Some other things Rob McKenna could use a special session to pass:

• The budget
• Transportation projects
• A repeal of the cost overrun provision
• A repeal of drug war legislation
• Marriage equality
• Universal healthcare
• K-12 funding
• Higher Ed Funding
• A progressive income tax

Now you may say, “Carl, isn’t that just stuff you’d like to see in the regular session?” Yes, yes it is.

I’m glad the Democrats chose Patty Murray as Co-Chair of the bullshit deficit reduction committee*. To the extent that it’s almost certainly going to be an all cuts affair, I trust that the cuts she makes won’t be as godawful as some of her colleagues would make. It’ll probably be impossible to make cuts that aren’t godawful.

Her commitment to working people hopefully means that they won’t take quite the hit they’d take otherwise. And her work for veterans hopefully means that the military cuts will be things that ought to be cut and not the things that actually keep soldiers safe, or hurt their reintegration into society when they get home. She’s not really a firebrand, so hopefully she won’t draw the ire some people might in that position. Patty Murray: as good a choice as anyone for a committee that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Also, one other thing. The Caucus piece linked above refers to her as the future “co-chairwoman” of the committee. I assume that means the Republican co-chair will also be a woman. Otherwise, let’s hear it for gender neutral language in the future.

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– Want!

– Moochers.

– I chose to blame you for not stopping me earlier.

– Metro will cut well used routes without the $20 increase in car tabs.

– Aside from the idea early on that Costco and Kemper Freeman are somehow exactly as ungrassroots as SEIU, this is an interesting piece on Eyman’s latest shitty initiative (h/t).

– I love Thrifty Thursdays.

I.

Hate.

Mike.

Mc.

Ginn.

And.

Taxes.

The Pro Tunnel people are running an ad trying to link Tim Eyman and Mike McGinn to the opposition to the tunnel. Tim Eyman opposes tolling but hasn’t done much one way or the other on the tunnel. This ad isn’t the first place to imply an alliance between them despite, you know, evidence. But since this narrative is out there, I’d like to remind people what Mike McGinn actually thinks of Tim Eyman (emphasis mine):

Let’s speak honestly about what’s happening to education in the State of Washington. Tim Eyman has set this state on a path that will let our schools collapse and our children fail in order to save a few dollars. Mr. Eyman, you may have talked the rest of the state into destroying what we hold dear. But we are drawing a line around Seattle, right at the city limit. And we’re saying it won’t happen here. We’re not going to stand by and watch our children fail. That’s why we’re doubling the Families and Education Levy. I ask Council to stand with the community and stand for Seattle values and place this levy on the ballot.

Further cementing this alliance, McGinn is opposed to Eyman’s latest initiative.

I do not support Eyman’s initiative. If we toll a road, the state should be able to use the tolling revenue to fund transit for people who can’t afford the tolls. In fact, that’s the only fair way to do tolling.

McGinn isn’t a one issue obsessive, unlike the people who call him one!

– Darryl has already mentioned The Stranger’s endorsements. Also, Cascade Bikes and NARAL.

– Jim McDermott on how hitting the debt ceiling might cause a ripple effect to the UW.

– Dear drivers, for the love of God, stop hitting cyclists.

– In case you were concerned that the News Corp scandal wasn’t seedy enough (h/t).

– It’s 2011, and cankles are still a thing human beings talk about. About cabinet officials no less.

– Socialist!

I’d be a lot more wiling to go along with this if I thought East King County would return the favor if the situation were reversed.

This afternoon, the Sound Transit board’s agenda features a resolution selecting the preferred Eastside alignment for Link light rail, which includes a tunnel under downtown Bellevue. However, the tunnel would cost $329 million more than the amount allocated for this portion of the project when voters passed the ST2 extension in 2008. To cover that cost, the City of Bellevue has pledged to chip in $180 million and that leaves—depending upon various methods to slice and dice the shortfall—$138 to $150 million unpaid. Although Sound Transit staff have reportedly considered various options (selling real estate, shrinking the scope of the Eastide alignment, and delaying the project to save money on bonding), those weren’t the chief idea presented to regional leaders yesterday. Several sources say that Sound Transit staff specifically asked leaders in the North King sub-area cities (again, mostly Seattle) to contribute $150 million to support the East Link tunnel.

Of course the reason we have sub areas in the first place is that East and South King County (or at least their ST representatives) were opposed to the thought of having to pay for any of Seattle’s light rail. When we were building light rail in Seattle, we had to balance it out with East Side bus routes and park and rides. We had to build much of it at grade. We had to cut the Graham Street Station from the final route. So, no, if we have any money left over, I think a Graham Street Station and putting the money into bus service lost if King County cuts routes would be a better way to go.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve used the East Side buses and park and rides, and I think they have value. Also, I’d like to have good rail on the East Side. I don’t even mind paying for it as a Seattle person. Logically, with capital intensive projects like light rail sometimes the money should flow to Seattle and sometimes it should flow out of it. What I object to is that the money only seems to go one way.

And one more thing; during the last Seattle budget, Bellevue and other East Side people told me how awful it was that Seattle was raising parking meter rates. They were going to steal away business with their cheap parking and out compete Seattle. Now they want to use Seattle’s healthy budget to pay for rail on the East Side!

As I mentioned in the Open Thread, I’m trying to say something about how the County Council couldn’t decide what to do with Metro. But I really don’t know what I’m getting at.

Not knowing what’s next, hopefully there’s some behind the scenes maneuvering going on (I mean obviously there is; hopefully it actually moves things). Hopefully service keeps running into the future.

Still, he best case is buses remain crowded. I took the bus South of Downtown last Sunday, and it was standing room only at about 7:00 in the afternoon. It’s regularly crowded during rush hour, and worse when it rains. And I understand why the council doesn’t want this on the ballot. Not every policy decision needs to go to a vote, and if we have the majority, we ought to be able to pass it.

Preferably, I’d like to see the legislature just let King County (and other counties) do what King County (and other counties) wants to do without arbitrary impositions like the 2/3. Still, if for the foreseeable future we have this 2/3 requirement, and the legislature is going to impose it on King County for various things, maybe we should shrink the council down to 3. That way any majority is a 2/3 majority. I mean we have the dumbass precedent for shrinking the council to 9. Why not go to 3?

– I don’t know if it’ll come together, but I’m working on something about King County punting on Metro.

– Rachel Beckwith’s story has been discussed in the comments already, but for those who missed it.

– I haven’t said anything about Norway because what I don’t know what I could possibly add. But David Futrelle and William Saletan (h/t) explore the narratives that surrounded him online. Neil Sinhababu notes who might be happy about the whole thing. And Glenn Beck can still go fuck himself (h/t).

– Figgins’ line is “.182/.236/.240 on the season. Each of those numbers feels dramatically worse than the last.”

– What scandal?

Although not a defense of NOTW.

I can imagine a situation where some Democratic operative came up to me and said, “we hacked into Rob McKenna’s phone and found something important.” Sure, almost certainly not me; a more reputable journalist, columnist, or blogger. But hear me out.

So let’s say this party hack came to me with definitive proof that some Republican of import had broken the law in some way that was worse than phone hacking itself. I’d imagine that I’d post something about it, or at least dig further based on their hacking. I’d presumably mention the hacking in the post if if was worthy of a post. Basically if it’s important enough a story, I can imagine being honest and letting the chips fall where they may.

That’s a very different thing from finding out whatever Jude Law and Hugh Grant are doing. And of course corrupting the police and deleting messages is so beyond the pale, I can’t imagine there ever being a circumstance I’d find it OK.

The point isn’t of course to exonerate News of the World or News Corp, only that calling it a phone hacking story kind of makes it sound not as terrible as it is.

– (a) This was a horrible column. (b) “Americans Elect” sounds to me like an attempt to reference the country’s puritanical roots. (c) I feel like a decently organized group could sway them, and cause trouble. If Democrats all decided to nominate a conservative to draw votes away from the Republican nominee, for example.

– Why not Washington indeed.

– The Weekly seems to have no standards.

– “You can drop a subcontractor as easily as you can cancel a date. That’s not a good union job. That’s not the kind of job that Longview needs” (h/t Ivan on Facebook)

– You can’t look into what News of the World did if there’s anything worse going on anywhere in the world.

– There is a value in sending people into space beyond the scientific value.

Reading this editorial, I think perhaps The Seattle Times does the “family newspaper” thing as an excuse. Maybe it’s just that they’re bad at making a decent edgy metaphor or joke. Take for example the idea that Rupert Murdoch gave news outlets STD’s.

RUPERT Murdoch’s malicious contagion, News Corp., has spread through journalism like a social disease. British politics picked up a nasty NC infection for Prime Minister David Cameron.

For what it’s worth, I agree with the premise that media consolidation is bad in general and in Murdoch’s case. I just question if a corporation had sex with the British Prime Minister.

– Good news on the Metro front.

– McGinn on KUOW about Back Page. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the audio yet, but from what I’ve read, it sounds like a drubbing.

– Also, The Weekly has awful content (h/t).

– The lightbulb debate.

– A damn shame that Elizabeth Warren won’t head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

– Community input for the Northgate light rail station.

The thing that I’ve been most perplexed about during the debt ceiling debate is that the Republicans in the Tea Party have to live in the same country as the rest of us. They’ll suffer the consequences of a default the same as the rest of us. It’s not as if they and their constituents are going to be shielded from the horror show if we hit the debt ceiling. If anything, it’ll be Republican constituents hit harder. After all, the money spent goes (in general) from Democratic urban areas to Republican rural ones. If we stop sending out Social Security checks, every state will suffer, but Republican Arizona and Florida will suffer worse. If we have to stop farm support all states will suffer, but rural Republican states (and here in Washington, Republican Congressional districts) will suffer worse than urban Democratic ones.

Additionally, the liberal cities and counties aren’t the ones teetering on the edge in danger of default if their credit rating worsens. While Seattle will surely suffer through a default, Jefferson County, Alabama will suffer worse (h/t). In short, the pain isn’t distributed evenly.

Of course, I don’t want anyone to experience the pain that will come from unnecessarily defaulting (I don’t think it’ll be awful, but I do think it’ll be bad, and totally unnecessary, if it happens). The point is that on the policy alone, Republicans should want a clean bill. Nobody benefits from hitting our heads on the debt ceiling, but Republicans stand be hit harder.

This is a bit old, but good for the state for rebuilding state route 410. And now that the precedent has been set, I assume there’s a cost overrun provision. I mean to have a cost overrun provision in a county that gets $0.62 back for every dollar it puts into state coffers, but not one that gets back 2.24, well that would be madness. So while I don’t like the idea of cost overrun provisions in general, at least we’re being fair.

What? The state only has the cost overrun provision in the King County project? Well then, I guess I’ll have to vote to Reject Referendum 1.