HorsesAss.Org

It’s a comfortable 79 degrees here in Longport NJ… unfortunately, that’s just the ocean temperature. It’s a blistering 92 and sunny today, a bit too hot and humid for my NW-acclimated likings, but at least we have an ocean breeze (and air conditioning) to cool ourselves down.

Anyway, I’m giving my daughter her annual trip to the Jersey shore with her cousins, so expect some light posting over the next week or so, and forgive me if I’m absent from the comment threads. Even bloggers deserve a little bit of a break.

Second best of…
NWSource.com just came out with their 2005 “People’s Picks” awards, and no, I didn’t win anything. But HorsesAss.org was listed as a “top finalist” (whatever that means) in the category of Favorite Blog. Ah well… you can’t win a “best of” award every day.

Lies, damn lies, and web stats
Just took a look at my webstats and noticed that surprisingly, traffic has continued to climb through the summer at a time when I expected a lull. Don’t you people have anything better to do? Go outside… get some fresh air… play with your friends.

The Seattle Weekly’s “Best of Seattle 2005” just came out, and thanks to you, my loyal readers, not only has HorsesAss.org been named “Best Local Blog,” but yours truly has been named “Best Activist/Hell-Raiser”… for the second year running!

Best Local Blog
Your favorite Seattle-based blog is the one that gives “the straight poop on Washington politics and the press”: David Goldstein’s HORSESASS.ORG (see Best Activist/ Hell-Raiser). Sharing his liberal views on local politics and personalities, Goldy makes sure blue Seattleites have something to cheer or sneer about.

Best Activist/Hell-Raiser
Web pundit DAVID GOLDSTEIN made a name for himself as a staunch opponent of local initiative-monger Tim Eyman; that’s also the campaign that inspired the name of his blog, HorsesAss.org (see Best Local Blog). Nowadays, Goldstein comments on anything and everything, including the recent Enumclaw horse-sex scandal. This is his second consecutive win in this category, so he gets to be the city’s best smart-ass for another year.

Also, big congratulations are due to Andrew and the crew at Pacific Northwest Portal, for winning the well-deserved honor of “Best Local Website.”

But perhaps the most amusing category was “Best Fish Market”:

Yep, PIKE PLACE MARKET again, beating out second-placed . . . Tim Eyman?

Gee… I wonder how that happened?

In a Southern Ohio congressional district that Republicans normally win by 50 percent margins, Democrat Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran running on an anti-war platform, has made it a nail-biter in a special election. Even a close loss is a huge victory for the Dems in a district that’s normally not close to being competitive… and portends big trouble for Republicans in 2006. This is huge!

I’m off to the airport, so get the latest results from the Cincinnati Enquirer or MyDD.

UPDATE:
Hacket down 49,681–48,811 with 662 of 753 precincts reporting. This is likely going to an automatic recount, and considering Ohio’s problems, anything could happen.

UPDATE, UPDATE:
Well, Schmidt beat Hackett 52% to 48% in a district President Bush won with 64% of the vote in 2004. As DailyKOS reported, the Cook Political Report had made the following pre-election analysis:

If Schmidt’s victory margin is in double digits, this tells us that there is not much of an anti-GOP wind in Ohio right now. If the margin is say six to nine points for Schmidt, then there is a wind, but certainly no hurricane. A Schmidt win of less than five points should be a very serious warning sign for Ohio Republicans that something is very, very wrong, while a Hackett victory would be a devastating blow to the Ohio GOP.

The Ohio GOP avoids a “devastating blow,” but Hackett’s strong showing represented an anti-war, anti-Bush vote from a traditional Republican stronghold. 2006 is looking pretty good.

Score one for the American Taliban:

President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and “intelligent design” yesterday, saying schools should teach both on the origins and complexity of life.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters, Bush essentially endorsed efforts by Christian conservatives to give intelligent design equal standing with evolution in the nation’s schools.

Hmmm. I have a theory: George Bush is an uncurious, intellectual lightweight, with little regard for either science or education. Based on my theory, I propose that the President’s meddling with our public schools should stray no further than occasional readings of My Pet Goat, while leaving the content of our science curriculum to people who actually understand and respect science… you know… like, scientists.

The National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have both concluded that there is no scientific basis for intelligent design and oppose its inclusion in school science classes.

“The claim that equity demands balanced treatment of evolutionary theory and special creation in science classrooms reflects a misunderstanding of what science is and how it is conducted,” the academy said in a 1999 assessment. “Creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science.”

That’s right, intelligent design is not science, it is religion, and as long as we still have a First Amendment, we don’t teach religion in our public schools. If this is the President’s idea of education reform, perhaps what we really need is a “No Child Left Behind in the Middle Ages” act?

But wait… aren’t you being arrogant, Goldy? What of all those “scientists” who question evolution?

The Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank in Seattle that is the leading proponent of intelligent design, said it has compiled a list of more than 400 scientists, including 70 biologists, who are skeptical about evolution.

“The fact is that a significant number of scientists are extremely skeptical that Darwinian evolution can explain the origins of life,” John West, associate director of the organization’s Center for Science and Culture, said in a statement.

Yeah, and I’m skeptical that the Discovery Institute is an actual think tank. It’s not. It’s a far-right Christian propaganda mill, with absolutely no credibility on this or any other issue of scientific discovery… and the MSM should be absolutely ashamed of itself for indicating otherwise. The Discovery Institute is a sham, pure and simple, financed by wealth individuals with a dangerous, far-right-wing political agenda.

When the President of the United States suggests that our public schools should teach this retreaded, creationist bullshit on an equal scientific footing with evolution, the whole world laughs at us. And they should… we are becoming a ridiculous nation. No wonder our high tech industries can’t find enough qualified employees without importing scientists and engineers from overseas… while nations like India and China are retooling to compete and win in a 21st century economy, we’re busy turning our once proud public schools into the Evangelical Christian version of Taliban madrasas.

Bush’s statement in support of intelligent design not only represents a dumbing down of our educational system that our economy simply can’t afford, it is also an offense to those of us who don’t share the President’s faith. Science is about facts, not belief, and thus I no more want President Bush teaching my daughter science than I want Tom Cruise teaching her religion. If Bush wants to teach intelligent design, he should teach Sunday school. But stay the hell out of our public schools.

The newly passed federal transportation bill includes $220 million to help replace the Alaska Way Viaduct, a project I-912 supporters apparently feel is a total waste of money. So I wonder how they feel about the $220 million the bill also gives to the state of Alaska to build a bridge between Ketchikan (population: 8,000) and Gravina Island (population: 50)…? The bridge would be taller than the Brooklyn Bridge, nearly as long as the Golden Gate… and replace a 7-minute ferry ride.

Uh-huh.

But then, since both Alaska and the US Senate are run by Republicans — and the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility — this must be a wise, thrifty use of taxpayer money, right? And I guess it also makes sense that 8,050 people in Alaska should get as much money as a tiny little town like Seattle.

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens defends the bridge, saying it is well worth the money.

“I remember when I was a young person in California, when people accused the people in Washington (D.C.) of being wasteful in thinking about building a bridge called the Golden Gate Bridge because no one lived in Marin County at the time.”

Um… yeah Ted… only difference is, Marin County isn’t in fucking Alaska!

Just thought somebody should point that out.

“If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier… just so long as I’m the dictator.”
— George W. Bush, Dec. 18, 2000

President Bush is inches shy of achieving his dream. Really. How else can you explain his recess appointment of John Bolton to be UN Ambassador, an act of incredible arrogance that shows an absolute disregard for the separation of powers our founding fathers wisely ensconced in the Constitution? I think Sen. Edward Kennedy summed it up well:

“The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues,” Kennedy said. “It’s bad enough that the administration stonewalled the Senate by refusing to disclose documents highly relevant to the Bolton nomination. It’s even worse for the administration to abuse the recess appointment power by making the appointment while Congress is in this five-week recess. It’s a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent and only further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton’s credibility at the U.N.”

Republican Sen. George Voinovich, who had previously warned that such a “controversial and ineffective ambassador” would put at risk our nation’s ability to fight the war on terror — and who had made a tearful plea to his colleagues not to approve Bolton’s nomination — said he was disappointed by Bush’s action.

“I am truly concerned that a recess appointment will only add to John Bolton’s baggage and his lack of credibility with the United Nations.”

Hell… why bother with confirmations at all? Why not just have Bush make all his appointments recess appointments, so he doesn’t have to deal with that pesky Senate? Of course, when Bolton’s tenure proves to be a disaster, and when revelations about his prior abuses of power continue to trickle out — including his own involvement in Valerie Plame’s outing — the American public will know exactly who to blame for embarrassing our nation by sending Bolton to the UN.

See, what Republicans label as “Democratic obstruction” was really the proper exercise of the checks and balances provided for in the Constitution. Senators representing a majority of American voters refused to confirm the President’s nominee, and so Bush decided to ignore the advice and consent of the Senate by abusing a rarely used Constitutional loophole… a vestige of a time when Congress was in recess for months at a time, and took weeks to reassemble for special session.

President Bush exercises power because he can, and Americans need to understand that.

Should we suffer a catastrophic terrorist attack on his watch — such as a nuclear detonation in a major American city — Americans should be prepared for Bush to act according to character… to declare a state of emergency, suspend the Constitution, and seize powers that can only be described as dictatorial. This would essentially be the end of our democratic republic. I’m not saying this is likely scenario, but it is certainly one that is easily imagined given the tone, tenor and history of this authoritarian administration. And we need to start talking about it now, while we can still do so freely without fearing imprisonment.

My sincere condolences to George Bush and his extended family for the tragic loss of such a dearly-loved and close family member… King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Darryl at Hominid Views takes a break from his family vacation to report on the partial collapse of the Dunn Memorial Bridge in upstate New York.

As Darryl points out…

The relevance to the Seattle area is obvious. The Dunn Memorial Bridge was built in 1971; the Alaska Way Viaduct (AWV) was built in the late 1950s. Dunn was inspected a couple of years ago and rated a 5 out of 7 for safety. The AWV has had widely recognized safety problems since the Nisqually earthquake of 2001.

No one was injured or killed, but had the top deck collapsed entirely, it could have taken two other levels with it to the bottom of the Hudson river, with catastrophic consequences for people on the bridge, and the economy of the region. As it is, there are no estimates of when the bridge will reopen.

Will Seattle be so lucky when (not, if) the AWV fails? Let’s hope so, because the Viaduct is a double-decker structure, a collapse of one section could result in a chain reaction, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people. Even a partial collapse similar to that in Albany would result in traffic mayhem in Seattle. Interstate 5 would pick up the majority of the 100,000 plus vehicles that use the roadway on a daily basis, contributing to what is already one of the worse traffic problems in the nation.

Of course, I-912 would repeal funds for replacing the AWV, as well as dozens of other projects throughout the state intended to fix unsafe intersections, interchanges and other sections of roads with a history of accidents and fatalities. But even if we dodge the bullet of a catastrophic AWV collapse….

People will die if I912 passes

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Speaking at the Baptist World Alliance’s centenary conference in Birmingham, England, former President Jimmy Carter blasted Bush administration policies in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, where prisoners have been held indefinitely, without charge or access to lawyers.

“I think what’s going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.,” he told a news conference. “I wouldn’t say it’s the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.”
…
“What has happened at Guantanamo Bay … does not represent the will of the American people,” Carter said. “I’m embarrassed about it, I think it’s wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people.”

Notice my emphasis on the word “unwarranted.” Carter clearly stated that terrorist acts could not be justified, and while Guantanamo “may be an aggravating factor … it’s not the basis of terrorism.” Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, also continued his long standing criticism of the Iraq war.

“I thought then, and I think now, that the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and unjust. And I think the premises on which it was launched were false.”

Yeah, I know… you righties are going to instantly jump in attacking and maligning Carter, but he is one of the few true statesmen our nation has, and a voice of wisdom and reason that is heeded overseas, if not here at home. It is also one of the curious ironies of American politics that one of the figures most reviled by those on the religious right, is a man who was arguably the most genuinely and passionately devout President in perhaps a hundred years… and an Evangelical Christian to boot.

Go figure.

Thursday’s post on Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen, and his incessant lobbying to repeal the estate tax (“Frank Blethen, Get Well Soon“), prompted an e-mail from a prominent member of the media, reminding me that this is not the first time the Blethens have donated space in their own paper to run an anti-estate-tax ad — an ad so dishonest, that not even a Times reporter would dare to uncritically repeat its claims unchallenged.

I have long criticized the Times’ lack of objectivity in championing estate tax repeal, but the writer raises some interesting questions by pointing out that this is not the only issue on which the Blethens have used their editorial bullhorn to further the family’s own financial interests. In attempting to justify dissolution of the Joint Operating Agreement — a calculated move that is intended to shutter the competing Seattle P-I — the Times has argued that its status as a “family-owned newspaper” somehow makes it more sensitive and responsive to the values and needs of the community. But the writer makes an observation that might strike some as counter-intuitive… that Seattle might be better served by absentee owners.

This is yet further validation of my view that a newspaper run by absentee corporate owners is far less threatening to journalistic and editorial balance than is a newspaper run by local owners.

To further the Blethens’ own financial interests, the Times editorializes (1) against the estate tax, (2) against ownership of multiple local media outlets (translation: don’t let the Hearst Corp. own both a newspaper and a TV station in Seattle because that sort of potential synergy might let the newspaper stay alive), (3) in favor of massive development of the South Lake Union area, which will drive up the value of the Blethens’ properties in the area, and, as I recall, (4) a few years ago, in favor of a proposal to reroute the light rail line up the Eastlake corridor instead of Capitol Hill, an idea that likewise would have fattened up the values of the nearby Blethen properties.

The Hearst Corp., by comparison, doesn’t require its local newspaper to editorialize one way or another because Hearst has no vested interest in doing so. All it cares about is that its newspaper out there in faraway Seattle makes some money.

You will not often read, watch, or hear this type of criticism in the local MSM, because most of Seattle’s working journalists either rely on Frank to sign their paycheck, or envision the possibility that they may have to rely on him in the future… and so I have kept the writer’s name anonymous. I, on the other hand, have little to lose by speaking my mind. Alas, nobody pays me anything for my rabble-rousing, and as to potential employment with the Times, I’ve probably already burnt that bridge in numerous, incalculable ways. (Although I welcome Frank to prove me wrong by offering me a paid column.)

As to the writer’s arguments, I find them very compelling on the facts, despite my deep reservations about media concentration and corporate ownership. Unlike the Times, the P-I’s editorial staff appears to be largely free from ownership interference… much like my excellent home town daily, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which has maintained a remarkable degree of editorial independence from newspaper giant Knight-Ridder (who, by the way, owns 49 percent of the Times.)

I suspect that the editorial boards of both the Times and the P-I attempt to take positions on important issues of the day, based on what they genuinely feel to be the best interests of the community. The difference is, the former is strongly influenced by the vested interests of its owners, while the latter is not. I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with the editorial pages of both papers, but I can’t help but sense that the process by which the P-I comes up with its opinions is slightly more honest and forthright than that of the Times.

Neither, of course, could possibly be as forthright as HA. This is an admittedly liberal blog with the oft stated goal of promoting progressive candidates and causes, and thus, unlike the MSM, I make no effort to feign objectivity in the opinions I express. But we all editorialize for the same reason… not simply to vent (though that’s fun too), but to influence public opinion and policy.

It is in this light that the writer reminds us of the dangers posed by uncritically accepting the Blethens’ blatant lobbying and electioneering on behalf of their own financial interests.

If you were Patty Murray or Maria Cantwell, and your state’s largest newspaper reminded you over and over that its owners are watching closely which way you vote on the estate tax repeal — and are not only editorializing but lobbying against it — that might cause you to consider putting your re-election prospects ahead of your conscience, mightn’t it?

And that, of course, is exactly what Frank Blethen wants… for Sen. Cantwell to vote against her conscience and the interests of the vast majority of American families, in order to pander to the selfish interests of the owners of a paper that could make or break her in an extremely close election. Meanwhile, it should be noted that Sen. Cantwell is not getting the same sort of pressure from the owners of the P-I — the privately held Hearst Corporation — even though the Hearst family heirs have much more to gain from permanent repeal of the estate tax than the Blethen family could ever dream of.

So perhaps it’s not a question of family ownership after all. It’s merely a question of what sort of family, and how much they respect the journalistic standards and editorial balance of their newspapers.

Ooops. Here’s your weekly litter box, a few hours late.

Hmm… I’m having a little trouble getting excited about the $220 million the new federal transportation bill includes for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. On the one hand, we weren’t expecting anything, and every little bit helps. On the other hand… what a bunch of fucking cheapskates.

The federal money represents 5 to 8 percent of the total cost of the project. By comparison, $220 million is less than .08 percent of the $286 billion total the bill sends to states… or to put it another way, about 2.4 percent of the roughly $9 billion in unaccounted for cash that was stuffed into duffle bags in Iraq. Nice to know we have our priorities straight.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but let’s be honest, if a double-decker freeway was on the verge of pancaking a couple hundred Texans, there’d be a billion or more in federal dollars thrown at the project. And of course, if I-912 repeals the gas tax hike, then we can kiss even our paltry $220 million goodbye.

A lot of people are playing up the potential loss of this money as a selling point for defeating I-912, but I’m wondering if that argument might be counterproductive. Judging from some of the nastier emails and comments I’ve received lately, there are many in Eastern WA who would be absolutely giddy over the chance to deny Seattlites a couple hundred million in federal aid. Hell… there are some folk out there who could absolutely give a shit about whether the Viaduct collapses, a sentiment that was clearly expressed in the following missive from “James” with the fake email address:

“… I hope it comes down during rush hour. A few hundred dead liberals might make the difference in the next election.”

I suppose “James” thought he was being funny, and I certainly wouldn’t argue that all I-912 supporters are such total and complete assholes. But a comment like this is just more evidence that this has become an emotional issue, not a rational one, and that we don’t have a chance of defeating I-912 merely on the basis of sound public policy arguments. We need to start making it clear to people in Eastern WA, and other rural voters, exactly what they’re going to lose if I-912 passes. And I’m not just talking about the specific local transportation projects that the gas tax hike is intended to fund. I’m talking about what they risk losing in the future: our good will.

If they want to balkanize state transportation funding, fine. Because while King, Pierce and Snohomish counties have the majority of the infrastructure needs, we also own the vast majority of the state’s wealth, and in the short run, Seattle voters have the most to gain from spending all gas tax dollars locally. Ironically, if I were to seriously run an initiative that requires transportation revenues to be spent locally, its most fervent supporters would come from Eastern WA. What a bunch of dumb fucks.

But while we’re on the subject, why just balkanize transportation dollars? Let’s devolve the state portion of the property tax to local school districts, and let that money be spent locally too. After all, it’s not my problem if some poor kid out in Ferry County get’s a crappy education. If parents can’t afford private tuition, that just represents a moral failing on their part, doesn’t it?

I mean really… why should I give shit about you people if you don’t give a shit about me? Hell, I only drive east of the pass once or twice a year, and if the roads on the other side fall apart, I’ll just borrow or rent an SUV for those occasional excursions. So go ahead… split the state in two… divide King County between rural and urban… drop your taxes, raise your Confederate flags, and collapse into the ranks of a third-world economy. We’ll just sip our microbrews and lattes and laugh… before we buy up anything left of value, until all of Eastern WA is comprised of little more than the quaint vineyards and gentleman-ranches of dot.com millionaires.

See… we didn’t so much mind subsidizing the schools that educate your children and the roads you drive on and the ports that bring your products to market, until you started pissing on us in return. The Viaduct and the 520 bridge are crucial to our economy, and we’re going to rebuild them, with or without you… but if it’s without you, then Katie bar the door, because you’ll have driven me and a whole bunch of other urban voters firmly into the “fuck you” camp. And you know what? There’s more of us than there are of you… so prepare to be fucked.

And one more thing… nothing tastes better than a firm, crisp, tangy New Zealand braeburn apple… so hell if I’m going to continue buying mealy, WA state, storage apples out-of-season, simply out of some misplaced sense of loyalty. So there.

Whenever Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen catches a cold, he hocks up a loogie of an editorial, railing against the estate tax. But do this too often (say… more than about once a month) and readers will start tossing out the op/ed section like the soggy piece of Kleenex it sometimes is. So today Frank tried a new approach at blowing out his selfish message… he actually bought an ad in his own paper!

Andrew’s got the full text and a great analysis over on the Northwest Progressive Institute Blog. He does a great job of deconstructing the ad’s many lies and misrepresentations… and I really love this quote he found that nails Frank’s incessant whining, dead on:

Three generations of Blethens have managed to keep their inheritance in the family despite a much higher estate tax than the Times now rails against. If the current generation proves unwilling to make the same kind of sacrifices as their elders, then the Blethen family should blame itself, not the tax code.

Man… that David Goldstein guy really knows what he’s talking about.

The estate tax is being gradually phased out through 2010, when it will be repealed for one year, before returning in 2011 at the old rates and thresholds. Barring legislative action, I fully expect Frank to take his own life in 2010 (it would be the financially prudent thing to do) so as to guarantee another generation of Blethens expectorating on the op/ed page. Of course, Frank would prefer to live, and thus had hoped that the Senate might permanently repeal the estate tax this week. But apparently the votes weren’t there, so Senate Majority Leader Bill “Kitty Killer” Frist has put off a vote until September.

That gives us plenty of time to contact Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and ask them to hold firm against shifting $23.4 billion in taxes off the very richest US families and onto the backs of the poor and middle class.

Would be millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam was sentenced to a 22-year prison term yesterday, and U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, used the occasion to decry the government’s use of secret tribunals and other tactics that abandon “the ideals that set our nation apart.”

“The tragedy of Sept. 11 shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism,” said Coughenour in a voice edged with emotion. “Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. … If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.”

As far as Iranian-American filmmaker Cyrus Kar is concerned, these ideals have already been abandoned. In an interview today on NPR’s Day to Day, Kar describes his 55-day ordeal, imprisoned in Iraq by American forces who knew he was innocent.

Kar had gone to Iraq, with permission from the US government, to complete work on a documentary about Persian emperor Cyrus the Great. While riding in a hired taxi, he and his cameraman were arrested at a checkpoint after washing machine timers were found in the trunk. Such timers are sometimes used as parts in roadside bombs.

The two were blindfolded, handcuffed, charged as enemy combatants, and subjected to humiliation and abuse by US soldiers. They even served a stint at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, where a guard smashed Kar’s head against a cinderblock wall, and his cameraman was forced to publicly disrobe.

The taxi driver admitted the timers were his, and an FBI investigation cleared Kar within 10 days of his arrest… but the military refused to release him until the day before a hearing in federal court. When he asked the military why it took 45 days to release him after they learned of his innocence, Kar was told: “bureaucracy.”

Kar is not so sure.

“You have to be really, really gullible to believe that it is this well established process that won my release and that the release curiously came the day before the attorneys of President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld had to appear in court. It’s just too much of a coincidence, and I honestly believe and I’m quite certain that I would have been there for a long, long time had the ACLU and the press not gotten ahold of this and driven this case home.”

Once a supporter of the war, Kar now believes the occupation is doomed, and says if an American is treated so inhumanely, imagine what ordinary Iraqis are going through. But the worse part for him was losing his faith in American justice.

“I came to realize that I’m not considered an American. Being an American is an exclusive club that really wants no part of folks of my ethnicity.”

Judge Coughenour is right. Once we abandon the ideals that set our nation apart, we all cease to be Americans.

UPDATE:
I just listened to a much more in depth interview with Kar on the CBC’s As It Happens. (RealAudio stream.)

Kar gives more details of the circumstances surrounding his arrest, and his treatment at the hands of American soldiers, including the unique culture of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. As an Iranian born American, who served in the US military, and has now been victimized by it, Kar has unique and disturbing insight into what he saw happening on the ground in Iraq.

“There are a lot of innocent people sitting in jail — don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of really evil bad people I saw there too — but that makes it even more egregious to lock innocent people up, and that only leads to a growing insurgency, an insurgency that’s picking up speed. It is far more dangerous to go to Iraq today than it was right after mission had been declared accomplished, because the insurgency has been mushrooming, and the only reason it’s been mushrooming is because unfortunately we are creating… we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction, and it’s leading to the senseless deaths of a lot of American soldiers there.”

The Independent Task Force on Elections that Ron Sims formed in the wake of the disputed 2004 election has released its recommendations. I haven’t seen a copy of the full report yet, but judging from the media reports (P-I, Times) it is hard to argue with most of the proposed reforms.

ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS

• Hire and work with an independent, external “turnaround team” to resolve leadership, organizational culture, policy and operational problems that confront the King County elections office.
• A separately elected official with primary responsibility for elections will increase accountability to citizens, the task force believes.

IN KING COUNTY

• Institute vote-by-mail and regional voting centers in 2006; place two election observers at or adjacent to counting stations during recounts.

STATEWIDE

• Change the primary date to the first Tuesday of June.
• Automatically restore voting rights to former felons upon release from prison.
• Conduct only one manual recount when a recount is necessary.
• Require election officials to receive all ballots by 8 p.m. election night, except those of military and out-of-state voters.
• Limit the number of elections each year six to four.

Of course, the recommendation getting the biggest headline is that of hiring an outside team of management experts to quickly turnaround the elections division’s “seriously flawed organizational culture.” Sims released a statement in which he said he would “enthusiastically embrace” the “SWAT Team” proposal… which does not necessarily call for the firing of Dean Logan. According to task force chairwoman Cheryl Scott, Logan’s tenure is “between him and the county executive,” and Sims spokesman Sandeep Kaushik said there are no plans to force out Logan.

“It’s up to Dean,” Kaushik said. “He’s been in a tough spot. I think as long as he has the determination to carry on and right the ship, then we would like to help him in any way we can to do that.”

As many of you know, I have spent many pixels defending Logan and his department from what I believed to be unfair, dishonest and politically partisan attacks. I have talked to a number of county auditors (R and D) and other elections officials from across the state, and all expressed great respect and admiration for Logan. Not a single person who has worked with him questioned his honesty and integrity, and he was clearly hired for the job because nobody in the state had more expertise in elections procedures than him.

Whether Logan lacks the management skills to successfully run such a large and complex bureaucracy as KC Elections is another question, which if I were Sims, I would leave to the management experts on the SWAT Team to answer. One thing I do know is that Republican charges of a corrupt department that fraudulently stole the election from Dino Rossi, were proven entirely baseless in a court of law.

The task force was split on whether King County should elect an auditor like all of the other counties in the state… and so am I. Some members said an elected auditor would make the office more accountable to voters, while others pointed out that doing so does not guarantee electing a good manager. While such a move is certainly not an immediate solution, there are good arguments on both sides. Considering the highly charged partisan atmosphere surrounding elections at the moment, I would hope that the county waits a little while before addressing this issue.

As to the other recommendations, I could easily accept them all as a package.

Moving the primary to June (or at the very least, August) is a no-brainer that was the number one reform requested by every auditor in the state plus Sec. of State Sam Reed. Both parties deserve a slap on the nose for failing to include this in the election reform package that passed during the last session. If the R’s really care about assuring that overseas military ballots go out on time, they should stop their obstructionist tactics on this issue.

Automatically restoring the voting rights of felons upon release from prison is also a procedural no brainer. Unless somebody can prove that there is some societal gain from denying felons the franchise — and I would argue the opposite — there is absolutely no justification for adding this procedural layer of complexity to our system. In the end, the task force made a cost-benefit analysis; if there are any benefits from denying felons the right to vote, it certainly does not justify the costs.

Republicans claim that this is a Democrat plot to create more Democrat voters… to which I respond “bullshit” and “who cares?” There is absolutely no direct evidence that felons tend to vote Democrat, and that argument is particularly irrational in WA state where the vast majority of felons are white, working-class men… the core Republican demographic. But felon demographics is entirely besides the point; African Americans tend to overwhelmingly vote Democrat, and no Republican would seriously suggest denying them the franchise.

As to conducting a single, manual recount when a recount is necessary… well… I hadn’t thought about that before. Yeah… I suppose I could go for that. The manual recount turned out to be a model of bipartisan cooperation, and an extraordinarily open and transparent process. From a public trust perspective it would have eliminated the bullshit “two out of three” argument the Rossi folks used. My only concern is that manual recounts are burdensome and expensive, and this reform would result in a few more of them.

The one recommendation with which I’m least comfortable is making election night the deadline for receiving ballots. While I’m sure it would simplify the process, I’d have to have a better idea of how many ballots might be disqualified by such a move, before I could voice an opinion.

In the end, simplifying the process is the theme of most of the recommendations, not the least of which being the most significant one: moving to an all mail-in election by 2006. As I’ve previously written, I don’t like mail-in voting, but the die was cast when we liberalized it a few years back. Voters overwhelmingly avoid the polling place, and it simply doesn’t make sense to support two entirely different voting systems. Yes, King and other counties had problems with mail-in ballots, but by eliminating the much more complicated poll voting, it will permit the elections division to focus on fixing and perfecting their mail-in ballot operations. This is common sense.

In the last election, 70 percent of voters voted by mail… in some counties as high as 86 percent. The market has spoken, and critics of mail-in voting on both the right and the left need to accept the will of the people and work to make mail-in procedures as secure and reliable as possible. Critics, like our good friend Stefan, argue that moving to all-mail voting would only further undermine public trust and confidence… but that’s a load of crap. The best way to restore public trust in elections is to conduct them smoothly and accurately, and the easiest, quickest path towards that end is to eliminate unnecessary complexity from the process.

I personally will miss the polling place, and regret that we as a state ever strayed down the path towards all-mail elections. But here we are, and there’s no turning back, and I’m pragmatic enough to reluctantly accept it. To stick King County with a burdensome, expensive, untenable dual system, while the rest of the state goes all-mail, is to assure that KC elections will be the whipping boy in all future close elections. Perhaps that works politically for Republicans seeking a campaign issue to help them overcome their numerical disadvantage in King County, but it just isn’t good public policy.

So all in all, it looks like the task force has made some very practical recommendations. I’m sure there is more fodder for partisan sniping in the full report, but I’ll get to that when I see it.