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Does anyone remember the connection between Scott McClellan and Bush’s approval numbers?

On July 6, 2003, Joe Wilson’s op-ed appeared in the New York Times, where he claimed that something G. W. Bush had said months before wasn’t true. Putting aside the question of the validity of Wilson’s statements, the timing was interesting.

Over the next week, Ari Fleisher and Condoleeza Rice did an admirable job of explaining the situation and dealing with the incessant questions from the White House press corps.

On July 15, 2003, Scott McClellan took over as White House Press Secretary and began leading the press briefings. Here’s a link to his first press briefing. Personally, I think it showed his incompetence. That was the beginning of the end of Bush’s high approval ratings.
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Tacoma has been implementing policies that are touted as eco-friendly for a while now. Some of them have come around to bite them, mostly in the form of higher costs or lost revenues (for the city and for businesses in the city). Another consequence of their il-conceived policies has reared it’s ugly head.

One of the major problems with these new policies is that they’re trying to force a supposedly ‘new way of thinking’ into existing environments. In this case they are encouraging multi-story mixed-use buildings (residential combined with commercial, such as retail) by giving tax breaks to developers. And without thought of the consequences the city has allowed these buildings with large reflective exterior surfaces to be built next to existing houses.

The consequence: sunlight is concentrated on existing houses causing the interior to heat up.

Some might think this is an acceptable consequence to protect the planet from its evil nemesis ‘urban sprawl’, but if you’re sitting in a solar roaster that was once a comfortable rambler, it ain’t so cool.
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Wired magazine, known for it’s zealous focus on the latest crazes, takes a look at the latest environmental craze and what people think they should do about it. They don’t actually look at the validity of the anthropogenic issue or the dire consequences debate, but at least they add a little bit of objectivity to the climate of climate change.

Putting aside the absolute lie known as ‘the coming ice age’. And ignoring the food shortages and high prices caused by biofuel mandates, not to mention the slashing and burning of rain forest in Brazil because of their extremely high biofuel mandates. And forget for a moment the economic impact on the timber industry because so-called scientists failed to realize that spotted owls will fornicate anywhere (they just happen to prefer old growth forests the way hippies prefer rock concerts). The list goes on, but lets ignore all that for the moment. I’m starting to wonder which will be the next abject failure of the environmentalist movement.

I’m addressing this to the local liberal set who go crazy over the crazes. Since they’re like most liberals they never really think things through. Let’s hope that this gets them thinking instead of reacting to whatever bright ideas blow their way.
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I just want to take a moment in grateful remembrance of those who have fallen in defense of our country and our freedom. For those who have loved ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep all of us free and safe I hope you know that most Americans share the gratitude and the sorrow for your loss.

They will not be forgotten.

As a Christian minister I am keenly aware that those who have fought and are fighting to defend us are protecting each individual’s freedom to worship as each believes to be right. The freedom that I consider so vital is protected by those who have defended our country in the past and especially by those who are fighting in the War on Terrorism and it’s front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq..

Like enemies of the past our current enemies seek world domination. But what’s unique about these is that they do so in the name of their religion. Their religion seeks to subjugate or destroy all other faiths. I don’t know of a time in our nation’s history when freedom of religion was at greater risk.

While the freedom of religion is especially important to me, I am also grateful for all of the other freedoms that I enjoy.

A couple of important posts on NewsBusters.Org.

First, a post about negative media coverage hurting the economy:

BMI’s Gainor: Media Negativity on Economy Hurts Consumer Confidence

Dan Gainor, Vice President for the Business & Media Institute, blamed part of people’s gloomy perception of the economy on the “constant drumbeat” of negativity coming from the news media.

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Does the city really need more money to pay for street repairs? Recently the city came up with $45 million for improvements for downtown in a supposed attempt to keep Russell Investments Group from leaving (and to keep their pipe-dream of a pie-in-the-sky financial district alive).

Now they’re considering going back to voters to ask for more money to repair streets. We already said, ‘no’ to such a proposal, but I’ll get back to that. There wasn’t a vote during this discussion so the only members mentioned in the News Tribune article as supporting the idea are Lonergan (who seems to have proposed it) and Fey.

But this is the money-quote from the TNT article:

But Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg questioned whether there was enough time to develop a proposal that would get to voters this year. Ladenburg also said that the City Council had not determined that street maintenance was the top priority, although it certainly is among the top priorities.

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As an alternative to the zoning approach to land use restrictions, Houston, TX has always had used a free market approach. There are benefits and drawbacks, but the important thing is it puts property rights in the right place, the hands of the property owner.

Michael Ennis of the Washington Policy Center (WPC) attended a conference in Houston where the subject came up. He points out some interesting aspects of the system in this blog entry.

Our Neighborhood Council meeting recently had visits from the city’s planning commission staff and from a lobbyist group that is lobbying the city for more restrictive land use. This article seemed a good way to start the conversation on this blog.

I’m not advocating a radical change to our land use and zoning laws. However, I do want to make clear that a) there are alternatives, and b) that more restriction isn’t the best approach.

Update: Robert Mak, probably the closest thing that Northwest TV news has to an objective reporter, did a segment on this issue (here’s an online synopsis). He spoke with a UW professor who, without outside funding or support, did a study on the impact that land use regulations have on housing prices.
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Recently a commenter on this site asked me how I defined ‘a conservative’. I didn’t respond because it’s not up to me to define it.

Something liberals seldom understand is that words have meaning. If we try to change the meaning of a word we end up misrepresenting something or someone, which is usually tantamount to a lie.

That being said, I guess a definition of ‘a conservative’ is in order. Simply put, and pardon me for pulling a Webster and using another form of a word to define that word, a conservative is someone who holds to conservative principles.

An easy mistake that is made is to confuse conservative principles with the issues of the day. Another is to refer to someone as a conservative who only holds some of those principles while rejecting others.

What are those conservative principles? America has a somewhat unique set of principles that make up the ideals that we want to conserve. The individual principles are not unique, but together they are uniquely American.
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There’s another conservative in Western Washington who has entered the blogosphere.

Living in this area with a vocal liberal minority can be tough on conservatives. Liberals have trouble understanding that conservatives are not the drooling idiots portrayed by liberals on television. Those are a figment of the imaginations of intolerant leftists who would rather shout-down their opposition than offer a reasoned response.

So when a conservative stands up and offers a reasoned argument on a local issue, several liberals will seem to go into some sort of spasmodic rage. I know they can’t help it. Even college educated liberals have never had to face any opposition to their ideals. Facing a conservative must be something akin to first contact with an alien species.

So I’d like to welcome Red Country - Washington State to the battlefield of ideas in Puget Sound. I’ve added the site to my blogroll so you can find it anytime.

They took the plunge today and opened for business. This is a great place. They call their coffee shop/bistro ‘Fishtales Bistro’. They’re not allowed restaurant style seating, but there are plenty of choices to take to nearby picnic tables and enjoy.

At the walk-up window is an espresso bar with soups and chowders plus some cool stuff like seafood cocktails. Inside are all of the fish products you’d expect and some more. It’s a good mix of ready to eat, prepped for cooking and unprepped selections.

The location makes it a good place to stop to pick something up for dinner whether I feel like cooking or not (I do like to cook). They’re right on the Ruston Way waterfront in Old Town with plenty of 15 minute parking out front.

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