HorsesAss.Org

My friends at Microsoft are understandably aquiver over renewed possibilities of a Yahoo takeover, what with billionaire investor Carl Icahn pushing to replace the Internet search company’s board of directors. But while they’re at it, they might want to spend a little time focusing on their core business, where Mac sales have recently surged 32 percent year-over-year, compared to just 12.2 percent for the Windows-dominated industry as a whole…

Ironically, however, it may be Microsoft driving customers into Apple’s hands. Ongoing jitters regarding bugs and performance in Windows Vista a year and a half after its launch are believed to be driving would-be Windows upgrade customers towards Macs, which are considered by the analyst to be less problematic, simpler, and more secure.

“Thus far, user satisfaction ratings for Vista have been weak, and startup times for Vista have been known to be much slower than the Mac OS X,” Bachman says. “Thus, more than 50% of recent customers buying Macs in Apple retail stores are first-time buyers.”

Personally, I’ve always been a Mac partisan, but our region does rely on Microsoft’s continued success to provide an awful lot of jobs, so I’m hoping their response goes deeper than just an ad campaign. I’m just sayin’…

Join us at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally for an evening of politics under the influence. We begin at 8:00 pm at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E, but some of us will be there early for Dinner.

If you find yourself in the Tri-Cities area this evening, check out McCranium for the local Drinking Liberally. Otherwise, check out the Drinking Liberally web site for dates and times of a chapter near you.

Retired Gen. Wes Clark (former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe) has emailed his rather substantial list, telling his supporters that “when one of our own is down, we have to have their back,” and urging them to contribute to Darcy Burner in the wake of her devastating house fire. He’s even set up a new Act Blue page for the purpose.

At this difficult time, Darcy needs to focus on her family as they work to get their lives back in order. That’s what she should be doing — what any of us would do after a similar tragedy.But in Darcy’s case, that means she can’t fundraise, she can’t campaign. And in an election as important and close as hers will be, every day she’s off the campaign trail puts her at a disadvantage. She needs our help.

[…] Darcy is in a tight race and represents one of our best pickup opportunities in the House. She’s going to be an advocate to bring our troops home from Iraq. She’s going to stand strong to fight warrantless wiretapping and protect the Constitution.We can’t let this tragedy stop us from adding Darcy’s voice to Congress. Though Darcy says she lost “just stuff,” she needs time with her family now.

Help me give Darcy the time she needs. Every donation provides Darcy with more time to put down the phone for fundraising and focus on her family. Contribute to Darcy’s campaign today!

You can read the full text of the email on the WesPAC website. And if Gen. Clark has Darcy’s back, shouldn’t you too? Please give today.

A birdy tells me that the Seattle Times is apparently asking a number of candidates to release their tax returns, as has CrossCut’s Austin Jenkins of Gov. Chris Gregoire and Dino Rossi. Considering the press gave Gregoire zero credit for releasing her returns in 2004, while Rossi refused, it’s hard to see why any candidate would be motivated to comply with the request this time around.

But it also strikes me as a bit hypocritical that journalists, who justifiably hold themselves up as essential elements of our democracy, should righteously demand disclosure of others that they don’t demand of themselves. I suppose I might support strengthening our state disclosure statutes so that they actually require candidates to release their tax returns, but currently… they don’t. So if journalists are going to demand that politicians expose their personal finances to greater scrutiny than required by law, I suggest they lead by example.

So here’s my offer: if Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen releases his 2007 tax return, I’ll release mine, and, I’ll join him in publicly demanding that Dino Rossi release his.

Of course, Rossi ain’t gonna, ’cause he obviously has something to hide. But at least with our returns on the table, Frank and I can mock Rossi in good conscience for his lack of openness.

When Tim Eyman files an new initiative, his buddy in the AG’s office, Jim Pharris, pretty much lets Tim write the ballot title himself, and that’s how the initiative is generally described in the press, because you know, it’s printed on the ballot that way, and you wouldn’t want to confuse voters.  But when hundreds of volunteers work for months to get a grassroots initiative on the ballot, the ballot title suddenly isn’t good enough for the style-setters at the AP.

The AP has decided to refer to I-1000 as the “assisted suicide” measure, which not only is the term everybody knows polls the absolute worst, it is also completely inaccurate.  And confusing, because there is no “assisted suicide” measure on the ballot.  I-1000, which backers refer to as the “Death with Dignity” initiative, will appear on the ballot with the following title:

Ballot Title
Initiative Measure No. 1000 concerns allowing certain terminally ill competent adults to obtain lethal prescriptions.

This measure would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Opponents wanted the ballot title to contain the phrase “assisted suicide” but a judge determined the wording would be intentionally pejorative, which I can only assume is why the AP decided to use it.  And since the AP sets the standard for most other news organizations in the state, that’s how this measure is going to be described to voters.  It’s like handing the measure’s opponents a million bucks in free advertising, and the folks at the AP know it.

Impartial, fair and balanced objectivity… my ass.

Aaron Reardon wants to join Ron Sims in the “Politicians who will never become Governor” club:

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Edmonds City Councilwoman Deanna Dawson, who both serve on the transit board, said they oppose the 12-year plan, partly because it doesn’t bring light rail to Snohomish County.

“I will vote no on it,” Reardon said. “I will actively campaign against it.”

This is why “regionalism” will always fail. King County voters want transit and are willing to tax themselves to get more of it. The nature of Sound Transit’s governance structure makes it necessary to seek Reardon and Dawson’s approval for King County voters to tax themselves for transit. The problem is, the Seattle sub area doesn’t have the tax capacity to build enough light rail to reach their sub area to the north. So unless Snohomish County wants to spend their money building light rail outside their sub area, they won’t get light rail soon.

This highlights the flaws of sub area equity. Expensive projects are slowed because we don’t have flexibility to spend money where it should be spent. Imagine if a massive freeway overpass project in Yakima couldn’t be built because their taxing authority was too narrow? They wouldn’t stand for it, and they would expect, as they always have expected, that parts of the state that pay more in transportation taxes than they receive (hello city folks!) would subsidize their overpass. We do this in our Department of Highways, but it’s impossible to do when paying for transit. This makes no sense.

Starry-eyed regionalists in the legislature (hi Rep. Deb Eddy!) who want to dilute King County’s urban transit-loving majorities should watch Aaron Reardon in action. This guy really knows how to throw the brakes on.

[H/T Seattle Transit Blog]

$100,000. That’s how much we raised for Darcy Burner last week via Act Blue alone, much of it coming over a 48 hour period. Wow. Simply wow.

That’s roughly equivalent to twenty days of early July fundraising, and it has lifted a huge burden off Darcy’s shoulders as she’s taken time off from her grueling campaign schedule to tend to herself and her family after losing their house in a fire. Now, thanks to her many friends online, Darcy can devote the time she needs to getting her life back in order without giving up any ground to Dave Reichert.

So a huge thanks to the dozens of blogs nationwide who joined in this effort, and to the thousands of members of our broader netroots community for this extraordinary show of affection and support. And of course, if you haven’t already given, it’s never to late to help buy Darcy a little extra time.

Via Think Progress:

In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.

Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase.

One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote of possible “nightmare” scenarios that would deliver bin Laden’s goal. Neela Banerjee warned that among the “misguided decisions” that would put oil supplies at risk would be “that the United States attacks Iraq.”

I’m guessing Osama is sending a big bouquet of flowers to George W. Bush, without whom none of this would be possible.

(h/t Crooks and Liars)

Consider this an open thread.

For the love of Jesus and all the saints, don’t vote for the shitty FISA law on Tuesday. Yeah, you already voted the wrong way once, and I don’t hold out too much hope that you’ll do the right thing. Still, I couldn’t let myself not write you on this. I couldn’t let myself not be on the record opposing this.

The 4th amendment clearly spells out the notion that, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” There is no reason to go back on this basic, fundamental, wonderful principal: Not because we’re in a digital age; not because we’re afraid; certainly not for political expediency. So I’m appealing to you morally to do what’s right: don’t weaken the protections in the FISA law, and don’t let those law breaking telecoms get away with violating our rights.

Sincerely,
Carl Ballard
HASeattle

In arguing in support of I-1000, I’ve often asked people to look at the experiences in Oregon to see how it’s been an effective law. Now that the State Department of Health has released draft limits for medical marijuana patients that closely mimic Oregon’s limits, I think we should again look to Oregon to make a comparison. I’m cautiously optimistic that these limits will provide some level of protection for the patients, but there are certainly some problems that will need to be resolved at the next hearing in Tumwater on Monday, August 25. In the meantime, I understand that a lawsuit will be filed this week against the Department of Health over the fact that they ignored the testimony from medical professionals in arriving at the limit. I’ll post more on that as more information becomes available.