“Comedian” is perhaps the job least likely to be associated with Oregon’s outgoing governor, Ted Kulongoski.

But last week’s announcement from our usually laconic governor seemed to us positively Seinfeldesque.

Kulongoski’s timing was exquisite, and he made us laugh.

The topic, however, is utterly serious.

Kulongoski proposed drastic changes in Oregon’s budget — most significantly in the compensation package for state workers.

What elicited our chuckles is the governor’s ability to unveil his plan with a straight face.

We don’t know whether the FBI actually prevented Mohamed Osman Mohamud from detonating a bomb in downtown Portland last Friday.

But we’re pretty skeptical of the notion that the desire to kill people who turned out for the city’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony originated with the federal agency rather than with Mohamud.

Yet that seems to be the implication of the strategy that Mohamud’s lawyers unveiled Monday.

His public defender, Steven T. Wax, told reporters that the defense team is “looking into the question of entrapment.”

Sure it was just water.

But it doesn’t take much of any liquid to damage, beyond repair, flimsy paper documents.

The water that gushed into the Baker County Courthouse from a broken pipe valve last weekend ruined things that are relatively easy to replace.

Carpet and ceiling tiles, for instance.

When a Baker County grand jury indicted Brian Cole of Baker City earlier this year on charges of misdemeanor sex abuse, we expected that a jury would decide whether or not he is guilty of the crimes, which involved a 17-year-old girl.

We certainly believed that’s how our justice system is supposed to work.

Except sometimes it doesn’t.

On Tuesday Judge Garry Reynolds approved a civil compromise, signed by Cole and the girl, that dismisses the four counts of third-degree sex abuse against Cole.

The matter isn’t settled, though. Cole is scheduled to go to trial Monday on two counts of providing liquor to a person under 21.

The basic premise behind Oregon’s civil compromise statute is reasonable.

If a person steals someone’s wallet but then returns the wallet, with all the money inside, then a judge might be justified in avoiding the expense of a trial by approving a civil compromise.

In that hypothetical case, the victim has been made whole, at least financially.

But Judge Reynolds’ ruling highlights a problem with Oregon law that the Legislature should fix as soon as possible.

Air travelers have an abundance of reasons to complain about their plight these days.

But walking through a body scanner isn’t even close to the most onerous.

We’re more offended by luggage fees that make it cheaper to mail your suitcases ahead.

Anyway, the tighter security gantlet that awaits passengers at American airports is unfortunate but necessary.

The list of excuses for not keeping tabs on the Baker City Council will get shorter soon.

And as an operation that depends absolutely on the free flow of information, we’re pretty pleased about that.

The city’s decision last week to subscribe to an online service that streams Council meetings live over the Internet was a good one.

It’s tough out there in these recessionary (or, allegedly, post-recessionary) days.

Tough to find a job.

Tough to keep the one you have, if you’re among the fortunate ranks of the employed.

And yet, in these trying times there is persuasive evidence that in one respect it’s getting easier, not more difficult, to, as the saying goes, get ahead.

Earning a degree from one of Oregon’s public universities, to be specific.

Almost 97,000 students enrolled in the state’s higher education system this fall, an increase of 5.9 percent from last year.

Thursday is Veterans Day, and this year’s version is particularly poignant.

We will honor not only those who have served, but also those who are preparing to serve.

And that latter list includes about three dozen Baker area members of the National Guard. They are training now in Mississippi for a deployment later this year to Iraq.

Aside from the occasional anomaly of a Ross Perot, third-party candidates garner scanty attention from the media or the electorate.

But you needn’t be a billionaire to have a big effect on an election.

Do you know who Greg Kord is?

How about Wes Wagner?

We’d wager that John Kitzhaber, Oregon’s governor-elect, knows those names.

Kitzhaber ought to send each man a thank-you card, in fact.

Kord was the Constitution Party’s candidate for governor in last week’s election.

Wagner headed the Libertarian Party ticket.

The idea that one of Baker County’s industrial eyesores could be transformed into a showplace for “green” technology seems a bit farfetched.

Perhaps more than a bit.

The place is Lime.