Entropy Level: High Today

Egypt: this is what happens when a government falls.

When people are held down by corruption, by lack of freedom, lack of opportunity, no choices.

Some turn to piracy (Somali youth)
Some turn to terrorist training camps (disenchanted Muslim youth from around the Arab world)
Some who find no options in their own country turn to the U.S. military

Options for youth. If your government is in league with corporations. Or effective only for those in control, those in power..

hmm, see any similarities?

We in the U.S. have democratic institutions. The power of the ballot. The ability to chose how we make a living.

Are these things really true? Or does the lack of freedom 5,000 miles from here serve cast a mirror on how we need to strengthen our own democracy?

Reasons Why..

..I hate the suburbs: Reason #76, Instant bacon

Apparently "food" in the suburbs has to be microwavable. Maybe chemists have now been able to capitalize on everyone having a microwave to create bacon that is ready in 10 seconds.

The Old Ways of slicing it in half to cook it up offered you choice: soggy, crisp, or burnt, depending on the destination... Soggy - good on baked beans. Crisp - nice with pancakes. Burnt - the best part of a BLT (bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich).

Although I have to say the Starbucks whipped cream at the bottom of my espresso tastes like burnt marshmallows, yum.

And checking out the new cameras at Target, they even have some that claim to be "skin softening". Well, how about that. Throw away the noxema! Now I can rub a camera on my face - who knew?

All In

The problem with part-time solutions..

Health care. Arg, so many things are working against this one. Compromise is not always a good thing. Lets count what is going wrong: premiums are up (double digit up). Families are dropping off, and companies are reducing the number of people covered. While I have my nice cadillac benefits, for the moment (not even for the biennium, I don't think those nice union-negotiated-contracts exist for us management service dweebs). No guarantees here, and the secret budget the current Gov is working on (does not need any messy state agency help! ok then!) we shall see.

Just today someone I work with jumped ship. Announced his retirement effective the last day of the month. Effectively giving 3 days notice. Now he's probably been there 30 years or so, this is actually *not* uncommon, though I cannot imagine it. I've been there nearly 3 years. For me, 4 years is a work record. One of the proposed PERS pension reforms would have reduced his benefits 20%, so yes a sensible decision.

What else is going wrong with health care - the cost of medicine is up. The spectrum of cspan callers-in is wide. Today someone calling in representing the widows of the nation. She has seen no cost of living increase in social security payments for 2 years running. And the cost of her medicines continues to go up. She sounded angry, but also tired, also hungry, also very frustrated, also anxious. If you listen to the radio hours a day you can learn to recognize these things in voices. Or, like, which senator is speaking. Now, if pharmaceutical companies didn't spend 20% or is it 50% of their budget on marketing directly to consumers, maybe they could actually deliver sensibly-priced drugs that people actually need. Right now none of those adjectives is true.

What else - doctors. The number of doctors is not keeping up with demand, as the baby boom crowd ages and needs (or is told they need?) medical care. I ask whether they need this, since I have a 90-year old neighbor who does not have a doctor. By now he is probably 92, and he is still out trucking around. Maybe that is the key to a long healthy life - do not have a doctor, do not interact with the medical establishment. Just wondering.

Part of the doctor supply issue may be that Medicaid and even Medicare rates do not keep up with their costs. Thus doctors do not want new Medicaid and Medicare patients. Making it hard if you don't live in a metropolis, but in some Eastern Oregon town, say. Despite all the tax incentives and expenditures out there to lure medical professionals to these rural areas. Note to self (and to anyone else out there): look up the most recent Tax Expenditure report. A useful and insightful publication, published by the State Department of Revenue. Whatever else they do that you might not like, they do make a vast range of data available to the average citizen.

Doctors are also beset by medical malpractice rates. And high loan fees from their education..

That is Part 1 of how a half-way compromise solution ends up satisfying no one. The Next Health Care Solution will have to be All In. None of this part-way stuff. Go for it, Obama! Full scale national health insurance, like a real developed industrialized nation. Do we still qualify as one of those?

From Time to Time...

[The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient... U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 3

thank you cspan..

What do we aspire to? For if nothing else, the President's State of the Union speech was aspirational:

* 80% of our country's electricity needs met by clean energy by 2035!

* Eliminate $ billions in oil company subsidies! Let's stop investing in legacy industries..

* Invest in high speed rail!

* Creative destruction - a roofing company transformed into one that builds solar shingles! Reinvention!

* A unifying theme - Gabby ribbons, worn by both red and blue, sometimes sitting side by side..

* Oh! And I don't think he pissed anyone off, on either side!

We shall see what the future holds. Reorganizing the federal government? Not exactly aspirational, but maybe the new budget, if you can wait for February 1 dear readers, will hold these clues.

All About New Jersey

It always comes back to that - no matter how far away I get - Portland or even Sooke, BC, Canada. New Jersey always pops up.

This past week some mob bosses were nailed by the FBI. And they didn't have to entice a 19-year-old kid with his whole life in front of him this time. Entice him with bad choices put in front of him once he gave them his trust.. Is that a betrayal of federal responsibility to its citizens or what?

So, mob bosses in these areas around NJ, NY, and Rhode Island: waterfront projects (like that old movie..), construction firms, and cement and concrete workers unions. Why does this last sound like a cliche? I don't know anyone in the mob and yet 'concrete' and 'mob' are linked somehow in my mind. And I haven't even watched many Sopranos episodes. Note to self (another New Year's resolution?): watch more Sopranos episodes.

And what are these mob bosses guilty of -- corruption. Kickbacks required by waterfront dock workers to the crime families. Extortion for the sake of "protection" for strip clubs and other shops. Corruption in construction unions. Quote from FBI Director Robert Mueller: "The costs legitimate businesses are forced to pay are ultimately borne by American consumers nationwide".

Is that why housing in New Jersey is so expensive? Even when I lived there which was 30 years ago, the little town I grew up in was getting more than its fair share of Beamers and Mercedes. In my neighborhood no less. Kind of like Silicon Valley where grocery store managers live next to rocket scientists (literally, Hanmyo, in lovely Mountain View).

Makes one think about unions. When I was in one it was vital. I desperately wanted security. But with unmatched power they are like any other corrupt entity.

Will housing in NJ get any cheaper now? Can corruption really be rooted out or do new faces just show up cause the mafia is still a viable business opportunity?

At this moment Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President, is speaking on cspan. Nice that he gets his fair share of cspan cycles. Who is he protecting? The standard of living for working Americans. And yet, at the cost of our brethren in Bangladesh? Is the whole idea of Americans and of nations obsolete in the world today?

Match his words.. the privileged few vs. the toiling masses. He is referring to the investment class vs. US auto workers. But what if you mapped this to the privileged few Americans, consuming 25% of the world's resources vs. the toiling masses in less developed countries digging minerals and making Air Jordan Nike running shoes for $1/day.

People inside the system will always want to maintain their status quo. Once the $dollar/day folk get organized however...

The Power of Myth: Freedom and Civilization

On the local classical station this morning they played music from an Italian ballet. A fisherman finds pearls in the ocean! Performed by the local ballet company in Bologna, Italy.

The tulip bubble (when prices of tulip bulbs rose, in the 1600's, to astronomical levels)..

So too Beanie Babies (well we still have a trunk-ful, maybe some day...)

What other myths of riches are out there, or just myths in general? The myth of the family farm. The myth of our right to own guns, no matter what, as if we were militia-men protecting our territory. A little Paul Revere in all of us.

Hey, I was a colonial in high school (go Colonials!) Very traditional mid-lantic type of team name. No you'd never find that out west. Maybe the stallions. Or the tercels (a kind of falcon, not to be confused with cars whose floor mats get underfoot and cause sudden acceleration).

Myth is strong in historic places, like Morristown back east. But just as we no longer wear tri-corner hats or powdered wigs, it is time to relegate some of these ideas to the shelf of history.

Much is written lately about gun laws. Even the British Economist magazine, perhaps able to see the U.S. more objectively from the other side of the pond.

Some people are decrying gun violence. Some are looking for more rights to keep their guns. A new era. A new awareness. We need to think about the civilization we are all part of. Why should someone have the "right" to own and hold a loaded weapon in the center of civilization?

How do we prevent unbalanced people from carrying out our worst fears with their weapons? Since courts have already decided that even in places like Chicago, or DC, that people must have their second amendment rights. To practice their militia skills on Michigan Avenue I guess, or on K-Street.

Should we spy on every citizen, and send alerts out on the unbalanced ones? What about crimes of passion? Should your computer interface have a "mood panel", and if you are suddenly unbalanced over some passion or anger escalating, also send the alert?

You out there who are reading this and creating an FBI file on me, what do you think?

$3.99 per item

Every item at Trader Joe's costs $3.99.
It used to be I could figure out my grocery list budget by adding up the items. While I know the cost of a half gallon of milk, or a pound of ground beef, a general rule was $1 per item.

Maybe this is the hazard of living in Washington county. Or being able to buy exotic things like hummus instead of white bread. I do buy fewer things but things I want, for a smaller family. Since I'm not buying lots of things for other people I also have less need to buy treats for myself.

I have never met anyone who doesn't like Trader Joe's. I have never met anyone who doesn't depend on google. If they put something into the hummus, or some new virus that would get into your bloodstream by doing a google inquiry then it would be curtains for the free world.

Structure vs Freedom

Have not been cross country skiing in over 10 years. And likely the
last time was when it actually snowed in Hillsboro and they hadn't
plowed the streets yet. And my house wasn't for sale so I could live
with wild abandon and, actually find things.

Alas here I am in the wilds of Washington State where I am expected to
do such things. Ok. My boots are so old that they were made, not in
the Czech Republic, but in actual Czechoslovakia. Before the fall of
the Berlin Wall. Before the end of Communism.

They have held up well. Good since they almost never get used. But
there was a time when cross country meant this type of boots, the
little 3-pin clamp that strapped them to your ski.

My Siberian umbrella has finally, after more than a decade of
industrial wear on the streets of Salem, found it's way to a nether
corner of the kitchen. It lost its strap, and handle too.

Others in my ski party seemed to have a mind-boggling array of
choices: shall I skate ski or classic ski today?? Yikes, almost as
trying as Starbucks.

Glad I always get the same thing there. For some things I am fine
with my static choices.

Then I was told to 'stay in the tracks it is faster'. Which is great
if you want to be going fast. But if I go fast I would miss the
secret view of the creek. Or the animal tracks. Or the old barbed
fence now overgrown. Or the incredible contrast between the blankets
of white snow and the dark logs covered with shelf fungus.

For some things I actually don't want structure. Back in New England
there weren't groomed trails. You just went out to the county park
and made your own trail. Each one was unique. Each view was
different.

I wonder what they serve at the Starbucks in the Czech Republic? I
hope to find out some day.

Heading North

Following a rainbow all day. Through rainy mountain passes lined by
evergreens. Across barren mountains, tumbleweed choking the grill of
our car.

Past the northern reaches of the Columbia River (yes that Columbia
River), vineyards and apple orchards planted to the water's edge.

Then through sky so blue that the water reflects everything next to
it, the sun in my rear view mirror. The sun of a new year.

Washington Shuts Down

.. over the shooting in Tuscon

Saturday, I read about it on an ipad at the Apple store at Washington Square.

What is the crime that was committed:

* Was it deinstitutionalizing mentally ill people without funding community support for them? Hence leaving people wandering, muttering, attending classes at Pima Community College?

* Was it the unraveled ties for a young man, untethered from his family, neighbors, the community? Should we all be looking out for each other?

* Was it selling a glock with a 33 round magazine to a person under 25?

Or, was it the synergy of all these threads.
And now. Washington is shut down, processing the events of Saturday. Of Tuscon.

This week and every week, notice someone near you. Say something kind to them. You may know them and sit next to them every day, at work, on the bus, in the checkout line, in church. Notice them, acknowledge them. Today, light one candle to light the darkness.

A Black Billboard on TV Highway

I guess I've never seen a completely black billboard before. I'm glad billboards are still out there for the old-fashioned driver types like me. What it signifies:

potential
despair
Arizona shooting
a new slate
black panthers laying in wait at night
the Black Forest

Maybe we are still in the promise of a new year. The potential despair of the new economy that hasn't gotten started as yet.

A young person that you know said to me that she is planning for the future. Good news, to have a plan, and Little Theorems may have more impact than they realize.. Or, she told me, maybe the world will end December 12, 2012.

In which case, we won't be around to continue our plans. Or maybe that will be the day of judgement. For the Mayans anyhow, to see if their calendar is correct.

The Oregon Bubble

Page 1 of the New York Times (Sunday Nov 2) talks of touch choices public unions are making around the country with looming state deficits. New governors around the are country being inaugurated. What can we hope for in Oregon? Then again, what can we expect?

I come from an Eastern state that lost population in the 2010 Census. New Jersey is always in the news. Property taxes are sky high, and even my liberal (some of them) relatives worship Chris Christie for the tough reforms he has had to make. Cleaning up municipal corruption too, including nepotism, and contracts that didn’t deliver. Sounds familiar..

What about Oregon? With our 1.5 legged stool of revenue (income tax mainly, constrained property tax, and no sales tax), we have a limited set of options.

Sales tax is off the table they say. Property taxes – who wants to pay more of that? I don’t, no way. Which leaves the equation: income tax and spending, and how to balance them. What kind of government are we willing to pay for?

First of all, tax is not a four-letter word. It is the government carrying out its obligation to its citizens. As a citizen I want safety. I want clean water. I want schools where kids are told and taught to succeed.

I do not want another 4-8 years of rhetoric and empty promises – make it happen.

To the new Governor K: give us a sustainable level of government services. Oregon taxpayers cannot put their tin cup out to Chinese investors as the federal government can (which is certainly not sustainable).

Nope, we are a self-reliant people. On both sides of the Cascades. Industrial North and Rural South and everything in between, even Nyssa.

Maybe you can get some ideas from Mr. Sizemore about what some people expect from government. And about the tough choices we have to make as a state. Involve your citizens, all of them.

When I read about the tough cuts and choices other states are making, and look around and see the same old sides getting ready to dig in, I wonder why Oregon seems to live in such a bubble. We are not the frontier anymore. We can’t run away to the West coast, this is it. We have to make it work here.

You are about to enter.. the Twilight Zone

Twas the night before Legislative Session,
and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring
Not even a policy analyst

Rebecca had baked us oatmeal cookies
With care
In hopes that
Sweet our fiscals would be

The Gov wanted bills
We hastened the call

And we fought
Not to the mattresses
But delivered them up
No blood let, as yet

The new dawn awaits us
We sit poised

New interns to help
Thank you for that!

In the end.. does anyone hold our feet
To our predictions?

But bills must be analyzed
Fiscals must be prepared

With every last S&S and IT charge and care
Alas another Session awaits

Already the freezer is stocked
Tuna casserole dinners await

Thank you Rebecca, for filling us
With sugar to get us started
Without which
We would surely perish..

The Real Value of an Education

Lets talk about higher education, and even lower education. Scanning the recent NY Times there seems to be a debate going about the "value" of higher education. As in, is it worth the price tag.

Then recently I heard a radio show on OPB about the crunching demands of AP classes, and how some schools were thinking of abolishing them. And one college said they weren't using those scores for admission. They spoke of an "arms race" in education with AP being the latest military weapon that was required. At what cost.

Now just wait a minute here. I can talk about the value of my education. Including my AP education.

If it weren't for attending college at one of those pricey back-East schools, I never would have learned existential philosophy. Or that Taiwanese citizens have an obligation to serve in the military. Or that people who only spend a semester in France can really be snobs (at least for awhile). And about the second law of thermodynamics and all its applications (mostly to work settings, to make you compliant). Or what a progressive drinking party is like (ok it was the 70s). Or the absolute beauty and peacefulness of a campus in the summer, or the narrow hallways of the endless stacks of the library, or how the waves looked on Lake Michigan in the winter - frozen mid-curl.

Well I studied math so that really wasn't part of my learning. But all these other experiences made me who I am right now. Was it worth it? Yes. Could I have gotten these experiences at PCC? Those who claim you can save money by attending a 2-year school then transferring are missing the life-transforming and cultural aspects of college. PCC was never on the radar for me (no offense to anyone, it is great for some people).

What about AP courses? Maybe back-in-the-day it was as easy as getting into an ivy league school, you just did it. I was in AP Calculus and what seemed to me like remedial English my senior year (lets learn about apostrophes today!). This was after several years of the more experimental variety of English classes, such as creative writing, which has also made me the Harriet blogger I am today. The AP classes I took - Calc and French where we read actual books in another language, also made me who I am today.

Lets look at the 2000's. My kids crunched their way through as many AP classes as they could (which was about 4 or 5 at their h.s.) I never learned about U.S. History, but they did, the AP way. I never learned Economics in h.s., but they did. And literature -never even heard of Gilgamesh. And I saved their reading lists since I figure it is never too late to get caught up on the classics.

Did they do it to get into college? Maybe. But from my view, they also actually learned about the world.

Does everything have to be a ticket to the next station in life? Or can education be a value of its own. Can we strive to be literate citizens who know where Burundi is, and know about supply and demand, and whether a chair is really there?