Sound Politics http://soundpolitics.com/ Sound Commentary on Current Events in Seattle, Puget Sound and Washington State en-us theshark@usefulwork.com 2010-03-21T10:25:08-08:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 "When a problem comes along you must whip it" http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013860.html The House Democratic leadership are predicting that the Obamacare bills will pass this afternoon. Meanwhile The Hill is continually updating its "Whip Count" page with the anticipated votes of House Democrats. According to The Hill:If every member votes and all... 13860@http://soundpolitics.com/ National 2010-03-21T10:25:08-08:00 ObamaCare $562 billion deficit not surplus - NYT http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013859.html The Congressional Budget Office has to do the committee chair's bidding; it is not allowed to properly score ObamaCare - given fantasy it has to put on a straight face, pretend it's real and give the score. Even when everyone... 13859@http://soundpolitics.com/ 2010-03-21T08:35:18-08:00 A Road to Serfdom (VI) http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013858.html Kent Kammerer at Crosscut writes about Seattle's government-owned electric utility following an 18% rate increase imposed by the City Council: "City Light audit: Are rate games being played?"The city cooks the books and bills City Light for expenses that would... 13858@http://soundpolitics.com/ Seattle 2010-03-20T15:20:00-08:00 Maybe it's an omen to cut more spending instead http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013857.html Seattle Times: "State Senate passes tax package, remains at odds with House on sales tax" The Times homepage currently has the more optimistic headline "Lawmakers still can't agree on sales tax"... 13857@http://soundpolitics.com/ Washington Legislature 2010-03-20T14:26:28-08:00 How Do I Oppose Thee? http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013856.html The health insurance reform bill should be opposed on many grounds. The most obvious to those of us who put a priority on liberty is that it violates our rights: our right to not buy insurance, our right to buy... 13856@http://soundpolitics.com/ Democrats 2010-03-20T09:47:39-08:00 If they have so much time they can find spending to reduce http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013853.html "This is the first time since 1994 that a special session has been needed with one party in control of the Capitol," according to Politics Northwest at Seattle Times. Even though they have one-party rule they can't use their time... 13853@http://soundpolitics.com/ Washington Legislature 2010-03-19T09:16:43-08:00 Positive And Negative From Chris Widener http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013852.html 13852@http://soundpolitics.com/ State Congressional Delegation 2010-03-18T13:07:57-08:00 Obama: "It's Got Raisins In It ... You Like Raisins" http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013850.html To most people, it's obvious that the White House line -- that people should like the health insurance bill because it has something in it that they like -- is idiotic. It's entirely intuitive that just because you like one... 13850@http://soundpolitics.com/ Democrats 2010-03-17T17:44:57-08:00 A Win For Sound Math Education http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013849.html In a neighboring suburb. Major Update: Tonight (Thursday night [March 9th]) the Bellevue Math Adoption Committee voted to adopt Holt instead of the Discovering Math series. This is extraordinary good news and one can assume that school board will follow... 13849@http://soundpolitics.com/ Education 2010-03-17T15:56:35-08:00 Rising spending and tax increases http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013847.html Our Washington Legislature cut spending to the bone, but was reluctantly forced to raise taxes. Right? FOOLED YOU. State workers are sacrificing during this downturn in the economy. Right? WRONG We have all heard that our Senate and House have... 13847@http://soundpolitics.com/ Washington Legislature 2010-03-15T08:05:28-08:00 Lighten Up; It's Just the Census http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013845.html It's in the Constitution. Article I, Section 2.3 provides that an "enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner... 13845@http://soundpolitics.com/ National 2010-03-12T15:11:45-08:00 Obamacare, It Ain't Over Until January 3, 2011 http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013843.html Democrats want anything that can be legitimately called historic heath care reform so badly they can taste it. It is just a problem of definition of what constitutes reform. Right now it is the Senate version of Obamacare but solid... 13843@http://soundpolitics.com/ National 2010-03-11T21:30:22-08:00 Fewer Americans Rode Buses In 2009 Than In 2008 http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013841.html 13841@http://soundpolitics.com/ Transportation 2010-03-11T09:29:29-08:00 Rachel Corrie's parents continue their delusions http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013840.html Rachel Corrie of Oympia died in 2003, run over by an Israeli bulldozer. The dozer was demolishing a house in Gaza. She was trying to stop it. The bulldozer driver could not see her. Israel has released footage from a... 13840@http://soundpolitics.com/ 2010-03-11T08:06:01-08:00 More "Tales in Government Efficiency!" http://soundpolitics.com/archives/013838.html So, Robert, you're sending me a letter to tell me that you're sending me a letter. How much did that cost? Oh, and thanks for translating it into Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese but I'm calling the ACLU and... 13838@http://soundpolitics.com/ National 2010-03-10T10:59:29-08:00