Honoring Those Who Served and Died for Our Country

"Memorial Day Order"

General Orders No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters.
I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and com­rades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
. . .
Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.
. . .
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.
. . .

By Command of:

John A. Logan
Commander in Chief
May 5, 1868

7 US Cities in Listing of 50 Best in World for Quality of Living

But no U.S. cities scored in the top 30.

Mercer Global Consulantcy has released a list of the top 50 cities in the world in terms of "quality of living".

Here are the US cities on the list and their rankings:

31 Honolulu
32 San Francisco (tied with Adelaide, Australia)
37 Boston
45 Chicago and Washington, D. C. (also tied with Lisbon, Portugal)
49 New York
50 Seattle

The number 1 city is Vienna. Vancouver, Canada is number 4.

Having visited Vienna (though more than 20 years ago), I can say it is a very nice city. At number 28 Calgary in Canada beats all the U.S. cities.

This ranking is of a selected list of 221 cities worldwide and is used "to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments."

H/T DrudgeReport

Make Sure Your Vote Counted

UPDATE: I checked with Multnomah County elections just by saying I wanted to verify that my vote was received and counted. I thanked the man who helped me. It was quick. The records are easily accessible. They only asked for my date of birth and last name.

OregonGuy writes:

Now I find out that the county clerks in Oregon are withholding information from the Maurer campaign because the voter’s signature didn't match from outside of their May 18th ballot with what their County Elections have on file.
. . .
Voters have 10 days from election day to fix this with their County Elections office. By the way, the Secretary of State Elections Division and every County Elections office has officially refused in writing to supply a list of folks receiving this letter. So now it’s up to you and me to reach as many of these folks as possible without knowing who they are!

If you voted, you must call your local elections office to find out if your ballot was accepted. Hit this link for your local elections office.
[emphasis added]

Refusing to release the list of voters rejected, is not a good sign.

Oregon Woos Solar Factory with $40+ Million in Loans/Tax Credits

Oregon has been working on a top secret plan, called Project Ready, to lure a California business, Solexant Corporation, to build a solar factory in the Portland area. Though the current plan is to start with a $200 million factory employing about a hundred workers, it "could eventually employ hundreds."

Oregon has sweetened the pot with the prospect of $43.75 million in loans and subsidies.

"Energy officials said an advisory committee would hold a public meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Salem, at 625 Marion St. NE, to consider a $25 million loan to Solexant. The agency has already pre-certified the company for a business-energy tax credit to cover half of $37.5 million in eligible costs."

That's $437,500 per job for the initial 100 employees. One assumes Solexant is open to building in Oregon because California's budget problems don't allow for much in the way of loans and subsidies for new plant builds.

The main problem comes in the prospect that Solexant could "eventually employ hundreds." Then again, maybe not. Consider what happened to another solar plant Oregon lost to Massachusetts in 2007.

Massachusetts lured Evergreen Solar away from Oregon with a subsidy package eventually totaling $58.6 million. As of early 2008 Evergreen had brought 350 jobs to Massachusetts and was looking to increase jobs to 1,000. No such luck. Things started to turn bad in early 2008. After posting losses of $200 million in 2008 and 2009, Evergreen Solar had to transfer most of its panel assembly jobs to China. That's $58 million Massachusetts ended up spending to help job creation in China.

Pixie Dust* industries, like adventures, "are not all pony-rides in May-sunshine." (Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, ch. 2)
_____
*my friend OregonGuy's colorful terminology

Brazil: How to Change the World

From the Guardian (UK)

"Five days in the favela: 'I know what it feels like to rob because of hunger'

"Evangelical preacher and radio DJ Pastor Nininho found redemption from a life of crime in favela Maré. Now he works to save young people from drugs and violence"

See the 11 minute video here.

Germany Dying Out

Germany's birth rate is less than its death rate.

New figures show that there were 651,000 babies born in Germany in 2009--a drop of 30,000 from the previous year. In 2009 for every thousand people 10 died and only 8.2 babies were born to replace them. In 2008 the birth rate was 9.3 per thousand--which means there has been more than a 10% drop in the birthrate per thousand people.

Currently Germany has the lowest birth rate in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. Only Japan has a worse birth rate.

On a European scale, Germany has the lowest birthrate, and on a global scale it is almost as bad. Of 27 countries with populations in excess of 40 million, Germany ranks second from bottom in terms of children under 15 as a percentage of the overall population. Japan is bottom with 13%, followed by Germany with 13.6%, and Italy with 14%. At 45%, Ethiopia has the highest portion of youth population.

This is not only a demographic problem. It is also a major problem for Germany's economy. There aren't enough young Germans being born to sustain the current social welfare state.

Politicians have long been forced to improve the birthrate or face the problem of Germany having insufficient workers and taxpayers to support a population which, like much of Europe, is ageing faster than at any time in history.

Mark Steyn* explains the problem in clear economic terms using Greece as the example:

In America, the feckless insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they've reached the next stage in social democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over. The United States has a fertility rate of around 2.1, or just over two kids per couple. Greece has a fertility rate of about 1.3: 10 grandparents have six kids have four grandkids - i.e., the family tree is upside down. Demographers call 1.3 "lowest-low" fertility - the point from which no society has ever recovered. And compared to Spain and Italy, Greece has the least worst fertility rate in Mediterranean Europe.

So you can't borrow against the future because, in the most basic sense, you don't have one. Greeks in the public sector retire at 58, which sounds great. But, when 10 grandparents have four grandchildren, who pays for you to spend the last third of your adult life loafing around?

There is the possibility of more immigration, but since no skilled labor immigrants are banging at the gates asking for entry, Germany's economy and lifestyle are bound to plummet--along with its social welfare complex.

*Steyn's America Alone treats the declining population problem in depth

Oregon Election Turnout at 42% GOP 40% Dems

UPDATE: Current Oregon Secretary of State information shows an uptick in turnout. Democrats are now at 379,144 ballots cast or 43.88%. Republican turnout is slightly under half at 319,232 ballots cast or 48.58%. Nonpartisans are at 118,161 or 23.01%.

Oregon Secretary of State office results:

. . . . . . Registered Voters . Ballots Cast . Voter Turnout
Democrat . . . . 867,408 . . . . 345,671 . . . . 39.85%
Republican . . . 657,786 . . . . 277,319 . . . . 42.16%
Nonpartisan (nonaffiliated, minor parties & others)
.. . . . . . . . . . 515,944 . . . . 110,480 . . . . 21.41%

Totals: . . . . 2,041,138 . . . . 733,470 . . . . 35.93%

Over half (54%) of ballots cast were returned in the last three days--with almost a third (32%) of ballots cast returned on election day itself.