Posted inCurrent affairs

Neuroscience agrees with Obama: “You didn’t build that”

This won't change many (if any) Republican minds, because mistrust of science has become a foundational G.O.P. position. Facts, after all, are inconvenient when unsupported assertions are the central presidential campaign strategy. Nonetheless, here's a passage that I came across this morning in Iain McGilchrist's fascinating book, "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World." McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, philosopher, and expert in how the human brain functions. Here he alludes to the impossibility of any man or woman being an island sufficient to him/herself. Or of building anything unaided, including a business. "You…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Romney wants our planet to get sicker and oceans to rise

There are countless reasons to vote for Barack Obama rather than Mitt Romney this November. Here's one of the great reasons: Romney wants our planet to get sicker and for the world's oceans to rise -- inundating highly populated areas, including Florida.  That's insane, but it's what he said when he mocked President Obama: President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family. How anybody could be for a diseased planet and coastal flooding is beyond me. Also, beyond Stephen Colbert, who had a great…
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Posted inEntertainment

DirecTV Pac-12 Network excuses are annoying

The sports page informs me that next Saturday's Oregon-Fresno State game only will be televised on the new Pac-12 Network. I want to watch the game. But paternalistic DirecTV doesn't feel that I should.  Today, once again, I contacted DirecTV, saying that one of their Important Subscribers, namely, me, wanted the pissing match between them and the Pac-12 Network to be resolved. Pronto! Before Saturday.  I got an annoying email response from a customer service rep. My reactions to the annoyances are in italics. Dear Mr. Hines,  Thank you for writing about the Pac 12 Sports Network. I see you…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Another “cougar” sighting turns out to be a house cat

Cougarphobic people, of which there are quite a few here in Oregon, have an irrational fear of cougars, a.k.a. mountain lions. I wish they'd get some therapy. This would be healthy both for them and the environment, since cougars are a valuable part of the natural ecosystem. One of the symptoms of cougarphobia is seeing cougars everywhere. I enjoy the periodic news stories about someone who SAW A COUGAR!!! Which turns out to be a house cat. Recently this happened again in Lynden, Washington. A "cougar" sighted four times near the Lynden fairgrounds turned out to be a very muscular…
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Posted inSalem

Salem Weekly exposes City Council’s trashing of Sustainable Fairview

Excellent job, Salem Weekly editors. Your reporting in "Master Plan? What Master Plan? The Lesson of Sustainable Fairview" was hugely better than the superficial articles published in the Salem Statesman Journal on this subject. You exposed the sad truth: Salem's opportunity to have a world-class mixed-use sustainable development now almost certainly has been frittered away through the City Council's short-sighted kissing up to Simpson Hills, LLC -- which gets to build barely-green (if even that) conventional apartments on a site that could have featured cutting edge environment-friendly design. My wife and I were investors in Sustainable Fairview Associates, LLC, the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Paul Ryan’s lies made him fail his V.P. “job interview”

Lyin' Ryan. Here's a great compilation of truth-telling about the lies Paul Ryan told at the Republican National Convention.  The last link is to a Jezebel post: "Why Lying is Bad: A Primer for Confused Republicans." Nicely done. Hopefully some right-wing commenters on this blog who habitually lie about global warming, Obama's policies, and other stuff will read the post. Excerpt: Yesterday at the Republican National Convention in Florida, vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan got up and made a rousing speech about democracy and the future and why President Obama is a great big bozo who's pooping in America's mouth and…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Ghastly Clint Eastwood “speech” makes Romney look bad

Cringe-inducing. Creepy. Disturbing. That's how I felt about Clint Eastwood's horrible twelve minutes on stage at the Republican National Convention before Romney spoke.  It's also how I feel about voting for Romney. So I'm glad Eastwood's performance was bad. It reflects poorly on Romney, who is supposed to be such a great manager, on top of all the details. Well, one detail he wasn't on top of was Clint Eastwood. This has to go down as one of the most embarassing prime time appearances at a major party political convention. Eastwood wasn't funny. He wasn't inspiring. He stuttered and stammered.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Regence of Oregon screws its individual policy-holders again in 2012

Yesterday the dreaded packet arrived from Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, just as it does almost every year. Regence tries to hide what it's doing, but the truth is apparent: us individual policy-holders are getting screwed over again. OSPIRG lays out why Regence shouldn't get the big rate increases it asks for annually. I heartily agree. But a recent email from OSPIRG contains bad news that could have been even worse. State officials decided to trim Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon’s proposal to raise rates for more than 52,000 Oregonians with individual health insurance plans, according to documents made public…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

American Meteorological Society strengthens global warming position

You've got a choice, global warming deniers: scurry further into the shadows of unreality, or come out into the sun of truth. I recommend the latter, because there's less and less room to hide. The previously almost deserted corridors of minority scientific opinion (97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming) are steadily becoming even less populated. Now the American Meteorological Society has put more pressure on global warming deniers, strengthening considerably its previous position statement on the subject. Here's excerpts from the August 2012 Information Statement of the American Meteorological Society: The following is an AMS Information…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Humor

The Onion’s 2001 jab at Bush fits Romney in 2012

Jim, a friend with progressive proclivities like my own, just sent me a link to a marvelous The Onion piece from January 2001: "Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over." The Onion is all about humor. But it was seriously correct about Bush. Reminds me a lot of what Romney wants to do to the country: make the 99% of us poorer and more miserable, while making the 1% richer and happier. Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation…
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Posted inEntertainment

Tell DirecTV you want the Pac-12 network. Now!

Saturday the OSU Beavers and Oregon Ducks start their football seasons. But us DirecTV subscribers won't be able to watch the Beavers on the Pac-12 network unless DirecTV works out a deal to get the channel. Do it, DirecTV! It wasn't long ago that we lost Comedy Central and other channels because of a corporate pissing match with Viacom. It was a pain in the butt to try to find The Colbert Report, Daily Show, and other necessities of life on Hulu or wherever. Don't screw us DirecTV subscribers again with a Pac-12 Network dispute.  If you're a DirecTV subscriber…
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Posted inFamily

My 5 year old granddaughter has secret agent skills

I probably shouldn't be blogging about my granddaughter's clearly evident (to a proud grandfather, at least) secret agent skills, because this information could compromise her after she joins the CIA.  However, twenty or so years from now Evelyn will look much different, and she'll have changed her name. Plus, how do you know I'm using her real name? (I assure you I am... but can you trust me, since secret agent'ness obviously runs in the family.) Below is a video of my granddaughter using her wiles to completely fool me into engaging in behavior that isn't in my best interest,…
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Posted inSalem

Napoleon’s Crêperie — our new favorite downtown Salem restaurant

I made an excellent choice, though sadly belated."Sadly," because for months I've been walking by the expanded Napoleon's Crêperie & Gelateria in downtown Salem, Oregon (189 Liberty Street NE) and didn't know what I was missing.  Never went in. Never ate there. Until last Thursday, during a visit by my daughter and granddaughter. We'd enjoyed the Riverfront Children's Museum and Carousel. I needed to refuel. "Crepes! We should get crepes!" I announced. I could tell that my eatery suggestion was met with some skepticism. My wife is health conscious. So is my daughter. My granddaughter, like most kids, knows what she likes to…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Romney wants to make Medicare enrollees pay more

Another day, another Romney-Ryan Medicare lie debunked. (Here's some previous lies.) Now we know that if Romney is able to do away with the Affordable Care Act's $716 billion in Medicare savings, Medicare recipients would pay hundreds of dollars more each year. So says "Patients Would Pay More if Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts Say." The 2010 health care law cut Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and insurers, not benefits for older Americans, by that amount over the coming decade. But repealing the savings, policy analysts say, would hasten the insolvency of Medicare by eight years — to 2016, the final year…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Why I cancelled our Newsweek subscription

I don't want to subscribe to a news magazine that isn't interested in facts. This is why I emailed Newsweek today: "Please cancel our subscription. We don't want a refund. We just don't want to see your magazine in our mailbox anymore." Ever since Newsweek became a weird combination of what it was before, and Tina Brown's "Daily Beast" online site, I've been enjoying the magazine less and less.  I can get bizarre stories and opinionated rants for free on the Internet. What I wanted from Newsweek is what I get from TIME: thoughtful analysis and intelligent commentary. But this…
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Posted inSustainability

How electric cars compare to gas cars, global warming emissions-wise

Thanks to Climate Progress, I now know how our Chevy Volt stacks up against fully gasoline powered cars when it is running on electric power -- which it does most of the time, since we're getting at least forty miles per charge and we rarely drive further than that. It turns out that even with electricity being partially generated by fossil fuel sources, here in the western part of the United States a gas car would need to get 73 mpg (which none do) to equal the emissions resulting from an electric car powered on the grid. The situation will…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Zakaria gets it right about gun control (even with a little plagiarism)

Unfortunately, Fareed Zakaria's August 20 essay in TIME magazine, "The Case for Gun Control," got more attention for the rather mild plagiarism he indulged in (which led to a one month suspension) than the substance of his piece. I heard Zakaria summarize the essay in a podcast of his GPS program. I was impressed by how he focused on simple facts, which led to virtually irrefutable conclusions. Gun violence in the United States is much higher than in comparable countries not because Americans are crazier and more immoral than people in those other countries. It's higher because we have a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Romney’s lies about Medicare debunked by PolitiFact

PolitiFact isn't always correct. But it's a heck of a lot more factual than most politicians. Including Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who are spreading lies about what they and President Obama want to do with Medicare. Here's some recent PolitiFact rulings which show that Romney and Ryan are lying, while Obama and his campaign are telling the truth. Barack Obama says Paul Ryan's Medicare plan could raise costs for Medicare beneficaries by $6,000 each. Mostly True. The difference between $12,500 (the out-of-pocket costs under the Ryan plan in 2022) and $6,150 (the out-of-pocket costs that year under traditional Medicare)…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Another confused Oregonian editorial against marijuana legalization

So much for balance on the Oregonian's editorial page. Unless I've missed a pro Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (Measure 80) opinion piece, today's confused guest editorial by Young Republican Brendan Monaghan is the third non-sensical "anti-pot" rant in a row.  (My previous demolishings of the Oregonian's reasonings are here and here.) Monaghan's sole justification for voting against legalization of marijuana for consumption by adults is that this would run afoul of federal law. Ridiculous federal law, which classifies marijuana in the same category as heroin and recognizes no medical use for it. However, Monaghan's Facebook page contains a favorite slogan of…
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Posted inHome life Web/Tech

Why I’m not going to wait for a 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro

Rumor has it (isn't Mr/Ms Rumor a reliable source?) that a 13 inch Retina Macbook Pro will be announced by Apple on September 12, along with the long-awaited iPhone 5 and probably other goodies. I've used a 13 inch MacBook Pro for over three years. Love it! At least I did, until the 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro was released. Since, I've bounced back and forth about what Apple laptop should replace my aged current one. On the day of the release I blogged, "New Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air? Laptop lust will decide." At that point I was…
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