Think Globally, Act Locally

While he was still President-Elect, Barak Obama made it abundantly clear that he wanted no earmarks to be part of the economic stimulus package.  While often perceived as a synonym to “Pork-Barrel spending,” earmarks can serve a useful role.  They are a way that congress can designate funding for specific work.  They are also a… Continue reading Think Globally, Act Locally

Still have the energy to talk about Sam Adams?

Then join City Club for a free, public panel on politics and ethics as part of their Agora program: Private Lives in the Public Eye: A panel on politics and ethics When: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 6–7:30 p.m. Where: UO Portland, White Stag Building , 70 NW Couch, Portland Cost: Free and open to the… Continue reading Still have the energy to talk about Sam Adams?

We have a TARP with a huge, gaping hole

Between running my business, tracking the Sam Adams story and everything else on my plate last week, I fell behind on my newsfeeds. My feeds have become more important to me because I have been listening to NPR less and less lately. I think the ongoing mantra of layoff numbers is counterproductive to economic recovery. … Continue reading We have a TARP with a huge, gaping hole

Justifying Mis-steps (and I don’t mean by Sam Adams)

This weekend,Winston Ross, a Newsweek Reporter, interviewed me about media sensationalism and the Sam Adams story.  He had read my previous blog post and thought I might have some insights to share.  Later in the day, after Sam Adams committed to return to work, I, naively, hoped that we would be able to put the… Continue reading Justifying Mis-steps (and I don’t mean by Sam Adams)

Why Sam Adams should not resign as mayor of Portland

Below is a copy of an email I sent to Sam Adams this afternoon: I am the go-to person on local politics for Portland’s open source tech community.  I have lost track of how many times I have been asked today my thoughts on your current situation.  Given all of the pressure that is being… Continue reading Why Sam Adams should not resign as mayor of Portland

Heralding back to a better day

January 20, 2009 was an emotional, historic and ground-shifting day in more ways that I can count.  There have been so many excellent blog posts on how it affected people (I should know, as I have many of them opened in tabs in Firefox so I can catch up on reading them when I get… Continue reading Heralding back to a better day

Addendum

The term “sea change” has been so overused that it has become almost meaningless.  However, given my last post, renaissance is probably a better descriptor anyway.  What am I talking about? In his introduction to Senator Hillary Clinton’s confirmation hearing this morning, John Kerry explicitly stated that global climate change is an issue of national… Continue reading Addendum

Debating garden hoses while Rome burns

I enjoy a good public policy debate as much as anyone (ok, to be honest, I seem to enjoy them more than most), but I have been getting frustrated lately about arguing about minutiae while we (and that is an inclusive we) seem to lose sight of the bigger picture. In the past few days,… Continue reading Debating garden hoses while Rome burns

How to Argue

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me (but a bit worrisome nonetheless) I have found myself picking apart a lot of people’s arguments lately.  To be specific, three times in the last week.  This is behavior that I usually associate with David.  Has our marriage hit that pivotal point where couples start integrating… Continue reading How to Argue