and love come together: Westboro Mingle:

Sam Seder: Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) “This Christmas give the gift of me to your children.

Remembering Nelson Mandela:

Moment of Clarity: Fracking, wooden tables.

An anthem for the end of Hannukah.

Ann Telnaes: Cardinal Dolan thinks gay marriage is about marketing.

Jon: Minimum wage debate.

American Moment: On climate change.

G.O.P. Autopsy, Obstruction, Lying and Denial:

Kimmel: Is George W. Bush losing it?

Random Rush: “ObamaCare is forcing people to get divorced!!!!!!

Rob Ford…The Movie.

Young Turks: Driving while Black…with a White girl.

Nia-Malika Henderson: Women left behind in the economic recovery.

Drone Nation:

Stephen interviews Denver Post’s pot editor.

Daily Show: Why the media is ignoring Wall Street scandal.

Rep Jim McDermott (D-WA-07) explains ObamaCare and why it’s so important.

Thom: ALEC’s 2014 extreme agenda exposed.

Moment of Clarity: Why you are a slave.

Pope Commie!

White House: West Wing Week.

Sam Seder: Bill-O the Clown defends us against the War on Christmas.

Mental Floss: 30 game changing video games.

Roy Zimmerman: Notes from the road

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

Or Less

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In the last post, I estimated the cost of legislating for all of the states that were competing to give Boeing all of the tax breaks was probably millions of dollars. Of course right after I hit send, I stumbled across this piece on how much legislators have claimed for the session (s/r link). Obviously, there are other costs like security, staff time, and keeping the lights on. But the cost is actually less than I would have guessed. So maybe it didn’t reach into the millions and I should probably be more careful about the numbers make up as examples, even when they’re obviously made up.

The tab for last month’s three-day special session to approve tax breaks for Boeing stands at $28,626 and counting, the most recent reports filed by legislators show.

Requests for the $90 per diem that legislators can claim have been processed, with some filling only for a day or two and some not requesting any. Some expense vouchers for travel to and from Olympia by senators might not come in until February

Because legislators can be reimbursed for driving expenses at 56.5 cents a mile, the biggest payments went to Eastern Washington representatives and senators who travel the farthest.

States Wrong

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When reading about the other states having special sessions to try to lure Boeing production, it’s really disheartening. Not that Boeing is dumb enough to take those offers. They may well, and have to start from scratch or near from scratch again with a workforce who their goal is to have be shittier (if you get what you pay for).

No, what I’m concerned about is that there are a lot of states (including Washington, obvs) that will have a sunk cost of putting on a special session, and only one of them will have a gain. I know they won’t, but Boeing might consider compensating the states that it doesn’t pick as an irenic gesture: Sorry you wasted millions of dollars trying to give us billions of dollars.

At What Point Does King County Stop Playing Nice?

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Joel Connelly has a piece potential Metro cuts. He uses the Route 2 changes as a hook to show what the changes could mean. And he has links to when citizens can attend Metro Open Houses.

–Tonight (Thursday): North Seattle Community College, 6 to 8 p.m.

–Tuesday, Dec. 10, Union Station in downtown Seattle, noon to 2 p.m.

–Wednesday, Dec. 11, Bellevue City Hall, 6 to 8 p.m.

–Monday, December 16, Kent City Commons in Kent, 6 to 8 p.m.

–Thursday, January 16, Peter Kirk Community Center in Kirkland, 6 to 8 p.m.

–Thursday, January 23, South Shore K-8 School in Southeast Seattle, 6 to 8 p.m.

You should definately go and let people know how the cuts will hit you if you’re interested. But I’m more interested in this hook that he starts it:

The key to whether cuts are prevented likely rests with a quartet of Eastside legislators who are members of the Senate Majority Coalition — Republican State Sens. Andy Hill, Joe Fain and Steve Litzow as well as renegade Democrat and titular Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom.

Well, it could, still I suppose rest on them. Or it could rest on if King County can bypass those people and pass something. It could rest more on if the King County Council (that has some of the same problem) has enough members willing to put something on the ballot, or just pass something outright.

Open Thread 12/5

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– Yay for Bill Clinton saying states should decide for themselves if they’re going to legalize marijuana and all. Still, he was president, and he didn’t really move in that direction. Obviously states have forced the issue since he left office, but he was president.

– Instead, the racial battlegrounds of the Obama era have settled on a series of more ambiguous controversies. Conservatives have made endless jokes based on the strange premise that Obama is unable to express coherent thoughts unless reading from a teleprompter, defined health-care reform as “reparations,” imagined a Reagan-era program to subsidize telephone use for the indigent is actually “Obamaphones,” or complained when black entertainers or athletes socialize with the First Family. The accusations of racism that follow merely confirm to conservatives that black-on-white racism is a canard, that the balance of oppression has turned against them.

– I’m not sure how assholes decided that happy holidays was the worst thing imaginable. It seems nice to me.

– White, wealthy people who are members of the dominant religion are not “the real victims” of anything. They’re actually not even in a position to know what experiencing structural oppression feels like. So why do they still have an audience every time they want to complain that, notwithstanding everything, they’re still not privileged enough?

– I never get invited on the panel of important seeming people

If There Was No Bike Infrastructure, You’d Still Be Stuck In Traffic

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A few months ago when I wrote about Linda Thomas using driving as a hook that, I felt was unnecessary, the first comment noted that as a radio commentator, her audience is disproportionately people driving. It’s a good point, and partly that explains the tone of this piece on My Northwest.

It’s far from a done deal and the public would be consulted before a protected bike lane would be added to one of those streets. But what is a protected bike lane, and how is it different from the bike lanes currently on 2nd and 4th?

Cycle tracks are full traffic lanes that are set aside from vehicle traffic and protected from cars by barriers.

“There might be a lane of parked cars that separate the travel lane and the bicycle facility,” Chang said. “It could be curbing, or it could be striping with some posts.”

Seattle has three of these protected bike lanes right now. Drivers and parkers had trouble with one on Broadway in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, because parking was pushed away from the curb into an old traffic lane. Those parked cars now protect the bike riders.

[…]

The money to pay for these extra bicycle amenities comes from your property taxes.

Still, what I think the piece is missing is that not providing bicycle infrastructure doesn’t mean there’s more parking or more room on the road. It would mean that more people would drive to everywhere. And when they do, they’ll take up room with their cars. If you can get several people out of their cars onto bikes, you won’t have to compete with them for parking space, and you won’t have them in the lanes of traffic that you’re trying to merge into. And as someone who bikes and drives, I’m just going to say that drivers are worse stewards of the roads than bicyclists; Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone text and bike.

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