And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Unlike Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout, who famously would not take the garbage out, Portland is taking steps to join Seattle, San Francisco, and Dubuque (. . . Dubuque?) by letting residents include food waste with their curbside recycling:
After five years of delays, Portland is ready to try out collecting food waste from residents at curbside for recycling into compost, addressing the biggest glob left in the city's garbage.
Including dinner scrapings, meat, egg shells, coffee grounds and other food scraps in the curbside yard debris cart isn't a revolutionary concept. Seattle and San Francisco are doing it; so is Dubuque, Iowa.
The finished compost benefits farms and wineries. Recycling food waste and wastepaper, which makes up just over a fifth of the region's garbage, prevents it from stewing in a landfill, where it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Here's hoping Portland fares better than Sarah Cynthia:
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!
In the run-up to passage of Measures 66 and 67 this week, the Wall Street Journal titled its report Oregon's Tax Vote Shows State's Plight, as if voters so much as considering even the idea of raising taxes were the equivalent of a trapped coyote contemplating chewing off its own leg.
Oregon's current economic and employment plight is considerable, and passage of 66 and 67 has us by no means out of the woods, but for the record, WSJ, Measures 66 and 67 were more about Oregonians wanting to avoidplight like this:
COLORADO SPRINGS - This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops - dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.
Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.
City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.
"I guess we're going to find out what the tolerance level is for people," said businessman Chuck Fowler, who is helping lead a private task force brainstorming for city budget fixes.
There's the (silver?) bullet we've dodged. For now. (Hat-tip to David Sirota.)
Time to Span the State.
[More after the jump, including the return of the StS True Animal Story.]
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I think the many paid and volunteer workers that put in so many hours to pass ballot Measures 66/67 around the state give lie to the idea that this is not a good year for progressive ideals. When we moved our Tax Fairness Oregon work to the southern part of the state, after having quite a time in Central Oregon, we found another dedicated bunch of people that were quite effective despite being faced with daunting rightwing opposition. While I continued to canvass and petition the unemployed I also got some great ideas from local activists on some different channels to use in order to chip away at the opposition. We even challenged the prevailing sentiment on conservative talk radio, talking with the morning show at KMED. It might not have been an elegant exchange but I think some good points were made.
Soon though the focus in Southern Oregon turned toward an event, we decided to deliver the Tax Fairness Oregon 1000 signature petition to US Bank. A number of groups from around the state (Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, Sisters of the Road, WRAP, Street Roots, Jackson County Democrats and Oregon Action) helped to plan and execute the demonstration/petition delivery at the Ashland US Bank. With the help of JwJ's Wes Brain, we coordinated with an event on Martin Luther King Day where a panel spoke on the need for affordable housing.
State Rep. Peter Buckley discussed the ballot measures and Ashland City Council member Eric Navickas introduced our efforts to the audience and asked them to sign our petition. Oregon Action lead organizer Rich Rohde stated that "the panel marked one of the first" confluences of both Portland area and Southern Oregonians in common social cause. This I think is the main reason we found delivering the petition in Jackson County so compelling. The next day audience members and panel speakers joined us in our demonstration/
petition delivery. In all 75 individuals turned out to affirm support for 66 &67 and disdain for the actions of US Bank in opposing the measures. Pictures - Video
After the petition was delivered I went to the North Coast of Oregon to continue my canvass of the unemployed. All of these efforts that were made possible by so many folks around the state served to engage voters that were not adequately informed about the ballot measures. We also were able to establish organizational allies around the state that will continue to be involved in tax fairness issues in the future. So when the next big fiscal challenge comes, our small organization can continue to do its part to help and lobby on behalf of people, this includes all Oregonians that do not have their own lobby, whose voices too often go unheard.
I'm still in a sling and so this is a another voice written blog entry-- -- but I will edit this one and spare you the forced dyslexia.
As went the misunderestimation of the Massachusetts Senate results, so will Oregon's historic tax fairness passage probably be taken to unlikely conclusions by the national punditry inside the Village. On the other hand, there's not a much clearer expression of voter sentiment in American politics than the citizens initiative, so there are indeed some concrete things to take away from Winter Election 2010.
It was called surprisingly early -- -- at 8:06 PM by Tim Hibbitts on Fox's PBX affiliate newscast, while American Idol aired on the mothership station. He had the benefit of early day counts from Multnomah County apparently, because the first results I saw published did not include any from the Portland districts. Given the 70+ percent approval returns early on from the state's biggest city, it was probably a fairly easy call for him to make if he was seeing those kind of numbers.
I made a 'personal' call at 817, right about the time the Oregonian posted theirs online I discovered moments later. Marion County was passing with something north of 51%, and the vote totals were high, meaning most of the counting was over. A number of other smaller counties had also reported, but none of the big suburbs or larger liberal counties like Lane and Benton. And even in those counties, the No totals just didn't look high enough to sustain a statewide victory. I thought, "it's over," but was still gratified to see someone else thought so too at the time.
The clear winners (beyond the state of Oregon and its people of course), are House Speaker Dave Hunt and the rest of the Democratic caucus in the legislature, as well as their allies in the established political order. Start off with enormous relief for the February session, which now no longer has to center on what lean to cut. throw in a two thirds majority necessary to pass the tax increases in the first place, a broad and effective supporting funding stream, and a big accomplishment to ride into the 2010 elections, and we might have to worry about hubris more than anything else in Salem come 2011.
Steve Novick also put himself out in front of a statewide campaign with high visibility. And as usual when selling something besides himself, illogical spin and nonsense withered at his rhetorical scythe and he ended up on the winning side. Coupled with his highly gracious concession and support for Sen. Merkley during the general election, Novick is building quite a pile of chits with the state party establishment. Steve has been the spearhead for a number of issues favorable to the Democrats over the years, but this one is big, and saves a lot of political bacon for a lot of people.
I only drive in pretty limited amounts still, so I was housebound for election night -- -- but social networking kept me company. The flow of commentary and kudos on both Facebook and twitter was voluminous, celebratory obviously, filled with reciprocal thanks among the major players, commented on with due sense of history by members of the media, and joyful among activists and many ground workers who turned Kevin Looper's bold 2009 protection of success into reality. I re-tweeted several of the best ones at loadedorygun on Twitter.
The big losers? Gotta be Bob Tiernan and the Oregon Republican Party. Their miasma has not particularly ebbed in the face of the great tea baggers surge as perhaps elsewhere in the country, and so they faced the special election hopeful, but somewhat unusually undermanned financially -- -- especially on an issue of supposedly direct concern to the business community. They took the lead on the No effort, hyped it, put their name on it, worked it, staked their philosophy on it....and took it in the shorts yet again. I wouldn't let them run my sons pine wood derby.
And so what does that say for the prospects this fall in the gubernatorial race? I think Hank Stern in Willamette Week makes the smart observation that both Allen Alley and Chris Dudley find themselves on the wrong end of the 66/67 question. Both Bill Bradbury and John Kitzhaber will have an easy hammer to use against them in November. No Republican candidate can run away from support of repeal, so it's going to be a pervasive problem in all of the legislative elections: "suggested we close schools, hospitals, police stations by speaking against 66/67" is easier than paint by numbers Jackson Pollock.
Also coming out on the wrong end would be the Oregon bankers and Oregon grocers, at least their associations. The biggest financial backers of the No campaign, they shame the multitude of Oregon businesses -- -- likely even some of their member companies -- -- who honorably and caringly supported measures 66/67 and the idea of fairness and the social contract.
Then there's Phil Knight, who personally has $100,000 lying under some magazines he's been meaning to pick up, yet put his name on a column that cited the badly exposed Cascade Policy Institute "economists" along with likening it to state assisted suicide. You've done a lot of great things for the state, and improved the lives of a lot of people...and we're usually pretty proud of you as in Oregonian -- -- but you got played like Carol Leuthold, the "ma n pa" dairy farmer from Tillamook who laid the talking points on thick in a mass mailing letter, while admitting under interview that $140 was likely to be her expected increase. Her tales of lovely European vacations on the Tillamook marketing web pages tended to undercut her dire tale of pending woe, and said vaca-pics were tidily scrubbed by the creamery mafia.
My favorite loser would have to be the Oregonian, however. Going from a tepid endorsement of the bills as passed by the Legislature last summer, to the scathing and virulent opposition of this past 6 to 8 weeks must really be a coincidence marked by the arrival of new publisher N. Christian Andersen. formerly of the Orange County Register, a rag that represents a town that makes Lake Oswego look like Sellwood.
They ranted, they raved, they over wrapped and bent their ad rules, stamped their feet, proposed implausible if not illogical alternatives... and got the cleat. To be fair, a number of other larger newspapers supported repeal, but almost none so stridently as the Big Orange--er, O. By the way, its primary market voted almost 3 to 1 against their advice. Yes, it's the Internet that killing the newspaper business.
To further be fair, Jeff Mapes has a nice series of videos in his online storage locker at the O: clearly surprised in the first one, more composed later but already thinking larger national implications. Aside from seemingly buying into the implicit conventional wisdom that the Massachusetts Senate election was a sign of growing conservatism in politics, Mapes thinks the historic nature of its passage will make 66/67 a meaningful national story. It's already getting wire and major paper coverage, but beyond a temporarily joyful leftosphere, I don't think it has the strength to be a narrative changer -- -- particularly as it bounces off the bubble in Washington. Despite our earlier reputation for tax hostility, Oregon is seen as a liberal state overall and you can never predict what they'll do. They might legalize pot this fall too, I hear. Dirty hippies aren't bipartisan; forget it.
[Note: In the excerpt from the July 2009 letter signed by Rep. Blumenauer, below, an html glitch caused the phrase "not negotiated rates" to appear with a strikeout line through it. The text is correct as it now appears.]
It probably must say something about the confusion and disagreement surrounding the whole mangled health care reform process that the latest development is hints of a primary challenge to Oregon 3rd District Rep. Earl Blumenauer . . . from the left.
Jane Hamsher, publisher of FireDogLake, spent the last year pushing hard for the public option, and by last fall she had drawn her line in the sand for progressives in Congress: Pass health care reform with the public option, or kill the bill.
By the end of the year, the left end of the blogosphere was home to a bloody split between, to frame it roughly, the activists (the line-drawers) and the analysts (who are generally inclined to accept a less-than-ideal bill if it nevertheless improves the status quo). FDL is ground zero for the activists and pushes for zero tolerance. Befitting her background in the motion picture biz, Hamsher knows how to create a buzz and get noticed.
Threatening to support a primary challenge to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders--a Socialist!--gets you noticed. So does teaming up with Grover Norquist to call for Rahm Emanuel's resignation. Or going on Fox News to make your case. Or promoting a primary challenge to Arkansas' Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln. Hamsher's done all of these things.
Proof of her determination to get good health care reform, even if it means breaking old alliances? Or evidence that she's run strategically and tactically off the rails? Depends on who you ask.
One person you might ask is Rep. Blumenauer, who came into the sights at FDL this week:
Last year the online community raised $430,000 in gratitude for members of Congress who pledged to vote against any bill without a public option. Earl Blumenauer received $3,230 of that.
Democrats need to restore public confidence that they actually mean what they say, and their actions need to match up with their words. Call Earl Blumenauer's office and ask him if he intends to honor his pledge and vote no on any health care bill that does not have a public option. Let him know that in our recent poll, 90% thought he should return the money if he doesn't (or perhaps, as some have suggested, give it to Hatian relief). And that 76% of those responding to another survey (10,814) think that Democrats who go back on their pledge should be primaried.
By citing poll respondents who say that Democrats voting for a reform bill without the public option should face a primary challenge from the left, but not specifically using the P-word herself, Hamsher comes right up to the warning track and stops.
At the center of things is a letter (PDF) that Blumenauer and 56 other progressive Reps signed last July, in response to a revision to the Energy and Commerce Committee version of the bill proposed by Blue Dog committee members:
We regard the agreement reached by Chairman Waxman and several Blue Dog members ofthe Committee as fundamentally unacceptable. This agreement is not a step forward toward a good health care bill, but a large step backwards. Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, for a public option with reimbursement rates based on Medicare rates--not negotiated rates--is unacceptable. It would ensure higher costs for the public plan, and would do nothing to achieve the goal of"keeping insurance companies honest," and their rates down.
Hamsher considers this a pledge to oppose any bill that doesn't include a public option at Medicare rates--not just the Blue Dog compromise then fleetingly under discussion.
On health care, Democrats are growing more optimistic that they can find a compromise approach to creating a government-run insurer to compete with the private sector - an issue that as much as any other has split the party's liberals and moderates - even as progressive voices outside of Congress insist that there be no compromise.
"The fact is that Earl Blumenauer could stop a bill going through that does not have a public option in it," said Jane Hamsher, founder of the progressive blog firedoglake.com. "Is it his loyalty to the party, partisan politics over principle? We are going to get to see that."
Mr. Blumenauer strongly favors a public option and in late July was one of more than 60 Democrats who signed a letter to the leadership saying that, essentially, they would not back a final bill without an acceptable public plan. But on health care - as on other domestic issues, global warming and foreign policy - he must weigh whether it makes more sense to take what he can get as opposed to standing firm and perhaps seeing the overall effort collapse.
"It would be very hard for me to do," Mr. Blumenauer said of voting for a final health care overhaul without a public plan. "But if it gets to the point where the choice is doing some things that will make a significant difference without a public option or letting the whole thing die, that too would be hard."
And there it is: the "don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good" talk that Hamsher considers unacceptable backsliding.
Some Blumenauer supporters are outraged that their representative, whose progressive credentials are buffed to a bright shine, would be the target of primary challenge talk, however improbable the attempt. Blumenauer's web site touts the advantages of a public option, but gives no indication of how he'd vote on a bill that didn't it.
In a statement following the Brown victory in Massachusetts this week, Blumenauer called for
moving a few pieces of the agenda and forcing Republicans and opposition to take a clear stand and focus the attention of the American public on specifics, rather than being overwhelmed by the mass of details and, candidly, the messy internal politics that are enabled by uniform Republican opposition now that they clearly have the numbers to stop health care under the Senate's archaic rules and current archaic practices.
Unfortunately for anyone hoping to shed a little light on the present fracas, though, Blumenauer's example of a piece of the agenda that might be moved that way was . . . elimination of the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer issued a statement today following the brouhaha of the Scott Brown election, and all that appears to entail.
High points:
In normal times, the evaluation of the President's record thus far would look pretty good. The economy, teetering on collapse when he took office, has stabilized with modest signs of recovery. America's standing in the world has dramatically improved and our country is once again the most admired nation on the planet, something that has not been the case for a long time. There have also been major legislative achievements in children's health, economic recovery, and hate crimes. In addition, for the first time in history, major health care reform passed both the House and the Senate.
But these are not normal times.
This [the Brown victory in Massachusetts] is no doubt a wakeup call to the President and Democrats, as it should be, and it invites serious attention.
It is clear to me that the President needs to more clearly articulate his vision of how to rebuild and renew America in terms that are easier for Americans to grasp and appreciate, and for Congress to act upon. I am a tremendous fan of the President moving on his agenda squeezing more value out of federal programs and investments. There are, in fact, people at work doing this right now, but it needs to be highlighted, emphasized, and given an even higher priority. There are no end of ways to give the taxpayer more bang for the buck, especially in my favorite area of transportation and environmental protection.
In the area of health care, it is a battle that ultimately must be won, but it is appropriate to reconsider immediate tactics without abandoning the commitment to comprehensive health care reform.
To make it possible, I strongly favor moving a few pieces of the agenda and forcing Republicans and opposition to take a clear stand and focus the attention of the American public on specifics, rather than being overwhelmed by the mass of details and, candidly, the messy internal politics that are enabled by uniform Republican opposition now that they clearly have the numbers to stop health care under the Senate's archaic rules and current archaic practices. There is no reason not to shoot for the House to send over to the Senate bite size chunks of reform, perhaps starting with eliminating the anti-trust exemption for the insurance companies in order to promote competition in the many states where virtually none exist.
If we are on the right path and people know it, then the [2010] elections will turn out right for the American people.
The arithmetic means that Democrats will still be in control in the Senate, but it may well be that the numbers are diminished. In the House, there will probably be a minimum net 10 seat loss. While 20 is a more accurate historic average, it is actually on the low end. It could be a 30 seat loss. It's very unlikely, but possible to lose 40, leading to a loss of control and a stormy two years.
somewhere between none of you and all of you may have wondered why the inkwell at L0 has seemed to dry up lately. There are reasons both structural and emotional for both slackening (excepting the finer continuing regular pieces from both Stein, and GG hit Certs series on M. 66/67 canvassing).
The structural reason is that on January 3, while visiting a friend in Eugene I took a false step on a slick railroad ties serving as a porch step, and broke my fall with my right arm and shoulder. Driving back home and sleeping that evening were both sexual and painful, but because I had reasonably full motion of my arm as long as it was close to mychest, I self diagnosed that there was a lot of bruised tissue and muscle, perhaps the strain, but no breakage.
But the next dayI maxed up to Kaiser and had them take a looksee. The nurse practitioner (eAI fish and sea!) Said much the same thing that I had surmised the night before, "but let's take an x-ray just to make sure." After a few minutes by myself, my hospital gown even more absurdly exposing due to the fact that I couldn't even keep it over my shoulder much less tie it, and wondering whether to start with Vicodin or shoot right for Percocet out of the gate, the NP came back with the x-ray results and seemed somewhat surprised to confirm that -- -- what are you know, I didn't break my arm.
Given the egregious miss of the typo in that last sentence, I probably can't wait any longer to explain that since my right arm is in a sling,typing is an uncomfortable, slow, frustrating experience. That's literally why there hasn't been much in print from me. In the intervening weeks I've been able to comment more in places, but a full blog post has usually seems too daunting from the outset.
so am I grading and burying it for this post? No; I'm using dragonfly naturally speaking dictation software. Every word that you see in text here has been spoken by me in one fashion or another through a microphone headset into my laptop.why would I not simply use the software you might ask? The answer is in the text here which I've decided to leave unedited and let the chips fall where they may. Call it a technology experiment and assistive device real-time test run.
But I can't leave it as I did two paragraphs ago, where the NP tells me I did not break my arm. In fact I did, where the humorous bone meets the shoulder at the rotator cuff. It's a crack, not a full displacement, so it is not casted but I have it in mobilized in a sling. So to get a blog post constructed, I either need to hunt and peck with one hand& semi-normally with Mike T. Rex hand upon the keyboard,or use this dictation software. As you can see, none seemed like exceptional options.
Oh, and the driving and sleeping were fitful, not sexual. Ha!
It is about a six week healing process, and then maybe a few more for strengthening through PT.So in a couple weeks perhaps, the normally sporadic flow of posts from memight continue, which brings me to the emotional content of the dry spell. Maybe I would have had the stomach to endure one of these three flawed methods for blogging, if the state and point of blogging -- -- particularly in the political progressive realm -- -- retains some of the point and purpose it has had in the past.
Deep divisions have developed in the blogosphere, both on the left and the right. The founders of both the balloon juice and Little Green footballs blog's have turned on the culture they created,creating a backlash from regulars but inviting a flood of new adherents, refreshed by the sense of confession and independence. The tea baggers are showing the potential to disrupt the establishment Republican Party in ways the club for growth could have only dreamed.
on the left, fire dog Lake has splintered in some ways, as the battle for healthcare reform devolves into arguments about how shady a bill has to be before it's too shady to support. Fire dog Lake offers a home for the discontented left, while places like Democratic underground and the daily KLS has seemed to gather more reflexively supportive Democrats. The inevitable result of hyper partisanship is Ripple effects that create further divisions on either side of the center line, and that's what we have.
The urge to remain active, participate and continue to press for positive change is still there; if there's one thing I've continued to follow with a clear head and a sense of righteousness its measures 66 and 67. So it's not a burnout of activism. It's a profound discontent with the holders of power in our federal offices, and an indignant despair that the ability to change such a system will likely come only with greater human suffering brought on by a true crisis too great to ignore, or some other precipitating event that actually moves them to honorable behavior.
The decision to say goodbye cruel world to the Democratic Party in its current construct is pariah making, to be sure. Purity troll is the new faggot, and right now it is more popular in blogging circles than pants on the ground to accuse someone of it. Grow the flock up is another good one. I don't shrink from the critique of my perspective, but one does have to psych themselves up to bat away the harpies while trying to consider thoughtful criticism.
One thing breaking my arm has doneis reintroduced me to a media life limited much more to television only. Blogging and using the computer, as well as video gaming (been addicted to NBA 09 for about a year now) -- -- that's been a near nightly ritual for years. It's my wind down time right before bed essentially. Having done no NBA, no mad then, no we fit or sports for over two weeks, and limited computer time, havegiven me an opportunity to see what it would be like if I simply didn't do those things anymore. (I should clarify that I don't consider music quote media", that the daily, almost constant need like bread bathrooms and sex. Well not constant on those other things).
so that's where I've been. Thought you might like to know. I'll be back here again I think. Maybe at some point it will cease to be primarily at LO, or I would contribute to an LO run by someone else perhaps. or I just stop, and fade into the blog chatter background. Check-in, see what happens.
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