Today is Friday and tomorrow is the first league game of the Major League Soccer(MLS) debut of the Portland Timbers. I think regardless of whether or not you are a fan of Soccer or Futball or Football you have to understand that this is a pretty big deal for the state of Oregon as well as the Pacific Northwest in general.
It doesn't matter to the Pacific Northwest as far is it's identity goes. There are way to many other things do to in this lovely part of the country then go to a professional sporting event. But until now Oregon only had the Blazers and Washington had the Seahawks and the Sounders. The Timbers joining MLS will not affect the popularity of the college teams in this area but I like that it does draw some more attention to the area.
That doesn't mean you people need to move here though. Feel free to come and visit and spend your money but do not stay. Even better in the world of our former esteemed Gov Tom McCall
"We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live. Or if you do have to move in to live, don't tell any of your neighbors where you are going."
I think he says it far better then I can. I love living in the Pacific Northwest. In fact I love living in Oregon.
Showing posts with label Blue Oregon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Oregon. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Monday, November 08, 2010
Post Election Blues
The election is over and America does not seem to have fallen apart. I am surprised. I thought after seeing all of the commercials during the campaign season that if the wrong candidate was elected the whole country was going to burst into flames. I am waiting for it to happen but so far everything seems to be running like normal. I know my life hasn't changed really at all. But in reality my life has never changed following an election. Even after the election of Obama nothing in my life has really changed as far as politics go.
I find it so interesting that we get so worked up about the elections and yet basically things seem always the same. I realize it may change for other people but I am not sure who. I like to vote and I like to be invested and to pay attention to what is going on in the world. But I have really felt like on a personal level my life has been all that affected by whoever the President is. I realize I might feel a greater sense of fear or urgency if I listened to Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow but I don't. I like to think that this keeps me a little more grounded and less likely to be all worked up about things that that are past my level of control and in some cases, honestly, my understanding.
One example that pops into my head is from either last year or the year before. There was a gentlemen running around named Lord Christopher Monckton and he went on Glenn Beck to talk about the one world government that was coming as soon as Obama and the United States signed on to the climate treaty in Copenhagen. Well it has been a year since he was on Beck and since the meeting in Copenhagen. Well what has happened in this past year? Well, in short, not much. It seemed like last year at this time amongst some of my conservative friends there was a real sense of fear and almost panic that Obama was going to be giving away our Democracy by signing some sort of world government treaty in Copenhagen.
This just did not happen. But. No one seems to want to talk about the predictions that Beck throws out there to make people scared and angry. The man makes millions and millions of dollars a year from radio and television and books by spreading fear and distrust and people continue to swallow it like pigs from a trough. I just do not get it.
It is the same on the more liberal stations as well. The more agitated the audience is the more likely they are to purchase books or give money to campaigns to fight against the so called opposing side. I do not think that politics in America need to be trench warfare. It doesn't benefit us as a people or humanity in general to be so angry about things that basically most of us have no real control over and actually may not even happen.
I do not think that Oregon is going to be setback by Kitzhaber being elected. I think that things will basically continue like normal. But, I am sure that all of the usual suspects well continue to spread fear and anger all for the sake of making themselves even more wealthy. I am not sure how they sleep at night but they probably do it on a very expensive mattress and in a very expensive home.
I find it so interesting that we get so worked up about the elections and yet basically things seem always the same. I realize it may change for other people but I am not sure who. I like to vote and I like to be invested and to pay attention to what is going on in the world. But I have really felt like on a personal level my life has been all that affected by whoever the President is. I realize I might feel a greater sense of fear or urgency if I listened to Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow but I don't. I like to think that this keeps me a little more grounded and less likely to be all worked up about things that that are past my level of control and in some cases, honestly, my understanding.
One example that pops into my head is from either last year or the year before. There was a gentlemen running around named Lord Christopher Monckton and he went on Glenn Beck to talk about the one world government that was coming as soon as Obama and the United States signed on to the climate treaty in Copenhagen. Well it has been a year since he was on Beck and since the meeting in Copenhagen. Well what has happened in this past year? Well, in short, not much. It seemed like last year at this time amongst some of my conservative friends there was a real sense of fear and almost panic that Obama was going to be giving away our Democracy by signing some sort of world government treaty in Copenhagen.
This just did not happen. But. No one seems to want to talk about the predictions that Beck throws out there to make people scared and angry. The man makes millions and millions of dollars a year from radio and television and books by spreading fear and distrust and people continue to swallow it like pigs from a trough. I just do not get it.
It is the same on the more liberal stations as well. The more agitated the audience is the more likely they are to purchase books or give money to campaigns to fight against the so called opposing side. I do not think that politics in America need to be trench warfare. It doesn't benefit us as a people or humanity in general to be so angry about things that basically most of us have no real control over and actually may not even happen.
I do not think that Oregon is going to be setback by Kitzhaber being elected. I think that things will basically continue like normal. But, I am sure that all of the usual suspects well continue to spread fear and anger all for the sake of making themselves even more wealthy. I am not sure how they sleep at night but they probably do it on a very expensive mattress and in a very expensive home.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday
I realize that I normally do not use this blog to trumpet what I do for work but I felt like I had to share this and this seemed to be the easiest way for me to do so.
This is from an article on Oregon live that I have linked in the title
"Attorney Ross Day, the executive director of Common Sense, also runs the petitioning outfit set up by the group. And he proudly noted that their measure - which would establish a non-partisan process for redrawing legislative district lines - had a high validity rate of 80 percent.
That's the highest rate of any initiative so far this year - and one of the highest in the last 12 years. My colleague, Kim Melton, compiled the validity rates stretching back to 1998 and found that it is well above the average rate of 73 percent. And it's a better validity rate than many initiatives from back before tougher petitioning laws were approved by the Legislature in 2007 and 2009."
The section that I put in bold is the key 80% validity!! This is huge and something as the article said that hasn't been done in the last twelve years. I wanted to post this because this is what I have been doing for the last year.
Now, for myself, all politics aside in the case of citizen initiatives, I do not care if it is a liberal or conservative issue. I care if Oregon voters get to have a choice or a vote on the issue. Now, it is true that I may not agree with the end result of the choice or I may not agree with where all of the funding is coming from for some of the issues that are moving around the state. But I think one of the things that makes Oregon a special state is the fact that we have this process. It, I think, makes us a better state then most of the states in the country.
But, what I am most excited about is the fact that we at Vote Oregon have been working to make sure that we run a clean system. There is a reason why our validity rate is the highest in the state. The biggest reason is my friend Travis and how important it is to him that we are a company that has integrity. He pushes this to the employees and they know that this is important. I believe that we could have gotten more total signatures had we wanted to cut corners like some other companies. But in the end that would not have benefited anyone and would have been, in my opinion, immoral. That is one of the things that I like most about doing this kind of work. I feel like I like it even more because in the past integrity was not a word that you heard with the petition process. I honestly feel like given time we can change how people think about the process and we can make it be the tool that it supposed to be and we can help people forget about the dark years when special interests and fraud seemed to dominate the process.
That isn't to say that everyone in the business runs as clean as we do because they do not. There is a reason why other firms had such low validity rates and did not qualify. I am totally confident that if someone wants an issue on the ballot in Oregon and they come to us with enough time and money we can get in on the ballot and we can do it clean and correctly with a high, high validity rate. This has been proven by the last few campaigns I have been involved in. I am hoping this will continue.
This is from an article on Oregon live that I have linked in the title
"Attorney Ross Day, the executive director of Common Sense, also runs the petitioning outfit set up by the group. And he proudly noted that their measure - which would establish a non-partisan process for redrawing legislative district lines - had a high validity rate of 80 percent.
That's the highest rate of any initiative so far this year - and one of the highest in the last 12 years. My colleague, Kim Melton, compiled the validity rates stretching back to 1998 and found that it is well above the average rate of 73 percent. And it's a better validity rate than many initiatives from back before tougher petitioning laws were approved by the Legislature in 2007 and 2009."
The section that I put in bold is the key 80% validity!! This is huge and something as the article said that hasn't been done in the last twelve years. I wanted to post this because this is what I have been doing for the last year.
Now, for myself, all politics aside in the case of citizen initiatives, I do not care if it is a liberal or conservative issue. I care if Oregon voters get to have a choice or a vote on the issue. Now, it is true that I may not agree with the end result of the choice or I may not agree with where all of the funding is coming from for some of the issues that are moving around the state. But I think one of the things that makes Oregon a special state is the fact that we have this process. It, I think, makes us a better state then most of the states in the country.
But, what I am most excited about is the fact that we at Vote Oregon have been working to make sure that we run a clean system. There is a reason why our validity rate is the highest in the state. The biggest reason is my friend Travis and how important it is to him that we are a company that has integrity. He pushes this to the employees and they know that this is important. I believe that we could have gotten more total signatures had we wanted to cut corners like some other companies. But in the end that would not have benefited anyone and would have been, in my opinion, immoral. That is one of the things that I like most about doing this kind of work. I feel like I like it even more because in the past integrity was not a word that you heard with the petition process. I honestly feel like given time we can change how people think about the process and we can make it be the tool that it supposed to be and we can help people forget about the dark years when special interests and fraud seemed to dominate the process.
That isn't to say that everyone in the business runs as clean as we do because they do not. There is a reason why other firms had such low validity rates and did not qualify. I am totally confident that if someone wants an issue on the ballot in Oregon and they come to us with enough time and money we can get in on the ballot and we can do it clean and correctly with a high, high validity rate. This has been proven by the last few campaigns I have been involved in. I am hoping this will continue.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
3--9-2010 (Tuesday)
Well, here we are it is Tuesday morning and today is the last day for people to file in Oregon if they are going to run for office. It may be an interesting day but I am not sure. I was going to write some more about the upcoming elections in Oregon but I honestly am not all that interested in it. I will be shocked and amazed if a Republican were to win. I will be even more shocked and amazed of a third party candidate even gets any recognition in this state at all. I think the reality is that Oregon is basically a Democratic state. Or at least the population centers in the state are and until we start counting votes in a different way that is not going to change.
Now, understand me, I am not taking a pro or con on that position. I just think that is the case. The thing that may benefit the Republicans in this upcoming election is if maybe Chris Dudley can be thought of as some sort of political newcomer and can pick up some of the moderate and independent voters. They took a straw poll this weekend at Dorchester, the big Oregon Republican conference in Seaside, and Allen Alley won. I honestly am not sure what that means. I do not think Alley is going to be able to pull a moderate vote and I believe the majority of the people that attend an event like Dorchester are the pretty hard core true believers.
On the Democrats side I do not think anyone they are putting up in the primaries is going to beat Kitzhaber. While it is true that Bill Bradbury is making some noise I just do not see him actually toppling the Kitz. Also on a personal note Bradbury is not a friend of the work I do. He never has been and if he becomes governor he will most likely hurt the system in Oregon. I believe and believed even when I did not work in the process that the petition system is part of what makes Oregon special and lets the voters have a say now and then. Oh sure there are problems much like in any system but even at it's worst it still comes down to a vote and that is a good thing.
That is about all for today folks. Have a good one.
Now, understand me, I am not taking a pro or con on that position. I just think that is the case. The thing that may benefit the Republicans in this upcoming election is if maybe Chris Dudley can be thought of as some sort of political newcomer and can pick up some of the moderate and independent voters. They took a straw poll this weekend at Dorchester, the big Oregon Republican conference in Seaside, and Allen Alley won. I honestly am not sure what that means. I do not think Alley is going to be able to pull a moderate vote and I believe the majority of the people that attend an event like Dorchester are the pretty hard core true believers.
On the Democrats side I do not think anyone they are putting up in the primaries is going to beat Kitzhaber. While it is true that Bill Bradbury is making some noise I just do not see him actually toppling the Kitz. Also on a personal note Bradbury is not a friend of the work I do. He never has been and if he becomes governor he will most likely hurt the system in Oregon. I believe and believed even when I did not work in the process that the petition system is part of what makes Oregon special and lets the voters have a say now and then. Oh sure there are problems much like in any system but even at it's worst it still comes down to a vote and that is a good thing.
That is about all for today folks. Have a good one.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Hot off the Press: Sizemore running for Gov.
I am surprised today. I just learned that Bill Sizemore is running for Gov of Oregon again. Some of you may recall that he ran in 1998 against Kitzhaber and was creamed.
Please read below
Bill Sizemore
I am just wondering what he is thinking. I am frankly amazed by this.
Please read below
Bill Sizemore
I am just wondering what he is thinking. I am frankly amazed by this.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Thirsty Thursday
Good morning folks, I am sorry I was unable to write yesterday we are in the process of moving offices at work and I needed to drive in.
That being said on to the topic at hand. Which is? I read an interesting article on another blog that I read now and then called Blue Oregon. Now Blue Oregon is a very liberal blog and centers primarily around issues within Oregon though they do address some national issues as well. There was an article last week about how Portland needs to be more diverse.
I found this interesting because it generated a large amount of comments about how bad Portland is and how there needs to be more diversity amongst its population. But I think people are missing the point completely here. The article was focused on African American diversity and the amount of African Americans in Portland is about 6% of the total population. It does not take into account the large number of Asians, Hispanics, and Europeans that live in Portland. That in and of itself is a problem for me in the article.
But I think the biggest problem for me is the idea that the diversity of a city can some how be artificially controlled by the people who live there. My first thought was how are the residents of Portland supposed to attract people. Even more how are they supposed to attract the right kind of people for the diversity that the author obviously wants? This is the article.
I do not think you can manufacture diversity and Portland and the Pacific Northwest in general is not an area that has ever attracted a large African American population. In fact I believe that the majority of people who have moved here came during WWII and were working in the shipyards. That as a matter of fact is how my family came to be here from North Dakota.
What are we going to do, start busing people in so that we can raise the diversity level to a healthy 15%? Or is that not high enough. Would it be even better if we could attract an African American educator who wants to start an African American University here? It just seems to me that only in a city like Portland would there be a discussion about how not diverse enough they are and how can we manufacture something artificially that really should not be manufactured.
That being said on to the topic at hand. Which is? I read an interesting article on another blog that I read now and then called Blue Oregon. Now Blue Oregon is a very liberal blog and centers primarily around issues within Oregon though they do address some national issues as well. There was an article last week about how Portland needs to be more diverse.
I found this interesting because it generated a large amount of comments about how bad Portland is and how there needs to be more diversity amongst its population. But I think people are missing the point completely here. The article was focused on African American diversity and the amount of African Americans in Portland is about 6% of the total population. It does not take into account the large number of Asians, Hispanics, and Europeans that live in Portland. That in and of itself is a problem for me in the article.
But I think the biggest problem for me is the idea that the diversity of a city can some how be artificially controlled by the people who live there. My first thought was how are the residents of Portland supposed to attract people. Even more how are they supposed to attract the right kind of people for the diversity that the author obviously wants? This is the article.
I do not think you can manufacture diversity and Portland and the Pacific Northwest in general is not an area that has ever attracted a large African American population. In fact I believe that the majority of people who have moved here came during WWII and were working in the shipyards. That as a matter of fact is how my family came to be here from North Dakota.
What are we going to do, start busing people in so that we can raise the diversity level to a healthy 15%? Or is that not high enough. Would it be even better if we could attract an African American educator who wants to start an African American University here? It just seems to me that only in a city like Portland would there be a discussion about how not diverse enough they are and how can we manufacture something artificially that really should not be manufactured.
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