A state legislative bill, HB1490, which seeks to mandate growth around light rail stations has been quite controversial. Although largely symbolic the folks who win will have garnered political 'coup' - a strange practice in Seattle.

Mayor Nickels has come out opposed to the bill, but this is really just political posturing on his part - angling against Councilmember Sally Clark. Everything being equal I'd probably choose Nickels over Clark, but Nickels himself has enough baggage to make him unfit to serve. Clark does not yet have that baggage, but definitely has the potential to be even worse - as this issue would suggest.

Clark's support of this bill should be viewed in the context of her role in neighborhood planning - as staffer to Tina Podlodowski the 'Microsoftie' who took over the effort after outspending and defeating neighborhood candidates. Neighborhood planning is being fastracked for exactly the same neighborhoods that have been the subject of HB 1490 - enthusiasm for the effort is lacking, as documented in this article. including outright opposition from the official neighborhood. Perhaps the history of Ms. Clark and her crew has something to do with this?

Wisely the Washington State Legislature refused to fund Seattle's Mercer street redesign through a neighborhood largely controlled by former Microsoft executive Paul Allen (and his professonial staff).

Why, why in the world should we be spending stimulus money 'bailing out' Paul Allen?

RKO 281
(The Making of Citzen Kane)

Starring Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, and John Malkovich

Produced by HBO

1999

This movie is about the "Greatest Movie Ever Made", Orson Welle's 'Citzen Kane'. It is timely given the current collapse of the Hearst corporation, whose founder, Randolph, was the thinly (very) disguised movie subject.

Most interesting is the film's explanation of what 'rosebud' really means. I can't say whether this story is any more true than any of Hollywood 's (or HBO's) - or for that matter, Hearst's - but it is a good one.

The time of this production was the lead-up to WW2 - the movie has Hearst referring to Roosevelt as a 'Bolshevik'. My very slightly historical perspective was that Hearst and Roosevelt worked together to bring us into the European conflict - perhaps that was only later.

Ah, the politics of the story.

FWIW, I wonder what Joel Connelly, long time democratic political columnist with the Seattle Hearst paper has for a 'Rosebud'?

The spoiler for Hearst's 'Rosebud' is in the clip:

I spent my pre-teen years in Southern California, a half hour or so from the Beach, a favorite destination, especially during times of hurricane generated waves - 'Red Flag' weather.

I never learned to surf, but still being in the rough stuff body surfing was quite memorable.

Politics in Seattle, dominated by tax dependent 'businesses' (many owned on the Eastside) has such weather, whenever the hegemony gets close to being held accountable. After the second defeat of the Seattle Commons was one such time - which begat the whole Nordstrom Parking Garage thing. So too were the WTO riots, which may well have begat the assasination of US Attorney Thomas Wales.

BE CAREFUL, BUT NAIL AS MANY OF THESE SLIMY BASTARDS AS POSSIBLE. LET'S MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAS TO HAPPEN FOR QUITE AWHILE.

The field of potential challengers to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels continues to narrow, however one name remains on the active rumour circuit, architect Peter Steinbrueck. He has not announced a candidacy by any means, but a poll, source unknown, has been leaked that shows him as a viable candidate - beating Nickels 46% to 24%.

In Tacoma an architect is the only current candidate - Jim Merritt for the mayoral position in that 200,000 soul locale (800 in the County, a similar ratio to Seattle/King). Merritt cut his teeth as a young architect being directly inspired by leaders like Victor Steinbrueck. In Tacoma he has been a civic force for decades leading the development of community grounded solutions to such major problems as the Asarco superfund site and the construction of the 705 freeway connecting I-5 to Downtown Tacoma, all while running a successful architectural practice.

While it is the case that junior Steinbrueck might not have the managerial experience to run Seattle it also may well be that his respect in the **community** could easily outweigh any such deficiency. Many hands certainly make for light work.

The election of both Steinbrueck and Merritt would certainly signal a sea change in current approaches to regional decision making - god knows who actually controls that now.

Lilies of the Field

Staring Sydney Poitier

1963

This movie may well mark the 'tipping' point of racial relations in America, released the year of my birth. Poitier won the best actor Academy Award for his lead role in this film, playing an out of work construction worker/GI, heading west.

On the way he runs into a group of east german nuns recently escaped from behind the Iron Curtain who need him to build a church.

Curiously, there are only two white men in the entire film. A poor Irish priest with an impoverished Latin parish and a rich white Contractor. The Contractor is goosed a bit, but it is done very respectfully and realistically. FWIW, the construction scenes of the chapel reminded me of a well run Habitat for Humanity site.

The scenes where he teaches the nuns some black baptist gospel are particularly memorable and the sound track is top notch all the way through.

New York City vs. Washington D.C.

Ten business days from now, April 5, Microsoft will be holding a virtual 'special' olympics on the servers of the MS network. (The 'real' event was originally founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Schwarnegger's Mother In Law, on the proposal of a Chicago Educator)

**Please note - ridicule of this particular brand of abusive degenerate is not only allowed, but encouraged. Boos will suffice, but if you have personally had your life endangered by these individuals all restraints are removed, per the US Constitution.

Ni - Fong n., prop. A prosecutor caught abusing the law in politically motivated prosecutions of four Duke University (North Carolina) Lacrosse team players. v. A common legal practice in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries where unfounded allegations of sexual impropriety were used by the legal profession to manipulate large organizations, public and private, as extortion. Most common in Washington State, New York City, Massachusetts, California, and Washington D.C. Cited as a major cause of the revolution of 2010. Explicitly outlawed under the first president of New America in 2013, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Enforcement has intially proved difficult as the disorder often manifest in a bi-lateral fashion expressing itself between the actions of at least two individuals most typically man and wife, or republican and democrat. adj. 1, A genetic defect isolated as a partial cause of the behavior, as in ' nifong genetic defect'. 2. a manifestation of alcohol abuse as 'she was a nifong alcoholic'. n. a perjorative term to describe users of the practice, as in "what a nifong".

Mainstream media has made a big point about protecting the recipients of corporate corruption in New York City, most notably in the AIG bonus matter claiming these were contractually 'legal'.

I'm sorry, but regardless of what a corporate lawyer tells you is legal you are still responsible for your actions. These folks **chose** to actively participate in a fraud and profited from it greatly.

These are not people to respect, nor do they deserve a penny of all of their ill-gotten gains. Via civil means it is time to move these people and their families into the homeless shelter as quickly as possible.

If they are in fact talented and not just sophisticated thugs they should have no problem working there way back to a comfortable lifestyle, if not, so be it. There are certainly families in homeless shelters right now for far less of a mistake.

These corporate practices have to end - using justifications of political correctness to cover scams is no more than puting a white sheet on a KKK member - accusing those who would hold you responsible of sexual harrassment IS a sex crime.

Bill Gates Senior recently wrote an op-ed in favor of an income tax for upper bracket individuals and companies.

This is a good idea, but coming from Gates it is kind of like Al Capone making a $50,000 donation to M.A.D.D. Gates has profited greatly from government revenues through his former legal practice. I would go so far as to say Preston Gates and Ellis dominance in this field manifested itself as a typical abusive control freak - some of the worst of public/private interaction.

Thanks to their corrupt lobbying practices in D.C. through Jack Abramoff the firm has quietly dissolved. Some of the private practice folks split off to form Dorsey and Whitney, while the remainder were aquired by Pittsburg based K&L Gates, now one of the nation's largest firms.

The passive aggressive politically correct tools PGE used to manipulate bureaucracies at the worst were as poltically motivated and degenerate as Michael Nifong's prosecution of the Duke Lacrosse team in North Carolina. Worse, they've used their success as leverage to bring these practices into the private sector, along with others.

No connections to Enron have been established yet but their long time practice in privately owned utilities makes them suspect. Involvement in other matters is not even a question. What he and his did to the University of Washington as regent is sufficient justification for the faculty of that institution to string him up in self defense.

Another favorite of Mr. Gates senior is an inheiritance tax - kind of a way of bragging about the success of his son, in kind of a back hand way. Unfortunately the only legacy Mr. Gates will leave to his son is his sexually motivated abusive corruption, a son who made a very bad choice as to who to hire as legal counsel.

Right pop?

The Wire

Produced by HBO

Created by David Simon

2002-2007

The Wire is a cop show about the grit of life in the streets of Baltimore, the drug dealers and the politically manipulated bureaucracy intent on not rocking the boat.

This realism comes from long time Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon and he brings the City to life with a great voice.

The title 'Wire' refers to the use of wiretaps in investigations, but the production was also at a time of great popularity for the magazine 'Wired'. These wires were provided by one honest State's Attorney and one honest Judge.

Nick - els n., prop. Mayor of Seattle during the period leading up to the economic crash of September 2008, symbolizing the corrupt elitism that overtook his City and its role in setting these standards and techniques on a national basis.
n. 1. Homeless camps of the era, 'Nickelsville'. 2.A metaphor for relative poverty among the average American of the time, as in the people had only nickels.

Lucky Number Slevin

Starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu, Ben Kingsley, with Stanley Tucci

2006

This movie is organized around the plot of a con, the Kansas City Shuffle. Rival gangs and individuals have their stories which compete for survival, and the attention of the viewer. The resulting multi-layered product is pure genius show casing much of Hollywood's finest.

This movie is so finely done and so masterfully complex it is worth seeing every April 1, not just this year. That is, until they come up with the 'Oklahoma City Shuffle'.