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A floating pirate ship shooting pepperoni would look pretty killer if you ask me. Call Sea-Tac.

Join us at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally for an evening of politics under the influence. We start at 8:00 pm at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Some of us will show up even earlier to enjoy the fine cuisine.

Tonight we’ll tune in to The O’Reilly Factor for his annual War on Christmas™ comedy special. Perhaps we’ll construct some “hard left” holiday tree munitions decorations at the same time. And we’ll catch the tail end of the War in Georgia.

Not in Seattle? Check out the Drinking Liberally web site for dates and times of a chapter near you.

I guess I did kinda sorta okay before getting bogged down in his bullshit, but mostly O’Reilly just wanted to call Gov. Gregoire names, and that’s what he did.  We’ll see how it comes out in the edit.  (And yes, unlike almost every other show, O’Reilly pre-tapes, and edits out the truly unflattering—or boring—stuff.)

The thing is, it’s hard to imagine folks getting riled up once again about the so-called War on Christmas, when they’re more worried about how their going to pay for any Christmas celebration at all.  This sort of divisive rhetoric is a luxury I’m not sure many Americans can afford during these tough economic times.

Oddly enough, I’ll be doing the O’Reilly Factor tonight, defending Washington state from charges of being a far-left extreme commie-fascist-atheist sanctuary.  In other words, Billo doesn’t much like the Atheists sign that was put up in our state Capitol, but he somehow sees it as part of a pattern of secular decadence that includes Death With Dignity, naked bicycle riding, and the Fremont statue of Lenin.

Whatever.

In fact, none of these have anything to do with each other (I-1000 was libertarian, the statue of Lenin is kitsch, and naked bicycle riding seems, well, just plain uncomfortable), but you know, if religious groups insist on putting holiday displays in public facilities, they can’t much complain when competing groups do likewise, and since freedom of religion also means freedom from religion, Atheists have just as much a right to promote their solstice greetings as anybody else.

That’s America.  Love it or leave it.

With K-12 education accounting for about a third of state general fund expenditures, and a $5 billion-plus revenue shortfall projected over the next biennium budget, there’s little doubt that there will be at least some cuts in state funding of basic education… possibly as much as a billion dollars or more.

That could amount to over $1,000 per student, maybe two to three hundred thousand dollars a year out of your typical elementary school budget, a devastating cut that would result in larger class sizes and the elimination of “extras” like the arts, physical education, teaching assistants, tutors, counselors and other programs.  But it doesn’t have to happen that way.

The state could raise additional revenues by eliminating billions of dollars in special purpose tax exemptions, and by extending the sales tax to some personal and business services (something the state will eventually have to do if it refuses to adopt an income tax).  But if, as many observers assume, the Legislature and Governor lack the balls to do what’s necessary to give voters the services they want, they should just let local school districts raise the taxes themselves.

Currently, the maximum local levy for about two-thirds of the state’s school districts is limited to 24% of state and federal funding, with the remaining schools grandfathered in at a lid as high as 33.9% (Seattle is capped at 32.9%).  There are a lot of sound reasons for maintaining this policy, and I’m not opposed to the school levy lid in theory.  But in these desperate economic times we need to let local communities choose to adequately fund K-12 education if the state proves unable (or unwilling) to fulfill its obligation.

A temporary lid lift of say, an additional 10%, would give local school districts the flexibility they need to weather this economic downturn without cutting basic education services.  And of course, local voters would always have the final say.  Districts in areas of the state that oppose higher taxes might choose not to seek a higher levy, or might have any increase rejected at the polls, but there’s little doubt that the vast majority of districts here in the Puget Sound region would stand a good chance of passing a temporary levy hike if a compelling argument can be made to voters.

Governor Gregoire ran on a no new taxes pledge, and I don’t doubt she plans to try to keep it, but that shouldn’t keep her or the Legislature from granting local taxing districts the authority they need to ask local voters to tax themselves to make up for any cuts in state funding. It is simply unfair and unreasonable for anti-tax sentiment in the rest of the state to dictate local tax policies, or to impose a lowest common denominator approach toward something as crucial as K-12 education.

As we saw once again in last month’s election, Seattle voters have proven themselves extremely generous when it comes to funding the services and infrastructure projects we want.  Given the opportunity to ease the impact of proposed state K-12 funding cuts, I’m confident Seattle voters will prove generous once again.

That is, assuming, the Legislature and the Governor gives us that chance.

The important thing at this time of national and international crisis is for Obama to “Sister Souljah” the unions and the dirty bloggers.

That will definitely reduce house foreclosures by an estimated 15.72% per quarter, according to my calculations.

It’s interesting how vital it is to some traditional journalists that dirty bloggers get their comeuppance. On the one hand we’re an inconsequential collection of fact-impaired rabble, and on the other hand we must be dealt with! And we’re all the same!

Personally I think Obama should “Sister Souljah” NBC News and E! That’d learn them magic picture box people.

I am loving the latest conspiracy theory out of wingnuttia.

Sad:

In the two months since federal regulators seized and sold Washington Mutual’s banking operations to JPMorgan Chase & Co., WaMu employees have been resigned to the likelihood that thousands of them would be out of work.

On Monday, they found out just how many: 3,400 employees, out of 4,300 the company had in Seattle at the time of the takeover.

And mad:

Bowing to aggressive lobbying — along with assurances from banks that the troubled mortgages were OK — regulators delayed action for nearly one year. By the time new rules were released late in 2006, the toughest of the proposed provisions were gone and the meltdown was under way.

“These mortgages have been considered more safe and sound for portfolio lenders than many fixed rate mortgages,” David Schneider, home loan president of Washington Mutual, told federal regulators in early 2006. Two years later, WaMu became the largest bank failure in U.S. history.

In more ordinary times the failure of WaMu would be the business story of the year. Instead it’s basically a tragic footnote, although it’s not a footnote to the 3,400 “lucky duckies,” to borrow a phrase from Atrios.

“It’s official:”

… for the last year, the United States economy has been in recession.

No shit, Sherlock.

Of course the “nonpartisan” National Bureau of Economic Research waited until after the election to make the pronouncement.  You know, God forbid accurate information influence an election one way or the other.

Dollars to donuts it doesn’t take a year to announce the end of the recession.

In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been writing much recently, partially because I’m a little burnt out on politics, and partially because I’ve decided to take some time to clean house.  That is, literally, clean my house.

I’m not a very tidy person, and my obsessive attention to blogging and politics has taken its toll over the past year.  When my home office grew too disgusting even for me, I picked up and moved into the dining room.  When the dining room table (and floor and chairs) became too stuffed with papers, hand scribbled notes, unopened mail and other detritus, my daughter and I started eating in the kitchen.

And then there are the dust bunnies… dust bunnies the size of real bunnies, which I could swear, in recent weeks, have started to animate, and perhaps, plot against me.  Between the dog and the cat, the fur they shed and the dirt they track in, not to mention the come-by-honestly perpetual mess machine that is my daughter, keeping my floors clean is a Sisyphean task under normal circumstances, and after an election year of neglect, the underside of the bed and the couch and other pieces of furniture had started to resemble a strange, alien landscape, where but for the absence of surface water, new lifeforms might arise, and eventually conquer our world.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect my drafty old 1912 craftsman ever to be truly clean—at least, not to ex-wife standards—but I’d like to be able to invite guests over again without being embarassed, or risking an emergency call to Child Protective Services.  I don’t mind the mess so much, but I’m not proud of the dirt, and I can’t really get to the dirt without first cleaning up the mess.  So it’s gonna take some time.

That said, in addition to getting my house in order, I’m also taking some time to get my house in order, in the metaphorical sense, both financially and otherwise.  One way or the other, expect some big changes here at HA.  Hopefully, good changes.

But in the meanwhile, don’t be surprised by occasional spurts of light posting.

It’s not just Washington state that is facing huge budget shortfalls.

State governments are forecasting more than $100 billion in budget gaps over the next two fiscal years, according to a new report from an association of state governments.

Twenty states have already cut $7.6 billion from their budgets for fiscal 2009, and 30 states have identified additional shortfalls totaling more than $30 billion, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to be released at 11 a.m. Monday.

Twenty-five states also have identified shortfalls of $60 billion for fiscal 2010, according to the report provided to the Wall Street Journal. Based upon previous budget actions and a continuing downturn, the NCSL projects cumulative budget gaps of more than $140 billion for the next two financial years.

Some of the states facing serious budget challenges include Minnesota, California and Florida. Astute observers will notice something those three states all have in common. (Insert “Final Jeopardy” music here.)

That’s right, they all have Republican governors. The proper response, of course, is: so what?

The global economic crisis was caused in large part by a corrupt, nearly unregulated financial sector that made foolish decisions, and it happened during a Republican administration in Washington, D.C. To blame any governor for the challenges now facing the states is a bit like blaming a homeowner for the arsonist that just torched their house, because they should have known someone might pour a five gallon can of gasoline all over and toss in a lit match.

Luckily, we have a president-elect who seems interested in helping all the states and all the citizens, instead of looking the other way while Grandma Millie takes it in the shins.

The title of this post may seem like a no-brainer. But consider this: No one has noted, objectively speaking, how peculiar the Mumbai hit list actually was:  Two Five-Star Hotels, a movie theater, a popular restaurant, … a religious center run by Hasidic Jews?

It really sucks that reporters aren’t noting the attack on the Nariman House without a pause or a question.  

I know I know, Jews, just like Americans, are the bogeymen for the terrorists. And Nariman catered to Israelis, so like, what did they expect?

Oy. The way we’ve come to “understand”  the terrorists’ frame—as if it has some traceable political logic —is disappointing. It should not be a ho-hum statement when a religious outreach center for Jews is on a terrorist hit list.

Where are the editorials and public statements specifically pointing out and condemning the racist aspect of these attacks?

The only political picture I have in my apartment is one of the statue of William Seward in Volunteer Park. Between building the West, and of course his forceful anti-slavery campaign, the man helped shape America, mostly for the good. While the specific cause is, obviously over, there is still much to learn about committing to action from a man who said, “Slavery must be abolished, and we must do it.”

The man is one of my heroes, yet I refer to him as, the original neocon. Early in the Civil War, when there was still a possibility that Maryland and Missouri might leave the Union, a couple confederate diplomats were captured on a British mail packet. The particulars aren’t important except that Seward wanted to use this as a pretext to go to war with Britain, and oh by the way, if you want to have someone in the cabinet run these wars I’ll totally do it.

President Lincoln shot him down saying, “one war at a time, Mr. Seward.” This wasn’t the first time Seward had tried to overstep his authority; he had rather famously tried to keep Chase out of the cabinet. It was the last time, and Seward – realizing that he would only be able to use the power of the Secretary of State – settled down and did an great job: the rest of the world never recognized the Confederacy in large part because of his efforts.

As we have the first official word (and weeks of speculation) that for the first time since then, a president from Illinois is going to nominate a Senator from New York to be his secretary of state, there are some lessons.

– It’s the President’s show. When Obama and Clinton have differences as, any president and secretary of state will, the president will have the last word.

– There’s a good chance that Hillary, or any other cabinet official, will do something that drives you insane. And especially in the wake of President Bush, there will be a lot of time to demand people be fired. I would recommend against that. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t criticize them – in a democracy, of course we should – only that we might want to give them the chance to improve.

An interrogator who served in the Iraq War is speaking up about the failures – both moral and practical – of the Bush Administration’s approach to treating detainees:

I should have felt triumphant when I returned from Iraq in August 2006. Instead, I was worried and exhausted. My team of interrogators had successfully hunted down one of the most notorious mass murderers of our generation, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war. But instead of celebrating our success, my mind was consumed with the unfinished business of our mission: fixing the deeply flawed, ineffective and un-American way the U.S. military conducts interrogations in Iraq. I’m still alarmed about that today.

I’m not some ivory-tower type; I served for 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, began my career as a Special Operations pilot flying helicopters, saw combat in Bosnia and Kosovo, became an Air Force counterintelligence agent, then volunteered to go to Iraq to work as a senior interrogator. What I saw in Iraq still rattles me — both because it betrays our traditions and because it just doesn’t work.

Violence was at its peak during my five-month tour in Iraq. In February 2006, the month before I arrived, Zarqawi’s forces (members of Iraq’s Sunni minority) blew up the golden-domed Askariya mosque in Samarra, a shrine revered by Iraq’s majority Shiites, and unleashed a wave of sectarian bloodshed. Reprisal killings became a daily occurrence, and suicide bombings were as common as car accidents. It felt as if the whole country was being blown to bits.

Amid the chaos, four other Air Force criminal investigators and I joined an elite team of interrogators attempting to locate Zarqawi. What I soon discovered about our methods astonished me. The Army was still conducting interrogations according to the Guantanamo Bay model: Interrogators were nominally using the methods outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, the interrogators’ bible, but they were pushing in every way possible to bend the rules — and often break them. I don’t have to belabor the point; dozens of newspaper articles and books have been written about the misconduct that resulted. These interrogations were based on fear and control; they often resulted in torture and abuse.

A lot of this is well-known now, but there’s still a very intense effort within the Defense Department to whitewash this record of failure, and to silence those who speak up:

After my return from Iraq, I began to write about my experiences because I felt obliged, as a military officer, not only to point out the broken wheel but to try to fix it. When I submitted the manuscript of my book about my Iraq experiences to the Defense Department for a standard review to ensure that it did not contain classified information, I got a nasty shock. Pentagon officials delayed the review past the first printing date and then redacted an extraordinary amount of unclassified material — including passages copied verbatim from the Army’s unclassified Field Manual on interrogations and material vibrantly displayed on the Army’s own Web site. I sued, first to get the review completed and later to appeal the redactions. Apparently, some members of the military command are not only unconvinced by the arguments against torture; they don’t even want the public to hear them.

I’m not terribly bothered by the prospect of Bob Gates staying on as Defense Secretary. I think he’s a competent individual who would faithfully pursue Obama’s overall goals on Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. What I’m far more interested in seeing is the end of torture and prisoner abuse as a weapon in fighting terrorism. It’s highly counterproductive and fundamentally at odds with the reasons why America became the world’s most powerful and respected nation in the first place.

There are trillions from the Feds for corporate oligarchs, but what about the kiddies right here in Washington state?

Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office is considering vast cuts in state spending that Democratic leaders once would have considered unthinkable, including more than $1 billion in funding for public schools.

—snip—

“If we were to cut every single dime that we give to higher education — all the money to the community colleges, all the money to the universities, everything we spend on financial aid — we still have a $2 billion problem,” said state Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, vice-chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

“The kinds of things we’ll talk about cutting are going to shock a lot of people,” he said.

Um, yes, we will be shocked.

Just to be flippant and hysterical, we didn’t freaking vote for a Democratic President, a Democratic Congress, a Democratic Legislature and a Democratic governor to watch the K-12 and higher education system get demolished. Good lord. To be clear, I realize Pridemore is simply trying to offer perspective here, but Crikey!

It is true that things are quite serious, and that multiple constituent groups will be trying to avoid the meat axe. That’s politics, and it’s not clear at this point what relief will be coming from the federal government. So it looks to be a wild and woolly session.

Everything else being equal, a quality education system is the foundation of a healthy economy and a civilized society. Conservatives often don’t want to understand this and start prattling on about “waste,” of which there is undoubtedly some, but in the end quality teachers on the front line is the key ingredient that makes for success. And quality teachers have to be paid a salary that is higher than “you’re kidding, right?”

Interestingly, tax increases are in fact contraindicated by the economic situation, not to mention a campaign pledge made by Governor Chris Gregoire, so the broad possibilities seem to be federal assistance or a dramatic dismantling of the K-12 and higher education systems.

Not sure what exactly the latter would mean; most likely much larger classes, severe cutbacks in things like extra-curricular and transportation, and far fewer FTE’s for colleges and universities. Not a way to grow the economy. Plus when you start messing with people’s kids they can get a wee bit crabby.

For instance, if the Legislature axes a bunch of K-12 funding, I think we all know what they can do with their WASL test.