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

7PM: Are you a tax and spend… Republican?
Rural communities throughout the state and nationwide are facing an imminent crisis as 60 to 100 year old drinking and waste water systems begin fail… systems they simply can’t afford to repair or replace without state and federal government loans and grants. Isn’t it time for rural Republicans to acknowledge that it was government that built their critical infrastructure, and that only government can replace it?

8PM: Hard to Port
Did you know that the average King County homeowner subsidizes the Port of Seattle and the businesses that use it to the tune of about $100 annually? Port Commission candidate Gael Tarleton joins me for the hour to take your questions on what she wants to do with this hugely important but bizarrely low profile government agency. And I also suppose we’ll talk about the recent Port scandal.

9PM: TBA

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

One of the classic attacks on liberals like me is to berate us as “tax and spend” Democrats — an ironic pejorative in light of the record budget deficits rung up over the past six years of absolute Republican control over the federal government.

But the truth is, I do believe in taxing and I do believe in spending as legitimate and necessary roles of government… and for more things than just killing brown people overseas.

There is still this Reagan-era perception amongst many diehard conservatives that the bulk of our tax dollars goes towards supporting lazy poor people, provoking an angry and visceral reaction to any notion of a tax increase. But in fact one of government’s primary roles is building and maintaining the critical (and sometimes invisible) infrastructure on which our economy and our standard of living depend.

A recent rash of water main breaks in Seattle highlights both the cost and danger of deferred maintenance. The usual knee-jerk, righty comeback is to blame this on incompetent local Democrats, but as an article in today’s Seattle Times highlights, our crumbling system of aging drinking-water and wastewater pipes is a nationwide problem, and a particular crisis for rural (ie, Republican) communities that lack the local tax base to replace or repair this infrastructure on their own.

All over the state — and all over the nation — broken and leaking pipes have many poor rural communities facing similar health threats and economic hardships. It’s been a problem that has been buried for decades. But a crisis point is finally arriving, experts warn. And there’s nowhere near enough government money to go around.

As last Wednesday’s rupture of a water main under Seattle’s University Bridge showed, it’s a problem affecting urban areas, too. But the experts say the difference for such towns as Vader is clear: They don’t have the millions of dollars that big cities have to keep their systems running.

One federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) survey has estimated that Washington state alone needs at least $6.7 billion over 20 years to replace aging drinking-water pipes.

Nationally, the EPA guesses it could cost $300 billion over the next 20 years just for drinking-water pipes, and almost as much to replace failing wastewater lines.

“We have never been in this situation before, where such a vast system of infrastructure is aging like it is,” said Ben Grumbles, an assistant EPA administrator in Washington, D.C. “Water is life, and infrastructure systems are the lifeblood of a community.”

Left purely to free market forces, many of our rural water systems make as little business sense as rural electrification — one of the great triumphs of mid-twentieth century American-style socialism. As their aging infrastructure slowly collapses, driving families and businesses out of the region, the politicians who represent these rural districts should be faced with a choice: abandon the destructive, divisive and dishonest rhetoric of East vs. West, Rural vs. Urban, Republican vs. Democrat, or be prepared to have our state’s urban, Democratic majority greet your plight with the same lack of compassion and empathy with which you greet ours.

Residents of Washington state’s rural, suburban and urban areas all have critical public infrastructure needs — some shared, some not. But whatever the specifics, these needs can best be met by working together, rather than brandishing rigid, ideological swords in a fight to the death over dwindling public resources. At the same time conservative politicians champion the values and heritage of rural life, their anti-tax, anti-government screeds are poisoning the well — literally and figuratively — that made this lifestyle possible. For the past hundred years it was government that built and subsidized the infrastructure (transportation, electrification, irrigation, education, etc.) that allowed agricultural communities to grow and prosper. And only government has the incentive to invest in this infrastructure for the next century and beyond.

As our global food safety crisis makes clear, urban Americans have a vital stake in maintaining the livelihood and lifestyle of our rural neighbors, both out of appreciation and gratitude for the hard labor they put into feeding us, and out of simple, rational self-interest. By pressuring the margins of local farmers and processors, the walmartification of our food industry puts us all at risk. And for all of its obvious commonsense, the growing “Eat Local” movement can never be more than a slogan without local farmers to grow our food.

The explosion in the number of farmers markets throughout the Puget Sound region is as much about maintaining healthy rural communities as it is about healthy eating. Urban consumers have shown a willingness to pay a premium for high-quality fresh produce, knowing that the extra dollars are going directly to local growers. But ironically, it is this urban, progressive community that is most harshly vilified by the right-wing Republicans who represent much of rural Washington.

I believe that there is the political will, statewide, to continue to subsidize the investment in public infrastructure necessary to help Washington’s agricultural communities prosper for another hundred years. But to tap into this consensus the elected officials who represent these rural districts must stop painting state government as the enemy, and vindictively interfering in the ability of urban residents to tax themselves to meet their own infrastructure needs. Every time a rural Republican tells Seattle voters that we should not have the right to tax ourselves to build light rail or choose the means by which SR99 will run through our downtown waterfront, it undermines our support for fixing the leaky pipes beneath the streets of Vader and Tieton and a hundred other rural Washington towns.

Vader’s 2007 budget is a little more than $620,000. Nearly 40 percent — $244,000 — is for the water and sewer system.

Last year, the town replaced a worn-out clay sewer line and repaved Main Street with $1 million in grants and loans.

What the town really needs is a sewage-treatment plant. But “there’s no way 600 people can afford a $6 million sewage treatment plant,” [Mayor Guy] Chastain said.

Yes, governments tax and spend. But I suppose when your only hope of maintaining critical local infrastructure is to appeal for grants and loans from state and federal government, “tax and spend” isn’t such a pejorative.

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

7PM: Am I immoral?
For all intents and purposes, I’m an atheist, meaning… I don’t believe in God. According to recent Newsweek poll, only 68% of Americans believe it is possible for an atheist like me to be moral, and only 29% would vote for one for President, making atheism the least trusted religious, racial or ideological label. Meanwhile, a full thirty percent of the Republican candidates for President totally reject science, proclaiming that they do not believe in evolution.

8PM: Melamine: it tastes just like chicken.
Or is it the other way around? Yesterday we learned that another 20 million chickens are being quarantined after eating melamine-tainted feed, and I’m betting that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, the pet food recall expands on a daily basis. Joining me to discuss the latest is Ben Huh of Itchmo.com.

9PM: TBA

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

It can be tough being both a liberal Democrat and a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. The National Rifle Association doesn’t make this any easier. A group that once concerned itself primarily with gun safety, the NRA has taken a sharp turn to the right over the last twenty years. Sometimes, the position taken by the NRA defy all common sense.

The National Rifle Association is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms. Backed by the Justice Department, the measure would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales, licenses or permits to terror suspects.

In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., “would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere ‘suspicions’ of a terrorist threat.”

“As many of our friends in law enforcement have rightly pointed out, the word ‘suspect’ has no legal meaning, particularly when it comes to denying constitutional liberties,” Cox wrote.

NRA flacks like Cox turn into civil libertarians whenever guns are involved. But other constitutional rights? Silence from the gun rights lobby.

Dan Savage:

Gun nuts talk and talk about needing guns to protect the rights and freedoms that all Americans enjoy, but when the rights and freedoms of Americans are under siege, guns nuts are nowhere to be found. I don’t recall seeing any NRA members, for example, ever protesting an assault on the free speech rights of Americans by the feds—or the federal government’s successful efforts to undermine our constitutional protections against government surveillance and unreasonable searches, their attempts to regulate speech on the Internet, limit abortion rights…

So while gun owners are always saying that owning guns is about defending freedom, the only freedom gun owners seem interested in defending with their guns is the freedom to defend their freedom to own guns.

Pro-gun politicians who defend ALL constitutional rights can be hard to find. The only two I know are both from Montana- Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sen. Jon Tester. Tester, who is totally pro-gun, also favors repealing the Patriot Act. Schweitzer just signed a bill that tells the federal government to go to hell over Real ID.

I’m certain the NRA will continue to be a Republican puppet organization for years to come, but with Democrats like Schweitzer and Tester on the forefront, real civil libertarians can sleep easier.

As I’ve previously suggested, after filing a PDC complaint that cost his party $40,000 in fines, HA regular Richard Pope isn’t the most popular Republican at KCGOP headquarters these days. So it came as no surprise when Richard forwarded a piece of fan mail from former Republican candidate for King County Executive, David Irons.

Mr. Pope

Some people see an injured person or a problem and lend a hand to fix what is broken. These people can take pride in their accomplishments and are frequently thanked by strangers who witness their unselfish act of kindness.

Other people see a problem and throw gas on a smoldering ember thus damaging and/or destroying everything nearby. These people normally live cold and lonely lives.

In your effort to damage others I fear you have destroyed what little reputation you had remaining. It must be lonely sitting on that pedestal you built for yourself.

I personally forgive you for your actions and the manor in which you have so aggressively attack good people. As for your hate, I sorry to say that is likely to continue to consume you for now until eternity.

Thank You

David Irons

How, um… ironic.

Of course, Richard informed the KCRCC of their disclosure violations way back in August of 2006, and only reported them to the PDC three months later, after they continued uncorrected and unabated. And again, in November, he informed them of additional problems, and didn’t report these to the PDC until March, 2007.

To Irons, the fact that his own party was violating the law seems unimportant — Richard went public with a family secret, an apparently unforgivable offense.

I was scanning the FDA website for information regarding the ever expanding pet food recall and food safety crisis, when I noticed a press release advising manufacturers “to be especially vigilant in assuring that glycerin, a sweetener commonly used worldwide in liquid over-the-counter and prescription drug products, is not contaminated with diethylene glycol.” The press release states no reason why they would issue such a warning at this time.

Hmm. Glycerin is an ingredient sometimes used in pet food. Diethylene glycol is a poison used in antifreeze, that is known to cause renal failure. Thousands of dogs and cats have died from renal failure, supposedly due to melamine, an industrial chemical not previously known to be highly toxic.

Can’t help but wonder.

UPDATE:
I asked FDA what prompted this press release, and they responded: “This is another action being taken under our unapproved drug initiative.”

For the most part, Americans are detached from this war in Iraq.

The Bush administration has avoided an unpopular draft through the use of extended deployments and stop-loss programs. They have deferred raising taxes while spending hundreds of billions of dollars in the war effort by charging it to the national credit card. And they have avoided any wide-scale programs to conserve aluminium, rubber, or petroleum resources for use in the war effort.

Thank God…because without the distractions of war we can do what’s really important: go shopping.

The Bush administration may earn an A+ for insulating us from the realities of war, but this news has killed my joy for a weekend shopping spree (and here is a little more background).

I guess that’s why they also keep the caskets out of sight.

(via The General.)

Via Talking Points Memo, an unnamed WA state prosecutor chimes in on the news that former U.S. Attorney John McKay’s efforts to seek more resources to investigate the 2001 assassination of form Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Wales, may have in part led to his firing:

I’ve read TPM for years, and appreciate your work. I email you because I read something today about the firing of John McKay that finally put me over the edge.

Apparently during Comey’s testimony today he said that one of the reasons McKay got himself in hot water with the DOJ heavyweights was because he was pushing for additional resources to investigate the murder of Tom Wales, who was an Assistant US Attorney in Seattle. Tom Wales was shot and killed in 2001. What nobody has talked about, and what you may not be aware of, is the fact that Tom Wales was extremely active in attempting to get tighter gun control laws passed here in Washington.

Think about that for a second. A pro-gun control federal prosecutor was shot and killed. John McKay was agitating for more resources to bring his killer to justice. That pissed off DOJ, who apparently thought that McKay should spend his time going after bogus voter fraud prosecutions rather than solve the murder of a guy who was in favor of gun control. If you don’t think the fact that Tom Wales’ political views weren’t taken into consideration by the higher ups at DOJ when they decided to punish McKay for fighting to find his killer, you haven’t been paying attention to the way these guys have operated for the last 6 years. Every single thing they do is about politics, and the political views of those they help or hurt.

The bottom line of this whole McKay firing could be summed up in this way: try to catch killers, you get fired. File BS charges of voter fraud, you keep your job.

It’s a slap in the face to every prosecutor in the country. It’s our job to seek justice for those that aren’t able to seek it for themselves. None of us should give a damn what the political views are of the victims we try to protect. It’s beyond reprehensible for them to punish McKay for doing this. But for this administration, it’s par for the course.

Politically motivated, bogus voter fraud prosecution, good. Investigation of politically motivated murder, bad.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at tonight’s Republican presidential debate is that only three of the ten candidates — Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo and Mike Huckabee — don’t believe in evolution.

I’m guessing HA regular Richard Pope isn’t the most popular Republican down at King County Republican Central Committee headquarters today, now that our local GOP has agreed to accept a $40,000 civil penalty for chronic and acute public disclosure violations during the 2006 election season. Check out the PDF of the KCRCC’s stipulation agreement with the state Public Disclosure Commission for yourself.

It’s a pretty stunning document, outlining dozens of late and incomplete contribution and expenditure reports… some of them as much as 275 days late. The King County Republicans’ brazen flouting of our campaign disclosure laws can only be chalked up to arrogance or incompetence. Or both. And they wonder why King County voters don’t seem to want to trust their party with running state and local government?

Back when I was living in New York City, a college friend once tried to track me down by calling information and asking for the phone number of “David Goldstein”. The operator derisively laughed back, “I must have hundreds of David Goldsteins, sir. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Yeah, when it comes to naming children, my parents didn’t earn any points for creativity. Six out of the eight boys in my Hebrew school class were named “David”, and tacking on my last name wasn’t any more distinctive. “David Goldstein” is the “John Smith” of Judaism — about as generically ethnic as it gets.

And so it is with some amount of pride that I noticed this morning that HA currently occupies the top two slots when you search my name on Google. In fact, of approximately 1.7 million results returned, I personally hold five of the ten slots on the first results page.

(Of course, on the downside, HA is no longer the top result for “Tim Eyman“. It’s number three. Ah well. You can’t have everything.)

It’s not exactly fame, and it certainly hasn’t brought me any fortune, but my Google ranking is a testament to the power of the blogosphere to give voice to individuals who, a few years ago, would have been drowned out by the din of the corporate media. Anybody with something to say — and a knack for saying it — now has the opportunity to reach a larger audience.

I’m a cynic by nature, but I remain hopeful that the Internet will continue to grow into the democratizing force our world desperately needs.

A full two months after its first test animal died from eating melamine tainted pet food, Menu Foods expands its recall yet again. Back on March 16, Menu Foods President and CEO Paul K. Henderson wrote:

“We take these complaints very seriously and, while we are still looking for a specific cause, we are acting to err on the side of caution. We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that our products maintain the very highest quality standards.”

On March 30:

“Our products are safe. We continue to engage in the highest levels of monitoring and testing in the pet food industry.”

Menu Foods has expanded its recall five times since making that statement. And you wonder why I no longer accept reassurances from industry and regulators as to the safety of our food supply?

An old pipe just up and broke this morning near the University Bridge. It just broke. Nobody hit it with a machine or anything. It just broke.

Joel Connelly is peeved that Democrats aren’t bellying-up to the crapshoot that is primary election politics:

State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz dismisses Feb. 5 as “stupid Tuesday.” With big states holding primaries that day, he argues, nobody would come to the Evergreen State.

Pelz’s arguments are incorrect and self-serving.

In 2000, Washington had a presidential primary that counted. A total of 1.3 million people voted in it — versus the estimated 60,000 Democrats who turned out for caucuses in 2004.

In 2000, Washington killed the Bradley campaign and didn’t do much for McCain either. While I’d love to see Washingotn hold a primary that matters, it isn’t happening until Iowa and New Hampshire are wrested of their control over the nominating process. And it’s worth noting that Washington didn’t share it’s primary date with lots of other states that year.

Pike Place Market needs some serious TLC. While it seems like Nickels wants a property tax to pay for the improvements, why not tax the cruiseship tourists who cram into the place on the weekends? If we’re marketing Pike Place to folks across the country (and world), then they should help pay too.

Somebody has got to tell the no-growthers (like Skip) that adding housing supply has a measurable effect on housing prices. Somebody, please.

Why does my favorite Seattle Times editorial columnist have to be the conservative guy? Why oh why?