Here's a Real Shocker

According to the AP:

Attorneys for embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick say they won't try to have his travel restrictions lifted in time for him to attend the Democratic National Convention.

Spokesman Marcus Reese says Kilpatrick is focused on "serving the citizens of Detroit, not on presidential politics."

Kilpatrick can't leave the Detroit area as a condition of his bond on two assault charges.

I wonder how many other superdelegates and close friends of the Dalai Bama will not be able to attend the convention without violating the conditions of their parole?

Speaking of Democratic sleaze, neither John "Two Timing Americas" Edwards, nor his love child, appear on the convention schedule.

Nor does the Good Reverend Jesse JacksoN-word, who has spoken at every Democratic National Convention since 1984, presumably because of Secret Service concern over the security of the Democratic presidential nominee's genitals. However, Jackson's son, Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., will speak, ironically enough, on the "One Nation" theme today.

State Democrats Cover Up Queen's Sleaze

Here's a shocker. The Democratic-controlled Washington Legislature has refused to conduct an investigation into Wampumgate, the payoffs that the Queen received from Indian casinos for axing a proposal to force the tribes share revenue with the state.

House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-CYA City) said:

These kinds of tactics, designed to divide the people of Washington state rather than unite us, are not what the legislative process should be focused on.

Really?? As Chris Cargill at the KXLY blog points out:

While there may not be a beneficial reason to open such an inquiry, to say this isn’t what the legislative process is all about is laughable. What is the Washington legislative process about?

Is it about opening a legislative debate on impeaching the President, which the legislature has NO say in whatsoever?

Is the legislative process about trying to force a national change in the Electoral College system?

Is it about trying to secure a new Arena for the Seattle Supersonics?

Is it about trying to ban plastic bags?

Is it about banning the kind of dishwashing detergent people in Washington can use?

Is it about naming a frog the official state amphibian?

The legislature tackled all of these issues in its last session. So its pretty laughable when the Speaker of the House, in essence, claims the legislature has better things to do.

No, the true business of the Democratic dictatorship in Olympia is simply to stay in power, no matter what it takes.

The Queen of Tax and Spend

The Seattle Times today damningly skewered Queen Christine's continual claims of being "fiscally responsible:"

As much as anything, Gov. Christine Gregoire's first term in office is notable for one number: $8 billion.

That's how much state spending has increased since Gregoire, a Democrat, was elected in 2004.

Another way of looking at it: The two-year general-fund budget has jumped 31 percent, to $33.6 billion. That's the largest percentage increase in the past 16 years.

Can the state of Washington afford such increases in what the Democrats so mockingly refter to as the "Bush Economy?" According to the Times, no:

Indeed, unless the economy quickly turns around, the state likely will face a multibillion-dollar shortfall next year.

What has the money been spent on? Political payoffs to her allies, the teachers and state employees unions. Again from the Times:

Half of the $8 billion increase in state spending during Gov. Christine Gregoire's term has gone to pay and benefits.

Some of it is from her own excess. The governor's office budget has more than doubled under Christine Gregoire, to about $73 million for the 2007-09 biennium.

Oh yeah, and about that promise the Queen made in 2004 not to raise taxes, the Times reports:

Gregoire and the state Legislature have approved tax increases that total about $150 million a year and reinstated an estate tax that brings in another $100 million annually.

That estate tax threatens to drive Schweitzer Engineering expansion out of Pullman. That figure does not include the 9 1/2 cent gas tax that was approved in 2005.

Queen Christine has dutifully paid off everyone who helped her win a 129-vote victory over Dino Rossi in 2004. But does Washington deserve a governor whose policies are dictated by those special interests which have the cash to keep the Queen in public office, the only job she has ever known?

It's time for a change.

Queen Christine Plays Checkers

It was a weird political twist in a Washington gubernatorial race already full of them; strangely reminiscent of Richard Nixon's famous 1952 Checkers speech, when then Senator Nixon denied receiving any personal gifts from supporters other than "a little cocker spaniel dog...our little girl-Tricia, the 6-year old-named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it."

According to Spin Control 2.0:

In describing her Republican challenger, the governor tried tying him to President Bush, which is something she's been doing for months now. According to The Associated Press, Gregoire said there's no difference between Rossi and Bush.

“He’s so enamored with George W. Bush, he named his dog ’W,”’ the AP reported Gregoire as saying. “I feel sorry for the dog.”

Hey, attacking Dino's dog is beyond the pale, the Rossi campaign complained.

“People in Washington want a candidate who will fix problems in our state, not an incumbent Governor who spends her time attacking her opponent’s dog. We’re going to keep talking about issues that matter like controlling spending, fixing our traffic congestion problem, and improving our schools,” said Jill Strait, Rossi spokesperson. “It’s sad that Governor Gregoire has already come to the realization that she can’t win by talking about her own record, so she resorts to the same tired old strategy being used by Democrats across the country -- to tie all candidates in our party to the President.”

And it wasn't Rossi that named the dog, it was his daughter Juliauna, in gratitude to the president for writing a letter telling Rossi to get their kids a dog.

So desperate to hang on to state office, the only job she's ever known, with no record of accomplishments and no plans for the next four years, the Queen has reached a new low trying to associate Dino with the President by going after the Rossi family dog. Who in the heck is calling the shots in her campaign anyway? A pimply-faced Young Democrat nutrootsers locked in his mom's basement?

January 2009 can't come fast enough so we can run the tyrant out of Olympia on a rail.

"Compound fracture of fact"

The reason for the numerous PARD "compound fractures of fact" and the smear campaign they are currently waging which Terry Day referred to in a letter to the editor last Friday is obvious.

PARD desperately wants to distract public attention away from the outing of their three year long lie about not receiving any financial assistance from the UFCW. They fear, rightfully so, the wrath of Pullman citizens who have been cheated out of two million dollars in sales tax revenue and tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses as part of some futile nationwide union grudge match against Wal-Mart that has nothing to do with our town.

PARDner Chris Lupke, and PARD ally Matthew Root (remember, Root threatened to call the cops on Palousitics constributor Ray Lindquist for holding up a "Honk for Wal-Mart" sign downtown back in January 2006,) have been engaged in a systematic campaign of outrageous lies and distortions against Scotty ("The Seattle Transplant,") myself, and by inference, all who support Wal-Mart coming to Pullman in the printed pages of the Daily News and on Dnews.com.

For example, Lupke wrote in a unhinged rant published in the July 5-6 edition of the Daily News that, "Following it [this blog post made by me on June 29] are some comments, including this: 'This pig needs to be removed from the trough.'" That bordered on libel, as the clear implication was that I had made that statement. On Dnews.com, the online comments about this letter actually turned libelous, as I was accused by both Lupke and Root of having made it.

That is a complete and utter lie. If you look at the comments for this post, you can see it was Paul Zimmerman that wrote about the "pig," not me. What I said was this:

There was a story in the Daily News not too long ago stating that the average salary of professors at WSU was $92,000 a year.

Now, one can debate that number in terms of pay at other universities or whether the professors deserve such pay or not all day long.

What is not debatable, however, is the adolescent hippie fantasy that Lupke engages in that somehow the professors of PARD with their much-higher-than-average salaries (and education) represent the "working class" of Pullman. It's unseemly and it's silly.

My wife is a professor in the College of Liberal Arts. I have never impugned the pay of professors or the quality of professors in the College of Liberal Arts in general, only arrogant jerks in any college who suppress academic freedom and try to promote their own leftist agenda on the taxpayer's time or by pretending to be "experts" in things such as traffic, urban planning and economics.

I don't think Paul was making a broad statement aboout professors either, as he has been an instructor at WSU. He was just singling out Lupke. And I was merely rebutting Lupke's absurd assertion on Dnews.com that somehow only the "more wealthy people" in Pullman support Wal-Mart. I did this by using data available to those who pay his salary, the taxpayers of Washington,to show that members of prominent PARD households all make well above the average family income in Pullman. If Lupke doesn't like his pay being a matter of public record, he should move to a job in the private sector.

If any further letters or comments claiming that I said anything about "pigs in the trough" show up again anywhere, there will be legal consequences for all involved.

But false accusations and namecalling are nothing new to the tag team of Lupke and Root, both active members of the Whitman County Democrats. A few months back, after falsely accusing me of being the Dnews.com commenter "TJ Kong," Lupke said I was "homophobic" and "fascinated with Nazis." Root called "TJ Kong" a "suicide bomber."

From last Friday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Mark Twain spoke of lies and damned lies and labeled the aphorism that "Truth is mighty and will prevail" as "the most majestic compound fracture of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved ... a truth is not hard to kill, and ... a lie well told is immortal."

I take it this must be the bible of PARDites, who continue to spread lies about Pullman city officials regarding Wal-Mart's proposed Pullman super center. PARDites will take umbrage at this truth. They are unrestrained in misrepresenting the city's handling of the Wal-Mart application, but accuse those who criticize them of intimidation.

The only smear campaign in Pullman over Wal-Mart is being conducted by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development or its supporters. They wage it against city officials who acted morally and legally and whose handling of the issues have repeatedly been upheld in the court of law. And that especially includes providing all citizens ample opportunity through public hearings to voice their concerns and opinions. Allegations to the contrary constitute a compound fracture of fact.

Terence L. Day, Pullman

Uh Oh, Even More Scandal Brewing for the Dems

You knew this was coming: Obama Received Sweetheart Loan Deal and Campaign Contributions from Illinois Bank .

Why would BHO act any differently than the other Dem senators caught with their snouts in the trough?

As usual, the lamestream media will completely ignore this story. Nothing can be allowed stop the ascension of the Obamessiah to his heavenly throne.

"Rossi Political Insult Reveals Character Flaws in Gregoire’s Long-Held State Power"

Outside the latte liberal set in Seattle, people get it about the tyranny of Queen Christine and her lust for power.

The Centralia Chronicle had a damning editorial yesterday about her latest faux-pas, the racist attack on Dino Rossi.

Some excerpts:

In politics it doesn’t matter which party is in control -- power does indeed corrupt. Washington state’s Democrats have now been in control for 24 years. That is a whole generation of the same politicians and their hacks; at this point they have become overconfident, condescending and arrogant. What follows are bad taste, rule bending and the shunning of ethics. Such is the case in Chris Gregoire’s campaign to hold on to her governorship -- or more precisely, a misguided attempt to be cute by the anti-Rossi attack machine.

[snip]

Perhaps the Democrats, confident of their death-grip on the state of Washington, do not feel subject to fairness, decency or good manners. They can do what they want -- Soprano style -- with little fear of voter retribution. Our hope is that Washington’s voters can see through the smoke and mirrors and locate the problem of too much power in one place for too long.

Well said. Read the whole thing.

Time to end the one-party dictatorship in Olympia.

Uh Oh, More Scandal Brewing for Washington Dems

Hot on the heels of Wampumgate, Washington's junior varsity senator Maria Cantdowell is dealing with a potential quid pro quo scandal of her own.

Politico.com asked all 100 senators about the circumstances surrounding their home loans following revelations that Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) received "VIP" mortgages from Countrywide.

Every senator but Cantdowell responded. Her mortgage company? Yep. Countrywide. No allegations of wrongdoing yet, but it don't look good, especially as the Queen now wants to run Countrywide out of Washington for using predatory lending practices against minorities.

Again, my question to you starry-eyed Democratic activists like Bryan Burke who are backing Obama, is this the party of "change" or is this the party of "politics as usual?"

Racism, Hate and Lies We Can Believe In

Remember a few months back when John McCain asked the North Carolina Republican Party to pull a TV ad attacking two Democrats running for governor by linking Barack Obama to the racist Rev. Jeremiah Wright? McCain was also uncomfortable with a Tennessee Republican ad that used the words "Barack Hussein Obama," implying somehow that Obama was a Muslim.

I wonder now if the Obama campaign will ask the Washington State Democratic Party to pull the video above that plays the theme to "The Sopranos" while attacking Dino Rossi (Michelle Obama will be campaigning in Seattle for Gregoire on July 17.) I guess the racist implication the Rats are making is that since Rossi is Italian-American, he must be in the Mafia. The Italian Club of Seattle is already demanding that the ad be yanked and Washington Democratic chairman Dwight Pelz resign.

And be sure to check out the Dems new Rossi slimesite here. It is the most over the top negative campaigning site you'll ever see, filled with lies and distortions and even a picture of Dino morphing into George W. Bush. Perhaps the Rats are thinking of including Schweitzer Engineering in this hate mongering as well.

As I said, there will be no rules in this gubernatorial knife fight, not from the Rats anyway.

Obama supporters: Is this "change we can believe in?" Is this a departure from the "politics of failure" and "politics as usual?" Do we really want someone as governor who will do and say anything to remain in office? Vote Obama if you must, but you can't vote for Gregoire.

Wampumgate: Quid Pro Cash

From cartoonist Eric Devericks at the Seattle Times

A Quo for Every Quid

The Seattle Times today has a lengthy story on how the left-wing organizations that forked over $3.5 million for the manual recount that won Queen Christine the 2004 gubernatorial election have all been handsomely rewarded under her administration.

I have pointed out before that the Queen is definitely no ingrate. As a WEA official puts it, "Absolutely it was money well spent." We have the best Governor that special interests can buy.

Quote of the Day

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Gregoire and her political operatives have been shamelessly trying to smear Dino since before our campaign even began. The Washington Education Association ran radio attack ads against Dino in February, the Democratic Governor’s Association and local unions have put more than $800,000 into the new Evergreen Progress PAC that will undoubtedly be used to attack Dino, and the State Democratic Party sends out almost daily press releases filled with distortions. Is Gregoire suddenly going to take a stand against all of these groups? I wouldn’t count on it.

- Dino Rossi spokesperson Jill Strait, June 19, 2008

Neither would I. There are no rules in a knife fight. And the 2008 Washington gubernatorial race is going to be as bitter of a political knife fight as you can imagine. There will be no prizes for Miss (or Mr.) Congeniality.

Eric Earling at Sound Politics is calling for those responsible for the "Don't Let Seattle Steal This Election" sign to knock it off. I completely disagree. It's effective. It will put ballots in the box. I'd like to get a thousand of them to put up in Whitman County. Does anyone doubt that the leftists would not use a similar tactic if the situation was reversed? If Rossi wins what promises to be a very close election again, it won't be by playing to the delicate sensibilities of the latte liberals in the Emerald City.

Dislike of Seattle's one party rule is a VERY valid campaign issue here in Eastern Washington, and it's not just a bad taste left over from 2004. The disaffection is not limited to mouth-breathing wingnuts. Moderates, like Eastern Washington's most respected business leader Ed Schweitzer are fed up too. Remember how the imperious Puget Sound Dems tried to push through legislation this past session concerning global warming and the environment that would have very adversely affected us? I won't even get into the Department of Ecology's business-killing stormwater regulations that have created great antipathy among Eastern Washington's smaller cities. Dems can say "One Washington" all they want, but that doesn't play outside downtown Spokane. The "Cascade Curtain" is wider and deeper than ever before as Queen Christine fiddles while issues like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the WASL burn.

The Queen's press conference was simply a vain attempt to draw public attention away from the simmering scandal of Wampumgate that is about to overtake her floundering campaign.

Wampumgate

Queen Christine's sleazy payoffs from Indian casinos have state Republicans calling for an investigation.

This certainly is bad enough news for the Dems when the most competitive governors race in years is at stake. Even Gregoire's own party is apparently appalled. According to Seattle Times political reporter David Postman, the day after the story of the deal broke, the Queen's supporters had to stage a "spontaneous" floor demonstration at the state Democratic convention in Spokane. But as Mrs. Gregoire is Obama's most visible supporter in Washington State, it has national repercussions as well.

As we all know, the Obamessiah has promised a change from "politics as usual." However, James Johnson, the former Fannie Mae CEO, who is leading Obama's Veep search has come under fire for some shady deals of his own. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Johnson received some quid pro quo mortgages worth more than $7 million from a lender, including at least two loans below market average. Combined with the Queen's troubles, the stench could be overwhelming come November.

HT: Patrick Bell, WSRP

The Queen of Quid Pro Quo

A story in today's Seattle-PI titled "Tribes give big to Gregoire, avoid sharing casino cash," blows the lid off the connection between some $700,000 in "contributions" to the Democrats and Queen Christine's reelection campaign from Washington Indian tribes and Gregoire's killing of a 2005 compact on sharing tribal casino revenue that cost the state more than $140 million a year. "It's a payoff," one gambling expert calls it.

Ted Van Dyk has a great post about the scandal on the Crosscut blog. He makes some of the connections Ed Schweitzer did the other day about Washington Democrats being in the pockets of big-monied fat cats and doing nothing for the little guy:

Since my return to Seattle more than seven years ago, I have noted many changes in the state and local political cultures. The most disappointing has been the degree to which supposedly "liberal" governors, legislators, mayors and others accept as business-as-usual policies and practices which are shockingly self-interested and against the interests of a majority of their constituents.

At state level, there are the "tax expenditures" — loopholes and subsidies — extended to individual companies and entire sectors which have cut a huge hole in the state revenue base, which then is replenished with largely regressive taxes on those least able to pay. There are the almost automatic grantings of pay increases and other benefits sought by powerful public-employee and teachers' unions. And, of course, the allocation of massive public funds to cost-ineffective public works boondoggles such as the Allentown trolley and Sound Transit light rail.

It's a must-read.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's time for change we can believe in in Olympia.