STRONG Salem is for everyone who wants to help and participate in getting Salem, Oregon, to quit chasing Growth Ponzi Scheme plans and instead become a resilient, fiscally responsible place that lives by the wisdom that "Communities exist for the health and enjoyment of those who live in them, not for the convenience of those who drive through them, fly over them, or exploit their real estate for profit."
The cute little hot tub that formerly resided at LOVESalem HQ has gone to a better place -- but it left a big box full of chemical potions and accessories. LOVESalem's Shameless Commerce Division urges you to let anyone you know who has a hot tub or spa about this Craigslist ad.
Cover via AmazonA LOVESalem foreign (upstate NY) correspondent, a former public HS math and science teacher, read this cheerful item that I sent out. His comment speaks volumes about both his sly wit and the deep understanding of our national priorities that teachers perforce acquire these days:I guess it's nice that someone stepped in to help, but I am shocked and depressed that it was necessary.If there was ever a phrase that should go on a bumper sticker, it's that one.
I mean, if we don't fund education, who's going to design the bombs of tomorrow?
Try this: Make a point to give blood on your birthday, to commemorate the gift of life by sharing and expanding it with others, and then just repeat that six times before your next birthday. You'll feel great, and tuck into your birthday supper feeling grateful for yet another reminder that, if you've got health, you're pretty darn well off. And remembering that is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Acting on it and sharing that gift with people with acute trauma or battling serious illness is one of the best gifts you can give everyone else.Jan 19, 2008: LOVESalem reaches the web, bringing a vitally needed message to Oregon's capital city: We must Oregon-ize to put the needs of people before the needs of cars. This requires that we live our environmental values -- that we LOVE (Live Our Values Environmentally) Salem -- by working to stop the Sprawl Machine.
The Sprawl Machine is a ravenous beast that feeds on green space, close-in neighborhoods, and property taxes and that excretes monstrous, ugly road projects that pollute the air, increase mortality and morbidity, promote climate change, weaken families and neighborhoods, and help weaken the social fabric and civic participation.
The Sprawl Machine works by constantly luring its prey with promises that the problems created by cars can be addressed by doing more of the same -- building more lanes, more bridges, consuming ever more money. In other words, the Sprawl Machine promises that we can keep doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result this time.
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