"Politics as usual" is a phrase that means one thing to a rabid Republican and another thing to a devoted Democrat.
But to those of us who generally gag at the hackneyed expression "public servant," politics as usual simply means another dishonest hack doing what most folks who feel compelled to save us from ourselves, while fattening their egos and wallets, tend to do: waffle while serving their own best interests.
Not long ago, the state's Department of Corrections released more than 80 prisoners, en masse, claiming there was no room at the inn for them. This came not long after three Seattle Police officers met their deaths (within a nine-month period) due to the actions of released felons supposedly under the blind eye of DOC employees.
At the time of the mass release, our esteemed Gov. Gregoire threw a (to me) well-justified hissy fit and put her foot down. No more, she said to the DOC.
I was pleased, but I should have known better.
Last week, the DOC announced conditional releases are once again OK as long as they are not being done to avoid jail overcrowding. Gregoire is, so far, conspicuously silent.
Oh, by the way, of the 82 folks released Feb. 23 from two Seattle jails, 21 had been convicted of assault, three had convictions for rape (something that should have given our pragmatically female governor pause) and one, God help us, for kidnapping.
Who cares if there's a little jail-overcrowding problem? Let out a couple pot salesmen and keep the raypos and kidnappers behind bars.
The outcry at the mass release of violent offenders was statewide and crossed both parties' lines. Enough citizen noise was made that Gregoire responded.
Now, less than a month later, the DOC is up to its old tricks and she ain't stomping her feet. It is an uncommon experience, but I have to say this time I agree with Luke Esser, a Bush supporter for God's sake, and Washington state's Republican Party chairman.
Esser said Gregoire has flip-flopped on the DOC's policies. It is impossible to disagree on this particular issue.
HERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS for the folks running McDonald's, Burger King and their assorted ilk.
A recent University of Washington report notes that one out of every four of the state's eighth-graders is now obese.
Personal computers, cellphones, junk food and an aversion to any exercise more strenuous than looking for the television remote.
It's not all the kids' fault, though. Nearly one-half of the mothers giving birth here in 2003 were overweight or obese before pregnancy, making it that much harder for their future offspring. Plus most of our children attend schools where vending machines sell junk food. And when these not-so-little young'uns roll home, they watch approximately 30,000 television commercials a year pushing candy, fast food and oversugared breakfast cereals.
Even if you are a Scrooge who doesn't like kids, even skinny ones, you should factor in that the annual medical price tag of obese adult folks, because of their lack of exercise and physical health, is an estimated $8.8 billion in medical expenses, workers' compensation claims and diminished productivity. Not to mention the shuddering aesthetic horrors.
The spreading of the chronically inactive, even into childhood, is not a civil rights issue. It is a growing health plague.
A 26-YEAR-OLD MAN who is getting up and about and arguably should have stayed home and eaten a box of Cheez-Its is Tyler Conrad.
Conrad has been charged in connection with the Dec. 30 theft of a palm-sized preserved kidney from The Bodies exhibition at 800 Pike St.
Bodies has engendered quite a bit of controversy over the origins of its Chinese cadavers. The stolen kidney just adds organic fuel to the fire.
The kidney was discovered in a clay pot in Conrad's former bedroom at his mom's house.
Conrad's next court date is set for March 26. He has been released on his own recognizance. Let us hope he isn't stealing any young girl's heart while he awaits his turn at the bar with Lady Justice.
FINALLY, in the category of news that stays news is this quote, more than a century old, from August Bebel: "In time of war the loudest patriots are the greatest profiteers."
Can you say Halliburton? Or underarmored Humvees?
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