The Durango (Colorado) Herald reports on a call for action from Headwaters Economics signed by 100 Economists and Academics regarding the use of Public Lands to stimulate employment.

The subject of selling public lands to pay off the deficit is also raised, but not given a high priority. I've got a friendly amendment to that, how about transferring Federal Lands to local municipalities to fill the FAILINGS of the Federal Government, however they so choose....

I'm spending my first Christmas in the desert SW, and getting at least a bit more exercise, though even with the sun it is quite cold.

This isn't a Christmas song, per se - but it works for me.

My somewhat Quixotic battle against the Gregoire power machine continues with my very symbolic Growth Management Act challenge of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project.

Two key issues which go to the edge of the Growth Management Hearing Board's authority concern the financial aspects of the Comprehensive planning. RCW 36.70a.120 concerns internal financial requirements. Perhaps even more important for the future of Growth Management is the regional coordination requirements, including fair financial dealings, as in RCW 36.70.100.

As you will recall, the State Legislature required the City of Seattle to cover any cost overruns. Numerous legal authorities have said this is unenforceable, including Rob McKenna and former King County Prosecutor Sally Bagshaw who infamously stated that "virtually every Attorney in Seattle" concurred. I argue, Pro Se, the contrary, extending the Growth Management Act to the full (and appropriate) limits of its authority.

Here's the original petition:

There were some interim pleadings, refining issues and the like that I believe are safe to omit. The Central Puget Sound GMHB's final response was in a PDF:

Download PDF File

Follow the jump to see my response, a 'MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION'.

Comprehensive planning is something that has emerged as a new layer of land use regulation in the U.S., starting, as far as I recall, in Oregon in the 1970's - a long enough time to start to evaluate how it works. Washington State has had it mandated since 1990 - I'm now in Colorado, where it appears to just be getting started.

Curiously, the rural Colorado County where I am now located has just dropped the planning product of a two year process with over 150 public meetings.

How is Ron Paul doing in Iowa, whose caucuses are scheduled for January 3rd, immediately after the upcoming holiday season? It looks like Paul may well be nudging out both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney by a whisker.

Russia Today, an increasingly relevant source of global news claims Paul is winning, citing a study from Public Policy Polling, an organization I know nothing about.

I am aware that Glenn Beck has been pumping Newt Gingrich as of late, and this would explain Newt's recent surprise bump in the polls, a bump that now may be deflating.

Now leading the Republican pack in Iowa Ron Paul has become the focus of media scrutiny, most of which is focused on whether his anti-government approach equates to racism. Alex Jones summarizes these efforts nicely, and I, personally, am reminded of the Gingrich attacks against Bill Clinton in the 1990's.

As always attempting to stay one step ahead of the media machine Motley Tools asks, is Ron Paul anti-gay?

For the full story on this Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) moment in the movie Bruno, see the full story here.

Seriously, I do believe this is an important subject for debate - and personally, I do believe that we need government involved in establishing basic protections such as in 'civil unions' - for everyone. Marriage should go further than these basic protections, but that is up to the couple themselves, and any church they choose, or choose not, to associate with...

Occupy Portland is establishing itself as one of the smartest, and effective, mass 'occupy' movements - take note of their protest strategy, as many others have done, including with over 15,000 shares on FaceBook. The basic idea here is not one of resistance, but of a fluid response - appropriate for this rain soaked pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ecological urbanism.

And this fluid 'Occupy' response is now going exactly where it should, to the Courts.

After all, we are constitutionally guaranteed recourse against our government, no?

I've had an obsession with Bret Easton Ellis for sometime, once minor, but slowly growing, perhaps now to dangerous levels with the meta-fictional work 'Lunar Park'.

The movie version of 'American Psycho' (2000, based on a 1991 book), a genius critique of Reagan era Wall Street all the more relevant today, was what first garnered my serious attention. But it was his relatively minor 1987 work 'Rules of Attraction' released to the big screen in 2002 that began the obsession - based loosely on his time at the small radical college Bennington the story reminded me closely of my own experience at the very similar Hampshire College. The fact that I had been involved in a personally impactful triangle that included a Bennington student as a third in a fashion not unlike those of the book sunk that particular 'hook'.