D O T Y B L O G      

Greetings from oh so long and absence!

This is a quick note to point out to the Facebook crowd that the RSS Feed from the old DotyBlog is now being read by my Facebook Notes tool, and so whatever I post here, will double up there... which I am doing in part becasue I don't 100% trust Facebook itself (there was an event today that triggered that unease... it involved a photo first seen as a news feed item ostensibly posted by a friend (though given WHO, that seems unlikely) and then interestingly seen a short time later as a news feed item from ME... not really sure how that works. I'm asking the Powers that Be. Having seen some similar wierdness via MySpace, I am ... leary)

Anyway, it means this page will wake up some. General themes: my left leaning politics, NMHS theater events, random bits of cool science, pets.

Comments will be open for short periods after a post, but will lock after (since both DotyBlog posts and some of my posts at Blue Oregon ended up with some very interesting genericspam and pornspam over a year after the initial post and prior comments).

Don't count on this being a 'regular' stop on your blog reading day. I ain't like Kos or Atrios with staff and time and such. But if I have a stray thought of coolness, I'll post here, RSS to FB, and prolly crosspost to my dKos diary.

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In a diary over on DailyKos, metallurgist Joel Hirschhorn addresses a looming concern about infrastructure, in light of the Minneapolis 35W collapse.

Many academic and professional groups have for many years produced countless reports on mounting unpaid public costs for updating our crucial physical infrastructure, including bridges, but going way beyond those to, for example, roads, water and sewer systems, tunnels and much more. Make no mistake: The deeply researched and totally supported case for a massive national infrastructure spending program could not have been clearer. But spending on infrastructure is not sexy and politicians at ALL levels of government have found countless excuses for not facing the totality of the problem. Instead, public spending is dribbled out, dealing with the most urgent problems or, worse yet, the ones that are the most visible to the public. But unaddressed are massive numbers of problems, such as the Minneapolis bridge and thousands more bridges, that our bureaucratic system has learned to game, postpone, rationalize and, therefore, put the public safety at considerable risk.

Oregon has MANY bridges, not to mention tunnels, dams, rail, water treatment, and other public works projects that are approaching a point in their lifespan where they need to be evaluated or already have been. Oregon is also one of the states where the anti-tax movement has a foothold. That is a problem pairing of circumstances that must be addressed or the tragedy of the Twin Cities will been seen somewhere in this state.

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As the campaign season gets underway, I've decided to launch my financial support links today as Jeff Merkley has announced his run for Gordon Smith's US Senate seat. These are the announced candidates I am supporting in the 2008 Primary, along with support for my local county party.

Jeff Merkley (OR-Sen)	$
John Edwards (President)	$
Alan Bates (OR-SD-03)	$
Peter Buckley (OR-HD-05)	$
Jackson County Democratic Party (OR)	$

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Some of you who track this site (still...not sure why, since I am so active) know my father has experienced symptoms of Parkinson's since the mid 80's and who has been deteriorating noticably since 2004. He has fallen several times breaking hips, femurs, ribs, etc... over time.

This time, it was a head impact and he has a sizable amount of blood pressing on his brain. And there isn't much we can do about it now.

[Update - 08 Jul] Dad passed away this morning at about 5:20. Mom and I were with him and it was a peaceful end.

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Paris Achen missed last week with this article about leadership at North Medford High. Achen's first sentence sets the tone and is about as far from reality as someone could hope to get.

After a year without steadfast leadership, North Medford High School is slated to get a new principal next school year.

So yes, we are looking for a principal, but not, as Ms Achen asserts, becasue the one we have is somehow lacking... It is because the one we have isn't an option. Ron Williams took an interim post in June following the departure of Doug Mackenzie. Some would phrase that departure as a loss, some would not, so part of Achen premise of a sudden void of steadfast leadership is already a debatable point. But as the body of the article unfolds, we see Achen isn't perhaps going to the most reliable source. Not that talking to students isn't a valid way yot get a read on a school, but when the quotes come from sophomores and freshmen, the ability to present valid comparisons and contrasts of a previous administration and a current one is seriously in doubt.

I've only been there only two years myself, but I get a very sound sense that the current staff would NOT object to the continued service of Mr. Williams. But such a committment was never in the cards and a job search was fated from the get go.

But the leadership point aside, the remainder of the article seems to be a have/have not comparison between North and South Medford High and shines the light pretty soundly on South as a success and North as not. The 1st and 2nd year students interviewed point to school spirit and sports success, though seem to have not noticed the comaprative success of North's soccer, girls' hoops, baseball, tennis, track, and football teams, leaving the Panther state hoops title as the be-all and end-all.

Achen fails to point out the tremendous success of North's performing arts - district band and choir triumphs, a huge surge in interest in drama and triumphant performances in SIX full length productions on North's two stages this year. Achen fails to address much. I could go on. And on. One of our students did, and since her letter is likely too long to appear in the Trib as a rebuttal, I will ask permission to post it here.

North has much in need of addressing and it will be part of the new principal's job to do so. But it had much MORE in need of addressing in the year that is wrapping up and much of it has been dealt with by a very well-regarded interim principal and an energized team of deputies in the form of our trio of vice principals.

I suppose that Achen didn't approach teachers because she didn't think we'd really talk frankly - sugar coating the bad, spinning, etc... because that's what everyone does, right? Maybe this is one more case of only reporting the bad things and not getting the good news out there. Whatever it is, it missed the mark, and the opening sentence is a unjust and unwarranted blow aimed at a man who stepped into an unexpected void and filled it quite capably and to the appreciation on nearly everyone involved.

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And especially to Levi Moffitt of the Medford PD, who made sure I had all my dogs last night at just past midnight, when the neighbor across the street called to let me know at least one was out!

Watchin' football and eatin' turkey. It doesn't get much better than this!

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