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Washington Governor’s Race

So now the King County ballots are in, and it’s Christine Gregoire by 10 votes? What a deal!

Tomorrow, when King County includes the hundreds of disputed ballots – as they are allowed under today’s state Supreme Court decision – that lead may grow wider.

So maybe it’s finally over…

I guess Chris Vance can safely commit suicide now, or whatever it is he needs to do.

He does need to do something.

Over the past week or so, it’s become increasingly apparent that Vance and his Republican buddies have no interest at all in determining the real will of the people, and I find that truly appalling.

The Republican’s bid to exclude ballots from King County that were mishandled by election workers has shown their true colors – their whole objective was to exclude the predominately Democrat ballots, thus unfairly stealing the election, though legalistic machinations.

Continue reading “Governor Christine?”

Washington State Governor’s Race

Poor, Poor Republicans.
The way these guys are whining, you’d think the end of the world was just around the corner.

The furor is over the 561 ballots from King County that were incorrectly tossed-out in the first count. It now appears the Democrats will succeed in getting the ballots counted in the ongoing hand recount, and that juicy fact has the Republican’s blood boiling.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance, is particularly offensive with his holier than thou pronouncements about how this action of the Democrats will destroy the very fabric of our nation.

“I’m now becoming very worried that the Democrats are going to try to turn this into Florida,” said Vance.

Really.
Vance, obviously, is a mental giant.

Then another really great line was from Dino Rossi, who said something to the effect of, “If you go to court over the outcome of an election, pretty soon you’ll have the courts determining who gets elected, and that’s just wrong.”

Of course Rossi must be unaware of the 2000 presidential election where the US Supreme Court handed George Bush his victory. Or perhaps it was just okay when the courts decided that one because it went in their favor.

What a bunch of hypocritical bullshit.

If someone votes, it should be counted, period. They can’t be disenfranchised simply because some election worker screws up.

The must count all the ballots – and let the chips fall as they may.

Vance and Rossi need to take a lesson from Al Gore. All through the 2000 election fiasco, he never whined even once about Bush’s putsch.

Now what Gregoire is doing is actually legal – unlike what Bush did…

So stop whining Dino! Be a man!

I think it’s interesting to hear the cries of anguish by the Republicans over Christine Gregoire’s probable demand for a hand recount in the Washington state Governor’s race.

To hear the Republicans tell it, the whole state will come crashing down in an apocalyptic doom if Christine Gregoire goes ahead and asks for the hand recount.
Of course, if it was Dino Rossi that was 42 votes behind, the Republicans would never ask for a recount… Certainly not! Much too divisive!

Me, I’m not real crazy about either candidate.

Rossi’s one slick Italian SOB, who maybe plays a little fast and loose with the truth (hey: anyone remember our last Italian Governor? Al Rosellini? His big success was bringing corruption right out into the open where everyone could participate. Now thatsa Italian!).

Gregoire on the other hand, is a cold, faceless, bureaucrat who tried to reinvent herself as a human being, apparently without much success.
I don’t really have a feel for the politics of either one. There probably isn’t an awful lot of difference.

I voted for Gregoire simply because she’s a D.

Either way, I think the hand recount should go forward.

We deserve to conclusively know who won the election – not who probably won it.

A Puppet Government In Iraq Equals Disaster for the US

“The will of the people… is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” –Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:236

A few weeks ago, President Bush put the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, on public display. Allawi, for his part, in essence told us everything was just great in Iraq. Everything is under control; Iraq is returning to normal, he said.

Well isn’t that simply wonderful? And just in time for the US presidential election, too.

Not that the timing is more than providential, but what really amazes me is that some people are actually buying into the fiction of an independent “Iraqi Government.” Because that’s nonsense – what we have now in Iraq is a puppet government, pure and simple, completely controlled by the US. Nothing more, nothing less.

As such, it’s extremely unlikely that things are even remotely “just great” and returning to normal in Iraq. Because puppet governments don’t work. They didn’t work, for example, in Vietnam, and they won’t work in Iraq.
Why not? Let’s look at some facts:

In Iraq, Shi’a Muslims comprise over 65% of the population; Sunni Muslims about 37%. Christians constitute a much smaller minority.
Through the Ba’ath Party, Sunni Muslims have ruthlessly controlled Iraq, subjugating the Shi’a as well as all the other religious minorities since 1963. Much of that time, the Ba’ath Party worked hand in hand with the CIA, including during most of Saddam’s reign – Saddam really didn’t fall from grace with the CIA or the US generally, until after he invaded Kuwait in 1990. That, of course, precipitated the First Gulf War.

Continue reading “The War In Iraq Must End Now”

Osama bin Laden wants you to vote for his best buddy, George Bush.

Because bin Laden made George Bush – and visa versa. Truly, neither would have been anything at all without the other.

Think about it:

Prior to the September 11 attacks, the Bush Administration was a presidency in trouble: Bush had no agenda other than giving his rich friends tax breaks, no plan for the country, except to send all our jobs overseas. His approval ratings were in the dumper; he was going nowhere fast.

Then came the attacks.

And where Bush himself is almost certainly a moron, his handlers are not. They saw the golden opportunity for what it was.

They had Bush announce a “war” on terrorism, in retaliation for the attacks; they had Bush re-invent himself as a “wartime” president.

Continue reading “Osama bin Laden Says: Vote For Bush!”

Washington state voters are getting ready to go the polls over an issue they’ve voted down twice in recent years: the issue of charter schools.

The legislature, in their infinite wisdom – and entirely against the will of the people – voted in a bill last session that would authorize charter schools (ESSHB 2295).

Alarmed at this sneaky circumvention, charter school foes circulated petitions collecting over 150,000 signatures and were able to get Initiative 55 certified and on the ballot. Now Washington voters have what will hopefully be the final time to reject charter schools.

So why are charter schools bad?

Because basically, they don’t work. Recent studies by the US Department of Education found charter school students lagging in reading and math scores.

Another example is that in 1999-2000, 80% of the children in Texas public schools passed the Texas academic achievement tests while only 37% of charter school students passed the same test. In a 2002 study by the Texas Education Agency, it also found the dropout rate for charter schools was significantly higher – 17.7% compared to 6.2% for all other public schools.

Then in another study recently released by Duke University, they found that students in North Carolina’s charter schools would have been better off if they had stayed in their traditional public school. http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/charter_0804.html

There’s been a lot of speculation over the causes of the charter school’s poor performance.

Many attribute the lower test scores to the fact that charter schools operate with less oversight and supervision than traditional public schools – they’re not held accountable like public schools. And then financial problems and mismanagement have been big issues for charter schools and may well have probably played a part in the poor performance.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s more than enough evidence to turn me off from charter schools.

But even so, there are several other provisions in the proposed Washington law that give me different, more pressing problems.

The first is that from the way the proposed law is set up, it strongly appears that the hidden agenda for charter schools is to circumvent unions.

One provision makes it illegal for a charter school bargaining unit to be part of a local school district bargaining unit for five years – even if the employees were to vote unanimously in favor of that representation.

Another provision states that in “conversion” charter schools – a former public school that is proposed to be converted to a charter school – the new charter school board may request “variances” from the old school district collective bargaining agreement to address “needs that are specific to the charter school.”

Combine that with the fact that there’s a provision that would allow the charter schools to use non-certificated teachers – as long as they’re generally supervised by a certificated person.

So what’s this all add up to?

I don’t know about you, but this tells me that the plan is for schools that use lower-paid, non-union, and quite possibly unqualified teachers – probably as a means to cut costs and “more effectively use your tax dollars.” I find this very disturbing.

It’s hard enough to find qualified teachers right now – the starting salary in Washington state for teachers fresh out of college is only a little over $30,000 a year. Spend that same four years in college studying for a computer science degree, and your average starting pay jumps up to $49,000. Or for a chemical engineering degree, $52,000. Or accounting $42,000 a year. Or for another example, with nursing it jumps to $38,000 a year.

Teacher’s pay is already at the bottom.

If you cut their pay more – which would almost certainly happen as a result of limiting the charter teachers bargaining rights – then the situation would become almost impossible.

What kind of “cut-rate” teachers would work for less money than they’re already getting? Perhaps the charters figure to hire illegal aliens as aides, janitors and secretaries to save even more dollars? Hey, it works for Wal-Mart. Maybe they’ll trim a few dollars out of the school lunch budgets, too?

It’s no wonder the test scores are down!

Clearly, charter schools are a very bad idea.

Our children are our future. Let’s not cut corners on their education.

I hope everyone votes to reject referendum 55.

Vice President Cheney Urges Calm

Washington, DC (AP) – Following yesterday’s terrorist attacks, President Bush issued an executive order postponing tomorrow’s national elections.

“We have been dealt a devastating blow, and we must now draw together on this terrible day of infamy, and mourn those who have fallen,” said Vice President Cheney. “But we cannot allow these attacks to continue. We have new information that the same terrorists plan to set off suicide bombs in polling places tomorrow, so in order to protect citizens of this great nation, we’ve determined it is in the best interests of our nation if we indefinitely postpone the elections. President Bush signed that executive order to that effect early this morning.”

The toll for yesterday’s attacks now stands at 25 confirmed dead and seven missing. The attacks were on the Washington offices of the US Election Assistance Commission, and the corporate headquarters of Diebold Inc., in Canton, Ohio.

The number of wounded from the two attacks is reported at fifteen.
President Bush was unavailable for comment.

According to reliable sources, Senator John Kerry and his running mate Senator John Edwards were whisked away by Secret Services agents immediately following the news of the attacks and since have remained at an undisclosed, secure location.

The sources state it is believed that there is a credible threat towards the candidate’s lives.

There have been unsubstantiated reports that the true intent of the attack on Diebold was the theft of software and code that is used in many electronic voting machines, and that the explosion and fire were set to cover the tracks of the theft.

Diebold officials had no comment.

Department of Homeland Security has left the terror alert level at red, or severe. According to Secretary Tom Ridge, “We have evidence to suggest that the terrorists will strike again, so we ask all citizens to be extremely vigilant.”

He went on to say that citizens are warned to watch for suspicious people who are “praying fervently” or who seem to be whispering to someone. There were no specific targets mentioned, outside of the polling places.

When asked how long the election would be delayed, Vice President Cheney had no comment. Nor would he comment on rumors of a massive movement of US troops across the border from Iraq into Iran.

Vice President Cheney concluded in his press conference, “Everyone should stay calm and this will pass over. We are in control.”

AP – Islamabad, October 31, 2004. American and Pakistani forces closed in on Al Qaeda terrorists hiding outside Khandahar near the Pakistani border today, and after a protracted battle, captured the illusive head of the Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani officials said bin Laden surrendered after a ten-hour battle pitting American Delta Force commandos and Pakistani Rangers against a large group of Al Qaeda rebels found hiding in a maze of caves in the mountains outside Khandahar.

US Army spokesperson, Col. Frank Magni, of the 17th Public Affairs Detachment told reporters that bin Laden was badly wounded in the firefight which lasted all night. It was only after bin Laden’s entire headquarters unit had been killed that he surrendered to the Delta Force commandos, early Sunday morning. With him was his top lieutenant, Ayman Al Zawahri, who reportedly was killed early in the siege.

Pakistani sources said bin Laden’s wounds were not life-threatening. He was taken by plane to an undisclosed US military base possibly in the Philippines for medical attention.

The ten-hour firefight concluded with bin Laden’s surrender, and over twenty-five Al Qaeda were taken prisoner, some said to be high-ranking officials.
Col. Magni said three American and twenty-eight Pakistani soldiers were killed in the exchange. Al Qaeda casualties are said to number around 100.

American and Pakistani forces were said to be acting on a tip that came from a source close to bin Laden, who was arrested late Friday night.

“This is a great day for Afghanistan, and a great day for the world,” said Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Karzai went on to say that he was declaring a national holiday for Afghanistan, and encouraged all Afghani’s to celebrate the victory.

President Bush, when asked to comment, said, “We are winning the war on terrorism, and this is solid proof. I hope this puts to rest any questions about who should lead this country for the next four years.”

Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry’s campaign aides had no official comment at press time.