Essay: The Government Shutdown

Cascadian Dreams

The Government Shutdown

The Threat

So, we've officially averted a default in the midst of a government shutdown at the 11th hour, kicking the can a little farther down the road.  The high drama coming from our leaders in D.C. resolved itself in a capitulation from the Republican party, and some minor concessions from the Democratic Party.  The biggest loser in this particular game seems at first glance to be the Tea Party, but the truth is, that the American people are the biggest losers in this high stakes game of brinksmanship.  The truth is that our debt is out of hand, our social programs will be strained during the mass retirements of the baby boomers and that we are taking on huge amounts of debt just to keep the illusion of an economic recovery going.  We are not out of the woods yet.  We are not coming out of the woods anytime soon barring a massive transition in our national priorities. 

The Woods

At least it's pretty. 

Why are we in the woods, how did we get so lost as a nation, and what are the different directions out that are being offered?  Before I attempt some answers to these question, I'll define the woods.  Our nation as a whole has become lost.  We have given away our basic fundamental freedoms for temporary security.  While the bill of rights has always been a bill of privileges, Americans as a whole have believed in them and used these rights to help define our identity and our concept of freedom.  At this point in our nations development, we have begun to become more and more a plutocracy rather than a democratic republic.  While we have always had elements of rule by the wealthy in this country, we have typically gone through cycles where we push back against it.  But this rule has become more entrenched, and any of our rights that threaten the powerful have been limited.  

The woods is this entrenchment, symbolized most vividly by the complete dominance of the financial institutions of the present era.  The banks are above the rule of law, and any of their mistakes or outright fraud are glossed over and unpunished.  Any punishment that does manage to come through tends to be a few days profit which the banks are happy to defend against and pay if they must.

You just have to be faster than the slowest camper. 

 

The reality of our current situation is that these financial institutions have both of America's main political parties in their pockets, and while a few politicians might make a fuss every now and again about their abuses, this fuss is never quite enough to cause these politicians to bite the hand that feeds them.  When you expand from what the financial institutions to to the whole kit and kaboodle of corporate contributions to our political parties you begin to realize that true representation of the people, rather than the corporate backers of the political process is near impossible.  Many of these corporate backers are the people that have done everything they can to become globalized at the expense of the American people that got them off the ground in the first place.  We've been sold out, and both parties have sold our long-term interest for short-term profit.

There will be no real recovery.  The current economy is the new normal, at least until it becomes more profitable to further undermine it.  The straight dope is that we now have globalized companies working hand in hand with global governments to further the power and reach of these companies.  But there is no need for global democracy in this plan, and that's why we're seeing a real rollback across the world in democratic freedoms.  The woods is dark and full of terrors.

How Did We Get So Lost?

Where the F&*# Are We?

To put it simply, we're between a rock and a hard place.  As the owner of the global reserve currency, we've been able to slide through this hard time by mortgaging our future.  As long as the dollar is king around the world, we'll be able to barely hang on to our global empire through massive debt easing.  For those that don't see us as an empire, I'll posit that the fact that we can do drone strikes at will and have military bases in almost every corner of the world puts the lie to that assumption.  The morality of Empire aside, we have exhausted our resources in maintaining it.  America is losing it's grasp on the world, and as our Empire declines, our relative power declines.  We are in this process as we speak.  There is real talk about moving away from the dollar as the world reserve currency.  While the world is not ready for the transition at this point, but every time our government shows major instability such as in the latest crisis, the rest of the world moves further away from us.

Also, we are seeing one of America's biggest generations, the Baby Boomers, moving into retirement at the same time that the youngest working generation, the Millennials is severely underemployed.  The way that Social Security works is that the younger generations are paying for the retirement of the older generations.  Unfortunately, the demographics of the current cycle of history are making Social Security more and more unsustainable.  Plus, the Millennials are more in need of government support than previous generations have been with persistent unemployment and increased utilization of social programs.  These facts, coupled with the crushing education debt load many Millennials have taken on adds up to a real potential for the breakdown of many of our social welfare programs.

Many on the right see this coming and want to cut the social programs so that we can lessen our spending, and many on the left see this coming and want to strengthen these same programs so that they can last in perpetuity.  The right sees Obamacare as adding to these unfunded liabilities and therefore wants to stop the implementation of this program.  In point of fact, in many ways the Affordable Care Act will cost the Millennial generation more on the whole, and that generation is already in a tenuous economic position.

Generational conflict peaks during times of unbalanced demographics. 

But the reality is that the healthcare system in America is very broken.  It needed fixing as it was taking more and more people economically down and out because of the almost ludicrous inefficiencies of it.  Whether the Affordable Care Act is the solution and will work to bring some equity into health care remains to be seen, but many Americans are at least happy that they can't be turned down for healthcare because of pre-existing conditions.
 

On top of all these problems of Empire (Military Spending) and demographics (Domestic Spending) we are also moving towards a security state.  We are spending about $4 billion on a massive NSA data center in Utah, not including the costs to staff and run it.  Recent leaks show massive programs of data mining that can be used to stifle dissent, spy on allies, and eliminate any potential threats to the Plutocracy.  In some ways, everything else is just a side show.  These programs are the biggest example of how far we've gotten into the woods.  This is the kind of spending that neither side ever talks about cutting.  The American people have not been silent about these abuses of power, but our politicians are generally deaf to any real conversation about it. 

A Good Breakdown

 How Do We Get Out? 

The Democratic Plan

1. Keep borrowing and extending the debt ceiling. 

2. Hope for Economic Change. 

3. Protect and Defend Social Programs. 

4. Win more House and Senate Seats Next Year. 

5. Otherwise, business as usual. 

The Republican Plan

1. Cut social programs to the bone. 

2. Defund the Affordable Care Act. 

3. Shrink the size of the Federal Government. 

4. Maintain their House advantage next year. 

5. Otherwise, business as usual. 

Neither of these plans will work.  The Democratic plan would decrease suffering in the short term, but the Republicans will say that their plan decreases suffering in the long term.  Neither plan really addresses our demographic, militaristic and constitutional problems.  None of that is on the table, because both parties are invested with a few exceptions in continuing Plutocracy. 

Plan X From Outer Space

Other Plans

Other plans are legion, but unfortunately, as long as we only a two party system, we cannot expect any of these plans to come from the top.  We have about 3 to 4 months before we're in the same position again where our politicians will be arguing over what concessions need to be made before we can back off from a debt default again.  Since eventually, it's likely that we'll be going over that cliff, perhaps we can start to take some action before that time. 

What's your plan?  Please comment. 

Cascadian Dreams: Village Building Convergence 13: My Journey

Cascadian Dreams

Village Building Convergence 13: My Journey

This year the VBC was at the Alberta Abbey.  This was the entrance.

As a member of the board of City Repair, I took the week off of work to participate in the Village Building Convergence.  My work was done mostly around the venue as the week wore on.  Before the VBC started, I was going to the weekly meetings of the core group and working to smooth over problems.  There were a few including paint that was more expensive than expected and a few interpersonal kerfluffles.  We were able to navigate these issues successfully though, and a lot of that has to do with the great desire of everyone wanting the event to be successful and transformational.  

Setting up the stage with Solnectar. 

The first night I was able to be at the venue was Saturday, May 25th.  I was responsible for collecting the money and making sure that Rae, our super venue volunteer had help.  Marc Tobin and Mikaela Schey were also on the VBC core team and played some beautiful music as Solnectar that night. 

Crow and a volunteer at the volunteer table. 

When you first walk in the door, you're greeted by volunteers at the Village Building Convergence Venue.  That Saturday, Crow, a former co-worker of mine and a pretty kickass dude in general was there.  I spent a lot of time catching up with him in between carrying out my duties.  Volunteers are definitely the backbone of the Village Building Convergence, and I was amazed about the hard work that people were willing to put in. 

Every night there were speakers. 

The way that a typical night at the VBC breaks down is as follows. 

1st- Volunteers start coming in as early as noon to set up for dinner. 

2nd- The venue is opened at about 5pm and people start showing up and buying tickets. 

3rd- People eat dinner prepared at the venue, and mill and talk to their friends until...

4th- A speaker or a few speakers get up on stage to tell the crowd about natural building, or political awareness, or any number of interesting topics, which is topped off by....

5th- Music. 

I was very impressed with a lot of the speakers, I got to hear from a mediator that goes out to communal living situations and irons out the kinks, from a panel of politicians and citizen activists, and from a prodigious natural builder that was very interested in barrel ovens.  Barrel ovens are cool. 

During the weekend, I was able to take my boy to his first Village Building Convergence site. 

Kelvin at the center of the Sunnyside Piazza

It was nice to go to Sunnyside Piazza, the site that first introduced me to City Repair and the Village Building Convergence.  It looks beautiful this year, and I hope that intersection never goes over a year unpainted. 

This is the middle of a street. 

Most of my VBC was spent in the venue, but it was nice to know that all this good work was being done around the city. I urge anyone that is interested in natural building, place-making, building community, or generally getting hip to alternative ways to think and live get involved next year for VBC 14. 

The last day of VBC. 

It's truly an inspiring series of events and you see very few unhappy faces during it.  I would like to give a special shout-out to Rae.  She really held the venue together. 

Sagittarius Full Moon Fire Ceremony 2013

Cascadian Dreams

Sagittarius Full Moon Fire Ceremony 2013

Every full moon, or close to it, we have a full moon ceremony.  It's kind of like church to me.  This one was on Friday the 24th of May and was a full moon in Sagittarius.  

Sagittarius is the sign of the centaur archer.  Symbolic of the human and animal natures coming into alignment.

This ceremony was on a Friday after a long week, but I wanted to be there because I play my drum and chant and burn away aspects of my life that are getting in the way of growth.  On the drive out to Cortina's house, the person that hosts the party there was an awesome rainbow. 

It was cooler in person.  The rainbow lasted about an hour. 

So, that was great.  Felt good to be driving towards a rainbow and a ritual that I'd participated in quite a few times.  It was also Kelvin's first full moon ceremony. 

When we got there, it was Cortina, Wesley, Zach and us. 

Wes, Kelly, and Cortina. 

Other people started showing up, and we moved towards starting the fire.  The rites themselves are pretty simple.  You light the fire, chant and drum, and throw a stick that you put your worries in into the fire.  This fire ended up with about 13 people around it, many for their first time. 

There's always food and a jar for donations. 

The fire itself took off very quickly this ceremony.  If one believes in omens, then it suggested that the participants were very ready to let things go.  

The sacred fire. 

I participate in this event, because it's good to participate.  It helps me take stock of my life, the things I'm holding onto, and helps me set some intention for the next month and hang out in community.  These are important things for me.  

What I really liked about this fire was the fact that it was Kelvin's first and he was great through the whole thing.  Afterwards, he got hungry as per usual, but during the fire itself, he barely vocalized at all, instead he just stared at the fire and the community around us.  

I tried to burn up my projections in this fire.  The places where I misinterpret reality based on my own desires or feelings.  I think it was a good first step.  Next month is the Capricorn Full Moon, and I'm sure I'll have something practical to let go of then.  

I missed quite a few people that are usually there, and was more somber than usual because I usually drink a lot more wine.  Altogether, it was a good start to Memorial Day weekend.  Special thanks go to Cortina for hosting this event. 

May the fire continue to burn. 

Drunkventures: Urban Farm Collective Benefit Show

Cascadian Dreams

Drunkventures: Urban Farm Collective Benefit Show

On Saturday, May 18th, there was quite a show in the neighborhood.  Being that I live in a mostly industrial area, there are often shows thrown in my neighborhood.  Last night The Builders and the Butchers, Alameda, and Dustin Hamman played.  The party was to raise funds for The Urban Farm Collective. 

But it was kind of rainy, so we had to do a little prep.  We set up some tarps. 

Chris working on getting a support structure for the tarp.

I helped where I could, smoked a bit, and helped to tie off some ropes.  I need to learn knots a lot better. After a while, we got the tarps pretty well set up, and I realized that they were Cascadian colors.  Maybe the support beam was from a Douglas Fir. 

The setting up is almost complete. 

After it was set up, we went on a mission to get a keg.  We got it from The Beermongers. It was a Southern Oregon IPA of some sort.  After getting the beer, I headed home for a minute to check in with my wife. 

On the way, I stopped to smell the roses. 

Then, it was back to the party.  My friend Danny had a few PBR's that he offered in trade, so I started drinking.  It was around 8pm that I started down that road.  We built a fire at PALS Clubhouse, and watched as the bands started rolling in.  I played some music from my phone on baby computer speakers as everything was being set up. 

At this point, two of my good friends showed up.  Steve, a good friend that I know from middle school, and Bill, who I've known since at least 2002.  We began to drink.  I was already feeling pretty salty and happy.  When I'm drunk, I'm sometimes likened to a viking.  I become aggressively happy.  I mess with people a little bit, but in a pretty friendly way.  It usually works out.  

So, my friends came, and I switched from Pabst to IPA's.  Pretty much immediately after getting our first pint, Dustin Hamman came on.  He was incredibly good.  Incredibly good.  A highlight of his set was a singalong about not being able to pay the boatman at death because he'd already spent his coin "getting to the other side".  He also does an amazing mouth trumpet.  I sang along, and became slowly more viking during this set. 

Dustin Hamman plays guitar and sings. 

Then, it was back to the keg.  Another beer, and a few vicious Jello shots later, Alameda came on.  During the Alameda set, my friends August and Lauriel came by and we chatted.  It gets a little bit more fuzzy from here on out, but there were conversations with people about dominant behavior, I communicated non-verbally with a deaf person, and yelled "It's not that fucking hard, just love each other" to the crowd.  Though I am already blessed with a pretty low filter, it often becomes non-existent under the influence of the cups. 

What a familiar card!

After chatting it up with people, I just wanted to dance.  I live under the firm belief that personal space does not matter as much during live music.  Not everyone shares this belief, but I'm a vocal proponent, and in viking mode, a loudly vocal proponent.  I'll bump up against bodies and try to get the sweaty masses swaying.  If people get mad, I usually hurl a quip or two their way and then continue to dance and move.  I began this during the Alameda set, and continued when The Builders and the Butchers came on, with short breaks to chat, and help my friends feel welcome.  Every once in a while I took a picture. 

The highly photogenic Adam and Amy. 

Ultimately, I want a concert to dissolve into a giant happy collective, but personal bubbles don't always allow that sort of thing to happen.  But a concert generally leans Dionysian, and the Dionysian is all about the breakdown of boundaries.  If people don't want to move with the music, they should move to the edges and let the miasma of motion occur. 

It was about one in the morning when I finally headed back to the homestead with Steve and Bill.  When I got home, I asked Kelly to set up my friends with places to sleep, then I flopped onto the top of the covers of the bed, and fell into a deep and dehydrated sleep. 

Village Building Convergence: A Very Portland Experience

Cascadian Dreams

Village Building Convergence: A Very Portland Experience 

So, the Village Building Convergence is almost here.  It will be the 13th annual experiment in the process of the community coming together to transform spaces into places. 

This Year's Flyer.

The Village Building Convergence is a project of City Repair.  You might ask, what is City Repair?  On the website, they are described as such. 

"City Repair is an organized group action that educates and inspires communities and individuals to creatively transform the places where they live. City Repair facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world. The many projects of City Repair have been accomplished by a mostly volunteer staff and thousands of volunteer citizen activists.

City Repair began in Portland, Oregon with the idea that localization - of culture, of economy, of decision-making - is a necessary foundation of sustainability. By reclaiming urban spaces to create community-oriented places, we plant the seeds for greater neighborhood communication, empower our communities and nurture our local culture."


In local Portland culture, City Repair is most known through their works, and the biggest work of City Repair is the Village Building Convergence.


You know those paintings in the middle of the street?

Like this one?  This is the Sunnyside Piazza.

Those paintings are from a crowd-sourced volunteer project of the Village Building Convergence. But it's not just paint, it's also projects like the following.

A cob oven and mosaic built on SE 61st and Clinton.

These projects happen because people from the community come together to help them happen. The Village Building Convergence starts in the neighborhoods with lots of shovel and paint work in the neighborhoods, and then people meet up at the central venue, which will be The Alberta Abbey this year.

It's really fun. You should check out The Village Builder, find a spot near you where a project is going on, and pitch in!

PALS Nursery: Back at Capacity

Cascadian Dreams

PALS Nursery: Back at Capacity

Our roomies are home.  After a month of travel, they have returned home.  They brought their baby with them.  Our roomies are great.  I guess I'll just tell the story of the neighbors turned roommates and the foundation of PALS Nursery. 

Leah, Chris, and baby Ira.

The House

Perhaps it is best to begin at the beginning.  In mid to late Summer 2011, Kelly, Our friend Tom and I moved into a house.  It's in the industrial district of the Hosford-Abernathy neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. 

The PALS Nursery. 

Here's the house.  At first we wanted to call it the Eagle Hut, but that was way too close to the Eagle's Nest. 

So the poor house remained unnamed.  But after we moved in, we heard sound coming from our neighbors and decided to investigate.  

Our neighbors were rad!  They had big parties, and the police never showed up because the houses were too close to the train to really justify a noise complaint.  Plus, all the neighbors were down with having these parties happen.  

One of our neighbors was Chris, who seemed to be the driving force behind PALS Clubhouse. A sometime venue for local bands, a place with a fire often burning, and not a bad place to play Risk. 

The clubhouse was happy that we weren't shitty neighbors and many days were spent enjoying each others parties and getting to know each other better. 

Much of the connection culminated at PALS Fest in 2012.  Chris was nice enough to host a Cascadian SpeakUp during his yearly event.  It was really, really fun. 

Micaiah speaks about Cascadia. That's me holding up the tarp. 

A SpeakUp is a place for people to talk about issues that they care about.  The Hawthorne Hostel SpeakUp   was the first, and the Cascadian SpeakUp was the second.  We should probably have another one. 

At the end of PALS Fest 2012 I was sweating and dancing in a sea of incredibly blissed out people. That was a good night.  The Bevellers played, The We Shared Milk, Fanno Creek, Animal Eyes, and many more.

But the show being awesome isn't important.  What's important for the bigger story is that Leah was pregnant, and although the PALS Clubhouse was awesome, it probably wasn't the best place to have and raise a baby.  At that point our roommate Michael, who rescued an old lady from a burning house was feeling the wanderlust, and we had a room coming open. 

During a conversation at PALS Clubhouse, the idea that Chris and Leah could move in with us and everyone would be happy came up.  It was a good idea and caught on. That was in fact what happened. 

Leah with our cat Skookum

One day, it came to us that our house should be called PALS Nursery.  Now, with two babies, four parents, two turtles, and two and a half cats, we are back at capacity. 

We are blessed to live in a house with such love and general cooperation. 

Cuteness to lead you out. 

Earned Sick Days Campaign

Cascadian Dreams

Earned Sick Days Campaign

During my work with the Oregon Working Families Party, one of the key campaigns that we worked on was to get the Portland City Council to pass an Earned Sick Days policy for all working Portlandians.  We were part of a coalition called Everybody Benefits.  My goal was to build up a canvass team to go out into key neighborhoods around Portland, talk to people on their doorstep, and get them to sign on to a letter to put pressure on the City Council. 

The Earned Sick Days Team in an Early Incarnation.  

We talked to people in several zipcodes in Portland.  They were 97211, 97214, 97215 and 97219.  We knocked on about 10,000 doors, talked to about 4,000 people and got about 2,500 signed letters to the council.  

After collecting all of these signed letters, on February 25th, we went to City Hall to deliver the signed letters. 

Cortina, a single mom talks about why Earned Sick Days are important for her family. 

Then, the canvass team followed up by calling about 1,000 people we had canvassed earlier and getting about 800 of them to make calls to the City Council.  Amanda Fritz was an absolute champion on this issue, and called a series of hearings.  I went to one of these hearings with my canvassers and was able to hear many people speak incredibly passionately about the issue. 

The City Council chambers were packed.  

After the hearings, the City Council got to vote. 

Earned Sick Days for Portland passed 5-0 on March 13th, 2013, even though the Oregonian editorial board was dead-set against it. 

This is why I organize.