President – Barack Obama

US Congressional District 6 – Norm Dicks

Washington State Governor – Christine Gregoire

Washington State Measures

Initiative 985 - This measure would open high-occupancy vehicle lanes to all traffic during specified hours, require traffic light synchronization, increase roadside assistance funding, and dedicate certain taxes, fines, tolls and other revenues to traffic-flow purposes

Yes

Initiative 1000 - This measure would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.

Yes

Initiative 1029 - This measure would require long-term care workers to be certified as home care aides based on an examination, with exceptions; increase training and criminal background check requirements; and establish disciplinary standards and procedures.

Yes

It seems like 99% of all the politicians from all the different parties are cut from the same mold. They all have slightly different messages and slants left or right, but basically it’s all the same. A politician is a politician is a politician.

Barack Obama defies these stereotypes.

An early opponent of the war in Iraq, Obama had the courage to speak out and voice his opposition, even though at the time – because of the hysteria Bush had drummed up, reminiscent of the Joe McCarthy era – it was considered un-patriotic to oppose the war.

That really was a courageous act. Obama has maintained that position – that the Iraq war is wrong and that we must get our troops out – consistently since the war started.

The war in Iraq is one of the biggest problems we now face.

Obama has promised to get our troops out – and for that reason alone, I would vote for him. McCain’s “we’ll keep the troops there for 100 years or as long as it takes” is just completely intolerable.

But there are other reasons I support Obama, as well.

John McCain has an extremely impressive record – war hero, POW, statesman – he has it all. Twenty years in the US Senate. He’s traveled extensively around the world, getting close-up views of all the trouble spots. He’s on a first name basis with world leaders and other key people everywhere around the globe. He really and truly knows his stuff.

Four years ago when the presidential face-off was between George Bush and John Kerry, I found myself wishing McCain had run instead, because I would have almost preferred him over Kerry.

At that time, McCain was a centrist. He was a true maverick, disagreeing with George Bush and his party on key issues such as the use of torture and on tax cuts and other important issues.

But no more.

Since that time, McCain has undergone a metamorphosis – as he tried to mold himself into what he or the republican party saw as a contender for the 2008 presidential race.

He’s moved a good ways farther to the right. He’s become a more doctrinaire republican, embracing many of the same right-wing ideas and values he used to oppose.

Pictured at right, Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi – the BIAW Candidate for Washington Governor, with his head up his ass, as usual.

After losing a tight race for Governor in 2004, Dino Rossi is back again this year, facing off against incumbent Christine Gregoire.

Rossi’s main distinguishment in this campaign is that he seems to blame everyone else for the economic mess the country is in – he blames Christine Gregoire, and he even blames his own party – which he conveniently distances himself from, by proclaiming himself the “GOP” candidate (hoping that people will think that’s different than a “republican.” ).

Rossi has proposed no new plans to help get the state out of the various messes we’re in, he’s just spent all of his time blaming others, in attack ad after attack ad. Nasty, viscous stuff, mostly full of lies and innuendo. These ads make the 2004 “Swift Boat” ads look like fluff in comparison.

And this coming after he kicked off his campaign by claiming sour grapes for Seattleites having “stolen” the last election.

A picture of Sarah Palin at her best.

I just can't believe anyone is taking Sarah Palin seriously any more.

In picking Palin for his running mate, it looks like John McCain was trying to appeal to women voters and “just plain folks.” And initially, his strategy appeared to work. It gave him a good boost in the polls.

A young, vibrant woman – a former beauty contestant and now governor of Alaska at the tender age of 44, she’s certainly a rising star – “Sarah Barracuda” – what a great nickname. And topping it off, she’s very, very conservative. Basically, she was a dream candidate for the republicans. The perfect foil to attract the disgruntled Hillaryites.

However, if you take a close look at Palin, things start to fall apart.

First, there was the interview with Katie Couric, where Palin stumbled badly. Question: How does being governor of Alaska prepare you for foreign affairs? Answer: because Alaska sits right next to Russia. Here's the clip, and then another clip here. The whole interview was pretty much a disaster.

It’s hard to imagine one man creating so much havoc, but George W. Bush really takes the cake.

In just a little under eight years, he’s managed to:

• Ruin our economy, plunging the United States into the worst recession since the Great Depression;

• Take us to war against Iraq for no good reason at all (other than to steal their oil – or maybe it was because Saddam tried to kill his dad);

• Take us to war against Afghanistan looking for bin Laden, only to withdraw most of the troops before their job was done, insuring bin Laden could safely escape;

• Taken away many of our civil rights in the name of combating “terrorism”;

• Condon the use of torture against what in many cases were innocent civilians, again in the name of combating terrorism;

• Promote the raping of our wilderness and public lands to find gas and oil, as well as generally raping the environment;

• Allow oil companies to post record profits at the expense of consumers and the economy in general (in 2000, the average cost of gas was $1.48 a gallon; contrast that to the $4.00 a gallon we recently had to pay). That’s a 170% increase in the eight years Bush was President!
  

Without the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bush would have been a one-term wonder. Pre-9/11, he was a rudderless, bumbling non-entity. His presidency distinguished itself by creating no distinguishments. He was mediocrity incarnate. No plan to do anything. A caretaker president. His approval ratings were abysmal. Bush was going nowhere, fast.

I would like to protest the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.

What Secretary Paulson is asking for is a blank check – no controls, no real plan no nothing. And that, coming from the Bush administration is laughable.

Perhaps they can contract out the reconstruction of our financial industry to Halliburton? And if you’re willing to buy that, I have a nice bridge you may be interested in…

The single over-riding reason the country’s economy is where it’s at right now is because of the Bush administration, and the feeding frenzy they’ve allowed to exist for the last eight years. Capitalism in its finest hour. Bush’s whole economic plan for the last eight years has been recycled Ronald Reagan era trickle-down economics coupled with lax regulations and no meaningful oversight.

So what happened?

What happened is they’ve raped the economy, they’ve raped the American taxpayers, they’ve raped Iraq and Afghanistan, and basically, they’ve raped the whole world.

Greed run rampant, without controls; without reason or care.

In a day and age when organized labor seems largely irrelevant to many, this is an appropriate time to stop and reflect on the gains made by unions in the past 100 years.

Although no one seems to remember now, some of the most basic protections we presently enjoy – like Social Security and Unemployment Insurance – came to workers courtesy of the push from organized labor. This package also includes the 40-hour workweek, the minimum wage, overtime, the child labor laws and much more, including some very basic things like the right to join a union and the right to strike. Most of this was enacted as parts of President Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation.

But none of these rights and protections were just handed to the workers, even if they were part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. People died to obtain these protections.

The years leading up to the New Deal – particularly the 20’s and 30’s – were a bloody, bitter time for workers. Strikes – where people died for their union beliefs – were commonplace.

Back in those days, the typical scenario was that the workers would go on strike or get locked out, and then the employers would hire scabs, and detectives (like the Pinkerton’s or the notorious Baldwin-Felts Agencies) to “protect” the scabs. Then the war was on.

The strikers were most often cast as “Commies” or communist-dominated in propaganda put out by the employers – the “Red Menace” was a very common theme. The Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations usually backed the employers. Often, local citizen groups, augmented (or supplanted) by the hired detectives and backed by the local governments formed “posses” and took on the strikers in open warfare – all in the name of “civic virtue” (cleaning out the Red’s). Occasionally the National Guard even got into the act.

Good examples of this sort of open labor warfare include The Ludlow Massacre (1914), The Battle of Matewan (part of the West Virginia Coal Wars - 1920), the Battle of Blair Mountain (1921), The Herrin Massacre (1922), The Columbine Mine Massacre (1927), The Auto-Lite Strike of 1934, The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike (1934) and the 1934 West Coat Maritime Strike (which evolved into the West Coast General Strike of 1934).

Hundreds and hundreds of workers died in those years, fighting for even the most basic of protections.

We’re lucky to have secured a pre-release excerpt from the new Time Magazine issue to set to be on newsstands the week of August 16, 2009 – Time’s Person of the Year edition.

2009 Person of the Year

Selecting the Person of The Year is always a tough call, but given the recent political developments in the United States and the world generally, this year was somewhat easier and we were unanimous in picking George W, Bush as our 2009 Person of the Year.

It’s easily demonstratable that George W, Bush has made life much safer for God fearing Christians the world over, and on that basis alone, our choice for Person of the Year was easy.

In the turmoil following the terrorist bombing of the 2008 Democratic National Convention – which precipitated the loss of all the top Democratic Party leadership including nominee Senator Barack Obama – George W. Bush boldly took charge, suspending the presidential elections, declaring martial law.

By immediately rounding up all the godless heathen terrorists – Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, homosexuals, anarchists, liberals and the like – the United States is now finally enjoying the peace and safety we deserve.

What’s the difference between a bookie and an insurance company? The bookie won’t welsh on paying if you try to collect.

We just got done with a long, troubling fight with Safeco Insurance.

Early last April, my oldest kid’s car – a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo – was sitting in front of his house one night at 2 AM. A drunk lady leaving a nearby bar plowed into it and split without stopping. Luckily, my son heard tires squealing and ran outside in time to get her license number as she sped off.

He gave the information to the police, who told him they thought it was likely a college student going home from a bar just down the street.

When the lady hit, the main point of contact was her car's right front wheel - it hit on my son's left rear wheel, smashing his car about a foot into the curb, and then forcing it maybe another foot forward along the curb.

Damaged in the crash were his two passenger side wheels, plus the wheel that took the initial impact, as well as some minor body damage at the point of impact. The crash also stripped the splines on his steering shaft and bent his left rear control arm.

The next day, my son went driving with a friend around the nearby university and in short order, he found the car. We turned that information over to the cops.

Seattle (AP) – Riding the success of his revelations of a cell phone conversation featuring former Speaker of The House, Newt Gingrich, Congressman Jim McDermott (D – Seattle) today made public the transcript of a new cell phone conversation – this one between President George W. Bush and presumed Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain (R – Arizona).

Mr. John W. Dean, a ham radio operator in the Washington DC area, recorded the conversation on June 4th by accident. After sitting on the tape for several weeks, debating what to do, Mr. Dean finally decided to approach Mr. McDermott with the tape on July 12th.

In a press conference today, Congressman McDermott stated, “After conferring with my attorney and my friends and my family, I’ve decided to come forward and make a transcript of the call between Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain available to the public.” Mr. McDermott continued, “Privacy concerns aside, I think it’s important that government be as transparent as possible and the public has a right and a duty to know the full story about its leaders.”

According to Mr. McDermott, independent experts have verified the authenticity of the tape.

Initial reaction from the Whitehouse was to deny the existence of the tape, then later, characterizing it as a bad practical joke. But yet later this afternoon, when confronted with certain facts guaranteeing the tape’s authenticity, Whitehouse Spokesperson Dana Perino issued a curt, “No comment,” then moments later stated Mr. Bush would have a formal reply about the tape later tonight.

Despite repeated attempts to contact the McCain campaign, Presidential candidate McCain’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

Spokane (AP) - At a press conference today, perennial candidate for Washington state Governor, Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi (pictured at right with his head up his ass, as usual), unveiled his new campaign poster for the 2008 race.

The theme of the campaign is that nasty Seattlites stole the last election, by demanding ballot recounts. The actual text of the new sign, is, “Dino Rossi for Governor - Don’t let Seattle Steal This Election.” Billboards featuring the ads have popped up all over the state – except around the Seattle area, of couse.

When asked about the negative connotations of the new billboards, Rossi said, “I’m just tellin’ it like it is. That bitch stole the last race. I shoulda been Gov, not her." When asked to amplify what he meant, Rossi continued, "It’s all them Seattle assholes that got her elected and that’s really fucking unfair to the farmers and the good righteous conservatives that make up this great right-wing, Christian state." He went on to add, "All those gay, Seattle assholes oughta move to Commie-fornia or something and leave us God-fearing Christians alone. I’m gonna smoke that bitch’s ass. Fuck me blue!”

In a prepared statement, Governor Gregoire responded suggesting the public might better be better served by a candidate that didn't have his head up his ass. She asked that this coming election should focus on today's important issues like the home mortgage crisis and the price of gas, and that the lame rhetoric from the last campaign be buried and forgotten - which is where it belongs.

In a late breaking development at press time, it's reported that a large group of several thousand people gathered tonight at Seattle Center and burned a likeness of Dino Rossi in effigy. Reportedly, vendors there were also doing a lansdlide business selling Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi voodoo dolls as well.

Said Rossi about the voodoo dolls, "Well fuck me blue!"

So the Seattle Supersonics are off to Oklahoma – what a deal. As far as I’m concerned, it’s for the best.

Pro sports teams are just not a big turn on for me. The way I see it, they’re a bunch of whiny millionaires feeding at the public trough.

In the case of the Sonics, we went through all the whining and the threats of leaving only a little over ten years ago. It went on incessantly for months. All the, Nobody loves us! Refurbish our home or we’re taking our team and leaving! Wah! Nobody loves us!

The whining paid off. At that time, Key Arena was fully renovated at a cost to the public of over $74 million. The NBA execs hailed Key Area as one of the great basketball venues in the country.

Now 10 years later, it’s all of a sudden too old, too small and just plain unfit for an NBA franchise. Yeah, right.

Well fuck them. Let them go – they can become the Oklahoma Okies or whatever. Bunch of losers, anyway.

The way it stands right now, Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen have their budgets stretched to the max. Every month, they wonder if they’re going to be able to make that new, higher mortgage payment. They can just barely afford gas for their cars and to put food on their table, much less buy expensive tickets to a pro basketball game.

I was looking at file sizes of Blu-Ray movies today. The average size of 320 current titles was 27 GB – for just the movie alone. You add in all the extras and what not that usually come with a DVD (deleted scenes, extra content, etc) and the size jumps up to an average of 35 GB per movie.

Looking at Comcast’s proposed threshold of 250 GB before they bill you extra, that translates into viewing just nine Blu-Ray movies before you hit your limit – not to say any other internet activities. Just watch nine movies and you’ve blown your cap for the month.

Present Day

Right now, people might watch 2-3 movies a week – mostly rented and viewed on a TV, not a computer – along with maybe some HD sports and other HD content as well (concerts, news, TV shows or whatever). You can stream video content to your PC (from Amazon or iTunes for example) but it’s all small format and not portable to your HDTV.

I don’t know about you, but I hate watching movies on my computer – I have a small 42” HDTV and a good 7.1 surround system. If I want to watch a movie, that’s what I use. Screw the PC.

Other current uses of bandwidth might also include streaming a few hours of music, or buying some songs at iTunes or Amazon.