In response to H. Bruce Miller's recent article on outdoor cats [Posted on the Wandering Eye Blog, 9/24] I have a few questions. Mr. Miller seems to believe that the sole reason for the disappearance of birds from his neighborhood is due to the increased housecat population created by a new housing development nearby. Mr. Miller, do you think it could be the new development itself, and subsequent loss of habitat that could be the reason for the bird decline? In fact, in numerous studies done on the topic the number one cause of bird population decline is loss of habitat. Mr. Miller's solution to the problem of outdoor cats is to require that they be licensed the same as dogs. Who will be responsible for enforcing this? With an estimated 45,000 cats in Deschutes County, will we hire hundreds more animal control officers? Then what? When the “bird-killing” cats in question are hauled to the Humane Society, will the Humane Society be responsible for processing them, housing them and euthanizing them when their owners don't show up to claim them? I'm pretty sure they have their hands full as it is!
Source Weekly
Money Talks: Michael Moore asks, “Dude, where's my money?”
Michael Moore loves America, but America does not always love Michael Moore. After the release of Fahrenheit 9/11, public opinion of the liberal filmmaker took a downturn. Republicans have good reason to hate him, but the attitude of Democrats is baffling. They claim to dislike his oversimplification, his manipulation of emotions and facts and his bombastic personality. Conservatives have long used these methods to influence the public with great success – all Moore does is play them at their own highly effective game.
Moore, in a way, has been a liberal in Republican's clothing for the last decade – he looks like a Republican and he sounds like a Republican. He takes radical ideas, mixes them up using the conservative's recipe, and makes them easy to swallow. Capitalism: A Love Story contains some very radical ideas. Moore argues that capitalism is evil, that the US is run like a corporation and that big business holds more power than politicians. He started making the film before the crash, and although the recession has produced a few more doubters of the American Dream you don't have to look far to see that the ideal is still alive.
Playing God: Stuck in limbo with just a handheld and a clue
Problem: A prisoner, a bully and a lawyer are all in hell – represented in Scribblenauts as an island of dull grey brick floating in flaming lava. Above them hovers heaven – a red-carpeted platform topped with pillars, parapets and a golden castle with an angel hovering overhead. Without changing their lifestyles, I must save the bad guys.
Solution: I decide to try building a stairway to heaven. I open Scribblenauts' virtual keyboard and type “STAIRWAY.” Immediately a small brown wooden staircase appears on the screen. I slide it next to the prisoner and he floats upwards through the air, landing in heaven, followed by the bully and the lawyer.
Veg Out: Something Special At Zydeco
I've been working on taking my diet to the next level by adding as much organic, locally grown fair to my plate as possible. Zydeco came up in conversation as the place to do this. An hour later, friends in tow, we took our seats under an outdoor heater on Bond Street. Our waiter asked if anyone would like the gluten-free menu. “I'll take the vegan one,” I said. They didn't have one; but our waiter told me, the chef had created a vegan special earlier that was reportedly some kind of wonderful. Perfect, bring it over!
While waiting for our table, I overheard a young woman mention Zydeco's crispy fries ($4) were the best in town. I needed no further encouragement. We ordered two cups of fries for the table and one cheese-less Acadian Flatbread ($11), a crispy hand-rolled cracker-bread, topped with oven-fried tomatoes, pearl onions and pepper. I could have eaten the entire thing myself; three, in fact.
Veg Out: Something Special At Zydeco
I've been working on taking my diet to the next level by adding as much organic, locally grown fair to my plate as possible. Zydeco came up in conversation as the place to do this. An hour later, friends in tow, we took our seats under an outdoor heater on Bond Street. Our waiter asked if anyone would like the gluten-free menu. “I'll take the vegan one,” I said. They didn't have one; but our waiter told me, the chef had created a vegan special earlier that was reportedly some kind of wonderful. Perfect, bring it over!
While waiting for our table, I overheard a young woman mention Zydeco's crispy fries ($4) were the best in town. I needed no further encouragement. We ordered two cups of fries for the table and one cheese-less Acadian Flatbread ($11), a crispy hand-rolled cracker-bread, topped with oven-fried tomatoes, pearl onions and pepper. I could have eaten the entire thing myself; three, in fact.
The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
The Avett Brothers aren't trying to impress you with their new record, I and Love and You. The bluegrass/folk rock trio has garnered an enthusiastic following over the last few years, and this record, their first on a major label, is one that could be a watershed disc for them. But I and Love and You is a girl-next-door kind of record – quirky and lovely, infectious, even, but unassuming. It has lush harmonies, quotable lyrics, and grown-up arrangements, but the Avett Brothers remain true to their folk roots in the mood of the record, a back-porch-with-a-PBR kind of sound.
Solar Salvation?: Timber companies and unemployed workers look to renewable energy for a boost
Fifteen years ago, Washington's Kittitas County hosted a flourishing timber industry. Several hundred locals logged, worked in sawmills or trucked lumber all over the state.
These days, however, only a handful of people still work in forestry. More than a dozen mills have closed in Washington over the last 10 years. Timberland became more valuable than the trees themselves, and timber companies turned to real estate development to keep afloat. Now, however, with the real estate economy in the tank as well, one local logging company is getting into a different game altogether.
Critical Care: Heath Care shenanigans, Girl Scout cookies, Letterman's confession and more
The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from Washington D.C., trying to filter politicians from panhandlers and lobbyists, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
It's 2:15am, Do You Know Where Your Health Care Is?
In a dumpster, with Max Baucus' ethics and his industry contributors/cronies, of course. When the Senate Finance Committee completed overturning any amendments to chairman Max Baucus' (D-Montana) health care “reform” last Friday (@ 2:15am – Wow! They worked hard!) any hopes of a public option ended. Or did they? This is politics at its prettiest: Inside sources (I am in D.C. after all) have backroom deals attaching a public option to a bill for new TARP Funds (you know, those highly effective bailout dollars to needy firms like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase et al). Don't wait in the ER for coverage, yet, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is promising a public option in any final bill; meanwhile, ever-effective House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has ruled out co-ops (basically a big lottery against any of us getting cancer or crashing our cars) in her bills. Who will win? Reid, the former boxer, or Pelosi, the daughter of a politician who deserved her job? One last thing that may interest hardcore party hawks: Amendments to add a public option were voted down by party-lines, putting GOP'ers on the record as opposing any chance at true reform. Add to this their opposition to Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor and you have Republicans as popular at the polls as a cold-sore at a kissing booth.
Of Wolf And Man: Hunting wolves is not the answer in the West
In the September 24 issue of The Source, “Off Target: Conservationists' opposition to hunting wolves is wrongheaded,” Mike Medberry criticizes conservationists for filing a lawsuit to protect wolves, while portraying himself as a pro-hunting conservationist. To extol the bloodshed and death involved in hunting under the guise of conservation is a popular but absurd paradox.
I have taken the time to meet face-to-face with the hunters who have the most bloodlust in this current debate, and I can tell you they have not lost an ounce of the fervor it took to quarter wolves for fun a century ago. These are the people Medberry directly or indirectly supports by saying it's time to hunt wolves.
Letter of the Week: Don't Burn Books Yet
Thanks BJ Thomas for this week's letter, a nice meditation on the changing nature of the printed word in a digital society – something that we think about a lot around here. We too hope there's a future with good old-fashioned books and maybe even a few newspapers. And like BJ, we prefer a flashlight over a backlight any day. Meantime, BJ, you can pick up your winner's spoils, a bag of Strictly Organic coffee, at our office, 704 NW Georgia.
So I'm reading in the national news today that now, in addition to Kindle (shudder) trying to change how people think they read books, there is a new technology designed to insert visuals of what is being read – an awful creation referred to as a “Vook.”