Search Results for 'cU'

[JayDee]

Thanks to all. I am really in a dilemma; half the Direct TV/Dish Subscribers really like it, no problem. beachdrivegirl had some really negative experiences with Direct TV, and Comcast has a spotty rep, some good, some bad, but generally higher prices.

Now Ken tells me that I will lose my local Weather Channel station input if I upgrade to satellite…This is the one thing that may keep me from switching–As a weather foamer (being rabid about it, that is) I switch between whatever station I am watching and the weather channel for a local radar/forecast shot when a commercial hits . While it seems obvious that I would miss this with satellite, I’d overlooked it.

I may just remain with Comcast for awhile, get a few upgrades from my current package, and see how this whole HD thing sorts itself out. However, for those doubting the move to HD: Do it, it is truly amazing what the quality difference is. My old TV was a stunner in it’s time, but 14 years later is nearly Jurassic Park for TVs.

Thanks all – JayDee

[Kayleigh]

I caucused for Edwards last time and will caucus for him this time, too.

I like Obama, but I am less impressed with his rhetoric and emotional appeal than others seem to be (I’m pragmatic and skeptical. I want concrete plans for things like health care reform, voting records that support progressive causes, etc.)

Hillary engenders hatred in a lot of people. I don’t really understand why, and I don’t hate her myself. But for this reason alone, I do not want her to be our nominee, because I think it’s imperative that we win–and protect the country from further damage by the right wingers. Beyond that, personally, she is too conservative for me.

[WSMom]

I think that Senator Hillary Clinton would make a wonderful president of the US. I think she’s smart, organized, experienced and forthright. I agree with her positions on issues and I believe she has a good plan for turning our country around. Also, I would love to see a woman in the Oval Office. So why am I still undecided and flirting with Obama? I worry that if she’s the democratic candidate we could end up with another four years of a Republican presidency. So, Hill-raisers and Hill-haters out there, let’s start talking. I’m curious as to your real opinions regarding Sen. Clinton.

[Ken]

<crickets>

[cheyenne]

As an undecided voter, why would I want to support Ron Paul?

[Ken]

While the recent House of Representatives “Christmas resolution” was being covered in the PI generating 5 pages of condemnation of Jim McDermott for voting against it, another far more disturbing resolution was introduced, one which, does not appear to have been noticed by anyone.

On December 18, 2007, Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) introduced H. Res. 888, a resolution “Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as ‘American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.”

This resolution, which purports to promote “education on America’s history of religious faith,” is packed with the same American history lies found on the Christian nationalist websites, and in the books of pseudo-historians like David Barton. It lists a total of seventy-five “Whereas’s,” leading up to four resolves, the third of which is particularly disturbing — that the U.S. House of Representatives “rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation’s public buildings and educational resources,”

This is historical revisionism on a grand scale and it looks like it will slip through congress with no notice by the press busily baying like a pack of dogs across New Hampshire.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.RES.888:

For debunking of specific “whereas” see this book/website:

http://www.liarsforjesus.com/

Many people here in WA have told me that the takeover of the Republican party in the 80’s by fundamentalist, was repulsed and corrected. Informed people know better. The stealth use of steeplejacking of existing churches, using fake history in homeschools and christian schools, and the appeal to authoritarians of the dominionist, punish everyone world view, has all but wiped out moderate republicans in the WA GOP.

The Theocratic wing of the Republican party is driving now and with Huckabee’s rise in the primaries, they will only get bolder.

[MissK]

I just got the best haircut I have had in a long time. Seven salon has advanced training for their stylists and they always need hair models. You can find these on Craigslist under the beauty section. Best $75 haircut I didn’t have to pay for :-)

On another note Ola salon, I tried 3 times and was not pleased with the results.

[andrea]

I recommend Ola Salon on Avalon Way. Its a great urban, fun, not like your grandma’s salon. I have been going to Sarah, who is a stylist there, for the last 5+ years and she is wonderful at haircutting as well as a genius as a colorist. Check them out at CitySearch.com for more info.

[k]

Starbucks just fired their CEO and are bringing back Howard Schultz! Sounds like we may see some change! I know he’s all about the customer experience so let’s see if we see that in the stores!

[cburns]

I think there was a previous thread about stylists in WS but that may have gone dormant. I’ve been heading downtown for haircuts for ages, but thinking about switching to a neighborhood salon. Nothing fancy (i.e. color, perm, etc), just in the market for relatively straight-forward, slightly stylish hair cutting. Curious what recommendations others may have. Thanks.

[beachdrivegirl]

I had Comcast for years and was fed up with it after continued bumps on their rates etc. So when I moved about 6 months ago, I researched the different costs between Direct TV, DISH, and COMCAST. After doing all of my homework I went with Direct TV for the “value” I thought I was receiving. Since then, I have had to replace my receiver twice (and all tv goes out) and on two other occasions due to the weather my disk just shut down and stoppped working. When i would call their customer support line I didnt receive any support and in fact both times had to pay shipping for new receivers. Needless to say, after 6 months, I am now going back to Comcast. Paying more for reliable service and a bit better customer service is worth it in my book.

[Ken]

Kinsley: a joke quote from Wikipedia:

---

On July 12, 2006 Kinsley underwent a form of surgery known as deep brain stimulation, to treat his Parkinson’s Disease. Initial reports suggest that the operation was a success. According to a joke reference in Time Magazine, Kinsley’s first words out of the operating room were, “Well, of course, when you cut taxes, government revenues go up. Why couldn’t I see that before?”[2

---

So I wonder if he will show up at the caucus in his precinct?

[Ken]

I am released from comcast bondage and save about 70.00 a month. It would have been more but I had a grandfathered plan that they kept trying to force me to upgrade so they could double the price. The last straw was after the 06 windstorm when they dropped power to my block by 40% and refused to fix it as long as I could get a signal on most of the channels when I moved the tv to within 10 foot of the demarc. I had paid for two boxes and full slate of channels for 12 years.

Dish and direct are both good. I have dish and a friend is a direct installer. They both have a good deal on HD DVRs.

The downside for some people is you lose the semi local cable news channel and the weather channel does not give the local radar and forecast “on the 8’s”. TWC just cycles through the regional current temps and the national radar. Also MSNBC is only available on the highest priced digital plan so Keith Olbermann viewers have to pay a few bucks more per month.

On the other hand, some channels come in both east and west coast editions. (three hours earlier)Nikelodeon? (twice the spongbob seems to tickle the 7 yeaar old.)

My DVR has totally released me from the tyranny of the tv schedual and fast forward at 4x spped through commercials keeps me from falling asleep and missing the last 15 min.

[Ken]

No Cite. But delegate counts are known long before the convention in most cases. The last nearly brokered convention was in 1976 Republican convention where delegates shifted away from Reagan over to Ford. On the Dem side I think it was Carter and Kennedy.

In both cases WA delegates had the same power as any other delegates and super-delegates can often change their commitments in the middle of the primary/caucus season.

Delegate count is mostly a PR value if a clear nominee emerges, and life and death importance if one does not.

So, the answer is,

It depends.

[Ken]

RE super delegates:

Both parties have them and they are elected officials above a certain level (what determines the level is probably in each State/National parties bylaws somewhere)and party officials also determined by those same bylaws.

Indirectly, PCO’s voted for the party officials (actually we voted for people who voted for the

party officials) And the electorate voted for the elected officials who are also super delegates.

For convention delegates, the caucus is the only source for non super delegates on the Dem side.

The Republicans will choose half at the caucus and half at the primary.. unless they change their mind.

If Huck or Ron Paul were to win the republican caucus, then the party is not above a little top down retroactive maneuvering if it is commanded to by the RNC.

I am under no illusion that the WA Dems would not buckle under the same kind of pressure from the DNC, but there does not seem to be any similar divisions on the Dem side. I suspect all Dems agree that any random Democrat pulled stinking drunk out of a Drinking Liberally meeting, would be a better choice than the current administration or the current crop of Republican wannabees.

If you’re not in the trenches for a particular candidate or party, then stock up on popcorn since this is probably going to be quite entertaining.

[FreeRangeAuthor]

I haven’t watched (or heard) any Party National Prez Convention in more than 20 years.

Of those I recall seeing, in my youth, it appeared that voting from the floor occurred in alphabetical order by State name. I also recall that long before the alphabet got around to Washington, enough delegates had voted to select a nominee (50% + 1), so that the Convention rules were suspended and the remaining States voted by acclamation, since the winner already had enough votes. Voting by the remaining States would not change the outcome, so acclamation was used.

If this is common at most Conventions, it seems to make Washington delegates, for both Parties, moot – they never get tallied individually. Even with a second or third ballot, the counting my not reach the States at the end of the alphabet before enough votes are accumulated, and acclamation used for the remaining States.

Can anyone cite any National Convention, for either Party, where Washington delegates changed the outcome of the vote?

[FreeRangeAuthor]

Here are a couple resources about the caucus, if you support Ron Paul for Prez,

http://www.washington4ron.info

West Seattle Meetup Group for Ron Paul

http://ronpaul.meetup.com/1469/

[FreeRangeAuthor]

Some time last year I thought I heard that Dem Prez delegates (to the National convention) were to be selected by PCO’s, not the public at caucus or primary.

Where can we find the official rules about who will determine Prez delegates to the National convention, from Washington State?

I’ve tried looking around the official County and State Dem web sites, but found nothing that clarifies, with authority, who will select the delegates.

If it’s still just PCO’s, then the caucus and primary are just straw polls, for the Democrat Party.

Thanks for the clarification.

UPDATE: This article (link below) seems to indicate the caucus will select Dem Prez delegates, but the Primary will not. “The state Democratic Party, as it has in prior years, will ignore the results of the statewide vote [Primary] …”

I may have been confused by the issue of “super delegates”, which are selected from within the Party … “Another 17 Democratic delegates will be “super-delegates,” elected officials and high party officers who are free to back the candidate of their choice at the conventions”

source,

http://snipurl.com/1wrxu

Seattle Times, June 10, 2007

[mlyn1375]

Hi

I’m new to West Seattle and perhaps this topic has been discussed before, but I am looking for really good teriyaki.

Thanks!

-ML

[JanS]

I know I, for one, will be at WSHS for my caucus on Feb. 09, as will my daughter, who, at age 27, is finally realizing how important these processes are. Why let someone else make the decision for us?

[WSB]

Well, just to tamp the cynicism a tiny bit: As we posted here in finally belatedly introducing ourselves last month, I worked in “conventional media” for many years, including 14-plus years as a manager in TV news departments here in Seattle. The political coverage was always “my thing” because few people in the newsroom really took the time to pay attention to it, get passionate about it, learn about the people and the issues, much more a case of negligence than deliberate malfeasance. But — and this is part of the reason why I have left that business — it’s true, it doesn’t get much coverage any more till the last minute, hard to squeeze it in between the latest bursts of mayhem coverage, which is where most local tv news is hanging most of its hats right now. But thank heavens for this here medium that we are all using for communication right this moment … it makes it possible to learn as much as you want to know, provided it’s not too tough to find. Which is part of our mission here in this small corner of the Internet: make the hyperlocally relevant info easy to find. Going to add an election page before long. — TR @ WSB

[Ken]

If I remember correctly. The newspapers hold off until the state and county parties buy some ads.

Free milk vs cow and all that.

The last two weeks is when they will start using the press releases and manage to mangle the details in editing.

The tv stations will mash it up with some incomprehensible fake controversy and then run it on the weekend before or like some times in the past, not mention it until it is over at which point it becomes “news”.

It is an old game around here.

Even some of the liberal web sites think the “primary” is the relevant part of the process. It is if you’re a republican… They will choose half the GOP delegates at the caucus/straw poll and half via the primary.

[WSB]

Also note we have reported on this twice on WSB so far with details and links too (haven’t seen the citywide media paying much attention yet, but honestly, this is only a month away!) —

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=4969

(Jan. 3)

and

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=4749

(Dec. 19)

[WSMom]

My neighbor sent me this link to a Canadian news magazine giving a fascinating account of one Iowa caucus.

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20080104_174325_2448

[Ken]

Anyone have questions about the process?

I have a few about the changes rumored for this year, but I probably know more about the process than most having chaired my precinct caucus in both presidential years and off years.

Basic info is

Feb 9th at 1 pm.

Registered voters can caucus but any resident can attend and take part in the discussions.

The sign in sheet is where you must affirm you are a Democrat (on that day)

So far the planning seems to indicate that there will be refreshments (coffee, pastries, etc) and the sign in sheet will be used to track both the initial choice as well as any changes in support during the caucus.

Each precinct will need a chair (usually the PCO if there is one) and a secretary and a tally clerk. Forms and checklists will be provided to aid those who are unfamiliar with the process.

Relatively heavy turnout is expected and efforts are underway to streamline the sign-in process as well as the choosing of delegates.

Speaking of turnout, here is an example. During the last presidential nominating process, my precinct had 48 people show up out of around 400 registered voters (approx 88% of those self identified as Democrats) so estimated 350 as Democrats.

During the off year caucus, there were 4 of us that showed so we could not even fill all the allowed delegates for the precinct.

This is where grass roots organizing has a chance to multiply their vote since the power defaults to those who show up.

So far the “primary” election will just be a popularity contest for those who are too lazy or unable to participate in the caucus for some reason. It does indeed exclude those working on Saturday, deployed, and ill from the process but remember this is a party function, paid for by the local districts (that is where our annual dues go) and donations collected at the caucus. (so bring a few bucks for the donations envelope)It is not meant to be a beauty contest for the public at large.

Also note, each precincts number of delegates it can send to the district and county conventions, is determined by voter turnout in the previous general elections. (I am trying to find the formula and exact method for delegate assignment but so far …)

Details for the 34th LD Democrats

http://www.34dems.org

King County Dems caucus page

http://www.kcdems.net/

WA State Democrats page

http://www.wa-democrats.org/