Goldy

So I was at MacPherson’s Produce up on Beacon Hill, and I said “Washington bing cherries for only $1.99/lb? Oh my God,” and God said, “Eh. You think that’s good? Look to your left.” And there I found nice looking organic cherries for the same price.

“Go ahead, taste one,” God said. So I did.  And it was good.

“You like mangos?” God asked, but then my phone rang, so I had to cut Him off.

[polldaddy poll=”1774163″]

… And apparently, He talks back:

[audio:https://horsesass.org/wp-content/uploads/susietalkstogod.mp3]

Susie talks about her time as the weekend newscaster in Hawaii, and how demoralizing it was when she didn’t get the weeknight slot when it opened up. And so of course, she turned to God.

… And about that time I was so discouraged, I found myself on my knees to the Lord one day saying, “Lord, I am ready; I am professionally ready to move on. Why aren’t you doing it for me?”

And He told me something then that I have never forgotten, and I think it’s of tremendous significance to all of us no matter where we are, and He said: “It’s fine, I want you to be professionally ready for your job, but it’s also essential that you be spiritually ready for the next step.”

And I realized that I was going to be in the public eye, and as such I was going to be an ambassador in a sense for Him. And so, I realize that there are other things more important or as important as being professionally ready for anything. And that is to be spiritually ready.

I’ve got to admit that I’ve never really gotten the whole God thing, but a couple of things stand out to me, besides the fact that when Suzie talks to God, He matter of factly talks back. (I mean, if I started quoting God in my blog posts, folks would accuse me of being a liar or a lunatic… but maybe she just meant this metaphorically?)

First, what is this thing with Christians praying for touchdowns and lottery tickets and news anchor jobs, and thinking that God doesn’t have more important things to do than answer their petty, materialistic prayers? Children are starving, people are dying of horrible diseases, we’re on the verge of catastrophic climate change, and somehow I’m to believe that the Almighty Lord is taking sides in NFL games (regular season, no less), or advancing one news anchor’s career over another?

“Why aren’t you doing this for me?” Susie asks God, to which the appropriate response might have been “Leave me alone, I’m busy preventing a giant asteroid from wiping your species off the face of the earth.”

The other thing that strikes me about this snippet is the intended message… that there are more important things than being “professionally ready” for your job. And that is to be “spiritually ready.”

So I guess, in that sense, despite her utter lack of adequate professional experience, Susie believes herself to be perfectly qualified to serve as King County Executive.

UPDATE:
It occurs to me that I might still have a radio show today, if only I had prayed.

Former KIRO TV news anchor Susan Hutchison has been surprisingly media-shy since announcing her candidacy for King Executive, but according to a report on BlatherWatch, she wasn’t nearly so reserved—or calculatingly non-partisan—last Fall when she joined in the Obama-bashing fun with the right-wing talkers over on KTTH:

Her can’t-we-all-get-along is now, but last year she was trashing Obama, and loving up Sarah Palin in a conversation we caught on the fly last Fall in election crunch as she guested on the very conservative David Boze Show (KTTH m-f, 3-6p) with the host’s wife, Peggy Oban Boze.

The conversation didn’t mean much at the time. We knew it was Peggy Boze, but we didn’t know it was Hutchison. We remember snorting when she said something like, (we’re paraphrasing) “Why don’t Obama’s supporters just write in Bill Cosby’s name?” The ladies had a good laugh over that and at the idea, we guess, that, if these silly people must vote for a black guy, Dr. Huxtable would be safer.

Obama’s “terrorist connections,” Bill Ayers, and Jeremiah Wright were mentioned, naturellement.

Why not just write in Bill Cosby’s name? Ouch. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to describe the comment as racist (after all, she’s still encouraging folks to vote for a black guy), but it certainly strikes me as a tad racially insensitive.

But more importantly, despite her careful efforts to present herself as a moderate non-partisan (you know, mostly by refusing to talk about where she stands on any issues), Hutchison’s radio performance places her smack dab in the mainstream of the KTTH crowd… which of course, isn’t mainstream King County at all. And it certainly ain’t non-partisan:

The Boze Show isn’t some lifestyle talker, it’s hard right. Peggy Boze is not just Dave’s ever-lovin’, she’s a conservative activist and was the McCain-Palin Chairwoman For King County. She was a member of the laughable Palin Truth Squad, a sock puppet front to “set the record straight” after “false attacks, rumors and smears ” against Sarah Palin. It amounted to no more than a list of national Republican women they wanted to hitch to Palin to help gain independent women whose votes were going for Obama.

Don’t get me wrong, Hutchison has the right to her own opinions, extremist as they may be. But voters also have a right to know what these opinions are. And if Hutchison refuses to talk openly and honestly about her political allegiances, philosophy and ideology, then the media will just have to piece it together for ourselves as best we can.

NOTE:
And if Hutchison disputes the similar accounts on BlatherWatch and in The Examiner, she should demand that KTTH make the audio public.

UPDATE:
BlatherWatch has since posted a correction, but I’m not sure that it’s warranted. No, Hutchison did not trash Obama on the September 28th broadcast, but most of the other broadcasts from last Fall are not available online, so that doesn’t mean that it was the broadcast in question. (And yes, I searched for the show, and listened to the 9/28 broadcast before writing my post.)

Regardless, the point is that Hutchison is a conservative Republican, something she paraded openly even on the September 28th show (in which Peggy Boze kvells “You’re our Sarah Palin!”), but refuses to admit it now, and she should simply not be allowed to hide behind this nonpartisan bullshit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8P_DJ7rTKE[/youtube]

Silly question, but a pretty informative answer nonetheless.

FYI, there has been some conversation amongst Sound Transit officials and bike enthusiasts as to whether the bike racks initially installed at the stations will be nearly sufficient to meet demand. If not, they’ll look at options to expand bike facilities near stations.

My mail box is being flooded this morning with press releases and advisories announcing a major new solar power facility to be built just north of Cle Elum:

A privately-held solar company today announced plans to install a 400-acre solar park on property north of Cle Elum, Washington. The Teanaway Solar Reserve is designed to generate about 75 megawatts of renewable energy — enough to power approximately 45,000 households — making it the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar project ever proposed in the Northwest.

[…] The Teanaway Solar Reserve will employ PV solar technology to directly convert sunlight into electricity. The power it generates will be connected to the utility grid and will offset about 275-million pounds of carbon dioxide every year compared to the equivalent amount of energy produced from coal. The target date for completion is fall 2011.

It’s not entirely clear, but it sounds like the company plans to build a manufacturing facility near the site to build the 400,000 panels necessary to complete the project… which would surely be an economic boon for the county, lasting far beyond the solar reserve’s initial construction.

And since I just took a shot at Sen. Maria Cantwell in a previous post, I suppose it’s only fair to give her a shout out on an issue on which she has shown great leadership:

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) says, “Last year, I fought to pass my bipartisan clean energy tax incentives bill, and now, thanks in part to that legislation, we’re seeing this project get off the ground. Washington State is leading the way to transitioning our world to a clean energy economy, and I am so proud that our state will be home to one of the largest solar generating facilities in the nation. This groundbreaking project will create construction and manufacturing jobs, bring hundreds of millions of investment dollars into Central Washington, and generate fuel and emissions-free electricity for our citizens.”

2011 seems like an awful ambitious target, but we need to be ambitious when it comes to renewable energy.

Two local rallies are being held today to send a clear message to Sen. Maria Cantwell that her constituents need and want substantial health care reform.  For those of you up in Everett, Dying for Universal Healthcare will host a rally  at 11:45 AM at Senators Cantwell and Murray’s joint offices, 2930 Wetmore Ave, while down here in Seattle MoveOn.org will be holding a rally at 12:15 PM at Cantwell’s office at 915 Second Ave.

From all accounts, Sen. Murray is a strong supporter of a public option for health insurance, but Cantwell can best be described as wavering in her opposition, instead promoting the formation “co-ops” like Group Health… which I suppose for those of us here in Group Health territory would mean no reform at all.

That’s just not good enough, not for the poor, not for the middle class, not for anybody.

I’ve been self-employed or a small business owner for most of my adult life, and at times, I’ve even made some decent money at it. But individuals like me no longer have access to full health insurance with robust preventative care at nearly any price.

For example, and to get very personal, there is a history of colon cancer in my family, but as an individual I can’t find affordable insurance that will cover a colonoscopy as part of routine preventative care before the age of 50. If I worked for the government, or big company, yes, but as an individual, that option simply isn’t available.

“So what?” you may say, “Stick with your catastrophic coverage and pay for it yourself.” And I very may well do that. But if I do, through the simple act of denying the claim, the procedure will cost me maybe a couple thousand dollars more than the pre-negotiated price between my provider and my insurer. I’m already not particularly inclined to let somebody stick something up my ass, so charging me an extra couple thousand dollars for the privilege doesn’t exactly incentivize responsible well care.

And now Regence wants to raise my premiums another 17%, the third year in a row of double-digit increases.

As an individual subscriber I’m doubly penalized for not being an employee of a large group. First I must pay a higher premium for my insurance, and then I must pay retail for the many services not covered. And for many American families, paying retail for preventative care, let alone a serious illness or injury, can result in thousands of dollars of bills they can’t afford. It’s a silly system in which Regence won’t pay for my cancer screening, but they will pay for treating my cancer. Where’s the sense in that?

The fact is, if co-ops like Group Health were such a cure-all, we wouldn’t have so many uninsured and underinsured individuals here in Washington state. But we do.

Let Sen. Cantwell know that the status quo simply isn’t good enough.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTN8cQLhM-k[/youtube]

This morning the media was invited along for a “How to ride light rail” lesson conducted by Mayor Greg Nickels, and once on the train I had the opportunity to shanghai King County Councilmembers (and Executive wannabes) Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine with the kind of hard hitting questions they never get from the legacy press.

So which candidate supports light rail more? Watch the video to find out.

Oh, and by the way, the trains, the stations, the schedule… it’s hard to imagine Seattleites not falling in love with light rail once it starts service next week.

Back when Microsoft first started fearing that open standards/platform independent web browsers could threaten its lucrative operating system monopoly, they set out to destroy Netscape, the dominant player in the field, by giving away Internet Explorer for free. And it worked. Sorta.

Yesterday, Google announced its new Chrome OS, and its intent to give away the operating system for free. Wonder where they got that idea?

There are a lot of things I just don’t get. And this is one of them.

Didja know that Ted Van Dyk worked in the Johnson administration? Ted reminds us.

It’s pretty damn wonky, and it’s not overtly political in the normal sense, but there’s an interesting piece in AppleInsider on a brewing HTML 5.0 standards battle, that I think might surprise some locals as to Microsoft’s history of anticompetitive practices, and how its relentless opposition to open standards has adversely impacted both web developers and consumers alike.

I don’t ever remember reading coverage like this in the local press, but perhaps I just missed it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNrUo6snlx4[/youtube]

It’s not like any real news was made at yesterday’s big press conference at Sound Transit’s Link Operations and Maintenance facility, though you’d think a public gathering featuring our Mayor, Governor, US Senator and US Secretary of Transportation might be news enough to make it into our city’s only remaining daily.

Apparently not.  Not even a mention in a measly blog post. Not even an ironic jab at say, Gov. Gregoire, for talking almost entirely about highway spending while standing before a backdrop of spanking new trains. Huh.

Obviously, the purpose of media events like this—and I’m assuming Sec. Ray LaHood is holding them around the nation—is to show the public that stimulus dollars are actually being put to work building infrastructure and creating good paying jobs. You know, like the 75,000 jobs here in WA state that Gov. Gregoire claims these federal dollars have already helped create or save.

And that’s an important message to get out, especially as some of are nation’s leading economists are beginning to make the argument for another round of stimulus spending… an argument that will fall on deaf ears if the public doesn’t believe that the first round of spending has actually accomplished something. And if papers like the Seattle Times fail/refuse to pass on this message… well… if a tree falls in the forest, and all that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiNUkME9D9k[/youtube]

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood held a press conference in Seattle today at Sound Transit’s Link Operations and Maintenance facility on Airport Way, to highlight how the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (i.e., the stimulus package) is funding sustainable transportation projects and putting people back to work here in Washington state. Joining Sec. LaHood at the podium were Gov. Chris Gregoire, US Senator Patty Murray and Mayor Greg Nickels, a pretty high-power group, but I thought the best explanation of the impact of stimulus dollars on our local economy came from Lee Newgent of the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council, so that’s the video clip I’m posting first.

More clips coming as I slog through the editing process.

I can empathize with nearby residents inconvenienced by light rail, and I sure hope Sound Transit does its best to prevent or abate those unexpected screeching noises on the run through Tukwila. But… I have trouble feeling sympathy for homeowners complaining about noisy trains “knocking down their property values” when the homeowners knew full well that they were buying next door to busy train tracks:

David and Laurie Shumate, who moved into their remodeled 1920s home two years ago, take issue with Sound Transit’s November noise readings… “We don’t want to move, but … ” David Shumate said, sighing deeply before finishing, “I don’t know.”

The woman who’s lived in her house for 60 years… she’s got a reason to complain. But the Shumates, not so much. It’s like folks who buy houses near airports, because they’re such a good value, complaining about noise from airplanes flying low overhead.

Sound Transit is in the midst of conducting further tests, and if they determine there is a problem they will try various noise abatement methods, including soundproofing affected homes. But…

“That doesn’t help when we’re outside,” Laurie Shumate said. The Shumates spend their spare time converting what they disparagingly call the previous owner’s “English garden” into a lush yard full of plants native to the Duwamish River area.

Again… they bought a house across the street from elevated train tracks, and they expect to enjoy their lush garden in piece and quiet? That’s just bad planning.