HorsesAss.Org

Rob McKenna
1125 Washington Street SE
PO Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100

Dear Rob,

You must be as excited as I am with Newt Gingrich’s conference call today.

Newt Gingrich told supporters on a conference call “we are leaning toward a yes” on a presidential run, CNN has learned.
[…]

Also interesting: Gingrich expects former Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) to be a co-chair “once we put the campaign together.”

Brilliant…adding Zell Miller to the campaign is just the ticket to refocus the press on something besides Newt’s messy marriages and adultery in the service of his country. It’ll inject some crazy-ass excitement into Newt’s campaign.

Gingrich’s bold bipartisan move is a helpful precedence for your forthcoming gubernatorial campaign. You, too, can rise above partisanship while injecting some crazy-ass excitement into your own campaign.

May I suggest making Lou Guzzo your campaign chair?

Lou did it for Dixy Lee Ray; he can do it for you. He has lots of really good ideas.

Lou will know how to keep people from thinking too much about your anti-labor agenda and your lawsuit to strip affordable health insurance from millions.

And it’ll be just plain fun…so think about it.

Yours verily,

Darryl
Horsesass.org

Here is what we learn about today’s arrest of a suspect in the MLK-day bombing from the Seattle Times (my emphasis):

An FBI source in Washington, D.C., said one man was arrested east of Spokane. Agents, including a bomb expert from Quantico, Va., were preparing to search a house where others associated with the suspect were living, the source said.

The suspects are apparently affiliated with white supremacists.

Interesting…these two paragraphs imply that there was something about today’s arrest—perhaps a statement from that FBI source—that linked the suspect up with a white supremacist group.

I wanted to know more about the evidence for the connection besides simple geographic proximity. And what about the other of the “suspects.” Only one person was mentioned as being arrested.

So I searched other media sources for more details. Here is what I find in the AP account (my emphasis):

KHQ-TV of Spokane reported that federal and local law enforcement officers had surrounded a home near Colville, Wash., about 80 miles northwest of Spokane. Two T-shirts found inside the bomb were tied to that rural area.

Additional details were not immediately available.

The FBI has said nothing about possible suspects, but public opinion from the beginning focused on some of the white supremacist groups that have brought notoriety to the region in the past three decades. The area once served as headquarters for Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations, whose members were lured by the small number of minorities.

The AP piece implies that the affiliation with white supremacist is purely conjecture based on geographic proximity to such groups.

A few minutes after that the same Seattle Times article was edited and lengthened. Here is the revised version of the excerpt from above (my emphasis):

An FBI source in Washington, D.C., said one man was arrested Wednesday outside a home near Colville, Stevens County. Agents, including a bomb expert from Quantico, Va., were preparing to search a house where others associated with the suspect were living, the source said.

The suspect is believed to be affiliated with white supremacists, the source said.

Look at all that editing of the first paragraph. And now there is only one suspect believed affiliated with white supremacists and the FBI source in Washington made the claim about affiliation. (Here is a before and after image.)

Fascinating…I’ve not come across an article in the MSM being live edited to such an extent. But now I won’t feel quite so bad when I make small corrections to my posts on Horsesass. And maybe I don’t need to footnote my changes, strike-through my errors, or even fess up after making correctinos. Hell…I can just compose live.

The Seattle Times has set the new standard.

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. We start at 8:00 pm, but feel free to show up even earlier for dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 214 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

Last night, I facilitated the Cannabis Defense Coalition’s March Public Meeting. It was the largest public meeting I can remember, primarily because of the continued erosion of the medical marijuana bill that’s been making its way through the legislature. A number of amendments have been tacked onto the bill that have drawn concerns from patients to health care professionals to business owners to even some city governments. A few of the issues involved (in no particular order):

– Extra language added to section 301 would give the state incredible power to target health care professionals who provide health care authorizations. These restrictions were designed to target what’s become seen as the stereotype of the “pot doctor”, but they go way too far in several other ways and would actually endanger both patients and the numerous health care professionals who provide legitimate authorizations. For example, if a patient was diagnosed with cancer by one doctor and referred to a specialist, that specialist could come under fire for authorizing medical marijuana.

– Arrest protection was removed for people who aren’t signed up in a state registry database, which might not be completed for several years. This means that individuals with valid authorization forms in their possession could still be arrested. If this isn’t fixed, it’s likely that the various constituents lobbying for this bill will demand that the bill be removed. This is clearly a deal-breaker.

– An added clause regarding medical marijuana advertising is also very controversial. UW law professor Stewart Jay says it’s unconstitutional, and several members of The Stranger were present last night, as this issue could significantly impact their advertising business.

– State cooperative grows are now limited to only 3 people and 45 plants. The original bill had the limit of 25 people and 99 plants (99 plants keeps it under a particular federal plant limit). This provision is more important for the rural parts of the state where a dispensary may not be nearby. One person suggested 6 people and 90 plants, which I thought was an acceptable compromise. Others might still think that’s too few people.

– There was a lot of confusion about whether dispensers and growers would be protected if a system for licensing them wasn’t set up by July 1, 2012, as specified in the bill. This concern was brought up by Steve Sarich, and few other people in the room seemed aware of this issue. It seems to be a conclusion he arrived at by reading through the fiscal note for the bill. The lobbyist for the Washington Cannabis Association, Ezra Eickmeyer, was also in the room and seemed to think it was worth looking into.

– In the original bill, state pre-emption made it so that localities would only be able to implement zoning restrictions around dispensaries, but couldn’t outlaw them entirely. That’s been changed to allow local areas to establish their own limits. In California, it’s done this way and it’s led to a fair bit of chaos. In fact, Eickmeyer noted that a number of cities were in favor of the original language and are working closely with proponents of the bill to make sure we get this right.

– Language that imposed penalties on law enforcement or other government officials for divulging the private information in the state patient registry was removed. There were concerns that without a deterrent, it would lead to violations.

Also mentioned last night was something that I haven’t seen reported in the press. HB1550, the full legalization bill that would allow for regulation and sale to adults in the state’s liquor store system, was advanced in the House by Speaker Chopp marking the bill NTIB (“Necessary To Implement Budget”). Only a handful of people were aware of this, so I don’t have any more details, but it’s a good sign that Speaker Chopp is starting to recognize the value that a bill like this has at a time when budgets are tight.

UDPATE: Eli Sanders was present at the meeting and posts up a recap.

UDPATE 2: Audio of the meeting is available here.

President Obama is selecting current Commerce Secretary and former Washington state Governor Gary Locke to be the next Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China:

The official says that “as a Pacific Rim governor and Commerce Secretary he helped lead an historic increase in trade with China. As Commerce Secretary, Locke has delivered on the president’s goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years (up 17 percent in 2010), led the push for patent and export control reforms and presided over a Census count that came in 25 percent under budget – returning more than $2 billion to the Treasury.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is frustrated over the political standoff over his legislation to strip away collective bargaining from most public employees.

Walker’s frustration comes, in part, from recent polls showing the Wisconsin citizenry siding with public employees. The most recent poll comes from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute:

Bargaining rights: […] Exactly half of the respondents (50 percent) say that public employees are willing to compromise on pensions and benefits but limiting bargaining rights does nothing to balance the state’s budget situation and is really just an attempt to get rid of public employee unions. Forty-three percent say the proposed changes are a necessary reform because they will give local governments greater flexibility to control their budgets over several years.
[…]

Walker: Slightly more than half (53 percent) of the respondents have a somewhat or strongly unfavorable opinion of Walker while 43 percent have a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion of him. In a November WPRI poll shortly after Walker was elected, a slightly higher percentage (45 percent) had a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion of him while 35 percent had a somewhat or strongly unfavorable opinion of him and 20 percent either didn’t know or had never heard of him.

Almost two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) say he should compromise with Democrats and public employee unions while one-third (33 percent) say he should stand strong no matter how long protests last.

Other bad news for Walker is the relatively pro-worker sentiment expressed by a majority of those polled:

Laying off State workers: Two thirds (66 percent) are somewhat or strongly opposed while 30 percent are somewhat or strongly in favor. […]

Public employee unions: In the most recent poll, almost six out of ten respondents (59 percent) had a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion of public employee unions. Thirty-four percent had a somewhat or strongly unfavorable opinion.

Little wonder that Walker is frustrated. He thought he could cram his extremist anti-worker legislation through the legislative process without anyone really noticing. Instead, his actions have placed him in the ideological spotlight. The recent polls tell us that Wisconsinites don’t like what they see.

Walker held a press conference today, and tried to take his frustration out on Mark Miller (D), the Senate Minority Leader and de facto leader of the self-exiled Senators:

[…] Walker wielded Sunday night’s report from the Wall Street Journal, which reported Miller as saying the Dems would come back — and which Miller and the Dems quickly distanced themselves from — as evidence that Miller had misled people.
[…]

On multiple occasions, Walker said that Miller was in effect following the word of labor union leaders — and he imagined that there might have been some sort of secret phone calls.

Later in the conference, Walker said that Miller “appears to be listening more to the labor union bosses in Washington than he does to members of his own caucus.” He again maintained that Miller had told the Wall Street Journal that he would come home, “and then after he got the phone call from labor unions in Washington or whatever it was,” had changed his tune.

Wait…he “imagines” a “secret phone call?” From out of state? Calling the shots?

That’s rich stuff, coming from a guy who actually took a phone call from out-of-state billionaire David Koch! At least, that’s who Walker thought he was talking to on the phone.

Yes…this is classic Wingnut projection: Whatever we actually do, we will accuse the Democrats of doing and hope nobody notices.

Walker also later said: “I’m not sure, I can only speculate. But I have to assume that some of those labor leaders who have invested millions and millions into this state got on the phone with Sen. Miller and told him, you cannot budge.”

See what I mean?

This is almost sad. Via The Guardian:

For America’s beleaguered liberals, Monday’s New York Times reports what sounds like a dream come true: Fox News is considering parting company with Glenn Beck, the rococo conspiracy theorist who inspires those on the swivel-eyed right and infuriates anyone to their left.

Wait a minute…Beck infuriates the left?!? While it may be true that some years ago Glenn Beck was a low-level chronic irritant who, on occasion, rose to the level of infuriating—like when he claimed with a straight fact that “Barack Obama has a deep-seated hatred of white people”—well…not so much lately. Seriously…has Glenn gotten under your skin lately? Or just made you snicker when you saw something about him on Comedy Central? These days Glenn Beck has taken on new importance as a crazy-rich vein of blogger’s gold.

Remember in late 2008 how many comedians lamented the departure of George W. Bush with no President McCain in the stars? Comedians saw a McCain/Palin administration as a mother lode of comic, freaking, gold, perhaps as rich as Bush/Cheney. Obama/Biden? Eh…not so much. A comic order of magnitude separates Biden shooting off his mouth from Dick Cheney shooting his friend in the face….

In the same way, all of us dirty hippie, commie-pinko, gun-fearin’, Bill Ayres-palling, tax-loving, abortion-eating, leftist bloggers now are alarmed by the demise of the wackiest clown in FAUX News’ impressive line-up of wacky clowns. You see, even on the slowest of news days, even on days when the pressures of blogging induced cognitive constipation, even when the day’s news was so terrible it killed the joy of writing, we could always look up the crazy things Glenn Beck did or said that day for a little blogging fodder with comic relief.

Alas, the comics’ fears in 2008 never materialized. The election of a black man with a funny sounding name catalyzed a modest-sized assemblage of right-wingers to jump off the deep end into a cesspool of insanity that keeps comedians well stocked with material.

So maybe my fears are unfounded; Glenn Beck will not abandon us left wing Bloggers. He’s wealthy. He’s driven. He has a deep-seated hatred of not being loved by white people. I think we can anticipate bigger and crazier crazy.

Last week’s contest was won by Liberal Scientist. It was the party villa of Silvio Berlusconi in Arcore, Italy, where the Prime Minister’s bunga-bunga parties have gotten him in a bit of trouble.

Here’s this week’s view, from a random location:

Discuss.

The past few hours in Tripoli have been noisy with the sounds of gunfire. Up until now, Gaddafi had lost most of the country but still maintained control in the capital and his hometown of Sirte. Libyan TV has been broadcasting that a number of cities were retaken by Gaddafi’s forces today, but other news outlets have shown those claims to be fiction. Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, was still being held by anti-regime protesters despite several very violent attacks.

Libyan TV is also claiming that the gunfire is the result of pro-Gaddafi folks celebrating, and the Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground concurred that it’s coming partially from regime supporters who actually believe that government forces have re-taken opposition-held cities and are marching on Benghazi. But she also reports that there’s more going on than just the celebrations, and it’s possible that there are some actual gunbattles in the city between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces.

Everything points to the fact that the noose is still tightening against Gaddafi and his supporters. It would be fitting to see his insane rule end as his supporters celebrate victory in the parallel universe they’ve constructed for themselves. Al Jazeera has a good live blog of Sunday’s events. And their English live feed is here.

Cenk: Anti-gay pastor caught maturating near a playground.

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

Maddow: Anti-gay marriage language slipped into Ohio “budget” bill.

Pres. Obama toasts Gov. Gregoire and the whole pack of Gubernators:

Defense of Marriage Act: That’s gay.

Revolution in the MiddleEast:

• Ann Telnaes: Gaddafi says Libyans will die to protect him.
• Cenk and Anna: Sheen or Gaddafi
• AC: Gaddafi guns down unarmed protesters in the streets

Young Turks: Anti-Muslim bill in TN.

Drug Czar Kerlikowske on pot legalization and the Seattle Times (via Slog).

Jon: The Pardon of the Christ (via TalkingPointsMemo).

Thom: “How far will you birthers go to keep a black person from being president?”

FAUX News “facts”:

• Liberal Viewer: FAUX News wants examples of bias?!?
• Cenk: FAUX News lies.
• FAUX News survives a tour of duty in Wisconsin (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Tina DupeyFAUX News bias on WI protests.
• Young Turks: Rep. Weiner pwns FAUX News actress Megyn Kelly.
• FAUX News’ 32 second segment on Republican voter fraud (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Tweety: “You know who’s un-American! Huckabee & Newt & the rest of yhe (FAUX) goon squad.”

Young Turks: Huckabee’s anti-Obama quasi-Birfer comment.

Sam Seder: George Will takes the Crazy Train to Glenn Becksville.

Revolution in the Middle West:

• GritTV: Rep. Cory Mason: Beating Walker’s Budget.
• Thom: What Republicans have learned from Wisconsin.
• Prank call to Walker pisses off Hitler (via TalkingPointsMemo):
• Pap: Koch brothers’ fascism on the move.
• Sam Seder: The Koch brothers, Scott Walker and garlic covered freedom dildos.
• Thom: Latest from the trenches in Madison.
• Jon on The Crisis in Dairyland (via Slog).
• GritTV: Budgeting badly in Wisconsin.
• Young Turks: Bill-O, Beck, Rush love their union.
• Ed is fired up about Walker’s budget.
• Thom: Wisconsin Democrats are fighting back.
• Sam Seder: The plutocracy and what Scott Walker really wants from Wisconsin State workers
• Thom: New ad campaign for Wisconsin.
• Tina Dupey interviews Ian Murphy, AKA ‘David Koch’.
• Maddow: WI Representative Nick Milroy wrestled to ground by police trying to enter his office
• WI Dem: G.O.P. are creating a Police state in WI (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH): “Hitler didn’t want unions! Stalin didn’t want unions!”
• Democracy Now: The Indiana 35.

Stephen: New Country for Old Men (via OneGoodMove).

Young Turks: Sen. Hatch and the “Federal Government Dumbass Program”.

Rep: Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) on Boeing tanker deal:

White House: Behind the Scenes at “The Motown Sound”.

Federal Budget Battle:

• Maddow: G.O.P. votes for $40B in tax breaks for Big Oil.
• Newsy: Lawmakers kick the can 2 weeks down the road.
• GritTV: Fighting over crumbs left from military spending.
• Maddow: G.O.P. votes to cut IRS Collections from Rich .
• Cenk with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA-07) on G.O.P. cut, cut, cut agenda.

Lawrence O’Donnell: How Mike Huckabee smears Mitt Romney.

Mark Fiore: Little Suzie Newsykins with “Cut and Run”.

Maddow: Newt’s fundraising scam.

EMILY’s List Senators fighting the G.O.P. war on women.

Young Turks: New Polls show U.S. liberal on taxes, budget cuts, bargaining rights.

Lawrence O’Donnell dismisses Huckabee’s ‘Boy Scout’ talk as culturally detached ‘lying’.

Ann Telnaes: Republican Trojan horse.

Young Turks: Strictest abortion law in U.S. coming to South “Coat Hanger” Dakota.

White House: West Wing Week.

Haters Have Free Speech Too:

• BBC: Supreme Court rules in favor of Westboro Baptist “Church.”
• Newsy: Hate speech is still free speech.
• Young Turks: Westboro Baptist “Church” Supreme Court decision.

Young Turks: 9-week year old fetus to testify.

Thom: Is there a civil war coming in the GOP?

The story of Citizens United v. FEC:

Maddow: Obama to G.O.P. governors, “Put-up or shut-up!

Cenk fires back at Rush.

Newsy’s hat trick in crazy: Teabagger compares Boehner to Charlie Sheen.

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

From the floor of the U.S. Senate:

I look back in history, in some of the worst governments that we had, you know the first thing they did, go after unions, Hitler didn’t want unions, Stalin didn’t want unions, Mubarak didn’t want unions, these autocrats don’t want independent unions.

— Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Update: You knew this was coming….

– The video in this post from Glenn Greenwald, showing a flag-filled rally of morons shouting racist slurs at Muslim families attending a charity event, is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in a while:

– Another Friday in the Middle East and North Africa means another day of demonstrations. The AP has a roundup here.

– The State Senate passed the medical marijuana bill SB 5073, but with some additional amendments.

– Today at the Seattle Times building on John St, there’s an all-day protest against the Drug Czar’s apparent attempt to put pressure on the Times for their endorsement of an end to marijuana prohibition.

UPDATE: I was down at the Seattle Times building around lunchtime today. The rumor going around was that the meeting with Kerlikowske was at 2:30, although it was never confirmed and I had to leave before then. The Times has so far today only put out a short piece from the AP [emphasis mine]:

Pro-marijuana protesters in Seattle are telling White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske to “get with The Times.”

The group rallied outside as Kerlikowske met Friday with the editorial board of The Seattle Times, which recently endorsed marijuana legalization.

Kerlikowske is the former Seattle police chief who now heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He says chronic marijuana use is linked to mental illness and other health problems, and argues that legalizing cannabis would not be the cure-all proponents make it out to be because the black market would adapt to offer tax-free marijuana.

Of course! Just like how our city is besieged by gangsters who sell us tax-free whiskey and rum. At a certain point, you almost have to feel sorry for poor old Gil.

He’s Back! This photo is from last Thursday.

A couple of week ago I posted a picture of this guy at the same spot on the UW quad holding a sign saying, “Don’t Think”. I asked if anyone had a clue as to the purpose.

Well, meet Kevin Smith. He came to the comment thread and provided a few clues, and linked to his blog, Signs On the Quad.

So, now what do you think this is all about?

(And this does qualify as an Open Thread.)

As the big meeting between Obama’s Drug Czar (and former Seattle Police Chief) Gil Kerlikowske and the Seattle Times editorial board approaches tomorrow, the Times is hosting a live chat today at noon to debate the topic of marijuana legalization. While Ryan Blethen explained that feedback to their editorial stance has been both overwhelming and positive, they’re still very willing to have a debate about it.

To that end, they published an editorial from Patti Skelton-McGougan, the director of Youth Eastside Services. And if this is the best the prohibition-backers can come up with, they’re in worse shape than I thought:

AS we consider the legalization of marijuana, we must bear in mind the impact on our youth. Politics aside, the legalization debate is sending a confusing message that’s contributing to a rise in marijuana use among teens.

There’s absolutely no evidence supporting this assertion. Drug use rates have gone up and down periodically over the years and we’ve been having a debate over legalization for a long time. In fact, the enactment of medical marijuana laws led to decreases in teen marijuana use across the country. But at that time, we were told the same thing. We were told that medical marijuana laws send a confusing message to kids about the dangers of marijuana and that would lead to greater use. It was wrong then, and it’s still wrong today.

In the Seattle Times’ Feb. 20 editorial calling for the legalizing of marijuana and Editorial Page Editor Ryan Blethen’s Feb. 27 column, the potential impact on youth was blithely dismissed.

I thought that the Times editorial could’ve been stronger on one particular point. Legalizing and regulating marijuana will have a positive impact on the youth in this state. As has been pointed out millions of times, teenage marijuana use rates in Holland (where sales to adults have been allowed for over 30 years) are much lower than in the United States. A big reason for this is exactly the reason why Skelton-McGougan’s logic in her opening paragraph is wrong. In Holland, marijuana is far less glamorous. It’s not associated with teenage rebellion the way it is here. Claiming that marijuana is far more dangerous than it really is only taps into the teenage tendency to rebel. That’s especially true when most teenagers are smart enough to see with their own eyes that marijuana isn’t meth or heroin because they often see older siblings or other people they know using it and leading normal lives.

Beyond that, the Times editorial did provide some good points on the policy impacts for youth. Marijuana prohibition leads to increased involvement in the criminal justice system and exposure to gangs. And young people with marijuana convictions can lose out on scholarship money and other benefits that can radically alter their future prospects in life. It’s never good to see anyone under 18 using marijuana. People who start using it before they reach adulthood increase their likelihood of developing destructive habits as they get older. But cutting off someone’s access to an education, or getting them involved in criminal activity is far more detrimental.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, there’s the question of access. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University does an annual survey of teenagers and they consistently find that teenagers report that it’s easier to get marijuana than it is to get alcohol. Why? Because when you put control of an illegal commodity in the hands of criminal gangs, they generally don’t care whether or not the person buying it from them is over a certain age. If you want to reduce access to young people, a good start is by establishing a system that allows us to regulate its sale to those over 21. Currently, we have no way of doing that.

The people who are advocating for the end of marijuana prohibition are not “blithely dismissing” the impacts of such a move on our youth. They’re advocating for it because they know that it’s the best path forward for them. And there’s a mountain of evidence and even more common sense that points very clearly in that direction. I’ve probably written variations of this post a half-dozen times to various editorials and other outbursts of uninformed nonsense. And I’ll continue to do so until the baseless fear-mongering over “protecting our youth” is proven to be nothing more than uninformed attempts to prop up a failed policy that does exactly the opposite.

UPDATE: Well, that was interesting. It looked like there were a lot of participants in the discussion. Some interesting things to note:

– According to Ryan Blethen, the details of the meeting with Kerlikowske will be made public. In addition, Kerlikowske was expected to be out in Seattle anyway at this time.

– Stephen Bogan, a Therapist who was arguing to keep prohibition in place, made this interesting claim at the end of the session:

Most kids get pot and other drugs from their parents homes.

I’ve never seen any evidence that even comes close to supporting this claim, and after looking through some similar data in the CASA survey, it doesn’t even seem plausible. Has anyone heard this one before?

Bogan was quite vocal about his concerns over teenage drug use, but was never able to explain why he supports a policy that puts the distribution of marijuana in the hands of gangs and others who could care less about how young their customers are.