HorsesAss.Org

Not much happened in the last legislative session. There isn’t a budget yet. The state DREAM Act and Reproductive Parity Act didn’t even get a vote, for God’s sake. But at least it’s now always a crime to rape a married partner.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Wednesday to change state law, calling it a “very important advance.” The measure removes the spousal exemption from both rape in the third degree – in which no physical force is used – and from taking indecent liberties.

Congrats to us for doing something most other states did decades ago.

Also, those comments are probably not the worst I’ve ever read (hello, I write for HA) but the incongruity between the good news in the article and the paranoid awfulness of the comments is pretty incredible.

It’s tough to hold out much hope for the special session when the Republicans put out press releases like this.

It is the last day of the 105-day legislative session and we have just adjourned. Unfortunately, a special session is on the horizon — an outcome that is disappointing for everyone.

We are headed to overtime primarily because of one issue: the operating budget. The governor and House Democrats want to spend roughly $1 billion more than the state plans to take in for regular tax collections in the next budget cycle that begins July 1. To do so, they would increase taxes on Main Street sectors of our fragile economy.

…

Some things are worth fighting for — no matter how long it takes. We don’t want a special session, but the alternative is accepting an approach that has led to many of the problems our state faces today.

Honestly, if you don’t want any loophole closing no matter how ridiculous they’ve become over the years, it’s tough to imagine any amount of cooling off time being enough. But maybe being a few weeks closer to a deadline will help? Sure.

That may be the strangest headline I’ve ever written. Makes me feel like Lex Luthor or something. Still, reading this Paul Constant piece I’m nodding in agreement.

I’m ordinarily the first person to come to Seattle’s defense when a journalist pokes fun at Seattle’s provincialism. But the answer to your question, Tim, is that there is no defense for this shit. Our city deserves every ounce of ridicule that it gets for tolerating—and even, on the media’s behalf, encouraging—these sad little children LARPing their little-kid fantasies all over the city. This is one case where a little street harassment could do some good; I’d love to see an entire block of Seattleites shouting “GROW UP” at these preening fuckwits as they mosey around feeling good about themselves.

I mean if you want to pretend, go pretend. That’s what your back yard is for, I guess. Or a park, maybe. But when it’s the public, when it’s people who have rights, maybe superheroing around is not helpful.

– I had been wondering where the buses (and cars, but that’s another post) that wanted to get from Downtown to West Seattle would go when the Viaduct closed. Columbia.

– Renew and include Belltown in the MID.

– My job at the abortion hot line

– Right now our state has the deepest concentration of aerospace intelligence anywhere in the world. We have the facilities, the runways, the production capacity to build airplanes. So rather than the state being a promoter for Boeing, we have to be a promoter for aircraft manufacturing.

– Bike season is starting as the Fremont Bridge recorded it’s most bike crossings yet.

– About a quarter of the people in your country think an armed revolution might be necessary in the next few years.

– Rick Perry knows who to be upset at after the West disaster. A cartoonist.

Sorry people in Clark County, you just got a new Director of Environmental Services (Columbian link).

State Sen. Don Benton was tapped to become Clark County’s director of environmental services Wednesday in a surprise and controversial move by commissioners David Madore and Tom Mielke.

Yeah, he’s pretty terrible as a senator, he’ll probably be just as bad as an anything. At least he’s out of the state’s hair. Wait, really? You’re joking? No.

The sudden move to hire followed an email Madore received from Benton. Madore said Benton told him he will remain a state senator and split his time between the jobs.

Fuck the fuck? In case you’re wondering, I hate that our legislature is part time.

It’s understandable, if somewhat missing the point, that the possibility for a repeat of May Day something something anarchists and Occupy Seattle is getting most of the media attention for protests today. I mean last year there was minor property damage. But I think there’s a more important thing the same day:

The theme of the 2013 march will center on justice for all workers and a community-based framework for dialogue on Immigration Reform. The action on May 1st is calling for an immediate end to the E-verify and S-Comm programs, as well as a moratorium on all deportations. Nationally, immigration has returned to the fore as politicians debate several proposals for addressing a matter that has been neglected since 2009. Congress, through inaction, has been complicit in the use of enforcement-heavy tactics such as dragnet raids, racial profiling of immigrants, and the use of discriminatory employee verification programs.Under the current administration, up to 390,000 undocumented immigrants are deported each year, with 2011 bringing the most deportations to date, according to recent statistics. This is not the progress we envisioned when we sought to defeat xenophobic congressional legislation seven years ago. As such, we continue to organize at the grassroots level to ensure that families are not forcibly separated and to ensure that our communities are able to live, work, and are granted the opportunity to normalize their documented status, without fear and deprivation of basic human rights.

Right on. I hadn’t heard about this year’s march until I got an email about possible traffic concerns. Maybe last year’s minor property damage took the wind out of reporting this, or maybe it’s just me missing it. You can find updates at #M1SEA

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight. Please join us 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.

With 205 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.

– There was a mayoral candidate’s debate last night (Seattle Times link).

– Really the only thing I learned from following it on Twitter is that Jim Brunner doesn’t know who the Blue Scholars are, but still feels like he can make fun of other people’s taste in music.

– Hey, Seattle, no more shootings, OK?

– Women’s Work

– Has there ever been a military conflict that McCain hasn’t agitated for? And must every news outlet stumbles all over themselves to give him a platform?

– Chris Hansen’s statement after the Relocation Committee’s decision.

– The Columbia City Farmer’s Market is starting up again.

– Is that a homemade lightsaber in your pocket, or are you just glad to shut down the bus tunnel?

The NBA Relocation Committee has voted against moving the Kings to Seattle. So boo to that. I mean I get that one team out of several is very different from the only sport in town. It makes some business sense, although given how much of their money is the value of the teams, I’m not sure that making a team take a lower bid is a good value.

But whatever, I’m not a business owner who feels the need to have a city subsidize their hobby/side job. I hope those business owners know that while Seattle will be willing to put some of its bonding capacity up for the arena, we aren’t going to spend actual taxpayer money on one.

So, those of us who are hoping for a new team can hope that the unanimity of the deal means there will be an expansion team coming rather than the city getting fucked around.

– The legislature adjourns sine dud. Don’t worry, there will be a special session where there’s a brand-new chance to not get anything accomplished starting in a few weeks.

– A background checks initiative drive starts today.

– Jesus and Muhammad and the Question of the State

– It was Abedin’s last day in the Pacific Northwest and The End Death Trap tour was headed to Renton’s Walmart. The original plan was to erect a makeshift memorial for the victims of Tazreen against the store’s outside wall. But newly bought boxes of pink and white carnations were also included to honor the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse the night before.

– I am not one who spent much of the Bush presidency trying to figure out how smart he actually was, but some of these (especially the Swedish Army!) are pretty yikes.

– The WMD Wing (h/t)

President Obama does the 2013 White House Correspondence dinner:

And so does Conan:

Last week’s contest was won by Geoduck. It was in Olympia.

This week’s contest is related to something in the news from April, good luck!

Revelation 19:17-18
I then saw an angel standing on the sun, and he shouted to all the birds flying in the sky, “Come and join in God’s great feast! You can eat the flesh of kings, rulers, leaders, horses, riders, free people, slaves, important people, and everyone else.”!

Discuss.

Either that, or one of our most logorrheic troll/commenters has been channeling him.

Bonus quote of the day (April 26, 2013), Taegan Goddard’s PoliticalWire:

This administration has so many Muslim brotherhood members that have influence that they just are making wrong decisions for America.

— Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01)

Said troll/commenter will go especially batshit-crazy when I tip my hat to Hunter at DailyKos, whose frontpage post alerted me to the latest “wisdom” from Mr. Gohmert.

Needless to say, the Congressman’s latest idiotic pronouncement was uttered on WorldNutDaily Radio.

Jonathan Mann: A comment to the TSA.

Ann Telnaes: Barbara Bush, “We’ve had enough Bushes.

Young Turks: The pathetic twisted case of the Romney & Gingrich intern.

SlateTV: Nevada Senator comes out during same sex marriage debate.

Ignorance and Denial:

• Republicans in denial
• Mark Fiore: Head bangers.

Young Turks: Voters turn again Republican politicians over voting down background check vote.

Mark Sanford debates a cardboard image of Nancy Pelosi (…and, um, loses) (via Political Wire):

Sam Seder: Mark Sanford’s really, really lousy week.

The “Rent is too damn high” guy is back, rapping about it, and running for NYC Mayor (via Political Wire).

Library Accomplished:

• Jon: Disasterpiece Theatre (via Political Wire)!
• Sam Seder: The right wing’s Bush whitewash begins!
• ONN: All the former presidents gathers to lie about the Bush presidency and other news of the week.
• Maddow: Presidential LIE-brary
• Alex Wagner: A “good” man who made murderous decisions.
• Roy Zimmerman: Dick Cheney:
• Frank Conniff: “Freedom” must be his safe word
• Sam Seder: George W. Bush Library in George W Bush’s own fake words.
• Sharpton: Bush library is a triumph of democracy.
• Maddow: Revision accomplished.
• John Fugelsang: The bad and the good side of George W. Bush:
• Kimmel: Obama and Barbara Bush
• Sam Seder: George Bush’s legacy of terrorism

White House: West Wing Week.

Kimmel: The week in unnecessary censorship.

Stephen: Better know PA-17 (via Political Wire).

Young Turks: Infowars Boston bombing conspiracy theories.

Aqua Buddha Bomber:

• Slate TV: Rand Paul’s drone problems.
• Sam Seder: No problem killing Americans with drones.
• Young Turks: Don’t stand with Rand.

Young Turks: “Ex-Gay” leader apologizes for horrible ‘gay conversion therapy’.

Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Congressional Report Card.

Young Turks: CISPA goes down in the Senate.

Townsquare: The end of the American Dream?

Chris Hayes: The untold story of deregulating chemical plants under Bush.

Miranda Warning:

• Ann Telnaes: Exploding liberty.
• Stephen on FAUX and Friends Miranda rights controversy.
• Young Turks: Are Miranda rights necessary?
• Ed and Pap: Analysis of the confession.
• Thom: We should not balance our Constitutional rights with security.
• Liberal Viewer: Should the Boston bomber get his Miranda rights?

Sam Seder: Culture of conspiracy.

Young Turks: FAUX News basks in its own ignorance.

Maddow: The dangerously sloppy reporting of Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post.

Pap: The Anti-intellectual epidemic in America.

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

Stephen gives Bill Clinton a Twitter lesson.

The Downside of Rush:

• Secretly recorded, Frank Luntz blames Rush Limbaugh (via Political Wire).
• Thom: The far right cult machine exposed.
• Sharpton: What Frank Luntz REALLY thinks about Rush
• Sam Seder: Rubio and Rush.
• Bashir: Luntz reveals.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Grad student debunks famous Harvard Study that pushes austerity.

Shuster: Stephen Colbert’s sister gets a boost.

Maddow: Black and white-out.

Young Turks: Bill-O pushes for more hatred and fear.

Ann Telnaes: Wall Street and your fragile nest egg.

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