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 of 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.

In my years as a lobbyist, the question in this blog headline sometimes was answered by “yes.”

Too simplistic?  Probably.

But, at the same time, I believe there is a solid rationale for the “yes” answer.

It is this:  Experience with having to live within a budget in a business is a solid credential for political office holders, as well as for those who manage state agencies.

Yet, most legislators and don’t have it. 

Neither do many of those who work for state agencies.  They have never had to live within a budget, or, to put it another way, generate the revenue to fund their programs.  Many just count on getting more for their operations.

Do they need more?  Perhaps.  But I submit they also ought to be required to earn the “more” with a quality, revenue-sensitive operation.

A resident of Orange, California, wrote about this subject in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal. 

Here is what it said:

“Not Enough Politicians Come From Business

“California will continue to drive businesses to other states until we replace the utopian idealists in the State Legislature.

“Why does the California legislature propose so many laws that make no economic sense?

“Maybe because a majority of our representatives have never run a business?  

“Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who is proposing the 32-hour workweek, was an activist before taking office.  Out of 58 Democrats in the California Assembly, at least a dozen have a similar background.  I found only four Democrats who ran businesses before taking office.  Attorneys, teachers and government administrators dominate the rest.

“Our local paper invited two columnists to present arguments for and against the workweek proposal.  The one who argued against it, to my surprise, is the most liberal columnist.  He spent a year running a small business.

“California will continue to drive businesses to other states until we replace the utopian idealists in the state legislature with people who understand economics and what drives jobs and higher tax revenues.”

Here are excerpts from other letters to the editor:

Letter #1/

“Working for a tech company during the Clinton years, I participated in government affairs, meeting with members of the House, Senate and administration.  Everyone I met was highly intelligent, well-educated, and well-intentioned.  The problem? As with the current administration, none of them had ever worked in the private sector.

“Consequently, they didn’t understand the role and value of private markets or basic economics, including supply and demand.  To them, if the program failed, the policy was beyond question, so the only reason for failure must be that the budget wasn’t large enough.”

Letter #2/

“Usually, the best political appointees have a mix of some government experience and a lot of private-sector experience.  They understand how government works and the effects its actions have on the private sector.”

Letter #3/

“Your editorial reminds me of a stunning admission by George McGovern in his famous article in the Journal (“A Politician’s Dream is a Businessman’s Nightmare,” Manager’s Journal, June 1, 1992).  After a lifetime in Congress, the 1972 Democrat presidential candidate earned a small fortune in post-retirement speeches and in 1988 purchased an inn in Stratford, Connecticut.  It went bankrupt in 1990 and closed the next year.

“Ironically, the liberal icon blamed his business failure on suffocating federal, state and local regulations.  Although passed with good intentions — to help employees, protect the environment and so forth — they were bad for business, McGovern acknowledged in his op-ed.

“’I also wish,’ he confessed, ‘that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day.  That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender.’”]

Having returned a several months ago from California where my wife and I spent five months this winter, we heard a lot about the State of California driving business away, even though state government there depends on tax revenue, including from the businesses heading east.

One of the most famous departures:  Tesla.

Here is the way a friend of mine from California wrote about the issue:

“As COVID descended on California, economies began to shut down and a debate raged over what businesses were ‘essential.’   A rather public dialogue took place between Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, and Alameda County authorities regarding the forced shutdown of the Tesla plant in Fremont.  

“Elon Musk rather calmly threatened to leave the state.  The governor was dismissive, saying ‘Elon Musk isn’t leaving California anytime soon!’   Six months later, Musk left California.
 
“Musk has sold (or is in process of selling) all his personal real estate in the state.   He is now a resident of the State of Texas.   He has also moved his philanthropic foundation to Texas.   One of his companies, Space X, is based in Texas, and Tesla is building a new plant outside Austin, Texas.

“There is no way to know for sure what Musk paid in California state taxes, but it would surprise no one if he paid the most of any individual resident.  Now, he will be a much happier resident of Texas and pay a small fraction of the taxes that California previously squeezed out of him and his employees.”  
  
Beyond Tesla, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Oracle both have announced they intend to move their headquarters to Texas, with 13 other potential moves in the pipeline. 

California will be worse off because of these corporate departures. 

The fact is that JOBS matter, both for the confidence and fortitude they provide to those who have them, plus the revenue the job holders, not to mention the corporations themselves, provide to fund governments.

And, what’s often given short shrift in all of this is short-hand but true phrase – job holders pay taxes.

So, I say, governments should cultivate a business-friendly attitude.  Sure, hold business to high standards, but don’t make enemies of those who provide jobs and pay taxes.

The State of California is learning this lesson the hard way.  It may be possible that the State of Oregon is following the lead, though a lot could depend on who wins the next governor’s race.

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.

I have posted one blog about abortion in America after the U. S. Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade.

I was hesitant to do so the first time and am hesitant to do so again because I don’t believe there is a way in America to have a reasoned and reasonable discussion about the subject, given the way many citizens are unalterably pitted against each other. 

Both sides prefer to yell, scream and remain committed to their opinion.  Not talk.  Worse.  Often violence.

But, in this post, I have chosen to argue that Americans have various obligations in a post-Roe v. Wade country.  To make this point, I rely, at least in part, on perspectives provided by Paul S. Coakley, Catholic archbishop of Oklahoma City, who produced an excellent column in the Wall Street Journal.

He writes from a Catholic perspective and lays out what strikes me as a solid case for, as Coakley puts it, “to open our doors to vulnerable mothers and children.”

I don’t write from a Catholic point-of-view, though I appreciate many tenants of the Catholic church.  Instead, I write from the perspective of a Christian who believes ALL of us have responsibilities to care for those who happen to be less fortunate than ourselves – including in relation to abortion and regardless of anyone’s position on the subject.

Coakley wrote this:  “Restricting abortion isn’t enough.  We need to open our doors to vulnerable mothers and children.”

“‘If you are pregnant and in need,’” he added, ‘come to the Catholic Church.’”

Coakley adds that the late Cardinal John O’Connor spoke good words more than 30 years ago, when he founded the Sisters of Life, a Catholic pro-life religious order in New York.  O’Connor’s remark was a welcoming call to expecting mothers with nowhere to turn and a plea to the American church to act as guardians to all of God’s children.  His words rang true then and are perhaps even more important now.

Cockley’s words, no doubt, would not impress pro-abortion advocates who decry the Supreme Court’s ruling.  But Coakley says, “Reversing Roerepresented a necessary first step to bring about a culture of life, from conception to natural death, and end a culture of abortion and death.  But the demise of Roeis only the end of the beginning.

“It also is a reminder of our duty as Catholics.  [Or, I add, the duty of all of us as human beings.]  “We are called to see Christ in every human life, and to work and pray for a society in which laws reflect the inherent dignity of the human person.

“This commitment requires us to create alternatives to abortion and ultimately to make it unthinkable.  The end of Roe challenges us anew to open our hearts, and our doors, to mothers and children in need through foster care and adoption — to what Pope Francis called ‘the highest form of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood.’”

My list of what should be OUR obligations, regardless of position on abortion:

• Work to assure churches welcome all to their doors just as Christ would because, after all, the church is “the body of Christ.”
• Advocate that governments fund adequate – if not increased — levels of pre-natal and post-natal care.
• Work to assure that domestic adoption laws in states are sane and understandable.  [There are hundreds of thousands of children in the American foster care system.  Adoption is often expensive and complicated.  The government should confirm a priority to establish policies making it easier for people to adopt domestically, while maintaining and strengthening processes that protect and safeguard children.  Tax credits, allowances, and the like could make adoption a reality for more people.]
• Advocate that birth control products be readily accessible.
• Commit to discussions of other actions in the spirit of real debate and compromise, which are mostly lost in today’s political culture.

The point is that there is a lot for real Christians, not zealots who give Christianity a bad name, to do in the wake of the demise of Roe V. Wade.

In this context, I think of good words from the late Senator Mark Hatfield, a political icon in Oregon: 

“All of us need each other.  All of us must lift and pull others as we rise.  All of us must rise together — powerful, free, one self-determined people.”

That aspiration applies to a post-Roe v. Wade America – as well as more generally.

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.

In this brief blog, I’ll get way over my depth in American foreign policy.

But, drowning has never stopped me from writing stuff.

So, after reading story-after-story on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, I presume to ask a simple, straightforward, one-word question:  Why?

For me, there is no reason for the U.S. House Speaker to presume to enter into assertive foreign policy, which is – and should be — the province of the president.  Let the U.S. speak with one voice when it comes to international relations – and let that be the president.

I also suggest that Pelosi should stay home and tend to legislative affairs in Congress and, goodness knows, there is much to do in the Nation’s Capitol to produce results on a range of pressing public policy issues.

As I admitted at the start of this blog, all of us is above my pay grade, but if I were President Joe Biden, I would ask Pelosi pointedly why she chose to take such a presumptuous initiative.

Her visit, now concluded, left the president and his Administration with a much deeper set of tensions with China. 

At the same time, the Administration has emphasized it intends to honor and retain strong in support for an independent Taiwan, which begs the question about Pelosi defied pleas to avoid the trip.

Pelosi’s assertiveness – no, read, aggressiveness – has made all of this tough foreign policy much tougher.

As a believer in strong U.S. government, I say this to the three branches – Legislative, Judicial, and Executive:  Stay in your own lane, AND, when the time is right, work together, not separately, for the common good in America.

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.

In America today, it is credible to “bemoan the loss of civility politics” – yes, that’s a favorite quote of mine, which I attribute to the late military hero Colin Powell.

But, the loss of civility goes beyond politics to characterize many of our general relationships in American life.

In large part, we have lost the ability to “disagree, agreeably,” a phrase I often used in my lobbying career to commend the ability to find middle ground.

Today, middle ground – in politics or in life – barely exists.

Frankly, in some of my personal relationships, there are subjects I don’t bring up because, rather than spark reasonable discussion, they only provoke disagreement and strife.

Contributing columnist Brian Broome made this point a couple days ago in writing that appeared in the Washington Post.

His main thesis:

“Our political parties have become rigid, unforgiving religious sects that will tolerate no second-guessing — unless we want to be shunned.

“In the liberal circles in which I mostly travel, it is nothing short of blasphemy to speak a positive word about any conservative for any reason.  Many of my friends can’t even bear to hear their names mentioned.  I was reminded of this when, in conversation with a friend, I mentioned my approval of Representative Liz Cheney’s performance during the January 6 hearings.

“I said I thought it was courageous of Cheney to speak truth against the kind of pressure and opposition she’s facing from her party.  I said I admired her for it.  I don’t love Liz Cheney or plan to send her money or anything.  But I figured it was okay to say that what she is doing is good.”

But Broome reported that his comment was met “with a mixture of shock, hurt and outrage  — as though I had stabbed my friend in the back.  ‘How can you say that,’ he asked, noting that Cheney had opposed same-sex marriage and was a legatee of the father of the Iraq War.

“When I told him Cheney had since changed her mind about same-sex marriage, he listed a litany of things that she had said or done in the past which put her beyond the realm of acceptable.  And in that moment, for him, I had failed the liberal purity test.  Because she is one of them.”

Conservatives, Brome contends, are the same.  “They hate liberals with an almost otherworldly passion. They like to put bumper stickers on their cars and trucks calling Joe Biden a communist.  They have convinced themselves that the blue cities and states they despise are hellscapes of crime and desolation.  They have made demonizing Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton a kind of obsession.  In that world, saying anything complimentary about a Democrat is a marker of probable evil.”

Broome remembers what I do – that there was a time when it was considered normal and healthy to criticize the political team to which one belonged.  We didn’t take the words of any leader, regardless of party, as gospel.  And, even if people in the other party had different values and cultures, it didn’t mean you had grounds for a violent showdown.  Now, purity tests are everywhere and something akin to a loyalty code makes it taboo to question your own side or call attention to its weaknesses and contradictions.

Broome adds:

“We are no longer a country of give-and-take.  We are a country torn apart by something closer to religious strife, where both sides demand devotion to doctrine and rough punishments await those who step out of line.”

Going back to the Powell quote, I continue “to bemoan the loss of civility,” both in politics and in life.  If we cannot find a way to “disagree, agreeably,” we could be condemned to what amounts to civil war.  To some degree, we are already seeing the extreme character of that battle.   

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.

I have undergone a huge change in the last couple years.

This:  As a journalist in my past, I used to love holding a newspaper in my hands and reading stories of the sort that I used to write for a daily newspaper.  That meant ink-stained hands.

But, now, in the information age, most of my newspaper reading is done via on-line sources.  And, in some ways, I hate to admit that reality, though I still value the process of remaining informed on issues of the day (see below).

My change in habits involves these news sources:

• The Oregonian newspaper

• The Wall Street Journal

• The Washington Post

• The Atlantic Magazine

• The New York Times

• The Salem Reporter

• And, once in a while for a few minutes at least, which is all it takes, the Salem Statesman-Journal.

Why the change?  Well, there are at least a few reasons.

First, the quality of some newspapers has deteriorated markedly in the past few years.  So, it’s easier, not to mention quicker, for me to read newspapers on-line than getting them delivered at my home.

No doubt it’s part of the economic risks for newspapers these days.  Especially “local” ones that have difficulty surviving.

Speaking of on-line sources, my friends at Google report this:  “In addition to sluggish ad growth, newspapers are challenged with circulation declines, a skeptical Wall Street, ownership changes — such as Knight Ridder’s recent sale of its 32 papers – and perhaps most notably, adapting to the world of on-line news.”

Second for me, I can read newspapers published in places like Washington, D.C., and New York without having to go there or waiting several days for home delivery from those far-off cities.

The range – especially between the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post – gives me a chance to reckon with the center-right perspective (the Journal) and the center left perspective (the Post).  That gives me a good sense of what could be at stake in politics and government these days.

It has not been surprising to confirm that both the center-right and the center-left have perspectives worth considering.

Regardless of how you get your news, it is an important societal responsibility for all of us to find ways to remain up-to-date on issues happening in our country, including in politics – and to do so by considering many points of view, not just our own.  For me for years, that has been newspapers.

In the Washington Post, contributing columnist Brian Broome notes this when he writes:

“I remember a time when it was considered normal and healthy to criticize the political team to which one belonged.  We didn’t take the words of any leader, regardless of party, as gospel.  And even if people in the other party had different values and cultures, it didn’t mean you had grounds for a violent showdown.

“Now, the purity tests are everywhere and something akin to a loyalty code makes it taboo to question your own side or call attention to its weaknesses and contradictions.

“We are no longer a country of give-and-take.  We are a country torn apart by something closer to religious strife, where both sides demand devotion to doctrine and rough punishments await those who step out of line.”

Well-written.  And a good way to avoid the pitfalls Broome outlines is, figuratively at least, to get ink on your hands.

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.

Fake.

Make-believe.

Contrived.

Those words describe at least two things:  Donald Trump and the World Wrestling Federation.

A writer in the Washington Post captured this telling image in a column that ran this weekend under this headline:  “What the fall of World Wrestling Federation’s Vince McMahon reveals about post-Trump politics.”

He was comparing the leader of “professional” wrestling – the word is in quotes for a reason; it’s all fake – Vince McMahon to the last fake president in America, Donald Trump.  Of course, Trump now wants to invoke his fake self again.

The writer was Abraham Riesman, author of the forthcoming “Ringmaster:  Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.”

His lead:

“…McMahon made his billions by sledgehammering down the wall between fantasy and reality, leaving everyone else to wander in the dust.  ‘Professional’ wrestling has never been a legitimate sporting competition; the outcomes of wrestlers’ bouts are pre-planned to inflame the audience’s passions.

“But that fact used to be concealed by an informal code known as ‘kayfabe,’ intended to uphold the illusion that pro wrestling was as real as baseball or tennis.  Kayfabe had to be maintained both inside and outside the ring.  That meant never breaking character in public.  Wrestlers who performed as ‘babyfaces,’ or good guys, could be fired on the spot if they were caught sinning.  ‘Heels,’ or bad guys, couldn’t be seen doing random acts of kindness.”

Now for the comparison to Trump.

All he did when he first held the office as president (note that I did not say he “served” as president for that would connote something he did not do, which was to “serve”) was to create a play on a world stage.  What he did wasn’t real; it was contrived.

If his opponents raised question about his actions, he took the criticism as a cue to do more – and more.

What he is doing and saying today is designed to aggrandize his own image of himself, as the only one who matters.  It’s called arrogance or narcissism.

Trump grew up on the wrestling programs run by McMahon’s father, and the former president remains an avid fan of the art form — and of the McMahons themselves.

Again, from the Post writer:

“Trump’s world wrestling fantasy journey wasn’t just an education in how to be a wrestling heel.  He was learning how to hold an audience’s attention and how to let his enemies’ accusations make him more powerful, skills that would allow him to win the 2016 election.

“Trump’s ascent to the Oval Office brought McMahon’s revolutionary anti-ethics to the highest echelons of power.  Now, it has become common to describe politics as ‘kayfabe,’ whether the illusion is playing out in staged debates between dueling paid commentators on cable news, or in the careers of a generation of conspiracy-theory-spouting Republican politicians.”

I say the McMahon/Trump comparison is apt because they live and prosper in a make-believe-world they create for themselves and, by extension, for others who bow at their thrones.

Just what this country needs?   Another term for Trump who believes that “professional” wrestling provides guidance on how, as Americans, we should live and behave, as well as on how he should lead the government. 

I did learn a new word in this Washington Post column:  “Kayfabe.”

A noun, it refers to the portrayal of staged events within an industry as “real” or “true,” specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged.  Portrayed as true when they are anything but true.

So I reject “kayfabe” in politics – and in “professional” wrestling.  Trump wants to recreate his artificial reality.  I say NO.

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.

These are “bits and pieces” perceptions of a trip to Alaska on a Windstar cruise ship, the Sea Breeze. 

Overall, a great trip, with only one bad day – almost seasick – among the seven days on board.  There was another endurance test – the last day “at sea” heading to Vancouver, B.C.  [Think about the phrase – “at sea” – for a second or two.  Who thought of that instead of just saying “we are on the ocean” or something similar?  Oh well, with so much time on my hands as we were “at sea” heading to Vancouver, B.C., I had time to ponder such imponderables.]

This was my first trip to Alaska, a land of incredible wonder, at least from a geological perspective, if not from other points of view.

Glad Alaska is part of the United States, not Canada or Russia, though it was none other than such a “great observer” as Sarah Palin who once said, “You can see Russia from Alaska.”  Well, almost. 

On this trip:

• No bears.

• No moose.

• No porpoises along the way, but a late sighting of two, cavorting for those of us on the ship.

• But, lots of otter, fish, birds, harbor seals, stellar sea lions – and huge lessons on the flora and fauna of Alaska.

What was the best part of the trip?  Easy.  My personal tour guide.  Wife Nancy, of course.  She is masterful at planning such trips, so I just say, “Go ahead, please tell me where to be and what to do.”

Landed first at Juneau, the Capitol of Alaska.  It is land-locked – the only way to reach it is via boat or airplane.  There have been various attempts to move the Capitol, but history has prevailed to keep Juneau the Capitol.

Also on the first day, learned that baggage on and off cruise chips is the responsibility of the Longshore Union.  And, no surprise here – by appearances, union members tend to work slowly.  Our bags, for example, were loaded first onto a barge, then pushed around so the bags could be loaded on the ship from the water side.  Often, union members carried one bag at a time, not two.  I suspect the Union has a statewide contract to deal with baggage from all ships.

The guide on the second day of the trip was a resident of Haines, a small town, with a population of about 2,500, including Americans and the Tlingit people, the original residents of what became a state in 1959.  A 27-year resident of the town, out guide knew everything and made our three hours with her worth every minute.

She also said the town had 20 feet of snow last year, so much so that the only option was to push snow into the ocean.

Plus, in Haines, it rains more than 300 days a year.  Makes Salem sound sunny.

Learned that all provisions for the small town are barged in twice a month from Seattle.  ALL provisions.  And, gas costs more than $7 a gallon!

In the afternoon, took a walk around the town and visited a Raptor Rehabilitation Facility. There we saw eagles, hawks and owls who had been injured and, most likely, will never make it out to the wild again.  But they are safe.

No surprise here – I talked to all of them and they liked me!

In the finale of the Day 2, we heard a talk by Captain Chris Dodds (a resident of Manchester, England), who provided substantial details of his experience, including the fact that he was on a big ship for a different brand near Africa when the pandemic started.  He and his staff disembarked all the passengers, then set sail for the United Kingdom, many days away.  About 600 staff on board, many of whom, the captain said, learned to steer the ship, with his guidance, during the several-month journey back home.

No new food on board; everyone ate frozen food.

He said it took $1 million of fuel to get home and, when the ship stopped to refuel along the way, no one was allowed ashore.

The captain also had a good summary of staff on board for our cruise.  There were about 190 crew members who hailed from 31 countries, but only a couple from the U.S. – and they were contractors for the company that handles expeditions for those on board. 

The image?  He said the 190 staff get along very well despite the various cultures and perspectives.  So, he asked, what about assigning Members of Congress in the United States or Members of the Parliament in England to go on a cruise for several months and then expect them to get along? 

Good idea!

On Day 3, the major activity was a Zodiac tour which took us near a mammoth glacier.  It stretches 200 feet high off the water floor, but also goes 200 feet below the water line.  Some of the water in the glacier, which stretches 20 miles back up the mountain, has been there for hundreds of years.

While within a couple hundred yards of the glacier, we saw first-hand what’s called “calving.”  That’s when huge chucks of ice fall off into the water.  It sounds like a jet taking off.  And, then the meeting of ice and water causes waves…not huge ones, just swells.  It’s been happening for thousands of years!

On the way to the glacier, we saw a lot of harbor seals, which mostly weigh each about 150 pounds.  The only ones we saw were female.  They lie on top of small mounds of ice to give birth.  Then the pups nurse for a few hours until they are able swim a little.  An hour after birth, they can swim enough to remain buoyant, but they tend to stick close to their moms for much longer.  At some point, both moms and pups head to the sea where food is more plentiful.

All the males, their task done, have already returned to the open ocean.

Again on a Zodiac on Day 5, we rode with a very qualified and orally- skilled naturalist guide.  It appeared that he knew everything about the flora and fauna, not to mention animals.  But, then again, if he was wrong about something, how was I to know?

At one point, he told us that terns – a type of bird – live on the sea, but make their way between 50-100 miles inland to find their previous nests or at least something close to those nests.  Sounds like salmon returning to spawn.

The nests, by the way, are usually made in and around moss, which is pliable and allows the parents to make what seem like cups for the chicks.

There, the female terns lay their eggs.  Then, as the chicks hatch, the parents bring them food a couple times a day.  After about three months, it is time to head back to sea, so the terns empty their nests and the chicks have one chance to fly.  They drop – and then they fly, at least I hope they do.  If they don’t, well, you know the rest of the story.

As they fly for the first time, the chicks follow their parents to the ocean and then, knowing the way, both there and back, the cycle starts over again.  Part of life.

Near the end of our Zodiac trip, we saw two harbor seals poking their noses up through the top of the water, looking, I suspect, at us.  We didn’t venture near them.  We learned that, given the unclear character of the water – a lot of plankton is in it, which makes it healthy – seals cannot see under water.  So, to find food, they use their whiskers as “finders.”  Incredible!

Plus, today, the sun was out and it was about 70 degrees!  No kidding…here in Alaska.

You would have had to explain to Alaskans what that bright spot was in the sky.  Yes, sun!  Plus, blue sky, which made some of our cruise sojourners begin sun-bathing on deck.  Not me.  I preferred more wine.

The next day, we docked in Ketchikan.  On a board walk over water, we saw a lot of salmon, some of whom were being challenged by harbor seals.  It didn’t appear that the seals, though very quick in the water, were able to turn as sharp corners as salmon do – so it appeared the salmon escaped.

As we continued to make progress toward Vancouver, B.C., the water became calmer and the clouds parted, so, as we arrived at the Port, it was clear blue sky and about 85 degrees.

A lovely entrance to the Port, which included work by a pilot who got on the ship far from the Port property and guided it to its berth.  I thought a lot about the Columbia River Pilots whom I represented for almost 25 years.  A very different kind of work on a river, but still substantial credentials to get on a big ship and keep it heading in the right direction.

So, now back on land, would I go on this trip again?  About 50-50.  As good as it was most of the time, once is probably enough.

As I say that, it is not a negative view.  Just reality for me.  A lot of positive memories for me and my tour guide.  But good to be back home.

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.

An editorial writer for the Arizona Republican wrote a thought-provoking piece the other day that made this statement:

“Peering into deep outer space, images from some 13 billion years ago, stirs not only our wonderment, but also takes us on a journey of spirituality.”

The writer, Phil Boas, was talking about the Webb Telescope, which has transmitted incredible images back to earth from far farther than the Hubble Telescope before it.

Boas asked this probing question in the headline – “Did the Webb Telescope show us the face of God?”

He went on:

“How infinitesimally small are we? 

“We are so small our brains lack the processing power to answer the question.

“So small that on Monday morning we attended to the mundane, the things our primitive minds could manage:  Eggs for breakfast, food and water for the dog and then, at the very outer edges of our comprehension, $5.50 for a gallon of gas.

“Then came news of something we can never fully comprehend, an image so astonishing it provokes the biggest questions:

“Who are we?”

“Where are we?”

“Are we alone?”

“Is there a God?”

Beyond those questions, here are just a few of the incredible facts Boas included in his column:

• “…what a patch of sky!  It includes a massive cluster of galaxies about four billion light-years away that astronomers use as a kind of cosmic telescope.  The cluster’s enormous gravitation field acts as a lens, warping and magnifying the light from galaxies behind it that would otherwise be too faint and faraway to see.”
• Through the Webb Telescope, mankind is seeing extremely distant galaxies “that stretch back to the beginning of time.  It’s a galaxy-finding machine.”
• A lonely speck in the cosmic dark:  This is the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from 13 billion years — let me say that again — 13 billion years ago.
• A billion is a number so large it is essentially an abstraction to the human mind.  Light that has traveled 13 billion light-years requires context so we can begin to understand it – see the next bullet.  
• Light moves at a speed of 670.6 million miles per hour.  A beam of light can travel approximately 6 trillion miles in a single earth year, according to Space.com.  At that speed, you could travel around the Earth 7.5 times in a single second.
• The numbers are staggering.  Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 100,000 light-years across and contains some 100-400 billion stars, according to NASA.  Its size is too big to comprehend, but, within the context of the larger universe, it is smaller than a grain of sand.
• One of our neighboring galaxies is Andromeda. It is 220,000 light-years wide.  More than twice the size of our own.
• How many galaxies do you think there are?  NASA estimates 2 trillion. And if you can wrap your brain around that, ask yourself this question:  How many planets are there in all those galaxies?
• Too many planets to comprehend:  Roughly 700 quintillion — that’s 7 followed by 20 zeroes — 700,000,000,000,000,000,000.

My mind is boggled by these statistics, not to mention the photos produced by the telescope.  In the face of these numbers and photos, my eyes glaze over, not just my mind.

Then, to regain my composure, I return to my basic premise, a choice I presume to make:   It is that God created all of what we see and cannot see –-  and I admire his handiwork, at least what I can understand of it.

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.

I draw this blog headline from a column written by one of the best sports writers going today, Rick Reilly.

In a column for the Washington Post, he produced great words to decry the state of college football today.  He did so in the aftermath of the stunning decision by the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to turns their backs on the West and defect from the Pac 12 Conference and, of all things, to join the Big 10.

It was only the latest move that threatens many of the traditions and relationships in college football.

And, the move, like a lot of other things in today’s society, was driven by this phrase — It’s all about the money!

So, here, in words better than I could write, I reprint Reilly’s column:

**********

And now, class, it’s time to catch you up on college football, the sport that brought you the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.  Please open your textbooks to “madness.”

College football is slaying its history.  It’s selling all its tradition and fans and rivalries down the river on an out-of-control steamboat with a drunk donkey at the wheel.  The lunacy really kicked in on June 30 when USC and UCLA bolted the Pac-12 conference for the Big Ten (which now will have 16 teams, if that makes any sense).

That’s right.  Starting in 2024, the Big Ten conference, longtime symbol of the hearty American Midwest, corn ice cream and 400-pound kickers, will now be playing teams full of surfers, lowriders and guys in hair buns.

Big Ten teams are now conveniently located near their banks, not each other.  Take USC, which is near Hollywood, and their new conference foe Rutgers, which is somewhere near “The Sopranos.”  This is going to be such an exciting new rivalry.  One team has six Heisman Trophy winners, can claim 11 national championships and over the years has spent 91 weeks as the No. 1 team in the country.  The other is Rutgers.

Then you have the University of Maryland — a Midwest-by-the-Chesapeake Big Ten team since 2014 — soon to be taking on UCLA, which is a six-hour flight away.  The winner of the game will take possession of the coveted Dead Polar Bear trophy.  Imagine that:  The flyover states they’ll be flying over are where their conference resides.  College football really needs to get Google Maps.

Why did UCLA abandon the traditions of nearly 100 years in the Pac-12, the conference that has more national championships in more sports than any other?  Because its athletic program was $103 million in debt, according to USA Today, and stands to make about $60 million more per year in TV money with the Big Ten than it was with the Pac-12.  What good are traditions if the repo man just took your blocking sleds?

Not only did the Pac-Whatever lose its two biggest schools, there’s a rumor the conference could lose four more (Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State) to the Big 12, which last summer found out it was losing its two biggest teams — Oklahoma and Texas — to the Southeastern Conference, which needs two more good teams the way the Kardashians need more selfies.

Without the Sooners and the Longhorns, the Big 12 is left with a lot of teams such as Texas Tech and Iowa State, which don’t fluff up anybody’s pom-poms.  Two-four-six-eight! Why’d we leave the tailgate?

As for talk of a possible merger between the Big 12 and Pac-Whatever … fine.  You can make a tofu and wheatgrass smoothie. There’s still no meat in it.

And if you think those once-respectable conferences now suck like the Dyson factory, imagine how the lesser conferences look.  Their membership changes hourly, as do their names.  Tell you what, I’ll list a few and you try to tell me which one’s fake:  The Big West. Mid-Central. AAC. Sun Country.

Just kidding.  They’re all fake.  Nobody knows anymore.  Nobody cares.

All anybody really cares about is college football’s Godzilla, the SEC, which has won 12 of the last 16 national championships — six of them by Alabama alone.  One SEC team or another has been in the final game for 15 of the past 16 years.  Put it this way:  The SEC just rejected the New York Jets for membership.

Next earthquake up is Notre Dame, which is somehow still an independent, but not for long.  It will almost certainly soon jump to the Big Ten or the SEC — the Big Ten can pay Notre Dame $65 million more per year than it was getting out of its creaky old NBC deal.  Do you know how many golden domes that would buff?

Meanwhile, if you’ve seen the NCAA anywhere, will you have them call the office?  They’re supposed to be in charge of all this insanity but can’t seem to stop it.  Reminds me of the time we came home to find our kids running crazy inside the house and the babysitter locked out, sitting on the porch — crying.

But don’t fret, college football fans.  None of this is permanent: It’s going to get worse, until what we’re left with is two super-conferences — the Big Ten and the SEC — with maybe 40 teams total.  The super-conferences, controlling all the watchable college football in the country, will then put the NCAA out of its misery, take over the game and hold their own national championship.

And the egghead teams that aren’t at all watchable, such as Vanderbilt in the SEC and Northwestern in the Big Ten?  They’ll get kicked down to one of the JV conferences and eventually become accountants for TaxSlayer.

**********

And this footnote:  As Reilly wrote his column, the future of college football in Oregon and Washington was up for grabs.  The University of Oregon and the University of Washington could be leaving the Pac-12, or whatever it is now becoming, because they draw substantial fan and donor bases.

But, going without almost any mention in what has been written around the country – Oregon State University and Washington State University.  Who knows where or how they will end up when it comes to football or, for that matter, other sports?

I am a college football fan, though not to the degree of many of my friends.  But, in all of these crass moves, I am tempted to echo a two-word phrase from columnist Reilly:  Who cares!

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.

It is almost too much to comprehend!

What?

Images produced by the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope.

Just think about this fact as reported by the Wall Street Journal:

“The telescope appears to be even more powerful than the people who dreamed it up had hoped.  It is able to see further into the depths of space and time than the acclaimed Hubble, collecting the exquisitely faint infrared light emitted by the first stars and galaxies more than 13 billion years ago.

“’It sees things that I never dreamed were out there,’ said senior project scientist John Mather, a Nobel laureate who started working on the telescope in 1995.”

Light visible that started its route to us 13 billion years ago!

Earlier this week, the National Aviation and Space Administration released the first set of full-color images and data obtained by the revolutionary Webb telescope.  It was quite a cosmic show, according to the Journal: “Colliding galaxies, a dying star shedding itself layer by layer, a glorious stellar nursery, and the intriguing signs of water vapor and clouds on a giant planet whirling around a faraway star.”

With all this, my thoughts automatically go to a key question:  How was all this created?

No doubt eminent scientists could come up with various explanations.  But the explanation I CHOOSE – and let me add that I am not an eminent scientist — God created all this!

Plus, it is possible for us as human beings to have a relationship with Him if we choose to do so.

So, ponder infinity as we continue to see brilliant images from space billions of years ago – yes billions – and think of God’s handiwork.