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Please join us for an evening of politics over a pint at tonight’s Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm, but people will show up earlier than that for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Longview and South Seattle chapters meet this Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, the nation’s newest chapter, the Lakewood, Washington Drinking Liberally chapter, will meet. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet.

With 207 chapters of Living Liberally, including sixteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and two more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

On Boston:

– I am just hopeful at the stories of runners continuing to run directly to MGH to give blood, people running towards the blasts to offer help and comfort and aid, and the splendid work the BFD, BPD, State Police, and our elected officials have done so far. The only question to ask is not who to blame but how to help.

– Why we pay taxes

– And it makes me ache to see the invisibilizing of survivors of terror during coverage of another terrorist attack. Let’s not do that. Please.

– Obama’s speech at the press briefing room.

And non-Boston:

– I get that business owners are upset about the sick leave and it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll raise their prices to pay for more costs. But do they think dickishness is going to help?

– Rand Paul’s speech at Howard University.

– I get a lot of calls from the Conservative Majority Fund and a couple of other groups whose breathless, hyperventilated, and shouted warnings about President wanting to take our guns

– Some power is wielded in the spotlight, but “the background” is often where the real power lies. LaHaye knows this, which is why his CNP has wielded more influence for a longer time than most of the many spotlight-hungry organizations that have come and gone since it began.

– A while ago I had a link that the Spokane Street Viaduct would come in under budget. Here’s what Seattle will be using the rest of the money on.

– The Path To Citizenship

There are still more questions than answers about what happened at the Boston Marathon earlier today. I’ve been gathering some links for tomorrow’s open thread, but I couldn’t let this pass without note:

“An insane rebellion against our Creator God is the root cause of this murderous action,” writes [Mars Hill] Pastor David Fairchild in a post shortly after Monday’s explosions.

“We may blame this barbarism on religion, economics, politics, and even mental maladies. Though influential, the underlying sin behind every sin is treason against the One who made us for love and flourishing,” Fairchild writes.

No. No it isn’t. We don’t know if the people who did this are religious fanatics, or if they have some other motive. But no, Fairchild and any other person who wants to throw God’s intent into this needs to just not.

If God is part of the healing, for individuals or communities, great. But you don’t get to shoehorn God into this. Not now. Not ever.

I was to work very early this morning, and got home quite late. I was greeted by a thunderstorm that knocked out the internet at my house. So I only heard a bit about the Boston bombs on the radio.

One person who was slightly injured in Boston today was from the Puget Sound region. Bill Iffrig is from Lake Stevens—he is 78 years old, and was knocked down very close to where the bomb exploded. He was interviewed on ESPN:

In the interview, Bill suggests he may have seen how the bomb was disguised just before it exploded.

(H/T TPM)

– Happy Jackie Robinson Day.

– I’ve got a get a car.

– I don’t know what’s worse, the general dickishness of this picture, or that fact that people from Mercer Island and Auburn think they’re cowboys.

– It’s a little hard to unpack what he is doing here. First of all, he means fetuses. Second, it is impossible to arm fetuses (but if it was possible, @bridoc has a good point: “Fetuses have awful aim”). Third, the implication is that fetuses would shoot doctors performing abortions. Therefore the “Vote Pro-Life!” at the bottom of the bumper sticker seems perhaps out of place?

– Child sex trafficking – as easy in Seattle as ordering a pizza

– Bitcoin isn’t a currency. It’s a commodity.

Last week’s contest was really tough and no one got it. It was just outside of San Diego.

This week’s contest is an image from Google’s 45 degree views, good luck!

Exodus 25:15
Don’t ever remove the poles from the rings.

Discuss.

Ann Telnaes: Kansas abortion law.

Walmart v. Costco: How they treat their employees.

Pap: Rape in the military.

Aqua Buddha Man:

• Jon: On the edumacation of Rand Paul.
• Maddow: Paul goes to Howard University to teach Black history.
• Jansing & Co.: GOP and the black vote
• Sharpton: Sen. Rand Paul lies at Howard University.
• The Young Turks: Rewriting history
• Michael Brooks: Rand Paul whitewashes civil rights record at Howard.
• Bashir: Sen. Paul invents his own history.
• Chris Hayes: Buddha lies

Young Turks: A 51st state?

Mark Fiore: Tar Sands Timmy.

Ann Telnaes: The two escalator economy.

Kid Grows Up?

• Noted Romney supporter, Kid Rock, finds embarrassment in being a Republican.
• Sharpton: Kid Rock is “fucking embarassed”…”to be a Republican”

Young Turks: State lawmaker equates Muslim prayer with terrorism.

Robert Reich: Public morality:

Lawrence O’Donnell: DREAMing for an end of legal limbo.

Guns and Violence

• Maddow: NRA influence seen in court case to allow felons to have guns.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: G.O.P. becomes the party of stupid on guns.
• Obama speaks on reducing gun violence.
• They deserve a vote.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Sandy Hook students demand action.
• Michelle speaks on youth violence.
• Maddow: “Almost angry.”

Sam Seder: NC legislators want an official state religion.

White House: West Wing Week.

CNN: Gabby Giffords, two years later.

Mental Floss: 50 Weird Laws:

Budget Insanity:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Obama’s budget brings out Republican’s inner lunatics.
• Alex Wagner: The GOP can’t even agree on budget items they hate.

Maddow: Obama uses his head in giving a political lesson.

NRCC’s Buzzfeedified web site.

Red State Update: News of the week.

Obama hosts a Memphis Soul evening at the White House.

The Munchy Majority:

• SlateTV: Live and Let Light-up.
• Stephen: The marijuana majority.
• John Fugelsang: Legal cannabis is the conservative point of view
• WA pot laws don’t allow out-of-state visitors to partake.

Sam Seder: Elizabeth Warren demolishes bank regulators for protecting banks over people.

Maddow: Virgina’s TRAP laws threaten abortion rights.

Republican FAIL.

America under water.

Smokey Joe Does Biblical Science:

• Sharpton: Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX-6) says Bible proves climate change is false.
• Sam Seder: Smokey Joe cites bible to challenge climate change.

Maddow: Republicans turn to (probable war criminal) Dick Cheney for advice?!?

Young Turks: Catholic League leader PWNED on gay hypocrisy.

Kimmel: This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.

Jon: Our own worst enemy.

Anthony Weiner Looks for Redemption:

• Stephen: Huge news…after long withdrawl, Weiner ready to thrust back into politics.
• Jansing & Co: Weiner jumps back in?
• Sharpton: Weiner wants redemption.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: If Sanford could do it, can Weiner?

Maddow: Remember when it was illegal for the CIA to assassinate? It still is.

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

Ann Telnaes: The consequences of a Republican filibuster on guns.

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

This is a great and all. I’m totally supportive of it, and I hope to see it happen.

The US Bicycle Route System is a vision for a network of these routes, allowing for easier and safer bicycle travel to all reaches of the nation. The country already has some active segments in the Mid-West and East Coast.

Washington is working to develop USBR 10, working with towns, cities and parks across northern Washington. And, as the Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s John Pope reports, the collaboration has already resulted in some unexpected benefits.

It sounds like an amazing thing, and I’d certainly take it some way. But I can’t imagine going to Eastern Washington on a bike, but I’m not in the greatest shape of my life. Maybe it’s less daunting if you’re planning it. God bless anyone who would be willing and able to do it.

I would be more inclined to go South to Vancouver, then to Longview, and then up the East Sound. That sounds like a fun vacation if the vision for Washington is ever completed. I wonder how long that would take if the route is ever completed?

In the mayor’s race, the mainstream media and local bigwigs are assuming Mike McGinn is done. And I get it: he isn’t popular. He has had problems with police accountability. Dumbasses think paying market rates for parking and installing bike lanes are a war on cars.* Something something the tunnel. But given that they all told us Greg Nickels would have a cakewalk, I’m not so sure. And neither is UNITE HERE Local 8, as they’ve just endorsed him.

During his first term, Mayor McGinn played an instrumental role in passing Seattle’s groundbreaking paid sick days law. He also publicly supported Hyatt workers in their effort to organize for a better workplace free of employer intimidation, and championed the creation of good jobs for stadium workers with the return of the Seattle Supersonics.

“Mayor McGinn has proven to be an incredibly strong advocate for hospitality workers in Seattle,” said Erik Van Rossum, President of UNITE HERE Local 8. “From passing the nation’s third paid sick leave law to creating jobs and standing with workers, Mayor McGinn is the most progressive mayor in America.”

“Mayor McGinn has consistently supported good quality jobs and responsible economic growth,” continued Van Rossum. “Time and again when hotel housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers and stadium concession workers need a strong voice at City Hall, Mayor McGinn is there.”

He still has a lot of work to do to get reelected, or for that matter to get out of the primary (by way of full disclosure: including to get my vote, although if the election were today, I’d vote for him). But certainly this is the right sort of endorsement to get. It reminds people why The Seattle Times and bidness people hate him, and it may be a dedicated force of door knockers and phone callers for a campaign that will be short of cash compared to some of the others.

[Read more…]

One of the biggest hurdles to implementing I-502 in Washington is banking:

Banks fall under the scrutiny of federal regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And bankers fear punishment if their account holders violate anti-money laundering laws. I’ve also heard that banks are worried about pot-related businesses leasing out space in commercial real estate properties on which banks hold loans, which could limit where marijuana producers or retailers locate.

The pot industry’s banking dilemma is making it harder for state leaders to set up a legal pot industry in Washington. Scott Jarvis, director of Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions, recently went to Washington, D.C., and met with several federal banking regulators seeking clarity. Jarvis left without an answer.

This has long been a problem for medical marijuana businesses and is expected to be just as problematic for the new recreational marijuana businesses in both Washington and Colorado. With the emergence of bitcoins, however, does this provide a workable alternative?

Once considered a nutty idea favored by computer geeks and anti-government types, bitcoin is gaining traction as a legitimate way to buy and sell goods.

True believers say it’s the future of Internet commerce, where the world is united in a common digital currency rather than dollars, euros, yens, pounds or pesos.

Shorter term, bitcoin has become a scorching-hot commodity among speculators who are trading the virtual currency at a record clip in deals worth millions of actual dollars.

I don’t have any well-formed opinions yet about the bitcoin phenomenon, but I’m very curious whether this would be a feasible workaround to the banking problem. I guess the main obstacles would be getting enough customer acceptance and perhaps tracking and paying all the required business taxes, but I certainly haven’t thought this through. Your thoughts?

I’m not the biggest Reuven Carlyle fan. Still, I’m glad he goes after tax loopholes.

Carlyle, who’s been beating the tax breaks drum for years, went on to trash the whole exemptions process, saying it was time to apply “the same line by line rigor to both sides of the ledger” pointing out that while the legislature debates program spending every budget cycle, it looks the other way when it comes to tax breaks. “It’s a new era. We’re expecting and demanding a new level of rigor for tax breaks.”

Carlyle said that the legislature has created 277 new tax exemptions worth $3.6 billion since 1995 (he didn’t also note, though, that the Democrats have been in control for most of that time).* The grand total now, he said, is 640 tax exemptions worth “tens of billions.”

Carlyle said that some of them made sense, but concluded: “Here’s the deal: Let’s acknowledge as a state that in some cases the money from tax breaks would deliver better value, a better return on investment, by investing in kids and families, schools and universities.”

I suspect that I’d find more loopholes to close than Carlyle (or the median legislator in either house). But this is a good conversation to have.

[Read more…]

Sorry this is late

– Congrats to Sally Jewell

– I like Jim Wallis, but he’s quite late to the party on marriage equality, and then only half assedly there.

– For those who were interested in why Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette was out.

– Pregnancy Is Hard But Anti-Choicers Refuse to Admit It

– I don’t know if I’m more happy or sad about the cancellation of the Blue Angels, but I’m definitely both.

– The Direct Tui

I’m generally a rights of defendants person. And more generally a you can have your day in court person. But even with those filters, this seems like a dumb lawsuit (Links to the TNT, so use your clicks accordingly).

Paula Henry’s husband was fatally shot by a family friend in Tacoma in 1995, and now 18 years later her husband’s killer is suing her and others from prison.

Larry Shandola alleges that Henry violated his privacy rights and intentionally inflicted emotional distress, in part by telling the state Department of Corrections that he shouldn’t be allowed to serve his sentence in his birth country of Canada.

…

Now Shandola is seeking $100,000 each from Paula Henry and other defendants, according to court records. He had Henry served with the lawsuit at her home, which prompted her to move because she was terrified that he knew where she lived, Ladenburg said.

Some of Henry’s friends and a victim’s advocate are also named in the suit and have had to pay thousands to defend themselves, Ladenburg said.

A motion to dismiss the lawsuit will be heard Friday, he said. Henry is requesting $10,000 in statutory damages, according to court documents.

I mean unless there’s something I’m missing here this is, on top of being cruel, just dumb.

The linked article says that while it’s too late to do something about this sort of thing in the legislature unless it’s attached to another bill. I don’t know how that would pass muster with the 2 items requirement, but if they can do that, great.

The Queen Anne, Belltown, and Downtown business people are upset that Hempfest is going to exist and are couching it in complaints about the venue.

At the request of the BBA Board, BBA President Jim Miller joined with the Downtown Seattle Association and the Uptown Alliance in a letter to the City’s Office of Economic Development requesting that the City not issue a permit to Hempfest for use of Myrtle Edwards Park unless specific conditions are met.

The letter states that the size of Hempfest at 250,000 participants has outgrown the 4.8 acres of Myrtle Edwards as a safe and appropriate venue, that customer access to nearby waterfront businesses is closed off during the festival, and that noise, traffic, and trash are a direct impact to the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

We can’t have tourists coming to one of the most vibrant areas of the city? That would be a negative? It seems overblown to me, as someone who has never been to Hempfest.

And I suppose I have been negatively impacted: I once had to bike to Ballard using a different route! The bottom line is that the city functions just fine when Hempfest is going on. And the downtown location is a draw. People from out of state can find a hotel in walking distance, for example.

Also, one of their proposals — shortening the event to one day — seems counterproductive if the goal is to not crowd the park. I assume some people are only coming for one day. If the business groups got their way, instead of some of them going on Saturday and some on Sunday, they’d all come in on the same day.