Posted inSalem

A Salemian’s joys and sorrows of seeing a show in Portland

Last night my wife and I journeyed up I-5 from Salem to Portland to see the musical Wicked. We loved the show. But that's not what I want to talk about.  Rather, I was struck by how different an experience it was to see a top-notch musical in Portland, Wicked, compared to our seeing the Enlightened Theatrics performance of Hair in Salem a few weeks previous -- which also seemed to be Broadway-quality.  I came away feeling that there is a lot to like -- a LOT -- about what Salem, typically viewed as Portland's much less cool sister city…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

History shows it’s possible for Trump or Sanders to become president

Don't get too excited by the title of this blog post, fans of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. I'm not capable of arguing how it is that these guys could buck the odds and become President of the United States. (As we'll see, nobody is.) Rather, I want to share some passages from a chapter, "The Secret of Success," in historian Yuval Noah Harari's fascinating book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, that remind us how unwise it is to think that anything is impossible in this wild and wacky chaotic world of ours. I read the chapter this morning.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Religion

Religious views have no place in fetal tissue debate

I don't believe in God. But I sure do believe in keeping God out of all social policy discussions, including the recent debates over fetal tissue research. And not only God -- all supernatural notions based on unsupported faith, no matter how sincerely held they may be.  Over on my Church of the Churchless blog I've been arguing that religion has no place in politics and policy-making since 2004. That year I wrote "Religious values have no place in politics."  Consider abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage—three issues that are commonly considered to comprise the core of “values-based” voting in…
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Posted inRecreation Salem

My brush with death from a feral chicken attack at Minto Brown Park

Life feels sweet after narrowly escaping three dangerous genetic relatives of Tyrannosaurus rex, a.k.a. "chickens" in modern parlance, at Salem's Minto Brown Island Park today. I'll share some photos of the attack, but these only reflect the objective state of the photons that made it into my iPhone's camera lens. My intuitive life-loving emotional mind saw these vicious animals differently. As miniature Velociraptors. After all, I had no idea if they'd gone completely feral, returning to the primitive instincts of their dinosaur ancestry.  In case other people who use the rural'ish Minto Brown trails come across these monsters, I'll describe the birds'…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Rural Oregon bans marijuana shops, then wonders why its economy sucks

Oregon has a well-deserved national reputation for being progressive/liberal. But everybody who lives here knows that this only reflects the vibe in western Oregon, the eastern part of the state (except Bend) being way behind the times. Thus even though arch-conservative Glenn Beck recently named Portland the worst city in America -- which means it actually is one of the best -- he could go to most places in rural Oregon and feel right at home. Case in point: Oregonians legalized recreational marijuana last November by a comfortable margin, passing Measure 91 56% to 44%. But in its wisdom (ironically…
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Posted inHealth Marijuana

Medical marijuana and opioids in Oregon: a tangled web of confusion

Yesterday the Bend Bulletin's magazine insert, "High Desert Pulse," included a fascinating cover story: When pot means no prescription for pain -- Doctor/patient divide over marijuana. Download When pot means no prescription for pain; Doctor:patient divide over marijuana PDF Countless patients suffering from debilitating conditions such as MS, arthritis and post-traumatic stress disorder have made extraordinary claims about how using marijuana reversed the course of their medical conditions and turned their lives around for the better. Many report marijuana relieves physical pain better than powerful prescription opiates and even allowed them to stop taking the medications.  But the medical research…
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Posted inSalem

Sadly, the vision of Salem’s Sustainable Fairview has been much diluted

Back in January 2003 I wrote my first blog post about Sustainable Fairview, 275 acres in Salem, Oregon that previously was the site of the Fairview Training Center -- a facility for people with developmental disabilities. In that post I included a document that summarized the vision for Sustainable Fairview. Here's an excerpt: Download Fairview summary For almost 100 years Fairview functioned as a self-sustaining community, as the State of Oregon's primary facility for developmentally disabled children. It provided housing and services and produced its own food and energy. Including the careful restoration of historic buildings and the integration of…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

“We Need Brain” — GOP prez debate songified in 4 minutes

Damn. If I'd known this highly creative songified summary of the first GOP presidential debate was coming, I could have saved two-plus hours of valuable remaining-life time and just watched a four minute video.   A New York Times piece provides background on the video. I read: The Gregory Brothers are a music video production group made up of Andrew, Michael, Evan and Sarah Gregory. How they put the video together so fast is mind-boggling.  On a related note, I loved this post-debate Trumpanalysis by Ezra Klein. Trump is growing on me, in a decidedly weird way. His saying that he'd…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Enlightened Theatrics’ Hair production made me feel “the 60’s are still real”

I've never enjoyed live theatre more than Enlightened Theatrics' production of Hair my wife and I saw last night at Salem's Grand Theatre.  And that isn't the cannabis talking. Well, let's make that it isn't just the cannabis talking. Hey, it seemed oh-so-appropriate to celebrate a paean to 60's hippiedom with some of Oregon's newly-legal recreational marijuana. Which, in a non-roundabout way, brings me to the Numero Uno reason I felt so good during and after this marvelous production of Hair: The talented directors and performers made me realize The '60s are still real.  Meaning, it isn't only that the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Tell DirecTV, “2015 is the year to carry the Pac-12 Networks!”

With August having rolled around, it's time for me to start getting irritated again at DirecTV for not having reached a deal to carry the Pac-12 Networks.  (This is my 2014 rant, which includes links to my previous rants.) There's more hope this year than in the past. The president of the Pac-12 Networks said that he is hopeful a deal can be worked out with DirecTV, now that it has been bought by AT&T. And a statement on the Pac-12 Networks web site raised my football spirits a bit: We know that DirecTV subscribers have been frustrated not having…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Clinton-Warren 2016! (and my other brilliant political ideas)

I'm a political junkie. I like talking politics because, unlike science, it is one of those fields where I can honestly say to myself, "Brian, your ideas are so freaking right-on, it's unbelievable!"  Of course, everybody else in the political arena feels the same way. That's the nature of political discourse: everybody can be correct, because it's pretty much all about feeling, not facts.  So this is some of what I'm feeling at the moment, from my obviously correct personal progressive point of view. (1) Don't do it, Joe Biden. Yikes. The idea of you running for president fills me…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Planned Parenthood fetal tissue controversy is pure B.S.

Planned Parenthood is a great organization. Thankfully, a ridiculous attempt to defund it failed in the Senate today.  Senate Republicans’ latest ploy to choke off all federal funding to Planned Parenthood failed, as expected, on Monday afternoon in a 53-46 procedural vote. The measure fell short of the 60 votes needed to move it forward. It shouldn’t have been anywhere near that close. But the perennial conservative effort to cripple the nation’s largest family-planning organization got a boost last month from a string of grainy, edited undercover videos released by an anti-abortion group, and purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal sale of…
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Posted inSalem

Enlightened Theatrics block party rocks downtown Salem (I’ve got photos!)

The folks who bought the Grand Theatre are bringing new energy and creativity to downtown Salem. Thank you, members of the Meduri family! I thoroughly enjoyed the Enlightened Theatrics block party you put on today, using a closed-off block of High Street in front of the theatre. Ah, these barricades were a beautiful sight. I hope we see more of them. Downtown Salem would benefit from more two-way, two-lane streets instead of the one-way, three-lane streets that make it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to enjoy the Historic Area.  Closing off streets for special events like this one shows residents the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

“Shell No” Greenpeace protest in Portland — a brave call to action for all of us

This afternoon I was transfixed with local Portland television coverage of Greenpeace protesters' efforts to slow down disastrous oil drilling by Shell in Arctic waters.  Disastrous, because global warming is the greatest threat to civilization as we know it, along with the United States' national security. Watching the incredible bravery and determination of thirteen protesters who hung from ropes on the St. Johns Bridge to try to prevent a vessel loaded with equipment needed for Shell's drilling to move from a Portland drydock, and the courage of "Kayaktivists" who did their best to block the progress of the ship, I…
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Posted inSalem

What Salem Sunday Streets can learn from Portland Sunday Parkways

I've enjoyed the first two Salem Sunday Streets events here in Salem, Oregon. But after attending a Portland Sunday Parkways event last Sunday, I realized that Salem has a lot to learn from how the Cooler City to our north does its "open streets" thing. For those not in the know, here's a description of what the Open Streets movement is all about: Open streets initiatives temporarily close streets to automobile traffic, so that people may use them for walking, bicycling, dancing, playing, and socializing. Note the words, so that people may use them -- streets.  Portland holds true to this.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

New York Times public editor weighs in on Clinton emails story debacle

Now I'm even more convinced of what I said in the title of my previous post, "All newspapers, including the Statesman Journal, should have a public editor." After emailing Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor, about how disturbed I was about her newspaper's crappy reporting on a supposed "criminal" investigation into how Hillary Clinton handled classified State Department emails -- which turned out not to be the case -- today I got a reply from Sullivan's assistant.-------------------Dear Mr. Hines,  Thank you for taking the time to write. The public editor just published a post that addresses this article.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

All newspapers, including the Statesman Journal, should have a public editor

So it's big news today that the nation's leading newspaper, the New York Times, screwed up big time on a story about a supposed criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails when she was Secretary of State.  Newsweek reports on the story behind the flawed story in "How the New York Times Bungled the Hillary Clinton Emails Story." In our hyper-partisan world, many people will not care about the truth here. That the Times story is false in almost every particular—down to the level of who wrote what memo—will only lead to accusations that people trying to set the record straight are pro-Hillary.…
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Posted inBooks Philosophy

Greek island wisdom for old men: Cialis yes, testosterone no

Back in my college days, the summer of 1968 it was, I spent some time on a Greek island. Wonderful experience. Bright sun. Blue ocean. Whitewashed buildings. Laid back. I just finished a book by Daniel Klein, "Travels With Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled life."  Reading it also was a wonderful experience, in large part because I could relate so easily to its central themes. Klein is nine years older than me, in his seventies. He went to the island of Hydra, armed with a bunch of philosophy and psychology books, to ponder…
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Posted inSalem

Sun-lit photos of 2015 Salem Art Fair

Per usual, this year Laurel and I went to the three-day Salem Art Fair on Friday -- with an evening return trip on Saturday to see a musical group. It was pleasingly warm and sunny. We hear gripes from some Art Fair traditionalists about the current $5 admission charge, which necessitates a temporary chain-link fence around the fair. Sure, I understand the concern about keeping citizens out of a public park for several days a year. But we don't mind paying the five bucks, and equally understand why the Salem Art Association feels the need to charge this. Perhaps because…
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Posted inSalem

Statesman Journal excited about being #2 paper in Oregon! Out of three…

Being a frequent loud-mouthed critic of Salem's newspaper, the Statesman Journal -- hey, I've got to spend my retired years doing something fun -- naturally my eye was caught by today's story, "SJ wins top awards for web excellence." The Statesman Journal digital staff won first place for Best Overall Website and Best Web Design. Actually, the Statesman Journal web site sucks. At least in comparison to truly well-designed sites like the New York Times, a point I was pleased to make back in 2014 with "Ugh! My review of new Statesman Journal web site." I had high hopes for the…
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