Would someone call the Councils a cab

Seattle politics really aren't that exciting. When I moved here 9 months ago there was a bizarre referendum on how to replace the Alaskan Viaduct (always sweet to have a road closed every six months to see if it's going to fall down). The winner, I'm not joking, was None of the Above. But the scandals are starting to get mildly interesting. The Mayor's son was arrested for being a dirty card dealer or something. And it seems like the various councils in the area are populated with frat boys and sorority girls:

1. A King County councilwoman was arrested for DUI in June.
2. A Seattle City councilwoman was arrested for DUI last week.
3. Another Seattle City councilman was arrested for assaulting his wife, while drunk.

Of course, all of this falls under the category of "alleged" crimes. It's nothing compared to my Mayor 4 Life Marion Berry, but it's better than nothing.

Golf interlude: Things I've heard on the bus

Time for another installment of "Things that I overheard on the bus."

• A couple of weeks ago I was riding home from work. The guy behind me was talking on the phone for most of the ride. At some point he mentioned that he had spent his day in court. Now, I'm still naive about who has to go to court. With all of my attorney friends I assume that people who go to court are lawyers or potential jurors. It turns out that when you ride a Seattle bus this is not necessarily the case. How did I figure out that this citizen was in court because he had done something wrong?

"Now the guy is saying that I pulled a knife on him"
"Yeah, it's total bulls***"
"Yeah, because if I had pulled a knife everyone in the store would have died."

I nearly choked on my tongue when he said that, mainly because I would pay money to see his attorney's reaction if he actually said that to a prosecutor. It would have been great. In a terrifying "this guy is riding the bus" way.

• The other amusing thing I overheard was not, in fact, on a bus. It was at a bar while I watched the Redskins lose to the Giants. As the game finished one of the waitresses pulled aside the owner to explain why she wasn't going to be at work the next day:

Waitress: I'm going to be late tomorrow. I have to be in court.
Owner: Why do you have to be in court?
W: You'll totally laugh, it's such a joke.
O: [waiting, not expecting to laugh]
W: I got charged with DUI a few weeks ago. Get this: I blew 0.083. I was only .3 over!
O: [Kind of shocked]
W: I know! Isn't it total BS?
O: Um, but you were drunk.
W: Not really. I was only .3 over!
O: But you were legally drunk. Why the hell were you driving?
W: No, you don't get it, I was only 0.083. That's barely over the limit. I'm sure it'll get dismissed.
O: [Fighting urge to point out that small numbers sometimes do matter.]

Weclome to Seattle!