Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon isn’t a high tax state (repeat until truth sets in)

Call me old-fashioned, but even though I enjoy Stephen Colbert's humorous take on truthiness, it still seems to me that social policy debates go better when people on both sides of an issue respect the facts. Such as: Oregon isn't a high tax state, especially for businesses. A report called "Is the Grass Really Greener in Other States: an Oregon Perspective" presents the most recent evidence of this undeniable fact. Download Greener-pastures-Report-8-17-101 It's must-reading for those who want to know the truth about Oregon's business climate -- which is at odds with the anti-tax lies spread by those who opposed…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of 2010 Portland Street of Dreams

Today Laurel and I, along with neighbors Tim and Jan, trekked up I-5 to Portland to pursue a dream. More accurately, six of them -- the new homes featured in the 2010 NW Natural Street of Dreams. We enjoy looking at fancier houses than ours, as do many other people, judging from the crowded Street of Dreams parking lot, even on a Monday. This seems to be partly a lifestyles of the rich and famous sort of voyeurism, and partly a desire to get ideas for fulfilling homeowner desires. (Guess that's why this is called a Street of Dreams.) As…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

iPhone Navigon app replaces my Garmin Nuvi

Right away my dearly beloved iPhone 4 replaced the Flip Video camera that I used to carry around with me in case I witnessed space aliens landing, or some other newsworthy event that I could film and then sell the video for millions. (Hey, I can dream.) Now I've also relegated my Garmin Nuvi GPS device to the Drawer of Unused Electronic Items, because the Navigon app for the iPhone functions better than a standalone Nuvi does. I can say this with considerably confidence because I've used the Navigon app quite a bit in the past month or so, notably…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Salem Sustainability

Circuit Court reverses Marion County commissioners

Last Friday our rural south Salem neighborhood got some great news: in Marion County Circuit Court Judge Nely Johnson reversed the Marion County Board of Commissioners' approval of Ridge View Estates, a 217 acre, 43 lot Measure 37 subdivision on Liberty Road. Read all about it in our press release. Download Willamette Valley Farmland Protected - Final-1 Judge Johnson issued an oral opinion, asking the attorneys for our neighborhood's Keep Our Water Safe committee (Ralph Bloemers of the Crag Law Center and Sean Malone, a Eugene attorney) to prepare Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. These should be finalized…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Lake Louise gondola & Moraine Lake trail

Well, after three previous photo posts of our Banff (Canada) trip you knew the big finale was coming -- a grizzly bear shot! I mean, a shot of a grizzly bear, not a photo of a grizzly bear that's been shot. Laurel had been hoping to see a grizzly bear the six days we'd been in the Banff area prior to heading to the Lake Louise gondola on our last full vacation day. The gondola folks claim they offer the best grizzly bear viewing in the Canadian Rockies. We could only hope as I leaned around in the ski area…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Banff: Sunshine Meadows

OK, this is my third blog post in a row about our trip to Banff, Canada. But hey -- when my wife and I spend a bunch of money and time venturing out of Oregon to sightsee, I want to share my photo souvenirs as widely as possible. These are of a hiking excursion at Sunshine Meadows, only twenty minutes or so from Banff. In the winter Sunshine Village Ski Resort worships the white stuff. In summer, flowers rule on the high mountain meadows. After forking over $52 for two tickets, a bus took us from the lower reaches of…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Banff: Johnston Canyon & Lake Louise

As shown in my Day 1 report of our first-time visit to Banff, Canada, we rain-habituated Oregonians hit a semi-wet period north of the border -- which made us feel right at home. Day 2 we headed to Johnston Canyon for a creekside hike, figuring that if we were going to get rained on it'd be better to be viewing close-in scenery rather than distant cloud-cloaked mountains. When we got to the Johnston Canyon parking area, we found that lots of other people were on the same wavelength. One guidebook says this is the most popular hike in the Banff…
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Posted inRecreation

Photos of Banff: Day 1 of our first-time visit

Our vacation in Banff (Alberta, Canada) went great after a rocky start checking in with United Airlines/Air Canada at the Portland airport. Remember the good old days when, even though you were traveling in coach, you were checked in by a real live person who could deal with problems and questions on the spot? Those days are gone if you're traveling United/Air Canada out of PDX. We were forced to use an annoying electronic kiosk prior to checking our bags. It recognized my passport, but was clueless about my wife's reservation. The machine told her to pick up a phone…
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Posted inHome life

“Can you spare some gas money?”

Out in the south Salem (Oregon) suburbs, there aren't many people asking passers-by for money. But once in a while I see somebody with a cardboard sign standing on the sidewalk at the junction of Liberty and Commercial. He or she is easy to ignore if I stare straight ahead until the light changes.I try to avoid reading what the sign says. It might be "disabled veteran -- need help." Something like that. I figure it's probably a con job. Today, though, there's wasn't any avoiding possible. I was starting to get on my Burgman 650 scooter after shopping at…
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Posted inBooks Writing/Weblogs

Self-publishing loses its stigma. So…write a book!

Ah, the times they are a'changin, just like Bob Dylan said they would. What was shameful not so long ago has come out into the open, standing tall and proud. And I'm not talking about homosexuality. Rather, self-publishing. My print on demand (POD) loving soul was thrilled to read in a recent issue of Newsweek, " Who Needs a Publisher?" Until recently, reviewers and booksellers looked down on self-published authors the way Anna Wintour scorns Dress Barn. Now new writers and established authors alike are increasingly taking publishing into their own hands, and the publishing establishment is paying attention. According…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Oregon may follow California in legalizing marijuana

I'm 61 years old. Two weeks ago, at an outdoor party, I drank my first beer out of a keg. I had to watch the guy ahead of me to see how he filled his glass. I had no idea how the pump thingie worked. Yet I went to college from 1966-71 at San Jose State University, which at the time had a reputation as a party school. But during the '60s flower power era -- and the San Francisco Bay Area was the epicenter of it -- a large percentage of students had nothing to do with alcohol. Like…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Lessons of Salem’s Courthouse Square debacle

Who says nothing interesting ever happens in Salem (Oregon)? Well, I do, a lot. But ever since it was reported that recently constructed Courthouse Square -- a building that houses most county offices, along with the downtown transit mall -- is in serious danger of falling down, things have been popping in the local newspaper. Today the Statesman Journal ran a bunch of stories and opinion pieces about this debacle. The $34 million building, which takes up an entire block, is being vacated as quickly as possible. It might not be repairable. Yet it opened just ten years ago, in…
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Posted inHome life

Failing to balance my checkbook unbalances me

I'm a habitual checkbook balancer. For as long as I've had a checking account, some forty years, every month I sit down with the bank statement, my checkbook, a pen, and a calculator. I've never failed to balance the checkbook. But sometimes it takes me a while to find the error that is preventing me and the bank from being in perfect, to-the-penny agreement. (Invariably, those errors have been caused by me or my wife. As this person says in retgard to checkbook balancing, perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek, "the bank is always right.") Yesterday, though, was different. I'd made…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Arizona immigration law drives this leftie leftward

Before registering as a Democrat in 2008 so I could vote for Obama in the Oregon primary, I was "unaffiliated" for a long time. I like to march to my Independent Drummer rather than move in lockstep with what either the R's or D's are pushing politically at the moment.For instance...Back in 2005 I locked arms with conservatives on illegals, saying "The right is right on immigration reform."This being the holiday season, a time of brotherhood and good will, I’ve been searching my progressive soul for any political common ground that I have with the right-wing in America. I’ve been…
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Posted inScience Sustainability

Letter to editor shows ignorance of global warming deniers

Marcia Turnquist of Northwest Portland, you should send me a cyberspace gift basket. I was this close to titling my blog post, "Marcia Turnquist is a scientific freaking fool." But I thought that sounded just a tad impolite for a headline, so I demoted that sentiment to the body of this post -- though I still dearly hope Google manages to connect "Marcia Turnquist" and "freaking fool" for as long as the Holy Search Engine does its thing.As I guess is obvious, I'm losing my patience with global warming deniers. Also, with media outlets that treat their scientific illiteracy with…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of 2010 Salem Hoopla

There's something deeply enjoyable about parking my Burgman 650 scooter a few blocks from the Salem Hoopla three-on-three basketball tournament (largest event in Oregon), buying an icy Jamba Juice at one of the food booths, and then watching young guys/gals run around the many courts in 94 degree heat while I stand (preferably in the shade) with my iPhone 4's camera in hand. I love the energetic, music-pounding, youthful atmosphere. And it's good to see people at the state capitol arguing about bad foul calls rather than bickering over partisan politics. Appropriately, basketball courts stretch down Court Street for a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Dems give up on climate change legislation

Soon after I learned that the Senate Democratic leadership, surely with Obama's blessing, had given up on trying to pass any meaningful sort of climate change legislation, I got another email from Organizing for America -- asking for donations to support the Dems.Hah! I thought. Bad timing. I was so irked at the meek and weak "we give up without even trying" attitude of the Democratic leadership in Washington I vowed to put my financial support into Oregon politics. If we can keep Republican Chris Dudley from becoming governor and elect John Kitzhaber, that'll ease the pain of watching the…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Sustainability

9th Circuit reverses ruling that threatened Measure 49

Here's some good news for Oregon. Today the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2008 decision by a federal District Court judge, Owen Panner, who opined that Measure 37 waivers were binding contracts -- so couldn't be overturned by voters' decisive approval of Measure 49 in 2007.I wrote about Panner's decision in "Federal judge complicates Oregon land use policies." Fortunately, the 9th Circuit has uncomplicated them. Here's the brief ruling by the 9th Circuit. Download Memo opinion cfcfRalph Bloemers of the Crag Law Center in Portland issued a press release about the 9th Circuit decision. Download Press Release -…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of the (controversial) 2010 Salem Art Fair

Ah, it's good to see people in sleepy Salem (Oregon) throw off their lethargy and get fired up over a controversial social issue: whether the Salem Art Association did the right thing in putting up a fence around the 2010 Art Fair and charging a $5 admission fee ($7 for all three days). Debate over the undeniably ugly chain link fence in public Bush Park, the fee, and a steadily declining percentage of local artists at this increasingly high-quality juried fair has raged in the Salem Statesman Journal, culminating in a front page story today. Download Salem Art Fair articleMy…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Wow, Steve Jobs and I think alike (about the iPhone 4)

I just finished watching a liveblog of the Apple press conference where supposed antenna problems with the iPhone 4 were discussed. Steve Jobs persuasively pointed out that all smart phones have similar problems, and very few users of the iPhone 4 are dissatisfied with it.In my recent post about how I like the iPhone 4 after playing around with it for five days, I said: When I put my finger over the crease on the bottom left side that Consumer Reports has identified as a lowered signal strength culprit, one bar appears to drop off. To me, that's no big deal.…
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