Category Archives: Government

You Can’t Make a Stamp Disappear

Posted on March 19, 2026 | Leave a comment
The Caesar Chavez commemorative stamp was issued in 2003.

Condemnation of Caesar Chavez (1927 – 1993) has been swift and universal following the news this week that he sexually abused girls and young women during the 1960’s and 1970’s. States, organizations, and political leaders are participating in the backlash by removing (or calling for the removal of) his name from places and events that publicly honor him. His family has issued a statement that wishes for peace and healing for the survivors. The one thing no one can do though is to cover up, rename, or paper over the fact that Chavez was publicly honored on a USPS stamp (see screen capture).

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Should I Open This Letter?

Posted on February 20, 2026 | Leave a comment
Redactions added, just like in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

You can tell I’m bored when I’m writing about whether to open a piece of junk mail (see screen capture) that arrived a week ago. The USPS uses a more professional term — marketing mail — and that’s likely what it is. But are there enough outward clues to decide whether it is worth opening?

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It Won’t be a “Millionaires” Tax for Long

Posted on February 11, 2026 | Leave a comment
The companion bill in the House is HB 2724.

Last week Washington state Democrats introduced companion bills in the Senate (see screen capture) and House that propose to tax high earners. Dubbed the “millionaires” tax, the legislation imposes a 9.9 percent tax on annual earnings above $1 million. Although “millionaires” tax is a catchy term, it won’t apply for long, not because the tax will be overturned by a voter or legal challenge, but because of some fine print in the bills.

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Another Boring School Levy

Posted on January 28, 2026 | Leave a comment
Even the timing of the levy is impeccable.

Last week the school levy ballot and the Bremerton School District’s justification for passing it (see photo) arrived in the mail. It’s not the increase in property taxes I’m objecting to as I will be voting “yes.” Rather, having lived in Bremerton since the 1970’s, I have seen this movie before many times and I’m bored with it.

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A Safety-Related Request

Posted on January 23, 2026 | 1 comment
Should this mailbox cluster be relocated?

While riding my bike on January 16th I collided with the mailbox cluster shown in the photo. The result was a serious hip injury. A week later I’m still using a walker to get around. Yesterday, I reported this safety hazard to the City of Bremerton. It will be interesting to see if anything comes from my request.

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Posted in Biking, Government

Spelling Mud Bay Correctly

Posted on December 31, 2025 | Leave a comment
It’s time to renew the tabs again.

I live on Mud Bay. My old pickup truck has advertised my place of residence via a personalized license plate for almost two decades. However, it was only about two years ago that I was able to swap it for a license plate that spells Mud Bay correctly (see photo). That meant dealing with the Washington state Department of Licensing, never an easy task.

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What Would Victor Say?

Posted on November 26, 2025 | Leave a comment
V. D. B. for Victor D. Brenner, arguably the best-known initials of any U. S. coin designer

Like many (mostly older?) Americans I’m bummed that penny production ended this month. Just because pennies cost several times their value to make doesn’t mean the United States should stop minting them. Lost in the coverage of this issue in both mainstream and social media is what Victor D. Brenner, the Lincoln wheat penny designer, might say if he were still around.

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Discover This

Posted on November 23, 2025 | Leave a comment
Washington sells both annual (left) and daily (right) Discover Passes.

The cost of Washington’s annual Discover Pass (see screen capture) went up from $30 to $45 on October 1. The price of a daily pass stayed the same. While this is the first increase since the annual pass debuted in 2011, not surprisingly the 50 percent hike affected sales, at least in the first month. This post has a few thoughts on the increase and Discover Passes in general.

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Inconveniencing Congress

Posted on November 10, 2025 | Leave a comment

The big news out of the nation’s capitol today is that the Senate reached an agreement that will lead to the end of the government shutdown. This post would have been more timely last week when there was still no end in sight. However, Congress is so polarized, and so clueless, that while the current shutdown is the longest in history, it won’t be the last. Can anything be done to send Congress a message that future lengthy shutdowns are unacceptable?

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Justice Is THRIVEing

Posted on November 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

Justice Delayed, posted in September 2025, described a check forgery case that I’m in involved in as a witness. Today I learned in an email that the criminal part of the case is all but over, at least for me anyway.

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