At the end of this post is a copy of the letter sent by 15 U.S. senators, including Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, to President-elect Barack Obama in regards to health care reform.

The letter is signed by seven Republicans, seven Democrats, and one, Joe Lieberman, whose party depends on where we are in the political cycle.

Here at the Kitsap Sun we are just finishing signing up for medical benefits for next year. I’m making an assumption that this is the time of year a lot of companies have their employees signing up for benefits. In our case the company pays a set percentage of the premium. If I pick the same plan we had this year, the amount more I’ll be paying will be two-to-three times the pay increase I’ll receive. So next year my paycheck will be smaller. The upside is I still have a job.

I’m curious to know what kind of health care expectations you have for yourself in the coming year. Will your costs be increasing, or have you found a way to make it cheaper?

To read the letter, please continue.
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Put away your notes, your pencils, your Ipods and anything you could use to cheat. It’s time for a civics test.

If I had done poorly on this test, I promise I would have let you know about this anyway. As it is, I got 32 out of 33 right, 96.97 percent. Honestly, I was shocked that I only missed one, because I guessed on a few. I’ve always been good at multiple choice.

The site reports that the national average is 49 percent and that college educators only get about 55 percent right. Surely, readers of the Kitsap Caucus would fare better than the rest of the yokels taking this on. Prove me right. Share your score with the rest of us.

The Chicago Tribune engaged in the kind of investigative work many journalists crave to do and love to read. It’s a document-based investigation that proves people are lying. There is a local angle. Well, there could have been.

The Trib story focuses on people who lie about their military credentials, claiming medals they never received. In some cases they claim service they never did.

A Tribune investigation has found that the fabrication of heroic war records is far more extensive than you might think.

Take the online edition of Who’s Who, long the nation’s premier biographical reference. Of the 333 people whose profiles state they earned one of the nation’s most esteemed military medals, fully a third of those claims cannot be supported by military records.

Even in death, these stories live on. A look at 273 obituaries published in the past decade alone found that in more than four of five cases, official records didn’t support decorations for bravery attributed to the deceased.

The story gets to the motives of some of the people who do this. Some do it to impress spouses. Some do it because they believed they deserved the medal, but didn’t get it. As this 2007 Department of Justice press release shows, some do it for money.

“The ‘phony war hero phenomenon’ plagues the American landscape and tarnishes the service of thousands of veterans who have served honorably. It strangles VA resources from providing critical care and benefits to deserving veterans returning from war,” said Douglas J. Carver, Special Agent in Charge of the VA Office of Inspector General, Western Field Office. “It all boils downs to this: these phonies submit claims to the VA for compensation and medical benefits they are not entitled to, and it takes away valuable resources from those who are entitled.”

During the most recent race for auditor the question came up over Walt Washington’s use of the term “decorated” veteran in his campaign materials. It came up at a debate. Someone asked him about his service and what his decorations were.

That’s a fair question, given that we do know that some people lie about it. Someone claiming to be a veteran should expect someone to want to know more. There’s also a responsibility on those questioning claims, however, to be certain that if they’re accusing someone of lying, that they have something solid to base that on. Think 2004, John Kerry, George W. Bush, Swift Boats, Dan Rather, etc.

In Washington’s case I looked into it. He had provided a copy of a medal he received in basic training. His other awards were meritorious masts. I became reasonably certain Washington had served and had received those awards. The question then became over the word “decorated.” The basic training award he received is not one described as something you’d wear on the uniform. That said, it is an award for the top person in the group and is presented with some measure of pomp and circumstance. It’s kind of a big deal at the time. I asked another Vietnam vet, someone I’ve witnessed make measured and thoughtful responses to just about every issue. In his opinion, it was not really something worth pursuing. I mentioned the issue in a story about the race, bet kept it to a paragraph.

While we’re on the subject, here’s this from the New York Times, comments from President-elect Barack Obama on whether he’d scale back his climate change goals until the economy improves. Short answer: No.

“When I am president, any governor who’s willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that’s willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that’s willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.”

No, I haven’t heard more about tonight’s meeting. I have, however, spoken with Noah Israel of Godstream Technologies and Jonathan Hampton of Ceramic Cement Research Institute Inc. of Arkansas.

Israel’s letter of intent is there as kind of a placeholder, holding room for the companies interested in coming to Kitsap County.

One of those is Ceramic Cement Research Institute. Jonathan Hampton said he worked years in the construction field with cement, raised his 10 kids on it. His facility serves a couple functions. One is to do research on mineral-based cement that takes far less energy to make and can be stronger than traditional cement used. Traditional cement, which he referred to as “Portland Cement” needs dehydrating at temperatures up to 2,700 degrees to make, so cement is one of the big contributors to CO2 emissions. He also teaches contractors how to use the more eco-friendly cement, using his Arkansas lab to do it.

He wants to come to Kitsap for a few reasons. One, he grew up in Alaska and doesn’t like living where he does. He spent about five years in Port Townsend. It’s not Alaska, he says, but it’s a nice compromise between that and where he is. Second, he would be coming because of the stated goal of Kitsap SEED, to help lead work into new greener technologies.

The port has another letter of intent, which I’ve yet to see, but has been characterized three times for me, as an $8 million commitment from a private partner of a Las Vegas company that wants to build a new type of wall board in Kitsap County. Hampton described it as a replacement for sheetrock. It costs twice as much, but retains room temperatures for hours, where sheet rock will give way to outside temps in about 10 minutes. He estimates the new wall board saves 40 percent in energy over traditional boards. That company wants to locate at the port, and a New Zealand financier is putting up $8 million to tool the facility and make it ready to go.

Godstream’s Noah Israel said the development project that the hearing examiner denied “with prejudice” has had that last phrase removed and her decision is being appealed before the county council. The argument he’s making is that the hearing examiner used the same pattern in denying his application that she did in doing so to another application, a decision the county council overturned. Specifically, she was applying engineering standards she would have no knowledge of and apparently no business using. Israel said in the past it was his company that converted the trees to finished product for the siding, flooring and moulding at Islandwood.

His particular interest in SEED heightened when he had the setback with the community development he was proposing for Arlington went south along with the housing market. He’s been developing these relationships with like-minded companies in other products. Hampton said he and Israel met about a year ago at Washington State University, where Hampton was speaking on ceramic cement at a conference.

WSU is Hampton’s preferred testing facility.

I’ll blog live from the meeting.

At least that’s what I’m assuming from this announcement that I just received:

“There will be a Special Meeting/Executive Session of the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority Board of Commissioners on Friday, November 21, at 2:00 pm, in the 1st floor conference room of the KCCHA Bremerton office located in the Norm Dicks Government Center, 345 Sixth St., Suite 100, Bremerton, WA 98337. The purpose is for the Board to review real estate offers on properties currently for sale.”

The housing authority is selling eight properties in an effort to pay off debts.

It’s a headline, too, not just an afterthought. Most speculation on U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, has been about Interior. Huffington Post writer Jeremy Jacquot opines that Inslee should go from having his named mentioned “in passing” to the head of the list for Energy.

Unlike most politicians who profess themselves to be fans of a “green economy” and clean energy technologies (many of which did so because it became politically convenient), Rep. Inslee evinces a remarkable knowledge of and interest in the topic.

This is the only writing, and it was done a week ago, that comes out that strongly for Inslee. Other names figure more prominently, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even he is down the list from the likes of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former Assistant Secretary of Energy Dan Reicher.

Just got a notice that port commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday night to reconsider the contract they had signed with Godstream Tech. I’ll post more when I know more.

Just talked to Port Commissioner Bill Mahan. He said he didn’t yet know why the meeting had been called.

I’ve left a message with Cheryl Kincer, commission president.

I don’t think I’ll have any more tonight.

Last week I received an e-mail from the county commissioners’ staff advising me and others about the commissioners’ schedule for this week.

The first item appeared interesting. The commissioners were to be meeting with representatives from the State Legislature about the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority. I put it on my schedule.

After commissioners Steve Bauer and Josh Brown arrived this morning, Bauer asked commissioner Jan Angel into the other room. There they were for a few minutes. Bauer returned and asked for me to meet with him in the other room, where he explained the dilemma they were in.

The commissioners were gone last week and didn’t see how the event was publicized. The meeting wasn’t intended to be public. He said there were two choices. One, the meeting gets canceled for Angel and Bauer (and me), leaving Brown to meet with the people from the Legislature by himself. Second, we could all stay as long as I agreed that whatever is discussed was off the record.

Bauer was understanding that this was putting me, and others, in an awkward situation. As much as I’d love to be in on the inside of information about what the county might want from Olympia in terms of help, I couldn’t give them permission to hold what would have been a de facto executive session that hadn’t been advertised. In fact, even if the meeting had been public, I don’t see evidence anywhere that it was advertised. That in itself would be improper.

So I chose to let them cancel the meeting. Bauer, Angel and I left.

Brown later called and told me what happened. He apologized. From my understanding Angel and Bauer were not supposed to be invited to the meeting, either. It was to be part of the housing authority’s individual board members’ follow-up work in regards to the authority’s financial situation. In addition to Brown, Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola was there. He, as another member of the housing authority board, remained in the meeting.

The legislative representives in attendance were from staffs, not the electeds themselves. Additionally, the county’s lobbyist attended. Brown described the meeting as more or less brainstorming about what kind of help the state can offer. Perhaps there’s money from the state’s housing trust fund. Finding a way to extend credit from that fund would involve overcoming state constitutional prohibitions, but could be an avenue. Also, the state could dedicate part of some fees as insurance for when housing authorities are troubled.

Kim Abel, when she was running against Angel for the 26th District legislative seat, said she had met with House Speaker Frank Chopp and others to address possible solutions.

Brown said housing authorities elsewhere are struggling right now, as well.

The state currently has a program where portions of recording fees are used for new affordable housing. Brown said it might be time for the state to put a higher priority on affordable housing that already exists.

On Wednesday ABC’s Nightline did a show on radio personality and South Kitsap resident Delilah Rene. This is what I learned. Delilah has more than three times the children I have, probably 40 times the money and three more divorces than I.

Without embarrassment I’ll admit that her radio show, on late at night, is sometimes a guilty pleasure of mine, or at least it used to be. I’m not in the car for long that late anymore and when I am I’m usually afixed to something wonkish like NPR or Phil Hendry. Or I hit “scan” until a song comes on I like, which often takes a while.

While Delilah might be a snuggle pusher for me, for her I’m the “a**hole” at the Kitsap Sun.” That’s what she said to fellow reporter Chris Henry about me, because early last year her property was discussed at the county commissioners’ meeting, resulting in this story. She found our description of where her property is a little too precise. Never mind that at the meeting, which was televised locally, a map with “Delilah” splashed on three of the properties was put on the screen behind the commishes.

In reporting we’ll do our job, which is to get as precise as we can, to a point. We don’t much care how famous you might be. If your property is part of an issue or if you’ve done a no-no, we’re going to be descriptive enough to make sure, in this case, that it’s Delilah Rene the radio personality, not Delilah the hair stylist (Beware.) or Delilah the lunch lady. I understand there are security concerns for people who rise to celebrity status, but in Hollywood you can buy semi-accurate maps to the stars’ homes. When you interact with the county, it’s a public affair and your name usually shows up on the agenda as Delilah’s name did when the issue was before the planning commission.

While I’m picking on celebrities, it’s time to call out Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays Juliet on “Lost.” Go to this this IMDB page, or this Wikipedia page, or this Seattle Post-Intelligencer story, or this Los Angeles Times story, or this MySpace page, and you’ll notice something that might have been interesting to Kitsap A&E editor Michael Moore, so much that he wanted to interview Mitchell. She consented, as long as the story didn’t mention that one thing that made it a story we wanted.

Moore declined.

This election isn’t even certified and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is acting like she’s already won a second term.

But seriously, the governor is asking for residents’ thoughts on the budget. Read on to see how you can take part.

From the governor’s press release:
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In the mid 1930s my dad’s older brothers had gone to a movie in downtown Denver and were walking around the area afterward. From the alley they heard a man swearing about FDR and Benjamin F. Stapleton, who had recently regained his mayor job after four years away. My uncles went into the alley to see who the man yelling was, and it turned out to be their own father.

Blaine Elmer Gardner had worked for the city of Denver in an inspector role on the highways. He’d blow a whistle and the big trucks would have to stop. He took my dad, who was no older than 4, to work with him from time to time and let him blow the whistle. Dad got a kick out of having these adults obeying his command and later became a police officer, which probably wasn’t as fun.
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Well, that didn’t go well, did it. My laptop wouldn’t let me connect to the Internet, so I couldn’t live blog. Better there than at something really critical.

The two meetings were very well attended, about 100 total when you don’t include port staff and reporters. Larry Stokes said he wants a vote on it. Most of those who commented on that favored it, though one audience member said it is the commissioners’ job to make that decision.

From my perspective the crowd was a pretty even mix of those in favor and those opposed, as well as a few undecideds. There were some good questions from all three camps and a couple of arguments. Go to the link above. There’s a short video for a little flavor.

I plan to attend both Kitsap SEED town hall meetings today and assuming the technology works and the crowd size seems to merit, I’ll live blog it. The crowd won’t have to be large at all, because even if it’s one or two there will be presentations made at both.

Carrying on from the previous post about the clean-tech conference in California, I have looked a little more into these types of events and it is true that they are frequent. Perhaps they are as the author of this piece in Grist characterized it, “a dime a dozen these days.”

He was referring to the Renewable Energy Finance Forum West that took place in the last week in October in Seattle.

As RV mentioned in the previous post, the Puget Sound Business Journal will host the Green Business Summit on Nov. 12. The agenda looks to me to be about businesses implementing green strategies.

My interest in the Bay Area clean-tech event was that it was about the money. While the port can lay the table and market the site, it will be private investors, most likely, that would make a site like Kitsap SEED successful or prove that it’s not a good fit for the area. And those private investors, whose primary interest still appears to be about return, are taking an enthusiastic look at clean technology.

This actually has application in how we cover the port. When I was hired in Vancouver I was assigned as part of my beat the Port of Vancouver. I was a business reporter. Looking back, that’s a statement by the paper that it places higher deference to the port’s role in driving economic development than its role as a government body. Traditionally we have assigned Port of Bremerton coverage based on who had the city of Bremerton as a beat. That changed when my role changed, because Andy Binion was also covering cops in addition to his Bremerton coverage. In this job, I’m more a government guy.

That isn’t to say we don’t recognize the port’s role in economic development. What we’re considering, however, is following the model Vancouver set in assigning a business reporter to the topic instead of a government reporter. Education reporters cover school boards. Environmental reporters can go to any of the local governments when the issue is land use.

The port in the middle of government wrangling right now when it comes to SEED. But the economic development question is what provides the context behind whatever answer the elected port commissioners choose. Should the port continue to be my beat, that’s something I will work to make clear. Should it end up going to a business reporter, that’s a new angle to start from.

This is why Kitsap SEED has never been an “If you build it, he will come” scenario. The Berk study indicates it’s more like like, “If you build it and champion it, they might come.” What business venture isn’t like that?

This photo by AP Photographer Elaine Thompson was taken at a time when the only sure bet in the presidential race was that Republican John McCain had his party’s nomination wrapped up. We, a group of Seattle-area reporters, traveled with the presumptive nominee on a smaller, local version of the Straight Talk Express from Boeing Field to a hotel downtown. It was in February, a day before the Washington caucuses.

The candidate was vigorous, confident and pleasant, except for when he’d had enough of the photography. He told Thompson that there does come a point when there have been enough shots taken. McCain later in the campaign made that same case about other shots taken, especially those at his running mate, but there wasn’t a whisper of that drama here.

That evening he told a group of a few hundred that the challenge ahead was big, but he thought he might even be able to win Washington on his path to the presidency. Now, those of us writing history’s first draft and the academics working on the second can dissect what happened between this rainy night in February and the day that was historic even to the likes of Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

One of my college professors was the first to call it to my attention that we often view the history we inherited as inevitable. It takes a picture, such as this one, to poke holes in those things we take as given. Michael Dukakis, George McGovern and Thomas Dewey all had shots at something they ultimately didn’t get. But at times before the final judgment, they had their own reasons to be optimistic. No verdict had come in.

At Monday’s county commissioner meeting was a short presentation about ways to eat local for Thanksgiving.

We’re not talking about stuffing the squirrels in the backyard, though if that’s your tradition who am I to protest?

The commissioners passed a resolution supporting and encouraging the “Eat Local for Thanksgiving” campaign. With that is a Web site where you can make a pledge to do that. It’s a King County Web site, but it’s the one I could find.

Anyway, you just eat one item that is considered local. Jackie Aitcheson, former Poulsbo city councilwoman and now Poulsbo Farmers Market manager and director of Washington State Farmers Market Association, mentioned all the local bakeries you could buy something from that would help you qualify and feel good about that pledge.

Here’s another link about buying local in Kitsap.

On Wednesday the Port of Bremerton will hold a town hall meeting about the Kitsap Sustainable Energy and Economic Development project. The commissioners and staff will make presentations, providing some history and context and looks into the future. Next would come time for residents to speak and ask questions.

Speaking of clean-tech, I heard about this next thing from a Facebook friend. (I’m not into networking, really, but if I can do it online without actually ever talking to someone, neato!) If you’ve got $1,500 to spend, a yammerin’ to go to San Francisco and a genuine interest in clean technology and where to invest your money in the industry, you may want to go to the Gerson Lehrman Group Clean Tech Summit. It’s a two-day forum on where the money will be in clean-technology. The information on the site indicates there will be 20 sessions focusing on investment into different clean technologies.

Who will attend, you ask? Why, the site tells you:

An expected audience of more than 200 executives will represent clean technology ventures, active clean technology investors, government and near-governmental entities, and others.

Together, we’ll discuss:

Winners and losers in key sectors and industries;

Hot technologies and promising innovations;

Investment strategies and patterns, sector by sector, in venture capital, private equity, and M&A;

Best practices in managing clean technology innovation;

Regulatory obstacles and governmental support.

Who will not attend, you ask?

Me.

Believe me, this isn’t the time to be asking my bosses to send me to San Francisco in less than two weeks. They might have approved that, oh, eight years ago.

What I really wonder is if anyone from the port is going. I’ve sent inquiries. It’s cheaper than another study.

The town hall meetings will be at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Wednesday at the Comfort Inn at 5640 Kitsap Way in Bremerton. The next evening, 7 p.m., there is a budget hearing at the airport.