Don't forget, Thursday night, 2/25

Thursday, February 25, 2010, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Straub Environmental Lecture Series: Dr. Michael Skinner

Environment and Disease: The Ghosts in Your Genes

Loucks Auditorium, Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty Street SE, Salem
Dr. Michael Skinner of Washington State University will provide a general overview of endocrine disruptors. He will talk about how his research has shown that environmental factors change the expression of our DNA - but don’t change the underlying DNA sequences - and how these lasting effects can be passed on from generation to generation.

Newspaper stenographer shows why newspapers are collapsing

Photo title: "Verifying dictation." Image by mpujals via Flickr

A story in today's Salem SJ that was meant to give readers a glimpse into how newspapers decide "What is news?" has succeeded far beyond its likely intentions by inadvertently pointing out that, for the corporate-owned press, the critical factor -- the thing that separates a tip from a potential crank and a 'real story' is whether or not the stenographer ... er, reporter ... can find an official source to say something:

The Statesman Journal's interest in Portland General Electric's digital "smart meters" started with a tip from a reader, who blamed a higher-than-expected electric bill on PGE's new, high-tech meters.

Like any allegation, the reader's tip had to be handled with care. Many tips are too flimsy to generate a story, the basic premise and facts are wrong, or they are someone's opinion.

A call to the Oregon Public Utility Commission confirmed that the state agency had taken similar ratepayer complaints about PGE's smart meters.

The number of complaints wasn't large. What made the issue worth a story was the PUC's decision to take a closer look at smart meters and run tests comparing them to the old-style mechanical meters.

In other words, unless the PUC is interested, the newspaper isn't interested.

That perfectly sums up the collapsed state of newspapers today, institutions that once prided themselves on taking nothing on faith now running stories that prove, in their own words, that "reporting" now consists of little more than calling a government official for comment.

If you ever wondered, to take just one of millions of possible examples, how the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sectors were able to inflate colossal bubbles and plunder the world's largest economy without triggering the "watchdogs in the press," now you should understand.

The government at all levels includes a healthy number of people whose primary purpose is to advance the interests of the industry whence they came and plan to return to -- these are the people who answer the calls from the intrepid stenographers of the Fourth Estate and who dutifully parrot the industry line on every matter, thus waving the "reporters" off any stories that industry would prefer not be covered.

UPDATE: an excerpt with a link to this post was removed from the SJ's online comments to the original piece.

March 6: "Our Broken Immigration System: a Civil Conversation"

Our Broken Immigration System:
a Forum to Share Perspectives in a Civil Conversation

Saturday, March 6, 8:30 a.m. –12:30 p.m.
First Congregational United Church of Christ,
700 Marion Street NE, Salem, Oregon (corner of Marion and Cottage Streets)
1st Cong. Office Contact: 503-363-3660

Come join in as we learn and discuss demographic, economic, educational and legal aspects of immigration reform.

Kevin Finney, Forum Moderator
Public Policy Director, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

Speakers

• Bob Bussell, Director of the Labor Education &Research Center, U. of Oregon
• Kurt Muntz and Barbara Ghio, Immigration Attorneys, Salem
• Rebecca Ralston, Bilingual Classroom Teacher, Central Unified School District

Dump your bank -- join a credit union

The banks' attitude captured on film. Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

In addition to hyper reckless behavior that makes blind, drunk guy behind the wheel of a Camaro at 80 mph look sober and responsible, banks are some of the absolute worst miscreants in terms of anti-consumer lobbying. Their racket is so profitable that they think loan sharking is for small-timers, and they intend to keep it that way, with hidden fees, usurious interest rates, and constant lobbying and buying of politicians to grease it all.

In Oregon, the Oregon Banking Association was one of the big givers to the campaigns to defeat Measures 66 & 67 -- apparently the banks are so blinded by greed that they think nothing of campaigning to destroy the social services network.

All good reasons to dump your bank and switch to a credit union, where you're an owner, not a serf.

The Legislature appears to have lost its mind

Groveling before the rich for having dared to pass Measures 66 & 67 apparently, somebody has come up with an absolutely absurd proposal: a big old tax break for the golden parachute set. If the Lege wants to do anything for rich guys getting out of a business, they should do something to encourage the kind of transfer that Bob of Bob's Red Mill engineered for his company, selling it into an employee-stock-ownership plan (ESOP). But the turkey below is --- or should be --- a dead letter.

No Tax Breaks for Golden Parachutes

Tell Chairwoman Burdick to oppose giving another tax break to well-off CEOs.

I can't believe it.

The Oregon House of Representatives just passed a bill that would make "golden parachute" severance packages tax-free up to $500,000 if the applicant agrees to put that money into an Oregon business. This would allow well-healed CEOs to get a tax break of up to $54,000!

However, few working families will be able to save even one penny on their taxes. A recent survey found that 68% of workers did not receive any severance package when laid off.

Right now this special tax break is being quickly pushed through the Oregon Senate Revenue Committee. Proponents of the bill argue that this legislation will help generate jobs by encouraging business growth. It is a well-intentioned idea, but no different from the failed, trickle-down policies of the Bush administration.

Tell Senate Revenue Chair Burdick and her fellow Senators to oppose the "Tax Break for Golden Parachutes Act" today!

http://www.taxfairnessoregon.org/NoGoldenParachutes

While being promoted as a "jobs bill" this new tax break does not require the recipient to create even one job! Oregon has far more effective tools to get unemployed Oregonians working again than another costly tax break for the rich.2

We applaud our legislators for trying to bring back jobs to Oregon, but we should not create more harm than good by repeating the mistakes of the past.

Sincerely,

Noah Heller
Tax Fairness Oregon
Sources:

1. "Half of Workers Who Were Laid Off in the Last Three Months Have Found New Jobs, Reveals Latest CareerBuilder Survey," CareerBuilder, August 5, 2009

2. The Building Opportunities for Oregon Small Business Today Fund (BOOST Fund) gives grants of $2,500 to employers per new full-time job established and offers loans of up to $150,000 for businesses.

Saturday, February 20 -- Seed Sharing!

Image by Satrina0 via Flickr

Greetings,

This is a short turn-around, however we are beginning to ramp up the garden season and have lot of resources to share. This Saturday, from 2-4pm, a few of us are gathering here at MPFS to network and share seeds. It will be our first, but definitely not our last attempt to get together to share resources. If you are interested in connecting with the gardens program, whether by volunteering, leading a project, teaching kids about gardening or just connecting to grow food and have fun, please contact me. The season for gardening is here.

Please check out the new MPFS website to learn about the programs we are creating to put an end to hunger in Marion and Polk Counties. Click HERE to enter the new Food Share website.

Thank you!

Jordan Blake
Sustainable Community Gardens

Mobil: 503.798.0457
Phone: 503.581.3855 x 329
Web: http://www.marionpolkfoodshare.org/
Mail: 1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE, Salem OR 97301

Seen around

"The trouble with internet quotes is that you can never be sure they're accurate.
-- Abraham Lincoln.

Calling all Salem-area career seekers/changers

Not sure of where this is, but it could easily be Eastern Oregon. Image by aja via Flickr

Chemeketa Community College has some important news you should definitely know about:

Chemeketa is offering students a way to transfer many of your Chemeketa classes in the electronics program into a Renewable Energy Technology degree program at Columbia Gorge Community College, a very forward-looking program up there in The Dalles.

The Chemeketa website is too lame to have included this important information which appears in their Spring 2010 catalog, but you can get more information tomorrow or any day by contacting Gene Moore at Chemeketa at gene.moore@chemeketa.edu or by calling him at 503.399.6506.

So if you're a stalled-out young person in Salem who's wondering how in hell you get started on a meaningful career when there don't even seem to be many shit jobs around, or if you're an older person who's trying to find a new career that won't disappear or be outsourced to China or India, this would be a very, very good program to look into and to consider very carefully. Get with a Chemeketa counselor and ask about financial aid -- especially if you are a veteran trying to find a new career.

Cross your fingers for KMUZ grant application!

Salem very much needs a nonprofit community radio station, and the good people behind KMUZ (note much-improved new logo!) are trying to ride to the rescue. Cross your fingers (or cross your fingers and get involved to help too) for their grant application to defray construction costs!

KMUZ-FM, the proposed Salem-area community radio station, has submitted a federal grant request as part of its effort to get the station on the air at 88.5 FM.

Proposed community radio station seeks funds from feds

Thirty-four community groups or individuals, including Salem Art Association, A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village and the League of Women Voters, endorsed the request.

If successful, KMUZ would receive a grant through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Public Telecommunications Facilities Program for $93,000. KMUZ is among hundreds of radio and television stations applying for the grant program. About 50 percent of applicants will succeed; they will be notified in October.

The station has also applied for matching grants from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund and the city of Salem; and it is submitting requests to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Collins Foundation and the Meyer Memorial trust, among others.

The station needs about $200,000 for construction alone, said Jeanine Renne, the grant writer. It also will need to pay rent and utilities.

The station hopes to be on the air by August 2011, serving an area ranging from Albany north to Keizer, and Stayton west to Dallas. The transmitter tower will be in Turner, with a broadcast studio at the Historic Grand Theatre building in downtown Salem.

The station would feature community-generated programming including music, civic events and politics.

Significant for Salem re: Census

TN state prison. Image by Exothermic via Flickr

One of the worst aspects of the War on Americans that is labeled (for PR purposes) as a war on drugs is that it has led to a huge population shift from cities to prisons that are located in (generally) pretty rural areas, where the prisoners are counted as residents for census purposes despite their being unable (in almost every state) to vote.

Thus, a vicious circle of insane drug laws and prison expansion turn into a mutually reinforcing dynamic, where communities that stand to benefit by imprisoning young men from urban areas keep electing politicians who demand ever more draconian sentencing schemes and criminalize even more aspects of life. Prosecutors try to amp up the cycle at every turn, becoming the true kings of the criminal justice system and turning judges into errand boys and bystanders who have no discretion while prosecutors are totally without accountability or balancing incentives.

To add insult to injury, most federal aid programs rely on census data, so in addition to causing over-representation of rural areas where prisons are housed, it diverts federal aid to those communities that is needed even more in the cities where the prisoners come from.

LWV reports that a good first step has been made at the federal level that might help with this problem:

New option for the states on inmates in the Census

The Census Bureau has agreed to release information on prisoner populations to states before they are set to redraw their legislative districts. This would give the states an option in deciding how they count prisoners. Census director Robert Groves made the decision after weeks of discussion with Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., and with public interest and black groups. They called it an important first step toward shifting federal resources and representation back to urban communities, where they believe the aid is needed the most. To read the complete AP article, click here.