HorsesAss.Org

I’m writing to urge you to adopt rules federally banning states, cities, and other municipalities from paying for sports arenas for professional teams. Or better, prohibit teams in leagues with over some amount of assets to play in municipally built stadiums. Model it after Seattle’s initiative, so municipalities have to be able to make money off the deal or no deal.

With the NBA telling the Kings they can’t relocate, part of the underlying reasoning they’re staying in a smaller media market with a worse offer is that town is willing to shill out an obscene amount of money to build an arena. The amount that cities are willing to bilk their taxpayers is a large part of the reason the Kings aren’t coming to Seattle. So, while it would probably be too late to get the Sonics back this time, this would better lay the groundwork for future.

It would also be fundamentally more decent. After all, these sort of deals are out of control, and most cities with sports teams are on the bad end of these types of deals, having to take much of the risk with any financial gain going to the teams. The teams rely on taxpayers to make themselves a profit.

It’s the sort of problem that, really, can only be solved at the national level. After all, as long as different cities in different states are competing for these things, the threat of leaving is going to be too great. These leagues that span the country are the sort of interstate commerce that Congress should be regulating. I don’t know if it could get through the dysfunctional Congress, but it’s worth a try.

And would this be punishment for the NBA for leaving in the way that it did, and then voting not to let us get another team? And to a lesser extent to MLB and the NFL for foisting bad stadium deals on is in the first place? Sure. But it’s still a better idea than having municipalities fight over teams with taxpayer stadiums.

Hugs and kisses

Carl Ballard
horsesass.org

Do you feel pleased when you contribute to charities? Do you feel even more pleased when those contributions are augmented by the contributions of others? If so, then today is your red-letter day.

The Seattle Foundation — that estimable organization, headed by former Mayor Norm Rice, devoted to doing good for King County and its environs — has declared May 15 to be GiveBIG 2013. If you make a contribution to one of the 1400 organizations profiled on the Foundation’s website, all of them 501(c)(3) charities, before midnight tonight, it will be “stretched” by funds from the Foundation and its partners. They have something like $850,000 waiting to be distributed to worthy causes.

I just finished donating to eight organizations that I support both financially and emotionally. They do good work in a variety of fields, from Planned Parenthood to the Seattle Shakespeare Company, from the Seattle Public Library to the Center for Wooden Boats. I didn’t give much … the amounts ranged between $10 and $35. But thanks to GiveBIG, those organizations will receive between [$10 + X*$10] and [$35 + X*$35], where X is the percentage by which today’s contributions will be stretched.

I know that all HA readers, even the trolls, share the impulse to do good. Believe me, participating in GiveBIG will brighten your day. So I hope you’ll all join me in this endeavor. And by all means, let your fellow HAers know that you’ve made some donations today. No need to say where you chose to target your donations, though I’d hope you would feel good about adding a plug for your choices here on teh internets.

GiveBIG!!

There was a hearing last night at King County. I wasn’t there, but any time you can get hundreds of people into a government meeting on a lovely day, you know it’s an important issue.

It was standing room only Tuesday at a public hearing on the future of Metro. The transit service is facing budget cuts that will seriously affect riders.

Ultimately, King County is going to need the authority to tax itself on a more permanent basis. And that’s where we need to make sure to contact our legislators. You can find your legislators here. As always be polite but firm that you want them to let Metro keep funding itself.

It’s Tuesday. And that means the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets for an evening of politics over a pint.

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

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Longview, Lakewood, and South Seattle chapters meet this Wednesday. And for Thursday, the Spokane and Tacoma chapters meet. Next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 204 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.

– It’s filing week, everybody.

– Is anyone following the British Columbia elections? Joel is disappointed that they aren’t talking about marijuana.

– If you want to tell Metro to save Metro, here’s where to do that.

– Macklemore is not happy with the Thunder using Can’t Hold Us (h/t to Will on Facebook). I’m confused as to if NBC didn’t understand that Detlef Schrempf’s tweet contained a pun, or why else they put the [sic].

– Y’all are reading about Tom Hardy and a puppy, I hope.

– In yesterday’s Open Thread, I said Thomas Friedman was beyond satire. I stand corrected.

From Think Progress:

Issa: Obama Covered Up Benghazi Terrorism By Calling It An ‘Act Of Terror’

That’s even stupid for a car thief!

– I love Seattle’s dedication to fair play. But maybe we give less time to Sacramento media on Hansen.

– The free market isn’t always the best way to make health care decisions.

– At least it’s a bit more transparent now.

– Bicyclists are helpful to bicyclists.

– This piece on swear words was interesting.

– Congrats to Thomas Friedman on being beyond satire.

– An Open Letter to White Male Comedians

Doing a little work under the hood tonight. Things could get funky. Perhaps a few comments might get lost. (Hopefully not, but who knows?) Anyways, don’t be alarmed.

Last week’s contest was won by Liberal Scientist. It was West Memphis, AR.

This week’s is in Google Maps 45 degree views, good luck!

Luke 19:23-27
Why didn’t you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest.”

Then he said to some other servants standing there, “Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much.”

But they said, “Sir, he already has ten times as much!”

The king replied, “Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have anything. Now bring me the enemies who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!”

Discuss.

Geoff Tate: Fixing the economy.

Ann Telnaes: Life begins at conception.

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

Maddow: Heritage Foundation, “Low IQ immigrants are parasites & their ‘unborn’ children will be too!”.

White House: West Wing Week.

Heavyweight Governor:

• Ann Telnaes: Gov. Chris Christie tries to lose weight.
• Sam SederChris Christie has some surgery.
• Alex Wagner: Weighing in for 2016.
• Young Turks: Is a thin Christie on the way?
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Christie in 2016?

Maddow: Obama’s IRS scandal in context.

Sam Seder: Judge slams Obama administration over their right wing Plan B stance.

ONN: The week in review.

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Another state falls to gay marriage.

Lush Rimbaugh:

• Sam Seder: Random Rush.
• Sharpton: Limbaugh is costing his employer big bucks.
• SlateTV: Limbaugh can’t get past Susan Fluke.
• John Fugelsang: Rush Limbaugh has chased away more sponsors than Lindsay Lohan at Betty Ford:
• Young Turks: Advertisers bail!
• Sam Seder: Has the Flush Rush movement finished Mr. Limbaugh?

The Point: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor regrets Bush v. Gore in 2000.

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

Maddow: Alarming ineptitude revealed in care of U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Jon on the Jodi Arias coverage.

Sam Seder: Republican warmongers beating the war drums.

South Carolina is Still Crazy:

• Stephen mourns his sister’s loss.
• Sam Seder: Family values candidate Mark Sanford wins special election.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Why sex scandals no longer matter in U.S. politics.
• Alex Wagner: “Serial adulterer” S. Carolina’s Mark Sanford’s political comeback.
• Joy Behar on Rep. Elect Sanford.

Young Turks: Elizabeth Warren wants students to get bank rates on their loans.

Ann Telnaes: America the armed.

Maddow: G.O.P. war on student voters violates the law.

Mark Fiore: iEvade.

Thom: Should Obama send troops to Texas?

Benghazi Brouhaha:

• Jon on the FAUX News, GOP Benghazi theories: “You have no fucking idea!”
• Young Turks: Republicans try to take down Hillary before 2016.
• Maddow: GOP hopes on their lucky stars that Benghazi will be the scandal that sticks.
• Young Turks: Impeach Obama over Benghazi? Republicans hope so.
• Chris Hayes: Political hot air.
• John Fugelsang: Oliver North talks about a Benghazi(!!!!!) cover-up — and irony hangs itself:
• Sam: G.O.P. off the rails with Benghazzzzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiii.
• Maddow: fringe conspiracy theories part 1 and part 2

Young Turks: Enron CEO to get reduced prison term.

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

It was nine years ago today that I relaunched HorsesAss.org as an “almost daily blog on Washington State politics and the press.” You can read my very first post here. It is a touch fascinating to look back on how I managed to preserve the original vision of HA without at all anticipating how it would ultimately take over my life.

Anyway, in celebration of this milestone (and prodded Darryl) here is a list of some of my nine favorite and/or most influential posts, in chronological order. Thank you all for the past nine years, especially to all my co-bloggers who have carried on the HA tradition in my absence. And enjoy.

Stick a Foulkes in it, this case is done! (02/23/2005)
I’ve always been particularly proud of my legal analysis. In this early post, I explained exactly why Dino Rossi would lose his election contest, months before the court ultimately ruled.

FEMA director Mike Brown, a “total fucking disaster” (09/02/2005)
You know that Arabian horse story that hastened the demise of incompetent FEMA director Mike “Heckuva Job” Brown? This is the post that started it all, and first brought HA to a national audience.

Raging Bullshitter: the sad twisted tale of the Irons family feud (10/20/2005)
The day before this post hit, explaining why his own mother wouldn’t vote for him, King County Council member David Irons Jr. had a small lead in the polls in his bid to unseat Executive Ron Sims. After the media storm I generated, Irons ended up losing by 17 points.

Luke Esser fucks pigs (10/17/2006)
It is a sad irony that one of my funniest and most outrageous posts was written in defense Rodney Fucking Tom.

HA EXCLUSIVE: Seattle Times election day redesign revealed! (10/23/2006)
A rare display of my extraordinary Photoshop skills.

Falwell That Ends Well (An Ode To The Mortal Majority) (05/16/2007)
For a change of pace, some poetry!

Goldy’s Adventures in Muniland (04/25/2008)
In which I masquerade as David Postman and accept his Municipal League award.

Young woman quit DNR after being sexually harassed by Commissioner Sutherland (07/15/2008)
And election-changing bit of muckraking that all the other papers had, but refused to run with. Until after I did.

A layman’s refutation of Rob McKenna’s bullshit lawsuit (03/29/2010)
More than two years before the US Supreme Court surprised pundits by upholding Obamacare on Congress’s taxing power, I explained why the court would uphold Obamacare based on Congress’s taxing power.

Today is the 9th anniversary of HA. So I thought I would celebrate by remembering the top nine most memorable trolls who have lurked in the comment threads.

Any such list is necessarily subjective—trolls are memorable for may different reasons, sometimes rather personal ones. Some have invoked anger, some have provided “entertainment,” some were just very, very…VERY different. Okay…so here goes:

1. Mr. Cynical was Goldy’s first real troll. He showed up during the Great Election Contest of 2005, and loudly and boldly tried telling us how things would come out. Cynical was largely a propagandist for Republicans, so his many, many prognostications almost always came out dead wrong. Cynical was so wrong over the Great Election Contest of 2005, that the took on the moniker, “Mr. Irrelevant after his side lost. At least he had a sense of humor. An example of a Cynical long term political prediction, from the summer of 2005:
   

   Santorum and Rice will win in 2008 and 2012….
   Then Rice will become the first African-America and first woman President of the United States in 2016 and 2020.

   Mr. Cynical occasionally returns to the comment thread to offer his opinions on important events, like presidential elections. During the 2012 election, Cynical came back as Ryanistheman, Jody, and likely other commenters. A little know fact is that Cynical was the first troll to really get under Goldy’s skin…until Goldy got toughened and jaded into the troll-aloof person we know and love day.

2. Another of HA’s early trolls, JCH, was hell-bent on simply being disruptive. And he left lots of comments in attempts to disrupt. He was also a racist, spewing anti-Semitic slurs ad nauseum. It’s hard to know what drove him. He admitted that he lived in Hawaii, and I was able to deduce that he had previously lived in California, where he actively wrote letters to the editor of his local newspaper, pushing wingnut causes, of course.

   JCH has the distinction of being the first troll to be banned from HA. It was largely for his unwillingness to stop the barrage of anti-Semitic insults. And even his banning came after a long spell of having his comments moderated.

3. Chardonnay was HA’s first “concern troll,” but really stood out for being an (apparent) female in a largely male-dominated field. Something else that stood out about Chardonnay: she was excessively stupid. Now, whether this was an act or real is hard to tell. But she specialized in taking Republican talking points and re-framing them as “concerns” that were promptly demolished by other commenters. Here is a fun Chardonnay comment that came during the Ron Sims, David Irons, Jr. King County Executive election:
   

   oh ya Ivan, King Ronny is toast he’s as wacked as algore if not more. ronny f’d up with his trumped up enviro BS. and his election dept debacle. stick a fork in him.

   I’ll tell ya what ivan, if ron wins I’ll donate money to Goldy’s beer fund. You ‘buddy’ get zip unless Goldy wants to share his beer with you. If David Irons wins you buy Goldy a beer.

   I cannot say whether she ever donated beer money to Goldy. Chardonnay disappeared (under that name, anyway) after that election in late 2005. She made one more appearance in 2007.

4. Christmas Ghost is notable as another female commenter. She was much brighter than Chardonnay but, perhaps, crazier. A notable characteristic of her comments was an absence of upper case characters. Eventually, she moved to the Bay area and quit commenting on HA, but not before EFFin’ Unsound had some fun with her.

   Interesting, odd facts: She was a raging asshole to Goldy in the comment threads, but he reports that she was a nice and reasonable person in her emails to him. Goldy once posted a missing person piece on behalf of Christmasghost. The niece was eventually found, though I don’t know any of the details.

5. Piper Scott makes this list, because no commenter was more full of himself than was Piper. He was seriously insufferable and really did take himself seriously. Everyone else…not so much. In fact, Lee started a series of posts about him called The Crackpiper Chronicles (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).

   Part one highlighted one of my favorite protracted exchanges with any troll. It’s still a fun read that shows, in the end, underneath all the pretense, Piper was reacting emotionally like a very typical reality-challenged wingnut.

6. Puddybud. Ahhhh, yes. What can we say about our beloved Puddybud. First, he gets kudos for longevity, having first posted back in 2005. Puddybud is a smorgasbord of illogical thoughts, nonsense, child-like arguments, illiteracy, hatred, bigotry, and right wing tripe, oddly mixed, on occasion, with pious religious fervor. And to add to it all, Puddybud has some deep insecurities as evidenced by his need for silly bragging. (Anyone remember the conversation about Puddybud serving in the military?)

   An interesting thing about Puddy is the he has actually engaged with some of us in person by coming to Drinking Liberally. In person, he is a friendly, articulate, and intelligent person—really, the antithesis of his online persona. How could this be? The answer is that Puddybud is a character. The person producing the character is engaging in performance art. This explains everything about Puddybud. Think about it…if your objective is to maximize disruption and “make liberal heads explode,” then debate using emotional arguments, use bad logic, be inflammatory while saying stuff that is barely comprehensible, misuse data. Hell…just blatantly lie—it’s the character Puddy, not the God-fearing person playing Puddy lying to you.

7. Mark the Redneck is a typical, if once prolific, propagandist/troll. What puts Mark the Redneck on this list is an infamous bet he made with Goldy…and reneged on.
8. Marvin Stamn was a prolific, nearly robotic troll. He had commenting down to an art:
   1. Open up Drudge and find an “outrage”
   2. Excerpt a quote from the piece
   3. Write just enough commentary so that it constitutes “fair use”.
   4. Go to 1

   Marvin eventually did himself in when he admitted to getting paid for his propaganda. It is hard to know if he was serious or joking, but since he lived in Southern California, commented for many hours a day, and had nothing to say about local politics, it seems more plausible than not. I don’t miss him.

9. I had a hard time picking just one last troll to memorialize. I considered pbj, chuck, manoftruth, howcanyoubePROUDtobeanASS, Max, YO, josef, and so on. But I choose Klake. What I remember about Klake was his long, rambly, semi-coherent comments, with random parts of the text in bold. Like here and here. Classic stuff.

So those are my “top” nine. How about you? Who are the trolls you would memorialize and why?

Dominic Holden has a pretty amazing piece about the fact that The Seattle Times is charging its employees to use the Seattle Times online archive.

As a reporter, I frequently have to search our website’s online archives for linking, providing context, or developing backfill on articles. It didn’t seem possible that a newspaper would actually charge its reporters for an essential function of their jobs. That would be like installing payphones on everyone’s desk and pocketing the money.

At first, when I read that last sentence, I thought don’t give them any ideas. Giving Frank Blethen ways to screw his employees over is like giving Frank Blethen a gun and a puppy: nothing good can come out of it, yet Frank Blethen will be full of smiles. But then I thought fuck it, and came up with a list of other ways he can screw his employees:

• Charge reporters for pens and notepads
• Force delivery drivers to pay for routine maintenance on their trucks, or at least to paint them over
• Reclassify all employees as interns, and don’t pay them
• Instead of paying writers per word, charge them per word for proofing and editing
• Force freelancers to buy ad space
• Force columnists to sell ad space
• Give ad space away free to candidates and causes, thus devaluing the pretense of neutrality that the paper strives for
• Make nepotism hires for important jobs

I didn’t know about it until a little while ago, but this seems like a great thing if it might be helpful for you.

Many women have never considered career options such as welding, electricity or carpentry, but these opportunities are available, and even more so as baby boomer workers are nearing retirement. Who WILL keep our lights on, our bridges safe, our water running and our roads paved? These are jobs that cannot be outsourced.

As the oldest women’s trade organization in the Puget Sound, it is WWIT’s job to educate and inspire our youth, as well as steer work-ready women toward these high paying, mentally challenging, and self-empowering careers in the trades.