Search Results for 'nA'

[FreeRangeAuthor]

Well, the traditional way is to investigate what the candidate says and advocates …

http://www.ronpaul2008.com

Life is a self service proposition.

[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.

[credmond]

Ken,

The advisory board members all live west of 35th from North Admiral down to Fauntleroy. That was the intention since the RR route follows the 54 (not 54X). However, we – all 19 of us – have pushed continuously for loop bus systems to join up with the RR and to extend the 21 and 60 so they better cover both White Center and Arbor Heights. Metro does plan on a second round of community involvement once the primary route is decided. That second round would include what additional local bus links (or loops) would be necessary to link everyone in WS with the RR route.

Delridge is an exception since the 120 serves the Delridge corridor (down to the Burien TC) on 15 minute centers Monday through Saturday. Delridge bus service has improved and that improvement shows in ridership – the 120 is now one of the top-ten buses in the entire system for ridership. Proving that if you actually provide service, people will use it.

[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.

[credmond]

It’s funny, in the Wiki entry for Pennsylvania, they mention Tastykake as being one of the local food traditions – previously citing Pennsylvania as the capital of the snack food world. Yum, I think I can even remember one of their radio jingles. I’d said caramel earlier, obviously I meant to say butterscotch. That’s probably also the only butterscotch item I ever liked – hate the stuff, otherwise. I always thought they put something in the recipe so that it would become addicting. Also, apparently Philadelphia is the heart of the American food flavor and scent industry. Knew someone who worked there and they were always inventing new compounds which totally tasted or smelled like – a Jones Soda. Wonder who does the chemistry work for Jones.

[andrea]

Excellent article Kayleigh, thanks for the link. I saw Huckabee on Leno briefly last week and thought he was slightly reminiscent of Clinton (bass playing 60’s kid ponying up to a late night talk show crowd), but thought nothing further of him until he won Iowa last Thursday. Now the full extent of his right-wingedness is so blatant and so over the top for my rational mind, that I hope any other Republican wins tonight for sanity sake.

[peebs]

Personal recommendation: Intercolour Painting, General Contractor, Steve Moutafov, Residential and Commercial, Licensed, Bonded,Insured. Tel 206-241-6191 Cell 206-579-0708.

[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]

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

[WSB]

Such a subjective thing :) We have a soft spot for many of the dishes at New Teriyaki and Wok in Morgan Junction but also keep in mind – that’s the closest place to our house. Extremely nice people; I could go months without calling them and the lady who generally mans the front counter would still remember my name just by hearing my voice on the phone!

[JanS]

Kayleigh…I had a neighbor move out recently and she left me quite a few things, one of which is a nice hard plastic bottle that has lines…where to fill with vinegar, where to fill with oil…and then you can add your mustard, salt, pepper, whatever…it has a stopper, and is really handy. Not sure where it came from, but has recipes for Dijon Vinaigrette, Italian Vinaigrette, French Herb Vinaigrette,and Balsamic Vinaigrette on the bottle. You use olive oil, so it will harden in the fridge..you just nuke it for 30 second or so with the lid off, and it’s good to go. And NO HFCS :)

[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.

[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

[WSMom]

Yesterday my teenager and I spent two hours on this link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116732/

listening to each of the viable candidates positions on major issues. Great learning experience for both of us. We’re still undecided between Sen.’s Clinton, Obama & Edwards. We feel that all three of them would be excellent change for the better. Listening to Romney, Guiliani & Huckabee was quite a learning experience too. There is no question in my mind that I will support whoever is on the Democrat ticket.

[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/

[credmond]

One way I strive to be able to stop for pedestrians wanting to cross 35th is to go the speed limit on 35th. It’s 35 miles per hour, not 40 or 45 or 50. Of course, about two-thirds of the cars are passing me on the left. But those of us in the curb lane are at least in a position to slow down and stop, and since there’s usually at least two or three of us going the legal speed, that is a lot of cars to be stopping and drivers in the other lanes pay attention. I’ve stopped for any number of pedestrians in the area around Camp Long up to Morgan St. and had no problems and others eventually stopped to allow the pedestrians to cross. By not recognizing the need to stop sooner, others merely delayed the entire flow of traffic as the pedestrians weren’t going to cross until all 4 lanes were stopped – as it should be. We can subtly enforce the laws ourselves by actually abiding in them. Strange concept, I know. Oh, I also bike and walk on 35th – all the time, and ride the bus. So I do have a good feel for how traffic flows throughout the day and week. The alternative to not being nice, by the way, is to put 35th on a road diet – reduce it to one travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane. Which would be better?

[credmond]

If you’re lucky, on a Comcast main trunk, in a popular area for them then you’ll do fine. If there’s a lot of Comcast folks in a single neighborhood, they respond fast if one of them has a problem, they don’t want to generate a serious customer migration. We’ve got two digital set boxes – now about 5 years old, and two equally ancient remotes. The Comcast software is only slightly less sucky than the AAT MotoRazr software on my cell phone – which is to say they both suck a lot. But they work, and like an old microwave, they do what you tell them to do even if it takes some weird contortion of the buttons to do it. If you’re in some isolated Comcast, single customer, zone, I’d expect your service would get pretty bad even if you had their latest set boxes and fancy, back-lit, remotes. Ask around, if other neighbors in your area have Comcast and are happy with it, then you in the right area for Comcast. If you see a lot of dish antennas on people’s houses or balcony’s, see which one has the most logos and ask a couple of folks what they think.

I personally think it totally depends on where you are in West Seattle. I think Highland Park/White Center is a dish network area. Gatewood Hill seems to be a fairly happy Comcast area. The Junction seems to be in love with their DSL (and why not, the freakin’ switch is about 100 yards from everyone).

[san]

I personally boycott Starbucks. The coffee is terrible, and the environment is just fake and creepy. And, seriously, does West Seattle really need 11!? Flippin’ outrageous! Why do people support that place? Stick with the little guy shops. The coffee is usually great, and the people you buy from actually have personalities. It’s nice to see your joe hand-made instead of recreated via button pushing. Just my 2 cents.

[credmond]

And anyone who’s seen “Who Killed the Electric Car, would have some thoughts for the 500-gallon coin and the thousand-gallon coin, too. Remember when “What was good for GM, was good for the Country.” Different era, different media, but – hey, we all got suckered in then. That was the heyday of the late 40’s and ’50’s when it was drive everywhere on gas so cheap it must have made your head spin. As a teenager in PA, I used to fill my mom’s car with Gulftane – I think it was 85 octane, but it was only 12 cents a gallon and her tank only held 13 gallons. All I needed to do after a date was make sure I had a dollar left in my pocket. We all fell for it then, too. And now we argue over how to replace the Viaduct. How ’bout electric cars? At least our electricity is “mostly” renewable and does a small amount of damage (fish) and its cost is pretty darned predictable.