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Open thread—busy news week edition

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There’s lots of news besides the McGavick lawsuit to talk about….

Update: This week’s Podcasting Liberally was hosted by Will with guests Mollie, Gavin, Nick, and Carl. The 57:06, 39.4 MB show is available here (mp3). The show was recorded at Seattle’s Drinking Liberally and produced by Confab creators Gavin and Richard.

Comments

  1. I-920 is good news. This state needs an state income tax to fund all of the necessary items. The current system of taxing who and whatever sin isn’t popular at the time isn’t fair nor is it stable.

    It is time for the Gates family to start paying for all of the services and infrastructure that enabled the billions. We can start with 10 to 15% of his annual income. No charity/foundation exemptions for him or any other those other Seattle billionaires either.

  2. KATHERINE HARRIS CONCEALED SUBPOENA FROM CAMPAIGN STAFF

    The Associated Press reports that many of Katherine Harris’ Senate campaign staffers quit when they learned Harris concealed from her own staff that she’s been subpoenaed by Department of Justice lawyers in a defense contracting corruption probe. “She’s uncontrollable,” one told the media.

    “ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 3) – Rep. Katherine Harris’ floundering Senate campaign received a grand jury subpoena from federal investigators, but she kept it from her top advisers, prompting several staff members to quit when they found out, a former aide said Wednesday.

    “The Justice Department is investigating Harris’ dealings with Mitchell Wade, a defense contractor who pleaded guilty to bribing another congressman. …

    “In June, the Harris campaign received a legal bill for thousands of dollars that contained a reference to ‘DOJ subpoena,’ according to the aide …. It was only then that Harris disclosed that the campaign had received the Department of Justice subpoena, the aide said. About two weeks later, the aide and several other campaign staff quit. The disclosure was one of several factors that led to their departures, the aide said. …

    “This week, two former members of Harris’ congressional and Senate campaign staffs said they had been contacted by the FBI. …

    “In February, Wade pleaded guilty to bribing former Rep. Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, in exchange for help in getting $150 million in Pentagon contracts. …

    “Still, those who’ve worked for her say nothing will get her out of the race that even Republican leaders say she can’t win. ‘I honestly believe that if she’s indicted, she will continue to run,’ said Jamie Miller, a former campaign manager. ‘At this point I don’t know what she could be thinking.'”

    http://tinyurl.com/ezwuf

  3. Well, I know what she’s thinking:

    “You guys owe me for 2000, and I expect you to rig the voting machines to put me in office, too!”

    But she’s about to find out how CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVES reward their loyal flunkies. All I can say is,

    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 HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR

  4. 1, 2, 3, 4 [Deleted spam]

    Fuck you, you fucking FREELOADER!!! If you want to advertise your crap on this web site, buy some fucking advertising space and PAY the site owner for the space, cheapskate!!! You must be a fucking freeloading REPUBLICAN. Fuck you, and fuck the armadillo you rode in on, too.

  6. Let’s see, the Bush regime fucked up several things surrounding 9.11 and that’s news? Not to me.

  7. 5

    Settle down, Mac. Have another cup of coffee. Take a hot bath. If that doesn’t get your brain in gear, try smoking some pot. Patience; clarity will come to you.

  8. 10, 11

    So! You’re reading these comments, eh? Good!!! FUCK YOU, FREELOADING REPUBLICAN SPAMMER!!! I hope your armadillo gives you herpes. Now go fuck your armadillo. He’s lonely, and he’s all greased up, and waiting for you out in the shed.

    Goddam Republican spammers.

  9. How can you tell a republican is lying? His lips are moving.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....er03m.html

    These fucking crooks have decided that the level of their lies needs to somehow increase. Now they’ve risen to the point where they are crediting RubberStampReichert for shit that happened when he wasn’t even in congress. That’s bold – even for a lying sack of shit GOP member.

  11. (from a WAPOst article on the lying by the DOD to the 911 commision…)

    John F. Lehman, a Republican commission member and former Navy secretary, said in a recent interview that he believed the panel may have been lied to but that he did not believe the evidence was sufficient to support a criminal referral.

    “My view of that was that whether it was willful or just the fog of stupid bureaucracy, I don’t know,” Lehman said. “But in the order of magnitude of things, going after bureaucrats because they misled the commission didn’t seem to make sense to me.”

    hmm what does this neocon bastard consider important enough for the truth? a blowjob? Note: wikipedia points out this weenie is a fellow at heritage, PNAC, and administers the Grace Kelly foundation. Just a regular guy I guess.

  12. On another note, it looks like LeftHisTurdLostHisBrain’s little brother is in the news. BTW this “gent” is a self-professed pagan friar. Mnay times LeftHisTurdLostHisBrain’s has stated he hates Christians and he isn’t one. Now his brother appears doing his man-boy love act. I seem to remember this is the main ingredient to your NAMBLA buds right moonbats?

    http://www.nbc10.com/news/9621055/detail.html

  13. Hey Rabbit, those sites are advertising donkocrap sex. Must be liberals running amok again!

  14. Hey Rabbit, those sites are advertising donkocrap sex. Must be liberals running amok again!

  15. WOS @ 20,21 – You’re so obsessed you repeat yourself. Maybe you’re showing signs of JCH’s mental affliction(s)?

  17. Hey PBJsucksdick/MikeWebb – your wife AND your girlfriend both say hi. Oops – your wife now knows about your girlfriend.

  19. I-920 a good idea? Remove $100 million from state education funds in teh hope that it will convince the majority who oppose the income tax (I’m assuming here–I have no data) that it’s a good idea? Yeah, right. They don’t seem related at all. WNy not KEEP the $2 million-or-above-and-farms-exempted estate tax AND institute an income tax, if what you want is to soak BillG?

  20. Iraq “reconstruction:”

    “Let’s see here, we had a long list of projects to complete before we hand them off to you—looks like we didn’t complete any of them! Good luck with that, guys.”

  21. New numbers:

    NEW YORK A new Gallup poll released today revealed…the number of Americans who now want a complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq in the next 12 months…now stands at 55%, with 19% supporting immediate withdrawal and another 36% wanting it done by August 2007.

    “While the percentage of Americans who favor a withdrawal of all U.S. troops either now or within a year is not a supermajority, it is a majority, suggesting that the Democratic leadership is speaking to an issue that resonates with many Americans,” Frank Newport, director of the Gallup Poll, writes today.

    Another majority, 54%, now say that the U.S. invasion in 2003 was a “mistake.”

    Bye-bye, GOP. Bye-bye “advantage in national security.”

  22. RR @ 2

    It’s worse than that for Katharine Harris. Apparently she failed to report the subpoena to the House as well, which is required by the Rules. She’s in deep doo-doo.

  23. Wright sounded horrible on KUOW today. The guy didn’t even sound like a democrat. I know he’s running in the 4th, but he doesn’t have to pander…not being familiar with state initiatives…who is handling this guy?

  24. 22: Apparantly Katharine Harris issued a “comment” that she was not required to report the subpoena to the house because “she was informed that she was not the target of the investigation”. I don’t know whether she was a target or not, I’ve got better things to do than try to keep up with ethics and criminal investigations regarding Florida politicians. But it does appear that her interpretation of whether or not she was required to report the subpoena is a rather novel one.

    She seems to be making up the rules as she goes along, to the dismay of her campaign staff (version 3.0). Of course, anyone familiar with the 2000 election isn’t too surprised that she makes up the rules as she goes along.

  25. SGMMAC at 1 (after spam deletions): “This state needs an state income tax to fund all of the necessary items. The current system of taxing who and whatever sin isn’t popular at the time isn’t fair nor is it stable.”

    You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read that. Is that really you talking, or has someone stolen your pen name? I thought Republicans were solidly against any state income tax, and weren’t particularly happy with the existing federal one!

    I would agree that a more stable source of state funding would rely upon “all three legs of the taxable stool: property, sales, and income”. But I wouldn’t do away with the estate tax without enacting an income tax first, and evaluating its effects.

  27. 13

    “Hey Rabbit, those sites are advertising donkocrap sex. Must be liberals running amok again!” Commentby Mike Webb Sucks— 8/3/06@ 7:06 am

    You need to sit down with your sister and have a heart-to-heart talk with her. About her being a Democrat, I mean. You can’t do anything about your sister being a whore; that’s a given.

  29. 22

    Not really — not unless the GOPers lose their House majority in November. Harris could rob banks or sell plutonium to NK and do-nothing congressidiot Doc Hastings still wouldn’t do anything about it.

  31. 25 (continued)

    Republicans want to tax income people have to work for (i.e., wages) and not tax income they don’t work for (e.g., capital gains, interest and dividends, inheritances, etc.).

    That’s because REPUBLICANS HATE PRODUCERS. You know, the people who actual produce something (i.e., workers), as opposed to freeloaders who talk about production while producing nothing and living off the labor of others (e.g., Mark the Welsher).

  33. San Diego – Future costs for illegal immigrants in the United States will reach a half a trillion dollars, a Heritage Foundation researcher said Wednesday at congressional hearing in San Diego. The influx of illegal immigrants has effectively “imported about 10 million high school dropouts into the United States,” said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow in welfare and family issues for the Washington, D.C.-based think tank. [……This is OK because the illegals will vote Democrat! 20-40 million new Democrats will turn the USA into “Baja Norte”, and the taxpayers will pay, and pay, and pay, but the true social costs will destroy America. But this is OK because the Democrats will take control. hehe, JCH]

  34. Also note that EVERY Democrat excuses Hillary calling pollster Dick Morris a “FUCKING JEW BASTARD!” Because she is the Democrat Queen, the MSM will not touch this.

  35. CROWN POINT — The two former top officials at Gary Urban Enterprise Association have been released from jail after a judge lowered their bail. Meeks and Pratchett are accused of embezzling more than $770,000 of GUEA funds, before they were fired in January 2005. prosecutors charge that the two used the enterprise zone as a personal piggy bank, granting themselves raises and buying clothes, trips and even a coffin for a relative of Meeks. […………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Along with William J. Jefferson, DEMOCRAT, LA, and Cynthia McKinney, DEMOCRAT, GA, these fine black Democrats represent the best of today’s Democrat Party.]

  36. CHICAGO, IL, United States (UPI) — A Chicago City Council bill that forces big-box retailers to pay at least $10 per hour to workers has prompted Target to cancel expansion plans. The council voted last week to require wage and benefit standards for retail stores with more than 90,000 square feet owned by companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    Reality meets the Democrat fantasy land…..Who needs jobs anyway?

    Liberals – how stupid can you get?

    I remember just over a decaade ago when I owned a boat. These same do-gooders were trying to soak the “rich” by tacking on a fat “luxury tax” on boats over $100K. Great idea, right? Just soaking those eeeeevil rich people.

    You know – those rich azzhats who can afford fancy yachts would just have to cough up more dough to pay for Dem vote pandering schemes….

    It was repealed just a few years later when the results were that the wealthy simply started buying their yachts overseas, and the US-based big boat market almost completely collapsed. It put hundreds of minimum-wage and blue-collar boat builders out on their keesters.

    I guess there is no fool like a repeat offender.

  37. The dumd ass democrat liberal/left are still convinced that people who have money are evil and have to be punished.
    Then the people with money leave [Atlas Shrugged], they’re surprised that they no longer have a viable tax base.

    “Alderwoman Carrie Austin, of the 34th district [DEMOCRAT] — the site of the proposed Target store — was angry…’My colleagues are saying, ‘Don’t worry. They`ll come. Well, mine just left,’ Austin told the Sun-Times. ‘I`m depressed. I need sales tax revenue and jobs. How do I pull my community out of the slump that it`s in? How do we get a rebirth? Sales tax revenue. That`s how.'”

    Why would they come? There is no incentive, only Democrat penalties. Tell me, Ms. Austin, how did you vote?

  38. Havana– Cuba’s Communist Party tried to quell fears of chaos on Thursday following the temporary surrender of power by the ailing Fidel Castro but failed to clear up doubts over who is in charge of the island. In a typically cryptic message, the main Communist Party newspaper Granma printed an old speech by Raul Castro, who took over island leadership on Monday, saying that his brother’s only heir was the Communist Party itself. [………………………………………………………………………….Er, Dr. E, I thought you posted that Cuba was NOT communist. This will come as quite a big surprise to Cuba’s Communist Party Officials. hehe, JCH]

  39. JCH:

    Did you see the Blue Angels flying overhead today. They’re in town this weekend you know. Why don’t you tell us abou the time you were the flight leader of the Blue Angles. Go on #1 do tell.

    Baaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa

    Dude, you’re such a typical weakling Republican.

  40. Busted E-3s don’t get within 200 yards of F-18s. They call that the “GBS” Rule!!!

  41. Re: the “Jew Bastard” thing.

    So 32 years ago someone claims Hillary said this, but the same person later writes her a letterin 1997 in which he apologizes for statements he had made to her and about her over the years…”At one time in my life, I would say things without thinking, without factual foundation and without rhyme or remedy unless it furthered my own agenda,” he wrote. Referring to the 1974 campaign, he wrote to Hillary that he had “conducted myself as a fool.” He added, “I beg your forgiveness.”
    http://transcripts.cnn.com/200.....index.html

    And no allegations since? How “damning” a case against Hillary can you get? Apparently the Jewish voters in NY state recognized it for the Republican Swift-boating that it was.

  42. @ 40:

    Neither do wannabe’s who pretend on blogs to have served in our nation’s military. We know you did NOT serve because you got caught lying about your supposed military service.

    Men who served don’t need to lie about it.

    You lied, like 99.9% of all Republicans, you got caught, and like 99.999999% of all Republicans, you don’t have the balls to admit when you’ve fucked up.

    If you do make a public admission can you give us advanced notice? I’d like to video tape it, like I did when the Duke-ster blubbered like a prison bitch on TV. Because I know you pussies do that when you’re busted, the disgraceful whimpering with Texas snot bubbles running out of your noses.

    Loser.

  43. 42, GBS, Perhaps a little bread and water in the brig for 72 hours. This may improve your attitude toward commissioned officers. If not, we’ll just repeat as necessary. Clearly you need an “attutude adjustment”.

  44. 41, Daddy Love, Dick Morris was on FOX’s Hannity and Colmes and CLEARLY discussed this issue. Hillary’s words were clear. The fact that you lib Democrats can’t or won’t “come to terms” with this issue tells us that you are hypocrites.

  45. Neither do wannabe’s who pretend on blogs to have served in our nation’s military. We know you did NOT serve because you got caught lying about your supposed military service.

    Commentby GBS— [……………………………………………………………………….LT, USN, 76-84, 1110, and 1 yr in reserves. I figure that is about twice as long as you, E3 GBS!!!]

  46. for all the Castro apologists here at HA, please go to Orbusmax.comand go down to the lower-right corner under “castro Death watch” and see what the Rex Sox 3rd baseman has to say about his family’s experiences with Castro. Then maybe you’ll be pulled back into reality abou the curse that is communism, Castro’s brand of it in particular.

  47. @25,

    That absolutely was me! I grew up in So Cal & then Las Vegas. Nevada does not have a state income tax, but they have gambling…….. This state doesn’t have anything to tax – but sin!

    The poor keep getting poorer, the middle class in this state is getting poorer and disappearing, and the uber-rich are getting the fuck over on taxes.

    I am extremely aggravated about taxes, especially tonight after Cantwell’s vote today.

  48. Daddy Love @18

    Yes, they are related. The Washington State Estate Tax was enacted merely to keep the funds flowing. The Supreme Court threw out the old one and the state kept collecting the tax and they were going to be in the hole by several hundred million.

    I moved here in 2000 from Germany and retired in 2003. Cigarette taxes have gone up twice in that time, for a total of 12 bucks a carton. The tax on cigarettes is 25 bucks a carton. There is/was a “syrup” tax on soda syrup, not regular sodas – just sodas sold in restaurants. There is potted meat (spam) tax, alcohol taxes, and so many other special “sin” taxes it’s crazy.

    We are running out of sins to tax……. when you keep jacking up taxes on sins, the sinners will decrease and then you are looking for another sin to tax……

    Consumption based taxes slam the poor and the working class the hardest. I use Bill Gates as an example a lot. But the fact is, anyone mulimillionaire in this state is not even coming close to paying their fair share to the state.

    The estate tax is a scam and the uber-rich are NOT paying estate taxes. They are shielding their income and hiding their wealth, just like Bill Gates!

  49. Sgmmac at 48: “Consumption based taxes slam the poor and the working class the hardest. I use Bill Gates as an example a lot. But the fact is, anyone mulimillionaire in this state is not even coming close to paying their fair share to the state.

    The estate tax is a scam and the uber-rich are NOT paying estate taxes. They are shielding their income and hiding their wealth, just like Bill Gates!”

    Gee, the apocalypse must be near. Sgmmac and I are in agreement, in principal.

    It is true that the estate tax is probably the most-avoided tax of all. It’s not that hard to accomplish – creating a generation-skipping trust transfers the wealth before the person dies, thereby leaving only a small “estate”.

    Bill Gates may be a poor example, though. He genuinly seems to be trying very hard to give away virtually all his wealth to charity before he dies. He, and his father, have both gone on record to say that they believe that it’s not good for the children to inherit that much wealth from their parents. I can’t fault such a plan, even if it has the effect of avoiding paying estate taxes. The money is dedicated to a public use anyway. By the time he’s done, Gates may well have given away far more money, measured in constant dollars, than either Rockefeller, DuPont, or Vanderbilt.

    But it does demonstrate how, as a tax-generation device, the estate tax is a poor substitute for an effective income tax.

    Usually they work best in conjunction with one another – the estate tax picks up where the decedent avoided income taxes on capital gains by holding onto investment property, rather than selling them. Under current tax law, the heir would get the property on a “stepped-up basis”, effectively forgiving any tax on the capital gains up to that point. But then the estate tax kicks in, and taxes the total value of the estate (less deductions and exemptions), and it more or less equals out.

    But there are an awfully lot of very rich people in the Puget Sound region. I work in Bellevue, so I’m always amazed at the number of relatively young people with apparantly unlimited bank accounts. Yet they really don’t pay much more in state taxes than the rest of us, and it seems they complaing about it more. But we set our tax policy to protect the “lowest common denominator”, to make sure the smallest farmer in Eastern Washington doens’t go out of business, or the minimum wage single mother in Longview isn’t made homeless due to a tax burden.

    I nearly choked on my lunch one day when an early 20 something at the next table was complaining loudly about how he was “insulted” at the 100K bonus he was being given. Then he started complaing about the taxes being taken out of that bonus check. Maybe he deserved to be paid more, maybe he didn’t. But he came off to me as a spoiled brat, and his attitude made me want to pick him up and slap him silly. Funny, out of such encounters our basic predispositions regarding tax policy are often created.

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