Posted inCurrent affairs

“Expansionary austerity” isn’t working in Europe

I'm no economic expert. But much of economics is simple common sense. So it's no big surprise to me that the British economy is faltering after David Cameron's conservative government decided several years ago that cutting government spending in a recession was the best way to stimulate growth and job creation. Huh? This "expansionary austerity" notion is another example of faith-based voodoo economics, like believing that cutting taxes results in more revenue. That's also a myth. Recently Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote about Europe's continuing economic problems that have been exacerbated by austerity measures. "The Austerity Debacle" shows why it's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science Sustainability

Eugene girls sue Kitzhaber over climate change inaction

Here's four big Green Thumbs-Up from my wife and me to Eugene residents Olivia Chernaik, 11, and Kelsey Juliana, 15. The Register Guard reports: ...with the help of their mothers, Lisa Chernaik and Catia Juliana, [the girls] filed a lawsuit against the state of Oregon and Gov. John Kitzhaber, accusing them of violating their duties to uphold the public trust and to protect the state’s atmosphere, water, land, fishery and wildlife resources from the impacts of climate change. Excellent! The lawsuit is being brought under the aegis of iMatter, a group that encourages kids to get involved in the fight to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Neighborhood Salem

Salem’s Todd Davidson heading up international tourism efforts

One of our neighbors here in rural south Salem has become a celebrity -- in the tourism promotion world. Recently President Obama announced at Walt Disney World that Todd Davidson will lead an effort to increase international tourism through the U.S. Tourism and Travel Advisory Board.  Here's a KGW story about Todd's appointment (after a brief ad).  Davidson is CEO of Travel Oregon, which has been successful in boosting tourism in our state. "The travel industry is an important part of Oregon's economy," said Governor Kitzhaber. "Appointing Todd Davidson to Chair the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board was an excellent…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Adventurer of the Year 2012: 65 year old Jon Turk

  Way to go, Jon! At the age of 65, you're nominated for National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year 2012 award, along with Erik Boomer, a youthful 26. (Jon Turk is on the left in the photo above.) You've inspired this 63 year-old. Unlike you, I'll never be the first to circumnavigate Canada's frosty Ellesmere Island, dragging my sea kayak overland for a good share of the 1,500 miles, risking death in ice-choked seas, encountering curious wolves and polar bears. But you've reminded me that us geezers have a lot more living to do, regardless of our Social Security-eligible age. …
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

In 2012, let’s elect Canada as president

Great news! The Canada Party has entered our presidential race. I'd vote for Canada to be the leader of the United States, for sure.  This is a highly persausive campaign video.   But seriously... (though I hope, oh, I so dearly hope, Canada will run for president), other countries have a hell of a lot to teach the United States. We aren't #1 in anything related to quality of life.  It's a fact. Check out the OECD's Better Life Initiative web site (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Quality of life rankings for most of the world's developed economies, along with…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Mitt Romney — job destroyer, “vulture capitalist”

Do you think Mitt Romney is a guy who will add jobs to the American economy? Think again. He's a job destroyer, not a job creator. He doesn't care if people get hurt when businesses shut down, so long as CEO's like him make loads of money. Here's the proof: a persuasive video, "When Mitt Romney Came to Town." Watch it and weep... for the workers whose lives were torn apart by Mitt Romney. If you don't have time for the full 28 minute video, there's a three minute trailer.   
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Science supports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

There are many reasons why Obama and the Democrats were absolutely right to press for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), billions upon billions of them -- all the dollars that people have lost in the Wall Street-led financial crisis that we've been suffering through since the end of the Bush presidency. Today I came across a persuasive scientific reason for the CFPB in Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow." (Kahneman, a psychologist, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on decision making.) We Homo sapiens aren't Econs; we are Humans. The distinction between Econs and Humans was…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Progressive activists — an unsleepy side of Salem

This afternoon my open house fears turned out to be unfounded. Since I figured that I wouldn't know anyone at the gathering but the hostess, new Salem resident Laurie, my ever-anxious mind envisoned awkward moments standing around with a glass of wine in my hand, wondering what I was going to talk about with strangers other than the weather and if the Ducks were going to triumph in the Rose Bowl tomorrow. I should have known better, because after moving to Oregon from the Boston area, Laurie has found a home among Salem's activist progressive community. She's been a part…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

More bureaucracy, please. The United States needs it.

Conservatives would have us believe that this country suffers from an excess of government regulation, bureaucracy, and restrictions on free enterprise. Not true, as evidenced by how successful the German auto industry is. High profits. High wages. High involvement of the government in corporate affairs.  In 2010, over 5.5 million cars were produced in Germany, twice the 2.7 million built in the United States. Average compensation (a figure including wages and employer-paid benefits) for autoworkers in Germany was 48.97 Euros per hour ($67.14 US), while compensation for auto work in the United States averaged $33.77 per hour, or about half…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Dump Go Daddy — I did it two years ago

Tomorrow is Dump Go Daddy Day. If you've got a domain name registered with GoDaddy.com, or some other Internet relationship with Go Daddy, I hope you'll ditch this company.  Two years ago I flew the Go Daddy coop for Dotster, and haven't regretted the move. My reasons were different from why people are dumping Go Daddy now -- mostly because it supported a really bad proposed law, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act, but it really is more like a Stop Free Speech Act). Pleasingly, Go Daddy lost about 70,000 domains last week. May the Go Daddy exodus continue. Here's a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

PolitiFact wrong about Medicare 2011 Lie of the Year

I'm disappointed in PolitiFact. The fact checking organization has given its LIe of the Year 2011 award to "Republicans voted to end Medicare." Today I emailed PolitiFact, expressing my disappointment with this choice: I've been a big admirer of PolitiFact. I read your site every day and often refer to it on my blogs, where I try to base my opinions on facts rather than faith. But your Medicare "Lie of the Year" is deeply disturbing. Over and over I heard Democrats and Obama say "Paul Ryan wants to end Medicare as we know it." But you left out "as we…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Wyden-Ryan Medicare reform plan looks interesting

Knee-jerk reactions. They're a big part of what makes politics so dysfunctional in this country. We need to resist making snap judgements about the plan to reform Medicare unveiled today by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Yes, that Paul Ryan. To progressives, he's evil incarnate. To conservatives, he's the second coming of Ronald Reagan. In truth, he's just Paul Ryan. A person. With ideas to improve Medicare. Which is who Ron Wyden also is. A person. With ideas to improve Medicare. Basically, by offering seniors a choice: stay in the current government-run…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

How to contact Lowe’s and complain about Muslim bigotry

Up to now my wife and I have had good feelings about Lowe's. But the company has pulled ads on a reality show about Muslims after caving-in to bigots. The North Carolina-based retailer last week withdrew its ads from the hour-long show that follows the lives of five Muslim families from Dearborn. The decision coincided with pressure from conservative issues groups including the Florida Family Association, which claimed the TV show was “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” Here's a link to the contact us page on the Lowe's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Every nation agrees to cut greenhouse gases

What are global warming deniers going to do, now that every country in the world has agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions? OK, more accurately every nation has agreed to work on a future agreement that would commit them to binding greenhouse gas reductions. But that's still a heck of a lot better than doing nothing, a reason to smile about the Durban climate change conference. And it leaves those deniers without any place to lay their anti-science heads. One hundred and ninety-four countries signed on to the Durban agreement. That, Wikipedia tells me, is the entire roster of member…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Science supports a progressive political agenda

Nice!  The voice that speaks inside my head couldn't do anything but agree with Alex Rosenberg's conclusion near the end of his book, "The Atheist's Guide to Reality:" modern science leads to a left-wing ideology. Like a lot else that Rosenberg says in his provocative book, this statement was jarring. Usually the scientific method is considered to be above politics. Scientists deal with objective facts about the world, while politicians mess around with subjective values. Yet Rosenberg perusasively backed up his words. This pleased me, given that I'm both a progressive and an admirer of science. I've always figured there…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Senate Dems should get tough on GOP filibustering

The bizarre Senate filibuster rule needs to be consigned to the Trashbin of Crappy Ideas. I got confused trying to make sense of the Wikipedia article about it. Which is why the filibuster is so wrong: democracy should be straightforward, transparent, easy to understand. Elections are won by the candidate who gets the most votes. Control of the House and Senate is determined by which political party has the most candidates elected. But in the Senate, majority rule is dumped in the crapper.  Nowadays it takes 60 votes, rather than 51, for the Senate to do anything significant, because Republicans…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Web/Tech

NY Times “Election 2012” app is great for political junkies

Ah, another source to feed my political addiction: today the New York Times sent me an email about its new Election 2012 app. I fired up my iPhone, downloaded the free app, and instantly thought Sweet! The app will look particularly sweet to me, because I'm forking out $15 a month for unlimited online access to NY Times content. Many features of the app work even if you're not a paid online subscriber, but after I put in my log-in info I was able to access everything. Like I said before, I'm happy to pay. It'd be horrible if the NY…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Sadly, Jon Huntsman joins the anti-science GOP candidates

I hereby take back my praise of Jon Huntsman. No longer is he the only sane Republican presidential candidate. Huntsman now has joined the ranks of anti-science climate change deniers in his quixotic quest to replace Barack Obama. Jon Huntsman, who slammed Rick Perry over the summer for not trusting scientists on climate change, has now developed his own doubts....Huntsman said he still supports the idea of a scientific consensus but is not yet endorsing the conclusion that climate change is happening and caused by human activity. That leaves a grand total of zero moderate GOP presidential candidates, which must make…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem Sustainability

Danger warning! — people and dogs sighted in Salem park

Watch out, residents of Salem, Oregon. Be warned. Danger is afoot in city parks, including the popular Minto-Brown Island park which has almost 900 acres of open and wooded areas, with many trails. People and dogs have been sighted in the park! So be extremely cautious around them. These pose the greatest risk to you. Cougars, not nearly so much. So don't worry about a recent cougar sighting at the Minto-Brown Island park. Focus on the much greater danger you face from two other species: Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris, people and dogs. I've done some research to quantify the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Wildlife Services kills a family dog — we need to kill that useless agency

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services is a horribly misnamed agency. It doesn't provide services for wildlife, it kills them. Needlessly. Expensively. Wastefully. And not just wildlife: family pets also. Recently the McCurtain family in Gresham, Oregon suffered the heartrending loss of their dog, Maggie. Wildlife Services killed Maggie. Probably illegally (the family is suing Wildlife Services). Definitely incompetently. Predator Defense tells the sorry tale. Imagine a federal wildlife agency setting deadly "instant-kill" traps within 45 feet of your suburban back yard where your children play. Imagine that one of those government-set traps kills your beloved dog and no…
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