Posted Mon, Apr 23, 2:23 p.m.

What characterizes today's political landscape is that the partisan divide is highly ideological and even cultural in nature. It has reached the point where liberals and conservatives nearly comprise two separate social classes, each with separate media, consumer preferences, places to live, and assumptions that are so different as to ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 9:36 a.m.

I'm not sure that I believe the phrase "growing numbers of independent voters". It is true that a lot of people are reluctant to identify with the political parties, but long term trend--since about 1990--has been a decline in the number of voters who genuinely act independently, which is to ...

Posted Tue, Apr 10, 3:56 p.m.

The lack of attention that the typical driver pays to the task of driving is appalling. Drivers who talk/play with their cell phones--in flagrant violation of the law--or who confuse crosswalks with parking spaces, among numerous other careless activities. I now live in an area where there is much more ...

Posted Sun, Apr 8, 3:35 p.m.

I find no end to the frustration that results from the short-sightedness that prevents counties and municipalities from engaging in any reasonable collaboration. The Nashville-Davidson County Metro Council, for instance, considers it a big victory to poach business from counties next door. They were willing to offer a major tax ...

Posted Wed, Apr 4, 2:08 p.m.

The Vice-Presidency is a curious office indeed, and I still find the logic behind it puzzling. The first Vice President, John Adams, recognizes that he was being relegated to an insignificant office and complained about it bitter. By being obnoxious, Adams also helped set the precedent that the VP, as ...

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 12:46 p.m.

In some cases, it may well be that the thicket of regulations and procedures not merely banishes good judgment as a side effect, but actually does so intentionally. I would like to share a personal experience which, though quite trivial in the scheme of things, is illustrative. I currently teach ...

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 12:27 p.m.

I was born seven years after Nixon's disgraceful exit from the White House, but I am well familiar with the story. Nevertheless, every time I read a recount of the Watergate affair, I am truly stunned by the events that occurred. Even putting all ethical questions aside, simply the fact ...

Posted Fri, Mar 16, 10:22 a.m.

I'm trying to remember what the John Birch sign near Centralia said after the Virginia Tech shootings; it had something to do with that event, implying that the deaths were in fact to be blamed on the victims, for not being armed to defend themselves. When it comes to gun ...

Posted Thu, Mar 8, 12:29 p.m.

I remember this ritual in 2008; as was pointed out in the article, predictions that Democrats would be divided come November due to the long primary slog turned out to be false. Anyone could have seen that they would be false. As anyone can see that similar prediction for 2012 ...

Posted Thu, Mar 8, 12:17 p.m.

Every year, the government robs us of an hour in the spring, and gives that hour back in the fall. As you pointed out, this state of theft persisted for six months until 2007, and George W. stole another two months. I hope he's enjoying those ill-gotten hours back in ...

Posted Sun, Mar 4, 12:27 p.m.

Since overt racism and misogyny are now considered politically incorrect, people who carry these views will go as close to the line as they can without crossing it, and then go into a tizzy when called out. That's the "dog whistle" approach so well performed since the era of George ...

Posted Thu, Mar 1, 11:07 a.m.

Thanks for this excellent interview. To get a sense of the important long term impact of an effective tribunal, it is worth comparing what happened in Germany and Japan, post-World War II, with earlier responses to aggression and war crimes. Following over a decade of warfare brought on by Napoleon's ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 10:56 a.m.

I did a small amount of work with an organization in Nashville that legal assistance to victims of wage theft. We've had some success in recovering stolen wages, though it is a grueling process. Needless to say that it is extremely difficult on a low wage worker who will struggle ...

Posted Mon, Feb 27, 9:42 a.m.

Given the highly selective nature of morality put forward by "Christian" pastors such as Steve Andrew, it is painfully evident that they use the Bible as a fig leaf for what would otherwise be easily recognized as naked bigotry. It's quite amazing the things that these people can say with ...

Posted Thu, Feb 23, 12:28 p.m.

The concept of affirmative action, and especially the related toxic issue of forced busing, was one of the major reasons for the collapse of the New Deal Coalition in 1968. They have been the subjects of much hyperbole and demagoguery; the very phrase "affirmative action" is the equivalent of waving ...

Posted Wed, Feb 22, 2:30 p.m.

I would have to disagree with Ted Van Dyk's comment: Clinton continued to push for free trade throughout the eight years of his administration. Full normalization of trade with China was a major accomplishment in the second term, with the politics very much parallel to the NAFTA debate of the ...

Posted Tue, Feb 21, 10:33 a.m.

Good question, and I myself had forgotten that a few years ago, Obama, perhaps going with his natural inclination to carve out a cautious, moderate-sounding position, endorsed almost everything short of gay marriage. Of course, for reasons outlined in this article, gay marriage is still a dangerous element in the ...

Posted Mon, Feb 20, 9:35 a.m.

The politics of pro sports is a veritable minefield for politicians. Nick Licata was seriously threatened in the 2009 city council election; one of the reasons for that is the perception that he was to blame for the Sonics leaving in the first place. In Nashville, where I live now, ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 11:41 a.m.

Thanks for this analysis. One thing that occurs to me is that if Democrats maintain their majority but lose a few seats, the party leadership will be more inclined to turn the screws on the Roadkill Caucus members rather than let them provide the Republicans with an effective governing majority.

Posted Wed, Feb 8, 1:57 p.m.

Rob McKenna seems to be in a strong position. Since I am on the state Democratic Party's mailing lists, I get all sorts of scare pieces about how McKenna is way out in right field, but that just isn't the case. I will be most disappointed if divisive social issues ...

Posted Tue, Jan 31, 2:49 p.m.

Most politicians like to talk about creating jobs, the economy, and so forth, but the reality, as many knew from the beginning and many others learned the hard way, is that even a president has very little control over the economy. About the best they can do is direct the ...

Posted Tue, Jan 17, 8:55 p.m.

Speaking of redistricting, Suzanne Bonamici did much to enhance her reputation my chairing the Senate Redistricting Committee, whose process has been highly regarded. I don't know her very well, but my impression has been of a hard-working and thoughtful legislator.

Posted Wed, Jan 11, 10:43 a.m.

When what was later understood to be the American Empire emerged at the tail end of the 19th century, the debate was ultimately won by those leaders such as Benjamin Tracy and Theodore Roosevelt who believed that a strong Navy was the key to American strength and leadership in the ...

Posted Thu, Jan 5, 5:14 p.m.

Generally I would be skeptical of trying to correlate leadership skills with mental traits, especially on the basis of just a few examples. Certainly there are plenty of counterexamples as well to all this. Still, some reconsideration is necessary of the concept of "mental illness" and "mental health". I see ...

Posted Wed, Jan 4, 11:58 a.m.

Presidential primaries are a mistake, even more so than primaries in general. Compared to the current system, a much cheaper alternative, that would essentially have the same outcome, would be to choose presidential candidates by lottery.

Posted Tue, Jan 3, 11:06 a.m.

Incidentally, I just started reading Destiny of the Republic myself. Though I am near the beginning, I find it very fascinating and will no doubt read it quickly. Garfield was truly an amazing man who has unfairly been relegated to the category of minor presidents. A theme emerges from this ...

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 8:48 p.m.

The reality of Greyhound is that they serve a lower income market than most other modes of intercity transit. I've also made good use of Amtrak. It's a different demographic, to be sure, but NWneighbor's portrayal of the Greyhound demographic is, in my experience, greatly exaggerated. I've probably made about ...

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 12:11 p.m.

I've long thought the distance between the Greyhound and King Street Stations, a major inconvenience for travelers, to be a mistake. Seattle is particularly important as a transportation hub since it serves as an important transfer point for people traveling between the United States and Canada. I use the Greyhound ...

Posted Mon, Dec 19, 10:12 a.m.

Bizarre. This calls to mind the so-called Christmas Wars, the unpleasant arguments about what religious, or non-religious symbols, shall or shall not be displayed in public places. A company such as Lowe's, as much as a state government, doesn't give a rat's tail about the concerns of some wing-nut, as ...

Posted Tue, Dec 13, 11:26 a.m.

I take what I think is a more Seattle-appropriate, passive aggressive approach to drivers who think that the crosswalk is their own private parking space by walking behind them. Usually that's safer, since you never know when someone will make a right turn after having watched for oncoming cars but ...

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 11:06 a.m.

My understanding is that the industry's efforts in Oregon and California were defense, to prevent state level regulations on bags, whereas in Washington it will need to be an offensive effort, to get the Legislature to control what municipalities can do. That would be much harder. Any details yet on ...

Posted Mon, Nov 28, 7:54 p.m.

In his blog, Adam Curtis gave his take on the seeming vaguery of the Occupy Agenda, and it connects with remarks as "The movement is sometimes criticized for failing to issue a list of demands, but doing so could keep it tied to status quo power relationships and policy options." ...

Posted Mon, Nov 21, 8:35 p.m.

Just now I received an e-mail from the President's re-election campaign trumpeting the veterans jobs bill. I cannot rightly imagine how out of touch with their base the campaign must be. You may have to go all the way back to Grover Cleveland's mishandling of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of ...

Posted Thu, Nov 17, 12:43 p.m.

I was thinking lately about the student protests that took place at Penn State after the scandal broke. That left me scratching my head. Do large numbers of students become so attached to their university brand name that any threat to the brand name will override any sense of reason? ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 12:11 p.m.

It is often assumed that difficult problems, such as state budget challenges, will be solved by a brilliant, creative solution that no one has yet thought of, but would be thought of if only certain entrenched interests could be pushed aside. Thanks for citing a bit of Chinese etymology and ...

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 9:08 a.m.

Voting rates have varied over the years, though were generally higher in the 19th century than today. In the latter half of the century, turnout close to 90% was not uncommon. Voting might not have been compulsory by law, but it was compulsory by cultural norm. One major difference between ...

Posted Wed, Nov 9, 9:08 p.m.

I-1125 was truly a puzzle for me. Almost every aspect of it--why the Legislature would be considered a preferable body for setting tolls, the objection to dynamic tolling--has left me scratching my head. The only piece I really understand is the objection to light rail on I-90: it affects Kemper ...

Posted Thu, Nov 3, 8:28 a.m.

The last US President to use the language of sacrifice was Jimmy Carter, who called for conservation and heavy investment in alternative energy as a way of breaking free of the energy crises that the country faced in the 1970s. The program turned out to be unpopular and an object ...

Posted Mon, Oct 31, 9:14 p.m.

I've always been an admirer of Grover Cleveland's story. During his years practicing law, Cleveland had an affair with a Maria Halpin and took credit for an illegitimate child (who was probably someone else's). Cleveland took full responsibility for the affair when his opponents made it an issue in the ...

Posted Thu, Oct 20, 2:19 p.m.

I recently moved to Nashville, TN, where we have a 40 member council, behind only New York and Chicago in size. Of those 40, 35 are elected by district and 5 are at large. The 5 at-larges tend to be the more plain vanilla types we have in Seattle, while ...

Posted Tue, Oct 18, 11:49 a.m.

If only matters were so simple. What we've seen in the past decade is the largest growth in the world's industrial workforce ever and rapid advances in telecommunications technology. Whether national policies promote or hinder this trend, there will be no going back to the 1950s, and one should be ...

Posted Thu, Oct 6, 11:30 a.m.

In response to Sarah's comments, an activist is anyone who, on a volunteer basis, works to influence policy. That makes me an activist because I have worked on campaigns and lobbied elected officials without receiving any payment. I've even taken part in rallies because a rally, when well-placed and aimed ...

Posted Thu, Oct 6, 8:25 a.m.

I've become rather impatient with protests because I see too many people there who aren't really interested in getting anything done. People are attracted to protests because it is an opportunity to shout against real and imagined grievances, always a popular activity. But as you've shown, protests don't have much ...

Posted Wed, Oct 5, 8:32 p.m.

The American university system, as now configured, does indeed have some serious challenges. The skyrocketing costs are unsustainable for state budgets and the increasingly squeezed middle class, and universities for the most part have failed to keep up with the needs of the middle aged returning to school or those ...

Posted Thu, Sep 29, 3:06 p.m.

Having been involved in a number of groups, political campaigns, etc., I've found that being a good follower and a good leader are often not all that different from each other. When I started becoming active in politics, I thought the best way to be involved was to hang out ...

Posted Sun, Sep 25, 9:36 a.m.

I was thinking about this just recently on some of the vexing environmental issues we face. Remember the plastic bag debate in 2009? The city council meant well in trying to reduce the amount of waste and resource consumption by instituting a 20 cent fee on plastic bags, but when ...

Posted Thu, Sep 8, 1:20 p.m.

The Slate articles are interesting reads, although the federal government's and average citizen's inability to make proper risk assessments is hardly breaking news. I came to that realization one day a few years ago, when the news was full of an ecoli outbreak that had occurred in spinach. I was ...

Posted Sun, Aug 28, 2:52 p.m.

Thanks for all the food for thought. The president is running out of time to show strong leadership on the budget, but now is a good opportunity. Military pork has a long and proud tradition, one that will not be easily broken. During the Washington administration, the Federalists recognized the ...

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 9:59 p.m.

I recently read a book about John Quincy Adams, which is quite relevant to this discussion. Adams the last US President who approximated a nonpartisan status. Adams was a distinguished leader who had been Secretary of State under James Monroe. By the Monroe administration, the Federalist Party had fallen out ...

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 9:34 p.m.

Smacgry said much of what I wanted to say. Poverty, lack of nutrition, and turmoil at home are far greater problems for students than the way that teacher salaries and tenure are computed. I think that a sort of merit pay system--so long as it addresses commonly raised objections such ...

Posted Wed, Aug 24, 8:55 p.m.

To my knowledge, the first conscious effort to separate rational inquiry from religion was made by Thomas Aquinas. It was Aquinas's goal not to protect Christianity from critical scrutiny, but to liberate rational inquiry from religious dogma. In subsequent centuries, as the Church ultimately failed to suppress scientific, philosophical, and ...

Posted Sun, Aug 21, 9:07 p.m.

If I know my demography, Mr. Van Dyk comes from the less well known Silent Generation. Born after the GI Generation (sometimes grandiosely labeled the "Greatest Generation") and before the Boomers, the Silent Generation was relatively small in number and is not attributed with the same amount of social impact ...

Posted Fri, Aug 19, 9:31 a.m.

It is my understanding that the claim that Young directed the Mountain Meadows Massacre is still debated. I would add that some care is needed to distinguish the mainstream LDS church from other Mormon sects. The LDS church rejected polygamy a long time ago, which prompted a split, led by ...

Posted Sat, Aug 6, 4:41 p.m.

There's been a lot of grousing lately about how Obama "caved" to the far right in the debt ceiling deal, but that's hardly his worst mistake. President Obama suffers from the same syndrome that affected Martin van Buren: an innate aversion to controversy and inability to stake out firm positions. ...

Posted Mon, Jul 4, 10:35 a.m.

There is something for a slow legislative process, or gridlock as it is often described. It also means stability. Consider, for instance, the radical shifts in economic policy that occurred in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. A Labour government would nationalize (or nationalise, if you prefer) an industry, a ...

Posted Fri, Jun 24, 9:28 a.m.

Adding to the difficulties was the foolish and shortsighted decision to raid the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The rationale was to lower prices to give another temporary aid to the economy, but the effect will be to damage producers and increase vulnerability in the event of a real oil shortage.

Posted Wed, Jun 8, 11:04 p.m.

More bad news: Cherry Coke doesn't count as a fruit.

Posted Wed, May 18, 9:34 p.m.

Historically, American politicians have had their various ways of dealing with these sorts of issues, some more successful than others. Ultimately, things never change much. Thomas Jefferson, when rumors of his affair with slave Sally Hemmings started surfacing, responded by saying nothing. He refused to answer the accusations one way ...

Posted Mon, May 16, 8:42 p.m.

If you will indulge a behavioralist streak, a major part of what makes a city inviting is not just safety, but the perception of safety and comfort on the part of the citizens. Furthermore, the perception of disorder can create those hot spots you describe in the first place (e.g. ...

Posted Fri, Apr 29, 9:53 p.m.

Not long ago, Ralph Nader asserted in an editorial that Donald Trump was on the DNC payroll. It wouldn't surprise me. Is there a Republican out there who is not embarrassed by this clown? In the world of sales--and I can attest to this though my own experience and that ...

Posted Thu, Apr 21, 9:59 p.m.

I'm not under any delusions that bringing in some corporate tough guy will suddenly cause a struggling inner city school to outperform Singapore, but the idea is worth considering. Maybe experienced teachers do, in general, make the best principals, but there is no good reason to restrict the talent pool ...

Posted Thu, Apr 21, 8:26 a.m.

Your second point is one that I have noticed in other contexts. I've taken part in the so-called "Math Wars", the debate over which textbooks should be used for math classes. To summarize in one sentence, the debate is whether we should use books that emphasize concepts and intuition, or ...

Posted Wed, Apr 20, 8:29 p.m.

To this day I fail to understand the animosity to the Columbia Tower. I happen to think it a fine building, a true statement of Seattle's world class status. Its incongruity in the skyline, noticeable but not unreasonable, is in fact a virtue. Then again, I also support the SR ...

Posted Sun, Apr 17, 9:50 a.m.

To put it succinctly, the sky is not falling. Cable news finds it can attract ratings by running scare stories about the deficit, but as you say, more sober thinking is called for. There is much more than "deficit reduction" going on in these debates, and I am talking about ...

Posted Tue, Apr 12, 2:49 p.m.

Governor Gregoire made a fairly ill-thought comment, opening an unintended can of worms in what was meant to be little more than a pejorative toward Mayor McGinn's transit solutions. There is a pervasive myth, to which Gregoire seems to be appealing, that contrasts an "engineered" approach, namely transit and traffic ...

Posted Mon, Apr 11, 8:47 p.m.

I share in some of the dissatisfaction in how this exemption debate has played out. Some of the more egregious loopholes are targeted for discussion, but lacking is appropriate context or any real effort to forge a long term solution to the many problems that hobble Washington's tax system. Although, ...

Posted Thu, Apr 7, 9:34 a.m.

This should be a sobering reminder of the risks that exist. I received an e-mail of this form from Chase, and my first thought was whether they could be certain that only e-mail addresses were stolen. And next time, it might be bank account numbers.

Posted Tue, Apr 5, 9:57 p.m.

Since I was asked to do so, I will clarify what I meant by "exaggerated" financial crisis. The United States is not Greece. There is not a national bankruptcy nor will there be one in the foreseeable future. I don't wish to present a pollyannish view of the situation, but ...

Posted Mon, Apr 4, 7:53 p.m.

Ray Scheppach, the recently retired head of the National Governors Association, formed a bipartisan coalition of governors in opposition the last time this half-baked block grant idea came up in Congress. Back then, Scheppach understood clearly everything that you discussed: that the block grant program would jeopardize coverage for the ...

Posted Sun, Mar 27, 4:02 p.m.

The notion of the individual as the rational, autonomous agent flourished in the Enlightenment era and culminated with Immanuel Kant. The idea was central in the development of most modern institutions and remains the tacit assumption in most economics classes. It fit well with the changes that were occurring in ...

Posted Wed, Mar 23, 10:15 a.m.

kieth: the main issue I was getting at it my post was access. When candidates come out to, say, the League of Women Voters debate or the neighborhood association's event, or meets with individual voters at the county fair, this creates the two-way relationship that a politician needs in order ...

Posted Tue, Mar 22, 8:34 p.m.

You discussed federal and state races, but the situation is getting out of control locally as well. Legislative and Seattle City Council races now run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you want to be the next King County Executive, you will probably need to come up with ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 10:28 p.m.

Any realistic discussion of growth cannot avoid a careful look at the economic forces that drive the city, which is why I cannot accept a separation of an effective transportation policy--which includes adequate capacity for the port--from land use policy. Otherwise, more people will be living on a smaller economic ...

Posted Sat, Mar 12, 2:37 p.m.

There is something inherently unfair about the process. In March, the government takes away an hour and returns a single hour in November. This amounts to an interest-free loan of our most valuable resource: time. Instead, we should get some interest, say an hour and five minutes back in November.

Posted Sat, Mar 5, 4:45 p.m.

Your last few words, and treats (as Barken claims) “philanthropists as royalty”, are also quite important. There does seem to be a sense that when individuals use their money philanthropically, they are entitled to a certain deference that leads to a lighter level of scrutiny.

Posted Thu, Mar 3, 10:55 a.m.

You can look at a lot of things, such as elimination of AmeriCorps funding, massive cuts to WIC, massive cuts to the Community Development Block Grants, and many others, and the picture that emerges is of one of the most spiteful budget proposals we have ever seen. It's as though ...

Posted Sat, Feb 26, 12:07 p.m.

You really hit on what was my biggest concern about all this 3D business. I still have never had an HDTV and am considering (not planning, mind you, just considering) getting one later this year. So I have little enthusiasm for the prospect of having to upgrade yet again if ...

Posted Tue, Feb 22, 9:21 a.m.

Kids are generally smarter than adults give them credit for. I knew that I was no good at soccer and other sports, despite what the adults said. Reading this makes me wonder if I might have enjoyed it more if the adults had some constructive ideas for how I might ...

Posted Tue, Feb 22, 8:56 a.m.

There's no limit to the amount of hand-wringing one can do if one pays too much attention to surveys. No doubt, had this survey been taken at appropriate times in history, it would have put Warren Harding, Benjamin Harrison, or Martin Van Buren near the top as well. There's a ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 10:56 p.m.

Getting the attention of a legislator, who proceeds to use his power to attempt to remedy the problem, is a major accomplishment. That is ultimately what good journalism is all about. It occurred to me, reading the piece, that the heart of the problem seems to be the practice of ...

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 9:48 a.m.

My uncle met a girlfriend on a bus one time, many years ago. I was skeptical that it could be done until he told the story. Which routes at which times of day are the most effective could be an interesting research project.

Posted Mon, Feb 14, 12:06 a.m.

I'm not sure that rising gasoline prices matter much. Say that the price does in fact rise to $5 a gallon. If your typical power-commuter travels 100 miles per day, including work, dropping the kids off at school, and shopping runs, on a vehicle that gets 25 miles per gallon, ...

Posted Mon, Feb 7, 11:31 p.m.

I've heard the American relationship with Egypt described as a dysfunctional marriage. Both sides, while they don't really like each other, take each other for granted. American leaders see a strong but pliant Egypt as key to maintaining the geopolitical status quo in the Middle East, while Egyptian leaders see ...

Posted Mon, Feb 7, 2:31 p.m.

Thanks for this piece. I will admit that the message of "Race to Nowhere" was a hard one for me to take. I've became a believer in the Renaissance Man ideal and in Teddy Roosevelt's "strenuous life", and the university system, for all its faults, seems to be the last ...

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 8:39 a.m.

A thought experiment illustrates the fuzzy distinction between tax expenditures and real expenditures. Imagine if the Defense Department announced that they were eliminating their entire funding for acquisition of equipment. Instead, the federal government would provide a tax credit to any company that donates equipment to the military. Tremendous savings ...

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 10:28 a.m.

There is a nationwide movement now to put elected superintendents under the governor's control. Oregon has a couple of bills in the legislature this year to that as well. It's a move that I've supported since the WASL blow-up, which shows how much trouble can result when there is poor ...

Posted Sat, Jan 22, 9:28 a.m.

I can has venture capital?

Posted Fri, Jan 14, 6:46 p.m.

When I was a graduate student, there was an urban legend going around that the building was designed with its narrow hallways to discourage protesters. I believed it for many years, until it occurred to me that there was no source for this information other than urban legend. Sometimes it's ...

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 11:05 p.m.

If you want to go back farther in time, two Presidential assassinations were clearly rooted in extremist politics. John Wilkes Booth, who shot Abraham Lincoln, was a supporter of the Confederacy. Booth was not a lone actor but rather part of a larger conspiracy that also targeted Vice President Andrew ...

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 9:20 a.m.

In a short piece for the BBC, Adam Curtis once declared that now we are all Richard Nixon. Nixon ultimately engineered his downfall because of his paranoid worldview: he saw conspiracies against him everywhere and acted on those beliefs. The Watergate scandal woke the press up to its new true ...

Posted Mon, Jan 10, 11:14 p.m.

I noticed two comments on the news ticker today, both from conservative sources, decrying the politicization of this event. Overpoliticization has been the norm for years now. Whenever a geopolitical flareup occurs somewhere in the world, or a bit of economic news comes out, the pundits are all ready to ...

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 10:25 a.m.

Thanks for this piece, and it is quite an interesting story. I am reminded of the economist's James Buchanan's work on public choice theory. His work also began with the assumption that government employees are inherently lazy or fraudulent, and so to insure good outcomes, it was necessary to create ...

Posted Wed, Jan 5, 1:44 p.m.

I've noticed these stereotypes in the media as well. In the 1990s, the Homer Simpson stereotype dominated: the man was still the head of the household, but was lazy, selfish, and not very smart. It seems that a new, even more sinister stereotype emerged in the 2000s, that of the ...

Posted Mon, Jan 3, 10:04 p.m.

I started grad school at UW a few years after the TA strike, and I have to say that I greatly appreciated having medical coverage. By 2010, which was my final year as a student, I became increasingly concerned about how the school's budget shortfall was going to affect the ...

Posted Thu, Dec 23, 9:39 a.m.

Thanks for this piece. I like to have a little controversy in the public sphere and look forward to seeing the response ads as well. It's important to get people thinking about things other than iPods. More than anything else, there seems to be a deep cynicism that the Israeli-Palestinian ...

Posted Fri, Dec 17, 10:20 p.m.

I found my way on to Senator Murray's mailing list and got that bizarre message. How could a Senate Democratic leader, while still in the majority, tell us that she has no agency in the process? There was no "hostage situation" here. Senator Murray could have said that extending the ...

Posted Wed, Dec 15, 9:54 a.m.

The Oil Drum, a website on which I rely heavily for energy information, wrote several stories about Chinese coal consumption. It's quite amazing, and it demonstrates clearly that there is no CO2 solution that doesn't involve China's coal usage. http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/7123 One of the most important tools in understanding the economics ...

Posted Wed, Dec 15, 9:20 a.m.

I'll go out on a limb here and guess that you, like our president and congressional leaders, have never studied economics. That's false and it's a personal insult.

Posted Tue, Dec 14, 4:16 p.m.

I would set 70% as a fair highest tax bracket, to set in at perhaps one million dollars. The economy was doing better--lower unemployment, more affordable cost of living, etc.--when we are at this level than now. The President should state this, or what he would consider to be the ...

Posted Tue, Dec 14, 1:57 p.m.

What is interesting, and perhaps a bit worrisome, is when one considers rising standards of living for the middle from the 1970s through 2008, embodied by such things as larger houses, more electronic gadgetry, etc., and in the face of rising costs of health care and education. All this with ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 11:51 a.m.

crossrip: I would partially agree with what you wrote. In the case of a powerful monied interest, such as the coal industry bankrolling judicial campaigns in West Virginia, there is no real partisan element to it. But the political parties are important in judicial races, where turnout is low, many ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 9:59 a.m.

Thanks for this article, which was eye-opening for me. In the past I've focused more on the problems of an elected judiciary: judges who have to engage in partisan politics in order to be elected or maintain their positions. If a judge ran on a "tough on crime" platform, or ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 9:55 a.m.

I know it's bothersome to keep hearing about how much Portland is better than Seattle, but Trimet works fairly well. Unlike Seattle, which is contained in a single county, Portland is part of three counties: Washington, Clackamas, and Multnomah. All rely on Trimet for bus and light rail service. Trimet ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 6:46 p.m.

The Governor and Speaker Chopp has been playing a sort of good cop, bad cop game for a while now, where Gregoire threatens to cut such programs as Disability Lifeline and the Democratic majority "saves" them. There will be no room for games this time. As a good governance principle, ...

Posted Mon, Dec 6, 12:17 p.m.

Thanks for this article. I think that it's on point in a lot of ways, and there are many reasons why the now standard model of success, which is four years of college right after high school, is outdated and unsustainable. I do want to disagree with one aspect of ...

Posted Sun, Dec 5, 11:33 a.m.

Thanks for the information. This is the first time I have ever heard of a PILOT program, and it's an interesting idea even if lined with some clear dangers. You mentioned how state payments to municipalities for property taxes not paid by nonprofits tend to be axed during budget crunches, ...

Posted Sat, Dec 4, 12:22 p.m.

NickBob: the security implications of what happened are significant, and I think we shall see soon enough what they are. In some sense, this is another case of the solution to yesterday's problem laying the groundwork for tomorrow's problem. After 9/11, intelligence analysts determined that one of the key causes ...

Posted Sat, Dec 4, 9:48 a.m.

The whole story has more than enough drama for a media sensation. Allegation of sexual misconduct, assassination attempts (even if nothing more than off-the-cuff remarks by certain politicians and officials), cyber warfare, and Assanges's jet-setting escapades. And then there's the content of the cables themselves: embarrassing remarks about world leaders, ...

Posted Fri, Dec 3, 11:12 p.m.

The role of the families is often understated as well. There's a reason that weddings are large, public ceremonies with so many families and friends together. The vows are not just vows to oneself, or to the spouse, or to God, but also to all of one's family and friends ...

Posted Fri, Dec 3, 1:49 p.m.

At a time when editorial boards all over the country are pounding the drumbeat for deficit reduction, we are going to hold unfunded unemployment benefits hostage for an unfunded upper class tax cut? Just today it comes out that unemployment numbers have gone up, but it doesn't fit the recovery ...

Posted Fri, Dec 3, 11:26 a.m.

I do think that these are generally good ideas, but one comment about repealing the 18th amendment. As it stands now, only a portion of funding for highways comes from car licensing fees and gasoline taxes, and much comes from other sources. I have a dislike for dedicated revenue streams ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 6:52 p.m.

Thanks for this article and for taking a firm position in a very touchy subject. I also support the DREAM Act. It's one thing to talk about people who sneak up seasonably to make a few dollars to send home, and quite another about those who are brought over as ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 4:14 p.m.

I know it's tangentially related, but I think a comment about polling and argument-by-initiative-result is in order. In less enlightened eras, people regarded the word of the king or the church as sacred. The opinions of scientists were highly valued in our society not too long ago (see, e.g. the ...

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 9:51 p.m.

Looks like the vote happened today, and it passed. This turned out to be a good exercise in following Congress. I tried to find the roll call, but couldn't. Doc Hastings gave a floor speech asking his colleagues to vote against it, citing the lack of a cap on lawyers' ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 10:45 p.m.

I was thinking about the ship found at the World Trade Center site not too long ago. Archeology is compatible with major construction projects. It's just as interesting to think about how fate can bring together the oddest strands of history.

Posted Sun, Nov 28, 5:29 p.m.

It's a phenomenon that psychologies could write books about. For some strange reason, I've never had any interest in waking up at an ungodly hour and fighting my way through ferocious crowds. I'll gladly pay a few dollars more to be able to do my shopping in a sane atmosphere. ...

Posted Sat, Nov 27, 5:50 p.m.

It's something I haven't thought about much, but there is a real sense of isolation that comes with hospitalization. Maybe because those of us on the outside don't think about it much, once we end up inside, it's easy to imagine being forgotten. Thanks for this story. By the way, ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 7:13 p.m.

Since I brought up Hutchison's campaign, maybe I should clarify what I was getting at. I think a bit more highly of her campaign than others here do, but ultimately she tried to walk an impossibly fine line: not associating with either party while acting as the conservative candidate. CHECC ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 12:47 p.m.

I think this is the first time I've heard such an idea, so I don't have an opinion yet, but I do see a potential problem. Washington, like most (all?) other states, differentiates between in-state and out-of-state tuition. The reason is Washington residents are more likely to stay in the ...

Posted Thu, Nov 25, 10:39 p.m.

It wasn't so long ago that King County decided to make county-wide races nonpartisan. It hasn't had any noticeable impact of the way the County Council operates. There is still a five member Democratic caucus and a four member Republican caucus, and they meet to discuss policy and strategy. Would ...

Posted Wed, Nov 24, 5:56 p.m.

Sounds like an interesting book. I've become rather skeptical of the argument that Democrats ceded the working class to the GOP by neglecting labor issues. I think a look at the demographics suggests that Democrats/liberals/progressives have maintained the urban base, while the Tea Party has its base in rural areas, ...

Posted Tue, Nov 23, 9:46 a.m.

This whole incident illustrates a much larger problem in how school curriculum is constructed. We rely too heavily on the "squeaky wheel" model. You know the adage, the squeaky wheel gets replaced. In other words, whoever complains the loudest gets his or her views incorporated into the curriculum. The problem ...

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 12:52 p.m.

Thanks for the overview of the issues. I will be very interested to see how this turns out, as questions about AG authority could have national significance. In Alabama, there has been a conflict between the governor and the AG which stemmed from the AG's decision to file suit for ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 9:54 a.m.

Knute, your columns are always good at inducing head-scratching. I would rate Governor Gregoire's leadership well overall, but she hasn't seemed to show strong leadership on the longest term matters. For example, when the downturn began to get serious, her budget proposals made overly optimistic assessments of the economy and ...

Posted Tue, Nov 16, 1:47 p.m.

I'm still digesting the proposals that have come out of the Deficit Reduction Commission. Don't get too attached to them; they will change before even the Commission is done with them, but I am excited to see that they are talking about a lot of things that would have been ...

Posted Mon, Nov 15, 1:13 p.m.

The EITC has enjoyed bipartisan support in its 35 year history. Ronald Reagan described the EITC as "the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress." It has indeed been an excellent program and one that should be maintained. Believe it or not, ...

Posted Thu, Nov 11, 3:38 p.m.

The great American patriotic song, The Star-Spangled Banner, arose from the War of 1812. The war was nothing less than a disaster. George Washington for the most part ignored the conflict between Britain and France, John Adam successfully avoided going to war with France though his skilled diplomacy, and Thomas ...

Posted Sat, Nov 6, 11:21 a.m.

That's an interesting idea. I frequently travel between Seattle and Portland, and it might be worth it to take a few extra hours, save money on the Greyhound, and have a bit of an adventure while I'm at it.

Posted Wed, Nov 3, 9:31 a.m.

Even though I'm not very old yet, I have noticed in my lifetime an increasing importance ascribed to the emotional state of the public. The BBC entertainer Charlie Brooker sees the death of Princess Diana as being the turning point in this regard. In the 2010 election, the most important ...

Posted Fri, Oct 29, 9:33 a.m.

Thank you for this article, which is very informative. I was heavily involved in the 2009 municipal elections, and it was quite clear to me how influential public sector unions are in the process. The police and firefighters are especially influential because few people are willing to challenge public safety. ...

Posted Wed, Oct 27, 1:59 p.m.

In 1963, Lyndon Johnson became President of the United States after the untimely death of his predecessor, John Kennedy. Johnson set about an ambitious social agenda that he labeled the Great Society, which consisted of a wide range of measures including the War of Poverty, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, voting ...

Posted Mon, Oct 25, 2:19 p.m.

Perhaps we could look more closely to the development of the infrastructure of the internal combustion automobile for guidance. After all, when Henry Ford's automobiles went into mass production, there was scarcely the infrastructure of filling stations or interstate highways that exists today. The first gasoline powered automobiles existed many ...

Posted Fri, Oct 22, 9 a.m.

A politician must always walk a fine line when talking about the media. Some get better coverage than others for a variety of reasons, but criticizing the press almost always degrades the quality of the coverage one receives. Ask Richard Nixon about that.

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 11:19 p.m.

I had a chance to see them back in 1999. Those were the good old days. No worrying about terrorism or economic calamity. The Cold War was long over. I don't even remember what we were worrying about back then. I remember a sketch about Boris Yeltsin's health and the ...

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 8:27 p.m.

Thomas Jefferson constructed his own Bible by cutting out all of the passages that dealt with miracles and keeping those that dealt with morality. It's an interesting approach, but censoring out passages with unpleasant messages might not be the best solution. The Bible presents a view of God that is ...

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 9:24 a.m.

It sounds like an interesting book, and I don't think I can dispute any of the figures used, but I do think that there are important parts of the story that put the thesis into question. The influence of the Christian Right has declined quite a bit, and in fact ...

Posted Tue, Oct 19, 11:17 p.m.

The PBS series Frontline had an interesting program a few years ago entitled The Medicated Child, which looked into the issue of whether we are giving too many drugs to our children. I was unaware of the discrepancy between children on Medicaid and the rest of the population, but the ...

Posted Tue, Oct 19, 10:54 p.m.

When I think about what states I might want to live in, income taxes are not very high on my list of considerations. I think more about culture, weather, the presence of jobs that I'm interested in, and proximity of family. I don't have children, but if I did, I ...

Posted Mon, Oct 18, 9:49 a.m.

The danger, though, is that the initiative actually passes and causes harm in excess of the financial benefit brought about by the campaign. I would suggest that clever lawyers craft the initiatives in such a way that they will be ruled unconstitutional if they pass, but not so blatantly that ...

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 10:47 p.m.

I'm all for taking a harder look at tax expenditures, but the obstacles are usually deeper than deep-pocketed special interests. A well-documented problem with a state dealing with a major employer is that the employer can extract tax favors by threatening to relocate. The threat is real, and major companies ...

Posted Fri, Oct 15, 9:27 a.m.

If we were to take McIlwain at his word, then I and a lot of my fellow Democrats would agree with him: the ideal income tax measure would be broader based and would do some combination of eliminating the B&O; tax, eliminating the state property tax, and putting a serious ...

Posted Thu, Oct 14, 11:43 a.m.

Whenever issues of taxation or business regulation come to the fore of public discussion, there are always warnings about driving away investors and entrepreneurs. These warnings have a self-serving purpose--to persuade politicians and the public to reject policies that are harmful to business interests--and quite often they are exaggerated for ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 11:21 p.m.

The rhetoric described in this piece, "government doesn't create jobs", is based on defining the national welfare in terms of the private economy and excluding public activities. The reason for the distinction lies primarily in a philosophical attitude, common among Republican voters and politicians, that values private sector activity over ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 4:34 p.m.

People do seem to be drawn to controversies. I attended a panel discussion a while ago which included a few newspaper people. One of them, a journalist, said that the hot button controversy stories, not to mention the pieces on animal sex, routinely generate the most clicks on their websites. ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 11:08 a.m.

There's a danger in politics in crafting a lens which proceeds to distort one's view of the world. Such, I think, has become true of Seattle's mayor. Consider the statement in the second paragraph. The proposal to increase city revenues from the pockets of those of us who drive cars ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:45 a.m.

The grass is always greener on the other side, they say. I grew up as a Catholic, and I too felt that my religious environment was uninspired. Sermons consisted of such things as marriage jokes (from someone, mind you, who lacks first hand experience) and some of the most strained ...

Posted Wed, Oct 6, 12:46 p.m.

A major problem with centrism, as it is often presented, is that its appeal can be found in its vagueness. I don't know many people who think we need more overheated rhetoric in politics, but that's hardly the main issue. I tell people that if they don't like the partisanship, ...

Posted Tue, Oct 5, 12:31 p.m.

Thanks for this piece and thanks to Crosscut for providing balanced coverage of the issue. I do remain troubled by reports that Metro's drivers are better paid than drivers in some metro areas with much higher costs of living. However, this does get at the heart of the issue that ...

Posted Tue, Oct 5, 10:35 a.m.

Thanks for this article, which touches on what has become one of my great frustrations. If minority communities vote in lower numbers, it may very well be because politicians tend to overlook them. Here in Seattle, politicians are more than happy to wade into controversial issues that carry racial or ...

Posted Tue, Oct 5, 10:10 a.m.

It certainly is shocking to see the amount of ignorance that exists on certain topics. That same study you linked threw in a few general knowledge questions and found, among other things, that 59% of Americans know who the Vice President is. I've always been a bit skeptical of those ...

Posted Mon, Oct 4, 9:45 a.m.

Thanks for this informative piece. It seems that you allude to a possible Sixth Amendment issue, regarding the lack of legal representation on the part of people who are arrested. Is that something that has come up in the court cases you have followed?

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 10:16 p.m.

In the past, I've criticized Mayor McGinn for what I and others perceive to be a "war on cars". But putting aside the labels and perceptions for a moment, I think that raising the parking rates downtown is a wise and necessary measure, given the nature of the budget shortfall ...

Posted Thu, Sep 30, 6:57 p.m.

The contemporary Democratic party liberal is clueless about the rise of the populist right. I see this development as the inevitable consequence of the leftist party’s effective abandonment of the party’s historical worker and lower and middle class base in favor of the myth of having to save the finance ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 12:33 p.m.

In response to Andy's comment: I don't personally think that secularism is a threat to religion in the USA at the present time, but some people, particularly social conservatives, see it that way. They see religious practice as the ground for good living, and consequently a decline of religiosity leads ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 9:38 a.m.

Like most (I presume) regular bus commuters, I would prefer to see service preserved/expanded than the drivers paid more. I also understand that Metro drivers are among the best paid in the country, with higher salaries than many areas with higher costs of living. Contracts at all levels of government ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 9:23 a.m.

That's an interesting thought, one that I hadn't considered before. Although I am not Catholic myself, my family is heavily Catholic and I see a lot of what is going on in the Church. In recent years the Church has undertaken a concerted effort to promote interreligious dialog, and there ...

Posted Tue, Sep 28, 12:24 p.m.

jniles: that's a very intriguing idea, and I have never heard it before. Do you have a link to some specific research on how telecommunications are increasing travel? I would be very interested in looking at some of that.

Posted Tue, Sep 28, 10:04 a.m.

I recently read about the Incas' abundance of unneeded transportation projects in Charles Mann's 1491. Supporters of projects such as SoundTransit expansion, the waterfront tunnel, and the 520 replacement would obviously question the appropriateness of an analogy to the Incas, but I do think that it is good to ask ...

Posted Mon, Sep 27, 11:32 p.m.

Thanks for pointing out why boomers should not take much credit for the civil rights legislation. But I would contend that boomers shouldn't be credited for ending the war in Vietnam either. For all of the attention that the war protesters got, they marched for years without accomplishing their goals. ...

Posted Mon, Sep 27, 11:39 a.m.

My inexpert read on the legalities of the situation is that Conlin's actions are not entirely kosher but not far out of bounds either. The council can and will legitimate this in due time, and frankly at this point I'm not too concerned about whether the proper number of hearings ...

Posted Tue, Sep 14, 8:33 a.m.

All right, you got me, common1sense. But no matter now many t's there might be in Beatles, that doesn't change the fact that their music isn't very good.

Posted Mon, Sep 13, 9:02 a.m.

I, for one, am looking forward to the Baby Boomers losing their market power. When that happens, there will be no more self-indulgent nostalgia about the Beattles. The rest of us will recognize the Beattles for what they were: another low-talent boy band. My mother is a member of the ...

Posted Sat, Sep 11, 8:04 a.m.

This is welcome news. A lot of localities agreed in the past to floors on pay increases of 2% or so, perhaps short-sightedly because they assumed that inflation would not be so low, and hopefully the current crisis will be an impetus for moving away from that practice. My understanding ...

Posted Fri, Sep 10, 9:35 a.m.

After having given the matter some thought, I have decided that my own response will be to read the Koran. I have a copy at my desk that I have neglected for some time. When it comes to individuals such as Terry Jones, the most potent weapon is education. I ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 12:36 p.m.

Quinn, the conspiratorial view of Islam that you have repeatedly posted here in recent days is reminiscent of the seventeenth century railings about the evils of "popery".

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 8:50 a.m.

A good overview of the immediate foreign policy challenges. You might add to that list the deteriorating situation in Mexico, where the battle between the government and drug lords is approaching the level of an insurgency. I would have to disagree with the comment about the Taliban taking over Pakistan. ...

Posted Wed, Sep 1, 1:17 p.m.

The underfunding of the UW is a tragic example of how, in times of budget crunch, there is a temptation to make cost saving decisions today which have many times greater harm tomorrow. With higher education being pushed farther out of reach, fewer Washingtonians will have undergraduate degrees in the ...

Posted Wed, Sep 1, 10:52 a.m.

Thanks for the thought provoking piece. Having talked with a number of devout Muslims over the years, I have come to realize that the "in the world but not of it" attitude is quite common among the American Muslim community, much more so than it is among American Christians. I ...

Posted Fri, Aug 27, 8:46 p.m.

I can't speak for Washington's Congressional delegation, but I can speak for myself. I've seen enough other sorts of "culture wars", debates over such matters as prayer in school and the pledge of allegiance that I know best to steer clear of them, or at least proceed with extreme caution. ...

Posted Wed, Aug 25, 11:01 a.m.

From an actuarial perspective, an insurance company is going to charge drivers in accordance to the risk they pose to the fullest extent possible. This means that the more information is available, the better. It makes more sense that the number of miles be a factor, but not the only ...

Posted Tue, Aug 24, 10:54 a.m.

Fair enough. It reminds me a bit of the celebrity gossip, where it seems that sordid personal information of famous entertainers and athletes is constantly popping up. There's probably some truth to the idea that when people are treated like superstars, they start to believe that they can do whatever ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 9:39 p.m.

Adam, I do have to object somewhat to your comments. I taught at UW for six years, including a few classes that had high concentrations of athletes. Some of them were good, hard-working students with a real desire to learn. Granted, some others were fairly irresponsible as students as well. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 8:26 a.m.

During my undergrad years, I attended a small school that was put on the map in a major way by a successful team. The desire to ignore the seamy underbelly of the world of college sports was particularly pronounced at this school, because for the administration, the team was a ...

Posted Fri, Aug 20, 11:28 a.m.

First I will say that, as an active Democrat, I have been gratified by the Washington Policy Center's leadership on environmental issues. I read through the report that the WPC put on Earth Day 2010 and found it to be a mostly canny and well-reasoned assessment on environmental policies and ...

Posted Fri, Aug 20, 8:37 a.m.

Recessionary times cause a lot of frustration among job seekers, who at some point are going to say that they'll do whatever it takes to get an edge. That's where there's the potential to be taken advantage of. Many students go back to school without a real clear plan or ...

Posted Fri, Aug 20, 8:23 a.m.

Listening to people extol the virtues of the French is like listening to my parents berate me for not being like my little brother, who has a steady relationship, a house, and a real job, while I am . . . well, we don't need to go into the details. ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 9:22 p.m.

One factor to consider is turn-out. Turn-out should be much higher in November than it was in August. What characterizes the people whose only vote in 2010 will be in the general election?

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 6:38 p.m.

The fact that there were so few surprises in the primary is itself a surprise. Maybe those pollsters know something after all. From the looks of things, the Democrats should maintain somewhat shrunken majorities in Olympia next year. The biggest surprise for me was the 5th District Anderson/Spring/Willard house race. ...

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 4:59 p.m.

Again regarding Ross Perot, I read Ralph Nader's new book, Only the Super Rich Can Save Us, and heard him speak about it at Town Hall recently. The point that most struck me is one that, although it may seem obvious, people don't seem to appreciate well enough: you need ...

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 10:20 a.m.

Prognostication isn't the easiest thing, as anyone who has tried it should know. Ever since the Perot campaign and fizzling out of the Nader movement, I have been skeptical that there will be a major viable new party, or that either the Democratic or Republican parties will become inviable. The ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 4:28 p.m.

A "jobless recovery" is an oxymoron for someone like me who has been out of work for several months. The situation is particularly dire for some groups. For those with only a high school education or less, or who have been in prison (Crosscut had a good article on that ...

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 11 a.m.

When I first came to Seattle, I, like many ignorant out-of-towners, was disappointed to learn that the Space Needle was not the tallest structure in the city. But not, it somehow seems an appropriate metaphor for the vision of the future that the Space Needle was intended to represent.

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 10:31 a.m.

Critics of I-1098 like to play the small business card, while downplaying the significance of the Business and Occupation Tax reduction. This is actually a major reform, and it continues to mystify me that those who are the loudest about tax policy are suspiciously silent on the B&O; tax, together ...

Posted Wed, Aug 4, 2 p.m.

I used to read (and comment in!) Publicola regularly, and there were some disturbing trends in their comment sections that go a bit beyond the nasty anonymous comment mold. Most of Publicola's content relates to Seattle and Washington issues, but I noticed that when Publicola posts articles related to hot-button ...

Posted Tue, Aug 3, 1 p.m.

What I have found is that, despite a handful of odd outcomes (out of how many rating that the League has done over the years?), the League usually follows its rubric fairly well. There has to be some sort of rubric, and I have yet to see an alternative proposal ...

Posted Mon, Aug 2, 12:58 p.m.

As someone who has long carried the label of "spiritual but not religious", I do feel compelled to respond to the comments made in this article. My experience, and what I know to be the experience of a lot of people, is that there is a strong need for the ...

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 10:42 p.m.

When I read this analysis, it seems reasonable, but there are some wild cards to consider. The advantage that Republicans have so far this year, which might still not be reflected in the data presented, is found in the clear observation that, relative to recent elections, liberal activists are demoralized ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 11:14 p.m.

I think that the points in this article are good, but I would submit a minor correction. Tom Rasmussen was last elected in 2007, not 2009.

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 11:02 p.m.

If we're talking about having a vote, it's important to look ahead and see what would come of it. If 60% of the city favors the tunnel, then what? If 40$ of the city favors the tunnel, then what? The thought experiments reveal that if a vote occurred, no matter ...

Posted Sun, Jul 25, 9:23 a.m.

I wanted to add more on this subject. There are a range of views regarding the severity of the impact of climate change. They range from the denial view (no impact at all, or it is beneficial) to the ultimately dire (extinction of humans). Neither of these extremes are supported ...

Posted Sun, Jul 25, 9:04 a.m.

If a giant reflective mesh is built around the earth, with the idea that the changed thermal balance of the earth is counteracted with reducing the amount of sunlight received, then there is a clear potential for unintended consequences. What will be the impact of reduced sunlight on plant life ...

Posted Fri, Jul 23, 8:52 a.m.

No doubt about it; this August special session, if it happens, is going to be unpleasant. It's scandalous that we're more than two years into this recession and Washington's budget process is still in crisis mode. For too long we've budgeted under the assumption that the money would come rolling ...

Posted Fri, Jul 23, 8:29 a.m.

It seems to me that one of the more obvious problems here is that recidivism rates will be much higher if ex-prisoners are unable to find employment. So, this system may very well be detrimental to public safety. The Target Area program looks like an intriguing idea, and I have ...

Posted Thu, Jul 22, 8:45 a.m.

I don't necessarily see a "culture war" as being the main problem. We have a situation where families tend to move to the Eastside, and also north to Shoreline, Lynnwood, etc. in order to escape the cost of living, which many Seattlites find prohibitive once they decided to have kids ...

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 6:43 p.m.

I used to watch Breaking Vegas on the History Channel, which profiles various people who have found ways to take advantage of the system in the casinos. They usually get caught, of course--otherwise there wouldn't likely be a show on it. Some of the schemes are legal, most are illegal. ...

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 8:58 p.m.

I made it through most of the 2000s thinking that I myself would be a city man for life, but at about the time the condo market crashed, I found myself craving the space and the quiet associated with the suburbs. As I write, I am listening to music and ...

Posted Tue, Jun 15, 11:23 a.m.

As much as I want to see a sort of online revival of the PI, it's not easy to envision the way forward. I'm also very skeptical of the paywall model.

Posted Wed, May 26, 10:54 p.m.

I find myself agreeing, but it would hypocritical to say that others should use their real names when I use a fake name. The reason for my fake name is that I am involved in local politics, and because of my affiliations I don't feel comfortable speaking my mind in ...

Posted Fri, May 21, 12:49 p.m.

Harris: indeed the boycott has had the economic toll advertised, but one must question whether we would call that an "accomplishment". The goal here is to get a good immigration policy, not to punish the people of Arizona.

Posted Fri, May 21, 9:34 a.m.

I was down at City Hall on Monday for the vote on the boycott, though I didn't testify. Now I wish I had. The majority of the speakers favored the boycott and spoke of the Arizona law in a way that, it must be admitted, was exaggerated. A few people ...

Posted Tue, May 18, 11:24 p.m.

The problem with both today's Pennsylvania race and the GOP victories earlier in the year is that they simply do not comprise enough data by which to make a judgment. As for polling, polling data is notoriously unreliable so early in the year. The honest answer is that we simply ...

Posted Tue, May 18, 6:41 a.m.

This was an interesting read. So far I've been critical of McKenna's actions and the lawsuit as a whole. Question: what specific cases are there that make a distinction between "activity" and "inactivity" that would be relevant to the Commerce Clause?

Posted Fri, May 14, 7:43 a.m.

I tend to agree with this idea. While I generally support the goal of creating a dense, transit-friendly city, I fear that we are rushing in that direction without full consideration of the consequences. Letting public safety slide is one way in which this occurs. Another is placing too much ...

Posted Tue, May 11, 1:31 p.m.

Sounds like a good plan, until we want to go to war. The problem then is that all the "dumb foreigners" won't support it. We'll have to pay for the whole thing ourselves, which means that the whole plan will have to be put in motion again. To alleviate this ...

Posted Mon, May 10, 4:29 p.m.

Thanks for the update. I grew up in Portland, but haven't lived in Oregon since 2000. My vote would be with Kitzhaber--I liked him back when he was governor--but I haven't been following closely enough to really say. I was thinking about James Donaldson's mayoral bid last year in Seattle. ...

Posted Mon, May 10, 1:28 p.m.

I would suggest that the feeling that the country has severe problems that are solvable, but the political class is too dysfunctional to solve them, is widespread. You'll probably have to search hard to find someone who thinks that things are just ducky these days. But that may be where ...

Posted Wed, May 5, 12:35 p.m.

This is a good article, and it helps me sort out the issues in my mind, which I find challenging. Another fear that I have (and someone please tell me if it is a real or imagined concern) is that pushing off funding for certain city services into special taxing ...

Posted Tue, May 4, 11:19 p.m.

Good point about the Arizona boycott. I told Richard Conlin today that I have "mixed feelings" about the idea, although I think I am against it. I agree that it would be too divisive, and it probably wouldn't accomplish anything other than hurting businesses.

Posted Tue, May 4, 12:47 p.m.

As with all things, there is an appropriate response and an inappropriate response. Democrats can emphasize that the situation in Arizona, both the violence that you described in your previous piece and the unwise legislative response to it, underscore the need for a comprehensive, national approach. Is that the best ...

Posted Mon, May 3, 9:39 a.m.

Check the CIA World Fact Book or another reliable source of information; you will find that worldwide, the literacy rate among men is 87%, and among women it is 77%. Also, for the record, I am male.

Posted Sun, May 2, 10:09 p.m.

The mail-order bride industry is not as benign as wfprice suggests. The women transported are often not well-informed and generally have no say in or even knowledge of the men they will end up with until after they are transported. These companies' marketing materials often make references to "traditional values" ...

Posted Sun, May 2, 2:41 p.m.

French is not my native language, but I nevertheless question the accuracy of some of your translations.

Posted Sun, May 2, 8:01 a.m.

Nicholas Kristof has done a lot of good work on this issue. I can scarcely think of a worldwide problem that would not be ameliated by promoting women's rights and women's education. Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles has been a leader on human trafficking. A bill in the last session ...

Posted Sat, May 1, 2:09 p.m.

Ted, thanks for your reply. You raise a good point. Even though the most vocal critics of comprehensive immigration reform have come from the right, I forgot about the role of labor. By and large, I don't feel that labor's role in this debate has been very constructive, and I ...

Posted Sat, May 1, 8:17 a.m.

Thanks for the article. It is quite worrying indeed to see the mounting hostility. I think that we can call a spade on this one. My recollection is that there was a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress, one that enjoyed support by the Democratic leadership as well as President Bush. ...

Posted Mon, Apr 26, 10:03 a.m.

I am a bit more optimistic about I-1077's prospects than Mr. Van Dyk is, though it is too early to tell. I haven't found anyone here in Washington who can say, with a straight face, that our tax system works well. There is widespread agreement that it is dysfunctional. The ...

Posted Sat, Apr 24, 5:55 p.m.

As we all know, the Union ultimately won the Civil War. I think that the outcome might better be attributed to the superior manpower and industrial base of the North rather than God's favor. What about our contentious political issues? I hestitate to say that God has an opinion (which ...

Posted Fri, Apr 23, 10:10 a.m.

This is a very positive measure, and a key step toward what I think should be the ultimate goal: elimination of the B&O; tax. Small businesses are the way out of recession, and it is hard to imagine a policy more destructive to small businesses than the B&O; tax. I-1077 ...

Posted Fri, Apr 16, 12:31 p.m.

I admit that I used to say "no problem" in response to a "thank you", without thinking about the meaning of the phrase, until it was pointed out to me some years ago how foolish the phrase was. A believer in the idea that words have meaning, I switched to ...

Posted Mon, Apr 12, 6:01 p.m.

When I read your description of the VAT, I think that it sounds more like the present Washington B&O; tax. As outlined in the Gates report you mentioned, the current B&O; has the problem of "pyramiding", or components taxed at every stage of the production chain. Under a VAT, since ...

Posted Sat, Apr 10, 8:32 a.m.

I think that, compared to other scandals such as Watergate to which the Catholic Church's present situation has been compared, the present situation is one that evokes a great deal of emotional reaction, as evidenced by the preceding angry comments. In light of this, the Gospel messages on judgmentalism and ...

Posted Sun, Apr 4, 2:39 p.m.

I'm a bit puzzled by your reference to Mike McGinn. As someone who thought, and still thinks, that Mallahan should have been elected, I can concede that the McGinn campaign was a very skilled one, reaching out to and showing interest in the many communities in Seattle, together with providing ...

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 1:13 p.m.

This is an outrage. There were only seven public hearings on the matter, and they all occurred in the middle of the afternoon when I couldn't possibly expect to be up from my mid-afternoon siesta. Did John Fox or the Cascade Bicycle Club have sufficient opportunities to weigh in? Why ...

Posted Wed, Mar 24, 9:21 a.m.

One line that I remember hearing a few years ago from my liberal friends decried the lack of protesting in this country, compared say to France. I haven't heard that lately. I was very much turned off to the anti-war movement due to the things that you described, and I ...

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 3:28 p.m.

I've generally been supportive of Burgess's public safety plan, including the panhandling ordinance, but you do raise some good points. Good laws should be clear, sensible, and have widespread public backing. But we also have a situation where the current law, as referred by critics who say that "we already ...

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 12:41 p.m.

It is sometimes heard that the Bible prescribes individual behavior, but does not speak to public policy. This is a lie. The laws that God prescribed for Israel are full of provisions to insure that the poor have a fair shake. For example, every 50 years there was to be ...

Posted Wed, Mar 10, 9:22 a.m.

Another important factor in all this was LBJ's personality and his ability to bully and cajole. I think that this piece misunderstands the role of moral clarity in the discussion. For the rank and file supporters of health care reform, health care is the number one moral issue in America ...

Posted Fri, Feb 19, 8:06 a.m.

Waid's is a very cool restaurant, and I have gone to their Tuesday night blues dancing many times. I highly recommend it.

Posted Thu, Feb 11, 11:26 p.m.

The phrase "quality of life" has attracted some derision, but it is important. It is reasonable to expect to be able to walk through downtown or the U-District without being harrassed by panhandlers. I would also submit the question for consideration: what is the economic impact of having aggressive panhandlers ...

Posted Fri, Feb 5, 9:05 p.m.

This is a subject about which I have thought a lot, and I can see both the good and the bad in it. It is a good thing we are more conscious of what is happening in the world around us and how we affect it. But it is also ...

Posted Fri, Feb 5, 12:04 p.m.

Sean: Thanks for your comments. I tend to agree more with Wilbur's approach (the first comment in this thread), which is that after algorithms are mastered, there has to be some discussion of what the deeper meaning of it is. When I read the Where's The Math approach, sometimes it ...

Posted Fri, Feb 5, 8:35 a.m.

I've participated in a number of these discussions, and after paying lip service to the usual disclaimers (different kids have different needs, a balance between the different approaches is appropriate, etc.), I tend to side more with the Cliff Mass position, though I think that he takes it too much ...

Posted Sun, Jan 31, 12:09 p.m.

There were some fairly clear missed opportunities for leadership in the State of the Union this year. The president talked up his initiatives for nuclear non-proliferation, but said nothing about bringing the Test Ban Treaty back to the Senate. Why not? It fits perfectly with his goals, and many of ...

Posted Fri, Jan 22, 9:56 p.m.

Thanks for this piece, which I think brings out some important food for thought. I grew up as a Catholic, but eventually left the Church in disillusionment and, after a number of years going to various places, became a Quaker. Quite a contrast. During my years in the Church, I ...

Posted Fri, Jan 22, 7:36 p.m.

I've been boiling over with rage all week. That the Democratic Congress would fumble their main priority and let themselves be intimidated by a bunch of insane protesters, that voters in Massachusetts have already forgot that the GOP has caused virtually every disaster since 1980, that the Supreme Court would ...

Posted Wed, Jan 20, 5:53 p.m.

There is something to be said about living in different locations and traveling in order to broaden one's perspective. I think it is fair to say that the impacts of a less mobile society, whether it comes about through a change of values or is imposed by economic and ecological ...

Posted Wed, Jan 20, 10 a.m.

Now that the MA special election is over, everyone is suddenly an expert pundit. Including me. My assessment of the situation has been fairly consistent since the stimulus bill: the problem isn't that the Obama agenda has been too liberal, but rather that it hasn't been coherent enough. The downhill ...

Posted Wed, Jan 20, 9:27 a.m.

I agree with the idea of not relying on federal dollars to get through the rough year. By all appearances this challenging budget era is going to last for at least another year, and who knows how much longer than that, and so the legislature really needs to focus on ...

Posted Sat, Jan 16, 7:02 p.m.

I'm glad you wrote this piece and made it clear that Reverend King's religious convictions were not merely incidental to his actions, but inseparable. The role of religion in American public life is complicated indeed. Christianity has been at the center of many of the major social movements throughout American ...

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 5:36 p.m.

Thanks for the numbers, which are enlightening indeed. The state employees have become a scapegoat, a group for the GOP to demonize in order to obtain political advantage. I also wonder, do these numbers take into account the impact of the state additional financial stress on its workforce, or reducing ...

Posted Sun, Jan 10, 11:55 a.m.

I come from the academic world, where "retirement" is little more than a formality. I was struck at a conference I attended a few years ago in honor of a notable mathematician's retirement. The actual "retirement" was a couple years earlier for one thing, and yet he was still teaching ...

Posted Tue, Jan 5, 4:53 p.m.

There are some signs of progress on the cell phone front. Amtrak Cascades requires people to carry on extended conversations in the loud areas between cars, and Metro and other cities' bus services have signs up with the prototypical air-headed woman blabbering away while people around her are annoyed. But ...

Posted Tue, Dec 15, 11:23 p.m.

Thanks for the piece. I imagine that in city halls and state capitols all over the country, this whole "War on Christmas" is one of those issues that government employees like to gripe about after they've had a few beers. It's not an issue with a simple resolution. I've heard ...

Posted Tue, Dec 8, 5:47 p.m.

In the past I have been supportive of gasoline taxes, and so I am curious what the other options are that you propose. I like your approach. I have come to the conclusion that in order to gain public support for more revenue, there has to be clear evidence that ...

Posted Wed, Dec 2, 12:24 p.m.

As I listened to the speech, I also couldn't help but worry about whether the commitment necessary to achieve our goals exceeds our willingness to invest. I wondered if the July 2011 date was announced because it is calculated to be the latest that Americans will accept, rather than what ...

Posted Wed, Nov 25, 2:30 p.m.

I've also become frustrated with Governor Gregoire's difficulty in exercising leadership on the budget, though I imagine the kind of leadership I would like to see is very different from what you would want to see. She only briefly mentioned the prospect of more revenue after the election, and the ...

Posted Wed, Nov 25, 2:06 p.m.

I am also very concerned about Mr. Dorn's proposal, and also about some of the ideas presented in this piece about standards. I share the view of the many groups cited about the importance of math and science education. It's not just that we need a generation of well prepared ...

Posted Sun, Nov 22, 1:25 p.m.

Thanks for this bit of history. It is particularly interesting to me, as it relates to my parents and grandparents but happened well before I was alive. My mother was 13 years old at the time, and lived with her family in Auburn. She idolized Kennedy and was also deeply ...

Posted Thu, Nov 5, 8:39 a.m.

There is some interesting scholarship related to the authorship of the Book of Job. It has been conjectured (and I share in this theory) that the ending of Job, in which he gains back everything plus some, was actually added later on by a different author. Perhaps the culture needed ...

Posted Thu, Nov 5, 8:01 a.m.

I'll preface by saying that I haven't looked over the data nationwide. For each individual race--Virginia, New Jersey, NY-23, NYC mayor, and Washington state--one can almost always point to specific factors that caused the race to turn out in that way. Particular qualities or defects in the candidates, specific local ...

Posted Tue, Nov 3, 10:06 a.m.

That's an interesting answer for sure. I wonder how the woman you called would have responded. I've read the first half of the Left Behind series. While those books are good fiction, I have a hard time understanding the underlying worldview. It is so much at odds with what is ...

Posted Mon, Nov 2, 2:35 p.m.

dddlev: I have high respect for the work that Mike McGinn and Mike O'Brien have done. I have no question whatsoever of their integrity or their commitment to realizing their vision for a better city and region. But I do question whether their policies and approaches are the best, particularly ...

Posted Mon, Nov 2, 10:23 a.m.

I have been campaigning for Jessie Israel this season, and so I am glad to see her featured in your list. She is a very energetic, optimistic woman who I think will try to respond to all of the cities needs and interests. I'm not entirely sure how to respond ...

Posted Wed, Oct 28, 6:06 p.m.

That was a good analysis of the situation. However, I like the idea of someone with business experience as mayor, and whatever discomfort I might have with someone who is too pro-business or too pro-developer is tempered by Mallahan's stated commitment to social justice issues. In the end, for me ...

Posted Wed, Oct 28, 5:41 p.m.

On the specific issue of Boeing, there probably wasn't much the governor could do, and nothing the leaders of Seattle or King County could do. But it does call people's attention to the larger issue of whether Washington can retain a strong economy. I voted Joe Mallahan for mayor, together ...