Jim

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

"The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." GWB

Jay- Check out this site for historical ski information. You can email in questions also. http://www.woodenskis.com/index.html I can't believe someone just tossed these! Fine woodworking also had some tips on wooden ski restoration a while back. Two articles about building cross-country skis that were published in Fine Wood Working Magazine are avalible in a book called Fine Wood Working on Bending Wood. This is avalible from Taunton Press. The first article is Cross-Country Skis, the Easy Way by George Mustoe, and, indeed, it is an easy way. The second article is Cross-Country Skis, Norwegian Style by Richard Starr. This article seems slightly more complicated, but still do-able for a woodworker with even moderate skill.

You just became aware of this? And why is this? Libby fabricated such a tale that it was a slam dunk to have him indicted on false statements (not under oath while being interviewed by FBI) and false testimony (under oath in front of Grand Jury). Likely he was not charged for the leak because he was not the first - this was person A in the White House, which all believe was Rove. Why he wasn't charged with the leak is not clear to me even if he was the second one to do it. Hopefully Rove will get nailed and booted out. Slimeballs.

If you ever had any doubt about the tactics of this administration this peak around the facade is revealing. With all the talk about nationalism and protecting our country they don't blink an eye when it comes to compromising not just this one person, but the whole covert operation they built as her cover and those associated with it now - and those who in foreign countries who have been associated with it. The other peak around the curtain is how the press in this country is just a lap dog for the government. To gain access to high powered people you have to toe the line, otherwise you'll be a cub reporter forever. Judith Miller was just scanning the admistrations assertions and putting them under her byline. You bet there's a media bias. Libby is a well seasoned right-hand guy. He would not have leaked such sensitive information on his own. Most likely Rove and Cheney devised the scheme. My guess at a likely outcome. Libby will fall on his sword and Bush, in his parting days, will pardon him. Just as Reagan did so with his felons.

Counter exercises such as these are good for injury prevention as a balance to the typical rock workout.