Free Republic

Kent Couch of Bend, Oregon hopes to fly to Idaho (on July 5th) in his lawn chair that's lifted aloft by party balloons. Each year Kent Couch has tried to fly to Idaho, he's improved his experimental aircraft. This year, he'll add more balloons and more water. He'll tie 150 - 160 helium filled balloons to a lawn chair along with jugs totaling 55 gallons of water. To fly higher, he empties containers of water and th fly lower he pops balloons. Couch will launch from Bend and plans to be in the air 15 hours to hopefully reach Moscow,...

THE distraught mother of a young Irishman shot dead by a policeman in the United States broke down in tears yesterday as she revealed how she had been left "begging for information" on how he met his violent death. Andrew Hanlon (20), who had travelled to the US a year ago to stay with his sister in Silverton, Oregon, was killed by a police officer responding to a burglary on Monday night. Neighbours reported several shots were fired. His heartbroken mother, Dorothea Hanlon-Carroll, from Dundrum, Dublin, was yesterday being comforted by three of her children as they tried to come...

America is falling apart. Literally. From highways to bridges to plumbing to telecommunications, we are not keeping up with our national maintenance chores. Our highways are crumbling. Just maintaining them as they are would cost up to 40 cents a gallon more in gas taxes over the next five years. And that would do nothing to meet the increased demand; highway travel and hours stuck in traffic have both grown by about 25 percent in the past 10 years. Remember that bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis last summer? More than one-quarter of U.S. bridges -- including one-quarter of Oregon's --...

The Oregon Health Plan:The Reality of When the Government Runs Health Care "Elect me and your health care problems will all be over." The people of Oregon fell for that line almost 20 years ago. Expecting Utopia, what they got was a reality check: long lines for a lottery to pick who's covered and suicide coverage--instead of cancer drugs. In 1989. Oregon became the second State, after Hawaii, to attempt complete medical coverage of it's citizens. It has not gone as planned. In fact, it seems to be approaching disaster. Within a few years: In early 2003, the Oregon Health...

Barack Obama's name is likely to help several Democratic candidates down ballot, but what about a Republican? Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans, is stressing his history of working with the presumptive Democratic nominee in a new campaign ad hitting airwaves Tuesday....

With two-thirds of Oregon county governments, including Lane County, facing financial crises, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Monday urged residents to accept modest local property tax increases and more logging on federal forests to help stave off deep cuts in county law enforcement and other critical services. Those steps are just two of 54 recommendations in a task force report delivered to the governor on Monday. Kulongoski commissioned the report last year to address the imminent loss of about $238 million in annual federal timber payments, including $47 million a year to Lane County. The top recommendation was for Oregon...

Thank you for contacting me about the escalating price of gasoline and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. I appreciate hearing from you. Currently, about 67 percent of the oil consumed in the U.S. is imported, 33 percent is produced here at home. Experts project that this trend will continue for many years. While it sounds logical to just say that if we produce more here at home, then we'll have to import less, in reality, if the only U.S. policy is to more rapidly deplete our own reserves by drilling for oil here at home, we will become more dependent...

Oregon law may protect Followers of Christ membersThe painful and apparently preventable faith-healing death of a 16-year-old Oregon City boy this week brings the secretive Followers of Christ Church back under legal scrutiny, just four months after the boy's infant niece died in similar circumstances. But unlike the girl's death, which resulted in criminal mistreatment and manslaughter charges against her mother and father, Oregon law may protect the parents of Neil Jeffrey Beagley, who under state statute was old enough to make his own medical decisions. Beagley died Tuesday at his grandmother's home, a week after first complaining of stomach...

Drivers Locking Gas Tanks To Protect 'Liquid Gold' By HELEN JUNG[Portland, OR] -- These days "fill 'er up" is increasingly followed by "lock 'er down." With gasoline prices soaring, motorists are snatching up locking gas caps to keep thieves out of their tanks. But the clamor for locking lids is triggering shortages. "We're out," said Mike Halvorson, Internet manager of Baxter Auto Parts, which has 35 stores in California, Oregon and Washington. "We're not going to get any until the end of the month." The chain has more than 5,000 gas caps on back order, Halvorson said, with about 500...

The Register-Guard newspaper is cutting 30 jobs because of what its publisher describes as an unprecedented shortfall in revenue. Publisher Tony Baker said Wednesday that newspaper revenues have been $300,000 to $400,000 below budget projections each month this year because of the weak economy and a rise in newsprint prices. Baker said 13 vacant positions will not be filled, and the newspaper is offering buyout and early retirement incentives. If the company does not meet its payroll reduction target through those options, layoffs will be necessary. The Register-Guard currently has about 260 full-time employees. The cuts at the Eugene newspaper...

An Oregon City fourth grader missed her last day of school Friday because she shared a lip cream with two classmates. Madison McFadden attends Redland elementary. She said she didn’t know she was breaking school rules. Madison says it all began the day before school got out when students were cleaning out their desks. Related Content More education news More Oregon news She found a medicated, over the counter, lip cream called “abreva” in her desk. It’s a cold sore medication and can numb up an area. A classmate asked her what it was and wanted Madison to share. She...

CHARLESTON, Ore. — It turns out the fate of Charlie the Tuna of Charleston, Ore., was sorry indeed. The 8-foot Monterey cypress sculpture that used to greet visitors to the coastal fishing town was filleted by two young men who stole it as a prank and then, panicked they would be found out, took chain saws to it. Not that Charlie would have lasted much longer anyway, the town learned, what with the way bugs and rot had hollowed out his innards. The statue stood beside the South Slough Bridge into Charleston until Mark Santos and Marvin Terry Jr. swiped...

GLIDE, Ore. — Aaron Wyckoff didn’t start to panic until his .45-caliber pistol quit firing, and the bear kept chewing on his arm. So, he recalls, he tried to pull the bear’s jaws apart. Then he tried to roll down the ridge where he and the bear were wrestling. But the bear grabbed his calf, pulled him back and went for his groin. Wyckoff said he countered by shoving his pistol and his hand into the bear’s mouth. But by then, the struggle in the Cascade Range in Southern Oregon attracted the attention of Wyckoff’s party, and other hunters rushed...

County says landowner has invested enough to subdivide his property but draws the line at actual home construction Benton County Commissioners on Tuesday decided that landowner Charlie Fischer had spent enough on subdividing his property to allow him to finish creating housing lots — but not to permit construction of the houses. The Commission was split 2 to 1 on the decision. Commissioners Jay Dixon and Linda Modrell agreed that Fischer had met at least one threshold to be considered vested in the project. Annabelle Jaramillo dissented. “Mr. Fischer is caught between Measures 37 and 49, and so are we,”...

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'Everybody rise,' and we rose, and I thought for just a second 'Oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' -...

They are in the news all the time: "WASHINGTON – Defenders of Wildlife today welcomed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)." "WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A coalition of conservation groups lodged a complaint today in Federal District Court in San Francisco challenging the Bush administration's new rules for managing the nation's 192 million acre National Forest System, a magnificent network of forests and grasslands in 42 states that encompasses 8 percent of the country." "Defenders of Wildlife Lawsuit Seeks Information on Border Patrol Activities...

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'everybody rise' and we rose and I thought for just a second 'oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' - but...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon wrestlers have gone to court to save their program from being eliminated so the university can restore its baseball team. "We don't want to see this program go away," said Ron Finley a former Oregon wrestling coach and now director of the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation. The foundation is one of the main supporters of a lawsuit filed last Friday in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem by Equity in Athletics Inc., a nonprofit coalition of athletes, coaches, parents, alumni and fans. The complaint seeks a preliminary injunction to maintain the wrestling program while hearings...

With Schumacher Furs and Outerwear gone, animal-rights activists say they are working to drive downtown Portland's last remaining fur salon out of business. Saturday protests led by a fledgling group called the Portland Animal Defense League outside Nicholas Ungar Furs at 1137 S.W. Yamhill St. have intensified in recent weeks. The next one is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today. Unlike the rancorous 15-month campaign against Schumacher's, which activists insisted was about education and outreach, the group says the prime objective this time is ridding downtown of "an outdated industry." "Basically 20 years ago, there were about 20 full-service fur salons,"...

Thomas—who changed sex ten years ago but kept his ovaries and womb so he could have children—told us: "I feel on top of the world. "I'm 36 weeks now and almost due but I feel fantastic. Every day Nancy a nd I think about how we just cannot wait to hold our daughter for the first time, to finally get to touch her and see her face. "We have her nursery ready and her diapers are lined up in her bedroom. Everything is ready to go. "We have even picked a name which we both love—although we're waiting until she...

Metro doesn't dismiss a Portland-to-Vancouver "mega-bridge" with up to 12 lanes A divided Metro Council on Thursday endorsed building a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River that will extend light-rail transit into Vancouver from Portland, require tolls to cross and have room for pedestrians and bicyclists. The 5-2 decision, after a six-hour public hearing, did not specify how many lanes the bridge should have. Rather, it established Metro's position on what may be the region's costliest public works project in a generation. Also, it rejected a proposal to back off from what critics called an unnecessary "mega-bridge" solution....

Some long-time eBay users are rebelling against policy changes at the on line auction company -- they've gone as far as loosely organizing an international boycott. EBay trading rules have changed recently and many eBay sellers don't like them. They claim the new rules threat the small time sellers who built eBay into a multi-billion dollar company. Around 47,000 people have signed an online pledge to boycott eBay until the company changes its new trading policies. “Our collective belief as eBay users is that eBay wants to get rid of the small time sellers that built eBay, said Ann Smith...

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060402.html SALEM, Oregon, June 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lung cancer patient, Barbara Wagner, was recently notified that her oncologist-prescribed medication that would slow the growth of cancer would not be covered by the Oregon Health Plan; the plan, however, she was informed, would cover doctor-assisted suicide should she wish to kill herself.

SALEM, Oregon, June 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lung cancer patient, Barbara Wagner, was recently notified that her oncologist-prescribed medication that would slow the growth of cancer would not be covered by the Oregon Health Plan; the plan, however, she was informed, would cover doctor-assisted suicide should she wish to kill herself. "Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan," read the letter notifying Wagner of the health plan's decision. Wagner says she was shocked by the decision. "To say to someone,...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Radical environmentalist Tre Arrow on Tuesday pleaded guilty to arson charges as part of a deal with prosecutors that will keep him behind bars for more than two years. Arrow, who legally changed his name from Michael Scarpitti, was charged with firebombing three cement trucks at Ross Island Sand & Gravel in Portland and setting fire to logging trucks and a tractor near Estacada. On his Web site, the 34-year-old said recently he did not want to risk receiving a life prison sentence and called the plea deal an offer he "couldn't refuse." On Tuesday, he entered...

PORTLAND, Ore. - An environmental activist and former fugitive who once won thousands of votes in a congressional election pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges under a deal that would send him to prison for two years. Tre Arrow, 34, pleaded guilty to the destruction of concrete-mixing trucks in Portland in April 2001 and to firebombing logging trucks at a contested logging sale near Mount Hood in June 2001. He had faced up to 40 years in prison if convicted of two counts of arson. In a separate case, a radical environmentalist who helped federal officials round up a militant...

The activist pleads guilty in two arsons and will serve at the Sheridan federal prisonTre Arrow, a radical environmentalist who was once one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of arson. Appearing before U.S. District Judge James Redden, Arrow agreed to serve to 78 months in federal prison, with credit for time served since March 2004 in jails in Canada and the United States. Arrow, who will be formally sentenced Aug. 12, will serve about two years and four months at the Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution. His sentence could be further reduced by 54 days...

Barack Obama's appeal to his legions of enthusiasts rests in no small in their hearts. And where the heart is concerned, myths, images, and archetypes work their wonders on the nonrational faculties of the mind. The biggest Phony-Op of the election season so far was that giant riverfront photo in Portland, Oregon with "the masses" yelling their lungs out, as if for a messianic King. Or at least we may make that sort of association. Archetypal Phony-Ops make for powerful unconscious media manipulation, and there will be a lot of them coming up. So this is a head's up if...

PORTLAND, OR – Police officers in Portland, Oregon, are still waiting for an apology from Barack Obama after campaign staffers of his recent rally in Portland, Oregon, setup porta potties directly on top of the Portland Police Memorial, which honors the agency’s 25 fallen police officers. The Obama rally drew a crowd of over 75,000 people. Officer Thomas Brennan, who was working overtime at the rally, took a picture of the offending toilets, with the American flag still at half mast because of Police Officers Memorial Day, directly behind them. The local law enforcement memorial service had been held at...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Not every neighborhood in this city is one of those Northwest destinations where passion for espresso, the environment and plenty of exercise define the cultural common ground. A few places are still described as frontiers, where pioneers move because prices are relatively reasonable, the location is convenient and, they say, they “want the diversity.” Yet one person’s frontier, it turns out, is often another’s front porch. It has been true across the country: gentrification, which increases housing prices and tension, sometimes has racial overtones and can seem like a dirty word. Now Portland is encouraging black and...

Globally Warm Schools by: Santiago Leon, May 28, 2008 As Global Warming becomes an issue in people’s lives, it has also become part of school’s curricula. I recently learned that my boss’s son had an assignment and quiz in his Spanish class on Global Warming. In many of the questions students had to translate sentences from Spanish to English but with a Global Warming theme. They even had to watch Al Gore’s movie, “Inconvenient Truth,” which has been a part of several school courses. Teaching Global Warming in schools is widespread across the nation, especially providing materials like Gore’s film,...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Tre Arrow, a radical environmentalist who was once one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, has announced on his Web site he has accepted a plea deal on federal arson and conspiracy charges. Arrow had entered a not guilty plea. His attorney, Paul T. Loney, confirmed on Wednesday Arrow “is changing his plea” and a hearing date has been set for next Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney's office in Portland did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Arrow, 34, who has legally changed his name from Michael Scarpitti, is charged in a 14-count federal indictment with helping to...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland police officers have asked for an apology after they said organizers of a Barack Obama rally set up Porta-Potties on a memorial honoring fallen officers. Earlier this month, 75,000 people gathered in Waterfront Park in downtown Portland to hear Obama speak at a pre-primary rally. Officer Thomas Brennan, a seven-year veteran with the Portland Police Bureau, said he was happy to help at the rally after being called in on his day off. "On short notice, a lot of people had to cancel trips. But they were glad to do it," Brennan said. "It was very...

Seems the fantastic Obama rally was not what the media said it was. I know nothing of such things but what the media failed to say in all this is that much of the crowd was drawn to a free concert by the Decemberists. They are a popular, disgusting Indie band only an Oregonian could love. Known for playing the Soviet National Anthem before their concerts. What a quaint little story behind the story.

Lower Ethanol Mileage Means Biofuel Users Buy More Gas By GAIL KINSEY HILL   Sherman Harris, owner of Snappy's Gas & Grocery in Vancouver, Wash., offers gas with no ethanol at his 76 station. (Photo by Doug Beghtel)     PORTLAND, Ore. — When ethanol began flowing into Oregon fuel tanks early this year, its costly little secret was scarcely mentioned: It packs one-third less explosive energy than gasoline and so reduces vehicle mileage on the road.Oregon requires a 10 percent blend with gasoline, known as E10, which cuts mileage by 3 percent, according to official estimates. That costs you...

Barack Obama's massive pre-primary rally in Portland, OR, was aided in no small part by the appearance of an uber-hip band. Their gimmick? They start each performance with the Soviet national anthem.It appears that many of the 75,000 “Obama worshipers” in Portland last weekend really turned up to see a free concert by an uber-hip Portland band, the [1] Decemberists (see photo below). Of course, the MSM didn’t report this fact because it might dampen the story of the new and wonderful miracle of the Obamessiah. Most media reports were reminiscent of the style the Soviet poets used to glorify...

The Decemberists, the Indie rock band that opened for Barack Obama's Portland, Ore., rally on Sunday that drew an estimated 75,000, often opens its own shows with the National Anthem of the now-defunct Soviet Union, according to Wikipedia. In its entry on the Decemberists, Wikipedia further explains: "The band's use of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union, as an introduction at many concerts has sparked controversy as it is seen by some as an endorsement of the repressive Soviet system. The name Decembrist refers to an 1825 revolt over the Imperial Russian succession, and is not related to the...

There's certainly no effective liberal, let alone left, presence in mainstream American politics any more. The political primary season, now in its final throes, has resoundingly buttressed this fact, albeit disguising the process by the crafty expedient of making a black man the all-but-certain Democratic nominee. Take the scene in Portland, Oregon last Monday, on the eve of a vote in that north-western state which sent Barack Obama one step further in formally clinching the Democratic nomination. How did Hillary Clinton try to remind Oregonians of her claims to be the authentic representative of white working-class America, without whose votes...

The guy's a perpetual gaffe machine. Let us count the ways, large and small that his tongue has betrayed him throughout the campaign: Last may, he claimed that tornadoes in Kansas killed a whopping 10,000 people. ... Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go." ... And in perhaps the most seriously troubling set of gaffes of them all, Obama told a Portland crowd over the weekend that Iran...

Karl Rove, now a political analyst and contributor for Fox News, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal, believes the Democratic nomination will go to Sen. Barack Obama, but Rove is amazed that Obama can’t put Hillary Clinton away. “It’s awfully close,” he told the cast of "Fox & Friends" this morning on the Fox News Channel, “and yet, he can’t put it away,” Rove says. “I think what [Obama] saw in Oregon was the rumor that the polls were closing, and that‘s why he spent most of last weekend in Oregon rather than going on the offensive and trying to...

Outlook 1. Sen. Hillary Clinton's landslide primary victory Tuesday over Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky is cause for at least a little Republican cheer in a bleak political landscape, despite Obama’s healthy win in Oregon.There is substantial voter rejection of Obama, with half of Kentucky's Democrats (as reflected in exit polls) saying they cannot vote for Obama in November. 2. Obama's quasi-victory speech from Iowa Tuesday night was intended to accelerate the impression he has been trying to make for the last month: that the fight for the nomination is really over, and it is time for Democrats to turn...

Councilman Sam Adams easily won the Portland mayoral race, making this city the largest in the U.S. to ever elect an openly gay mayor. Adams avoided a November runoff, with 58 percent of the votes after more than 80 percent of the ballots were counted Tuesday night. Businessman Sho Dozono had 34 percent and almost a dozen minor candidates split the rest. Adams, 44, said his main goals are improving the economy, reducing the dropout rate in schools and preparing for an influx of people to the region

The Decemberists, the Indie rock band that opened for Barack Obama's Portland, Ore., rally on Sunday that drew an estimated 75,000, often opens its own shows with the National Anthem of the now-defunct Soviet Union, according to Wikipedia.

PORTLAND — When sonar surveys spotted a vast pile of rubble in the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam a few months ago, officials suddenly worried that part of the dam structure was eroding into the river. "Everybody said, 'Oh my gosh, we need to get divers out there right away,' " recalled Dennis Schwartz, a fisheries biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the dam. What they found below the spillways in February was not a giant pile of rock at all, but a humongous pile of thousands upon thousands of sturgeon — some of them 14 feet...

Turns out that Obama's opening act at the megarally was The Decemberists, a hugely popular indie rock band, which typically opens their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem. How odd that the MSM didn't tell us that a few of the 75K in attendance may have come for the tunes. And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem? The concert went for 45 minutes and was widely pitched on Facebook etc. But did the band trim their act to make it Obama-appropriate? BTW: Here's an except of an interview with the band's guitarist: We’re a city magazine,...

Republican Kevin Mannix's last-minute attack on his 5th Congressional District primary opponent Mike Erickson failed to do the trick. Erickson defeated Mannix in a race that ended with allegations of dishonesty and hypocrisy over Erickson's anti-abortion position that were disclosed just nine days before ballots were due. "I'm glad we ran a positive campaign," Erickson said. "I think voters made a clear statement. They're tired of the politics of personal destruction."

Fox News Projects Barack Obama wins Democratic Primary in Oregon......

Free Rock Concert Preceded Big Obama Rally in Portland Hugh Hewitt just told me that right before Obama addressed that huge crowd in Portland, the indie rock band the Decemberists played a free 45-minute concert. Now, I'm sure Obama would draw a big crowd either way, but wasn't that worth mentioning in the coverage? From Wikipedia: "Named both in reference to the Russian Decembrist Revolt (which may explain its use of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union as an introduction at many concerts)..." Lovely. I wonder if they played, "Sixteen Military Wives." The video depicts a bully named "Henry...

Hillary Clinton scored a consolation win in Tuesday's Kentucky primary, but Barack Obama remained on course to surpass a milestone toward the Democrats' White House nomination.The former first lady was projected to be the big winner in the bourbon and horseracing state of Kentucky, whose blue-collar voters and older women formed the same kind of pro-Clinton coalition seen in other states.The New York senator vowed anew never to give up until after the closely fought Democratic primary season ends on June 3."It's not just Kentucky bluegrass that's music to my ears. It's the sound of your overwhelming vote of confidence...

Another overwhelmingly white state backed Hillary Clinton with a landslide victory early today. The former First Lady won by as much as 30 points in Kentucky just a week after she trounced Barack Obama by 41 per cent in West Virginia. Seven in ten white Kentucky voters sided with Mrs Clinton, according to exit polls. The carbon copy triumph in a southern state dominated by rural, low income families once again highlights fears that Mr Obama has failed to win over key white voters. But it did little to dent the Illinois senator's almost invincible lead in the race for...