Current affairs

Here's another unsettling leading indicator for the stock market: a large 50.8 oz. bottle of organic, extra virgin, first cold pressed olive oil that I managed to cram into our cupboard with about 1/8 inch to spare. I usually buy another brand. In a smaller bottle. But yesterday, on my weekly natural food store shopping expedition, I noticed that Napa Valley Naturals was on sale. I figured I could save almost ten dollars by buying super-sized olive oil. This isn't like me. Not to that extent. Laurel is picky about the taste of olive oil. We'd settled on Spectrum as…

The first coming of Obama is near. Praise the One! For he is bringing miracles to pass: I watched "Meet the Press" this morning and agreed much more with Sen. Richard Shelby, a dyed-in-the-right Alabama Republican, than with Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat. Maybe this is a sign that the country is getting past red state vs. blue state stuff. When the policy rubber hits the road, what matters much more is whether something makes sense. And Shelby had the edge here. Why should taxpayers fork out $25 billion or more to give to the clueless Detroit auto industry?First of…

In Oregon the biggest remaining election question mark is the U.S. Senator race between Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith. Votes are still being counted. Here's how to track them, in order of my political junkie preference: (1) Over at Blue Oregon, Kari Chisholm is doing a great job analyzing which counties haven't fully reported yet, and what this means. He's updating this post regularly. Currently Smith is up by almost 8000 votes, but Kari is projecting a 32,000 vote Merkley win after Multnomah and other Merkley-leaning counties completely come in. (2) The Daily Kos Electoral Scorecard features a map that's…

2:51 pm, West Left Coast timeOoh! First polls close in less than ten minutes. I'll be watching CNN to see if they call it for Obama by 3:05. Sure hope so. I'd rather pay $84 than have a foreshortened life. Yesterday I talked with a Macintosh consultant about coming over to get a wireless laser printer working with my MacBook. He said he could come at 4 today. I told him that I'd be obsessing over election results at that time. We made an appointment for Thursday morning. "That way," I said, "I can save myself your $84 hourly fee…

If you're thinking of voting for John McCain, consider this: you're running the risk of vastly increasing mental illness in this country. Mostly of the depressive variety, though I wouldn't rule out major psychotic breaks if your man wins next Tuesday. So be compassionate. Vote your values, Christian or otherwise. Perform a selfless act. Help those in need. Like, my wife and me. We were just talking about what it'd be like to spend the next four years watching Sarah Palin mangle the vice-presidency, while McCain dodders his own way along. Laurel thought that she'd have to stop reading the…

With a week to go before the election, I'm having a burst of compassion for the many conservatives who are seriously depressed about the prospect of watching Barack Obama in the White House for the next four (or eight) years.Believe me, I've been there. My wife too. We've felt your pain. In 2000. And again in 2004. So here's some advice from a progressive who didn't know if he could make it through a George Bush presidency:You'll survive. When you wake up on November 5, the sun will still rise. Still, for a while you'll feel like there's nothing to…

I'm relieved! Barack Obama isn't a socialist. Here's the proof: me wearing an Obama-Biden t-shirt that arrived in the mail yesterday. (A bonus proof -- that progressives have some smarts: another photo taken with my new MacBook in front of a mirror, which reflected the reflected words back to normal.)I'd been worrying that the Obama campaign had decided to spread my t-shirt wealth with someone in a lower donation bracket, just as McCain has been saying he'd do with our taxes. Months ago I made a contribution to Obama after I'd gotten an email saying that if I donated now…

Oh, how sweet is the karmic delight! Everything that voters once found so right about Sarah Palin now is turning them off. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that Palin is people's biggest concern about voting for McCain. Fifty-five percent of respondents say she's not qualified to serve as president if the need arises, up five points from the previous poll. …In the survey, 47 percent view her negatively, versus 38 percent who see her in a positive light. …Now, Palin's qualifications to be president rank as voters' top concern about McCain's candidacy - ahead of continuing President Bush's…

McCain said he was going to whip Obama's "you know what" in the last debate. Wrong. He lost, big time. Just like he's going to lose the presidential election in a few weeks. Yes, I realize that Obama is telling his supporters to act as if they're behind, rather than ahead. That's good advice. And my wife is taking it to heart, in a general Democratic sense, since she's been phone-banking away the past couple of days – making calls for Oregon candidates, plus Obama. Here's a good sign: Laurel told me that after Colin Powell enthusiastically endorsed Obama yesterday,…

A month ago Joe Biden was unfairly bashed by Republicans for saying that those making over $250,000 a year should view paying more taxes as patriotic. He was right, but didn't go far enough. Everybody should see paying taxes as patriotic. It's so obvious. Where the heck does the money come from for government funding of our military, roads, public schools, scientific research, Medicare, Social Security, and the other programs that keep our country strong? Taxes, almost entirely. So I don't understand the conservative notion that not paying taxes is a badge of honor. The way I see it, it's…

Last night's presidential debate featured many mentions of Joe, the plumber – a guy who came to a campaign rally and talked to Obama about his concern that raising taxes on those who make over $250,000 a year would affect his ability to buy a plumbing business. Let's take a closer look at Joe. I'm confident that there's more to learn about him, but here's a good start. First, if you watch the video of Joe's conversation with Obama you'll see Obama explain how his tax plan is good for small businesses. Very few clear $250,000 or more, so raising…

Sisters is one of central Oregon's special places. Few towns in the country have managed to fend off ugly strip mall commercialism so well. Sisters is frontier-themed, with a friendly down home artistic charm that keeps visitors coming back again and again. We know Sisters well, since we're part owners of a cabin in Camp Sherman, about fifteen minutes away. So it's been disturbing to learn that pro-development forces are trying to stack the five member Sisters City Council with three men who have close ties to the building industry. All around town you see billboards with their names, since…

Thanks to the Anchorage Daily News Troopergate blog, I just learned that the legislative committee reviewing the Branchflower report has released it to the public. The first finding says: For reasons explained in Section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch ethics act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides "The Legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust." You can read the other…

There's something deliciously karma'ish in the ongoing rumors that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner, Brad Hanson, and/or isn't really the mother of Trig Palin, born last April. Sarah Palin is notoriously loose with facts. Her speech at the Republican National Convention was filled with untruths, and she got quite a bit wrong at last night's debate with Joe Biden. So she doesn't have much room for complaining about allegations which have more basis than some of the whoppers the McCain – Palin campaign has been telling about Barack Obama. What goes around comes around to…

Largely because of John McCain, a huge number of Americans are considerably poorer today. Like, me. My wife and I have balanced investments in stocks and bonds, so we aren't down as much as the 7% to 9% drop in the equity markets. Still, we've lost a bunch of money. And if the House Republicans don't get their act together soon, putting the country before politics, it's likely that even more financial blood will be on their hands. Those Republicans voted against the bailout by more than 2 to 1. McCain said at last week's debate that he likely would…

I love it. And I'm scared by it. With eerie accuracy, Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey shows us what a Palin vice-presidency would be like. Yikes! Too real! Message: vote Obama-Biden.

There's been endless post-game discussion about who won last night's presidential debate, most of it meaningless. Wow, no big surprise. Republican spinmeisters claim that McCain kicked Obama's butt, while their Democratic counterparts spin the opposite way. Much more persuasive is what polls and focus groups say. Almost universally, Obama won. And on McCain's home field, foreign policy – which was the focus of the debate.Daily Kos has a good summary of polling results. Conclusion: The focus groups picked up soft, but important data on the debate, and the snap polls show an Obama win. Focus groups pick up the "likeability"…

Having just watched some interviews on CNN about what went on in the White House "summit" meeting this afternoon, it seems clear that John McCain has screwed things up big-time with his political grandstanding. Hopefully voters will remember this come November. Once again, McCain showed that he's a Me First, Country Second guy. Rather than letting negotiations over the financial bailout plan proceed without interjection of presidential politics, McCain swooped into Washington at the last minute in an obvious attempt to save his campaign – not the national economy. This morning, lawmakers seemed to be near a deal on the…

I can balance our checkbook. And that's how I like it: balanced. Where I know how much money we have, and that amount isn't less than the checks we've written. Pretty simple. But somehow all those geniuses on Wall Street and in government can't figure out how to do the same thing. They're used to spending more than they have. Under George Bush, we've had massive federal budget deficits. Not surprisingly, this charge it attitude has been reflected in the financial markets, where "take the money today and don't worry about tomorrow" has been the watchword. This week's TIME magazine…

Dear President Bush, I've been reading about how you want Congress to bail out financial firms that made some wrong choices. This is wonderful news. Because I assume you'll also be open to bailing me out of some stupid things I've done in my life. Next week you want Congress to fork over $700 billion or so of taxpayer dollars to "buy up toxic mortgage-related securities." I'm pleased to inform you that for only a pittance more you can buy up some additional toxic monetary decisions. This would do a lot to get an important sector of the economy back…