About a week and a half ago, I received an interesting e-mail from some fellow named Mike Erickson who seems to be campaigning for something. Framed by green rolling hills and golden-leafed trees, the e-mail touts Erickson as "a new voice for Oregon" and asks me to visit his website to view his new television spot...

When I went to Mike's web site, I dutifully read his front page web letter. Apparently Erickson believes that Congress is "broken" and "needs to be fixed." Hey, me too! And it seems that he wants to make government "work for you and your family, rather than against you." Wow, what a coincidence--so do I! Apparently Mike also thinks that "gifts and trips from lobbyists to members of Congress and their staffs" are a problem as well. Yep. We both think that the culture of corruption that Delay fostered is terrible; that darned Republican-majority Congress is clearly doing a lousy job. On that ol' Mike and I agree.

There's just one small problem (flip)....

As many of you know, teacherken has carried on a conversation about education with Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack over at HeartlandPac. The Governor was kind enough to post his latest entry here as a dkos diary that dealt with the issue of education and instructional time.

My response is on the flip.

I'd love to post this in C&J, because it really does deserve a cheer, but I gotta get to work, so I thought I'd just put it up here.

Cheers to the OTHER Portland (the one here in Oregon) ...and for Portland' Mayor and City Council, who last night stared down the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

After demanding (and not receiving) that the mayor receive the same security clearance as participating police officers, Mayor Tom Potter joined the Portland City Council in a 4-1 vote to withdraw Portland police officers from the JTTF, making Portland the first city in the nation to do so.

More on the flip....

After a long hiatus, we return now to the occasional series, "Conversations with my Wingnut Dad," wherein we answer the age-old question, Can family members at opposite ends of the political spectrum carry on political dialogue with respect, and without resorting to name-calling or primal screaming? [Short answer: sometimes.]

This time, I need your help, Kossacks. Dad is stuck on the old conservative chestnut, "Private Enterprise is 'Better' than Gummint at Almost Everything." He's offered an opening, though: he will read, cover to cover, a book of my choosing, and be prepared to discuss it. Which ONE book shall I choose?

More after the flip....

DAMN, I miss theoria's "WYFP" diaries. Reading through some of our rants lately, I think we're all in some serious need of one. At least I know I am.

I will never, never, never be theoria, but, by God, I can post a diary for people to whine in.

Hell, two of 'em a day, if I feel like it.

In this morning's Oregonian, front page, is the story of David Bocci, a 42-year-old graphic artist who is recovering from a massive stroke:

Why is David's story unique? Read on....

We all know that being a Secretary of Defense is hard work--so hard, in fact, that Sec'y Rumsfeld needed to use a signature machine to sign those condolence form letters.  (Grieving family members, of course, were, shall we say, unimpressed, and he has since abandoned the practice, according to the Associated Press.)

In the same article, we hear Rumsfeld tell us that he hopes and prays "that every family member of those who have died so bravely knows how deeply I feel their loss."

Oh, yeah. Deeply.

In this story the other day about the disaster in the Mosul mess hall, a few of us discussed sending Rumsfeld some pens, since he will clearly need them to sign more letters to grieving family members. And fishhead had an even better idea: inscribing these pens with the names of every person killed as a result of this illegal war.

I thought this was a capital idea....

From the front page of today's Oregonian:

More below the fold...

As I staggered blindly through the smouldering ashes of my country following November 2nd's aftermath, I was blinking stupidly at the sound of pundits blathering on and on about the election results turning on one sector of the electorate's preoccupation with "moral values."

MORAL VALUES?!?!?

No, the more I consider it, the more I believe that a more accurate description of the phenomenon is the Religious Right's preoccupation with S-E-X.

More below the fold...

So my loveable wingnut dad actually forwarded me Ed Gillespie's latest RNC memo, 'Subject: It's October, but it's no surprise'. This is the memo where Gillespie repeats the meme that the NYT piece about the missing Al Qaqaa explosives is a 'flawed article' and that NBC Nightly News reported that on April 10, 2003, their embedded reporter was at Al Qaqaa and 'found no such weapons.'

Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad...

I had to respond, of course. Major points of my e-mail are right here:

1. The explosives cache at Al Qaqaa was well known prior to the invasion.
   
2. The explosives were STILL THERE when we invaded.
   
3. Officials at the White House have known about the missing explosives for a while.
   
4. The explosives could have been taken any time between the last IAEA presence on March 15th, 2003 and May 27th, 2003.
   
5. The explosives that are missing are the kinds that have been used in the region to create IEDs.
   
6. IEDs are killing and wounding our troops.

My entire e-mail debunking of RNC memo is below the fold:

Need your Barack Obama fix? I got mine from my Occidental College alumni magazine with this fabulous cover (only click on it if you want to see the image way, WAY too big for your screen):

And yes, among other choice words in the article is a description of Obama at a campaign stop in Ottawa, IL, where the author notes that

More below the fold....

So I'm planning to take my ballot in to the elections office tomorrow in Gladstone (if it's open; if not I'll wait 'til Monday).

I'm pretty clear on how I'm voting for most stuff, especially when it comes to national, state, and local office (hint: not Republican).

I'm also clear on most of the initiatives--but not all. So, I'm looking for feedback, webfooted dkos people.

In a new poll conducted for the Oregonian and KATU (channel 2), there's more good news for Kerry fans in the NW (emphasis added):

As mentioned in previous diary entries, my dad is an intelligent, thoughtful wingnut. We periodically engage in political conversation in an attempt to understand one another better, and to present our cases to each other.  Recently, my 10-year-old son B__ elected to join in, e-mailing his grandpa in an attempt to convince Grandpa to vote for Kerry (the initial exchange can be viewd here.

Well, Grandpa wrote back--and then some. B__ was a bit overwhelmed by the response, but after a few days he's back at it with grandpa.

More below the fold:

As mentioned in previous diaries, my dad is an intelligent, thoughtful, wingnut. Occasionally, my brothers and I engage in e-mail conversations about politics.

This time, my ten-year-old son wanted to talk to grandpa for himself.  Here's his initial foray, grandpa's answer, and my son's response:

More below the fold....

note from sheba: Not a lot of analysis in this diary, folks; it's more reportage.

So, yesterday, my children all had soccer games because, of course, it was Saturday. When "mr. sheba" returned to the car after the fourth game of the day, he found that somebody had been flyering the minivans of the soccer moms and dads.

The flyer read, in part:

Then it listed the date, time, and place.

Well, what's a good kossack (and soccer mom) to do?  Take the kids up to Portland, of course!

It's official.  Nader, who was off, and then on, the Oregon ballot, is now off the ballot.

As I have mentioned before in a previous diary, my swing shift custodian, Vladimir, used to be an officer in the former Soviet Union armed forces. As I talked with him this afternoon about the downed planes in Russia, I learned a bit more. Turns out that Vladimir was in the Air Force in the USSR....