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

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

Please strive for more accuracy.

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.

("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.")

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.

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!"

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