The Festival Of Lights

Chanukah has received more attention than usual since it fell on Christmas Day. This is the first time this has happened since 1959. It usually comes early in the season and is done by the time Christmas actually roles around. This is because of the varience in the Hebrew and English calendars. A good reference book for Jews and Non Jews would be "Judaism For Dummies" it was co written by Rabbi Ted Falcon who also Co officiated at our wedding. This picture was rudely stolen from Burl Barer's blog.

My 15 Minutes Of Fame

I have written a little about my experiences with small town radio. Now it's my turn to talk about my short experience with Big Market Radio.
It was January of 1996 and I was working Inside Sales for The Phoenix Network, a Telecom Company with an office in Bellevue. Outside there suddenly was a heavy snowfall and we were given the option to go home. I certainly felt that having been stranded in a heavy snowfall before, that I should definitely not risk working all day and getting stranded in the evening commute. I got in my car and the radio was turned to 950 KJR. At that time, they were pretty new in the Sportsradio business. Apparently they could not get their satellite feed of the national syndicated show that they carried so the morning man was asking for volunteers from the audience to all come in and do a 15 minute radio shift. Now I had worked for KYYX in the early 80s with their operator assisted automation, but I was not actually on the air.
This was a chance for me for a very short time to star on my favorite radio station. I forgot safety and sped down to the KJR studios. The receptionist said that indeed, they were letting listener volunteers have 15 minute airshifts. I remember how Cousin Burl had written they he got his first KJR airshow by showing up while the all--night Jock was on vacation.
Doing talk radio, was much easier than I thought. I had a little trouble with working the telephones but it was a blast talking to the listeners. I did not get an offer for employment, but I did have the experience of a lifetime. I got to meet Mitch Levy, who was at that time the Midday day man and New York Vinnie who worked with me.
Unfortunately I did not have a cell phone at the time and was not able to call my friends to tell them to listen. I think Deb heard maybe the closing remarks.

Seahawks Beat The Colts

Saun Alexander is continuing to have a season for the ages as he scored his record breaking 28th touchdown of the season. That's not just a club record, that is more touchdowns than any other running back in NFL history. All in all Alexander ran for 2 touchdowns as the 'Hawks trounced the Indianapolis Colts 28-13.
The is the 11th consecutive victory for the Seahawks, even though the Colts were resting their best players for the most part, a win is a win and 11 victories in a row is an amazing feat in the NFL. The Seahawks have a first round bye to rest injured players and home advantage all the way. Now after watching the Mariners in 2001 have their record breaking season and not making the World Series, I am cautiously optimistic of play-off success, but in order to win in the play off, you have to get to the play offs, so the stage is set. 

Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas

No discussion of famous Walla Wallans would be complete without mentioning William O Douglas. Douglas was born in Minnesota, but grew up mostly in Yakima. Douglas attended Whitman College in Walla Walla. He went on to serve America on the Supreme Court. Douglas was appointed by Franklin D Roosevelt in 1939. He resigned in 1975 during the Ford administration.
Douglas is known as a strong advocate for civil Liberties.
When entering the Whitman College Library, there is a display of charcoal etchings of every American President. This display was donated to the college by William O Douglas. 

Gray Cloud Hangs Over Seahawks-Colts Game

It's the battle of the best. It is thought to be a preview of the Super Bowl. The Indianapolis Colts are visiting the Seattle Seahawks in a sold out Qwest Field, but somehow it won't be the same. James Dungy, the 18 year old son of Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy, was found dead at his apartment early this morning.When I heard the news on "Sportsradio" , The usually wise cracking Mitch Levy was audibly shaken as he was talking to a Tampa Bay reporter by phone.
The game will be played, but there is no telling it will how the Colts will respond. I do know all Seahawks fans have the Dungy family in their thoughts.

Bush Hits The Airwaves

I switched from the football game last night and our President was on TV. I don't remember the last time that I had seen him make a live speech so I check the 3 network channels and sure enough it was a live speech. The president was explaining his entry into the war and his mistakes and the lack of evidence of any WMDs. The speech was concillatory, because it had to be. If poll numbers were on his side, would he have used this tone? No way. So we made a mistake and we invaded a country under false circumstances. The president looked like a 14 year who had taken his Dad's Lexus for a joyride.
The Congressional elections are this fall. If the GOP does not retain it's majority in Congress, it's going to be a much rougher ride for the President.

It Was Scary--But Seahawks Pull It Out

The Seattle Seahawks had to fight this time as they gave up a 14-0 lead over the Tennessee Titans and fought back to win their 10th straight game, a franchise record.
'Hawk fans were wondering if they had been bitten by the so-called Sports Illustrated cover jinx It seemed like the Titans owned the game from the second quarter through the third. Our defense did not seem to have an answer for quarterback Steve McNair's offense which gained 312 yards through the air. The 'Hawks were aided by a couple of questionable decisions on 4th down by the Titans, although I think, unlike the colorman, that the Titans had no choice but to go for it on 4th down when they were in the "red zone". It made it clear that when you are winning, the breaks will bounce in your direction!

Grandfather At 99!

What? It's Only A Century

My Grandfather (never to be addressed as Grandpa) turned 99 today and we called him to wish him a happy birthday. Deb asked him how it feels to be 99. His reply was "it sure took a long time"

Eddie Feigner, a Walla Walla native was "The King" of "The King And His Court" they were to Softball what the Harlem Globetrotters were to basketball. In 1967, in a 2 inning exhibition game, Eddie struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Maurey Wills and Roberto Clemente. Featured in Sport Illustrated in the '70s. he pitched an exhibition in Walla Walla that I was able to watch.

Randal Controversey

Randal's Apprentice victory was marred by his not allowing Rebecca to also be hired by Trump. Rebecca And Randal were teammates who worked closely together in the last few weeks. In my opinion, Trump wrongly put Randal on the spot by asking whether to choose her. There have also been some racial spins that are grossly unfair to both Randal and Rebecca, two likable and qualified candidates.

Apprentice 4 Finale: It's Randall!

There is a new Apprentice, Donald Trump has named Randall Pinkett. Although the final two were probably the best ever, there really was no question that he would be picked. He has 5 degrees, is a Rhodes Scholar and seems like the kind of guy that would be fun to hang around with. Rebecca was evervescent charming as usual and obviously impressed Trump as well as the TV audience. It did become kind of clear that she may not have gotten along that well with some of the castmates.
As far as the tasks, both candidates had set backs. Randall's softball game was cancelled because of rain. He was still was somehow able to raise 11,ooo dollars for Autism by staging an alternative event in the locker room of the field. Rebecca's celebrity comedy night had the host cancel because of a union conflict. Her event was well attended, but was unable to raise money for the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
In closing I wanted to thank PJ of Houston for her comments which inspired me to keep up the task and Apprentice Randall Pinkett, who returned an e-mail saying that he too was a reader. Also thank you to Felisha Mason and Adam Israelov, who both suprised me by returning e-mails discussing points of the show.
PJ will be writing about THE BACHELOR starting in January. I personally do not watch or care for the show, but look forward to reading her take.

The Apprentice--Delay

I'll be writing late on The Apprentice as Deb and I came up with free tickets Thursday night to see Cats at the Village Theatre in Issaquah. It was an incredible performance! I would say that now that all the high rise condos have come to Kirkland that Issaquah is the classiest Seattle Suburb. Just driving down Front Street, the town has a nice small town feel to it.

Seahawks Slaughter San Francisco

Three weeks ago, the San Francisco 49ers scared us silly. This week in the rematch, it was no contest as Matt Hasselbeck threw for 4 touchdown passes and 225 yards enroute to a 41-3 victory.
The Seahawk defense did not even look it's best and it still did not let the Niners score a single touchdown throughout the contest.
Saun Alexander enjoyed still another 100 plus yard game and scored his 23rd touchdown of the season to lead the league. Alexander is also 4 touchdowns away from the league record set by Kansas City's Priest Holmes two years ago.

State Democratic Chair Berendt Steps Down

After 11 years in office, Paul Berendt has announced this week his resignation fr0m the chairmanship of the Washington State Democrats. Being Chair of a political party particularly the Democrats puts you in a rather odd position. You are elected by the rank and file, but you have to appeal to the big donors (yes there are wealthy Democrats) as well. Paul was able to successfully bridge this gap, as evidenced by his long tenure.
The State Chair is elected by the Washington State Democratic Central Committee. At the time of Paul's election the party was in shambles. "Hot talk" radio was resonating throughout the nation and the "Contract With America" coattails had provided for big victories across the nation and in Washington State. Even Speaker Of The House Tom Foley was turned out of office. Since Paul has been in his position, the Democrats have really only lost one position, the 2004 race for Attorney General.
The Democratic party has made inroads in the once solid Republican Eastside and has voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate each time in the Berendt administration.
Washington has gone from being a swing state to a "Blue" state. Paul's administration was not without controversy amongst his partisans, but everyone agrees that he is a fighter. It was in 2004, that may have been his most disappointing year that saw his most satisfying victory, the election of Christine Gregoire in the closest election in American history.
I got to know Paul from 4 years helping represent the 5th District on the State Central Committee. Paul has always been enjoyable to work with and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors

Apprentice Winds Down Part II

When we left off, the two remaining candidates are dining with George and Caroline at Magu. A Japanese Seafood Restaurant. Rebecca, or maybe Randall asks George for the all important advice. George replies that they can start out by picking their teams. Every season the final two candidates each are set up with one last task, one always different than the other, usually involving a charity. Donald then picks fired candidates to help on each team. The main thing is that there is no real motivation for the rest of the team to perform other than the respect that they have the leader has earned and the fact that they may be looking for a job and it is quite unbecomming to RF a project out of spite on national TV. This is the first time the project managers picked their own teams, probably because Trump respects these two more than any previous candidates.
Both PMs want Chris, a promising leader who made one tacticle mistake in an early episode, they wind up flipping a coin and Rebecca winds up with him. Rebecca's 2 other picks are James, and Toral. Toral was the lady with the Wharton education who just could not get along with anyone. Rebecca saved her from the axe one time and she went from bad to worst, almost taking Rebecca with her. This pick was shocking considering Rebecca was gathering momentum. Randall picked Mark, Josh, and couriously Marshawn. James, Mark and Josh were big players in the Excell machine that racked up 3 consecutive victories until their arrogance became their undoing in the Dick's Sporting Goods where all three, along with Jennifer where fired. Noone picked Jennifer, Marcus, Melissa, Felisha, Alla or Brian and probably rightfully so.
Next morning Rebecca answers the famous call from Rhona, Randall and Rebecca are to join Trump in the boardroom to meet their respective teams and learn their final tasks which Trump says will be very, very difficult.
Rebecca will host a Yahoo sponsored All Star Comedy Night to raise money for the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric Aides foundation. Randall will put on a celebrity softball game sponsored by Outback Restaurants to benefit Autism Speaks.

Apprentice Winds Down With 2 Excellent Finalists

Rebecca And Randall wait in the Suite to see which member of Capital Edge will return. But instead of Felisha or Alla in walks Donald with all the comfort of a detective walking into your college dorm room. He delivers the happy news that both Alla and Felisha were fired and that they are the last two standing. The two are elated. Randall is a aRhodes Scholar with what seems like more degrees than Bakersfield in June and Rebecca is the sweet but tough financial manager who has overcome a broken ankle to show that she can compete with the best.
At dinner at Trump's favorite restaurant with George and Caroline, Randall and Rebecca find out that they need to pick their teams. Both make 2 great picks (one they both want) and 1 questionable one.
(to be continued) 

Kurt Russell--Baseball Player

While Kurt Russell was breaking into the motion picture business, he also played minor league baseball. Russell played for Walla Walla Islanders in the Northwest League in the early 70s. Of course he has became a big movie star and has been with Goldie Hawn for many years in one of Hollywood's longest romances.

Fly Like An Eagle--Seahawks Soar

The Seahawks won this Monday Night contest before the Philadelphia Eagles knew what hit them. Andre Dyson and Lufa Tatupa ran interceptions back for touchdowns and Sean Alexander added a couple of his own. Also Bobby Engram scored his first TD of the season in the game that wasn't.
This Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers who played scared us silly a couple weeks ago are in town and here is hoping that we can keep up this intensity. Just think of these names in the Seahawks Ring of Honor
Mike Holmgren
Saun Alexander
Matt Hasselbeck
Bobby Engram

Goldberg Brothers Appear At Barnes And Noble

My Cousins Lee and Tod Goldberg have finished their Seattle visit. Lee has just released Man With The Iron On Badge, a story about an amateur private eye. Tod has released Simplify, a collection of short stories that he has written over the years.
Tod and Lee appeared first at the Seattle Mystery Bookstore, a small and intimate "hole in the wall" in Pioneer Square. While I was working most of the day, Deb and I were able to catch them at the ritzy U-Village Barnes And Noble, the complete opposite end of the spectrum from mystery store.
Although it was cold and snowy outside, we greeted them with the warmth of an LA summer evening. The brothers presented their books with a Smothers Brothers-like schtick that had all of us in stitches. I was so moved that I purchased 3 of their books plus one of each for my Dad which they cheerfully signed. It was great to see so many of our family turn out.

From Walla Walla To Gotham City

Adam West (born Billy Anderson) is one of the most famous ex-Walla Wallans. But I'll talk about some others in the weeks to come.

Apprentice: Finally 2 Excellent Finalists

Greetings from snowy Seattle and being that it's late and need to brave an early morning commute from Maple Valley to Bellevue, I'll get right to the point. Tonight's episode involved our hometown company Microsoft.
Last time Microsoft came into play was in last season when Verna, a software engineer from Seattle, quit in first episode, she was talked out of quitting by Caroline and then quit in the second episode. How is that for Seattle civic pride?
It's down to the final four, but Felisha is not happy. She was called out as the weakest finalist. She confides her frustration to Alla, her dear "friend" but somehow does not catch what the camera does, Alla's nasty smirk.
The project is to do a commerial to promote Microsoft Office Live Meeting. A new software package that allows users to teleconference via their desktop computers.
Felisha wants to be project manager to prove herself, really an impossible task at this point. Alla seems to want to fight for control but really wants to let Felisha hang herself.
Randall and Rebecca who form Excel find roadblocks but they are on the same page. These are two people who honestly respect each other and rightfully so.
What Capital Edge comes up with was so bad that it's obvious. Excel once again hits the mark and wins the task.
In the boardroom, Alla could have kept her mouth shut and Felisha would have been fired. Felisha just had not performed up to par and Trump saw Alla as a strong player. Alla however wanted to say her piece and in doing so got herself a pink slip along with Felisha and now Capital Edge is no more.
Congrats to Randall and Rebecca, two of the more hard working and likable contestants to come around in a long time.

Seahawks Kick One Through In OT

I don't think I've seen a game like this since the Rams beat the Packers a few decades ago. A late burst in overtime by Saun Alexander set up a Josh Brown (above) field goal and a Seahawks win 24-21. Lady Luck smiled in our favor in this one as the Giants shut down our offense and made bigs plays late. The "12th man" came into play, causing the Giants 11 false start penalties. The Giants' Jay Feely also missed 3 field goals any of which would have won the game for the New York Football Giants.
It was a heartstopping game and I have a feeling that we may not have seen the last of this great, but snake bitten Giants team.

Movie Review: Walk The Line

I am a casual fan of Johnny Cash, there are songs of his that I enjoy but have never really considered buying a CD or record of his. I can also say the same about Ray Charles maybe I could say that I enjoy Charles a little more. Anyway last year's Ray for me was a "must see" and this year's Johnny Cash film Walk The Line was also.
I just did not enjoy Walk The Line as much as I thought that I would. Critics were correct in saying that Joquinn Phoenix nailed Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon also turned in an Oscar worthy performance as June Carter, but the Johnny portrayed is not the one that I remember. I remember Johnny Cash in the late 60s as the stern brooding man of the hardscrabble life and the larger than life stage appearance. The movie portray an early Cash as Good time pill popping, womanizing, pass out on stage drunk who was in the midst of screwing up a promising career and the chance to get the love of his life June Carter. In that vain it was an adequate, if long movie and there were indeed some uplifting moments.
I was a little disappointed that they did not doIf I Were A Carpenter which is probably the best known of their duets.

"Mike--I'll see you in the Boardroom."

The Apprentice: A Firing offense On My Part?

We were driving home from Thanksgiving dinner during last night's 2nd hour of The Apprentice and I was planning on watching the rerun on CNBC tonight. Unfortunately, CNBC only ran the first hour so I will switch you to PJ's recap. She is from Texas and nobody writes The Apprentice as well as she does! Take it away PJ.

My KTEL Days

My first commercial radio job was something to remember. The station was KTEL and it was where my cousin Burl cut his teeth in the business. It was 1978, the station had been remodeled since Burl had worked there as they had moved the offices from downtown to the transmitter. It was still a real dilapidated place. When Burl and Lee came to visit one time, Burl pointed to the little holes in the wall and said--"that is where I fired a pellet gun at the bugs crawling on the wall". When I got on board the station was all country which took some getting used to, they had just stopped playing rock. My friend Jeff recently told me in the rock days, everytime a jock would play In-a-Godda-Divida (the classic 27 minute song) the Cranky Engineer would screech into the parking lot fearing that the DJs were partying.
KTEL was also the station where my Grandfather gave gardening tips on Tuesday morning as part of the "Men's Garden Club". The station was totally run by Jack Keating an elderly man who was rarely at the station. I only saw him 3 times during the year that I worked there. Once was when he hired me.
I was the last DJ to sign off of the old board. We were the Seattle Super Sonics station and I was working the board running the game when they won their NBA title in '79. Also the cranky Engineer was terminated after working there for 25 years during that one year. I later went back to WSU to get my degree and returned to KTEL for a brief time 6 years later.

Jerome Harrison Made The Cougs Entertaining

WSU's Harrison set a career rushing record this year

Another Walla Walla Celebrity

Considered by some to be the greatest shortstop of all time, Ozzie Smith came up through the Padres Organization and played for the single A Walla Walla Padres in the late 70s. He is shown here doing one of his famous back flips. I hope to have a more in depth story on Ozzie at a later date.

Scary Moments At Tacoma Mall

Terror reached close to home this afternoon as a gunman opened fire on shoppers at the Tacoma Mall, about 20 miles from here. The gunman was taken into custody after hitting (at this time) 6 people. There is one victim in critical condition at Tacoma General. Please have the victims in your thoughts.

Hawks By A Whisker

The Seattle Seahawks barely escaped "The Stick" in San Francisco with their tails todays as they squeeked by with a 28-26 victory over the 49s. Saun Alexander was "average" with 115 yards and only 2 touchdowns and credit needs to be given to our defense, who slowed down a team that threw everything but the kitchen sink at us and had nothing to lose.
Can you believe the state of Washington has 2 of the most electrifying running backs in the country? In addition to Saun Alexander leading the pack in the NFL, Jerome Harrison finished at Washington State as the nation's second leading rusher in the college ranks.

The Apprentice: I Write The Songs

This weeks episode a little more entertaining that the last few because of course it dealt with Entertainment.
Team Excel is down to just two players after last weeks double firing. Albeit 2 strong players in Rebecca and Randall, both have overcome adversity and have shown great leadership.
Capital Edge tries to make amends with Clay, but since the other 3 players have denied him an exemption--he takes it as a slap on the face which essentially it is. He is the team's "sore toe".
To start the next task Clay answers the morning call from Rhona. I still have not figured what she does (since Robin is the Receptionist).
Everyone gathers at the designated place and Trump evens the teams by letting Capital Edge get rid of one player. The choice is academic and Clay is now team Excel. Randall and Rebecca are excited because although they know Clay is a flake, he is also frequently on the winning team. This week they are too audition an artist, write a song for that artist and that the song would be played on XM radio, marketed as the hottest thing in entertainment. Donald's parting words are a matter of dispute, 5 contestants and the ever dwindling TV audience heard him say "Now is the time to step up!", however Clay heard Trump say "now is the time to be a bigger pain in the butt and screw over your teammates"!
Excel finds that Clay is too much for them to handle--too bad he's theirs. Capital Edge can just do it right and they are the winners.
Poor Donald finds Clay in the boardroom with what he thinks are his best contestants. He quickly knows that no matter what happens he has to fire Clay so he says he is going by past record even though it he had never mentioned that criteria before.
The reward for winners Capital Edge was a helicopter trip over New York City. Trump pointed out all his properties as if New York City was a giant Monopoly board.

B'Nai Torah And SHARE Fight Bellevue City Hall

One of the most inspiring people I have ever met is Rabbi James Mirel of the B'Nai Torah. When the Temple was in Mercer Island, Deb and I took a class in Judaism from him. We have gone to his Sabbath and High Holy Day services and been deeply moved by his thoughts and wisdom.
Temple B'Nai Torah is suing the City Of Bellevue to ease restrictions on it's hosting of Tent City 4, which is a chance to house almost 100 homeless people. The encampment is moving from Woodinville.
According to a story by Ashley Bach in Seattle Times, The City Of Bellevue has adapted some of the most restrictive laws in the region on Tent Citys. The City Planning director issued the permit allowing the Tent City, but did not ease up on the restrictions.
The Temple and the Seattle Housing And Resource Effort (SHARE) are challenging the restricions based on religous Freedom. They are basing their lawsuit on a 2000 Federal Law protecting religous institutions in land use decisions.
Suing the City is nothing new in Bellevue, but it usually involves greedy developers. There are many sides to this issue, but one thing is for sure, Rabbi Mirel's cause is a noble one.

Goldberg Brothers To Make Seattle Apearance

My cousins Lee And Tod Goldberg will be in Seattle December 3rd. Both of these gentlemen have just had books published and will be signing their respective books at the U-Village Barnes And Noble at 3:oo pm. It would be great to give them a warm Seattle greeting, a rather ironic statement since they are from California where temperatures are in the mid 80s.
Lee and his sister Karen used to visit their grandparents in Walla Walla which where my Uncle Dave and Aunt Dorothy. I remember playing in Wildwood Park and going to Sunday School at Grandmother Barer's with the Goldbergs.
I understand that both Lee and Tod's books are getting great reviews.

Seahawks have Ram Feast

Is "next year" finally here? The Seahawks won their 5th straight game behind the brilliant running of Saun Alexander and the quarterback mastery of Matt Hasselback. Saun scored 3 touchdowns and our defense once again stepped up to limit the Rams explosive offense to only one touchdown. Is this the magic year? Right now I'm just enjoying the wins! 

Marshawn--Fired Apprentice Candidate was strong until she did the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

The Apprentice: May The Farce Be With You!

You may think that with Marcus fired, the stupidity would end but such is not the case. Clay is comes back from his near firing and is angry, very angry. He decides to declare war on his own team. The remainder of Capital Edge get together to strategize minus Clay and it is clear that he has become a pariah and a noose around their neck, lovely! So Capital Edge is handicapped by a candidate that despises his teammates, remember they live together as well.
It 's the morning phone call and everyone is summoned to the boardroom, this weeks project is to create a display for Starwar III Revenge of the Sith and Battlefront II video game. Excell seems to have a real advantage. Randall (seen by most as the strongest candidate) is a Starwars freak, he knows the concept, everyone respects him. His teammates are not quite in the know on the Starwars saga. Seemingly no problems until the pick Brian to be PM.
The teams presentation is to be judged by executives from Lucas films and Best Buy (the display is for Best Buy). Brian makes a morning appointment however the native New Yorker does not consider logistics. They need to get from Manhatten to Chelsea in 15 minutes. That is impossible is good traffic, let alone the morning rush. As they are caught in Seattle type traffic. Brian calls to imform the brass that he will be late a couple of times. I bet that Cab driver did not get a good tip. By the time they arrive, the execs are there but they need a get to another meeting.
To make a long story short Capital Edge makes the meeting giving them a "Capital Edge" and they win the task. Excell misses the whole point, and it's Brian's fault. There is more blame though as Marshawn, one of the sharper contestants is to make the presentation, but at the last minute decides it's not her thing and defers it. Rebecca picks up the ball and as usual does very well.
Capital Edge wins on the shoulders of a suddenly very capable Alla, all decked in fur she must be offending PETA like crazy, and Clay, who is just plain crazy.
For the first time since the initial episode Clay is not voted an exemption, but the team gets it's reward. A chance to hang out with Bill Rancik (whoopee!)
At the boardroom Trump is angry. He cannot believe Brian scheduled so badly and that Marshawn deserted the team. Once again he fires both.
I think it is very fitting that Star Wars was picked, like the Apprentice it was once a big hit and now it just plays to a niche audience. The difference being that The Apprentice has fallen faster.

Elections Go Our Way

It has been said that the best creative writing is born out of misery. There is not much to be unhappy about as this weeks election seemed to indicate that common sense is creeping back into politics.
County Executive Ron Sims won a 3rd term as David Irons Jr is now back in the private sector. I think that Mr Irons needs a little time in the private sector to iron out some of his personal woes.
I-912 failed and our state can start improving our roads. We know how prone to earthquake this area is and it would be nice to be proactive in shoring up the highways.
I-330 which asks us to surrender our rights to the Insurance companies also went down. If the insurance c0mpanies need solace, the smoking ban bill, I-901 passed as well. That has got to drive down rates by improving public health in general.
John Rittenhouse will serve on the Issaquah City Council, I worked with John on the 5th district policy committee.
Glenn Smith is elected to the Maple Valley City Council. I was impressed with him when he doorbelled my house.
Kathy Huckabay easily coasted to victory on the Sammamish City Council. Congrats to all these winners and good luck. Let's keep the victories rolling.

Working for former US Senator Warren Magnuson in the early 70s, my cousin Stan Barer helped inspire my passion for politics. Stan is also a Wa-Hi graduate.

West Wing's Live Debate

Generally shows try gimics when their runs are nearing an end and I think that the West Wing is no exception. I had not watched it in years but my father-in-law is a faithful watcher and while having dinner overthere, I felt myself drawn in.
The concept was a live debate with a real journalist Forest Sawyer, actually done twice so it would be live in each time zone. At the start of the debate, the Republican candidate played (believe it or not) by Alan Alda proposed that the scrap the rules and have a real debate to which the Democratic Candidate (played by Jimmy Smits) reluctantly agrees. What happens is you get 2 candidates articulating ideas in a way not seen in a real debate. My eyes could not leave the screen.
Alda was polished and direct, Smits was passionate. This is one time where I wish life could imitate art.

Hawks back in Action--Beat Cards In The Desert

The Seattle Seahawks came off strong after Bye week and thumped the Arizona Cardinals 33-19. Shaun Alexander scored an 88 yard touchdown in the third quarter and Hasselback was right on target. The Seahawks right now have the best offense in the NFL and enter mid season at 6 and 2, the best mark that I remember. It looks like the team is starting to gel and is running on all cylindars. This coming Sunday they will take on the Rams at Qwest.