Rights / Ethics

An exhibit of corpses is back for a second tour of Seattle, where it has been a huge hit. What are we really experiencing when we wander the gallery of the dead?

Telling the truth about torture

Posted Tue, Nov 17, 6 a.m.

By Anthony B. Robinson

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, now an advocate for release of U.S. interrogation records, says he didn't change sides. The truth did.

Reality bites

Posted Thu, Nov 5, 6 a.m.

By Anthony B. Robinson

In an age of seemingly too much information and not enough thinking, an argument for eschewing our culture's relentless optimism and seeing things as they really are.

Calamity: Timeless lessons from the 1903 Heppner Flood

Posted Fri, Oct 16, 6 a.m.

By Joann Byrd

The author of a new book on Oregon's little-remembered disaster finds some enduring truths while researching the tragedy.

This camp is your camp

Posted Thu, Oct 15, 6 a.m.

Using a state pilot project, the Cascade Land Conservancy has made it possible to preserve historic Hidden Valley Camp for future generations. It's more than a win for holding back sprawl, it also saves an incubator of the Northwest's conservation ethic.

Homes, not handcuffs

Posted Tue, Sep 29, 6 a.m.

By Judy Lightfoot

Seattle isn't close to becoming one of the "meanest cities" listed in a national report, but may soon try its own take on the often-harmful "civility laws" sweeping the country

Heroes, saints, and celebs

Posted Tue, Jun 30, 6 a.m.

By Anthony B. Robinson

In a perverse way, our modern fascination with celebrities such as Michael Jackson provides an avenue for moral discourse

Throwing a hissy fish

Posted Mon, Jun 15, 6 a.m.

PETA objects to the Pike Place fish tossers, but they'd do better if they focused on a real menace: fish sticks.

Godless in Cascadia

Posted Thu, Apr 23, 6 a.m.

What are the public policy implications of living in the None Zone, where religious affiliations are limited? A comparison between New England and the Northwest offers hints.

The Cascadian Dream

Posted Thu, Apr 9, 6 a.m.

Can a Pacific Northwest utopia be shaped on the shared belief that nature is sacred? This latest installment in a series on regional identity looks at the patron saint of the environmental movement, John Muir, and how his thinking informs the desire for a new, greener, and elusive entity some call Cascadia.

Cure the economy by reviving 'animal spirits'

Posted Fri, Mar 6, 6 a.m.

A bright blue scrotum, vicious chimps, Bobo, and sexually incompetent pandas: Here's a stimulus package of wildlife stories that could lead to an economic recovery.

Dignified death in the wings

Posted Tue, Feb 10, 6 a.m.

By Floyd McKay

Why Washington's Catholic health care institutions won't block physician-assisted death

Why the national park gun rule should stand

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 6 a.m.

By Bill Schneider

The rule doesn't change much, says this commentator, mostly just making the status quo the legal status quo. So let it be.

Blue-state musings from a red-state woman

Posted Fri, Dec 5, 6 a.m.

By Lisa Albers

A not-so-dyed-in-the-wool liberal defends her right to take up residence in a true-blue state, and explains why small-l libertarianism holds some appeal.

Bad news for atheists

Posted Thu, Nov 20, midnight

Electing a black president has caused a rise in hate crimes, but no one is less popular than Godless blowhards.

Seattle's misguided gun ban

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 6 a.m.

Mayor Greg Nickels plans to defy state law with a gun ban that is worse than an empty gesture: It puts law-abiding citizens at greater risk.

Questioning the promise of change

Posted Fri, Nov 7, midnight

By Bryan Myrick

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?

Evangelism meets Seattle: the view from Mars Hill

Posted Thu, Oct 30, midnight

By Jonathan Hiskes

Both the burgeoning church and an (unrelated) graduate school provide a perspective on how postmodern Christian movement churches are striking up conversations — and sparks — with mainstream culture.

Anger over the right to die

Posted Fri, Oct 24, midnight

If God wants to join the political debate over assisted suicide, he should expect a bloody nose.

Other media

Joel Connelly: Gay Army Lt. makes a compelling case against Don't Ask policy Drumming out valuable officers, including those who can speak Arabic and Farsi, represents a security risk, Lt. Daniel Choi argues.

SEATTLEPI.COM

Gay marriage advocates want to take some time before pushing for next step R-71 is passing, but narrowly, and the next session of the legislature has little appetite for a gay-marriage bill.

HERALD (EVERETT)

Oregon group launches effort to make same-sex marriage legal The group hopes to have the issue on the Oregon ballot in 2012, lifting a 2004 ban on gay marriage in the state.

THE OREGONIAN

How to make women's rights the issue of the 21st century Equality must become as virtuous a position as fighting apartheid, says columnist Christine Wicker. Five practical steps.

POLITICS DAILY

Names of Ref 71 petition signers may be released after all A federal appeals court today reversed a lower court ruling, opening the way to naming those who signed an initiative putting Washington's domestic-partnership law to a public vote. One more legal step is required before the names are released, says the secretary of state.

SEATTLEPI.COM

Blog posts

Island Girl: I can see why that cop jumped to conclusions

Posted Mon, Oct 26, 6 a.m.

by Ann Bauer

Large man, injured woman, smell of booze. And then there are those troubling domestic violence statistics.

Adventure or child abuse?

Posted Sun, Aug 30, noon

The debate about a 13-year-old sailor girl who wants to go around the world solo.

Adjusting to Death with Dignity

Posted Sat, Mar 21, noon

by Crosscut contributors

The law changed, and now all factions are changing too

Does Portland owe Mayor Adams an apology?

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 5:32 p.m.

by Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett

An alt-weekly writer looks beyond the squabbling around his city's mayoral 'cluster-kerfluffle.'

Gay marriage, the incremental approach

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 6 a.m.

by C.R. Douglas

All benefits (and punishments), just shy of the word "marriage"

Stirring the pot on smoking

Posted Wed, Jan 28, 4 p.m.

Why are anti-smoking advocates in nanny Seattle treating tobacco differently than marijuana? A smoker wants to know.

Filling the polling void

Posted Wed, Dec 3, 3 p.m. 2008

by Mike Henderson

The story of the Federal Way kid who returned $10,000 he found in a bathroom makes its way into the national mania for polls. Are you ethical? (Yes or no.)

Closing the open season on trees

Posted Tue, Dec 2, 8:54 p.m. 2008

Seattle considers new, and over-due, limits of tree-cutting on private property.

Panda-monium

Posted Mon, Nov 24, 11 a.m. 2008