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Bill Maher offers some new rules for prioritizing things to fear:

(This and some 70 other media clips from the past week in politics are now posted at Hominid Views.)

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: The end of secular politics?
In his book The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege, Damon Linker argues that the ultimate goal of the theocon movement and their Republican allies is “the end of secular politics.” The former editor of the theocon journal First Things, Linker sat down with me earlier this week to talk about his book and the impact of the theocons on the 2008 election.

8PM: Wingnut Update
The first annual Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week has come to a close, and I’ve got exclusive audio of Michael Medved’s rousing speech to the University of Washington College Republicans. Plus kissing principals, trickstery insurance companies and other liberal propaganda.

9PM: TBA
Even more liberal propaganda.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Jean Godden’s campaign manager has an interesting hobby, as detailed by Gentry Lange (a supporter of Godden’s opponent, Joe Szwaja):

Carlo Davis, the campaign manager for Jean Godden, has spent a significant amount of time trolling the blogs distorting the facts, and posting under a list of fake names. Until recently this was simply a suspicion that I had no way to actually confirm, but recently The Paper Noose Blog traced his IP address and Carlo Davis then admitted to at least one of his blog pseudonyms.

Commenting under different fake names is nothing new in the blog world. People do it, sometimes just for fun. If you are a campaign professional, or if you value your credibility, anonymously trolling isn’t a good idea.

There’s a lot to look at, but this one is my favorites:

Posted by landsfarthereast at 8/17/07 1:08 p.m.

Wow. This is just a whose-who of Joe supporters in the comment thread. We have his campaign manager (Gentry Lange), his biggest fan (Mike G), and I’m assuming the rest are probably Gentry using different aliases.

Of course, “landsfarthereast” is Ms. Godden campaign manager…

Then there’s this:

Posted by landsfarthereast at 10/10/07 10:29 a.m.

@ LoveYourViaduct
“Actually, the happiest woman in Seattle this morning is probably the Gossip Goddess. She can point to her opponent’s colorful history again.”

That is truly one of the most despicable things I have ever read. To imply that someone is happy over a serious and tragic incident like this is beyond the pale. Shame on you.

To imply that the Jean Godden’s campaign would politicize a sensitive issue such as an alleged case of domestic violence, that’s beyond the pale…

Except that Godden’s people did just that back in June:

Goldy says:

Just to back up Geov here on his explanation of the process, the story on Szwaja was fed to me a few days ago, so it was clearly being pushed to reporters and bloggers. Though I was a bit surprised to see it appear so quickly in the P-I.

Godden’s people probably don’t mind it that McIver’s troubles have put domestic violence back in the headlines, if only to remind people of Joe’s problems 20 years ago. When campaign managers feign outrage anonymously online, I just have to laugh.

(h/t Chevy Chase)

Speaking of fake news, didja hear the one about FEMA’s fake news conference this week, featuring friendly questions from “reporters” who turned out to be FEMA staffers?

Weekends are the slowest time for actual news, and the time when the fewest people pay attention to the news, which is why so many interesting things happen Friday afternoon. The Bush administration in particular has perfected the art of the Friday Afternoon News Dump ™, in which embarrassing or unflattering news items are released at the very close of business Friday so as to show up, largely unnoticed, in Friday’s late-night news and the lightly read Saturday morning papers. It’s a cute (and often effective) way to bury a story.

No apparent FANDs today, though. The New York Times does have a nice piece on the real significance of George Bush’s tough new sanctions against Iran: the fact that they’re being carried out unilaterally, walking away from both the support of European allies and the diplomatic process the Europeans have championed. Pointedly, the sanctions came without any parallel diplomatic overtures. Another sign pointing toward the Bush cabal’s intent for war with Iran.

Back in the old war (well, the most recent of the old wars), the Iraqi government announced yesterday that it is revoking the law guaranteeing immunity for U.S. contractors. Of course, it still has to catch them, which, without cooperation from the U.S., will be virtually impossible, so it is in many ways a meaningless gesture. As is the Iraqi government itself.

The top local story: Puget Sound Energy’s sale, to an investment company comprised of Canadian and Australian firms — though you have to read to near the end of the P-I’s story to pick up on that nugget, or that the sale will take PSE private so that the utility’s finances will not be open to public inspection except during rate hikes.

The Bothell Times, on the other hand, has nothing at all on the PSE sale, but does have a lead story using a confirmed grand jury involvement to recycle the week-old news of rape allegations against illusionist David Copperfield

The P-I pulled the same stretching-for-a-story trick with a piece on the SEC investigating insider trading at Jones Soda. Well, maybe they are. Turns out the whole story is based on the paper’s reading of an SEC refusal of a FOIA request from the newspaper. That’s the basis for more digging, but not for a story in itself. Unless it’s Saturday and you’ve got space to fill.

And why is the P-I also flogging next Monday’s (sold-out) Hannah Montana Key Arena show on its front page, with not one but two stories? (The word “pandering” springs to mind — specifically, to kids who think their parents’ newspaper is boring.) Telling us above the fold that a Disney Channel teen sensation has fans who are teenagers is many things. “News” is not one of them.

Oh: while I’m here (and since Goldy does this so shamelessly, why shouldn’t I?), I’m on the radio this and every Saturday morning (and have been since 1996) from 8:30-9 AM, commenting on the news of the week on Mind Over Matters on KEXP-90.3 FM. The show is also archived, for those of you who don’t get up that early in the morning on a weekend; check it out at www.kexp.org.

Well, at UW and at campuses across the country, Islamofascism Awareness Week has come and gone, with no increasing awareness that anyone has noticed regarding the shibboleth of “Islamofascism.” But there’s been plenty of “awareness” (or at least air time) given to its sponsor, David Horowitz. Now, via Talking Points Memo, we know why. In an interview with the George Washington University student paper The Hatchet, Horowitz says:

“I’m a prominent conservative but no one is inviting me to speak at their campuses, [so] I had to create an event.”

There you have it. Horowitz acts not out of concern for the safety of the republic, but to enrich himself, in this case through speaking gigs. All that’s missing is a cozy Bush administration regulatory appointment to feather the nest for himself and his friends. Oh – wait – the whole point is that Horowitz doesn’t seem to have friends. Hence the public spectacle to create invitations.

And funny how if you substitute the word “events” for “campuses,” and “organization” for “event,” Horowitz’s words could have come right out of Dino Rossi’s mouth circa Forward Washington days. Hmm.

I’m filling in for Frank Shiers tonight from 9PM to 1AM on News/Talk 710-KIRO, and in tribute to my mentor and friend, I won’t believe in global warming for the entire first hour.

Bill Monto from Simply Better Schools joins me for the first hour to talk about 4204, the constitutional amendment to pass school levies by a simple majority vote. Then Dave Neiwert of Orcinus stops by to talk about the Southern California wildfire’s, and the wingnut response.

After that, I’ll rant about stuff. Or something. Tune in.

Republican Dan Satterberg is back up on the airwaves again just a week and a half before the November election, touting his “non-partisanship” in the very partisan race for King County Prosecuting Attorney. Media observers tell me that Satterberg has booked $180,000 of TV and radio time, an extraordinary amount for a campaign that just ten days ago reported just $126,000 cash on hand.

How can he afford it? Well it looks like Satterberg is plowing everything into broadcast while the Washington State Republican Party picks up the rest of the tab via in-kind expenditures… and man is it shaping up to be some tab. The WSRP “Non-Exempt” Committee has hauled in nearly $170,000 over the past couple weeks, including $25,000 a pop from Martin Selig and Bruce McCaw, and $50,000 from diminutive Eastside developer Skip Rowley. Oh, they’ll say the money wasn’t earmarked but we all know that’s not how this game works, and reliable sources tell me that Rowley has said his primary motivation is to get a Republican on the King County Elections Canvassing Board.

That “Republican” would be Dan Satterberg.

I always expected Democrat Bill Sherman to be outspent two-to-one, but even against those odds I honestly always expected him to win. But four-to-one? It doesn’t look so good. You just don’t win a relatively low-profile race like this when you’re opponent is steadily up on TV, and you’re limited to direct mail. I find it incredibly disheartening to see Democrats allow Republicans and their developer patrons to buy this election with cold hard cash.

Daily Kos:

The candidate, Cheryl Haskins, is the Executive Director of an anti-gay marriage group, and her husband is a pastor of a conservative megachurch north of the city. She is African-American, a fact which makes her candidacy attractive to many voters in the racially diverse community, which currently has no people of color on its city council. Until recently, however, her anti-gay political activism and ties to the Religious Right were not part of the political discourse, and with her campaign signs and huge billboards plastering the city, she was destined to win the election without controversy.

Only five percent of Haskins’ contributions have come from within the city of Renton. This isn’t so great for a self proclaimed ten-year resident.

Haskins’ is also on the board of Alliance for Marriage and Children along with her husband Aaron Haskins, who is employed by City Church in Kirkland. A huge amount of Haskins’ contributions have come from donors with ties to City Church. (Ties to working-class Renton? Not so much.) We should all remember that Alliance for Marriage, with all their feel-good, up-with-people rhetoric, worked hard to protect an employers ability to fire a person simply for being gay or lesbian.

For more info, check out rentonfacts.

The Morning After: Engadget does an MRI and issues a clean bill of health. Seattle Times Mac heads Glenn Fleishman and Jeff Carlson weigh in and promise more to come, which is good. My chief complaint with tech reviews is that they’re superficial and way too early to be meaningful. Yet reviewers hardly ever revisit a system because there’s always something new and fresh to promote.

My early take: Leopard is a great upgrade, but Apple shouldn’t be charging $129 for these incremental pops. A $60 or so price tag would be more reasonable. Apple likes to talk about the fact it issues 5 upgrades to every 1 for Windows, but neglects to mention that means (using Apple’s own math) Mac users are paying $600 or more while Windows users pay $200 to $300. Of course, when the Windows upgrade is a turkey like Vista, you can certainly argue Mac users get the better value per buck.

Meanwhile, earlier on the same page:

UPDATE: Lines have been reported outside Apple stores in the Bay Area. But U Village’s store is closed for renovation, which a steady stream of disappointed customers today apparently did not know. Alderwood Mall had long enough lines so that folks were still waiting an hour and half after opening. Same story at Bellevue Square.

A friend reports his brother-in-law on Capitol Hill didn’t get Leopard, then called, and they re-delivered (FedEx claimed they’d been out but he wasn’t home, although the guy had been home all day). FedEx was delivering something like 135,000 in the region today, they told him…

Dave Winer will get his copy of Leopard today after all. But just in case, and as a great-idea, truth-squadding, follow-on to tonight’s rollout, Winer came up with a plan to “flash conference” Leopard on Monday. We’ll follow this with interest.

Chuck Shotton has discovered a bug! “Leopard’s “migrate user” function has failed 3 times on 3 separate clean installs. This is a seriously broken, critical piece of the OS.”

Meanwhile, Sylvia Paull has fallen victim to the Apple gateway drug.

And just be glad you’re not a Windows user: “Something seems to have gone horribly wrong in an untold number of IT departments on Wednesday after Microsoft installed a resource-hogging search application on machines company-wide, even though administrators had configured systems not to use the program.”

And FYI… I’ll be filling in for Frank Shiers tonight on 710-KIRO from 9PM to 1AM. As always, in tribute to my mentor and friend, I will not believe in global warming during the first hour.

Puget Sound Energy has agreed to be acquired by a consortium of Australian and Canadian investment funds for $30 a share, a 25-percent premium over Thursday’s closing stock price of $23.95. PSE is Washington state’s largest private utility, serving over 1 million electric and 718,000 natural gas customers throughout the region.

After years of record trade deficits, isn’t it comforting to know that at least one segment of US exports is still going strong?

What will this mean for customers? Well, the deal still needs to be approved by shareholders as well as regulators at both WUTC and FERC. And of course, rate hikes will remain subject to regulation. But by taking the company private and delisting its stock, the new owners won’t need to provide the same sort of detailed financial reporting the SEC requires of public corporations.

Filling in late nights at 710-KIRO during last year’s extended, post-windstorm blackouts, I fielded dozens of angry calls from PSE customers complaining that the infrastructure had not been adequately maintained, and that the company was slow to bring in outside crews to get ex-urban neighborhoods back on the grid quickly. Will the new, privately held PSE really invest in improving service? Or will they just suck profits out of their captive customers? While I had my own complaints about Seattle City Light’s performance, I’m personally much more comfortable relying on a public utility for such a vital service, than a foreign-owned, private monopoly… especially in our increasingly volatile and expensive energy market.

Oh, man… it’s not so easy doing this morning news headline thing, when some of the most tempting news stories aren’t really news after all.

Take for example, Dino Rossi’s “long-expected” campaign kickoff. The Seattle P-I headline trumpets “Rossi back on the campaign trail.” But was he ever off it? Um… no. As the Seattle Times points out, “the overarching theme of Rossi’s hourlong speech was retreaded from his 2004 campaign”… you know the same retreaded speech he’s been giving throughout the state for the past year or so.

So not exactly news, unless, of course, you’re Postman: “I have to admit to thinking the chances were 50-50.” Uh-huh.

Know what else isn’t news? Rossi’s campaign theme, which includes (SURPRISE!) cutting taxes!

“[Gov. Gregoire] has since raised taxes on gas, many families who have lost loved ones, and in other sectors.”

Sure, you betcha… voters are gonna be awfully damn pissed off about those gas and estate taxes that they, um, you know… overwhelmingly approved at the polls.

Yeah, it’s not gonna be so easy for Rossi in 2008 because this time around I’m guessing reporters are actually going to ask him actual questions about where he actually stands on actual issues. Like SCHIP. The US House just passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program a second time, though not by a large enough margin to override a second promised presidential veto. In an email to supporters today, Gov. Chris Gregoire makes no bones about where she stands on extending health care to over 4 million children, and defending WA’s gains against President Bush’s “draconian measures.”

Let me be crystal clear about one thing regarding these threats from George W. Bush and the Republicans: I won’t back down.

Earlier this month, I joined with a group of fellow governors to fight back against this irresponsible Bush policy in the federal courts. And I will continue to work closely with the members of our delegation in Washington, DC to make sure we deliver for the children of our state.

As your governor, I have fought for and expanded health care access to an additional 84,000 children – and here in Washington we are on track to provide access to health care for every single child in Washington by 2010.

This fight over children’s health care represents a fundamental difference in values that will define the choice in the upcoming election. George W. Bush and the Republicans’ priorities put them squarely outside the mainstream in our state.

We’re doing right by Washington’s children, and as governor I won’t back down.

I guess this is what Rossi means when he talks about Gregoire being “the governor for the government, not the governor for the people,” because you know… children aren’t people. (Unless they’re fetuses.)

When a governor speaks this boldly and this bluntly, that’s news, whereas the fact that the moon is big and fishing is catching on as a college sport, is not. Also not in the news today is NBA commissioner David Stern criticizing Seattle as heartless for not throwing half a billion dollars at the Sonics’ Oklahoma City owners, nor Bush leading us inexorably toward war with Iran. Whereas very, very rich people spending enormous sums of money on luxury travel, well, that always deserves a front page story. Who knew?

If the cream rises to the top, then the Seattle City Council is the political equivalent of a nonfat, decaf cappuccino: there ain’t nothin’ on top but foam. In fact, the choices this cycle are so unsatisfying that if some of the candidates were running unopposed I’d still have a tough time making a decision. Still, there’s one race where the choice seems clear.

On the one hand we have council wallflower/campaign warmonger David Della, who City Hall observers assure me, really is the incumbent. My handful of brief conversations with Della don’t quite give me a fair basis for concluding, as the The Stranger has, that he “simply isn’t intellectually fit to be on the council”… but then, they don’t give me much to refute the assertion either. I’m no fan of the Sierra Club right now, but accusing the environmental community of being a bunch of racists…? I’ve known mildly autistic people with better political instincts. Really.

Then on the other hand, we have Tim Burgess, a man who has spent the better part of a decade writing fundraising letters for anti-gay, anti-woman, right-wing hate groups… letters that equated homosexuality with pedophilia and emergency contraception with abortion, and that accused the National Education Association of seeking to turn our public schools into gay propaganda and recruitment camps. Really. Sure, he says his positions have evolved… since 2005… but I can’t help but think he thinks we’re all stupid. No doubt he’d bring a great deal more competency to the council than Della — a great, great, great, great deal more competency, I imagine — but competency in the service of an agenda I do not trust, I can do without.

That’s why I’m unreservedly casting my ballot for Heidi Wills.

Wills was a promising young councilmember on the fast track to bigger and better things, when our mind-fuckingly puritanical media crucified her on a demi-scandal of no great significance, before Della and his political hatchet-man swooped in with their mean-spirited and misleading “Rate-Hike Heidi” campaign. It’s amazing what one can accomplish with a little alliteration.

So for all you assholes complaining about your choices this cycle, but who bought into that crap four years ago (or, who like the Seattle Times, just seem to hate the notion of young women in politics,) I’ve got a simple seven-word, bumper sticker response: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Heidi.”

Generally, I don’t recommend throwing away a vote under any circumstances, but perhaps if enough people write-in Heidi or the person of their choice, it might send a message that Seattle voters have a hunger for candidates who are both qualified and clearly represent their values. Perhaps then, four years from now, we might get a field of challengers we can vote for without sticking our fingers down our throats afterwards.

(Or, if you can’t do that, vote for Della. He’ll be the easier one to beat in four years.)

I’m sure more will be written later about Dino Rossi’s announcement, but at Effin Unsound, I thought this was a good opportunity to put together a compilation of his idea man’s greatest hits.

COMPLETELY UNRELATED UPDATE: The Birds Eye View Contests are back…

Apple releases Leopard, or OS X 10.5, tomorrow, and already there are reviews galore. David Pogue in The New York Times does a good rundown of features (and undoubtedly will soon issue a weighty tome on the operating system) and Steven Levy has a chaotic video review (not embeddable, sorry) on the Newsweek site which proves he should probably stick with print.

These early reviews are mostly promotional, of course. Reviewers aren’t supplied the software (which is usually pre-release, remember) far enough ahead to provide time for a thorough treatment, a practice aimed partly at preventing them from finding a real bug or gotcha. For a real hoot, go back and look at the early reviews of Windows Vista, compared with the universal disdain today.

Whereas you’ll be able to buy the system tomorrow, I’m told at various outlets that you will not be able to purchase Macs with pre-installed Leopard tomorrow. Instead, there will be a three-week (or so) waiting period while Apple sells off remaining computers with the old system. Of course, this is pre-sale information. Apple has a knack, courtesy of the Barnumesque genius of Steve Jobs, for popping the unexpected on a product rollout.

What may happen is this: A new line of re-upped notebooks, Leopard-optimized, at prices slightly higher than their existing, non-Leopard counterparts. You decide on price. That accelerates both ends. Gotta-have types who want the new system will pay the premium, but people who figure hey, I can install it myself, will go for the suddenly “bargain-priced” units.

I’d go further and say this might be the time to bring out the long-rumored Apple “flash” Mac (in whatever configuration) — the diskless (that’s right, no CD or DVD) cross of the iPod with a full-keyboard Mac. But it may be too early for that, and in any case such an announcement would be a blow-off-the-doors coup that deserves showcase treatment rather than a Leopard-rollout afterthought.