June 23, 2008, 2:28 pm 12 comments in the last 7 days.
The New Deal Still a Good Deal.

The bronze statue atop the Oregon Capitol celebrates the pioneer era, but the building itself is a testament to the New Deal's Public Works Administration, born 75 years ago this month in the midst of the Great Depression. The New Deal also bequeathed to Oregon many other superb structures, including Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge and the Yaquina Bay Bridge. But all of them pale in comparison to the New Deal's greatest creation: a broad middle-class society. No blueprint existed when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set out to rebuild the nation after its economic collapse. Yet legislation enacted over the course of several years laid the foundation for an economy in which the fruits of prosperity were widely shared.

February 8, 2007, 12:23 pm 10 comments in the last 7 days.
Northwest Photographer Remembers Fallen Heroes Day In And Day Out.

His mission is sincere, and exact. A one-man operation, Q Madp attends funerals and memorials for lost service members in the Northwest whenever possible to pay his respects to the fallen heroes. He photographs the services, then posts a limited amount of them on the hero’s Tribute Page, and provides the other photos at no cost to the immediate family member. No strings attached. It's a Thank You for the sacrifice that they have made.

June 27, 2008, 11:45 pm 9 comments in the last 7 days.
Op Ed: OUR Constitution: Defend it TODAY OR Lose It Tomorrow .

OUR Constitution and its accompanying Bill of Rights is the organizing foundation-structure on which all else has been built in this nation ever since 1776. Countless pages of our history proclaim, without question, that immutable truth for any freedom and for ALL rights: “USE It or LOSE IT!” Did you know that “precedent set by Presidential action and negligence of Congress” can change the Constitutional freedoms you now enjoy?

July 3, 2008, 9:15 am 8 comments in the last 7 days.
Iran Doesn't Have Illegal Nukes; but Israel Has Hundreds.

The investigative journalist who revealed both the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam and Abu Ghraib military torture scandal in Iraq, Seymour Hersh, says his sources have revealed that the United States is very close to staging an attack against Iran. He told NPR that Congress' is already funding covert military operations, information that will be part of the upcoming issue of The New Yorker. For his part, Bush dismissed the idea that his administration is planning to attack Iran as "wild speculation". His pattern of grave military errors up until now however, is certainly no reassurance that he isn't lying. Even though former President Jimmy Carter revealed to the world that Israel has hundreds of armed nuclear weapons pointed at targets around the world illegally, our cowboy president George "W" Bush is still injecting lie after lie into the news media about Iran's nuclear program.

June 26, 2008, 4:37 pm 7 comments in the last 7 days.
Stock Market Drops to Lowest June Numbers Since Great Depression.

It is sure going to be interesting to watch what happens in this country over the next few years. Stocks on Wall Street tumbled today, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst June since the Great Depression. Record oil prices, credit-market writedowns and a slowing economy increase the likelihood of a yearlong profit slump. Americans have allowed corporate business to completely undermine the nation's economy, and our slow progress at turning toward natural and renewable sources of energy are likely to haunt us for many years to come.

July 2, 2008, 11:06 pm 5 comments in the last 7 days.
Family Of Robbery Suspect Blames Retired Marine for Fatal Shooting.

A Florida newspaper reported that John Lovell had just finished dinner at about 11:15 PM that night in June 2007, when the two men armed with guns quickly entered a Subway shop and demanded cash. It seems like it could have ended there, but instead the men turned to Lovell and demanded his money, and then according to Police, tried to force him into a bathroom. The retired Marine apparently feigned dropping his wallet, and instead of picking it up, brandished a 9mm handgun and brought the robbery to a swift close.

June 25, 2008, 5:09 pm 4 comments in the last 7 days.
'Truly-Open Election' Challenges Our Nation As Never Possible Before.

"A pox on both those failed parties!" may well turn out to be the famous-theme of this 2008 voter-choice struggle. "Failed choices" from both Democratic and GOP sides have dominated the past 50 years, forcing us all into permanent campaign-posture confrontation; precluding progress to what millions keep SAYING they want and, now MUST HAVE, as the 21st Century arrives. That’s the open-for-action situation confronting the voters in this ostensibly once-democracy, in 2008. It rests firmly on the highly apparent failures of both "liberal" and "conservative" traditions once thought to be essential guiding beacons for the American nation.

July 3, 2008, 9:00 am 4 comments in the last 7 days.
Depression in U.S. is Looming: What are People Going to Do?.

It seems fair to state that even years into the war in Iraq, most of us figured we would get through this difficult national period. It wasn't the case for those who lost loved ones in the fighting overseas, but it still looked like the majority of American families might be able at least eventually, see the dawning of a new, better, and more peaceful era. But now the ground is shaking beneath our very feet, and a natural disaster is not causing it, at least not all of it. A man-made disaster fueled by greed among our richest citizens has caused it, and that greed comes in the form of war, oil, oppression, and monetary insecurity. Combine that with the way so many Americans live beyond their means through credit card debt, and you have real serious problems for millions who are used to living well, and have almost no concept yet of how bad things could be.

June 25, 2008, 2:46 pm 4 comments in the last 7 days.
Wyden Says He Will Oppose Cloture for Wiretapping Bill.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced today that he would oppose new legislation amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) due to his continued opposition to a provision that would grant blanket retroactive immunity to any telecommunications company that participated in the President’s warrantless wiretapping program. "This is not the first time that the President has pressured Congress into interfering in federal court cases to cover-up his attempts to secretly rewrite the law. Congress’s previous attempts to bail-out the President—from the Detainee Treatment Act to the Military Commissions Act—have not only failed to solve the legal mess, but have often provided cover for the Administration's failed counterterrorism policies," said Wyden.

July 3, 2008, 2:29 pm 3 comments in the last 7 days.
Iraqi Criminals Receive Chance to Start New Lives.

A number of Iraqi citizens were released from the Jisr Diyala JSS, following a reconciliation ceremony, June 25th. The JSS are the patrol bases where U.S. soldiers, Iraqi police, and Iraqi army units operate from within the neighborhoods in Baghdad. U.S. officials say the ceremony, which is held once a month, is a chance for the former detainees to reunite with their families and celebrate returning to their villages. Eighteen men were detained after being found guilty of criminal acts in this instance. U.S. officials report that the reintegration process offers these citizens the chance to make amends for the mistakes of their past and start fresh.