Posted inInternational issues

Two well-researched stories show how badly Israel is treating Palestinians

I've said it before, I'm saying it again, and I'll keep on saying it because it is absolutely true: Israel has been treating Palestinians in its occupied territory extremely badly, allowing Jewish right-wing zealots and the military to murder Palestinians, take their property, and deny them equal treatment under the law. So while some of the pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses have gone too far in criticizing Israel, on the whole they've been doing a great service by drawing attention to the infuriating policies of the Netanyahu government, which have gotten more extreme in recent years, yet are a continuation…
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Posted inOregon politics

Corporatization of Oregon health care is a big problem

It's obvious that the health care system here in the United States has major problems. As is heard so often, we spend much more per capita than other comparable countries, but have poorer health. Since I worked in this state as a health planner and policy analyst way back when (1970s and 1980s), I like to joke that I must have done a great job, since now our health care system is problem-free. Of course, the unfunny reality is that the same cost, access, and quality of care problems then are with us now. Plus some. Such as the corporatization…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Salem residents appear to favor a progressive income tax to pay for city services

Thanks to a May 7 story in the Salem Reporter, I learned about the results of a survey that asked 400 Salem residents how they felt about various issues associated with the push to find a way to raise money to pay for City of Salem budget shortfalls.  Here's a PDF file of the survey results.Download City of Salem Funding Survey I scrolled through the results, looking for the issue that seemed most important if city officials are going to succeed in convincing citizens that this (whatever it is) is the best approach to bridge the gap between the services…
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Posted in2024 election

Here’s the local candidates to vote for in the May 2024 election

Salem residents, I urge you to do two things: (1) Cast your ballot in the May 21 Primary Election. Be sure it's postmarked on or before election day, or placed in an official collection box. Postage is paid for.(2) Vote for these local candidates for Mayor and City Council.  Check out their web sites if you want more information about the candidates. Just click on a name. Chris HoyPaul TiganNathan SoltzIrvin BrownVanessa Nordyke
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Posted inInternational issues

Willamette University students protesting Gaza war deserve much praise

Here's my message to the Willamette University students who are occupying a campus building in protest of the horrific death and destruction being inflicted on the people of Gaza by Israel: Like so many student protests of the past, including those I took part in during my own college days (1966-71) in opposition to the Vietnam War, at first many will criticize you as misguided rabble-rousers. Then, with time, history will show that you were right and your critics were wrong. What are you right about? Many things. How Israel is killing tens of thousands of innocent Gaza civilians needlessly.…
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Posted in2024 election Chris Hoy City of Salem

All I know is that a Hoy won the Mayoral Debate

Last Tuesday the Salem Reporter and Salem City Club held a debate between the two candidates for Mayor. One thing is clear: Hoy won. I can say that with complete confidence because the candidates were incumbent Mayor Chris Hoy and his unrelated opponent, Councilor Julie Hoy.  Given Chris' much longer political experience, and his incumbency, I figured that he would dominate the debate. But though I think Chris was sharper and more on point with his answers to questions posed by people from the sponsoring organizations, which earned him a win in my utterly personal opinion, Julie performed better than…
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Posted in2024 election Chris Hoy

Realtors and homebuilders love Julie Hoy for Mayor, not Chris Hoy

There's an almost foolproof way to tell which candidate for Mayor or City Council here in Salem is the most conservative. Check out ORESTAR, Oregon's campaign finance reporting system that's part of the Secretary of State office, and see who is getting contributions from realtor and homebuilder organizations. Whoever they're supporting, that's the conservative candidate. On Facebook this image is being shared by people who favor incumbent Mayor Chris Hoy, a progressive, over his opponent in the May election, Julie Hoy (no relation). Now, being a progressive myself, my sympathies are with the Chris Hoy backers. There's nothing wrong with…
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Posted inInternational issues

Criticizing Israel isn’t anti-semitic. Supporting Palestinians isn’t pro-Hamas.

I can't stand how so many politicians and political observers are calling the demonstrations in support of Palestinians on college campuses "pro-Hamas." That's utterly wrong. It's equally wrong to call criticism of how Israel has been conducting its war in Gaza "anti-semitic."  Back in my college days, I took part in protests against the Vietnam War. The response from conservatives back then was Love it or leave it. Meaning, either love the United States Vietnam War policy, or leave this country. It turned out that we protesters have been vindicated by history. The Vietnam War was pursued under false pretenses…
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Posted in2024 election Chris Hoy

Chris Hoy deserves to be re-elected as Salem Mayor

Ballots for the May 21, 2024 primary election will be mailed on May 1. So it's time to start thinking about who to vote for. Keep in mind that when it comes to local races -- such as Salem mayor and city councilors -- usually the "primary" ends up being the actual election, since a candidate who gets 50% plus at least one additional vote in the primary won't face an opponent in the November general election. There are only two candidates for mayor: Incumbent Chris Hoy, shown above, and Julie Hoy, a city councilor who is unrelated to Chris.…
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Posted inChris Hoy Citizen involvement City of Salem

Citizen activism prevents additional Salem Library cuts. For now.

It's great when elected officials do the right thing, even when they're forced into it by citizen activism. But most of the credit for the city's budget committee voting yesterday to prevent additional cuts to the Salem Public Library by using money from the hotel tax goes to Jim Scheppke and Lois Stark, fervent advocates for the library who did a great job organizing citizens to press for No More Cuts. Without Scheppke and Stark doing what they did, almost surely the West Salem branch would have been closed, with staff and hours at the main library severely curtailed from…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump

Trump falling asleep in court is amusing, yet also disturbing

Donald Trump likes to call President Biden "sleepy Joe." That's one reason I find the reports of Trump falling asleep in court yesterday on the first day of his hush money/campaign finance violation trial so amusing. Forbes has a summary of the reports of Trump's dozing that should put to rest any suspicion that this is fake news. Here's excerpts from "Trump Fell Asleep In Court -- Twice -- Reporters Say." The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman was the first to report on Trump’s seemingly exhausted manner, writing in the Times’ live blog of the trial around 12 p.m.…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City Council City of Salem

Help save the Salem Public Library from ruinous budget cuts

"Help. They're threatening me with grievous harm. I need my friends to defend me, because I can't do it myself." That's what the Salem Public Library would be saying, if it could speak. Since it can't, we library lovers have to do the speaking for the library.  The threat is real. City officials are planning to markedly slash the library budget again, after already making deep cuts in staffing, hours, and services.  NO MORE CUTS. That's the message from Jim Scheppke, retired State Librarian, and Lois Stark, a member of the Library Advisory Board, as you can read below. I've…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Salem Library advocates irked at city proposal to cut hours and staffing further

Library lovers may have a reputation for mildness, but actually they're fierce defenders of what they view as a top priority for City of Salem funding: keeping our libraries (main and West Salem) open a decent number of hours, staffed by a decent number of employees. Jim Scheppke, the retired State Librarian, is a tireless advocate for the Salem Public Library. Here's some recent Facebook posts from Jim. And here's a post from Scheppke about decreasing crime in Salem that is relevant to the library funding question, because "public safety" often is cited as deserving to be the top budget…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Buy stock in DJT, Trump’s media company (if you like to lose money)

In the 1980s my father gifted me some stock in a company he co-founded, thereby assuaging his guilt for ignoring me after he and my mother divorced, causing me to only spend one hour in my life face-t0-face with him aside from my very early years. The company, Systems and Computer Technology Corporation, traded on the NASDAQ as SCTC. That's where Donald Trump's company trades also. Its name is Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation; stock ticker is DJT. Aside from sharing a home on the NASDAQ, there aren't many resemblances between SCTC and DJT. When SCTC went public, the…
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Posted inInternational issues

Israel kills seven World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza. Not an “accident.”

Israel is doing its best to squander the goodwill extended to it after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel.  Since, the Israel Defense Forces, under the incompetent leadership of their despicable Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has killed about 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, two-thirds women and children.  It seems clear that Israel has committed war crimes in response to the war crimes committed by Hamas. So now there's basically a moral equivalency between the horrible things Hamas did to people in Israel on October 7, and the horrible things (on a much larger scale) Israel…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

City officials deny Salem library will be closed, but that was an option from them

I find it amusing when officials at the City of Salem are shocked that the public thinks they're going to do something bad, when that's exactly what was being suggested prior to the public getting outraged about the bad thing happening. Which causes the city officials to go, "No, oh my gosh, how could you ever have thought we'd do that?" Well, in this case the bad thing was completely closing the Salem Public Library. A few days ago the Salem Reporter had a story about the public reaction to this possibility. Salem’s city councilors overwhelmingly said this week they…
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Posted inNational politics

This was the strangest part of Supreme Court hearing on abortion drug

Sometimes I think I should have become a lawyer. Not all that often, thankfully, given that I have no regrets about the educational and career paths that I was led down. But I find legal arguments fascinating. Aside from scientific arguments, they're one of the best ways we humans have of getting closer to the truth. Not perfect, for sure. Just way better than arguing with each other in an unfettered fashion. Yesterday morning, I saw that the Washington Post app on my iPhone was featuring audio of the arguments being made before the Supreme Court about whether the abortion…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Ronna McDaniel shows what’s wrong with the Republican Party

To clarify the title of this blog post, I want to be clear that currently there are lots of things wrong with the Republican Party. For example, the failure to acknowledge the reality that humans are causing global warming and we've got to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible to prevent civilization as we know it from being tossed into the garbage can of history. But there's a common denominator in many, if not most, of the flaws afflicting today's GOP: Donald Trump. Trump, who sows discord and destruction with every step he takes, like a malevolent Johnny…
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Posted inInternational issues

As people die of starvation in Gaza, Israel ignores the famine

I'm a moderate progressive Democrat. I've always considered myself evenly balanced between the plight of Palestinians and the need for Israelis to have a secure homeland.  But given the horrendous way Israel has been carrying out its war with Hamas since the terrorist attacks on October 7 of last year, which has now brought the innocent people in Gaza to the brink of starvation -- more than that, since many already have died from a lack of food -- I never will look upon Israel in the same way again. Israel has squandered the goodwill that virtually the entire world…
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Posted inCity Council

Impossible dream? Truly nonpartisan races for Salem Mayor and City Council

I'm either mellowing out politically in my increasingly old age or have a brain tumor that's preventing me from being my usual fanatically pro-Democrat, pro-progressive self when it comes to local races here in Salem for Mayor and City Council. Heck, let's throw in Salem-Keizer school board elections also. Since I seem to be normal in other regards, leaving aside the difficulty of defining "normal," I'm going to go with the mellowing out option rather than the brain tumor option. What led me to say this? Well, it was looking over the Salem Reporter story by Rachel Alexander and Abbey…
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