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.

When I think of Memorial Day, tomorrow, several thoughts track through my brain.

A couple of them:

• As we put up our American flag on our deck, I thought how unconscionable it is that, in some quarters, the flag – our flag – has been commandeered by Trumpians to stand for the worst president in U.S. history, Donald Trump. 

Now, he wants to be president again.  Perish the thought!

I was careful to tell several of my friends that, if they saw our flag, it stood for America, not Trump.  They knew, but it was important for me to make the distinction.

• My thoughts often go to my father who served the country with distinction in the military during the World War II.

I wish I would have spent more time with him understanding the full scope of his military service.  I only know just a bit.

But, the point on Memorial Day is that I want to honor his service.  The best way for me to do so would be to take a trip to Sunriver in Central Oregon and visit the bridge over the Deschutes River where he loved to fish.

Better that, I say, than visiting his graveside in the National Cemetery in Portland, with all due respect to that national treasure.

So, to all my friends who served in the military, thank you for your service!

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 a story that appeared in the Washington Post, essayist Lance Morrow argues that the answer to the question in blog headline could be “yes.”

The essay appeared under this headline:  “Tim Scott and the Politics of Forgiveness; an upbeat candidacy of national reconciliation seems pitched to break the Trump-Biden stalemate.”

Of course, with all due respect to Morrow, only time will tell.

Morrow started his piece this way:

“America is stuck — deadlocked, frozen, like the armies on the Western Front in 1917.  One side is headquartered at Mar-a-Lago and has no ideas at all beyond revenge and gaudy vindication.

“The other side bivouacs at the White House and has far too many notions in a leftish way.

“Both armies are angry, full of sullen grievance.  Fox and MSNBC lob ritual shells to and fro.  Donald Trump and Joe Biden glare at each other across the cratered American landscape.”

So, is Scott the answer to those who hope for something other than campaigns of revenge and get-even.

Scott’s recently announced candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination points in an interesting direction.  He’s a long shot now, but he might become the kind of leader who could break the American deadlock.

Morrow adds:

“Think of Messrs. Trump and Biden as thesis and antithesis. They are irreconcilable ideas — old sluggers from the Pleistocene, both of them embarrassments by now.  For a moment, allow yourself to imagine Scott as a kind of synthesis — and even a refreshment of the American system.

“Scott is a black conservative.  That somewhat counterintuitive double identity might have its uses in a national drama of reconciliation.  He is from Charleston, South Carolina, a seedbed of the old confederacy.  He was raised in something like poverty, with a devoted, hard-working single mother.  His parents divorced when he was 7.”

But, even with that heritage, Scott became an entrepreneurial, patriotic Republican who won a congressional seat and now is running for the presidency.

Morrow argues that the key to Scott’s presidential venture isn’t so much his qualifications as statesman or politician.  Rather, the key is in his temperament — his manifest goodwill.  His policies are less important at this point than his temperament.  His conciliatory charm isn’t superficial, but rather the product of spirit and character.

And this conclusion from Morrow:

“The only exits from rage are exhaustion and forgiveness.  But sometimes a miraculous change of mood will do.  Almost uniquely among American politicians today, Scott embraces a theology of forgiveness — that great mood-changer.

“Forgiveness requires humility, a virtue in short supply.  It also requires maturity, intelligence, and a capacity for gratitude.”

Those qualities are surely missing in the current Republican contenders for president.  Chief among those without maturity, intelligence or the capacity for gratitude is one Donald Trump. 

He carries no qualities of character that we should expect in a presidential candidate or in someone who holds the nation’s highest political office.  No matter.  He still appears to lead the Republican field.

As for President Joe Biden?  Hard to tell, but, whatever the debates about politics and age, he is manifestly a better person than Trump, with character traits over a life marked by sorrow and loss.

I hope Scott rises to the challenge. 

We need a candidate – no worries about party affiliation – who displays the character to lead the free world from the Oval Office.

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.

Florida governor Ran DeSantis has done some stupid stuff in recent years.

Just ask some Florida as DeSantis has gouged Disney World (a huge provider of jobs and tax revenue in Florida), declared war on school districts, and tried to make universities in his own, bereft image.

But, he exceeded himself yesterday as he went on Twitter to announce his campaign for president.  He did so with Twitter owner Elon Musk sitting by his side.

Wouldn’t you know it, Twitter didn’t work.  Technology went to…well, you know where.

So, there he sat as he and Musk watched and heard Twitter go bang.  Must have reminded Musk of when his attempt to launch his Space X rocket blew up.

If you listened to the Twitter announcement, apparently you couldn’t hear much. 

Let provide assurances that I did not tune in – or try to tune in.  I let the moment pass.

Atlantic Magazine columnist Tom Nichols got it right when he wrote this the day before the Twitter fiasco:

“I am not going to open Twitter this evening to hear Ron DeSantis announce — finally, for real, no joke, this time he means it — his campaign to become the leader of the free world.

“Neither are you, in all likelihood.  Twitter is composed of a tiny fraction of highly engaged social-media users, and most people in America aren’t on the platform.  Even fewer use Twitter Spaces, the audio component of Twitter where users can tune in to a live conversation.

“More to the point, very few of the people Ron DeSantis wants to reach are on Twitter.  Most of them won’t hear any of the conversation, unless somehow the Ron and Elon Show is blasted from loudspeakers in Florida’s retirement mecca, The Villages.

Nichols says he wonders who came up with the “galaxy-brained idea of matching up two of the most socially awkward people in American public life for a spontaneous discussion on Twitter?”

So, beyond the announcement, on to politics for DeSantis.  He seems to think he can win by making war on Disney, attacking public education, and making phobic reactions to anything regarding race, sexuality, or gender. 

Nichols calls all this “performative cruelty aimed at the most socially and politically retrograde voters, which is another way of saying the GOP-base voters who will decide the primaries.”

I share Nichols’ view that the United States would be better off if Donald Trump does not become the presidential nominee of the Republican Party.  His continued support of violent insurrectionists should render him unfit to participate in our elections.

Anyone would be better on the ticket than Trump, and, for me, that includes DeSantis…barely.

“But, Nichols concludes, “DeSantis has learned from Trump that winning the GOP nomination is not about policy.  It’s about playacting.  He knows that the primary faithful want rallies and revenge, costumes, and chaos.”

Which is why I hope a candidate emerges who can grab the “middle” in the country – persons who are tired of the extremes of right and left.

Too much to hope for?  Perhaps.  But I persist.

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.

Ever get tired of all the media coverage of the “debt ceiling?”

I do, though it could be contended, properly I submit, that the subject is worth noting because it carries so much weight for the future of the American economy.

So far, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been unable to find middle ground because advocates on both sides don’t want to give, apparently no matter the consequences.

Beyond the daily news coverage, I did get a little respite the other day when I read an excellent column by Ben Zimmer who writes on the derivation of words for the Wall Street Journal.  This time his column appeared under this headline:  A depression-era phrase for government spending caps comes from a medieval word for putting a cover on something.

He went on:

“The federal government has been thrown into a precarious financial position as negotiations continue between President Biden and congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling, the limit on how much money the government can borrow.

“That limit is set by Congress, and when it is reached, the debt ceiling must be raised or suspended if the Treasury Department is to avoid a potentially disastrous default.

“The ‘debt ceiling’ is a peculiar metaphor, if you stop and think about it. Unlike a ceiling in a house, the debt ceiling can be raised again and again, as Congress has done in the past.  And some economists argue that the debt ceiling is merely a political distraction and should be removed entirely — not a wise move when dealing with an actual ceiling, architecturally speaking.

Zimmer asks, “how did this economic figure of speech get hoisted up in the first place?”

He answers his own question.

“It did not take long for ‘ceiling’ to take on more figurative uses for something that hangs overhead, like a ‘ceiling of stars.’

“The word ‘ceiling’ goes back to the Middle English verb ‘ceil,’ which originally referred to putting a cover or lining over something.  It likely came via French from the Latin verb ‘celare’ meaning ‘to conceal,’ though it could also be related to ‘caelare’ meaning ‘to carve.’

“To ‘ceil’ a space could mean to cover it with panels, and eventually ‘ceiling’ came to be used for the paneling itself.

“By the 16th century, ‘ceiling’ had narrowed its meaning to the surface covering the upper part of a room, consisting of boards or plaster.  The Coverdale Bible of 1535, the first complete Bible in English, referred to ‘sylinges’ made of cedar in the Song of Solomon, while a 1598 translation of a work by the Roman historian Tacitus told of three treacherous senators who hid themselves ‘between the roofs and the seeling’ of a house.

“The French metaphorical usage may have also played a role in the way that ‘ceiling,’ came to be used in aeronautics, for the maximum altitude that an aircraft can reach.”

In the 1930s, “ceiling” entered the economic realm when, Zimmer reports, it was first applied to the upper limit of prices, spending, and the like.

While Congress began imposing a limit on federal debt as early as World War I, that limit didn’t get called a “debt ceiling” immediately. The phrase first cropped up at the municipal level in a 1933 article in the Indianapolis News about what happened when “the city reached its debt ceiling” imposed by the state legislature.

The following year, an Associated Press report said the national “public debt ceiling” was “still invisible” and bound to rise as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration sought more federal spending.

In 1939, Congress began imposing debt ceiling limits, originally at about $45 billion, though, by the end of World War II, the ceiling grew to $300 billion.

How about today?

Well, the current ceiling, the one the subject of so much media, “rests” at $31.4 trillion.  Yes, that’s “trillion!”

It is hard to fathom a trillion.  Only that it’s huge.

Which leads me to two conclusions:

1. Aren’t you glad you now know more about debt ceiling than you did before you happened to read this blog?  Say yes, please.
2. And, with me, don’t you wish the leaders in Washington, D.C. – if that’s what they really are — would get about the business of reaching an agreement to save all of us from more economic travail?  Again, say yes, please.

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.

Leave it to my friend Sam Skillern to write a note that strikes a positive chord with me – and should for a lot of other people.

Skillern, executive director of the Salem Leadership Foundation, put it this way:

“Lotta people making fun of Theodore Cleaver these days.  In fact, some folks downright loathe him and the iconic 1957-63 television show Leave it to Beaver.
 
“The knock is that the Cleaver family and mid-century America represented harmful values.  The parents of Mayfield over-dressed and the kids were goody-two-shoes in a sugar-coated era of white, middle-class privilege.  A time period famously parodied in the 1998 film Pleasantville.
 
“No era is perfect.  It’s true there was racism, sexism, vain facades of affluence, and economic inequities in the 1950s and 1960s.  But, unfortunately, that’s true of every era.  It’s true today.
 
“While conceding that the Leave-it-Beaver world had its flaws, there’s one thing that stands out.  Something that’s sorely scarce these days.  
 
“Decency.

“Simple things, like opening doors or carrying groceries.  Saying ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon’ even to strangers.  Bringing meals when a neighbor is sick.  

“Innocence and modesty around life’s rites of passage.  Striving to share a kind word of encouragement … and lip-biting to refrain from shaming or offending.  (Today, trash talking is not only tolerated, it’s celebrated.)
 
“A closer look at Beaver’s world shows more than cotton-candy manners and pollyanna.  Remember the episode where the Beav convinces his Dad to hire the homeless drifter to paint the house?  Or when Wally confronts Eddie Haskell’s cruel bullying?  When the plot wrestled with, rather than laughed at, domestic abuse and alcoholism?  The show actually pushed the envelope in its day.
 
“Again, this isn’t a defense of the prejudice, sexism and injustice that existed then.  And I’m not saying we should go back to everything in that day. 

“How about decency?  A desire for truthfulness, kindness, hard work, sacrifice, a clean tongue, respect for elders, consequences (and forgiveness) for bad decisions, abiding by the rules, faith in God and each other … man, do I sound like an old fuddy-duddy?  But why would these simple virtues be considered obsolete, prudish and mockable? 
 
“In a world where the mottos seem to be ‘You can’t tell me what to do,’ ‘It’s not my fault,’ and ‘I’m entitled,’ … a return to simple decency might actually be the cure for what ails us.”

Skillern, by his selfless work in the Salem-Keizer community over the years, has earned the right to be heard.  More than enough.

So, he has a very valid point.

Let simple decency prevail.  It would solve a lot of problems that appear unsolvable today.

And, just think about how simple decency would upend the current state of politics in this country where both sides – or all sides – appear to hate each other.

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.

When it comes to insurance – all types of insurance, including health, property, life, auto, etc. – I always have mixed emotions.

On one hand, it makes sense to protect yourself against future costs in all of the insurance policy areas mentioned above.

On the other hand, I often regale one of my friends, now retired, who was an insurance agency manager, with this comment:  Insurance companies love when you pay premiums; they hate when you make claims.

I also was a lobbyist for several health insurance companies, so when it comes to the story I cite below, I understand a bit about the reality of health treatments covered by insurance…or not.

Written by Elisabeth Rosenthal, a senior contributing editor at Kaiser Foundation Health News, a story on this subject appeared under this headline:   Denials of health-insurance claims are rising — and getting weirder.

On to the story:

“Millions of Americans in the past few years have run into this experience:  Filing a health-care insurance claim that once might have been paid immediately, but instead is just as quickly denied.

“If the experience and the insurer’s explanation often seem arbitrary and absurd, that might be because companies appear increasingly likely to employ computer algorithms or people with little relevant experience to issue rapid-fire denials of claims — sometimes bundles at a time — without even reviewing the patient’s medical chart.  A job title at one company was ‘denial nurse.’

“It’s a handy way for insurers to keep revenue high — and just the sort of thing that provisions of the Affordable Care Act were meant to prevent. Because the law prohibited insurers from deploying a number of previously profit-protecting measures such as refusing to cover patients with pre-existing conditions, the authors worried that insurers would compensate by increasing the number of denials.”

The law assigned the Department of Health and Human Services to monitor denials in plans on the Obamacare marketplace, as well as those offered by employers and insurers.  But the agency has not done a good job of meeting that assignment.   

A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation of plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace found that, even when patients received care from in-network physicians — doctors and hospitals approved by these same insurers — the companies in 2021 denied, on average, 17 per cent of claims.

One insurer denied 49 per cent of claims in 2021; another’s turndowns hit an astonishing 80 per cent in 2020.

Some denials are, of course, well-considered, and some insurers deny only 2 per cent of claims. 

Now, all of this said, my easy answer is this:  If an accredited physician says a treatment is necessary, it should be covered by insurance.

Does this put too much faith in physicians?  Perhaps.

But better to put faith there than in a bureaucratic on-line decision-maker.

When I lobbied for Oregon health insurers, I made the “trust-the-doctor” point repeatedly, even though I represented the insurance side of the house.

It was a good point then.  It is a good point now.

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 am not looking forward to the 2024 presidential election if it turns out that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are running against each other.

It will not a rewarding election.

Of course, given my antipathy for Trump, I would vote for Biden.

But, his age – he would be 82 at the time of the election and, if he wins, serve until he is 86 – would make him the oldest president in our history.  It will be a major issue in the election and Biden knows it.  As does Trump, though, if he mentions age, it would apply to him, as well.

Age should not be an automatic disqualification, but it is, for me, a factor.

I hope, if he wins, Biden is up to four more years in the nation’s highest political office, one with huge international relations obligations, not to mention a host of troubling issues at home.

Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post wrote about this:

“I hate saying this, but Biden is too old to serve another four years, not least because, should he become debilitated by illness or injury, we’ll be saddled with one of the least-popular Democrat candidates from the 2020 primary campaign:  Vice President Harris. Her word salads make Biden seem like Demosthenes.  Ninety percent of the time, I have no idea what she’s talking about. Or why she’s laughing.”

I could say similar stuff about Trump.  When he speaks, he cannot put a string of words together.  Plus, if he managed to achieve that standard, none of those words would be true.

In the Wall Street Journal, essayist Joseph Epstein dealt with all this when he wrote a piece under this headline:  America Hits Bottom With Trump and Biden in 2024:  There was once a time when candidates for high office were expected at least to seem morally fit.

Here is how Epstein started his column:

““Forgive my repetitiousness, but how did it happen that what happened is happening?  How has it come about that the more-than-likely presidential candidates of our two political parties in 2024 turn out to be Donald Trump and Joe Biden?

“One can of course be a good man and a poor president.  Jimmy Carter, take a bow.  But no one would argue that either Trump or Biden is a notably good man.  [I differ here because I think Biden is basically a good man, though one who has, like all of us, made mistakes along the way.]

“Both have been accused of poor personal behavior.  Each has been ethically challenged and found wanting:  Trump by his long experience in the New York real-estate world, Biden by his 36 years in the Senate.

“Neither man has been touched by a scintilla of culture.  It’s difficult to imagine either ever having read a serious book, sat through a classical music concert, or strolled through an art museum.  Charm is far from the long suit of either man.  Neither is even especially likable.”

Again, Epstein goes farther than I would in criticizing Biden, but he also makes this point:  In various polls, Americans have expressed concern about the advanced ages of both men; and in Biden’s case, this concern is aggravated by many of his current performances.

Epstein ends his column – or is it a “rant” – by writing this:  “A forthcoming presidential election between these two men would only seem to prove the sad wisdom of Joseph de Maistre, who wrote that ‘every country gets the government it deserves.’”

Perhaps.

But the election is still a long way off, so I hope someone emerges who can capture the balance between electability and character.

As Americans, we deserve at least that.

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 may have written about this before, but I am doing so again because it has been fun to think about some of my favorite sayings.

Plus, I don’t have much else to do as my wife and I prepare to leave the California desert and head back to our home in Salem, Oregon.

The sayings relate to two of my worlds – golf and lobbying.  Golf as a fun sport.  Lobbying as my job for many years.

So, here they are, perhaps not memorable to everybody, but memorable to me:

• That’s the first step down a slippery slope [This is a phrase I used frequently as I tried to kill a bad piece of legislation.]

• That’s the camel’s nose under the tent  [Same with this one in the lobby game.]

• They acted like a circular firing squad  [And, this, too, explains how various legislators didn’t have an idea of what they were doing, so they compromised each other.]

• Ready, fire, aim  [Ditto.]

• What goes around comes around  [This was a favorite phrase used by one of the best co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee at the Capitol in Salem; what he meant was that it usually was best to understand that one incident on the way to an agreement on legislative issues – pro or con — didn’t amount to the whole story.]

• It was all hat and no cattle [A sometimes popular phrase in the lobbying business to refer to a legislator who had an idea, but not much to back it up.]

• If he would have swung harder, it would have gone farther  [This phrase relates to golf and, in fact, it is not often true, as golf requires a combination of strength and finesse.]

• He has a lot of green to work with  [If you watch much golf on television, you’ll hear this phrase uttered frequently by commentators.  That’s a job I would love – saying this phrase over and over.]

• Better than most  [Golf commentator Gary Koch made a name for himself when he said this about a putt made by Tiger Woods when it would have been better if had said “better than anyone else”…for that was true on the 17^th island green at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.]

• I pay Callaway to play Callaway golf clubs — and Callaway pays Phil Mickelson to do so   [It’s true, though Mickelson may be in the process of losing his endorsement with Callaway, given his revolt to LIV.]

• Jack Nicklaus, Dustin Johnson and I all hit fades off the tee  [This is also true.]

• I taught my son all I know about golf, then he turned five-years-old  [This simply is a way to say that my son is better than me at golf – and it’s a fact I love.]

• Let’s play today “for the love of the game,” not for money [Which I say to some friends who tend to believe that exchanging money always makes golf more fun.]

• I quit golf today, but I I’ll start again tomorrow  [This describes my pro and con love for the game of golf.]

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.

Several letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal caught my attention as they dealt with a major issue – the over-the-top conduct of some parents at youth sports games.

We’ve all seen or heard about this problem. But it is growing in scope and intensity.

Still, I heard and saw a bit of good news lately as I attended high school games to see my granddaughters play here in Oregon.,

In high school tennis, representatives of the Oregon School Activities Association did an excellent of providing instructions for spectators as they watched school district tournaments.

Root for your team, they said.  Don’t root against the opposing team.  And, be patient with officials who are trying to do a good job, often as volunteers.

In high school volleyball, my granddaughter plays for a league up in the State of Washington and officials from that league, as well, did a solid job of counseling good sportsmanship on the part of those watching a major event that drew 200 teams to Portland’s Expo Center.

In both cases, we saw almost nothing but solid, mature, credible behavior from parents and grandparents.

Back to the Wall Street Journal letters to the editor.  Here are copies of what readers wrote:

Letter #1:  I neatly solved the problem of nasty parents years ago when I refereed soccer for 15-year-olds in Massachusetts (“Why Did the Umpire Quit Little League? Nasty Parents,” Sports, May 5).  I told the coach of the team with an unruly parent that, if the parent didn’t stop, I would call the game in favor of the other team.  It worked beautifully the two times I needed to do it. — Tom Holzel, Litchfield, Connecticut

Letter #2:  My son was a youth soccer coach.  One season he had several unruly parents who shouted orders to their sons, often including curses, for bad plays.  He called all the parents into a meeting on the field before the next game, and quietly informed them that he was the coach, and he would be the only one instructing the team.  If any of the parents continued to yell orders and obscenities to a youth, he would bench the player.  He and his team weren’t harassed anymore that season, and they went on to finish at the top of their league. — Sheila W. Evans,  Charlotte, North Carolina

Letter #3:  I have coached youth and high-school sports for 40 years, and I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone blame the umpires or referees for their team’s defeat.  Yet not once have I ever heard a parent, coach or player boast that they won because of the umps or refs.  Somehow the math doesn’t add up. — Paul McCarthy, Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Letter #4:  As a former Little League umpire, I would consider returning to the job only if I were assured that both teams came from an orphanage — Bob Spear, Coronado, California

Good suggestions, all, especially the point about orphanages.

But, what this comes down to is parent conduct.  Simple.  Just be mature, patient, and courteous.  Root FOR your kids.  Not against others.  And respect officials.

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.

When I think of the word “blackberry,” two things spring to mind:

• The blackberries on bushes near where I live that are almost ripe and that means I get to go out and pick some.  And, guess what – they are free!

• Blackberries also were some of the early hand-held phones and, given the character of that early development, the rest of this blog will be about Blackberry technology.

Here’s what my friend Mr. Google says about the device:

“BlackBerry Limited, known as Research In Motion (RIM) until January 2013, had a long history of extreme success and failure.  It’s credited by many as creating the first smartphone.

“And at its peak in September 2011, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide.  But the rise of Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS caused it to decline in popularity by nearly three-quarters.

“BlackBerry’s stock price effectively tanked from highs of $147 to around $3.69 as of March 2023.

“How did a high-flying revolutionary tech company get eclipsed so badly? A new movie, set to release in Canada in May, is set to tell the tale.”

The pioneer in bringing e-mail services to handheld mobiles, with its trademark QWERTY keyboard, BlackBerry became an instant darling of world leaders, corporate honchos, and the rich and famous alike.  

Indeed, owning a BlackBerry device was once a status symbol, and BlackBerry addiction was a prevalent condition.

The always-on, always-connected wireless world that allowed secure and reliable access to e-mails turned out to be very useful for businesses, including mine.

The first prominent release from BlackBerry, the Inter@ctive Pager 950, was in 1998.  It had a small-sized screen, keyboard buttons, and the iconic trackball that allowed seamless syncing and continuous access to corporate emails. It became an instant hit, and then there was no looking back.

Count me among the early users.  Actually, count my firm, then called CFM Strategic Communications, in the early-user category.

We were the first lobby group at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon to use BlackBerries and, for us, it was a revolutionary development.

No matter where we were, we could, not just get phone calls, but also check e-mails.

The devices meant we were able to communicate more nimbly with our clients, a critical factor for anyone in the lobbying business.

Sitting around our conference room in our Portland headquarters office, I still remember the day we got the new BlackBerries.

I was transfixed and, I say that as not the most tech-savvy partner in our firm.

I say that, perhaps because I now knew I could be on the golf course without “leaving” my clients.  Not just the golf course, but everywhere.

All of this seems pretty routine now, with IPhones everywhere.  But, back in the day, BlackBerries led us to this current space where everyone is always connected.

Consider me and my firm to be visionaries!

Footnote:  Speaking of “firsts,” when I was in Washington, D.C. working in the office of Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin, our first on the Hill to get a Wang word-processing system.  Imagine that.  We could now write letters without carbons or white typo-fixing solutions.  Just consider me a pioneer!