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Road kill

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I guess I’m a bad liberal, ’cause I frequently drive when I travel from my home in Redmond to work at the University of Washington in Seattle. Depending on my teaching schedule, some quarters I manage to take the bus three out of five days, but mostly…well, ahhh, not so much.

A pleasant surprise of driving over the last couple of years has been the occasional sight of a bald eagle sitting on top of a light post on the SR-520 floating bridge. It just sits there on top of that lamp in full majesty with its head held high.

Sometimes it causes a traffic slowdown. And that’s okay.

When I see the eagle, I always wonder how it can stand the traffic noise. I mean, have you ever kayaked around the West end of the SR-520 bridge in that quasi-nature area? Yikes..I have, and it feels like a battle zone. Maybe it is a function of acclimation or something, but I find the experience disturbing.

An maybe the eagle does too. Because, from what I can tell, this describes nothing short of a suicide:

Metro spokeswoman Linda Thielke said the bus was in the middle of the bridge, moving at about 50 miles per hour when the eagle started to fly in the same direction as the bus.

“The bird very, very suddenly took a turn and smashed into the windshield,” cracking it, Thielke said.

I’m guessing it was the persistent assault of traffic.

But maybe he really hated that “big deal”—the debt ceiling “compromise.”

Either way…rest in peace pal.

Unequal Justice in the Dying Empire

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King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg writes about the recent tragic death of Google engineer Steve Lacey:

Steve Lacey was on his way to Costco on Sunday afternoon, July 24, and was sitting in traffic, waiting for a light to change when his life ended. A minute before he was tragically killed, a 52-year old driver, Patrick Rexroat, was allegedly speeding southbound on I-405, carrying three and a half times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream, and chasing a car that he thought had cut him off in traffic. While in hot and drunk pursuit of the other driver, Rexroat failed to negotiate the turn he attempted at high speed and slammed into the driver’s side door of Steve Lacey’s car, killing him instantly.

Witnesses report that the 52-year old Rexroat got out of his car and pounded his chest in a defiant gesture. When he was told that he had killed another person he shrugged his shoulders and started to walk away.

…

What sort of justice awaits the victim’s family, the community and the defendant in this case? The answer is as infuriating as the crime. Under Washington State sentencing guidelines, the killer of Steve Lacey faces no more than 41 months in prison, minus one-third of the sentence that will almost certainly be reduced for good behavior. That means that vehicular homicide offenders actually are removed from our streets for less than 2 and half years.

Want to be even more infuriated? Compare that to this:

The owners of two medical marijuana dispensaries in Spokane have been indicted by a federal grand jury.

Charles Wesley Wright and Jon Richard Vivian, owners of the THC Pharmacy on South Perry Street, and Jerry Wayne Laberdee and Dennis Lewis Whited, owners of Medical Herb Providers, face time in federal prison under multi-count indictments filed today in U.S. District Court.

…

Wright and Vivian face [up to 20 years] if found guilty of maintaining a drug-involved premise near a school. THC Pharmacy was located at 1108 S. Perry St. – which is less than 1,000 feet from Grant Elementary School.

Wright and Vivian are also charged with distribution of marijuana near a school, possession with intent to distribute marijuana near a school, manufacture of marijuana near a school. Each charge carries not less than a year and no more than 10 years.

As with anyone, I’m in favor of having zoning laws that keep dispensaries away from schools, but just to provide clarification on the seriousness of that offense, here’s a map of the neighborhood:

Of the five Spokane defendants, Wright is the only one I’ve communicated with so far. He sent me a rather desperate email yesterday about his situation. He’s in the process of selling all his possessions in order to defend himself (his dispensary was only open for a very short period of time and it never actually made any money). Unlike the caricature that law enforcement likes to present, these folks weren’t high rollers raking in the dough. They’re generally patients themselves who had the resources and entrepreneurial drive to provide for the growing numbers of authorized medical marijuana patients in the Spokane area who couldn’t provide for themselves.

Comparing that to the circumstances and likely sentence of the man who murdered Steve Lacey is enough to make one ill. Long after Patrick Rexroat has served his time and is once again a free man, Charles Wright will almost certainly remain behind bars, never seeing his two kids (who are now 10 and 12) grow up. You may not agree with Wright’s choices, or his defiance after being told to close up shop, but you lack a soul if you find any of this to be acceptable for a civilized society. And that comment is directed most pointedly at Eastern Washington U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby and his office.

Next Tuesday, August 9, 1:30pm at the federal courthouse in Spokane is Wright arraignment. There are some preliminary plans for protests both here in Seattle and in Spokane. If anyone would like to participate, please feel free to email myself or contact the CDC.

Open thread

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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

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DLBottle Something on your mind these days? We’ll be raising the ceiling tonight at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. Stop by…you know you need to talk about it.

There are unsubstantiated rumors that one or two Seattle City Council challengers will be dropping by, as well.

So please joins us for drinks, conversation and politics under the influence. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but a few folks show up earlier for dinner.


Can’t make it tonight? Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets this Thursday at the Hub Restaurant. Starting time is 7:00pm. And with 231 chapters of Living Liberally, including seven in Washington state and seven more in Oregon, chances are excellent there is a chapter near you.

Returned

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If there was any redeeming moment, any bright spot in this ugly terrorist/hostage situation that has unfolded in Washington D.C. over the past couple of months, this was it:

Drinking Liberally — South Bellevue

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DLBottle
Last week I forgot to mention in the Drinking Liberally post that tonight is the monthly meeting of Drinking Liberally South Bellevue.

They meet at 7:00 PM at the Mustard Seed Grill and Pub.

From their mailer:

The topic, of course, will be the debt ceiling. Tuesday is the deadline to raise the debt ceiling. Will we have a deal? If so, how bad will it be? What is the damage assessment?

Dictionary.com: Extortion : 2. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one’s office or authority .

The debt ceiling extortion on behalf of the Tea-Party and House Republicans represents the most brazen and potentially destructive abuses of political power I can remember in my lifetime. In an attempt to achieve their political agenda, Congressional Republicans are threatening to blow up our economy and the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government. Many of them are, I’m afraid, actually too stupid to understand the implications of default. Lawrence O’Donnell yesterday characterized them as “uneducable”. Even the US Chamber of Commerce thinks they are nuts.

Some have called the endeavor “economic terrorism”and even”treason”. Ironically, it is being perpetrated by the group that fancies themselves as the most patriotic Americans.

Why are they doing this? To weaken the President, cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and shield the richest individuals and corporations from any shared sacrifice in the attempt to get our deficits under control.

Meanwhile, Congress has completely abandoned any and all efforts to create jobs.

This is truly a very low period in our political history. So lets have a beer or soda and commiserate.

Hope to see you Monday.

Can’t make to Bellevue tonight? The Seattle chapter meets tomorrow night and the Tacoma chapter meets on Thursday night. Essentially, with 230 chapters of Living Liberally, including seven in Washington state, chances are excellent there is a chapter near you.

Open thread

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The Undefeated appears to be defeated.

Breaking Crime News:

  • FBI is checking out a “promising lead” as a “routine part of our investigation” in the 1971 D.B. Cooper case
  • DNA evidence will be used to see if a 14-year-old Ted Bundy killed an 8-year-old Tacoma girl in 1961.

Read of the day: Getting bin Laden: What happened that night in Abbottabad.

Today in Debt the Ceiling Hostage Situation:

Time to vote

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Still have that ballot sitting on your kitchen table?

Fuse has produced their Progressive Voter’s Guide for this election.

Actually…they only have a voter’s guide for nine of Washington’s 39 counties, but if you are reading this, there is a good chance you live in one of those nine counties.

Do you vote in King County? Fuse recommends a yes vote on Prop. 1 that would renew a levy to fund some veterans & human services.

Oddly enough, the Seattle Times recommends a yes vote as well. Strange bedfellows. No, wait, that’s the other daily….

Whatever…just make sure you vote.

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Congressman Deadbeat Dad:

Newsy: Register to vote…get free pot.

Ed: Voter suppression in Wisconsin.

Beck massacres Kilmeade and Ingraham to become Worst Person in the World.

The Media Responds to Norwegian Terrorist Attack:

Bill-O the Clown beats out Michele Bachman as Worst Person in the World.

Jon on the perpetual victims at FAUX News:

Lawrence O’Donnell: Teen suicide rate high in Bachmann’s bigoted Anoka-Hennepin County school district.

Sam Seder: Scumbag NewsCorpse gives mourning mother a phone and then hacks it.

Anthropogenic C****** C*****:

Jon on Twitterized newscasts.

Seattle city councilman Tim Burgess rapping (via Slog).

Rep. Billy Long defeats FAUX’s MacCallum, and Lush Rimbaugh for the title Worst Person in the World.

The Republican Primary Asylum:

Ralph Goneau, 79, and Richard Wilhelm, 87, waited 41 years to say “I Do”.

ONN: Social Security reform bill encourages Americans to live faster, die younger.

Ed: Florida voter suppression.

Young Turks: FAUX News infotainer says cut Medicare to fund wars.

Newt triumphs over Rep. Culberson and Glenn Beck Worst Person in the World.

New Fuel Efficiency Standards:

Lawrence O’Donnell: Right wing wackjobs let FAA funding expire.

Jon does an extended interview with Juan Williams.

Olbermann with Robert Reich on America widening wealth gap.

Newsy: Seven billion and counting.

Debtmageddon:

White House: West Wing Week.

Newsy: God’s 52% approval rating.

Olbermann wit Rep. Keith Ellison on (Peter) ‘King’-sized fearmongering .

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

“Mike McGinn and Tim Eyman”

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The Pro Tunnel people are running an ad trying to link Tim Eyman and Mike McGinn to the opposition to the tunnel. Tim Eyman opposes tolling but hasn’t done much one way or the other on the tunnel. This ad isn’t the first place to imply an alliance between them despite, you know, evidence. But since this narrative is out there, I’d like to remind people what Mike McGinn actually thinks of Tim Eyman (emphasis mine):

Let’s speak honestly about what’s happening to education in the State of Washington. Tim Eyman has set this state on a path that will let our schools collapse and our children fail in order to save a few dollars. Mr. Eyman, you may have talked the rest of the state into destroying what we hold dear. But we are drawing a line around Seattle, right at the city limit. And we’re saying it won’t happen here. We’re not going to stand by and watch our children fail. That’s why we’re doubling the Families and Education Levy. I ask Council to stand with the community and stand for Seattle values and place this levy on the ballot.

Further cementing this alliance, McGinn is opposed to Eyman’s latest initiative.

I do not support Eyman’s initiative. If we toll a road, the state should be able to use the tolling revenue to fund transit for people who can’t afford the tolls. In fact, that’s the only fair way to do tolling.

McGinn isn’t a one issue obsessive, unlike the people who call him one!

Open Thread

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– Darryl has already mentioned The Stranger’s endorsements. Also, Cascade Bikes and NARAL.

– Jim McDermott on how hitting the debt ceiling might cause a ripple effect to the UW.

– Dear drivers, for the love of God, stop hitting cyclists.

– In case you were concerned that the News Corp scandal wasn’t seedy enough (h/t).

– It’s 2011, and cankles are still a thing human beings talk about. About cabinet officials no less.

– Socialist!

Sub Areas

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I’d be a lot more wiling to go along with this if I thought East King County would return the favor if the situation were reversed.

This afternoon, the Sound Transit board’s agenda features a resolution selecting the preferred Eastside alignment for Link light rail, which includes a tunnel under downtown Bellevue. However, the tunnel would cost $329 million more than the amount allocated for this portion of the project when voters passed the ST2 extension in 2008. To cover that cost, the City of Bellevue has pledged to chip in $180 million and that leaves—depending upon various methods to slice and dice the shortfall—$138 to $150 million unpaid. Although Sound Transit staff have reportedly considered various options (selling real estate, shrinking the scope of the Eastide alignment, and delaying the project to save money on bonding), those weren’t the chief idea presented to regional leaders yesterday. Several sources say that Sound Transit staff specifically asked leaders in the North King sub-area cities (again, mostly Seattle) to contribute $150 million to support the East Link tunnel.

Of course the reason we have sub areas in the first place is that East and South King County (or at least their ST representatives) were opposed to the thought of having to pay for any of Seattle’s light rail. When we were building light rail in Seattle, we had to balance it out with East Side bus routes and park and rides. We had to build much of it at grade. We had to cut the Graham Street Station from the final route. So, no, if we have any money left over, I think a Graham Street Station and putting the money into bus service lost if King County cuts routes would be a better way to go.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve used the East Side buses and park and rides, and I think they have value. Also, I’d like to have good rail on the East Side. I don’t even mind paying for it as a Seattle person. Logically, with capital intensive projects like light rail sometimes the money should flow to Seattle and sometimes it should flow out of it. What I object to is that the money only seems to go one way.

And one more thing; during the last Seattle budget, Bellevue and other East Side people told me how awful it was that Seattle was raising parking meter rates. They were going to steal away business with their cheap parking and out compete Seattle. Now they want to use Seattle’s healthy budget to pay for rail on the East Side!

McKenna doubles down on his funding fuck-up/PDC dispute with new whopper

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Earlier this week I offered Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna some solid advice:

[T]he sitting state Attorney General should NOT have his campaign stooges give uninformed legal babble opinion—it reflects badly on the legal prowess of the Attorney General.

But now, McKenna is doubling down on this sort of idiocy…by mailing out a fundraising letter built around a whopper of a lie, built on their fringe legal theory.

Publicola reports on McKenna’s letter that starts out:

The leading Democratic contender, Congressman Jay Inslee, has a war chest of over $1,000,000 in his re-election campaign for Congress. This week the media is reporting that he intends to illegally transfer that money to his state campaign for governor.

By “the media”, the McKenna campaign means this AP piece that was carried by numerous media sources.

A plain reading of the AP piece yields these facts (reordered):

  1. McKenna had $40,000 left over from his 2008 campaign
  2. McKenna didn’t segregate the money into a surplus account; rather, he rolled over those funds to his 2012 campaign
  3. The rolled-over funds commingled with new money and, therefore, are subject to campaign contribution limits
  4. Inslee has $1.2 million surplus from past campaigns squired away in a separate account.
  5. Inslee asked the PDC for permission to use the surplus, with donor consent, for his gubernatorial bid.
  6. About $1 million of Inslee’s money never commingled with new money so it would not be subject to campaign contribution limits
  7. The McKenna campaign characterized Inslee’s money as “illegal,” and claimed that Inslee was circumventing Washington state law
  8. The PDC disagrees with McKenna’s intrepertation; they agree that Inslee can, with donor consent, use about $1 million for his gubernatorial campaign without contribution limit issues
  9. The only challenge to the PDC’s interpretation of the law in the article comes from McKenna

This last point is important. It means McKenna’s fundraising letter is premised on a lie. It says:

This week the media is reporting that [Inslee] intends to illegally transfer that money to his state campaign for governor,

Not true. The media does not suggest the proposed transfer would be illegal. Here is what an honest McKenna could say:

This week the media is reporting that [Inslee] intends to transfer that money to his state campaign for governor. The PDC says this is legal. We disagree.

That would be an honest summary of the situation.

Instead this whole episode leaves us with a troubling picture of McKenna:

  • He (or his campaign) fucked-up their own cash roll-over, apparently through ignorance of the state’s campaign laws
  • He espouses a fringe legal theory about campaign cash roll-over, one that is contradicted by the PDC
  • He is willing to blatantly lie to his potential donors

The episode not only throws into doubt if he has the integrity to be Governor, it throws into doubt his competence as our state’s top lawyer.

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