PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

To repeat what I have written several times in the past, this is one of two departments I run with a free hand to do what I deem to be right and best. The other is the Department of Pet Peeves.

I have not written much on the latter subject lately, though in the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, I have an opportunity to share a pet peeve or two as I comment on quotes.

So, here goes again.

From Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):  “The week has lent itself to a feeling of instability. The president has deliberately added to the rancor and tension of his nation’s daily life, lurching in his tweets from mischief to malice to a kind of psychopathology—personal attacks, insinuations, videos from a group labeled racist by the British government. You always want to say he has reached peak crazy, but you know there’s a higher peak on the horizon. What will Everest look like? He has no idea how to be president.”

Comment: As usual, Noonan is right on point. Trump has no idea how to be president. He violates many of the norms of reasonable conduct regardless of political party. He also tends to compromise his own supposed objectives – and, to get an idea of how damaging and risky is his conduct, just read one of the quotes below from the Washington Post.

From Holman Jenkins in the WSJ:  “Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn on Friday pleaded guilty to lying about a non-crime. Even Adam Schiff, the House Democrat most determined to ride the Russia collusion story to bigger and better things, acknowledged that conferring with a representative of Russia about the incoming administration’s Russia policy is not illegal or improper.”

Comment: Jenkins makes a good point. Simply talking with Russians is not necessarily illegal or improper. Of course, lying about such contact is allegedly illegal, as the Flynn case shows. So, did the Trump campaign or administration coalesce with Russians? Not sure yet. But, it also may true that the Clinton campaign made similar overtures to Russia, which represents, other WSJ writers have said, a particular misunderstanding of Russian’s aims – advance its own cause in the world, not cooperate with others.

From Peggy Noonan in the WSJ:  “Mr. Franken’s weakness as a political figure was having no sympathy for those who disagree with him, not bothering to understand how the other side thinks, while always claiming for himself the high moral ground. This now common attitude frays political bonds; once it was considered poor political comportment.”

Comment: Noonan also writes cogently about soon-to-be former U.S. Senator Al Franken. Franken had a number of faults, including the fact that his experience before being elected did not qualify him to be a U.S. senator. Nor did his belief that he always was right, claiming “the high moral ground” for himself. No aceptance for other views. His lack of comportment in his roles previous to being elected to Congress should have foretold to voters in Minnesota that he would be a very poor U.S. senator.

From hill.com:  “The U.S. labor market maintained steady growth in November, which is better than expectations with Congress on the cusp of passing the first massive tax package in decades.  Employers added 228,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent, the lowest level since December 2000 when it was 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.”

Comment: Good news on the economic front. My view always has been that economic growth or stagnation is due to factors mostly beyond the direct control of political figures, either a governor in a state like Oregon or the president. Still, if the news is positive, politicians will try to take credit for it. If the news is not good, they will try to escape. In this case, the good news is that the private sector economy is performing well. Long may it last.

From Joe Scarborough in the Washington Post:  “Donald Trump spent much of 2016 questioning his opponent’s stamina to be president of the United States. But it is now Trump’s own fitness that is being scrutinized by friends and foes alike. After Trump spent recent weeks creating a level of chaos unseen around the White House since Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, Capitol Hill politicians and media outlets are quietly questioning whether Trump is fit for the highest office in the land. That the commander in chief slurred his way through the end of a speech on Jerusalem was just the latest in a string of unsettling incidents.  Many who move through his orbit believe Trump is not well. That is a verdict that was reached long ago by many of the president’s own staff. More than a few politicians and reporters across Washington have shared similar fears.”

Comment: Scarborough may have various axes to grind, but his take on Trump’s fitness to be president – or lack of fitness – is, at best sobering. Problems with Trump have revolved around his mental fitness to be and act like a president. If physical limitations are added to the mix, it does not bode well for the future. What to do about it should be a source of concern for all of us.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime

In today’s world, it’s easy to get caught up in the trappings of Christmas and forget the real reason for the season.

The real reason?

It’s a season to remember the birth of Christ who came to this world to save us and give us hope for a future beyond what might exist by our own actions.

In our family, my wife has done a great job of starting various Christmas celebrations, which she hoped would become traditions. They did.

• We have usually gathered with our two children, their spouses and their children, our grandkids, for a joyous celebration on Christmas Day, though recently we have adjusted the day to accommodate their other-family schedules. Easy to adjust and keep alive our own family traditions.
• We start by opening stocking presents with the stockings hung over our fireplace, though the presents themselves won’t fit inside them.
• We then move to the breakfast table where we have scrambled eggs, bacon and what has come to be a great tradition for us – rolls soaked in a brown sugar substance that gets better with time. The rolls are heated so they taste nothing but good. Without these rolls, Christmas just wouldn’t be same!
• After breakfast, we take a breath to read the Christmas account in Luke 2, which chronicles Christ’s birth in a lowly stable in Bethlehem. Good to hear this story time after time.

“So it was that while they (Mary and Joseph) were there in Bethlehem, that she came to the end of her time. She gave birth to her first child, a son. And as there was no place for them inside the inn, she wrapped him up and laid him in a manger.”

• Then, after hearing the Luke 2 story, we open presents — and try to do so, one-by-one, so we see what everyone gets. This “one-by-one” premise was started after my father, now gone for a number of years, would open his presents surreptitiously and early in an attempt to get a head start on the process.

So, whatever your traditions, I hope you pause to enjoy them at this time of year. Don’t hurry through Christmas. Pause. Reflect. Express thanks for the Savior who came to the earth to rescue us, the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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’ll answer the question in the headline with a simple proposition: It is because the subject is so important that it deserves thought and study even as someone like me focuses more on issues in Oregon than in the world.

In a piece in the Wall Street Journal, former State Department official, Robert B. Zellich, describes Trump’s foreign policy “as a style of deal-making with uncertainty and brinkmanship, without a plan for what comes next.”

Zellick continues that Trump’s foreign policy “reflects his instinct for political realignment at home, based on celebrity populism.”

To Zellick and many others, populist movements feed off grievances and impatience with traditional politics. Frustrations—whether generated by economic distress, social displacement, or cultural challenges—fuel skepticism about institutions and elites. Challengers (who want to become the new elite) attack traditional leaders as out of touch, incompetent and corrupt.

Sound like Trump?

He rallies his supporters by proclaiming what Zellick calls “three presumptions of populism.”

• First, populism professes to reflect the will of a scorned people. Hillary Clinton called them “deplorables.” The will of the people is intolerant of the give-and-take of pluralism.
• Second, populism finds and blames enemies, domestic or foreign, who thwart the people’s will – or at least “some of the people’s will.” Trump has mastered creating such scapegoats.
• Third, populism needs “the leader,” who can identify with and embody the will of some of the people. Like other populist leaders, Trump attacks the allegedly illegitimate institutions that come between him and the people. His solutions, like those of other populists, are simple. He contends that the establishment uses complexity to obfuscate and cover up misdeeds and mistakes. He claims he will use his deal-making know-how to get results without asking the public to bear costs.

Trump’s foreign policy, if you can call what he does and how he acts a “policy,” revolves around himself. He is, as we have seen time and again, a narcissist.

Mr. Zellich writes that, on Trump’s recent trip to Asia, “foreign leaders took his measure. They played to his narcissism. He in turn basked in their attention, diminishing his own country by blaming past presidents, and preened with promises of great but unspecified things to come.”

His ego also makes him comfortable with authoritarian leaders as his recent trip showed. Presidents Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte play to Trump’s ego, as has part of the Saudi royal family.

Thus, Mr. Zellich adds, “other countries are preparing for a world in which they can expect U.S. demands but can no longer rely on American leadership.”

A smart U.S. foreign policy ought to rely on cementing alliances with friendly nations and even reaching out to potential enemies to discuss areas of possible collaboration in a world that often appears to be on the brink of more war.

That’s what other presidents have done, though, in this piece, I am not advocating the ideas of former president Barack Obama, who, for all his personal credentials, spent more time on the world stage apologizing for America than advocating for it.

Trump’s foreign policy represents a break from postwar presidents of both parties, reaching back to Harry S. Truman. Other presidents led an alliance that recognized U.S. security is connected to mutual interests in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.

Past presidents believed that the U.S. economy would prosper in a world of expanding capitalism, governed by rules and practices that matched America’s competitive and dynamic markets. Over time, U.S. foreign policy strove to expand human rights, liberty and democracy. Trump dismisses this U.S.-led international system as outdated, too costly and too restrictive of his case-by-case deal-making.

A letter to the editor writer in the Wall Street Journal said the other day that “Mr. Zoellick’s assessment of President Trump’s foreign policy misses one point: The train of American world leadershiup has left the station and is not coming back,” in what the writer called “a multipolar and nuclear world.”

So, what next? From my post in the Western States, my hope is that Trump will become more strategic rather than just tactical. My hope is that he would rely on his experienced staff, especially former military leaders, for advice and counsel. My hope is that he would drop Twitter which only inflames the foreign policy atmosphere. And my hope is that he would let his ego rest for the good of the country.

False hopes, you say. Perhaps. But hope is better than one of the alternatives, which is despair.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

To say that December 1, 2004 was an important day in my life would be an understatement.

The day began like many others. I was in Seattle for a meeting with clients, then drove back south, stopping in Portland for dinner with my partner, Pat McCormick. That done, I headed out for my home, Salem, where I arrived home at about 7:30 p.m.

It was a Wednesday evening, so with garbage pick-up the next day, I took the cans out to the street.

As I went back into the house, I felt queasy, but, initially at least, chalked it up to a busy day, with hours in the car. The feeling persisted, so I drank a couple glasses of winter and sat down on the couch in our family room.

Nothing helped, so I told my wife, Nancy, I ought to head into the emergency room. By car or ambulance, she asked. I said by car.

So, as she looked for her car keys, I went out to the garage and, as I put my hand on the door to open it, I knew I would go down so I got down on the cold, cement floor.

That’s where Nancy found me, so she immediately called 911 and, within about 10 minutes, the ambulance arrived, which is saying something because we live fairly far south of the central city.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was having a heart attack, which I prefer now to call “my episode” because I dislike the phrase heart attack.

Within about two hours, doctors at Salem Hospital had inserted a stent to enable the main artery to my heart to function properly. That saved my life.

I was in the hospital for three more days during which two more minor stents were inserted in subsidiary arteries.

By Friday, I was home recuperating, which hindsight says, didn’t take long as I thought it would.

On the evening of my arrival at the hospital, my wife and son, Eric, were told by the doctors that I had experienced a heart attack. They had no idea that had been the case. Neither did I at that moment. And, the doctor said, it was a major one from which many victims don’t recover. They even don’t always get up after going down.

So, as I look back on all of this after 13 years, I am thankful for a lot.

• I am thankful that Nancy was home when I went down so she could call the ambulance and get me to the hospital in what must have been near record time.
• I am thankful that Eric got home – he lived across the street from us – just as the ambulance arrived, so was able to help Nancy respond to the emergency.
• I am thankful for the doctors and other medical personnel at Salem Hospital who responded so well to my emergency.
• I am thankful for the cardiac rehabilitation services at Salem Hospital that aided in my recovery.
• I am thankful for my daughter, Lissy, who came down immediately from Seattle to tell me how much she loved me, which is great to hear coming from a daughter as great as Lissy.
• I am thankful that a wonderful dog, Hogan, came into my life shortly after my episode and played an instrumental role in my recovery. [The bad news is that about two months ago we had to put Hogan down as he suffered from a brain tumor. His departure created a huge hole in our lives, which we have filled with another great dog, Callaway.]
• I am thankful for all my friends at work and in our neighborhood – including on my golf course, Illahe Hills — who rallied around me in what turned out to be a successful recovery.
• And, most of all, I am thankful to God for giving me a new lease on life.

In your own situation, whatever that may be, take time to be thankful, both during the aftermath of one of the best holidays on the calendar, Thanksgiving, but also as we anticipate Christmas and what it really means – the birth of our (my) Savior.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

Republicans in Congress are replicating mistakes Democrats made about seven years ago.

In the tax bill, now undergoing vetting among Republicans in the U.S Senate, they are talking only between and among themselves. Democrats, even some who might be willing to consider middle-of-the-road tax proposals, are shut out of the process.

That mimics what Democrats did with then-President Barack Obama when they produced Obama Care without one Republican vote.

As a former state lobbyist in Oregon, I say that is exactly one of the wrong ways to do the public’s business.

One side – either Republicans or Democrats – doesn’t have all the answers and should not behave as if they do.

What should matter is finding the smart middle ground. Not always the exact middle, but a compromise, which has become, unfortunately, a dirty word in politics these days.

It’s been 16 years since the last tax bill passed Congress and was signed by a president, George W. Bush, in his first year in office.

As Kimberley Strassel opines in the Wall Street Journal, “the Bush tax package was hardly as sweeping as today’s proposed reform, but it did contain similar provisions. It cut marginal rates across the board, even knocking nearly 5 points off the top marginal rate for the 1 per cent. It cut capital-gains taxes and lowered the estate tax to zero in 2010, before the reductions expired. These are all cuts that House and Senate Democrats today uniformly decry as giveaways to the rich and powerful.

“Yet back then,” Strassel continues, “nobody doubted some Democrats would support the legislation. Republicans barely commanded a Senate majority, with just 50 Senate votes, yet the tax-cut train rolled unswervingly on. Ultimately, 12 Senate Democrats voted yes. Some of these were moderate Democrats, a species that is now all but extinct— John Breaux of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Tim Johnson of South Dakota. But the ayes also included Dianne Feinstein from California and Bob Torricelli from New Jersey.”

The process 16 years ago may not have been pretty. Most efforts to develop compromise are not. But it was a process. Which is more than anyone can say these days as we watch one side, the Democrats, do damage with ObamaCare, then watch the other side, the Republicans, risk the same with tax reform. Getting even appears to be the main objective.

To those suggest that I appear to be more interested in process than substance, I say, “guilty.” For me, a solid process produces solid substance.

Further, it was telling for me that the Wall Street Journal endorsed the Senate tax package and the New York Times wrote an editorial opposing it. That means there is middle ground for the taking. Let’s hope those in Congress find it.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

This is one of two departments I direct, with full and complete authority to run it as I see fit, which means, in this case, that I decide what quotes to remember.  I also comment on all of the good quotes.  So, here goes.

From a letter from eight tax policy professionals to the U.S. Treasury Secretary on the tax reform proposal in Congress:  “While the overall House and Senate tax plans contain numerous household and business provisions, we focus on the corporate tax changes, returning to other provisions before concluding. A key concept in this context is the ‘user cost of capital,’ which essentially measures the expected cost to firms of making additional investments in equipment.

“A considerable body of economic research concludes that reductions in the user cost of capital raise output in the short and long run. Several of the proposals that have emerged in the current debate are key to lowering the user cost of capital. For example, expensing, which allows firms to deduct the full cost of investment at the time it is made, lowers the user cost of capital relative to depreciation over time.

“A lower corporate tax rate also lowers the user cost of capital, which not only induces U.S. firms to invest more, but also makes it more attractive for both U.S. and foreign multinational corporations to locate investment in the United States.”

Comment:  It’s always tempting, not to mention very natural, to look at federal tax changes through the lens of how the change will affect you as an individual.  But, with this quote, eight tax experts encourage us to look at the beneficial corporate tax changes that will reduce the cost of capital which will, as past experience indicates, lead to economic growth — and we’ll all benefit from that growth.

From a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial:  “The question senators need to ask themselves in the end is whether this tax reform, all things considered, is a net benefit for the country. We think it is—not least because it is a vote of confidence that better policies can restore America’s traditional economic vigor. Democrats and their media friends have given up on that score, concluding that we are doomed to ‘secular stagnation’ and that our politics must devolve into a brawl to divide up the spoils of whatever meager growth we can muster.

“That is not the country we have known and it is an America that would be much diminished and harsher. Republicans need to decide if they still believe America can prosper again, or if it is doomed to the slow growth and stagnant wages of the last 11 years.”

Comment: See above.

From hill.com: Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci defended White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday, saying the administration’s mouthpiece does her best to protect President Trump while also telling the truth. ‘I think she does the best of her ability to tell the truth but also to protect the president,’ Scaramucci told host Chris Cuomo on CNN’s New Day.

Comment: It is possible to argue that Sanders has one of the toughest jobs in Washington, D.C., at least one that is very visible to the general public. It is to defend President Trump while dealing, face-to-face, with a tough and skeptical media, sometimes a cynical media.

I always am interested in how press secretaries conduct themselves because I was one once, no twice – the first time to a Democrat member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the second time to Oregon’s last Republican governor, Vic Atiyeh.

If you are in such a job, you have to remember all of the audiences that will read or hear your comments. The tendency, then, could be to avoid saying anything by being milquetoast. But the ones who are good at their jobs avoid that tendency, uttering thoughts on behalf of the person for whom they work while being as honest as possible with probing reporters. I say “as honest as possible” because you may be in possession of sensitive or private information which you cannot reveal. At that point, the best and most honest approach, plus the most credible one, is simply to say that you are not at liberty to talk about the subject.

From the WSJ:  “Behind the metaphor of ‘the swamp,’ after all, is the idea, not without justification, that today’s Washington is far removed from government of, by and for the people. In this context, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a good proxy for the beau ideal of modern American progressivism: Appointed bureaucrats, unaccountable to the elected representatives of the people, wield their regulatory authority as a weapon. As if this were not outrageous enough, Ms. English (the person who was named to the top job as her predecessor left) argues the CFPB also has the right to self-perpetuate by the laying of hands on a successor by her predecessor when he leaves.”

Comment:  The CFPB — what? another acronym? — is a rogue agency, at best.  Some officials there apparently believe they are above the law, so they have created what amounts to a separate branch of government not subject to the normal prerogatives of the country’s top elected official, the president.

It’s time for two actions — (1) for the president’s appointee, Mick Mulvaney, his budget director, to run the agency, and (2) to do the appropriate deed, which is to get rid of the agency.  Meanwhile, Democrats, as they continue to support the rogue agency, have given President Trump a huge political gift — a chance to assert executive authority over out-of-control Democrats, which, it should be asserted, is one reason he won the presidency in the first place.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

The headline for this blog uses an old saying to make a point – that a dog that can be a man’s best friend.

True enough in my own experience.

More than 13 years ago, we got our Hogan to help me recover from my “episode” – a heart attack on December 1, 2004 from which I was able to recover. Hogan, a miniature poodle, became my walking partner in recovery.

That would last for 13 years until, unfortunately, we had to adjust to a new reality – Hogan was not well, with a brain tumor that complicated his existence. Our answer was to put him down, which was a compassionate decision, though the aftermath was much more difficult for me than I thought it would be.

So, enter Callaway, now an 11-month-old poodle who is taking at least part of the hole left by Hogan’s absence. And I have no doubt that Callaway and I will form – in fact, are forming – a new “man’s best friend” partnership.

All of this was driven home to me this Thanksgiving when, in La Quinta, California for a family celebration, I read a column in the Desert Sun newspaper.

Here are a few excerpts from a piece written by Palm Springs area resident, Frank Furino.

“My day begins with coffee and a newspaper in the early morning and ends with a final check of the news channels before closing my eyes at night. And sadly, of late, for the most part, there’s been little good news.

“From the sexual scandals reverberating from Hollywood to Washington, to the insane notion of a potential nuclear war, to the climate change debate, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes around the world, we seem to be living in a cacophony of calamity.

“Thankfully, in this maelstrom of daily chaos, I stumbled upon some really good news. Owning a dog can save your life.”

I can say the same thing.

According to the National Library of Medicine, the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, and a bunch of other credible organizations, a series of clinical tests showed nothing short of a dog lover’s dream, as Mr. Furino put it.

Clinical studies concluded that dog owners were significantly more likely than people who did not own dogs to still be alive one year after a heart attack, regardless of the severity of the attack.

Married couples that owned a dog had significantly lower resting heart rates and blood pressure than those who didn’t.

One study indicated that having your dog in the room lowered heart rates under stress better than blood pressure medication. And a number of studies have shown that people’s heart rate and blood pressure go down when they are petting a dog.

The studies seem so conclusive that the American Heart Association issued a statement declaring that owning a pet, any pet, but particularly a dog, could reduce your risk of heart disease.

Often, Hogan, during his life, used to welcome us back home with barks and bounds. It didn’t matter if we had had a bad day or if, for example, I had blown up on the golf course. Hogan was there for me through thick and thin.

Of course, that kind of love and affection comes at a price.

On a daily basis, Hogan used to make it quite clear that he was the lawful owner of our home, graciously allowing my wife and me to live there and pay the mortgage. He required three squares a day, sufficient water and a warm spot in our bed.

No doubt, Callaway will exert the same kind of prerogatives.

But it’s all worth it. The love and affection you get knows few equals. And, with health benefits, owning a dog will change your life for the better.

We learned this well from our neighbors, John and Rosemary Wood, dog lovers both. They often refer to their pets, Tiger (yes, Tiger Wood) and Tuffy as their “beloved pets.” John and Rosemary – and Tiger and Tuffy — taught us first-hand about the value of pets, including for solace and health.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

One of the pieces of good news for me is that we are past Halloween and on to a much more meaningful holiday – Thanksgiving.

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.

But, it wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

I am glad that President Lincoln took the initiative to proclaim this holiday.

At this time of year, it is traditional, not to mention meaningful, to reflect on what we are thankful for. So, here is my quick list.

• I am very thankful that I had the good sense to ask Nancy Fraser to marry me more than 44 years ago. For whatever set of reasons, she said yes and we have had a great run together.
• I am very thankful for our two children – Eric and Lissy – who have made our lives full and blessed.
• The same can be said of their spouses – Holly and Tim, respectively. If we had been picking spouses for our children, we could not have done better.
• I am very thankful for our three grandchildren – Eric’s and Holly’s Drew and Lissy’s and Tim’s Mason and Kate. What a wonder they are!
• I am very thankful for our beloved pet, Hogan the dog, who went up to heaven about six weeks ago. Now, we have a new beloved dog, Callaway. And, yes, both are “golfing dogs,” based on their names.
• I am very thankful for our church in Salem, Salem Alliance, where we have been faithful members for more than 30 years. The good news about this church is that both brings people to Christ, as well as nurtures them after they make that pivotal decision. I had the privilege of serving as the chair of the Board of Governing Elders for 12 years, a very fulfilling period of service for me.
• I am thankful for all of the friends I have made at Salem Alliance and at “my” golf course, Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club. My best friend was the senior pastor at Salem Alliance for a number of years. Our chance to work together made us much like brothers. Further, my friends on the golf course have stuck with me through think and thin over years, including during recovery from what I call “my episode” – a heart attack on December 1, 2004.
• I am thankful for all the friends I made in two professional positions – one as a state government manager and another as a private sector lobbyist.
• And, most of all, I am thankful that, many years ago, I made a personal decision to follow Christ. To say the least, I have not been a perfect follower over the years, but the good news is that God is faithful, being strong at the very point of our weakness.

So, in your sphere, be thankful and call to mind your own reasons to be thankful…not just today on Thanksgiving, but on every other day of the year.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

Salem-Keizer School District Superintendent Christy Perry took just the right action this week when she appealed the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) decision to force Salem school athletic teams to travel over the Santiam Pass to play Bend area schools.

I report this as a follow-up to a post I wrote earlier decrying the decision to force students and coaches to make the often hazardous trip over the pass.

It just makes no sense.

In her appeal, Ms. Perry wrote that schools had inadequate time to prepare for the athletic realigning decision, would lose instructional time, and would lose money.

And, according to a story in the Salem Statesman-Journal, Perry did not cite what, for me, is the most telling reason to oppose the realignment – safety, or better put, the lack of it.

Imagine buses traversing the difficult pass in the dead of winter. Even cars with appropriate snow tires have a difficult time.

The OSAA should be ashamed of its realignment decision. Ms. Perry is right to appeal it, but the OSAA is not clear on what the route will be to consider the appeal.

If it is not approved immediately on the face of its solid rationale, I would advise Ms. Perry and the School Board to ignore the ham-handed directive and play sports within Salem-Keizer Schools, perhaps adding Albany area schools to the mix.

That would serve students far better and that, after all, should be the basic purpose of athletics in the first place.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: 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 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 a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and 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.

It is time to open the department and – remember – I am the director with full and complete authority to decide what the department will consider and what it won’t consider.

In that way, call me a dictator.

From the Wall Street Journal editorial pages:  “One reason men and women in business are reluctant to go to Washington is the reception accorded Alex Azar Monday after President Trump said he will nominate the former Eli LIlly & Co. executive to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

“Mr. Azar was immediately criticized for, well, knowing too much about health care.

“’It’s a pharma fox to run the HHS henhouse,’ a talking head from Public Citizen told the Washington Post, which headlined the same piece ‘Trump’s pick to lower drug prices is a former pharma executive who raised them.’ It seems that when Mr. Azar was president, Lilly ‘doubled the U.S. list price of its top-selling insulin drug.

“Well, sure, pharma executives are paid by shareholders to make money selling drugs. Profits drive drug innovation, so there wouldn’t be better treatments without profits, which sometimes requires raising prices. Pardon the reality of market economics.”

Comment: Good point. It’s unfortunate that qualifications often don’t matter in public life, especially if the task is to run a major department of government. There is no question but that Azar is qualified. I say good for him, both because he is qualified and because he is taking a risk – again – to work for government when personal attack is what Democrats will do to him when he stands for confirmation. We need qualified persons like him to work for us.

From the Capital Journal column by Gerald Seib in the WSJ:  “So life is good for Democrats. They now have legitimate hopes of winning back control of the House of Representatives next year.  But they still could blow the opportunity.

“That’s true in part because American politics in the last generation has featured a recurring cycle of each party in turn overplaying a good hand. In this case, Democrats can miss their chance by deciding that simply running against an unpopular president is sufficient, and failing to come up with an economic message that recaptures the kinds of voters they lost to Mr. Trump last year.”

Comment: Seib is often right on target and he is again this time. Overplaying a hand is what Republicans and Democrats do when they get in charge. It happens in Washington, D.C. It happens in Salem. When one side overplays, the other responds in kind – and it, the “getting even,” never ends. That’s why it is valid to ask if this country’s democracy is broken, and whether it ever be fixed again.

From Oregonian editorial writers: “Instead voters should look at the long list of commitments they have already made before jumping on the bandwagon of the latest good cause. They should sharply examine measures to see if they address a specific need or are sprawling requests designed to score popularity points. And they should weigh whether the agency seeking the measure is the right steward for such money. Funding every good cause only leaves us less able to fund the ones we absolutely need to.

Comment: Well said from this normal just a-bit–left-of-center newspaper. Voters in the City of Portland and Portland Public School District have approved bond measures that will raise local property taxes. If the measures won because they represented solid investments, fine. But the Oregonian points out that taxpayers cannot fund “every good cause.” A question that is often not asked, but should be, is whether the purpose of a bond measure represents something government should do or not.

From a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal:  “Regarding your editorial Bad Marks for a Good Military: Saying ‘Congress needs to allocate enough money to adequately train sailors’ doesn’t address the core issue of failure. Funding wasn’t the problem; it was, as always, a complete lack of leadership at the highest levels. This episode falls on admirals who wanted a third or fourth star and were eager to compliment a pitifully naive and unprepared new entrant to the presidency who saw the military as a petri dish for social change and was willing to cripple the national defense to that end.

“Yes, the officers and senior NCOs received training, but it was re-focused from bridge command and control to diversity training. Now they can’t run a ship but are fully proficient in diversity issues. Perhaps with a new commander in chief we’ll get our priorities back in line with the brick and mortar of national defense.

Comment: This is an overlooked area – the character of training for those in the military. When it devolves from military and, for the Navy, ‘bridge command and control,’ to diversity, then the military is in trouble. Recent Naval collisions only illustrate the obvious

From Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker: “ Without nearly enough fanfare, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made history this week with a four scant words: “I believe the women.” All across the United States, forks dropped, glasses shattered and knees wobbled as women turned to each other in astonishment. Wait. What? Did he say what I think he said?

Comment: Yes, Senator McConnell made a bit of history with those four words, but it is important to add that they were uttered after investigating the circumstances of candidate Roy Moore’s history.  It was not just an off-the-cuff remark.  That fact makes the McConnell quote even more noteworthy.