HorsesAss.Org

Goldy details the AG’s complaint against the Grocery Manufacturers Association for their anti-I-522 campaign financing.

According to the complaint, the GMA funded its anti-522 efforts through voluntary assessments on its members (major food companies) separate from their normal association dues. Invoices were sent to GMA members in March and August of 2013, with the goal of raising $10 million to oppose I-522. As of the No on I-522’s most recent disclosure report, the GMA had contributed $7,222,500.

Of course, the GMA and its members are free to spend as much as they want opposing I-522; the issue here is their failure to disclose the source of the money. GMA members—familiar brands like Pepsi, Kraft, Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Kellogg’s—faced a ton of bad publicity for the millions they contributed to defeat the similar Prop 37 in California last year. The complaint outlines what appears to be a deliberate effort to shield these companies from similar publicity, in direct violation of Washington’s voter-approved public disclosure laws. In addition to penalties and legal fees, the AG is seeking to force the GMA to register as a political action committee and reveal its donors.

It’s a process story rather than a policy story, and I don’t think people really vote based on that (for specific candidates they do, I’m not convinced they do for ballot initiatives). Still, perhaps this feeds the narrative more than usual. The Frankenfood industry doesn’t want you to know who is spending money in the initiative process just like it doesn’t want you to know what you’re eating. I don’t know.

– 144 Representatives, all Republicans none from WA, voted to keep the government shut down and for the US to default. That’s gross in at least two ways.

– In case you missed it during the shutdown, a Seattle resident was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Ganjgal.

– The 60 Minutes strenuously fact-free assertions about disabled people “leeching” off the system are even more pernicious in this context, since they add to the narrative that the United States bears no collective responsibility to support any of our poorest citizens, regardless of their circumstances.

– Are you ready for Seattle Startup Week?

– Seattle has had a long history of women at the head of bike organizations (see also: Barb Culp). But this is the first time, at least to my knowledge, that a woman has held every top spot.

– I’ve never played either of the Plants versus Zombies games, but the psychology behind those sorts of games is interesting.

I’m sure y’all are reading the NPI Advocate. When Andrew goes into live blogging mode or when he’s making fun of Tim Eyman it’s always solid. So as soon as I saw the title of this piece about Eyman speaking at the transit listening committee was of course going to be great.

“The people attending these meetings, including myself, are not a representative sample of the taxpayers of Washington,” Eyman said, instantly drawing another round of boos and jeers. “Normal people are at home recovering from a long day at work, but their voices deserve to be heard too,” he added.

“We’re normal people!” shouted several indignant audience members in a near simultaneous (but uncoordinated) reply. “I came here straight from work,” one young woman sitting near me said loudly.

People in the room were offended, and certainly they had every right to be.

Were I not an activist who has been watchdogging Tim Eyman and fighting his destructive initiatives for over a decade, I would have been offended too. I’d have resented Eyman’s sneering implication that I was not a “normal” person because I had chosen to give up part of my evening to share my opposition to Metro service cuts with the people charged with deciding what our laws and budget should be.

[…]

Eyman may not be normal – after all, he’s a well paid professional politician – but plenty of people who showed up at tonight’s hearing are regular Washingtonians who claim to represent nobody but themselves. They spoke as citizens and activists, not lobbyists or political operatives. Unlike Eyman, they don’t get paid big bucks to promote cynical initiatives designed to wreck government.

Just because Tim Eyman isn’t normal, he shouldn’t smear the rest of the people who show up on a Monday night to participate in the process. Usually in Olympia at hearings and committee meetings these sorts of things are overwhelmingly dominated by lobbyists and other people more like Tim Eyman who make their living taking one side or another. When they actually come to Seattle and other parts of the state, they can hear from a broader selection of people.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and I don’t agree on much. But at least she can see the value of not shutting down the government over a law she doesn’t like (Seattle Times link). Eventually.

In a statement released Tuesday, Herrera Beutler said she’s avoided public comment before now because she wanted to give Republican leaders leeway to craft a deal.

But she said the time has come for Republicans “to face reality” and made it clear she will not vote for “poison pills” seeking to end the Affordable Care Act, which have no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law.

Unlike Dave Reichert, who I complained about earlier, this seems legit. As we’re on the eve of a potential default, it seems like a praiseworthy thing. Especially since it’s a pretty conservative Republican who was first elected in the Tea Party wave (and who post-redistricting might be more likely to face a primary challenge than be defeated by a Democrat). So, I doubt I’ll make a habit of praising conservative Republicans in this state, but thanks Representative Herrera Buetler for recognizing reality.

The crisis continues…the federal government is still being held hostage, but that won’t keep us from plotting a rescue mission. Please join us for an evening of rescue politics over a pint at tonight’s gathering of 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 to Seattle tonight? Check out another nearby DL meeting over the next week. The Tri-Cities and Shelton chapters meet tonight. The Lakewood and South Seattle chapters meet this Wednesday. For Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. And next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 210 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.

– How do you know when a Koch brothers sponsored group is lying in a press release? If it issued a press release.

– And the goddamned town full of righteous assholes who populate Maryville, Missouri joined up to recite the sacred mantra of “boys will be boys” and to condemn and harass the victims.

– Maybe not letting King County fund its own transit is a way to fund the 520 bridge since people are switching in large numbers due to the tolling.

– “As a matter of policy I always wait a few days before reading anything Alessandra Stanley writes so editors have time to issue the necessary 3-4 corrections. So I admit I’ve yet to read the piece.”

– This weekend’s weird protest against the fallout of the government shutdown they engineered is just the latest primal scream from this slowly dying breed of American.

– Three Olympia local food options that aren’t the co-op or the farmers market

– I always try to write a quick email when I’ve had good customer service (although in fairness, I’ve never been great at following through on it). Lately though, it’s been harder and harder to find a good email address. I feel like I’m being pushed to Twitter and Facebook, but those feel too public for that. Is it that putting those addresses somewhere where I can find it means that it’s also somewhere where billions of spam bots can find them too? Has anyone else had this problem, or is it just me?

– Ayn Random

Over the weekend, I was crossing the street, and a mom and her 2 or 3 year old kid were walking down the street in the opposite direction when the kid suddenly starts crying and laying down in the middle of the crosswalk. And the mother says “you can’t have your temper tantrum in the street.” Then she pulled him over to the sidewalk where he continued to throw his tantrum.

I’m not a parent, and I have no idea what the back story is, so I’m not going to criticize the mom. But I sort of think that makes a good metaphor for what the GOP is doing.

Maybe the GOP temper tantrum in the middle of the street is hoping that the rest of us will see their temper tantrums not in the middle of the street as reasonable. But their temper tantrums aren’t reasonable.

– A bill for the next session would make it easier to fire cops. On the one hand, I’m generally opposed to management being able to arbitrarily be able to fire employees, on the other hand, there are some cops out there who probably need it.

– Over at Defeating the Dragons there’s a multi-part piece on how an evangelical becomes pro-choice. In some ways since I’m not an evangelical it’s not my fight, but since there is so much spill over into public polity, it’s probably necessary. In any event it’s so far a pretty good read.

– I’m still think a special session to get a transit bill is our best hope of not losing Metro fundin, but Ben Schiendelman makes the case that it’s bad news and has a way forward.

– If you’re waving a confederate flag, you’ve lost the argument.

Last week’s contest was won by zzippy. It was Rehoboth Beach, DE.

This week’s is from Google 45-degree views, good luck!

Ezekiel 23:8
She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.

Discuss.

Stephen: Shep’s FAUX News deck.

Mark Fiore: The Grand Bargain hoax:

Chris Cillizza with Maya MacGuineas: Why do we have an unbalanced budget.

Mental Floss: 30 Life Hacks Debunked.

Sam Seder: The conservative trucker protest that wasn’t.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Sharpton has some civics lessons for the G.O.P.

The Law of The Land:

• WaPo Obamacare Q&A: Can anyone deny me coverage?.
• ObamaCare or Shut Up.
• Sharpton: Republicans compare ‘Obamacare’ to slavery
• Jon: Medicant
• Young Turks: Obamacare will destroy America! says nutjob Rep. Broun

Thom: The climate change point of no return.

White House: West Wing Week.

Sam Seder: Michele Bachman says some crazy shit.

Pit TV: Stop and Frisk…

Stephen: On the guy running for Michele Bachman’s seat’s totally illegal ads.

Ann Telnaes: Some $peech is worth more than others.

The Hostage Crisis Continues:

• Thom: We need a hostage negotiator.
• Jon on bipartisan curious Republicans.
• Sam Seder: GOP holds America hostage, mainstream media pushes false equivalency.
• Young Turks: NBC/WSJ poll is devastating for Republicans.
• Ann Telnaes: Power-drunk Boehner.
• FuckYouCongress. Time for some Recycling!
• Sam Seder’s solution.
• Jon: Who is to blame???
• Boehner’s shutdown is hurting Ohio.
• Chris Hayes: The G.O.P.’s “new” ransom strategy.
• Young Turks: Why the religious right doesn’t fear financial collapse.
• Maddow: Up is Down for Republicans.
• Maddow: New class of GOPers bring their own rule book.
• What if the shutdown isn’t so bad for the G.O.P.?
• Ann Telnaes: The G.O.P.’s terrible performance.
• Daily Show: Where is the GOP coming from?

The GOP War on Women™ continues with anti-Hillary buttons.

Maddow: G.O.P. muddles message.

Chris Hayes: Meet a member of the Ignorance Caucus.

Pap: The death of Republican ideas.

Stephen: New Pot laws.

Red State Update: Podcast 47, All we want is a conversation with Obama.

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News’s fake Obama Muslim museum story.

Thom: Wendy Davis vs. the TX Good Ol’ Boys.

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

With Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell not up for reelection in 2014, Washingtonians might be interested in the Oregon senate race. And I suspect Blue Oregon will be a great source of information (It certainly couldn’t be worse than the Oregonian).

For a while there, we wondered if Karl Rove’s efforts to “make Oregon next” were falling short in the 2014 U.S. Senate race.

But in the space of just a few days this week, we’ve gone from wondering if anybody was really serious about running – to a possible three-way Republican primary.

Kari at Blue Oregon is happy with a primary. I’m always skeptical about that, and think it’s free publicity for the side that’s having a primary. But Jeff Merkley is a pretty strong candidate, and I think he’ll be able to survive, especially if the GOP go into full meltdown mode.

Last night I was having dinner with my friend Dave. We started exploring the question of whether the House Republicans were crazier when Clinton was Prez or now. Remember how totally outrageous the House was under the Newtster? They shut down the government…twice. And then they decided to impeach the President, essentially, for getting a blow job. The two charges that passed along party lines in the House was easily dismissed by the Senate.

There was a kind of zealotry in that bunch of Republicans that parallels what we see today. They share a collective tone-deafness that has caused House Republicans—then and now—to unwittingly undertake extreme actions that Americans disagree with.

Both then and now, there was a zealotry that was borne out of hatred for the Democratic President. But here is a difference I see between then and now. Republicans seemed angrier, but less crazy in their zealotry back then. Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde were angry and cynical men, who sometimes said outrageous things to make a point—but a point that had some connection to reality. The current crop of Republicans are expressing zealotry borne out of a much bigger dose of madness. It seems many in the current crop have been brainwashed into believing things that are at odds with facts, with reality (Kenya!, Obama Muslim conspiracy!, cutting taxes raises revenue, Obamacare kills!, etc.).

Michele Bachmann and Louie Gohmert seem to really believe the crazy-ass shit they say. They live in a largely self-constructed universe.

In some cases it seems the hatred observed of both groups is confounded in the current crop by racial hatred. It has driven some House Republicans to insanity.

So what do you think? Were they crazier in the crazy House days of the Clinton Administration? Has Obama derangement syndrome pushed today’s G.O.P. further off the cliff of sanity? Or was the Newt-pack just as bad?

When I mentioned the grocery workers’ strike authorization, I said that I wasn’t sure what to do to support them if a strike came. I still don’t, but I’m glad to see that there is a website with options. You can get updates emailed to you, if you don’t mind that. There’s Grocery Store Alternatives for if the strike comes and you still need to shop. If you’d rather check them out on Facebook, you can here.

The site still feels like a work in progress, and presumably it will scale up if there is a strike. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but I’m glad it’s there if there is a need.

The King County Exec’s office doesn’t mince words — nor should it — in this press release about what the shutdown is doing to nutrition programs in the county.

Advance layoff notices were sent this morning to 82 King County employees who provide essential nutrition services for Women, Infants and Children, as a consequence of the continuing federal shutdown.

“This self-inflicted, manufactured crisis will interrupt essential nutrition services for

38,000 pregnant women, new mothers, and young children in King County,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “They are literally taking food from the mouths of babies.”

As a result of the shutdown, USDA funding in King County and Washington state for the Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC, will expire on October 31st. The loss of funding will have a total economic impact of up to $30 million dollars a year, including $23 million that goes directly for food for families.

WIC is a federally-funded nutrition program that helps 38,000 women and children in King County eat well, learn about nutrition and stay healthy. The program provides vouchers for nutritious foods and infant formula, health screenings, nutrition and health education, and breastfeeding support. WIC services are provided through Public Health – Seattle & King County clinics and nine community partners, including community health centers, Swedish Medical Center, Neighborhood House and Open Arms.

I can’t even imagine that Republicans think this is OK. And yet they do. They think it’s fine and dandy to starve children because they don’t want their constituents to be able to afford health care.

These sort of cuts are going on everywhere, but since this press release is King County, let’s think of Dave Reichert. He represents some of those children, and their mothers, who won’t have enough to eat. Some of those 38,000 women and children are his constituents and his neighbors in King County.

He says he would vote for a clean CR. And good on him for that. But as far as I can see, he hasn’t done anything to push that vote to the floor. He’s still saying the Democrats are the problem instead of his GOP colleagues having a temper tantrum, so he still thinks shutting down the government is a legit tactic to get legislative concessions, hungry babies be damned. He hasn’t called for a vote, at least publicly. I don’t think he has signed on to the discharge petition that would bring the vote to the floor (I couldn’t find a list of who has). He voted against the Democrats’ parliamentary maneuver to have the vote. It’s more important to him to show some sort of unity with the people holding the government hostage than to feed his neighbors.