Political Essays and Op-Eds

I wrote these essays primarily for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but recently that newspaper ceased publishing blogs, so now you can see my work at this address: Blog – nealblog (wordpress.com).

• • “The S Factor”

  • “The S Factor Is Alive and Well”

  • “Please Don’t Vote”

  • “Mailing in the Vote”

  • “The Third Degree”

  • “Moving Right Along”

  • “What to Do”

  • “Principle Objection”

  • “Everything I Know I Learned Since January 20, 2001”

  • “Feeling Blue”

  • "Bill of Frights"

  • “Hands Off my DNA”

• “Guns in the Hall”

• "Schools for Students--Only"

• "Smoke Gets in our Eyes"

• "Palin by Comparison"

• "Disposable Referendum"

• "Stop the Compromising"

• "What I Think Conservatives Think"

• "Columbus's Day"

• "At Least Some Congressmen Have their Priorities Straight"

• "Captive Vote"

• "God Only Knows"

• "The Spread that Dare Not Speak Its Name"

• "Two"

• "Radical Disagreements"

• "How to Talk about Israel"

• "In Plain Sight"

• "Bad Government! Bad!"

• "The Significance of Sex in Seattle"

• "President Sarah Palin"

• "Freedom of Religion?"

• "Fight the S Factor"

• "Intolerance"

• "Thirteen Questions that Vex Me"

• "Let's Hear It for the Republicans!"

• "After the Date"

• "Taking Out the Trash"

• "Mad(ison) as Hell"

• "A Dangerous Man"

• "Tax Attacks"

• "Expedia and the Tyranny of the Rule"

• "Reasons to Vote for Democrats and Republicans"

• "The Weiner-Bin Laden Connection"

• "How I Became a Liberal"

• "Get Government Off our Backs!"

• "Occupy, Protest, Think"

• "Listen to Reason"

• "The Personal and the Political"

• "Chicken Counting"

• "Gay Marriage in Washington State"

• "Repubicans: We Pranked You!"

• "Golf and Health"

• "Choose your Religion"

• "Mitt Romney and the Giant Leap"

• "A Short Speech for Elected Representatives about Same-Sex Marriage"

• "Arguments: A Guide to your Inner and Outer Responses"

• "We Don't Let People Die--If We Can Help It"

• "The Arena Proposal"

• "Keeping the Dumb in their Place"

• "When to Vote"

• "It's the Substance, Stupid!"

• "An Important Message from Mitt Romney (as imagined by Neal Starkman)"

• "No Bad Vote Goes Unpunished"

• "After the Election

• "Guns"

• "Bullets: Some Modest Proposals"

• "A Dozen New Year's Resolutions for Me, You, Politicians, and Everyone Else"

• "Sarcasm Doesn't Kill People . . ."

• "What's Right"

• "A Good Way to Die"

• "Beyond the IRS 'Scandal'"

• "Churches, Boy Scouts, and Accountability"

• "Someone's Leaking"

• "Mind your PQ"

• "Syria"

• "The Good News Press"

• "Shutdown"

• "What Ted Cruz Didn't Say"

• "Halloween for the GOP"

• "The Nazi Choice"

• "News I'd Like to See in 2014"

• "Catholic but not catholic"

• "The Others"

• "On Capital Punishment"

• "Fred Phelps Gets into Heaven"

• "You Haven't Got a Prayer"

• "A Sterling Message"

• "The Edge of Responsibility"

• "Business and Religion"

• "Why We All Can't Get Along"

• "President Obama and the Lack of Hitting"

• "Violence Is Shameful"

• "How to Solve Many of the World's Problems"

• "A Republican Warning about the Edola Virus"

• "Midterm Nonpartisan Guidance"

• "Taking Sides"

• "The Wrong Audience"

• "Obama, Republicans Reveal Incredible April Fools Prank"

• "How to Stop ISIS in One Easy Step"

• "Spring Training for Voters"

• "A Potential Speech by Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton"

• "That's Bigoted of You"

• "Wizard's Work"

• "No Laughing Matter"

• "The Seattle Mariners and the U.S. Congress"

• "God vs. the Law"

• "Forked by Guns"

• "Behind Bars"

• "Another Way to Stop ISIS"

• "A Warning about Anti-Muslims--and Others"

• "Guns--The Real Issues"

• "Trump and Cruz Are Us"

• "Donald Trump's Farewell Speech?"

• "Inside the Head of a Republican Voter, April 2016"

• "The Republican Fact Sheet"

• "Why Personality Matters"

• "The Job"

• "Independence"

• "How It All Began"

• "Defeating Donald Trump"

• "Worst-Case Scenario"

• "After the Fall"

• "Leaked Emails between H Clinton and D Trump!"

• "It's All Style"

• "School Exodus"

• "The Electoral College"

• "Rethink or React"

• "My Visit with the Martians"

• "What to Do"

• "Trumpfeld"

• "How We Got Where We Are"

• "Standing Your Ground"

• "A Way Out"

• "My Argument for Impeachment"

• "The Talk"

• "What Others Believe"

• "Bombs Away"

• "Member of the Group?"

• "Republican Fairy Tales"

• "It's Worse Than You Think"

• "Turnout Makes the Difference"

• "The Decade to Come?"

• "The Truth about Trump--from his Dialog Coach"

• "Our Leader"

• "The T Word"

• "The Attack"

• "What Could Go Wrong?"

• "You're in Control--Sort Of"

• "A Call from Jesus"

• "Asshole Training"

• "The Mueller Report"

• "Yearning for Simplicity"

• "Character Matters"

• "Another Supreme Court Candidate"

• "President Trump's Dream Phone Calls"

• "What Are They Thinking? Inside the Heads of Republican Members of Congress"

• "The Deep Editor State"

• "Justice in an Alternate World"

• "The Dark Future for Journalists"

• "This Time Voting's a Good Idea"

• "Fight or Flight?"

• "Sinking to the Bottom"

• "Mitch McConnell's Dreams"

• "Talking Policy, not Personality"

• "To Impeach or Not to Impeach"

• "Our America"

• "Building in Parks"

• "Dream Headlines"

• "It Can Happen Here"

• "Biden Bad, Trump Good?"

• "Consider the Consequences"

• "Inside the Casa Blanca"

• "Dreams--Republicans' and Democrats'"

• "Some Thoughts about Impeachment"

• "Solving the Middle East Problem"

• "Post-Warren"

• "What to Ask Yourself Before You Vote"

• "Biting the Bullet"

• "The Pence Speech I'd Love to Hear"

• "Free Speech?"

• "What a Difference!"

• "The S Factor Today"

• "CHEAP Voting"

• "Leveling the Field"

• "Responsibility"

• "Policies or Personality?"

• "Politics and Humor"

• "Our America"

• "Who Will Win?"

• "This Explains It All"

• "The Freedom to Kill"

• "Apologies to Heidi Cruz"

• "Freedoms"

• "The Dumbdemic"

• "Trying to Understand"

• "Getting Forked"

• "He Misses His Ex"

• "This Is What They Believe"

• "Stereotyping Trumpers"

• "21 Questions--about Afghanistan"

• "Is It Ever Enough?"

And here are some articles that aren't particularly political:

• "Winter in Seattle: Head for the Hills!"

• "The Mysterious Oceans"

• "The Tooth Hurts"

• "Death to the Birds"

• "The Great Game of Baseball"

• "Helping People Help Themselves"

• "Choosing the Best Day Camps for your Teen"

• "Write Right"

• "Peter Benson's Assets"

• "Christmas.ext"

• "Devils at the Door" (in the British magazine, Freethinker)

• "American Airlines--Seat of the Problem"

• "Toking and Smoking: Who's Responsible?"

• "A Brand-New, Sportsless Look for Higher Education"

• "There Ought to Be a Law"

• "Elephant Dung, Coffee, and the Mysteries of the Universe"

• "The Hybrid Penalty"

• "Consoling Thoughts after Encounters with the Super-Religious" (in the British magazine, Freethinker)

• "Words to Live--and Leave--By"

• "The Mall at the Wall"

• "Southern Exposure"

• "Gifts to Gag On"

• "Squelching Those Nasty Rumors Being Spread about Me"

• "Bombing in Baghdad"

• "The Top Ten 'Top Ten Lists of 2013' List of 2013"

• "It's All in the Style"

• "People Have Blind Trust in Polls, Poll Finds"

• "What Makes a Good Teacher?"

• "Weather or Not"

• "Old, Dying People"

• "The Best Family Bonding Activity Ever"

• "Drink Up for the Environment"

• "A Seat on the Bus"

• "A Christmas Challenge"

• "Anti-Proselytizing"

• "Bumper Stickers"

• "How Not to Practice a Religion"

• "Black Holes"

• "'Hands Up!' 'Certainly!'"

• "Reading the Torah"

• "Gardening on High"

• "Selling Yourself"

• "Your Personal Facebook Colander"

• "Killing Lions"

• "When Consultants Run Wild, the Library Loses"

• "The Palace"

• "40 Bumper Stickers"

• "What Is Sexist?"

• "FlightMates™"

• "A Song for the Aged"

• "Smokes"

• "What We Should Have Had By Now"

• "Curses!"

• "The Company Line"

• "Memories"

• "Out of My Range (a Jenn-Air Range)"

• "Your (You're) Right to Complain"

• "The House of Bugs"

• "The Great Penguin God"

• "FlightMates™"

• "The Tide Turns"

• "In Praise of Giraffes"

• "Chirpitis"

• "Parks vs. Housing"

• "'The Chips Were Hot'"

• "The Key Word Missing in the Homelessness Debate: Jobs"

• "What's Cooking? How to Prepare Incredible Meals by Connecting with your Food"

• "Talking with Aliens"

• "Shuttle Disservice"

• "Who Should Help?"

• "Curses"

• "My Plan for Peace: The Middle East Baseball League"

• "Ten Commandments for Waitstaff"

• "Birds"

• "The Scourge of Chirpitis"

• "My Bigotry"

• "What I Want in 2020"

• "Complain, Complain"

• "In and Out of the Store"

• "The Information Highway in the Time of Coronavirus"

• "Home Office Observations"

• "Yesterday"

• "The Perfect Omelet(te)"

• "If Rodney Dangerfield Were Alive Today"

• "Dear 2020-Vision Sage"

• "Defunding?"

• "How to Vote"

• "A Rant Against Kroger"

• "Salves"

• "What Was I Going to Say?"

• "Poor Excuse"

• "Dream On"

• "Sometime Later"

• "You Can't Spell 'Social' without 'CIA'"

• "Is It True?"

• "A Better Olympics"

• "My Advice Column"

• "My Interview with Jxamflto"

• "The Uncovidians"

• "Priorities"https://nealblog20213420.wordpress.com/2021/10/22/priorities/