I guess I’m a bad liberal, ’cause I frequently drive when I travel from my home in Redmond to work at the University of Washington in Seattle. Depending on my teaching schedule, some quarters I manage to take the bus three out of five days, but mostly…well, ahhh, not so much.
A pleasant surprise of driving over the last couple of years has been the occasional sight of a bald eagle sitting on top of a light post on the SR-520 floating bridge. It just sits there on top of that lamp in full majesty with its head held high.
Sometimes it causes a traffic slowdown. And that’s okay.
When I see the eagle, I always wonder how it can stand the traffic noise. I mean, have you ever kayaked around the West end of the SR-520 bridge in that quasi-nature area? Yikes..I have, and it feels like a battle zone. Maybe it is a function of acclimation or something, but I find the experience disturbing.
An maybe the eagle does too. Because, from what I can tell, this describes nothing short of a suicide:
Metro spokeswoman Linda Thielke said the bus was in the middle of the bridge, moving at about 50 miles per hour when the eagle started to fly in the same direction as the bus.
“The bird very, very suddenly took a turn and smashed into the windshield,” cracking it, Thielke said.
I’m guessing it was the persistent assault of traffic.
But maybe he really hated that “big deal”—the debt ceiling “compromise.”
Either way…rest in peace pal.
Sadness. I really liked spotting that eagle.
BREAKING NEWS — Judge OKs Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld
“WASHINGTON — A judge is allowing an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally for damages.
“The veteran’s identity is withheld in court filings, but he worked for an American contracting company as a translator for the Marines in the volatile Anbar province before being detained for nine months at … a U.S. military facility … he was never charged with a crime and says he never broke the law.
“Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the U.S. military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive. Court papers filed on his behalf say he was repeatedly abused, then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006.
“Two years later, he filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing that Rumsfeld personally approved torturous interrogation techniques on a case-by-case basis and controlled his detention without access to courts in violation of his constitutional rights. …
“[T]his is the second time a federal judge has allowed U.S. citizens to sue Rumsfeld personally. U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen in Illinois last year said two other Americans who worked in Iraq as contractors … can pursue claims that they were tortured using Rumsfeld-approved methods after they alleged illegal activities by their company.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....17966.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: At this point, the plaintiffs’ allegations against Rumsfeld in the two lawsuits haven’t been proved in court; the important point here is that two separate federal judges have determined that they have a right to press their claims in court.
That’s really a bummer.
One of the cool things about living in Gig Harbor is seeing eagles and great blue herons on a regular basis.
Yes, this is a bummer.
A red tailed hawk did that to my Caravan some years ago. I think that they mistake the reflection for prey.
@5 Maybe the eagle was hungry and decided to eat the whole bus.
re 6: Or, more realistically, it saw a relection of itself or some other bird in the windshield of the bus and thought it was prey. The sky is reflected in the windshield just as it is on the surface of a lake.
We saw another bald eagle sitting on a light pole just west of the western highrise at 11am on Tuesday. Probably the mate from the pair mentioned in the article.
Aw, this is a huge bummer. Man, what a week. Oy.
RIP, Eddie. You will be missed.
I commute over the 520 most every day – and the birdwatching since this spring has been spectacular.
There has consistnelty been 1 or 2 bald eagles somewhere around the western end of the bridge – either on the lamp posts or sitting on those hideous pieces of ‘artwork’ on pylons on either side of the bridge.
This morning the eagle was on the lamp post, and a great blue heron occupied each of the two sculptures.
On the eastern aspect of the bridge there have consistently been osprey hanging out for the past few months. One day I saw 4, though usually there have only been 1 or 2. Smaller eagles, but magnificent.
I’m so sorry to hear about this eagle – this morning on my drive over from Seattle to Bellevue, i saw what I though was a large bird carcass on the road – but thought, nah, couldn’t be. This makes me very sad.
It was global warming.
so in other words, you’re a typical liberal that tells everybody what to do but you live like a conservative.
@11
The memo from Al Sharpton that was sent to everyone on the left by Move On, Daily Kos, and the Muslim Brotherhood, blamed it on Pat Buchanan.
@12
If he lived like a conservative he’d be talking about the evil of Teh Gays and Teh Drugs while snorting meth and sucking off every twink in sight. ;->
LOL… I think I might have killed a thread again…
The comeback of the eagle population of the U.S. is a direct result of progressive policies.
If it were up to the ‘conservatives’, the symbol of our nation would have been long gone.
actually, you all remind me of those musicians in the movie titanic who kept on playing while the ship sank. are you watching? ap reports israel calling up reserves, italy about to collapse, as is the entire eurozone, the dow, followed by the entire economy. no jobs, gas still at 4 bucks. its all about to come to a crashing end.
I was listening to the radio and apparently jut before the event the eagle was see dodging and weaving as it was being chased by smaller birds.
I used to watch eagles and ospreys while fishing at a lake in BC, west of Williams Lake. The eagle would circle high over head and when an osprey would take a fish, the eagle would dive on him, the osprey would drop the fish, and then eagle would grab it before it hit water and then take off.
@15. “LOL… I think I might have killed a thread again…”
I just wish you’d kill those threads where the loon is going off the deep end.
@20 Unfortunately, that would kill the whole blog.
@21 True.
Ah man… I saw that eagle nearly every commute. Sad.
There’s a depressing, but good post up over at Strong Towns.