All over Cascadia we are now at about “ten days and counting” on our current bout of extreme Winter weather. It has been a real inconvenience for most of us, as we are mostly not able to get out and about to do our normal routines. We cannot shop for necessary supplies or for Christmas [...]
I have increasingly become irritated with the concept of what holidays have become in our culture. For most of recorded time, humans have gathered together for any number of holidays and festivals to celebrate whatever their culture deems is good to celebrate. In our culture, the penultimate holiday each year is Christmas. There was a [...]
In the news this week is the story that Washington State is going to execute one of the eight people sitting on it’s Death Row. The focus of this is 55-year-old Darold Ray Stenson, who was convicted of aggravated murder for the 1993 shooting deaths of his wife and a business partner in Clallam County. [...]
I have often openly wondered why we allow people to have guns. In the hands of some people, they are a tool and a source of protection. Or a source of sport and entertainment. Or the object of hobbyists who collect them. Or, as has been widely reported, a way to eliminate random family members. [...]
Thanks to a recent Seattle P-I article, we now have some facts and figures on the roadblocks being set up by the US Border Patrol on Washington State highways and at ferry terminals. From the beginning, the justification made by the Border Patrol for using this technique of stopping everyone to make them prove their [...]
I have been watching an ongoing case in Oregon City, Oregon that involves a couple who let their 16-year-old child die. In this case, the couple cites the fact that they are members of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, which practices faith healing, as an excuse for killing their child. While I [...]
We found out this weekend that babies were dying in China because of tainted infant formula. The formula was not distributed anywhere outside China. Is there reason for us to worry about this, since we probably have stronger food-safety regulations in the US? This probably should be a worry to us. We have seen a [...]
Sometimes I wonder whether we have the right to call ourselves a civilized society. We are presented this Sunday with an article from the Everett Herald that proves just how messed up we are at a number of levels. The article, “School Lunch Issue Reveals a Sorrier Problem”, reveals a number of issues about ourselves [...]
There are two Measures on the Oregon Ballot in November which are basically housekeeping measures. Both are amendments to the Oregon Constitution. I am very leery about anything that claims to be “merely a housekeeping measure” as they have sometimes changed things differently than we intend. I am also very cautious about anything that amends [...]
Just wanted to make a short observation or two about the situation around Bristol Palin, the pregnant daughter of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The first is simply that I am wondering why it should make any difference at all to me as to whether Governor Palin’s family contains a pregnant daughter or any other [...]
