Liberal Guilt in Action

Posted on April 12, 2006 by Phil Kadath

From the “Land of Forgotten Links” files

And there it was, last Thursday, another installment of the “You’re Could Be A Racist” guilt trip article series from the Seattle Times.

Stain of racism still haunts Seattle neighborhoods

The language of segregation still haunts Seattle. It lurks in the property deeds of thousands of homeowners living in neighborhoods outside of the Central and International districts. Many Queen Anne residents, for instance, have this clause in their deeds: “No person or persons of Asiatic, African or Negro blood, lineage, or extraction shall be permitted to occupy a portion of said property … ”

Racial restrictions were routinely added to deeds prior to 1948 and in many neighborhoods prohibited the sale, rental or use of property by Asian Americans and Jews as well as blacks. These covenants have not been legally binding for half a century, but they are an important reminder of deep patterns of residential segregation that have not entirely disappeared.

What do they mean “Not Entirely Disappeared”? Seattle is one of the most diverse cities on the whole damn planet. I’ve lived in the area for the majority of my whole life and I cannot think of one neighborhood that isn’t “Racially Mixed”.

But no, instead of celebrating how far forward we’ve come in “Neighborhood Diversity”, something anyone who wanted to walk through any neighborhood in Seattle would see, James N. Gregory wants to do nothing but fret and focus on the past and use someone’s racism from almost 60 years ago as a crudgel to tell them “You’re not diverse enough yet for me!”

Some people’s children. I bet this guy has a quota system too.

Posted in Color me confused, Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | Leave a comment

The Dilliyo

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Phil Kadath

While I spent a couple days of last week talking about getting a commuter truck, things happened, which were poorly explained yesterday. I got emails from folks wanting to see a build up of a 22R who were a bit disappointed in my vehicular purchase over the weekend.

So let me fill you in on what the deal is with me buying Grimm.

In late 2004 / early 2005 I started up a series called ‘By Ourselves, For Ourselves’. If you scroll down the sidebar to the ‘Categories’ section, you’ll see that particular category about halfway down the list. In that series, I posted about things you may want to think about having should the ‘S’ hit the ‘H’.

I am, by no means, an expert in this type of thing. I hold no degrees in whatever you want to call SHTF-ness, I’m just a practical pessimist; I hope for the best and plan for the worst and overplan like a mo-fo.

I don’t remember what natural disater started me on that series, but I made the case that no matter what happens, I’m not going to be waiting around for the government to cover mine and my household’s collective asses.

Then, about six months after my last post in the series, we all watched Katrina hit. Geez, ya think that maybe those of us taking part in the discussion were right to not trust the local, state and fed gov’ts? While my focus in the series started out as an ode to hunkering down, mostly because that is something you can easily set your domicile up for, I did get into ‘What if you HAVE to leave’ ideas.

And that leads me to this weekend’s vehicle purchase. In this post, I lay out my personal specs for a SHTF vehicle: Four wheel drive, Reliability, Cargo capacity, Parts commonality, etc. Grimm fits all of those specs. In fact, the only one that I mentioned in the posts that he doesn’t fit is miserly fuel usage. He gets around 12mpg, but I’m getting that covered and I’ll post on that in the near future.

When I first started looking for a commuter truck a few weeks back, one of the items I would buy was the local ‘Truck Trader’ magazine and look to see what the prices were for the truck I was looking for. Afterwards, I still had this magazine full of used trucks for sale lying around the house. You could say that it ended up in ‘The Throne Room’ as reading material, and that is when I started to look at full sized trucks, figuring out what I would like to pick up as a SHTF vehicle in the future. When I saw the prices for what I’d need, the words “Near” and “Future” weren’t good friends. I was looking at late 2007 as a purchase date.

Around this time, Rivrdog and I got into an email discussion on the subject of SHTF vehicles. We were talking about ‘quick-go’ vehicles, so that if you have to go, you can be on the roads before they get too atrocious. While everyone is running around trying to get their stuff together and packed, you could have a cargo box with all your stuff pre-packed in it ready to load and go.

Since I work in the construction debris hauling business, I’ve seen items like this hook lift set-up, except built for 1-Ton medium duty trucks and I showed it to Rivrdog. He mentioned that the same thing could be done with a standard 8ft camper. While it may not be as fast as the hook lifts (under 5 minutes to off-load the standard bed/load the cargo box), it will be under 20 minutes, if you know what you’re doing.

My initial plan for a SHTF vehcile was to gather two or three 4WD Toyotas, either SR5 trucks or 4-Runners. OffRoad capability, miserly fuel usage and parts commonality were my main reasons for that, but the problem was: What would happen if someone couldn’t make it?

I’ve got friends that know my place is the meeting point in most situations, but what if they couldn’t get to my place? I’m not going to leave an entire vehicle, gassed up and ready to go, but I don’t want to wait for a couple hours for a third driver. Also, keeping a vehicle, or small fleet of them, as in my case, ready to go like that takes away some of it’s day to day functionality.

So I went looking for a full size vehicle, with 4WD, heavy cargo capacity and large fuel tanks. Enter, Grimm.

Actually, his fuel capacity currently extends to about 250 miles right now, which is pitiful. Even my F150 will get me from Seattle to Missoula, MT on one tank of gas. But I have a plan to fix that. More tomorrow.

But other than that, well, and a camper, Grimm fits the bill. While he could use a few things (mostly psuedo luxury items, like an intermittent setting on the wiper switch, because I’ve been spoiled for too long) he needs nothing. And for the price, which I will be letting go of next Monday, it was just too good of a deal to pass up

I will be getting my Toyota commuter truck in the future, it’ll just be late summer instead of early summer. Big whup.

And it’ll make a damn nice scout vehicle that could be towed behind Grimm to ‘The Spot’.

Posted in By Ourselves, For Ourselves | 8 Comments

A Conversation

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Phil Kadath

With a typical Seattlite on the subject of Suburban Sprawl

From the “Land of the Forgotten Links” files

Seattlite: Sprawl is bad! The wetlands need to be protected and people need to quit living near them!

Suburbanite: OK. Well, I’d love to  live in Seattle but it’s so expensive to live there.

Seattlite: You’re just going to have to demand that your employer pay you more for the same amount of work so that you can afford to live here because sprawl is bad. Organize a union at your work.

Suburbanite: OK. Where in Seattle should I move to?

Seattlite: Anywhere you want, but preferably close enough for you to walk or bike to work because even buses cause Global Warming, and that is even more bad than sprawl.

Suburbanite: OK. Well, I work right downtown, but there aren’t alot of vacancies near there.

Seattlite: That doesn’t matter. Get into a bidding war for the next available condo in Bell Town!

Suburbanite: Actually, a friend of my boss’ is a realestate developer who is thinking of building a 600 foot tall condo building down there. Maybe I could get a deal by getting in early?

Seattlite: 600ft? No! He shouldn’t do that! That should be illegal!

Suburbanite: Why?

Seattlite: Because it’ll block my view.

That is a very real conversation that has been taking place in Seattle since the mid-80’s. In 1989, Seattle voters approved a 540 foot height cap on buildings in downtown Seattle. It was advertized as “Keeping Seattle Livable” because some folks thought that even though a bunch of tall buildings look nice from a distance, the street level ambiance was atrocious.

And so housing costs skyrocketed, and all the new immigrants to Seattle moved into the burbs. And while the prices for real estate in the rest of the area went into the stratosphere, they rarely if ever exceeded the costs for space in downtown.

But finally, last week, the Seattle City Council paved the way to dump those restrictions.

17 years of foolishness for nothing but a view.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | Leave a comment

Mwahahahaha?

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Phil Kadath

  

Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif” style=’color:black; font-size: 14pt;’>  You Are 80% Evil 

 

   

   

You are very evil. And you’re too evil to care.
  Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.   

  

I think I’m questioning this quiz a bit.

One of the questions asked if “You’ve fired a gun. And liked it.”

Despite what the Brady Bunch think, you don’t need to be evil like firing guns.

Posted in Color me confused | 2 Comments

A Funny Thing Happened

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Phil Kadath

On my way to the Toyota truck of my want.

In the midst of my posts last week talking about the Toyota commuter truck I wanted, one of my co-workers, Don, rolled into work in one of these

enlarge_7.jpg

I stole that pic from the Dodge website, but it is an exact match for his new one, almost down to the horse trailer.

Now, being that I work with a bunch of men who drive trucks for a living, when something like that rolls into the parking lot, we all have to go take a look. I think it’s a law, or something?

After we’re done looking at it, I ask him what the fate of his old horse hauler was, as I was planning on buying a full size hauling truck in the future since my F150 is the definition of “Light Duty Truck”. He replies that that is a very good question because his wife went along with the deal on the Dodge providing that he got rid of all of his other trucks lighter duty than the Dodge.

We hymm and haww for a minute, and he gives me his best price. I agree that it is the best price I’ve ever heard for a truck like his and readily accept. I won’t reveal that price at this time, and this is why:

I think everyone has passed up on a deal and then spent a good deal of time afterwards kicking themselves in the ass for not taking it. Well folks, the price was that good. I also accepted a price that good on something else that Don had in his driveway. When I take delivery of that, probably this upcoming weekend, I will reveal both prices.

So now, I would like you to meet the new edition to the Analog Automotive Family.

His name is Grimm.

Grimm.JPG

Grimm is a 1977 Ford F250 4×4. He is powered by a 351M (known as the ‘Modified’ or ‘Michigan’ 351) which transfers it’s power into a C6 auto transmission and he rides on a factory ‘Highboy’ suspension.

Grimm has a ding here and some mild body cancer there, but they’re in the bed and totally repairable. He will not win any beauty contests, but he is a solid SOB and works like a truck is supposed to: just turn the engine over and away he goes.

As with most things automotive, I have an ulterior motive in buying Grimm. I will reveal that, as well some of the upgrades I have in store (and will blog the installation of here), later this week.

Don is also selling two other mid-70’s Ford trucks; one F150 and one F250. Both of them are two-wheel drive standard cabs and both are going for prices that, if I had more room, I’d snatch up in a heartbeat. If you’re in or near the Seattle/Tacoma area and want to make a deal, leave a comment here with a good email addy and I’ll fill you in.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for a drive.

Posted in Kewel! | 10 Comments

Into the Belly of the Beast

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Alaska

This morning, we’re scheduled to depart London’s Waterloo Station on the Eurostar train through the Channel Tunnel.

Waterloo.jpg     Eurostar Waterloo.jpg

The Eurostar will take just two-and-a-half hours to deposit us in Paris. We’ll arrive Monday afternoon. At the time I wrote this (Thursday, April 6), it appeared that the protesters were going to take a break for the Easter week and give the government until April 17th to repeal or modify the law that’s giving the snotty non-Muslim French students and their unionized parents such fits. So we may not see any violence.

The effect of the law will be to instantly swell the entry-level labor market with a bunch of Muslim youths who, their affinity for burning cars aside, have made it clear all along that they are not content with sitting on their asses soaking up French welfare, but in fact are desperate to work. The new law’s probably an indirect attack on union dues income, too, although I last studied French politics in 1988, so I don’t know that for certain.

lazy frog.jpg

Anyway, if the lazy frogs erupt in protest while we’re sipping a beverage in a Parisian cafe, we’ll be sure to get photos like good tourists. I’ll count myself successful if I can get a closeup or two of a crowd-control water cannon.

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Because They Support the Troops

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Phil Kadath

From the ‘Land of Forgotten Links’ files: 

Seattle moonbats are out gathering signatures to put a citywide Citizens Initiative on the ballot in November that would ban military recuiters from city schools.

Well, actually, it won’t. Because the city doesn’t want to lose their federal money for the schools, they will ignore the outcome of this initiative altogether. The city regularly ignores the votes of the citizenry anyway, so this will just be one that they can chalk up to common sense.

But that isn’t stopping the initiative’s backers or the signature gatherers,

A group of anti-war activists wants a citywide vote this fall on whether military recruiters should be allowed on Seattle city property and in schools.

Recruiters will have the same access regardless of the outcome. Schools risk losing federal funds if they don’t let recruiters in, and the city allows recruiters in public places as part of their right to free speech.

So the proposed College Not Combat Initiative, I-86, would be largely symbolic. Organizers say it’s a chance for Seattle to go on record against the war in Iraq, a step toward outlawing recruiters and an opportunity for an important discussion.

“It will send a broad message in the city about the war,” said School Board member Sally Soriano. “We’re using the ‘College Not Combat’ term so that our children won’t feel like joining the military is the only way for them to get a post-secondary education.”

(snip)

“It’s important to remember that the military is a viable option for some students, and I’m not sure that the school district or the city should be put in the position of deciding what students should or should not hear,” said Holly Ferguson, a Seattle School District attorney.

If you click on the link you’ll see a survey window just inside the right hand margin. It currently stand at a 70% ‘Yes’ vote for the recuiters to stay in the schools. Even adding the 20% ‘No’ vote and the 10% ‘Yes on city property but not in schools’ vote percentage together, the ‘Yes’ folks are still winning by more than a 2 to 1 margin.

While not at all scientific, I think the left’s ‘symbolic vote against the war’ will disappoint them come November.

Posted in Academia and Other Nonsense, The Left is Never Right | Leave a comment

I just can’t figure out

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Phil Kadath

Why the Seattle Times went through the trouble of importing this article from the LA Times.

It couldn’t be bias, right?

Border battle is taking toll on desert’s wildlife

Mountains of trash, recurring fires, despoiled natural springs, vandalized historic sites and disappearing wildlife are part of the devastating toll that the government’s running battle with smugglers and migrants is taking on national parks and wildlife refuges along the U.S. border with Mexico.

In southern Arizona, the damage extends to American Indian and private land, jeopardizing a broad expanse of the Sonoran Desert.

At Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, 2 ½ million pounds of garbage is scattered through broad valleys and desert arroyos every year, according to Roger DiRosa, the refuge manager. Officials with the U.S. Border Patrol say the refuge’s seven mountain ranges — home to bighorn sheep and a prized destination for wilderness hikers — now serve as posts for lookouts who use night-vision equipment to track Border Patrol movements. Mountain peaks conceal clandestine radio repeating stations. Illegal “ghost roads” carved by smugglers and pursuing federal agents crisscross Cabeza Prieta and nearby Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

(snip)

On a recent tour of the damage, DiRosa, who manages Cabeza Prieta for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, steered his truck toward the Growler Mountains, making slow headway through what used to be fertile desert topsoil. A constant stream of vehicles has pulverized the sand into a fine powder that DiRosa and other federal land managers call “moon dust.”

Did you catch the pro-illegal immigrant bent in the first paragraph?

According to Julie Cart of the LA Times, it is the government’s attempts to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficing that is destroying this environment. If they would just stop partolling, the illegals and smugglers wouldn’t have to use these areas.

Must be why the enviro-weenies aren’t out there protesting.

Posted in Color me confused, Order of the imperial upraised middle finger., Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Have A Go

Posted on April 9, 2006 by Phil Kadath

The surprise is now at Casa de Analog. I do also have a second surprise, but due to space issues, the reveal on that will have to wait until after next weekend (that is one hint).

But I promised more than one hint yesterday, and so here you go.

P4080001A.JPG

That is pretty much the actual size of the jpg, so you can click on it if’n you want to, but I doubt it will reveal much more.

The Analog Wife said that that was a pretty sorry hint picture and suggested that I wasn’t being fair. After a few harumphs, I conceeded and made this one as well.

P4080001B.JPG

That is also an actual size jpeg.

I’m sure you’ll get it with the second one, and go ahead and leave your guesses in the comments if you feel like it.

The grand reveal will be tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll be playing with my new toy.

Posted in Kewel! | 7 Comments

Irony

Posted on April 9, 2006 by Alaska

We had an excellent flight from SFO to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic. 747s are big!

So I’m watching the flight monitor map on the seatback LCD screen (645 mph ground speed, -70 F outside at 32000 feet) instead of a movie, ’cause I’m geeky like that. I get all excited because we’re flying directly over the Wallowa Valley in Oregon, which is where I think I’d like to move to in the next 10 years. Then I get even more excited as I see a suspiciously familiar-looking lake ahead. Sure enough, we flew DIRECTLY OVER Orofino, Idaho. Had I been on the left side of the plane, I could have pointed out the Boomershoot location (except that it was very cloudy).

Oh well. A few minutes later the clouds cleared and I could see Kalispell. That looks like a verykewl place, being right at the foot of a snowcapped wall of mountains (the same reason I like theWallowa Valley). Made a mental note to explore it later.

Of course, the free London paper (the Independent) provided on the plane had a blaring headline about bird flu having been found in the UK. The writeup (with graphics, charts, sidebars) was intelligent, complete and as informative as one could want. Puts US papers to shame. Had I not prepared by packing our N95 masks and Tamiflu, I might be scared!

 

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