Maybe the Republicans need to get one of those converter boxes before the deadline?
While knocking the stimulus package during his response to the state of the union address Governor Jindal said, “Instead Of Monitoring Volcanoes, we should be monitoring the eruption of spending in Washington.” Wait a minute Governor no ideas; people here in the State of Washington may think, then we should also stop monitoring hurricanes. But, I think what we all are being forced to monitor is more like a Republican Party deathwatch.
I was having dinner with my thirty something daughter and my son in law the other night, and admiring their beautiful new baby girl. My daughter is typical of many of her generation of thirty somethings, somewhat tech nerdy and smart. well educated and results orientated. They are not so inclined to take sides, left or right, as quickly as we of the baby boom generation are.
Simply put they, like President Obama, just want to get things done. This is why most of them are now joining the growing base of the Democratic Party and support the new President’s forward thinking and modern solutions to the problems we face as a nation.
We were talking about the state of politics and I was waxing on with the usual left wing talking points thinking how obvious could it be. She simply countered with, “ it’s the way they think, it’s out of date, their thinking is really from another era. Yet they try and apply it to today’s problems”.
I thought that’s it, it's like the Republicans thinking is analog and the Democrats is digital.
One of the things that always bugged me the most about 8 years of George W. Bush was the overwhelming feeling of time being wasted. Things needed addressing here and now, yet Bush and the Republicans ignored the obvious, stuck in their tired ideology and rhetoric. Protecting corporate America and the rich oligarchy was more important than solving real problems in the end. People died, things regressed, crises when unaddressed.
Ignore the need to reduce our need for foreign oil or to produce energy from clean energy sources. Refuse to reform health care and provide a real national health insurance program. Instead we got more of the same old programs that only protected and enriched the rich, disguised as reform. We hate change; it’s every (rich) man and woman for themselves was their real mantra. Even the war in Iraq’s main justification was based on a desire and old idea that unlimited access to a source for more oil is what we need. Such were the distorted and misleading ideas of these Republicans.
Even after serious loses in the last two national elections Republicans continue to believe in their out of date stale and unworkable ideas. They waste every thinking person’s right to a brighter future.
The end maybe near for these out dated old white men and their obstructionist party.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
ABC This Week Finally Conducts A Rational Discussion Of The Economy
OMG, I can't believe this.
Maybe it was because Cokie Roberts and David Brooks weren't there, but this is the most rational discussion of the overall economy I've seen on a MSM channel since the crisis began. Guest include Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini NYU professor who was one of the few economist to predict the crisis. Both Krugman and Roubini tend to take a more populist view of the situation and not get bogged down in politically based ideological arguments on who should get the blame.
Maybe it was because Cokie Roberts and David Brooks weren't there, but this is the most rational discussion of the overall economy I've seen on a MSM channel since the crisis began. Guest include Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini NYU professor who was one of the few economist to predict the crisis. Both Krugman and Roubini tend to take a more populist view of the situation and not get bogged down in politically based ideological arguments on who should get the blame.
David Gregory Parrots Republican Talking Points About Deadbeat Home Buyers On MTP
Mealy-mouthed Meet The Press host David Gregory was more then happy to parrot the Republican talking points of why we shouldn’t be bailing out these deadbeat home owners.
His thinking mostly based on the continuing hero worship by the MSM and the right wing of former derivatives trader, and CNBC reporter, Rick Santelli based on his recent cable news rant about the supposedly lazy no good bums who wanted us to pay for their bad mortgages and 2nd bathrooms.
Gregory led off one discussion with, “I have read the plan from top to bottom and the reality is that Mr Santelli's criticism is shared by a lot of people who think it is fundamentally unfair to subsidies people. They misrepresented their incomes, gotten in over their heads and the owe what they owe” he said. Gregory repeatedly referred to the bad loans as "liar loans". Gregory by buying into this crap demonstrates his misguided willingness to carry Republican water aimed at undermining the Obama mortgage rescue plan that was announced last week.
The problem with Gregory's premise is that the mortgage sellers were the lairs not, as he infers, so much the borrowers. Just apply common sense, the borrowers didn't approve their own loans.
What Gregory and Santelli fail to point out is that these supposedly toxic mortgages had to be approved ultimately by a underwriter and bank or some mortgage company officials who’s job it was to check to see if the borrower had a realistic ability to pay the loan off. Gregory presents a false and misleading picture of a fast talking borrower with little income or documentation who repeatedly is able, somehow, to pull the wool over the eyes of his local mortgage lender or bank official.
It’s total bullshit.
The truth is that many of these home mortgage lenders, bankers and underwriters were more than willing to ignore basic accounting, documentation and home lending rules because they were more concerned about market share and profits in the inflated and exploding home mortgage and housing market then whether their customers could afford the loans, or repay them.
The mortgage lenders and banks personal greed has now come home to roost.
Borrowers were offered low interest adjustable rate mortgages, such as the now famous, pick a payment loan, that allowed homeowners to pay whatever amount they wished each month, actually increased the mortgage principle over time not lowering it. These lenders had to know these mortgages were ticking time bombs that were ready explode in the homeowner face down the road. But, they said nothing even late in the looming crisis and continued to package these same mortgages into toxic securities that they spread around the world.
Mortgage providers and their sales people speculated that home prices would never fall and would in fact only increase in a ever expanding frenzy of home buying and selling, speculation, flipping and orgy of quick buck making in the millions and billion of dollars for these ethically challenged lenders.
Gregory and Santelli reflect the worst type of sensationalizing and polarizing by subtly misrepresenting the basic facts and continuing to paint anyone who has a troubled mortgage as some sort of racial stereotypical lowlife who took advantage of the unsuspecting mortgage company or bank when they applied for the mortgage. We all know it was the other way around. So mismanaged and greedy were these mortgage providers that their unscrupulous behavior has in the end pulled the house down on their own heads.
So called reporters like Santelli and Gregory should at the very least make an effort to base their nitwit premises on something close to the facts before they start shooting off their mouths.
His thinking mostly based on the continuing hero worship by the MSM and the right wing of former derivatives trader, and CNBC reporter, Rick Santelli based on his recent cable news rant about the supposedly lazy no good bums who wanted us to pay for their bad mortgages and 2nd bathrooms.
Gregory led off one discussion with, “I have read the plan from top to bottom and the reality is that Mr Santelli's criticism is shared by a lot of people who think it is fundamentally unfair to subsidies people. They misrepresented their incomes, gotten in over their heads and the owe what they owe” he said. Gregory repeatedly referred to the bad loans as "liar loans". Gregory by buying into this crap demonstrates his misguided willingness to carry Republican water aimed at undermining the Obama mortgage rescue plan that was announced last week.
The problem with Gregory's premise is that the mortgage sellers were the lairs not, as he infers, so much the borrowers. Just apply common sense, the borrowers didn't approve their own loans.
What Gregory and Santelli fail to point out is that these supposedly toxic mortgages had to be approved ultimately by a underwriter and bank or some mortgage company officials who’s job it was to check to see if the borrower had a realistic ability to pay the loan off. Gregory presents a false and misleading picture of a fast talking borrower with little income or documentation who repeatedly is able, somehow, to pull the wool over the eyes of his local mortgage lender or bank official.
It’s total bullshit.
The truth is that many of these home mortgage lenders, bankers and underwriters were more than willing to ignore basic accounting, documentation and home lending rules because they were more concerned about market share and profits in the inflated and exploding home mortgage and housing market then whether their customers could afford the loans, or repay them.
The mortgage lenders and banks personal greed has now come home to roost.
Borrowers were offered low interest adjustable rate mortgages, such as the now famous, pick a payment loan, that allowed homeowners to pay whatever amount they wished each month, actually increased the mortgage principle over time not lowering it. These lenders had to know these mortgages were ticking time bombs that were ready explode in the homeowner face down the road. But, they said nothing even late in the looming crisis and continued to package these same mortgages into toxic securities that they spread around the world.
Mortgage providers and their sales people speculated that home prices would never fall and would in fact only increase in a ever expanding frenzy of home buying and selling, speculation, flipping and orgy of quick buck making in the millions and billion of dollars for these ethically challenged lenders.
Gregory and Santelli reflect the worst type of sensationalizing and polarizing by subtly misrepresenting the basic facts and continuing to paint anyone who has a troubled mortgage as some sort of racial stereotypical lowlife who took advantage of the unsuspecting mortgage company or bank when they applied for the mortgage. We all know it was the other way around. So mismanaged and greedy were these mortgage providers that their unscrupulous behavior has in the end pulled the house down on their own heads.
So called reporters like Santelli and Gregory should at the very least make an effort to base their nitwit premises on something close to the facts before they start shooting off their mouths.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
This is the Type Of Focused Populist Anger We Need To Harness
Lansing Michigan Mayor Virg Bernero never fails to amaze me when it comes to articulating how corporate America has been screwing the working man or the double standard that exist when it comes to bailouts for Wall Street versus Main Street. Unfortunately, many Americans are apparently too ignorant or selfish to figure it out.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Hardtimes Michael Jackson Auctioning Off His Stuff
The Neverland auction. How about the famous glove or his MTV award, it's all here.
Starbucks Becomes Labor's Poster Child For The Employee Free Choice Act
Proponents of The Employee Free Choice Act have made Starbucks Coffee Chain and CEO Howard Shultz it's poster child in the campaign for passage of the law.Labor unions have long argued that even when a union can prove it represents a majority of employee by producing cards that the employees have signed indicating they want a union employers more often then not will immediately engage in frivolous legal action, intimidation and dismissal of employees they suspect are union sympathizers. Starbucks have now become the dubious stereotypical example when it comes to using these age old union busting tactics when their employees have decided to form a union.
“As the Seattle Times reports today, Schultz's company, already thumped by the National Labor Relations Board last month for unfair labor practices, including the firing and punishing of pro-union baristas at several New York cafes, has now settled a separate NLRB dispute this week in Michigan. And on Wednesday, Starbucks is set to begin proceedings there in a third case in which it allegedly fired a barista because of his union activities.” EFCA poster boy: Starbucks CEO Howard SchultzThe EFCA, also known as card check, would limit the employer’s ability to intimidate and fire employees who want a union by removing the time consuming requirement that an election be conducted at a business to determine whether the employees want the union. Under the new law if the union has cards signed by over 50% of the employees, verified by an independent third party, the union would then represent the employees. The employer would then be required to begin good faith negotiations with the union on a contract to cover the employee’s wages, hours and working conditions.
Employers traditionally have used the lengthy period after the cards have been signed and before the election is held to engages in paternalism, firing and intimidate employees and union ringleaders in order to bust the union and or effect the outcome of the election. Starbucks has on several occasions been found guilty of engaging in anti union practices that personify the type of activity that support labor's arguments for card check.
I'm definitely buying my coffee elsewhere until Starbucks recognize that their employees have the right to organize a union free from intimidation.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hey Barack Nationalizing Banks Maybe The Only Option!
President Obama has come out against nationalizing banks as a means of dealing with the looming insolvency crisis in the financial industry. His stated reasons seem vague, “America is different, We want to retain a strong sense that private capital is fulfilling the core investment needs of this country” he said. (Referring to a question about Sweden who nationalized their banks) Given the escalating nature of the global financial crisis I wonder if the President may have a different opinion now on nationalization.
I think that he should at the very least remain open minded about the possibility of having to nationalize given the nature and severity of the deepening crisis. In any case, if government were to take over failing banks it should be done as a temporary measure lasting only as long as necessary to fix the problems and get rid of deadwood bosses and managers before the banks are returned to private sector operation again.
A recent article by economist Nouriel Roubini has rejuvenated the debate about whether the government should take over troubled banks. On ABC This Week today two Republicans, Senator Lindsay Graham and Representative Peter King even admitted that given the severity of the problem it should be an option that the President could use. The statement by the two Republicans almost gave Representative Maxine Waters, also a guest on the show, a heart attack since it was coming from Republicans. It seems like just a few days ago that these same Republicans were ranting on about the evils of Socialism and government interference in the private sector. So go figure.
Maybe this is why Obama has been hesitant to use this option, namely because of the ideological and political opposition problems he thinks it would create trying to sell it to the Republicans and the extreme right wing. The bottom line is that there are more good reasons to do it then to end up with a bunch of half measures that may not get the job done. The President may not get a do over if his strategy is not bold given the catastrophic he is facing.
Chief among these problems is the fact that many of the same Wall Street CEO’s that brought about the crisis in the first place remain in power and why would you give billions in bailout funds to them now since they have demonstrated they apparently don’t know what they are doing. Nationalization should eliminate these compromised individuals from the situation and would also represent a clean and transparent start for the banks with new people running the show.
Last week we had the rather theatrical display of bankers being parade before Congress to be brow beaten for paying themselves inflated bonuses and mismanagement. As a friend of mine pointed out, the same thing was done in Scotland with their bankers except that all of them had already been fired from their jobs as heads of the banks by the time they appeared before a government commission. So entrenched are the CEO's here that they can't be fired even when it's obvious that they are incompetent or able to keep their bank solvent.
Senator Chuck Schumer, who also appeared on the show, not surprisingly was the only panelist who came out against the idea. “I don't think government is good at making these decisions”. Schumer the New York Senator certainly is representing by this statement the interest more of the bankers he represents on Wall Street, than what may be good for the country. Which is at the root of the political problem when it comes to opposition to nationalizing the banks. Most members of Congress, on both sides of the isle, as well as many presidential advisers, are beholden to the Banks and Financial institutions because of the political contributions they have received, or their long term personal working relationship with Wall Street. The Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is a prime example of someone who represents the latter.
So is Obama getting good advise? Maybe not. My hope is that he is not so insulated by the political culture in Washington that the idea of nationalizing the banks is completely off the table. Because in the end it may be the best strategy and exactly what’s needed to really fix the crisis.
I think that he should at the very least remain open minded about the possibility of having to nationalize given the nature and severity of the deepening crisis. In any case, if government were to take over failing banks it should be done as a temporary measure lasting only as long as necessary to fix the problems and get rid of deadwood bosses and managers before the banks are returned to private sector operation again.
A recent article by economist Nouriel Roubini has rejuvenated the debate about whether the government should take over troubled banks. On ABC This Week today two Republicans, Senator Lindsay Graham and Representative Peter King even admitted that given the severity of the problem it should be an option that the President could use. The statement by the two Republicans almost gave Representative Maxine Waters, also a guest on the show, a heart attack since it was coming from Republicans. It seems like just a few days ago that these same Republicans were ranting on about the evils of Socialism and government interference in the private sector. So go figure.
Maybe this is why Obama has been hesitant to use this option, namely because of the ideological and political opposition problems he thinks it would create trying to sell it to the Republicans and the extreme right wing. The bottom line is that there are more good reasons to do it then to end up with a bunch of half measures that may not get the job done. The President may not get a do over if his strategy is not bold given the catastrophic he is facing.
Chief among these problems is the fact that many of the same Wall Street CEO’s that brought about the crisis in the first place remain in power and why would you give billions in bailout funds to them now since they have demonstrated they apparently don’t know what they are doing. Nationalization should eliminate these compromised individuals from the situation and would also represent a clean and transparent start for the banks with new people running the show.
Last week we had the rather theatrical display of bankers being parade before Congress to be brow beaten for paying themselves inflated bonuses and mismanagement. As a friend of mine pointed out, the same thing was done in Scotland with their bankers except that all of them had already been fired from their jobs as heads of the banks by the time they appeared before a government commission. So entrenched are the CEO's here that they can't be fired even when it's obvious that they are incompetent or able to keep their bank solvent.
Senator Chuck Schumer, who also appeared on the show, not surprisingly was the only panelist who came out against the idea. “I don't think government is good at making these decisions”. Schumer the New York Senator certainly is representing by this statement the interest more of the bankers he represents on Wall Street, than what may be good for the country. Which is at the root of the political problem when it comes to opposition to nationalizing the banks. Most members of Congress, on both sides of the isle, as well as many presidential advisers, are beholden to the Banks and Financial institutions because of the political contributions they have received, or their long term personal working relationship with Wall Street. The Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is a prime example of someone who represents the latter.
So is Obama getting good advise? Maybe not. My hope is that he is not so insulated by the political culture in Washington that the idea of nationalizing the banks is completely off the table. Because in the end it may be the best strategy and exactly what’s needed to really fix the crisis.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Economist Warns Obama Of Powerful US Financial Oligarchy
It doesn't take a great leap of faith to believe every thing MIT Economist Simon Johnson says about the need for President Obama to stand up to and break up the power of the financial and banking industry oligarchy that is now in control of virtually all of America's Banks and financial institutions.
Johnson questions Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner motives, resolve and conflicts of interest when it comes to dealing with these powerful people. On Friday's Bill Moyers Journal the economist warned that the bankers will play Obama and the taxpayers for chumps if we do not take steps to control them or have them relinquish their power.
Johnson went so far as to says that Obama may have to demand that CEO's and other major players step down in order to change the culture that brought us the crisis. Many of the same individuals at fault for the crisis are still running the same institutions they lead into insolvency. Pretty scary given that the taxpayers are about to give these people billions or dollars more to save their companies from complete collapse.
Under questioning from Moyer, Johnson indicated that the United States in its present economic state is more akin to a 2nd or 3rd world nation than the premier world financial power it had been for so long. Such is the depth of the crisis.
Professor Johnson also has an informative blog baselinescenario.com that provides a in depth look at the economic crisis. I just hope the president is reading it.
Johnson questions Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner motives, resolve and conflicts of interest when it comes to dealing with these powerful people. On Friday's Bill Moyers Journal the economist warned that the bankers will play Obama and the taxpayers for chumps if we do not take steps to control them or have them relinquish their power.
Johnson went so far as to says that Obama may have to demand that CEO's and other major players step down in order to change the culture that brought us the crisis. Many of the same individuals at fault for the crisis are still running the same institutions they lead into insolvency. Pretty scary given that the taxpayers are about to give these people billions or dollars more to save their companies from complete collapse.
Under questioning from Moyer, Johnson indicated that the United States in its present economic state is more akin to a 2nd or 3rd world nation than the premier world financial power it had been for so long. Such is the depth of the crisis.
Professor Johnson also has an informative blog baselinescenario.com that provides a in depth look at the economic crisis. I just hope the president is reading it.
Friday, February 13, 2009
If You Think Stimulus Opposition Was Bad Wait For The Medical Industry BS Machine With Health Care Reform
Better get use to the bullshit it's going to be a beyond anything you've seen yet. Here's a taste.
Why We Should Stop Screwing Around And Build The Tunnel To Replace The Viaduct Plus Stimulate The Economy
In case you hadn’t noticed, one of the more recognizable characteristics of our new president is he knows the difference between a time for talking and the time for action. Barack Obama’s rhetoric centers on the theme that he’s interested in “getting things done” instead of talking or getting stuck in ideologically based party politics and head banging.
Meanwhile locally no one pays attention or draws a parallel apparently. So involved are we in the local art form of ideological bullshitting and head banging known to all as the "Seattle process" you can't even jaywalk in this city without making it a federal case.
Politicians like Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, and the House Speaker Frank Chopp in Olympia personified this trait and are the perennial champions whenever it comes to “milking the mouse” no matter what the issue or project.
Concerned citizens, stakeholders and bloggers who have caught this disease will seek out every opportunity to mini-manage, talk and pontificating about the finer points of any local civic projects ad nauseam. The desire to repeat and enjoy the experience of complete political constipation has become so much a part of community's digestive system that we are unable to pass any plan for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct or, for that matter, any other local improvement project of any magnitude, no matter what number of jobs are created in the local economy.
But then eureka! A breakthrough, the Governor, Mayor of Seattle and County Executive, after many costly studies, boatloads of consutants and expert opinions, starts, stops and advisory ballot measures, seem to have come to an agreement to dig a tunnel to replace the crumbling and dangerous viaduct. The only obstacle remaining being the Legislature giving its approval of certain tax funding sources and potentially over coming yet another nuance ballot vote that may be generated by some misguided Magnolia and Ballard residents. Because it's really not about the money, except if your a wingnut like KIRO's Radio's Dori Monson.
All is forgivien and maybe government works after all.
But hold your horses people! They’re certain concerned citizens and politicos who think that not enough hairs have been split or lanes added or environmental concerns over global warming met or talked about yet and I need a group fucking hug here please people!
Even thought the tunnel option would keep the traffic flowing by leaving the viaduct open during construction, one of the major concerns of many citizens. Eventually remove the eye sore waterfront blocking evil and crumbling roadway. Open the waterfront to development of public spaces, promenades, bike paths, surface transit and yes, even businesses; still it is apparently not enough to satisfy the obstructionist, environmental eggheads and delayers. The environmental concerns about your personal carbon score while you drive through the proposed tunnel being raised by the likes of the do no wrong Sierra Club can certainly be addressed and be mitigated while the project is allowed to move forward. It should not be grounds to stop the project, at this point.
These people are bent on their pet visions, elitist ideas of the perfect solution or interested in maintaining political power by not getting things done. They cut off their nose to spite their face. Nothing gets done, time passes, things end up costing even more. Well the reasons for building a tunnel outweigh most objections to not building it, which I wrote about at length two years ago. Now many of the experts agree it seems.
Given the state of our economy, the money and jobs stimulated by the project, that also should be a prime consideration. These are union jobs folks. Estimates are that the ten year long tunnel related projects would begin in 2011 with the tunnel, which would be completed by 2015, followed by surface transit, the Spokane and Mercer Street projects. All in all the estimates are that together this activity would produce 10,000 jobs during the period of construction. That's a lot of sack lunches boys.
Think BIG bold and decisively like people in a REAL city should and let 's build the damn tunnel please!
Meanwhile locally no one pays attention or draws a parallel apparently. So involved are we in the local art form of ideological bullshitting and head banging known to all as the "Seattle process" you can't even jaywalk in this city without making it a federal case.
Politicians like Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, and the House Speaker Frank Chopp in Olympia personified this trait and are the perennial champions whenever it comes to “milking the mouse” no matter what the issue or project.
Concerned citizens, stakeholders and bloggers who have caught this disease will seek out every opportunity to mini-manage, talk and pontificating about the finer points of any local civic projects ad nauseam. The desire to repeat and enjoy the experience of complete political constipation has become so much a part of community's digestive system that we are unable to pass any plan for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct or, for that matter, any other local improvement project of any magnitude, no matter what number of jobs are created in the local economy.
But then eureka! A breakthrough, the Governor, Mayor of Seattle and County Executive, after many costly studies, boatloads of consutants and expert opinions, starts, stops and advisory ballot measures, seem to have come to an agreement to dig a tunnel to replace the crumbling and dangerous viaduct. The only obstacle remaining being the Legislature giving its approval of certain tax funding sources and potentially over coming yet another nuance ballot vote that may be generated by some misguided Magnolia and Ballard residents. Because it's really not about the money, except if your a wingnut like KIRO's Radio's Dori Monson.
All is forgivien and maybe government works after all.
But hold your horses people! They’re certain concerned citizens and politicos who think that not enough hairs have been split or lanes added or environmental concerns over global warming met or talked about yet and I need a group fucking hug here please people!
Even thought the tunnel option would keep the traffic flowing by leaving the viaduct open during construction, one of the major concerns of many citizens. Eventually remove the eye sore waterfront blocking evil and crumbling roadway. Open the waterfront to development of public spaces, promenades, bike paths, surface transit and yes, even businesses; still it is apparently not enough to satisfy the obstructionist, environmental eggheads and delayers. The environmental concerns about your personal carbon score while you drive through the proposed tunnel being raised by the likes of the do no wrong Sierra Club can certainly be addressed and be mitigated while the project is allowed to move forward. It should not be grounds to stop the project, at this point.
These people are bent on their pet visions, elitist ideas of the perfect solution or interested in maintaining political power by not getting things done. They cut off their nose to spite their face. Nothing gets done, time passes, things end up costing even more. Well the reasons for building a tunnel outweigh most objections to not building it, which I wrote about at length two years ago. Now many of the experts agree it seems.
Given the state of our economy, the money and jobs stimulated by the project, that also should be a prime consideration. These are union jobs folks. Estimates are that the ten year long tunnel related projects would begin in 2011 with the tunnel, which would be completed by 2015, followed by surface transit, the Spokane and Mercer Street projects. All in all the estimates are that together this activity would produce 10,000 jobs during the period of construction. That's a lot of sack lunches boys.
Think BIG bold and decisively like people in a REAL city should and let 's build the damn tunnel please!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
TV Networks Spend Week Painting Octoplet Mother As Welfare Cheat Then Fain Surprise When She Gets Death Threats From The Wingnuts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Put Down The Torches And Pitchforks And Let Nature Take It’s Course When It Comes To Bush Administration Prosecutions
I as much as anyone would like to see President Bush prosecuted and jailed if evidence proves he has violated the law or committed war crimes. But, come on people lets get over the fixation on it as a top priority or something that has to happen immediately or somehow that indicates President Obama is selling out to political pressure from the right.
Liberals need to reel it in and dial back the mob with torches mentality when it comes to making George W. pay for his criminal behavior. It’s uncomely, unrealistic and makes their actions akin to the tactics they hated so much when the shoe was on the other foot.
Liberals need to reel it in and dial back the mob with torches mentality when it comes to making George W. pay for his criminal behavior. It’s uncomely, unrealistic and makes their actions akin to the tactics they hated so much when the shoe was on the other foot.
Barack Obama has been President for about 3 weeks and as we all know has a completely full plate of problems to deal with, some unprecedented in their complexity. Yet, several elements of the liberal left have got their panties all in a knot because Obama has not made the prosecution of the former President Bush or other Bush administration officials a top priority.
Listening to the likes of Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley of Georgetown University, who I have great respect for, speaking on MSNBC Countdown, “we will all become accessories” and Rachel Maddow on her show, “is Senator Leahy trying to help out the Obama administration”, by calling for a truth commission type investigation rather than regular criminal prosecutions. You’d think the world was coming to an end unless immediate action is not taken to prosecute, convict and jail Bush and all members of his administration who committed war or other crimes.
These hyperbolic statements I think are not helpful and tend to paint Obama as someone who is unwilling to prosecute crimes because it would be somehow politically unpopular or counterproductive. It also shows in Maddow's case a lack of an understanding of criminal prosecutions and how they normally evolve.
Obama stated during his press conference on Monday in response to a question of the subject from a reporter with the Huffington Post, “nobody is above the law, and if there is clear incidents of wrong doing they should be prosecuted just like any other ordinary citizen".
What the left has to realize is that this just isn’t going to be a top priority and shouldn’t be, given the unprecedented state of disarray the country has found itself in follow 8 years of George W. Bush. Need I outline the laundry list? Frankly, I think reasonable people would say that things like the economy, the housing crisis and two wars are a bit higher on the priority list right now. I believe that Obama sees this as something that frankly has to be on the back burner for now also.
I would even go as far as to say, this is a matter better suited for late in Obama's first term or even his second term because the evidence is more likely to be there with the passage of time, investigations, whistle blowers coming forward and books written that expose the wrong doings and criminal acts. The Statute of Limitations for federal crimes range from one year to twenty years depending on the type of offense and should be a consideration for prosecutors. But in spite of the Statute of Limitations the reasoning remains that this is not the time to make these prosecutions a top priority.
Eric Holder the new Attorney General I’m sure if given the time to investigate and dig around in the Justice department closet will probably find the evidence needed to prosecute whomever needs to be prosecuted. But people like Maddow, Olbermann, Turley and the the likes of the ACLU need to take a deep breath and realize that there are other matters, as strange as it may seem to them, that will have to take precedence over jailing Bush, Cheney and others right now.
Congress is another thing. They are an independent body and if Patrick Leahy’s Judiciary Committee in the Senate or John Conyers in the House want to investigate or set up a truth commission let them go ahead and do that. Oversight is what they were supposed to be doing all along. Why it would need President Obama’s approval to do that is not really a fair question if there is enough political pressure or evidence to go ahead.
It is my educated guess that Bush and his cronies will be brought to justice in the end. But only when matters are allowed to run their natural course with the normal prudent investigations, indictments and subsequent trials. In other words it going to take time people.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Here's The List Of Items That The Dumb Ass Gutless Bipartisan Senators Cut From The Stimulus
Below is the list of items cut by the Senate from the Stimulus Package. Trying to be open-minded, I've highlighted in red the items I think should of stayed. Frankly I can't see too many things I'd cut except maybe the money for Coast Guard cutters. I'm mad as hell. Why is it that Republicans can spend untold billions on these fucking wars and granting tax cuts for the rich, but then somehow justify their argument that we should spend nothing on actual things that create jobs and maintain our quality of life. Yes items like school reconstruction and help for beleaguered States are being cut. Plain and simple it's just stupidity and dumb ass limbaughillbilly politics. Call your Senator and Congressman and tell them to restore the bulk of these items. Screw what the Republicans want, their freaking wrong. In fact they should add a few more expenditures like this one for rapid transit. Lets build some shit people.
Where's Al Franken we need his vote now.
Partially cut:
Where's Al Franken we need his vote now.
Partially cut:
• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)
Fully eliminated
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $122 million for new Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
• $50 million for CSERES research
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $30 million for SD salaries
• $100 million for distance learning
• $98 million for school nutrition
• $50 million for aquaculture
• $2 billion for broadband
• $100 million for NIST
• $50 million for detention trustee
• $25 million for Marshalls Construction
• $300 million for federal prisons
• $300 million for BYRNE Formula
• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive
• $10 million state and local law enforcement
• $50 million for NASA
• $50 million for aeronautics
• $50 million for exploration
• $50 million for Cross Agency Support
• $200 million for National Science Foundation
• $100 million for science
• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees
• $4.5 billion for GSA
• $89 million GSA operations
• $50 million from DHS
• $200 million TSA
• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $20 million for working capital fund
• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start
• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity
• $2 billion for HIT Grants
• $600 million for Title I (NCLB)
• $16 billion for school construction
• $3.5 billion for higher education construction
• $1.25 billion for project based rental
• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization
• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing
• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)
via: DemConWatch
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Shocking McCain Smoking Ragweed Filled Republican Bong (Photo)
click to enlarge imageListening to McCain's and the Republican's tired old rhetoric is like finding out your smoking ragweed when your thought you bought BC bud. You smoke it and nothing happens and the dealer is long gone with your cash.
Let's face it McCain built his reputation and hero status more through family connections then distinguished service. My daddy the admiral. It's the worst kind of hero worship. Had it not been for Admiral daddy and granddaddy, naval officer McCain would not have made it through or even gained admittance to the Naval Academy in the first place. Born on third base with a silver spoon in his mouth while most of the rest of us have to earn our way through life.
I'm sick of the contrived hero worship of this weasel. McCain record as an all American shill who tried to remove the buy American provision from the stimulus bill the other day and works tirelessly to obstruct progress when his real objective is to be seen as the head obstructionist for his stupid hillbilly ideas party. In other words he'd steal food from the mouths of babies if it meant he could score political points. There he stands on the Senate floor spouting more Republican outdated bullshit.
John you lost so don't stand in the doorway and bloc up the hall and just try for once to have a original thought based on what's actually going on in the twenty-first century.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Let The South Succeed I'm Done With These Damn Republicans Running the Country Into the Ground
If you can't offer something new and creative then at least get the fuck out of the way. Rep. Gary Ackerman completely loses it on the SEC.
And here's the President:
And here's the President:
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Please Make It Stop Joe The Plumber Felt Paintings Now Availiable On Ebay
click on image to enlargeMonday, February 02, 2009
Keep It Simple Stupid Pelosi and Reid Losing Public Relations Battle On Stimulus
In a continuing example of their lack of leadership and political skill, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi are losing the public relations battle on the benefit of passing the economic stimulus package in a form favored by the Democrats, and more importantly most Americans I think.
Pelosi and Reid have been criticized for allowing millions of dollars of non stimulus items into the package by Republicans. Things like millions for providing family planning which would provide such things as condoms, replacing the lawn on the national mall, providing STD education and public sponsored smoking succession campaigns.
I tend to strongly agree.
I realize that many of these programs have validity or are being overstated by the Republicans but, let’s face it they are difficult to politically nuance in the forum of public opinion. Pelosi and Reid should of known better and kept the massive bill focused on job creation, infrastructure, transportation, school reconstruction, computerizing health records, broadband, renewable energy, mass transit, funding State shortfalls due to the downturn, the housing market related crisis, safety net issues like unemployment compensation, food stamps, tax relief for middle income the elderly and small business and just kept it simple focusing on things that fucking relate directly to INFRASTRUCTURE repair AND JOB CREATION.
But no!
Not on their pet projects and politically correct borderline catch as catch can partisan oldies but goodies. The time for such items should come later in bills specifically focused on those areas. Pelosi and Reid are pitching public relations softballs for the Republicans to knock out of the park. There is a time to reap and a time to sow and Pelosi and Reid have never been very good at reading the mood of the country's tea leaves. Both take two steps forward and one step back based on sticking their finger in the air to read what they determine is the direction and course of least resistance prevailing political head wind.
They're the worst kind of cliche of the political hack. Unfortunately we must, for some reason that continues to escape me, depend on their leadership in these difficult times. Is there no Democrats more qualified in the House or Senate to replace these tools.
They've once again demonstrated their lack of perspective as Democratic leaders by allowed the bill to be loaded up with a number of marginal items that, a reasonable man could argued, are not directly related to job creation or the emergency needs of the large number of newly unemployed or tax code changing stimulus.
In this first major test of leadership the Republicans are using these politically unpopular items in the stimulus to discredit the entire package and the President ability to get things done.
This is further proof that Reid and Pelosi are not the type of bold qualify leaders that we need in the Congress now that the Democrats have gained enough power to do good and reverse years of bungling. It seems everything they touch turns immediately to shit because of their tendency towards predictable behavior as the political hacks they are, who lack vision, insight, boldness or credibility.
The President even went so far as to have many of the items that Pelosi and Reid allowed into the legislation removed to appease Republicans in hopes of moving the legislation closer to passage. The President apparently realizes that the bill is supposed to be aimed at job creation, and not Nancy and Harry's pet project stimulation.
Pelosi still doesn’t get it, and looking like a deer in the head lights when interviewed on TV continues to try and make political points with the far left by defending much of the original proposal and the need for more condoms, instead of seeing the situation as it really is and working to get a bill passed that create jobs and stimulates the economy.
Pelosi and Reid have been criticized for allowing millions of dollars of non stimulus items into the package by Republicans. Things like millions for providing family planning which would provide such things as condoms, replacing the lawn on the national mall, providing STD education and public sponsored smoking succession campaigns.
I tend to strongly agree.
I realize that many of these programs have validity or are being overstated by the Republicans but, let’s face it they are difficult to politically nuance in the forum of public opinion. Pelosi and Reid should of known better and kept the massive bill focused on job creation, infrastructure, transportation, school reconstruction, computerizing health records, broadband, renewable energy, mass transit, funding State shortfalls due to the downturn, the housing market related crisis, safety net issues like unemployment compensation, food stamps, tax relief for middle income the elderly and small business and just kept it simple focusing on things that fucking relate directly to INFRASTRUCTURE repair AND JOB CREATION.
But no!
Not on their pet projects and politically correct borderline catch as catch can partisan oldies but goodies. The time for such items should come later in bills specifically focused on those areas. Pelosi and Reid are pitching public relations softballs for the Republicans to knock out of the park. There is a time to reap and a time to sow and Pelosi and Reid have never been very good at reading the mood of the country's tea leaves. Both take two steps forward and one step back based on sticking their finger in the air to read what they determine is the direction and course of least resistance prevailing political head wind.
They're the worst kind of cliche of the political hack. Unfortunately we must, for some reason that continues to escape me, depend on their leadership in these difficult times. Is there no Democrats more qualified in the House or Senate to replace these tools.
They've once again demonstrated their lack of perspective as Democratic leaders by allowed the bill to be loaded up with a number of marginal items that, a reasonable man could argued, are not directly related to job creation or the emergency needs of the large number of newly unemployed or tax code changing stimulus.
In this first major test of leadership the Republicans are using these politically unpopular items in the stimulus to discredit the entire package and the President ability to get things done.
This is further proof that Reid and Pelosi are not the type of bold qualify leaders that we need in the Congress now that the Democrats have gained enough power to do good and reverse years of bungling. It seems everything they touch turns immediately to shit because of their tendency towards predictable behavior as the political hacks they are, who lack vision, insight, boldness or credibility.
The President even went so far as to have many of the items that Pelosi and Reid allowed into the legislation removed to appease Republicans in hopes of moving the legislation closer to passage. The President apparently realizes that the bill is supposed to be aimed at job creation, and not Nancy and Harry's pet project stimulation.
Pelosi still doesn’t get it, and looking like a deer in the head lights when interviewed on TV continues to try and make political points with the far left by defending much of the original proposal and the need for more condoms, instead of seeing the situation as it really is and working to get a bill passed that create jobs and stimulates the economy.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Obama Makes Direct Hit On Al Queda In First Salvo Of War Of Ideas
Obama realizes that the war of ideas is the one we must win. It's like the Dark Ages are ending or stupidity has finally been eradicated as it relates to American policy towards the Middle East and the Muslim world at large. No longer the bully nation who knows best, who first actions in to create conflict. God it's great to have such a fucking brillant president finally.
Here are some highlights of the Obama interview today with the Arab television network Al Arabiya:
Listening to Muslims and setting aside preconceptions. Mutual respect and cooperation on mutual interests. Talk of "ordinary Palestinian child" and their future.
Speaking of al Qaeda "what this tells me is their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaeda leadership calling him various epithets. "They seem nervous. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."
And this gem. "In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction."
Here are some highlights of the Obama interview today with the Arab television network Al Arabiya:
Listening to Muslims and setting aside preconceptions. Mutual respect and cooperation on mutual interests. Talk of "ordinary Palestinian child" and their future.
Speaking of al Qaeda "what this tells me is their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaeda leadership calling him various epithets. "They seem nervous. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."
And this gem. "In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction."
Right Wing Wrong When It Attacks Carter For Saying Hamas Must Be Included In Middle East Peace
Right wing and knee jerk pro Israeli pundits and websites bitterly attacked former President Jimmy Carter today after his interview on the Today show where he stated that Hamas must be a part of any comprehensive Middle East Peace Agreement. Carter appeared on the show to promote his new book, “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land.”
Carter makes the legitimate and reality based point that even though Hamas has at times used unacceptable terrorist tactics it is a duly elected political entity that represents the feelings of millions of Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank. He went on to say "I'm not here to defend Hamas", when the Today's Meredith Vieira regurgitated the old right wing red herring and pro Israeli claims that somehow Carter is anti-Jew and anti-Semitic because he willing to talk to and include Hamas in peace talks.
The truth is that Carter is one of the few politicians with enough courage to state the obvious instead of falling back on the same pro Israeli rhetoric that Hamas main goal is to destroy Israel therefore they have no standing in any Middle Eastern talks. I'm sure Hamas would say that Israel main goal is to destroy Hamas and the creation of a Palestinian state, and the recent war in Gaza certainly would bare that out.
Carter also says that the ceasefire he negotiated in June 2008 held without any rocket fire from Hamas into Israel until Israelis did not fulfill their part of the deal to provide access to Gaza for basic provisions. Ironically , and somewhat reluctantly, I have argued in previous posts that Israeli leaders were in effect turning Gaza into a Israeli version of the Nazi run Warrsaw Ghetto except this time Jews were the persecutors. Carter also makes the point that in the year leading up to the ceasfire in June 2008 one Israeli was killed by Hamas rocket fire from Gaza while Palestinians were suffering an average of 49 deaths per month.
Aside from Carter's position, anyone in their right mind must realize that all the parties to the conflict need to be included if there is any hope that an agreement can be reached and sustained. You will get no lasting peace until you are willing to allow all the parties to conflict participate in on the process of finding a solution.
Carter makes the legitimate and reality based point that even though Hamas has at times used unacceptable terrorist tactics it is a duly elected political entity that represents the feelings of millions of Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank. He went on to say "I'm not here to defend Hamas", when the Today's Meredith Vieira regurgitated the old right wing red herring and pro Israeli claims that somehow Carter is anti-Jew and anti-Semitic because he willing to talk to and include Hamas in peace talks.
The truth is that Carter is one of the few politicians with enough courage to state the obvious instead of falling back on the same pro Israeli rhetoric that Hamas main goal is to destroy Israel therefore they have no standing in any Middle Eastern talks. I'm sure Hamas would say that Israel main goal is to destroy Hamas and the creation of a Palestinian state, and the recent war in Gaza certainly would bare that out.
Carter also says that the ceasefire he negotiated in June 2008 held without any rocket fire from Hamas into Israel until Israelis did not fulfill their part of the deal to provide access to Gaza for basic provisions. Ironically , and somewhat reluctantly, I have argued in previous posts that Israeli leaders were in effect turning Gaza into a Israeli version of the Nazi run Warrsaw Ghetto except this time Jews were the persecutors. Carter also makes the point that in the year leading up to the ceasfire in June 2008 one Israeli was killed by Hamas rocket fire from Gaza while Palestinians were suffering an average of 49 deaths per month.
Aside from Carter's position, anyone in their right mind must realize that all the parties to the conflict need to be included if there is any hope that an agreement can be reached and sustained. You will get no lasting peace until you are willing to allow all the parties to conflict participate in on the process of finding a solution.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My Night With A Playboy Model
On my way home from Europe in 1980 I was unable to connect to a flight to Seattle from London because of a snowstorm. I had been traveling throughout Western Europe for nearly 8 months, at that point living like a bohemian and busking in the street with a troupe of street performers. It was winter, I was nearly broke and I was anxious to get home. Even though in reality at that time my home was more or less where I could hang my hat for a few days.
On the boat and train ride from Calais, France to London I had struck up a conversation with a attractive young Eastern European woman. Her English was great and she had a very sexy Eastern something accent. I think she told me she was from the Ukraine. I told her I had previously been married to a woman of Ukrainian decent and had learn little in the way of understanding Slavic women based on that experience.
We shared a compartment and some of our experiences and I’m sure my story of traveling and performing seemed quaint and amusing. Not to mention the rather odd way I must of looked because I was dressed with clothes I had found on the trash heaps of the well to do neighborhoods of Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam.
She was friendly and down to earth and seemed happy to have someone to talk with during the trip to help kill the time. When we reached Dover we stayed together and walked to board a waiting train for the last leg of the trip to London as we shuffled our bags we decided we share a compartment on the train as well. I was having fun talking to her and wanted to continue the conversation.
When the train arrived at Victoria Station in London I managed to get the woman’s phone number on the very real premise I may be unable to fly out when scheduled later that night because of the weather and I had confess to her I had little money for a hotel. In fact I had about $10 US and a return airline ticket to Seattle to my name.
Maybe I'd been a bit overbearing in asking her for her number and if there may be a possibility of stay at her flat, "just in case", since we had really just met. I also had grown somewhat fond of her and wanted to continue to learn more about her. There was something about her that seemed unique and special and I thought it be odd to have her walk away where I would never see her again.
We parted at the train station and I grabbed something to eat, spending carefully so as to have a few dollars left for later, Then I went to a phone box and I called the airline only to find that all flights out of Heathrow had been canceled. It was getting dark and it had been snowing on and off. I was cold and tired and had to find a place to stay or I'd have to go to the airport and sleep there. An idea I dreaded.
I gathered my courage dropped some coins in the slot and I called the woman I'd met thinking the number she'd given me probably was bogus and something she did to be rid of me. I had to admit she was strikingly attractive when I watch her walk off into the distance at the station. I figured she had probably little interest or concern about a ne'er-do-well like me trying to crash at her flat.
The phone rang and someone answered, I recognized her voice. I ask her if she’d mind if I came over and crashed at her place for the night like we talked about. She said fine and she commenced to give me directions on how to take the tube to her flat, which as it tuned out was in a very upscale London neighborhood near St James Park.
When I arrived the doorman was very suspicious of me because of my dress, shoulder length hair and 5 o’clock shadow, and I’m sure I looked rather out of place and probably smelled of cannabis but after he call the flat and spoke to the woman I was allowed entry. I then when up to the flat and the angelic young woman greeted me and showed me where she had made up the sofa for me to sleep for the night. The apartment was modern large and well appointed. I knew I had enter a world that appeared expensive and chic.
Before she when to bed we were making small talk and having a cup of tea. I ask her what she did for a living. She told me that she was model. I was single at the time and I began flirting with her a bit, wanting to know more about her. She asked me if I be interested in seeing her modeling portfolio. The portfolio was amazing and included photos from well know fashion magazines. I couldn’t believe I was sitting in the flat of an obviously well known fashion model wearing my 2nd hand mohair trench coat that looked like something you’d wear after being released from a prison camp.
As if that weren't enough she then handed me a recent issue of Playboy magazine and opened it to the page where she was featured in a set of nude photos, “and here my Playboy layout”. she said. I did a couple of double takes looking at her and then at the photos in the magazine. My god was I dreaming?
I tried to act sophisticated and worldly about seeing her naked in Playboy while at the same time she was there ten feet away from me on the same black leather chesterfield, but my Catholic school boy upbringing made me have a short term brain freeze and I awkwardly tried to think of something to change the subject in my mind to something besides her wonderful looking naked breasts. I think I ended up asking if the weather had been bad for very long, once I could get my synapses firing again.
After a few more minutes of conversation she matter-of-factly excused herself saying she needed to get up early for a job and she left the room and went to bed. I lay on the sofa rather stunned think of what could of been. The next day I left early in the morning before she awoke, I let myself out and I headed to Heathrow airport to catch my flight. I thought none of my pals are going to belief what just happened to me. She gave me a business card with a fashion picture of her on it that she used to promote herself. She sign it with her autograph. I soon misplaced the card and I never saw her or talked to her again, although I wished I had on several occasions as the years when by.
On the boat and train ride from Calais, France to London I had struck up a conversation with a attractive young Eastern European woman. Her English was great and she had a very sexy Eastern something accent. I think she told me she was from the Ukraine. I told her I had previously been married to a woman of Ukrainian decent and had learn little in the way of understanding Slavic women based on that experience.
We shared a compartment and some of our experiences and I’m sure my story of traveling and performing seemed quaint and amusing. Not to mention the rather odd way I must of looked because I was dressed with clothes I had found on the trash heaps of the well to do neighborhoods of Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam.
She was friendly and down to earth and seemed happy to have someone to talk with during the trip to help kill the time. When we reached Dover we stayed together and walked to board a waiting train for the last leg of the trip to London as we shuffled our bags we decided we share a compartment on the train as well. I was having fun talking to her and wanted to continue the conversation.
When the train arrived at Victoria Station in London I managed to get the woman’s phone number on the very real premise I may be unable to fly out when scheduled later that night because of the weather and I had confess to her I had little money for a hotel. In fact I had about $10 US and a return airline ticket to Seattle to my name.
Maybe I'd been a bit overbearing in asking her for her number and if there may be a possibility of stay at her flat, "just in case", since we had really just met. I also had grown somewhat fond of her and wanted to continue to learn more about her. There was something about her that seemed unique and special and I thought it be odd to have her walk away where I would never see her again.
We parted at the train station and I grabbed something to eat, spending carefully so as to have a few dollars left for later, Then I went to a phone box and I called the airline only to find that all flights out of Heathrow had been canceled. It was getting dark and it had been snowing on and off. I was cold and tired and had to find a place to stay or I'd have to go to the airport and sleep there. An idea I dreaded.
I gathered my courage dropped some coins in the slot and I called the woman I'd met thinking the number she'd given me probably was bogus and something she did to be rid of me. I had to admit she was strikingly attractive when I watch her walk off into the distance at the station. I figured she had probably little interest or concern about a ne'er-do-well like me trying to crash at her flat.
The phone rang and someone answered, I recognized her voice. I ask her if she’d mind if I came over and crashed at her place for the night like we talked about. She said fine and she commenced to give me directions on how to take the tube to her flat, which as it tuned out was in a very upscale London neighborhood near St James Park.
When I arrived the doorman was very suspicious of me because of my dress, shoulder length hair and 5 o’clock shadow, and I’m sure I looked rather out of place and probably smelled of cannabis but after he call the flat and spoke to the woman I was allowed entry. I then when up to the flat and the angelic young woman greeted me and showed me where she had made up the sofa for me to sleep for the night. The apartment was modern large and well appointed. I knew I had enter a world that appeared expensive and chic.
Before she when to bed we were making small talk and having a cup of tea. I ask her what she did for a living. She told me that she was model. I was single at the time and I began flirting with her a bit, wanting to know more about her. She asked me if I be interested in seeing her modeling portfolio. The portfolio was amazing and included photos from well know fashion magazines. I couldn’t believe I was sitting in the flat of an obviously well known fashion model wearing my 2nd hand mohair trench coat that looked like something you’d wear after being released from a prison camp.
As if that weren't enough she then handed me a recent issue of Playboy magazine and opened it to the page where she was featured in a set of nude photos, “and here my Playboy layout”. she said. I did a couple of double takes looking at her and then at the photos in the magazine. My god was I dreaming?
I tried to act sophisticated and worldly about seeing her naked in Playboy while at the same time she was there ten feet away from me on the same black leather chesterfield, but my Catholic school boy upbringing made me have a short term brain freeze and I awkwardly tried to think of something to change the subject in my mind to something besides her wonderful looking naked breasts. I think I ended up asking if the weather had been bad for very long, once I could get my synapses firing again.
After a few more minutes of conversation she matter-of-factly excused herself saying she needed to get up early for a job and she left the room and went to bed. I lay on the sofa rather stunned think of what could of been. The next day I left early in the morning before she awoke, I let myself out and I headed to Heathrow airport to catch my flight. I thought none of my pals are going to belief what just happened to me. She gave me a business card with a fashion picture of her on it that she used to promote herself. She sign it with her autograph. I soon misplaced the card and I never saw her or talked to her again, although I wished I had on several occasions as the years when by.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
J&M Cafe Closing McQue (John Wayne) Once Used Washroom To Beat Bejesus Out Of A Guy
Ah the old J&M Cafe is closing it's rumored. I tipped many a cocktail glass, most definitely one to many, there in the old days when Pioneer Square didn't have so many squares. When, if you had a dispute with someone you could take it outside and not worry about getting shot. Yes in the golden days of yesteryear when men fought with their fists.
Below starting at around 3:52 on the video you can see John Wayne (playing fictitious Seattle renegade police detective McQue) in the movie McQue beat the shit out of a guy in the old men's restroom at the J&M. Just like I remember it, the men's room I mean, looking just like it did in the old days. I think I ended up in that urinal once myself.
It's actually hard to believe the cafe is actually closing. It's not the first time the often mismanaged gin joint has had to temporary close it's doors so management could go to rehab only to miraculously reopen once new financing and direction surfaced.
Below starting at around 3:52 on the video you can see John Wayne (playing fictitious Seattle renegade police detective McQue) in the movie McQue beat the shit out of a guy in the old men's restroom at the J&M. Just like I remember it, the men's room I mean, looking just like it did in the old days. I think I ended up in that urinal once myself.
It's actually hard to believe the cafe is actually closing. It's not the first time the often mismanaged gin joint has had to temporary close it's doors so management could go to rehab only to miraculously reopen once new financing and direction surfaced.
What Wingnuts Don't Get Is Guantanamo And Torture Actually Create More Terrorists
There is more then ample evidence that the American practice of using torture and harsh interrogation tactics against enemy combatants and Al Queda suspects leads to increases in terrorism, not a reduction of it. In the video below former FBI interrogator Jack Cloonan says it has become a major recruiting tool for jihadists throughout the world.
Cloonan also debunked the popular right wing rhetoric extolling a ticking time bomb 24 TV show Jack Bauer character scenarios where torture somehow becomes necessary to stop a hypothetical dooms day attack. Cloonan says "it a myth".
Matthew Alexander, a former US Air Force interrogator, points out in his book that he believes American torture tactics used at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have lead directly to as many as 3000 American battlefield deaths.
No matter how dangerous this person may of seemed in the begining, in the end he was released because the US could not prosecute him because it lacked proper evidence to prove the charge or hold him. In any case he could not of been considered so dangerous that it stopped his release to Saudi Arabian officials who eventally freed him.
The big question remains did his mistreatment in American hands actually turn the man who may of been predisposed to anti-American beliefs into a terrorist? Maybe someone should ask him that question if given the opportunity. How would you feel about a foreign power that held you captive for 6 years and tortured you and then released you when it realized it really had no way to prove your alleged crimes. You should feel all warm and fuzzy and magnanimous toward your captors according to the likes of right wing mega-nitwits like Michelle Malkin and Bill O'Reilly.
President Obama and most reasonable people know that the use of torture really creates terrorists and enemies and damages our image as a nation that protects basic human rights. Obama by closing Guantanamo is charged with the task of cleaning up the extensive and long lasting damage that has been done by the Bush administration for having created such a gulag hell to begin with.
The other hysteria on the right is the not in my backyard (NIMBY) argument which concerns where to put the prisoners should Qitmo close as planned in a year. The Federal Prison system in the end can handle anyone Guantanamo may now hold. It is another rightwing red herring to say that there is not a safe prison system in the US that can't safely hold these individuals should it be determined that they can't be release. That is if they are actually found guilty of something. God knows that America knows how to operate safe and secure prisons and detention centers probably better then anyone in the world.
But that's another issue.
Cloonan also debunked the popular right wing rhetoric extolling a ticking time bomb 24 TV show Jack Bauer character scenarios where torture somehow becomes necessary to stop a hypothetical dooms day attack. Cloonan says "it a myth".
Matthew Alexander, a former US Air Force interrogator, points out in his book that he believes American torture tactics used at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have lead directly to as many as 3000 American battlefield deaths.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in [Iraq] have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me—unless you don’t count American soldiers as Americans".Pointing to the example of why Qitmo must be kept open, right wing blowhards in the last few days have attempted to make hay over a report that a terrorist named Said Ali al-Shihri, release from Qitmo in 2007, has now become a leading Al Queda ringleader in Yemen.
No matter how dangerous this person may of seemed in the begining, in the end he was released because the US could not prosecute him because it lacked proper evidence to prove the charge or hold him. In any case he could not of been considered so dangerous that it stopped his release to Saudi Arabian officials who eventally freed him.
The big question remains did his mistreatment in American hands actually turn the man who may of been predisposed to anti-American beliefs into a terrorist? Maybe someone should ask him that question if given the opportunity. How would you feel about a foreign power that held you captive for 6 years and tortured you and then released you when it realized it really had no way to prove your alleged crimes. You should feel all warm and fuzzy and magnanimous toward your captors according to the likes of right wing mega-nitwits like Michelle Malkin and Bill O'Reilly.
President Obama and most reasonable people know that the use of torture really creates terrorists and enemies and damages our image as a nation that protects basic human rights. Obama by closing Guantanamo is charged with the task of cleaning up the extensive and long lasting damage that has been done by the Bush administration for having created such a gulag hell to begin with.
The other hysteria on the right is the not in my backyard (NIMBY) argument which concerns where to put the prisoners should Qitmo close as planned in a year. The Federal Prison system in the end can handle anyone Guantanamo may now hold. It is another rightwing red herring to say that there is not a safe prison system in the US that can't safely hold these individuals should it be determined that they can't be release. That is if they are actually found guilty of something. God knows that America knows how to operate safe and secure prisons and detention centers probably better then anyone in the world.
But that's another issue.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
What Americans Believe About God And Evolution
click on image to enlargeTwo surveys done in 2008 show the approximate number of Americans who believe in God and evolution. Surprisingly nearly 44% of Americans think that God created human beings about "10,000 year or so" ago, give or take a century. Most of these people who believe that also probably think Rush Limbaugh knows what he's talking about.
Rome Burns MSM Fixates On Kennedy And Oath
Cable News is obsessed with what happens in the New York media market. Case in point the obsession with Caroline Kennedy's withdrawing from being consider for Hillary's vacant Senate seat. They also are fixating on whether the oath of office do over really means anything. Of course whether the oath was valid only has meaning to fringe wingnuts in end. Meanwhile most of the real news gets buried.
Vote On Who Should Host MSNBC New 10PM Show
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
MSNBC's Chris Matthews Phycobabble Explained
This is a very concise and funny story from Slate's about Tweedy's propensity to sometimes not make any sense.
Here's a excerpt:
Here's a excerpt:
Nobody in TV news stir-fries his ideas and serves them to the audience faster than MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Drawing from a larder filled with old anecdotes, unreliable metaphors, wacky intuition, and superficial observations, the always-animated Matthews steers whatever's handy into the hot wok that is his brain. The sizzling free-associations skitter through his limbic system, leap out his mouth, and look for a resting spot in the national conversation, where they steam like fresh lava in untouchable heaps.Anything can set Matthews to cooking, but nothing summons his inner chef like a National Event of Great Importance such as yesterday's inauguration. If you watched MSNBC's coverage, you understand why Keith Olbermann wears a body apron and totes a fire extinguisher whenever they co-host: to keep the flying grease from setting his suits aflame.
More Proof That Limbaugh Is Irrelevant Insensitive And Unpatriotic
We already knew Rush Limbaugh was an asshole but now we have proof he is also stupid and unpatriotic. Limbaugh and others were ask to write a 400 word piece on what their hopes were for the Obama presidency. Rush said he didn't think it was necessary to write 400 words because he could do it in four words.
"I hope he (Obama) fails".
Limbaugh who lives in an out of touch ivory tower hasn't processed what that would mean exactly to millions of Americans and their families struggling to survive the economic downturn and to the overall national security of this country.
In other words if it's necessary to have a devastating depression that will theaten our lives and freedoms in order to elect wingnuts it fine with Rush.
This is proof that this man doesn't really care about America or American ideals. He's a phony and a complete self-centered jerk, and any working class or other person who listens to this guy for political guidance is also an ignorant idiot by default.
Oh, sorry we knew that already.
"I hope he (Obama) fails".
Limbaugh who lives in an out of touch ivory tower hasn't processed what that would mean exactly to millions of Americans and their families struggling to survive the economic downturn and to the overall national security of this country.
In other words if it's necessary to have a devastating depression that will theaten our lives and freedoms in order to elect wingnuts it fine with Rush.
This is proof that this man doesn't really care about America or American ideals. He's a phony and a complete self-centered jerk, and any working class or other person who listens to this guy for political guidance is also an ignorant idiot by default.
Oh, sorry we knew that already.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
People Flip Bush The Bird As He Flys From Capitol McDermott Sells Soul For Photo With Sting
Video Obama's First Ride On Air Force One
Gay Or Straight Should It Matter?
Most liberal’s spiritual beliefs, I would venture a guess, are a little portable when it comes to participating or worrying about matters involving organized religion. We tend to be more eclectic and open minded about spiritual matters, fallen away, atheist or just not tied to dogma and the old snake oil ideas.
Yet there is no end it seems at this moment in time to the continuing hair splitting and mouse-milking tantrum being thrown over Rick Warren giving the invocation prior to the inaugural ceremonies in Washington.
Instead of ignoring the bad behavior and his wrong doing the complainers have manage to turned Warren into a cause celebre who's participation threatens to overshadowing portions of the actual ceremony.
I see this bitching as being disingenuous since, in my experience, most people, not just the people in the gay community, really could care less who gave the invocation at this sort of political event. Okay Warren is an asshole, but why make him a hero to the right by throwing a fit. I think this was an opportunity for gays to show that even though people are not tolerant to them they are capable of taking the high road and tolerating people like the homophobic Warren. I think this was in part what Obama wanted to gesture to the right by inviting Warren.
Even though I felt this way I wasn't motivated to join the argument, but then the new uproar started over HBO not broadcasting the invocation by openly gay preacher Gene Robinson preceding the mega star-studded concert yesterday. Robinson apparently was tagged as sort of a bone being thrown to the GLBT community by Obama inauguration committee after the Warren dust up.
The decision not to carry Robinson on the national television feed live has been taken by some as evidence that gays are being slighted once again by Obama. There’s a blogosphere feeding frenzy going on about who is responsible for preempting Robinson exactly so that claims of discrimination against gays, real or imagined, can be dished out later on the culprits.
It’s becoming silly.
People who don’t care about religious matters usually, are suddenly obsessed with religious invocations at political events and the sexual preferences of the preachers giving the invocations? Frankly I’m glad they didn’t include Robinson because I see my spiritual beliefs as fine with or without people like religious folks like Robinson and Warren adding their outdated dogmatic two cents.
But there’s a deeper issue. There’s a real wacky PC correctness with straight people on the left when it comes to gay rights. Sensitivity to GLBT discrimination is important and everyone, both gay and straight, should be aware of it and expose it when it exists. But I think the growing tendency to submit to a form of affirmative action or equal time based on ones sexual preference alone is wrong and counterproductive.
I support all people’s civil rights including the right to same sex marriage or to have as much sex as they wish to have with whomever they care to have it with, it’s not my business. That is exactly my point: Robinson was only important because of his sexual preference. Had Robinson gay sexual preference not been a factor in him being there in the first place hardly anyone would of given a shit whether he was seen on TV or not.
It shouldn’t matter what your sexual preference is because the world shouldn’t revolve around what one’s sexual preference is when it comes to your right to fully participate in society as an individual or give a invocation at an inauguration.
So the Obama people can't win. They add Robinson mainly because he's gay to appease gays mad about the blowhard Warren and then they get ostracized when Robinson is not seen by gays who tuned in to see him only because he's gay and not really because of what he is preaching about.
Yet there is no end it seems at this moment in time to the continuing hair splitting and mouse-milking tantrum being thrown over Rick Warren giving the invocation prior to the inaugural ceremonies in Washington.
Instead of ignoring the bad behavior and his wrong doing the complainers have manage to turned Warren into a cause celebre who's participation threatens to overshadowing portions of the actual ceremony.
I see this bitching as being disingenuous since, in my experience, most people, not just the people in the gay community, really could care less who gave the invocation at this sort of political event. Okay Warren is an asshole, but why make him a hero to the right by throwing a fit. I think this was an opportunity for gays to show that even though people are not tolerant to them they are capable of taking the high road and tolerating people like the homophobic Warren. I think this was in part what Obama wanted to gesture to the right by inviting Warren.
Even though I felt this way I wasn't motivated to join the argument, but then the new uproar started over HBO not broadcasting the invocation by openly gay preacher Gene Robinson preceding the mega star-studded concert yesterday. Robinson apparently was tagged as sort of a bone being thrown to the GLBT community by Obama inauguration committee after the Warren dust up.
The decision not to carry Robinson on the national television feed live has been taken by some as evidence that gays are being slighted once again by Obama. There’s a blogosphere feeding frenzy going on about who is responsible for preempting Robinson exactly so that claims of discrimination against gays, real or imagined, can be dished out later on the culprits.
It’s becoming silly.
People who don’t care about religious matters usually, are suddenly obsessed with religious invocations at political events and the sexual preferences of the preachers giving the invocations? Frankly I’m glad they didn’t include Robinson because I see my spiritual beliefs as fine with or without people like religious folks like Robinson and Warren adding their outdated dogmatic two cents.
But there’s a deeper issue. There’s a real wacky PC correctness with straight people on the left when it comes to gay rights. Sensitivity to GLBT discrimination is important and everyone, both gay and straight, should be aware of it and expose it when it exists. But I think the growing tendency to submit to a form of affirmative action or equal time based on ones sexual preference alone is wrong and counterproductive.
I support all people’s civil rights including the right to same sex marriage or to have as much sex as they wish to have with whomever they care to have it with, it’s not my business. That is exactly my point: Robinson was only important because of his sexual preference. Had Robinson gay sexual preference not been a factor in him being there in the first place hardly anyone would of given a shit whether he was seen on TV or not.
It shouldn’t matter what your sexual preference is because the world shouldn’t revolve around what one’s sexual preference is when it comes to your right to fully participate in society as an individual or give a invocation at an inauguration.
So the Obama people can't win. They add Robinson mainly because he's gay to appease gays mad about the blowhard Warren and then they get ostracized when Robinson is not seen by gays who tuned in to see him only because he's gay and not really because of what he is preaching about.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Not A Big Reader Frat Boy President Goes Away Leaving Extensive Wreckage
Frat boy President's legacy in 8 minutes. You could not of screwed it up more even if you plan it that way.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Japanese Man Builds Electric Car To Atone For Racing Gas Powered Subaru
Get your electric car on....
We Must Stop Pam Roach And Others From Politicizing County Elections
Protect Your Vote Support Sherril Huff For County Director Of Elections February 3rd
In an ultimate indication of political ignorance the voters of King County chose to make the County Director of Elections and elective office. Now we see why it was so dumb by just thinking what it going to be like if we should get stuck with someone like halfwit Republican Pam “war of the roses” Roach running the election office at the county. Can you imagine what he 2004 Governor’s race would of looked like with an overly partisan bag like Roach deciding who gets to have their vote counted or not.
The election is the first in the county to be conducted entirely by mail. There is no primary so the candidate getting a plurality of the vote will win. There are six candidates so the one that pulls as little as 20% of the vote will probably become the new director. The fear is that election weary voters will overlook the election and pave the way for someone like Roach or David Irons to grab the position.
When do we start the petition to repeals this ridiculous need for election for this office? All this is just a Republican plot to gain legal standing to suppress your votes. Still smarting from the Dino Rossi loss in 2004 the wingnuts are now trying to more directly control your right to vote. Remember Republicans don't win where voting isn't being suppressed in one way or the other. We want someone who has little or no interest in politics and who's only real interested in competently and fairly counting the votes period.
The problems is that the one who is most qualified and endorsed by most Democratic Party officials and organizations, Sherril Huff, who is the current King County Director of Elections, probably has a low amount of name recognition. The field also includes political hack David “I’m really a Republican” Irons as well as the obnoxious reactionary Roach.
So we strongly urge you to mail you vote for Huff and tell a friend to do the same.
The election is the first in the county to be conducted entirely by mail. There is no primary so the candidate getting a plurality of the vote will win. There are six candidates so the one that pulls as little as 20% of the vote will probably become the new director. The fear is that election weary voters will overlook the election and pave the way for someone like Roach or David Irons to grab the position.
When do we start the petition to repeals this ridiculous need for election for this office? All this is just a Republican plot to gain legal standing to suppress your votes. Still smarting from the Dino Rossi loss in 2004 the wingnuts are now trying to more directly control your right to vote. Remember Republicans don't win where voting isn't being suppressed in one way or the other. We want someone who has little or no interest in politics and who's only real interested in competently and fairly counting the votes period.
The problems is that the one who is most qualified and endorsed by most Democratic Party officials and organizations, Sherril Huff, who is the current King County Director of Elections, probably has a low amount of name recognition. The field also includes political hack David “I’m really a Republican” Irons as well as the obnoxious reactionary Roach.
So we strongly urge you to mail you vote for Huff and tell a friend to do the same.
Majority Of Americans Blame Palestinians For War In Gaza
Palestinian loss of land 1947-2005In a recent survey most Americans are quick to side with Israel and against the Palestinians when it comes to Gaza. Even though there is overwhelming evidence that Israel has used excessive force against many innocent Palestinians who are really just a desperate people who have been held captive in Gaza because of Israeli policy aimed at containing and eliminating them.
American understanding of the Palestinian question is limited to what they get via the mostly pro Israeli main stream media or compromised pro Israeli politicians. Cutoff from real news Americans can have little empathy for the plight of the Palestinians and more often then not reject as terrorist sympathizers anyone who speaks out in their defense.
Most Palestinians have been radicalized and turned to organizations like Hamas because of the long history of injustice imposed upon them by a succession of conservative Israeli governments backed by US power. Americans tunnel vision and pro Israel outlook no matter what the facts are has made the Middle East a difficult problem to remedy for a succession of US presidents. It's time that we begin to open our eyes and devise a policy that promotes fairness instead of just being the guarantor and backer of Israeli bad behavior.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I Recomended The Tunnel Option Two Years Ago
I'm such a visionary. In a February 2007 post, just prior to the advisory vote motivated by a gutless city council, county and state government in fear of taking action, I said the real compromise was the tunnel option. Surprise, now all the pols agree in principle with me.
And can we please get Nick "chicken little" Licata and Dori "stupid prices" Monson to please shut their freaking pie holes and stop standing in the way of change we can drive through.
It's time Seattle politicians and citizens embrace the idea of a tunnel and a lets get it done attitude instead of the usual talk it to death bitching and fear. It will create some jobs folks and help the economy plus save the above ground waterfront by removing a monstrous viaduct that is virtually blocking the waterfront access to Seattle.
It time to wake up a smell the concrete mixing.
And can we please get Nick "chicken little" Licata and Dori "stupid prices" Monson to please shut their freaking pie holes and stop standing in the way of change we can drive through.
It's time Seattle politicians and citizens embrace the idea of a tunnel and a lets get it done attitude instead of the usual talk it to death bitching and fear. It will create some jobs folks and help the economy plus save the above ground waterfront by removing a monstrous viaduct that is virtually blocking the waterfront access to Seattle.
It time to wake up a smell the concrete mixing.
Friday, January 09, 2009
It’s In The The P-I
When I was a kid in the late fifties and early sixties I had a Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper route on lower Queen Anne for a number of years. So did my 2 brothers.My brothers and I also operated a daily old school style PI paper stand at the Canadian Pacific dock at pier 64 on Seattle's waterfront for about 10 years, passing the operation down from one brother to the other. I was the youngest and last in the line of family lineage with the paper stand.
The CPR ran the steamships Princess Marguerite and Princess Patricia from pier 64. The ships took hundreds of passengers to Victoria on daily trips that left at 8am and returned that night at 9pm. Almost every passenger would want a morning paper to read before boarding the ship. It was a lucrative business for a precocious kid in those days.
I think that I made about $25 dollars a week on average. For years during cruise season I’d wake myself up at about 5am and jump on my bike to head for the waterfront where I’d sell papers from 6am to about 7:30am to passengers boarding the ships. It was like taking candy from a baby because in those days no adult in their right mind would not want to start the day out by reading the daily newspaper.
Boy how times have changed.
Anyone growing up at the time I did in America probably has a hard time psychologically imagining not having newspapers. Like most of us of the post WWII war era I took great comfort in the daily ritual of getting the paper each day and systematically reading each and every section. This was the way to get most of your real news even with broadcast and cable TV news becoming a big factor.
It affects me deeply when I hear reports of the sale and possible demise of the PI. It was definitely the better of the two daily newspapers in Seattle in my mind and experience. I rather it be the Seattle Times that was going under. Working class people read and trusted the PI more or less as their newspaper and conservatives, business type and squares read and revered the Seattle Times. Having worked for the PI as a new boy only added to my allegiance.
I had other reasons to hate the Seattle Times based on the fact that I was fired from a job at the Times as an adult. I got a job there as an advertising copy boy just after I returned from 3 years of military service in 1968. I had becoming more and more alienated with the establishment and society in general and demonstrated that by letting my hair grow out. I also had several disagreements with my supervisor about my liberal and pro union political positions. I was fired after working there for 6 months when I told my boss to get fucked when he gave me a ultimatum to cut my hair or be fired. So I said fuck the Seattle Times and made it a point of never buying that paper unless absolutely force to do so. All my childhood prejudices about the Times versus the PI were resoundingly reinforced for life then and there.
Of course, taking my involvement with this blog and the growth in the blogging community it's not hard to see what is happening to the print newspaper industry. It would have been completely impossible to imagine this day back in the hay day of the print news business when I was selling those papers on the waterfront. People would of thought you insane to suggest there would be a day when major cites like Seattle would not be able to support a newspaper like the PI.
Can’t we all get together and buy the PI perhaps, or is the Stranger now the de facto liberal newspaper in Seattle? One thing for sure I want that sign that’s on top of the PI building saved. Perhaps we can put it with the hat and boots in that park.
To me this is all very sad it's like losing a old friend.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Vashon Maury Island Glacier Gravel Pit Protesters Mostly Shooting Blanks
I live on Vashon Island where the popularity of supporting the on going protest against the expansion of Glacier Northwest’s mining project on neighboring Maury Island is up there with supporting motherhood, scorning Republicans, wearing wool socks with sandals, wearing tie-dye shit, bitching about the ferry service and being an hippie.
In other words it sacred stuff with the mostly left leaning liberally bent artsy-fartsy crowd of on island folks.
Although I moved here only 4 years ago from West Seattle one of the first things I became aware of was that people who SUPPORT the gravel pit project, if anyone had the nerve to actually openly proclaim it, are considered akin to child molesters, and/or Republicans.
Such was the passion of the “no gravel pit” liberal majority of people who live here. Everyone I met was against the gravel pit but, it seemed to me that many of them, when asked about it, really couldn't articulate why other than it seemed to them to be in line with the island thought police belief system and their personal, but rather vague general environmentally related concerns.
So by writing this article I expect to probably soon be impeached from my position as a Democratic Party PCO, emotionally tarred and feathered by my neighbors and band from participating in the social scene at the Café Luna and local Thriftway. But I will go to the store and for coffee with my head held high in defiance for I must live and eat after all and I must just get my opinion out there before I die from the peer pressure to conform with the majority and the island group think on the subject.
Lately the protest here have reach critical mass because the mining company’s ten year odyssey to expand the mining of aggregate and sand on it’s Maury Island site and build a dock to load the materials out has apparently reached the stage where it has jumped through all the Federal, State and County, hoops and obtained all the necessary permits to go ahead and begin construction of the proposed new loading dock.
Work has begun to remove the old crumbling remains of a previous company dock. In response the die hard locals have been rallying and protesting in mass to the extent of even attempting what appear to be symbolic blockade by sea or standing around singing cornball knock off Christmas carols about Glacier being the big bad modern corporate robber baron who is going to poison all the local children after it kills all the salmon while it contaminates your water.
The main opposition to the expansion of mining is based on a number of claims by protesters that the project will damage the sole remaining aquifer which supplies the island its water by exposing it to arsenic left over in the top soil on the Maury Island site from years of being up wind from the old ASARCO Tacoma Smelter, an environmental nightmare of bygone years brought to you by a company that was one of the worse polluters ever. Glacier had no direct association with the arsenic pollution on Maury Island, but like all islanders was a victim of ASARCO past irresponsible behavior.
I always find it ironic that so many tree hugging environmentally conscious people could end up living on a island where the top soil is some of the most arsenic contaminated you can find in the Western world.
Opponents also believe that the mining expansion would damage the marine habitat, including damage to ell grass, salmon, orca whales, and other species who occupy the waters around the site of the mining and proposed loading dock.
Trying to be open minded about whose right here is difficult. On one hand you have a foreign owed company in Glacier who seems to have met all the requirements needed to go ahead and mine the land it owns and build a dock to efficiently get it’s products to market.
It's hard to argue that Glacier has not gone through a politically and legally charged 10 yearlong permit process successfully. While on the other hand you have a large number of citizens who actually live here on Vashon and Maury Islands who have raised valid concerns about just what the expansion would mean to the environment here, their quality of life and of course some adjacent property values and the views from their sunken deck.
You would think that the permit process could be trusted and would assure that any valid environment impact claims are addressed. Remember, this is not a project where it can be argued that the project somehow slipped through the cracks of regulation. All three members of the 34th District State legislature delegation have openly opposed the project for years. In fact 34th District State Legislator Sharon Nelson actually lives on Maury Island and made her political bones based on organizing opposition to the project through her affiliation with Preserve Our Island, an organization who’s main goal has been aimed at stopping the Glacier mining expansion and dock from the beginning.
There was an attempt to change the rules of the game when a State Senate bill was introduced last year that would of turned Maury Island into a aquatic reserve. You got to give it to them for trying. The effect of which would of further hamper Glacier's attempt to get the necessary permits. It failed in the spring of 2008 when it couldn't get through the house. Other legal challenges to the permit to proceed with the project were recently struck down by the State Supreme Court when it upheld a appeals court decision based on provisions of the Shoreline Protection Act and Glacier’s right to build a dock apparently grandfathered into that same law some years ago.
I’m personally torn on whether the project should go forward. Many Democrats legislators who don't have a direct interest in the issue and tend to be more conservative when it comes to regulating valid business activities and ventures take no position on the issue. They believe that government can sometimes interfere with commerce and job creation by over regulation and burdensome bureaucratic requirements.
Democrats and liberals who are indifferent about the project. like the Governor herself it could be argued, don't speak out about it because it's political kryptonite with the left to do so and would be just plain dumb to lose votes over if it is not necessary to be openly for or against it. The opponents of the project tend to want to turn those who also see Glacier's side of the story into political footballs who they like to kick to the curb. Politicians from the 34th District pretty much tow the party line because they wouldn't get elected if they suddenly proclaimed they should try to be open minded about Glacier.
As a former small businessperson myself I tend to agree that government can be a hindrance to commerce when it interferes even when businesses are good neighbors and acting in good faith.
Certainly here it can be argued that Glacier did what was required by law to do to get the permits and that the opponents of the expansion had a level playing field on which to exercise their opposition and try and stop it from going forward. The opponents of the mine expansion and dock lost this one it appears even though they had considerable political support from within King County and in the State Legislature.
One of the observations I’ve made being here on island is that the opponents just plain don’t want any kind of expansion of the gravel pit or dock no matter what environmental permit requirements are met or not met period. It’s been a non-starter for 10 years with the opponents from the beginning. It’s this sort of closed minded approach that troubles me even though I would say my liberal credentials are as good as the next liberal hippie baby boomer out here.
But, they should be frank about it and actually say that they are against aggregate or gravel pit mining of any kind anywhere, and that they simply don’t believe that the mining of aggregate rock is an important local business resource or governmental or building industry consideration which effects thousands of workers or that could save taxpayers money given the state of the economy. Instead I think it can be argued that they have raised a number of red herrings in opposition to the expansion and tried to expanded the playing field when Glacier continued to meet every demand and requirement place upon it. Opponents arguments tend to be based on emotional issues rather then legal ones.
But it's intellectually dishonest I think for the opposition not to come right out and say, "we don't want your freaking gravel pit no matter how environmentally safe you make it"!
One thing is for sure, opponents of the gravel pit and dock have also kept the company honest and that part of it represents a good thing and something that was needed to insure that Glacier fully complied with the law. The opponents should keep Glacier's feet to the fire but I think they also have to admit that they are mostly shooting blanks here if they think that the project can be stopped at this stage short of someone buying the company out and closing the gravel pit.
What are Glacier’s rights here one should ask? It’s apparently true that Glacier is sitting on a gold mine of an rather rare and accessible aggregate deposit and has known for a long time that it would become more valued as time passed. Aggregate and sand is used for cement and building of course and is one of the basic needs for anyone building anything. Because of this the business value and profits from the expansion are sure to grow considerably.
Think about the massive highway construction that is planned in Washington State and the immediate region in the coming years and you can see its won’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Glacier’s motivation in using extensive and costly lobbying tactics to get it’s way in the political arena on the approval of the project.
But was it above board and legal. I would say you have to answer that question, yes.
Glacier makes the argument that having to truck aggregate long distances, which is what is done now, would add millions of taxpayer dollars to state projects and that seems to make sense. Also if opponents were successful in stopping the loading dock part of the project Glacier would be running a significant number of large trailer dump trucks via the Vashon Highway route and on to Washington State Ferries in order to get it’s aggregate to market. One barge hauls 186 trailer truckload.
I’m sure most islanders wouldn’t want to see all those trucks rolling down a two lane potholed Vashon highway and on to the ferry on a daily basis for the next 35 years for various reasons. So the new loading dock makes sense from a safety as well as a wear and tear on the ferry system and highways system point of view.
Most local Democratic politicians are not going to dare to speak their minds candidly on this issue or be open-minded about Glacier’s side of the story. It would be political suicide for them to even hint that Glacier has done everything required of it to get the permits and so now we should perhaps try and build a working relationship with the company to make sure that it does what it has promised to do. Protect the environment and the aquifer while it mines and meets it obligations as a responsible company and good island neighbor as it expands mining on Maury and builds and uses its loading dock. Glacier owned land has been zoned for mining for more than 40 years and it seems that they have a history of trying to follow environmental laws and regulations.
Unfortunately, most island types are rather lefty knee jerk stereo-typically environmentally polarized and closed minded about business or corporations being allowed to do anything. Even when it’s pretty obvious that it has done everything required of it to meet community and government environment requirements. It creates a nearly impossible atmosphere to work or be reasonable.
Admitting that Glacier has made reasonable arguments to support it’s right to do business in a way that is lawful is needed here as a first step, and less pandering from politicians to the choir because they are more interested in being reelected then looking at both sides of the story or what may be best for the greater community.
I don't think you should be a predisposed liberal leaning anti business islander who thinks it fashionable to knee-jerkily jump on the nearest political feel good anti business pumpkin wagon that happens to come down the pike. Just because it's popular amongst a group of people who generally admire iconoclasts and those who question authority.
In the spirit of full disclosure my brother is 1st District’s State Representative Al O’Brien and the opinions expressed here are entirely mine alone. Daniel O'Brien
In other words it sacred stuff with the mostly left leaning liberally bent artsy-fartsy crowd of on island folks.
Although I moved here only 4 years ago from West Seattle one of the first things I became aware of was that people who SUPPORT the gravel pit project, if anyone had the nerve to actually openly proclaim it, are considered akin to child molesters, and/or Republicans.
Such was the passion of the “no gravel pit” liberal majority of people who live here. Everyone I met was against the gravel pit but, it seemed to me that many of them, when asked about it, really couldn't articulate why other than it seemed to them to be in line with the island thought police belief system and their personal, but rather vague general environmentally related concerns.
So by writing this article I expect to probably soon be impeached from my position as a Democratic Party PCO, emotionally tarred and feathered by my neighbors and band from participating in the social scene at the Café Luna and local Thriftway. But I will go to the store and for coffee with my head held high in defiance for I must live and eat after all and I must just get my opinion out there before I die from the peer pressure to conform with the majority and the island group think on the subject.
Lately the protest here have reach critical mass because the mining company’s ten year odyssey to expand the mining of aggregate and sand on it’s Maury Island site and build a dock to load the materials out has apparently reached the stage where it has jumped through all the Federal, State and County, hoops and obtained all the necessary permits to go ahead and begin construction of the proposed new loading dock.
Work has begun to remove the old crumbling remains of a previous company dock. In response the die hard locals have been rallying and protesting in mass to the extent of even attempting what appear to be symbolic blockade by sea or standing around singing cornball knock off Christmas carols about Glacier being the big bad modern corporate robber baron who is going to poison all the local children after it kills all the salmon while it contaminates your water.
The main opposition to the expansion of mining is based on a number of claims by protesters that the project will damage the sole remaining aquifer which supplies the island its water by exposing it to arsenic left over in the top soil on the Maury Island site from years of being up wind from the old ASARCO Tacoma Smelter, an environmental nightmare of bygone years brought to you by a company that was one of the worse polluters ever. Glacier had no direct association with the arsenic pollution on Maury Island, but like all islanders was a victim of ASARCO past irresponsible behavior.
I always find it ironic that so many tree hugging environmentally conscious people could end up living on a island where the top soil is some of the most arsenic contaminated you can find in the Western world.
Opponents also believe that the mining expansion would damage the marine habitat, including damage to ell grass, salmon, orca whales, and other species who occupy the waters around the site of the mining and proposed loading dock.
Trying to be open minded about whose right here is difficult. On one hand you have a foreign owed company in Glacier who seems to have met all the requirements needed to go ahead and mine the land it owns and build a dock to efficiently get it’s products to market.
It's hard to argue that Glacier has not gone through a politically and legally charged 10 yearlong permit process successfully. While on the other hand you have a large number of citizens who actually live here on Vashon and Maury Islands who have raised valid concerns about just what the expansion would mean to the environment here, their quality of life and of course some adjacent property values and the views from their sunken deck.
You would think that the permit process could be trusted and would assure that any valid environment impact claims are addressed. Remember, this is not a project where it can be argued that the project somehow slipped through the cracks of regulation. All three members of the 34th District State legislature delegation have openly opposed the project for years. In fact 34th District State Legislator Sharon Nelson actually lives on Maury Island and made her political bones based on organizing opposition to the project through her affiliation with Preserve Our Island, an organization who’s main goal has been aimed at stopping the Glacier mining expansion and dock from the beginning.
There was an attempt to change the rules of the game when a State Senate bill was introduced last year that would of turned Maury Island into a aquatic reserve. You got to give it to them for trying. The effect of which would of further hamper Glacier's attempt to get the necessary permits. It failed in the spring of 2008 when it couldn't get through the house. Other legal challenges to the permit to proceed with the project were recently struck down by the State Supreme Court when it upheld a appeals court decision based on provisions of the Shoreline Protection Act and Glacier’s right to build a dock apparently grandfathered into that same law some years ago.
I’m personally torn on whether the project should go forward. Many Democrats legislators who don't have a direct interest in the issue and tend to be more conservative when it comes to regulating valid business activities and ventures take no position on the issue. They believe that government can sometimes interfere with commerce and job creation by over regulation and burdensome bureaucratic requirements.
Democrats and liberals who are indifferent about the project. like the Governor herself it could be argued, don't speak out about it because it's political kryptonite with the left to do so and would be just plain dumb to lose votes over if it is not necessary to be openly for or against it. The opponents of the project tend to want to turn those who also see Glacier's side of the story into political footballs who they like to kick to the curb. Politicians from the 34th District pretty much tow the party line because they wouldn't get elected if they suddenly proclaimed they should try to be open minded about Glacier.
As a former small businessperson myself I tend to agree that government can be a hindrance to commerce when it interferes even when businesses are good neighbors and acting in good faith.
Certainly here it can be argued that Glacier did what was required by law to do to get the permits and that the opponents of the expansion had a level playing field on which to exercise their opposition and try and stop it from going forward. The opponents of the mine expansion and dock lost this one it appears even though they had considerable political support from within King County and in the State Legislature.
One of the observations I’ve made being here on island is that the opponents just plain don’t want any kind of expansion of the gravel pit or dock no matter what environmental permit requirements are met or not met period. It’s been a non-starter for 10 years with the opponents from the beginning. It’s this sort of closed minded approach that troubles me even though I would say my liberal credentials are as good as the next liberal hippie baby boomer out here.
But, they should be frank about it and actually say that they are against aggregate or gravel pit mining of any kind anywhere, and that they simply don’t believe that the mining of aggregate rock is an important local business resource or governmental or building industry consideration which effects thousands of workers or that could save taxpayers money given the state of the economy. Instead I think it can be argued that they have raised a number of red herrings in opposition to the expansion and tried to expanded the playing field when Glacier continued to meet every demand and requirement place upon it. Opponents arguments tend to be based on emotional issues rather then legal ones.
But it's intellectually dishonest I think for the opposition not to come right out and say, "we don't want your freaking gravel pit no matter how environmentally safe you make it"!
One thing is for sure, opponents of the gravel pit and dock have also kept the company honest and that part of it represents a good thing and something that was needed to insure that Glacier fully complied with the law. The opponents should keep Glacier's feet to the fire but I think they also have to admit that they are mostly shooting blanks here if they think that the project can be stopped at this stage short of someone buying the company out and closing the gravel pit.
What are Glacier’s rights here one should ask? It’s apparently true that Glacier is sitting on a gold mine of an rather rare and accessible aggregate deposit and has known for a long time that it would become more valued as time passed. Aggregate and sand is used for cement and building of course and is one of the basic needs for anyone building anything. Because of this the business value and profits from the expansion are sure to grow considerably.
Think about the massive highway construction that is planned in Washington State and the immediate region in the coming years and you can see its won’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Glacier’s motivation in using extensive and costly lobbying tactics to get it’s way in the political arena on the approval of the project.
But was it above board and legal. I would say you have to answer that question, yes.
Glacier makes the argument that having to truck aggregate long distances, which is what is done now, would add millions of taxpayer dollars to state projects and that seems to make sense. Also if opponents were successful in stopping the loading dock part of the project Glacier would be running a significant number of large trailer dump trucks via the Vashon Highway route and on to Washington State Ferries in order to get it’s aggregate to market. One barge hauls 186 trailer truckload.
I’m sure most islanders wouldn’t want to see all those trucks rolling down a two lane potholed Vashon highway and on to the ferry on a daily basis for the next 35 years for various reasons. So the new loading dock makes sense from a safety as well as a wear and tear on the ferry system and highways system point of view.
Most local Democratic politicians are not going to dare to speak their minds candidly on this issue or be open-minded about Glacier’s side of the story. It would be political suicide for them to even hint that Glacier has done everything required of it to get the permits and so now we should perhaps try and build a working relationship with the company to make sure that it does what it has promised to do. Protect the environment and the aquifer while it mines and meets it obligations as a responsible company and good island neighbor as it expands mining on Maury and builds and uses its loading dock. Glacier owned land has been zoned for mining for more than 40 years and it seems that they have a history of trying to follow environmental laws and regulations.
Unfortunately, most island types are rather lefty knee jerk stereo-typically environmentally polarized and closed minded about business or corporations being allowed to do anything. Even when it’s pretty obvious that it has done everything required of it to meet community and government environment requirements. It creates a nearly impossible atmosphere to work or be reasonable.
Admitting that Glacier has made reasonable arguments to support it’s right to do business in a way that is lawful is needed here as a first step, and less pandering from politicians to the choir because they are more interested in being reelected then looking at both sides of the story or what may be best for the greater community.
I don't think you should be a predisposed liberal leaning anti business islander who thinks it fashionable to knee-jerkily jump on the nearest political feel good anti business pumpkin wagon that happens to come down the pike. Just because it's popular amongst a group of people who generally admire iconoclasts and those who question authority.
In the spirit of full disclosure my brother is 1st District’s State Representative Al O’Brien and the opinions expressed here are entirely mine alone. Daniel O'Brien
Friday, January 02, 2009
Oh Shit Think Global Warming Was Bad Mere Childs Play Compared To Yellowstone Super Volcano Eruption
The last week of so there has been a significant change in the number of earthquakes in Yellowstone Park. It could be a sign of a coming eruption. I remember seeing the special on the Yellowstone super volcano on NOVA and having it scare the shit out of me.Well there goes half the known species on earth and talk about cloudy and gray. The last time they had one of these eruptions it killed off the dinosaurs I think. At least it will save you from having to worry about losing your job, refinancing or anything other then survival.
In case you haven't heard Yellowstone Park is really the caldera of an old super volcano that been dormant for 620,000 thousand years, and scientists say Yellowstone should “blow its top” every 600,000 years, so we're kind of due.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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