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Steven Humphrey's tongue in cheek (hoof in mouth) tirade bashing Jesus in this week's Source makes me wonder if he really is a) as stupid and uneducated as he writes, b) masquerading as a no-talent writer wannabee, or c) really has no talent as a writer.
Anyway, I'm sure he has never heard of St.
America's "heartland" is all "heart" and "mind." Iowa's Supreme Court legalized gay marriage! It wasn't a case of "4 to 3", liberals versus conservatives, it was a unanimous decision upholding a lower-court's rejection of marriage being between one man and one woman.
Paul Schmitz isn’t a holy man, but he’s in the reincarnation business nonetheless. A jack of all trades with a craftsman’s soul, Schmitz has built a name for himself by tearing down old, unwanted buildings and then lovingly re-constructing the sum of their parts, creating something different, and perhaps better, than their creators ever imagined.
His showpiece is a westside Bend home that’s constructed largely of recycled timbers, telephone poles, and post consumer board. Schmitz who recently finished work on the home, and has started work on another almost identical model, dubbed the project Recycled Home (Number 1), and the description is right on. Most of the exterior and many of the interior materials are enjoying a second lease on life. Timbers for the front porch came from a lumber shed, much like our own dearly departed crane shed, in Weed, California where Schmitz spent two years deconstructing the massive building. Thanks to the prevalence of materials from the Weed project and other mill deconstruction jobs, the home and grounds have a sort of sawmill motif. The corrugated metal roof came from a building that was part of a decommissioned kiln system in Gilchrist.
If the local real estate market ever climbs out of the doldrums, the home will be more than just a one-off. Schmitz has nine lots at the base of Overturf Butte that were once part of a small nursery. He plans to redevelop the entire site, creating a mini “recycled neighborhood” that’s sandwiched in with a bunch of otherwise cookie-cutter craftsman homes.
Mike Costanti smiles as he cycles through digital images of Nome, Alaska's Banner Wind Project, completed in December 2008 by his company Western Community Energy. It's the largest wind farm in Alaska and one that will help lessen Nome's annual dependence on diesel fuel by 200,000 gallons, and Costanti is proud WCE led the development efforts.
"I didn't approach this business wearing tie-dye and corduroy saying, 'Hey man, this is cool,'" Costanti said. "I was in Seattle in the late 1990s when the tech sector was growing and it was palpable - you could feel it growing, and the same thing is happening in renewable energy right now. We're on the cusp of a new economy."
John Kroger, Oregon's attorney general, doesn't fit the super-hero mold. There's no cape, no rippling muscles, no rugged, square-jawed face. (To tell the truth, the man looks a bit like a grown-up Howdy Doody.)
But beneath that mild-manner…ed mien and modest lawyer's attire there is one seriously bad-ass dude. Just ask the people who run OppenheimerFunds Inc.
We live in very cold times, and the forecast is for an even chillier future. Certainly we have been blessed with some warm breaks in our Central Oregon winter. And in the longer term, it appears that 21st-century consumption is driving up average global temperatures. Yet in a deeper sense, our way of life is increasingly frigid. Despite signs to the contrary, we live in an age which is characterized by a lack of fire-as in the energy of heart, connection, community and transformation. This kind of fire is at the core of most, if not all, spiritual traditions.
For many eons, our ancestors regularly gathered around the fire. Here they shared the big stories that gave life meaning. Around the fire, they laughed, danced and reaffirmed their bonds to one another. Here they encountered the Great Mystery. Through heart and fire, they found their connection to the deep wisdom of those who came before them. This state of grace is celebrated in the story of Genesis as the Garden of Eden before the Fall.
Editor's note: The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from your rear window, hoping to hit Dismal Gulch by dawn, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
Suddenly Proud
to Pay Taxes
Three pirates felled in high seas, three bullets fired at night; Navy sniper smiles. Vowing "to halt the rise of piracy," President Obama gave the command for a nighttime intervention early Sunday, when it appeared that Captain Richard Phillips' life had come into jeopardy. After four days and most of a night as hostage of Somalia pirates, Phillips was freed safely, with his wife Andrea offering, "You have no idea, but with Richard saved, you all just gave me the best Easter ever." Next up, a most Memorial Day for all Americans, when Obama unleashes pilot-less-heartless drones on their kin: Oil execs and futures traders - Gas prices have risen by 10% in the past two weeks, and Exxon Mobil's CEO made $23.9 million last year when, of course, there was no price-fixing whatsoever.
Looks like conservatives in Oregon have found something else to get outraged about - government-mandated carbon monoxide detectors.
Kick us when we're down, why don'tcha? As if the situation (economy-wise and weather-wise) wasn't dismal enough in Bend already, the Seattle Times takes a brutal shot at us on today's front page.
Oregonian blogger Jeff Mapes predicts, no doubt correctly, that public employee salaries and benefits are likely to come under attack again in these tough times.
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