by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:54 PM
A group calling itself "Sensible Washington" has filed a statewide initiative to legalize possession, use, delivery and cultivation of marijuana by adults (Initiative 1068).
Medical purposes aside, I think that smoking marijuana is a pretty stupid use of one's time. But I also think that punishing adults for marijuana offenses is a pretty stupid use of one's criminal justice system.
One thing I question about this particular initiative -- while it prohibits minors (under 18) from possessing or using marijuana, it's not clear whether it would still be a crime for an adult to deliver marijuana to a minor. Perhaps someone close to the initiative could clarify?
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:19 AM
except when it entails allowing taller buildings in a smaller area.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:15 AM
Michael Barone: "Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers"
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by pudge, 08:51 PM
There's ten questions on the 2010 census questionnaire. I believe several of them cannot legally be required, and I won't be answering them.
The Constitution says on the subject:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they...Read the rest >>
by Carter Mackley, 06:33 PM
I frequently hear that the Republican party is the party of "no" when it comes to solving the health care problem. Well, let's review the situation in Washington.
The House Republicans have a 10-step plan that has been on their website for many months. They have introduced a bill for each of the 10 steps. Unfortunately, with one exception, none of the bills have ever made it out of committee. Apparently the legislator most responsible for leaving these bills languishing in committee is Representative Eileen Cody, Chair of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee.
The House Democrat's plan? It's "under construction" according to their website as of February 6th. (See screen shot below.)
Here...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:55 PM
"State's biggest expense is the hardest one to cut"
Wages and benefits for teachers and state workers make up 60 percent of the budget. Yet, even in the face of a $2.6 billion shortfall, it's unlikely that the Legislature will fire a big chunk of the state work force, or whack their salaries. Most employees are represented by unions, and Democrats, who control the Legislature and the governor's office, generally don't want to tick the unions off.Yes, the vicious cycle of government employee unions winning permanent, inflexible and unsustainable entitlements for unionized employees, while recycling their mandatory dues into campaign contributions to politicians who further entrench the unions in government and politics. Ending this vicious cycle really has to be the #1 priority for those of us who wish to remain a people with a government and not the other way around.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:24 PM
"WA among states weighing sale of liquor business"
"To me this isn't a core function of government," said Sen. Rodney Tom, a Medina Democrat who is a chief budget writer for the Senate. "It's a retail operation. Private companies can do it as good or better."Tom's bill (SB 6840) would completely privatize the state's liquor monopoly, with open licensing. Excellent idea, but I'll bet a bottle of Hennessy that nothing like this will pass this session. Sen. Sheldon's earlier bill (SB 6204), which would have auctioned off the existing liquor stores, was emasculated in committee and now would merely require the Liquor Board to "examine ways to increase efficiency and revenue through the sale of liquor." Woop-de-do.
But while Sheldon and Tom are defending the interests of consumers and taxpayers, the opponents of privatization have no arguments but a selfish wish to hang on to several hundred unnecessary but unionized government jobs.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:01 PM
Students awash in purple gathered on the Capitol steps in Olympia Friday, calling for lawmakers to resist further cuts to higher education and to protect financial aid.An estimated 350 to 400 people from the University of Washington's Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell campuses gathered at noon shouting "knowledge is power" and letting out "whoop whoops" for state need grants and work study programs.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:47 PM
Do read the WSJ column on public employee unions which Carter mentioned earlier:
As we can see from the desperate economic and fiscal woes of California, New Jersey, New York and other states with dominant public unions [e.g. Washington], this has become a major problem for the U.S. economy and small-d democratic governance. It may be the single biggest problem. The agenda for American political reform needs to include the breaking of public unionism's power to capture an ever-larger share of private income.Otherwise, and we may already be past the tipping point, but the government will no longer be an instrument of a sovereign people, but a joint venture owned by public employee unions, the primary business of which is the shakedown of productive citizens.
Speaking of which: "Billion dollar headache: Looming pension liability worries [Washington] state officials". Headache, yes. But not to "state officials". They'll just raise taxes on the rest of us.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:16 PM
King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector ordered the Seattle School Board to revisit its decision to use the "Discovering Series" math textbooks, calling the Board's decision to use them "arbitrary and capricious".
Meanwhile over in Kirkland, school officials have ordered the script of a school play version of "Snow White in the Black Forest" to be rewritten to remove content not in conformance with the Lake Washington School District's "human-dignity and anti-bullying policies". Among the "offending" material:
* Lines in which characters call each other "stupid"Worrying about this is the best use of some administrator's time?* Joking references about the King being "senile"
* The action of characters making the "crazy gesture" -- rotating the pointer finger next to the ear
Again, the problem with government schools is not want of "ample funding". It's that the school system insists on wasting so much of the more than ample funds it already receives.
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by Tim Eyman, 01:50 PM
On Wednesday, Olympia's Democrats introduced their long-anticipated, yet still maddening repeal-of-Initiative-960's-policies bill. The public hearing on it was held less than 24 hours later, illustrating perfectly their lack of desire to hear from the people. Everyone who testified against it did a phenomenal job. Frankly, the best testimony was from Senator Don Benton who was 'first up' (when a transcript of his remarks is available, I will share them with everyone).
Here's what I had to say (in a suit and tie and without raising my voice at any point):
"Madam Chair, thank you, my name is Tim Eyman and I'm opposed to the bill.
"Citizens are watching arrogant Democrats decide that the rules don't apply to them."
...Read the rest >>by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:11 AM
"McGinn adviser resigns, admits he lied about Ph.D."
The adviser, Chris "Bushnell" (legal name Chris Haugen), was to be paid a $110,000 annual salary by the people of Seattle to work on "policies regarding transportation, human services, public health and older adults". He has been blamed for the Mayor's out-of-the-gate missteps on the Seawall repair tax proposal and the non-firing of 200 unnecessary high-level city managers. But the PhD lie was not the first clue that Bushnell/Haugen was unfit for a responsible position in city government:
He also was convicted in 1994 of felony bank fraud, and McGinn says he knew about Bushnell's criminal record before hiring him.Heaven help us.McGinn spokesman Mark Matassa said the mayor tried to discourage Bushnell from leaving and "very reluctantly accepted his resignation."
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by pudge, 09:31 AM
CNN dutifully reports that "The government's monthly job report on Friday showed that the disastrous labor situation plaguing the nation's economy is moderating."
The facts: "The unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in January to 9.7%. And businesses shed 20,000 jobs for the month, far fewer than the 150,000 jobs that were lost in December."
So when CNN says the "unemployment rate fell unexpectedly," they mean "more people stopped looking for jobs than expected," obviously, because that's the only way you can lose jobs and still increase the percentage of the workforce that is employed.
And when CNN says that the situation is "moderating," they mean "still getting worse, but not getting worse as badly as before," obviously, because we're still...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:34 PM
King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick ruled today in favor of plaintiffs who sued the State of Washington for "violating the state Constitution by providing too little money for public schools". In his ruling, Judge Erlick declined to define an actual dollar threshold for "ample funding" and also conceded that:
from a statistical standpoint providing additional funding does not necessarily result in higher achievement.Nevertheless, he ruled that the State is not providing ample funding for education and ordered the legislature to figure out the actual cost of "ample" and to somehow disburse that funding forthwith.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Gregoire is dilly-dallying on what will anyway likely turn out to be an inadequate application for up...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:35 AM
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is looking for a few good attorneys to join the Justice Department and defend your voting rights:
The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine. Applicants who meet the qualification requirements and are able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation are encouraged to identify targeted disabilities in response to the questions in the Avue application system seeking that information.emphasis added.
It's an outrage that the Justice Department is looking for lawyers with "mental retardation".
Don't they know that the new term for this is "individuals with intellectual disability"?
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by pudge, 08:43 AM
One thing I dislike about many politicians is that they genuinely dislike many of their constituents.
Take Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, for example. When presented with a petition of 14,000 signatures -- mostly from corporate special interests who get government subsidies -- calling for tax increases, she met with them, happy to be asked to raise taxes.
But when 20,000 signatures -- mostly from the people who pay for those subsidies -- were provided in a petition against tax increases, none of our leaders -- not Gregoire, not Speaker Chopp, not Majority Leader Brown -- would meet with them.
Even if they disagree, shouldn't they at least meet with the representatives of 20,000 citizens? Let's face it: they just...Read the rest >>
by Tim Eyman, 07:36 PM
February 3, 2010
To: Our thousands of supporters throughout the state (cc'd to all media outlets -- reporters, columnists, editorial writers, and others in newspapers, radio, and TV -- House & Senate members, and the Governor)
From: Our Expanded Team of co-sponsors for I-1053, the "Save The 2/3's Vote For Tax Increases Initiative": Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, Mike Fagan, Mike Dunmire, Senator Don Benton, Senator Janea Holmquist, Erma Turner, Nancy Nelson, Dagny Lord, Keli Carender, Senator Pam Roach, Rep. Matt Shea, John Ahern & Ken Morse, ph: 425-493-9127, email: tim_eyman@comcast.net, http://www.VotersWantMoreChoices.com (go to our website to do a secure donation by VISA/Mastercard/PayPal)
RE: GALLING: Democrats don't just get rid of the 2/3's, they gut I-960's "sunshine" transparency...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:53 PM
Virginia's newly inaugurated Republican Governor, Bob McDonnell, has promised to privatize that state's liquor stores.
Our Governor, on the other hand, has convinced herself that selling Blue Curacao is a core function of government.
Discuss.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:19 PM
"Wash. gov says nuclear energy must be considered"
Gov. Chris Gregoire is applauding President Barack Obama's recent push for nuclear power...She says the Northwest is in good shape to develop alternative energy sources ... She says nuclear energy must be part of that mix.I commend Gregoire for endorsing nuclear power. But the justification of "global climate change" concerns me, now that the "settled science" is looking increasinginly unsettled. What cutting edge science might inspire Gregoire's next policy proposal? Autism vaccination research?With global climate change, Gregoire says "options that were off the table now are on the table."
In any event, Gregoire usually only talks up things for government to do, so hope she's not scheming for a state-managed nuclear mega-project. That evokes other financial Chernobyls like Brightwater, Sound Transit, the Viaduct, etc. But maybe my concerns are misplaced. What could possibly go wrong with state-owned nuclear power plants?
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by Tim Eyman, 07:32 AM
According the Seattle Times columnist Bruce Ramsey: This is spite, codified.
The best way to protect our rights is to exercise them.
"We have to get 960 overturned as soon as possible," said Lisa Brown, the Democrats' leader in the state senate. In the state house, Speaker Frank Chopp wins the Alice in Wonderland down-is-up, up-is-down award for his Orwellian statement: "We must suspend 960 to carry out the will of the people."
To counter their arrogant effort to take away Initiative 960's policies -- which have been approved by the voters 3 times and which have survived 2 court challenges -- the 14 of us are sponsoring I-1053, the "Save The...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:39 PM
So writes Noel Merino in a Times op-ed.
I agree.
And I'll continue to enjoy my occasional cigar from the comfort of a park bench until the nannies take my Maduros "from my cold, dead hands".
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:12 PM
KING-5 Investigators: "Report confirms strange practices at King County Morgue "
Robinette Struckel worked as a forensic autopsy technician at the King County Medical Examiner's Office (KCMEO) between 2001 and 2007. She says during that time she witnessed lax procedures, unprofessional conduct and improper handling of skeletal remains, tissue samples and hazardous waste.So maybe the only folks who have to worry about government "death panels" are the already dead?
In dozens of instances, relocated residents were overdosed accidentally or were harmed when critical medications were withheld, The Times found.Meanwhile, Mrs. Gregoire thinks we all deserve to have government bureaucrats micromanaging our health care.In a dozen cases of residents with dementia, caregivers with little understanding of the disorder imprisoned residents in their rooms or tied them to chairs with belts or ropes to keep them from walking off.
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by Carter Mackley, 01:06 PM
Update: WSJ cites U.S. Department of Labor statistics that show that unionized public sector workers now outnumber unionized private sector employees. We're becoming Europe.
Mayor McGinn's difficulty in cutting senior staff reminds us why growth in government jobs should be resisted in the first place. We are dismayed to see the rapid increase in federal employees under the Obama administration. From a WSJ editorial on the subject:
"Civilian full-time equivalent employees," as they're known in budgetese, held relatively constant before Mr. Obama came to Washington, but they surged to 1.978 million in 2009 from 1.875 million in 2008. In fiscal 2010, the Administration expects to add another 170,000 workers--a 14.5% leap in two years.I guess...Read the rest >>
