How long is the Sequim Gazette going to publish?

And if they stop, what will be our daily/weekly paper in Sequim?

40,000 $ oil change

A rich sheikh had his Lamborghini flown thousands of miles from Qatar to Britain and back - just so he could have the supercar's oil changed.

The anonymous resident had the £190,000 car put on a scheduled Qatar Airways flight from the Gulf nation to London's Heathrow Airport and had it sent straight back after the routine check, the Sun reports. The entire operation is thought to have set the sheikh back around £20,000.

It seems likely that the unusual move will spark concern among environmentalists. "This car doesn’t have a carbon footprint – more of a crater," one worker at the airport told the newspaper. An annoyed cargo handler added: "It would have been far more efficient to fly mechanics out there."

Also expressing her concern, Jenny Evans at anti-aviation lobbyists Plane Stupid said that the five-figure oil check "horrifies me", and Richard Dyer at Friends of the Earth branded the sheikh's behaviour "ludicrous".

The anonymous - and very rich - Qatari did win support from David Price at Lamborghini Club UK, however. "If an owner wants to service his car in that way, it is his choice," he said.

"I'm not surprised. Thankfully the age of excess in some areas continues."

Source: The Sun

-

Drawing a ray gun............

A 13-year-old boy has been suspended for three days by an Arizona public
school because he sketched a picture that resembled a gun, something
school officials said they "absolutely" believed could pose a threat.

According to a report by KPHO-TV in Phoenix, it's not the type of
greeting the Mosteller family expected when they moved from Colorado
Springs to Chandler, Ariz., a few weeks ago.

"My son is a very good boy," Paul Mosteller told the television station.
"He doesn't get into trouble. There was nothing on the paper that would
signify that it was a threat of any form."

The principal at Payne Junior High School kept the actual drawing, and
officials with the Chandler Unified School District declined to release
any information about the situation.

"Federal privacy law forbids the school or district from discussing
student discipline," the station was told.

Mosteller said her son was just idly drawing pictures, and ended up with
a fake laser.

"He was just basically doodling and not thinking a lot about it," she
said. "We're not advocates for guns. We don't have guns in our home. We
don't promote the use of guns. My son was just basically doodling on a
piece of paper."

School officials who initially banned the student for five days lowered
the penalty to three days after discussing the situation with the boy's
father.

"I just can't believe that there wasn't another way to resolve this,"
Mosteller told the Associated Press. "He's so upset. The school made him
feel like he committed a crime. They are doing more damage than good."

The drawing did not show blood or bullets. Nor did it show injuries or
target anyone, the Mostellers said. It just resembled a gun.

Terry Locke, a spokesman for the district, told the AP the sketch was
"absolutely considered a threat," and threatening words or pictures are
punishable.

However, the school failed to contact police, and failed to provide
counseling or an evaluation for the student to determine if he intended
it as a threat, officials said.

The student's father, Ben Mosteller, said school officials told him how
serious they considered the situation, and discussed the 1999 massacre
at Colorado's Columbine High School, where two teens shot and killed 12
students and a teacher, and injured dozens more.

That, he said, was extreme and offensive. The family already has
contacted the district's governing board about the incident.

The station said it checked the rules students must follow at school,
and found there's nothing in a portion of the student handbook that
addresses conduct to indicate the drawing of a weapon poses threat.

Participants in a local newspaper forum were irritated.

"If school officials believed this to be a threat, they are in violation
of state law by failing to make a police report. Suspend them," said
"Bobo A."

"This once great land of ours (now someone else's) gets SICKER by the
day. Not the year, not the month, not the week, but by the DAY. Dennis
Prager asked a very interesting question: How did the "Greatest
Generation" give birth to the "Most Stupid Generation?" (my
paraphrase)," added "loamy l."

Prager, a WND columnist, recently reported on the case in McMinnville,
Ore., where students created something called "slap butt day" at Patton
Middle School.

He reported that on one such day in February, "Two boys tore down the
hall of Patton Middle School after lunch, swatting the bottoms of girls
as they ran – what some kids later said was a common form of greeting.
But bottom-slapping is against policy in McMinnville Public Schools. So
a teacher's aide sent the gawky seventh-graders to the office, where the
vice principal and a police officer stationed at the school soon
interrogated them."

The students were read their Miranda rights and hauled in handcuffs to
jail, where they spent the next five days.

All because the Yamhill County district attorney, Bradley Berry, brought
felony sex charges against the two boys. When he finally explained
himself under pressure from the media, Berry told the Oregonian, "From
our perspective and the perspective of the victims, this was not just
horseplay."

But Prager reported the girls, in fact, did regard it as horseplay. And
they claimed from virtually the outset that they had been pressured into
making a case against the boys.

"Our beloved country is flipping out. The effects of The Age of
Stupidity ushered in during the '60s and '70s are omnipresent. It is
highly doubtful that there is a living member of the World War II
generation who could have imagined that seventh-graders would one day be
brought in shackles into an American courtroom for playfully swatting a
girl's buttocks," Prager wrote.
--
*Thomas J. Pitre*
* Thomas Pitre Associates**
* "Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear
bright until you hear them speak. "
http://tpitre.nikola.com*
* Voicemail: 360 775 2434

OUR WEB SITE IS DOWN

Choices and Voices web site is down. GoDaddy dropped the ball and didn't do what they were asked to do and paid to do...namely, transfer my domain registration. They SUCK.

I will be using this BLOG, henceforth. -tp.

I want to be known as a Sequimarian...

T. Pitre, Sequimarian said...

I prefer to be known as a Sequimarian, rather than a Sequimite or Sequimer. Sequimarian has a more elegant tone to it than something that approaches another name for a member of the isoptera insect family.

Sequimarian approaches Centarian, which I hope to be someday. It is also near to librarian, which also has a more elegant sound to it. Not to forget the Bostonian, or the Bostonian Librarian, for that matter.

The suffix, "ian" means: related to or resembling, and we -- as residents, certainly are related to Sequim.

Regarding bike racks. Excellent idea, along with areas marked for scooters, electric cycles, electric trikes, etc.

There is never enough room in front of or adjacent to store fronts. I've been waiting for the BENCHES that someone suggested some time ago. It's nice to walk downtown, but if there is no place to sit, then it's a problem, like Las Vegas, because they want you inside, sucking up smoke and dropping quarters in their slot machines.

I hope we can have a shaded walk, with tulips planted in brick planters that serve as benches. Boulder has had this in their downtown core for years, and it is one of the most "walker" and people-friendly towns I've ever been in.

Let's set our goals a little higher for the downtown core. A little piece at a time is less costly, but the little piece at a time approach has not worked in so many ways. I'm referring to our lime green crosswalks, the Texas cattle guard "gate" at the W. end of town, planters in the middle of the road, cut-outs, high plants blocking views on major roads, no turn lanes, etc., etc. All these were attempts to control traffic, beautify the core, but failed in so many ways. Do it right the first time, I hope.

T. Pitre
Sequimarian
8:22 PM

No Thanks to Thanksgiving

By Robert Jensen, AlterNet. Posted November 23, 2006.

One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.

In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas.

http://www.alternet.org/stories/44661/

3-1-1

WASHINGTON, D.C. Passengers can greatly affect their experience at the airport by preparing in advance. This includes: Packing liquids, gels and aerosols in checked baggage whenever possible, using 3-1-1 for carry-ons, arriving early and ensuring they are not traveling with prohibited items.

For individuals who must carry liquids, gels and aerosols through the security checkpoint, it's as easy as 3-1-1.

• All liquids, gels and aerosols must be placed in a 3 ounce or smaller container.
• These containers must be placed in a 1 quart, clear, plastic, zip-top bag.
• 1 bag per passenger placed in a plastic bin for screening.

http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=161&z=1