HorsesAss.Org | Page 314 | The straight poop on WA politics & the press

Maryland is set to become the 18th state in the nation to ban the death penalty. A week after the state Senate approved legislation repealing capital punishment and replacing it with life in prison without parole, the House of Delegates passed the bill Friday by a vote of 82-56.

The news serves as a victory for Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has been trying to repeal the state’s death penalty for years. He urged the passage of a bill to abolish the death penalty back in 2009, but the measure ultimately failed.

“Evidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. What’s more, there is no way to reverse a mistake if an innocent person is put to death,” O’Malley said in a statement Friday.

Maryland becomes the sixth state in six years to put an end to the death penalty, after New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut.

Washington should make it 7.

Dare to DREAM

by Carl Ballard — Friday, 3/15/13, 5:22 pm

The Washington State version of the DREAM Act passed by a large margin in the state House on Wednesday.

The House approved the so-called “Washington Dream Act” on a bipartisan 77-20 vote. They amended the bill on the floor to open college aid to all young illegal immigrants.

The bill’s previous version made only young immigrants who had qualified for the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program eligible for the State Needs Grant. That federal program provides young immigrants who arrived in the United States as children a legal way to live in the country on renewable two-year stays, if they meet certain age and non-criminal history criteria.

I’m not happy with the phrase “illegal immigrants” especially for young people. But I’m glad that this has passed with bipartisan support. Hopefully the lopsided nature of the vote and the number of Republicans supporting it means that it has a shot in the Senate.

Name That Team

by Carl Ballard — Friday, 3/15/13, 8:01 am

I realize we’re like 400 steps away from a hockey team in Seattle, and that a lot of people are upset by the possibility of a stadium. But I enjoyed the conversation about a possible name in this post and the comments. I like the Metropolitans. It evokes a history and I’d get to root for 2 teams named the Mets.*

A good team name is mostly subjective, of course. I like ones that have a connection to the area, and that are plural (sorry Storm). Beyond that, rolling off the tongue probably helps. So what would you name a hockey team if they came to the area?

[Read more…]

Prettier Buildings, Please

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 3/14/13, 8:38 pm

I currently live within walking distance of the Space Needle. I’d say that among random people who ask for directions to things in town it’s either first or second.* And I understand that a lot of locals also like it.

I’m not here to judge, but everybody is wrong when they say they want to keep the views of it. I mean honestly, it’s not that attractive of a building, and the roof is usually painted a strange color. It doesn’t have much utility, and the location smack dab in the middle of a park is strange.

Now I’m not going to go so far as Guy de Maupassant eating at the Eiffel Tower to get away from looking at it. I get that it’s a thing that makes Seattle Seattle. It’s funky and unique. It’s a part of New Year’s and of the civic things that happen at Seattle Center.

But if it wasn’t there, other buildings would do that for us. I personally love the old pictures of Seattle where the Smith Tower dominates the sky line. And occasionally you see even older pictures with Saint James’s spires tucked away in the background, that I’m sure you could see from much of the city where you can’t see it any more.

So maybe what we need isn’t lots of places to see the Space Needle, but more buildings that will inspire awe. If we get buildings that block the Space Needle with their radness, that would probably be better than blocking the view with another box that could be switched with any high rise downtown without people noticing.

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Open Thread 3/14

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 3/14/13, 8:04 am

– We’ve got ourselves a new Pope whose archdiocese did some terrible shit (h/t). But the horror in Argentina did lead to my favorite short story (I could only find a Spanish version online, and I’ve only ever read it in translation since I don’t speak Spanish).

– It turns out repealing the sick leave portions of the sick leave/safe leave law will also hurt actual people.

– The Bellevue Gap.

– Rape Is Not Inevitable

– The cowardly legislature refuses to enact background checks for firearms.

– The ethereal form of Judge Scalia

Rodney Tom Hates Women*

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 3/13/13, 5:19 pm

[This post talks about the law related to rape, stalking, and domestic violence]

I was thinking about the Senate voting to repeal the Seattle Sick Leave/ Safe Leave law in many cases when I read this piece from Cienna Madrid on Tom sending the Reproductive Parity Act to die in committee.

You see, as Senate Majority Leader (a position he also attained with his weasely prowess), Tom is responsible for assigning bills to the appropriate Senate committees. And instead of assigning the Reproductive Parity Act to the Senate’s Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance committee where it was promised a fair hearing and vote from the committee’s Democratic chair, Tom instead sent the bill to the Senate’s Healthcare Committee, headed by anti-choice Sen. Randi Becker (R-Eatonville).

Yeah, that’s pretty terrible. It would have been an important law to have, and would have been a step in the direction of fairness in Washington. It’s one the reproductive justice community has rightly been fighting for for years. It also would have been important to say Washington affirms that abortion is a right. But we all pretty much knew this was going to happen when they said that social issues weren’t going to be the focus of this session. So while it’s awful, it isn’t actually moving back any laws, and Tom would argue that he still supports the law and whatever other excuse.

No, for Rodney Tom’s moving us backwards on safety and decency for women, you have to look at the Sick Leave/ Safe Leave law. Specifically the safe leave portion. You see when a woman who works in Seattle is stalked, or raped or beaten by her spouse, she can take safe time off. In the rest of the state, there aren’t as many protections.**

Rodney Tom looked at the difference between Seattle and the rest of the state and decided that the problem was Seattle. He co-sponsored SB 5728 to preempt that for the whole state, and ESB 5726 to make it only apply to Seattle based employers. The later passed, and the former might still.

I know the point of these laws is just to fuck with Seattle, but I wish the people passing them would give some consideration to the people actually hurt by them. I emailed Rodney Tom to ask him what he might say to a woman in his district who worked in Seattle and didn’t have the protections if she needed them if the law passed. So far he hasn’t responded.

[Read more…]

Record Stores

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 3/13/13, 8:02 am

The other night, I was a bit early for an event in Queen Anne. I walked passed Mercer where Easy Street Records used to be for the first time since it closed. A half demolished building with no signs that it used to be a a hip music store stood exposed to the elements and fenced off. It’s rather sad.

Don’t get me wrong: the Internet is objectively a better place to get music than a record store. It has a wider selection and your MP3’s don’t scratch.

Still, the thing of it is when you’re 20 minutes early to an event, the greatest way in the world to kill that time is to find a local record shop and fart around. Sometimes you buy something and sometimes you don’t. The next best place of that sort is a book store, and those are experiencing the same sort of existential problem.

I don’t know what in the Internet era replaces that for places to hang out on a rainy Seattle day with some time to kill. Coffee shops are fine, but you really have to buy something, and maybe you don’t want something to eat or drink.

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 3/12/13, 4:32 pm

Please join us this evening for some politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier for Dinner.

Can’t make it to tonight? Check out another meeting of Drinking Liberally over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities and Vancouver, WA chapters meet. On Wednesday, the Bellingham chapter meets. On Thursday Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets. Finally, next Monday, the Aberdeen, Yakima and Olympia chapters meet.

With 206 chapters of Living Liberally, including fifteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and two more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter that meets near you.

Open Thread 3/12

by Carl Ballard — Tuesday, 3/12/13, 7:02 am

– I support the rights of police to collectively bargain. But this is a pretty shit reason to sue.

– Cut cut cut cut. NOT ME!

– It’s hard to get a full sense of it from a Twitter conversation, but predictive policing seems to be a positive idea.

– The full state senate repeals Seattle’s sick leave/safe leave law.

– Good news everybody! Scott Brown landed on his feet.

– The right is its own best argument against taking anyone in the movement seriously on matters of national security.

Or, You Don’t Need A Concealed Weapon Permit Right Now

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 3/11/13, 8:23 pm

For serious, when the Spokane police need to put this warning up, it’s probably bad news.

Due to the recent high volume of citizens applying for concealed weapons permits, the average wait time for applicants is currently 2 – 3 hours. Customers visiting Police Records for other transactions may also experience higher-than-normal wait times. In order to serve customers within our hours of operation, any concealed weapons permit applicants arriving after 1:00pm may be asked to return on a different day to complete their transaction. Thank you for your understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Or just don’t get a gun. Don’t get yourself a concealed weapons permit. Just, you know, it’s fine if you don’t have a gun. Getting a concealed weapons permit isn’t a reasonable response to Sandy Hook. It isn’t a reasonable response to moderate gun control measures proposed in the state, but that won’t go anywhere, or at the Federal level that might get a bit of traction.

I’m going to go ahead and assume that anyone trying to get a gun now is hoping to get in under the wire before the background checks.

Open Thread 3/11

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 3/11/13, 6:58 am

– RIP Richard McIver.

– Telling women to get a gun is not rape prevention

– Can we close the gun show loophole please?

– David Brooks was wrong, wrong wrong on Iraq. Good thing they gave him the New York Times slot.

– Chihuly Broken Promises

– You Suck at Constitutionality Tim Eyman!

Bird’s Eye View Contest

by Lee — Sunday, 3/10/13, 12:00 pm

Last week’s contest was won by Geoduck. It was near Marston, MD.

This week’s is back to Google Maps, a random location somewhere on earth, good luck!

HA Bible Study

by Goldy — Sunday, 3/10/13, 6:00 am

Song of Solomon 4:5-6
Your breasts are perfect;
they are twin deer
feeding among lilies.
I will hasten to those hills
sprinkled with sweet perfume
and stay there till sunrise.

Discuss.