Posted inBooks

Keep independent bookstores alive! They can’t die.

I'm a long-lapsed Catholic, but it still felt right to call my purchasing of a book in the wonderful Paulina Springs Books a penance. That's what I said to my wife after we met up again in charming Sisters, Oregon. Laurel had returned from her clothes shopping safari, and me from a bookstore exploration. (We do this a lot, having different material desires.) I showed her my big, thick, intellectually meaty/tofuy copy of David Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity." I knew I was going to buy this book almost as soon as I read the subtitle: Explanations That Transform the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Richard Dawkins calls Rick Perry an “uneducated ignoramus”

I wonder if Rick Perry, Republican presidential candidate and Texas governor, knows what "ignoramus" means. Probably not. I'll help Perry out in case he stumbles across this blog. Here's the definition, Rick: Utterly ignorant person. Such is how noted evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins describes not only Rick Perry but also the entire leadership of today's Republican party. He's right on. Anyone who doesn't believe in evolution or other unarguable scientific facts indeed is an ignoramus. How is it that they even could be considered for high public office, especially the presidency of the United States? Here's how Dawkins starts off…
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Posted inSustainability

A 2011 Nissan Leaf could be sprouting in our garage soon

We've changed our minds about changing our minds... about getting an electric car. In early May I put down reservation deposits on both a Nissan Leaf and a Mitsubishi i MIEV. A few weeks later, we'd decided to take a pass on going electric automotively. And today? I gave Russ at Jack Scoville Nissan in Corvallis a $500 credit card deposit to hold a soon-to-arrive blue 2011 Leaf for us. Obviously, something changed to make us change our minds again, after we initially changed our minds about getting a Nissan Leaf. Well, a few weeks ago The EV Project notified…
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Posted inSustainability

Lars Larson’s unnatural view of the world

I enjoy listening to right-wing talk radio because I believe in "know your enemy." Reality- based progressives like me who respect science and truth, unlike many Republicans, find it hard to understand how so-called conservatives are willing to embrace obvious falsehoods. I say so-called, because my interest in politics began in the 60's, fueled by my mother's rabid Republicanism. Yet she also loved science, nature, preserving the environment. She was a conservationist, which used to have something to do with "conservative." No more. Not in the Tea Party crazed Republican Party of today, where scientific truths have become dirty words.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Republican presidential candidates disrespect reality

Whenever the current crop of Republican presidential candidates make a public utterance, I think, Reality is a terrible thing to waste. WIth a single exception, Jon Huntsman, they don't care whether what they're saying is fact-based, scientifically-defensible, or otherwise firmly rooted in demonstrable consensual reality. They just spout off about whatever is politically expedient. If Republican primary voters demand crazy talk from a candidate, that's what they're given. This is dangerous. What if one of these reality-deniers somehow becomes President of the United States? Who wants the leader of our country to be out of touch with what is really…
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Posted inHome life

Warning: corn is more dangerous than it looks

Ears of corn. They seem so natural, so innocent, all wrapped up in their tight green leafy kimonos, begging to be stripped naked and devoured with lustful buttery zeal. (Guess I've been watching too much Stephen Colbert "cornography.") But when you get them home... watch out. Yesterday I found out how dangerous corn can be. I don't want anyone else to suffer needlessly like I did, so I'm getting my story out onto the Internet in hopes of saving other innocent victims from what I've gone through. I stopped at a farm stand where I've been buying fruit all summer.…
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Posted inTai Chi

Tai Chi shows how to handle aggression

I love how Tai Chi demonstrates a hugely practical philosophy of life through physical movement. Other activities do this also -- ballroom dancing comes to mind -- but Tai Chi is unique in that it explicitly embodies philosophical Taoist principles. Tonight, I was paired up with my Tai Chi instructor, Warren, as his class practiced the self-defense application of the Fair Lady movements (with a follow step). Warren and I have a lot of marital arts experience -- he more than me, naturally. And his Tai Chi background is much deeper than mine. Yet both of us were surprised at…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Marion County clips wings of anti-govt “Gathering of the Eagles”

Ah, I so love it when a right-wing, self-righteous, anti-government group gets caught doing something illegal and has to bow down before the rule of law. Earlier this month Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, conservative Portland talk show hosts Lars Larson and Victoria Taft, plus a bunch of other Tea Party types assembled for a "Gathering of the Eagles" at the Ames Ranch in normally sleepy Jefferson, Oregon -- between Salem and Albany, just off I-5. However, the organizers somehow ignored the fact that the crowd of more than a thousand people needed a permit from Marion County in order…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Rick Perry acts like an idiot (no big surprise)

Well, it didn't take long for Texas governor Rick Perry to demonstrate why he is utterly, completely, 100% unsuited to be president of the United States. Even supporters of George Bush like Karl Rove are outraged by Perry using "treasonous" to describe the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and threatening Bernanke with "ugly" treatment in Texas. Does this guy look presidential to you? Twenty-five other states have lower unemployement than Texas, and it is tied with Mississippi for the most minimium wage workers. Not exactly a model for our country.  
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Patti Milne oversaw the failure of Salem’s Courthouse Square

Today's front page story in the Salem Statesman Journal is headlined, "Courthouse Square's Red Flags." Subtitle: Project's failures extend beyond bad engineering Yeah, no kidding. The county commissioners in office when construction problems first started to become apparent looked the other way, even though the project manager recommended taking action. When cracks appeared at the tops of columns during construction of Courthouse Square in 2000, the defects were taken seriously by Melvin Mark Development Co., a Portland firm hired as a project manager. The cracks were in critical locations beneath the bus mall at Courthouse Square. Melvin Mark wanted to…
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Posted inSalem

“Salemia” intro looks more interesting than Salem

Ever since I heard about this video production I've been excited about "Salemia," our capital city's response to "Portlandia," a television series about Oregon's metropolitian centerpiece of hip, sustainable, cutting-edge coolness. Which doesn't describe Salem in the slightest. Our convention center attracts groups like Center for the Enthusiastic Appreciation of Paint Drying. The most frequent diagnosis at the Salem Hospital E.R. is acute episode of Chronic Boredom Syndrome. But we do have some talented film makers in the personages of Mike Perron and David Jenkins, who recently teased our Salemia-starved appetite with a one minute intro to the production.  …
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Rick Perry is off to a rocky start with God

Here's a terrific piece about Rick Perry's reliance on religious fundamentalism rather than facts when it comes to governing, "Rick Perry's Unanswered Prayers." Doesn't seem to be working for him. A few months ago, with Texas aflame from more than 8,000 wildfires brought on by extreme drought, a man who hopes to the next president took pen in hand and went to work:“Now, therefore, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama should be willing to crash and burn

I want to see President Obama jet high into the political skies with his afterburner on full blast. Then, he needs to dive bomb the warring factions in Congress with every weapon at his disposal. Like I said before, Obama has got to become more extreme, crazier, committed, dangerous. If he crashes and burns, fine. I'll strongly support him up to and through his 2012 electoral destruction -- so long as he starts to fight hard for what most of the American people want: balance, moderation, centrism. Polls show that a majority of the public favors raising taxes on the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

What’s most irksome about the S&P downgrade

Today I invested 18 minutes of my life in watching a self-serving video on Standard & Poor's "CreditMatters" multimedia web page. I was curious to see how two high-ranking executives defended their downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. As I watched David Beers, Standard & Poor's Global Head of Sovereign Ratings, and John Chambers, Chairman of the Sovereign Ratings Committee, I got increasingly irritated at them. They struck me as detached, rich, overly self-confident Wall Street types who enjoyed being fed canned questions by another S&P employee. I'd already read the S&P report that described the downgrade, so didn't learn…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Unvarnished truth about the S&P downgrade

There's nothing like going to the source. Politicians are trying to spin the S&P downgrade of the federal government's credit rating in all sorts of self-serving ways. I recommend taking a few minutes to read the short (eight pages) report for yourself. You might be as surprised as I was to see how the unvarnished truth about how this corner of Wall Street views our nation's finances. Here's a link to a PDF file of the Standard & Poors Research Update, "United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To 'AA+' On Political Risks And Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative." (Or…
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Posted inHumor

People with American flags are terrorists

My wife and I get a lot of emails from conservatives and other right-minded folks who want to alert us to threats against America. It's amazing what we've learned from these messages. I had no idea how far along Obama, Congressional Democrats, and other progressives are in their plans to destroy the United States. Did you know that the health care reform bill allows Obama to form a private army? Oh, its true. It must be, because I heard about this through the Internet. Well, we're grateful for these alerts. Now we want to do our part to keep America…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

My favorite stock market crash headline

"Stocks plunge on fears of global turmoil." So says a banner New York TImes headline on its web site. Um, here's an idea for the world's stock markets. Why don't you hold off on crashing 4-5% in a single day, like you did today, until there really is global turmoil? Because you're producing the global turmoil that you're afraid of when the S&P 500 drops 4.8%, and other markets act similarly. So tomorrow investors will be even more afraid of the global turmoil that their fear today helped create, likely leading to more maket declines. Whatever economist came up with…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama and the Dems need to get more extreme

President Obama, Senator Reid, Representative Pelosi -- here's what this proud progressive wants you to do from now on: Get freaking crazy! Become as extreme on the left as Republicans are on the right. Act like you'll never compromise your revenue-raising, social program-preserving principles. Yes, it was just two days ago that I blogged, "Maybe Obama is the centrist president I long for." I still believe that. But after further reflection I've come to agree with what E.J. Dionne said in a column that I quoted. Obama’s advisers are said to be obsessed with the political center, but such a…
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