Politics
45 posts · all topics
Lessons from FDR
FDR was among the most polarizing figures of his time
Joseph Foster: Tukwila Founder
The history of Joseph Foster, one of the first non-Native settlers in Tukwila, Washington, who homesteaded on the Duwamish River in 1852.
Red Town Trail Coal Creek Then and Now
Tracing the history of a popular Bellevue hiking trail
Keep this in mind when viewing the news
An excellent piece by a former AP reporter, discussing how news organizations report about Israel , but I find this point to be true about nearly all news…
What's the point of a PhD?
Reading an o ld Slate article about why MOOCs (online classes) devalue the importance of a one-on-one relationship between professors and students, I have a few thoughts: Sure,…
Hold the ice
Food vendors in the US seem to put ice into every drink, whether you want it or not — a habit that has long annoyed me. Don’t people…
Do you believe in evolution?
Keith Blanchard makes an excellent point. Writing in The Week under the title "Why you should stop believing in evolution”, he says: So if someone asks, "Do you…
What's worth reading in the news?
We like to think that, of course, keeping up with the news is important. “Citizens of a democracy need to stay informed about current events.” But how well…
[book] War! What Is It Good For? by Ian Morris
As with his seminal “ Why the West Rules ”, Stanford Professor Ian Morris’ new book makes you repeat “Aha!” as he explains the big picture of history…
[book] Last Days of the Inca
Having just attended the excellent Peru exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, I was inspired to finally read this highly-recommended book detailing the Spanish conquest. If you've read…
The real reason for the 40-hour work week
Why do Americans work Monday through Friday and take weekends off? Labor unions say we should thank the rise of organized labor in the early 20th century, whose…
The FDA needs to be more Bayesian
John Wilbanks is one of my favorite open science geeks (I even met him once in person, when he did a presentation for Microsoft Research). In a blog…
The Post-Pasteurian world
As a long-time fan of food writer Michael Pollan (read more here and here ), it was inevitable that I’d read his latest, Cooked- A Natural History of…
The argument for regulating information
When Nobel Peace prizewinner Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned by Chinese authorities, his captors were unafraid that he alone, a single individual without guns, an army, or even military…
Is the FDA the only source of experts?
An SFGate blog, supports the FDA’s decision to prevent informed consumers from having our genes sequenced halt the marketing of 23andme: Silicon Valley whines any time regulators bog…
Great Spragues in history
Too bad that, as far as I know, I am no relation to Frank J. Sprague (1857-1934), an assistant to Thomas Edison. According to the Edison Tech Center…
Britannicans vs. Wikipedians
Attach a label to a political discussion and people immediately take the same, tired, positions that quickly devolve into heated discussions that more resemble “politics as entertainment” than…
Politics as entertainment
I know very little about Iran, other than the headlines I read in the mainstream US press. I bet you don't know much more than I do, though…
Worst economy since the Great Depression
From the Jan 13th issue of Time Magazine: The slump is the longest, if not the deepest, since the Great Depression. Traumatized by layoffs that have cost more…
The reading habits of George W. Bush
I’m skeptical whenever mainstream consensus settles on an opinion about somebody or something, especially when it’s a subject that lends itself to very little first-hand, direct, up-close experience.…
41st district election results by city
The complete official results of the November 4th election have been posted ; I haven’t had time to do the analysis I did for the primary , but…
Greenspan Recants (or did he?)
The current financial crisis is an interesting real-life experiment to free market fans like me. It’s far too early to draw conclusions, but much of the generally accepted…
Maxwell wins
Many of us have been watching the shifting return counts since election night, but now it’s official: Marcie Maxwell won the election for 41st district state representative over…
Civics test: 90%
Ouch! I’m disappointed that I got three answers wrong on a new 33-question civics test created by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute , giving me a score of 90.1%.…
Free coffee at Starbucks
I dropped in on West Mercer Elementary school this morning: and then I went downtown and got one of these for free: Incidentally, I disagree with the idea…
Sign Waving to Commuters
If you want to say something to Mercer Islanders, you can’t beat the intersection of Island Crest Way and 40th as a place to publicize your message. A…
Confidence in Fred Jarrett
I think there are at least two kinds of politicians: the "populists" and the "wonks". Too many politicians are populists, who treat government like a popularity contest: a…
Seattle Times Endorses Steve Litzow
The Seattle Times endorsed Steve Litzow in the race for 41st State Legislative District . You have to chuckle at their follow-on comment His opponent, Democrat Marcie Maxwell…
Reichert said no to the bail-out
Mercer Island’s congressman, Dave Reichert, voted against the $700B bail-out of the financial industry. A bunch of my friends are getting ready to jump out windows over this…
The Battles of Tim Eyman
Although I first heard about this documentary film back in February, when the director Paul Fraser came to a Global Warming lecture at the Mercer Island library, I…
District 41 Primary Results for Litzow and Maxwell by city
Washington state's mail-in based election system unfortunately means that in a close race you can't get a good read until several weeks after the election, when every ballot…
Time to analyze my DNA
Our local public radio station, KUOW, aired a program on Personal DNA Testing that convinced me to finally get off my duff and order my own DNA testing…
League of Education Voters Endorses Marcie Maxwell
Marcie Maxwell picked up an endorsement this week from the League of Education Voters Political Action Fund , an important advocacy group focused on K12 issues for Washington…
Municipal League Rates Maxwell and Litzow
It's dangerous to vote if you don't know what you're doing, and it can be hard to get facts if you're a normal person. You can read the…
Who is Steve Litzow?
As I keep saying, local elections are more relevant than national ones, and for Mercer Island you need to know about the choices for 41st district state legislature,…
Who is Marcie Maxwell?
Besides the presidential race, there's another election in November, one that will affect your house, your schools, and your neighborhood more directly than anything that happens in Washington…
Why you should not vote
Newsweek calls them "Low Info Voters" , the people who don't know or apparently care what issues are at stake in an election. They base their preferences on…
Alex Alben on presidential power
High tech executive and Former Mercer Island resident Alex Alben writes an excellent summary of the limits of Presidential power in this week's Seattle Times: For a candidate…
No I didn't bother
Did you? I heard it was crowded. Huskywonk posted videos of the GOP caucus at Islander Middle School . (Although somewhat edited, at 7minutes it's way too long…
Challenging Global Warming Skeptics
" Facts are stubborn things ", Ronald Reagan reminded knee-jerk ideologues with advice that applies to many of the people gathered at the Mercer Island Library for last…
Obama and Mercer Island
It's been widely reported locally that Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Dunham, spent two years on Mercer Island during high school. Yesterday's Seattlest blog links to this 2-min Youtube…
Bloggers and libel
It's fun, though a bit annoying, to watch inept PR firms try to shut down free speech in the name of "libel". One of my favorite foodie blogs,…
Hillary wants government bloggers
Hillary agrees with me : "We should even have a government blogging team where people in the agencies are constantly telling all of you, the taxpayers, the citizens…
Blue State Blue Streak
When I'm online, whether sending emails or posting content, I know that my kids may be reading, so just as in real life I think it's important to…
Reading Omnivore's Dilemma
The Roman writer Livy warned in 14 A.D. that a society is in danger when its chefs are aggrandized and of course that's exactly describes America today, whether…