Posted Fri, Jan 20, 1:04 p.m.

Maybe we should all head for the holodeck.

Posted Fri, Jan 20, 1:03 p.m.

I can't decide whether we're Romulans or Klingons.

Posted Sat, Dec 17, 8:17 a.m.

Maybe we should all rent (or stream) the movie Gandhi. Also give a read to what Bill Moyers has to say about Citizens United. Unless ordinary people do some extraordinary things, we are pretty well assured of adding another powerful plutocracy to the history of the world. Only the privileged ...

Posted Mon, Oct 31, 12:47 p.m.

Good analysis - south_downtown. I was disappointed in a way that is hard to pinpoint. My issues - the environment, the social safety net - especially health care, immigration, the lack of opportunity for young people, the development of a permanent underclass - did not figure prominently, if at all, ...

Posted Sat, Oct 29, 8 a.m.

I listened to the podcast and was very disappointed. With the possible exception of Jordan Royer, who faces such mundane problems as how to send his kids to college, the panelists sounded like Meathead on All in the Family - incensed that something has gone wrong (which it has), suffering ...

Posted Fri, Oct 28, 11:24 p.m.

I listened to the entire podcast and heard many things that made a great deal of sense. However, after coming to the podcast as a firm supporter of the Occupy movement (despite some reservations about the whiteness of the movement), I ended up considerably cooler toward "Occupy." Early on, the ...

Posted Fri, Oct 28, 10:55 p.m.

The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street appear to have one other thing in common. Both are white bread movements. In Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, one of the founders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was snubbed by the Occupy general assembly. True, the assembly later saw the error of ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 1:06 p.m.

By the way, Susan, thank you. Your piece was a godsend. I remember hearing and believing that McDonald's designs its seating to be so uncomfortable that people will not linger but rather will leave and make room for other customers. I have no idea whether it's true or not, but ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 1:03 p.m.

No, the Arizona shooter was probably not influenced by Sarah Palin. It's less certain whether he may have been influenced by Gabrielle Gifford's opponent in the Congressional election, who weeks before the election invited his supporters to "take aim" and "help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office" by attending a rally ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 4:44 p.m.

Why are we asking what other countries do? Are we to model our laws, policies - indeed our culture - on some kind of tit for tat? You stop beating your women and we'll stop abiding by the First Amendment? I'm with Jon Stewart - radicals of every variety will ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 10:43 a.m.

By the way, Quinn. I have questioned your reasoning and your ideology but I have not insulted you. I do not need to be the object of epithets from you. I would not take "Sheik Ariz" as an epithet if it were not for the arguments you've been presenting.

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 10:41 a.m.

All this reminds me of the 1950s. Substitute Islam for Communism and all we need is another McCarthy. When will the HUAC interrogations resume? I often wonder how weak is the Christian God that he/she is threatened by -isms from all sides? An Anglican bishop (J.B. Phillips) made the point ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 8:38 a.m.

Here's a curious question. In 1992, after 5-plus years of public meetings and many, many hours of park planning time, the City Council adopted a Comprehensive Plan for Seattle Parks and Recreation that looked at open space and park needs in every neighborhood of the city. Has anyone ever looked ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 7:42 a.m.

So the answer to religious conquest by Muslims is religious conquest by Christians? Is another Crusade (War of the Cross) the only possible response to fanatics and terrorists? We have to forswear (good Medieval word) our values and liberties in defense of those values and liberties?

Posted Wed, Sep 1, 2:26 p.m.

Love the term "infectious reality" as opposed to "authentic reality," and I understand the tension between one's duty to God and duty to country. It's especially painful for Quakers and other pacifists in time of war. But I'm having trouble relating your essay to the issue posed by the proposed ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 6:40 a.m.

Atlanta's botanic garden was so crowded on Mothers Day 2010, we had to stand in line to get in. It's fenced and charges admission, but so what? It has two amazing orchid houses (low elevation and high), a whimsical children's garden, an elevated walk through the tree canopies, permanent and ...

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 11:10 a.m.

Jean Godden would say Fritz Hedges name was eponymous.

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 11:08 a.m.

Forgot to mention his name, but I'm sure the citizens who've labored on behalf of Magnuson Park for more than a quarter of a century well remember Fritz Hedges.

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 10:18 a.m.

Former Parks Department planning chief literally worked himself into an earlier grave trying to fulfill the citizens' vision for Magnuson Park. RIP Fritz. It sounds as though it ain't gonna happen.

Posted Tue, Jun 15, 8:19 p.m.

RSAnimate has a video circulating the Internet summarizing a variety of studies showing that for anything other than simple mechanical tasks, more money is not a motivator and, in truth, may be a disincentive to better performance. What motivates us, according to a variety of studies, is a combination of ...

Posted Tue, Jun 15, 8:03 p.m.

When I read something like this, my blood begins to boil. Why? Because the inference is that the use of nurse practitioners lowers the cost of medical care. Not so. At least not where Medicare is involved. A visit to the nurse practitioner is billed to Medicare as an office ...

Posted Tue, Apr 27, 8:31 a.m.

"emanate a monarch's authority"? Pretentious or just wrong word?

Posted Mon, Mar 15, 8:21 p.m.

This I know for a fact, some socks actually go through the pump and down the drain. I know this because when I had small socks to launder (i.e., I had small children who had small feet and thus small socks), I had no drain for my automatic washer. Instead ...

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 10:13 p.m.

"Social Justice on the other hand is a code phrase for socialist, marxist, fascist agendas of controlling a population." Sez who? Good Gawd, are we going to have to endure another 1950s HUAC-style anti-communism epidemic? I thought Reagan had delivered us from that particular evil!

Posted Thu, Mar 11, 10:27 a.m.

Does anyone remember another of Gerry Kingen's enterprises? Ma Bell's in the Pike Place Market. Huge juicy burgers and crisp fries. Unfortunately, the original Ma Bell (phone company) still existed in those days (c.1973)and sued for copyright infringement. The hamburger stand didn't last long amid the high stalls of the ...

Posted Wed, Apr 8, 10:58 p.m.

What we did during the Great Depression, we can't do now, even though I'm sure many people would like to try. We had a dug well with a pitcher pump. We had chickens that laid eggs and occasionally went broody and sat on a clutch of eggs until we had ...

Posted Tue, Mar 31, 9:31 a.m.

Right on! Start the ball rolling on the fund-raising and I'll be among the first to contribute to a Journalism Park in Seattle. A free press is truly the only thing standing between us and tyranny - and I don't see the Internet filling the void left by the demise ...

Posted Thu, Feb 26, 8:45 a.m.

In a global economy, how can we be so isolationist about language? To me it's the ultimate in arrogance to call our students educated when they speak and understand only English. Of course, I'm an old fogy. Back in the day, one needed two (not one) year of foreign language ...

Posted Fri, Feb 6, 9:27 a.m.

Hold on, richardinSeattle. As I recall the big discussion at the end of the Clinton years was what to do with a close to a $600 billion surplus. Eight years later after the Constitution was trashed, seasoned bureaucrats replaced with doctrinaire Bush loyalists with pudding for brains, and our regulatory ...

Posted Fri, Feb 6, 8:21 a.m.

I missed something. I could have sworn that in an earlier column Ted commented that the New Deal was indeed "working" and that contrary to conventional wisdom, the country was finding its way out of the Depression before WWII. Oh yes, that wasn't Ted. That was Paul Krugman. My opinion, ...

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 2:19 p.m.

What hermetically sealed bubble do you live in, Spud? Those small towns have not "weathered" the booms and busts. With each bust they have withered and shriveled just a little bit more. I graduated from Benson Union High School (AZ) in 1948. In 2008, I traveled somewhat the same route ...

Posted Thu, Jan 22, 10:08 a.m.

Quite right, Ted. Job creation through infrastructure projects will be too little, too late. If tax cuts are a way to get at least some people back to work (or save jobs), then so be it. Here in Arizona, the rumblings and wranglings over specific projects have already begun. Nimbys, ...

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 9:59 a.m.

Perhaps I should clarify. I keep hearing that the supposed failure of the New Deal "proves" that government spending doesn't work in a plummeting economy. Does no one remember the Dust Bowl? Has anyone at least seen pictures of the lines of cars on Route 66 stretching as far as ...

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 9:41 a.m.

Go down Moses, let my people WORK. I agree with Paul Krugman. The only failure of the New Deal was that it didn't go far enough, and that is the danger again today. Oddly, everyone seems to have forgotten the role of the Dust Bowl in prolonging the Depression.

Posted Fri, Nov 21, 8:20 a.m.

I hope you are right that the threat is no greater than for any other President in turbulent times, but I fear there are organized groups (paramilitary or whatever) and rich people capable of subsidizing them who can't seem to accept that Barack Obama has been elected. Even after the ...

Posted Wed, Nov 5, 10:38 a.m.

I have no idea what RCR and Scott St. Clair are talking about but it's a fun spat to watch. I wonder if Ted Van Dyk will ever change his mind about Sarah Palin? I thought he might mention how much he thought she had enhanced McCain's chances. There's something ...

Posted Mon, Oct 27, 10:08 a.m.

WASL attacks the problem at the wrong end. Teachers who know or can guess at the "rubrics" that will govern the grading of essays teach the principles, not necessarily of good writing, but of the rubrics. Teachers who don't have a clue how a test will be graded fail their ...

Posted Fri, Oct 3, 8:37 a.m.

Where's the beef: Okay, now it's my turn to say you're giving too much credit. Sarah Palin did an excellent job of coughing up scripted comments, but if I had heard another "Gosh darn" or "heck of a lot" I would have barfed. She never strayed from the memorized script, ...

Posted Tue, Sep 30, 10:02 a.m.

Political reality: I believe - at least I hope - that under the hood, House Republicans and not a few House Democrats faced a political reality on Monday: With constituents - who largely did not understand the enormity of the crisis - up in arms, outraged at bailing out Wall ...

Posted Tue, Sep 16, 8:48 a.m.

Depression: Finally, someone besides me saying the Depression was ended by World War II, not the New Deal. What the New Deal did accomplish was to make it possible for people to survive, and to make the country a more humanitarian place to live (unless you were black). My dad ...

Posted Sat, Sep 13, 8:01 a.m.

Greed: Greed, personified in the robber barons of the 19th century, ran rough shod over the US economy until disgust and reaction gave us the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Late 20th Century deregulation gave the masters of the universe their ticket to ride. Unfortunately greed is not limited to the Rich ...