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September 30, 2009

Losing Saturn

While we here in Portland are celebrating the retaining of jobs at the Portland Frieghtliner plant, things aren't so happing in Spring Hill, Tennessee: after a deal to sell it fell through, GM's Saturn line will be going extinct:

General Motors Co. said today it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM today to acquire the brand.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:40 PM |

Wealthy Corporate Americans Against Food Taxes

Over on PMerc's Blogtown, The Stranger's columnist Dan Savage opines about a recently run ad from a group that's opposed to the idea of a tax on things like soda:

A one-cent-per-ounce tax on soda would raise billions in revenue annually—billions that could go toward providing the kind of health care these woman's morose children are going to need when they grow into diabetic, obese adults, thanks to mom's rabid support for low taxes and high fructose corn syrup. Soda should be heavily taxed—onerously taxed—if only to cancel out the the farm subsidies that make soda pop so freakin' cheap in the first place. And if you're worried about your pennies, why are you drinking soda at all?

It's a very slick ad. The woman is very earnest, in that Method actress way, fixing the viewer with a gimlet eye that would make an est graduate wither. Very slick. Very intense.

Very astroturf.

The "organization" Americans Against Food Taxes is an organization that does include Americans, yes. Just not the Americans I think you might run into on the street right now. Sourcewatch.org:

Its Web site states that Americans Against Food Taxes is a "coalition of concerned citizens – responsible individuals, financially strapped families, small and large businesses in communities across the country" who opposed a government-proposed tax on food and beverages, including soda, juice drinks, and flavored milks. But its extensive membership consists mainly of lobbying groups for packaged food and soda companies, chain restaurant corporations and the world's large food and soft drink manufacturers and distributors, including the Coca-Cola Company, Dr. Pepper-Royal Crown Bottling Co., PepsiCo, Canada Dry Bottling Co. of New York, the Can Manufacturers Institute, 7-Eleven Convenience Stores, and Yum! Brands.

Well, I'm sure most of them are Americans.

That woman might drive Dan Savage crazy. She just makes me mad. I don't have a problem with objecting to such a tax per se, but it's people who hide inside of modern-day Potemkin villages that really bothers me. That concerned mom? A cardboard cutout would have had as much sincerity.

Generally speaking, if it looks too slick … well, it probably is too slick.

You haven't bookmarked SourceWatch.org? Why for not you do this then, hmm.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:15 PM |

WWJD on healthcare?

This lovely poster comes via Negative Neil and you can read here the background about his trip to DC to document the frothing wingnut's "9/12" anti-healthcare rally from whence this poster comes.

I could be wrong but I believe that the poster above was produced by Neil as an exercise in abject irony. It was probably lost on the "Xtian" weekend warriors at the rally but I do love the dose of sarcasm which drove the choice of message on this poster. I too am rather fond of rubbing the noses of my self-righteous, anti-healthcare reform "Xtian" friends in just how anti-Christian their stance really is, which I usually unleash on my Facebook account.

(ht: Becky)

Posted by Kevin at 09:10 AM |

Oregon: Fine For Business, Great For Poverty, Too.

To everyone who whines about Oregon's 'job-killing' taxes, and all the tools who file ballot initiatives on behalf of SerfdomWorks, you are now officially requiered to STFU.

Why?

Because, according to Forbes Magazine (motto: The Capitalist Tool) Oregon is – out of the fifty great United States of America – the tenth best state in the Union to do business in.

Because labor's so cheap here.

Presumably, that's even with the "job killing taxes" that the SerfdomWorks tools are constantly complaining about.

In other news, out of the great fifty United States of America, Oregon was one of eight where the poverty rate increased.

Coincidence?

We don't think so.

(via the Portland Mercury)

Posted by The Chinuk at 04:42 AM |

September 29, 2009

"Red State" Republican prefers commie guns

From AOL's Weird News files:

SC Candidate Raffles Off AK-47 at Rally

A candidate to be South Carolina's next National Guard leader skipped the fiery speeches for firepower, launching his campaign with what he called a "machine-gun social."
The Greenville News reports some 500 people came out to a shooting range Saturday for Republican Dean Allen's political rally. He wants to be the next adjutant general, the person who leads the state's National Guard.
Attendees paid $25 for barbecue, a clip of bullets for target practice and the chance to win a semiautomatic AK-47. Whoever wins the rifle will have to undergo a background check.

Apparently an AR-15 (semiautomatic version of the American designed and manufactored M-16) just wasn't deemed as patriotic a electoral gift in a thoroughly Red State as the iconic product of Soviet Communists known the world over as the AK-47.

Posted by Kevin at 01:45 AM |

September 28, 2009

Stray Thought Of The Day

The Voting Rights Act was renewed in 2006.

In this country, we actually have to renew such a thing?

Posted by The Chinuk at 10:00 PM |

Why They Hate ACORN

Of course, I'm just echoing the obvious here. I hope.

The major reason ACORN has been a target of the Republican Party’s political operatives because it disrupts the strategy put in place by Karl Rove to simply purge as many Democratic voters as possible.

Here in Ohio, the Republican Party led a charge to purge an estimated 1.25 million voters. The GOP attacked black students at Wilberforce, a traditionally black college. They attacked inner city voters in the heavily Democratic wards of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. They attacked students at liberal colleges like Kenyon and students who had gone to major public universities like the Ohio State University and Ohio University.

The reason they hate ACORN is because it gives poor and powerless people a voice, increases the number of working class and poor voters, which means that more Democrats could win elections.

MORE: ACORN is suing the fillum-makers.

Posted by The Chinuk at 09:12 PM |

Jeff Merkley, For Civil Rights

Our junior Senator continues to do the right thing, which is something of an anomaly these days.

First thing to note is that he signed on as an original sponsor of the JUSTICE Act, S. 1686 (one of those nifty acronyms which, in this case, stands for Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools in Counterterrorism Efforts), whose goal is to reform the US, A PATRIOT act to increase judicial oversight.

The other thing is that he's on board with Senators Dodd of Connecticut, Leahy of Vermont, and Feingold of Wisconsin (you need not be told that there isn't a Republican in sight, yes?) on the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act, which will remove the retro-immunity the telecoms enjoy for sticking their noses into your private online bidness without having to ask anyone.

Nice to see someone walking his talk these days.

Posted by The Chinuk at 08:23 PM |

Breaking: Portland Freightliner Plant to Remain Open

It looks like the Swan Island Frightliner/Western Star truck manufacturing plant, a division of Daimler Trucks North America, won't be closing in 2010 after all. Via KGW:

Daimler Trucks North America informed employees Monday it will keep the Swan Island Freightliner-Western Star truck manufacturing plant open after a big military contract came in.

The cuts at Daimler Trucks North America were originally part of a restructuring plan as the German automotive company expected to shed 9 percent of the workforce at its heavy truck division last fall.

"We recently received a large military vehicle order from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Command and expect more to follow," DTNA Chief Operating Officer Roger Nielsen said. "We’d prefer to keep our focus on ensuring timely delivery without interruption or the distraction of moving production at this time."

Read more about it here: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_092809_business_freightliner_plant_stays_open.1c54fab8a.html

Looks like the cavalry rode to the rescue. Very American.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:48 PM |

Property Taxes Still Going Up? Thank Wild Bill Sizemore!

An interesting article in your Oregonian today.

Interesting … in the wrong way.

Some of you anti-tax warriors will remember Wild Bill Sizemore's 1996 opiate-to-the-masses Ballot Measure 47, which gave us that wonderful double-majority as well as a swell way to limit property tax increases. M47 was ass, so the Lege, wanting to fix it but still not wanting to give too much meat to the Sizemorons patched it up and ran it up the flagpole as 1997's Measure 50.

The idea was that property taxes were rolled back to 1995 levels less 10 per cent, and then only allowed to increase by about 3 per cent a year. This worked out great for property owners in one of the most overheated markets history has ever known.

The increase in your property taxes now has very little to do with your home's assesed value. But wait – there's less! Now that property values are trending downward, you'd think that you'd start getting a break on your property taxes …

Well, you will, if the market value goes below the assessed value. And I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that. So, even though the value of your property is going down, your taxes on it will still probably increase.

And it was Bill Sizemore, mixing molotovs and throwing them at the Lege and the Oregon tax system, who made it all necessary.

Thanks, Bill! Next time you feel like doing Oregon any more favors, could you restrain yourself? Thanks again!

Posted by The Chinuk at 11:06 AM |

September 27, 2009

When The Wierd Go Pro

The word "conspiracy" tends to carry way too much baggage. As a result, when used, instead of spurring greater insight, it tends to shut discussion down, and that's unfortunate, because a great deal of modern history can be understood in terms of conspiracies.

To conspire, you see, is nothing more (or, indeed, less) than any group of people planning to achieve a common goal.

You guys want a pizza? We'll get a couple of you together, but I'm broke. You buy, I'll fly? Choice!

We got us a conspiracy. A Pizza Conspiracy. Of course, there are groups in this nation that couldn't conspire to order a pizza, but that's another program.

What's brought on this prolix maundering is the opinionating of Bill Clinton that the Right-Wing Conspiracy exists and, yes, it's out to get President Obama.

Do we really doubt anymore? In a world where the Dick Armey isn't wanting for lack of recruits, where organizations like SerfdomWorks shamelessly organize the credulous masses to the status of tools militating for the meat grinder that will surely consume them, where frightened proles allow themselves to be convinced that there will actually be "death panels", do we really doubt that there is some alliance of powers that like things pretty much the way they are, and don't want them to change?

Is there a "right-wing conspiracy"?

You bet there is, kiddos. Oh, Clinton will probably be mocked about it, as he and Hillary were back when they first vouchsafed the idea Way Back When, because that's the way we freedom-loving Americans roll, yo.

Because we love the Truth™.

Posted by The Chinuk at 08:01 PM |

September 25, 2009

Bursting The Lynn Peterson Goobernatorial Bubble

Lynn Peterson reels in the trial balloon before it gets away from her. WW, via Mapes:

“This got very big very fast,” Peterson says of her potential candidacy. “It is clear the people of this state crave a contested governor’s race.” But Peterson says after evaluating the demands on her time, she decided she’ll stay put. “I can’t run all out for governor while running the county all out.”

For those keeping score, it's back to Kitz and Bradbury as to who's going to be our next Governor, with Atkinson likely to be the Republican loser.

Posted by The Chinuk at 09:48 AM |

September 24, 2009

Right-wing fundamentalist lies debunked with a vengence

The Origin of Stupidity:

Posted by Kevin at 02:42 PM |

The Roads Not Travelled, Or Even Built For That Matter

For those who adore the public transportation infrastructure in Portland – even for the hits TriMet and C-Tran (as well as other regional players – Salem-Kezier's Cherriots have reconfigured service and eliminated Saturday service entirely) have taken latterly, they are still held up as Transit Done Right – it's good to look back and see what might have been, and what thankfully did not happen.

Decisions that seem rash, edgy, and radical thirty or more years ago may seem just common sense and just plain smart now, but it's useful to remember that the so-called "Freeway Revolts" of the 60s and the 70s were seen as ideas of the loopy left back then.

But when you consider that the plan was to lay an eight-lane superslab down the currently funky, beating economic heart of Portland's southeast side all the way out to beyond Gresham – including an expressway across northeast Portland from the Fremont Bridge to the PDX area as well as one tearing north through the heart of today's Laurelhurst (neatly rendering the Cesar Chavez Blvd controversy academic decades before it began) and think of what's there now, can anyone really doubt that we came out ahead in the end?

I find an argument about how painfully smug Portland is about its livability much preferable to the one we might have had about choking on our horrible air quality and sprawl.

Such was the world Robert Moses tried to bestow upon us.

Sarah Mirk of the Portland Mercury takes a backward glance at what we thought we wanted and how we changed our minds in this week's ish, which, if you can't score it from the dead-tree dispensers, you can read here:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/the-dead-freeway-society/Content?oid=1676323

Also: watch this little 11-minute fillum (from StreetFilms) in which a student of urban planning in New York considers the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, thinks of the defeat of the Mount Hood Freeway and wonders what could have been:

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:40 PM |

The politics of race (OR senate dist. 22)

Jeff Mapes:

But the replacement of longtime Democratic state Sen. Margaret Carter in Portland has occasioned plenty of commentary, including columns in The O on Wednesday by Anna Griffin and by D.D. Williams-Mott and Ulanda Watkins. Both focused on the question of whether race should be a factor in the selection that Multnomah County commissioners should take on Thursday.

With Carter leaving the Legislature to take a top job in the Department of Human Services, just one African-American, Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, remains in the Legislature.

State Rep. Chip Shields, D-Portland, received the most votes of the three nominees forwarded to the county commissioners by Democratic precinct officers. The other two nominees, former state Rep. JoAnn Bowman and Karol Collymore, an aide to County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, are African-Americans.

Williams-Mott and Watkins, also both black, endorse Shields, saying the important issue is that he is best qualified to take the seat. Griffin says the problem is that the Democrats haven't done enough to promote diversity in candidate recruitment.

I personally agree with Williams-Mott and Watkins. But let's look closer at the diversity argument.

For the sake of argument, let's stipulate that diversity in the state legislature is about proportional representation. Proponents of diversity are of course free to disagree with that definition but it seems to me to be at the root of the issue.

2008 Census data gives some handy ethnic stats central to the diversity argument. Here are the five largest ethnic groups:

White (not Hispanic): 80%
Hispanic/Latino: 11%
Asian: 3.6%
Black: 2%
Native American: 1.4%

Prior to Sen. Carter's resignation she along with Jackie Winters (R - Dist. 10) gave the Oregon legislature it's proportional Black representation of 1.8%, although they far exceeded the state Senate's 0.6% proportional Black representation. But let's keep it simple and treat the legislature as a whole. If Carter's not replaced with another Black then it would be true that the Oregon legislature would not fully reflect Oregon's Black population. But where are the three Asians (3.24%), one Native American (1.24%) and ten Hispanic/Latino (9.9%) members? I don't see any apparent Asians or Native Americans in the Lege and the only arguably Hispanic member is a Republican - Sal Esquival, although he appears to be whiter than several of his "white" legislative peers.

I'm all if favor of having breaking up the WASP club's exlusivity in the legislature. But it seems to me that "diversity" is about more than just getting more Blacks in the lege, else it is just a politically convenient caricature of diversity. And, the fact remains that Oregon is 80% lily white and any diversity argument would seem to require the Oregon Lege to be dominated by lily white members.

Your thoughts? Does the ideology of the individual member matter? In other words, if Condi Rice were somehow chosen to replace Carter, would she and Winters acceptably fulfill the need for "diversity" despite the fact that both are Republicans? Or does actual ethnicity not count if the person doesn't vote "correctly"?

Posted by Kevin at 08:11 AM |

September 22, 2009

Oregon Lege Environmental Votes – By The Numbers

(via Mapes) In order to make it as a legislator in Oregon, it helps to be green. And the Oregon League of Conservation Voters makes it easy to see if your Rep or Sen has been toeing the line.

While still getting high marks from the OLCV in general, though, the average score that the Lege in general has gotten is down – by an average of nine percentage points in the Oregon House and twelve in the Oregon Senate.

Potential Republican sacrifice Jason "I'm not in the race even though I said I was" Atkinson's score suffered a huge drop - from 59 per cent in 2007 to 24 per cent in 2009. He was good enough to get an award from OLCV in 2007 for sponsoring certain energy bills, but now - not so much.

The OLCV has compiled a series of neato-mosquito lists that showcase the good and the bad:

This list here compiles Senators and Reps who've scored greater than 90 per cent enviro-friendly.

This list here compiles Senators and Reps whose scores have fallen more than 25 per cent. Atkinson's on that one. More Republicans than Democrats – predictably.

This list here lists all Reps and Senators whose aggregate votes were 25 per cent or less consistently. Every one a Republican. Again, no surprise there.

The central page for all this fun and frivolity is http://www.olcv.org/legislative-session-scorecard, and if you care about these issues, you'll find more lists, a way to find out who your State Senator and Rep is, and a list of issues-to-watch.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:04 PM |

September 21, 2009

Yes, much of it is about racism

Gary Bauer at the 2009 Values Voters Summit:

"It's important that we robustly reject any charges that we're racist"

.
It's an easy claim for Bauer to assert, but just one short year ago at the 2008 Values Voters Summit GOP attendees were snapping up these:

As the news reports at the time reported:

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.

A Republican activist sent this lovely example:





An Oregon racist proudly posted this lovely spoof on his blog:





And of course there was this lovely example emailed by Diane Fedele, the president of the Republican women's club in San Bernardino County:





And this classic emailed by a Republican Mayor:





This lovely pin was for sale at a Republican convention:





There are plenty of other examples of anti-Obama racism, all linked directly to Republicans.

Posted by Kevin at 12:14 PM |

September 20, 2009

ValuMart Voters Heart Huckabees

Good news for Mike Huckabee: That political footnote known as the ValuMart Voters Summit chose him in the straw poll over everyone else, winning 64 percent of the vote, which enables him to do something, somehow.

Maybe he gets shotgun on the van ride home or something.

In other, more hilarious news, Mittens "Bland Ambition" Romney got zero percent of the vote. Yes, that's zero, as in nothing, nil, a goose egg, not a sausage, not a single nod from a group notorious for its credulity.

Well, that's what you get for skipping the conference, I suppose. Still, he can cruise on his looks for at least another ten years, I'm guessing – and that hair … longer than that.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:41 PM |

Hell Comes To South Waterfront

It would seem that the falling prices on condos in The Next Great Urban Neighborhood™ are bringing in the Wrong Sort of People™:

…at that rate, Neustadt Storie figures it could be years before her condo recovers the value she paid for it.

She worries too about who her neighbors may be after the auction.

Stevens said nearly all of the auction buyers plan to live in their condos and aren't speculators.

Neustadt Storie said the Atwater is full of doctors, dentists and lawyers but she has seen younger people with parents walk through the building since the auction promotion began.

"Just what I want, to live in a dorm," she said. "My concern is the parents will rent it out for a frat party until they can flip it after the kid graduates."

Hey, things are tough all over. We can relate. But I'll be honest here: I though "Urban River Living" referred to the bridges the nouveau homeless were living under. My bad.

Via.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:17 PM |

September 19, 2009

How About Just Laying Off The Monkey Jokes For A While?

Another season, another monkey joke which may – or may not, who can tell? – be a slur against the President.

Sigh. WTF, people?

Look, even if you give the joke that the aptly-named Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO, obviously the graceless part) told at the ValuMart Voters Summit this last weekend (they're available for a song – but just the right one) the benefit of the doubt, it still comes off as an arrogant condescension on the vast areas of this globe where brown people live.

When you factor in the observation that the typical ValuMart Voter is a frightened Christianist white person – well, you draw certain conclusions. You, gentle reader, can no doubt guess where mine is.

Still, one would think one would learn thier lesson. Macaca moments write themselves. So, maybe, just for a little while, y'all could back off from the jokes which suggest that you want to compare the legally-elected, human, American-citizen, President of the United States (who just happens to be black) to a jungle ape? Yes?

Oh, I now some of you are going to get all bent out of shape about it, but you know, most of you were the same sort of people who also got bent out of shape when you felt you could no longer say "gay" when it started to pertain to what you consider "yucky people" when you never really used the word to begin with.

So, be an adult, and suck it up, will you?

Back when I was a kiddo, we called it "politeness". Now, I know it's gone out of style, but you could make the effort, really?

Unless it doesn't bother you that that sort of thing makes you look like a racist with severe cranio-rectal impaction. In that case, joke away.

Just don't go patting yourself on the back congratulating yourself on being clever then whining when someone more than a scintilla of class (and that's anyone who isn't a ValuMart Voter) calls you on it.

Posted by The Chinuk at 11:25 AM |

September 18, 2009

It's Like 1982 All Over Again

To the opine on Facebook, "US foreign policy is dictated by the Kremlin", Darrel Plant ripostes "When was it not?"

The similarities between the two men are eerie, that's for sure.

Separated at birth?

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:06 PM |

An Appropriate Place For the Best Hair In Oregon Politics

Also noted in reading Mapes today, we find – with a healthy cosmic chuckle – that Gordon Smith has found work.

With the economic conditions being what they are, we worried that Mr. Smith would have trouble getting by, especially in a state in which being Republican is somewhat declasse at the moment. But Gordon's always been a survivor. He's always landed on his feet.

Well, he has a new job: director of the National Association of Broadcasters, which is perfect: in another world, Gordon would have been an anchorman (I can just see him now … "You keep it classy, Pendleton! You too, Walla Walla!"), in addition to being a long line of broadcasters who made a name in Oregon politics.

That face, that hair, that perfect grooming – that belongs behind a dry-side news desk. I'm telling ya.

It'll be interesting if he has to draw the line, though, as Mapes suggested he might, between business interests and public policy. Generally, Gordon's been on the side of business and didn't mind how that looked – at least until his Senatorial career was on the line.

Posted by The Chinuk at 06:44 PM |

Sen. Jeff Merkley on Wheels

This week once again we're reminded that when you live in a liberal state, sometimes you have to draw the line so that each of the parties that has skin in feel like they're coming about better than they went in – or at least, not as bad as they could have come out.

Insert your own obligatory comparison between politics and sausagemaking here.

During this last week, a dispute about China flooding the low-end auto tire market came to a head. On the one side was labor, which was apparently advocating for a quota. On the other side was, notably amongst others, the iconic Central Oregon economic dynamo, Les Schwab Tires – they of the perky, always-cheerful and clean-cut employees, and great deals on inexpensive tires, driven by those low-cost Chinese numbers.

As detailed by Mapes, what Jeff supported was drawing the line in the middle. Taking the position that a quota would put a hole in the Oregon economy that would take jobs with it, he eventually supported tariffs (35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second and 25 percent the third). Schwab pouted a bit, and China complained some, so the story ain't necessarily over, but this is a good thing overall …

I'm a big believer in tariffs. Does some other country want to sell their exports here? Fine. But there should be some price of entry, otherwise, we're giving away the store – in the jobs that flee overseas to the countries that have the actual manufacturing base, free to make us pay again for the resources we let go while they profit from it.

Tariffs level the playing field, and encourage manufacturing growth in the USA – which is what we're going to have to do if this country is to return to economic strength.

Posted by The Chinuk at 06:22 PM |

NIMBY, conservative style

I read an interesting blurb in Hillsboro Argus this morning about Hybrid cars to be built in Hillsboro. It's some great news for the local economy. But I was really taken aback by the comment thread following the Argus piece...Conservatives bitching about this story.

Do you suppose their main bitch is that these vehicles won't consume enough petroleum products? Or maybe they've decided that hiring 50 to 100 Oregonians to build these vehicles would be "socialist" and therefore somehow unAmerican?

Perhaps they'd be happier with unemployed Oregonians buying old vehicles built in Japan or Canada or Mexico that burn lots of gas (and oil) and dying of preventable/curable health challenges for want of access to affordable healthcare?

It just seems to me that increasingly we see conservatives just complaining. About everything. Without any logically consistent point to any of it.

Posted by Kevin at 10:11 AM |

WTF does "pro-life" really mean in the real world?

Above is a pic of an anti-healthcare protester at Congressman Wu's Town Hall in Portland earlier this summer. Below is a pic of a Teabagger at the "Tea Party" in Forest Grove this past April.





Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters. (emphasis supplied)

Posted by Kevin at 10:01 AM |

September 17, 2009

RIP Mary Travers

From their website:

Statement by Peter Yarrow

"In her final months, Mary handled her declining health in the bravest, most generous way imaginable. She never complained. She avoided expressing her emotional and physical distress, trying not to burden those of us who loved her, especially her wonderfully caring and attentive husband, Ethan. Mary hid whatever pain or fear she might have felt from everyone, clearly so as not to be a burden. Her love for me and Noel Paul, and for Ethan, poured out with great dignity and without restraint. It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic. That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity. I believe that, in the most profound of ways, Mary was incapable of lying, as a person, and as an artist. That took great courage, and Mary was always equal to the task.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of my relationship with Mary Travers over the last, almost, 50 years, is how open and honest we were with each other, and I include Noel Paul Stookey in this equation. Such honesty comes with a price, but when you get past the hurt and shock of realizing that you're faulted and frequently wrong, you also realize that you are really loved and respected for who you are, and you become a better person. The trio's growth, our creativity, our ability to emerge over the years completely accepting of one another, warts and all, was a miracle. This gift existed, I believe, because of the music itself, which elicited from each of us the best of who we were. When we performed together, we gave our best to each other and to the audiences who came to hear us.

I have no idea what it will be like to have no Mary in my world, in my life, or on stage to sing with. But I do know there will always be a hole in my heart, a place where she will always exist that will never be filled by any other person. However painful her passing is, I am forever grateful for Mary and her place in my life."

Statement by Noel Paul Stookey

"as a partner...she could be vexing and vulnerable in the same breath. as a friend she shared her concerns freely and without reservation. as an activist, she was brave, outspoken and inspiring - especially in her defense of the defenseless. and, as a performer, her charisma was a barely contained nervous energy - occasionally (and then only privately) revealed as stage fright.

sometimes frustratingly dismissive, i seldom heard her say she was sorry, yet she often displayed an immense generosity that would surprise even herself. witty, politically savvy, she was the master/mistress of the cutting exit line. once i was attempting to defend ronald reagan's educational policy. she interrupted me with "oh, for heaven's sake, do your homework!", turned on her heel and walked away. need i say it turned out she was right?

as the relationships in the trio continued to shift and grow, mary's insights and evolving comfort onstage drew her into the role of societal commentator and satirist; her genius revealed especially poking fun at the tumbling chaotic communications technology expanding around us.

her illness softened her outlook considerably. her work, her life and friends became more and more precious. and friends, especially women friends, closed ranks in the later years, returning in kindnesses so much of that which mary, their powerful feminine matriarch, had given them.

i am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without mary travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career."

Peter, Paul & Mary's family, friends and loving associates

Mary Travers fought cancer and its consequent illnesses with an inspiring strength and determination, maintaining a positive outlook and uncomplaining spirit throughout. Mary's life and legacy remain a great American treasure. She was a passionate singer of songs, songs that have enlightened us and moved us to action as citizens of America and the world. She never failed to champion those most in need, those most deprived of their rights as citizens and human beings, and those targeted by racism and discrimination; the powerless, the infirm, the poor. Mary never shrank before a threat to her person if it got in the way of pursuing her deeply held convictions, and she was as loyal on behalf of her friends as she was to her principles. Mary helped awaken mainstream America to the humanizing message of folk music. She reached millions of people in the struggle to guarantee social justice for all and has left a profound and lasting impact on all of us. Each of us, many in profoundly personal ways, will deeply miss her and the gifts she has given us--as an artist, as a triumphant role model, and as a dear, beloved friend. Well done, Mary Travers. We shall miss you beyond telling.

I would just like to add my own small voice to the chorus here. One of the greatest gifts that Peter, Paul & Mary (along with their friend Pete Seeger and others) gave us all was their reaction to right-wing chicanary. Instead of the usual weeping and gnashing of teeth, they sought to engage everyone around them with love and compassion and to teach young and old alike through song. I don't know that it was more effective in the long run than weeping and gnashing of teeth. But it seems to me to have been much, much more consistent with their own world view and for that dedication to walking the walk they have earned my undying admiration and respect.

Yes, they were (and most still are) amazingly gifted musicians. But in the grand scheme of things I think that's honestly among the least of their contributions to humanity.

Posted by Kevin at 08:35 AM |

Keep Government Out Of My Mass Transit!

It's National Bocialism, I tells ya! And make damn sure you provide enough taxpayer-funded DC Metro service to get me and my constitients to that Teabag Party!

When you're right-wingy and the WSJ is disrespecting you, you should know you're a buffoon.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:24 AM |

Birfer Lawsuitery

One of the recent hustles to try to get a Birther wedge in has been using Army members with misgivings about President Obama's citizenship to file lawsuits challenging their deployments – since it is felt that since the President may not actually be American, any deployment order is invalid, in as much as he is the CIC.

Yeah, this stuff writes itself.

Attorney David Sugerman is part of Paul & Sugerman, PC, a legal corporation here in Portland that I've long admired. They're trial lawyers, which you'll recognize as scapegoats of the right and neo-right … until they need one, of course. Mr Sugerman has this to say about that:

It seems that one Captain Connie Rhodes sought an injunction prohibiting her deployment to Iraq because President Obama has not established that he was born in the U.S. As a result–the lawsuit claims–he is not the Commander-in-Chief. And so, she claims, she should not be required to ship out to Iraq because President Obama isn’t the real president.

The opinion makes entertaining reading. The court takes a dim view of Capt. Rhodes’ lawyer’s antics in this and other cases. Correctly so, I might add. Still, I’m going to wager that the court was a bit too restrained for the message to get through. Maybe next time.

Maybe next time it will get through to them. I'm thinking not – after all, the point of the Birthers is to muddy the waters, create chaos, and win, through whatever means necessary. A harshly-worded opinion won't mean jack squat to 'em. But I enjoy the optimistic note there.

To say the opinion makes interesting reading is an understatement. It's a right proper legal reaming. You can click through to the Paul & Sugerman blog at the link above, or download the PDF directly right here.

Oh, and bookmark them. As lawyers go, they're on the side of angels much more often than not.

NB, late: the attorney leading the charge was Orly Taitz, a dentist and lawyer who apparently is a leading Birfer. Commentary on her blog was, of course, laden with scorn and resentment (you can find the link to her blog in the info box on the Wikipedia page referenced).

Posted by The Chinuk at 06:18 AM |

September 15, 2009

The State Of The Race Thus Far

On The Democratic Side:

• John Kitzahber
• Bill Bradbury (set to announce tomorrow, according to Mapes)
• Peter DeFazio is still on the fence
• Lynn Peterson is still in Clackamas County

On The Republican Side:

• Oh, please.

Smilin' Bob might want to keep working the Republicans. Maybe Lars Larson's available.

Posted by The Chinuk at 03:41 PM |

Twelve Point Two Per Cent (or, Fourth In The Nation)

If you haven't heard the news yet, here you go now: According to figures released by the Employment Department yesterday, the unemployment rate in Oregon as of this time this year is 12.2 per cent.

This article in the Statesman Journal quotes David Cook, an economist with the Employment Department, as saying that the last time unemployment numbers were this high was about 70 years ago - in the late 1940s.

The actual unemployment numbers are doubtless even more intimidating. I don't know what Oregon's ED tracks, so I'll leave that to bigger minds than mine.

An interesting filip to all this is the way the dining establishments are going down. A report we saw on TV news last night (KPTV I think it was) detailed the seeming flight of restaurants from the Riverplace area – even Stanford's there has closed, and while the failure of restaurants like Lucier isn't that much of a surprise (it got stinky reviews when it opened) it does suggest the contraction of the economy evident in people throwing away thier money on "cuisine" as opposed to something GenXer's and Boomer's moms did, known as "cooking at home", has not yet stopped in beautiful yet ever-more impoverished Oregon.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:26 PM |

Who's The Biggest Welfare Recipient On Television?

Glenn Beck would be my guess.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:22 AM |

September 14, 2009

A Milestone, Of Sorts

As of September 12th, 2009, President Barack Obama has officially kept us safe from terrorists in his term for longer than President George W Bush did.

Just wanted to point that out.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:53 PM |

It Ain't About You, Senator Snowe

I'd like to expand on Kevin's point of the last post.

Explaining why poor people have to continue to die health care reform has been in such a gridlocked state in the Senate, Nice Polite Republian Senator Olympia Snowe said exactly (from Face the Nation transcript via Real Clear Politics):

I urged the president to take the public option off the table, because it's universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate. And therefore, there's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option. So I think he's recognizing that, because it is a roadblock to building the kind of consensus that we need to move forward.

In the last post, Kevin pointed out that 55% of Americans supported at least some sort of public insurance option in health care reform.

But it just don't matter. Because Olympia Snow doesn't serve the American public, or even the Maine public for that matter.

She just serves her fellow Republicans in the US Senate.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:39 PM |

Survey says:

Senate Republicans may be unified in their opposition to the public option on healthcare reform, as Sen. Olympia Snowe asserts, but the new WaPo/ABC poll shows that an outright majority of Americans (55%) support it.

Git 'er done!

Posted by Kevin at 07:56 AM |

September 11, 2009

Mourning More Than The 2,993

NB: Sorry for the delay on this post. This was loaded and ready to go the evening if 9/11, but just in the middle of this, I was overtaken by a serious infection which ran me down like a ten-ton truck. I was delivered into the ministrations of The Best Health Care System In The World™, which I was, in the main, satisfied with. More to follow there. What follows here is sheer, unadulterated opinion.

You want to know what my first thought on a day like today is? It's something that was said once, in Washington DC of all places.

"Truth is the coin of the realm".

Here's the infinite cosmic jest, my friends; it was said by a Republican, George Schultz, during the Reign of Reagan.

In the days after 9/11/2001, I remember well the heady feeling. I remember the opportunity presented. It's another cosmic jest that out of the greatest tragedies a group, a community, a republic can endure, comes the most potent opportunities for the most amazing growth into something better than anything we'd ever had before. Us, the USA, the United States of America stood on the threshhold of possiblity.

Yes, it had been forced upon us, quite unwillingly. Given all our druthers, we'd still rather see the World Trade Center standing tall over NYC, and thousands upon thousands of Americans would still have family members that worked there.

Moments of crystal clarity, signposts toward the way we could have gone: A editorial cartoon, I remember not who drew, but it showed two frames: one, before, a group off all sorts of Americans bickering, with notations calling out each one: Liberal. Conservative. Democrat. Republican. Christian. Muslim. And two, after, each one gazing resoultely through the fourth wall, each holding a small Stars'n'Stripes, with one word for all: American.

The famous French headline for the day after: We are all Americans now.

Even I was willing to support George W Bush, to forget that he was a member of a party whose history manifestly demanded that you mistrust it, because, as the legend had it, when things were at their worst were the time when Americans were at their best, and one time, even a Republican was willing to say, for the record, that truth was indeed the coin of the realm. If only he'd make the right moves, strive for the right answers to the questions all of us had.

And here's the flat of it, my friends; we – as a nation – blew it. Instead of telling the truth about 9/11, the government confused us, convinced us to ignore and demonize the dissenters (in the typically American way of making dissent unfashionable), and pay attention to the evil voices inside of us. In times of utter tragedy such as this the chance to be born anew. We had the single chance to wrest from the greatest tragedy of modern times a greater, stronger, more just nation – and it's gone, frittered away by eight years of Republican mendacity and a year and a half of a Democratic administration that is allowing Republicans to continue to ruin the place.

At this point understand, it doesn't matter who did it any more, really. Well, in a way, I suppose it does, but the water's been so muddied by chaos, sturm und drang, that if anyone told you the real truth, would you believe it? Could you?

Could you even tell?

Because truth is the coin of the realm. A Republican told us that, once. But, even though we could have spent it, we didn't. And it's sad too because, as Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and a host of other turns have proved, we can indeed handle the truth. Just not very well sometimes, maybe. But we can handle the truth.

Handling the hard truth is something that makes us American.

Posted by The Chinuk at 08:05 PM |

September 10, 2009

Wiener Dogged: Michael Savage's Flagship Station Doesn't Want Him Any More

Some guys just don't get no respect.

The Savage Wiener, for example, was just kicked off his flagship station, KNEW 910am, San Francisco (via Matier & Ross at SFGate.com):

Acid-tongued, conservative talk show host Michael Savage has been silenced in the very city he loves to whack -- San Francisco. The syndicated host of "Savage Nation'' has been dropped from local Clear Channel station KNEW-910 AM.

According to the station's Web site, "We have decided to go in a different philosophical and ideological direction, featuring more contemporary content and more local information."

But KNEW is a rabid right station anyway, so the replacements – LA-based John and Ken – aren't much of an improvement. Pro-gay-in-military, but the rest is pretty much the usual LiberRepublicanTarian soup we've all seen before.

Still grist for the schadenfreude mill, however. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, as they say.

Posted by The Chinuk at 04:59 PM |

Mad Doctors Come Out Of Oregon

They're mad as hell, aren't going to take anymore – and give enough of a damn to caravan across the entire US-of-freak'n-A to spread the truth about single payer.

According to their itenerary, the Mad As Hell Doctors will be pulling into Helena MT today. They started here in Portland on the 8th. Follow thier itinerary here.

Portland's own Thom Hartmann has an interview posted with one of the Mad Doctors (Dr Paul Hochfeld) and Adam Klugman (yes, the son of Quincy, ME) here which is worth a read.

They're inviting anyone who can to meet them along the route and caravan with them as far as they can go.

Their destination is Washington DC. Office hours there begin sometime on the 1st of October. The URL to bookmark is http://MadAsHellDoctors.com.

Posted by The Chinuk at 03:45 PM |

Did You All Hear? That Alley Guy Finished That Walk Thing He Was Doin' There

I admire heart, spirit, and passion, and that's why I like Allen Alley.

Not enough to vote for him, mind: he's a Republican, after all. But he's a nice guy. Cared enough to walk 400 miles through the center of Oregon, from Baker City to Portland. Talked to people, did about 100 community events along the way.

And what does he get for his trouble?

The upper right hand corner of page B2 of Wednesday's Metro section of The Oregonian. The piece as published, written by the Shadout Mapes, was actually edited down … I only found out by reading the online version that he'd did all those community events.

That, and barely a blip in the polls. Meanwhile, the newsers are undoubtedly waiting for their invitations to the Atkinson roll-out, even though he's pretty much announced already.

If this was, like 1970 or 1980, he'd have someone like Tom McCall or Vic Atiyeh as opponents and he'd be getting more ink.

But, latterly, the ORGOPpers don't want candidates with good taste – they want candidates who taste good.

Posted by The Chinuk at 03:14 PM |

As Usual, California Redefines Oversharing

Ew. Just Ew.

California State Sass-emblyman Mike Duvall (R-The OC) is going down in history, but not the way he wanted.

Sorry about saying 'going down' there.

My advice to Californians: wash your hands twice after you shake hands with your Republican State Assemblyman. You just don't know where that guy's been.

Was he a conservative Republican? Yes.
Was he a conservative Republican who got high marks from pro-business lobbies? Yes.
Was he a conservative Republican who got high marks from sanctimonious Christianist lobbies? Yes.
Are we surprised? We better not be.

Cosmic Irony moment: The man represented the Yorba Linda area. Exercise for the readers here.

More: The man resigned.

Still More: Even though he resigned, he did not admit to the affairs that he told everyone about when he thought the mike wasn't on. It is now 'inappropriate storytelling'. Mmmmmmm-kay.

Even More Yet: The fellow who listened amusedly to Duvall, chuckling every so often, has been removed from his post … on the Ethics Committee.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:01 PM |

September 07, 2009

Soylent Insurance Is Made Of People!

They make money on you coming – and going (via the ever-excellent and inimitable Nothstine):

The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

It would be paranoid of me to say that this is the payoff for shabby health-care. They make money either way.

So I won't say it.

Posted by The Chinuk at 10:26 PM |

I Saw KATU News Today, Oh Joy …

I come to you today, my bretheren and cistern, in a vexed and ratty mood.

I am not in a good head. I made the mistake of turning on the TV news.

The report on KATU was, sadly, what I expected. Reporting the "controversy" over an uncontrovresial speech. People who were reticent about this actually very nice legally-elected President of the United States speaking to school children about working hard, learning hard, and looking to your parents for guidance and support – which are, of course, the top three points of the National Bocialist agenda – were treated as though they had an actual un-stupid opinion, including yet another clip of the entirely-undeserving-of-crediblity-and-notoriety, entirely wrought Shanneen Barron who is still being treated in the media as having an actual un-stupid opinion rather than as a case study in how the frightened can be driven mad by people who are out to scare them to death.

To KATU's credit, they pointed out that President George H.W. Bush, who was the last President to so address children, said pretty much the same things, and actually went as far as to encourage the kids to write him with ideas as to how he could fullfill his agenda for education.

But when a black Democrat does it? National Bocialism, nothing more, nothing less.

But it's a controversy. And KATU had the chance to use television to explain that the opposition was a farrago, a chimera, the public-discourse equivalent of the fireside ghost story about the guy with the hook for the had told by a camp counselor who shines the flashlight up his face. And they went the way every other media outlet has gone, portraying it as a genuine controversy where the insane are invited to the table and treated as though they have an actual point to make.

The fourth estate has let us down, my friends, if you haven't cogged that yet, do so now.

I've read the speech. Anyone who has a computer can download it (credit for the link to Dale at Faith In Honest Doubt: here it is again if you missed it further up the page) and read it – actually read the thing – and what does it say?

Here's the executive summary, kiddos: Work hard in school. Your future depends on how you do in school. Study hard and form good study habits. Stay out of trouble. Do like these kids did:

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez. I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college. Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

This message of hope and positive values makes Glenn Beck need a diaper change. Although I'll bet that the fact that at least two out of three of those inspiring kids aren't Caucasian is probably causing an overload of sewage systems all over the southeastern United States right now. You and I see empowering stories of hope and a suggestion that people of any ethnic stripe can make it regardless of connections, skin color or disadvantages if they'd just be smart and work hard – the story we've been told is supposed to be the uniquely American success story. Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, every Republican Senator, and FOXNews (remember, just a vowel movement away from the truth) want you to see future ACORN members and the advance guard of the Obama brownshirts.

They want you to see it that way. I don't think they do. I think they see the American public as tools for thier amusement, pleasure and income. But I digress.

One thing's certain, kiddos: they do this – all this – just to undermine the President.

Some may say that you are entitled to your opinion. To paraphrase Harlan Ellison, no, Sonny Jim, you aren't, you are entitled to your informed opinion. And if you share the opinion that President Barack Obama's upcoming speech is some sort of socialist indoctrination stalking-horse, then you do not have an informed opinion, regardless of where you got the information. You do not deserve the right to be interviewed about it, to have your opinion treated as though it were a point of a debate, or to have it respected.

At least KATU could have pointed out that the "protesters" were wrong as Wrongy McWrongerson on the wrong day of the week.

But no.

We, the sane, are aught but on our own, friends.

I think everyone should read the indictment of people who are cowardly frightented of the President's speech that Dale at Faith In Honest Doubt has here. He is a braver man than I. It is on my list of favorites. This is one reason why. He's unafraid, and I like that.

Posted by The Chinuk at 08:13 PM |

They Died So You Could Barbecue Today

It's Labor Day, and those of you fortunate to get the day off (remember, it may be a national holiday but it's hardly a day off for everyone – though the union members amongst us get time-and-a-half at least) are most likely only blissfully, vaguely aware that Labor Day is meant to honor the American worker somehow and allow Jerry Lewis to raise money for MD-afflicted kids.

It's virtually unknown today, unless you take a few minutes to find out, why we have a Labor Day at all. It dates from the Grove Cleveland administration.

In 1893, due to fragile economic conditions, The Pullman Palace Car Company of Pullman, Illinois – a company town – cut wages due to decreased demand. George Pullman, however, kept his workers working 12-hour days and refused to lower rents in the company town, putting his employees over a barrel.

Railroad workers across the nation, led by Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union, began boycotting Pullman cars, refusing to run trains which pulled them. Pullman retaliated by instituting a lockout. The strike snowballed until it spread to 27 states.

It all came to a head with President Cleveland sending in a contingent comprising 12,000 US Army troops and US Marshals. Over the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded.

In the aftermath of the strike, President Cleveland put reconciliation with labor at the top of his agenda. The result was the first national Labor Day, 5 Sep 1882. It was futile for Cleveland, however, as national feeling that he had obviously bungled handling the strike helped cost him another term in office.

So, enjoy your Labor Day. Barbecue, picnic, do whatever you do on your hard-earned day off. When you return to work, remember that union members died for your right to free time, and if you're not in a position to organize, at least smart-up on what organized labor has done for you as an American worker:

• The forty-hour work-week
• The right to collectively bargain
• The right not to be treated like chattel
• What we have that remains of a middle class

The middle class isn't gone, but it's slipping away, and under attack by people who would love nothing more than to see the era of Pullman return.

Don't let them have it back. Support EFCA. Even if you aren't in a union, it'll benefit you.

The playing field will be leveled.

Posted by The Chinuk at 11:09 AM |

More Proof We Hate Women

Today In Destroying the American Female: Have you ever noticed that, when some money or some crap goes missing in some American middle/junior high/high school girls' locker room these days, the first damn thing they want to do is make the girls strip?

Geedamned creepy. What is it with these people?

Well, it's happened again, this time: the disappearance of $100 from a girls' locker room inthe cosmopolitan town of Atlantic Iowa triggered the school district's Constitutionally-guaranteed right to say "drop 'em, hon":

The girls' families and their lawyers said the incident at Atlantic High School amounts to a strip-search, which is illegal in Iowa schools.

But school officials said the search was "allowable" under board rules.

I love the quotes around the word allowable, as though to say we know that we shouldn't have done it, but we went ahead anyway, because we could, yo. And the school district which assumes that its so-called rules trump the law? That's one amazing school district.

And, also as usual, instead of admitting that they effed-up, the Atlantic School District circled the wagons and went on the defense, because, hey – they're just girls, yes? They'll get over it.

Oh, the punchline?

The money was never found.

But the young women's dignity was taken from them, so, hey, they have that anyway.

Posted by The Chinuk at 10:55 AM |

September 06, 2009

How The Emperor Took The Pulse Of The Peoples

Apropos of exactly nothing, I thought I'd tell a little origin story.

Once upon a time in ancient Imperial China, there was a much-beloved Emperor. He, as they would say latterly, "got it". When one of his bureaucracy tried to introduce coined money to the provinces, and it didn't become popular, the Emperor explained it thusly:

"You see this peasant? He has a need for rice, but has a chicken. His neighbor has need of chicken, but only has rice. He and his neighbor exchange the chicken for an appropriate amount of rice. Now, what you would have them do is take the coin, and the man with the chicken would buy the rice with the coin. Then the man with the rice would go back with the same coin, and buy the chicken. Do you see the duplication here?"

Now, I point this out just to show that this Emperor was one who "got it". He understood "the peoples". Personally, I'd not want to live in a barter economy; I like lucre lucre filthy lucre, and, by the way, where's my book deal and MSNBC show? I understand all bloggers get these these days.

No? Not yet? Ah, well, forward.

Anyway, with this Emperor's genius now established, it shouldn't be a surprise to find out that he was highly apt at taking the pulse (which is also a type of legume, which is probably important in some way, but I just want to show off my erudition here) of the public.

At one point in his reign, he sent agents to hamlets near and far, with one instruction: lie about the Emperor. Tell the people that he was a thief, a liar, a sneak, an evil man. Find out what they say, how they react. Report back.

The men, being loyal to this beloved Emperor, fanned out with dispatch, and soon, the word was being spread far and wide about the Emperor's perfidy and moral turpitude.

Remember, this Emperor was beloved.

Most agents escaped from the enraged peasantry with their lives. All were quite the worse for wear.

And when they left town, they rode great horses – as fast as the hoofs would carry them.

Thus was born the first … "Gallop" poll.

Someone else will have to explain what the hell a Zogby was. I think it was a closing for a garment, but I'm really speaking out of school now.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:33 PM |

Get Four More Republicans and Mary Starrett Into The Race, and You Have a Disney Movie

Oh, joy! and Huzzah! is the cry from the oppo camp, for the oddly indefatigable John Lim has, for some strange reason, talked himself into believing he has a chance of getting to lose the 2010 Goobernatorial election on behalf of the ORGOPpers to whichever Democrat is running (right now it's Kitz, but things might change if DeFazio checks in).

As a legislative bird, John Lim is something other than else. After a quixotic run for Gov in 1990, not making it out of the GOPper pack – in the primary he garnered only 11 percent of the vote. And, while he did serve twelve years in the Lege (eight as State Senator, four as State Rep) I'm hard put to think of anything significant he accomplished. Or, as the Shadout Mapes has it:

In eight years in the Senate and four years in the House, Lim often stayed aloof from the inside political dealing and pursued such unique issues as trying to create a lieutenant governor's office in Oregon.

As an insider he was an outsider. And I remember his quest to create the position of Light Governor in Oregon. I also kind of remember that he hoped to become Oregon's first Lt. Governor.

Solving problems we didn't have with offices we don't need … that's how John Lim rolls, yo.

But no, seriously, don't let my snarking deter anyone from supporting him. I'm for anything that makes the Republican side of the ticket look more like the collection of cartoon characters that it is.

One of the commenters on Mapes' article mentioned that Lim is interesting to lots of independent voters … who cross party lines.

I think it safe to say that Lim is pretty interesting to a lot of people all right … but interesting is not always good.

Posted by The Chinuk at 09:31 AM |

September 05, 2009

Fear Of A Black President

Did everybody hear? The President is due to make a National Bocialist indoctrination lecture an address to the nation's school children on Tuesday, the 8th of September, 2009.

The subject, as summarized by the US Dept of Education, centers around this:

During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

A White House spokesman was quoted by FOXNews (yeah, that never ceases to amaze me, too) thus:

"The goal of the speech and the lesson plans is to challenge students to work hard in school, to not drop out and to meet short-term goals like behaving in class, doing their homework and goals that parents and teachers alike can agree are noble," Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, told FOXNews.com. "This isn't a policy speech. This is a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school."

Can you smell the National Bocialist agenda yet?

I'd ask the room what you all thought the FOX-fed crazy sector of the American public was thinking, but I know you've all arrived there ahead of me. Judge ye only these words by the current Concerned Parent Poster Kid, quoted by CNN and reported basically everywhere:

Shanneen Barron, a Highlands Ranch mother, said she normally isn't involved in political activism, even though a sign in her front yard reads "Vote Republican."

But she said she is worried that Obama will put forth a socialist agenda and try to indoctrinate her children.

"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," she said. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."

She and her husband will keep their kids at home Tuesday when Obama makes his nationwide address to students.

I was thinking of taking a glance at conservoborg websites and gathering a round of what sort of thought creates such utterly stupid things. It was then I realized that, as far as this subject goes, the result speaks pretty much for the poison that feeds it. President Obama is hardly the first President ever to address any part of the nation about staying in school and working hard, but when President Obama does it, it's evil. When a conservative does it, it's patriotic; when a liberal does it; it's a sinisterly-crafted attempt to control thier minds. And people who hold this opinion are presented as sane, concerned parents.

There will be some benefit; at least the country's landfills may be spared the onslaught of bad elementary-school level poster art that the classroom activities demand. Actually, the US Department of Education has published the entire sordid plan and put it up on the web for all freedom-fighters to deconstruct, the fools! When are they going to learn that a sekrit National Bocialist plan won't remain sekrit if they put it where everyone will find it.

And I can see a further point; it does pay off having a culture that does not value hard work in school. Diminished expectations is, after all, what ensure that FOXNews retains its viewer base and allows Jonah Goldberg (amongst others) to maintain his kip via his risible writing.

What, me fear for the future of this country?

I have a question: when do we get to start calling it racism? Soon?

Posted by The Chinuk at 08:04 PM |

Who Said Salem Politics Is Boring?

A Twitterer has emerged – SalemElections (http://twitter.com/SalemElections) who's anonymous so far, and pleases he/her/it/themselves to mix the Salem City Council textual molotovs – and throw them:

Sad state of affairs when you can't list your house w/out worrying the top cop of the county may be doing his campaign manager in your home!

City Councilor Dan Clem & Salem is being sued for his improprieties at the Salem Airport. A 7 year record of cronyism! Take the seat back!

Let's play connect the dots... It's time for some housecleaning December 2010 in local Salem leadership starting with the Mayor Janet Taylor

This is the most interesting thing to happen in Salem municipal government since … ahh … hang on, I have it … ahh …

Oh, okay, so nothing interesting ever happens in Salem municipal government. It is Salem, after all. Any kerfuffle tends to be a small tempest in a rather banal teapot.

It's strongly suspected that the suit our anonymous Tweeter refers to is the one reported in this Statesman-Journal story, from the 18th of August.

SalemElections promises a "new, interactive" website Real Soon Now™.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:43 PM |

September 03, 2009

Future Governor Kitzhaber: The Game Changer

John Kitzhaber may have already won the race to succeed Ted Kulongoski.

It just took one announcement.

The regular readers of this space (the liberal ones, anyway) need no explanation of a reagent is. Formed from the words "reactant" and "agent" (at least that's my onomastic assumption) and does nothing until you introduce it into another solution, then it changes the solution and tells you exactly what you have there. The most well known is the test kit for opiates that any COPS viewer knows that most police officers carry. You get an instant tell.

In the 24 hours since John Kitzhaber announced that he was going to answer the call, what has happened?

• State Rep Brian Clem, Democrat from East Salem's 21st District, not only jumped out of the race in which he'd been expected to run, but signed on as an enthusiastic supporter, planning to spend his half-megabuck war chest to tour the state, supporting him.
• State Sen. Jason Atkinson, quondam ORGOPper sacrifice to the last electoral cycle, Republican Central Pointer from the 2nd State Senate district, involuntarily announced his sacrifice in candidacy for the 2010 Goobernatorial race in a statement of admiration of Dr. John, relieving the press of the necessity of actually having to show up for Atkinson's formal announcment (nice catch, Kari).

After reading a few comments in the BlueO story on Atkinson, I realized something. Credit commenter "Observer" for the … well, observation … but he has the right insight here. Given the enthusiasm of Clem and the admiration of Atkinson, we also draw the conclusion that the person who most has the chance at maximum Mahonia Hallage this next term will be the one who's most like Dr. John.

Fortunately, Dr. John's actually running.

And, appropriately for a man of medicine, who's no doubt run his share of medical tests, like a reagent, he's shown everyone – with one simple announcement – the kind of outlook it takes to get the Oregon electorate to vote for you.

He's the reagent.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:46 PM |

September 02, 2009

Pfizer caught breaking the law and the messenger gets shot. WTF?

Jay Bookman put up a post about Pfizer's $2.3 billion fine that intrigues me. The bit about the fine and why it was levied is straight-forward enough. But he ends the post with this observation:

It should be pointed out that Kopchinski may also have had less altruistic motives. Under the federal False Claims Act, which rewards whistleblowers who report efforts to defraud the government, Kopchinski and his lawyers will be paid $51.5 million out of the settlement. Whistleblowing pays well, in other words.

His readers immediately jumped on the theme of greed. One near the top of the comment thread said that he'd feel better about Kopchinski's revelations if Kopchinski had turned down the money.

Excuse me? I don't give a flying rat's backside if Kopchinski makes a little (or a lot) money out of the deal. He did the entire country a huge service and there is none, nada, zilch in the way of evidence that he decided one way or the other based on anything other than what he observed Pfizer illegally doing. But even if he had been swayed by the *potential* money (the receipt of which is far from a foregone conclussion at the point of reporting the crimes!), so what!?!

Frankly, we need a hell of a lot MORE whistleblowers. Particularly in the medical field. Evil corporate citizens like Pfizer are part of why our healthcare system is broken.

Besides, Pfizer is paying the reward, not the taxpayers. Seems like a case of poetic justice to me!

Posted by Kevin at 09:22 PM |

They Made The Bed We All Have To Lie In

There have been few commenters on the nature of the human beast as savvy as the incomparable Robert Heinlein. Though I decidedly do not share his faith in the rational human who will always do the right thing without being told (I live, after all, in post-Nixon America), in essential matters he had the right more often than he was wrong.

And when he was right, we was SF's answer to H.L. Mencken.

In an exposition about signs of a sick and dying civilization, to wit, one of the character's in one of his late novels, Friday, one of the characters holds forth about signs of a sick society – and then moves on to a tell of a dying one.

It's eloquent:

I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.

I present, for your delectation, Exhibit A. Widely reported, a Republican congresswoman, Rep Lynn Jenkins (R-but what did you expect) of Kansas, puts a hard-working, 27-year old waitress in her place for having the temerity to suggest that since she pays taxes she should get a society that works for her. Her insensitive answer to the young woman (who she's supposed to be serving)?

Suck it up, cupcake:

Elizabeth Smith: I want an option that I can pay for. I work. I pay my bills. I’m not a burden on the state. I pay my taxes. So why can’t I get an affordable option. Why are you against that?

Jenkins: A government run program (laugh) is going to subsidize not only yours (laugh) but everybody in this room. So I’m not sure what we’re talking about here.

Jenkins: I think it comes down to the whole discussion of...

(The crowd erupts. At this point, it's safe to say even they aren't buying Jenkins position...)

Lynn: OK folks. Let’s be respectful. UH-OH (talking over crowd). We’re gonna make time for everybody. We’re gonna all listen to each other respectfully, even if we disagree. I think we can agree we need reforms, again it’s just how we gonna do it. I believe people should be given the opportunity to take care of themselves with an advancebale tax credit to go be a grown-up and go buy the insurance.

Here's the video:

The character elucdiates further:

This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength.

Exhibit B: Now it's okay to yell seig heil! and a Jewish man and mock him for daring to have an opinion. Dateline, early August, Las Vegas, Nevada:

At the event, local news stations were interviewing an Israeli man who was praising the “fantastic” “national health care” in Israel. During his remarks, a woman yelled out, “Heil Hitler!” The man stopped, became visibly upset, and exclaimed, “Did you hear this? She say to a Jew, ‘Heil Hitler’! Hear? I’m a Jew! You’re telling me, ‘Heil Hitler’? Shame of you!” After he angrily confronts her, the woman mocks him by making a crying sound to imply he is a whining baby.

And here's the video for that:

Now, I'm as much against playing the religion card as the next fellow. But the willingness to go balls-to-the-wall by acting like that at a Jewish man just defies logical description. It beggars your sense of reasonableness. That the catcaller felt empowered at all to say such a thing indicates that there is something very seriously wrong here.

People with problems are laughed off.

People with actual opinions are mocked and demonized. The thugs and the bullies are allowed to control the discussion because the watchdogs are being paid for by the same people who are goading them.

Get out of the handbasket, folks, we've arrived.

The prosecution rests.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:48 PM |

In The Oregon GOP, Nice Guys Don't Just Finish Last

… they don't even get noticed.

In this BlueO article where Carla Axtman cannily runs down the early numbers on all the names, the zeitgeit's silence on Alvin Alley speaks volumes:

Allen Alley is a cypher. NOBODY knows who this guy is. He's just come off a statewide campaign for Treasurer in 2008. Not to mention his walking tour of the least populated parts of the state. Not even his own party members seem to know who he is. Total FAIL.

Maybe he should try a walking tour of the most populated areas of the state.

Or maybe he should try a traditional campaign. Say what you will about the eeeevils of the modern day campaign, but The Only Nice Republican In Oregon™ doesn't even register now.

But if I drill down a little more I find that amongst the eighteen percent of the polling sample that even has any sort of emotion toward him, the negatives outpoll the positives by two percent! Alley, one of the few GOPpers in Oregon that aren't simply appalling, has more haters than homeys. In a party where the teabagger mentality amounts to intellectualism and Smilin' Bob is the epitome of leadership, we should maybe feel despair, but not surprise.

You got to be mean to be a Republican. And Allen Alley is a Nice Guy.

Compared to the campaign he has to run, the 400-mile Lonely Oregon Tour will be seen as a cakewalk.

The ORGOP's descent into irrvelevancy continues.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:27 PM |

Five Words Guaranteed to Make Bob Tiernan and Kevin Mannix Cry

"Future Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber"

Savvy: He has a Facebook page.

Savvier: He's on Twitter (let's hope someone in his campaign knows how to use it)

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:09 PM |

September 01, 2009

Republican Disingenuity

Up at HorsesAss in the great state of Washington, John DeVore hips us to this little bit from the Columbian:

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird backed out of a promise to hold a living room meeting at the home of a Pacific County Republican chairwoman, the GOP activist said Monday.

Nan Malin of Long Beach said a Baird staffer told her the private meeting was nixed because of unspecified posts Malin had written on a right-leaning blog.

"It's really the congressman's loss," Malin said. "He's really missing an opportunity to have a real dialogue. These town halls have not had a real dialogue."

The question that leaps instantly to mind is, why a Democratic Congressman would ever agree to a "living room" meeting with a Republican, but there are those of us who are still intoxicated with the idea of bipartisanship. They also think the Republican party is not out to get us.

But what really got me was the way the quoted Republican said the above with no sense of irony and, I get the impression, with a straight face. He's missing the opportunity to have a real dialogue? The town halls have not had a real dialogue? Who's freaking fault is that!?!?

It's the congressman's loss? Somehow, I'm not seein' it. Republicans are not interested in debate. They are not interested in dialogue (as long as they don't get to set the terms and control it).

Looks more like Baird smarted up and decided not to enter the lion's den to me.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:59 PM |

Talking About Health Care and Freedomworks Lies On OregonLive

I made something of a mistake today.

I got involved in a discussion thread over on OregonLive.

Oh, it's not a huge mistake, to be sure, nothing world-shattering or life changing. Or, I don't know, maybe it is.

Here's the skinny. A man named Mark Merrill filed a guest opinion on The Stump detailing his woes with the world's best health-care denial system which added up to the untimely death, at the age of 53, from, essentially, being poor and unconnected. It's a round indictment of the problems we who have to work for a living worry about:

Well, my wife was not one of the world's wealthy, nor was she a crony of the well connected. She was a fifty-three year old woman who could, incidentally, trace her ancestry back to the colonial Dutch of the city once known as New Amsterdam, that city known today as New York. She was a hard-working small business owner and community volunteer who rarely missed a son or daughter's school play, sporting event or graduation. She counted among those she loved: three daughters aged 26, 24 and 18; three sons aged 22, 20 and 20; her mother; her four sisters and their families; and myself, her husband of 10 years. In short, she was a loved, honored and respected American citizen. Nothing more, nothing less.

But no, she was not wealthy. Following years of unbearable pain due to a rare form of spinal osteo-arthritis, years of a terrifying seizure disorder and years of endless refusals by insurance carriers to cover her, my wife suffered a massive pulmonary embolism on Oct. 3, 2007. It was the result of a blood clot for which she had unsuccessfully sought treatment in a hospital ER not 48 hours before. But she didn't die...at least, not right away. She lingered for 11 days as around her gathered those she loved. And we prayed. Then we made the fateful decision every family dreads: disconnection of life support. Not 30 minutes later, I was presented with a total bill for over $127,000, not a dime of which had I the money to pay.

Pretty potent, yes? But no amount of dignity can stop conservatives from stumbling in, dry drunk with offense, and taking pot shots as people who have lost loved ones and were powerless to do anything about it because they had the temerity to be not rich.

In retrospect, I found myself a bit heartbroken, especially after I responded particularly to a certain poster going by the inscrutable name of taulig, who claimed not to be a talk radio listener but certainly behaved like one; claimed to listen to the President's words on the subject but apparently it was the President of Franistan; who desperately clung to his/her ingorance to what was really going on despite being told, bluntly by me, that they were being lied to.

And, oh the humanity – some actually had the courage to read an evil, angry slamming of ol' Smilin' Bob Tiernan out of a simple reading of the loss of a loved one, simply because the health care industry in this great land of ours decided she was unworthy of life. They were wounded, I tell you … wounded!

In the end, I supposed I stuck to commenting over there not so much to change minds (I don't think the minds, such as they exist, who believe the Freedomworks bushwa that I saw surface time and time again in the mean-spirited comments from people who were obviously conservative – indeed, they may have been trolls, I suppose it's possible), but to just continue to stake the position of sanity out.

Still, it causes me despair about my neighbor. It also causes me extreme despair about what passes for debate in this country – which is not so much debate as it is letting the ignorant and crazy have a seat at the table on every life-and-death subject in America.

Go ahead and read the thread here. Comment if you care to. I'm kind of done over there.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:24 PM |

Thank God the Government Isn't Between Me and My Doctor

Today my wife finally got an appointment to see our doctor to try to deal with a cough that has pestered her all summer.

We get to see him in two weeks.

No word on whether or not I'll get to run her by a death panel.

IN OTHER NEWS: This post just wounded the pride of someone in Blue Cross's PR department on behalf of all the medical professionals I just slimed.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:16 PM |

KItz Is Gonna Do It

John Kitzhaber is due to announce for the 2010 Goobernor's race, according to just about everyone.

Can't wait to see his platform, yo.

Posted by The Chinuk at 12:09 PM |

Dave Garroway Is Spinning In His Grave, Undoubtedly

Today in The Vast Wasteland: NBC's Today has become the program that makes me cry and die inside.

The slippery slope that began with the hiring of Katie Couric, Professional Journalist, as an Actual News Anchor (albeit outsourced to CBS, whose Tiffany has been tarnished for some time now) has devolved to the hiring of former First Twin Daughter Jenna Bush as a real, like, reporter, in a hire that has nothing at all to do with her connections and the people she knows, no, not at all, it was totally due to her journalistic chops, and whoever says otherwise is just a hater, yo, and just to prove it we'll put her on a heavy schedule of one whole report a month (and that Glenn Greenwald commented on to a fare-the-well, leaving me free to just rant about it).

But, no, it gets worse. Just when you think it couldn't, it does:

Hey, America -- fill up that diaphragm with a shot of Jack and hold it up high, because I've got great news: The circle of Quiverfull insanity has just begun anew for the Duggar clan. This morning, the Today Show continued its now officially sick love affair with America's favorite Evangelical baby factory by allowing them to make the special announcement that -- stop me if you've heard this one before -- Jim Bob and Michelle are having a baby! For those counting, that makes 19. As in 19 kids. As in -- as the lovely Alex Leo put it so beautifully in the Huffington Post -- if they and their spawn continue to reproduce at this rate, in just three generations there would be enough of them to have one Duggar in every square mile of the United States.

Join me while I scream – not in terror or fear, but in utter frustration and despair, my friends.

UPDATE: This just in – J. Fred Muggs is spinning in his grave, too.

Posted by The Chinuk at 11:25 AM |