Posts by Hines Brian

It pains me to think about the 2016 presidential election, since we're just a few weeks past the 2012 election -- which felt like it went on for years (because it did).  But pundits who got the Obama-Romney victor wrong are now turning their attention to getting likely nominees for 2016 wrong. Which includes Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the Republican side.  This makes Rubio's recent comments about the age of the Earth even more disturbing. In my ever-optimistic mind, I've been hoping that after the G.O.P.'s solid defeat in the 2012 election, Republicans would realize that they need to…

Consider this, members of the longshore workers and other unions at the Port of Portland who are engaged in what can only be described as "antics" which threaten the viability of shipping in this area and even the entire Pacific Northwest: When a proud progressive like me, who supports unions, who was strongly against Republican efforts in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere to cripple unions, who dislikes corporate domination of our nation's economy, reads about what is happening at the Port of Portland and thinks "Those unions are acting absurdly," maybe it's time to calm down and stop auditioning for parts…

After their very real election losses -- President, Senate seats, House seats -- you'd think reality-denying Republicans (who imagined Romney would be victorious despite all the polling evidence to the contrary) would have learned that facts matter. But, nope. They're up to their old tricks, hoping that a lie told over and over on Fox News and elsewhere somehow will transform into truth.  The current Lie of the Moment is that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who is being talked about as a replacement for Secretary of State Clinton, deceived Americans when she described the Benghazi attacks soon after they happened.…

"Majority rules." Makes sense to me. I can live with that. In both the House and the Senate. Do away with the Senate's stupid filibuster custom where 41 out of 100 Senators have veto power over what legislation will be passed by Congress, and whether Presidential nominations of administration officials and judges will be confirmed. Republican abuse of the filibuster has led to Senate gridlock. Then Republicans complain that the Obama administration can't get anything through the Senate. This hypocritical insanity has to end. There's a lot to like about a parliamentary system of government. An election is held. A…

Even though I have not yet attained to my complete 100% Buddha Nature, I'm compassionate enough (just barely, but enough) to reach out to almost half of American voters and say, echoing my idol Bill Clinton:  I feel your pain. Not as much as you do, because you're you and I'm me. But I know how badly I would be feeling at the moment if Mitt Romney had been elected president last Tuesday instead of Barack Obama.So I can easily empathize with the disappointment of those who were intensely looking forward to Romney winning. I was nervous myself for several…

Disappointingly, yesterday Oregonians voted down Measure 80, which would have decriminalized marijuana and allowed its sale in state-sponsored stores. But Washington and Colorado approved their own marijuana legalization measures. Kudos to the Portland Oregonian editorial board for recognizing that marijuana tourism across the Columbia river from this state is going to enlarge Washington's government revenues.  In an online editorial published today, which likely will be in the print paper tomorrow, the editorial board said "Oregon lawmakers should take up marijuana legalization." Yes, the failure of Oregon's marijuana legalization measure Tuesday must have disappointed its sponsors and supporters. But how sad can they…

Yesterday Nate Silver, superstar data-based Five Thirty Eight political analyst, shared an enigmatic tweet: "This election is an epistemological watershed." I loved it. Even though I really didn't know for sure what Silver was talking about. I felt like I did, though.  Thus my divided reaction to the words "this election is an epistemological watershed" seems to reflect why the 2012 election here in the United States is so important. Knowledge vs. feeling. Facts vs. fantasy. Science vs. religion.  A watershed is marked by a divide. The choice between Romney and Obama, along with the choice between Republicans and Democrats generally, indeed…

Ah, I so like plain talk in politics. Lie is a wonderful word that usually gets disguised by "falsehood," "untruth," or some other polite term that may be appropriate for mild lies, but are too weak for whopper lies. Like Mitt Romney's claim that Chrysler and Obama are working together to ship American jobs to China, since Jeeps supposedly will be made there instead of the United States. That's a lie. The Romney campaign must have known this. Or they could have learned the truth with a short phone call to Chrysler headquarters. But liars like to lie, and Romney…