Windermere Woodinville Blog

What’s our national pastime?  We’ve got two camps: sports and politics.  You’re either a sports junky or a political junky.  Don’t push me on the relative merits of these preoccupations.  For me, politics doesn’t necessarily win by default.

Sometimes sports and politics merge.  It was a milestone event when Jackie Robinson took the field in a Dodger uniform.

Jackie Robinson made a dual statement. He could steal the hardest base - home - and he could put true meaning into the phrase “national pastime. ” Stealing home plate is the Mount Everest of base running.  But for Robinson, who Gandhi-like took the taunts and slurs of racists fans and players, putting Blacks into the national pastime was an act of remarkable courage.

How could we call baseball the national pastime when racial prejudice barred a large segment of the nation’s best athletes from the major leagues?  We couldn’t.  Baseball, of all institutions that might have taken the lead, moved our nation to improve itself. Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey lead the nation politically.  They didn’t just elevate baseball, they also refined the nation’s racial attitudes. 

For many people Jackie Robinson is more than a sports hero; he’s an American hero.

Another milestone event looms.  How can we call politics our national pastime when racial prejudice bars a large segment of qualified people from the highest office?  We can’t.

Perhaps we will elect Barack Obama president.  If we put Jackie Robinson on the baseball diamond and that transformed our political culture, what does it mean to put Barack Obama in the White House?   As a symbol and force to refine racial attitudes Barack would be Jackie to the 10th power.

Some would say that to see a Black man sitting in Lincoln’s chair would redeem the fratricidal sacrifices of the Civil War. Others might reflect that, at last, the promises of the Constitution have been delivered.  By golly in this country all citizens are created equal. 

The United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, might live up to it’s press notices.  Someone just lit up the Statue of Liberty.  The light signals that the political major leagues are now open to all players.

Barack Obama is just a man.  Milestone figure or not, if he can’t field and hit we’ll find someone who can. Ultimately we do no trust in men.  As all the coins of our realm remind us - “In God we Trust.”  Well, said.

Should the wisdom of the American people elevate a Black senator to the Presidency this will not be the end of racism in America.   Racism didn’t die in baseball when Jackie Robinson took the field.   But Barack Obama’s election will be as it was with Jackie … the beginning of the end.

God bless this country.

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The Washington Realtor News (Nov/Dec 2008) tells us that Washington State stands pretty well on foreclosures in the housing market.  Washington is currently performing 62% better than the national rate.

Even amongst the downturn in the national economy and negative media stories and financial giants folding, Washington State’s housing market is performing well as is our economy, and it’s still a good time to buy for many.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) the current foreclosure rate for Washington State as of June 2008 is 1.04%, whereas nationally it is 2.75%.

Washington ranked 45 in delinquencies and 44 in foreclosures started.

California and Florida are foreclosure heartland.

Eight states stand above national average: CA, FL, AZ, Michigan, RI, Indiana and Ohio.

Seen historically, Washington rates are below our rates from late 2001 through early 2003 when the dot.com industry fell damaging the local economy.

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Something to smile about in Washington State

No income tax

4 major hubs: aerospace/technology/bio-research/medical-well diversified

2 minor hubs: agriculture/military

Entrepreneurial State - lots of small business supporting hubs

Coastline State - Pacific Rim, gateway to global trade

Mountain range - geographical confinement/climate

Desert - climate, don’t need to leave the state to get a different climate

Major rivers - power supply/transportation

Ports - 3 major: Seattle, Tacoma, Everett

Border State - Canadian ally, security

Diverse population - more immigration and migration

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Along the Washington State coast one can still find a piece of the Garden of Eden.  Drive five hours from Seattle toward the setting sun and be rewarded with a view of a shard of paradise.  Out there a golden sliver of the original world still exists. You can experience a piece of heaven, ponder a preserved, portion of the promised land.

If you don’t mind the drive (and who does, really, when you have the Olympics on your shoulder the whole way), you can see the earth as it was intended before the fatal turn.  All this thanks to a benevolent Higher Power and the Quileute Nation.

Of course you have to hit La Push on the “right day.”  Paradise is elusive.  Even the Quileute’s cannot summon it for you with a snap of the fingers.  But at their resort - Hatso-tati - they do their best. 

Luckily for ocean lovers, there are plenty of “right days” on the Quileute reservation.  A sunny October day elevates the spirit in spectacular ways.  No less the foggy morning, the misty night, the breathtaking high swells of Autumn afternoons. 

Visitors have even braved several inches of snow to make that turn at Forks and wake up in the morning with a carpet of white kissing the surf - white meeting white, a black band of sand appearing and disappearing.  Magical.

Listen carefully on the early morning beach.  You might hear the Quileute’s ancestral  men rubbing themselves with nettles and swimming bare-skinned around the perilous rocks in the freezing water … calling the whales.  There are all sorts of sounds you can’t explain on the Quileute Reservation.  The most important of these sounds arises from your heart.  It sings in your chest in greeting to the great watery mother.

If you like ocean, rocks, mist and mood … and can tune in to the spiritual … the Quileute’s have a place they’d like share with you.  They have a piece of paradise.

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Is the long campaign giving you eye strain?

Even the most civic minded citizens grow numb with the long election campaign.   Only the most intense political aficionados - those of the order of the rabid sports fan - want to go on ad nauseam with more debates, more expert views, more advertisements.

We could change the rules to make campaigning shorter, less costly, and more interesting.  Here’s an idea for new campaign rules for the chief executives in our state and federal governments.

There is only a six month window before the election where candidates can campaign.  It’s not a crime or anything to start earlier or campaign longer.  This is America and we cherish freedom of speech. Go ahead and start two-light years away from the election if you must.   But there’s a disincentive. A drawback.

There’s a penalty if a candidate starts earlier with the advertisements, the speeches, the pocket meetings, the mailings, the yard signs, the whistle stop tours. 

The penalty is that their term in office, should they be elected, will be reduced by every day that they conduct campaign activities in excess of the six months.

To avoid running too many elections, the candidate’s opponent in the general election shall finish out a term shortened because of excessive campaigning.

Or if the opponent is not available, the Vice-President or Lieutenant Governor (who should be rested because they normally carry a light load anyway) would finish the term in the top spot.

Wow!  New rules.  Fun rules.  The plot thickens, but it’s mercifully shortened.

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MSN Money reports, on its October 16th website, that American has become a bargain basement for foreign investors.  Consider these real estate related acquisitions

In July, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council bought a 90% stake in New York City’s Chrysler Building for $800 million. The landmark skyscraper, constructed 1928-30, reigned as the world’s tallest building for a few months before losing that title to New York’s iconic Empire State Building.

In what has been billed as the most expensive single-family home sale in America, a 6,000-square foot oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., was sold by Donald Trump earlier this year for $95 million. The buyer was Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, ranked 59th on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest people in the world.

The Canyons Resort, the largest ski area in Utah (and the fourth largest in the U.S.), was sold in July to a subsidiary of Talisker, a Toronto real estate development and investment company, for $123.1 million. Talisker already owns more than 10,000 acres worth of residential developments near the Deer Valley and Park City Mountain resorts in Utah.

Could foreign investors be coming to Woodinville?  Will  MJR be approached by a wealthy Russian/Canadian/Arab who wants to infuse capital into Woodinville Wine Village?  Just a raw, figment of our overheated imaginative and an unsubstantiated speculation from a fevered brain.  Nonetheless, a nice thought.

Hey, Mike and Mike?  Got your ears on out there?

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Economic Insights

It seems like the market is doing something different almost every day now – however there is good news in all of the fluctuations.

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors has stated in his forecast for 2009 that new existing home sales should rise despite economic struggles.

With home prices returning to affordable levels and mortgage rates at historic lows, Yun predicts that the housing market will find the boost it needs. Early evidence of this can be seen in the increase of pending home sales from August – September of 08.

For more general information, Senior Vice President Mark Riepe at the Schwab Center for Financial Research has an article that explains our current situation in historical terms - giving a positive perspective to view our current state of affairs. You can view this article by following the link to http://www.schwabinsights.com/2008_10/economy.html.

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Limited oxygen.

Because of limited oxygen in the market place, we run on skeleton crews and put the rest of us in sleep storage until we reach a better market.

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Here’s a made up story, an apocryphal account of a half-time locker-room speech.  It’s made up fiction.  Here’s how it goes.

Having tried everything to get the Huskies in the win column, Coach Tyrone Willingham decided to have a Washington alum give the half-time pep talk.  Having tried this-and-that and everything in between, the coach had nothing to lose.   Desperation trumped logic.

The scene is the locker-room at Husky stadium. It’s half time.  The players are behind two touch downs and sit with bowed heads, holding helmets between their legs.  The coach introduces the alumni speaker.

“Alright gentlemen, listen up.  This afternoon we have a few words from one of our alumni supporters, Bob Rabidfan.  Bob, it’s all yours.”  A man with gray hair, a large stomach and narrow eyes steps up.

“Thanks, coach.  First off, guys, let’s understand that the Huskies of old didn’t always have a dominating team.   Oh yeah, we’ve had our Rose Bowl runs with Owens and James, but we’ve  never been a USC up here.  Yes, there’s a tradition for winning.  But  the tradition I want to talk to you about - that is  the “brand” of football to which I speak -  is not a win/loss tradition.  It’s a tradition for a style of football.

“It’s a brand and style of which you have no idea.  You don’t have a clue.

“Forget the bowl bids.  All we ask is that you play a brand of football where you can beat anyone in the nation on any given day.   If you can’t have a winning record at least be able to upset someone.

“To your credit, you’re an equal opportunity football team, you lose to good teams and bad.  They talk about saving your reputation by giving your an easier schedule - get rid of the Oklahoma match-ups. Right now I wouldn’t dare put Bellevue High School on your schedule.

“Let me give you the sound that comes out of the true brand of Husky football.  I was on this campus for eight years and watched many Husky games, some of them while I was actually sober.  Sometimes I was so far behind in my studies I had to miss a home game.  I’d bury myself in Suzzalo Library, at sub-level Z in the stacks. In the dusty quiet of that bunker, surrounded by tons of books a sound reaches me.  From way down on the Montlake I would suddenly hear a roar so loud it raised the hair on the back of my neck.

“It wasn’t always the long pass or the break away run that caused the roof to come off this stadium.  The most memorable moments came with the long field goal or the crushing open-field tackle on the opponent’s premier back. God bless the defense.  You need one.

“Let me give you the look that comes with the true, Husky brand.  USC is in town.  They’re bowl bound.  We suck.  It’s an afternoon game in late October.  The skies are dark, the students are chanting ‘rain, rain, rain.’  Down it comes as only cold, miserable Puget Sound rain can come.  And in the slip-and-slime of the great equalizer, USC’s fancy receivers and Hollywood quarterbacks look into the cold-blooded eyes of Husky ground-pounders.  We take it to the Trojans like we’re suicidal Marines on Iwo Jima.  They lose.  David beats Goliath in the Seattle gloom.  The alumni are on their feet, throats raw, eyes filled with tears.

“You can’t play that brand of upset football?  Don’t even whisper the word ‘excuse.”  Take it out of your vocabulary.  Forget the coaching. I’m here to blame you and only you for abandoning the traditional brand.  Tyrone Willingham does not play on the field any more.  You do. 

“True, you’re a bunch of fuzzy cheeks. You don’t have any experience, you’ve lost your starting quarterback, you can’t catch, can’t block, can’t run and the word ‘tackle’ is hard for you to pronounce let alone execute.  We don’t care about that.  Forget the schedule; forget the coaching.  You’re Huskies and when you take that field you will - on any given day - beat any football team in the nation.  Not that you’ve got a scrap of talent, but because you are the gods of the rainy day.

“Even though we recruited you from Southern California you are the sons of loggers, the off-spring of cold-handed Scandinavian  fishermen.  You’re the brute sons of wheat ranchers and you will not be beaten on that day when everything that says courage falls out of the ancestral sky.

“You will play the ‘brand.’  You will slam some ranked team in the grill.  And after the shocking upset … remember to tell them you love ‘em.

“Now pray for rain and get off your sweet butt.”

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