This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

This, remember, is one of four departments I run with a free hand to manage as I – and I alone – see fit.

The others are the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, the Department of “Just Saying,” and the Department of Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

So, the Department of Pet Peeves is open now.

USURPING THE MEANING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG:  That’s exactly what Trumpians do!

They should leave the flag alone, for it stands – and should stand – as symbol of what America really is.

Not what Donald Trump is, the worst president in U.S. history.

As we have celebrated Memorial Day, the flag should continue to stand for America!

PHIL MICKELSON:  CRITICIZING GOLF WHICH HAS MADE HIM A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE:  I am very tired of hearing Phil Mickelson gripe about the PGA Tour, which has made him a millionaire.

Of course, he has bolted the Tour to hook up with LIV Golf, which is a decision that will spoil his reputation for ever, given that the money he took came from a terrible country yearning to “sportswash” its reputation. 

In this, I have no room for saying that Mickelson is doing what some American businesses do, which is to work with the Saudis.  Two wrongs do not make a right.

Still, on numerous occasions, Mickelson mouths off about how terrible the PGA Tour is.

I say, “shut up.”  And, as I say that, I also say that Mickelson was one of the my favorite professional golfs.  Note the past tense.

WATCHING REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS JOCKEY ONLY FOR POSITIONS, NOT SOLUTIONS:  Disagreements, sometimes marked by anger, is happening in Salem, Oregon and Washington, D.C.

Both sides want to repel the other side, not reach agreement.

Multiple sides in the debt ceiling debate are going after the two who cut the deal — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  Those two now face a huge challenge to prod folks off their high horses.

Same is true at the Capitol in Salem.

Senate President Rob Wagner and Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp are reported to dislike each other, perhaps even hate each other.  So much so that the Senate is now at standstill.  Even as the 2023-25 state budget awaits approval – and acting on that budget is the only action legislators MUST take as they meet in Saslem.

So, as someone who is interested in politics, it is hard for me to watch.  Might be better to ignore all the bluster.

The just hope for two resolutions – a debt ceiling deal in D.C. to avoid economic catastrophe, and agreement in Salem to work together…finally.