Here’s  a message from Media Matters for America, a Web-based, not-for-profit,  progressive research and information center “dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”

“Recently, we learned that News Corp, Fox News' corporate parent, gave $1 million to the Republican Governors' Association -- a donation that a News Corp spokesman chalked up to the RGA's "pro-business agenda."

While other networks covered this unusual contribution extensively, Fox viewers have been left mostly in the dark as to the network's direct involvement in races this fall.

Media Matters for America has decided to make sure Fox viewers are aware of News Corp's donation to Republicans. We are purchasing a national ad to air during The O'Reilly Factor to share this vital information with viewers. Will you help us?”

Eric Burns, the president of Media Matters for America, said, "Fox is posing as a news operation -- even... (more)

This article originally appeared in the International Examiner and Crosscut. Reprinted with permission.

For women in the U.S., breaking the glass ceiling remains a daunting challenge, particularly in the fast-paced world of computer science. Paradoxically, while the U.S is still at the forefront of the international field of information technology, women continue to lag behind men in the workforce.

Experts agree that there continues to be a gender and ethnic imbalance in computer science. Despite modest gains in recent years, computer science remains, for the most part, a male-dominated industry.

"The most important thing is not to take the gains of recent years for granted and not to believe that the playing field is in fact level," said Ed Lazowska, the Bill and Melinda Gates chair in computer science at the University of Washington.

“There can be no doubt that computer science has a gender diversity problem,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been aware of for years... (more)

Initiative 1098: That's the one that Bill Gates Sr. has helped to write and promote, even though he is one of the very few people who will see his taxes go up, should this initiative pass. Or better said, he is supporting I-1098 for that very reason. Everyone else, and all businesses, would see their tax bills go down.

Through I-1098, 197 out of 200 taxpayers will see their taxes go down, while just three will pay the initiative's new income tax on the wealthy. And our state will gain $1.6 billion for education and health care. How is that possible?

Because we start with a punitive tax system, in which middle class families pay over 10 percent of their income on state and local taxes, while the wealthiest 1 percent of families pay 2.5 percent. That's right, in our state middle class families pay four times as much, proportionally, as the wealthy. Where do the wealthy live and prosper? The answer is right in our own region: 1 percent of all the millionaires in the United States live in King County! They are all... (more)

What will the Indian health system look like a decade from now?

 That’s an impossible question to answer. There is the potential of a court ruling striking down at least part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. And, there is always the possibility of Congress will rewrite the law (I view this as remote because there would have to be a Super Majority to enact something else.)

 But in the meantime there is a new foundation already under construction. The building that will rest on that structure will not be the same as the one in place now.

 Let’s start with the patient. Right now, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of all American Indians and Alaska Natives are either uninsured or rely solely on the Indian Health Service. But health care reform changes that. Big time. Beginning in four years, hundreds of thousands of people will become eligible for insurance through government programs (such as Medicaid) because of new income rules. This insurance... (more)

There's really not a lot to add to these charts. What they show is that under I-1098, Washington's income taxes would be extremely low by national standards.

Read full story and another chart at Sightline...

MORE ON 1098 FROM SIGHTLINE

Crosscut and the Wall Street Journal flunk math

1098 and small business

Seattle Times flunks math

Wealthy flock to pay income taxes

Comparing tax rates under 1098

RELATED

Analysis by former state supreme court justice finds I-1098 income tax unconstitutional

A new legal analysis written for Washington Policy Center by respected former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge finds that, if passed by voters this November, Initiative 1098 would likely be ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Justice Talmadge was a state Supreme Court Justice from 1995-2001 and served as a Democratic member of the State Senate from 1979-1995, where he chaired the Judiciary and Health Care Committees.

According to Justice Talmadge, “Initiative 1098 is clearly unconstitutional on the basis of existing case law. Its enactment will only guarantee protracted litigation to determine if the initiative meets constitutional muster.”

Justice Talmadge’s analysis addresses the argument of Initiative 1098 supporters that the state Supreme Court would overturn its past rulings and today rule in favor of a graduated income tax. Justice Talmadge wrote:

“The proponents of a graduated net income tax in Washington have vociferously argued that these older cases...

Over the last few weeks the bicycle community has been frustrated by the “road diet” discussion. The thought is, road diets are implicitly good, so why aren’t more people supportive of them? Why aren’t opponents of plans swayed by the fact that streets that undergo road diets have been shown to have enough capacity? And why don’t opponents seem to care about the safety of pedestrians, cyclist and motorist alike?

Seattle Likes Bikes, Publicola, Seattle Bike Blog, and the SDOT blog have all weighed in, mostly in response to the now infamous article by Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times, although the discussion certainly applies to every project that aims to improve safety.

Full story...

Whether it be state unions fighting the legislature's furlough savings plan or digging lines in the sand over ways to reduce state health care costs, it is becoming clear that the budget isn't the only thing that needs transformation. It is also time to re-evaluate the so-called 2002 Civil Service Reform that put state unions in the driver's seat and policy makers in the back seat when it comes to certain budget decisions.

The 2002 "reform" first took full effect during the 2005-07 biennium. Under the new rules state unions no longer had to have their priorities weighed equally with every other special interest during the legislative budget process. Instead they now negotiate directly with Gov. Chris Gregoire (pictured at left), while lawmakers only have the opportunity to say yes or no to the entire contract agreed to with the Governor. Lawmakers can't make any changes.

Perhaps not coincidentally, state spending during the 2005-07 budget cycle increased 18% over the 2003-05 budget.

For true budget transformation... (more)

Jarrett Walker writes often about Seattle's and other cities' transit issues Human Transit and is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy.   We're posting the story with permission.

Inspired by my post on the urgent need for frequency mapping [specifically citing King County Metro's map by way of example], Vancouver's transit agency TransLink, via its blog The Buzzer, has been encouraging map enthusiasts to draw their own ideas for what a frequency-coded map might look like. 

The most nuanced so far is this one by David M.  He's sketched a bit of southern Vancouver and Richmond as an example.   Look at the original here, and note all the distinctions he's tried to draw. 

The most interesting idea to me:  He uses width to capture the three frequency/span categories I suggest (frequent, infrequent, and peak-only) but then he uses dashed lines (at these various widths) to indicate a nonstop segment.  I'm not sure whether I like that or... (more)

A year goes by fast. Way too fast. Thirteen months ago I plunged into my “year-long” exploration of the Indian health system. It’s been fascinating because there has so much activity: Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and included with that bill the permanent authorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

 My idea was to explore two basic questions. First, what lessons from the Indian Health Service ought to be a part of the national health care reform debate? And, second, what is the impact of health care reform on the Indian Health system? (I’ll write about that next week.)

 In some ways the first question is the most difficult because of its complexity. The “story” of the Indian Health Service told in Congress and by news organizations is primarily the story of how the government runs a health care delivery system.

 Sometimes that even reflects a positive message.

 “It may come as a shock to many that... (more)

From former P-I reporter Claudia Rowe, who reported this for Equal Voice, a project of the Marguerite Casey Foundation:

Under President Obama, we are paying for more workplace raids, detention beds and Border Patrol officers than at any time in American history (including $1 billion for a fence and surveillance that still leaves 1,300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border open for crossing). About 31,000 undocumented immigrants – including children – languish daily in our detention centers, prisons and jails.

Those young people, children of the undocumented, may become the linchpin in this debate, because, for many citizens, the prospect of shattering hundreds of thousands of families by separating 4 million American-born children from their immigrant parents does not sit lightly.

Deysie Soto, 5, a child of undocumented immigrants, has become one of the best English speakers in her class.

These are families like the Sotos, who live in a small apartment in Santa Ana, Cal.... (more)

Last week, Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen put forward a proposal for a new transportation taxing district. The idea is to raise needed money for both routine maintenance and an extensive list of long-deferrred projects: the city’s portion of a new seawall and the downtown tunnel, the Mercer Mess, the now-closed South Park bridge, and so on. Under a new 2008 law, local cities can create such districts with separate authority to raise property and sales taxes, increase car tab fees, and impose tolls on local roads. Several Seattle suburbs have already done so.

Sounds good, right? After all, who could be opposed to paying for transportation projects? They do need to get done, and someone has to pay for them. Like it or not, one way or another that someone is going to be taxpayers. But there’s one minor problem:

We’re already supposed to be paying for all this.

Full story here at Eat The State!...

Based on a draft con statement for the November voter's guide, it looks like the opponents of Initiative 1053 (Restoring I-960's supermajority requirement for tax increases) plan to focus on California as the reason why voters should reject the measure. According to the draft con statement:

Things are tough here, but at least we are doing better than other states. The two-thirds majority is a disaster in California, creating gridlock and making it impossible to balance their budget. We don’t need that here.
 
The two-thirds requirement may sound good, but 1053 is a prescription for partisan gridlock that will make things worse. California is a mess because of the two-thirds requirement -- let’s not go down that road.

This mirrors a claim from the No on I-1053 website:

California’s experience has painfully illustrated just how destructive minority rule can be. The Golden State requires two-thirds votes not only to raise revenue, but also to approve budgets. This has caused unparalleled...

A single phrase is often used to define the Indian health system: “Government-run.” Add those two words to any discussion about health care or reform and most people reach an immediate conclusion about the merits of the agency.

Now it is time for the phrase to disappear because it no longer accurately describes the Indian health system. After all, tribes or tribally authorized nonprofit agencies administer more than half of the IHS budget, through the Self-Determination Act or Self-Governance compacts.

 Certainly the federal government plays a huge role in this health care delivery system – across the country. “As in all industrial nations, the U.S. government plays a large role in financing, organizing, overseeing, and, in some instances, even delivering health care,” said a report last August by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. How big are the numbers? Federal direct spending – Medicaid, Medicare & such – accounted for 33.7 percent of all health care spending.... (more)

Governor Gregoire announced today that across-the-board cuts are guaranteed to occur in September despite the passage of half a billion dollars in one-time federal bailout funds by Congress this week. This is due to continued weakness in state revenue collections. According to the Governor's press release:

If the upcoming September forecast or a later revenue report comes in less than expected, the state could be faced with a shortfall that eliminates the ending fund balance, which would necessitate further action, likely across the board cuts.

The state is also currently projected to face a $3 billion deficit for the next two year budget.

To prepare for the upcoming two-year budget and be ready for any immediate action that needs to be taken to correct the current budget, Gregoire today announced that she would direct state agencies to:

• Prepare reductions of 4-7 percent for the possibility of across the board cuts starting October 1st if the next forecast or revenue receipts are lower than expected....

Seattle is full of stories of What Could Have Been. Among the most poignant of these is the story of Marion Zioncheck, at once one of Seattle’s greatest rabble-rousers and one of our most tragic historical figures.

Born in Kety, Poland, on December 5, 1900, Zioncheck immigrated with his parents to Seattle in 1905. Raised in poverty, he first made his mark as a rabble-rouser while attending the University of Washington Law School, where, in 1928, as president of the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW), he successfully challenged the dominance of the Greek system and the athletic department over the UW’s funding decisions. His activism there earned him a head-shaving and a dunking in Drumheller Fountain from ungrateful UW football players, yet it also led, several years later, to the financing and construction of the student-empowering Husky Union Building.

Read full story here...

(This story was first published in Crosscut on Aug. 4 and is used with permission.)

Barry Petersen met KIRO anchor Jan Chorlton and found love. His powerful new book tells of her long decline from early-onset Alzheimer's.

It was during a warm summer weekend in Tokyo in 2005 when Barry Petersen first noticed that something was terribly wrong. The warning signs were not immediately evident. His wife, Jan, 55, was healthy and in excellent physical condition, a talented broadcast journalist with CNN, ABC, and CBS News.

Jan tried to cook hamburgers, he recalled. She used a deep pot as a frying pan and turned up the stove to maximum heat. Her sentences were jumbled. Then, she started having hallucinations and often looked at him with a long intense stare.

Worried, he phoned a neurologist in San Francisco at 4 a.m. one morning. After describing the symptoms to the doctor, Petersen finally heard the heart-breaking words: “She has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.” Thus... (more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Every agency that serves American Indians and Alaska Natives must answer these questions in order to fuel the decision-making process: How much will it cost? How many people are served? And, by the way, who is an Indian?

None of the answers are easy. The demand for federal services is growing as resources shrink. And in the health care arena the key to sustainable funding is Medicare and Medicaid (including the Children’s Health Insurance Program) where definitions are complicated by multiple factors.

 Consider eligibility: More than 560 tribal communities with members living on or near reservations or spread out in urban areas. Each tribe defines its membership but that data is rarely collected for use in health statistics because it’s often privately held. The U.S. Census allows each individual to define his or her own status by checking a box. (Some 5 million by this count.)

 The Indian Health Service has another definition that adds descendants of enrolled... (more)

State officials took a half a billion dollar gamble and may have won with the river card. Today the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with debate on a bill to provide Washington with more than $500 million in one-time federal bailout funds.

Gov. Chris Gregoire was quick to respond to the news:

"I applaud the Senate for today’s vote extending FMAP support to the states. Moving forward on the FMAP extension means Washington, and many other states, will not be forced to make drastic cuts that would have harmed both our citizens and our economic recovery. The Senate heard that now is not the time to lay off thousands or to eliminate medical services for those who need it the most. Such actions would have been devastating to Washington state by slowing our recovery and potentially pushing us toward a double dip recession. It is important to note that in light of the economy states have already cut their budgets, in Washington state we’ve cut $5.1 billion from the state budget. While a final vote in the... (more)

This past month I flew back to Vermont, where my dad lives. He is 91 years old now, and just broke his hip. So he has a long recovery in front of him, and I was there to help him along and bolster his spirits when he needed some encouragement.

My dad is in a rehabilitation center, where he is learning to "hop" on a walker, and not put any weight on the bad leg. He gets tired, but he perseveres, and he is making progress. He maintains an enthusiasm and interest in life, athletics, politics, and his family and friends. I got him a Kindle, but I am not sure he has figured that out yet!

Without the great professional staff at his rehabilitation center, the physical therapists, the nursing assistants who make sure he is comfortable, and the nurses who look after him, my Dad would not be making progress every day. Without the EMTs who got him to the hospital, the specialist who replaced his hip, and the other doctors who supervise his care and progress, my Dad would not be alive now. Without Medicare, the medical bills... (more)

Onyx Fine Arts Collective 6th Annual Exhibition

September 4, 2010 - September 29, 2010

Art/Not Terminal Gallery

2045 Westlake Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

The 6th Annual Onyx Fine Arts Exhibit is the only event of its kind to introduce and showcase some of the Northwest's most vibrant artists of African descent. This year's juried exhibit will feature the work of 16 or more artists including featured artist, George Jennings, who expresses peace and well being through various cultural identities. Artwork exhibited is two and three-dimensional and for sale.

The event is free and open to the public during gallery hours:

• Monday-Friday, 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
• Saturday, 1:00 - 6:00 PM
• Sunday, 1:30 - 5:00 PM.

Check the Onyx website ( http://onyxarts.org ) for additional details.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s trite to say, “everything is connected.” It’s a phrase that comes up in the context of family, the environment, or perhaps, philosophy. When the subject is reservation violence, however, that same notion could be rewritten as a blunt question: Docs or cops?

 Cops are getting most of the attention after the signing of the Tribal Law and Order Act.  At a White House ceremony on Thursday, Lisa Marie Iyotte introduced President Barack Obama. She is an enrolled member of the White Clay People, her father’s tribe, but grew up and lives as a Sicangu Lakota or Rosebud Sioux. She had the most difficult task: Describing her own brutal assault and rape that was witnessed by her children. The attack was never prosecuted because of the jurisdictional maze that complicates criminal justice in Indian Country.

 “All of you come at this from different angles, but you’re united in support of this bill because you believe, like I do,... (more)

Jarrett Walker of Human Transit writes often about Seattle transit issues and is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy. Martin H. Duke of Seattle Transit Blog strongly encouraged his readers to read this story (which originally appeared at Human Transit), as it explains "why transit and road capacity don’t solve congestion, and what remedies actually will." We're posting an updated version of the story with permission.

Now and then, someone mentions that a particular transit project did not reduce traffic congestion, as though that was evidence of failure.  In fact, the relationship between transit and congestion is indirect.  (In this post "congestion" means that volume/capacity ratio for motor vehicles on a roadway is high enough to substantially reduce average speeds.)   In most cases, it's unwise to claim congestion reduction as a likely result of your proposed transit project.

Road widening, however, is also not a very good way to relieve... (more)

We talk a lot on this blog about why people drive.  Frequent points are made concerning perceived freedom, the motorist’s willingness to “pay time to save money,” the undercapitalization of transit infrastructure, the low marginal cost of individual driving trips once a car is owned, the modal lock-in caused by low-density development, etc., etc…

But I’ve been especially frustrated lately by 3 perverse incentives that don’t get as much press:

1. The continued illegality of usage-based auto insurance. Current Washington State insurance regulations require that the full cost of an annualized policy be stated up front, effectively negating usage-based pricing factors (other than moving violations).  Insurers and motorists thus have contractual frameworks in which risk is priced only as an all-you-can-drive buffet, actively penalizing those who own cars but drive comparatively fewer miles.  Sightline.org has continually lobbied for a regulatory change,... (more)

Next month Governor Gregoire will decide whether to call a special session or issue across-the-board cuts to deal with the state's current budget deficit. With the reluctance of lawmakers to agree to a special session (despite the request for one by Sen. Zarelli) the Governor will likely issue across-the-board cuts of between 3 and 5 percent.

As we pointed our earlier this month, this option does not allow the Governor to leave a reserve meaning she could be forced to issue additional across-the-board cuts again in September and November depending on what happens with the state's revenue forecasts.

Aside from the inability to leave a reserve, the across-the-board cuts option treats all spending equally and doesn't provide the opportunity to make strategic or rational decisions on which programs are more important than others.

This is why the Governor should be provided more budget deficit tools, especially with a part-time Legislature.

It appears the Governor will actively seek these tools next session. According... (more)