[National] Bad Idea From Darlene Hooley

A letter to Congresswoman Hooley:

Your recent e-mail (click here to see) questioning the transfer of port management to Dubai Ports World is a bad, bad example of pandering, and the staffer who briefed you on this issue made a mistake.

If we don't have trustworthy friends in the Muslim world, we will never find peace with an open society based on world trade. We must avoid showing Muslims we are xenophobic, and since this is a transfer from one overseas management corporation (which also was not rigidly inspected before they took the reins) to another, drawing attention to *this* transfer tells Muslims we can't, won't, don't trust them.

Port management companies follow the procedures DHS and the Congress dictate.

If you are truly concerned with security, then provide full funding for 100% inspection, for even if we had 100% US ownership of port management, our container inspection system system inspects only 5% of all containers and only 1 % of containers are inspected overseas.


One nuke (out of how many hundreds of the tens of thousands made? out of how many hundreds of ex-Soviet suitcase nukes which are unaccounted for?) exploding on the deck of a ship in harbor, would make large portions of any city uninhabitable for decades, because water detonations create the worst possible conditions for contamination.


Add to that the likely enhancement of the device by surrounding it with metals which would become radioactive easily, like cobalt (not a controlled or tracked substance because of its industrial utility and commonality). That easy and undetectable step would multiply the lethality of fallout several hundred fold, and anyone with the time to think about the matter would see that cargo inspection has no business being performed in a metropolitan area.

I realize you're overworked and understaffed, and your staff are overworked, but insulting Muslims (which I ain't, by the way) through challenging the transfer of port management to a corporation with Muslim leadership won't make us more secure, and will have the opposite effect. It will add fuel to the fire by insulting the Arab world.

Please, instead, seek full funding for 100% inspection of every cargo container arriving, either offshore or in locations far away from high density population areas. THAT is a positive solution to this problem.

[Food]Layers of Chocolate, Best to Worst

One might want to think about the fact that chocolate triggers dopamine release in the brain. I suspect that eating a lot of 100% solids could have a mildly consciousness-altering effect. One might draw parallels with the various other civilisations that got their warriors all ****ed up on drugs before sending them out to fight...

A Brit-blogger spoke with a U.K. chocolatier and found a few things which should inform you, the consumer, about the quality of the chocolate you buy to enjoy. Apologies for his naming UK and European chocolate companies, but, well, that's what he's used to.

Now, one key element, the nature of the bean (premium Criollo, hybrid Trinitatio, or Forastero waaay down there at the bottom) is something which we probably will never get the USDA to require we be told. Right now, we're not told whether coffee comes from Arabica or Robusta beans, and coffee does not have the tie-in to the enormously influential sugar industry which chocolate does. But, if ever you see any of those words on a chocolate advertisement or label, please write back to Clackablog (e-mail address at top of the blog web page) & let me know.

However, if you see the words 'acid' or 'cacao solids' you're getting factory chocolate. The more different oils and fats you see on a label other than the original cacao butter, the more it's been adulturated.

I'll ask Mrs Clackablog, the chemist, to give this a once-over, and help with more label-reading tips.

MEDICARE DRUG FORUM TONIGHT

Sen. Kurt Schrader & Rep. Dave Hunt invite you and your family to attend tonight's forum to learn how to best navigate Medicare Part D:

Monday, February 13 @ 5:30pm
Gladstone Senior Center
1050 Portland Avenue, Gladstone

This is a great opportunity to get answers from the experts:

* Cynthia Hylton from Oregon Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance Program (SHIBA), the state agency designed specifically to help educate the public about Medicare.
* Katie Gauthier from Oregonians for Health Security will lend expertise about the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, the state-sponsored program to assist Oregonians with their prescription & wellness costs.

Over 20 different companies are offering multiple Medicare Part D plans in Oregon, but are not allowed to market these plans by calling you directly. To find out which plan is best for you, gather your list of prescriptions and visit www.medicare.gov, call 1-800-MEDICARE, or contact a volunteer from Oregon SHIBA (Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance) at 800-722-4134.

If you are unable to attend tonight's forum but would like more information about Medicare Part D, please contact Representative Hunt at rep.davehunt@state.or.us or 503/986-1440.

[National] Krewe Du Vieux

The first major parade of Carnival season in New Orleans is over. Anyone surprised they have a dim view of FEMA?

[World] Congress shall make no....

and neither shall anyone else.

[Oregon] Measure 111: Its Time Has Come

Once upon a time, medicine was a bad joke, so the Founders didn't even cover it in version one-dot-oh of the Big Contract. Nowadays, if you're talkin' unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, you ARE talking about a certain basic standard of health care with dignity. No begging in quadruplicate to drug companies and waiting months so you can get a little plastic card for a munificent discount on their drugs, drugs which have become vitally significant elements of healthcare.

There's simple stuff which doesn't require an MRI on every block would significantly improve longevity as well as make for a healthy American workforce. Heck, if Cut Off, Louisiana can do it, Oregon sure can.

Heck, we might even get below No. 47 in national longevity. Yep. We're fourty-seventh! We're fourty-seventh!

This ballot measure tells the Oregon Lege to improve things.. sure, they won't get it right the first time, but with the US longevity rate lower than 46 other countries (see list below), hadn't we better get serious about extending the world's best health care system to Americans?


Campaign organizers for Measure 111, the Healthy Oregon Plan, will distributing signature sheet packets on Saturday Feb. 11th from 9AM-11AM at 537 NE 29th Ave, very close to Tri-Met's 19 and 12 bus lines. Click here for Trimet's Trip Planner. A more general meeting will follow on Saturday the 18th, time & location TBA.


And, who's got us beat? Countries with longer life expectancy than the U.S., as per the CIA: Andorra, Macau, San Marino, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Guernsey, Iceland, Canada, Cayman Islands, Italy, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Spain, Norway, Israel, Jersey, Faroe Islands, Aruba, Greece, Martinique, Austria, Virgin Islands, Malta, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Montserrat, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Guam, United Kingdom, Finland, the Isle of Man, Puerto Rico, Jordan, Guadeloupe, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bermuda and Saint Helena.

What have they got that we don't? Answers are welcomed. Step right up.

[TriMet] Google Transit

http://www.google.com/transit is the first in a rollout of Google Maps which include mass transit schedules. Here's an example of a trip from the Oak Grove library to the branch library in Hollywood. Looks pretty neat, and much faster than Tri-Met's own website. Recommended.

[National] Katrina Discussions

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs holds a series of hearings on Hurricane Katrina, as a part of its ongoing investigations into the most-warned about, and most-poorly-managed, major disaster of modern times. Click here to watch the finger-pointing live, or click here and pick the room number from the list shown for audio-only.

The Defense Department’s Role in the Response Thurs., Feb. 9, 2006, 7:00 a.m. PST.
The Roles of DHS and FEMA Leadership Fri., Feb. 10, 2006, 6:30 a.m. PST.
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Worsen the Disaster Mon., Feb. 13, 2006, 7:00 a.m. PST.
The Homeland Security Department’s Preparation and Response Tue., Feb. 14, 7:00 a.m. PST.

Previous episodes (video downloadable for use with Real Alternative or Real Player) include:

Preparing for a Catastrophe: The Hurricane Pam Exercise (a Potemkin Village exercise in New Orleans, a year before Katrina. How could the exercise been so perfect, but the reality so atrocious?)
Managing the Crisis and Evacuating New Orleans
The Role of the Governors in Managing the Catastrophe
Evacuating New Orleans in Advance of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina: Urban Search and Rescue in a Catastrophe
Mississippi’s Recovery
Who’s In Charge of the New Orleans Levees?
Perspectives of FEMA’s Operations Professionals
What Can Government Learn from the Private Sector’s Response?
‘Always Ready’: The Coast Guard’s Response to Hurricane Katrina
Why Did the Levees Fail?
New Orleans: A Flooded City, a Chaotic Response
How is FEMA Performing Its Mission at This Stage of Recovery?
Recovering from Hurricane Katrina: Responding to the Immediate Needs of Its Victims
Recovering from Hurricane Katrina: The Next Phase
and, another bon mot which should have been an eye-opener:
FEMA’s Response to the 2004 Florida Hurricanes: A Disaster for Taxpayers?

Also, Alabama's Department of Public Health and The South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness will present “When Every Second Counts: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina,” on Tue., Feb. 14, 2006, 10:00-11:30 a.m. PST. Register here for the live webcast after testing your readiness to run Real Alternative/RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.

[National] Energy Independence @ 2 cents / KWH

Wednesday, I stumbled across (Thank you, BoingBoing !) a discussion of airborne windmills. One tethered version posits two cents per KWH, which ain't shabby, but has to ground when thunderbumpers start sparking, or Auntie Em's house flies by. Not suited for the tropics, but better for high latitudes, places (like Oregon) which really need the power (to keep back The Ice?) Given that China's now alleged to be the cause of 1/4 of LA's smog, I certainly hope someone Over There's looking at this tech, too.

Add in microwave power transmission as the esteemed First Blogger explained in Fallen Angels, and the tether could be non-conductive; therefore, lightning nearby would not require grounding it, and availability of power from the Skymill(TM) goes up. I think this would surely benefit The Republic For Which We Stand, by reducing the opportunity for energy shortage-driven panics to lead to corporate-imperial adventurism.

At very least, this would enrich the near-space environment and makes it easier to work off the surface for long periods of time. Combine that with the incrementalist approach of JP Aerospace and their plans to use three different designs of blimps for a slow but very safe and very very cheap replacement for rockets, and we'd be far better off investing in this, rather than extracting oil at gunpoint.

[Newspeak] Outlawing Comedy

Rowan Atkinson, one of the funniest men of our time, speaks here to Parliament on the foolishness of legislating against 'hate speech' and on the impact upon civil society were that to be enacted An excerpt:

In (other) words, you haven't committed an offence unless of course you've committed the offence, in which case I'm afraid you've committed an offence.

[Civitas] Calendar of Public Meetings for February 2006 affecting Oak Lodge

Calendar of Public Meetings for February 2006 affecting Oak Lodge
Note meeting times and places may change so data should be confirmed in advance.
Click here for the list.

[Crime] Oregon City Girls book, national newsmagazine story

Friday last, Dateline NBC shed a little light on the local/federal investigations into the Pond & Gaddis murders of 2002, as per this Tribune story and article from the Oregonian.

[National] The Worst Case Scenario: Is America Ready For A Nuclear Terrorist Attack?

And, the answer from the Bush Administration, as you will read from the latest Sixty Minutes story below, is obviously, "We don't care."

(CBS) We can no longer ignore the worst-case scenario of a nuclear terrorist attack on an American city. Osama bin Laden has made it clear he wants to obtain nuclear weapons and use them against us.

The 9/11 Commission considers such an attack the No. 1 threat today, not because it’s the most likely disaster scenario, but because it would be the most devastating. The chairman of the 9/11 Commission even says he expects to see such an attack on an American city in his lifetime.

Hundreds of thousand of people could die in a nuclear attack, but hundreds of thousands of others could be saved. That’s because the Pentagon — after decades of searching — believes it has found a drug to treat radiation exposure. Why isn’t that drug available?

Correspondent Ed Bradley reports. (Story follows: Click here or on COMMENTS, below).

[Civitas] Oak Grove Sanitary Wants You!

Richard Jones passed on news of a vacancy on the board of the Oak Grove Sanitary District, which meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the District's Administration Building at 14611 SE River Road.

Hi There,

This e-mail is aimed at Oak Lodge Sanitary District residents. Attached is an application for Oak Lodge Sanitary District Master Plan Advisory Committee.
January 31st (Tuesday) is the final time for returning the application.

Becoming involved early is important because early involvement increases the likelihood your ideas will be included.

Have a great day,

Dick J

Filling these seats with people who actually do their homework and think is important to keeping the quality of services up, while keeping the gost of government and its impact upon us, low. Failure to do that the last time could have been expensive. Here's an application form in PDF form.

[Farvernügen] Choosing the safer car

Electronic Stability Control (ESC and other acronyms) has been shown to significantly reduce the chance of accidents.

Since the best way to avoid an accident is not to have one, ESC is a good idea. So, I cross-referenced 2004-2006 vehicles which had ESC against NCAP crash test ratings, and filtered out the vehicles which had only a 3-star or lower crash test rating.

Click here for the results.

[Xmas] Deck Us All With Boston Charlie

The formalities of the season must be observed, and one of them is The Original MashUp, brought to us by The First Blogger, the esteemed Dr. Jerry Pournelle.

One might wish to go back to the original source, however, and short of a trip to Fort Mudge in the depths of the Okeefenokee, here may be a viable reference for the serious scholars of Pogo among us.

[Feds] It's a matter of national security

If word gets out that we're ill-prepared, it will only encourage the hurricanes to intensify their attacks. Therefore, is it a matter of National Security that FEMA conceal its incompetence?

Mark Tapscott blogged:

If there were an award for the least popular federal agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency would probably be a near-unanimous choice, thanks to the barrage of negative media it received during the Hurricane Katrina debacle. Maybe that is why FEMA is using the Freedom of Information Act to keep behind closed doors the results of its own customer satisfaction survey on how well the agency’s inspectors did their jobs following hurricanes Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan. The way FEMA is doing it points to why one of the most frequently used and abused FOIA exemptions ought to be seriously tightened up or repealed outright.

[Feds] TSA does something right

However, there's actually an improvement: The TSA new policies are a real improvement in safety.

Read this article by a real security expert, Bruce Schneier, to understand why the TSA is moving in the right direction and why critics like Salon don't get it. Key quote:

Exactly two things have made airline travel safer since 9/11: reinforcement of cockpit doors, and passengers who now know that they may have to fight back. Everything else -- Secure Flight and Trusted Traveler included -- is security theater. We would all be a lot safer if, instead, we implemented enhanced baggage security -- both ensuring that a passenger's bags don't fly unless he does, and explosives screening for all baggage -- as well as background checks and increased screening for airport employees.

The TSA deserves credit for its shift in policy, not abuse.

AGENDA, Oak Lodge Community Council

December 7, 2005, Oak Lodge Sanitary office, 14611 SE River Road, Oak Grove, Oregon

(Details after the jump; click here for more).

[Media] No, I Didn't Crash Blogger

If you tuned in yesterday and found 404 - Page Not Found or suchlike on all of Blogspot.Com (where this blog is hosted), I didn't do it. Wasn't my fault. No, not me.

Blog*Spot was down for a few hours yesterday due to an unexpected server outage, causing timeout, 404, and similar errors when trying to view blogs. This problem was solved and we are implementing better monitoring to better catch and resolve such issues in the future. If you continue to have problems viewing Blog*Spot blogs, please try clearing your browser's cache and cookies, then reloading the blog(s) in question. Thanks for your patience.

The timing was soooo concidental.. for the Oregonian local bureau published a story on my blogging just before Blogspot crashed.

Oak Lodge Community Council meeting Wed. the 7th

The regular November-December Oak Lodge Community Council meeting is tomorrow evening, December 7th, at Oak Lodge Sanitary's office.

The agenda is packed: Ron Weinman from Clackamas County's DTD will update us on the County's Capital Improvement Progam (CIP). Applicants or representatives from two groups will share information, there are several land use applications for review as well as District and agency reports.

Thoughts on the war

Every once in a while, Fred On Everything writes about something I can actually quote.. not that he's wrong, mind you, but a steady diet of Fred would unravel the minds of the media elite and those who accept the 500 channels of video pablum delivered from the the White House Press Office and the poverty industry via Comcast-ABC/Disney-DirecTV-CBS-Dish-NBC-TimeWarner.

I like to keep him prominently on my virtual shelf because he will challenge his own assumptions as ruthlessly as anyone else's. That needs doing, a lot.

Well, he's provided a cogent and concise comparison of the working stiffs in the press (not the suits who decide what gets covered, but the actual foot soldiers of the Fifth Estate), their motivations, and how those are bound to collide with those of our military. Here's a snippet:

For example, many in Washington who actually know how the press works (the military actually doesn’t) believe that the press supports the war in Iraq, has until recently given the White House a free ride, and has been adroitly controlled by the government. I agree. If newspapers had been against the war, they would have published countless photos of gut-shot soldiers who will never get a date, paraplegics doomed to a life on a slab, and more Abu Ghraib photos (which they have.) Soldiers don’t know this. In any event, anything but unqualified support is treason.

The military usually regards journalists as cowards. (“Coward” and “traitor” are their gravest pejoratives.) This is questionable. When the 2000th US soldier died in Iraq, I checked the site of Reporters Without Borders and found that 72 reporters had been killed there (with two more missing), or 3.6 percent of the military total. I don’t know how many troops have served in Iraq. Just now it is about 160,000. To be conservative, let’s call it 130,000 on average, making 347,100 for two and two-thirds years of war. By the equation 2,000/347,000 = 72/x, one finds that there would have to have been 12,500 reporters in Iraq to have equal rates of death between reporters and soldiers. Otherwise, the press is taking casualties at a higher rate than the military. The calculation is rough, but makes the point.

When I was a child back there in Journalism School (with an odd curriculum, very out of fashion, where Journalism was under the School of Business and there was a strong expectation you'd have to be able to calculate and read a balance sheet to cover a story), I went to school with Iranian and Iraqi students, and my senior paper was on the Islamic Press. Folks, brace yourself: They don't think like we do.

It's kinda clear to me that our overseas press, brave as they are, miss the boat, and fail to engage the Islamofascists with the same degree of skepticism they've used for two centuries to keep our government occasionally honest. Sure would be nice if they considered this advice from a guy who knows what's going on:

Here's something that needs to be emphasized. The leaders and media of the western world continually refer to 'mujahadeen' (holy warriors) and 'jihad' (holy war) in their references to Islamic terrorists. By the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (Allah bless he and his progeny) and Islamic law, the terrorists should properly be called 'mufsidoon' (evildoers) who engage in al-Hiraba (unholy war against society - that which destroys, rather than supports, betterment of humanity). These words make considerable difference when speaking to and of Muslims. The connotations of all are extremely important. Can you imagine trying to recruit a young Muslim for a suicide murder mission if he is going to be participating in al-Hiraba and thus condemned to 'jahanam' (hell)?

I routinely espoused the concepts of 'musfidoon' and 'hiraba' to the people and leaders in my province in Iraq - they began to use the words! This even spilled into some of the rhetoric of people from other provinces! We must continue to use the proper words of Islam to describe the despicable acts committed by those who pervert the teachings of the Prophet (Allah bless he and his progeny).

More discussion follows here, in the First Blog.

Amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate,...

Why McDonald's French Fries Taste So Good is an Atlantic Monthly excerpt from Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. This article notes the rise of, and influence of, the flavor industry in the manipulation of our culinary desires.

The laundry list of chemicals above came from a Burger King strawberry shake. Have it your way?

Calendar of Public Meetings for December 2005

Please consider that times and places may change, so confirming details in advance is wise.

Locations:
County Commission Board Offices are at 2051 Kaen Road.
ESD office is at 4101 SE Lake Road.
Homewoods Heights is at 17999 SE River Road.
Oak Lodge Sanitary Office is at 14611 SE River Road.
Milwaukie Center is at 5440 SE Kellogg Creek Drive.
Mt. Scott Fire Station of CCFD No. 1 is at 9339 SE Causey Avenue.
SSC is the Sunnybrook Service Center, 9101 SE Sunnybrook Blvd.

Tuesday the 6th
8:30 AM Board of Commissioners Study session at Board offices.

Wednesday the 7th

7:00 PM Traffic Safety Commission meets at SSC.
7:00 PM Oak Lodge Community Council regular Nov.-Dec. meeting at Oak Lodge Sanitary office.

Thursday the 8th

7:40 AM Economic Development Commission meets at SSC.
10:00 AM Land Use Hearing with Hearings Officer at SSC.
10:00 AM Clackamas County Commissioners weekly meeting at Board offices.
6:00 PM NCP&RD DAB meets at Milwaukie Center.
7:00 PM Historic Review Board meets at SSC.

Friday the 9th
10:00 AM Milwaukie Center Advisory Board meets at Milwaukie Center.

Monday the 12th
6:30 PM Planning Commission meets at SSC.

Tuesday the 13th
9:00 AM Board of Commissioners Study session at Board offices.
6:30 PM Oak Lodge Sanitary Board monthly meeting at Board offices.

Wednesday the 14th
9:30 AM BCC Land Use Hearing at Board offices.

Thursday the 15th
9:00 AM Land Use Hearing with Hearings Officer at SSC.
10:00 AM Clackamas County Commissioners weekly meeting at Board offices.
7:00 PM North Clackamas School Board meets at ESD office.

Monday the 19th
7:00 PM Fire District No. 1 Board meeting at Mt. Scott Fire Station.

Tuesday the 20th
8:30 AM Board of Commissioners Study session at Board offices.
7:00 PM Oak Lodge Water Board monthly meeting at District offices.

Wednesday the 21st
9:00 AM Sunrise Corridor Briefing at SSC.

Thursday the 22nd
10:00 AM Clackamas County Commissioners weekly Board meeting.

Tuesday the 27th
8:30 AM Board of Commissioners Study session at Board offices.
7:00 PM Jennings Lodge CPO meets at Homewoods Heights.

Thursday the 29th
10:00 AM Clackamas County Commissioners weekly meeting at Board offices.

Tuesday December 27th
CPR training at Fire District #1: Contact the Fire Prevention Office, 503-655-8537 for details.
The cost is $10 to residents of Fire District #1.

Many thanks to the indefategable Dick Jones for this information. Any errors are mine.

Economic Recovery via WiFi

It was rumored that the first connection New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had with the outside world after Katrina travelled on a WiFi-connected Vonage VOIP telephone linked through the dedicated folks at DirectNIC.com, who stayed on line throughout it all.

Now, Nagin's announced an initiative to cover the entire city with WiFi, starting with the Central Business District and the French Quarter. Be nice if they could fix Old Glory first, though.

But, the economic advantages of free Internet everywhere are not difficult to see... and not impractical. Sure wish the folks around here would look at free WiFi as a way to apply CPR to what's left of downtown Milwaukie, instead of bemoaning the juggernaut that is Wal-Mart.

UPDATE: BellSouth has yanked the offer to allow the City of New Orleans to temporarily use a BellSouth building to aid in the recovery, allegedly because of the WiFi project. If you're a BellSouth shareholder, you may wish to express your views here; the web form for comments for everyone else is over there.

[Health] Appealing your health plan's denial of service

Ever try to read your health plan's rules? I recently did my 'due diligence' in looking over which of the two non-Kaiser plans would be least worst, and ended up with a lot of eyestrain and not a lot of useful facts. Fortunately, US News and World Report did some analysis for me, and here's their results.

In the process, I encountered a description of the appeals process available to Oregonians, which just might be useful to you.

[Geography] Zipped Up

Ever wonder just where your zip code went? Here's a new site which cross references zip codes with the enormously useful Open Source Google Maps.

Where's your zip code?

[Health] Brees Foundation

Surgeons are as bad as programmers; both professions select for folks who prize the social graces and, indeed, human interaction, far less than the joy of solving a challenge. Fortunately, when a programmer doesn't communicate well, you generally just get something like, say, Microsoft Windows.

However, when a surgeon doesn't communicate well with a patient, things get worse. I've had two major surgeries, both with fallout I'd rather have avoided, and one of those (Kaiser, wouldn't you know) had Unintended Consequences Not Explained. So, forgive me when I note I'm wary of the entire breed.

Brees Foundation is a Bandon-based alliance of breast cancer survivors who are taking charge. They're self-funded, and their 2006 calendar is now available for order. Recommended.

[Truth] FactCheck.Org

Katrina: What Happened When is a fascinating article from FactCheck.Org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. It was put together quickly to serve as a conduit for reports on the 2004 election, and has quickly grown to be exttremely useful for broader issues.

It, along with the debunking service Snopes, should be in the Favorites/Bookmarks of every web browser. Really.

Weather map of Milwaukie

This website overlays weather and other information over Google Maps.. so you can see where it's raining, et cetera.

If you click on Overlay at right and select Portland Radar, you can even overlay the current radar image, which looks something like this (but, click on the link above for what's happening now).



Wow.

Civilization Triumphs!

The Cafe du Monde reopened today, 19 Oct MMV. Now, you don't have to go to SW 6th and Alder to Island Joe's for your morning beignet and chicory cafe au lait fix.

Wednesday's Oak Lodge Community Council Special meeting

AGENDA: Special meeting
October 12, 2005
Rose Villa
13505 SE River Road
Oak Grove, Oregon

7:00 PM -- Call to Order: Dick Jones, Chairperson

ROLL CALL: Bill Bader, Bill Brown, Wilma Brown, Frank Budwill, Sue Conachan, Edith Coulter, Rosemary Crites, George Dietz, Jerry Foy, Bryn Gillem, Chuck Gode, Milo
Haas, Thelma Haggenmiller, Richard Holmes, David Jelinek, Dick Jones, Jim Knapp, Elinor Kuhns, Bill Neels, Elaine Neels, Chuck Petersen, Margaret Pritchard, Paul Savas, Eugene Schoenheit, George Schneider, Eric Shawn, Susan Shawn, Kent Squires,
Julie Stanley, Dr. Elton Storment, Bob Waldt, Leonard Waldemar, Don Wake, Suzanne Wake, Roy Wikman and Doug Woods.

7:05 PM – Land Use Issues for Voting

Introduction of procedures by Chairperson. Eligibility for Voting, Time Limits, presentations by those in favor, the Council’s on-site review and those opposed.


Z0772-05 The applicant is seeking to partition a parcel into two lots. It is located on the east side of River Forest Drive near the intersection with River Forest Rd. This parcel has 22,100 sq. ft. and is zoned R-10 This application in some form has been before the OLCC several times in the last 18 months.

Z0370-05 This is an appeal of a staff decision dated August 25, 2005 involving adding 4 residential lots and an open tract for future development at the end of Minerva Lane off Oetkin Rd. The appellant believes the proposed roadway will take place on her property as well as environmental concerns. The applicant letter is the agenda.

Z0651-05 The applicant is seeking approval for 10-lot subdivision. The lots will range between 8,030 and 11,912 sq.ft. This parcel is 2.99 acres located at 15510 Wallace Rd. It is zoned R-10.

Z0758-05 This application is for Design review for a third warehouse structure on Ken Hood’s former property and a proposed monitoring Plan for traffic on Vineyard Rd.

8:00 PM General Matters for Discussion

Review Clearwater issue-Eugene Schoenheit

8:30 PM – Meeting Adjourned

Disaster survival

What should be the final word on disaster survival: Rescue yourself.

Avoiding water-damaged cars when buying

An estimated 570,000 cars were 'totalled' as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as per the head of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) in media releases last week. And, as per NPR and other news sources, about half of storm-damaged cars which should have been parted out or scrapped will be resold through various kinds of chicanery.

So, here's NADA's tips on how to avoid getting a Katrinamobile.

TripAdvisor.com

Did some trip planning a while back, and found that Trip Advisor was the most useful of the sites used, far more than the major sites, when it came to studying the different places to stay out of town. The post-mortem reports from conventioneers who stayed in various different hotels were pretty close to what the reviewes on TripAdvisor had to say. Its reviews also match up accurately with Clackablog's experiences with the resorts in his old home town on the Gulf of Mexico (nowadays, a tourist trap/geezerville).

Red Light Cameras Cause More Accidents. Again.

The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer. But a *Post* analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices. Three outside traffic specialists independently reviewed the data and said they were surprised by the results. Their conclusion: The cameras do not appear to be making any difference in preventing injuries or collisions....

Del Quentin Wilber and Derek Willis, *The Washington Post*, 4 Oct 2005, A01

Project Censored

Project Censored's report on the twenty-five most important, yet under/un-covered stories of 2004-2005, has some doozies.

I imagine my friends in the Great White North will be just a wee bit flamed when they read Number 16. Number 25 is undeniably true; first responders know the highest public risk is from our our sadly insecure chemical infratructure, easily used against us. And, no, Abdul, I don't feel like telling you how.

The societal risk from Number 18 was exquisitely explained by Robert Frezza (Major, USA, Ret.) in his superb FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE for, like Dean Ing, Jerry Pournelle and the Admiral, Frezza doesn't need Western Union to send a message.

But, Numbers 4 and 11 will lead us someplace I don't care to go; Oceana, or Epsilons, perhaps, but nowhere the Founding Fathers would recognize, or desire, I fear.

And how will we get there? Just review this bon mot from Number Three about our peculiar and most recent election:

The Edison and Mitofsky report dismisses the possibility that the official vote count was wrong, stating that precincts with electronic voting systems had the same error rates as precincts with punch-card systems. This is true. However, it merely points to the unreliability of punch-card and electronic systems, both of which are slated for termination under the Helping America Vote Act of 2002. According to the report, only in precincts that used old-fashioned, hand-counted paper ballots did the official count and the exit poll data fall within the normal margin of error.

Also, the report shows, the discrepancy between the exit polls and the official count was considerably greater in the critical swing states. And while this fact is consistent with allegations of fraud, Mitofsky and Edison suggest, without providing any data or theory to back up their claim, that this discrepancy is somehow related to media coverage.

In other words, the vote was skewed where it needed to be skewed, and only hand-counted paper ballots were immune to distortion.

Enough hard thinking. The Manchurian Candidate's on.

Seismic slip event underway: Are you ready to be Katrina'd?

The two big 'plates' which generate our greatest risk of major earthquake are moving. Here's the Toronto Globe and Mail story.

If the Big One hits, or even a Little One, best be prepared to take care of yourself for a week. Do you have that much bottled water (a gallon per day per person; includes rudimentary sanitation needs) and enough unfrozen, unrefrigerated food on hand (please do include a can opener), with the means to stay warm, when the electricity and gas lines go out if it doesn't hit until, say, January?

It's been four times that long since Katrina hit the Big Easy, and the majority of New Orleans still has no drinkable water... and, having been in multiple harricanes, they're pikers compared to what an 8.0 quake would do, which we see in the PNW about every 500 years. The last Big One was 305 years ago, BTW, so we have a 10-20% chance of another Big One in the next decade.

9.0? My imagination is not that good. But, here's what the Oregonian predicted for an 8.0, so just make everything 100 times worse for a 9.0.

Wouldn't hurt to check your insurance, too. I go out to too many fires where folks don't have insurance, let it lapse, or the agent screwed up. It's heartbreaking when that happens.

Get ready now and visit the Oregon Trail Chapter, American Red Cross, preparation site. Start with the water, then the food (Grocery Outlet has some marvelous bargains). You don't need the fancy schmancy MREs, just stuff you like to eat, comfort food. Then, work on heat, first aid supplies, and the knowledge on how to use them.

Don't count on 911 to save you; even Portland's center can only handle 40 calls at a time; Washington County 16 calls at once; more than ten calls crashes C-Com in Clackamas Co.

911 systems fail (and there's lots more where that came from). Columbia County's 911 center crashed last year without any crisis underway, and ham radio operators had to provide emergency communications. Gee, the beefed up system designed to handle an 'incident' at Trojan? Yep.

Therefore, knowing the 'back door' number into the 911 Center may be very useful. Here's the 'non-emergency' number, which may (no promises) work if 911 fails:

503.655.8211 Clackamas Co
503.397.1521 Columbia Co
503.823.3333 Portland/Multnomah Co
503.635.0238 Lake Oswego
503.538.8321 Newberg/Dundee
503.629.0111 Washington Co
503.434.6500 Yamhill Co

That presumes the fire trucks can roll. Has your fire station been upgraded to Zone Three quake specs? MANY HAVE NOT. FIND OUT NOW Call the non-emergency number for your fire department and ask.

Clackamas County Fire District Number One, Lake Oswego FD, Portland Fire Bureau fire stations map (large & requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) or list (no Adobe required) and Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.

Wouldn't hurt to ask your local FD about free CERT training: Here's a list of CERT programs around the state.

Of the 22 specific recommendations from a major quake exercise & study in 2002, exactly one (1) has been adopted by local government. One.

There were oodles of warnings to folks about hurricanes before Katrina, just like this warning. Do you want to be a victim, or a casualty? Your choice.

Oh. Have an interactive quake map.

OREGONIAN's owner praised for work on saving people in New Orleans

The New Orleans Times-Picayune is owned by Newhouse, who also owns the Oregonian. Those Newhouse papers have websites which at times are not as good as they could be, but in Katrina, NOLA.COM really shined. Here's an Online Journalism Review article about that NOLA.COM website, and a very relevant quote from its editor:

Donley: It was weird because we couldn't figure out where these pleas were coming from. We'd get e-mails from Idaho, there's a guy at this address and he's in the upstairs bedroom of his place in New Orleans. And then we figured out that even in the poorest part of town, people have a cell phone. And it's a text-enabled cell phone. And they were sending out text messages to friends or family, and they were putting it in our forums or sending it in e-mails to us.

The cell service didn't work, but they could send text. They're saying now that the body counts won't be as bad as they thought, and I know at least some of that is that people figured out how to hack the system, to use this kludge to save people's lives.

This stresses the importance of the SMS capability of your cellphone. See a previous article for details you, and your family, should know about SMS.

Mil-Blogs: What the grunts think

Blogs. Gotta love 'em. No better way to find out what's really going on? Or, a supreme test of your ability to separate fact from fiction and recalibrate your BS detector? YMMV.

Anway, here's an index to milblogs, web logs from the guys and gals with their boots on the ground.

Free CERT Disaster Training

CERT training is offered free by the Clackamas Co. Fire District No. 1. CERT was created after the World Series and Mexico City quakes when firefighters discovered spontaneous volunteers rescued a lot of people, but many of those volunteers were hurt or killed in the process.

Training teaches you how to effectively deal with disasters, while not becoming part of the disaster. Won't turn you into a firefigter, but will teach you how to deal with many disaster problems without getting hurt.

http://www.citizencorps.gov/programs/cert.shtm
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT
Google search on CERT

The classes will be held at:

Clackamas County Fire District #1 Training Center
15990 SE 130th, Clackamas, OR 97015 (off 212/224)

The available CERT training dates are:
October 15th, November 12th & December 3rd

You can sign up for the class by calling 503-742-2652.

News from the Southron Apocalypse

The Interdictor is a data center guy, blogging, with webcams, from DirectNIC.com, an ISP in a Central Business District highrise in New Orleans. Guess who I'm picking as my next web host, for this trial by fire shows they will be up and on line with my trivial babble until the Last Trump.

If there was a Pulitzer for blogging (present company excepted, of course), he'd be my recommendation for this year's ballot (last year being A View From A Broad, a female milblogger who just re-upped. (And, yes, as S.M. Sterling would say, I am distressingly liberal.)

This Wiki also gives you some idea about what's going on. There are other good Wikis, too; gotta get back to the phone bank.

[Health] Providence once more makes 'Most Wired' list

7.2 percent difference in risk-adjusted mortality rates after controling for size and teaching status, was found in this year's American Hospital Association study the impact of IT on hospital quality and patient survival. This is published in their current Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, itself an interesting read.

The Wall Street Journal analysis (by Laurie Kawakamia) of the HHN article also noted

Among the findings, the survey reports that 41% of the most-wired hospitals have most of their physicians using computerized systems for drug orders. That compares with 27% of all hospitals surveyed and 8% of the 100 least-wired hospitals. For medications ordered at the most-wired hospitals, 28% of all orders are performed by physicians electronically, up slightly from 27% last year and more than twice the average of all hospitals surveyed. At the least-wired hospitals, less than 2% of medication orders are entered electronically by doctors.

Electronic medication alerts, which warn of complications like duplicate orders, drug interactions or wrong dosages, also are more common at the most-wired hospitals. These hospitals are more likely to link their alert systems to electronic surveillance systems that monitor a patient's vital signs, lab-test results and other clinical information designed to notify caregivers if the patient's condition deteriorates.

Getting the hospital fully-integrated is an important step in the process, and I'm very pleased to see Portland Providence leading the way.

A rant, from the most tenacious defender of the free world

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

-Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).

[Wal-Mart] Milwaukie Mayor Opposed, in letter to Portland Mayor Potter

"A Wal-Mart at Tacoma and McLoughlin would drain the life out of our downtown core, as Wal-Marts have done all across this country," is the formal written response to a proposed Wal-Mart on the site of the old Goodwill & the old Mill End Store, sent to Portland's mayor by Milwaukie's mayor, Jim Bernard.

The Oregonian story also notes:

In his letter, Bernard said Milwaukie has been trying to rebuild its downtown and north industrial areas and hopes to bring a full-service grocery store to the central business district. He said allowing a Wal-Mart to build a grocery in that area would be a major blow to the city's efforts.

[Next Door] Trendy-third stranger stabbing?

Tigard geezer stabbed by apparent stranger at lunchtime monday outside McMenamins' on NW Trendy-Third in Portland.

[Justice] Judicial Math Error?

Sixteen years ago, Clackamas County was recognized as a leader in home detention via electronic monitoring of offenders.

How ironic is it, then, that the new sheriff can't expand this program, as recommended by the 2005 Grand Jury Correctional Facility Inspection Report, because of a county court order described in this Oregonian article.

It costs the county $20 an inmate to monitor them on home detention, compared with $95 an inmate to hold them in the county jail.

Hmm...

OK. Here's the Sheriff's plan:

76 jail beds to close, which cost $95 per day to operate = $7,220/day.

Double, from 40 to 80, the non-violent offenders monitored by this system, which would cost $800/day.

Where would that difference of $6,420/day, or two-point-three million dollars a year go?

Sounds to me like even more home detention, backed up with more sheriff's deputies on road patrol, might be beneficial.

PS: The 'County Court', as misnomered in the articles quoted above, is actually the Fifth Circuit Court of the State of Oregon. Phone numbers are listed here and the judges are listed here, county by county, in alphabetic order.

[World] I'm Feeling Jacksonian Today

And this is why they did it is a rather good issue summary from an Iranian, Amir Taheri, in the Times of London.

But, if you want to know what to do about it, read Soft Targets by Ashland's Dean Ing. Had anyone paid attention to him back in 1979, we might have a clue about how to handle this.

[Health] Physician, Heal Thyself: Tigard Doc & RN indicted for fake Botox scams

Hundred of folks were been shot up with fake Botox by an unscrupulous Tigard doc and nurse who bought cheap knock-off drugs instead, says the Statesman-Journal and the Lake Oswego Review. They've got a date in US District Court now, with 53 counts named in the indictments, after a January raid by the feds. The Oregonian adds:

Federal authorities say what Lentini and his nurse, Cathryn Garcia, actually used in treating hundreds of patients was an unapproved form of botulism toxin, some of it made in China and imported from a middleman in Turkey.

And, here's a class-action lawsuit in the making, in the event there's any of the hundreds of thousands of dollars made from the alleged scheme left.

[Next Door] Budget Travel Babbles About Portland

The MSNBC site which houses online content from Budget Travel magazine waxes ecstatic about Portland today.