The standard by which I measure......

Daniel Clowes.....always......click it. Really, it's OK. It's a tumbler and this is the best I can do about that...

In honor of MJ...deregulation and Ronald Reagan..and other types of out of control behavior....

I am earnest. I can't do the Shiny Happy People thing, but I am basically happy...considering I am living thru the time in history that saw the lovely society formed by The New Deal, being dismantled by the Republican Revolution, for which Ronald Reagan reigned as First King of Destruction, Federal Edition.
Reagan said this: "

I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.

Ronald Reagan

And he meant It !! Regulation is the way we protect ourselves from evil assholes, hopefully. And, when the regulations on dangerous companies become Republican-style weak, Reagan's beloved Deregulation, the BP Oil spill is what happens.

The BP Oil Debacle is the Exact Universe the Republicans wanted, and what Libertarians wanted ....it is their Wet Dream!

And here is the difference between Irony and Coincidence... So, discuss.....is the BP oil hell, Irony, in that, with Deregulation, companies do what the fuck they want and when the shit hits the fan, Republicans call...For...Regulations !!!
....or just a Coincidence that deregulation and catastrophe happened at the same time, and most of the oil is washing up on the shores of states lead by Republican governors.

Texas - Governor Rick Perry, Mississippi - Governor Haley Barbour, Louisiana - Governor Bobby Jindal, Florida - Governor Charlie Crist, Alabama - Governor Bob Riley.

my mind boggles.


This link dates to Sept. 11, 2008, in the Bush/Cheney years..........."Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug use and illicit sex with employees of the energy firms, federal investigators reported yesterday." and it goes on...

that's from the Washington Post. Billions. Of. Dollars. that belong to you and me.that the oil companies kept because of deregulations and corrupt "regulators" in the Republican "governance" in the last 30 years......

So...I can do better than that.... I prefer this:
Back to Daniel Clowes.....


Aren't you glad that we have recalls of dangerous items? That's regulations at work!
;-)
So, regulations of dangerous or potentially dangerous activities...is a very good thing...and over-regulation is not a good thing.


Mindless shopping ...no, let's not do that. But Shopping Is Fun!!
Yes it is and we are wired for it.....
So, buy vintage and used as often as possible.....Fix, repair, mend and make when you can.
Here's some of my faves around the internets.

Electric Cars !

Urban Farming !

Parks ! this land is your land, this land is my land...

Vote For Salmon Swimming thru the North End !

Time to Vote!
Time to vote for salmon streams running through Tacoma!
Vote for Puget Creek Restoration Society
Vote Green
Vote Scott



Scott Hansen, founder of the Puget Creek Restoration Society, and our sweet neighbor here on Broadway, funky funky dirty dirty Broadway, is a finalist in the Cox Conserves Heroes program, presented by KIRO 7.

This program honors people in the community that help create, preserve or enhance places for everyone to enjoy...you know...like creeks, parks, gardens, plazas, streets and public squares.........the places that make life beautiful......
the places that make life possible.

go here... Then click

• Scott Hansen - Environmental Non-profit of Choice: Puget Creek Restoration Society

to see a lovely website....ahhhh...breathe deep...........

then, on the

Welcome to the Seattle Market

page, click finalists and watch a sweet video about what Scott and the folks do...
then come back and click vote.........
and click for Scott........
You'll feel better......

and omg........the Puget Creek Restoration Society can win
5 Thousand, yes, bones or clams or whatever you call them
.....to continue the fabulous work...and get a load of urban achievers in the vid....

so VOTE you hooked up monkey...Scott Hansen is at the bottom of the vote page......
DO IT.

Well, I'm Sorry If I Hurt or Embarrassed...

Tacoma.I don't think the movers and shakers spend enough time on Neighborhoods...
and small business...
all the small businesses and the new ones that would infill .....would so kick Russell's butt.....and replace them ...and all their money .....So go ahead and go.....or not.

Tacoma will Not live or die because of Russell. And the condos.
Wake Up !! Great things got done in Tacoma for years.....
Steph Farber is Right ! Enough with the stupid consultants and the outsiders.......
WE already know what we want........Didn't we (Tacomans/Tacowomens) create an Art Oasis..........growing and building from Sheer Force of Will ????? Didn't we get Union Station saved, and the Pantages....and UWT ? Tacoma Dome....The transportation hub in this district....makes perfect sense. Working together with the Tribes....and getting issues settled...........
"That's what saved Tacoma"
Yes we did !!!!
So many people truly love this town......with its warts.
and its sugar.
yes Russell contributed money to those causes, but it would have been done with or without them because the people wanted it..........

And I'll say this again......I am a trickster.....I say almost everything with a wink and a smile.....
I do appreciate Love Tacoma...we're MySpace Friends.....duh!
So kick me. Ignore me. Cuss me out. Hate me. Whatever.
From a blog post and from my criticism......

comes a fabulous conversation........ and I am really impressed that folks publicly and privately came to her defense.
I have so many stories of folks who do not feel included....
and this insane amount of money and attention that goes to developers, the rich and Russell......it is just hated by the people I talk to.
The working class of Tacoma......don't give a flying flip about Russell.
they hire only from a small select pool.....and there is so much more to Tacoma than that.
The working class could care less about expensive condos. They want the potholes fixed....they want good schools....They want Affordable Homes....You know something a person or family that makes 50 grand and Under could buy Today !
They want nice neighborhoods. They want to start businesses.
And Russell's money hasn't kept the streets free of holes. Russell's money hasn't made Tacoma schools better.......obviously......
It is the people who give a good .......damn about life here that did these things.
Enough already.

City fathers and mothers....Invest in the People. Invest in infrastructure.
Help people buy homes at a sensible price. House the homeless. Feed the hungry.
I know Tacoma is smart. Click .......brought the world to me.......
Low utility rates....because of smart management......
Tacoma doesn't need to be the fastest bunny on the Block.....
we need smartness, we need faith in each other, and respect for steadiness, respect for home-grown talent.

Build a strong working class and that's anyone who works for a living.......
It makes far more sense to have 3000 jobs that pay 20 bucks an hour or more,
than 1000 jobs that pay 50 bucks an hour. Rising tides lift ALL BOATS instead of just a few as documented here by Steve Winn . But even the wealthy are nervous.....

If Tacoma is gonna spend, what, 140 million on Russell .......why not spend that much on creating great middle income jobs...and lots of them......financial services is too often a code word for taking fair wages away from the worker and rigging the system for the benefit of the wealthy.
Restaurant work is not a livable wage base.

"Who gets the shortest end of the stick? Coffee shop hosts and cafeteria counter attendants, according to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts.

Eighty-seven percent of restaurant-host and counter-attendant jobs were categorized as "bad," meaning they paid less than the median wage in 1979, adjusted for inflation, and had neither employer-sponsored health insurance nor a retirement plan. That translates to a wage today of $16.50 an hour or $34,320 per year for a full-time, full-year worker, according to the report."

Rising rents and home prices put people in financial danger. It was and is a stupid idea to use your home as an ATM.
That is not sustainable in a community. C'mon you number-crunchers....

I suggest following the leadership of Van Jones.......
Why can't Tacoma become the Green Center of the Northwest.....let's create green jobs...let's show the world that we build Green.....We recycle....We cut emissions....We have industries that are embracing New Green Ways of doing business.
Do we or do we not live in The Evergreen State?

Buy Green in the Northwest.....

I do see many clothing designers using organic and bamboo and such for new clothes and that's great!!
My choice is to remake from used and vintage, and tossed away stuff.
There is an endless supply....of stuff....

I especially love building with reclaimed wood, windows and such...I do realize any new building must be energy efficient and non-toxic and new technologies can provide that.....here's a link to LEED....

From a Seattle PI article...

Counter intuitive: What began as a concept for a graduate-studies paper by Ameé Quiriconi is now a caressable countertop cast in Woodinville. Squak Mountain Stone Countertops' textured, cement-based composite, mixed with waste fly ash as well as newsprint and other recycled paper, is an alternative to quarried stone. A 30- by 48-inch slab: $420.29. A new line, Trinity, uses recycled glass to mimic smooth granite. Call 425-486-3417 or www.tmi-online.com.

Bee Green: Kim Denend and Aaron Otto combine organic farming and beekeeping to make soaps, salves and lotion bars tested on family and friends. Most of their ingredients are grown on Pragtree, a land-trust farm near Arlington, or come from other sustainable producers. Calendula soap: $5.95; muscle rub with cayenne: $10.95. Moon Valley Organics: 877-652-1819 or www.moonvalleyhoney.com.

Waste not: ELWd ("elwood") Systems, a division of Auburn's Forest Concepts, began replicating woody debris for salmon-habitat restoration and branched out to erosion-control bales, planters, fencing and other products made from wood that would otherwise be wasted. Sets of pole units can be used in place of rock, block or creosoted railroad ties for landscape terraces. A 90-inch unit: $52.99. ELWd Systems SlopeCheck: 253-333-9663 or www.elwdsystems.com.

Monster Jam, City of Tacoma, Misery

Monster Jam is a series of live events and television show created by Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment). The series is sanctioned under the umbrella of the USHRA and takes place primarily in the United States. Although individual event formats can vary greatly based on the "intermission" entertainment, the marque entertainment is always the racing and freestyle competitions by monster trucks.

Am I the only person in Tacoma that knows Clear Channel is putting on the Monster Jam show at the T-Dome? The T-Dome that the City of Tacoma owns? The Clear Channel that the City of Tacoma is wrestling with over billboards? RR ? Word Up !

Ok, I know I live a block from the T-Dome. duh. But every time there's an event the monkeys schlup by and park all over.......and in my parking lot and pee in the lot and smoke pot and drink beer.......

This particular event is ultra-disturbing because: HELLO ! Did or Did Not Al Gore just win the Nobel Prize?
Monster Jam uses up how much oil/gas/ pollution.....and the driving here of all the minivans and SUV's........
There is just no hope for the planet.........no, the planet will go on and on........but humanity and animals and stuff will decline and suffer.........
Oh Well.

The Train The Train !

Another point.......and an example.
The London Times printed this today about biodiesel. When Mark and I were at Evergreen we became interested in biodiesel and so he made it and we drove biodiesel cars...you may remember my car especially......the brown Mercedes with the bowling lady hood ornament........Well.......as I pointed out a while back.....biodiesel is a stop-gap measure and should be abandoned as a fuel source.

While they have the potential to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, biofuels will devastate forests and other habitats unless controlled, scientists said.

The Royal Society report of a 14-month inquiry was published as the European Union announced that its targets for biofuels are to be re-examined because of fears of their impact on the environment. Stavros Dimas, its Environment Commissioner, said that the environmental consequences of boosting biofuel production and the effects on poor communities were bigger than originally thought. from the London Times

The Example: Mark, John and I walked out of our penthouse on Sunday night, we said:
Peeweh !!
There was a stinky gray pall hanging over the neighborhood. Ghost of Old Tacoma? No. A train had just rumbled by, which is fine. But and it's a Big But, it was Diesel in the Air. That's what I'm saying.
Now I know, boy do I know, that the Dome District is the unwanted red-headed stepchild of The Downtown Renaissance......
(do we get a Festival in our end.....No ! There is ZERO City of Tacoma promotion of our district...there are NO Fairs, Events or clean-ups comparable to um, First Night or Taste of Tacoma.....nothing.)

but, diesel is a dying technology. I'm sure the Light Rail Hobo Train laughs at the big trains as they stink by, while Light Rail skips lightly thru town.....(wow, that's poetry!)
And diesel can't be replaced by biodiesel.....tho smelling like French Fries is cool, it is not sustainable.

Why Buy Vintage ??

Mmmm, because when you buy something that was made a long time ago,with materials that have been already harvested and finished......and with a good chance the shop was union....or not...
Well, the best reason is that when you buy something vintage, you are not exploiting todays workers and the environment !
in other words, the damage has been done.....
We can't change the past, but we can fashion the future !!

I have been railing against buying from 3rd world countries...like China for nearly 2 decades....
and now that we are bombarded with recalls of nasty merchandise and toys and toothpaste we need to find a better way ....Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, Boy Scouts products have been recalled...........
and do you want to know who makes your "distressed furniture" imported from China? Do you want to know the conditions that exist where they make the toys we buy for our kids?
It doesn't have to be disgusting !

Click here for a shocking expose on conditions in China
From the SLC Tribune:

Charles Kernaghan, the director of the National Labor Committee, told Dorgan about factories with forced 70-hour work weeks, where overtime wages are withheld. Workers sleep in "primitive dorms," with a dozen people in each room on metal bunk beds. They have substandard food, no hot water and take home 46 cents an hour.
Kernaghan held up a Barbie produced under these conditions. The labor cost the factory 19 cents. The U.S. company paid $9 to ship it here and then charged the consumer $30 for the doll.
"There is enough money here to make toys safe and to treat the workers in China with dignity and respect," he said.

Sure -- shop funkoma vintage and the other used and vintage shops in T*Town...
Look where the thing was made......if it was made in Europe or the US there is a very good chance
that there were environmental laws and worker safety laws and decent wages laws in place when/where your widget was made.........
It's not a perfect world...but there is something Good to be done about this !

I'll post Over there on the right side under the TACOMA Stuff !
of great places to shop right here in T*Town...places that offer good old-fashioned stuff made safely & fairly, and things that you can feel good about buying and owning.....
It's not just about Being Green......it's about being a moral person !