Our upside-down tax system
(published at the Bellevue Reporter) with the title “Blame politicians, poverty for school problems”) The fundamental economic fact of the last 30 years is the relentless transfer of wealth from the middle class to...
Author: admin
Revisionist Christianity: a threat to right wing Christianity
I’m reading the Complete Idiots Guide to The Gnostic Gospels, by J. Michael Matkin. It’s exciting stuff — kinda like from Indiana Jones. The book reveals how contingent orthodox Christianity is. The early Catholic...
Confusion about I-591 and I-594
Someone in my precinct emailed me (their PCO): “What is the difference between Yes on 594 and Yes on 591?” I explained I-594 is a gun control measure that requires background checks on gun...
Joshua Greene's Moral Tribes — Emotion, Reason, and the Gap between Us and Them
Joshua Greene’s Moral Tribes — Emotion, Reason, and the Gap between Us and Them is a mixture of political philosophy, evolutionary psychology, and ethics. The cool thing is that Greene is a clear thinker...
Lobbying Adam Smith on war and the TPP
This afternoon I attended Rep. Adam Smith’s salmon bake in Bellevue. I mentioned problems with our military: ex-military generals whose punditry is corrupted by connections to military contractors; cost over-runs and design flaws in...
Adam Smith's appearances on Face the Nation and CNN
US Representative, Adam Smith (D, 9th CD WA) appeared on Meet the Press in late August with Republican Peter King from NY State. Smith said that the US must find worthy allies in Iraq...
Frightening Libertarian Party platform — by the people who now control the GOP
The Koch Brothers basically control the GOP. And here’s their 1980 Libertarian Party Platform (copied from Bernie Sanders’ webpage). If this doesn’t scare you, you are sick. Here are just a few excerpts of...
The two Democratic Parties: corporate Dems versus progressive Dems
On facebook, in comments to articles, and in person I often hear socialists, anarchists, and independents say things like “The Dems are as bad as the Republicans” and “Trying to fix the Democratic Party...
A new style piano keyboard that would be easier to play
About 20 years ago I had an idea for a piano with a black key between each white key. The piano keys would look like the second set in the image below. The advantages...
Nick Hanauer's foundation and political work
This month’s American Prospect has an article on the Colorado model for turning a state progressive blue: use mega-donors who care and coordinate with unions like SEUI. The article says, “In Washington state, venture...