HorsesAss.Org

As of the close of business, Wednesday 11/4/2009, the day after the election, King County Elections had 572,611 total mail-in ballots on hand. As of the close of business yesterday, Tuesday 11/17/2009, two weeks after the election, KCE had counted 570,280 total mail-in ballots, with an estimated 1,400 ballots on hand and remaining to be tallied.

Of course, thousands of additional ballots have been received, processed and rejected, so these numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they sure don’t suggest that moving the ballot deadline would significantly speed up reporting of the final results.

Damn commie-pinko American public…

When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.

That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

[…] The House bill would impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million.

The poll tested views on an even more punitive taxation scheme that was under consideration earlier, when the tax would have hit people making more than $250,000 a year. Even at that level the poll showed majority support, with 57 percent in favor and 36 percent opposed.

Why tax the rich? Perhaps because Americans understand that the rich are the ones who individually and collectively have benefited most from our government’s economic and tax policies over the past several decades, and perhaps most importantly… the rich are the ones who can best afford it.

Simple math.

Please join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or show up early for some fine dining.

The pressing question for the evening: Will Dino Rossi unconceede the 2008 gubernatorial race now that a Moore Information survey has him leading the race?

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 339 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

Then again, Jon, sexist or not, she did pose for the photo. And even if it was originally intended to grace the cover of Runners World, she had to understand that the shot was more likely to inspire lewd MILF comments than the kinda gravitas we’ve come to expect from presidential aspirants.

I’m not defending Newsweek’s judgement. But I’m sure as hell not defending Sarah Palin’s either.

But what I find really inexcusable about the cover is the headline. I mean, honestly, how do you get from “Maria” to “Sarah” to make that pun work? Yeah, sure, both names end in the “ah” sound, but the accent in both is on the second to last syllable. Not only don’t the words rhyme, they don’t even share the same meter, making it impossible to sing the lyric as written.

That’s just plain lazy.

Your liberal media…making sure Sarah Palin has a legitimate gripe:

There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Sarah Palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don’t have to stoop to sexism to do it. Newsweek’s November 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of Palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the American flag. Making matters worse is the equally offensive headline Newsweek editors chose to run alongside the photo — “How Do You Solve a Problem like Sarah?” — presumably a reference to the Sound of Music song, “Maria,” in which nuns fret about “how” to “solve a problem like Maria,” a “girl” who “climbs trees” and whose “dress has a tear.”

Click through to read about the “slutty Sarah Palin school girl doll” illustration. I. Shit. You. Not.

There really are no words. Now when Palin’s supporters complain that she has been subjected to an absolutely horrific double standard, this is exhibit number one. Thanks Newsweak! I’m sure the conservative victimhood machine will utilize this to the fullest extent possible, because they will (for once) have an actual point.

I’m too old to benefit from the Institute for a Democratic Future’s excellent six-month training program, but many of you are not, so if you’re between the ages of 21 and 36, and looking to make a difference through politics, I highly recommend sending in your application before the November 20th deadline passes.

Training occurs from January through June, mostly on weekends, and includes hands on sessions throughout the state, and in the nation’s capital. This intensive program is an incredible opportunity for aspiring young activists and politicians; alumni include dozens of current and form state legislators, county and city council members, and community leaders from throughout Washington state.

Apply now!

Washington state’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.3% in October… well, sorta. That’s the same rate that was originally reported for September, before being revised downward to 9.1%.

By comparison, South Carolina’s unemployment rate currently stands at 11.6%. Hey Palmetto State… how’s that race-to-the-bottom cheap labor strategy working out for you?

Pretty amusing video of an anti-immigration tea party in Minneapolis, where a prankster succeeds in getting the crowd to cheer the deportation of European immigrants. I especially enjoy the enthusiastic changing of “Columbus, go home!”

What a bunch of maroons.

But wait… I thought the King County Council was officially nonpartisan…?

When Constantine is sworn in next Tuesday, that will leave eight councilmembers to decide his replacement: four Democrats and four Republicans.

Five Democrats, including Constantine, voted for the selection process while all Republicans voted against it.

Voters last year made council elections nonpartisan, but members continue to caucus and sometimes to vote along party lines.

And this from the same paper that railed against Constantine for injecting partisanship into the King County Executive race. Perhaps the editorial board at the Seattle Times should try reading their own news section once in while?

Why doesn’t this surprise me?

The state says Washington’s Republican Party is deadbeat in repaying legal fees associated with a failed challenge to the Top 2 primary system.

In a federal court filing Monday, the Attorney General’s Office wrote that while the Democratic Party has paid the $37,700 it owes, the Republicans haven’t made a dent on their $55,000 bill. Furthermore, Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey T. Even says a GOP lawyer told him not to expect payment any time soon.

I guess that’s one definition of what it means to be “fiscally conservative.” I suppose if the Republicans were in charge our state budget crisis could be solved overnight, simply by refusing to pay our bills.

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Via RawStory.

So, how’d that endorsing Joe Mallahan go? Oh right, he was ahead until you, the Seattle Times, and the rest of the Seattle bashing institutional players decided to get involved. How’d that work out for you?

Sorry, there won’t be any more gloating in this letter: it’s for advise. If you stop screwing Seattle, then maybe we’ll be more receptive to hearing you out in the future. Perhaps if you’d dedicated less of your time last session trying to stick us with a bill for tunnel we didn’t really want, we’d be more receptive to your endorsements. But when the theme of the last session was any State DOT overruns should be paid for by Seattle taxpayers, how do you expect that not to come up in a campaign the following year?

Simply put, you aren’t that popular with Seattle right now.

Don’t get me wrong, if you run for a third term and survive a primary challenge, Seattle will put aside our differences and support you pretty overwhelmingly. But you might want to consider how difficult it may be to get support in the city if there is a primary. Or support as a city is earned, and shouldn’t be assumed.

Kiss kiss,
Carl Ballard

I was hoping to attend tonight’s forum in Edmonds with travel show host Rick Steves, State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, State Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, former U.S. Attorney John McKay, and former White House advisor Bud Krogh. It starts in about an hour, but I’m stuck at home with parental duties. I was hoping to ask Mr. McKay the following question:

If Marc Emery is successful in his efforts to avoid extradition to Seattle for drug charges (McKay was the U.S. Attorney who initially went after him) and becomes a free man again, what can Americans do to stay safe?

If anyone is in attendance, let me how it went.

UPDATE: Wow, it looks like McKay has done a 180:

“Federal law makes the possession of any amount of marijuana a crime,” McKay said. “So, even if you’ve got a certificate from your doctor, a federal officer could arrest you. … That’s just bad policy.”

McKay faulted Congress for failing to take initiative on the issue. It is not the place of federal prosecutors or law officers to make policy, he said, nor should the White House go it alone.

In the end, he argued, marijuana should not be lumped in with cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin as part of the war on drugs. Marijuana law, McKay said, “should look a lot more like alcohol (regulations) and a lot less like cocaine and methamphetamine (laws).”

Unfortunately, Marc Emery is still sitting in a Canadian jail cell awaiting extradition. Maybe McKay can meet with new U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and reverse more than just his stance on this subject.

A Moore Information survey released last week shows challenger Dino Rossi leading incumbent Christine Gregoire 48% to 42% in the 2008 gubernatorial contest, prompting the pollsters to speculate about the Washington state GOP’s rising prospects:

The fact that Rossi leads in this match-up is interesting and encouraging for Republicans in and of itself…

Encouraging news indeed… especially for those Republicans living in that alternate universe where contests are decided a year after the election, and solely on the basis of surveys conducted by Republican pollsters.

I mean honestly, could you get any more deluded?

Rossi, of course, led in the polls throughout 2005. And 2006. And 2007. According to Rasmussen, Rossi even led Gregoire by a substantial 52% to 46% margin as late as September of 2008. And yet on election day, he lost 53% to 46%, and by nearly 200,000 votes.

And that’s the only poll that counts.

Yet local Republicans continue to attempt to spin opinion surveys and East Coast gubernatorial races into evidence of some sort of imminent GOP revival, all the while refusing to address the real cause of their party’s recent string of electoral failures: its own failed and out of touch policies. Is it any wonder that merely branding Susan Hutchison a “Republican” was enough to torpedo her chances when the WSRP proudly endorses the likes of I-1033, an initiative rejected by business and labor groups alike, and which was crushed in King County by a 69% to 31% margin?

It’s not all that hard to capitalize on anti-incumbent sentiment in a hypothetical survey conducted years or even months out from an election. But once voters are asked to make a choice with actual consequences, they tend to vote for the candidates who best share their values. And that’s a metric on which Republicans shouldn’t feel encouraged at all.

While Rep. Dave Reichert worked hard to appear more moderate in response to a tough challenge from Darcy Burner, he’s been veering hard back to the right ever since, culminating in his vote against the House healthcare bill, and his bizarre attacks on the AARP for endorsing it.

Of course, all the polling shows that substantive healthcare reform, including a robust public option, remains popular in Reichert’s district, even amongst seniors, which makes the three-term Republican a prime target for a new round of DNC sponsored radio ads aimed at vulnerable Republicans nationwide.

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In last year’s historic election, voters in Washington’s 8th Congressional District supported President Obama and his call for change.

But when it came to fixing our broken health insurance system, Congressman Dave Reichert voted for more of the same.

When the U.S. House passed health insurance reform that would provide Americans quality, affordable care, Congressman Reichert stood with the insurance industry, not the people he was elected to represent.

Congressman Reichert voted against ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, against reining in skyrocketing premiums, and against expanding health coverage to more Americans.

Congressman Reichert joined Republicans in Washington and voted against real reform. He stood with the health insurance industry instead of us.

Call Congressman Dave Reichert at (202) 225-3121 and tell him it’s time to stand up for reform, not insurance companies.

Reichert is simply out of step with WA-08 voters on this and many other issues. Perhaps when the reconciled bill comes back to the House floor for one final vote, Reichert might “moderate” his stance one more time if constituents remind him that it could him their vote in 2010?