Archive for April, 2008

Gas prices could reach $10 a gallon in the not-so-distant future…

Food prices are rising dramatically!

Barak Obama’s crazy uncle is running loose in the streets!

Fortunately, beer prices have remained fairly stable and the good folks at Drinking Liberally are not stark raving mad!!! So come on down and fill yer tank!

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities

O’Callahan’s - Shilo Inn

50 Comstock Rd.

Richland

7pm till?

For those of you who didn’t see the Sunday Tri-City Herald’s write up on Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities, here is the online link just published today right HERE.

Seems to be working as well as outsourcing business…

Lots more over at Hominid Views with Darryl’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza.

Lots and lots has already been said about Dino Rossi’s transportation plan. Here, here, here, and… awe heck, just go Google it yerself.

Anyway, it’s pretty clear Rossi is attempting to make a grand appeal to voters inner “heck ya!”, but Washington voters aren’t stupid. They’re going to look around the corner of this delusion and notice it isn’t all that realistic. Many in the media have already reported that. And if Rossi’s keeps playing the Cascade Curtain card in his speeches he better back off the rich rewards in his transportation plan for west side projects (his only east side project is the North Spokane Freeway from I-90 to US 2) because it’s pretty clear he’s underestimated the costs, and dollar for dollar, his plan would cut into other vital state services.

The west side isn’t buying it, and Eastern Washington doesn’t really have a dog in the west side transportation fight. All we would get is cuts in services. That should appeal to our inner “heck no!” just dandy.

And now for your viewing pleasure:

“Roads Fairy”… that’s rich.

[Update] I just have to update this. I’d forgotten about this quote:

We can build an eight-lane 520 bridge for less than a six-lane bridge.

Back during the I-912 campaign, I checked with our regional WSDOT Project Engineer, Moe Davari about what it would costs to replace the Blue Bridge that connects Kennewick with Pasco in the Tri-Cities.

According to Moe, two spans recently constructed across the Yakima River cost roughly 22 million. The spans were 690 feet. I asked Moe what he thought the Blue Bridge would cost to replace. While he couldn’t quote a figure, as an example he suggested costs could be from $150 - $300 per square foot of deck.

That was 4 years ago. I want this guy to build me an 8 bedroom house for the price of 6 room house…

It’s a sign of the times folks. Democrats in Washington’s 4th district are energized and we could very well be getting a early preview of how this contest will match up in fund raising.

From today’s Tri-City Herald:

Pasco Democrat George Fearing out-raised U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, during the first quarter in his bid to unseat the seven-term incumbent but still lagged far behind in overall fundraising and cash on hand.

Fearing raised more than $38,000, bringing his campaign total to over $102,000. Fearing had about $36,000 on hand as of March 31.

Hastings raised almost $33,000 for his re-election campaign to bring his campaign total to over $272,000. He had about $227,000 on hand as of March 31.

While Hastings has a large cash on hand advantage, that gap could quickly be closed. Fearing’s early fundraising netted over $100k before the end of last March… and that was just to get the campaign on the map with the state party and gain more national attention. But the most promising aspect of the Fearing Campaign’s March report was the fact that those dollars were raised from individual donors. Much like the Obama campaign, individual donor’s are making a huge difference to the bottom line with many smaller donations.

While the FEC report only shows donor’s of $200 or more, of the 37 donors to the Hastings campaign, just nine were individual donors… the rest were either business or PAC. Those donations accounted for nearly $31k of the $33k reported.

Of the 97 who gave to the Fearing Campaign during that same reporting period, all 97 were individual donors.

Democracy is a wonderful thing when people get involved.

No doubt this is good news. But the Fearing Campaign will need a serious presence in name recognition at the polls. To get that recognition, George will need to close the gap. We can make that happen. Individual, small donations are key. There are more of us than there are PAC’s. You can make a difference on my Act Blue page right freaking here!

Hey all… I know I been slacking on the blog but I had a reason.  That should change soon but hopefully your feedreaders bring you back for this reminder…  Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities is tonight!! 

After last weekend’s location change to meet up with the Candidate Forum and Governor Gregioure’s visit we are back at our normal location.  Show up!  Be there!  Do as I say and everything will be OK.

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Citis

O’Callahan’s Shilo Inn

50 Comstock Rd.

Richland

7pm till?

ps.  There is a rumor that some media will be there with a camera.

Despite this silliness…  I’m actually gonna miss the guy.