Posts Tagged ‘Washington’

All Things Cascadia

There are many ways to describe what Cascadia is. It has been described differently by a multitude of people, both as a region and as a way of life. I see it as both — both as a geographic region and as a way of life.  I will take the rest of this page to [...]

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Vote NO on Washington Initiative 1033

Many states are having serious problems making their budgets work.  There is a well known situation in California where services have been cut drastically and the government has ground to a halt in the last year.  It is easy to blame the governor and legislators for this, but the biggest problem is the existence of [...]

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Vote APPROVE on Washington Referendum 71

Vote-by-mail ballots are on their way out for the upcoming election in Washington. It’s time to look at some of the issues to be decided. Again, we are looking mostly at issues that have clear choices.
In the latest legislative session, the Washington Legislature decided correctly to expand the rights of domestic partners in [...]

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No, Not Those Olympics

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is very protective of the “Olympics” brand in this country.  Of course they are, as they spend a lot of money on marketing themselves and the international sports festival that they participate in.  I have no issue with the organization protecting themselves from businesses who want to get a [...]

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Death Sentence for Sea Lions

I have commented before here on the plight of the Columbia River sea lions.  Despite the fact that they are a natural part of the wildlife that appears on the Columbia River, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife has found it necessary to kill some of the sea lions around Bonneville Dam because they [...]

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Poor Solutions for Growth

Currently, the Washington Legislature is working on a long-range plan for Washington State Ferries for the next 25 years.  The state ferry system acts as the primary means for commuters, residents, and commercial traffic to cross Puget Sound from the quarter of the state that comprises the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas to the Greater Seattle [...]

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A Proper Choice for Public Services

As the legislators in both Washington and Oregon are beginning their sessions this week, our leaders are being faced with some difficult choices to make.  Because of the recession’s effects on the economy, we have fewer dollars to spend on the services that we require or are used to receiving from government.  At the same [...]

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Going With the Tunnel

Finally.  Finally we have a decision on what will be built to replace Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct.  The 1953 monstrosity will be replaced with a tunnel.
According to the Seattle P-I and other sources, the government entities who are involved with the decision will be announcing on Tuesday that they are choosing a 4-lane tunnel option [...]

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Emergency Preparedness in our Region

A couple of weeks ago, there was an unusually large amount of snow on the ground all over Cascadia.  That in itself is not news.  We were all inconvenienced, but we all collectively made it through without too much damage.  A few weeks later, we are all doing just fine and the big accumulation of [...]

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The Real Mission of the Border Patrol

Thanks to a recent Seattle P-I article, we now have some facts and figures on the roadblocks being set up by the US Border Patrol on Washington State highways and at ferry terminals.  From the beginning, the justification made by the Border Patrol for using this technique of stopping everyone to make them prove their [...]

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