From Michelle Malkin, we get the link to the final talley, showing Congressman Dave Reichert voting AYE, to PASS the Cap and Trade Economy Killer Bill.

As Michelle asks;

There are 7 GOP turncoats with recorded YEA votes.

What were their payoffs???

I hope Dave Reichert’s payoff was worth it, because he has now thrown his lot in with the job killers in the Democrat party.

I held my nose and voted for Reichert in 2008, because he is a squishy Republican at best.  There was never any thought that he was a conservative.  But the alternative was Darcy Burner.

At least Burner would not have stabbed her Liberal supporters in the back, like Reichert has with conservatives, Republicans, and working people.

Even if this Bill gets stopped in the Senate, Reichert has given the fanatics on the left some degree of cover, by supporting this monstrosity of a bill.

Courtesy of JoNova:

Michael Kundu, Board President of Marysville (Washington State, USA) District #25 has written to colleagues to urge them to trash a free science resource that discusses logic, reason and evidence, and the core of science. The Skeptics Handbook has arrived at school board presidents’ desks around the US.

“I would encourage all of you to stuff that junk mail directly into the recycle basket.”

In a spot of unwitting self-parody he states:

“…we need to have the ability to tell fact from fiction.  This last mailing is an excellent example of ‘fiction’.”

Thus Michael Kundu, whale photographer, pronounces the data from NASA, Hadley, UAH, CSSP, IPPC, as fiction.

There is a great deal more background at the link, including an interesting exchange between a Marysville resident, and Mr. Kunda, in the Comments.

I heard this on the radio in passing earlier today, and confirmed it on Hot Air this evening.

This sort of intimidation pisses me off.

Let me say before I post the story details that until I read this, I had no intention of joining the fray for referendum 71, which seeks a public vote to overturn the recently signed same sex partnership laws here in Washington.

If anything, I thought that addressing this out of the marriage arena brought back the reality of what this is about without the rhetoric.

And since so many companies are already providing this, I was not surprised to see it pass the Washington legislature and be signed by the Governor.

When I heard about the attempt to overturn it by Referendum, it just made me tired. I am all for churches wanting to maintain their religious doctrines but I also see no problem with the State imposing equality in benefits, while leaving marriage alone.

I am no prude, I enjoy the occasional adult beverage. 

Moving to Washington in 1995 I was rather shocked to find that Washington had such a choke hold on alcohol.

Imagine being in California.  Need a bottle of Scotch Whiskey?  No problem, head over to Safeway, or one of several privately owned Liquor stores in your local area, 7 days a week until 2am.

Compare that to the system in Washington, where you may not even live in a city where there is a State Liquor store, what stores there are are limited in hours, and almost half of them are not even open on Sundays.

Nothing I have seen in this State makes me laugh more, that we as consenting tax paying adults have to go to such measures to score a bottle of Brandy.

Washington State that is. Paula over at It’s Only Words has got two new posts up with a bit of information about Washington’s SB6900.

It seems that our beloved State Senators want to tack on some truly onerous fees to our car tabs, despite being told time and again by the electorate that we want them to be affordable. If you’ve got a 350 cubic inch V8 under your hood, you’ll end up paying $325.00 extra in fees just for the engine displacement. So, if you own a classic car, it’s going to really cost you. If it’s got a big block you’re going to pay through the nose to the tune of $400.00 or more.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech last week. This made a small bit of news, but the big news in the blogosphere was the heckler that stood up and yelled “Tyrant. You are a tyrant.” as he was speaking. Speculation quickly arose that it was Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, although this was unconfirmed. Of course, when pressed Justice Sanders denied it.

Sanders said he did attend the gathering of the Federalist Society last week, but had gone back to his hotel before Mukasey made his evening address.

Today though, Justice Sanders has a different story.

After listening to Mukasey defend the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies — its detainment practices at Guantánamo Bay, its interpretation of the Geneva Conventions’ reach — Sanders stood and shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!"

Washington has a plethora of industry, but there are two names that pretty much come to people's minds when they think of the state:  Boeing and Microsoft.  I have worked for both, and while I have mentioned my high tech industry experiences, I don't talk about Boeing much.

I hired on to the 777 plant in Everett in 1996, about a year and a half after I left the Air Force.

Prior to my hiring on, in 1995, I began to pay attention to Boeing.  It was just prior to Christmas in 1995.  I heard the stories and saw the TV reports.  Christmas shopping at the Auburn Super Mall we drove past the picket lines.

I noticed something.  Boeing had offered them a new contract at around 45 days and they were voting on it.  A person labeled as a Union Officer came on TV expressing his optimism.  The membership flatly rejected it.  Shortly afterward, the same guy spoke on TV about how he had been pretty sure the Members would reject it.

The House Republicans are still on the floor, refusing to take a 5 week vacation, as decreed by the Commissar of the House, Comrade Nancy Pelosi.

Various links here, here, here, and a twitter feed from Rep Hoekstra.

I called Rep. Dave Reicherts office.  They would not confirm nor deny his if he is in DC, Home, or travelling, but DID say that HE WAS NOT on the House floor.

Why not, Dave?

So far I have seen two ads promoting incumbent governor Chris Gregoire, and both had the same theme:  George Bush.

In both ads a comparison was made to how Gregoire was nothing like George Bush.

I have one question:  Did I miss something, or is Bush running for Governor of Washington?

Seriously, the ads are frankly no better than the Better Then Bush sentiments in the 2004 presidential elections.

One of the ads does carry it further and that provides the connection:  they are trying to pain challenger Dino Rossi as "another George Bush" thereby scaring us into not voting for him.

Dino's ad, by comparison targets the Washington's government at it;s weakest areas, traffic, taxes, small businesses and education.

David Postman of the Seattle Times caught the comparison and the flaws:

Gregoire ad is off-base on Rossi v. Roe v. Wade

One of the news items on Orbusmax was this:

State GOP: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants

The state Republican Party adopted a platform Saturday that includes a provision aimed at opposing automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

This is not a new idea…

The state party approved a similar platform plank at its 2006 convention that proved controversial. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes citizenship for all persons born in the United States.

"Immigration is an issue that a lot of our party activists feel strongly about," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said. "And it's certainly a very defensible position. It's not at all something that's based on race concerns. It's a matter of what is citizenship going to be based on."