The Political Desk - Advisory Votes: Whole Lotta Nothing

We have FIVE Advisory Votes on the ballot, which are the result of our badly-sprained initiative process. These are tax measures with have been approved by the legislature, but due to our system, now have to be brought before the people. BUT they are just advisory, which means that they really don’t mean squat – they at best can provide cover for the politicians who voted with the people, or allow a claim of personal heroism for those that voted against it.

Further, all of them take the following format: “The legislature eliminated/extended, without a vote of the people, [some loophole or special consideration], costing approximately [large sum of money] in the first ten years  (so divide that number by 10, which makes it less large) , for government spending.” That is pretty scary language to say – We did “THIS” which will bring in “THIS MUCH MONEY” for the budget and probably doesn't affect you directly.

And the thing is, almost all these things are extensions of existing taxes or eliminations of loopholes. But due to our TOTAL FREAKOUT about anything that even smells of taxes, they are referred to as “a new tax”, which they really aren’t. And then we ask you, the voters to Maintain or Repeal this “new tax”

Let me get to the quick of it. If you hate taxes in any form, under any definition, against anybody, and want a magic pony that you don’t have to feed or clean up after, you should vote to repeal all of these. If you feel this process is more than a little broken, but want to keep them from looking in your pocket for more operating revenues, vote to MAINTAIN these decisions.

And, if you want to know what you are voting on, here’s the deal.

Advisory Vote No. 3 (Substitute Senate Bill 5444) eliminates a tax credit for taxpayers who lease publicly-held property.

Advisory Vote No. 4 (Senate Bill 5627) -  CREATES an excise tax on commuter air carriers instead of a property tax. (Does this mean they are no longer paying property taxes? Is this a tax change as opposed to a tax increase or maybe a tax shift or a tax polymorph?)

Advisory Vote No. 5 (Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1846) extends an insurance premium tax for some insurance on pediatric oral services (Braces? Surgery? The little toothbrushes they put in the bag?)

Advisory Vote No. 6 (Second Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1971) eliminates a retail tax exemption on certain telephone and telecommunications systems.

Advisory Vote No. 7 (Engrossed House Bill 2075) extends an estate tax on certain high-valued property.

You see part of the problem here as well. CERTAIN properties? SOME insurance? Which ones? The Voters’ Guide is unclear, as the law does not require explanatory statements or arguments for or against. It does give us a list of how these votes originally passed, and to be frank, there are not any that are even close. (and most of the guys I’ve endorsed in the past have voted Yea on these, so since I PUT these guys in charge to do exactly these votes, I'm going to support them).

I’m going for MAINTAIN on these non-binding bits of political theater, but I do want to know more about the Second Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1971 (to see if it includes candlestick phones). But that’s just me.

The Political Desk - I-522: What's in Your Shopping Cart?

 I don’t fear GMOs, but by the same token, I’d like them to be labeled. Let me explain.

The most expensive initiative on the ballot, in terms of how much money people are willing to spend to stop it, I-522 requires we label food that is genetically modified. This is more than just Mendelian crossbreeding, but getting into the heart of the matter and throwing a gene into the genetic chain that might improve yield, or extend shelf-life or act as a naturally-growing pesticide. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. Yes, you can throw that factoid out in the next dinner party. 

And to be honest, this is a pretty cool thing on the face of it. March of science and all that. My friend Wolfgang Baur has provided links from the American Academy of Science (the guys who publish SCIENCE, and usually part of the calm voice of reason) that indicate that GMO crossbreeds are generally as safe as normal crops. Of course, given what we’ve done with our normal crops over the years, that is praising with faint damns (we wash our fruit these days, but more from the concern of pesticides and chemicals than dirt and debris).

But I am still in favor of labels. Why? I’d like the data. I DO read the nutritional information on my multiple attempts to cut calories. I read them to make sure that there are no eggs (the Lovely Bride is allergic) or are free of MSG (gives the mom-in-law headaches). Yes, if you’re tweaking the genes, I’d like to know that there's a bit of chicken in there BEFORE the Lovely Bride has to hit the ER.

And it is not just me. Japan suspended import of US wheat this summer when some GMO wheat was found in an wheat field in Oregon. They found it when a farmer could not clear the field using Monsanto pesticides, in a bit of irony. So yeah, other people want to read the labels as well.

Both sides are pushing hard on this. I think the pro-labeling side is raising the specter of Frankenfood and the overwhelming pressure from Monsanto, who apparently read about the calorie companies in Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl and said “Yeah, that’s the dystopia WE want!”. Plus, their opponents of the labeling have been hiding their contributions, finally coming out only when the State Attorney General threatened a lawsuit (The big hidden contributors? Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle. So, what ARE in those Fritos?)

But the anti-side is pushing hard that it is a bad law – too many loopholes, not enough definitions, too many corner cases. Fine. Then let’s pass it and you can spend all the money you are currently putting in to defeat it into helping make the law better. Close those loopholes. Tighten up the regulations. It is not like you guys don't have access to the corridors of power or anything. 

I’m going with YES on this one. Not because of any scare tactics, or that Pepsico doesn't want you to know what is in the Doritos, or because Monsanto wants to be a calorie king, but because I want data. I read the box copy, and I vote.

More later,

The Political Desk - I -517: The Initiative Protection Initiative.

In this off-est of off-year elections, we have just two initiatives in the hopper, and one of them is an initiative to make it easier to file initiatives. Yes, it is just as recursive as it sounds.

I-517 is an initiative that will set penalties for interfering with initiative-gatherers, demand that any initiative making getting sufficient support get on the ballot, and extends the initiative-gathering season. To no one’s surprise, this initiative is being fronted by Tim Eyeman’s group, who has made a tidy profit launching initiatives onto the ballot to keep the government from actually governing.

Now, you would think that I would oppose this initiative just on the grounds that Tim Eyeman is behind it (and indeed, this is a reason the anti-campaign uses in their argument in the voter’s pamphlet), but you would be wrong. I think this is the greatest boon to freedom of speech in the face of an increasingly limiting government.

Quite simply, should this pass, we should all become initiative-gatherers. Think of it. Instead of homeless, we have a raft of signature gatherers at every stoplight who could not be moved on. Instead of bringing your muskets to an anti-government rally, you bring clipboards. The Occupy movement passes out brightly-colored vests so that Westlake Center become awash in people signing one another’s’ petitions. And the government Can’t Do A Thing, because initiative-gathering speech is specially-protected speech.

For companies, it is even better. I can’t advertise my smoke-shop near schools, but I can send in a raft of employees into that same space to gather signatures. Strip joints are illegal in many communities, but I can parachute women in bikinis in to put an initiative on the local ballot that allow sexy barista cafes. And, the cool thing is, if we get enough signatures, it is the responsibility of the community to verify all those sigs and put them on the ballot! Free advertising! Genius!

I know, we COULD just stop being so draconian about our normal freedom of speech and freedom of association to allow people actually, you know, speak and congregate, but that is so old-school. With the I-517 hack in place, we will be up to our armpits in clipboards and vests, each one pushing its own agenda, and once we get corporate sponsorship (since that’s part of the initiative process already (thank you Citizen United)), we can all turn into our own initiative mavens. I’m thinking of hiring all my unemployed writer friends as signature gatherers for I-522, sponsored by Monsanto.

We the People become We the Petitioners! Brilliant!

(And yeah, the above is all sarcasm.  Let us have a good chuckle, then vote NO on this foolishness).

More later

The Political Desk – Winter is Coming.

I suppose I should be relieved by how quiet the political desk is this year. I think we’re due, after everything last year. No president, no senators, no reps, no judges, no governor, no state offices, no statehouse. A lot of positions that are open are either unopposed (King County Sheriff) or blowout (Dow Constantine). Even the “hottest” race in the area, the Mayor of Seattle, has turned into a snooze between a liberal populist mayor and his liberal populist opponent over who is less confrontational. But this is the new Secretary of State’s first big election (stepping into the shoes of Sam Reid), and we should ease her into it. It should be a breeze, right?

Well, there are some things. Two initiatives, a bagful of meaningless referendums, four seats on the port authority, the odd-numbered provinces in King County.  Water and medical districts. And one unholy mess down in Kent, where I now LIVE, and therefore should address (hey, don’t blame me, I didn’t move there – I was adopted).  So there are things to discuss. And as always, I don’t make endorsements in races without opponents, and I encourage people seeking more information to follow links to other peoples’ recommendations as well. The more conservative Seattle Times editorial pages are here (they have yet to gather their endorsements in one spot [UPDATE: Here they are]). The more liberal Stranger recommendations are here (and are about as NSFW as usual). The Muni League is here. I will be disagreeing with some/most of their collective conclusions as we move forward. But I want you guys to have a broad base of opinions.

OK, here goes. If you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, you might want to take a break from the blog for the next week or so. More, as they say, later. 

Foreign Translations

Regardez! Un livre!

So I don't make a lot of noise about this, but I've been cleaning out my Archive Room for the past few years. Actually calling it the Archive is a rounding up a bit - it is the small room in the basement where I've been stashing all the extra copies of games, author copies of books, long boxes of old comics, and other material that, back east, would end up in the attic or the basement. Seattle architecture has neither, ergo, the Archive Room.

And Anne Trent has been gracious enough to be my ebay mistress on this, organizing and selling off not only my stuff, but that belonging to Stan! as well through the Stannexmart. And she's been doing pretty well, and I haven't been that pushy about promoting it, since I just want to get old games and books into the hands of people who would want them, not because they are collectible or are from "The collection of Jeff Grubb" (note, on Anne's page, if there is a J (or JG) after the title, it is from my stuff, if there is an S (or an S!) it from "The collection of Stan!).

But she's hit a bit of a rock in moving some of the old books, and I want to help. Said rock is in the department of foreign translations of my books.

Over time I've gotten English-language author copies for my books, which is cool and mandated in the contracts. But also I on occasion get foreign translations. These have usually been in drips and drabs, without rhyme or reason, and usually consisted of an email or phone call from the editing department to the effect of "yeah, we're cleaning out the library up here - would you like a couple copies?" And they themselves get copies of the translations at rates that vary from prompt to glacial, so books that were in print years before would suddenly show up.

And these copies found their way into the Archives, and now find their way onto Ebay.

I don't read the various languages these are translated into, and only with Anne's aid do I know know that Azure Bonds, the first novel from Kate and I, was retitled "The Swordswoman" and "Revealing the Mysterious Symbols" in Japanese. I did know that the original book was broken into two smaller paperbacks, in keeping with Japanese novels, and that parts were illustrated. And I lThe Brothers' War - Bruderkrieg, though the massive tome is beyond me.
oved the name of the German edition of

The thing is, in the states, at least, these things ARE collectible, in that there are far fewer copies of Bruderkrieg, or Le Chant des Saurials floating around than of The Brother's War and The Song of the Saurials. And if you actually can read them, then that's just a bonus.

And, of course, you help clear out my Archive Room (now if I can only get rid of 90 longboxes of unsorted comics, I'll be in business).

More later,

Play: Mystery Science Theater 1750

Yale Repertory Theatre's production of The Servant of Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni, adapted by Constance Congdon, from a translation by Christina Sibul, directed by Christopher Bayes, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Through October 20th.

Yale? Yale? We're hauling the Rep from Yale out here to do plays? Fine. Insert the traditional mope about using local talent (of which there is SOME representation) at this point of the review and we'll just move on.

The Servant of Two Masters is a play from the smack-middle of the 18th Century, adapted by Constance Congdon, who previously had done the Imaginary Invalid a few seasons back. And the play itself pulls from the commedia dell'arte which started in 1500s, which was more improvisational and lusty. And while there is improv rolling through this production, it is really more of a localizing as opposed to modernizing the classic - there are bits that refer to localities and current politics and using "Microsoft" as a running gag. The self-commentary feels like Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo are providing a second audio track. The result feels like a shadow of a shadow, its farce and lechery, while definitely present, boiled out just a bit for the provincials.

Here is Truffaldino (a free-associating Steven Epp), who is a fool who picks up two masters thinking it would involve getting two meals, and not realizing it involved twice as much work and twice as much intrigue to mess up. He is the servant of Beatrice (a stunning Liz Wisan) , who is travelling in the disguise of her late brother, which Truffaldino does not realize (he is apparently a new hire). Beatrice is seeking to reunite with her lover Florindo (a hilariously vain Jesse J. Perez), who killed Beatrice's brother (the matter that Beatice's loyalty is to Florindo as opposed to her brother is not questioned, though made more clear if you check out the wiki, but you really don't need to). Truffaldino becomes Floridino's servant as well, which leads to whackiness and whacking with the slap-stick when anyone else leaves messages for Truffaldino's master and he cannot parse which one he supposed to give it to.

Further, Beatrice's late brother was engaged to be married to Clarice (a Carol Burnettish Adina Verson), who is the daughter of Beatrice's late brother's business partner Pantalone (a rubber-jointed Allen Gilmore). In the wake of Beatrice's brother's death, Clarice is now set to marry Silvio (the baby-faced Eugene Ma), and the reappearance of the supposedly dead man upsets their plans, along with the plans of Floridino, who is afraid he did not kill Beatrice's brother after all. Oh, yeah, and Beatrice and Floridino are staying at the same inn, run by Brighella (Liam Craig), and Truffaldino has to keep them appart.

Confused? Well, many of the actors are wearing half-masks, because they are stock characters. Pantalone is an old man, equal parts miser and harsh but loving father. Truffaldino is in motley and wears a fool's mask. Brigella and Il Dottore (Allen Gali) are masked as well, and if you were your typical 16th century Italian, you would recognize them as easily as a cheesehead would target a Packers fan. Again, knowledge of where these guys are coming from doesn't hurt, particularly as their actions often come from their assigned roles as opposed to the evolution of the plot.

Oddly, the piece that sets the scene - two workers talking in mock-Italian about the old theater, that creates a sense of wonder that the rest of the play only aspires to at the very end. The workers find an old costume chest, and open it, and fireflies come out, dancing the darkness and joining with the stars to create a magical scene. Only at the end, when both sets of lovers are united (yeah, spoilers), so we get back to that bit of stagecraft and the sense of wonder that theater can present.

So the improv isn't fully improv and the text is localized as opposed to being modernized. The simple fact with such a play is that your enjoyment is connected to the sense of fun the actors are playing with it. They wander back and forth from recognizing they are in a play and dealing with the play's reality - the fourth wall isn't so much a wall as it is a window. Epp has to sell a number of goals for Truffaldino - desire to get fed, passion for Clarice's maid (Julie Briskman, previously in The Beard of Avon), and the need to avoid discovery, so he often comes off as patchwork as his outfit. Liz Wisan acquits nicely in the breeches role, though a lot of her moves consist of exasperation at her servant. And Allen Gilmore steals the bulk of his scenes with an athleticism that belies his role as both old man and stern father.

But you know, just roll with it. It works out. It is a play that is entirely driven by the performance level of its actors. If they have fun, you have fun, and for this Sunday matinee performance, they looked like they were having fun.

More later,

Star Wars! (Nothing but Star Wars!)

This Saturday is Star Wars Reads Day, and I will be celebrating with an appearance at the University Bookstore up in the U-District, starting at 6 PM. I will join noted Star Wars memorabilia collector Gus Lopez, and look forward to finding out if my "Revenge of the Jedi" button is worth anything. Plus: Stormtroopers! (Or so I have been told). Looking forward to it!

More later

Meanwhile, In Pittsburgh ...

A giant rubber duck has appeared in Pittsburgh. Nope, not making this up.

Photo by Dave DiCello. Duck by Florentjin Hofman

More later,

A Grand Old Time

So this past weekend I went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the Grandcon Convention. Also attending were some other old-school designers, like old friends Ed Greenwood, Tracy and Laura Hickman, and Steven Schend, who is currently a native of this fine community located in western Michigan.

Grandcon was a first-year convention, and I had ridden enough badly-planned convention-bombs down to keep my expectations low (I'm looking at YOU, Alabama). I should not have worried, save for a couple minor hiccups, the convention went very, very well, and the con organizers, Brian Lenz and Marc Specter, were brilliant in both their organization and their ability to adjust to the situation. The convention space was intimate (the Prince Conference Center at Calvin College), but did not feel overly crowded, and the house was reported to me as being in the area of twelve-hundred attendees.

It has been years and years since I have attended a small convention out of town, and I as such I noticed the changes in the types of games played. Ten years ago everyone was playing the latest OGL/OSR/D&D version. Fifteen years ago it was everyone's CCG. Now it is board games that are the cutting edge shown at these conventions. Over the course of the weekend Ed, Steven and I were running games of Lords of Waterdeep for charity, which, I can safely say, stands up to repeated games in its versatility. I also got to play games ranging from prototype (Council) to seeking funding (Cardomancer) to published (Fleet).

I also had the chance to play Sojourner's Tales, and very intuitive and rather brilliant game by Tracy and Laura (Kickstarter still on, and it has made its goals, but still worth checking out). Trace has for years worked on various projects linking the versatility of storytelling with the mechanics of a game, and I think he's got it this time. The game has a board and counters that encourage player competition, is coupled with a overarching story that all players co-operate in. The cool thing is, the story can be changed by downloads to your kindle or electronic device. So you can play a fantasy version (our prototype), then switch out to an SF game or a steampunk version or a holiday version just by changing downloads. This is a cool concept and worth checking out.

Grand Old Men - Me, Steven, Ed, Tracy

Ed, Trace, Steven and I gave two, two-hour panels on worldbuilding, which allowed us the luxury of getting nostalgic about old games, systems, worlds, and novels. And of course, since we've known each other for years, there was an easy give and take in the discussion.

Tracy and Laura also ran their famous "Killer Breakfast" on Sunday morning. I've helped out with this at the dawn of time, holding up signs for the crowd at GenCon, but in the years (decades) since, Trace and Laura have refined it to a multimedia experience, complete with pre-game announcements (starring three of the fours Hickman kids) and musical sing-alongs (gamer versions of the songs from Les Mis, and I discovered that I can cover the material about as well as Russel Crowe). A fine time was had by all.

Ed, Karen, Myself - Nothing But Trouble

For me, this was a chance to see old friends. I haven't had a chance to hang out with the gang in a Real-Life format for practically forever, and the small-con atmosphere gave us time to catch up, since we were not all running around doing events. I got go for a walk with Trace and Laura. I got to visit Steven's house and his lovely wife and fine children. I roomed with Ed, so I have attained my minimum yearly requirements for smutty innuendo. And I also got to see Eric Boyd, a great Realms loremaster from the past. And most of all, Karen Conlin came up for a few days. Those deeply engaged in the Realms will remember her as Karen Boomgarden, the master editrix responsible for the first grey-box Forgotten Realms set that Ed and I created (and who is now one of the masterminds over at Grammargeddon). Yes, it was old-home week up there, and we had a delightful time.

The con organizers were also good enough to set up evening meals for the guests, since the seminary college didn't have a lot of restaurant/bar options ("What do you MEAN there's no bar?") As a result, much alcohol was consumed off-campus, and I got to talk to a bunch of OTHER people, including retailers and other young board-game designers, and got to listen to stories from the guest artists, including Bill Stout, which really, really impressed me (I have some of his art books down in my library) .

Of the area itself, I quickly got used to the the Michigan Uey - where you don't make the left turn at the intersection, but rather overshoot the intersection, then turn around and hit it from the other side, making it a right turn. We also got the chance to see some of  ArtPrize, a huge collection of exhibition and installations which dominates downtown Grand Rapids. In general, it felt like Austin with more acceptable weather (OK, and snowplows, but they didn't need them when I was there).

I had a great time, though when I got back Monday (leaving at oh-ghod-early for Gerald R Ford International with a commuter flight to Detroit), I was glad to see the overcast and rain of autumnal Seattle. I drove down to Pike Place Market to get supplies (bread from the Three Sisters, mozzarella from the cheese shop around the corner, and sausage from Uli's, Concord grapes from Frank's) and encountered a bookseller literally singing the praises of Voltaire's Candide. So yeah, it is good to be home as well.

More later,

Past, Present, Future

You know, it's been a long time since I've mentioned my Star Wars novel, Scourge, on this blog. Have you missed it? I know I have.

In any event, Star Wars-Union has just released an interview they did with me, in German and English, talking about Scourge (released in Germany as Die Geißel), RPG influences, and the elevator pitch for the unlikely-to-be-published Autobiography of Jar Jar Binks. 

Plus, on Saturday, October 5th, I will be at the University Bookstore for Star Wars Reads day, with Gus Lopez and stormtroopers. (Yes, stormtroopers!)

And as a bonus, bouncing around the Internets this morning is a link to an ancient site where the writer visited TSR in Lake Geneva, and I did the tour and had lunch with him. This is the Internet version of your old high school photos turning up (I am there, without a beard, much thinner and younger, and wearing a tie (a thin, white, leather tie, but a tie nonetheless)!

None of this should push down on my the page the fact I will be leaving for Grand Rapids tomorrow for GrandCon, and looking forward to playing games and kicking back for a few days.

More later,

Convention Schedule

So, as I've mentioned before, I'm going to be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this coming weekend for Grandcon, with such luminaries as Ed Greenwood, Steven Schend, and Tracy and Laura Hickman. Here's what we will be up to:

World Building Seminar Basic Concepts Pt. 1

You want to build a world for a campaign or a story. Where do you start? Hear how the masters of the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and myriad other settings create their worlds and swap stories from the dawn of gaming.

Friday 10am – 12pm, President's Room

Panelists: Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, Tracy Hickman, & Steven Schend

World Building Seminar Advanced Concepts Pt. 2

World Building Seminar Advanced Concepts Pt. 2 – OK, you have your basic fantasy (or not-so-fantasy) universe. What now? The Elder Gods of the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and other great fantasy universes talk about what happens next and how worlds and campaign settings evolve.

Saturday 1pm – 3pm, President's Room

Panelists: Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, & Steven Schend

Charity Game:  Lords of Waterdeep

Come play the Wizards of the Coast LORDS OF WATERDEEP board game with some of the designers and authors who’ve brought Waterdeep to life in games, comics, and novels!

Friday 3pm – 5pm (Ed Greenwood & Steven Schend)

Friday 6pm  –8pm (Ed Greenwood & Jeff Grubb)

Saturday 10am – 12pm (Ed Greenwood & Steven Schend)

Saturday 3pm – 5pm (Ed Greenwood & Steven Schend)

Saturday 6pm – 8pm (Ed Greenwood & Jeff Grubb)

Sunday 10am – 12pm (Ed Greenwood & Steven Schend)

Dogwood Room

Killer Breakfast

Just what you need on a Sunday morning - big healthy heaping of roleplaying mayhem. Tracy Hickman's Killer Breakfasts are the stuff of legends, and this year he is joined by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. TPKs! They aren't just for breakfast anymore, but we serve them up hot here!

Sunday 8am - 10 am, Willow Room

Plus, of course, we'll be hanging around, getting underfoot, chewing the fat about the bad old days, and taking in Grand Rapids Art Fair, so look us up!

More later, 

Light Blog-Keeping

So, I've done a little housekeeping here at Grubb Street. No, not on the appearance - it is just as clunky and old-school as the day I made it, and I am still hoping that it will soon slide into the real of kitschy and retro-cool before I have to actually do any real graphic design work on it.

No, I've finally gotten around to updating the blogroll on your right. Dating back to those primeval times when Livejournal was actually a thing, it has been in serious need of an update for some time. Many of the blogs listed have not been updated for months if not years, as their owners switched over to other media such as Facebook or Google+ or simply became confused and wandered off into the sunset. Heck, even the Alliterates site now sends you their Facebook page. So that's gone, and the guys I actually read are folded into the "Friends and Colleagues" heading. So look there for them.

"Stuff I'm Reading" is pretty unchanged, with a couple blogs that have laid fallow for a while removed and one called "What If" by the guy behind the xkcd comic added.

A new, large, category is "Local Media" which summarizes some of the major and minor blogs in the region. As we move towards November, I'm going to be checking out a lot more of these, so these are for my reference more than yours:
    The Seattle Times, also called "Fairview Fannie" (the NYTimes gets "The Grey Lady", which is much cooler), is the surviving daily paper. More conservative than most of its surroundings, it would be considered moderate and mainstream in most other cities. Loves Boeing, Microsoft, the 'Hawks, Soccer, the environment, conservative thought local ownership of the media. Hates unions, Mayor McGinn*. Its political blog is pretty good for baseline information and the conventional wisdom.
    The Stranger, on the other hand, is a foul-mouthed weekly that has through some dire alchemy turned into the better paper for reporting local politics. A good mixture of art and politics, and its multi-contributor blog maintains the writers' unique voices (you can tell Paul Constant from Charles Mudede from Goldy without checking the byline).
   The Seattle P-I used to be the other daily paper in town, more liberal and sensational in its reporting. It is no more, and its website is a shell of its former self. Its political cartoonist, Dave Horsey, known for frequent nudity in his cartoons and winning numerous awards, now works in LA.
   The Seattle Weekly, which pretty much crashed and burned creatively when it was bought by the conservative Village Voice Media (don't let the name fool you), has been making a slow and painstaking recovery under its new management, a Canadian company called Black Press (the owner's name is David Black). Still doesn't endorse candidates, but it is at least paying attention to the decision-making policies.
    Publicola was once independent, but now operates under the purview of the Seattle Met, the local entertainment/food/art magazine for the upscale. It is politely liberal, is stocked with people who used to work for the Stranger, but are not as shouty.
   Crosscut is a bit more growly, and was a place where old Seattlites can kvetch about how good it used to be, and runs articles by former GOP chair Chuck Vance telling the Dems how they should be doing things. Also home for a lot of vets from the media listed above.
   Seattlish is by "three mouthy broads" and is pretty amusing, though I think they are trying to compete with the Stranger at being the most NSFW.
   And lastly, the Kent Reporter, which, like the Renton Reporter and a number of other similar papers in the region, including the Weekly, have been gathered by the Black Press (it sounds like the newsletter for a Space Marine chapter, doesn't it?) under the heading of Sound Publishing. A friend of my mine noted a few weeks ago that it has been caught committing "real journalism" recently as opposed to the local-business friendly announcements of ccout troop meetings and charity car washes normally found in suburban papers. They have been the ones with the most detailed coverage of the recent mess involving the Kent City Council candidate stealing large sums from his own mother, and as a result I am paying more attention.

"Funny Pixels" sees the sunsetting of Superhero Girl (wonderful, done, and now in a collection) and Gutters (OK, on a break, also in collections), but the return of Stan!'s 10' by 10' Toon, plus the addition of Finding Chaos, Questionable Content, and Scandanvia and the World, all of which can be NSFW. Just so you know when you're browsing this at work Monday morning.

And that is about it. I probably should update this more often.

More later,

*Just about every other blog on this list has noted that the Times has engaged in a "organized attack on the mayor", to which the paper responded "We aren't that organized".

The Herbfarm

So as part of this year's birthday activities, the Lovely Bride and I went with our friends Sig and Anne to The Herbfarm up in Woodenville, a nigh-legendary restaurant which offers themed, multi-course meals with seasonal, local produce grown on their farm. The LB first discovered it in an article in the Chicago Tribune, which we then kept dutifully up on our refrigerator for the past 15+ years. And when we finally got a new refrigerator, we made arrangements to go to The Herbfarm. Of course during this interim, the original Herbfarm burned down, the head chef changed, and they went through temporary quarters before settling in Woodenville next to the Red Hook brewery and near the Chateau St. Micheal winery.

But the TL:DR of this tale is that Sig and Anne were wonderful dinner conversation, and we had an incredible time.

The meal itself ran about five hours, with nine courses. Actually, there was a tour beforehand of The Herbfarm's herb local garden, which we caught up with in-process. The Herbfarm itself is part of a complex that includes the Willows resort and the Barking Frog, which is a more traditional restaurant for people who don't have five hours and metric tons of cash and are more comfortable with choices on the menu.

The restaurant specializes in a farm-to-table menu, and runs a number of themes throughout the year, such as a menu that highlights basil, or mushrooms, or potatoes. As I write this, their theme is "Knife, Fork, and Smoke: Fire, Coals, Smoke, and Primitive Cooking", but for for our particular menu they had a culinary challenge - "The 100 Mile Dinner". Everything on the plate had to come from within 100 miles of the chandelier hanging in the dining room.

And this proved to be a bit of a challenge, since common items like pepper and coffee were right out, while the staff made their own salt and baking powder (Well, actually, slateratus, an 18th century precursor. but an improvement over the ground deer antler they had used previously instead of baking powder).

If you think of the Herbfarm as culinary theater you are not far off. After the tour, we were ushered into a intimate, curios-filled dining area with a plethora of tables tucked throughout its expanse. Small framed cards wish Sig and myself our respective happy birthdays. The owner/founder (Ron Zimmerman) speaks on the theme (the other owner/founder, Carrie Van Dyck, I believe gives the garden tour), and hands it off to the head chef (Chris Weber). Each course gets a precis on its origins. The sommelier (Jory Lopaka) speaks about the wine pairings (all within 100 miles, as well). The chefs and waitstaff are introduced. The curtain behind them is pulled back to reveal the kitchen. A classical guitarist (Patricio Contreras) starts to play, and the meal begins (the following menu for that evening is pulled from their website):

Our 1-Mile Farm

Stuffed Zucchini Blossom, 660-Day-Aged Gloucestershire Old Spot Ham, Caramelized Eggplant with Garlic,Wood-Roasted Carrot, Herbfarm Tomatoes, Black Radish, Filet Beans, Young Leek, Wild Native Nodding Onion Vinaigrette.

2009 VENTURI-SCHULZE BRUT NATUREL, VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA

WITH CHOICE OF WILD ELDERBLOSSOM OR STINGING NETTLE ELIXIRS

The World in an Oyster

Baked Oyster, with Scrambled Egg and Lovage.

Borage Stem Noodles, Green Coriander Seed, Oyster Emulsion.

Half-Shell Shigoku Oyster, Green Grape Granité, Tangerine Gem Marigold.

2012 LOPEZ ISLAND ORGANIC ESTATE SIEGERREBE, PUGET SOUND

Salmon Says

British Columbian Kombu Kelp and Smoked-Salmon-Head Soup,

Reef-Netted Lummi Island Sockeye Salmon,

Early Chanterelles, Tokyo Turnip, Sweet Goldenrod.

2009 TILDEO WINERY ESTATE VIOGNIER, LAKE CHELAN

Duck. Grain. Greens.

Pan-Roasted Moulard Duck Breast,

Bluebird Farm Whole Grain Rye Risotto with Fermented Hazelnut & Shiso,

Roasted Gravenstein Apple, Seared Cabbage with Green Juniper Dust.

2009 HOLLYWOOD HILL ESTATE PINOT NOIR, PUGET SOUND

Island Pig

Grilled Lopez Island Pork Shoulder with Globe Basil& Big Leaf Maple Syrup,

La Ratte Mashed and Riesling-Grapeseed-Fried New Potatoes,

Shishito Pepper, Walla Walla Onion, Baby Fennel. Serrata Basil Pesto.

2011 NEFARIOUS CELLARS ESTATE SYRAH, DEFIANCE V., LAKE CHELAN

Foie & Corn Chips

Terrine of Puyallup Valley Foie Gras, Roy's Calais Flint Corn Chips,

Our Honey Imbued with Olympic Peninsula Saffron, Sheep’s Milk Yogurt.

Hyssop Haven

Red Haven Peach Sorbet, Wood-Roasted Peach,

Sparkling Anise Hyssop Soda.

Berry, Bough, Balsamico

Sourdough & Saleratus Waffle, Smoked Lardo, Wild Berries in

Vancouver Island Balsamic Vinegar, Douglas Fir & Cedar-Bough Ice Cream.

Native Beverages, Herbals, and Teas

Leaf Tisanes, Real Teas, Herbal Teas, Native Root and Bark Decotation.

Sweet Bits

Frosted White Currants • Strawberry Mousse with Rose Geranium • Sugar Beet Cake with Lemon Thyme & Blueberries• Salted Caramel in Cinnamon Basil Leaf

SKY RIVER MEAD "SOLAS"

Accompanying Dinner: 

House Churned Holstein Cow Butter •

Metchosin Southern Vancouver Island Red Fife Wheat Sourdough Loaf

The meal is notable for not only its richness but of the individual workmanship of every dish. I was reading a book recently called Consider the Fork, which talks about technology in the kitchen, and it pointed out that in the past, smooth sauces and light foams were highly prized, as they represented the amount of effort that went into preparation. Then, with the Cuisinart in the 80s, we saw an overload of easily-made sauces across the board, and so today the artisinal hand-crafting of individual components, shaped and presented by hand, is a sign of greater effort. And such is the case here - each course is not a thing, but a deliberate selection of a ingredients that, combined, provide a rich experience. The plates are small, succinct, and delicious, and you end the evening not bloated from a surfeit of flesh, but rather satisfied, well-informed, and at rest. That is a great challenge to any meal, and the restaurant lives up to its reputation.

The restaurant is also extremely nimble at responding to dietary restrictions, and will inquire upon making reservations. The LB is allergic to eggs, and Anne to shellfish, so the baked oyster with scrambled egg was referred to at our table as the "spouse-killer". Yet the kitchen responded with replacements that both delighted the women without making them feeling like they were getting lesser meals because of their restrictions.

The pacing was luxurious yet we were never left waiting. Instead, the wine and conversation carried us smoothly through the meal in a relaxed, delightful state. And you cannot rush a meal like this. The duck breast was perfect, the salmon-head soup was comforting, and the foie gras showed ultimate respect for the ingredient (I had tried foie at Canlis, and while good, I wouldn't order it again. This was a magnitude greater). Even the riskier elements (a Doug Fir ice cream, making you feel like you were in an episode of Iron Chef) were measured and inspired a smile at the whimsy as opposed to a cringe at the presumption.

And yes, we were one of the last tables to close, so involved were we in our meals and discussions. On leaving, they presented us with a sample of their hand-made salt. And several days later, we got a thank-you card from one of our servers.

Expensive? Absolutely. Value for the money spent? Definitely. The destination for that perfect evening, or that significant-number birthday or anniversary? Of course. The Herbfarm has developed a great reputation and has lived up to it. Even a month later, I am still remembering the courses and the tastes. A wonderful evening.

More later,

Twelve Years

More later,

Our Gang

No, this is not becoming a Tumblr blog. More later,

Fifty Years Ago

Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963  - Getty Images

More later,

My World and Welcome To It

Playing at the World, by Jon Peterson, Unreason Press, 2012

If you are a roleplayer, or a gaming historian, or a fan of D&D, you have to read this book. That simple.

I don't say that lightly. In fact, the word "lightly" does not apply at all to this volume. It is a massive tome, two and half pounds of paper, exhaustive in its documentation, delving so deep into the weeds that even the author at points mentions that you might want to browse some sections and come back later with a native guide and a machete. It is a text that, having spent the past 9 months reading it, primarily because of its lack of portability, I enthusiastically endorse for the Kindle.

It is the history of roleplaying, from the dawn of time to about fifteen minutes before I showed up for my first GenCon. And it is detailed. Deeply so. This is no memoir of old gaming groups, or paeans to favorite games, or interviews with people twenty after the fact, after age and retellings had rounded the memories to smooth surfaces and convenient conclusion. Peterson uses primary sources of the age, digging through all manner of fanzines and communiques and promotional material to sculpt a reasonable and rational picture of how, through the confluence of a number of talented individuals and different fandoms, Dungeons & Dragons was launched upon the world, and what happened next.

The book is broken down (after an introduction discussing his methodology), into five major sections, the first and the last probably the easiest for readers to swallow, as it deals directly with the historical progress of D&D. The opening section tells the tales of the wargamers of the sixties and the seventies, the fertile soil into which D&D, through the Chainmail fantasy supplement, was first seeded. Here is the Castle and Crusade Society and the International Federation of Wargamers, the first GenCons and FitS, the Dungeon boardgame and the Blackmoor Gazette. It leads up to the spring of 1974 and the publication of three small books in a woodgrain box at the then-outrageous price of ten dollars - Dungeons & Dragons.

The next three sections break down the various components that contributed to the uniqueness and popularity of the game. First the fantasy setting, taking us on a tour through the pulps and weird tales and Tolkien, who was not a foundational author for Gygax, but whose popularity made the game easily understandable, and in reviewing this rich past puzzles out the various classes, monsters, and alignments of the game. Then an analysis of rules, looking at the history of wargames, from German Princes to HG Wells (who I knew about) and Robert Lewis Stevenson (who I did not), and detailing the history of taking and resisting damage. In the final part of this exhaustive middle bit, Peterson deals with the question of immersion, and includes the SCA, role-playing within postal games, the Rommel Syndrome among wargamers, and the almost-was of the original Midgard campaigns.

In the fifth section, all the deep history in place, Mr. Peterson rejoins the narrative of the creation of D&D with its rise to popularity, it conquering of the wargaming field as well as the influence of the science fiction and fantasy community of Southern California. Here appears Lee Gold's excellent Alarums & Excursions, and the schisms between early adopters. And here also appear the challenges that continue to this day - how to deal with others contributing their own creations? How do you maintain canon without sacrificing control?

Lastly, Peterson concludes with a short section that starts with the Satanic Panic of the late seventies and its concern of overwhelming character immersion, and then taking up the computer development of D&D style games, which seeks to create that very sense of other-worldly immersion.

This is a magnum opus, a great book, and one that should be on any respectable gamer's shelves (or in his Kindle). Peterson offers a concise and cogent definition of roleplaying ("A game in which anything may be attempted"), and, without taking sides, clearly defines the roles of the two founders in creation of the game (the short version is that without each other, there would be no D&D - Gygax was the ultimate collaborator while Arneson had the core concepts).

And here's the thing - I'm not in this book. This is before I showed up on the scene. I'm off to side, growing up and playing Diplomacy in Pittsburgh and learning Avalon Hill games before going to Purdue. My first GenCon was at Parkside, which gets a passing mention at the very end of the Epilogue. I not part of the story yet, nor are a lot of the people of my generation of gamers - Steve Winter and Tracy Hickman and Doug Niles. We came on the scene later, after much of the dust had settled and by which time certain things were just not talked about. Fellow former WotCite John Rateliff IS there, but because of his OWN magnum opus, The History of the Hobbit, which Peterson uses when examining the Tolkien/D&D connection.

This is a major historical work, which sets the definitions and discussions for years to come. It is the serious analysis of the history of roleplaying and how all the parts came together. I don't agree with all within, and there are parts where I actually think he needed to talk MORE about, but there are also parts that showed what was happening when I was still growing into this industry. This is very much. "How I Met Your D&D".

Go get it, and make time to read it.

More later,

Guild Wars, Too

It's been a year? Already?

So, we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of Guild War 2's release, and there are a lot of things to note.

The big one is, starting tomorrow, we are running a free weekend. Yep, free. If you've heard the chatter about the game, read the glowing reviews, or had to put up with friends posting beautiful screen shots on their Facebook page, this is the chance to take the game out for a spin.

Secondly, if you've been wondering what we've been up to for the past year, take a look at this fan-made infographic HERE.Yeah, that's a lot of stuff for one year

Thirdly, we can announce that, according to an independent marketing firm, we are the fastest-selling Western MMO in history. That's pretty cool.

Fourthly,Saturday at PAX Prime here in Seattle, we're going to be doing a big party, one which starts in the afternoon with our first invitational tournament and wraps up with a party. Last year's was a complete zoo, so I think we have it under control this time. I think. We ALSO have a lot of the staff speaking at PAX Prime and PAX dev on various subjects.

Fifthly (or Sixthly), we are in the midst of a our "Clockwork Chaos" living story, where the higher-level areas are invaded by the twisted creations of a new big bad, Scarlet Briar.Go have fun!

Lastly, one of the big initiatives we have been undertaking has been launching in China. We are working with a distributor named Kong Zhong, and had a huge success at the big gaming convention, China Joy. Plus, they've put together a web site where a lot of our talent talks about the game, including Ree. Plus they animated everyone, and it's really cute (though be wanted, it is graphics-intensive and sluggish).

Is that enough? Yes, that's enough.

More later,

From Russia with Booze

OK, this looks like a setup for a crime thriller:

Putin and the Russian government are pursuing an actively homophobic agenda. By identifying gay men and women as the enemy, they are propping up their own regime, a time-honored rallying tactic and right out of the brownshirt playbook.

A large number of gay men and women, with local sex columnist Dan Savage in the lead, are in return loudly boycotting Russian vodka. There are a number of Russian vodkas, but the one that everyone knows about is Stolichnaya, or Stoli. Apparently, the boycott is having an effect, since Stoli now says it is not Russian, but Latvian, despite massive marketing about how it is a Russian vodka. Apparently they ARE Russian, but flying the Latvian flag like those supertankers registered in the Grand Caymans to hide from safety inspectors.

Photo by Marcus Yam/Seattle Times.
It's Green! You know, like money!

Now, into Elliot Bay sails the "Super-Yacht" owned by the distributor of Stoli. This is front page news as far as the Seattle Times is concerned, which delivers a fawning fluffer of an article about how wonderful it is to be fabulously wealthy, plus noting that the 50+ staff will bring millions of dollars into the area, and oh, isn't it a pity we have to scare these fragile, precious butterflies away by charging taxes if they stay more than two months.

So, that's the setup. The floating luxury palace is glowing green in the harbor, owned by someone backing a nation denying human rights. I'm seeing a caper film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as ex-alcoholic ex-cop with a beef, and Ellen DeGeneres as the former Microsoft hacker who comes out of retirement for just one more job. And Jerry Seinfeld as Dan Savage. Out in time for SIFF next year. Grab the popcorn.

More later,

Adventure: Not-So-Pulp Tentacles, Part I

Bad Company by Alan Bligh, an adventure from Cthulhu Britannica, from Cubicle 7 Games

You guys know the drill by now - I have a semi-regular Cthulhu group with rotating GMs and various styles of play. My particular gig has been doing the Goodman Games Age of Cthulhu series. But there's been a gap since the last one, so we went afield to a different company, but kept the basic conceits of the team.

And as a digression, yes, we are in a golden age of CoC adventures. There are nearly a dozen companies who are all doing Call of Cthulhu adventures, and they range for OK to excellent. You kids today, you should enjoy all this. And get off my lawn :).

Anyway, my group of investigators is based out of London, the time is eternally 1928, and the crew is your standard Cthulhian motley - The upper class writer, her well-heeled adventuring hero/muse/subject, the archaeology student, the mobster from Chicago, Mr Howell from Gilligan's Island, and the photographer. They have persevered with little in the way of death or SAN loss over the years in the Goodman universe, so a change would be good as a rest.

Cthulhu Britannica consists of five adventures, only two of which are really suitable for the team, as the others deal with later eras and things that would not fly as well in the 1920s. Bad Company, however, was set in Victorian London and transferred rather neatly over to the current milieu.

The short form: The scion of a baronet has gone missing, having fallen under the spell of a mysterious beauty. The investigators are engaged to find the young man, and the search takes them through the darker parts of London before reaching the woman's orgiastic debaucheries on a mansion on the Strand. And of course, the woman is not what she seems, and the spells she weaves are very real.

And we pause here to remind everyone about spoilers, then proceed.

The adventure follows the traditional Cthulhu adventure three-act structure. Act 1 lays out the problem and provides base information, which is usually woefully inadequate regarding the true situation, Act 2 provided a number of leads, which provides the clues that get us to Act 3 and the resolution in madness, gunfire, and cultists, and often all three.

And Bad Company lays it out fairly clearly. The father wants results and no scandal, provides a few initial contacts, and sets them on the path. The middle bit has a wide variety of options, with enough redundancy and blind allies that the players do not have check out every cupboard and washroom to get to the final confrontation. In the case of our regular investigators, they decided to avoid the police investigation entirely (the mobster did not want to bring the cops in), nor did they want to talk to the society gossip (for fear of making themselves targets of scandal themselves), nor the mad artist.

Their final realization of what they were fighting was not from any single encounter in the game, but rather from research at the British Museum, where they made sufficient rolls and I encouraged them to check out the Wikipedia entries. This is something relatively new for me in gaming - the entire team has iPads or computers, so letting them loose on Russian mythology with a couple key words was enough to put them in a good place for the final sequence. This is one of the cool things about running historical adventures in this modern age, by the way (we have to keep the iPads closed at time because the characters would not have that info at hand).

To the GM's delight, the investigators split into two teams, with the writer and the adventurer following the suspect beauty as she went out for the evening, while three others formed the heavy team that intended to raid the house during one of its continual parties, and were prepared for violence.

The team shadowing the beauty had their cover blown and were invited to dine with her (again, a sequence not in the adventure, but easily interpolated), with the results that both fell under her spell (a high POW for a monster makes the resistance table almost unnecessary). The heavy team found monsters in the basement that almost thrashed them entirely, navigated an orgy on the way up, found some more disturbing matters that indicated they had been watched during their earlier investigation, and finally found the lady's lair. Without giving too much away, they solved the problem with fire and bullets, putting the pair who had been dining with the monster at risk in the process.

In short, it was a good deal of fun and creepiness, though it required a bit of coloring outside the lines, which we were prepared for.

The presentation of the adventure was solid, though they suddenly dropped in the section on the Society Gossip who might provide information without any prelude, which was jarring. And while the author is British, I believe, there are some English/American weirdnesses  - the baronet's lawyer would be more properly a solicitor, a baronetcy IS an inherited position (per Wiki), and there is the standard weirdness of naming the floors of structure (American is Basement, First, Second ... British is Basement, Ground, First ..). The adventure does it sometimes one way, and sometimes another, and splits the difference when it comes to describing the maps. This may be an editing or development thing.

The maps work as well, though they don't always tie in with the text, and yeah, if you're going to have a coal furnace, you need a coal chute, and need access from outside to that chute (though you can always note that it is latched from within).

For this group, it was a good change of pace to have their fighting in the Green and Pleasant Land as opposed to going off being explorers of less-civilized areas. The fact they were at home, and were asked to keep a low profile, kept the obvious mayhem at a minimum until the final act.

In short, good foundation, nice flow to the adventure, presented for new players but works best with an experienced and flexible GM. And that's the first adventure in the book.

More later,

Conventions

Much to my own surprise, I will be actually showing up for some conventions in the next month. I am not much of a convention person - I tend to make them local, mostly, and show up when, like a vampire lord, I am invited in. I always have this nagging feeling that I should be working. But here are a few I want to bring to your attention:

Land of the Devs

I am going to be a PaxPrime, August 30 to September 2, mostly as a civilian (I will be helping out with ArenaNet for a few things). As a bonus, I will be part of a panel at PaxDev, which runs before PaxPrime (August 28 and 29). We'll be talking about writing and character building for MMOs, and I will be joined by Daneen McDermott from Tera, Andy Collins from Marvel Heroes, and Corey Herndon from the upcoming Wildstar game. Come check us out if you're part of the PaxDev track.

Grandcon, I say. Grandcon!

And, to my complete shock, , I will be in the midwest September 20-22, for Grandcon. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is new convention, and I've been recruited in part due to the efforts of fellow Ex-TSR creative (and fellow guest) Steven Schend, who now lives in the area. As a bonus, some of the other guests include some old friends I haven't seen in a long while - Tracy and Laura Hickman, and Ed Greenwood (we still chat in email, but it just isn't the same at all).


So yes, I emerge from my lair to actually TALK to people, every so often.

More later,

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh ...

The Andy Warhol Bridge (known to us oldsters as the Seventh Street Bridge) has been yarnbombed.

 My mom tells me about stuff like this. More later.

The Political Desk Is In Apparent Need of an Upgrade

When I was wading through the Voter's Guide earlier this month, I was pretty comfortable that I could understand the choices with the material as presented - candidate statements, supplemented by their own web sites and endorsements and comments from other blogs and services such as the Muni League. Easy-Peasey.

But I've hit a snag once I started talking about the Kent area (my new home town), since the reach of the Muni League, or the larger papers or blogs, doesn't reach this far south. I didn't do as much digging and in not digging further I missed a whopper.

I mean, it sounds weird that in making my recommendations I should have paid attention to arrest reports, but apparently such is the case.

Here's the story: I looked at the candidates for Kent City Council, and went pretty much from their statements and what I could dig up from their own sites. Which was pretty thin on the ground, since only one of them, Bailey Stober, had a functioning website up. So I recommended Mr. Stober, and figured I would learn more about the others (Ken Sharp and Barbara Phillips) later.

And I did learn more about Mr. Sharp I found THIS in the Times this past Saturday morning:

A candidate for the Kent City Council was charged this week with seven counts of first-degree theft for allegedly draining nearly $300,000 from his mother’s bank account and using the money to shore up his failing printing business, according to King County prosecutors.

This is the local equivalent of coming home to find the "60 Minutes" crew setting up in your driveway. There is absolutely no joy for a political candidate in that opening lede. Then it just gets worse:

Charging documents filed Tuesday also suggest that Ken Sharp, 66, used his mother’s money to purchase a $12,000 diamond ring for his third wife and to go on trips to Mazatlan, Mexico, Dubai and Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also accused of taking out a reverse mortgage for nearly $475,000 on his mother’s Tacoma house, the papers say.

The whole Times article is here And while I'd love to ascribe to the local media a hand in covering things up, not rocking the boat, and maintaining the status quo, you can find their much more detailed and slightly less colorful account in the Kent Reporter here, and an article on the initial arrest and investigation from back in July here.

Apparently local politics is a lot more colorful than I had first thought it would be, and this bears further watching. And, sadly, a lot more research on this end.

More later,

The Political Desk: Wrapping Up the Primary

I know what you're thinking - hey, it's Thursday, and the elections were held on Tuesday. where the heck are the results?

Well, we have a thing out here in Washington State where we have mail-in ballots, with the due-date of election day. That means that ballots could be coming in for some time, and close elections may hang fire for a while before being decided. Early margins may close, leads may expand, and all sorts of other things. What this does mean is that the numbers you get on Tuesday night (when the votes that have come in so far are counted) are indicative but by no means decisive.

And I like this system, even though it may mean a lack of completion on election day itself. And because I think it has the advantages of encouraging voting up to the last moment and including more of the population, no doubt someone is out there seeking to change it. Such is the nature of the politics in Wash State.

Anyway, for those paying attention, here are the results so far.

King County Proposition No. 1 Parks Levy - Approved

King County Executive - Dow Constantine, with a massive lead (75% of the vote) over Alan E. Lobdell

Port of Seattle Commissioned Position No. 3 - Stephanie Bowman vs. Michael Wolfe.

City of Kent Council Position No. 6 - Ken Sharp against either Bailey Stober or Barbara Phillips. This is what I am talking about with elections being a waiting game, as all of 44 votes separate Mr. Stober and Ms. Phillipse.

Kent School District No. 415, Director District No.5 -  Bruce Elliot vs Maya Vengadasalam.

On the one I am not voting on (Seattle Mayor), it will be Ed Murray against Mike McGinn. Mr. Murray is the establishment candidate that is running from the outside, and in his victory speech, seeks to bring "both liberals and moderates together", which probably made every conservative west of the Cascades look longingly at Spokane. For his part, Mr. McGinn finished second, which is considered a victory in the crowded field, and is the radical progressive outsider despite being the incumbent.

Pass the popcorn on this one. It's probably going to be the most interesting race of the season.

More later,

The Political Desk Bonus Round: Mayor of Seattle

You'd think with my recommendations posted, I'd be done with this phase of the political season, but the truth is that the largest election that affects me is one I cannot vote on. The City of Seattle dominates the surrounding region, and its decisions affect all the municipalities around it. And yet, through the cruel nature of geography and the drawing of borders, I don't get to vote. However, I do get to kvetch about it, so let me pop up some corn and make myself comfortable.

Way back here, I complained about the lack of Dem challengers in the Burning Lands on the far side of the Cascades. Well, the flip side occurs in Seattle. We have nine candidates, and not a ONE of them would be considered a Republican or even a doctrinal Conservative. We run the gamut from main-line Dems and pro-business Dems to full-fledged Socialists (and I'm talking about real Socialists, none of your namby-pamby "Fox News calls them Socialists because they don't shoot the poor" Socialists). We can make up the Puget Sound version of the Hollywood Squares with the current field, and we couldn't find a single flag-waving, red-meat-eating, bring-God-back-to-Government type to run? I mean, I wouldn't vote for them, but you know, balance.

Anyway, the center square of the Pike Place Squares is current mayor Mike McGinn, and I like him. His public persona is a man on a bike, but he has been pro-transit, pro-environment, pro-labor, aggressive, and progressive. Has fought against the coal trains rolling through downtown. But I have to admit that his best work is when he loses. No, really. He came in on an anti-tunnel platform and then lost, and rather than go hull-down and fighting to the bitter end, he went with the will of the people and helped the project forward. He pitched hard for an NBA franchise, earning a lot of love from the sports community, but that came to naught. And he's been at the center of a Justice-department movement to make our police force just a little bit less midconducty. Yet through it all he's been involved, engaged, and accessible. He's the Maverick Dem, the guy who surprised everyone the first time and has rolled forward since then.

His likely opponent to block (who is ahead of him in the polls) is Ed Murray, former state legislator who bases his appeal on both his ability to work with the Republicans to get a budget in 2011 and his work for Marriage Equality (Mr. Murray will be marrying his partner in August - yeah, imagine doing that before an election in, say, Chicago). He's also spoken out against the proposed coal trains rolling through downtown. He's the party-approved Dem, has a big mittful of endorsements, and I like him. However, for a guy who's campaign is based on playing well with others, the fact that the wheels came off in the 2013 legislature doesn't give him as much traction. 

And here's what makes the campaign interesting: The Seattle Times (paper of record) loves the more establishmentarian Murray and hates the more independent McGinn, who owes them little (they didn't endorse him in either the last election's primary or general elections). The McGinn hate is so much that they will round down on the mayor's accomplishments and promote his flaws. The Stranger (former slackers who woke up after a three-day binge to discover they had real journalistic responsibility) on the other hand, lurvs them some McGinn and, while they don't seem to dislike Murray, they will go out of the way to expose situations where Murray is playing politics-as-usual (Murray's team running a blurb that makes it seem like the paper supports Murray when in fact they endorsed McGinn or Murray castigating McGinn's involvement in a zoning issue with the non-union Whole Paycheck Foods, when Murray endorsed the same level of involvement earlier). 

Should Mayor McGinn fall off in the Primary (it has happened before - Protests and police riots are to Seattle Mayors like snowstorms are to Chicago Pols in electoral lethality), Murray's opponent would be likely be Peter Steinbrueck, who is pro-neighborhoods, whose father saved Pike Place Market, and who is a proponent of a school of thought you'd call "Lesser Seattle". And I like him. 

Of the others, Bruce Harrell is an eloquent, big-tent, pro-labor Dem, and I like him. Joey Gray comes out of the Occupy movement and Ultimate Frisbee and I like her. Kate Martin is a neighborhood activist whose ideas include turning the old Viaduct into an elevated park, similar to New York's Highline, I think that's a great idea and I like her. Mary Martin declares herself as the Socialist Worker's Party candidate, and has responded to a press question about pets with "The working people don't give a flip whether I have a pet". Needless to say, I like her. 

Charlie Staadecker is the closest thing to an old-school business candidate, reflects a return to Seattle Politeness, is pro-art, positive, and wears a bow tie. I like him (and yes, bow ties are cool). And Douglas McQuaid, who seems to have ended up on the ballot through a wacky clerical mix-up, isn't spending anything on the campaign, but says he is there to show that little guys can run for mayor as well. And I really like him, and he is STILL a better candidate than the guys running against Dow Constantine.

And I think you see the problem here. Each of the candidates has something to recommend themselves. They range from left-of-center to seriously-lefty but all have a similar bag of attitudes, and while the proposals may differ slightly as to the best way forward, the foundation does not. This is not an election to fix the city, or even to find the best way forward. Everyone is pretty happy with the way things are going, and want to keep doing that.

So yeah, we have a Brady Bunch of candidates, none of which promise a sea change in government. I come from Pittsburgh, known for its unlikely mayors (Pete Flaherty, Sofie Masloff, and, yes, even Luke Ravenstahl), so I like my mayors colorful and my city councils competent. So I am recommending Mike McGinn, while recognizing the Ed Murray is extremely good even if the Seattle Times likes him. And if you don't like the process at all - vote Douglas McQuaid, because even the little guy should be able to run for mayor.

More later,