HorsesAss.Org

In baseball, teams that spend excessive amounts on payroll (you can say they all pay excessive amounts in payroll, but that’s a discussion for another day) pay a percentage over a set limit back to the league. It seems to me the state could, in these dire budget times, demand a certain percentage back. I’m not saying a lot. Maybe 5% of the money over 120% of the money they get back from the state. Enough so that counties feel it but not so much that it cripples them.

I should note, even though the trolls will ignore it, that I don’t like this proposal of mine. I simply dislike it less than the idea of further cuts to education and social services. I’d prefer tax increases, and preferably progressive ones. I’d prefer that the Roadkill Caucus and the Republicans act seriously instead of demonizing state workers. But since they won’t, we’ll have to think creatively.

And, yes, I’m aware that many of the deepest cuts to education and social services are happening in counties that would have to pay this luxury tax. That’s just the price you pay for your anti-tax rhetoric.

– Lee may have more to say on this piece on WestNET, but it really solidified in my mind the difference between the Trib’s terrible editorials and their solid reporting.

– I’m still not fond of Sully.

– The War on Christmas is still going on? Bring the elves home, I say.

– On Facebook, Occupy Seattle made note of this comment.

– Cowardly Rob McKenna.

– Well that settles it, I’m not keeping a beehive in my house.

– I’ve joined Twitter, thus officially draining it of any cool it had left. Feel free to not follow me, as you’ve been doing.

Last week’s contest was won by Don Joe. It was Joe Paterno’s house in State College, PA.

This week’s contest is a random location somewhere in the world, good luck!

Revelation 1:9
We suffer because Jesus is our king.

Discuss.

– Those big banks are a piece of work.

– I don’t find anything objectionable about the code of conduct for street canvassers, but just saying “no thanks” or “I’m already a member” when you see one usually works fine.

– It’s time to move to targeted direct action, and, no, that doesn’t mean supporting candidates for election.

– Shorter Seattle Times: The middle is always the right place.

– One’s first response is, whoa, okay, that’s really weird. One’s second response is, what a terrible negotiating strategy. One’s third response is, awesome, an international free agent, these guys are always exciting! And one’s fourth response is to wonder whether Kawasaki is actually any good.

Ann Telnaes: Grover Norquist on raising taxes.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA): 10th anniversary of Enron:

Mark Fiore: Hard science.

Ann Telnaes: The most wonderful time of the year.

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

White House: West Wing Week.

America Occupied:

• Alyona’s Tool Time: Bloomberg’s army.
• Occupy the Washington state’s special leg session.
• Thom: Seattle’s Dorli Rainey on being pepper sprayed.
• Olbermann with Jackson Browne on his performance at Zuccotti Park
• Ann Telnaes: Speech is not created equal.
• Sam Seder: GOP plan to neutralize OWS.
• The Pepper Spray song.
• Young Turks: Adam Carolla OWS rant.
• Thom: GOP admits being frightened by the Occupy movement.
• Olbermann with Markos on Republican’s summoning Frank Luntz.

Thom reveals some Good, some Bad, and Some Very, Very Ugly.

Jon on Obama’s war on Thanksgiving.

Ann Telnaes: Detainee provision trashes the Constitution.

Jon on elections in Egypt.

WA and RI Governors want pot recognized for medical uses.

Young Turks: Republicans won’t tax the rich to offset payroll tax.

Thom: Are lies and sabotage the only hope for the WI GOP?

An interview with Rep. Roger Goodman (D-WA-45).

Rupert Murdoch hacks his way to Worst Person in the World.

Why we need to protect voter rights.

The Republican Primary Asylum

• Bashir: Who’s the biggest flip-flopper?
• Sharpton: The party of gaffes.
• Sam Seder: Herman Cain’s extremely simplistic view of foreign policy.
• Lawrence O’Donnell with Ginger White: Gifts from Herman.
• Rick Perry mocks Rick Perry
• Young Turks: Rick Perry’s latest disaster.
• Herman Cain’s brain.
• Alyona’s Happy Hour: Women for Herman Cain.
• Newsy: Cain launches “Women for Cain” site.
• Young Turks: Cain’s hilarious sex scandal.
• Sam Seder: Women for Cain!
• Herman Cain’s 1986 sexual harassment training video.
• Ed and Pap: Stupidity is Cain’s problem.
• Stephen on the Cain scandal.
• Jon: Thirteen years and can’t close the deal.
• Conan’s new Herman Cain campaign adRep. Roger Goodman (D-WA-45).
  ngtonpost.com/2011/12/01/conans-new-herman-cain-ad-video_n_1122988.html’>on the economy (via recognized for medical uses.
  post.com’>Huffington Post).
• Stephen defends Herman Cain.
• Red State Update: Herman Cain should say, “Yeah, I Fucked Her!”.
• Thom: Why do Republicans think an affair is worse than sexual harassment?
• Young Turks: Was Newt a lobbyist?
• Ed and Pap: Skeletons in Newt’s closet.
• Bashir: Newt Gingrich is like a drunk who thinks he can control his drinking.
• Young Turks: Newt’s brave new ideas for child labor.
• Stephen: On Newt not being a lobbyist.
• Young Turks: Newt the new front runner?
• Young Turks: Ron Paul destroys Newt in new ad.
• The Huntsman girls bring him back.
• Mitt’s disastrous interview.
• Stephen: Mitt’s new attack ad.
• Young Turks: Mitt hates his FAUX News interview.
• Romney’s Two Weeks.
• NH voters on Mitt’s troubling attack ad.
• Jon: Mitt Romney is his own mistress (via Huffington Post).
• Young Turks: Romney stumbles on immigration.
• Sam Seder: More Michele Bachmann stupidity on Iran.

Sharpton: DNC’s Voter Protection Director discusses ProtectingtheVote.org.

Alyona’s Tool Time: Rick Scott cares.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) urges extension of payroll tax cut for middle class:

Sam Seder: The problem of Republican ignorance.

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

USA Ammo shoots up to Worst Person in the World.

Actual Audio: Grover Norquist on Meet the Press.

Kimmel’s Week in Unnecessary Censorship (via Huffington Post).

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

I know, early days and all that, but this would be pretty rad.

Yesterday, the Sound Transit Executive Committee recommended a $2 million budget addition to study high-capacity mass transit from downtown to Ballard in 2012, instead of maybe three years from now, as was originally proposed.

This is fantastic news! Regardless of if the full Sound Transit board approves the $2 million Executive Committee recommendation on December 15, millions have already been pledged. Specifically, the City has budgeted an additional $2 million for studying and planning (including $900,000 from a federal transportation planning grant, a $300,000 SDOT match of the federal grant, and $800,000 from the approved 2012 budget).

I would be interested in how much this would work as a spur to development versus changing the way people move between Ballard and Downtown. The buses between Downtown and Ballard now seem to work pretty well (they work well for me when I take them, but I don’t commute that route so it’s not rush hour). And while there’s always room for improvement, Ballard doesn’t seem as in need of a spur for growth that much of the Link corridor will benefit from in the long term.

I’ve been waiting for years for someone to dig up this old TV Nation segment about Newt Gingrich and put it on YouTube:

Goldy highlights this gem from Frank Luntz.

“I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death,” Luntz said. “They’re having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.”

While I think the Occupy movement in general and Occupy Wall Street in particular changed the discussion and have had a positive impact, a much larger driver is that the economy has turned many people against capitalism (or at least the brand of capitalism in the United States). It’s the housing bubble and the myriad foreclosed houses it’s left since it burst. It’s the high unemployment rate, and what it does to people who can’t find work or to people who are afraid to ask for a raise or who aren’t able to take that vacation any more or who aren’t getting as many tips as they did a few years ago. It’s the high price of gas. It’s the degradation of government services.

No, if you want to make people think positive things about capitalism, build a capitalism that works for them. Make capitalism more democratic, and more fair. Make it a vehicle for building a strong middle class accessible to anyone who works hard.

It may be more cumulative than any one thing, but the reaction to Cain’s affair seems to be more harmful to Cain than his alleged sexual harassment. While I can’t say the affair, if true, reflects well on him, well adults are free to fuck up their private lives. As long as it’s consensual and not abusing power, it’s between himself and his family, and we can focus on policy.

And yet, the thing that’s got him in the most trouble is the consensual thing that doesn’t matter to his policy. Seems like we could straighten out our priorities a bit. Also, while I’m dreaming about straightening out our priorities, maybe don’t take the next Herman Cain quite so seriously.

I’m glad that the Wenatchee bailout isn’t going through. Although unlike the Republicans who oppose it, I’m not against the state bailing municipalities out on principle. But since I don’t think the state would return the favor for Seattle, well, no bail outs is probably preferable to bail outs that only flow East.

Also, it’s tough to justify this when the economy is on the rocks and the legislature is in cut, cut, cut mode. The Republicans have, with their insistence on no new revenue, made this a choice between bailing out bad investments in Wenatchee or schools and social services. Really, a no brainer.

Six months after derailing a very well-crafted medical marijuana bill, Governor Gregoire joins Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island to ask the DEA to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule II drug. Leaving aside the argument that marijuana probably shouldn’t be a Schedule II drug either (the same as cocaine and certain forms of methamphetamine), this is clearly the most progressive position on marijuana we’ve seen from the Governor. But I also agree with the Drug Policy Alliance’s Ethan Nadelmann here:

“The governors’ call for rescheduling marijuana so that it can be prescribed for medical purposes is an important step forward in challenging the federal government’s intransigence in this area,” said Nadelmann. “But their call should not serve as an excuse for these two governors to fail to move forward on responsible regulation of medical marijuana in their own states. Governors in states ranging from New Jersey and Vermont to Colorado and New Mexico have not allowed the federal government’s ban on medical marijuana to prevent them from approving and implementing statewide regulation of medical marijuana. Govs. Gregoire and Chafee should do likewise.”

As the federal pressure on medical marijuana grew over the summer, Gregoire and Chafee were the two governors who balked and scrapped sensible regulations supported by the people of their state and passed by the legislature. This happened even as both Republican Chris Christie (NJ) and Democrat Peter Shumlin (VT) moved forward with their states’ programs despite the threats. It’s good to see Gregoire have the courage to stand up to the DEA (many still won’t), but there’s certainly more she can and should do.

The Columbian has a bold strategy to plug the horrible budget hole without the hassle of raising taxes or cutting programs that people depend on. Magic? No, silly. Reform. But without getting very specific or putting a price tag on it.

This special session was necessitated by a projected $2 billion revenue shortfall. Many lawmakers talk about dealing with this only by various combinations of spending cuts or revenue increases. Again, though, state Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield, the Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, is advocating a third tactic that never seems to draw the attention it deserves: reform.

Oh. Reform. Of course. If we do things better then things will be better.

And Washingtonians have to wonder why reform never carries more clout in these agonizing budget discussions. After all, the concept of reform is largely (though far from totally) nonpartisan. Reform means simply changing the way government does its business, maximizing efficiencies. While conservatives advocate budget cuts and liberals insist on boosting revenue, both sides ought to agree that a bigger bang for the taxpayers’ buck would be a good thing.

It couldn’t be that there isn’t much money in the so-called reforms. That will require the rest of the article to mention some of the ones that will have the most “bang for the taxpayers’ buck” and really delve into them. How they effect the programs, how they effect the workers tasked with implementing them. That sort of thing. Or I guess quote one state senator.

Even with the limited attention given to reform, Zarelli points to steps already taken by legislators in that direction: “more choice for injured workers, a refocusing of the Basic Health Plan and disability lifeline, and clamping down on fraud and abuse involving food and cash assistance to low-income people,” all accomplished with bipartisan support.

You guys, all we have to do is cut the fraud and abuse budgets! Also, if we make Workers’ Comp and Basic Health less effective, it’s not a cut, it’s reform. Anyway, you know what would make this article the best ever? More vague suggestions from the same person without any attempt to see what they would do to state services and state workers let alone how much they might save or cost.

Surely, that cannot be the end of what can be done. In his article for The Herald, Zarelli advocated focusing on “long-term obligations that are huge cost drivers, such as state-worker pensions, health-care services, paying off the state’s debt and efforts to bring our K-12 education system into compliance with court rulings” plus at least having discussions about “services for non-citizens, state liability, non-Indian gaming, state workplace efficiencies such as competitive contracting and defined-contribution pensions, and how the state subsidizes low-income child care.”

Almost all of those things will cost money, or are cuts (except expanding gambling). This article promised something other than “combinations of spending cuts or revenue increases” and yet pay down debt is on the list? How do you expect to pay down debt without raising taxes or cutting spending?* Hopefully the next paragraph will answer some of those questions instead of being a whiny nonsense metaphor.

The reform menu keeps getting longer, doesn’t it? Why, then, are legislators so reluctant to place their orders?

It’s because most of those reforms are bad ideas, cuts by another name, or bland generalities. While some of them may be part of the solution, this article doesn’t make the case for any of them, and certainly doesn’t weigh the pros and cons. The legislature is trying to solve a $2 Billion budget gap, and the Columbian is proposing gimmickry and trickery while demanding we take them more seriously.

[Read more…]

– I remember Nick telling me that Hillary should drop out in 2008, so I’m glad to see he’s come to my side on primary elections being good for whoever wins them.

– Late night taxi stands

– The new iPhone hates women (h/t).

– Awesome job Washington Post.

– I can’t decide if I think #Q4Jon is awesome or horrible.

– Predatory birds spreading seeds via lizards.

Please join us tonight for an evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

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

Damnit! It looks like we won’t have Herman Cain to kick around anymore. Apparently, “conservatives” are telling him, “Nein, nein, nein.” So…enjoy whilst you can:

Can’t make it to Seattle? The Tri-Cities chapter of Drinking liberally meets every Tuesday night. Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday. Also next Monday, there are meetings of the Olympia chapter, the Yakima chapter, and the South Bellevue chapter.

With 227 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.