dan, i like that you put a little meat on your morning news link bones. thank you!

I am not sure who you are calling dumb assholes. The people who are opposing wind power are King county residents who have weekend homes in Kittitas county. They don't want their expensive views ruined.

I'm calling them assholes. And the Kennedys.

Seattle & King County's Obstruction statutes need to be repealed. They are overly broad and give way to much opportunity for cops to abuse their power with impunity. The bloodied face of Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes is Exhibit #1, though there are many others.

If they don't want wind turbines near their homes how about a nice coal plant or a nuclear reactor. I live in the city, but if zoning and finances would allow it I would put a big old wind turbine in my back yard. I think it would be cool.

Though solar would probably work better but unfortunately I don't have 10-20 grand lying around. If only the City and state could subsidize such things.

out and advocate are just becoming a gay version of in touch magazine, arent they?

Dan, thanks for the Liza (what are those called, g-straps? thigh clips?). To further on the Weimar thread, check out the amazing 'Sophie Scholl' dvd.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERschollS.htm

How about something a little more obscure for the Fosse tomorrow? I know all the words (and most of the gestures) to the Cabaret video...

IMO, the people in Kittitas County should STFU. Cheap, environmentally friendly power? Only if it doesn't ruin our views!

I personally love the wind farms, they seem like some alien art installations when you come over the hill going east to Vantage. Maybe the residents would like them more if they featured more "quaint" touches like fucking wooden geese in gingham bonnets. Gah.

Hmmmm...there's 36,000 people in Kittitas County so you may want to be more specific. I mean every time Dino Rossi does something stupid, I can't say "Dumb Assholes in King County" did XXX.

Cabaret - it's almost 40 years old now! One of the rare times when a movie exceeds its Broadway counterpart. Well, two different medium, really. Still stands up, though. Timeless. Fosse may have been a womanizing, chain-smoking, dexadrine addict, but he sure knew dance and staging. Holy smokes.

There was a headline yesterday in what might be deemed the legit press reading, "World Awaits Release of Paris." I wasn't waiting, were you?

Is the American media driving its own engine?

Another thing about Fosse - it seems his type of choreography tended to virtually cripple some of his dancers in later years. Gwen Verdon said his dances put the body off-center. In other words, one was always on the verge of toppling over. Must be hard on the spine and pelvis, no?

They could paint them something other then white so they blend in a bit better.

Re: Kerlikowske’s Boys

Someone should frame the front page of today's Times and send it to James Kelly and Mack. One hell of a chief they chose to defend. James Kelly's credibility just took a dive. Mack doesnt care cuz he doesn't live here anymore.

wind power: "Last Friday, Gov. Christine Gregoire sidestepped a final decision on allowing the Horizon project." ...

Who does this shock?

God yes, the wooden geese. And the wooden fat ladies bent over in jeans. My god, they take these things with them in their RVs and set them up in their camps! Ugh.

Wind power good. Coal power bad. End of story.

Fnarf, being raised in the Ohio River valley of death, coal keeps me searching for a heart of gold. Imean, how many times can I watch Cole Porter's 'Kiss me Kate?' The time for wind is upon us, time to set sail. What? Wait. I thought Tolleycrafts were motor driven?

yay for SLU "slow" gentrification! My recollection is that Commons proponents wanted to transfer the risk of commercial failure to us subsidizin' taxpayers. We would front the money, they would build, but if it didn't pencil out we were on the hook for 30-year bonds etc. I like that the commercial risk is on the capitalists now (except for the Streetcar, hee hee). I also like that the capitalists, told to pay for it themselves, slowed down so much that they may have missed the boom years altogether.

At the risk of detonating the gay bomb, if anyone can find a clip of "Son of a Preacher Man" that Liza performed from Liza with a Z, then I kiss you!

I couldn't find it on youtube - nahsing!

Y'all missed the most exciting part of the Paris Hilton story: she can reduce her probation by a year if she does community service, which oddly doesn't include either porn or ritual disembowelment, but does include "a public-service announcement".

I'll leave the jokes to you. There are a number of possibilities that spring to mind.

So, @18, where are all the cheap rental places in SLU then? That was why you killed the Commons ... but they want bye bye anyway.

It's just as dumb as trying to stop wind power ...

Ugh. I remember last year when they were trying to get someone--anyone--to take the top editorial position at the Advocate.

But I thought that guys with the sad, unfortunate bangs (the guy from Blackbook) was supposed to be the savior of Out. I never bothered to check it out; guess I wasn't the only one.

Kind of FNARF,thoug, I think the biggest part of the Hilton story is that she is a wanna-be Basquiat.

Maybe Ms Graves can review her drawing for us? Notice the phone on the wall and her wide eyes yearning for freedom or a, nevermind...

http://www.tmz.com/2007/06/26/paris-totally-sketched-out/

@21, thanks for the props, but I didn't kill the commons, Joel Horn did.

It's either an ironic or a pathetic twist, but most folks in that area of arid Central Washington (especially double this for those who live on rural lands, not on a working farm, but on those ubiquitous 5 acre “homesteads” which make a great retirement/investment/weekend property) benefit from a MASSIVE irrigation system.

The system was built over the last century, but saw major expansion during the 1930's WPA era. Those irrigation canals were built using tax payer money back when the area was arid desert (think south Washington Tri-Cities/Eastern-Central Oregon dry, not The Gorge “greenier” kind of dry) to provide water from the Columbia, Wenatchee Yakima, etc. rivers to food and cattle farms. Towards the end of the 2Oth century, those massive hundreds of acres farms where sold off by the parcels and turned into single family homes. Those homes retain, in addition to expansive, vastly reaching views, a share in the irrigation water.

That water, which could be retained in the rivers for other uses (salmon culitivation comes to mind), is instead being used to water Kentucky Blue Grass lawns and azalea shrubs. These days, very few drops of irrigated water actual hits a cash producing crop. Those same owners who oppose the turbines do benefit from public water drawn from publicly owned rivers and also benefit from regulated cheap in-state produced electricity. The turbines will clash with the ambience of those (irrigation watered) green hills. There is no greater good being served since the “homesteads” do not produce any benefit to society outside of a small tax revenue. IMHO they really should not have a say in the matter since they have no argument beyond ambience. To paraphrase: sometime the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of a few homeowners. That’s the American way for you.

@23- Graves has better things to consider. She feature's some beautiful work this week.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=247539

yeah... I sure miss those urine soaked days of South Lake Union. It's really getting hard to find a decent place in this city to take in a lung full of good 'ol pee stink!

@ 26 twas a joke.

The dumbest thing I ever did - other than devoting a decade of my life to building transit in a car-addicted city - was to vote against the Commons. Hindsight is 20/20. Mea culpa!

There, Dan, I said it.

What about that vote for Nader, Grant?

What about that support for Bush's war Dan?

Gee The Commons. I forgot how much I hated Seattle for killing that. Now my anger is back!!! GRRRRRRRR!!!!

I forgot how much I hated Dan Savage for that little diddy he wrote in the Stranger supporting the war. Now that anger is back!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

And I forgot how much I hated people that voted for Nader in 2000. That anger is back too!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Remember when Joel Horn et al said no one would develop anything in SLU if Seattle taxpayers didn't fork out $400+ million to subsidize the proposed Commons?

Hey, I have bitched about this before but every week I write a letter to the County Exec's office about what he is getting Metro to do to at least improve the weekend and evening bus service is the little city of Seattle. You know, it would be nice to see an improvement of bus service so one could take a bus at least during off peak hours that would be somewhat reliable. And in good measure I send a copy to the Mayor's office.

For 7 months this letter has been mailed and for 7 months I have never recieved one reply. Not one peep. Just an FYI.

Hey, I regret supporting the war. Said so.

So, again, Grant: the Nader vote?

Ah Grant: I heard Dan publicly say he regretted his support at a Town Hall event last year. Maybe you could do the same?

It seems that Dan's early support of the war is something that can't be forgiven by some. Holy crap, people. Nobody loves to admit when their wrong. What do you want? A front page story? Get on with your lives.

I wish the city or county could require condo developers to put solar panels on all new construction. I'm sure it wouldn't make the buildings entirely self reliant, but every little bit helps.

These Fosse updates have been making my day.

grant's nader vote didn't do shit. the electoral college made sure of that. it was fairly clear that gore was going to win washington, and he won it pretty easily.

if there's a culprit, it's the jim crow assholes down in florida. if you want to blame someone, blame them. they're the ones who put up road blocks, purged voter rolls (of people who were legally entitled to vote--i won't even get into the jim crow ex-felon disenfranchisement laws (which we share)), etc.

Gore only need three more electoral votes to win. He ended up with 267 (remember?). New Hampshire would have done it with its 3 electoral votes. Guess what? If the NH Nader vote had gone to Gore, he would have carried the state. So, really, it's the New Hampshire Nader voters who should feel ashamed. They could have made Florida irrelevant.

By the way, New Hampshire went Democratic in 2004.

The Nader documentary that's just been released on DVD spends a good deal of time interviewing members of the Nader camp. They aren't apologizing for anything. They say the Nader vote came from people who wouldn't have voted if he hadn't been on the ballot. Nader energized people who were otherwise uninterested in the process. Therefore, Nader didn't steal votes from anyone. Maybe that is partly true, but I sure would like to see what would've happened without Nader on the ballot.

I'm convinced the only way a three/four party system works is in those cases where there is parliamentary representation of all parties. That isn't going to happen here in the States. The Dem/Rep thing is too ingrained.

grant's nader vote still did nothing--wa went to gore. and really, why pick on the people who are exercising their right to vote in the attempts at moving the debate to the left when there was so much obvious disenfranchisement, etc. that's like playing in a baseball game where the umpire subtracts three runs from your team's total at the end and then you say "hey, it's grant's fault--if he'd hit a home run with the bases loaded, we would've won!"

Political support is organic. Funds raised by candidates in one locale benefit that candidate in other locales. Momentum gained by a candidate in Washington have a spillover effect in places like New Hamshire. It is too simplistic to say "hey, Washington went to Gore and therefore, my vote for Nader did not matter."

It did matter. Modern politics is nuanced. The monorail debate, and the commons debate are nuanced. Grant may have fought for the monorail, but the death of the monorail was not about a city who loves cars (nearly all American cities love cars) but about a failed implementation of a transit project. That's not to say that Seattle isn't very backwards about transit; it is.

But, 20 years (really? You were on this for 20 years?) is a drop in the bucket. If you believe in it, then you should stick with it even if the going gets tough. Throwing away your effort at the 20 year mark seems like a waste of those 20 years more than any few defeats you faced along the way.

But, yeah, fighting the commons seems to have been a mistake (I supported it then, and remain glad that I did). Park space would have existed that won't now exist. Period.

Know a dumb asshole? Go to sendahole.com.