Posted inCity Council City of Salem Police reform

Setback for Salem mental health crisis response team

Led by Vanessa Nordyke, last June the Salem City Council appropriated $135,000 for a mental health crisis response team similar to the CAHOOTS program that has been a big success in Eugene -- where a medic and crisis worker handle about 17% of the police department's call volume, saving about $12 million a year at a cost of about $2.1 million a year. But now the Salem project is on life support, according to a Salem Reporter story, "Salem, United Way halt plans for mental health crisis responder program."  The city of Salem paused its plans to start a program…
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Posted inUncategorized

350 Salem OR’s TOP TEN Climate Action Strategies

Nicely done, Salem branch of the 350 climate action organization that advocates for reducing carbon pollution as much and as rapidly as possible. Below are the top ten climate action strategies that 350 Salem OR submitted to the City Council as a public comment in advance of last Monday's work session on the Salem Climate Action Plan. This is how their web site introduced the strategies. To meet the Salem City Council’s goal of a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2035 it is critical that the City focus on the most effective reduction strategies immediately, particularly related to…
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Posted inOregon politics

GOP state legislature walkout over redistricting likely tomorrow

Oregon Republicans absolutely love to walk out of the state legislature to deny a quorum when they're unable to get their way. Which is often, since this is a blue state with Democrats firmly in control. The current GOP hissy-fit is about House Speaker Tina Kotek changing the agreement she made with Republicans to have a 3-3 Democrat-Republican split on the House Redistricting Committee. That deal gave Republicans veto power over maps to redistrict both legislative and congressional seats following the 2020 census. At the time I thought what Kotek did was a bad idea. Recently I wrote a post,…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Environment

City Council needs to strengthen Climate Action Plan

I admire how the Salem Breakfast on Bikes blogger told it like it is in a recent post about the Salem Climate Action Plan that's up for discussion by the City Council on Monday. This is a devastating criticism from someone who knows what he's talking about. The Breakfast on Bikes blogger has followed progress on the Climate Action Plan much more closely than I have, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been a longtime crusade for him. So when he says it's a dud, the City Council needs to wake up and pay attention. There's still time to alter…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem

Planned Parenthood doesn’t want counter-protests or protests at its health centers

Here in Salem, the so-called "The Church at Planned Parenthood - Salem OR" has been holding anti-abortion protests (which they call services) at the Planned Parenthood health center on Wolverine Street NE.  I said so-called because Awakening Ministries is the group behind The Church at Planned Parenthood -- which basically is a national group that local churches can become a franchise of. I'm an atheist who supports a woman's right to choose an abortion. So I strongly oppose what The Church at Planned Parenthood (TCAPP) is trying to accomplish through its services/protests.  However, that group has a right to protest…
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Posted inNational politics

Quiz: see which party you’d belong to if America had six

If you'd like to know where you'd find a political home if the United States had six political parties, take the 20-question quiz in a New York Times opinion piece, "Quiz: If America Had Six Parties, Which Would You Belong To?" I ended up in the New Liberal Party. Based on a survey of 5,000 voters who answered the same 20 questions, here's the estimate of where the American electorate would end up if we had these six parties. The first three are left-leaning. The next three are right-leaning. Progressive Party -- 14%New Liberal Party -- 26%American Labor Party --…
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Posted inCoronavirus

On 9/11, let’s remember the 659,556 Covid deaths

This isn't exactly a politically correct sentiment, but it's how I feel. There should be a statute of limitations on mourning the 2,996 people who died in the 9/11 attack twenty years ago. I say this because our country has a nasty habit of getting all emotional about the wrong things. Or to put it differently, not getting all emotional about the right things.  Yes, it was a tragedy that so many people died and suffered as a result of the 9/11 attack. But the current number of Covid deaths in the United States is 659,556 -- 220 times the…
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Posted inNational politics

Can anyone defend the Texas “bounty” anti-abortion law?

I've got a question for anyone who favors the recently-enacted Texas law that allows private citizens to seek $10,000 in civil court from anyone who provides an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, aids someone in getting an abortion, or even intends to seek an abortion. Why do you think this law is a good idea? Before you answer, "Because it bans almost all abortions in Texas," consider the implications of what you're saying. There's no doubt that the law is unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that abortion is legal in all 50 states until a fetus can…
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Posted inOregon politics

Oregon Democrats should hang tough with redistricting map

There are times to play nice, and there are times to play tough. When it comes to drawing a new map of Oregon's six congressional districts following the 2020 census -- we get an additional seat due to population growth -- it's definitely a time for Democrats to play tough.  After all, in states where they're in control of redistricting, Republicans are going all-out to draw maps that are gerrymandered to ensure that GOP candidates win as many seats as possible. Republican politicians even have said that redistricting alone is going to guarantee a Republican takeover of the House of…
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Posted inNational politics

Texas abortion ban excites American “Taliban”

Today could mark the beginning of the end for abortions in much of the United States. This is horrible news for the majority of Americans who support a woman's right to choose.  But the fervent anti-abortion minority are rejoicing in a Texas law going into effect which effectively bans abortions, since the law forbids the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most women even know they're pregnant. Providers said the ban — which relies on private citizens to sue people who help women get forbidden abortions — effectively eliminates the guarantee in Roe v. Wade and subsequent…
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Posted inWokeness

If you hate free speech, you’ll love Let’s Discuss Salem

If you're a reasonable person who isn't wild about political correctness/cancel culture and supports free speech, probably you haven't had direct experience with excessively "woke" people on the far left of the political spectrum who (1) aren't reasonable, (2) absolutely love political correctness/cancel culture, and (3) don't support free speech. But if you want a glimpse of how Salem's Woke Police treat reasonable people like you and me, below are Facebook messages exchanged today between me and Shaundi Wuleigh, who founded a recently-formed Let's Discuss Salem Facebook group that I became a member of.  (Based on what I know now,…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown

Who wants an Amazon store in the JC Penney building?

I admire fellow progressives with social media death wishes. In these politically correct times, it took some guts for Jim Scheppke to post this on the Salem City Council Facebook page, which leans decidedly liberal in its readership. (Note: this page is just where City Council-related stuff is discussed; it has no official connection with the City Council.) Of the 74 comments, there only were a few supporting an Amazon store. Most were along the lines of Amazon being a corporate devil that makes drivers piss in bottles while working warehouse employees to death and killing retail stores all across the…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem

Salem Climate Action Plan lacks urgency

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there's no time to waste. Everything I read about global warming is scary. The Earth's climate is changing for the worse considerably faster than scientists expected as little as a few years ago.  So everybody -- nations, states, cities, government, businesses, individuals -- we all have to do our part to keep our one and only planet habitable for humans and other life forms.  This month USA Today had a story, "Local climate plans a key to progress." Download Local climate plans a key to progress - USA TODAY Over the past three…
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Posted inPolitical correctness

I get cited by Salem’s Woke Police

For a long time I thought that being "woke" always was a positive thing. Sure, conservatives warned of the danger of liberal political correctness, but by and large I thought that fear was overblown. I still believe that it is better to be overly concerned about racism, sexism, nationalism, and other nasty "ism's" than under concerned.  However, a balance needs to be struck between awareness of social problems affecting minorities and other historically oppressed groups, and an overzealous righteousness where perceived affronts to social justice are criticized in an absurd fashion. Here's a couple of examples of how I've been…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Painful truth: Afghanistan was a mostly useless war

Recently I've seen interviews with veterans of the twenty-year Afghanistan war where the interviewer says at some point, "Thank you for your service; it wasn't in vain." Not true. It was mostly in vain. So were the 2,448 deaths of American service members, the 66,000 deaths of Afghan military and police, the 47,245 deaths of Afghan civilians, the 444 deaths of aid workers, and the 44 deaths of journalists. I realize that it's really tough to admit that a war which cost the United States over 2 trillion dollars and caused so many deaths was a big mistake -- at…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Biden critics are ignoring key Afghanistan facts

It's pile-on Biden time. Naturally Republicans are criticizing how the Afghanistan pullout is being handled. That's to be expected. But many Democrats, along with mainstream media like CNN, MSNBC, and Washington Post/New York Times opinion writers, also are falling all over themselves in their eagerness to roast Biden over the Afghanistan coals. I find this unfair. Like I said a few days ago, "Afghanistan is horrible, but Biden is doing right thing." What I've learned since only makes me more confident that while our withdrawal hasn't been perfect -- what in life is? -- there's little evidence that the Biden…
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Posted inCoronavirus

Courthouse Club Fitness being lax about masks

Back in November 2020 I was deeply disappointed when John Miller, the owner of Courthouse Club Fitness here in Salem, defied Governor Brown's order for gyms to close for two weeks because COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were rising so rapidly in Oregon. (See "Courthouse Club Fitness defies Governor's order to close for two weeks") Starting yesterday, August 13, 2021, Governor Brown has mandated mask-wearing in indoor public spaces due to... COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising so rapidly in Oregon. As the familiar saying goes, it's deja vu all over again.  Well, one personal difference is that in November 2020 I…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Police Department

A surprising conclusion from my City of Salem public record requests

After the May 1 gun rights rally at Salem's Riverfront Park where the Proud Boys provided insecurity by intimidating citizens, who included a journalist, I submitted several public record requests to the City of Salem. One sought information regarding how it was that up until April 30, the city web site said permits would be required for events in parks beginning May 1, yet the gun rally didn't have a permit.  Another requested documents about communications regarding the gun rally between City Manager Steve Powers, Police Chief Trevor Womack, and Public Works Director Peter Fernandez.  In the end I learned…
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Posted inCity of Salem

Events in Salem parks may face tougher rules

There's good reason to say that some of the recommendations of the Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (SPRAB) could be called "Proud Boys" rules.  After all, the May 1 gun rights rally at Riverfront Park, where the Proud Boys provided security (better termed insecurity), wasn't a shining example of how events in Salem parks should be conducted.                                                                                     …
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Posted inCoronavirus

Deeply irritating: I’m wearing a mask at the gym

Thanks for nothing, unvaccinated people in Salem and the rest of Marion County. Because of you, I've starting wearing a mask when I exercise at Courthouse Club Fitness. This selfie I took in the circuit weight training room today isn't very flattering. But the gloomy old man look did mirror my mood, since I much prefer not wearing a mask while using the Stairmaster or lifting weights. I wasn't alone. Several other older people were wearing masks. First time I've seen this since rejoining the club after it appeared that Covid was in a marked decline in our area. But…
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