Posted inHome life

I’m strangely proud of my Starbucks gold card

This is my Starbucks gold card. I haul it out of my wallet and show it to people whenever it seems appropriate. And also, when it isn't.On the front it says: "Brian Hines  Cardholder since 2008"Wow! That's two years ago. I deserve this prestigious card! Well, semi-prestigious, considering all I did to get it was use my old Starbucks rewards card 30 times.At least that's how I believe it came into my adoring hands. Starbucks says so, thus it must be true. I'm a cult member. I've even joined the Starbucks Passion Panel. What that means is, periodically Starbucks emails me…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Marion County charter change: desperation breeds deception

Wow! When ordinary people try to make the government that their taxes pay for work better, the big money guys who profit from the status quo get frantic.In the Salem Statesman Journal today there was another bunch of desperate untruths from Dick Withnell, a Salem Chamber of Commerce board member -- adding to the stack in a letter that I debunked recently.The business interests opposing improvements to county government must be super-scared of Measure 24-292, a citizen initiative to be voted on in May that would enlarge the Board of Commissioners from three to five members and elect commissioners by…
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Posted inPhilosophy Tai Chi

Doing nothing, do everything: Taoism is cool!

I'm a big fan of doing nothing. My wife can testify to that, especially when she feels its time to attend to some household chores and I've got something less vigorous on my day's to-do list. Like napping. So I couldn't pass up going to a talk by Qiguang Zhao at Salem's Willamette University yesterday. I heard about it from a fellow Tai Chi student, who emailed me that Qiguang was going to speak about "Do Nothing and Do Everything." From a Taoist perspective. Ah, nice. I figured the talk would offer me more ammunition to fire at anyone who…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

“No on Measure 24-292” letter is full of untruths

Here's another good reason (in addition to those I've written about here, and here) for Marion County, Oregon residents to vote Yes on Measure 24-292 next month: Big-business opponents of the citizen initiative are so afraid they'll lose their insider lobbying connections with the county commissioners, they're willing to spread Big Time untruths about what the Measure will do. Measure 24-292 gives ordinary people more control over county government, and promotes better decisions by the county commissioners. It changes the Marion County charter in positive ways, including: -- Adding two members to the Commission, for a total of five, bringing…
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Posted inHealth

Read this before you choose a Regence “Evolve” plan

Like I said in a previous post, Regence of Oregon's enforced switching of individual health insurance policies to their new "Evolve" plans is bad news for members.Benefits are reduced considerably, while premiums are rising for many families, since each child now has to be on a separate policy. The Evolve plans' individual premiums for my wife and myself would only be a bit higher, but we were seriously disturbed by the benefit reductions.For example, the Regence Evolve Core plan only covers a maximum of $1,000 a year for prescription drugs. We're pretty sure that our current "Blue Selections" plans have…
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Posted inHome life

I’m proud of my second childhood: 61 going on 12

"Second childhood" are words that haven't meant much to me until recently. I never thought of myself as old enough to warrant having them applied to me, especially since second childhood usually is a derogatory term.Noun1.second childhood - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuationsHey! Those are fighting words! I'm proud of my second childhood, especially my foolish infatuations. I don't feel like I'm 61. For some reason, the past few years I've been feeling younger with every birthday. If this is a mental infirmity, bring it on. More, please.A few hours ago I…
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Posted inHealth

Regence of Oregon “Evolve” plans: bad news for members

Health insurance reform may be the law of the land, but health insurance companies like Regence of Oregon aren't done screwing over their members/policy-holders.My wife and I have individual Regence plans. Mine is the Blue Selections Premier, which I succeeded in switching to last year after going through a horrendous battle with the Regence underwriting department over some minor health problems (a.k.a. "preexisting conditions").Recently we both got a packet from Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon informing us that as of July 1 we'd need to switch to new plans, as our current plans will no longer be available.Naturally our first…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon business taxes are lowest in nation

If facts matter at all to Lars Larson and Oregon's other right-wing talk show hosts, hopefully they'll stop with the Oregon has a horrible business climate B.S. now that a corporate lobbying group has come to an opposite conclusion. Actually, Oregon has the lowest state and local business taxes in the country. A newly released study by a corporate lobby group found that Oregon tied for the lowest state and local business taxes in the country in fiscal year 2009. It also said that Oregon tied for first place in terms of providing “value” to businesses from the taxes they…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Forgive me Apple, for I am forsaking the iPad

Jeez. As non-religious as I am, I feel sort of funny reliving my long-lapsed Catholicism and confessing on a Sunday. But I feel that I have to, because I have been unfaithful... to Apple.I wasn't attracted to the iPad on the day it was announced. And yesterday, when the iPad was put in the hands of some 650,000 happy purchasers, I remained uncommitted to the newest persona of my Apple lover.I have an iPod Touch. And an iPhone. And a MacBook Pro laptop. When the rumors that Apple would produce a tablet started to fly, I was virtually certain that…
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Posted inSustainability

Wall Street Journal quotes me on Oregon land use

Yesterday a guy phoned me who said he was a Wall Street Journal reporter. We talked about Oregon's land use policies for a while. Then he called again and read me a quote that he wanted to use in his story.It must not have been an April Fool's joke, because today I searched Google News for "Brian Hines" and found this on the Wall Street Journal web site: Oregon Pear Growers Sour on Land Law. Download Wall Street Journal storyThe reporter, Joel Millman, didn't say what his story was about. He told me that he'd come across my testimony on…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

How to give up your socialized government benefits

Yesterday my wife told me about a great web site she'd heard mentioned on the Thom Hartmann program (which originates from KPOJ in nearby Portland, Oregon -- on America's proudly left coast).It's Stop My Benefits, where the people who are ranting about Obamacare, socialized medicine, and government taking over our freedoms can sign a form asking that their participation in distasteful programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran's benefits, and Social Security be stopped.Excellent idea. As the site says: It has been apparent that some people think that “government-run, socialized” healthcare programs are bad.  There has even been discussions where people don’t…
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Posted inFamily

Southern California or Oregon? Take a guess

It's photo quiz time. See how many questions you answer correctly. Any Oregonian who gets less than 100% needs to better appreciate the beauties of southern California, which includes my three year old granddaughter.(Q.1) Was this girl posing provocatively for a photographer on a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon or Malibu, California? Well, duh. Have you ever observed this scene on an Oregon beach -- especially in late March? While in the LA area to visit my daughter and her family last weekend, I was fortunate to have my camera in hand while in Malibu.(Q.2) Is my granddaughter, Evelyn, thinking…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Porn on iPad will make it more appealing

OK, my first lackadaisical impression of the iPad could be proven wrong. If Apple promotes an "explicit" App Store category, as seems likely, porn could turn out to be the iPad's killer application.By enabling developers to publish "explicit" software titles in the App Store, Apple will provide the potential for a new, unanticipated killer app for iPad: digital interactive magazines, comics, and games that present adult subject matter to audiences that want them while also enabling parents to prevent access to such content within iTunes' preferences. Access to adult content has long been credited with the success and popularity of…
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Posted inMiscellany

Some ways the world is getting better

My wife sometimes says, "I'm glad I never had any kids of my own, because the way things are going, soon the world won't be livable for people." I understand her pessimism, given the crappy way we're treating the Earth and all the threats facing humanity.But one day last week I had a string of experiences that made me think, "Maybe the Beatles were right: it really is getting better all the time."In the evening I attended a fundraising event here in Salem sponsored by the Democratic Party of Marion County. Carl Wolfson, a talk radio host of Portland's progressive…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Why I’m bothered by another Portland police killing

Much of the furor has died down over the fatal shooting by a Portland (Oregon) police officer of a drunk transient who came out of a public restroom bloodied and holding an x-acto knife.But I'm still bothered by it, notwithstanding the most press release from the Portland Police Bureau after an interview with the officer, Jason Walters -- which, disturbingly, didn't take place until days had passed after the shooting.Download 032510_Updated_Hoyt_ArboretumThe transient, Jack "Jackie" Collins, was intoxicated and threatening people at Hoyt Aboretum. After Walters knocked on the restroom door, Collins came out. Pretty clearly, Collins had been cutting on…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Poll shows Americans support passage of health care bill

Republicans, beware. Your dream of an angry electorate rising up next November and returning your party to control of Congress probably is as fantastical as your objections to the health care legislation that passed the House of Representatives a few days ago.Watching the debate on television, and then listening to it on my car radio off and on as I drove around Sunday afternoon, I kept hearing Republicans scream, "People don't want this bill!"Well, if that was true on the weekend, Americans changed their minds by Tuesday. A Gallup poll taken after the House vote, on Monday, found that 49%…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Health care reform: a proud day for progressives

I feel great, knowing that passage of the health care reform bill is virtually assured in the House. All the work and money millions of people put into electing Obama and a solid Democratic majority is paying off for the American people.It's a big moment, just as the passage of Social Security and Civil Rights legislation was. Soon the United States will be well on the road to assuring that everyone is able to get high quality needed medical care at a reasonable cost.Political junkie that I am, around 1:00 pm I sat outside a grocery store here in Salem…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Big loser in health care reform: Fox News

It looks like health insurance reform legislation is going to pass the House this weekend, and that the Senate will approve it. Great news -- for the 30 million Americans who will finally get insurance, for the 44,000 who have been dying each year from a lack of insurance, and for the rest of us who will no longer be screwed over in various nasty ways by profit-hungry private insurance companies.But it won't be pleasant news for Fox News, which will be deeply embarrassed (or at least, should be) by how inaccurate its reporting and prognosticating on this issue has…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

April 1? Census Bureau assumes psychic abilities

Geez, I wanted to be a good citizen and mail in my 2010 Census form today. The cover message, dated March 15, said in bold type "Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today."OK. I tried. But then I saw that my answers have to reflect the people living or staying in our house on April 1, 2010. Today is March 18. A lot could change in the next two weeks. I've written to all of the girls featured in the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, letting them know that we have a empty apartment area in our…
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Posted inSalem

Facts and fictions about Marion County charter change

The Salem (Oregon) Chamber of Commerce and a member of its Executive Committee, Mark Shipman, need to get their facts straight. People are tired of organizations, politicians, and lobbyists who will say anything to defeat a proposal that benefits the general public rather than special interests. The Chamber opposes a citizen initiative that would increase the number of Marion County commissioners from three to five, elect them by district, and change the county charter to "home rule." (For more info, check out Have a Voice Everyone.) After reading a list of the Chamber's objections to Marion County Measure 24-292, which…
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