HorsesAss.Org

About a week and a half ago I pissed off both righty and lefty readers alike by daring to question popular economic orthodoxy. A worldwide credit crunch was threatening to take the broader economy down the crapper with it, yet the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee unanimously refused to cut interest rates, acknowledging “downside risks to growth,” but restating that their “predominant policy concern remains the risk that inflation will fail to moderate as expected.” To which I replied, “fuck inflation.”

The FOMC was impassive at the prospect of 2 million American families losing their homes, but once the credit crunch threatened to tank Wall Street they leaped into action, first flooding the markets with liquidity, and today slashing interest rates by half a percent.

Stocks soared Friday, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 180 points, after the Federal Reserve, acknowledging that the stock market’s plunge posed a threat to the economy, slashed its discount rate by a half percentage point.

[…] The Fed cut the discount rate to 5.75 percent from 6.25 percent, declaring that “downside risks” to the economy have increased appreciably.

Again, I gloat — not so much because I predicted the necessity of a rate cut (I could’a been lucky,) but because my original post clearly doesn’t paint me out to be the moron so many of my critics obviously wish me to be. Sorry to disappoint.

We can argue the economics all we want (and I’m sure we will,) and I stand by my original assertion that a little inflation can actually be a good thing for the majority of Americans who owe money on mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards, etc. But my initial reaction was mostly prompted by the Fed’s decades-long inflation policy, which I described as “obsessively narrow at best, and intergenerational warfare at the worst.” Ten days after restating that its primary concern was inflation, the FOMC dramatically changes course. In that short time have the “downside risks” to the economy really “increased appreciably”…? Or did the volatility on Wall Street finally get the Feds to see beyond their inflationary blinders?

I don’t pretend to be an economist, and I freely admit that every single member of the FOMC has more relevant expertise in the tip of their little finger than I have in my entire body. But science morphs into ideology when we fail to question orthodoxy… and under those conditions even the experts can sometimes make mistakes.

TANGENTIAL ASIDE:
I’m back.

When the Sierra Club sends me press releases decrying the “Roads” part of the “Roads and Transit” package, I sympathize. They see only the worst in the package. For example, they don’t see that a “yes” vote on “Roads and Transit” will build more light rail in the Seattle region than currently exists in Portland, Oregon. They don’t see the huge investment in HOV lanes that will make riding a bus in the suburbs quick and easy. They don’t see how RTID’s investment in Seattle streets will make possible the “Surface + Transit” viaduct replacement plan. And if anyone should understand that last item, it’s the Sierra Club. They, after all, were one of the first environmental groups to support the “Surface + Transit” plan.

It took years to get this package to the voters. If “Roads and Transit” goes down this November, don’t expect to see anything back on the ballot anytime soon. And what makes the Sierra Club (or Josh Feit for that matter) so confident that the next package will be any better than the current one? Count on the next measure to include far less rail and more buses. Money that would have replaced the South Park bridge or expanded the Spokane Street Viaduct will be shifted to replacing 520 and widening 405. Without roads investment, the “Surface + Transit” plan is toast. The ultimate irony would be if the Sierra Club’s campaign against the “Roads and Transit” package actually resulted in the building of another Alaskan Way Viaduct.

There is one upside for the Sierra Club concerning the viaduct. At least they’ll be able to get to their Interbay office that much quicker.

President Bush is insisting on more tax cuts in a time of war (and as we’re months away from hitting the debt limit). So expect to hear another round about how taxes are bad for the economy. And all things equal, I guess higher taxes are worse for the economy. But there are some things that are even worse for the economy than corporate taxes:

* Having a bridge fall into the Mississippi river, crippling traffic, and oh yeah, killing a dozen or so people.

* A massive structural debt owed in large part to foreign governments who are threatening to shut off the pipes.

* That power outage that hit the Eastern seaboard a few years ago.

* Sick employees.

* Their sick children.

* New Orleans drowning.

And this idea that tax cuts are the only good things for business is so silly. As if the best thing business could possibly hope for is a crumbling infrastructure, massive government debt, and exorbitant healthcare costs.

Now we can certainly talk about the bad, wasteful spending that goes on: The Iraq war, and our militarism in general. Sending non-violent criminals to prison for too long, and drug offenders there at all. The bridge to nowhere, and other pork.

But at the end of the day, our taxes are so low that bridges are collapsing. Our taxes are so low, that we refuse to help the sick unless they are elderly, very very poor, or children of the poor and working class (or in Washington State thanks to the Democratic legislature last session, children). Our taxes are so low, that an American city drown a few years ago, and we’ll only build the levies back to where they were before. Our taxes are so low that soldiers — American Soldiers, for God’s sake — are scavenging garbage dumps for armor for their vehicles. Our taxes are so low that public transit is pathetic in the Puget Sound region, and worse in the rest of the state.

Now, I don’t particularly like paying taxes, nobody does. But I also don’t like hitting potholes. I don’t like knowing that if the big one hits when I’m on the viaduct that I’ll probably die. I don’t like it when my sick friends and relatives without healthcare don’t see a doctor. I don’t like being in debt to China. I don’t like the fact that the bus system is a joke, especially outside of the city.

Once again, Rudy stakes out a bold position on illegal immigrants. This time it is about sanctuary (but from 1996). Rudy, in his own words…:

It stands for “Google Fucking Exists,” and I think both David Postman and the folks in Senator Patty Murray’s office might want to familiarize themselves with it. Postman posted here about Senator Murray allegedly talking out of her posterior about a bridge that a school bus could not traverse without first letting the children off. Toby Nixon, who appears to be quite familiar with GFE, wrote in the comments:

Somebody needs to teach Sen. Murray’s staff how to search the web. It took me about 30 seconds to find a reference to this school bus story in U.S. Senate testimony from the president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers in September 2002 (he says it was in Washington County, Alabama, but doesn’t cite a source): CLICK HERE

I also found this reference to a similar situation in Guam: CLICK HERE

And that goes for Daphne Retter at TheHill as well.

UPDATE: This is not an open thread, so any comments not related to Patty Murray, Daphne Retter, David Postman, Washington County, Alabama, school buses, schoolchildren, rickety old bridges in the South, Guam, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Google, fucking, or how Toby Nixon is the coolest Republican in the state (next to Richard Pope, of course) will be deleted.

Without question, Rudy Giuliani has a strong and solid position on immigration.

I mean, just look at what he said at a campaign speech in South Carolina two days ago: “We can end illegal immigration. I promise you, we can end illegal immigration.”

No problem. America’s favorite cross-dressing Mayor promises us he can end it…period.

He had a strong and solid position on immigration back in 1996, too….

(Via TPM Cafe.)

This week’s Birds Eye View Contest is posted.

For Chapter One, click here.

Josh Feit, 8/15/07:

I’m not sure King County progressives owe that much to Gregoire (hello, elevated viaduct), but it’d sure be a fitting metaphor if Seattle sold out, compromised, and approved a package that includes $1.1 billion on I-405 expansion as a way to support her.

Josh Feit, 12/19/06

The surface/transit option involves investing in local transit, upgrading downtown arterials, investing in bike and pedestrian upgrades, and building a four-lane surface road to replace the viaduct and spark neighborhood and commercial development along the waterfront. (Total bill hovers around $2 billion.)

The Stranger’s News Editor, Josh Feit, is totally opposed to replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with another viaduct. Josh is almost entirely opposed to investing money in roads, in the Seattle area or elsewhere.

He’s in a pickle.

The Roads and Transit package headed to voters this fall funds the investments in Seattle-area arterials. These are the investments that make the Surface + Transit option possible.

From the Roads and Transit website:

Lander Street Improvements: Builds overpass above BNSF train tracks between 1st Avenue South and 4th Avenue South to increase traffic flow for trains, cars, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians; I-5/Spokane Street Viaduct: Increases capacity by widening viaduct structure, adding one lane between I-5 and 1st Avenue South, building transit-only lanes and an off-ramp at 4th Avenue South. Adds shoulders and installs a permanent median barrier. Improves safety, freight mobility and traffic flow on the major east/west connection between I-5 and SR 99, Port of Seattle and West Seattle

To make Surface + Transit happen, we have to invest in the arterials south of downtown Seattle. If we don’t invest in these roads, it’ll be pretty difficult to keep the folks in Olympia from shoving another viaduct down our throats.

On my way home today I got stuck in some heinous post-Mariners traffic. To make matters worse, the closure of lanes on I-5 had put more buses on city streets. On city streets near the stadium, it was a parking lot full of Metro buses, Sound Transit buses, and maybe even a few Community Transit buses. The roads were clogged.

As it turns out, northbound bus traffic was directed from 1st Avenue South, 4th Avenue South, and 6th Avenue South all on to 4th Ave South north of Royal Brougham Street. I got home about 45 minutes late. The buses’ interior reach about 80 degrees or higher, and the toddler on the seat across from me crapped his diaper. (Although you never can tell on a Metro bus exactly who has shit their pants, the toddler was my best bet. Sometimes it’s the driver.)

I don’t know a single car owner who would give up their automobile for the kind of experience I had today. Even in Seattle, a city known for doing good for goodness’ sake, most folks won’t ride transit if they have other options. Which is why I’m amazed that serious people actually think that adding buses, and not light rail, is the best route to take.

You mightn’t have noticed, but Goldy has been blogging from the road all this week. Tonight he called from the East Coast to report that his trusty old (ca. 2001) laptop finally bit the dust. It’s OS Nein (or OS #2) for Goldy until he returns.

A moment of silence for the character in the foreground of the photo, please.

What this means for you, loyal readers, is that your rants, raves, cease-and-desist orders, and complaints about the precious comments of yours that I’ve had the unmitigated effrontery to delete will all go unanswered by Goldy for a day or two.

It also means that if you have a great news tip, send it to Lee, Will, Geov, Carl or me until Goldy resurfaces.

Now…I offered to conduct a quick fund-raiser to help Goldy replace his mighty electronic pen. Goldy, demonstrating uncharacteristic modesty, declined my offer. (Still…he’ll need a lot of beer to mourn the loss of a trusty friend over the next few weeks, if you catch my drift….)

But here is an offer that someone just shouldn’t resist. Somewhere out there in the liberal Pacific Northwest there is a reader with a spare late-model, fully-functioning Mac that is mostly doing duty as an expensive night-light in the guest bedroom. If you are that reader, consider how much better it would be utilized fighting the good fight.

I mean, Just imagine the deep sense of pride you will feel each time Goldy posts (making use of your generous contribution) a ground-breaking piece that topples the incompetent head of a federal agency or leads to the defeat of a matricidal political candidate. And when you tune into the David Goldstein show on Saturday and Sunday nights, if you listen very closely, sometimes you will be able to hear the clickity-clack of your former laptop being broadcast into thousands of living rooms and cars….

Here is the offer part: if you do donate your Mac to Goldy and really need that night light, let me know and I’ll donate my spare to you. Really. Think about it.

Dick Cheney:

Dick Cheney is under fire for shooting birds. The Vice President has come under attack from an animal rights group for participating in a “canned hunt” in which he reportedly killed pheasants that were released for the purpose of being shot by hunters.

Now, Karl Rove:

The first thing Karl Rove plans to do when he leaves the White House at the end of this month is go dove hunting in West Texas, The Sleuth has learned.

“He loves to go hunting,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says.

Uh, that’s hunting? Really? To me, hunting usually means the hunter doesn’t know where the prey is. Thus, he’s got to “hunt” it. You know? To me, hunting is not a Rubbermaid container full of quail released so some limp dick Republican can blow them away. That’s faggy douche bag hunting.

And to think, the NRA endorsed these assclowns.

Matthew Yglesias has a great post up about Rudy Giuliani and his truly alarming foreign policy strategy. Part of the modern illusion about the Republican Party is that it was a party of moral conservatives and free-market libertarians. But neither of those groups have had any real sway. The party has been run by people with very authoritarian views who only have passing commonality with the other two groups. Compared to the average church-going Republican in a place like Tennessee or Nebraska, Rudy Guiliani is extremely liberal. And compared to the average libertarian, Giuliani is a wannabe-dictator who has absolutely no love for the 2nd Amendment or any other civil liberty.

The success of Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy in the polls is revealing the long-hidden truth about what the “base” of the Republican Party really consists of – people who believe that the long-standing American values (moral strength and a focus on liberty) that made us the envy of the world are now a significant weakness as we deal with the rest of the world. The fakeness of the Republican Party’s moralizing and rhetoric about liberty has long been known to people paying close attention, but it’s now as obvious to the average observer as it could possibly be. And if Giuliani actually becomes the nominee, god help us if Americans can’t figure out how wrong he is when it comes to the role America needs to play in the world.

Join us at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally for another fun-filled evening of politics under the influence. We meet at 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

Tonight we’ll raise a toast to Republican family values—specifically, to even more Republicans realizing that they need to spend more time with their family.

Our Seattle hosts are Nick Beaudrot of Electoral Math and HorsesAss’ Lee (also at Blog Reload and EFFin’ Unsound).

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 for a chapter near you.

Jack McClellan is one twisted dude. He’s the sicko who posts photos of children on his website, where he chronicles the best public places to stake out little girls, or “LGs.” While McLellan emphatically claims he’s never inappropriately touched a child, his obsessive public fantasizing certainly pushes the limits of the First Amendment, and demands extraordinarily close scrutiny from law enforcement officials.

McClellan is under a restraining order prohibiting him from loitering within 30 feet of minors, and as a father of an LG, news of McClellan’s arrest yesterday outside a UCLA child development center elicited no empathy from me. Yet I couldn’t help but notice the curious way the AP wire story was reported.

As of 9AM PST this morning, a quick Google News search found over 200 published articles on McClellan’s arrest, and in nearly every single one the headline refers to him as a “pedophile” or “admitted pedophile” or “self-described pedophile” as in the Los Angeles Times headline, “Pedophile arrested outside UCLA child development building.”

That is, every single headline except that in the Seattle Times, which had its own unique take on McClellan’s dangerous perversion: “Controversial blogger is arrested near children.”

“Oh no, a controversial blogger?” I thought, reading the headline, “Which of my trusted colleagues turned out to be a disgusting pervert? Hmm… Postman is down in California for a few days, perhaps it’s him?” But no, it turned out to be not a blogger at all, but rather a “self-proclaimed pedophile.”

Over two hundred other papers saw this wire story and described the perp as a pedophile, but to the fearful headline writers at the Seattle Times, McClellan’s most disturbing biographical detail is that he blogs. How many readers clicked on this misleading headline, expecting the juicy details of a well-known blogger brought down by scandal? I sure did. And how many righties turned away disappointed to learn the “blogger” in question wasn’t an evil netroots leader like Markos or Atrios or even a lesser local blogger like me?

To primarily describe McClellan as a “controversial blogger” would be like introducing Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen as a “dog shooter.” In fact it’s worse, since blogging on its own is a neutral activity, whereas shooting your neighbor’s dog is both a heinous and criminal act.

That the Seattle Times would imply that McClellan’s infamy stems from his blogging rather than his pedophilia says something about the paper’s own fearful approach to new media competition. But it also provides a warning to which the blogging community should take heed: if the old media is willing to spin the arrest of pedophile into a headline about a fallen blogger, just imagine what they’ll do given the whiff of a real netroots scandal. No doubt there are some amongst the broader netroots community with skeletons in their closets or ethical and/or legal lapses in their future. As we gain readers and influence the media and political establishments will surely attempt to use their vast resources to defend their turf. And they won’t stop at misleading headlines.

Following up on my post from yesterday, SeattleJew set up a Cafe Press page with some designs showing Giuliani and his terrifying 1994 quote about freedom. I think the text is too small, but otherwise, I love the idea. If anyone else wants to try their hand at a design using that quote, send the Cafe Press link to me or post it in the comments. If it looks good, I’ll post it up here on the front page.

This is an open thread…