I feel odd wishing people a “Happy New Year,” because it seems like such a trivial wish — like visiting soldiers about to be sent to the front and wishing them a pleasant train ride. We have stirred up some serious stuff with our obstinate refusal to accept and live within ecological limits, but — [...]

Well, at 8:45 it appears that Measure 49 will pass, thank God, which means that people who backed Measure 37 should be happy and those who opposed Measure 37 will be breathing a huge sigh of relief: Measure 49 gives Measure 37 backers everything they said they wanted, so everybody should be happy now.  The [...]

Steve Law, reporter for the Salem Statesman-Journal, has written a great article separating fact from fiction around Measure 50, the Healthy Kids Plan funding measure. This is another example of that newspaper’s excellent coverage of state issues. The article can be found online here and I’ve quoted it below.

An emerging field of research is challenging former assumptions about our genetic code and inheritance. Known as epigenetics, it is the discovery, supported by clinical research, that a network of chemical switches controls the expression of our DNA. In other words, our DNA is not etched in stone, but selectively enabled or disabled by interaction [...]

Because Big Tobacco is replacing smokers just as fast as it kills them.

    Why do doctors and HMOs not encourage patients/members who fit the allowed donor profile to donate blood? We’ve learned when medical folks ask about smoking and other health concerns, it pays off.  Well, the chronic continual recurring (and worsening) blood shortage is a health concern—a huge health concern if you’re planning on having a [...]

A message from the freepress campaign, working to keep the series of tubes a place where anyone can communicate. Once again, all categories checked, because keeping the Internet open is important to every issue: Last week, a quarter-million people came out in force to tell the Federal Communications Commission to open the public airwaves to [...]

One thing that you frequently hear in Oregon is that there is no money: no money for health care, no money for schools, no money for affordable housing, no money to give people real choices in transportation, no money to preserve wilderness from developers, and on and on. Well, why not? Primarily because of what [...]

Dear George, Tell Your Story to the FCC Read Other Stories Phone and cable company lobbyists are attacking Internet freedom again in Washington. But people from every corner of the country are rising up to stop them. You can help by taking five minutes to save the Internet. The FCC needs to hear your story [...]

Good discussion of extending the workplace smoking ban to bars (SB 571) over at BlueOregon. Please contact your Legislators in support! I really don’t have anything to add except that I’m someone who loves to hear good music performed live, and I haven’t heard any in years except at outdoor festivals (i.e., summer months only) [...]