By Jim Heffernan My wife and I have always been cat lovers. For 50+ years, we’ve always shared our house with 2 or 3 cats. We’ve always had pet doors to save ourselves the onus of cat-box duty. Now and then, we would lose one when the siren call of 27 acres of rodent habitat across the road would cause…
Category: I’ve been thinking
BOOK REVIEW: “The Politics Industry”
By Jim Heffernan I usually wait until I finish a book before I begin to write my review, but this one is different. I’ve read a lot of books about contempory politics and “The Politics Industry” is special. I’m very impressed how original and even-handed it is. Michael Porter is an economist born in 1947 who is known in academic…
I’ve been thinking … Braver Angels
By Jim Heffernan I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what generally happens when someone says or writes something that another person doesn’t agree with. A person with strong opinions and weak filters, like me, will most likely run for his “culture warrior sword”* and rush into battle. The “culture warrior” is convinced truth, and maybe God, is on his…
OP/ED: Our Democracy is Threatened!
By Jim Heffernan That’s not a joke. Our Democracy is not only threatened, but it was dealt a body blow. It’s not some sinister foreign conspiracy which threatens us. The threat is right here in Tillamook. And it’s not just a few of us, it’s more than two-thirds of us. (67.15% to be exact.) That’s the percentage of people who…
I’ve been thinking … RESPONSE RESORTS TO NAME-CALLING – Statement Verification, Clarifications
EDITOR’S NOTE: See below for links to Jim Heffernan’s Op/Ed – Ideology over Experience on TSD#9 Policy Committee, and April Bailey’s Response. By Jim Heffernan I will admit that when I first read Ms. Bailey’s response, my immediate reaction was “how dare her call me a liar!!” And I immediately fired off a response … and after several revisions, multiple…
BOOK REVIEW: “I Have the Right to Remain Silent—But I Lack the Ability” by Madelaine Brauner Landry
By Jim Heffernan I think perhaps I might have a “book guardian angel” who sits on my shoulder and prods me when she sees a book she thinks I “need” to read. I saw Landry’s book while browsing the library at Braver Angels* and my “book guardian angel” made me get it. It wasn’t easy, the publisher “Ally Gater Bites”…
Response to Jim Heffernan Op/Ed – Ideology over Experience on TSD#9 Policy Board
Sometimes politics taints an individual’s vision of truth so bad that they cannot see those they disagree with as people or see themselves in a mirror. Such is the case in a recent opinion piece entitled “Ideology over Experience on TSD#9 Policy Committee” (link below) Unlike the author, a Democrat PCP, who defended another Democrat PCP that he would have…
I’ve Been Thinking: Local Journalism – Meet the Pioneer Editor & Headlight-Herald Editor
By Jim Heffernan I’ve been thinking a lot lately about “The Rocky Mountain News”, the newspaper of my youth. It was printed in a tabloid style that seemed the ideal format to spread out and read while I ate my shredded wheat. It was the morning paper delivered to our house each morning by a “paperboy” who usually delivered them…
OP/ED: Ideology over Experience on TSD#9 Policy Committee
By Jim Heffernan When Justin Aufdermauer was appointed to the vacant school board position, a vacancy was created on the School District’s Policy Committee. Two people submitted applications and I have included the applications below. Board members Petty, Werner, and Mizee voted for Tiffany Jacob. Look at the applications for yourself. They are available at the website www.tillamook.k12.or.us, but you…
I’ve Been Thinking: Binge Reading & Dylan
By Jim Heffernan (Mister Peabody, please set the Wayback Machine to 1965) I’ve been thinking about this reading binge I’ve been on these last years and also lines from a Bob Dylan song, “My Back Pages” from 1964. The lines I’ve been thinking of are: Good and bad, I define these terms Quite clear, no doubt somehow Ah, but I…
