King County Executive Ron Sims will be joined by council members Bob Ferguson and Julia Patterson at 10 AM to make a “major announcement about King County elections.”
Our friend Stefan over at (un)Sound Politics is so atwitter with anticipation — like a little kid on Christmas Holiday morning — that he’s already speculating as to what the announcement might be. Stefan’s first guess is a reasonable one: that KC will move to all mail-in voting. But his second guess strikes me as wishful thinking; pointing out the absence of Dean Logan from the press conference, he’s guessing that maybe Logan has resigned. Maybe. Though I called elections on an unrelated issue yesterday and was told Logan was out of town due to a death in the family.
Here’s my guess. Considering it was Ferguson and Patterson who pushed for hiring the Elections Center to conduct an independent audit… and considering that the primary and overwhelming recommendation of the post election report was to consolidate elections operations into a single building… perhaps they are announcing their support for Sims’ previously rejected proposal to spend $22.8 million to build a centralized elections headquarters on Rainier Ave. South?
Just a guess.
Huh. A major announcement? I didn’t know Sims and Ferguson were on such good terms with each other.
Guess we’ll have to wait.
All-Mail Voting might be a good economy measure to save money, but I believe that part of the elections mess was the mail-in ballots. San Francisco did another round of Instant-Runoff elections this year, including the first citywide test, so far, no major problems. IRV is gaining ground, but if the Mainstream Media other than print-news gave it some press, it would help. So far the only place you will find IRV in the MSM is newspapers(and their websites) giving certain IRV advocates(Fairvote.org) guest columns from time to time. In our state’s 2nd Congressional District, last year was the first time in years that the winner was elected by a majority, as there were no Green Party members on the ballot. In 2000 and 2002, Larson won with less than a majority. IRV would have made sure of a winner in that race, somebody would have had a majority of 51% or more. I said someone, because there was a chance it would have been somebody other than Larson. That is the reason you will never see Democrats or Republicans going for IRV, other than being used at state party conventions(as in Utah).
If Logan resigns, Stefan won’t have anything to do, except sue King County for giving him only 600,000 documents. Speaking of which, I wonder why Stefan isn’t going to share the money he gets from his lawsuit with the generous donors to his “legal action fund” who paid for the lawsuit? Is it because he’s
a) a selfish prick,
b) broke because he can’t hold a job and needs the money
I think Sims will announce that Stefan Sharansky is a Horses Ass.
“New Files Show FBI Watched Domestic Activist Groups
“By ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times
“WASHINGTON (Dec. 20) – Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved … groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.
…
“The F.B.I. had previously turned over a small number of documents on antiwar groups … earlier this month, the A.C.L.U.’s Colorado chapter released similar documents involving, among other things, people protesting logging practices …. A.C.L.U officials said the latest batch of documents released by the F.B.I. indicated the agency’s interest in a broader array of activist and protest groups than they had previously thought. In light of other recent disclosures about domestic surveillance activities by the National Security Agency and military intelligence units, the A.C.L.U. said the documents reflected a pattern of overreaching by the Bush administration.
“‘It’s clear that this administration has engaged every possible agency, from the Pentagon to N.S.A. to the F.B.I., to engage in spying on Americans,’ said Ann Beeson, associate legal director for the A.C.L.U.
“‘You look at these documents,’ Ms. Beeson said, “and you think, wow, we have really returned to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, when you see in F.B.I. files that they’re talking about a group like the Catholic Workers league as having a communist ideology.”
I think the FBI should conduct surveillance of violently anti-democracy activists like Ann Coulter.
Here’s a good one, folks. ABC News just promoited George Stephanopoulos to be its top Washington, DC reporter. This guy is a MAJOR Democrat and Clinton supporter, and the rest of the MSM didn’t utter a peep about it. Suppose Carl Rove got promoted to the same position for CBS News. Do you suppose the the MSM would keep quiet about that, or would they scream about a biased political hack being made a news star?
The MSM is biased beyond belief towards the left and the Dems. Anybody got a comment about that?
Yeah, they’re so biased they buried a story about the president illegally spying on Americans until a year after the election.
I think Sims will announce that Stefan Sharansky is a Horses Ass.
Comment by Roger Rabbit— 12/20/05 @ 3:31 am
…and so is Roger Rabbit.
Sims will announce that he’s combining WASL with elections counting. In the course of doing so they found that Logan and top aides could not count.
Henceforth counting will be considered too harsh a burden on our elections workers (they being of limited privilige, never had the breaks that rich repubs had) and voting shall be deemed irrelevant.
Voting from now on will be by polling only, and then Logan will divine voter intent.
I hope the FBI is tracking all of the radical groups in the US, that is what they are supposed to do. Hopefully they are catching and prosecuting criminals, like the anti-abortion protestors who decided to burn down the women’s clinic in Olympia, or the anti-war protestors who destroyed the fences at the Port of Olympia because a military ship was there picking up cargo.
@2
Please don’t suggest IRV for Washington. Who knows how they would try to enhance ballots with two choices selected for each race?
Rgoer,
You may be lettuce-less if you keep biting the hand that you say feeds you so well!
6.
Would you care to discuss the relative influence on the media of Patrick J. Buchanan (Advisor to Richard Nixon, White House Communication Director under Ronalad Reagan) and Stephanopoulus?
a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080416/” target=’_blank’ rel=’external’> Career of Pat Buchanan
Voter Advocate – How would the media react if a prominent Rep like Carl Rove got appointed Washington Bureau chief for a major news organization? My point the mainstream media is biased towards the left in a very big way.
I’m not doing this to promote any right wing agenda. I’m just calling attention to the fact that the folks on the left aren’t as pure and wonderful as they think they are. That’s all there is to it. In fact, I don’t partculalry care for the Republicans, but they have a point when they say the media leans left. I’d like all of those on the left to take a hard look for themselves and see Ameican media for what it is: a shill for the left.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Logan is toast!
This is the end of leftist goverment, the leftist Media!
Bush has the NSA watching our every move! I feel so safe!
Voters credited must balance with ballots cast!!!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Libertarian @7 and 15: The comment made at 8 is way germane, yet you ignored it. Care to give a reasoned response to what is a big counterargument? If the media reall was a “shill for the left” don’t you think this story would have broken BEFORE
the 2004 election?
Secondly, I think you have mis-interpreted the motivation behind Stephanapoulos’s appointment. ABC News has probably (and rightly, I believe) read the tea leaves and projected that it’s likely that a Democrat will be the next Pres, and possibly that the House and Senate will be more Democratic next term. Given that, a chief correspondent with heavy Dem ties is more likely to get access, which means better news, which means more $ for ABC. It’s all about the money, dude. Corporations like ABC don’t give a rat’s ass about affiliation, but rather whether you are going to “make the rain”.
Do you have a job where profit is an issue and you have to answer to a boss/board/stockholders? I ask because profitability is fundamental to understanding how this works and how it drives decisions more than anything else in today’s corporate world.
George Stephanopoulos was newver as influential with Clinton as Rove is to Bush. Bill Clinton had no adviser who was of comparable influence as Rove has. As a political guru, it was James Carville who could be faintly compared to Karl Rove, and he did not take a government job. In fact, he said it would be inappropriate for him to do so, in that he was not a policy person. At the beginning of the Clinton administration, Carville told reporters: “I wouldn’t live in a country whose government would hire me.”
That is why I provided you with a more appropriate person to compare to Stephanopoulus, Patrick J. Buchanan. Even here, Stephanopoulus is nowhere near as connected to party politics as Buchanan. Buchanan was also a member of the Ford administration.
Then there’s Roger Ailes.
Libertarian@6 & 14: I do not recognize Stephanopoulos as Democrat, let alone a major one, and while he did work for the Clintons at one time, with a supporter like Stephanopoulos, clinton hardly needed enemies. Stephanopoulos’ loyalty is to himself and he’ll shill for anyone who is in power, just like any other MSM talking head.
And, a little criticism does not a leaning make – a little criticism of Bush, long overdue, doesn’t mean the entire MSM is leaning left.
Perhaps which way the MSM leans is in the eye of the beholder. MSM SHOULDN’T lean in any direct, just be competent,accurate, reporters. However, because TV MSM is all about entertainment, not competence, they’ll spin whatever is most titillating. It would be great to see competent research, simple reporting, and incisive analysis, but we won’t be getting that from TV MSM because all the news anchors want is to be the star of their own news show, and it is no longer about accurate news reporting, but about being a personality.
Judges ruling on Dover PA case is a good read.
The board is gonna be liable for legal fees.
the pdf
http://www.thismodernworld.com.....uation.jpg
random spam!
hardovertoport minimizes Stephanopoulus’ role in Clinton’s first term, but he certainly hasn’t been very cozy with the Clintons since leaving the White House in Clinton’s second term. The comparison to Karl Rove doesn’t pass the laugh test. In terms of a political guru, James Carville may fainly qualify, but the policy wonk for Clinton was Bill Clinton.
Even Pat Buchanan probably had more influence over a longer time. He was a member of the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. And he has been a constant presence on PBS, CNN and NBC for 23 years now.
And then there’s Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News and political consultant to Nixon, Reagan and Bush I. Ailes choreographed events for Nixon to appear in front of a carefully selected audience in order to accentuate Nixon’s charisma. The campaign paid for television stations to broadcast the events, which were made to appear as news. Sound familiar?
Logan should resign, but he won’t.
And Stefan was right, all mail voting.
I have no choice but to vote how they tell me I have to, but I don’t trust mail ballots any more then I do any other kind, and I dont see why I should. Both methods have flaws.
By all means, Sven, stop voting.
hardovertoport – Well, when Bernard Goldberg, who stated he has never voted for a Republican for President, writes two books condemning MSM for bias and arroggance, and Liz Trotta, annother senior journalist, points out the same thing, it’s hard for me to NOT conclude the MSM is any thing but biased and arrogant.
The problem with news media is that the folks involved in it have come to think of themselves as more improtant than the news. TV news folks have forgotten that they are just talking heads, and their opinions are no more valuable than anyone else’s opinions. Plus they are blinded by their rage that Bush won in 2000 when they all worked so hard to defeat him. They still think that one was stolen from them.
I suppose it was the Nixon administation that started the MSM down the road to bias ans self-righteousness. Nixon was a crook, and after it was all over and he resigned, you’d have thought Woodward and Bernstein were the partron saints of journalism. What we have today is a media that can’t help themselves because they have no other perspective than that of journalism, and unfortunately journalism has by-and-large been taken over by the left. Pat Buchannan and some of the others on the right serve as the exceptions that prove the rule.
RABBIT, You talk a big game about loving America. Do you have
the Stars and Stripes flying in front of your house? Or would
that embarrass you.
thanks for suggesting I disenfranchise myself Mr Voter Advocate. how nice was that?
My point which you missed, is that as a lowly taxpayer, i have no control in the process, so I will have to use whatever they give me.
My cynicism is that both systems…nay, all systems have inherent flaws, so I fail to see any reason to believe that mail in is dramatically better.
Is it dramatically worse? That discussion rages on.
But I am not going to feel terribly secure either way.
Murphy’s law and all that.
And if anytime someone expresses doubt, and you suggest they just stay home and dont vote, then it makes you fairly lousy advocate…..
With the corporate ownership of the media comes corporate censorship of news content. While certainly there are some liberal reporters and some conservative reporters, I think you’d have to say the media leans conservative. Take a look at who they have on the pundit shows. Often you’ll have two right-wing think tank guys (trained to attack and spin), and their supposed counterbalance is the white house beat reporter (trained to report the facts). Where is the liberal pundit in that group?
The corporate media censors keep a tight rein on controversial stories. They assign neo-con groupies like Miller to cover the neo-cons. They distract with fluff and don’t put any resources into the hard investigative journalism we so need.
There is no liberal media, not with mega-corporations holding the purse strings.
“You talk a big game about loving America. Do you have
the Stars and Stripes flying in front of your house? Or would that embarrass you. ”
“talk a big game” vs “Stars and Stripes flying in front of your house?”
What the hell is the difference between the two? Any antidemocracy wingnut can fly a flag, but fighting against the antidemocracy Bush administration is the real test.
24.
Sorry, I thought that was what your were driving at.
25
UCLA says the opposite.
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664
Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist
While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper’s news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.
Here is the full study: http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/fa.....Bias.8.htm
27.
Naw, I am just a grumpy cynic.
:)
There is no liberal media, not with mega-corporations holding the purse strings.
Comment by Felix Fermin— 12/20/05 @ 12:43 pm
============================================
I suppose right wing conservative nut-cases run the NY Times, the LA Times, ABC News and others. If those are your ideas of conservative organizations, your are VERY, VERY FAR TO THE LEFT!
But that’s OK with me. My goal is to tell everybody how biased towards the left the news media is. It’s a generalization, of course, but most MSM is leftist in nature and orientation.
28.
Do Groseclose-Milyo still assert that there is bias when a publication simply report accurately? Do they still consider Brent Bozell an unbiased source?
The right has been pimping this report since the summer of 2004, in which time Groseclose has had three jobs with three different universities.
I dont know about that, the report was just reported by UCLA newsroom. Brent Bozell is mentioned once, only in reference to their similar definition of bias.
The questoin is whether the authors specific examples are valid or not.
Libertarian@25: You said…” the problem with news media is that the folks involved in it think of themselves as more important than the news.”
that is absolutely correct and that is what I was trying to say @19. TV MSM is about entertainment, PERSONALITIES. I don’t even consider TV talking heads as journalists. They are personalities, and their job is to be provocative and titillating and that doesn’t make for balanced reporting. They will lean towards the corporate status quo of the organiation they represent. In my view, they lean right.
Print journalists, on the other hand, are supposed to be professional journalists and accurate reporters. Most of their reporting would be immensly imporved if they kept to the reporting and skipped the analysis and the personal impressions. I don’t care what they think (or feel) – I care what they witness and how well and how accurately they witness. Those journalists who become super stars, quit reporting and become columnists – columnists are expected to lean – columnists are professional leaners. In my opinion there are more right leaning columnists than left leaning columnists.
As for the current media: the MSM has bent over backwards (rightwards) to give GWB a free pass for the last 6 years. Realistic assessment of the current administration has been rare. Crticism almost nonexistent. Columnist George Will has written a daily devotion to the current administration – Will’s column is a staple in many daily newspapers. In what way has the MSM been left leaning? And…are you talking print media or TV media?
Libertarian@25: I agree that the problem with the news is that the folks involved in it think of themselves a more important than the nwes. However, I think there is a definite distinction between TV media and print media. TV MSM is made up of talking heads, PERSONALITIES, and they don’t report the news -they are perform the news, they are performers-and they will represent the news according to their coporate status quo. In my opinion, TV MSM leans right.
As for print media: Reporters are supposed to report the news accurately. Most reporting would improve immensely if the reporter kept their analysis and impressions out of the report; journalists are witnesses. it is important that they report what they witness, accurately, without fear or favor. Unfortunately, when journalists and reporters become successful, they become columnists: Columnists are commentators. Columnists are expected to lean, and most of them lean right – or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that they lean toward the status quo, and currently, that would be to the right.
A conspicuous example of a right leaning columnist is George Will, whose slavering daily devotions to the current administration appear in countless dailies. Other examples are Raspberry, Brooks, Parker, Buckley). I can think of only one left leaning columnist, and that would Krugman.
I don’t watch a lot of TV MSM. I prefer print media.
9
“I think Sims will announce that Stefan Sharansky is a Horses Ass.
Comment by Roger Rabbit— 12/20/05 @ 3:31 am
…and so is Roger Rabbit.
Comment by Yossarian— 12/20/05 @ 7:59 am
Of course Roger Rabbit, in addition to being as big an asshole as Mr. Cynical, is a Horses Ass. I have enough grace to admit it, Stefan doesn’t.
11
I hope the FBI is watching Lori Sotelo, a notorious local anti-democracy terrorist.
16
“Biased towards the Right in a Big Way”
I wouldn’t brag about it, if I were you. Your posts make you look stupid enough without embellishing the point.
26
“RABBIT, You talk a big game about loving America. Do you have
the Stars and Stripes flying in front of your house?”
Of course I do. Now go get a kitchen knife and disembowel yourself, because you have dishonored yourself by thinking otherwise.
Hmmm … if you see crew-cut guys walking around Green Lake Park with carbon monoxide generators, they’re probably looking for a hole an American Flag next to it.
You don’t need the Stars and Stripes flying over your eaves to prove that you love America.