Posted inCurrent affairs

Trans-Pacific Partnership not looking good to me after Salem City Club talk

I've been on the fence about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). On the whole, free trade makes sense to me. But opponents of this proposed agreement between the United States and eleven other Pacific Rim countries have made some good arguments against it.  So I went into today's Salem City Club talk, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Look at the TPP Through an Oregon Lens," with an open mind.  I'm good friends with Russ Beaton, who gave the talk. Russ is a retired economics professor at Willamette University. He's heavy into sustainability, progressive politics, organic gardening, and other Good Stuff.  I don't…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Sustainability

Malheur Refuge militants ignore reality of “welfare ranching”

Anti-government militants' takeover of buildings at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge here in Oregon has a lot of absurd aspects.  For example, the ranchers (convicted of federal crimes) they supposedly are supporting have disavowed the militants. Seemingly most of the people in Harney County, where the refuge is located, want the outsiders to leave. Also, the militants claim to be defending the Constitution. But the founders of this country set up a method to decide how the Constitution is to be defended. It's called the Supreme Court. Until that court rules federal ownership of land is unconstitutional, those who say otherwise have…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Anti-abortion zealots supporting domestic terrorism have blood on their hands

Today it became totally clear that the man who shot up the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, Robert Dear, was motivated by a hatred of abortion and those who provide abortions.  From the New York Times story, "Colorado Shooting Suspect Declares 'I'm Guilty' in Court." In a bizarre scene at what was expected to be a routine hearing, Robert L. Dear on Wednesday disrupted his first in-person court appearance since a shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic here with angry outbursts, a declaration of his guilt and vehement expressions of his anti-abortion politics. “I’m guilty. There’s no trial. I’m a warrior…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Another mass shooting. No more “thoughts and prayers.” Gun control ACTION!

Another week, another mass shooting in America. At least 14 dead, another 14 wounded. And what are we going to do it about it? Mostly offer our "thoughts and prayers" to the victims. And their families And the first responders.  Which, obviously, does precisely zero, nada, zilch to stop the next mass shooting. And it will come soon. Because the next one always does. Only in America do we have this much gun violence. Why? Because we have way more guns per capita than any other nation. So we have way more gun deaths.  Responsible gun control is the answer.  Thoughts and…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Salem’s Climate Justice march/rally: 3 things to know

Yesterday I took part in the "Salem to Paris: Support Climate Justice" march and rally that was sponsored by our local 350.Org group. It was part of a worldwide movement to support the climate change talks in Paris -- one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever. Here's three things you should know about Sunday's event: (1) People in Salem turned out! Yay for citizen activism! Since this was the weekend after Thanksgiving, I headed to the intersection of Court and High in downtown Salem figuring that just twenty or so aging baby-boomers would march to Riverfront Park, where the…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Why do poorer areas, in Salem and elsewhere, vote against their own interests?

Laurel and I picked a great weekend to visit my daughter, Celeste, and her family for the first time in Laguna Niguel, California, where they moved the rea few months ago. The late November weather was in the 80's. The sky was clear and sunny. Here we are in a triple-selfie -- Laurel, Celeste, me -- enjoying the nearby Dana Point beach, where bikini-clad southern Californians defied the calendar (I guess there were men on the beach also, but I didn't notice them). Soon after we landed at the Orange County Airport and reached the Laguna Niguel area I started…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

I scream at the TV during the Republican presidential debate

Well, I've got to give credit to the GOP and the Fox Business Network for this: last night they got this proud progressive involved in Republican presidential politics. OK, briefly involved -- for as long as the debate went on. And my involvement consisted of me loudly yelling at our television when I heard one of the candidates say something especially stupid or wrong. Which was frequent. PolitiFact has put together a partial truthfulness scorecard of what was said by Trump, Carson, Rubio, et. al. They didn't fare well on the truth scale. Nobody got better than a "Half True." Florina…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

My advice to Cherriots bus system: be true to Salem’s values

Tomorrow is the one week anniversary of last Tuesday's disappointing defeat of the small (.21%) payroll tax that would have paid for much-needed improvements to Salem's behind-the-times Cherriots bus system -- which lacks late evening and weekend service. Cherriots faces some tough choices now. As do others in this town who care, or claim to care, about creating viable, appealing, modern mass transit options in Salem.  Two recent letters to the editor in the Statesman Journal did a good job of summing up the situation. Defeat of transit tax ruined Salem's chance to shine What a sad day for Salem.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Daylight savings time should be permanent — no more “fall back” time change

Ah, this is the horrible day Daylight Savings Time ends. Time for another speaking of truth to the few people in this country who think it's a good idea to have the sun set an hour earlier in the already depressingly-early-sunset seasons of fall and winter. Last spring I shared the reasons for making Daylight Savings Time full-time in "Let's make daylight savings time permanent." Excerpt: In my extensive personal research regarding this issue, which includes (well, totally encompasses) brief conversations with friends and asking a plumber who is working in our house right now how he feels about daylight…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Salem faces an existential moment: vote on mass transit payroll tax

Recently I was talking with someone about the November 3 ballot measure vote on a small (1/5 of a percent) payroll tax to support much-needed improvements to Salem's underfunded Cherriots bus system. Including evening and weekend service. I said, "This is an existential election." Followed by, "Well, maybe existential isn't the right word." And then, "No, I can't think of a better word -- existential it is." Though back in college I used to be an admirer of Sartre -- I loved "Being and Nothingness" -- I don't really mean that Salem voters should be wearing a beret, drinking expresso…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

More evidence that Salem Health violated IRS rules on political donations

Last Thursday I filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against Salem Health, the parent company of Salem Hospital. You can read all about it in "Salem Health hit with IRS complaint for $50,000 anti-payroll tax PAC donation."  Also, in a piece recently published by The Lund Report: "Salem Health Hit with IRS Complaint Over Political Gift Giving." I've heard from a few people who question whether Salem Health really did anything wrong when this tax-exempt organization gave $50,000 to the Create Jobs PAC set up by the Salem Chamber of Commerce.  My answer is, only the IRS…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Salem Health hit with IRS complaint for $50,000 anti-payroll tax PAC donation

Hey, filing a complaint against Salem Health with the Internal Revenue Service isn't my favorite thing to do. But I was pleased to spend several hours this afternoon working on Form 13909, Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form. I did this after some other citizen activists laid the groundwork for the complaint. They discovered that Salem Health, the parent company of Salem Hospital, seemed to violate IRS rules when $50,000 to defeat the mass transit payroll tax ballot measure was donated to the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce's Create Jobs PAC (political action committee).The Create Jobs PAC was organized as a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Statesman Journal vs. Willamette Week — investigative reporting pissing contest

On Sunday, October 11, the Salem Statesman Journal finally engaged in some serious investigative reporting. Problem is, the theme of the stories that took up five full pages in the front page section was... Criticism of Willamette Week's investigative reporting on the Kitzhaber email scandal.  I found this bizarre, given that the Statesman Journal -- the newspaper in Oregon's capital city -- had done essentially zero original investigative reporting of its own during all the uproar in late 2014 and early 2015 that led to Governor Kitzhaber's resignation. Plus, under executive editor Michael Davis, the Statesman Journal has been asleep…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Family

Conrad Hilton’s godson urges you to vote “YES” on Salem business payroll tax

Yeah, I admit it. The title of this post arguably is citizen activism clickbait. I want to grab the attention of voters here in Salem, because it is really important that the issue on the November 2015 ballot -- whether to pass a small payroll tax to fund much-needed improvements to this town's Cherriots bus system -- PASS.  Hopefully I'm using my godfather's name not in vain. Here's my baptism certificate, for anyone who doubts my Catholic pedigree. If some people decide to vote "Yes" on the payroll tax as a result of this endorsement from Conrad Hilton's godson, it's…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Hateful Obama protesters didn’t represent Roseburg

l've been bothered by the photos and stories of right-wing Obama-hating wackos protesting our President's visit to Roseburg. President Obama came to speak with the families of those killed in the horrific Umpqua Community College shootings.He didn't politicize the event, though he certainly would have been within his rights to call for steps to prevent gun massacres like this from ever happening again. I was reassured to come across this message from a Roseburg resident on a local radio web site. Addressing the national media, Peggy Long says a large percentage of the Obama protesters came from out of town. They don't represent…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

My bold (and probably wrong) 2016 President/VP matchups

With the first Democratic presidential debate coming up next week, and two Republican debates already done and gone, it seems like it's time for me to go out on a limb and predict who will be each party's nominees for President and Vice-President. Naturally I'm doing this for bragging rights in case -- wonder of wonders -- I actually turn out to be right. In case I'm wrong, which is much more likely, I'll either do my best to forget that I ever wrote this post, or take solace in the possible fact that I got one or two of…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Science

Some thoughts are like a rainbow, but others are more grounded

After about three months, I'm continuing to enjoy my daily morning Headspace guided meditations. (I've blogged about Headspace before, here, here, and here.) Today I heard Andy Puddicombe -- the Headspace founder who does the guiding -- talk about how thoughts are like a rainbow. Meaning, they are insubstantial, coming and going, while the "blue sky" of the mind is the ever-present backdrop to thoughts and feelings. In We Are Not What We Do, Puddicombe says: Sure, we have responsibility as to whether we choose to engage the thought and take it to the level of speech or action, but…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

More guns, more people killed by guns. It’s obvious!

Another day, another mass shooting. This time, right here in Oregon.  Time to face facts. And get political. Not later. Now! Obama got it exactly right today. I've boldfaced parts of what he said that I especially liked. And, of course, what's also routine is that somebody, somewhere will comment and say, Obama politicized this issue.  Well, this is something we should politicize.  It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic.  I would ask news organizations — because I won't put these facts forward — have news organizations tally up the number of Americans who've been killed through…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Marijuana

Marion County might ban marijuana businesses — secretly

[September 26, 2015 update: Yes, the Marion County Board of Commissioners did prohibit marijuana businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county, aside from "grandfathering" in two currently licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. A vote in the November 2016 election will determine whether the prohibition on marijuana businesses continues. If it doesn't, the 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales passed in another ordinance will go into effect.  Here's what the county Public Information Officer, Jolene Kelley, told me when I asked what happened at the September 23 meeting. Attached are the two ordinances the commissioners approved on Wednesday. Ordinance 1358 "opts out"…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Republicans, including Fiorina, lie in their presidential debate

Though I'm a proud progressive, I readily admit that Democrats, and liberals in general, shade the truth at times.  But Republicans, and conservatives in general -- they often engage in total eclipsing of the truth, blanking out virtually every semblance of factual reality.  The New York Times editorial board tells it like it is in "Crazy Talk at the Republican Debate."  Eleven presidential candidates had three prime-time hours on the national stage on Wednesday to tell the American people why they should lead the country. Nobody forced them to be there. They were there freely, armed with the best arguments they…
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