The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.
Please join me for some good beer and conversation.
Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?
Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!
Hey Cynical — NOV up $5.11 today! Rabid Rabbit will be dining on dollar bills and caviar soon!!! I thank the GOP for rigging the oil market to make Bashful Bunny rich!!! Being a robber baron beats the hell out of being in the working class.
See you there, Goldy…
Roger Rabbit rarely appears at Drinking Liberally due to traffic problems caused by crowds of admiring fans, papparazzi, process servers, and GOP hit men. On the other hand, prr (“I’ll be there”) never appears at DL, due to a wide yellow streak down his back.
The trolls sure are quiet today. They must be hiding.
Roger Rabbit has posted 80.0% of the comments in this thread. If you don’t like that, a horny armadillo is waiting for you.
Roger Rabbit is gonna do his version ot “The Internationale” while windie does a lap dance for him. Bill & Hillary are gonna come clean on Whitewater, and Barbara Streisand and the Hollywood elite are gonna surrender their personal fortunes to pay for the social programs they think the rest of us should pay for.
Plus the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny will be there!
roger,
Neither Putin nor dead dinosaurs nor billions of oil hungry chinese are tools of the GOP.
Righton, the GOP has enough tools as is.
7, 8
Right now, MTR’s “invisible hand” is busy whacking his tool.
Right now, MTR’s “invisible hand†is busy whacking his tool.
LOL
Reply to 6
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/INTERNAT.html
Reply to 6 (continued)
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a version in Rabbit; this web site offers audio versions in Chinese or Turkish, but has the lyrics in English:
Arise ye starvelings from your slumbers
Arise ye criminals of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
and at last ends the age of cant.
Now away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise!
We’ll change forthwith the old conditions
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
CHORUS
Then come comrades rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race. (repeat).
We peasants, artisans and others,
Enrolled amongst the sons of toil
Let’s claim the earth henceforth for brothers
Drive the indolent from the soil.
On our flesh for too long has fed the raven
We’ve too long been the vultures prey.
But now farewell to spirit craven
The dawn brings in a brighter day.
CHORUS
No saviour from on high delivers
No trust we have in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear.
Ere the thieves will out with their booty
And to all give a happier lot.
Each at his forge must do his duty
And strike the iron while its hot.
CHORUS
Here’s the GOP version:
Greedy, greedy, am I;
I love to let babies die;
Not through abortions,
But by market contortions,
Their mothers starve so I can live high!
Rabbit,
Arise ye starvelings from your slumbers
Arise ye criminals of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
and at last ends the age of cant.
How exactly do you pronounce the second word in that rhyming scheme? :)
Yeah, communism was really a wonderful idea, wasn’t it, Roger? When you say you’re a Democratic hack and a “govmint attorney,” we all believe you!
14
Like JFK would: “Cawnt”
15
No, communism sucks — and so does greed, corruption, fascism, lying, stealing, warmongering, and everything else Republican.
15 (continued)
Oh, I forgot to mention — you suck, too. Hey! — if you like ’em furry, I have a rabbit dick you can suck.
Ralph Reed just mentioned on Hardball. He should win the best award for doggy style on goldy’s poll.
15 (continued)
I’m just sucking up to you by posting it. You’re the one who brought it up. Which is not surprising, given that the neocons you admire are all commies. That’s right, the leaders of the neoconservative movement are all ex-Trostkyites who decided being a fascist pays better than being a communist — they’re all totalitarians to the bone. Where the hell do you think Bush got his idea of creating a KGB in the U.S. from?
re 15: Yossarian was the Liberal. Milo Minderbinder was the Republican. Care for some chocolate covered Egyptian cotton, Yossarian. It’s for the good of the Syndicate and what’s good for the Syndicate is good for everyone. So you owe it to yourselves and the Syndicate to buy it.
C U @ DL!
RE 21:
Yossaian was a bombadier; Milo was a pilot.
…and Winston Smith is the main caharcter in “1984,” if memeory serves.
Roger,
Take your meds.
Yossarian was the bombadier turned pacifist. His desertion is the climax of the book, Catch-22.
If Joseph Heller were alive today – he’d probably bitch slap you.
Maybe somebody should bitch slap YOU, micro-mind!
@ 26: Yeah. But ya’ gotta’ admit that at the end of the book Yossarian was, er, kinda like, you know, deserting.
You may want to search for some other handle.
@26: Or, you may be intentionally being ironic. Nah, can’t be. Loons don’t know what irony is.
Hey Wingnuts,
Abramoff is being spun already. Carla has the scoop.
You have your script now – you may commence to squawk like parrots.
Is this media bias?
Today’s Times reports Sound Transit ridership has doubled. Wow. That’s a big increase. But it turns out that ridership is a fraction of what was initially predicted, and no where near what’s needed to make it economically viable. It would still be cheaper to charter a fleet of helicopters to carry the few people than it is for them to ride those stooopid fucking trains.
So why did the Times headline focus on the doubling rather than the actual bleak actual economic performance. Why don’t they question whether the whole thing makes sense?
I could see putting a positive spin on it occasionally, but why do they NEVER really challenge things that are obviously stoopid. Is it bias or just stoopidity?
Sigmund Freud @ 24
“Take your meds.”
Take your cigar and stick it back into your mouth.
(because, sometimes a cigar is not just a cigar…)
It would still be cheaper to charter a fleet of helicopters to carry the few people than it is for them to ride those stooopid fucking trains.
Bias or stupidity? You make the call.
MTR @ 30
So why did the Times headline focus on the doubling rather than the actual bleak actual economic performance. Why don’t they question whether the whole thing makes sense?
I just looked at the article. It’s here. Everything you mentioned is in the article (except for the helicopter thing, that came from your ass, I presume).
The reason that the headline was about the doubling of the ridership was because THAT WAS THE NEWS! Everything else in that article was true last week.
I swear, I’ve known a lot of stupid people before, but I think you’re the first person I’ve come across that actually makes an effort to be the stupidest person in a room.
How much does the taxpayer pay for each and every rider to ride? When will they be self-sufficient or will they forever be subsidized by car drivers?????
MTR,
I still laugh when i recall Almost Live, about 10 years ago, noting that for the money Sound Transit wanted, “we could buy every man, woman, and child a ‘way bitchin’ Camaro”
Too bad now its more like a Lexus or Mercedes.
thehim
Ha!. Nowhere does the article dig hard into the goofball waste and puffery from Sound Transit.
This clip from article sort of gets a glancing blow
When Sound Transit kicked off Everett-Seattle train service two years ago, it forecast 175,000 boardings in 2004, 200,000 in 2005 and 250,000 in 2006. But just 97,000 one-way riders took the train in 2004, and the agency later acknowledged its projections were too optimistic and scaled them back.
The latest estimate is for 150,000 boardings in 2006
Lefties, hold on for logic..
Times reports. Through Dec. 18, passengers had taken more than 147,000 one-way trips on the line in 2005, exceeding Sound Transit’s revised target of 125,000 for the year. The total includes more than 30,000 who rode special trains to and from weekend Seahawks and Mariners games.
—-wow—
120,000 one way trips (excluding seahawks). I’m assuming that is roughly 60,000 cars taken off the freeways. That’s about $3.6mm operating, plus another $385 million in capital to build it. Let’s say they financed that $385mm via 5%money. That’s another $19mm. So about $22mm for 60,000 cars. (and some of those train riders likely car pooled, but lets keep it simple).
so about $366 per rider, per year. Can I have $366 to telecommute?
26
You mean like prr (“I’ll be there”) bitch-slapping Roger Rabbit at DL?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Righton,
Traffic congestion costs more than most people realize. The amount of gas, work-hours, and especially delivery time for local businesses take a serious hit when there are no alternatives to driving.
You’ll have trouble finding any initial foray into rail by a major city paying off immediately. Things like this are done for long term considerations, and the cost of not doing it is nearly always more expensive than doing it in the long run.
Seattle has a very serious transit problem. Whining about how much is costs isn’t a strategy for fixing it.
30
Hey MTR — how many riders will travel on I-5 after the world runs out of oil? Or is the invisible hand gonna put more oil in the ground when it’s not busy whacking your tool?
34
Hey Sgt. Mac — the military is subsidized by taxpayers, too. What I mean is … Iraq, Inc. isn’t exactly a going concern, is it??? Remember Bush telling us that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the war? Naw, you don’t remember that (but I do).
MTR @ 30 because if “they EVER really challenge things that are obviously stoopid. Is it bias or just stoopidity?” they would spend numerous lifetimes contemplating your benign existance. How are the women treating you? LOL
Because St Petersburg changed its name to Petrograd, one wonders if it was actually capitalists behind Russian communism. Like Hitler being hired to make Germany safe for General Motors’ Opels; Polish steel and commie Jew slave-labor, and an American investment banking firm Director Prescott Bush laundering the money that built those Opels (and tanks and other munitions) between 1930 and 1942.
Speaking of GM, their latest TV commercial is a doozy: well-to-do African-Americans, dressed to the hilt in white-white white, are led to believe purchasing a Chevy Denali/Tahoe/Suburban SUV will elevate them above their station as non-whites.
Hooray for the red white and blue! Screw you and you and screw you too! Send your boys off to wars for your cars, and the petrol for the tank. Drive your car everywhere every day. Don’t forget your car insurance pay-ments. You need to get to your JOOOOB, in your car, where you work on cars, for the maaa-an.
thehim
Spending unwisely is still stupid.
A train that takes longer than bumper to bumper does nothing to speed my commute
@37: Your logic is less than stellar. If you want to compare the costs, including both operating and capital expenses, you have to also include those costs when computing the cost of auto trips (or more fairly, passenger-miles) on the I-5 corridor. You might also want to consider ancillary costs such as parking, pollution, lost labor time, stressed out utility functions, etc.
If you drive round trip from Everett to Seattle 250 days a year by yourself at 40 cents\mile for operating expenses (including wear and tear) that calcs out as $5,000 per year and does not include parking or capital infrastructure expenses.
I’ll take the $336/rider/year, thank you. However, to be fair, I believe your whole exercise was deeply flawed to begin with, and your “ta-da!” conclusion was a joke.
Feel free to correct your math at your leisure.
Righton – Shit, are we the only ones here who can do math? Mass transit has never been able to pay for itself. Not in Seattle, not in Murka, not anywhere in the fucking world. The delusional moonbats who crawl around here just don’t fucking get it.
right on @ 44 “A train that takes longer than bumper to bumper does nothing to speed my commute”
Perhaps you could use the time on the train to read a book?
Ooops, sorry. Forgot who I was speaking to.
MTR so what do you want? What is your perfect solution? Every one in there own car? It would take you hours just to get to your Aurora haunts, and then you would not have the energy to do what you do best.. Oh, that’s right, what you do best you can accomplish by yourself.
Jimmy Nuetron, Boy genius explains it best: the civilization that considers itself advanced when everyone drives, ultimately devolves into amebic blobs living 24-7 inside egg-shaped mobility devices. Let me explain it to Nascar fans everywhere in their future language: gluuug uug ahh guhlahg auhluh uhlgaluha auhl ahl aung ang eeuahl ah ooulck.
Cougar – Here’s the answer: POUR FUCKING CONCRETE ! ! ! !
Dumass
MTR & righton—
These KLOWNS are incapable of doing the math on any of their boneheaded pipedreams. They have all read the same piece of crap Progressive Holy Grail called “The Road to Nowhere”. Social engineering for their PINHEADED agenda calls for never ending “visioning”, no accountability (doing the math) and a belief that there way is the only way NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE COST!!! These KLOWNS are inept at producing anything that pencils out and they rely on the old mantra “The only problem we have here is not enough revenue (aka our taxes are TOO LOW)!!!!
All so-called Progressive Country’s eventually rebel against the stupidity of the agenda because hard-working taxpayers eventually get sick and tired of paying for useless bastards like
Cougar, Clueless, Rujax etal sicking on their collective asses bitching and moaning…..these KLOWNS want the free-ride. Honest folks eventually rebel!!
The key to the upcoming elections is candidates that figure out what taxpayers want is not to be forced out of their cars….but solutions that ease congestion aka POURING MORE CONCRETE and utililizing existing concrete (aka HOV Lanes)!!! MTR IS right. Most folks that drive alone to work (R’s and D’s) want to continue to do that….so who has the congestion solution???
DAY 56 of the Traffic Congestion Relief VIGIL–
Report:
Traffic still sucks real bad…actually WORSE than when the GasTax Repeal failed. I love asking my Seattle pals who voted No on I-912 if they are satisfied with the traffic relief. I love to call them on there cellphones during rush hour!!! A couple guys…before I say a single word…admit traffic is WORSE!! And they see no real congestion relief down the road
from the Tax Increase they desperately and ignorantly blindly supported.
Heh Cyn, how’s the new construction going on the new viaditch and the 520 boondoggle?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ …Later
:)
46
“Mass transit has never been able to pay for itself.”
Well gee, Mark, roads have never been able to pay for themselves, either. That’s why have to pay gas taxes and car tab fees.
53
Hey Cynical, if you can manage to throw up a viaduct in 56 days, I’ll make sure I DON’T drive on it.*
* This should be easy because bunnies don’t drive. We hop! My two powerful hind legs get me up the hill to Stefan’s garden, and everywhere else I need to go.
POUR MORE FUCKING CONCRETE, you say? Oh this is funny, Vagina Lips. You loons presume to lecture us about economics, yet propose solutions that ignore the law of diminishing marginal returns, and I won’t even start on the great eminent domain vs. more roads thing.
Proud, with MTVYD’s comment of ‘pour more fuc*ing concrete’ it just casts a strong light on his thought process. Needing more roads, eminent domain, government takes private land (pays for it) and the neocons like MTVYD can cry about the government and their repressive ways.
41
Roger, I don’t know if Bush said Iraqi oil was going to pay for the war or not, I do know some damn body said it! I remember it well and I wish they would get the production online and start paying for their infrastructure.
proud to be an ass
You don’t know how to compare things.
If the drill is, “what’s cheaper for me?”, then ok, its 40 cents a mile, plus some other expenses. Likely a deeply subsidized train ride is cheaper.
If its net cost to society.
..a) we already have the highways built. So what’s maintenance on 60,000 cars for a year?
..b) Train is only the incremental $350mm plus opex (i ignored the underlying original train costs, right of way grants, etc).
..c) I was kind to you, i could have amortized that $350mm over its useful life, likely 20 years.
Day 56 of the traffic congestion vigil…….
You have a long way to go. It’s a 16 year plan. Gregoire missed a meeting yesterday – stuck in traffic! The first time in years the Governor failed to show up.
You don’t fix the congestion, it costs billions in unrealized commerce. Hov lanes are empty and everyone is stuck in traffic, makes sense. Let’s make everyone mad enough not to travel to Seattle.
Just wanted to say that I attended “Drinking Liberally” for the first time last night, and enjoyed it very much. Traffic wasn’t a problem getting there but parking was sure a bitch. Next time I’ll try to get there earlier and/or take the bus.
The best thing about Sounder is the economic shot in the arm it gives to the historic downtowns near the new stations, (not including Tukwila and Everett stations designed by moronic anti-transit Boeing interests). The towns south of Tukwila now have a historic opportunity to strengthen their economies through development. Whether that development is cautious and considerate or reckless, ass-backwards and driven by rightwing interests is another question.
The only way to reduce traffic congestion is to build communities into places where goods, services, jobs and amenities can be accessed with the least travel by any means. Currently, Seattle’s roads are strangled with traffic because the built environment is designed to accommodate travel only by car. The decision that Link light rail would bypass South Center caused the loss of economic development opportunity and is a criminal act of right wing conspiracy.
Monday, a GM Hummer slammed into a Nissan that had stalled and was stopped on the narrow shoulder of the freeway ramp between I-205 and I-84. The Nissan was uttlerly demolished and its two passengers died. The Hummer suffered narely a scratch. If the Hummer was ‘cutting the corner’ of the ramp’s curve and paved shoulder, criminal and civil suit could be filed for wrongful death. Fucking Hummers and their fuckhead ‘pour concrete’ owners.
61
“Hov lanes are empty”
Have you ever actually BEEN in Seattle? I think not. Clearly, you have never actually seen an HOV lane in the Seattle-Tacoma corridor.
61 (continued)
Or do you just spew wingnut talking points with no regard for truth, just like the rest of the mindless GOP shills on this board?
Hey Cynical — NOV up another $2.31 today!!! Rabid Rabbit is cracking the lid on another jar of caviar. :D :D :D
59
“I wish they would get the production online and start paying for their infrastructure.”
kinda hard to do when they keep blowing up said infrastructure as part of their strategy to evict the foreign invader from their country.
Hey Wingnuts,
A little wingut blogger humor for you all.
Wells @ 63 I am interested in your comment:
Do you mean that you think Boeing is not a supporter of improved tranpsortation in the Puget Sound?
BTW Wells, I think anyone caught driving a hummer without cadre of troops aboard should be pulled over and have their thumbs broken. After they confiscate the vehicle. :)
sggmac, I am interested in how you would fix the traffic conjestion problem in the Puget Sound.
Here is a list of some of the economic lies that led up to the present quagmire and civil war in Iraq.
http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/iraqquotes_web.htm
Hey Mark The Yellow Dicked Redneck, yesterday you asked:
How’s that working out for you, you POS dumbass wingnut?
Donnageddon. Here’s a construct of the theory about Boeing. Boeing has competent engineering staff with ample understanding of how transit systems work. Link LRT routed through South Center is critical to optimal ridership and directing growth there, but Boeing made minimal effort to defend the South Center route. If Boeing wanted Link, you’d best believe they’d get it. Boeing and the air travel industry are partners with the rental car industry. Nevermind that Link LRT to Seatac reduces car rental income because eliminating service to South Center significantly increases local car dependency. The Sounder station at Boeing headquarters offices is an abysmally developed station, as if Boeing officials desire their own station, but do not wish to share it with others. This theory about the Sounder station applies to Link LRT service. Boeing is in bed with auto-related interests and knows that the bypass is an engineering fatal flaw.
There are other, conspiratorial players in the decision to bypass South Center. Most of all, Downtown Seattle retailers and hoteliers, no matter what they have said publicly, do not want the competitive edge South Center would have gained were Link LRT routed there. They pulled strings at Sound Transit to nix the South Center route. Also, suburban shopping malls are traditionally anti-transit (and anti-transit users) and the mall’s directors opposed the route. Also, the City of Renton desires a freeway ramp in the vacinity of the route. They could have got that freeway ramp along with the Link LRT, but they still opposed the route. Being so close to South Center, they probably thought keeping the colored and the riff-raff out was a ‘class division’ necessity.
Sound Transit claimed the shorter route would save some $30 million, and that these savings were desireable. But the truth is the number of riders lost through the bypass eliminates many more millions of dollars in annual revenue. Sound Transit knows this, lied about it and covered up the lie.
These players ruined Link light rail potential: Boeing, Downtown Seattle retailers/hoteliers, South Center Shopping Center, the City of Renton, Sound Transit. If these characters don’t like hearing it, screw ’em. Link LRT had potential to reduce traffic congestion only if it were routed through South Center. Without South Center, traffic congestion will only get worse. It’s a very complicated, almost convoluted explanation of the importance of developing South Center. It could have been the bellweather of a regional development pattern change for the better, were it not for auto-related interests who’ve had their heads up their assholes for so long they don’t care about Seattle.
Rog sez:
Hey Cynical – NOV up another $2.31 today!!! Rabid Rabbit is cracking the lid on another jar of caviar.
Comment by Roger Rabbit— 1/4/06 @ 12:58 pm”
I’m with you brother!!! A toast to our mutual increase in wealth!!!! I love seeing any of my brothers (LEFT or RIGHT) make money on in the real world rather than just sit back and bitch about how unfair it all is like the LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS. Don’t piss and moan you idiots! Invest and make money like me and Rog!!!!!
I think I bought in around 40-45/share Rog….but you got in cheaper you DAWG! That’s ok. A Bull makes money, a bear makes money and a PIG makes nothing!!
Oh yeah….and a KLOWN who sits on the sidelines pissing and moaning makes nothing too!!!
Wells, do you know that they will not allow you to park overnight at the Airport terminus being built? That too is being covered up and not discussed. I brought that bit of news back in October 2005!
Cynical & Roger: Are you both saying along with GBS in another thread that the evil system of capitalism works and people make money when others make money? Wow, I can’t believe what I’m seeing here on ASSes!
Puddy–
These KLOWNS are a little slow on the uptake. Some of them like DonnaF***inggeddon, clueless, headless and others will never get it. Roger gets it. He’s have fun condemning evil corporate America and Big Oil ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK…as it should be.
Rog just needs to appease the KLOWNS….but he’s a capitalist thru and thru!
The alcoholics are getting together to drink up and find their courage eh?
@1:
Roger Rodent:
Since you neither work, or are a wealthy baron; what do you care either way?
@3:
And you never attend “drinking liberally” as they do not accept food stamps for beer, nor for the cab ride over there. At least be honest.