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I was reading this piece on the laws that are being used against the Occupy movement, and it occurred to me that there is a process to change any law that isn’t working. So while there’s a case to be made (one that I don’t agree with) that McGinn and other mayors across the country are just enforcing the law, there’s no case that the law needs to stay the way it is.

So, while I understand that the legislative process is necessarily slow and as such tough to deal with in reaction to fast moving events, the City Council could take up a law legalizing camping in Westlake. They could make it temporary (say 3 months) if they were worried about what happens afterwards. They could at the very least extend the park’s hours to keep it open all day. They could just do that in the South part of the park if they’re worried about what’s going to happen with the Christmas Carousel. The same for preparing hot food or any other complaint that they’re breaking the law. I assume the Parks & Seattle Center Committee could at least start the process, even if I wouldn’t expect it to go that far.

Goldy captures remarkable video that shows an interview and the subsequent arrest of a defiant protester at the Seattle Occupation.

The woman has the audacity of building an un-permitted “structure.” It has a sleeping bag foundation (likely not up to seismic or structural codes). Goldy tells me that, aside from asking her to move, they didn’t really take any action until she erected the top portion of the structure, consisting of umbrella-based roofing materials supported by her own arm (certainly not up to structural standards). The city had no choice but to eliminate the dangerous, illegal structure.

As it happens, it was the woman’s only home.

The police first “disarmed” the perpetrator of un-permitted housing construction by taking away a paper cup from her hand and the cigarette from her mouth. It wasn’t just a cup, though, as one cop found out when he pulled the lid off and became moistened by the coffee within.

Dominic Holden has a follow-up report (emphasis in original):

“The only people who we arrest with umbrellas are the people with umbrellas who take their cups of hot coffee and dump it on officers,” says Sergeant Sean Whitcomb. He says you can see in the video below, at about the 1:00 minute mark, the woman “take her hand and forcefully slosh the coffee on one of the officer’s legs.”
[…]

The Seattle Police Department is asking prosecutors to charge her with obstruction, resisting arrest, and misdemeanor assault (for the coffee thing). She was one of eight people arrested this morning, Whitcomb says.

A clear case of assault with “hot coffee.”

Except that, as Goldy’s video timestamp shows, the coffee was no less than 38 minutes old at the instant it was used to assault the officer (and it was possibly much older).

And, contrary to Sergeant Whitcomb statement, the moistening/flesh-scorching incident took place after the police had begun detaining her, not before.

In any case, we certainly wish the officer a speedy and full recovery from his coffee burns and a complete dehydration from the moistening. And thank god(s), that when he pulled the lit cigarette from her mouth, the pain of his first injuries didn’t cause him to plant his palm on the lit end of the cigarette.

Thankfully, the dangerous structure was torn down without additional injury to Seattle police officers or innocent bystanders.

Postscript:

As a non-resident of Seattle, I don’t typically have much to say about the Seattle Mayor—I simply don’t have a dog in that race. It seems to me, this video is the nail in the coffin of Mayor Mike McGinn’s reelection prospects. Simply put, his handling of the Occupy Seattle protest has come off as bipolar.

– Several cities have shifted to smart cards for transit purchases, so adding the ability to use your smart card to pay for parking would be fantastic.

– Every military operation we take on has legitimate criticism. Rush Limbaugh is clearly not the one to provide it though.

– Well, in news that will shock exactly no one, at least one of the images featured on Erickson’s tumblr is fake.

– Some signs from Westlake.

– How many galaxies are in the universe?

When I first moved to Seattle from the suburbs, Will, who used to write here, and I took the bus somewhere. We caught the bus in Westlake Park. This was pre-ORCA Card and he took some cash out of his wallet and counted it out to make sure it was right before the bus came while we continued to talk. Someone must have saw him with his money out, because they came up to us and asked, “You buying?”

Up until a few weeks ago, that’s more or less the feel of Westlake Park whenever I go through it after dark. Now, it’s my city, and I’ve never avoided the park because of the people selling drugs there. It’s certainly safe enough for me as an able bodied fairly young man to walk through. But, it’s not exactly the best part of town. But now, every night it’s glorious, and vibrant. And the drug dealing has left.

So whatever the value of City Hall Park versus Westlake versus other potential occupy sites going forward, Westlake Park is better for the occupation.

Last week’s contest was a tough one, but it was won by milwhcky. It was a home in North Pole, Alaska built for an episode of Extreme Home Makeover.

This week’s contest is a location somewhere in Washington state, good luck!

John 2:13-15
Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

Discuss.

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

Ann Telnaes: Taxpayer killing of the unborn….

White House: West Wing Week.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks: Senator:

Thom: Did Republicans just prove they only care about the top 1%?

Occupied:

• Ann Telnaes: Gingrich, Cain and Cantor on “wall street mobs”.
• Young Turks: Occupy Wall Street epic win.
• Alonya: Speaking to the occupiers.
• Mark Fiore: Then meets now.
• Thom: We are the 99%…let’s get to work.
• Olbermann with Tavis Smiley and Cornel West on occupy Wall Street.
• Ed and Pap: Stop the looting, start the prosecuting.
• Aloyna: Bloomberg backs down.
• Young Turks: Conservatives claim OWS is anti-Semitic
• Ann Telnaes: Newt Gingrich’s trash talk.

Jimmy Kimmel talks to kids about politics.

Ed with some Psychotalk from John Boehner.

ONN: Obama’s approval soars after punching Wall Street banker in the face.

Koch Gives Cancer:

• Thom: Koch and Cancer.
• Young Turks: The Koch Brothers cause cancer.

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

Radio host Neal Boortz crazies his way to Worst Person in the World.

The GOP Primary Asylum:

• Jimmy Fallon: GOP political ads (via Huffington Post).
• Aloyna: MSM primary political games.
• Ann Telnaes: Palin ain’t running.
• Young Turks: Herman Cain takes the lead!
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Inside 999.
• Herman Cain: Revolution 999 (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Newsy: Is Cain’s 999 tax feasible?
• Aloyna’s Happy Hour: Bachmann goes all 666 at debate
• Ann Telnaes: Christie will not run
• Thom: Values Voter bigotry over Romney’s faith.
• Young Turks: Ron Paul’s eyebrow?
• Pap: Who’s pulling the strings for Rick Perry?.
• Ed with some Psychotalk from Gov. Rick Perry.
• Young Turks: 999 or 666?
• CNN: Romney policies run up against reality.
• Tweety: The ‘Two Faces’ of flip-flopping specialist Willard Mitt Romney
• Mitt Romney through some Bad Lip Reading:
• Ed: Rush disavows Mitt’s conservative credentials.
• Young Turks: Newt’s moment of crazy.
• Actual Audio: Herman Cain versus the protesters.
• Susie Sampson: Social Security and the Romney-Perry Showdown!

Jimmy Starline, member of the County Board of Commissioners in Camden County, Ga is Worst Person in the World.

Thom: Dems fire-up to fire Walker.

More Hank, Jr.:

• Young Turks: Hank goes on The View.
• Barely Political: Hank’s apology.

Aloyna’s Tool Time: FL Gov. Rick Scott and the Liberal Arts.

Newsy: Parts of Alabama immigration law blocked.

Sam Seder: Corporate tax dodgers are destroying the economy.

Sharpton: The GOP “jobs plan”.

Kill ’em Dead:

• Young Turks: FL lawmaker wants firing squads.
• Aloyna’s Tool Time: FL Sen., Ol’ Sparky, and Firing Squads.

Rush Limbaugh is back in the saddle as Worst Person in the World.

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

Publicola announces the Friday Jolt winner of the day:

Anyone who’s thinking of running against US Rep. Dave Reichert.

US Rep. Dave Reichert tainted his reputation as a green Republican—one of the Democrats’ big problems when taking him on—by voting for a coal bill today that will weaken coal ash regulations and take the EPA completely out of the picture.

Reichert goes from a pale green to ashen….

– Sometimes you read a story about a new policy and you have a tough time with the fact that it’s actually a new policy because it’s so blindingly obvious that it should have been happening for years. Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion is one of those for me.

– I support these rule changes, Liquor Control Board.

– Looks like a good start.

– Another sure sign that Occupy Wall Street is on the right track.

– If I’ve been a bit Occupy Seattle heavy recently, well, here’s some info on Occupy Olympia.

– I FOUND A PUNCHLINE FOR YOUR COMIC STRIP

– Michael Schur is one of the best writers there is, but I sure do like any Red Sox fan suffering.

– I’m still going to get bumblebees and honey bees mixed up some times.

Right now the protesters are building a canvas structure in the middle of the plaza at Westlake park. The rumor is that the police were taking it down, but other than a few bike cops under the awning, I don’t see any police. I was going to head home after the GA, but I guess I’ll be staying here a bit longer. Updates if anything happens.

… So it’s about a 5 foot cube with polls on each corner. 3 sides are canvas and the other side is open as an entrance. There isn’t a roof, but they’ve put some bamboo and some Christmas lights. There are half a dozen people sitting cozy inside.

While I was writing the paragraph above a bike cop rode by, slowed down, took a look and then went back to join the others.

… I apologize that this update is super boring, but most of the cops rode off a few minutes ago. There are only 2 left. I tried to see if the ones who left were massing somewhere, but I went a couple blocks up Pine where they went, but they weren’t there. No police cars, so I doubt the city will do anything until 10:00 if they do anything at all.

… Still nothing, so I’m going to grab some warmer clothing. Will be back before 10:00. There have been a few people who said they think tonight is the night. But rumors fly around like you wouldn’t believe.

… I’m back and so are the police. There are about a dozen at the mall. There are 3 cars and a wagon as well as the ones bike. There were a few riding through the park. I don’t know if that’s been going on. Still, it’s quite festive at the park.

[9:40] About 4 cops just walked up to the people in the structure. Now there’s a crowd. I can’t get close, but it looks like the police have left.

[9:51] They’re kind of milling about but I counted 30 officers at the mall. Still, only one wagon, so I imagine there will be arrests but not in large numbers.

[9:59] The police have moved into walked through the park. No announcement to leave yet.

[10:06] The police are by the Bank of America (and the medical tent). Still no announcement to leave. The chanting by the other structures have quieted down a bit.

[10:25] The police came up to the structure. Some are there and some are under a nearby awning.. The structure in the park has 4 or 5 layers of people.

[10:29] Looks like the first person has been taken out. I still haven’t heard an order to leave the park.

[10:33] A second person taken out.

[10:37] “You are the 99%” directed to the cops

[10:51] The structure is down. About 10 people were arrested so far and there are a few more where the structure was still getting arrested.

[11:17] Those last few people are still in a tight circle. Still no announcement to leave the park.

[11:30] The police have cleared out without arresting the last 5 who were together. There’s pandemonium here.

[11:54] I’m out for the night, but there are still quite a few people around.

Coming out of the 2010 elections with avictory in taking the House, Republicans were boasting about their inevitable Senate victory in 2012. Now they may need to worry about simply keeping the House (via TPM):

…voters are starting to favor a Democratically-controlled Congress, as disapproval of the legislative body grows.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Wednesday showed a major gap between the two parties, with 48 percent of voters going for Democrats while 40 percent went for Republicans. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed a four point lead for Democrats, and Public Policy Polling showed a six point edge for Dems.

Two mistakes the Republicans made: First they let the extremist minority of their party (i.e. Teabaggers) drag them to the far right way-crazy, resulting in a year filled with seeming political chaos in Congress. What could have come off as principled defiance instead came off as sabotage.

Second, Republicans have gotten absolutely nothing productive done to solve the problems of a stalled economy and high unemployment. Negative, angry rhetoric is great stuff for giving voters an outlet for their angst and a common cause. But the voters wanted more than a big vent-fest…they wanted and expected real improvements. The Republicans failed to deliver. The voters are noticing.

The police arrested 1 (I think) person in a tent and then all left. About 2 dozen cops mostly bike cops but a few in cars made the announcement that the park was closed at about 10:15. They took down the tent only and arrested the person.

There was another group of people willing to get arrested, who locked hands, but it appears they were left alone. No riot gear or attempts to clear the entire park. As far as I could tell nobody was pepper sprayed. While, once again, I think the arrests were a serious mistake, I applaud the police for their professionalism.

TPM reports that some dumb-ass Florida state Rep. wants to eliminate lethal injection as a method to kill death row inmates…and replace it with execution by firing squad.

Drake said…his bill is a response to debate over the effectiveness of the cocktail of drugs currently used for lethal injections. “So, I say let’s end the debate,” he said. “We still have Old Sparky. And if that doesn’t suit the criminal, then we will provide them a .45 caliber lead cocktail instead.”

Some states, like Florida, still allow death row inmates to choose between electrocution and lethal injection. Drake’s bill would replace the lethal injection option with a firing squad.

Hmmm…if lethal injection is controversial because it may, potentially, be ineffective, how could a bullet to the head (or heart) be any less controversial from the perspective of effectiveness? There are numerous recorded cases of individuals surviving a firing squad, and in some cases, going on to recover from their injuries.

Man…those Floridians sound like a bunch of fucking barbarians to even think about such a method!

Oh wait….

At 12:17 a.m. Friday, convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was pronounced dead after a Utah firing squad fired a volley of bullets into the murderer’s chest, where a target was pinned over his heart. It was the first execution by firing squad in the United States in 14 years.

That was in June of 2010!

I think Jon Huntsman would see an immediate rise in his poll numbers by pointing out that he was Governor of the state until about a year before this execution. Oh…and that, as Governor, he would have personally joined the firing squad.

Man…I’m glad I don’t live in one of those barbaric states like Florida or Utah. I mean, we don’t do shit like firing squads, do we?

Washington utilizes two methods of execution: lethal injection and hanging. Lethal injection is used unless the inmate under sentence of death chooses hanging as the preferred execution method.

Oh.

Well…if it’s good enough for Iran, Iraq and the KKK, I guess it’s good enough for us.

At least we’re pro-choice barbarians! I mean how often was the KKK all like, “Hey Boy, y’all prefer to be lynched by hangin’, by firing squad, or by gettin’ dragged behind a pick-up truck?”

Yes…we’re definitely superior.

The Occupy movement took over Red Square at the University of Washington today. Here are a few images from the event:

– it’s wrong-headed to think that voting down a fee will somehow make driving affordable.

– Maybe now we can raise taxes on the richest members of society.

– You see a certain amount of commentary complaining that the young people involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests should put down their signs carping about student loans and big banks and go get a job. What the commentators don’t say is that no one is willing to hire them.

– The freeloaders who don’t pay federal income taxes.

– This sort of vigilante justice will probably become more common in the Internet age, so let’s at least try to get the right people.

– It was especially nice to see the handful of cartoonists pretending to care so very much about [Steve Jobs] , but just not enough to know he’d been a Buddhist for decades and in fact made several speeches about how it guided his life and career and how imagining he’d be in front of St. Peter