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Monday, January 9, 2012

News The Monday Morning News

Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 8:52 AM

Gabrielle Giffords: After being shot in the head a year ago, the Arizona Congresswoman has recovered enough to speak the Pledge of Allegiance, but will she run for reelection this year?

Via Seattle Transit Blog

If Time Is Money, Then Tolls Are Cheap: Once you factor in the cost of gasoline, taking the tolled 520 Bridge costs only $1.18 more than taking a longer, slower route on the untolled I-90 Bridge. And it's 30 minutes faster. Martin H. Duke at Seattle Transit Blog has the post.

GOP Does Obama's Dirty Work: A pro-Newt Gingrich PAC called Winning Our Future will run a 28-minute ad tearing down Mitt Romney for his role at Bain Capital, allegedly for looting companies, selling off assets, and firing workers while Romney prospered. If Romney's history in the private sector is truly his Achilles heel, then it's awfully nice of the GOP to spend millions whacking it early and often. In gayer Romney news, he says that a pink gay-pride flyer ostensibly from his office when he served as Massachusetts governor, which has been circulating online for the past several years, isn't really his.

Woman Rides Elevator to Her Death: Early Sunday morning in Chigaco:

McCoy apparently was bringing carryout food back to her place on the 12th floor of 3130 N. Lake Shore Dr., unaware of a fire raging in the hallway. When the elevator doors opened at her destination, she was hit with a superheated blast.

Medical Pot Sham: According to NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre, the medical pot industry is a "sham" that "opposes actual legalization."

Headline of the Morning: "Oregon Meat Class Goes on Despite Bunny Burglary."

Iranian Court: Sentences American man to death for spying.

Pious Baloney Sandwich: The LA Times sums up the two weekend GOP debates so you can have a life.

War on Getting Wet: Traffic lights in the Netherlands give bicycle riders priority over cars when it's raining.

Too Much Snow... in Alaska: The town of Cordova issued a disaster proclamation after it had 18 feet of accumulation in the past few weeks. "Officials said at least three buildings have collapsed or partially collapsed and six homes are deemed severely stressed by heavy wet snow," reports the CSM.

True Fact: Full episodes of Antiques Roadshow now appear online, including this internet exclusive compilation of "Simply the Best" of the show's finds in the 14th season. (A note to our readers: This may or may not actually be news.)

Our County Council Members: They already make $135,525 a year, which is too much, but they're probably going to give themselves a raise (at least it's a a smaller raise than they were going to give themselves).

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Go Broncos!

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on January 9, 2012 at 8:55 AM

It seems to me that the cost of driving somewhere would depend on where it is you're trying to go. If you're in Laurelhurst and trying to get to Microsoft, yeah, I-90 would be a disaster. But if you're on Beacon Hill and trying to get to Factoria....

Posted by Fnarf

on January 9, 2012 at 9:00 AM

I went from MOHAI to Newport Hills the other night - 520 would have been the most logical route in terms of proximity, but it was late enough that going over the Portage Bay Viaduct to I-5 only added a minute or so to the trip, so I opted to save the $3.75 and take I-90 (and I would have done so even if I had a Good to Go pass and the toll was only $2.25).

Now if it had been rush hour and I was looking at that wide open 520, I may well have opted for it instead (of course, hitting all of the extra 405 traffic between the two bridges trying to avoid the toll may have made that option seem less attractive in the future....)

Posted by Mr. X on January 9, 2012 at 9:08 AM

@ 1 Go Patriots

How much would you want to pay city council members Domnic?

Posted by Democrat1234 on January 9, 2012 at 9:32 AM

Fnarf @2,

It also depends on your fuel economy, the toll rate, the price of gas, and the state of congestion at any given time. All of which is clearer if you follow the links to see what actually generated the numbers.

Posted by Martin H. Duke

on January 9, 2012 at 9:33 AM

@4) Paying them anything over $100,000 is a waste of our money. If all nine of them took that cut (not saying it's politically realistic, just hypothetically here), we could restore a couple jobs--jobs that have been cut over the last several budget cycles--that provide direct services.

Posted by Dominic Holden on January 9, 2012 at 9:37 AM

I enjoyed David Carr's piece in NYT this morning about Olbermann's latest meltdown. He and his latest network are speaking only through lawyers at this point. Maybe you guys should snap him up.

Posted by gloomy gus on January 9, 2012 at 10:35 AM

Tebow passed for 316 yards yesterday. As in John 3:16. Coincidence????????

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 9, 2012 at 11:12 AM

@6 but this would probably lead to them relying even more on "out of session" contract deals or sweetheart kickbacks after they left office as "consultants".

The more you cut off the public funding, the more they replace it with private funding, and the more "bought" they become.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 9, 2012 at 11:12 AM

Broncos and Patriots can both eat a bag of dicks. One's massively overhyped, the other has a coach who's a cheating piece of scum.

Posted by venomlash on January 9, 2012 at 1:06 PM

government regulation -> fire alarms -> not dieing in an elevator

Posted by JonnoN on January 9, 2012 at 1:24 PM

You should never cut dies in an elevator.

The shavings could get in the electrical control panel and short it, and might clog the filters.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 9, 2012 at 2:11 PM

Play the sad trombone for @ 10.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 9, 2012 at 2:58 PM

@13: I'd rather be a fan of a strong team that's gotten bad breaks than a crap-ass team that's gotten good breaks.

Posted by venomlash on January 9, 2012 at 5:15 PM

@ 14, waaaahhhh... You obviously didn't watch yesterday's game, or you'd know what you were talking about, like I do when I criticize your coddled QB.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 9, 2012 at 7:28 PM

Matt, you wouldn't be referring to the spoiled brat who threw a temper tantrum because Denver "might" have been talking about trading him, would you? The guy who throws as many interceptions as completions?

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on January 9, 2012 at 7:57 PM

Where is this "Chigaco?"

Posted by Free Lunch on January 9, 2012 at 9:12 PM

@ 16, that is indeed who I have in mind. He's also known for exaggerating injuries during big games, but maybe it's just those lake effect winds getting him down.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 9, 2012 at 9:27 PM