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THE GLORIOUS CAUSE OF AMERICA By David McCullough How a coarse, untrained army—“rabble in arms”—stood up to the world’s most powerful army. EDITOR’S NOTE: “If nations appointed historians laureate, David McCullough would surely be ours,” said Edwin Yoder, a professor of journalism and humanities at Washington and Lee University. Author of such historical works as The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Truman, John Adams, and, most recently, 1776, McCullough is a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. For many years he was host of PBS’s American...

Sometimes I recoil a little when somebody declares that there can be an American president greater than George Washington. Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee declared Washington, “First in the hearts of his countrymen.” Washington is great for many things, but perhaps he is greatest for the manner in which he surrendered power not once but twice. One of the best recent commentaries written on Washington is David Boaz’s, “The Man Who Would Not Be King.” In the piece from 2006, Boaz wonderfully sums up the depth of Washington’s immense character and what that means for liberty and America. The entire commentary...

A mysterious cluster of severe birth defects in rural Washington state is confounding health experts, who say they can find no cause, even as reports of new cases continue to climb. Federal and state officials won’t say how many women in a three-county area near Yakima, Wash., have had babies with anencephaly, a heart-breaking condition in which they’re born missing parts of the brain or skull. And they admit they haven't interviewed any of the women in question, or told the mothers there's a potentially widespread problem. But as of January 2013, officials with the Washington state health department and...

One can reasonably presume how today’s Left would characterize and attack the person I am about to describe to you. Without a doubt, he would be characterized as some sort of dangerous, right-wing, tea-bagging, homophobic, Christian Neanderthal who should be maligned, attacked, marginalized, silenced, and driven from power. Character assassination has become the weapon of choice for those who so forcefully peddle the liberal/progressive ideology. It is relentlessly used to silence all those who stand in opposition to the myriad of ‘isms’ they champion as they seek to “fundamentally transform” the country and society. I sincerely doubt they would spare...

Seattle, Wash. — At an organizing event and rally for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, Councilmember Kshama Sawant emphasized the movement should not accept any watered-down version of the wage increase “I’m throwing down the gauntlet,” Sawant said, declaring herself the first politician to support a true $15-per-hour rate. She and other rally speakers cautioned against politicians and businesses who say they support a minimun wage increase but want loopholes and exemptions.

...Considered by some to be a Holy Grail of Puget Sound archaeology, three men — a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney — believe they have found the fabled lost anchor of Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago. Lying in shallow water along the west side of Whidbey Island, the historic artifact could be recovered by the three-man team that makes up Anchor Ventures LLC within the month... In 1791, British Navy Captain George Vancouver set out on a four-year exploration of the West Coast aboard the 99-foot HMS Discovery. Accompanying...

The following Republicans voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit: John Boehner, R-Ohio. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy,R-Calif. Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam, R-Ill. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. Pete King, R-N.Y. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Gary Miller, R-Calif. Ed Royce, R-Calif. John Runyan, R-N.J. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Chris Smith, R-N.J. David Valadao, R-Calif. Frank Wolf,...

ASHBURN, Virginia - The latest back-and-forth over the Washington Redskins name includes a stern letter from two lawmakers and a new "community voices" campaign from the team. A letter sent Monday from Congressman Tom Cole [R-Oklahoma] and Senator Maria Cantwell [D-Washington], tells NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that the league is on "the wrong side of history" and mentions the league's tax-exempt status. Cantwell chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Cole is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. The lawmakers specifically objected to Goodell's Super Bowl week news conference, when he said the Redskins name has been "presented in a...

Myths Studied for Tsunami CluesUniversity of Washington Scientist Probes Indian Myth for Tsunami Clues S E A T T L E, Aug. 12 — When scientists figured out that sea water drowned groves of tall trees up and down the coast of Washington state the same year a tsunami hit Japan, they theorized that a massive earthquake in the Pacific most likely triggered both events. Based on Japanese records, scientists were able to pinpoint a date Jan. 26, 1700 and estimate that the rupture of a long stretch of sea floor had caused a magnitude 9 quake, which would be...

Researchers plot course of ancient American tsunami Researchers have calculated the scale of a giant wave that devastated the north west coast of America 1,100 years ago. Japanese scientists used computer modelling to recreate the devastation from the ancient tsunami. The team from the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution in Kobe say the work will help planners minimise the impact of any future wave. The researchers took clues from silt deposits found in the Puget Sound, a Pacific inlet above earthquake fault lines in the Seattle area. Experts say the tsunami could have reached up to seven metres in...

Washington (AFP) - Starfish have been mysteriously dying by the millions in recent months along the US west coast, worrying biologists who say the sea creatures are key to the marine ecosystem. Scientists first started noticing the mass deaths in June 2013. Different types of starfish, also known as sea stars, were affected, from wild ones along the coast to those in captivity, according to Jonathan Sleeman, director of the US Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center. "The two species affected most are Pisaster ochraceus (purple sea star or ochre starfish) and Pycnopodia helianthoides (sunflower sea star)," he wrote in...

There were naked photographs in the bathtub, sexual text messages and furtive kisses exchanged during a Lincoln High School assembly. Those are among the accusations leveled against Meredith Powell, a 24-year-old math teacher who pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of third-degree child rape and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes for alleged inappropriate conduct with three students.

**SNIP** Lesson #9: Join the Fight Last but not least, we had Kshama Sawant – an intelligent, eloquent, passionate yet tactful immigrant woman of color running against stale establishment white guys in both 2012 and 2013. Sawant is an impressive speaker and a determined fighter, no doubt. But she is also an ordinary person who happened to attend a couple public forums in 2008 and was impressed with the Socialist Alternative speakers’ political clarity. Through discussions with Socialist Alternative, she decided to dedicate her life to fighting for a socialist world. Most ordinary people gravely underestimate our own potential to...

After spending weeks searching for what might be blocking the Highway 99 tunneling machine, officials say there’s another problem: Bertha is running hot. Adding to the trouble, project managers say they don’t know why. High temperatures near the machine’s cutting face prompted contractors to stop mining after the drill advanced a total of 4 feet in test runs Tuesday and Wednesday. And that ended Bertha’s attempt to resume mining after an eight-week layoff. . . .I t took weeks for Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) to pump away enough groundwater to safely allow an 11-day inspection of the front end, which...

"Administrators at Seattle Children's today said they predicted this would happen, and it's even worse than they expected," says the local news anchor. "Patients being denied specialty treatment at the hospital by insurance providers on the Washington health benefits exchange. Children's filed request on behalf of 125 of their patients. Of those, they say they got only 20 responses, eight of which were denials. Dr. Sandy Melzer says all this comes after reassurances of certain unique specialty cases would still be covered."

In Washington state, some sick kids have been denied specialty care due to Obamacare, a local news outlet reports: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhx_Xhh9ca8"Administrators at Seattle Children's today said they predicted this would happen, and it's even worse than they expected," says the local news anchor. "Patients being denied specialty treatment at the hospital by insurance providers on the Washington health benefits exchange. Children's filed request on behalf of 125 of their patients. Of those, they say they got only 20 responses, eight of which were denials. Dr. Sandy Melzer says all this comes after reassurances of certain unique specialty cases would still be...

As those in power continues to hang onto the 19th century model of education or accept Common Core indoctrination for their students, parents are moving toward becoming the “deciders” as they chose charter and private schools, homeschooling, and online programs, it is leaving thousands of empty school buildings all across America. According to a recent study among the cities with vacant school buildings are

A document currently circulating through the Washington state government details the attempt to vastly expand Continuity of Government powers by amending the state’s constitution. Exclusively revealed to Storyleak, the document, entitled “Modernizing State’s Continuity of Operation Planning,” asks State Representatives to pass legislation concerning the government’s ability to implement COG. Spearheaded by the Washington Military Department and the State Auditor’s Office, the document also details the move to add Continuity of Operations planning to state law. Created at the height of the cold war during the 1960s, the Continuity of Government (COG) program was designed to give the federal government...

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus suggested former President Bill Clinton was not entirely culpable for his affair with Monica Lewinsky Monday on MSNBC. The comment came in the context of a discussion about Sen. Rand Paul’s (R., Ky.) comments yesterday where he accused President Clinton of “predatory behavior” toward his former White House intern. Marcus said Republicans seem to address female sexuality only in the contexts of victimization or promiscuity. To evidence her point, Marcus added she did not believe Monica Lewinsky was an entirely “innocent victim” in the scandal. “I recall some thong flashing there,” she said. Full exchange:...

Mr. Norris, with Washington and Colorado recently legalizing pot smoking and their football teams (Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos) being in the Super Bowl, some have asked whether there is going to be added marijuana use during this year’s Super Bowl. And President Barack Obama recently said that he doesn’t think marijuana is as dangerous as alcohol. What do you think, Chuck? Is it? – “Trying to Make Sense of Sensimilla” in Seattle I understand the arguments for the legalization of marijuana: It can generate tax revenue. It can reduce illegal supply and demand. It can strip power from cartels...