While it is true that OS members can pretty much post anything they want, there is no obligation to rate any particular post.  What I have noticed recently is a number of posts that are highly rated, for reasons that are utterly baffling to me.  I don't know how many times… Read full post »

All of these photos were taken with an iPhone.  Most of them were taken in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon.

 Building.  Using editing software on the iPhone I replaced the background.

Bar Entrance.  This is from the entry way of a sports bar in the… Read full post »

"The Open Salon home page functions like a real-time magazine cover. We spotlight the best content . . . " -- What Is Open Salon?

In recent days at least three OS members have written interesting posts about what it takes to get a post on the cover… Read full post »

 All of the following were taken and edited on an Apple iPhone.

Woman

 Man

 Window Panes

 Merry-Go-Round

  Read full post »

Thanks to the diligent work of many Republican analysts, we now know of the extreme dangers posed by the Obama health plan, including death panels, the implementation of socialized medicine, termination of care for seniors, and direct governmental intervention in the most intimate details of our live… Read full post »

From right-wing pundits and politicians we have all heard various outlandish claims related to health care reform, including those about "death panels."  What follows is a detailed analysis of how the right manufactures propaganda through gross distortions of otherwise innocuous information.

In 2004 Ron Suskind reported an interesting conversation with an unnamed presidential aide:

"The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's… Read full post »

Being in my third month of unemployment in a state with an unemployment rate of over 12 percent, I have become fascinated by what it takes to get a job these days.  It is definitely a buyer's market, and this is reflected in the sometimes bizarre job requirements and information that… Read full post »

Introduction

This morning on MSNBC there were a number of discussions of the Second Amendment and the meaning of the right to keep and bear arms.  I think there is a lot of confusion about this issue.   I offer the following interpretation of the Second Amendment that I believe is… Read full post »

Empty Table and Parked Cars

Poster

A recent post that appeared on the cover of Open Salon, "What's Wrong with Political Correctness?," makes the case that many American are impolite for calling people "blacks" instead of "African-Americans."  The core of the author's argument is a 2007 Gallup poll:

According to a 2007 Gallup poll… Read full post »

Car Reflection

 Self Portrait

… Read full post »

I took the plunge and signed up for the Google ads.  Not just one -- all of them, everywhere.  So from now on all of my (usually infrequent) posts will be cluttered with advertising.

Why?  Mostly because I'm a geezer, and I wanted to feel that I'm "keeping up" with things. … Read full post »

In a recent post OS member Aaroncynic asks "Why Do We Still Care About Politicians' Married Lives?"   He concludes that we shouldn't.  He notes that "how one's marital status affects one's ability to say, decide whether or not torture should be practiced is beyond me," and that"until w… Read full post »

I had all this converted video and decided to do another spin.

In this spin Joan Walsh confesses to performing late term abortions herself using the infamous "skimming" procedure.  

You saw it here first -- I report, you decide.

The password is "video" (without the quotations marks.)

I was in an evil mood.  This is my O'Reilly propaganda version.

The password is "video" (without the quotation marks).

Bill Joan Spin from mishima666 on Vimeo.

  Read full post »

The following photos have all been taken over the last few months with an iPhone camera.  Some of these are just as they came out of the camera, and others have been heavily manipulated with various iPhone photo applications that I've been trying out. 

 As a social conservative on some issues, I find myself in the odd position of recommending a post with which I very much disagree, and under which I would probably be classified as a "bigot."  But I'll take good writing wherever I can find it.

Many great posts slip through… Read full post »

Prior to the invasion of Iraq, some wondered if Iraq would be the new Vietnam.  I'm starting to wonder if the bailout is the new Iraq.  There are  some interesting parallels, some of which may be trivial and some significant.

Read full post »

For eight years I was a medical data analyst in the financial department of  a large public hospital.  The last time I did that was about fifteen years ago, but I doubt that much has changed during the intervening years.

When I read Cindy Ross' recent post "We went broke paying… Read full post »

 The Situation

Jeff Maxwell, a 30 year old Marine veteran with six years of military service and student at Western Oregon University, was recently suspended from school for having a handgun on school property.

The story, as I have been able to piece it together goes like this:  Maxwell… Read full post »

Yesterday I visisted the shop of a young luthier in Portland, Oregon, Peter Tsiorba.  I took some photos that he could use on his web site.  The following is a small selection of them.  These were all taken with an ordinary digital camera, not a cell phone camera (like most… Read full post »

I got home last night to find a strange message in my Open Salon inbox.  One of the OS members informed me that he thought that someone was using one of my cell phone photographs for his avatar, and that he hoped that this person had gotten my permission.

Well, no… Read full post »

I took the following photos over the last few months.  They are an odd collection with no particular theme.

All of the photos were taken with an iPhone camera.

 Secret Office

Read full post »