As usual, the Blethen Times is an irrelevancy. The wrong newspaper survived.

I love how the Times endorses the other guy and gets ignored. This should happen more often. The Times is quickly becoming Oregonian North.

The comments basically just hammer Joni Balter over this--is this all her writing?

The last thing Seattle needs is legislation aimed at protecting the passive aggressive, unassertive, milk-toast demeanor or its citizens. If you don't want to give a panhandler money, tell them no. Don't engage them in a stupid conversation articulating excuses, explaining why you would give them money if only... . Politely tell them not thank you. If they approach you at an ATM tell them to get away just like you would if anyone came to close while you were at an ATM. Expecting the police to protect your meek and mild manner of existence is crazy.

Yet another archbishop flap his jowls:

"With so much invasion of eroticism, sometimes it's not easy to stay celibate or to respect children," Bishop Felipe Arizmendi said during an annual meeting of Mexican bishops near Mexico City on Thursday. "If on television and on the Internet and in so many media outlets there is pornography, it is very difficult to stay pure and chaste," said Arizmendi, an influential bishop from the colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas in southern Mexico. "Obviously when there is generalized sexual freedom it's more likely there could be cases of pedophilia," he added...

Politely tell them not thank you

How about I tell them to fuck off, since 99 percent of them will trash me for not giving them money (or not giving them enough money) anyway?

I think that editorial should have been entitled "Seattle Times Editorial Board Irrelevancy Mounts"

Hey Seattle Times, how are those sour grapes tasting?

@9,

Somehow I feel as if your expectation that they will trash you is affecting your attitude when you interact with these folks.

I'm sure you do.

I've always treated them with respect. In recent years especially, I've been called a "bitch" or "white bitch" multiple times for saying no -- frequently from panhandlers I'd previously given money to just a few days before. And, back when I occasionally gave them money, I frequently got shit for not giving "enough" or only giving to one person and not every panhandler within spitting distance.

Unsurprisingly, people who have zero self-respect also have no respect for others.

@5, milk-toast...hahahahahahha

@9,

I'll also add that, in person, especially with people I don't know well, I often have a self-effacing demeanor, which basically means that many people assume I'm easy to bully. Which also proves the point of the people who supported the bill: aggressive panhandlers enjoy shitting on people who they think are pushovers.

The correct spelling is milquetoast. Yes, really.

I enjoyed the Daily Show clip. Funny that his elite liberal audience can't seem to clap on the offbeats.

Whichever side of the panhandling debate you're down with-
you have to admit that there was a lot of buffoonary down at City Hall this week. The ST editorial accurately reflects the clown college atmosphere. Just sayin...

They lost the election down at the Times so they want to make trouble like little bullies on the playground. We have laws to cover aggresive panhandling. The Mayor was correct to veto Burgess grandstanding.

Joni's just peeved she got p0wned.

Has anyone noticed that whenever the Seattle Times has an article on some proposal or other to make Washington State taxes less regressive, most of the online comments seem to support the Blethen family's position? I.e., they're rabidly agin it? Given the political complexion of this part of the State, that seems wildly improbable to me. If I were cynical, I'd almost suspect someone at the Times is screening out progressive commentators on the Blethen family's pet issues. But of course, the more likely explanation is that most progressives no longer bother to read the Times...