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...
Washington Liberals Blog
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...
Cuts to the transit cuts, low income fare comments
The King County Council has just canceled plans for further bus cuts, largely by reducing Metro’s reserve fund. They’re banking on a booming economy, which is a dangerous bet – another downturn in sales tax...
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...
Thomas Herrera-Mishler: Revitalization of Olmsted Parks – September 8, 2014
Thomas relates history of the Olmsted Brothers, influential landscape architects and sons of the eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Examples of their designs in various U.S. cities, displaying their principles of green belts,...
Inspire Seattle: The Political Mind, Climate Crisis, and A New Science of Social Change
InspireSeattle invites YOU to join us at our Social Forum: Saturday, October 4th at 6:30PM. Main discussion topic for this evening: The Political Mind, Climate Crisis, and A New Science of Social Change Have...
A Challenge to Warren Buffet: End BNSF railroad's dependence on hauling and burning fossil fuels!
The Buffett Legacy Project is our moral appeal to multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, owner of BNSF. We launched a petition on Sunday and released a series of video letters asking that Buffett: (full letter below)...
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...