Morning Fizz
Was That a Salmon Joke?
1. Was that a salmon joke
in President Obama's state of the union speech? Yes, making fun of government inefficiency (it's what Democrats do now), President Obama told a salmon joke—the interior department regulates salmon in fresh water, the commerce department handles salmon in salt water, and "it gets even more complicated when they're smoked"—to bipartisan laughter last night.
Despite our northwest pride and earnest concern, admit it, everyone thinks salmon are funny.
Ex-Amazon techie, Everett resident Zack Lewis gets that: Lewis has launched a funny new website, the Seattle Salmon , which, Onion-style, has been spoofing everything about the Pacific Northwest for the last week or so: "Seattle Hipsters Invade Bremerton's Tent City"
2. Fizz always watches the SOTU to see if Obama gives any shoutouts—overt or otherwise—to the Washington State delegation. Last year, we noted that both Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray got nods from the president.
This year, just Cantwell. Sen. Cantwell is one of three senate Democrats actively working to repeal a new tax filing requirement on small business that was included in the health care reform bill. To a round of applause, Obama seconded the idea last night.
And were all those Apollo analogies a shout-out to Rep. Jay Inslee, who's been pushing green investments—his "New Apollo Project"—for years ?
Otherwise, Democrats like Rep. Inslee, whose other big effort on the green front has been fighting for a cap on carbon emissions, got totally dissed. Despite Obama's enthusiasm last night about green investments, his previous calls for mandates to lower greenhouse gas emissions, are now noticeably absent from his 21st century rap.
3. As we noted briefly in Fizz yesterday, former deputy mayor Ceis is working for an emergency-service company called Rural/Metro Corporation, a competitor to American Medical Response, which has had a contract to provide EMS services in Seattle for nearly 10 years. Erica talked to Ceis about last night. His pitch for Rural/Metro is that AMR has "had some problems with response times," and that Rural/Metro has a more diverse workforce and works to help its workers make the transition to firefighting and emergency medical technician jobs.
No one has registered at the city to lobby for AMR yet.
4. Media consultant Dan Kully---the guy behind the award-winning ads that helped get John Tester elected to the Senate---is branching out from his current firm, Laguens Kully and Close, to form a new firm called Kully Hall with D.C.-based partner, and former Sen. Harry Reid campaign manager, Brandon Hall, along with production director Fran Dunaway.
Despite our northwest pride and earnest concern, admit it, everyone thinks salmon are funny.
Ex-Amazon techie, Everett resident Zack Lewis gets that: Lewis has launched a funny new website, the Seattle Salmon , which, Onion-style, has been spoofing everything about the Pacific Northwest for the last week or so: "Seattle Hipsters Invade Bremerton's Tent City"
Dozens of Bremerton’s “Tarptown” tent city residents trekked to Seattle’s City Hall to protest an infestation of their homeless encampment by young people in search of an alternative to the usual alternative lifestyles available in the liberal city.
2. Fizz always watches the SOTU to see if Obama gives any shoutouts—overt or otherwise—to the Washington State delegation. Last year, we noted that both Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray got nods from the president.
This year, just Cantwell. Sen. Cantwell is one of three senate Democrats actively working to repeal a new tax filing requirement on small business that was included in the health care reform bill. To a round of applause, Obama seconded the idea last night.
Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. (Laughter.) So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. (Applause.)
And were all those Apollo analogies a shout-out to Rep. Jay Inslee, who's been pushing green investments—his "New Apollo Project"—for years ?
Otherwise, Democrats like Rep. Inslee, whose other big effort on the green front has been fighting for a cap on carbon emissions, got totally dissed. Despite Obama's enthusiasm last night about green investments, his previous calls for mandates to lower greenhouse gas emissions, are now noticeably absent from his 21st century rap.
3. As we noted briefly in Fizz yesterday, former deputy mayor Ceis is working for an emergency-service company called Rural/Metro Corporation, a competitor to American Medical Response, which has had a contract to provide EMS services in Seattle for nearly 10 years. Erica talked to Ceis about last night. His pitch for Rural/Metro is that AMR has "had some problems with response times," and that Rural/Metro has a more diverse workforce and works to help its workers make the transition to firefighting and emergency medical technician jobs.
No one has registered at the city to lobby for AMR yet.
4. Media consultant Dan Kully---the guy behind the award-winning ads that helped get John Tester elected to the Senate---is branching out from his current firm, Laguens Kully and Close, to form a new firm called Kully Hall with D.C.-based partner, and former Sen. Harry Reid campaign manager, Brandon Hall, along with production director Fran Dunaway.
