Surreal Seattle

Maybe Seattle area doctors should start treating the common cold with chemotherapy. It’s probably just a cold, but your doctor cannot tell you for sure that you don’t also have cancer, so hey, why not go ahead and start the chemo?

This seems to be the mentality of the domestic violence divas in King County. Their mythology of domestic violence misinformation now prompts police responding to domestic disputes to react as if they are facing a full armed assault from the Canadian Mounties.

Another over-reaction in Seattle highlights the surreal world of domestic violence extravagance. An unarmed man, after an argument with his girlfriend (no saint herself, by the way), forced her into his mother’s basement. That was an inexcusable act that needed to be punished, but the response of the police was utterly outlandish. What were they really responding to? Was it an unarmed man on a temper tantrum or the bogeyman of contemporary feminist hysteria?

Today’s drama included a fully outfitted SWAT team, armed vehicles, and enough police cars to stretch across the entire city. Police terrorized the neighborhood, firing tear gas, brandishing M16’s, and swinging around cannon-like armory better suited for the invasion of another country than a simple residential house. The man involved was probably afraid that his neighborhood had become a war zone, thus explaining his reluctance to give up and surrender to the police.

The police should not be faulted for this behavior, however. They are, after all, just an extension of the political ideology that masquerades as concern for victims, but in reality is nothing less than a war on the “patriarchy.” This war is fed by the myth that inside every man is a patriarchy inspired brute out to murder his woman. The story, with such catchy made-for-TV names as “mommy-cide,” couldn’t be further from the truth. Truth, however, seems to have been left on the curb with the garbage a decade ago when the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed by Hillary Rodham's stand in, Bill Clinton, just before both houses of Congress shifted to a Republican majority.

Surely, one can understand how the Seattle Police did not want to end up managing the PR nightmare experienced this past week by Duluth, Georgia. Jennifer Wilbanks got the jitters before her wedding day and without warning inexplicably left town, leaving everything, including her wallet, behind. Poor Duluth was then occupied by a press army that set up shop and hoped they had found another boondoggle of hours upon hours of Scott Peterson type reality drama and ratings.

The reward for Jennifer’s fiancee: Interrogation by the police and a lie detector test. He was suspect number one. But, when Jennifer finally phoned home, officials maintained a stance of political correctness, expressing concerned for how distraught run-away Jennifer was. One could be forgiven, though, for believing that the most appropriate comment of the entire affair came from a local café owner:

This is one of the most selfish and self-centered acts I've ever seen. We saw her parents, and you could see the anguish in their eyes. It was terrible.

But, never mind that. Jennifer’s fiancée can be blamed just as surely as Rusty Yates got the blame for not having the extra sensory perception required to prevent his wife from murdering their gaggle full of children. He was booked, fingerprinted, interrogated, subjected to lie detector tests, and God knows what more, while his bride-that-was-to-be is awash with official sympathy.

Anyway, feelings are all that matter when it comes to the misdeeds of today’s Vagina Warriors. Take Mary Kay Letourneau, for example. We are all now being treated to primetime TV coverage of her wedding to the hapless child rape victim of her pedophilia. This pair is even dispensing marriage advice. Who can blame them, since even local newspapers like the Seattle Times and Seattle PI treat Letourneau as just another happy bride.

Meanwhile, the best the Seattle police can do with a mentally ill man distraught over the disappearance of his sister and threatening to commit suicide is shoot him to death. To continue doing that, though, they will need to keep their guns, which are just one bad date away from being taken away. They should look into the Police Officer Solidarity Foundation if they would like to keep their gun toting jobs without maintaining celibacy.

Life in Sillilandia is stranger than fiction.

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Paid Political Journalism

Did you purchase The Seattle Times today?

If you did, you might want to think about why you paid for a newspaper that runs political advertisements as if they were journalism. Today’s Seattle Times features a long column by Joni Balter (yes, the misandrist) about the wonderful virtues of Maria Cantwell.

Maria Cantwell has been a non-voice in the US Senate since King County election fraud gave her a hollow victory over once elected-for-real Senator Slade Gorton. One can only find Cantwell’s name, and mouse-ish “voice,” associated with orthodox retro-progressive stand-by issues. Is anyone for social security without reform, anti-father legislation, and idealistic environmentalism that is mostly show and no substance? Well, Cantwell is your woman.

But, reading Balter’s column, and not knowing any better, you’d think Cantwell is up there with our nation’s greatest all-time leaders. Her showy pseudo-fight to save the frozen tundra of the north slope of Alaska from the supposed ravages of oil drilling, which she “lead” about like a container (empty one at that) leads the cab of a 16-wheeler, failed. Yet, the virtue is in the quijotic fight, not in the victory, according to Balter.

Apparently, Cantwell has a saving grace – she is the “go-to” gal for all technology issues in the Senate. Association over substance is the argument here. The association, of course, is that she was a human resources manager at Real Networks during that company’s ride of the technology bubble. The substance, unfortunately, does not exist. She fell into the job primarily because Real Networks thought it would help their fund raising if they had a former member of the House of Representatives on their staff. In reality, she hardly knows a thing about organizational development and even less about technology.

The lemming majority of King County probably will vote for Cantwell. All it will take is a display by her of some manufactured anger about the oil drilling in Alaska and a few well-placed comments about how women are victims of the patriarchy, and combined with some manufactured votes in the King County election fraud machine, she will get a majority here.

But, it may not be the majority she is counting on. An important slice of people in King County are fed up with the idealism and silliness of Seattle Democrats and they will not vote for someone so vacuous this time around. Claiming the mantra of a “woman leader” won’t be enough for Cantwell, because Gregoire has shown us that women politicians are as corrupt as any. Meanwhile, the rest of the state will go Republican by an even greater majority than it has in recent elections, if only to right the wrong of Gregoire’s fraudulent election victory.

Cantwell can’t be blamed for trying though. Real Networks probably is keeping a seat warm for her, but their stock price will never have another ride like it did during the technology bubble, and a future there would have real work in the picture for Cantwell. With her personal lotto-won fortune all but gone, a do-nothing job in the US Senate is probably looking pretty good in comparison.

So, Cantwell is doing what you’d expect. But what is the Seattle “Silly” Time’s excuse? The Silly Times has refused to investigate election fraud in King County, only begrudgingly reporting about it after Sound Politic’s Stephan Sharkansky uncovers undeniable evidence. It ignores the court case currently underway in which Dean Logan has admitted to fraud. It heaps praise on the most anti-business state legislature in recent memory as it gets preoccupied with a superfluous “gay rights” bill while the economy and our schools are crumbling due to mediocrity made into a virtue. Now it runs free political advertisements for the very emblem of mediocrity?

This reminds me of the newspapers of Mexico during the 70 year rule of the PRI. All the while, Mexico of course had “freedom of the press.” But, amazingly, the newspapers only spoke of the government, the PRI, and their corrupt officials in glowing terms. How could this be? Well, the Mexican government (e.g., the PRI) nationalized paper supplies early in its rule. Any newspaper that published criticism of the government or the PRI would find that a paper shortage quickly ensued.

I’m still scratching my head as to what lever the Democratic Party has over The Seattle "Silly" Times.

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Deadwood in UW Business School

Richard Peterson, a University of Washington Business School “professor,” provides an example of why Seattle, the state of Washington, and it’s flagship university can never seem to get it right. He also provides an example of why David Horowitz feels compelled to conduct a crusade against aggressive liberalism on college campuses through his organization Students for Academic Freedom.

Check out Peterson’s opinion column in the Seattle Times. In this column, Peterson argues passionately for an increased labor union presence in the American work force. He laments the general decline of labor union representation at the “collective” bargaining table, particularly here in Washington.

According to Peterson, our democracy is close to collapse:

As the union voice has become weaker, this democracy of ours has become more fragile. Employees who believe that they don't need a collective voice are just wrong, based on the record. Democracies suffer when there is an absence of countervailing power in the society. That is where we are now. This is compounded by the power of business to get much of what it wants both in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress, whether the member is a Republican or a Democrat.

We really need a national debate regarding what our nation wants, and needs, in the early 21st century. Otherwise, we will be seen as hypocrites by pushing democracy in other nations, while weakening it here.

Peterson has it so wrong that it is almost laughable. The “professor” shows his hand by complaining that our economy is based on private ownership. Actually, we can stop there, without countering his emotive retro-progressive nonsense positions point by point. Our democracy is stronger when more people own private property, especially when employees are vested in their company through stock options. The most successful companies in every industry put their employees on the same page as management through ownership, while the least successful companies continue mired in adversarial labor union struggles. Consumers have caught on, realizing that a unionized workforce generally indicates low product quality and high prices.

But, my question, and the question the UW Business School ought to be asking itself is: What in the hell is Richard Peterson doing in the UW Business School?

I took a class from this knucklehead, so none of this is new or surpsing to me. The class was about multi-culturalism in the global economy, and Peterson purported to be teaching young managers the importance of cultural sensitivity when working overseas. It was utter nonsense and I have to say that in all of my international business activity I have never once thought back to what old Peterson would suggest I do (quite the opposite).

I remember that while taking his class of socialist propaganda, when I was much younger and expecting something quite different from what I was seeing from too many of the UW Business School professors, I was left scratching my head and wondering why I had this cranky old guy complaining that American business was relocating to parts of the country where they were not likely to encounter unionized labor. The guy obviously had never taken a course in economics, or perhaps he did and thought it was really just propaganda compared to the Marxist based theory he believed in. Worse, he showed palpable disdain for anyone in the class that actually believed in free enterprise and displayed aspirations to succeed within our free enterprise system.

Well, Peterson can believe whatever he wants to believe (which was not a courtesy he showed his students). The point is the UW Business School had no place letting him occupy a precious tenured professor position, and should not have conferred the title of Professor Emeritus on him. If he is to be associated with a university at all, which I find highly questionable after taking his ridiculous class, he might fit in the sociology department, or perhaps in the Women Studies department, another haven of socialist thinking.

The UW Business School should have a singular purpose – to teach young people how to be good capitalists. Now, some of the loser socialists that infiltrated the UW Business School in the 1970’s and are still there would give a pedantic speech about “stakeholders” and how they are all equally important. But, really, the bottom line is profit, and if that is served, the country is served. Employees are best served if their motivations and rewards are tied directly to servicing the same profit motive that management cares about. More importantly, the region in which the UW Business School is situated is served when it produces graduates that are not confused about good business practices.

Most of the professors in the UW Business School understand its purpose. The recent Acting Dean of the UW Business School, Vance Roley, made this comment about his experience working in government during the 1970s:

“I came away with the impression that government could be cut in half very easily. It struck me that the Department of the Treasury, the Fed, the Department of Commerce, and the Council on Economic Advisors all had lots of people worrying about exactly the same things. Consolidation would have made sense.”

Unfortunately, Professor Riley was lost to the business school at the University of Hawaii, where he is now officially the Dean of the business school there. The fact that he was not hired on as the actual Dean of the UW Business School probably owed in no small part to his belief in efficiency. Comrade Peterson was among those that objected to Vance Roley permanently assuming the head spot of the Business School.

Despite the socialist baggage carried by the UW Business School, the MBA program actually recently made some dramatic progress in getting national recognition, taking the 18th spot in the prestigious US News and World Report ranking of business schools that just came out. Perhaps this is what set Peterson off in his effort to sabotage the UW Business School’s ascent and bring it down to his pathetic level of mediocrity.

The state of Washington, Seattle, King County, and for God’s sake, the UW Business School, need to learn that you can’t have it both ways. Just like the state can’t realistically hope for a strong economy with the most anti-business Governor and legislature in recent memory, the Business School can’t expect to succeed while employing professors with their own anti-capitalist agenda. Mediocrity and excellence do not make good bedfellows. After all, what corporation wants to hire young managers out of a school where they are being taught that unions are good for business?

Peterson and everyone like him still associated in the UW Business School have got to be disassociated. UW President Mark Emmert should hear about it through his e-mail at pres@u.washington.edu. While you are at it, you might want to send an e-mail to “professor” Peterson himself at dickp@u.washington.edu urging him to remain quietly in retirement.

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New Poll!

As you have read on this blog, the banana republic legislature of the state of Washington is working on a bill that would create a “domestic violence prevention account.”

As you probably also know, the primary objective of the domestic violence industry – in addition to make money – is to destroy the institution of marriage. These Women Studies graduates and generally disgruntled drama queens (see the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, whose activities are so nefarious they need to hide their offices, for an example) believe that marriage is an institution of the “patriarchy” and therefore needs to be destroyed and replaced with something else.

The original bill, which would have taxed marriage licenses to fund the anti-marriage account, was a little too cynical for even the “true believers” of the state’s legislature. All it took was a little criticism from Silly Seattle and some others to change that. But, now the bill has transformed into a tax on divorce filings. That is also bad, because divorce will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, urged on by busy-body domestic violence “advocates.” These so-called advocates spend their time trying to convince women that marriage itself is a form of “patriarchy” control and that heterosexual sex is really just another form of rape.

The “advocates” will truly be advocating something if they get more money – divorce. After all, whenever the state starts making money on an activity, its track record has been to promote more of that activity. Take gambling – the state says it is illegal, but since they make money off Lotto, there is no bigger advertiser for gambling than the state itself. Another example is the hysteria around "dead beat Dads," which has put the state in the middle of collecting child support payments, even though it is not needed in most cases. Thus, the state is already making money from every divorce that involves kicking a father out of the life of his kids. Buckle down and expect the same thing with the anti-marriage account.

So, the new poll goes straight to our readers and asks: Do you believe the state should advocate divorce? If yes, should they fund that “advocacy” through a tax on marriage or a tax on a divorce. Or, should the state back off (for a change).

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New Poll: Tell Me Again, Why Are We Building Light Rail?

The latest poll results are in!

Exactly half of you believe that light rail will have essentially no positive economic impact on south Seattle. If this half of our readers is correct, the billions being spent on light rail do not seem like money well spent.

The other half of you do believe that light rail will cause at least some economic development in south Seattle, but this half is decidedly mixed on whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. 28% of those who believe that light rail will cause economic development in this long neglected part of the city also believe that the resulting gentrification is a bad thing.

As you might remember, Mayor Nickels announced he would protect the people of south Seattle from the evils of gentrification resulting from light rail. But, 36% of you (or 72% of those who think light rail will spur economic activity) believe that any gentrification caused by light rail would be a good thing. That seems awfully hard to argue with, since gentrification will result in higher home values that area home owners can fetch if and when they sell.

I have a theory on why some of our readers believe gentrification would be a bad thing. Gentrification implies higher home values, and since property taxes are based on the appraised value of property and the tax rate never seems to go down, the absolute taxes paid by area home owners will go up. That is a major pinch on the pocket books of the residents of south Seattle.

If the Mayor really cared about protecting people from the downside of gentrification (e.g., rising property taxes), he would do something about the real cost suffered by homeowners – such as work to lower the tax rate on real estate – instead of tooting his horn about providing funds for a pea patch in south Seattle.

On the other hand, since Seattle’s silly politicians are not known for their tax fighting crusades, maybe the pea patch will allow area residents to grow their own food, since they will be able to afford a lot less of it after paying the tax man.

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5k and Counting

Much to the dismay of retro-progressive Seattle, Silly Seattle just passed 5,000 visits!

We have only been publishing Silly Seattle since mid-January of 2005, and we are already becoming a force to be reckoned with. For example, our recent criticism of the cynical effort by mis-andrist politicians in the state legislature to add a new tax to marriage licenses to fund domestic violence advocacy (in other words, to fund the very government sponsored activity that works diligently to cause more divorce) played a role in a substantial change to the legislation. The original form of HB 1314 would have increased the cost of getting married in order to create the bogusly named “domestic violence prevention account,” but the bill was changed so that the new tax will be added to divorce filings.

The end result may not be better, because when an activity provides revenue for the state government, the state government tends to advocate for it. King County, in particular, is already actively promoting divorce as part of its social agenda. Now the state will likely be doing the same. Nevertheless, the banana legislature of the state did back off from sending the message that marriage is a social evil that should have a “sin tax” associated with it.

Our readership continues to grow daily. So, we will continue to provide enlightenment that goes beyond the pathetic inaccuracies and political correctness of the mainstream media.

Thanks for reading!

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WEA Puts Boy in Jail

Jeremiah Bourgeois’ story makes him cry, and it almost made me cry. But, it ought to make the Washington Education Association (WEA), and all the politicians that support them, cry in shame.

In a nutshell, Jeremiah was a kid with some promising talents, who also unfortunately got mixed up in all the wrong things. After dancing in a Crest toothpaste commercial at the age of 10, his parents divorced, the influence of his older and much angrier brother set in, and Jeremiah started hanging in the wrong West Seattle crowd. His brother robbed and shot a convenience store owner. The owner testified against Jeremiah’s brother in court, prompting Jeremiah to brandish a gun and set out for revenge at the tender age of just 14. The rest is history.

Jeremiah did a horrible crime at the age of 14 and he is now doing the horrible time. A lifetime of it. The Seattle (Silly) Times provides a decent exposé of the otherwise forgotten and sad case of Jeremiah Bourgeois, but as usual with the mainstream media, the reporter focused on all the wrong things.

Jeremiah’s story is being drudged up in order to build public support for giving judges in juvenile cases more leeway when sentencing children found guilty in adult court. (See HB 2073). The Silly Times focuses on recent research that supposedly indicates that the adult mind is not fully formed until the age of 25. The reasoning seems to be that we should forgive and forget murders that occur before that age.

But, this completely ignores something that probably would have stopped Jeremiah’s crime from ever happening in the first place: a school option for troubled youths like Jeremiah. The Silly Times article mentions in passing that at the age of 12, and not long after he started his downward spiral, Jeremiah’s concerned mother put him in a highly structured school in Utah. She pulled him out “when the insurance ran out.” Apparently, Jeremiah thrived in this disciplined environment.

Of course, that little comment about the insurance was meant to evoke a knee jerk retro-progressive Seattle reaction of blaming the “big corporations.” But, if one allows themselves to process what happened here a little more, one is left with an obvious question: why couldn’t the funds intended to create a place for Jeremiah in public schools been used to pay for his education in the Utah school? How was it that Jeremiah’s mother was left using insurance (presumably medical insurance) to pay for her son’s education in an environment suitable to his needs?

While our banana republic legislature is looking for excuses for murder, the rest of us ought to be asking the WEA these questions. What is their excuse for blocking every attempt to create school vouchers so that poor kids will have more choices? Society was left paying for a spot in school for Jeremiah, whether he used it or not, while his mother was footing the bill for a spot in another school that was more appropriate for Jeremiah. In the end, he had to be pulled out of the Utah school, his educational and disciplinary needs were not met, a man is dead, and Jeremiah is living in prison the rest of his life at taxpayer’s expense.

The legislature of our state is once again trying to fix a problem by treating a symptom of the problem. School vouchers, though, would go a long way towards fixing the root of the problem – a bad public school system with a one-size-fits-all mentality that fails troubled youths.

By large majorities, black Americans support school vouchers. They seem to realize that for the money spent, their kids could be going to better schools than those forced on them by the teacher’s unions. Unfortunately, the WEA is focused on it’s own power and maintaining a monopoly over public schools.

If the WEA really cared about students, it would get out of the way.

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Get Over It

The Seattle Times yet again displays for us all why it now owns the moniker Seattle Silly Times.

Pompous and self-righteous as always, Silly Times “Editorial Page Editor” James Vesely today writes, “We are just not getting over the November governor's election, thank you very much.”

Vesely shows his perspective, or lack thereof, of the fraudulent election of Her Highness (and Black Widow) Christine Gregoire to the Governor’s office. He believes that we should all just “get over it” that the election may have been thrown by incompetence in King County, if not by one or more people operating through the King County elections department.

Clearly, Vesely is forgetting a few important and fundamental things about the United States of America. The first and foremost is the fact that we are built on democratic institutions. As such, we are ruled by laws, not by the personalities of men and women. We do not have kings and queens and we do not pay undue respect to Vesely’s personal friends, such as Gregoire.

Lest you forget, Mr. Vesely, let us remind you that many people have died fighting for our freedoms and the freedoms of others. Now, many people in kooky Seattle, probably you included, take the view that all of the wars that this country fought were for the benefit of a phantom called “the industrial military complex.” Or, as in the case of Iraq, “for the oil.”

Those arguments are so pathetic and paranoid that it truly is a waste of time to debate their lack of merit with the retrograde “progressives” of Seattle. However, in this bastion of radical feminist perspective where feelings take precedence over rationality, there is one option left that perhaps might strike a cord: an appeal to your emotions.

If you could raise from the dead a police officer killed in the line of duty, why do you suppose he would say he was willing to put his life on the line? I dare say that he would not say that he was doing it to protect the rule of the Governor. No, he would say that he was enforcing the Law. L-A-W. The law he was protecting was not created by proclamation, but by the will of the citizens he was protecting.

Similarly, the many people killed or maimed during World War II were not fighting for a King or a Queen. Again, a radical idiot like McDermott probably has his suspicions, but American soldiers fought for something much more fundamental. My grandfather, who passed away recently, would not fight and kill for any man or woman unless they were threatening his family. But, he came back from Italy, where the most brutal fighting of World War II occurred, with shrapnel in his back for the second time, after killing more than one German. (By the way, after departing for the war somewhat of a hooligan, he spent the rest of his life dedicated to his church, probably in no small part because he hoped for forgiveness for the killing he had done). If you asked him why he did it - which nobody ever did because he would not discuss it - but if you could, I am sure he would have said, “to get Hitler.” It would have been a simple response that expressed something very profound: it was his responsibility, as it was everyone’s in his generation, to protect us from a deadly dictator.

There is no “for Queen and Country” battle cry in this country. This is why it is incumbent on us to make every effort to protect and defend not only our right to vote (even citizens of the former Soviet Union had such a right), but every aspect of the election process. It means that we should always have a choice – you call this “being divided,” Mr. Vesely, but I call differences a choice for voters. And, most importantly, it means that no individual or group can ever be allowed to manipulate, stuff, or subtract, votes duly made by citizens.

This is why Stephan Sharkansky of Sound Politics is a genuine hero, and you are simply part of the chattering class, Mr. Vesely. He has persistently pursued the truth of what happened in November and December of last year, and beyond, while your paper has sat on its duff and done none of the hard work to inform us of a deeply flawed, if not outright thrown, election. Worse, you have sometimes subtly, often overtly, made the point that we should all “just get over it” and allow a potentially illegitimate Governor to rule over us.

The idle complacency, even complicity, of the Seattle media could not provide more of a contrast to the pursuits of Stephan Sharkansky. And, Slade Gorton has his role in the process as well, Mr. Samieson. Even giggly Kevin Hamilton, attorney for Gregoire, has a rightful place in the process. We should thank all of these people for their hard work in protecting our democratic processes. The end result may or not involve the removal from office of Christine Gregoire. But, because of forced and hard won transparecy, we will all have much more confidence in the result of the next election, whether our “side” wins or not.

Unlike the Seattle Silly Times, these people are protecting our sacred right to vote and perhaps you, Mr. Vesely, should get over THAT.

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Championship Poker in King County

Someone going by the name of Chris posted the follow description of a King County poker game as a comment on Sound Politics. This one had me roling on the floor, splitting my gut, so I just had to put it on the Silly Seattle blog.

I don't know who you are Chris, but I hope you keep writing. This is brilliant!

Imagine, if you will, a p*o*k*e*r game.... The players: Dino Rossi, Dean Logan, Sam Reed, Ron Sims, Chris Gregoire and a host of Senators and Representatives, aided by unseen felons, countless deceased, as well as numerous imaginary friends.

"I win!"
"Chris, calm down--Sam hasn't dealt the cards yet."
"Oh, Dino, stop being so argumentative! It's just a game. No biggie."
"Just a game?!!! We are playing for the freedoms of an entire state!"
"That's what I said, didn't I? Let's play!"

Sam deals the cards.
"Who goes first?"
"Me, because I win, right?"
"Sounds right to me, Chris."
"See--I DO win."
"Not yet, but soon, okay?"
"Rats! Okay, Dean, but remember--you promised."
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! (The clock strikes.)

"She's got a full house--Kings over Aces!"
"But, Ron, on this 'King,' the J is crossed out and the K is written in purple sharpie!"
"But look at how authoritative that man looks, Dino! He's clearly intended to be a King. I just enhanced what should be obvious to anyone with good home training!"
"Oh, I suppose we can allow that in the case of a King, can't we Sam?"
"Sorry, Dean, were you saying something?"
"Never mind, just deal me some more cards."
"Okay."

"Hey, that Seven just came out of your sleeve!"
"No, it didn't. I pulled it out of my boot--see, there's an empty spot between the Six and the Eight."
"I beg your pardon, Dean. I didn't mean to question the integrity of a man with such good home training."
"Hey Chris, can I borrow that Ace tucked in your tiara? It would complete the flush I'm working on."
"Sorry, Ron, I'm saving it for my winning hand. Ask Dean for one; he's sitting on a stack of 'em."

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

"So whose turn is it, Chris?"
"It's mine again. Wait your turn."
"But what about Dino? He hasn't played a hand in two rounds!"
"That's because it was my turn. He's just mad because I'm winning--I am winning right? Isn't one in three good enough?"

"Seven Aces?!!"
"Relax, Dino, three of them are provisional Aces. If you have a problem with that, take it up with my aide. I don't deal with criticism personally. Besides, you really should have mentioned that before the cards were on the table."
"But I didn't know how you were going to play this game!"
"That's how privacy laws work, Dino--to have told you would have been a violation."
"And I was only dealt five cards. Maybe we should recount all the cards."
"Just play--there will be plenty of recounts, er...I mean time for recounts later."

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

"Why are you playing two hands, Ron? Sam, do you see that?"
"I only see one hand, Dino."
"It's okay, Sam, you can see this one. I'm playing on behalf of my uncle."
"But didn't your uncle die a month ago as a citizen of Albania?"
"Yes, but this was his dying wish." "Oh. Far be it from me to interfere with the rights of the deceased."

"Could I see that card you played face-down?"
"Nope. Privacy laws. You'll just have to trust me that it's a provisional Ace."
"Well, why not... Everything else seems to be.""Are you accusing me of cheating? No more than the expected level of bluffing is going on in this game, Dino. Live with it!"

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

"Sam, can you reach over and unplug that darned cuckoo clock? It's driving me nuts!"
"What clock, Dino? I don't hear anything." "It's right behind you--look! Tell him, Sims!"
"No, he's right, he can't see it."
"I thought cuckoo clocks only went off once an hour. That one has done it every three minutes. And the hands run backwards at times."
"This is one of those new "Diversity Clocks". It's supposed to do that...."
"Well, it's 99.8% accurate--or is it 99.98? I can never remember...let's get back to the scam, er...I mean game!"
"Yeah, don't distract me while I'm winning!"

"Where are all these provisional Aces coming from?"
"We can't tell you. That would be a violation of privacy laws."

"Okay, boys, show your cards--oh, sorry, Chris...I mean 'people'. You can put your subpoena away."
"Alright, but it's right here next to this other provisional Ace I just found, in case you say that again."

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

"Who dropped this King? Dean?"
"...uh...five, six, seven, eight...no, I have all mine. Must belong to Chris."
"It's mine! I win! I win!"
"Not yet, Chris....almost."
"Rats!"
("Yeah, I think I smell one, too.") Dino mumbles.
"Sorry, Dino, did you say something?"
"Yeah, Sam, I was just...."
"WELL! It's my turn again."
"Wait. You just had two.""Well, I just found another one! Live with it!"
"Sounds right to me."Dino groans."Sam, can you certify that?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Just say, 'yes'."
"...uh...yes?"
"See--I win! I win!"

Later, after the game is over:

"Well, I have to say that this has been a model p*o*k*e*r game--one that any bank president would be proud of."
"I have to agree, Ron--a 99.8% perfect game, overall."
"I want to congratulate you all for your honesty and integrity over the course of the game--especially you, Dino. You ran a very strong game and if I had played as strongly as you did, I would have won by a lot more."

"Ron, something doesn't add up here. Where did you learn to play p*o*k*e*r?"
"Dean taught me. I thought it wise to avail myself of his good house-training."
"You mean home training? House-training means he doesn't wet on the carpet."
"Didn't I say that?"
"Regardless, I don't think we played that game by the rules. You can't condone this, can you, Chris?"
"Don't worry about it, Dino, you can't go back and change things in golf, you know."
"Uh...we were playing p*o*k*e*r, weren't we? Or was Dean just making up the rules as he went?" "Can't tell you--privacy laws."

"I win! I win! ...did I win? ...Hey! Here's another one!"

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Logan: Give Up The Culprit(s)

Everyone and their uncle is piling on poor Dean Logan now.

Even members of Logan’s own party are reeling from the disclosure that the King County elections office knew of 93 valid mail-in ballots mistakenly left out of the vote count in the November election as early as March 23. Now, several King County council members are calling for Logan’s resignation. King County Republicans are also calling on the US Department of Justice to conduct an investigation of the election irregularities in the county.

Nothing is going right for the guy. His utterly clumsy handling of the election debacle is one reason I have trouble believing he was involved in the elections fraud that occurred in King County. For the love of God, who would involve this guy in a conspiracy?!

Logan is on vacation with his family this week, while the house is burning down at home. I hope that he is using this vacation for some major introspection and consideration of the spot the political elite of his party have put him in. The sloppiness of King County elections was clearly by design, and while probably not personally involved in it, he was left as the apologist for it. Moreover, hiring and firing policies in King County government reflect the pro-union position of the region, so he has been saddled with a mixture of lazy and sloppy workers, combined with some that are apparently on a mission to assist their candidate of choice. It is hard to correct bad “culture” when you are not able to fire people.

Worse, as I said here before, Logan is being asked to fall on a sword for two of the least admirable politicians in the state – Christine Gregoire and Ron Sims. Sims, at least, is standing up for his man. But, Gregoire has tried to pretend for the past 3 months that her status as governor is not in question. She has distanced herself from the mess in King County, obviously because she doesn’t want to be associated with the scene of the crime that put her in office. If you doubt how manipulative she is, check out this column from Silly Seattle about her pre-tax increase dance, and compare her earlier statements to the most recent massive tax increase proposals coming from state Senate Democrats. Come now, do you really think those massive tax increases are not being orchestrated by Gregoire?

So, Christine Gregoire is not worth a permanent stain on your record, Mr. Logan. Her political career is over, whether it occurs after the debacle of 2004 is thrown out by the courts, or after the end of this term. If you have felt loyalty to her, she has shown you how ephemeral her loyalty is, and you should know by now that your devotion will not pay in the long run.

It is a stretch to believe that Dean Logan was directly involved in election fraud. But, it seems obvious that someone in the elections office was. While there are some good people in the King County elections office, there are also some that have planted themselves there in order to affect the outcome without having to play the tough game of politics themselves. Anyone who has been into the elections office of King County knows exactly what Logan is talking about when he speaks of a “cultural” problem. That is a polite way of saying that some in the King County elections office are there for reasons other than service to their community. These “cultural problems” are not worth the permanent stain on your career either, Mr. Logan.

Stephan Sharkansky at Sound Politics has all the numbers. Interesting, nobody is refuting them. Someone came up with extra ballots for Gregoire during each re-count. I believe that Mr. Logan knows who it was and is protecting that person.

I would like to see Logan keep his job, as long as he gives up the goods on who in the elections office was stuffing the ballot box. Give that person up, Mr. Logan, and save your career. Now that a court date has been set, you better do it quick.

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Listen to Small Family Business, not Gates

Having Bill Gates, Sr. tell us that a death tax is a good thing is sort of like the Bush family telling a poor black man that everyone should give away some political influence. That poor black man doesn’t have much to give, while the Bush family can spread plenty around and never notice a loss in political capital.

Politicians in Washington State dote on Bill Gates, Sr., hanging on every word he says. The mainstream media, in particular, quotes Bill, Sr. without a critical view to anything he says. Bill, Sr.’s clout, of course, is due to his connection to Bill, Jr. I respect Bill, Sr. and I think that he makes some good points about businesses owing something to the community in which they reside. But, the personal experience that he is drawing on – that of his son’s fabulous wealth – simply does not correspond to that of the families that have built much, much smaller businesses in the region.

While we should want and encourage an ever-changing business landscape, and should not ossify business ownership like Latin American countries tend to, there is also something to be said for continuity in small businesses. Employees and regions often depend on these businesses and they usually are not just competing in a regional economy, but in a global economy. Imagine a hardware store owner passing his business on to his children, who then have to take on debt to pay an estate tax while, at the same time, they are competing with Lowes or Home Depot.

No, Bill, Sr.’s circumstances are nothing like those of the average family business owner. If we are looking for advice on the business environment that our state requires in order to incubate and develop a new Microsoft, or to keep the existing Microsoft in the state, we have an incredible resource in Bill, Sr. (and especially Bill, Jr).

But, when deciding on an estate tax, his voice should be the last we hear. Instead, we should listen to the concerns of the small business owner who would like to keep her life’s work in the family.

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Thin Slicing Logan

From the earliest stages of the election fiasco in Washington state, I have found it difficult to focus frustration on Dean Logan, Director of King County elections. Of course, I have very little to go on with regard to Dean Logan, having only seen him in a few press conferences and in front of the King County Silly Council. The strange and continuing saga of the magically appearing mystery ballots just seems too bizarre to blame on one guy.

But, I trust my intuition about him. I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Blink, in which the author focuses on the subconscious decisions that humans make within the first few seconds of encountering a situation. Blink is about a process called “thin slicing,” which I will let Mr. Gladwell define:

“Thin Slicing” refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.

In my thin slicing of Dean Logan, I was left with the impression that he is a reasonably honest, working-stiff sort of guy that is trapped in extremely difficult circumstances. Of course, I believe that he wanted Gregoire to win the gubernatorial election, and he may even have guided a few things in that direction, but from the beginning, I simply have found it hard to believe that he was directly involved in overtly fraudulent activities. I probably don’t share many of his political views, but I’m old school in that I do not believe I should carry this fact all the way to aspersions on his character. Similarly, my thin slicing of Mayor Nickels quickly leads me to the conclusion that, while he is a buffoon and a political animal, I think he has a generally good heart.

Conversely, my thin slicing of Gregoire, Sims, and some others in Washington state politics have left me with a distinctly bad taste in my mouth. Gregoire in particular leaves me unsettled. She has the look of someone on a mission and without concern for the carnage in her path as she pursues that mission. I have never liked politicians who enter office with a mission. They may embark on one while in office as a result of events, such as Bush's crusade against terrorism. But, if they have one before they come in – like to defeat the make-believe “patriarchy,” which is clearly on Gregoire’s agenda - watch out.

So, I'm starting to wonder if maybe Logan is getting a bad rap. He has pointed out several times that his office has “cultural problems.” Maybe there is something to that claim and something that all of us that doubt Gregoire really won the election should stop to consider.

Of course, a large part of our criticism of Logan is deserved due to the fact that he made little or no effort to screen out felons, double voters, non-citizens, etc. One might call that fraudulent, but it seems that Washington state election law was set up long ago as a "voter intent" state, which means elections officials were supposed to (or at least thought they were supposed to) never do anything that might discourage anyone from voting.

But, if you look inside the elections office of king county, there are several people that just seem to ooze "activism." I've talked to some election workers over the phone, and most of them have been extremely pleasant and helpful. Inside the office, though, you see the people that I guess they try to keep off the phone. Dyed black, spiked hair; the lesbian punk look, with pierced everything; etc ... I think these are the people that Logan is talking about, and these are the people that might be on a mission, much like Gregoire seems to be. These are the sorts that would stuff ballots.

I would be willing to bet that Logan himself suspects that these people with "the culture" were stuffing envelopes. He can't make wild accusations, because managers in government have their hands tied by the union. At the same time, he can't say everything was perfect.

So, maybe it’s time someone gave Logan a way out. Stefan Sharkansky of Sound Politics has done the hard work to find the smoking gun of something obviously being askew. Perhaps Logan would like to save his once good name before all of this comes back to bite him hard. As I’ve said before, Gregoire is not worth falling on the sword for and marbe Logan is starting to realize that.

Perhaps Logan should thin slice his situation and find a way out, before the situation thin slices him.

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Just the Facts, Ma'am

Recent brave Seattle PI opinion columns, on their face, do not seem related, but below the surface are two ways of saying the same thing – demagoguery is no way to make policy.

First, Alex Binz, a fifteen year old research intern for the Discovery Institute, articulately slices and dices the Social Security debate into two piles of truth. In one pile is the outlook for Social Security if we continue with the current system; in the other is a possible solution that will avoid leaving a massive debt for his generation to pay off. He ingeniously couches his analysis in an appeal for accurate information.

Alex has spotted the worst habit of the Baby Boom generation: their penchant for wild exaggeration and their belief that repeating something enough times is all it takes to make it true. With Social Security, that habit is manifested in a continuous chorus of “experts” claiming that the Social Security Trust Fund is solvent. But, anyone that has purchased a house with mortgage financing understands that no rational lender provides a loan without assets securing it. Unsecured loans require extremely high interest rates that reflect the risk of not being paid. Yet, the Social Security Administration makes unsecured loans to the federal government and charges the lowest interest rates available anywhere. Any bank manager making such a loan would be summarily fired.

In his appeal for us to use good information, though, Alex misses the fact that misinformation is a deliberate tool used to fool people who either lack the desire, the knowledge, or the time to research the truth.

Robert Jamieson made a similar appeal to common sense. He clarified that former King County sheriff Dave Reichert did not deserve to be called a racist and a segregationist by outgoing NAACP Seattle chapter president Carl Mack. Jamieson explained that Reichert is an honest and hard working guy that believes in personal responsibility:

Reichert's stubbornness in police matters had nothing to do with hatefulness or an agenda of racial animus.

His foundation was then -- as it is now -- mortared by Christian faith, a belief that people should exercise personal responsibility and the overriding sense that people should do what they earnestly believe to be the right thing regardless of what others may think.

It would be nice if everyone, particularly reporters in the mainstream media, held politicians and the politically active to higher standards of truth. Expressing an opinion is a time honored tradition in our country, even though “progressives” believe that we hould self-censure our views to reflect politically correct “cultural sensitivities.” But, basing those opinions on facts that are simply wrong seems to be more popular than ever.

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