So You Say You Wanted Some Snow?

YESTERDAY:


TODAY:


These photos were taken in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range between Scappoose and Vernonia at about 1,000 feet of elevation.

Who Says Congress Can't Get Anything Done?

As someone who's regularly ridiculed and bemoaned the congressional leadership's inability to get things done for the people, I must now take a moment to offer some small thanks and praise to Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for making sure all of America can see the Patriots' historical chance to go 16-0 this weekend.

Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.

From the Associated Press:

Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "delighted" by the NFL's concession.

"I think it was a smart move on their part," he said in a phone interview.

Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday's matchup wraps up the NFL Network's second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.

Sure it doesn't address growing income inequality, the need for universal health care or bringing an end to war in Iraq, but hey, we've got two powerful U.S. senators standing up to a monied special interest that's trying to squeeze a little bit more out of the people. It's a start.

Merry Christmas, My Friend

Why this American hero doesn't have a monument on the Capitol Mall, I'll never know.

Jeff & Chuck's Drive-Thru Strategy

(Click to enlarge)

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor...

JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Olbermann Sniffs Around the WMD Stockpiles

The other night on Bill Moyer’s Journal, Keith Olbermann said that when the draft-evading, guard-duty-skipping George W. Bush famously rolled up on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in a military flight suit to declare mission accomplished, he thought at the time it was a clear case of “the emperor with no clothes.”

"Here it is. He-- his 'new clothes' are a flight suit when there was a controversy over whether or not he-- he fulfilled his Air National Guard service."

I thought the same thing back then. And then I drew a cartoon about it. (Feb. 15, 2004).

A Little J. Geils Love for Steve Novick

With all the news rolling in about the latest endorsements for Democratic U.S. Senate primary contenders Steve Novick and Jeff Merkley, one can only wonder what the old-guard establishment types like Chuck Schumer, the AFL-CIO honchos and Ted Kulongoski will say to Novick on Wednesday, May 21.

They might want to practice something like this:



(Ted could also recycle that one for John Edwards).

A Quick Fix for Jonesing Daily Show Junkies

With the writers strike taking it's toll on TV's topical political satirists like Leno, Letterman, Conan, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which are mired in re-runs while the political world continues its near-constant plea to be openly mocked, where's a comedy-starved political junkie to go?

Well, besides the usual Internet suspects, funny man Mo Rocca can offer a little relief (or quite a bit, as in this case: Jesus to Satan: He Ain't Heavy).

The video below, Rocca speculates, is the "cattie" image Mike Huckabee wants to give us about what Mormons such as Mitt Romney believe when doctrine says Jesus and Satan are brothers:


That's just the tip of the iceberg for this post. It gets funnier and even more bizarre. So if you find yourself pale, weak and needing a dose of fresh political humor, wipe the sweat from your brow and control those tremors long enough to mouse it on over to Mo's site. He'll fix you up.

Hanging With the Democratic Leadership

I was going to post a list of links to "related stories" that might justify why a person would wonder whether the Democrats leave their spines behind when they go to work. But a quick Google search provided such a long and extensive list ... who's got the time?

From the WMD Stockpiles: A Rum a Dub Dub

Hey! That Anonymous Blogger, It's My ...

This Associated Press nugget clipped from page D4 of the Dec. 7 Oregonian might be of keen interest to the Oregon political blogosphere, which has seen a pseudonym-using blogger or two arrive just in time to slug it out for the 2008 primary and general elections.

Over in Yakima, Wash., an anonymous blogger's actions (and, later, the revelation of that blogger's real identity) shook up the city council race with enough vigor that a lawsuit has been threatened and one man was forcibly removed from a council meeting.

Throughout the campaign between incumbent Ron Bolender and challenger Rick Ensey, the anonymous blogger (using the pseudonym Publius) repeatedly criticized Bolender and Democrats ... and referred to 'rumors' that Bolender had been arrested several times for investigation of drunken driving, and the arrest reports had been covered up by the police, city manager and local newspaper. The blogger offered no evidence, and a review of state records by the Yakima Herald-Republic found nothing to back up the claims.

Ensey, the challenger, won the Nov. 6 election over Bolender with 52% of the vote. Two days later Ensey admitted that the anonymous blogger was ... wait for it ... his wife. From the Yakima Herald-Republic:

He told KIMA on Thursday that his wife started the blog without telling him, and that she thought it'd be a fun way to put voice to the issues they cared about.

Diane Ensey, who served as Ensey's campaign treasurer, is a Web developer and professional blogger.

In a Herald-Republic story on Oct. 30 that raised questions about the ethics of an anonymous blog and controversial postings at Inside Yakima, Rick Ensey variously described the blogger as a friend or acquaintance but wouldn't name names.

When asked to deny that the blogger was his wife, he refused to answer the question.

"If I start listing off a bunch of people, then I'm down a road I don't want to go," he said, adding, "I'm sworn to secrecy."

But the newspaper story -- and reaction around town -- apparently raised concern.

"I said 'Hey, we gotta pull this thing off. People are upset with it, we shouldn't have posted it. Pull it off,'" Ensey said later in an interview with television station KIMA, after admitting his wife was the blogger.

The site was taken down the day after the election and the domain is now up for sale (and is apparently being used currently to sell Yakima automobile roof racks).

As you might imagine, Ensey's conveniently timed post-election flash of honesty and remorse didn't sit well with Bolender and the other council members, who had also been targets of Ensey's blogging wife. So when anti-tax gadfly Tim Eyman showed up at a recent council meeting to make light of the scandal and attack Bolender, he was quickly shown the door. No word yet if it hit him in the ass on his way out.

From the WMD Stockpiles: Dubya Comes to Tigard

(8-20-2004)

Oregon Coast Windstorm Winners & Losers

The December wind storm of 2007 blew down Oregon's beloved sitka spruce, The Klootchy Creek Giant. Mr. Larson is a local conservative radio bloviator.

Big Sky, Big Horns, Big Problems

Portland metro area drivers think they've got problems when Mother Nature drops a few inches of unexpected snow on the valley floors. And the local television media's over-the-top, round-the-clock, hysteria-inducing coverage is legendary.

So can you imagine what would happen if Mother Nature threw a few hundred salt-licking big horn sheep into the mix of winter-driving obstacles?

That's what drivers in Western Montana on the stretch of Highway 200 between Plains and Thompson Falls deal with this time of year. The animals congregate on the roadways, attracted by the water and slush created when the Montana Department of Transportation puts salt-based de-icer and sand on the road during winter driving conditions. As reported in The Missoulian, it can be difficult to persuade them to move:

About 50 of them were clogging the highway one morning earlier this week, and once they get to licking up the salt their bodies need, they aren't inclined to move for anyone or anything. A large freight truck had crept up on some of the sheep, horn blaring, and still the bighorns wouldn't budge. The driver of the truck finally stopped about a foot from a couple of lambs and, as traffic lined up behind him, sat there helpless. In the westbound lane, a car gently nudged a ram in the butt, and once he jumped out of the way, enough of the others reacted to his movement and meandered to the side to create a narrow lane for the car to pass through.

Unfortunately, not all drivers have been so patient:

It was between 9:30 and 10 on the morning of Nov. 10. The driver of a trailerless semi from Butte bore down on a herd of bighorn sheep on the highway. The semi had just passed one of the towable readerboards that warn drivers the sheep congregate on this section of the road. But the driver of the semi didn't appear to slow down one iota. Witnesses told Bruce Sterling, a wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, that the semi's brake lights never came on. In the space of all of two seconds, this year's bighorn sheep death count on this small stretch of highway leapt from 18 to 25. Blood, guts, hair and horns sprayed through the air; several of the sheep were literally cut in half.

"I didn't get an opportunity to talk to him about why he did it," Sterling says. "Either he was not paying attention, or he didn't care."

The driver stopped at a hunter checkpoint farther down the road where Sterling was working.

"He didn't seem too upset about the sheep, but he was upset about the damage done to his vehicle. It seemed to be a total lack of regard for Montana wildlife."

There is no law against running over wildlife with your vehicle, any more than there's a statute that bans you from driving your car head-on into a concrete wall. You wouldn't think you'd need one.

"There is no law against striking wildlife," Sterling says, "mostly because no one would want to because of the damage it can cause. An adult ram can weigh 225 pounds and would do major damage to a vehicle."

But this was a semi. Sterling says it sustained some damage to its bumper, right light and right fender.

Although the number of sheep killed since 1985 tops 350, there have been no reported human fatalities from auto-sheep collisions. Despite efforts to lure or scare the herds away from the highway, they keep coming back. Still, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is considering more options:

One is to capture some of the sheep and put radio collars on them that would transmit a signal to warning lights flashing along the highway any time the sheep are on, or in the vicinity of, the road. Putting radio collars on sheep and transmitting signals to flashing signs is in use in a spot in Arizona that has similar problems with desert bighorns, Sterling says. But he adds that maintaining such a program would be very expensive. He's also investigating whether non-salt-based liquid de-icers might work.

"I don't know if they are effective in this climate," he says.

With a herd numbering as high as 250 congregating near that seven mile stretch of highway, something's got to give. So far it's been the sheep.

From the WMD stockpiles: Oregon Loves Dreamers

(5-27-2004)
A bin Laden trainee planned to set up a jihad terrorist training camp outside Bly, Ore., with help from a Seattle cleric.

Toles mocks his masters

Political cartoonist Tom Toles mocking his own newspaper, The Washington Post, for recycling "rumors" that Barack Obama is a Muslim without calling out those rumors as lies.

From the WMD stockpiles: Kerik's Carol

Just in time for the holidays!


Rudy Giuliani recommends Bernie Kerik for Homeland Security chief. (12-17-2004) UPDATE 2007: Giuliani's running for president! Kerik's been linked to the mob and indicted multiple times.

From the WMD stockpiles: Falling a Little Rummy

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigns after the GOP gets thumped in the 2006 midterm elections (11-2006)

How I Blew BlueOregon (and kind of liked it)

I realize I’m no genius, but I was pretty darn sure that “one of the highest trafficked local lefty blogs in the nation” would be the perfect place to seek answers to questions about ethics in the lefty blogosphere. But let me tell you, that kind of thinking can get you dressed down and booted out faster than singing the OSU fight song in Autzen Stadium.

That’s what BlueOregon publisher Kari Chisholm did to me when I used my contributor status to ask “his” audience to weigh in on how they feel about a “progressive” blogger hiding behind a fake name who unapologetically publishes incorrect “facts” to discredit fellow liberals and progressives who don’t support his candidate.

Chisholm’s explanation that Oregon’s largest political blog is not an appropriate place to discuss political blogosphere ethics and behavior is an argument only a mother could love. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it is kind of cute to look at.

It makes about as much sense as when Chisholm claims that BlueOregon (the most prominent Democratic blog in Oregon) is not an appropriate forum to question whether a hooded member of the Democratic Party blogosphere – rumored to be a professional Salem staffer – should be going around telling liberal NAVs who don’t toe the chosen party line that their opinions don’t count and aren't desired.

It’s about as credible as Chisholm complaining that writing a relevant and factually accurate description of a person’s poor behavior is tantamount to an unprecedented personal attack.

Given that standard, BlueOregon’s accurate-but-unflattering reporting about Ron Saxton’s migrant-worker camp was a personal attack. And the accurate-but-unflattering reports about the GOP’s Maui-gate ethical lapses were personal attacks.

Chisholm’s reasoning here is so obviously bankrupt, I half expect that if doctors peeled back his skull and peeked at his brain, they’d find a foreclosure sign and a bunch of speculators looking for a good deal on property that’s hardly been used.

I realize that’s harsh, but to quote a lecture from Oregon’s most powerful political blogger:

"You're a much better blogger when you're posting your own independent views, calling 'em like you see 'em, giving props when people do the right thing (even if you're on the other side), and slamming 'em when they do the wrong thing (even when they're your friends.)" by: kari chisholm, Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 10:27:04 AM PST @ Loaded Orygun.

In my BluO post, I simply described a factual situation and asked readers what they thought. I raised ethical issues about a blogger hiding behind a fake name using the state’s most powerful Democratic blog to attack fellow Democrats with misinformation.

But first I explained why it mattered to me and why I thought it should matter to BlueOregon’s readers. Just like the BlueO contributor who wrote about confronting Karen Minnis at a local coffee shop, I poured my heart into that post.

But Chisholm’s reaction was to try and stifle any conversation about the issues it raised. With thoroughly insulting comments like “childish pillow fight” and “a tit-for-tat spat” and “silly slap fight” and "of no interest to anybody,” he hit the bricks hard and fast to let everyone know they weren’t supposed to care. The “no interest” comment was an especially creative one, considering the post garnered 95 comments in all and included the chair of WashCo Dems, at least one former state legislator and prominent former candidates for the legislature, the Precinct 4 Committeeman, Baker Co. Democrats Vice-chair, DPO SCC Delegate, several fellow BlueOregon contributors, all of whom commented on the substance of the post even with Chisholm blustering into the conversation to try and shut it down.

If you followed that thread, (and God help you if you did), you'd have noticed Chisholm, a paid staffer for the Merkley for Senate campaign and the go-to-guy for Democratic Party internet “communication,” started out with his “spat” spin designed to dismiss the post, which was unflattering to the pseudonymous blogger and Merkley supporter whose work appears regularly on BlueOregon’s front page.

Initially, there was no hint of an offense so great that my posting privileges needed to be yanked. That didn’t happen until I forcefully called Chisholm on his smug, dismissive comments. And then, magically and conveniently, my post became beyond the pail. And The World’s Maddest Dog had to be punished.

Had Chisholm just said that my comment in the thread of that post pissed him off and he decided to smack me down with the biggest club he has, I could have respected that. Had he told me that I'm an ingrate who bites the hand that feeds him, I could have respected that. Had Chisholm just said that my cartoons suck and he doesn't want to publish them anymore, I could have respected that.

But to say that the original post had somehow crossed some double line of standards and therefore violated a double-super-secret probation that I wasn’t aware of is the disingenuous story Chisholm created to put a cool-headed “administrative” cover on his anger-driven action.

And apparently not quite satisfied with the pound of flesh he’d already extracted, Chisholm figured he’d throw some more mud on my reputation as he shoved me out the door, telling readers that “I also want to remind you that this isn't just about this one post. It's about Pat's inability to use his judgment on what's appropriate here at BlueOregon and what's not."

In this sliming effort, Chisholm at least twice referred to my cartoon depicting Karen Minnis putting Oregon’s Children through a budget-cuts meat grinder, a cartoon published well over a year ago. (I think it was my seventh on Blue Oregon).

Looking back on that episode, I think I showed some pretty good judgment. I immediately stepped forward, removed the cartoon, publicly called it a failure and a distraction and took full and complete responsibility for it. I was forthright, honest and direct.

Chisholm, however, seemed to be of two minds that day. For public view, he raked me over the coals by commenting about how embarrassed I should be and telling the Oregonian he was considering removing my posting privileges. He needed to publicly distance himself and the party's website from the cartoon because it was right before the election. And Chisholm is paid to get Democrats elected.

But in an e-mail exchange with me, Chisholm told me "no worries" and confessed that he probably would have left the 'toon up because he’s “stubborn.” Chisholm’s judgment that day, as he explained it to me, would have been to act stubbornly and leave the “offensive,” “embarrassing” cartoon on the site. Mine was to swallow my pride, take the cartoon down, take responsibility for it and fall on my sword.

So for Chisholm to throw that day in my face now when it serves his purpose is quite a far freakin' way from fair or decent.

I wonder: Does a shameless ability to play fast and loose with reality when it’s convenient -- and to unfairly slime people when it’s expedient -- show good judgment?

And while we’re speaking of what’s fair, what’s appropriate, what shows good judgment, and what exactly are Blue Oregon’s vaunted “high standards,” it shouldn’t pass unnoticed that the man who stood and publicly judged my post as low grade and beyond the pail is the only contributor in BlueOregon history to earn Willamette Week’s Rogue of the Week for “excessive use of bullshit in his mud-slinging (on BlueOregon).”

But wait, there's even more irony, because for all Chisholm’s dismissive huffing and puffing -- he commented nine times on that “boring,” “no interest” unprovocative thread -- he never took time to address the surprisingly simple issues it raised:

Are you comfortable with a fellow Democrat who hides behind a fake name unapologetically publishing misinformation to discredit Democrats who disagree with him?

Are Democrats in general comfortable with an obviously well-heeled Democratic Party insider who doesn’t disclose his political connections – or even a real name – being allowed to use (or being used by) BlueOregon’s front page to publish a hit piece attacking non-establishment Democratic candidates?

I guess we’ll never know how the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer for “one of the highest trafficked local lefty blogs in the nation” feels about those ethical issues, because he believes they’re silly, boring, childish, slap-fight, tit-for-tat, pillow-fight kind of stuff that nobody's interested in. And co-founder Jeff Allworth agrees. Their vigilance is less than inspiring. And BlueOregon’s level of credibility will inevitably reflect that.