by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:55 PM
Sound Politics fans read The Declaration of Independence.
Peggy Noonan: A Day at the Beach.
we should remember two truths about America. First, the United States remains the most free and affluent country in the history of civilization. Second, almost all our problems are lapses of complacency, remain relatively easily correctable, and pale in comparison to past crises.Danny Westneat:
As celebrations go, though, this one feels strained. Forced. It comes at a time when a lot of people are wondering: Do we even believe in America anymore?Right. It was easier to pursue happiness in the days before gasoline and refrigeration, when we traveled by horse, raised and hunted all of our own meat, and before there were any recalls to protect us from foodborne illness.I don't mean the founding idea -- the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness part. That seems strong, if newly challenged by recalled meat and $100 gas fill-ups.
Sheesh.
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by Jim Miller, 03:55 PM
And thank you to all those who made it possible.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics
(Picture taken at the beginning of the Kirkland 4th of July parade.)
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by pudge, 05:35 PM
It must be a tough job being a speechwriter for Obama. I tried my hand at writing this press conference speech about his Iraq policy.
"What I've said before is always what I've said and what I'm still saying, that we need to be careful and deliberate about how we bring the troops home. That's my policy, and it's always been my policy.
"When I said that we would do it in 16 months, and made this promise repeatedly in order to become the presumed Democratic nominee, what I meant -- and I've said this all along -- is that...Read the rest >>
by Juvenal, 05:31 PM
Those who are bawling about the Sonics' decision to leave town are behaving like a five-year-old whose parents won't take him to the circus.
If the Sonics are a "cultural institution", then so is Chuck E. Cheese. But neither merits a public subsidy.
It is foolish to expect government to subsidize your amusements, and not only because such subsidies are wasteful and unfair. It is foolish not only because such demands only serve to enlarge government, enfeeble...Read the rest >>
by DonWard, 01:21 PM
With the announcement that the City of Seattle had settled with Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma City ownership over the Sonics lease at Key Arena a new chapter has been written in Seattle sports.
And with a general election coming up less than five months, the first few paragraphs written on the page will be about politics.
Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi watched the aftermath of the lawsuit like many other Sonics fans with a sense of foreboding. His reaction to the settlement announcement was clear.
He pins responsibility for the team's expected departure on his opponent in the governor's mansion,...Read the rest >>
by Jim Miller, 01:20 PM
By accepting the cash settlement for the early departure of the Sonics, Mayor Nickels will have enough money, or almost enough money, for another trolley.
(I admit to being less disturbed about the Sonics leaving than some, though I loved the team when Lenny Wilkens was coaching Jack Sikma and Gus Williams. But the team has become much less lovable since then, at least from my point of view.)
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by pudge, 11:25 AM
The EFF put up this Fourth of July video:
Which reminded me of a video I put up last year, a cover of "Fireworks" from Schoolhouse Rock:
Happy Independence Day! Having fun blowing up little bits of paper and cardboard with black powder! I sure will.
[NB: I know that, in fact, it was Robert Livingston, not Philip Livingston, who was on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Schoolhouse Rock got it wrong, and when I copied them, so did I.]
Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.
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by DonWard, 09:29 PM
A massive summer storm is rolling over me as I write. God how I love the sound of thunder as it echoes across the Cascade foothills while lightning plays against the outline of nearby Mount Si.
Unfortunately, this also means that power is flickering and could be out any second now.
First off. We only have a couple more hours to go until readers at Sound Politics are spared another crappy "Clown of the Day" article. We're going to have to take this one day at a time folks and hopefully the message will be sent.
If any more CoD's...Read the rest >>
by DonWard, 09:04 PM
You know, just when I was about to talk myself out of voting for Sen. John McCain, the Drudge Report links to a Mississippi newspaper article about the man's temper.
GOP Senator says McCain roughed up Nicaraguan.
Apparently back in 1987, the freshly minted Arizona senator got involved in a physical altercation with one of Daniel Ortega's Sandanista henchmen during a diplomatic reception.
According to Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran...
"I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the...Read the rest >>
by DonWard, 07:50 PM
Royal Brougham must be rolling over in his grave right now.
The Seattle P-I editorial board waxes enthusiastic about "unexpectedly good settlement" the city received from the Oklahoma ownership group.
Honor and civic pride in Seattle can be purchased for the sum of $45 million. Wonder what the price they will get the next time.
What is particularly darling is that the only money making part of the Post-Intelligencer operation is its sports page. Do the ad count.
That the paper's editorial board would so willingly support the cutting of its own...Read the rest >>
by DonWard, 05:05 PM
The Seattle SuperSonics have officially been stolen.
Basketball fans have been sold out by politicians that have allowed their team to be robbed without even putting up a fight.
Barring a miracle, or a victory by Howard Schultz with his litigation against the Sonics, the team is gone. During his press conference from OKC, Bennett has already stated the team begins its...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:49 PM
I am cautious in my optimism, but the Seattle Times reports that Seattle city government has actually done something useful: "Downtown traffic signals updated for better flow, less waiting":
Seattle transportation officials say they've synchronized the traffic signals at all 258 downtown intersections for the first time in two decades.Why did it took two decades to do this? Perhaps it was an enormous undertaking.
Then again, maybe not:
About 18 months and $300,000 went into the downtown project, funded by the voter-approved "Bridging the Gap" property-tax increase, said Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.That explains the decades of procrastination. If it only cost $300,000, then it wouldn't have generated enough pork barrel spending for anybody to make it a priority.
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by Eric Earling, 07:59 AM
The organizers of the Seafair Marathon are very, very, very, very high on my list of people I'm not impressed with at the current time.
Failure to provide adequate transportation for runners to get from their assembly point to the starting line?
Check.
Causing said stranded runners to miss at least half the race?
Check.
Choosing NOT to refund the entry fee of those runners left stranded by your error?
Check.
Not having enough water for the runners on the course?
Check.
And here is perhaps the most troubling line demonstrating lack of common sense:
Though...Read the rest >>
by Eric Earling, 07:39 AM
As astute reader points out an interesting twist to a recent post on the state's looming, $2.7 billion budget deficit.
Gregoire budget chief Victor Moore said the Office of Financial Management wasn't going to run fresh budget projections in the wake of the recent, negative, state revenue projection. That's not the tune he was singing in February.
Back then, the Senate Ways & Means Committee staff came out with its $2.4 billion deficit projection, eliciting this reaction:
Victor Moore, the governor's chief budget writer, said he's not convinced the Ways and Means estimate is accurate....Read the rest >>
by Juvenal, 04:25 PM
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Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin has invited the public to comment on his proposed legislation to ban polystyrene foam food packaging and to impose a fee on disposable shopping bags, all in the name of solving global warming, of course.
The Clown of the Day Award is a more courteous and intellectually serious comment than Conlin's proposal deserves, but we'll award it anyway.
If Seattle has so few serious problems to solve that the council can spend its time on such superstitious nonsense, than the city obviously has more councilmembers than it really needs. Time to downsize the council and shift to district representation to make the councilmembers more accountable to the citizens.
In the meantime, we thank Conlin for giving us a chuckle. Cue the music.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:56 AM
Seattle Times: "Puget Sound-area commuters are getting creative to avoid rising gas prices"
Feeling the pinch at the gas pump, local workers and employers are not waiting for City Hall, the federal government or OPEC to ease the pressure. Instead, they are creating their own networks of commuter alternatives, from private buses to van pools to free bikes.No, and they're not waiting for Santa Claus or the Great Pumpkin to ease the pressure either. But I find it amusing that the article implies that it is a non-default situation when consumers respond to market signals more quickly than government does.
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by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:41 AM
"Fire damages home of congressional candidate Darcy Burner"
Let us all express relief that everyone in the Burner family got out of the house safely and wish the Burners the best for getting back on their feet.
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by Juvenal, 09:40 PM
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Councilmen Constantine and Phillips are responding to this self-inflicted crisis of excess generosity with other people's money by hosting a Town Hall Meeting on "creating a green economy".
Now, a conference on economic development featuring investors, entrepreneurs and eager customers who are ready to create business but for unnecessary county red-tape is one thing. But this "new economy" which "will create enormous new opportunities" and "spur new investment" is driven by the animal spirits of "leaders from the labor, education, civil rights, and environmental communities".
It should be obvious that this will never amount to anything other than some elaborate performances for suckers and some elaborate cash payments to the various Patronage-American communities.
But we thank Constantine and Phillips for giving us a good chuckle. Cue the music.
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by Eric Earling, 07:37 PM
The Washington Policy Center Blog has more on the expanded $2.7 billion deficit now facing the state in its next budgetary biennium. Given that ugly number, one would think Christine Gregoire would trot out some proposals to address that looming gap.
So far, only crickets - to this and previous deficit projections for the coming 2009-11 budgetary cycle.
Indeed, when asked about coming budget problems, Gregoire budget chief Victor Moore said:
Read the rest >>"We know there is going to be some pretty significant belt-tightening that we are going to have to do in this budget," he said. "We......
by Jim Miller, 05:21 PM
And worth sharing with your friends and family.
State senator Val Stevens believes that the state's bureaucracy, the Child Protective Services, has failed children again and again.
Read the rest >>by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:01 PM
Today's Seattle Times insinuates that Dave Reichert's well-deserved reputation for independence is merely a facade, and gets supporting quotes from three supposedly objective scholars:
"If he can't represent himself as a moderate Republican, he's dead in the water," said [UW communications professor] John Gastil.Gastil is a Democrat
"He can distance himself as much as he wants and it will be done, I think, with the tacit approval of the NRCC," [UW political scientist Mark] Smith said. "They're willing to look the other way."Smith is a Democrat (see Opensecrets.org)
"It is a common thing that you see a lot that allows a politician to portray themselves a moderate," [UW political scientist Matt Barreto] said.Barreto's only campaign contributions are to a Democrat and a Green.
The Times would do well to seek quotes from a more ideologically balanced panel of experts, or at the very least disclose when its quoted "experts" are all partisan activists.
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by Eric Earling, 05:17 PM
The Tri-City Herald has an examination today of Christine Gregoire's support - or lack thereof - of a major effort to attract and retain quality jobs. The lede:
OLYMPIA - Gov. Chris Gregoire was repeatedly pressed to support Areva's $2 billion uranium enrichment plant and told her help was critical to luring its 400 high-paying jobs to the Tri-Cities, according to e-mail and other communications obtained by the Herald.Read the rest >>She also was warned the company's existing fuel fabrication plant in Richland and its more than 600 jobs could be lost if Washington didn't beat four other states in...
by Eric Earling, 05:09 PM
For those interested, I have a post up at The Next Right summarizing developments in our state's race for Governor that we've already discussed here at Sound Politics in recent days.
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by Juvenal, 02:49 PM
 | The sages of the Washington press corps express surprise at the obvious.
David Broder decries the decades-long trend of "Dumbing Down the Presidency": "As presidents have taken the rhetorical path of least resistance by serving up simplistic sentences to citizens, they have correspondingly offered an easily digestible substantive menu devoid of argument and infused with inspirational platitudes, partisan punch lines and emotional and human-interest appeals." |
Our political system seems incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big opportunities.Go figure. If politicians delivered straight-talk and education, per Broder and Thomas, the suckers would only stop paying attention and the patronage seekers would only start to riot.
And those like Friedman who genuinely seek long-range answers to society's big problems should compare the track record of politics against the records of civil society and free enterprise.
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by Eric Earling, 09:12 AM
The flip side of the PC-infused discourse many on the left have promulgated is that pillars of the MSM Establishment tend to hold everyone accountable for failing to adhere to such standards.
Hence, today's very public scolding of the state Democratic Party from the Seattle Times.
The editorial called the party's Sopranos ad against Dino Rossi "sleazy," their resulting apology "weak," and said:
Democrats need to go to Apology Class. A full apology goes like this: "We are sorry. We goofed." This should not be one of those halfhearted routines that implies the wrong belongs to those who took offense.
Between this dustup and Christine Gregoire's "rock bottom" rhetoric in describing BIAW's ads against her, both sides are going to be walking a tricky line in this campaign. How to hit the other side hard, without spoiling the effectiveness of the effort by attracting hordes of negative press back on oneself.
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by Eric Earling, 10:48 PM
Posting from this soul will be lighter than usual the next week or so.
Included in that time span will be a short family jaunt for some R&R. Meanwhile, my attention will be occupied as well by US Swimming Olympic Trials, the preeminent domestic contest of the sport that is one of my true passions.
I'll be watching to see if certain locals, including this man and this woman, can master the highly competitive field to land a spot on what looks to be one of the most talented US squads in many a year....Read the rest >>
by Eric Earling, 07:41 PM
If Republicans are going to improve their standing in this election year and in the future, it would be immensely helpful if conservative leaders were not making themselves look silly with hyperbolic, exploitable attacks against the left.
James Dobson recently weighed in on Barack Obama's theology. Avowed conservative Evangelical Peter Wehner objects, with little joy in doing so.
I second Wehner's objection and applaud his articulate explanation of it.
James Dobson has been a tremendous leader in the Evangelical movement, providing spiritual and family guidance that has been invaluable to families across the country. But, his...Read the rest >>
by Eric Earling, 07:24 PM
A common refrain from Obama supporters these days is to state that voters are no longer concerned about "distractions;" they are concerned about the "issues." Matters such as Obama's character, integrity, and decision-making are deemed divisive and thus not worthy of discussion in the post-partisan world of Obama-mania. Moreover, we are told that voters have already weighed Jeremiah Wright, bitter clinging, and the like and pronounced: "No problem!"
It's clear even the Obama campaign itself does not share this view of the world. In a recent interview his campaign manager acknowledged as much:
"In many ways, it feels...Read the rest >>
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:01 PM
Today's Seattle Times has an excerpt from the Sierra Club book Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet: Everyday Things to Help Solve Global Warming.
As could be expected, the 7 ideas aren't really all that simple, and the article offers not a shred of evidence that doing any of these things will have any measurable impact to "solve global warming". It's basically a list of impractical fantasies ("If American rooftops were covered with solar shingles...") and superstitious rituals designed to alleviate one's fears of modernity (use clotheslines). It also makes the counter-productive suggestion of buying locally grown food...Read the rest >>
