OlyScoop

Oly-Scooped

2006-01-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should take the name of this blog out of active voice.

Last year, I had fun commenting on the Legislative session and, occasionally, being a couple hours ahead of the MSM on breaking stories, most particularly Ed Murray's HB 1515, which would add "sexual orientation" to a list of protected classes of people in hopes of preventing discrimination in employment, lending and housing.

Well, it should be no secret by now that HB 1515 will pass this session, perhaps getting 30 or more votes in the 49-member Senate.

I've let myself be scooped on the Jim West scandal, the monorail funding debacle, and other stories, too. But so have reporters who knew almost as much as I did; some knew and could confirm far more. What with the New York Times withholding the information about the domestic spying for 14 months, I'm not about to beat myself up. I may, however, try to call some familiar reporters and editors to their better angels when I see sins of omission or travesties of justice being committed.

Truth is, I never intended the blog to be a place for breaking news. I just liked the name, which I ripped from a West Wing episode -- the one where Assistant to the Deputy Chief of White House staff Donna Moss almost accepts a job for an online news company called "CapitolScoop.com" (a URL actually registered by Warner Bros. -- cool, huh?).

So, I've been dark for many months now. But now the Legislature is back in session. Game on, as they say. Barring commitments to family and job -- and the reliability of my computer -- I'll try to write occasionally here, even if it's only to tell you where the truly great or interesting reading is.

If you don't expect much, well then, I bet I can deliver for you.

Fix a template?

2006-01-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

So this silly blogger template pushes down every post but the very top one. Why? It didn't start doing that until April and I had not changed the template code when it did. Can you help me fix it?
olyscoop(at)gmail.com

New media blogs

2005-07-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Both KING 5 TV in Seattle and The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., have launched extensive blog sites this month. Take a look and participate, if you're so inclined.

KING 5 blog-"Blogger KING"

The Columbian blogs

Interview with Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown

2005-06-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

Please check out Evergreen Politics where contributor Lynn Allen recently interviewed Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

Volunteer to stop I-912

2005-06-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Crossposted at the NW Progressive Institute blog

To help stop the shortsighted Initiative 912 and the disinformation campaign that will stifle our economic recovery and put our loved ones at risk, volunteer today!

Contact the Keep Washington Rolling volunteer coordinator at keepwashingtonrolling@gmail.com.

Want cities and counties to fix potholes on your street?
Say NO to I-1912.

Want Eastern Washington cherry and apple orchard owners to get their fruit to market before it rots?
Say NO to I-912.

Want 157 bridges throughout Washington to be seismically retrofitted to prevent them from toppling in an earthquake?
Say NO to I-912.

After months of study and much compromise to address the state's most pressing transportation hazards, a statewide transportation package was passed with bipartisan support in both chambers of the Legislature this year. The prudent and publicly accountable package gives funding to local governments to address road safety in your neighborhood. It also targets the most dangerous bridges and stretches of highway across the state to help prevent needless highway deaths that are mounting while a disinformation campaign belches out deceitful taxophobic rhetoric that could stop the state's economic recovery in its tracks.

Business leaders, communities, labor and environmental groups all know that we can no longer wait to address the deteriorating roads and highways that are the arteries of Washington's economic lifeblood.

The 2005 Transportation Package was created and passed by both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers who took their cues from the biggest state employers down to the nonprofit groups most concerned with preventing traffic fatalities. Washington can't afford to wait.

"If we don't fix it, we'll have an economic heart attack. The longer we wait, the more it will cost in the long run."

--Steve Mullin, Chairman of the Washington Roundtable, a cooperative of CEOs representing the state's largest employers.

Get more information at www.keepwashingtonrolling.org or www.washingtondefense.org.

Docuticker

2005-06-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been getting the Resource Shelf newsletter for months, but only have time to peruse it. I had no idea I was missing this gold mine of searchable information compiled by the folks at ResourceShelf.com.

Anybody with any wonkish predilections in them should check out www.docuticker.com

Hope you like it as much as I do.

still sleeping

2005-05-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks. I've just been too busy lately to blog at all. I had expected to put this blog into a carbonite deep freeze for a while, but I didn't even get around to that.

I've been going around on you all, I admit, getting my writing fix somewhere else.

Anyway, I'll be down for a while. If I come back up for air or something more important, I promise to alert the usual suspects in the PNW progressive blogosphere.

thuggery

2005-05-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

The biggest open secret for a decade in Olympia is no longer a secret. Spokane Mayor, former Senate Majority Leader and big-time Washington state power broker is a homosexual.

I'm shocked! Shocked, I say, to find out there are closeted gay Republicans.

To those who have roamed the halls of the Legislative Building hearing publically that Jim West is gay is like finding out marble is a hard surface.

Further, those who have worked on Democratic strategy campaigns know that Jim West was a former Boy Scout leader linked to molesting young boys, so hearing allegations that West is a predatory pedophile is as surprising as hearing Republicans calling for lower taxes.

To plugged-in partisan insiders, all of today's news really comes as no surprise, except for perhaps West's Web site lurking and his alleged quid pro quos.

Frankly, I'm amazed millions of newspaper readers didn't read between the lines years ago when West and arch-conservative Sen. Pam Roach clashed on issues of leadership style. People, that clash was over issues of "lifestyle" as much as anything else.

With zingy headline words like "molest" and "gay," it's easy to lose sight of what has really developed today. What should not be missed, however, is the tainted legacy of Jim West, including the lies he utters presently about finding faith in God during his battle with cancer. He is now and always has been a bully. He's a total unrepentant thug. He is domineering and he is uncompromising. He's even, as a point of fact, above the law and won't be prosecuted for his past crimes, just as he wasn't charged or tried for threatening the life of BIAW head Tom McCabe in 1998.

But -- finally -- he's no longer immune from the terror he wrought for years as the No. 1 thug of the Washington State Legislature. Whatever he has said today -- or e-mailed to his staff -- his days in office and in the Evergreen State are numbered. What you WILL NOT see in the coming days are old political allies rallying to his defense. It won't happen for the memories. They are stark and lasting. For years, West has ruled out of fear, not fairness. He has repeatedly bent and broken his political friends while hanging out to dry his political enemies, including the sitting Governor who netted billions for the state's bottom line (and his own budget plans) with the federal tobacco settlement when she was state Attorney General.

Goodbye, Jim West. And good riddance.

(Aside to former West aide and unelected state Sen. Brian Murray: How glad are you today that you LOST your primary election bid. Breathing a big sigh of relief, aren't you?)

It's a bunch of Krapp.

2005-05-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

"Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe I was ever as bad as that. Thank God that's all done with anyway."

Beckett, 1957.

I had to laugh today when I found out the "upgrades" at Classmates.com actually kicked my bio information off-line because it violated the terms of service.

Just in time, too. I had pasted the quote from this play on my Classmates.com info back in 2001. When I posted it, I was just trying to be obscure and offer some literate folks a cautionary tale on the dangers of hubris and the risks of favoring passive intellectualism over progressive action. How funny that four years later the software has finally been upgraded to the point that a ubiquitous Web site has finally prohibited me from alluding to calling myself a bastard in the past tense.

So it seems I have not offered a cautionary tale on tragic flaw of hubris. Instead, I've unintentionally put forth a cautionary tale about the hegemony of standards-based software that removes reasoned human judgment from measuring acceptable speech.

I think Beckett would appreciate that even more, frankly.

busy, busy, busy

2005-04-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've been very happily too busy to discuss at the length the issues of the legislative session in the past two days. I will try to give a look back later this week, certainly before the weekend, before I cease posting to this blog regularly.

In the meantime, please check out the impressive feature improvements at Pacific Northwest Portal and click the links to see what others are saying about the 2005 Legislature.

Don't forget to check Blue Washington in the next few days as it assesses lawmakers' work for constituents in the past year.

Press clippings on the close of the 2005 Washington Legislative Session

2005-04-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

The usual overachievers in Olympia working for the AP, Times, P-I, Olympian, and Spokesman-Review have already started filing the first draft of history on the 2005 Washington Legislative Session.

What was really great, I thought, was the comprehensive coverage, interviews, and wrap-up of TVW that interspersed live interviews, taped interviews, press conferences and live shots of celebrating lawmakers as they closed up shop under the dome.

The AP Capitol Bureau converges for a fine wrap-up of issues that were raised, including some that faltered, this session.

The Seattle Times also obliges.

The AP's David Ammons, dean of the Capitol Bureau with 34 sessions under his belt, dubs it a Democrat-dominated session reminding readers of some 11th hour tactics by the GOP that failed to make the majority party flinch.

The AP's Rebecca Cook checks in on Gov. Gregoire who held a press conference with House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown after the gavels came down.

Look here over the next couple days to see if Spokesman-Review reporter/blogger Rich Roesler has anything snarky to say about the legislative wrap-up, but he's probably busy filing right now.

Finally tonight, The Olympian's Capitol Bureau team tag-teams for a narrative review.

More to come Monday, to be sure.

Sine die

2005-04-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

The Legislature is shutting down for 2005. Retrospectives coming soon.

Transportation bill passes on final day of session.

2005-04-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

By a 54-43 vote in the House, the Legislature is finishing business on time for the people of Washington and ensuring that safely moving people and products around our region will be a high-priority for the next few years. BTW, the legislation will also put thousands of people -- engineers, traffic planners, construction workers, etc.-- to work on transportation projects around the state.

The largely bipartisan support came from Puget Sound-area Democrats, but also from Republicans hailing from Cle Elum, Richland, Selah, and Yakima in the cradle of Washington's agricultural wonderland. Those Representatives appear to know that shipping apples, grapes, wheat, hops, and so much more means the roads must safely support the ever-increasing amount of exports.

Inexplicably voting against the package is sophomore-ic Republican Jay Rodne of Snoqualmie who was appointed to his seat last year and mustered just 52% of the votes in his district in the November election. The fresh-faced Rodne had never spent a day at the state Capitol before he was appointed to his seat (which was a result of "musical chairs" started when Dino Rossi resigned his Senate seat) and he still, apparently, fails to understand that inherent in "representative democracy" is representing the best interests of constituents and the people of the state (you know, those folks who rely heavily on agricultural and technological product exports to work, buy homes, and feed their families). There are about six accredited universities with superior political science and history colleges along the much-traveled routes between Olympia and Snoqualmie. Maybe Jay Rodne can stop off to take a few remedial courses on his way back home Monday.

(NWPT40)

Legislature misses self-imposed Passover deadline

2005-04-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Lawmakers were trying to respect observers of Passover to finish legislative business by sundown today, but were unable to do so. Instead, they'll return Sunday to work on transportation and some other lingering issues. I'll be around tomorrow to post some retrospective and analysis on the 2005 Session.

Sorry to have been mostly out of touch for the past couple days. I've been spending time in the sunshine with my children and was in Seattle Friday night to see the brilliant Mr. Bill Moyers. He was a captivating speaker and I'll try to sum up his speech tomorrow.

For those of discriminating taste...

2005-04-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

We all learned an awful lot in the past 24 hours about the bill that came up one vote short in the Washington state Senate. Lots of interesting news on this touchy subject.

The AP roundup of the event unfolding:

The Seattle Times' review and interviews with the lawmakers who purloined a chance for equality under the law and those most affected by the failure this year.

The Seattle P-I editorial that reaches a conclusion similar to mine from yesterday.

The Microsoft and Evangelical Christian side of the equation.
Seattle Times
New York Times
The Stranger

And really good blogging that I sense will just be the tip of the iceberg.

Columbian Watch
Horse's Ass
Evergreen Politics
Washington State Political Report

(NWPT39)

Discrimination is still legal

2005-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the Senate leaders pulled off an amazing feat to bring HB 1515 to the floor to make folks vote on it. The result: discrimination is still perfectly legal in Washington. The bill failed by one vote with two conservative Democratic Senators joining every Republican opposing the measure.
So, keep in mind, discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation (gay, straight, committed to chastity, or what have you) is still legal, but that doesn't mean it's fashionable.
Many Western Washington Republicans who voted for the bill are out of step with their constituents on this issue. They include former Whatcom County Sheriff Dale Brandland of Bellingham; former state GOP chair Don Benton of Vancouver; Mike Carrell of Lakewood, Bob Oke of Gig Harbor (who will not seek re-election next year); former gubernatorial candidate Pam Roach; Dave Schmidt of Shohomish County; Val Stevens of Arlington; Dan Swecker of rural Thurston County; and former Congressional candidate and unemployment compensation abuser Joe Zarelli of rural Clark County.

But the two most obvious examples of spitting in the face of their constituents are the Senate Minority leaders Bill Finkbeiner and Luke Esser of the Eastside suburbs. Their position and parlimentary maneuvers in the past two years to sideline this bill have embodied the antithesis of representative democracy. Voters will do well to remember their disservice in the 2006 elections.

Back with a vengeance. Maybe.

2005-04-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Watch the Senate floor calendar today for a possible re-emergence of House Bill 1515, the bill which prevents discrimination because of sexual orientation.

I won't be able to update this for a few hours, but I'll post what I find out later this evening.

Friends in peculiar places

2005-04-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

With Washington's legislative session drawing to a close (late Saturday is the latest buzz), the OlyScoop blog will be drawing down and decreasing emphasis on political issues of the day. It's been a decent 100 days in Olympia with many smart, targeted spending measures now seemingly in the clear, including a major boost to education construction thanks to two of my favorite lawmakers who chair the Capital Budget committees in their respective chambers. The transportation package and general budget need to be quickly resolved. Their unfortunate intermingling is nettlesome in the waning days of the 2005 session.

This blog started off as an exercise to write almost every day, a chance to learn more about publishing to the Web, and a way to amuse some friends and former colleagues. Unlike other regional blogs, OlyScoop has a fairly intransitory and largely silent readership. Virtually nobody submits comments, though more than a few have shot me angry e-mails on various subjects. It probably shouldn't surprise readers to find out that the No. 1 Internet domain of OlyScoop visitors is wa.gov and a great portion of those visitors come by between noon and 1:30 p.m. when committee meetings are seldom scheduled (yes, I'm watching you even as you're watching me).

OlyScoop turned into something I could not have expected. It drew the attention from some unexpected places, including some bloggers with high national profiles, and -- queerly, I think -- got respect from folks who are far more skilled at their chosen craft of writing than I am. For me, that was high praise. I deeply appreciate their graciousness.

You might have noticed that over the past few months that I have seldom covered the gubernatorial election on OlyScoop.com. Well, there's a few reasons for that. I thought the issue was well represented in most of the regional newspapers and by blogging brothers-in-arms around the state. Also, I confess, I voted for Rossi.

No, it's not what you think. In close quarters, Rossi is an almost wholly unpleasant man. He is partisan to the core (for instance, he's not honest with "values conservatives" about his views on gambling revenues) and is an associate of criminals. I voted for Rossi as a symbolic protest to some of the political appointees in Olympia that I thought were not serving the state well, even though I probably get the same direct mail leaflets as they do every other October. I also had a decent polling information by Nov.2 (I love voting at the polls and bring my registration card and picture ID because it's a principle for me even though I would not deign to force my principles on others) that Democrats would win back the Senate and increase their lead in the House. I also heard that Gregoire would win handily with a Kerry-led surge in Washington. The Gregoire information wasn't so great, it turned out, but, again, my protest was purely symbolic and only for me personally.

After all the twists and turns of the recounts, the changeovers at state agencies resulted in what I would have wanted anyway, so I am ashamed of my petulant selfishness to vote against the present governor who -- complain about victory margins and leadership style all you want -- is a pretty darn good fit idealogically for Washington state.

I have to go now, but I did want to extend sincere thanks to the friends I've encountered online since January. Many of you have been unduly and irrepressibly kind, and the intelligence inhabiting so many of you makes me increasingly optimistic for the future of Washington. I'll be back around in the next few days to close out the session with all of you readers. After that, however, it's probably time for my tacky nom-de-blog to drown in an inkwell.

As ever,

OlyScoop

The right -- as in 'correct' -- thing to say today

2005-04-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Sierra Club has issued a release thanking longtime Republican (and more recently Independent) Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont for his years of steadfast service.

In a world where so-called special interests from across the political spectrum are intent on bullying or buying elected officials to foist their narrow agendas on others, the Sierra Club stops and takes a moment to thank and honor a fine public servant for his years of respecting his constituents and standing up for principle despite issues of disagreement that intervened during his Senate tenure.

Jeffords, 70, had insisted until recently that he would run for re-election next year, but some have raised concerns about his health. Here's wishing that the Honorable Mr. Jeffords has a long and rewarding retirement and continues to contribute to the political conversation in Vermont and in the other Washington. We would all be the better for it.

Now, if only we could get Sens. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Lincoln Chaffee (and maybe even John McCain?) to join the Senate's Independent caucus that is being vacated by Jeffords.

Blue Washington

2005-04-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure last week to meet with the brains and the grace (conveniently contained in a single person) behind the new Web log, Blue Washington. The new site just came online last week, but is already sporting some great news, features, and links. Blue Washington is a thoughtful site that showcases its author's rounded understanding of Washington politics and state political history while exposing the extreme positions of some of those in power. It respectfully calls for moderation in fiscal and social policy.

The only thing I have to complain about is that in a matter of a week, the site already looks and reads much better than my mish-mash at OlyScoop.com.

Please check out Blue Washington and tell your friends about it. It promises to be a clearinghouse for the sentiments of pragmatic progressives across the Pacific Northwest and a great contributor to the political discussion that idealizes truly representative government and the spirit of negotiating compromise so that all Washingtonians are better served by elected officials.

P-I weighs in on Initiative 601

2005-04-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Seattle P-I today writes the obituary for Initiative 601, an impractical and dated measure that has been changed eight times by lawmakers in both parties since it narrowly passed in 1993, a year of extremely low voter turnout.

Comcast all better

2005-04-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

No more service hiccups from Comcast, according today's Seattle Times.
Whew.

Transportation package at crossroads

2005-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Seattle, Washington: State Route 520 Bridge

At the heart of Seattle's traffic congestion is SR 520 -- one of Puget Sound's major arteries for transporting people and goods. One of the oldest floating bridges in the world, the SR 520 Evergreen Point Bridge is at the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced for the safety of the traveling public. If this bridge were to suffer a seismic failure, travel time between downtown Seattle and Redmond would nearly double from an average of 33 minutes to 55 minutes.

Is that preceding graf partisan shilling for a statewide transportation package that includes a gas tax increase? Nope. It's the analysis of the nonpartisan American Automobile Association that puts the Puget Sound in the top areas nationally desperately in need of relief from traffic congestion. See for yourself.

Today is the day the Senate may vote on a statewide transporation improvement package to help reduce commute times, aid in getting the goods to port that sustain Washington's economic vitality, and create safer highways that might just help save the lives of folks you know and love.

It's not a done deal, however. This Seattle P-I editorial details how the package might be derailed and P-I reporter Chris McGann has this break down.

More news is posted at the Northwest Progressive Institute blog.

(NWPT40)

I'm perfectly sane. Everyone else, however, is insane and trying to steal my magic bag.

2005-04-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Comcast's broadband service has been driving me bananas! I'd already cleaned up my hard drive, removed tons of unused software, re-set the cable modem, and closed all extraneous applications and extensions. Still, my broadband service was totally unreliable and entirely maddening for the not-so-modest price of $46 per month before taxes.

I called Comcast three times last week. Each time, my call was placed into the "hold" queue for several minutes -- paying each time for peak minutes on my cell phone -- before I was unceremoniously disconnected after a droning message stated "We cannot complete your call at this time."

I'm glad to know the problem is on the Comcast end. At least, I'll know that I shouldn't be beating the crap out of my computer. I should be beating the crap out of 1500 Market Street in Philadelphia. Maybe, I'll pay Philly-native Goldy to hire his relatives to commit some creative graffiti over yonder way.

BTW, here's credit where it's due for the subject line on this post.

NW Progressive Institute Blog

2005-04-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that some really intelligent folks -- and also OlyScoop -- post news and analysis frequently at the NW Progressive Institute blog, which is a great starting place to access Pacific Northwest Portal for a roundup of news and information affecting our beautiful region.

Digby on political blogs

2005-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

I've been writing a blog post on the effect of political blogs, the rise and fall of Jeff Gannon, and the impact of self-published pundits for the past couple days. I still haven't had time to finish it with items creeping up on my calendar and 1040 forms to fill out.

In the meantime, please read what Digby of the Hullaballoo blog has to say about blogging "Insiders vs. Outsiders."

Let them eat bombs

2005-04-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

A co-director of one of the best feature films in motion-picture history writes in The Guardian newspaper Tuesday with revelations that what he views as an international orgy of cruelty is not having its intended effects. He sarcastically calls it a "bitter blow" to those -- like him -- of a special sadistic ilk.

A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now.

This, of course, comes as a bitter blow for all those of us who, like George Bush and Tony Blair, honestly believe that children thrive best when we drop bombs on them from a great height, destroy their cities and blow up hospitals, schools and power stations.

Please read the whole thing here.

WaPo states in plainly

2005-04-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

"Repeal the Gay Ban" is the headline on today's Washington Post editorial page, and this passage should hit even the most passionate conservative where it hurts most -- in the wallet.

The military wastes a lot of money making sure that gay soldiers are either deeply closeted or ex-soldiers. According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, the services have spent $190 million recruiting and training replacements for gay service members kicked out during the past 10 years. More than 750 of the 9,488 men and women discharged from the military during that time, moreover, "held critical occupations"; many had training in languages important to the war on terrorism. The gay ban, in other words, is as self-defeating as it is demeaning to people who want to serve their country at a time of great need. It is long past time for it to go.

GA head does Capitol Chat today

2005-04-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

New General Administration head Linda Villegas Bremer, who recently replaced Rob Fukai, will be on The Olympian's Capitol Chat at noon today. She's another Gov. Gregoire appointee who is moving up in the Capitol hierarchy following private sector experience.

Submit questions in advance here or join the discussion from noon to 1 p.m. at this link.

Dubya's iPod

2005-04-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has some fun with the content of the president's iPod, which was a gift from his twin daughters.

Charlie Daniels, Britney Spears, and Fuel are conspicuous by their absence from George W. Bush's iPod. Them folks loves the Dubya. So does that pensive statesman Ted Nugent.

Instead, John Fogerty, the guy who sang "Fortunate Son" is on Dubya's iPod, because he wrote a song about baseball that was heard at many a Texas Rangers game when Dubya owned 10 percent of the team.

Here's what a spokesman said about the present president's musical tastes: "if any president limited his music selection to pro-establishment musicians, it would be a pretty slim collection."

Uh, hello? Where were you in 2004?

Hundreds of musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Green Day, NOFX, R.E.M., James Taylor, John Mellencamp, and even Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, and Death Cab for Cutie from our little corner of the world were pretty darn clear about their choice to win the presidency. It wasn't Dubya.

I drive a Corolla -- but you probably already knew that

2005-04-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to have missed this story that published April 1, but which was not an April Fool's joke. Well, it wasn't intended as such anyway.

The story is written by the co-author of one of my favorite books, and his voice comes through brightly in the article.

The thrust of the article is that you may be able to determine the political leanings of drivers by looking at the car they're in. That's because American-brand pickups in the heartland sport bumper stickers for conservative candidates. Import compacts in coastal states are more likely to be green-leaning or true Democratic blue. Both scientific and unscientific research has led to the perhaps obvious conclusion that politically minded people can be stereotyped on the political spectrum by the kind of car they drive. There's some chatter about the article and what it reflects in this forum (but don't be thrown off by the cheeky URL).

I drive a Corolla and many of my progressive-minded friends drive Camrys, Accords, or CR-Vs. It's easy, frankly, in Olympia's constrained Capitol Campus parking lots to figure out the political affiliations of drivers because hundreds of lawmakers and staff members sport stickers with their own name or that of their boss. Or one of the two major 2004 presidential candidates. In my very unscientific observation, I'd say the trends from the story are even more magnified in the Capitol parking lots. Republican Sen. Jerome Delvin, for instance, drives a humongous pickup and a lobbyist who once worked for Democratic Governor Booth Gardner drives a sleek, later-model Volvo.

Last time I had a political bumper sticker was in 1992. It simply stated "Clinton-Gore '92" on my Mazda 323, but I also had a Fugazi sticker on that car, which, if you think about it, is kind of a hawkish Republican word.

I haven't sported bumper stickers on my rides for the past decade, but I still always take note of the best. Many good ones are listed here and here and here. But my favorites in recent years have been "These aren't the droids you're looking for" and "More Cowbell," which are both obscure references lifted from major cultural phenomenons.

W-E-E-K-E-N-D, spells weekend

2005-04-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

W-E-E-K-E-N-D is actually a song that deejay Bill Reid of 96.5 FM K-Rock plays occasionally on Fridays. You can listen to a clip here in Windows Media format.

Anyway, this post marks me signing off for a bit. For the past couple days, Blogger, Gmail, and Comcast's broadband ISP have been causing me and countless others many technical-issue headaches. I kept trying to make things work, but felt how Charlie Brown must have felt when he tried to placekick that football that Lucy held for him.

I won't deal with the technical problems now. I'm posting this and then I'm signing off for the weekend most likely.

I'll return next week at OlyScoop.com and as a guest blogger for the Northwest Progressive Institute blog at www.nwprogressive.org/weblog while the team members there are on vacation (NPI Chair Andrew will be in my old stomping grounds of Northern California -- wish him safe and pleasant travels).

Have a fine weekend, everybody!

The Schiavo memo roundup

2005-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Lots of chat these days about the Republican-authored memo that advocated all GOP faithful jump on the bandwagon to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case. Here's what I wrote when the memo circulated. And here's a roundup of some of the best info. and perspectives I've found so far.

Media Matters for America

David Neiwert's Orcinus blog

Torrid Joe of the AlsoAlso blog

Billmon of The Whiskey Bar blog

Goldy of Horse's Ass blog

Talk Left blog

America Blog

Daily Show wins Peabody Award

2005-04-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

There's no way I can improve upon Carla's score card at Preemptive Karma -- which references both Al Franken's famous book and O'Reilly's Daily Show appearance (Real Player) -- so I'll just say that I'm very pleased for Jon Stewart and that terrific show.

"There is genuine concern..."

2005-04-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

Once again, truth is stranger than fiction.

Bull Moose Blog recently used parody to craft a fictional Karl Rove memo about ousting House Majority Leader "Bug Man" Tom DeLay from Congress, but the humorous prophecy appears as if it's being borne ou t in the Beltway and in the press.

For a pointed critique of the state's economic climate, ask a ...

2005-04-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

... Webmaster?

I really like this column that uncovers (and slays) the lies of the Association of Washington Business with their dishonest recent news release.

But, c'mon, it's a weird headline, no matter what you think of the column content. Right?

Webmaster blasts AWB for exploiting layoffs: "Shame on you"

UPDATE: The headline has been changed:

AWB exploitation of Kent call-center layoffs is "shameful"

miracle of apathy

2005-04-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I laughed at this. But it still made me simulataneously angry. If we don't care what crimes the powers that be commit, then who will?

"I'm just like Luke Skywalker, trying to get out of the Death Star."
John McCain in Saginaw, Michigan, 2000.

skullduggery

2005-04-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

Man, I wish I had used the word skullduggery yesterday. That's a bona fide Monty Burns word. You really have to read this editorial piece in Thursday's Sea P-I about the sleaze in the Senate this week and the aghast right-wing House member who can't believe there are actually folks further to the extreme right of her.

(NWPT34)

We Shell not Exxonerate

2005-04-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

Kevin of the superb blog Preemptive Karma points us to this tasty tidbit, while I'd like to point out that gasoline prices today hit another record high.

Blogging your way to the bottom

2005-04-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

CNN.com today runs a story from CareerBuilder.com about blogging at work. Some revelations within include that 6 of 10 Internet users don't know what a blog is.

It also contains a bunch of friendly advice for blogging worker-bees whose bosses or former bosses don't know or don't like that workers maintain a blog. Since that's not my situation, I just offer it as food for thought.

Parliamentary maneuver of whores

2005-04-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Two conservative Democrats teamed with Senate Republicans Tuesday to once again derail the cause of equal rights in Washington state. Deja vous all over again.

It's was yet another despicable 11th hour move to kill the bill, this year called HB 1515. Please read the linked Sea P-I story that includes the comments of minority Republican leader Bill Finkbeiner. His maneuver last year killed more than 100 bills, including many supported by the GOP, on the final Friday of the 2004 session when he refused to let his Senate vote.

Please bear in mind that the HB 1515 has NOTHING TO DO WITH GAY MARRIAGE, whether you support it or not. It simply adds two words to the body of state law that says discrimination is illegal because of a person's "sexual orientation" -- be it straight, gay, or other.

What we saw Tuesday was obstructionist government at its worst. While there may exist times to slow down government this is not one of those times. This bill is straightforward (it adds just two words to state law!), has been around for more than a decade, gotten thousands of inches of press coverage with many banner headlines, and is well known to all, including suburban Republicans who are most scared of it. They don't want voters to know if they're worth an ounce of spit when it comes to representing their constituents.

The bill should come to a vote -- up or down. ALL of our elected officials owe it to those who pay them to take a public stand on this issue and then rapidly move on to other important matters of legislating for the people.

Here's some really great recent blogging on this important issue.

On the Road to 2008

WashBlog

Northwest Progressive Institute

Washington State Political Report

Columbian Watch

And here's a roundup of the coverage that most Northwest residents are hearing about today.

Sea Times: 2 Democrats help Senate GOP throw gay-rights bill off track

Sea P-I: Senate thwarts gay-rights bill

AP: Supporters of gay rights bill not giving up hope just yet

Spokane S-R (subscription): Gay civil rights bill sent to likely death

NWCN (incl. KING and KGW TV): Gay civil rights bill derailed in Washington Senate

(NWPT34)

Flame me, shame me, hate me, berate me -- because I'm a flaming hetero

2005-04-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a boy who likes girls, so if somebody tells me ...

You can't borrow money from my bank. I'm calling in your loans and credit.
You can't live here or anywhere owned by me or my friends. Pack up your stuff and move your kids to new schools.
You can't work here. You're fired because I don't care about the high quality of your work. You're just unqueer, and that's just uncool.
You can't worship here. God hates straights, and so do I.

... all of the comments and life-destroying effects are totally legal today because there is no law protecting people based on their sexual orientation and that's unlikely to change this year because of a couple conservative Democratic state senators and some pretty disgusting political maneuvering for the second-straight year.

It's so freakin' crazy that we still live in this state that allows this state of affairs. Please, please, please people educate yourself. Start here and here and here.

For an extended discussion on TVW's Inside Olympia listen to the Windows Media or Real Player audio from March 9.

(NWPT34)

WA Senate sets back equal rights in Washington

2005-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

The Washington State Senate just set back the cause of equal rights for all, including gays, in our state. More updates on OlyScoop.com soon. In the meantime, here is the statement issued by HB 1515 sponsor Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle.

Rep. Ed Murray's statement regarding Senate action taken on Anti-Discrimination Bill

Actions taken by Senate temporarily stalls Anti-discrimination Bill

Olympia --Taking the state backwards in regards to civil rights, the Senate today took action to delay the Anti-Discrimination bill (HB1515).

Below is a statement from Rep. Ed Murray (D-Seattle).

"I'm disappointed that parliamentary procedures were used in an attempt to stop the Anti-Discrimination Bill, a bill that would pass if given an opportunity for a full vote before the Senate.

The actions taken today are stall tactics against a bill that is seeking to ensure that principles of fairness and justice are available to everyone under the law.

Supporters of the bill knew this sort of parliamentary maneuvering was possible. This will not stop our efforts. We believe we are right, a majority of Washington citizens agree with us, and in the end, a majority of Senators will as well.

This bill is long past due. Today a person who happens to be gay or lesbian can lose their job or be denied a house just because of who they are. We can no longer allow these injustices to occur and must protect everyone from discrimination in all its forms."

(NWPT34)

little unit of little value

2005-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Something there is that does not love a late '90s first-round draft pick named Ryan.

Apologies to Robert Frost, but this news leaped out at me even from under a distracting headline, an annoying Web ad, and a team logo.

Following the cleated footsteps of NFL bust Ryan Leaf, one Ryan "Little Unit" Anderson was finally given his walking papers by the Mariners after being the No. 1 draft pick in 1997, holding out for a fat contract, and having a lousy work ethic. He was signed for $2.175 million in 1997 and got many thousands of dollars more during his many bouts with injury.

He never threw a single pitch in the majors.

Ryan Leaf, at least, managed to play and throw two touchdowns. Oh, and also 15 interceptions.

The Mariners news release fails to mention this almost optimistic profile by MLB.com (and former P-I sports reporter) writer Jim Street.

Or the nifty b-roll from Tacoma aired each year on Fox Sports Northwest as the sportscasters chatted up Anderson's potential.

Or that Anderson was continually kept on the roster because of the pre-existing M's investment while more promising talent was shipped off via trades or waivers.

I'm a huge Mariners fan. I promise to write occasionally on the team and usually in a positive light. But following an Opening Day win, are folks really going to write about roster cuts?

Here's a summary of the Little Unit's time with the M's by the TNT's Larry LaRue last November on a page still cached by Google.

Now 24, Anderson was Seattle's first draft pick in 1997, then a high school phenom who at 6-foot-10 was hitting 100 mph on the radar.

On the cusp of making it to the big leagues in the spring of 2000, Anderson felt discomfort in his left shoulder -- and hasn't pitched in a game since that season.

When Anderson became a minor-league free agent at the end of last season, the Mariners had paid for three major surgeries and more than three years of rehabilitation that never actually got Anderson in a baseball game.

Time to say goodbye?

"I think we were all on the fence initially," said assistant general manager Benny Looper. "We've had so many highs and lows with Ryan since signing him. Since his first injury, we'd be optimistic about him coming along and he'd have another setback.

-- snip --

"One of the options was to sever the ties, just let him go. Ryan has always been high-maintenance, but in any business those guys are often the most productive people, too."

-- snip --

Next spring, Anderson will be paid $10,000 a month. How much has the team spent on him since the '97 draft?

"When I was a scout, someone asked me how many nights I spent a year on the road. I started adding them up and decided I didn't want to know," Looper said. You ask how much we've spent on Ryan? Same thing. I don't want to know, but it's a lot."

Clean cars

2005-04-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Senate is about to take up the so-called Clean Cars bill for a floor vote and other progressive bloggers have been drumming up attention. I refer you to genius Jon Stahl at EvergreenPolitics and Carl Ballard who, pound-for-pound, gives you the most blog posts around these parts. Democracy for Washington has more detail and a call to action.

The bill passed the House on March 17 after three hours of floor debate. Republicans blustered to delay a vote on the bill -- even though it was supported by suburban Republicans -- and in the process killed a couple dozen other bills ready for a vote, including a handful sponsored by Republicans.

She measures exceptional by my ruler

2005-04-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Amy Goodman, (seated on left) author of Exception to the Rulers was in Seattle for an American Voices forum presented by Foolproof on Saturday night. She appeared with thoughtful talk show host Phil Donahue, author Robert McChesney (communications prof. at University of Illinois and host of NPR's On the Media) and Frank Blethen, publisher and controlling interest of the Seattle Times.
It was a great, if very brief, forum at the Paramount Theater to discuss the concentration of media power and the death of skepticism that let major media believe that the war in Iraq would (eventually) be justified by the terms laid by the present Congress and White House administration. Some major media, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, have offered their own sorts of mea culpas, but even recent polling shows millions of misinformed Americans believe there has been proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in 2003 and that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with al-Qaeda. Both theories were proven to be without merit or entirely baseless by the 9-11 Commission.
Meanwhile, American dead and wounded have surpassed 10,000 and the cost of U.S. involvement in Iraq is more than $150 billion without any clear end in sight.

What Stalin said....

2005-04-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

"It doesn't matter who votes. It matters who counts the votes."

In this vein, we now have a scientific study of the 2004 election showing of just how correct that tyrant Josef Stalin was.

I believe that on November 2, 2004, the United States crossed its own Rubicon. Until last year's presidential election, ordinary citizens could claim that our foreign policy, including the invasion of Iraq, was George Bush's doing and that we had not voted for him. In 2000, Bush lost the popular vote and was appointed president by the Supreme Court. In 2004, he garnered 3.5 million more votes than John Kerry. The result is that Bush's war changed into America's war and his conduct of international relations became our own.
--Chalmers Johnson, "Wake Up!," In These Times

"Perhaps in the future the technology will exist for a more thorough investigation of the wreckage."
--Ambassador Andrei Lysenko, The Hunt for Red October

As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities."
--Darwin, Life and Letters

Thunder on! Stride on! Democracy. Strike with vengeful stroke!
--Whitman, Drum-Taps: Rise O Days From Your Fathomless Deep (no. 3)

My favorite flavor is the Sugar-Free Radical

2005-04-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Could this news be any better? Or come on a more appropriate day?

Thank heavens the good folks at Google have a new beta release of Google Gulp just as I'm about to spend my weekend with about 300 people, most of whom are much smarter than I am, including Amy Goodman and Phil Donahue and reporters and editors from major media outlets across the Northwest and nation.

With Google Gulp, I at least have a fighting chance to contribute something worthwhile to the conversation!

Just hear how it works!

1. How does Google Gulp work?
Well, to comprehend the long version of this answer, you'd need a PhD...

--snip--

...through our patented real-time DNA-scanning process, Auto-Drink, Google Gulp is actually able to "take a picture" of your genetic profile, reconfigure its molecular composition on the fly, and subtly alter your brain's intricate mosaic of axonial patterns in order to facilitate even faster cognitive processing.

2. Wait -- you're saying Auto-Drink changes my brain chemistry?

Um, yeah -- but for the better.

Senator offering M's luxury box seats, photo-op with M's manager

2005-04-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Everything is set for a scavenger hunt free-for-all as Capitol staffers ready themselves to race around the Legislative Building in hopes of finding the lucky ticket package that could get one of them to Safeco Field for Opening Day of baseball season in Seattle on Monday.

The ticket package includes luxury box seats for four, lunch from the Intentional Wok Asian-cuisine kiosk, and a chance to meet the new Mariners skipper at home plate for a commemorative photograph.

Washington Senator Jim Hargrove came up with the idea after talking to his cousin, Mike Hargrove, the Seattle Mariners manager.

The scavenger hunt begins at 8 a.m. today and ends when somebody finds the Mariners logo baseball inside the vast halls of the Legislative Building.

For more on the wacky hunt for Opening Day tickets, click here and here.

The 'grateful heirs' tax

2005-03-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates, Sr. again takes a seat at the table to talk about wise use of the estate tax, especially when revenues are earmarked for education.

As long as we're equivocating...

2005-03-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPK) = Communist, Totalitarian, Repressive, Nuke-Obsessed Northern Part of Korean Peninsula

People's Republic of China (PRC) = Maoist, Racist, Sexist, Megalomaniacal, Tibet-Repressing, Taiwan-Threatening Regime

German Democratic Republic (GDR) = Tyrannical, Communist, Stasi-Deploying Soviet Satellite

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (DICSC) = Just seeking answers to important scientific questions because it wants science to be sound.

But, lo, what is this? Could it be that Scientific American uses sarcasm to take issue with the Discovery Institute's position? But why? Can't the nattering nabobs at that rag see what a fluffy and non-threatening title has been annointed upon the Center?

The revolution will not be televised

2005-03-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here's what my 4-year-old daughter says when she doesn't get that coveted second cookie for dessert, "Ahhhhnnnnn. But I want it."

I still eat too many cookies myself, but I can't ever get too much ironic, reality-based humor -- and it comes with fewer calories. I had hoped TVW would televise the House floor speeches for SB 5148 that would repeal the crime of slander of a woman. It's just such a great bill to discuss because it's so fun to make a point.

I'll guess I'll have to starve today and go without seeing the hilarious indignation to defend a baseless law that predates suffrage. The bill passed the House with more than 2/3 support -- 28 Republicans opposed it, six of them women.

It now goes to Gov. Gregoire's desk, presumably for signature.

UPDATE: Read the sponsoring Senator's press release.

A prayer for Rev. Jerry Falwell

2005-03-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

Today is the day to pray for a return to health for Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Falwell is hospitalized once again following a recurrence of his bout with viral pneumonia. I've had a nasty fight with pneumonia that knocked me down for a week. I don't wish that suffering on anybody else. But my sincerest wishes for Falwell's health are actually much more practical than that. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks Falwell said pagans and feminists, along with gays and abortionists, were to blame for the violent, fiery deaths of 3,000 innocents.

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Many millions of us hope you get well soon, Rev. Falwell. All of us need you to make more atrocious public statements and file more ludicrous lawsuits that will continue to delegitimize and destabilize the foundation of the radical right in American politics.

Happy Birthday, NPI blog

2005-03-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

The Northwest Progressive Institute web log fittingly shares its birthday with former Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy who ran for president in 1968 on a platform of extricating the United States from Vietnam. (As it turned out, the guy with the "secret plan" to win the war became president in 1969 and kept the U.S. in Vietnam for four years. He also bombed Cambodia, disgraced the office, and resigned in shame while Vietnam fell and the tentacles of Communist oppression enveloped more of Asia).

As was McCarthy, NPI is a leading progressive agenda-setter and is integral in fomenting serious discussion by intelligent individuals on present-day important social and political issues.

For the past year, NPI has been a juggernaut. With the launch of Pacific Northwest Portal and its subsequent feature enhancements of syndicating blogs, aggregating newswires, NPI has been helping to maintain focus on issues of vital public interest within the regional progressive blogosphere. The team has helped peel back and lay bare the deceptive marketing of harmful ballot measures and political candidacies, and boosted citizen involvement in the most pressing political issues in the Great Northwest.

A hearty congratulations to the folks at NPI for a great year of blogging and for the promise of many great things to come for the organization. All the best to you, NPI team.

'This is a great political issue'

2005-03-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

The past several years have been a harrowing crucible for all who love Terri Schiavo. Instead of extending compassion in hopes of achieving empathy and understanding, you can count on the radical right to try to make public political hay out of years of private heartache.

"This is a great political issue" was part of anonymous memo about the Terri Schiavo situation circulated to powerful members of the Republican party and right-wing media. Many millions of Americans pray they will never have to face a situation like the one experienced by those who love Terri Schiavo. But they're also pretty clear about how they feel their loved ones should act if they were in a similar situation.

Here's a handful of editorials and columns that reveal the base and dishonest nature of the Republican attempts to intervene in the Schiavo case.

The Los Angeles Times

The New York Times

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts

Cynthia Tucker, Editorial Page Editor of Atlanta Journal-Constiution

Bill Press, MSNBC political analyst

Chicago Sun-Times columnist William O'Rourke

Bill Berkowitz of WorkingForChange.com

UPDATE: From Tuesday's New York Times:

The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.
--snip--
Pamela Hennessy, an unpaid spokeswoman for the Schindlers, said she was initially appalled when she learned of the list's existence.
"It is possibly the most distasteful thing I have ever seen," Ms. Hennessy said."Everybody is making a buck off of her."
Ms. Hennessy, who operates the Schindlers' Web site, www.terrisfight.org, said the family had not released any of the names or e-mail addresses gathered there. "Obviously these people are enterprising, and they are taking advantage of this very desperate father," she said.

Easier from the peanut gallery, ain't it?

2005-03-28T13:43:00.001-08:00

I've blogged before on the bad fiscal policy that is Initiative 601. Over the weekend, we learned more about contemptible precedents akin to I-601 that are destined for demise in other states with heaps of credit due to popular leaders in the national Republican Party, including a former member of Dubya's Cabinet.

The Sunday Seattle Times has a rewrite of this Washington Post story detailing that ill-fitting spending limits, especially in time of economic downturn, can be the undoing of even the most stable state government. Moreover, the story highlights the pragmatic political lessons learned by Republican leaders who remember they were elected to serve the people before the party.

The Post's complete story is much better. Please read it, even if you have to go through the free online subscription rigamarole.

Predictably, the ultra-rightist Evergreen Freedom Foundation, comes forth today to throw darts at the closely divided state Senate's budget which would boost education and health care spending compared to the well-received budget offered by Gov. Christine Gregoire. Growing fat on contributions from sugar-daddy-of-right-wing-media Richard Mellon Scaife and the billionaire Wal-Mart heirs, it's much easier to undermine public education and responsible state spending than it is to offer actual solutions. In the oh-so-hollow echo chamber of the Washington state right wing, the virtue of I-601 is again trumpeted. Once again, it hits the wrong note.

In the most recent attack, The EFF's budget analyst stakes claim to utterly unstable ground by suggesting the eroded remnants of I-601 supersede the will of more than two-thirds of Washington's voters. He attacks I-728, called the Better Schools Initiative, saying that it should be ignored and overturned. I-728 passed in 2000, a year of extremely high voter turnout, with 71.5 percent support. I-601 passed in 1993, with a measly 51 percent in a year of unprecedented low turnout.

Most Washington state politicians and attentive taxpayers have learned in the past decade that there's nothing sacred about I-601 as Republican budget writers in both chambers have undone portions of the atrociously unsound policy. Without any sort of a grassroots groundswell from at least 71.6 percent of the public chastising lawmakers for maintaining the state's public education priorities, the EFF has no business putting forth such a preposterous policy thesis. But that's what is easier to do when you insist on fighting from the peanut gallery, as the EFF is wont to do.

Happy Easter!

2005-03-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

For more Easter fun, click here:

Scientifically proven to renew my faith in mankind

2005-03-25T16:24:00.000-08:00

Check out Magpie at Pacific Views with a discussion of the new editorial direction of Scientific American magazine.

OH. MY. GOSH. This is the funniest thing you will ever read in a scholarly journal. To borrow from Ferris Bueller: "It's so choice."

Explaining the support that evolution theory gets, the editors write:

Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence.

You really have to read the whole thing. It's posted on another blog over here.

Santos vs. Vinick

2005-03-25T14:00:00.000-08:00

In a poll conducted a month ago, it seems "West Wing" viewers are smitten with Jimmy Smits.

Pollster John Zogby put a poll in the field to see who viewers wanted to see succeed President Josiah Bartlet played by Martin Sheen. In the past week, we learned that "The West Wing" will return for a seventh season and that the election of the new president will take place in the next TV season. In the meantime, it looks like the choice for the new generation will be between Texas Democrat Matt Santos, played by Smits, and California Republican Arnold Vinick, played by Alan Alda. NBC has options on contracts for both of them for next season.

The Zogby poll drills down to favorability ratings among Catholics and Protestants, men and women, and Democrats and Republicans. The poll data was gathered a month ago while Santos (Smits) was central to the storylines, but in Wednesday's episode and for the next two weeks, Vinick (Alda) is the main attraction as he, the Republican nominee, lectures on the virtues of the separation of church and state (bear in mind the show is fiction). It would be great to see another Zogby poll after the April 6 season finale to see if Vinick's fiscal-conservative-social-libertarian persona is playing better with viewers, especially after the polling in the Schiavo case where nearly four of out five people said Congress overstepped its bounds. It's hard to imagine that the Vinick character would have supported that Republican extension of government intervention.

What's even more interesting to me is that both of these men were at one time at the top of the TV heap as leading men on top-rated shows. These years later, they're back to auditioning for a a show with its best days in the rearview mirror. By next season, though, both will be renowned not for their TV prowess but for high-profile supporting turns as powerful senators in blockbuster movies. Alda was nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a crooked Maine senator in The Aviator and Smits will get screen time as Senator Bail Organa of Alederaan (a planet destined for destruction by the Death Star) in Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith.

'More unrecognizable with each passing day'

2005-03-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

Emeritus, for sure!
The former dean of the UW Graduate School of Public Affairs lays the smackdown on the hell-bent right-wingers who have transmutated our nation into something only the most craven could have envisioned 50 years ago.

It's a nicely detailed, complementary follow-up to the piece by the Seattle Times' Danny Westneat. His column ran under the headline "The demise of the GOP revolution."

Congressman Adam Smith on Olympian Chat

2005-03-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

Former prosecutor and present Congressman Adam Smith will be on The Olympian's Capitol Chat at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning. Yes, that's early, but it's during the lunch hour in Washington, D.C.

Smith has been lauded by moderates, Democrats and even a recovering Republican who expounded on his "potential for greatness" while calling him a "warm person who is his own kind of humorist."

In 1996, Smith was one of many who backed President Clinton's efforts to return the country to sanity and substantive issues by taking a pound of flesh from Newt Gingrich's "Confrontation Congress" when he beat incumbent Rep. Randy Tate. By being totally outclassed and by being classless on the way to losing his seat to Smith, Tate disappeared for a while before going to work for Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and driving that group into the dust. Today, it's defunct, in part because of Tate's inept leadership. Now that I think about it, I really should have sent him a Christmas card for making that group disappear. Tate then went on to lead Internet startup Voter.com into oblivion. Nice track record, eh?

Smith, meanwhile, has seen his stock rise in a district that includes many conservative military voters. He also was the first prominent elected official from Washington state to back John Kerry's presidential bid while most core Democrats thought Howard Dean had the nomination locked up.

Smith is a tough-on-crime moderate Democrat and a pretty good fit for the district. In fact, he's been in interesting races not because the outcome was in suspense, but due to his laughably underqualified political adversaries, including the manure-smelling, cattle-painting Ron Taber.

Some die-hard Democrats, however, will remind you that he's not perfect, as with his support of the credit card companies' favorite son -- the bankruptcy bill that is presently before Congress. Read more about those concerns here.

Send your questions for Congressman Smith to The Olympian in advance or join the conversation at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

I will be 'infinitely' rich in an infinite number of years

2005-03-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm only in my 30s, but I have a pension. I worked full-time for more than six years in a union shop for most of the time that I was enrolled college. I worked graveyards and went to school during the day. The grades suffered, but I made good money at the shop and had awesome benefits. Of course, I didn't realize this until I took a substantial pay cut at my first "career" job at a Fortune 500 company.

One of the benefits of the old shop was a pension plan that vested me after 5 years of service. When I retire in another 30 or 40 years, I'll have money waiting for me -- $200 a month. Sure, that's nice enough, but the income is only equivalent to a $1.15 per hour raise for a full-time worker. Not that significant in a state with a prospering tech sector.

But what if that $200 per month increased in value exactly at the rate of inflation? Why, after a while it would be a big sum. Imagine what it would be after 10,000 years!

I would feel like a trillionaire!!!

But there are two problems. I won't be around in 10,000 years. And if $200 increases in value exactly at the rate of inflation, well, it's worth exactly $200 in today's dollars.

That is exactly the problem with the White House's contentions about Social Security. They say it's an $11.1 trillion problem. Over an infinite number of years, it almost certainly will be. But we're dealing with today through another average American lifetime -- about 75 years. That makes it roughly a $600 billion problem, an imminently more approachable problem without any alarmism. The Newspaper of Record puts it all down for you here.

Fortunately, the unpoliticized numbers in yesterday's report are not overly dire... (It) works out to a gap of $4 trillion, which could be bridged with modest tax increases and benefit cuts, phased in over the next few decades. If people try to tell you different, they need to be set straight.

For more entertainment on the selective truths you're hearing about Social Security these days, click here. And for the funny AARP commercial that deconstructs, so to speak, the Bush plan for Social Security, click here if you have Real Player installed.

Scheming on a thing that's a mirage

2005-03-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to tell you now it's sabotage.

Sorry about that. Beasties were just on my AccuRadio Sub-Channel.

That song was on just about the same moment that a friend forwarded more information about the Sabotage Scheme that goes by the misleading phrase "Tort Reform." So I thought I'd share with the rest of you.

First, here's a nifty AP story that Google News popped up for me. Shows malpractice insurance costs to doctors are stabilizing and/or decreasing.

Then, here's the real kicker, in a press release from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The headline on the release: Medical Malpractice Damage Caps May Not Reduce Costs

Read this to-the-point excerpt from that release:

An objective analysis of the efficacy of caps on non-economic damages in medical liability cases shows that awards for non-economic damages -- pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, marital losses, anguish, and inconvenience -- do not significantly and systematically reduce overall awards to plaintiffs.

Finally, here's a 20-state study that leads intelligent folks to the conclusion that legislation like Initiative 330 paid for by the Washington State Medical Association is really, really bad policy for any human being, state, country, planet, solar system, galaxy, or universe.

'Nuff said.

GOP Poll suggests most voters want to let Gregoire govern

2005-03-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON GOVERNOR 2004 ELECTION OUTCOME
A poll paid for by the WA State Republican Party has majority of
voters against a "revote" despite support for "also-ran" Dino Rossi

The Strategic Vision poll, conducted March 19 to March 21,
surveyed 800 registered voters. Margin of error is +/- 3%

Revote Matchup                Who Do You Think Actually Won?
Rossi              52%        Now        1/28 1/13 12/30
Gregoire           41%        Rossi      56%  53%  52%  43%
Undec               7%        Gregoire   36%  37%  37%  41%

Favorable/Unfav Opinion         More/Less Confidence In Election
Rossi            55%/42%        Process After Gov. Controversy?
Gregoire         39%/57%        Less confidence          54%
WA Dems          32%/50%        More confidence          21%
WA GOP           35%/45%        Same                     15%

Favor Another Election?         Will Courts Allow Revote?
     Now   1/28  1/13  12/30    No          58%
Yes   39%   53%   50%   45%     Yes         37%
No    56%   35%   39%   43%

Best explanation yet

2005-03-21T16:57:00.001-08:00

Oly ClipMonkey does the best job yet in pulling back the curtain on the deceit that underlies the calls for "tort reform." That phrase we all should know is just a code for taking away our rights and ensuring legitimate victims don't have a legal recourse against even the most heinous offenses. Hail, Oly ClipMonkey, for making this issue so clear and letting us know more about a very practical alternative to the insurance lobby's trickery that we'll be seeing in misleading political ads this fall.

There's plenty more to know about this important issue and the deception that is being perpetrated by insurance companies and medical industry backers who have yet to prove a correlation between capping non-economic damages and malpractice insurance premiums. The California experience disproves this idea outright.

The News Tribune: No malpractice crisis, report says
The Seattle P-I: Gouging, numbers belie medical malpractice 'crisis' claims

And there's news of what will happen between now and November.

Seattle Times: Democrats offer own malpractice plan
House Democrats : Plan B is balanced and better
Senate Democrats: Democrats offer solution to dueling malpractice initiatives

And there's also the news that the Washington State Medical Association wants to subvert the state Constitution. So far, it's getting away with it.

Seattle Times: Trial lawyers lose bid to block part of ballot measure

Gregoire proposes budget; interest group attacks begin

2005-03-21T12:03:00.000-08:00

Gov. Christine Gregoire proposed her $25.8 billion biennial budget a few hours ago. Lots of predictable stuff and some pretty pragmatic revenue proposals (though there's still revenue to be found in the dangedest of places )

Also predictable are attacks from all sides. The first salvo came from SEIU 775 which issued a fast-response press release (not posted online yet, but I'll try to update when it is) to bemoan the $21 million in cuts to long-term care -- directing people to this Web site -- and the "more than 500 tax exemptions costing the state billions of dollars a year."

On their heels, the House Republicans inexplicably haven't posted any releases to their 'Newsroom' for a month, and the Senate Republicans are still stuck on last week complaining about a host of legislation they helped kill with their stalling tactics and rigid posture.

Look for more attacks and ensuing news later today in regional and metro news sites.

All things in moderation

2005-03-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

What we've got here is failure to communicate. Which is the way the Republicans want it.

I was reading with some delight -- and some dismay -- this first-person piece in today's Sea P-I. Its author, L.A. Heberlein of Seattle, laments the turns of the GOP in recent years by bashing the plan to privatize Social Security and the loss of civil liberties. The piece also notes that tactics of the latter day GOP are reminiscent of your not-so-friendly Communist governments. More on that here.

The bigger theme, of course, is the question in the headline: What happened to real Republicans? That query has been put forth before, even recently, by better writers Heberlein. Answers from the right, alas, have never been offered.

The noise created by the militant right-wing media is bent on blurring lines of what is true and what is actually best for America. Even so, the failure to communicate to lifelong fiscal conservatives, such as Heberlein, is inexcusable, especially since Democrats combined with unaligned voters constitute a much larger bloc than the GOP does on its own. If this is how the national Republican Party treats its friends, you can already know how they treat their political enemies.

So, with a majority of both houses of Congress and an arch-conservative president, why are Republicans are still doing so little that is in the public interest? Of course, you would expect their agenda -- drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge, privatizing Social Security insurance, pandering to credit card companies to screw consumers -- to be part of an agenda. But you wouldn't think it would be the bulk of the agenda. At least I wouldn't. Because I remember -- or rather learned in school -- the success of the Harry Truman campaign against the "Do-Nothing Congress." Republicans, I would have thought had learned their lesson of turning away from the public interest. Of course, we know they did not get that lesson in 1998, when Democrats picked up five seats in the U.S. House and a tie in the U.S. Senate allowed Democrats to shortly thereafter take control when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party. At that time, the GOP losses were largely due to their inability to get anything done that was in the public interest, including a federal patients bill of rights that was essentially ready for a vote and then-President Clinton's signature. Instead, it was all Monica all the time. Read more about 1998 and the shabby 105th Congress here.

In the historical record, there are many resonant lessons telling GOP lawmakers they should temper their arrogance. So it makes no sense, frankly, that there is no room in the present political debate for moderation. Politics is the art of compromise, after all, so you would expect some compromise. Instead, we have Congress investigating Major League Baseball, instead of Enron or Halliburton. We (presumably) also expect a pittance of petroleum after a decade of waiting at the expense of wildlife habitat though modest fuel efficiency standards would net a much larger benefit much sooner. Oh, and the proposal for up to two trillion dollars to be taken out of the Social Security insurance (not investment) program just as the biggest American generation is about to retire.

Investigating steroid use, creating record deficits, and drilling for small amounts of crude oil are not the public's biggest concerns -- no matter how much spin is applied in push polls by SurveyUSA, Scott Rasmussen, or Frank Luntz. The GOP eked by in 2004 with a series of narrow red-state victories. The party has a majority in Congress, but will never have a mandate to shove their agenda down the throats of citizens whose foremost desire is for the promises of America to be kept for the next generation.

What we need today is politics in the public interest. And we won't have that without moderation.

Winston is not a box turtle

2005-03-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

As a champion of the First Amendment, I'm always sickened over the abuse of the guarantee of free press that is embodied by the current White House's efforts to stymie citizens from getting an accurate account on a number of problems that truly plague our nation. The most interesting recent case study, to be sure, is the Gannongate story and the nagging question of what constitutes a journalist.

On Sunday, Jeff Gannon (Jim Guckert) was back in the MSM for a Q&A with New York Times Magazine.

He doesn't give a straight (no pun intended) answer to any question, yet says that he still wants be a journalist with a fake name. Here's one question that he didn't answer, instead demurring to talk about his relationship with his dog.

Still, it seems fair to ask about your position on gay marriage.
My position is that I can't imagine that gay marriage would be something that I would be interested in in the first place. I actually like being alone. I have decided that is how I want to live. I have a dog named Winston. I am still the same to Winston, no matter what, and there is comfort in that. Winston doesn't watch the news.

I wonder what he would have said if he had owned a box turtle instead of a dog. I do know what Sen. John Cornyn of Texas would have said, however. That would be this:

"It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife."

RFK, Jr. is just 1% off

2005-03-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is one of this country's leading environmentalists and very much a conscience of the green movement. He's a wise man, in part, because he knows what he can most affect and sets his sights appropriately. I've been a fan for years, but I especially like a RFK, Jr. quote from January which Seattle Weekly Editor Knute Berger recently revisited. (scroll down to "Values" subhead). Kennedy was explaining why the rural poor frequently vote against their own personal and economic interests (For a better -- though much longer -- explanation of this conundrum, read What's the Matter with Kansas).

Kennedy's comment was this: "Eighty percent of Republicans are just Democrats that don't know what's going on."

That's so incredibly true. The first time I really grasped that people didn't know what was going on was September 1999 on a day I was off-handedly skimming a newspaper article. It was The Onion (edition 3534, to be exact). It was a life-changing moment and my world view has not been the same since.

Below is the text of the article. The comment from the Wheeling, West Virginia, mechanic puts its all into very depressing perspective. Anyhow, I just thought everybody should know that RFK Jr. was off by just 1% in regards to those who don't know what's going on.

79% of Americans Missing the Point Entirely

WASHINGTON, DC -- According to a Georgetown University study released Tuesday, 79 percent of Americans are missing the point entirely with regard to such wide-ranging topics as politics, consumerism, taxes, entertainment, fashion, and professional wrestling.

"From the overweight housewife who eats bag after bag of reduced-fat Ruffles, to the school board that bans Huckleberry Finn for using the word 'nigger,' to the Manhattan stockbroker who uses recycled-paper checks to pay for gas for his behemoth SUV, the tendency of Americans to really just not get it transcends all boundaries of class, color, religion, sexual orientation, and political persuasion," said Dr. Ronald Shaw of Georgetown's Center For American Studies.

Polling nearly 8,000 Americans on a variety of subjects, the study found that only 21 percent of those surveyed had even the slightest clue.

"Our research revealed that the thought processes of a large majority of Americans are profoundly and fundamentally flawed," Shaw said. "We came to define this peculiar deviation as 'having one's head up one's ass.'"

Offering an example, Shaw said that when a group of people who had undergone cosmetic surgery were asked, "Why do some individuals feel the need for cosmetic surgery while others do not?," 54 percent of them responded that people who opt for such procedures have greater self-worth than those who don't.

"In other words," Shaw said, "they believed that people who don't feel the need to spend thousands of dollars on facelifts and collagen lip injections lack pride in their looks, failing to acknowledge their own wholesale buying into the notion that in our society, a person's value is determined by his or her appearance."

Another manifestation of the missing-the-point phenomenon, Shaw said, is college students' habit of purchasing posters that advertise products. "Companies normally pay to have their wares touted," Shaw said. "But an incredibly high number of college undergraduates are willing to plunk down $15 for a poster of the Taco Bell chihuahua or Budweiser lizards, enabling companies to generate revenue from something that is supposed to be an expense."

The study also cited the public's constant call for more wholesome, family-friendly movies that do not insult their intelligence, as well as its failure to patronize such films when they are offered.

"To date, Adam Sandler's Big Daddy has grossed $161 million, with a majority of its audience consisting of children under the age of 14," Shaw said. "Contrasting this is the challenging, critically lauded flop The Iron Giant, which has barely broken the $20 million mark."

Despite the preponderance of evidence supporting its findings, the Georgetown study has drawn widespread criticism from the American public.

"If I want to miss the point, that's my own business," said Ernie Schayr, a Wheeling, WV, auto mechanic. "If I want to complain about having to pay taxes while at the same time demanding extra police protection for my neighborhood, that's my right as an American. Most people in other countries don't ever get the chance to miss the point, and that's tragic. The East Timorese are so busy fleeing for their lives, they never have the chance to go to the supermarket during the busiest time of the week and complain to the cashier about how long the lines are and ask them why they don't do something about it."

Town Hall Meetings--Meet your local lawmaker today

2005-03-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

Meet your local lawmaker, get an update on what's happening in Olympia, and make your voice heard today. Town Hall Meetings are taking place across the state today (Saturday).

(h/t to Evergreen Politics for listing all of the meetings around the state)

Mossback on Open Public Records

2005-03-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Read Seattle Weekly Editor Knute Berger's screed on the need for more public disclosure, not less. Not perfectly stated and there's certainly no need for empty threats against the government by an alternative weekly. But the subject is important to all of us -- even those of you who think you don't care about it now. One day, somebody hiding behind a desk and a seal of George Washington, will try to keep you or a loved one away from something you paid for. Maybe something you need desperately. Don't let them hide. Sunshine makes a lot of good things grow, including knowledge.

Redux? Revisit? Revamp? Nope. Rend!

2005-03-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

The classic film Apocalypse Now, released in 1979, clocks in at just over 2 1/2 hours run time. Long movie. The 2001 director's cut, dubbed Apocalypse Now Redux, clocks in at 3 hours, 22 minutes run time.

The redux is longer and more expository. Pardon me for being saucy, but a redux is not a reduction any more than it is a roux.

So, what am I talking about? Language, my friends, language. It can be beautiful, but is too often banal.

If you please, read this headline: I-601 redux due. Beneath the headline, the editorial goes on to state that the legal effects of Initiative 601, which passed with just 51% approval in one of the lowest turnouts in Washington history and was scripted by a completely freaky and nasty neocon (look, now my language has become banal), should be changed appropriately so that lawmakers can more easily guide the state and maintain economic stability here. In doing so, the piece suggests REDUCING the rules of I-601.

All the while, the headline suggests BRINGING BACK in a positive way the underpinnings of I-601. That what redux means, after all.

OK. That's it for the language lesson.

Anyway, it just kills me that we still have this worthless I-601 debate anyway. We've known for years that many tenets of I-601 have been gutted. For instance, read the last quote in this story. Privately, many GOP lawmakers in Olympia are happy as heck about the demise of I-601 because it's easier to garner support for their favorite programs. Some of them, like this loser of the 2004 governor's race, are occasionally even public about it. Right wingers (see here) march out talking points on the virtues of I-601 every few years. But, really, there's hardly any virtue in tyranny of the minority. When you have a moment, read former P-I reporter Rachel Zimmerman's assessment of the Washington tax revolt. She connects the dots between I-601 and I-695 and the rise of Tim Eyman.

I learned when I arrived in Olympia after college that I should have been organizing counter campaigns instead over cruising over the Cascades to concerts at The Gorge in the 1990s. It's too late for me to forget the underwhelming sets of Possum Dixon, Red Aunts, and Lush that I watched when I should have been setting up obstacles for Linda's Army. But it's not too late to fix some of the damage done in the name of 'tax revolt'. By any standard, I-601, its author, and its outcomes have been very bad for Washington. The last thing we need is an I-601 redux. For more than a decade now, we've needed I-601 to be rent. So let's change the offending headline, I-601 redux due, to make it "I-601 rent past due."

'Move on, Mr. Rossi. Move on.'

2005-03-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

From Olympian Political Editor Brad Shannon in today's paper.

(Elway poll) findings confirmed that: "63 percent said accept the results of the election and move on; 33 percent said revote."
Democrats hailed the poll as a sign that Rossi should abandon his courtroom quest for a new election, but Elway said the numbers could swing back in Rossi's favor if a Chelan County judge rules in Rossi's favor.
State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt issued a news release saying that the poll shows "Washington voters want the state to refocus on important issues in Olympia. They're tired of Rossi dragging this election contest on for months and months."
"Move on, Mr. Rossi," Berendt wrote. "Move on."

That's a wrap, everybody

2005-03-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

Gov. Gregoire is faced with some tough budget decisions this year, to be sure. She's makes fine points in the press today about the need to cut middle managers from the state payroll, and I certainly won't be the one contest her reasons.
But I think it's a darn shame that she's opting to close the Washington State Film Office. Gov. Locke tried to do this a few years ago, but decided against it, in part, because the Film Office is a proven moneymaker. In the past 10 years, the office helped the state rake in a half billion dollars in "direct production spending to the state" and created 25,000 jobs. The office is also partly subsidized by other agencies, including the BPA. Gregoire might have first looked for more philanthropy to cut down on the state portion of supporting the Fim Office.

You can read even more about Film Office's benefits in this 19-page PDF report from 2003).

Below is the text of the final page of the report.

Conclusion

While many people associate service industries with low paying jobs, film and video production is a classic example of a high wage service sector. Unlike many other high wage industries, their demands on physical infrastructure and government services are relatively modest. In addition, they spend disproportionately large sums locally.

Thus, as would be expected, this impact analysis reveals that film and video production in Washington was a substantial contributor to the Washington economy. It accounted for 8,033 jobs, $656.1 million in economic output, $260.9 million in local labor income, and $18.4 million in state and local taxes in 2001 (emphasis mine). Furthermore, the starting point of nearly all this economic activity either came from out of state or was displaced from out of state by local firms choosing to spend their money locally. Therefore, if the industry had not been in-place virtually all of the economic impacts would have been a net lost to Washington.

Overwhelmingly the purview of small businesses and self-employed Washingtonians, and with no single, dominant industry location, it is perhaps understandable that public awareness of the film and video sector is not great. Nonetheless, it is a critical source of employment for many Washingtonians and of services essential for the growth and development of many businesses in the state.

Vance on Olympian Capitol Chat at noon

2005-03-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Don't forget that WA GOP Chair Chris Vance will be taking questions at noon today on The Olympian's weekly Capitol Chat. Submit questions in advance here or see the conversation unfold at noon here.

A list of past Capitol Chats with SecState Sam Reed and others is archived at the bottom of this page.

Bringing the Hammer down

2005-03-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since a politician has been so bad at hiding his corruption as Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader from Sugar Land, Texas. "The Hammer" keeps hammering away that he thinks people are after him for partisan reasons. Nope. A crook is a crook. And Tom DeLay is a crook. Former House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas), former House Ways & Means Chair Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), and former House Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) did things that were unethical or illegal when they were Congressman. They were punished for their transgressions -- and probably not severely enough.

It's waaaaaaay past time to hammer down on DeLay. It's time to force him to resign in shame. Later will come the perp walk.

(h/t Daniel at On The Road to 2008)

'This pestilence that walks the earth'

2005-03-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Autocratic newspaper publishers maintain a special place in history -- and it's a bad place, indeed. The megalomania of William Randolph Hearst, who in middle-age romanced a teenager, sparked the Spanish-American War, and was the basis for the movie Citizen Kane, may be largely to credit for this bad reputation that has lasted a century already. In his time of yellow journalism, Hearst was fairly called "this pestilence that walks the earth."

Today, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen proves the pestilence is not wiped out. Indeed, it may be thriving at the expense of your right to be informed by a free and objective press. Today, the Times offers an editorial that proselytizes on two things and, most conspicously, completely ignores two more critical points.
What it says:
1) The Times editorialists can't fathom a good reason for an estate tax.
2) We need more cynicism in the politics.

To the first point, the writers would only need to click here, to understand the dangers of increasing the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and the delterious effects of cutting off the revenue that the estate tax provides for our national defense, transportation, health care, and social services.

To the second point, it's particularly twisted sense of the press' role as public watchdog to purport that we need more cynicism in politics. For shame, Seattle Times. In a world with spin run amok and government disinformation, we need voices of reason to be heard and the level of public discourse to be elevated. Explain, please, just how more cynicism in the Beltway can help in this mission.

All the while, two more crucial points of the Times estate tax editorial are completely lacking.
1) Frank Blethen for years has fought the estate tax and started a nonprofit organization and Web site dedicated to its repeal. It's greatly dishonest for Blethen's paper, where he can control the editorial board with his hiring and his heavy hand, to omit this information.
2) The estate tax does not now and will never apply to Seattle Times readers, unless they're in an elite 2 percent of multimillionaires. Further, half of estate tax revenue comes from 0.16 percent of estates. That is to say, the estate tax is fair and equitable to about 99.84 percent of Americans. Nice average, yes? There's a reason that conservative columnist David Brooks wrote that the estate tax is "explicitly for the mega-upper class." It is. And don't take my word for it or even David Brooks'. Take the word of William H. Gates, Sr., whose son is the richest working person in the world.

For a much greater understanding of the federal estate tax and the distortions people like Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen will make to defend it, read chapter 35 of Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. It details the entirely craven nature of the Seattle Times' postulation today without even mentioning the Seattle Times.

UPDATE: Goldy at Horse's Ass was piqued by the same editorial today. Good stuff over there.

Gmail for you

2005-03-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

First, read this important news article from America's Finest News Source.

As many millions already know, Google has been developing an e-mail service which launched in limited release last year. Users were allowed to "invite" others to the service, but sign-ups weren't public. That seems to be changing, according to folks over at the Seattle P-I's Buzzworthy blog

Even when available to everybody, Gmail services won't ever be for everybody. As in their business, Google's mail works in an unique fashion. Instead of folders, Gmail allows you to label conversations. Usually, this results in an overflowing inbox, but the intent is to allow users to search the list of e-mails with key words to locate the "conversations" with all the related forwards and replies. It's a different feel for those accustomed to MS Outlook products and most other free services, including Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, but it works better for people who want to spend less time organizing their messages into subfolders.

One hitch: For those who POP their Gmail messages to other software, such as Outlook or Thunderbird, the number of e-mails can be overwhelming. Whereas Gmail keeps "conversations" on one line of your inbox (no matter how many replies are forwards are related), the software will draw them in individually, including all your sent messages, and pile up in your software inbox making an instant mess.

Just something to think about if you choose to go with the progressive Google model instead of the traditional way of mail folders.

Irish eyes smile on The Olympian's Capitol Chat Thursday

2005-03-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

Gov. Christine O'Grady Gregoire will bring her Irish heritage and her rhetorical skills to a special edition of The Olympian's Capitol Chat at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, St. Patricks Day. This will be just hours after the Forecast Council has issued the state's revenue update and just four days before Gregoire will submit her first budget proposal. It will also be just a few hours before most people of voting age will be three sheets to the wind.
Questions for Gregoire can be submitted in advance or during the live online Q&A. Submit a question here, or send e-mail to livechat@theolympian.com.

Also this week, state GOP Chair Chris Vance will be on during Capitol Chat's regularly scheduled time at noon Wednesday, March 16. Same SOP to submit questions for Vance.

Losing sleep

2005-03-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

Senate Democrats didn't seem to care much about professed Dinocrat and Dubya supporter Sen. Tim Sheldon's 40-minute commute home to rural Mason County late Friday. The Democrats in the majority overruled Sheldon's 11:50 p.m. motion to re-convene Saturday at 9 a.m., which Sheldon called "a reasonable hour for those who have a long drive ahead of us."
Too bad for Tim. The Democrats won the vote, 25-24, to reconvene at 8 a.m. So it looks like "Democrat" Tim Sheldon is actually losing sleep over his support of the GOP agenda for the past few years.

Half right is still half wrong

2005-03-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

The Sea P-I Capitol Watch bears witness to the Tuesday rallies in front of the Temple of Justice as the Supremes consider the constitutionality of the state Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits same-sex marriage. The editorial points out that there is public support for DOMA and that lawmakers overrode Gov. Gary Locke's veto to enact it.

As pointed out in each of the lower court rulings that brought this case to the Supreme Court, the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act denied what is essentially a civil process -- a licensed relationship that imbues certain rights to property and child custody -- to a minority of the state's citizens by declaring marriage available only to a man and a woman.
The law passed by a sound majority of the Legislature, sufficient to override the veto of then Gov. Gary Locke.

That last point, however, does not pass muster. Inexplicably, the editorial omits the fact the VETO WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OVERRIDDEN except for the fact that House Democrats in 1998, led by Minority Leader Marlin Appelwick, were furious with Locke (The Sea Times' David Postman then, as now, gets the whole story right). The then-governor refused to take any real stand on the same-sex marriage issue when HB 1130 first passed the House, 56-41, in 1998. That margin is short of the 2/3 majority (65 of 98) needed for an override. To override, the hatemongerers just barely wrangled 65 votes. House Ds only voted on the override that enacted DOMA because Locke had left them hanging for so long and they demanded his accountability. In floor debate, Democrats called bill "evil" and Appelwick in the Seattle Times called the measure equal to "earlier laws that regarded women as property, and blacks as less than human.
"I believe in my heart history will show this was a horrific mistake and a very mean thing to do," Appelwick said.
Take a look at the roll calls on the bill and listen to the floor debate via TVW (requires RealPlayer) and you'll understand that DOMA in Washington is not an example of respectful debate that created sound public policy. It was a nasty, brutish affair at a time when House Ds were pissed at their party vanguard for refusing to show any moral courage. Also notice that in the final roll call, that brilliant -- and brilliantly moderate -- former Republican House member Ida Balliasiotes abstained. If all moderates (or those who just didn't want to vote on the issue) had abstained, any override coalition could have been crumbled. That didn't happen because the outcome was decided before the voting started. Under virtually any other circumstance, DOMA never would have and never should have passed in Washington. It's a ridiculous notion that government should go out of its way to deny productive citizens some of their civil liberties.
The background (or at least a brief summary) is inexcusably missing from the editorial and leads readers to a wrong conclusion that MOST lawmakers are actually hatemongerers. Nope. It's actually just most elected Republicans when they're pandering to their reactionary base.

Being redundant redundant

2005-03-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

OlyScoop is now an official communications vehicle for the state Department of Redundancy Department. All apologies. It's just so damn pleasing that the Democrats pushed for and passed a great bill that the (previously) GOP-led Senate had blocked for so long.

AP reporter Rebecca Cook has the story on the success of Mental Health Parity here, and the news has been pretty well covered from a variety of angles, including here and here and here. Data and the logical conclusions have also been well presented here and here.
And if you want a great perspective on the horrors of living with mental illness, read Phillip Dawdy's great obituary on the suicide of a public figure combined with his first-person reflections (long, but well worth it) and his 2004 follow-up challenging the callousness of state Sen. Joe Zarelli (a man who Olympia insiders privately say has used the same, unprescribed mind-altering substances as George W. Bush. No, not lithium).

Berendt does Olympian chat at noon

2005-03-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Most of you have seen notices about the Berendt chat already, but here's another reminder that at noon you should click on this link to read the live Q&A.

Gregoire to sign Mental Health Parity bill Wednesday

2005-03-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

Governor Gregoire announced today that she'll sign HB 1154, mental health parity legislation, at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Great news.

Benjamin Franklin Pierce County

2005-03-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

"Put another brick in my hookah, Chow Ming, and fetch me fresh silks. I've soiled myself again."
Franklin Pierce, April 6, 1856.

The above quote is NOT to be taken seriously. It appears on page 50 of America: The Book, a Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by the writers of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." I use it only to get your attention on a somewhat staid subject: President Franklin Pierce.

I'm not really qualified to wade into a discussion on the underpinnings of historical presidential rankings except to say that I think our current president will likely elevate of Warren G. Harding from the bottom of the pile. Instead, I just want to write for a minute about the 14th U.S. President Franklin Pierce and sum up with a modest proposal.

On Presidents Day, TNT columnist Peter Callaghan wrote on the shame of the name on the county where he lives and (usually) works. Callaghan was rebutted by historian and Pierce biographer Peter A. Wallner a week later.

What I found interesting in both of articles was what was conspicuous by its absence. Not that Pierce was nominated on the 49th ballot of the Democratic Convention, but that, besides Pierce, perhaps only Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon gives us a better example of a totally unstable personality in charge of the West Wing. As with Nixon, you'd have to peer into his biography to see what kind of monster was being created. When the last surviving of Pierce's three young sons died in a railroad accident just two months before his inauguration, Franklin Pierce was numbed. As the country teetered on the brink of total dissolution, domestic crises were hastened and inflamed during the Pierce administration, in part, because Jane Pierce blamed her husband for their son Benny's death during their entire time in the White House. Pierce existed in his own special level of hell every day and didn't have much time to sympathize or assist the people of his great land in that highly tumultuous era.

So, whatever his standing in historical rankings, let us agree that President Franklin Pierce is a poor namesake for the county between the state's largest city and its Capitol. Thus, why not change the namesake of Pierce County just as King County did in 1986? Today, King County is named for Martin Luther King, Jr. instead of Pierce's slave-owning vice-president William R. King, the county namesake when it was formed in 1852. My favorite choice for Pierce County namesake: Hawkeye. That would be Benjamin Franklin Pierce of the M*A*S*H 4077th serving in 1950s Korea. Residents could decide individually whether they honor the name for the performance of Donald Sutherland in the Robert Altman movie or the 11 years of work by Alphonso D'Abruzzo on Larry Gelbart's CBS TV Series.

'More of a poof than a boom'

2005-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Sea P-I Ed Board member Tom Shapley, who spends legislative session work weeks at the Capitol, gets the scoop of the Seattle Sunday paper with his column, 'Gouging, numbers belie medical malpractice 'crisis' claims. Among other issues, the column reveals the disingenousness of Republicans bound to the insurance lobby who are summarily working to curb citizens' rights to go to court to seek redress when they have been wronged. Tort reform, as many Republicans are pitching it, is actually tort deform.
If lawsuit non-economic damages were capped at $250,000, as many WA Republicans have backed, then insurers of incompetent or even ill-willed doctors would be able cheaply buy off victims (or their loved ones) who may have been emotionally ravaged, disfigured, or even killed by atrociously bad doctors that have no business in the field of medicine. Any cap, but especially one at such a ridiculous level, abridges citizens' rights and provides legal cover for the small number of really bad medical professionals that should be weeded out of the practice.
Quoting a Wednesday report by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, Shapley writes:

"(W)e need more reliable claims and settlement information from all of the parties providing medical malpractice coverage," information that would allow us to "make public policy based on facts rather than anecdotes."

Thanks to the P-I for giving us the numbers and for reminding us that under no cirumstances should we, without due and fair process, let any of our civil rights be curtailed.

Asst. SecState confab at AlsoAlso

2005-03-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Torrid Joe at AlsoAlso describes his interview and conversation with Assisant Secretary of State Steve Excell, functionally the Chief of Staff to Republican SecState Sam Reed and also a veteran insider of both Washingtons. The post is in two parts with the first covering much of Excell's background and the second discussing the gubernatorial contest and questions in King County vote counts.

I particularly liked Excell's commentary about the problems that have come up in King County vote counts and how the county elections office didn't get the numbers correct until after two Supreme Court rulings (though there still is no mention that if the legal votes among the "723 poorly matched signature absentees" were included in the first count, Gregoire, not Rossi, would have won the machine recount. That error led to The (Everett) Herald and The (Longview) Daily News and even The Stranger's political writer to suggest that Gregoire should concede -- a move, I've expressed before, that would have disenfranchised the majority of Washington voters. Most egregiously, this let "also-ran" Dino Rossi once again march out his talking point on the recent "Inside Olympia" that Gregoire should have conceded after the first two counts).

Here's the part of Torrid Joe's confab with Excell that I found revealing in regards to the level of noise created in the governor's race challenge by Rossi and his henchmen.

"(I)n (Excell's) view and that of the Office, King County did make serious mistakes in their running of the election. He pointed to the usual examples--the 22 unsecured ballots, the 348 misfed provisionals, the 723 poorly matched signature absentees. ("A-HA," I can hear some of you saying. "Spin that!") When I asked why he considered them serious, he said "they're serious because there's an impact on the bottom line." I asked, so the level of seriousness is not based on the severity of the transgression in your mind, but on the fact that the race turned out so close and every mistake was highlighted? Yes, was the answer.

Later in Part II, Excell talks about the purely bad ideas being forwarded by Sen. Pam Roach and HB 2158 sponsored by a host of House Republicans, including ostensibly moderate suburbanites who are pondering runs against U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell in 2006.

I'm always the last with the lingo

2005-03-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

When I got my first e-mail account in 1992, it was still years before I referred to USPS letters as "snail mail," a term my technologically brilliant younger brother deigned to use as I licked a stamp. Last year, when I wanted to host and post to my own Web site, five years after I took an HTML course, my same younger brother showed me the best Internet resources to get me quickly "slash-dotted," a term I also had previously never heard.
Now, having been an avid blog reader for a year, I come across another phrase that I didn't know when I started delivering newspapers at age 12 in 1985 or even now, these 20 years later. At least this time I didn't have to learn about a new tech-snob phrase my younger brother. Instead, I learned the term "dinosaur blog" from a fictional elementary school girl. Another bruise to my ego.

Great bill goes forward

2005-03-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

One of the most common-sense legislative measures in state history is now on the governor's desk. The mental health parity bill has passed overwhelmingly in both chambers. Not providing mental health care, the P-I editorial board, points out is completely discriminatory. One in five people will be suffer from medically diagnosable depression in their lifetime. In most cases, these people have no control whether or not their brains properly regulate serotonin production anymore than a diabetic can control whether or not his pancreas properly regulates insulin production. With the governor's signature, now thousands of unnecessarily suffering Washington workers will have access to help (That help, by the way, may increase workplace productivity, which is great for employers).

Senators Bill Finkbeiner, Luke Esser, and Mike Carrell live in Western Washington districts that elect both Democrats and Republicans. At their next election cycle(s), it'll be the duty of their constituents to remind these senators of the disservice they have done to workers and employers with their "no" votes on mental health parity. That will be the time for voters to say "no" to them.

Eason Jordan is waiting for an apology from right-wing bloggers

2005-03-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

Former CNN head Eason Jordan is vindicated in the most awful way with this most recent news out of Iraq.
U.S. troops are, in fact, firing on journalists.

Rossi should concede on 'Inside Olympia'

2005-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Governor's race "also-ran" Dino Rossi should formally concede during his "Inside Olympia" interview which will air Thursday evening. After months of propaganda churned by the Washington's right-wing machine, there's still been no evidence of any wrongdoing. In fact, we now know that Washington is much better than other states and jurisdictions at managing election results. The final tally was close, but a winner has been determined. Christine Gregoire is the governor of our state.

My life is this boring?

2005-03-02T00:18:00.000-08:00

Man, I didn't even know I was so dull. My imaginary friends never bothered to tell me.
Grabbing the Seattle P-I headlines before I went to bed, I seized on this story to catch on the thrills and spills that took place in the first third of Washington's legislative session. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. Here's the sum total of what I think I was supposed to learn.

Lawmakers wait till the last minute to do things.
Some bills are controversial.
Some bills are idiotic.
Some bills won't be priorities till something bad makes the news and evokes outrage.
Governors and others who get press attention claim to support small business and a strong economy.

I hope I don't feel this way when I wake up, but right now I really want the last six weeks of my life back. It can't really be that this story truly encapsulates the progress of the session so far. Can it?

Great new game in Olympia!

2005-03-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest game craze sweeping Olympia!
It's time to Whack a Loophole! For years, lobbyists have successfully shielded fat-cat real estate barons (like the one who lost the WA Governor's race), huge pest control corporations (that would be corrupt U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's line of work), and tobacco manufacturers (does anybody like these guys?) from paying their fair share in taxes.
Try out this great game to give them the pounding they so richly deserve. Instant karma on your desktop! Then use the handy link to tell your lawmakers that you want the system to balanced to support small business owners, laborers, teachers, and the rest of folks who don't own mansions on Lake Washington.
For more information about unfair tax loopholes and the efforts to preserve YOUR tax dollars by forcing the corporate robber barons to pay their fair share, see this story by AP Olympia correspondent Rebecca Cook. It's past time to take a hard look at tax breaks in our state. It's time to make the system equitable for the majority of taxpayers, not the overprivileged few.

Tell the Oregonian about the best blogs

2005-03-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Mount up, progressive bloggers! Let's ride.
Oregonian Public Editor Michael Arrieta-Walden has asked readers for input about which blogs are the best at providing good information (see the end of this column). Here's a chance to plug our friends at Columbian Watch, Blue Oregon, and bigger entities like MoveOn and MediaMatters for America, as well as just about any of the Oregon blogs listed by NW Portal here.
Send your comments, including why you read your favorite blogs, to: mailto:publiceditor@news.oregonian.com

Eighteen percent

2005-02-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

Only 18 percent of proposed legislation actually becomes law, I read in a report last year. Whew! Thank goodness.

Washingtonvotes.org sent its first bill progress report to me on Friday. Make sure you click on the link and join the "watch list" on issues you want to know more about so you can get updates, too. I got a second update just before 6 p.m. Monday. When you get your list, take a look at some of the titles. You'll also be glad that not every bill can become a law.

Some of the most insidious are this one by Pam Roach and son Dan, requiring compensation for county regulatory actions that reduce property value, and this one by Sen. Val Stevens, limiting the types of domestic relations that will be recognized as valid in Washington state. One is fiscal; the other is social. But both are patent examples of neocons exploiting and corrupting the powers of government to their own selfish ends.

In fact, these proposals remind me of "The Simpsons" send up of the "Just a Bill" song on ABC's School House Rock that we saw in between our Saturday morning cartoons when we were kids. Listen to the "Amendment to Be" song on the CD Songs in the Key of Springfield or download the mp3 here or find the lyrics on this page

(S)laws-on cutoff

2005-02-28T17:15:00.000-08:00

When this point in the Legislative session approaches every year, my mind conjures an unlikely image -- that of Art Fern.
Remember the Johnny Carson personality with the dark, slicked-back hair, waxy mustache and delightfully disgusting mannerisms that are still occasionally chanelled by Jon Stewart when he tells an off-color joke on "The Daily Show" ?

Well, anyway, I remember, even if you don't.

This week, the Legislature has reached the first Slawson Cutoff and many bills will be cut off at the Slawson. With the first bill cut-off, lawmakers will be missing a lot of dinners this week and lobbyists' corporate cards will get a short reprieve. By Wednesday night, non-fiscal bills that are still "alive" should have had a public hearing or moved out of at least one committee in the chamber of origin (Of course, with amendments and other machinations no bill is really dead, but those that didn't get public hearings in the past month should be considered on life support).
So far, the 147 lawmakers have proposed nearly 2,300 new laws -- an average of more than 15 proposals apiece.

Victory in my defeat

2005-02-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

Million Dollar Baby pops up from the canvas to prove me and many top movie critics wrong. Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor in a Supporting role performed by a former member of PBS kids program "The Electric Company."
I kid you, Morgan Freeman. I loved your work on that long-gone show, and your turns as Red in The Shawshank Redemption and Eddie in Million Dollar Baby are triumphs of modern cinema. Well done, Million Dollar Baby, even if I did get licked on my predictions for Best Picture and Director because I assumed sycophant voters would boost Scorcese.

Million Dollar Baby, in part because of the moral dilemma it presents to viewers, is a much more important movie than The Aviator. Baby deserves the Best Picture accolade as the better film and also superb means to impose an important ethical question that thousands will have to face in their lifetime. The film raises a question; it doesn't make an endorsement.

Kudos, also, to Chris Rock who did a hilarious job of reminding viewers that there were about 59 million people who wanted to fire President Bush last year without getting haughty.

Nominee Category	OlyScoop Predictions	Actual Winners
Best Picture	~~THE AVIATOR~~	Million Dollar Baby
Actor in a Leading Role	Jamie Foxx	Jamie Foxx
Actor in a Supporting Role	Morgan Freeman	Morgan Freeman
Actress in a Leading Role	~~Kate Winslet~~	Hillary Swank
Actress in a Supporting Role	Cate Blanchett	Cate Blanchett
Animated Feature Film	THE INCREDIBLES	The Incredibles
Art Direction	THE AVIATOR	The Aviator
Cinematography	THE AVIATOR	The Aviator
Costume Design	~~LEMONY SNICKET~~	The Aviator
Directing	~~THE AVIATOR~~	Million Dollar Baby
Documentary Feature	BORN INTO BROTHELS	Born into Brothels
Documentary Short Subject	~~SISTER ROSE'S PASSION~~	Mighty Times: Children's March
Film Editing	THE AVIATOR	The Aviator
Foreign Language Film	THE SEA INSIDE	The Sea Inside
Makeup	~~THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST~~	Lemony Snicket
Music (Score)	FINDING NEVERLAND	Finding Neverland
Music (Song)	~~"Learn To Be Lonely" from PHANTOM OF OPERA~~	Otro Lado Del Rio (Motorcycle Diaries)
Short Film - Animated	~~GOPHER BROKE~~	Ryan
Short Film - Live Action	~~7:35~~ ~~IN THE MORNING~~	Wasp
Sound Mixing	~~THE AVIATOR~~	Ray
Sound Editing	THE INCREDIBLES	The Incredibles
Visual Effects	SPIDER-MAN 2	Spiderman 2
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	SIDEWAYS	Sideways
Writing (Original Screenplay)	~~HOTEL RWANDA~~	Eternal Sunshine
Correct Predictions:	13

Oscar night

2005-02-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

So it's Oscar night again. Last year, I cleaned up at the office pool -- though that office hadn't really been mine for the past four years. Still, it was nice to take $$ from former co-workers who caused me to miss important work phone calls or never returned the favor of buying a beer during a Thursday night pub crawl.

This year, without a Peter Jackson goliath in the running for a gajillion categories, it's a much harder pool. Except for Jamie Foxx for Ray. He wins that going away. The picks below are how I'm handicapping the races, not how I would judge-- same idea as Sea Times movie critic Moira McDonald has here . My picks aren't an indication of deserving winners. For instance, Million Dollar Baby is as a close to a perfect movie as has been made in recent years. If it swept its nominated categories, I'd be very satisfied. I say that even though I remember encountering Hillary Swank in our hometown and not wondering for a second why that academically dim bulb dropped out of high school. Of course, she didn't have a Best Actress Oscar at that time we met. I'm almost hoping Hillary gets two, but Annette Bening would actually be a decent choice for Being Julia. Bening's movie hinges on her performance and the denouement is satisfying enough. When Bening was favored to win for American Beauty, I thought it would have been a mistake -- thankfully, she lost -- because the movie's progress relied much more on Kevin Spacey, Thora Birch, and Chris Cooper than on Bening. I also love that Being Julia allows relationships in the 1930s to defy tradition, so I'm warming up to the idea of a Bening win.

For Best Picture, The Aviator is not as lousy as, say, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which Aviator director Martin Scorcese loved. But it will be the worst movie since Gladiator to win Best Picture. I can think of a dozen unnominated films that would be more deserving for the movie-making process or the final product -- Hotel Rwanda tops this list -- but Scorcese will have his day in 2005. There's just not much I get to say about it.

OK. Before I blather much more, I'll just say that I'm confident in four picks: Foxx for Best Actor, Aviator for Best Picture, Incredibles for Best Animated Film, and Sideways for Best Adapted Screenplay.

I'm done now. I promise to return to WA politics on Monday.

Nominee Category	OlyScoop Predictions
Best Picture	THE AVIATOR
Actor in a Leading Role	Jamie Foxx in RAY
Actor in a Supporting Role	Morgan Freeman in MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Actress in a Leading Role	Kate Winslet in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Actress in a Supporting Role	Cate Blanchett in THE AVIATOR
Animated Feature Film	THE INCREDIBLES
Art Direction	THE AVIATOR
Cinematography	THE AVIATOR
Costume Design	LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Directing	THE AVIATOR
Documentary Feature	BORN INTO BROTHELS
Documentary Short Subject	SISTER ROSE'S PASSION
Film Editing	THE AVIATOR
Foreign Language Film	THE SEA INSIDE
Makeup	THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Music (Score)	FINDING NEVERLAND
Music (Song)	"Learn To Be Lonely" from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Short Film - Animated	GOPHER BROKE
Short Film - Live Action	7:35 IN THE MORNING
Sound Mixing	THE AVIATOR
Sound Editing	THE INCREDIBLES
Visual Effects	SPIDER-MAN 2
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	SIDEWAYS
Writing (Original Screenplay)	HOTEL RWANDA

Win for kids = win for democracy

2005-02-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

The WA State House has again passed the Simple Majority for School Levies bill. The vote was 73-25, a bigger margin than in previous times it passed the House. The legislation has been raised for what seems to be eons now, but was bottled up by hard-core conservative Rep. Peggy Johnson of Shelton, the chair of the House Education Committee for much of the 90s. In recent years, it was the narrow majority in the state Senate that kept killing it before it could be voted on.

Sea P-I Poll: Raise Taxes

2005-02-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

At 5:30 today, nearly half of P-I readers who weighed in on the P-I's Opinion Page's daily poll say it would be better to raise taxes than make cuts from the state's biennial operating budget which faces a $2.2 billion shortfall. Fewer than 7% of those responding suggested cutting education. Meanwhile, 28% say spending cuts are good, but don't say where. If only the state could provide services -- roads, schools, health care, business subsidies, etc. -- in the abstract and still keep folks healthy and happy. If only.
Before I get the flurry of angry mail, please note that I'm not endorsing raising taxes. I'm reporting the results of a very unscientific poll. I am endorsing that more folks read the P-I opinion pages and offer up reasoned ideas and courses of action in public forums.

What should be cut from the state budget?
49.0% Nothing, raise taxes	11.8% Cut Medicaid, health care for poor
6.6% Cut education	28.0% Other cuts
4.6% Don't know
Total Votes: 304