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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

It’s Tuesday…which means its time for our weekly Occupy the Montlake Alehouse event. Please join us 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. at 8:00 pm. Some of us will be there earlier for dinner.

Hell…some folks will begin the occupation at 5:00 pm to watch the Republican primary debate!

Can’t make it? Drinking liberally is all over the place! There are also meetings tonight in the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and Vancouver, WA. Tomorrow night, Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets at 5:00pm. Next Monday, there are meetings in Olympia, Woodinville, Shelton, and Yakima.

With 227 chapters of Living Liberally, chances are good there is one near you.

The Sierra Club has released their report card for Washington state’s congressional representatives:

• Jay Inslee (D-01), A+
• Rick Larsen (D-02), A
• Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-03), F
• Doc Hastings (R-04), F
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-05), F
• Norm Dicks (D-06), A+
• Jim McDermott (D-07), A+
• Dave Reichert (R-08), C
• Adam Smith (D-09), A+

Notice a pattern?

The best of the Republicans, Reichert, who was once taped confessing to pro-environmental votes as a way take environmentalists “out of the game”, only gets away with a C—and that’s based on his voting record.

The bottom line: Republicans are really, really bad for the environment.

Last Thursday, Pramila Jayapal and George Cheung of United for Fair Representation wrote an op-ed column in the Seattle Times. Though it ended up on the doorsteps of a couple hundred thousand readers, their opinion piece was actually addressed to an audience of four — the members of the Washington State Redistricting Commission.

Jayapal and Cheung are challenging the Commissioners to create a “majority-minority” Congressional District at their next public meeting, tomorrow morning in Olympia. They’ll probably get their wish … which, sad to say, might eventually work against their interests.

Before explaining what I mean, we need some background information. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 contains several provisions that bar racial discrimination in redistricting plans. Sixteen states are required to go through “preclearance” of their plans, automatic submission to their plans to the feds; Washington is not one of those states. In practice, application of the VRA has resulted in district lines that collect members of a racial group into one district, thereby greatly increasing the probability that that CD will be represented by a member of that group. One might call it “reverse gerrymandering”, concentrating a group instead of diluting their influence by drawing districts that put small pockets of the group into several districts dominated by other ethnicities. In creating such Congressional Districts, you can end up with some really ludicrous maps. For instance, look at Illinois’s 4^th District, in which the two convoluted sections of Chicago’s Latino communities are connected by the median strip of I-294.

Another majority-minority district is the 12^th District of North Carolina, which crawls along I-85 picking up African-American communities while skipping past other towns. It even looks a little bit like the original 1812 gerrymander.

Those two CDs, and others around the country, achieved the goal of fostering diversity in the House of Representatives. Luis Gutiérrez represents IL-04 in Washington and the Congressman from NC-12 is African-American Mel Watt. But I doubt that the same could easily happen if our Redistricting Commission takes the advice of Jayapal and Cheung, because any such district would be majority-minorities. Unlike the largely Mexican-American IL-04 or the mostly black NC-12, a Washington district would be Eritrean and Pakistani, Thai and Guatemalan, Indian and American Indian, Vietnamese and African-American, Iraqi and Filipino … on and on and on. No race, no language group, no national origin would predominate. Some of those groups are antagonistic to others — would a Bengali vote for a Pakistani? a Honduran for a Salvadoran? an Iraqi for an Iranian? With such splintering, in a multi-candidate electoral race, it just might turn out that someone from the largest single demographic group in the CD (non-Hispanic whites) would win.

This is not to suggest that racial identity would be the reason for any citizen to vote for a particular candidate. I’m merely saying that the situation wouldn’t be nearly as cut-and-dried as it would be in a locale with a large concentration of a single racial/ethnic group.

There’s another issue as well. Republicans love majority-minority Congressional Districts. Racial minorities are generally Democrats, and concentrating a racial group into, say, a 75-25 Democratic district may make it possible to generate a bunch of 53-47 Republican CDs around it. That’s probably not the case in Illinois, where the excluded middle of IL-04 is largely a black community, but it certainly applies to North Carolina. And it could happen in Washington as well.

In their op-ed, Jayapal and Cheung summarize the first round of Redistricting Commission maps (emphasis added):

Republican commissioners Slade Gorton and Tom Huff and Democratic commissioner Tim Ceis made strong and positive statements that reflected their appreciation for people’s participation in the process and their belief that there was a real need for this change. Huff’s map exactly matched our unity map. No maps had all of our asks reflected but many had some and we will continue to push for as much representation as possible for people of color.

While Tom Huff may have given United for Fair Representation what they want, he found a lot of ways to screw Democrats. His map, IMHO, is even more Republican-friendly than Skeletor’s Gorton’s. For instance, he separates uber-Democratic San Juan County from the Whatcom County-based CD, replacing those voters with large chunks of rural Republicans in eastern King, Snohomish, and Skagit. I see that district as lean-R. Huff drew four strong-R districts on his map, and another that could swing that way when Norm Dicks decides to hang ’em up. Also, he has the Seattle-based CD wrapping around the northern border of Lake Washington, far enough to include most of Kirkland. His map certainly doesn’t come close to representing the state’s overall makeup.

Tomorrow, we’ll get to see each Commissioner’s second iteration. It will be interesting to see who has moved his boundaries the most, as well as who has hardened his position. I still have confidence that the Commission will agree on a final map by the end of the year. And I think it’ll have a majority-minorities Congressional District. But I don’t have much confidence that the m-m district will be represented by a minority group Congress(wo)man. If Tom Huff or Slade Gorton gets his way, it will be slightly more difficult to elect enough Democrats to retake control of the House from the crazies who run it these days. And a Democratic Congress would do far, far more for Jayapal and Cheung (and the rest of us) than building the Congressional District they seek.