Previously posted at: Ding Dong, the tax is dead

Considering our State Legislature took a huge budget surplus and spent it, this is just more reason to demand accountability in Olympia.

Friday Snohomish County Judge Allendorf affirms his March ruling against the out of control legislature.

Judge rules against tax hikes

Voters shouldn’t get a chance at rolling back last year’s hike in cigarette taxes, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge decided Monday.

But $70 million in other taxes, including levies on hard liquor and extended warranties, are invalid unless ratified by voters, the judge ruled.

That’s the gist of the order issued by Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer at the end of an hourlong hearing in a lawsuit that alleges legislators skirted state law in 2005 by raising taxes without voter approval.

State lawyers initiated an appeal to the state Supreme Court immediately after the hearing. They contend the taxes were legally approved and should remain in force.

"Obviously this is the kind of decision we would need to have reviewed by a higher court," said deputy solicitor general Jeffrey Even.

Here are some local immigration related stories:

Restaurant manager fired for employees attend immigration rally

When the 17 employees of Cafe Septieme, including 10 Hispanics, asked for Monday off to participate in an immigration rights march and rally, manager Vance Wolfe scheduled no one to work.

Wolfe reasoned that the owner, Victor Santiago, "couldn’t fire the entire staff." Nor did he. The only one fired by Santiago was Wolfe

Good.  Since he gave them effective permission, he took on the accountability.  He got what he deserved.

Ken Schram weighs in on amnesty:

Never Mind How They Got Here

Never mind how they got here, or how long they’ve lived here.

Never mind the work they do, or how much they sacrifice to continue supporting their families.

What do you realistically expect should be done with the estimated 12 million people lumped together and identified as our "immigration problem?"

His tone is a bit sympathetic, but he asks some reasonable questions.

Seattle rally photo round up here.  Of note, is seeing King County Executive Ron Sims leading the rally.  Apparently he is ok with Reconquista.

Time will tell…It doesn’t sound too much like a concession, but at the same time they are coming to the table, so we can hope.

Iran: We’re Ready to Negotiate Over Nuclear Program

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Monday said Tehran was "ready for any kind of negotiation to achieve our rights," renewing a call for further talks on the Islamic republic’s atomic program.

As officials from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members gathered in Paris to discuss strategy, Ali Larijani also called again for Iran’s dispute with the international community to be returned to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, headed by Mohamed ElBaradei.

"Let’s allow Mr. ElBaradei to do his job based on the international conventions," Larijani told group of students in Tehran University, the official Iranian news agency reported.

Diplomats representing the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, which hold Security Council vetoes, meet in Paris on Tuesday with Germany to discuss ElBaradei’s report to the council that Iran was in violation of the council’s demand that Tehran stop enriching uranium, a process that can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb.

I am not a huge fan of his, but regardless of how I may or may not agree with him on other issues, on this one he makes sense.

Read it for yourself.  I have very little to add.

Dobbs: Radical groups taking control of immigrant movement

We all awoke to headlines in our nation’s most important newspapers reminding us that this is "A Day Without Immigrants." Not illegal immigrants, mind you, but immigrants.

USA Today headlined today’s demonstrations and boycott "On Immigration’s Front Lines." The New York Times headlines its story "With Calls for Boycott by Immigrants, Employers Gird for Unknown." The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times are both calling their coverage "The Immigration Debate."

These major newspapers obviously don’t want to disturb their readers with the information that today’s demonstrations and boycott are about illegal immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens.

CNN and Fox News are both using a banner calling their coverage "A Day Without Immigrants," while MSNBC is titling its coverage "Immigrant Anger."