Friday, June 13, 2008

CONSTITUTION SOCIETY

Today on C-SPAN the American Constitution Society will be presenting a discussion on Guantanamo Detainees access to US Justice System.
Marsha Siegel Berzon , U.S. Court of Appeals
and Alberto Mora , U.S. Navy appear to be the guests.
Might be interesting.

C-SPAN 2:45 EDT
Is that 11:45 our time in the Northwest?



LUCKY 13 to everybody!!!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

MY OWN GREED AND SELF INTEREST

Lately there is a new group of folks who claim that I have been stating the party line and am only representing the Opinion of the Whatcom County GOP.

This is not the first time that I have been accused of representing someone that I am not.

On several occasions, I opposed the EMS LEVY, the EMS sales tax and the Jail sales tax.
All for the reason is that I believe that public safety should be the first line item in any governmental budget from city to Federal.
I can't count how many complaints my poor fire chief got from other fire chiefs and folks in public insisting that I be muzzled and that I represent the fire service 24 hours a day and should not be allowed the same right to press and free speech that other citizens enjoy...(This is only a little taste of history for illustrating my point.)

Anyway,

I am not a McCain Spokesman, even though I think he is our best choice for a competent Commander in Chief. I am not a spokesman for the National, State or County GOP. Of course I prefer the Reaganesque way of deliberating policies and ideas amongst Republicans and not the Goldwater vs. Rockefeller fights that some folks would like to see the GOP revert back to.

So to prevent any more misunderstandings, here is my disclaimer:

I SPEAK ON BEHALF OF MY OWN GREED AND SELF INTEREST AND BY NO MEANS DO I REPRESENT ANY FIRE DISTRICT, YOUTH OR ADULT SPORTS ORGANIZATION, POLITICAL PARTY, CANDIDATE, OR ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION OR BUSINESS INTEREST THAT I MAY BELONG TO.

(Did I leave anything out?...)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

PREPARE TO STAND BY...

TODAY'S COLUMN IS ONLY A TEST

IF THIS WAS A REAL COLUMN IT

MIGHT MAKE SENSE...

THEN AGAIN,

IT MIGHT NOT.

<<http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pUtK98dll2QCjdZa5yjHpJA/>>

By the way... How 'bout the Kid?
Ken Griffey Jr. hitting the 600 mark yesterday!
Anyone else remember him here in Bellingham with the Mariners Farm Team?

Monday, June 9, 2008

TRANSPORTATION COLLECTIVE

There is a new Car Co-Op in town.
I came across this during a debate between DJ and Stan over at Eye on Whatcom: http://www.eyeonwhatcom.com/yaf_postst188_Bike-Lanes-to-Replace-Parking-on-Cornwall-Avenue.aspx
Stan mentioned "flex cars" during their debate on removing rare parking for bicycle lanes.
Of course, a couple of us chimed in like Statler and Waldorf heckling Fozzie and Kermit,
but I was curious about this Flex Car thing.

My first thought of course was, "is it some kind of articulated thing like a 988 Cat Front Loader?"
So, in the middle of my throwing tomatoes and kibitzing, I asked Stan what it was?
He posted a link to a local group, that I found interesting. If I comprehended what I read on their website it seems to be some kind of Co-Op like Cenex, the Bellingham Food Co-OP or some such.

It Appears that for purchasing a membership, one gains access to Bicycles, Cars and it looks like they even have a pick up truck now too. ( I wonder if they'll ever add Motorcycles and Muscle Cars or Farm, Timber, and Mining Equipment? I won't hold my breath.) Obviously, for those who know me, my perspective is if it looks like a collective, smells like a collective, talks like a collective, it'll probably cost me some of my hard earned pay at some point.

Anyway, I'm curious about this, even though it offers nothing for someone like myself, but if it is truly a membership paid for operation, or better yet, a for profit business, then I could favor something like this, as buses are not much more than cattle trucks for shoe wearing primates and very limited in their capacities to do work such as carrying groceries, animal feed, or hauling lumber, gravel or even tools.

But I suspect that similar to other collectivist ideas, at the first sign of fiscal failure, they will run to the city and county councils and want some of our taxes to keep it afloat. So, here is coffee and toast to these folks proving me wrong and creating a successful for profit Business or (yeccch,) CO-OP, and not asking for a single plug nickle from us taxpayers.

Good Luck, duck.