Everyone..

.. should spend some time:

a) working in a food establishment
b) walking a mile in someone else's shoes

Today, I was witness to two acts of rudeness. One I could maybe fathom, but two sounds like a trend (it takes more than one data point to a trend make).

Both directed at quick-food establishments. Disparaging remarks either behind the backs of establishments (that I frequent). Or outright talking to other customers in line in an indignant way, as if the counter help didn't exist.

Everyone has choices. If the food establishment you go to does not please you, then don't go there, no one is forcing you to. And if you do, did anyone tell you that if you smile, people will be nice to you? The folks on the other side of the counter are trying to make an honest living. Either you are too close to signing up to work there yourself (hence you have to act all arrogant, and distance yourself). Or, you really do hate these people.

Anyhow, next time stay at home. Or cook your own meals. Leave public spaces for those who can coexist in them.

The Day after the Day after

OK it was Thursday that HR 4213 died. Harry Reid pronounced its death. A little part of me still thinks the Senate could surprise us, maybe next week, maybe the week after that - when states feel they are sunk, when people have given up on unemployment extensions and soup kitchens start asking for more donations.

Did you know that disability claims go up when people lose unemployment? I can't say I understand the connection, but I've read this several places. Maybe when people feel they can get back to working they worry less about their own health and problems. Yes this happens, as soon as my mom took early retirement from DOD her health spiraled down and she died 7 years later. Hence I must keep working, even if it keeps the young ones out of the job market..

Lets look at levels of government and how they stand on deficits vs. continued stimulus:

Our Governor Kulongoski gave a talk yesterday, advocating fiscal austerity. He is finally engaged and plans to take his ideas to the state, traveling and campaigning for them. Maybe he will frame the debate for the 2 candidates to replace him - and start a dialog.

Reid and the U.S. Congress - the Republicans won their share of floor space, and the debate. The Dems, failing to garner even a single R vote, went down. So - deficit concern trumped continued stimulus.

Across the pond -the UK in their new "coalition" government is advocating new fiscal austerity. They are deathly afraid of being the next Greece. And are raising the Value Added Tax from 17% to 20%, as well as making cuts to various social welfare programs

Fourth and last example - the G8. I hear cries of fiscal austerity (today' s NY Times). I think Obama may be the lone voice advocating continued stimulus.

So lets take a tally:
Oregon - fiscal alarm
R's in Congress - fiscal alarm
UK - fiscal alarm
G8 - fiscal alarm
D's in Congress - stimulus

That makes 4:1, and is making me wonder..

A Pyrrhic Victory

It is truly a word: "pyre", as anyone who has listened closely to the words "Come On Baby Light My Fire" would attest to. Of course it has only one meaning, and that is a "funeral pyre".

So what is a pyrrhic victory? A dead victory. Which is what the Republicans achieved today in the Senate. For seven weeks I've been watching them (cspan is my life, thank you for cspan, I love cspan, well in any case its a living) try to pass HR 4213 - the "Tax Extenders" bill. To extend unemployment, provide Medicaid match funds to states (states that *are* *counting* on this money), and crank up the tax on oil barrels, close foreign tax loopholes, etc. It used to include bizarre things like aid to the Wool Trust Fund, but I think they've slimmed it down some.

The Rs are adamant - we must offset all costs. Everything in the bill must be paid for and not add to the deficit. Well they got it to the point where everything was "offset" - mainly by raiding unspent Stimulus funds (that had already been obligated for other purposes..) and playing little tricks with 10 year paybacks, and increasing carried interest tax on hedge fund managers.

They got it down to everything being offset xc for unemployment - a little matter of $30Billion. When they get back to their constituencies, many of them will say they are out of work, out of unemployment, and storm their plush offices.

So the Rs won the standoff. I hope they can find it in their hearts and wallets to give a job to each one of their constituents, and the numbers will be growing, each one who has applied for 100s of jobs and been turned away. A living wage job, to feed their family, continue to live in their community. To not have to walk away from their mortgage for lack of income, and sleep in the park with their family, or worse split up and each find a separate couch to sleep on.

I hope they can find the solution that seems to evade me. Or is each individual out there on their own? I used to think we were going too far in the direction of ruthless capitalism, but now we've gone even farther. So I am curious what their master plan is.

I don't think its merely obstructionism. I know some Republicans and some are nice people. Some are even smart people. So they have to have a plan, right? A plan for the out of work individuals? Or is it simply a plan in the abstract. A pyrrhic plan.

Three Little Words

.. no, not those words, but "Genentech Manager's Meeting"
as seen on an upstairs conference room door at the gym.

Hmm, back in the day (not my day, but someone's day), it was Intel using the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse as CR1 (conference room). Back before Imbrie Hall. Back before the parking lot was even paved, it was gravel. Yes my husband does tire of hearing this, but *someone* has to remember the old ways.

Just the one house, with its quaint little separate rooms (all different), still good beer (before good beer was trendy nation- and world-wide). And the menu was small. And the current bartenders like Justin et. al were not even born yet.

Tek begat Intel begat... Genentech? No somehow I think this is a different group. Packaging pills trucked up from California. And now also producing them, which I guess is a step up the food chain..

Reality Never Measures Up

Obama.
Reality meets the vision. Stupid reality, always getting in the way.

At work my managers create visions, nice tidy analytical visions, all the numbers add up. Then, a reality check - here is how it really works in the field.

The hope surrounding Obama after his election was immense. He has indeed changed the world, remember the Bush years? Remember being embarrassed to see your president who could not string sentences together, and thought we didn't need to cooperate with other nations, it was our right to live like free cowboys..

Well kudos to Obama for creating a spirit of synergy in the world.

Now we have all settled in to reality. Everyone gets to vent about their president for 24 hours a year (2 hours a month, or you can batch it all up and vent for 24 hours straight). Some of us didn't whine for a long time. So just catching up..

Dear Barack -
Be less concerned with image. Be more concerned with the long-term effects of your actions and policies. Look inside - capture your spider sense.

Checks and Balances

Part 1 - U.S. Congress vs. the Executive branch
Score 1 - EPA vs. Congress (right to regulate greenhouse gasses)
This week, the "second stimulus" was being debated in Congress (not yet at Day 56, as has been pointed out, so just shy of the time spent in Gulf-spill-land, but coming very close). Close to complete deadlock in the Senate. But the Republicans took a shot at a slimmed-down-fully-paid-for Stimulus, which had some interesting provisions.

Things like - cut federal agency budgets by 5%, across the board (except DOD and VA). Also (with apparent hatred in their eyes for those fat-happy federal employees) cap federal pay, collect the $3B in back taxes owed by those federal employees.

So - does Congress have the power to regulate the executive branch? Didn't Obama already ask his agencies to draw up plans for 5% cuts (for the FY 2011 budget)? Is this some sort of power grab?

OK Congress does have oversight authority. OK Congress does appropriate the funds by which federal agencies are run. OK you could tie these things together. But wait - aren't these the same Republicans who want less government control over things? Is that only when someone else is in control? And now *they* want more control over things?

The 5% cap, when sought by Congress, sounds a bit like TABOR (taxpayer bill of rights, like what they enacted in Colorado - it sliced arms and legs off of local governments and school districts). Well, ok the Oregon constitution does have some very fundamental constraints - the size of local government can only grow by x%, where the percent is limited by population growth.

Yet, I fail to see how a slash and burn approach is really a legislative function.


Part 2 - Is the initiative system out of control - in Oregon - in California?
California's budget is broken, even schoolchildren will tell you that. The reasons cited are various. Some would say the initiative system has run amok and is responsible. Think back to Proposition 13, which limited property taxes in California (1978), then Measure 5 in Oregon (1980), followed by Measure 50 (1990s), which likewise limited property taxes.

With citizen initiatives, voted on by the public, each one is seen separately. So, unlike the state budget process where the legislature in its wisdom (or with initiatives, the citizenry in its wisdom) does not have the ability to see all the spending pieces of the pie at once. It is this initiative - yes or no - every voter gets a chance to decide.

Yet each initiative does have an impact on the state budget. In the Oregon voters' pamphlet, the cost of each initiative is stated (as formulated by the "price tag" committee).

Back to checks and balances. Citizen initiatives are the fourth dimension of politics in Oregon.

There are now new rules in Oregon which constrain the initiative process. Are they fair and balanced? Or are they too constraining? Have I heard them called anti-Sizemore constraints, and are they an attempt to derail the father of many of Oregon's initiatives? Perhaps they are laying a trap to get him out of this business altogether:
a) Convicted felons (of fraud) are no longer allowed to be chief petitioner.
b) Bill Sizemore has been a chief petitioner for dozens of initiatives. Which have garnered hundreds of thousands of votes, so this isn't a lone voice.
c) Lets make him a convicted felon. He is currently up on criminal charges of tax evasion, which is still to be determined in court - something about comingling of funds across a PAC and an educational 501(c)(3) prevented him from filing taxes (and we know how those funds hate to be comingled). As a result, he and his wife failed to file three years of state income taxes. This is the criminal charge.

Is it fair to derail the fourth dimension of Oregon politics? If they take him out, will others rise up? And why do they want to take him out in any case? Shouldn't the citizens of the state get a chance to decide whether they want these initiatives (like Measure 50)? Where will we be as a state without this additional check on our government?

The Current State of the Hillsboro Economy

As seen and heard - in the Amberglen High-tech office park in Hillsboro, right near the "Streets of Tanasbourne" (an upscale outdoor mall, but with no independent espresso shops any longer). Along with the few tech companies and legal firms that occupy one of the buildings, is now the name "VA Outpatient Clinic".

So, along with another non-taxpaying resident of an office park, how are we spending society's resources. $Trillions spent on a war (ok two wars, or is it more now?), well at least we are paying the full cost by funding local VA clinics.

The Cost of Doing Business

What is the cost of production? Is it labor + materials + safety + environmental regulation?

Free trade is not really free unless all countries competing have the same requirements. So buying a cheap bracelet from China, where underage workers toil with toxic chemicals working 12 hour days in factories separated from their families, while the back of the plant jettisons leftovers from the manufacturing process into streams that may flow into the Yangzte River..

Compare this with an American jewelry shop paying its workers a fair minimum wage with benefits who are able to go home at night to their families, protected from toxics by an environmental health & safety regime who can show up unannounced and inspect factory conditions and fine and regulate and even shut down unsafe plants. A factory that is required to follow environmental regulations regarding safe disposal of toxic waste products. And who faces penalties likewise for failure to adhere to the regulation.

What about the oil companies of the world?

Of the 4 costs of production, which have they had to pay? OK - cost of labor, ok cost of materials for production. But what about all the tax writeoffs they receive to "write off" their expensive exploration costs. Then there are the other two factors, that one would assume an American (or a British) company would be obligated by: safety, environmental laws.

I think we can say safety was not Job 1 (or even Job 27) when witnessing the continued unfolding of the BP Gulf disaster. Environmental regulation - when their "backup plan" was a cut and paste including protection of marine life including walruses (thank you Senator Markey for stating this to the American public).

In Oregon I thought we were going to get tough on prosecuting environmental crimes. OK so the Gulf is not Oregon, and our Attorney General's tough environmental lawyer flamed out. Well there are laws - and maybe if I can't send email to my friend in the Louisiana bayou cause he is out trying to get berm to protect the shoreline, maybe I have a personal right of action here. Isn't that possible under the Clean Water Act?

What if the citizens of the U.S. all got together and filed a class action lawsuit. If one of our membership is harmed, isn't that an affront to all of us?

It is time for oil companies to pay their full cost of doing business. They have gotten away with cutting out 2 or more of the costs of production for far too long, and now the planet will suffer the consequences.

Dell and a Loaf of Bread - Justice in the 21st Century

Without acknowledging innocence or guilt - $100 million is set aside by Dell to "cover settlement costs". This in today's Wall Street Journal, or Oregonian - take your pick. For their complicitly going along with Intel's "rebate" program, and taking "rebate payments" - for some quarters more than their actual income, if they were to remain loyal and install Intel microprocessors, and not any competitors'.

Do we ever dig into whether corporations are guilty or not? Or are we content if they pay their fine and promise to play nice.

If corporations are people now, according to the IRS tax code, and per the Supreme Court can contribute unlimited funds to express their freedom of speech in political campaigns, it seems that rich corporations are offered the freedom to buy their way out (provided their pockets are deep enough to appease their opponents).

What then of the penniless individual? Ruled guilty by virtue of empty pockets? First amendment rights to rich corporations but not indigent clients?

I don't think the founders in their wisdom intended this (you know, George, Alexander, Benjamin). They may have thought the propertied class and white slave holders had more freedoms such as voting power (than others such as women, slaves). But we're beyond that.

Today we know every individual has freedom of speech, and there are even protected classes who enjoy special protections under the law, preventing their being discriminated against in housing, employment, and even sitting at Walgreen's lunch counters (if there are still such things).

Compare Dell's situation with Jean Valjean, who stole a loaf of bread in ancient French literature [*]. Take his situation today. Suppose the loaf of bread was for his hungry child who hadn't eaten in two days since his dad's unemployment benefits terminated, his food stamps for the month had run out, and his wife had gone to live with her mother.

Is stealing a loaf of bread the guilty act?

Yet, without $100 million in reserves, or a competent public attorney, will he be able to defend himself to stay out of jail? Or is justice only awarded to the rich these days?

[*] Thank you to Wikipedia (not a credible source, though even the federal government refers to it these days) for reminding me the story of Jean Valjean, and thank you to my 12th grade French teacher for forcing me to read this, and for insisting I take French instead of physics, which changed my life in some ways that I am only now understanding.

My Eighth Grade Self was Right

It Is all about the EPA..

When I was in 8th grade, all I wanted to do was work for the EPA (guess I hadn't yet thought about being Harriet). I remember telling this to my favorite Uncle Walter. He dismissed this as foolishness, telling me - no girl, you don't want to work for them. All they do, he said, is tell companies they can't pollute.

Why did I think he had answers for me?? And where would my life be now if I had listened to my inner 8th grade self?

Today in the U.S. Senate the Joint Senate Resolution sponsored by Murkowski and the Republicans to "disable" EPA's court-recognized responsibility to control greenhouse gasses was turned down. Yes! A good day.

I got the sense, listening to her, that she thought this was Congress' domain. Well! Has Congress showed they are capable of doing Anything? Like a landlord who does not enforce his own rules, they have mostly lost their ability to enforce or carry out any kind of legislation. Witness unemployment extensions, which expired on June 2. They continue in their inaction while people drop off the rolls, no jobs to be had (a story for another day)..

So thank you Obama administration for stepping up. The Time is Definitely Now.

Mr. Reid wants the Senate (ok I will try to have just a little faith) to work on global climate change legislation - this month - before Independence Day! OK, keep trying to have a little more faith, stop laughing. Hopefully he and Obama will quit trying to appease the Republicans with giveaways like offshore drilling (no possible chance in heaven or hell), or nukes. They can keep the nukes too.

Socialist Energy Policy

(There's no such thing as a partial bridge)
Now is an opportunity for President Obama to forge the national energy policy this country needs. Since we (as a nation we) are only ready for grand solutions when presented with grand problems - its certainly now. The Gulf Oil spill is: unprecedented, will continue to be a disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast for decades, more than BP can pay, the turning point for U.S. energy policy - ?

This can be a transformative moment in U.S. history.
The Tea Party crowd (no, they are not an actual political party!) and the Republicans paint Obama as a socialist. But who else is going to create national energy policy?

Lets think about how the Tea Party would construct an energy policy. At the "state" level, keeping our 10th amendment rights in the forefront..

Think about this: You want to build a bridge to get from Point A to Point B. Across a raging river with whitewater rapids.

Do you built it incrementally, piling stones up at one side?

You can never get there. And if you try, you'll fall into the water.

You have to architect the bridge. You have to have the materials. The expertise. A Plan.

Point A - where we are now
Point B - where we will be with a national energy policy

Spider Sense

An open letter to politicians of all colors

The reality of endless cspan sessions, Senators and Republicans grandstanding (thank you for cspan, I love cspan!) and debating whether to extend unemployment. Whether to put up money for a second stimulus. What if…

What if each elected representative and senator trusted his or her internal spider sense on votes. Or we blindfolded them, spun them around five times, and let them vote without an earpiece or brain implant from The Party. I expect our elected congresspeople to not act like Manchurian candidates.

Please tell me this is possible. I heard someone at a debate say “money follows power”, and it struck me. Those in power tend to stay in power. An object in motion tends to stay in motion; an object at rest tends to stay at rest.

But what if these same congresspeople had to check their wallets and bank accounts at the door before they could vote. What if their spider sense could be tapped, uncorrupted by party voices, uncorrupted by money. When Peter Parker tapped his spider sense he could scale tall buildings and save humanity.

I Remember the Sun

When the sun beat down so hot, the Jersey beaches burned your feet you had to scamper fast.

Sitting next to my favorite fountains in Salem - the most beautiful, crystal blue, flowing, with cement galore. Sitting reading - fiction!

The fragrant blossoms and walking beneath them - along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Being a yard potato - while "able and available and actively seeking" work in the last recession and in between those available moments catching a few rays while listening to Kid Rock.

Days so hot and humid and I was quite pregnant and feeling like my head hurt, that was Chicago.

The 20 minutes of sun I experienced in Hawaii (5 days of clouds? that is a paradise??)

Watching cattle stand in the road, taking their own sweet time, that was Managua.

Ah but the sun is but a memory. Older now, I am tolerant. I can deal with this. There were days in the midwest (the real midwest, Chicago) where by the end of February the winter seemed endless. For awhile I got satisfaction from posting the newspaper's weather forecast for Montego Bay.

Alas it is Oregon, it is the land of endless rain. It is June, I think. It could be February. The rain never stops. Maybe fewer people will come here and we can all work 24 hours a week (no overtime!) and have jobs.

If the sun comes out, Duwaye's Deli in my building will declare a holiday and send us all outside.