Bombastic 'Mo

Endorsement for Initiative 1033 - Hell No!

Initiative 1033 is yet another initiative created by Tim Eyman.  Eyman has had a history of introducing regressive tax-cutting initiatives to WA State, and has been doing so since before I could vote.I recall the first initiative that passed under my watch, his 1999 Car Tab Fee initiative.  This initiative set the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax to a flat fee, rather than one based on the car’s value.I had just turned 16 and been given a 1980-something Ford Tempo.  It was a beater, and worth next to nothing.  After his initiative passed, my tab fees went up.  But the thirty-something who bought a $100,000 dollar mid-life-crisis-mobile managed to save a few bucks.  And of course, our local government had less money for important services.  Thanks Tim.

And his current initiative is so much worse.  Initiative 1033 would cut state spending by holding it at the previous year’s level with adjustments ONLY for inflation and population growth.  The excess revenue would be used to reduce property tax values.

The description is terrifyingly simple, and leaves out the fact that state spending levels need to change each year for many different reasons.   As just one example, the cost of health care rises drastically faster than the cost of inflation, meaning the state would lose money each year.  The only escape, putting potential tax increases to the voters.

It also would start using this year’s state spending, the year we’ve had the worst Washington State budget since the Great Depression.

The bill is already a train wreck, but consider that all of the refunds will go towards property tax reductions.  Washington State already has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country (consider I paid equally into our taxes during the six months I was unemployed and had 0 income).  Low income WA residents will be denied necessary state services, continue getting stuck with an unfair and rather high sales tax, and the people who own billion dollar malls will get a better deal than we currently give them… which is already pretty fucking good.

Colorado released a similar bill (TABOR) in 1992, leading to drastic cuts in State Spending on schools, health care, and other services states should provide.  Initiative 1033 is stricter.  Vote No.

For more info, I’d recommend checking out:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/10/13/washington-is-a-low-tax-state

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2952

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Eyman#List_of_initiatives_and_outcomes

http://publicola.net/?p=16481

http://no1033.com/

Endorsement for Seattle’s Proposition 1 - Low Income Housing Levy

One of my first baby-sitting jobs was for a girl with a number of disabilities.  To this day, I couldn’t name them all, but she was confined to a wheelchair, failed to grow more than about a foot and a half tall throughout her lifetime, and was an amazing presence in my life.  Her energy, optimism, and level of pure fun made her great to be around.  I’m certainly glad she was able to get the help she needed as a child.

Imagine my surprise and nostalgia when that same child was on the flyer for the Low Income Housing Levy.  A grown woman now, she’s now one of the many people who have been helped by Seattle’s low-income housing options.

I’ve always been a compassionate person, and I’d have voted for the levy without realizing it was helping someone I knew.  But seeing this woman there reminds me that we’ve all come into contact with those that are slightly less fortunate than us, whether it’s for a short period of time (we’re still at around 10% official unemployment rate, which means closer to 20% of our population is really unemployed or under-employed) or for life.

Vote to take care of those who need it.  It could come back to help you.  And even if somehow it doesn’t, you’re a better person for it.

For additional info:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2010080331_edit19levy.html

http://publicola.net/?p=16499

Noam Chomsky: predicting another holocaust?

Noam Chomsky was on Democracy Now the other day, and I pulled up the entire interview via YouTube.  (I didn’t realize they put all of their interviews on YouTube.  Personally, Amy Goodman looked very different in my mind.)

While he’s always a great speaker, one of the things Chomsky discussed sent a chill through me.  Amy Goodman asked what he thought of the current populace rage, if he thought anything good could come of it.

Chomsky compared our current economic situation with the Germany of the 1920s.  You know.  And his comparisons are startlingly astute.

“In the 1920s, Germany was the absolute peak of civilization.  Ten years later it was the absolute depths of barbarism.  Now, if you listen to early Nazi propaganda, and you listen to talk radio in the United States, there is a resemblance.  In both cases, we have a lot of demagogues, appealing to people with real grievances.

“For the American Population, the last 30 years have been some of the worst in economic history.  It’s a rich country, but real wages have stagnated or declined.  Working hours have shot up.  Benefits have gone down, and people are in real trouble, very real trouble after the bubbles burst.

“And they are angry, they want to know ‘what happened to me’.  I’m a hardworking, white, god-fearing American.  How come this is happening to me.  That’s pretty much the Nazi appeal.”

I think he’s right in making this comparison.  We’re really living in a very fragmented country.  As the official unemployment toll reaches 10% (which could put the real numbers in the 20s) we’re seeing a huge divide between the haves and the have-nots.  And the ‘have’ we’re talking about in this situation is way more than just flat screen TVs or fancy cars.  We’re talking about food, homes, and health care.  And unemployment is affecting everyone.

Beyond just unemployment, there is the ongoing huge cultural divide that’s the product of our expensive and sometimes unattainable educational system, and our geographical distance.  I’m part of this divide.  I take solace in big gay cities.  When my previous employer would ask to send me to “Butt-Fucking-Nowhere”, I’d decline and let them send one of my sturdier, (sometimes smellier) and more red blooded colleagues.  This even included Austin, Texas, which I’ve been told is a cultural and homosexual mecca, but well… I’m afraid of Texas.

I think this fear is unfortunately very real, if not inappropriate.  Years ago my family found themselves in a very scary conflict with some hill-folk in Canada.  We were river rafting, and after three days of being treated as sisters, my mother and her partner decided to give each other a peck on the cheek for shits and giggles.

The tour guide called them dykes.  The person we were paying to protect us “out in the wilderness” felt completely comfortable issuing that statement.  Immediately before calling them dykes, the tour guide called us city-folk.  (Admittedly, our reaction was “Yeah…and?”).

While that anecdote occured beyond the border, I think it’s a genuine fear.  We “city-folk” certainly don’t understand them.  We call them the fly-over states, we make jokes about the Appalachians on national TV, and we mocked their beauty queen Sarah Palin.  She wasn’t smart enough.  Which was true.  But by our standards.  Not theirs.

Chomsky goes on to say:

“One of the [possible scapegoats] is what Rush Limbaugh tells you.  In the Nazi case, it was the Jews and the Bolshevikz.   Here it is the rich Democrats who run Wall Street and run the media and give everything away to illegal immigrants and so on and so forth.

“It kind of peaked during the Sarah Palin experience.  Of all the candidates, Palin was the only one who used the phrase working class.

“The talk radio mob went crazy over her.  One shouldn’t demean it.  They describe themselves as ‘we are a fly by country’ and ‘they don’t care about us, those rich democrats on the west coast and the east coast are all interested in gay rights and giving things away to illegal immigrants.’

“They don’t care about us, the hardworking, god-fearing people.  We’ve got to somehow rise up and take over and elect Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin or something like that.

“If by the next congressional election, the economy has not started to recover, this rage could boil over, and could have dangerous consequences.

“This country has a long history of being ridden by fear, it’s a very frightened country, it goes back to colonial times.  We’re very lucky we’ve never had an honest demagogue.  The demagogues we’ve had, they’ve never gotten anywhere.  Suppose we had an honest Demagogue, Hitler-type, who was not corrupt.

“There is a background of concern and tremendous fear, searching for some answer which they are not getting from the establishment.

“Unless there is active, effective organizing and education, it’s dangerous.”

I think he’s right.  In the gay marriage debate (a debate I’m thoroughly sick of, mind you) advocates encouraged people to go outside their boundaries.  Reach out to voters outside of metropolitan areas.

I think this needs to be done in a manner which is all-inclusive and extends beyond gay rights.  As a whole, this country needs to shed it’s differences, and reach out to the working class people.  Try to get them on board.  Have a realistic discussion with someone who has seen livestock outside of a zoo.  If we don’t, I think Chomsky’s prediction could end up being tragically prescient.

Here’s the entire interview.

Part 1.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Pro-Tax Nanny State 46th District!

… IN THE HOUSE!

Just got back from my district’s Town Hall meeting.  It was in Meadowbrook Community Center, a place that brings back a lot of memories.  I went to high school directly across the creek, I was run over by a car in their parking lot (I walked past the chair I sat in while the paramedics provided aid and I cracked jokes), and I worked there one summer while in college.  It’s nice to feel that this is my neighborhood.

The town hall was great.   The one issue I was planning to bring up was a Washington State Income Tax.  I figured I’d bring it up, and I’d end up getting attacked by crazy Republicans who thought I was trying to spread their wealth.

So when our representatives started in on raising revenues, I felt like I had a good shot.  And then some older lady stood up and suggested an Income Tax.  Everyone clapped.  Someone else brought it up, people cheered.

Old white ladies (OWLs) stood up over and over again to ask for continued support for public health, public services, school, and all the bleeding heart causes that Evergreen brainwashed me into caring about.  And all of them were ready to step up and spend more to keep these services.

Late in the discussion an abrasive small-business owner stood up and began lecturing the crowd about California’s income tax.  He spoke for about five minutes, staring down the crowd with a real “fuck-you” gaze.  Finally a lady interrupted him and asked “Do you have a question?”

I wasn’t in reporter mode, so I didn’t get an exact quote, but Ken Jacobsen told the Re-Pub that some times people had to foot the bill for services.  (Oh snap!)  Perfect politician Scott White was a bit more tactful when he explained to the gentleman that sales taxes are incredibly inequitable, and that it’s about time for an income tax. And Phyllis was just great.

Regardless, the whole event made me feel pretty good about my district.  Although we are lacking any significant presence from people of color.  Oh Wedgewood.

An hour well spent

The University of Washington’s Masters in Communication held an hour long discussion about the future of Journalism.  I’m about half way through now, but thought it was worth promoting.

If you care enough about journalism.  If not, scroll down and watch Jon Stewart.

Jon Stewart Vs. Jim Cramer: Reality Bytes

Just finished watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’s interview with Jim Cramer from last evening. It was beautiful.  Full show, both edited and unedited available below.

I think we’re at a strange crossroads when it comes to our news media.  As “mainstream” organizations drop left and right, many have been wondering who would be the muckrakers of the future.  Who will reveal corporate or political misdoings?  I kind of doubt it’ll be asshole bloggers like me.

I think part of the reasons the news organizations failed was they didn’t fulfill their obligation to the public.  While I’m long divorced from network television, when I do find time to watch the news, it’s pathetic.   It’s violent, quick, and there’s no analysis.  People jump through hoops and deep fry stimulus bills and repeat the words pork and earmarks until everyone turns off the TV and begins their daily walk to the food bank.  (Unless you’re already homeless, then perhaps you sleep right outside.)

Somehow Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have managed to really stand up for the people.  Their role as comedians gives them room to be truthful, and call out people when they are wrong.  I’m in awe.

I still look fondly upon Colbert’s speech/roast at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.  At a time when everyone else was ignoring the fact that this country was going down fast, he had the cojones to insult the president and the lame-duck media all in one sitting.  I remember telling my roommates at the time (a bunch of smelly drunks and a ChiMo) that I was sure he’d die in his sleep of a heart attack.

He didn’t.

And here we are, a little over two years later, and we’ve fallen out of the frying pan and into Abu Ghraib.   The deregulation of markets (which began in the Clinton years) has led to a global collapse.  And yet who in the media is really taking a look at how the hell we got here?

Two men, and a depressing woman named Amy Goodman.

Here’s the entire unedited video of the Stewart vs. Kramer, as well as the full show courtesy of Hulu  And for good measure, I threw in Colbert’s speech.

Just kick me while I’m down

I came back from Olympia early because I have a “mandatory” WorkSource training opportunity tomorrow.  If I don’t attend, I would not be eligible for benefits.

Which rings of a little irony since I came home today, checked the mail, and found I was denied for benefits anyway.  Fuck me.

I then went ahead and checked my Bank of America bank account to see how close I was to selling my blood on the street (I don’t know how… maybe in popsicle form or something) and saw that Bank of America has started charging me a $6 a month service fee because I no longer have direct deposit.  Since you know, I no longer have a job.

Ironically, I think had the unemployment come through, they offer direct deposit….

If anything could be called class warfare, this has to be it.  Seriously, I’m being charged a fee because they see I no longer have an income?  What a bunch of fucking assholes.  I’m going out tomorrow and closing down my account.

Plus you know, they are a horrible bank.

Craigslist and the Economy

Maybe I should change my URL to Craigslist2.com.

Anyway, when I finally got fed up with the International Men Seeking Men, I started looking elsewhere.  It’s kind of a desperate time we’re living in.

Take this post, from a guy who wants to move back to Greece anywhere he can find work chopping trees.  He just wants to support his family and go where ever there’s tall trees.

“I have never left the country and I wouldnt miss her one bit.”

Perhaps the Sequel to 300?

But without all the abs.

The Seattle Times picked up a story from the Associated Press today about one job opening in Tacoma.

807 people showed up.

Word of the Day: Defalcate

The US Government has defalcated more than anyone could imagine.

At least I still have my health

“Dear MR. GLASER:

Basic Health (BH) has reached it’s enrollment limit and cannot offer you coverage.  When space is available, you will be offered enrollment; you will receive instructions at that time.  If we know we will not be able to offer you coverage within 60 days, we will return any money you have sent.

If you applied for coverage through a sponsoring organization, we will notify your sponsor when space is available.  Contact your sponsoring organization if you have questions.

We expect to offer you enrollment soon; however, we cannot guarantee enrollment by a specific date.  Once you are scheduled for enrollment, you will receive a confirmation letter indicating when coverage will begin.

…

Sincerly, 

Basic Health”