Posted inUncategorized

“No taxation without representation” is idiotic in 2009

Once in a while I hear Glenn Beck on the radio, or see him on cable news. One of his catchwords these days is how "taxation without representation" supposedly is going on in the United States.Huh? We just had an election in 2008. Barack Obama was freely and fairly elected President. The Democratic Party freely and fairly enlarged its majorities in the House and Senate. I don't get this "without representation" stuff.Beck is plugging tea parties as part of his 9/12 Project (nine principles and twelve values he came up with that are supposed to take us back to the…
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Posted inSustainability

Metolius editorial in Oregonian wrong again

Oregon's largest newspaper, the Oregonian, is dead-set on defending large destination resorts that threaten the fragile -- and drop-dead beautiful -- Metolius River basin.Today's editorial outrage is "A Process of Critical Concern." It repeats a previous erroneous contention by the editorial board that current governmental and legislative efforts to protect the basin are end-runs around the state's land use planning system.But for those who believe the state has an effective and respected system for sifting environmental, recreational, economic, agricultural, housing and other needs, the process that was engineered to protect the Metolius was far less beautiful than the river. The…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

Oh, my god, I’m twittering!

The devil must have made me do it. Or, the Grand Lord of Why Not? Because a mere three days ago I had blogified about how Twitter didn't interest me. And now I have a Twitter page. An Emerson quote comes to mind:A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.What turned the corner on tweeting for me was a moment when, in the course of pondering the pros and cons of opening a Twitter account, and thinking "this craze is useless," I realized: Yes! That's the point! Uselessness!Such was one of the themes in my "The Tao of Paris…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Killing coyotes isn’t necessary. Our neighbors are wrong.

We're engaged in a not-entirely-friendly debate with some neighbors about coyote killing. They're out to shoot the critters. We want to live with them. The facts are on our side, because killing coyotes generally results in more of them, not less.So says a factsheet, "Living With Coyotes," from the city of Tigard here in Oregon.Download Coyote factsheet While coyote control can be effective in eliminating specific individuals, it will not help reduce local populations. Coyotes have a compensatory, density-dependent breeding rate. Killing coyotes disrupts population structure causing more coyotes to breed and have larger litters. Coyotes will also quickly fill…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

Twitter doesn’t interest me. Do I need to tweet that?

Since I have two blogs, a web site, several laptops, and an iPhone, I keep wondering why Twitter hasn't tweaked my interest.Everybody seems to be twittering, or "tweeting," these days. Well, nobody that I actually know. But I've been reading about The Twittering Class. Which makes me wonder, should I join the Twittergentsia? I don't want to be left out of a cool social movement, especially when it involves technology. So I tried to convince myself that I needed to start tweeting.First stop: a couple of important people's Twitter pages. First impression: yawn. John McCain has over 254,000 followers of…
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Posted inFamily

Now we’ve really proven Dr. Laura wrong

For five years Laurel and I have been building up to our ultimate nyah, nyah, you're so wrong! retort to Dr. Laura Schlesinger, the advice guru who is fond of reducing complex and mysterious human relationships to simplistic sound bites.Back in 2004 I warmed up with "14th anniversary -- take that Dr. Laura!" I noted that Laurel and I had known each other for about eight months before we got married, and I proposed within four months. A no-no for Dr. Laura, especially since I'd recently ended an eighteen year marriage. I said:One of her oft-heard Relationship Tenets was that…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Outrageous bonuses go to PGE and AIG executives

We here in Oregon are getting a double dose of undeserved bonus outrage. Most attention is being given to $165 million in payments to AIG employees who oversaw the crazy financial dealings that led to the company's near collapse.But let's not lose sight of our own local corporate outrageousness: Portland General Electric's CEO, Peggy Fowler, is retiring after being given a final pay package of $4.5 million and a retirement plan of $790,000 a year.Our electricity comes to us via the excessively expensive graces of PGE. We've been trying to save energy by using compact fluorescent bulbs, wrapping duct pipes,…
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Posted inSustainability

Destination resorts cost Oregon taxpayers a lot

Last Thursday I fired up our Prius and trundled down to the Capitol to testify in favor of a bill that would prevent additional destination resorts from trashing Oregon's beauty and livability.Having gotten to the hearing room early, a rarity for me, I was one of the first people to sit at the HB 2227 witness table. Early on in my testimony I plugged a 2007 blog post, "Save the Metolius from destination resorts," quoting an outrageous remark by Bill Bellamy, a Jefferson County commissioner."Whether or not you like what destination resorts have done, it's phenomenally significant what they do…
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Posted inHumor

Jeez…I didn’t win “sexiest vegetarian” contest

Oh, man, I'm so bummed. Laurel picked up the newspaper yesterday and pointed out that PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest had a male Salem finalist.And the guy wasn't me. The reason must have been that I didn't enter.  Heck, what would have prevented a sixty year old who's been a vegetarian for almost four decades, and is still able to flaunt a beefcake tofucake photo like this from winning the contest?Oh, here's an idea: ageism. I carefully inspected the photos of the male and female Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door 2008 contestants. Well, "carefully" actually only applies to one of…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Index investing rocks and Jim Cramer sucks

I've hugely enjoyed watching Jon Stewart roast CNBC in general, and Jim Cramer in particular, over the Comedy Central humor fire.If you missed Stewart's spot-on demolishing of CNBC's and Cramer's supposed financial acumen, you can catch up here and here.Cramer is entertaining on his frenetic "Mad Money" show. But his investing philosophy -- individual stock-picking and market timing -- is a proven loser. Why anyone follows his bad advice is a mystery to me.Hopefully The Daily Show's expose of Cramer's cluelessness will lead fans of Mad Money to look elsewhere for sound investment advice. On the first of Jon Stewart's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Crazy kicker law is downside of Oregon quirkiness

I've loved Oregon's independent streak since I moved here from California in 1971. But being pioneering and one-of-a-kind in the country isn't always something to be proud of.Let's evaluate some examples of this state's legislative quirkiness.First assisted suicide law ...great.First bottle bill ...great.First statewide land use planning law ...great.Oregon beach bill ...great. (Hawaii only other state that guarantees public access)Oregon medical marijuana bill ...great. (Second state to have one, after California)Ban on self-service gas ...OK (New Jersey only other state with a ban)No sales tax ...stupid (one of five states without one)Oregon kicker law ...SUPER stupid Well, five of eight "great's"…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

The strange tale of Randi Rhodes and Nancy Skinner

I'm so happy that Randi Rhodes has departed Air America. I liked her politics, but hated her radio talk show style.(See my "Randi Rhodes is an embarrassment to progressives" and "Air America needs to dump Randi Rhodes.")I used to have to grit my teeth when I tuned in KPOJ, Portland's Progressive Talk Station, during the late afternoon hours when Rhodes held forth -- egotistical, interrupting callers, unorganized, factually challenged, irritatingly shrill. (Comments on this blog post echo my feelings about Rhodes.)Now Nancy Skinner has replaced her. Skinner is much easier to listen to: calm, well informed, thoughtful, respectful to guests…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Sam Adams “Gay?” video offends some (not me)

From my south Salem viewpoint some sixty miles away from Portland, I feel light years distant from the "Sam Adams is a lying, cheating, despicable bastard!" frenzy that many Mayor-haters continue to engage in.(To bring those outside Oregon up to speed, Portland Mayor Sam Adams is dealing with a scandal involving a relationship with a fellow gay guy who was 17 when they first met, and 18 when they had sex. Adams lied about the nature of the affair prior to his election last November. Read all about it here, here, and here.)Today blogger Jack Bogdanski put up "A new…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Warren Buffet and me have one thing in common

While I'm waiting for my mood-elevating soma to arrive from the government, I'll try to reduce my financial meltdown anxiety by griping about what the federal stimulus and bailout plans are doing for us, personally.In short: nothing. At least, nothing that I've been able to discern from reading all the newspaper and magazine articles with headlines like, "How you'll benefit from the stimulus package."Well, the only good news is that this makes me feel like a monetary brother to Warren Buffet, investing guru extraordinaire. Our net worth and economic knowledge are vastly different, but both Warren and me are ticked…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Stock market down — we need a soma high

Contemplating today's continuing stock market meltdown, which is bearing a disturbing resemblance to the Great Depression, thoughts of soma started running through my anxiety-soaked head.Remember soma? It's a drug featured in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." Wikipedia recaps a book that I read a long time ago:All members of society are conditioned in childhood to hold the values that the World State idealizes. Constant consumption is the bedrock of stability for the World State. Everyone is encouraged to consume the ubiquitous drug, soma, which is probably a historical allusion to a mythical drink of the ancient Aryans. Soma is a…
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Posted inBooks

Why I don’t want a new Kindle 2

I must be one of the first people to get a Kindle 2 in my book-loving hands and return it the same day. Namely, yesterday.Amazon sent me my order for its upgraded electronic reading device much more quickly than I expected. I'd been leaning toward canceling my purchase, but figured I had some time to do the deed, since Amazon said it was giving preferential Kindle 2 treatment to owners of Kindle 1.So after I got an email saying my Kindle was on its way, all I could do was wait for its arrival. I felt sort of sorry for…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Legalizing marijuana would boost the economy

Way to go, Tom Ammiano. He's a California assemblyman who has introduced a bill to legalize marijuana in his state. AB 390 would decriminalize pot but regulate it like alcohol, limiting sales to those 21 and over. It would also impose a tax of $50 per ounce—something Ammiano said could bring $1 billion annually into our cash-starved state. The bill doesn't have much chance of passing, given the United States' irrational drug policies. But it's a much-needed step in the right direction. Recently New Scientist ran a story, "Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls," that described why legalizing marijuana makes…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Bring on European “socialism” — the U.S. is ready for it

Driving back to Salem from Portland today, a single glance across the median of I-5 gave me a vision of how much better this country could be if we became more Euro-socialist (I prefer the term, "communitarian").A car had stopped in the break-down lane. Next to it was a pickup with a seal on the door. I'm pretty sure it was one of the vehicles that helps drivers who are out of gas, or otherwise need assistance.A government vehicle.With that glance, a warm feeling of Wouldn't it be great if this act of governmental kindness extended across our whole society?…
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Posted inHome life

Mint is a great personal finance site

I hate watching our investments decline in value. And worrying about whether we're spending more than we should. But I love Mint, a free money management web service.After reading about Mint in a news magazine, I fired up my MacBook this morning and decided to see how good it looked. First impression: nice. And that carried over to the entire hour or two I spent on the Mint web site. Sign-up was simple. Then came the part I was worried about, giving Mint access to our checking account, investment portfolio, and IRAs. I've used Quicken for many years, and have…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Where does money go in a financial meltdown?

When investments tank and lots of people are losing money, does this mean that a small number of fat cats are making money? This question came in for quite a bit of discussion at our house last night. We hosted the monthly meeting of our Salon discussion group, where we talk about whatever is on people's minds.And right now losing money in the financial meltdown is front and center in most American psyches. A few in our group were convinced that somebody has the money they've lost in the stock market. "How could it just disappear?" they said. "It has…
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