Current affairs

It drives me nuts -- or rather, nuttier than I already am -- to hear congressional Republicans blathering on about how not raising the debt limit is key to cutting federal spending. Here's a fact (ooh, scary! a fact!) for these Tea Party types: the federal debt limit has absolutely nothing to do with new future spending by the government. If you read the information below you will discover that the debt ceiling that the Republicans are using to blackmail President Obama really has nothing at all to do with “increased spending.” The debt ceiling is a formal acknowledgement of…

I'm sorry to do this, because several relatives on my wife's side of the family live in Indiana. But I have to. Today I'm adding Indiana to my unofficially official list of right-wing crazy states. Governor Mitch Daniels and the state legislature have decided to pull all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, even though no federal money pays for abortions and Planned Parenthood's family planning services prevent many more abortions than the organization performs. This illogic and general nastiness puts Indiana in the same league as states like Arizona, Texas, North Dakota and other parts of the country that make…

I'm optimistic about the future of the United States. But one fact makes me cautious about being wildly optimistic: about half of Republicans (maybe more) won't accept facts. Working together to solve our problems requires that both political parties look upon clearly evident aspects of reality with the same fact-accepting eyes. Then we can have a vigorous debate about how to change the way things are now, so they can be better in the future. But when Republicans refuse to accept obvious truths, this creates a gulf between reality-accepters and reality-deniers which keeps them so far apart, policy discussions are…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

Driving home today, I listened to a interview with an expert who said, "The company that operates the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan probably is asking for volunteers among retired workers -- for obvious reasons." I took that to mean that if you're old, you don't expect to have nearly as many years left to live as younger workers do, so dying prematurely from radiation exposure, though distressing, would take on a different cast than if you were in your thirties with young children. A news story confirms that a search for volunteers, both old and young, likely is occurring:…

Here's a lesson for rabid conservatives and Tea Party types: What good has the free market been in responding to Japan's catastrophic earthquake? Are people relying on the government or on the private sector in dealing with the horrific consequences of the quake and resulting tsunami? The answer is obvious. When there's a huge seismic shift -- in the earth, in the economy, in the environment, in geopolitics, in national security -- governments are the glue which keep the social fabric from ripping apart. Yes, communities help. Non-profit organizations help. Volunteer groups help. But these entities are "governments" on a…

I'm sorry that Keith Olbermann isn't on MSNBC any longer, because Art Robinson's newest display of deceptive craziness would make him a great candidate for a "Worst Person in the World!" dishonor. Robinson, who lost to Peter DeFazio in last year's 4th Congressional District race, is claiming that Oregon State University is retaliating against his three children because of "political payback." This struck me as ludicrous when I learned about Robinson's attack on OSU's Nuclear Engineering department via a chain email that was forwarded to me. Why would professors risk their careers by unethically (and probably illegally) targeting Robinson's children…

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to destroy public employee unions under the ruse of cost-cutting is great political theatre. Wow, in recent weeks we've seen... Massive rallies of 70,000 people or more calling for compromise, rather than Koch-brother commanded Republican intransigence. Fourteen Democratic state senators fleeing to Illinois to deny a quorum and, hence, a vote on the union-busting bill. And today, Walker refusing to negotiate with the Dem senators. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Monday dismissed as "ridiculous" a letter from a Democratic state Senate leader who suggested a meeting "near the Wisconsin-Illinois border" to discuss the state's budget…

Today I gave our 2010 tax info to our CPA. In a few weeks we'll learn how much we owe the federal and Oregon governments. My wife and I won't be thrilled with writing out the checks, but deep down we're pleased to do our part to "promote the general welfare" -- one of the six goals our founding fathers set out in the preamble to the United States Constitution. See, Tea Party types, your interpretation of what it means to be a proud American is historically twisted. Cutting taxes isn't mentioned in the preamble. But promoting the general welfare…