Puzzling over the attitude regarding health care for all.

What do you think about people who do not seem to have any compassion for other people's lack of the quality of life basics? How would you describe them?

Speaking of parades!! There are two that TSG is working on right now:

82nd Avenue of Roses BA Parade: Sat. April 24th at 9am. Starts at Presenting Sponsor Eastport Plaza, 4000 SE 82nd Ave. and ends at SE 78th and Yamhill St. For a registration form, contact TSG at 503-774-2832 or nchapin@tsgpdx.com.
Vendor spaces are also available at 503-771-3817.
Division/Clinton Street Fair and Parade: Sat. July 24th at 10:45 am. Starts at Bearly Worn, 50th and SE Division, heads west on Division to SE 20th, turns left/south to Clinton and then goes to 28th and Clinton where it disbands. For a registration form, or vendor space information, contact TSG at 503-774-2832 or nchapin@tsgpdx.com.

For more vendor information as it becomes available, subscribe to vendorspace-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

An open letter to Congressman Blumenauer

Congressman Blumenauer: I know Congress thinks it is actually helping the "little guys" when it makes money available to banks to loan out to small businesses, however, banks are banks and they work pretty strictly from the financial condition as it looks on paper. When I went to apply for the ARC loan (up to $35,000 to pay off credit cards such as the one that is now charging 39.99% for money borrowed three years ago, that my payments would have long since paid off except that the interest rate has soared -I never missed a payment - so now I am paying interest on interest, and even though I have been managing and the respite of a year before starting to pay back the $35,000 with no interest would have made all the difference in the world, they turned me down.

Additionally, I have been told that the only way I can negotiate to reduce my mortgage payments is to miss a payment for 30 days! That goes entirely against my ethical construct so I keep paying and am nearing a panic state that I will soon lose everything I have worked for in my life. I have cut my staff down to the bare bones and a tax credit will certainly not help me because that involves more money up front. I am 70 years old, have worked since I was 11, and now am very close to having to declare bankruptcy and take kind people who have helped me survive down with me. Perhaps Congress needs to consider alternate organizations for disseminating loans, organizations that are more human scale and people-based than the banks and other financial institutions have shown themselves to be. I truly do not know where else to go except to start the bankruptcy process. I know life is not fair and they never promised me a rose garden and all of that, but it does seem like the whole system has become seriously upside down. When someone who makes $500,000/year quits a job because they aren't getting a bonus and, even after paying taxes and all my bills but my mortgage, I could live quite well for at least five years on that much, there is something amiss with the picture. Do you have any ideas for me? Do you know of any organizational projects that we could apply for? My business www.tsgpdx.biz is an Association and Event Management company. We coordinate street fairs, meetings, and more. I don't want a free ride; I just want to have a life in very stressful economic times.

The PEParazzi still live and are helping behind the scenes with the 3rd Annual 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade on April 25th starting at 9am. It's going to be a great parade and a fun day with many more activities, including a carnival, car show, bike decorating and more. We want our whole community to celebrate with us. The parade starts at Eastport Plaza, 4000 SE 82nd Avenue and disbands at SE 78th and Yamhill.
For more information or an entry blank contact larry@tsgpdx.com.

Dealing with the letter "D" - the war of the words

While trying to figure out how to get out of my latest dilemma, it dawned on me how many very important - and tending towards 'downer' words there are in my mind's and this country's vocabulary. To name a few: disaster, defense, defend, diatribe, death, dying, debt, depression, dealing with difficult people and all of the aforementioned words, and many, many more come to mind if I allow it.
So, that's why I've not posted lately - I've been dealing with the importance of the letter "d" in my life.
And, I've decided - which in the hands of a veteran d-word user - can be as good as the death knell to shut things off, but I'm really working on this, so, I've decided that I'm going to start focusing on the letter "B".
There are, however, some closing thoughts regarding the letter "d" that must be added for finality's sake. For example, a "D" grade is almost worse than an "F" because it compounds the agony of wondering just how much longer until you are certifiedly Dumb.
I won't even try to rehabilitate "d" by thinking of diplomacy, dress-up, draping oneself on the towel in the sauna after a delightful swim, delicious dark chocolate whipcream, delight at the look of joy in a child's eyes as they discover something new... Well, maybe just a little rehab is okay.
So, you can see how the letter "D" has become a digression/diversion/distraction in my intention to deal with life's details, so I must get over this obsession with the world's acting out of the above "d" words and get my life Back.

Yes, it is now time to go back to Basics: the B word.
And because I primarily work with small businesses, that is the first B word that arrives. And, it really is small businesses that must be facilitated here, if this situation in our economy is to be "right-sized". Out of greed and the lack of a strong, ethical base for decision-making, many people have chosen the Machiavellian route, forgetting that when the purity of that concept becomes all-powerful, those blinded by greed are the ones who come to power.
Money is a necessity for trade and maintaining a livelihood and a life in this, basically, non-egrarian world; it has, however, become the object of desire to too many people including corporate leadership and has even become an object to fight for in our educational institutions and in too many of our religious institutions as well. If the leadership of those institutions which are designed to be the servants of humanity's highest needs lose their ethical groundings than how are the rest of us to survive?
Money is a resource to be used for the education and care of the world's peoples, not for the aggrandizement of the few.
Money can allow a person, a country, a world to be distracted from rather than disturbed by the palpable pain in our society and world for only so long and then the boil must break, the bubble must burst. And we must return to seeing that it is time to turn the "trickle down" theory on its head and start assisting the little businesses, the individuals with an idea that deserves an opportunity to bud and flower, the children who are bursting wiith enthusiasm to learn and grow, and parents who must be able to earn enough for all to have nutritious food on the table, weather-appropriate clothing, a good roof over their heads, and the opportunity to receive health care when needed. Until we are clear that no one is worth less than that in our society and our world, we are as ethically bankrupt as the institutions we have allowed to take over our lives.
So, it is time for the other as yet unmentioned institution in our lives, the governments, to step up and start facilitating the "trickle-up" theory. Our small businesses have been stifled and side-swiped by the increasing interest accruing on the debt we took on when times were tight, the increase in costs and the lack of support to do our work in the world, too. If the small businesses fail, our neighborhoods have no hope of keeping alive that small town feel that we love in Portland and in our communities across this country and the world.
One billion dollars is 1000 million; what if, for example, the "stimulus package" had required the banks that were granted funds to give out 10,000 $100,000 loans at guaranteed 5% apr for every billion dollars received to existing, performing businesses with a payroll, a location and from 1-30 employees, to pay off loans and other business debt and with the requirement to create one additional job within 3 months? I think this economy could turn right side up within weeks.
Your thoughts?

PEParazzi Preparation

Get yourself in the mood for this summer's parades!

Join us on Saturday, March 22nd from 9am - 11am in Portland, Oregon for idea and to get to know others who want to help us drum up a little excitement at our local parades. 

The first parade of the season is Saturday, April 19th at 9am on SE 82nd Avenue of Roses. 

PEParazzi & Parade Cheerleaders

PEParazzi

The Peparazzi is an organization for former cheerleaders and people who love parades. There are more than a dozen parades in Portland and the surrounding area and I attend as many as possible and help organize a couple of them.

A couple of years ago I noticed that lots of people still go to parades, but many of them seem to have forgotten all the work that the participants go through in order to be there for that brief hour or two. They stand on the sidewalk – or sit there in their lawn chairs and not a single smile softens their faces nor do their two hands come together in appreciation of the children’s costumes, the wonderful parade music, the floats, antique vehicles, horses, riders, - even the clowns, sometimes.

It struck me that we need parade cheerleaders – people like the Cavemen from Grants Pass from my youth in Brookings, Oregon or the Keystone Kops from the Gateway area in Portland. People who don’t mind being noticed doing funny things and who rev the crowd up - just like cheerleaders at sports events;

So, a group of like-minded people got together early in 2007, took on a name – PEParazzi – and got permission to be in parades but not be paraders, as such. We led people in impromptu yells, handed out cards with 10’s on them to show to parade entrants – everybody knows a 10 means you are great! – talked through stuffed animals, decorated our bicycles, and even handed out water to participants on a couple of very hot days.

We are sure we made a differance; however, there are not enough of us.

The next parade will be in late April, 2008. We want to be there en masse and ready to have fun and encourage more participation from everybody in attendance. We want more participants to smile and wave and more spectators to do the same.

As the current chief organizer who is having hip replacement surgery in September, I need some other people to step up, help get us together for the 2008 parade season and to plan on participating in parades as part of the PEParazzi.

Are you interested? E-mail me soon and we’ll set up some meeting/workshop times in early 2008..