Posted Thu, Jun 30, 12:19 a.m.

Bellingham need not worry about the impact of coal trains along its waterfront. It is economic idiocy to propose running coal trains through the at capacity, fan cleared Cascade Tunnel when the train slots the coal drags would consume can be filled with high value container trains. And what about ...

Posted Thu, Jun 30, 12:04 a.m.

You mentioned the proposal to build a coal port north of Bellingham, presumably to be served by the spur to the BP refinery. Where is that coal to originate? Certainly it cannot come from domestic sources. The single-track, fan-cleared seven mile Cascade tunnel is at capacity already and the prospect ...

Posted Sun, Apr 17, 7:14 p.m.

Blue Light, If Crosscut is "not the place for an intellectually honest discussion of issues" then go read and post somewhere else that you think is. Problem solved. For ALL concerned.

Posted Sun, Apr 17, 6:49 p.m.

Dear Editor, Why did you give an "Editor's Choice" star to the emetic partisan bile DT Nelson spewed on your site? What he charged was "racial gerrymandering" is required by the Supreme Court's "one person-one vote" and racial balance decisions of the 1970's and 1980's. States are required to produce ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 2:03 p.m.

Folks, The proper quotation should have been: "The SOUTH politician whispers to the poor white man..." Lo siento.

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 1:45 p.m.

Jammies, You asked, "Can somebody please explain how Colorado's experience was bad?" Why don't you ask Coloradans. They're the ones who took a "time out" from TABOR in 2005.

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 1:32 p.m.

Jammies, It's a demonstrated fact that as societies get richer they demand a cleaner environment, more responsive government, increased arts spending, and other social goods. Show me one reasonably free society that has gotten richer for more than thirty years that did not give rise to powerful political movements that ...

Posted Sat, Jul 25, 5:04 p.m.

Eyewash, I live in Vancouver -- no, not THAT Vancouver. Vancouver, USA! Our house is assessed at $258,000 and this year we're paying $2,485 in property taxes, state and local. Neither my wife nor I am a Senior Citizen, so we have no special exemption. In Oregon, where they also ...

Posted Sat, Jul 25, 4:56 p.m.

PJS, Why is "tax burden per capita" more valid than "tax burden as a percentage of income"? Richer people demand greater amenities than do poor people: a clean environment, progressive and open government, excellent schools, public support for the arts. Washington has all of these things to a greater degree ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 1:30 p.m.

Unobservant, You really don't like the people of Washington, do you? It just sticks in your craw that folks in the Evergreen State would like to keep it that way. To keep the choking hands of your corporate puppeteers off our beautiful landscape, our livable cities, and our laid-back people. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 1:22 p.m.

Eyewash, You're punk lost last year, without a recount. Get over it.

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 1:15 p.m.

Oh, another thing about the property tax freeze in California. Proposition 1 holds taxes (relatively) constant by freezing ASSESSMENT. However, when a property is sold, it is then reassessed to the then-current value. Thus only a tiny fraction of homes, which tend to change hands about every six years, are ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 1:07 p.m.

The problem that I see with such straight jackets as the proposal is that in time of plenty the Republicans scream about "give the taxpayers money back to them"! There is NO TIME that government can run a surplus in their world. Since government at all levels provides counter-cyclical spending ...