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If Bill O’Reilly thinks our state’s opinion leaders are going to follow his lead in whipping up a tempest in teapot over the Atheist display in the state Capitol, he has another thing coming:

The state of Washington seems to have hit on the right approach for a nation that evolved because of people seeking the right to worship as they want. This year, the state Capitol displays not only a menorah, commemorating the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and a Nativity scene depicting the Christmas story, but also a statement of a thoroughly dissenting opinion. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed a sign that reads: “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The pluralism of the holiday display might be a little unruly, but it is a reasonable alternative to stripping from government buildings any reference to these holidays that are such an important part of many citizens’ lives.

Gov. Gregoire’s staff has fielded thousands of calls since O’Reilly started broadcasting her phone number on TV and radio, but staffers tell me they’re mostly coming from out of state, and I’ve got news for Billo and his legion of angry automatons… out-of-staters don’t pay taxes here in our Washington, and they sure as hell don’t vote.  So they shouldn’t expect more than passing attention from our very busy governor.

Personally, I don’t much disagree with the content of the “Reasons Greetings” sign, though I would not have definitively stated that religion “hardens hearts and enslaves minds,” (it can and sometimes does, but not always), and I certainly wouldn’t have placed such an unnecessarily anti-religious message in a holiday display.  But one doesn’t have to defend the message to defend the messenger’s right to express it on an equal footing with other religious groups.  In Washington, as in the rest of the nation, government simply cannot express preference for one religion over another, nor for religion over non-religion.

The consequences of the First Amendment may at times be messy and irritating or even offensive, but the rights enunciated within provide the bulwark from which all our rights are protected.  This near absolute reverence for freedom of religion, speech and the press was a uniquely American invention, and has always been our nation’s greatest strength.

So if I had the opportunity to answer O’Reilly’s questions with one of my own, I suppose I’d ask Billo… “Why do you hate America?”

Wow.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has extended the life of his minority Conservative government until the new year after Governor General Michaelle Jean today granted his request to suspend Parliament.

Jean made the unprecedented decision after a lengthy meeting with Harper this morning at Rideau Hall.

Her consent to prorogue Parliament means the work of the Commons has been discontinued, allowing Harper’s Conservatives to escape a confidence vote next week that would have meant the defeat of his government.

Okay, obviously there’s a whole lot more to the story, including the fact the opposition parties were seeking to form a coalition with the Bloc Québécois, but just wow. The representative of the Queen of England, the governor general, just kept the Conservatives in power in Canada.

According to this story in the Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, that may be just fine with most Canadians.

Best of wishes to our friends to the north. That vestigial royal power thing is truly fascinating.

Marco Lowe, Dave Ross’s campaign manager in 2004—when the radio host ran against Sheriff Dave Reichert for the then-open seat in the 8th Congressional District, has an essay  up at the Stranger with a game plan for winning the district. 

His main point, start working on it now. Other suggestions: Talk about nitty-gritty local issues rather than the sweeping ideological headline issues and go after Reichert’s shoddy record at the Sheriff’s office (Dan Ring case and, yes, the Green River Killer case). 

Lowe’s piece doesn’t look back at the Burner campaign, but rather urges Democrats to look forward. It’s worth reading.

I’ve got a very leaky bathtub faucet that appears to be rusted in place, and considering I lack the proper tools (and know-how), and there’s no separate shut-off for the water, I’m just too timid to pound at this thing to get it off and replaced.  So I guess I need to pay to have somebody do this for me.

It’s an old house with no access panel (the pipes are in the external wall), and what’s in place doesn’t seem to match the guides I’ve seen online.  Any suggestions on a handyman or plumber who will do this right and affordably would be appreciated.  Or if one of my loyal readers has the skills, the tools and the will, the pizza and beer is on me.

Yet another “this must be some weird dream” moment happened today:

During a hearing in the U.S. Senate, the chiefs of General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler LLC were responding to a question from Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Dodd asked whether they would be willing to work within a structure similar to that established for the federal bailout of the former Chrysler Corp. in 1979-1980.

GM’s Rick Wagoner, Ford’s Alan Mulally an Chrsyler’s Robert Nardelli said they would.

While there’s been a lot of Sturm und Drang over whether the auto companies deserve a bailout, both from the rump remains of the allegedly free market Republican Party and from consumers frustrated by decades of shoddy products and environmental destruction, it’s kind of hard to see how it is in the national interest to allow that sector to go belly up. I think we really would be talking about the Second Great Depression at that point. And while I freely admit to engaging in hyperbole at times, in this case I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.

Arguments that we might need the assembly plants for national defense strike me as a bit naive. We’re not in wars that require tens of thousands of tanks, we’re in wars that require smart intelligence, smart diplomacy and a nimble military. The argument over the fate of Detroit is an economic one more than a military one, although of course nothing happens in isolation. If we hollow out what’s left of our manufacturing capacity, what exactly is it that we do as an economy? There is unrealized potential in green power, and high-tech is often beneficial, but are we really going to be able to continue buying cheap plastic shit forever on credit from overseas?

Anyhow, supposedly one in ten American jobs are directly or indirectly related to the automotive industry. If those go away in short order, we’re left with having tried to bail out the financial sector to little effect, which raises questions about exactly whose money we are going to manage. Even the Saudis and the Chinese have their limits.

Could we have a deflationary spiral from hell? Don’t know, but if Congress can bail out AIG and the rest of the financial sector to the tune of (potentially) trillions of dollars, they might want to think long and hard about doing nothing to help the auto industry. There’s plenty of blame to go around here, but in the end fixing the underlying economy (which was wrecked in the first place by the financial industry) has to be the top priority.

I don’t like it anymore than the next person, but there it is. Bail out the automakers, Congress, and let’s get on with the next thing. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a small South American military junta will foolishly invade an obscure island or something.

Speaker of the House Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43, Capitol Hill, U-Disrtict, Wallingford) is getting away with murder. Other members of the House aren’t willing to go on record against Chopp’s loopy great wall on the waterfront plan because, well, Chopp’s the Speaker of the House. Erica interviewed a bunch of legislators last week for her column in the Stranger and Chopp’s House colleague’s were predictably vague.    

This is frustrating because of course, we know that off-the-record, lots of legislators think Chopp’s plan is a cockamamie idea. But without any of these elected officials coming out against Chopp’s $2.2 billion elevated freeway plan—knock knock are you there Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-43, where 73% of voters came out against an elevated in March 2007)— we’re stuck with the political illusion that Chopp’s plan has political support. 

Well, let’s flip this around on Chopp and put that assumption to the test.

Let’s start asking a different question.

Sure no one is coming out against the Speaker’s plan. But are there any House members (or any elected officials at all, for that matter) who publicly support Chopp’s plan?

According to a new study, Washington is the 10th healthiest state in the nation, up from number twelve, but…

Washington has some problems: Low rates of immunizations of young children and of high school graduates. There is also a high disparity in health outcomes associated with where someone lives.

And I’m guessing the best way to deal with these disparities isn’t to cut 7,700 low income people from our state’s Basic Health Plan.  But, you know, if it helps the governor stick to her no new tax pledge, I suppose it’s worth it.  Um… right?

From the P-I:

The state’s incoming superintendent of public instruction says Washington lawmakers are about to get a wake-up call about what it means to do their work during an economic downturn.

Randy Dorn predicts the Legislature will be forced to think about raising taxes to meet the needs of the state, especially because he says cutting one of Washington’s biggest dollar commitments — education — should not be on the table.

As a former state lawmaker, the new school chief knows few things may be sacred during a major economic downturn.

And he plays the “paramount duty card:”

“It’ll be a real choice of — what are the priorities. And to me there isn’t a choice on what is a priority. The priority’s already been determined by our constitution. That’s the paramount duty. They take an oath of office. It’s pretty simple to me,” Dorn said.

Look, we all know it’s going to be an insanely tough session. Nobody wants to see health care pitted against education, or corrections and law enforcement. Or whatever.

But the broader public is going to need to understand that their neighborhood schools are going to be affected, possibly in significant ways. I’m not so certain that is sinking in around the state.

Education is a point of contact with the state for many folks who otherwise have little interaction with it, other than routine trips to license vehicles and such. Frankly a lot of parents may not understand exactly how education is funded in this state or what could happen with drastic cuts.

Dorn is right to start making noise. It’s probably unrealistic to hope that no cuts will happen, but parents and students involved in both K-12 and higher education better start making plans right now to fight like hell.

Yeah, I know. Gov. Chris Gregoire made a promise not to seek tax increases. Well, a hell of a lot has happened just in the last four weeks, and a hell of a lot is likely to happen in the next four weeks. From a macro-economic standpoint a tax increase is about the last thing that should happen, but then again, the consequences of major damages to education are also severe.

Our stupid, regressive tax system has us boxed in big time.

Kansas leads candidates for bio-defense lab:

Kansas emerged Wednesday as the leading contender for a new $563 million federal biodefense lab also fiercely pursued by Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and other states.

Federal officials said that a Manhattan location was better than five other finalists and nearly 30 spots considered overall for the home of the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, according to documents obtained by The Kansas City Star.

Research expertise at Kansas State University, particularly in its College of Veterinary Medicine and Biosecurity Research Institute, an available work force of scientists and state financial support topping $200 million helped push Kansas to the top.

Kansans were wise to ultimately reject the assault against their education system by Seattle’s Discovery Institute, which repeatedly sponsored efforts to impose creationism in the guise of “intelligent design” on Kansas children. Back and forth battles over control of the Kansas School Board eventually led to Discovery’s defeat there.

You can’t have a quality state university system if the high school graduates are hamstrung by ideological balderdash sponsored by stink tanks like the Discovery Institute. Now both Kansas and all of America will benefit from actual science that will help defend us. It could have been different, if the religious extremists had won. But they didn’t, and we should all be thankful.

Next year’s MLS season will be starting right here at Qwest Field. The expansion Sounders FC will be hosting New York on Thursday, March 19. Want tickets? You might not want to wait too long.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and AG Rob McKenna have just issued a joint, bipartisan statement on Bill O’Reilly’s manufactroversy over the atheist display in the state Capitol:

“Last year, after a federal lawsuit was filed against the state of Washington by the Alliance Defense Fund, the state’s Department of General Administration set forth a policy allowing individuals or groups to sponsor a display regardless of that individual’s or group’s views.

“The Legislative Building belongs to all citizens of Washington state, and houses the state Legislature, as well as the offices of several state-elected executives, including the governor. The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution’s First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of non-believers.”

So there you have it.  I guess my pseudo-legal analysis of the issue was basically right.

It’s a shame that even their communications staffs had be distracted by bullshit like this when there are issues of so much greater import to address, but apparently the’ve been fielding hundreds of phone calls—mostly from out of state—after O’Reilly attempted to bully the governor by posting her phone number on national television.

Whatever.

Both Gregoire and McKenna have more important things to do, and if I were them I wouldn’t pay any more attention to Billo and his annual War on Christmas bluster.

Robert Reich sounds the alarm nationally about the fact we are bailing out Wall Street even as our education system faces drastic cuts.

Frankly I’m a little disappointed Gov. Chris Gregoire didn’t seem to really mention education while at the National Governor’s Association meeting. Or maybe she did and it just wasn’t widely reported.

Granted, infrastructure and health care funding are important, too, but why not stress to the president-elect the serious threat to “human capital,” as Reich refers to well-educated workers? If we wind up yanking a couple of billion out of K-12 and higher ed, as certainly seems possible, that’s a deferred disaster of monumental proportions.

Former Republican state chair Chris Vance, writing at Crosscut:

Dino Rossi lost because voters realized Republicans don’t have a freaking clue about economics.

Pretty much.

If you’re wondering how I earned the “honor” of going up against Bill O’Reilly last night, well, it turns out I have Dan Savage to thank.

Ken Schram from KOMO gave my name to a producer from Bill O’Reilly’s show who was looking for someone to come on tonight and defend the sign put up by atheists near the nativity scene in the state capitol. The producer added that O’Reilly wanted to “broaden the discussion out to include observations about Washington being a very liberal state.” Uh-huh. I declined and when the producer asked if I could suggest someone who might want to come on, I gave him your name Goldy.

So I guess I should just think of Billo as Dan’s sloppy seconds.  (Bet that’s an image that sticks in your head.)  But, hey Dan… when do I get my shot at doing Bill Maher?

In the end, O’Reilly really wasn’t all that.  Sure, he did that cutting me off and talking over me thing he does, but that’s not really all that different from a typical dinner table conversation in my family, and, well, I’ve spent enough time on both sides of the mic to have been there and done that.  Watching the video, I thought I did okay given the context… got in a couple good lines… didn’t embarrass myself or anybody else.  And now that I know what to expect, I’m confident I’d be more relaxed and forceful given another shot at going up against Billo.

Speaking of which, the process of taping the segment is probably not what most people imagine.  Both Anne and I appeared from studios at Fisher Plaza, but were taped in separate rooms.  Throughout the interview I sat alone in a small studio with a fake skyline behind me and a robotic camera in front; there was no TV monitor on which to view the proceedings.  Except for having to stare at the camera, it was pretty much like doing radio, except with a tinny piece in my ear instead of a set of good headphones.  In the end, having Bill O’Reilly’s voice in my head wasn’t all that scary—there are way more frightening demons in there—but it would have been easier if I could have heard him more clearly.

As to the story itself, well, it’s total bullshit, and it’s hard to believe that was Billo’s top story of the day.  In fact, after taping what I thought was a pretty uncontroversial segment, I almost feared they might edit it, bury it or cut it entirely.  But then, I’m not a real journalist like Billo, so what do I know?

My DSL stopped working sometime last night.  The modem says it is connecting fine, but I can’t connect to anything.  Anyway, expect some light posting while I sort this out.

UPDATE:
Qwest called me back within a couple hours and fixed the problem.  So I guess I’m satisfied with the customer service.