HorsesAss.Org

Saturday night around 9:30 P.M., the hot water faucet in my kitchen sink suddenly blew out. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, as it had become increasingly harder to turn it off in recent days, but I had anticipated a slow drip rather than a complete and sudden failure.

To complicate matters even further, none of the plumbing fixtures in my 98-year-old house have separate shutoffs. There’s a worn out valve leading to the hot water heater, but that barely slows the flow down to a light stream, and even the main water shut off still produces a stead trickle when closed as tightly as possible.

So there I am on a holiday weekend with no running water, and bleak prospects for a speedy repair.

The next morning, Easter Sunday, I headed down to McLendon Hardware in Renton, where I had bought my 1950’s style, wall-mounted Dishmaster Imperial Four about eight years ago. (Why do I have a 1950’s style, wall-mounted Dismaster Imperial Four? Because my kitchen was last updated in the 1950’s, and that was the only fixture that would adequately cover up the holes in the tile behind the corroded, old Dishmaster I replaced.) If anybody would have a replacement stem in stock it would be them, although I wasn’t too optimistic.

Sure enough, the supply of Dishmaster parts was minimal, as was the available documentation. They were going to have to special order the part on Monday, but they didn’t know from whom, or how much it would cost. It might take days. It might take weeks. Meanwhile, I had no running water but for a steady, omnipresent leak.

So after half an hour of trying to find me what I needed, and a few minutes of discussing the pros and cons of cutting into my ancient, rusting steel pipes and installing a shut off valve (“Once you start cutting into those old pipes, you may not stop until they’re all gone…”) Steve in plumbing made an executive decision. With no manager available to give him the okay, he took the display model off the wall, pulled the precious hot water stem, and placed it in my hand. Then he wrote up a special order for two stems, hot and cold (we figured it was only a matter of time), and billed me twenty bucks apiece, not knowing what it would ultimately cost. When the parts come in and I pick up the other stem, they’ll adjust my credit card up or down accordingly.

Back at home, the problem was fixed in minutes.

By comparison, and this story is just as anecdotal, a couple months ago I stopped in a Lowes I pass maybe three or four days a week, looking for a washer, and after not finding it amongst the handful on display, I tracked down a clerk who helpfully explained that “what we have on the shelf is what we have.”

I post this story not just out of appreciation for McLendon’s excellent and personal customer service, but because I think it makes a statement about what we’ve lost in America in our relentless drive toward productivity and lower prices. McLendon’s, its sprawling stores and over 400 employees, is a far cry from the cramped, musty hardware stores that used to dot nearly every neighborhood business district. I remember a hardware store near where I grew up with a sign in the window that proclaimed “We Fix Everything,” and in that pre-digital era, they probably could. Nowadays “what we have on the shelf is what we have” is the motto that leads us to replace an entire fixture for the want of a 50 cent washer.

Indeed, Steve at McLendon’s could have suggested I spend a couple hundred bucks on a whole new Dishmaster, and I might have. I was desperate. But the local family who owns McLendon’s, despite mimicking the size and layout of the national warehouse-style chains with which they now compete, has managed to retain a bit of that old-style hardware store character, and has clearly instilled that ethos in its employees.

As customers, that’s an ethos we need to support with our wallets if we want it to survive. And that’s why, while a drive near a Lowes almost every day, I head down to Renton for nearly all my garden and hardware needs.

Here’s a post where you can follow the news coming out of the D.C. press conference being held by Wikileaks. Some background on what’s happening here and here. It was initially believed that the secret video they’d be releasing would be related to this incident, but it appears to be an incident from Baghdad where 12 civilians and 2 Reuters journalists were allegedly killed by coalition forces.

UPDATE: Here’s the video:

– Alfred McCoy explains how the history of Afghanistan’s opium problem is not only the heart of what’s so difficult about our mission there – but that it’s also a problem of our own making.

– After likely saving his own life by having a firearm in his home, medical marijuana patient and activist Steve Sarich can no longer legally purchase a firearm because of his medical marijuana use.

– The AARP is asking Idaho Governor Butch Otter to veto a bill that would allow health care workers in the state to ignore people’s advanced directives.

– The case of a medical marijuana patient who was fired from TeleTech Customer Care Management solely for being a medical marijuana user will be heard by the Washington State Supreme Court.

– New Mexico is the first state to explicitly list PTSD as a condition that medical marijuana can be recommended for, intensifying the conflict with the federally run VA system, which does not allow it (but allows other drugs that might be killing people).

– The Census Bureau will be releasing the 2010 population data in a way so that individual states can decline to count prisoners as residents of the (usually more rural) counties that they are imprisoned in. This has historically skewed the amount of representation that rural areas have had when it comes time to draw up legislative district boundaries.

– If there’s a meaningful difference between The Catholic Church and NAMBLA, I can’t seem to figure it out.

– The Drug War Chronicle covers the I-1068 campaign, which when compared to the California effort, is way smaller. But there are now well over 1,000 volunteers across the state collecting the necessary signatures to get marijuana legalization on the ballot here too.

– Teabonics!

Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky, who first provided the link. Broadway Joe and BA get partial credit for both guessing right away that it was Detroit.

Here’s this week’s, good luck! And Happy Easter everyone!

First the backers of the Chihuly “museum” tried sneaking their proposal under the radar. Then they instinctively tried throwing money at the problem via an expensive, ham-fisted PR campaign. But now that it’s starting to look like their for-profit land-grab may face some serious political opposition, well, it was only a matter of time before the knives started coming out.

For example, over at Slog, commenter justdandy takes issue with Stranger writer Cienna Madrid daring to speak at Thursday’s hearing without mentioning it in her own post covering the event, calling her actions “entirely inappropriate and unethical.” But he doesn’t stop there:

You are a liability to the Stranger. Keep up this kind of reporting and someone is going to take a financial swipe at your paper. It would be well deserved IMHO.

Forget for a moment the sheer absurdity of an anonymous troll pronouncing ethical judgment on anybody else’s lack of transparency, or the fact that, like me, The Stranger routinely practices a brand of advocacy journalism that only an idiot would fail to read in the appropriate context. For whether justdandy’s comment was meant as a veiled threat or mere wishful thinking, it’s still the kinda I-don’t-like-what-you’re-saying-so-I’m-gonna-threaten-your-livelihood bullying that, I warn you, almost always achieves the opposite of its intended effect.

Especially when coming from a well-known baby-killer like justdandy.

There. I said it. Somebody had to. Justdandy is a baby-killer. He kills and mutilates babies.

He’s also, likely, despite his denials, if not a paid shill for the project, then somebody who hopes to profit in some way from it. And if, justdandy, you are offended by my unsupported allegations — if you find my reporting “inappropriate and unethical,” if not downright reckless — if you feel that I have unfairly and maliciously defamed the good reputation of your fake screen name… then I urge you to make yourself a martyr to fake screen names everywhere, and boldly attempt to set the legal standard for fake screen name libel.

I await the process server. Either that, or shut the fuck up. Or, maybe — and here’s a novel suggestion — maybe you could use your real name in a public forum when challenging the transparency of others.

But whatever you do, stop killing babies.

Matthew 10:34-37
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Discuss.

Over at Daily Kos, Washington state’s most famous blogger reports that Senator Patty Murray raised another million dollars in the previous quarter — not an astounding number in a U.S. Senate race, but not too shabby considering she still isn’t facing a serious challenger. Murray now has $5.9 million cash on hand… which is about $5.8 million more than her closest opponent.

Meanwhile, two-time loser Dino Rossi continues to spark more interest in the other Washington than he does in this one:

[I]n an interview this week with Roll Call, Rossi said he was completely undecided about the race. He said that he will run if he determines he has more than a 50 percent chance of winning, and he will make a decision on his own timetable before the June filing deadline.

He’ll only run if he determines he has a better than 50 percent chance of winning? Yup, that’s the kinda bold leadership Washington voters are looking for… which perhaps explains why both the Washington Association of Realtors and former Rossi advisor Tony Williams have both recently endorsed Murray.

Considering that there is no evidence that Rossi is reassembling his former campaign staff, and that Rossi clearly doesn’t stand a better than 50-50 chance of knocking off a popular three-term incumbent with a $5.9 million head start in a comfortably Democratic state, I’d say the chances of him running come nowhere close to 50-50.

Don’t miss this excellent diary at DKos by writer davidkc concerning the crackup of the Florida Republican Party. Gov. Charlie Crist has now called for a federal investigation concerning allegations of financial improprieties by the Florida GOP during the tenure of former chair Jim Greer, who resigned in February.

It’s the usual GOP stuff: lavish spending, hush money, dirty tricks, those kinds of allegations. Several very handy and informative links in that DKos diary to Florida newspaper articles about all this, nice with coffee.

Why should we care about possible corruption among high ranking members of the Florida GOP, besides the sheer spectacle of even more Republicans being brought low by arrogance and greed? Don’t forget that our own Republican Attorney General, Rob McKenna, has signed on to the lawsuit to block health care reform brought by Florida AG Bill McCollum. Now McCollum has to investigate his party’s own scandal while he’s running for governor, with the Feds presumably watching over his shoulder. He was in a precarious political position anyhow, and now he’s walking on a razor on a tight rope.

Looks to me like McCollum has more important things to do than file frivolous lawsuits, and that Florida filing suit against reform was itself an orchestrated political hiss. Just sayin’.

I’ve got a confession to make: I’m a bit of a cultural elitist. So I want to make it absolutely clear that my opposition to the proposed Chihuly “museum” on the Fun Forest site at the Seattle Center should not be construed as opposition to museums in general or Chihuly in particular. In fact, I think there are strong arguments to make that a “Chihuly Museum” could indeed be a great addition to Seattle, attracting both tourists and their money.

Just not at this particular location.

The Seattle Center is a scarce, kid-friendly attraction near downtown Seattle, and if we’re to have any hope of achieving our density goals over the next few decades we need more near-by amenities for young families, not less. And the several acres of prime parkland the Fun Forest is vacating provides a rare opportunity to create the kinda fun, open and free-admission public space that will draw families to the Center again and again and again.

I fully understand the financial attraction of this proposal to both the Wrights and the cash-strapped Center directors, but a private, for-profit, paid-admission “museum” is simply not the best use of this acreage. Indeed, I’d go so far as to suggest that if your goal is to showcase the work of Dale Chihuly and the Northwest glass art movement he helped spawn and promote, there are equally good, if not better places to build a glass gallery in Seattle.

For example, with the collapse of Washington Mutual, the Seattle Art Museum has struggled to fill vacant space at the former Wamu Center, leaving several floors of the building available to a potential glass art showcase. Situated smack dab in the center of the downtown, a comfortable walk from the cruise terminal and the city’s finest hotels, the Wamu Center could prove an ideal location for a glass museum, capitalizing on its proximity to the Seattle Art Museum to concentrate and increase paid admission to both facilities.

Or, if the glass gallery’s backers really have their heart set on the Seattle Center, there is plenty of under utilized land surrounding the Center proper, including parking lots right across 5th Avenue from the EMP. If backers are being forthright in their claim that the proposed $11 per square foot lease is above market rates, then surely they could obtain an even better deal on a not quite so prime location.

But perhaps the best location for a high-profile, Chihuly-branded glass art showcase — one which would provide the most bang for the buck in terms of anchoring and revitalizing a neighborhood that is much in need of such a boost — would be the empty lot on the east side of Occidental Park, right in the heart of the struggling Pioneer Square neighborhood, and the hub of Seattle’s already existing gallery walk. A Chihuly Museum on this or some other nearby lot might prove the kinda public-private partnership I and others could get behind… and a boon to the entire Seattle arts community. Again, just like with the Wamu Center location, the Chihuly Museum and the surrounding galleries would mutually benefit from their co-location.

That’s just three locations, off the top of my head, that might be well suited to a Chihuly Museum without snatching precious open space from public use. And if this project, as it has been presented, is at least as much about art as it is about commerce, then I would hope its backers would take my constructive proposal seriously.

The folks at The Stranger have been doing yeoman’s work exposing the process by which the proposed Chihuly “museum” is being foisted upon the city, and the ham-fisted public relations campaign by which the backers are attempting to fake some glass-roots street cred. What we’ve learned so far:

The committee considering bids for the Fun Forest site appears likely to be stacked in favor of the Chihuly proposal:

The problem is, certain members of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission and the Century 21 Committee have already publicly spoken out in favor of the Chihuly Museum project. For example, Jan Levy spoke for the Chihuly Museum at Tuesday’s meeting and she is Century 21 Committee co-chair; her fellow co-chair is Jeffrey Wright, owner of the Space Needle. Wright is financially backing the Chihuly Museum. Levy also serves on the Seattle Center Advisory Commission.Robert Nellums, director of the Seattle Center, also spoke in favor of the project at Tuesday’s public meeting—even though he was moderating the meeting. Representatives from Seattle International Film Festival, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Intiman Theater, and other vested Seattle Center interests all stumped for the Chihuly Museum.

And speaking of Space Needle/Chihuly “museum” owner Jeffrey Wright, it turns out that he’s a big contributor to Republican candidates and causes — over $50,000 worth in recent years. Not that this in itself says anything about the virtues of a Chihuly museum, but as Dominic Holden astutely points out:

The company behind the Space Needle is the entity that wants to build and would profit from the Chihuly glass museum. Asked if Wright would personally make money from the Chihuly museum, Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella says, “Well he’s the owner. It’s a for-profit [business].”

[…] Building the Chihuly museum would help line the pockets of someone who donates heavily to political causes and candidates that clash with most Seattle residents. And now he’s trying to use public land, owned by those people, to make his profits.

I guess this is what many of the project’s well-heeled backers meant when they repeatedly referred to it as “a gift.”

And while “museum” backers both dis the notion of open space being essential to the Seattle Center while insisting that no other proposals for the site have been made, Cienna Madrid reports otherwise:

John Sutherland, an administrator at the University of Washington, submitted a proposal to Seattle Center director Robert Nellums in 2007. Sutherland proposed demolishing the covered pavilion and creating a greenbelt/picnic area, adding new rides in the kids area, and introducing six new major amusement park rides, including a roller coaster. Sutherland’s plan also called for a kid’s public playground and a water play area.

When Sutherland was submitting his proposal, the Seattle Center master planning process (formally called the Century 21 Master Plan) was just beginning. He attended “at least 60 different meetings,” he says, during which officials and the public made it clear that what the people wanted was more green space. In the end, Sutherland says, Nellums told him that the proposal was not going to happen. “And I thought that was fair,” says Sutherland. “Even though my proposal incorporated green space, I thought we lost fair and square. It wasn’t what the people wanted.”

So when Sutherland made his family-friendly proposal, the Century 21 Committee, which Wright co-chaired, dismissed it as not providing enough green space. And now Wright himself is proposing constructing a for-profit, paid-admission gallery/gift shop/cafe/catering hall on the site. Huh.

Oh. And from the Credit Where Credit Is Due Department, after credulously reporting “overwhelming support” for the project the morning after the sham hearing, the Seattle Times at least comes back with a report on the expensive PR offensive the backers have launched:

Representatives of the Space Needle went two hours early to a public meeting about their proposed Dale Chihuly exhibit at Seattle Center to make sure their supporters would be first on the list to speak.

They filled in the first 60-or-so speaking slots. It was clear from the handwriting that some people had signed up multiple people…

Yup. That’s why the respectable folk got to speak at 6:30 PM, while I didn’t get to the podium until almost 9.

Heard enough? The folks at Slog have conveniently compiled a list of phone numbers and email addresses of Seattle City Council members and other players for you to contact and voice your opinion. Or you can conveniently mass email them here.

What are the pinheads on the right going to lecture us about if the economy turns around? Things aren’t clear yet, but this is encouraging.

U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 162,000 jobs were created in March, the largest monthly job gain in three years. Excluding the expected bump in temporary census hiring, private sector hiring was still the highest last month since the recession began.

“Today’s news that our nation created the most jobs in three years is a sign that our efforts are helping to move our economy in the right direction. When President Obama first inherited this crisis, our economy was losing around 700,000 jobs a month. Today’s figures reflect what private sector economists have told us: that the Recovery Act has increased economic activity and is helping to restore confidence in families and businesses.

If this keeps up the Fox Noise apparatus will have to come up with some phony, manufactured outrage over a trivial issue that only inflames emotions and plays to people’s worst instincts.

That’s a tall order for them, I know, but they’ll find a way. They pretty much have to, because they don’t have any meaningful ideas to offer the American people, just a grab bag of resentments. Certainly nobody on our side should count any chickens right now, because the economy is still struggling, and the perils of self-delusion have been demonstrated by the noise machine for some decades. Keep calm and carry on, as it were.

Via Daily Kos:

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of Americans among both major political parties think raising income taxes on households making more than $250,000 should be a main tenet of the government’s efforts to tame the deficit. More than 70 percent, including a majority of Republicans, say those making more than $1 million should pay more.

Huh.

I know our legislature can’t seem to close the deal on addressing even the current supplemental budget, but with Washington facing a structural revenue deficit as far as the eye can see, this poll sure does give one something to think about.