Thank you for stopping by, Mr. President. Give our love to Michelle.

Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Well, as I write, I’m also watching President Obama talk to some of my neighbors in a backyard not far from here. It’s going well. Under soggy skies, the rain has held off. The weather gods are not particularly cruel but as winter draws on, they have about as much patience for political scripts and posturing now as we do here down below, under the clouds. The President is here with one of our senators and my Congressman so if a lightning bolt is hurled, it’s going to be a heavenly “three for.”

He’s getting a good reception, even by the standards of perhaps the most hospital people in the Lower 48 south of Canada. He’s actually very well liked by those of us who live on the shores of the Salish Sea so he doesn’t need to spend a lot of energy defending himself or his administration. Besides, that’s not what we want to hear anyway.

We want to make sure he’s aware of our concerns, what we’re trying to do about them and what the federal government can or cannot do. We’re a very solution oriented, results propelled society here. Life’s too short to spend a lot of it in a critical mode. It’s like, “Okay, we’re all using this thing and now it’s busted. It doesn’t matter who broke it. We just need to get it fixed.”

He’s responding to our agenda in the low-key, relaxed, articulate and educated style we’ve come to appreciate. We like it that for the first time since John F. Kennedy, we have a national chief executive who doesn’t consider us too stupid for words of more than two syllables. On the other hand, I’m also glad he doesn’t use too many of those because I hate watching television with a dictionary in my lap.

Now, Mr. President is enroute to the University of Washington, where he’ll address a big indoor crowd of 15,000, some of whom have been waiting in line since four-thirty a.m. And it’s not to throw out of season produce at him either.

I’m betting he won’t get quite as smooth a reception etiquette-wise here, though. The University of Washington’s mascot is the husky and those are not known for being real quiet animals. They’re also the only canines I’ve ever seen with blue eyes and yeah, that weirds me out a little.

I’ve never understood this whole dogsled bit. Huskies are like first cousins to wolves. Wolves do everything together. Including eating other animals. So I’m betting the kids in the purple shirts are probably going to have some fun with their president.

This will be an energizing visit for an embattled leader. For a few hours, he won’t need to listen to the trumpeting of the elephants, the braying of other jackasses, the bleating of those to lazy to be anything else but sheep and the occasional raucous caws of circling birds which cannot emulate the nobility of the eagle and dishonor even the basest of those who feast on road kill.

Thank you for stopping by, Mr. President. Give our love to Michelle.

Related Stories:
Obama visit caps whirlwind week for Wedgwood family
Obama talks economy, health care at backyard chat
Top Pot Doughnut enjoying sweet taste of presidential surprise
Obama lands in Seattle to aid Patty Murray campaign
Obama's visit to Seattle expected to cause traffic tie-ups

IN OTHER NEWS

Well, this one put a real shine on the emerald, as it were. A recent study has concluded that those working “green” jobs are 40% more productive than those in non-eco-friendly employment. I’m not surprised. I saw it in Oregon’s Cascade forests. Those planting trees worked just as hard as those cutting them down but seemed to be a lot happier. And a lot less inclined to the kinds of behaviors that contribute to the higher rates of substance abuse, domestic violence and early aging among those in heavy industry. For more on this one, please go here.

I remember how cool it was when ice was discovered beneath the surface of the moon, thus facilitating scientific colonization. Now, at the bottom of a deep crater, they’ve found an oasis NASA is saying is as wet as the Sahara. Well, I never thought of that desert as being moist but what it means is that eight wheelbarrows full of crater soil could be melted to yield around twelve gallons of water. Now, if we can just get people to start going there again and yep, for more on this one, please go here.

In a related story, scientists are now calling the moon “a treasure chest of elements” in a report NASA released Thursday which has analyzed the results of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS mission of 2009, in which samples were taken from the bottom of a deep crater. Yep, for more on this one, go here.

We were not particularly pleased to read about 1.53-million Toyotas worldwide have been recalled for a faulty brake system. In some cultures, that would be considered very bad karma and the Japanese motor vehicle manufacturer certainly seems to have had their share of it. It looks like these cars and trucks were designed to use only Toyota brake fluid. (The computer industry learned the folly of that marketing strategy years ago.) The models involved are the 2005–6 Avalon; the 2004–6 Highlander (except for the hybrid) and Lexus RX 330; and the 2006 Lexus GS 300, IS 250 and IS 350 models. Yep, for more, go here.

As proud as I am of the state in which I live, it’s tough to share a story about two Washington State Supreme Court Justices acting like people for whom I’d like to have an exclusive white sheet concession. For more on these two bigots in black robes, please go here. But not on an empty stomach.

CROSSING OVER

We join millions of others under at least these seven flags in marking the passing of Barbara Billingsley, perhaps best known as “Leave It to Beaver’s” mom, June Cleaver. Michael Pollak, of the New York Times, has written a thoughtful and well-researched tribute to an individual who was complex, intelligent, accomplished and, at one point in her life, the singe mother of two boys. She died Saturday in her Santa Monica, California home at the age of 94. For Michael’s eulogy, please go here.

If Barbara Billingsley was a television mother to millions of Americans, Tom Bosley was surely a father figure to them as well. An accomplished stage and screen actor of tremendous personal integrity, he was as devoted a husband and parent off camera as he was on the set of Happy Days. Born in Chicago, he died Tuesday at his home in Palm Springs. He was 83. For a moving and resonant tribute, please go here.

Felina: Samuel, there is another one of those human transportation systems going by down past the glen. That is the fifth one today. Are they migrating?

Sam: Your eyes are better than mine, Felina. Can you read any writing on them?

Felina: There is this flat thing on their rear-ends. White and it has a picture on it. It appears to be some sort of government notice. It has the provincial name on it, some letters and some numbers.

Sam: I believe that's called a license plate, Lass.

Felina: Ah. Quite so then. And what function does this license plate perform on the transportation system?

Sam: Organically, none. It proves that this transportation system has the government’s permission to operate.

Felina: A transportation system needs a note from Victoria?

Sam: Yep, that’s it pretty much. And on the other side of the mountain too. What else can you see on the butt of that vehicle?

Felina: There is a word with which I am totally unfamiliar. It is spelled T-O-Y-O-T-A.

Sam: Oh, okay. Toyota is the name of an honorable family in Japan which makes transportation systems and sells them all over the world.

Felina: So all of these Toyota transportation systems are going to a family reunion, then?

Sam: In a manner of speaking, yep. A lot of them are going home because they were not made in the Creator’s image. The humans who use them cannot rely on them.

Felina: When we lived in Manitoba, where the humans ride horses, if one of the mounts limped, it was treated by this human with this very strange symbol on his black leather bag. When the horse was well, human beings started riding it again. Is it like that?

Sam: It’s a lot like that, Felina. These Toyota transportation systems that are going down the mountain are the children of lesser creators, gods as it were who do not love their progeny as the Creator loves us. So millions of these Toyota transportation systems came into the world with defective components.

Felina: Ah, so they are going home to become children of the greater Toyota gods?

Sam: Yep, they’re being “recalled,” is the human word for it. They’re going back to where they were made.

Felina: Several million of them. There is something rather troubling to me about this.

Sam: Just remember, this is the same species which builds on volcanoes and earthquake faults. For as busy as they appear to be, they never seem to have time to do it right the first time but an infinity to do it over and over again.

Felina: Like the American college football coach who told his players that they would run the same play over and over until they got it right. I cannot recall his name at the moment but his university is called after that large building of theirs in France where that poor hunchback lives.

Sam: Umm, I’ll take a shot and say maybe we’re talking about Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian?

Felina: Quite so. And Quasimodo.

Sam: The hunchback who lives in the big building in France.

Felina: Yes, that Quasimodo.

Sam: You are nothing short of amazing, mate of my life.

Felina: And love of it too?

Sam: And love of it too. When did you start watching American football?

Felina: Since I learned they have a team called the cougars. In some ways, their obsession with mock combat is an absolutely fascinating aspect of their behaviour.

Sam: No argument there, oh sun of my day and moon of my night.

Felina: Oh, here comes that Yankee Doodle flipping charm again. I love it!

Sam: And on that note?

Felina: Quite so. And on that note, gentle readers, until next time. And may the Creator bless and keep you.

SURVIVING HARD TIMES

One way to survive hard times is to manage time better. In a delightful article headlined “'You Have More Time Than You Think,' argues author Laura Vanderkam,” it’s pointed out that while Americans work longer hours than any other industrialized nation, we also spend more time watching television. Ms. Vanderkam offers a simple five-step program for better time management. So yep, for more, go here.

ON THE CANCER FRONT

Another study confirms not only the link between hormone treatment after menopause and the increased risk of breast cancer, but also concludes that when the disease is diagnosed under those conditions, it is invariably in an advanced stage. Yes, for more on this one, please go here.

RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
Cancer Research Journal
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009



HEALTH NEWS

This definitely falls under the category “Attitude Is All.” Researchers have discovered that optimists get less colds than pessimists or other kinds of people who tend to bring other people down. So next time you run into someone like that, hand them a small packet of tissues and say a prayer for them the next time you’re moved in that direction. For more on this and other practical tips for avoiding a cold or mitigating its impact, yep, go here.

GOOD EXAMPLES

As any health care provider knows, individualized attention to patients can make all the difference. A nurse practitioner in Bellingham, Washington, a community of 80,000in the northwest corner of the state on the border with Canada, visits her patients at their homes and workplaces on a specially designed bicycle and trailer. Two years ago she started Mobile Medicine and made quite an impact on the community. For more on a dedicated medical profession who found a way to return to the days when country doctors made house calls, yep, please go here.

In what is seen as a brilliant academic application of cyber technology, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the 2,000-year-old biblical and apocryphal texts discovered last century in caves in the Judean desert, earlier this week announced that it is joining with Google to download newly digitalized images of these ancient writings and make them available on the Internet. Now, since the reproductions are at least as legible as the originals and in some case, more, there’s no need to risk further degradation of them by exposing them to light and air. Yep, for more on this one, please go here.

I’ve always been a strong proponent of fathers and sons doing cool stuff together but I’ve got to admit I’d never have imagined such a team putting a camera into outer space, recovering it and publishing some incredible photos. Then again, these two individuals are native New Yorkers and even more specifically, from Brooklyn. If I’ve learned one thing about this particular “tribe,” it is that it is they who put the “push” in pushing the window. Nice going, guys. Yep, for a video on how they did it, go here.

NORTHSTAR FAVORITES

Sightline Daily is the best Pacific Northwest source of environmentally friendly news we’ve encountered yet. They draw from newspapers and National Public Radio sources in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.

Meade Fisher Observes Humanity From A Safe Distance is a blog authored by an outdoor writer, photographer, West Coast kayaker and environmentalist living in the San Francisco Bay area. These short, humorous, few holds barred observations on the machinations of the human species run from the whimsical to the arid and occasionally to the quietly outraged. I’ve been a fan of this particular writer for years and I’ve always found him worth the read.



SEATTLE SCENES

Even in Seattle, moss still grows on the north side of the tree.
And the roof.
Photo by Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller.

What’s Going On Here?

Whether you live here or plan to visit ~ and whatever it is you enjoy doing at home or as a tourist ~ you’ll find it, you’ll find it listed here at seattlepi.com.

SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle

OTHER RELATED STUFF FROM THE SHORES OF THE SALISH SEA
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
Mount Rainier slide show
Eat healthy while you’re here – Seattle PCC Co-Op
Take some fresh produce back to your hotel – Seattle Farmers Markets

CRITTER STUFF

A five-year-old Maine coon cat named Stewie has just replaced another of his breed in the Guinness Book of Records. The Reno Nevada feline measures 48.5 inches/123 cms. Maine coon cats are the only domestic breed native to North America. Yep, for more, go here.

Without getting totally Zen about it, I happen to believe that human beings can learn from the other species on this planet so I love it when another “discovery” is made which confirms that. This one’s a link between an African frog has that can be shared without hurting the amphibian and which will save countless human lives. What I also appreciate is that it seems to support something I’ve believed for a long time. Every living thing on this planet has a reason for being, including English lords, congenital idiots, bed bugs, bigots and the Bubonic plague. No offence to the germs intended. Yep, for more on this one, go here.

When two baby fishers, a cousin of otters, mink and martens, were orphaned several weeks ago in Washington state’s Olympic National Park by a hungry bobcat, it could have very well been the end for the pair of kits as well. Their cries of fear and hunger from their den high up in an evergreen attracted the attention of human visitors, who contacted park officials who, in turn, called the State Department of Natural Resources. The DNR sent out a biologist who climbed the tree, rescued the kits and turned them over to a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. The people there taught the baby fishers how to hunt and otherwise take care of themselves and now, as young adults, the kits are back on their own in the wild and doing very well. For a video and more, go here.

Recommended Related Links:
National Wildlife Magazine
Go Northwest: Northwest Wildlife Websites
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
Retrieverman’s Weblog: Engaging articles on domestic & wildlife in the American South

YOU GUYS THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP

When two baby fishers, a cousin of otters, mink and martens, were orphaned several weeks ago in Washington state’s Olympic National Park by a hungry bobcat, it could have very well been the end for the pair of kits as well. Their cries of fear and hunger from their den high up in an evergreen attracted the attention of human visitors, who contacted park officials who, in turn, called the State Department of Natural Resources. The DNR sent out a biologist who climbed the tree, rescued the kits and turned them over to a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. The people there taught the baby fishers how to hunt and otherwise take care of themselves and now, as young adults, the kits are back on their own in the wild and doing very well. For a video and more, go here.

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.

The Northstar Journal is funded by contributions from readers like yourself. If you enjoyed this edition and would like to contribute to the next, please click the donate button below.

Rusty

BC goes electric and perhaps stern lessons learned from these hard times

Wind turbine at elementary school in Palmer, Alaska
Photo by Bill Roth, Anchorage Daily News

Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week.

I’m proud of the way American President Barack Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize and I’m very ashamed of both those who attacked the decision of the Committee and the Committee’s need to defend it.

I’m also proud of the way some of the financial institutes the Obama Administration bailed out are paying them back, including Bank of America and Citibank. I understand the need to get tough with bankers.

As a student of history and realistic political expectations, I also know why this Administration wastes little or no time in dealing with those who suggest that in America, one man could bring down in less than a year in office what it took both Democrats and Republicans ~ all of us ~ about the last hundred years to produce. I mean, come on here. This is new?

This Administration doesn’t have time to moan about how history turned out. There’s nothing neither it nor any of the rest of us can do about that. The Obama Administration deals with THIS reality, every day, just like each of us does but with a considerably larger family involved. This New York Times story is a dramatic look at how this Recession is affecting the entire nation and it is not a fun one to read. It is, however, reality.

John F. Kennedy was quoted as saying:

“Our problems are man-made; therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”

The Obama Administration believes that, as well. They are not trying to feed this nation. They are trying to give those who need it the tackle, the bait and, if necessary, some fishing lessons. I can relate to that. I come from a state with a Congressional delegation and a state legislature which has been doing that since the Klondike Gold Rush.

To get a sense of how you folks feel, each day I watch Seattle’s KING 5 morning news, The Today Show, Ellen and Bonnie. I listen to the BBC. I read a dozen online newspapers and magazines; and I have a network of people on whose information and informed opinions I can count, whether it’s what I’d like to hear or not.

There are also several online chatrooms I visit like I occasionally do the Starbucks offline and around the corner. One in particular is a collection of people of the arts who go back over a decade and have met in “real time” in some cases. This chatroom’s “regulars” come from every part of North America, the UK, Europe and even Australia. They’re a sharp and multi-talented bunch and when I first started visiting, some eight years ago, there were bestselling authors who also dropped in to share advice, connections, etc. It was a great place to hang out, particularly for the self-employed.

In concert with a marked decline in American civility offline and in general, I’ve noticed in this chatroom more and more occasions of a total disintegration of good manners. Perhaps equally disturbing, discussions which were once instructive are now characterized by vulgarity, profanity, name calling, verbal violence, a flagrant lack of concern for the truth and a collective self-centeredness that would have been the envy of Narcissus.

Frightening to me in these regards are the number of studies coming out now that suggest there is little difference between online and offline behavior, especially when it comes to the abuse of women and children.

But maybe that’s what happens to people when they can’t get that sometimes it really isn’t all about them. I hope that’s not what’s happening to America in general. I can bloody well tell you it’s not happening where I live and it most certainly is not happening under my flipping roof.

For god’s sake, people, get a clue and start working together.

And for some practical hints on how to survive this stuff and have fun doing it, keep reading.

SURVIVING HARD TIMES

I made chowder, you made pickles. Let’s trade
I so love it when my “home and native land” proves yet again that they have something to teach the International Community about surviving hard times. You’ll love this one, gang. With thanks to the Toronto Globe & Mail.

And lest we think this is limited to country folk, consider this one, headlined, Bootstrapping taken to new extremes in tech industry

Or how about a seasonable application regarding Christmas trees? (This will be a real stretch for those of you in Toronto, New York, Dublin, London and Paris) Ever imagine having one delivered to your home by bicycle? Real close to the category of You Guys Think I Make This Stuff Up so by all means, go here ye yahoos of little faith.

MORE GOOD NEWS

Well, despite now being the nation’s most congested metropolis, Seattle has nonetheless not only met its goal of reducing greenhouse gas but did it two years ahead of schedule. This is one of those, “if they can do it, maybe we ought to take a look at it” stories, so please go here.

Thanks to a new type of solar cell, ‘green energy’ may be even cheaper. It’s built in Fremont, California and a plastics company in Sacramento has a big collection of them on its roof. These new cells supply an estimated one-third of the manufacturing plant’s electricity needs. For more, please go here.

To the extreme north, rural communities in Alaska are reaping the harvest of the wind and we’re not talking these big things like they have in Holland or on these blazing tracts of Southwest American desert. One sits on the roof of a chiropractor’s office, another in a elementary school playground. Alaska is also thinking integrated energy. There are solar collectors in Nome and geo-thermal in Fairbanks. For a fascinating overview of how Alaska’s pulling all this together, please go here.

The entire province of British Columbia is preparing to go electric. They’ve found it costs two-thirds less to fuel an electric vehicle than it does one requiring gasoline or diesel. They’re building a comprehensive grid of solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and in some appropriate scenarios, methane. What makes this so impressive to me is the size of the province, the ruggedness of the terrain, the dramatic extremes of weather and the sheer challenge not only of construction and installation, but maintenance, as well. It’s a rugged go, as they say, but western Canadians are making it happen. For more on this one, please go here.

We also join all of Canada in welcoming home freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout after a horrific fifteen months of captivity in Somalia. She and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan were captured in August 2008 while attempting to visit a refugee camp. For more on this remarkable individual and her harrowing ordeal, please go here.

MAYBE NOT SO GOOD NEWS

Well, this one sort of falls into that nowhere land between bad news and good. One of out six Americans has contracted the swine flu, according to a report released recently by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But it also looks like this pandemic is among the mildest influenza outbreaks on record, according to another study conducted, in part, by researchers from the CDC. I guess that’s like telling the survivors of the Johnstown Flood that at least it wasn’t as bad as what Noah had to deal with.

NECESSARY TO KNOW BUT NOT GOOD NEWS

A virus of another kind is raging among users of Facebook and Twitter, capturing accounts, obtaining the most personal of information and sending out tainted messages designed to do everything from cyber robbery, to stalking, to the ruin of a reputation, relationship or career. To learn if you’re vulnerable and if so, how you can protect yourself, your family and friends, go here.

CRITTER STUFF

Everyone who loves cows is going to love this story of how a bovine that had just a month before given birth, was rescued from a frozen creek in Washington state. Both mother and offspring are reportedly doing just fine.

FROM YOU GUYS FOR YOU GUYS

FROM US SENATOR MARIA CANTWELL (D-WASHINGTON)

Today, Sen. Susan Collins from Maine and I introduced bipartisan legislation that will reduce global warming pollution, move our economy off foreign oil, and spur the growth of the clean energy economy -- the largest potential source of new jobs and prosperity today and in the future. This bill achieves two important objectives: protecting the climate and Washington state from catastrophic change, and returning money directly back to Americans.

The Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal (CLEAR) Act gradually limits the amount of fossil fuels entering the U.S. economy by requiring fossil fuel producers and importers to bid at an auction for permits. Out of the money raised at the auction, three-fourths goes directly back to every American, and one-fourth goes toward clean energy investment. Eventually, as the amount of carbon allowed into the market declines over time, we will reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and by over 80 percent before 2050.

You are rightfully concerned about rising energy bills during America's transition to a clean energy economy. That's why the CLEAR Act is rooted in protecting consumers, with most of the monthly carbon auctions going straight to your pockets. This monthly dividend, made out to each American on an equal per capita basis, is meant to compensate for any higher energy rates experienced.

I released a report today that shows how, with the assistance of these energy security dividends, all but the wealthiest ten percent of Washingtonians (who use the most energy) do not lose money but instead come out ahead. My report shows how a typical family of four would receive tax-free monthly checks from the government averaging $1,100 per year, or up to $21,000 between 2012 and 2030.

The remaining quarter of auction revenue would go toward clean energy research and development, assistance to communities and workers transitioning to a clean energy economy, energy efficiency programs, and reductions in non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

The CLEAR Act invests in America's future by positioning the United States as a global leader in clean energy expansion, creating jobs and recharging our economy at home. With the right policies, tens of millions of green jobs can be created by 2030, strengthening our economy by shipping these technologies to customers around the world.

On my web site, you can find additional information about the CLEAR Act, including the legislative text, a one-page summary and frequently asked questions. The longer we wait to tackle these issues of energy independence and emissions reductions, the larger the economic and social costs of adapting to climate change will grow. The time to act is now.

Best,
Maria

RE: OUR STORY ON SEATTLE’S ASCENSION TO THE STATUS OF AMERICA’S MOST CONGESTED CITIES.

hah ... no joke about the congestion ... I have a girlfriend who lives on mercer island ... it once took me 3 hours to get from the airport to her home ... bad weather added to the mix, but you folks have too few miles of road, and too many cars ... .

parker

REMEMBER OUR TROOPS

This one came to us from several of you and we’ve chosen the sentiments which I think best speak for all.

Please take a moment to say "thank you" to our troops abroad, for the upcoming holidays.
If you go to this website, you can pick out a thank you card. Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You cannot choose who gets it, but it will go to a member of the American armed services

Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank yous.

The Northstar Journal could not agree more.

AND FINALLY, UNDER WEIRD BUT TRUE, REAL CLOSE TO HOME

Well, I learned recently that this neighborhood I’m living in, Seattle’s University (of Washington) District is considerably older than I thought. It predates the first white families who settled here, the European sailing vessels which explored the Puget Sound and even the Native American tribes who visited these waters to fish and to collect shellfish. To learn what a UW coed found when digging in a campus garden, please go here.

That’s it for this week. We’ve got some cool stuff down below you might want to check out. Stay the course, gang. We’re getting there and we’re going to make it. And thanks once again for the ear. And stuff.

Mick

NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS

FUN STUFF

How about a trip to Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to watch a couple of grizzly bears in their Northwest setting? Yep, click here and thanks to our friends at Puget Sound NBC affiliate KING 5.

If you’re into a real interesting and visual escape, we certainly recommend The Art In LA website. It’s a virtual art gallery created by a real gentle, occasionally obnoxious but totally good-hearted soul with standards as fine as those of any engineer I’ve ever met. It’s also a good place for healthy meditation. If you’re lucky, you might just run into the artist herself. Her name is Colleen and she’s a trip, trust me. Yep, she was born under the fourth flag on our masthead.

For those into words that resonate, there are fewer finer contemporary craftsman I know than a man named Mike Browne, professionally known as Tomatoman Mike and the publisher of The Tomato Man Times. He’s as Northern Californian as John Steinbeck, albeit with a dash of Sam Clemmons, Bret Harte and Robert W. Service in him. He’s a romp to read, trust me.

SEE’S CANDY FOR A WORTHY CAUSE
From Peg, in Sacramento, CA

I have information to share that will bring joy to a lot of people locally and otherwise..... (See's Candy!) and hopefully, a new community pool at Carmichael Park.

Kiwanis Club of Carmichael, CA is partnering with See's Candy to raise funds for the proposed Aquatic Center at Carmichael Park. H&R Block has donated space for us to set up the candy shop and people can avoid long lines at See's Candy stores and visit the Carmichael Kiwanis store instead!

From now thru Thursday December 24th at 4005 Manzanita Avenue (Courtesy H & R Block)
Bel Air Shopping Center (next to Starbucks) MAP
I've attached a flyer about the sale and here's the website for more information about the proposed Aquatic Center http://carmichaelpark.com/capps.htm

If you need more info, please contact me at my email address: Pegleghill@aol.com. I'll probably be at the shop, so come visit me and buy all your See's Candy Christmas presents.

If anyone is interested in purchasing candy from us, I would be happy to send it postage free. Needless to say I need information and money paid before I can do this.

Oh by the way, the prices of the candies whether bought at a regular Sees Candy Store or from us are the same.

Oh....here's the club's website: http://www.carmichaelkiwanis.com/

HEALTH

Ten foods that really do help prevent cancer.

If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.

Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.

Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.

ONLINE TOOLS FOR THE KIT

WorldStart.com - The best source of computer information, tips, education, entertainment, industry news, graphics and useful websites.

PC World – This is the best source we’ve found yet for totally free, useful, reliable and secure (no viruses) downloads ranging from games through utilities and with a nice selection of screen savers, etc. What I particularly appreciate about it is how easy the site is to navigate. They also have a daily letter featuring two “daily downloads.”

CCleaner - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
The home of Spybot-S&D! “For the past few years I've been using two free programs to remove the tracking cookies we accumulate every time we visit a site. Both have proven safe and reliable. Try them. You'll be surprised at the amount of binary barnacles your pore little hard accumulates as it sails the cyber seas. Sorry, but neither program eliminates alliterative purple patch prose. Like mine.”
Mike Browne, Sacramento, CA

Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.

Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.

MEDIA

Overview

For those interested in what’s going on in the world of magazines and newspapers in general, we highly recommend Woodenhorsepub.com. They publish a weekly online newsletter for media professionals and for readers simply interested in the future of the publications they enjoy and an advance on new ones they might. Their website is located here.

Entertainment

U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.

Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.

BBC Knowledge Magazine – designed to give the American magazine National Geographic the proverbial run for its money,

News

BBC – Best source of international news.

The New York Times – Best source of American news.

The Vancouver Sun -- outstanding source for Canadian national, provincial, and world news.

Reuters – Best source of an international perspective on American headlines.

Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – Best source of Pacific Northwest regional news. Delivered daily by email, it covers Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.

KING 5 News – Best source of video news of Seattle and the Greater Puget Sound.

TALENT FOR HIRE
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.

Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale

ONCE AGAIN, IN PRAISE OF A PRESIDENT BUT NOT SO MUCH A WINNING COACH

The University of Washington's Husky Stadium (photo by MS(R)M)

Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week. And it’s time, once again, to praise a president. I’m referring to Mr. Obama’s address before the United Nations General Assembly today.

From the start of the presidential primaries, Barack Obama has consistently contended that it is not up to a national chief executive, the Congress, or any other elected official or body of same alone to solve the problems which afflict this nation.

We are not a monarchy. We are a democratic republic. We elect those who govern us and we decide whether they stay in office to do what we are paying them to do. By popular initiative and referendum, we also decide for ourselves which laws work best for us and which do not. So it’s all of us working together that will bring this nation back into a realm of reasonable prosperity and good humor.

President Obama made it very clear to the UN General Assembly that, by the same token, it is not up to America alone to solve the problems which plague the global community but rather that it is incumbent upon each nation ~ however large, however small ~ to participate in that process. And he issued a stern warning to those who would stand in the way of such progress.

“The people of the world want change. They will not long tolerate those who are on the wrong side of history.”

As of this writing, there are 300,000 unemployed Americans living in states where the jobless rate stands at 8.5 percent and whose benefits will end on September 30. Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) has proposed legislation extending those benefits another 13 weeks. This measure is expected to reach President Obama’s desk with no problem. It’s nice to know someone on the Hill is watching out for us. Thanks, Jim, and yep, I’m pleased you’re my Congressman as well.

Under the category, “Okay, that makes sense,” the International Energy Commission reports that worldwide usage of electronic devices and electrical appliances is making it extremely tough to fight the effects of global warming, primarily because of the number of new power plants necessary, including coal-fired ones in countries where other sources are not an option. The IEC found, for instance, that in 1980, Americans owned three electronic consumer devices. That number now stands at 25.

Many of these items waste an incredible amount of energy while operating and some continue to draw power even when they’re turned off. That means that the only way to actually keep the energy bill down is to unplug everything except refrigerators and washers and dryers, which have been under federal efficiency guidelines in America since 1990. Since then, efficiency has increased 45 percent for the former and a whopping 70 percent for the latter.

The IEC is calling for a number of measures to bring the rest of the devices we feel we need to survive under the same standards. They’re also calling for consumers to either unplug the “gadgets” they aren’t using or to use Smart Power Strips, which themselves turn off, thus denying power to everything plugged into them. For more information on what each of us can do in these regards, please go here.

Closer to the Bastion, the Northwest Energy Council has determined (and is moving to establish them) that the same tougher standards would, by 2029, reduce by 85 percent the current anticipated energy needs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. That’s the equivalent of 20 new power plants and it is consistent with a region which has been moving in this direction for almost two decades now.

I’ve got a confession to make now, a sort of coming out of the closet as it were. (Watch the interest level zoom off the scale now.) Ever since I was small, I’ve always felt this special kinship with trees and to this day, yep, I hug ‘em. Well, University of Washington researchers have discovered there might actually be a basis for that attraction. They’ve discovered electricity in them. It’s not very much but it’s there and can apparently be boosted enough to run a monitor of its own health. Applications for this one in agriculture, forestry management, the timber industry and environmental landscaping are staggering to me.

I don’t usually comment on sports and for several reasons. First, they’ve changed a lot since the days when the Giants played at Candlestick Park and second, there are a lot more teams, especially in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, than when I graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 1976, after serving in Vietnam with the United States Navy.

So this isn’t so much about athletics as it is good sportsmanship and it’s about as close to the Bastion on the Puget Sound as it gets because I live three blocks from this commentary’s source. I’m referring to this past weekend’s University of Washington 16-13 “upset” over the University of Southern California.

The UW Huskies have a new coach and that Steve Sarkasian was also an assistant coach for USC did not escape me either. In a pre-contest press conference, Sarkasian contended that it would not be long before this chronically losing football team would reverse the trend, presumably because he is now in command. Fine, a little confidence I can understand.

It was what Sarkasian said after that narrow victory which surprised and infuriated me. He told the media that the UW did not play exceptional ball against USC. Excuse me? Anyone who follows NCAA sports knows that there is only one way to defeat the Trojans and that’s by giving it everything you’ve got. And as USC’s record proves, most of the time, that’s not enough.

So with all due respect to their coach and his breach of tact and good sportsmanship, I’d like to praise the young men of the University of Washington who took their hearts to the gridiron, gave it their all, and defeated the mighty Trojans. Finest kind, mates. Finest kind.

Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless.

Rusty


NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS

To Your Health
If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.

Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.

Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.

Online Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.

Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.

Media
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.

Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West/ Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Update and informative collected news shorts from those sources. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.

U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.

The Vancouver Sun, outstanding source for Canadian and world news.

Talent For Hire
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.

Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale

WEIGHING IN ON THE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE DEBATE, AMERICA’S FIRST RESIDENTIAL INTERNET ADDICTION CENTER AND THE COUGAR WHO CLOSED DOWN DISCOVERY PARK

Hi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week. How many of you caught President Obama’s address to Congress last night? I did and I enjoyed it for several reasons. I’ve worked in the health care industry and I understand the complexities of the issues discussed. Political speeches are also a form of performance art in our house and, in my opinion, our national chief executive is one of the most captivating orators since John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When I was living in Oregon, I worked for the local community hospital as their public relations person. My chief responsibility was to educate the general public on how this particular health care system worked and profile the physicians, staff and services offered by the facility and its dozen or so satellite clinics.

I was fortunate in that this particular health care provider was one of the most efficiently administered rural facilities in the Northwest. Its doctors ~ several of them from the Middle East, India and Asia ~ were extremely well educated and, though older than many of their American contemporaries, impressively experienced in providing quality health care under difficult and challenging circumstances.

So simply informing the public through the local media about Umpqua Valley Community Hospital was relatively easy because I did not have to justify the kinds of conditions to which President Obama alluded when he said that one of the ways this health care program was to be funded was by cleaning up and reforming existing health care providers. Implicit in this, I am assuming, is the promulgation of common performance standards and legal sanctions to enforce them.

I’ve worked in the health care industry here in Seattle, as well, and because of privacy and confidentiality issues, I can’t go into specifics. I can, however, witness for need for an examination of the infrastructure because some of it simply is not working. Some patients receive outstanding care. Others go through hell just trying to get the basics. President Obama said, in no uncertain terms, that no American should be treated that way and I concur. And if the industry cannot police itself, I don’t see that we have much choice but to do it for them. As the president also reminded us, we, the American people, are the government.

Well, this next one seems to fall under the classification of “Bound To Happen Sooner or Later.” It’s also nudging the weirdness scale because from the Bastion, looking east across Lake Washington to Redmond, we can almost see the first residential treatment center in the United States specifically for those who have become addicted to the Internet.

Yep, Redmond’s also the headquarters of Microsoft so to me, it’s a little like having the pub and the alcohol rehab facility in the same building. Convenient to say the least and certainly more than a little ironic.

But there’s no doubt in my mind the need is certainly there and the program appears to be extremely well designed and cost-reasonable. It’s called ReSTART and for more information, please go here.

Well, for the last week or so, a 140 lb. male cougar’s been making himself at home in Seattle’s Discovery Park. It didn’t hurt anyone but it certainly aroused some interesting reactions. Some of the citizenry felt really put out that Fish and Wildlife was closing the park for the weekend in order to simply the search, capture and subsequent relocation of this big cat.

I’m thinking to myself, if I knew that there was a mountain lion prowling around Cowan Park here in my neighborhood, would I still want to go there for a picnic? Would I want to maybe accidentally get in the way of said puma trying to elude capture? Maybe it’s just me but…ummmmm…no.

This story also explains why it seems the true first citizens of this land seem to move so easily and so often through this state’s largest metro region. There’s a railroad line running north and south with a greenbelt on the right-of-way. Seattle’s essentially right in the middle of a great deal of natural habitat and these creatures ~ Discovery Park had a black bear hanging out several years back ~ are essentially just passing through. If they overstay and get caught, they get a humane assist making it home. Works in my house.

Finally, we’d like to extend our wishes for a speedy recover to Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keilor who, Monday, suffered a minor stroke. He drove himself to a St. Paul, Minnesota hospital after “feeling ill.”

For years, he’s been a regular visitor to my home and to millions of others in North America and beyond. I’ve found his radio show one of the most wholesome, entertaining and ingenuous on the air waves and while it bothers me that Garrison had that attack, I am more than a little relieved that it looks like he’s going to be okay and be around awhile longer. He’s 67.

Well, that’s it for this week and thanks once again for the ear. Until next time, take care, stay well and God Bless.

Rusty

NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS

To Your Health
If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.

Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.

Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.

Online Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.

Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.

Media
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.

Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West/ Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Update and informative collected news shorts from those sources. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.

U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.

The Vancouver Sun, outstanding source for Canadian and world news.


Other Blogs
The Tomatoman Times – a life commentary blog with the blended stylings of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London and Will Rogers. Poignant, at times rancorous but very contemporary and ultimate celebration.

Lords and Ladies of Leisure is sooooo misnamed and it’s an example of the humour with which a Seattle high tech victim deals with the wonderful world of unemployment. Kerri Marshall’s admittedly offbeat sense of humour spices up a blog also rich in practical advice. The comments from her readers are almost as entertaining of she is. If you’ve got a few minutes and want a little perspective on your own hard times, I highly recommend this one.

Talent For Hire
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.

Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale

COMING ATTRACTIONS

In the weeks to come, we’re going to create ~ in addition to Northstar Recommends ~ a Northstar General Store in which you, the readers, will have an opportunity to market your own goods and services and, as well, to shop here. We’re going to get real creative with this and whenever possible, we’ll have tried what we’re carrying on the shelves, as it were. We’ll be taking a straight ten percent for this, via Paypal. We’ll also consider barter and trade.

If you’ve got any recommendations of your own and are interested in the General Store, email me and we’ll talk.

NAKED BICYCLE RIDERS, A COOL PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE, AND A BATTLING BRITISH MOTHER TAKING ON 10 DOWNING STREET

Hi again, yahoos and yahoo-ettes. Well, a weird week sort’ve got an early start, due in part to my propensity for spontaneous bus rides and impetuous debarkations. It’s usually pretty tame stuff like the aroma of a good restaurant, the faint strains of a talented street musician, the masts of a schooner moving through the Ship Canal, the kinds of things the inner child in me notices.

Well, this time that inner adolescent got the rest of me right in the middle of a bicycle race whose contestants were mostly nude, pretty much so or dressed in body paint and a couple layers of devout immodesty. This is Seattle, where it’s legal to go nude in our public parks. I’ve got to say, though, that in 20 years, I’ve never seen a naked person having a picnic or doing the dueling tennis balls bit.

Nope, it took blithely and innocently cruising into the annual Fremont Solstice Festival Parade to give me my first glimpse of Seattle homo sapiens in public buff. If I didn’t love that inner child so much, I’d be tempted to give him a good spanking. I’m an orphan, though, so I’ve learned to be my own parent. That’s kind of like being self-employed and getting mad at the boss. Yep, I’ve got a few issues yet to work out.

That, however, doesn’t stop me from admiring someone who takes on a worthy cause and ramps it to the max. This one involves a British mother with an autistic son whose campaign for more government support for families with kids like hers ended up with a very productive meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Hers is a very empowering personal example and a reminder of what a single dedicated individual can accomplish in this life. Her name is Polly Toomey and if you’d like to learn more about her and her organization, here’s a good place to start.

Someone else who really impressed me this week was President Obama. Because of the decidedly bipartisan nature of this blog’s readership and its internationalism, I try not to lean on politics too much. And since I’m not nearly as good as most journalists at analyzing the national scene, as it were, I’m better off boring you guys with different stuff.

I enjoyed the way the American chief executive interacted with the press Tuesday morning. In my opinion, he articulates his positions with intelligence, candor and perspective. He’s also not afraid to laugh at himself and that’s probably what keeps him taking his job more seriously than he takes himself.

He’s also not afraid to spar with reporters and to remind them of where the boundaries are between his personal/family life and his responsibilities as the leader of a nation of some 307-million people. Above and beyond any political considerations, this president is good theatre and that too, is a quality I’ve come to value in a leader.

Here’s another of those stories from the Old West and I can particularly relate because “this county that refuses to die” is familiar to me. And the ghosts of Captain Jack and a desperate band of Modoc Indians. It’s a land of volcanoes, high desert and soaring forested granite peaks. Settled by those who crossed America in Conestogas, it remains a sparsely inhabited frontier where tradition and ingenuity are now bringing an increasing degree of economic stability to one of the Northwest’s most beleaguered counties.

Further north up the Interstate Five corridor, in Snohomish County, Washington ~ north of Seattle between the Puget Sound and the Canadian border ~ farmers are getting into the tourism business by offering hands on excursions of family-owned dairy and truck operations. With both Seattle and Vancouver, BC to draw from, this agritourism, as they’re calling it, should play well for those who grew up among orchards, hay lofts and milking stools as well as those with a romantic love of same. It’s also an excellent opportunity for sell local produce directly and to acquire same. It looks like another win-win situation to us.

It also provides a nice segue into the first of this week’s critter story. And after you read about this one, I swear by Old MacDonald’s ghost and the Kentucky Colonel that you have never going to look at chickens in quite the same way again. For those of you to whom this would constitute a major dietary event, we advise skipping this one.

We’re talking about a white rooster and a Cornish game hen known to a local community as “Care Chickens” because the woman who owns them takes them to visit residents of the town’s health and rehabilitation center. This is northeastern Montana farming country, so it makes sense. Petting a rooster and a Cornish game hen, I mean. Okay, it seems a little weird but like Grandpa Seamus used to say, “if it’s working, do NOT mess with it.”

And finally, to top off the tank, in a special to ABC News, Opinion writer Lee Dye asked the question, “Wouldn't it be handy if you could write yourself a note in midair and have it safely stored where you could retrieve it later?”

Ummm. No. In the first place, if I could read my own writing, I wouldn’t keyboard everything from a shopping list to another novel in progress. In the second place, how do I know that other people in the vicinity with similar phones couldn’t receive that note? Third, since I’m supposed to be a communications professional, how would I spell and grammar check such a missive?

Now just watch. Thanks to those researchers at Duke University and their "PhonePoint Pen", the next big rage will be air writing. Could be a boon to the air entertainment industry. Air guitars have been popular for quite awhile. If this triple-P threat could annotate music, I’ll bet it would catch on with air composers. And think about aspiring writers who never learned to type. In 20 years, they’ll be awarding a Pulitzer Prize for Air Literature. The applications of this new technology stagger the imagination. Where (oh where) is Grandpa Seamus when we need him now, eh? Sigh.

And on that note, folks, it’s been a pleasure and thanks once again for the ear. Take care, stay well and God Bless.

Rusty

P.S. Since next week’s both Canada Day (July 1) and American Independence Day and picnics are real popular, we thought we’d turn you on to a source of dynamite potato salad recipes. Cooking’s a hobby in this house and this is perhaps the best website we’ve found yet. It’s called cooking.com.

A GOOD PEFORMANCE, FULL OF PROMISE, THUNDER AND HOPE; AND ANOTHER EVERGREEN STATER GOES TO THE WASHINGTON ON THE POTOMAC

Former Washington State Gov. Gary Locke

Well, as I’m writing this, I’m also waiting for Barack to say something that will break his rolling chain of golden eloquence. (a few minutes later) Well, turns out he didn’t and I’m some relieved. Seems to me there’s a rusty old saw someplace that says that the longer the speech, the greater the chance of blowing it big time. This president is perhaps the greatest orator we’ve ever had and likely the most closely scrutinized. No pressure there, eh? Max dropped by to watch it with me and at one point, we looked at each other and he grinned.

"The President is pissed."

"Big time."

We figured Barak had been saving some of this up, the way he rolled out with it. He’s been slammed a lot lately for his poor cabinet choices, "his failure" to generate more bipartisan support for his economic stimulus package; his implicit insistence that education and the arts were also part of the recovery process and his consistent tendency to read the American public and respond to them, rather than the media. He doesn’t wait for the input of his constituency, he goes out looking for it.

At one point, Max mimed reaching for a fourth of July sparkler, lighting it, and waving it. I was hearing Kate Smith singing "God Bless America," and getting teary-eyed before Max took a swig of his root beer, belched and observed,

"Good staging."

I enjoyed it, both as good television and for the performances. Now, though, it seems like the time for talking about this is over. It’s filtering down to the state level and even though Seattle’s Viaduct project didn’t get funded, Governor Christine got ahold of Mayor Greg and said she’d work to get other federal funding for it. She’ll contact Senator Patti and the Representatives involved and eventually, it’ll get done. He tells that to his constituency, then gets on with the other business at hand.

I hope that happens soon. According to our local NBC affiliate, KING 5 News, Seattle now ranks as the 10th most congested metropolitan area in the United States. That Viaduct project, like the proposed light rail system, isn’t just necessary. It’s long overdue.

Where it’s possible, I still favor a minimum reliance on federal support. I’m also a proponent of regional economic independence. I think that if the Northwest is handling the current fiscal downturn any better than other parts of the country, it’s because we’ve learned the hard way what happens with an over-dependence on the international market place.

Now that green’s been proven profitable, there’s a stampede in that direction and the industrial processes themselves are environmentally viable. They’re ideal for a small community or co-op approach, as well.

The same "revolution" has taken place in organic farming in North America. Europe’s decades ahead of us and so are other parts of the world, including Japan. Now, community gardens and small farms employing more human beings and fewer machines are not only viable, but extremely appropriate. Here in Seattle, there are low cost housing units for seniors going up which offer rooftop garden plots.

We were headed down this road before this latest economic down turn and I think it’s a real plus that we’ve blended the two priorities. Considering it was over-industrialization driven by unrealistic expectations that contributed so substantially to planetary pollution and global warning in the first place, this looks like one solution derived directly from the problem. That kind of straight-line thinking is encouraging to me.

It’s also validating to see another Evergreen State native headed for the "other Washington". Former Governor Gary Locke, the first Chinese American elected to that office, has been tapped by President Obama as Commerce Secretary. Gary’s well-qualified for the position and he’s honest. The White House seems to be making more appropriate choices in these regards and yep, that’s another reason to be guardedly optimistic.

Until next week, then, take care, stay well and God Bless.

Rusty

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LINKS TO RELEVANT SITES:
The PCC Sounder Consumer
Sightline Daily