Good chance to ask about Amsterdam

Published 11:06 pm Friday, August 15, 2008

Rick Steves is one of the headliners speaking today in Seattle, but he won’t be talking about travel deals. He’ll be advocating marijuana legalization at Hempfest.

Don’t look for any vendors selling Steves’ “Europe Through the Back Door” DVDs during the festival. They’ll all be too busy making a killing on Cheetos.

Airlines have a heart, after all. They’re getting rid of baggage fees for military personnel lugging their combat gear overseas. Some soldiers have been asked to pony up to $300 to ship their body armor — even though there’s a 50-50 chance their bodies will be shipped somewhere different from their armor.

But don’t think the airlines are going soft. Soldiers still have to watch the same terrible movie leaving as they do when they come home.

Seattle put its five space-age public toilets on eBay and recouped $12,549 of the $5 million it originally spent to acquire them.

You may think Seattle flushed all that money down the toilet, but consider what the commodes did for the economy. They were worth at least an extra $5 million to prostitutes and drug dealers.