Peter Callaghan has a great piece on the Sound Transit Berm through the Dome District of Tacoma. Instead of repeating myself I'll leave it to Peter to put his spin on matter. See also the piece in the Tacoma Weekly.

Temps around these parts are now barely breaking 70 with clouds, when so recently we broke the all time record with 104, quite the change on a usually reliable sunny 80's for July and August. As such a perfect day for a beach hike that might otherwise be done in Winter.

Anderson Island is in the South Sound, serviced by the only island ferry route **not** run by Washington State, hence making it the most quiet of all puget islands - and the most remote, having the power off for over two months this last winter due a cut cable.

This is Otso Point, a shy two miles from the Ferry Dock, best at lower tides if one wishes to keep the shoes, and thighs, dry.

Here's some pics from my road trip back from SW Colorado into the Western Washington 'zone' over Memorial Day. I also took the 14' Lapstrake rowboat onto Lake Powell at Page It was just for a couple of hours and no pics, hopefully a good mental warm up for a multi-week canyon sojourn - if I can handle the solo.

From January 11, 2009:

Harsh Reality in the Age of Obama, #1

It is looking like incumbent Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels will not make it through yesterday's primary, losing out to former Sierra Club Chapter President Mike McGuinn (a staunch opponent of the proposed 'big dig' Seattle Tunnel) and T-Mobile CEO Joe Mallahan.

I would suggest to you, dear reader, that it is not just Nickels that folks are dissatisfied, but the entire crew of downtown limousine liberals - including the 800 folks at City Hall making over 100k a year and certain segments of DT professionals.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

You be the Judge.

Seattle Business columnist Bill Virgin has made the leap from the failed P-I to a series of contracts, including replacing Dan Voelpel at the Tacoma/Pierce News Tribune.

Bill is every bit Mr. Voelpel's equal, we should be very proud to have him. Who knows, he might even bring a few friends of his caliber with him.

For a measure of this, see his first article in the TNT.

Paul Krugman has a timely NYT column on deficit spending, and how it **might** be okay. (If it works!)

Krugman's right on the debt numbers, but besides the additional political hazards he mentions there may be others.

1. The U.S. Housing market has not yet, definitively, found its bottom. Foreclosures resulting from the meltdown of a year ago are just now hitting the pipeline. Home equity loans have been a source of money that has been used to 'stimulate' the economy for quite awhile now - in a period when America's relative economic competiveness is declining. This a borrowed money is not on the government books, but it definitely does effect the overall financial 'credit rating' of the United States.

2. Subsidizing housing (and commercial property!) values with the deficit is a downward feedback loop. Spending deficit money to prop up the equity of property owners will not work, long term.

3. Who are we bailing out? If we pour good money after bad supporting the very people and practices that created the problem in the first place at the expense of honest blue collar America we are subject to a spectrum of problems, of which the least may be political.