Salem-News.com Eugene articles Page 14

The Drug War`s Big Lie

Ted Nugent can be anti-drug, good on him. But if he wishes to wave the flag while doing so, he needs to know that that flag represents we the people, not the bumbling behemoth our government has become.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - In a tragically silly column in the Waco (TX) Tribune, Ted Nugent declares that President Obama should have picked him for the job of heading the White House Office of No Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). He summed up his ineloquent Prohibitionist stance with this statement:

"Every American who smokes dope, manufactures, buys or sells meth or uses any illegal drug is aiding and abetting the enemies of America. Case closed."

Mr. Nugent needs to put the computer keyboard down and stick with his guitar and his bow and arrows. He obviously doesn't understand the plate of drug policy slime he feeds from when he spouts such nonsense

Gas Prices Up Sharply in a Month with National Average Surpassing $2.50

The national average jumped ten cents in the past week to nearly $2.53, while Oregon's average for regular unleaded gains more than eight cents to $2.60.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Pump prices are at a seven-month high. The national average passes the $2.50 a gallon mark, jumping ten cents in the past week to nearly $2.53.

Several factors are helping to spur crude's climb, including heavy investments based on confidence of a turnaround in the global economy, a weaker dollar, and comments by OPEC that there are signs of a recovery in oil demand, particularly in Asia.

Gas Prices Edge Higher to Kick Off Summer Driving Season

Memorial Day has come and gone, and pump prices are still edging up. Oregon's average for regular unleaded gains eight cents in the past week to $2.51 while the national average jumps up 11 cents to $2.43. Still, prices are about a buck-fifty a gallon less than a year ago.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Memorial Day traditionally signals the start of the summer driving season, and pump prices continue to rise.

Op Ed: Half of American
Families Facing Real
Healthcare Hurts

Even “Richies” Feeling Painful Pinch On Med-Matters.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - New studies reported from widespread authoritative sources show that more than half of American families, some now comparatively among our “richies”, already are suffering from rapidly rising healthcare costs.

A recent poll found 57% saying that the economy has affected their ability to take care of their health. ONE-THIRD of those surveyed, with income at $75,000-and-up, admitted they, too, were “feeling squeezed”.

Op Ed: Capitalism, Driven
By Profit Motive,
Threatens Healthcare

Top-Dollar Drive Definitely Damages Human Necessities.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - One thing we know for sure re the capitalistic “market-miracle system” is that profit-pursuit drives policy and performance, with little regard for anything else --including human necessities. With costs considered as essential unavoidable negative consequence for any-and-all corporate decisions, do you really believe private-profit performance, pitted against any possible gain for patients --poor or otherwise-- will have any weight against dollar-balances?

With healthcare --or lack of it-- definitely shaping and very often determining essential ability to workand- earn, that heavy burden all too often forces reliance on the last resort --the “emergency room” --in too many hospitals.

UO Professors and Students Launch Digital Ethnography Website About the Oaxaca Social Movement in Mexico

The website includes background information about the histories of different social movements in Oaxaca during the past three decades and a video timeline of key events of the Oaxaca social movement from June through October of 2006.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - In 2006, a group of women in Oaxaca, Mexico took over television and radio stations in support of striking teachers who were being brutalized by state police forces and paramilitary groups.

Life Under Gil Kerlikowske

Our government has done the studies and virtually every government study done has called for decriminalization or legalization of cannabis and a shift away from criminalizing addiction of the "harder" drugs.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - Our nation's new chief of drug policy (I will not willfully use the term "Drug Czar," viewing it as I do a strange title for our country to be using), former Chief of the Seattle Police Department, Gil Kerlikowske appeared in print, speaking for the first time in an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Gary Fields.

While no John Walters (the Bush administration's head of the White House Office of No Drug Control Policy - who suffers from a severe case of Reefer Madness, the sure signs of which are rabid anti-cannabism and avoidance of public debate), Kerlikowske still wears the mantle of our nation's head Prohibitionist.

Gas Prices Jump in Oregon and Across the U.S.

After five weeks as the fifth most expensive state, Oregon drops to eighth place.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Pump prices show some dramatic gains in the past week with Memorial Day just a couple weeks away. The national average for regular unleaded shot up 17 cents to $2.25, while Oregon's jumped ten cents to $2.36.

How About Green Renovations in Existing U.S. Schools?

How about green renovations in existing U.S. schools? UO architecture professor's Green Classroom Toolbox aims to put student performance into the planning

(EUGENE, Ore.) - Going green with new construction is a good idea, but what about renovating existing structures? Like, say, the 20 billion square feet of existing U.S. public schools, 40 percent of which have 15 million students in poor environmental conditions?

These are questions at the heart of research by Ihab M.K. Elzeyadi, a professor of architecture at the University of Oregon.

Feds Will Spend Millions on Eugene/Springfield Rapid Transit

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Brings $3 Million in Federal Recovery Act Funds to Pay for Bus Rapid Transit Serving Eugene, Springfield, Oregon.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that Lane Transit District will receive $2.9 million in ARRA funds for the Pioneer Parkway extension of the “Emerald Express” Bus Rapid Transit system serving Eugene and Springfield, Oregon.

Last year, the Federal Transit Administration signed a “project construction grant agreement” to provide $32.5 million of the $41.3 million total project cost to be paid out in annual increments through 2010.