Discussion around the Me Too hashtag could bring some credence to the concept of original sin

Discussion around the Me Too hashtag could bring some credence to the concept of original sin; a concept that most of us liberals tend to discredit. Original sin is thought of as an unhealthy idea to tell everyone that they are broken at birth. Still, it depends on how one interprets things. "Broken" could just mean no one is perfect. It could just mean a check on one's ego.

Everyone fails, but there's also forgiveness. I sometimes wonder if "conservatives" have a more robust system for weathering these issues than "liberals." I realize the terms conservative and liberal are not the best, but I'll use them just for thinking. It's all kind of gross stereotyping, I know.

When someone in the liberal camp, like Al Franken, falters, is he thrown under the bus while Donald Trump can survive his falters? What's the difference?

Maybe it's the concept of sin and then forgiveness? On the campaign trail, Trump admitted to locker room talk that he wasn't proud of.

Was just admitting that he wasn't proud of it enough to give him a pass? It seems to work for some conservatives.

Is there a similar system of redemption that liberals can use?

Personally, I think the idea of original sin can be useful, tho I am definitely not a fundamentalist. I'm not one that believes in so called scriptural infallibility even though I'm open to the possibility that there could be a "spirit dimension" to things.

Aside from what one thinks about religion, there are many secular parallels to the concept of original sin (I would think if I understand it at all, maybe I don't). It's just basically the idea that we are not perfect. A check to our egos. Also a check to our tendency to feel entitled to everything. Entitled to money, sex, or whatever. It's a form of humbleness which can be manifested in different ways.

In science, there's a form of humbleness that comes from the fact that we don't know everything. I've heard the phrase, "the more we know, the more we know that we don't know."

Speaking of humility, President Obama made some conservatives mad when he said, "If you've got a business – you didn't build that." Those who wish to take credit for their successes might not like hearing that, but our successes depend, to a large extent, on the tapestry of society that we live in. Obama was talking about the need for public infrastructure, such as roads and so forth. Also people's inventions and triumphs are built on the shoulders of others who came before us. Even something as great as Facebook was not totally the cleverness of Mark Zuckerburg. It took many inventions along the way.

We could all use patience, some humility and a bit of check to our egos and senses of entitlement. Also paths to forgiveness.

Will the Move On organization want to change its name?

This short article discusses the rethinking of Bill Clinton's sexual affairs as a reason weighing against Hillary in recent favor-ability polls. Personally, I think her low rating has more to do with frustration about so called "establishment candidates." I also think there's a human tendency to abandon ship from people perceived as losers. In some ways, these polls are moot points as I would doubt Hillary would plan to run for another election at this stage in her life. That being said I still have respect for her. Below more of my thoughts about the rethinking of the Clinton era that's in the news today.

Given the newer scrutiny of Bill Clinton's sexuality, I wonder if the the organization Move On will regret choosing that name? I think when that organization was starting, the name related to the concept of moving on to more important issues than what the Clinton impeachment trial was about. Move On to issues such as the economy and global warming.

While some of the hashtag Me To is needed, I do think there is the danger of over correction.

One thing I can say for Hillary Clinton is that she stayed in her marriage. Something that was more common in the past. These days, people are pretty quick to dump their relationships and political alliances when things aren't ideal. As time goes on, I hope the Me To hash tag can be more about abuse of power, bad bosses and so forth, rather than just focusing on sexuality. Sexuality is one of the many things that is abused, but there's more to the problem than just that. I realize that women tend to be victimized more often than men, tho so sexuality is a factor. It's just not the only factor in what could be a good movement for holding people's personal lives accountable to their political ideals. Think, how do people treat their own employees? What are people's carbon footprint?

As for one's personal life being held to high scrutiny, I'm remembering the controversy, a few years back, about Al Gore's big house. Back then mostly conservatives brought up the problem of Al Gore being such a leading environmentalist while living in a big house with a larger footprint than the average American. Yes, I think even most people who drive cars can be seen as hypocrites, tho I understand that people feel driving is a necessity to function in this society. I can't become too bitter, myself. I can also justify a bigger house for someone, like Al Gore, who is a major public figure. He would need more things like space for home security staff and so forth. I would guess he also flies in jet planes occasionally.

Be wary, I think some of the heightened criticism of public officials could be coming from "divide and conquer" strategy from Republicans. Both parties have lots of internal bickering these days and some of that atmosphere could be fueled by the other party.

I still have respect for the Clintons, but I do think its time for new energies in politics. Focusing on building a sustainable world, such as use of things like solar power. Less about older aspirations of wealth, consumerism and power. Some new thinking is needed in a lot of places.

My pictures on Flickr under Christmas label

People have placed ornaments on evergreens along the South Bay Trail at Boulevard Park. Probably not officially sanctioned by the parks department. Litter? Guerilla Art? Looks nice however. I hear that whoever put these up plans to take them down soon after the holidays.

More of my Christmas images on Flickr.

A great Birthday / Christmas present, 1971

During my sophomore year in high school, My mom bought us a trip to Spokane from Pullman on the Greyhound Bus. Just her and me. Primary objective was to buy the multi band radio I had been dreaming about in the Radio Shack catalog. No Radio Shack store in Pullman, back then.

While in the "city" she wanted me to see some sights.

The Crescent Department Store was all decked out in holiday trimmings. A must see; the animated window with moving Santa mannequin. We walked around to the front of the block and entered through the main door where said window would be. When we got there, my mom just kept walking while I stopped. I wondered why she suddenly lost interest. With some disgust in her voice she said, "it's Christmas on the moon." Santa was in a space suit. No warm fire, snowy fields, or chestnuts roasting. It was moon rocks and grey dust. Santa picking up rocks and placing them in specimen pouches.

Moving on, we did had a nice meal on the Crescent's top floor cafe named The Tea Room. Then did a bit more window shopping in downtown Spokane before heading to pick up my prized radio.

I still have that radio. It served me well for many years, but today the only thing that works is the dial light. I taped what I thought was a better AM dial onto the radio. Used another Christmas gift; a label maker, to put my address on this prized possession.

Some other memories below.

Baked goods that we exchanged with neighbors. To increase variety of goods in everyone's home, folks would bring around what they baked to share with the neighborhood. The doorbell would ring and it was the Stevens. Then the Swansons and so forth. Often carols were sung. Each year, we had the chore of passing out our goodies as well. One year, while I was back home from college, I noted that most of the neighbors were at a party next door. I thought we should pass out our plate at that house to save having to go to each house. My brother Jack nixed the idea thinking it would be awkward picking out just the neighbors at that party where others would be also. He thought we would have to say, "okay, here's one for you up the street and you from across town don't get one."

A climax of our family Christmas was opening presents on Christmas morning. All excited, I would get up early. The house was filled with the sweet smell of my mom's holiday bread. It had very sugary frosting with a strong ting of orange. My sister Judith Ashworth and I would stake out our heat vents on both sides of the tree where warm air from the furnace would blow into the living room. Warmth would flow up into my shirt. We would wait, somewhat impatiently, as my older sister, Lillian, would remain in bed. After traveling to Pullman, from Seattle, she would be getting more sleep. Sometimes we would be waiting for my brother, Bill Ashworth also. When everyone was up and around the tree, we would start opening packages. A big pile of spent wrapping paper would accumulate in the laundry basket that my mom would set up. We reused much of the wrapping paper year after year. We would reuse paper, ribbons and bows that were still in fairly good shape and weren't torn up by the cat jumping into the basket.

Staying local for the holidays

In recent times, I've stayed local for the holidays. Last time I took Greyhound Bus to visit family in Pullman, WA. it was crowded. Buses were delayed with snow on the mountain passes. By the time I got to Spokane to transfer for Pullman, the buses were being mobbed by the crowd. Terminal staff was doing the best they could trying to get people where they were going.

I sort of regret what I said when I finally got on my bus. I said, "next time I'll ride my bicycle." It's true. I did ride my bicycle the following summer, but I'm afraid the ticket taker took that as just another insult. I didn't mean it that way, but the comment came as part of a long line of snarling passengers. Now I wish I could do that moment over again. The reaction of the ticket taker wasn't bad, however. I think he just said, "not in the snow." I was appreciative of how they were doing a hard job to get everyone on their way. Many of the passengers are patient with good mindset while others grumble. I try to look at situations from both sides; the side of the customer and employee.

On the bus, it's kind of a long tedious day to get from Bellingham to Pullman with transfers in Everett and Spokane. By bike it's usually 6 or more days with camping along the way. I bike in summer tho I met someone from Norway who biked across Canada in the winter.

Skylark's Cafe in old Fairhaven District Christmas lights 2017

Skylarks Christmas lights.

Around 20 people celebrated my birthday at the Wednesday Dinner Group which I send out notices for. My birthday is December 16th, but they celebrated on the Wednesday before.







At another social function I go to, I brought my lighted helmet which I use quite a bit riding around town. This at Bellingham Bar and Grill. A gathering that happens after the Friday Bellingham Peace Vigil.

High speed may not be such a holy grail for rail

The train accident here in Washington State is tragic. Some people might feel it tacky to use this occasion for political, or long term thinking, but what else can I write except I wish my condolences to everyone involved. In years past, I've been along that train route coming back from various bike trips. I appreciate the train.

High speed rail is kind of a holy grail that we can't really do in USA. Not very easily at least. Rail travel is good, but speed isn't necessarily the only criteria to judge travel by. Rail could become more convenient also by offering more choices for departure and arrival times. Often there's only one train through an area per day. This isn't likely to fit many people's schedules. Imagine if there was a train each hour. Much more convenient. That's one reason why people like private automobiles. Leave when you want.

A problem with both speed and convenience is that there just isn't enough right of way for rail anymore in USA. Too much private property. For speed, there's just too many crossing points where higher speeds are a hazard. In China, they can build high speed rail and just tell property owners to get out of the way, we are coming through. In USA, their are just too many diverging interests, each with a voice, to stop building a new large scale project, like a rail line. It's easier to connect with air as flight uses a different dimension than the cluttered landscape. Elon Musk wants to do high speed rail by going into the dimension of underground. He has plans for the Hyperloop. Can that work? We will see.

Lack of right of way also makes more frequent train schedules difficult. Congestion on the track due to sharing with freight and so forth.

Speed, of course, isn't everything tho it's highly regarded in our society. Friendliness of travel can be a factor also. Make the trip part of the destination. Social life on a train can be pretty good compared to a plane, from what I hear. I haven't had occasion to fly since the 1980s.

Will there be enough bandwidth for all content producers?

Washington State may preserve net neutrality for ISPs operating within our state. I would guess other states may take action also.

Personally, I'm not sure how serious the loss of net neutrality is. It may not be as big of a problem as people think. On the other hand, it could be. I'm in favor of net neutrality and against the recent changes made by the Republican dominated FCC. It's complicated tho.

Basically the new ruling allows ISPs to favor certain sources of data over others. If there's plenty of bandwidth, maybe there's no problem. Enough for all. Who knows.

Will small outfits get the same priority as the big folks? Will the net remain interactive or will it become more of a one way vehicle for delivering entertainment? Will the net remain seamless?

There is lots of opposition to this new ruling. Court challenges, states, like Washington, who are setting up their own islands of net neutrality and, of course, we can elect a new Congress in 2018. Congressional action is still possible.

Hurray. Democrat Doug Jones wins over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama

I'm very happy that Doug Jones won out over Roy Moore in Alabama. Moore's right wing politics is very toxic including his anti LGBT stands. His alleged sexual misconduct is a problem also.

I wish to not use the word pervert, tho, in a derisive way as that tends to marginalize folks who's sexuality falls outside a norm. Many unusual forms of sexuality and fetishes are harmless. Screenshot below is from a website called Fet Life which serves a community of people with various fetishes. As a subtle form of humor, the abbreviation "perv" is used instead of "prev" for navigation buttons while looking at pictures on the site.



As for going out with teenagers, sexual morality is definitely changing in society. The me to hashtag is pushing that change along. Hope the changes are beneficial and not bringing the unintended consequence of a new puritanism. I would guess that consent is held in higher regard, these days than in the past. Underage people are not considered able to give consent. There was a time when marrying a young teenager was quite common, however. A sign that ethics are changing. Back then, homosexuality between consenting adults was taboo while marrying an underage person was normal. Marriages in the past were even arranged by parents or village matchmakers. I recently heard in a BBC Radio documentary where someone can be married off to their rapist in USA. Common in a lot of other countries, but it still can happen even in USA.

From what I gather, underage marriage is still legal in many states besides just Alabama. Seems strange to me that age of marriage and age of consent are different. A sign that we are in a time of transition. Out goes the old order, in comes the new.

Personal hypocrisy in each party

Looks like support for Democrat Al Franken is diminishing among Democrats. Too bad Republicans seem to act differently in their at least tepid support for Republican Roy Moore. Are Democrats shooting themselves in the foot by taking the moral high ground? I still say the problem is more about power than sexuality. There are also degrees of offense.

It does seem like there is a lot of hypocrisy in each party. Do people's personal dealings measure up to their campaign rhetoric? In many cases I'm sure it doesn't. Lots of great politicians are lousy bosses. I wouldn't be surprised if many are lousy landlords, lousy drivers, folks with a heavy carbon footprint and so forth. How we live at the grassroots level is often not what we espouse. I do think it's time for a lot of paradigm shifts.

Pervert isn't a good word to use in these cases

The word pervert isn't a very good word to use when describing sexual misconduct of people in power. That word tends to marginalize people who's sexuality may not be like mainstream society, but isn't necessarily being used to harm others. A better word to use might be psychopath. I think a lot of the me to issue is about abuse of power rather than sexuality itself. Sexuality is just one tool that is often abused.

Simplistic thinking of a child could make one more materialistic

I don't shop very much on any day, including Black Friday. Today, I just continued my regular routine which included buying food and eating in a few places where community gathers. Good food, good conversation. So I didn't have a Buy Nothing Day either.

I don't do Christmas shopping. When I was a kid, the packages under the tree met more to me. I even remember being a bit envious, one year, when my older sister got a few more packages than me. She had friends up the street that gave her things while I only got things from other family members. I guess it helps to have friends.

As a child, my views were more simplistic. That seems common for children. Later in life, I started learning more and could see beyond just how many toys one gets.

By the time I got to college, I was able to appreciate what my mother said when we all came home one year and she coined the phrase, "it's not the presents that matters, it's our presence that matters."

Not having small children in my life, today, means that packages under the tree don't matter that much to me. To some extent, I realize that connection can be more important than the objects themselves. Less simplistic thinking, I guess. Kids might be less apt to figure this out, tho I'm sure that some kids do. It can be more likely for adults to understand this.

For instance, I see no point in lining up outside a store to get the latest fancy phone. I realize that it isn't really what's in the phone that's so important, it's the network that the phone connects to. As long as the device can provide a reasonable connection to the network, that's enough for me. What's really exciting, to me, is that the network keeps offering more and more. The network isn't something I can own. It's the community we all share.



Speaking of community, I don't have a Christmas tree at home where hardly anyone except me would see it. Instead, I take a set of LED lights to the road which light up my bicycle helmet. More people see it out there and it improves bicycle safety. Above picture was taken at a Halloween party. Part of my costume was a picture of a billboard in a tombstone sales yard. The billboard said "Drive carefully, we can wait." Saw that on a cross country trip in 1991.

First in Bellingham, a bike lane on right side of parked cars. Past Elevate Apartments.

I've heard about this being done in Europe and seen it in Portland, OR. but this is the first time I have seen this in Bellingham. A bike lane on the far side of parked cars that's protected from the traffic lane. It's on Forest Street going by a big new apartment complex.

That stretch of street has an interesting history. Built in the early 1980s as the "Ivy Street Connector." Connects northbound Forest Street to the Boulevard. It was designed as part of a one way system as State Street takes the southbound traffic.

About 15 years ago, the lanes were reduced on State Street from 3 lanes to 2 lanes and a bike lane. Better for bikes. Also, who needs 3 southbound lanes leading to 1 when it gets to the boulevard? Later that improvement also came to Forest.

Then they decided to build this large apartment complex. Only part of it is shown in the picture. Density, which is often better for bikes, pedestrians and transit. Bellingham has a housing shortage. Population growth.

Now Ivy Street Connector to northbound Forest is down to one lane plus the bike lane and parking. Seems to work good. Maybe drivers will grumble that there is only one lane, but there's also need for more parking with all those apartments. There's parking garages in the apartment complex as well, but there's, of course, never enough of anything. That's true in this life, I guess.

Seems like the setup works pretty well. More housing and now we have a protected bike lane behind the parked cars. First one of these I've seen in Bellingham.

Some people grumble that the apartments are too "cookie cutter dull," but that's yet another story.

Back in early 1980s, some people in the neighborhood complained about the building of the Ivy Street Connector. I lived on Forest Street, then and wrote a letter to Bellingham Herald. Surprising some folks, I was kind of justifying construction of the connector, but blaming the whole thing on people's over dependence on automobiles.

Here is letter text from my archive. Early 1980s.

Now that the Ivy Street connector is finished noise and traffic has arrived here on Forest Street. It would have been nice if we could have preserved quietness in this neighborhood by keeping through traffic out. Some of my neighbors tried to stop the city from building the connector; but their opposition did not do much good.

The opposition could not contend with the fact that there is no other viable place to route excess State Street traffic; and State Street; itself; has become too crowded. Efforts to stop construction of a street in order to preserve quiet in a local neighborhood are no match against the overall circulation needs of the city.

Underneath this dilemma lies a deeper issue: There are too many cars on American streets. If we could get thousands of local people to agree on drastically reducing the number of trips they take in their cars; the bottleneck on State Street could have been solved without ever needing to build the Ivy Street connector. If thousands of people could agree to walk; bike or ride the bus instead of using their cars; Forest Street could have remained a quiet residential street.

We tend to blame our city planners when a quiet neighborhood is disrupted by a noisy street; but planners are often just as helpless as we are. If State Street is too crowded; while Forest Street is the only other economically viable place to route the traffic; planners must follow inevitable circumstances. The best way we have for preserving quiet neighborhoods is to get our people using their cars less. This is something we cannot look to our city planners to do for us. It is something the people; themselves; must do. We may not be as helpless as we think.

I wrote this when I lived in an apartment on Forest Street.

Where was God?

Many people ask where was God during something like the recent church shooting in Texas. While I still don't consider myself a total atheist, it does seem like the atheists have the most logical answer to that question. Where was God? What god? Things like that happen because there is nothing watching out for us; nothing beyond us, ourselves. I find that to be a very depressing conclusion even though I have never believed, that much, in the traditional idea of a "God the father;" so to speak. I grew up in a very liberal Christian church where unanswered questions were par for the course. I still think that there could be things that some folks would define as supernatural which are beyond our logic. Obviously we still don't know everything, of course. The church I grew up in is very welcoming to my kind of people.

Health education may be more important than technical expertise for today's job market

I got to thinking that physical fitness is more important in today's job market than technical expertise. For years, there's been lots of talk, in the media, about how we need more technical education to prepare for the "jobs of the future." Technical education is important for a certain percent of the jobs. There are the folks that invent new apps for your phone or work in high places at companies like Facebook and Google. Maybe even 20% of the people, which is actually a significant number, but that still leaves 80% working at jobs like coffee barista or janitor. A little technical understanding helps, but being able to stand on one's feet without sore ankles or a bad back makes a bigger difference. Even in tech companies, like Amazon, I hear that a lot of the rank and file jobs are in the warehouse. Standing, walking and lifting. Robots are doing much of this, but people are still doing a lot of it, at least in the foreseeable future. In jobs like nursing, there's quite a bit of expertise, but having a good back for lifting patients is a big factor also.

Technology has been a boon to the consumer to be able to use things like Google at one's fingertips. On the other hand, it seems like it hasn't really revolutionized most of the job market.

Bellingham is kind of a backwater for jobs compared to places like Seattle, but it still seems like education for healthy lifestyles means more than education for high tech in most cases.

The jail, a big ticket item

Most ballots have probably already been cast, but here's some thinking for posterity at least. Also, if you haven't cast your ballot yet, remember to vote.

Normally I wouldn't agree with anti tax signs that are out in fields in the county, but this one I agree with. Raising the sales tax to build a large jail off Slater Road seems like a bad idea. We do need a better jail, in Whatcom County, but there are better ideas.

Vote on many local issues Nov. 7th 2017.

As for the jail, I've commented on the irony that the tax would max out our county's taxing authority for many years due to a state imposed tax limit resulting from (I think) I-601. That state wide initiative passes a few years back putting a limit on taxing authority. This jail is a big ticket item. Some folks in law enforcement have worried that hitting that tax lid could jeopardize funding for other needs that could come up; like new fire stations. That was a big concern in 2015, at least, when a similar proposal was on the ballot.

Quite a few liberal minded folks think the jail is too much a jail and there needs to be more things like restorative justice in the proposal. Here's a place where concern about taxation and liberal politics come together.

This vote may be a hard choice for some people as our current jail is inadequate. We do need improvement there, but there are other ideas.

Among the other ideas is building a somewhat smaller jail expansion on land already owned by the county in downtown Bellingham. It's near the courthouse. Easier access than the proposed Slater Road site.

There is a lot of thinking out there on this difficult problem. Various alternative proposals and so forth.

Update, November 10 2017

I'm happy, but also a bit troubled to report that the Whatcom County jail tax failed again. I voted against the jail tax. The reason I say a bit troubled also is that we do need a new jail. Just a better plan and I would say a more equitable tax if possible; like making part of the tax a property tax rather than having it totally reliant on regressive sales taxes. Of course a lot of what's wrong with our taxes is that we are a sales tax state with no income tax. As we do need to improve the jail, from what I can gather, we will, somehow, have to find enough consensus among our citizens for some kind of plan. That is difficult in this day and age. I wish us the best of luck, but I am glad the jail tax was defeated. Glad with a bit of reservation.

I think the vote outcome was an interesting coalescing of what is normally thought of as "conservative" opinion against taxes and liberal opinion for alternatives to incarceration.

The advantage of captive audience in face to face communication versus online

People say that face to face interaction is more meaningful than communication online. This is not always the case, but here's a thought I have about face to face versus online friendships. One is exposed to a lot more people online than in face to face contact. This can create "information overload." Online, there is exposure to so much information that one is likely to keep scrolling, rather than reading in depth. In face to face contact, there is a limited number of people in close proximity. This means interaction with the people can be more in depth. Less other folks to scroll off to.

If one is talking to friends in a room, the friends can be like a "captive audience." This may force a person to listen more and find out something they wouldn't normally be looking for. Online, it's easier to move on to the next. The captive audience effect is both good and bad, I guess. Some people don't wish to be the captive audience; like being stuck in an elevator with the town crazy. Who knows, one might be surprised and learn something from the town crazy. It can be a way to have one's bubble pierced.

Digital janitor

As I was vacuuming the front mat, at the YMCA where I work, some lively people came along. They wanted me to pose with them in a picture. I ask them to send it to me and they eventually did. Turned out well. I'm on the left with the wireless headsets I listen to podcasts with. Someone once called me a digital janitor.

One of the hardest jobs for a president is calling a grieving parent

I would guess, one of the hardest jobs for a president is calling a grieving parent of a solder who has died in service to the country. Different people would react differently to what is said. Words can not replace the loss. It's even hard to know what to say as an ordinary person to someone who is facing a serious loss. I say this not in defense of Trump as I don't like Trump anyway. In someways it's good to see so many people critical of him, but I also realize that death, loss and grieving can be difficult.

Update on HD radio in Bellingham, Vancouver

A while back I got an HD radio. One might ask, what's an HD radio? Also one might ask, why would you need one? Just about anything that's on an HD radio is also on the web anyway. Isn't a smartphone "radio" enough?

True, but I'm kind of a radio geek so I couldn't resist. It only cost around 1/8th of one month's rent in my inexpensive (by Bellingham standards) apartment. That's my way of justifying consumer purchases, tho I don't go shopping often.

Now days, there are some radio stations that broadcast a digital signal along with the regular (analog) signal. Folks with HD radios can get the digital signal which offers more hi fidelity. It also offers 3 channels from the same signal.

One of the digital signals I get is from CKNW in Vancouver. It has great locally produced talk shows. An alternative to NPR that's not something like Rush Limbaugh.

CKNW is on the AM dial. It's at AM 980, but the signal is "fringe area" this far from Vancouver.

I used to listen to long distance AM, but modern homes are so full of computer stuff that there's lots more interference. This makes listening to long distance AM difficult. I now get CKNW on FM HD. I just tune to CMFI FM, at 101.1 and then select the HD2 program. It's CKNW.

It still helps to have a line of sight view to Vancouver as digital FM isn't as forgiving of fringe area as analog. I have line of sight, tho there is a building in the way. I've found that my line of sight location works okay for radio, from Vancouver, but not for digital television.

Yes, CKNW is also on the web, but having it over the air, the old fashioned way, is kind of neat. No need to use bandwidth on the net. No need to use cellphone time. Just turn on the radio.

I get unlimited data at home, but I am a radio geek. I often sleep to talk radio and I feel a bit of guilt if it's using the internet.

There are several other HD stations in this area including some NPR stations.

Bellingham has a few HD stations, but most of the interesting stuff is from Vancouver.

Seattle's KUOW has HD for KUOW2 and KUOW3. One has to have a digital radio, or be on the web, to get KOUW2 and 3 in Seattle, but here in Bellingham, KUOW3 is also on regular (analog) radio. KUOW3 is on a low power translator at 90.7 in Bellingham. HD KUOW2 is a jazz station, but I don't listen to that much jazz. KUOW1 is at 90.3 in Bellingham.

Our other NPR station has some HD channels also. Northwest Public Radio which is based in my home town of Pullman. In Bellingham, it's main station is at 91.7. NWPR has both classical music and news services. One can get both services as HD channels or from various low power translators that regular radios can get.

Bellingham's KISM FM now has an HD "channel 2." It's just KGMI, which we also get on the AM dial.

See article I wrote in 2009.

Values Voter Sumit to bring latchkey children and a furniture future

At the Values Voter Summit, Trump spoke about parents who sacrifice to work 2 or 3 jobs for the furniture and future of their children. Now the meme "furniture future" is going around. That's America for you.

I say, what about spending time with one's children? If people are strapped having to work several jobs, they have less time for their kids. Sacrifice is a virtue, but something is wrong when parents have little time because they have to face long commutes and more than one job just to pay inflated rent and mortgage payments, let alone furniture costs.

A few years ago, I remember the concept of "latchkey children." That was children who would wear their house key around their necks and had to fend for themselves since the parents were seldom around.

When I placed this comment on Facebook, one of my conservative friends commented about her fond memories of coming home from school to her mom who was getting things ready for dinner. She wrote, "a perfect childhood" about that memory from the 1960s and early 70s.

Today, the two income household is more common. America's obsession with wealth and productivity has increased over the years. In Trump's speech before the Values Voter Summit, hard work and sacrifice was seen as a virtue. Work and sacrifice is good, but something is out of balance. Work life balance gets ignored. For instance, property values, in many locations, have gone too high for the average worker to keep up. That and other factors have led to overwork and a rat race society for many people who still work.

In this blog I write about things like better planning and urban density for shorter commutes, trying to tame house value inflation and rents so they come back into balance with the rest of the economy, healthier living and lower medical costs, work life balance. Goals that mainstream American culture needs to place more emphasis on.

One of my liberal, and I will also say gay, friends on Facebook wrote, "The Values Voter Summit is everything that is wrong with America in one place."

Living in the forest can be a bad idea

Devastating fires keep raging in the north part of San Francisco Bay area. A problem of living on the urban / rural fringe around trees and vegetation. Could be an argument for denser "urban style" development rather than the semi urban / semi rural "country style" living that's so popular in this country. Cluster the people and development in certain areas and then protect the rural and forested areas.

Planners often try to do this. Here in Washington, we have the Growth Management Law which tries to contain development into urban growth areas. I'm sure California has similar plans, but it's hard to apply these ideals. People in this country often crave semi urban semi rural settings. The economics of housing costs push a lot of people to the urban fringe as well. Folks who can't afford urban living given the current circumstances.

If we created more areas of urban density, rather than the growing sprawl, our urban areas would be more affordable. Zone more areas for higher density; assuming population growth keeps happening. Envision lifestyles around apartments and condos, smaller footprints, shorter commutes, less wildfire hazard. I think a lot more people would like to live in urban settings if there was more of it available.

Locally, I know of people who would rather live in Bellingham than facing long commutes from county areas with no sidewalks and so forth. They just can't afford it. If more areas were built like the central city, more people could live in urban settings. Some folks do prefer rural settings, but there are others who are out there just because they can't afford the cities. We should build more areas like cities.

Trump tossed the paper towels and the crowd soaked it up

Maybe he should have autographed each roll of paper towels he tossed out. Anything the president, or any celebrity does draws a crowd. Like a baseball player tossing out balls to the fans. Most people never get a chance to see the president in person. If nothing else, it lifted the spirits of people in that room, tho that's probably not the best way to deal with the hurricane aftermath. Celebrity worship; a form of graveling. In the video I saw, it looks like he didn't even toss out all the towels on that table. Just a few token rolls that the crowd relished. Soaked up so to speak. Then he left. He didn't even finish that job, but that crowd at the church bought it; hook line and sinker.

Help yourself should be about more than just getting rich

In USA, people are often told to be resourceful and self reliant. That's good, but the model is usually some poor person who pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and got rich financially. Should getting rich be the only model of success? It's good to make enough money to survive, but as a measure of success, there are many other things to strive for. Health and longevity, for instance. I know that non monetary measures can be harder to quantify, but health is a little easier to measure than some other things.

One can strive for success in lots of ways such as having good rapport with neighbors and one's community, peace of mind with less conflict in life, having plenty time to spend with one's kids, if one wishes to have a family, time for friends, conversation, contemplation and so forth. Also the feeling that one is making a valuable contribution to the world whether in their work or volunteer efforts.

I think these values need to be emphasized more as the bottom line for a good society. Better than having to be a workaholic, being stressed out with things like a long commute or making lots of enemies while scrambling to get to the corporate top. Money is only one measure, but it's overemphasized for sure.

Iran holds most of the cards if we scrap the nuclear deal

I say if we kill the deal, Iran holds more cards than we do. They could just go back to developing their nuclear program as new sanctions wouldn't necessarily work any better than they are now working with North Korea.

Meanwhile I think we can acknowledge that the current president of Iran is, I think, trying to reform things in Iran a bit. He should get some credit as he is in a precarious situation.

From this article it says: The international body overseeing the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said Iran remains in compliance, as have Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.

Administration officials in favor of keeping the deal in place have been looking for a way to split the difference between saving the deal and saving face related to Trump's campaign rhetoric.

Overpopulated Egypt still threatened by rainbow flag. Doesn't make sense.

Photo source: BBC News.

It makes no sense. In Egypt, just raising a rainbow flag at a concert can get one arrested. I guess anything that deviates from mainstream heterosexual lifestyle is considered a threat in Egyptian society. What's really a threat is overpopulation; or maybe too much heterosexuality.

I tend to connect issues that others don't connect. Coincidentally, another article has recently come out about Egypt's growing population being threatened by water shortage. That population is around 93 million by now. Turns out this new dam is nearing completion on a tributary of the Nile River. The new dam, called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, is upstream in Ethiopia. There's worry about more use and diversions of precious water.

Lack of needed gun legislation is mostly the fault of Congress

We do need better gun control laws. More curbs on assault weapons and a bit more registration at least. Congress is to blame for lack of legislation here. It doesn't seem to matter, as much, who the president is. Obama favored this kind of legislation, but Congress was the bottleneck. Trump, of course, wouldn't even try to make these changes, but that's kind of a moot point I guess with this Congress.

During Obama's term, I heard that even with Democrats controlling Congress, by a slim margin, bills couldn't be passed due to filibuster in the Senate. The problem is mostly from Republicans, but also some from Democrats. We can change the nature of Congress when we vote in 2018.

Some folks are cynical enough to say we can't make a difference and voting doesn't matter. I know, one person's vote is just a drop in the bucket so it's hard to feel that it makes a difference, but when the population votes, I still believe it does make a difference.

Laws don't, of course, magically solve the problem of violence and gun violence. Much of it is cultural. Culture needs to change also. Laws may not be the panacea, but they can help. From what I hear, Australia has had some great success in curbing gun violence.

Dinosaurs living with humans, 911 caused by the US government, astronauts seeing UFOs, Christ found on the moon

A "conservative" Christian was down at the Friday Peace Vigil to harass the vigil; or maybe he would say "witness the Bible" to them. Most folks were shouting at him, or ignoring him, but I tried to have a civil conversation as he approached me with his Bible.

We got on the topic of dinosaur and human footprints and he thinks dinosaurs and humans were here at the same time. I kept saying that the geologic evidence doesn't show that. Dinosaurs lived millions of years before humans. He doesn't buy the science that contradicts what he thinks the Bible says. I pointed out that one can believe just about anything; including some of the peace activists who think 911 was caused by our own government. I don't believe our government caused 911 by setting explosives in the buildings, tho some of my friends at the vigil do believe that.

He then started talking about a corporation, that he used to work at, where rumors were rampant. The conversation ended on a friendly note where we kind of agreed how gullible people can be and how easy it is for rumors to spread. I think the conversation actually ended when a friend of his tugged on his arm and said, I think it's time to go; like time to go eat or something.

Then I was talking to another person, about the space program, and he was saying that quite a few astronauts relate experiences of seeing UFOs while in space, but the government is hiding much of the info. I was a bit skeptical so I brought up the story of a former astronaut who "found Christ on the moon." It's a memory I have from TV news in the 1970s. Upon looking it up tonight, I found it was Jame's Irwin of Apollo 15.

Lots of claims out there. I'm fairly open minded, but skeptical.

Reading the story of Irwin, he was working hard on the moon in high heat as his drinking water tube wasn't functioning. With thirst and the sweaty work environment, NASA was noticing his heart was showing signs of stress. At one point, he was having trouble with a scientific instrument and prayed for help. Christ appeared and helped him set up that experiment. Upon returning from the moon, he became, basically, an evangelist. Christ appearing, but skeptics might think he was a bit under duress in that hot spacesuit.

Maybe corporations pay less income tax overseas, but wealthy individuals pay more. We could do that here in USA to incentivize business investment.

Republicans are pushing for a corporate tax cut. They say business and corporations pay 35% taxes in USA while only having to pay 15% taxes in Canada. Lower corporate taxes in other developed countries as well. I can understand that logic, but what they don't say is that wealthy individuals pay higher taxes in Canada and most other developed countries. Maybe business gets more of a tax break, but wealthy individuals pay more.

I think the tax talk needs to do a better job differentiating between business and personal wealth.

I can see trying to reform taxes to create incentives for people to keep their money in business creating American jobs. Invest in the business, rather than the personal wealth that's spent on second homes and so forth. The wealthy, in this country, inflate things like the housing market by investing in already existing asserts; houses, collectables, famous paintings and so forth. Maybe the tax code should be modified to encourage people to put their money to work in a jobs creating business instead.

If we get a corporate tax cut, we shouldn't have it for nothing. Raising taxes on wealthy individual's personal income would be needed to balance that.

I know that some folks, on the left, would totally oppose any tax cut to business; especially corporations. They say that corporations find all the loopholes and don't pay much in taxes anyway. They really don't pay 35%. To some extent, that could be true. It's like a he said, she said kind of argument.

Another problem with the business tax cut idea is that artificial intelligence and automation is taking away many of the well paying jobs. Even if the business environment, in USA, is improved to make it more of an even playing field with other countries, there is no guarantee that lots of good jobs will follow.

To some extent, corporate culture and rampant materialism is the problem. We need to learn how to strive for quality of life. Part of quality of life could be developing business and a meaningful career so I can still see the logic in trying to help business to some extent. On the other hand, we also need to learn how to create quality of life in spite of whether the economy is booming or not.

I sometimes listen to Larry Kudlow on the radio who talks about corporate tax cuts, but people like him seem to never talk about balancing this with other taxes. It's all cut, cut, cut. Personal income of the wealthy, in this country, is vast and personal income taxes are much lower in USA than other developed countries such as Canada.

Some conservative economists say that just about any tax cut can be paid back from the taxes paid by increased economic activity caused by the tax cut. They always say that, but I'm sure there's a law of diminishing returns here. If tax cuts were always the road to prosperity we could conceivably cut taxes to 0 for maximum prosperity. I know, with the law of diminishing returns, this has to stop somewhere.

Other factors effect prosperity as well, such as environmental constraints; not just regulation that conservatives talk ad infinitum about. There are true constraints posed by the environment and the people living in that environment. Water shortages, lumber shortages, lack of space, traffic gridlock, you name it. Taxes are only one part of the picture.

Elon Musk has done a lot with his wealth to invest in new business frontiers such as Space X and electric vehicles. This is the kind of thing I can see as an argument for incentivizing investment in American business. On the other hand, it seems like most American business leaders and wealthy individuals are more risk averse.

The true bottom line should be quality of life which may, admittedly, be hard to measure. A good question to ponder is, are the wealthy helping us to do great things as a society or are they just hoarding money?

Upper middle class, rather than just the 1%, needs to pay more taxes

I think it can be a mistake when the left just vilifies the 1% income bracket. In the culture wars, part of the 1% tends to lean left.

Income disparity is a big problem, but I think it goes beyond just the 1%. Ideally, we should strengthen the progressive aspects of our income tax system. That means higher income people should pay more including 1% paying the most. With a more progressive tax system, other higher income people would pay more as well. The 1% would be at the top so they would pay the most, but other upper income people would, most likely, pay more also.

Income discrepancy also means that upper middle class has gotten way ahead of most of the rest of society. Possibly the top 20% needs to pay more, but I don't have a definite figure. The goal wouldn't be to draw a line around a certain group of folks just to vilify them. It would be to have a more progressive tax system. Upper income people could still be a welcome part of our communities.

Taxes do generate revenue for government, but another effect could be to tame some of the inflationary forces in, for instance real estate, where prices can go way out of line with other things in the economy. Housing prices can go up around 10% per year while the overall inflation rate, including most wages, is around 2%, for instance. I'm not citing exact numbers, but more the concept.

The income of upper middle class is a big part of what drives the lack of affordable housing for lower income people; including what could be called most of the working class. Upper middle class has created an inflated market for housing as home values skyrocket in many locations. Other things like the high fees charged by many professionals, such as doctors, drives a lot of the problems with access to healthcare and so forth.

If I were to redo the tax code, I would make the graduated tax steeper, as it was before the so called Regan Revolution. I would also provide some relief for business. If wealthy and upper middle class wish to invest their money in job creating business, there could be deductions. One doesn't want to smother business with taxes. On the other hand, if the money is just kept as personal income and used to drive up already existing investments such as real estate, I would increase the tax on that. It wouldn't have to be too punitive, but migrating more toward a progressive tax system could help bring some balance back to our economy. A healthier and more balanced economy could bring benefit to all.

My 2017 bicycle trip photos now posted to Flickr

Pictured: a grain elevator in Davenport, WA.

The photos from my most recent bicycle trip to Pullman. Now on Flickr. Open to the entire web. No need to log into anything.

When you click on each individual photo in the album, captions will appear at bottom left. Some of the photos have longer descriptions also for telling the story of my trip along with some childhood memories.

Debt ceiling is like an alarm clock they alway hit snooze on anyway. Might as well turn the damn thing off.

Maybe Trump and the Democrats can work together to get rid of the debt ceiling. It's like an alarm clock that keeps ringing and they always hit the snooze button.

In my opinion, the debt ceiling is just a token effort to rein in federal spending that's always broken anyway by such needs as hurricane relief, military spending and Medicare. It's like an alarm clock that gets in the way cause it's never headed. It keeps ringing causing political and financial turmoil and they always hit the snooze button anyway. Might as well shut the dam thing off if they aren't going to get up for it (so to speak) anyway.

Accepting the reality of the population that is here

Even the Republican Congress might pass legislation to, at least partially, accommodate the dreamer children. That's the children who have been brought to this country as children, but aren't officially citizens.

Paul Ryan, who normally says some pretty bad things, has said about the dreamers. "At the heart of this issue are young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, and for many of them it’s the only country they know." Coming from Paul Ryan, that's somewhat encouraging.

Maybe something can get done tho I don't really trust the Republicans. They now just about own this country and it's issues, however. They now get the blame and have the obligation to try and make it work.

Part of the immigration issue is the fact that there are more people that have come to USA than the legal quotas for immigration allow. Those quotas are set by Congress. The quotas can be adjusted to better reflect the reality of who's here. Better reflect who's here and, in many cases, already working in our economy.

A big part of the issue is world population growth. The numbers keep getting bigger. The numbers and the quotas that have been set by Congress in the past don't match.

I am now on another bicycle trip across Washington State

I will post photos after I get back. Meanwhile a few updates on Facebook. Back sometime in September. My 2017 trip.

Photo Album

Link added 9/17/2017.

Pot shops in Washington State could help retail landlords

Legalizing pot, here in Washington State, has been good for a lot of landlords of commercial property. Pot shops are appearing in formerly empty storefronts in strip malls and so forth. I hear that many cities have an oversupply of retail space available; especially now with the advent of on-line shopping. Pot comes to the rescue. Good for the economy? Just what the Republicans want to hear?

Money addiction like sex addiction only more accepted

One of the friends, I bump into every once in a while for conversation, talks about the problem of addiction. Addiction to money, addiction to sexuality and so forth. He's attended quite a few Twelve Step groups such as Alcoholics Autonomous. I also think he's been to a few sex addicts groups. He believes that sexuality should not be done for just pleasure. It's meant for procreation. He's not a conservative, however. He also believes that money would not exist in an ideal society. People would share without the need for money. Folks would give what they could and take what they need. Some of our human passions are destroying ourselves and the planet, for sure.

My own belief is quite different, however. I tend to think moderation. Personally, I've never felt the need to go to a Twelve Step group. Years ago, I did attend one Twelve Step meeting; a birthday party for another friend. Seemed like a good community. My friend talks of the human need for community while also avoiding the addictions that can tarnish community. My views are less austere in some ways. I think sexuality can be good even for just pleasure, but it can be addicting and destructive as well. Moderation is needed.

Money is the same way. Money is a tool to help us keep track of how much people give and receive. It allows us to enumerate things to maintain fairness. It's a tool, but it can also be an addiction.

In mainstream society, sex addiction has a bad connotation while money addiction tends to be more overlooked; especially in conservative circles.

This friend, who tends to circulate in fairly liberal circles, is critical of both conservative and liberal circles. As climate change becomes more alarmingly evident, he says we need to do more than just petition the government and corporations to do something. Both liberals and conservatives, who do things like drive cars and travel by jet, need to change. Cut back on these things at least. Become less consumptive and driven by our hungers.

I tend to agree, but it's an austere way of thinking. I point out that new technology, such as solar power, hydrogen fuel and so forth, can allow some of these things to continue and even flourish.

Just then this friend introduced me to another person who had just sat down at the table. The new person talked about driving an electric car and (I think) solar panels on her home that charge her car.

Another day at the Swan Cafe "Think Tank." We solved all the world's problems. Not really, but at least they got discussed.

Bellingham, WA. similar in size of land area to San Francisco.

While discussing housing during our Sunday LGBTQ walk, Betty Desire, brought up an interesting perspective. The cities of San Francisco and Bellingham both have the same land area. Around 700,000 people live in San Francisco while only around 80,000 live in Bellingham. We can build more housing, smaller footprint housing and so forth. There just has to be the will.

Of course overpopulation is a big problem, world wide, but that's yet another story. I don't know if the world can (or should) go past 7 billion current residents. World population is still growing tho slowing. Bellingham isn't likely to go to 700,000 anytime soon, but we can accommodate more people. Seems like quite a few people want to live in Bellingham. There are quite a few apartment and condo complexes under construction. This might ease the shortage.

I feel very fortunate as I still have affordable rent, myself, but several friends of mine are literally being pushed out of this area. People who's lives aren't necessarily about money.

It isn't just a simple matter of people and space. Economics, in this country, isn't working either. I think low interest rates have worked against us, rather than in our favor. Low interest rates were designed to stimulate job growth, which has happened to some extent, but at the same time, low interest rates can lead to what economists call "asset bubbles."

Property, as a commodity, has gone up so far in value that it's outstripped most of the rest of the economy and its the whole economy that creates the jobs, not just the value of assets.

The gap between property inflation and jobs is especially evident, here in Bellingham, where most of the residential money seems to come from retirement. Bellingham is ranked among the worse metro areas, in USA, for affordability of housing compared to the local job market. Other cities may have even more expensive housing, but many of their jobs tend to pay more. More depressed areas have cheaper housing. This is a nationwide problem, but it seems to afflict Bellingham particularly bad.

The whole situation could change for the better if we had the will to make it work. I'm hoping some of the construction that I see around town can ease the shortage a bit. It will take more than just that to solve this; like a new mindset for lower footprint lifestyles. Density as a way to curb sprawl and so forth. Good planning. I know, everyone has their own definition of good planning, but we can do better.

Tip for a low sugar drink. Unsweetened ice tea with a dab of Pepsi to reduce bitterness of the tea.

I've been drinking a lot. Not alcohol, but unsweetened ice tea.

My low sugar hydration trick is totally unsweetened ice tea with just a dab of regular Pepsi, or Coke. I make up a big batch for the refrigerator and then put the dab of Pepsi in each glass. The Pepsi (or Coke) takes away the bitterness of totally sugar free ice tea.

Water, by itself, is still a bit too boring for my (possibly) spoiled tastes. I do drink lots of that also, but mostly while biking.

I thought up the "tad of Pepsi" idea at Rudy's Pizza where I had them make the mix from the pop fountain taps. Then it donned on me I can do the same thing at home.

Still keeping to only one quart chocolate milk per day, diluted with regular milk.

A church that doesn't require one to believe in so called "truths" without scientific evidence is good

I like the liberal church of my upbringing even though I don't currently work "church" into my schedule. I like not being required to believe in anything that doesn't have strong scientific evidence supporting it. I don't consider myself an atheist, however, as I still hold out some hope for things that may transcend this limited life.

Personally, I put ideas about what are called "super natural" things into a category of speculations, hopes and unknowns. Seems like most humans need these hopes for getting through this life. That need may come from our survival instincts, if nothing else, but that need is evident to me. No wonder religions remain popular tho their popularity is declining in the west. The alternative; a world of nothing that we think of as spirit, seems rather bleak.

There seems to always be plenty of room for speculations and these glimmers of hope as we haven't yet run out of new things to learn. I think of many ideas as being interesting speculations, rather than hard facts. That's where fundamentalist religions get into trouble. It's easy for people to fight over what they think are rigid facts; especially if there's no scientific way to verify those facts.

Ancient peoples would have thought of electricity as being magic. Now we are getting better at understanding electricity. Similar to learning more about electricity, something as fundamental as time, itself, is not understood. I like thinking about big questions like what is time? I like wondering about what causes the universe to exist and what causes our biological bodies to create self awareness. I still think there are a lot of truths that are beyond what we are currently able to conceptualize, given the way our minds have evolved. This gives me hope about some meaning beyond just our short lives, but hope and speculation is different than solid fact.

I'm also thinking about the concept of rigid fact versus ideas of Relativity Theory where things like the length of a yardstick become fluid. Then there's the weirdness of the quantum realm. That weirdness and fluidity is part of science also, not just imagination. My mind goes to many tangents.

Only the upper middle class and above will be able to afford insurance if there is no subsidy

It seems like only the upper middle class and the wealthy can afford health insurance without it being subsidized. Healthcare costs are just too high and the income gap is too wide in USA. That's why Republican plans don't work. Republicans hate subsidizing people from taxes that other people have to pay.

Big reason why Republicans fail on healthcare; they are adverse to taxes for subsidies

A big reason why Republicans can't pass a healthcare bill is that healthcare has to be subsidized to work for a large percent of the American people; including many of the Republican voters themselves. That means someone has to pay higher taxes for it to work. Republicans almost always vote against taxes. Healthcare just doesn't work without taxes for subsidies, or at least it wouldn't be available to a large segment of people. That's the reality of a society with such a huge income disparity. Healthcare can't even be close to being universally available without subsidies in a society with such a high income gap. Republicans walked to the abyss of pulling the plug on large segments of Americans, including many of their own voters, and at least a few of the Republicans got cold feet.

Some of my photos from 2017 Bellingham Pride Festival and Parade are on Flickr

Lighting up the night for that weekend, July 7 - 9 2017. Bellingham Herald sign in rainbow colors.

Images on Flickr. See also descriptions with each picture.

A very good documentary on Betelgeuse. What's Betelgeuse?

It's a huge red giant star I heard about in grade school (pronounced Beetle Juice, I think though I've heard some folks say Bettlegeese).

It's real unstable and on the brink of exploding, supernova style. Only 640 light years from Earth, but they think the brunt of the blast will miss Earth. Gamma ray bursts from the poles would go another direction missing Earth. Being about to blast in astronomical time means sometime in the next several thousand years, tho.

This video is real good, in my opinion. Tells much about the history of our research about this star. Doesn't have a lot of "shocker whoom" sound or blast hype, like movies often do. It's very educational. I also enjoy the background music. Kind of relaxing, ironically because it is about an eventual super nova.

If Betelgeuse were to blow in our lifetimes, there would be a really bright star in the sky for about 4 days. Visible in the daytime at 100 times the brightness of the full moon. It would provide much excitement for scientists and the public alike, but who knows when that moment will occur.

Trump's smokestack jobs not coming back, but can anything else bring back lots of middle class jobs?

The old jobs aren't coming back. What kind of jobs will there be in the future? Some futurists highlight two types of work that can’t easily be automated or performed by robots: Interpersonal work such as coaching, care giving and negotiating, and creative work such as developing new business opportunities and innovating. This, in an article in Yahoo Finance by columnist Rick Newman entitled; Tech experts diss Trump's jobs policy.

I say, much of this type of work, that is done now, doesn't pay well or is volunteer. Much of interpersonal work and care giving, for instance.

Creative work such as developing new business opportunities is there, but how often are new business opportunities needed? Will this employ millions upon millions of people?

Writing, conversation and photography is creative work. Much of it is posted on places like Facebook for free. Where's the payoff?

Seems like a broad based middle class boom for jobs is not likely, given what the near future looks like today, in my opinion. Technology is great for the consumer, but not necessarily great for the worker. We have consumer empowerment, such as booking our own flights online, but how can one earn a living in this environment? Not as a travel agent, for instance.

I would guess no more than 20% of the workforce will be needed in the "high tech," highly skilled jobs of the present and near future. This 20% is what the talk of needing more education is based on. What about the rest of us?

Possibly another 40% can be employed in professions such as nursing and teaching. My numbers are not exact, of course. Can average and entry level nurses or teachers afford to live in expensive cities such as Seattle? Not necessarily just the superstars.

Education can still be valuable for living a quality life and becoming an informed voter, but not necessarily for much of the service jobs that seem to be proliferating these days. Coffee shop baristas and so forth. It's good to be conversant in the humanities, as a coffee shop barista. Enlightening to customers, good for society. It's good art, but can the 80% of us still afford to live in our cities?

Wages are higher, these days, than in the 1960s, but certain costs, such as housing and healthcare, have gone so high, in the metro areas where a lot of the jobs are, that the days of the broad middle class may not be achievable. One can try to bring up wages, but if certain costs continue to outstrip wages, the middle class isn't coming back.

Somehow, we need to figure out how to make society work and be affordable for people in the jobs that most people will be working.

Also, to some extent, jobs could be an outdated concept. Figuring out how to survive, while doing gratifying volunteer work, is a trend I notice, around here in my city of Bellingham, WA. at least.

Rethinking economics for sure.

Pulling the plug on healthcare for lower income people

Representative Mo Brooks, R-Alabama thinks universal health care is too expensive but tax cuts for the rich are necessary.

Adding my own comments. Since 49% of births are now paid for from Medicaid, maybe a lot of those babies should be aborted? Life may not be worth living if one has a chronic and costly disease or needs to be in a nursing home. Can we even afford healthcare for all our people? I hope we can do better than this, but these deep questions, about the value of human life in various stages, do need to be part of the conversation.

As for tax cuts for the rich, it seems like some people use an analogy of a fire to describe the economy. They think that taxing wealthy people smothers the fire. Others, such as economists like Paul Krugman, say that the wealthy are hoarding money. Their analogy would come closer to one of circulation. Be generous, spend money. Especially if the money isn't being spent otherwise, tax, spend and keep the money circulating.

Mo Brooks also talks about bad health choices which people make that society can't keep supporting. Smoking, bad diets, lack of exercise. I can understand, a bit, being a bicyclist myself. At the same time, where's the compassion? Some people have more health, some have more money, some people have neither. A society with little compassion is a crude culture. Do Congressman Mo Brooks and his colleagues ride bicycles? What about the changes we need to make in society to promote healthier living? Time for exercise versus having to be a workaholic. What about support for parks and trails, better diets, less sugary soft drinks? What about doing better than just pulling the rug out from under people? What about doing better than just denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions?

Folks like Mo Brooks do have support from some segments of the American people. I know that one can get what is called "compassion fatigue." Feeling overwhelmed. People in Italy are dealing with thousands and thousands of immigrants landing on their shores, from overpopulated countries in Africa and so forth, but if the Italians and other Europeans can survive and even thrive, why can't we? Our own immigration circumstance is not currently as overwhelming as that? Of course we can't hold up the whole world, but I hope we can do better at taking care of the people than what Republicans tend to propose.

Seattle metro's inflated property values make it a sitting duck for funding state needs

I recently read Danny Westneat's July 5 column in Seattle Times. Seattle gets rolled in Olympia tax deal.

Here's another case where property value inflation leads to problems. Seattle metro's high property values make it a "sitting duck target" for state government struggling to find money to fund the McCleary school funding court mandate.

They balanced the budget with property taxes.

I (personally) might think that is okay. Not being a property owner, myself, I tend to think homeowners are all getting rich from growing equity. This, tho, isn't always the case. Those inflated property values are just the "new norm" that people have to deal with to afford living in our urban areas. Also, renters get hit too as property taxes get passed on in the form of higher rents.

Other forms of taxes, that also address the income gap in more accurate ways, aren't done in Washington State. In spite of being a "blue state," Washington has no state income tax. A good thing about income taxes is that they can be graduated so higher income people pay more.

Some forms of capital gains taxes can work also; like maybe when people sell property at a huge windfall. These kind of taxes don't usually pass in this state either.

We also keep missing opportunities to pass carbon taxes.

Here in Whatcom County, there is a pressing need to address our inadequate county jail. An expensive task. Plans for a big new jail have relied on local sales tax add-on; Washington's "workhorse" tax. Regressive. The last jail ballot measure failed. It would have raised local sales taxes to the limit which state conservatives have imposed (I-601 limits). Conservatives tend to support things like jails, but those sorts of things bust tax limits. Last year, as I remember, the Bellingham police guild feared that the jail tax would limit our ability to fund expansions to fire stations and other public safety. Crippling our local funding abilities for a whole 30 years.

In our city of Bellingham, which is more blue than rural county areas, I remember that our mayor suggested part of that bill, for the new jail, be covered by property taxes rather than all from the sales tax. Maybe a 50/50 split? Take some of the burden off of just the sales tax.

A jail expansion plan is heading back to the ballot, but I think it's still just a sales tax again.

Many liberals also think the plans for a new county jail are too large. There's a lot of local advocacy for alternatives to incarceration.

Come to think about it, some people think of schools as being prisons also. Large, institutional and costly.

Education is a valuable thing, but Washington may be unique in it's constitutional wording of education as it's top priority; the wording behind McCleary. Unfortunately this often leads to a "zero sum" battle between schools and other important state needs; such as social services, public safety, environmental protection and state parks.

We tend to suffer from "compartmental thinking." Put money in the compartment called "school" to have an enlightened society. I worry if the institutions of education cannibalize other things. Not that I don't value teachers and schools. Instead, I like to think more holistically. The job of teachers becomes harder if the rest of society is neglected. It's all part of a tapestry of society. State parks, for instance, can help education by preserving historic and natural places and presenting them to the public. Destinations for class field trips, if nothing else.

Another part of the tapestry is for people to pay their fair share in taxes. Graduated taxes on windfall profits and high personal incomes are best. Taxing business can be a problem that stifles business. It's better to tax the huge incomes and windfall profits that certain individuals make from business.

I guess property taxes have the same problem. Taxing landlords, for instance, is a problem as they pass that increase on to renters. Maybe it's better to try and tax the windfall profits that so often happen when property changes hands. Maybe that would cool down the inflated real estate market that's becoming so much of a problem in our prosperous urban areas.

I don't think 911 was an inside job, but ...

I know a few people who believe that the 911 attack was an inside job. Caused by "powers that be" in US government and business. Explosives set in the buildings and so forth, rather than terrorists. I don't buy this idea, but the fact that so many people ascribe to it does say something about the leadership of our society. The leadership must be pretty bad at winning the respect of citizens if so many people would actually think something like 911 was done by the leadership on purpose. People tend to be cynical about government and corporations anyway and a few take that cynicism still farther.

I feel a lot of our problems are not necessarily caused by our leaders, but instead by obsolete patterns in our culture. Our problems are caused by people, including some at the grassroots level. Still, the leaders aren't very good at being leaders or winning the respect of people.

Beyond the problems, I also see good things in people and society. It's a mixed bag. At times I prefer to focus more on the good. I focus on the good partially for selfish reasons. It's less of a downer. It's better for my own disposition if nothing else.

I'm both socially and fiscally liberal, but also believe in some personal responsibility

Some people say they are socially liberal while being fiscally conservative. I'm both socially and fiscally pretty liberal. Basically I tend to support higher taxes and I recognize a good role that government spending can play. Where I may sound "conservative" is in the role of personal responsibility. Rather than just blaming everything on corporations and the rich, I try and see what we can do, ourselves, to improve society. How can we live for a better environment, better health and so forth. Things like bicycle culture. I think about how can we be responsible consumers. If we want better conditions for workers, I ask how do we treat the workers in the businesses that we are consumers at? Are we impatient, or do we give them a break? As workers and professionals, do we gouge consumers and institutions with our high prices and salaries? If we want to tax the rich, do we, at least, put out enough effort to cast a vote come election time?

My walk home from the first grade in Pullman, WA.

One hears that kids aren't allowed to walk very far by themselves these days. I guess people were less afraid in my first grade days around 1961. I walked quite a ways to my school. Maybe around 1/3rd of a mile. It did scare me, however. I felt I had to avert my eyes from this scary looking knot of wood in the fence. Years before my first grade, a tree had grown through the fence. When they cut it down, they left a knot of wood ingrown through the fence. I would run to get past it.

Regent's Hill Dorm Complex in background.



The rest of my walk was through the WSU district of fraternities and sororities. That used to scare me also. Today, I'd be erotically turned on by shirtless college guys, but back then they scared me. They were throwing footballs across the street and I was afraid the ball would hit me. They would toss the ball up over my head to their buddies across the street so it never hit me, but I always hesitated walking by. One time I convinced myself that it would be okay to keep walking even when I saw someone poised to toss the ball. I thought I could get over my fear if I kept walking so I proceeded. Just then, the ball hit a telephone cable causing it to bounce back and fall right in front of me. It didn't actually hit me, but I was back to being scared again.



Area where the ball bounced off the phone line hasn't changed much since those days, but this image was taken in 2017.

One time, I got to talking to a student as I was walking home. He befriended me and invited me to his home which was a rambling student rental house. He introduced me to his buddies and showed me around the house. Main thing I remember was in the kitchen; the largest peanut butter jar I had ever seen. After asking me my name, my new found student friend looked up my parents and gave them a call. They came and got me and they were a little concerned that I had been too trusting. My parents admitted that it was a good experience, this time. They said I was lucky because you never know who you might encounter.



My first grade school building had only 2 grades. Kindergarten and first grade. 2nd through 5th grades were in a different school. Today, that old school building is a small shopping center. It serves the college neighborhood. My first grade teacher used to scare me also. Her name was Miss Schmidt; a strict teacher of German heritage. Today, her classroom is a less scary Jimmy John's sandwich shop.

My walk from school took me through Regent's Dormitory Complex. Part of it was up on pilings.





The complex had little courtyards that were like Japanese gardens. During Easter, dorm residents used to hide eggs around and invite neighborhood kids over for an Easter egg hunt.

The I think the Sculpture is called Rain Forest. There's a similar work in Bellingham by the same artist. It's in front of the Wade King Fitness Center at WWU. Artist for both sculptures, James FitzGerald.



The final push home was over Regent's Hill which was right past the dorms. Our house was on a dead end street just behind the hill. My dad took a home movie of me walking down the driveway to first grade. In the background is a concrete bucket swinging from a crane as Streit/Perham Dorm Complex was being built behind the back fence of the neighbors across the street.



My first grade year was 1960-61. Photos taken later years on various visits to Pullman.

People say that was a more innocent time, but I don't know. I think per capita violent crime is lower now in the US than it was back then. Even then, Pullman had its share of drinking problems, but I was pretty oblivious to that. Now that so many stories of child abuse, and so forth, are coming out, I decided to share this happier story. People are more aware of the problems these days. Still, most of the time, I guess, like in this story, things aren't so bad.

More colors for the rainbow flag? Okay. It's lost and gained colors during it's lifetime.

New pride flag divides Philadelphia's gay community.

More colors on the rainbow flag? I'm pretty "live and let live." Whatever. As long as people aren't fighting about it, but too bad, there does tend to be friction. The phrase, "we've met the enemy and he is us" comes to mind. It's really up to us to have diverging perspectives without being disagreeable.

According to WIKI, the original gay pride flag had more colors anyway. It had hot pink and more than one shade of blue. The flag was streamlined with those colors dropped, in part, because lack of availability in pink cloth, back in the late 1970s, I guess.

The flag is like the acronym. Gay is pretty limited so it becomes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender; GLBT. Then there's more. Allies, questioning, gender fluid and so forth. GLBTQA...? The acronym can get cumbersome so it can be replaced with the word "Queer." An umbrella term? The "big tent?" That doesn't please everyone either.

Some folks might argue that the laws of physics, related to light refraction, doesn't allow brown or black to show up in real rainbows. Brown isn't part of that spectrum, but what is color anyway? Color is an artifact of our perceptions. The true refraction of light is just a gradation of frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum. Brown and white are various mixtures of light frequencies. Black is absence of light.

I don't think the flag is necessarily cast in concrete. There can be many versions of it.