Procrastination and a Nation’s Hostility Habit: When a Congresswoman has Been Shot in the Head

It is shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon in the Starbucks on 28th and E. Burnside in Portland, Oregon.  It’s Adam’s last day as a barista here.  He’s off for a full-time gig in a fusion restaurant downtown.  My friend Doug just walked by and came in for a chat.  He’s a bartender who, for the first time in two decades, didn’t have to work New Year’s Eve.  “Nothing more renewing than… Read More

Ancient Trees and Taxes

On matters of taxation, there’s confusion in our country.  Just where does that money go?  Another way to say this is to suggest that there’s too little education of everyday citizens on the whole economic thing.  How does it all fit together – the business part, the investment part, the tax part, the public interest part?  And how do we participate in it for the wellbeing of ourselves, our families, our communities… Read More