July 02, 2009

Rep. Wexler (D-FL) is a big fat idiot!

Oh alright, one more...

Wexler: Settlement freeze would call Arab world’s ‘bluff’

Visiting Israel, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) tells Herb Keinon of the Jerusalem Post that Israel should agree to a short-term settlement freeze -- and that it's a smart move to call the Arab states' bluff:

"A request for a moratorium or freeze in settlement activity that can be mutually agreed upon by the US and Israel in the next several weeks is a tiny, tiny gesture and down payment to make when you look at potentially what is on the other side of the equation," said Wexler.

On other side of the equation, he said, were 22 Arab countries being urged by the US to take significant steps now towards normalization with Israel.

"I want to call their bluff," Wexler said. "I want to see, if Israel makes substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are willing to do it. And if they are not, better that we should find out five or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to compromise any significant position."

So let me see if I've got this right... A temporary, utterly insincere token will somehow call the alleged bluff of neighboring Arab state's long-term intentions???

How blinded by bigotry does one have to be to say that in public and appear to actually think it's rational???

I am absolutely gobsmacked by the intellectual vacuity necessary to even think that a short-term token effort by one party and a long-term commitment to peace by another party are somehow on equal footing.

This is no different than the ongoing efforts to get European nations to compensate (or return) Jews for lands and properties seized during WWII while steadfastly refusing to even consider compensating (or returning) Arabs for lands and properties seized during the creation of Israel and later during the '67 War. It is a completely one-sided relationship that is being offered. And they wonder why it's not received with open arms!?!?!

Posted by Kevin at 11:02 AM | Permalink |

The Inter Twine

Lastly here is some linkage to a great article explaining the newly unveiled Metro rebranding of trails and parks, rivers and streams as The Inter Twine.

I attended the kick-off event at Keen Footware's HQ in The Pearl but I was there to see Senator Merkley. And that's why I didn't bother with a summation of my own. I don't know enough about The Inter Twine and feel it's better left to those who do understand it, like BikePortland.org's Jonathan Maux, to explain.

Posted by Kevin at 10:47 AM | Permalink |

Hint: it's about the water

Israel postpones ‘drought tax’

Look at a topographical map of the region and note where the bulk of the water flows and you'll begin to understand that religion and "terrorism" are merely a smokescreen for official Israeli attachment to the Occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights.

Simple demographic projections combined with fundamental geology demonstrate the unsustainable squeeze Israel is looking at in their own future. But ignore that... Just keep watching the other hand moving the empty shell around the board... that's the hand that you're supposed to be watching, not this hand hiding fundamental motivations that you're not supposed to be paying attention to.

Posted by Kevin at 10:38 AM | Permalink |

Looks can be deceiving

I've been following the story of the jet crash off the Comoros and the young girl who survived. The other day I was reading an article where her father expressed amazement that she was the one to have survived because she'd always been a shy and timid girl. Which seems to me to speak to the fact that judging a person on outward appearances is often a mistake.

This 14 year old girl clearly has an inner core of steel which nobody had suspected was there. Maybe it's because I'm the father of two daughters that I just wanted to cheer when I read that. I find the whole thing very moving!

From a piece today:

"In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival," France's cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, who flew back with her, said at the airport. "It's an enormous message that she sends to the world ... almost nothing is impossible."

Absolutely extraordinary indeed! There are many other similar examples but we usually hear of them in association with more conventional tragedies... Like John McCain's experiences as a POW or survivors of the Bhutan Death March or of the Cherokee "Trail of Tears" or survivors of the Nazi death camps. Certain individuals simply refuse to give up in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

Truly it is a testament to the human spirit and a reminder of the wisdom of MLK's call to judge people on the content of their character rather than on outward appearances.

Posted by Kevin at 09:58 AM | Permalink |

July 01, 2009

If It Matters To Oregonians, It's Going To Cost You A Quarter More

The Oregonian, Greater Portland and Oregon's Newspaper of record, after slashing costs, eliminating the evening "bulldog" edition, furloughing staff, and merging the Metro section into the rest of section A on Mondays to save printing costs, has hit on a possible solution to its problems:

They're going to charge you a buck at the newsstand/paper box, up twenty-five cents.

Which, of course, means that when it comes to the pape in PDX, you're getting less for more.

Practically indispensable.

(h/t Oregon Media Central, which seesm to be fast becoming the media go-to site around here these days).

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:58 PM | Permalink |

Michael Scheuer on Beck's show, pleading for Osama to bomb the U.S.

From Media Matters:

This is Michael Scheuer arguing that "the only chance we have as a country right now is" for bin Laden to "detonate a major weapon" in U.S.

Posted by Kevin at 09:03 AM | Permalink |

The Pretender from Wasilla

Various conservative pundits are lining up to take shots at a Vanity Fair article about Sarah Palin. I'll let you read the article and draw your own conclusions. But one criticism stood out to me.

In an email to a Washington Post blogger, McCain staffer David Welch wrote: "Purdum did not include quotes from pro-Palin staffers (Mike Goldfarb, Randy Scheunemann have been outspoken in their support) — a clear sign of biased hit piece. If that doesn't convince you, the countless cheap shots and comparison of Palin to Nixon should."

That's a fair point. She doesn't possess a fraction of the intelligence, experience or sheer political savvy that Richard Nixon did, and any comparisons between the two are inherently absurd for those reasons alone.

Whereas President Nixon traveled to China at significant political risk and managed to engage the reclusive and pathologically introspective Chinese in a way that nobody from the West had ever managed before him, Sarah Palin would have visited Taiwan and declared that since she could see China from there that therefore she was henceforth some sort of an expert on China.

David Welch couldn't be more right. Sarah Palin is no Richard Nixon. It would take a great deal more than simply sharing his supremely self-righteous arrogance to fill his shoes.

Posted by Kevin at 08:02 AM | Permalink |

June 30, 2009

Conservative Math

Item: With respect to the Sotomayor-assisted minority opinion on the now-famous Ricci v. DiStefano case, The Talented Mr. Limbaugh said:

And this is why brilliant legal analysts are saying this decision, when you get right down to it, is actually nine-zip, not 5 to 4, when you look at some of the things that Ginsburg wrote about the mistakes here in not even hearing the case, not even taking the constitutional questions.

We can render it thus:

(5-to-4 decision)+(the minority report thru a lens Conservatively) = (A 9-0 decision) x (Sotomayor is a racist)

It's no wonder the USA hasn't been to the moon since the 1970s.

Posted by The Chinuk at 04:29 PM | Permalink |

Let The Al Franken Decade Begin

Reported variously: With the unanimous decision of the MN Supremes, Norm "It's Over When I Say It's Over" Coleman finally concedes the Minnesota US Senate race.

Being able to say the words "Senator Al Franken of Minnesota" has been tempered somewhat because of bitter, angry Republicans who hate us who made it stall for eight months.

But when you've won, you've won. Republicans ought to know that as well as anyone.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:37 PM | Permalink |

June 29, 2009

Side jaunt: flavored butters for Salmon

Time for a couple more recipes. This time they are both flavored butters, which are an elegant and very tasty way to take something simple like Salmon or Chicken or a steak to a whole 'nother level. I made both of these specifically for Salmon, although they would be great on any other type of fish too.

Continue reading "Side jaunt: flavored butters for Salmon"

Posted by Kevin at 06:39 PM | Permalink |

June 25, 2009

Congressional Uniforms

Members of Congress should be required to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers do.
That way it would be a lot easier for us to see who their corporate sponsors are.

Posted by Mac at 05:49 PM | Permalink |

JTA Special Report: Jewish Extremists

Muslim gravestone defaced by Jewish extremists.

With the Netanyahu administration under new pressure from Washington to clamp down on settlement growth, JTA's Dina Kraft takes an in-depth look at the small minority within the settler movement that is poised to thwart any agreement on West Bank evacuations. Determined to hold onto their land at any cost - including violence against Israel - these radicals are likely to represent the next flash points in the conflict over the West Bank.

Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel
Confident they are following the word of God, a small but vocal and increasingly violent minority within the Jewish settler movement has become the face of radical Jewish nationalism in Israel. Read more »

The view from a West Bank hilltop
JTA visits Havat Gilad, an illegal Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank slated for evacuation. Residents there say they have no intention of leaving, and they'll fight if necessary. Read more »

Israel wrestles with settler challenge
Bringing radical Jewish settlers under control and enforcing evacuation orders for illegal West Bank outposts has proved a conundrum for successive Israeli governments. Will the new Israeli government be any different? Read more »

Posted by Kevin at 08:29 AM | Permalink |

June 24, 2009

You Want Class War?

It's like I've said 'til I'm blue in the mouth: If you're getting all hot and bothered and offended about someone talking about the rich paying more taxes and you moan about "class warfare", you have no conception that there not only has been a great deal of it, but that' you're on the losing end of it, you chump.

Via BlueO: Steve Novick takes an AOI stooge to school on the (ahem) second-lowest business tax rate in the nation, and State Rep. Brian Clem (D-South and East Salem) makes and eloquent case:

The wealthy are indeed drinking your milkshake (chances are, if you're reading this, you aren't wealthy). Whether they mean to or not, they can't keep doing that.

You may as well build your fireplace by knocking bricks out of your foundation.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:42 PM | Permalink |

They're Turning On Their Own With Amazing Speed

FOX News (just a vowel movement away from the truth) made SC Gov Mark Sanford a Democrat … but just for a little while.

That'll learn him.

Turns out outsourcing isn't the ideal solution for everything, I'm guessing.

And Today in Type 2 Diabetes: via The State, Mark Sanford's love letters. Quite a romantic, him. Here's a sample:

Two, mutual feelings .... You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...

Yeah, don't want to go into sexual details. 'Cos everyone knows Republicans have no sex.

You can read the rest but make sure you load up on insulin and have your barf bag handy.

Posted by The Chinuk at 07:33 PM | Permalink |

ZOMG Sanford!

I love the Republicans, really. They are just so full of big-league win.

When the chief executive of one of the fifty freakin' states of the US of A simply vanishes for a few days, nobody hears about it until he turns up with a BS excuse.

Then, in one of the few truly shining moments in American investigative journalism, he turns up coming into Atlanta's Hartfield International Airport … in a futile attempt to evade his hometown media … from Argentina. From where he was conducting a torrid affair, in the torrid zone.

Wow.

I've got to say before I go any farther that my hero for the week is South Carolina's largest pape and the capital city's own The State, which by either getting a good tip, dogged investigation, or just being freaking awesome, managed to meet Gov. Sanford at the Atlanta 'port, which is where he tried to sneak back into the US, reasoning incorrectly that nobody would think he would do that.

More bad Republican judgment.

But seriously, I know it's been asked so many times that it's become trite, but can we please stop treating the Republican party as though they have any credibility on matters of family values and morality? Like tenpins these creeps keep coming up in flagrante screwing around on their wives and deserting their children, but our media keeps accepting them as the sanctimonious authority on moral behavior with a completely straight face.

Now, I don't actually hold politicians any more pure or saintly than myself. But I'm beginning to be a whole less naive about the fact that someone who would lead a life contrary to the statements they make doesn't also extend their bad judgment into other areas.

And it doesn't really have to concern sex. That's just the transgression we usually see. The tip ('scuse) of the iceberg. Republican after Republican after Republican. Ensign, then Sanford. And while Sanford has resigned from the Republican Governors Association, he's not resigning from the SC Gubnership, which is what he'd do if he paid more than lip service to moral principles.

Are you paying attention, America? Yet?

Posted by The Chinuk at 11:52 AM | Permalink |

"Would they be allowed in the US?"

Juan Cole notes the proverbial elephant in the living room - Washington and the Iran Protests:
Would they be Allowed in the US?

Moreover, very unfortunately, US politicians are no longer in a position to lecture other countries about their human rights. The kind of unlicensed, city-wide demonstrations being held in Tehran last week would not be allowed to be held in the United States. Senator John McCain led the charge against Obama for not having sufficiently intervened in Iran. At the Republican National Committee convention in St. Paul, 250 protesters were arrested shortly before John McCain took the podium. Most were innocent activists and even journalists. Amy Goodman and her staff were assaulted. In New York in 2004, 'protest zones' were assigned, and 1800 protesters were arrested, who have now been awarded civil damages by the courts. Spontaneous, city-wide demonstrations outside designated 'protest zones' would be illegal in New York City, apparently. In fact, the Republican National Committee has undertaken to pay for the cost of any lawsuits by wronged protesters, which many observers fear will make the police more aggressive, since they will know that their municipal authorities will not have to pay for civil damages.

The number of demonstrators arrested in Tehran on Saturday is estimated at 550 or so, which is less than those arrested by the NYPD for protesting Bush policies in 2004.

It is the height of glib irony that American theoconservatives have been publically questioning President Obama's response to the crackdown by Iranian theoconservatives. And as usual, their rhetoric is nothing more than a smokescreen... the practiced ploy by skilled con artists to focus your attention on the left hand so that you don't notice what the right hand is doing and has done and will do again if given the opportunity.

Posted by Kevin at 08:51 AM | Permalink |

June 23, 2009

BREAKING: City Council Punts the Chavez-39th Decision

This just tweeted by KGW's Burton Scott: It's been decided there will be no Vote on renaming Thirty-Ninth Avenue tonight. This session is testimony only.

Keep staying tuned. It'll be there when we get there.

Posted by The Chinuk at 06:55 PM | Permalink |

City Hall Now The Hot Place To Be

Major news outlets report that the City Council session concerning renaming Thirty-Ninth Avenue to Cesar Chavez Boulvard is so packed that they had to open a 2nd room in the Portland Building (next block north on SW 4th Avenue) just to handle the overflow.

Newsers say they'll be dicing this one out for a while, so stay tuned.

Posted by The Chinuk at 06:46 PM | Permalink |

Carrotmobbing Hot Lips Pizza

They say it pays to do the right thing.

Ever wonder how much?

About three times your usual daily sales, as Hot Lips Pizza (the recipient of PDX's first known Carrotmobbing – the opposite of a boycott (which we can call Stickmobbing)) found out – and as reported by LoadedO.

Posted by The Chinuk at 02:43 PM | Permalink |

Just remember that...

... when the insurance industry lobbyists warn that the existing system (their system) would keep costs lower than a government alternative what they're really concerned about is their own profits.

Posted by Kevin at 09:47 AM | Permalink |

Now You See The Cesar Chavez Blvd Renaming Committee … Now You Don't

Today In Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm": Blogolitical Sean notes some strange doin's with the Cesar Chavez Blvd (Whether You Want It Or Not) Committee:

In a stunning new development, only hours before the long-anticipated hearing before Portland City Council on the question of renaming 39th Avenue, the entire membership of the Chavez Boulevard Renaming Committee has vanished, apparently leaving only its two co-chairs to soldier forward.

All photographs that might identify the Committee membership suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the Committee’s website, leaving only speculation as to who the brave souls were who once demanded that the City rename Interstate Boulevard.

The Chavez Committee has never posted the names of its membership, and has held no public meetings, so these photographs were all that gave a clue as to who its members might be during the whole of the past two years.

Read the whole thing. If it doesn't leave you scratching your head over the whole deal I don't really think you've been paying attention.

Myself, I find it at least semi-amusing that the committee that's so passionate about telling people along Thirty-Ninth Avenue that they could be getting a new street name (whether they want it or not) can't be bothered to update a website that's lain absolutely fallow since just after last November's elections. Check it out. On the page which lists City Council members to whom one might write to show support, Mayor Tom Potter is still listed as … well, Mayor.

I told y'alls this would end in tears.

Posted by The Chinuk at 05:53 AM | Permalink |

Our Man Sam

In the Oregonian story on why AG Kroger isn't indicting Mayor Sam, one quote that Sam said stood out:

I'm pleased that they found no legal wrongdoing. Terrible judgment. Bad judgment. No question about it. But no legal wrongdoing.

Yes. No legal wrongdoing. But bad judgement. Bad, bad, bad judgement.

The mistake would be to think that the bad judgement ended with that. I don't think I really have to list the unrelenting parade of City Hall follies that have only served to illustrate that Sam Adams really didn't have the temprament and judgement to be an effective Mayor – or, to be charitable, if he did, he lost it soon after finally grabbing the brass ring.

Before winning the Mayoral seat, Sam advocated moving the old Sauvie Island bridge structure into NW Portland to serve as a pedestrian and bicycle overpass to I-405 at NW Flanders Street. At the time, it seemed quixotic, but a bold, foolishly courageous stroke – something that would at least even further burnish his credentials with the bike crowd while showing that he had a daring vision that, unlike his mentor, Vera Katz, would produce projects that might actually occur (capping I-405, anyone remember that bowser of an idea?).

But Sam's McBreedlovin', as it does, tends to make the scales fall away from an awful lot of eyes as dots demand to be connected. I will admit this much; before Sam's election as Mayor (and that day we found out everything) I was a Sam fan. I connected with his story about how he came up from modest means to a position of power and a lot of community good will, and how he struggled with travail in his personal life to keep his eye on the ball.

Now foolish plans floated in the before-time seem like just another link in a chain of bad judgment that just hadn't hit its acme yet.

I didn't think he was a perfect visionary, but who is? He was much better than the alternative (Sho was a nice fellow, but he had much less vision. It always seemed as if he was taking a shot at it just to see if he could hit). I still can't picture Sho Dozono making a very good Mayor, even though he's doubtlessly a very nice fellow who wants nothing by the best for Portland.

When Sam admitted what he did, he killed trust for an awful lot of us. I know I do show naivete in an awful lot of my opinions, but it seems to me that it's a truth that for politics to work best cynicism has to remain at a minimum. When Sam proved that he would lie to keep his political skin on and allow a whole bunch of people to defend the honor he didn't actually have, trust got pretty brutally murdered.

Some of us (well, okay, some of "me") are still working through that.

So, Sam's out of legal trouble. Granted.

But he's not out of trouble. His career in politics might still be on it's last pins.

A polity that has little faith in him will probably see to that, even if the recall movement allows bottom-drawer neocon talk hosts, santcimonious self-appointed ministers, and opportunistic mayoral hopefuls clamber on board.

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:50 AM | Permalink |

The Mountain Might Get Beau, But The Law Never Will

As the Portland community (and the Portland noosphere) digest and begin to decide what AG Kroger's conclusion that there is no case in L'affaire Adams means to them, myself – as many – are finding it intriguing that the whole linchpin of the case, as the AG sees it, is Breedlove. The Oregonian:

"Because we did not have a prima facie criminal case under any of the theories we investigated, the report makes no assessment of Mr. Adams' credibility," Kroger said.

But the attorney general's report leans heavily on the lack of veracity of Breedlove, whom the report painted as an unreliable, publicity-hungry witness whom jurors would probably not believe.

"The critical witness here was Mr. Breedlove," Kroger said. "Mr. Breedlove has said contradictory things on different occasions about what took place. Given that fact, there's simply no basis to go forward with a criminal charge."

IANAL, as the Internetism goes, but we do know enough about the law and politics to understand that Kroger doubtlessly did not have any reason to go forward unless they had a strong case. A slam-dunk would have been ideal. And I'm guessing that Beau Breedlove was to weak a peg to hang the hat of this case on. Perhaps if that element had been stronger, then they'd go on to Mayor Sam, because the opportunity of Beau supported the motive of Sam.

But, apparently they weren't able to come up with anything outside of Beau's testimony that Sam had taken liberties with him when he was 17 years old. That is, of course, a thing. But someone with an air of a certain other thing invites suspicion based on that thing, or to be a bit more succinct, keeping up appearances matters:

That lack of evidence left the case hinging on Breedlove's credibility as a witness. Breedlove sought attention and money when his relationship with Adams went public.

In February, he agreed to pose in an erotic photo shoot for Unzipped magazine. Breedlove told investigators that he was paid for the work but he declined to say how much. Breedlove's 2006 felony conviction for stealing $755.12 worth of clothes from a Honolulu Macy's also raised questions about his honesty.

Moral turpitude is a bitch. Regardless of what anyone thinks about Beau, the eagerness with which he embraced his new marketablilty made his image so tainted that the AG knew that this was a dog that could not be made to hunt in court.

Because no matter what damnation the proceedings would have been able to hang on Mayor Sam, the finger of "Yeah? Well, look who's talking!" would have always pointed at Beau.

And, ironically, it is not illegal to lie to a criminal investigator in Oregon. Who knew that?

Posted by The Chinuk at 01:31 AM | Permalink |

June 22, 2009

Supreme Court rules against Forest Grove school district

The O has the details. The gist of it is that a 6/3 majority ruled that the school district has to pay for the private school tuition of a Forest Grove kid who was eventually diagnosed with ADHD. Others will parse the grounds and circumstances and I see no compelling reason to rehash it here even though it is far from uncontroversial. I'd rather look at something else.

The tuition for this private school was $5,200 per month.

Now, conservatives argue that the official cost per pupil numbers given out by school districts and the state don't reflect all of the costs. The most recent official numbers apparently date to the 2003-04 school year. At that time CPI estimated the per pupil cost at $10,260... per year. But since that's the same school year that this Forest Grove kid's parents placed him in the private school those numbers are exactly what we want here. The CPI's allegedly more accurate per pupil cost figure breaks down to a per pupil, per month cost of $1,140. That's $4,060 LESS per month than this FG kid's private school tuition was. His monthly tuition would have covered the costs - the REAL costs according to CPI - of 4 public school students and still have over half the costs of a 5th student left over.

Here's the point of this exercise: Everyone is talking about the legal obligation of school districts to pay for appropriate education for special needs kids, and I'm not arguing against that at all. What I am pointing out is that regardless of what various courts rule that the districts have to pay out... the pool from which those funds are paid out is volatile and fluctuates over time, depending on any number of factors but usually depending on politics. A mixture of property taxes and state and federal funds constitute the funding source for Oregon school districts. And each of those sources is volatile.

So, it seems to me that this case and ruling beg two questions:

1. Should there be some sort of "means testing" for the district's capacity to pay for godawefully expensive private schooling so that other students aren't deprived of THEIR legal right to a decent education in the rush to guarantee another student a decent education?

2. Should school's funding be as legally binding as their financial obligations?

Posted by Kevin at 02:40 PM | Permalink |