Really Traditional Blog

2003-09-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

All of God's Children Ain't Free
You would think that people who have been traditionally discriminated against wouldn't discriminate themselves....
and you're always wrong.

"My name is 'Sue!' How do you do!"
Apparently, someone has come up with an algorithm... you give it prose, it can nail the gender of the person who wrote it.
It guessed right for me.

After Taxes
Well, duh.
When you're averaging $1000+/month in loan repayment, that means the first $20,000 you make each year has to go to pay back loans.
You simply cannot afford to take a job that pays in the $30s. Unless you're married to (or were born to) someone who makes a whole lot more.

I'm ragged but I'm right
Disagreements on the tax plan...
but they're all aware that Bush messed this one up.

I keep my eyes wide open all the time"
"Lining up" to protest the Patriot Act...

I Don't Think I Could Take You Back Again
Bush's approval ratings go farther down.

Gone
The two newspaper trial begins today.
I don't see the PI winning, no matter what happens.

"When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and I cry"
Light rail is getting closer and closer and closer to death.

"I fell in to a burning ring of fire"
There's more to the Seattle faults than meets the eye.

We used to look at this place like we looked at Kansas," said another USGS scientist, Ralph Haugerud. "It's beginning to look a lot more like southern California.

Everyone I know goes away in the end
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
John Ritter died today of heart problems.

"Everyone I know goes away in the end"
Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, died this morning of complications from diabetes.
All of today's titles are titles or lines from songs he recorded.

"I will make you hurt"

2003-09-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

No more lipo
Instead they may be able to use ultrasound to dump fat.
Yay!

2003-08-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

Stop him before he designs again!
Admittedly, that picture looks only slightly ugly - but it's obvious that it's the same guy repsonsible for the monstrosity that is Experience Music Project (so ugly, they don't even show the whole thing on the website, just a few "partial" photos) and a number of other incredibly expensive, aesthetically distasteful metal droppings.
Don't let him do this to your town (and I'm truly sorry if it's too late).

It's still illegal, immoral, and unChristian
And at least the associate justices have realized that - if they must in the most mealy mouthed, pathetic wording possible ("bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it," It should not be that difficult for a state supreme court justice to take a stand to follow the law. Get a backbone and a clue. Of course, they seem to be with all the other public officials in Alabama - do they not teach basic civics there? Do they not care? Maybe we should just encourage them to secede and let them go their merry, tyrranical, bigotted way this time). As the "justice" himself said

It's about the acknowledgment of God.

which is precisely what government instutions in America are not supposed to do.

Oregon has a budget
Yay!

Women still underrepresented in engineering
However, as engineering might not be among the smart career moves anymore, it might not be that sad of a story. Still, the article profiles Tech Women, and mentions Ellen Swallow Richards, so read the story.

After 2 years "out of the recession"
Even more people can't afford their credit card bills.

Sims might let go of light rail
It's unlikely...but it could happen.

We ended welfare as we knew it!
And now we have poverty like some of us have never seen it before. 20% of children are below the poverty line (which is astoundingly low). How did anyone not see that coming?

Why touch screen voting scares me
But then, I'm not sure what the best policy is...still, I like the paper trail.

2003-08-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

"Cleansing"
It never ceases to amaze me how much women have had to deal with... and how dangerous it has always been to just get by.
Good for these women for getting the economic power and position to save themselves.

Bad public policies w.r.t. HIV and AIDS
At least one-sixth of the population of the tiny town are HIV-positive - and instead of sending doctors (there are none), they sent a police force with nearly the same numbers as the population of the town.

Herd Immunity
The National Acadamy of Sciences wants to change from government buying vaccines to using the money to support vaccination programs. Which will supposedly save lots of money and make the whole vaccination process more affordable - but even among those who can afford it, many aren't "fully" vaccinating themselves and their kids, or even bothering with vaccination at all (due to some controversies over the vaccine.
Which may be more valid than that site gives them credit for being.
(I do, though, wonder how many of the people who voluntarily decline vaccinations realize that the only reason their kid is safe is that the rest of the kids are vaccinated?)

Saddly, Terry Tate will not be among the 135 people on the California ballot

It's the economy, stupid jr.
The south may be defecting as the president seems out of touch with how bad the non-recession is hurting people.

Apparently, there's an election next month
For some reason, I need to be reminded about voting when it doesn't happen in November. It just fails to occur to me. (I missed a levy a few months ago because I didn't know. The people who wanted me to support it sent a lovely postcard - which I got two days after the election and they phoned me halfway through the day of the election. I was at work. I didn't know until after the polls closed) I should go on permanent absentee so all the ballots come to me. But I'm digressing.
To the point, I-75 in Seattle "make the investigation, arrest and prosecution of marijuana offenses, where the marijuana was intended for adult personal use, the City's lowest law enforcement priority." It's being supported by the League of Women Voters, which is a great organization, and not a cutting edged group of radicals, among a number of other heavily credentialed people and groups.

Bainbridge finally broke down
And Starbucks is moving in.

There is a World Adult Kickball Association
Or "WAKA"
They even have a song

2003-08-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Misleading headlines anyone?
Yes, an appeals court let a 10 commandments plaque, erected in 1920 with the building of the courthouse, stand. That does not mean that the disgusting, disgraceful, un-Christian monstrosity that Judge Moore erected shouldn't go. Today is it's due date, from now on the Judge gets fined $5000/day until it's off the court lawn.
He knows he's wrong. If he didn't, he would have attempted to secure public funds for a work on public land, instead of paying for it privately. He would have announced it - as all other art projects are announced, with ribbon cuttings and press. He put it up in the light of day, instead of sneaking it on in the middle of the night.
It is wrong - on every level, legal, moral, religious.
That thing needs to go.

Anyone wanna buy a paper?
Hearst is looking to sell the P-I which is not a good thing. And brings us closer to a one paper town. which is still pathetic in a Seattle sized city.

Physicians get in on health care reform

It must be pleasant there
The President still believes the economy is fine and that things are picking up right around the corner. For the sake of the many who are un and underemployed, I hope he's right. Sadly, I fear he's just deluded.

And he's not alone
It says something when you run for President as a Democrat and your fundraisers are put on by Republicans. What it does not say is "I cross the divide between the parties." It says "I'm really a Republican!"
If, by some nightmare, this guy gets the nomination, I will hold my nose and vote for him - the same way I did three years ago. But stunts like this make it more and more clear to everyone that he shouldn't get the nomination.
BTW, "Joe's Jobs Tours" for someone who doesn't actually support doing anything to create jobs is insulting.

2003-08-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hi.

More on the recall
Perhaps it's the continually blaring CNN in my cube. And the articles, and letters. But this has my attention. 247 people filed. How many of the filings pass muster is another question - but they're having problems figuring out how to put that many names on a ballot without confusing the hell out of people.
Oh yes, and this plan to "fix" the California government will end up costing at least $60 million in a state that's already strapped for money.
In the meantime, it's been entertaining - people showed up to watch the arrangement of the alphabet for some of the ballots (which enver happens) which will include the name Terry Tate star of the Reebok Office Linebacker commercials (which, while entertaining completely fail to associate with Reebok, so fail as advertisements).

Less permanent "solutions"
Juries are becoming less and less likely to sentence people to death. And everyone is realizing that mistakes get made and innocents get killed.

More than 6 degrees
We're not as connected as we thought. (But still pretty connected). I'd love to do one of these studies.

Still looking
There is yet to be a Republican Candidate for governor.
That would be nice. Or, what they have for the senate candidate, a lying (see below) guy who can't seem to answer the simplest policy questions.

They promise not to steal this time
Napster is reinventing itself, to look remarkably like iTunes.

2003-08-08T01:16:00.000-07:00

Yay!
Al Gore's speech to MoveOn.org. Wonder if it would look really bad for him to say "I've changed my mind, none of the nine of you have a shot or a clue. I'm running, sit down, and shut up." Maybe not.
Things I love, the Bush camp's response is to "dismiss it". For the love of all that is holy, listen to what people are saying. It's your job, to listen to the people. AAAA. Please vote that man out of office.

2003-08-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Propaganda
Pure propaganda. with some of the usual flaws of the medium.... and the last frame is too overdone even for my taste.
But it does make some points along the way.

2003-08-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

Total Recall
Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's going to run for Governor of California.
He could win - the way it looks, a few hundred people (the entrance requirements are nearly non-existant) are running, it won't take anywhere near a majority of the vote to win (assuming they recall Davis, which looks not unlikely) just the highest number (which could be as low as 10%. (Especially if he brings in people who normally don't vote but will for him) And then CA will have a Republican Governor. Remember last time they had an action-movie actor as a Republican Governor? Yeah.
At least this one is constitutionally barred from becoming president.
Springer, however, decided not to run for Senator.

Yes, you too can have a nice house
But it will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
There's no good way to represent a shudder in text.

Every cloud has a silver lining
So, while yes, the planet is warming, and yes, it could cause various catastrophe, we're going to enjoy really great wine (in Woodinville) while it happens.

at least you can try to campaign without money
Though you probably won't win. Still, if you can get enough signatures, right now, your filing fee might be waivable. (There is some problem with the law being too vague with regard to how little money you need to have before filing that way, but...

2003-08-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

This is just cool
Translation - by machine. Or partially translated by machine. A glove that can turn ASL into text so that those who can't understand sign will be able to understand those that use it.

No Powell
If for some idiot reason the people of this country re-elect Bush, they're not getting Powell. The only one with any credibility left is gone in 2005.

BRT
I first heard about this in Honolulu (not while I was in, Honolulu, sadly... but read a story about it). And bus rapid transit seems to be solving a great number of the hideous Hawaiian transit problems. Cheaply. And well.
Plus, if we had that here, it could actually begin quicker, it could use the damn bus tunnel (without re-fitting the entire thing), it could actually go where people need to go (the U-District, the Airport, across the bridges) as well as Northgate, the Central District, hell even to Tacoma (though I know no one who does a Tacoma commute. Bothell, yes, Tacoma?), using current infrastructure. AND (imagine this) if it turns out that no one is using those routes, it can be changed to route areas that people are using with minimal time and effort! Without ripping up track! Imagine that!
It seems just so sensible.
Maybe someone will read this and the idiot light rail plan will die.

There's a reason you're known as "Bush Lite"
It might not be true - but it's there for a reason.... Lieberman is not in the "vital center" he's in the near right (which is arguably better than the far right, but only arguably.) Yeah, the DLC wants him.... but the under 10% showing in the early primary states says they're not in touch with the constituency.
Plus, there's more than a small bit of truth in the Truman quote...and we all know it. He can't win.

2003-07-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

Stuart Island needs a teacher
I remember (when I was little) reading the Little House books (and a bunch of other similar prairie/frontier woman making it through it all books) and wanting to live like that. Well, I can!
Or I could, except I don't think I want to ... and they'd prefer a teacher with children. But if you are one, and you have them, and you want to relive those days (no electricity, stores, ferries, or phones) you can. This is the school!

The Fleet's In Town
But it's really small this year. I was downtown last night, and saw 1 (one) sailor. In past years, on the night they dock, the area is usually crawling with them.
Anyway (even though I know none of them are reading this) we appreciate you guys.

Why?
This is just bad decision making. But I fully support her right to make such a dumb decision.

2003-07-31T14:45:00.000-07:00

They're back!
Or not back yet. But there's a glimmer of hope... the IPO may be returning. May. (it might not too, but hope beyond hope that it shows up).

It's not my fault that you're weird
Don't you have your own website? (Or if not, then a reasonable facsimile? This or an online journal, or some sort of web presence?) Doesn't every one? My sister has one, for goodness sakes, and she doesn't even have internet access at home.
Obviously, this woman needs better friends.
Anyway, the point of the article is a tech review for a program that no one needs and is going to cost a huge amount of money. It's just the headline and first paragraph that caught me.

So, when will they get to come home?
I have no idea. Obviously, bringing them out now will cause even more chaos and harm, and make the area more unstable, and be a general horror.
And yet, I want this kid (and all the other kids), and wives, and husbands, to see their dads and moms and wives and husbands soon.

2003-07-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Nethercutt is running against Senator Murray
The man is a liar. And a bad congressman to boot.
Here is his voting record for anyone who wants to see what he stands for (whatever the RNC tells him to, apparently).
But, he lied. Over, and over, and over again. He lied in 1992 when elected, basically convincing the people of the 5th district that if they elected him instead of Tom Foley (the Speaker of the House at the time) that he'd instantly become the new Speaker of the House (as though the position belonged to their district rather than to the person.) Admittedly, they were dumb.
But he also promised, repeatedly, in that campaign that he'd only serve 3 terms. He was for term limits and to prove it, he'd serve the three terms and then step down...
Well, it's 11 years later, and guess who is still in Congress?
Liar.
(I'm not for term limits, I think that regular voting schedules is a perfect "term limit." but when a candidate says he'll only be in office for a certain number of years and then runs again. He's not that credible, is he?)

This is just cool
I have no desire whatsoever to do this. But it sounds cool.

I, on the other hand, see no need to codify your beliefs
Because they have no place in civil law. Anyway, he's now pushing for legislation so that what happened in Canada can't happen here.
We need to get rid of him.
And Republicans redifine "inclusion" yet again.

Who are these people?
They obviously vote. And they're sending money to Tim Eyman. $118,000. Why? I mean, your average televangelist is a better bet than Eyman. Why on earth would anyone send over any of their money to this embezzler?

Yes, it really was a bad idea all along
But it's better to rethink the Patriot Act now than never.

2003-07-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Increase in AIDS cases
which is different than an increase in HIV positive people. As it explains in the article.

No, it's not a joke
Strangely enough, the Pentagon, wanted to start a betting pool based on when/where terrorist (or anti-terrorist) activities were to take place.
There are just so many things wrong with the people who came up with the idea that I can't even think where to start. At least it's being halted.
Or so they say.

Plead Guilty
or spend the rest of your life waiting for a military tribunal - where there is no right to a speedy trial.
They may very well be guilty, but we'll never really know that.

2003-07-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'm back.

The California Thing
I don't get it. I'm not sure I can. Californians are odd.

The States are Broke
As if we didn't know. But it's keeping the non-recession going.

There are still people with pensions?
I've never been offered one. Or worked for anyone who offered one - which is good, I guess, as it seems the funds are breaking and certainly wouldn't last until my retirement age.

Drug testing by race
Yikes.
Or maybe not.
It just seems very suspect as for years, this was a very, very bad thing - usually done by people who couldn't be trusted. OTOH, in a number of test studies, a disproportionate number of the people being studied are white (anyway) so if there is some kind of effectiveness difference no one knows. Still, I don't know that I trust these guys.

so, where's the reform
10 years ago, Republicans got control of the House, saying they'd make it fair, balanced, etc.
Turns out, they didn't really mean it. Surprise.

2003-07-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Giving Representatives time to read the bill before they vote?
You'd think that would be a given. But then, you you're probably not a republican on the ways and means committee.

Justice Department Employees violating Civil Rights with the Patriot Act
And ice is cold.

Remember "Houston's Educational Miracle"
And how wonderful Bush's ed plans in Texas made that school district?
Also very much less than true.

Cutting the increase of the price of tuition
Yes, tuition would still increase, but there is going to be a bill introduced to keep it at under twice the rate of inflation. (Still huge, but much less huge).

Thanks, Gary
Locke isn't running for a third term. Gregoire will run, Inslee may run, and Talmadge is running.

Victim Advocates

2003-07-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's getting nasty in there
The Republicans are acting horribly.
No, I'm not biased.

I used to have red hi-tops
But now Nike's bought Converse. So, that's probably the end of those shoes.

Financial Aid is getting slashed
In an attempt to redefine numbers the republican congress is cutting Financial Aid making it that much harder for middle class kids to afford school. Of course, being multi-millionaires, Bush and his Department of Ed doesn't have to worry about things like this.
Thanks.

But don't tell them directly
Nope, the whitehouse doesn't want to hear from you - it doesn't want to read your email. A note sent to the place? Ha. You now have to navigate 9 screens in in order to send an email - assuming they'll read it if you note that you disagree with the president.
Also, if you want to say something about the economy, you're out of luck. Not on the approved "talk to the president by email" list.
You can attempt to write them through this website.
In order to be "compassionate" you have to listen in the first place. The Bush administration is no longer even pretending that they do that.

INS...
Common sense. It's strangely lacking. This quote, however I love

But faced with a public-relations problem, immigration authorities yesterday found a loophole in the law.

So that's what it takes...

And Pat Robertson gets even loonier

2003-07-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Apparently the Recession ended in November 2001
Could someone please tell that to Boeing, or the 5000 people they're laying off? 40,000 that have dissappeared of their job rolls since the "end of the recession"? Or those who have lost the 15,000 high tech jobs that have disappeared from the region.

Contraceptives need not be covered
by insurance companies. Maybe.

Apply for the Seattle Monorail Board
What else are you doing with your time? The Monorail is not making it easy, though. It took forever to figure out where to begin looking for information. Even then, it didn't lead me directly to the King County Elections page that you need to get on with the filing process.
On the way, though, I found the web page for the Seattle City Light Rates Advisory Committee

Or just go bowling

And Sound Transit
Still just won't die already.

2003-07-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Why we still like Ted
His speech to Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

It's a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence, and even false intelligence.

2003-07-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Caution: Really Bad Spin Ahead
There are a few good excuses for messing up with the Uranium... I'm sure there are. Pity that neither the White House nor I can come up with any of them. But yes, someone in the administration lying to the public and using that lie to send soldiers off to war is a campaign issue. Anyone can see that.

$1.9 trillion
The deficit is also a campaign issue, on every level. In case that was missed. ((Btw, to voters - there is no such thing as a free lunch. Services cost money.))

Due Process, on the other hand
And sadly, screwing with people's right to a trial and due process is not a campaign issue. It should be, but it isn't. The "Justice" Department is playing games and refusing to let a deposition go forward. Why? The claim is security reasons. But in fact, if they do not let the deposition occur, then the trial is moved from federal court to a military tribunal and the many of the rights currently available the accused disappear.
We should be better than this.

Poverty probably isn't either
Homelessness in LA - this shocked me:

in Los Angeles, the problem is gargantuan. With half the population of New York, it has more people on the streets than New York has in its shelters. An additional 45,000 people are homeless in greater Los Angeles County. While New York will spend $640 million on homeless services this year, Los Angeles will spend just $50 million and provide fewer than 13,000 beds.

Nor Rape
In the chaos of the occupation, rape and abduction are up. Plus, it isn't as survivable, not something victims even get a chance to work through:

"A woman's father or brother, they feel it is their duty to kill her" if she has been raped, Dr. Younis said. "It is the tribal law. They will get only six months in prison and then they are out."

We do, now, have a timeline

A/S/L/Credit Card Number?
Yep. IRC is being used to sell credit card numbers. Never could have seen that coming. Not in a million years. Chat rooms for illegal activity. Who would have thought?

Just fix baseball
I swear - I might just vote for anyone, anyone, anyone at all, regardless of the rest of their political beliefs if they fix baseball, remove the interleague play, balance the leagues, and destroy the travesty of having the all star game (being played tonight) count for anything.

Film Adaptation
They are very cool comic books.

2003-07-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

So, this would be a bad trip, then?
Not particularly relevant or anything... just at the moment, it strikes me as, well, something. It definitely strikes me.

So, how much does perceived race matter
5 thousand dollars/year? Or is it something else? Or can you tell?

show up at the conventions of your constituency
Duh.
This is a really bad way a democrat to try to get elected.

Required Pro Bono
I hope not.
Ok, this is incredibly selfish - but I really hope not. Some lawyers don't practice. So what? They have to work at a paying jobs to make ends meet, so doing pro bono would mean using half of their vacations each year to do legal work. They also don't have the resources at hand, nor do they have decent access to people who do (which is not an issue for those who work in firms, where pro-bono is often counted as work and goes toward their billable hours, and who have experts in the field around.) so trying to "help" could be very dangerous for the people who really need legal assistence. Making things worse, not better. I wonder how it is working in states that require it? The WSBA Pro Bono Committee home page

Summertime
And the kids are still hungry.

And in further poverty news...
There's a 40% increase in homeless people in the seattle area this year. 40%.

AIDS treatment in developing countries

Blue Cards
As opposed to green. It seems to be a plan to get documents to undocumented immigrants. A temporary, quasi-legal status so that they can avoid some of the employer abuse once here.

Artifical Clotting
ZymoGenetics has just had a very successful first test of a synthetic protein factor that might be used to help strengthen blood clots. Wow.

2003-07-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Not even the CIA believed that there was anything to the uranium buy
And he knew. And they still chose to spread that lie.

People still aren't working
Ok, I must say, I don't get this. Are we that desperate to claim that it is no longer a recession that we're willing to look anywhere for signs of recovery? It's still awful out here!

Cameras in Court?
I actually agree - putting cameras in the supreme court would over politicize it, and most people wouldn't understand what's going on - or why (appellate hearings are weird.) and could very well make things worse, not open the court up to all.

Still broken
We still haven't fixed our ballot problems, and the elections could still be unfair. Undermining confidence in the vote is a bad thing and money should be spent here without question.

2003-07-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Sentenced to 3 years of no email
California prisons are barring inmates from receiving information directly from the internet. Not just via computer, but printouts of websites, sent through snail mail are totally banned.
Yeah, that makes sense.

2003-07-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

No More Options!
Actual stock. Wow.
That's an actual benefit. A real, actual benefit, rather than the crap that is stock options. Nice job, Microsoft.

School funding cut
A program designed to help South Pacific Islanders in Seattle schools got slashed.

Multiple representatives?
Interesting idea. Have districts broadened, and shared between representatives so that it gives a different (though possibly not better) representation of the area.

2003-07-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you!
Gee, there was no uranium deal who ever would have thought? Wonder what else they were "wrong" about?

So, does he graduate
Apparently, this guy who was very interested in maps started mapping fiber optic connections for his Ph.D. thesis. He's now told that it may need to be classified as a security threat. Banks and businesses want him to never let this see the light of day.
He got all of this information through public channels.

On the gender power imbalance and the spread of HIV in Africa

What are they trying to hide now?
The court has ruled that Cheney's energy task force is not as super-duper top secret as he wants it to be.

2003-07-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

O'Connor is staying
For a while longer, it seems.

"Mr. Bush understands that Africans are entitled to a better future, and that America can help them achieve it."
I doubt it. And I don't expect anything from the trip. But at least he's going.

We'll only go so low
Eventually, it gets so bad that we have to change channels. "American Juniors" is apparently so bad. I haven't watched it...then I didn't watch "American Idol" either.

Head Start is one of the few programs that isn't broken. It works. It does what it's designed to do, and from what I've read, it does that very well. I worry that the change will make things worse.

Prison visitation
I wonder if they have an extended visit program like this for the dads?

Even without an initiative to call his own
he still wants to get paid. Yes, Eyman has established a salary fund, so he can get paid to screw Washingtonians. Best line "'Tim Eyman is now the state's highest-paid panhandler.'"

Light Rail isn't dead yet.
What on earth is it going to take to kill this horrid idea? Perhaps lying down in front of the bulldozers is the next option.

Weight Loss Surgery
for teenagers.

2003-07-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

Elvis Lives
And he's driving a cab in Seattle. And apparently running afoul of laws regulating taxi drivers' attire. Why do we have laws about what cab drivers wear? How stupid is that?

So his problem is that he doesn't think about what he's saying. Yeah. Right.
That's what I'm looking for in a leader, someone who doesn't think.
"Bring 'em on" not the best wording ever.

Plugged in
Always.
I do this, first thing in the morning, last thing before bed....several times a day. I wanna know. But nowhere near this extent.
Information addiction...turn it off, the world won't end.

Tougher laws on mail order brides
About time.
This:

In 2002, Washington state Gov. Gary Locke signed a law that allows mail-order brides to request background information and prior marital histories of prospective spouses.

is disturbing. They couldn't before? How horrible is that?
Also disturbing is the one founder of the agency that really blames women for all the problems with mail order marriages and totally fails to understand the dynamics of domestic abuse.

Ward Connerly is an idiot

"Eulalie" why do you never meet any more Eulalies?
Naming trends. Of things I am thankful for, my parents had taste.

2003-07-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

Listen to the authors
Or if Tennyson had audiobooks.

"Patriotism" revisited
So close to making the flag non-partisan... and yet so far.

on the Ave
I lived there for 2 years, and still go there frequently. And yes, there are homeless kids there... so what? For the most part, they're just young kids... not threatening, not intimidating, not aggressive. Just kids.
Where do they want to push them next? And why?

I like this guy
In an effort to show how pathetic the proposed Medicare prescription drug plan is, Sen. Mark Dayton has attached an amendment saying that members of congress get the same plan. Compared to the standard federal employee health plan, it sucks.

For example, if you needed a prescription drug that cost $100 a month, you would pay $300 annually under the leading federal employee's plan, $737.50 under the Senate plan and $440 under the House plan, after paying the required deductibles, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

I am a bit concerned about the legality of what he does with his senate salary (read the article) but... I like this guy.

well, that would raise C-Span's ratings
Jerry Springer is thinking of running for Senate.
The floor might never be the same... I doubt it's been covered in thrown wedding cake recently... Should you care to look in on it more, here's his campaign website.

2003-07-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

"Patriot" act
Apparently everyone but the DOJ can see how unpatriotic it is.

Yay Librarians
And the opposite for filters.

2003-07-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Dell no longer using prisoners to recycle computers
I hate having my liberal sensibilities challenged. It annoys me.
But I still have second thoughts about people who are currently in prison working with recycled computers (and having access to the data on the computers).
On the good side I also don't like them being exploited for overly cheap labor.

It's still the economy, stupid
If only someone really takes it and runs with it.

No, it's not a question of religious rights
They want to build on a volcano. And the city says it can't get water, fire prevention or police there... which are valid reasons that no one is allowed to build on the land. And it'll disturb the ecology. This isn't picking on a church, or anti-religion. It's saying that that's not a good place to stick a huge public building.

2003-07-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

we are gathered today in front of ... these witnesses
who you are depends on whether you stuff anything in to the elipses or not... and that isn't the point.
The point is that marriage, recognized by the state, is a formation of a type of legally recognized partnership with all the benefits and liabilities that a legally recognized partnership entails. And like any other partnership, there are default rules and rights and obligations that we look to when something in the partnership breaks.
If anyone proposed that we dissolve agency and partnership laws and just stuck to what the partners thought about writing down when they first joined - and anything they didn't give a thought to "oh, well, sucks to be them. But the government isn't getting involved." They'd be rightly considered a complete wacko. (Not even lawyers would like it. Predictability is a good thing.)
The same holds true for marriage. The government needs to stay in it and it needs to be expanded to same-sex couples, because "oh well, sucks to be them," is not a right, fair, just, or sane way of handling things.

Yes, it's still a recession
Despite the stock gains in the last quarter...even more people are out of work. And Bush's record in all of it, "$3 trillion deeper in debt, 3 million fewer jobs."

Land Use
Call from the east coast for a better defined federal land use law.

Rather 100 guilty men go free than 1 innocent unjustly punished... or, you know, not
Dean's idiocy with regard to the death penalty and how he's apparently willing to screw the innocent.

I'm already using it, may as well be a guinea pig
Research firms want you to answer surveys. Apparently, they're willing to pay.

Theater Therapy
Very cool idea, if it works. And in New York just someone to talk to.

They're artists quit whining.
Apparently, the galleries don't realize that yes, the street artists are as much (if not more) of a draw for First Thursday as the gallery shows themselves. (Hell, I can buy a street artist painting. When's the last time I had several thousand dollars for a painting? Plus, the street artists are more interesting.)
So they've whined them out of the way...
Tonight's the walk, enjoy the square!

Are there really people who believe this is fair?
There are so many things wrong with this...
none the least of which is that spitting cost him his life in prison - but breaking a woman's arm? A year and $3000.

where taxes go
"The USDA estimated in 2001 that Washington had the second-highest rate of hunger in the nation, sandwiched below Oregon and just above Idaho."

Third Term?
So, will Locke run again? I don't think he's favored - he's been governor and times have sucked (though not entirely due to him). I will, of course, vote for him should he win the primary...but maybe there's a less hated candidate out there?

Education sucks in social studies, too! Not just math

2003-07-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

First the Supreme Court, now WAL*MART
I can honestly say I didn't see that coming. But Wal-Mart (which still won't carry the morning after pill and censors everything, has actually changed its anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. They haven't got as far as equal pay for equal work (benefits) but a step in the right direction.

Two weeks a year, if I'm lucky
And one more article on how Europe gets more time off, and everyone's ok with that. OTOH, we're saying goodbye to the 40 hour work week

No more DoubleStuf?
Portion sizes are way too big. And often, they're silly (1.5 cookies? Who eats 1.5 cookies?) in order to keep them from looking horrendous. So, I guess it's a good thing that Kraft (and apparently McDonald's and Frito-Lay) is rethinking how they process and package food. Of course, it's probably just to forestall lawsuits - as even school districts with soda contracts are now possibly going to need to defend themselves from obesity lawsuits. (Which are totally different than the tobacco lawsuits for a number of reasons, among which no one ever thought that Big Macs were nutritionally neutral.)
There's going to be a huge market for underground old-formula potato-chips and oreos though. The same way there was for old coke.

Venue
I honestly don't think there's anywhere that you're going to get an unbiased, impartial jury for either of the snipers. I wonder about the area they're moving it to. I'll see if I can find anything on it. I still applaud the endeavor.

Candidate Dean
Governor Dean was on NPR this morning, and I've got to admit, I'm intrigued by his health care plan. I'm still not sold on any of the candidates (I just don't know enough yet. Luckily, I have 7 months to make a decision) - but I like this campaigns use of the net and the fundraising (apparently, his average contributor dropped under $150 (I've seen estimates all over the place)) which does mean that in aggregate, a small contribution can make a difference. All the NPR Democratic Party Candidate Interviews

Is it still unconstitutional?
Virginia's law bannig partial birth abortion (remarkably similar to the recently passed federal law) is going to be reviewed as to whether it's unconstitutional. It could be a strong indicator of whether the federal law is going to make it or not. (Thank goodness for three branches of government...)

Vancouver got the Olympics
I have no desire to live in an Olympic city... the traffic must be awful, the preparation nightmarish.

But I think this means I've got 7 years to get good at curling and I can see Ice Dancing live. (I love Ice Dancing... it's cheezier than anything... but I still have fond memories Torville and Dean)

Big brother is watching our cars
No, I really don't want anyone to know where I drive... imagine the nastiness of divorce lawsuits once this goes into place. It could get people taking public transportation, though!

We might not be #2!
In fact, we're the only west coast state with a budget (California and Oregon are screwed)... and all this time we thought we were in the second worst financial status. Still, things are not good, and it isn't all because of fat in the budget. Basic services cost money.

2003-07-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Of course it isn't spam.
It's a disgruntled ex-employee. Nothing broke, nothing got shut down, and more importantly, it was entirely non-commercial. Annoying, disruptive, but not spam.

Unless, of course, it is SPAM^TM
Poor Hormel.

I'm sorry, but you deserve telemarketers
Hardly the point of the article, but apparently there are still people who in this day and age have yet to figure out that they can copy URLs from email and transfer them to your web browser.
They scare me.
I quite prefer that their time be taken up with telemarketers than they be free to roam the streets.

"I am happy to report that Ann Coulter has lost her mind."
No comment necessary.

On the just ended Supreme Court term
All decisions can be found at their web site. And I must sadly say that I haven't kept up. I'm ashamed of myself especially with regard to the voting rights case which will definitely cause some interesting discussions with regard to redistricting after the next census, if not earlier.... And they kept three strikes legal.

I miss Canada
And luckily, I'm going back in a few weeks!

One source of news cannot be good
And apparently there are people who recognize this. So, Two Newspaper Town is getting involved in the Seattle Times, Seattle P-I fight. One daily newspaper in a city this size is incomprehensible.

Just the one initiative? How is that possible
Very sadly, Eyman will not be officially designated as a horse's ass.
Pity.