Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Elections 2007: Bill Sherman for County Prosecutor

The sudden and unexpected death of longtime King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng in May necessitated a special election this November to elect his successor.  Maleng had run unopposed in 2006, but that won’t be the case this time around.  The Republican candidate is Maleng’s head administrator Dan Satterberg, running against Democratic Assistant Prosecutor Bill Sherman.  As shown in the new “Candidates, Campaigns” section of my sidebar, I strongly support Sherman.

I’ve known Bill for something like five years, as a leader in the 43rd District Democrats organization, as a PCO, and as one of the top candidates in last year’s six-way race for our open seat in the State House.  Before he began serving in the County Prosecutor’s office, he was in private practice in Seattle, and prior to moving here he worked with Bruce Babbitt in Clinton’s Interior Department.

In a county that’s been turning ever more progressive, ever more Democratic, over the last several decades, it’s astonishing to observe how very, very long the County Prosecutor’s office has been run by Republicans.  Suffice it to say that no Democrat has been elected County Prosecutor in my lifetime ... and I’m no spring chicken.  We’re talking 1948 as the last year there was a Democrat in that office.  That’s fully half of Washington’s existence as a state.

Led by the indefatigable David Goldstein of HorsesAss.org, we are currently in the midst of a Netroots Fund Drive for Bill Sherman.  The goal of the drive is to raise $5000 and draw 200 new contributors.  I’ve already put some cash on the barrelhead, and you should too.  Even if all you can spare is $5 or $10, your contribution will be very valuable to Bill’s campaign; this is one that the other guys are desperate to hang onto—it’s their last vestige of countywide office—and they’re pouring the big right-wing bucks into trying to turn the tide.

You can get to Bill’s secure donations webpage by clicking on either this link or the Bill Sherman icon in my just-added “Candidates, Campaigns” sidebar.  Click away!!

I could recount chapter and verse of why it’s a good thing to back the Sherman campaign.  But why rehash what’s already been better stated by the likes of:

• Goldy of HorsesAss.org (here, here, here, and here)
• Noemie at Washblog
• McCranium‘s Jimmy
• Daniel Kirkdorffer of On The Road To 2008

It’ll take work to elect Bill Sherman to the office of County Prosecutor.  It’s work that’s amply worth doing.  Right now, that work is principally monetary (to repeat, you can do a secure contribution by clicking this link).  Later on, we may be back to ask for your help in literature drops, canvassing, and GOTV.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Wonders never cease

It’s well known that I’m a phan oph the Philadelphia Phillies.  It’s all the more well known that the Phillies are historically the prime exemplar oph major league baseball phutility.  As I posted this summer, the Phils are the only club in major league history to have been on the losing end oph 10,000 games.  They’ve lost 311 more games than Atlanta, even though the Braves have played 532 more games than the Phils.

Today, though, WHO CARES ABOUT ALL THAT???

Today, at the end oph the 2007 baseball season, the Philadelphia Phillies are the National League East champions!!



Unlike 22 major league teams, the Phils will play in October this year.  They don’t yet know who they’ll be playing come Wednesday, but they will be playing.  Their opponent will be either the San Diego Padres or the Colorado Rockies, who will meet Monday in Denver to decide who will be this year’s NL wildcard. 

On phirst glance, you’d have to phavor the Padres in that one, since their starting pitcher, Jake Peavy, is all but certain to win the league’s Cy Young Award (he’s already won the “pitching triple crown”, topping the Senior Circuit in wins, ERA, and strikeouts).  But you might also have expected phuture Hall oph Phamer Tom Glavine to pitch well phor the New York Mets this aphternoon, and he was pummelled ophph the mound aphter giving up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 7 runs in just a third oph an inning.  In addition, the Rockies have been smokin’ hot, victorious in 13 oph their last 14 games.

I don’t have a prepherence in the play-in game.  At this point, it’s all gravy phor a Phillies phan.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Gone-zo

What will George W. Bush do without his Fredo?  Frankly, I’m not sure it really makes much difference at this point in 43’s counting-the-days regency.  Parenthetically, I always wondered whether Dubya knew that his consigliere‘s namesake in the Godfather series was weak, stupid, duplicitous, and sexually confused.

Whether the departure of Gonzales—following those of Rummy, Card, Rove, Bartlett, and other one-time Bush insiders—has any real meaning for the nation and the world, it’s still a great excuse (as if an excuse is needed) to add your voice and some small portion of your wallet to the BurnBush effort.

As I write this, Goldy’s campaign in support of Darcy Burner is rapidly closing in on the $70,000 mark.  That’s incredible, but it’s still a good bit short of his ambitious $100,000 goal.  (Darcy’s overall ActBlue total has leapt almost to $90,000!) The Gonzales announcement may divert attention from the BurnBush effort, even here in the Puget Sound area where Dubya will offer his backside for Eastside Republicans and Sheriff Hairspray to kiss this afternoon. 

But let’s show them what we can do!  Let’s show them that diversionary tactics—and this announcement is just another in an endless series of diversions while the Bad Guys work their nefarious magic behind the scenes—won’t dissuade us from even the most ambitious of targets!

Once again:

• Register for, and participate in, Darcy’s Virtual Town Hall, starting at 3pm Pacific this afternoon.
• Sign Darcy’s petition on the Iraq War and the Bush malAdministration’s maladministration.
• Make a contribution—no matter how small—to the BurnBush campaign.  Maybe you will be the one who puts BurnBush over the top, into the six-figure range!

Friday, August 24, 2007

"Burner"ing Bush

The United States Congressman on the other side of Lake Washington is in trouble.  He is so desperate for campaign money that he has invited the world’s second-most-reviled human being to visit this coming Monday.  Apparently, George Walker Bush is still able to bamboozle corporatist wingnuts Washington State Republicans into opening their wallets to the tune of $10,000 apiece for the opportunity to watch him blither and dither and just plain lie.

Oh, do I have to even state the name of the first-most-reviled human being?  Yes, I’m looking at you, Darth Cheney.

In response to the looming disruption on Monday, August 27, our comrade (and, of course, Democratic WA-08 candidate) Darcy Burner will hold a Virtual Town Hall during Dubya’s visit.  You can learn more about that event, from one of her steadfast supporters, by clicking on the YouTube link below:





In addition to the Virtual Town Hall, Darcy has also written a petition, which I hope every one of my readers will sign.  It sends a powerful message that will resonate with many of us:

We believe that it is time to stand up and fight for what is right. We believe it is time to say “NO!” to the disastrous policies of the Bush administration. We believe it is time to bring the Iraq war to a responsible close. We believe it is time to restore our strained military, balance our budgets and rebuild our burned bridges with the rest of the world. And we believe it is past time for our Congress in Washington, D.C. to stop stampeding in the face of the Bush administration’s fear-mongering, and instead stand up and do what we know is right. We say: End the War! Renew our hope for the future!

The Pacific Northwest blogosphere, led by our good friend David Goldstein, is joining Darcy’s efforts.  It’s an extraordinarily ambitious undertaking—Goldy’s goal is to raise $100,000—the equivalent of 10 filthy-lucre GOP fat-cats—through the Burn Bush ActBlue page he has created.

As soon as I finish writing this post, I’m going to do my share of that Bush-burning.  I strongly and enthusiastically urge my readers to do the same.  Please click on the link in the above paragraph (or this one right here, for that matter), which will take you to that ActBlue page.  I’m hoping that at least one contribution, aside from my own, will arrive there via Peace Tree Farm.  It would thrill me no end, and be an affirmation that maybe I’m doing something valuable on these premises, if one (or more) of the vanishingly-few people who read this blog were to contribute to the effort due to my request rather than through all the other blogs that are promoting it.

Reminding you again:

• Register for Darcy’s Virtual Town Hall, hosted by DailyKos frontpager mcjoan, at 3pm PDT on Monday, August 27.
• Add your name, and your thoughts, to Darcy’s petition, expressing your thoughts on these vital issues.

Friday, July 13, 2007

A little more on 9999

As I write this, the Phillies are still at 9999 losses, hanging on the brink of going to five digits in the loss column.  Then again, they haven’t yet played any games after Tuesday’s All-Star Game, so I suppose that isn’t much of an achievement.

One thing I meant to discuss but didn’t get around to in the previous post is the gap between the Phils and the rest of the pack when it comes to losses.  It’s not merely that they’re just about to become the first professional sports team to reach 10,000 losses (unless you want to count the Washington Generals).  It’s their margin over the field.

That field really consists of only eight clubs, the “Original Eight” teams in the National League.  In comparison to the NL, founded in 1876, the American League consists of rank newbies; it didn’t come into existence as a major league until 1901.  Hence, its sobriquet as the “Junior Circuit”.

As I mentioned last time, the Phillies came into being in 1883.  That makes them a relatively new team in this crowd.  The Chicago Cubs and Atlanta (formerly Milwaukee, formerly Boston) Braves trace their existence all the way back to the creation of the National League in 1876.  The Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals go back to 1882.  The San Francisco (once New York) Giants entered the NL at the same time as the Phils, and the Los Angeles (nee Brooklyn) Dodgers started in 1884.  So some of the Phillies’ NL rivals had as much as a seven-year head start in loss-accumulation.

Excluding the one National League game played after the All-Star break (Cincinnati lost to the New York Mets), here are the cumulative win-loss records of the Original Eight, in descending order:

Team	Wins	Losses	Winning %
Phillies	8808	9999	.468
Braves	9659	9681	.499
Cubs	9944	9425	.513
Pirates	9569	9339	.507
Reds	9636	9338	.508
Cardinals	9805	9156	.517
Dodgers	9843	8932	.524
Giants	10151	8681	.539

[Source—Baseball-reference.com]

Only two of the Original Eight have lost more games than they’ve won.  All but one of them have won at least 9500 times, but the Phils aren’t even close to that.  In fact, they’re an astonishing 761 victories behind the next lowest win-total.  If they maintained their all-time winning percentage, it would take them over 10 years to reach the next-worst (current) number of games won.  Ugh. 

Looking at it another way, if the Braves continued at their all-time pace, the Phillies would have to go something like 636-0 to avoid reaching 10,000 losses ahead of them.  That would be just under four years without a loss.  Something I’d like to see, but somehow I doubt it’ll happen.

How ‘bout still another viewpoint on just how awful the Phillies have been?  As we’ve seen, the original American League teams started play as a major league in 1901.  In other words, the AL teams gave the Phillies 18 extra years to win games before they started playing (note, however, that most of those seasons ran between 100 and 130 games in length, rather than the 154 or 162 since then).  Despite that head start, the Phillies have won fewer games in their history than the detestable New York Yankees.  A lot fewer.  At the All-Star break, the Bronx Bombers had compiled a 9331-7137 record since 1901, for a cumulative winning percentage of .567.  Eighteen fewer seasons, 523 more victories ... double ugh.

A commenter on my Wednesday dKos diary pointed out that triskaidekaphobes (and -philes, if they exist) would find it particularly appropriate if loss number 10,000 were to occur tonight, Friday the 13th.  FOX Sports would really like to see the Phils win tonight, because they’re telecasting Saturday’s game.  And ESPN would really like to see the Phils win both tonight and Saturday, so that they’d have the opportunity to carry the 10,000th defeat on Sunday Night Baseball. 

As for me, I’m still holding out for that four-year winning streak.  But I’m not betting the house on it.