A Few Quick Observations

A Few Trenchant Observations on the News

1. Someone tell my old friend Joel Connelly of the e-PI that even though the GOP does use terms lacking the respect given in deep urban areas, a person who is in our country illegally is in fact a person who has, in the vernacular, broken the law, and thus, maybe not politely, but can be referred to as a “law breaker.”  You get the connection, Joel?  Breaks the law – law breaker – kind of makes sense doesn't it? This is not an opinion about the constitutionality of the Arizona law. The court has ruled. Until appeals are finished it is settled.
2. The Stranger carried a strange message recently, when it reiterated a comment by the governor that the $2.8 billion of state money for the viaduct/tunnel is not Seattle's money. Hello, if McSeattle is that uninformed about state transportation policy and finance, we all are going to have a problem. On the other hand, the Seattlites often need to reminded they are not the center of the universe, there are philosophies of life other than their collect “anything goes”, and the ferries do bring more than cars to the downtown area.
3. Time to come down on the GOP. In the middle of the country's greatest recession in over seventy years (yes, all you folks in Olympia, it is still bad out here and its still going on, we know you still get your checks and bennies every month anyway), the GOP has decided that we should criticize Senator Murray for bringing home the bacon. “Bad senator, too much federal money is coming back our state, don't do that, leave it on the table so other states can have it.”  Again, HELLO, (with capital letters) if and only if every congress-person slows down giving out the money we borrowed from China (oh, there I go again), would this argument get traction. BTW, GOP, get relevant, ASAP!  And if you're reading I am posting a good website URL (don't ask) so you can start your march on understanding 21^st century technology: www.howstuffworks.com/bytes.htm
4. The PDC’s recent blast against ‘special interest’ financing in initiative politics is misdirected. This is the subject of an upcoming blog of mine, but the short answer is, yes; the initiative process is a counter to strong special interests. This time it's the public unions that feed at the public trough that are the special interests. They have pushed lopsided public policy that must be “countered” by the initiative process. Tony Perkins of the PDC is whining about the financial interests involved in the process. Folks, either get all money out of it, or push harder for transparency. If we have the financial records, and the PDC makes them available in an easy format (and I think they do a good job of that), let the campaigns talk about money and not the issue, if that is the issue! More later.
5. And finally, The Washington Policy Center seems to sideup to the Olympian and governor in support for additional budget tools for the guv. Sorry, we have tools enough. If the Legislature and guv would realistically retool our government, set realistic budgets, and not be politically motivated with a reluctance to be in session during the campaign season, we would not be where we are, and we would not need a special session and we would not have to talk about turning the strings of the purse over to the executive branch and giving it “more tools.” Am I the only one who in March or April of this year had some idea how bad and deep this recession is and will continue to be?  I suggest the guv and the legislative fiscal leaders go to the federal Department of Commerce website where pretty good information about our economy is posted, and read it! We should use real data to guide our state fiscal policy, not the wishes of special interests or forces whose demands are narrow and self-serving.