Friday, June 13, 2008   (No new news posted)
Thursday, June 12, 2008  
Wednesday, June 11, 2008  
Tuesday, June 10, 2008  
Monday, June 9, 2008  

Oregon News:

• Canyonville:   Female Impersonators Debut at Seven Feathers Casino.  At one point the drag queen appeared on stage as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...At the end, people rushed into the lobby to have their pictures snapped with the performers. Stephanie and George Roberts drove from Roseburg and thought the show was “great.” (News Review) [Dreary.]
• Portland Business Journal Asks You:   Which Energy Alternative Do You Think Could Have the Biggest Impact In the Future.   Go vote. [The OR Conservative voted, but added in the comment section, DRILL In ANWR, Gulf Coast. None of the options is U.S. Oil.]
• RIGHT ON RIGHT -- Jeff Kropf and Jayne Carroll On Ron Wyden's Endorsing the Opponent Of Dear and Long-time Friend Gordon Smith.   From the Jeff Kropf Show 6/12/08, Common Sense With Your Morning Coffee, KUIK. [Right in line with the Oregon Conservative's thinking. Excellent comments.]
• Letter to Ed., SJ -- Mary Hart:   Letter About Politics Warrants a Response.   I feel I must respond to Alain Rech's June 9 letter, "Select McCain to protest cult of Obama, sexism." John McCain and Ted Kennedy were the senators responsible for writing the compromise bill on immigration, which passed the Senate in May of 2006. It would have allowed any undocumented alien who had been here five years or more to get on a path to citizenship. [Sadly, Mary is all too correct. End result? We have no alternative in John McCain.]
• Douglas County:   There Is More than One Way to Bring Home "Timber $$ Bacon."   Tuck it into another bill. Plan added to the 2009 Interior Appropriations Act. If approved, the provision would raise the counties’ share from 50 percent to 75 percent... Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, worked to convince [Rep. from WA] Dicks to accept the change. Altogether, the O&C counties would share $9 million in new revenue. (News Review)
• Portland:   Madison High Faculty Give Principal No-confidence Vote.   (Oregonian)
• Sen. Smith Takes Page Out Of UO's Book.   Typeface used by the senator's campaign mimics that of Ducks athletic uniforms. (Rachel Backman, Oregonian)
• Letter from Gordon Smith.   (You Tube)
• SJ Letter to Ed.:   Can't They Get Along?  Oregon's House members have been unsuccessful in restoring the federal timber payments that pay for deputy sheriffs and jails in much of rural Oregon, especially the southwest region. ["Restore" the timber industry so that cities don't need other taxpayers' money. Complain about the whacko environmentalists and congress members who enable them to act of bogus environmental concerns.} Lawmakers may have themselves to blame: They apparently can't get along, let alone persuade their colleagues to aid Oregon. [Awwww. He just wants everybody to get along.] At least that was the case last week when two decent people, Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Springfield and Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Hood River, put aside their statesmanship and played "I'm right and you're wrong" with Oregonians' future. [Well, perhaps that is because one of them WAS right and one WAS wrong. What kind of legislative integrity exists if one compromises with something they KNOW is wrong?]
• West Linn Tidings Declares "Wyden Bets Smith On Timber Payments."   For Sen. Gordon Smith the timber payments fiasco is a different matter. Smith, a self-proclaimed champion of timber-dependent communities, may become the biggest casualty over this issue at the polls next fall. [Blah, blah. Daydreaming in print. Smith cannot hope to satisfy the level of extremism required by the radical left. No matter how Smith votes this newspaper will be for his opponent.]
• OR Appeals Court Protects Medical Marijuana.   An employer must make a reasonable accommodation for medical marijuana use for a disability. (Wm McCall, SJ)
• Giusto Staying -- for Extra Two Weeks.   (Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, Oregonian)
• CP Senate Candidate Says Gordon Smith and Jeff Merkley Agree On Almost Every Issue.   (CP Press Release)
• Rush Hour Riders Add to Rise In TriMet Use.   (Dylan Rivera, Oregonian)
• On the Anniversary Of Portland Immigration Raids...   ...little has changed on the immigrant labor scene. A large number arrests, last year, have left the country. Gov't still investigating. Did the two companies know workers did not have legal papers? (Anne Saker, Oregonian)
• Portland & Arrested Illegal Immigrants -- Scattered to the Wind.  ...three ex-workers at the North Portland food-processing plant are trying to lead a class-action lawsuit against the fruit company and the staffing agency that hired them. (Willamette Week)
• DECLARE YOUR SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM.   ...Pence and Rep. Greg Walden introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act which would permanently keep “the regulation off the books” but the bill is being ...
• Jason Howd, Willamette Week -- Puff-piece With Love to Those Against LNG.   [Extremist Environmental-whacko jibberish.]
• Portland Economic Downturn Hurting Mom-and-Pops Stores.   (Erin Hoover Barnett, Oregonian)
• Multnomah County:   Woman Wins Lawsuit Against Walmart.   (Oregonian)
• "You Are the Best Of the Best."   (Guard members welcomed back from Iraq service. (SJ)
• Portland:   City Council Gets An Ear (and Mailbox) Full Against the Sit-Lie Ordinance.   (Willamette Week)
• Portland Man Suing McMenamins.   (Willamette Week)
• Clinton Campaign Pays Hillsboro Schools.   (Willamette Week)
• Pacific Power's Legal Concerns Threaten to End Oregon's Solar Boom.   About 80 percent of commercial solar projects could be at risk if they are found out of compliance with utility law. (Gail Kinsey Hill, Oregonian)
• Lake Oswego Principal to Parents:   No Limos, Please.   (Willamette Week)
• Letter to Ed., SJ:   Block FAA's Threat to Allow Students to Fly Over Houses.
• Letter to Ed. SJ:   Voters Don't Want to Pump Their Own Gas.
• West Coast Lawmakers Oppose Shift-relief Funds to Census Costs.   (Matthew Daly, AP/SJ)
• Gov. K. Urges Reform Board to Save OR Health Plan.   (Portland Business J.)
• Universal Forest Products Buys Two OR Companies.   (Portland Business J.)
• [ILLEGAL] Adjusting to License Rules.   Like Garcia, many plan to continue to drive without a license, said Abel Valladares, a community organizer with CAUSA, an immigrant-rights coalition in Woodburn. (SJ)   ["Adjusting" -- continue breaking the law at will.]
• Douglas County Cultural Coalition Awarded Nearly $11,000 In Grants to Local Projects.   The coalition is a volunteer organization that distributes funds to support ethnic cultures, promote unity and celebrate diversity. [Doesn't that make you feel warm all over?]
• U.S. Lacey Act, a la Anti-Timber Act.   The language has been championed by Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Ron Wyden...Environmentalists and industry organizations hailed these provisions as a groundbreaking piece of forest legislation...The move is supported by a diverse coalition united against the effects of illegal logging on forests and communities in developing countries, the impacts it has on law-abiding forestry operations and jobs in the U.S., and the global climate. (Graphic Arts Online)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008




• Smith Votes With Democrats, Again.   For the third time since Friday, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., voted against his party on high profile legislation. And for the third time, Smith and his new Democratic friends were on the losing side...In all three cases Smith voted with Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden. (Charles Pope, Oregonian)
• Pres. Clinton In Corvallis Wednesday.   Will hits several towns and be in Eugene on Monday. (Gazette Times)
• Smith Campaign Spokesman, R.C. Hammond, Moves On.   (Jeff Mapes, Oregonian)
• Walden Chides Dems On County Bux.   In Washington, D.C., after the House on Thursday, June 5 came 56 votes short of passing a flawed version of the county payments bill, Second District Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) released the following statement: -- “We repeatedly warned the sponsor of the bill and Democratic leadership that their strategy of stripping PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) and paying for this bill by illegally breaking federal contracts would fail.” -- The bill was sponsored by Fourth District Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) (Illinois Valley News)
• Oil Profit Tax Debate May Affect Local Area.  The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the major oil companies, has been reminding lawmakers that in the early 1980s, when the government imposed windfall profits taxes on oil companies domestic oil production dropped and imports increased. -- But Democrats reject the comparison. -- The Senate proposal would impose a 25 percent tax on profits over what would be determined “reasonable” and would allow oil companies to avoid paying the tax if they invest the money in alternative energy projects or refinery expansion. -- The GOP energy plan, rejected by the Senate last month, calls for opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil development and to allow states to opt out of the national moratorium that has been in effect for a quarter century against oil and gas drilling in more than 80 percent of the country’s coastal waters. (World Link)
• Dem Efforts to Criminalize Bush, Iraq War Effort With a Little Bit of Help from Sen. Wyden.   "It is also interesting that it has been confirmed by Senator Ron Wyden of the intelligence committee that somehow the Congress and the Senate Armed Services Committee were never informed of this report from the NIC." (American Chronicle)
• Register Guard:   Frohnmayer's Withdrawal Protects Merkley from Split Vote.
• Despite Overtures to GOP, Baucus' (D) Extenders Bill Likely to Be Stymied.   Smith was among 41 GOP senators who signed a letter in April opposing...(Nat'l Journal)
• Roseburg:   BLM Proposing Ban Of Firearm Discharges, Traps.  In the N. Bank Habitat Management Area. A previous restriction banning the use of firearms has expired. (News Review)
• Board Approves $250-M Budget.   (SJ)
• Roseburg City Council Begins Negotiating with Red-light Installation Company.   (News Review)
• Salem Crime Plummets, FBI Data Say.   (SJ)
• Sutherlin:   Volunteer Firefighters May Quit If Fire Annexation Fails.   (News Review)

• Letter to Ed.:   Smith Puts On Green Mask.   (Robert Ayres, Hillsboro -- Oregonian)
• Letter to Ed.:   Smith Delaying Global Warming Support Harmful.   (Angus Duncan, Chairman Oregon Global Warming Commission Southwest Portland -- Scroll down on page.) [In other words no matter how much they get what they want, it will never be good enough as long as the legislator calls himself a Republican. There is no pleasing this radically left group.]
• Jeff Mapes Conjecture:   Smith Faces Next Dicey Senate Vote.   (Oregonian)
• New Candidate To the Right Of Gordon Smith -- Sort Of.   (Jeff Mapes, Oregonian)



• Gordon Smith Among the Usual RINOs Voting with the Democrats On Oil Bill.   (NY Times)
• Independent Candidate, John Frohnmayer, Drops Bid for U.S. Senate Due to Lack of Funds.   (Peter Wong, SJ)
• Associated Press -- Opinion On Same-Sex Marriage.   State legislatures should at least attempt to build consensus and public support, and the courts can then weigh in. [In other words JUDICIAL ACTIVISM is OK with the AP.]
• Obama Sewing Up the Portland Bike Vote.   (Jeff Mapes, Oregonian)
• OR a Presdidential Battleground? Maybe, Says Romney.   (Harry Esteve, Oregonian)
• Earth to McCain:   What About Planned Parenthood's Obscene Profits?   (Michele Malkin, SJ)
• Was It a Free Concert Or Obama that Brought 75,000 People?   the band felt compelled to play a free show before Obama spoke in Portland the Sunday before the Oregon primary. "We're never the most appropriate band for an upbeat rally -- inevitably there are a few dead babies in a Decemberists song," Meloy told Rolling Stone. (Joseph Rose, Oregonian)
• Gas Burns Through Salem City Budget.   (Michael Rose, SJ)
• Nez Perce Tribe Contacted after Human Skull Found.   (AP/Oregonian)
• Giusto's Early Departure Forces Spendy Election.   (Arthur Sulzberger, Oregonian)
• Beaverton:   Developer Of the Round Owes More Than $800,000 In Utility Bills.   (David R. Anderson, Oregonian)
• American College of Physicians Congratulates Gordon Smith for Co-Sponsoring Democrats' Medicare Bill. (Press Release, ACP)

• Blumenauer a Member of the New Congressional Gay-Lesbian Caucus.  Also the first Muslim member of congress, Keith Ellison. (The Advocate, same-sex publication)
• Oregon Constitution Party Publishes Slate Of Candidates.   (CP press release)
• Poll:   45% Approve Of Smith, 61% Approve Of Wyden.   (Danny Reiter, Jamie Klatell, PolitickerOR)
• Justices Rule Against Worker Who Lost Job.   Born in India, Engquist worked at a laboratory operated by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. She says that after she complained about a colleague who allegedly harassed her... (AP)
• Ballot Measure Archive Project to Add History Of OR Measures.   (KPTV)
• OR Tobacco Award Case Bounces Back to High Court.  (KATU)
• OR Wrestler File Lawsuit To Prevent Univ. from Dropping Wrestling.   (Intermat Wrestle)
• Caught Between M-37 & M-49.   (gtconnect.com)
• Register Guard Angry At Oklahoma Senator Who Blocked Passage of Wyden/Smith Sponsored Bill.   If any federal lawmaker ever deserved the collective stink eye from Oregonians, it’s U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who is blocking two Oregon wilderness bills. [Hooray for Sen. Coburn. At least SOMEBODY is refusing to kiss up to the environmental whackos.]
• OIT to Offer Nation's First Renewable Energy Degree.   (Oregonian) [How much of this degree is in deceitful propaganda?] Students also see a chance to address pressing environmental problems such as global warming, Bass said. "It's not your standard engineering program. There's a social edge to it." [In other words it is pure politics & indoctrination. Graduates with this political degree will be the future "experts" telling everyone else what to do.]
• Grease Shortage Worries Biodiesel Makers.   (Oregonian)
• OR AP Opinion:   MX Drug War Should Concern Oregonians.   Look at Mexico and see what happens when drug gangs get strong enough to start fighting not just each other but the government as well. Recent OR drug arrests good. (SJ)
• Register Guard Calling Lane County Jail the Big Loser In the Coming Fiscal Year.   [Lane County Commissioners had their chance to make spending for police a priority. Instead other unnecessary programs came first. Now citizens are fed up with paying more taxes and having a guilt trip laid on them for it.]
• Staffing Shortages Persist At OR State Hospital.   (SJ)
• Taping Teacher to Keep Job.   (Oregonian)
• GOP Rep. Thanks Supporters.   (SJ)
• Salem Letter to Ed.:   Waterboarding Criminal.
• Letter to Ed.:   Life-long Democrat Says Will Vote for McCain.   A vote for McCain is also a protest against sexism. (SJ)
• Salem-Keizer School Board Will Consider Approving $513-M 2008-09 Budget Tuesday.  (SJ)
• OSU Seeking $250,000 In Emergency State Funding.   To find a reason for unprecedented die-off of honey bees. (Biz Tech)
• Population Growth Fuels I-5 Bridge Support.   (Portland Tribune)
• Oregon's Small-School Experiment Slow to See Results.  Armed with $25 million from billionaire Bill Gates and other education reformers, backers of small schools heralded the academies as the best way to curb high dropout rates, forge connections to keep teenagers on track and prepare every graduate for college. Four years into that effort, however, Oregon's small schools have yet to deliver on those promises. (Oregonian)
• End to Universities Hidden $1,500 Fees.   (Oregonian)
• Clock Ticking On PILT, Timber Funding.   (Argus Observer)  
• OR to Consider "Gray Water" Standards for Homes.   (Fox 12, KPTV)
• Field for Gov. Could Be Mighty Crowded.   (Jeff Mapes, Oregonian)
• Bicycle Alliance Wants Vehicular Homicide Classification.  During the last Session, saddened by the O'Donnell story, State Senator Floyd Prozanski introduced Senate Bill 1058, which was also vehicle homicide legislation. That bill went no where because it was too late in the session to pass it. Press conference will take place on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. at Swanson, Thomas & Coon Attorneys at Law, 820 S.W. 2nd Avenue, Suite 200. (DJC)
• DeFazio Videos On Hearings and House Floor.   (C-Span archives)
• Rural Counties Better Prepare for End to Timber Payments.   (Daily News Online) [If history is any example, it won't be long at all before another vote continues the payments. But, the usual posturing & blah blah must precede it so that you will know how much more caring the liberals are than conservative members of Congress.]
• DeFazio Posts Open Letter to Oregonians On Blue Oregon.  Rarely before in my service to Oregon have I been as frustrated in my attempts to do the right thing for the people of this great state. [Oh, the melodrama. Only Gordon Smith can match it.]
• U.S. Airways Pulling Out of Small OR Market.   (USA Today)
• PAC-10 Conference:   OR Gets Backing for $200-M for U of O Arena.   (News Tribune)
• State Edu. Leaders Approve Bond Sale for Univ. of OR Arena.   (Oregonian)
• Seven Measures On Oregon's Fall Ballot.   Anti-crime and property tax issues will be decided by voters. (Oregonian)
• A Grease Shortage Worries Biodiesel Makers.   (Oregonian)
• Rogue River Dams to Come Down.   (Oregonian)
• Statesman Journal Editorial:   Congress Must Deal with Global Warming.   Legislature's "failure" delays action on greenhouse gases.
• Congress Needs to Use U.S. Oil Reserves.   (Letter to ed., Dennis Dunning, Salem)
• NW Shellfish Industry Concerned about Oyster Die-off.  (Oregonian)
• Romney Visit to Oregon:   Said Oregonians' Independent Streak Will Connect with McCain.   (Oregonian) [Well that's good to know since true conservatives don't want to vote for him.]
• Merkley:   Being Cooler, Reasoned and Detached Could Help Merkley Win?   (Jeff Mapes, Oregonian)
• Climate Change Bill Dies Without OR Senators Voting.   (OPB)
• Charles Krauthammer:   CLIMATE CHANGE NEEDS STUDY, NOT NEW SOCIAL CONTROLS.
• Climate-Change Kool-Aid Drinker Letter to Editor:   OR, Nation Would Benefit from Climate Legislation.   (SJ) [Oh, and he also just happens to be president of Wildwood/Mahonia, a group of Salem-based companies involved in agriculture, urban design and development and biofuel production. [No bias here, right? Letter is followed by some good comments. Not everyone in OR is brainwashed.]
• Oregonian's Harry Esteve Asks:   Was Smith's Global Warming Vote Election-Year Positioning? Merkley Thinks So.   [OR Conservatives is asking:   Was Smith's past opposition to global warming bills just election-year positioning? OR Conservative thinks so.]
• Reward Kissy-Kisses from the Oregonian to Gordon Smith.   His opponents belittle his election-year turnaround on global warming, but give the senator credit for finally supporting a climate-change bill Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, once a dependable opponent of major climate change bills, basked in praise Friday from environmentalists seeking such legislation. "We are frankly delighted with Senator Smith," said Jeremy Symons, global warming program director for the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C. "We see him and Martinez (Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.) as Senate bellwethers on this issue."   [So what would Merkley do differently?] "In 2003 and again in 2005, he voted against the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act, which was considerably weaker than this year's bill. On Friday, however, in the third major Senate vote on global warming legislation, Smith was among 10 senators who switched from opponent to supporter. On Thursday, Smith took the Senate floor and delivered an impassioned call for addressing global warming." [Well, well. Who would have guessed that Smith would give ANOTHER "impassioned" speech on the Senate floor. Is OR Conservative the only one getting bored with routine melodrama?]
• Wyden Claims Congress Had Never Been Told about the National Intelligence Council’s Assessment.   RINO, liberal senators claim Bush overstated Iraq Evidence. The presidential campaigns of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama had not responded by Thursday night to requests for comment on the Senate report. (NY Times)
• National Forest Biomass Off-Limits for RFS  U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., notes that biomass was eligible to be counted toward the 2005 RFS, but when the 2007 energy package was crafted behind closed doors, it changed the way that waste material from national forests could be used...“To exclude slash piles and other wastes from within our national forests to be counted towards the renewable fuels standard simply makes no sense. It is unfortunate that the harmful definition of renewable biomass was inserted by the House Democratic leadership at the last minute, and it is critical that Congress fix this definition before the new RFS rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2009.” (Ethanol Producer Magazine, July 2008)
• With Changes, Gordon Smith Says, He'll Back Climate Bill.   (AP/Oregonian)
• Oregonian Slams House Vote On Timber Bill.   Today, after this week's astonishingly rancorous exchange between Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., it's time once again for everybody to calm down.
• Register Guard Unhappy With House Vote On Timber Bill.   "Walden’s defection came in service of national Republican priorities that accord greater importance to oil and gas drilling than to a century-old commitment to counties with federal timber lands." [Bunk. Walden has already indulged the socialist liberals more than he should have. The radical, tax gouging liberals cannot be appeased. They want federal funding continued forever and they never intend to do what is needed to reinvigorate the timber industry.]
• U.S. House Defeats DeFazio's Bill.  (Oregonian)
• Congressman Wu Attacks House Vote Against Timber Bill.   Claims he believes it could put OR residents; lives at risk. (Daily Astorian) [Oh the melodrama. He's learning from DeFazio.]
• Baker City Herald Not Happy With House Vote Against "Timber Bill."   More Democrats voted no on the DeFazio proposal (19) than Republicans voted yes (16) — more evidence that the Democrats' effort is futile. The Senate has considered DeFazio's proposal three times and rejected it every time.
• [So-called] "Timber Payments" Lose Walden's Vote.   (Bend Bulletin) Bush says he supports the program but wants the bill to include certain spending cuts and require a phase-out of the payments. DeFazio's bill does not meet those conditions, Bush said.
• Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Oil, Anti-Timber DeFazio-sponsored Bill Triggers Verbal War On the House Floor.  The program, which is expiring, provides $250 million to Oregon to offset revenue lost from reduced timber sales on federal land. Lawmakers have been frantically working on an extension so that counties can pay teachers and sheriff's deputies, keep libraries open and provide other services...While renewing the payments has unanimous support among Western lawmakers, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden and other Republicans launched a blistering attack on DeFazio and his bill Wednesday. Their argument, which got louder and more emphatic with each speaker, was that DeFazio broke his word by bringing the bill to the floor with a funding source -- oil leases -- that he promised to remove. (Oregonian) [And just how much longer are we going to sit back while the government allows environmental whackos to repeatedly kill, on false pretenses, one industry after the other and then have taxpayers fund replacing lost salaries? Bush wants to end this vicious socialist circle. DeFazio just wants to be re-elected for bringing home the pork.
• Gov. K. Finally Endorses Obama.   Do does Rep. Hooley. (Oregonian)
• U.S. Regulators Give Environmental Nod to LNG Facility At Bradwood.   (Oregonian)
• [Liberal] Group Says Petition Sponsors Defy Signature Gathering Ban.  Tim Trickey, head of a company that gathers citizen signatures for conservative initiatives, confirmed Wednesday that his employees continue to circulate petitions seeking to put the two initiatives on the November general election ballot. He said the state ban on gathering signatures is an unconstitutional infringement of the sponsors' free speech rights. (Oregonian) [GO TIM!!!!!!!]One of the sponsors of the initiatives is Russ Walker, Oregon director of FreedomWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative group. Walker, who is also vice chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, said he has filed suit in federal district court in Eugene challenging the Elections Division's authority to ban signature gathering. [Go Russ!!!!! And go donate to the Oregon Freedom Works Org. for doing this good work.]
• Treasurer Candidate Visits Baker, OR.   (Baker City Herald)
• Let the Rumormongering begin:   Governor 2010.   (Harry Esteve, Oregonian)
• (Wallowa County Chieftain) "Wyden kept it clear and simple. He explained, for the benefit of students, that Wallowa County and other counties rich in natural resources had an agreement with the Federal Government wherein the government guaranteed rural counties would be compensated for the fact that the Federal government owned so much of the land. [That's simple all right. Did he tell them also that because congress has allowed environmental whackos to kill the timber industry with bogus lawsuits timber industries no longer provided the historical revenue for schools, roads, etc.?]
  
  "The government said, 'Look, if we're going to have a national forest system, and a lot of the land in your area is going to be owned by the Federal government, we're going to give you money so you can pay for your roads, and schools, and law enforcement - and it will be based on [nearly NON-EXISTENT] logging.'" Wyden said. "That worked well for 70- to 80-years. Everybody [EVERYBODY!? IN THE U.S.? NOT! It is land that is nearly unused.] in the United States got to enjoy the forest system and we would, in return, [IN RETURN FOR UNNECESSARILY KILLING THE TIMBER INDUSTRY]get money for our schools and roads. But around 15 years ago the values in our society changed. [SOCIETY CHANGED? HOW ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL WHACKO EXTREMISM BEING SUPPORTED BY CONGRESS AND SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF BRAINWASHING IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. It's been a well-planned, well-orchestrated change.]
• Wyden Wants New Investigation Of Donald Rumsfeld.   (Bloomberg) [Will McCain cross the isle again on this also and side with the Democrats?]
DeFazio, Others Seek Pelosi's Support for Timber Safety Net Expansion.   (NR Today)

Creswell:  Officials Discuss Reopening Of Mill.  Representatives of fire-damaged Bald Knob Veneer Co. met Wednesday with nine officials from state, county and city agencies who offered to help the plant resume operations as quickly as possible. (RG)

OR Version of USDA Inspection Service Could Boost Cattle Industry?  ...surveying Oregon ranchers and beef processors about the idea. Depending on the response, beef industry officials could put a proposal in front of lawmakers early next year to create the Oregon-equivalent of the USDA seal of approval. (Biz Journal)


• Anemic First-Quarter Earnings for Oregon's Eight Major Health Insurance Companies.   (Portland Business J.)
• OR Wants $82-M from Adidas.   (Oregonian)
• Claim:   Central Oregon Homeless Count Jumps 29%.  Homeless Leadership Coalition provided the information collected... (KTVZ)
• Timber Bill Failure a Set-Up Deal?   Timber vs oil. (Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press)   [Kill one industry and make the other pay for it and in the process criminalize oil industry some more.]