Posted inSalem Strange Up Salem

Why I’m not a Salem Weekly columnist

Oh, man. I could almost taste my Pulitzer prize -- leaving aside the minor details of (1) whether a Pulitzer is given for alternative newspaper column writing, and (2) the questionable edibility of whatever the Pulitzer folks give out as awards. Regardless, I came so close to becoming a columnist for Salem Weekly, which actually is published bi-weekly, but alternative publications shouldn't be held to obsessive-compulsive journalistic standards. That's part of what attracted me to the notion of writing for Salem Weekly when publisher A.P. Walther phoned me early in 2011 and said he wanted us to chat. Soon we…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Oregon legislature starting to look giddy

Hanging around the Oregon capitol building, waiting to testify at a legislative hearing, isn't my idea of fun. But the two hours I spent there this afternoon gave me some interesting insights into a political world that I observe rather rarely. I arrived at Hearing Room C, where the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee was to meet at 3 pm, about twenty minutes early -- wanting to be one of the first to sign up to testify on House Bill 2871. (It has to do with how Metro deals with urban growth boundary expansion in the Portland area. I…
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Posted inHome life

How we stopped a robin’s pecking at window glass

My wife and I have been battling robins at our rural Salem, Oregon home for many years. Almost every spring some crazed robin will obsessively peck at our bedroom windows, which are conveniently (for the bird) located next to a large oak tree. The robin will sit on a branch, seemingly getting more and more irritated at another robin which has the gall to invade his territory during mating season. Of course, the other robin is his reflection in the glass, which makes it pretty damn difficult to chase the intruder away. Back in 2003, I wrote about my frustrations…
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Posted inSalem

Scared male: the question I didn’t ask of two feminists

Feminists usually aren't all that scary to me. But tonight I wimped out on asking a question of two who teach at the Oregon State University Women Studies program. We were into the Q &A and guest speaker portion of the Salem Progressive Film Series showing of "Killing Us Softly 4," a documentary about advertising's image of women. Sexy, skinny, silent, and childish is, of course, promoted over sexless, fat, assertive, and mature. The movie showed the filmmaker, Jean Kilbourne, giving a talk. As she made a point, we saw photos and videos illustrating how advertisers present an image of…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

You win, NY Times — I’ll pay for your damn digital subscription

About a month ago I was disturbed to learn that the New York Times was going to start charging for online access. Yes, the NYT is a great newspaper, with terrific content. On my laptop and iPhone I read several stories every day. But $15 a month? That seemed like a lot. So I resisted signing up for an online subscription plan for as long as possible. Which turned out to be April 8. That's when I reached my monthly allotment of 20 free stories. I was faced with 22 days of going New York Times cold turkey until May…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health

Republicans seek to end Medicare with no debate

You'd think that killing Medicare as we know (and love) it would require some serious open discussion. But nope, not in the brave new world the House Republicans have brought us. Paul Ryan's proposal to force seniors to buy private health insurance that would pay an ever-decreasing share of their medical costs was announced last week. This week the House is expected to vote on a 2012 budget resolution that implements Ryan's voucher-based Medicare overhaul. No hearings. No debate. No opportunity for citizens to express their opinions on ending the current Medicare system. It's the political version of wham, bam,…
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Posted inHealth Home life

I’m saving money with a Canadian pharmacy

As a U.S. citizen, here's my bottom-line experience with ordering a prescription drug from a Canadian pharmacy: I'm saving hundreds of dollars a year, and the quality of the generic drug seems just as good. So, what's not to like? Well, only one thing so far. The drug I'm getting is Dutasteride, the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Avodart, a prostate shrinking medication. (Like I said before, a prostate exam is the only time a man doesn’t want to hear from a female who is inspecting his genital area that he's larger than average.) The Canadian pharmacy I'm using is called…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Government shutdown averted — Republican wrongness remains

Damn! Bad blog post timing. I was all ready to get a good rant going about Republican willingness to shut down the federal government in order to prevent women from getting Planned Parenthood health care, then I see that a deal apparently has been reached. Well, there's no reason to waste a rant, so I'll fire up my outrage as if Boehner hadn't come to his senses. After all, it won't be long before social conservatives and Tea Party types find another opportunity to display their anti-women ridiculousness. Cutting the budget is one thing. Slashing Planned Parenthood's family planning, cancer…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Progressives are on the way up — in Oregon and elsewhere

Maybe it's the Starbucks grande coffee talking, but who cares? Today this progressive is feeling pretty damn good about where the political winds are blowing -- in Wisconsin, here in Oregon, and in the whole country. I remember how down Dems and left-leaning independents felt last November when the 2010 midterm tsunami wiped out "D" control in the House of Representatives, substantially narrowed the Democratic Senate majority, and put right-wingers in control of many governorships. Such as Scott Walker, in Wisconsin. Yet his union-busting overreaching has begun to backfire. Last night I obsessively kept refreshing the AP election results for…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Watch out for Republican “Ryancare” — it destroys Medicare

Soon we'll learn specifics of the Republican plan to destroy Medicare. Columnist E.J. Dionne has coined the term "Ryancare," since Congressman Paul Ryan is announcing the plan, and his Road Map for America's Future calls for moving health care for the elderly into a system where vouchers are used to buy private health insurance. Ugh. No way. Keep your damn hands off of Medicare, Republicans. I'll be eligible for Medicare in less than three years. I'm looking forward to this, being sick and tired of the bullshit our current private insurer, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, regularly piles on us.…
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Posted inHome life Salem

“Salemia” video starts shooting in Oregon’s capital

Hah! Deal with this, Portland, you snooty we're-so-much-better neighbor city to our north. You may have super greenness, nightlife, great restaurants, a thriving music scene, and Mt. Hood in your backyard, but as of today Salem -- yes, boring Salem -- has its own cinematic rival of the much-admired (also, reviled) "Portlandia." Well, more accurately "Salemia" is on its way, filming having started today. (If you're not familiar with the fascinating history of Salemia, all two months of it, I've bloggishly recorded it here, here, here, and here.) Having landed my dream role in this production, the Crusty Transient character,…
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Posted inHome life

No lavatory on plane — pretzels favored over beer

Oh yeah, flying is so much fun nowadays. Last Friday our Horizon flight from Portland to Burbank was delayed an hour while "a maintenance problem" was dealt with. That's all the explanation we were given by the gate announcer. But given what happened on our return flight, there's reason to suspect that the problem lay behind the door of the all-important tiny compartment at the back of the plane. Namely, the lavatory. For several reasons I'm a big fan of airplane lavatories. One, I'm 62. And even though I've reported that my age-related urge to pee has been reduced quite…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Philosophy

I’m outraged about outrage — let’s calm down

Aren't you getting tired of people being outraged about, well, everything? I sure am. And this means I'm getting tired of myself, because I've got a hair-trigger Outrage Gun that doesn't go a day without firing self-righteous bullets of condemnation. Driving around today, channel surfing among various satellite radio news/talk channels, plenty of topics pushed my outrage button. I can't stand Republican grandstanding on how Obama is handling the Libya situation. Right-wing talk show host Lars Larson said "The only good cougar is a dead cougar." Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is going ahead with his union-busting bill even though a…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of our Hollywood Hills weekend

We Oregonians enjoy putting down southern California: so crowded, the freeways!, smog, too many people. Etc, etc. But whenever my wife and I visit my daughter and her family, who live at the bottom of the Hollywood Hills, I realize how much there is to like about this area. I wouldn't want to live there permanently, but for a weekend... delightful. This time we were fortunate to be able to stay nearby in a cute, quirky, "bungalow" owned by friends of my daughter. They gave us a discount on the usual rental price, which was much appreciated. So for a…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Join the strike against Huffington Post

I've been a regular visitor to the Huffington Post web site. But why? Beats me. I rarely read any news stories, because almost all of them are copied (some would say, stolen) from genuine journalistic sources like the New York TImes and the Associated Press. I'd rather get my news from the original outlet. And in a more attractive format. The Huffington Post looks like its trying to be the National Enquirer of the Internet. Gigantic flashy headlines mesh with sensationalistic celebrity gossip in a mix that never appealed to me. I put this web site on my daily visit…
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Posted inHome life

My 2011 Mini Cooper S should bring perfect happiness

You might think that my expectations are too high, but I'm anticipating that the 2011 Mini Cooper S hardtop which just manifested in my driveway will bring me perfect happiness for the rest of my motoring life. (Those in the Cult of Mini, which now includes moi, don't drive; they motor.) Unfortunately for our pocketbook, when I said "manifested" I wasn't referring to a miraculous appearance of the Mini Cooper S. Via several blog posts I've been lobbying God for this to happen since my Mini lust began in 2003. (See here and here; each prayerful plea was roundly ignored…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Ann Coulter and Lars Larson are idiots about “good” radiation

As unoriginal as the title would be, I toyed with the idea of calling this post "Lars Larson is a big fat idiot." But since I wanted Ann Coulter to share in the idiocy, and she's a lot closer to anorexic than fat, I had to give up that notion. Which leaves Coulter and Larson being plain idiots for claiming that low levels of radiation are good for you.I heard Portland, Oregon right-wing talk show host Lars Larson say this last week, citing the rarely-reputable Ann Coulter as the source of this amazing bit of scientific misinformation. Of course, it…
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Posted inSalem Sustainability

Salem getting closer to being a sustainable city

I've lived in, and around, Salem, Oregon for thirty-four years. LIke most long time residents, I run hot and cold with our semi-fair city. There's a lot to like, but Salem's reputation for being boring, lackluster, passionless, and uncreative is well-deserved. Part of our problem is proximity to Portland and Eugene, each about one hour driving time away. These cities are much more vibrant, green, quirky, exciting. Plunk Salem down in Nebraska and I bet lots of jaded people there would respond with This is a cool town. Agreed. But we could be a lot cooler. Which is why I…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Americans are over-reacting to Japan radiation scare

Yes, I'll admit it. For a few days I was one of the many Americans who are freaking out over the prospect of dangerous nuclear radiation reaching our shores from Japan. I anxiously sought out potassium iodide and ended up ordering some. But facts are different from fears. As my wife and I learned more about how much radiation is likely to make it across the Pacific Ocean into Oregon, even in a worst case scenario, we became a lot more relaxed about our personal situation -- though still deeply worried about the people living near the damaged reactors. Some…
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Posted inHome life

One option to deal with New York Times online fees

I love the New York Times web site. So it was disturbing to learn that soon unlimited access to the site is going to cost from $15 to $35 a month. At first I thought, "I'll head elsewhere in cyberspace to get my news." But then I realized that (1) there's nothing like the New York Times, and (2) the NYT could go out of business if people aren't willing to pay for online content. Reading comments on a story about the digital subscription plan, I saw a response from corporate communications staffer Eileen Murphy that generated an aha! in…
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