Link of the day

Interesting abandoned places.

Drill Baby Drill

The surface area of the gulf oil spill has tripled.

Oklahoma legalizes doctors lying to patients

Check out the latest from Oklahoma, the land that gave us Senator Dr. Tom Coburn.

Connect The Dots

The U.S.Mine Safety & Health Administration evacuates three mines, citing anonymous tips of safety violations.

The Massey Energy Co. response? Fire 8 miners.

The message is quite clear: If you call and report a safety violation, some miner will lose their job.

Tomorrow's shooting match

This is the first of six stages in tomorrow's match by the Orygun Cowboys.

A FB conversation about that song stuck in your head

Zebra

Today's shoot

Vegan Gangs of Portland

They give the term "Big Mac Attack" new meaning.

Dan Takes A Solo

Armadillo

Big Spring Falls

Scorpion

Portland's Holiday Express

Bearded Dragon

Scenic Cruise

Trains Only

From last night's shoot

This weekend's photos

The link to the photos from this weekend's team penning event is here.

RFID Chips - Broadcasting Your Data To The World

Because that's what they do.

Here is a video of a guy who can drive around, read and clone the RFID tags in U.S. Passports and the new enhanced driver's licenses.

Donald and Lydia - Lyrics

From the John Prine tune:

Small town, bright lights, Saturday night,
Pinballs and pool halls flashing their lights.
Making change behind the counter in a penny arcade
Sat the fat girl daughter of Virginia and Ray

(Spoken:)
Lydia
Lydia hid her thoughts like a cat
Behind her small eyes sunk deep in her fat.
She read romance magazines up in her room
And felt just like Sunday on Saturday afternoon.

Chorus:
But dreaming just comes natural
Like the first breath from a baby,
Like sunshine feeding daisies,
Like the love hidden deep in your heart.

Bunk beds, shaved heads, Saturday night,
A warehouse of strangers with sixty watt lights.
Staring through the ceiling, just wanting to be
Lay one of too many, a young PFC:

(Spoken:)
Donald
There were spaces between Donald and whatever he said.
Strangers had forced him to live in his head.
He envisioned the details of romantic scenes
After midnight in the stillness of the barracks latrine.

Repeat Chorus:

Hot love, cold love, no love at all.
A portrait of guilt is hung on the wall.
Nothing is wrong, nothing is right.
Donald and Lydia made love that night.

(Spoken:)
Love
The made love in the mountains, they made love in the streams,
They made love in the valleys, they made love in their dreams.
But when they were finished there was nothing to say,
'Cause mostly they made love from ten miles away.

Repeat Chorus:

My favorite story of the day

Passenger repairs airliner, flight arrives only 23 minutes late

Pascal's Pensees

I have come to this masterpiece of French prose by a strange route -- through the Jack Taylor mysteries by Ken Bruen.

Taylor is a hardbitten Irish P.I., struggling with the Irish Affliction since being cast out of the Garda. He is a literary man, whose enemies know they can wound him by destroying his book collection. He shares the Irish love for verbal jousting and gymnastics; many pages spend as much ink on words thought but not spoken as they do on the actual dialogue. His thoughts are littered with literary references, including frequent references to Pascal's Pensees. Pascal and Taylor both have strong religious sentiments, but Pascal was on much better terms with the Church than Taylor.

Danny Goes To Church

Ruth brought Dan to church for the fellowship hour after the service.

He dashed upstairs to the now mostly empty sanctuary, then walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the church. He folded his hands reverently, bowed his head, then looked up and announced:

"I know why you have come! I have every intention of granting your request!"

The intersection of Christianity and The Wizard of Oz. I'll bet that Dan was one of the few making an offer rather than a request, though.

The Intelligence of Crows

Slight Shift In Word Usage

Oregonlive.com posted this Associated Press report about the death of Michael Jackson:

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died today. He was 50.

Before Michael Jackson, "freakish" meant unbelievably improbable, as in "freakish weather." Now it means relating to or being a freak, where freak means a strange deviation from nature.

Story of the Day

Trippy Skippy

Does Curry Fight Dementia?

The BBC ran this story.

Some Background On Heartspring

This story is making the rounds of the Wichita media outlets right now.

Cinco de Mayo

Portland's Cinco de Mayo Fiesta.

Admiration

One of my favorite photos of the day.

Mother Nature Takes Out Our G3

A big line of storms came out of nowhere, at least as far as the National Weather Service is concerned. We were in a matinee of Lincoln High School's production of Annie, and you could hear the storm hit from inside the auditorium, over the sounds of the orchestra and cast. We walked out of the theater to see that the tree next to our parked car had fallen in the other direction.

Our luck was a bit different at home. We returned home to find that a power surge had knocked out our old G3. My reaction reminded me of the reaction that Philip Roth had when he learned of his ex-wife's death, as he marveled, "She's dead and I didn't do it."

That machine had pretty much turned into an e-mail only machine, so we lose all our old e-mails and address book. It's the electronic version of no longer needing to clean house because it burned down.

One of the things I will miss will be the iCal calendar application. For anyone who follows my web calendar, you won't see any changes for a while. When we buy the new machine, I will see if the new iCal that comes with it is to my liking.

I am going to try something a bit different for the next computer. We bought a relatively small flat screen TV for Dan's use when at home, which is also designed to be used as a computer monitor. I like the idea of buying a Mac Mini, and hooking it up to the TV. Bored with the web? What's on TV?

Dead Computer

The old G-3 we put into service Christmas 2002 finally died, and our mac.com e-mail address book died with it. If any of you send us e-mail though that account, please drop us a message so we can capture your e-mail address.

Oaks Park #4 - Disk'O

Oaks Park #3 - Car 16

Oaks Park #2

Autism Awareness Walk

This photo taken yesterday at Oaks Park.

Cowboy Action Shooting

I made this video 2 years ago. I was slower then.

Danny Sings

I particularly like the big finish.

I'll stop whining, at least for a little while

Here's a question

When the SEC was investigating Robert Allen Stanford, which government agency told it to "stand down"?

Which government agency was running interference for Mr. Stanford?

A Good Weekend in Albany

Great Depression Cooking

The Banks Get You Coming And Going

So, with the economy in freefall thanks to the banks and George W., there are 5 million people in the US on unemployment benefits.

Thirty states have deals with banks to issue unemployment benefits in the form of pre-paid debit cards. But the banks are set up to take the skim from those benefits.

Call to check your balance? That costs 50 cents.

Use the card twice in the same day? That's $1.50.

They'll even allow overdrafts, and then charge you $20.00 for the overdraft.

Oh yeah, and they get about 3% of each transaction.

All this from the people who got us in this mess, and then got bonuses with taxpayer money.

What's on my iPod tonight?

Out of the thousands of songs my iPod had to choose from, this is what it chose to fling at me while I prepared dinner:

A Night In Tunisia, Jimmy Rowles

Looking At You, Rebecca Kilgore

When I Come Back Around, Jamie Lidell

Rebecca, Pat McGee Band

I'll Get Even With You, Leann Rimes

Ever The Sun Will Rise, Tony Levin

Fire, Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Billie's Blues, Billie Holiday

Good Times, Bad Times, Led Zeppelin

Workingman's Blues #2, Bob Dylan

All Along The Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix

The Tracks Of My Tears, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

No Greater Love, Ahmad Jamal

Spell Check Strikes Again

A news story about the California budget legislation quoted the Lt. Gov. as saying:

And then, when you have recalescent Republicans that have taken a no new tax pledge and seem to really just want to throw this state, and the nation, into chaos and further decline in the economy.

Looks like the spell checker turned recalcitrant into recalescent, which is an interesting word in and of itself, having to do with the glow that steel gives off as it cools.

Seems circular somehow

So, the Seattle municipal water company was ordered by the court to refund customers for an improper fire hydrant surcharge.

So, the water company is raising the money for the refund with a new refund surcharge.

A Roger Bertholf book review

Editor's note: political diversity is welcome here, especially when it comes from my friends.
---------------------

“The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse” by Gregg Easterbrook (Random House, 2003)

In this carefully researched and extensively referenced book, Gregg Easterbrook, a contributing editor of the Atlantic Monthly and visiting fellow of the Brookings Institution, poses the simple question: Why do so many citizens of Western countries express such collective malaise over their state of affairs when, by virtually any objective measure of human existence, they are better off than well over 99% of all the homo sapiens who have ever walked this earth? His question demands historical perspective, something many of this generation lack, and he does not answer it conclusively, but his exploration into the possible reasons is careful and reasoned. Despite the premise in its title, there are several things this book is not: It is not a “feel good about how well off you are” admonition. It is not a dismissal of all things bad about Western society. It does not preach that you’ve got no reason to complain, and it doesn’t even suggest that Western society is necessarily good in all respects.

Politically, Easterbrook is difficult to define. He clearly embraces the overwhelming superiority of democratic government, free market economies, moral values, personal accountability, reduction of the federal debt, and fiscal restraint, which would generally align him with most conservatives. Yet, he rails against social and economic inequities, greed of corporate executives (outright theft from shareholders—and now, taxpayers—is one of the more generous descriptions he applies to CEO largesse), greenhouse gas emissions, egregious waste of petroleum resources by SUVs, lack of universal healthcare in the U.S., and the plight of the poor in underdeveloped countries, an agenda that would cause even the most liberal activist to blush. A liberal who happens to support democratization of the world, decries deficit spending, and suggests that we’ve never had it better? Or, a conservative who blames corporate greed for economic inequity, urges us to consume less and be more charitable, and frets over global warming? You can decide, if that is important to you. It wasn’t to me.

One by one, Easterbrook convincingly challenges commonly-held notions of Western society’s decline. Income? Even at the lowest strata of society, income and quality of life have improved; this is true not only in Western countries, but in underdeveloped countries, as well, with the one exception—frequently cited by Easterbrook—of sub-Saharan Africa. Health? Longevity in the Western world has nearly doubled in just four generations, and although Easterbrook considers it a national disgrace that universal healthcare is not provided in the United States, he points out that some form of healthcare is available to almost everyone, albeit inequitable and to many, woefully inadequate. Gas prices? Inflation-adjusted prices for gasoline are no higher than they were a half a century ago. Armed conflicts? There are fewer wars being waged today than at any time in modern history. The environment? The Environmental Protection Agency, created in 1970, has been, arguably, the most successful government agency the history of the United States. Our water is cleaner, and our air is less polluted, than at any time since the advent of industrialized society. The single exception that Easterbrook points out is greenhouse gases, not universally defined as a pollutant, but a serious concern to him. Crime? Crime has steadily decreased over the past two decades, and sociologists are unable to explain why (Easterbrook amusingly observes how movies and television dramas exaggerate the frequency with which police are involved in shootouts—85% of policemen, he notes, serve their entire career without ever discharging their weapon in the line of duty, except on a firing range).

Easterbrook points out that many of these problems were once considered insolvable, but many have been solved, or at least dramatic progress has been made. So, he wonders, why doesn’t anyone acknowledge these societal gains? Why is the perception so common that we are worse off than our forebears of just a couple of generations ago? In his analysis of this question, Easterbrook makes the remarkable argument that qualities such as charity, forgiveness, and humility have a basis in evolutionary biology; these qualities, he suggests—with considerable research to support his view—are not simply moral teachings founded in religious precepts; evidence suggests that these qualities confer an evolutionary advantage, by a variety of social and biological mechanisms. This is a counterintuitive notion that Easterbrook develops at great length, citing many sociological, psychological, and epidemiological studies that demonstrate the influence of moral behavior on longevity and overall happiness with life.

The last two chapters are titled, revealingly, “Changing Our World,” and “Changing Their World,” the latter in reference to what can be done by affluent societies to improve the desperate conditions in many underdeveloped countries, as well as countries with fabulous wealth that does not translate into a higher living standard for the majority of their population (oil-rich countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Russia being prime examples). Of course, helping the poor is not a novel cause; it has been embraced by many who say, rightfully, that it is the compassionate thing to do. But Easterbrook’s argument for raising the standard of living, not only for the disadvantaged citizens of affluent Western countries (particularly the U.S.), but for the world in general, is unique in that it is based on three premises: We have the wealth to do it if we make sensible decisions about what we need and don’t need; it is the right thing to do; and it is to our advantage, as a society and individually, to make such a commitment.

Easterbrook suggests that “. . .if we decide well, the future may hold an ever-better life, about which our descendants will complain.”

Roger Bertholf

Another Victim Of The Economy

Rod Blagojevich explains his job loss this way:

There are tens of thousands of Americans who are losing their job every single day. I just happen to be among the ranks

He wasn't impeached, he was just laid off

They Just Can't Be Expected To Live That Way

Regarding bank executives and bonuses, from the NYT:

“Without a doubt, $18 billion is a lot of money, but it’s a drop in the bucket on Wall Street,” said Gustavo Dolfino, president of the WhiteRock Group, a headhunter for the banks. “These bonuses are down, and the salaries are not enough for these people. They can’t live on $150 to $180,000, so they haven’t saved any money. They put it on credit lines and at bonus time, they thought they’d pay it off.”

So the taxpayer, with a median income of $49K a year, must pick up the tab.

Question: What are the bank executives doing to prevent taxpayers from suffering unacceptable living circumstances?

Roughing it, American style

Propane powered. Now that's my kind of camping. Only in America.

Cowboy Poems

Bill's in Trouble

I've got a letter, parson, from my son away out West,
An' my ol' heart is heavy as an anvil in my breast,
To think the boy whose future I had once so proudly planned
Should wander from the path of right an' come to such an end!
I told him when he left his home, not three short years ago,
He'd find himself a plowin' in a mighty crooked row—
He'd miss his father's counsel, an' his mother's prayers, too;
But he said the farm was hateful, an' he guessed he'd have to go.

I know thar's big temptation for a youngster in the West,
But I believed our Billy had the courage to resist,
An' when he left I warned him o' the ever waitin' snares
That lie like hidden sarpints in life's pathway everywheres.
But Bill he promised faithful to be keerful, an' allowed
He'd build a reputation that'd make us mighty proud;
But it seems as how my counsel sort o' faded from his mind,
An' now the boy's in trouble o' the very wustest kind!

His letters came so seldom that I somehow sort o' knowed
That Billy was a trampling on a mighty rocky road,
But never once imagined he would bow my head in shame,
An' in the dust'd waller his ol' daddy's honored name.
He writes from out in Denver, an' the story's mighty short;
I just can't tell his mother, it'll crush her poor ol' heart!
An' so I reckoned, parson, you might break the news to her—
Bill's in the legislatur', but he doesn't say what fur.

by James Barton Adams (1843-1918), from Breezy Western Verse, 1899

Understanding the Middle East

I have been reading The Devil We Know, by Robert Baer. From one review:

The reality, according to Robert Baer in his new book "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower" (Crown Publishers, 288 pages, $25.95) is much more complicated and subtle -- and dangerous. He says we must deal with reality -- with "The Devil We Know" -- or find our access to Persian Gulf oil eliminated.

The Shia regime in Iran is halfway to winning its undeclared 30-year war with the U.S. which began with the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 by using proxies such as Hezbollah and the Kurds, forging alliances with Russia and China and exploiting the Muslim divide of Shia and Sunni factions, Baer says.

He's a former CIA operative whose character was played by George Clooney in the movie "Syriana," based on Baer's book "See No Evil." He has extensive contacts throughout the Middle East, including Israel, which he says is pursuing a realistic approach to Iran since its defeat by Hezbollah in the 34-day 2006 war in Lebanon. Baer quotes -- on Page 109 -- an assessment from the Winograd Commission Report, the official Israeli investigation into the 2006 war: "A semi-military organization of a few thousand men resisted for a few weeks, the strongest army in the Middle East, which enjoyed full air superiority and size and technological advantages."

The neocons who thought that conquering Iraq would alter the balance of power in the Middle East in Israel's favor have done precisely the opposite. The way they went about it, by destroying both the Iraqi army and the moderate Shia clerics, have handed Iraq to Iran on a platter. Iran now controls Iraq by proxy.

The context for the current Israeli invasion of Gaza is that the foes of Israel have been emboldened by Israel's defeat by Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy, in 2006. The Israelis may well think that they had to engage in the current conflict and win it to tilt the balance back towards the middle. But what if they don't win it?

Baer's book also gives me the impression that Iran would be perfectly happy to have us spend our efforts and attention on preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Iran is well on its way to accomplishing their plans for regional empire, which do not require nuclear weapons for success.

Why do we still have our head stuck in the sand? (I confess, less charitable images for head placement come to mind.)

Baggage

We went to the airport and got Dan's bag today.

Dan arrived in Portland on December 22. His bag arrived in Portland on December 29. United Airlines refused to deliver the bag, because Ruth had not waited with Dan in the hours long line at Baggage Claim for a claim number, on the day they finally arrived.

And they charged us $15 extra for this service.

Quote du jour

The NYT quoted Dr. Michael McCullough:

“When it comes to religion, professionally, I’m a fan, but personally, I don’t get down on the field much.”

Bad Idea

Governor Kulongoski thinks that Oregonians should have mandatory GPS transponders in their vehicles so that the state can tax us based on the mileage we drive.

Apparently it's not enough that the George W. Bush MENSA chapter is listening to all our phone calls and reading all our e-mails.

2008 Photos

A smattering of 2008 photos can be found at this link.

Christmas Letter 2008

Christmas Eve 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

I suppose it is time to write the Christmas letter, given that it is about 12 hours until Christmas.

This Christmas may be one of the sterner tests of my rules for Christmas letters: no misery, no bragging. Christmas 2008 seems like something out of Dickens, and I don’t mean A Christmas Carol. I had A Tale of Two Cities in mind:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had ...”

It seems as if we have two sorts of Advent going on right now, as we also wait for a changing of the guard in our national leadership.

It looks like we will be having a white Christmas, as we wait for a thaw after the biggest snow storm here in 40 years. 2008 is finishing as it began, with Dan home for winter break. The trip home for this Christmas was not straightforward, as Dan and Ruth took 5 days to make what should have been a 1 day trip. I don’t know whether to compare it to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, or to Gilligan’s Island (the “3 hour tour.”)

Dan continues in school at Heartspring, in Wichita, KS. He has figured out how to tap into computers wherever he may be, and pull up all of his favorite videos on YouTube. He and several of his classmates have perfected these techniques, to the occasional dismay of the faculty and staff at school. His PE teacher continues to cajole him into participating in the Kansas Special Olympics. He turned 14 years old in October, and celebrated as Pat took him and his G-3 housemates to Golden Corral for dinner, before returning to G-3 for pirate cake and presents.

Elizabeth is only called Elizabeth by a dwindling number of adults, her parents included. The rest of the world knows her as Liz or Lizzie. Her big interests are horses, team penning in particular, and theater. She was eligible for her learner’s permit in February after turning 15 years old, but thankfully she has never gotten around to pursuing that. As a sophomore at Lincoln HS, she generally runs lights and works as assistant stage manager for the drama productions. The drama department at Lincoln seems pretty ambitious. Sometimes the complexity of the productions, with all the cues for lighting and sound, starts to blur the line with Cirque du Soleil. She continued to build her petsitting business. She has been saving for 6 years to buy her horse, and has been eager to push that project to the finish line.

Elizabeth turns down human sitting jobs, but Ruth snaps them up. It’s awfully cute to have third graders calling to see if they can arrange playdates with Ruth. It never fails to strike fear in Pat’s heart as one of these babysitting jobs or playdates approaches, for fear that Ruth will find herself unable to fulfill the commitment and he will be pressed into service. Ruth continues with her book club. Ruth and Pat both enjoyed an invitation to ride on one of the Christmas Ships, a tradition in Portland where a fleet of boats with holiday decorations does an aquatic parade and maneuvers on the rivers in Portland. Ruth remains on track to meet her goal of being the last person on Earth to own a cell phone. She celebrated her 30th year with the Veterans Administration, and is proud that her whole resume fits on a note card.

Pat continues in magpie mode, pursuing whatever appears bright and shiny. None of the old pursuits fell out of the picture. Music, rock and jazz, continued apace. Cowboy Action Shooting received its due. Photography was added to the mix, with a membership in the Portland Photograpic Society.

As a family, we double dipped on State Fairs this year. Dan’s house got to go to the Kansas State Fair. Pat and Elizabeth had photos accepted for the Oregon State Fair.

Ruth, Pat, and Elizabeth enjoyed a lovely trip to Namibia in July. We toured first in the beach resort of Swakopmund, and saw the nearby Millionaire’s Row where Brad and Angelina stayed for their first adventure with biologic childbirth. We then went on a hunting safari at the truly marvelous Bergzicht Game Lodge. Ruth on safari. We have pictures. She fulfilled her dreams of riding a horse on the dunes, even if she did end up on a Georgia Walking Horse, and learned from experience that her dream of riding a camel on the dunes was more fun imagined than real. On the flight home Pat’s leg began to itch, and it was soon apparent to the naked eye that he had brought home a pet. With that, our trophies ran the gamut from Aardwolf to Zoonooses. It only took two rounds of the worm medicine to resolve the latter.

We enjoyed lovely visits from family and friends. Peter and Stephanie Levins came by on a college tour. Roger Bertholf and his family joined us for Prinestock 2008. We also enjoyed visiting family and friends back East.

To complete this, we need to collect a series of pictures from the year, to accompany this letter. Easier said than done, as Dan has commandeered many of the computers for his multimedia viewing pleasure.

Here is hoping that Christmas finds you and yours happy, safe, and warm.

Ruth, Pat, Elizabeth, Dan, Allie, and Star


A smattering of 2008 photos can be found at this link:

Today's photos

Where's that path I shoveled yesterday?

Wonder where the Sunday paper is?

This is the view out my front door this morning. There is a lot of shoveling to do just to get the dog out for a bit, let alone so that Ruth and Dan can make it to the door.

Witness Dies

Karl Rove's IT expert, Mike Connell, the guy who scrubbed and moved all the e-mails out of the White House system, was getting ready to testify in an Ohio electronic vote fraud case. He was receiving threats.

But now he has died in a crash of his small plane.

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Ruth left Thursday, to bring Dan home from Heartspring for winter break. She would fly into the Wichita airport, and the Heartspring staff would bring Dan to the airport for their flight to Portland.

However, the pilot of the little plane going into Wichita decided that he couldn't land there because of fog. I don't know if the problem was the plane's capabilities, or the pilot's certification for that level of complexity.

So Ruth ends up in ... Omaha. For the night. The next day they load up the little plane with the stranded passengers and push on to Wichita, where Ruth found she was unable to book flights to Portland until today.

It is snowing here, and it is supposed to snow a lot here in the next day or so. As long as they let the planes land, that is OK with me. I am eager for Dan's overdue winter break to commence.

Take The Money And Run

AIG and Goldman Sachs are paying their executives bonuses with the the taxpayer bailout money.

At the same time, Goldman Sachs reports that while it paid $6 billion in taxes in 2007, it will pay only $14 million in 2008. How was this accomplished?

Goldman Sachs, which today reported its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999, lowered its rate with more tax credits as a percentage of earnings and because of “changes in geographic earnings mix,” the company said.

That "changes in geographic earning mix" means that they are taking taxpayer money and hiding it offshore.

They have gone well past just eating our lunch.

Great Questions

I want to hear the answers to these 10 questions. The Treasury and the investment banks can't just blow off these questions, but they will doubtless try.

Let it snow!

It's been snowing for 6 hours, and is still going strong.

The Current Reading Stack

Dan's School Photo

I Photoshopped out the two big spots on his shirt. This pleased his mother.

Geez, we're gonna miss him

George W. Bush on Good Morning America today:

"When you have the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Fed say, 'If we don't act boldly, we could be in a depression greater than the Great Depression,' that's an 'uh-oh' moment," he said.

Accidental Movie Review - Twilight

Through a Lemony Snicket set of circumstances, Bill Wood and I found ourselves watching Twilight.

We meant to see Quantum of Solace, but when we got there, it was sold out. We stood there looking at times, and the next showing of anything was Twilight. In retrospect, this was one of our mistakes. A minor mistake compared to some of the others, but a mistake nonetheless.

If you are not a teenage girl, this movie is not made for you. The wildly popular Stephenie Meyer books are crafted to push every teen female emotional button. My resident teen female was seeing this movie with her friends at roughly the same time. Of course, they were in a different theater across town, and managed to manipulate the parent chauffeur, Skip, into changing his plans and not watching the movie with them. How horrible would that have been, having a parent next to you while you savor one of the movie's themes, The Boyfriend Your Parents Would Never Approve?

Bill said that this movie was like a soap opera that wouldn't end after 30 minutes. The most interesting aspect of viewing this film, much of which was shot in Portland and the nearby Pacific Northwest, was to try and recognize where the various scenes were filmed.

My resident teen/Stephenie Meyer expert found the movie disappointing. She said that the movie plot oversimplified the book, left out scenes which she thought were critical to the story, and presented story elements out of sequence. Without her help, I never would have known that in one of the diner scenes, the woman at the counter typing on a laptop was Stephenie Meyer.

The Deregulation That Pushed Us Over The Edge

My father pointed out this piece in the Washington Post by Steven Pearlstein:

The combination of Citibank with Salomon Smith Barney under the bright red umbrella of Travelers Insurance was accepted with a regulatory wink and nod by the Federal Reserve until Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan could persuade Congress to make it legal. The hurdle was the Glass-Steagall Act, put in place during the Great Depression to prevent another market crash like that of 1929. Now that another market crash has required the government to rescue a commercial bank done in by its investment banking subsidiary, there will certainly be those who wonder whether the New Dealers didn't have it right all along.

Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999 and replaced by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act:

The bills were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Va), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001. [2] On May 6, 1999, the Senate passed the bills by a 54-44 vote along party lines (53 Republicans and one Democrat in favor; 44 Democrats opposed).

Just a reminder, Phil Gramm is the guy John McCain wanted as his Secretary of the Treasury.

Bailouts R' Us

Many criticized the Big 3 automaker CEOs when they came to Congress asking for money, without a business plan for what they would do with it.

Great point. By the way, did anyone ask the financial institutions whose snouts are currently buried in the taxpayer-funded trough for a business plan before setting out that $750 billion slop bucket?

Remember a couple of weeks back when the government suddenly became aware of a problem, and they told us that $750 billion was needed to take "toxic assets" off the books of the investment banks, and it had to be done right away because taking the time to discuss it would .... what? Oh yeah, something unspeakable would happen.

So a couple of weeks later, Treasury Secretary Paulson has disbursed over $300 billion through purchase of stock, not in retiring "toxic assets." When asked to justify the difference between what he said he was going to do and what he actually did

He responded on Wednesday by saying that he would not apologize for "changing an approach or a strategy when the facts change."

What business do we have spending $750 billion of taxpayer money in an endeavor where the "facts" have a shorter shelf-life than pasteurized milk?

There is an interesting story in the Washington Post about how the government "regulators" defined banks, not taxpayers, as their customers, and their mission as to free their bank customers from regulation. As has been said before in the Bush administration, "mission accomplished." They said that no one could have foreseen this coming.

This guy saw it coming, and endured ridicule for years from those espousing the party line:

Tonight's Photo Shoot

How Cruel

Ruth's father is a staunch Republican. He would not have missed his opportunity to cast a ballot for John McCain, except for the fact that he spent election day in the ICU, comatose and on a ventilator.

When he regained consciousness a few days later, he began to ask all the "Where am I?" and "What has happened in the world?" questions.

That is when his sons told him that McCain had lost the election by one vote.

The Political Coverage/Analysis Industry

But the industry that has grown up to tell us about all this political stuff doesn't seem to go away when the contest is decided. That industry seems to have a lot of mouths to feed. All this stuff has been redigested so many times that it is like being in one of the stomachs of a ruminant.

The Moral Superiority of Vegetarians

Let me get this straight: they have decided to change their traditional place in the food chain, and think that their decision should be binding on the rest of the species?

A Bill Wood play review

“Angst ‘R Us”

A Bill Wood review.


Last evening I joined the estimable Fitzgerald family at their daughter’s high school play, Blitz, produced by the Lincoln High School Theatre Department.

The joy here was watching a superbly crafted, strongly performed piece by these intelligent, capable students. Scene, lighting and sound (nice work Liz!) were all superb. I think the costume design could have gone beyond colored T-shirts.

Now, content. First, imagine if Ayn Rand had raised Woody Allen. Same neuroses, less hope. Allen would have written Annie Hall without the middle act where two people find love and for a period of time are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and compromises to maintain that love. Instead, the movie would have gone directly from a desperate search for love to a stupid wasting of love for more venal goals.

I don’t know if this making sense. Try this.

Two aliens from Planet Kafka see Blitz as their first taste of humanity:

Urm: These creatures are fairly primitive. They have not yet discovered love. They have the desire but because of universal failure to establish identities and constant carnal lust they all end up suicidal.

Krzc: It appears that their crude chemical compounds cannot halt the inexorable descent into a state of despair.

Urm: We can do nothing here. This species will obviously self-destruct. Let’s go to planet Oxymor. I hear they have five different sexual subtypes.


Well hey. Don’t let me play the bitter elder too long. I knew teen angst. It is the time in life when one gets a free pass to indulge the fantasy that the universe is a cold, lonely misunderstanding place and to enjoy that sweet ache between brandishments of hot self-righteous anger. We’ve all been there. Wouldn’t wanna go back, but been there.

The play was three acts with eighteen mini-plays. The Shockwave Chronicles was woven throughout in five parts and mainly dealt with the quest for emotion, any emotion (and also sex, of course).

Namaste was a three-person play starring Tommie Traylor, Samantha Parsons and the ever-engaging Natalie McDonald. Traylor has become enchanted with Buhddism and is conflicted about playing high school football. Maybe he could do both. Just convince the team not to try for the extra point after a touchdown as a way of making merit and honoring one’s ancestors.

Arrhythmia, consuming all of ACT TWO, was an incisive study of human personality as animal types. As in most of the other vignettes, Sex and Death were buying drinks for each other at the zinc bar, while stumble bum Love was shoved in the alley in her own vomit.

High School Musikill was an outstanding, Broadway-worthy performance of an original score by Victor Henriques.

In summary, it was a SHOCKING performance. I was SHOCKED. But I’m OK now. After digesting the message of Blitz, I have decided to leave my family and wander the barren landscape, confident that I will never, ever find love.

The Glass Is Half Full

When you've got lemons, make lemonade.

The beauty of catching a cold is that for a couple of days you can walk around thinking you have a voice like Barry White.

Huh?

I think it's rich that the McCain campaign is calling Obama a Marxist.

After all, it's Comrade Bush who nationalized the banks (or at least their debt).

Last Week For Cheap Gas

While visiting Dan in Wichita, I saw something not seen in a long time:

Gasoline for $1.99 a gallon.

Most of the gas stations here are selling regular in the low $2's.

My prediction is that those prices will evaporate soon after Election Day.

Required Stuff

I think it's time to make a list of things which have to be done by a time certain.

There is a mandatory OSHA training for Northwest Permanente that has to be done by October 31. That one is alleged to take several hours.

There is the Privileges Reappointment packet. Those are always fun. They require detailed information about every time a lawyer has rattled a sabre at you. Memory Lane. Also by October 31.

Sometime this year I have to complete Oregon Board of Medical Examiners mandatory Continuing Medical Education regarding pain control.

Hmmm, I'm running out of time to put things off.

Portland Japanese Gardens

It is now kind of a guess about the best days for photographing autumn leaf colors. When placing your bet, you have to balance the maturation of the colors against the storms which strip the leaves from the trees.

I think the best color in the Portland area is still a day or two away. I went to the Japanese Gardens today, on my afternoon off. The lighting was disappointing. The Japanese Garden is set in large stands of Douglas firs, which places most of it in shadow after about 2:45 pm or so. This photo was the last bit of visually interesting light I saw. All photos after this one were subjects which had to make do with flat, even shady lighting.

The Scumbag Stare

I had the curious experience the other night of being on the receiving end of the scumbag stare, the one that law enforcement officers give to let you know that they have active dislike for you and would welcome an opportunity to exercise their authority on the side of your head.

The Portland Photographic Society had organized a field trip Sunday night to photograph fire dancers. The fire dancers meet once a month under the east end of the Morrison bridge, next to the esplanade.

However, that area had become a gathering spot for unsavory characters and activities. A recent attempt by the Portland Police to clean things up had very recently led to Taser use, which the surrounding crowd did not take well. That led to Sunday night's presence of 15 to 20 officers on foot, in addition to the mounted police.

So, instead of walking into a photographic society field trip to photograph fire dancers, I find myself walking into a scene which includes lots of law enforcement. I walked up to one of the officers, told him what I was there for, and asked if I was about to walk into something very different than what I came for. He explained the situation to me, and that the area in question was a public park and that they were here to make sure that lawful activities by citizens could proceed without the illegal stuff. He told me that the illegal stuff included the fire dancer's fire, so that they would have to make do with glow sticks that night. We wished each other well, and I proceeded to enter the park.

As I walked on, one of his colleagues swiveled her head and took me in. She had a shaved head, and clear Wiley X type wraparound shooter/safety glasses on. She didn't like what she saw. She fixed her gaze on me and tracked me as I moved, giving me the scumbag stare referenced above. I smiled and said hello. She clenched her jaw and just continued The Stare. It occurred to me that she would welcome an opportunity to exercise her authority, and that giving her such an opportunity would not be a terribly wise choice.

My guess is that it was the camera gear that set her off. Perhaps after the unpopular Tasing that led to this police presence, she assumed that I was there with hopes of taking photographs that would show police activities unfavorably.

I continued on my law-abiding way, and joined my photographic society colleagues on the esplanade for night photos of the city skyline on the other side of the river, with the reflections of city lights on the relatively still river. Later on, the friendly officer I spoke with came by with his partner, and they chatted amiably with our group.

It was pretty chilling to realize that a police officer had drawn a bead on me, and that if her fellow officers had not been there, that she would have had a freer hand to act on her dislike.

Photo du jour - Meerkat

Trojan Horse

John McCain's "health care" proposal is not designed to provide the American people with health care.

It is designed to allow employers to stop providing health care benefits.

McCain - Keynote Speaker for ACORN in 2006

One of the recent RNC memes has been to vilify ACORN, in hopes of delegitimizing what may well happen in November.

They are generating and circulating their fictions too quickly to be able to fact check possible consequences.

Turns out that John McCain was keynote speaker at an ACORN event in 2006.

A musical tribute is here.

Round Count

If the newspaper ran a story, that a person had been arrested who possessed multiple firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, the implication is that those possessions are evidence that the owner was dangerous and deranged.

However, it is highly likely that someone involved in competitive shooting could be described just so. I don't think competitive shooters are any more dangerous and deranged than citizens at large.

Look at Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS), which has been reputed to be the fastest growing shooting sport in the world. That is an impressive claim, which it may actually live up to. In CAS, you need at least 4 guns to participate: a lever action rifle, a period correct shotgun, and two single action sixguns. The average match will burn up 120 rounds of rifle and pistol cartridges, and about 25 shotshells.

So, if you were to shoot with the Molalla River Rangers on the 1st Saturday, the Orygun Cowboys on the 2nd Sunday and again on the 3rd Saturday, and the Oregon Old West Shooting Society on either the 3rd Sunday or the 4th Saturday, you have now sent about 500 rifle/pistol cartridges downrange, as well as about 100 shotshells. Which means that over a 2 month period, you need in excess of a thousand rounds just to play. You haven't accounted for any practice ammo.

This ammunition can get expensive when there is a war sucking up ammo components, as the Chinese buy all the metal in the world, presumably to poison us with in toys and milk, but I digress. Most people who play these shooting games have to load their own ammo to afford to play. Store-bought rifle and pistol cartridges can cost you $1 a round, $500 a month. 4 boxes of shotshells at $8-9 a box today at Sportsman's Warehouse. So, I own a device like this for loading rifle and pistol cartridges, and a device like this for loading shotshells.

So, when a competitive shooter sees an ad like this, it is really tempting:



You kind of pause for a moment as you place the order, because you are in danger of becoming an unpopular fellow at the Post Office. One of the services of the US Postal Service is the idea of the Flat Rate Box. Whatever fits in the box goes, at a relatively low flat rate. A thousand lead bullets fits easily in the box, costs only about $8 and change to ship, but arrives in a very dense little package that gives half the postal employees a hernia. When you go to the window and ask for your package, the smile that the postal employee has on the way to the package shelf is no longer in evidence as they return working hard to carry your modest package. Comments have been made.

You Know Where This Is Heading

If the McPalin rallies get any angrier, they are going to start wearing sheets and bearing torches, you know.

Evictions

From Chicago:

The sheriff of the third-most populous U.S. county halted evictions on foreclosed properties on Thursday, saying innocent tenants were being put on the street. But bankers said he was breaking the law.

So what did we get for our $700 billion?

A Run BY The Banks

Once upon a time, economic crises could spur a run on the banks, when the investors pulled out their money and the banks had none.

Today, we are having a run by the banks, where the banks have pulled all (?their?) money out of the economy and are sitting on it while they wait to see what will happen. Meanwhile, the rest of us will have none.

So what did our $700 billion buy us?

Quick, name one!

Pop quiz: Name one crisis the Bush Administration has landed this country in that has not enriched the Friends of George.

I can't think of one that hasn't involved the rapid deployment of a trough with a pipeline into the US Treasury.

We've Heard This Before

Palin in 2008 sounds just like Bush in 2000.

Brined Pork Chops with Spicy Chutney Barbecue Sauce

Brining the pork chops gives taste and tenderness that you can't get otherwise. The brine solution, minus the chili powder, would be great for grilling pork chops even without making the barbecue sauce.

The recipe for the pork chops is here.

The link on that page to the Spicy Chutney Barbecue Sauce doesn't work for me, but this link does. The sauce is killer.

Kinda Doesn't Matter??

When Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin whether global warming is manmade, Palin's response included “Kinda doesn’t matter at this point…what caused it,”

Generally, in crafting solutions to problems, the cause of the problem kinda does matter, doesn't it?

Count me in with the boys who don't mind the idea of a girl president. We want one of the smart girls, though, not one of the mean ones.

Everyone Spins

Spinmeisters are everywhere.

Consider this story about an effigy of Barack Obama found hanging from a tree at George Fox University, with writing referring to minority scholarship students at the university:

Late Tuesday night, a university spokesman confirmed to Newschannel 8 that someone discovered the life-sized effigy of Barack Obama around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

It was hanging from the neck with fishing line at the campus communications building, a campus spokesman confirmed.

I noticed in the radio interviews as well as the print stories that the college's spokesmen are very careful and consistent to refer to it as a "cutout attached to a tree," rather than using the words "effigy," "hanging," or "from the neck."

Rob Felton, a spokesperson for the university, described the item as a “cardboard cut out” of Obama which had the words "act six reject" written on it.

School officials immediately took it down.

Using weasel words to stay relentlessly "on message" has become SOP.

Question du jour

"If you were President right now, what policy would you propose for dealing with the impending insolvency of the investment banks of this country?"

It seems kind of like asking, "What's the best way to saw off your own arm, to save your life?"

The Bush Strategy

Privatize the profits.

Socialize the losses.

Careful Preparation For Fannie/Freddie Takeover

Why was the government so well prepared to bail out Fannie & Freddie, having sought the legislative authority to do so months in advance while proclaiming they had no plans to use those powers?

The Chinese, that’s why. With our trade deficit for so many years, the Chinese own a massive amount of U.S. Government debt instruments. The bonds for Fannie and Freddie were backed by the faith and credit of the U.S. Government. If the U.S. Government lets the values of those bonds go to zero, the Chinese call the rest of their debts and it is game over. The Fannie/Freddie takeover lets the value of Fannie/Freddie stock go to zero
if it wants to, but keeps the value of the bonds under the protection of the U.S. Government.

When Bill Clinton and his team entered the White House, they were shocked to find out how much their priorities and options were limited by the needs of the financial markets. James Carville was heard to say that when he died, he wanted to be reincarnated as the bond market, because he had learned that it was the most powerful force on Earth.

Could George Bush's Presidency Be Any Worse For The Country?

We're about to find out.

George Bush was warned about bin Laden wanting to fly airliners into buildings in August, 2001. He was on vacation at the time, and there is no evidence that he took any action whatsoever. The World Trade Center towers came down in September, 2001.

He launched a war and occupation of Iraq, taking resources away from the hunt for and fight against bin Laden in Afghanistan.

He took a government surplus and turned it into the biggest deficit in history.

He stayed on vacation while a major American city drowned in Hurricane Katrina.

He has placed American troops in perpetual jeopardy by making it clear to the world that we do not honor the Geneva Conventions.

One of the most damaging things he has done to this country was to make Karl Rove's brand of politics successful, tempting Bush's would be successors with the notions that lying, polarization, and abuse of government power to solidify political gains can succeed.

But all this may soon pale next to the impending financial meltdown that seems about to follow the laissez-faire approach of not restricting or regulating the financial industry, an industry that seems to have turned the banks in this country into internet casinos.

Had enough?

Palin Loves Spending Taxpayer $$$

Let's look at her record.

As mayor of Wasilla:

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

As governor of Alaska:

She pursued and got more federal taxpayer earmark money per person for Alaska than was received by any other state. Remember the oft-repeated line that "I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, for the bridge to nowhere." The facts are that Congress told her that she could not build a bridge with that money, but that Alaska could have the money anyway. She took the money. So much for "no thanks." So much for saving money through resolute action. She took no action to prevent that money from coming to her state, despite the growing numbers of times she asserts that she did.

Alaska pays state workers traveling on state business a per day allowance for expenses. Since Gov. Palin took office in 2006, she has billed the state about $17,000 for over 300 days of travel per diem while staying at her home, rather than at the state capital in Juneau.

She pursued and got earmarked federal funds to study crab and seal genetics, although she and John McCain now ridicule genetic studies of bears in Montana as a ridiculous example of federal waste.

Her record is pretty short, but it is clear.

Sarah Palin - Heaven Help You If You Cross Her

One of the things that catches my attention about Sarah Palin's record in government is the pattern of trying to take away the job of anyone who crosses her.

As mayor of Wasilla, Palin wanted to ban certain books from the public library. When the librarian opposed this, Palin tried to fire the librarian. Anne Kilkenny wrote:

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

She fired Wasilla's police chief, saying that he "intimidated" her.

She wanted Alaska's top cop to fire her sister's ex, a State Trooper. When Walt Monegan, Commissioner of Public Safety wouldn't do so, she fired Monegan instead.

Soaring ambition and ruthlessness combined are a dangerous package.