HorsesAss.Org

I mentioned in Tuesday’s open thread that NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s Chocolate for Choice is tonight. Even though Goldy isn’t one of the guest judges this time, I feel compelled to mention that it’s one of the best events of the year. Obviously, you support an important organization that has done so much to push for legislation for reproductive health in Washington State. In normal times this is important, but as states push more and more abortion — and even contraception — restrictions, it’s more important than ever.

But God knows we’ve all been to awful fundraisers for great organizations. This one isn’t one of them. You don’t sit through a bunch of boring speeches, at a table with people you don’t really know. Local chocolatiers donate chocolate that you can sample, and take home. There aren’t tables that you have to sit at, and while there will be some speechifying, it’s kept to a minimum every year I’ve been.

– Put them on the cover of Fortune and pretend they are role models.

– Dana Loesch, who is valiantly trying (and failing) to carry Breitbart’s torch, has done some digging into Sandra Fluke’s personal life because of course she has.

– Repairs to The Duwamish Trail.

– It will be tough to pivot from I hate Planned Parenthood to I look presidential.

– I’m glad someone in power is pushing back against the we’ve got to bomb Iran narrative. Kudos, Adam Smith.

– But at least none of the GOP presidential contenders have gone after the Girl Scouts yet.

– A clear victory for the concept of hate.

I’m actually somewhat sympathetic to the Seattle Times here. They moved Doonesbury from the comics page to the editorial page this week as it deals with the horrible new Texas abortion law. I think it was a mistake, but at least they’re still running it.

But Erica C. Barnett is right that once you start making decisions like that it opens you up to questioning why it gets made sometimes but not others.

However, despite the fact that today’s top local headline was about an 8-year-old girl who was accidentally shot by a classmate (the mother is being charged with third-degree assault) who brought a gun to school, the Times saw fit to run a comic strip today making light of gun violence (and, incidentally, drunkenness)

Sill, it might be too much to expect consistent standards from The Seattle Times.

We’ve mentioned this contest before. Now there is just one day left in the Freewayblogger slogan contest.

Freewayblogger is looking for slogans about climate change for his next tour. Slogans should be short, smart, fit well into a rectangle, and look good in traffic.

The winner of the best slogan earns $1,000. Second and third places get $500 and $250, respectively. All winning entries get their slogans posted on freeways up and down the west coast.

Scarlet writes:

So far the entries have been well-meaning but a bit toothless – (“Global Warming is not Cool!”, “Respect Mother Earth”, fracking puns, etc.) My theory is that the sort of wry cynicism it takes to make for good sloganeering is the same sort that keeps people from entering contests…

Probably the best so far has been “Climate Change = Primate Change”.

What I’m looking for ideally is the climate change equivalent of a word like “Frankenfood” – that one simple word or phrase that practically forces people to think about things more critically. (Whoever came up with “Frankenfood” is a big hero of mine – man they cost some rich people a bunch of money…)

Send entries to freewayblogger – at – yahoo – dot – com. The deadline is tomorrow…March 15th.

I know I come across as a skeptical bastard on this blog. And often times with good reason. The fights get ugly, and people’s lives come to harm far to often as a result of poor decisions made in various city halls and county council chambers, in Olympia, and in DC. Yet for all of the problems, for all the bullshit, for all the fights and arguments, I love politics because they’re a way to improve people’s lives.

Really, we fight so hard because this matters. I mean holy shit, we get to help chose the president, and on and on down. We get to influence the direction of our country and our state. And critically, we get to complain when things don’t live up to our standards.

We get to complain about the people on the other side of the aisle. We get to complain that the people supposedly on our side far too often acting mealy mouthed and pathetic. We get to complain about the influence of money. We get to complain about the operatives on the other side and the apologists for mediocrity on our own side.

So if it looks like I’m buried in snark and in skepticism, well I probably am. But I’m also so glad to be able to have this platform. I really approach it joyfully.

It’s another exciting evening of the Republican Reality Show, and we’ll be livebloggin’ it from the Montlake Ale House—at least to the extent that the news cycle, media availability and social environment allow it.

Tonight’s episode takes place in Mississippi and Alabama, where primary elections are happening, and Hawaii and American Samoa, where caucuses are held. Here are some details:

• Alabama: The state has 50 delegates and splits them proportionately. Something like eight polls have been done in Alabama just this month. The very first one was won by Rick Santorum. Gingrich has squeaked out a lead in two. Romney has led in five polls, although all five polls come from the Alabama Education Association (which may or may not be relevant). It seems like almost anything can go in Alabama. If I had to bet, I’d go with Mitt, but fingers crossed for someone crazier….
• American Samoa: The polls are…. Oh, Wait…there are no polls in American Samoa. I mean, who the fuck cares about American Samoa? Mitt Romney does, that’s who! He LOVES the place. The Oceans are the right height. He loves the little bits of land that dot the place. The owner of Samoa is a personal friend of his. It’s his favorite Girl Scout cookie. And he loves the nine delegates the joint could bring him. Oh…and he loves the Mormons that make up 1/4 of the population. Yeah, Mitt won’t go without at least one “victory” tonight. More insights can be found here.
• Hawaii: The candidates used the caucus as an excuse to send their kids on a Hawaiian junket. Romney dominated his opponents at 24% in the only Hawaii poll. Unfortunately, that poll was taken in October. And Herman Cain beat Romney at 36%. So who the fuck knows. My hunch is that Santorum and Gingrich are not very appealing to Hawaiians (there’s a Hawaiian pizza joke in there somewhere). Ron Paul will try to usurp the caucus process…and will fail because Hawaii’s G.O.P. caucus is only open to registered Republicans. My hunch is that Romney is most likely walk away with the lion’s share of Hawaii’s 17 proportionally allocated delegates.
• Mississippi: Forty delegates are at stake in Mississippi and only a couple of recent polls go on, both taken this month. One poll has Romney up by +8 and a more recent poll has Newt leading by +2 Overall…it looks like a toss-up. Let’s hope so.

So, there you have it. Almost anything goes in the South, but Romney takes the South Pacific.

Go to town in the comment threads.
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Please join us tonight for an evening of electoral politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. We’ll be watching the latest episode of the G.O.P. Reality Show as the returns come in from the Michigan and Arizona primaries, and the Hawaii and American Samoa caucuses.

Seattle DL meets every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our regular starting time is 8:00pm, but feel free to show up earlier than that to catch the earliest election returns.

I’ll be live blogging the results right here from the Montlake Ale House.

Can’t make it to Seattle? You’re in luck…there are DLs meeting all over Washington state. Tonight there are also meetings of the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and Vancouver, WA chapters. The Tacoma chapter meets this Thursday. And next Monday there are meetings of the Woodinville, Olympia, Yakima, and Shelton chapters.

With 231 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

Dick Cheney has cancelled an appearance scheduled for April in Toronto out of concerns for his safety:

Cheney, whom the protesters denounced as a war criminal, was slated to talk about his experiences in office and the current American political situation at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on April 24.

What kind of Canuckian WMD will keep Cheney in his undisclosed location, secure and cozy in his bunker?

Last Sept. 26, Cheney’s appearance in Vancouver was marred by demonstrators who blocked the entrances to the exclusive Vancouver Club.

The activists, who at one point scuffled with police, called for Cheney’s arrest for war crimes and booed guests as they arrived at the $500-a-ticket dinner.

One man was arrested for choking a club staff member.

Ruppert said the “thugs” put everyone at risk and forced Cheney to remain inside the club for seven hours until police were able to disperse the protesters and deem it safe for him to leave.

Oh. My. God. Trapped inside a club for seven hour!

That must have been torture!

– More GOP races today? I think Rick Santorum wins Alabama and Mississippi. Romney wins Hawaii and American Samoa. That means we’ll be up pretty late to hear his victory speech.

– I appreciate the intent behind these sort of bills to get us talking (and obviously, I’m linking to it here continuing the discussion) but surely there’s a better way to go than joke laws that would objectively be worse policy to object to actual laws that are terrible policy.

– Anyone going to the official reopening of the Burke-Gillman Trail?

– Anyone going to Chocolate for Choice?

ASFCME’s most important endorsement ever.

– If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the other room banging my head against the wall.

The charitable thing to says is that they are the latest casualties of the right-wing political propaganda mill. But, you know, that kind of explanation needlessly feeds a Culture of Victimhood. They wouldn’t approve.

So let’s just come out and call ’em stupid. “They” are about half of Republican primary voters in Mississippi and Alabama.

Public Policy Polling polled these folks on, among other things, what they think Obama’s religion is, Christian, Muslim, or “unsure.” The result are, um…peculiar (via HuffPo):

Alabama survey of 600 likely GOP primary voters found that only 14 percent placed the president [as a Christian], while 45 percent said he is a Muslim and 41 percent answered that they were not sure.

A similar picture emerged in Mississippi. Of 656 likely GOP primary voters surveyed, 12 percent said Obama was a Christian, 52 percent classified him as a Muslim, and 36 percent fell in the “not sure” category.

It’s pitiful! On the positive side, this should get rid of Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright “problem”.

When I see stupidity of this magnitude, it makes me think that Michele Bachmann’s warnings about Obama’s reeducation camps was really a big ol’ cry for help….

– Make Pullman a National Park

– Bus Driver Appreciation Day is coming up.

– A hell of an uptick in campaign spending.

– Occupy West Seattle protesting Chase tomorrow.

– Hug Gate goes all the way up to the Queen of England.

– The Huskies deserved a spot.

Last week’s contest was won by Liberal Scientist. It was Charlottesville, VA.

This week’s contest is from a TV show or a movie, good luck!

Matthew 5:28
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Discuss.

You guys, the Republicans are still doing this shit. Can’t it be the brokered convention yet? Darryl doesn’t seem to have posted anything so here’s your results curtsey of me, several hours late.

Kansas:

Santorum 15,290 Votes 51.2%

Romney 6,250 Votes 20.9%

Gingrich 4,298 Votes 14.4%

Paul 3,767 Votes 12.6%, but his supporters will probably make up some delegate math that proves they won.

I can’t find the numbers for Wyoming but apparently Romney won it and also Guam Virgin Islands, and Abramoffville the Northern Mariana Islands.

Here’s the press release I got emailed today.

Democratic candidate for governor, Jay Inslee, today announced that he will step down from his seat in Congress to focus full time on his campaign and talking to voters about rebuilding Washington’s economy and creating jobs for the nearly 300,000 people still out of work.

“I am excited about focusing full-time on talking about my job-creation agenda and building a new economy for Washington state,” Inslee told a group of supporters at his campaign headquarters today. “We have a great chance to seize our own destiny, build our own industries, and create our own technological revolutions right here at home.”

“I am not one for half measures or half-hearted efforts,” continued Inslee. “I am going to leave everything on the field. I am going everywhere and I am going to listen to everybody. If you have an idea, I want to hear it. If you have a problem, I want to know it. If you have a business, I want to help you grow it. I am all in.”

Inslee, who is currently leading in fundraising and running neck-in-neck with his opponent based on recent polls, said he made the decision very recently after watching the GOP presidential nominees visiting Washington with what Inslee described as a “divisive social issues agenda” and then seeing state Republicans offer budget proposals that slashed education funding.

“It was a difficult decision, but what I need to do right now is focus all my attention on talking to people about what’s really important – creating jobs and growing our economy,” said Inslee.

Inslee’s resignation is effective March 20.

For what it’s worth, while this will probably play well with the legacy media who are always complaining he’s talking about national issues, I can’t say I’m thrilled with it. I know going back to DC and here to campaign is a pain in the ass, and God knows you want to not associate yourself with Congress to the extent possible. But I don’t think the best way to ask for the next job is to quit the one you’re in.

Also, does anyone know if there’s going to be a special election to fill the seat or if it stays empty until after the November election? Also also, what happens to constituent services until there’s another member of Congress?