Archives for September 2013

Congrats to Kathy Best for the job of something between dog shooter’s lackey and important protector of the First Amendment (Seattle Times link).

Kathy Best, a longtime Seattle journalist and a Seattle Times editor for six years, has been named the newspaper’s editor, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen announced Monday.

Best, who most recently has been one of The Times’ two managing editors, begins the new job immediately, Blethen said. She replaces David Boardman, who resigned after 30 years at The Times in August to become dean of Temple University’s School of Media and Communication in Philadelphia.

Before joining The Seattle Times, Best was the assistant managing editor for Sunday and national news at The Baltimore Sun. She had also been assistant managing editor/metro at the St. Louis Post–Dispatch and at the Seattle Post–Intelligencer.

So a few things. 1) It’s possibly inevitable that the news reads like a press release, but it’s still somewhat disappointing. I mean a fair number of Seattle Times pieces about things The Seattle Times likes read like press releases for those things. So, sure. I don’t think The Seattle Times would do a hard hitting thing on their new editor even if there was dirt to be had. (If you have dirt, I’m willing to listen, but I don’t generally care about people’s personal life.)

2) Later in the piece we get this, “Best told the paper’s news staff that with the uncertain future facing the industry, ‘all of us in this room need to stay laser-focused on our mission: producing useful, meaningful, kick-ass journalism that readers can’t get anywhere else.'” I’m not sure that has been their focus but yay for swearing at The Seattle Times, both in the news section and from their new editor. Here’s hoping for more. I assume there will be more “fucks” here on a given week than in the paper in her entire time at the helm, but I’m glad for the swearing.

3) I don’t know enough about her to know if this is a good hire or not, but I’m glad they hired a woman. I don’t know if this will change stories that get covered or how they cover them, but I hope it broadens the lens a bit.

– Happy probably a US Government shutdown because the GOP are horrible day!

– How was your storm experience? Did you see any lightning?

– A lot of ST alerts because of the storm.

– Georgetown and South Park are the Seattle neighborhoods with the worst air.

– (a) Don’t cross the grocery store picket lines. (b) I think we might be able to declare My Northwest’s trolls worse than HA’s. Step it up, you guys.

– Riding a bike (and unmentioned in the piece, but also walking) where there’s Viaduct/Tunnel construction is kind of scary.

– That’s not an education. That’s carefully nurtured stupidity.

Last week’s contest was won by Geoduck. It was the Broadway Bridge in Boulder that saw these floodwaters.

Here’s this week’s contest, a random location somewhere on earth, good luck!

Leviticus 18:17
Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.

Discuss.

ONN: The Week in Review.

The Affordable Care Act is front page news

Why do we have a debt ceiling?

Sam Seder: Former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer can’t count.

Terrorists Attack America!

• Thom: The GOP has now declared Ayn Rand Akbar on America!
• Mark Fiore: Republican Doomsday Cult.
• The G.O.P.’s debt ceiling ransom:
• Bashir: GOP terrorists in mad panic over ObamaCare
• Thom: The GOP officially does not give a rat’s ass about us
• Maddow: The dastard history of government shutdowns.
• Coverage of the G.O.P. hostage crisis
• Young Turks: Government shutdown over G.O.P. wish list.
• Maddow: The House Republicans’ recklessness with U.S. credit

Jon: On Republicans trying to scare Americans over health care (via Crooks and Liars).

White House: West Wing Week.

Young Turks: Wendy Davis to run for Texas Senate.

Jon: One of God’s messengers seems to have it wrong.

Virginia Race:

• Maddow: Cuccinelli(R) losing big to McAuliffe(D) in latest VA polls.
• Ann Telnaes: Cuccinelli claims he’s done the most to protect women’s interests.

Stephen wants in on conservative children’s book racket (via Crooks and Liars).

What’s “normal” when you live in the White House?

Sam Seder: Climate change is at crisis level say scientists.

Mental Floss: 27 drinks made of coffee.

The Ted Cruz Comedy Hour Day:

• Ann Telnaes: Ted Cruz reads Dr. Seuss.
• O’Donnell: Sen. Ted Cruz’s fake, fraudulent Senate filibuster
• Jon on Mr. Cruz
• Young Turks: Carnival Cruz.
• Sam Seder: Ted Cruz misses on his Darth Vader analogy.
• Sam Seder: Ted Cruz misses on Green Eggs and Ham analogy.
• Young Turks: Cruz v. Republicans.
• Ed: Is Ted Cruz the new Sarah Palin?
• Susie Sampson’s Tea Party Report: Ted Cruz for President 2016.
• Ann Telnaes: Ted Cruz stands his ground on Obamacare.
• Sam Seder: Ted Cruz votes for Bill he ‘filibustered’ against for 21 hours.
• Young Turks: “People think Ted Cruz Is crazy”, says Peter King.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: Teabagger ‘stuntman’ Sen. Ted Cruz has surrendered!

Stephen on the return of Crossfire.

Ed: Ken Blackwell’s bizarre theology.

Invalid Arguments: Climate change.

Iran Courtship:

• Obama: About Iran.
• Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter: Is peace with Iran possible?
• The Point: Are the U.S. and Iran ready to negotiate ?
• Sam Seder and Matt Duss: Is the Neocon Dream of War With Iran Over?

Sharpton: Obama cuts down GOP lies on healthcare with remarkable sarcasm.

White House White Board: What ObamaCare means for you:

Sam Seder: Obamacare premiums report show low prices.

Lower premiums: Busting the GOP’s Obamacare ‘Death Panels’ myths.

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

A long time ago, I had a lovely conversation with a lady who explained to me that she would get on the bus at the Free Ride Area, look at what the transfer is for the day and find a matching one. Then she would show that when she got off the bus, and keep showing it the rest of the day. After that, I’ve seen it a few times on the bus, but I never knew what to do about it.

I figured that when they eliminated the Free Ride Area, that would be the end of that. But I’ve seen it again. Now (at least the two times I’ve noticed it since the Free Ride Area went away) people (it might be the same person, it was the same route and I didn’t pay that much attention to them, despite the fact that I’m making a post about it now) pretend to be looking through their bag, and are like “just a minute, just a minute” while they find the right transfer. Since they’re right by the driver, and haven’t done it yet, this would be a better time to say something. Still, I’ve been quiet again. I feel terrible, but I don’t know what saying something would do. And I don’t want to be that guy if it’s someone who maybe can’t afford to take the bus otherwise, and who might be armed.

So should I say something to the driver? Should I call the person out on it, either before they show the transfer, or after? Should I just keep doing nothing? Does anyone else notice those, and what do you do?

Whip your fucking caucus. I mean I’m a Democrat, so the disorder you’ve sewn with your incompetence is usually fun to watch. But now that we’re a few days away from y’all not passing a clean continuing resolution, it’s time to do your job. It’s time to recognize that you are in the majority, so you have an obligation to do the basic stuff to keep the lights on.

I mean when your party was in the minority, you could rant on and on about continuing resolutions and debt ceiling rises, and whatever else it is you rant on and on about. And you could back your temper tantrum up with a vote against them because you knew that the Democrats were going to act like responsible adults and pass these things. Well, now you’ve gerrymandered your way into the majority, despite more people voting for Democrats for the House, so fucking act like you’re in the majority.

Have a vote on the clean resolution and fucking threaten your members who vote against it. Take away their plumb committee assignments. Make them do fundraising in North Dakota in January. Just — and I know this will sound silly — remind them that it’s their fucking job, for God’s sake. And don’t just get enough to squeak by with the support of the Democrats: fucking act responsibly and pass the damn thing with mostly Republican support. It’s your job when you’re in the majority. If you don’t like it, quit.

XXOO

Carl Ballard

It’s still a way from any strike actually happening, but (h/t):

With 98 percent of the votes, grocery store workers in the Puget Sound area authorized a strike on Thursday.

The union members said they’re upset in part over cuts to health care in the latest offer from their employers. The workers added that a strike isn’t imminent; they hope to return to the bargaining table and reach an agreement that addresses their concerns.

I hope that a strike isn’t necessary, but I’ll support them if they do strike. I’m not exactly sure what that means. I guess writing about it and not shopping at striking stores.

– Oh no, there might be housing literally in someone’s back yard.

– On a daily basis, working people in the Beacon Hill community come to that Bank of America to deposit their paychecks and probably to have confusing and infuriating conversations about their accounts and mortgages as well—in a word to get ripped off.

– Ted Cruz doesn’t understand Green Eggs and Ham. That’s over his head. But we should totally take him seriously.

– The Latest Anti-Obamacare Article To Go Viral Is Totally Wrong

– Oh, there’s a sensible treaty that the administration is supporting. Glad the right is freaking the fuck out.

– A mass shooting comic strip template

This is a pretty amazing story about one of the major coal exporters, from Sightline.

Cloud Peak Energy, one of the major coal producers in the Powder River Basin, is doing its very best to sound upbeat about coal exports. In an investor conference call this past July, the company declared that, even though falling international coal prices had eaten into their earnings, their exports were “still profitable overall.”

But a close look at Cloud Peak’s second quarter financial statements suggests a far stranger story: the company’s export division actually made most of its profits from derivatives trading rather than coal. Stripping away the financial-speak, the implications are striking: Cloud Peak’s export arm made at least 10 times more money betting against coal than it did selling coal.

Obviously some of that is reasonable and companies hedge their bets with these sort of financial instruments all the time. And this is one company. But given that they made $2.6 Million betting against coal and $200,000 on coal, it’s one more reason to not build more coal infrastructure as we look toward the future.

My questions are bold, Richard Conlin’s are as submitted.

1) Now that I-502 has passed, what should the purchase of marijuana look like within city limits? Will medical marijuana collective garden storefronts in Seattle have to abide by the 1000-foot rule established by I-502?

Because I-502 and the medical marijuana initiative have some conflicting provisions, we have been working to get legislation that will reconcile them. Senator Kohl-Welles is taking the lead on that, and we believe that the legislature will act early next year. In the meantime, it looks like Seattle will have a couple of dozen storefront licenses under I-502, and those are likely to be the major sources for marijuana. Collective garden storefronts are likely going to have to follow the 1000-foot rule, as the state seems to be emphasizing that in response to the federal government’s request for strict enforcement, but we won’t know until the legislature takes action on the reconciliation legislation.

2) With Metro’s ability to fund itself at the whim of the legislature, what should the city’s role be in public transportation? How should the City Council both make sure we get our fair share, and that the system serves the entire region well?

Thanks to great leadership from Dow Constantine and our hard work building relationships with King County and the suburban cities, we were successful in getting a very good agreement for a fair share of Metro service out of the last negotiations. Our critical goal was to replace the old 40-40-20 rule, which dedicated most new dollars to suburban service, with a more flexible rule based primarily on productivity of routes. I don’t think we need to fear not getting our fair share from Metro at this point, if we can get Metro funding legislation from the legislature. Our major challenge is getting a transportation package from the legislature, and we need to keep the urban-suburban coalition together and find a way to forge a compromise package with the more rational Republicans. A challenge, but it can be done, and our partnership with King County is strong.

The City should continue to push for more investments in public transportation, and the core strategy (in addition to partnership with Metro) should be to prepare possible routes for inclusion in the Sound Transit 3 package, which I am trying to get on the ballot in 2016. Our priorities should be serving Ballard and West Seattle from downtown more effectively and connecting the UDistrict with Ballard. On a regional level, we should be able to complete the light rail spine from Tacoma to Everett, and start filling in light rail routes on the East Side and in South County.

In the short term, our most immediate priority for Seattle is to get a light rail station in the Lynnwood Link DEIS at 130th Street, a decision that the Sound Transit Board will make in October or November. On the City land use side, we should focus on developing a transit oriented development plan for the East Link station at Rainier and I-90.

3) What should the waterfront look like after the Viaduct comes down? Will there be a streetcar or other transit?

The waterfront should be open, accessible, and lively. We must keep the salience of pedestrians at the heart of our planning, and emphasize that this means all pedestrians, which requires using universal design principles to guide decisions. I am disturbed by the width of the proposed roadway, and support looking for ways to reduce it, such as by eliminating one of the two planned access lanes for ferry traffic. Managing a traffic lane to provide additional access at peak times is a better alternative than constructing a second ferry access lane that will be a barrier for pedestrians and not needed at most times.

We must also ensure that the waterfront is activated and safe at all levels. I would like to see a variety of active recreation areas as well as diverse businesses and a design that employs CPTED principles to make this area attractive and accessible for all.

We will have transit along the waterfront, but at this point a bus system appears to be more cost effective than a streetcar. However, no final decision has been made, and will likely not be made for a year or two. A lot depends on whether a streetcar line is developed on First Avenue.

4) What should happen in the next 4 years to make sure that police reform both satisfies the Feds, and works for Seattle citizens?

Seattle has an effective police force that does a good job in protecting public safety. The vast majority of officers are competent and professional. However, there are members of the force who have engaged in practices that have infringed upon individual rights, exercised inappropriate uses of force, and caused severe consequences for members of the public. This is a failure of leadership. While I respect the managers of SPD as individuals, they have not been able to create a system that properly trains, supervises, and assists individuals in the force to carry out their responsibilities without creating these kinds of problems. I see this as a systems failure, that may have been compounded by individuals, but that can only solved by a combination of leadership, effective training, clear lines of supervision, and swift and effective corrective action when necessary.

We must have a strong, effective, and experienced Police Chief who will be able to take charge of the Department and work effectively with all members of the Department as well as City leadership and members of the public. This leader should have extensive management practice in a Department of comparable size and complexity and be ready to implement tools to bring together the strong record of effective policing that is typical of SPD performance with remedies that will create a system of accountability and oversight that will be fair, transparent, and effective in preventing further problems in the future.

We are moving towards resolving the issues in the DOJ report through adopting new procedures for training and operations that will guide police officers in the future. With implementation of these procedures by the right kind of leadership and organizational structure, we can restore the confidence of the public in the force, effectively protect public safety, and satisfy the DOJ.

5) A recent study found Seattle is the worst of the 50 largest US metro areas in terms of pay equality for women. Why do you think that’s the case, and what is the city’s role in closing that gap?

We have been analyzing the data in detail, and now have very good information about the City’s own work force. It turns out that in the City there is very little pay inequality within job classifications; the primary source of difference lies in the predominance of men in jobs that are higher paying (in fact there are slightly more job titles in which women are paid more than men than ones where men are paid more than women). We can solve this in two ways:

First, by reevaluating the pay scales to ensure that we are in fact appropriately valuing work that is predominantly done by women. For example, we should ask why truck drivers are paid a higher wage than child care workers. This pattern consistently undervalues work traditionally done by women, and reevaluating job descriptions will reduce much of the disparity.

Second, we should redouble our efforts to ensure that women are more fairly represented in positions that are high paying, such as management and technology jobs. We can do this partly by consciously seeking out women for these positions, but we must also support ways to increase the supply of women in these job categories by working with the educational system to attract women to scientific and technical careers, and by looking at ways to structure jobs to provide the kind of flexibility that women are more likely to seek than men (such as flexible schedules and other arrangements that make it easier to have and raise children).

We suspect that the pattern in the private sector is similar to that in the City, and as a City we should work with the private sector to make similar changes, and consider regulatory approaches where those are appropriate.

Please join us for an evening of politics under the influence at tonight’s meeting of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm, but some people stop by earlier to eat before the political melee begins.

Can’t make it tonight? Check out another one of the other Washington state DLs over the next week. The Tri-Cities chapter meets tonight and every Tuesday night. The Bellingham and Burien chapters meet on Wednesday, and the Woodinville chapter meets on Thursday.

With 208 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– No matter what, the GOP will complain about welfare.

– Half of Seattle residents don’t drive alone to work. So, you know, let’s cut Metro or whatever.

– A Rising Tide Lifts Mostly Yachts

– If you invite NRA spokespeople on your air, you are responsible for the bullshit they spew.

– Keep in mind that in both cases, the prisoners were railroaded for political reasons which these governments now find politically difficult to reverse. Very exceptional indeed.

– “Oh hey, there are a lot of open seats in the back of the bus. Why don’t I just stop here in the first third and stand here blocking the aisle.” ~ The guy in front of me, apparently.

– Private hospitals offer better service to people who can afford it therefore something something Obama!

Today the Seattle Mayor’s office and King County Executive released their budgets. I haven’t had much of a chance to delve into them yet, but so far they look nice. According to Anna Minard, in Seattle:

The proposed budget is $4.4 billion, of which $1 billion is in the general fund. The mayor turned to the council and recalled the bloodbath of cuts they’ve all had to oversee the last few years, and seems to be relishing in the fact that he finally gets to have a fun budget. His proposed budget funds more cops, senior centers, homeless services, domestic violence services, gender pay equity, an empowerment institute for refugee women, a ton of traffic and pedestrian safety improvements around schools, more neighborhood matching funds, universal preschool planning, road maintenance, kittens, free pot for everyone, and a new bike for you! And you! And YOU! (Just checking to see if you’re still reading.)

I don’t smoke, so I’ll pass on the free pot, but I could use a new bike and a kitty as long as it’s already in the budget. All of the non-joke things seem like good ideas.

According to this press release from King County, that budget includes:

• A $500,000 Catalyst Fund to lead the transformation of the regional health and human service system from reactive crisis response to proactive preventive strategies and services. These one-time funds are intended to kick start the best new ideas and advances, attract other investments and revenue sources, and lead to better outcomes, particularly in the treatment of those with mental health and addiction issues.
• A two-year Regional Veterans Initiative to embark upon the first-ever comprehensive mapping of the labyrinth of federal, state and local services for veterans. Programs and community agencies would be connected to a King County Veteran Services Network so that vets seeking services can immediately be directed to the right program, and all agencies can use the same assessment and screening tools. The project is funded with $388,000 from the voter-approved Veterans and Human Services Levy.
• Support for the community-wide campaign to enroll 180,000 uninsured adults who will become newly eligible for free or low-cost health coverage on October 1 under the Affordable Care Act – connecting them to effective preventive care early, rather than expensive treatment later.

Among other solid spending. Of course there’s a long way to go between this and City/County Council approval. But as the great recession ends, it’s nice to see proposed budgets that aren’t all pain.