I don't hear the fat lady singing..

And this isn't the opera, with its endless dying scene.. We did see Aida, a masterpiece, the other year. It took a very very very very long time for someone to die at the end.

So this is not that tale. This is a tale of the latest "agreement" between Rs and Ds. Those tea party Republicans, those liberal Democrats. Both equally guilty of political theatre, at the expense of the American people.

I am not sure which is worse, the way the world feared and hated us under Bush II, or the way the world thinks we are completely dysfunctional right now. I could say "under Obama", but of course the extended cast of character is far broader. None of them sing, that I know of. Maybe they sing in cowboy poetry? Oh wait, that was nuked in the last federal budget.

Tiny secret: the Prez hasn't yet signed that Omnibus appropriations bill for FY 2012, and your favorite budget analyst may be talking about "cash on hand"... Good news here though, this legislation is at least on the "pending" list. So maybe Obama can sign before he goes off to improve his tan and snorkeling capabilities with the kiddos in Hawaii.

So back to singing. Boehner today says he basically "caved" and has agreed to a 2-month extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, Medicare reimbursement rates. Wait, we've heard that before. Is this tape on a loop? And is someone trying to break in and steal my new TV? Sounds like a bad movie.

But one week ago (last Friday), there was calm in DC when there was an "agreement". Then it unraveled Sunday with those dratted Sunday talk shows, exposing the truth, no deal. So a week of teeth-gnashing, and lo and behold another deal. This time for real..

Here is the kicker - Boehner personally needs to get 100% unanimous agreement from his membership to pass this bill by unanimous consent tomorrow. Maybe he can send them all electronic spiked egg nog and they will vote yes.

Like I said, I am going to wait till the fat lady is singing, till the dead are really dead, and the opera is really over.

Some Things Change, Part 2

Today, the Macy's Holiday Parade. Yes, I know its the day *after* Thanksgiving and this is not New York City. Not *that* Macy's parade, this is the one that used to be affectionately known as the Meier and Frank Holiday Parade.

No giant balloons floating, this one is more about marching bands, and they do have giant floating things that are driven by inside people. Now that would be a fun job - driving a giant floating Christmas tree down the streets of Portland.

When big bad Macy's moved in (not my opinion, I actually *like* Macy's, but then, I'm from the East coast, so they didn't betray my memory or anything, in fact, they brought my home back to me here on the west coast. Long live bi-coastalism!). Well, when Macy's bought out Meier and Frank, they tried to subvert the local traditional post-holiday parade.

Tried to make it into some sort of competition to The Rose Parade or something - banned middle school bands from participating. A righteous hue and cry resulted. Myself among them. Did they think we would get on national TV or something?

Our way was more about having breakfast at the local tavern with the family, and standing out in the rain and snow or whatever, and cheering the bands. The 6th grade bands were the hope of future high school bands, of course, so they deserved a lot of cheering!

Skip ahead to today: I was happy to see many 6th grade bands participating. About half a dozen from various Oregon and Washington middle schools. Rah! Some of them sounded really good! So Macy's now really does have a clue!

On the high school level, mixed results in this endless recession.. Whereas in past years, Portland city high schools didn't have enough marching band kids unless they "pooled" them together into one mixed band. So they would dig up old uniforms and have a mottled group all in one band. OK. I felt a little sad that at their schools they didn't seem to have enough kids or interest to have their own band.

Different story this year - both Madison and Franklin had their very own bands. Uniforms, drumline, the works. Very cool! Rah Portland!

Across the great river however, up in Vancouver, where unemployment is higher than anyplace in Oregon, anyplace in Washington. The once very great and powerful Vancouver bands, that had the most amazing field shows you have ever seen in your life - very sophisticated (read: very expensive) and always it was Evergreen or one of the others that took top place. Well this year only a half dozen kids from Skyview - on a very long flatbed truck doing some sort of tropical marimba music. Fun, but these bands used to have like 100 or more kids - each.

Happy to report Camas, Century, Hilhi- at full strength. Go Century!

Some Things Change..

The comment about "meet the new boss, same as the old boss", well, some things never change. You might have great "hope" about "change" but alas, you will be disappointed when you realize that some people are always in power, some are not. And there you are.

But landscapes *do* change. Took a walk over to the "New Brookwood Parkway", not to be confused with the old Brookwood. Sidewalks are underway. The vision of sidewalks, now covered with rebar, which is a fascinating substance, maybe one of the elements on the Periodic Table or something.

The dead space under the road, where it takes a huge death-defying turn, is now a true wetland. Which always happens after days of rain. I look forward to walking the sidewalks in the sun, some day, some day.

The last vestiges of old Washington County are still sort of there, if you look for them. Giant Douglas fir trees, giant Cedars. I have a few of my own! I should appreciate them. Trees should be declared a public resource. None of them suitable for hanging Christmas lights on, unless I knew someone who could climb 100 feet up.

Alas the old country houses are all but gone, this is a modern community despite the saving grace of old trees who pre-date any of the houses, any of the roads. But ones are coming into view now that they've widened the road, peeking out with their country windows and country porches. So they can watch the cars whip on by. While people may not change, landscapes do.

True Occupation

From Day 1 I was disenchanted with what seemed the entitlement mentality, occupation mentality, aimless mentality, of the occupiers. They seemed to want without having anything to offer, not even ideas.

Today I read about them occupying a foreclosed house in NE Portland. One that had boarded up windows, owned by the bank. Empty. In a city with homeless people that live on the street.

The occupiers have taken up residence. The police are reacting and getting them out of there. I suppose they are tasked with upholding property rights - even the property rights of an absent landlord that has neglected the property and allowed it to be a blight on the neighborhood.

Well finally this is a cause I can stand with them on. Think about it as an equation: homeless people needing shelter, especially with the onset of winter - cold rainy never drying out sleeting mossy winter in Portland. Houses, left for no one. Still serviceable shelters.

I don't know how these two things will find each other, and I don't know if the occupiers just want to glean off these houses, as they gleaned off the public parks. If that is their goal (and they have nice warm homes to go to), then nothing is accomplished. But if they can pave the way for all the fring-ers who co-mingled with them and intruded on their peaceful protest in the park, then maybe something good can come about. Occupy the houses.

Viral Protesting

When all hope is gone, you take to the streets.
If I felt hopeless, after all my best efforts and energies, I would do that too. How has our country lost hope? Is this universal?

I remain hopeful.

Its easy to cast blame, much harder to come up with constructive solutions - that satisfy both sides.

How have we come to this? Or is it lack of concerted effort that got us here?

Nature abhors a vacuum. So - have people become so disenfranchised with the political system, that they abdicated the responsibility to take part? Can you force people to listen to you by planting a tent in a bank lobby. And how does this help the foreclosed homeowner, the debt-ridden student.

By being "unpredictable" and not obtaining permits to march along public thoroughfares, are they gaining more attention. Does this translate to credibility? Or, is it just tangling every day people who can't get to work, can't use the park, can't get a police callback?

The public is becoming disenchanted. The OWS fad, the pet rock, the macarena. Or --- something more lasting. They do have the unions on their side.

Union membership, not what it used to be in this country. Like any organization, trying to maintain its organization is Purpose #1. Iowa Workforce Development Department decided to install kiosks in lots of places in the state - libraries, public buildings. And keep open chat lines for job seekers -evening hours, Saturdays. By these performance improvements, they were able to save over $6 Million. The response? The union and several state legislators are filing a lawsuit. Lost jobs, don't you know.

Next story: creative destruction. And just why don't we keep making buggy whips? Or Ford Pintos? I think tomorrow when I take stock of all the leaves that have fallen off the trees, what with the wind and cold sleet we had today, I should try to recapture them. Glue them back on the trees. Preserve fall forever.

Take a Deep Breath

.. I am nervous.
Every day I spend in Portland is a perfect day.

Police on the corner waiting for a confrontation. Given their track record.. be very nervous.

Young 20-somethings standing on the corner, holding Bank of America signs. Something like "get banking out of the banks", their signs were logo-perfect. A large sign on the block was "Move Your Money". Well, given public pressure, B of A backed off their $5 per month debit card fee. Proving that public pressure does work. rah.

I am still outraged by the Occupy Portland group, now living in public parks in downtown for over a month. Basically preventing access for "the public".

Tell you what, if they tried to occupy Mt Tabor, if the roving bands of wild dogs don't drive them out, then I would mount a citizen campaign to rout them out. Public means public for all of us - not just you.

I have yet to find anyone on the blue side of the fence who agrees with me on this OWS ourtrage thing. I snuck a peek at the Multnomah County Republicans site; they too are outraged. Good. Someone should be.

Sorry to say out country has gotten *so* polarized and that even our Commander in Chief has now become the Complainer in Chief. What ever happened to hope and change?

I remain hopeful and I want change. And its not about party ideology.

Back to Occupy Portland. At 12:01 this very evening, they have been told to evict themselves. The Mayor, Mr Sam Adams, said so. Given that this is the West Coast, this will happen on West Coast time - so don't expect immediate action. Give it 2 weeks. But Jim and I will set our watches for 12:01 and see whats happening.

C Lives Forever

Sigh, the co-author of the C programming language, Dennis Ritchie, has passed on. At age 70 he wrote his last line of C code..

Not that the Economist magazine has any lock on technical truths outside its domain, but they state "The gizmos of the digital age owe a part of their numeric souls to Dennis Ritchie and John McCarthy." John McCarthy, author of LISP (little insipid silly parentheses), another programming language.

Most of Ritchie's work was done at ATT Bell Labs. The Mothership of Northern New Jersey, where all my friends' parents worked. Kind of like an Intel/Hillsboro relationship, back in the day. In fact my best friend Ellen, her dad worked at the Murray Hill location, the real core of the Mothership.

Everything I learned about social dyanamics for a group of 50 people I learned from sitting on the C language committee, back in the late 80's. X3J11, which sought to take the simple pure language that K&R (Kernighan and Ritchie) developed, and turn it into an actual ANSI standard. And an ISO standard as well (a trip to Paris, yes!!)

Every representative on the committee worked for a purveyor of C compilers, and my sitting there was no exception. I was there to see what was up, not make changes or anything. But the Borlands and Microsofts of the world were there to protect their own version of the language.

The real take away for me was that in any group of 50 people, most will follow. A couple will lead, and everyone else will believe what they tell them. PJ Plaugher, an independent consultant, the kind who could bang his shoe on the table for emphasis if needed, was such a leader.

But the best moment was when Dennis Ritchie decided to join our little group - the author himself! We were surely honored. But, his purpose was to protect the purity of his language. The creative language engineers on the committee wanted to introduce "safety" type words that would impact the semantics of the language. I recall the word "noalias" - a new keyword. It would mean that the object it pointed to was not some wild pointer that could point anyplace. Making C safe for Visual Basic programmers I guess (look up "goto considered harmful" - the oft-referenced article that states too much Basic in your life will cause brain damage).

Safety - no wild pointers! A pointer is something that points to an area of memory, indirectly. Really handy for linked lists and things like that. Fortran types probably wouldn't understand, where you have to declare fixed size arrays. Well, back in the day you did, I wonder if Fortran is still alive, and has adopted sexy new features.

So Dennis himself got up and shouted "noalias is an abomination!!!" OK! We were awed. He was right of course. Stop all this silly language engineering. C isn't about safety, as if you could really control everything.

C begat C++ (which I don't see anyone talking about, thankfully). C begat objective-C (used by Apple), C# (Microsoft), and Java. I didn't know C was considered a predecessor of Java, I thought Pascal was, but hey - its in print now so maybe they are honoring C in ways I never even knew about.

Java, inside that little iphone next to you. Proving once again that the mothership, ATT Bell Labs, located in New Jersey, has had a powerful impact on the world. and continues to do so, even after its author passes on.

Nicolas takes a Chinese name

Well, I haven't yet decided on my Chinese name. But Nicolas Sarkozy is about to sign up for one!

Apparently Europe wants a bailout, and the Chinese have money. Could be a nice pairing. Like those pairings they have out at the wineries over Thanksgiving (note to self: find a day over Thanksgiving weekend to visit the wineries - oh so beautiful with leaves falling and wine tastings, yum). Pairing chardonnay with filberts. Or pinot noir with chocolate. Just stay away from the sake and brie pairings..

Greece will get its democratic chance to take a referendum on whether to get bailed out or not. Or what? Will they sever themselves into the Mediterranean Sea? If we could invent technology to sever land masses that are no longer pulling their fair weight, many have often thought about doing that with the land mass known as California.

Of course all of these problems with the EU, with Greece, with the Occupy Wall Street crowd, would all fade into the sunset if we had j-o-b-s.

There are plenty of state experiments out there trying to create jobs. Some are creating jobs. Some are lining pockets of developers. Some are providing employers with free labor. Some are taking that short term hit of crack cocaine, deferring the painful withdrawal of government largesse to a later date.

Is real job growth organic? Whatever happened to creative destruction? I used to love that concept. Some industries are meant to die away. Others will spring forth. You don't ask your corn plant to keep producing, propping it up with fake ears of corn so it has the appearance of continued production. When actually its just a layer. It produces an ear of corn. The stalk dies off. Something in there about "detassling" that I never quite understood, but my college roommates all did this in the fields of Illinois when they were in high school. Maybe that work is done by illegals now, I don't know. But the stalk then gets turned under. New seed corn is planted for the next year.

The real job growth, remember, as with all good things, springs from Bell Labs in New Jersey. The Western Electric experiments. The "Hawthorne effect". The managers at a Western Electric plant wanted to encourage their workers to be more productive. They painted the walls blue. The workers were more productive!

They turned up the lights. The workers were more productive! They then turned down the lights. The workers were more productive!

When all it took was perhaps, some internal motivation, that someone out there does give a rip about you.

In My Backyard

Is it or isn't it?
Dumping of Chinese solar panels. Threatening the livelihood of 1100 workers at SolarWorld. Right here in my backyard, in Hillsboro (ok not literally, but a 5 minute bikeride, up Brookwood, past the airport, its right there).

Evidence of SolarWorld is just another of those Washington County miracles. German looking and speaking people at the brewpub on a Friday night, soaking in the hot tub at the gym.

Now SolarWorld has lodged a complaint that Chinese firms are "dumping" (a trade specific term meaning selling under market value) solar panels to capture the U.S. market. They want the U.S. to impose tariffs on these Chinese imports, so that competition is fair.

Is this valid? Surely if nothing else it is a test of my commitment to a free market. Solar panels! In Hillsboro! That provide clean energy, family wage manufacturing jobs in my county. The only offer we got on our house in one year's time (as the value slid, slid, and is still sliding downhill) was from a family who worked there. They were looking at the south side of the garage roof for their employer-sponsored solar panels.

Its easy to have an academic view, "of course I suppose free markets". Sitting in cubicle city in Salem, either at the center of power, or the center of bureaucracy, or the center of completely mind-numbing administrative procedure (or all of these). Its another thing when its your backyard, your neighborhood, well even your company. I have no association with SolarWorld whatsoever except maybe this story, but I have a stock in them still..

The here and now. What about the long run? As they say, you don't eat in the long run; if you don't eat now then in the long run you're dead. Maybe today I am a protectionist. Well maybe. Or maybe I'm glad they are at least sticking up for themselves, for all of us.

I Don't Want to be Angry

First, there was the tea party, they looked like Patriots (old angry white guys). Now, there's the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) crowd (young angry white guys).

We are a nation of immigrants, but we've forgotten that. Some of us want the future, want progress, want inclusion, multi ethnicity.

In my house growing up, shadows of the Old World still lingered. My Austrian grandparents liked pigs feet, which I have to admit to this day I have never tried. My mom would allow me to eat macraroni on such nights.. Does that make me spoiled? Or an American ready for the New World.

And what are the tea party and OWS crowds trying to hang onto? Why does it seem like a white America?

Trade (Crowding Out, Part 2)

Back before America was a superpower, and Britain ruled the seas, they also ruled the textile industry.

Before third world polyesters, before Southern textile mills, before Lowell Mill girls, there was textile manufacturing in Mother England. It took a special skill, a physical skill, that sort of roughed up your hands. Someone could tell you were a mill worker.

So anxious to protect their technology from those colonies (that was us), they refused to let mill workers travel out of the country.

But leave it to human ingenuity and clever imagination, one such person quit their job. His sponsors kept him healthy and oiled his hands, so that by the end of a year's time, you could no longer identify him as a mill worker.

Hence he was able to get out of the country, and get to young America. The technology for textile manufacturing stored in his photographic memory. I think he was a Scottish man. One person, and this begat the New England textile industry.

So what is the point here? That crowding out, which is sometimes referred to as government overspending crowding out private investment, also refers to risk.

The risk of allowing your expertise to escape to another country, you won't own it any more, you might lose your prowess. Did Britain go under? Nope. Trade expands all fortunes.

The anti-trade sentiment is also anti-risk. They forget that once it was America that was a less developed country. Remember that?

Aircraft, 2 Ladies from Washington State

Well not everything is party warfare, neatly polarized Democrat vs. Republican lines drawn in the sand. Have you ever thought about that? Lines in the sand aren't neat - unless its wet sand that is. Now lines in the mud, that might be cleaner.

The whole Congressional deal on "lets let China know how we feel about their artificially keeping their currency low!". Why don't they take another vote on "lets keep Antarctica for penguins!" or "Spouses should kiss goodnight every night!".

But wait, the China deal has more consequences. They own 25% of our debt. So why did the 2 senators from Washington State - Ms. Cantwell and Ms. Murray, vote against this bill (S.1619), when the rest of the Dems voted for it. One more, Sen Inouye of Hawaii was the 3rd Democratic no vote.

Could it be that someone out there in Senate land actually thinks about trade? What is our most valuable export (besides perhaps ideas) - aircraft. Where is it manufactured - Everett, Washington. I'm sure Hawaii is a little trade dependent too - or maybe just closer to China and its military fleet, and a bit off the beaten path for us to defend..

Besides expressing congressional outrage, as if we need them to express more unguarded emotions, the assumption is that China is also dependent on the US for *its* exports. I heard today that 35% of what they export goes to the US of A. Wonder how much of that is destined for Walmart. Besides being 'associates', I wonder if the Walmart wage slaves realize they are pawns in a bilateral relationship with the world's next superpower? Maybe they will have a head start on the rest of us when we all sign up for our Chinese names.

If I stopped buying cheap stuff from Target tomorrow (cause I've been boycotting Walmart for a couple years now; not as long as I've been boycotting veal; then there's the trips back east to get the kids set up in new dorms, well lets forget that for now - I have sinned..). Would China retaliate if everyone decided to go local? Maybe that is something worth occupying Portland for. Say no to all Chinese manufactured product for a day, and buy local. I think it would be easier to do this in Portland than probably anyplace else I've seen in this country.

Voices from Occupy Salem..

Walking back from lunch I heard a rally over at the Capitol, the Occupy Salem crowd. Had to check it out. Here is my non-scientific observation based on 5 mins - the time before they marched from the Capitol steps to downtown Salem.

A woman had the microphone - "6600 kids will be thrown out on the street!" Speculate - someone from DHS protesting government cutbacks? Foster kids?

Next up - a guy who had a poem from someone in "Spo-kane", pronouncing all long vowels. Hmm, since that is not the way locals pronounce it (not that I know) I thought maybe he was one of those outside agitators. The poem contained lots of imagery of police violence, rubber bullets. He was inciting the crowd to be violent? Then the phrase "uprising of the workers".

Are these workers? If they can camp out overnight at Willson Park, I wonder what kind of work they actually do.. After his poetry reading he went on to talk more about "the system", and how the "1%" were pillaging the rest of us. The rest of us, the non-privileged. He decried the inequalities that exist, how it takes money to play politics, and how people are born into inequality with no chance of moving up.

Then "we have a right to overthrow a government that does not work". Then "we want health care, we want the government to take care of us!" - to which there was some dissent, so he backpeddled a bit "when we need them to!"

Then someone from Oregon Peaceworks, "I've been waiting for this day since the 60's!"

So - 5 minutes in the life of Occupy Salem. I did not hear any positive policy statements, or answers. Only anger, and inciting to violence.

Three Theories

What is going on? The tea party is actually coming together as if they were a real party, but I am still not clear on their foreign policy. Except build larger fences.

The Occupy Wall Street crowd - just formulating. Like the birth of a new star, a super nova? My first thought was to jump to conspiracy theory.. Obama is a community organizer, that is what he knows. Maybe he incited the occupying crowd to rally. But, I'm on his mailing list, I never saw an invite. But maybe in some undercover community organizing way - the secret networks apart from twitter, Facebook, email..

First theory: birth of new parties
Both the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street Party - will be legitimate political parties, coming soon to a ballot near you. This could be exciting. My Progressive party (secret - I just switched over the weekend to Democrat, so I could vote in the primary this month - Mr Witt is my man for Congress, right now. I should have asked him if he owns a tiger suit, but he doesn't look the type.) Well the Progressive Party, not sure I actually go along with all their platform ideas.

By and large the Rs and Ds have proven ineffective at governing Washington, or even coming together on anything at all. They go from railing about "light bulb choice", "deregulate the EPA" (even when the health effects of cement dust may actually cost society *more* in the long run than any few jobs that would be lost right now), and "tax the rich". No common ground.

Now, the Tea Party and OWS parties - may actually be able to find some common ground. The average person is who they represent. Government and corporations - both seem to be in league of late, and the individual be damned. Glad there's no FCC regulating my free speech here.

Second theory: military prowess determines our fate
What if the whole nature of our American character is based on our military success? Lack of objectives, endless war - we are sunk. Clear objectives, success (Libya?) - we rule. Must ponder this.

Third theory: a little bit of truth in all of it
Everyone has something to say, and all of it contains shards of truth:
* Immigrants taking jobs. True - why can't my kid work at McDonald's in high school? Why can't my neighbor take a construction job?
* Overcrowding. A fact of life? No one is espousing this, but it happens constantly out in the suburbs, must be responsible for something.
* Environmental regulations killing jobs (to some extent). Why do we need to protect every last slug from being endangered? Perhaps God wants some of them to go away, so we can cut down a few trees? What is missing in the polarized no-win arguments of fish vs. dams, or logging vs. owls, is any sense of balance.
* The Financial system out of control. I think everyone would agree with this. Supposedly one of the protesters in Portland had a sign "Reinstate Glass Steagal". Heard this on cspan too. We never really did undo all the crafty financial instruments that left so many people without even knowing who actually owns their mortgage. Not fixed yet.

Bottom line, I think a lot of people are clinging to the past. The past is over. We are going to get more crowded. We are always going to have a Defense Department. We are always going to have a tug and pull of rich people and poor people. And no, everyone does not want to be middle class. Everyone in the USA wants to be rich.

In Tribute - Steve Jobs

I'm glad my travels took me to the Apple store at Pioneer Place today..










There was a Portland style tribute to him, everyone thanking him and RIP on little sticky notes. The 2 green apples in front had hearts carved into them. Some people were just sitting on the bench outside watching and pondering him.

He was an amazing human, and the ipod, ipad, iphone, full-length animated movies starting with Pixar, all will forever live on in his memory..

The Seeds are Always There

It was called a failure of imagination.
It was called a failure to connect the dots.

When you enter politics, do these things, part of the human condition (didn't we all grow up playing dots in Calculus class..) go by the wayside?

Back in 9/11, say on 9/10/2001.. or even back in the Last Millenium which seems so long ago, even the street numbers have been changed since then. There were seeds. There were transcripts from bin Laden and friends. Statements that could lead you to imagine using aircraft as weapons of mass destruction. There were dots, unconnected, between the foreign surveillance apparatus, and domestic criminal intelligence. Alas the data systems did not talk to each other. But even back in the 1980s people were talking about data matching. When you enter civil service, as with politics, does your ability to connect dots and use your imagination go by the wayside too?

Today's imagination/dot exercise is the federal budget. Mr Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget Office, testifying in front of the Super Committee. In case you aren't able to listen to cspan at work (I am so totally lucky!) it is rebroadcast today on cspan radio. The non-partisan CBO chief says that if we continue on with current policies - those Bush tax cuts, those emergency unemployment compensation benefits, that doc fix which allows Medicare doctors to have full reimbursement.. That we are looking at an unsustainable situation, with spending beyond control and at something like 190% of GDP in the decades to come.

20% to 40% to 100% to 190%, its starting to be like trillions to me, and become somewhat meaningless. As my federal friends would say, after enough shutdown "deadlines" come and go and the world goes on, you tend to get numb to these things.

So what kind of imagination and dot drawing is needed today, and how do we inspire our elected representatives and civil servants to partake in this exercise?

Mr Elmendorf says there is no free lunch. That should be Rule #1. Deal with Problems Now. OK those benefiting from those tax cuts, the word "temporary" means they are going to end. And how long can an emergency exist, to keep providing unemployment to the non-working class. Doc fix, or county timber payments. Things tend to last forever. Till they don't.

I like the word "nexus". If Medicare is going to continue, let it pay for itself. Maybe every doctor and every patient needs to get a "haircut" as they call it in the financial world. The next world for the US will of course be national health insurance, like every other civilized nation on the planet. So if your heart is in it, and you practice medicine not for the degrees on your wall and the vacations in Bora Bora, then you'll stick with it.

Rule #2. Lets think about Obama's pitch for a second stimulus, to fund construction workers, teachers, fire fighters. How the typical Democratic pitch for public sector job creation has a stimulating effect on the economy. Lets do the math. A $45K public sector job may generate $3,150 back to the state in the form of income tax (using a 7% effective marginal tax rate). And $9,900 back to the feds in the form of federal income tax (using a 22% effective marginal tax rate). So - for $45,000 worth of expenditure, you reap back $13,050 in terms of income tax. Whoa! Even a refrigerator is more efficient than that. And where does the $45,000 come from - the federal taxes of other working people.

Why is it hard to see that having survived Stimulus 1 (almost, nearly) that to invest in Stimulus 2 doesn't really pay off. Is the way to grow the economy really up to the venture capitalists and innovators in the world, and the government can't really do it all (answer left as an exercise to the reader - look up the efficiency of refrigerators). Does that really require a leap of imagination, or a dot exercise? Please send a dot template, with instructions, to your local elected representatives, and ask them to participate.

Yes to $3.99 Dove Bars, Again!

I used to be able to buy those $3.99 Dove bars - you know, the kind with dark Belgium chocolate, covering dark chocolate ice cream. Only 3 in a box, and it was about $3.99 for each one. But it was so good.

Cutting back is possible, you can have half of one, or a mouthful to make it last longer. But what if someone promised you a whole one, every night! Wouldn't that be keen!

Obama's Jobs Plan reminds me of this. He is promising me the following:
* no more giving up those nights out to pay for gas or make the mortgage
* no more postponing retirement to put a kid through college
* every one in my neighborhood will have a job
* every pothole will be fixed
* I will only fly in the newest most high tech planes on the planet
* no more leaky school roofs
* $1500 tax credit to the average family
* $2000 to me since I've been a responsible mortgage holder

Well if those are the promises he is personally making to me, I wonder what other promises are in there. Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it. And it will all be paid for, since he'll just rack it up on the national credit card.

But not to worry! He will be solving this niggling deficit problem Real Soon Now. Just give him a little more time and a little more money.

Starting to sound like we need a 1-800 hotline for Politicians Anonymous. Making promises, racking up the spending, with no earthly way to pay for it. Making me wonder, wouldn't it be cheaper to just give everyone a $3.99 Dove bar?

Lets try the math. $300B Jobs Plan
vs. $3.99 * 300M people in the US = $1.2B. Can we be bought off for that and re-elect him?

A Section Chief in the Party's Propaganda Department

ok the Canadian Press tells it like it is. Oh, they are talking about a representative from the Chinese government. Where I suppose they really do have a Propaganda Department. He is now investing in Iceland. Tourism, don't you know.

Well we civilized and democratic nations don't have Propaganda Departments. Jay Carney is not a propaganda machine. I could say he is a member of the small animal genus called rodent, but actually I like a lot of rodents (like chinchillas). And squirrels always notice me when I walk around, or if I'm eating something delectable they want, so there is a certain acceptance there.

What do they call it in 1984, Big Brother? Where is my better half who reads all books to completion, are you back in school? Oh remind me so I don't have to go searching for online cliff notes, sorry I mean spark notes.

We have much cagier ways of purveying propaganda. Only to anyone who is even semi-conscious (this may leave out the rodents of the world, they are good at sensing the proximity of cheetos, not so great at recognizing lies and bamboozles) there isn't even any "there there". Most people must either be watching whatever season series is now in full swing, or buying those back to school supplies, or doesn't care. Or maybe they've escaped to Canada (yes!)

Maybe if they let me back into my home country I can create a new business card for myself. I like the title "Section Chief in the Agency's Propaganda Department". What was I writing the week before I left? It was creative fiction! It was a lot of fun! Oh, it was work too. It was top secret agency mission stuff so Don't Even Ask..

New Jersey never lets me down!

my claim to fame today! I won a contest! Politico Influence, by Dave Levinthal and others - one of the politico franchise of publications (this one an email newsletter about lobbying activity, and you bet the Super Committee is bringing them all out). Anyhow he posted a contest to give your best lobbying pitch for a state, so here is the rap about my winning entry. So excited!

And yesterday, a number of you responded with fantastic answers to our latest PI contest (details here: http://politi.co/ndwFTq), which asked you to make your best lobbying pitch for any U.S. state or territory that might not be feeling much political love these days thanks to Iowa, where just about every presidential candidate from Barack Obama to Michele Bachmann to the ghost of William Henry Harrison made an appearance in the past week.

The bad news: Not a single person lobbied on behalf of several minor jurisdictions, such as the Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll and California. But we received four pitches for the great Garden State - yep, New Jersey - with the most impassioned entry coming from Courtney Brooks, a Jersey expat now residing in Hillsboro, Ore.:

"A state many are from. Everyone proud, in some fashion, to call themselves *from* New Jersey," Brooks wrote PI. "What is it about that state? A multicultural place where there are zillions of factions, before multicultural factions were cool. A place where you learned to survive dense crowds, body to body, like going to home room in high school, with 2500 fellow students in the hallway. The way of the future. The way the planet is going. ... And in the next global warming meltdown, or global ice age (take your pick), we are the ones who will survive."

For this winning entry, Brooks earns a wooden puzzle of the United States of America (http://bit.ly/oREx0F), in which New Jersey may, per the winner's discretion, be hand-painted gold. Congratulations!

The Facts and the Rhetoric, Part 2

And here in bubble Oregon, what is going on?

Fact: Bill Sizemore, splashed on the front page of the Statesman-Journal (the Salem newspaper, for all you lovely out of state people). He took a plea deal of 'guilty' which will require 30 days of jail, paying court attorney costs, and 3 years of probation. And be a convicted felon unless he can stay good for that time.

The alternative was to not plead guilty, but to face 15 years in jail, a fine of $475K. So is it wrong to take a plea deal just to avoid a harsh sentence?

Fact: he failed to submit Form 40, for Oregon income tax, for 3 years. Fact: he paid estimated tax of $51K. Was told by accountants not to file, since if you don't get it exactly right, that is an offense too, false claims or something.

While you might hope that the Constitution guides the actions of our legal institutions, like the court system, and would be valiantly allowing people to express their first amendment rights - you know - things like free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to petition the government for grievances. Hey, I don't know if I ever read the Constitution before 2002, but you know what - its never too late to jump on that bandwagon!

But, hope is not always reality. Did he get his day in court? Well, he was in court all right, but I would not exactly call it His Day. Not allowed to tell a jury about his situation, or estimated tax filing. Not allowed to bring forth facts such as accountants telling him not to file. Underneath it all is a story so complex you may as well call it NP-complete. Unions filing multi-million dollar lawsuits against him. Saying they had to spend millions (which they wanted recovered!) to fight his nasty ballot measures. Ballot measures that would hurt them.

Well, should the people who actually vote decide these things? Maybe the people who vote aren't smart enough - is that it? I should pay my dues to unions and let them decide for me, what measures I should vote for and which not? Or maybe my political party can just send me a ballot and, like in the old days, just pull a lever for all votes for Their Side.

Rhetoric, enter here: Sizemore was scamming the system to line his pockets, and never had an interest in making these ballot measures successful. This is the kind of stuff you read in every single newspaper, its like they all copy the same text (don't they know that plagerism is not good form?). This is not even rhetoric, it doesn't even have any basis in fact.

At least with the FAA (see previous post - The Facts and the Rhetoric) you have 'positions' that might make sense, at least on a philosophical level. Hostage takers and jobs lost and all that. Here, I suppose you have something along those lines. The mortal enemy of public employee unions, so absolutely evil that he cannot be allowed to roam freely. We are all in danger while he is a free man. So! Must find some trumped up charge and convict him, knock out his kneecaps, and render him unable to perpetrate his nasty ballot measures on free people.

Remember the movie Fantasia where Mickey Mouse cuts the dancing broom, thinking he killed it? Only to have each half continue to dance around. Tries to kill some of the offshoots, only to have them create new sub-brooms that continue to dance around. Do you really think Bill Sizemore is down for the count?

The Facts and the Rhetoric

Fact: While Congress decided they were tired, after all their debt standoff and dealing, and it was time for recess. You know, a pint of milk, some raisins, and a nap on the floor mat. Then maybe ride on the merry-go-round of campaigning a bit, you know, Recess.

Meanwhile, the FAA was in partial shutdown. With 4000 federal workers (tally that into the unemployment stats) furloughed, and 70,000 construction workers sent home, due to lack of FAA funds to pay for continued work on airport construction projects.

Fact: the airlines continued to merrily collect the $10 ticket tax, per ticket, totally about $30 million total over the 2 weeks of the shutdown. Pocket it. For the glory of their shareholders. After all, the mantra for business is not 'raise tax for the government', it is 'work to benefit shareholders'. Well, at least that was the 20st century mantra, not sure what it is today - survive maybe.

Rhetoric: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said "its not a union issue". Put this in the same category of Obama-isms like "the Stimulus has created jobs!", or "we brokered a compromise for the debt deal!". Just cause you say it, and even if you are the leader of the free world and you say it, over and over and over again, does not make it True.

Fact: the National Mediation Board (there is such a thing) recently broke from decades of prior practice regarding workplace elections for unions. Instead of the usual rule - must have 51% of all workers say yes to forming a union, they changed the rule to -must have 51% of workers who vote and say 'yes' to forming a union. Making it easier since those who don't vote, don't count. You don't even need to 'get out the vote', just gather those who you think will vote your way, and voila, get your union (of course, all the "fair share" people who didn't vote, would probably still be subject to the same dues, conditions negotiated, etc.)

It used to be, that all those people who didn't give a darn basically served as 'no' votes, making it harder to form a union.

More rhetoric: complaints by liberal senators about "hostage taking". Does anyone fall for that anymore? Well - if you say it enough times, maybe people don't realize there are other ways of thinking.. Which still does not make it True.

So the real deal here, as I see it - all the hoopla about Republicans not wanting to extend the small airport subsidies, and willing to shut down the FAA over this. Partially true. The Democratic leaders saying it is crazy and unproductive (expletive deleted) to shut down the FAA over this and throw 74,000 more people onto an unemployment system that is already strained well past the breaking point. Partially true.

But underneath it all, a federal regulation changed. One which made it easier to form a workplace union. And the Republicans, faithful Federal Register readers all, most likely, took notice. And said no. In a very public way. Note to self: Federal Register daily digest, must subscribe...

Never Say Never

Power right - amend the Constitution or we won't pay the bills

Power left - must get re-elected

Is it too late to be from Canada? Right now, I live in a banana republic. But, no free bananas.

This debt limit deal - its not about rational compromise, or "revenue" or "no taxes" or "corporate jets" or even "federal spending". Sorry if you thought that.

Don't listen to any of the words that are tossed out. For the tea party - its all about gaining control. They get what they want, and they want some more. It never ends. Thats the way it is with freshmen!

Well, when I was in college, most of the freshmen that spend that year, newly away from home - running up and down the hall, doing drugs all hours. Most of them didn't make it to Year 2. Went back home.

For the Democrats, did you think "oh, we don't want to have to raise the debt limit *again*" was some sort of real story? As CNBC said, in their finest British accent, "Americans can't do maths" - pointing out that Reagan, the Republican overlord, raised the debt limit 18 times over 8 years. Over and over (and over and over and over and over and over and over... you get the idea). Now just *why* would those Dems not want a debt limit that stalls out in December 2011, but one that defers stalling out till December 2012? Oh! There is that Presidential election in November 2012.

Just about power - on both sides. Using the federal budget as a tool in their political play.

Today I am a Progressive. I wonder who the Progressive Party will run for "Oregon1" - the 1st Congressional District of Oregon, to replace Wu. Once they vote on the debt deal, our congressman will be stepping down. New candidates wanted. No one who has ever worn a tiger suit that was photographed need apply.

the Nicaraguan Model

Many moons ago, back in the day, I spent a couple weeks in Nicaragua. It was a nation at war. Actually my country was the opponent. Back when Reagan was funding the contras against the Sandanista government.

But the point here is not that Americans will help out, whatever the heck their government is doing, though that was definitely part of that mission. It's more about subsistence.

The capitalist society we live in here has a safety net, and some people qualify to get uninsurance benefits, or food stamps. And those same eligible claimants or clients get the money, few restrictions apply. You could spend your entire unemployment check on your cable bill if you wanted. Food stamps have a few more strings, no prepared foods for instance. So no cooked chicken from Fred Meyer for you. But you could squander it all on Doritos.

In Nicaragua the little government office I worked in distributed food. Enabas. The drivers would come through, get their shipment, be sure they were armed to defend themselves, and hit the road. Probably I will never meet braver people than someone like Reynaldo in my life. He took the time to talk to me, though I spoke no Spanish, just my little guidebook in an attempt to communicate.

Delivering food. Do we need a different sort of safety net in this country? One that meets people's basic needs - food and housing come to mind. But without the complete freedom model of capitalism. Instead of food stamps, give them rice and beans. Maybe some cooking oil to fry up a few tasty onions with that.

For housing (instead of unemployment checks), give each person a housing voucher worth $600. If that is not enough to make their rent or mortgage payment, see if their bank or landlord can take a haircut (accept only the $600).

Meeting people's needs, can we try something new?

Only Her Hairdresser Knows for Sure

Is it real, or is it Clairol?
That was the question of the 60s - with regard to a woman's haircolor. Now does anyone care? I am the last un-highlighted head of hair in the cosmos, save for my kids who seem to appreciate the natural way of things as well.

The federal debt limit. Weeks ago I imagined it was just posturing. Poor lad Obama was the tragic Shakespearean character. Only I didn't have enough Shakespeare in my heart or head to map him onto any character. And other state dweebs in staff meetings were no help either. Not that they are philistines exactly, but, um, well..

Now we are at the 10th hour (not yet 11th, not yet 11 + 51 minutes, not yet 11 + 59 minutes, not yet 11 + 59 minutes + 58 seconds). I mean, we've seen this before, many times. We have heard the cry "wolf!" so many times that I think Obama's fate, Shakespeare or not, is to be the tragic character slain and eaten by the wolf. This time for real?

Today the debt limit debate talks apparently broke down. Senate Republican leader Boehner walked out. Obama was mad. Took Boehner all day to return a phone call from Obama. Obama, the leader of the free world. Maybe that is what democracy looks like. The President doesn't control all the strings.

But yet, I still wonder - stage right. stage left. They all play their parts very well. Obama, still wants it on his scorecard that he fought the good fight- a balanced approach to reduce the debt, raise taxes on those nasty rich people, those people with corporate jets, the symbol of an indecent spending of private dollars. Those dollars should be redistributed to welfare moms, don't they know that?

Meanwhile, the Republicans, holding fast to Grover Norquist's pledge. Though even he sounded a little bit like a grown up this week. Mr Norquist, kiddos, is infamous and famous too, for his "pledge". For 25 years he has been asking people to sign the pledge - no new taxes. Till this week, common interpretation was that even removing a tax credit (such as those Bush tax cuts) would have been considered a tax increase. This week he spoke about "well technically not *voting* on a tax increase and just letting those tax cuts expire is not a tax increase". Making the point that it is the voting record that counts. Political accountability and all that.

But the Republicans have out Norquisted Mr Norquist. They aren't falling for any technicality, its no taxes, no way, no how. It was Obama's message machine that tried to create the illusion of a deal. There was no deal, Boehner says.

Is it real? Is it Clairol? August 2 will let us know.

the Collective Wisdom of Cspan

A Walmart economy can't afford Cadillac services.

Basically, once upon a time there were workers in this country of ours who made $70K. Auto workers who actually made things for a living. Imagine those same workers now trying to scrape by, perhaps a job at Walmart for $25K per year.

Yes and suppose they pay an average effective tax rate of 7%. For their old salary that would amount to $4,900. Now with their new salary, tax would amount to $1,750. But, they probably make so little that they may not be liable for any federal tax. Or state tax.

This is conjecture and not scientifically or economically accurate. But, it paints a picture - does anyone wonder why our post-industrial Walmart economy brings in less federal tax dollars?

And yet, we still expect the same level of service from our government, as when we each had a V-8 truck in the driveway, and a boat in the garage, and could grill up steaks every weekend. Now the Walmart worker gets by, perhaps with help from friends, or from the Food Bank.

Our government needs to scale accordingly.

Step #1 on the road to recovery: boycott Walmart. Keep jobs here. The truth is, we are a lot closer to Greece than we think.

The Food Chain of Consistency

Sometimes I think I am really progressive - like, the world should eat vegan. You can feed plenty more people on grains and greens, than on things higher on the food chain like cattle -which require tons of grain and water to grow.

But forget the fake cheese, vegan food trying to be something its not. I did try vegan pizza and survived, but I would not recommend it. But yes to microwave lentil couscous curry!

Other times I am on the other side of things, clinging to old ways. Like the whole "Walk your Bike" signs along the paved paths in the park. Bah.

Both of these stem from increased population. I will continue to be haunted by the cover of a Foreign Policy magazine which talked about how in 2050 most people on this planet will live in cities. If I could find it...

The world tends towards increasing population. A fact. Here in old Hillsboro, up in Brinnon where, sad to say, my neighbor is building a house. Next to my little dead end camping lot. Well my other neighbors on Gorge Court have already sold off their big leaf maples for timber. That felt like a betrayal too.

Is there a case here - or there? A "takings" for ruining my private right to natural quiet beauty?

At this moment it is man vs. blackberry in the front yard. Well, not yard exactly but that side part of the property I call the "gulch". My husband is in locked battle seeking to cultivate civilization. Get with the program girl. Sigh.

From now on I am going to see every issue on a scale of 1..10. 1 = anarchy is ok, cause you are the only one in the country. 10 = teeming metropolis. Whatever state the issue of the day is (e.g., regulations of any kind), determine the point today. And realize we are headed towards increasing population and civilization..

Yet I reserve the right to cruise my bike through the park, ignore the "walk" signs, and face the consequences.

Jobs, Economy, Unemployment

Let's parse today's jobs numbers reported by the Labor Department.

18K jobs created, which is very paltry. But, 57K private sector jobs created, which is a bit ok. The net difference, a result of significant public sector job losses.

Is this a surprise? People lurch to the bottom line number, for political purposes mostly. Could be Obama's demise, but I fear we would be no better off with Republicans at the helm.

Keep parsing. The Stimulus did provide significant money to states. Yes some of us still reporting on the details, every job funded with ARRA dollars, every dollar spent, every transaction greater than $25K reported publicly in nano-detail (trust me on that).

PSU alone, my great Portland State University, received $28M. Its all public over on recovery.gov.

So what now that state fiscal stabilization money is over and done? Well states have to balance their own budgets. The outcry over public sector unions and the pain and suffering in state budgets, not to mention some of us with salary freezes going on 3 years, soon to be going on 5 years, oh, even worse a pay cut when you factor in still more furlough days and health care costs. Good thing my kids have good earning potential!

What else contributes to net job loss? Construction - ha! Foreclosures have people tangled in knots, so no new houses being built.

Manufacturing? Things look ok here in Washington County - cranes over Intel, new hospital under construction on Evergreen Rd, and SolarWorld hiring to crank out more solar panels. No thanks to our elected congressional rep, who likes to wear a tiger suit in the dead of night - now is that more embarassing than tweeting illicit pics? Well, useless as a representative, so just goes to show you the economy chunks alone with or without those politicians.

From the financial wild west under Bush, with unregulated collateralized debt obligations and securitized mortgages (or is it mortgatized securities?) -- still untangling that and trying to wrestle it under control, to ARRA spending, and now - the withdrawl of ARRA spending.

Withdrawl is painful, indeed. I don't know what we need. Chocolate, perhaps.

Faithful to the Scavenger Hunt..

Some people go on fun scavenger hunts. The geocaching thing - which connects people who aren't connected in any way, except they like to find things. When they find them, a good use of the advanced technology in their smartphone, hence justifying the cost of a data plan and GPS satellites too.. they leave a trace behind.

Like inside a lamppost (there is an inside to a lamppost? trust me, I've seen it! at least in Virginia they have insides..), you open it up. You find a small vial. You open that up. You look inside. You do not have to issue any secret spells or even chant xyzzy (or even have it on your license plate). You can write your own special "I was here, or, should your name be Kilroy say, 'Kilroy was here' ".

But us grownups have other types of scavenger hunts. Today was tracking little pieces of information for OMB reporting. How fun is that! Lots of little pieces of evidence, without even the wisdom of a smartphone (except to keep me going with zumba dance tunes!) I learned much today in this quest.

Much of it unprintable. But the public things - like a vendor who did a portion of our stimulus-funded project. How there are vendors in Oregon who have their headquarters on Park Avenue in New York City. Sounds pretty tony to me. But hey, its on that price list, so apparently all is cool and we aren't paying too much.

Now why it is important to report on the congressional district of this vendor's headquarters is beyond me. Its not even Anthony Weiner's district, which I believe will get vaporized due to population loss in the non-garden state, but someone named Carolyn Maloney. NY14. I am finally getting the hang of this district numbering system. Sort of a prep for the 2012 elections.

Stimulus #1, remember that? Some of us are still faithfully tracking the money and jobs created. I was able to faithfully report 4.36 jobs were funded last quarter. OMB cares, and they get reports from all faithful scavenger reporters. Every i dotted, every t crossed. That is I hope. Everyone else has completely and absolutely lost interest. Or perhaps they trust me, yes thats it.

How to Create the Next Google!

Well I didn't know it was that simple.. one dose of venture capital, some smart engineers, no stupid focus groups or market research, just pure elegance. Oh! And of course public capital - cause only the federal government knows how to steer companies to be successful! Without them, where would we be?

Oh, wait. What about Hewlett and Packard? The garage they started their enterprise in, in Palo Alto, is still around - probably a museum. Did they develop something for the war effort (the Good War)? Nope sorry kids, sorry Mr President - it was an oscillator.

You know, something that oscillates. According to the wisdom of wikipedia, which has some absolutely fine editors, these first oscillators were used in something similar to today's surround sound. Not a military app. Not funded by the feds. Not even chosen to succeed by the feds. Just a couple Stanford grads and a single car garage (back when families only needed one car) looking for fun things to do!

So twitter town hall, Obama wants it all. To focus on manufacturing. Which is ok by me, I learned a lot in the widget factory. But Mr Pres how are you going to pay for it. Should the government pick winners and losers, or let those grads do fun stuff and see what transpires? Apple case in point - no focus groups, just pure elegant design. Microsoft, on the other hand - zillions of test groups and such. Would you rather take your ipod or your Windows laptop with you on a walk??

ok chose one, to define the term "nexus"
Option (A) Tax the rich to provide services to the poor
Option (B) No more taxes, no more government services

And will we solve this debt limit thing in time, or crater into the ocean? And I don't even live in California, who knew the ocean was that close!

What does she know that I don't know?

The woman who approves our federal grant is going to China.  Very cool!

I remember talking to her before the possible government shutdown, back when Congress and our Pres were having some trouble approving a budget.  And instructions were issued from federal agencies about an orderly shutdown.  She told me about the time back in the mid-90s where they actually did shut down, which was followed by a snowstorm.  Feeling badly for taking pay when actually she didn't work for close to a month.

I tease my colleague about taking Chinese names.  That is the first step.  Like back in high school French class, where we took on French names.  Only this time names are a first step.  Given the Chinese government holds 25% or more of each dollar our federal government spends.

Well names are the first.  I suspect she is going to China to scope out possible employment opportunities.  Wouldn't you?  I mean, running a large state owned enterprise, she knows how to do that.  Will have to ask her what her Chinese name is when she comes back.  I told her to come back.  I mean, maybe she'll come back.  Would you?

Welcome to Chicago

Who could not love Chi-town? At O'Hare there are three (so far)
Barbara's Bookstores. People still reading paper bound books.

Blues music piped in. Allman Brothers too. The sky as blue and clear
and wide as the prairie.

The same segregation exists, I despair to say. I was wondering about that.

Things That Will Kill You

Ticks - pull them straight out, in case, say you happen to be hiking in the mountains..

Foreclosure - well deal with it. Maybe allow people to glean the food on your property (hint, don't kill the dandelions)..

Non-BPA water bottles. Well I am not going to pay $19.95 for a non-BPA colorful water bottle at REI. Just not. Those refund checks just sit around anyway for years. I will take my chances with my 2-year old water bottle, BPA and all..

Sea kayaking. What makes me think I can do this? Well, if I can brave ticks and the pangs of life and even a regular old fashioned water bottle, maybe I can learn to manhandle a sea kayak..

and maybe I can just pray.

By way of Seattle

Though you can go anywhere from Portland when you go by way of Seattle, they have a round the clock Starbucks at the gate. They know their
customers.

Kids kids kids

I would have to say it is more expensive to raise kids these days.

Two data points show me the world. Price of real maple syrup (the pure stuff): $7.69. And thats for the store brand. Price of Red Vines: $1.29

Ok that explains why everyone in the suburbs is fat (me too?) Real food costs more.

The last time I bought maple syrup it was like $5.69. So its gone up by $2, in probably that many years.. Good thing it has an infinite shelf life.

Well kudos to the fathers out there, happy father's day. It costs a bundle to raise kids. Be there. Buy them the real maple syrup, and bring your lunch. And red vines, but only if they do chores for it.

One Progressive Makes a Difference

One letter writer makes a difference.
In the Oregon legislature, which is winding down the session, the House takes up a bill that easily passed the Senate. The Senate voted en masse to pass SB 270 - which would set a maximum fine of $5,000 per month for failure to disclose campaign donations. Whatever the value.

Existing law sets a penalty at 10% once the violation is found.

For those anonymous rich donors like the Koch brothers, the Government of China, or even the 457 organization masking the Government of Palau masking the Republican party of Canada masking your next door neighbor who is a rabid gun toting terrorist. Or anyone.

If you believe in the sunshine - campaign contributions should be public so we-the-voters can all see who's influencing and benefiting from campaign donations.. then the punishment should fit the crime.

Along comes Dan Meek, political activist in Oregon, a Progressive Party member. Who wrote a letter to the House delegation alerting them of the dangers of the new maximum limit in SB 270.

And the House awoke collectively to its responsibility. To its visibility. While the Senate slept the House was vigilant. Thanks to Dan for writing one letter. One letter can make a difference.

One Leaf Falling in June

Something ahead of its time? An anomoly?
Like the one footnote I read in Congressional testimony one time, talking about the economy and the unemployment system. The author was talking about the 1930's, the late 1930's, and the term "crowding out" has stuck with me.

In the sense of - if the government stops huge stimulus spending programs, which acknowledged are sometimes necessary, for the security of humanity. But when they stop, it makes more money available for private investment.

Trying to follow these Republican candidates on XM radio in the debate tonight. I have listened to enough cspan sessions to be able to pick out - Senator Sessions, Harry Reid, Rand Paul, etc. Their voices map to their words.

But these Republican candidates, don't know them that well. My score tonight is Cain +3. Everyone else, -1.

Some of the things they said are really wacked out. So for a context free quote fest:

Gingrich - "we need a decentralized space program". Really. Like every person designs part of a rocket ship in their garage, then we all get together to assemble it to fly to other planets? Tell you what Newt, you can be the first one to fly into space (or, maybe you're already there). More sensible views on immigration though.

Ron Paul - colorful to listen to. Whacked out. With respect to getting out of various Middle East countries, "I wouldn't ask the generals. I'm the Commander in Chief!" Like I said, colorful to listen to.

Cain - personal retirement accounts. I'm not off for killing off social security, but he made it sound like a supplement, like an option. Of the crowd of 7 tonight, he was the most impressive.

Michelle Bachmann - 23 foster children. Really.

Pawlenty - sounds like a political hack, slippery in his answers. Wants to "appoint conservative justices". What ever happened to justice as blind??

And as proof that we are still in Recession, new billboards have sprouted on I-5 heading north of Salem. For hard liquor. One for a new Cuervo black or something (tequila). Another for "Black Velvet" and its not the song. Perhaps liquor is recession proof.

The Corners of My Car

Ah, it is already raining. So forget about washing the car (I can't make it rain, today). Cleaning out the corners of my car, 27 hundred water bottles (returnable! worth 5cents each!) I wish a band crew would come around and take them from me, but alas, they will now sit in bags in the garage, till they reach a critical mass (when we can't get past them to the lawnmower).

Also found, a little postit of things to do today, from days gone by: FY 09 budget, FY 10 budget. Has it always been thus? Are we always stuck between this federal fiscal year, and the next federal fiscal year? Right now we are at last content (or, have settled) on a FY 11 budget, and still fussing over a FY 12 budget.

What else was unearthed.. chile-cheese fritos. Ah, I remember those Stimulus Point of Contact meetings. I remember when it was a big thrill to attend those, with the movers and shakers. Back when the federal Stimulus held real promise - money to lift us out of recession! Put people to work!

And when federal data doesn't show the results, they change the reporting rules. Instead of cumulatively counting how many jobs were created or saved (tricky), it becomes a snapshot - only those jobs funded this quarter. Count every last piece - even if a research analyst only worked for 10 minutes, capture this in the jobs total. ok.

Back in the heyday people cared about the Stimulus and such things. While perhaps the most fun thing was getting a bag of chile cheese fritos at the Capital Market on State Street, a familiar place that always smelled like fried food. You could always park there at the end of the day and no one would care, there would be spaces for the taking. Though I miss the monthly interaction with the owner of the market in making my (cheap) parking payment, he always politely responded "thank you lady" with a smile.

Now its more like - when, girl, are you going to be done with these reports?! That is my boss. The higher ups sign off on these things and ask about format, the format that has been there from Day 1. Does it make sense? Do I even notice it anymore? It has become routine. A routine that has outlived its usefulness.

Now Obama is talking about maybe, maybe, another Stimulus. Seriously? And combine that with tax cuts. Seriously???? What does this combination do - throw money on states and simultaneously take money away from the federal coffers? And this helps the deficit and the debt how exactly?? Even the Chinese must be wary by now.

Oh, they are political chess pieces to throw on the table in exchange for raising the debt limit. So we now have three, 3, trois, ways to continue to spend money we don't have. Stimulus #2. More tax cuts (keep cursing them as the Bush tax cuts). And raising the federal debt limit.

My only hope is that if we have Stimulus #2 that we can have meetings back at the old digs, cause its been awhile since I've had any chile cheese fritos.

Shards of slate in the road

Even the nicest neighborhoods suffer foreclosures these days. The end of a "street of dreams" block, with slate walkways and Frank Lloyd Wright windows. Fancy white fences. Babbling stone fountains carved into the yard. Sport courts nestled behind fences.

And yet, a piece of that nice slate is in the road. The white fences (plastic, as it turns out) are askew, covering with moss. No one plays in the sport court, and the entropy of the old country house next door spills into the street, cars on blocks, and no nasty homeowners association for them. A burn pile even!

I used to love (and probably still do) going to the Street of Dreams open houses in August. Always up someplace you have to take a bus to, climbing up into the rarified air which probably does not cause allergies (are pets allowed?). The infinity pools with views of vineyards. Maybe the wine is free if you live next to a vineyard? If you help pull weeds once in awhile, maybe?

I will probably go yet again to the Street of Dreams. Not sure why - maybe it is a Disneyland experience for someone who gets motion sickness on rides. Something far from your every day experience, oh! Did Oreo just barf on our new carpet? So much for keeping it virgin clean and taking our shoes off faithfully every day, I guess at some point even a new car loses its new car smell.

I don't know whether entropy has the upper hand today, or order. But I do see signs of the Street of Dreams crashing down, evidenced by the shard of slate in the road. And no, the "fruit of the poisoned tree" is not from Genesis, its from Matthew. Actually more commonly quoted with respect to a 1920 court case, which refers to evidence illegally gathered. Like all the words we coughed out of people the U.S. has tortured, with waterboarding or other methods.

Maybe some things were not meant to be real. Platonic ideals. Just meant to be ever out of reach, heaven on the horizon. You can think about it, want it, strive for it, but you're not really meant to have it. Not on this earth.