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History

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Recession, wrecking balls, and history

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 6 a.m.

The new year will be challenging for historic preservation in Seattle, but there are great opportunities and new initiatives ahead, too. Here's a breakdown of six front-burner issues for 2009. First of 2 parts

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Monorails: the idea that will not die

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 6 a.m.

You can't go many news cycles without hearing about some kind of monorail mess-up, but there's good news too.

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2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 13

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 6 a.m.

Why the odds are long for an economic and social turnaround

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2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 10

Posted Fri, Jan 2, 6 a.m.

The Northwest's progressive tradition is "shovel-ready" for some national programs.

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2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 8

Posted Wed, Dec 31, 9 a.m.

Is this the year the Republicans went down for the count?

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How to build a Northwest conservatism

Posted Fri, Dec 26, 6 a.m.

Conservatives in the region pay too much heed to national conservative themes and not enough to the deep values of the Northwest. These values do not necessitate liberal politics.

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Can Seattle be a Slow City?

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 6 a.m.

An international movement to change the ethic of growing cities seems right for the Northwest. But we'd have to check the boom-town impulses embedded both in our growth economy and our frontier DNA.

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Can writers get a federal bailout too?

Posted Fri, Dec 19, 6 a.m.

Some think the time is ripe to revive a New Deal program that put writers to work for the public good. Others say that's what bloggers are already doing.

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Pacific Science Center's architecture might change

Posted Wed, Dec 17, 6 a.m.

Dramatically lit at night, the Science Center is an icon in the Seattle skyline. A national group is sounding alarms about potential alterations of the campus, though the arches seem sacrosanct.

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A few words of English

Posted Tue, Dec 16, 6 a.m.

Memories of a time abroad, when a new President was coming into office in a very troubled time.

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Shot down in Shanghai?

Posted Fri, Dec 12, 6 a.m.

Another task Obama inherits is trying to bail out America's botched effort to have a pavilion at Shanghai's Expo 2010, the largest world's fair in history. There are reasons to hope that "yes, he can."

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How Wall Street is destroying the timber way of life

Posted Fri, Dec 12, 6 a.m.

The pressure for real estate and the short-term perspective of fancy Wall Street financial instruments have changed the old line companies utterly.

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Bush/Nixon and the battle for the bottom

Posted Tue, Dec 9, 6 a.m.

In the twilight days of Dubya's presidency, the new parlor game is wondering who was the worse president: Bush or Nixon?

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The Gravy Train to nowhere?

Posted Thu, Dec 4, 6 a.m.

With Obama's new New Deal gaining momentum, let's remain skeptical of big projects that are touted as economic saviors. States like ours may be desperate, but a boondoggle is still a boondoggle.

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Is it wrong to have a Negro Creek?

Posted Wed, Dec 3, 1:19 p.m.

An effort to change the name in Chelan County has run into resistance, and the episode raises the quite complex issues of updating names to modern sensibilities.

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Humor: All you need to know about world history

Posted Mon, Dec 1, 6 a.m.

Just a lecture a day for a month, and you'll get the drift.

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What Somali pirates can learn from Walla Walla and Wall Street

Posted Wed, Nov 26, 7 a.m.

Washington's death row inmates and corporate fat cats are employing strategies that could come in handy for seagoing brigands.

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On Veterans Day, a brief history of U.S. war

Posted Tue, Nov 11, midnight

More often than not, ham-handed politics have led to the conflicts in which our soldiers have sacrificed.

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Black, white, and Orange

Posted Sun, Nov 9, 7:11 p.m.

American is colorblind, especially with regard to birthplace.

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Questioning the promise of change

Posted Fri, Nov 7, midnight

In the wake of the historic 2008 election, a conservative blogger asks: To what degree is President-elect Obama's victory a mandate for the changes he will attempt to make?

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Other media

Michael Kinsley: 8 years later Sure, presidents often fail to deliver on their campaign promises. "But Bush stands out for abandoning the promises and goals that got him elected, taking up the opposite ones and then failing to keep or meet those."

Must all art be 'oppositional'? Critic Roger Kimball worries that we are destroying the connection of art with beauty. "By universalizing the spirit of opposition, the avant-garde’s ­project has transformed the practice of art into a purely negative enterprise, in which art is either oppositional or it is nothing."

A Christmas Tale: Russia, 1919 A story of fleeing the Bolsheviks in the deep midwinter of Russia, saved by "the glow of a makeshift Christmas tree in the thicket of a primeval forest."

George Will: Who cares what Congress thinks? The automaker bailout demonstrates anew that most of the power is in the White House.

Why spending on infrastructure may not revive the economy It only works in relatively good times, when it spurs other spending, writes Louis Uchitelle.

Blog posts

The Postal Service greets the Great Nearby

Posted Mon, Jan 5, 6 a.m.

In 2009, two Northwest states are honored with an endangered species: postage stamps.

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Happy Nazi New Year

Posted Thu, Jan 1, 4:50 p.m.

2009 starts with a bang in terms of Nazi stories, which were a strong theme in 2008 too. In addition, we gained insights into the similar reading habits of Bush and Hitler.

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Remembering Doris Chase

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 6 a.m. 2008

She typified an older generation of artists in Seattle, and had a try-everything sensibility we no longer properly value.

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In search of a new Oregon flag

Posted Tue, Dec 23, 6 a.m. 2008

Flag-wavers in Oregon share an unusual distinction with Moldova and Paraguay, but the state's largest newspaper wants to change all that. The result is an identity crisis.

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Local politicians strike out in the cabinet quest

Posted Thu, Dec 18, 11 a.m. 2008

The state has only had three cabinet posts in its history, a distinct underperformance. But consider one forgotten success story involving former mayor Dorm Braman

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Can Ken Salazar clean the stables at Interior?

Posted Thu, Dec 18, noon 2008

The office has attracted scoundrels who shamelessly favored private resource interests. Also, it's become a chance for presidents to make a political statement.

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Seattle's first expo is You Tube-ready

Posted Tue, Dec 16, 2 p.m. 2008

Uncovered film footage takes you to the 1909 world's fair.

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We're electing Obama today. ZZZZZZ

Posted Mon, Dec 15, 9:12 a.m. 2008

It's Electoral College day, in case you somehow missed it.

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At UW, the search is off

Posted Tue, Dec 9, noon 2008

The University of Washington has to suspend 23 faculty searches, coping with the budget crisis. It recalls the sayings of Chairman Dick.

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Sic Semper Tyrannis!

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 2 p.m. 2008

Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders made a spectacle of himself, shouting "Tyrant!" But he also had a point.

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