Top of the News
The man who authored the infamous Willie Horton ad has written Obama Unmasked
Boeing »The new request for refueling tanker proposals puts Boeing at a disadvantage
Culture / Ethnicity »A look ahead by the man who modernized UW's library science program
Religion / Faith »Idaho Christian activists protest at Tiananmen Square, are detained, and plan to return
Military »As a national military housing program languishes, a Washington whistleblower waits
Most Popular
In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
Is Big Nanny running your town?
Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
Most Commented
Vision 2040 for Pugetopolis
(32 comments)
The pet peeve
(21 comments)
In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
(16 comments)
Seattle's money madness
(16 comments)
All the rage
(13 comments)
Our balls on ice
(12 comments)
Is Big Nanny running your town?
(10 comments)
A bicoastal newspaper crisis
(10 comments)
Time for a bus-fare reality check
(9 comments)
Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
(8 comments)
Crosscut most recent
Sausage Links, slow news day edition
The editorial board at the Stranger posted their interview with Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire yesterday — and boy, did she get defensive. Along with saying Republican challenger Dino Rossi's latest ads were "racist" and offensive, the governor got fussy on rapid transit relief, gay marriage, and the economy. Meanwhile, Fox News is making its case reporting on Gregoire's continuing battle with Republicans over tribal gaming compacts, while Rossi will reportedly be endorsed by the Seattle Police Officers' Guild later today. ...
Sausage Links, debating the polls edition
Washington state pollster Stuart Elway unveiled his latest poll — and it's a doozy. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is crushing GOP challenger Dino Rossi by 16 points. A SurveyUSA poll taken last week, however, showed Gregoire only up 49 percent to 46 percent — a pretty big discrepancy. Either way, voters will get a chance to refine their choices in coming months, as the two gubernatorial candidates agreed yesterday to debate at least three times before the Nov. 4 general election. So far, the debates would be in Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane. ...
Sausage Links, endorsement edition
It turned out to be a lucky weekend for civil litigator and state Supreme Court candidate Michael Bond, who got an endorsement Sunday from The Seattle Times because he is not his opponent.
Sausage Links, bag fees and phone ban edition
Plastic bag fees are so rive gauche. First, Seattle instated a 20-cent fee on disposable plastic bags. Then Portland decided to consider a similar idea. Now, the residents of Pullman say they want a bag fee, too. ...
As the economy shrinks tax revenue, the mayor and City Council are making cuts, with more to come next year. One possible casualty would be 20 to 25 promised new cops.
Spying in defense of liberty
Barry Goldwater famously said that "extremism in defense of liberty is no vice." But I suspect even the late Arizona senator and 1964 GOP presidential candidate might be creeped out if he knew about the privatization of Big Brother. Is it OK for private groups to infiltrate domestic citizen's groups? Is spying in defense of liberty a virtue or a vice?
Sausage Links, Uncle Ted's excellent indictment edition
Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly sounds off on the latest bad apple ousted from the Department of Justice, as well as Ted "series of tubes" Stevens' federal indictment in a corruption scandal. Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman takes a look at what Uncle Ted's indictment means for his chances at re-election, while U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., joins the parade of GOP members promising to rid themselves of Stevens' campaign donations. ...
Is Big Nanny running your town?
The libertarian magazine Reason has published a list of the biggest nanny cities in the country. The results for the big cities on the Pacific Coast are interesting. Portland is caught in a kind of "nanny sandwich" between Seattle and San Francisco. Apparently, the most ecotopian town in the Pacific Northwest has escaped the worst excess of politically correct fussiness.
Sausage Links, row, row, row your boat edition
Gov. Chris Gregoire spent yesterday on Puget Sound, touting her environmental record while bashing her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi. Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly rode along (you can even see him to the left of Gregoire in the Everett Herald's photo of the boat tour), but remained unconvinced of her ability to connect with voters. Here's Sound Politics' take on the story. ...
Sausage Links, transit migraine edition — part deux
Want to know if the new light rail line will stop in your neck of the woods? Any minute now, the Sound Transit board is expected to approve this map of proposed transit routes to be placed on the ballot. For now, here's the buzz:
Sausage Links, transit migraine edition
Ready to pay $6.85 round-trip to drive across the 520 bridge? Me neither. That's the proposed toll that would raise money to help pay for improvements to the floating fossil. But the idea of a toll begs another question, something I've been dying to get reader input about: Do you think having a toll on local bridges like 520 will sway voters to vote for the proposed light rail measure this November? Thoughts?
Sausage Links, early week late edition
Seattle Times political reporter David Postman makes an interesting point about Evergreen Progress PAC's latest two TV ads attacking former Republican State Senator Dino Rossi. The ads allege that Rossi "voted to freeze teacher pay" and "voted to cut state funds to reduce class sizes" when he was in office. But, as Postman notes, "so did a majority of the Legislature that year in budget-cutting moves originally proposed by Democratic Gov. Gary Locke." In 2003 the Washington Education Assocation "actually had some good things to say about Rossi's role in budget negotiations." ...
Sausage Links, pot, farms, and medicine edition
Count on the alt-weeklies to provide blow-by-blow coverage of the recent medical marijuana bust illegal search and seizure. Dominic Holden at The Stranger has the story about the incident — along with copies of the police report and the arresting officer's search warrant. According to the reports, Seattle Police officers tore down a wall while searching for an illegal pot-growing operation that didn't exist, while seizing bags of marijuana and medical records. The folks at Seattlest would like to remind the SPD that medical marijuana has been legal in Washington for nearly 10 years. ...
Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition
Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.
Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.
Software engineer Jennifer Kolar is to be sentenced this week in federal court for her role in Earth Liberation Front arsons, including one at the University of Washington. Her time in prison will be reduced because she turned state's witness, but that doesn't mitigate the fact she is now regarded as a snitch by peers and could be labeled a terrorist by the government.
Helpful policy tips for Dino Rossi
So far, not a lot of policy is coming out of the Dino Rossi campaign, but it may be very interesting when it does. That's because the Republicans are getting pretty desperate for bold new ideas to turn around their national tailspin. I'll give some examples below.
Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition
Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...Sausage Links, gas cards for bad guys edition
Alright everybody. Let's head to Tacoma. If we hurry, we can help Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers catch sexual predators, gangsters, domestic violence abusers, and violent criminals. Why? Because they're giving away $250 gas cards and up to $1,000 in exchange for information that would lead to arrests. Here's the list of criminals. Start hunting. After all, what better incentive is there to dodge outrageous gas prices than to catch perverts? Don't answer that.
Sausage Links, blame-game edition
David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.
RSS FEED
Other media
Land rush on top of the world
The search for the Northwest Passage spurred the European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. With global warming, Arctic land claims are heating up as the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Iceland and Norway vie for sea lanes, the seabed and once ice-bound islands. Finally, there's a great visual to sort out these competing claims.
Seattle's money madness
Travels with Charley and GPS
The visual iconography of 'Yes we can'
Tallis in Seattle
Former Seattle Symphony violinist Ralph Heino is dead at 91
It's been a month. What's Bill Gates up to, anyway?
For the first time in history, a woman holds the Coast Guard's port captain post
What a cop will do for free Starbucks
A Miami man is charged with threatening to kill Barack Obama
Sausage Links, slow news day edition
The visual iconography of 'Yes we can'
Sheriff: 'Matter of time' before someone was killed due to lax forest safety laws
The Navy Blue Angels return to an Air Force town — landlocked Spokane
Go eastward, young Americans
Art Thiel observes 'the world's largest party ... in the world's most uptight nation'
Sausage Links, 'you'll shoot your Eyman out' edition
Allegiant Air: Corporate smarts or corporate sharks?
Art Thiel observes 'the world's largest party ... in the world's most uptight nation'
Slade Gorton and Wally Walker aren't behind the Sonics suit, says Howard Schultz's attorney
The name for Wenatchee's new events center: Town Toyota Arena
How good a deal is Costco, really?
Must be a recession: Whole Foods now stresses bargains
In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
Princeton Review confirms Evergreen's status as a tree-hugger's school
Tom Douglas cooks up a real estate design
(Not) in the garden: bees
Sidewalk crack addict
The Fearmongers, Definers, Swiftboaters, and Borkers square off
Losing your favorite Starbucks? The five stages of grief
Contact Crosscut
Tools