Comment Archives: stories: News
Re: “Election Resurrection”
Nice, frankieb. In the spirit of elites running elections, you don't want people who disagree with you to have access to the ballot.
Remember, fewer than 25% of register voters voted against fluoride and you and other sore winners don't want people to have another opportunity to vote on the issue.
Move somewhere that disenfranchises its citizens overtly. You'll feel more comfortable.
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
When I see budget cuts like this I am reminded we need more business activity for a larger tax base.
Our program size appetite is larger than our budget. People screaming for more program funding—rightfully so as they're probably honest-to-goodness good programs—need to realize this and I feel this is often not acknowledged much in news reports and other discussions.
There's always an assumption there's money somewhere. We're strapped and have been playing this budget cut game for too long. We need a new outlook in Portland and it starts by the aforementioned above comment.
Re: “Election Resurrection”
Great.
Let's just vote on fluoride again too.
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
I'm curious as to whether these programs even really work.
Or are we just funding some peoples saleries more than anything else.
And to Hales taking on the Fire Dept. - fucking right on Charley!
If the Fire Dept had its' way, they would have all kinds of shiny new toys to play with (along with that stupid boat that Randy Leonard got them), a couple hundred more employees and still perhaps the highest percentage of its' employees on 'Disability' in the nation.
Re: “Hall Monitor”
Denis, you missing the whole 'young reporter on the scene documenting history' thing?
Just watch "Year of Living Dangerously" over again and spare us the "occupy".
Please.
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
"I still haven't seen any attempt to evaluate contrasting studies on the effectiveness of fluoridation worldwide".
Styrofoam, does it really make sense to ask a weekly free paper to evaluate thousands of complex scientific studies done over decades? What is the Merc's research budget I wonder. I would think you'd need a whole government agency with lots of qualified scientists (maybe it could be called the Center for Disease Control and Prevention), but yeah I forgot that any idiot can just read a one or two science studies and suddenly be an expert on anything. Not sure why anyone bothers to get fancy degrees and certifications anyway, probably just to conform to corporate culture and stroke off The Man. How DARE the Merc reporters trust the national health authorities! I AM SHOCKED!!
Re: “Hall Monitor”
camping as a form of protest just doesn't work. march everyday, permited or not. burn efigies (sic), but to stay put in one spot for so long only stirs up trouble, giving anti-protesters and whoever else fodder against your cause. besides who the hell wants to camp out on a cold dead winter night? a brisk midday winter march on the other hand makes more sense and would be what "normal" people do. sorry for using the n word there;)
Re: “In Other News”
read my text: i'm not gonna pay this tax
Re: “Before the Storm”
how about baby mama AND baby daddy raise their spawn with some value towards human life, respecting the rights of others, and how to become productive members of society? oh yeah, they're poor cuz the man is keeping em down so the need programs to help them raise their kids.
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
bring back the weiner guillotine for all sex offenders (male).
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
This reads like "the Mercury has learned" some very selective things to fit the narrative that Denis has been pushing since before election day.
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
You don't get to play the "blindsided" card when you were purposely not paying attention in the first place.
Re: “Behind Hales' Happy Mask”
Steely upbraiding? Well, you guys endorsed him, explain this for us.
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
A punch to the mouth is right! THWACK! Take that Portland Mercury for publishing that pro-fluoridation article last week. How much did the FDA and Monsanto pay you guys off to publish it? VICTORY for Clean Water Portland and the rest of us truthers. 1956, 1962, 1980, and now 2013. YAY!
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
What part of increases lead levels in children from silicofluorides do the pro-fluoride people continue to not understand/accept?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1123375…
Not safe, and the science SAYS so. Lies repeated long enough are still lies.
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
"With the nation watching, Portland rejects fluoride for the fourth time."
What a stupid, biased title. Yes, I'm sure the nation was riveted. How about this title instead:
"With the whole world (most of whom do not fluoridate) watching, Portland votes consistent with the majority - again."
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
Well put, Maxims. No doubt there is a huge problem out there. Bigger than flouride. Like I said before, it is shocking to me that something as trivial as flouride could garner such a heated debate. Clearly it goes much deeper than just that. As much as it infuriates me, it's also what I love about this city. Happy to live somewhere where people actually question the powers that be.
I guess the lack of diversity in Portland is the one thing that gets to me. It really just feels like well-to-do white people making decisions for well-to-do white people. I suppose there are worse things in life. At least many of the big decisions that get made here are made with the majority of people in mind.
Re: “A Punch in the Mouth”
The bottom line is that the pro-fluoridation forces simply did not have the facts on their side. And their tactics were despicable.
They played fast and loose with the truth and with our democratic process: mischaracterizing studies (including last year's Harvard meta-analysis and the National Academy of Sciences' 2006 report...in both cases, the authors' own statements refuted what proponents were claiming researchers concluded);
exaggerating the scope and degree of the "dental health crisis" (to the point of conspiring to delay public disclosure of evidence contradicting their claims until after the vote);
employing technically accurate but misleading language in their rhetoric (e.g. "There is no evidence that fluoridation at optimum levels causes any harm", when, in practice, there is no way to ensure an "optimum" dose given individual variations and multiple other sources of exposure in the environment);
exploiting "poor kids" to stir up liberal guilt in favor of fluoridation (nevermind that decades of data from dozens of fluoridated cities show significant INCREASES in dental decay among lower-income children since fluoridation, and that the general consensus of researchers is that the REAL crisis is lack of access to basic, routine dental care...something every lower-income child in Portland already has through OHP);
and attempting an end-run around the public will and Portland's democratic process (conducting back-room deals with the City Council, virtually skipping the phases of scientific review and public input, and manipulating the timing of the petition period and election in ways they thought would work to their advantage).
NOW, they add insult to injury by slandering their victorious opponents as elitists with no concern for "equity" and/or simpletons driven by "fear" and incapable of comprehending the "complexity" of their arguments.
To top it all off, they insist "the fight isn't over", suggesting they have so little respect for the will of the majority (and a significant majority at that) that their plan is to just keep at it until they manage to cram fluoridation down our collective throats by any means necessary.
I will close with the words of Philippe Grandjean (senior author of the 2012 Harvard study) and Anna Choi (lead author of the study):
“Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain. The effect of each toxicant may seem small, but the combined damage on a population scale can be serious, especially because the brain power of the next generation is crucial to all of us.” Grandjean
"These results do not allow us to make any judgment regarding possible
levels of risk at levels of exposure typical for water fluoridation in the U.S.
On the other hand, neither can it be concluded that no risk is present. We therefore recommend further research to clarify what role fluoride exposure levels
may play in possible adverse effects on brain development, so that future
risk assessments can properly take into regard this possible hazard."
Choi and Grandjean
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Re: “Election Resurrection”
Uh, I voted pro-fluoride.
And, PDX voters have proved time and again that just having money doesn't win elections, most recently illustrated by the fluoride vote.