MetaFilter posts tagged with washington

Refendum 71 is certified

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:52:59 -0800

Today, the State of Washington becomes the first state in the history of the United States to pass a law supporting the equality of same-sex partners by popular vote. The law, SB 5688, has also been described as the "everything-but-marriage bill", protecting rights already recognized for straight couples, such as hospital visitation, adoption, funeral and estate procedures, and insurance and retirement benefits. Signed into law on May 18, 2009 by Governor Christine Gregoire, the bill was held up for ninety days, which provided time for opposition members to organize and place an indefinite hold on the legislation, challenging it with the ballot measure Referendum 71. Despite a history of chronic domestic violence by its leaders Larry Stickney and Matt Shea, the opposition group Protect Marriage Washington barely managed to gather sufficient signatures by September 1, 2009, albeit through fraud and deception, in some cases. Further controversy arose in that this was the first time in state history that petition signatures had been withheld from the public, in violation of policy that in previous instances had made signatures, formerly a matter of record, available for verification by the public. Claiming unspecified and unverifiable threats of violence by gays and lesbians, Stickney's group received special dispensation through an indefinite reprieve by the US Supreme Court, preventing the signatures of his supporters from being released to the public until such time that his case is revisited. Passing with a narrow 53% plurality in an off-year election, the law was reaffirmed by the public on November 24, 2009, and certified today, December 3, 2009 at 12:01 AM by Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and again by Governor Gregoire.

Bye Ben, and thanks for the Chili.

serazin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:25:06 -0800

Ben Ali, co-founder (with his wife Virginia) of Ben's Chili Bowl, died yesterday. Ben's is a favorite spot of politicians, actors, sports figures, and everyday people of all backgrounds. Back story on Ben's and some video of Obama at the bowl. Please share your Ben's Chili Bowl stories below!

Crowdsourcing Transparency

Miko — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:28:40 -0800

Can You Spot a Lobbyist? Who made up the bulk of the audience when Congress began work on health care reform legislation? Lobbyists, according to this photo ID-crowdsourcing project, part of Dollar Politics, a new NPR investigative series. Bill Moyers shines some sunlight too, with Some Choice Words for 'The Select Few.'

In Washington State, echoes of Proposition 8

0xFCAF — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:24:24 -0800

In September of 2004, a Superior Court in Washington state ruled the state's 1998 "Defense of Marriage" act unconstitutional, a ruling which would have allowed the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In 2006, the state Supreme Court issued in an opinion in Andersen v. King County overturning the lower court's ruling, noting "that our decision [pdf] is not based on an independent determination of what we believe the law should be." The legislature, in response, created the state-registered domestic partnership in 2007, expanding many (but not all) marriage-related rights to same-sex couples. Last month, a new law expanded the partnership to cover the remaining rights, creating an "all-but-marriage" partnership.

This year, the Washington Values Alliance has filed Referendum 71, which would put this expansion to a ballot vote. The referendum will need 120,000 signatures to make it to the ballot. WhoSigned.org intends to make these signatures searchable. Predictably, this is creating some controversy. In the meantime, Referendum 71 doesn't seem to be finding much support from likely allies. If it does make it to the ballot, voters hoping to maintain rights for same-sex couples should vote yes to uphold the law as signed. Confused? The Secretary of State's office understands.
Bonus Washington state ballot item: Initiative 957 (which never made it to the ballot) would have required couples to procreate within three years of marriage or face annulment.

Behind Washington's Closet Door.

gman — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:35:13 -0800

Outrage is the new flick by Kirby Dick which outs gay politicians in Washington who dedicate their careers to reducing rights for gay people. Kirby Dick Previously.

Jimmy Smith Park

xorry — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:26:05 -0800

Jimmy Smith Park. Breadcrumbs so you can find your way back: Jimmy Smith Park -> About -> Rivers Park -> Dreams about Drunks -> The evolution of previously.

A closer look at two top Democrats

SeizeTheDay — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:55:25 -0800

Chuck Schumer. Barney Frank. A closer look at two of Washington's most powerful men.

A nation of nonbelievers

0bvious — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:40:35 -0800

"The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian Religion." ~ George Washington / "I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature." ~ Thomas Jefferson / "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my religion." ~ Abraham Lincoln / "A just government has no need for the clergy or the church." ~ James Madison / "I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end... where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice." ~ John F. Kennedy / "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." ~ Barack Obama

Stand on the right, pass on the left

Navelgazer — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:13:02 -0800

Tips for Visitors from a D.C. Resident

More Than Photo Op or Foil

l33tpolicywonk — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:36:36 -0800

"The last eight years, in terms of engagement, [Washington] D.C. has just been a photo op for the president, or a foil," says Tommy Wells, a social worker turned D.C. Council member. Washington was never just the home of corrupt politicians, but home to over a half million American citizens. Can a city so segregated by income (my own previously) flourish with a former community organizer as President? Practice cautious optimism. On Beacon House, Leiby and Brown write:

Beacon House provides a safety net as well as a shield from the influences of the street ... "Some of them don't have a parent to give them a nutritious breakfast, help them with their homework, make sure they brush their teeth. Some mothers are just hanging on," says Stevens-Kittner, 56, who previously worked as an attorney in the Superior Court's Child Abuse and Neglect Branch. "We are surrogate parents."

Great station cafes

MrMerlot — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:49:51 -0800

The Gare de Lyon in Paris has Le Train Bleu. Grand Central Staion in New York has a superb Oyster Bar; Washington Union Station has this neo-classical wonder; while Prague this prime example of art nouveau; Helsinki, meanwhile, offers something suitably democratic. With cafes as good as this, railway stations become destinations in themselves.

"...a liberal who's been mugged..."

neroli — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:28:46 -0800

A discussion about "white fear" and "black crime" Late one night last summer, on 17th and Euclid in Washington, DC, white liberal blogger Brian Beutler was shot three times by a young black man who asked him to hand over his cell phone. (He's fine now, mostly, although he doesn't have a spleen anymore.) Subsequent discussions on various blogs focused on gun control, crime, and gentrification in DC. In a post shortly after the event, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote: For the first time in my life, I have some sense of what the white guy who is ignorant of all things about black people is thinking when he drives through certain parts of town and rolls up his window. Today, Coates and Beutler chatted on Bloggingheads.

Washington to Obama

Glibpaxman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:09:04 -0800

America has come a long way. There is the official version of history or the peoples' version. There are artifacts and rankings. They had some quirks and were occasionally men of their time. If you prefer audio or visual references those are available as well. Common knowledge has it that one GW was our first President but the title of first is under dispute. 230 years later another GW is making a run for worst. That is also under dispute by the nations best brains. For better and worse, the story of the Presidency is the story of America.

First, we need to find out where he stands on legalizing Tickle-Torture...

Navelgazer — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:32:56 -0800

Who is the mysterious Shadow Candidate for Shadow Senator of the District of Columbia? Marx Cafe Bartender Damien Ober, kind of. Ober wrote a series of campaign ads (which can alternate between provocative, sophomoric, and simply creepy, depending on your point of view) in response to D.C.'s lack of congressional representation, and hired an actor to sit in the darkness portraying his unnamed candidate. After viewing the videos on youtube, however, the D.C. Libertarian Party has decided to give him a for-real shot at the for-fake position.

Two Americas Separated by a Common Capital City

l33tpolicywonk — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:49:43 -0800

Two Washingtons: Washington, DC is defined by its income inequality. In the US capital, the top fifth are 27.1 times as wealthy as the bottom fifth. In Dupont Circle, expect to pay $1.2 million for a single family home. Across the Anacostia, expect to find crime, pollution and nothing better than dead-end opportunities. Neighborhoods on the same subway line (pdf) can be separated by nine years in health disparities. As gentrification squeezes the black population out of a historically black city, diverse businesses decline and the city loses its unique character. Now, former Bush speechwriter David Frum says its even what makes DC residents so Democratic.

Ready from Day One, 2001 Edition

wendell — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:59:04 -0800

"Only Nixon could go to China," and only ex-Republican ex-Senator Lincoln Chafee can explain how George W. Bush set out "to preempt the Congress... on every issue", "turned his back on (his) bedrock campaign pledges", and become simultaneously America's most powerful and least popular President (and why there could never be a "surely this..." moment). NOT just another OMGBUSH commentary, this should be required reading for anybody who honestly wants to know what went wrong.

D. C. Shrines, Washington's Other Monuments

Kattullus — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:39:47 -0800

Washington's Other Monuments is a photoblog by photographer Lloyd Wolf chronicling "the many sad memorials erected by friends & family to honor murder and other violence victims in the Washington DC area. These spontaneous, homemade, heartfelt creations are found on streets throughout the region. They are often the only physical tribute to the many slaying victims." Washington Post article. [via Eddie Campbell]

Magnificent Views and Vistas, Mountaineer's Climbs 1912 to 1916

maxwelton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:03:32 -0800

"The object of this organization shall be to explore the mountains, forests and water courses of the Pacific Northwest, and to gather into permanent form the history and traditions of this region; to preserve, by protective legislation or otherwise, the natural beauty of the Northwest coast of America; to make frequent or periodical expeditions into these regions in fulfillment of the above purposes. Finally, and above all, to encourage and promote the spirit of good fellowship and camaraderie among the lovers of out-door life in the West." Thus reads the charter of the Mountaineers. Explore the Tacoma Public Library's online exhibit of the Mountaineer's early history, Magnificent Views and Vistas, Mountaineer's Climbs 1912 to 1916.

Taxation without Representation

Navelgazer — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:06:20 -0800

Senate kills bill to give D.C. representation (L.A. Times). Yesterday the U.S. Senate denied a cloture motion on a bill to allow the District of Columbia two voting U.S. Senators. Facts, the District has a population of 581,530 to Wyoming's 515,004. The district has no representation in the senate, and can only send a single representative to the house, who cannot vote. Washington, D.C. is predominantly black and overwhelmingly democratic. President Bush had threatened to veto if the bill had passed, but his threat was largely ceremonial - the bill needed 60 votes for cloture anyway. The vote was 57-42, largely along party lines. Most Republicans claimed that the bill was "clearly and unambiguously unconstitutional," though eight members of the G.O.P. voted for it anyway, led by former Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

Can't Hurt To Ask!

haricotvert — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:55:05 -0800

Need advice? Ask a Theoretical Physicist. Ask A Gay Man. Ask A Dork. Ask A Ninja (previously). Ask Great Granny. Ask Poop Report. Ask a Hill Staffer (if you can have a job writing Ask A Hill Staffer). Ask A Nun. Ask the Dalai Lama. Ask the Magic 8 Ball. Or I suppose you could always just Ask Mefi.

ArtDCFilter: Hopper, Durand, Adams

silby — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:21:50 -0800

This fall is going to be a good season for some giants of American art in Washington, DC. Edward Hopper comes to the National Gallery from Boston. Asher Durand opens at the Smithsonian. And Ansel Adams travels to the Corcoran.

Exposing Capitol Hill since 2007.

scalefree — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:59:48 -0800

The Capitolist - Web 2.0 meets Capitol Hill The Capitolist is an anonymous BBS for Capitol Hill staffers to post to, and the rest of us to read. Anyone coming from a Hill IP can post anything they want: weird, banal, frustrated, or the occasional full-blown cry in the wilderness. There's even LOLcats here. How long will it last? How far will it go? Hit refresh & find out!

worst of the web.

phaedon — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:06:35 -0800

A pedophile among us. Jack McClellan told us he's mapping out Southland events where little girls attend then posting them on his website. "Is that part of what drew you here to Los Angeles [...] the number of children?" "Yes." McClellan recently moved here from Washington state, having run a site called Seattle-Tacoma-Everett Girl Love for years, which offered tips on how to track children down and how to avoid getting caught by the police. He has never been arrested for a sex crime, so he is free to attend public events with children present, and live next to a school. It is currently not illegal to post a minor's personal information online. "I can understand the fear," he added. "I hope that what I'm doing is setting myself up as an example that it is possible to have these attractions and not be out of control." His site is hosted by the Canadian ISP Epifora. Here it is. [more inside]

The boundary stones of Washington DC.

Wolfdog — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:48:58 -0800

The boundary stones of Washington DC.

Citizen K Street

srboisvert — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:56:25 -0800

Citizen K Street: How Lobbying Became Washington's Biggest Business The story will begin in the newspaper and on the Web on March 4, with an overview of Cassidy's career. Then, beginning March 5 and running Monday through Friday for five weeks exclusively at washingtonpost.com/citizenkstreet, Kaiser will tell the story in a serial narrative that will chart Cassidy's path and the transformation of the lobbying industry in Washington.