Just released:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcminutes20081216.htm

Local families are struggling. Where are our leaders?

      

http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_11373317

      

      

Olympia City Councilmember Rhenda Strub in the Tacoma News Tribune:

Rhenda Strub is not going to like this editorial.

She’s the Olympia city councilwoman who’s miffed that a guy named Steven Segall had the gall to question the City Council’s practice of conducting private meetings via e-mail from the council dais.

Segall, you see, lives in Thurston County, but not in Olympia – a fact that apparently disqualifies him from the right to question the council’s practices.

Strub told The Olympian newspaper, “He’s just meddling in something that, frankly, is none of his business.”

Consider this our application to join Segall in the Olympia Meddlers Club. We too live outside the Olympia city limits, and we too think the council’s deliberation-by-Internet stinks.

So does the attorney general’s open government expert, Tim Ford. He wrote to Olympia Mayor Doug Mah last month to criticize the council’s use of e-mail during council meetings.

“E-mail deliberations on public matters that are concurrently being discussed in a public meeting are wholly inconsistent with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act and should cease,” Ford said.

      

Unfortunately, it is the product of failed leadership on the local level.

The outer-county workforce needed to sustain Larida Passage will increase commuter traffic on our highways and increase greenhouse gasses because it is auto dependent.

Olympia needs locally sustainable housing designed around the public transit and bicycle commuter system that is being utilized by the local workforce.

      

The PCOs voted tonight and the ranked list we're sending to the county commissioners is:

1. Karen Valenzuela (Tumwater city council member) 164 points
2. Susan Bogni (current commissioner's assistant, who endorsed her) 109 points
3. Walt Jorgenson (former Tumwater city council member) 87 points.

The PCOs were allowed to rank three of the applicants, with six points to divide among their first second or third choices.

      

Don't worry Mark, I respect your opinion, despite your non-PCO status:

I would not vote for Susan Bogni. At the forum on Saturday, she struck me as one who felt she was due the appointment by virtue of employment for the current commissioner. The only other political adroitness she seemed to possess was the ability to say Barack Obama's name, and if I remember correctly, she said she wanted to implement his vision in our corner of the worthld.

When did central planning become the mantra of our political age? She may be the most qualified candidate (though I didn't take that from the forum), but she fails to grasp a very simple concept in a representative democracy, that the country doesn't belong to its leaders, be they Barack Obama or Susan Bogni. I hate the concept of benevolent overlords, and I hate it when politicians (even more so, aspiring politicians) embrace it. Obama's tagline certainly did not aspire to such lunacy look to the right of Joe Biden and read what it says.

From Jackie Barrett Sharar (via email) supporting Susan Bogni for the ye ol'open county commission seat:Susan has never ever come across the table at colleagues or attempt to put them in choke holds nor does she have a short fuse and doesn't engage in demagoguery. We've disagreed but I have never ever found Susan to be disagreeable. She is always respectful and always kind. As Obama says we need leaders that can disagree without being disagreeable. We need unity so we can all move on with our progressive agenda.Who put someone in a chokehold? If one of Susan's qualifications is that she's never physically assaulted someone, then I guess I feel... safe?

Operation full court Bogni is in full effect. In addition to the above email (which was much longer), my wife took a phone call for me at home from "Nancy" reminding me about tonight's meeting and hoping that Susan has my vote.

Well, only if I can be 100 perent sure she's never kicked a co-worker in the shins, ok?

Thurston County housing, and where we go from here. A few weeks ago, Rolf Boone of the Olympian examined the rise in Notice of Trustee Sales (the legal precursor to someone losing their home to foreclosure) in Thurston County: Foreclosures have increased in Thurston County the past few years. When the real estate market was stronger [...]

The losses in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff are still being calculated, but lawmakers will get their first look Monday as they try to understand why the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to discover the scandal.

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators.

      

and sort of an asshole too..

im just saying..

how utterly shameful and pathetic for a member of the Olympia City Council to refer to another member of the Olympia community as a “coward” while under the cloak of anonymity during official public testimony..

it just embarrasses that councilmember (the Mayor Pro-Tem, no less) as well as the entire community.

a public apology to the Olympia community from Councilmember Jeff Kingsbury for his recent behavior is definitely past due, but i doubt it will ever happen, because like i said, Jeff Kingsbury is a coward.

Fuck You, Jeff.

      

Executive Order 07-02

      

      

Ken Camp arranged an online forum this afternoon intended to include several of the applicants for the open county commission seat and some PCOs. Not a bad discussion. I've sort of been waiting for this.

As predicted, we are very happy to be home. Even if it is a mess, it’s our very own muddy mess. We pledged to remain “on vacation” until the boys go back to school on Monday, meaning lots of sleeping in and no great expectations of projects or planning. It can wait a few days. Our [...]

I put this as a note on my shared items, but I think it is worth repeating:

I didn't watch the end of the game, and from clicking around this morning I hadn't found a score yet.

A personal blog I read, though, tells me the score with some observations. You may think that bloggingvabout something that is already covered to death in the traditional media is pointless, but the Barers of Maple Valley got me the Seahawks score before the Olympian, ESPN, Fox Sports or Yahoo Sports.

 If so, we need your help getting the word out for this important election in February. Timberland Regional Library system has provided essential services for over 40 years to five counties in Southwest Washington. Now, for the first time in 40 years, Timberland is seeking a levy lid lift to allow libraries in your community [...]

Evergreen Politics is going the way of Pike Place Politics, Blog Reload Olyscoop and Better Donkey, and I've been meaning to write a post about where things have been going in the liberal political blogosphere around here.

Things aren't like they were in 2004. Yeah, there are a handful of new blogs out there (Spokane Skeptic and the Other Side) which are pretty good, but it isn't like there are a bunch of people diving into blogging lately. Washblog is pretty stale and has been for awhile.

Horse's Ass is still going strong, and gobbling up other bloggers while they shutter their own blogs (see Pike Place Politics and Blog Reload). Even Josh Feit found a paying gig over there for awhile, and it seems like they're becoming the liberal vesion of crosscut. Nothing wrong with a big blog, but I wonder about some things.

Do the big blogs left in the state-level liberal political blogoshere do enough linking to smaller blogs trying to make their way? It seems like I can't go a day without seeing them link back to the Seattle Times or the Vancouver Columbian, but I seriously can't remember the last time they linked to another bog not Effin' Unsound.

Do A-list bloggers have a responsibility to link to smaller blogs (here and here)? Yes, in the interest of the blog ecosystem. Hell yes.

I pulled out of the community I'm addressing here as a serious participant awhile back. It had to do with a lot of things, some within that group of bloggers, but also because I found other reasons to blog. Also, I had a feeling that no matter what point I made, it wouldn't be linked to. There were some nice exceptions, but those guys stopped blogging awhile back.

Understanding the American Way. The new year greets us here in Olympia with a fascinating part of American life: The Rezone Opponents Go To Court. I’ve been always very curious of this sort of behaviour and never quite undestood it fully. Back in Germany we made fun of Americans suing over spilled coffee. And we laugh even more [...]