Mitch McConnell's soul makes sewer backups in the meat packing district seem like pure mountain springs

Reforming the Electoral College with National Popular Vote!

If you care about reforming the Electoral College, you can make a real difference with just a few minutes of your time.

Right now the Oregon Legislature is considering HB 2927, a bill to join the National Popular Vote compact, and it's passing depends on whether lawmakers hear from voters like you about how important it is.

Please ask your Oregon lawmakers to support National Popular Vote!

https://secure2.convio.net/comcau/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2146&sp_ref=313357425.214.181571.e.0.2&s_subsrc=taf_email

Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay

Salem's Strategic Planning: The most important goal we could adopt: Make Salem a "Car Optional City"

First, it serves as a reminder that there are millions and perhaps tens of millions of households in the United States without the financial wherewithal to sustain personal ownership of a reliable motor vehicle (and many others for which it is a great financial burden). It is not entirely “the economy, stupid” that determines whether low-income households can “afford” to purchase a car, it is also the willingness of Wall Street to extend credit in ways that put the monthly payment within reach. One can have many views on how this situation came to be and what to do about it, but the fact remains that we have created a transportation/land use system in which millions of people feel the need to purchase something they cannot afford in order to achieve a bare minimum level of participation in the economy and society. That’s absurd, and it is root of the problem. The suburbanization of poverty, job sprawl, and poor public transit service only threaten to make this worse. . . . 

Second, the experience of the last few years is a reminder that building a less car-dependent transportation system is a necessity not just for the environment, our health and the effective functioning of our cities and towns, but also for the financial health of American households. Relieving as many households as possible of the obligation to own a vehicle is an urgent project. The wealth of new technologies and tools available in transportation – along with tried and true measures such as good public transportation and access to low-cost travel via biking and walking – can provide access to convenient, affordable mobility to a wider variety of people. Public policy over the last 75 years has contributed to creating a country in which most people feel the need to own a car. Smart public policies can help give people other choices.

from "What Comes After the Auto Bubble" by Tony Dutzik, Senior Policy Analyst for Frontier Group

 http://www.frontiergroup.org/blogs/blog/fg/what-comes-after-auto-bubble

Mark Your Calendar for Salem Cinema, 6/20, 7:30 p.m.

 

http://salemcinema.com/nowshowing.html

REEL Change Film Screening:   The Slow Way Home 

Salem, OR -  Marion County Health Department and Salem Cinema present a Reel Change For Our Community documentary screening of The Slow Way Home to benefit local biking and walking efforts in our region.   The screening is being held in partnership with The Northwest Hub, Cherriots Trip Choice, OSU Extension Service, Salem Bicycle Club, Safe Routes to School and Oregon Department of Transportation.

The film illustrates the way families from around the world structure their daily life for children to travel to school.  In Japan, 98 percent of children walk to school every day, unaccompanied by a parent. In the United States, just 13 percent of children walk or bike to school, and most are driven to school by a parent. The Slow Way Home explores this divergence, examining how American families have largely given up on keeping our streets and public spaces safe enough for children, while Japanese communities have mobilized to keep their streets safe and walkable, not only for children but for everyone in society. Seen through both a historical and contemporary framing, The Slow Way Home is an uplifting examination of differences in culture that provides both insight into a distressing trend in American society while simultaneously offering hope for change.

The screening will be shown on Tuesday, June 20th at 7:30 p.m. at the Salem Cinema located at 1127 Broadway NE, Salem, OR.  Seats are $12 in advance or $15 the day of the event.    Tickets are available now at the Salem Cinema box office or online at  www.boxofficetickets.com .

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay"

POWERFUL: Some things speak for themselves, even when the speaker can’t really speak

http://www.samefacts.com/2017/06/health-medicine/some-things-speak-for-themselves-even-when-the-speaker-cant-really-speak/

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay"
Oregon Public Empowerment News (OregonPEN.org)

WORD: Stonekettle Station: The Hubris of Ignorance

http://www.stonekettle.com/2017/04/the-hubris-of-ignorance.html

WORD: Top 20 Percent Of Americans 'Hoard The American Dream' : NPR

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/31/530843665/top-20-percent-of-americans-hoard-the-american-dream