No Tax, No Vote?

Today on the Bryan Suits show, a potential topic is would you give up your right to vote if by doing so you did not have to pay any federal tax?

I have already submitted my answer:

This is as big of a no brainer as they come. I live inside the Seattle city limits, see here:
http://andrews-dad.blogspot.com/2006/11/frustration-of-voting-in-seattle-i.html
my vote is "counted" by King County elections. It is not like I am paying many many tens of thousands of dollars in federal taxes... yet, but it is not like my vote is really worth all that much. What potential competitive races am I voting on? Initiatives and the President once every 4 years. What are the odds that one of those races would have been decided by my vote? Let me rephrase that, what are the odds my vote is going to decide a race while Ron Sims, or another partisan Democrat, is King County Executive? Somewhere between none and none.

Does this make me non patriotic? I do not see it that way, but then I am not one of those let's all get out and vote kind of people. There are plenty of people, including many of my own family members, and most of my elected representatives, whom I would prefer would not vote.

Update:

It appears Bryan Suits does not agree with me. I am going to guess he does not get a ballot with the candidate, singular, for the 36th district.

Poverty, (lack of) Education and Fatherless Children

There have been a number of recent blog posts, here, here and here for instance, that have touched on the above topics that I have always maintained are very intertwined. They remind me of a meeting I had with a family about 8 years ago that I will never forget.

Was talking with a social worker for an adoption agency and met a single mom and her two teenage daughters, 19 and 16. They lived in a small apartment in Kent and the mom worked a fairly low wage night job in the area. The reason we were meeting was because the 16 year old was pregnant, due in a month, and considering putting the baby up for adoption. She had got pregnant during a party by a guy she met that same night after smoking some marijuana. The 19 year old was also pregnant and was due in 2 months but she was going to raise the child. She had a boyfriend who lived in Canada but the plan was for the to eventually get married. This was not a household modeled after "Leave It To Beaver". The mom was obviously not 100 percent sold on the idea of her grandchild being put up for adoption and when the baby was born, the decision was made to not place the child.

What has always bothered me about this was the way the social worker handled the situation. She repeatedly told me how the Grandma to be was this great mom doing a wonderful job with her kids. A low income single mom who will soon be sharing her apartment with her two no income single teenage moms and her two grandchildren.

I have no quarrel with the decision to parent and I am sure the mom loved her children and did as good a job with them as she could but for the social worker to go on and on about how wonderful the mom was as if this was the model we should all strive to become struck me as part of the problem of low income single parents.

As I read the posts about kids who do not know their fathers and out of wedlock babies and the solution to under performing schools is simply more money, I just want to scream that what we really need is for those in charge and people in positions of authority to say "I do not condone that behavior". We need to get back to a place where it is not socially acceptable to raise a child without a father. To praise the mom of two pregnant teens. We need to treat socially unacceptable behavior as unacceptable.

Andrew Now Plays Chess

Not well but he plays. Had our first game this evening after dinner and I really took it to him. I myself have never played much but I am going to savor this win as I can see the handwriting on the wall and it is not going to be long before I am congratulating him on his well earned win.

I Shot Par

9 hole par 28 executive course 10 minutes from my house. They have a winter play deal where you can plan the course as often as you like Nov. 1 until Feb. 28th. I shot 28 on my 2nd round this morning. Really nice 12 foot par saving putt on 8 to keep the opportunity alive. Hit my tee shot on 9 dead center of the green 20 feet from the cup. Easy two putt and I did it. Had shot 29 about 6 times before including last week when I hit 9 out of 9 greens.

Orbusmax Exclusive: “Clear Separation Of Church And State” Gets A Little Cloudy In The Seattle Public Schools

Orb hits one out of the park! Seems the Seattle Public School District is ok with having Muslim Prayer Services during the school day, on school property supervised by a teacher and/or a school staffer and so is Orb and so am I... IF, and its a big IF, they are willing to do the same for all religions, which is yet to be determined. The Constitution has an "Establishment" clause, it does not mention "separation of church and state".

MKH or Bethany?

Are they the new "Ginger or Mary Ann"? You decide

Why are conservative female talking heads so much better looking than their liberal counterparts? Because ours is a just and decent God.

Memo To the Seattle P.I.

Carefully temper any dreams of being an operating business in 2008. I am willing to bet today that Dino Rossi will have a better November 2008 than the Seattle P.I. and the reason is Dino Rossi has something to offer, the Seattle P.I. gives us nothing that we could not get from the DNC.

Visit Orbusmax and Sound Politics for details.

The Frustration of Voting in Seattle

I went to my polling place to cast my ballot on Tuesday evening and the place was packed. Not sure why as I got my ballot and of the 25 "races", 21 had only a single unopposed candidate and the other 4 races, it was fairly clear would not be all that competitive.

The saddest part of the election was looking at the results and seeing that the race for City Council, Sally Clark vs. Stan Lippman, Mr. Lippman, who is not a serious candidate who runs a serious campaign, got 25% of the vote yet in the 7th Congressional race, Republican Steve Beren, a serious candidate who really ran a campaign got just 15% of the vote. Now feel free to disagree with where Mr. Beren stands on the issues supporting the troops, wining the war on terror, limited government and reducing dependence on foreign oil, I realize none of those stances match up with your average 7th Congressional district voter, but still, he is a serious candidate. If he was running in another Congressional district, such as the 4th, 5th or even the 8th, he could have won. It is true he had about the same chance of winning in the 7th as say a Jew winning a race in Iran or Palestine, and I think that analogy for the 7th is appropriate on more than one level, but Stan Lippman, who I am sure is a decent person, is not someone that could win any election contest in the state and he got a higher percentage of the vote.

That brings us to an issue that is eventually going to cause Seattle, the Puget Sound region, Western Washington and maybe even the entire state problems in the future. Right now, the Democrats are going to win ever race in the Seattle area and the majority of races in the Puget Sound region with little to no effort. The Democrats have a monopoly in Seattle. The problem is with any monopoly comes poorer service to the customer then if there was competition. Think of that excellent customer service you get from the Department of Licensing, public schools, the way AT&T use to work hard to keep you as a customer when they were the only game in town. The Democrats do not need to do anything for the Seattle area and will still get voted into office. All you need to do is take a look at the accomplishments of Representative Jim McDermott.

Here are the first 10 listed bills that Rep. McDermott sponsored during the current session of Congress:
1. H.CON.RES.447 : Expressing the sense of the Congress that States should have the flexibility to design welfare programs that make sense in their communities with an overall goal of helping children and reducing poverty by promoting and supporting work.

2. H.RES.26 : Congratulating the Downers Grove North High School Trojan football team and the students and fans of Downers Grove North High School on their outstanding sportsmanship and on winning the 2004 Illinois Class 8A Football State Championship.

3. H.RES.52 : Congratulating the Seattle Storm for winning the 2004 Women's National Basketball Association Championship.

4. H.RES.53 : Congratulating Ichiro Suzuki for breaking the Major League Baseball record for hits in a single season.

5. H.RES.353 : Supporting a landmark initiative in bilateral energy cooperation between India and Pakistan.

6. H.RES.705 : Recognizing and congratulating Apolo Anton Ohno for his historic performances in short track speedskating at the 2006 and 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

7. H.R.751 : To reauthorize and improve the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program by promoting work, family, and opportunity, and for other purposes.

8. H.R.852 : To extend Federal recognition to the Duwamish Tribe, and for other purposes.

9. H.R.1200 : To provide for health care for every American and to control the cost and enhance the quality of the health care system.

10. H.R.1615 : To ensure that proper planning is undertaken to secure the preservation and recovery of the salmon and steelhead of the Columbia River basin and the maintenance of reasonably priced, reliable power, to direct the Secretary of Commerce to seek scientific analysis of Federal efforts to restore salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and for other purposes.

Here are the first 10 listed bills that Rep. McDermott co-sponsored during the current session of Congress:
1. H.CON.RES.25 : Recognizing the contributions of Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair, Jr.), David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain, the "Greensboro Four", to the civil rights movement.

2. H.CON.RES.26 : Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen for their bravery in fighting for our freedom in World War II, and for their contribution in creating an integrated United States Air Force

3. H.CON.RES.30 : Supporting the goals and ideals of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

4. H.CON.RES.35 : Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.

5. H.CON.RES.38 : Recognizing the achievements of the National Captioning Institute in providing closed captioning services to Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

6. H.CON.RES.41 : Recognizing the second century of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and supporting the mission and goals of that organization.

7. H.CON.RES.42 : Expressing the sense of the Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should be issued to promote public awareness of Down syndrome.

8. H.CON.RES.44 : Recognizing the historical significance of the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

9. H.CON.RES.57 : Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should grant a pardon to Marcus Mosiah Garvey to clear his name and affirm his innocence of crimes for which he was unjustly prosecuted and convicted.

10. H.CON.RES.58 : Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring former Representative Shirley Chisholm, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.

Now I am not looking for a representative who brings home pork but for goodness sake, if you look at the entire list of sponsored legislation, except for recognizing the Duwamish tribe, there is nothing, not one thing that specifically helps the 7th congressional district or its residents. Nothing for the viaduct, nothing for transportation, no infrastructure, no social services, no Port of Seattle, no Pacific Rim trade, nothing to make Puget Sound cleaner, no homeland security projects, nothing, nothing, nothing.

But then why should he, he just got 80% of the vote without campaigning.

Patricia Madrid, The Worst Debater Ever, Part 2

Good lord woman, get out of politics...

Uneducated Poor People Vote For Darcy Burner

In a Survey USA poll, Congressman Dave Reichert, leads Darcy Burner 51% - 45%.

Dig a little deeper and you can see that amongst those with no college education, Reichert and Burner are tied, amongst those with some college Reichert leads 53% to 43%, those with a college degree Reichert leads 51% to 44% and those with graduate college, 48% to 46%. According to income bracket, the higher your income the more likely you are to vote for Reichert. <40K, Burner leads 52% - 45%, 40K to 80K 47%-47% and above 80K Reichert leads 56%-40%.

I am just waiting to hear the Burner camp attempt to make hay with the fact that the "rich" are for Reichert and the working class are for Burner when it is the uneducated and least able to provide for themselves that support Burner.

Thanks to Sound Politics for the lead by way of Orbusmax.

John Kerry Loves the Troops?

"I make apologies to no one about my criticism of the president and his broken policy," Kerry said in a statement... and it appears that is the case with the official statement that

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.
...
...
I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

I am just curious what his winning strategy is. Because John Kerry really does love the terrorizing war criminals, I mean the troops.