Whatcom County Growing and Growing Bluer

We've got news from Lynden.

Lynden (pop.10,000 or so) is Whatcom Counties second largest city. BeefyD sends us a report on the changing complexion of a growing city from the Lyndens suburbs.

Unincorporated

Like it or not, Lynden is expanding. The Homestead developments are filling up north of downtown, and the elementary schools are getting a tad crowded. Even City Hall is looking (begging) for a little more elbow room.

Who lives in Lynden? Depends on how you define "Lynden." If you mean "within city limits," maybe the local stereotypes still apply: Dutch Calvinists, really uptight about their lawns and the Sabbath. If you mean "has a Lynden address," the stereotypes begin to break down. My wife and I moved up here last year from King County (don't panic: My wife is a WA native, and I've lived here for 21 years, and I'm NOT from California), and we had both heard such dire predictions about this place that we were a bit on edge about moving in with all of our bumper stickers and crazy lefty ideas. We were pleasantly surprised.

While the redneck racist element exists (witness the unhinged white woman in the laundromat yelling epithets and racial slurs at the Hispanic woman because she's using too many machines), and Roulstone and McGavick yard signs abound in this election cycle, my house sits between a very nice liberal family on our left, and a very nice apolitical or conservative couple on our right. An educated guess, there; they don't talk about politics much.

We've been here a year: So far, so good.

No matter how beautiful it is in Whatcom County, though, we still have a psychopathic primate in the White House, and that affects every last human in this country. If your income exceeds several million dollars per year, you're cheering, and throwing bananas toward D.C. You're a champion of Bring It On wars that enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor, more tax cuts (they'll benefit you the most), and an ideology that Charles Dickens would instantly recognize: A small, wealthy, ruling elite, and everybody else.

If you're not an ultra-millionaire, you're struggling to keep what you have, and if you're married, both of you work. If you have kids, a good chunk of that second income is lost to child care and transportation. We non-millionaires know all too well how much it costs to own and operate a car. And if you're a single parent, well, you're "uniquely American," according to the Simian King. Maybe you're working two or three jobs to keep those other folks in Hummers and Armani. Have a credit card? Of course you do: How else can you cover co-pays and medication? Well, thanks to legislation written largely by credit industry lobbyists, if you miss a payment or otherwise transgress Bank Amerishark's fine print, they can jack your interest rate to 30%. I'm still thanking Rick Larsen for that one.

Jeez, I haven't even caught up to this year yet.

A few days ago, I heard that President Stay The Course and Team Goebbels are spending 20 million dollars to dig up some good news on the Iraq Occupation (BTW: It's an occupation, not a war. Start saying this out loud; we can't keep using Frank Lunz's frames). Twenty million bucks! Hell, I could find good news about a porn movie starring Ann Coulter for that kind of coin. But perhaps, he mused in an understated, yet sardonic way, that's the idea. I might even be able to pay off most of my credit cards.

And don't get me started on the concept of W even attempting to read Camus between bouts of brush clearing while on Vacation in Crawford. I don't think even Tony Snow took that one seriously.

- BeefyD