Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Global warming likely fueled the “Frankenstorm”

Yeah, global warming deniers, I know what you're going to say. "Any single weather event can't be conclusively tied to climate change." True. But we're talking odds here, likelihoods. That's how science works. Nothing is completely certain. Even the best documented law of nature could be falsified, given certain evidence. Yet when freakishly powerful storms and unusually dry/hot summers and other historically improbable weather events keep coming along, one after the other, way more frequently than has happened in decades or centuries or even thousands of years... This should make us think: global warming.  "A $20 billion, 1000-year Frankenstorm? Sandy…
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Posted inHome life Philosophy

Arrival of my Buddha nature has been delayed

Shopping at the south Salem Fred Meyer store today provided more evidence that my boundless compassion for all sentient beings, a.k.a. Buddha nature, has some room to grow. Scene: I'm pleased to find a checkout lane in the grocery section that only has two people in front of me. Hey, I may be retired, but I'm a busy guy. This is only the second stop in my Trader Joe's - Fred Meyer - LifeSource Natural Foods route. I've already been to Les Schwab Tires and the post office. I've got to pick up our tuned-up bicycles at a bike shop.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama campaign calls out Romney’s Chrysler lie

Ah, I so like plain talk in politics. Lie is a wonderful word that usually gets disguised by "falsehood," "untruth," or some other polite term that may be appropriate for mild lies, but are too weak for whopper lies. Like Mitt Romney's claim that Chrysler and Obama are working together to ship American jobs to China, since Jeeps supposedly will be made there instead of the United States. That's a lie. The Romney campaign must have known this. Or they could have learned the truth with a short phone call to Chrysler headquarters. But liars like to lie, and Romney…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of 2012 Willamette Humane Society Boo Bash

This was the first year we played adult "dress up" and went to the Halloween-themed Boo Bash fundraiser put on every year here in Salem by the Willamette Humane Society. Last year Laurel and I volunteered to do clean-up duties after the event. I saw enough people hanging around in clever/cute costumes to make me want to attend as a real Boo Bash'er this year. Laurel found me a Witch Doctor costume which meshed nicely with a mask I got at the Oregon Country Fair. I was mildly disturbed by how much I enjoyed channeling my inner Witch Doctor. I heard…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Suttle Lake fall colors, 2012 version

lt's a tradition. Every October, around the middle of the month, Laurel and I walk around central Oregon's Suttle Lake. We love the color of the vine maples, even if we don't always love the weather -- which can range from sunny and warm to rainy and cold. This year it was cloudy and cool, moderate. Each year the colors are different. Guess it has to do with changing temperature, rainfall, and such at Suttle Lake. Or maybe the vine maples just get in unpredictable moods. This month the theme was more orange'y and lemon-green than vibrant red. Still beautiful.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama has recovered half of his lost lead

Three weeks ago, October 4 to be exact, I was feeling pretty damn good about the presidential election. Eighty-seven percent good, to be exact. Back then this was the chance Nate Silver of highly respected Five Thirty Eight was giving an Obama win. Wow!, I thought; 87% is close to 90%, which is so close to 100% I figured Romney should just concede now, rather than waiting for the inevitable. Unfortunately for progressives like me, Romney showed up at the first debate and Obama didn't. At least, not as the Obama we saw in the second and third debates.  So…
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Posted inHome life Web/Tech

Why I ended up buying a 13 inch retina MacBook Pro

I plunked down $2,300 and change for a 13 inch retina MacBook Pro yesterday (256 GB flash storage, plus Apple Care and a USB Superdrive). I must have been one of the first to order the computer on Apple's web site, since I kept refreshing the closed-down store page until it popped up all functional, with the new goodies -- iPad Mini, new iMac, and my lusted-for laptop -- ready for purchase. Surprising. Because if I believed myself, I never would have thought that I'd end up doing what I just did. Consider... Last June I anguished about whether to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama whips Romney in last debate: election tomorrow, please!

I'm feeling good about the presidential election. Let's have it tomorrow, not in two weeks. Obama whipped Romney's ass tonight, just like he did in the second debate.  Don't believe me. Believe the snap polls.  CBS: Obama won - 53%  Romney won - 23%PPP: Obama won - 53%  Romney won - 42%CNN: Obama won - 48%  Romney won - 40% The CBS poll was of undecided voters, so that's great news for Obama. Wow, he beat Romney by more than two to one among those who may tilt the election one way or the other. Not surprising. Romney looked lip-smackingly…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama administration was correct about Benghazi attack

Yeah, it's a fantasy, but I can dream about Romney apologizing to Obama at Monday night's debate. "I'm sorry, Mr. President, for asserting that you and your administration misled the American people about what happened in Benghazi right after the attack on our consulate. Now information has come out that supports the initial analysis of the situation." This assumes that Romney reads the Los Angeles Times, and saw its recent "No evidence found of Al Qaeda role in Libya attack" story.  Excerpts: The assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than…
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Posted inSkateboarding

Beautiful downhill longboarding video: “Let go”

Let go. Wonderful advice. For living. For dying. And... For getting on a longboard at the top of a long, winding road down a picturesque hill. What the hell is there else to do, but let go? This guy is highly skilled. Yet what struck me the most about his ride was the simple flow of it. He makes letting go look easy.  I was moved by "Let go." Struck me as a metaphor for life, yet also exactly what it concretely was. Have a look. (Thanks to bayrider for sharing the video link in a comment on this longboarding…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama warns about “Romnesia” in great video

Love it. Love it! Love it!! Congrats to the Obama speechwriter(s) who came up with the inspired notion of "Romnesia." That's a perfect one word description of what Mitt Romney suffers from. And which we voters can't allow to have spread to the rest of America. Best line is when Obama tells Romney, no need to worry about your illness, you've got Obamacare, and it covers pre-existing conditions! The video is well worth 4:43 of your time. I smiled my way through it.    Thanks to Daily Kos for a Romnesia blog post.---------------------------------"We've got to name this condition that he's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

KGW news gets second-debate win for Obama wrong

Usually I watch the recorded first third of KGW's Portland 11 pm news in a semi-comatose state, aware of what's on the TV only enough to keep fast-forwarding through the seemingly endless string of car crashes, dog bites, and other "if it bleeds, it leads" stories that bore my wife and I. But last night -- gasp! -- KGW actually mentioned some national political news early on. Unfortunately, they got it wrong. Though I can't remember anchor Laural Porter's exact words, the gist of what she said was, "Polls split on who won the second presidential debate, Obama or Romney."…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Dear Barack, all is forgiven…

President Obama and I have made up. Evidence is shown in our VISA balance, which became $100 larger a few minutes ago. I'd vowed "no more Obama for America" donations -- especially after the first presidential debate, when, after a brief honeymoon period during which I thought Obama did fine, the horror of his listless performance hit home. After watching tonight's debate, though, I'm a happy progressive again. Win or lose (and I'm betting "win"), Obama has gotten back to being a tough fighter. That's all I wanted: to see him go toe to toe with Romney rather than cower…
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Posted inEntertainment

Surprise! “The Happy Movie” made me happy.

Thank you, Salem Progressive Film Series, for showing "The Happy Movie" last Thursday. I enjoy going to your showings at the Grand Theatre, but usually they're a bit of a downer. After all, economic inequality, pollution, environmental degradation, and other socially significant subjects aren't exactly smile-inducers. But happiness is. I hugely enjoyed learning about what contributes to happiness from experts in psychology, and also seeing happy people in action.  Here's some themes from the movie that I remember.  Flow. Yeah, flowing with life is the way to go. There was quite a bit of talk about flow, losing yourself in…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Obama, I’m trying to be positive about you, but…

This blog post almost was going to be about Joe Biden's strong debate performance last night, where he smiled, smirked, and that's malarky'd in a "give 'em hell" manner that raised my progressive spirits.  I was all set to discuss some analyses of Paul Ryan's dissembling, a.k.a. lying, the most obvious of which was his resolute reluctance to provide any details at all about the Romney-Ryan plan to cut tax rates 20% across the board without increasing the deficit or the middle class tax burden. This magic is supposed to happen by limiting certain deductions and other tax expenditures. Bizarrely,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Laughing at Obama’s debate performance is better than crying

Thanks to a fellow Tai Chi student who didn't take Obama's groan-inducing performance (if you're a progressive) at the first 2012 presidential debate as seriously as I did, today I learned about a Taiwanese animation that takes a humorous view of the Romney-Obama bout. Have a look. And a read of the subtitles, unless your Chinese is a lot better than mine.   It was healing to smile my way out of the pain I've been feeling as, day by day, Obama's re-election chances take another downward tilt on Five Thirty Eight. He's down to 68%, a big drop from the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Romney erases Obama’s convention bounce. I need a mood elevator.

Oh, great. Not! Just what I didn't want to read at the end of an otherwise splendid sunny warm rainless Oregon day. Nate Silver's overview of where the presidential race stands. Following another day of strong polling on Tuesday, Mitt Romney advanced into the best position in the FiveThirtyEight forecast since the party conventions.  ...The forecast model is not quite ready to jump on board with the notion that the race has become a literal toss-up; Mr. Romney will need to maintain his bounce for a few more days, or extend it into high-quality polls of swing states, before we…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Post-debate Democratic fundraising emails are irritating

On the slight chance that this blog rant will be read by a social media Democratic campaign fundraiser, here's some tips for you from a progressive who is getting irritated at your current tactics. My wife and I already have given quite a bit of money to Obama for America, the Congressional Democratic campaign committees, and some individual candidates like Elizabeth Warren. Plus, we've donated in support of Oregon Dems. We're more inclined to give when we feel that campaigns are doing the best they can, with energy and enthusiasm, to defeat Republican efforts to return us to the not-good-old…
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Posted inPhilosophy Skateboarding

When I’m 64… longboard-inspired thoughts on living life crazily

I don't need an excuse to get all philosophical. It comes naturally to me. But armed with a strong cup of coffee, a warm dry Oregon early evening, and a memory of a pleasant afternoon spent longboarding at Salem's wonderful Minto Brown Island Park, I feel especially inspired to muse about what life means to me on my 64th-birthday eve.  The Beatles released "When I'm 64" in 1967. I was a college freshman. Loved the song. Hated the idea of being 64. The lyrics seemed depressingly fantastical back in those youthful days.  When I get older losing my hair,Many years…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

This progressive feels fine about Obama’s debate performance

After I finished watching a recording of the first Obama-Romney debate last night, I said to my wife (who saw it live at a friend's house), "I think Obama did fine." Then I watched the MSNBC commentary. Almost universally the liberal commentators, along with the conservative ones, said Obama's debate performance was a disaster. After listening to them for a while, I started to change my mind about how well he did. But with the light of a new day, and further pondering of what went on during the debate, I'm back to feeling good about Obama. Yes, he wasn't…
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