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Sept. 11 and the forever war: An anniversary and a presidential address

originally published in The Herald

Americans mark the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the backdrop of last night’s on-the-offensive ISIS address by President Obama.

Thirteen. When today’s seniors at Everett High School fumbled in kindergarten, panic flickered on a screen.

History takes years to come into focus.

That week in September, Gov. Gary Locke reassured Washingtonians that the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the Columbia and Snake River dams were secure. Secure? After 9/11, we could suddenly conjure worst-case images. Fear migrated from the ruins of the World Trade Center to Naval Station Everett.

This was no ordinary attack, presaging no ordinary war. In his 2014 documentary “The Unknown Known,” Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris asks former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about Dora Farms. That’s the forgettable place in Iraq where the U.S. tried but failed to kill Saddam Hussein prior to the 2003 invasion. Would Hussein’s death have averted war?

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September 11, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Coal terminals’ death rattle: Oregon’s rejection of Morrow Pacific

originally published in The Herald

For more than a century, three currents animated the American West: the railroads, extractive industries and the federal government. During and after World War II, the reach of the feds (think Hanford and Bonneville) swelled, while Boeing and McDonnell Douglas fed the defense industry. This is the paradox of regions like Eastern Washington, the oversized hand of the federal government and the majority population that bites off its fingers. But the rekindled cliches of the 1940s sound obsolete in the 21st century: You can’t fight the railroad or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or Big Timber (remember Big Timber?)

The grand strategy to build a series of coal export facilities in the Pacific Northwest, such as the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point near Bellingham, traces a narrative arc that could have been hatched by an industrialist 60 years ago. Begin with single-bid leases on public lands — in this case, the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming — in a cozy public-private scheme that rips off the American taxpayer, with Bureau of Land Management functionaries determining fair market value for Big Coal. Then contract with consultants who grease the political gears, ensuring buy-in from unions and politicians. This is how it is, and how it’s always been. Repeat the “you can’t fight the railroad” refrain.

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August 21, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

The long, hard road to peace: Gaza, Israel and Ukraine

originally published in The Herald

The greatest virtue of international politics is the capacity to de-escalate and limit war. Here’s to a pandemic of virtue.

As Eastern Washington battles devastating wildfires, and Western Washington focuses on all-things-recreation, the clouds of war in the Middle East and Ukraine throw shadows visible here. We’d much prefer the shadows give way to light, and everyone sing the gospel refrain, “I ain’t gonna study war no more.”

But to de-escalate is to engage. Washington’s congressional delegation, tracking a war-weary, summer-loving constituency, mostly errs on the side of silence.

There are a couple of exceptions, including Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee.

“We must do whatever we can to achieve a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas-led government in Gaza,” Smith said in a statement. “Hamas must reconsider and accept the ceasefire offered by Egypt which Israel agreed to accept. Suffering on both sides has been horrific and we desperately need a solution to stop the fighting.”

Spokane Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Republican Conference, is more subjective, avoiding ceasefire talk or acknowledging the asymmetries of power and nuances and history of Gaza.

There’s no moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists and Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime, but to disregard the suffering of the people of Gaza is as unjust as it is strategically misguided. ”We send the people of Israel the steadfast and unending support of the United States of America,” McMorris Rodgers said in her statement.

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July 21, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Your right not to be killed: Brisenia Flores Humanity Event

originally published in The Herald

You have a right not to be killed.

Human agency means that we are endowed with reason and conscience and, according to the aspirational language of Article I of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

If we could only make it so.

Human nature and the politics of hate were thrown into relief Tuesday when Holly Grigsby, an Oregon white supremacist, was sentenced to life behind bars for her role in the 2011 murders of four people, including David “Red” Pedersen, and his wife, DeeDee Pedersen, both of Everett. They were the father and stepmother, respectively, of Grigsby’s boyfriend and partner in hate, David “Joey” Pedersen. As The Herald’s Diana Hefley reported, prosecutors allege Grigsby was responsible for tying up DeeDee Pedersen and slashing her throat inside the Everett grandmother’s home.

Both Grigsby and David “Joey” Pedersen were animated by antisemitism and an appetite for revolution. As Eric Hoffer wrote in his 1951 masterpiece, “The True Believer,” “It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.”

It’s a legacy with an uncomfortable heritage.
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July 17, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Bergdahl tests public values: Guantanamo and ‘Dirty Hands’

originally published in The Herald

The tempest over former Army POW and Idaho native Bowe Bergdahl teases out two themes: The problem of “dirty hands” in international relations and the madness of an American gulag, the Guantanamo Bay prison.

There also is the question of Bergdahl himself, and the circumstances of his 2009 capture by the Taliban. In a blink, the ecstasy of a POW homecoming morphed into a mouth-foaming hatefest, magnified by TV’s chattering classes. The rumoring is a public version of the kids’ game “telephone,” as the message gets progressively mangled. Was American blood shed in searching for then-Pvt. Bergdahl? As New York Times’ Charlie Savage and Andrew Lehren reported last week, there is no evidence to suggest a link. Still, Bergdahl’s former army “buddies” loathe him, and peg him as a deserter or, worse, a traitor. There will be a resolution, perhaps in the form of a court martial.

The “dirty hands” question is more complex. First, we negotiate with terrorists, a violation of moral norms. As columnist Charles Krauthammer reminds readers, we always negotiate with terrorists: “Everyone does, while pretending not to. The Israelis, by necessity the toughest of all anti-terror fighters, in 2011 gave up 1,027 prisoners, some with blood on their hands, for one captured staff sergeant.”

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June 11, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , , ,

Push back on the city budget: Everett’s structural deficit

originally published in The Herald

Everett’s once-endearing lack of civic imagination has morphed into a long-term liability. The top-down budget process brings into focus a get-along, go-along political culture that for years has poorly served the people of Snohomish County’s largest city.

Although we hate to reveal the ending, the city council will accept the mayor’s recommendations and soon pass a budget that includes hiking the utility tax from 4.5 percent to 6 percent, a higher business-license fee, and formation of a transportation benefit district with a $20 car-tab fee (any steeper for a tab fee and it would go to the voters). Service cuts, such as eliminating the library’s outreach program, are relatively modest. Emotion-laden options, including closing the Forest Park swim center, were floated in a manner that recalls the famous 1973 National Lampoon cover: If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog. (Everett will remain an aquatic-friendly destination).

As Mayor Ray Stephanson notes, the city faces a structural deficit, with expenses growing at 4.1 percent and revenues at just 2.3 percent a year. Sales-tax revenue remains anemic, especially as retailers bypass Everett for Lynnwood, Marysville and Arlington. The council, if it still had a budget committee (hint), might review the reason so many businesses treat Everett like Kryptonite.

A structural problem demands a structural response. That is absent in the 2015 budget, kicked to “phase two” of the mayor’s agenda, an in-depth review of the city’s largest departments. But phase two should be phase one, identifying and wringing out every possible efficiency before racing to taxpayers.
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June 4, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Brace for inevitable inaction: UCSB shooting

originally published in The Herald

There is arrogance to hindsight, a reflex to rattle off lessons learned when the same narrative plays out, week after week. A mentally ill young man stockpiles guns and ammo and murders at random.

We know how to curtail the risk — not eliminate it, human nature is immutable — but lawmakers choose not to act. And as a society, we make a decision by not making a decision.

“We’re all proud to be Americans. But what kind of message does it send to the world when we have such a rudderless bunch of idiots in government?” asked Richard Martinez, father of Christopher Michael-Martinez, 20, one of Friday’s mass shooting victims near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The story arc is identical, just switch out the venue and the narcissistic killer. Real victims whose lives are abruptly cut short and the grieving families who never actually heal — that is the too-tangible thread.

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May 27, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Learning from Macklemore: Anti-Semitism

originally published in The Herald

The fallout over Seattle rapper Macklemore’s anti-Semitic costume at a Friday Experience Music Project event throws light on a cultural menace. The star, who said his “Elders of Zion”-style getup was picked at random, is both sweetly naïve and historically tone deaf.

“The character I dressed up as on Friday had no intended cultural identity or background,” Macklemore said in a statement. “A ‘Jewish stereotype’ never crossed my mind.”

America’s culture of celebrity magnifies all-things-boneheaded and inspired. Macklemore has been an outspoken advocate of same-sex marriage and a critic of rap’s misogynistic undercurrent. But intent is immaterial when the headline-grabbing outcome reinforces a degrading stereotype.

The best way to defang racial, gender and religious discrimination is to dissect it. Understand the history, the use of fear and lesser-than tropes, and it loses its kick. To achieve something beyond how to use politically correct terminology requires a candid public conversation. And “Northwest nice” is the enemy of candid dialogue.

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May 22, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Boeing: NW’s fickle partner: an exodus of engineering jobs

originally published in The Herald

Last year, Olympia lawmakers went eyeball to eyeball with Boeing, and lawmakers blinked. (OK, Boeing had them at “hello.”)

The $8.7 billion tax package, the largest state tax break in U.S. history, was designed to secure production of the 777X and fabrication of its carbon-fiber wing. It was informed by mistakes made in 2003, when sweeteners to land the 787 Dreamliner avoided any mention of a second, out-of-state assembly line.

Enter Charleston, S.C.
This time, Olympia’s proactive thank-you was minus a no-net-job loss provision.

The zeroing out of 1,000 Puget Sound-area engineering jobs throws that omission into relief.
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May 4, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , ,

Natural heritage not for sale: Cliven Bundy

originally published in The Herald

America’s public lands give expression to public values. It’s why glorifying Cliven Bundy, the hidebound Nevada rancher who pocketed $1 million in grazing fees from the American people, is an abomination.

That Bundy (surprise) also is a racist doesn’t repel autograph hounds or local militiamen. Interest groups follow the law of gravity: The paranoid and the bigoted hang together.

Bundy has antecedents. The Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and 80s agitated for local control and even liquidating federal lands. While Bundy masquerades as a rugged individualist, his tale flows from greed, not principle.

The only plus to his Nevada standoff is revisiting the question of American values and public lands. As poet Gary Snyder wrote in “The Practice of the Wild,” “In North America there is a lot that is in public domain, which has its problems, but at least they are problems we are all enfranchised to work on.”
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April 29, 2014 phjackson Leave a response , , , ,