IN SPITE OF THE DEMOCRATS hope for taking control of the State Senate, on Tuesday night they only managed to gain one seat. Though another two years of a Republican controlled senate is enough to make the most patient liberal shudder, one shouldn’t overlook some of this election’s silver linings. Out of place in Tuesday […]
Phil Busse
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Changing the Legislative Guard
Oregon’s Democrats Take Control
PERHAPS THE RACE that best epitomizes Tuesday night’s election results was the victory of Ryan Deckert, a young Democrat from the politically cautious suburbs of Beaverton. His victory helped to break a near decade-long stranglehold on Oregon’ Senate by the Republican Party. By securing a majority of seats in the state senate, the Democrats will […]
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MR. SMITH GOES TO SALEM
Candidate Whitney Smith is Supporting the Green Party– But Who’s Supporting Him?
WHITNEY SMITH, the Pacific Green Party candidate for Senate Seat District 8, ambles to the podium. This is his first speech to a large audience and he’s nervous. He’s been invited to speak to a congregation of 500 or so blacks, whites, and Latinos at the Unitarian Church in North Portland, smack in the heart […]
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Camp Delinquent
Wilderness Programs Face Regulations
Three weeks ago, as evening dimmed on Oregon’s eastern highlands, a camp counselor tried to subdue a 15-year-old boy. For the past several days, the Scappoose teenager had been forced to carry a forty-pound pack and hoof it across high desert as part of a program intended to correct his delinquent behavior. Once again, he […]
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On My Soapbox
Pull My Lever, Please
Once, I risked my life for democracy. While I was living in Zimbabwe, I was asked to smuggle various manifestos and bomb-making instructions across the border into South Africa. A blond American doesn’t raise much suspicion at border checks, I was told. In 1990, apartheid was crumbling, but the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s group […]
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The Need to Know
Is State Agency Sitting On Benefits?
AFTER KAREN’S HUSBAND was injured, he was out of work for nearly 18 months. Slowly, the family fell short by a few hundred dollars each month on their bills and mortgage. “All the bills just started to accumulate,” she explained.Over the course of a year, the family tried to scrape money together. At the same […]
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On My Soapbox
Don’t Bring Us Down
There are a lot of things I like about being an American: our Olympic baseball team, good dental work, convenience stores. But, most of all, it’s the First Amendment that makes my heart thump with pride when I think about the US of A. It gives me the right to write and say (pretty much) […]
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The Evil Within
Ballot Measure 2 Rides Into the Legislative Danger Zone
CLOAKED IN eye-glazing bureaucratic jargon, Ballot Measure 2 has flown low enough on the radar screens to avoid detection from voters thus far. But if the voter initiative passes, say concerned legislators and environmentalists, it threatens to short-circuit the entire legislative process in Oregon. Demurely titled “Administrative Rules Repeal,” Measure 2 promises to expose every […]
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On My Soapbox
Pitching a Circus Tent
Last week, a slinky young woman covered in little more than tiger-striped body paint, placed herself in a cage on a far corner of Pioneer Square. On behalf of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the slender 24-year-old, purring and cooing at by-passers, protested this weekend’s appearance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & […]
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THE SECRETARY OF SPENDING
Ballot Measure 6 Attempts to Curb Runaway Political Spending
IN AN INCREASINGLY HIGH-STAKES political gambit, Lynn Snodgrass, the stalwart Republican from Eastern Oregon, has raised an eye-popping $700,000 for this year’s Secretary of State race. In the process, Snodgrass has transformed what is usually a sleepy race for the state’s second most powerful position into a heated battle where, to stay competitive, candidates must […]
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Crime Scene
Don’t Tread on Me
After several high-profile shake-downs of Asian travelers at the hands of INS officials, this week Delta Airlines announced–really, to no one’s surprise–that, next April, they will cancel their international flights into Portland. Gee, thanks a hill of beans, INS. Thanks for upholding our state’s reputation and looking after our interests. The cancellation of flights will […]
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Last Supper
Holier-Than-Thou Food Reviews
Bao BAB 422 NW 8th Ave, 241-0390 Ginger is aggressively tart; enough taken in one bite sends my eyelids fluttering into convulsions. Fortunately, since I love ginger, that’s a good thing; two sips from a glass of ginger juice at Baobab and the underside of my brain began to tickle. I could feel the nerve […]