anti-Gas-Tax Loonies

The Barbarians are at the gates... and they're filing a law suite!

Anti-gas-tax group asks judge to keep state from collecting new
tax

By RACHEL LA CORTE - The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Opponents of the new gas tax hike have asked a judge to prevent the state from collecting the added revenue prior to a deadline for signatures on an initiative aimed at overturning the 9.5-cent-per-gallon increase. ...

The No New Gas Tax Group is trying to collect 275,000 signatures on Initiative 912 and force a public vote this fall — something the tax foes hope will result in a rollback of the overall 9.5-cent increase.

At this year's legislative session, state lawmakers approved a 16-year, $8.5 billion transportation package anchored by the gas tax, currently at 28 cents per gallon. Automatic increases are authorized annually: an additional 3 cents in July 2006, 2 cents more a year later, and a final 1.5 cents in July 2008.

If it's all imposed, the average motorist will pay $1 a week more in gas taxes. The average impact of the first 3 cents is $16 a year. ...

The Legislature's plan is backed by the governor, key lawmakers, labor, environmentalists, and many business and civic leaders. Advocates have formed a
campaign called Keep Washington Rolling.

"I understand how frustrated a lot of citizens are," said Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, an architect of the tax package. "Nobody ever wants to raise taxes but how do these people expect us to make these safety improvements? The longer you wait the more expensive it is."

Last week, while leading a trade mission to Europe, Gov. Christine Gregoire told reporters on a conference call that Washington's economic future depends in large part on fixing its transportation mess.

"To turn back now would be a terrible mistake," she said.

[ full article ]

These Rabid-Right-wing loonies want to "stick it to" Christine Gregoire and could care less if they ruin our states economy in the process. You can get some REAL FACTS at Keep Washington Rolling.

Anti-Gas Tax petition Gives me Gas

There are people wondering about with petitions, trying to get signatures to put I-912 on this falls ballot. The purpose of the Initiative is to repeal the increase in the Gas Tax. What a damned stupid idea!

Nobody loves a tax increase of any kind; but if you're an adult, you realize taxes are just part of paying your own way in life.

Projects in the new State Transportation Bill tackle problems that have been put off for many years, but can't be put off any longer without courting disaster. The State Legislature hammered out this bill and it passed by a pretty sizable margin.

TRANSPORTATION REVENUE--FUEL TAX

Passed by the Senate April 20, 2005

YEAS 26 NAYS 22

Passed by the House April 24, 2005

YEAS 54 NAYS 43

The people behind the anti-gas tax initiative [ Whoever they are!... they sure don't make it easy to find out. ] Say, 'the people didn't get to vote on the tax increase' ... but that's just plain silly! We elect our representatives to the State Legislature and they spend time looking into issues and making informed decisions.

The argument that we're paying for Seattles roads is kinda ditsy.
#1 Whatcom County is slated to get $56.6 million in transportation funds
#2 Seattle/King county is the economic engine of Washington state; if they don't do well, we don't do well up here.
#3 If you really crunch the numbers, King county always pays more in taxes than they get back in services.

But hey; If you don't believe me, read up on the subject for yourself.

• News: Tuesday, May 10, 2005
  Governor signs gas tax increase, transportation package
  
  
• 2005 Transportation Partnership Projects
  What does the 2005 Funding Package promise for future transportation investment in Washington?
  
  
• Thursday, June 16, 2005 - Editorial
  I-912 is backward policy on roads
  
  
• Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
  Think Before You Ink: Union Members Urged Not to Sign I-912
  
  
• Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
  Decline to Sign I-912
  
  
• Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
  Initiative 912: Don't sign it!
  
  
• 2005 Washington Defense.
  A project of the Northwest Progressive Institute
  DECLINE TO SIGN I-912
  
  
• Fighting Initiative 912

how did we get here?

oh man! this is a great compilation! The Path of War Timeline - By Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane, Raw Story

i loved what randi said today....the reason they always want to talk about the future is they haven't lied yet in the future!

simple scottie in his snippy way dismisses questions...

Q Scott, on another topic, has the President or anyone else from the administration responded to the letter sent last month by Congressman John Conyers and signed by dozens of members of the House of Representatives, regarding the Downing Street memo? Has the President or anyone else responded?
MR. McCLELLAN: Not that I'm aware of.
Q Why not?
MR. McCLELLAN: Why not? Because I think that this is an individual who voted against the war in the first place and is simply trying to rehash old debates that have already been addressed. And our focus is not on the past. It's on the future and working to make sure we succeed in Iraq.
These matters have been addressed, Elaine. I think you know that very well. The press --
Q Scott, 88 members of Congress signed that letter.
MR. McCLELLAN: The press -- the press have covered it, as well.
Q What do you say about them?
Q But, Scott, don't they deserve the courtesy of a response back?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, this has been addressed. Go ahead.

made in America!!!!!

wake up sheeple! the life they have in mind for you is not pretty...... absolute power corrupts absolutely....as my friend Dorothy used to say, "they always tell you who they are" and she claimed it was usually one of the first things they did. now randi always "when they tell you who they are, believe them"

Backbone Campaign has a wealth of info collected.....



Who paid for Tom DeLay’s trips? The more interesting question is why he went to Saipan at all -- and what happened after he returned.
By Garance Franke-RutaIssue Date: 06.06.05


..........And the congressional rules that may yet ensnare DeLay suggest another truism: Congressional ethics operate according to the reverse-sieve effect -- instead of catching major ethical lapses that have injured the public interest for years while allowing piddling matters to slip through unmolested, the system captures small, technical rule violations. When it comes to substance, ethics rules have little to say, because in the strange Beltway calculus of right and wrong, engaging in flagrant acts of ethical turpitude is often known simply as policy making.

and this is how "hot tub tom" the bug man sees indentured workers, forced abortions after being forced to prostitution, living in squallor with no way out........

................."A free market success," DeLay calls Saipan's indentured worker system. If the Republicans take a drubbing at the polls in 2000, however, DeLay shouldn't be surprised if vengeance is in the air, even from his fellow Texas fat cats. Scores of textile plants in cities like El Paso and Dallas have had to shutter their doors in the face of cutthroat competition from companies like those in Saipan.

Ferndale > Pioneer Plaza?

A phone call to the Ferndale Planning Dept. produced the following information about the Pioneer Plaza Mall development:

• The Mall developers representatives have submitted an incomplete S.E.P.A. checklist to the City.
  
• Since there are missing element to the S.E.P.A. checklist and no development plan was submitted along with the checklist (as required) - the permitting process is not progressing.
  
• The Mall developers have met with other authorities (state & fed.) about wetland impact mitigation issues - No details known.
  
• The developers are required to submit a development proposal and have a neighborhood information meeting before the permitting process can go forward.
  
• There will (also) be multiple public meetings/hearings held by the City as part of considering the proposed mall development.
  
• Permits for a Mall development the size of the proposed Pioneer Plaza will not be rubber-stamped... There will be an extensive public process to considering the proposal.

Will we be run over by development?

Coming Soon to Ferndale?

Riverbend rips Friedman a new one!

i love her!!!!

............One thing I found particularly amusing about the article- and outrageous all at once-was in the following paragraph:"Religiously, if you want to know how the Sunni Arab world views a Shiite's being elected leader of Iraq, for the first time ever, think about how whites in Alabama would have felt about a black governor's being installed there in 1920. Some Sunnis do not think Shiites are authentic Muslims, and they are indifferent to their brutalization."Now, it is always amusing to see a Jewish American journalist speak in the name of Sunni Arabs. When Sunni Arabs, at this point, hesitate to speak in a representative way about other Sunni Arabs, it is nice to know Thomas L. Friedman feels he can sum up the feelings of the "Sunni Arab world" in so many words. His arrogance is exceptional. Sunday, May 29, 2005 post.

what is your eco footprint?

this simple little quiz will give you a ball park on how you measure up.

THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN THIS COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
my score was 12. if everyone in the world lived like i do we would need 2.7 planets. oops!

http://ecofoot.org/

Depleted(not)Uranium

What if you knew there was nothing depleted about “depleted uranium? It is the by-product of processing natural uranium. It is 88% as radioactive as the original uranium. We have about 1.5 billion pounds, of "depleted uranium" at H-bomb factories in the US. It is used to make uranium bullets, shells, land mines and regular bombs. As we spread tons of DU in war zones, our troops get a heavy dose and it spreads throughout the world in the atmosphere. Uranium, one of the heaviest elements found in nature, increases in radioactivity as it decays. As we spread more and more of it in Iraq and Afghanistan it will be the “gift that keeps on giving”. The Lonestar Iconoclast has provided some very informative interviews at:
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/xArchives/19_Issue/default.htm
Support Congressman Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) legislation to study the health and environmental impacts from the militaries use of depleted uranium in combat zones and clean-up of sites in the U.S. H. R. 2410 We should demand the truth about what is being done in our name. This is not a partisan issue. Most of us have children and grandchildren. I will let Representative Rick Larsen know I strongly support this legislation. http://www.house.gov/larsen


other links about DU...

Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets
A death sentence here and abroad
by Leuren Moret

“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam”

Vietnam was a chemical war for oil, permanently contaminating large regions and countries downriver with Agent Orange, and environmentally the most devastating war in world history. But since 1991, the U.S. has staged four nuclear wars using depleted uranium weaponry, which, like Agent Orange, meets the U.S. government definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Vast regions in the Middle East and Central Asia have been permanently contaminated with radiation.
full article

Depleted Uranium:The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War
LEUREN MORET /
World Affairs – The Journal of International Issues
1jul04

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The use of depleted uranium weaponry by the United States, defying all international treaties, will slowly annihilate all species on earth including the human species, and yet this country continues to do so with full knowledge of its destructive potential.
full article

Hmmm...Ohio again....

Howard Dean renews call for Bush to return money raised by Noe
By STEVE EDERBLADE STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday charged President Bush with using money during last year's campaign that was "tainted" by Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe, who is being investigated for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars in Ohio money.The prominent Republican gained a special "pioneer" fund-raising status during Mr. Bush's re-election campaign last year because he helped collect $100,000 to $250,000 for the President. But now, Mr. Noe, who has received $50 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation since 1998 to invest in rare coins, could be facing civil and criminal charges for allegedly misappropriating at least $10 million of the state's money.

and the repugs respond.....
"Howard Dean's diatribe today illustrates that the Democrat Party not only lacks leadership but is overflowing with anger. His comment that a lot of Republicans have never made an honest living in their lives makes it clear that Dean's priority is to generate mudslinging headlines rather than engage in substantive debate. The record number of hard working Americans who voted for President Bush prefer leaders who address their concerns as opposed to attack their work ethic."