Archive for January, 2009

Bidness

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Posted by Carl Ballard
A few things, not specifically related to making fun of righties:

* If you haven’t already, you should carve out some time to check out thehim’s pieces on the drug war over on HA. Especially noteworthy – or at least especially immediate – to me were sections 5 and 6 on American drug gangs and the loss of civil liberties. But do read it all. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

* Speaking of HA, Goldy is thinking of integrating some of the more established local blogs like he’s already doing with Publicola. I’m inclined against joining at this point for a few reasons: I like the independence of having a separate blog. I don’t mean that Goldy will act censorious of anyone who writes here, but that some day he may decide he can put his skill set to use not hosting a bunch of blogs for very little money, and then where would we be? Also, I like the out-of-a-can feel of EffU; that there aren’t many bells and whistles, or ads helps keep focus on the writing, and it’d inevitably lose some of that switching over. But I’d like to hear what y’all think.

* I’m going to be adding another front pager shortly, probably next week. I’d have already added them, but I can’t seem to locate an email, so drop me a line carl.ballard01@gmail.com if I told you earlier that I was going to set you up.

An Ode to The Dehumanizers

Friday, January 30th, 2009

– posted by thehim

What’s up Seattle wingnut-roasting fans. You may have noticed that the quality of this blog has improved significantly over the past few weeks. It’s because I’ve been too busy working on this to post. I think it’s time for another turd in the punchbowl.

And Carl, I’m looking forward to getting an MP3 of The Dehumanizer’s “kill lou guzzo” from that dude. Does he have it on vinyl?

Of course, we don’t really want to kill Lou Guzzo. We’d have a much harder time finding material:

Presley and rock destroyed valuable era of folk music

I’m doing this one blind. I haven’t even read this post yet and I already know it’s going to be ridiculous enough for EffU. In fact, I’ll be surprised if this post isn’t so ridiculous that it could double as an opinion column for The Onion. Here we go:

I apologize to all those rock-n-rollers out there for missing Elvis Presley’s birthday three weeks ago, on January 8.

He was still hung over from celebrating Yoyo Ma’s birthday on the 7th.

He would have been 74 years old if he hadn’t ended his life by indulging in heavy drug doses.

I love how when you take the Graceland tour, they refer to Presley’s death by saying that he died of “complications with prescription medications,” or some shit like that. It’s the way Lou Guzzo would have described it if it were a member of his family that had the drug problem.

I know I was rough on him and all other rockers, but I’m not sorry for it.

I don’t think he was taking the drugs because of you, Lou.

If you were one of those young people who idolized Presley and all the other members of the Rock clan, I know you’re not going to like what I am about to say, but I’m compelled to say it.

Yeah, all you youngsters in your 60s! Shape up!

Way back in the 1950s, when I was the Seattle Times’ music critic, a shrewd promoter named Colonel Parker signed up a kid named Elvis Presley.

The decline of western civilization began.

And the chaotic Age of Rock was born, unfortunately.

Unfortunate for the Seattle Times mostly, as their music critic had no interest in the music that everyone was listening to.

In the beginning, Presley was shy and personable. But quick, immense wealth, then drugs cut him down before his time.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone throw out the whole “Elvis is still alive” theory, so I thought I’d Google it. Here’s a page.

The Age of Rock was created by sensational hype and hotshot promoters and recording salesmen — and, worst of all, the advent of the super sound amplifier that made the walls of a theater rattle and threaten to buckle.

We need to make sure that the internet has its own Historical Preservation Society so that posts like this one are preserved for future generations. Who else on the internet is writing stuff like this?

It didn’t really matter what was being played and sung.

I’m not so sure.

If it was loud enough, it was good enough for all those kids who yelled and applauded and really couldn’t hear any music through all the din from Presley and his cohorts on stage. What music?

And what was that strange-smelling smoke all around me?

I never heard anything I could call real music. It was just a continuing onslaught of loud noise.

And he got his pocket picked.

Years of the Rock clatter served to fracture the normal hearing of all those young people who suffered through the incredible noise.

Hey, that’s my parents you’re talking about!

As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised if the youngsters of the Presley era and others like him had kids of their own who would be born without ears — or without hearing.

Ummmm, I’m pretty sure we’d know that by now.

When Presley and his ilk came along, I think we lost something extremely valuable, something we may never find again.

A country without Elvis impersonators.

Just before Presley and the Age of Rock came along, we were experiencing a marvelous resurgence of American folk music.

I don’t doubt it.

Remember the profound, memorable songs of Burl Ives, the Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan, the Limeliters, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and the Weavers?

No, but I remember Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Poison, and Corey Hart. I think the 80s might have been a low point in our musical past, but that wasn’t too apparent in elementary school.

That inspired period of a new surge of American folk music was abruptly cut short by the wild, ear-splitting hard rock of Presley and the rest of the rockers, who copied his miserable style.

All because of Socialism.

Why the young generations of the day went wacky over Presley’s gyrations and so-called music I’ll never know.

Yet he continued to be a music critic – as if no one else knew either.

My job as a music critic forced me to cover and review his so-called “concerts.” They weren’t really concerts.

Presley’s handlers just put him in the coat room and told him it was the press area.

They were sex sessions as Presley continued to roll his hips and slap his guitar in a manner that seemed to me that he was simulating the sex act as he rapped the instrument as if it were a phallic symbol.

Actually, I think that would mean that he was simulating the masturbation act.

The radio disk jockeys and the news media rock reviewers were very much to blame for their praise of Presley and other rockers.

Yeah! It was their fault that people liked his music.

If they had told the truth about the rockers and their cacophony that passed for music but was really a blast of incessant sound, the Age of Rock would never have survived — and what should have been the new era of American folk music would have proceeded.

Rock ‘N Roll…the greatest conspiracy of the 20th Century.

The history of music has shown that new ideas and great creative works are preceded about every 50 years or so by a wave of folk music that reflects the sounds and idioms of the new times.

Every form of music is a reflection of the times. Not just the music you like, Lou.

Similarly, gifted composers absorb the new folk music and incorporate it in their new works. Hence, the damage done by Presley and his gang of noisemakers.

And get off his lawn.

So, Thanks for Those Tax Cuts and Taking out Family Planning

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Eric Earling on no R’s voting for the economic stimulus plan:

All three Evergreen State Republicans were part of the unanimous GOP vote against the just-passed stimulus…and were joined in doing so by 11 Democrats.

You know, if we’re going to get 0 elephants on board, perhaps the House should pass the dream plan. No tax cuts for the wealthy, put family planning back in the bill, more public transit, etc. And then say the Senate can either pass what the House passed exactly, or we’re compromising from the more liberal version in the conference committee.

Interesting as that turn of events is, with the One gaining no support across the aisle AND losing members of his own party, Dan Gerstein adroitly highlights the real result to watch: how many House Democrats can be talked into voting for a much more moderated “stimulus” plan that is bound to emerge from a conference committee reconciling today’s House bill with the no doubt significantly different version that will emerge from the Senate at a date as yet unknown?

Well, under the Ballard plan, they wouldn’t need to.

That will be a significant an early test of Obama’s “post-partisan” leadership.

Of course we aren’t post-partisan, otherwise some Republicans would have voted for the compromise bill.

Ironic Title Watch

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Posted by Carl Ballard

FW Con:

Democrat’s are Illiterate?

The point of the post is as fucked up as you’d guess it is, but that’s not the point: I just dig that he’s using the possessive wrong when he’s criticizing Dems’ literary skillz.

Joker in the House

Monday, January 26th, 2009

– posted by thehim

I’ve heard politicians say stupid things before, but the quote that Dominic Holden got out of State Representative Chris Hurst (D-Crazytown) over his reluctance to hold a hearing on the recently introduced House Bill to decriminalize marijuana possession is one for the ages:

Representative Christopher Hurst (D-31), a former narcotics officer and ex-cop who chairs the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, refuses to give the bill a hearing. “I am concerned that [the bill] is in direct conflict with federal law,” which makes possessing any quantity of marijuana a crime, he says. “If we tell citizens of Washington that marijuana is no longer a crime, and they cross the border and get arrested… or if they go out on their boat [and are arrested by the Coast Guard], they are not going to be happy with us.”

What?

Let me get this straight. The reason that we can’t save the state over $7 million annually – while simultaneously reducing the amount of young people we saddle with criminal records – is because someone might get arrested elsewhere for pot possession and then be angry at the Legislature for giving us too much freedom.

And this man chairs a committee in Olympia? Dear lord.

Let’s try that logic in a few other places.

- We can’t allow women here to drive cars because one of them may go to Saudi Arabia and expect to be able to drive

- We can’t allow gay people to live freely and show affection in public because one of them may travel to another country and be executed

- We can’t allow people to criticize the government because they may get arrested in China for doing the same thing

- We can’t allow women to wear bikinis because they may go to Iran and end up violating their indecency laws

I could go on. I shouldn’t have to. That’s a disgrace.

He Wrote One Paragraph, and then the Next

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Posted by Carl Ballard
From Eric Earling whining that the Republicans who oppose the stimulus may be portrayed as people who help fuck up the economy. Waaa

Nonetheless, the media establishment – still riding the euphoria of hope-n-change, will earnestly insist that a stimulus is necessary…believing that if Obama says its a “stimulus” it should, uh, stimulate…right?*

Damn that damn liberal media and it’s damn liberaosity. Damn it to hell!

No, it won’t, especially with an emphasis on infrastructure jobs that will never live up to the impact elected officials proclaim (let alone doing so in a timely manner).

In case you’re wondering what Eric Earling linked to, it’s the Washington Post. And it’s repeating Republican lies.

“We did not issue any report, any analysis or any study,” a CBO aide told the Huffington Post.

Rather, the nonpartisan CBO ran a small portion of an earlier version of the stimulus plan through a computer program that uses a standard formula to determine a score — how quickly money will be spent. The score only dealt with the part of the stimulus headed for the Appropriations Committee and left out the parts bound for the Ways and Means or Energy and Commerce Committee.

If Eric Earling says the media is too liberal, he doesn’t need to offer proof, the fact that he says it is proof enough. Never mind that the corporate whore media is repeating Republican lies, Eric Earling knows better.

(more…)

True.

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

- posted by demo kid

Never a truer or more ironic blog title has been written. At least now he finally admits it.

Because It’s Not a Partisan Position

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

mjc3389 over at the SP Public Blog wonders why teh paperz don’t identify Sam Adams – the mayor of Portland, not the Boston Tea Party guy – as a Democrat:

So we have another sex scandal in government. This time it is gay Portland mayor Sam Adams involved with young men. What political party is he a member of? The Seattle Times story doesn’t say. Why? The Seattle PI coverage doesn’t say either. Why? Could it be that he’s a Democrat and we have another example of the media attempting to downplay another Democrat in scandal? Could it be that both papers use AP coverage of stories like this, and since the AP has already filtered the story appropriately to protect the Democrat Party, that the Times and PI can simply blame AP if challenged?

Maybe the Times and PI are forbidden to edit stories that fail Journalism 101?

No links provided, so I don’t know if this was in the articles mjc3389 read but I assume the reason is that the only two elected positions Sam Adams – the mayor of Portland, not the beer – has held are non-partisan.

City Council seats, as well as the City Auditor, are non-partisan, elected positions; each carries a four-year term. As with all non-partisan positions in Oregon, candidates face off in a primary election (typically in May of even-numbered years); if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers face off in a runoff election (typically the following November.) Three Council seats, including the Mayor, will up for election in 2008; the other two seats, and the Auditor position, are up for election in 2010.

You can argue if it’s relevant information or not, I suppose. But I’m pretty sure that the style guide would probably oppose mentioning his party affiliation (assuming he is affiliated with a party) regardless of what the story was about.

Alright…

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

- posted by demo kid

So you’re interested in playing this game, Mr. Gardner?

Well, two can play it.

Trust me, despicable characters transcend party boundaries. The only thing FWC is showing is his hypocrisy.

Looking Forward to Being a 0 Paper Town

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Post by Carl Ballard
I’m sort of kidding. But if the Pig’s Eye goes under, I’m not sure I’d prefer to be a town where the local daily has a monopoly and produces the kind of corporate whore editorializing (as opposed to corporate whore reporting that both daily papers do so well) to a town where no daily exists.

Governor Gregoire had some tough choices to make in her budget and she chose to make severe cuts to people in need rather than close the many tax loopholes in the code, or do something like an income tax. It’s not as bad as Rossi’s budget would have been, but it’s not good at all.

THE grumbling about Gov. Christine Gregoire’s budget among legislators of her own party is understandable. Why would the people of Washington suffer such cuts, when they had elected Gregoire rather than Dino Rossi? Why cut so heavily into the programs Democrats support?
Yes, why indeed?
The answer is simple: There is no money. There was not going to be enough money, recession or not, because the spending added during the boom was going to overshoot revenues. This was in the financial forecasts, and the Republicans pointed it out at the time.
I imagine we won’t be seeing a call for an income tax, or a tax targeted to large corporations (or just closing some of the loopholes that Boeing has been given over the years). Or for even something modest like closing the sales tax exemption on newspapers. Not sending so damn many people to prison for so damn long. Those would take more courage than spending cuts on the people least likely to vote.
Now comes the crisis, harder than anyone in Olympia expected or can be blamed for, and the forecast shortfall grows dangerously larger. In November, the official forecast was for a two-year budget hole of almost $6 billion.
Or deficit spending in a downturn. That’s a possibility. It’s kind of a neat way to prime the pump of economic spending.
A month later, Gregoire proposed a budget that fills that hole. A number of Democrats said they hated her budget. The governor nimbly says she hates it, too.
But since it’s the easiest way to be called courageous, by people who refuse to endorse her, what else could she do?
Hatred is easy; decision is difficult. The governor has had to immerse herself in the budget and her critics have not. She has had to accept the discipline of arithmetic.
The Times must have been sick the day they taught addition, because the only arithmetic they seem to know is subtraction.
Her critics say, “Don’t cut this,” and, “Don’t cut that.” This is political language. Ask a politician, Democrat or Republican, “What would you cut?” and nine-tenths of them answer, “Not this.” They say it forcefully, as if they were being courageous.
“Poor children should have health care.” “I hope people don’t go hungry.” “Maybe we should be like, educating children” “Please fix these potholes” “Lets make sure there are enough cops on the street.” Babies! Learn to be courageous!
They are saying it now, and it is posturing. It is telling constituent groups, “I’m on your side.” At the same time, they are trying to get the message to these same constituents to expect less. This was on the minds of Seattle Democrats who paid a visit to The Seattle Times earlier this month.
Expect less because even Seattle legislators aren’t willing to push for the kind of structural changes needed to prevent this kind of thing happening.
Said Sen. Adam Kline, “People are e-mailing me, saying, ‘I know it’s going to be bad, but please save this.’ But at some point, electeds have to turn to their constituents and say, ‘Folks, that’s wishful thinking.’ “
Seriously, it’s wishful thinking to expect that the government would help people out when the economy turns south.
Newly elected Rep. Scott White is getting e-mails pleading that a program is only $10 million, a drop in the bucket in a $33 billion budget. Said White, “If we’re facing a $6 billion deficit, we’re talking about cutting out 600 10-million-dollar programs.”
Or more than half of it could have been made up by not giving Boeing (pdf) that 3.2 billion dollar tax break a few years ago. How many of those programs could we save if we taxed Boeing more fairly?
There is the governor’s problem — and the Legislature’s. And that is before the final revenue forecast. That one, due in March, is going to be worse. It might show a $7 billion or $8 billion problem.
Or if Obama passes a stimulus package with money for the states it might be less.
It’s time for everyone to get serious. Gregoire has. Give her credit for that.
Serious is taking most things off the table and cutting like crazy.