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The Western Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is holding a training session today, “Blogging 101 – what you need to know to blog effectively and get read.”  And the instructors?  Why, two of the state’s leading bloggers… um, Nancy Leson and Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times.

Hey Nancy and Jerry… here’s a tip from a rank amateur you might want to share with your paper’s own political bloggers/reporters:  if they want to “blog effectively and get read,” they might want to post a little more often than say, once a week.

I’m just sayin’…

State Senator and noted right-wing nutjob Pam Roach is seriously considering a run from the newly created elected position of King County Elections Director… or at least, that’s what the TNT’s Joe Turner is reporting.  But don’t you worry, because the Elections Director is officially a non-partisan position, so we can expect whoever wins it to operate it in a completely non-partisan manner, regardless of their established record as a right-wing nutjob.  Um… right?

The new elections director will be chosen in a February 4th special election.  Here’s hoping only one qualified Democrat files for the office lest Roach win on name recognition alone.

Nearly two weeks after the election, Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland still has not conceded the race to Democrat Peter Goldmark.

Sure, Goldmark only leads by about 18,000 votes, and with aproximately 63,000 ballots left to count statewide, I suppose a Sutherland victory isn’t quite a mathematical impossibility.  But more than half the remaining ballots come from King County, where Goldmark has won nearly 62% of the vote, so Sutherland is more likely to see monkeys fly out of his ass than pull off a come from behind win.

Oh, and with the race this close, I think it is fair to claim that HA’s coverage of Sutherland’s sexual harrassment scandal was a definite difference maker.  Without a vibrant, progressive blogosphere this story never would have appeared on the front pages and the evening news.  So score one for the good guys.

Very, very sad…

A 6-year-old girl who was shot in the head while her father was cleaning a gun has died, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Whenever I post a link to one of these tragic stories, I usually get a bunch of angry comments in the thread accusing liberals of wanting to take away everybody’s guns.  But I’m just trying to make the point that under most circumstances, guns don’t make you and your family safer, especially if you have young children in the house.

You want to protect your kids?  Get a dog.  They tend not to blow your head off while cleaning them, and they’re a helluva lot more fun to play with.

The Seattle Times editorial board thinks a buck an hour increase in downtown parking meter rates is too much, to which I say:  damn commies!

I mean, whatever happened to supply and demand?  If the city leased out these spots to a private company, what do you think they’d be charging an hour?  Buck fifty?  Two bucks?  Two-fifty?  I don’t think so.

Even at $2.50 and hour, downtown parkers will drive around in circles looking for a street spot rather than paying two to four times that rate for a short term spot in a private lot.  So quit your grousing and stop trying to force your decadent, free-parking, Plateau values on the rest of us.

Don’t mess with the new White House. Seriously. All Democrats are like this. It’s not worth it.

Shorter John Laird, editorial page editor for The Columbian: it’s all George W. Bush’s fault.

Still, if Clark County is red, how do we explain Barack Obama carrying the county by 6 percentage points? That question is easy to answer. This result doesn’t say nearly as much about Obama or about Clark County as it says about President George W. Bush. In fact, I suspect a lot of America’s breathless infatuation over Obama might actually be — deep down — an opinion about Bush.

If my theory is correct, then Bush’s drop in local popularity has been dramatic, almost pathetic. He carried the county by 5.4 percentage points in 2004 and by 4 points in 2000.

For what it’s worth, there is likely a kernel of truth there, as “Brand Republican” has been severely damaged, not only by Bush but by Republican extremism up and down the ticket. This is a hard blow for some Republicans, who seem to invest an inordinate amount of psychic energy in being perceived as the dominant tribe. A lot of the rash and uncivil statements emanating from the conservative noise machine are likely the product of this slightly strange fetishization.

For several cycles now a prominent local Republican Party activist has been repeatedly quoted in the newspaper saying, essentially, that Clark County is a Republican county. This was never all that true, as effective Democratic candidates like Brian Baird and Craig Pridemore, and many others, were elected to office. Candidates with good name ID (especially incumbents) always do well most places, especially here in a county dominated by media from another state. There’s a good reason the landscape is dominated by 4 x 8 political signs during election season.

Clark is a suburban swing county overall, with predictable party trends in the more urban and rural areas. Incumbents are hard to beat, meaning most of the big battles are over open seats. In that regard, the Democrats picked up a state House seat in the “swingy” 17th LD with the victory of Tim Probst, and might or might not pick up a county commissioner seat pending a likely recount. The more rural 18th LD is completely a lost cause as it is currently drawn, and the opposite is true in the urban 49th LD.

So the real issue for Democrats here is how to continue recruiting quality candidates who will be in position to take advantage of open seats.

Correction– Technically, Democrats would not be picking up a county commission seat in Clark County if Democrat Pam Brokaw defeats Republican Tom Mielke after a recount, as the retiring incumbent is Betty Sue Morris, D-BIAW. But in real world terms it would be a pickup for Democrats if Brokaw won.

Yesterday’s rally against Prop 8 was a really amazing event. I especially liked the hand made signs. Here are as many slogans as I could capture excluding signs that were just quotes, duplicates, and the professional ones. If I left yours out, sorry.

1st class taxpayer 2nd class citizen
1847: persecuted 2008: persecutor
A “Happily Ever After” belongs to EVERYONE
“Always a Bridesmade Never a Bride” Should not be Law
And the pursuit of happiness…unless gay
Ban Republican Marriage
Being 2nd Class is Sooo Gay!!!
Canada H8’s Prop 8
Church of Later Day Snakes
Class 2nd
Civil marriage is a civil right
Civil unions are not enough
Divorce at least you get a chance
Don’t make my family illegal (jerks)
Don’t tread on us.
Don’t Worry My Gay Marriage Won’t Affect Your Straight Divorce
Ending racism is a gay fight – freedom from racism is a gay right
Enough Already!
Equal Rights 4 All
Equal Rights Now
Equality is my right
Equality is not a religion
Focus on your own family
Gay Straight Black White Marriage is a CIVIL right
Get Mavricky Vote for Equality
Get on the Love Boat
Human rights are universal
I DO believe in the sanctity of love
I Support love
Jesus had two dads
Jesus Practiced Acceptance & Love… Why Can’t You?!
Just married in CA 10/6/08
Keep your religion out of my marriage
Lady Liberty is my lesbian mother! I’m her gay son!!
Lady Liberty is not a social conservative!
Legislating discrimination sucks
Love, Commitment & Family are HUMAN RIGHTS!
Love in all forms
Love makes a family!
Marriage is a civil right
Marriage strengthens society
Married July 31, 2008
Missionary accomplished
Mormon cash lied. A nation cried
No discrimination in the constitution
NO H8
No majority vote on minority rights
No more Mr. Nice Gay
Our love and commitment are here to stay…
Olympia! Give us our rights
Right to love
Save me from the Christian Taliban
Separate is not equal
Stand on the side of LOVE
Stand up you may be NEXT!
Stop the H8!
STR8 Against H8
Tax the Church!
This is about basic human rights
We are all equal
We don’t shit in your toilet…Don’t piss on our Civil Rights
Welcome to America where everyone is created equal – restrictions apply where prohibited
What’s Next? Our Wedding Gifts?
When Do We Vote On Your Marriage?
When will love conquer hate? (just asking)
White anti-racist queers for JUSTICE- not just us
Yes we can have equal rights

How are your fantasy teams looking?

Last week’s winner was waguy. It was main street in Saugerties, NY. Here’s this week’s, and check out some additional views that have recently been added.

A currently recommended diary at Daily Kos is tracking the devastating fires afflicting the greater Los Angeles area. It includes links to Los Angeles television stations and reports from Kossacks in the Southern California region.

The situation certainly sounds severe and we extend our best wishes to our fellow citizens in California who have suffered losses. Here’s hoping things improve quickly.

The PI had a story yesterday on a Jefferson County medical marijuana patient who was caught up in a Border Patrol roadblock near the Hood Canal Bridge. Under new laws, the Border Patrol can set up checkpoints anywhere within 100 miles of the Canadian border. The man, Stephen Dixon, is a 55-year-old disabled veteran who has a doctor’s approval to use medical marijuana for chronic pain. He was a passenger in the car that was stopped by the Border Patrol and had three grams worth of pot (a paper clip weighs one gram).

Thankfully for Dixon, his case was dismissed because the political environment is forcing even staunch drug warriors to re-prioritize:

In addition to dismissing the drug charges this week, [Seattle’s U.S. Attorney Jeff] Sullivan told the Border Patrol not to bring his office any more small-time pot cases.

“Today, I informed the Border Patrol that all future small possession cases may be referred to state or local law enforcement, but will not be pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office due to a lack of federal interest in the prosecution,” Sullivan said Thursday in a statement released to the Seattle P-I and a Port Angeles newspaper.

The Bush Administration’s DOJ has made medical marijuana prosecutions a higher priority than white-collar crime, yet even the man who’s been trying to extradite seed-seller Marc Emery isn’t willing to prosecute these cases now. Sadly though, Dixon’s own Congressman, Norm Dicks, voted to allow federal dollars to be spent to arrest people for medical marijuana in states like Washington where voters have made it legal. Fortunately, the idiots in Border Patrol who try to arrest people for having small amounts of pot on them likely won’t have any place to refer those cases to any more.

Protesters are rallying nationwide today to protest California’s recently passed anti-gay Proposition 8, and of course Seattle is no exception.  Festivities start at 10:30 AM at Volunteer Park, with the rally starting at noon.  Protesters will then march down to Westlake Center, where speeches are scheduled to commence at 2PM.

It is one thing to fail to pass legislation granting marriage equality to gays and lesbians, but yet another to amend a state constitution to take away rights already recognized by the courts. The unexpected passage of Prop 8 has served as a wakeup call as to the level of discrimination that still exists, and the amount of work that remains to be down to achieve true equality.

Nope, not satire. An actual poster from the Drug Czar’s new ad campaign. I wonder if there’s anyone in the Office of National Drug Control Policy who could do my job sober as well as I could do theirs stoned.

[via Pete Guither]