The sucker born this minute?

The Santa Monica pigeon net plan at a cost of $107,758 sounds like some sort of elaborate pigeon drop to The Doser.

Don't Watch the Ball.

We are flummoxing ourselves! We are determined not to keep our eye on the ball. Take, for example, Health Care. Rather than do that, we prefer to watch the Gates "issue." Last night, the woman who called in the 911 about the supposed Gates house-breaking was on national news with a featured program segment making her "defense." How does it come about that she needs a nationally-reported "defense?" Tomorrow, The Doser surmises, her aunt in Peoria will report that the person who called in was always trained as a child not to be a bigot. The next day, the aunt's next-door neighbor can come on and tell that the aunt is a highly respected woman in the neighborhood and that she should be believed on the non-bigotry testimonial. The day after that, we'll hear "breaking news" that the neighbor was in the news just three weeks ago saying that a boy from the neighborhood who was convicted of serial rape was "such a good boy." This assertion will be juxtaposed to the statement of the serial rapist's girl-friend who will be featured wondering who the "neighbor" was since the serial rapist never lived in that neighborhood and on.... and on .... and on. Or another example is the interminable procedures surrounding the death of that talented twit. Is some coach telling us: "Don't keep your eye on the ball?"

Score zero for law; Score one for beliefs.

Did anything positive come out of the camp meeting just concluded in the Clackamas Circuit Court Jury room? It's true that some people don't consider vindication of "faith healing" to be a good thing. The Doser is one of those. Nevertheless, The Doser is able to see the positive things that came out of the trial. One person achieved gratifying epiphanies. Another learned how to live contrary to his convictions in a radically retro community. The judge is unlikely to have a mistrial ruled against him for his televised tantrum. All in all, the big winners are the Worthingtons and their cure-coven. They have come through the fiery furnace just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! They have been persecuted for their faith and had the imprimatur of God's approval sealed upon it! They are martyrs since they'll have a whomping legal bill! All in all, it was a positive experience for them.

Rose by another name.

The Doser notes a current event of "spin" going on. The Oregonian is running the Bowe Bergdahl story. (The story is about the American soldier who was captured by the Taliban and is being held hostage.) Another "spin" would involve changing "captured" to (walked into their camp)and changing "hostage" to (visitor) and "captors" to (hosts.)

On to Mars!

The Doser does not consider it an established necessity that we "go to Mars," as the current "push" would have us believe. If it becomes an established necessity to do so, it should only be done when we have at hand robots that can do anything on Mars that needs to be done.

Good Cop.

Recently appointed veteran cop, Multnomah County, Oregon, Sheriff, Bob Skipper, is having trouble meeting the entry requirements aimed at selection of young recruits. (The Doser feels, incidentally, on that point, that they should a have a special set of entry requirements for re-tread officers that come into the department to straighten the department out.) Sheriff Skipper is having no trouble functioning, however, like a capable, mature police officer: he spotted a little girl that needed protection and provided it.

Grounds for Appeal

The Doser thinks that Judge Steven Maurer performed a clearly reversible tantrum in the closing part of the Worthington manslaughter case. The newspapers, mercifully, did not report the event - but it appeared on Channel 8 evening news on July 15.

Sonia Sotomayor

The Doser finds little to complain about with regard to the appointment of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. However, The Oregonian can't find the targeted article and picture in its records so The Doser will have to describe it to you rather than link you to it. Your attention is called to The Oregonian of July 14,2009, Page A5. There is a picture of Judge Sotomayor standing before the Judiciary Committee. (One need not say anything about the puerile fumblings of the Rep. members of the committee.) What one must observe is: Judge Sotomayor holds her head like a person who has been doing too much studying. She is already getting, or will soon get, the pain her posture will cause. The Doser wants her to stand up straight so as to be comfortable in bringing what she will bring to the Supreme Court.

Council can't compromise with reality

The 39th Avenue brouhaha in Portland reached a sort of "resolution" which demonstrates how unanimous the Portland City Council can be when there is relatively little at stake for them. In this case there were two issues at stake: 1. A group wanted to honor Cesar Chavez 2. A group didn't want to go through the expense and effort of a name-change. Both could have been granted their wishes if the City Council had, simply, named the new Tri-Met, foot traffic bridge across the Willamette: The Cesar Chavez Causeway.

Missed the signals.

There was this family that had a dying baby. They were determined to rely upon God, and not physicians, to heal the child. A grocery checker said to the mother: "I'm sorry your child is so ill, what does the doctor say?" The mother said, "We don't believe in doctors, we know that God will heal our child." The Postman said one day: "I know you must be terribly worried about your sick child, what is the doctor doing for her?" The woman said:
"We don't believe in doctors, we know that God will heal our child." A nosy neighbor looked over the fence one day and said: "I think you ought to change doctors, your child isn't improving at all." And the mother said "We don't believe in doctors, we know that God will heal our child." When the mother got to hell she asked the Devil why she had been sent there. The Devil said, "Because you killed your own child, dummy." The woman said: "But we were convinced that God would save her." The Devil says,"Well, what do you expect, God sent the grocery clerk, the postman and the nosy neighbor."

Twixt a rock and a hard place.

The right-of-the-aisle, sensible Republicans (the ones who think of themselves as 'middle-of-the-road') must be very discouraged nowadays. The front-runners for 2012 are: totally discredited Newt Gingrich and totally uncredited Sarah Palin. PS: The Republican Party is 155 years old today.

Foiled again.

The Doser was reading in The Oregonian about some folks going to a camp in Eastern Oregon in order to watch the stars. (Better viewing, there, out of the city lights and smogs.) For an instant The Doser almost had a grip on the clincher that would awaken anti-evolutionists from their medieval doze. The point was to call attention to how long, at the speed of light, it took the shine from really distant stars to reach earth. It could be, for some, a longer time than the Bishop Usher 6000 years plus 2009 years for the event of creation. But, then, The Doser's hopes were dashed! They can't be convinced that stars are that far away from us....... Something to do with those stars actually being little holes poked in the firmament.

World but a stage.

It has been only 234 years since our country got its act out in front of the world's foot-lights. We have produced many plays - some dismal failures, some of minimal usefulness but a few of worthy, memorable quality. Some of our plays ought to have died in New Haven and, doubtless, some worthy productions did not get a full-enough run. Be that as it may, even the most dissatisfied of us players aren't walking out on the company and it is heartening to have new hopefuls coming in seeking roles all the time. It is a time when the costs for new production are slow in coming, some theaters have gone dark and many actors are out of roles. Yet The Doser is not alone with the certainty that we'll be putting on competent,notable,classics again soon.

Not full health care.

Apparently, Sen. Ron Wyden got his heart before the course. Pres. O'Bama deems universal medical coverage to be too radical. The Doser finds it hard to think of a group of people not worth medical care.