HorsesAss.Org

Congratulations on finding a typo from the middle of George Herbert Walker’s administration. I’m sure this this typo, that if it was human would be able to vote, stacks up against the state of Hawaii saying he was born in that state, and showing his records. It stacks up against the birth announcements and the recollections of people who were there. I’m sure in your mind this is incontrovertible proof that Obama was born in Kenya.

But here’s the thing: even if he was born in Kenya*, he’s still a natural born citizen. You see, because of the 14th amendment, everyone born in the United States is an American citizen. That is not the only way you are a citizen at birth though — if it were, nobody would have been a natural born citizen until after the Civil War. Having an American mother who still holds her passport is fine. Unless your next step is to prove that his mother wasn’t an American**, this whole thing is moot.

XXOO,

Carl Ballard

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Thanks to everyone who sent me well-wishes last month. Baby Ava is doing great and despite being incredibly busy, I’m enjoying every second of it. Here are a few items on my mind these days:

– I just finished reading Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow“, an incredibly well-researched and well-argued book that explains how the war on drugs has created a new form of racial segregation very similar to the original Jim Crow laws of the south. The racial separation in the drug war comes from having much higher levels of drug law enforcement in black communities along with differences in prosecutorial discretion and the inability of many black drug defendant to adequately defend themselves from even totally bogus charges. The end result is a mass incarceration crisis with hundreds of thousands of black Americans saddled with felony convictions for the kinds of small-time drug violations that whites are almost never charged with.

I had this in mind as I heard the news today that THC was found in Trayvon Martin’s system after he was murdered. For a 17-year-old to have THC in his system is far from unusual, about a quarter of all teenagers have used pot in the past month. But because Martin was a young black man using marijuana, the likelihood of him being saddled with a felony for making that choice is significantly higher than it is for a white teenager. And once you’re saddled with that felony, finding employment, housing, and education becomes nearly impossible for the rest of your life. As Alexander points out in her book, people in that situation have all the doors of opportunity closed on them and usually fall into a criminal lifestyle and return to prison. The reality that her book should make clear is that even if George Zimmerman hadn’t ended Trayvon Martin’s life that night, there’s a good likelihood the war on drugs would’ve done it a short time later.

– I don’t think the lawsuit against the liquor privatization initiative has much of a chance of succeeding, but if it did, it would be really bad news for I-502, which also appears to do the “two separate things” that the liquor privatization initiative does. And for good measure, I-502 does a third thing, establish new DUI per se limits for marijuana. But again, I don’t expect this lawsuit to be successful. And as for the DUI issue, the Colorado legislature once again failed to pass a bill that would establish a 5ng/ml limit because of concerns over its lack of scientific backing.

– Scott Morgan has been wondering whether or not Romney would be worse for medical marijuana than Obama has been. As bad as Obama has been (and he’s been terrible), I could certainly envision Romney being worse. Particularly when it comes to U.S. Attorney appointments. Jenny Durkan hasn’t been as aggressive as some of Obama’s other USA’s in going after state-sanctioned medical marijuana distribution. Under Romney, it’s possible we could find someone far less progressive in that post. But it’s also possible he’d tap a progressive Republican in the Dan Satterberg mold. For those of us who actually want the DOJ to respect state marijuana laws, Gary Johnson is likely our only hope.

Howie has a great clip of Joe Biden. You should go over there and take a look at it. But I’m not sure the phrase “goes nuclear” that MEDIAite (where he got it from) describes it is really an accurate description. I mean he says the wealthy “don’t get it,” but “are not bad.” It seems to me that our discourse is broken if you’re wrong, but you’re still a good person is considered going nuclear.

The Congressional District conventions are this Sunday. If you’re a delegate, and don’t know where yours is, check your email or your mailbox, because I suspect someone is trying to find you and asking you to support them. Or you could check here. Anyway, I’m going to try to get in, and since people are calling me (hi) I thought I’d share the draft of it here. I obviously need to flesh it out a bit.

Hi, I’m running for delegate to the national convention. I’ve been involved in Democratic politics since I can remember. It seems there were always mailers being stuffed or precincts being walked when I was growing up.

Since I could vote, I supported Bill Bradley, Wes Clark, Hillary Clinton, and now Barack Obama in precinct caucuses. This is my first Congressional District convention.

In January 2004, before most people had heard of blogs, I started one, pseudonymously as Carl Ballard, called The Washington State Political Report. That lasted for several years, and now I write for Horse’s Ass, one of the largest liberal blogs in the state. If I’m at the convention, I’ll write up the experience. I’ll be honest, if you vote for me, I’ll probably swear the most while writing about the convention of any delegate.

When I started trying to be a delegate, I was hoping to get to the convention to push a marriage equality plank in the platform. It looked like that would be a real fight, but fortunately, it got a lot easier since Obama now supports marriage equality. But I’m still hoping to do what I can to make the platform as liberal as possible.

Thank you for your consideration.

– I know Reichert is safe, but the 8th Congressional District’s right turn has prompted a challenge from the right.

– Dennis Kucinich won’t run for Congress, so now people covering the 1st district will have to cover the actual candidates in the race.

– Americans Elect isn’t working out so well.

– Big Fat Love

– Maybe after his book on economic growth, George W. Bush can write a book about not going to war in Iraq.

– Bad publicity is like kryptonite to big corporations

– This is embarrassing, Daddy. Aren’t you a sportswriter?

I know this has been a bad week for Executive Constantine with the media. And every week is a bad week for Mayor McGinn with the media. But does anyone think the city and the county would be getting this good of a deal on the potential NBA/NHL arena if their predecessors were still in office?

Honestly, Ron Sims is as responsible as anyone for the bad deals we got on Safeco and Seahawks Stadium* and Greg Nickles attempts to keep the Sonics were perfectly willing to overspend public money. Of course it helps to have a willing, honest partner, and nothing has actually finished yet. We’re also in a different era where the appetite for public spending in this economy is less than it was a decade ago. Still, the elected officials are deserve a lot of credit for not giving away a lot of public money and still moving forward.

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In most business, when a company loses $2 Billion as part of its core business model, we usually let the market take care of things. Maybe have regulators look into it if the loss was caused by deceptive practices. But generally speaking, the market effects of their decision are a good enough punishment for whatever business. If a company loses $2 Billion and has to go in front of Congress or regulators, the worst part is generally the loss of money.

But banks are different for a few reasons. First, their role in the economy is different than other companies. The financing they provide is not the same as what most companies do. So they should be treated differently.

But even if you don’t buy that, surely, given that they are covered by the FDIC and have been given a fuckton of free money as an industry means that the banks have a different responsibilities to the general good than a manufacturing firm or a tech startup (that I think also have some responsibility, but not as much). As long as banks have the taxpayers funneling money to them, and acting as a backstop, they should act as models of responsibility.

But they haven’t been responsible. JPMorgan Chase isn’t even bothering to make original fuckups.

So, a few heads should roll. I still don’t understand why no CEO’s lost their jobs. We should also make sure the regulations are as tight as possible. Or at the very least, we could stop giving free money to the people who will just gamble it away.

Please join us tonight for another evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Tonight we’ll go out of our way to ignore the Oregon primary, given that the presidential primaries are settled and there isn’t even a Senate or gubernatorial race happening. But there is plenty of local, regional and national politics to keep us engaged for the evening.

We meet every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm, but a few folks show up earlier for dinner.

Notice: Transpartisan Alliance Monthly Salon for May is “Earth’s Natural Resources: Power Down, Power Up, Power Over or Power With?” It’s this Wednesday, May 16, 6:30-9:30 PM in the Conference Room, Intiman Theater, Seattle Center. Panelists are Derik Andreoli-Energy Transitions Northwest (ETNW), David Wright-BCRA Design/Co-Founder-Sustainable Ballard, Rick Forschler-SeaTac City Council, and Joe Tomlinson-Physicist/Independent Researcher.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? There are other DL meetings this week. The Tri-Cities chapter of Drinking liberally meets every Tuesday night. Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday.

Next Monday there are meetings of the Olympia, Yakima, and Shelton chapters.

With 232 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s a chapter near you.

– Maybe BP should, instead of buying elections, use the money to make sure they don’t have another Gulf disaster.

– The Seattle City Council wants an amendment to the Constitution to overturn Citizen’s United.

– Happy filing week

– John Stossel is going to do an anti-union hit piece at some point. I guess it’s a scandal that unions operate in buildings.

– DNC, WTF?

– No, Bubba Carpenter. Mississippi has NOT stopped abortion. You have only stopped SAFE abortion.

– Seattle just awarded grants for job training for immigrant and refugee youth and families.

– Seattle’s bike score: not great

Nick makes a good point about public transit being improved by smart phones.

They’ve made it more fun! When I worked at Microsoft ten years ago, you would occasionally see some twenty-something male bus rider with a Game Boy Advance. But no self-respecting person who’s not a twenty-something male geek would walk around with something like that. The [sic] will, however, walk around with an iPhone or Galaxy Nexus, which they can use to read news, play games, do crossword puzzles, or get some actual work done.

It has long puzzled me why The Seattle Times (for example, but it’s not the only daily paper where it’s true) is so hostile to public transit. I mean I usually write for HA on my laptop (like I’m doing now) when I’m on public transit. But people are always on their phones and reading newspapers and books.

Maybe it’s different for me because of the stories of my grandfather riding into New York City from Connecticut for decades. He started the day with The New York Times, and ended each day with the evening paper. Nowadays, my uncle takes the same route. He reads the paper every morning, and writes letters to his elected officials most evenings. You can’t really do that if you’re in traffic.

– I liked reading about social columns.

– Newsweek continues its tradition of brilliant, well thought out covers.

– How dare Obama campaign?

– I’m still having trouble — you know morally — wrapping my head around the GOP position on the Violence Against Women Act (h/t).

– I can get behind Bill Murray as FDR.

– The Austerions

Last week’s contest was won again by milwhcky. It was Springfield, MO.

Here’s this week’s contest, related to a TV show or a movie. Good luck!

Leviticus 11:5
And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

Discuss.

Roy Zimmerman with a Michigan edition of Vote Republican.

Thom: Why is FAUX News supporting the Christian Taliban?

The truth about the Recession.

Thomas Friedman is an enormous mustache.

Craig Pridemore is running for WA State Auditor.

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

Marriage Equality:

• Stephen on Obama’s rainbow button.
• Suzie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Gay marriage.
• Jon on Obama’s big announcement.
• Ann Telnaes: North Carolina votes on gay marriage ban.
• Stephen on Obama’s announcement that he’s gay.
• Roy Zimmerman with a North Dakota edition of Vote Republican:
• Darcy Burner on President Obama’s support for marriage equality.
• Top Lines: Obama is gay…friendly.
• Alyona: Obama endorses gay marriage.
• Thom: Gay marriage rant — it’s NOT a state’s rights issue!
• Newsy: Obama endorses gay marriage.
• Mitt Romney: Backward on marriage equality.
• Young Turks: Bristol Palin gives Obama advice about parenting?!?
• Jen: The sound of history in the making.
• Jon on the gay marriaging of America.
• What can I say about this one but, “fucking INSANE”!
• Sam Seder: The bigots’ Last Hurrah in North Carolina.

ONN: In bipartisan spirit, Obama makes deal to get kicked in the balls.

Alyona’s Tool Time Award: McChrystal’s ‘off the record’ lectures at Yale.

Pap: Republicans are a threat to National Security.

Young Turks: Sheriff Joe Arpaio lawsuit.

Scott Walker:

• Scott Walker in early 2011: “Divide and conquer” the Unions.
• Thom: Walker is using taxpayer dollars to bribe voters.
• Sam Seder: Scott Walker ‘Divide and Conquer’ union strategy caught on tape.

White House: West Wing Week.

Bill Maher on Citizens United.

Nurses for Obama.

Ann Telnaes: Regime change in Russia.

Mitt Moments:

• Young Turks: Romney was a bully in High School.
• Jen: Bullygate memory problem or simple lying?
• Newsy: Romney accused of gay bullying as teen.
• Young Turks: Mitt is lying about not remembering.
• Mitt Romney: More severely conservative than Rick Santorum?
• Sam Seder: Mitt takes credit for Detroit auto bailout he opposed.
• Jen: ‘Romney bubble’ is separate from harsh realities many Americans.
• Buzz60: Romney was a high school bully.
• Romney versus Reality: Auto Bailouts
• Ed: “Let Detroit go bankrupt.”:

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

Alyona: Trayvon Hoodie target sells out.

Pap: Fear rules Republican minds..

Sam Seder: A Trayvon Martin gun range target sells out in 2 days.

The Republican War on Mothers™ (and other Women):

• The 7 dumbest things GOP politicians have said about abortion recently.
• Obama: We don’t need another fight about women’s reproductive health issues.
• Ann Telnaes: The best country for mothers.

Thom: High School student suing over global warming.

Mark Fiore: Assaulting Austerity.

ONN Week in Review.

Succeed: Obama for America.

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

Kathleen Drew is running for WA SOS.

Young Turks: Is Wall Street upset with Obama?

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

Someone brought this to market (h/t).

An unidentified entrepreneur admits he is trying to profit off Trayvon Martin’s death by selling gun range targets featuring the teen who’s death has sparked a nationwide controversy.

Although Martin’s face does not appear on the paper targets, they feature a hoodie with crosshairs aimed at the chest. A bag of Skittles is tucked in the pocket and a hand is holding a can resembling iced tea.

Seriously, fuck everything. Fuck this seller. Fuck the people who bought it, selling out in 2 days. 2 goddamn days. Fuck the people who think this is cute. Fuck the NRA and the gun nuts who brought us this stand your ground bullshit in the first place.

Fuck anyone who thinks we’re in a post racial country. No, racism still exists and it’s still ugly. Fuck the people who are so frightened of living in a multiracial society that they’re so terrified of children with Skittles. Fuck the people who think their gun rights trump the rights of a child to live.

Fuck it. There are no words.