Reliable rumor has it that local radio news guy, Brett Bonner, might run for mayor of Bellingham. If he does, then Mayor Mark is in deep trouble with his reelection bid. Brett knows the local issues, knows how to explain issues to people and is very intelligent. There is no question that Brett has much more integrity than Mark. If Brett makes it past the primary election, he will trounce Mark. No question. You read it here first.

Russ Weston and Foster Rose are running for mayor. Russ took an amazing 43% of the vote against Mark last time. Amazing because Russ refused to campaign on a basis of bringing leadership to the office, preferring that the mayor position be one of administering laws the council has passed. Amazing because his backing was from the extreme right of Bellingham, which is a small minority. A strong majority of citizens wanted to replace Mark. I think that is still true.

Foster Rose served on the city council about ten years ago. He will run a well-funded campaign and will represent downtown interests. His backing will come from businesses that dislike Mark but do not want any substantial change in city hall.

Another rumored candidate is former council member Tip Johnson, but he has said he is more concerned about several hot Bellingham issues. Tip has the backing of the far left and the environmental coalition. If Tip does not run and instead backs one of the other candidates, his backing could be crucial in deposing mayor Mark.

As everyone reading this probably knows, council member Gene Knutson has decided to not run. It was well known that Gene had been considering the race for the past year. He is one of only two independent council members who are not hypnotized by Mark's rambling speeches.

Now we need a good candidate for Port Commissioner to replace Virginia Benton. The person needs to live west of the Guide or west of Broadway. Experience in Port affairs has never been a prerequisite. Business knowledge, intelligence and integrity would be nice. If you know of someone, encourage them. If they need a primer on Port affairs, I volunteer. Benton can be easily beaten. This position will have great influence on Bellingham's waterfront planning.

Finally this juicy tidbit. Bham council member John Watts will run for Louise's two-year at-large position, and Louise will run against Bob Ryan for his 1st Ward seat. Who is managing this? Rumor has it those accomplished puppeteers, Don and Joy Keenon. Time will tell.

National

The Russian Aeronautics web site was actually reposting battle reports from another Russian web site, [url=http://www.iraqwar.ru]http://www.iraqwar.ru[/url] - and that is the English language page the link goes to. The Russians who were reporting have left Baghdad over the weekend, according to their web site. I have posted a note from them. Thus we will miss the incredible reports from now on. However the web site still has perspectives and factual reporting that is missing from our American corporate media. I will keep both links posted here for your use.

Another excellent web site for war coverage is the British group Reuters. Far more objective and factual than our American web sites.

Fox news is the worst for web and TV, in the opinion of many. Late last night I watched their anchor repeatedly try to squirm out of the obvious fact that our American tanks had blasted the Al-Jazeera hotel room window, killing and wounding their reporters. Whether we did it on purpose or by accident is a question that may take years to be answered with assurance. Regardless, the Fox anchor Rita knew so little about military hardware that she kept referring to the "tank mortar", confusing what a battle tank uses and what the infantry use. To compound it, she kept saying they "could not raise the tank mortar high enough to shoot an upper story of a hotel". Amazing. This from an International cable TV news station. She was absolutely without a clue - and millions of Americans were believing her every word. This was not a one-time slip of the tongue - she continued this way for over an hour until corrected on air by a military guy. Fox news is out to lunch. Even for war boosters.

So - if we citizens want to stay informed, we have to actually think and not just consume news. We have to seek other news sources than our corporate media. My political friends tell me that will not happen. I hope they are wrong. I will do what I can by posting links to other news web sites. I urge you to use them. This war may be about over, but our government will soon embark on the next adventure in the process of Empire building.

Seems our super-accurate bombs missed that restaurant Saddam was supposed to be in. They hit the houses next to the restaurant, killing a lot of normal people. Just the collateral damage of war. American TV news media have not yet reported that the smart bombs missed completely. They will eventually - when the news is old and easily buried. You can read the British news report for yourself. I just checked the popular American news sites - none telling us the bombs missed. Yet they must know as the restaurant is reportedly popular with reporters.