EFFin’ Unsound

Eric Earling is upset that stem cell research is being used politically. By Democrats.

Democrats Pitch on Stem Cell Research Stinks

I say that as someone who actually supports expanding federal funding to include embryonic stem cell research using excess embryos that would otherwise be discarded. I’m not too far away from the policy position Democarts are supporting on the campaign trail, but that doesn’t change the fact their tactics on this issue are deplorable.

Unlike Republicans, who when they make racist ads, he runs to defend them.

And, say it with me folks, “Democarts”?

Normally well behaved Congressman Rick Larsen has joined the shenanigans in his run for re-election in the 2nd Congressional District, utilizing the Democratic playbook that says if a Republican opposes expanding embryonic stem cell research beyond what President Bush has already authorized, then you should paint them against stem cell research, period.

Shenanigans? Was it Cow Days? But about Bush’s support for stem cell research: It’s like if the president said you could only have sex with a filthy whore. It would be OK to say he was against sex.

Over the past two weeks, Larsen’s campaign has sent out several glossy, multipage mailers — depicting somber little girls, anguished white-haired women and dejected men in wheelchairs — attacking Roulstone’s stance on the issue and accusing him of putting “politics ahead of science.”

It’s hard to see how aiding President Bush’s decision to veto a bill that would let science decide what’s hopeful as anything other than putting, “politics ahead of science.” You would think that if Earling supports the science, he would go out of his way to say goodonya!

“Doug Roulstone talks a lot about ‘courage’ in his advertising,” one reads. “But what kind of courage is shown by blindly marching in lock step with George W. Bush and denying hope to those who are suffering?”

Indeed. Powerful stuff Rep. Larsen.

Never mind if the Republican might strongly support other promising research on adult stem cells and stem cells from umbilical chord blood. Never mind if potential cures from embryonic stem cells are as yet unproven, and at best years away from being turned into usable therapies. Just label them an insensitive jerk standing in the way of soon-to-be-found miracle cures! Michael J. Fox just couldn’t be wrong, could he?

Well if he supports one thing over the other, instead of letting the scientists decide, he’s being anti-science. More so if he does strongly. But it’s funny that the only people putting a time table on science are the Republicans. And besides, the sooner we start looking for cures with embryonic stem cells, the sooner we’ll find them. It doesn’t matter what he may support, it matters what he opposes.

Of course, asking someone suffering from a disease without a cure what they think about expanding research is like asking the family of a murder victim what they think should be done with the accused perpetrator. The answer is entirely predictable, and not likely to be grounded in dispassionate analysis.

Yes, and asking someone who started a foundation to look for a cure from said disease what they think is also predictable. Ask someone who’s a spokesman for this foundation who he supports and he’ll tell you the one who’s more likely to find a cure. By the way, are we still talking about Rick Larsen?

In the case of Fox, he’s even admitted he hasn’t read the Missouri ballot measure on stem cell research that is the topic of much debate in that state. This despite his ad for Claire McCaskill that uses language in a way, whether he meant to or not, that injectes him into not just that state’s US Senate race, but into the debate about the stem cell-related ballot measure as well. It’s but an example of the shallow foundation from which Democrats are launching such attacks.

Dear Republicans,

Eric Earling thinks that if you haven’t read the initiatives, you aren’t allowed vote on them, talk about them, or even talk about similar things people running for office have mentioned. So if you haven’t read 933, no mention of how a candidate will vote on any property related issue. If you haven’t read 920, and you mention the estate tax, Earling will write a fuckton on what a jackass you are, even if he fake agrees with you.

Hugs!

Carl Ballard

PS, also, how many of the celebrities who did the other ad, the one actually about the initiative, do you want to bet read the initiative? I’m guessing it’s pretty close to zero. Where’s their bitchy post?

In Larsen’s case, the charges against Roulstone are smarmy, and totally unnecessary. Even Roulstone’s internal polls as reported in the article linked above show the race in ugly shape, with Larsen cruising to re-election. Yet, somehow he feels compelled to send out campaign mail implying Roulstone is callous to people suffering in wheel chairs. A classy choice this is not.

No, classy clearly comes from someone who thinks people with a disease should just shut the fuck up. It comes from a blog that can’t tell the difference between an elected official and a dictator if they are both black. It comes from people who go out of their way to defend a clearly racist ad in a state that ostensibly they don’t talk about.

Class clearly comes from a party that covers for sexual predators. Class is defined by being so crooked that you have 4 members of your party leave in a single session. It’s classy to mock a disease victim for speaking out about their disease. Class in fact, comes from putting up roadblocks for a cure for those diseases. Class comes from the people who deny gays and lesbians their full rights. It comes from the people who haven’t raised the minimum wage in a decade. Class means lying your way into an illegal oil war. It means fucking up an American city. Classy is turning Afghanistan and Iraq to shit. Clearly the classiest of class acts are the people who make racist ads and call people they disagree with names. Class is defined as, “choking your mistress.” This is why I swear so goddamn much: I don’t want any part of that kind of classy!

I used to consider Rick Larsen a respectable, hard-working member of Congress, regardless of his party affiliation. I might not always agree with him, but he had previously conducted himself with dignity, seemingly a lost art at times in modern politics.

I’m sorry, how does a campaign flier prove or disprove how hard someone works? If anything, it shows that he’s still engaging with the voters even when he’s got the election locked up. That sounds like it’s hard working to me.

That assessment may need some serious reconsideration.

I’ve said my piece about one sentence paragraphs before, but is there any reason in hell that this one deserves to be its own paragraph?

And of course to get to the actual substance, if President Bush hadn’t vetoed the bill, this wouldn’t be an issue. If President Bush hadn’t thought that he needed to throw a bone to his rabid conservative nutjob base that can’t tell the difference between babies and a clump of cells, Fox wouldn’t have made any of those ads. Hell he might have made one thanking some of the Republicans who supported it, like he did with Specter. Instead we’re given a lecture on the proper etiquette when we try to save lives!

Sharkansky thinks it’s wrong wrong wrong for Susan Owens not to have shown up at a “debate” by the Republican party where one of the other moderators was kicked off at the other candidate’s request. He’s incapable of mentioning that Josh Feit’s not being there was the a part of the that she didn’t attend. Instead of a fair fight, it was a wishy washy middle of the road guy (I love you Joel) and an attack dog. So I’m just going to repeat his work but with a few changes. See if you can spot them.

Justice Susan Owens has a new excuse for chickening out of last Monday’s debate with challenger Stephen Johnson that I co-moderated. (An earlier excuse was exposed as disingenuous, here). In this weekend’s online chat at The Olympian, Owens said:

Candidate Stephen Johnson has a new excuse for being the first one to chicken out on last Monday’s debate when he and Justice Susan Owens had agreed to the rules already in this weekend’s online chat at The Olympian, that I’m also incapable of using the correct name of.

I don’t answer questions from bloggers, and that was apparently the moderator’s only credentials … I don’t take questions from bloggers. I just don’t blog and don’t read them.

Sorry for a break from format, but I’m going to be the blockquote police here; Sharkansky is clearly trying to mislead you. What’s between the ellipses are half of her answer, and a paragraph by Johnson. You miss that she was trying to talk to every county in the state. You miss that she said that she wanted to have the forum moderated by actual journalists, not some fuckwad who can’t get the pertinent facts about this simple story that he plays a part in right. I don’t agree, but if you want to ridicule her position, you could at least offer it.

Since when does a voter need credentials to ask an elected official a question? My taxes help pay her salary. My rights are impacted by her decisions. I might have a case before the Court someday. And she refuses to answer my questions?

Ok, back to format:

Since when does a voter need credentials to ask a candidate a question? Josh’s taxes help pay his salary. His rights are impacted by his decisions. He might have a case before the Court someday. And he refuses to answer his questions?

Read the chat transcript, and watch the video of Monday’s debate and, er, judge the two candidates for yourself.

Read the transcripts (but ignore what’s between the ellipses), and watch the video of Monday’s debate and, er, I’m a retarded of the two candidates yourself.

That was less satisfying than I’d hoped it would be at the outset of this post.

Sharkansky is losing it.

A couple of readers e-mailed to complain about the DSCC “Quack! Help make George a lame duck” ad in the right hand side bar. One reader, “Peaches Marie”, posted a comment here accusing me of “selling my soul”. Uh, I’m not selling my soul. I’m selling space on the right hand side of the blog, which, by the way, was sitting empty for several weeks, unfilled by, say, Republican ads (until this evening).

The you have to have a soul first joke is too easy, right?

Look, those ads are like McKenna’s ads on the Seattle Air America station. Trying to poach some Republicans.

And if you think about this way, I suspect that few of our readers are likely to be influenced by DSCC advertisements. It doesn’t bother me all that much to take the money that they might otherwise use to buy more effective advertising.

Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled with the DSCC giving you their cash, but if they think that it might get some of the conservatives who don’t like the deficit inducing, war mongering, biggest government increasing since LBJ president, voting for the Democrats, then more power to them. It may be some of that 50 state stuff. And there are a fair number of Democrats who do read the Evil Braintrust from time to time, so it’s not exactly like they’re wasted even only trying to go after Democrats.

BTW,Peaches Marie, thank you for your financial support of Sound Politics. (oops, never mind).

Fuck you Peaches! Shit even the Democrats are giving me money! As a Republican, I can tell you that the only speech that I give a damn about is speech that comes with money attached.

Seriously, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking ads from causes you disagree with. But this post is retarded.

This post deleted, my mistake

B’Ham K-Town has the opportunity not to be represented by Donna Watts. I’m excited!

Dear Friends,

I’m going to refer to her as my pal Donna from now on.

We are all frustrated by the spending in Washington, D.C. and the taxing and spending in Olympia.

My pal Donna doesn’t seem to realize that her party controls Washington, D.C.

I spent nearly twenty years at Boeing in purchasing and finance, ensuring value for every dollar spent.

Donna, buddy, pal, I don’t think 2 decades in a dead end job are quite the best qualifications for state rep.

As your Representative, I will be committed to educating our children for world competition, stopping the erosion of property rights, and making Washington a better state for businesses that create good paying jobs.

I’m a bit worried about these world competitions of Children. Are they cagematches? Maybe they’re education competitions. I guess maybe they’re knowledge bowl type events if we have to educate our children for them?

Our challenges are not partisan issues, but issues of sensibility and accountability. I would appreciate your vote in the coming months (September’s primary election and November’s general election).

Sorry, but the primary is over. Way to keep your page updated. But they are partisan issues. Because your property rights are protected, and you’re still trying to make political hay out of nothing.

Together, we can make Washington State a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Did any of those issues have to do with work?

Thanks so much,

You are welcome!

Donna

Carl

P.S.: Please click on the “buttons” to the left to learn more about my campaign.

P.S.: I did and my favorite was the issues button that was a poll of what motivates you to vote (”making the bus not smell like pee” if you’re interested) and an attack on the incumbent. So there’s not much fleshing out her positions.

I was just going to leave this alone, but since the SP boys can’t seem to figure it out, I’ll comment on a couple of their posts on the racist Republican ad. First Sharkansky’s post:

My good friend Josh over at The Stranger blog is falling in line with other media Democrats who are claiming that the Republican video against Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford is racist. The ad itself is here.

It’s called Slog. If I were to call your blog the Sack of Shit blog instead of its proper name, The Evil Braintsust of the Third Tier Washington State Republicans, Unsound Politics for short, I imagine you’d be a bit angry. But yes Josh Feit is claiming that saying that Harold Ford Fucks White Women in your party’s ad is a bit racist.

The allegation of “racism” is about the young white woman who hints that she met Ford at “the Playboy party”. Huh? The ad itself is humorous and although the part about the Playboy party is the weakest bit (Ford apparently attended a Playboy Super Bowl Party once. Whoop-de-do), I fail to see it being racist. It merely suggests that Ford, who campaigns as a church-goer is also, hypocritically, a bed-hopping bachelor. I personally think that criticism is lame (it’s not like, say, he’s sleeping with other people’s wives and fiancees), but I don’t think it’s racist. Those who are alleging racism are upset that the woman is white. So what? This is 2006, not 1926. I think Americans have accepted interracial relationships to the point that NOBODY CARES about what color someone’s girlfriend is. Those who are alleging racism are merely demonstrating, through their implication that they expect very many people might be upset about interracial sex, their own bigotry about the Tennessee electorate.

It doesn’t hint that she met him at the Playboy party she says, in a rather annoying voice, “I met Harold at the Playboy Party.” The implication, and not a subtile one, is that he fucks white women.

Giving Sharkansky the benefit of the doubt, the reason that he found it so out of place is because he doesn’t think that it’s wrong for Ford to fuck white women. He prefers to focus on the tax stuff. And that has a history too, especially in the South where anti-tax leagues formed during Reconstruction because they didn’t want to pay for things like enforcing civil rights in the South and educating black children.

But I do like that this paragraph both insinuates that there is no racism anywhere in America, especially in the old Confederacy, and that Democrats are all racist. It’s kind of mind blowing. And it’s funny coming from someone who likes to joke about how Ron Sims is the same as Robert Mugabe. Not funny, “ha ha,” but neither are Sharkansky’s jokes.

Then Eric Earling steps up:

Did you know you’re a cretin pig, a racist, a bigot, and an intolerant ass if you support the Republican party. Really, you are. So says Josh Feit, as reported by Stefan below in the discussion of the hilarious ad being run against Harold Ford in Tennessee’s US Senate race. Beyond the discussion of that ad itself, there is an important sub-plot in the events surrounding the cry of “racism” laughably, yet predictably, unleashed after the ad’s airing: liberals can’t identify with the average voter.

I did know that many Republican supporters, and candidates, are racist bigoted pigs. Yes, the average voter doesn’t want to have sex with playboy models. It’s true, but only if there are more women than men in Tennessee.

The average voter doesn’t view life through the lens of race. The average voter with a basic knowledge of the campaign in Tennessee sees the ad and probably chuckles, especially if they’re a Republican and agree with the policy ironies in play. The only people viewing the ad through the lens of race are outraged liberals and sympathetic members of the national press corps. Rather revealing, no?

Erling, who I’m guessing has never been to Tennessee, knows it better than a man who grew up there, has lived there his entire life, and is tied for the Senate race. See it’s literally impossible for any White Tennessean to be racist.

It’s fair to say Feit’s ideology aligns nicely with the netroots, and the rest of the liberal base in a lather as Election Day approaches. Does anyone else wonder how such people can find a message to appeal to voters not already set on a straight party ticket if they assume all Republicans and like-minded souls are automatically “haters”?

Well, a lot of swing voters are people who like Ford on the issues, but don’t like that he’s black. They want someone who’s more conservative than a typical Democrat, but who wants to use the government to support farming. And who’ll hold President Bush accountable for massive deficits and a slow economy, and the war too.

Ironically, Harold Ford himself isn’t such a Democrat. Prior to recent stumbles he was running perhaps the best Democratic challenge for a Republican-held Senate seat this year, as acknowledged by prominent conservative pundit Rich Lowry. Why had he been doing well? Because as Lowry recounts, he’s sane.

Well, yes, only Republicans get to be crazy and elected. Take Mark Foley for example: he wanted to fuck children, and the Republicans didn’t care. Also, the ad was trying to give the hardcore conservatives a reason go volunteer and get to the polls.

Evidently, Ford had the good sense to tell Sean Hannity today that he didn’t think the RNC ad raising a ruckus is racist, just silly. Heck, if Ford had not earlier equivocated on whether or not he attended the Playboy party in question, and instead immediately gave this more recent answer, the whole affair might not be such an issue: “I like football and I like girls. I don’t have any apologies for that.” A 36 year-old bachelor who admits he likes girls and football (especially in the South where college football is a religion) is not likely to be roundly condemned in Tennessee.

Yes, well if you can believe the poling (and in this completely non-racist country of ours, African Americans tend to do a bit better in polls than they do on election day) then Ford is doing well. But honestly, he can’t come out and say, “of course they’re pandering to the deeply racist Tennessee electorate, vote for me!”

The trick with all this is that sane Democrats like Ford, rare breed though they seem at times, generally understand your average non-urban voter. Liberals like Feit do not. Accordingly, his continued implosion over the Seattle Times endorsement of Mike McGavick is a sight to see. He simply can’t grasp the fact an editorial board would make an endorsement without using a strict issue-by-issue scorecard (or more nefarious means). “Ah, candidate A agrees with us on seven issues we asked about, but candidate B only agrees with us on 5. Candidate A it is, no questions asked my friend.” I don’t think so.

Yes, why would ed boards care about that other shit when there’s an estate tax at stake?

Allow me an admittedly parochial yet handy example of how an editorial board can make and endorsement without a straight issues checklist, based on an overall assessment of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. In 2003, my dad ran for Snohomish County Executive, and was endorsed by both the Seattle Times and the Everett Herald. Neither paper endorsed him because of some great gap between the candidates on the issues the papers cared about; they both endorsed him because his experience and personal qualities exceeded that of his opponent in their view. Sounds like the McGavick endorsement to me.

Sounds like the papers like endorsing Republicans.

You see, such rational thinking has long fled the liberal mind, somewhere around the Carter Presidency one would guess. But please, do not trouble liberal enthusiasts with such problems. Pressing business is at hand.

Such rational thinking as, “we need to vote for people who don’t agree with us because we think they’re good people.”

Behold, elections are approaching, and the Bush Empire’s vile army of Congressional Republican minions must be swept aside for the good of the Republic. Why? Because they’re “haters,” including you.

Well, and because I can’t prove that Goat Fucker Mike! doesn’t fuck goats.

Didn’t you know?

I assumed it was true. But maybe if they’d done any executive oversight, they wouldn’t be in this position. Maybe if they had ousted their predatory members (ick, no pun intended) before ABC News got hold of his IM’s, people would trust them. Maybe if President Bush didn’t campaign for Macaca Allen or girlfriend strangler Sherwood we wouldn’t have race and character to run on. Maybe if they hadn’t fucked up the economy, and then bragged about it, hadn’t run up the largest deficits in American history, hadn’t made it tougher to get healthcare, hadn’t got us into an illegal oil war, hadn’t let Bin Laden get away, we wouldn’t have any issues to run on. Maybe if their campaign in the South is that darkies are going to fuck white women, we wouldn’t have race to talk about. You know?

You know what else? This is a bad transition to Jim Miller’s post. He starts out with the joke about the guy who goes to a shrink, sees sex in all of the Rorschach tests and when the shrink says he’s got sex on the mind, says, “stop showing me dirty pictures.” He tells it a little slower, or more accurately, steals a longer version, but since it isn’t funny either way, I’ll move to the “substance” of the post:

If you need help understanding my point, read this post, or this post, or, if you must, read this one by Feit — though I must warn you that the language you find there is not fit for family reading.

I’m sorry, if your family is reading the Evil Braintrust then they probably have bigger problems than the fact that Feit said, “Fucking”.

And there are some facts that deserve open discussion, especially on the left, where so many can not see the beams in their own eyes. Both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice have frequently been attacked by the left, often in ways that have tinges of racism, and sometimes more than tinges. Columnist Michelle Malkin routinely gets racist (and sometimes unspeakably vulgar) emails from leftists. (We are even beginning to see occasional attacks from the left that have tinges, and sometimes more, of anti-Semitism.) And I could list many more examples if I wanted to. These attacks have drawn almost no criticism from my friends in the Democratic party.

If you want to judge “the left” by something someone you’ve never heard of said to Michelle Malkin (and that she may have made up) then we get to judge the right by Goldy’s comment thread. So unless you’re prepared to stand behind everything JCH and Mark the Redneck say, fuck you.

Neither party is entirely free from racism, but I think the party that drives out racist demagogues, such as David Duke, is far better than the one than hugs them to its breast. Need an example of the latter? Try Al Sharpton, whose racist demagoguery may have led to deaths in two riots. And again, I could add many more examples if I wanted to.

Well, I don’t think Sharpton is perfect, but to compare him to David Duke? That’s your frame of reference? Seriously, when Giulini’s police kill black people and then can’t even offer an excuse, or when they rape them with plunger handles, Sharpton was there. Maybe if people like the so-called libertarians at SP gave a flying fuck about that, it wouldn’t fall to him to help fix those problems. Maybe if the city had been serious about the Central Park Jogger case, it wouldn’t have fallen to Sharpton to doggedly pursue it.

Also, as I already said, you’re keeping the guy who welcomes someone of Indian descent who has been a Virginian all his life to Virginia. Seems like Virginia is for haters, and the Republican Party is with them.

It really is pretty amazing how much time the Evil Braintrust gave this story since it’s, you know, not local. Must have hit a nerve.

Andrew’s Dad doesn’t like hizzself the fact that some people want Washington State to have rules. He’d rather be soft on crime.

The Seattle P.I. had an article about Washington Ceasefire planting bulbs at Greenlake to commemorate the 600 victims of gun violence in Washington State this year. It seems odd to me that a group can just go plant bulbs at a city park and I have a question into the Seattle Parks department asking about that but that is a post for another day. What Washington Cease Fire does not say and what the “reporter”, Neil Modie, does not seem interested in knowing is the fact that about 400 of those 600 deaths were suicides.

As you know, there’s no need to verify that number. I say it was closer to -500, as long as we’re making shit up. But even if you think that just 200 violent deaths is OK, you’re pretty stupid.
But the notion that suicides just don’t count is pretty dispicible. Or maybe it’s one of those nonviolent suicides that only exist in the mind of crazies.

Now Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, whose department issued handgun was stolen out of his car earlier this year was in attendance.

In 2005, two violent gun crimes were reported for every 1,000 people nationwide, compared with 1.4 in 2004, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Kerlikowske said it was the “No. 1 issue” at a national meeting of local law enforcement leaders he attended in Washington, D.C., last month.

The reasons? Kerlikowske said criminologists say that for one thing, “we are awash in firearms.” Unlike a number of other states, efforts to close Washington’s gun-show loophole have been blocked in the Legislature.

Sounds like a law enforcement official who knows what he’s talking about. But lets see if Andrew’s Dad gets soft on crime here.

To understand the “gun show loophole”, you first must know what it is. The gun show loophole specifically means when a non gun dealer, a private citizen, sells a gun to another private citizen at a gun show, just as they would if they had taken out a classified ad in a newspaper, a background check is not required. From Washington Ceasefire’s own press release:

But at such shows, unlicensed, private sellers don’t have to do the checks.

Unlike all licensed gun dealers who are required to perform the background check no matter if the sale is at a retail store or at a gun show. From Washington Ceasefire’s own press release:

At Wade’s Eastside Guns, anytime they sell a firearm, they have to do a background check. It’s what every federally licensed gun dealer is required to do. And those rules follow the dealers even when they peddle their pistols at gun shows, like one held recently in Puyallup.

We operate exactly as if we are in the store, we have to do the background checks, he said.

Right. So the private people are one problem. If they want to sell a gun to Osama, they don’t need a background check. It’s pretty scary.

But according to Chief Kerlikowske, guns from gun shows are involved in crimes:

We’ve traced guns back that had been involved in crimes that were obtained at gun shows, said Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.

Notice how it is not mentioned the guns traced back were sold without a background check. Maybe the Seattle Police Department bought the gun stolen out of the Chief’s car at a gun show and that gun was later used in a crime. Wouldn’t that scenario fit the Chief’s description?

Or maybe it would be easier to get the gun back if the state weren’t awash with handguns. Maybe we should hold everybody to the same standards when they sell what was designed as a murder weapon.

Let’s now look at the numbers to see how bad this “gun show loophole” is because Seattle P.I. “reporter” Neil Modie does not seem to be interested in doing so. According to “All you need to know about the Gun Show Loophole in 2 1/2 minutes“, criminals get their guns:
39.6% of the time from family or friends
39.2% of the time from the street or other illegal methods (such as stealing from the Chief of Police’s car)
8.3% from retail shops
1.0% from pawn shops
0.7% from gun shows.

Well, all statistics that are from 2002 and don’t site their sources are always both current and right. When they leave more than 10% of their sample out, it’s extra factual. And of course other illegal methods wouldn’t include buying one at a gun show when you’re not legally allowed to own one? Of course we should get all of those guns of the street I mean they were all used to commit crimes.

But you do not need to take the word of some right wing pro gun website, Washington Ceasefire says the same thing in its Police lobby to close gun show loophole press release

Alan Gottlieb, head of a large gun lobby based in Bellevue, says requiring background checks at gun shows will only hurt law-abiding owners.

With less than 1 percent of the firearms bought by criminals at gun shows, it’s really kind of stupid, it’s a waste of resources, Gottlieb said.

Are you retarded? That’s just them linking to a King 5 report from last year. Of course it also quotes a former US attorney, “Osama Bin Laden could walk into a gun show in Washington state and purchase a semi-automatic easily changeable into a fully-automatic assault rifle no questions asked, no records run.”

Of course the bold headline they use is

Police say a loophole in Washington law allows people to buy guns and gun shows without having to go through a background check.

Seems misleading to me, in addition to being grammatically incorrect.

Yes, I suspect they meant “at” instead of “and” but kudos on writing an attack on someone else’s grammar that doesn’t actually have a subject!

So the “gun show loophole” should probably be called the “friends and family loophole” or maybe the “classified ad loophole” or how about the “private citizen selling private property without the governments permission loophole”

Yes, that’s probably the other 12%.

If Washington Ceasefire was really about preventing gun violence, wouldn’t they be putting on gun safety classes and working to make sure all Washington State school children knew proper gun safety. Wouldn’t they be in favor of supplying trigger locks and lock boxes to those who asked? Wouldn’t that reduce gun violence more than planting bulbs at Greenlake?

I’m sure the gun locks would. But putting guns in kids hands probably wouldn’t. But amazingly they can do more than one thing.

But here are my questions to Washington Ceasefire and all groups that want to outlaw guns. How do gun laws stop criminals, who by definition are those that do not follow laws, from committing gun crimes? Laws do not stop crimes, law just state what the punishment is for those convicted of a crime. How are gun laws going to get guns out of the hands of criminals? Does anyone, including Washington Ceasefire think a criminal is going to think twice about committing a bank robbery or a murder because they would be violating a gun law in the process?

What? Laws don’t prevent crimes? We’d have as many murders if murder was legalized? That’s the basis for the rest of this paragraph? Talk about being soft on crime!
But the answer is fairly straightforward: while we won’t be able to eliminate all crime, that was never the point. Guns play a role in a large number of crimes. And if we can get them off the streets, we raise the costs of obtaining them for criminals. It makes some crimes more expensive. It makes the most desperate of criminals less effective. It gives the cops a leg up on the crazies.

Look, I want your gun for the simple reason that the fact that you think you need it proves your penis is too small for you to be trusted with it.

If you don’t freep Sharkansky’s stupid assed poll, there’s a good chance the terrorists win.

The Washington State Republican Party is touting the economy. Lets take a look:

Stock Market:

On Thurs., The Dow Jones Closed Above The 12,000 Mark For The First Time. (“Home Run: Dow’s First Close at 12000,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/20/06)

Remember folks: there has been no inflation in the last 6 years.

For The Year (As Of Oct. 20^th Close):

• The Dow Is Up 12 Percent.
• The NASDAQ Is Up 6.2 Percent.
• The S&P Is Up 9.6 Percent. (Yahoo Finance Website, http://finance.yahoo.com/, Accessed 10/20/06)

I That doesn’t really help me, but good for it. It has been struggling in recent years and it’s nice to see it pick up a bit. Of course you notice they aren’t showing growth since Bush took over.

Economic Growth:

The Economy Grew 2.6% In The 2^nd Quarter. (Bureau Of Economic Analysis Website, www.bea.gov, Accessed 9/29/06)

Well it averaged 4.0% under the Clinton Administration.

· The Economy Has Been Growing For 19 Straight Quarters. (Bureau Of Economic Analysis Website, www.bea.gov, Accessed 9/29/06)

116 months under Clinton (same link).

Over The First Half Of 2006, The U.S. Economy Grew At A 4.1% Annual Rate, Faster Than Any Other Major Industrialized Country. (White House Website, www.whitehouse.gov, Accessed 10/23/06)

Wow, one month where the economy was slightly better than Clinton’s average.

The Economy Has Grown By $1.46 Trillion, Or 14.8 Percent, Since President Bush Took Office. (Bureau Of Economic Analysis, www.bea.gov, Accessed 9/29/06)

Again, with zero inflation apparently.

· $1.46 Trillion Is Nearly Double The Sizes The Four Scandinavian (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) Countries’ Economies Put Together. (CIA Website, www.cia.gov, Accessed 9/7/06)

Employment And Productivity:

51,000 Jobs Were Created In Sept. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 10/6/06)

You need about twice that to keep up with the expanding workforce.

• Numbers Were Revised For The Last 2 Months To Show An Additional 62,000 Jobs Created In July And August. (Campion Walsh, “Sept US Jobs Growth Slowed More Than Expected,” Dow Jones Newswires, 10/6/06)

But it still is below, you know, the number of new workers.

• More Than 6.6 Million Jobs Have Been Created Over The Last 37 Months (Since Aug. 2003) – More Than All Other Major Industrialized Countries Combined. (Office Of Communications, The White House, “Job Creation Continues – More Than 6.6 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003,” 10/6/06)

But less than any 37 months of the Clinton administration.

The Jobless Rate Fell To 4.6 Percent In Sept. – Down From 5.1 Percent The Year Before – And Lower Than The Averages Of The 1970s, 1980s, And 1990s. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov, Accessed 9/1/06)

The unemployment rate is a bit sketchy, but this is generally good news.

49 States Have Created Jobs Between Aug. 2005 And Aug. 2006 While 41 States Have Lower Unemployment Rates Than They Did Last Year. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Press Release, 10/20/06)

Again genuinely good on its own, but bad compared to Clinton. And again, created jobs is pretty easy on its own as the workforce expands.

Gas Prices:

Average Gas Prices Fell Nearly 3.5 Cents To $2.22 Per Gallon In The Week Ending Oct. 13. (Energy Information Administration Website, www.eia.doe.gov, Accessed 10/2/06)

Gas prices were about 1.75 when he became president. I remember in 2003 gas going over 2 bucks. It hasn’t been back since. Even with inflation, gas prices have gone up.

• Wholesale Inflation Plunged 1.3% In Sept. – The Largest Dip In More Than 3 Years. (“Wholesale Prices And Industrial Production Both Decline,” The Associated Press, 10/17/06)

But, I’m guessing not as good as many months in the Clinton admin.

• Wholesale Inflation Dropped Due To A 22.2% Decline In Gas Prices – The Biggest 1 Month Drop On Record. (“Wholesale Prices And Industrial Production Both Decline,” The Associated Press, 10/17/06)

Yes, but it had been around 3 bucks. I’m guessing it’ll be up again when the election is over. Especially if Republicans are still in power.

Income And Wages:

Real After-Tax Income Increased 15.0% Since January 2001. (White House Website, www.whitehouse.gov, Accessed 10/23/06)

• Median Incomes After Inflation Increased For The 1st Time Since 1999, Jumping 1.1% In 2005. (“At Last, Buoyant Economy Lifts Incomes,” The Christian Science Monitor, 8/30/06)

So it’s taken President Bush 6 years to have a good quarter?

Real Wages Grew 2.2 Percent Over The Past 12 Months. (U.S. Department Of Labor, Bureau Of Labor Statistics, “Real Earnings In September 2006,” Press Release, 10/18/06)

Mkay. Below the median. So the rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us, and the rest of us are supposed to care?

Consumer Confidence And Spending:

The Conference Board Index Of Consumer Confidence Increased To 104.5 In Sept. From 100.2 In Aug. (Daniel Pimlott, “Cheaper Oil Lifts US Consumer Confidence,” Financial Times, 9/26/06)

• “Consumers Told Researchers That There Were More Jobs Available And That They Expected To Earn More In The Coming Months.” (Daniel Pimlott, “Cheaper Oil Lifts US Consumer Confidence,” Financial Times, 9/26/06)

Good. But not near as good as during the Clinton administration.

• The Univ. Of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Increased From 84.4 In Aug. To 85.4 In Sept. (“UMich Sept. Sentiment Revised Up To 85.4 Vs 84.4,” MarketWatch, 9/29/06)

• Consumer Spending Is Up 3% This Year – The Same Rate As The Past 2 Years. (“As Housing Prices Cool, Americans Keep Spending,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/2/06)

Budget Deficit:

President Bush “Announce[d] That He Has Met His Target Of Cutting The Deficit In Half Over Five Years – Three Years Ahead Of Schedule.” (Michael Abramowitz and Peter Baker, “Painting A Rosy Budget Picture,” The Washington Post, 10/11/06)

It’s the largest deficit in history if you don’t adjust for inflation and the 4th largest if you do. Kudos Bush.

The FY 2006 Deficit Was $248 Billion, Down $71 Billion From FY 2005. (William L. Watts, “Treasury: U.S. Deficit Fell To $248 Billion In ‘06,” MarketWatch, 10/11/06)

Down from the projected deficit. He rigged the game and now he’s calling it a victory.

• This Is $175 Billion Less Than The Administration Estimated In February. (William L. Watts, “Treasury: U.S. Deficit Fell To $248 Billion In ‘06,” MarketWatch, 10/11/06)

The estimates were a lie. It does this every year.

“The Deficit Has Fallen To 1.9% Of The Economy (GDP) – Well Below The Average Of The Past 40 Years.” (Committee On The Budget, U.S. House Of Representatives, “Treasury Confirms Deficit Drop To $248 Billion,” Press Release, 11/10/06)

And well above any time in Clinton’s second term.

“[R]evenues Were The Highest On Record …” (“U.S. 2006 Budget Gap Narrows To $248 Bln-Treasury,” Reuters, 10/11/06)

That’s true pretty much every year if you don’t count inflation. And frankly, even if you do.

• “Federal Revenues Are Running 11.8% Ahead Of Last Year – Higher Than The Average Of The Past 40 Years …” (Committee On The Budget, U.S. House Of Representatives, “Treasury Confirms Deficit Drop To $248 Billion,” Press Release, 11/10/06)

“Economists Say This Year’s Surge In Tax Receipts Indeed Reflects A Strong Economy …” (William L. Watts, “Treasury: U.S. Deficit Fell To $248 Billion In ‘06,” MarketWatch, 10/11/06)

So, no mention that there are more people uninsured. And the higher costs to the rest of us. No mention of long term unemployment (the unemployment rate doesn’t cover that). No mention of the President’s best year still being well below Clinton’s average. Kudos though, at least he’s stopped being in the red on job creation.

I’ll also be doing some stuff on the General’s blog. Too much cross posting.