Under I-1366, a superduperminority would rule
Sens. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, and Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, have endorsed Initiative 1366, which would slash the sales tax next spring just as lawmakers work on a sustainable solution to fund basic education. They note this cut wouldn’t occur if lawmakers pave the way for a permanent supermajority threshold for tax increases.
Right. And Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-Benghazi, could move to the top of Hillary Clinton’s Christmas list.
A supermajority threshold, they say, would prioritize state spending and force lawmakers to work together. This already occurs. Unfortunately, holding the line on taxes took precedence over funding basic education, so the Legislature got sideways with the courts.
If you want lawmakers to stop working together, vote for I-1366, because it would give a superduperminority of 17 legislators the power to stop any future tax plans. Like, say, the gasoline tax increase Sen. Baumgartner bravely supported.
Intro to Science. The front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination said this: “It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!”
The second-place candidate said, “Any point in time, temperatures are going up or temperatures are going down. Of course that’s happening. When that stops happening, that’s when we’re in big trouble.”
So, class, let’s go over this again. Donny Trump, please take off that silly ballcap and listen. Benjamin Carson, you’ll need your Science textbook. The answer isn’t in the Bible.
As I told you before, daily weather is to climate as a single plate appearance is to batting average. In addition, Donny, if it’s freezing in New York, it can still be balmy elsewhere. Los Angeles just went through a heat wave.
Let’s move on to the four seasons. No, Donny, not the hotel chain. Summer is the warmest season. Winter is the coldest. This is due to the planet’s tilt, which doesn’t change with global warming. Over the last three decades, the sun has slightly cooled, but average global temperatures have risen. This is because of the greenhouse effect. Emissions from fossil fuels are increasingly accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere, trapping heat that would otherwise escape.
OK, class, that’s all for today, and, yes, this will be on the test.
Mm-mm good. So I’m watching the morning news when a commercial comes on for Campbell’s Skillet Sauces. Except it really isn’t about the product, it’s about sex and the glorification of the heterosexual lifestyle.
In the “commercial,” a man and a woman are enjoying their dinners across a small table. Then, it happens. The woman slides an unsocked foot under the table and touches one of the man’s feet. The announcer intones with a sexy voice: “Campbell’s, made for real, real life.”
Whatever happened to “Mmm good” referring to Campbell’s products, not our heterosexual hookup culture? I had heard a group called One Million Moms was protesting Campbell’s and urging a boycott. No soup for them. So I checked out their website, and saw this statement:
“Companies should advertise the quality of their products. … They should not be highlighting who is attracted to whom or who sleeps with whom.”
But then I read further and discovered the group was protesting a different Campbell’s commercial, one featuring a married couple and a child. It’s a cute scene about “Star Wars” and the line “Luke, I’m your father.” The punchline is the boy has two dads: “No, Luke, I’m your father.” Made me smile.
But it seems just showing them having a warm, funny moment is bad, because it normalizes “sin” and redefines “family” and “marriage.” As for the footsie-foreplay ad I saw? Not a peep from the morality police.
Associate Editor Gary Crooks can be reached at garyc@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5026. Follow him on Twitter @GaryCrooks.