Even just ten years ago, if you were a loudmouthed dumbass, you really didn't have a whole lot of ways to get your point to a whole lot of people. Really, you had a megaphone or letters to the editor. But newspapers want you to be coherent, and you can't just strap on a bullhorn and yell, otherwise you're liable to get carted off to jail or the ( Read more... )

 As I write, I'm watching the Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the St. John's Whozits, and awaiting the first game for the University of Washington tomorrow. Partly because I want to see if their Pac-10 tournament win was a fluke, and partly out of wanting to see if Venoy Overton is going to be worth a spot on the team. I am terribly disappointed with the ( Read more... )

Tomorrow Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe will disclose whether he will seek the death penalty against Byron Scherf, the Monroe prison inmate who murdered Officer Jayme Biendl in January of this year. I happen to think the question is an easy one, and here's why ( Read more... )

 I could not possibly be more happy to report that this afternoon a jury convicted Kiyoshi Higashi of first-degree murder for his part in the killing of Jim Sanders, dubbed the Craigslist killing. The jury needed only a matter of hours to deliberate, and the 23-year old dirtbag could be looking at a lifetime scholarship to the Walla Walla State ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine sends me to a link from The Stranger's blog, with the headline "We're killing everybody we can", which is supposedly a quote from one of Seattle's police officers. I was taken aback. There's no way a cop would say that on the record to a journalist. Then I thought maybe this is a parody, like what The Onion ( Read more... )

Seven days ago, Seattle's mayor Mike McGinn proclaimed February 28 to be John T. Williams Day. For those not from this area, John T. Williams was a woodcarver who was killed by SPD officer Ian Birk. There was much outrage and hand wringing all around. I would not be surprised if every police officer in Seattle felt like the Mayor just slapped him ( Read more... )

All through school, I was never in a real fight. In high school, I saw one, which is to say I saw a couple of guys awkwardly grappling and throwing punches at each other while a ring of myrmidons chanted "Fight! Fight". I decided that I didn't need to spend my valuable time watching that or getting a detention for cheering it on, so I moved along. ( Read more... )

As the trial of the Craigslist killers carries on, I wish that I was on the jury. Of course, I'm not, but I'm fairly sure tha those involved have breathed their last as free citizens. After seeing how Kioshi Higachi carried himself at his arraignment hearing, smirking at Charlene Sanders, making obscene gestures and swearing as a guard tried to ( Read more... )

Ten years ago at 10:54 in the morning, the Nisqually earthquake shook Pugetopia for 45 seconds, knocking stuff off off walls, me completely out of my seat, and the after effects are still felt years later, at least metaphorically. The Alaskan Way Viaduct sustained damage, as did the seawall, and not letting a good crisis go to waste, those in ( Read more... )

A couple of things happened today. First is that various people have posted a "if you agree with what the public workers of Wisconsin are doing, please post this as your status." I won't be doing that, especially after the e-mail that I got from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. For those wondering how that happened, here's the Reader's ( Read more... )