The past 10 days have been chock full of news items I wanted to share with you dear readers. The cornucopia of news too good to pass up has been overflowing.
Starting very close to home, four blocks from KeyArena for yours truly:
Clayton Bennett, the new carpetbagger owner of the Sonics, who keeps acting as if he wants to keep the team here when we all know he wants to head back to the Dust Bowl from whence he sprung, has told the city fathers that he needs 15 to 30 acres, a new arena and some tax breaks to keep the team here on the shores of Elliott Bay.
Bennett, in a display of gall worthy of former Pirate owner Howie of NYC, the coffee baron, has also said that he is against letting the public - that's you and me - vote on whether or not we, the aforementioned citizenry, pay for this new arena he must have with higher taxes he is seeking while skirting around the voters.
Big old Clay is lucky I am not working for the city in any decision-making capacity, because I would tell him to pack up and get out now, and take his collection of gawky hoopster losers with him.
He doesn't want us to have any say in how our money is spent on a team he intends to make all the profits on. A team that hasn't won in years and hasn't played in a championship (losing) in 10 years.
I don't know about you, but I am soooo tired of arrogant, fat, rich, white men stealing the pennies from my pockets to help themselves make even more dollars than they already have.
If this city rolls over for this bogus out-of-towner, we should all go out and each destroy one of Hizzoner Greg's omnipresent parking meters which all but ensure that even local residents will get a parking ticket or two annually to help fill the city's coffers.
All of this in a city that is closing grade schools for alleged lack of funds.
To steal a line from poor, old Nancy Reagan, just say no to this latest in a long line of rapacious sports-team owners who want all the profit without any of the financial risk. We have already bought two stadiums for thuggish billionaires.
Stop now and send Clayton and his minions back to Oklahoma.
In a recent outing here, I mentioned how unsafe my former hometown of Cincinnati is getting and how safe Seattle, despite a recent rash of shootings, still feels in comparison.
One is always happy when one's perceptions and instincts are proved true, even when it is sad stuff like street dangers.
Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company, has released its latest "Most Dangerous City" rankings.
* Seattle came in 109th on the most dangerous list, out of 371 rated municipalities.
* Cincinnati was the 17th-most-dangerous city in the good old U.S. of A.
* Everett came in 88th, and Tacoma, good old Tacoma, is, according to this survey, the 46th-most-dangerous city in the entire country.
* Federal Way came in as the 94th-most-dangerous city; Yakima, the 66th.
The worst city in the country when rapes, murders and other violent crimes are fed to the computer? St. Louis, followed closely by Camden, N.J., the 2005 Biggest Loser.
Crime seems to be up all over the Northwest, except Bellevue, which finished in the top 100 safest cities, but so far it is nothing like the bloody (red states) Midwest.
An Issaquah school bus driver was fired recently for allegedly giving George W. Bush the finger as they waited with a bus full of charges for Bush's motorcade to pass on its way to some $5,000-a-plate dinner on the Eastside. (Bush never comes to Pioneer Square or Westlake to talk to his homies because all of his homies are rich people.)
First of all, many on-scene witnesses said the driver did not give the worst president this country has had in my lifetime the one-fingered salute.
Secondly, Bush himself didn't get the teacher fired. He told former sheriff and current Congressional toady Dave Reichert, who despite protestations of independence has followed the Bush line more than 90 percent of the time in Congressional votes since assuming office a few years ago. Reichert took it upon himself to call the school district.
Reichert should have better things to do.
And last time I checked, this was still (barely) a free country. I personally know at least 500 people who would love to show Pathetic George their one-fingered review of his horrendous and disastrous six years in office.
Here's hoping the bus driver, guilty or no, gets that job back.
As we used to say in playground basketball back in dangerous old Cincinnati, "no harm, no foul."[[In-content Ad]]
