So what's going on in your area? • • • Angela Galloway checks in for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It's an interesting tale about Seattle City Councilman David Della, who is up for re-election in November: Environmental groups, of course, disagreed. Kurt Fritts of Washington Conservation Voters called the accusation "absurd" and pointed out that WCV bases its endorsements around issues. Kevin Fullerton of the Seattle Sierra Club said, "I can hardly even comment on that," and went on to talk about issues. Della, for his part, defends his environmental record, including an amendment to an ordinance requiring public golf courses to use alternatives to pesticides. Great Greenies, Batman! Have a sand wedge! Meanwhile, Erica C. Barnett's October 3 article for The Stranger considers the Della-Burgess race under the title, "Damaged Goods", calling Della "lackluster" and Burgess "tainted". Did you catch that last one? My, how things change in the course of a week. And I can say that the loss of environmental endorsements might just have something to do with the viaduct and trail issues. One of the problems puzzling voters is how local officials, in dealing with the need to replace an aging, crumbling viaduct structure-- Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The Alaskan Way Viaduct: You have to see it to believe it. (Click image for more information) --generally think the best idea is to put more cars on the road. Not more people. More cars. As many as possible. It's a strange thing. So Della's support for the rejected viaduct-replacement scheme might be a tick against him. Additionally, the issue with the Burke-Gilman Trail is a sore spot with Seattlites. The 27-mile bike and foot trail is popular with folks around here. People use it for recreation, and people use it to get to work. I used to walk the section in question about a decade ago. It would be nice to finish it, especially since the missing section is in Ballard. Opposition does not sit well with the Seattle majority, nor with environmental lobbies. As one minor group, the Cascade Bicycle Club explains, "We've had significant disagreements with David." Burgess, for the record, apparently supports the completion of the BGT. Throw in Burgess' sentiments against ugly condo development and Della's reluctance to give over industrial land to other uses, and the loss of the environmental lobby starts to look a lot more like a political casualty than a race issue. Life goes on, and a closet Republican will likely find his way to the city council. You'd think poor Seattlites could find at least one decent candidate. But Charlie's dead, and there's only one Jean. Who's next? ____________________ Notes: Galloway, Angela. "Race a factor in snub by key groups, Della says". SeattlePI.com, October 12, 2007. See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/335353_della13.html Barnett, Erica C. "Damaged Goods". TheStranger.com, October 3, 2007. See http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=408834 See Also: Office of the Mayor. "Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Options". See http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/issues/viaduct/ Seattle Dept. of Transportation. "Burke-Gilman Trail Information and Maps". See http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/burkegilmantrailmaps.htm
Here's a web cam place that shows some of the places where I live. They are mostly real time so you can see it as it it happening 24/7. http://www.keyscams.com/ (sorry)
Rambunctious kids acting up... Bottle Bomb explodes Trooper's Mailbox A bottle bomb explodes in a Lewiston mailbox that belonged to an off-duty state trooper. Now three kids are arrested for something that police say goes way beyond a prank. Unknown kooks hack up local cow... Tortured Cow Found Dead When Liz Neadow checked on her cows Sunday morning, two-year-old Neapolitan was dead. Liz says the cow was tortured. "It had cuts on its back and its body," said Bruce Roth, Chief of Criminal Investigations in the Niagara County Sheriff's Department. "Its throat had been cut and then literally one hind leg had been cut off." Local "Artsy Fartsy Liberal Yellow Rag" declares City's mainstream newspaper is "Stupid" (which it is... but that's life in the Soviet Socialist Republik of New York ! ) :crazy: How Stupid Is Your Daily Paper? We’ve occasionally wondered whether the Buffalo News is jaw-droppingly stupid, or if its editors simply demonstrate a willful ignorance. In the case of this past Sunday’s Business page, we can only assume the latter. There, prominently featured on the front page, reporter Matt Glynn wrote a well-researched piece entitled, “Area escapes U.S. home-building slump” (Sunday, October 7, Page D1). The headline, while technically accurate, seems to herald that fact as good news. The fact of the matter is, though, with our population steadily declining, we shouldn’t be building any homes. At all. In other words, rather than wiping our brows and sighing in relief that we’ve escaped the slump, we should be collectively scratching our heads in disbelief and saying, “How the hell did that happen?”
Well, murder, rape and gang violence is happening in Dallas. And I think that trumps some highway and roadway and environmental issues, don't it? Baron Max
Well it seems that here in Key West we are missing all of that excitement that the rest of you have. We just enjoy the sunny days, swimming and diving, lobsters and groupers and just plain nice down home entertainment. Perhaps you should visit here awhile and remove yourselves from all that chaos! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hey, that's an idea!! We can send all of the criminals in the nation to Key West thereby solving our problem of horrendous crime, while at the same time giving y'all in Key West some of that wonderous excitement of crime! It's a win-win situation, huh? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Baron Max
Poor Seattle .... David Della's apparent tantrum over political endorsements has escalated into a new political scandal. Local outlets are catching up with an accusation that the Seattle City Council incumbent has threatened union leaders in response to their endorsement of his opponent, Tim Burgess. The Seattle Times reports: Last week, the Seattle P-I picked up the story: P-I reporter Angela Galloway also notes that Tim Burgess, Della's opponent, was a Seattle police officer from 1971-78. Galloway's October 12 blog entry for the P-I notes: The Della campaign has released a written statement disputing the accusations, and asking Sgt. O'Neill, of the Seattle Police Officers' Guild, to either immediately provide "concrete proof" of his allegation, or admit that it is a political lie. • • • Seattle rolls its eyes and groans. We've got a the police union on one side, a dirty reactionary politician on the other. No win for the people. We've got the firefighter's union on one side, and a dirty politician's chief of staff on the other. Follow the firefighters for now, but they really do need to make some case if the Della campaign is to answer for this. About the only credibility left for the people to follow is with the firefighters, except it's a political fight. Seattle, while it will side with unions, is nonetheless wary of them. After all, it was a police union that reversed Sheriff Dave Reichert's disciplinary action against a deputy for misconduct and declared that the police have no obligation to obey the law. Where other people have manufacturing and transport strikes, though, we get standoffs between teachers and the state, nurses and the hospitals, and engineers and Boeing. We're accustomed to sympathizing with the strikes. But in this, only the firefighter's union has credibility, and that credibility is granted despite the political stakes. In the end, Seattle voters get yet another crappy choice. I suppose not everything should be as easy as a McDermott re-election, but this is just sad. ____________________ Notes: Chan, Sharon Pian. "Councilmember Della accused of threats to union". SeattleTimes.com, October 13, 2007. See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003946789_dellaethics13m.html Galloway, Angela. "Firefighters, police guild say Della made threat". SeattlePI.com, October 8, 2007. See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/334763_council09.html Galloway, Angela. "UPDATE: Councilman Della safe for now". SeattlePI.com, October 12, 2007. See http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattlepolitics/archives/123585.asp
Tiassa, aren't you getting the idea that no one gives a shit about what happens in Seattle? And most sure don't want to read more of your long, long, involved, convoluted posts about something that they don't give a shit about. How many replies to this thread have been meaningful with regard to the Seattle problem you're so hot about? Doesn't that tell you anything? Baron Max
They're not obliged to be relevant to the Della story. And, frankly, I find the Artvoice article Killjoy offered a very enlightening contribution. Nobody's making you read anything, Max. And yet you bother to complain about what you choose to read? I suppose I should be flattered. Thank you.
I agree, Tiassa, and I sincerely apologize for my remark. It was totally uncalled for and rude. I probably deserved an infraction for that comment. Baron Max
Twisted politics So, anyway, the Della/Burgess fight is getting absolutely sordid. Erica C. Barnett notes: She is referring to this nifty little atrocity: Twister Tim. I think we should get a ducking stool test--reasonably updated to the 20th century--for those entering politics in Seattle. It works fairly simply: (1) File paperwork for city-office candidacy (2) Go out back; appointd official will shoot you in the head (3) If you live, you're disqualified, for not having a brain in the first place (4) If you die, you're qualified Who says the Puritans were good for nothing.
The whole Soviet Socialist Republik of New York is in an uproar over Governor Elliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. A local candidate for the office of county clerk vows he'll face legal action and jail time before consenting to implement the plan - Issue of licensing illegals enlivens county clerk race “I’ll let the governor sue me,” William A. O’Loughlin, the Republican William A. O’Loughlin, candidate for Erie County clerk, said this week. “If I’m elected, I’ll refuse to give licenses to illegal immigrants, and I’ll do it with pride and honor.” Meanwhile, the saga of insanity, ineptitude and intrigue over the effort to get a new bridge built connecting the city of Beau Fleu with Canuckistan continues ! Trucking Buffalo (wot to quote on this one.... it's only been about 10 years since they started arguing about what to do to replace the venerable Peace Bridge to Canada... hmmm...) It is possible that the Peace Bridge expansion project wouldn’t have degenerated into the present mess if Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Congressman Brian Higgins had stood up for the city when it mattered instead of being lapdogs for the White House and panderers to the construction unions. But they didn’t stand up, so we’ll never get a chance to find out. The whole affair was a mess before these two goobers got into office, but what the hey...
