chrisz's blog

Seattle Teachers Union Wants to Skirt State Law to Raise Money for Schools

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:42:16 -0700

Washington State has a law that limits the amount of money a school district can raise through property taxes. The Seattle School District has already hit this lid, but the Seattle Teachers Unions is considering Running a city wide initiative to raise more money anyway.

What the teachers hope to do is avoid the law by raising the money through the city and then having the city transfer the money to the school district.

At this point, it sounds like the politicians seem a little skeptical, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

George Bush Is Very Unpopular

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:58:06 -0800

It appears as though our mighty President's approval ratings have hit its lowest level ever. Only 34% of Americans approve of the job George Bush is doing, and perhaps more interestingly, most Americans now say the president does not care much about people like themselves (51% think he doesn't care).

If this is his approval rating at home, I wonder what it is abroad? I guess thats why our fearless leader is bringing about 5,000 people to protect him during his upcoming visit to India.

Filibuster Samuel Alito?

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:07:26 -0800

The Seattle times is reporting that several prominent Democratic senators (i.e Kerry and Kennedy) have called for a filibuster of Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination.

If you think Murray and Cantwell should join them in this effort, please give the call.

Majority of Americans Ready to Impeach Bush

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:49:12 -0800

A new Zogby poll released yesterday found that 52% of Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval Fourty-Three percent did not want the president impeached.

According to the guy who commisioned the poll, Bob Fertik co-found of AfterDowningStreet.org, "The American people are not buying Bush's outrageous claim that he has the power to wiretap American citizens without a warrant. Americans believe terrorism can be fought without turning our own government into Big Brother"

Lets hope he's right.

Tom Delay Steps Down

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:07:59 -0800

I guess Republicans finally realized that Tom Delay was giving politicians a bad name.

Paul Berendt, Chair of the State Democratic Party, resigns

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 22:56:27 -0800

Paul Berendt, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, has resigned. Your can read his letter of resignation below.

Arrest warrant issued for Republican Leader Tom DeLay

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:52:25 -0700

An Arrest warrant has been issued for Tom DeLay. While his lawyer called this "a matter of routine", DeLay has been charged with conspiracy and money laundering in a campaign finance scheme and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Let Them Eat Cake

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 19:02:14 -0700

Various news organizations are quoting former first lady Barbara Bush, while touring the hurricane relief centers with her husband George Bush, as saying This is working very well for them.

In a segment on American Public Media's "Marketplace" at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to Houston, Barbara Bush said:

Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston.

What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.

Operation Yellow Elephant

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:26:40 -0700

I stole this from Operation Yellow Elephant.

I think this speaks for itself.

Expanding the fight against extremism

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 12:14:28 -0700

A group of people for Tennessee just figured out why the war in Iraq isn’t going as smoothly as most of us her in the U.S. would like.

The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.
The church members carried signs and shouted things such as "God hates fags" and "God hates you.

Stories like this make me wish the Department of Defense would expand its global fight against extremism.

Cantwell leads in early poll (updated)

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:05:18 -0700

The Hill (A newspaper for and about the Congress) reports: that in an early poll Senator Catwell leads her presumed GOP opponent, Mike McGavick, by eight points.

Honestly, I would like to see it a little bit larger, but I'll take eight points. It will be interesting to see what happens once the rest of the State knows who Mike McGavick is, and has some kind of an opinion of the former insurance executive.

Here is Washinton State polling topline results.

Republicans have expanded all the excesses they howled at when Democrats ran the show

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 11:30:36 -0700

The PI's Joe Connelly has a great article on what Republicans, many of whom were elected by criticizing the excesses of government, have been doing for the Country since they took over government.

The next time you hear someone talk about accountability and the excesses of government, remind them of what their Republican elected officials are doing for our State.

What's amazing, however, is how the Republicans have expanded all the excesses they howled at when Democrats ran the show in D.C. Examples:

The K-Street Project: Since gaining control of Congress in 1994, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have pressured major D.C. lobbying firms to hire only Republicans and not to employ Democrats or contribute to their causes.
Home to many trade and lobbying groups, K Street was a bipartisan employer. But House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has made partisan hiring the price of access.
A conservative D.C. operative, Grover Nordquist, posts information about lobbyists' contributions on the Web site of his Americans for Tax Reform.

Smoking Ban Makes the Ballot

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:03:22 -0700

Whether you love it or hate it I-901, the smoking ban, is officially on the ballot

Sponsors of Initiative 901 submitted a total of 321,615. Far more than the 224,880 valid voter signatures needed to make the ballot.

Smoke free clothes here we come!

Seattle Needs Mass Transit, Build the First Hill Station

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:17:22 -0700

Sound Transit's Light Rail system is Seattle's first serious attempt at tackling our transportation problem. But, instead of making the tough decisions and building a truly effective system, the Sound Transit Board is planning to vote to kill the First Hill Station tonight.

First Hill — home to Seattle University, two major hospitals, 22,000 jobs and 6,000 households — has more people (24,685 per square mile) than any other neighborhood in the city. More people live and work on First Hill than anywhere else in King County or Washington state.

A year ago, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said it would be short-sighted to not build there. Sound Transit's has said in the past that building a First Hill station would "increase ridership from 27,000 to 60,000".

Seems like common sense that any effective mass transit system would stop there, right?

What can I do?

Board Member Richard McIver is leading the charge to save the First Hill station. This vote is tonight, so please take 2 minutes out of your day and copy and paste the following text and email it to the addresses below!

Music for America Focuses on Seattle

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 08:19:50 -0700

I am very please and excited to announce that Music for America has picked Seattle as one of three cities to focus their initial grassroots efforts.

What this means is more local MFA shows in the area, help from MFA on local issues, a new burst of energy in the local political scene, and a new Seattle blog. That’s right, MFA has just started a blog for the Seattle community (http://www.musicforamerica.org/washington).