More about the Jay Inslee health care townhall meeting. As was to be expected, one of the questions was, “…if this is such a good program, if you’re going to be on it.” Inslee’s response: “[You] will be pleased to know that members of the US Congress will be subject to all of the rights and liabilities of this bill, every jot and tittle.” This | Read More »
I attended Congressman Jay Inslee’s health care townhall meeting in Edmonds, Washington, on August 31st. It was my first townhall meeting and probably gave me impossibly high expectations for any future townhalls I might attend. My estimate is that there were over 2,000 very engaged people packing the gym at Edmonds-Woodway High School. At first glance, it appeared that people supporting a government or single-payer | Read More »
Congressman Jay Inslee has scheduled two health care townhall meetings with his constituents. Given the cowardly behavior of other legislators across the country, he’s to be commended for doing so on his own initiative. Unfortunately, given his recent statements, it’s unlikely that he’s really interested in hearing what his constituents have to say, unless, of course, they’re likely to vote for him in the next | Read More »
Susan Hutchison leads Dow Constantine in the King County Executive race, 47% to 44%, not that this information would be available to you if the Seattle Times were your primary source of local news; a search of their website this morning found no mention of the King5/SurveyUSA poll conducted September 1st through 3rd. The Seattle P-I does a bit better; they report the results, but | Read More »
Here in the Soviet of Washington, our elected officials skew heavily to the left so those of us who call ourselves conservatives are accustomed to them saying and doing things that make us want to bang our heads on our desks in frustration. Who can forget, for example, Patty Murray’s glowing tribute to Osama bin Laden or Jim McDermott’s trip to Baghdad in the run | Read More »
How do you think this would go over with your employer? Say, Joe, we have a few concerns about your work lately. We’d like you to drop by the office so we can discuss it. Uh, no, I don’t think so. I heard someone might shout at me. Or worse, make a YouTube video. If someone makes a video, I might be held accountable for | Read More »
A few weeks ago, Bamos, a regular blogger at Daily Kos, posted an entry detailing a “social experiment” he’d conducted on Twitter. During the height of the ARRA legislation debate, when feelings were running strongest, he opened a Twitter account with the user name InTheStimulus. His intention was to post a series of false “facts” about the stimulus bill and watch the reaction of the | Read More »
Faced with a $6 billion deficit and proposed deep cuts to higher education, Representative Dave Quall (D-Mount Vernon) has proposed legislation that would make state financial aid available to illegal immigrants as an option for financing their college educations. Illegal residents already qualify for in-state tuition. It would seem to me that the prudent course of action regarding illegal immigrants and our State universities, given | Read More »
Barack Obama has been president for barely a week and already he has Al-Qaeda “scrambling,” according to Joby Warrick of the Associated Press. That’s an amazing achievement for such a young Administration and a stark contrast to Al-Qaeda’s situation during the past eight years, when their leadership was scrambling from place to place vacationing in various locations and forced to live in caves indulging in | Read More »
I first blogged about Washington SB6900 here and here, after which it was pointed out to me that this bill was killed during the 2008 legislative session. So at first I felt a little silly about that, but then I noticed that it was getting a lot of attention on local talk radio. After a little further research, I no longer feel silly about blogging | Read More »
In November of 2008, voters in King County, Washington, approved by a margin of 56 to 44% an amendment to the King County Charter that changes the position of Elections Director from a political appointment to an elected office. The first election for this position will also be King County’s first all-mail ballot; voting deadline is February 3. The move to an elected position was | Read More »
Due to budget cuts, the University of Washington’s Seattle campus will not be accepting any new students, including transfers, for spring enrollment. In keeping with a common tactic in the Evergreen State, UW administrators have applied the budget axe to an item they feel will gin up public support for more funding. Affecting only about 325 students, this seems more like a gesture designed to | Read More »
In one week, the Republican National Committee will be meeting to select their new chairperson. If you have a preference, now is the time to make it known to your state’s committee members. For Washington State, the committee members are: WSRP State Chairman, Luke Esser. Luke is on Twitter @LukeEsser or can be reached via e-mail at luke@wsrp.org (425) 460-0570 National Committeeman, Jeff Kent. Jeff | Read More »
As 2009 begins, the State of Washington faces many pressing issues, most notably a projected $5+ billion deficit, rising unemployment, aging infrastructure and gridlock on our highways. I’m heartened to hear that our dedicated legislators are hard at work in Olympia, fighting for the citizens of our state with such groundbreaking legislation as SB 5038, “An act relating to making technical corrections to gender-based terms.” | Read More »
I’ve been perusing the bills filed so far in the new legislative session here in Washington. There are a lot of them, many of them dealing with taxes. Cigarette Tax, 2 Excise Tax, 3 Income Tax, 2 Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax, 2 Property Tax, 25 Public Utility Tax, 8 Sales Tax, 19 Special Fuel Tax, 2 Use Tax, 16 Note: There appears to be overlap | Read More »
Matthew Bigg over at Reuters tells us that part of the reason Timothy Geithner’s tax problems will cause barely a ripple of dissent as he cruises towards nomination is that he is relatively unknown. (Read Article) Tell that to Joe The Plumber. (“The” is his middle name, right?) Joe was more than relatively unknown when the press feeding frenzy instigated by his questioning of Barack | Read More »
I say, why settle for less than the best. Unfortunately, the Nanny National Safety Council says otherwise. Consumer watch dog groups continue their assault on our personal freedoms and private lives. I’d much rather have Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar than the National Safety Council and their forced feedings of illusory safety. Jan Lowy of the Associated Press tells us the group is | Read More »
As if license fees based on engine displacement aren’t onerous enough, SB6900 also includes provisions to tax vehicles based on CO2 emissions. CO2 Emissions (Grams per Mile) Fee Schedule Up to 161 $0 162 to 193 $70 194 to 241 $225 242 to 266 $275 267 to 298 $325 299 to 362 $400 Over 362 $600 I admit to being completely ignorant as to the | Read More »
Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever… The Terminator, 1984 The State of Washington, reprising the role of the Terminator, is coming after your wallet again. Despite every indication to the contrary, the Legislature appears to be under the | Read More »
At their meeting later this month, the committeemen and women of the RNC will do more than vote on a new Chairman. One other piece of business that will be debated and voted on is a resolution authorizing the RNC to “take all steps necessary to oppose bailouts of industries, individuals, or government by the federal government and to aggressively promote the conservative principles of | Read More »
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