HorsesAss.Org

I’ve made a habit of abusing the state’s media recently for constantly repeating the Sonics’ misleading number that they are only seeking $300 million in taxpayer subsidies… when in fact they are really seeking $400 million (not to mention another hundred million or so in road improvements):

The Times continues to repeat that $300 million figure when in fact the Sonics’ plan calls for $400 million in taxpayer subsidies: $300 million from the sales tax, and $100 million from Renton. I’m not sure what the correct answer would be on the math WASL, but the last time I checked, 300 plus 100 still equals 400. (Wait… let me check my calculator. Yeah. 400.)

Well, it looks like the Times finally took my criticism to heart and whipped out their calculators, for in today’s edition we finally see the number change:

The Sonics still are not sure if state lawmakers will support a bill that would provide $200 million toward the new arena.

Oops. You were supposed to add $100 million onto the public cost, not subtract.

Unless… maybe the Times knows something about the Sonics’ rumored new financing plan they weren’t supposed to tell us?

On March 20, HA readers learned that acting U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan once called undocumented immigrants “wetbacks,” and that he was admonished from the bench for blowing a murder-consipiracy case by withholding evidence from the defense.

On April 10, Seattle Times readers learned that acting U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan once called undocumented immigrants “wetbacks,” and that he was admonished from the bench for blowing a murder-consipiracy case by withholding evidence from the defense.

Sure, the Times piece was more thorough and evenhanded than mine (though to be fair to me, I did link to all my source material,) but still… three weeks?

I’m just sayin’.

Dino Rossi was interviewed by Liz Mair at the oxymoronically titled GOPProgress.com. And Rossi is sure sounding like a 2008 gubernatorial candidate.

Two things struck me about the interview. First, Rossi is no moderate. He is a typical voter-disenfranchisin’, truth-twistin’, anti-guvmint, gimmicky Republican. All tricks and no leadership—just like we’ve come to expect from Washington state Republicans.

But what struck me most of all is that Dino is still a sore loser:

We won 34 out of 39 counties, all the non-Seattle, King County ones, Snohomish County–first time in 20 years for a Republican, Pierce County–first time in 40 years for a Republican, and we were certified the governor-elect–first Republican governor-elect in 24 years, twice, actually…[laughs] Apparently, as a Republican, you have to win three times.

Yeah…34 out of 39 counties…as if it was counties that voted instead of, you know…voters!

The other bit of sore loserism is the suggestion that he had to win “three times.” As Judge Bridges so elegantly put it, Rossi led after the initial count, he led after the first recount, and Gregoire led after the manual recount. There was only one person declared the winner of the 2004 gubernatorial election, and that was Christine Gregoire.

Does Rossi really not understand the election process? Or is he intentionally being disingenuous? Either way, man…what a sore loser!

Later on, Rossi offered this remarkable claim:

In the end, we ended up with hundreds more votes that were counted in King County than they could attribute to human beings who actually voted. Which is why we said, and I don’t think I was going too far out on a limb by saying this, but that maybe each vote should have a voter. I don’t think that’s asking too much.

I mean, yeah, we expect this kind of bullshit from a blatant propagandist like Stefan Sharkansky. But Rossi is supposed to be a real politician. To make such an outrageous claim suggests that either Rossi is such a sore loser that he would knowingly perpetuate a blatantly dishonest statement to undermine the electoral process that hurt his feelings in 2004, or else he suffers from delusions.

Rossi was whining about the voter crediting process. During the election contest trial, it became amply clear that the voter crediting process has a higher error rate than the ballot counting process. As Bridges stated in his oral opinion (pg. 6):

The crediting system in Washington is not an accurate reflection of the number of persons who actually voted.

Presenting a credible challenge will be tough enough for Rossi in 2008 if only because many of the issues that gave his campaign strength in 2004 won’t even be relevant anymore. (And the tarnished Republican brand name won’t help.) But could it be true? Will Rossi Mk II be running on a “we wuz robbed!” platform?

Yes! Please, go for it, Dino! I want to see the Rossi 2008 “We Wuz Robbed” campaign tour!

Look out! The sore loser express is coming through, and you better get out of the way. Whooo woooo!

Hey…I hear that Mike!™ McGavick even has a mobile home available for the tour.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t keep epidemiological data on dog and cat illnesses and deaths… but the nationwide veterinary chain Banfield does. And according to an extrapolation of data from its 615 veterinary hospitals Banfield estimates that as many as 39,000 cats and dogs may have been sickened or killed by contaminated pet food.

The hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase, when compared with background rates.

“It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period,” said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield’s database to do clinical studies.

There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats nationwide.

In other news, one person has died and more than three hundred have fallen ill in two separate incidents in China, after eating porridge suspected of containing rat poison. According to Wikipedia:

[…] canned and jarred gluten is commonly eaten as an accompaniment to congee (boiled rice porridge) as part of a traditional Chinese breakfast.

Hmm.

The White House lawn was abuzz with children and a giant rabbit this morning.

The annual White House Easter Egg Roll, started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878, typically has been a rite of spring in Washington. But on Monday, it was afflicted by winter’s parting bite — cold air and even colder grounds. Undaunted by any of this, the young guests sprang into action under the watchful eyes of their families, hostess Laura Bush and several Bush administration Cabinet secretaries.

Vice President Dick Cheney even made a brief appearance:

Billionaire Microsoft Word developer Charles Simonyi’s civilian space trip nearly ended in tragedy yesterday when his Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft unexpectedly crashed with an “Internal Error” shortly after takeoff.

Accustomed to frequent backups, Simonyi successfully relaunched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a clean reboot. The fifth civilian to rocket into space, Simonyi, 58, is expected to link up with the International Space Station sometime Monday night.

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

7PM: What’s really happening in Iraq?
Sen. John McCain insists progress is being made and the war is winnable… but reports from the ground are much more grim. Dal LaMagna of ProgressiveGovernment.org has made frequent trips to the region in his efforts to create a peaceful dialog between Iraqis and Americans, and he joins me for the hour to give us the latest update from Iraq.

8PM: TBA

9PM: Help Wanted!
You’d think a job with a big office and a six-figure a year salary would attract a lot of applicants… so Geov Parrish wants to know why there are so few people running for Seattle City Council. Or the Port Commission and School Board for that matter. Geov joins me at the top of the hour to talk about the state of local politics and the dearth of candidates progressive or otherwise.

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

Last week, I was actually invited to a house party for Barack Obama. Twenty freakin’ months before the election. Out of curiosity and loyalty to the friends who were hosting it, I went. It was a great discussion. But amidst all the earnest expressions of Seattle liberalism, one topic remained completely, curiously absent.

Before Barack or anyone else matters, we’ve got an election here, this year.

You would never know it from either the headlines or the local political chatter, much of which already seems obsessed with next year’s presidential race. But we have five city council seats, plus four seats on county council, two Port of Seattle commissioners, four Seattle School Board members, lots of suburban positions, and a host of ballot measures, including some critical transportation votes, coming up this summer and fall. Yes, summer; the primary has been moved back to August (when fewer people will be paying attention), and the filing deadline for candidates is now June 8, exactly two months away.

Why hasn’t there been more attention? Well, local media never does a very good job of covering local elections. (Quick: When was the last time you saw a Port of Seattle race discussed on TV? And why not? It’s a countywide election for a position that will oversee $442 million in public revenue in 2007.) But beyond that, in the marquee races -– the citywide votes for five Seattle City Council members -– 2007 is not shaping up so far as a very competitive year.

Of the five seats, incumbents are defending four; Peter Steinbrueck is leaving his seat open as he moves on to waterfront advocacy and, perhaps, a 2009 mayoral bid. Four candidates have already announced for Steinbrueck’s vacated position, but there’s a distinct lack of drama elsewhere. Only one candidate has announced against any of the four council members running for reelection (Tim Burgess, running against David Della). The other three incumbents –- Jean Godden, Tom Rasmussen, and appointee Sally Clark –- are thus far unopposed.

At first glance this seems mystifying. There’s plenty of neighborhood dissatisfaction over the way Seattle is being run, and the way its middle and working class residents are being run off. And the incumbents are beatable. Clark was appointed to her seat in 2006 and has never run any electoral race, let alone a citywide one; she has no electoral base and has done little in her year on the council. Godden is in her first term, having won in 2003 on her name recognition from years as a local gossip columnist. She’s famously clueless on civic issues and has done little beyond attending all the right parties and keeping a seat warm -– if that –- in her four years on council. And Rasmussen is also in his first term (as is Della). Three council incumbents lost in 2003. Why isn’t anyone stepping forward to challenge incumbents this year?

More pointedly, why aren’t any progressives running? Steinbrueck’s departure leaves only one council member (President Nick Licata) who consistently stands out from the dull, establishment consensus that is the Seattle City Council: all good liberal Democrats, tolerant on social issues and always quick with a corporate handout. Two of the challengers for Steinbrueck’s open seat, Venus Velasquez and Bruce Harrell, portray themselves as progressive, but both are very much part of establishment Seattle. (The other two announced candidates for the seat are moderate Republican Jim Nobles and the execrable John Manning, who resigned a council seat a decade ago after his third domestic violence complaint.) Progressives are losing one of their only two strong allies on council, and it’s been years since there’s been a credible progressive challenger campaigning for city council.

There are any number of reasons for this state of affairs, but the most obvious is money. It takes a lot of it to run a citywide race for Seattle’s exclusively at-large city council seats. As of late March, Rasmussen had already raised a whopping $112,501 for his reelection bid; Godden was not far behind at $100,629. By contrast, Velasquez, the first to announce for Steinbrueck’s seat when he withdraw from the race (and the most progressive of his would-be successors to date), leads her rivals in donations with “only” $27,275. Incumbency is clearly a major advantage this year, and any successful challenger had better spend most of her or his time raising money between now and August.

That said, it can be done: Della, Godden, and Rasmussen all beat incumbents in 2003. There’s still two months before the filing deadline. Godden and Clark in particular could be vulnerable to a well-organized challenge. Goodness knows that as Seattle densifies the council needs principled members who will listen to the neighborhoods and don’t sell out to every developer-backed scheme that comes along. There’s still time. Anyone willing to step up to the plate?

Karl Rove spoke at American University last night, and while I’m sure the invited guests were enthralled, he didn’t exactly get a rousing reception from the masses.

Cliff Schecter, an American University alum, describes the events:

Rove, in usual elitist/slimy GOP fashion, only spoke to what Nietzsche might call the “splendid blond beasts” who make up the Young Republican idiot core. You know who these losers are, the people on your campus who split most of their time between defending date rape, working to get professors fired for not praising Pinochet and watching German shiza videos.

Well, Rove got a rude reception at American, in the form of students protesting him and trying to block his car as he left–calling for his arrest for violating the Presidential Records Act. As someone who has recently called for Rove to go to prison myself, I sympathize.

Hmm. Rove will be in town, celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s assassination with the King County Republicans this Saturday, April 14. Perhaps we should organize him a big Seattle welcome, WTO style?

This article is a few days old, but it’s still relevant:

State leaders are beginning the Highway 520 bridge rebuild with an uncertain and speculative finance plan that would fall short of the project’s estimated $4.4 billion cost even if all their gambles pay off.

These are the same officials who pulled the plug on Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ plan to build replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a $4.6 billion tunnel because it lacked a solid finance plan.

Though the groundwork for the new 520 bridge is already underway, it will likely be years before the state secures the money to complete the project.

If I remember correctly, the knock against Greg Nickels and his proposed tunnel was that the plan lacked a finance plan that stood up to scrutiny. The tunnel plan included dollars from this fall’s RTID vote, and also federal funds not yet available until 2009 and beyond. It looks like hypocrites in Olympia are slamming Nickels for doing exactly what they’re doing now.

Transportation leaders in the House and Senate are banking on $1.1 billion from a regional transit and roads tax package that even supporters fear may be rejected by voters in November.

They’re also counting on nearly a $1 billion from a pooled account established to cover cost overruns for 520 and also the Alaskan Way Viaduct — but under current projections, the 520 project would require all of that and more.

And unlike the House plan, the Senate also assumes $200 million in federal transit money that could trickle in over the next 16 years.

All while the final design remains a topic of vigorous debate.

And good luck with that design stuff. The major players in the 520 game (the UW, the city, the state, nearby neighborhoods, Sound Transit, and lots more) aren’t on the same page.

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

7PM: Is President Bush unfit to lead?
That’s what columnist Joe Klein says in this week’s Time Magazine, in which he outline’s the Bush administration’s “epic collapse.” Do you agree with Klein that “arrogance (the surge), incompetence (Walter Reed) and cynicism (the U.S. Attorneys)” makes this administration “one of the worst in American history”…? I sure do.

8PM: Immigration

9PM: TBA

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

I disagree with today’s Seattle Times editorial on voter registration, and that’s okay — they’re entitled to their own opinion. But the headline they used, well, it’s fucking irresponsible: “Less tampering with state elections.”

I suppose, perhaps, they meant to advocate less tampering with state election laws, which seems to be the relatively even-tempered thesis of the editorial, but if they did, they could have just said so. No, instead they chose to leave a provocative, misleading headline dangling out there, that — even outside of the context of our 2004 gubernatorial election controversy — clearly implies that our state elections are being tampered with.

That’s tabloid journalism. Which again, I guess would be okay… if Frank Blethen were man enough to own up to the journalistic ethos that guides his op/ed pages.

Apart from its childish potshot at the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Eric Oemig (who is ironically presented as a figure of ridicule in a piece that stoops to quoting Sen. Pam “Who took my roses?” Roach as the voice of reason,) there is little opportunity for fisking in the body of the editorial itself. As far as I can tell, the facts don’t seem particularly distorted, and the unnamed author makes an effort to present both sides of the argument. But the headline… oy… the headline.

The headline belies the true history of election tampering in America, which despite the popularized image of ballot-box-stuffing and fraud, has predominantly relied on voter suppression. There is no need to tamper with the results of an election if you can succeed in preventing your opponents’ supporters from voting, and so poll taxes, poll tests, felon disenfranchisement, unequal access to voting facilities, voter roll purges, dirty tricks and outright intimidation have long been the primary means of manipulating the results.

The purpose of Election Day registration is to make it easier for eligible citizens to vote, thus increasing voter turnout and decreasing the opportunity for voter suppression. Hell… what’s the use of a voter roll purge if an eligible voter can just re-register on Election Day? As for accurately verifying these last minute registrants, even the Times admits that “it could be done.” They just don’t think it’s worth the time and money.

Registering to vote already is easy, and vote-by-mail has made voting easier. It is not so bad to require a little effort on the part of the citizen.

“We’re talking about adults here,” says Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. “At some point, the people have to take a responsibility.”

I guess when one’s political agenda is shared by only a small fraction of the electorate, universal suffrage must lose its universal appeal.

Tonight’s my last night filling in for Frank Shiers, 9PM to 1AM on Newsradio 710-KIRO.

9PM: How many times do we have to say No to a new Sonics arena?
An editorial in today’s Seattle Times urges state legislators to authorize taxes to pay for a new $500 million Sonics arena, to which I responded… what part of 74-percent don’t you understand? Chris Van Dyk of Citzens for More Important Things joins me help answer that question, and discuss the current political fortunes of taxpayer subsidized professional sports in WA state.

10PM: Am I trying to destroy America’s standard of living?
Okay, maybe today wasn’t really Seattle’s hottest April 6 on record. (It was.) And maybe an international conference on climate change didn’t just come out today with it’s bleakest forecast ever. (It did.) So then, why is it that people like me keep insisting that global warming is real, and that it is at least partially caused by human activity?

11PM: Is he nuts?
Gen. JC Christian of the far-right-wing extremist blog Jesus’ General, joins me for the hour to give us his peculiar insight into the hearts, minds and loins of the religious right and the Republican Party they call home. And I mean peculiar. Is he crazy? Is this some sort of joke? Tune in tonight and decide for yourself.

12AM: Is Washington a high tax state?
The latest figures from the conservative Tax Foundation just came out, and it turns out, um… no. According to the report, state and local taxes average 11 percent of the nation’s income, while WA’s taxes average 11.1 percent, landing it smack dab in the middle of the pack. And that’s after a big jump due to a voter approved, 9-cent increase in our gasoline excise tax. Meanwhile, gasoline prices are projected to hit over $4.00/gallon this summer, and we’re hearing nary a peep of concern out anti-tax Republicans. Hmm.

Plus the good old fashioned Ann Coulter bashing I failed to deliver last night, and more fascinating conversation! Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Yesterday, after the nationwide pet food recall expanded to include dog biscuits produced by Sunshine Mills under several brands, the FDA assured reporters that it believed the recall was complete.

The FDA knows of no other pet product companies planning recalls, agency officials told reporters.

“Other than that, I think, you know, the public should feel secure in purchasing pet foods that are not subject to the recall,” Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, told reporters.

Whoops.

Itchmo’s got the latest, including the news that Xuzhou Anying exports 10,000 metric tons of wheat gluten a year. 972 tracked down, only 9,028 left to go. Meanwhile, Pet Connection readers now report 3,242 dogs and cats suspected of dying due to contaminated food.

The Seattle Times, purveyors of the most widely read sports section in the state, selflessly urges the state Legislature to approve a new $500 million Sonics arena: “Don’t bench Sonics: take it to a vote.”

The Legislature has waited long enough. It is time lawmakers passed a bill out of Olympia that allows King County to work on new digs in Renton for the Seattle SuperSonics and Storm.

To which I respectfully ask the Times’ editorial board… what part of 74-percent don’t you understand?!

The Times laughably attempts to champion “local control,” arguing that this is a local decision that should be settled by a council vote or a countywide ballot measure.

But… um… do these editors actually live in Seattle? Do they read their own paper? Hell, do they even bother to read their own editorials?

The voters have spoken, or maybe, shouted, on the use of city funds in Seattle sports arenas.

The 74 percent “yes” vote on Initiative 91 means there will be no renovation of KeyArena at Seattle Center for basketball. […] Seattle voters are in no mood to finance a Sonics arena or any other improvements. If Seattle voters are this grouchy, voters in suburban King County probably don’t feel that much different.

Just this past November, no less an authority than the Times editorial board itself put its finger on the pulse of the region’s voters, and declared a new Sonics arena dead. No, Seattleites aren’t the only fish in the Sound, but nothing passes countywide with three-quarters of Seattle voters going against it.

But more than just being unrealistic, it is downright insulting for the Seattle Bothell Times and its Mercer Island based editors to now ask for a countywide vote to approve a tax on Seattle voters to pay for an arena that we have already so overwhelmingly rejected. Hell… why not make it a statewide vote? That way, the Times gets to hawk sports headlines during those dreary months between football and baseball, while the rest of the state gets the opportunity to once again screw Seattle. Everybody’s happy.

This isn’t about local control. It’s about leaving the door open to the possibility of some back-room deal, where enough council members might be arm-twisted into approving the taxes without putting them up for a public vote. This is about finding a way to ignore the will of the voters, not honor it.

And in doing so, the Times editorial board is once again playing loose with the facts, and being intentionally naive with their analysis.

The legislation was crafted so King County, not the state, would use existing taxes to pay for $300 million of the projected $500 million arena in Renton, the site preferred by team owners.

Actually, “the site preferred by team owners” is in Oklahoma City, but we’ll get to that in a moment, for first I have to point out how much it annoys the shit out of me that the Times continues to repeat that $300 million figure when in fact the Sonics’ plan calls for $400 million in taxpayer subsidies: $300 million from the sales tax, and $100 million from Renton. I’m not sure what the correct answer would be on the math WASL, but the last time I checked, 300 plus 100 still equals 400. (Wait… let me check my calculator. Yeah. 400.)

Whenever the Times repeats the “$300 million of the projected $500 million” canard it suggests that the Sonics are picking up the $200 million difference, and that just isn’t true. They expect an additional $100 million to be picked up by Renton taxpayers, and of the remaining $100 million, I’m not really sure that it will cost the Sonics owners a single dime out-of-pocket. Between naming rights, seat licenses and advance leases on luxury boxes, the Sonics portion is pretty much paid for. And don’t forget, the Sonics refuse to be responsible for the inevitable cost overruns — this will fall on the backs of local taxpayers.

Money for the arena would come from taxes, such as a restaurant tax and rental-car tax, already being used to pay for Safeco and Qwest fields, and the often-used sales-tax credit.

The implication being that we don’t actually pay these taxes — people who eat in restaurants, stay at hotels, or rent cars do. You know… other people. Oh… and that “often-used sales-tax credit” the Times attempts to slip by without explanation… that’s hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise go into state coffers to pay for schools, prisons, health care and other frivolous stuff like that. No biggie.

The bill would also bolster two other cultural amenities: the arts and the Mariners. Money raised by the taxes would be used for the upkeep and repairs of Safeco Field and funneled into an account for the arts.

Holy shit! Didn’t we just build Safeco Field? Aren’t we still paying the taxes to pay off the bonds on that voter-rejected public extortion? And we already need more taxes to pay for repairs? And that’s supposed to be a solid argument in favor of another such public boondoggle?

There have been whispers and shouts that SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett is only buying time until he can move the teams to his home state of Oklahoma. This is an unfair claim. Bennett has done nothing to suggest that moving the teams is a foregone conclusion.

“Nothing to suggest” that Bennett is being insincere? Um… how about seeking $400 million in taxpayer subsidies on a $500 million hoops palace, just weeks after 74-percent of voters rejected $200 million in subsidies on a $220 million Key Arena renovation? If that’s sincere, it’s sincerely stupid.

The Times insists that “the SuperSonics deserve a chance to work something out with King County,” and on that they’re absolutely right. But to do so, the Sonics and their allies at the Times will first have to take an honest measure of the public mood instead of attempting to misrepresent it. Local control means working out the details of a proposal with local officials first, and then going to the Legislature to ask for the taxing authority, if necessary. Local control means taking into account the will of local voters. If the Sonics choose to negotiate honestly and sincerely — and within the confines of political reality — there is a deal that can be struck that could garner sufficient popular support… maybe a $100 million team contribution to a $220 million Key Arena renovation, a deal that would be more in line with the kind of public-private partnerships struck elsewhere. It doesn’t necessarily have to make financial sense. It just has to make sense.

If the Sonics owners are serious about keeping the team in the region there is no rush for the Legislature to act. All of the Sonics deadlines are self-imposed, and they can always be extended. So come on Clay, prove me wrong and the Times right. Come back to the table and negotiate a realistic deal, in good faith, that actually has a snowball’s chance of being approved by voters.

And oh yeah… here’s a free PR tip: it probably wouldn’t hurt your negotiating position if you didn’t put such a shitty product on the court.