Search Results for: ’

Dominic Holden links to this Jonathan Martin piece on Sally Clark not putting forward a resolution condemning the Russian anti-gay legislation. Holden hits most of the salient points, but I want to add a few things.

It’s mystifying to see Seattle City Council President Sally Clark’s Twitter account has blown up with criticism from gay activists, thanks to an off-hand comment from Mayor Mike McGinn. Mystifying, because Clark, the first openly gay council president, co-sponsored council resolutions in support of same-sex marriage in 2012 and donated to the campaign to affirm its legality. Her record on LGBT issues is rock-solid.

Well her record was pretty much the median Seattle City Council member on this issue, since they all have supported gay rights for, like, ever. Even Republican voting, “We value the sacredness of marriage between a woman and man” Tim Burgess is solid on LGBT rights issues compared to the rest of the state. So, sure, she’s been good on those issues up until now. Now is the problem.

Now is what activists are responding to. Gay rights activists have been on the defensive with the Russian law until Dan Savage and others in Clark’s home town started boycotting Russian products. You can debate how much of a difference that made, but between that, possible protests of the Olympics, and actual protests here and around the country, enough of a difference was made that it put Russian officials on their heels, and got the letter written.

Also, Clark has been one of the more conservative members of the council, generally. These things are relative within Seattle, of course, but it’s not that surprising that lefty activists more generally would go after her when she does the wrong thing. The good news is even though McGinn’s letter has been sent, there is still time for Seattle to do the right thing, and she can start taking the lead on it if she wants.

OK, a few more things from the piece:

Seattle City Council was once famous for far-afield resolutions over the decades — condemning the treatment of circus elephants, calling for removal of Eastern Washington dams, condemning Burma and apartheid — and got rafts of justified criticism for being distracted from its core work.

It got plenty of criticism, sure. I don’t think that criticism was justified for the most part. I mean the Burma and apartheid regimes they criticized fell. Obviously, there was a ton more than City Council resolutions that caused that, but Seattle should be proud that our City Council was on the right side of history, and did our part. The Snake River dams provide some good, but given the amount of money Seattle spends on salmon restoration, it’s lazy to pretend that expressing an opinion on them was a distraction “from its core work.” So that leaves cruelty to circus elephants. It was one of the quickest things the council did, but you’d never know that from all the criticism it got over the years. I’d guess if you add all of the criticism of how much time it wasted and compare it to how much time it took, the time it took would be less than the criticism. Also, maybe, don’t be cruel to circus animals is a good position to hold?

In any event he never gets around to saying why the criticism is justified, because it’s so obvious. I guess whenever he has a conversation about them at the WAC, or at the boardroom of the Seattle Times, everyone agrees, so no need to spell it out any further for the plebes.

Last thing I swear. He concludes:

Better yet, the council should stick to it’s core work, which currently includes writing a budget.

The City Council has a huge role to play in the budget process, of course. But they don’t, strictly speaking, write it. That’s part of the Mayor’s job, according to this timeline. I get what he’s saying, but they don’t actually write the budget. For an article saying it’s important to know what the job of the City Council is and isn’t that sort of seems like an own goal.

I think a lot of people who read these sort of things are mystified as to how it happens.

The owner of the construction business told police he believed Alexis was angry over the parking situation around the work site. Several workers reported Alexis staring at them prior to the shooting.

Seattle detectives ultimately arrested Alexis a month later. According to police, Alexis told detectives he had been “mocked” by construction workers and said they had “disrespected him.” Alexis also claimed he had an anger-fueled “blackout,” and could not remember firing his gun at the victims’ vehicle until an hour after the incident.

Alexis also told police he was present during “the tragic events of September 11, 2001″ and described “how those events had disturbed him.” According to police, detectives later spoke with Alexis’ father, who lived in New York at the time, who told police Alexis had anger management problems, and that Alexis had been an active participant in rescue attempts on Sept. 11, 2001.

Seattle detectives referred the case to the Seattle Municipal Court for charges. Court records indicate Alexis was not charged.

I certainly am not in a position to place blame for this, but clearly something let him fall through the cracks. And we can see where that ended up. Obviously, most cases like this won’t end up as mass shootings, but when things don’t get resolved, they escalate. And when they escalate with a gun around, there is more chance things will go badly. When someone shoots tires, that should be the best time to take their guns.

We should really as a city and as a state see if there’s anything we could have done differently.

– The first ads for both sides of I-522 have been released. Is Ken Eikenberry really much of a spokesperson for anything these days?

– Jean Godden and Tim Burgess take a look at why the city of Seattle is falling down in regard to its women employees.

– Let me make this abundantly clear, to you and to the other men reading this: when you comment on a woman’s appearance, you are not doing it for her. You are doing it for you. It’s not some great way to make a woman feel sexy and appreciated. It’s not flattery, even if you mean for it to be. The only thing it is is a great way for you to create a shitty power dynamic, by which you have announced yourself as the arbiter of her value, and you’ve deemed her fuckable, and she is supposed to be happy or impressed by that.

– Good on McGinn and Murray on the protest of the Russian anti-gay laws. Boo on our City Council.

– A Statement of Trans-Inclusive Feminism and Womanism (h/t)

– The results of the study may seem little more than an exercise in confirming the obvious, but that’s an exercise the country needs. It needs to have the obvious — guns kill people, health-insurance helps keep them alive, large banks are all thieves, economic oligarchy is incompatible with political democracy, Fk The Deficit. People Got No Jobs.

– You had me at musical penis.

But it seems like Eastern Washington got less water and all the dust (Spokesman-Review link).

Though few raindrops fell during Sunday night’s storms that swept through Eastern and Central Washington, howling winds kicked up choking dust in downtown Spokane and downed power lines as far west as Othello, where classes were canceled Monday. The gusts caused three trees to tumble like dominos in the Filos’ yard along South Adams Street near High Drive, crushing one of their neighbors’ four-door Subaru sedan.

[…]

Airway Heights reported wind gusts topping out at 60 mph around the time the pine fell, according to figures from the National Weather Service. Visibility in downtown Spokane was reduced to less than a quarter mile, thanks to dust picked up by the high winds.

Apparently newer farming techniques are making those sorts of storms rarer. But still, yikes.

– Whatever you were doing, stop doing that because Orcinus is back! You should go read it is what I’m saying. Also coincidentally, I just finished a book last night, and Neiwert’s is the next on the list.

– People who passed stopped school buses on the right are incredibly problematic. I literally can’t even fathom how anyone could think it was even in the same state as OK. Randy Dorn wants cameras on more (I couldn’t tell from the article if it’s all) buses, and says that’s part of the reason why.

– I would have thought similar reasoning would have prevented Syria from using chemical weapons in the first place.

– But I do think that diplomacy can win out.

– Top Ten things Americans need to Know about Syria if they’re going to Threaten to Bomb It

– Relevant to our work on this blog, for instance, 43% of downtown households are car free, and 1 in 3 downtown residents walk to work.

– It simplifies things when we can write-off the thoughts and opinions of other people by assuming they’ve taken the easy way out, that they’re just trying to be popular and liked. It’s oddly affirming to tell ourselves that we’re the ones living counter-culturally, we’re the ones taking all the risks for the truth, we’re the ones getting persecuted for our right and true beliefs.

I’m pro-the initiative process in theory. But man alive does how much money gets thrown at it make me not like it in fact.

Major agribusiness companies and grocery chains appear set on a “Shock and Awe” approach to defeating Initiative 522 on Washington’s November ballot, and have poured nearly $9 million into the cause over the last two days.

The latest big bucks include $3.2 million from Dupont, on top of $171,281 previously given; a $562,000 pledge from Dow Agrisciences and a $500,000 pledge from BASF Plant Science. Montsanto made the biggest investment earlier in the week with a $4.5 million contribution to the No-on-522 campaign.

I mean really, $9 Million in just two days. That attempt to buy having the law what they want is just stunning. Even if you don’t like food labeling, that should be enough to put you into the “sure, why not” camp. I can’t imagine anyone thinking Dow and Monsanto should be able to keep the law as they like it if they have enough money. But we’ll see.

That said, I would be interested in how well the frankenfood industry does here. The last few examples of big industry buying their way to success in the initiative process (Costco’s liquor store privatization, the plastic industry defeating the Seattle bag fee and the junk food industry keeping extra taxes off sugary foods*) don’t bode well. But, I’d suspect that labeling is more popular than taxes and liquor stores. This might be a tougher task than those.

[Read more…]

– For serious, don’t text and drive.

– Usually a primary election moves people away from the center (or at least the conventional wisdom of what the center is), and a general moves them toward it. I love that that’s not really the case in the Seattle mayoral election.

– Try treating women like people instead of props, and also try being funny. Hell, I occasionally watch Top Gear because it’s funny despite the fact that the hosts are shitty, lying, conservative jackasses. But if you want to be the next Mythbusters, note that they manage to be funny, progressive, and pretty damned scientifically rigorous for a 30-minute TV show. It’s not impossible.

– It’s surprising to me that local TV news didn’t start in King County until this date in 1951.

– Blastin Blackberries

The Washington State House Republican Caucus is upset that we’re going to get exchanges soon. They’re so upset that they have a whiny press release.

Though many of us have grave concerns and opposition to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, Congress has not repealed it and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld nearly all of it. Washington state is moving forward.

Yes, it is. It’s legal and it’s going forward. And yay, because you know what, it’s somewhat better than the status quo. If the GOP had a better idea, or better than vague platitudes about the market or something something health savings accounts without any specifics, they forgot to mention it in the last few years. Anyway, let’s see what some of the House Republican problems are.

Health care exchange lacks enough choices, variety of plans

Hey, you know what would be another choice that the legislature could add? Yeah. If the GOP wanted more variety, they could get behind adding a government plan along with the corporate and a cooperative plan that already exist in Washington. You know more choice.

The Insurance Commissioner initially denied five of the nine health insurers plans from being sold in The Exchange; however, three of the insurers successfully appealed and the Insurance Commissioner has now approved seven insurance companies to offer 43 plans for individuals in the exchange. At its Sept. 4 meeting, the Exchange Board certified 35 plans. The federal Office of Personnel Management had previously approved the other eight plans which are classified as multi-state plans. There is one additional insurer that could be approved in the near future.

This is the part where they’re complaining that there won’t be any choices.

Meanwhile, just one company, Kaiser Permanente, says it will offer insurance plans for small businesses in the exchange. This is not the competitive marketplace we were promised as Obamacare was being debated in Congress. Washington House Republicans have long believed our state’s health insurance laws and regulatory processes have limited choice and competition. Those challenges are being more exposed as we implement federal health care reform. Read more about these problems in the articles to the right.

This claim feels pretty dubious to me. I work for a small business in Washington, and don’t have Kaiser Permanente, and there’s no discussion of changing plans. So there seems to be more choice than they’re letting on. In any event, a state level public option would certainly go a long way toward providing more choice. In fact, it would double it for small businesses if their dubious claims are to be believed.

An argument for universal coverage

Universal single payer would be pretty awesomesauce. That’s what you’re talking about, right? Right?

Avik Roy, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a health care writer at Forbes Magazine, argued that the status quo is no longer working, however. We must reduce the costs our federal government is currently spending on health care.

The status quo isn’t working and we need more than the unfortunately small 43 plans and growing. But not a public option. Hey, let’s quote that guy.

“The U.S. government spends more per capita on health care than the governments in many socialist states. However, the countries that achieve some form of universal coverage at the very lowest cost are not the highly socialist systems but the market-oriented systems, countries like Switzerland and Singapore.”

The Swiss System where they have a mandate stronger than our mandate? This is just trolling, right? I’m being trolled by a press release from the State House GOP? Anyway, that’s the whole section. I agree we need a health care mandate if we’re not going to have universal single payer. The good news is we got one, press release complaining about Obamacare. It’s part of Obamacare. For what it’s worth, I care more about health outcomes than if some asshole is going to call it socialism. There are some vague platitudes about health savings accounts without any discussion of how they would work in the state, but it’s still nice out, so I’m going for a jog.

Revelation 9:7-10
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.

Discuss.

Finally. From a joint statement from AG Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee:

Today we received confirmation Washington’s voter-approved marijuana law will be implemented. We received good news this morning when Attorney General Eric Holder told the governor the federal government would not pre-empt Washington and Colorado as the states implement a highly regulated legalized market for marijuana. Attorney General Holder made it clear the federal government will continue to enforce the federal Controlled Substance Act by focusing its enforcement on eight specific concerns, including the prevention of distribution to minors and the importance of keeping Washington-grown marijuana within our state’s borders. We share those concerns and are confident our state initiative will be implemented as planned.

[…]

The memo from the Department of Justice spells out the terms (informally):

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an update to its federal marijuana enforcement policy in light of recent state ballot initiatives that legalize, under state law, the possession of small amounts of marijuana and provide for the regulation of marijuana production, processing, and sale.

In a new memorandum outlining the policy, the Department makes clear that marijuana remains an illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act and that federal prosecutors will continue to aggressively enforce this statute. To this end, the Department identifies eight (8) enforcement areas that federal prosecutors should prioritize. These are the same enforcement priorities that have traditionally driven the Department’s efforts in this area.

Outside of these enforcement priorities, however, the federal government has traditionally relied on state and local authorizes to address marijuana activity through enforcement of their own narcotics laws. This guidance continues that policy.

For states such as Colorado and Washington that have enacted laws to authorize the production, distribution and possession of marijuana, the Department expects these states to establish strict regulatory schemes that protect the eight federal interests identified in the Department’s guidance. These schemes must be tough in practice, not just on paper, and include strong, state-based enforcement efforts, backed by adequate funding. Based on assurances that those states will impose an appropriately strict regulatory system, the Department has informed the governors of both states that it is deferring its right to challenge their legalization laws at this time. But if any of the stated harms do materialize—either despite a strict regulatory scheme or because of the lack of one—federal prosecutors will act aggressively to bring individual prosecutions focused on federal enforcement priorities and the Department may challenge the regulatory scheme themselves in these states.

– Free abortions on demand without apology is a laudable goal. How we get from here to there, especially in states where activists are on the defensive, is a question.

– SDOT’s bridge operations crew would like to remind bicyclists that bypassing a gate can have serious consequences.

– My yacht doesn’t have any helicopter landing pads; It’s barely a yacht. In fact it’s a bike.

– Donald Rumsfeld is complaining about Obama’s war planning (h/t MikeBoyScout in the comments). I mean, there are legit criticisms, but Rumsfeld ain’t really the one to make them.

– The Facebook page for the demonstration in Seattle against the Russian anti-LGBT law.

– Anyone going to Bumbershoot? I haven’t bought my ticket yet, but this is the thing I’d most want to see if I do go.

– Put a panel on it

A bit later than I’d said, but I’ve emailed these out to the candidates. Nobody had any changes, so I mostly just did a find and replace of mayor for city council and then added a question about gender pay equality.

1) Now that I-502 has passed, what should the purchase of marijuana look like within city limits? Will medical marijuana collective garden storefronts in Seattle have to abide by the 1000-foot rule established by I-502?

2) With Metro’s ability to fund itself at the whim of the legislature, what should the city’s role be in public transportation? How should the City Council both make sure we get our fair share, and that the system serves the entire region well?

3) What should the waterfront look like after the Viaduct comes down? Will there be a streetcar or other transit?

4) What should happen in the next 4 years to make sure that police reform both satisfies the Feds, and works for Seattle citizens?

5) A recent study found Seattle is the worst of the 50 largest US metro areas in terms of pay equality for women. Why do you think that’s the case, and what is the city’s role in closing that gap?

A lot of stuff happened fifty years ago today.

Here in Washington state, it was the opening of the SR-520 floating bridge.

In New York City’s upper East Side, two young women were murdered in their apartment. Later, a 19 year old black man named George Whitmore, Jr. was arrested for the murders. The police coerced a confession out of him through intimidation and by assaulting him.

Whitmore was eventually cleared, but the case had two lasting impacts on America. First, it was cited by the Supreme court when they established guidelines known as Miranda rights. Secondly, it was used as justification to restrict and eventually eliminate New York state’s death penalty.

Fifty years ago today in the other Washington, a quarter of a million people gathered for a “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” The official program began with the National Anthem sung by Marian Anderson, and an Invocation by the Archbishop of Washington, the Rev. Patrick O’Boyle. (O’Boyle was a leader in racial desegregation and desegregated D.C.’s Catholic schools long before the Supreme Court made it mandatory.)

John Lewis, now a Democratic Congressman from Georgia, gave a speech as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. An excellent speech was given by Rabbi Joachim Prinz, President of the American Jewish Congress (listen here).

And, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that marked a turning point for the civil rights movement:

Today, fifty years later, there is another gathering in D.C. for a week-long remembrance.

Today’s speakers included Rev. Al Sharpton (2:44:50), Opera Winfrey (3:25:33), Rep. Lewis (3:34:45), President Jimmy Carter (3:45:10), President Bill Clinton (3:51:50), and President Barack Obama (4:25:10).

How did Republicans celebrate? Both Presidents Bush couldn’t make it for health reasons. George W. Bush did offer a statement.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) memorialized the 50th anniversary by going on a civil rights pilgrimage through Alabama with Rep. Lewis. Cantor released a statement that concludes:

I was especially moved by the gesture of Montgomery Police Chief Kevin Murphy who presented John Lewis with the badge off his uniform apologizing for the police department’s failure to protect the African American community in those turbulent days of the ’50’s and ’60’s. Reflecting on these important moments in our nation’s history, I look forward to focusing on ways in which together we can continue to confront challenges and solve the nation’s problems.

Ummm…has anyone mentioned to him that voting rights for African Americans are under, what appears to be, a systematic attack after the Supreme Court gutted part of the Voting Rights act?

At least one Republican is willing to do something. Speaking at a RNC by-invite-only commemoration luncheon at the Capitol Hill Club on Monday, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) said:

“[M]y job is to fix the Voting Rights Act,” and promised that by the end of the year, Congress would create and pass the section of the law struck down by Supreme Court in June.

Well…that encouraging.

Other speakers…not so much. The RNC event also featured former congressman Allen West (R-FL) and former Ohio Secretary of Voter Suppression State Ken Blackwell (R).

Daily Beast‘s Ben Jacob was underwhelmed by the RNC event.

In other venues, we had this contribution from former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL). It’s a teabaggy dream nightmare delivered to his radio audience:

[…]
I have a dream that young unmarried black women will say “no” to young black men who want to have sex.

I have a dream that today’s black leadership will quit blaming racism and “the system” for what ails black America.

I have a dream that black America will take responsibility for improving their own lives.

I have a dream that one day black America will cease their dependency on the government plantation, which has enslaved them to lives of poverty, and instead depend on themselves, their families, their churches, and their communities.

Ahhh, yes. God (or gods) bless the First Amendment, but it’s sure good to have him in the former Rep. category.

Of course, the headline is joking. But in 2009, when Susan Hutchison ran for office in Democratic King County, she did it claiming to be a nonpartisan. Now, not so much.

The Seattle Times (http://is.gd/6EHqfL ) reports Hutchinson defeated the interim GOP chair, Luanne Van Werven, in a run-off vote after two other candidates were eliminated at the party’s meeting in Spokane on Saturday.

Hutchison ran unsuccessfully for King County Executive in 2009, downplaying her Republican ties.

On Saturday, she pledged to breathe new life into a state Republican Party that has suffered stinging election defeats.

I don’t know if her election puts the lie to her claims to being anything but a Republican, or if that was already so obvious that nothing can put the lie to it. In any event, we can now be pretty confident that the GOP never bought her claims of nonpartisanship.

But I would like to take the occasion of her election to hope sincerely that she actually tries to attract moderates to her party. Their hateful wing is so far out there, that even though they can’t be elected to a majority in the legislature they’re hurting people. When she ran, her record was sitting on the board of the Discovery Institute and supporting candidates like Mike Huckabee. But her rhetoric was moderate and conciliatory. We’ll have to see what one emerges with her party leadership.

– I’m not sure RT was lying about America, but it is important to get the truth of Russia’s anti-gay horror show out there on a Russian station.

– This has nothing to do with keeping the babies safe and everything to do with a government that has decided that the 4th Amendment is getting in its way and that an expectation of privacy is an anachronism that only a bunch of irrelevant cranks or criminals care about. I don’t see how you can interpret their actions any other way.

– A dual endorsement in the general election is strange, but OK, King County Labor Council.

– I’m fine with the GOP not having Presidential debates on CNN and NBC if they want. But the fact that there’s going to be a documentary on one of the most important people of the late 20th century doesn’t strike me as a good excuse.

– The Snoqualmie Valley Trail bridge looks pretty neat.

– But if you want proof of how silly the whole thing is, it would be hard to do better than simply glancing at the homepage of the Seattle Times online this morning. Even as the world’s leading climate scientists warn of the sea level rising by three feet by 2100, the Times is twisting a debate about the wisdom of coal exports into an election year kerfuffle.

– Macklemore talking about how he gets more leeway because he’s white.

– Is it strange that all I want to do now is move to Asshole Jupiter?