Contemporary free speech.

I'm going to try to see the fields of flowers at the Tulip Festival in Skagit County today. I printed out a map of the fields this time.

I thought I felt something last night. There was an earthquake on the peninsula. There were two, actually. Does this count for my first earthquake?

I drove the truck and trailer today. Gary hurt his legs yesterday when he slipped into his mower as he was trying to back it up, so Pepe and I did the Thursday route through south and west Seattle. It was cold and wet out there today.

My sites show up twice (one for each respectively) for the search at the bottom of the page. Someone was looking for pictures of zuchinni. Tara shows up with the zuchinni.

Go to this site if, like me, you are interested in media, freedom of speech and propaganda and the issues which surround these.

OK, the apartment is cleaner but the carpet still smells. The manager scared off the carpet guy so the owner of the company had to come out here to try to correct this himself. It didn't take, so all of you out there who have carpets which have no smell, please keep me in your thoughts. This is the last piece of this puzzle (at this time). I'm barely breaking even but this I suppose is good for now considering that I had nothing coming in just a few weeks ago.

I rode the bike over 520 miles Saturday and Sunday. I went up to Skagit County to see some of the flower festival on Saturday and on Sunday I took the bike through Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 to Ellensberg, then rode through the Yakima River Canyon on route 821 to Yakima and then back on Rt. 12 and 123 through another (cold) pass to Enumclaw and then highways back to Redmond. The snow up in that pass was much higher than the bike at places but the road was clear. No walking lately or even running. I'll start that routine soon I hope.

From the Seattle Times today: War a world away reveals the differences next door; "We have come to wonder out loud whether Washington's rural places, in striking contrast to the Seattle area's awkward wartime angst, seem more comfortable donning the war garb because they have been fighting their own battle for survival for decades. And losing.

"It doesn't take a doctorate in economics to see the national shift, with old, resource-based jobs succumbing to a service economy, technology-based industry and, inevitably, an ongoing flight to urban areas."

I received these today:

When a Joke Becomes the Truth...

"President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage
war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the
American voters to become president, either." -- David Letterman

"In a speech earlier today President Bush said if Iraq gets rid of Saddam
Hussein, he will help the Iraqi people with food, medicine, supplies,
housing, education - anything that's needed. Isn't that amazing? He finally
comes up with a domestic agenda - and it's for Iraq. Maybe we could bring
that here if it works out." -- Jay Leno

"President Bush announced tonight that he believes in democracy and that
democracy can exist in Iraq. They can have a strong economy, they can have a
good health care plan, and they can have a free and fair voting. Iraq? We
can't even get this in Florida." -- Jay Leno

"Democrats were quick to point out that President Bush's budget creates a
one trillion dollar deficit. The White House quickly responded with 'Hey
quick, look over there, it's Saddam Hussein!'" -- Craig Kilborn

"We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence. The potential weapon of mass
destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq.
There's just one problem -- it's in North Korea." -- Jon Stewart

"War continues in Iraq. They're calling it Operation Iraqi Freedom. They
were going to call it Operation Iraqi Liberation until they realized that
spells 'OIL.'" -- Jay Leno

"CNN said that after the war, there is a plan to divide Iraq into three
parts ... regular, premium and unleaded." -- Jay Leno

"Iraq began destroying those missiles they don't have over the weekend. See,
President Bush may be the smartest military president in history. First, he
gets Iraq to destroy all of their own weapons. Then he declares war." -- Jay
Leno

"Many of our soldiers are stationed at Camp Coyote just south of the Iraqi
border. This is how you know we have a strong army, when you can actually
tell your enemy exactly where your camp is and what its name is." -- Jon
Stewart

"The Pentagon still has not given a name to the Iraqi war. Somehow
'Operation Re-elect Bush' doesn't seem to be popular." -- Jay Leno

"The president boasted at the top of his press conference that we have the
support now of Britain and Spain for our attack on Iraq. You know, when you
want to make it perfectly clear to the world that you're not an
imperialist,the people you want in your corner are Britain and Spain." --
Bill Maher

Here is a picture of Joe on the Eastside Steelheaders website. He was to leave today but wasn't feeling well enough so his plans have been changed. He'll now fly out Wednesday and his truck will be shipped out to meet him later in Greenfield. Joe and Tracy will be living next to the fairgrounds of the Franklin County Fair.

It was raining like crazy this morning. The way it usually rains here is more like a heavy mist but this morning it was raining as I saw in Florida. We even had thundershowers and lightning. I picked up my bike yesterday so was able to ride it after the showers today. I put another charge on my card and had them put on Perelli MT 66's. I was very careful with them on today so I can't say how they felt as compared to the Dunlops I had been using. I was able to put over 80 miles on them and the whole package (major engine tune up with valve adjustment plus tires) was very smooth. Well worth the money I think since it will go a long way in keeping me sane. Thanks Uncle Andy.

PATRIOT II

This boggles me.

Rummy is a poet.

As Molly Ivins considered the ideological coup d'etat, this article traces "how neoconservatives conquered Washington -- and launched a war." And here is a article on Jon Stewart's Daily Show, also from Salon.com, which touches on political humor; "Political humor used to belong to the left, but that all changed in the 1990s, when the priggishness of political correctitude injected new vitality into a segment of the population that had been shut out of comedy's pantheon:"

Did anyone vote for this "ideological coup d'etat."

I came from another sunny place as this author came from California. I don't think that it is all that bad here. Hell, she is on the inside, writing for The Seattle Times while I am quite literally on the outside cutting the grass. I mowed the Seattle Times grass Friday. They own a lot of real estate north of downtown. I made the grass in their employee park nice and tidy.

Here is an opinion piece outlining some of the current U.S. hawkish foreign policy as it relates to the northwest.