Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau skates on thin ethical ice

Whether it passes or fails, a Marion County citizen initiative which got on the May ballot after almost 6,000 citizens signed petitions to improve county government, has served one important purpose:We've learned how far the existing power structure in Marion County is willing to stretch ethical bounds in order to keep the political system running along in its dysfunctional special-interest-favoring way.A few weeks ago a neighbor gave me a "No on Measure 24-292" letter that had been sent out by two Salem Chamber of Commerce bigwigs: CEO Mike McLaran and board member Dick Withnell, who owns several car dealerships. It…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Wow! Obama must read my blog.

Coincidence? Or something more...wonderful. I choose the more, that President Obama reads my blog and uses my words to inspire the American public. Check out the evidence:Last night, I wrote a post called "Gulf oil spill shows why government is important." I said:But hopefully people will take away a larger -- and marvelously simple -- message from this mess: government is us. The collective "we care" side of us.Today, President Obama gave a speech at the University of Michigan on the theme of defending government. He said:President Barack Obama took aim Saturday at the angry rhetoric of those who denigrate…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Gulf oil spill shows why government is important

Ah, delicious irony. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal now is begging for government assistance as the BP oil spill threatens his state's fisheries, shipping, tourism, and coastal environment. This is the same guy who said this in response to a speech Obama gave to a joint session of Congress:We place our hope in you, the American people. In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the National Democratic view that says the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Marion County commissioner plays the “you lie!” card

Republicans are strangely fond of calling people they disagree with liars. I say "strangely," because Republican politicians certainly are as prone to lying as their more progressive counterparts.Yet rather than debate the merits of a policy issue, their tendency is to resort to ad hominem name-calling -- which fans the flames of our already incendiary public discourse.Today, in a front page story, the Statesman Journal reported that Marion County (Oregon) commissioner Sam Brentano considers the people who are backing citizen initiative 24-292 to be "liars."Brentano and the two other commissioners, Janet Carlson and Patti Milne, have spoken against the home…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

How to fix your iPhone wi-fi location

I love my iPhone. But it bugs me when I'm at home and I fire up some cool app, like Siri, which needs to know my current location to function correctly, and it thinks I'm many miles away -- down in Albany, Oregon -- rather than where I actually am, rural south Salem.A bit of Googling shows that my wi-fi router apparently is being mislocated. Turning wi-fi off results in accurate mapping, but our AT&T signal is crappy at our house. So now my location-based iPhone app won't work quickly or reliably.Here's a fix, which I learned about here.(1) Go…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Boycott Arizona and all the other crazy states

We need to boycott crazy states. "Crazy" admittedly is in the eye of the beholder. But since this blog reflects my view of the world, I'm calling the crazy shots:Arizona, because it just passed a "show me your papers" anti-immigration law that even a Kansas editorial board called unworkable, likely unconstitutional, and clearly inhumane.Kansas (sorry, editorial board), because the Board of Education tried to introduce intelligent design into the state's curriculum. Plus side: this brought us the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory of creation.Texas, because its equally wacky Board of Education has rewritten history to suit the political leanings of its…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Health

Abortion laws show Oklahoma Republicans hate freedom

What happened to Republicans standing tall for defending our "land of the free"? We have a national election in 2008, Obama is freely elected, and now right-wingers are fond of calling him a tyrant.Huh? A tyrant is someone who takes control by his own means, not under constitutional power. Which precisely describes attempts in the not-so-great state of Oklahoma to take away the constitutional freedoms of pregnant women. Reading our local newspaper this morning, my wife called out to me, "This is disgusting. You're not going to believe what's going on in Oklahoma." Well, I ended up believing it. But…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Taxes and Marion County charter change: no worries

Opponents of Measure 24-292, the Marion County (Oregon) charter change, have been using scare tactics in an effort to preserve the county government status quo. I guess they think government is working so wonderfully, we, the people, shouldn't try to improve it. Well, polls show that most citizens want more control over government. They're tired of politicians working for special interests, rather than the general good.One of the be scared! approaches of some No on 24-292 folks is to claim that the Measure will lead to increased taxes. On page 27 of the Marion County Voter Pamphlet that came in…
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Posted inHome life

I’m strangely proud of my Starbucks gold card

This is my Starbucks gold card. I haul it out of my wallet and show it to people whenever it seems appropriate. And also, when it isn't.On the front it says: "Brian Hines  Cardholder since 2008"Wow! That's two years ago. I deserve this prestigious card! Well, semi-prestigious, considering all I did to get it was use my old Starbucks rewards card 30 times.At least that's how I believe it came into my adoring hands. Starbucks says so, thus it must be true. I'm a cult member. I've even joined the Starbucks Passion Panel. What that means is, periodically Starbucks emails me…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Marion County charter change: desperation breeds deception

Wow! When ordinary people try to make the government that their taxes pay for work better, the big money guys who profit from the status quo get frantic.In the Salem Statesman Journal today there was another bunch of desperate untruths from Dick Withnell, a Salem Chamber of Commerce board member -- adding to the stack in a letter that I debunked recently.The business interests opposing improvements to county government must be super-scared of Measure 24-292, a citizen initiative to be voted on in May that would enlarge the Board of Commissioners from three to five members and elect commissioners by…
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Posted inPhilosophy Tai Chi

Doing nothing, do everything: Taoism is cool!

I'm a big fan of doing nothing. My wife can testify to that, especially when she feels its time to attend to some household chores and I've got something less vigorous on my day's to-do list. Like napping. So I couldn't pass up going to a talk by Qiguang Zhao at Salem's Willamette University yesterday. I heard about it from a fellow Tai Chi student, who emailed me that Qiguang was going to speak about "Do Nothing and Do Everything." From a Taoist perspective. Ah, nice. I figured the talk would offer me more ammunition to fire at anyone who…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

“No on Measure 24-292” letter is full of untruths

Here's another good reason (in addition to those I've written about here, and here) for Marion County, Oregon residents to vote Yes on Measure 24-292 next month: Big-business opponents of the citizen initiative are so afraid they'll lose their insider lobbying connections with the county commissioners, they're willing to spread Big Time untruths about what the Measure will do. Measure 24-292 gives ordinary people more control over county government, and promotes better decisions by the county commissioners. It changes the Marion County charter in positive ways, including: -- Adding two members to the Commission, for a total of five, bringing…
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Posted inHealth

Read this before you choose a Regence “Evolve” plan

Like I said in a previous post, Regence of Oregon's enforced switching of individual health insurance policies to their new "Evolve" plans is bad news for members.Benefits are reduced considerably, while premiums are rising for many families, since each child now has to be on a separate policy. The Evolve plans' individual premiums for my wife and myself would only be a bit higher, but we were seriously disturbed by the benefit reductions.For example, the Regence Evolve Core plan only covers a maximum of $1,000 a year for prescription drugs. We're pretty sure that our current "Blue Selections" plans have…
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Posted inHome life

I’m proud of my second childhood: 61 going on 12

"Second childhood" are words that haven't meant much to me until recently. I never thought of myself as old enough to warrant having them applied to me, especially since second childhood usually is a derogatory term.Noun1.second childhood - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuationsHey! Those are fighting words! I'm proud of my second childhood, especially my foolish infatuations. I don't feel like I'm 61. For some reason, the past few years I've been feeling younger with every birthday. If this is a mental infirmity, bring it on. More, please.A few hours ago I…
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Posted inHealth

Regence of Oregon “Evolve” plans: bad news for members

Health insurance reform may be the law of the land, but health insurance companies like Regence of Oregon aren't done screwing over their members/policy-holders.My wife and I have individual Regence plans. Mine is the Blue Selections Premier, which I succeeded in switching to last year after going through a horrendous battle with the Regence underwriting department over some minor health problems (a.k.a. "preexisting conditions").Recently we both got a packet from Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon informing us that as of July 1 we'd need to switch to new plans, as our current plans will no longer be available.Naturally our first…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon business taxes are lowest in nation

If facts matter at all to Lars Larson and Oregon's other right-wing talk show hosts, hopefully they'll stop with the Oregon has a horrible business climate B.S. now that a corporate lobbying group has come to an opposite conclusion. Actually, Oregon has the lowest state and local business taxes in the country. A newly released study by a corporate lobby group found that Oregon tied for the lowest state and local business taxes in the country in fiscal year 2009. It also said that Oregon tied for first place in terms of providing “value” to businesses from the taxes they…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Forgive me Apple, for I am forsaking the iPad

Jeez. As non-religious as I am, I feel sort of funny reliving my long-lapsed Catholicism and confessing on a Sunday. But I feel that I have to, because I have been unfaithful... to Apple.I wasn't attracted to the iPad on the day it was announced. And yesterday, when the iPad was put in the hands of some 650,000 happy purchasers, I remained uncommitted to the newest persona of my Apple lover.I have an iPod Touch. And an iPhone. And a MacBook Pro laptop. When the rumors that Apple would produce a tablet started to fly, I was virtually certain that…
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Posted inSustainability

Wall Street Journal quotes me on Oregon land use

Yesterday a guy phoned me who said he was a Wall Street Journal reporter. We talked about Oregon's land use policies for a while. Then he called again and read me a quote that he wanted to use in his story.It must not have been an April Fool's joke, because today I searched Google News for "Brian Hines" and found this on the Wall Street Journal web site: Oregon Pear Growers Sour on Land Law. Download Wall Street Journal storyThe reporter, Joel Millman, didn't say what his story was about. He told me that he'd come across my testimony on…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

How to give up your socialized government benefits

Yesterday my wife told me about a great web site she'd heard mentioned on the Thom Hartmann program (which originates from KPOJ in nearby Portland, Oregon -- on America's proudly left coast).It's Stop My Benefits, where the people who are ranting about Obamacare, socialized medicine, and government taking over our freedoms can sign a form asking that their participation in distasteful programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran's benefits, and Social Security be stopped.Excellent idea. As the site says: It has been apparent that some people think that “government-run, socialized” healthcare programs are bad.  There has even been discussions where people don’t…
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Posted inFamily

Southern California or Oregon? Take a guess

It's photo quiz time. See how many questions you answer correctly. Any Oregonian who gets less than 100% needs to better appreciate the beauties of southern California, which includes my three year old granddaughter.(Q.1) Was this girl posing provocatively for a photographer on a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon or Malibu, California? Well, duh. Have you ever observed this scene on an Oregon beach -- especially in late March? While in the LA area to visit my daughter and her family last weekend, I was fortunate to have my camera in hand while in Malibu.(Q.2) Is my granddaughter, Evelyn, thinking…
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