HorsesAss.Org

Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO and former Sonics owner, plans to sue to reacquire the team:

Nearly two years after selling Seattle’s NBA franchise to Oklahoma City investors, the Starbucks mogul has hired a lawyer and is preparing to file a lawsuit against Sonics chairman Clay Bennett to rescind the July 2006 sale.

His lawyer, Richard Yarmuth:

“It’s not money damage. It’s to have the team returned. The theory of the suit is that when the team was sold, the Basketball Club of Seattle, our team here, relied on promises made by Clay Bennett and his ownership that they desired to keep the team in Seattle and intended to make a good-faith effort to accomplish that.”

Schultz got painted as the bad guy when hew sought big bucks for a new arena, and when rebuffed sold the team to a group from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

A lawsuit by Schultz, when combined with the City of Seattle’s lawsuit, could very well force the NBA to rethink their strategy. He was an energetic owner, but an inexperienced one. Maybe he can make common cause with the fans he once jilted, and save the team.

I turn 45-years-old today, and yeah, I know some of you righties might find it ironic that this “tax and spend” Democrat was born on the dreaded date of April 15th. (Trust me, I don’t much enjoy cutting the IRS a check either, but well, we all have to do our patriotic duty to help assure a military victory in Iraq, right?) And so to celebrate my birthday on a day most Americans associate with money, I’ve decided to use this opportunity to kickoff my Second Annual HA Pledge Week.

Last year, 106 readers blew past my $3,500 target, contributing $4,043.91 over a week in January, an amazing and gratifying show of support. But this year, with a huge hole in my income left from the loss of my 710-KIRO show, and big plans to build out and expand HA, I’m setting a more ambitious fundraising goal: $6,000 from 150 loyal readers.

That amounts to only a $40 average donation from about 5-percent of my current daily readership, and while I hope those of you who can afford to give more, do, I know some of you can afford less, so any amount is appreciated.

Of course, I can’t afford to live on only $6,000 a year, but there’s a method to my madness, and that’s why I need your support now. Over the coming months I plan to appeal to “big donors” to fund me and my HA expansion plans, and I need you to show them that you have my back, that you value the contribution I make to the public debate, and that you desperately want to see progressive media grow and flourish in Washington state. If you, my readers, collectively cut that first big check, more money will follow. But first, I need you to help me meet or exceed our 150 donor/$6,000 target.

So if HA has become a regular part of your daily routine, and you want to see it continue, let alone continue to grow and expand, please help me build Washington’s progressive media infrastructure by contributing today. And thank you all for your steadfast support.

The momentum continues to build for Democrat Darcy Burner in her race against Republican incumbent Dave Reichert in Washington State’s 8th Congressional District, as she announced today that she raised $516,740 between January and March, a total that likely places among the top five challengers nationwide, and first in the Western states.

“Our record-setting fundraising demonstrates that voters in the 8th District are hungry for more effective representation in tackling the growing list of problems we face as a country, from the endless and costly war in Iraq, to our faltering economy, to the skyrocketing cost of health care,” Burner said. “Our message is already resonating, and this fall we will have the resources we need to make our case for positive change to the voting public.”

This new filing will bring Burner’s totals to $1,374,866 raised over the election cycle, with $921,615 cash on hand. Since declaring her candidacy, Burner has outraised Reichert in three consecutive quarters… and I’m guessing this will make a fourth. And when you dig into the numbers there’s even more bad news for Reichert:

The vast bulk of Burner’s fundraising has come from individuals rather than PACs or political party committees – about $456,500 this quarter, or more than 88 percent of the total raised. Burner received 4,859 contributions from 4,416 individuals in the first quarter. Burner has received 11,615 contributions from 8,817 donors who have given over the course of the current campaign.

That’s only an average of about $156 per donor, leaving Burner plenty of opportunity to reach out to her astoundingly large donor base for more contributions, whereas Reichert has thus far relied on large donations and PAC money to even come close to keeping pace. Ain’t much upside from a double-max donation.

Can’t wait to see Reichert’s numbers.

Not everybody is on board with the whole “Seeds of Compassion” thing:

Several hundred protesters chanted and sang, marching from the University of Washington’s Red Square to Hec Edmundson Pavilion today in the biggest demonstration here yet against the Dalai Lama’s five-day Seattle tour.

A plane also flew overhead trailing a banner that read: “Dalai: ur smiles charm, ur actions harm.”

Protesting the Dalai Lama? Really?

Once outside Hec Ed, the protesters showed violent images from Tibet on a large-screen TV, chanted through bullhorns and sang songs in Mandarin, including one that protesters translated as “My Chinese heart,” saying that their hearts still belong to China even though they are far from home.

I’m sure my great grandfather Wilhelm Kamp’s heart still belonged his home country of Germany (and his hometown of Leverkusen). But events have a way of clarifying one’s national allegiances.

Protester Shufu Xe, a systems analyst at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said the Dalai Lama’s message has been distorted by the Western media.

“I like some of his ideas about nonviolence. But I think he is behind some of the violence in Tibet,” Xe said. “I don’t like that he’s using the Olympics to promote his political agenda.”

Xe, like many of the protesters, was born in China. He moved to the U.S. seven years ago.

I don’t mean to get all “nativist,” but if they protested the Chinese government in China, they’d never be heard from again. Remember the “Tank Man”?

I think it’s cool that people can live in America and say their “heart” is somewhere else AND use their rights in this country to air their grievances. It’s weird, but uniquely American.

Real estate salesman Dino Rossi will introduce his transportation plan Tuesday morning, and I can’t help but wonder what it might include. More freeways and wider bridges? Foot-ferries and monorails? An utterly fucking ridiculous deep bore tunnel? Well one thing I’m pretty damn sure it won’t include are HOV lanes, because as he told KUOW’s Ross Reynolds back in January of 2003, Rossi doesn’t believe in rewarding drivers for (gasp) carpooling.

[audio:http://horsesass.org/wp-content/uploads/rossi_hov_2003-1-8.mp3]

REYNOLDS: Wouldn’t opening up the HOV lanes during the middle of the day make it harder for those who have voluntarily decided to carpool or those who’ve decided to ride buses – those who some would argue are being good citizens by not driving on the highways – wouldn’t it make it harder for them to get to their destinations when some would argue they should be rewarded with a single lane that they can use exclusively during that part of the day?

ROSSI: Well, you’re absolutely right that there are tie-ups in the middle of the day and much of that is because there are car accidents during the middle of the day, and the whole point of spacing these cars further – improving the capacity on state 405 – would probably relieve a number of those congestion problems, because people wouldn’t be getting hurt and getting in car accidents. Picking people and rewarding them for what you believe or others believe is the proper way to commute I don’t believe is the right method.

There you have it… transportation expert Dino Rossi pinpoints our congestion problem on too many car accidents! So why hasn’t Gov. Gregoire done anything about that, huh?! (I bet it’s because she’s in the pocket of Olympia’s powerful car accident lobby.)

As for carpool lanes, who needs ’em? After all, according to WSDOT, they only “move approximately one third of the people on the freeways in only 18 percent of the vehicles, and carry approximately 52 percent more people per lane than other freeway lanes during prime commuting hours.” And while a 2004 survey showed that 96% of Puget Sound drivers use HOV lanes, and an overwhelming majority consider them a good idea, convenient, and a fair use of taxpayer money… well… I suppose Rossi and his advisers at the Discovery Institute simply know better than us common folk.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) inserted a provision in last year’s energy bill that gave the Federal Trade Commission the authority to investigate manipulation of the petroleum market, and now with gasoline expected to top $4 a gallon this summer, Cantwell wants the FTC to use it.

“Their response has been tepid,” Cantwell said in an interview. […] She said she expected the agency would “run out the clock” and leave the manipulation regulations for the next administration to write and implement.

“They didn’t ask for the authority and they’ve never been excited about it,” Cantwell said. “They say they want to work with us. Given the impact on the economy, they need to get started.”

Now I know you knee-jerk free-marketeers will tell me that this is merely the market in action, and that the invisible hand of God will sort everything out just fine as long as we don’t let those damn government regulators interfere. But with crude oil now hovering around $110 a barrel, the supposedly inviolable law of supply and demand appears to have been magically suspended:

Cantwell noted that crude oil prices have doubled over the past year despite adequate inventories, no major disruption in supply and a slight drop in demand in the United States as the economy has cooled.

At congressional hearings over the past several weeks, oil company executives and market analysts have been at a loss to explain the sharp increase in crude oil prices. Cantwell said an Exxon Mobil executive recently told a House of Representatives committee that he thought the price of crude oil should be about $50 to $55 a barrel, given current supply and demand.

It was Cantwell who also authored a law that banned manipulation of the natural gas and electricity markets, and ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to enforce it. Subsequent investigations have resulted in 15 settlements and nearly a half billion dollars in fines. I’d wager the FTC would find similar manipulations in the petroleum market… that is, if it ever bothered to follow the law.

Hey, it turns out US Sen. Jim Bunning is not, in fact, the nuttiest politician in Kentucky. Saturday night, at KY-04’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, the appropriately named US Rep. Geoff Davis (R-1960) displayed that famous Southern charm, saying of Sen. Barack Obama:

“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,”

And that cracker’s lily white ass doesn’t need to be in the US House.

Remember this from just before last year’s November election?

I wonder what all the centrist, but-transit-without-roads-just-isn’t-realistic Seattle editorial writers, bloggers and erstwhile environmentalists who say the roads and transit proposal is the “best we’re ever going to get” are going to say when Prop. 1 fails, as a recent King 5 poll indicates it will? Will they band together and fight for a new light rail package that doesn’t include sprawl-inducing highway expansion—or, as their defeatist endorsements of Prop. 1 indicate, will they just give up?

It’s funny how at the last Sound Transit board meeting, it was one of the “sell-out” environmental groups that dropped off a petition demanding that rail be on the ballot this fall. The Sierra Club has yet to “marry” itself publicly to a “transit only” ballot measure this fall. I’m certain many of their members are a “go,” but… When environmental groups have to spend time convincing other environmental groups of the need for a ballot measure this fall, the entire effort is in jeopardy.

Tune in to KUOW’s Weekday with Steve Scher this morning at 10AM, when I’ll be joining Eric Earling of (u)SP, Tom Forbes of Palousitics, and Liz Burlingame of SeattlePoliticore for a political blogger roundup. Topics of discussion will surely include how goddamn depressing it must be to be a Republican these days.

UPDATE (9:55AM):
I’m sitting in the green room at KUOW, with Eric Earling, and he seems normal. KUOW is still $25,000 short of their pledge week target, so if folks call in now and put $25K on their credit card you’ll get an extra 20 minutes of me and Eric!

UPDATE (10:01AM):
$19,000 to go. They’d like us to live blog during the interview, which shows you how much they know about blogging. Not likely to happen.

UPDATE (10:20AM):
Apparently, according to Tom, Democrats are the party of the wealthy elite. Who knew?

UPDATE (10:38AM):
Wow… Dino Rossi is about “change.” I should talk to Republicans more often.  If this is the best they have in defense of Dino, it’s not gonna be much of a campaign. 

Welcome to HA v3.0, only the third major update since I started blogging almost four years ago, and HA’s first total redesign ever. It’s slick. It’s feature-packed. And it may even be a tad annoying until you get used to it — or I fix the annoying bits — whichever comes first.

But the best thing about the HA v3.0, is that unlike the previous versions, it won’t be another two years until I dive back into the code. As big a change as this may look on the surface, the big news is what’s going on underneath the hood, where I’m laying the groundwork for an ambitious development roadmap intended to greatly expand and diversify HA’s content and features. This is very much a work in progress, so if you see something you don’t like, or don’t see something you think you should, you’ll let me know.

So what’s new, apart from the strikingly, um, different site layout? Well, some whiz-bang features for starters, including…

[Read more…]

At the beginning of this weekend, I posed a challenge for blogger Pat Rogers concerning Barack Obama and his drug policy positions:

Recently, I’ve been debating with Pat Rogers from A Left Independent. Pat and I generally agree on most matters of drug policy, but we have some pretty stark disagreements in our outlook for the 2008 election. While both of us have been critical of Obama over his flaky drug policy positions, I’m not convinced to vote for a third-party candidate, even though the Libertarian and Green nominees – and even Ralph Nader – will all have better drug policy platforms this year.

In the past, I’ve voted for third-party candidates with no chance for that reason, but I can’t this year. While I’m definitely disappointed in his positions, I also recognize that being honest about drug policy is difficult for Obama, and that McCain, who has vowed to continue fighting medical marijuana laws, will certainly be worse. The perceptions and prejudices that exist in this country about drugs and the African-American community make it especially tough for Obama to be bold on this front. This is why I think we have this disconnect between someone who claims The Wire as his favorite TV show, but as a politician has often promoted the drug war in ways that the show has been critical of. I tend to be more sympathetic to these political realities than Pat, so I want to lay out a challenge to him:

Write up a speech that Obama could make on drug policy that would…

a) Win your vote
b) Not wreck his chances in November to beat John McCain

Pat was already one step ahead of me, as he’s already worked on such a speech. He sent it to me and I’ve posted it here. He’s welcoming feedback on it. I’m very impressed with it, but I’m not yet convinced that Obama could make that speech and not find it to be a political landmine. What do you think?

From an editorial in today’s Seattle Times:

From the day Seattle owners sold the Seattle Sonics to Oklahoma businessmen, we should have known.

Yes, they should have. As should have the editors at the Seattle P-I:

We’ve often faulted political leaders for passivity and lack of creativity about the Sonics. Well, it appears that if the out-of-town owners were going to keep the team here, it would have been only because they got a too-lucrative-to-refuse deal. More than creativity, that’s about cash — oodles of taxpayer cash.

That’s pretty much all the gloating I’m going to do today, except to say “Hey Tom and Erin… read my post, then read the two editorials, and tell me… who’s influencing whom?”

Seriously, it’s 60 degrees at about 1:00am, according to the Seattle Times.

I blame this guy.

Headline at the Times’ website:

Scientists baffled by swarm of quakes off Oregon coast

Duh! It’s Godzilla.