text:
Infertility (cont.)
When to See a Fertility Specialist
A fertility specialist is usually an obstetrician-gynecologist (specialist in women's reproductive health) with advanced education, research, and professional skills in reproductive endocrinology. These highly trained and qualified doctors are the specialists to see about infertility.
Couples may want to talk to a health care professional for a referral to a clinic where doctors and staff have this special training. In addition, fertility clinics often have specialized equipment and imaging technology needed to make a diagnosis and to do semen testing and other specialized tests right at the office.
Check the American Society for Reproductive Medicine for a specialist and clinic in your area. A primary care physician or gynecologist will also be able to refer you to a fertility clinic.
Infertility is a problem that involves both partners. Therefore, the infertility specialist evaluates both the woman and the man. Testing for infertility is usually not done until after the couple has tried to become pregnant for at least 1 year if the woman is younger than 35 years, or for 4 to 6 months if she is older than 35 years.
Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 12/21/2012
Medical Author:
Jairo E Garcia, MD
Medical Editor:
Next Page:
(Page 2 of 8)
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Infertility »
The most commonly accepted definition of the term infertility is the lack of pregnancy (regardless of cause) after 1 year of unprotected intercourse.


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Washington State Budget Deficit Now $2.6 Billion in the Hole
Bad news for Washington State continues as declining tax revenues now put the state budget deficit at $2.6 billion. The November forecast by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council projected an additional decrease of $760 million in revenue over the previous forecast.
This $2.6 billion deficit is the decrease in revenue projected through June 30, 2011 of the current biennial budget cycle. In a press release from the State Office of Financial Management Governor Chris Gregoire comments that:
"Since the Legislature left in April, our revenues have continued to decline …. Our projected shortfall for the remainder of the biennium is an additional $2.6 billion, for a total gap this two-year budget period of $11.6 billion. That's almost a third of our last budget. We have not seen a shortfall like this in 80 years."
In a transcript of comments by Governor Gregoire posted on NPI Advocate, Gregoire stresses the seriousness and severity of the shortfall and states that:
"An all cuts budget is not the value of the people of the State of Washington. We must step up, do our responsibility to this State, and look for revenue to get the job done."
This will not be an east task. First off the Legislature will have to repeal Tim Eyman's I-960 which requires the Legislature to pass by a 2/3 vote any tax or revenue increase or put it to a vote of the people. . Under I-960 Eyman also required that the repeal of any existing tax exemption also required a 2/3 vote of the Legislature or a vote of the people. The Legislature needs to step up and do this. The rejection of Eyman's I-1033 should give Legislators the needed courage to act to address the state's budget needs as voters overwhelming rejected Eyman's budget freeze proposal.
The Legislature has rested any real tax reform for years. We have a regressive tax structure on the state level that relies heavily on sales taxes. Last year some 54% of state tax revenue came from sales taxes. But as noted by Dr Arun Rahna in the press release from the Office of Financial Management:
"State revenues suffer when consumers hold back. The change in the revenue forecast is due mainly to a revised estimate of when households will regain the confidence to spend on the goods and services taat are subject to state taxes."
Meanwhile Washington State is 1 of only 7 states that do not have an income tax. Yet the conservative Tax Foundation says that we rank 8th highest in the country in terms of income per capita.
As a result we have once again been ranked as the most regressive states in the nation in terms of our state and local tax structure. In the November 2009 Report by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy entitled "Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in all 50 States", Washington State is rated as the most regressive state in the country.
As quoted on the Seattle PI blog Strange Bedfellows:
"The lack of a progressive income tax to offset regressive sales and excise taxes, as well as property taxes, is the most important factor in making the Washington tax system so regressive. Taxes ought to be based on people's ability to pay them, which means that the share of income paid in tax should rise as income grows, not fall sharply as is the case in Washington," said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy and the report's lead author.
As the "Who Pays?" Report notes, in Washington State, the poorest 20% of non-elderly taxpayers pay 17.3% of their income in taxes, the middle 60% pay 9.5%, and the top 1% pay only 2.9% of their income in taxes. Unless this disparity is corrected, any tax increase by the Legislature, like raising sales taxes or property taxes will only increase the tax burden on lower income taxpayers.
It's time for the citizens of this state and its political leaders to mount a real campaign for tax reform to correct the regressiveness of our tax system. Implementing a progressive income tax; while reducing regressive taxes like sales taxes; and either expanding the current Homestead Exemption now limited to low income seniors and the disabled or adding circuit breaker legislation to help low income homeowners and renters; are changes that need serious consideration and action.
The state is waiting for leadership. The question is who will step forward. There is no better time than now to reform our tax system. If we don't reform our broken system we can expect more measures like I-1033 to continue to fill this vacuum of leadership by progressives and liberals and those in the middle.
Eyman Sidekick Loses Bid for Spokane City Council
Periodically it seems one of the taunts made to Tim Eyman has been to urge him to run for office and then see how he would deal with the reality of his tax cuts and the public demand for services. Well this year, one of his principal sidekicks, Mike Fagan of Spokane did just that. And he lost decisively. It's one thing to propose radical anti-government proposals like Initiative 1033. It's quite another to have to stand for election yourself.
Mike Fagan ran for the District 1, Position 2 seat against Amber Waldref. Fagan is a co-director with Tim Eyman of Voters Want More Choices which has run a number of anti-government, anti tax initiatives, including this year's decisively defeated Initiative 1033, which proposed to freeze both state and local public services.
Amber Waldref is the Development Director of the Lands Council in Spokane. The Lands Council describes itself as a grassroots, nonprofit that has worked to protect the forests, water and wildlife on thousands of acres of public lands in the Northwest.
Here are the vote totals.
Amber Waldref…..6411…..62.72%
Mike Fagan…..3811…..37.28%.
Fagan lacked in the money raising department as well as the voting department. Washington State Public Disclosure Records show that Fagan only raised $9,193 in cash and $2,749 in kind. He had a total of 53 contributions.
Meanwhile Waldref raised some $30,935 in cash and some $9,958 in kind. She had 277 contributions.
Interestingly Fagan did not report any contributions from Tim Eyman but he did get $500 from Michael Dunmire and $500 from Mrs Phyllis Dunmire of Woodinville. Dunmire contributed $300,000 to the I-1033 campaign and has been a long time contributor to Eyman and Fagan's initiative campaigns. Besides the Dunmires, Fagan also got
$2500 from Mrs Cynthia Zapotocky
$1000 from Monroe Court Limited Partnership
$500 from Leo Fagan
$500 from the Spokane County Republican Party
Waldref's largest contributors were:
$4015 Inland NW Leadership PAC
$5000 from IAFF Local 29 Political Action
$2000 from Washington St Council of County and City Employees
$1000 from Avista Corporation
$1000 from Spokane Com. for Political Education
$500 from Don Barberi
$500 from Paul Brainerd
Initiative 1033 lost decisively in Spokane County, with the latest percentage No vote slightly above the state average. The Spokane County vote was 70,729 (57.93%) No to .51.373 (42.07%) Yes for I-1033.
A Plethora of Blog Posts AgainstTim Eyman's Initiative 1033
We've written quite a few posts against Tim Eyman's budget freeze Initiative 1033 over the last several months. You can check them out here:
Initiative 1033 is a Freeze on Public Services
Great Grassroots Video Telling the Truth About I-1033
Initiative 1033 Transfers Tax Burden onto Lower Income Taxpayers
A Better Way to Help Struggling Families than I-1033
Are You Ready to Play a Game of TimCity 2009?
Washington State on Path to Dysfuctional Government?
No on 1033 Releases First TV Ads
Initiative 1033 is Recycled Discredited Trickle Down Theory
Washington State Democrats Oppose Initiative 1033 and Support Referendum 71
The Joke is Eyman's Initiative 1033
No on I-1033 Officially Kicks off Campaign
No on Initiative 1033 Campaign Releases Video on Colorado's Experience
The Hidden Agenda to Radically Change Representative Government and Our Tax System in Eyman's Initiative 1033
Realtors Vote to Oppose Eyman's Budget Freeze Initiative 1033
Tim Eyman Thinks Voters are Dumb
Initiative 1033 Will Dig Us Deeper into Recession Economics
What's Wrong with Eyman's Initiative 1033?
A Better Alternative to Help Struggling Property Owners than Initiative 1033
Kemper Freeman's Shortsighted $25,000 Contribution to Eyman's Initriative 1033
A Warning on Initiative 1033 from California
Initiative 1033 Cuts $8.7 Billion from Public Services by 2015
Initiative 1033 – Abolishing Local Control of Cities and Counties
Initiative 1033 – Eyman's Sugar Coated Poison Pill
Renters Beware! Eyman's Initiative 1033 Will Rip You Off
Eyman's I-1033 Says Paying Corporate Property Taxes More Important than Educating State's Kids
Initiative 1033 Offers Taxpayers Free Lunch
Watch Video on Why I-1033 Would be Bad for Washington State
Why I-1033 Limits on Spending Growth Won't Work
Eyman Continues to Use Erroneous Information to Support I-1033 Overtaxed Rant
Did Eyman Forget to Turn in all His Petitions for Initiative 1033?
List Growing of Organizations Opposing Initiative 1033
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 Overtaxed Hoax
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 Grassroots Joke
New Report Confirms Initiative 1033 Will Make Recovery Worse for Washington State
Initiative 1033 Transfers Tax Burden onto Lower Income Taxpayers
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 points out the difficulty of trying to write complex legislation and budget by initiative. Tax and budget issues are not simple and most people do not understand our tax and revenue system
Eyman proposes to freeze government services at this year's level and transfer any revenue received over that limit to reduce property taxes.
I-1033 winds up being a wealth transfer scheme. On the state level, revenue to the current budget comes from several sources.
retail sales taxes 54%
Business & occupation tax 19.5%
property taxes 10.4%
real estate excise tax (on sales of homes) 4.1%
other 13.4%
Taxes come in from multiple sources but Eyman does not propose people get rebates for what they have paid in taxes. Rebates only go to property owners. Some 35% of households are renters. Sales taxes everyone pays.
This scheme shifts the tax burden to low and middle income taxpayers to only benefit people who own property including commercial property. The rebate is not proportional to the taxes above that anyone paid, only to the amount of property one owns.
I-1033 has people without property paying taxes for property owners. Renters lose twice by not getting any rebate or seeing their tax dollars go to fund services they need or could use.
I-1033 has many unforeseen consequences. Most voters can not understand what it does based only on reading a simplistic ballot title on their ballot. Even reading the initiative does not make it clear.
People would be wise to vote No on such a complex measure that in my opinion is not going to help them. A property tax homestead exemption on ones principal home makes a lot more sense. Eyman opposes that. Eyman's scheme just transfers more money to people with lots of property.
For example Kemper Freeman who owns Bellevue Square gave Eyman $25,000 to get I-1033 on the ballot. He stands to see a $1.7 million reduction in his property taxes each year. You and I would be paying for that.
Vote No on I-1033 and keep Tim Eyman's hands out of your pockets. Times are tough enough without transferring more tax burden onto low and middle income taxpayers or freezing government servies at their current recession level.
for more info see:
A Better Way to Help Struggling Working Families than I-1033
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 claims to be helping "struggling working families and fixed income senior citizens" pay their property taxes. Instead it is a wealth transfer scheme that takes sales taxes and other fees and uses them to only pay property taxes. It results in a tax shift putting even more of the tax burden on lower and middle income taxpayers.
Eyman claims I-1033 is the only constitutional way to reduce property taxes. Forget of course that property taxes are already limited by the Washington State Legislature enacting I-747 which the Washington State Supreme Court overturned. That limits overall property tax collections, except voter approved levies, to 1% per year. Also the Washington State Constitution limits the tax per property to 1% of its valuation per year.
Also forget that the conservative Tax Foundation in comparing all states for property tax burden found that Washington State ranked right in the middle at 25 out of 50 states.
To the constitutional issue, Tim as usual is only telling you part of the story. The Legislature has the power to provide special property tax exemptions and has done so for low income seniors and disabled people.
If Tim was concerned about seniors staying in their homes he would increase the Property Tax Exemption for seniors and the disabled and extend it to all taxpayers. It has an income threshold so that people that can afford to pay property taxes do and those that are on limited or fixed income can get help. The current senior exemption is a form of Homestead Exemption in that it covers only one's principal residence.
This makes sense as there is no reason to give people a property tax break if they can afford a second home or vacation home or investment properties. Initiative 1033 takes the opposite approach in covering all real estate so that the more property you own, the larger your tax rebate.
Tim Eyman has said repeatedly that Homestead Exemptions and circuit breaker legislation are unconstitutional. That doesn't make it so. It might be true if he wrote the legislation like the many initiatives of his that have been overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court.
However like everything else, there are ways to draft legislation that would pass constitutional muster. The key is that the Washington State Constitution says all classes of property must be taxed the same, meaning commercial and residential property get the same tax breaks. Most other states do not treat commercial and residential property the same.
Here's one example of a solution that addresses this issue of constitutionality that would benefit both homeowners on their principal residence and small business owners. In the 2008 Legislative session HB 3162 was introduced with 24 sponsors. HR 3162 – Providing a property tax exemption for the first fifty thousand dollars of assessed value of commercial and residential real property.
The bill is short and the main text of interest here is:
"(1) Residential property is exempt from the state portion of the
property tax on fifty thousand dollars of assessed value.
(2) A commercial property owner may apply to the county assessor to
exempt fifty thousand dollars of assessed value for the state portion
of the property tax for a single parcel of property."
Realize Tim is not looking for solutions to just help those most in need with their property taxes, he is trying to get voters to freeze state spending and spending by all 281 cities and 39 counties in the state and is using his property tax reduction scheme to get you to also swallow his freeze on public services by freezing spending at the current recession level. He is also not looking to help those less well off as he has opposed expanding the Homestead Exemption in Olympia.
Eyman's property tax rebate scheme is the fatal flaw in I-1033 that should help defeat Initiative 1033. It takes sales tax dollars and other fees paid by everyone and gives it to just property owners. If you don't own property you get nothing. You will still pay the same taxes as before. It is a tax shift that hurts low and middle income taxpayers, while greatly benefiting wealthy property owners.
It just is plain wrong to tax people that have no property and use those taxes to pay taxes for wealthy property owners, like those who have vacation homes or shopping malls or real estate developers or corporate owners. This is a reverse Robin Hood scheme – tax the less well off and use the taxes to pay property taxes for the rich.
Initiative 1033 is a just another poorly thought out Eyman scheme that will hurt those who have the least while benefiting the wealthy. Vote No on I-1033.
Are You Ready to Play a Game of TimCity 2009?
Tim Eyman has devised a new real life version of a popular game which he is calling TimCity 2009. Its rules are rather bizarre, but you had better read them now and decide if you like them, because Tim's Rules will become binding unless you vote NO on Initiative 1033.
Here are the Rules to Play as proposed by TimCity creator Tim Eyman. They are hidden in the text of Initiative 1033, which you should read if you haven't yet. But be aware that not all of the consequences or penalties of following Tim's Rules are spelled out in the initiative text.
Your goal as an elected official is to try to maintain a functioning city despite Tim's Rules, designed to limit your ability to provide public services.
Tim's Rules apply to all of Washington State's 281 cities. You can choose any one of these cities as your city to play the game because Tim's Rules are the same for all 281 cities. Eyman also is proposing these same rules for almost identical versions of this game to be called TimCounty 2009 (39 counties to choose from) and TimState 2009 (Washington is the only state that can be played).
Tim's Rules propose that you can run your city only with the amount of money in this year's recession-era budget. You cannot use any previous year's budget and invest more revenue into public services.
You also cannot restore any services lost due to the current recession or increase any other service unless you want to cut something else currently funded or go for a public vote. Public votes will cost you money from your budget.
Tim's Rules say that in future years he will only allow your expenditures to increase by inflation and population growth. The inflation factor is based on a national consumer inflation factor, not one for Washington State so it may not track actual inflation in your city. It also does not track costs which rise faster than consumer inflation such as health care or needs created by development of Commercial or Industrial Zones. So in future years, you will probably have to cut some services due to their costs rising faster than this index.
Tim gets any future tax revenue above this year's recession based baseline. He proposes to use it to eventually cancel out the property tax, the only major tax on wealth that our state, counties, and cities collect. Sales tax will continue to be collected at current levels but only property owners will get any of the money that Tim's Rules prevent from being invested in services.
You can try to take some of this money away from Eyman but you must hold a referendum. Only some 65% of households in the state are owner occupied, so realize that when you hold a referendum Eyman will claim you are trying to raise their taxes by taking away their special property tax cut he gave them.
You will also have to pay for the referendum out of your existing city funds, so you'll have to cut something somewhere to pay the election costs.
Eyman has the ability to oppose any referendum you propose. It is up to you to find people to support your referendum out of your own pocket because no city money can be spent on supporting or opposing a spending referendum.
Factors that affect your city budget include wild cards like a natural disasters, changes in crime patterns, an aging population, an aging city infrastructure, another recession, possible businesses leaving your city and an outbreak of infectious disease and other unforeseen and unbudgeted factors.
Existing services you must continue providing (if you can) include:
- police and fire protection;
- road repair and cleaning;
- keeping libraries open;
- maintaining utility services (water and sewer);
- contracting for garbage, yard waste and recycling services;
- maintaining public health and safety;
- providing sidewalks;
- earthquake response;
- providing emergency medical response;
- funding municipal courts;
- maintaining air quality and clean drinking water;
- maintaining parks and recreation facilities,
- dealing with abandoned cars;
- investigating code compliance;
- enforcing building codes and zoning rules;
- keeping community and senior centers open;
- collecting taxes and bill payments;
- scheduling and paying for city elections;
- compensating city employees;
- repaving city roads and filling potholes;
- cleaning up graffiti.
Note that this not a complete list.
You must keep city residents and voters happy or you can lose your elected office. You are not allowed to give any additional public services to renters and senior citizens and working families who do not own property despite their continuing to pay sales taxes and other taxes at the same rate as now when the economy improves.
Their added taxes must go into Eyman's fund to cancel out property taxes.
You also may not expand or modernize any existing services unless you get approval from the voters. You are not allowed to change the fact that a third of the "excess" tax dollars will go to help businesses and corporations pay their property tax despite the fact that they already get a sales tax exemption for goods they purchase wholesale or for resale.
You are also not allowed to alter the fact that property tax payments are not targeted to help those who need it most like low income working families or seniors on fixed income. It has to go in proportion to the amount of property they have, so large property owners will see the largest benefit.
Welcome to TimCity 2009. Good luck in providing adequate public services and keeping the residents of your city happy.
Hopefully the maker of a similar sounding game which is make believe, unlike TimCity 2009 which is proposed for real by TimCity Creator Tim Eyman in Initiative 1033, will not be angry for Tim's name being Tim and rhyming with their name. Unfortunately Tim's Rules do have a similarity with their game in that it says players can "Build, play with and destroy amazing cities with SimCity Creator".
For more information on opposing I-1033 see:
Initiative 1033 is Recycled Discredited Trickle Down Theory
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 is recycled, discredited trickle down economics mumble jumbo. He is pushing an economic theory that has no legs. I-1033 both proposes to cut state and local spending by freezing budgets and doing a complex tax redistribution scheme to use sales tax dollars and fees collected from everyone to help wealthy property owners reduce their property taxes.
The threat to the state and cities and counties is severe. Eyman unfortunately is using people's fear of the recession and job loss to demagogue the public into believing that government is at fault for all their ills. In fact it was the lack of government oversight on the financial markets and financial institutions brought on by repeated less government is best for politics and business practice that brought us to this recession.
It seems to me that both Governor Gregoire and Senator Brown are missing the boat here regarding our state's financial predicament with an additional $1 billion dollar shortfall being projected for next year. Whether or not there is a tax increase proposal will much more depend on the fate of Initiative 1033 than anything they say. And they are pretty much leaving the discussion to others.
Eyman's simplistic approach to government and taxes is to do everything he can to eliminate them. He is only interested in pursuing trying to implement the long ago discredited trickle down economics theory that you reduce taxes on the rich and the public will benefit.
Eyman proposes to do this in several ways. One is to freeze the current budget under I-1033 at its current recession level and only allow adjustments for inflation and population. Unfortunately inflation adjustments at best only allow you to buy this year's services next year at their inflated price. Any population adjustment for more people needing services isn't really growth. It doesn't increase the level of individual services, it only covers more people needing services.
But the real trickle down comes in his property tax rebate proposal which is really a wealth transfer scheme. Property tax rebates under I-1033 are not based on sales taxes or other fees one pays but only on the amount of property you own. Last year some 57% of state revenue came from sales taxes which everyone pays.
But not everyone owns property. Some 35% of households in the state are not owner occupied according to the US Census Bureau. So seniors and working families and other who rent will still pay sales taxes and other fees at the same level but will lose twice by not getting a tax rebate or see public services restored or increased when tax collections rise above the baseline.
Initiative 1033 only makes our current tax system more regressive by shifting the tax burden even more onto those who don't own property who are usually also lower income. It takes an absurd position that somehow people who don't own property should help pay the taxes of those who do.
Who benefits the most under I-1033 would be wealthy property owners because the rebate is not based on the sales taxes you pay but on the amount of property you own. The more property you own the more your rebate.
And in addition some 40% must go to commercial real estate. So large corporations, real estate developers, shopping mall owners and owners of apartment buildings benefit most. Most of the voting public is not aware yet that Eyman's proposal commits them to paying the property taxes of Bellevue Square, Tacoma Mall, Bank of America, Boeing. Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser.
And the whole idea is based on trickle down economics, that somehow helping rich property owners pay their property taxes is a benefit to our society. Eyman says this is more important than paying for educating our children or providing health care for seniors and children, paying for additional police and firemen, cleaning up pollution, keeping Puget Sound healthy, keeping parks and libraries open, fixing our roads and bridges, more transit in urban areas, sidewalks and all the rest.
Initiative 1033 is a question of political philosophy and priorities. Eyman's view is the selfish one, that all that matters is that people pay as few taxes as possible, regardless of their ability to pay or the need for public services. It involves no public commitment to the greater good but only to the philosophy that it's everyone for themselves and the public be damned.
Hopefully the voting public will see the danger of Eyman's lack of a caring public vision and his myopic of humanity that extends only as far as his pocketbook and no further.
Tim Eyman tries to make a joke of the concerns of people opposed to Initiative 1033. People opposed to I-1033 are concerned that Eyman's budget freeze proposal will costs jobs in the state, cut health care and human services, reduce funding for educating our kids, increase costs to go to college, make it harder or impossible to keep parks and libraries open, reduce police and fire protection, decrease health coverage for seniors and children and much more.
People's concerns are legitimate and Eyman's response is to mock them. Eyman appeals to voters selfish side saying it's more important to reduce property taxes for wealthy property owners than it is to provide any of these services or restore any public services lost due to the current recession. I think voters are smarter than Eyman wants to give them credit for.
I think Damon Agnos over at the Daily Weekly hits Eyman's lame joke just right in his commentary entitled "Tim Eyman thinks he's funny":
"A real privilege of having a job at a paper is receiving Tim Eyman's regular, rambling electronic missives, wherein he asserts that he's just standing up for the little guy. One example of standing up for the little guy is pushing an initiative that would redistribute money from regressive sales taxes to big property owners as soon as state and local government pull in more than they did in this year's recession. It's a simple formula: when good times return, don't invest the money in schools, public health, and public safety–give most of it to the Kemper Freemans."
I think Damon has it exactly right on what I consider to be the fatal flaw that will bring down Initiative 1033. Initiative 1033 is a wealth transfer scheme, taking sales taxes and other fees paid by everyone and only using them to pay property taxes for wealthy property owners when the economy improves and more revenue comes in above this year's recession baseline used by Eyman in I-1033.
Last year sales taxes accounted for 57% of state revenue. We have the highest sales tax in the country. Eyman says the one and only priority of state and local government should be to use any revenue coming in above the baseline to help people who own property pay their property taxes.
This is a drastic shift of what we currently would use any added revenue for – namely paying for police and fire protection, educating our children, funding colleges and universities, repairing roads and bridges, keeping libraries and parks open, helping businesses create jobs, protecting the environment and people's health, providing health care for seniors and children and much more.
The fatal flaw in Eyman's wealth transfer scheme is that not everyone owns property. Some 35% of households in the state are not owner occupied.
Our tax system is one of the most regressive in the country already. Now Eyman wants to have sales taxes paid by renters and senior citizens and working families without property be used to pay taxes for people who have property.
Even for homeowners it's a rip off. The amount of rebate given under I-1033 is not based on the amount of sales taxes and fees you pay but on the amount of property you own. The more property you own, the more you benefit from I-1033. So someone with a vacation home or a McMansion will see more of a return than someone with a smaller single family home.
Also Eyman isn't going to tell the public that in addition some 40% of the rebate has to go to commercial property owners. Businesses already get a sales tax exemption for goods they resell. Consumers pay the sales taxes. But the businesses would still benefit under I-1033.
So large commercial property owners, corporations like Boeing, mall owners like Bellevue Square and real estate developers will see larger benefits from I-1033.
That's some joke for renters who will still pay the same in sales taxes and other fees as before under I-1033. Renters will both not get a tax rebate or see any services lost due to the recession be restored. They will also not see any new public services for the taxes they paid. But they would help pay Boeing's real estate taxes.
Initiative 1033 is bad for our state and bad for taxpayers. Vote No on I-1033.
Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 does not give "refunds to taxpayers". It is much more complicated than that. It is a wealth redistribution scheme that shifts tax burden onto lower income folks to benefit just those that own property.
Under I-1033, sales taxes and other fees will still be the same as before. Last year sales taxes accounted for 57% of state revenue. Everyone pays sales taxes but not everyone has property.
The conservative Tax Foundation notes that Washington State ranks 25th in terms of property taxes per capita but number 1 in terms of sales taxes. We have no state income tax yet rank 8th highest in income per capita. Overall the Tax Foundation says that we are in the bottom third of states in terms of state and local tax burden, coming in at 35th (with 1 being the highest)
Those who lose under I-1033 are renters; those who gain are wealthy property owners. You see the rebate Eyman proposes is not based on what you pay in sales taxes and fees but on what you own in property. The more property you own, the more you benefit. But not everyone owns property.
Senior citizens on fixed income and working families who don't own homes lose twice; they pay the same taxes but get no rebate or see new or restored public services.
The US Census Bureau says last year that some 35% of households in Washington State are not owner occupied but rented or leased. If you want to reduce taxes do it fairly; like just cut sales taxes or property taxes.
But to shift the burden of paying property taxes onto people who don't own property is ridiculous and unfair.
In addition some 40% of the property tax rebate goes to pay commercial property taxes. Yet businesses already have a sales tax exemption for goods they purchase for resale. Consumers pay the sales tax on the end product.
Property taxes already are limited to a 1% aggregate increase a year which in most years does not even keep up with inflation.
All in all, Initiative 1033 is a poorly thought out proposal. Read the initiative yourself before voting. It's not as simple or straight forward as Eyman wants you to believe.
Last Thursday the No on I-1033 officially kicked off its campaign. Over 160 organizations have now come out against Eyman's latest anti-tax, anti government measure that proposes to freeze state and local spending at this year's level. It is copied from a similar measure that Colorado voters recently suspended as unworkable.
The campaign needs to hustle to get its message out because we are only several weeks away from ballots being mailed out. The campaign is waging an aggressive fundraising effort and has seen major business groups come out against the initiative, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, The Washington State Realtors Association and Microsoft.
Businesses understand that Eyman's radical proposal to freeze public spending hurts the economy and businesses as they depend on public money being spent for roads and transit and an educated base of workers in the state. They know there is no free lunch and that public money must be spent and invested to continue to provide a healthy business climate.
Here is a copy of their press release:
No on 1033 campaign kickoff highlights initiative's impacts on business climate, economy
(Seattle, WA) – Today's kickoff for the No on 1033 campaign highlighted the impact Eyman's initiative would have on the state's business climate and economy.
"Creating a job-growing economy requires investment in essential infrastructure, such as higher education and a safe and efficient transportation system," said George Allen, senior vice president for government relations at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Education is vital to a competitive business climate and would suffer heavily under Initiative 1033. "Initiative 1033's cuts would extend deeply into our classrooms," said Mike Ragan, vice president at the Washington Education Association. "This would harm our students and the strength and expertise of our future workforce."
Beyond impacting the overall business climate, I-1033 would mean lost jobs in critical industries, like health care.
"I-1033 would devastate hospitals and health care and result in the loss of thousands of jobs in the state," said Chelene Whiteaker, policy analyst at the Washington State Hospital Association. "Hospitals and the patients they serve cannot afford Tim Eyman's initiative."
I-1033 would lock in state, county and city expenditures at today's recession-era levels and limit annual increases to a rigid formula based on population growth and inflation. The nonpartisan OFM estimates that this would reduce state revenue $5.9 billion and city and county revenues by $2.8 billion by 2015. Cuts of this magnitude would cripple the state's ability to support education and transportation infrastructure – critical building blocks of a strong business climate.
This incredibly devastating impact on Washington State's business climate is one of the reasons behind the size and diversity of the coalition behind the No on 1033 campaign, which includes some of the state's largest business organizations and labor groups.
# # #
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Minored in it in college; semi-fluent in it currently… but the fact that I don't use it on a daily basis makes me feel that it's getting worse and worse, and I'm forgetting more and more. Doesn't help that I want to start learning Spanish again, and there's only so much space in your head you can fill w/ foreign langauges before they get confusing!
jalouxsmile's Life List
1. Fall in love
1 entry
27,212 people
2. Learn Spanish
1 entry . 1 cheer
18,259 people
3. Learn Japanese
1 entry
10,794 people
4. be happy with myself
1,479 people
5. Daily: Reflect on 5 things for which I'm grateful.
1 cheer
871 people
Learned it for a few years in high school, forgot most of it… But now I really want to pick it up again. Good thing is a lot of people speak Spanish at work, so I can easily practice it with them :)
I don't have a big circle of friends and I don't get to meet too many new people in my daily life, but this has been a goal of mine for awhile. I've just never really met anyone who actually makes me feel that way? And when someone likes me, I find that I don't really like them… and vice versa. I think it's just a matter of time before I find someone who I actually like, or that's what I hope anyway…


text:
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Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
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OCR for page 36
36 Bibliography California Department of Finance. State's Full Cost Recovery Policy. Infrastructure Outsourcing: Leveraging Concrete, Steel, and Asphalt with Presentation, August 2002. Public-Private Partnerships. Reason Public Policy Institute, Los Cambridge Systematics, Inc. VTrans Asset Management Vision and Angeles, California, 2000. Work Plan. Vermont Agency of Transportation, 2002. In-House Versus Consultant Design Cost Study. Louisiana Department of Circular A-87: Cost Principles for State, Local, and Indian Tribal Gov- Transportation and Development, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1998. ernments. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Washington, Maintenance & Traffic FY 08 Expenditure Report. Missouri Department D.C., 2004. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a087/a87_ of Transportation, Jefferson City, Missouri, 2008. 2004.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2009. Maintenance Contract Manual. Texas Department of Transportation, Competing for Highway Maintenance: Lessons for Washington State. Austin, Texas, 2006. Washington Policy Center, Seattle, Washington, 1998. Maintenance Management Information System (MMIS) User Manual. Competing for Highway Maintenance: Lessons for Washington State � Texas Department of Transportation, Austin, Texas, 2002. Part II. Washington Policy Center, Seattle, Washington, 1999. Maintenance Management Manual. Texas Department of Transporta- Competitive Contracting and Privatization Options in Wisconsin State tion, Austin, Texas, 2008. Government. Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Thiensville, Wis- Maintenance Work Operating Numbers. Washington State DOT, consin, April 2004. Olympia, Washington, 2007. Competitive Neutrality: Ensuring a Level Playing Field in Managed Com- NCHRP Web Document 59: Outsourcing of State DOT Capital Program petitions. Reason Public Policy Institute, Los Angeles, California, Delivery Functions [Project 20-24(18)]. Transportation Research 1998. Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003. Ninety-Seventh Annual Report. Alabama Department of Transporta- Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Missouri Department of tion, Montgomery, Alabama, Fiscal Year 2008. Transportation, Jefferson City, Missouri, 2008. Outsourcing Versus In-House Highway Maintenance: Cost Comparison Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June and Decision Factors. South Carolina Department of Transporta- 30, 2008. Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix, Ari- tion, Columbia, South Carolina, 2006. zona, 2008. Performance Guideline � PeGS. Arizona DOT, Phoenix, Arizona, 2002. Contracting for Road and Highway Maintenance. Reason Public Policy Proposed Administrative Indirect Cost Rates for Use During Septem- Institute, Los Angeles, California, 2003. ber 1, 2008 Through August 31, 2009. Texas Department of Trans- Department of Transportation Highways and Rail Programs Perfor- portation, Austin, Texas, 2008. mance Audit. State of Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Re- Review of VDOT's Administration of the Interstate Asset Management view Committee, Olympia, Washington, 1998. Contract. Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission of the Evaluation of Transportation Organization Outsourcing: Decision-making Virginia General Assembly, Richmond, Virginia, 2001. Criteria for Outsourcing Opportunities. Midwest Regional University Spaulding, W., MATS: Managing Assets on Transportation Systems. 2008. Transportation Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2002. Synopsis of WSDOT's Review of Highway Maintenance "Outsourcing" Field Operations Manual. Alabama Department of Transportation, Experience. Washington State Department of Transportation, Montgomery, Alabama. Olympia, Washington, 2004. FY 2007 Indirect Cost Rate Proposal. State of Washington Department TxDOT FIMS Report, Maintenance Direct and Indirect Expenditures by of Transportation, Olympia, Washington, 2006. Activity,FY2009.TexasDepartmentofTransportation, Austin, Texas. Highway Robbery: How Contracting-Out the Design, Engineering, Inspec- TxDOT Glossary. Texas Department of Transportation, Austin, Texas, tion & Management of Federally-Funded Transportation Projects 2010. Produces Problems with Cost, Quality, Safety & Accountability. Na- The Use of Highway Maintenance Management Systems in State Highway tional Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions, Agencies. Applied Pavement Technology, Inc., Urbana, Illinois, 2006. Sacramento, California, 2002. Vermont Agency of Transportation. Policy Manual. Subj: Assets Capi- How to Compare Costs Between In-House and Contracted Services. talization, Identifier 4020, August 2, 2001. Reason Public Policy Institute, Los Angeles, California, 1993. Warne, T. R. NCHRP Synthesis 313: State DOT Outsourcing and Private- Indirect Cost Allocation Plan FY 2008�2009. Office of Comptroller, Sector Utilization. Transportation Research Board of the National Florida Department of Transportation, Tallahassee, Florida, 2008. Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003.


text:
Despite the fact that he is always very busy, Eminem takes times to really get involved in Hailie's daily life. For those who doubted it, Marshall really loves kids and it even happens that he travels with the kids when they're doing a school trip, which allows him to spend more time with Hailie:
In school, when they have plays and field trips, I don't miss them. Even if I've got to deal with craziness.
I sometimes wish my youngest son was a pupil in Hailie's class. Can you imagine that the famous rapper takes time to read books to the class?
Last year I went and read to the class. Two books. It was reading month or something. (Eminem)
Eminem doesn't play the role of a good father. He doesn't have to. Facts talk by themselves. Hailie is one of the luckiest daughters in the world, because her father always finds time for her despite his always busy and hectic schedule.
Marshall never misses an occasion to show his love and dedication to his little girl. He is definitely not the bad person some people keep thinking he is.
31 comments
I am so jealous of hailie.I am 12 and I Just Fell In love with his music and him when i first ever heard of him.And my dad is really mean at times…But Marshall Is Cariing for his daughter each day of his life,Soooo cool!!
I love this relationship between Hailie and her father. He's not what you think he is i guess the media should get there facts right before they interfere with others personal life. But she would be the luckiest girl in the world and has the most loving father that anyone would ever want.
hey ppl hailie is sooooooooooooo cute and her daddy is hot
hailie is the luckiest girl dat i noe ryth now
well ppl talk shit bout her in my skool (falling brook) i dont noe y they say wroung stuff bout hailie and eminem well em iz my fave rapper u can e-mail me at [email protected] or [email protected]
and ohh ya happy b-day hailie jade and merry christmas
eminem is an awsome dad you can tell he really cares thats the most important thing.
he is a great father and nobody can say different!! he's my cousin and i saw him go threw everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lool you wish ashley lol!!
He's your cousin, dumbass? And I am the queen of England! Fuckoff and get a life!
Ashley, you are 15 years old and you're from NYC…keep on lying and i will display more personal info about you on this site. Liars and posers are definitely NOT welcome!
the one thing that makes me mad is that u never hear stuff like that on the news or anywhere they always talk about the bad things and never the good things. to me that is why people think he is such a bad person because they dont know what he does behind what you hear from other people.someone can be so sweet but if u hear nothing but bad things about them then you will think they are a bad preson because u have heard nothing but bad things about them and u have nothing else to go of off.
why don't you stop big deal he thinks he is minem's cousin jus let him tink it tihis aint a site for people to say thy arerelated to eminem it is about hailie and eminem he prob gets loads of people say hhey are related prob don't bother him anymore i think eminem is one of the most loving dad's to hailie and great uncle to lannie and so he hopes to be a good dad to witney i think he is wicked
omg im so jealous of hailie having eminem as a dad im 15 and i heard his music when i was 10 and have bought his cds and dvds eva since i would love eminem to be my dad
i think its realy good how he cares so much about hailie i love all your songs with her in especialy when im gone ive got the video of that and i watch it over and over wishin my dad was like em.
i think there is no better father then em. my dad couldnt give a shit about me n when i read about a famous rapper who is caring enough 2 read books to he's daughters class it just amazes me em your doing a great job with your family keep up the exalent work!
Eminem is a great dad, its amazing how much love he shows Hailie i fink he's a great guy as well as a great dad, take care em, lots of love ta you an ya family!
everyone says that meinem is the best dad in the world…but really….
I think its cool that Eminem is such an awesome dad even though his dad wasn't so great
or so i hear from his song cleaning out my closet
claire im glad ur daddy is a good one too!
Thoes any of you guys know what eminem is doing, i havent heard about him in a while…Some say he is out of the music deal… I would be very sad about it.
emienm is a gangsta the best in the world
my dad died in november of 07. i miss him alot. my step brother brandon betts shot him. my dads name was richard louis hall jr. he lived in brunswick georgia. wen i c slim it brings back memories. good luck with ur family!
yeah, she's a lucky girl. the more i read about these two, it cinvicts me cuz aint good at bein a dad to my daughter. congrats, marshall!
Again he is one of the sweetest fathers ever♥Hailie *is* lucky!
My question is whether or not he disciplines her. Part of being a good father is to have some rules and that. Kids often hate their parents for disciplining them, but really, the worst thing a parent could do is let the kid have what they want and do what they want.
But I admire Eminem's devotion to his child, heck, some parents should take a leaf from his book. It's strange though, how a guy who can love his child so much (perhaps all children?) can write all that horrible stuff in his songs and lyrics. Crazy.
i am a huge fan, most faggots diss him & Hailie and say shit, but really Em is da best, his songs keep me alive cause usually i aint got shit to help wit the stress & shit… his songs & lines from dem are my life at times & dats a big reason i listen to him. my dad left me & My mom, too but my ma aint as bad as em's, i think me & em are alike but then again i dont know i live in a bitch ass town in central new york, i hate it here, its a town called clinton its filled wit faggots. i have 100 songs by Marshall on my computer, email me plz [email protected] thank you good night


text:
Liam and Emma led the pack when it came to the most popular first names given to infants born in 2013 at Ministry Health Care hospitals.
They were followed by Sofie/Sophia/Sofia and Aubree/Aubrey for girls; and Alex/Alexander and Jackson/Jaxson for boys. The 2012 winners, Aiden and Ava, also continued to be well-liked.
"Most parents have some idea of what they want to name their baby before it's born," said Marsha Wickham, director, inpatient services, Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital. "They may pick out several names and then choose the one that 'fits' once they see the child."
"We also see a lot of different spellings of a name that sounds the same," added Sheila Hulce-Dittmann, ICU/IMCU and birthing center manager, Howard Young Medical Center. "And many names chosen can either be used for a girl or boy, or are masculine or feminine variations of the same name. But by and large the more traditional names continue to remain favorites."
The names Riley, Maverick, Parker, Payton and Avery were given to both boys and girls. Some examples of different spellings include Adelin/Adeline/Adelyn/Adelynn/Adalynn, Madalynn/Maddilynn/Madeleine/Madeline/Madelyn/Madelynn/Madilyn, and Jackson/Jaxen/Jaxon/Jaxson.
Spinoffs of "Ben" and "Ann" had the most variations: Benelli, Benito, Benjamin, Bennett, Benson, Bentley and Benton; and Ana, Anabella, Anastasia, Anaya, Anellia, Aniah, Annabell, Annalissa, Annalyn, Anne, Annebeth and Annistyn.
One wonders if couples getting together in the future will be Ever and Everly, Alexander and Alexandra, Cameron and Camryn, Eli and Ellie, Gabriel and Gabreilla, Joseph and Josephine, Justin and Justine, Madden and Maddie, Oliver and Olivia, Nicholas and Nicole, Raymond and Rayne, or Samuel and Samantha.
Nature children included Azalea, Violet, Willow, Aurora, Sierra, Ivy, Lily, Savanna, Jasmine, Sage, Florah, Talon and Rosetta, as well as jewels Ruby, Jade, Opal, Saphire and Gemma.
Biblical and religious names again made the fashionable list. They included Adam, Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Noah, Judah, Joshua, Jeremiah, Jonah, Gabriel, Elizabeth, Ruth and Namoi, as well as Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Heaven, Blessings Angel, Grace, Faith, and Hope.
Ministry hospitals represented were Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield; Ministry Saint Michael's Hospital, Stevens Point; Ministry Saint Clare's Hospital, Weston; Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital, Rhinelander; Howard Young Medical Center, Woodruff; Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, Appleton; and Mercy Medical Center, Oshkosh.
Statistics from each hospital:
Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital: 495 males 477 females
Boys' names: Conner, Easton, and a tie among Alex/Alexander, Liam, Grayson/Greyson and Benjamin
Girls' names: tie between Emma and Emily/Emilee, and tie among Aubree/Aubrey, Ava and Grace
Ministry Saint Michael's Hospital:
Boys' names: Wyatt, Mason and tie among Cameron, Logan, Liam, Oliver and Ryan
Girls' names: Sofia/Sophia, and Addison/Addisyn, Abiagil/Abigail and Olivia.
Howard Young Medical Center: 153 males 131 females
Boys' names: Easton, Eli, Bentley, Mason
Girls' names: Ava, Kierra, Katelynn, Madison
Mercy Medical Center: 340 males 296 females
Boys' names: Liam, Colin, Nolan, Sawyer
Girls' names: Sophia, Ella, Emma, Violet
St. Elizabeth's Hospital: 567 males 579 females
Boys' names: Tie among Henry, Jacob and William, followed by Aiden, Alexander, Jackson and Landon
Girls' names: Emma, and tie among Claire, Elizabeth and Sophia
Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital: 168 males 164 females
Boys' names: Wyatt, Jackson, Jace and Levi
Girls' names: Addison/Addyson/Adisyn, Avery, Madeline/Madelyn/Madilyn and Brooklyn
Ministry Saint Clare's Hospital: 312 males 321 females
Boys' names: Tie between Jacob and Gabriel, Jase/Jace, Benjamin, Ethan and Liam
Girls' names: Tie between Olivia and Ava, Sophia, Peyton, Madalynn and tie between Abigail and Addison


text:
A Territorial Christmas Celebration
Nov 29, 2014 - Dec 21, 2014
Historic District Downtown, Guthrie, OK 73044
Step back in time at A Territorial Christmas Celebration in Guthrie with a live theatre production, historic home tours, ... read more...
Winter Holiday Event, Living History Event, Performing Arts Event
Jan 24, 2015
Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Enid, OK 73701
Winter Chautauqua in Enid promises to be an exciting event with two early workshops and one performance in the evening. ... read more...
Educational Event, Living History Event
Airborne Demonstration Team Open Hangar Day
Jan 24, 2015
Frederick Regional Airport, Frederick, OK 73542
Get a glimpse of U.S. military history in action at the Airborne Demonstration Team Open Hangar Day in Frederick. ... read more...
Aviation Event, Living History Event
U.S.S. Batfish Living History Days
Feb 07, 2015 - Feb 08, 2015
War Memorial Park, Muskogee, OK 74403
Visit the U.S.S. Batfish Living History Days in Muskogee and transport yourself back in time to WWII onboard the U.S.S. ... read more...
Tour Event, Living History Event
Battle of Round Mountain Re-enactment
Feb 20, 2015 - Feb 22, 2015
777 Glory Rd, Yale, OK 74085
The Battle of Round Mountain is listed as the first battle fought in Indian Territory during the Civil War. This ... read more...
Living History Event
Fort Towson Living History Weekend
Feb 27, 2015 - Feb 28, 2015
HC 63 Box 1580, Fort Towson, OK 74735
Come experience life on the Western frontier at the Fort Towson Living History Weekend near Hugo Lake State Park. ... read more...
Fairs & Festivals, Living History Event
Mar 21, 2015
Historic Fort Reno, El Reno, OK 73036
Come along on an exciting and spooky ghost tour at El Reno's historic Fort Reno. This ghost tour includes ... read more...
Tour Event, Living History Event
Mar 21, 2015
Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Bring the whole family to the Oklahoma History Center for Cowboy Round-Up day. This fun, family-friendly event featuring ... read more...
Children's Event, Western Heritage Event, Living History Event
Mar 26, 2015 - Mar 27, 2015
Cherokee Heritage Center, Tahlequah, OK 74465
Experience a living classroom of Cherokee history and culture from the 1880s at the Cherokee Heritage Center's ... read more...
Children's Event, Educational Event, Living History Event, American Indian Event
Mar 27, 2015 - Mar 29, 2015
Reaves Park, Norman, OK 73072
Journey to a time of kings, queens, knights and shining armor at Norman's Medieval Fair. Held annually since ... read more...
Fairs & Festivals, Living History Event
Email: email@example.com


text:
Putting together a new Drupal site, I had a puzzling moment when I noticed a new user's ID was number 15. This was mysterious because the site had only 4 users on it. And just moments before I had created a user who's ID was 13. ID number 14 went missing, and I couldn't find it anywhere in the database.
I asked around, and eventually found a thread with the answer: Provide a sequences API. It's long so I'll summarize... In Drupal 5, there was a database table devoted to generating ID sequences. In Drupal 6, they got rid of that in favor of auto-incrementing IDs. In Drupal 7, they brought back the sequence API. Drupal uses this new code for the user IDs, while node IDs (and many other IDs) are still auto-increment. (Although possibly not for long - don't ask me why they dislike auto-increment so much). [Edit - removed italics around "they".]
To get to the point, some tables behave as I would have expected, i.e. node IDs are continuous (for now). But, Users share their IDs with other parts of the system. In Drupal core, the same set of ID numbers is shared between users, actions and batch jobs. Third-party modules may introduce even more things that take from this shared space. The case that bothers me most is the batch jobs. Every batch job performed by Drupal will increment the ID sequence. Even the batch jobs that complete in a single page load; they take an ID even if they are never stored in the database!
I prefer consecutive user IDs. And I expected them to be consecutive, because I have experience with Drupal 6.x. To the Drupal core developers, this makes me a "client who thinks they know more then [sic] they actually do." Sounds like we can't turn to the Drupal core developers for help on this one.
Those developers who claim to think to know exactly how much they know :-) they haven't taken away all our options. At least not yet. It turns out the user_save() function is OK with us specifying a UID. [Edit - It looks like the patch above makes this possible, so I guess they gave us an option after all!] So we can override the default behavior of Drupal core. Here's how.
The code below implements several Drupal hooks. You'll need to replace
custom everywhere you see it with the name of your own module or profile.
The code below has changed since I first posted here. The code below may have problems if you've customized the user creation behavior in other ways. It should work better than my previous code on most Drupal instances.
First, in our module/profile .install file we create a table like Drupal core's
{sequences} table. Our table is named
custom_uid_sequences and will be used only when generating new UIDs. To use this code, add it to your .install file and run Drupal's update.php script.
* Implements hook_schema().
* Adds a table just like core sequences table. We will use it when creating users.
function custom_schema() {
$system_schema = system_schema();
$custom_uid_sequence = $system_schema['sequences'];
return array('custom_uid_sequences' => $custom_uid_sequence);
* Installs our custom schema, including table for user IDs.
function custom_update_7001() {
After we've created this table, we can tell Drupal to use this table in place of {sequences} when creating users. And tell Drupal to use the regular table after the user creation is complete. These hooks belong in your custom .module or .profile file.
* Implements hook_entity_presave().
* Before saving a user, we use a database connection that prefixes the
* {sequences} table with 'custom_uid_'. This is to make user IDs come
* from a consecutive sequence of numbers, rather than skipping numbers
* when batch jobs are performed or other Drupal behavior uses the
* {sequences} table. This approach should work OK as long as the user
* create process has not been customized to start batch jobs, create
* actions, or do anything else that relies on {sequences}.
function custom_entity_presave($entity, $type) {
if ($type == 'user' && empty($entity->uid)) {
// We're saving a new user.
$active_key = 'default'; // Drupal provides no way to learn active key, so we assume default.
// Create a new database connection, identical to the active one except adding a prefix for the sequences table.$db_info = Database::getConnectionInfo($active_key);
$db_data = $db_info[$active_key];
$db_data['prefix']['sequences'] = 'custom_uid_';
Database::addConnectionInfo('custom_uid', 'default', $db_data); // Not sure what a $target is. 'default' is only value that works.
$GLOBALS['_custom_db_active_key'] = Database::setActiveConnection('custom_uid');
// Until custom_entity_insert() is called, all Drupal sequences will come from the custom_uid_sequences table. Hopefully it will be used only to create the new user.
* Implements hook_entity_insert().
* If custom_entity_presave() changed the active DB connection, we restore it's previous setting here.
function custom_entity_insert($entity, $type) {
if ($type == 'user' && isset($GLOBALS['_custom_db_active_key'])) {
// During user insert, we used custom_uid_sequences. Now we return to normal sequences table.
The preceding code may not work for you. It may not work with future versions of Drupal. It comes with no warranty expressed or implied. Still, I hope you like it and find it helpful.
If you feel like I do, that it is worth a little extra effort to keep numerical IDs consecutive, please chime in on the issues above and/or leave a comment here.
Damien McKenna (not verified)
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 02:00
Seeing as nobody else has replied, so I figured I would.
You talk about the core maintainers as if they are some secret club plotting the contortion of your beloved toy. Core maintainers are just people who contribute in the core issue queues, simple as that - you can be a "core maintainer" by fixing spelling mistakes (http://drupal.org/node/1742958).
In reality *this* decision was initially meant as a cleanup of existing code but in the interest of solving other problems (e.g. http://drupal.org/node/204411#comment-1185980) it ended up being extended to cover users too.
What I suggest you do quit the complaining, accept that not everything is built for *your* use case, and release your change as a contrib module - I'm sure there are lots of people who could use it.
Damien McKenna (not verified)
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 10:47
Hi David,
I'm wondering what your trying to accomplish here. Reading through your post I see a lot of anger at a topic...that...doesn't seem worth it. Also, many statements I'd expect from a political handout and not a technical blog posting. For exampe:
"they brought back the sequence API" -- 'they'
"don't ask me why they dislike auto-increment so much" -- Perhaps you should know why they dislike auto_increment in this case? Did you read the issue and try to figure out why this is done?
'To the Drupal core developers, this makes me a "client who thinks they know more then [sic] they actually do." Sounds like we can't turn to the Drupal core developers for help on this one' -- This is just childish. If you read the issue, this is brought up once to explain a case you clearly don't fit. Your concerned about batch jobs being in the same 'ID space' as users, which Crell was as well and was discussed in that thread. The phenomenon of a client having a little knowledge/info and using it to cause trouble or block something because they don't understand the full story is very widely known and trying to use it as an argument against core developers in this issue is confusing.
'"Those developers who claim to think to know exactly how much they know"
Those developers who claim to think to know exactly how much they know :-) they haven't takes away all our options. At least not yet. ' -- LOL. Seriously, have you worked in politics before? The creeping menace of the core developers taking away your hooks....and...your choices.
So, lets recap. You:
* Use a bunch of divisive language and statements for no apparent reason
* Get offended by a simple statement that is very widely known and _should_ be known to you too
* At no point give a technical reason as to why you don't like this or what problems it could cause.
* Didn't continue your issue when you asked about this, just saw the original thread, got pissed off and closed it.
* Are giving the impression that the core developers are a cabal who are trying to take away your choices and introduce new systems that will make your sites worse (although you never explain how in this case) so they have something to joke about in their midnight meetings....
So, I'd like to ask: What are you trying to accomplish here? I feel like this blog posting shouldn't exist and you should have kept your original issue open to get a response/debate why you feel like this is a bad idea.
Damien McKenna (not verified)
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 10:29
Hi David,
"My intent was to be tongue in cheek, while also expressing some dissatisfaction. I can tell from the comments that the tongue-in-cheeckness was lost along the way. One smiley was clearly not enough."
Thats always tough. I've read your posts before and the italics here were confusing. The emphasis could have been humor, but was interpreted by myself and others otherwise. This post makes more sense and fits better with the other posts of yours I've read when assuming its humor.
"I'm not sure what should be known to me. Is the line about clients who think they know a common expression, or should I know that IDs are not consecutive?"
The line about clients, I wouldn't expect anyone to be following the sequences API closely :). My concern was that you seemed genuinely upset about the 'clients who think they know more than they do' line applying to you, when I don't believe it does at all and I think it was targeted at a certain type of client. (Who would see the ID offsets and not research, but just assume something was broken. You had the correct reaction to seeing something different like that....so I really don't believe this in any way was meant to be about you)
"If you think there will be debate, I invite you to open that issue again, I will post there for sure."
I likely am going to re-open this issue, as I have another problem with this change.
"The original thread is long. I've tried to understand it, and I come away not understanding why the users table is no longer auto-increment, and also not understanding why other tables, in the near future, should not be auto-increment. That thread clearly shows the intention to make that change in the next release of Drupal, but doesn't explain the problem that would solve. Even if all entity IDs came from the same number space, I would argue that batch jobs, not ever saved to database, should not take the same numbers."
From reading that thread, I don't believe every table is going to transition to this new sequences API. The idea is this: We needed a sequences API for a few things, so one was written. The users table has an issue with auto_increment (during install we get into a really weird situation where 0 has to be inserted and its a pain...the logic has broken on several releases...its just brittle). Thus, this API was used for the users table. There are two ways to do a sequences API, each table has its own "sequence" or one shared "sequence", basically making this a unique number generator. In essence this sequences API is removing the concept of incrementing numbers in the PK of a table using it. Everything just gets an identifying number that may or may not be related to the number of the item before.
"Even if all entity IDs came from the same number space, I would argue that batch jobs, not ever saved to database, should not take the same numbers."
But why? I feel like this conversation would be very different if you had lead with. "This change will prevent me from doing A, B, C".
"Over the years, it's become a lot less flexible for coders."
I'd definitely argue the opposite. What flexibility has gone away from your perspective? I am interested in this view as I've heard it before, but I have not been able to talk to someone to find out details on what has gone away.
"I'm also blogging some of my dissatisfaction with some recent changes to Drupal. I'm OK with you disagreeing with me here and/or on drupal.org. I hope you're OK with me blogging my opinions."
Of course. I've read your posts before, I was surprised by this one. That the humor didn't translate explains a lot. What remains is that I feel you do have a legitimate gripe with consecutive uids going away and the impact of that on a site admin, but that your point was done a disservice by its representation.
Damien McKenna (not verified)
Wed, 09/19/2012 - 19:25
Although I said this on my blog, in my opinion ;) forming an opinion on a rather challenging technical issue is not an opinion. This belongs to the core queue and the core queue alone. See the comment on my blog for more.
> As for the other rant, Let's say my node has an image field. Now, show me a snippet of code that returns the URL of the image.
Certainly. Write a little formatter module which merely emits that URL. If you look into image_field_formatter_view it's fairly trivial to see which parts need copying to have the URI and then use #theme link. Then, you can run field_view_field and render the results. You could obviously do a lot less clean ways -- call file_load_multiple with the file ids stored in the file, call file_create_url on the results. So... what's your problem?


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The chorus is about the ridiculous perversions and commercialisations of religion, and how laughable the whole thing gets - all the paraphernalia, all the hatred it sparks, all the bullshit.
And then the verses are about the little jump of terror in your heart when you're staring something awful in the face and for a second you really wish someone was there to save you or help you - or you just wish that things were somehow in somebody's control, when in fact they really aren't. I think it's that primal terror in all of us that continues to give religion so much power despite all the ridiculous aspects of it.
I think that's what this song is about - what it is in people's hearts that makes them accept all the stupid parts of god, and why people just laugh at the ridiculous parts without ever rejecting religion. We'd rather be 'in on the joke', laughing with god, clinging to things that deep down we're not 100% sure are true, because the idea that we're all alone is too scary to bear.
0I absolutely agree with your interpretation of the song as opposed to the others. It makes me think about how all over the world people are oppressed and live in a hell on earth, dying horrific deaths and watching all those around them suffer; and then people think that their prayers to God actually matter concerning the luxury car they want to buy, or please God get me out of this traffic I want to go home, etc...
So many people think this song seems pro-religious, and I definitely disagree. You could not have put it better, great post.000Thank you! I agree fully, and I'll add that the line "No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they got and they don't know what for" might even hold some anger twords the idea of god. but, I don't know.
all in all, a great post to a great song.Flag RespectfulAthieston January 20, 20100I agree with this explanation most. You can tell she's being sarcastic when she's laughing during the song. I don't think this is supposed to be pro or anti-G*d. Just her view of religion as a whole.Flag 3wolveshirton March 04, 20100I do agree with the thought of it being a neutral song (neither anti nor pro) I have to disagree about your interpretation of the lyric "No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they got and they don't know what for"
Often times, when people's lives are going great they mock God and hate him, but suddenly when things turn terrible, they are praying for everything to be better again. Kind of like how a lot of people take God's name in vain when they don't even believe in him...it's the weirdest thing ever.
"For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute." Hebrews 6:16
Well, no one's laughing AT God when they are hoping by some divine miracle, their misery will change, because they know by no power of man could anything be done. Perhaps she's singing about how people flip and flop in their relationship towards the idea of God or with God Himself.Flag cottonpuffson June 21, 20100it seems like you are coming closest to what i believe the meaning to be. I've heard her talk about the song and she has said that it is not pro or anti anything. she is like that a lot, which is awesome. the best art presents a question to its audience to answer for themselves. I think she is, as you say, just making observations of the relationships between humans and God. I think she is noticing that it is easy for people to laugh at the sillier parts of religion (and i think this is her actually giving a bit of a jab at religions' and society's silly interpretations of God) when everything is going great. Then she points out that in moments of terror, as you mention, people still turn to God for help. I think she is also taking notice that poor people are often more religious. People who don't know where their next meal is coming from are forced to put more faith is God because they have terror on a daily basis, where as many of us only think of God during the turbulence in an airplane. I think this is a needed insight, because many people look at the uneducated, poor, religious as just stupid people and the enlightened, educated, rich folks think they have evolved beyond religion and God (bill mahr, grr). She is saying, hey, people who believe in God need God, that doesn't mean they are stupid. We all need God sometimes, even if we don't believe in him. We make him silly sometimes, but he's ok with that too, he's always there for us to pray to even if he isn't really there at all.Flag philaphobicon June 26, 20100I most definitely agree with you. I was just wondering about what this song means, and think people took this song really pro god, but I don't think it is. I think that it is purely an observation of how we think about God, and how we think about God as wonderful and powerful when we're asking for money or for him to grant us wishes, but when everything falls out from under us, he's not so magical anymore, he's not like santa or a genie, and we aren't laughing. Its brilliant.0Totally agree, this song is not pro-religeon at all, quite the contrary. I think the last line shows the true meaning behind the lyrics "we're all laughing with god", as opposed to laughing at him, which is what we should be doing. Not god per se, but of the idea of god. How can we think that there's someone up there calling the shots when terrible things happen all the time. To Regina people always stay on gods side and excuse him from horrible things that happen, when the idea of an all powerful and all good god allowing such things to happen is laughable. We should be laughing at god (or the idea of him anyway) but not laughing with him.