HorsesAss.Org

As expected, Governor Gregoire is about to unleash a giant mess:

Gov. Chris Gregoire appears to be weighing either a partial veto or a full veto of a medical marijuana bill passed by the Legislature last week.

The governor at a news conference on Wednesday said “I’m looking at it only with what I can save. Not whether I will sign it.”

As a result of the governor’s expected veto, a slowly emerging medical marijuana industry that wants to operate legally, pay taxes, and adhere to state regulations is now preparing for armed raids of their establishments [emphasis mine]:

Alas, a bill is on Washington Governor Chris Gregoire’s desk right now—a bill that would license dispensaries and growers, which she could sign at any moment—that would do exactly that. Gregoire could eliminate this federal issue with the stroke of her pen. But as I reported last week, Gregoire says she’ll veto that part of the bill. Gregoire, as it turned out, fabricated a controversy to argue that if state employees issued the dispensary licenses, they could be held criminally liable (even though other states license dispensaries, none of those state employees have been prosecuted, and federal policy and procedure on medical pot hasn’t changed). Gregoire’s speculation is unfounded, but that’s her argument. As of today her office says she still intends to veto the bill’s dispensary provisions.

In doing so, Gregoire would guarantee that that these dispensaries remain out of compliance with state law, and thus, Gregoire is inviting federal raids on sick people and their care providers. So in order to avoid a fake specter of something unrealistic happening (feds busting state employees), she is welcome a real, consequential set of raids on some of the most vulnerable people in the state. Tonight those folks are literally preparing for armed raids by federal agents wielding guns and battering rams.

This can’t be stressed enough. Gregoire’s stated reasons for vetoing this bill are pure fiction. There’s absolutely no chance – zero, zilch, none – that a state employee will be held criminally liable for taking part in the regulation of medical marijuana. A half-dozen other states already do this, and nothing even remotely like that has ever occurred, or ever will occur under Obama. His Justice Department has made it very clear that their policy is to respect state laws. In fact, one of the main regulators in Colorado is a former law enforcement officer who’s appeared on television doing his job. Yet she’s still maintaining this nonsense as if it’s true:

“I cannot and will not subject state employees to criminal prosecution at the federal level. I think that would be highly irresponsible on my part,” she told reporters.

She was referring to state employees who would collect fees or inspect and audit dispensaries and producers under the legislation.

Curiously though, she also said this today:

Gregoire said there are some aspects of the bill she’d like to save, if possible, such as a patient registry. “I think we need a registry to prevent arrest of medical patients,” she said.

So let me get this straight. She’s worried (wrongly) that the federal government will expend resources to arrest state employees taking part in Washington’s voter approved medical marijuana law, so she won’t sign that part of the bill. However, she supports a part of the bill that would put medical marijuana patients (who are just as in violation of federal law as those state employees) on a list that the federal government could potentially get their hands on? And she thinks this will prevent the arrest of medical marijuana patients? Especially since patients will have to grow for themselves again due to this veto? Is she the dumbest fucking person in the state?

One of my least favorite arguments ever is about how little difference there is between the parties. Yes, the Democrats are spineless and often plain bad on policy. But there are huge, important policy differences. At some point in those arguments, someone always brings up how it’s important to get the right federal judges in place. After all, with lifetime appointments and so many important things going on, no doubt the direction of the judiciary matters a hell of a lot. While this is true, because of those lifetime appointments, the judiciary tends to change slowly. In all my lifetime, for instance, the Supreme Court and much of the Federal judiciary has been very conservative.

By comparison, federal boards and commissions turn over much faster. In some cases like the debt commission, the balance is pretty much even, and it wasn’t going to be much more liberal than if a Republican was President. But with things like the National Labor Relations Board, the pendulum swings much faster in the other direction: 2 and a half years into his first term, Obama has already appointed 4 of the board members and the 5th is vacant. And this is largely true with any president: When a Democrat sits in the White House, the NLRB works for workers rights and when a Republican gets to appoint the board, it pushes the agenda of the already powerful.

So it is when the NLRB made a decision to actually enforce the labor rights of Boeing workers. This decision means the broad middle class in Western Washington will continue to grow. That if you maybe didn’t go to college, but are willing to work hard now, that a good job that feeds your family is still within reach. While Microsoft and others are important to the economy of the region, Boeing has always been a great way for many to move into the middle class. And I don’t think an NLRB appointed by McCain would have ruled the same way.

– Platinum!

– Some inclines are like that.

– Last week’s Parks and Recreation had me in stitches with what Tom calls foods. I’m so glad this exists.

– Will someone please run against Scott Brown?

– It’s nice to know that there is a bridge too far for racist Republicanism. Although, it’s true Barbour wasn’t going to be president anyway.

– Solar panels in roads?! Somebody get on this in America. (h/t)

– As I mentioned last week, I’m getting more involved with Sensible Washington and the I-1149 campaign. My main focus has been on making sure that Sensible Washington gets enough signatures to make the November ballot. With an all-volunteer effort, this is a massive organizational task, so I’ve been helping build some high-tech tools to make it happen. One of the main differences between last year and this year has been a larger base of volunteers, especially in the parts of the state where drug law reform hasn’t been as popular. If any of you want to help us get on the ballot, please sign up at the website.

– With the likely veto of the medical marijuana bill, the Cannabis Defense Coalition is welcoming Steph Sherer, the Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, to provide training for dispensary operators and cooperative grow members who could potentially end up being raided over the next few weeks. There will be sessions in Seattle, Spokane, and Ellensburg. Governor Gregoire could obviously make all of this moot by just signing the bill that made it through the legislature, but the public safety of Washington residents apparently doesn’t trump her desire to serve in the Obama Administration.

Please join us tonight for an evening of electoral 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 feel free to join some of us for an earlier dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 223 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

There are a group of state, King County people and Seattle City Council people who insist that the cost overrun provision on the tunnel is meaningless. They stand in stark contrast with Mayor McGinn, and most of the non-Seattle legislators who support the cost overruns provision. And they keep getting angrier and angrier at McGinn for keeping his campaign promise to oppose the cost overrun provision. They think (perhaps with reason) that it’s an excuse to go back on his saying he wouldn’t oppose the tunnel itself.

But don’t believe Governor Gregoire, Exec Constantine, or any legislator or City Council member who says that Seattle won’t be on the hook for cost overruns while they keep acting like Seattle will be on the hook for those cost overruns. The state, the county especially, but also the city council all have had the opportunity to call McGinn’s bluff and instead have insisted on poisoning the well. This may be good politics, but if they want the project to go forward without the mayor trying to block it, it’s not in the interest of their policy.

A quick recap: a few weeks before the mayoral election, the city council passed an ordinance that McGinn felt (or said at the time he felt) hemmed Seattle into the tunnel option. As such, he announced that since he couldn’t stop the tunnel he would still oppose the provisions that put Seattle on the hook for cost overruns. In this environment, McGinn went on basically doing what he said he would do until Richard Conlin illegally signed the draft Environmental Impact Statement. From that point on, McGinn took a much harder line, including vetoing a tunnel ordinance, and supporting initiatives to put the tunnel itself to a vote. Still, publicly, his position throughout has been that if the city doesn’t have to pay cost overruns, he’ll get out of the way. The state has lied to Seattle about the project repeatedly.

And magically the tenor of the debate has already changed from “of course, Seattle has to pay cost overruns, they get this awesome tunnel!” to “of course, the city won’t have to pay for cost overruns, what would possibly give you that idea?” Still, many people outside of Seattle are taking the first tack, and there haven’t been any laws changed about it since everyone was saying the first part. So, despite assurances from the state, it’s tough to believe that they won’t put “Seattle area property owners” on the hook for cost overruns.

Of course Washington State and King County could do things to assure Seattle that they won’t have to pay cost overruns. The most obvious, is the state could repeal the cost overrun provision, and commit to paying for cost over runs, just like every other state highway project. If King County is as sure as Dow and others say they are that the state is picking up the tab, they could easily work out an agreement with the city to take over any cost overruns that the state imposes on “Seattle area property owners.” If the county people don’t trust McGinn, they could structure the deal in a way that says if Seattle challenges the tunnel, they are back on the hook for cost overruns, so that the tunnel can go forward.

Until the state or the county do something like this, they may believe that Seattle won’t pay cost overruns, but they’re not betting with their own money.

But who cares, right? I mean if there are cost overruns, someone is paying for them? Why does it matter if it’s Seattle? With or without the City Council, McGinn is going to get a proposal on the ballot (and we’ve seen his ability to get the signatures to put things on the ballot without the City Council) to put light rail around the city. It’ll be a much better plan if there isn’t a gigantic question mark in the budget from the state. Simply, Washington should pay for its highways with gas tax money, not local property taxes: Seattle has a better use for the local property tax money.

Now, maybe it is good politics to oppose McGinn. To say he’s just being intransigent or a flipflopper, or whatever. But when the cost overruns do come, when the traffic from taking away exits and onramps and adding tolls comes, when Seattle goes into the red to pay for a shitty road, when we’re still tethered to cars with gas $5, $6, $7 a gallon, it won’t be McGinn’s fault.

Between Donald Trump’s birther nonsense (which was the top story on Anderson Cooper tonight for some reason) and that damn wedding, I’m not watching cable news until next week. Someone send me an email if Gaddafi finally gets killed by one of his sons.

When it comes to baseball, I’m not much of a traditionalist. Our good friend, N in Seattle, most certainly is. So I’ve been curious to hear his thoughts on the proposed playoff expansion. I might be wrong, but I’m betting he hates it even more than Tim Lincecum. That said, I think I have a proposal that he’ll hate even more than that, but it would be a much more exciting playoff format than anything I’ve heard proposed before.

The two main complaints that I’ve seen about expanding the playoffs by two teams is that it will extend the season even more, and it will give the division winners too much time to rest up while the wild cards battle it out. This idea solves both of those problems AND it adds two more teams to the mix. Here’s how it works:

Six teams in each league make the playoffs. The three division winners and the three teams with the next best records are all seeded by record (so if a team wins a division with a terrible record, like the Seahawks did this year in the NFL, they’ll still make the playoffs, but as the 6 seed). They then play 9 games in 11 days, 3 each against a different playoff team:

Seed 1 plays: 4, 5, @6
Seed 2 plays: @5, 6, 3
Seed 3 plays: 6, 4, @2
Seed 4 plays: @1, @3, 5
Seed 5 plays: 2, @1, @4
Seed 6 plays: @3, @2, 1

The higher seeded team in each match-up plays at home. After the 9 games, the two teams with the best record will move on to play in the LCS and the rest of the playoffs will continue as it always has. If there’s a tie in the standings at the end of 9 games, the tie-breaker should probably be run differential, which could make for some interesting strategies in some late games.

I’m now ducking…

UPDATE: I’m putting way too much thought into this, but I’ve updated the original schedule so that even the 1 and 2 seed will have to play some road playoff games and the 5 and 6 seed get home games. The top three seeds would get 6 home, 3 away. Wild cards get 3 home, 6 away. Still waiting for that call from Bud Selig…

– Oh my:

Pajamas Media’s resident fashion-plate and bow-tie adorned dildo brings us his latest installment in the wingnut myth that Obama Is a Muslim intent on imposing sharia law in the United States. Kimball’s editors — no doubt concerned that the typical Pajamas Media lip-moving reader rarely makes it past the headline — pack everything into the post title: “Why It’s OK for the U.S. Govt. to Burn Bibles But Condemn Burning the Koran.”

– The tunnel is a stupid project (also Pete Holems is a coward).

– Procession of the species!

– What Booman said.

Update [Darryl]

– I was going to write about Rick Perlstein’s feature in this month’s Mother Jones titled “Inside the GOP’s Fact-Free Nation. From Nixon’s plumbers to James O’Keefe’s video smears: How political lying became normal”, but will offer it as a link here instead. The article is an interesting history of the modern political lie in American politics.

Last week’s contest was won by waguy. It was Cheney, WA, where hopefully lots of Eastern Washington University students are working to get I-1149 on the ballot.

This week’s location is related to something in the news from this past month. Good luck and Happy Easter!

1 Timothy 5:23
Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

Discuss.

Young Turks: Obama v. some reporter.

Garfunkel and Oats: Weed Card:

EARTH DAY 2011:

• Mark Fiore: Little Green Man.
• White House: Earth Day questions from the south lawn.

Newsy: G.O.P. struggles to find a candidate for POTUS.

Laura Flanders: Demonizing taxes and heightening inequality.

Young Turks: Sarah Palin’s disapproval is 61%. Oh…that’s in Alaska!

Seriously Trumped Up:

• Trump fuels birfer madness
• Newsy: G.O.P. attacks The Donald.
• Young Turks: The Donald attacks Jerry Seinfeld.
• TYT Network: Birfer king!
• Young Turks: Trump’s idiotic oil ideas.
• Ed: The Donald!
• Thom: Trump and his hair were born in South Africa?!?
• Ann Telnaes: The Donald’s foreign policy.
• Trump with sage words on gasoline, China and jobs.
• Young Turks: Is The Donald too stupid to be a racist?
• Sarah Palin sticks up for The Donald.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The Donald gets confused over right to privacy.

The “Don’t say Gay” bill introduced in Tennessee.

South Carolina teabaggers speak up:

Cenk: Boehner appoints high-priced lawyer ($520 per HOUR) to defend DOMA.

Nutcase Pastor Terry Jones accidentally fires his gun after meeting with Imam (via Crooks and Liars).

Apple Tracks:

• Rep. Inslee (D-WA) wants answers from Apple.
• Sen. Franken (D-MN) to Apple: You got some ‘splaining to do on iPhone tracking (via Crooks and Liars).
• ONN: Should the nation’s unemployed buy new Apple computers?

TYT Network: Glenn Beck’s corn cow conspiracy.

White House: West Wing Week.

“Family Values” Sen. John Ensign Resigns:

• Maddow: Sen. Ensign resigns over sex scandal.
• Cenk: Sen. John Ensign’s C street connections.
• Newsy: Sen. Ensign decides to resign afterall.
• Young Turks: Sen. Ensign goes down!

Young Turks: The James O’Keefe “music video”.

Pap on FAUX News crushes opponent on “fair tax” issue.

ONN week in review: 268 feral cats removed from U.N Headquarters.

Cenk: Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) making outrageous statements about his state’s health care.

Maddow: The idiotic Bush color coded alert system is no more. Kiss your Terror Rainbow goodbye!

U.S. Budget:

• Cenk with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA): Some Town Hall “issues” over killing Medicare
• Ed: The G.O.P. holds the country hostage over debt ceiling.
• Obama: Town hall on America’s fiscal policy
• Ann Telnaes: Rep. Ryan criticizes Obama budget speech.
• Pap and Ed: Republicans “budget plan” and their Ayn Rand fetish.
• Ed: The Republican “plan”
• Cenk: G.O.P. plan to kill Medicare is a DISASTER (for Republicans).
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Greenspan says, “Go back to Clinton”. Oops!
• Liberal Viewer: Republican budget fail!
• Ann Telnaes: Republican budget defense.
• Jon: Slashdance…The Dem deficit reduction plan (via OneGoodMove).

Young Turks: Former Gov. Gary Johnson says end child labor laws.

Thom: Atlas Shrugged.

Laura Flanders: Another bad effect of the Citizens United decision:

Young Turks: The Glenn Beck comedy show.

Teabaggers get excited some times (via Crooks and Liars).

Newsy: Gov. Brewer vetoes birfer bill.

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

The Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) has been a strong voice in the progressive activist community in the Northwest for over seven years. One of their early projects was a set of tools for progressive bloggers that enabled them to connect, share ideas and information, and disseminate their work. In past years, they have put together a number of influential workshops that brought bloggers together and put bloggers in touch with politicians (I’ve attended a number of them). NPI has also been a strong, consistent voice against Tim “Biggest Lie of my Life” Eyman’s abuse of the initiative process in Washington.

On Thursday, April 28th, NPI is holding its Spring Fundraising Gala at the Community Center at Mercer View, 82346 SE 24th Street on Mercer Island (map). The reception begins at 6:30 PM and the main program begins at 7:15 PM.

This is your chance to hang out with other folks in the progressive community over a buffet dinner. There will be music by Don Mock. Featured speakers are Rep. Jay Inslee, State Rep. Reuven Carlyle, Timothy Ford, Peter Steinbrueck, and Scott Macklin. And Bob Ferguson will be the Master of Ceremonies.

You can find information about tickets and whatnot on the NPI web page.

In my post on I-1053, I wrote, “I’m not a fan of the initiative process, but I think we do need to respect the will of the people.” This post will expand on that a little. Initiatives are simply a tool to make laws. We shouldn’t treat them as anything more or less.

The biggest problem is that they are a blunt tool. The legislative process has hearings and amendments. Better (or worse) ideas make it into the final product. With initiatives, the final outcome is the same one people were collecting signatures on months and months prior. It doesn’t take into concern the opposition. You don’t need to talk to attorneys to see if it passes constitutional muster, or look into other ways of doing something. It is all or nothing.

And this all or nothing approach tends to hamper debate. If an initiative passes, then it’s the will of the people. This despite the fact that the people didn’t get any alternatives. Their will was based on if they approved the language of the initiative or not, not on what their most preferred alternative might have been. That has real value, and should be respected, but we should also keep it in perspective. And when an initiative fails, it often kills momentum for whatever was being worked for, like the income tax (although, I’m not sure how much momentum it actually had, and oddly it hasn’t done much about liquor privatization).

Another problem is the influence of money. Most of these Eyman initiatives in recent years have got on the ballot with the financing largely of one man. Of course, most normal people can’t afford to do that. And when they do get on the ballot, even political junkies like me get sick of seeing all the ads and getting mailings. Money does play too large a role in the initiative process. Still, money also plays too large a role in the legislative process. The rich and powerful will use their power in the crafting of laws, no matter how we make those laws.

Because of all this money, often the more grassroots voices the initiative process was envisioned to give a voice get shouted out. It’s tougher for grassroots signature gathering efforts to get a foothold amid the paid signature gathering. It’s tougher for the opposition to raise the money to compete with some of the corporate campaigns we’ve seen recently.

Still, even for all the faults in the process, people still do get to vote on specific issues, and that is rather remarkable. So, how do we judge an initiative? The same way we’d judge any law: who wins, who loses, who it helps, and who it hurts.

– Speculation probably does play a role in high gas prices. But the fact that it’s a finite resource that we’re using more and more of probably has more to do with it.

– Birtherism qua birtherism is really, really dumb, but as always Shakesville has an interesting take.

– I didn’t realize people vote straight ticket more often either, but I guess it makes sense as the line between Democrats and Republicans has sharpened.

– I’m amazed we didn’t do this already.

– The Seahawks’ schedule looks tough. Still, as we learned last year, you don’t have to have anything as fancy as a winning record to make the playoffs.