Posted inHome life

Firing up a big burn pile reminds me: life is ablaze, yet ends in embers

I'm no Thoreau, that's for sure. But like him, I find meaning in doing simple chores. Our rural ten acres offers plenty of opportunity for engaging in some philosophizing as I deal with what needs to be done. Which, last Saturday, was firing up a burn pile. It's been growing steadily larger since spring. We've removed quite a bit of excess vegetation in our yard over the past six months or so, including a lot of heather that stealthily grew and grew until my wife and I realized, the damn stuff is taking over! Our non-easy care yard has lots…
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Posted inSalem

Dino Venti and I have a tasty conversation about Salem goings-on

Today I was having lunch in the Court Street Venti's restaurant when Dino Venti, the owner, came over to my table and said he'd like to talk with me. After a conversation that was as tasty as the food I ate, I said "Let's have someone take a photo of us. I'll use it in a blog post and Strange Up Salem posting."  Dino had some gripes regarding some things I've written about him. But that wasn't the most important thing we talked about. Which was... Our agreement that people in Salem -- which naturally includes Dino and me --…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Salem Health hit with IRS complaint for $50,000 anti-payroll tax PAC donation

Hey, filing a complaint against Salem Health with the Internal Revenue Service isn't my favorite thing to do. But I was pleased to spend several hours this afternoon working on Form 13909, Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form. I did this after some other citizen activists laid the groundwork for the complaint. They discovered that Salem Health, the parent company of Salem Hospital, seemed to violate IRS rules when $50,000 to defeat the mass transit payroll tax ballot measure was donated to the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce's Create Jobs PAC (political action committee).The Create Jobs PAC was organized as a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Statesman Journal vs. Willamette Week — investigative reporting pissing contest

On Sunday, October 11, the Salem Statesman Journal finally engaged in some serious investigative reporting. Problem is, the theme of the stories that took up five full pages in the front page section was... Criticism of Willamette Week's investigative reporting on the Kitzhaber email scandal.  I found this bizarre, given that the Statesman Journal -- the newspaper in Oregon's capital city -- had done essentially zero original investigative reporting of its own during all the uproar in late 2014 and early 2015 that led to Governor Kitzhaber's resignation. Plus, under executive editor Michael Davis, the Statesman Journal has been asleep…
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Posted inSalem

R.I.P. (I can only hope) — “This is Salem, not Portland”

Please, Salemians, let's all vow to never again say these words: "This is Salem, not Portland." Or the variant, "This is Salem, not Portland or Eugene."  My minor gripe about those sayings is that they're obvious. Of course, Salem isn't Portland or Eugene. In the same fashion, I'm not you; a cat is not a dog; coffee is not tea. Things that are different aren't the same. Simply as a matter of logic, I'm sure we can agree on that. My major gripe is more important. It concerns the usual underlying message of someone saying This is Salem, not Portland…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Family

Conrad Hilton’s godson urges you to vote “YES” on Salem business payroll tax

Yeah, I admit it. The title of this post arguably is citizen activism clickbait. I want to grab the attention of voters here in Salem, because it is really important that the issue on the November 2015 ballot -- whether to pass a small payroll tax to fund much-needed improvements to this town's Cherriots bus system -- PASS.  Hopefully I'm using my godfather's name not in vain. Here's my baptism certificate, for anyone who doubts my Catholic pedigree. If some people decide to vote "Yes" on the payroll tax as a result of this endorsement from Conrad Hilton's godson, it's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Hateful Obama protesters didn’t represent Roseburg

l've been bothered by the photos and stories of right-wing Obama-hating wackos protesting our President's visit to Roseburg. President Obama came to speak with the families of those killed in the horrific Umpqua Community College shootings.He didn't politicize the event, though he certainly would have been within his rights to call for steps to prevent gun massacres like this from ever happening again. I was reassured to come across this message from a Roseburg resident on a local radio web site. Addressing the national media, Peggy Long says a large percentage of the Obama protesters came from out of town. They don't represent…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

My bold (and probably wrong) 2016 President/VP matchups

With the first Democratic presidential debate coming up next week, and two Republican debates already done and gone, it seems like it's time for me to go out on a limb and predict who will be each party's nominees for President and Vice-President. Naturally I'm doing this for bragging rights in case -- wonder of wonders -- I actually turn out to be right. In case I'm wrong, which is much more likely, I'll either do my best to forget that I ever wrote this post, or take solace in the possible fact that I got one or two of…
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Posted inNeighborhood

A plea to dysfunctional HOA’s: trust, relax, loosen up

For twenty-three freaking years, yes, 23, I've been the secretary of our homeowner's association here in rural south Salem, Oregon.  A few days ago, I resigned. You'll learn why in a bit. I was asked to run for the board of directors soon after my wife and I moved here in 1990. A few years later, in 1992, I agreed to be board secretary. The rest is history, an almost quarter-century of it. Being a writer/author/blogger, I was comfortable taking notes and writing minutes. Plus, doing all the other stuff that came with the position. I kept being re-elected every…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Some thoughts are like a rainbow, but others are more grounded

After about three months, I'm continuing to enjoy my daily morning Headspace guided meditations. (I've blogged about Headspace before, here, here, and here.) Today I heard Andy Puddicombe -- the Headspace founder who does the guiding -- talk about how thoughts are like a rainbow. Meaning, they are insubstantial, coming and going, while the "blue sky" of the mind is the ever-present backdrop to thoughts and feelings. In We Are Not What We Do, Puddicombe says: Sure, we have responsibility as to whether we choose to engage the thought and take it to the level of speech or action, but…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

More guns, more people killed by guns. It’s obvious!

Another day, another mass shooting. This time, right here in Oregon.  Time to face facts. And get political. Not later. Now! Obama got it exactly right today. I've boldfaced parts of what he said that I especially liked. And, of course, what's also routine is that somebody, somewhere will comment and say, Obama politicized this issue.  Well, this is something we should politicize.  It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic.  I would ask news organizations — because I won't put these facts forward — have news organizations tally up the number of Americans who've been killed through…
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Posted inSalem

Salem City Council’s irritating axing of Urban Tree Commission

How Salem's city officials treat trees tells us a lot about how they treat people. That's the main message from last night's City Council meeting, where a popular, carefully thought-out proposal for an Urban Tree Commission ran into the chainsaw of Mayor Anna Peterson and six complicit councilors. Councilor Tom Andersen was the only one to stand up both for Salem's trees and citizenry. He ended up on the short side of a 7-1 vote to reject an Urban Tree Commission. Today's Statesman Journal story, "Salem City Council axes Urban Tree Commission," tells part of the irritating tale. The Salem…
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Posted inHome life

Yes, I’m cool. I got an iPhone 6s today.

Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe you were the one I stood next to this afternoon at Bridgeport Village, buying some Peets coffee after picking up an iPhone 6s on the very first day they were available, overshadowing you with the coolness invisibly yet tangibly emanating from the boxed Apple device sitting in my backpack. Couldn't help it. As everyone knows -- except for those who shun all things Apple, and what can I say to them except, I'm so sorry for you -- owning an iPhone, MacBook Pro, iPad, or whatever else Apple makes adds immeasurably to a person's Coolness Factor.…
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Posted inSalem

Pope Francis’ remarks challenge Salem’s leaders to do better

Being non-religious, I don't see Pope Francis as possessing any special divine inspiration. However, there's no doubt that the Pope is a wise, caring, compassionate person, with messages we here in Salem should take to heart. After learning about Pope Francis' remarks at the White House yesterday, and at the joint meeting of Congress today, I got to thinking about how some policies of Salem's Mayor, City Council, and other leaders in this town stack up against papal views. There's a lot to unpack and consider in what Pope Francis said. Here's three "one liners" that offer a beginning for…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Marion County might ban marijuana businesses — secretly

[September 26, 2015 update: Yes, the Marion County Board of Commissioners did prohibit marijuana businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county, aside from "grandfathering" in two currently licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. A vote in the November 2016 election will determine whether the prohibition on marijuana businesses continues. If it doesn't, the 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales passed in another ordinance will go into effect.  Here's what the county Public Information Officer, Jolene Kelley, told me when I asked what happened at the September 23 meeting. Attached are the two ordinances the commissioners approved on Wednesday. Ordinance 1358 "opts out"…
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Posted inSalem

Salem City Councilor Warren Bednarz caught in a lie

So what should I call a false statement by a public official, in this case Salem City Councilor Warren Bednarz? "Misstatement"? "Falsehood"? "Untruth"? These are fine words, and sometimes they are the best to use. But in this case I feel justified in using "Lie" in the title of this blog post. As you can read below, I got a report that Councilor Bednarz spent several minutes at a Salem neighborhood association meeting criticizing me and this blog -- claiming that I spread "half truths" on it. That got me fired up. I do my best to be accurate in…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Republicans, including Fiorina, lie in their presidential debate

Though I'm a proud progressive, I readily admit that Democrats, and liberals in general, shade the truth at times.  But Republicans, and conservatives in general -- they often engage in total eclipsing of the truth, blanking out virtually every semblance of factual reality.  The New York Times editorial board tells it like it is in "Crazy Talk at the Republican Debate."  Eleven presidential candidates had three prime-time hours on the national stage on Wednesday to tell the American people why they should lead the country. Nobody forced them to be there. They were there freely, armed with the best arguments they…
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Posted inHome life

Apple Upgrade Program credit check — what credit agency is used?

Frustrating.  That's my reaction after spending time today trying to learn what credit agency will be used to check my Credit Score when I go into the Bridgeport Village Apple Store on September 25 to, hopefully, pick up my new iPhone 6S bought under the iPhone Upgrade Program. Which says I'll need to bring... Your personal information and credit card. You will be asked to provide your Social Security number and date of birth for a credit check. You will also need a valid U.S. personal credit card. Debit cards and prepaid cards are not accepted. Several times this week…
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Posted inHome life Marijuana

Tips for “vaping” marijuana if you want to go first class

Oregon, where I live, has legalized recreational marijuana, along with medical marijuana. Early sales through medical marijuana dispensaries start October 1, 2015 -- just two weeks away. Since many people are going to either be buying pot for the first time, or getting back into imbibing marijuana after a long absence, I wanted to share my preferred approach to "smoking" marijuana. I realize this sort of openness will sound weird to people used to Demon Weed being, well, demonized. But on July 1 of this year marijuana became legal to use, possess, and grow in Oregon. Before too long more states…
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Posted inSalem

Salem City Councilors admit I was right and they were wrong. Sweet!

Ah, it feels so good to have called out Salem City Councilors Brad Nanke and Jim Lewis about their erroneous assertion at a recent council meeting that I got things wrong about early sales of recreational marijuana in this town. I was confident that I was right, and told them so in my testimony at the August 31 meeting. You can see me speaking truth to power in a video Salem Community Vision made of my remarks at the contentious meeting, where citizens were disrespected, big time. But I didn't want to leave it there. It deeply irked me that Nanke…
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