"Bush Offers Himself Amnesty for Human Rights Crimes"

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/09/27/Amnesty/

Excellent distillation of the day's spinning news! I'll try it again tomorrow!

"U.S. House approves $70B more for Iraq and Afghanistan"

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/09/27/defence-spending.html

If you release a report detailing how global warming causes stronger hurricanes, you are giving the terrorists access to an unimaginably destructive weapon.

I think you'll find that the exact quote was that the report was "mis-undercharacterized"

Please strive for more accuracy.

Mayor's Global Warming Thingy

The PI story in the link makes mention of the use of toll roads... I can't help but think towards the AWV being remade into a tunnel (but wasn't explicitly mentioned in the article). Tunnels do have exhaust systems, which I assume can have environmental scrubbers/filters similar to smokestacks in manufacturing plants, so the tunnel might reduce the gases. EIS studies aside, I wonder if tunnels are, in greenhouse gas terms, actually a Good Idea. The tolls and extra billion bucks I could get behind, if the tunnel was more then a vanity/property values thing, but actually had a real (albeit however small) impact on green house gases over "its" life span.

Also in the plan is to encourage more pedestrians. That is a really funny joke. "Increasing pedestrians" sound great on paper, it will encourage the metaphorical "other guy" to leave the car at home and walk. They can encourage all they want, but walking in this city by downtown business folks, beyond across the street to that little teriyaki joint, isn't something City Hall wants folks do, beyond the metaphor. The city currently HATES pedestrians The papers are full of pedestrian vs. vehicle stories, and anyone who actual walks, oh lets say 50% or more when they leave their home, will say Seattle is NOT safe to cross the street. Yet, the city keeps removing crosswalks. Sure, having buses open onto the curb level might be a good idea (in the 30% of the city which actually have curbs, btw) but I find this plan to be nothing more then a politick policy. No good if the transportation department is not more concerned, as it is at present, with moving traffic as quickly as possible, then having traffic wait while someone crosses the street, no matter how long the delay is to a drive.

Hillary Clinton, distancing herself from Bill Clinton's attempt to buy New York for Hillary Clinton, takes a slap at Bill Clinton: http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/feature/2002/02/04/faln/index_np.html

("Bill Clinton's questionable clemencies ...
The former president's decision to release Puerto Rican terrorists in 1999 prompted outrage from Congress and his wife. Now it also bolsters claims that he was "soft on terrorism.")

Oh, sure, putting money into bike lanes, fixing potholes, and refurbishing King Street station is going to slow down global warming. Seattle's ENTIRE CO2 output is a negligible contribution to what gets pumped into the atmosphere daily. Let's say all the Chinese coal-burning power plants went offline immediately - would that even curtail the trends? "Acting locally" may make you feel good, but it isn't going to do any good on this issue. Hizzoner is pitching this tax increase request in a way that literally insults the intelligence of anyone who thinks about it.

My hybrid car is a significant step in stopping global warming. Shopping for organic sustainable produce at Whole Foods helps too. I've even got a bike rack on my hybrid car so it's a park-n-ride too. If everyone does what they can, Seattle can stop global warming.

It's funny. Whenever my friends from out of town visit, they always comment on the incredible number of crosswalks in this town. The thing they don't realize is that drivers never stop at them.

You want to cut down on single occupancy car trips? How about not always accomodating cars.

Please don't think I'm a car snob--I'm not. I acknowledge that we won't do away with cars in the near future. But maybe we shouldn't always design to accomodate an ever-growing car culture.

Of course I'm talking about the viaduct. And I know a lot of people will tell me that it's unrealistic to think that we can change driver's behavior, but there are plenty of studies out there that show that more roads beget more cars (I'm resisting the urge to insert a dirty joke) and that some people will change their behavior to adjust to congestion. I'm not saying that complete congestion is a bad thing. But how can the mayor make this proposal and not give the transit/streets model another thought?

And please don't give me the same song and dance about the legislature requiring that the preferred alternative project maintain capacity. Yes, that's where we are now, but the Mayor had a lot to do with framing that discussion in the first place, and (if he really wanted to change our driving culture) could pressure WSDOT to take another look at their capacity data.

sorry...must have had a brain fart. i meant to say that complete congestion isn't a good thing, but some traffic congestion is essential to creating the right balance.

Don't forget that Project Runway is "Guys' Newest TV Sport."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003276424_projectrunway27.html

Re: Deutsche Oper Cancellation

Idomeneo does not in fact feature the severed head of Mohammed. Idomeneo is set in Crete a millenium before Mohammed existed. It's the crazy german production that features the head of the prophet, along with the head of Jesus, Buddha and Poseidon. Had they simply staged the opera more or less as written, there would have been no issue.

The death threats might have had nothing to do with Mohammed anyways. Buddhist terrorism I tell you: "Ahimsa this, you secular capitalist kutta!"

Mayor Nickels presents: 'A Convenient Truth'! Hey, a lot of small, easy steps, incremental spending, and we can keep living exactly (with a few small changes) the wasteful way we do right now. Yeah, don't change your life, the mayor's handling it. And five years from now, when those bike lanes have to be shelved because we've sunk billions into a viaduct replacement, a new big-ass bridge across the lake and a whole bunch of other crap, we'll be right where we are now. Except it'll be warmer.

Only terrorists support doing something about real problems. In our faith-based bubble, we don't do real problems. We ignore them.

Only terrorists support doing something about real problems. In our faith-based bubble ...

What the 'ell does that mean, Will? Should I bring my own translator when I try to read your stuff?

I'm sorry, you're not cleared to know what the strategery is.