Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Relax, right-wingers: George Taylor isn’t being fired

When the person who calls himself the Oregon state climatologist is compared to Galileo, it’s obvious that right-wing paranoia has gone over the edge. The headline of today’s Oregonian story (“To governor, Oregon has no ‘climatologist’”) might lead conservative conspiracy theorists to believe that Gov. Kulongoski has ordered George Taylor to disappear into the dungeon where he keeps state employees who disagree with his policy on global warming. Actually, the truth is much milder. Kulongoski wants Taylor to stop using the title of “state climatologist” because there is no such position in state government. That’s a fact. George Taylor isn’t…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Facts about George Taylor and the “state climatologist”

Here, finally, are some solid facts about the Oregon state climatologist position that supposedly is occupied by George Taylor, who minimizes both global warming and the impact humans are having on global climate change. For well over a week I’ve been waiting for answers from the Oregon State University (OSU) News and Communication Office to my questions about Taylor and the “state climatologist” title that he holds. Patience pays off. I just got a couple of emails from Mark Floyd. At the end of this post you’ll find, verbatim, the first message he sent me. After I read it, I…
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Posted inMeasure 37

Measure 37 shouldn’t be a guarantee to get rich

It’s often said that Measure 37 pits neighbor against neighbor. True. But this ill-considered effort to trash Oregon’s land use laws also pits testifier against testifier. I learned that yesterday afternoon as I fought my way through a crowd of people trying to sign up to speak before the Joint Committee on Land Use Fairness. Fortunately, I found myself standing behind a diminutive friend, Frances Chapple, who makes up in assertiveness what she lacks in stature. She helped clear the way for me to the sign up sheet. I got on the first page and waited for my two minutes…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Leave God out of the Super Bowl

Before I write this post, I want to thank the holy Tao for inspiring me. There’s nothing of me in what I’m about to say—it’s all Tao. Without you, the everlasting source of my yin-ness and yang-ness, I wouldn’t have been able to blog about God and the Super Bowl. If you like this sort of praise be! sentimentality, you must have loved how the Indianapolis Colts’ coach and owner brought God into their post-game remarks. Driving around tonight I heard right-wing talk show host John Gibson ranting about the progressives’ distaste for such God talk. Gibson claimed that the…
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Posted inHome life

Death on a power pole

You just never know what the day will bring. Especially if you’re a squirrel. Who must have heard our front door open,and sensed a dog begin to come out. Who made a fatal choice: to run up a power pole instead of an oak tree. Life. Death. Not much separates them. One moment you’re frisky and bushy-tailed. The next instant you’re popping, crackling, and smoking on top of a power pole. Flaming too. Or maybe it was the pole that was briefly on fire. Regardless, it was exciting enough to warrant calling 911. I was told that if a power…
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Posted inScience

Oregon’s state climatologist flunks Climate Change 101

You’d think that someone called the “state climatologist” would understand basic facts about climate. But George Taylor isn’t big on facts. He doesn’t believe that humans are having a significant effect on global climate change, which puts him at odds with the world’s experts who just said otherwise. Of course, I’m sure there are a few biologists here and there who don’t believe in evolution. Hopefully none of them have the title of “state biologist.” If any do, I’m embarrassed for that state. Just as I’m embarrassed that George Taylor has the title of state climatologist in Oregon. Taylor has…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Measure 37 fight gets us on the 11 o’clock news

Whew. After being relegated five times to the early KATU news programs, our fight against a Measure 37 subdivision finally made the prestigious 11 o’clock program last night. Thank you, Channel 2. Love you. (Though my “Local Portland news focused on fluff and crime” post still holds, notwithstanding the 1:45 devoted to our serious story). Here’s the YouTubed news clip of the Marion County Planning Commission decision on the 217 acre subdivision application. Note my concentrated focus on the camcorder with which I videoed the proceedings. It’s healthy for public officials to know that their deliberations and decisions might appear…
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Posted inScience Sustainability

So-called “climatologist” George Taylor has to go

George Taylor is a embarrassment to Oregon. He passes himself off as the official state climatologist even though Oregon doesn’t have such a position. Today an article in the Oregonian (“Experts square off over climate change”) quoted Governor Kulongoski: "He's not the state climatologist," the governor said. "I never appointed him. I think I would know.” Apparently Oregon State University’s College of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences gave Taylor this title, because the Oregonian story says that the position of state climatologist was dissolved by the legislature in 1989. Regardless, Taylor loves to spout off about how humans really aren’t a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Local Portland news fixated on fluff and crime

The old adage, “if it bleeds, it leads” sure holds true for local late night television news. On Blue Oregon, Kari Chishom lamented a KOIN (channel 6) focus on crime, fear, misery, and death. Following in Kari’s eyeballs, I analyzed last night’s 11 o’clock news on KATU (channel 2) and found that those thirty-two minutes also were remarkably devoid of substantive stories. Here’s how the program panned out (times are somewhat rough as they were estimated by using my digital video recorder’s 30-second forward and 10-second back buttons): Total 32:00 (thirty two minutes: zero seconds) Ads and ”still to come”…
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Posted inHealth

Avodart reduces my bathroom visits

Here’s one of the crucial questions facing a blogger: “Does anyone besides me care about how often I pee?” Well, how will I know unless I blog about it? And, if you don’t care, stop reading. I suspect, though, that quite a few men of a certain age will find my subject fascinating. For 50% of men over the age of 50 are said to have an enlarged prostate (90% over 80). In my “Female doctors do it better” post I noted that a prostate exam is the only time you don’t want to hear from a female who is…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

George Bush is so irrelevant, he’s not even wrong

Yawn. It’s almost time for Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address. If there isn’t any paint I can watch drying, maybe I’ll turn on the TV for some lesser excitement. Through six years of hard work mastering incompetency, Bush has attained the ultimate irrelevant state: not even wrong. When I look at him now, I don’t feel the indignation, anger, and irritation that used to arise from a contemplation of his visage. He’s become a cartoon character, a “What, me worry?” caricature. Bush is so out of touch with reality there’s little reason to pay attention to anything he…
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Posted inEntertainment

“24” and Jack Bauer more progressive now

What a difference a year makes. On both the national political scene and the hit Fox television series “24,” a progressive-friendly outlook is kicking the neocon ass. Now it’s a lot easier for me to admit my love affair with Jack Bauer (in the finest tough guy heterosexual fashion, naturally). Exactly twelve months ago I felt the need to explain how a compassionate progressive such as myself could be so attracted to a counter-terrorism agent whose interrogation techniques—breaking bones, electric shock, bullet in the knee—wouldn’t pass muster with the ACLU (to put it mildly). But as James Poniewozik pointed out…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

How to fix Measure 37

Measure 37 has made a mess of Oregon’s land use laws. That’s undisputed. My state now has a crazily complex patchwork of land use time zones, each governed by a different set of rules based on when the owner acquired the property. This is no way to run a society. It’s unfair, inefficient, damaging, and divisive. The governor says that we need to fix Measure 37. Legislative leaders say that we need to fix Measure 37. So let’s get ‘er done. Or git-r-done. I don’t care which, so long as it’s done. My wife and I are fully acquainted with…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Our Measure 37 fight makes TV news and Loaded Orygun

Kudos to KATU Channel 2 for devoting about four and a half minutes to coverage of Measure 37 in general, and our neighborhood’s battle against a M-37 subdivision in particular. Three versions of the story aired on KATU’s early evening news programs last Monday. I uploaded the clips to YouTube, even the ones that didn’t feature me saying anything (Laurel came up with the most quotable remarks, which is only fair, as I got more air time on the previous Channel 2 coverage). Here are links to the clips (Story #2 is the longest and most complete): Story #1, 4:30…
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Posted inEntertainment

Sacha Baron Cohen’s hilarious Golden Globe acceptance speech

Cohen, a.k.a. Borat, Ali G, and Bruno, is a comedic genius. As evidence, I submit this video of his acceptance speech after he won a Golden Globe award for best actor in a motion picture musical or comedy. Sure, Cohen almost certainly gave some advance thought to what he was going to say. But he’s speaking spontaneously here, only glancing at the piece of paper he brought up with him when he gets to his “formal” thank you remarks. The scene he’s talking about, the nude wrestling encounter between Borat and his rotund Kazakstan comrade, is the most gut-splitting bit…
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Posted inMiscellany

Pinball car crashes on icy Portland street

Here’s a hugely entertaining video, in the best “glad that wasn’t me” sense, of cars sliding down an ice-covered street yesterday in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood. (Thanks to Blue Oregon for the link from Seattle’s KING-5). Videos like this should put to rest the fiction that Oregonians are snow weenies. True, on the west side of the Cascades we usually get snowfalls that would be greeted with a yawn in Chicago, Minneapolis, or Denver. But there’s a big difference in slipperiness between cold dry snow and snow that falls around the freezing mark—especially when freezing rain precedes the white stuff.…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Measure 37 subdivision battle hits front page again

If nothing else, we’re sure helping to publicize the danger Measure 37 poses to Oregon’s groundwater. Today’s Salem Statesman-Journal had another front page story, “Marion county decision may set precedent for farmland,” about the fight Laurel is leading against a 217 acre subdivision planned for nearby farmland. (Plus a related story about a similar situation in the Eola Hills). When I say “if nothing else,” I’m pointing toward the disturbing possibility that the Marion County Planning Commission might approve the subdivision application tomorrow night without requiring a study of how much groundwater actually is available in the area. Last Friday…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

Must love dogs (and hate Reagan)

We forced ourselves to watch Must Love Dogs all the way through last night. If we’d paid for this two-paws-downer I would have felt cheated, but HBO brought this puppy into our television for nothing (extra). The movie’s Internet dating scenes reminded me of how Laurel and I met, so this aspect of an otherwise forgettable flick kept my eyes open. Back in the ancient days of 1989, online personal ads didn’t exist like they do now. We hooked up the old-fashioned print way, as related in “Thank you, Willamette Week personals.” Diane Lane and John Cusack first get together…
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Posted inHome life

Great snow photography tip

Here’s what I learned today about taking photos of snow: don’t wait. Especially if you live in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. By the time I roused myself to pick up my camera and venture outside, melting had made an appearance. You’ll have to trust me. The trees were beautiful. All white, instead of green. I’d compose a haiku in lieu of the missing photos, but I never can remember how many syllables go on each line. Anyway, there's something else the snow told me. You can’t stop things from changing. Snow, or anything else. But you can get on board the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Male geishas on the rise in Japan

Could it be my karma to become a male geisha? Signs point to it. Sunday Laurel and I finished watching Memoirs of a Geisha. Then the next day my Tai Chi instructor, Warren, who’d just returned from several weeks in Japan, talked after class about the clubs where women are served (in various ways) by male hosts. Warren thought I’d make a great geisha. I agree. There’s the language barrier thing, but Berlitz could get me over that. And I could learn how to say, “Yes, yes, you’re so right” in a flash. Along with, “Another drink, beautiful woman?” That…
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