Election 2010 – Register to Vote and more

October 8, 2010 by albertkaufman 1 Comment

Election 2010

October 12th is the last day to register to vote in Oregon. Moved recently? New in town? Here’s the link to register on-line. https://www.osbar.org/public/vote/Voting.htm

I am trying hard to think what to say about this Fall’s election. It’s the most important election of our lifetimes. And that leads me to the thought that every election is the most important. Here’s why this one is important and why I hope that everyone I know will do whatever they can to encourage everyone they know to register to vote, to help good candidates out (financially, if possible – in person, putting up a yard sign, whatever!!!), and to cast your ballot.

In Oregon: we’re electing a new governor. The choices in this race are stark. As in the presidential race, when you elect the head cheese, you’re basically electing thousands of people – from the heads of various departments, commissions, and all of their various staffs. It’s a big deal – and it generally turns out to be a popularity contest – and that is helped along by fundraising – and now there are no holds barred on that fundraising – it can come from anywhere, at any level. So, please, look closely at this race and others and see where the money is coming from and what the candidate and his minions will be about. My hunch is that the State House and Senate will stay in Dem hands. Having an R governor will make it much harder for the legislative body to do much of anything (The Gov signs off on most of what is passed, and I don’t trust an R Gov to support what the Dems in the Legislature put forward). So far the Dems in the House and Senate have been doing a better and better job (IMHO) and I’d like to see them continue to govern the state without hindrance. Also, Kitzhaber has been a leader in healthcare issues nationally and I’d like to see what he’ll do on this front. Dudley? Can’t get much of a read on him, but so far am underwhelmed. But please, take a look at this race, it’s important to those who live in Oregon and beyond. I decided to fully back John Kitzhaber and donated money via this website to his campaign: https://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/22914

Oregon Portland area? Metro Council President. Bob Stacey (happy birthday, Bob), and Tom Hughes. Metro makes a lot of decisions that effect those who live in the Metro area – beyond the zoo and expo center, there’s lots of decisions about land-use planning. Stacey was the former head of 1,000 Friends of Oregon and will be a more careful steward of something I love – something that makes Oregon stand out around the country, and that’s the Urban Growth Boundary. When you leave the Metro area you hit countryside. I like that, and believe that Stacey will be a better steward of our rural areas and keep them from turning into industrial parks. There is a huge emphasis on bringing more jobs to a place via building industrial parks. I don’t buy it, and would prefer that we work with what we have – there is tons of land that is vacant within the urban growth boundary; there is tons of vacant office space – IMHO we don’t need to turn our farmland into more of anything but farmland. But that’s another discussion for another day. I’m an environmentalist. I work to preserve farmland, forests and other natural things. Everyone I know in that world is backing Stacey which has made this an easier decision for me. Again, look at this race and make your own decision, but know that it’s an important one.

For Mult Co. Commission Seat #2 there are two great women working, I’m leaning Kollymore partly because I’ve worked with her in the past and she’s been encouraging me on my anti-idling public awareness campaign, but both women would probably be great here.

Initiatives? Yes, we’ve got plenty. Parks and Wildlife? I’m for it. Med Marijuana – hell yeah! Increasing jail sentences? Nah. In PDX: Voter Owned Elections? YES! And there are more – please spend some time learning about them, and we’ll have a voting party where we’ll discuss these sometime before the election once people have their ballots.

Beyond the OR boundaries? Well, there’s a lot going on and a lot at stake. Here’s where a call to arms is really warranted.

My good friend, Brian Hasset, a Canadian, follows US politics closer than anyone I know in the US – puts is clearly at the end of this message.

My friend, Mike, sent me this article yesterday detailing what the R’s will do if they gain control of the House and/or Senate. https://www.slate.com/id/2268442/

And, if you want to get more inspiration read some Michael Moore. Or, think it over yourself.

Yes, Obama has not been all that many of us had hoped for. But he’s also done a ton, and there’s a possibility that a ton more will get done (see my comment above about what happens when you elect the head cheese….). Ie, things are happening in executive departments – regulation of industry is coming back into fashion, the EPA is getting back into the business of protecting us again, and we have a new healthcare reform that will make sure that people get healthcare.

That said, there are many disappointments, and we all know them – the economy, wars, don’t ask don’t tell, etc. But none of this will improve with the R’s in control of either legislative house. The stew that is our legislative branch will turn into cement/gridlock, call it what you will.

So, what can you do? Well, if you live in SW Washington, you can vote for the Dem. If you live in Salem or thereabouts, you can vote for Schrader (D). Yeah, that’s my recommendation, that you and everyone you know vote for the Dem in every House and Senate Race in the Country. There may be a rational Republican out there that I don’t know about – but lately they’re becoming more and more tea-partyish/Palinesque (and not the Monty Python sort) – and that’s not the country we want to live in. So, until the Republican party wrests itself back from the fear-mongering, irrational, fascistic mess that its become, they shouldn’t be encouraged by being given the power to legislate.

Thanks for listening to my thinking. I know it’s not perfect, and somewhat simplistic, but the main point I want to stress is: vote. Research what’s going on in this election, and encourage others to do so. And then vote. Make sure your friends are registered to vote. Take a moment and help them do it – soon. In Oregon, October 12th is the last day to register, but don’t wait that long.

Thanks,

Albert Kaufman

https://albertideation.com/2010/09/12/this-falls-elections-are-important-please-dont-sit-them-out/

Brian sez: “If you don’t vote, you ARE voting for Sarah Palin.

If you whine that somebody isn’t progressive enough, you ARE voting for Agent Orange to control the House.

If you vote for a third party, you’re voting for the Third Reich to retake control.

If you think you’re too cool to vote, you’re voting for hell to freeze over.

If you think the Democratic candidate isn’t perfect enough for you, you’re voting for the repeat criminals to take over the asylum again.

If you’re thinking you’re beyond all this petty voting stuff, then you should be in a petting zoo.

This is between Democrats and war criminals, between a party that wants health care and one that wants waterboarding.

If you think you’re too good for politics, then you aren’t good enough to be an American.”

Filed Under: Election 2010 Tagged With: Bush, Democrats, Dudley, Election 2010, Kitzhaber, Kollymore, Metro, Obama, Oregon, Portland, Republicans, Stacey

Undriving

July 28, 2010 by albertkaufman 1 Comment

Undriving

While in Seattle recently for the Green Festival, I ran into the great folks from Undriving.org – a group in Seattle doing great things. I signed up for my undriving license, got my photo taken and ended up with this cool undriving license I carry around with me. I’m trying to bring them to Portland for the last Portland Sunday Bike Parkways, 9/26 in NW Portland. If this sounds interesting to you, please get in touch. I’m mainly looking for some sponsorship, and I would be glad to share with you all that I have done so far – we have power, a location, canopies, some volunteers, tables, and they’ll come if they can get some $upport! Let me know!

Photo gallery: https://undriving.org/community/photo-gallery

Note from Mike in Seattle to encourage us:

UNDRIVING’s innovative UNDRIVER LICENSE STATION has proven to be “the”
popular draw at over 45 events in Washington over the last three years.
We issue personalized UNDRIVER LICENSES (over 5,000 at last count) on the
spot to people for making a pledge to reduce their car use, or car use on
the planet, over the coming month.

But what’s really grabbing everyone’s attention is the incredible follow
through of new UNDRIVERS. Our event surveys consistently show that over
90% of new UNDRIVERS follow through on their pledge, and over 70% develop
a new lasting transportation habit beyond the pledge month! And we’re
documenting some incredible stories of people who got their UNDRIVER
LICENSE and what then followed for them; nothing short of phenomenal. In
fact, we recently received a grant in conjunction with the UW Digital
Media Lab to produce 5-7 video stories of new UNDRIVERS. We’re in
production now and will be completed in September.

Transportation agencies like InterCity Transit in Olympia, TDM dept’s of
cities like The City of Redmond, WA, neighborhood groups, schools, large
employers like American Medical Response, etc. see that having the
UNDRIVER LICENSING STATION engages their event audience, and also the
benefit of cooperatively tying in UNDRIVING to stimulate participation in
their own trip-reduction programs.

We are a non-profit corporation in the State of Washington, and have been
working towards becoming our own 501c3 for some time. One of our board
members, Cindy Butler, who has taken other non-profits through this
process, has been leading the charge on this and we are in fact close to
having a completed application to submit, meanwhile, we’ve been using
Urban Sparks as our fiscal sponsor.

As we build our organization and it’s fundraising ability, we’ve been
relying mostly on station appearances to fund the program and related
costs, equipment and supplies used to make the licenses, etc. To come to
Portland we have additional travel costs as well (which we are already
working on creative solutions to), anyway, it’s much more than just
setting up a table with brochures!

This organization’s current goal is to create a more turnkey licensing
station, in order to respond to requests we are getting from outside the
Northwest to replicate what we are doing here. As I mentioned to Albert,
we hope to have the new licensing station for the September Parkways
event, should our participation pan out.

Many of our station appearances have been fully funded by the event host,
in others it’s been combinations of sponsorships from event host,
transportation agencies, neighborhood groups, local businesses, etc. and
on-site donations. So we are looking to get sponsored to come down there,
but at the same time, we want to unleash UNDRIVING on Portland!! Let’s
talk!

P.S. It’d be really a great move if you can get TriMet involved as we do
here with King County Metro (they give us “free-ride” bus tickets, each
new UNDRIVER gets 6). If you can get something similar going with them
it’s a great incentive for getting potential new UNDRIVERS engaged.

Undriving on Facebook

Filed Under: undriving Tagged With: Bike Parkways, biking, not driving, Portland, Portland Oregon, Portland Sunday Parkways, skipping the trip, Sunday Parkways, taking the bus, telecommuting, undriving, undriving license, using less oil, walking

Idling

July 27, 2010 by albertkaufman 1 Comment

(updated 7.25.24 with new infographic below from iturnitoff.com) + new video from Desi Lydic!

and now – 5.25.24 – Just read this.

I’ve contacted a variety of folks in the Portland and Oregon region recently to talk about starting a public awareness campaign around the issue of engine idling. Given that more people are wanting to stop their cars (hopefully) to talk on their cellphones or text, idling is probably increasing. At a time when we should be thinking about more ways to save oil, rather than waste it, and also if we wish to have cleaner air, an idling awareness campaign in our region seems useful. Here’s a link to a brochure by the City of Portland that stresses that leaving your car on for longer than 10 seconds wastes more gas than stopping the car and re-starting it again (and other health and environmental benefits of reducing idling).

Also, OEC has a great video here for their “It’s not cool to idle at school” campaign. Their downloadable PDF on the issue is here.

Also, the City of Denver has done a great job on this issue with their Engines off, Denver campaign.

And, NYC is doing its share. A short film about their law passing here. Turn off your car, folks!

If engine idling is an issue that you care about, and you’d like to be a part of a working group in the Portland/Oregon area to work on it, please let me know @ albertkaufman@gmail.com – Thanks!

Filed Under: idling Tagged With: anti-idling, benzene, clean air, cleaning the air, fresh air, idling, Oregon, Portland, saving gas

Our Community University: Thriving in a Changing World: Class 1: Thursday, July 22nd, 10am-3pm

July 16, 2010 by albertkaufman Leave a Comment

Our Community University: Thriving in a Changing World

In the spirit of sharing our creative energy and knowledge with one another. I have gathered together with Michele Brooks, David Franklin and Noelani Rodriguez to bring you part one of Our Community University. We all have interesting and important skills to share and I intend to create a series of gatherings for that purpose. Since many of us have daytime hours free it makes sense to use that time to learn, compare notes, network, and grow ourselves and get better at what we do. Here is the first offering. I hope you will join us. If you’re not able to come, please pass this invitation along to others who might benefit from 4 hours of interesting information-sharing, networking and skill-building. Also, if you’d like to become a presenter in this series, please let me know. Here’s to our emotional, spiritual, and mental growth and thriving, in a changing world!

Day 1
Thursday, July 22nd, 10am-3pm (1 hour for lunch)
Cost: $10 per class or $35 for all 4. (come for one talk or all four) (checks and cash accepted)
Location: 1823 NE 13th Ave. (close to the 8, 9 bus and Red and Blue Max lines) (just north of the Lloyd Center, parking is easy)
Wi-Fi available
Tea available
Please RSVP to albertkaufman@gmail.com

Class 1: 10am-11am Albert Kaufman: Albertideation:

The Who What Where When How and Why of using Social Networking and Email marketing to promote yourself, your ideas and your business. Albert teaches businesses and individuals how to use social networking to organize and promote ideas, causes, and improve your bottom line. With 14 years of high-tech business he is familiar with a variety of software and how they can be networked for greater success. To see what Albert is up to on a given day, find him @ work thinking @ https://albertideation.com

Class 2: 11am-12pm Michele Brooks:

The life and times of an economic refugee or how to make money in South Korea. Michele Brooks: https://abundancecompany.com/michele_brooks.htm

Lunch: 12-1pm (please bring your lunch, or there are many places nearby to pick up something to eat)

Class 3: 1-2pm: David Franklin: Radical Presence: Creating Authentic Community in the Midst of Global Change

In these rapidly changing times, we are being called into deep integrity. We have an opportunity to move beyond the addictions, distractions, and suffering that keeps us in separation, and to learn how to love one another.

Our modern times call for spiritual practices and lifestyles that serve both the self and the collective. It is time to move beyond our individualistic, fear-based ways of living, and come together in community to support one another. In order to do so, it is essential to learn and engage in practices that create relationships that are sustainable, co-creative, and call forth our gifts.

In this experiential presentation, we’ll talk about the shifts that are occurring in our society, and how they are creating an opportunity for us to show up more powerfully and thrive. We’ll also learn and practice ways of being in authentic presence and community with one another. You’ll leave with a sense of new possibilities, hope, and connection.

David Franklin is a spiritual activist devoted to creating a new paradigm for masculinity that includes living the embodied path of spirituality, sexuality, leadership, and presence. As an experienced facilitator and ordained minister, he is masterful at creating and holding safe space for transformative experiences that utilize practical, body-centered modalities and down-to-earth spirituality. For more information, visit https://www.RadicalMen.com

Class 4: 2-3pm Noelani Rodriguez: The Quickest Way to Double Your Sales

These days, businesspeople are resorting to new strategies to attract customers in the New Economy–many are promoting Classes and other Promotional Events. The quickest way to double your sales is to double the effectiveness of your “Irresistible Offer,” or the way you describe your business. Whether you want to promote a class, a service or a product, you can sell yourself with an irresistible offer that no one can refuse.

As a Google Certified Consultant and $1M selling marketer, I have a proven track record with over 1 million ad clicks in the top 1% of ad profitability. Let’s have some fun as I show you how to double the effectiveness of your “9 second elevator speech,” honing it into an irresistible offer. Let’s play at doubling the effectiveness of your offer to double your sales!

Lani’s website: https://ebooks.thebestever.net/

3pm: schmooze, network, talk, compare notes, over tea, wine and bisquits

Filed Under: Our Community University Tagged With: continuing education, dance community, energy, growth, learning, marketing, Portland, South Korea

Spreading Ecstatic Dance Far and Wide

May 10, 2010 by albertkaufman 2 Comments

Ecstatic Dance

If you’re reading this there’s a good chance that you’ve danced at one point or another in the PDX Ecstatic Dance world. Perhaps more than once. Most people I speak to remember their dance (even if it was just once many moons ago). And many of us return to the well as often as possible, can’t get enough. And so our community has grown – 30 people become 50 people becomes 100 people. The question that keeps coming to my mind is: how do we spread this even further?” So that 100 becomes 1,000, becomes 1 million, and on and on.

We all know this dance is good for us. Keeps us healthy, challenges us, brings up emotions, can be scary, can be illuminating, can be fun, can be a drag – all of the above and more. I think one thing that’s in the way of dance spreading is our own quietness about it. Shyness? Fear that others that we invite, might not get it? Fear that friends we invite might see a side of us that we’re afraid to show? There are probably a few fears in the way of our inviting everyone we know to dance.

Then, there is our hesitancy to recommend something so big to someone else. It might come across as a cult. It might come across as showing support for a certain group of people, and their take on this dance – I can imagine there are a few sets of emotions and blocks in this area that keep people from sharing with others.

All of that said, I think it’s time for us all to jump over our own shadows (a phrase I once learned in Germany) and help to get the word out about this beautiful thing. And here’s why.

It’s good for the people – the potential for personal growth found through dance is humongous. The health benefits are great – stamina, balance, coordination, stretching sore or hurt bones and muscles: therapeutic… I’m sure you’ve experienced some of this, and I suspect you know that it would be true for everyone you know – if they could just move like this once in a while they’d face some of those demons, get off the couch, get out of their stuff and move, both physically and emotionally.

It’s good for the community – I probably don’t have to go into this too much – it’s somewhat obvious to anyone who has danced and then shared a meal with fellow dancers – new friends, old, the mix of people who are dancing are living inspiring lives and after-dance conversation is often scintillating. We also learn new things at the dance – how to hold space, how to listen, how to observe, how to make mistakes and clean them up, and new skills, and dance moves.

It’s good for the planet. Groups of people coming together to celebrate life, practice being around each other, touching each other, and moving together to raise the vibration – if you’ve ever felt this you know what I mean, and if you haven’t, keep an eye out for it, it happens quite a lot on ballroom floors in our town frequently.

So, here’s what I recommend. If you agree that ecstatic dance is good in the ways I’ve outlined above, stop being quiet about it. Start being loud about it. Put it on your resume. Invite your 10 best friends to dance with you at your favorite dance spot. Once in a while volunteer to help set up, break down, or lead the intention – get to know the folks that put on the dances and ask how you can support their efforts and share the work.

Then there are the other 500 ways to support something: word of mouth, passing on some flyers, posting flyers, posting your intention on your FB profile, blog, website…

Being shy about this thing we love serves no one. Let’s be out and proud and see what happens.

My vision is to encourage this fire to grow big everywhere. Right now I’m trying to help the folks at OmCulture in Seattle get their dance on. My sense is that Seattle has the people, it is just waiting for the spark and the infrastructure to show up. And just like any good and worthy movement, if we play our cards right, and encourage the growth of dance in many places, we will help the world to dance ecstatically.

If you’d like to continue this discussion, please feel free to write me with your ideas. And, I’d love to hear back from anyone who takes any of the suggestions above and runs with them.

Remember the last time someone came to dance and said “this is my first time here and I feel like I’ve found my home”? Yeah, let’s spread that – like a big slathering of goodness all over this planet earth.

Till we dance again,

Albert

Here’s this writing as a short cartoon 🙂

And, if you don’t already subscribe, don’t delay. Conscious Dancer Magazine rocks!