Posted inNeighborhood

Images of Oregon’s Ides of March

It's yin and yang time in the Willamette Valley. Oregon is doing its changing thing. Rain most of the day, then a burst of late afternoon sunshine. The daffodils in our garden use it to show off. Look at me, so bloomin' beautiful! Down the path, Spring Creek is springing. New growth on winter's bare branches. Nearing the lake, a long shadow pointed the way to the sun. A first cherry blossom welcomed me to the lake shore. Aging oak. Aging bird house. Belonging together. Cattails, old. Willows, new. More yin and yang. Last year's cattails. This year's willows. Each…
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Posted inHome life

Remodeling – my path to enlightenment

In Buddhism and Hinduism there's always been a big debate about whether the life of the renuniciate or the householder is a surer road to enlightenment. Do you find truth in a bare cave or a richly furnished living room?After the past month of remodeling our bathroom and, now, kitchen, I can testify that the Buddha would have been a lot better off staying home with his wife rather than sitting under the Bodhi Tree. Sooner rather than later, Mrs. Buddha would have talked him into redoing their home. And that, for sure, would have provided him with all the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Colbert nails Clinton on who’s more electable

I love it when Stephen Colbert humorously casts light on a serious topic. That makes all the hours I spend watching The Colbert Report, rather than, say, reading the New York Times, seem a lot more productive. Recently Colbert had a great riff on Hillary Clinton's claim that she should get the superdelegate vote because she's more electable – having won the big important states that are crucial to winning the presidency. Here's some of his right-on observations, as I recollect them (maybe mixed in with my own notions): --Clinton says she can win the presidency because she won California,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Pollution is now a sin. Litterers, go to hell.

By and large, excellent news for progressives on the sin front today. The Vatican says that social and economic injustices are fresh areas of sinful behavior. Pollution also. I can only hope that the jerks who have been leaving lots of litter on the road we take into Salem are Catholics who keep up on their faith's sin list. Apparently polluting is a venial sin that can be forgiven by confession. However, I can still issue my non-papal proclamation: litterers, go to hell. I don't often praise the Catholic Church (or any church). But this is a positive step on…
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Posted inMiscellany

JC Penney’s “American Living” line flaunts the flag

Browsing through a recent People magazine, my wife pointed out to me a series of double page ads for JC Penney's new American Living line. Laurel was struck by the strangeness of people wanting to go around wearing clothing emblazoned with the American flag. The American Living logo is a bald eagle flying off with the stars and stripes on a flag pole. This strikes me as against the flag code, but my Boy Scout days are so far in the past I can't remember if it mentions anything about a bird absconding with our national symbol. Of course, all…
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Posted inSalem

Size matters with county commissioners

Is five preferable to three? Absolutely. Personally, I think seven is even better. But last night I learned that no Oregon county has more than five county commissioners. It's hard to imagine that a meeting with the geeky title of "Marion County Governance in the 21st Century" would be as interesting as it was. Before I headed off to the Salem Public Library to attend this Friends of Marion County forum, I considered taking along a super-sized latte to be sure I stayed awake. But it was surprisingly engaging. The reason for the get-together was to explore the pros and…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Clinton nets four delegates. Whoopee.

I was kind of depressed last night, since I'd hoped that Obama would win decisively in Ohio and Texas. But perusing the new delegate totals on Obama's web site, I'm feeling better. it looks like Clinton will pick up four after all of her "We're back!" hullabaloo. Big deal. Obama is still 156 pledged delegates ahead with 571 remaining to be chosen. So Clinton needs to win the final twelve races by about 64% - 36% to catch up to Obama. And that isn't going to happen. She needs the not-so-super superdelegates to hand her the nomination, or have the…
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Posted inSalem

Suddenly I felt very old

Damn you, Coffee House Café! You're one of the few hip, happening, alternative gathering spots in downtown Salem. And I'm a hip, happening, alternative guy who frequently stops in for a latte. I enjoy having my drink prepared by a tattooed, pierced, black-clad barista with an attitude, a pleasing contrast with the staff at the squeaky clean Starbucks down the street. During the day I feel like I fit right in at the Coffee House Café. Beard. Longish hair. Impeccable '60s counterculture credentials. Progressive politics. We're on the same radical wavelength. But last night I realized that our relationship has…
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Posted inTango/Dance

I’m dance-blogging in Russia!

Here's a great example why blogging is so satisfying. I can go to my Outlook inbox and find an email from a guy who runs a Russian dance blog. Dear Brian! My name is Ivan Makarov. I am from Russia. I am webmaster of the http://ballroom.org.ru So I am writing to let you know that I like your dance related posts. Thank you for your writing. I've found your site via google and decided to translate some of your posts to Russian, for posting on my own site. What a kick. Ivan chose to share my "Tango, where men lead…
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Posted inTango/Dance

Caution: dancing can lead to divorce

During our Foxtrot class, Lora, the instructor, talked about how dancing usually is looked upon as a way for couples to come closer together. But it doesn't always work out that way, she said. If a man and a woman are having problems before they begin learning ballroom dancing, whatever strains exist in their relationship are going to brought to the fore on the dance floor. Laurel and I have been taking dance classes for just two years. But already we've seen a bunch of different approaches couples use when the moves aren't flowing like they should. Laughter. The preferred…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Atheists should be revered, not discriminated against

O' Oregon, I love you because you're (relatively) godless. And now here we have the Brookings Elks Lodge banning a sweet eighty year old woman from the premises because she's an atheist. This smacks of the Bible Belt, not the Live Green and Mainline Lattes Belt. Deeply disturbing. Today Oregonian columnist Margie Boulé had a follow-up. In "Atheists run up against 'last bias'" she points out that Americans say they'll vote for all sorts of presidential candidates, but not someone who fails to profess a belief in God. A recent poll conducted by USA Today/Gallup found that Americans are overwhelmingly…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Portland Trail Blazer Greg Oden endorses Obama

Oh, yeah. Ohio is going to go for Obama now. Former Ohio State basketball star Greg Oden is saying, "Vote for Barack." This also should guarantee that Oregon ends up adding to Obama's substantial delegate lead, since rookie (and injured) Oden is the change that fans are expecting will return the Trail Blazers to playoff glory (or at least, just the playoffs). And Obama is the best bet to do the same for the United States. Not a slam dunk, but the point spread is way in his favor.
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Why Clinton is in big trouble

So what does it mean when 23 progressive Oregon women, feminists all, say they're supporting Barack Obama – 22 to 1? Pretty clearly, Hillary Clinton's campaign is sinking. If she doesn't have the support of female middle-aged Democratic activists, I think she's done for. Since I'm for Obama, last night it was music to my ears when a friend told me about this informal poll of a group of women who get together regularly to talk about politics and whatever. She was surprised that Obama was the almost unanimous candidate of choice, since these women had been looking forward to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

George Taylor, non-state climatologist, leaves a loser

Finally! The man who pretended to be Oregon's state climatologist, even though no such position existed, is retiring. Now George Taylor can pretend to be a fake something else, rather than deceiving the public about both global climate change and his qualifications to speak about it. I've never met George. Likely he's a nice guy. But he's gotten under my skin for some time, along with the folks at Blue Oregon, who have also given him a good bye and good riddance sendoff. What's amazing is that my local newspaper, the Salem Statesman Journal, called him a winner in an…
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Posted inEntertainment

“In Treatment” captures the soul of psychotherapy

Just what we needed – another engaging TV series that'll add to our backlog of unwatched DVR recordings. But we're hooked on HBO's "In Treatment." My wife is a retired psychotherapist. So not surprisingly, Laurel finds watching Gabriel Byrne fascinating. He plays Paul Weston, a psychotherapist who acts like a traditional psychiatrist because he's so non-directive (he also seems semi-depressed). But Weston must be something else, since he has plenty of time for his patients and doesn't whip out a prescription pad. So far, at least; we've only watched five of the forty-five episodes. After my first viewing of "In…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

I become a Democrat to vote for Obama

The Democratic Party of Oregon is about to get a new member. But party leaders shouldn't get too excited about my shift from "not a member of a party." Here's why. I'm sending in my changed voter registration form tomorrow because I want to vote for Barack Obama in the primary on May 20. That's pretty much the only reason. So if the Democratic Party superdelegates, who aren't so super, screw Obama out of the nomination even though he ends up with more pledged delegates, I'm back to unaffiliated. Pronto. A side benefit of registering as a Democrat is that…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Rights are human-made, not god-given

Tucked into a story about a bill to let Oregon voters decide whether health care is a right was a stupendously ill-informed assertion by a Republican legislator that rights are god-given: The vote was a victory for Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, the chairman of the House Health Care Committee who has trying for three years to help the uninsured. During debate, Greenlick described how he would have lost his battle with lymphoma, now in remission, if he had not had health insurance. That so many suffer for lack of health care is unjust, he said. "Rights are the products of…
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Posted inHome life

I’m wrong, wrong, wrong

There's something delicious in those four words: I'm wrong, wrong, wrong. Humility. Truthfulness. Acceptance. It took me three "wrong's" because that's how many times I can recall being wrong recently. Actually, I'm sure the number is much more. Like most people, I much prefer being right than wrong. So I tend to focus on experiences that affirm the correctness of my view of the world, and put out of mind the oops moments. Still, sometimes even I can't ignore how amazingly wrong I can be. And how confident I am that I'm right until the curtain rises on the fantastic…
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Posted inHome life

What’s “semi-formal” in the northwest?

Oooh! Scary! The flyer for tonight's Valentine Sweetheart Dance at the RJ Dance Studio said "Dress Red, Semi-Formal." I have a burgundy shirt that's close enough to red to count. But the Semi-Formal…that sent a chill up my causal Oregon spine. I fretted and worried. I emailed Lora, one of the RJ Dance head honchos, and asked her what semi-formal meant. She didn't respond. I got chillier. Turning to Wikipedia, I was told that semi-formal is synonymous with black tie. A dinner jacket would be most appropriate for evening wear. Yeah, right. Hey, Wikipedia, I live in the northwest. Your…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Super delegates aren’t so super

Politics always is crazy. But the way the Democratic Party is choosing it's presidential candidate – that's beyond crazy. I know, because I'm being driven insane trying to figure out what the delegate count is between Obama and Clinton. Obama's my man, so I'm pumped by how well he's done in the most recent primary contests. But when I check CNN's Election Center just now, oh no!, I see in a big bold-face font that Clinton is still leading Obama, 1148 to 1121. (This even includes today's Maine results.) Then I read the fine print breakdown. And see that actually…
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