Oregon State University, Basketball Coach

The new head basketball coach at OSU, Craig Robinson, is our new president’s brother-in-law. How Cool!

Check out this link for a bio on the new coach.

 

Mr. Obama’s Cabinet

There are 15 departments in the Cabinet. Mr. Obama will be appointing people (subject to congressional approval) in the next few weeks to head these departments. The departments are:

Agriculture
Commerce
Defense
Education
Energy
Health and Human Services
Homeland Security
Housing and Urban Development
Interior
Justice
Labor
State
Transportation
Treasury
Veterans Affairs

I’m going to print off this list and keep track of the nominations and confirmations. As I read this list I was struck by how important each department is. There is no fat here. Each appointment to head these departments is very important. The work that is done in these departments is important to all of us.

When I was a senior in high school, in 1962, the same year as the Cuban Missile Crisis, my civics teach required that all of his students memorize the names of all the cabinet secretaries. So here, 46 years later I will be doing it again. Looks like there were 10 departments during that time. The post office was dropped and 6 others have been added.

 

My Voting Record

The State of Oregon where I am a resident has vote-by-mail. I just completed my ballot and here is how I voted (in the order the items appear on the ballot):

President/VP, Obama/Biden
US Senator, Jeff Merkley, Demo
US Rep, Wu, Demo

State, County, City, etc
Sec of State for Oregon, Kate Brown, Demo
State Treasurer, Ben Westlund, Demo
Attorney General, Kroger, Demo
State Rep, 29th Dist, Riley, Demo

Nonpartisan
Commission of the Bureau of Labor & Industry, Avakian
Judge of Supreme Court Position 7, Walters
Judge of Court of Appeals Position 4, Sercombe
Washington County Sheriff, Gordon
City of Hillsboro Mayor, Willey
City Council, Andrews
City Council, Acuna
City Council, Castillo
Soil and Water, Ward
Tualatin Soil & Water Director Zone 2, Jossi
Tualatin Soil & Water Director, Marsh
Tualatin Soil & Water Director, Olsen

State measures:
54, Yes
55, Yes
56, Yes
57, Yes
58, No
59, No
60, No
61, No
62, No
63, No
64, No
65, No

County and other local measures:
43-155, Yes
34-159, Yes
34-164, Yes
34-151, Yes
26-95, Yes
26-96, Yes

For the partisan seats I considered equally candidates’ experience, statements, and party. All else being equal I voted Democratic. I am registered as an Independent.

One note of explanation on State Measure 62. I am for more money for public safety, etc., but I do not like putting measures such as this in the Constitution of the State therefore I voted “no.”

 

Creationism is not Science

It’s really quite simple. There is no viable science that validates Creationism. Creationism is not science. It is a religious belief. Therefore it should not be taught in schools as science. It should not be taught in any public school at all. You know, separation of Church and State, and all that.

The separation of Church and State is one of the founding principles of our country and our government. You can believe what you want, but do not force feed our children a questionable religious belief in my public schools and call it science.