Salem will soon have red light cameras installed, Portland has had them for some time. A sense of outrage about the practice is building momentum, to the dismay of bloated bureaucracies that have come to depend on Oregon’s drivers as a cash cow. It might come as a surprise to learn that the timing of [...]

A distant friend and former co-worker who knows I’m in Veterans for Peace sent this and asked me if I could explain it to her. I sure can’t, but it doesn’t surprise me a bit.
Okay. So there’s this big article in the paper and I get a notice from the school . . [...]

When I was but a stripling I thought about money. Probably because I’d read a book by Dostoevsky that talked about how to become wealthy. No sweat if you had wealthy parents; otherwise it took a lot of single-minded, dedicated work. Closed out a lot of attractive options. Seemed a severe limitation on one’s life. [...]

By the end of the writer’s strike, authors had triumphed against media conglomerates and raised awareness of intellectual property. The goal was securing rights for digital media, but the withering vacuum of content also signified the power wielded by the pen.
From thefreelibrary.com:

For Thomas Jefferson, the pen truly was mightier than the sword. From his [...]

You are offered an opportunity to comment at the bottom of every piece appearing in this blog. Matters being addressed here tend to be of a controversial nature. We’re not hearing much from the readership. For instance, do you want public financing of political campaigns, yes or no? If yes, how much do you think [...]

Climate Change and the Media
Last month CBS aired a ‘special’ on global warming. The program featured Dr. James Hanson, Director of the Goddard Space institute and a leading climate scientist. If you’ve been reading this column you will recognize the name – we refer to him frequently. The problem was, CBS published an interview which [...]

I am not entirely naive about politics: in 1971 I was given a brief course in government operations in Washington, D.C., the most intensive course of instruction I’ve ever been involved in. Days began at around 5:00 a.m., and rarely ended significantly before midnight. We met with a shrink daily for attitude adjustment, as well [...]

The Volt is the unit of electric potential difference or electromotive force, named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), inventor of the first modern chemical battery.
It’s fitting that the Chevrolet Volt should invoke his name, because this vehicle is a breakthrough design that will redefine the concept of electric transportation. The low [...]

The disastrous state subsidies for agrofuels piled on top of the federal ones.  Here’s a must-read story on Another pair of studies showing that ethanol–both corn AND switchgrass flavors–is WORSE for climate change than petroleum.
In other words, Big Ag has persuaded us to pour gas on the climate fire.
Spending millions to prop up climate-destroying ethanol [...]

I have become involved with a political issue. The issue has nothing whatever to do with partisan politics. It has to do with how elections are financed, whether by wealthy individuals, special interest groups or otherwise. I see a more than superficial attraction in public campaing financing. I intend to speak of it over the [...]