Posted inMeasure 37

Kulongoski caves in on Measure 37

Laurel and I were appalled to read in yesterday's Oregonian that Gov. Kulongoski is on the side of those who want to completely dismantle our state's pioneering land use laws. Kulongoski has aligned himself with Oregonians in Action, ignoring the advice of 1000 Friends of Oregon that it is better to do nothing about Measure 37 this legislative session rather than making an already bad law worse. Senate Bill 1037 would allow transfers of new development rights when Measure 37 claimants sell their land. Measure 37 was supposedly about letting people build a single home on their beloved acreage, not…
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Posted inHome life

I survive giving blood

I surrendered my blood-giving virginity last Monday at the Courthouse Athletic Club here in Salem. Somehow I’d managed to get well into my fifth decade without donating blood. And I would have kept my record going if it weren’t for a misunderstanding that made me appear to be more selfless than I really am. I was lifting weights on a Nautilus machine when a youthful, attractive, perky female athletic club employee (is there any other kind?) approached me with a clipboard in hand. “Would you be interested in donating to support the Courthouse blood drive?” she asked. My mind zeroed…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Starving children. Who gives a damn?

Two days ago ABC’s Nightline was about the crisis in the central African nation of Niger, where several million people are in danger of starvation—including 800,000 children. I didn’t want to watch the program when it first ran. I didn’t want to see the faces of dying children. Last night I did. I forced myself to watch the recorded episode, which centered on video reports by the BBC’s Hillary Anderson. I saw starving children covered in sores, too weak to move or even drink water. I saw a family cooking a rat, their only meal of the day; the image…
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Posted inFamily

My daughter buys a Hollywood house

If you think that it’s expensive to buy a home in Oregon, particularly in Portland and Bend, take a look at the listing for the Hollywood house that my daughter, Celeste, and her husband are in the process of buying. $849,000. Two bedrooms, two baths. 1300 sf. Built in 1922. Whew! And they’re happy to have found it. As they should be. It’s a cute house, nicely redecorated by the current owners. It’s just hard for me to get my head around the idea that this Hollywood house is selling for quite a bit more than double the assessed value…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Philosophy

We’re all jihadists

Over on the Church of the Churchless today I wrote about how “We all believe in jihad.” I had intended to rant here about how outrageous it is that Karen Minnis and the Oregon House Republicans are hijacking the political process by not allowing important bills like SB 1000 to come up for a vote. I guess I did a bit of that just now: ranting. But just a bit. For when I looked into my Karen Minnis-hating heart and realized how, in my darker moments, my fantasies about what should happen to right-wing ideologues were growing uncomfortably jihadish, I…
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Posted inDogs

Our dog’s play date

Serena didn’t have to find this cute boy Basset Hound through an online service like Dog Play Date. No, she picked Sam up the old-fashioned way while on a walk with Laurel and brought him home. We were pretty sure unattached Sam belonged to a neighbor. But nobody answered the phone when we called them, so Sam and Serena had time to get better acquainted in the dog yard. Laurel and I chaperoned their first date. They started off with some dancing. Then had their first kiss. After that, things started to heat up pretty fast. The sexual tension was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Images of Basic Rights Oregon SB 1000 rally

Yesterday, after my Tai Chi class in downtown Salem, I walked a few blocks down Court Street to the Basic Rights Oregon rally on the steps of the Capitol. Laurel came directly from home and caught up with me on the sidewalk, matchingly dressed for the occasion, per usual. I’d told her that pre-rally info had suggested wearing the official SB 1000 t-shirt or other light blue attire. I stuck with basic black, figuring black goes with anything. A basic message at the rally. Who can disagree? Well, apparently the unloving Republican House Speaker Karen Minnis, who is refusing to…
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Posted inSustainability

Toyota Highlander Hybrid not so green

Well, let me qualify that statement: the just-out 2006 Highlander Hybrid SUV is plenty green, for you need an awful lot of the green stuff to buy it. I asked for a price quote from the Internet sales force at our local Toyota dealer and got this reply: “A 2006 Toyota Gas/Electric Hybrid Highlander V6 4WD Limited with FE (federal emissions), NV (navigation), CF (floor mats/cargo mat set) and all of the great standard features...Your Capitol Auto Group Internet Price $ 44,049! The Limited Hybrid Highlander can also be ordered without Navigation for $2,000 less.” Stylistically critiquing this message, I…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Universist talks with Lars Larson soon

At 4 pm PST (in a few minutes, that is) word is that a Universist representative will be on the (ugh!) national Lars Larson show. I just got an email from the Universists telling me that this appearance has been moved up to today instead of tomorrow because of Bush's forthcoming Supreme Court nominee announcement. More info is on the Universist website, including how to listen to the show on the Internet. Locally, you can listen on KXL 750 (just don't make it a habit--normally I can't stand Lars' right-wing rantings, but I'll be interested to hear him speak with…
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Posted inEntertainment

Nike’s Tiger Woods golf commercial

Watching the British Open last weekend, I was both transfixed and confused by Nike's golf commercial that shows Tiger Woods as a young boy, winning at St. Andrews. I have to agree with my friend Randy, who says on his blog that this is the best golf commercial ever. Also, the most perplexing--unless you know the secret. How the heck did little Tiger Woods get filmed at St. Andrews? I didn't really believe that he won the British Open at age 5, but the commercial sure makes it seem like he did. The secret to the mystery is revealed by…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

My view of the 2005 Salem Art Fair

Yesterday Laurel and I went to the always-wonderful Salem Art Fair & Festival in Bush Park. It’s fairing through the weekend, closing Sunday at 6, so if you live around here, don’t miss it. Per usual, most of the time my view of the fair looked like this. And, for variety, this. Then, for a real change of scenery, I got to watch Laurel buy a jacket instead of earrings. My artistic goal this year was to buy a coffee cup. I found that there are many more artists who sell earrings and women’s clothes than coffee cups. I finally…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Lars Larson tells half the story (again)

Portland’s right-wing talk show host Lars Larson is notorious for spinning half-truths. And that’s on one of his good days. Usually he’s only able to reach the quarter-truth level, or less. Last month I heard Lars railing on about how an Astoria boy supposedly was attacked by a cougar. If those damn tree-hugging, gun-hating, cougar-loving liberals have their way, he frothed, cougars are going to be killing Oregonians like flies. Not likely. As I’ve noted before, a cougar never has attacked a human in Oregon. And I’m pretty confident that no cougar attacked the Astoria boy, Drew Weil, either. The…
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Posted inDogs

Blow-drying dog paws

You might think that we have reached a new level of pet pampering, given our new habit of blow-drying Serena’s paws several times a day. She does seem to like it. And we do pamper her. But we’re doing this on the advice of her vet, for on three paws she has some sort of bacterial infection —that first appeared to be a fungus among us (ah, it feels good to write those words; I don’t get to use that wonderful term often enough). We’re reluctant to give her antibiotics, so are trying to clear up the problem by reducing…
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Posted inSalem

Images of 2005 Marion County Fair

This year Laurel volunteered to serve a stint at the Friends of Marion County booth at the Marion County Fair. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on at the booth last Thursday afternoon, but I still was deathly afraid that someone would stop and talk to me while I sat in Laurel’s chair as she was taking a restroom break. No one did. Laurel herself ended up spending more time talking to the friendly folks at the Democratic Party booth next door than to fairgoers interested in learning more about Measure 37 and land use planning. Underwhelmed with…
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Posted inHome life

Look at our yard, please!

We are slaves to our beautiful yard. Don’t get me wrong: we love our servitude. Up to a point. It’s just that the older we get, the crazier it seems to be to lavish so much time and effort on maintaining Garden Poet-created landscaping that, mostly, just Laurel and I see. For we are not the most social of human beings. We rarely entertain (except ourselves) and our rural neighbors are entirely out of sight. Thus when I divide the work we put into the yard by the number of people who visually enjoy the fruit of our labors, the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Saddam Hussein didn’t attack London

Early indications are that an al Qaeda group is claiming responsibility for the horrific London bombings. Whoever turns out to be the culprit, I’m willing to bet that it isn’t Saddam Hussein. He’s in jail. Osama bin Laden isn’t. And therein lies the criticism that should be directed today, tomorrow, and the next days at President George W. Bush and his neo-con groupthinkers, whose obsession with overthrowing Saddam Hussein has diverted invaluable resources from pursuing Bin Laden and al Qaeda. Al Qaeda attacked the United States on 9/11. Al Qaeda almost certainly attacked London on 7/7. It’s been proven that…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Secret of the Universe, Clue #2

It’s all starting to come together for me now. Oh yes, it surely is. For last night I had a second revelation to go along with Secret of the Universe Clue #1. Now, I just need to figure out what the “it” is that’s coming together. Whenever we come to our cabin in Camp Sherman I take along my media box, a plastic container that I fill with videotapes, DVDs, serious non-fiction books, unserious mystery paperbacks, and every unread magazine lying around the house. I never get around to perusing half the stuff in the box, but it relieves my…
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Posted inRecreation

Camp Sherman Independence Day parade

My vote for the nation’s most charming Independence Day parade goes to Camp Sherman’s 2005 bike trail event. This small central Oregon town is full of zany characters and beautiful scenery, both of which were on full display yesterday. Laurel and I were riding our bicycles back to our cabin after attending the annual meeting of the Metolius River Forest Homeowners Association. Near the Lake Creek Lodge we encountered some paraders heading to the Community Hall that we had just left. They yelled, “Come join us!” We did, not wanting to pass up a parade. When we got to the…
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