HorsesAss.Org

Honestly, I know that this is even a controversy — and I hesitate to even use that word — because Dori Monson can’t fill his entire air time with actual news and commentary.

The basic back story is that since 1983, the state has had a law on the books that says we’ll use gender neutral words and phrases in our laws. So instead of fireman, laws drafted since 1983 say firefighter. Instead of somewhere being manned, it’s staffed, etc. You know: acknowledge that women are a part of the government. It doesn’t fix the social problems around gender in the state, but it acknowledges that women and men can do the same jobs.

This year, Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles introduced a bill to fix the law from before 1983 so it matches up with what has become law since. It wasn’t a high priority; people had been working on it since 2008, and if they’d wanted to rush it through, it would have been done in 2008. But they’re finally confident that it’s good to go, so it passed the Senate unanimously. Easy. Done. You can find a few examples that seem to go a bit overboard if you’re looking for them but basically this is a way to correct past mistakes in the way we talk about women in government.

So Dori, seeing that this has already happened, decides to get angry at all the time being wasted. Only problem is that there wasn’t really any time wasted. Legislators pass bills to fix the code all the time, like it’s part of their job. And even if you’re worried about the time wasted, the fact that he’s ranting and railing about it and bringing Senator Kohl-Welles onto his show is taking up more time than if he hadn’t decided this was in issue. The few times she brought it back to serious issues like the budget or child protection, he wanted to keep asking her about the non-issue he decided was an issue.

Pathetic.

This election season, Seattle voters will elect a mayor. It’s a crowded field for the primary, and while I can’t speak to every candidate on all of the issues, in general they’re all good liberals. So I’d like to make a plea for even when you disagree with people over who to chose for mayor, don’t think it’s because the person picking a candidate is a bad person.

The specifics matter, of course. And the abilities of the candidates to do what they run on matters. We should debate them. And we should pick sides. And we should be partisan and passionate about that.

But the people supporting a different candidate care about Seattle. And they have similar values to most of the rest of the city. So by all means highlight the differences in candidates with whatever level of vitriol against the candidates you want. If you want to question if Ed Murray’s experience in the legislature translates to the mayor’s office, go for it. If you think whatever candidate doesn’t have a broad base, mention it here, by all means. If there’s some issue that’s a deal breaker, let the deal be broken in whatever way you like. If you think Mike McGinn is a dumbass, great! Let the world know your opposition to any candidate however you want.

But I’m going to try to assume most people who support a candidate are doing it in good faith. That’s different, of course, from pointing out that a person’s supporters might be problematic. The bottom line is we’re all going to have live in the city no matter what 2 people get through the primary and no matter who is mayor net year.

Publicola is reporting on the Senate Transportation Committee complaining about the Highway 99 Tunnel. As someone who will be complaining about the 99 Tunnel for years to come, and who is pro oversight generally, that’s fine. But Curtis King (R-Yakima) is a jerk.

That pissed King off even more: “I’ll make one more comment, and then I’ll shut up. So, the city of Seattle is concerned about diversion because they’re the ones that are going to be affected. [But] we should be concentrating on the cost of our portion of this project [the state promised $2.6 billion for the tunnel as a whole]. And if they want the tolls so low that it only generates $165 million, then they can help us replace the additional monies that we’re losing because we don’t have the toll revenues that we had origianlly [sic] projected.”

No. First off ignore that the chair of the Transportation Committee seems to not understand the problem with tolling right after it was explained to him, or we’re never going to get anywhere with this post. Focus instead on the fact that it’s a state highway. We in King County don’t ask Senator King (R-Jerk)’s constituents for our money back for social services or education that we give his constituents. We don’t ask for the tally of all these things as we make policy because it would make us look like jackasses.

No. King County gets 62 cents back from the state for every dollar spent. Yakima County gets $2.24.* The state could literally take all the money it spends in King County, match it 2 to 1 and just make a massive bonfire of 1 dollar bills and we would be considerably less profligate spenders than Curtis King (R-Jackass)’s constituents.** I mean what kind of fucker looks at that math and demands the 62 cents people pay more?

No. Senator King (R-Fucker)’s constituents are a disproportionate share of the state’s people in need of social services. And King County happily, happily, happily pays for the social services that the state provides. We want to do it, because we care about our state. We believe that they’re our neighbors and but for the grace of God go us, etc.

Further, Seattle and most King County school districts are able to pay for our levies. Hell, Seattle made up a work around when we hit the artificial limit imposed by the state. But even though Yakima can’t be relied on to pass its levies, we’ll still willingly spend money on educating Yakima children. We recognize that the state’s interests are tied up together. East and West we should all be educated.

Sometimes Seattle needs money from the state. When that happens, state legislators shouldn’t try to complain about the way the money flows. It makes them look like goat fuckers.

All that said, I recognize that there are plenty of people of good will in Senator King (R-Goat Fucker)’s district and in every district throughout the state. People who realize that we’re all in it together in the state. I just wish he didn’t feel the need to pander to his constituents by bashing Seattle.

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– When does the US have the right to kill its citizens without a trial? Hardly ever, probably never, I’d say. And if we are in the killing US citizens abroad business as a country, we’d better be damn transparent about when and why. Still, the DOJ whitepaper leaked earlier this week (pdf) gets us closer to knowing the government’s position on the matter.

– Eulogy for Kathryn Ann Blair, 1952–2013

– “Seattle will be the first city to consider drone legislation to protect the public’s civil liberties,” Harrell’s staff wrote in a press release announcing the legislation.

– Seems like vagrancy laws in the past were overly broad.

Due to my shameful 2-11 record in fantasy football this season, I welcomed the league to my house on Sunday for the game (it’s been a tradition for the last place finisher to host the Super Bowl every year). Our league started 15 years ago with a bunch of recently-transplanted Boeing engineers straight out of college. Most of us have left the company or been laid off, but a few of the original crew are still at the company. In talking to one of them this weekend, it’s clear that the battery problems with the 787 are a serious headache for Boeing, but many of the problems with the 787 were things that a lot of folks (even going back to when I was there and it was still the 7E7) were fully anticipating. And it sounds like some are starting to voice that a little more.

I left the company in 2000, but even prior to that, the vision of a global outsourcing model to build the next big Boeing plane had already been articulated. Some of the older folks in my group (I was a flight control test engineer) were nervous. Others were beyond nervous and predicting doom. One of them fired off a long, angry email to the all-company email list. He was reprimanded, but not fired. I’d love to read that email today, as I’d expect it would be like reading the scrolls of Nostradamus.

Outsourcing has occurred in a lot of different work environments. And in some of them, it’s arguably achieved its objectives – lower production costs with equal or near-equal production. But within the tech world, nearly all the attempts at outsourcing I’ve seen have been disasters. I’m not talking about just tech support or research or some specialized one-off skill, I’m talking about efforts to design, build, and test a large-scale development project with different project groups located around the globe. The logistical difficulties and communication issues involved quickly overwhelm your ability to move at the pace you need to move at.

Let me give a simple example more related to the world I currently inhabit, the world of software services and big data. This’ll be familiar to more people than the innards of a jumbo jet, but I promise I’ll get back to Boeing afterwards.

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Well now a thing that never should have happened probably won’t keep costing us all money too far into the future.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says the garage has been a drain on the general fund, with a projected loss of more than $4 million in 2012 and 2013. The city financed the construction of the garage with $73 million in bonds in 1998, to help jump start the shopping complex in downtown. City provided statistics show the gamble paid for several years, until the economy turned south and increased competition from shopping complexes which offer free parking. Debt payments are now bigger than revenue, despite a cut in parking rates.

Thank goodness. I don’t have an ethical problem with the city owning a garage per se. I mean providing parking is a reasonable thing for the city to do. But a bad investment is a bad investment, and that’s what the garage has always been.

Also, I like how revenue is less despite the fact that they cut rates is shocking. What a surprise, King 5.

The suggestion that Gov. Gregoire could be Obama’s next Secretary of the Interior has turned out to be wrong. Instead, another woman will get the job:

Sally Jewell, a retail executive and outdoor enthusiast, is President Barack Obama’s pick to oversee the national parks and vast energy reserves on public lands as Interior secretary, an administration official said on Wednesday. […]

Her private sector experience, most recently as chief executive of outdoor retailer REI, drew praise from conservationists and some industry groups…

And the Republican reaction to the nomination?

…Jewell’s nomination drew skepticism from some Republicans in Congress.

“I look forward to hearing about the qualifications Ms. Jewell has that make her a suitable candidate to run such an important agency, and how she plans to restore balance to the Interior Department,” said U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Jewell has been a leader in land conservation in the Pacific Northwest, but she worked in the energy and finance sectors early in her career.

(By, “restor[ing] balance.” Murkowski means “increased drilling while opposing laws to cap greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming.”)

Gregoire is not out of the running for two other cabinet positions, as was recently pointed out:

Gregoire, who has made energy issues a cornerstone of her gubernatorial tenure, is likely headed for one of three Cabinet-level jobs that are vacant now or will soon become vacant: Energy secretary, Interior secretary, or head of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a former head of Washington state’s Department of Ecology, Gregoire is steeped in experience in energy and environmental issues. Her enthusiastic support for renewable energy has won plaudits from environmentalists, but she’s also known for her ability to speak effectively about the realities of the fossil-fuel economy.

Either remaining position, EPA or energy secretary, seems like a good fit to Gregorie’s experience, strengths, and interests.

My money’s on energy secretary. Gregoire has a long history of doing battle with the Department of Energy over the Hanford clean-up. More recently, the battles have turned into happy agreement, adoring joint statements, and public praise.

That’s the tell.

“A hazard of being a member of the stupid party is mentioning you are a member of the stupid party.”

…to Drinking Liberally

Please join us tonight for another lively evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally. Today is the 10th anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech before the U.N. that carefully documented our reason for invading Iraq.

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

Can’t make it to Seattle’s DL tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter meets, and on Thursday Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets.

With over 200 chapters of Living Liberally, including fourteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and two more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter that meets near you.

– Tim Eyman and his birther friend team up to try to kill light rail in Vancouver, because of course they do.

– The IRS is already the administrator of the second-largest anti-poverty program in America. It’s about to become the second-largest health regulatory agency in the Federal Government

– Eat shit, Michael Brown.

– The sponsors of this bill have provided a Prima facie case that they should have all of their guns taken away.

– Dow Constantine’s vision for the county is certainly a fine one for when we don’t spend money, but in the long run, that isn’t going to cut it.

– Anyone doing STP this year?

The next two years of the state Senate are going to be marked by gridlock and division. But after that Rodney Tom is up for reelection. And I can’t believe that in the wake of his Senate shenanigans, that Rodney Tom plans on getting reelected. When he switched parties the first time it was for an election and everyone knew where he stood going forward. It was also a product of the district becoming more Democratic.

The district has continued to become more Democratic since 2006, and I just don’t see a majority of his constituents are backing him up on his giving the GOP control. So if he runs for reelection again, you’ve got to think he’ll lose.

Now maybe I’m reading the tea leaves wrong; It’s been known to happen. Maybe he thinks he can — and maybe he can — win reelection in an off year with a more conservative electorate. Still the party will go after him something fierce, and it’s a Democratic district. And even if he can get reelected, if the Democrats or the Republicans gain seats elsewhere, he’s still going to be sidelined. Maybe he doesn’t plan to run again, and this is him going out on top.

But still, I wonder if he’s thinking of greener pastures. I wonder if he’s planning to run for Congress.

Now, I know that sounds wrong, but hear me out: I assume he’s still in the 1st district. And we know he wants to be in Congress since he has run before. So maybe he thinks he can present himself as a moderate alternative to DelBene (never mind that she’s quite moderate herself).

I think it would go one of two ways: if the GOP are willing to clear the deck for him, he runs as an R. He hopes to get moderate Democratic votes (again DelBene should get moderate Dem votes since she’s a moderate Democrat) and all the Republican ones. If the GOP lets whoever run, he hopes there are a lot of Republicans and runs as a Democrat hoping to squeak through the top two and then in the general get all the Republican votes and some confused Democrats.

It’s a long shot, and DelBene still has the advantages of incumbency, a lot of her own money to spend if it gets close, and the qualities that got her elected in the first place. But I can’t imagine Rodney Tom sticking around the legislature.

The Washington Post is updating its list of best state-based political blogs…something I didn’t know existed until I stumbled across the nominations post.

So if you want to nominate some blog as a “best state-based political blog”, please feel free to do so using the web form at the bottom of this page. Alternatively, click here to submit your nomination via Twitter (keep the hash tag in there).

– The skeet shooting story is maybe the dumbest story the supposedly mainstream media have picked up about Obama. But nothing will keep the right wingers from making up nonsense about it going forward.

– Better moderation in The Seattle Times’ comments would probably be better than someone complaining that they exist on his way out the door.

– Fractions of a million dollars still seems like a lot of money to spout nonsense.

– I thought Washington’s legislators went off the rails. We’ve got nothing on Idaho!

– YOU are a computer criminal!

Last week’s contest was won by Geoduck. It was in Saltsjobaden, Sweden, where a woman stole a train and drove it into an apartment building.

This week’s contest is a random location somewhere on earth, good luck!