2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration internet kitzhaber language law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology television terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

Aha! You're finally getting to the real economic issue. Monsanto sells its GMO seed to farmers and then sues nearby farmers for stealing their "iintellectual property" when pollen from that crop infiltrates a crop that wasn't from Monsanto. 

This started at least 10 years ago when Monsanto sued a corn farmer over this issue because his crop included GMO pollen evidence. Monsanto is working to corner the entire seed/crop market and has the capital to drive small farmers out of business with lawsuits.

This issue was on the front page of the Capital Press recently...related to alfalfa crops in Oregon. 

Please get your Capital Press person to comment.

Victoria Stoppiello

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
view in context

In the late 70's I worked on a news feature article about Oregon's medical school and the conclusion was that we were providing a subsidized medical school for Oregon residents, who then tended to go into specialty care, not basic care, often out of state. Part of the reason we have problems with medicare people finding doctors is that we don't have enough basic care physicians. the job is tougher and probably doesn't pay as well in general. Meanwhile, specialists tend to congregate in the urban areas (meaning Portland, Salem and Eugene). This is a trend throughout the country. Also, I can't believe that the cost of living in Florida is greater than here in Oregon. 

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
view in context

Having lived in the lower Columbia region for roughly 20 years, the location of Walmart in Warrenton follows a pattern of Fred Meyer and Costco locating there, partly because of the City of Warrenton's policies and partly because Warrenton is just over the Columbia from Pacific County, Washington, which is one of the lowest income counties in the state of Washington, and therefore a good demographic for Walmart. Therefore this store will draw shoppers from a wide region.

Walmart took a plunge into organic groceries and found that their customer base wasn't informed or interested in the issues surrounding production of food outside the industrialized, and in many cases foreign-based, food production systems.

Finally, a major issue for me is Walmart's well-documented history of poor treatment of employees. Yes, there are jobs at Walmart, but they are jobs that are racing to the bottom in terms of pay and benefits. 

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
view in context