Posted inCurrent affairs

Taxes are good. Here’s why in 114 words.

Tax wisdom from Jill Lapore in her November 26, 2012 piece, "Tax Time", The New Yorker. Taxes are what we pay for civilized society, for modernity, and for prosperity. The wealthy pay more because they have benefitted more. Taxes, well laid and well spent, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare. Taxes protect property and the environment; taxes make business possible. Taxes pay for roads and schools and bridges and police and teachers. Taxes pay for doctors and nursing homes and medicine.  During an emergency, like an earthquake or a hurricane, taxes pay for…
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Posted inFamily

How five year olds now ask “Santa” for presents

Disturbing. Yet also grandparent-proudness producing. That's how I felt after my daughter phoned a few days ago and told me how my five year old granddaughter is asking for Christmas presents. "Evelyn has learned how to press pause on the remote control," my daughter said. "When she's watching a kid show on TV and sees an ad for something she wants, Evelyn pauses the program, then yells at me to get my iPhone and write down the name of the desired gift on her ever-expanding list." Wow. Whatever happened to children going to the mall, sitting on Santa's lap, and…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Republicans now oppose rights of disabled. Shameful.

Just when I thought the Republican Party couldn't get any crazier, their political insanity ratchets up another notch.  I can almost understand why the not-so Grand Old Party disdains minorities, the poor, homosexuals, abortion rights advocates, secular humanists, and other people who don't fit in the small confines of who modern day Republicans consider to be morally acceptable. But disabled people? That's a new low. Which was reached yesterday when the Senate failed to ratify a United Nations treaty that protected the rights of disabled people -- including disabled American veterans who, along with Sen. John McCain, strongly favored the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Post-election hypocrisy: Republicans now call for big Medicare cuts

Wow. I've come to expect an amazing amount of Republican two-facedness after watching Mitt Romney, the GOP's annointed presidential nominee, change his position on just about everything (abortion, global warming, Iran, etc. etc.) to wild acclaim from the right-wing faithful. But I have to give the Republicans credit. They've surpassed my expectations for GOP amnesiac hypocrisy by embracing a position on Medicare that, a mere month after the election, is exactly opposite to what Romney and Ryan campaigned on. Remember all those Republican ads castigating Obama for his supposed $716 billion in Medicare cuts that Romney promised to restore to…
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Posted inDogs Home life

How our dogs, cute as they are, drive me crazy

Dogs, we're told, evolved along with humans. So just as what other people do is a source of both joy and exasperation for us, family dogs are adept at the same behaviors.  As are children, of course. This is why I never regret having only one child. Early on I realized the truth of basic arithmetic: a mother and father together (2) outnumber a child (1), and apart equal the child (1 = 1). However, a mother and father together (2) equal a pair of children (2), and apart are outnumbered by them (1 < 2). Which explains the qualms…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

To deal with fiscal cliff, let the red states semi-secede

I've got a great plan for handling the fiscal cliff crisis that is causing massive headaches for both Democrats and Republicans in Washington. I'm calling it "Chill" in honor of the Sirius satellite music channel I was listening to as the plan came to mind while I was driving home from downtown Salem tonight. Appropriate, because if there's anything our country needs right now, it's a chilling of the feverish right-left political arguing. Today Obama presented a fiscal cliff proposal to GOP leaders. They freaked out over it. Apparently Republicans haven't gotten the news that President Obama was resoundingly re-elected after…
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Posted inHome life

I hate jury duty. Here’s why.

Right now I'm trying my best to not listen to an irritating video about the All-American importance of jury duty, a video I've ignored before previous times I've been called as a juror. It's being played here in the jury assembly room on the 5th floor of the Marion County (Oregon) Courthouse. One purpose of the video is to make me and my fellow morose potential jurors feel better about being forced to take time off of work, or whatever our usual life consists of, and do something we don't want to do. Amazingly, I just heard a woman on…
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Posted inEntertainment

U.S. troops vs. Miami Dolphin cheerleaders in “Call Me Maybe” videos

Gorgeous! Both the guys and gals. Take your pick. Who do you respond to the most after hearing Call Me Maybe? The split screen version is my favorite. The troops in Afghanistan did a terrific job mimicing the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders. Whoever shot the video was highly skilled also.    Here's the troops by themselves.   And the cheerleaders by themselves.  
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Republicans proven wrong about Rice’s Benghazi remarks

It's been eight days since I posted "Susan Rice vindicated about her Benghazi comments." Now, reports have surfaced that make her even more vindicated, and her ridiculous Republican attackers even more wrong. I'm following this issue because it provides a fascinating look into the reality-denying right-wing brain. It's been obvious for quite a while that Ambassador Rice was simply conveying talking points prepared by United States intelligence agencies. Driving around today, I heard GOP Senator Lindsey Graham interviewed by George Stephanopoulus. Graham was asked exactly that: isn't it true that Rice was conveying talking points approved by intelligence officials? He…
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Posted inDogs Home life

Our dogs are featured in Statesman Journal “PetClick”!

Fame. It's fleeting. Especially if you're a dog. Got to divide potential human fame-years by seven. So today Laurel and I were thrilled to see Serena and Zu Zu prominently displayed at the top of page 6D in the Salem Statesman Journal. (Just five pages from page 1! And three sections from section A!) Naturally you'll want to click on the image to enlarge our dogs closer to full size. And if you want to preserve the PetClick in another electronic form to become part of your Important Historical Archives, here's the PDF file. Download Pet Click Statesman Journal  The…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Obama, let Colorado and Washington go ahead with legal marijuana

Over in the New York Times TImothy Egan makes some excellent arguments in favor of a federal hands-off approach to the marijuana legalization initiatives that passed in Colorado and Washington a few weeks ago. Usually Republicans and other conservatives look down on NY Times opinion pieces, but "Give Pot a Chance" should appeal to people all across the political spectrum.  Social revolutions in a democracy, especially ones that begin with voters, should not be lightly dismissed. Forget all the lame jokes about Cheetos and Cheech and Chong. In the two-and-a-half weeks since a pair of progressive Western states sent a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Marco Rubio newest Republican anti-science “poster child”

It pains me to think about the 2016 presidential election, since we're just a few weeks past the 2012 election -- which felt like it went on for years (because it did).  But pundits who got the Obama-Romney victor wrong are now turning their attention to getting likely nominees for 2016 wrong. Which includes Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the Republican side.  This makes Rubio's recent comments about the age of the Earth even more disturbing. In my ever-optimistic mind, I've been hoping that after the G.O.P.'s solid defeat in the 2012 election, Republicans would realize that they need to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Friendly advice to Portland longshore workers: cool it

Consider this, members of the longshore workers and other unions at the Port of Portland who are engaged in what can only be described as "antics" which threaten the viability of shipping in this area and even the entire Pacific Northwest: When a proud progressive like me, who supports unions, who was strongly against Republican efforts in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere to cripple unions, who dislikes corporate domination of our nation's economy, reads about what is happening at the Port of Portland and thinks "Those unions are acting absurdly," maybe it's time to calm down and stop auditioning for parts…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sports

Most disturbing play in Oregon’s 2012 loss to Stanford

There was a lot not to like in how the Oregon football team lost last Saturday to Stanford. Aaron Fentress of the Portland Oregonian nailed the awesome awfulness of the loss in a story today. Saturday's defeat ranks as one of the most disappointing in the program's history. All but gone are the Ducks' national title hopes. Claiming a fourth consecutive Pac-12 title will require help from others. A potential fourth consecutive trip to a BCS bowl game could dissolve into a trip to the Holiday Bowl.  ...On the field, Oregon looked dreadful on Saturday. Its running game was stuffed.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment

2012 Oregon-OSU Civil War game not on DirecTV. Curses!

I wanted to put genuine profanity in the title of this post. But my sense of cyberspace propriety stopped me. Until now... Fuck you, DirecTV! Fuck you, Pac 12 Network! May you and your progeny (assuming corporations have progeny, but aren't they people too?) endure eternal torture in whatever hell is reserved for heartless, greedy, uncaring bastards who put their own selfish interest above the needs of others. Like me.  I've been annoyed with DirecTV for several months. Virtually every other "cable" provider has worked out an agreement with the Pac 12 Network. But not DirecTV. So I've been missing…
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Posted inSalem

Dark Sky radar image of Northwest shows — shock! — RAIN.

There's some good news and bad news in this iPhone screenshot I took a few minutes ago of Dark Sky's radar image of the western United States. Good news: Almost everywhere, it isn't raining or snowing. Note all the black. Bad news: We in the Pacific Northwest are getting hammered by storms. Light blue is lighter precipitation; reddish purple is heavier precipitation.  I love Dark Sky. It makes crappy weather more entertaining. Or at least, more predictable. The app is pretty darn accurate when it comes to forecasting rain or snow in the next hour. And the radar images, both…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Susan Rice vindicated about her Benghazi comments

After their very real election losses -- President, Senate seats, House seats -- you'd think reality-denying Republicans (who imagined Romney would be victorious despite all the polling evidence to the contrary) would have learned that facts matter. But, nope. They're up to their old tricks, hoping that a lie told over and over on Fox News and elsewhere somehow will transform into truth.  The current Lie of the Moment is that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who is being talked about as a replacement for Secretary of State Clinton, deceived Americans when she described the Benghazi attacks soon after they happened.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

End the Senate filibuster. Or at least, reform the damn thing.

"Majority rules." Makes sense to me. I can live with that. In both the House and the Senate. Do away with the Senate's stupid filibuster custom where 41 out of 100 Senators have veto power over what legislation will be passed by Congress, and whether Presidential nominations of administration officials and judges will be confirmed. Republican abuse of the filibuster has led to Senate gridlock. Then Republicans complain that the Obama administration can't get anything through the Senate. This hypocritical insanity has to end. There's a lot to like about a parliamentary system of government. An election is held. A…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Seattle Police Department’s entertaining guide to marijuana use

As a proud Oregonian, a resident for 41 years, I'm embarassed to say this. But I will. I'm envious of Washingtonians.  Last Tuesday they legalized marijuana and ratified the legality of gay marriage. And it looks like they have a way cooler police department in Seattle than we have in Portland. It's difficult to imagine the Portland police department putting out such a well-written and entertaining guide to now-legal marijuana use as the Seattle P.D. did in "Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use in Seattle." Some excerpts: The people have spoken. Voters have passed Initiative 502 and beginning December…
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Posted inHumor

Onion exposes depth of Petraeus sex scandal

Once again, the Onion gives us a wise perspective on current events: "WIdening Petraeus Scandal Reveals Human Race Has Been Having Sex for 200,000 Years." Excellent analysis. No, more. A penetrating analysis. Following the recent revelation that former CIA director David Petraeus conducted a protracted extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, sources confirmed today that the far-reaching scandal has widened to reveal that mankind, otherwise known as the species Homo sapiens, has been engaging in sexual intercourse for the past 200,000 years. “While the situation appeared at first to be limited to this one sexual relationship between Gen. Petraeus and Ms.…
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