Posted inSalem Sustainability

City Council shooting Salem in the foot

Here’s an open secret: Salem, Oregon is an unappealing city. Here’s another: the Salem City Council is determined to keep it that way. Crazy. Salem already is crippled by poor planning, lack of creativity, and a boring downtown. Yet the City Council is busily engaged in shooting the city in its foot to hobble it even more. As I said in “Salem City Council knows zilch about sustainability,” state planners have rejected Salem’s land use policies as being inconsistent with good mixed-use development. Rather than doing the right thing and fixing the plan, the City Council is appealing to the…
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Posted inEntertainment Tango/Dance

“Assassination Tango” and our inner Argentinas

After a friend heard that Laurel and I were taking tango lessons, she suggested that we watch “Assassination Tango,” a 2003 movie starring, written, and directed by Robert Duvall. The tango scenes were marvelous, so far removed from the shuffling around that I’ve been able to master in a few lessons that to call what I’m doing “tango” is a stretch. Still, I could recognize a few moves that are (minimally) in my repertoire, such as the ocho. I learned from another review that in real life Duvall studies tango with Luciana Pedraza, who in the movie plays Manuela, an…
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Posted inEntertainment

Is it possible to love “24” too much?

My week now centers around Jack Bauer and the rest of the “24” cast. As Monday evening approaches my heartbeat quickens. A rosy glow of anticipation brightens my cheeks. I begin to feel the titillating thrill that accompanies the righteous killing of terrorists. In short, I am in love. And though I know there should be no limits on love, I sometimes wonder: “Do I love too much?” Plus, what’s up with me loving Jack Bauer? Usually I’m not attracted to those strong, quasi-silent types (even though Jack’s expertise with computers means he could easily solve my intermittent Windows XP…
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Posted inEntertainment

Academy Awards 2006: Beauty and the Beast

With Buddha-like compassion for the Googlers who are searching today for “Salma Hayek Academy Awards 2006” and finding my outdated 2005 photos of The Perfect Platonic Form of Woman, I offer a vision of Salma 2006. Who was, as always, one of the highlights of the show for me. And many millions of other men too. One of the lowlights was the Oscars’ repeated admonition to see movies in movie theatres rather than at home on DVD. That just made me more determined to avoid over-priced popcorn and talkative seat-neighbors whenever I can. Those who follow my performance at Jim…
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Posted inSustainability

Salem City Council knows zilch about sustainability

It wasn’t a surprise. In today’s Salem Statesman-Journal this headline hit my eyes: “State rejects city’s review of land-use policies.” A shock it was not: the Salem City Council is notoriously tone deaf when it comes to singing tunes of sustainability and environmentalism. But even though my expectations of council members are low when it comes to all things Green, the lack of understanding of Council President Jim Randall still was shocking. I read: The Salem City Council thinks that a voluntary, market-based approach with minimal planning is the only way to promote dense mixed-use development of the sort proposed…
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Posted inEntertainment

Urgent warning about The Wonder Pets

I just finished watching the debut episode of The Wonder Pets on Nickelodeon Jr. (yes, this 57 year old has too much time on his hands). I have an urgent warning for pot smokers and, especially, any users of psychedelics (do they still exist?). Do not, repeat, do not watch The Wonder Pets if you aren’t prepared to laugh your guts out. That almost happened to me just now, and I’m not even high on anything (except life, ha, ha). Today I watched Turtle Tuck, Linny the Guinea Pig and Ming-Ming Duckling save a dolphin trapped in a fishing net…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Measure 37

Abortion rights and property rights

Why aren’t conservative brains exploding from the crazy contradictions in the Republican party line? I mean, how is it possible to believe that government can’t tell you how to use your land, but government can tell you how to use your body? Recently we learned that abortion rights are being challenged in South Dakota and property rights are being upheld in Oregon. Conservatives were thrilled. But if the right to use your land as you see fit is sacrosanct, why isn’t there a similar right to use your body as you see fit? I don’t get it. Dave Hunnicutt of…
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Posted inHome life Tango/Dance

We tango, and also get tangled

Laurel and I survived our second Argentine Tango class tonight. Even more: we enjoyed ourselves. Perhaps at least a little bit of Latin blood flows in these primarily Germanic veins. For a brief moment I even seemed to feel a tinge of macho Tango Attitude, as my lips curled into a proudly passionate expression, which, however, was cut short by our legs getting entangled on that damn cross-step/pause move where one of us always seems to be stepping too slowly or pausing too little. Whatever. We made progress tonight at the Micah Building Ballroom on State Street. Here in Salem…
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Posted inDogs Entertainment

Listening attentively to the dog whisperer

We’ve become big fans of Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. The Dish Network should be a fan too, because my wife upgraded our subscription to America’s Top 180 just so we could get the National Geographic Channel, home of Milan’s weekly program. It was worth buying sixty more channels to be able to watch the Dog Whisperer, though. I’ve warmed up to him more slowly than my wife, but now on Friday evenings I’m right there with her on the television room couch. Laurel’s interest in the Dog Whisperer was strong right from the start because she’s become a dog…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

Wenn Gott flüstert, donnert es in der Schöpfung

If you can understand the title of this post, then you should buy the recently-published German translation of my first book. Heck, even if you can’t understand it, go ahead and buy the book with the same name anyway. Currently Amazon is selling it at a generous discount. So for $10.17 plus shipping you get 300 pages of either comprehensible or incomprehensible German. Either way, that’s a great deal. Kudos to Matthias Schneider-Marfels, who I know as “Matt,” for having the linguistic fortitude to translate a revised version of my “God’s Whisper, Creation’s Thunder,” which has been out of print…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

How untruths spread over the Internet and talk radio

Here’s a classic example of how political talk radio picks up a falsity and then proclaims it as the Gospel Truth to gullible listeners. Yesterday I forced myself to listen to Michael Savage as part of my ongoing effort to understand the workings of the extreme right-wing mind. Savage was ranting on about how former President Bill Clinton had called for the conviction of the publishers of the infamous Mohammed cartoons. That seemed highly unlikely to me, but Savage was reading from a news story and, hey, we all know that you can trust whatever news outlets say, right? Wrong.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Court allows religious hallucinogenic tea

Now that the Supreme Court has said that it is all right to use a hallucinogen to better understand God, I expect that the Church of Reality and Church of the Universe are going to have an upsurge in membership. When marijuana is a sacrament, you’ve got a darn good recruitment tool. Plus, it’s been proven: Jesus used marijuana. But seriously…does it make sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that it is illegal to use medical marijuana for clearly evident health problems, while it is legal to use an otherwise illicit drug to worship an invisible God?
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Posted inFamily

A tale of two toothpastes

A man who doesn’t have any grandchildren yet, but who looks forward to telling bedtime stories one day, needs to be prepared. And dream… “Grandpa Brian, tell me the Tale of Two Toothpastes. Oh, please, I love your stories so much!” “Dear Grandchild, I just told you this story last night. Are you sure you want to hear it again?” “Yes, yes, yes! I could hear it every night and never, ever get tired of it. Grandpa, I love your stories of the old days. And especially, especially about what you used to write about on your blogs. Did I…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

Israeli anti-Semitic cartoon contest: I love it!

While Muslims are rioting and killing to protest cartoons of Muhammad, an Israeli guy has sponsored an anti-Semitic cartoon contest (only Jews may enter): Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves! “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!”…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

The Independent Bandwagon starts to roll in Oregon

A political groundswell back towards the middle is underway. This is great. May the center not only hold, but expand. Here in Oregon, Ben Westlund has dropped out of the Republican party and is running for governor as an Independent. Moderate presidential candidate Michael Smith wants to go to the Republican National Convention in ’08 and shake up the party’s right wing. Perhaps most significantly, John and Leah Frohnmayer are organizing The Independent Bandwagon that, they hope, will reach voters in every community in Oregon. I learned about this much-needed movement from their recent letter in the Portland Oregonian: Your…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Join the Michael Smith presidential bandwagon

Yesterday I learned that Corvallis resident Michael Smith is running for President of the United States on the Republican ticket. Today we at HinesSight have endorsed Michael, using “we” liberally in the typical blogging sense of “me, myself, and I.” After I saw the Smith for President web site I knew that Michael was my kind of candidate. His official campaign photo shows him holding a tuba! Because, he plays the tuba. As if that isn’t enough of a qualification to become President of the United States, I was taken by the sum total of his “endorsements” page: "Love you…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Home life

If Bush drives you crazy, he’s won

It’s easy to feel like the Bush administration is driving you crazy. Every day, it seems, there’s a new revelation about Bush lies, Bush incompetence, Bush dissembling, Bush favoritism. In no way is he a uniter rather a divider. If there’s anyone who can shatter the composure of a concerned citizen who cares about truth, justice, and the American way, it’s George W. Bush. Just looking at him on TV, even with the sound off, makes me irritated. But I’ve come to this conclusion: if Bush is continually bothering me, he’s won—in the same sense as we hear, “if the…
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Posted inSalem

Salem Peace Plaza: a radical hotbed of internationalism?

On Monday the Salem (Oregon) city council rejected a demand from veterans and military personnel that the Peace Plaza be renamed Liberty Plaza or Freedom Plaza. The disgruntled peaceaphobes also were up in arms over the United Nations flag in the plaza, calling this “foreign flag” a slap in the face to military personnel. Late this afternoon, after changing out of my blogger’s pajamas, I decided to take a look for myself and see if the Peace Plaza was the radical hotbed of secular America-hating internationalism that the city council petitioners were making it out to be. The plaza sits…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

What I’ve learned after 500,000 page views

Today my HinesSight blog passed the 500,000 page view mark. In celebration of this milestone I’ll reveal what people look for most in my corner of the blogosphere. Can you guess? Three choices: (1) Cogent political analyses, (2) Profound philosophical insights, (3) Photos of sexy women. No big surprise here. I should have said: “three choices, and the first two don’t count.” My “The Tao of Paris Hilton” post accounted for a large share of those half a million page views. After Google Images put several of the photos in that post on the first page of a “Paris Hilton”…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Muslims have been depicting Mohammed for centuries

Here's why the Islamic over-reaction to the publishing of Mohammed cartoons is so ridiculous: Muslims have been depicting the Prophet for centuries. So if it's true that any caricature of Mohammed is blasphemous, Muslims have been some of the worst blasphemers of their own religion and should be boycotting themselves, not Denmark. Check out this archive of Mohammed images, some from the Islamic world and some from Western sources. The creator of the archive says: While the debate rages, an important point has been overlooked: despite the Islamic prohibition against depicting Mohammed under any circumstances, hundreds of paintings, drawings and…
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