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Bluewater42's comments:
on Health Care Changes
Ideally I would like to see a national single-payer system (medicare for all) that covers everyone and decouples health insurance from employment but I know we are some time away from that so I do like to see incremental reforms like ending the anti-trust exemption for health insurance companies, allowing importation of prescription drugs from other countries, and having a medicare buy-in option.
On the state level I'd love to see single-payer or a public option or even a buy-in option to the state medicaid program (Oregon Health Plan).
posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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on Live from Salem
My ideas for making Oregon's budgeting system more stable:
1. Abolish the kicker (both personal and corporate)
2. Implement a balanced budget/PAYGO requirement for all citizen's initiatives so that new spending has to be met with new/more taxes (or less spending in another area) and less taxes (tax cuts) has to be met with spending cuts. People always complain about unfunded mandates but seem to have no problem sending unfunded mandates up to the state (see property tax caps, mandatory minimum sentences, numerous ballot measures to abolish the state estate tax, and general dysfunctional supermajority requirements to raise taxes).
3. Revenue neutral sales tax (i.e., cut income tax rates and institute a 5% or so sales tax).
posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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on High Speed Momentum
@ Eupseiphos: "A test of whether it makes sense is to have the private sector tackle the project."
It's a test, but not the only test. Last time I checked the private sector didn't build the Interstate Highway System with 100% private money and they refuse to build any "cheap nuclear" plants without huge (billions of $) government loan guarantees. The government can be a partner when the private sector fails to act and in some cases the government is the solution compared to the private sector (see private health insurance).
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on High Speed Momentum
>Are you passionately for or against the development of high speed rail linking Eugene to Vancouver, BC?
Passionately for! Infrastructure like major transportation projects (CRC, Pacific Northwest Corridor), renewable energy projects, and building out high speed fiber optic networks for internet access are where we should be spending money, not on needless tax cuts for the people who need it the least and pointless wars with a huge military empire that has bases all over the world.
These types of investments will pay dividends in the future just like the Interstate Highway System has. We should build out this line incrementally with the end goal of a high speed rail line going all the way up and down the West Coast from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Diego, California.
- 2015 – Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA + Seattle, WA to Portland, OR
- 2020 – Portland, OR to Eugene, OR + San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, CA
- 2025 – Los Angeles, CA to Sacramento, CA
- 2030 – Eugene, OR to Sacramento, CA
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on How To Die In Oregon
I am very supportive of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act that allows terminally ill patients to end their own life with medication prescribed by their doctors, but what I want to know is why euthanasia (allowing people who are not sick to end their own life) is illegal? Why don't we give adults who are not terminally ill the same options as those who are?
I think many people who commit suicide in private would be less likely to do it if they had a public process (aside from hotlines) to actually carry it out. How surreal would it be to think "Hey, two weeks from now on March 1, 2011 I have an appointment to kill myself. Am I really sure about this?" ?
An open approach seems better than a repressive one that doesn't deal with the issue of death until it already happens.
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Live from Salem
Voters need to take the ballot measure system seriously and take responsibility for measures that are passed and not blame the legislature for problems they didn't cause (not to say I don't want the legislature to help fix them). Measure 5 really messed up local school funding and transferred much of its funding authority to the state. Measure 11 and last year's Measure 73 (both mandatory minimum sentences) have (and will suck more) funding away from education and health care.
Property taxes are another example. Measure 5 and Measure 50 are the reason property taxes are going up even as home values decline: http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Property-Tax-Bills-mean-Questions-105918028.html
In many cases, through the initiative system, we voters have not only been blocking the fix of the problem, we were the ones who caused it in the first place.
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Live from Salem
I have a few suggestions.
Budget balancing:
Tax increases - increase the cigarette tax, legalize marijuana.
Spending cuts - repeal all mandatory minimum sentences and abolish the state death penalty.
Also bonus points for abolishing the kicker. We’re the only state with such a stupid policy that bans government surpluses!
Economy:
Let’s create jobs in the state and reduce our unemployment rate by expanding our national and international exports. That strategy is working great for Germany and China. We should go further than the President’s national goal (doubling exports in 5 years) by tripling Oregon’s exports over the next 6 years. Let’s expand our exports so we can sell Oregon products (computer equipment, christmas trees, hazelnuts, etc) all over the world!
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Live from Salem
We already have term limits; they're called elections. If the voters didn't want that person in office, they wouldn't have (re)elected them. It's wrong for you to take away voter's ability to choose ANY qualified candidate for office. All term limits shoud be abolished.
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on State of the Union
That's rich. This entire situation was caused by the deregulating, tax cuts for the wealthy, military industrial complex growing, war-mongering Republicans. Moderate Republicans are no different than conservative Republicans (indeed the Tea Party people are just conservative Republicans looking to push the same agenda under a different label). They refused to support any legislation until they got that unpaid for $700+ billion tax cuts extended for the top 2% earners for the next 2 years (claiming it’s necessary for job growth). If those tax cuts were so good for the economy, we would have had massive job growth from 2001-2009.
And now they harp on the deficit after those tax cuts and wars. What will they say we should do to close it? Will it be to cut back our $715 billion annual imperial military empire, or end the wars, or to increase taxes on those who can afford it? Nope. It will be to extend those tax cuts, grow the military, extend the wars (hell let's start a 3rd one with Iran to "stimulate" our economy as Jim DeMint (R-SC) suggests) and to cut back on infrastructure, education, Social Security, and Medicare.
We elected Democrats in 2006, and 2008 not only to undo the Republican agenda, but to solve the problems they never addressed in the 8 years they were in power like health care. I’m unhappy with Democrats for not being aggressive enough. The weak health care reform we got in 2010 from Democrats wasn’t the real solution (Medicare for all/singlepayer), but I’m certainly not going to support Republicans.
We had a chance to keep pushing for real progress on the issues, but in the 2010 midterms the American public rewarded the Republican failures and gave them a majority in the House. You have a surprise in store for you if you’re expecting any solutions from the Republicans. They have nothing to offer except fear. I will be curious to see people's attitudes in November 2012 after they've seen the "solutions" Republicans will push over the next two years.
posted 2 years, 3 months ago
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on Technology and Child Pornography Laws
> Should the viewing of child pornography be outlawed, or just its production and distribution?
I understand we have limits to free speech and producing, publishing, and distributing child pornography is illegal, but why is it necessary to make viewing something illegal? The whole point of it being illegal to publish (in print or electronically on the internet) child pornography is so that people can't view it.
What if some degenerate troll decides to (illegally) host child pornography on his website and redirects random viewers to his site via a scam or a link? Does making it illegal to view mean that all the people who unintentionally view child pornography on his site before it is shut down are going to be prosecuted, registered as sex offenders, and/or go to jail?
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Kicking Off A New Session
This year, Illinois may become the 16th state to abolish the death penalty:
- http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/01/illinois-moves-toward-death-penalty-ban
- http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty
I would love to see Oregon get rid of it as well. I think it's especially relevant in the context of our huge budget deficit. We're spending millions of dollars every year trying to kill people. Boo!
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on The Meaning of Marriage
Marriage = civil contract between two consenting adults of legal age.
That's it, simple. You can pretend it's more than that, but it really isn't. The contract carries many legal and financial benefits and I suppose it also carries a social element (showing commitment). In my view marriage has nothing to do with reproduction either because many unmarried couples have children and many elderly and/or sterile couples who can’t have children get married.
On the topic of same-sex marriages, they should be legal. These bans on same-sex marriage are just like the bans on interracial marriage except instead of being motivated by racism, they are motivated by fear and bigotry (although I suppose that’s what motivates racism as well). When the bans are repealed our society will be stronger, not weaker.
Gays exist and they want to get married. Deal with it.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Compromise
I don't like this continuous talk of compromise just for the sake of compromise. It’s a tool to achieve something, not an end game. Political parties exist as a platform of stances on various political issues. You can have unreasonable stances like the Republicans today in Congress filibustering the unemployment insurance renewal that would cost about $30 billion saying it must be paid for first while at the exact same time demanding a $700 billion+ tax cut renewal for the top 2% earners without paying for it.
It’s a false choice to assume that the middle ground is inherently superior to both sides. Some issues have no middle ground (abortion is either legal or illegal). In summary, I don’t like to see my representatives compromising with conservative fascists, but what I really don’t like is to see citizens voting against their own economic interests just because of some controversial social issue like abortion or same-sex marriage.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on The 2010 Election Divide
>Do you believe urban Oregon unfairly represents the state?
I have never understood this complaint. In elections, PEOPLE vote, not land. Multnomah County has just as many people as the entirety of Eastern Oregon (730,000 or so) and because every person has 1 vote that means that one county has just as much political influence as Eastern Oregon.
If 90% of the people in a state pool together and live in 10% of the area, who could honestly say it would be fair to give the remaining 10% the same voting power just because they occupy 90% of the land? I’ve even heard some conservatives say that only people who own property should be able to vote. That’s ridiculous.
I can understand why we have the United States Senate, but just look how unfair it is to give each state 2 Senators regardless of population. California has 37,000,000 million people and 2 senators and Wyoming has about 560,000 people and 2 senators.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Free Speech or Hate Speech?
I don't think saying mean or hateful things (hate speech) should be illegal because laws protecting free speech are there to protect speech is that unpopular. We obviously have limits to free speech such as censoring certain things like child pornography, but I think banning ‘offensive’ material would be the wrong approach. I never like to hear people say we should ban things that hurt or offends someone because no one has a right to not be offended.
Bottom line: the fliers that these students hand out says enough about their character that people will (rightfully) distance themselves from them, but I think having the government or school administration silence them would be wrong.
I also think it's interesting to note that the United States is one of the few countries where hate speech is currently legal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech#United_States
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on A Mighty Wind in Union County
Wind energy benefits: renewable, no emissions, no fuel costs
Wind energy risks: variable power output, bird killer?
As far as the role of wind in the energy mix, I think we should get as much as we can. Iowa already gets 20% of its electricity from wind energy (http://www.omaha.com/article/20100303/NEWS01/703039859).
I personally love wind turbines. I wish we could get a 300 MW wind farm here in Multnomah County.
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on Candidate Conversation: John Kitzhaber
John outlined his experience and policy positions very well during the campaign and on his website so I feel I made an informed vote when I voted for him, but I do have a specific policy question for him. Washington State recently had their first execution since 2001 and we have many death penalty cases pending here in Oregon. I think it’s crazy that we’re spending millions of dollars every year trying to kill people while we have to cut education, health care, and services to the disadvantaged and needy.
My specific question to John: Do you support abolishing Oregon’s death penalty and as Governor would you exonerate the 30+ people on our state’s death row?
Disclaimer: I am personally opposed to the death penalty for moral reasons. I don’t think the government should be killing people and I don’t think that an “eye for an eye” solves anything. If you use the death penalty, all you have at the end of the day is two dead people instead of one.
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on The Congressional Races
I live in Oregon's 3rd district and I am very happy with the incumbent Democrat Earl Blumenauer. He voted against the Patriot Act, against the wars, for the health care reform, for the financial reform, and is one of the many Representatives working to reduce our excessive military spending. I happily circled his and Wyden's bubbles on my ballot last week as I sent it in.
<3 Earl
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on Candidate Conversation: John Kitzhaber
Many of these issues are problems that we voters have made worse: Measure 5 decimated local school funding and Mannix's mandatory minimum sentences (Measure 11 and this year's Measure 73) have siphoned funding away from education and health care.
P.S. - Another chance? I would like to remind you folks who seem to have a short memory that the Democrats never controlled both houses of the state legislature during Kitzhaber's 2 terms. Republicans were in charge and they were passing all kinds of bad laws. People say "Oh look at that crazy Governor vetoing 200+ bills!" I say "Look at those crazy legislators passing 200+ bills that need to be vetoed!" John is now going to get his first real chance as Governor, uninhibited by the obstructionists (Republicans).
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on State Elections
As a liberal I hope the Democrats maintain (and expand) their supermajority in both state houses. Why? Because I agree with more of their policies than the policies of the Republicans. The opposition party (Republicans) have lurched so far to the right in the last 30 years it’s not even funny. I find it very telling that the Republicans never talk in specifics because if people knew what they really wanted to do, they wouldn’t vote for them.
Just look at some of the policies from the Oregon Republican Party’s 2010 platform (http://www.oregonrepublicanparty.org/platform or http://www.oregonrepublicanparty.org/sites/default/files/2010_ORP_Platform_0.pdf ):
1. Pro death penalty - pg. 2/7
2. Pro mandatory minimum sentences that are bankrupting our state - pg. 2/7
3. Pro climate change denial and anti emission reductions with continued use of coal power - pg. 3/7
4. Anti abortion and government funding of the procedure – pg. 3/7
5. Anti gay-marriage (even against civil unions!) and gay adoption - pg. 3/7
6. Anti pornography – pg. 4/7
7. Pro excessive military spending – pg. 4/7
8. Anti health care reform (want to repeal the federal reform enacted in 2010 and Oregon’s state reform enacted in 2009). Deregulation solves everything! – pg. 5/7
9. Anti immigration reform for the 12+ million illegal immigrants in the country – pg. 5/7
10. Anti baby citizens by repealing/amending the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th amendment so that children born to parents in which neither is a US citizen should not be US citizens – pg. 5/7
11. Anti patient’s rights by opposing physician-assisted suicide (Oregon Death with Dignity Act) – pg. 7/7
Nuff said. It’s very hypocritical: they “oppose government getting involved into people’s personal lives” except when it comes to the many things they don’t like (abortion, gay marriage, pornography, euthanasia, drugs, etc).
On the topic of annual sessions, I will be voting yes on the annual sessions measure (Measure 71) and I don’t see a problem with an annual, full-time professional legislature either. You get what you pay for.
posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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