Answers to Life's Persistent Questions Dept.

Image via WikipediaToday's answer: The Chicken.








And now a word from Barb Palermo, Chief Chicken Revolutionaria:

Chicken Classes

There's still room in this weekend's Chicken-Raising 101 Class!

If you would like to learn about choosing breeds, designing a coop, and everything about raising hens in a backyard setting, you can still enroll in this class – just let me know by Friday! There are two classes to choose from: (Sat, Dec. 18 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm) or (Sun, Dec. 19 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm). The cost is just $5 and kids are free.

We will also be hosting a Poultry Health Class on February 9 from 6:00-7:30 pm. This class will focus on chicken anatomy, common illnesses and prevention, chick vaccination, the truth about bird flu, and more! The instructor will be USDA Veterinarian, Dr. Brianna Wilson. Seating is limited so let me know soon if you are interested in signing up for this class.

Chicken Ordinance

Please read my blog about Salem's chicken ordinance and why it is indeed a victory.

The city has informed me that there's a problem with training outside vendors to conduct chicken coop inspections (estimated to cost $35), so the city will be offering this service FOR FREE temporarily, starting in January. There will still be a $50 permit fee, but at least you can save on the inspection if you are among the first to apply. If you cannot afford the fee, please let me know, as I may be able to help
with CITY funds. Financial assistance is available for situations where there is real financial need (not just because you don't believe you should have to pay).

Coop Tour

We need your coop! Please consider entering your coop in Salem's first backyard chicken coop tour. Every year Salem's chicken-loving residents travel to Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland to attend annual coop tours. This year, we would like to offer one of our own. Now that chickens are legal in Salem, stop hiding, and show it off in our first coop tour. Let's prove to everyone that we are perfectly capable of keeping nice backyard coops! Even if you haven't built your coop yet, but plan to before June, consider participating. For more information e-mail contact Shannon at 88corndog@comcast.net.

Habitat for Hens

As you know, we built a chicken coop for a family last November and it was a wonderful experience. We plan to construct another coop in May, possibly at the Oregon School for the Deaf, as part of its new Ag Education Program! If you would like to donate labor and/or building materials, please contact Kristi at kristineznanski@gmail.com.

Chickens In Keizer

Several citizens in Keizer, Oregon have begun the process of trying to convince their city councilors to adopt a chicken-keeping ordinance. If you live in Keizer and are interested in helping, let me know and I will put you in touch with them.

Salem Buyer's Clubs for "Happy Meat"

If you're interested in purchasing "happy meat" from local, environmentally responsible farms where the animals are pasture-raised and well-treated, contact McK Ranch in Dallas, OR or Anton Field Farm in Corvallis, OR. Both farms sell beef, chicken, and lamb but Anton Field Farm also sells pork and honey. To join these buyer's clubs and have your meat delivered to Salem, send them an email and be sure to write "Salem Buyers Club" in the subject line. I visited the Anton Field Farm today and it is a wonderful place!

Local Resources

Don't forget to visit my website on a regular basis. I try my best to keep it updated with the most recent information, including local resources like where you can purchase ready-made coops or building plans to construct your own, urban farm stores and hatcheries in our area, and everything from local veterinarians who treat chickens to chicken babysitters! Upcoming chicken-related events are always posted
there as well, so it's a good place to find out what's coming up without having to wait for my emails.

LOVESalem HQ: "Underway on Solar Power"

OK, getting the last steps of the laborious installation process finished on the absolute rainiest day of the a pretty rainy season is not the world's best timing. But, on the other hand, if we can make 0.8 kWh today, imagine what we will do when there's some real sun!

2 + 2 = 4

I have a friend I've never met . . . hmmm, sounds like the invisible friend of my youth . . . anyway, he's got a blog where great stuff is shared. He doesn't post often, so the signal-to-noise ratio is stratospheric. Two great posts there lately -- the great song below and a thoughtful post on "The Electronic Plantation."

TONIGHT: Important movie -- "PAPERS" - Grand Theatre, 7 p.m.

Another gem brought to us by the good folks running the Salem Progressive Film Series. Double-click the image for a full-screen view. There are people like these poor kids all through the Valley.

UPDATE: Kurt Schrader shamed us and most of all himself in voting against the DREAM act that would provide two paths to citizenship for these poor kids. Reprehensible.

Got kids? Or visiting friends/relatives?

Image via WikipediaGroupon is offering very cheap tix to "Magic at the Mill," the holiday celebration at Mission Mill, part of the Willamette Heritage Center.

Gotta move quick, these things sell one day only.

Ugly

The real estate meltdown gets uglier by the day.

"About half the practice of a decent lawyer consists of telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop." -- Elihu Root

Act quickly: Help derail the ethanol gravy train of subsidies for fatcats

There is no policy in the United States with less support in science or that is based on more naked greed than the ethanol subsidies and blending mandates. Ethanol is nothing but a fancy shell-game of using coal and natural gas to create a liquid fuel while using tons and tons of petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers, destroying topsoil, and making our climate challenge even worse.

Tell Merkley and Wyden to stand firm against this colossal economic and environmental outrage.

WORD: We need to tame the vampire squid

double click for full-screen view

Jump on this: A nice little pasta at a nice little local place

Willamette Noodle Company Too is offering a nice discount through Groupon -- $16 to use for pasta dishes and drinks for $8 (maximum of three).

Try the three-cheese mac & cheese with the vegetables mixed in -- ymmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Local Hero: Jeff Merkley

Oregon's Democratic Senator, Jeff Merkley, gets some well-deserved props from Kevin Drum (who mistakenly throws some undeserved love at NY's third senator, who married money and suddenly dislikes the estate tax):

The state of Oregon does a helluva job electing senators. We should all be so lucky to have the likes of Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley representing us.

Today I want to highlight Merkley and his proposal to end abuse of the filibuster. Unlike his retiring Connecticut colleague Chris Dodd, who inexplicably decided to use his farewell address this week to produce a defense of the filibuster that could only come from a DC lifer almost comically out of tune with the events of the past few years, Merkley has given the subject some real thought and recently produced some genuinely sharp thinking about it.

For starters, Merkley understands the reality of the modern Republican Party: they don't use the filibuster occasionally to obstruct legislation they feel especially strongly about, they use it "on nearly a daily basis, paralyzing the Senate." What's more, the filibuster isn't just a way of requiring 60 votes to pass legislation. Rather, "the filibuster can be thought of as the power of a single senator to object to the regular order of Senate deliberations, thereby invoking a special order that requires a supermajority and a week delay for a vote."

This is a key point to understand. The modern filibuster requires only one person to invoke it, doesn't require that person to do anything other than announce his intent, and automatically eats up a week or more of time on the Senate calendar even on legislation that's widely popular. Last year, for example, it took the Senate five weeks to approve an extension of unemployment benefits that eventually passed 98-0.

But what to do? There's some question about whether Senate rules can be changed in the middle of a session, but none about whether they can be changed at the beginning of a session. They can be. So in January, if Democrats can muster 51 votes and Vice President Biden is willing to support them by issuing friendly rulings as presiding officer, the filibuster rules can be changed. So what would it take to persuade 51 Democrats to go along?

Merkley's proposal revolves around a single principle: the Senate should always allow debate. So the filibuster should be banned entirely on motions to proceed and on amendments because both are things the promote debate and engagement. Filibusters would still be allowed on a bill's final vote, but it would take more than one senator to launch a filibuster (Merkley suggests a minimum of ten) and senators would have to actually hold the floor and talk. No longer would a single person be able to obstruct all business just by dropping a note to his party leader.

And in return? The minority party would have one of its major grievances addressed: the ability to offer amendments to legislation. Merkley proposes that unless a different agreement is reached prior to a bill coming to the floor, each side would be allowed to introduce five amendments of their own choosing. No longer could the majority leader "fill the amendment tree" or otherwise prohibit the minority party from trying to amend legislation. This fits with his broad principle that debate and engagement with legislation is a good thing. The minority party might choose to offer mischevious or blatantly political amendments, but that's their choice. They also have the choice of genuinely trying to improve legislation and getting a majority of their colleagues to pass it.

Merkley has a few other proposals as well, but this is the gist of it. It's a pretty good plan, and a pretty sensible one. It doesn't eliminate the filibuster, it just eliminates filibuster abuse. And in return, the minority party gets an expanded ability to engage in a positive way with any legislation on the floor. In January, the Democratic leadership, the rank-and-file of the party, and the White House ought to give serious thought to starting the 112th Congress with the long-overdue reforms that Merkley proposes.