The discussion over whether or not to release the names of concealed weapons permit holders has proved fertile ground for debate over the issues of privacy, public safety and gun owners’ rights. However, much of that debate has been strongly colored by hyperbole, particularly from the pro-gun lobby that would like to paint gun owners as victims.

 

Global warming skeptics (aka deniers) have their forum: it’s called AM radio. So it’s curious that the Oregon chapter of the American Meteorological Society has chosen to give several prominent skeptics a platform to espouse their misinformed ideas. The chapter ought to have taken its cue from Portland’s Oregon Museum of Science and Industry which recently refused to rent the organization space for the anti-global warming panel discussion over well-founded concerns that the presentation lacked “balance.” Rather than give up, the meteorological society continued shopping and found a willing host in the Portland Airport Shilo Inn, which happens to be owned by prominent conservative Mark Hemstreet. According to a recent piece in the Oregonian, the Oregon chapter of the American Meteorological Society takes no official position on global warming. That’s not very courageous, but understandable for an apolitical group. What’s less obvious is why the organization would want to associate itself with a movement that is the modern equivalent of the flat earth society.

 

Republicans never met a tax cut they didn’t like, unless of course it comes at the expense of their corporate masters. To wit, view the most recent partisan showdown in Washington that has Senate leaders wrangling over a no-brainer payroll tax extension. It’s an issue that all working Americans ought to be taking an interest in after Senate GOP leaders beat back Democrats' attempt to broaden and extend the popular program that expires on Dec. 31. Government accountants have estimated that failure to act will have the effect of raising taxes on the average family by roughly $1,000 next year. To offset the budget impacts, the Obama Administration is proposing to hike taxes on the wealthiest Americans (roughly two percent of all dollars in excess of $1 million in income.) That’s too much for the one percent party to swallow. GOP leaders rejected a compromise offer on Monday from Dems, setting the stage for another partisan showdown. But honestly, who are these folks representing? Does anyone besides the GOP leadership really think that working families should be asked to further pad the pockets of America’s gilded class? Wtf.

 

It’s been said that there ought to be an IQ test for prospective parents given the importance of the task at hand. We’d like to respectfully request one for another job—elected officials, particularly school board members. Take the recent case of Bob Perry, a newly elected school board member in Redmond, who has seemingly set his sights on the dubious goal of eliminating Redmond’s International Baccalaureate program, an accredited college preparatory school-within-a-school program that has drawn praise from parents, educators, and most importantly, students. No matter to Perry who called the program anti-American and “socialist” because it requires that pupils read Howard Zinn’s best-selling alternative history text, A People’s History of the United States, 1492 to Present—a 30-year old book that, btw, was runner-up for the nonfiction National Book Award after its debut. Perry said he’s been looking into the IB program since someone brought the issue of Zinn’s text to his attention. We don’t expect Redmond educators to cave to one misguided board member, but the idea that critical viewpoints ought to be stifled in the classroom is laughable—if it weren’t coming from a school board member. Not surprisingly, it appears that Perry hasn’t actually read the book that he’s pillorying. What we’re wondering is: What books has he read?

 

There has been no shortage of good story lines coming out of the DA’s office in the past year or so: mass firings, costly lawsuit settlements, clashes with county government, but the Bulletin’s front-page Sunday story about Pat Flaherty’s request for a new software and email system isn’t one of them. It’s no wonder that Flaherty won’t even return a reporter’s phone calls anymore with this kind of thinly veiled witch hunt emanating from Chandler Avenue. Maybe it’s the radiation from the new “pine tree,” err, cell phone tower, that set off the “Pillory Flaherty” button in editor John Costa’s office. Or maybe it’s just good old fashioned mean spiritedness that prompted the latest salvo from The Bully. What I do know is that having a reporter spend her time contacting dozen of counties around the state to ask about their email systems is a colossal waste of time by any journalism standard and one that makes a $60,000 technology system look downright efficient. Then again, The Bulletin would know a thing or two about wasting money on software, having spent upwards of a million bucks on its own system before declaring they could no longer pay their bills.

 

There are perhaps no two topics of greater interest to small-town television news producers than pets and crime. Occasionally, the two narratives intersect for what must feel like the Holy Grail of scoop for TV folks. Sometimes, though, editors, reporters, producers strain the limits of credulity in an attempt to forge a story when none is there simply because the ingredients are too tempting to ignore. But like trying to bake a cake without flour, the missing ingredient is sometimes just too conspicuous to ignore. Such was the case with KTVZ’s strange attempt to fashion a who-dunnit storyline from the case of Reggie, a poodle who went missing from a Bend garage sale over the weekend. We’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that the news team ran with the unsubstantiated idea that Reggie had been abducted from the garage sale while his owner was occupied. Mind you that no one including the owner actually saw Reggie taken from the home. That’s what’s known in police talk as “evidence.” Lo and behold, Reggie has re-appeared—thanks in part to KTVZ’s extended public service message. We’re certainly glad to hear that Reggie has been re-united with his owner. But the coverage is baffling, particularly the innuendo in the most recent report, which painted the seemingly Good Samaritans as suspects in the imagined crime, saying that the “Hispanic woman and her daughter...matched the description of the pair last seen holding and petting the dog.”

Seriously, it was a lost poodle. Do we really need to take a DNA sample, WTF?

 

In terms of rest stops the drive between Madras and Sandy is not exactly target rich. That’s why were scratching our collective heads at the idea of shutting down the public rest strop at Government Camp, AKA, the only public restroom on the long stretch of road between Central Oregon and the Valley. The move is reportedly a cost-saving measure for ODOT, which operates the facility and says it can save roughly $7,500 a month by shuttering the bathrooms. Of course only ODOT could find a way to spend $7,500 on a 50-year old bathroom that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since the Carter Administration. But we digress. When nature calls, you’re not going to quibble over whether the urinal cakes have been changed or the floor recently mopped. Yes, the Govy Camp bathroom is one where were hold our collective breath for the duration of the visit. But we’d rather be holding our breath than the alternative. While a new facility is reportedly set to open in Zig Zag in the next year or two, the closing of the only functioning facility feels a little vindictive.

 

$4.6 million

That’s how much the heirs that owned the Eagle Cap Wilderness Lodge sought for the 50-year-old lodge and guest houses in Eastern Oregon when they put the property up for a sealed bid auction recently. The property is the only lodge in Oregon’s largest federally designated wilderness and the last private lodge inside a wilderness area in Oregon. The property, which is accessible only by foot or aircraft in the 560-square-mile Eagle Cap Wilderness, was long owned by George Peekema, who died recently at the age of 81. His heirs later lowered the asking price for the property that includes a main lodge with sleeping quarters, five cabins and a horse corral, to $2.5 million. However, the owners ultimately accepted a winning bid of $ 605,000 by Barnes C. Ellis of Portland who plans to retain the rustic character of the lodge, which currently has no cell phone service and is accessible only by an 8.5-mile trail and dirt airstrip.

 

On Monday, County Commissioners abruptly and unexpectedly dismissed County Administrator Dave Kanner after five years on the job, citing a difference in management style. The firing comes on the heels of a contentious contract negotiation with county staff and a prolonged pissing match with the district attorney’s office. We’re not going to pretend to know all the reasons behind the commissioners’ 2-1 decision to dismiss Kanner. As far as we know the county commissioners may well be justified in their decision to part ways with Kanner, however, the immediate explanation given to the daily paper by Commissioner Tony DeBone didn’t do much to instill confidence in the process. Specifically, DeBone told The Bulletin that Kanner needed to give staff more “warm fuzzies.” To which we say, huh? We thought the commissioners were running a multi-layered government organization, not a kindergarten classroom. Then again, maybe they’ll feel differently about it all after they wake up from afternoon nap and have a snack.

 

This week’s WTF comes courtesy of the Deschutes County Commissioners who decided in July to perpetuate the ongoing pissing match with Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty. Working through their contracted attorneys, county commissioners filed what amounted to a plea to oust the embattled Flaherty who is the subject of anonymous bar complaint over his handling of a grand jury investigation last year.

Of course, this is only the tip of proverbial iceberg when it comes to the long-running standoff between commissioners and Flaherty. And if you can keep track of all the moving parts, you either have a flow chart in the living room, or you’re a candidate for Mensa, because even we can’t keep this tiff straight anymore. What we do know is that the $52K and counting that commissioners have spent to retain the services of Eugene attorney, and former University of Oregon president, Dave Frohnmayer are difficult to justify—no matter what you think of Flaherty. At a time of reduced services and double-digit unemployment, do commissioners really believe this is the best use of taxpayer dollars?

Flipping through Monday’s edition of The Bulletin, it became clear that the readers of our daily paper are either a) quite old b) not especially great listeners or c) fans of the latest hearing assistance devices. In the “A” section of the paper alone, there were three full-page ads for hearing aids. Then, there was another half-pager in the Local section and another full-page in the Green portion of the paper. Either we totally missed out on marketing to a new Medicaid reimbursement program or The Bulletin is clearly appealing to a certain demographic that’s more interested in orthopedic shoes than running shoes. If that’s the case, might we suggest a few ideas for upcoming issues: a “How to Be Scared of Everything” section and the new weekly column “Get Those Kids off My Lawn.”

$2,500

That’s how much a small and exclusive group of Portland Republicans paid earlier this week to attend a private fundraiser with GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Roughly 70 people attended the lunch event, paying $1,000 a plate for the privilege of meeting with Romney. Those who wanted their photo taken with Romney paid an additional $1,500 for the privilege of standing Romney for a grip-and-grin shot at small gathering that occurred at the 7,500-square-foot West Hills home of a local builder. The stop was one of two that the former Massachusetts governor and one-time GOP presidential candidate made in the Northwest this week. Romney was also scheduled to appear at a similar fundraiser in Seattle at the home of a former Microsoft executive. The stops are part of Romney’s early campaign trail strategy that has focused on amassing a big war chest for next year’s election while keeping a low profile. Romney made no public appearances in Oregon during his stop and has largely avoided media interaction, a move that is largely seen as an effort to avoid his moderate record on issues like abortion and health care that could be a liability in the wingnut-driven GOP primary campaign.

When it comes to cowardly acts, vandalism is right up there with kicking kittens. It doesn’t take a lot of guts to tag a building with a can of Krylon. So we can’t help but wonder what was going through the minds of the gutless, kitten kickers who recently targeted a pair of churches on opposite ends of town, tagging the Westside Church and the eastside Christian Life Center. The vandals left a message for the churches, “Praise the FSM” in reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a religious parody originally conceived of by an OSU physics student. While there is plenty of room for debate about the role and influence of organized religion in modern society, particularly in the political realm, there’s no better way to undermine your critique than to couch your message in a crime. WTF.

That’s the number of uninsured Oregonian’s who will be eligible for health insurance coverage under a new health care exchange established this week by the state Legislature. The Oregon House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve the legislation establishing the exchange and the bill is headed to Gov. John Kitzhaber this week for his signature. The exchange will offer federal tax credits on a sliding scale to anyone making up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. It will also have the ability to sell insurance to employers with fewer than 50 employees. The move also brings the state into compliance with the new federal health care law, a.k.a. Obamacare, that requires state’s to provide low-income residents an avenue to purchase insurance. The exchange is set to begin operation in Jan. 2014, ahead of the deadline that requires all individuals to purchase some form of insurance or face penalties.

 

5.1%

That’s how far home prices dipped across the country when compared to the first quarter of 2010. The drop is the third straight quarter of losses for the nation’s housing stock and brings home values down some 32 percent from last decade’s market peak. According to CNN Money, prices are now at the pre-boom level of 2002. Bend, of course, continues to be at the top of the loser list, dropping a whopping 8 percent since this time last year.

Kudos to The Bulletin for pointing out the silver lining: Bend is no longer officially in the Top 20 worst performing markets ranking, 288 out of 309 in home appreciation. For the mathematically challenged, that puts us in solidly as the 21^st worst place to be invested in a home.

Break out the champagne.

 

While folks in Bend have been praying for spring, a group of residents in Prineville has been focused intently on another season as of late and it isn’t summer. They’ve been thinking about Christmas, and thinking hard. Some of them have been hitting the streets, gathering signatures in an effort to save Christmas—not from the Grinch, mind you. No it’s worse. They’re trying to save the holiday from the godless atheists over at the ACLU who would  stop the city from erecting a Nativity outside Prineville’s town hall.

That’s the number of species that the Department of Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service have pledged to evaluate over the next six years for Endangered Species Act protections. The pledge is part of a settlement with one of the key litigants in a series of cases brought against the federal government over its inaction on more than 250 threatened species, including the western sage grouse. Under the settlement with Wild Earth Guardians, the government also pledged to prioritize species that have already been deemed to be at “potential risk,” a population that includes the sage grouse. According to the New York Times, the Fish and Wildlife service has been unable to make progress on a growing backlog of work that was created, in part, by conservation groups petitioning and then suing the agency in an effort spur it into action. The settlement also raises the average number of new listings annually to 50—up from an average of 29 under the Obama administration and just eight annually under George W. Bush.

 

Were we the only ones left scratching our heads at the presence of hundreds of D.C. residents who descended on the White House to “celebrate” the killing of bin Laden on Sunday? From the picture on our television, it appeared as though the entire population of the nearest Sigma Chi fraternity had dropped their plastic beer cups and run out the door for a chance to be captured by cameras as they hooted outside the Front Lawn. At this point Upfront was wondering if it was the Wicked Witch of the West who had been snuffed and not some shadowy terrorist who had been reduced to hiding in a cave and broadcasting lame YouTube-style videos. But the weirdness didn’t stop at Pennsylvania Ave. Back in the High Desert, KTVZ let us know what high-ranking officials like Bend Mayor Jeff Eager made of bin Laden’s death. (Wow, thanks!). But the real kicker came later in the day when no less than parks board candidate Justin Gottlieb sent out a press release thanking our troops and calling for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Seriously Justin, stick to goose poop.

 

That’s the number of Oregon high school students who will not graduate on time this year, according to a report issued this week by the Oregon Department of Education. While the state’s drop-out rate is actually much lower, under four percent, the numbers show that a large percentage of students who enter high school don’t finish on schedule in Oregon. The numbers ticked up slightly when five-year students were included, pushing the graduation rate up to just under 70 percent, but still well below the numbers sought by educators. Even more dismal was the outlook for low-income and minority students. In some cases, less than half of those students are graduating from high school on time.

 

Last week it was a law adopting the “Code of the West” as Oregon’s official code of conduct – a code that included such truisms as “know where to draw the line” and was first laid out not by a buckaroo on a bunkhouse wall, but buy a former Wall Street investor. This week’s unnecessary legislation award goes to Rep. Jean Cowan of Newport and the rest of her House cohorts who spent at least part of their day on Tuesday considering a piece of legislation that would make it illegal to feed dangerous animals, such as wolves, bears and cougars. OK, file this one in the “duh” category.