• Attention, potheads: Democratic candidate for governor Jay Inslee wants you arrested. He told viewers of KCTS 9 last week that he would vote against the marijuana-legalizing Initiative 502, making Inslee’s position identical to that of his Republican gubernatorial contender, Rob McKenna. Meanwhile, SurveyUSA found in January that 67 percent of Democrats support the initiative (as do a majority of all voters). So Inslee is in the minority of his party and cuddling up to his GOP opponent. Asshole.
• Meanwhile McKenna—who has hated light rail forever—told a March 21 meeting of the Eastside Transportation Association that he wants yet another vote on whether to build light rail across I-90. Meaning: He’s also an asshole! Voters in King County have approved that project multiple times, including by 63 percent to 36 percent last year. The response from Inslee: “Stop whining and start building.“
• Sources familiar with the venues say that lion-on-man sex can be seen during normal business hours at Changes in Wallingford and the Cuff Complex on Capitol Hill. Don’t tap on the glass.
• While losing to the Seattle Sounders on March 23, Colin Clark, a midfielder for the Houston Dynamo, called a Sounders ball boy a “faggot.” He later apologized on Twitter, saying: “I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone and am sorry for letting my emotions get the best of me.” Major League Soccer is investigating for possible disciplinary action. Furthermore, Colin Clark is a faggot.
• Seattle Community Colleges announced a single hearing on March 27 on new rules to restrict protests on campus after the district board of trustees evicted an Occupy Seattle encampment in December. The rules would limit the duration of demonstrations to eight hours, require insurance coverage, and ban signs more than five feet by three feet (thereby precluding large banners). “This will be a serious violation of civil liberties,” warns Occupy Seattle spokeswoman Alaina Bazara. After Occupy Seattle complained about insufficient notice, a second hearing was announced for April 5.
• Legalizing pot this fall (which Jay Inslee opposes) would help the Democrats’ budget, according to a preliminary fiscal note released by the state’s Office of Financial Management. The long and short of it: Taxing and regulating the marijuana industry would generate an annual revenue of roughly $564 to $606 million in the first year. “Retailers will sell 85.1 to 93.6 million grams per year at an average price, excluding taxes, of $12 per gram,” the report says.
• Speaking of taxes, “The Department of Revenue reminds restaurants, bars and taverns that they no longer should be collecting a half-percent King County food and beverage sales tax,” says a recent e-mail to local business owners. The tax was imposed in 1996 to pay for Safeco Field but the tax ended last October after the bonds were paid off. Despite the state’s best efforts, many restaurants still continue to collect this tax (possibly pocketing the extra money for themselves).
• “I never pay to see movies—I just go to the press screeners and sign in as a Stranger staff member,” bragged a bulbous-looking fellow to some woman while waiting in line to see the press screening of the Hunger Games—right in front of a real Stranger staffer, who noted with satisfaction that the woman wasn’t any more impressed with the bulbous impostor than most people are with real Stranger writers. 