I have not been saying much here lately.

But there are a lot of things churning around in my mind, just waiting to be formulated and to come out. So you will be reading more of it here again.

I have some strong opinions on many of the issues that meet us every day. Yes, those opinions lean wildly in the direction of making sure that the rights that we all are supposed to have are not restricted at the irrational whims of our elected officials and the other politicians and bureaucrats out there.

Some may accuse me of such, but I have no particular agenda that I am trying to sneak past you. It is just simply wrong to mess with the rights of common folks who are simply trying to lead their lives. I plan to give you specific examples of this as time goes on. I welcome your reasoned discussion of the issues, in a place where no reasonable point of view will be shunned, but BS will be called if the “argument” has no basis in reality.

Also, while I will try to remain rather Cascadia-centric, I will no longer be too afraid to wander into the ocean of national and world issues, especially when there is a lesson that can be taken back to our own communities.

Thanks for listening.

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If you look around the Internet, you will find the Cascadia region defined in a number of ways.  One definition is simply Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.  Some take in only the areas west of the Cascade Mountains and others include the traditional parts of the Pacific Northwest, including Idaho and Western Montana.  Some include parts of Northern California and the Alaska Panhandle.

For my own uses, I prefer not to have exactly defined boundaries, partially because I believe a lot of the world’s problems have began with trying to define absolute imaginary lines around land masses.  However, just so we know what we are talking about, my focus is on Western Oregon, Western Washington, and most of British Columbia west of the Cascade Mountains.  In a secondary sense, I would include the remainder of those three places, as well as Northern Idaho, the coastal parts of Northern California, and Southern Alaska.

The reason for giving a common name to these areas is that they, and their inhabitants, share many common traits.  Despite all of the arbitrary political boundaries in the region, we all tend to live the same sort of life, share a common climate, share a common geography, and share many political and cultural issues.  If you were to start over dividing up the world by regions that shared similar traits, it is likely that the rough notion of Cascadia would be one of those regions.

If you browse around the Internet, you will find a number of groups claiming to support some sort of “Cascadian independence” from the current government.  While it is fun to think about for a few minutes, the fact is that there will never be a “Republic of Cascadia” or anything similar, unless some drastic, unforeseen event shakes the world.  I think most of these websites and groups take themselves with the proverbial grain of salt anyway.  If you look deeper, you will find that many of the ideas that these groups suggest might have some valid use in the real life we do live within.  It does make sense that the leaders of all political units in Cascadia work together in issues that affect the region as a whole.

Whether those governments work together as a group called Cascadia or the Pacific Northwest or simply as neighbors working together, it is still important that they do join and work together to solve those mutual issues.  Issues like climate change, fisheries and resource management, transportation, mutual trade, and others are all equally important throughout the region.  We don’t need another new political subdivision.  We need the current ones to work together for the good of all.

As far as acceptance of the name, there does not seem to be any official recognition of the name anywhere.  However, there are a great and growing number of businesses in the region that have the word “Cascadia” as part of their name.  There are streets and neighborhoods named Cascadia.  Schools, including a public community college bear the name.  The Cascadia subduction zone is the major fault that runs the length of the region, likely the source of the next “that big one” earthquake.   So it doesn’t make for a big stretch that something called “Cascadia Journal” is covering news and events related to the region.

I have never been one to picture myself as “belonging” to any particular political subdivision, although I am currently a citizen of a particular country and a resident of a particular US state.  Those are the legal and political realities. However, if I look at myself and ask where I consider home to be, home is in Cascadia.

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To everyone, I would like to introduce another blog project that I am working on.  It will not replace this one.  I will continue to share my opinions here with all of you who read and care.  The new blog, Cascadia Daily Photo, will take one picture per day that shows some aspect of the nature or culture of the Cascadia region.  This, of course, covers what most people know as Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Please feel free to go over there and take a look at the pictures already there.  I’m told that some of them are pretty good, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.   I’ll leave you with an example here:

Yes, it is Multnomah Falls, one of the special areas that makes our part of the world so special.  No, all of the sites pictured in the new blog are not so well known, so it is worth a look to see what is there every day.  There are also links there to daily picture blogs done by other people from throughout the region.  Photo: Taken at Multnomah Falls on 16 June 2007.

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In addition to throwing around a few tidbits of information about myself and things I enjoy doing, I look at this blog as an outlet to comment on the news and events happening in the area that I call home. In the grand scheme of things, this includes (more or less) Western Oregon, Western Washington, and the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island areas of British Columbia. Like it or not, this area has a shared history and geography, as well as many shared lifestyles.

In some circles, this area has been referred to as the Cascadia Region. The name Cascadia refers to the Cascade Mountains, a prominent feature in the area. That is the sense in which I use that term. The word Cascadia has also been used by a variety of groups to describe the area. While I am describing a similar area, my use of the name for this region is not intended to imply that I agree or disagree with any of the other groups that use this name.

I have lived in assorted places in Oregon (Portland, Beaverton, Astoria, Eugene, and Roseburg) and in Washington (Seattle, Spokane, Pullman, and Lynnwood). My current goal is to move to the Vancouver, BC area in the (relatively) near future. In all these areas, I have followed the news and, of course, have an opinion or two on everything.

Current interests include:

• The inability for the US government to provide many basic services to it’s citizens. In the recent decades, we have been unable to maintain our infrastructure, as evidenced by crumbling roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure. It’s inability to provide basic health care coverage to it’s residents, despite claiming to be on the leading edge of medical technology. Our scarse resources are being wasted on ineffective programs while necessary needs are being under-funded. While I do realize that people of any political bent can make that same statement and mean that different programs are ineffective, I am disheartened by those of our leaders who are more concerned about re-election than doing the right thing for our people.
• The disturbing trend that when every time one of our “Conservative” “leaders” claims to be helping us or improving our lives, the real story is that they are generally promoting a scheme to further restrict our rights. Often, they will hide behind lofty sounding goals such as “saving lives” or “preserving our culture” or “protecting us.” Not that those are bad goals, but more often than not, they are simply a cover for further restricting our rights and freedoms
• Transportation issues. I am fascinated by most forms of transit, be it buses, trains, ferries, planes, or whatever creative modes of transport are used. I believe that their use can improve our lives in many ways, from the personal transportation standpoint to the benefits of public transportation to the population in general.
• The Environment. While there are world-wide conferences being held on what needs to be done to solve global warming, pollution, natural resource conservation, and other environmental issues; others are denying that there are problems at all. It seems unlikely that we can sweep these problems under the rug.
• Comedy, music, hockey, family. Ferryspotting, photography, travel, the arts. Not necessarily in that order. We can’t let the other stuff get us down.

Your input is welcome. Criticism or praise on any views are welcome as comments, as long as they remain polite. I am quite open to opposing thoughts, as long as you can justify the statements somehow. I am very curious as to people’s responses to my thoughts.

I am an accountant, a seminar speaker, and am involved with a business in the transportation industry. I have been a retail manager, managed a services business, and been in the on-air side of radio broadcasting. Oh, yes. And one family and a cat.

Stay tuned for more!

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