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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Posted inSalem

City of Salem and Salem Hospital embrace corporate cronyism

If anyone doubts that top officials in Salem's City Hall -- notably including Mayor Peterson and a right-wing City Council majority -- are committed to kissing up to narrow special interests rather than the broad public interest, consider this: Here's how the City's top legal guy reacted to the news that the Oregon Court of Appeals gave a big smackdown to an ill-considered variance for a Salem Hospital parking lot that gave this large corporation more parking spaces that it was entitled to, and permission to cut down more large beautiful trees than it needed to. City Attorney Dan Atchison…
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Posted inSalem

People of Pacific Northwest: be scared, very scared. The Big One is coming.

If you live in Oregon, Washington, northern California, or British Columbia, you MUST do this -- read a scarily truthful story in The New Yorker, "The Really Big One: an earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest; the question is when. Kathryn Schulz wrote the piece beautifully. Like everybody who writes for The New Yorker, she has a marvelous way of putting words together. In this case, to describe how everything west of the Cascades is going to fall apart when the Big One, or the Really Big One, strikes. By the time the shaking has ceased…
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Posted inReligion Salem

Statesman Journal should stop publishing idiotic letters from Christian fanatics

There's many things that irritate me about Salem, Oregon's newspaper, the Statesman Journal.  For some, see "Maybe it's time for the Statesman Journal to die." In that post, though, I didn't mention how annoying the frequent letters to the editor from local Christian fundamentalists are.  I have no idea why they're published. Opinions should be based on facts. But by definition, Christianity is based on faith. There's zero factual evidence that the Christian god exists, or that Jesus was the son of this imaginary god. I can understand how people can have opinions based on misunderstood facts, such as the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Photos of the oh-so-fun 2015 Oregon Country Fair

Like ex-hippie swallows returning annually to their tie-dyed nesting place, Laurel and I flew down I-5 from Salem to Veneta yesterday -- Oregon Country Fair time! Even though marijuana became legal in Oregon on July 1, this didn't make any difference to the fair's ambience. Sure, per usual we smelled a few whiffs of pot here and there. But I didn't see any open marijuana use, in line with a story in the Eugene Register-Guard. The Oregon Country Fair is wonderfully family-friendly. I can hardly wait to take my eight year old granddaughter to it. Though the fair is crowded,…
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Posted inSalem

Salem Mayor Anna Peterson unduly proud of her “collaboration capital”

Anna Peterson is the Mayor of Salem, Oregon's capital. She is really fond of calling this town the "collaboration capital."  I counted up 11 times collaboration was used in Peterson's 2013 State of the City speech. Just about every time I hear her talk, she manages to squeeze in "collaboration capital." What does this really mean, though? Everybody collaborates. Everybody cooperates. (The two words are basically synonymous.) We humans are social animals. We flock together. We work together. We aren't lone wolves. Of course, wolves aren't alone either. They too collaborate and cooperate. So why is Mayor Peterson making such a…
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Posted inSalem

Bikes, beer, and food carts — what the town of Sisters can teach Salem

I love the central Oregon town of Sisters. I've written about it in "How Sisters, Oregon became a charming prosperous town" and "Camp Sherman and Sisters: I love these Oregon towns." Now, there's only a few thousand people in the city limits of Sisters, while Salem, my home town, has a population of about 160,000. As noted in one of my previous posts, Sisters was centrally planned to have an 1880's Western theme. Salem has pretty much just grown, and suffers from a lack of smart urban design. Every time I visit Sisters, I think "This town has a lot…
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Posted inRecreation

Independence Day in Camp Sherman: charmingly laid-back

Our dog finds a lot to like in how Camp Sherman, Oregon celebrates the Fourth of July -- without fireworks, since the unincorporated town (just a few hundred full time residents) is nestled in the midst of National Forest land where the demonic canine-scaring devices aren't allowed. I also enjoy visiting Camp Sherman on Independence Day. Also, any day. My wife and I have a quarter-share ownership in a forest service cabin on the banks of the Metolius River. So we usually come to Camp Sherman once a month from about May to October, shunning the coldest part of the…
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Posted inNeighborhood Salem

Let’s make Salem more gnarly and less smooth

"Gnarly." A great word. Also, an admirable quality. For people, like you and me. For a town, like Salem, Oregon, where I live. Some of the meanings of gnarly are powerful, misshapen, difficult, outstanding.  My Tai Chi instructor used the word in telling a story about what happened after he asked a martial arts acquaintance he hadn't seen for quite a while to demonstrate his Yang Long Form. "Oh, no, you don't want to see it," the guy replied. "My form is gnarly, man, not pretty at all."  Which meant, his Tai Chi had evolved into a practical fighting art,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Marijuana is legal in Oregon at midnight. Praise us baby boomers!

In honor of marijuana getting to put on the July 1 glass slipper of legalization at midnight, I feel like sharing my Ex-Hippie Flower Child Top Tip on Using Psychedelic Drugs, of which cannabis/marijuana is one. In typical baby-boomer fashion, I also will share a previous blog post where I persuasively argued why my generation, the Me Generation, deserves to soon have a big fat doobie raised to us by legally stoned Oregonians. But first, the tip... Back in the 60's, when anything seemed possible if people would only alter their screwed-up straight consciousness through psychedelics, Timothy Leary spoke of set…
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