Website Saved?

I'm not exactly clear on the details but my website and email may have been down some time from Monday - Wednesday, October 26-28th. For some reason my domain renewal was delayed. However, I'm glad to say that it looks like this has been remedied and the website, blog, domain, and email saved for at least another year.

While I still need to see confirmation on the Whois Database, I'm certain this will be forthcoming.

I apologize for an inconvenience, annoyance, misplaced hopes or other feelings this may have caused. I've still got plans for my website and have no intention of relinquishing it as long as I have a say in the matter.

What Hillsboro's Mayor Really Needs to Know

But couldn't be bothered hearing.

I am reading with utter horror Mr Willey's comments in the October 16th Argus. I am a Hillsboro resident, taxpayer, and voter and MR WILLEY DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME! I've tried to communicate repeatedly with the Mayor and City Council and it's clear, they don't care what citizen's think. They have their own economic and social agendas they are going to ram down the populace's collective throat.

Here are Hillsboro's most pressing problems:

1. Racial/Economic Segregation – There is a rich, mostly white Hillsboro and poor, mostly Hispanic Hillsboro. They don't mix. They don't really want to mix and it's very much a two-way street.
2. Hillsboro is a community of Rabbit Warren Neighborhoods designed around and for automobiles – pedestrians beware. If you are don't have a car, you are simply not wanted in Hillsboro.
3. City and County leadership, if it can be called that, are an 'old boy's club' of moneyed interests that are always looking out for themselves and their buddies at the expense of the citizens. I mean, what was the Fairgrounds Giveaway really other than easy money for developers? And what are these political junkets to Latin America and Europe but free vacations for Hillsboro's 'elected' officials? And don't even get me started and the tax breaks and corporate giveaways to 'attract' big corporations just long enough for the free tax ride to expire and the jobs to mysteriously vanish. What has this city done to keep the doors open at Hillsboro's small business employers? NOTHING! And every time I go out to visit one of these stores, I'm greeted with a going or gone out of business sign. But of course how many millions were spent on the Taj Mahal (aka the new city hall) so the Mayor and City Council could have a Starbucks in the building. We see where this government's priorities are – you wear them on your shirtsleeves.
4. City and County leadership is living in some never-never-land where they somehow see this area bucking the trends of our larger region and being some Los Angeles style oasis of urban sprawl and suburban decay. We need leaders who fight to keep the crappy transit system we used to have, not to bend over and take it when TriMet says Hillsboro no longer needs weekend or evening bus service in the neighborhoods. Portland and its neighborhood associations fought and kept much of their proposed cuts. But not Hillsboro. No, they want a new freeway and one train and one bus is good enough for all 100,000 residents.
5. Technology is not the panacea. More factories will not make Hillsboro better. After all, it seems your beloved Solar World might be the place where the noxious fumes originate that make the nighttime air disgusting to breath. Some of us do value things like parks, farms and wild areas and I would really rather eat food produced locally than more corporate junk food brought in from Indonesia or Brazil at the expense of what's left of this planet's tropical rain forest. Did you ever bother to think this is just as important to me as jobs, jobs and more jobs – and please give the exact number of Hillsboro residents (not transplants) who have been hired by Solar World. And how many have been imported from other states and countries? And how many are driving in their car alone each and every day from Portland, Wilsonville, Vancouver, or Vernonia?

Get a clue! Pay attention to what citizens think and at least try and communicate with voters or you will have an opponent in the next election. We desperately need a real discussion of issues in this city.

But don't come off all high and mighty, like you have all the answers when all you really are is the guy who got be Mayor because – was it because you cut a deal so you'd get to run unopposed or was there really no one in this City willing to step and take a bit of responsibility? I find the latter a bit hard to believe so that seems to only leave the former.

Why I Didn't Visit Downtown Portland Businesses Yesterday

Dear TriMet

Today I had two hours to kill while waiting in downtown Portland. In the past, I would have traveled 1/2 block to the nearest corner, hopped on a bus, and spent the time, and maybe a bit of money, at Pioneer Place or one of the many other businesses in Downtown Portland.

However, now that I either have to pay to ride a bus downtown a couple of blocks or have to travel eight times as far to get the train for free, I chose to stay at the office and read a book I did NOT buy in Portland.

Thank you TriMet for saving me from spending money with downtown merchants today (and honestly, many days in the future). I'm going to make sure they know they missed out on business each and every time your Fareless Square destruction affects how I spend my money.

By the way, I'm in a manual wheelchair, so each and every extra block comes at a price worth much, much more than you seem able to comprehend.

Why Web2.0 Sucks

Digital Divide Still a Problem

Since the much ballyhooed second phase of the Internet has been foisted on both those who love and those who despise it, one thing seems sure, the real benefit is for those who make the big bucks.

Oh sure, any idiot can sign up for a MysPage account and fill it up with lots of flashing, moving text or maybe a Blooger account is more their style since it makes it really easy to dump a string of 50+ 29 Meg photos in a single page -- a page which never actually loads, even on computers with a decent Internet connection.

But hey, if you just change everything around every other month, no one will notice that they aren't really getting anything from the "new and improved" Internet. And in the era of 140 character text-bites, string together a series of soundbites and you have a modern conversation. But don't u 4get ur stupid abs or ur in ds & while were at it forget punc 2 just type and if u spel a wurd wrong it just means that ur reader is 2 stupid 2 understand right its kinda lyk entertaining babys or kats -- bright flashing colors keep interst 4 5 sex & then they move on2 da next viral craze & aitn dat wut da Net is allabuot2dayanywayheyicansayevenmoreifileaveouttheyspacesfuckyouifyoucantreaditright -- IT'S WEB2.0, All Style and No Substance! Oh wait, to be really Web2.0, I need to make a video of myself saying this while flashing all sorts of hand gestures...

It seems like every few months I get this message that I need to upgrade either my version of PDF or Flash or Shockwave. But what makes it really fun is to do that, I first have to upgrade to a "supported" operating system and of course THAT requires the purchase of a new machine. So, in other words, to take advantage of all the 'interactivity' that makes Web2.0 so 'wonderful', one has to buy in to the endless cycle of consumerism. Not only do you have to pay $30+ to access the Internet, but you also have to buy a new computer and operating system every 3 years or so.

And what really happens to your last computer, I mean, if you can't use it any longer? You are responsible and give it the appropriate agency for recycling right? Then it's dumped into a container and shipped overseas where industrious people will first find a way to access everything stored on your hard drive. Don't worry, just because you can't pay someone to make your hard drive work doesn't mean that they won't figure out a way.

After that, everything gets partitioned out. What can be sold on the streets of the 3rd World is. The rest is sold for scrap were some child will lose the rest of his or her life by melting off the plastic in a fire or submerging other parts into acid baths for pennies a day. All they are trying to get is the base metals which can be sold by their employers for currency. Who knows, maybe the gold in your wedding band came out of someone else's computer and a 10 year old girl in India is dying today because she was trying to earn money for food.

So why isn't your 10-year-old piece of junk being donated to a school or used by a local charity? For exactly the same reason you got rid of it in the first place! If it didn't do what you needed -- surf the Net, send text messages, and display uToob videos -- why do you think it will suddenly do it for someone else?

But the same people who drive huge SUVs, pickups and mini-vans and start whining when gas goes over $3/gallon are often the same people who can't live without their uToob videos and MysPage account. Yes, many are also young, and unable to think for themselves -- "all my friends have it and if I don't I won't have a social life." Gee, that's what I said when I was 10 and we didn't have a TV or when I was 15 and didn't have the money for whatever clothing was 'must have' that day.

As long as people keep purchasing, the beast continues to be fed. What if people in the developed world just refused to upgrade any more? What if they just continued to make what they have work? Well, the most obvious thing is developers would start to wonder why so few people were buying or downloading their latest 50 Meg Upgrade which actually does less worse than before. They know a lot about their users hardware and software and if enough people don't upgrade, they'll get the picture. And even if they don't, I promise you enterprising programmers will come right along and will write BETTER software, software that will continue to work on all computers out there.

Also, I encourage people to let webmasters know that they would like to visit the webmaster's website, but they can't because the webmaster has set the bar way to high. While some won't give a rat's ass, others, like your local government website, will notice. If they hear from enough people who can't use the website because they don't have a fancy enough computer, they will have to change how business is done.

After all, an April 2009 Pew Internet & American Life Project study suggest only 63% of Americans have broadband at home. And while many see local libraries as filling the gap for the remaining 37%, just how much can one do at a computer terminal without speakers and where one is limited to an hour or two at the most each day?

It's time for Nancy's daughter to launch a War on Needless Upgrades!

Washington County Park = Oxymoron

It's amazing that the 5th most populous county in the Pacific Northwest only has three minor areas set aside as parkland outside of city parks departments and the large, east county Tualatin Parks District.

• SCOGGINS VALLEY PARK/HENRY HAGG LAKE
• METZGER PARK
• EAGLE LANDING

Of course Henry Hagg lake largely exists as the source of Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Cornelius' water supply. I do congratulate local scouts for taking the initiative to protect and start development of Eagle Landing. No idea how Metzger Park ended up protected and not developed. After all, that seems to be the only thing the Washington County Commission seems to understand.

Could it be commissioners don't profit from development of parkland wereas maybe housing, commercial and industrial developers offer some sort of 'other' compensation to Washington County's elected officials, like campaign contributions? I wonder what other types of benefits commissioners get -- free vacations? free cars? free college educations for kids? All have been popular with politicos in year's past.

And given the current lack of leadership the commission displays on anything other than development -- and they seem to be leading the drive in the Metro area for the defeat of the Urban Growth Boundary and Public Transit west of Beaverton, it's no wonder that the area continues to suffer.

But what else can we expect from Portland's "All Flash and No Substance" county?

Google Hates Fags

Wow! President Obama can commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots at the White House with openly out Americans but Google chooses to completely ignore America's Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans community.

As best I can tell, Google has NEVER posted any LBGT-themed Holiday Logo, even though every June is Gay Pride Month in most of the civilized world and Pride is observed just up the road from Google's Silicon Valley HQ.

Wow, I guess Google is really run by a bunch of flaming homophobes.....

Adams and Obama

Wow! Could more have happened this week and could it be more confusing?!? It's almost like Election Day all over again -- Most candidates win but Prop 8 passes in California. Now we've got a stunning start to President Obama's term while Portland Out Gay Mayor is struggling for his political career. UGH, can't we ever get anything good without a major dose of bad to wash it down?!?

For those who haven't heard, it seems that Portland's Mayor asked some folks to lie for him when facing questions about a sexual liaison he had. Instead of saying, "I had sex with an adult and really it's not any of your business," he chose to say he only "mentored" a young man.

Well, now the facts got too hard to deny and so Mayor Adams has admitted he lied about his relationship with another politician's intern. But of course that doesn't stop the media from implying that he lied about having sex with a minor. So now we have a police investigation into the facts and that will tell us one thing, but still folks are pretty upset just about the lie.

My takes is, if Adams resigns, then he really did do something bad and it's only a matter of time before that comes out. If he stays put, then he had sex with an adult and will have to work extra hard to get voters to forget that he lied about his sex life. To be honest, I think most Portlanders could care less who politician sleep with as long as they aren't minors or, and this is really where I think this thing gets sticky, people under the politician.

As I posted on Gay Rights Watch:

...is this really the proper thing for a mentor to be doing with the people he is mentoring? Do we think bosses should sleep with their employees? Should professors sleep with students? Or maybe what people really want to say is that these are exactly the types of relationships that SHOULD NOT be sexual because later on it is much harder to understand why a mentor has made a certain choice introduction, or why an employee received a promotion or raise, or why a student got a high grade. Unfortunately, you don’t have to be be rightwing to view this as an abuse of trust by an individual in a position of power. This is something that I think IS troubling people about this “scandal.”

Too bad the Media can't figure out a way to have THAT discussion.

ON TO GOOD NEWS

Since King George II took the White House in 2001 I've adopted a very off-hands approach to following politics. I figure whatever will happen will happen and it's not worth getting too worked up about. So I laid low and explained why I couldn't vote for Obama but what a difference winning the election makes!

Only two clicks into the new White House website you find the Obama Administrations Civil Right Agenda. The bottom half of the page has a heading "Support for the LGBT Community" and lists the following:

• Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: ... include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability ...
• Fight Workplace Discrimination: ... anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity ...
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: ... that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples ... enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions ...
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage...
• Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: ... The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited ...
• Expand Adoption Rights: ... ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation ...
• Promote AIDS Prevention: ... implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy ... increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities ... age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system ... lifting the federal ban on needle exchange ... confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
• Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: ... accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS ...

Gee, if only they would have said that on the campaign site, they would have had me a long time ago!!!

But seriously, I've really wanted to wait to see what the administration does, not really what it says it will do and so far so good! Granted, nothing particularly of import to the LBGTQ community has happened, but here are the things I am excited about:

• Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State
• Suspension of Guantanamo trials, limiting the use of torture in interrogation, and close the base in a year
  
• Lifting the ban on Federal funding to NGOs that also provide abortions
• Named George Mitchell "Special Envoy for Middle East peace" and Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan
• Instructed all agencies and departments to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests
• Telephoned Prime Minister Olmert of Israel, President Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdallah of Jordan and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority
• Revoked Executive Order 13233, which had ... limit[ed] access to the records of former United States Presidents

Info taken from BBC and Wikipedia

Not bad for a start, huh? The only thing I was disappointed with is his administration's stated unwillingness to open a dialog with Hamas. Okay, I'll bow to their superior information on that one, but I really would have liked them to willing to talk to any legitimate organization actively working against American policy. Who knows, if progress starts again, then maybe Hamas will change in order to get to talk, especially when other people are invited to the table (say, maybe like Iran and whoever takes control in North Korea).

All in all, I think they are setting the right tone and not just saying how they will be different from the last administration but already doing things differently. So, now it's up to Congress. Will they play ball or do they think the President's too big for his britches?

Stop Censoring America's Best and Brightest

I recently sent this to Oregon Public Broadcasting in the hope they would share it with decision makers at PBS. Bleeping out words from an almost operatic piece from the pen of non other than Leonard Bernstein just seemed way beyond the pale. After all, this is clearly not a program aimed at a young market.

I've seen shows over the last years -- this is a big hint as to the most likely culprit -- which have pixeled out the back sides of beach goers in the Caribbean as well as the brests of women in famous works of art. But they won't stop there, they now bleep out any expletives or phrases that refer to Christian figures that are not, let's say, worshipful or statement of religious history. In other words, "Oh, God!" is bleeped but "God made the world" isn't.

Imagine listening to a member of a prior Presidential administration telling you about this or that historical experience when we once again narrowly averted disaster. If such a leader would say something like "I couldn't believe he'd do that. I mean Christ, what was he thinking?" even a past President would now be censored on PBS.

And try to watch a show about our children fighting for this administration in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hell, every other word is "fuck" so you get something like, "I couldn't BLEEP believe the stupid BLEEP BLEEP threw the BLEEP thing across the BLEEP road and nearly BLEEP hit the BLEEP sergeant between her fat BLEEP BLEEP."

Yes, it's time for a change...

Please pass this message up the PBS chain as appropriate -- I have no idea who to address my frustrations to.

I have noticed an overwhelming amount of verbal censorship in programs I watch on OPB/PBS. I am an adult, I don't need some bureaucrat sitting in some office on the other side of the country deciding what my ears should hear and what they shouldn't. Now that someone has made the decision that programs should censor something that might offend a certain religious minority in this country, even that is bleeped out.

Right now I'm watching a 90th Birthday Celebration of Leonard Bernstein's music. Personally, if he as one of this countries most respected and venerated composer/lyricists feels that to make his point he needed to use some for of expletive, then I as a free adult American should have the right to listen to his work as he intended. To censor such work, as well as the words of historical personages on such programs as American Experience shows that certain people feel they must parent every American.

I'm sick and tired of religious people telling me what I can hear. I neither agree with their justification for their censorship nor with their seeming right to inflict upon non-believers their religious moral framework. For me, Freedom of Religion should mean that I should be allowed to chose my own religious sensibilities.

By now, most Americans who really care so much about their precious ears being sullied by the words of America's best and brightest, and believe it or not, some of the darlings of the Neo-Conservative Movement have been taped using a four letter word or two, have been more than happy to go out and buy a V-Chip equipped TV or whatever more modern device they chose to bring television into their homes.

Therefore, isn't it time to lighten up on the pedantic policing of information broadcast to the nation's adults?

Maybe It's Worse To Be Ignored

As unbelievable as it could seem, during this night of wonderful win after wonderful win, as the news repeats "Mandate" like a mantra, I'm wondering how other LBGTQ voters are feeling tonight. I'm sure many are caught up in the Blue State Parties nationwide, but I'm guessing that my brothers and sisters in California are having a tough night.

It's a tough night for me. I didn't want to turn on the news, but just couldn't resist. Yes, I'm glad that I was able to hear both McCain and Obama's speeches. Maybe their messages point to new days ahead, but like one talking head mentioned, it seems like the country has set it expectations high -- in other words, the only person who might be able to meet them wears a cape to work every day, not a business suit.

Two years from now, will we be burning Obama in effigy since he hasn't given us everything we want? Or will we also learn some patience and wait for things to be argued thoroughly so that we come to good solutions. I'm tired of convenient compromises that seem to give everyone a tiny something and yet just plain fall short of solving the problems most of us agree need solutions.

Earlier tonight, I was actually thinking to myself that with an Obama win and the predicted coat-tails sweeping a new Congress into Washington, AND a win on Proposition 8 in California (plus a rumored Gay Marriage Law in New York in the next year) then maybe gays and lesbians might not be forgotten when we talk about all Americans sitting at the table.

But with just under 50% of the California vote reported, as I prepare to go to bed, it doesn't look that good. 53.3% of California voters really don't believe that gays and lesbians deserve to have their relationships protected let alone honored, at least not equally. I have to wonder what will happen in our most populous state -- will those who married this past year have any legal redress or will their marriage certificates be like those issued in Multnomah County - "VOID - No Refunds." No rights.

It's hard to live without hope that tomorrow will be better. Somehow, many Americans have found hope again. It's rather odd that anyone could be hopeful simply because of who won an election. After all, all those on the Right, the religious and fiscally conservative and the hawkish, felt they had actually won eight short years ago when they overran the streets with their "Sore Loserman" signs. Will it be four or eight years before they will be touting the first woman President. After all, Palin seemed to be about the only bright spot for the Republicans this election season, it's hard to believe, that with a Moderate like McCain so roundly rejected, that anyone lacking Palin's Evangelical credentials will carry that party to the White House again in my lifetime.

Yes, it's hopeful to see that this election wasn't stolen from us. Yes, it's wonderful that a backroom deal didn't thwart the will of the people. But all we really are saying is that finally, after 232 years, maybe the republic really can be a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." We have to hope that our next leader won't sell out the ideals he has promised us he will govern by for yet another piece of convenient compromise legislation gutted of the change the people have demanded and replaced with pork barrel spending projects.

At least. being the one hopeless American who didn't support Obama, I imagine that I'll be the last one cutting him slack even if he forgets about me. Lord knows I wouldn't want to be him. I think few jobs could be harder and I've got a nasty sinking feeling the bad news isn't over yet. But maybe with Americans engaged and responsive, we can move forward.

Well, the situation in California continues to tighten -- those against gay marriage have slipped to 53.1% of the vote. It will probably be close and my guess is that it will be the news in a day or two. Then it will be back to the daily grind of deaths in Iraq, the continued Wall Street slid for lack of long-term thinking (and way too much short-term profit taking), Americans dying from the lack of health care, a transportation system held together with chewing gum and sticky tape. And lest I forget, we still have to overcome an energy policy based on foreign oil, tax policy that favors the rich to the detriment of working and poor Americans, illegal immigration, as well as a continuing war with religious fundamentalists. And don't forget, some of us want to be fully equal Americans -- gay marriage may be temporarily forgotten, but it's not gone.

Hey Senator McCain, don't forget you promised to help...but then what's one Maverick surrounded by a despondent party back on the skids. The mind reals....

Why I Couldn't Vote for Obama

Or Why I Voted Nader in 2008

Imagine me running for the White House with no clear policy on education reform. You might find something I had said about it on my immense website if you worked hard enough, but otherwise you would have to rely on a proxy to tell you that I really felt that education was the responsibility of parents and local government should be left to make decisions.

Imagine in various Education Special Interest venues, people reported me saying that I supported a good education for every American but when I spoke in front of this or that group, I said I supported a far reaching proposal to create special schools for racial minority children where they would receive an education "at least as good as" what the racial majority children get. This way we could be address the problems of educational discrimination.

How would you feel if you were told to vote for me?

I would hope that you wouldn't be fooled into accepting "separate but equal" for any of America's children. And yet most American's are still happy to accept "separate but equal" for gay relationships and any children living in them.

But this is, in fact, what the Obama campaign has asked Gay Americans to accept. If you go to the issues page at BarrackObama.com, it's hard to see where equal rights for sexual minorities fits his campaign's view of the issues. We don't merit a mention under Civil Rights or Family. Maybe we're included under Foreign Relations -- because that's just how I feel the Obama campaign has treated the LBGTQ community this election cycle.

Oh yeah, I know he's happy to speak to gay groups here and there and tell them they have nothing to worry about but the real fact is the Democrat Party and Obama's Campaign take for granted that LBGTQ voters will vote for them without question. After all, the Republican's are openly hostile to our concerns and we were their favorite tool of division and derision in 2004. This year the McCain camp seems to be using us as a way to prove to wavering voters that a vote for Obama is a vote for Gay Marriage and the Gay Agenda. I don't think anything could be further from the truth, but when has truth been an issue in an election?

Nationally, I feel LBGTQ Americans are in about the same position as they were pre-Clinton when no one wanted to talk about us. Will either of these candidates fight to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" Will either of these candidates be willing to say the Federal government needs to address legalized marriage in California, most of New England, and maybe even New York (if Dems take predicted control of the state Senante)? I doubt it.

Thus it was hard for me to decide how to vote this year. I tried to figure out which candidate most closely tracked with my views on those issues both critical and important to me and I had to go Nader. Granted, I don't think has a snow ball's chance but neither does McCain at this point. So unlike 2000, when I feared a Bush Presidency more than anything, this time I voted my conscience.

Go to "Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians" and you'll see Nader still supports us

The Nader campaign supports full equal rights for gays and lesbians. While civil unions are a step in the right direction under current federal and state law, they do not afford full and equal rights. There are 1,049 federal rights that are only conferred with marriage. Additionally, at the state level, a civil union is only recognized in the state where it occurs, while a legal marriage, and all the rights that go with it, is recognized in all the states. Thus, the only way to ensure full equal rights is to recognize same-sex marriage.

And no, I want neither Biden nor Palin a heart-attack away from the Presidency.