So, get used to those temporary taxes as it appears that they will be around for a long time. As the only opposition to this appears to be someone that thinks that his pet charity will get short changed if the taxes are made permanent and benefit all three pro teams in Seattle.

Never, ever believe that a tax is only temporary. The tax you currently pay on your telephone was institued over 100 years ago, as a 'temporary' measure to finance the Spanish-American War.

While the war only lasted less than a year, the tax is still with us.

Maybe in a hundred years we (or our descendants, I should say, since I don't anticipate seeing my 137th Bday) will still be arguing about the stadium tax as well.

My guess is they'll ride the wave of public euphoria (read: ignorant rich people) right into getting this tax made permanent.

What's disappointing is that none of this will make it any easier for me to take even one of my kids to a single game.

That name "Gates." Why does that look familiar? Maybe the same father of a billionaire Microsoft founder who OPPOSES elimination of the inheritance tax? Inquiring minds want to know.

We are having fun in Washington, DC, as the former drug-addict mayor, Marion Barry, looks like the model of fiscal conservatism compared with the NEW ("Washington Nationals") bunch.

Life goes on.

Ron in Virginia

First, how does this fit with Locke's POG? With all that's needed for higher ed, transportation, etc., how can anyone honestly think that subsidizing some of the richest business owners in the State through tax subsidies makes any sense. Second, as an eastern Washington resident, we get absolutely NO benefit from the pro-sports teams. If King County wants to support the teams through taxes, have at it. But how do residents in Pend O'Reille, Ferry, Spokane, Whitman, and so on counties benefit by the Sonics having an upgraded facility to play in.

This is such a ludicrous request; it'll probably get passed. God I wish we could divorce ourselves from the Kings of King County.

Must be a very lonely world you inhabit in that mind, ol' gal.

For you to finitely declare that Rossi lost is intectually insulting. The election, at worst, is a statistical tie. Always was, always will be. No one, and I mean NO ONE can say who truly got the most votes and won, valid or otherwise. The numbers are too close and are within the margin of error.

Don't come on here preaching about who won or lost. The reality is that we'll never know, and now, with the muddled mess of over-ballots, etc., the entire process is screwed up. It's intellectually insulting, to yourself too, to try and tell us that we lost and to 'get over it'. Don't waste your breath trying to lecture, you're underwhelming.

Still, you can talk all you want; the will of the voters has not been fulfilled. Don't shoot me though, I'm just repeating the message. 58% of the people support a revote versus 36% who don't. 55% of the people feel Rossi probably won versus 35% who think Gregoire did. Those numbers aren't a stastical tie; they are very clear in their intent.

You can bluster all you want at an obscure message board at this website, but it won't change that dynamic. This thing's likely going to a revote no matter how hard your party huffs and puffs to try to blow down the Republican doors. The fact is, without a revote, an presumed Governor Gregoire will be politically impotent.

Get over it.

You can go into personal insulting all you want, typical reaction of someone incapable of debating in a logical fashion, but the fact is that, whether or not CG ultimately is awarded the position of governor, she will be without a mandate. In fact, even though the Dems control both houses, she'll have a very difficult time finding anyone who will align with her on an agenda that's anything other than politically benign. They all have political futures to consider too.

So, shoot the messenger if that's what gets you off. But it won't change the ultimate outcome of the spoiled electoral fruit. Frankly, CG and the rest of the D party have a much more difficult problem than the R's do. It's almost a no-win situation in the long run. CG may win the immediate battle but in the long run, she's going to hurt your party in the bigger war.

As for looking like sore losers, I don't think so. Right now, the R's look like the group pointing out the problems with the system while the D's look like they're willing to accept a broken system, so long as it benefits them. At least that's how the public currently views this. Again, just the messenger.

Now, go ahead, launch into your vitriolic speech again. I wouldn't expect anything less!

When you say moronic things like that, how can anyone hear anything else that you say? Bush opposed FEDERAL FUNDING of EMBRYONIC stem cell research. There was no ban.

To date there have been 5000 successful life-saving therapies performed using umbilical cord blood stem cells, most of these in the past 3 years... under BUSH.

To date under Clinton and Bush combined, there have been ZERO successful embryonic stem cell therapies...

So, basically, you oppose any stem cell research that doesn't involve killing an embryo, I guess.

If there's one thing worse than feeding a troll, it's feeding an off-topic troll. This thread is about an arena. The OP said:

"The Sonics now say the market has changed and the team has not been able to fill its suites, due in part to the competition from the new baseball and football stadiums. [also publicly financed-ed.] Sonics officials say the team has lost $50 million over the past five years."

The Sonics are in first place now, right? If they can't make money now, and can't fill those suites now, then it's time they moved to Las Vegas, or to San Francisco (where the teams now build their own damn stadiums).

/rant on
I'm just getting tired of hearing whining pro teams saying pay for our new improved stadium or we'll move the team to another more willing to pay city. I say let them go. They are a private company and should be able to support themselves, if not let them go out of business or move. As long as cities/counties continue to let these companies bully them into paying bills that they should be paying they will continue to do so. Why do the taxpayers have to subsidize a group of rich kids getting richer?

Would King county support a tax to help Microsoft develop the next version of Windows? I don't think so. But what is the difference? I cannot see one.

/rant off

According to Forbes magazine, the Seattle Mariners (as of the season ending 2003), made more operating profit than any of the other 29 Major League Baseball teams. The Mariners made around $25 million, and that includes baseball's "revenue sharing." (The operating profit is EBITDA--you all know what that means.)

So, the Mariners have a taxpayer-financed stadium? That was dumb!

Enough already!!!
[rant]
We have a bazillion dollar deficit in the state, We have King County stealing our land with some communist CAO, We have *Sin* taxes placed on everything from soda to cigarettes by people in our state government that don't even believe in God! How can they believe in sin?, We have failing public school systems, We have cities like Spokane laying off their police officers, Liberal judges who free murderers, child molestors and drug dealers -(and try to sneak their halfway houses into our neighborhoods.), We've had more stadium construction and repair than we've had *deserving* teams - yet we can't seem to keep our Medic One system and Fire Departments funded, We have some of the most oppressive (nanny) State, county and city laws in the nation - all designed to take our money in fees, fines, and penalties if we fail to adhere to them...(because the liberals insist they know whats best for us).....BUT with all of these ingenious ways this state government has devised to separate us from our hard earned cash...(taxes, tickets, fees, fines,..etc..)The liberal government has decided that this state should not be friendly to business! So our jobs are going elsewhere - so is our money - that means their tax income is going too!...... Our stupid enviros' decided to create frankenfish (Modified fake salmon) in some absurd effort to save our wild salmon - and instead created an environment that is actually killing them!... We can't work because the jobs are going south..er.. north, east, west..anywhere but here, We can't fish unless *they* say so and for a price, Don't get me started on our hunting lotteries.. We can't heat our home with wood because of burn bans (though the large smelters don't seem to have burn ban days...)We can't say Merry Christmas, We can't manage our own properties in King County, Our voices via our votes don't mean anything!.........And the most common denominator in all of this oppression - is that it has come from the liberal Democrats running this state for over 20 years![/rant off]

I feel better now......but not really....