Motley Blog

Perhaps the most iconic of shared memories in Western Washington is the blossoming of the Cherry Trees in the Arts and Sciences quad at the University of Washington, on a rare sunny day.

On this partly cloudy Valentine's day I'd like to direct your attention to the 'performance' of the University of Washington as a place to start healthy relationships. An occassional drunken frat boy/sorority girl fuck isn't necessarily a bad thing - if it teaches you, by example, what to avoid. Building a lifetime relationship from the continuation of such an encounter does not a healthy region make.

But I'm not here to bash Frat row, nor even the ignored domestic violence violations of starFootball players under Rick Neuheisel.

Rather, consider the case of the murdered staff member Rebecca Griego. Ms. Griego had a restraining order against her killer and those procedures have been strengthened in this year's Legislative session.

But perhaps those measures are actually making the situation worse? Certainly there have been cases where accusations of harrassment are actually the abuse. I can not speak to the Griego case, but I know in my own UW experience that the academics and some of their professional support staff can definitely abuse these politically correct 'procedures'. My case involved being accused of same in retaliation for placing complaints through established legal 'channels' and nothing more.

My rhetorical question for you therefore is whether the UW has, perhaps, continued the cycle of abuse in it's 'attempts' to protect deserving victims of abusive relationships. Is the 'due process' of UW criminally abusive itself? Is the 'authority' of this institution no better than the penis and pry bar of Ted Bundy (**perhaps** an outcast from his better bred UW Law School female cohorts - including some of those now in authority in this State?). Is the UW Police Department anything better than the violent 'tool' (dildo) of a man hating lesbian, perhaps brought into the school through title IX? Is it possible that Rebecca Griego died because of the way the UW, as a culture, addresses these matters, rather than in spite of them?

I don't know. Personally I'd rather keep my distance from such situations. Heck, they might even have accused me of harrassment if I'd bothered to testify in Olympia on those bills.

On the positive side, Fred Jarrett has a bill, 2641 that might actually help in the matter. This bill addresses measures of performance at our higher education instititutions - consistent with I-900 and Brian Sonntag's authority. This matter doesn't address domestic violence, but regardless, an accountable 'culture' will help to reduce such problems FOR EVERYONE.

Just my thoughts, take them as you will. As to my case though, that is definitely still a matter of concern.

For your consideration, a Presidentially themed proposal - a bike trail through the McKinley and Lincoln neighborhoods of Tacoma: (The Greenbelt above I-5 near the Tacoma Dome, for you out of towners)

President's Ridge Bike Trail

Okay, so the President's name might be a touch hyperbolic - something I've been know to lean towards. It might however catch on, at least hopefully as something that will have the support of more than one neighborhood. (Hopefully also the 'non-presidential' neighborhoods aren't insulted!)

The ridge in the name is at the suggestion of Pierce County Councilmember Tim Farrell supportive of neighborhood efforts at improving the area.

Well, it certainly looks like there are some violent wack jobs hanging on to the Earth Liberation Front movement - as evidenced by some rather spectacular fires in the SE Snohomish County community of Maltby.

The operative phrase in that sentence is 'looks like'. It is quite possible that this is just an arsonist torching unsold multi-million dollar homes (the one sold was the only one untargeted) using the ELF as scapegoat - and scoring a few political points in the process. These houses are big, that's true, but they were also showcases for environmentally friendly building processes.

The current court case regarding the accused look out for the alleged ELF bombing of the Center for Urban Horticulture, in Seattle is worthy of note. Though this particular individual is claiming innocence I do believe they have confessions, and deals, from the alleged other participants.

FWIW though I don't know the particulars of those other individuals - and targeting a bunch of Master Gardeners just seems plain weird.

Odds are definitely pointing to the ELF. Not a long shot, that. News flash to Hillary, Barack and McCain - it looks like we've got our own 'Al Qaeda' movement brewing in America, no need to import it.

If my calendar is correct the UW Regents will be in Tacoma tomorrow.

FYI, as the evidence and their own law indicates, these folks are legally and morally bankrupt, though, unfortunately, not financially so.

No details today, but, FWIW, all I have to is show up tomorrow and and not say a word and your entire credibility will be destroyed as well as that of your associates. That includes your son, Mr. Gates.

Of course it had already happened 15 years ago - even before I attended a meeting of yours quietly, hanging out with David Brewster.

Again, per your law and your actions, just how do you pay back for 15 years of good living when everything should have been taken from you then and you have nothing now, nor will you ever again?

How about you show some responsibility for once and dedicate your genetically defective bodies to science? That would do it for me.

I do realize that you have supporters, and certainly I'll listen to any of them with credibility, but do be aware that anyone who identifies support for you also runs the risk of being accused of conspiracy.

You are, not by my actions but your own, Scum. Scum multiple orders of magnitude worse than a recently released sexual predator. I'll give you one notch over Hitler, at least to date.

If you wish, you can probably kill me to defend yourself. As Clint Eastwood might say to a younger, less dangerous, punk, MAKE MY DAY.

The story of the OK Boys Ranch, in Thurston County is an old one. It is a story that we, as a State, never fully dealt with. Given Christine Gregoire's support of a contempary in her profession, a Thurston County Judge who validated some of these disgusting practices it is again timely. I also believe a second look is merited as the complexities, and dangers, of accusations of sexual abuse have become more apparent to everyone.

Thurston County resident Larry Bloom is the archivist on this issue and he has much of the material here:

http://lbloom.net/okbr.html

There is also an expert consultant on these sorts of issues who comments on the accuracy of Mr. Bloom's history.

You've got to dig a bit to find the worst of these stories - my understanding of the situation is that the OK Boy's ranch, a home for juvenile problem males, was used as storehouse of sexual victims for the benefit of well connected donors and staff- most notably including, allegedly, the Olympia Kiwanis Club. Though the club was eventually shut down a Thurston County Judge 'okayed' the practice and Gregoire supported her actions, in the interim.

I guess it's not okay to kill prostitutes, but raping young white males is fine, right Christine - just so long as you call them 'problems'?

Maybe, Christine, just maybe it's you, and your legal contemparies who are the 'problem'? Maybe, Christine, maybe it was one of your contemparies abuses that actually drove law student Ted Bundy, born in Tacoma, crazy?

I'm a fan of current Washington State Attorney General McKenna. I saw him work in detail on the Sound Transit Board in the tough days leading up to the passage of the first Bond Issue. Many times he was the sole voice of dissent, though frequently he worked with his fellow King County Councilmember, the relatively independent Maggi Fimia of Shoreline. Although he himself was opposed to the project he was always constructive and his involvement led to a strong start for that agency - and a strong bus dominated plan of service for his own district area, the Eastside of King County.

Unfortunately the Sound Transit Board lost its leadership continuity in the days after passage. My opinion is that the turnover was a powerplay by the powers that be (operating through the Greater Seattle Chamber of Comerce). There was also a well managed financial 'scandal' that pretty much finished the job not too much later..

I'm voting for McKenna this time around, and I think he'll win. However I am concerned as to whether he's keeping his own 'continuity of leadership' as he matures in office. I'm of the opinion the barrel is rotten and we all know what all to often happens to good folks in such a situation.

Top on the bad apple level, and more senior to McKenna, would be the former AG, Christine Gregoire, and, on the Republican side King County Prosecutor (Seattle and immediate suburbs) Satterberg. FWIW, these two are the start of the Government 'Blame Game' cited effectively by current GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.

Initial vote tallies are available this morning. With the absentee ballot deadline being yesterday votes will still be counted for days. Statistically this is interesting because if there is significant change that will indicate some demographic factors at work, more difficult to fathom then a well structured survey, but also more meaningful.

Top vote getter in all Statewide races is incumbent State Auditor Brian Sonntag, a TCC and UPS Graduate from Tacoma. FWIW, of all Statewide officials Sonntag is my personal favorite and I believe our strongest leader and the most honest.

Second is Same Reed, Secretary of State. I voted for Mr. Reed, but not without small reservations. I think he could of been out in the lead a bit more on the recent partisan primary issues. Most importantly I think he should be doing more to clean up KC elections as being messed up by those local folks, including Republican Prosecutor Satterberg. His office however is without scandal and he is perhaps the best of the 'old white guy' Republicans in this State, in or out of office.

Rounding out the 400 club is Rob McKenna, Pierce County Executive and former Prosecutor John Ladenburg received less than 75% of McKenna's total. Although I'm a Pierce County resident I'm a McKenna supporter, nothing against Ladenberg here, save though for his leadership of Sound Transit. Personally, I wonder if the Sound Transit survey folks have exit polled the success, or failure, of their board in this election.

Of course these are two way races, and the most watched race will be that between Gregoire and Rossi.

Although originally hailing from Eugene I'm not a huge University of Oregon Duck fan, but I did have the opportunity at being at last Weekend's Duck/ UW Husky game, the season opener.

This was my first since that famous UCLA game some 20 years ago, marking their first undefeated at home season and the start of what appears to be a Phil Knight/Nike sports dynasty at that institution.

Coaching a Football team is more than just measuring how fast your wide receivers and running backs can cover 40 yards.

If you'll recall the Huskies had a great year nearly 20 years ago, winning the National Championship under former coach Don James.

Unfortunately the UW program has had a long decline since those years, perhaps most notably begining with the 'overlooked' rape charges against star players including by the PC police chief, Dean of Students Dean Morris, an African American who certainly appears distinguished.

That's no slight against Tyrone, he seems like a good guy - the problem is not likely with him, nor was it with Neuheisel, rather it would appear to be a metastized cancer in the larger authority of the campus community.

Sport has lessons for life, and one of those is that you fire the violent morally decrepeit power abusers, no matter how much money they are currently bringing in.

Salvaging the UW, and the State, at this point will be tough. Who is going to pay THAT cost...?

FWIW, methinks Paul Allen, part of the Knight's Portland sport community, will have more to do with it then Gates and crew.

BTW, game was great, even from the cheap seats.

-Douglas Tooley
At the McKinley Neighborhood CoffeeHouse, Tacoma

Recent negative ads have had an effect upon me. I now no longer trust EITHER candidate, though perhaps the financial crisis has as much to do with that as the well timed ads.

Although I'm still gonna vote for Rossi, if I can still live in Washington State, I have been influenced by the recent Gregoire ad comparing Rossi to Bush, with the photoshopped images merging their two faces.

Rossi does have a shot at doing something good, but, FWIW I am still sceptical. I'd also wonder if the Republican 'powers' aren't above 'messing' with smaller business folks under their control in order to leverage an anti-government response.

The British Economist John Maynard Keynes reshaped the world with his theories of government infrastructure stimulus during the Great Depression. This blog entry is about Keseyian Economics - a bit of randomness inspired by a typo in a comment on a good piece on the current election in Seattle based Crosscut.

Economics according to Ken Kesey would be a very different thing - however one could certainly imagine both of his major novels - 'Sometimes a Great Notion' or 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - being rewritten for a Wall Street setting.... :-)

FWIW, Kesey's brother continued in the family Dairy business starting Nancy's Yogurt - far superior to ANY other mass produced product, save that from Trader Joe's (and I'd not be surprised if Nancy's manufactures that). This continues a proud tradition of Oregon dairymen, including those of the Tillamook area on the Oregon Coast.

(I usually buy mine at Fred Meyer's, a chain founded in Portland, now under national Corporate ownership.)

As in, like, compared to, British Columbia?

I went to a cross-border environmental lecture at Tacoma's University of Puget Sound last night, 'hosted' by Steve Scher of KUOW as well as Vaughn Palmer, Political Correspondent for the Vancouver Sun.

Palmer opened with an interesting historical rant on the name 'Columbia - it turns out Washington State had been considered to be named so - but it was rejected as too confusing, given the existing Washington, District of.....

Go figure.

I took it to be this writer's rhetorical take on the prophesy of 'ecotopia' or the more mainstream 'Cascadia'. It is an interesting take - a way of literally reflecting both the shared environment and economics of the two cross-border regions - as well as their sovereign differences. Perhaps I'm reading too much into his words, but I do think at least one student had the same read.

..I wonder what Bert Goyle would think....?

Perhaps Christine Gregoire?

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 Vancouver Winter Olympics open tonight with snow and money stories, plus a smart ass red head.

Like many Western Ski areas Whistler's Intrawest development is struggling for lack of green, and proceeding through a Wall Street foreclosure, just as the games kick off. Talk about supporting the Olympic Spirit of amateur athletics!

Freestyle skiing and snowboarding are being hosted closer to Vancouver, at Cypress Mountain - where, curiously they have no snow..

Shaun White, the jaggeresque redheaded snow boarder is a good bet for plenty of US Gold, and should prove to be quite entertaining. Speculation will no doubt continue as to White's supply of green, certainly he is not hurting for the monetary kind.

FWIW, I do hear that semi-legal marijuana is openly available, and used, in Whistler. Personally I remember paddling the Class IV Capilano River **in** West Vancouver (located between Cypress Mountain and Grouse Mountain, hosting the Today show crew) high, only time I did so, with the Canadian National Whitewater Slalom Champ.

Quite memorable, that.

The 2010 Washington State Legislative session has wrapped up - with both the Governor and the Legislature curiously 'closing' government to observing eyes - the results of which are already obvious. These are trying times, but hiding from accountability solves nothing and makes many things worse.

To a larger point, what does this say about our Democratic Party, which controls the Governor's Office as well as both legislative houses?

Does it say this generation of leadership are hypocritical failures only concerned with their personal 'entitlements'? Does it say Christine Gregoire and her many associates in the practice of Law are nothing but Corporate lackeys for the right wing?

Certainly, in Washington State AND Washington D.C., there is the same amount of freedom for an individual under a corporate controlled government as their would be under the government alone - and perhaps even less!

"If you speak the truth, have one foot in the stirrup"

(Curiously this quote is claimed by a variety of cultures, including Romania, Ireland, Arabic, Turkish, and Armenian - all making the first page of a Google Search, plus also John Wayne!)

Brian Sonntag, the Washington State elected Auditor, fiscally responsible Democrat, and open government advocate has previously announced he will announce his decision to run for Governor by July 4th, this weekend. Already running and evidently anointed by their respective parties are Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee and Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Inslee's liberal party insider support makes Brian Sonntag's potential candidacy, to some degree, a de facto third party effort, no doubt a factor in that decision he is now finalizing. The importance of this decision, at this time, could not be undervalued - America is on the brink of a double dip depression that will challenge the future of not just Washington State, but the Country as a whole. Washington has the opportunity to lead this Country in responding this crisis at the risk of 'reinventing' the FAILED power dynamics that have brought us to where we are now.

The Sevin Devils Range is the highest point above Hell's Canyon. The loop hike around the range is 30 miles, several shorter hikes are possible in the area - not to be missed is the short trail to the Heaven's Gate lookout.

Access is from a steep dirt road just south of Riggins.