If You Support Darcy Burner, Now is a Good Time To Give

As many of you know, Darcy’s house burned to the ground on Tuesday night. She’s tending to her family’s needs right now and doesn’t have time to raise money, so some of her supporters are putting together an event to keep the campaign on track.

Do Not Accept Calls From “Call Polling”

I received a call today from “Call Polling”, which asked me a series of simple questions about my preferences for the fall elections. After about 5-10 minutes, the questions shifted from “Do you support Barack Obama or John McCain”, to a series of leading questions about Christina Gregoire and Dino Rossi, such as “Christina Gregoire has failed to fix the Alaskan Way Viaduct as Governor?” Does this make you more or less likely to vote for her in 2008. It took me about 2 minutes into these questions to realize that this was clearly a push-poll in favor of Dino Rossi.

Honestly, if I had received a call from somebody who said they were with the Rossi campaign, or just an ardent supporter, I would have listened to what they had to say, and if I agree with it, may have even switched my vote. But if you are going to be deceptive and manipulative like this, no thank you. I am officially NOT ever voting for Dino Rossi. And if I got a push-poll sponsored by the Gregoire campaign, I’m just going to write in “Jack Bauer.”

A Disappointingly Undemocratic King County Democratic Convention

As a delegate for Barack Obama from my precinct, I attended the King County Democratic convention yesterday. The main items on the agenda were:

1. Pass a party platform
2. Pass a number of resolutions

This process is supposed to leave enough time and room for debate and discussion, but what actually wound up happening was more like a rubber stamp than a legislative body vested with the authority of the people.

We spent nearly two-and-a-half hours waiting for the credentials committee to finalize their report and to seat eligible alternates. While we were waiting, the glitterati of the State Democratic party showed up to keep us entertained. Darcy Burner — a candidate for Congress from my district — gave a great speech, as did Governor Christine Gregoire and Representatives Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott.

But the real business of the day was to deal with the party platform, and that portion of the convention was woefully mismanaged. Read more

Obama Takes Maine

Barack Obama racked up another victory today, increasing his momentum. As with his victories yesterday, it was a convincing one: with half the vote in, Obama leads 58% to 41%.

Hillary Clinton fired her campaign manager today. It appears her strategy of conceding small states waiting to fight hard in Ohio and Texas is not working. I thought Mark put it best when he compared Hillary Clinton’s current situation to that of Rudy Guiliani’s.

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee just gave a speech saying that we don’t need any laws other than the Ten Commandments. I know people are saying he is going to be the VP nominee. This guy is f*cking nuts. He’s funny, and if he had a talk show I would watch it. If he was a pastor in my neighborhood, I would probably attend his church occasionally. But this is not a guy who is a realistic candidate for President or Vice-President if he is put under any serious scrutiny.

Obama CRUSHES Clinton

I really don’t see how the Clinton camp can spin this. Obama is currently ahead by margins of more than 2-to-1 in the Nebraska and Washington Caususes. With 30 percent reporting in Washington, Obama leads with 67 percent. With 70 percent reporting in Nebraska, Obama leads with 69 percent of the vote.

A new tide is rising in the Democratic party.

Precint 41-0248 Goes For Obama, Kansas Goes For Huckabee

I just got back from caucusing for Barack Obama, although my vote wasn’t really necessary as Obama won Precint 41-0248 by a score of 13-0 (it’s a small precint). Overall, the precints in my area allotted their delegates 40-16 in favor of Obama. After the first round of voting, it was 36-16-4, with 4 uncommitted, but all 4 uncommitted votes flipped to Obama.

In bigger news, Mike Huckabee won the Kansas caususes dominantly, by a margin of over 30 points. For all the talk about McCain having secured the nomation, Huckabee remains a stronger foe in the remaining South and West states. Ironically, Mitt Romney dropping out makes the Republican race MORE competitive, not less, as the conservative vote is no longer being split in half.

Seattle Goes Crazy For Obama

Hillary Clinton was in town today. So was John McCain. You wouldn’t know it though. Clinton’s rally yesterday, in the evening when people were off work, drew 5,000 supporter. McCain’s rally today, scheduled for late afternoon when people were getting off work, drew several hundred supporters.

Barack Obama’s rally at the Key Arena, with doors opening at 11AM, and closing at 11:30 AM, an hour and a half before he went on stage at 1PM, drew a full capacity of 18,000. A crowd estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 who were turned away at the door listened to his speech on loudspeakers outside the Arena, in the rain. I strongly suggest watching it.

Barackstar

I have about half my seniors in my 5th period class out “sick” to watch Barack Obama, so I turned on his speech and let those who didn’t go watch it. It was the most excited I’ve ever seen my students. This guy is like the Mick Jagger of politics.

We’re Not Doing Enough to Protect Women From Violence

Yesterday’s tragic murder-suicide at the University of Washington is a classic example of how our society does next to nothing for survivors of domestic violence. The murder victim, Rebecca Griego did everything that she could within the confines of the law to stop her ex boyfriend from harming her.

But her ex boyfriend, Jonathan Rowan made it clear that he didn’t give a shit about the law. He called Griego multiple times a day and left her threatening messages. He demonstrated an intent to kill, which is illegal in and of itself. During their relationship, he was physically abusive. He was on the run from authorities in the UK, and out on bail for a drunk driving arrest at the time of this murder. Rowan didn’t care about the law. So what was a piece of paper going to do?

We need to make it easier to accuse someone of domestic violence and be taken seriously. I know that this is controversial. I know men who have been wrongly accused of domestic violence by crazy ex girlfriends with the same basic motivations that led Rowan to kill Griego. If the genders had been reversed, the men in question would likely have been the victims of stalkers bent on murder. But because men are physically stronger than women, the women in these cases resorted to more manipulative tactics to harm their victims. They used the long arm of the law to get their way.

The current domestic violence laws are set up to protect men from women. They assume innocence until guilt is proven, even though domestic violence is notoriously difficult to prove. They do very little to zealously pursue domestic abusers and put them in custody. This is because they fear that women with personalities like Rowan’s will abuse the system to put their ex boyfriends behind bars.

But when it comes to domestic violence, we need to take the very real power differential between men and women into account. If a man is wrongly accused of domestic violence, it’s a legal nightmare. If a woman can’t get her abuser put behind bars, she winds up dead. The simple fact is that men kill women far more than women kill men. Death is far worse than a legal nightmare. The law needs to reflect this reality.

That said, personal responsibility does play a role in this. The system is not perfect and it never will be. Abusers will slip through the cracks and come after their targets. That’s why I think we should provide taxpayer funded self defense training for any woman who comes forward with a domestic violence claim, substantiated or not.

The government needs to make it clear to women that while restraining orders hold power, they need to have a plan. And this plan needs to include being able to do serious physical harm to their attacker if backed into a corner. On this same note, police departments should also offer gun safety training to women with substantiated domestic violence claims.

Furthermore, employers must be required by law to give women time off from work to attend these classes and provide them with the opportunity to make up their hours at work at another time, if they work for an hourly wage.

Programs like these would provide four basic benefits to women, men, and society:

• Women would get the skills they need to defend themselves from their attackers.
• The classes would drive home the reality that no amount of legal intervention will create an impermeable web of protection around a woman in danger. Women will be less likely to rely on their restraining orders and will be proactive in protecting themselves.
• The vote of confidence from the courts and the police might convince more women of their ability and right to defend themselves from harm.
• Women who are abusing the system will have to spend a great deal of time with real domestic violence survivors. Getting to know someone who has actually been beaten up by her partner might encourage some abusive women to admit they were lying and drop charges.

I know that no program is perfect. Tragedies like this will not stop until greater social change happens. The government can’t end misogyny or violence against women. But as things stand, we are simply not doing enough to protect women in our society.

My heart goes out to Rebecca Griego’s family, friends and colleagues. It sounds like she was a wonderful woman. You are in our prayers.

Photo via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Why Do People Get So Weird During Extended Power Outages?

I understand that being without power sucks. We lost ours for about 36 hours during the storm. I also understand that there are still many, many people without power and that is most unfortunate. But that doesn’t explain why today, I saw two people in the Kirkland QFC arguing over the last loaf of rosemary olive oil bread, even when there as a perfectly good loaf of plain bread sitting right next to it. It doesn’t explain people fighting over a spot at the gas pump when there’s plenty of gas to go around. It simply doesn’t explain why people are acting like animals fighting for territory.

Yes, our immensely reliable infrastructure usually makes it possible for us to live in pacified harmony. So I suppose that it’s understandable that when one piece of that infrastructure–namely, electricity–becomes momentarily unavailable, people start behaving as though every piece of that infrastructure might stop working at any moment. But we have not been hit with Hurricane Katrina here. The roads are still drivable. There are stores open throughout the region and gas stations aplenty on the West side with available fuel and no lines. Your family will not starve to death if you do not bring home rosemary olive oil bread. The food in that QFC alone is enough to feed the whole neighborhood for weeks on end.

We need to take a step back and extend some friendship to our neighbors and help everyone get through this relatively minor natural disaster. I’m sure all of you have friends and family without power. Try offering your shower up so that they can get nice and warm. Think about offering your kitchen so that they can cook a hot meal. See if there’s anything in their refrigerator that they would like to save. We all need to remember that things could be a lot worse. And we need to stop fighting over a tank of gas or a loaf of bread as though another one won’t be available in just a few hours.

Christmas Trees Back Up at Sea-Tac Airport

It looks like the Christmas trees have been put back up at Sea-Tac Airport after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky has said that he will not sue the Port of Seattle.

The whole issue was pretty much a misunderstanding between Bogomilsky and the Port. Bogomilsky was perhaps a little too zealous in his approach to offering a menorah for the Port to display at the airport. For its part, the Port was a little too quick to pull down the trees based on the information they had. Bogomilsky’s aim was simply to get a menorah displayed, but the Port didn’t have time to put up more decorations this year and took down the trees as a last resort.

Bogomilsky and other local religious leaders will have a direct say in next year’s decorations at the airport. It’s good that cooler heads prevailed in the midst of this melee. The last thing we need is two entrenched camps, one Jewish one Christian making yet another war over Christmas.

According to the Seattle P-I, “The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying reports that blamed the decision to remove the trees on Jewish opposition to them were wrong and stirred hate.” Indeed, Bogomilsky recieved hate mail and death threats for his part in the whole flustercluck.

Bogomilsky was never against Christmas, he just wanted equal time and ecumenicism at a facility that runs on taxpayer dollars. I agree with him in that capacity, but I still see his tactics as heavy handed and clumsy. As everyone who remembers 1973 knows, lawsuits are not the way to change hearts and minds.

Should I Work the Polls Tomorrow?

I know I made a committment to King County Elections, but somehow I always manage to get a cold on election day. I’m trying to decide whether to suck it up and work the polls tomorrow or to call the elections people and try to beg out :(.

What do you think?

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Debbie Does Democracy, 4th of July Parade

Andy and I had a great time this afternoon marching in the Kirkland 4th of July parade for Deb Eddy, who is running for State Representative in Washington’s 48th District.

We got to the head of the parade route at about 11:15, just in time to finish getting the truck ready, put on our tee-shirts and start the parade. The Air Force and Coast Guard flew over with their aircraft before the start of the marching. At the left is Deb, putting candy into bags for all the kids.

Deb’s little grand-daughters looked so cute dressed as two little statues of liberty! Every political campaign needs two blonde curly haired cherubs holding torches of freedom and waving to the crowd. What was not cute was some of the other political candidates there bringing helium balloons to pass out to the kids. Yeah, it’s a great campaign strategy, but think about what those balloons will do to all the wildlife in the area if they accidentally get away from people.

Another thing that was not cute was a volunteer from Luke Esser’s campaign making fun of our “Debbie Does Democracy” slogan with a volunteer from Mike McGavick’s campaign. Obviously, he didn’t know we were from the Eddy campaign, because he was right in front of us. I looked up and said, “yeah, that’s us!” Andy added, “’Re-Elect Luke Esser.’ Wow! That’s original!” The Esser supporter looked chastened and drove away. Lame!

What was really cool was that the three best campaigns all got to march together, Deb Eddy, Ross Hunter, and Rodney Tom, who is currently a representative for the 48th and is running against Esser for State Senate. Here are the three candidates together after the parade. From left, Rodney Tom, Ross Hunter and Deb Eddy.

King County Mishandles Drug-Related Animal Cruelty Case

Animal abuse is a felony in the State of Washington for many reasons. No being - whether animal or human - should have to suffer needlessly. But just as importantly, those who are cruel to animals often escalate their sadism to human prey once the thrill of abusing dogs and cats wears off. In order to stop such things from happening, those who abuse animals need to be identified and punished.

This past week, a four-month old puppy by the name of Mooie was found horrifically burned over 98% of her body with muriatic acid - which is commonly used in the production of crystal methamphetamine. She was taken to Valley Animal Hospital in Auburn, WA - where she was euthanized when it became clear that she was in too much pain to go on living. The veterinarians then turned the body over to King County Animal Control - which cremated the puppy’s remains before a necropsy (animal autopsy) or a toxicology report could be conducted.

This was a serious breach of law-enforcement protocol, and now the authorities are stonewalling efforts to further investigate the case.

Something needs to be done to encourage King County to properly investigate this horrible crime - both to deliver some measure of justice for this poor little dog, and to make sure that someone who is capable of making a four month-old puppy drink acid is not wandering free among us. What’s more, we have an escalating crystal meth problem in the United States, particularly in Federal Way and the outlying areas. Any crime involving a key ingredient of such a dangerous and illegal drug must be investigated properly.

Pasado’s Safe Haven - an animal rescue organization in Washington State - has information about how you can take action to ensure that this case is not forgotten. For those of you who are impatient with sites that don’t split up their information, search for the words “What you need to do” to find out who to e-mail and who to call.

More importantly, please blog about this story and link to Pasado’s Safe Haven. They deserve all the Google juice they can get. Please feel free to post the button I have created in the sidebar of your blog, and to edit it to make it fit on any site you wish. Just please be sure to link to Pasado’s Safe Haven.

Northwestern Frustrations

By and large, I love calling the Pacific Northwest home. It’s a really gorgeous place to live. Plus spending all my formative years doing what DL Byron calls “dreeping” have made me rather fond of the wet, cold weather we enjoy from September until March.

So even though I’m about to complain about two venerable Northwest institutions - Metro Transit and Puget Sound Energy - please don’t take my remarks out of context. I still love my hometown.

That said, I want to tear Metro a new one for their disgusting excuse for an online trip planner. The thing is so freakin’ impossible to use that I usually wind up calling their rider information number after about 20 minutes of trying to make sense of the inputs and outputs of the system. It’s just incredible that they still have this antiquated, obfuscating thing in place after all the complaining that goes on about it - and in a metropolitan area that is host to major dot coms and Microsoft. What Metro should do is license Google’s fantastic mapping software and use it to pinpoint the locations of their bus stops, the routes their busses take, and the walking distance between transfers. It would be so pretty, and so easy.

And now on to Puget Sound Energy. Being a resident of Kirkland, I pay them for my utilities. This evening, my power went on and off a total of three times after lightening struck one of their breaker stations. Now, I understand that they’re doing their best to fix things, and that for safety reasons they have to shut things down periodically in order to do so. But why don’t they take a cue from Six Apart and post a service update page on their website? That way folks whose power keeps going on and off won’t be calling their emergency number just for an update on the power situation. They can just log on and check. It won’t help if you’re in the dark for hours on end, but intermittent outages should get a post or two.

This concludes the evening’s ranting. Please talk amongst yourselves.