Jim

A common misconception. Posion ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii) can be found east and west of the Cascades and ranges to the Atlantic coast. I have found it on Ft. Lewis and near Tacoma - the closest to Seattle I've seen it. Posion oak (T. diversilobum) is limited to Nevada and the Pacific states. Ivy is a vine, oak a shrub. Eat neither.

For instance bombing a neutral country to silence news reporting. Excellent democratic values we're showing.

It's difficult to find an experienced person in the Puget Sound area Dr. Tom Dorman is the person I went to consult after talking to many folks about some lower back issues. I eventually decided to just keep working the therapy and it's much better now. But I would seriously consider him if you're looking for a practioner: http://www.paracelsusclinic.com/meetTheStaff/ He's a bit odd but has been at this for 25 yrs or so, heads up on many of the new-comers. The only other name I heard that I would trust was David Musnick in Bellevue, who also is a co-author on a book for outdoor athletes. Good luck. Dorman gave me several names of patients who I talked to and had seen marked improvement of knees, lower backs, and shoulders. One guy I met in the waiting room was a 60 yr old kayaker who could not raise his arm above his shoulder, came in for treatment, and in 4 months was back paddling and carrying his kayak. His comment to me was "don't wait, just do it".

This is just part of the "winning their hearts and minds" program.

But we're approaching the Gilded Age mentality where it's not just I want to keep what I've earned, but I want all the corporate subsidies and tax breaks I can get while standing on your throat. When was the last time the minimum wage was increased substantially? Compare action on that end of the spectrum with the recent tax breaks including the continued lobbying for repeal of the estate tax.

huh?

The previously cited stats on appliances is what? - supposed to prove that the poor are well off? That they are not really poor becuase they have a stove and a 1981 Hornet? Gimme a break. How about comapring things that matter such as health status, accesibility to health care, savings, life expectancy, child mortality, education, and housing. This, with the arrogance of the recent tax breaks to the rich is a continued trend of income redistribution to the upper elites.

Added to this is of course the shifting of the tax burden from corporations (15 of the 20 largest corporations in the US paid no taxes in 2004 - how does that work?) and reduction of the marginal rate from the elites to the middle and lower class. And a point not noted is that rarely do the elites pay that top marginal rate - there are so many holes in the tax system, for them, that those who can afford a good tax lawyer can make the dodge easily. Tax

This scale of operation really should require a formal declaration of war by the congress. Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War were bad precedents in this regard. Oh, oh. This is the second thing you have said in one thread that I agree with.

These guys have no shame: More than 50,000 acres of old mining claims in Washington -- including some inside Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades national parks -- could be converted to private land under legislation expected to pass the U.S. House next week. The proposal also would open up millions of acres in Washington's national forests -- and more than 350 million acres across the West -- to be newly privatized under a revision of the 1872 Mining Law tucked into a 184-page budget bill. Critics who have dissected the language of the bill say it would make it easy to use a law passed 133 years ago to speed development of ski resorts, golf courses and the like in the backcountry today. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248143_mining12.html

Businesses don't have unlimited rights to do what they want to do, they have to get licenses, abide by codes and regulations, etc. I could have gone either way with this but it's a good, healthy idea. If they can manage in in New York and even in Ireland, it's not a big deal here. We'll hear some whinning about it for a month or two and that will be it. If it's such a crucial element to a business they can move to Idaho I guess. See how many do that.

Kidding aside - snowboarding is much easier to pickup. After years of tele skiing I could cruise the blue runs after one lesson and a half day of mucking around, and the single diamonds on my third visit. Particularly in deep snow it's much less a strain on my back (mine is way tweaky) than the tele boards - can't speak to the alpine - never been in them. But if you want to do touring in the backcounty skiing is much more versatile.

Snowboarding, particularly for advanced language skills. Two most commonly spoken words of snowboarders: "Sorry dude"

It's stunning how the neocons are running for cover and now trying to spin their way out of this. Chickenhawks all of them. They don't even have the backbone to defend their policies honestly. The facts clearly show, now as they did two years ago, that they did this under false pretense. The tragedy is that the mainstream media played the lapdog then and is only mildly critical now. The mantra of this administration is "power at all costs".

Agreed. The funding could have been put to better use if it went into the light rail system instead of this silly idea. The costs vs the benefits just didn't match up. From Ballard to West Seattle? The major conjestion issues are not inter-city, they're getting in and out of Seattle, to the airport and such. Anyway, I'm glad the last nail is in the coffin but the poor planning has left us with a couple of years with car tab bills.

Touche to master link maker!

The monorail was a silly idea from the start. It didn't integrate with the light rail, had no parking, and would have been a very unaesthict piece of concrete. Better suited for Disneyland than public transport. When you add on top of this the extremely poor planning and unrealistic financing plan. Well, it killed itself. That said, when I fly to Portland for meetings I'm envious of their light rail system where I don't have to rent a car to zip downtown. Seattle's main fault is in long-range public policy. Sometimes I think what they need is a strongman mayor who can bully through a few visionary projects. I'd still rather live in Seattle than the 'burbs, however. Those in-between places are a bit milky for me.

There is no playlist at KEXP. Each DJ lights up his own program. The only requirement I know of (engineer friend works there) is to rotate in local bands once every hour on a couple of the programs. This is a great station, listner-sponsered, where you hear music you'll never hear on commercial radio. I don't like it all but it's a refreshing alternative to the commercial standards. Yea Paul Allen started it, but they are weaning themselves away from his cash with a plan to break even in the near future, and their getting there. Great innovations such as availability of achived programs, streaming, podcasts, etc. Nothing else like it around here as far as music programming.

Seattle public health officials already said they will not be running around the city with calk and a tape measure. It wasn't their proposal. The idea was to just keep folks away from doors and windows that vent into the establishment. New York has a very strict non-smoking rule and there were gloom and doom predictions and pffft - no big deal, just as it will be here. That said - being a non-smoker, it wasn't such a big deal to me but I voted for it. It will be healthier for folks that work in these places. Also looks like the gas tax repeal is losing ground - the no vote is ahead 53% to 47%. Common sense may finally be prevailing.

This is amazing. Instead of investigating why we are running torture prisons, the GOP wants an investigation on how this information was obtained!! You can't make this stuff up: "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the disclosure, first reported last week in The Washington Post, could damage national security. Hastert, R-Illinois, and Frist, R-Tennessee, have asked the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees to look into the origin of the disclosure."

One - it's the hyprocisy. We're always touting our democratic values and fairness while our actions give a stronger impression. Two - protection of our service men and women. Why do you think John McCain is pushing for this ban? He was there and wants to keep our troops out of harms way if captured in war. Three - We've already signed several treaties respecting the rights of prisioners. Four - It's unethical. We've been practicing renditions for some time now from Iraq and Afganistan by sending prisoners to countries such as Eqypt and Jordan where the CIA lets them do the dirty work and we observe. This plus the revelation of Soviet style prisons in Eastern Europe are a black mark on us. Oh - and by the way, there have been dozens of testimonies collected from people sent to these places, and who were eventually released because they were innocent of any crime and had no information. Opps -sorry about that fingernail thing. One prisoner, who's status we'll never know - because he died in a vat of hot oil. Yep -that's our American values. Do we really want to go down this road?

Except ski patrollers, and avy techs, and guides, and well, a few other people I can think of... if you call that work. Bicycle couriers I just used light treated nylon when I was pedalling for a living - couldn't afford the good stuff. As a field ecologist gtex is ok for for some things (tundra walking, stationary bird surveys, but most of the time you're brush bustin' so he rubberized stuff is best. And if it gets impailed on a beaver-chewed spike you can repair it with neoprene.

La vaca I think Si. Frijoles negro e queso por $1.80.

I'm glad to see you're avoiding roundhouse generalizations and getting down to specifics as usual