Adventures come in all flavors

Images this week are from various East European art galleries.
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Being teachers, Judy and I have had time for incredible summer holidays!  Some years I signed up for courses or workshops, but other summers we had time for travel adventures.  To finance our travels we saved our money, and drove old cars.   Still, we found that we could travel most anywhere.  I want to tell you in this blog about a few memorable summer travel experiences...

Lada

The first rule to travel on a budget is advance planning.  We depended on the 'Lonely Planet' book and the 'Harvard Student Guide' for information on the countries that we visited.  Once we reached our destination, we attempted to adapt to local standards as much as possible.  By visiting the less expensive Eastern European countries, we could also stretch our budget.  We often stayed with “Zimmer Frei” (“Available room” ) families.   When we saw a sign displayed in a window facing the street, we knocked at the door of the house and tried our best using local languages and sign language to negotiate a room.   Renting a bedroom in their homes is much more personal than staying in a hotel room, and it is an established  tradition in many parts of Europe.  An excellent breakfast of hot chocolate or coffee, crusty buns, cheese, eggs, sliced cold meat, and marmalade are almost always included.  Most of our Zimmer Frei experiences were marvelous. 

Austrian

We stayed a few days in a farm in the Porto wine country of northern Portugal, where we slept in “Grandmothers room” with classic dark antique wooden furniture.  This estate had been in the same family since 1780.    Before dinner the owner gathered his guests into the patio to sample his wine served in wide shallow white porcelain cups,  served with tidbits of tasty  food.  It was like staying in a museum!  Here we were traveling with a rental car  so during the day we could explore the villages and natural beauty of the area.  It was the summer "fest" season with parades and special music in various villages.

Czech

In the far south of Greece in a small community of the Mani people... our room was off a courtyard with chickens scratching in the dirt  and dogs lolling in the sun.  We were in a beautiful location, our hosts were charming, the room was fine... until we went to bed and discovered that the bed was “U” shaped, with a deep valley in the middle of the bed. I finally got up and found cushions to make a bed on the floor.  Other than that, the town and its people were pure Mediterranean charm. The Mani people have a proud history of resisting invaders - they were occupied by neither the Turks nor by the Germans.

Austria

College language majors often spend a year or half a year abroad living and working in their new  language.  Our son took this opportunity to live with a family deep in the Tyrollean Alps of Austria.  This was too good an opportunity to miss, so Judy and I went to visit with his family and stayed in a fine traditional home in an Alpine mountain valleys.  It was a grand place to hike and climb mountains – but also to observe a traditional way of life, based on cattle, farming, on forests, and mountains... and to see the beauty of this life with nature.  One highlight for me was a full moon night-time climb to the top of a mountain -  it was tough hand over hand rock scrambling to get to the top, and we reached the top just as the sun was breaking through... it was glorious!  We broke out bread, sausage, cheese, chocolate, and schnapps! What a grand breakfast sitting on the mountain top.

Lada

 We visited our son another time when he was spending  two years in the Peace Corp in Kyrgystan in Central Asia...  There we stayed for several days with a Russian farm family who lived in a village on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul.  The life of the people here was basic.  Livestock in the farmyard came up to the open kitchen windows.  The family used and preserved much of the food they produced....since the opportunity to work for wages was limited.   Uncle Petro fished from the lake and preserved what he caught with salt.  He also made wicked home-made Vodka. We felt warmly received.

On another trip we were determined to reach the World Heritage Site of Hattusas Turkey, the original home of the ancient Hittite people.  It was a little surprising to be let out of the bus “ in the middle of nowhere” and the driver pointed us down a long dusty road. We soon found that there was no connecting bus or taxi available.  As so often happens, one of the locals heard our plight and said” I’m going that way – I can take you” We found ourselves in a charming very small town, with one simple hotel.  Our room was basic, but clean... and the hotel restaurant had outstanding local cuisine...plus it was a great place to connect with other visitors.    We hiked and saw the ancient ruins of the Hittite people who were the first to master the making of iron. They built a high civilization on this site.  Now it is also a site for the weaving of carpets.  We stayed three nights and in the evening we sat on the porch of the hotel with other guests, drinking good Turkish wine, and watched the geese parading  up the street and tractors coming in from the fields with their loads of garbanzo beans. 

Alphons Mucha - art nouveau example

When we arrived in the town of Kecskemet in Central Hungary every room was filled.  Someone advised us that if we went to a certain address they were sure to have a room.  In was situated behind a working tire repair shop... It smelled of rubber tires, and was a bit noisy during work hours.  But at least we had a room to ourselves.  The town was build all in an art nouveau style http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau, and  was the home of Zoltán Kodály famous for his innovative vocal and choral compositions, also famous for his statement that "it will be music that saves mankind from dehumanization during the technical age of machines."  Extraordinary town for art, music, and hot red paprika peppers.

Hungarian

While the communists were still in power, we visited Moscow, and stayed in a Soviet era hotel – and we were sure that there were microphones in each room and our every word was being recorded.  Also every floor had “watch-women” who noted the comings and goings of each person... Spooky!  There are however incredible sights to be seen in the grounds of the Kremlin and throughout the city.

Communist era art

When we were recently in Swaziland we visited one of my ex students who was in the Peace Corps living on a rural community.  The host family honored us by letting us stay in the “ancestors hut” – a round traditional hut with thatch roof and a bed that had seen better days – there were protruding springs – which we quickly learned to avoid... but the experience was grand and the people were wonderfully friendly.  When we walked anywhere, my student had to stop and greet, chat a bit, with each person we passed... it was expected.  

Austrian

We joined a work project in the mountains above Oaxaca to lay a pipeline from a springs into a village some distance away.   There we slept on the floor of the local church ( after chasing out the scorpion first).  Each morning we would be joined by the local indians of the village and together we went to the construction site to dig ditches and lay pipe.  Come break time we shared our energy bars with the Indians and they shared their fresh tortillas and local cheese with us.  They are such friendly people!  I have never seem a culture where hugs were so sustained.

Mucha: http://en -.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slav_Epic

Here in the US, the concept of the Zimmer Frei has been brought to the Internet with the airbnb system: https://www.airbnb.com/. You enter the name of a city and up pops all the available airbnb locations in that city.  Try it!  Rates are good! You stay in a persons home while they are at home – but you get a room to yourself, are generally welcomed into the living area and kitchen, and a good breakfast is provided.  We have used it a few times in America with very good results...and met wonderful outgoing people.  After you select a possible place, you can phone the owner to learn more before you commit.  Prices and the quality of rooms vary considerably.  

Beware of key descriptive words.  We stayed in one place that advertised a 4 posted bed - sounded good – but we got there and found the 4 posts were rough 4 x 4”s that went to the ceiling, and the bed was way high in the air so that we had to use a step ladder to climb into the bed.   I bumped my head on the ceiling every time I sat up in bed.  The area underneath the bed  was used for a desk.  Really nice people though.

Good travel adventures come partly from careful planning, but also  it is essential to be open to chance opportunities as they emerge.  They often come about by blind luck and the kindness of individuals.  Planning a trip around organized tours and pre scheduled stays in American style hotels, from my experience, just  eliminates  the possibility of adapting to what you find when you get to an interesting location.  It can be a little scary to go someplace with minimal advance planning - but then you are free to make the most of what you find.      Going this way requires a certain amount of risk taking, and a willingness to accept some lumps but it also leads to the greatest rewards.

Josef Lada

One tour that was an exception... we went to Tanzania with Heifer Project http://www.heifer.org  to see the work they are doing with local farms to raise the standard of living by preparing and then giving livestock to poor farmers. This tour was well planned and extraordinary for the chance to see and talk with local rural Tanzanians (with an interpreter).  After the official tour we stayed on for another 4 weeks to see and do more around Northern Tanzania - we stayed in a hotel frequented by scientists working on the Oldevai gorge and some working on NGO projects in Tanzania.  The level of ambiance was far lower than the Heifer tour hotel - but we enjoyed the people that we met there far more.


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   Making sense of “Obama care”

Photos this week are of American citizens in their normal lives, taken different places in the U.S.

49.9 million -- The number of uninsured Americans in 2010! 


That's 16.3% of the total U.S. population.  Its hard to grasp this number, but many of us know at least one person who lost their job during the recession, and also lost their health insurance.  This means that in any health crisis the only recourse open to such people is to go though the endless lines and uncertain care that they receive in country hospitals...or they can show up at the emergency room of a hospital and hope for whatever care they can get. Through no fault of their own, there were almost 50 million people in on the brink of personal disaster.

Street workmen

How did we compare with other countries before the new law?  if you study these numbers, they should raise some questions in your mind...

Comparison of Cost, and Results from Health Care Systems in 4 countries

Restaurant - Smithsonian museum

What does the “Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act” (“ObamaCare”) offer:  

       a) Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the amount of care you    receive. 

      b)  They can no longer discriminate against individuals with preexisting conditions.

       c)  They can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick. 

d)   They can no longer raise your premiums without reason.

e)   They are required to provide free preventive care like check-ups and mammograms.   54 million Americans with private insurance already receive this.

f)     And by this August, nearly 13 million Americans will receive a rebate from our  insurance company because it spent too much on things like administrative costs and CEO bonuses, and not enough on your health care.

g)   Young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parent’s health care plans.  This is currently in place and helping 6 million young Americans.

h)   Americans over 65 receive a discount on their prescription drugs.  Already more than 5 million seniors on Medicare have received about $600 each.

Watching a parade

Contrary to what you may hear from some politicians, this is in not a general government imposed tax. . If you have health insurance already, you keep your health insurance, and you don’t pay any penalty. If you don’t have health insurance, and cannot afford it, then you will receive tax credits to make health care more affordable for you.

If someone chooses to not plan ahead, if they use the hospital emergency room when they need medical care using it like a doctor’s office, and if that person can afford healthcare but chooses not to take it – this person must pay a penalty. They are still free to not have health insurance and stick the rest of us with the bill for their health care when they need it.  Under the new law they will be required to pay a penalty of about $600 per year or 2% of their income whichever is greater

Students protesting for a Clean Water Bill

The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research center that focuses on economic and social policy, found that if the law had been implemented last year:

·      *  93 percent of the population under age 65 would not have had any penalty or had to buy      insurance under the new law. 

·      * About 2 percent of the total population would not receive any financial help and could face penalties for lacking coverage.  There are the only Americans facing the increased fees! ( and it is by their choice to do so.) 

Bus riders - Arizona

It is ironic that when Gov. Romney passed a very similar health insurance law in Massachusetts, he required the same provision – only they called it by different labels. If elected president, Romney’s proposed medical plan is practically identical to the current Obama plan but he is presenting it with different labels.  Semantics is important when you are running for office!


Romney’s Massachusetts plan was a conservative idea born out of the Heritage Foundation (a conservative "think tank") . It was based on the principle that each person should be responsible for his or herself. Now Republicans, are opposing a the very similar Obama plan; in effect advocating against personal responsibility.  They differ in how they would pay for their plans, when and how it would be implemented - in these areas Mr. Romney has been consistsently vague...

Putting up a tent

Some states are considering not accepting their portion of government funds to implement the program. For them to do so would be unconscionable because it is playing  politics at the expect of the well being and lives of the people in that state!  Rejecting the money would be financially unpopular as well, because the law provides great benefits for the states,  especially the red states with the least Medicaid coverage.  Also when the people of a state have better health they are more productive, pay more taxes, and cost the state less in services..Read more here: .http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/06/1106946/-Republican-governors-refusing-Medicaid-expansion-have-the-most-to-gain-by-nbsp-it

·     * Under the new law, the federal government would pay 90% of the costs (100% in the first three years)

·      *Example: South Carolina. Nineteen percent of the state’s residents were uninsured before the new law.  Medicaid expansion in the new law would cut South Carolina’s uninsured rate among eligible adults by 56.4 percent.  The cost of that for the federal government between 2014 and 2019? Almost $11 billion. For South Carolina? Less than $500 million.”

     What a deal!

Bicycle Race - Portland Or.

How does the cost of the new medical plan compare with other federally funded projects?  

MAJOR FEDERAL FUNDING PROJECTS

Tourists on a hot day

When asked about the effect of the medical plan on the long term nation’s budget deficit,  Federal Budget director Peter Orszag  responded that  the “CBO (Congressional Budgeting Office ) estimates that the Act will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next ten years and more than $1 trillion in the ten years after that. That’s more deficit reduction than has been enacted in over a decade,” Orszag wrote.


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Getting ready for a tour of the Capital

Mountains

Photos this week are some of my earliest, taken by me and my friends during the years that I write about in this blog

As a flat-land Kansas boy, hills and high places had a special draw for me.  When I moved to California at the age of 11, it was my Uncle John that introduced me to the High Sierras.  When he visited, he would sometimes take me meandering, often going where there was no trail along a watershed or a mountain slope,  not fixed on reaching a destination, but enjoying the experiences along the way.  From Uncle John I learned the names of many wild plants and rocks.  I learned the principles of “dead reckoning” and how to find my way through the forest and find my way out again.  At a critical time in my life, after my father had died, he played a pivotal role in my growing up.

Resting - Planning the next move

The morning I turned 16 years old I was in line at the local DMV to get my license to drive.  Soon after I took my summer earnings from doing farm work to buy my first car; a blue behemoth of an old Dodge!  Gasoline cost 26 cents a gallon... and the world of new adventures was open before me.  I lived in Visalia, “The Gateway to Sequoia Park”, and it was possible to be at 6000 ft. within 45 minutes from home.  Thus began my love affair with the high mountains. 

One of my early cars - unpacking before the hike

My buddies and I must have been blessed with special guardian angels with some of the harebrained things we did!  At first it was all quiet innocent – just going to the mountains and hiking familiar trails and back the same day... Then we graduated to car camping – going up Friday night after school or after work, hiking during the day, and camping in one of the campgrounds.  But we encountered people who were backpacking. It sounded like such fun!

One of my climbing buddies, Charlie

Having very limited budgets, we went to the local army surplus stores and bought used military issue packframes, sleeping bags, and minimal cooking gear.  Since we had no real teachers on “how to backpack” it was largely trial and error... I remember carrying a cast iron skillet on one of the first excursions, something I quickly eliminated from the list. In later years we became minimalists , reducing the weight of our loads as much as possible.  

  

Sierra rock is mostly hard light colored granite – hence  the name “ Range of Light”.

Much of the higher rock has been shaped by recent glaciers (in geologic terms).   As we hiked into higher elevations we encountered rock systems that just invited young adventurers to climb to the top... And then I was really hooked.  I connected with the natural beauty of this land.  I felt its poetry. I could hear its music... this land  above the forests.  It is a land of ice-sculpted rocks, flower filled pocket meadows, flowing and falling water, and light.  Once in my blood, it has never left.

Me with rucksack

Along the way my friends and I decided that we really needed climbing equipment- but we didn’t know the first thing about rock climbing... I discovered a fledgling company in Seattle called REI – a mountaineer cooperative that only sold a small range of climbing equipment.  From them I purchased two books – both printed in England that described basic technique... 

Charlie and me after climbing this pinnacle

From the books I learned  what equipment we needed; rope, pitons, carabineers...  Rope was expensive – but I bought 120 ft. of 5/8” hemp rope for the climbing rope (this was before the age of nylon climbing rope) .  Then we sat about learning how to climb.  We learned the technique of using a rope to belay the lead man, using a hammer to drive a series of pitons into a vertical crack system, hanging slings to hold our weight, reaching a safe place and then belaying the persons below as they ascended. (Last person removed the pitons).

Packframe, rope, pitons & carabineers, piton hammer

Coming down over a cliff or steep slope involved using the rope to rappel down. ( Rope through the legs, over the shoulder, and hanging down the back. then lean into the rope and hold tight! ) .   We learned how to descend rapidly through a field of loose scree by glissading, and the art of using a minimum effort to cross a field of larger rocks by jumping from one high rocky point to the next high point – With practice and luck this allows quite rapid movement.  In high elevations we struggled with the oxygen poor air - making progress  slow and painful.  But the exhilaration of standing on the peak is grand!

A chimney maneuver

Along the way I sometimes had opportunities to travel with more experienced climbers – from whom I learned a great deal.  My sister arranged for me to climb with the Fresno State University mountain group.  I recall that climbing a  particularly fine pinnacle with them was some of the most exposed climbing I ever did -  but I felt like I was  in competent  hands.

Limestone cave - W. side of Sierras

On one trip I spent about 12 hours underground with a caving group that had to employ various climbing techniques. One caving experience was enough for me – There was a lot of crawling through very confined spaces, and swinging across vertical holes  –  I prefer sunlight to carbide lanterns.

A good part of mountaineering was the time spent pouring over maps, closing routes, destinations, planning supplies.  

After I went away to college and getting settled in my career I was pretty much away from my beloved mountains for a number of years. And when I fell in love with Judy and learned that she to had a love for the mountains, our mountain adventures have continued ever since.

Judy - on a mountain top

At this point in my life I feel like I have come full circle – back to enjoying quieter rambles through the high rocks and meadows. We still reach some dramatic high country – but no more ropes and climbing.  Like Uncle John “it is the journey” rather than the “destination” that draws me now.  I still get very excited by the sight of a pika or a water ouzel... by a miniature Sierra Columbine or a Sticky Monkey flower... by the water flowing out of an ice cave and the clean rarified air at 12000 ft.

August at 12000 ft.

Here is a poem I wrote to the mountains a few years ago...

Hello, Old Friend

Those were crystal mornings

When my levis

Soaked with dew

Crossed your green bladed meadows

Laughing as my rucksack rode strong and balanced on my back

With audacity

I believed that I mastered your granite faces and spires,

With unmeasured certainty

I accepted noon and twilight

Within your glades and talus fields.

Now you remind me

Of companion faces long unremembered

Bits of conversation still linger in your twilight air

Like eagle feathers stuck into a broken straw hat.

I believed that I could conquer your every aspect

But I didn't see your patient smile

It has taken me all these years to understand.

“Hello, old friend

Why have I changed and not you?”

The backside of "Sawtooth" in Mineral King

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The friends we never knew we had...

Photos this week are student painted wall murals in the patio of Alameda High School.  The specific artists are generally not listed on the murals.  They are presented without titles.

Queen Elizabeth has got it right when she refers to herself using the “Royal We”.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_plural. We should all speak of ourselves in the plural!

 Every surface and crevice of our body is an ecosystem for myriad organisms that find conditions just right for them to live and thrive.  Roughly 100 trillion microorganisms call us each home.  (More than the number of people that has ever lived). We each have between 3 and 5 pounds of bacteria cells living in our digestive system alone!

There are horrific diseases caused by bacterial invasions.  Our natural immune systems have evolved to attempt to deal with these attacks, and modern medicine has a justified focus on combating disease. 


However the role of bacteria living in our bodies and contributing to our well being is a new and exciting field of study.  Some bacteria in my body allow me to take energy from the food I eat, by releasing digestive enzymes that I cannot produce on my own.   Bacterial enzymes also stimulate the production of vital nutrients needed by my body.  They control or prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in my body.  As I live my life, bacteria have interacted with my immune system, programing it to recognize “self” cells from “non self” cells that may be harmful.  The critical roles of positive bacteria is now being examined as a means to combat illness. 

Since their discovery, bacteria have gotten bad press... Just like people, the troublesome minority have given the others a negative image.  Actually, bacteria are necessary at each step of our lives to maintain the health of our bodies.  Many of the enzymes that we require for normal body functions are produced by specific species of bacteria. A major new study was published this week focusing on the interaction of microbes with our whole body system.

This is big news!  http://www.hmpdacc.org/ Check it out...

How has this codependence between man and bacteria come about? Coevolution occurs when two organisms adapt and change over time in response to the other.  The conditions in a particular region of the human body are ideal for the growth of particular species of bacteria.  Over time as my body chemistry has changed, the bacteria have adapted to the changes, and have varied their products.  The human body has also adapted to become dependent on the by-products of the bacteria.  One changes due to environmental change, the other evolves dependence in response.

Also surprising is the fact that we each have vastly unique combinations of bacteria living in our bodies... not really surprising when you consider how we each encounter the world in such different ways, different foods, pets, family and colleagues, travels... Through all of these experiences we accumulate unique “gardens” of bacteria.  There may be as many as 5000 different species of bacteria living in our mouths alone– and nearly all are benign or beneficial to our well-being.  What does that tell you about a friendly kiss!

One surprise discovery is how by moving a few centimeters along our digestive gut the environment changes subtly in terms of available oxygen, acidity, nutrients, etc.   The slightly different environments are advantageous to different populations of bacteria, which in turn produce different by-products upon which our bodies have become dependent.

Virus particles are microorganisms too. They are incredibly smaller than bacteria.  Many virus particles specialize in attacking our bacteria cells.  This complex interaction may be part of the human immunological response to disease.  It is a rich field for future research!  In addition we have fungus organisms in abundance.  One of the miracles of the body is our ability to use the immune system to fight pathogenic disease causing organisms and tolerating beneficial bacteria.

There has been some talk in recent years about introducing into the gut  “friendly” probiotic bacteria, when travelling in a foreign country with “strange” bacteria that may cause “travellers digestive problems”.  You can buy over the counter capsules with friendly living probiotic bacteria. In theory they fill the gut with benign organisms that minimize the growth of strange foreign bacteria. 

Also when you take a course of powerful antibiotics you weaken or kill the disease organisms, but also kill the vast assemblage of  normal good bacteria.  There is concern about leaving this environment vacant until the normal biotic communities can become reestablished (lest a bad guy microorganism gets established first). Some people eat large amounts of yogurt or other naturally probiotic foods to introduce friendly living bacteria to help refill the space..

Learning to manage and “farm” our normal bacteria is an exciting new direction for medicine. This is breaking news and I urge  you to watch for developments as the research continues.

To read more go to;

BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15356016

NY Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/science/studies-of-human-microbiome-yield-new-insights.html?_r=2&src=dayp

How to make probiotic sauerkraut: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/homemadekraut.htm

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Notes: 6.14.12

The Oregon coast  is still cool and sometimes rainy in June- but that did not deter the  Childers family- the family of Judy's mother (Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces, Nephews, Inlaws and Outlaws),  from gathering for a reunion, in a beautiful Quaker camp near Twin Rocks beach...  It was a fine varied group that came together to share stories and music, laughter, competitions, walks on the beach, great food,  and following a "tradition", we brought white elephants to auction off - the proceeds go toward financing the next reunion in three years...It was great fun but too brief!

Beach littered with winter driftwood - twilight

---Now for something more serious...

Are you concerned about the challenges to the world economy that have been surfacing recently?  This week I want to connect some dots that help explain the situation for me.

For the moment forget the whole partisan divide about how to fix the economy.  Before we can find a solution we have to be honest about the situation we are in. 

Twin Rocks Beach -one rock has a sea cave

 Here are some facts:

1.  The population of the US is currently over 311 million people.  In 2000 we had 281.4 million, and 1990 248.7 million people.  Each year there are many more people needing employment.

2.  US companies are instituting efficiency programs, which require fewer workers to accomplish the same or greater output. Computer automation, robots for assembly tasks, streamlined procedures... Major cause of layoffs... Even my supermarket has scanner/computer units for self check out of groceries - no humans clerks required.

Mt Shasta from 30,000 ft. 

3.  Where do Americans go to buy tools, appliances, food, and clothing? When you are short of money you go to Wal-Mart, Chain stores, cut rate stores.

And where is most of their merchandise produced: China, Latin America, other parts of the second and third world countries.

Why is this so? Workers will accept salaries far belong US minimum wages.

Bottom-line: Not as many American workers are needed, fewer people are employed, they shop where its least expensive, which sends profits to companies abroad ( often American based companies ).  This pattern does not support American business growth at home.

Central Oregon countryside

4.  American capitalism has accomplished incredible growth in the past because American products, available no where else,  were much in demand by people of our world. Two problems:  
a.  Now other countries are developing and marketing products much desired by the rest of the world.
b.  For years we believed that a healthy economy was marked by increased profits each year.  How long can that be sustained?
The prime motivation of a company is to maximize profits.    It makes good financial sense to go where wages and raw materials are cheapest.

The Rogue River in one of its quiet locations

It is a smoke screen to suggest that cutting taxes will benefit American workers. A large business owner, receiving a tax cut knows that it makes business sense to reinvest profits where you can hope for the greatest returns– investment in your overseas operations or simply bank it. – Every legitimate study proves over and over again that  “trickle down” economics does not result in benefitting the middle class or wage earning workers, ...It stays in the pockets of the 1%.

Portland from the Williamette River

So why do some political parties advocate for higher taxes when it won’t help the economy?  Big business knows that the best way to get favorable legislation is to have “favorable” legislators  in your pocket, dependent on campaign contributions.  Persistent lobbyists actually write the legislation bills and give them to complicit politicians to present and support in Congress. Today there are 12,553 lobbyists active in Washington DC - paid to influence the outcome of legislation!  http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/09/13/us-obama-lobbying-sb-idUSTRE58C1NX20090913

How we got to Oregon - Good old Southwest Airlines

Where can we begin to address the problem ?  Educate yourself - Keep informed – read and listen to a wide range of input... Read your news critically... When I read an editorial - the first thing I ask is "Who wrote it?" and "What interest do they have in the matter?"  Keep a healthy amount of suspicion of news sources... Many people have been conditioned to think that Fox news has some special handle on "accurate reporting" ... by all impartial studies show that its programming is determined by extreamist owners  - out of touch with traditional Republican values. This source helps me to understand  Fox in perspective:  http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fox_News

At the end of the reunion - everyone was reluctant to leave ...

Give of your time and money. Engaging with others  with whom you do not agree is an art and a challenge... Learn to listen  and hear what the other is saying.  Learn to present your ideas tactfully but clearly.  If you put the other person on the defensive you have lost.  Get a sense of when to keep quiet.


We vote every time we buy something - Do your purchases support the future of the American economy and American jobs or are you supporting the growth of China, Mexico, and other cheap labor markets...?


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