My Election Woes

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Sometimes I start out to write one thing, but end up writing something completely different. My friend, Sonya, blogs weekly and Tweets daily about Oregon’s race for Governor. She digs through public records and old newspapers, and highlights every misstep Chris Dudley makes. She even called Anne Yeager, of KGW News, to the mat for misleadingly editing campaign footage and bungling a story.

Inspired by her tenaciousness, I was going to do the same thing. I was going to point out the fact that every economic short fall Dudley attributes to Kitzhaber’s term in office happened after 9/11, when all 50 states took an economic nose dive. I was going to explain why cutting capital gains taxes won’t create jobs. I even dug through SEC filings for Filigree Advisors, where Dudley claims to be a "Wealth Strategist." I was going to make a big deal of the fact the his title status has been, “Leave of Absence,” since 2008 and the fact there are no job duties listed for him.

I began writing the piece six times, and I couldn’t get through it. I logged off last night, and asked myself why I couldn’t write it. After much soul searching, I realized I was politically gun shy. Two years ago, I was on-fire for Obama. He was the man. He was going to put liberalism back in the Democratic party, and unite the country. Riiiiiiiiiiight……….

OK, he delivered a health plan which will insure millions of Americans. Kudos to him for that. Really, that was a huge step forward for this country. However, he’s not even proposing what’s necessary to fix the economy, and he’s bumfuzzled on education.

We’ve seen temporary influxes of stimulus money pumped into the economy. However, I haven’t heard anyone in authority propose anything but stop gap measures. On education, Obama’s promising money to states which will link teacher pay to test scores, even though the most extensive study to date concluded that such programs are ineffective. Before you say, “there are no clear answers,” let me lay a couple on you, just for shits and giggles.

Instead of giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, let’s end those tax breaks and give them to companies that open factories and plants in the U.S. Doing so will create jobs and establish a wider base of consumers who will fuel the economy by buying goods and services. Seems pretty straight forward to me, but I haven’t seen Obama even flirt with the idea.

As for education, unless teachers have the right to exclude low functioning kids from their class rooms, tying teacher pay to test scores is blatantly unfair. Eliminating teacher tenure won’t help either. It will simply let districts save money by firing experienced educators before they qualify for their pensions, leaving districts with young inexperienced teachers. No, to raise test scores, we need to incentivize students.

As it stands now, students move to second grade whether they’ve passed first grade, or not. No… Wait… Sorry… My bad. They don’t pass anymore, they “meet benchmarks.” Whether a first grader meets benchmarks, or not, they’ll be promoted to second grade, and they know it. This policy of social promotion follows students through school. The problem is, without the ability to fail students have no incentive to succeed, at least not one a six year old can understand. They don’t understand having to do well in order to qualify for a good job in fifteen to twenty years, but they can grasp the idea that if they don’t do well they won’t move to second grade with their friends. Yet, I don’t see Obama, or any other Democrat for that matter, trying to discourage social promotion.

I’m going to vote for Kitzhaber, of course. I simply can’t get excited about it, because I feel like I’ll be voting against Republican induced disaster, rather than for inspired Democratic change. I’m just not willing to get my hopes up again.

The Recession's Over, Yay! Oh, Wait. What?

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The National Board for Economic Research has declared that the economy hit rock bottom in June of 09, and has been steadily improving ever since. In other words, the recession ended fifteen months ago. Excited by the report, President Obama delivered the good news in a town hall like forum on MSNBC yesterday. However, once the members of the forum pointed out that they have yet to benefit from the so-called recovery, he back pedaled and went into his, “we still have much work to do, but we’re Americans,” mode.

As near as I can tell, unemployment statistics seem to back up the crowd’s assertion that we’re still in a recession. Nationally, unemployment was at 9.6% in June of 09, when the economy began its upswing. However, unemployment didn’t peak at 10.6% until January of 2010. The latest numbers, from June of 2010, list unemployment 9.6% and rising. So, unemployment peaked seven months after the recession supposedly ended, it’s only a tenth of a point lower than when the declared upswing began, and experts are really trying to sell the idea that the recession’s been over for more than a year? It’s a head scratcher, to be sure.

I’ll admit, I was slightly baffled by the inconsistency. Then I found an article in the L.A. Times. In the piece, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, explained that June of 09 was sited as the recession’s end because that month saw the greatest number of stimulus dollars, from the Recovery Act, being spent. Well sure, that makes perfect… I mean, that’s a perfectly reasonable…

Wait, the government pumped a one time influx of money into the economy, people bought TVs and sweaters, jobs weren’t created, and THAT signals the end of the recession? The one time boost may have offered a temporary respite to wholesalers and retailers, but they socked the profits away, instead of using the money to employ more people and create an additional base of consumers. Until we create jobs, and enable people to buy goods & services, we won’t be out of the woods.

As for Obama trying to sell the nation a bill of goods on MSNBC, I gotta say, I’m irked by the spectacle. Watching him tell people the recession is over, induced flash blacks of a bomber jacket clad George W. Bush declaring victory in Iraq in 2003. Nobody was dumb enough to swallow that one either.

Outlaw Is Outlandish

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Jimmy Smits has a long history of doing smart TV roles. Victor Sifuentes, was a young idealistic lawyer, on L.A. Law, who eloquently fought for his clients. Bobby Simone, offered a sense of level headed balance to his gruff rule bending partner in NYPD Blue. Matt Santos, was an idealistic Congressman, of minority birth, who was groomed to succeed Jed Bartlet as President in The West Wing. Each of these characters were intelligent and believable, challenging viewers to think about ideas and issues. Thus, I was really looking forward to Outlaw, the story of a resigned Supreme Court Justice who practices law to fight for the little guy.

When Elena Kagan was being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court, she had to fill out a 202 page questionnaire, covering everything from her legal background to her finances. All Supreme Court Nominees go through a rigorous vetting process, which explores every nook and cranny of their lives. Yet, Outlaw gives us a Justice who owes a huge some to Doc, the bookie, and who, “doesn’t know the last name of the last three women he slept with.” Thank God his secretary, who pulled him out of a casino to make a legal ruling, knew their names.

Forget the fact that such a person could never have been appointed to the court to begin with, half of writing fiction involves the application of the creative license. The real problem with the show is its rushed pace. In the first 10 minutes, we see his honor be presented with a capitol case, wrestle with it, rule, and resign. Those 10 minutes, could’ve easily been an entire episode, in which he could’ve wrestled with the idea of truth vs. procedure. He could’ve argued with the other justices, explored the issue, and the time could’ve been used to really create the character. However, they had to gloss over that part to make time for the sexy P.I. to sexually tease the ultra-conservative law clerk.

My disappointment is really my own fault though. I let Smits’ past association with the works of Aaron Sorkin and Steven Bochco color my expectations and get my hopes up. Rather than being a well written thought provoking drama for adults, Outlaw is an average TV show on a par with Desperate Housewives.

I Just Assumed

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This morning, my friend’s mother had her purse stolen. The police came, took the report, yada yada yada. Then, as they were finishing, they reminded her not to drive, because she doesn’t have her license.

Call me naive, but I always just assumed that when a person had their purse or wallet stolen, the police would give the victim some kind of dated note, good for one week, saying something like, “This person’s license was stolen, but they’re on the state’s computer as being a licensed driver.” Then, during that week, the victim would go to the DMV for their new license. Do the police really not do this?

Really though, you've been robbed, you're going to need to visit the bank, the DMV, and go to work. Only, now you can't drive, even though the state's computer says you're a valid driver, because you're physical license was one of the things which was stolen. Does this make sense on any level?

A Manifestation Of Boyhood Dreams

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I’ve started a new writing project. I wasn’t going to talk about it for a while yet, but I was just telling (emailing) one of my best friends about it, and thought part of the email would make a good blog. Truth be told, several of my blogs have been the result of messages to friends.

The project is a collection of short stories about a small town, in Eastern Oregon, called White Star. The gist is, a group of retiring lawmen founded a town a hundred some years ago, which was away from everything. Over time, the town evolved into an isolated community of artists, writers, and free thinkers. The mechanism behind the evolution is spelled out, in a way that makes sense, in the introduction. Some of the stories will be mysteries, some will be funny, some will be town emergencies, etc... I've also written in an ongoing mystery concerning the founding days of the town.

I say it’s a new project, but I’ve actually been drawing the townspeople for seven years, and defining the relationships between the characters. The roots of the stories, even go further back than that, since the Marshal, who lead the other lawmen to found the town, was an imaginary playmate from my childhood. Back when a toy cowboy pistol served as the primary outlet for my imagination, Marshal Duke Elling and I defended the early citizens of White Star from countless forms of villainy. Today, the progeny of those boyhood adventures will finally make it to paper.

Stephen Hawking: Physics Leaves No Room For God. Really?

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“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.” ~ Blaise Pascal

Stephen Hawking is, arguably, the smartest man in the world. He was explaining the science behind black holes, while I was preparing to enter Junior High School. In his new book, "The Grand Design," he claims that M Theory, a variation of String Theory, explains the Universe to such a degree, that a conscious creator, or God, is no longer part of the equation. (Watch Video Below)



I've read about M Theory, a time or two, as a hobby. As I understand it, the theory states that anything that can happen will happen in some parallel version of our Universe. In other words, there's a Universe in which I quarterback for the Bears, a Universe in which I write a best seller every four months, and a Universe in which I died as a child. You get the idea.

Hawking has applied this theory to the creation of the Universe, concluding that because anything that can happen will happen, the creation of the Universe was inevitable, therefore God wasn't necessary. I'm not sure his reasoning entirely works.

A Multiverse theory can explain why your socks disappear in the dryer, and why some people survive seemingly unsurvivable accidents. Such events had to happen in some Universe, they just happened to happen in this Universe. Even if we accept the existence of a Multiverse though, there's nothing to say that God didn't set the whole ball of wax into motion to begin with.

Science is very good at explaining how things work. The Earth spins and creates gravity which hold us down. Sunlight converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds to nourish plants. To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. However, there are many questions science can't answer.

We know synapses in the brain create electrical impulses in the brain, making thought and motor function possible. We have no idea what thought is though, or what combination of simple electrical impulses make up memory, intellect, imagination, inspiration, passion, and personality. Science can't define the human spirit. Only faith, in something greater than ourselves, can begin to explain what we are.

To paraphrase Hamlet, there are more things in heaven and earth, Stephen, than are dreamt of in your science.

The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq?

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Last night, President Obama announced that we’d defeated the Iraqi regime and the combat mission was over. He went on to explain, that while 100,000 troops have been called home, 50,000 troops will remain to complete a new mission; advising and assisting Iraq's security forces, supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counter-terrorism missions, and protecting our civilians.

I applaud the sentiment, but “supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counter-terrorism missions” still sounds like combat to me. Keep in mind, they won’t be going from a front line to doing a series of raid and grab missions. This was never a war of trenches on either end of a battle field with lateral movement back and forth. “Taking the hill in sector Bravo,” was never a part of this war. The majority of combat has been in the form of raid and grab missions based on intel, and responses to terrorist violence. It sounds to me as if our 50,000 remaining troops are being asked to do more of the same, only with Iraqi security taking the lead.

In 2003, our last president declared victory in Iraq, then used it as an excuse to deny imminent danger pay and family separation pay to 157,000 soldiers and their families. I realize our economy’s in the toilet and we need to make cuts, but I hope last night’s speech isn’t the opening act of a rerun of 2003. If this is truly the final phase of a ten year war, great. However, I fear it may simply be a relabeling of duties which have been performed for the last decade.