New Frames

Ron ain't no farmer

With a baby about to pop, I've had little time for tending to this blog and I doubt I'll have time after she's born.  But this whole "Ron Saxton is a farmer" thing just got my goat to the point that I had to sit down and defend the real farmers out there (like my mom) because when someone like Ron claims he's a farmer he insults farmers and the back breaking, sunrise to sunset work they do.  Sitting in a downtown Portland law office, while being a shareholder of a farm operation does not make someone a farmer, as Ron seems to believe and misleadingly states in our voters' pamphlets. 

Of course all farmers are shareholders in their operations, but the converse is not necessarily true, even if they do supposedly show up "once a month" to shovel some dirt.  Hey, I show up at my mom's apple farm to help her several times a month.  Am I a farmer?  My fingernails look too good for me to even consider such a claim.  When I told my mom over the phone that Ron has "farmer" listed as his first item under "occupational background" in the voters' pamphlet, I swear I heard the coffee she just took a sip of spray through her nose as she nearly choked on it.  For those of you who know my mom and have been out to her farm, you know she's what we all would call a farmer, a real one.  She's even got a stub of a thumb from a farm accident to prove it.

If you're not sure what a real farmer looks like, just head down to the Portland Farmers' Market on a Saturday morning and you'll spot them out.  I doubt you'll see any of them looking as clean cut, polished and trimmed as Ron.  Even if they do take the rare opportunity to polish themselves up, their hands are a dead give away.  Sorry, Ron, but farmers don't have manicurists.

But lo and behold, suddenly Ron wasn't so involved in "his farm" after all.  With new information surfacing about the substandard migrant labor facilities at "Ron's farm" during the 80s and 90s, suddenly Ron "was a pretty distant partner" according to a shareholder and actual farm operator who gave an interview to the big O to defend Ron.  Little did he know he was exposing Ron as the faux farmer he is.  The shareholder added that Ron was "never really a factor" in the farm's operations.  If Ron was a distant partner and never really a factor, then I say Ron is not and never was a farmer.  And that fact certainly shouldn't take him off the hook for being part owner of an illegal migrant labor camp, even if he was owning it from his downtown Portland law firm.

WTF does Saxton mean by a business "hassle tax"

Kari over at Blue Oregon has put up an excellent post about GOP gube candidate Ron Saxton and his anticipated move back to the center after the Oregon GOP primary.  Kari mentions that the "issues" page on Saxton's current website is being "updated" but Kari has the cached link to Saxton's "issues" page from the GOP primary.  Those of us who placed bets on this are waiting to collect our money... although, betting on Saxton's jump to the center from the right didn't have much risk to it, so most of us will only be collecting about 10 cents in winnings, so don't get too excited.

One thing I'm trying to figure out, and perhaps someone can help me on this, on Saxton's cached "issues" page is something he calls a "hassle tax" on bidness:

...I will change Oregon 's harsh regulatory climate and reduce the "hassle tax" associated with doing business here.

Does anyone know what the "hassle tax" is?  Is it the $10 corporate minimum tax (the lowest in the nation) that all incorporated bidnesses doing bidness in the state are required to pay?  I'm the owner of a small S-Corp in the state of Oregon and I've gone through my Oregon corporate tax forms and am trying to figure out what the "hassle tax" is.  Is there an extra schedule on the S-20 form that I'm missing?

Who are the Sugar Daddies of Oregon's delegation

A great new wiki, Congresspedia, has been set up to help inform the public about who's who in the US Congress.  Everything from family background, schooling, political history and top political contributors can be found on every member of Congress.  Each member's page has a link titled "Meet the Cash Constituents" where you can find out who has the most influence over our representatives.

And who are the Cash Constituents of Oregon's delegation?  Let's start with the Senators:

Gordon Smith:  Top industries:  Forestry and Forest Products, Real Estate, Insurance, Law Firms, Food Processing and Sales, Securities and Investment, Electric Utilities, Oil and Gas, and many more.  Top contributors from these industries include Willamette Industries, National Association of Home Builders, Union Pacific Corp, Georgia Pacific Corp, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, International Paper, AFLAC Corp, American Bankers Association, and many more...

Ron Wyden:  Top Industries:  Law Firms, Pro-Israel, Health Professionals, Securities and Investment, Real Estate, Retired, Transportation Unions, Entertainment Industry, Hospitals/Nursing Homes, Public Sector Unions, Computers/Internet, and many more.  Top contributors from these industries include:  DLA Piper Rudnick, National Jewish Democratic Council, Association of Trial Lawyers, Teamsters Union, American Hospital Association, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Metro One Telecommunications, National Education Association, and many more...

And our Representatives in the House:

Rep. David Wu:  Top Industries:  Law Firms, Retired, Health Professionals, Public Sector Unions, Industrial Unions, Transportation Unions, Securities and Investment, Real Estate, Computers/Internet, Building Trade Unions, Education, and many more.  Top contributors from these industries include:  Association of Trial Lawyers, Intl. Brotherhood of Electical Workers, Wachtell Lipton et al, Machinists/Aerospace workers Union, American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees, National Education Association, Communication Workers of America, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Teamsters, and many more unions...

Rep. Greg Walden:  Top Industries:  Forestry and Forest Products, Crop production and processing, Retired, Electric Utilities, Real Estate, Law Firms, Entertainment, Beer/Wine/Liquor, Livestock and many more.  Top contributors from these industries include:  National Association of Broadcasters, National Association of Realtors, National Beer Wholesalers Assoc., National Rural Electric Cooperative Assoc., Willamette Industries, National Auto Dealers Assoc., National Rifle Assoc.,  Georgia Pacific, Weyerhauser, and many more...

Rep. Earl Blumenauer:   Top Industries:  Transportation Unions, Real Estate, Law Firms, Public Sector Unions, Industrial Unions, Construction Services, Misc. Manufacturing and Distributing, Building Trade Unions, and many more.  Top Contributors include:  Intl. Brotherhood of Electical Workers, Teamsters Union, Association of Trial Lawyers, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Amalgamated Transit Union, American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees, Laborers Union, National Assoc. of Realtors, National Education Assoc., Stoel Rives, Nike, United Auto Workers, and many more unions...

Rep. Darlene Hooley:  Top Industries:  Women's Issues, Public Sector Unions, Law Firms, Commercial Banks, Health Professionals, Real Estate, Industrial Unions, and many more.  Top contributors include:   Emily's List,  Assn of Trial Lawyers of America, American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Teamsters Union, Laborers Union, National Education Assoc., Human Rights Campaign, American Bankers Assoc., and many more...

Rep. Peter DeFazio:  Top Industries:  Transportation Unions, Industrial Unions, Building Trade Unions, Public Sector Unions, Law Firms, Health Professionals, Air Transport, Misc. Unions, Real Estate, and many more.  Top contributors include:  Airline Pilots Association, Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union, Teamsters Union, Carpenters and Joiners Union, United Auto Workers, American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees, National Assoc. of Realtors, Assn of Trial Lawyers of America, Laborers Union, Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and many more...

Want more info on these guys?  Just go check out Congresspedia, or contribute to the wiki if you have some factual and pertinent info about our representatives.

Will Oregon's "Party of God" limit usury

It will be interesting to see how Republicans vote in today's special session in Salem on Oregon's payday loan industry.  With so much attention being given to the issue, perhaps they'll vote for stricter regulations, but I doubt with much enthusiasm.  Republicans in this state have been reluctant to go there, despite the party's so called claim on "morality", as in "Christian morality."  Ironic, isn't it?  It's pretty clear where the Bible stands on usury, and Jesus definitely made a big fuss about it, but Oregon's "Party of God" has generally avoided the issue while taking powerful stands on abortion (not much about that in the Bible) and limiting the rights of gays.

I'm the last one who will claim any expert knowledge on the Bible, but I do come from a long line of traditional Scandinavian Lutherans.  It was pretty clear to me growing up that borrowing money was a big NO NO.  My grandfather built a bidness purely on sweat equity.  In the minds of my grandparents, borrowing money and paying interest on it was just as bad as being a "money lender" because in paying interest you would be giving your money to someone who was un-Christian, or immoral because you were helping them take advantage of people in more desperate situations. 

Interestingly, this kind of thinking has all but disappeared today, so much so that not only credit card companies, the sugar daddies of the "Party of God", can get away with charging 21% interest and higher rates, but payday loan outfits can sit pretty on 500% interest.  What would Jesus think about that?

Intel wants you and me to pay for schools

The O actually had a good piece yesterday on Oregon's dwindling tax collections from corporations doing bidness in the state.  The title and subheading said it in a nutshell:

Feeling taxed?  Not big business
Two decades of cuts have slashed Oregon's corporate tax burden, and households are footing the bill

Yup.  In fact, Oregon's corporate tax collections are the smallest, percentage wise, in the nation.  No other state asks so little of its corporate players.  And what's that about cutting business taxes to attract business... and didn't we have the highest unemployment in the nation during the worst part of the recent recession?   

The irony of it all is how corporate big wigs complain how Oregon needs to provide better schools and services in order to attract quality employees to their companies.  That's why they always support local school levies and household income tax increases.  It's not coming out of their pockets, but they receive the benefits.

What's worse is that both Dems and Repubs in Salem have pushed through these tax cuts for corporations.  And when they turn around and pass tax legislation that pushes the bill onto you and me, they wonder why in the hell we vote it down when anti-tax groups put it on the ballot.  Then we get state senators like Ginny Burdick complaining in a recent debate about how it's the voters' fault that the legislature can't solve school funding issues.  I suppose one could argue that case, but when legislators have cut corporate taxes by more than half over the past two decades it's hard to put the blame solely on the voters.

Anti-tax activists and legislators claim that if we increase taxes on these corporations that they'll leave the state.  Intel has become famous for using these threatening tactics.  But which state will they go to?  Oregon has the lowest corporate tax burden in the nation!

Chipping away at Walden

The buzz is on (Loaded Orygun has the scoop): Rep. Greg Walden (OR 2) may have to start looking behind his shoulder at a possible challenger, Steve Silver.  A discussion is going on over at Daily Kos on whether or not Silver even has a chance against an R-incumbent in strong R territory.  This shouldn't be the point of putting up a challenger to Walden.  The point is, Dems should challenge the GOP in every nook and cranny district in this country.  They should challenge them in order to begin chipping away at the false foundations of the modern Republican party.

Silver has a load of issues he can work with in eastern Oregon to begin the chipping: 1) There is a high percentage of eastern Oregonians who are on Medicare, and as I pointed out in the comment section on Kos, there's no doubt those folks find the new Medicare precription drug program totally frustrating, 2) Our public lands are at stake and many eastern Oregon families enjoy hunting excursions on those lands, but are finding it increasingly difficult to do so, 3) Those same eastern Oregonians who are on Medicare also depend on their monthly Social Security checks and they don't want anyone messing with them, 4) Many of the twenty-somethings from eastern Oregon are in the military and are in Iraq or have served in Iraq.  Some of them have come home in body bags, others have come home severely injured.  There's no end in sight, no plan, no nothin', 5) GOP corruption, 6) and finally Silver can ride the Oregon Apollo wave!

We shouldn't look at this as a possible pick up.  Instead it should be about the long term vision and hard work it will take to help eastern Oregonians understand that progressive Democrats in Oregon truly care about the general welfare of the people in this state.  In the meantime if Silver runs, let's do everything we can to help him.  And who knows, maybe those in Oregon's second district just might be willing to make a change this year.

Illegals, not gays, new GOP whipping boy

Has everybody in the GOP noise machine gotten the new memo?  It looks like it.  The Oregon GOP certainly is on board, although Kevin Mannix must have had his memo under a pile of papers since he was the last one of the GOP gube candidates to join in on the chorus.  And what is this all so important memo about?  Illegal immigrants and how they're robbing our state treasury.  Forget gays, they're so passe, so 2004.  It's illegals now. 

Yup, they're taking over.  They're picking our onions, milking our cows, building our houses, cleaning our tables at our favorite restaurants... Wait a minute!  Did the Oregon GOP get their memo cleared with the Oregon Restaurant Association, Oregon Home Builders Association and large farms like the Threemile Canyon Farms dairy?  Are they biting the hands that feed them?  Or is the whole illegal immigrant talk just another ploy to get righties all worked up so that they'll be motivated to send their ballots in rather than putting them through the shredder in an election year where Republicans aren't nearly as popular as they were in '02?

But then again do the business members of the above mentioned associations care if the illegals whom they've hired get cut off from any public services?  Do they care if Pablo's little girl doesn't have access to English as a Second Language classes in her school?  Probably not.  Who cares if Angelina doesn't learn English... goddammit, those people won't even learn to speak our language!  So, it's a win-win for Republican candidates and the above mentioned associations:  The GOP gets their base out on an "Us vs. Them" issue and home builders get their tax cuts while keeping their illegals who've just been pushed down one more rung on the ladder, and of course this pulls down the rest of Oregon's legal manual workforce with them.  It's a real win-win for those at the top.

Wyden: Is Bush's spy program Total Information Awareness reborn

Ron Wyden stepped up to the plate yesterday in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings and hit hard on TIA, I mean Bush's Spy Program:

A...sparring session came when Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, pressed the intelligence officials about whether a controversial Pentagon data-mining program called Total Information Awareness had been effectively transferred to the intelligence agencies after being shut down by Congress.

Mr. Negroponte and the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, both said they did not know. Then came the turn of Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who headed N.S.A. for six years before becoming the principal deputy director of national intelligence last spring.

"Senator," General Hayden said, "I'd like to answer in closed session."

Not much of a guessing game on this one!  Every single member of Congress who helped put a stop to TIA should be red-faced stompin' mad that the Bush administration has completely ignored them.  Not only did the admin pick up TIA in Bush's Spy Program, but they expanded on it. 

Let our Senator Wyden know that you support his tough line of questioning on this constitutional matter.

Gordon Smith seeks to stifle tech innovation

Kazablog has the scoop on our Senator Gordon Smith's love affair with big media and how that affair could choke technological innovations:

And the story is this...our Republican Senator Gordon Smith wants to kill the next iPod Or DVD. Or...you name the innovation. It was all protected in the past by a somewhat archaic legal concept called "fair use". And our moralistic, supposedly free-market loving Senator has introduced a bill that would change that historical definition. And try to make consumer electronics manufacturers pay for something that they cannot quantify...a new market. And to force you, as a consumer to pay for ANY and ALL uses of content going forward.

And how does this help big media?

A consumer would not be able to record over-the-air local news on her broadcast-flag compliant digital video recorder in her living room and play it back on a non-compliant player in her bedroom.

A member of Congress could not email a clip of his appearance on the national news to his home office.

A consumer would not be able to record analog home movies using a digital camcorder and transfer them to a computer in order to make a DVD...

And much more...

You must be wondering if this story could be true because there hasn't been a peep in the local news about it... not even the Oregonian has written about their little darling Smith's plan.  Kaza knows why:

...big money wanted a favor...and Smith is all too willing to give it to them. In this case, big BROADCAST money. And therein lies the explanation for why NO major media outlet in Oregon is bothering to report on Smith's handy (to them) little legislation. Namely because they are all behind it (yes, even the b'Oregonian's owners, Newhouse, have significant broadcast interests).

So, all our future gadgets will have backdoors for warrantless wiretapping and they won't be able to do any of the convenient, cool things we envision.  And which countries will be wanting to import these gadgets from America?  Oh, probably Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan... That's America's free market for you!

Note to O's editors: Jack Abramoff is a Republican (updated)

I'm not sure what the editors at the Oregonian's editorial board were smoking when they came up with this lousy editorial about the massive corruption scandal surrounding uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  They have the audacity to suggest that Abramoff pushed his weight around within the Republican party simply because that was where the opportunities existed:

There's no question that Abramoff wormed his way deeply into the Republican power structure, whether because he was loyal to it or whether it was simply where the opportunity for influence was.

This ridiculous statement implies that Abramoff's influence wasn't about the current Republican power structure, but instead about his own desire for power.  Abramoff didn't "worm his way" into the GOP power structure, he helped create the current Republican power structure. 

Perhaps the O's editors are in denial, but Abramoff has been hard at work creating the Republican culture of corruption since he was in college.  He was elected chairman of the College Republican National Committee through a campaign managed by Grover Norquist (starve the beast - see Katrina aftermath) and Ralph Reed, Jr., former head of the Christian Coalition.  A law firm Abramoff once worked for described him as:

...directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures and is one of the leading fund raisers for the party and its congressional candidates.

How much more Republican can one get:  Grover Norquist?  Ralph Reed?  Chairman of the CRNC?  One of the leading fund raisers for the party?  And it's no surprise that both Norquist and Reed are part of the Abramoff investigation.

Then the O goes even further by suggesting this scandal is not a Republican one, but one that ensnares both parties:

...Abramoff contributed to candidates of both parties, proving again that greed doesn't vote a straight party ticket.

Ah, yes, there will be a few Dems caught up in Abramoff's stink, and the O's editors along with the rest of the MSM will surely put extra focus on those few in order to lull people away from the Republican culture of corruption meme that's beginning to take root in the American psyche.  But make no mistake about it, this is through and through a scandal brought to you by the Republican party and its operatives.

As Bloomberg News notes, all of Abramoff's own donations went to Republicans only:

Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show.

He directed his Indian tribal clients to give some money to Dems, but most of it went to Republicans:

At least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations from the group [tribal clients.] Republicans took in most of the money, with 110 lawmakers getting $942,275, or 66 percent of the total.

The O's editorial board have turned themselves into Republican apologists by trying to muddy the waters on this.  Who are they trying to protect?  Certainly not the readers.  Maybe they have word that their darling Gordon Smith might be one of the 60 lawmakers Abramoff is fingering.  After all, it wouldn't be the first time Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Update:  Speaking of Gordon Smith, Jack Abramoff and cookie jars, Willamette Week has the scoop (link via Blue Oregon)