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Flattening the Hills

by Carl Ballard — Friday, 4/20/12, 8:03 am

Since the opening of Beacon Hill Station, many people who ride bikes have figured out that for a couple bucks, Link Light Rail will make one of Seattle’s mightiest hills disappear. Just hop on at Pioneer Square Station and two stops and an elevator later you are at the top of the hill.

Michael van Baker at the SunBreak asks: Will University Link do the same to Capitol Hill?

It is another thing that makes bike riding easier. I’m more a tootle around town person than a go for a 40 mile ride person. So I can usually get up the hills. But it is another nice option to have. Also, if you get caught in a storm, you have aren’t stuck in the middle of the rain.

In This Case it’s Right, but Firing Government Workers is Always their Solution

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 4/19/12, 5:03 pm

I get why The Seattle Times Editorial Board wrote this piece. And I tend to agree: get rid of the Secret Service members who frequented prostitutes. Still, they seem far too excited about firing people.

THE 11 Secret Service agents who were part of the president’s advance security detail were hired, trained, armed and paid well for their judgment. They failed miserably. Fire them.

Take a couple of their supervisors off the payroll as well. The numbers involved in this scandal suggest a failure of command and control in a go-along, get-along culture without any professional oversight.

Well it’s probably a good idea to have an investigation first. We have a right to know what happened. Anyway, as bad as it was, you can count on The Seattle Times taking their metaphor too far.

In fact, the behavior is closer to the Army’s Abu Ghraib debacle or the Navy’s Tailhook scandal, where no rules applied and no one was apparently in charge. The heady arrogance exposed is as intoxicating for participants as the vast quantities of alcohol consumed.

Well no. Sexual assault and torture aren’t the same as members of the Secret Service visiting prostitutes. It’s illegal and they should be fired. There should be an investigation to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again. If it impeded their ability to do their job perhaps there should be harsher sanctions. But honestly, Tailhook and Abu Ghraib are much, much worse. Why include them at all?

Open Thread 4/19

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 4/19/12, 8:01 am

– Jonah Goldberg is super smart, and knowledgeable, you guys.

– Permanent Defense has a tool to report on signature gathering for Eyman initiatives.

– Maybe Mitt Romney has something to hide?

– Seamus didn’t enjoy being on the top of the car. I don’t understand why the Romneys keep bringing it up.

– A UFO in Seattle Center.

– I don’t follow hockey at all, but fans making fun of Tim Thomas is pretty funny.

– Seahawk’s Schedule

I Thought St. James Was a One Off

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 4/18/12, 8:25 pm

But it looks like there are several Catholic parishes that won’t collect signatures for R-74.

The congregation at Seattle’s Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church gave the Rev. Tim Clark a standing ovation Sunday when he announced that the parish would not gather signatures for a referendum to repeal same-sex marriage.

The parish became the sixth in Seattle to opt out of the petition drive for Referendum 74 that has been endorsed and foisted on parishes by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain.

“I am happy to report that Our Lady of the Lake parishoners have been overwhelmingly and, thus far, unanimously supportive of the decision I made NOT to gather signatures in support of this Referendum,” Clark wrote in response to an e-mail.

“The standing ovation experienced during one of the Masses says less about me and much more about the health of this parish. I only wished the archbishop could have experienced the sustained applause — the ‘sensus fidelium’ — of the people. He needs to listen to this ‘voice.’ That is my prayer.”

Other parishes to shun the signature drive have includes St. James Cathedral, St. Joseph Church, St. Mary’s Church, St. Patrick Church and Christ Our Hope Catholic Church.

Obviously, the Church collecting signatures at all for this referendum is a problem. There were exemptions carved out for them, and other religious organizations that didn’t want to perform same sex ceremonies. And yet, they can’t just live and let live with the law. Still, the parishes not participating is a great (even if small, and possibly overrepresented as a story) part of the story.

I don’t want to overstate this, because the Roman Catholic church remains very much a not-democracy, and the Archbishop Peter J. Sartrain, who has been foisting this petition drive on his parishes, sounds like a real not-peach. He’s been trying to muster Catholics in favor of Referendum 74, which would block Washington’s new same-sex marriage law.

But this outright refusal to accede to the Archbishop’s wishes touches on a post I made back in February arguing that the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ attempts to mobilize a “Catholic voting bloc” a la the conservative evangelical Protestant vote, would backfire badly. Yes, on paper the Church is very hierarchical; in practice, Catholic voters are much more diverse than the Bishops would like to admit

Rob McKenna wants you to know

by Darryl — Wednesday, 4/18/12, 4:36 pm

Rob McKenna wants you to know that he isn’t Scott Walker. Via Politico (audio link added):

Rob McKenna…told a gathering of Puget Sound Carpenters last week that he’ll strive for a “positive relationship between labor and management,” even lamenting the agenda pursued by Walker.
“We need to have a good strong relationship between labor and management in this state,” McKenna said at the April 11 meeting, according to the audio that was secretly recorded. “Now unfortunately because of a couple of governors — particularly Scott Walker — everyone thinks that someone who’s going to be a Republican governor, they’re going to be Scott Walker. I’m not Scott Walker. This is not Wisconsin. This is Washington state.”

You know who else isn’t Scott Walker? Gov. John Kasich (R) of Ohio, also elected in 2010 who, a year later, signed Senate Bill 5 that limited collective bargaining for public employee unions.

And who else isn’t Scott Walker? Two-term Governor Mitch Daniels (R) of Indiana who, on day one of his first term used executive orders to decimate public employee unions.

Who are other not-Scott Walkers, that have waged war on collective bargaining, public employee unions, and labor in general? Govs. Rick Scott (R-FL), Jan Brewer (R-AZ), Rick Snyder (R-MI), Bobby Jindal (R-LA), and Chris Christie (R-NJ).

Who else isn’t Scott Walker? Scott Fucking Walker, that’s who.

Here he is, just a week before the 2010 election, being interviewed by the Oshkosh Northwestern‘s editorial board (video here):

Editorial Board Member: Before, we were talking about state employees contributing to their plan, paying their share of the pension plan. Collective bargaining come into that?

Walker: Yep (nodding yes)

Editorial Board Member: How do you get that negotiated and accepted by the state employee unions?

Walker: You still have to negotiate it. I did that at the county as well.

McKenna is asking us to trust that he will not engage in the same ALEC-fueled agenda we’ve seen coming from his fellow Republicans in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Louisiana, Maine, and New Jersey. Really, Rob? After claiming to be the co-creator of the Teabaggy lawsuit to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? After refusing to represent state Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark in a lawsuit to protect public lands? After making a closed-door campaign promise before an anti-light rail group that he would work to find ways to kill light rail to the East Side?

Get real.

Establishment Support

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 4/18/12, 8:39 am

First Governor Gregoire and now Rick Larsen have endorsed Suzan DelBene. I’m not sure how much endorsements matter, but these are good ones to have. Her campaign also has raised the most money.

So it seems like the establishment support is coalescing around her. I don’t know if there’s anything other than money that makes her more establishment than Ruderman etc. She’s a fine candidate, and was willing to take on Reichert in a year that was going to be tough for Democrats. If Democrats want to give her another shot, that’s cool. But Ruderman stepped aside in 1998 to clear the field for Jay Inslee, and then actually won an election for legislature.

The main thing seems to be that she can (and has shown she’s willing to) self finance. If she needs the money, the Democrats won’t have to bail her out when Karl Rove spends literally infinity corporate dollars in the district.

Goldy’s sex scandal

by Darryl — Tuesday, 4/17/12, 4:30 pm

It’s about damn time that Obama got himself a bona fide (so to speak) sex scandal. This one did not involve Obama making use of a “human humidor” (as folk musician Eric Schwartz once put it).

Yeah…well now our very own (well…The Stranger’s own) Goldy has a sex scandal…kind-of. The Stranger’s Cienna Madrid has the scoop:

Yesterday, my suspicions were aroused when I overheard Goldy (of all people) bragging about having “sexual relations” with a state senator. The pool’s just not that large, folks.

And denials from Goldy….

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 4/17/12, 3:16 pm

Get those taxes in! And then join us tonight for another evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

Seattle DL meets every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. We begin at 8:00pm, but some folks show up earlier for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? There is also a Tuesday meeting of the Tri-Cities chapter. And the Tacoma chapter meets on Thursday.

With 234 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

Open Thread 4/17

by Carl Ballard — Tuesday, 4/17/12, 8:02 am

– Congrats to Eli Sanders.

– Our shitty discourse.

– I think the usual things that affect the female vote, especially a since of compassion and fairness, won’t be moved by the Good Housewives vs. Dirty Sluts narrative the Republicans are trying to establish.

– Joel Connelly has a great piece summarizing Super PAC’s. It’s mostly info you already knew, but it’s good to have it in one place.

– Okay, Lord Player is clearly the best phrase ever said in any context ever.

– Fuse has a petition for Amazon to stop funding ALEC.

– Broccoli

Local Option Income Tax

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 4/16/12, 10:18 pm

I was at a candidate’s forum for the open seat in the 36th district and it was pretty standard for one of the most liberal districts in the state. They all support marriage equality and an income tax. But one thing that Sahar Fathi said in passing was that we could have a local option income tax. I wish the forum allowed for a follow up on that, but it seems like a reasonable thing to have, but how would it work?

I’d assume you would allocate a certain amount to the counties and a certain amount to the cities. It would presumably be the sort of thing that could be done either by a city or county council or by a vote of the people.

While, I would prefer a statewide income tax, that was rejected at the polls recently, so it probably won’t happen for a while. We can at least enact it in places where it’s popular and either generate more revenue or make the local tax structure more fair. And that money would stay in Seattle or King County.

World view

by Darryl — Monday, 4/16/12, 2:41 pm

Six months ago, Florida Governor Rick Scott had plans to make Florida a “better” state by de-funding state higher education programs in fields like psychology and anthropology:

“Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don’t think so.”

Scotts “War on Anthropology” was based on an incorrect assumption that there is no job market for anthropologists:

…[T]he difference in job growth between [math and science] jobs and anthropologists is slight. Anthropology jobs are expected to grow by 28 percent, while computer software engineers and environmental engineering technician jobs will grow by 30 percent.

“The expected growth isn’t that much different in terms of percentage,” said Chris Cunningham, an analyst with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And then there is this from today’s news:

Jim Yong Kim was chosen to be president of the World Bank, becoming the first physician and Asian-American to head the lender after emerging markets failed to rally around a challenger to the U.S. monopoly on the job.

The World Bank board of directors said today it chose Dartmouth College President Kim to succeed Robert Zoellick, whose term ends June 30. A specialist in HIV/AIDS with a Ph.D. in anthropology, Kim, 52, faced rival bids from Nigeria and Colombia.

Be warned, Gov. Scott, anthropologists will rule the World… Bank.

Open Thread 4/16

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 4/16/12, 8:02 am

– Am I the only person who thinks Dennis Kucinich shouldn’t come to Washington to run for Congress, but is fine with it if he does?

– Father Michael Ryan, head of St. James Cathedral, tells parishioners in a letter that gathering signatures for Referendum 74 would “prove hurtful and seriously divisive in our community.” (h/t to Howie on Facebook)

– Bravo! Welcome to the proper side of this debate!

– Obama wins the WA Caucus.

– New menu items at Tutta Bella.

– Kings of the AL West’s second tier is maybe all the Mariners can hope for.

Bird’s Eye View Contest

by Lee — Sunday, 4/15/12, 12:00 pm

Last week’s contest was won by no one. Apparently, Dana and I have TV tastes that don’t resonate with the HA readers. The view was of Cameron and Mitchell’s house from the show Modern Family, located in Los Angeles, CA.

UPDATE: Last week’s contest was won by Coosboy last night after this was posted.

This week’s location is somewhere in Washington state, good luck!

HA Bible Study

by Goldy — Sunday, 4/15/12, 7:00 am

Romans 13:6-7
You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God’s servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters. Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor.

Discuss.