Olympia Time

Turning the corner of the isthmus (Joan's first try)

2009-07-17T08:01:00.001-07:00

For the candidates that are carrying a sort of isthmus vote around with them this year (Amy Tousley on the planning commission, Jeff Kingsbury and Joan Machlis), its probably important to address the vote in a way that puts them past it. Machlis makes a good effort in her piece this morning on growth:

I want to acknowledge that feelings about land use are some of the strongest that emerge at the local government level. I am not satisfied that as a community we have found the best ways to discuss our differences concerning land use. As these differences will continue to occur throughout the community, I will work to improve the public process and the quality of these discussions.

This is the kicker for me:

The Thurston Regional Planning Council estimates that to accommodate 120 units of housing in Downtown with structured parking it takes 1.4 acres, while the same amount of housing would take 11 acres in the South Capitol Neighborhood, 39 acres in a suburban area, and 580 acres in the rural area zoned at 1 unit per five acres.

Its a good explanation of the facts and the dire situation we really are in that forces the kind of hard decisions that Joan and the rest of the council had to make. I'm certainly not proud of the decision, but I supported it, it was the best of a bad situation.

If there's anything wrong with the post, its the formatting. Its on the long side, so changing up the formatting (section headers, bullet points) probably would help the reader slog through the entire piece.

Comment to usopencup.com (citizen media and the USOC)

2009-07-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

My thoughts to here:

I would like the new website to include opportunities for fans around the country to be able to submit their own stories, game coverage, pictures and movies.

This could include a "diary" system that is available through Drupal, Scoop, or a similar content management system. Also, services like Flickr and Youtube include features in which users can organically group pictures and videos together.

I think its vital that grassroots fans have a way to promote and cover the tournament.

By the way, you guys are already doing a great jobs, thanks!

Pat Beehler makes the debate for the organization that already spent $1,347.50 on him

2009-07-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Pat Beehler couldn't show up for the debate hosted by the non-partisan organization. But, heck, the Olympia Master Builders are hosting a forum, hells yes Beehler's showing up!

Oddly, Karen Valenzuela didn't show up to the forum hosted by the organization with closeclose ties to the Building Industry of Washington. In the past few weeks, OMB's political action committee spent $1,347.50 on independent spending for Beehler. Maybe they decided on the spending before the debate, maybe they didn't. Either way, Beehler's their dude, surprised anyone else at all showed up to this one.

Also, funny that Will Stakelin, OMB's and BIAW's man running for the port commission got some pretty neat free exposure by "hosting" the "debate."

And, Beehler's answer on how he'll balance the budget? Literally (I'm not making this up): Magic!

Pat Beehler fails to show up for League televised debate

2009-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Candidate fail:

Olyblog hickup, not Fail

2009-07-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

From Jay Stewart, who knows a thing or two about the back-end of Olyblog (since his business hosts the online community gratis):

All,

DNS server failure forced a reload of software. Backup DNS zone file was out of date with old address. I thought I changed it back, but have apparently used the wrong server address, as it seems to be pointed to Nat's development server.

I will fix this as soon as possible and apologize for problem, this is one of the "loose ends" to re-tie after a system recover as extensive as the one I did this weekend; my bad.

Jay

Thanks Jay!

Honorable mentions of what made me love the US Open Cup

2009-07-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Other things I ran into after David Beckham nudged me back into soccer fandom.

1. Franklin Foer. I accidently picked up his "How soccer explains the world" weeks after Beckham signed to spend some Christmas gift card money. It helped me think of soccer in a much broader sense that I would have otherwise.

2. Tommy Smyth. I watched Beckham's last game at Real Madrid online, and to my memory, Smyth was calling it. He was basically ranting towards the of the game, "They're warriors, they're warriors" about how Real was dragging out the win. Just that emotion turned me more back toward the game.

3. Josh Hakala. He, and a bunch of other guys, does usopencup.com. I can talk about how this site is amazing, but his dedication to the game by doing a site that no one else would do for a job, is priceless. You can put David Faulk's name up there and say the same thing about goalseattle.com too.

4. EPSN Soccernet Podcast (for European soccer) and Kartik Krishnaiyer (for American soccer). I can't say these are the best podcasts or podcasters, but they're damn good and they're the ones that I first discovered and still religiously listen to.

David Beckham made me love the U.S. Open Cup

2009-07-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

If there two opposite poles of American soccer, they are the media circus in 2007 over David Beckham (and this year's) and an early round US Open Cup game between a PDL team and a USL team, neither of whom you actually follow.

But, if David Beckham had not come to the L.A. Galaxy two years ago, I doubt I would have gone up to Bremerton a month or so back to watch the Kitsap Pumas host the Portland Timbers in the first round of the Open Cup.

I'd played soccer and had tried to follow soccer though high school, but the MLS in its early years gave me really nothing to follow. I remember owning a Metrostars t-shirt, but I can't really remember rooting for any particular team. My favorite American player (Alexi Lalas( was on the Revolution, and I thought that team name in particular was pretty contrived. So, aside from the World Cup and whenever I ran across something, I ignored soccer.

And, that continued until Beckham was signed. And then with the help of some internet, and especially a deep online community following the then USL Sounders, I was neck deep in it, and I loved it. It also helped that I got a DVR and an iPod about the same time. I was able to record and watch whatever soccer actually came on my limited dish package and the iPod helped me quickly bone up on what I'd missed over ten years.

I especially gained an appreciation for the U.S. Open Cup. I liked that the Sounders made deep runs their last two years in USL and that is separates soccer from the other major sports in America, making it the most sporting and democratic. Its my hope to attend at least one Open Cup game (or MLS qualifier) a year.

I would have likely followed soccer anyway since the Sounders entered MLS this year. But, my depth of knowledge and appreciation for the entire sport wouldn't have been there without the head start of Beckham.

So, while I hope Beckham leaves MLS for good once the season is over, he did respark my insterest in the sport. And MLS made a lot of money, which is good too.

Does the chairman of the Thurston County Republicans think the President is foreign born?

2009-07-11T13:53:00.001-07:00

Or lied when his campaign supplied a copy of his birth certificate to the media?

That looks like exactly what R. Scott thinks. Surprisingly, for a county organization that once prided itself with not being completely insane, they're new leader wants to advance conspiracy theories rather than talk policy.

Or is that just mainstream Republican thought nowadays?

US Open Cup and citizen journalism

2009-07-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

Jason Davis at Matchfit had a great post letting out a lot of frustration about how the US Open Cup is treated by MLS, USSF and the media in general. I can't speak for MLS or USSF, but the frustration with the media (maybe not Jason's, but the frustration by soccer fans) is I think a bit misplace.

A tweet by Josh Hakala made me think of something this afternoon. For better or for worse, the best website for following the Open Cup is not managed by a large media outfit or USSF, but a bunch of guys that just love the tournament. This is pretty common throughout American soccer, that sites like Goal Seattle and Prost Amerika, while amateur operations, do a much better job than established media.

While in our soccer world, we're complaining about the lack of media attention to our great tournament, tradition media (at least print, but also radio and television) are contracting and limiting their attention.

This isn't really the time for us to expect organizations that are already losing ground to expand coverage to a sport they've never seriously considered in the first place. And, now, the expansion of soccer will most likely be the greatest sport expansion during the citizen journalism era. For a long time, we've known that soccer is the sport of the internet.

While we know this, we've complained that we haven't gotten the attention from traditional media, instead of rejecting that we need the shrinking traditional media and thrown our attention to building our own fan/citizen based media.

So, long story short. I hope the new US Open Cup website has plenty of opportunity for fan input, citizen coverage of games and great community stuff like that.

Local government blogging issues "unresolved"

2009-07-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is way better than "resolved and you better the hell not blog." Ramsey over at the Open Local Gov't Blog:

Last month I had the pleasure of teaching two classes to city officials at the Association of Washington Cities Conference in Spokane. One hot issue raised by the city councilmembers was the use of blogs and Web 2.0 cites. I cautioned against their use because the Public Records Act issues are unresolved.

I might have missed this earlier, but the issues around city and county elected officials blogging (here and here) are far from settled. Which means, of course, that we can find our way out of this box set up by cautious city attorneys. Ramsey is writing the AG's office for their thoughts, but I think there needs to be a legislative fix down the road.

Last (last) word from me on Veldheer, gay rights and OPC

2009-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, now I see what you mean. For OPCers, there is a strong line between church and state:

Thus, it is not only important to distinguish between the institutions of church and state, but the source of each institution's guidance, and the definition of the purposes of each must be identified. It is not even enough to say that the goals of the state are temporal, and of the church eternal. It must be added that the sources of guidance and purposes are dramatically different. The essential interests of one are not the same as those of the other. As our confession defines the purpose of the state: "It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their people" (WCF 23.3). Rulers are not tasked with promoting or enforcing the "true religion." They are called to maintain civil order for all of its citizens, including Muslims, Jews, and atheists; and special revelation commands Christians to support them in this distinct endeavor.

And, more specifically:

Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or, in the least, interfere in the matter so faith. Yet, as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions, without violence or danger. And, as Jesus Christ hath appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth should interfere with, let, or hinder, the due exercise thereof, among the voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession and belief. It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their people, in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretence of religion or of infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury to any other person whatsoever: and to take order, that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or disturbance.

That said, the points of these passages seems to be the protection of the church against state interference. Back in the day, with the Anglican and Catholic churches, there were strong ties between church hierarchy and civil government. A religions like the minority Presbyterians would seem to be interested in either severing these ties or at least ensuring the civil authorities didn't cross the church/state line into the church's authority.

What these don't address is how Presbyterians should behave in the realm of civil government, when they are in fact in charge. I've found at least one area (capital punishment) where the church gives specific instruction of an area of civil government.

Last word on Veldheer, EBO and those Catholic bishops too

2009-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

JLW over at Olyblog has the last good word on Veldheer:

When the Citizens for a Responsive Local Government were considering Karen's candidacy (by the way, she did eventually receive the CRLG's endorsement), we were aware of Karen's religious affiliation, and speculated about whether it would impact policy decisions at the city. So I called her up and asked her about it. She told me that it wouldn't be an issue, that she had no objection to same sex partner benefits. She and I had quite an interesting discussion about faith, and tolerance. Karen strikes me as an honest and genuine person. I trust her. I'm surprised that this is even an issue. Are we afraid that every Catholic politician is going to do his or her best to ban birth control? Are we afraid that Jewish politicians will insist that everyone have a bris? I just don't see any red flags here.

Janet (?) does a much better job explaining than Karen did, but her explanation does open up more questions for me about CRLG's endorsement process. Since it was so early in the season, it would have been great for them to provide the metadata surrounding their suggestions, including this story. They considered a lot of factors, and since their for responsive (and I assume open) city government, more details about what information they gathered would have been great.

Also, just a note to show that even us Catholics have crappy representation in our church hierarchy, just like Karen's church:

The Washington State Catholic Conference (WSCC), which "represents the Catholic Bishops of the State of Washington on issues of public policy", has posted a link to this notice on the main page of their website (hyperlinks are mine).

...

Opposing "unjust discrimination" implies that some discrimination is justified, that it can be just to discriminate. According to the bishops of Washington, it is just to destabilize and undermine LGBT families. The bishops believe it just to disadvantage children by preventing their LGBT parents from protecting them to the fullest extent of the law via domestic partnerships or marriage.

I came here for an argument

2009-07-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to "p-man" on the original Veldheer thread:

M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!

A: Yes it is!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A: No it isn't.

More on Veldheer and the Equal Benefits Ordinance

2009-07-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't go far enough and actually email Karen Veldheer about her views of the EBO, just Rob Richards did just that and got this response:

I believe in the separation of Church and State, and that city ordinances must be supported by elected leaders. I support the City of Olympia’s equal benefits policy. Regarding civil rights for minorities, including GLBT, the State of Washington has over 200 specific rights including many of the rights most important to GLBT which I support as well.

Rob's thought's on her response:

In her answer above, the second sentence, as written, says that she supports the EBO. The first sentence makes me wonder what she means by that. My take on this response is that Veldheer believes that elected officials should uphold the law, the EBO is the law, and so she supports it. The problem I have with that answer is that it doesn’t speak to her personal values around the issue, for instance, would she support repealing it if a campaign were launched to do so? What are her personal experiences around this? I’m left wondering many things.

Rob writes more, so its worth reading his entire post.

I tend to agree with Rob, the answer sounds like one from a person who is trying to balance deeply held religious beliefs with running for office in an extremely liberal town.

And, its not very clear where she actually lands on the issue, just that she supports this particular ordinance because she supports all city ordinances. But, how can that be true? Does she support the city ordinance that allows growth beyond what she feels acceptable, or the ordinance that allowed what happened to her house?

New city council blogging (and general social web) handbook

2009-06-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Walter asks: how do we lash this together, a wiki?

Yes, a wiki on social web guidelines for local elected officials in Washington State.

One more thing about Karen Veldheer

2009-06-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

How weird is it that she links to her family businesses on her campaign website?

Karen Veldheer, orthodox Presbyterian church, and domestic partner benefits

2009-06-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

I don't think there is a huge connection between religion and local politics or partisan politics and local politics (two lenses you could view this post through), but I think there are a few things worth discussing.

Karen Veldheer has twice now sought a seat on the Olympia City Council. Her reason for candidacy has been the hard fought battle against somewhat notorious developer Tri Vo. Her activism in that realm has garnered her support from some pretty important local Democrats.

In her application for now Mayor Doug Mah's council seat last year, she also cited here membership and work with the Reformed Orthodox Presbyterian church, a more conservative version of the church in America founded by John Calvin. In the same application she lists her involvement in the local Christian homeschool organization and her pastor as a reference.

All of these are fine things. Until a few weeks ago I attended church regularly and even volunteered, so I'm not looking down my nose at Karen culturally. I think involvement in a community of faith is an admirable thing.

That said, where does one's faith life leave off and one's civic life begin? Her campaign is built upon her experience with her battle with a developer: environmental protection, consumer protection and responsive government. If you poke around the website of her church, these aren't issues they speak directly to at all.

What they do address are social issues like the rights homosexuals. Which, as you might imagine, they aren't big fans of (here and here).

Pretty direct stuff on that topic:

You see: no special treatment for the homosexual, no concession to any type of sin, but a gospel with such power that members of the early church who had been enslaved to all of these types of sin were delivered from them. Some of them were homosexuals before. But they were no longer such after they were liberated by the Lord Jesus. It is our conviction that this is still true today.

I understand how people in political circles can disagree about some things and come together on other issues. This could be what is going on here with Democrats like Brendan Williams, Karen Fraser, and Sandra Romero among her supporters.

Or, it could be that Karen attends her local church, but firmly disagrees with them on social issues. I can tell you first hand that a lot of Catholics like me disagree pretty firmly with the mother church on social issues.

Either way, there is also a local issue to address here. Where does Veldeer stand on the Equal Benefits Ordinance, which requires city contractors over a certain dollar amount to provide domestic partner benefits? Would she consider it special treatment or a concession to sin?

Olympia has a long tradition or supporting domestic partnerships, being one of the first cities in Washington (over ten years ago now) to start a domestic partner registry. So, while this particular issue may not be front and center right now, mostly because it is so uncontroversial within the city, it is worth asking Veldheer where she stands.

The secret key to why city council members are told not to blog

2009-06-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those annoying people who will always tell elected officials I run into "man, you should blog." Sometimes they shrug me off, but I've had at least two long back and forth conversations with local electeds that got down to specific reasons why they don't blog. Basically, they got advice from their staff lawyer that they shouldn't.

The logic goes that if you blog about what you do as a city councilmember, the computer you blog on and all of the data that touched that blog post is now public. Or, could be public.

Walter Neary, a city council member from Lakewood, who gives a lot of advice like I do (and blogs about it) came across lawyers who gave their chilling advice during a conference:

I spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Association of Washington Cities annual meeting about the use of Twitter, Facebook and blogging to reach our citizens. ... The overall feedback I got afterward is that a lot of people were thankful ...

What got very odd is that four people... warned that these methods could bankrupt a city because of a court ruling involving them. Needless to say, their comments had quite a chilling effect on the discussion. I had to acknowledge their concerns without being familiar with the case.

The case is O'Neil v. Shoreline (here and here), and it involved an email from a city councilmember from a private account that was part of a public records request. They (now) former council member changed parts of the email, and the court ended up ruling that the city was resposible to make sure the email was available in its original form, even if it orginated from a non-city server.

So, lawyers working for cities across Washington State are a conservative bunch, and they don't want to end up costing their boss's any more money than necessary. If a city councilmember is going to start blogging about city business on some outside account, they're likely going to tell that city councilmember that its up to them to defend themselves in court when someone comes making metadata public records requests for their blogging.

I'm going to read the decision later this weekend, so hopefully I can figure out more. But, its ironic that a case that was meant to open the doors of local government is causing legal staff to offer the advice that its best to shut them right back up.

Don't blog, we don't want to get stuck with the legal bill and bancrupt the city when someone comes looking for your home laptop.

Best histories of Olympia, Part 2 (the ones you can read online)

2009-06-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Where the Potholes Are on scribd. This is a personal history Mary Ann Bigelow, and a great one at that. The best part about this book is that it covers in personal detail the portion between about 1920 through 1960s.

There are a lot of well written passages, this is the one that most attracted me:

How does the strangeness wear away and turn into a kind of pride?

Although Bigelow was talking about a much different Olympia, I think this is how newcomers who become long-time residents end up feeling. That Olympia is weird to them at first, but the weird things end up becoming what they're most proud of, in part, because they start to understand the weird things.

Another thing worth noting here is that within a few pages Bigelow talks about how important the train station was in Olympia, and then a few pages later, that Olympia has always needed (and still did need) a railway.

I'll take credit (or blame) for putting this one online. I know you can buy it at the Bigelow house as a fundraiser, but since it isn't in copyright, never was copyrighted and was paid for partly by the city, I felt o.k. scanning and posting it.

Plus, if you want to support the Bigelow house, please, please, please donate.

"The Life of Isaac Stevens (Part 1 and Part 2)" on Google Books. This isn't so much about Olympia, but it includes much of the most researched portions of Olympia's history, the early years around the Indian Wars.

I include it here mostly because if you try to find an original version, good luck. Either you'll pay through the nose or you just won't find one. These online editions are invaluable.

Early History of Thurston County on Google Books. I can't say I've actually read this one, butit appears to be in the same vein as "Where the Potholes Are," a regional history with personal bent.

What I can certainly say about it, is that it provided with me an extremly valuable piece of historic information, the exact location of Gov. Issac Stevens' original office, where he worked in the first year or so after arriving in Olympia.

"What is up with Steve Buxbaum?"

2009-06-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

In a completely innocent context that question was asked of me this morning. In answering I said "seems like a good candidate on paper" (I'm supporting JK btw), but, wow.

Stop being weird Steve Buxbaum (from jusbytheclown.com):

Your opponent should be allowed a photo-op with a clown without you jumping into the picture with your sign and half smile.

Or, is this a case of un-equal time with clowns? The Olympia Clown Guild will take this one up at their next meeting.

"Olympia comes east," not good Walla Walla

2009-06-25T14:36:00.001-07:00

From their Union-Bulletin: Olympia comes east for tour.

They might not have been able to tell, but that was actually a group of legislators not from Olympia and not Olympia itself. I wasn't there, we didn't send a delegation of our city council.

Olympia as "an arm pit," Olympia as a "Best City"

2009-06-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

You can't please everyone and generally speaking you can't please Andy at Thurston Pundits. The same week Olympia celebrates being number 6 on some national list (yawn, I'm so tired of being honored so), Andy rips out with this one:

I avoid Olympia proper as much as I possibly can. I don't shop there and I try to avoid dining there if I can think of an alternative. Why? The place is an arm pit and has become more so in line with the volume of the "We hate America" crowd that infests downtown and nearby areas.

Generally speaking, the reason Olympia gets on certain national lists as being a good place is that its relatively cheap to live here, because of government our employment levels are stable (generally), there is a lot of culture here for the size of the city (thanks to the state government and Evergreen), temperate weather and pretty geography.

The reason Andy hates downtown Olympia is because a lot of liberals hang out down there and there is graffiti. Makes sense to me, people oftentimes make decisions where to be based on politics and how their politics inform their culture.

Far be it from Andy to shop at Einmaleins, that anti-American shop owned by a German! (By the way, that's a joke. In my mind there is no more pro-American shop than Mathias' place.)

Anyway, it makes sense because so many people make the same decisions. Read a great series by the Austin American-Statesmen on the Great Divide phenomena here. Generally speaking, it says people choose where they live by Andy's standards: do you agree with me, do you like the stuff I like.

So, for the very reason Andy hates downtown Olympia, a lot of people simply love it. They love the liberal to radical politics of our geography, they love things like graffiti art (a portion of it is art) and Procession.

The Kiplinger's rating has nothing to do with taste, but rather other, less subjective standards. Other than, I guess, the presence or absence of culture.

All that said, Andy is right. Olympia is a total hole. Crap hole filled with dung heaped with bad food and smelly people. Don't move here. Just send envelopes of cash. Thanks!

Best histories of Olympia, Part 1 (the ones I already wrote about)

2009-06-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is the first part of a series of undermined length about the best written histories of Olympia. This part deals with two books that I've already blogged, so will be really easy for me.

The best, the most complete (up to the 1960s or so) is "Rogues, Buffoons and Statesmen" by Gordon Newell. This is a seriously thick book that covers almost every moment of Olympia's history (from the state government and local perspective) from pioneer days to the 1960s. Of course its incomplete now because its so old now, but still very complete.

The second best book would of course be something that updates RB&S to the current day.

Here's what I wrote about it earlier:

Generally speaking, the books tells the story of Olympia from main street and the Capitol. Gordon was an old time newspaper guy in Olympia, so he had great background for both Olympia scenes. He also lived early enough in Olympia's history that the really old stuff really wasn't that old to him. It is oft-referred to, but seldom seen. There are only six copies in the Timberland system, a few of which don't circulate.

The lack of local library (or even digital editions) is made up by there being a lot of affordable copies online. Right now, Amazon has several copies under $20.

The second is "Confederacy of Ambition." Certainly less of a total history than RB&S, but also deeper (if that's possible). My earlier review.

This book is great because it takes on the glossiness that people put on local history when they're being lazy. Like this:

Washington began as a state founded by optimistic settlers with utopian dreams, and to some degree that sentiment continues resonating.

Uh, no. If William Winlock Miller was the typical settler (and I think he was), he may have been optimistic, but he certainly wasn't utopian. He was a driven, realistic, politically savvy and business focused sort of guy.

Or, more simply, it fills in with personal history the gaps that are left when you do a local history that just names names and takes down dates.

Over at Olyblog: Stonehenge in the roundabout

2009-06-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Given the recent url issues at Olyblog, thought it would be a good idea to link to my stuff over there, just in case you were wondering where it was. This is a post about new art in a nearby (to me) roundabout.

I miss Pat Beehler's old R. Scott centric banner

2009-06-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

When you go to Pat Beehler's website now, you'll see this perfectly acceptable banner that not only features the colors of the American flag, but a picture of Pat himself. Totally professional.

But, you know what I miss?

This:

The original banner, that featured the chair of the county Republicans giving his thumbs up endorsement of Beehler, looking like the dude from Steethawk.

The man... the machine... R. Scott.