Choose Your Battle

No candidate will save you, but some votes are better than others

I’m not a fan of HRC.  But I’m no Bernie-for-the-revolution person either.  No election will bring us the revolution we need. Even electing Jill Stein or Sanders would do the same as electing the “Hope” and “Change” of Obama.  The ball is still in our court.  And Hillary Clinton is not the same as Trump. I much rather fight the Clinton administration than the Trump administration.  Continue reading 

Spirit of the Law

How Much Does Standardized Testing Really Cost Us?

There is the letter of the law, then there’s the spirit. Rep. Lew Frederick, the Oregon House’s only African American legislator, was the guiding force behind two new Oregon laws: HB 2655 (the testing opt-out bill of rights) and HB 2713 (the testing cost audit bill).  The spirit behind the two new laws is clear: To honestly examine the costs, both financial and otherwise, of the standardized testing that dominates Oregon education and to allow parents and students to make their own informed decisions about what kind of education is best for them.  Continue reading 

SLUG Invitation

A letter from a soon-to-be old queen

Your Queen and Mine of the Society for the Legitimization of Ubiquitous Gastropods, Markalo Parkalo, wishes to convey warmest wishes, solstice celebration and official offerings herewith: First, thank you for your support of my favorite nonprofit: LILA (Lane Independent Living Alliance). Your contributions from my Third Ball amounted to more than $2,000, and we increased awareness of Independent Living (IL) in Lane County. IL is the applied value of choice for people with any disability. Continue reading 

Ban Nuclear Weapons

A Message from the Mayor of Hiroshima

It is an honor and pleasure to send this message on the occasion of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration in Eugene, Oregon. On Aug. 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb rendered Hiroshima a scorched plain and burned tens of thousands in its flames. By year’s end, 140,000 irreplaceable lives had been taken. Those who managed to survive, their lives grotesquely distorted, were left to suffer serious physical and emotional aftereffects compounded by discrimination and prejudice. Nuclear weapons are an absolute evil and the ultimate inhumanity.  Continue reading 

County Power Grab

Lane County Commission usurps democratic freedoms

The Lane County Board of Commissioners, at the behest of Dennis Morgan, a local businessman and conservative political activist, is considering a proposal to grant themselves authority to review Lane County citizen initiatives, which have met all legal standards for placement on the ballot. The proposal would allow the board to declare that an initiative does not meet the board standard for “county concern” and, thereby, to bar it from the ballot.  Continue reading 

Meddling with the People’s Rights

Local government and industry want to keep the people at bay

The Lane County Commission is considering a proposed ordinance that would give five elected officials a stranglehold over the people’s local initiative power. Let’s be clear: The initiative and referendum power belongs to the people free from government interference, as recognized by the Oregon Constitution. The people’s right to circulate petitions is core political speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  The commissioners’ proposed meddling with the people’s initiative rights is patently unconstitutional. Continue reading 

Liberals Out of Touch

It's time to reconnect with reality

With the British electorate’s dramatic and unexpected decision to pull out of the European Union, The New York Times reports that “the same yawning gap between the elite and mass opinion is fueling a populist backlash” all across Europe and the United States.  Here at home, election season is upon us and widespread frustration with conventional party politics has been the motivating force behind both the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders campaigns. The Trump appeal, as with the “Brexit” revolt, has much to do with resentment toward migrants and refugees.  Continue reading 

Accountability Is the Real Problem

Here we go again — up to 30 more years of urban renewal, because “the city concludes that the entire urban renewal area is blighted.” After 48 years and approximately $130 million (surely over a quarter of a billion dollars adjusted for inflation), the total taxable valuation of all of the property in the district is not even equal to the inflation-adjusted tax money we have poured into it.  Continue reading