Posted on 05/30/2004 7:57:50 PM PDT by sionnsar
Thirty years ago. Seattle was still a family-oriented town dominated by blue-collar industries and single-family homes. There was a bohemian presence there, but it was mostly limited to the University District and Capitol Hill.
Today the entire city prides itself on its open-mindnesses. Seattle not only tolerates non-conformity, it celebrates it. It is Seattle where a proposed group home for homeless alcoholics would allow them to drink in their rooms. It is Seattle where police were ordered to pull back during WTO, which allowed the streets to be taken over and occupied by tens of thousand of demonstrators. It is Seattle where a man running for mayor got up during a candidate forum wearing a housedress and combat boots and started dancing on a table. It is Seattle where not one politician, progressive pastor or academic has complained about a sign hanging in a storefront on Rainer Avenue urging "Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!" It is Seattle where a militant black Muslim, James Ujaama, who eventually pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, was initially defended by some journalists and civil rights leaders because of his previous community activism.
And feelings matter too. It was in Seattle where County Executive Ron Sims sent out a memo during the holidays asking his employees not to wish each other a "Merry Christmas" because it might inadvertently offend some people.
It doesn't matter how far out your politics, religion or beliefs are, Seattle is committed to fostering respect for all points of view.
Except one.
If you are a supporter of George W. Bush, or a Republican, or even just an old-fashioned, flag-waving patriot, you are not welcome in The Emerald City.
Ken Potts, a veteran of three tours of duty in Vietnam, lives in Seattle's Shoreline area, where his property and truck have been repeatedly vandalized. The reason? He supports George Bush.
His house has been bombarded with eggs, both front and back, his truck scarred with a one-foot scratch. Mail containing left-wing and anti-American literature was sent anonymously to "The Patriot." "I assume," he says, it is because I have a large 'Bush-Cheney' sign on my house. I also have the 101st Airborne Flag on a 25-foot pole during the day, My mail box was also blown up three times last year until I mounted a 20-pound one on a solid steel post cemented into the ground."
When Mr. Potts went to the store to buy something to clean the mess off his house, the cashier, a woman in her 50s, asked about the Bush bumper sticker on his truck, and told him she was a Kerry supporter. She asked why he didn't like Kerry.
"I told her that, since she asked, I did not appreciate him coming back from Vietnam and turning on his brothers still there. She asked what I meant and I told her that I did not appreciate being called a 'war criminal' and a "murderer,' that I was never involved any atrocity, not did I witness such a thing. She then told me that I was in fact a war criminal and murderer and we (troops) were all guilty of atrocities."
When the store manager came over and apologized to him, the cashier yelled at the manager, telling him not to apologize to a murderer for her.
Now if Mr. Potts had been a Muslim cleric or a gay activist and was hounded like this, the city of Seattle, its politicians, pastors and pundits would be all over it. But if the vandalism, property destruction and harassment happens because he supports George Bush, well, that's just mischief.
Interestingly, while this kind of thing goes on in Seattle, there are plenty of Kerry and even some Nader bumper stickers in the supposedly uptight suburbs.
There are two ways to deal with it. The first is to give up and not post a Republican yard sign or a pro-Bush bumper sticker or flag in Seattle. The second is to emulate Mr. Potts. "I was a patriot before it was cool and will remain one until I die. Nobody can intimidate me into taking down my sign or my flag. I earned the right to my opinion and free speech."
Mr. Potts bought a pair of spotlights. One is trained on the Bush-Cheney sign, the other on the Starts and Stripes.
Three words. Good for him.
John Carlson is founder of Washington Policy Center and can be heard daily from 3-6 p.m. [sic] on radio stations KVI-570 [AM]. His column appears every other Sunday. Readers can contact him via e-mail at jcarlsom@fisher[-?]radio.com.
(I know John. Good guy!)
BTTT GREAT ARTICLE JOHN CARLSON! Congratulations on being a delegate Mrs. Lisa Carlson! I was fortunate enough to listen the day John presented this show. I have to say, John has been on an awesome roll lately. Wonderful local stuff and I've even tuned out the seemingly bi-polar Michael Savage whom I previously enjoyed. KVI BUMP
Seattle is an embarrassment. Boeing after moving out and downsizing decided to go right back and award the city with a new contract of planes. That means unions and unions means more demoncrazies. Too bad an earthquake doesn't swallow the city along with San Francisco. WA state would be a lot better off without Seattle. CA would be a lot better off without San Francisco.
good one!
:)
??Lenin???
"Seattle Post-Intelligencer" (what do you have after all intelligence has departed? the "P-U!")
LOL
I think they have been smoking too much of that BC Bud.
I had fun in the time leading up to the primary here, when I'd drive by a group of Kucinich posters each morning on the way to work. They were on the corner of Grand and Morrison, and each morning I'd honk and give 'em the ol' three fingered salute: The big W and a hearty "Four More Years, Baby, Four More Years!" I tell you, it's hard to be worried when the opposition has nothing to offer beyond Kerry, Kucinich and Nader!
Lenin's statue needs some panties on the head.
Seattle is a stupid place.
Don’t worry folks....
They are surrounded by massive military to the west, south and north.
And they're back is up against the mountains with a hoard of gun loving patriotic Americans just past lake Washington all the way up and over the Cascades.
We will keep them enclosed in there decadent liberal babykilling perverted homo city for fear of infecting other parts of the state and the world
:o)
Im not joken
I was there for a year. That place is EXACTLY what liberals are all about: Racism. There ARE few minorities so everyone make a big deal about "protecting" them. But spend 10 minutes and you realize this is tokenism taken to its logical conclusion. These people HATE non-whites worse than the KKK, pray feverently "they" don't move in next-door, then feel guilty. Part of the reason they keep Seattle super expensive is to keep the unwashed masses (i.e. non-whites) out.
Yes, Seattle is the home of Bagdad Jim McDumb-wit, D congressman from the soviet of Seattle. Yes Seattle has a very liberal political bias to it.
However, Seattle is a bit different than most cities.
As someone born and raise in the Puget Sound area, when I was in Chicago a few years back and a policewoman was on the sidewalk looking at people j-walking, I asked if it was OK to cut in the middle of the block if there wasn't any traffic. She looked at me and firmly told me that "she had a real job to do, and it was more important than handing out j-walking tickets." In Seattle, the police hand out lots of j-walking tickets. I would J-walk in NYC, Chicago, SF or a lot of cities, but not in Seattle!
Another episode comes to mind based on your posted story.....It is Seattle where police were ordered to pull back during WTO, which allowed the streets to be taken over and occupied by tens of thousand of demonstrators.
My wife works on Capital Hill and during the WTO riots she was coming home and trying to get on I-5 freeway when the rioters were being driven up from downtown toward Capital Hill. There she was in the middle of the road with rioters come up the entire street toward her in her little car. She was very close to the freeway entrance. She was scared, then all of a sudden she realized that the rioters weren't crossing the street toward her, they had ALL STOPED BECAUSE THE TRAFFIC LIGHT HAD TURNED RED! She ran the red light at the intersection and got onto the freeway before the crowd crossed the street. Only in Seattle!
Don't do it. You'll find yourself a basket case. The article above only scratches the surface.
I moved far away (lived in Seattle for 10+ years). Now I live on the east coast.
I have heard that one can be so open minded as to have their brains fall out or so broad minded that their head is flat.
Thanks for the northwest geographical recommendations, folks.
North Idaho is honestly what got me looking at the NW in the first place. I saw the movie DANTE'S PEAK, and at the beginning when they pulled back on that idyllic little downtown area, I said, "I don't know where that is, but I want to live there." When I saw the lake in front of Grandma's cabin, I stared with my mouth open. I did a lot of research and found that the little town was Wallace, Idaho. Grandma's cabin was in some entirely different area, but still North Idaho. Spectacularly beautiful.
Any certain areas to recommend within North Idaho, TLI?
MM
What sort of stuff would you do if you were Mr. Potts?
Stay Safe !
I can't speak to Oregon's system, but we have this in the Seattle area and I think it's great! Once you know how the numbering system works you can almost always find a house with no information other than its address. We bought a map of the area when we moved here 21 years ago, and didn't buy another until two years ago when we had to doordrop campaign literature in a very rural area (the system can break down when the only access route twists and turns).
Last time I saw it, a few weeks ago, it had a little yellow rubber duckie perched on the cap, and another on the shoes. I gather even the locals (and this district is known for being, um, different...) don't afford it much respect.
LOL! Seattlites are good at that, no? Seattle is also the only place I know where riders routinely thank the bus driver when they disembark. Residuals of an earlier, politer culture?
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