Wayward Landlubber

     A white male with political or economic stature is expected to be assertive, it is considered a desirable trait. A black man, or woman of any color, with political or economic stature is accused of being a tyrant, in the first instance, or pushy in the second, if they assert their stature. Sometimes "uppity" is used but that has fallen out of favor. Assertiveness in that instance is considered an undesirable characteristic, or so asserts the white males. The presidency of the United States is supposed to be held by a statesman or diplmat who, while asserting his/her stature, must be seen as thoughtful and reasoned. The election of 2008 gave us our first non-white male president. He was thoughtful and reasoned, a gifted diplomat whose assertions were a model of statesmanship. The aggrieved white males whose candidacies were handily rejected could not tolerate this interloper on their rightful domain. "Right" in this instance can have dual meanings. He was a (gas...

Poor Richard's Almanac      Its been a year of social distancing, a misnomer if there ever was one. Stores monitored for occupancy. Pubs closed, then opened for outdoor seating only; this at the climax of winter. People are warned to keep with a small social pod, to prevent exposure to Covid 19. And to put the cherry on this sundae, everyone wears a mask, except those fools who who think a mask is an infringement on their liberty. Some of them ended their period of liberty with an intubating tube in their throat. I walked into my Credit Union recently wearing a mask, it had been a year since I had been inside. The last time I walked through the door there was a sign advising members to remove their hats and sun glasses.       But we made it. Not completely, the governor is lowering occupancy in pubs and restaurants again, but I got my first vaccine shot and we have managed to get through with little more than a sniffle. I am approaching my 3rd year of...

     Portland, Oregon has a well-deserved reputation for being weird. It has been called, the Peoples Republic of the Left Coast, and we say it with pride. There are bumper-stickers that say, KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD, one brew-pub has a reader board saying, KEEP PORTLAND BEER'ED. There was a local politician at the end of the 1960s named Frank Ivancie who made several unsuccessful runs for Mayor, he wasn't weird, Republican you know. He lost to such luminaries as Neil Goldschmidt (now disgraced), and Bud "whoop whoop" Clark with his ever-present Kodak fun saver disposable camera. There is a section of the Willamette waterfront walkway dedicated to Frank Ivancie. Those who wonder are not lost.      In 1973, the old, staid Portland Beavers AAA baseball franchise left Portland for Spokane, a move that would take them five years to regret. The vacuum was filled by an unaffiliated Single-A team owned by a Hollywood actor named Bing Russell, father of Curt Russell. Th...

     I first met Robert when he walked into our Toastmasters meeting at Warner Creek Correctional Facility, a minimum security prison. We were a small group of ten to twelve reliable members. On that particular night we were expecting a new member to give his Icebreaker speech. People usually take a few weeks to write that speech, partly to overcome their shyness and fear, and partly to compose a speech that will withstand the inevitable critique. That person did not show up. Robert offered to step into the spotlight with no script or preparation. He gave a remarkably good speech. Funny, self-effacing, and honest. Robert was a full-blooded Native-American, an Ojibwa from the province of Ontario, Canada. He had left school in the fifth grade and run away from home. First Nation tribal members were given dual US and Canadian citizenship, mostly because their ancestral tribes may well have been forced to move north by the US cavalry. An additional factor was because, prior t...

     The public, those who think, elect politicians to discuss the fine points of public policy. Sometimes we have a problem defining what the fine points are and how sharp they must be. Many of those people, who prefer less sharply defined fine points, tell us we need fewer of the people who discuss those fine points. When we have people competent to discuss all of those fine points, and then structure them into public policy that benefits the greater number of the public, things work fine. Our tensions either melt away or are lessened.       Those fine points of public policy that are generally accepted started out as public gatherings either protesting against, or for changes. Some of that is done at a higher than normal decibel. Fine points are not so finely understood at those higher decibels. Thus, the legislative quandary we sometimes find ourselves in. Some of those people who gifted us, or imposed on us, these new standards are lousy lawmakers...

     We adopted Gracie, a grey female cat now about 8 years old in October of 2019. I had longed for a cat for many years but kept putting it off for one excuse or another.  Pinky saw a picture in the window of the Mooreland Veterinary clinic on our way to buy a bottle of Oregon distilled malt whiskey. Single-malt Scots whiskey was beyond my means and Oregons growing craft distillery manufacture, like craft brewing and craft winemaking before it, reminded those of us who have forgotten Adam Smith's virtuous cycle, an idea nearly as old as our Declaration of Independence and equally as vital, how refreshing it is to express your creativity locally. The quality has been the equal of the large distillers we had commonly relied on, and the profits stayed in the state.       Pinky was living with me on my boat, and her chronic conditions and mobility issues weren't as debilitating then. That would soon change. We stepped into the clinic and were told t...

     The snowfall came in on cats feet Wednesday night, it left on rhinoceros legs four days later. Before the Valentines day weekend had passed houses would be crushed by falling trees, cars would be damaged either in accidents, or by falling limbs, electrical grids would suffer rolling blankets, power lines would be downed from the northern states down through Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. One Texan Senator saw himself mocked for taking his family to Cancun, Mexico while his constituants froze in unheated homes and were required to boil drinking water. One popular joke said that Ted Cruz was the first hispanic-American to flee to Mexico to escape ICE. A popular meme had Ted in a beach-chair sitting next to Chris Christie who fled to the Jersey Shore after hurricane Sandy. Bernie Sanders, clad in his Green parka with his hands encased in those iconic mittens crossed across his chest sat grumpily in the background. It was not a happy time for most people,but iro...