If only it was that cheap to stay in a luxury hotel in Maui! Apparently Oregon’s House Majority Leader, Wayne Scott (R-Oregon City), seems to think so. According to today’s headliner in the Oregonian, three Oregon legislators [Scott, Rep. Derrick Kitts (R-Hillsboro) and Sen. David Nelson (R-Pendleton)] went on a luxury junket [...]

For the second year in a row Lisa Shannon, a local activist in Portland, is running the full route (over 30 miles) of Portland’s Forest Park Wildwood Trail to raise money for the women and children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are the victims of a brutal ongoing war that the world [...]

This past Monday I had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion about the Israel-Lebanon war with Congressman Earl Blumenauer and six others who had been invited. Earl held two round tables, one with a “pro-Israeli” group and then us, which I’m not sure what we were, but based on what my own [...]

Lately there have been a few letters to the editor in the Oregonian debating the idea that children need one father and one mother in a household in order to grow up to be decent human beings. I’d have to say I feel lucky that when I was growing up with one mother and [...]

… that global warming is the single most important threat to humanity today. And that we as voting citizens of the United States of America and the state of Oregon have a duty to our fellow humans, our children, grandchildren and those yet to be born to elect leaders who understand this truth and [...]

My little business certainly does not qualify as a bellwether to the U.S. economy, but when all my small bidness owner friends get together and moan and groan about how high energy costs are cutting into our bottom lines, I can’t help but think that the economy is about to crack under inflationary pressures. [...]

Last week Portland’s Willamette Week gave its Rogue of the Week honors to a handful of Oregon legislators who seemed to turn themselves into lobbyists for PGE and PacificCorp:
Over the past nine years, Portland General Electric collected nearly $900 million from Oregon ratepayers to cover its income taxes. Instead of paying the taxes, however, PGE’s [...]

As Rick noted in an earlier post Big Oil stepped in to challenge the Oregon Apollo ballot title in Oregon’s courts. Since the initiative was about creating renewable energy options for the state of Oregon, it’s obvious why Big Oil is interfering. As a result of this, Oregon Apollo realized that there would [...]

Every so often I come across letters to the editor of the Oregonian that complain about government regulations on business and how those regulations are stifling. Often letter writers claim that in the end, consumers have to pay more for products and services due to the increased expense of regulations. I won’t argue [...]

A nice “thumbnail” piece from New West Network on the Oregon Apollo initiative (pdf):
1. The goals are worthy; indeed, getting America off its IV-feed of Middle Eastern oil is geopolitically, environmentally and economically critical. We need to do this. Absent significant national leadership (I’m talking to you, Mr. Prez and 535 Congressmen), state efforts are [...]