I just caught a timely radio PSA with State Attorney General Rob McKenna and King County Sherrif Sue Rahr concerning High School graduation alcohol usage - a good subject, but with a bad conclusion.

The gist of their piece is to discourage parents from hosting events where alcohol is served. I couldn't disagree more - regardless of the law this is a very appropriate way to handle the situation, so long as the proper precautions are made - keeping car keys, etc.

Alcohol is a legal drug and having more mature people teach its use is crucial. Sure, when the drinking age was 18 there were problems at High Schools as a result, but this is not the same thing at all - consider the anthropological record, for one.

More to the point Rob, Sue, what about the Republicans in King County who never learned how manage the use of the drug responsibly - like, for example, Jane Hague and Norm Satterberg.

Right? What about them?

This enforcement effort comes across as nothing but disrespect for the law revisiting prohibition at a crucial demographic.

Law is not written in stone from Moses in the First Ammendment, it is living thing based on human judgement and the application thereof. Rahr and McKenna are exhibiting much less of this than the parents buying alcohol for their graduates.

Implicitly holding the average citizen to a different standard than members of the government only justifies DISRESPECT for authority.

Given the historical role of the Republican party in US Business it also raises the question - are these folks really competitive or just drug addicted gang banging and extorting thugs corrupting the law rather than making America strong?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, nominated to replace Allen Greenspan during the reign of Bush's Treasury chief, Hank Paulson, made historical precedent in a first ever broadcast interview on 60 Minutes Sunday night.

He hit his marks in his interview and did bring a calm reassuring message to the airwaves. I, for one though, am sceptical.

Perhaps his speechifying is nothing but a defensive move, a la Dick Cheney, someone definitely on the outs in D.C. and 'in' when it comes to media appearances.

To me the central point concerns accountability for bailing out certain firms - a point Bernanke did make - that folks should be held accountable, once the crisis is past.

We have yet to see that. Most tellingly Bernanke completely avoided the question of Hank Paulson and any mention of his firm Goldman Sachs, the Haliburton of the financial world.

Bernanke also restated the need to bail out firms that were 'too big to fail'. Quick action was needed, but breaking up mega firms is very often easy to do. Consider, for example, AIG. The arm that was involved in the sub-prime mortgage scams was completely different from the relatively healthy insurance operations - why not split those up?

It may well be the case that we are in for a short term recovery. I, for one, don't believe we've solved the problem, we've merely taking out yet another loan, this time on the US Treasury as opposed to our personal houses.

It all needs to be paid back, and the price of failure is still failure.

No one is above that law - the only question is how many innocent folks will pay in order to avoid the pain?

And, Mr. Bernanke, are you going to hold Hank Paulson accountable, or not?

Since the 2000 election Ralph Nader's name has most often been discussed in the context of scapegoat for the defeat of Al Gore in 2000. Besides being factually wrong it also merits a historical updating in the context of the current financial crisis.

Perhaps Mr. Rader was right about Corporate America and the Dems being culpable in its crimes?

I, for one, think so. FWIW, I also voted for Al Gore in 2000.

I was also active in the first Nader campaign in 1996 - twas actually the person got to formally nominate him at the 'convention' in Gas Works park for Washington State.

My politics have become more independent since then - pretty much coincident with beling much less involved in the current electoral system in any fashion.

Though these days I might disagree with Nader his is a voice that deserves to be heard.

Now would be a good time.

Two coincident experiences with the TNT newspaper and their business practices, both unfortunately not positive. Whether or not there is anything to be read between the two of them, I leave up to you.

First on the business news wire is the departure of long time business columnist and booster Dan Voelpel - off to the Pierce County suburb of Puyallup as director of Economic Development - an interesting switch. His should be a career worth continuing to watch. Hopefully McClatchy can find someone to fill his shoes, but that will likely take time. Hopefully Voelpel can bring some of the can-do spirit of Puyallup to the rest of the county as well.

The second is more subtle - I recently restarted my Sunday only subscription after a vacation hold, a rather typical transaction. Yet somehow my contract was changed to the full week delivery. FWIW, I don't mind being told the news, I do mind being told how to do my business.

Hopefully this second item was an inadvertant mistake and not an indicator in the management environment at this paper, tough as it must be at the moment.

Jori Adkins, Jim Merritt, and Apex Engineering have done some great professional work creating a 'post and beam' alternative to the ill-conceived Sounder 'berm' crossing of the Dome District in Tacoma and put it up on a website.

This stands in sharp contrast to the City's current position, as I hear it, that you can't use the area under the Post and Beam for anything. In addition the Sound Transit plan violates the City of Tacoma's Comprehensive Plan on both initial trail planning and the new but promising 'habitat corridor' designation which is designed to work well in denser areas.

Sound Transit does have a plan for a pedestrian connection - at 'A' Street, but this is basically a connection to nowhere, unless there is a major redesign of I-5 in this area.

Berms have construction problems as well - greater utility relocation is a very common place for costs to escalate and building close to the berm has issues with that structures 'load' profile.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Sound Transit design is aesthetics - they are taking a rural rail design and plopping it down through the 2nd largest urban center in Western Washington. Imagine, if you will, a 20-40 foot high 'mountain' of dirt running down the middle of the street by your office - with a trash collecting fence.

The arrogance of Sound Transit in responding to this professionally prepared alternative isn't too pretty either. Not to mention also fiscally irresponsible.

How to Irritate People

Starring John Cleese with Michael Palin

Produced by David Frost

1968

This is John Cleese from his formative years, in an early and influential 'mockumentary'.

Presumably the plane in question here is an Airbus - nobody panic!

If one reads between the lines on the barrage of media stories on a topic a very simple, evolving, story.

Perhaps the most important of these today is the foreclosure 'story' - many typical conservatives would have you believe that the whole financial crisis was the result of lower income households purchasing houses they couldn't afford via sub-prime programs that were completely legal and appropriate.

Russell Investments is considering a relocating its Headquarters as part of it's current planning processes - a big topic in the Pierce County media of late.

Seattle is a major suitor for Russell - and there is definitely a logic to it - Russell is an international company, and Seattle, an international City.

But Seattle is also a City marked by major financial scandal and a power structure that has not yet evolved away from that Corruption. Moving into the former WAMU HQ would be an apparent coup for Russell, but if you are bailing out the corrupt and, at least in part, acknowledging even a smidgeon of authority then is that good for anyone?

My $.02 for Russell - punt on this one, for now - turn down both the Seattle and Tacoma offers.

The global finance world is changing - most likely becoming much more decentralized as a response to the corruption in such centers as Seattle and New York City. Your location in Tacoma might turn out to be just about right - very near a large global powerhouse, but far enough way to remain, uh, honest.

When it comes to attacting business, whether it be a firm or a City - it is really only honesty and accountability that matters. Any other strategy will only bring the undesirable, of whatever stripe, and income.

Obama's health care reform effort is laudable - as well as revealing of the structure of power in this Country. Unfortunately due the fiscal crisis and the recent bailouts of right and left, there is no money to do this - or, at least, financially prudent political will.

My long term brainstorm, now to repeat, is somewhat similar to the Wyden/Bennett proposal now being revitalized. I suggest requiring medical coverage for all drug useage, including alcohol.

Specifically, require that to purchase drugs an individual must be have medical insurance - include with this MD review of purchase history. This might seem burdensome but with today's technologies and barcodes on drivers licenses it is just a software fix - with a license that's already supposed to be out in front of the store scanner anyway, right?

This also opens up the possiblity of using marijuana revenues to fund health care, along with a re-structured alcohol taxing system.

And, yes, that does mean I'm saying the pot heads could do a better job with health care than either the Republicans or the Democrats - presumably with a healthy portion of former pot heads in the mix.

For what it is worth, I also support legalization of psychedelics, including Ecstasy, LSD, and Peyote - though use of these should be highly restricted - maybe only once a year, give or take.

Though it would be easy to portray the entire population of Germany circa 1930 as a group of raving psychotics the fact is that Jewish hatred most likely had its roots in a pattern real abuses - of multiple individuals of the Jewish faith.

This is all speculation here - the only purpose of which is to highlight the situation today - and the risks we face. That said - consider that the reason the holocaust happened was an improper protection of abusers within the Jewish financial community?

Now that doesn't justify the holocaust, by any means - and lets hope we don't have a holocaust for the elite of Corporate America and their families.

That said though, perhaps the 'ghettoization' of the most responsible individuals and their leadership is appropriate?

No conclusions here, but definitely a very real conversation we need to have in this Country if we are, in fact, a nation of laws.

Perceptions of Bernard Madoff as a member of the Jewish Committee at this particular moment are interesting. Certainly there is anti-semitism, but there is also condemnation from within the Jewish world as well.

I did a google search on the subject, perhaps most interesting was a story in the Huffington Post from an outsider about Madoff's exclusively Jewish Club in Palm Beach, Florida (December, 2008)- a retirement area for many wealthy New Yorkers.( And, perhaps as an example of the divine hand at work, also home to many of Madoff's victims.

Here's the google for 'Bernard Madoff Jewish Community', for some of the rest.

Walking Tall

Starring Chris "The Rock" Vaughn

2004

This movie remakes the 1973 classic in a Washington State logging town, with 'The Rock' reprising the lead character based on the true story of Sheriff Buford Pusser in Tennessee.

Vaughn's mixed race parents add some dimension to the story, but above all this is an action flick, perhaps a bit over the top, but still a story worth telling.

Here's a clip from the original - which I haven't seen as neither the local Library nor Netflix carries it. Go Figure!