HorsesAss.Org

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.

Let me start this post by pointing out that I don’t believe all Republicans are deranged morons. I mean, I personally know some individual Republicans who are terrific people. But Republicans are limping with a couple of achilles heals right now.

Nationally, the Republicans have been hijacked, derailed, used, abused, snookered, and tarnished by BushCo and his neocon sidekicks. Maybe they’ll recover sometime in the next two or three decades. But much damage has been done.

In Washington state, Republicans have a different sort of problem. Their most prominent members are a bunch of tricksters:

[T]he state Republicans have lost standing with voters following a string of stunts, pranks, and dirty tricks. Voters have watched the Sotelo voter challenges, the sex offender postcards, Tim Eyman and his right-wing initiatives, the John Birchers and their right-wing initiatives, the secretive U.S. Chamber of Commerce hit on Deborah Senn (not really state GOP, but it worked for their side), and even the election contest with all of the “election fraud” hyperbole, BIAW “signature checks,” and Rossi dissing the Supreme Court. The Washington State Republicans come off looking like jealous tricksters trying to snatch power away from the Democrats by any means available except by honestly winning elections.

(And, man, are they ever sore losers after defeat in a close election!)

On Thursday the Washington state House Republicans did it again:

House Republicans lambasted trial lawyers during raucous debate Thursday but when one lawmaker singled out the Democratic House majority leader’s husband for scorn, the place erupted in shouts.
[…]

Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, said it is “very, very concerning” that only trial lawyers are pushing the bill.

“This is not for the consumers,” he said. “This will increase costs to the consumer. It is a sad day.”

After being gaveled down for impugning the sponsors’ motives, he said, “Look out! The train is coming through! The Keith Kessler train is coming through and you better get out of the way.”

“Whooo woooo!” Roach cried, mimicking a train conductor tooting a whistle.

Keith Kessler is one of the state’s most prominent trial lawyers, a former president of the state trial lawyers and the husband of House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

Lovick sternly admonished Roach again for breaking House rules of decorum. Lawmakers aren’t supposed to refer to colleagues by name or criticize members’ families.

(* Sigh *). This isn’t really going to help the Republicans shake their image as a bunch of angry goofsters.

Rep. Dan Roach is, of course, the son of crazy-wacko, “who moved my roses?”, anal obsessive Sen. Pam Roach. He is also the brother of drug-dealin’, convicted felon and early parolee Stephen Roach.

So…um…I’m wondering. Do they do random drug testing for state Representatives? I mean…this seems like the kind of wacky shit that comes from being all hopped-up on goofballs or something.

(Cross posted at Hominidviews.)

While I got nothing (zilch!) this year, Goldy received a David Neiwert Award:

David Goldstein (Best Muckraking, 2005), is the recipient of a new Neiwert Award tradition – the LEAP Award for alumni. The LEAP Award recognizes bloggers who successfully make the leap from blogging to traditional media. In 2006, David’s dreams of becoming a radio host became reality when 710 KIRO gave him a regular weekend show after just one appearance as a guest host. These days, he hosts the David Goldstein Show weekends at the station from 7 to 10 in the evening. At the end of the year, he was asked to fill in for fellow weekday KIRO host Dave Ross over the holidays. When he wasn’t bringing liberal political talk back to 710 KIRO, Goldy was fundraising for netroots candidates or posting regularly at HorsesAss. His impact has been immeasurable and we’re sure he’ll have a very busy 2007.

You can read the whole list here.

How the awards committee can overlook this work of genius, I’ll never know.

So begins a post yesterday in the personal blog of Real Change publisher Tim Harris, and it’s easy to understand why. Apparently the Weekly is getting set to print a story next week that “exposes” Seattle’s homeless newspaper as employing, among its 250 vendors, a few people who are not entirely homeless, and even a handful who, by working countless hours, can make as much as $20,000 a year (without benefits)! The horrors!

Please don’t misunderstand. This sort of thing doesn’t piss me off because I once wrote for a paper with the same name. (I almost wrote “the same paper,” but, well, it’s not.) I don’t even care that Managing Editor Mike Seely would rather take personal potshots at me than address the indisputable fact that most Seattleites I hear from feel like his paper is now a pile of shit. I don’t know the reporter working on the Real Change story, Huan Hsu, who only came to Seattle two months ago. (Raising the question of who in the Weekly food chain thought up this story; the paper’s new owners, Village Voice Media (ne: New Times), have a history of kicking the homeless in some of their other cities.) I really don’t care about personal history or personalities here.

What pisses me off is when anyone – anyone – tries to make a buck or ingratiate themselves (e.g., with dimwitted readers) by pissing on the powerless. It’s one thing to lampoon the idiocies of Seattle liberalism; I might not agree with it (or think it’s well done), but it’s fair game. But trying to manufacture a “scandal” involving one of the few activist-initiated social service projects in town that truly does help people and change lives, all the time, is pure bullshit. Or, in Harris’ words, “What the Fuck”?

I guess the idea is to create buzz for the “new” Weekly by being bold and provocative (and irresponsible). Whatever. What Hsu and the Weekly will find is that Real Change’s vendors are often the downtrodden and powerless (“92% homeless or formerly homeless. 63% reporting a disability. 83% over 40. Illiterates. Addicts. Felons. Disabled people. Mentally ill people. Etcetera.,” writes Harris.) But Real Change as an institution has a lot of admirers in this community, and for an obvious reason: it has a better track record than any other media outlet in town (including the Weekly, and during my tenure there as well) in walking the talk and making this a better city.

We’ll see what the Weekly’s story is next week. But if it follows the arc that Tim Harris anticipates, Seattle Weekly will have only succeeded in further marginalizing itself.

I’m filling in again for Frank Shiers this week, Weds thru Fri, 9PM to 1AM on Newsradio 710-KIRO.

9PM: Should ex-felons have the right to vote?
Florida of all places just enacted legislation that quickly restores voting and other civil rights to convicted felons after they’ve finished serving their sentence, but a similar bill in the Democratic-controlled Washington Legislature (SB 5530) remains stuck in committee. But no less an authority than the American Correctional Association says that our current felon disenfranchisement laws “serve no correctional purpose – and may actually contribute to recidivism.” Jennifer Shaw from the ACLU of Washington joins me for the hour.

10PM: Do you remember Seattle?
Local writer Clark Humphrey joins me for the hour to talk about his book Vanishing Seattle, which explores a city where timber and fish were more lucrative than airplanes and computers, a place of kitschy architecture and homespun humor, a place bounding with hope for a brighter future (as seen at the 1962 World’s Fair). What do you miss (or not miss) from your vanishing Seattle? Call in and give me, a relative newcomer, a well needed history lesson.

Plus an update on the expanded pet food recall, some good old fashioned Ann Coulter bashing, and more fascinating conversation! Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Coming up: My favorite Republican, Gen. JC Christian of the blog Jesus’ General joins me Friday at 11PM to give us his peculiar insight into the minds of the extreme far-right.

Apparently, I’m a hate-talker. But Ann Coulter? She’s just joking…

These people can’t even wrap up genocide. We’ve been hearing about this slaughter in Darfur forever — and they still haven’t finished. The aggressors are moving like termites across that country. It’s like genocide by committee. Who’s running this holocaust in Darfur, FEMA?

Last night, in what is perhaps the most deliciously blasphemous episode of South Park ever (well… probably not,) a loose spoof of the Da Vinci Code ends with Jesus killing the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue. Hilarious. AlterNet has clips online — view ’em while you can.

My favorite line:

Pope Benedict XVI: All right, that does it Bill. I’m pretty sure that killing Jesus is not very Christian.

My second favorite line, after Jesus tells Kyle to kill him so that he can resurrect outside their prison cell:

Kyle: Dude, you don’t understand, I’m a Jew. I have a few hang-ups about killing Jesus.

Man, can I pick ’em.

In lambasting state Rep. Richard DeBolt (R-Shameless) for having himself nominated for a Jefferson Award, I unflatteringly compared him to environmental advocate Mark Boyar, one of the many deserving nominees…

It particularly irks me to see DeBolt so selfishly pollute an awards process that might honor Mark for his quiet and selfless work to clean up our precious wilderness.

Well, the Jefferson Award winners were just announced, and look who made the list: “Mark Boyar: A future is bridged for the wild.”

Congratulations, Mark. (And screw you, Richard.)

I’m filling in again for Frank Shiers this week, Weds thru Fri, 9PM to 1AM on Newsradio 710-KIRO.

9PM: Hey, it’s only dead animals, right?
If the FDA expected this pet food recall story to fly under the radar and out of the headlines, they weren’t counting on the determination of pet-loving bloggers to get to the truth. Two of the bloggers leading the way will join me for the hour to help us get to the nitty gritty of this slowly unfolding scandal. Ben Huh of the local pet blog Itchmo will join me in-studio, and Christie Keith of Pet Connections will talk to us by phone.

10PM: Is Seattle ready to elect a (gasp) Republican?
Um, no. But that isn’t stopping self-described Republican Jim Nobles from leaping headlong into the crowded race to replace retiring Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck. Jim joins me in the studio for the hour to field your questions, and to attempt to explain to me exactly how a nice, smart guy like him comes to be a Republican. (And stay one.)

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

Coming up: Local writer Clark Humphrey joins me Thursday at 10PM to talk about his book, Vanishing Seattle, and my favorite Republican, Gen. JC Christian of the blog Jesus’ General joins me Friday at 11PM to give us his peculiar insight into the minds of the extreme far-right.

Now this is a good political ad.