Internationalistas - Life in a Red Border State

Catching up with old clippings, mine in this case, not the ones I send out to others, following in my mother's footsteps.

NYT dateline January 22, why Apple is responsible for 700,000 jobs, but only 20,000 in the US of A. Sounds bleak, but would you want to have a lifeless job at Foxconn - the Chinese contract manufacturer where you live in a dorm all week, work 12 hours a day. When they want to change over production they can rout you from your bed at midnight, feed you some green tea and a biscuit, and back to work.

I have to wonder how this global equation makes any sense. Yet surrounding me at the mile-high airport in Denver is a pod of 20-something computer support people tethered to laptops; and another bunch of young Asians talking excitedly.

red state interlude
A pilot sat next to me on the plane and has concerns living in a Red State, like his mother, who lives out in the sticks of Arizona, and needs to be armed to protect her home from over the border intruders.

What would that guy have wanted, I asked him about the intruder standing at his mom's dining room table? A glass of water perhaps, was his reply.

Really ?! Is that why she needed to take weaponry training? I suppose my option would be to give the guy a glass of water.
end red state interlude

Do we even stop to take care of our own? It may be too late for the Foxconn slaves, tethered to Chinese jobs unless they can reach escape velocity (or age out of that system..)

But what about us here? I've always said we should pay the true cost of production. What about that ipod I am listening to right now - what if it was built on American assembly lines. Is that worth something?

Or is it cheaper and easier for the party in control (either one) to pay off unemployed workers so they can buy ipods and imported tomatoes. How does this make any sense?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobe, you're my only hope.

Its own country

Here in Tucson, I love to read local papers and the Arizona Daily Star is no exception. The letters are interesting - plea to issue bullet proof vests to U Arizona students. Teachers being censored for making "partisan" statements, such as "a capitalist economic works well".

Some people are in favor of the one student-one gun law (I suppose others would like them to own more). Apparently the state legislature, in its wisdom, is even putting forth a bill that would take tax dollars away from school districts that don't adhere to the "non-partisan educator speech".

Well I'm not in Kansas anymore, and certainly not Portlandia. I think this is about as far from Portlandia as one can get, anyplace.

Ah, but the sun is what I need. Every plant along the river trail (with no water, but a large bridge built with tax dollars - maybe for the "monsoon season" as my daughter describes it) is fascinating. Something completely different. From the smallest mimosa leaves I've ever seen, to small fuzzy pods on small bushes (ok need a better vocabulary, just wait).

Somewhere this is probably about balance. Portlandia balanced by Arizona. Not gray at all but deep blue and deep red.

Using Public Office for Political Gain

Our lovely Secretary of State, no doubt enamoured with the recent vote in neighboring Washington State and the legalization of gay marriage, sent out a message to supporters. Only it wasn't sent as a private citizen, it was sent with her official title as Secretary of State. Her message was one of joy and support, and even asking for financial support for a political action committee in Oregon that promotes gay marriage.

This is the same Office, the very same Secretary of State, that oversees administrative rules, which regulate state agencies. The same Secretary of State that oversees elections. That oversees ballot initiatives.

How can I have faith that she will fairly and objectively manage the state's affairs. Suppose a ballot initiative comes her way that runs counter to her beliefs. What trickery or bias is there.

Here in the Oregon bubble. Since this is so blatantly political, I will attach the email here:
-----------------

To: bro@basicrights.org

From: Kate Brown (at bro@basicrights.org)

There is a lot to celebrate – just earlier this week, Governor Gregoire signed Washington State's newly-passed marriage bill! This victory is an important reminder, especially on this day of love that we all need to do our part to ensure one day soon Oregon will see the day where no one is discriminated against because of who they are or who they love.

I'm forwarding you this email because Basic Rights Oregon is kicking off a great campaign to build equality across Oregon. You can help make equality a reality for every Oregonian.

Please support Basic Rights Oregon. Any amount can help send staff across the state, from Portland to Pendleton, Beaverton to Bend – to expand our work and touch more lives. And they have a donor ready to match all contributions up to $7,000 so let's help them raise $14,000 right now!

Join me in supporting equality across Oregon!

Kate

Kate Brown
Oregon Secretary of State

----------------------------------------Forwarded Message----------------------------------------

Dear Courtney,

This is an exciting time. Momentum is growing for the freedom to marry and public awareness is building on the important issues of transgender health care and racial justice.

That's why we're not letting the grass grow beneath our feet in 2012. We are taking equality across Oregon! Given that 48% of Oregonians live in towns of under 20,000 people, we cannot fulfill our mission of ensuring that all Oregonians experience equality unless our work reaches every community in the state.

We'll be traveling the state this year, building a majority for marriage, increasing the number of employers who provide trans-inclusive health care, and sharing the unique experiences of LGBT people of color through the Our Families project.

We can't do it alone. To build equality across Oregon, we need your help to raise $7,000 today!

Your dollars go directly toward our work in the field: training volunteer leaders, meeting with legislators, recruiting equality-minded business and community leaders, hosting video screenings, and attending community events where we can connect with new volunteers.

And this just in – Basic Rights Oregon Board Member Al Machemehl and his partner John Harrell have graciously offered to match all contributions up to $7,000 – this means we can raise $14,000 with your support!

You can also help us by building a political majority this election year, by registering yourself and your friends to vote and supporting pro-equality candidates. In this election year, we plan to send the message that pro-LGBT voters are here to stay in Oregon, and our numbers are only growing.

We'll be tallying the miles to let you know how far we travel. See you on the road!

In solidarity,

Jeana Frazzini
Executive Director
Basic Rights Oregon

Adaptive Programs

You can write programs that are linear, and always do the same thing with inputs. Or, you can write programs that run in infinite loops, and spend hours of your life debugging them. Hey, back in the 1980s when faced with what kind of computer science I should study, I stayed away from those hot new topics like Artificial Intelligence. Where you could write adaptive programs, like "Eliza", that you could talk to, and they could understand you, and adapt to you.

So how do you debug a President? This one produces the same policy output no matter the circumstances. Spent this morning reading President Obama's FY 2013 budget. Sort of an addictive habit (plus people just want to know what is buried in there)..

More stimulus - same old recycled policies from last year, the $$ to teachers and first responders. $$ for infrastructure like high speed rail, and affordable health care. $$ to Democratic voters (oops, being redundant).

So where is the President who is adaptive, like a computer program that reacts to new situations in new ways? The one, you know, who represents all Americans? Is there any hope for this?

The Highest and Best Use

When it comes to land use, and special property tax assessments - like farmland and forest land, they use the term "highest and best use".

When the highest and best use of Washington County farmland, probably now zoned for industry, becomes one giant Intel parking lot, what does that tell you?

That we have long ago bypassed farmland (at least for busy giant intersections right off the Sunset Highway). Soil quality or not, none of that matters.

And even industry, since the former Fujitsu site next door still has vines crawling over the sign (finally taken down). And the Toshiba plant is now a giant church.

So now a giant parking lot. Since corporate property is assessed based on sales alone these days in this state, I suppose there won't be too many chip sales in that parking lot. Perhaps a nice view for the airshow however.. I suppose highest and best use doesn't consider impervious surfaces and global warming. I would go inspect for that, but the guards would probably shoot me.

The Oregon Bubble

It is nearly spring, the time to buy primrose for your front porch! And for clematis to start budding and flowering, much as I might try to hack them back for blocking the view from my back porch.

It is also an even-numbered year, and following the faithful wishes of the citizens of Oregon (in this case), our state legislature is sitting. And conjuring up bills.

Senate Bill 1534, which would criminalize electronic communication between two or more people to commit a crime. Crime as defined in the annals of Oregon statutes, a very long list, but supposedly includes harm to public statues (placing a blue tarp over the elk downtown?), or occupying public roadways or transitways (Occupy Portland?).

Now I am not a fan of tarps as art, or occupying public parks. I should be able to use the park as much as any other taxpayer. But here are some activities that would be considered Class C felonies under this bill, should it become law:
* twitter alert to a group to schedule a break-in at a bank (are you ok with this one?)
* facebook post to alert a group about a gathering to protest at East Precinct over recent shoot-first-ask-questions-later by police (how about this?)
* blog post about a rally to be held on the weekend in a public square, without a permit (this?)
* invite to the Westboro Baptist church to visit the local veterans cemetery to protest continued military engagements around the world
* notice of Nazis marching in Skokie (ok that is from the Blues Brothers - but in there, they had to have a permit, and that actually happened)
* placing a tarp over the elk statue downtown
* occupying the public sidewalk to protest your favorite complaint against the government

the list goes on. Free speech is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Is it a crime to say you would like to commit a crime (this rain sucks! Kill the weather gods!), but haven't actually committed a crime? The pre-meditation aspect itself is a crime?

As I witnessed on my trip to DC and visit to the Newseum, some new forms of social media have received constitutional protection under the first amendment. Like a student complaining about her teacher on Facebook. Much more still unproven.

Do we want to restrict free speech in social media, and criminalize organically inspired action? In 48 hours, Susan G. Koman foundation, by public social media pressure, was forced to rescind their decision to defund Planned Parenthood. Social media is social action. It works.

Why would we want to restrict the rights of citizens to exercise their free speech rights? Oh! I forgot! Oregon is in a bubble. Or at least the legislature seems to be.

Stickers are Free of Charge

A taxi driver in Washington DC faces layers of decision makers who determine his livelihood. The Taxicab Commission, who is overseen by the DC City Council. According to my friendly cab driver, 90% of the cabs in the city are owned by individuals, not big firms. Cool!

However, with fuel costs having gone up 2x or 3x over the past bunch of years, it is hard to make a go of it. The powers that be changed the old zone system to a fare system, which also depressed their wages.

Compare this to the struggle going on in Oregon. Like at the Newseum, which has headlines posted out front from all 50 states - all news is local, all news is global.

My cab driver complained of corruption at the city level. Yet, they have been able to stave off the large firms, so far. An immigrant, he said his kids were training to be engineers. Yes, the continued cycle of immigrants climbing the food chain by generation (as a proof by induction - does that mean in several generations we'll all be rich? Famous?) Well now, there's a reason to keep tax rates low - so that when you and I are rich, we can actually do what we want with our money. Invest. Cure malaria. Etc.

Why taxis? This very month in an Oregon Legislature near you.. The taxi cab associations in this state are strong this year (an el nina year?) and trying to defuse the state's enforcement of taxi companies paying unemployment taxes. At a rate of ~3% for the first $37K income for each driver. Which is over $1000 per driver per year. They insist the drivers are independent contractors (who don't have to pay this tax).

Comparison? In the nation's capital, those stickers plastered inside cabs for passengers to view are "provided free of charge". The sticker says so. Who says they don't get perks.

Signs Along the Way

Why are signs in the DC area directing you to the Senate labeled "U.S. Senate", and yet signs to the House are labeled "The House". As if there is only one house. Well, they do call it the people's house.

And will it be upon Congress to decide whether to intervene this time, or our President? I did not realize how close Israel and Iran are to an all-out war, but signs are pointing that way.

Just as public sentiment about "drones" used to kill individuals in other countries (even Americans) gets agitated, I run into someone on a long flight who works on aerial drones. Technically called UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, like a lot of technology it has its peaceful purposes.

Tuna fishing fleets use them to find schools of tuna. Shipping lines use them to provide safe cover for ocean cargo vessels carrying ipods, alerting them of Somali pirate ships. Then there are the military uses.

The branding to make drones acceptable is that they bring your troops home safely. Since UAVs can provide surveillance in a snap (unlike satellites which can take weeks and congressional authorization to change course), and have the detail of looking around doorways, they can provide on the spot military assistance in battle. An Oregon company InSitu makes these drones for the Pentagon.

Newt, the fading candidate, has expressed all out support for Israel. Not sure about Romney. I thought President Obama was on the right side of history in trying to encourage peaceful dialog between Isralis and Palestinians.

But now I see that Israel feels they are under existential threat, and I wonder what the right side of history is. Looking for signs..