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I just ordered myself a new MacBook, taking advantage of HA reader Adam’s Apple employee discount. It’s my first new laptop since I purchased my recently deceased iBook in October, 2001. Thanks Adam, I’m really looking forward to it.

But my semi-impoverishment is nothing compared to that of fellow HA blogger Will, who recently quit his day job to go back to college full time. Will frequently finds himself at the UW libraries doing research, and a laptop sure would make it easier for him to both complete his studies and blog here on HA. Just about anything, Mac or Win, with WiFi and a copy of Word, would do the trick.

So if you have an old laptop lying around that you no longer use, and you’d like to donate it to a worthy cause, just drop me or Will an email and we’ll work out the details. We really appreciate your generosity.

Not many surprises in the news this morning, including this non-shocker out of Pakistan:

Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, thrusting the country deeper into political turmoil as it struggles with spreading Islamic militancy.

Seven Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution.

There are more than a few folks who expect a similar emergency to be declared by President Bush in the weeks leading up to the November 2008 election… you know, except for the part about the Supreme Court rejecting it.

See… this is bipartisanship:

Michael Mukasey drew closer to becoming attorney general Friday after two key Senate Democrats said they would vote for him despite his refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture.

The decision by Sens. Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein to back President Bush’s nominee came shortly after the chairman of the committee, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced he would vote against Mukasey, a former federal judge.

[…] Including Leahy, five of the Judiciary Committee’s 10 Democrats had said they would vote against Mukasey’s confirmation after the nominee earlier this week refused to say that waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, is torture and therefore illegal.

But with nine Republicans on the panel, Schumer and Feinstein’s support for Mukasey virtually guarantees that a majority of the committee will recommend his confirmation when it votes on it next Tuesday.

When the media establishment moralistically calls for more bipartisanship, this is what they are talking about: Democrats caving and crossing the aisle to vote with the Republican block. It almost never happens the other way around on the most important issues of the day. Almost Never.

The issue here was simple. Is simulated drowning torture, and thus illegal? Mukasey, soon to be our nation’s top law enforcement official, refused to say. So this noble display of bipartisanship now confirms that the United States of America is a nation that condones torture.

Fuck bipartisanship.

I’ve been reluctant to join the fun of the Prop 1 debate up here on the front page, but I’ve gotta respond to Josh Feit here. He has a valid point that building massive parking lots around light rail stations will allow more people to drive to them. That’s obvious. But I think he misses the bigger point:

Because, like I said yesterday, ill-conceived light rail lines don’t create density, they create outpost park and rides that fuel exurban development and more roads. (Check out towns like New Market, Maryland “along” the Red Line—or some 40 miles away from DC.)

New Market, Maryland isn’t some new town created by expanded rail. It’s a rest stop town that was established over 200 years ago. It makes sense to build along established trafficways to accomodate the kinds of travel that people normally do. The development of the Philadelphia suburbs was very much shaped by where rail lines existed and along the main travel lanes, from the old Main Line to the newer SEPTA lines.

But while rail lines can concentrate development in certain areas, some people simply don’t like living in dense areas. No amount of urban planning will ever change how they think. One of the main problems I see undermining the development of better transportation solutions in this city is the belief that our transportation solutions should be used in a way to change people’s behavior. You can’t do that – it won’t work. You can only build systems that cater to people’s existing travel patterns and give them better options. Eventually, if you build a system that caters to what people want and need, they will use it to its fullest potential.

Sprawl will still happen no matter how effective your transit system is and how much effort you put into urban planning. New York City has a massive amount of trains going into the city from all over the region, yet people still live in far-off places, drive to train stations, and commute there. You’ll never stop people from choosing to live far from where they work in order to live more cheaply or to be far from others.

The solution isn’t to only build rail to places where people won’t (or can’t) drive to the station to ride it. The solution is to build rail so that larger numbers of people only have to drive their cars a short distance every day, rather than clogging the streets going into the major downtown centers (Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bellevue) where most people work.

As I warned last week, Republicans are flooding the prosecutor’s race with money, with another $38,274 transfered from the state Republican Party into Dan Satterberg’s account just yesterday. That brings Satterberg’s total King County and state GOP cash and in-kind contributions to $74,405, with more to come. Yup, he sure is looking non-partisan to me.

Much of this money is coming from the usual suspects, folks like Bruce McCaw, Martin Selig and Skip Rowley who have given a combined $100,000 to the state GOP over the past couple weeks. Of course, this money was given with no earmark or quid pro quo — that would be illegal — but you can be damn sure that they knew exactly how their dollars were going to be spent… just like senior deputy prosecutor Nelson Lee, who after having his family and his family business max out to Satterberg, suddenly became a major GOP donor, giving $10,000 to the state party on 10/12. (So much for Satterberg’s pledge to keep the office out of politics.) Man… I’ve got to get me one of those high-paid government jobs.

I suppose this is all legal, but it’s money laundering nonetheless, and if Satterberg truly wanted to keep his office non-partisan he wouldn’t stand for any of it. Instead it’s politics as usual in the prosecutor’s race, and partisan politics at that… which I wouldn’t mind so much, if Satterberg was just honest about it.

I lived in rural King County for much of my childhood. In 1992, me and my dad went to Husky Stadium to watch the undefeated UW Huskies destroy Pacific. My dad hated (and hates) sports, and it was nice of him to do an activity that only I wanted to do. It was a fun; a day of watching football surrounded by drunk-ass WASPs and rowdy college kids. Mark Brunell (yeah!) and Bill Joe Hobert (boo!) split time at QB, and Napoleon Kaufman was unstoppable at tailback.

So how did we get from Redmond to Montlake? My dad drove us to the Downtown Redmond Park and Ride. We parked and waited for the Metro bus that would take us, across the Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge, to Montlake and Husky Stadium.

Well, the bus never showed, so we had to drive. Traffic sucked, as it always does. We missed kickoff.

I chalk it up to the inherent drawbacks of a bus system. If my dad had driven us to the Downtown Redmond Light Rail Station, it would have been a very different story. Given that light rail has suburban headways of eight minutes (depending on demand, service could be more frequent, or less frequent), the train (barring some calamity) would have shown within those eight minutes, and we would have saved big bucks on parking.

Suburban and rural folks are likely to engage with transit through park and rides. When Sound Transit does community forums out in the ‘burbs, the first question is always, “where are the park and rides?” This is a sensitive issue, especially for enviro-folks, who don’t like park and rides because they think them too accommodating to the automobile.

Josh Feit writes:

It sounds counterintuitive, but you have to be strategic about using mass transit to promote density.

Light rail is not just a pour and stir fix.

Running the line where there’s already some earnest development will suck in development and fight sprawl. Spending billions to run it out into Yenemsvelt [Yiddish for “far, far away” -Will] will simply create park and rides and more sprawl.

Opposing light rail on because of park and rides is so incredibly short-sided. If suburban citizens are going to pay taxes for transit, they’ll demand park and rides. Lecturing them to think otherwise is mostly a waste of time.

Besides, who cares? Park and rides become popular, they fill up, and the decision is made about what to do next. Sometimes they’re expanded into parking garages. And those parking garages eventually become paid parking garages, which turn into paid carpool parking garages, which turn into… apartments with retail. I know, evil right?

The park and rides along I-5 are slated to become light rail stations. The empty lots and asphalt slabs that surround these stations are going to turn into mixed-use developments (if you want examples, visit the line that’s opening in ’09). Those developments with attract the kinds of folks who will leave the car at home and ride the train instead. Sure, they’ll use the Honda (or better yet, a Prius Plug-In Hybrid) to run to the store, but many trips, especially the everyday commute-type trips, can and will be made by train. If they need a car at work, there’s always Flexcar (soon to be ZipCar). Give people choices and they’ll respond.

Like Josh, I would err on the side of fewer park and rides at rail stations. Unlike Josh, I’m not going to kill a huge light rail investment over park and rides.

Last week, President Bush sent a request to Congress for $500 million in supplement aid to Mexico. This is part of a $1.4 billion package known as “Plan Mexico” that aims to combat drug trafficking and other issues of concern involving our southern neighbor. Mexicans are concerned that the plan subverts Mexico’s military and justice system to U.S. demands. Americans are concerned that the plan will be as big of a disaster as Plan Colombia. And Congress is accusing the Bush Administration of keeping information about the plan secret while demanding that they pass the funding before the holiday break. Here’s a quick pictorial rundown of how we’ve ended up in this sorry state.

Americans spend $40 billion per year on drugs that come here from Mexico.

As a result, Mexican drug lords get filthy, stinking rich and very powerful.

Needing someplace to hide all this money, the drug lords started to launder it through Mexican banks.

The Mexican President vows to crack down on this illegal industry.

Gaseous windbags who have no idea what they’re talking about expect this to be simple.

The drug lords use their billions of dollars in profits to arm themselves and bribe public officials.

The violence and corruption wreaks havoc on the Mexican economy, sending millions of people north in search of opportunity.

Drug lords are captured. The head of the DEA declares victory in the drug war.

Gaseous windbags who have no idea what they’re talking about cheer the news and blame Mexico for the immigration problem.

Drug prices spike as addicts continue to drive the market.

The Drug Czar declares victory at the higher drug prices, while crime waves occur along drug distribution points in the US.

New people take over drug distribution in Mexico in order to get filthy, stinking rich and very powerful.

The new drug lords re-establish smuggling routes and drug prices drop. American drug users rejoice.

Gaseous windbags who have no idea what they’re talking about accuse the Mexican government of not being serious and demand that a wall be built along the border.

The Democratic candidates for President argue about whether or not illegal immigrants in New York State should be able to get drivers’ licenses.

The Republican candidates for President vow to keep arresting sick people who use marijuana medicinally.

Drug policy experts explain for the 8 millionth time that the only sensible solution is to decriminalize drug use and have the government regulate and control addictive drugs.

Gaseous windbags who have no idea what they’re talking about scoff at the experts and dismiss them as a radical fringe.

Once the Patriot Act makes it tougher for Americans to make meth in their garages, Mexican drug lords supply it, get even richer, and start putting their money in American banks.

Even more weapons are purchased in the US and smuggled across the border, increasing the amount of terrifying violence.

The Mexican President asks for more assistance from the US while also blaming US drug policy.

Americans do nothing about drug policy while continuing to send millions of people to prison to stop using drugs that 100 million Americans have used.

The President concludes that $40 million per year is not enough money to waste trying to destroy a $40 billion a year industry, so they propose wasting $1 billion instead.

Gaseous windbags who have no idea what they’re talking about are outraged…OUTRAGED!!, that illegal immigrants in New York State can get drivers licenses.

Americans turn to drugs to escape the fact that everyone seems to have their heads up their asses.

It’s Freaky Friday for the Seattle dailies, a day in which every single front page story in the dead-tree editions of both the Times and P-I feature staff bylines. (Score one for localism!) It’s kinda like living in a real big city like New York or Washington DC, except without the transit, the excitement and, um, you know… the real big city.

That said, sports leads todays news with the top story in both papers featuring the Sonic’s season opener… or maybe it was open season on the Sonics. Same difference. The P-I reports that it was a bad night for scalpers as the team recorded a 106-99 loss to Phoenix in what could be its last home opener in Seattle — but wait… the Times reports a local group headed by venture capitalist Dennis Daugs is offering to buy the team and keep it at Key Arena:

Daugs characterized his new group’s interest in buying the team as driven more by civic pride and love of basketball than a desire for financial gain.

“It can be a great investment, it can be a poor investment or something in between, but it is the most fun a lot of people I know have ever had,” said Daugs, who grew up in Burien and used to take the bus to Sonics games at Seattle Center as a kid. His group wants to maintain that tradition.

“Civic pride”…? “Love of basketball”…? “Fun” and “tradition”…? What is this guy, some sort of commie? There’s absolutely no way that NBA commissioner David Stern would fall for a bunch of new-age hooey that runs 180 degrees counter to the true spirit of basketball: extorting sports palaces out of local taxpayers. If the Sonics could make a go of it at Key Arena, the league’s whole carefully constructed house of trading cards might collapse in on itself, forcing owners to finally address their own greed and mismanagement. Goodbye Seattle, hello Oklahoma City.

And speaking of greed and mismanagement, WaMu makes local and national headlines today, with the lovable local mortgage giant being accused by New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of pushing appraisers to inflate home values. Really? I think just about anybody who has refinanced a home in the past few years would respond, “duh-uh.” How else to explain the magical ability of most homes to appraise just high enough to meet loan approval standards? And with home values continuing to appreciate at double-digit annual rates, where’s the harm? Oh.

One house that sure appreciated last night was Benaroya Hall, where former President Bill Clinton appeared live and Nobel Laureate Al Gore spoke via satellite at the US Conference of Mayors climate summit. Of course whenever policy makers or scientists meet to discuss the threat of climate change, the event always attracts those global warming denier wackos:

The mayors were met at Benaroya Hall by a small gathering of demonstrators urging people to vote against the regional road and transit tax increase on the ballot, arguing it could exacerbate climate change by increasing traffic. The demonstrators included small children dressed in polar-bear outfits, a reference to polar bears threatened by the loss of ice to warming in the Arctic.

Oops. I mean global warming believer wackos. Because the best way to save polar bears is to kill any reasonable political chance the region has of expanding light rail sometime during the next decade or so, because the plan, you know…isn’t perfect. What a bunch of maroons.

Yeah, it’s over a year away, but Peter Goldmark is running for Commissioner of Public Lands, and he’s a helluva candidate. Take a look.

Dear Frank,

The insurance industry has already spent $11.1 million to defeat R-67, apparently, a new state record. And yet, the race is still too close to call. I think you’ll agree that this suggests that given an even playing field, voters would approve R-67 by a comfortable margin.

So, what to do if those bastards manage to sink R-67 under a tide of dishonest ads and out-of-state cash? Pass it again. Really. If the insurance industry has the resources to spend eight figures defeating R-67, I’d make them spend it every goddamn year.

Perhaps it’s worth $11 million to the insurance industry to keep this statute off the books. But is it worth $22 million? $33 million? $44 million? Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

Thanks for building such a strong Democratic majority. Now let’s use it.

Goldy

More evidence of Dan Satterberg’s vaunted non-partisanship comes from his campaign expenditures, where he’s already paid Rep. Dan Roach (R-Bonney Lake) and his wife Melanie $6,663.60 for phone banking on his behalf. I suppose it’s not so uncommon for elected officials to phone constituents on behalf of fellow party members, but I didn’t realize they sometimes charge for it.

Most of the money went to Melanie and her gym (she’s a competitive weightlifter with Olympic ambitions.) Other than Dan Satterberg, Melanie has also been paid to phone bank for such noted non-partisans as Republican Rep. Dan Roach, Republican state Sen. Pam Roach (Dan’s mommy) and the King County Republican Party.

Yup, you can’t get much more non-partisan than that.

Talking Points Memo ran a piece yesterday on Rudy Giuliani, and his bogus ads on health care. Guiliani has claimed that survival rates from prostate cancer are much higher in the US than in Britain, attributing the difference to the inherent failures of “socialized medicine.” And even though Giuliani’s “facts” have been thoroughly debunked, he and his campaign continue to repeat the lie.

But of course, this isn’t really about prostate cancer or health care reform. As TPM’s Greg Sargent points out, it’s about whether working journalists are willing to continue to let lying politicians play them for chumps.

Memo to media: Rudy and his campaign think you’re a bunch of chumps. They have nothing but complete contempt for the truth and for everything that purportedly led you all to become journalists. Maybe it’s time to get serious about what this guy is up to.

It reminds me of a similar situation closer to home: our local media’s absolute refusal to reexamine the lie that forms the basis of Dave Reichert’s entire political career… they myth that he caught the Green River Killer.

In fact, Reichert was the detective who didn’t catch Gary Ridgeway, and who allowed him to go on killing young woman for another 18 years. Every time Reichert deflects a political question with some anecdote about looking Ridgeway straight in the eyes, he insults the memory of the victims he personally failed. But damn if our local media is willing to objectively investigate the truth when they are as much responsible for the myth-making as Reichert himself.

It was a bungled investigation. They had Ridgeway. And they let him go. Voters deserve to know the truth.

…fucktard.

A Seattle Times editorial on Prop 1 includes this turd of a statement:

Rail on I-90 would leave two lanes empty most of the time, even at rush hour. And, that means light rail will reduce the capacity of the bridge, particularly to people from Sammamish and Issaquah, since the light rail wouldn’t go there.

What total bull!

Here’s a depiction of 177 cars. (Just imagine the Times ed. board in their BMWs in the front)

Now here’s the same number of people, but his time they all rode the train.

Light rail will dramatically increase the capacity of the I-90 bridge. When the East Link line opens, we’re going to see a 50 percent increase in peak-hour transit use for the corridor. In plain English, the increase in transit use will be huge between Seattle and the Eastside. A Seattle Times/Ron Sims/Kemper Freeman Jr. bus plan doesn’t come close. Not by a longshot.

And who will be losers more frequently this winter (at least 60 times) than your Oklahoma City Sonics? The OC Sonics launched their lame duck season in Seattle, displaced from their true home by a renegade hurricane arena lease, with a convincing 120-103 loss in Denver last night. After a summer in which owner Clay Bennett and partners did everything possible off-court to get Seattle fans not to care about the franchise, we enter part two of the divorce, with Sonics fans getting their first regular season look at what’s left after Bennett jettisoned the two best players from an inept team last year. It ain’t pretty: two talented teenage draft picks and a bunch of people you’ve never heard of, unless you’re a UW fan, in which case Wally Szczerbiak simply brings back bad memories. It’s gonna get ugly. “Home” opener, and second loss of the season, tonight against Phoenix.

I hear it’s nice in Oklahoma City in January.

Another loser, and the day’s top local story: Disgraced anti-gay state Rep. Richard “Big Dick” Curtis (R-Porno Emporium) resigned his House seat Wednesday, not because he’s a hypocrite, but because he’s not gay, and Republicans can never forgive someone who has to proclaim, verbally, that he’s not gay. He just likes — well, never mind. The sordid details of his Spokane sexcapades are here.

More than 100 mayors — plus former President, future First Husband, and permanent rock star Bill Clinton — hit Seattle today for a climate change “summit” that has already had Seattle mayor Greg Nickels lunging from photo-op to photo-op all week. Clinton will also do some fundraising for his wife while he’s in the area.

In a local story carried by virtually everyone, a Central Washington University chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn sign language died yesterday at age 42.

On the national front, a loser Mexican gang member in the Bronx was convicted yesterday of terrorism in a gang-related shooting, under a new post 9-11 anti-terror law. Why? Because the violence “terrorized a civilian population,” an argument that can be made about virtually any street crime. And the ever-expanding power of the state marches on…

Remember when Fox News told us Al-Qaida was behind the California wildfires last week? This is the face of Al-Qaida: a ten-year-old playing with matches. Perhaps he can be prosecuted under new anti-terror laws, too. Waterboard him. The prospective new Attorney General won’t mind.

More on the loser meme: did anyone else catch that Dennis Kucinich’s life-altering UFO sighting experience, confirmed in Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate, came outside the home of Shirley MacLaine in nearby Graham, Washington? The Dennis turned it into a Bush-bash: “…more people in this country have seen UFOs than I think approve of George Bush’s presidency.” (He’s wrong about that. Fourteen percent of Americans claim they’ve seen a UFO, slightly shy of Bush’s numbers.) Or, as Peter Gabriel once sang: “You can keep my things, they’ve come to take me home.” Safe travels, Dennis.