Halloween
This is the last entry for the month of October,
in this I ponder a few things including the issues of citizenship and tolerance
and religion. For those who have forgotten or never knew, Halloween has its
roots in the Celtic practice of celebrating the end of the harvest season and a
concurrent belief that on Halloween the spirits of those who have departed mix
freely with those who are still around. Not necessarily a "pagan" belief and
certainly not one which goes against any ancient grain. Personally, I think
Halloween is my second favorite holiday celebration - after Christmas. Mostly
because it's an opportunity to dress the house up, give freely to strangers and
friends, and celebrate the act and art of "being human." There's photos
reflective of Halloween, the last of the reunion trip photos - this time the
Canadian Rockies, and a few left-over photos from late Summer here in Seattle -
photos I had taken immediately before heading for the Carolina coast and
immediately after returning but which I've only recently gotten around to
processing. There's one final exhortation - VOTE.
 Yes,
ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Come round my house for a
treat!Go ahead, I dare you to knock on my
door. I do love little children -
roasted,parboiled, pan-fried, breaded and
deep-fried, even raw, a la
sushi. Two
views of the portal to doom.Wow,
it's Halloween already. This is the start of the holiday season. I subscribe
to the Catholic Church's email service. The Catholic Church has this service
which allows you to be notified one day in advance, via email, about upcoming
religious holidays, saint days, things like Lent and that sort of thing. I
subscribed because I could never personally figure out when Easter came and
figured who would know better what day Easter was on in any given year than the
Catholic Church. So there's no misunderstanding about my theological beliefs, I
was raised Catholic and have long abandonned any organized church and do not
believe in any form of "formal" religion. It's not clear that I even believe in
a god, although I will admit there are a lot of things which the Big Bang cannot
explain (like, what happened BEFORE the Big Bang?). But, barring any empirical
proof that there is a god, I'll believe in Karma and Zen and a few other things
which seem right to me and solidly avoid any doctrine. What bothers me most
about those who follow a particular doctrine is not so much their individual
beliefs, which they are perfectly entitled to have and hold, but rather the
almost universal insistence of so many that if I don't subscribe to their belief
structure or follow their doctrine or tenet that I am "wrong," or a "sinner,"
and someone who is a threat to them.
A point in question being Halloween.
There have been any number of stories about the Southern Baptists and towns
where there are a plurality of them decreeing Halloween to be the work of the
devil and evil, particularly this year since Halloween falls on a Sunday. What
utter hogwash! I received an email from the Catholic Church reminding me of All
Hallows Eve and All Saints Day and the religious commemorations going on in
November. How could this be the work of the devil if the Catholic Church is
announcing Halloween? Why are the religious bigots of this country being
allowed to run amuck? And whatever happened to the separation of Church and
State? If municipalities in the South and Midwest can ban Halloween
observations on a Sunday in "deference" to the local Baptist population, is that
truly a separation of Church and State? I might be able to buy some arguments
with regard to the subscription to local moral standards, but for heaven's sake,
folks, this whole religious bullshit has gone really to far in this country.
And, it starts at the top - Bush, Ashcroft, this jihad against the un-Christian
countries of the Near and Mid-East.
So, for the sake of sanity in America,
think about that angle of politics as well as the issues of invading a sovereign
state and the expenditure of billions of domestic dollars protecting foreign oil
fields when you vote on Tuesday. Think hard about the issues of tolerance and
the proper exercise of sovereign power in our international policies and the
attendant issues of domestic security. Domestic security will be better when
there is less inequality between the various classes and more mobility for those
who are at the bottom end of the ladder. I've never been a huge supporter of
endless taxes to pay for endless social programs but this administration has
gone too far in reducing the support for domestic programs which have been in
place for two or more decades. Particularly those associated with funding
environmental clean-up, environmentally-sound investments and construction, and
such life-critical issues as health care and Social Security. It's a democracy
and assuming that you're not challenged as to your right to vote, your exercise
of that privilege and right guarantees that your voice will be heard. You may
not get the programs or candidates you want but at least you will have chosen to
make your opinion verbal and public. So, vote. You owe it to yourself, to me,
to the fellow citizens of this great country and to our
leaders.Along those lines I've been
interested and impressed with Michael Moore's announcement that he wouldn't
object, nor would his distribution company, to those who digitize and make
available on the internet his controversial movie - "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Obviously he's already made a mint on the theater release of the film and is
reaping rewards now on the DVD release in movie rental stores. So, he has his
money and can allow the illegal distribution - up to but not past November 2.
Clearly he cares enough about what's going on to support a lessening of his own
profit for his exercise of his political voice. Good for him. I had not seen
the movie yet and downloaded the 746 megabyte MPEG2 version and watched it last
night. As anyone who knows me already knows, I was one of the first on my block
to announce that the Republicans stole this election and have stolen the country
since then. So, I was not the least surprised by anything I saw in the movie.
I was impressed that Moore allowed his facts, incontrovertible as they really
are, to allow him to develop a set of implied conclusions. There is, arguably,
some maneuvering room for those who have different conclusions and take the same
facts and weave a different set of implications. However, Moore should be given
credit at least for presenting information and then weaving it together to make
a point. I'm not one of the millions who claim that this isn't a documentary.
I've never seen any documentary which didn't have a point it was making - even
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" wove a conclusion and recommendation. Steinbeck
wrote fiction which was based on fact and presented a different generation with
a set of choices. I don't think that I'm really a fan of Michael Moore but I am
a respectful viewer of what he has produced. His three films ("Roger and Me"
(1989), "Bowling for Columbine" (2002), and "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004)) are all
powerful documentaries with or without personal perspective. They are also
powerful commentaries on contemporary America and whether or not you agree with
the premise, contents and implied conclusions of these films, they still
represent an independent opinion about this country and what ails it and what
might remedy those ailments.On another
line, reaching a different demographic, and putting himself into the same legion
of dissidents is Eminem. His latest video, which was made in concert with his
new album, "Encore" - to be released in November, is entitled "Mosh," and is
also available on the internet for free download. I have previously had a
relatively neutral opinion about Eminem. I'm a supporter of individuals who
make their money as entertainers and who break previously-held rules about
entertainment. Although I may or may not like the particular individual, I'm a
supporter of Cher and her "in your face" style of entertainment. She breaks a
lot of rules but gets her point across and can be entertaining. I'm an equal
fan of Madonna for the same reasons. In that light I have also been a fan of
Eminem. Not because I'm a fan of rap or hip-hop or even because I'm sympathetic
with his message. Mostly I'm a fan because of his brazen "in your face" style
of presentation and his complete disregard for the existing rules and standards.
Art, and entertainment is art, should be allowed pretty nearly complete freedom
of expression. I say pretty nearly because there may be some things I haven't
thought about which I might agree with others went too far, but so far I've not
run across them. Gangsta Rap borders on the obscene in my book and posits ideas
and actions with which I'm in complete disagreement. And, yet, I'm a true
believer in the marketplace of ideas and in the freedoms granted by the First
Amendment. Consequently, even though I may disagree completely with the message
of a lot of Gangsta Rap and the implied actions, I still support the right of
the artists to express themselves in that manner. Is that really any different
than what goes on inside the pages of a huge number of novels published and read
in this country? No, it is not. So, Eminem has produced this long (5:46) video
which is really a Call to Arms for those who follow his music and subscribe to
his philosophies or who are fans of his music. The video is a powerful
expression of anger, angst, frustration, deprivation, wrongful deeds going
unpunished, and the seeming powerlessness of those who are affected to counter
the prevailing thrust of victimization. However, the video - and the rap -
create a themetic which evolves from the angst and frustration to a Call to Arms
which concludes with the act of voting. A more powerful presentation of native
rights Americans have I have not seen. This is a compelling video and will
reach a group who have historically ignored active citizenship. It will present
a lot of ideas and expressions of reality to a generation which has largely been
accused of ignoring empirical reality. It may or may not result in a huge
turnout of youthful voters. It doesn't matter. Here's an artist whose previous
work has been mostly an expression of that same angst, anger, frustration and
victimization but who has evolved himself into a leader with an idea. It's not
a radical idea - in fact it's an ancient idea - the act of citizen
participation. But, from this individual and from a following of his previous
work, this is a departure from the usual and it's a departure with a powerful,
easily accomplished, end point. Get out, vote against what you don't like or
see happening around you. Exercise your right as a citizen of the United
States. Do something.It will be
interesting to see where Eminem goes from here. It's clear he reaches a
generation with his music and rap and it's clear that there are a lot of
individuals in that generation who now have someone they trust and respect who
has given them something to do. Art
does many things for a society. It allows expression of wrongs, it allows
projections of wants and needs, it provides an outlet for idealism and utopian
exposition. It reflects the society from which it arises. It challenges that
same society - often in fact. It is one of the consciences of a society and we
are lucky to live in a broad and diverse enough country that our art is often
beyond compare with that of other countries. I'm not saying that our art is
better than others, I'm saying that American Art, in all its expositions and
expressions and presentations, gives a deep look inside the soul of America.
Ours is about as complex a society as one could imagine. We assimilate the rest
of the world and make it ours. We allow the rest of the world inside and we
export ourselves to the rest of the world. We exchange political, intellectual,
artistic material as freely as a windstorm mixes pollen. We are fortunate
enough, at least a large enough proportion of our society is, to be able to
widely sample those same expressions throughout our society. The information
age has allowed a great many of the citizens of the world to be virtually
present in places they would never be able to actually travel to. Many of us
are evolving into widely tutored students of the thousands of societies extant
on this planet - both contemporary societies and ancient ones. It's really a
great time to be alive if one has a thirst for knowledge or new ideas or the
wealth of old ideas we might never have had the opportunity to explore
previously. In this society and a great many others around us, knowledge really
is power. It's the power of imagination, it's the power of data, it's the power
of congruent threads of exploration leading to new-found knowledge about
old-found questions. It's also a time when more than ever it's important to
have open minds, to be tolerant of new or previously-unknown customs and
practices and beliefs.It's important
that we, as a society, ensure everyone has these opportunities. There's simply
too much at stake to not worry about public access in libraries, internet in
schools, providing the poor and indigent with likewise opportunities of
exploration. We can evolve together by sharing together. We should open our
doors and hallways and back rooms - not close them or make access some kind of
special privilege.We finally had the
celebratory dinner party for the builders and architect. Attending were Todd,
his wife Tanya and son Shadock, Andy, Aaron, Rick, Joe, Lisa and her husband
Grant and their two children India and Gus. I'd expected about twenty since
we'd extended invitations to the engineer, Jim Johnston and his wife, and to
Lisa's office mate, another architect, Tim Rhodes and his wife. Aaron's and
Andy's wives couldn't get away from their jobs (even though it was a Saturday)
and Rick and Joe came single, although we'd expected their girlfriends too.
That being the case, we had tons of leftovers. I'd bought a ten-pound Alaska
King wild and fresh salmon from the West Seattle Fish Market. It had been flown
in Friday morning and dressed in front of me. It was a magnificent fish, about
36-inches long, 8-inches top to bottom, and nearly 5-inches thick minus its
guts. Dressed it weighed 9.6 pounds, and at $12.99 a pound, cost me over $130
with tax. I placed fresh dill weed on the top of both filets, the tail portions
of which I had to cut into separate pieces to fit onto the roasting trays. On
top of the dill I placed a complete cover of thinly-sliced oranges and on top of
that an array of thinly sliced lemons. I baked it for 25 minutes at 350-degrees
and it came out absolutely perfect-o. It was delicious. We have one whole
filet for leftovers and will be dining on that for several days. Cold, cooked
fresh salmon is every bit as delicious as
hot.We also had about 15 pounds of
fresh German-French potato salad. That's easy to make and a really good use of
potatoes. Fry a pound of bacon to perfection, let it dry and then crumble it.
Cook the potatoes just until they're piercable by a knife and then dice into
inch-sized pieces. I did this in three batches of five pounds potatoes each,
mostly because we didn't have anything larger than a two-quart container to hold
the results. Once you dice the potatoes add the bacon crumbs and a dressing
made of three parts olive oil, one part wine vinegar and one part lemon or lime
juice, one part basil or thyme and one part mustard powder. Whisk till it's a
blended dressing and pour that along with the bacon fat on the potatoes and mix
well. Scrumptious potato salad which keeps really for days afterwards if
there's leftovers - in our case there's two two-quart containers. We also had a
fresh salad made of five mixed greens (red-tip, green-tip, romaine, leaf lettuce
and boston lettuce), four colors of diced peppers (orange, red, yellow and
green), mandarin orange slices and sliced red seedless grapes. Vinaigrette
dressing lightly tossed and that too was delicious. For desert I'd made three
chocolate-crust (usual, crush cookies mix with sugar and butter and press into
pie pans - except in this case I'd bought some pre-made Oreo cookie crusts)
key-lime pies. The perfect finish. This is one of those recipes which is
kitchen magic. One can of sweetened condensed milk, three egg yolks (I prefer
to separate using the shells though there are egg separators one can buy),
one-half cup (three large lemons or six large limes) lemon or lime juice. Beat
the yolks, add to the condensed sweetened milk and beat again - hand mixer is
fine. Then add the juice. I used about three-to-two lime and lemon, and then
pour into the crust. I also made meringue out of the whites, adding a pinch of
cream of tartar and about half-a-cup of sugar for 9 whites. Whip them to
hard-peak stage, about 20 minutes with a hand mixer (yes, painful) and then seal
the edges of the pies and heap the rest on the middle and spread out. Bake at
350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the meringue turns a slight brown.
Refrigerate and serve cold. The baking only cooks the meringue, the acid cooks
the egg yolks - denatures them technically. It produces a solid, firm, very
tangy desert and is the only recipe I've ever actually found useful for
sweetened condensed milk - Eagle brand should be available everywhere in the
baking section.We have at least two if
not three additional meals out of this feast. The guests were complimentary,
actually everyone loved everything and they did know beforehand what the menu
was in case there were dietary restrictions. There were none. Most folks got
themselves stuffed. Lisa's kids played in the plenum crawl space (I've placed
some plywood boards inside to give a platform) and found our five-gallon can of
Legos. Todd's son amused himself with Adam's Playstation. The rest of us drank
wine, beer, or coffee and discussed life in general. Nearly everyone stayed
about four hours, we started at 3:00 pm and were pretty much done by 7:30 pm.
It was good to see the "old construction gang" again, this time completely on
their terms and everyone as a guest and not a worker. These are really good
folks and I've genuinely enjoyed their company and learning about their lives
and foibles. It was somewhat like a reunion of old school chums or cousins
since each of us knew a great deal about each other from having worked so
closely for nearly half a year. There were really no secrets. We'd been privy
to a couple domestic issues among the group as well as a school issue associated
with one of the kids. We'd shared some of our domestic issues and issues with
our sons in school. In short, it was a good, friendly, familiar group and the
setting was great - the weather had broken the day before and we had temperate
weather with the sun shining on the Sound. It was also great to invite these
folks into this house, which they'd designed and built, as guests and allow them
to enjoy the freedoms the rooms have provided us and to enjoy the views.
I'm sure I'll be seeing more of a few
of them throughout the coming years. As I said, we've grown accustomed to each
other at this point.Not much else to
report on. I've been encouraged lately by local polls which show the Monorail
Recall initiative will probably fail 55 to 45. If that turns out to be true it
will mean that support of the rapid transit system is actually growing as time
progresses. The last vote, two years ago, was on a total of about 96,800
ballots and Monorail passed by only 887, that made the split 50.009 to 49.991.
So, a ten percent margin for passage this time (actually defeat of the recall
initiative) would show an almost infinite growth of supporters. The past year
has been an active Monorail volunteer effort for me, as all of you know, and if
the margin, indeed, turns out to be this large then my efforts and that of
hundreds of other volunteers will have been truly worth it. Construction is
slated to begin sometime this Winter - probably in
January.Happy Halloween, and
VOTEAnd
now, a few more
pictures.Canadian
Rocky photographs (well, mostly panoramas, but they're STILL
photographs)... Downtown
Jasper, Alberta, on their main street right mid-way through the mile-long strip
of mountaineering, outfitting, recreating and
dining shops. It's about a mile up in
altitude and has incredibly clear air and, of course, is surrounded entirely by
mountains. Opposite
the Canadian National Park System visitor center to Jasper National Park. This
town, along with Banff, exists
entirelywithin the boundaries of a Canadian
National Park. To live in Jasper, or Banff, one must have an actual job within
the townlimits. There are a few other,
smaller, towns inside both Jasper and Banff National Parks where folks can live
without necessarily having to have a job.
The towns, of course, actually predate their enclosure by a National Park and
there'sall sorts of grandfather clauses
associated with both residency and with operating a business or owning
property. Jasper
has a huge railroad yard, it was developed as a railroad town and is at one of
the few crossings of the Canadian Rockies
whichhas been graded to the three-percent
grade which railroads require. There are earlier tales of run-away trains
coming into Jasperand leaving the tracks and
falling down hundreds of feet to the riverbed below (right of picture, below
railroads and in front of
mountain). At
one end of the main street, Connaught Drive, is this monument to the Canadian
National Railway commemorating the historyof
the town and the evolution of travel across Canada and, of course, the
railroad. One
of many overlooks on the Icelands Parkway, the high-mountain road which runs
northeast-southwest and connects the towns of
Jasper and Banff. Glaciers are all around
on the tops of these peaks, average height is over 10,000 with many reaching
12,000. Another
overlook, this time I stepped beyond the guard rail and was standing on a
precipice which dropped nearly a thousand feet
straightinto a riverbed below. Scary but
beautiful. In late summer, past August and into mid-September, this part of
Canada gears itself forWinter and the Summer
tourist trade traffic falls into serious decline. All the better for enjoying
this magnificent part of the world. Nocar
jams on the parkways and no wait at restaurants and in
stores. On
the grounds of the Banff National Park headquarters in Banff. The town is on
either end of the image with the castle-like
headquartersbuilding in the center. This is
across the Bow River from the town and there's a great stone bridge connecting
the two. The famous BanffLodge is off in
the mountains behind the castle. In the Summer, room rates for the Lodge begin
at $1000 for a two-person room. Waytoo
pricey for me but having stayed there once with Katherine, totally beyond
compare in terms of view, service and
comfort. The
wet climate of British Columbia begins almost immediately after one winds down
from the heights of Banff. This is the beginning
of the Pacific Northwest and BC's forests
and mountains are, indeed, magnificent and well cleansed and watered by the
nearly constant mist and rain which comes
from the wet Pacific winds hitting these mountains and dumping their moisture.
Earlier
this Summer, during Seafair's month of August & Bumbershoot's month of
September Apologies
for the strange colors, forgot to set my Canon to "stitch" mode so there's
variable white balance. This is a panorama from
thestreet which lines Smith Cove park, at
the city's Pier 91 marina in Interbay. The ships on the left are from the Naval
Yards at Bremertonand Whidbey Island and are
in town for a week - Fleet Homecoming - part of the month-long Seafair
activities in
Seattle. More
of a wide-angle view of Pier 91 and the three ships the Navy provided for the
Seafair activities. Normally there would also
havebeen an aircraft carrier but because of
the Iraq War activities, much of the fleet was preoccupied. The Navy provides a
hospitalitytent and operates day-long tours
of the ships and a chance to talk with the Naval staff onboard. Lots and lots
of Seattleites turnout for this part of the
events of Seafair and the Fleet Homecoming is one of the city's annual events.
That's West Seattle in thecenter of the
image, across Elliott Bay from Pier 91. The city recently purchased the ground
in this area to create Smith Cove (the
historic name for this section of the Bay) Park.
Also
in Seattle in late Summer is the annual four-day-long music-fest known as
Bumbershoot.Bumbershoot runs the fist week
of September with daily tickets about $16 or $50 for a
four-day ticket. The shows start as early
as 10:00 am and last through midnight on most
daysso for music-lovers and crowd
aficionados it is somewhat of a bargain, especially
consideringthat most of the musical acts are
name brands or local
favorites. Adam
and I also attended the late-night Pixies concert - their first concert after a
long period of not touring. They're down on the
rightamid all the smoke and fury of the
stage. The rest of the Seattle Center arena is in front and to the left with
downtown looming behind and the first
section of the Space Needle rising in the middle behind the stands.
Another
day and another juggler at
Bumbershoot. This
was on the side of a support truck parked outside the Seattle
Centergrounds during Bumbershoot. Wise
Advice, indeed, but does this kindof stuff
go on so often that there needs to be a billboard-sized caution
against
it? Walking
home from Seattle Center after a day of Bumbershoot, we
caughtthis sunset as we were crossing Denny
Way heading south to catch a
bushome. Further
along we caught this reflection of the sunset in the windows lining an alley in
Belltown. Still
later along the downtown waterfront we caught the waning rays
ofthe sun and this gull in a contemplative
mood. Still
further along, past the Aquarium, is a pier with shops and
amusements,we stopped inside to use the
restroom and caught the carousel in
action. On
another day of Bumbershooting we returned home a bit earlier in the day and
walked across the Western Avenue pedestrian
bridge. On the left is downtown, below in
the center, is the tree-lined Alaskan Way and the piers of the harbor. To the
right is theuphill side and leads to Western
Avenue and the southern reaches of Belltown and/or northern reaches of the
Market area, depending on which you prefer
to center your directions on. This is another panorama where I forgot to put
the Canon in "stitch"
mode. Just
below the Western Avenue bridge is Pier 66, one of the
tour-boatmoorages and one of the newer piers
lining the city's waterfront. Nice
sign. Further
south along the waterfront at one of the piers which has been converted into a
seriesof shops and restaurants and looking
back eastward at the
city. Near
the Aquarium is this modernist sculpture of Christopher
Columbus.In 1978 the Italian-American
community presented this gift to the
peopleof Seattle with this inscription:
Memorial
to
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS
In the
Spirit of
all voyagers on the unknown
Sea is
dedicated this symbol of the
discoverer
of America.A fitting tribute, and,
Columbus IS facing west, out toward the Pacific
andcontinuing in the direction of his quest
for the shortest route to the
Orient. This
is the backdrop for Christopher Columbus - the modern city of
Seattle.Exploring
Poulsbo - across the Sound to Bainbridge and across Bainbridge Island to
Poulsbo Aboard
the Bainbridge Island Ferry straight from the Colman Ferry terminal at Marion
Street and Alaskan Way in downtown Seattle.
West Seattle in on the right, Queen Anne
Hill is to the left of downtown, the Space Needle is slightly left of center.
That's a flagpole onthe far
left. Further
out, now past Elliott Bay and in Puget Sound proper. Magnolia is on the far
left and virtually the entire peninsula of West
Seattle can be seen on the right. As much
as the Sound is a prominent feature of the city of Seattle, Seattle is a
prominent featureup and down Puget Sound.
Downtown can be seen from the far side of many of the islands. Seattle's metro
is really Puget Soundand the islands and
western shore peninsulas up to the Olympic Mountains. Seattle can be seen as
far away as Port Townsend,nearly all the way
to the Pacific at the western end of Puget Sound. Folks at Port Townsend
regularly watch the 4th of July
fireworksfrom the Seattle
Center. Along
the beach at Bainbridge State Park on the island. Across the Sound are the
northern suburbs of Seattle and to the right,
thehill rising from the water, is the top of
Magnolia with Ballard and Crown Hill in the center to the right of the two
sailboats. The
southern end of Poulsbo along the main street which is one block from the harbor
and yet another access point to Puget
Sound.The town was originally a Norwegian
settlement for fishermen and loggers. Now it's become one of the Sound's best
tourist towns withlots of unique shops, lots
of good restaurants and hillside and waterside areas with
views. The
northern end of Poulsbo. The town center is about half-a-mile along Front
Street, which faces Liberty Bay, an inlet of Puget
Soundwhich is protected by Bainbridge Island
from any direct and harsh Sound seas. The harbor here is well protected and is
still home toa large fishing fleet, but
these days, home to an even larger pleasure and leisure fleet. There are parks
dedicated to King Olav of Norway and, of
course, to Leif
Ericson. This
city park is on Liberty Bay and the shelter to the left is a music bandshell.
The town center is to the right. This view is
facingdue west across the rest of the Kitsap
Peninsula towards the Olympic Peninsula. What separates these two peninsulas is
HoodCanal, a "canal" because it is unusually
straight and steeply sloped. It is just another deep inlet created by ancient
glaciation andis the "western" large element
of Puget Sound. Unfortunately, Hood Canal is so straight and narrow and deep
with such steepsides that there is not good
water circulation deep inside the cut and at the end of the "canal," there is a
serious oxygen deprivationto the water and a
consequential dearth of species at that end. Take a look at the map below to
get a better picture of the
complicatednature of Puget Sound and the
bizarre nature of the Hood
Canal. There
are lots of US Naval activities in the Puget Sound area in addition to Submarine
Base Bangor. The Navyshipyard is at
Bremerton, home to cruisers and guided missile frigates, there is a Naval Air
Station on WhidbeyIsland and scout plane
facilities elsewhere. The US military is also a steady resident of the lower
Sound area withthe US Army Fort Lewis and US
Air Force McChord AFB just southeast of Tacoma. All of this makes perfect
senseas Puget Sound is a deep-draft natural
harbor and the Pacific Northwest is closest to most places in Asia as
wellas Alaska. Suffice to say that the
Puget Sound area is home to a significant fraction of the Nation's military
might.That is not lost on the liberal
mindset of the Northwest in general and the Seattle metro area in particular,
nor is theirlocation amidst such a liberal
bastion lost to the US military either. It's a good tension, both sides
regularly questioningthe other and requiring
empirical support for political positions.
Parting
shot - so to
speak.... Solar
halo - so often observed here in the Northwest, owing to the
continuous high-altitude moisture present in
the prevailing Pacific
winds.Chas<Last_Reminder>VOTE</Last_Reminder>
Posted: Sun - October 31, 2004 at 08:15 PM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM
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