The Seattle Times came out against I-91 today — the citywide initiative that would prevent Seattle from subsidizing professional sports teams — and the Stranger’s Josh Feit cries foul:
And that brings me to my gripe with the Seattle Times’ NO endorsement. They conclude by stating: “The SuperSonics might not be delivering like a 30-year bond, but the team still has a positive impact on businesses.”
Says who? Even chamber of commerce folks who spoke to our edit board didn’t peddle that whopper. […] I’ve been reporting on this damn issue for several years now. And several recent studies, one by the University of Minnesota, one by the Lincoln Insititute, one by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and another by the CATO Institute found that, if anything, professional sports teams may actually hurt local economies. The CATO study, for example, debunks industry claims that sports teams generate new consumer spending (they actually just suck up existing discretionary spending), and concludes, “the net economic impact [is] a reduction in real per-capita income over the entire metropolitan area.”
[…] The economic impact argument would be a convincing and compelling one…if it were true. It’s irresponsible of the Seattle Times to haul it out without proving it…or at least citing the source.
Um, Josh… you’ve missed the obvious source… Frank Blethen’s accountants. The business the team has the most positive impact on is the Seattle Times.
You don’t think the average reader slaps down their change for the Times’ op/ed section, do you? It’s scandal and sports that sells the dailies, and without the Sonics and the Storm, there’d be nothing to drive sales during our long, rainy winter. And just think of the additional advertising dollars a championship drive would rake in… should there ever be another Sonics championship drive.
Too cynical an analysis? How could anyone be anything but cynical about the Times’ editorial motives in the context of their incessant, dishonest shilling for estate tax repeal? Remember, this is the same paper that argued against the estate tax by unfavorably comparing our state’s tax structure to that of Sweden.
To the Times, I-91 isn’t about the Sonics or the fans or the business community… it’s about the Times.
So … the Seattle Times is shilling for its own financial interests … without disclosing that it has a financial interest in the editorial positions it takes.
That’s like a stock analyst putting out a “buy” recommendation without telling anyone his firm has a big position in the stock — and is selling.
It’s dishonest. And it calls into question the integrity of the entire op/ed department. From now one, when you read an editorial opinion in the Seattle Times, you won’t be able to help wondering, “who’s making money off this?”
Shame on you, Frank Blethen.
RR @ 1:
WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU READING THE SEATTLE TIMES!!
At one time I worked for the Seattle Times. I can tell you from my personal experience they are driven by their egos that the Blethen family owns and runs the news paper.
IF everyone stopped buying that rag and cited why, the editorial content would change within a matter of weeks.
I quit my subscription when H. Mason Sizemore said he was going to gut the union at the Times before successor, Carolyn Kelly, took over so she wouldn’t have any “blood on her hands.” Heard that right from the man’s mouth.
So quit bitching about the paper and do something about it. Cancel your subscription and tell them why.
It won’t change Franks politics, but at least it will change the message.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15319792/
Baaaaaaaaaaaaad news for you right wingers. Better start packing!
Geez…
Any time professional teams leave an area, 1st class cities turn into 3rd class cities. Attracting businesses, leaders, etc. becomes really tough. But you can wave a bunch of those who are here already good bye.
Look at El Paso. More people than Seattle..but not included in the same discussion.
Yes, but look at LA, they have not had an NFL team in 10 years. That did nothing to diminish the city.
Seattle Times–hey they have Joni Balter and run Molly Ivans. That’s how I justify keeping the paper.
David, I knew you would answer my question. Did you see my comments in Josh Feit’s post? Read The Times with the same critical faculties that you read the literature of, say, the BIAW or WSTLA.
I didn’t have to get very far into this before O knew I had to respond.
Washington and Seattle are based on a sales/excise tax economy, meaning that if sh!t don’t sell, we have no revenue.
I’m not really sure where you stand on things here, and that could just be due to the beers I’ve had, but let’s face it, Washington state follows a redneck model for taxes. That’s why our schools suck by every imaginable measure, and why our infrastructure is crumbling.
I went to college in Tennessee, and had the pleasure to be there during their first losing football season in several years. The resulting loss in revenue, put that state into a hole for years. No sales tax on : The unoccupied seats; the empty hotel rooms; the unsold restaurant meals; the unsold T-shirts, and other shit.
Thismstate’s tax structure needs to be overhauled totally.
7
I agree. Spending is way out of control. The state needs to cut back on its spending and reduce the sales,gas and use taxes. The lower taxes will spur the economy and keep it running at a high level. That way we dont have to worry about tax revenues falling short. I am with you all the way Chris.
Taxes are a funny thing. If you cut spending and taxes by the same amount when the budget is balanced you end up with a surplus.
JCH, If I was a black Democrat, Big Island, Hawaii: “Where’s ma mofo FEMA trailer? Where’s ma guvment credit card? Where’s ma guvment check? Bush made da earthquake!! He owes me!! Eyes gotsa gets ma KFC, ma Black Velvet, and ma King Cobra!! Eyes gots da 42 inch plasma SONY HDTV by lootin da Best Buy in Hilo!! But what about ma “surround sound”!! I bet votin Democrat, so I bees gettin da mofo check NOW!! You white devils owes me!!!” …………………………………………………………………………….. [Sorry, but I’m a Republican. I take responsibility for myself and my property. Insurance, sweat equity, and I’ll clean up myself!!! Fuck you Democrat “Victims”!!!! JCH]
E3 GBS,…………………………………………………………………Special Evaluation…………………………………… Not recommended for promotion to Petty Officer Third Class. Not recommended for retention. Recommended for 6 months of mess cook duties, and then for administrative discharge upon completion of additional commission officers wardroom support duties. Botton line: Total shitbird. Let him wash dishes in the officer’s mess, and then sack this shitbird!!!!! JCH, LT, USN [1110]
Raise taxes until the private sector leaves!!! Then the welfare hacks, union thugs, liberals, and “guvment” employees [all Democrats] can tax each other!! That will be fun to watch! Cockroaches eating cockroaches!!!
2
What subscription? I don’t BUY the Seattle Times! I fish it out of the trash cans here in the park.
People are members of both the private and the public sector. The private and public sectors don’t live in opposite BIZZARO WORLDS. Only you do that,JCH. You live in your own private little alternate universe where no taxation brings in more tax money than ever.
It’s a miracle!
3
Geez, RES, why only give us a link when you can rub the trolls’ faces in juicy quotes like this from the MSNBC article:
“Hart says it’s been clear for the last several months that an electoral hurricane would be arriving on Election Day. The only question was how big it was going to be. This new poll, he observes, signals that it will be a Category 4 or Category 5 storm. ‘Simply put, the low lying areas are [going to be] under water.'”
Better put on your life vests, pubbies. That wall of water you see coming at you is solid blue.
6
Mentioning BIAW and WSTLA in the same sentence is like saying, “Ted Bundy ain’t no Mother Teresa.”
7
I don’t need even 1 beer to figure that out! I can do it sober.
8
“Spending is way out of control. The state needs to cut back on its spending and reduce the sales,gas and use taxes.” Commentby RUFUS Fitzgerald Kennedy— 10/18/06@ 7:51 pm
Is that so? Let’s put DUFUS in charge — then we’ll have:
Dirt roads
Fords across streams at shallow spots
Universal home schooling
Home detention of murderers, rapists, and robbers
Elderly nursing home ex-patients begging for food on street corners
Forest fires will be allowed to burn uncontrolled
Free oil for everyone — show up at Puget Sound beaches with pails
For example of wingnut math, see #9. For another example of wingnut math, see below:
MARK THE WELSHER claimS the Bush tax cuts increased revenue. Dsregarding FICA revenues, which were not affected by Bush’s tax cuts, federal revenue was:
2000 – $1,372,376,000,000 (baseline year)
2001 – $1,297,063,000,000
2002 – $1,152,413,000,000
2003 – $1,069,364,000,000
2004 – $1,146,664,000,000
2005 – $1,279,114,000,000 (estimate)
(Data from official sources)
Speaking of MARK THE WELSHER, he hasn’t posted here for a couple days. Hmmm. Maybe Goldy isn’t the only person he owes money to. Maybe he owes money to the mob, too. Maybe he’s swimming in Puget Sound wearing cement flippers.
19
So. In Seattle you have all that with high taxes. Why not save the money and keep the same results. Hahaaha Liberals tough on crime???? hehehehe Liberals building roads???? hehehehehehehe Liberals running a school district worth a shit???? hahahahahahaha Rabit is full of laughs today.
… from Artdish.com:
http://www.artdish.com/ubbcgi-bin/u…ic&f=7&t=000150
While rational (as opposed to faith-based) conservatives, moderate Republicans and unengaged citizens all across the country are realizing that the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress are doing long-term and irreparable damaged to this country, the Seattle Times editorial page is willing to let this continue as they protect the paper’s own short-term interests.
I am talking, of course, about the benefits they hope to gain from the repeal of the Estate Tax and and the levying of taxpayer subsidies to build professional sports stadiums.
The Seattle Times has endorsed lackluster and dim-witted ex-King County Sherriff Dave Reichert (more Barney Fife than Kojak when it comes to solving crimes) for re-election in the 8th Congressional district, despite the fact that he votes with the House Republican leadership and White House more often than with the residents of his district. The reason? He, like most Republicans, supports the elimination of the regressive Estate Tax. Never mind that he doesn’t believe in global warming and thinks the Iraq war is a tremendous success. The Blethen family could care less about such minor problems as environmental disasters and the decline of the U.S. as a world power.
Now the paper has come out against Initiative 91, which — if passed — will prohibit public subsidies of stadiums for professional sports franchises. While I agree with the sentiment of this initiative, I am opposed to initiatives as a legislative method. Whatever. The problem with the Seattle Times’ rejection of this measure is that they have the audacity to claim that such deals are beneficial to the local economy.
Dear Seattle Times: You might sell a few extra subscriptions to Sonics fans if the owners somehow figure out a way to bamboozle us into letting them stay here (they will also need to figure out a way to have a winning season), but how will everyone else in this city fare? What about the people who have to drive on the listing Alaska Way Viaduct to work each day? What about the kids in the Seattle Public Schools who have to drink poisoned water and breathe the toxic molds that grow in decaying acoustical panels over their heads?
21
Geez, DUFUS, this is the first time (and probably will be the last time) in your miserable, useless life that you’ve actually been funny! I didn’t know you had it in you.
21
Geez, DUFUS, this is the first time (and probably will be the last time) in your miserable, useless life that you’ve actually been funny! I didn’t know you had it in you.
Commentby Roger Rabbit— 10/18/06@ 9:47 pm
Yep Roger he has been that all along but you ignored him all these years!
Ron Gold Bar will let you build your new building right in down town and rezone it just for you.
King County Executive Ron Sims wants to tear down one of downtown Seattle’s least attractive buildings — the county Administration Building — and replace it with a tower of up to 42 stories.
The concept, still in its early stages, is for some kind of deal with a private developer that would allow part of the building to be used for county offices and part for commercial use.
Sims and his staff have been considering a new building of 40 to 42 stories, but Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said Mayor Greg Nickels isn’t inclined to support a building that tall. In that area, the limit is 340 feet — about 30 or more stories — which Sims’ tower would likely exceed.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ng18m.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;search=
Check out the link above and tell me you found Roger Rabbit in that video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;index=1
Check out the link above and tell me you found Roger Rabbit in that video. This is the best picture of Roger now squatting in a cave in Afghanistan with his new Taliban friends. You get to see who he and the Socialist Democrats are supporting in this war.
Click here for photo of klake’s idol: http://tinyurl.com/yzfjjo
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15326453/
Just another shining example of Christians and moral majority types showing their true colors.
The right certainly has some interesting leadership examples!
At least King5 is trying to inform the public about McGavick’s lies.
BEGIN QUOTE
“In another claim, McGavick charges, “Sen. Cantwell voted to allow Social Security benefits to illegals. I’d have said no way.”
This claim is false. Here are the facts:
There are millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S., who come here for a job.
To get that job, many of them use a Social Security number that’s either made up or stolen.
The federal government estimates most of these working illegal immigrants end up paying Social Security taxes, not by choice, but because employers automatically deduct Social Security from their paychecks.
This actually helps our Social Security system. It’s estimated that every year, Social Security takes in about $7 billion that it cannot properly credit to individuals. Experts believe much of that comes from illegal immigrants.
So consider this scenario: There are times when an illegal immigrant becomes a legal immigrant or even a U.S. citizen. Should that person now get credit for all the taxes they paid into Social Security while they were here working illegally?
Cantwell and others believe if the immigrant is now legal, that person should get credit and the government has no right to steal the taxes they paid into the system.
Among those who feel that way is Republican John McCain. He’s actually a supporter of McGavick, but on this issue, he sides with Cantwell.
“We know that millions of undocumented immigrants pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for years and sometimes decades. The nest egg that these immigrants have worked hard for would be taken from them and their families,” according to McCain.
The Social Security Administration says in reality, it’s very difficult for any legal immigrant to prove they paid Social Security taxes when they were illegal.
But in very rare cases, it has given some immigrants credit.
In McGavick’s commercial, the fine print refers to an amendment proposed by Nevada Sen. John Ensign to stop this practice of giving immigrants credit for the work they did, while they were in this country illegally.
Ensign argues that “we should not reward individuals who have knowingly engaged in illegal activity.”
That amendment failed by one vote and Cantwell was among those voting no.
So the claim that “Cantwell voted to allow Social Security benefits to illegals,” is false.
Cantwell did not vote to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.
She supported the idea that immigrants who are now legal should get credit for the taxes they paid, even while they worked illegally.
That’s a controversial position by itself, but to characterize it as giving benefits to illegal immigrants leaves you with the wrong impression.
Under federal law, illegal immigrants are simply not eligible to collect benefits from Social Security.”
END QUOTE
http://www.king5.com/news/spec.....21201.html
Also, people are not illegal. There are people who have violated the civil statutes regarding immigration, who might be correctly characterized as “illegal immigrants” or “illegal aliens,” but they are not in and of themselves illegal people. In fact, they are quite legally people.
Oh, and McGavick’s a lying dick. But he’s quite legal.
8, 9 RUFUS
Our state spends most of its money on education. You can cut education and maybe you won’t feel it for a decade, but you WILL feel it when your state drops out of its competitive position. It’s the “race to the bottom” that has been characteristic of the reddest of red southern states. Yeah, I’d like to see Washington turn into an economic powerhouse like Mississippi. Not.
On CNN this morning they had a primary pulic affairs offcial for th miltaryin Baghdad saying, essentially, “things are getting really bad here and we are looking at chanigng what we’re doing adn how we’re doing it.”
In teh last two weeks, attacks in Baghdad have increased by 20%. Dozens of newly-executed bodies, compliments of the Interior Ministry death squads, are being found in the city daily.
The 70,000 Iraqis we sent in there a few months ago to keep order kinda aren’t getting it done. The thousands of American troops we followed up with (because the Iraqis were not getting it done) are not getting it done.
Residents of Baghdad are receiving just 2.4 hours of electricity per day this month, compared to an average of 16-24 hours of electricity before the U.S. invasion. The lowest level prior to this month was 3.9 hours/day.
It’s fundamentally fucked up there and it’s getting worse, not better. It’s been getting worse and not better ever since we got there, despite Idiot Boy’s rosy promises. And Dave Reichert just can’t get enough of our failures; he says we should stay the course right along with President No Plan until hell freezes over or we elect someone who WILL get us out.
That’s what your Reichert vote buys you. More of the same inept, corrupt, incompetent, and ineffective government.
I rather have to admit that Ron Sims’ timing in proposing a fancy new county admin. building is at the very least in bad taste. Then again, maybe there’d be more money for things like that—AND replacing that pathetic rock pile we call a “courthouse”—AND keeping the northend clinics open—AND so on…IF we hadn’t had it rammed down our throats, AGAINST the voters’ wishes, to pour subsidies into the greedy hands of rich team owners and rich players.