Washblog

Not a Washington State focused diary per se, but the effects of our FED's actions span everywhere and everyone. This was a LTE I sent to the Everett Herald yesterday:

Today I read that the Federal Government's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, has decided that your foreclosure is just not worth saving. He said:  "There is little public policymakers can, or should, do to compensate for untenable financial decisions."

At first, I thought - woah, the Bush Administration actually believes in letting home prices come back to market. No way, there must be a catch! There is no way these guys are gonna let their banking buddies go under, just no way.

Through Bush's Treasury, Bernanke/Greenspan's FED created these flim-flam alphabet soup listings of "Temporary Lending Facilities" - to prop up the Investment Banks and lenders - who are 40 to 1 over leveraged versus assets - from going under by taking the worst loans (or an 'untenable financial decision') off the bank's shoulders, and exchanging them for clean US Treasury cash. This is a horrible thing to do to the Dollar, but think about Bear Stearns and JP Morgan - they let one go down to save the other, bigger one. This is going to continue, no matter how low the dollar has to go, to save his Wall Street Buddies.

So just to ease my concern, the Treasury's Inspector of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, James Lockhart, says "Fannie and Freddie are adequately capitalized at this point''. Another way to put that would be they are toast. FED Chairman Ben Bernanke also chimes in: "The Federal Reserve is strongly committed" to financial stability and is "considering several options, including extending the duration of our facilities for primary dealers beyond year-end."

For those of you who are going through foreclosure, Bush says, you're screwed. But for his banking buddies he will trash the dollar for them. Oh well, looks like we will all be homeowners now anyway.

One of my goals with Washblog is to make it sustainable. In the beginning, it was easy to sustain as a one person rant to the world. I had the ability to post nearly every day, to the eventual tune of 700 posts or something.

Thank god for the community to keep this thing afloat. Noemie especially deserves credit. Sometimes you know when you are talking to someone special, when you first meet them.

Because of the continual support from the readers, Washblog has been able to join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network, and receive ad revenue. Washblog's first check ($750) should be cut here shortly - it comes in $750 increments.

Seems to me that revenue should go back into the blog in some way. I consider the money I spent to get Washblog running and stay hosted to be part of my support for a progressive infrastructure - in other words I don't want the money.

Suggestions are welcome.

From the Washington State Democrats website @ 17:45:

candidate	percent	delegates
Obama	66.7%	13,209
Clinton	32.2%	6,409
Uncommitted	1%	191
Other	.16%	31

percent reported: 56.6%

From the WA State GOP Website @ 18:25: Precincts Reporting

Candidates	Percentage
Huckabee	25.9 %
McCain	26.6 %
Paul	21.2 %
Romney	16.7 %
Other	0.3 %
Uncomitted	9.3 %

[NB: WA Results, Pierce Co. Results, King County Results]

Notable Kenmore and Renton City Council races are listed over the fold...

Statewide results (20:55):

I-960

Yes 286438 53.0807%

No 253189 46.9193%

R-67

Yes 307061 56.6889%

No 234599 43.3111%

Senate Joint Resolution 8212

Yes 317003 60.2386%

No 209243 39.7614%

Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 2

Gael Tarleton NP 59641 51.18%

Bob Edwards NP 56437 48.44%

Write-in 443 0.38%

Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 5

Alec Fisken NP 57929 50.57%

Bill Bryant NP 56220 49.08%

Write-in 404 0.35%

Snohomish County Sheriff

John Lovick 36,417 50.06%

Tom Greene 36,132 49.67%

Snohomish County Council - District 3

Mike Cooper (D) 60.75%

Renee Radcliff (R) 30.04%

City of Spokane - Mayor

Mary Verner 15,982 54.3254%

Dennis Hession(I) 13,437 45.6746%

Noteables:

Brian Sullivan cleans Berkey's clock and will become the next 2nd District Councilmember. Former Representative Lovick makes it to the finals for Sheriff.  

D - COUNTY COUNCIL- DISTRICT 2
100.00%
               Vote Count Percent
Brian Sullivan   4,629     59.70%
Jean Berkey      3,107     40.07%
Write-In            18      0.23%
Total            7,754    100.00%

SHERIFF
100.00%
              Vote Count  Percent
Tom Greene      21,338     34.70%
John Lovick     23,498     38.21%
Rob Beidler     16,418     26.70%
Write-In           242      0.39%
Total           61,496    100.00%

CITY OF EVERETT COUNCIL POS 7
100.00%
                Vote Count   Percent
Jackie Minchew     1,535      20.64%
David Simpson      2,687      36.13%
Shannon Affholter  3,184      42.81%
Write-In              31       0.42%
Total              7,437     100.00%

I would never expect the fake patriots to make the correlation, but stories like this are a stark reminder of the 'Contract on America' policies of the Republican Party, and their chief 'I want to drown government in the bathtub' architect, Grover  Norquist:

Emergency rooms in Coupeville and Anacortes are preparing to treat hundreds more patients next year because of the anticipated closure of Naval Hospital Oak Harbor's 39-year-old emergency room.

....

However, the switch is causing concern in Oak Harbor.

Around 8,000 active duty military personnel, along with 13,000 family members and 10,000 retirees, live in the area and are eligible to use hospital, Martin said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said that she has requested a briefing on the action.

"I am concerned that this decision could impact the level of quality care available to Whidbey Island service members and their families," she said.

Murray said she wants to hear from base officials about "how they will continue to ensure the quality care our service members deserve."

The Navy is trying to trim out these types of non-hospital hospitals all over the country, which will clog up the already clogged up ER's in other hospitals. When your kid is sick and needs an IV, as a military spouse, you'll have to leave the base and drive 30 miles.

Small Navy hospitals across the nation are making changes similar those being made at the Oak Harbor facility, he said, because they aren't operating as fully operational emergency rooms.

"They don't have the staff nor the resources to do that," said Case, who worked at Naval Hospital Oak Harbor from 1970 to 1983.

Vince Oliver, Island Hospital's chief executive, said he first learned of plans to close Naval Hospital Oak Harbor earlier this week from the hospital's commanding officer.

Oliver said he was surprised by the news.

"NAS Whidbey is a base that will be here for quite some time," he said. "The Prowler community is being updated. New people are being assigned to the base. It seemed a little odd that there was a critical service that they're downsizing."

Oliver said it's too early to know what effect the closing will have on his hospital's emergency room, but some additional patients are expected.

Island Hospital's emergency room will have plenty of space to treat any patients that would have been treated by the Navy hospital, Oliver said.

Just a little odd? Its Republican policy in action!

The teamsters 760 in Quincy (near Wenatchee) went on strike July 2nd to fight for health care benefits, employee seniority, etc. They didn't initiate this - the Celite/World Minerals corporation did.

All day and night, seven days a week, 46 disgruntled employees take turns picketing outside of Celite Corp. in Quincy. The Teamsters Local 760 launched the strike July 2 in response to a company proposal that would eliminate seniority status during layoffs and increase health-care costs for workers. Negotiations are deadlocked. Union members say they're prepared to strike through winter. They picket around the clock in shifts, four to six at a time.

I'm not in a union, but wonder what has happened to solidarity? These are only 46 workers, they seem to have their backs put up against the wall by Celite, who has already hired new workers and will probably try to wait out the union workers. If memory serves me, didn't different locals do sympathy strikes? I remember my old man going on strike in solidarity with other trades back in the day.

Such as when teachers have gone out and picketed, you never see other unions strike too or help, at least not overtly. I'd love to hear from an organizer about the dynamics of this - why couldn't the AFSCME workers in Quincy join the picket line, or others?

When numbers have dwindled to the point they have for unions in America, I would think they would try to help out one of their own whenever they get a chance, because they could be the next to get 'outsourced' - when all that matters is self-preservation, we all lose.

Update [2007-8-9 19:12:53 by Brian]: The theothersideonline.net has more on the striking workers and the creeping erosion of benefits the Celite/World Minerals corporation is doing to their employees.

Chalk one endorsement up to the Sullivan camp.

Brian Sullivan will make a great Snohomish County council member. The only surprise being that the former Jeff Sax fawning Seatimes understands this, too.

Both Sullivan and Berkey, seeking to replace Kirke Sievers, who is out because of term limits, have a steady political temperament to help ease the curious tension between the Democratic majority on the County Council and County Executive Aaron Reardon, also a Democrat.

On big issues of transportation and land-use management, differences between the two candidates are not apparent. The advantage that accrues to Sullivan is work as an elected official at the local level. Experience at City Hall and in Olympia are excellent preparation for the range of topics in a growing county.

The winner will face Republican William Cooper in November.

For the Democratic primary, The Times endorses Brian Sullivan.

Gotta love the Seatimes - 'curious tension between the council and county executive'. I think it is called 'Checks And Balances in Government'. I'd like to see some curiosity in their reporting, for once. Word on the street is Berkey is doing little in this race, since she has a job to fall back on. I don't think anyone knows who the repuke is that is running - not like the 'freedom county militia' crowd has a chance in hell in this race anyway - this is a primary for all the marbles.

Those of you who watched the recent HBO documentary, Hacking Democracy will remember the footage of Bev Harris and others noting that the supposed 'random' hand recount of ballots in Ohio were anything but random, but that election workers had already grouped ballots into piles.

Now, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, prosecutors have charged three election workers with conspiracy to avoid the recount by pre-selecting ballots so the desired result would be determined.

"The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. "They did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount, he said.

It would probably take a whistle-blower to uncover a deeper link between GOP operatives and the election workers. And we can all don our tin-foil hats and speculate as to why these workers did manipulate the recount, but at a minimum they are going to stand trial and be accountable for their actions.

I'm not sure how much more evidence we as a society will need before we realize that the drug seizure strategy is not working.

The Olympian notes that a recent 8 week study shows 24.8% of men and 26.2% of women arrested and booked in Snohomish county have methamphetamine in their system

Are we actually cleaning up the streets with our current drug-war policy, or did we just transfer a problem and actually create a huge welfare state within the state department of corrections?

From the AP:

The governor, backed by leaders in the cleanup campaign, highlighted an ambitious $220 million spending plan she will include in her two-year state budget request next week.

Gregoire's announcement came as the Puget Sound Partnership she appointed presented its final report on what needs to be done to restore dwindling habitat and reduce pollution. The report estimates the total cost to clean up and restore Puget Sound at nearly $9 billion between now and 2020.

Major culprits to pollution in the Partnership's study? Corporate toxic runnoff, overloaded stormwater systems and septic leakage.

Dear Seattle PI Editorial Board, you have no clothes. You write:

While many blogs do considerable research, many or most blog readers probably go to a site for advocacy or commentary more than news. With so much information available, that's not a surprising choice. There is a somewhat parallel phenomenon in Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," where cable TV viewers get humor along with a slice of news.

...

There's also a back-to-the-future aspect to the one-sided advocacy. American newspapers began as organs dedicated to serving particular political parties. Advocacy is a political right and a fundamental source of U.S. strength. But it's not the main thrust of journalism. And in the journalism generally practiced in America, accepting pay from politicians -- disclosed or not -- is about as far off the map as one can go.

(Cough) Talon News, (Cough) How quickly you forget!

While the Corporate Media continues its steady decline in audience, the PI (and many other media conglomerates) tries to convince itself - and perhaps some of its dwindling readers - that blogs are not reliable sources, stick with us. We have credibility, we have integrity.

Why should we?

One only needs to be reminded of the role so-called 'reporter' Judith Miller had in deceiving the public. Her articles on Saddam Hussein's nuclear factories and bioterror labs scattered across Iraq was completely discredited, debunked, toss out with the soiled diapers garbage. Surely the PI Editorial Board remembers some of these headlines from sweet Judy:

December 20, 2001, headline, "Iraqi Tells of Renovations at Sites For Chemical and Nuclear Arms".

September 7, 2002: headline: "US says Hussein intensifies quest for a-bomb parts".

September 13, 2002, headline: "White House Lists Iraq Steps To Build Banned Weapons".

December 3, 2002: "C.I.A. Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet Smallpox".

January 24, 2003:"Defectors Bolster U.S. Case Against Iraq, Officials Say".

Mainly on the Corporate Media's zealous trumpeting for it, the Iraq invasion wasn't a matter of if, but when.

And after the war started, well lets just say you didn't want those pesky facts to get in the way...  

Noemie and I have been working on creating a formal editorial and mission statement for Washblog. We feel it is crucial that this blog advance forward and keep our credibility as an ongoing priority, while discussing the important topics we all care about in a respectful manner that encourages the exchange of ideas. In other words, we don't want Washblog to devolve into Sound bite Politics, and their devoid of reality groupthink and attempts at message control.

The new and existing front-pagers are an incredible feature to Washblog, and the main reason why the blog was moved to the scoop platform. However, there are some more concrete expectations for the editorial board. It will be a venture into a progressive infrastructure - and the experience will be worth it, that I can promise you.

Noemie and I encourage everyone to take a good look at what we have come up with, add your thoughts and let us know in the comment thread. If you would be interested in being a part of the editorial board, please e-mail us at: info@washblog.com.

Click on 'full story' to read the document:

That didn't take long:

Democrat Don Barlow is the new state representative in Spokane's 6th Legislative District, a recount of ballots from the Nov. 7 election confirmed today.

Barlow's lead of 260 votes over freshman Rep. John Serben held up in the recount, which involved running the 55,881 ballots through the county's tabulation machines while representatives from both parties watched.

Chris Marr won the senate seat in the 6th - beating an entrenched GOP Senator in Brad Benson. Add Barlow and the 6th LD is now 2/3 Democratic.

Word on the street:

Pam Roach is challenging Mike Hewitt for State Senate Minority Leader.

God I hope she wins. She will slip up eventually, and it will be a great unveiling of her inner fascist.

First question: Did Senator Roach and Republican Leadership know that GOP insider Larry Corrigan was a sex offender?