HorsesAss.Org

– Mark Kleiman has won the contract to be the main consultant for the implementation of I-502. Like most drug law reformers, I’ve had strong disagreements with him, but I think he can be a good fit for this role. And this is yet another foot forward in legitimizing what the voters have demanded, a legal and regulated market for marijuana that parallels alcohol in many ways.

– Representative Chris Hurst (D-Crazytown) has decided that I-502 needs some fixing. Amazingly, we agree on one aspect, his desire to have the 1000ft rule reduced to 500ft. And we agree over why (because it will likely push more marijuana retail outlets into the suburbs). We just disagree over why that’s a problem. But for all else, I have little regard for what Hurst thinks, since he’s the reason we had to pass this thing as a voter initiative in the first place. If he wanted to provide input on this initiative, he had his chance last winter when it first went to the legislature. He didn’t, so maybe next time, instead of being a whiny asshole after the fact, he’ll do his job in the first place.

– The Seattle Times editorial board is absolutely right to criticize Washington’s Congressional delegation for failing to be more vocal in support of I-502. The voters of this state overwhelmingly passed this initiative, yet neither Senator (nor even Jim McDermott!) has spoken out to see that it be implemented without federal interference.

– Some community members in Rainier Valley are upset at the large number of dispensaries that have set up shop there recently. There’s an easy solution to this – just wait. Dispensaries currently use a very creative interpretation of the 10-member rule (when you’re there obtaining medicine, you become a member, and when you leave you stop being a member). For the time being, law enforcement (particularly in Seattle) has little interest in challenging them. However, once I-502 is implemented and there are state-licensed retail outlets, I’m betting that the hammer will come down on the folks who try to stick with the “collective garden with a storefront” model. Especially if they’re not conforming with the 1000ft rule in I-502, which requires all retail outlets to be 1000ft from a school, park, and other places where children congregate.

– A Seattle entrepreneur is planning to turn a vacant Pacific County sawmill into a marijuana production facility. I think it can be somewhat overstated how much the marijuana industry alone can help the economy, but it’s still great to see it might allow for the re-purposing of old facilities and bringing new jobs to this state’s small towns.

The RNC has released their Campaign 2012 Postmortem. It’s full of fun, and sometimes delusional, stuff.

Here is what they said about polling:

The RNC should convene a quarterly summit by April 15, 2013, of leading GOP pollsters to discuss the current political environment and debate assumptions, sampling, screening, and weighting of samples in an attempt to generate more accurate and consistent data across multiple committees and campaigns.

Not a bad idea. If they do it honestly, they’ll likely come to the conclusion that any “likely voter” adjustment that changes results very far from a simple registered voter model should probably be rejected. I think they are getting at that with this point:

“Likely Voter” screening data collected by various firms in 2012 should be re-examined to see which voters eventually voted and which did not, allowing a validation of the most predictive screening questions and likely voter scales. Special attention needs to be given to this question to ensure that we are not screening out casual interest voters who nevertheless show up on Election Day. Screeners that are too robust, particularly during presidential cycles, have the potential to skew results to the favor of our candidates because they exclude too many young and minority voters.

I find much amusement in this confession.

You may recall that during the heat of the election season, there was a rather sudden and surprisingly unified right wing movement to label most mainstream pollsters as biased. Every time a poll came out showing Obama in the lead in a swing state, the representatives of the right wing spin machine went into tirades bordering on apoplexy attempting to discredit the poll by pointing out the poll’s many “flaws”.

When the report mentions “not screening out casual interest voters who nevertheless show up….”, it is an implicit admission that their obsession with better “likely voter” screens was largely unjustified.

From the hand of the propagandists (like Karl Rove and Dick Morris), it was transformed into a full right wing talking point, to be parroted with religious zealotry and absolute certainty by the brainwashed wingding masses. We saw some of the fruits of this process being spewed in the HA comment threads. Indeed, it became daily, if not hourly, masturbation for “Serial Conservative.” Collectively, from Karl Rove and Dick Morris, right down to “Serial Conservative”, they were deep into denial-of-reality territory.

In the end, the mainstream polls were, on average, pretty darned good.

At the time, I thought most of the propagandists didn’t really believe their own bullshit. Rather it was a big propaganda campaign to help with turnout, and instill doubt in Obama supporters. (And it DID do that. One of the remarkable things that happened to me after the election was learning about numerous friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who, unbeknownst to me, were following the analyses on HA. I was told many times after the election that those analyses provided great comfort.) Following the election, there were various clues that the propagandists, in fact, came to believe their own bullshit. They became victims of their own groupthink.

Oh…and on “groupthink” the report said this:

Groupthink is a Loser
1. Our friends and allies must realize that the Party is at its best as the Party of ideas, and healthy debate of those ideas is fundamentally good for the Republican Party.

They haven’t quite gotten this one right. There was no shortage of “ideas” from the right wing during the 2012 election cycle. No…that wasn’t specifically the problem. What they lacked was an ability to operate from the perspective of reality. Here’s what the report should have said: “We need to inform our ideas based on objective, realistic assessments of the world.”

Their response to the polling went beyond wishful thinking and simple confirmation bias…it was a deeply fatal case of reality denial.

The Seattle City Council has voted unanimously to say that any department (presumably just the police, but I’ve got my eye on you animal control) that wants to have drones or other surveillance equipment has to get it approved by the council and submit a plan for how they’re going to do that.

The Council has set out hoops through which the cops, or any other city department, much jump through before any big brother starts watching. Before acquiring surveillance equipment, the Seattle Police must obtain approval by the the Council. The police must propose protocols that disclose how cameras will be used, how and where data will be retained and stored and accessed.

The Council legislation requires Seattle Police to provide a description of “the nature and extent of public outreach conducted in each community in which the department intends to use the surveillance equipment.” And the police will have to explain “how the department’s use of the equipment will be regulated to protect privacy and limit the risk of potential abuse.”

The police would have to say how long data would be retained, and how it would be labeled or indexed, and who would have access to it.

If the Council has approved a request to purchase surveillance equipment, the Seattle Police cannot install cameras until the Council has formally set rules for its operation.

It’s obviously a better protection for civil liberties than the status quo, so great. We’ll get to have better knowledge and a chance to weigh in on future surveillance before it goes into action. Still, it doesn’t forestall abuse by the city. It only makes it somewhat tougher and more transparent. So vigilance is, as always, needed.

– Happy Bus Driver Appreciation Day

– Boo CNN

– I don’t even know what to say about this case, it’s so terrible. I will say about the article, that it should be consistent about using the word “rape” instead of “sex abuse” and “have sex” some of the time, and if you look at the URL, it clearly was in the title at some point, so the decision to soft pedal it happened at some point.

– Oh CPAC, you’re terrible.

– Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (not for ladies)

– Why does Bill Gates hate capitalism?

– Conservative Mystery Date

Last week’s contest was won by wes.in.wa. It was Arleta, CA, just outside of LA.

This week’s location is somewhere in Washington state, good luck! And Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Nahum 1:2-8
The Lord is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and rage. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and continues to rage against his enemies! The Lord is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet. At his command the oceans dry up, and the rivers disappear. The lush pastures of Bashan and Carmel fade, and the green forests of Lebanon wither. In his presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles, and its people are destroyed. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence. The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him. But he will sweep away his enemies in an overwhelming flood. He will pursue his foes into the darkness of night.

Discuss.

Booth Gardner has died.

Gardner died Friday at his Tacoma home, family spokesman Ron Dotzauer said Saturday. He was the state’s 19th governor.

“We’re very sad to lose my father, who had been struggling with a difficult disease for many years, but we are relieved to know that he’s at rest now and his fight is done,” said Gail Gant, Gardner’s daughter, in a statement.

The millionaire heir to the Weyerhaeuser timber fortune led the state from 1985 to 1993 following terms as Pierce County executive, state senator and business school dean.

Since then, he had worked as a U.S. trade ambassador in Geneva, in youth sports and for a variety of philanthropic works. But his biggest political effort in his later years was his successful “Death with Dignity” campaign in 2008 that ultimately led to the passage of the controversial law that mirrored a law that had been in place in Oregon since 1997.

The law allows terminally ill adults with six months or less left to live to request a legal dose of medication from their doctors.

Gardner knew that he wouldn’t qualify to use the law because Parkinson’s disease, while incurable, is not fatal. But at the time, he said his worsening condition made him an advocate for those who want control over how they die.

“It’s amazing to me how much this can help people get peace of mind,” Gardner told The Associated Press at the time. “There’s more people who would like to have control over their final days than those who don’t.”

Thom: Conservatives are the new Taliban.

Ann Telnaes: Jeb Bush thinks history will be kind to his brother.

Sam Seder: Are Ron Paul’s gold investments being wiped out?

Scott Prouty…The Man Behind the 47% Video:

• Bashir: Scott Prouty
• Maddow: Scott Prouty, I
• Maddow: Scott Prouty, II
• Ed: The Interview, Part I
• Ed: The Interview, Part II
• Ed: The Interview, Part III
• Ed: The Interview, Part IV
• Ed: The Interview, Part V
• Matt Binder: Bill Clinton inspired Romney 47% videographer.

White House: West Wing Week.

Maddow: Ground Hog Day again:

Thom: Republicans have finally found voter fraud…in Ohio.

Mark Fiore: Mr. Blasty goes to Washington.

Ezra Klein: MD kills death penalty.

Sam Seder: The politics of social security cuts.

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

Sam Seder: Mitch McConnell is feeling the heat over gun legislation.

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News spin on bin Laden’s son-in-law.

Rob Portman’s Change of Heart:

• Sam Seder: Republican is against gay rights until it is HIS son.
• Young Turks: Sen. Portman’s big shift.
• SlateTV: Sen. Rob Portman has a change of heart.
• Sam Seder: If only Rob Portman’s son was about to go on Social Security!

The Onion Week in Review.

Pap: Right wing hate groups turn violent.

Sam Seder: Katherine Harris updates Sam on Michele Bachmann and things:

Alex Wagner and friends: The Patty Murray budged versus the Paul Ryan budget.

The CPAC Comedy Show:

• Young Turks: Lapierre’s paranoid CPAC fantasies
• Ed and Pap: a cabal of crazies…
• John Fugelsang and a panel of Democrats on CPAC.
• Alex Wagner and friends: Republican still living in the past.
• Young Turks: No new ideas! Really.
• Al Sharpton: The Conservative Party of the Year!
• Ann Telnaes: CPAC looks to the future.
• Young Turks: The Biggest Fail at CPAC.

Tina Dupuy: Jeb Bush says there is no Bush baggage.

Sam Seder: Ted Cruz vs. Dianne Feinstein on assault weapons ban.

Young Turks: Republican–we won’t vote for the Black guy in the White House.

Thom with some Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

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

Since Shaun is out for a while, I’ma steal his schtick.

Maryland is set to abolish its death penalty.

Maryland is set to become the 18th state in the nation to ban the death penalty. A week after the state Senate approved legislation repealing capital punishment and replacing it with life in prison without parole, the House of Delegates passed the bill Friday by a vote of 82-56.

The news serves as a victory for Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has been trying to repeal the state’s death penalty for years. He urged the passage of a bill to abolish the death penalty back in 2009, but the measure ultimately failed.

“Evidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. What’s more, there is no way to reverse a mistake if an innocent person is put to death,” O’Malley said in a statement Friday.

Maryland becomes the sixth state in six years to put an end to the death penalty, after New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut.

Washington should make it 7.

The Washington State version of the DREAM Act passed by a large margin in the state House on Wednesday.

The House approved the so-called “Washington Dream Act” on a bipartisan 77-20 vote. They amended the bill on the floor to open college aid to all young illegal immigrants.

The bill’s previous version made only young immigrants who had qualified for the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program eligible for the State Needs Grant. That federal program provides young immigrants who arrived in the United States as children a legal way to live in the country on renewable two-year stays, if they meet certain age and non-criminal history criteria.

I’m not happy with the phrase “illegal immigrants” especially for young people. But I’m glad that this has passed with bipartisan support. Hopefully the lopsided nature of the vote and the number of Republicans supporting it means that it has a shot in the Senate.

I realize we’re like 400 steps away from a hockey team in Seattle, and that a lot of people are upset by the possibility of a stadium. But I enjoyed the conversation about a possible name in this post and the comments. I like the Metropolitans. It evokes a history and I’d get to root for 2 teams named the Mets.*

A good team name is mostly subjective, of course. I like ones that have a connection to the area, and that are plural (sorry Storm). Beyond that, rolling off the tongue probably helps. So what would you name a hockey team if they came to the area?

[Read more…]

I currently live within walking distance of the Space Needle. I’d say that among random people who ask for directions to things in town it’s either first or second.* And I understand that a lot of locals also like it.

I’m not here to judge, but everybody is wrong when they say they want to keep the views of it. I mean honestly, it’s not that attractive of a building, and the roof is usually painted a strange color. It doesn’t have much utility, and the location smack dab in the middle of a park is strange.

Now I’m not going to go so far as Guy de Maupassant eating at the Eiffel Tower to get away from looking at it. I get that it’s a thing that makes Seattle Seattle. It’s funky and unique. It’s a part of New Year’s and of the civic things that happen at Seattle Center.

But if it wasn’t there, other buildings would do that for us. I personally love the old pictures of Seattle where the Smith Tower dominates the sky line. And occasionally you see even older pictures with Saint James’s spires tucked away in the background, that I’m sure you could see from much of the city where you can’t see it any more.

So maybe what we need isn’t lots of places to see the Space Needle, but more buildings that will inspire awe. If we get buildings that block the Space Needle with their radness, that would probably be better than blocking the view with another box that could be switched with any high rise downtown without people noticing.

[Read more…]

– We’ve got ourselves a new Pope whose archdiocese did some terrible shit (h/t). But the horror in Argentina did lead to my favorite short story (I could only find a Spanish version online, and I’ve only ever read it in translation since I don’t speak Spanish).

– It turns out repealing the sick leave portions of the sick leave/safe leave law will also hurt actual people.

– The Bellevue Gap.

– Rape Is Not Inevitable

– The cowardly legislature refuses to enact background checks for firearms.

– The ethereal form of Judge Scalia

[This post talks about the law related to rape, stalking, and domestic violence]

I was thinking about the Senate voting to repeal the Seattle Sick Leave/ Safe Leave law in many cases when I read this piece from Cienna Madrid on Tom sending the Reproductive Parity Act to die in committee.

You see, as Senate Majority Leader (a position he also attained with his weasely prowess), Tom is responsible for assigning bills to the appropriate Senate committees. And instead of assigning the Reproductive Parity Act to the Senate’s Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance committee where it was promised a fair hearing and vote from the committee’s Democratic chair, Tom instead sent the bill to the Senate’s Healthcare Committee, headed by anti-choice Sen. Randi Becker (R-Eatonville).

Yeah, that’s pretty terrible. It would have been an important law to have, and would have been a step in the direction of fairness in Washington. It’s one the reproductive justice community has rightly been fighting for for years. It also would have been important to say Washington affirms that abortion is a right. But we all pretty much knew this was going to happen when they said that social issues weren’t going to be the focus of this session. So while it’s awful, it isn’t actually moving back any laws, and Tom would argue that he still supports the law and whatever other excuse.

No, for Rodney Tom’s moving us backwards on safety and decency for women, you have to look at the Sick Leave/ Safe Leave law. Specifically the safe leave portion. You see when a woman who works in Seattle is stalked, or raped or beaten by her spouse, she can take safe time off. In the rest of the state, there aren’t as many protections.**

Rodney Tom looked at the difference between Seattle and the rest of the state and decided that the problem was Seattle. He co-sponsored SB 5728 to preempt that for the whole state, and ESB 5726 to make it only apply to Seattle based employers. The later passed, and the former might still.

I know the point of these laws is just to fuck with Seattle, but I wish the people passing them would give some consideration to the people actually hurt by them. I emailed Rodney Tom to ask him what he might say to a woman in his district who worked in Seattle and didn’t have the protections if she needed them if the law passed. So far he hasn’t responded.

[Read more…]

The other night, I was a bit early for an event in Queen Anne. I walked passed Mercer where Easy Street Records used to be for the first time since it closed. A half demolished building with no signs that it used to be a a hip music store stood exposed to the elements and fenced off. It’s rather sad.

Don’t get me wrong: the Internet is objectively a better place to get music than a record store. It has a wider selection and your MP3’s don’t scratch.

Still, the thing of it is when you’re 20 minutes early to an event, the greatest way in the world to kill that time is to find a local record shop and fart around. Sometimes you buy something and sometimes you don’t. The next best place of that sort is a book store, and those are experiencing the same sort of existential problem.

I don’t know what in the Internet era replaces that for places to hang out on a rainy Seattle day with some time to kill. Coffee shops are fine, but you really have to buy something, and maybe you don’t want something to eat or drink.