Saturday, July 16, 2005
Random local notes
Latest on Gayor West: Shannon Sullivan's recall effort is finally gathering momentum. A state judge has agreed to speed up the examination of the Gayor's objection to the recall, so the petitions will have a fighting chance to hit the fall ballot. [I've repeatedly observed that Wash state judges are surprisingly rational; really shouldn't be a surprise, since they're elected to short terms, not appointed for life.]
Mixed: Wash has been trying to restore its open primary system after a federal Emperor decided it was "unconstitutional" a couple years ago. The '04 election was run with genuine party primaries, but the locals wanted their own tradition back, so they passed an initiative designed to get around the Emperor's objections. Didn't work; yesterday a different Emperor said the new setup was also "unconstitutional", which of course it isn't. I have mixed feelings about this: open primaries are a bad idea, leading to weak parties. But the state should be allowed to pick its own method, no matter how dumb. When black-robed Emperors force unwanted laws down the people's throats, rebelliousness takes over, and there's no chance to examine the inherent virtues of one method over another.
Swarmings: Vancouver, BC is suffering from a spate of swarming incidents, in which a wolfpack of teens beat up another teen, usually chosen for low status. This seems to be a long-standing Canadian problem, as you can determine by a quick Google on 'swarmings'.
Here's how we get swarmings: A couple of young assholes were shooting bottle rockets directly into the windows of passing cars. They chose the wrong car, containing a pair of older assholes, who chased the younger assholes on foot. One of the younger assholes ran into traffic and was hit and killed by a car. Now the older assholes are being charged with manslaughter, the surviving younger asshole is being treated as a victim instead of a criminal, while the dead younger asshole is being treated as a hero instead of a criminal.
Story here. ¶ 8:18 AM
Mixed: Wash has been trying to restore its open primary system after a federal Emperor decided it was "unconstitutional" a couple years ago. The '04 election was run with genuine party primaries, but the locals wanted their own tradition back, so they passed an initiative designed to get around the Emperor's objections. Didn't work; yesterday a different Emperor said the new setup was also "unconstitutional", which of course it isn't. I have mixed feelings about this: open primaries are a bad idea, leading to weak parties. But the state should be allowed to pick its own method, no matter how dumb. When black-robed Emperors force unwanted laws down the people's throats, rebelliousness takes over, and there's no chance to examine the inherent virtues of one method over another.
Swarmings: Vancouver, BC is suffering from a spate of swarming incidents, in which a wolfpack of teens beat up another teen, usually chosen for low status. This seems to be a long-standing Canadian problem, as you can determine by a quick Google on 'swarmings'.
Here's how we get swarmings: A couple of young assholes were shooting bottle rockets directly into the windows of passing cars. They chose the wrong car, containing a pair of older assholes, who chased the younger assholes on foot. One of the younger assholes ran into traffic and was hit and killed by a car. Now the older assholes are being charged with manslaughter, the surviving younger asshole is being treated as a victim instead of a criminal, while the dead younger asshole is being treated as a hero instead of a criminal.
Story here. ¶ 8:18 AM
