Seriously wounded wallets, too
Seriously wounded wallets, too
Did you know that wounded Army soldiers who are unable to complete their enlistment term - because of their serious wounds - are being required to return part of their enlistment bonuses? Not in the H
Did you know that wounded Army soldiers who are unable to complete their enlistment term - because of their serious wounds - are being required to return part of their enlistment bonuses? Not in the Herald - and not really in the corporate media - but true. The W Bush administration is just such a fine set of goofballs. Absolutely no real concern for the welfare of veterans. None beyond rhetoric and what is needed for PR and politics. Talking Points Memo has a post on this.
10:00 am
The petty bickering and pouting by our city and county councils continues - as evidence in today's two Herald articles. Dan McShane seems to be hell-bent to go out doing his best to be a jerk. If you are going out of office anyway - and you are down to the last two meetings of the year, then good taste says you don't use your status to try and make a quick deal that affects the long-range process. Dan has only one more council meeting left in his term - on December 4 - and then he is history. Let all those who will be on duty in 2008 have a say on the future.
This advice is not aimed at Dan - who cares not a whit for my thoughts. It is an observation of how it is good that Dan is leaving the council and a peek into why many of us did not want him running the city. He is not one who brings people together but rather one who pushes his own ideas at others. Let's hope the other council members hold out against him through their last meeting. With Dan gone the dynamics of the county council will once again shift. There is no question Dan was a big influence on the council these past 8 years.
And then there is our Bellingham council. They continue to pout and bury their heads in the sand and prefer discussion to decision making. They won't meet with the county council because they feel snubbed. And they give us a public pout. Time for the three new council members to get involved and make progress this council has stalled on for 8 and 9 and 20 years. The city and county need to learn to work together. The news this week is just more evidence of why we elected Dan Pike to be our mayor. We need leadership and an agenda of action and solving long-standing problems.
Still no Herald report on the city council meeting Monday eve. The excuse is it ran too late. But Wednesday's paper had nada as does this morn. The meeting did run late and made the big decisions after 11:30 pm - when most folks were gone. The Herald will, at its leisure and in due time, perhaps inform us of what happened late Monday eve. I am reliably told that they voted two high-impact annexations that will give us yet more problems with traffic to new shopping centers while ignoring the lack of light-industrial space. That is news and should be reported. Maybe Sunday's Herald. More history then than news.
10:00 am
The petty bickering and pouting by our city and county councils continues - as evidence in today's two Herald articles. Dan McShane seems to be hell-bent to go out doing his best to be a jerk. If you are going out of office anyway - and you are down to the last two meetings of the year, then good taste says you don't use your status to try and make a quick deal that affects the long-range process. Dan has only one more council meeting left in his term - on December 4 - and then he is history. Let all those who will be on duty in 2008 have a say on the future.
This advice is not aimed at Dan - who cares not a whit for my thoughts. It is an observation of how it is good that Dan is leaving the council and a peek into why many of us did not want him running the city. He is not one who brings people together but rather one who pushes his own ideas at others. Let's hope the other council members hold out against him through their last meeting. With Dan gone the dynamics of the county council will once again shift. There is no question Dan was a big influence on the council these past 8 years.
And then there is our Bellingham council. They continue to pout and bury their heads in the sand and prefer discussion to decision making. They won't meet with the county council because they feel snubbed. And they give us a public pout. Time for the three new council members to get involved and make progress this council has stalled on for 8 and 9 and 20 years. The city and county need to learn to work together. The news this week is just more evidence of why we elected Dan Pike to be our mayor. We need leadership and an agenda of action and solving long-standing problems.
Still no Herald report on the city council meeting Monday eve. The excuse is it ran too late. But Wednesday's paper had nada as does this morn. The meeting did run late and made the big decisions after 11:30 pm - when most folks were gone. The Herald will, at its leisure and in due time, perhaps inform us of what happened late Monday eve. I am reliably told that they voted two high-impact annexations that will give us yet more problems with traffic to new shopping centers while ignoring the lack of light-industrial space. That is news and should be reported. Maybe Sunday's Herald. More history then than news.
