Posted inFamily

Pregnancy can be cute

My daughter, Celeste, finally has shared some pregnancy photos. She's due April 10, so she's really pregnant. We talked by phone this evening. Celeste said, "There's nothing cute about being pregnant." Hey, this grandfather-to-be begs to differ. Patrick, her hubby, and she are Hollywoodish cute here (which fits, since that's where they live). And this shows more than the belly of the demure mother-to be. Who, I'm told, is eminently ready for Baby Girl ______ to make her appearance. They're down to three potential names, but won't choose the winner until they see their child and know that the name…
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Posted inHumor

Google offers free broadband access! Sign up now!

Oh, my god, Google, it sounds too good to be true. Free in-home wireless broadband service. But Gmail is free. So is Page Creator. So is lots of Google stuff. Got to read more. Hmmm. The installation instructions make sense. I'm no do-it-yourselfer. But I could handle the set-up. On to the FAQs. Damn! We live in the country. Can I use TiSP if my home uses a septic system? Sorry, but no -- TiSP requires the use of a central sewer system to connect your home to the Internet. Oh, well. I'll hope for a v. 2.0.
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Save the Metolius from destination resorts

Short-sighted greed is poised to wreck the marvelous Metolius basin. It makes me sick. But there's something you and I can do about it: support Senate Bill 30, which would prohibit destination resorts in or within three miles of the basin. Laurel and I are part owners of a forest service cabin on the Metolius. It's the most beautiful river I've ever seen. The fly fishing is incomparable. The banks are wonderfully walkable. And you can even pause on your stroll and enjoy a latte at the oh-so-charming Camp Sherman store. The permanent population of Camp Sherman is about 200.…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Draft of Measure 37 fix emerges

The AP is reporting the outline of a Measure 37 reform proposal, based on a confidential draft produced by the Oregon legislature's Land Use Fairness Committee (which obviously isn't confidential anymore). Measure 37 claimants who want to build up to three homes would qualify for "fast track" status. Others who consider that they lost more than three home sites due to land use regulations could build up to ten homes. Supposedly, though, there would be protections for valuable farmland. Transferability of Measure 37 waivers would be allowed—currently a legal gray area. A remaining sticky point is how to value Measure…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Getting down and dirty with Measure 37 fix

It looks like the Oregon legislature's Land Use Fairness Committee is close to revealing it's fix for Measure 37. So reported a story in the McMinnville News-Register last Thursday, "Measure 37 panel nears 'Camp David' compromise." That's great. I just hope the proposal does a better job at reconciling opposing views than the Camp David accord ended up doing. Like they say, once you get general agreement on how to resolve a problem, the devil is in the details. The folks at Loaded Orygun surmise that the consensus will be to limit Measure 37 subdivisions to a fairly small number…
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Posted inPhilosophy

The Tao of Tajuan Porter

It's confirmed: University of Oregon basketball star Tajuan Porter is a Taoist sage. I'd suspected as much while watching the Ducks beat UNLV yesterday. Freshman Porter, who's only 5' 6", beautifully manifested wu-wei—effortless doing. A master of wu-wei is said to have "soft and invisible power" over things. Indeed. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell said that Porter was "a blur, a wisp and a vapor." I decided to confirm Porter's Taoist eminence through his own words. Here's what I found. My comments on #12's simple, yet profound, statements are in italics. On playing in the expansive Edward Jones Dome:"A…
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Posted inSustainability

Oregon needs a new Tom McCall. Lots of them.

Oregon is on the verge of losing its way. And that's being charitable. We may already have sunk into mediocrity among the 50 states, having lost our once well-deserved reputation for environmental trail-blazing. Yesterday I was bemoaning with some friends the sprouting of subdivisions in south Salem. That's just a taste of the California-izing that is to come if Measure 37 isn't fixed, pronto. You can kiss much of Oregon's charm and rural character goodbye if the asphalt and concrete-lovers are able to convince the legislature that the trashing of our land use laws should continue unabated. We reminisced about…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Michael Moore story backfires on Fox News

At the start you could almost see Martha MacCallum, the blondilicious Fox News anchor, licking her right-wing chops. Ooh, goody! An interview with the makers of "Manufacturing Dissent," an exposé of Michael Moore. It's going to be juicy! Well, it was. But not in the way MacCallum intended. I had a sense that film makers Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk weren't going to toe the Fox line when Melnyk began by referring to themselves as "good lefties from Canada." They set out to make a positive movie about Michael Moore, being admirers of both his work and politics. Eventually, though,…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Oregon groundwater threatened by Measure 37

This Oregonian used to take water for granted. That was when I lived within the city limits of Portland and Salem. I turned on the tap and water came out. Where it came from, who cares? Now my wife and I live in the country. Our water comes from a well. We've learned a lot about groundwater. We realize that wells can go dry when more water is taken out of an aquifer than is going in. That's why we're leading a fight to stop a Measure 37 subdivision near our home. Yesterday the Salem Statesman Journal ran a front-page…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Calling homosexuality “immoral” is truly immoral

Ignorant intolerance, what is your name? This week it's "Gen. Peter Pace," chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who believes that homosexuality is as immoral as adultery. It's also the Portland Oregonian columnist David Reinhard, who strongly supported Pace's religious bigotry in his "Tolerance or Approval?" piece a few days ago. Homophobes do their best to ignore science, just as global warming deniers and intelligent design advocates do. But the truth has a way of sliding through even the most closed-off minds. Consider the case of Rev. Rob Schenck, a prominent evangelical leader, who came to the conclusion that…
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Posted inHealth

Root canal is nothing to fear

I just had a root canal, my second. It was almost pain-free. In an hour I was out of the endodontist's chair, standing at the reception desk, where I experienced my only real discomfort of the morning. An $1,115 charge to my VISA card. Ouch! Dr. O'Neill and I talked some about root canals' undeserved bad reputation. "The Endodontist's Association has talked about a PR campaign to change public opinion," she said, "but it's hard to fight all those stand-up comics and their 'worse than a root canal' jokes." Well, I'm happy to contribute this blog post to the Association's…
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Posted inTango/Dance

Our tango evolution: Argentine to American

Well, true Tango aficionados probably would consider our current dance class a devolution from the Argentine style. And I have to admit that American Tango (at our level) doesn't have the same spontaneous flowing flair as the Argentine version. But it's easier to learn. Therein lies much of our satisfaction with the ten classes we've had so far from Lora at Salem's RJ Dance Studio. When we took Argentine Tango classes last year, we were taught an eight-count Argentine Tango basic movement. I've heard that some Tango instructors eschew this movement , wanting the dance to be entirely spontaneously led…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Washington Post story shows flaws of Measure 37 (and we’re mentioned)

I've been checking the online Washington Post daily ever since a reporter interviewed us about Measure 37. Today Blaine Harden's article, "Oregon Rethinks Easing Land-Use Limits," appeared. It points out how far this state has fallen. From being a leader in wise land use planning, Oregon now is used as an example of what not to do. Cities in Oregon have suburbs that come to a sudden and seemingly arbitrary stop. They slammed into an "urban growth boundary," which for decades prevented townhouses and strip malls from invading the state's farmland and forests. It was the nation's strictest statewide regime…
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Posted inHumor

If sixty is the new forty, aren’t twenty year olds newborns?

I've been in a good mood ever since I heard the words "Sixty is the new forty" on my car radio a few days ago. I was on my way to a Tai Chi class. Eric, a classmate, had recently told me that he'd celebrated his 41st birthday. Being 58, I felt like an old codger when he said that. I would have tried to kick Eric's butt to make myself feel better, but Tai Chi'ians are supposed to go with the Tao flow. Plus, Eric has a black belt and is 17 years younger than me. But not really.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon cougars (and voters) not getting a fair shake

Pop quiz: how many people have been killed by a cougar in Oregon? Is it (a) 126, (b) 18, or (c) none. From all the hysteria over "managing" the cougar population (which really means needlessly killing them), you'd think the answer would be greater than zero. But it isn't. No one has ever been killed by a cougar in Oregon. Many people have been killed by hunters. So if we're really concerned about protecting human life, there should be a thinning of the ranks of hunters, not of cougars. As I've noted before, the Oregon cougar plan is based on…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Oregon legislature finds common ground on Measure 37

Something remarkable happened in Hearing Room B of the Capitol tonight. Twenty eight supporters and opponents of Measure 37, including Laurel and me, testified on legislation proposed by the Land Use Fairness Committee. Every single person disliked Senate Bill 833. At one point a committee member observed, "Finally, we've brought everyone in the room together on Measure 37." As the Oregonian reported, SB 883 would give state and county agencies 540 days to process Measure 37 claims filed between October 15 and December 5 of last year, rather than the current 180 days. SB 833 also would fast-track claims for…
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Posted inSalem

Visualize a Trader Joes in Salem, Oregon

Come on, let's do it: manifest a Trader Joes in Salem. "The Secret" says it's possible through the Law of Attraction. Thoughts become things. Now, I'm skeptical that The Secret really works. But if everyone who reads this post thinks, "There will be a Trader Joes in Salem, Oregon," hopefully your believing will overwhelm my skepticism and a local store will fill the TJ-gap between the Portland area (six) and Eugene (one). [See *** below for another approach.] However, I'll rain on my own parade. Rumor has it that Trader Joes researched Salem and concluded that our semi-fair city wouldn't…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Is freeze on Measure 37 claims dead?

Gov. Kulongoski reportedly has pronounced SB 505 dead. Which means, subdivisions would be free to sprout on irreplaceable Oregon farmland while the legislature takes its time considering Measure 37 reforms. That'd be a disaster. I hope today's Statesman Journal story is a premature burial of SB 505. If I learn more about the fate of the bill, I'll post an update. If anyone can cast more light on the prospects for SB 505, comment away. Here's the brief piece by reporter Steve Law: In comments to reporters on Thursday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said that his proposal to put a freeze…
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Posted inHome life

My Oregon snowstorm survival story

Thank god, I made it through this morning's storm. Bojack.org's Storm Center 9000 has been ably reporting on how the Portland area has been surviving this wintry mix of rain and snow, with temperatures plunging to the high 30s and winds peaking in the 'teens (Bojack says there was a gust of 14 mph at the airport. Wow!) Here's how it went in south Salem. I woke up, rubbed my eyes, and looked out the window. Whiteout. Everything was blurred together, indistinguishable. Then I remembered to put on my glasses. The storm came into focus. A chill went up my…
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Posted inScience

Global warming doubters deserve to be scorned

Al Gore did a lot for me last night when "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Oscar for best documentary. We'd just finished watching the movie on DVD. He'd already inspired me to do more to fight global warming. But my passion was still on simmer. Hearing Gore repeat nine words from the movie raised the heat of my activism: "It's not a political issue. It's a moral issue." Driving home from the Academy Awards party where I won the trophy for picking the most winners (including documentary feature and original song, thanks to "An Inconvenient Truth"), I turned on the…
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