New Frames

Yes, I still have a pulse. Do the Dems in Salem?

As you have noticed my blog setting has been on blog-lite this week.  I keep thinking I'll find the time to post an entry and have come across many interesting topics in the news that I would like to write about, but lo and behold, there seems to be fewer hours in a day this past week. 

My mother-in-law just arrived from Bombay (Mumbai), India this week.  Luckily, she avoided having to endure the torrential and deadly downpour that has wreaked havoc on the city of Bombay and its region.  We haven't been able to get a hold of my husband's family since the phone lines are down and the cell phone connections are jammed, but received an SMS message from my brother-in-law informing us that they were all safe and sound.  As with any disaster like this, it is those who are the most vulnerable in society that suffer losses, injuries and death.

Never in recorded history has so much rain fallen in such or short time in the western regions of India (37" in 24 hrs.)  My mother-in-law is convinced it is due to global warming.  There is no way to prove that it is, but time will tell if these kinds of unusual weather patterns continue in the next decade.  Scientists predict that global warming will cause irregular precipitation that will result in increased flooding, droughts and heatwaves.  So far, things don't look good.

Unfortunately, if some of the Democrats in Salem have it their way, Oregon would miss the opportunity to take action on global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions through increased fuel efficiency standards in a joint effort with California and Washington.  The House Republicans convinced a few Dems to go along with their dirty legislation which would prevent Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality from introducing and enforcing reduced emission standards.  Why a single Democrat in Salem would vote against clean air for its constituents and the state is beyond the pale.  Governor Kulongoski, in a rare demonstration of governorship, has said he will use his line item veto power to prevent such stupidity.

The Democrats and a couple Republicans in California and Washington are ready to clean up our air by increasing fuel efficiency in our automobiles.  What's up with those Dems in Salem?  Did the auto industry lobbyists take them out to the Ringside for a nice dinner?  Oregon would be doing the US auto industry a favor by making them get with the cleaner air program.  Last I heard GM and Ford haven't been able to keep up with the fuel efficient mindset of the Japanese auto makers.  As a result their sales are lagging.  I'm cryin' crocodile tears for GM and Ford and so should every single Democrat in Salem.

Sick and tired of Karen Minnis?

If the name Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) gives you insomnia, stomach cramps, joint pains, vertigo, loss of appetite or any other similar symptoms, there's a blog just for you: Minnis Watch.  If you're not sure what Minnis is up to, but know in your bones that she's up to no good, go find out exactly what kind of trouble she's causing Oregonians at Minnis Watch.

Send a message to the House on SB1000 through OnwardOregon

OnwardOregon has a fast and simple way for you to send a message to all of the Republicans in the House urging them to get House Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) to bring the Civil Unions bill (SB1000) to the floor for an up or down vote.  This bill passed in the Senate (19-10) with the help of Republican state Senators. 

Preemptive Karma and Also Also have been blogging about this all week in order to help bring attention to the matter.  Scroll down on their blogs to find lots of interesting stuff on SB1000.

The French fry that wasn't a Freedom fry

Legal experts are beginning the process of analyzing Bush's SCOTUS nominee, Judge John Roberts.  Clearly Bush picked him because Roberts has a short paper trail when it comes to opinions he has written as a judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maybe there's not much to scratch on the surface, but you can scratch a little and get an idea what Robert's is about.  This caught my eye over at Balkinization.  It's regarding Robert's opinion on the Ansche Hedgepeth case where a 12 year old girl was arrested for eating one French fry in the Metro where eating was banned:

She opened the fast food bag she was carrying and ate one French fry – in plain view of an undercover police officer.

The police officer placed her under arrest, handcuffed her and removed her shoelaces “pursuant to established procedure,” as the opinion tells us. She was held at the local police station for three hours until her mother could come to collect her.

Her offense? She violated a city ordinance against eating in Metro stations. The police had been instructed to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy in enforcing this ordinance, and Ansche Hedgepeth was one of 14 juveniles arrested for similar infractions during zero tolerance week.

The adults who ran afoul of the policy during zero tolerance week were merely given citations on the spot and were allowed to pay their fines later, as the local ordinance permitted. Minors were not eligible for such citations, however, and so were arrested because that was the only strategy available to police to enforce the ordinance. Given that police had been told that no infraction, however minor, was to be excused, any minor caught eating in the Metro was subject to mandatory arrest.

One would think that Ansche would have won her case in court under the Fourth (unreasonable seizures) and Fifth (equal protection) Amendments in the Constitution's Bill of Rights.  Well, not with judges like Roberts on the bench. 

No Freedom fries for Ansche or the rest of us.

Read more on Robert's decision in this case at Balkinization.

Can Dean's strategy turn rural Oregon blue?

Western Democrat and MyDD both have some great coverage (here and here respectively) on the coverage of Howard Dean's tour in the West.  Of course, the DC-centrist media has chosen to ignore Dean's crowd drawing stops in states like Idaho, Montana and Utah, which is probably a good thing since the DC media crowd treats Dean with a certain amount of disdain.  Local media, on the other hand, along with those who get the chance to hear him speak experience the real Dean, as Montana's Democratic Chairman, Dennis McDonald did:

New Montana Democratic Party Chairman Dennis McDonald, of Melville, who had earlier expressed reservations about Dean and said he didn't want photograph taken with him, had a different view after hearing the DNC chairman's speech.

"I loved the positive speech, and I loved the positive message," McDonald said. He added that he told Dean he was honored to get his picture taken with him.

Those of us who have had the opportunity to hear Dean speak know exactly what McDonald is talking about.  You hear all the bogus punditry about Dean and wonder if he's hurting the party, but then you hear him speak and you know he's for real.  Dean appeals well to the value of rugged individualism that is so prevalent in the western states, but at the same time he doesn't abandon the notion that government can make a difference in people's lives, particularly local government.  I suppose one could call Dean a small government liberal. 

Just as Dean believes that liberals can take back the Democratic Party one city, one county, one state at a time, he transfers that value to the role of government and the party in general.  A good example of his philosophy on this came through during the Washington state recount on the gubernatorial race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire.  The state Dems needed money to challenge Rossi's razor thin margin of victory.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out e-mails and letters urging activists to donate to the DNC, but Dean called on people to donate their money directly to the Washington state Dems because he believed the state party knew better how to handle the money (local control.)  Moreover direct donations prevented the dilution of money through DNC middlemen. 

Westerners are also attracted to Dean's modest style, which contrasts sharply with the former DNC Chairman, Terry McAuliffe:

McAuliffe would limo around town, dropping in at the Palm to huddle with Washington big shots. The 2004 presidential hopeful, by contrast, takes the bus or subway, buying his own $1.35 ticket. Sometimes he bums rides from staffers or walks the four blocks to the Capitol for meetings. "Please Call Me Howard" never flies first class and always carries his own bags.

Other signs of the ex-guv's modest style: He eats at his desk, stays in a cheap D.C. hotel.... "His expertise is grass roots and his lifestyle is no different," says an associate.

While McAuliffe avoided the west like the plague, Dean thrives out here because people respond to his message:  local control of government, social libertarianism, fiscal and personal responsibility, and an economic populism that puts a check on the Wal-Martization of our communities.

What does all this have to do with rural Oregon?  Rural Oregonians are no different than rural Montanans who voted in Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer last fall despite Bush's landslide in the state.  Schweitzer's message is no different than Dean's, even though Dean's first followers were anti-war urban liberals.  Now that the dust has settled both urban and rural dwellers in the West are appreciating Dean's grassroots work because his goals don't put rural residents in conflict with urbanites.  Instead, the western style that Dean seems to be so comfortable with is one that attempts to close the urban-rural divide. 

Although it felt really good to read Dan Savage's piece Better Dead than Red after the elections last fall, I disagree that urbanites should be writing off the red parts of our states.  Perhaps my fondness of my birthplace in the Black Hills of western South Dakota while George McGovern was one of the state's Senators keeps me from wanting to write off rural America.  I do believe that it's possible to win back rural voters in Oregon.  If people in Wyoming and Montana are voting in progressive, conservation minded governors and legislators so can rural Oregonians.

Senator "Man on Dog" Santorum's top aide steps out of closet

I pretty much like to stick to local Oregon/NW stuff on this blog, but I couldn't ignore this one:  Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who is a raging homophobe in the biggest way possible, has a top aide who is gay.  The Huffington Post has the scoopy doop and PageOneQ (Raw Story) who conducted the interview has the full story:

In a phone call recorded by PageOneQ and blogACTIVE.com, Robert Traynham, Director of Communications for United States Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) has said he is an out gay man who completely supports the Senator.  When asked how a gay man could speak for one of the nation's most notorious homophobes, Traynham protested that he has "been with the Senator for eight years." Traynham went on to say "Senator Santorum is a man of principle, he is a man who sticks up for what he believes in, I strongly do support Senator Santorum."

When pressed on whether he supported the Senator's stands on lesbian and gay issues, Mr. Traynham abruptly ended the phone call by saying "Senator Santorum is a family man. I have been with Senator Santorum for eight years and I am very proud to be with him."

An attempt to follow-up with a question was met with Mr. Traynham hanging up the phone.

Um, I don't get it.

Gay Rights Watch has more with a nice editorial comment in the beginning.

FBI lacked evidence on Mayfield. Arrested him anyway.

Recently declassified FBI e-mails are shedding more light on the botched Brandon Mayfield arrest here in Portland.  From the AP:

The day before a Portland attorney was wrongly arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid train bombings, an FBI official stated in an e-mail that the agency did not have enough evidence to arrest the man on criminal charges.

The recently declassified e-mail, written by Portland FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele in May 2004, also noted that the attorney, Brandon Mayfield, was a Muslim convert. And it said the FBI had a plan to arrest Mayfield "if and when" his supposed link to the March 2004 terrorist attack "gets outed by the media."

What does getting "outed by the media" mean in this case?  I find it curious.  Clearly the FBI didn't wait for the media to "out" him and arrested him under the material witness law, a law that is used to prevent witnesses from fleeing before testifying in criminal cases.  Unfortunately the law has been over used and abused since 9/11:

Last month, two advocacy groups contended that the Bush administration has misused the material witness law to detain at least 70 terrorism suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Only 28 of the suspects were eventually charged with a crime, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, and most of those charges were not related to terrorism.

The government has apologized to 13 people for their detention under the law, including Mayfield.

Mayfield's lawsuit against the government claims he was singled out by the FBI based on his religion, which Steele's e-mails clearly imply.  It looks like those e-mails will strengthen Mayfield's case along with bolstering the arguments of civil libertarians who are fighting to rid the Patriot Act of certain provisions that are unconstitutional.

All contact info on Karen Minnis re: SB1000

Speaker of the Oregon House Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) is refusing to bring SB1000, which passed the Oregon Senate with bipartisan support, to the House floor for a vote. Gay Rights Watch has more on why:  The votes are there.

The bill would grant the right to civil unions for gay and lesbian couples and would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Here is Minnis' contact info.  It's important that her office is flooded with e-mails, calls, faxes and letters:

e-mail:                     rep.karenminnis@state.or.us
direct phone line:      503.986.1200
fax line:                   503.986.1201
address:                  900 Court St. NE, Room 269, Salem, OR, 97301

Is Chevron on the Peak-oil bandwagon?

It sure looks like it.  Chevron has launched an awareness campaign about the depletion of oil and has asked visitors to its "Will You Join Us" website (above link) to share their ideas about the coming energy crunch.  It may be surprising that Chevron has started this campaign, but then again who would know better than the rest of us the status of the world's oil.

Their slogan is: To deliver the world's energy, we first need yours, which is then followed by this:

Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century.  One thing is clear:  The era of easy oil is over.  What we do next will determine how well we meet the energy needs of the entire world in this century and beyond.

So we invite you to join us for a series of discussions on some very important issues.  Will you join us?

Chevron has put together an advertising campaign, which includes print, television, outdoor and online ads, to create awareness on the topic by putting out memes like this:

It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil.

We'll use the next trillion in 30.

If Chevron can say it, why can't our politicians?  In any case, while you're roaming around on their website, check out the "supply" and "demand" links in the "issues in brief" section.

Although Chevron is trying to avoid ringing too many alarm bells, which is painfully clear on their site, I don't think they would be launching this campaign if the alarm bells weren't ringing in their executive board rooms, but then again I'm not going to assume I know what their motives are.  I'm just blogging about the fact that they've launched the campaign because up until now peak-oil has been a fringe issue that has won the adoration of progressive bloggers and the sneers of trolls in their comment sections.  Portland Transport recently blogged about it in their review of the documentary The End of Suburbia, which yours truly has also blogged about.

As readers of this blog know, my focus on this issue has been on how it relates to Measure 37, the private property rights measure that uproots Oregon's land conservation laws.  There are a lot of people out there who are in denial about peak-oil and therefore want to resist any kind of urban and land use planning initiatives that prepare our communities for the coming changes in our energy pipelines.  Unfortunately many of our leaders are also in denial about this, including those in Salem who haven't had the guts to put the kibosh on M37.  Instead timid Senate Democrats who are in the majority allow themselves to get cowed by the visionless Republican led House that wants to take M37 even further.

As I've written before on this blog, if Oregonians want to alleviate the guaranteed economic pain of peak-oil we need to build an Oregon that is based on energy efficiency, renewables, agricultural self sufficiency as a state, family friendly urban renewal, strong public transport and rural preservation.  M37's goals don't qualify for any of these endeavors.

Maybe Chevron's new campaign doesn't address land use issues, but the reality is that land use and energy/transportation are inextricably linked.  How we choose to deal with one will have huge consequences for the other.

Karen Minnis' love affair with Mississippi schools

Q:  What happens when your state decides to disinvest in the public education that is supposed to prepare the state's children for the work force in their adult lives?

A:  Companies like Toyota decide to go to Ontario, Canada, instead of your state, to hire 1,300 workers who can read.

If Toyota's decision this week to open a new plant in Ontario instead of Mississippi or Alabama, despite the states' offers of larger subsidies, isn't a wake-up call to the Oregon Legislature then I don't know what is.  Toyota gave very specific reasons, that should come as no surprise, as to why the company chose Ontario:

The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States.

In other words, despite the huge subsidies Alabama and Mississippi were willing to offer, it still would have cost the company more to locate in one of those states:

Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But... much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

...Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

And here's the cherry for this piece of cake:

In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada.

Can the issues of education funding and healthcare be any more simple than this?  Are Oregonians willing to suffer the fates of red states like Alabama and Mississippi?  I don't believe we are, but Speaker of the House Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) and her fellow ditto-head Republican minions in the House seem dead-set on thwarting the necessary investment the state needs to make to avoid such a fate.  Their ideology, which reflects that of the national Republican agenda rather than an independent state oriented one, will only lead us down the same wretched illiterate path that states like Republican dominated Alabama and Mississippi have chosen.

No thanks!

Please bombard Speaker Minnis with e-mails urging her to support Gov. Kulongoski's plan to fund Oregon's education system.  Kulongoski stepping in this late in the game is another story...