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The House Transportation Committee passed a bill to allow the next phase of Sound Transit to go forward, if approved by the voters in the ST region. Since it didn’t get any GOP votes, and since the GOP control the state Senate, that’s going to be a tough step. Anyway, good news: The most coherent, most decent, just generally best person you’ll ever hear of, Rep. Ed Orcutt, has decided to be an ass about it!

The bill passed 13-12 almost strictly along party lines. All but one Democrat voted yea, and every Republican voted no.

“Okay, Seattle” representative Ed Orcutt (R-20, Kalama) said, “go ahead and tax yourself into oblivion.”

So first of all — and I’m aware that this is me being a broken record — the thing that’s killing us here in Seattle isn’t taxing ourselves and getting the benefits. It’s the state taxing us and sending the money to places like Kalama. Also, that isn’t killing us too badly as we’re doing fine.

Second, what does “Okay, Seattle” even mean when you vote against letting Seattle do a thing? The bullshit paternalistic rhetoric doesn’t match the bullshit paternalistic action. Pick a bullshit paternalistic lane, and bullshit paternalistic stay in it.

Third, it’s the job of a state representative to do what’s best for the state. They really shouldn’t be gleeful about the failure (even if it’s just in their head) of a part of the state they don’t represent. Honestly, if he believes his nonsense, he isn’t fit to serve.

Fourth, Sound Transit isn’t just Seattle. When Seattle needed to tax ourselves to preserve transit service, we just went ahead and did it. This is for a regional transit plan, for goodness sake.

And finally, the whole premise is silly since Sound Transit will almost certainly be a net good for the region.

I wrote most of this post on public transit. In fact, most of the writing that I do for Horse’s Ass is during my commute. If we didn’t have decent public transit, I doubt I’d have the time to write on HA. I also do some actual paid work work on my commute from time to time. I’m not really sure what the economic value of that is, but it’s not zero. It’s certainly more than my output when I drive.

Beyond just me personally, this is a growing region, and we’re going to need to get people around. Better transit isn’t just a luxury. We’re going to have to pay for it somehow, and Sound Transit, while hardly perfect, is the best option we’ve got.

Sorry for the short OT, this is from my phone.

The editorial board of Vancouver’s Columbian—a paper so knee-jerk anti-labor that it makes the Seattle Times look the Union Record—has once again come out opposing the minimum wage, regurgitating the same blow chunks of trickle-down pablum. Literally the exact same sentence in three different editorials. But it’s fascinating to see how their preface has evolved over the past 18 months.

In our view: Skills the Key to Better Pay
Proposals to hike minimum wage to $15 will eliminate jobs – and opportunities
Published: September 8, 2013

… Realistically, the notion of a minimum wage is a job-killing philosophy. If forced, through legislation rather than market forces, to increase pay for unskilled workers, business owners are going to reduce their number of unskilled workers. They won’t reduce pay for their valuable employees; they won’t reduce profits; they won’t cut other expenses. No, they’ll eliminate the positions that are the most expendable.

 

In Our View: Minimum Wage Experiment
Here’s hoping Seattle’s gutsy move pays off — but it’s tough to not be skeptical
Published: May 6, 2014

… Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, who sat on the mayor’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee, said: “This is an awesome victory for the 100,000 workers earning less than $15 an hour in Seattle. They will see their lives dramatically improved.” That is, if they still have a job. As The Columbian has written editorially in the past: “If forced, through legislation rather than market forces, to increase pay for unskilled workers, business owners are going to reduce their number of unskilled workers. They won’t reduce pay for their valuable employees; they won’t reduce profits; they won’t cut other expenses. No, they’ll eliminate the positions that are the most expendable.”

 

In Our View: Raise Skills, not Base Pay
Minimum-wage workers’ concerns valid, but hike to $12 could cost them jobs
Published: February 2, 2015

… Yet there is a fine line between helping workers prosper and helping the businesses that employ them to prosper. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive, but they require some balance. As The Columbian has written editorially, “If forced, through legislation rather than market forces, to increase pay for unskilled workers, business owners are going to reduce their number of unskilled workers. They won’t reduce pay for their valuable employees; they won’t reduce profits; they won’t cut other expenses. No, they’ll eliminate the positions that are the most expendable.”

So in September, 2013 they categorically claim that the minimum wage is a “realistically… a job-killing philosophy,” in May, 2014 they allow a touch of doubt to seep in, warning it might improve workers’ lives “if they still have a job,” and now they’re willing to acknowledge that raising wages and helping businesses prosper “are not mutually exclusive.” The Columbian is still wrong to repeat their reality-denying zero sum game supply-side bullshit. But for them, this is progress!

It’ll be interesting to see where the editors are in another 18 months when Seattle and SeaTac are both prospering under their higher minimum wages, and Vancouver is still… well… Vancouver.

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally meets tonight for food, conversation, revelry, and drinks with a progressive political theme. All are welcome. There are no dues, no initiation, and no items on the agenda. Just show up and say “hello.”

We meet every Tuesday evening at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. Our starting time is 8:00 pm, but feel free to stop by earlier than that for dinner.

http://youtu.be/gCPiuZsIw0U

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and the brand new Long Beach chapters also meet. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. And for Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets.

There are 187 chapters of Living Liberally, including seventeen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting somewhere near you.

Sen. Sharon Brown has a press release about how she wants to modernize, ahem, what we call clean energy.* Some of it is fine (I think, but anyone with more knowledge of energy issues than me, please pipe in). Some of it is of the oh, let’s count the hydro power toward our clean energy requirements despite the initiative that people already voted on.

“By allowing some of the incremental electricity produced by efficiency improvements to hydro projects to qualify as an eligible renewable resource, we not only save consumers money, but we also help our employers free up the resources they need to hire more employees and give raises and better benefits to those already employed,” said Brown, R-Kennewick.

Efficiencies are awesome! But the good news is that there’s already an advantage to utilities to being efficient. It’s the market. The reason we have regulations like these are because we’re trying to accomplish things the market won’t do well. Also, is there ever a GOP program they can’t pretend is a jobs bill. We need to rely more on hydro than on energy sources with less downside because jobs. Also, didn’t we vote on this already?

Efficiency changes made to hydro projects allow more electricity to be produced from the same amount of water without any new diversions or impoundments. Currently, the I-937 law only recognizes hydro-efficiency improvements associated with projects owned by a qualified utility. Under Brown’s bill, this recognition would be extended to incremental electricity marketed by the federal Bonneville Power Administration.

Will of the people, and whatnot.

“As lawmakers heard from some of those who testified today, Washingtonians who have paid for these efficiency improvements to hydro projects should be able to see the benefits of those improvements,” said Brown. “Instead, Washington is sending its affordable hydropower to other states who consider it renewable, while our utilities are force to purchase costly power required to meet the state’s mandate.

Ignore the typos. This post can’t all just be me making fun of typos, and I’ve already done it once and will do it again. It’s just some intern, probably. Good for you for being here, and I hope you earn credits toward your middle school graduation.

Obviously, the thing to concentrate on here is that our standards for renewable should be rigorous. Our standards should be tough to hit because how we get our energy is valuable!

Also, not for nothing, but energy is incredibly cheap in Washington. For example, my apartment is pretty small, but I paid less than $15 for my December bill,** and that was with a fair amount of heat, what with it being December. A lot of that is, as Goldy has written, our socialist utility here in Seattle. So clearly socialism is a jobs program — QED — and I hope Senator Brown will lead a chorus of The Internationale. Unless she hates jobs.

“With so many families having to make the difficult choice between paying the light bill and putting food on the table, we have an obligation to look for ways to make energy more affordable. My bill would do just that by allowing our utilities to use clean, affordable incremental hydropower and pass any cost savings onto their customers.”

Right, so let’s take out the profit motive from things like utilities. Acknowledge that they make more sense as infrastructure and then everyone who uses the product will have more money. Brilliant! Oh, no, it’s just loosening regulation.

Anyway, one more typo to make fun of from a part of it that I’m basically fine with.

We really need to look at what we are going to use for baseload energy in the future. Wind power cannot replace wind power. Utilities have to balance every minute of our load with our resources and the power that our customers need.

Again, I’m not really one to make fun of typos, but this has been up for several days. And presumably it was a draft at some point. “Wind power cannot replace wind power” is like a riddle in a children’s book.

[Read more…]

– No charges for person who killed man walking his dog in a Kirkland crosswalk

– There are new rules for attending Seattle City Council meetings and after reading this Seattlish piece, I’m also interested to see if they’ll just be used on Zimmerman and Bellomio or if there will be a larger crackdown.

– Tim Eyman’s “analysis” of initiative-related bills and amendments isn’t to be trusted

– Always glad when someone changes their mind to become pro-choice, but yeah, the follow up is important.

– If you were actually worried about the quality of the new Ghostbusters movie and not just of girl cooties getting on a classic, I would think the addition of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy would be the surest sign that it’s in good hands.

– But describing Wing Commander as unsophisticated sci-fi makes it too easy to write off as…unsophisticated sci-fi

And you thought the iPod had a kid-friendly user interface:

A 3-year-old boy found a handgun in his mother’s purse and fired just one shot that wounded both his parents at an Albuquerque motel on Saturday, police said.

According to investigators, the toddler apparently reached for an iPod but found the loaded weapon. Police believe the shooting to be accidental.

It’s never an accident when a toddler gets ahold of a loaded gun: It is criminal negligence. And we will never persuade some people to responsibly secure their guns until we start routinely prosecuting and jailing people who don’t.

Zephaniah 1:14-18
The great day of the LORD is coming soon, very soon. On that terrible day, fearsome shouts of warriors will be heard everywhere. It will be a time of anger–of trouble and torment, of disaster and destruction, of darkness and despair, of storm clouds and shadows, of trumpet calls and battle cries gainst fortified cities and mighty fortresses. The LORD warns everyone who has sinned against him, “I’ll strike you blind! Then your blood and your insides will gush out like vomit. Not even your silver or gold can save you on that day when I, the LORD, am angry. My anger will flare up like a furious fire scorching the earth and everyone on it.”

Discuss.

Couldn’t agree more:

Given a fundamentalist reading of scripture, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God is such a total asshole that I doubt I could worship it even if I could be convinced that it exists.

Highlights of the Loretta Lynch’s confirmation hearing.

Thom: The real deficit that the GOP doesn’t talk about.

Mental Floss: 17 crazy hair myths.

White House: Precision medicine:

Maddow with a nice Fox story.

Thom: The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

David Pakman: Obama has reduced Bushes’ $1.4 trillion deficit by 75%.

$889 Million:

• Young Turks: Koch plan to spend almost a billion to buy the 2016 elections.
• Jon: Your next President…Johnny actual Cash.
• Ann Telnaes: The Koch Brothers and $889 million free speech dollars.
• Larry Wilmore: Dark Money
• David Pakman: Koch Brother’s intend to buy the 2016 elections.
• Young Turks: Candidates drop to their knees to please the Koch brothers
• Sam Seder: The Koch brother’s puppet for 2016

Thom: The Right’s home schooling conspiracy.

David Pakman: ObamaCare will cost 20% less than was originally projected:

Mark Fiore: King Abdullah, Royal pain.

Mental Floss: 24 cheese name origins.

Thom: More Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

On the Road to 2016:

• Maddow does Letterman to laugh at 2016 candidates.
• Young Turks: Sarah Palin teleprompts herself into a reality war with FAUX News
• Young Turks: More fur flies in the Sarah Palin, Bill-O-The-Clown war.
• David Pakman: Sarah Palin lashes out a FAUX News.
• Maddow: What if Hillary doesn’t run?
• Jon on Sarah et al.
• James Rustad: Jesus loves me this I know; ’cause Rick Perry tells me so.
• Pap and Thom: Will Perry do some time in the Pokey?
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Who can win what in the primary?
• Chris Christie falls out of a chair.
• David Pakman: Mike Huckabee says something idiotic about school prayer and school violence
• Sam Seder: Mike Huckabee’s “Trashy NY Women” comment
• Alex Wagner: Mitt’s a no-go
• Young Turks: The Mittster gives his fans a sad
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Why Mitt Romney dropped out.

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses of the week.

Richard Muller: I was wrong on climate change.

David Pakman: DUI State Senator claims he can drive drunk and be privileged from arrest.

New Territory in the Republican War on Women™:

• Michael Brooks: Louie Goober, “Republican ‘Females’ Send the Wrong Message!”.
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Republicans try to hide their disgusting women’s health politics

Thom: GOP turns Medicaid expansion over to banksters.

David Pakman: Thanks to Republicans, Obama’s approval keeps increasing.

White House: West Wing Week.

Super What???

• Jon: PSI–New England.
• Ed: The ad everyone will be talking about.

Maddow: Five U.S.Pipelines Rupture in January.

Thom: Even more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Matt Binder: Politifact finds FAUX News lies more than ever:

Grandpa McCain to protesters: “Get outta here you low life scum”.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

– I’m always more willing to look at a candidate who Cascade endorses, and occasionally they’ve tipped the scale for me, so it would be sad to not have that any more.

– I don’t know how realistic the prospect of a $15 minimum wage would be for Oregon, but the fact that its opponents are into the scare tactics phase probably means something good for its chances.

– Chart of the Day: An uptick in threats against abortion providers

– I am not on a jury, and I didn’t contribute much here. Best of all possible worlds! I did get some reading done in the jury room. Pit? Juror dumping ground?

– My mustache is better than either the Senate Majority Leader’s or the Speaker’s. Also, I haven’t just had a mustache in like 5 years.

– Marshawn Lynch’s Quiet Riot [h/t]

Looks like SPD pepper sprayed the wrong skell. From his lawyer’s press release:

The James Bible Law Group will be filing a tort claim against the City of Seattle and the Seattle Police Department in relation to the senseless pepper spraying of a prominent Seattle School Teacher and activist shortly after his MLK day speech. Jesse Hagopian had finished giving a powerful speech about how black lives matter when he was sprayed with pepper spray by a Seattle Police Officer. He was on the phone with his mother and making plans to be at his two year old child’s birthday party when he was sprayed. It is notable that this irrational police action occurred while he was several feet onto a Seattle Sidewalk.

This incident was captured on video and we will be allowing the media to view it during tomorrow’s press statement.

Can’t wait to see the video. And I hope Hagopian and his lawyers take this case as far as they can possibly go.

UPDATE: Here is the video clip of an SPD officer assaulting Hagopian and other peaceful passersby:

Hard to see how anybody can defend this as responsible policing.

– Dori Monson is so, so awful.

– Two important nutrition/education bills to keep an eye on

– It’s kind of late in the game to be researching new transit alternatives for Highway 99.

– Looks like Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time (not a metaphor).

– Tacoma has a brand-new sick leave law.

– I have jury duty starting today (yes, again), so who knows? Maybe I’ll have lots of time to write or maybe I’ll be my usual hardly posting self.

There’s a bill to raise the minimum wage in the state to $12, and it got a hearing in the House Labor Committee yesterday.

Washington, one of nine states where minimum-wage raise bills have been introduced in 2015, would go from $9.47 an hour to $12 in a series of 50-cent hikes every Jan. 1 under the bill.

House Labor Chairman Mike Sells, D-Everett, said the bill “has a lot better chance in the House” than last year’s failed attempt for a $12 minimum wage because it phases in the raise slower. He is one of 41 co-sponsors of the bill, all Democrats. It could face longer odds in the Republican-led Senate, where all but one of the 20 names attached to the bill are from the minority Democrats.

If you’re interested in writing your legislator and telling them, politely, that you support this bill, you can find them here. Either ask you member of the House to support the one that just got the hearing, or your Senator that you’d like the bill to get a hearing. If you’d like to contact a member of the House Labor Committee, you can find them here.

Yeah, yeah, I agree with the Seattle Times that we need to build a downtown elementary school to keep the downtown core family friendly (you know, like a real city). But what really jumped out at me from their editorial was this:

But opening a downtown school is also an implicit contract that Seattle will do better to make its core safe and accommodating for families. That means more vigorous attention to obvious disorder and open-air drug markets, as well as downtown playspace for children.

I have been advocating for years to build a Really Kick-Ass Playground™ in downtown Seattle. Could the editors of our city’s paper of record finally be willing to lend their voice towards this much needed civic improvement?