One Week!

Here's a silly question:

Why the hell are we still in Iraq???

Baseball Statistician Predicts the Election

One last Obama/McPenguin debate!

Is this YOUR crowd?

10.3.8 - The Bailout becomes The "Rescue"

The government takes $700 billion away from you and gives it to the banks... to loan back to you.

At least OR Rep. DeFazio got it right:

Election Prediction

"Obama is going to win. He will win BIG...and his win will be solidified by people casting their votes based on the negative impact of the economy on their lives."

4.4.7 - Home

Unity08, a fledgling organization seeking to nominate a credible third-party candidate for the 2008 presidential campaign, released the rules for its online nomination process today.

Candidates seeking the Unity08 nomination must pick a running-mate before the balloting starts, and must be “serious about public service.” Tickets must be bipartisan, formed with at least one Republican and one Democrat, or with independents running as part of a unity team.

Convention “delegates” will vote to select the candidate. Those delegates must be registered voters and sign up online. A first round of voting in May 2008 will narrow the list of contenders to five candidates. In June 2008, there will be multiple rounds of balloting held until one candidate wins a majority of the vote. The voting will all be conducted online.

“Unity08 is proud to be getting down to brass tacks, crafting the process by which the people will be empowered to take their country back,” said Unity08 co-founder Doug Bailey in a release. “We think the new political paradigm of Unity08 is the precise answer to today’s broken political system, and we urge Americans to come to Unity08.com and become delegates today.”

According to the Web site, “the millions of Unity08 convention delegates” will be organized to get the chosen candidate on the ballot in every state.

3.14.7 - Seattle to Libby, MT

1.11.7 - Home

As my wife and I watched Bush's speech last night, our intuition was that he was either slightly drunk, or medicated on somekind of tranquilizer. He looked very tired. Lorraine didn't think he believed what he was being told to say. She actually felt sorry for him. (astounding: my wife having sympathy for Bush!)

And so it went...Dubya hitting on all the predictable propaganda points: how a retreat from Iraq will dishonor the soldiers who died "defending freedom" there, or how if we don't confront Iraq now, we will face catastrophic results in our future, blah, blah, blah...so predictable and very near the same sort of stuff said 40 years ago to justify "one more push" in Vietnam.

We watched as Bush finally admitted--what has been obvious to all--that he intends to widen this "war" from Iraq into Syria and Iran.

Unreal. To listen to last night's speech, you would imagine that al-Qaeda has occupied most of Iraq with the aid of Syria and Iran and is brandishing missiles at the US mainland. That Bush can come out after nearly four years of such lies and try to put this fantasy over on the American people is unconscionable.

"This seems a lot like the Nazis heading off to Russia in WW2," Lorraine said in disbelief, "or maybe like Napolean's two-front war mistake."
"Yeah, but 20,000 more troops?" I wondered, "from where? This seems more like Hitler in his bunker ordering thousands of imaginary and non-existent troops to defend Berlin as it collapsed in ruin."

The Bush/PNAC idiots are reacting, not to the disaster that they have created in Iraq, but rather as a desperate attempt of damage control to salvage any remains of their initial pathetic policy.

Bush's attempts to praise the US troops while calling for more "sacrifice" carry as much credibility as his old claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. A burden of proof was on him to prove his case last night, and in that regard he failed miserably.

It was interesting to watch FOX-News scramble away from the clever Democratic response and cut to a blatantly preplanned presentation of why "we" (meaning us and our $) must stay in Iraq.

One of the dictionary definitions of insanity is: "the inability to understand the nature and consequences of one's acts, or of events, matters, or proceedings in which one is involved."

They've really lost it people.

God help us all.

-Tom

12.13.6 - Longview to St Helens

There's nothin' like a rainy, cold morning with the loadin'-dock forman in Longview. Honestly, I was surprised he was even out in the elements and from the looks of things, he was too.
"Grab me a cup-a-coffee Tom, willya?" he asked me in a subdued (and somewhat-shockingly) civilized manner.
And I figured, what the hell - it's the Holiday season: even a loadin'-dock foreman could catch the 'bug'.
So following his first short-sip from the hot cup-a-joe I brought him from the Dispatch-office, why was I actually surprised when he winced at me and said, "Christ T*******," (he usually calls me by my last name) "I could get used to yer brown-nosin'." (followed by his reknown cynical laugh)
I just about blew a gasket on the spot. And in fact, I actually did a few minutes later when Lorraine happened to call me on my cellphone remindin' me about pickin' something up on the way home.
"Just let it go Tom," she advised in her beautiful forgiving voice. "He always likes to push your buttons, because he knows it works...I think it's sweet you brought him his coffee this morning."
And with that, dear readers, it all went away. Poof - vanished in an instant- courtesy of my wife's angelic mind and voice.
And I'm here to tell ya that a few minutes later, I was still feelin' grateful and lucky after signin' his log-papers and handin' him back his pen with a, "Happy Holidays Jimmy, I'm glad I could getcha yer coffee this morning, not that we'll make it a habit or anything."
"Screw you T*******," was his reply.
It didn't faze me in the least as I climbed into my truck and headed off. I mean...sure, he knows how to push my buttons, mainly because he 'installed' a lot of them over the years we've worked together.
One thing y'all should all know about me: I'm a man who still believes in Santa Claus. I believe in the 'bug' of Christmas. Because as I see it, if I ever lose that, a LOT goes along with it. I always give it my best every year to reconnect with my childhood wonder. To never lose touch with my inner hopes and beliefs of Mankind's good-will, grace and love for one another.
Merry Christmas Lorraine!
Happy Hannukah loadin'-dock foreman Jimmy!
Merry Kwanzaa to the invisible mayor and shifty council!
Feliz Navidad to Muchas Gracias! (who feeds me when I'm in town)
Happy Holidays Bill, and to all of you sthelensupdate readers!
Happy Everything St Helens!
This sure is a nice little town y'all got here.
-Tom

11.30.6 - Home

It's December again, and there you are with all your co-workers at the office Christmas party and everbody is drinking a lot, having fun and then drivin’ home. And since you see everyone drinking and then heading home in their cars, you figure “I can too”.
My friends, this is just the beginning of how alcohol can affect your driving. It doesn’t just include the obvious vision and reaction time; it impairs your mental judgment as well. The fact is that alcohol quickly disrupts your normal thinking patterns and you’re suddenly not in the condition to recognize and adjust for it. Therefore, you can make these critical errors in judgment. And we’re all celebratin’ this time of year. And this is the problem.
Scientists have discovered that alcohol in the brain causes the mind to magnify certain things and minimize other things, so essential facts become distorted. For example, you can talk yourself into thinking that you are an exception to the rule since “I can hold my liquor, so it is ok to drive.” Or you might convince yourself that it’s ok to drive since the streets are mostly empty anyhow and you won’t run into much traffic. This is what is called impaired thinking and can also be an example of denial. And denial – which prevents you from taking corrective action of any impaired decision - can be the greatest impairment of all.
Sadly, most drivers are unaware of how alcohol impairs their driving. Many think that in order for driving to be seriously affected, you need to see double or be unable to walk a straight-line. Nope. The fact that you’re actually unaware of the affect of the alcohol on your vision makes it especially dangerous to rely on your judgment at that moment whether you can drive or not. Besides your vision, alcohol in the blood and brain influences you motor reactions. You do not have to feel drunk. In fact you can feel quite awake and energetic. Yet, your reaction time has slowed down. If ordinarily you need a quarter of a second to hit the brake, with alcohol in your bloodstream, you might need a full second or possible two seconds. But you don’t give yourself two seconds so you crash into the car ahead of you.
All of these factors combine to increase the probability of a fatal accident due to the consumption of alcohol and driving under its influence. Especially this time of year. And since I’m on the roads for a living, I am askin’ you to take a risk assessment of your plans and situations and make intelligent choices and appropriate actions to save your life, the lives of your loved ones, and my life as well. Take responsibility for your decisions and make the right choices about your drivin’ during the holidays, don’t become a statistic and a memorial service.

11.21.6 - St Helens to Seattle

My dad used to say, if ya want to find out what's going on in town; "go getcher haircut".

Well, it's been damn-near two whole months since I posted anything - Partly me and some long trips, and partly some trouble with blogspot, (that's pretty-much all fixed now...hopefully).

I was really glad to hear about Phil Barlow winning his election a couple of weeks back. I've always enjoyed spendin' time gabbing with Phil in the old Waynes parking lot, he'll be a great asset in City Council. And I hear tell that Phil is quite upset about some kind of a push to finish up with "some items" on the "agenda" before the new Council-elect takes over in January.
This is to say that the St. Helens City Council is working against the clock to push through a City Charter change. Some in town say that the real purpose of a charter change is to upgrade the City Administrator position to City Manager.
ok...The first thing I heard that struck me was the fact that they are citing the ridiculous City Satisfaction Survey from a year past as their reason for the change. If it's the same Satisfaction Survey that I recall, there was nothing in it from John Q. Public screaming for upgrading any city positions at all. Actually, as I remember, most people seemed to think that the city was not very responsive to the public need and were very unhappy with BOTH the City Administrator and the City Planner. The citizens surveyed didn't want them to have more power...rather, they wanted them both fired. On top of all this: Council never published the satisfaction survey results publically, which were in fact, quite harsh and damning.
So what we seem to have is an outgoing council, hell-bent on changing the City Charter, whose decisions seem to be counter to the will of the people...but then again, THAT'S really nothing new, is it?
So the scuttlebutt I hear is that the outgoing regime has hand-picked a "committee of friends" to put together this new "Charter", and they need to get this done ASAP, before Phil and the new council comes in.
A Charter Change Election would not be until 2008, but a new charter can be presented to the public - along with what ever spin they would like to include - and unless there is any publicity to the contrary, a few people think it'll probably pass.
Keep your eyes on things here! It's a nice li'l town y'all have. Good to be back for a day or two.
-Tom

9.20.6 - California

back next week!
-Tom

OPERATION
(Tony Hoagland)

In autumn, Operation Enduring Freedom commenced,
which some party-poopers wanted to nickname
Operation Infinite Self-Indulgence.
We tied flags to the antennae of our cars
that snapped like fire when we drove.

In winter there was Operation Gentle Sledgehammer,
which seemed linguistically a little underdigested,
but we lined up squads of second-graders
to stand at attention while we beat a drum.

Let me make it clear that I was
as doubtful as anyone about Operation Racial Provocation
but I loved Operation Religious Suspicion,

which led to Operation Eye For An Eye,
which was succeeded by Operation Helping Hand;
—Let me tell you that was a scary-looking hand!
But that was also a very successful Operation.

Someday you will be required to perform a terrible deed
in order to save yourself,
but save yourself for what?

That would be a question for Operation Self-Examination to answer,
which is a very painful operation
performed without anesthesia
in a naked room full of shadows and light.

Perhaps I might suggest, instead,
Operation Self-Medication, or Operation Endless Mindless Distraction?
In the meantime Operation Collateral Amnesia
is proceeding very smoothly

When it is over we want call it Operation One Big Happy Family—
Is that okay with you?

9.5.6 - Longview to Astoria

Well...if ya think Mayor Peterson has problems, consider the plight of Astoria mayor, Willis Van Dusen who was arrested on a drunken driving charge after his motorcyle collided with a pickup on Monday. (Labor Day)

Van Dusen, 53, Astoria's mayor for 16 years, has filed to run for a fifth four-year term in November. This is the third time he has been charged with drunken driving.

Police said Van Dusen was driving a Harley Davidson motorcycle Monday night when he struck the passenger side of a pickup that pulled into an intersection.

Van Dusen was taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for a head injury and released.

Witnesses at the scene and Trooper Gary Martin, who interviewed Van Dusen at the hospital, said Van Dusen was visibly intoxicated, state police Sgt. Andrew Merila said.

Van Dusen refused to give a blood sample and was cited and released at the hospital for driving under the influence of intoxicants. Wilson was cited for failing to obey a traffic device, driving uninsured and not having a driver's license. Both vehicles were towed from the scene and impounded.

The mayor did not immediately return a phone call by The Associated Press.

Van Dusen was charged with drunken driving in 1989, when his car was seen swerving on its way into Pendleton on Interstate 84, The Daily Astorian reported. The case was dismissed and he was sent to a diversion program on May 23, 1990. He completed diversion from that arrest in 1991.

On May 19, 1994, Astoria police arrested Van Dusen for DUII after spotting his car swerving from side to side. He pleaded guilty June 8, 1994, and was sentenced to a mandatory one-year license suspension, a fine and 80 hours of community service in lieu of a two-day jail sentence.

Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said he has yet to review Van Dusen's case, and he will probably send it to another county for prosecution.

Maybe Van Dusen needs to learn a thing or two from Mayor Peterson (and Monty Python) on "how not to be seen".

he-he,
-Tom

8.27.6 - Longview to Astoria

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden showed up to a couple of town hall meetings last Thursday; the first at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.

The audience had a lot to say about liquefied natural gas projects proposed for the lower Columbia River. Senator Wyden listened as citizens talked about everything from health care to fisheries management. But things really heated up, both for and against, when the discussion turned to LNG.

"If you look at the potential...not even just terrorist risk...we become this huge bullseye when this happens...We need projects like this. Sixty families, 65 families will have family wage jobs with benefits."

Wyden said he'd do all he could to address people's concerns about LNG, but didn't want to mislead anyone. He said a Senate vote had already given the federal government ultimate jurisdiction over the siting process. Wyden voted against the measure, in favor of local control. But he was blunt about the outcome.

Ron Wyden: "And that's really what the vote in the Senate meant -- is that FERC is basically given, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the power to just sort of walk all over local communities. It was a big mistake and I think Congress is going to regret it."

Wyden pledged to help citizens get more information on the proposals currently in the works. He said he'd partner with Betsy Johnson to seek common ground and evaluate the proposed terminals to see which one might be the most viable.

So far a total of four energy companies have proposed LNG ship terminals on the lower 35 miles of the Columbia River.

In the end, Wyden wouldn't go on the record for or against LNG, which isn't all that surprising these days.

A few hours later in St Helens, Wyden showed up for another Town Hall meeting. Lots of topics: Funding for Senior Centers, NW Power rates, the Cost of the Iraq War, and even Illegal immigration. But again, no one got any definitive answers, (at least they were given the opportunity to state their concerns to the Senator.)

Mayor Peterson was seen (!!!) at this meeting with Senator Ron Wyden, along with the mayor of Columbia City, several people from the Port Commission, Columbia River PUD, a County State Rep and Senator, as well as Two Columbia County Commissioners.

Curious to read y'all's take on Wyden's St Helens visit in Thursday's latest Update edition.

-Tom

8.10.6 - Longview to St Helens

photo Phil Gilston

The Scuttlebutt:
Nice to stroll through St Helens the other day...talk to some of y'all.
Lemme tell ya...Y'all seemed pissed.
Couple items:

• City Attorney Richard Appichello is on administrative leave. People were wondering why. Publically, no one downtown seems to want to go on record about it.
• Greg Jenks from the Port of St. Helens is also on Administrative leave. Hmmm...does one have anything to do with the other? One fella thought it didn't.
• Everyone on the Fireworks Committee resigned (including Jimmie & Diane Dillard and Donna Smith). One person theorized that they were not being allowed to make any meaningful decisions. The rumor is that they are in search of a new 501c-3 non-profit umbrella to get out from under the city boys.

What's goin' on here?
Ok, in terms of fireworks--a good metaphor, I think--here are some folks donating time in a committee (some of them, donating more than 20 years of their own time organizing the St. Helens 4th of July) working throughout the year collecting money and donations, organizing the event, and suddenly being told that they don't have any authority. All because they are using the Columbia Foundation's 501c-3?
So...what does the city have to do with The Columbia Foundation?
And why, all-of-a-sudden, have things changed?

WTF? people seem to be askin' me. WTF? indeed. Nice to be back. I'm keepin' my eyes open.
-Tom

8.2.6 - Home

New Canon HD Camcorder unveiled in Tokyo this week

It sure is nice to be back in the NW. I have a few more days off at home with Lorraine which is just as good as vacation for me. And, I see the front office boys in Longview already have some runs scheduled for me this week through St Helens, so I'll be seein' y'all soon.
In the meantime, I've been perusing the internets and found this new Hi-Def DVD Camcorder.
Oh please, PLEASE Santa! Bring me one for Christmas! ;)
-Tom

TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc. unveiled a digital video camera for home users on Wednesday that can record high-definition movies.

Canon, the world's largest maker of digital cameras, said the HV10, its first high-definition video model for home use, will be available globally from September. It will be priced at around 150,000 yen ($1,310) in Japan.

"The market for high-definition camcorders isn't saturated yet, so the two companies can have a healthy competition," said John Yang, an analyst from Standard & Poors.

"They still have the challenge to spur demand for such high-end products in the mass market."

Canon said it expects to win a 20 percent share of the Japanese market for home-use digital video cameras this autumn, helped by sales of new models. It estimates the market for high-definition models will jump to 250,000 units in 2006 from 70,000 last year.

The Canon video camera launched on Wednesday is the first to be fitted with its CMOS imaging sensor, a technology adopted from its best-selling digital single-lens reflex cameras.

7.11.6 - Boston to Vermont (vacation)

Lorraine and I are off in Boston having a great time. Wish you were here.
Ran across this item in the Boston Globe. Link here.
"Sanity prevails in Vermont," said attorney David Williams.
Amen.
I hope sanity is prevailing in that nice li'l town of yours.
See ya next week,
-Tom

Vermont Judge Rejects U.S. Supreme Court Search Ruling
AP - July 11, 2006

GUILDHALL, Vt. --A Vermont District Court judge has rejected a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the power of police to search a private home, concluding that the state offers greater protections in such cases.

Judge Robert Bent said that under the state Constitution police must knock and announce themselves before conducting a search, even if they have a warrant, or face the prospect that any evidence they find could be thrown out.

The Supreme Court said June 15 that evidence obtained without first knocking could be used at trial, but Bent said that would not apply in Vermont.

"Evidence obtained in violation of the Vermont Constitution, or as the result of a violation, cannot be admitted at trial as a matter of state law," Bent wrote, citing an earlier state case as precedent. "Introduction of such evidence at trial eviscerates our most sacred rights, impinges on individual privacy, perverts our judicial process, distorts any notion of fairness and encourages official misconduct."

A defense lawyer in the Vermont case said Bent's ruling was an important statement. "Sanity prevails in Vermont," said attorney David Williams.
Bent agreed with the dissenting opinion in the federal case, which said allowing otherwise illegally obtained evidence to be used could lead law enforcement officers to ignore the law.

"The exclusionary remedy should remain in full force and effect," Bent wrote, "at least in our small corner of the nation."

Unless the attorney general's office appeals Bent's ruling to the Vermont Supreme Court, it applies only to the drug case he was hearing and would not be binding on other judges, legal experts said. But other judges are likely to take it into consideration if they have similar issues, said Cheryl Hannah, a Vermont Law School professor.

It was unclear whether the state would appeal to the high court. The prosecutor on the case was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

Williams challenged evidence the Vermont State Police Drug Task Force obtained against Ellen Sheltra last fall during a raid on her Island Pond home. She was charged with marijuana possession.

The officers were gathering in front of the home Oct. 12 when the door suddenly opened, an officer testified. The agents shouted "state police with a search warrant" and stormed inside, Bent wrote in his ruling.

The judge concluded the officer's testimony wasn't credible, noting that the three adults and two children in the house said they did not open the door.

Police seized 88 grams of marijuana and four guns.
------
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
© Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

7.4.6 - Home

Photo - Joao Silva for The New York Times

I write this on Tuesday, July 4th 2006.
Happy "we are throwing out the old corrupt, irrelevant government and starting a new one" Day. One can only hope that we Americans today, can be as bold and intelligent as some of our forefathers were.

Today in Iraq, General George Casey said in an "Independence Day" speech to the troops that there were similarities between the colonists' struggle in 1776 and Iraq's struggles this year.

``It took the commitment of our Founding Fathers and the Continental Army to secure America's position in the free world, much as the Iraqi leaders and Iraqi Army are working to secure a free Iraq," Casey said. ``It also took five years of hard fighting to do it. There is no doubt in my mind that you, the current generation of Americans, have the courage and perseverance to lead our nation to victory in its most complex struggle yet, the war on terror," Casey went on. ``I am confident that we and our Iraqi colleagues will be successful in bringing security and stability here to Iraq."

Huh? Yeah, except back then, WE were the insurgents and the English were the invading, occupying army. Get it?

As I see it, when things don’t add up in Iraq, (like everything and everywhere else these days) I figure it is safe to assume that politics are involved.

Even as the insurgency worsens every day, Gen. Casey, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, astonishingly claims that security in Iraq has improved and that substantial U.S. troop withdrawals are possible by as early as September. (Casey's plan presented to Bush last week entailed bringing home about 7,000 US troops by September and another 20,000 or more by the end of 2007.)

So what's the story here? Ya think it just MIGHT be the congressional elections in 2006? This, by my standards, is unconscionable.

Although Bush administration officials have implied that demands by Democrats for a U.S. troop withdrawal timetable are “unpatriotic” and “aid the enemy,” when their own electoral politics is involved, the administration is all too willing to predict troop reductions during a specified time period. They certainly understand how the Democrats are making significant political gains from the growing unpopularity here at home of the continued occupation of Iraq. By showing some incremental and token progress toward getting out of the quagmire, the administration hopes to contain the damage Democrats could do from now until November. With popular support for the Iraqi occupation in the United States fading, the administration is running out of time.

Back to Gen. Casey for a second: the reason that U.S. forces have not been able to defeat the insurgent rebels is the continuing and astounding ignorance of counterinsurgency warfare tactics by the U.S. Army—an organization that, even after the debacle in Vietnam, has concentrated on fighting conventional wars against smaller nation/states. This ignorance was on display when Gen. Casey opined a few months back, “insurgencies need progress to survive, and this insurgency is not progressing.”

In fact, as George Washington, the North Vietnamese, and the anti-Soviet Mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan demonstrated, insurgents need only to keep an army in the field and “not lose” until the big power gets exhausted and goes home.

And given all the talk about withdrawal from both the Bush administration and Democrats, if the insurgents watch any kind of international news, they know that they are winning. By hinting at withdrawing troops, the administration is also trying to buy more time with the American public in order to negotiate with the Iraqi rebels. The insurgents are better off without the U.S. military in Iraq, however, so they have no incentive to throw down their arms and join the political process.

The Bush administration needs to give up on the fantasy of a permanent military presence—even if reduced—in Iraq and completely and rapidly withdraw its forces from that country. Actually, Republican electoral fortunes will be better off in the short-term AND long-term if the administration realizes that this war cannot be won—either by U.S. forces or the Iraqi security services—and cuts its losses.

George Washington warned us in his farewell address:

“ ...avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.”

Happy "we’re throwing out the old corrupt, irrelevant government and starting a new one" Day everyone.

-Tom