Editorial
Posted inOpinion

Wheeler Clams Up About Travel Perks

To encourage Oregon treasurer Ted Wheeler to get a move on – and rebuke him for not moving already – we're applying THE BOOT.
Source Weekly

When he became Oregon's treasurer in January, Ted Wheeler brought in a new broom that he wielded vigorously against ethically questionable behavior. But lately Wheeler seems to have put his broom away in a closet.
The backstory gets rather complicated, so please bear with us.
The Treasury Department employs people called “investment officers” who act kind of like financial traffic cops. They're supposed to make sure the bonds and other instruments into which the state puts its money are legally and ethically kosher and financially sound. They also give thumbs-up or thumbs-down to new investment opportunities that are pitched to the state.

Posted inOpinion

This Straight Poop Certified 100% Organic and Hormone-Free

Scoop Lewis, Ace Reporter, delivers the straight poop on the past weeks most news worthy events.
Source Weekly

Monday, March 28
Tough nutcase to crack: Advance of Libyan rebels halted outside Muammar Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte. “The regime still vastly overmatches opposition forces militarily,” says top American commander Gen. Carter F. Ham … It just keeps getting hairier: Heavily contaminated water found leaking from Japan's Fukushima nuke plant; plutonium traces found in soil, radiation detected in rainwater on East Coast of US … Getting high in the Middle East: French daredevil Alain Robert climbs world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, height 2,717 feet (that's more than two Empire State Buildings) … Been there, done that: As it seems to do every spring, the Oregon Department of Transportation extends studded tire removal deadline. Why not just make it April 15 every year? … Heartbreak for gadget junkies: No new iPhone, iPad or other Mac toys will be unveiled at this year's Apple software conference.

Posted inOpinion

A Low Blow to the Death With Dignity Act

House Bill 2016 is an atrocious law, that's why the legislature must smack it down fast and hard, and that's why it and its sponsors are getting THE BOOT.
Source Weekly

For 17 years the opponents of Oregon's landmark Death With Dignity Act have taken a beating every time they tried to fight it. But like a punch-drunk boxer who doesn't know when he's licked, they just keep wading in and swinging.
Oregon voters passed the pioneering legislation handily in 1994 in spite of a scare campaign aimed at making them believe they'd be starting the state down the slippery slope to mass euthanasia. Opponents tried to get the act repealed in 1997; that time they got hammered even worse, with 60% of the votes going against them.
In the courts they didn't do any better. The George W. Bush administration challenged the DWDA but lost before the US Supreme Court in 2006.

Posted inOpinion

Your Fresh Straight Poop Hot Off the Presses

Scoop Lewis, Ace Reporter, reviews the past week’s biggest news stories, both locally and nationally.
Source Weekly

Monday, March 21
Out of the woods? Head of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Japanese are “on the verge of stabilizing” wayward reactor as power is restored to two of six units … Fire from the left: Liberal US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) says President Obama's decision to intervene in Libya without congressional okay “would appear on its face to be an impeachable offense” … Meanwhile Libyan rebels, helped by US and allied air strikes, advance against Muammar Qaddafi's forces, and Libya releases four New York Times journalists captured six days ago … A break for the jobless: Gov. John Kitzhaber signs bill extending unemployment benefits up to 26 weeks … Speaking of the jobless, sources report CBS thinking about giving Charlie Sheen his old $2 million-per-episode job on “Two and a Half Men” back.

Posted inOpinion

Concealing the Facts About Concealed-Carry

The Oregon legislature decides that concealed weapon permits can remain secret.
Source Weekly

Shirley Katz, a teacher at South Medford High School, wanted to bring her 9-mm Glock to school. The school district thought that wasn't such a good idea.
That was the start of a legal battle that Katz ultimately lost. It also was the start of a battle between the rights of gun owners and the right of the public to access crucial information. That battle is still going on – and the public, at this point, is losing.
Prompted by the Katz case, the Medford Mail Tribune asked the Jackson County sheriff for the names of all county residents who had concealed-carry permits. The sheriff refused. The Mail Tribune took him to court. It won, first in Jackson County Circuit Court and then in the Oregon Court of Appeals.
That should have been the end of the story, but it wasn't.

Posted inOpinion

Five-Star Gourmet Straight Poop at Fast-Food Prices

Source Weekly

Monday, March 14
Staring into the abyss: Japan fears nuclear disaster as explosion damages reactor and radiation levels rise … Really lousy timing: Aflac fires Gilbert Gottfried as voice of the Aflac duck after he tweets lame jokes like: “Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them” … Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour fires aide for joking that Otis Redding's “Dock of the Bay” isn't popular in Japan right now … Royals gotta stick together: Saudi Arabia sends troops into neighboring Bahrain as royal family asks for help to quell uprising … Nothing like an open mind: National Rifle Association boss Wayne LaPierre refuses to meet with President Obama. “Why should I or the NRA go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?” he says … Surprisingly, this did not happen in Arizona: During discussion about shooting feral swine from helicopters, Kansas State Rep. Virgil Peck suggests using same tactic on illegal immigrants. He later says it was a joke. Maybe he should be a writer for Gilbert Gottfried.

Posted inOpinion

Whisnant and Conger Pander to the Tea Partiers

Source Weekly

Like a drunk going back to the bottle, Republicans can't seem to stop themselves from returning to the same “family values” issues the party has been obsessed with at least since the reign of President Bush the Elder.
In Washington, with the economy still slumping, the Middle East exploding and other urgent problems waiting to be tackled, Republicans in Congress are focused on stuff like defunding Planned Parenthood, kvetching about the repeal of the military's ridiculous Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and talking about impeaching President Obama for not enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act.

Posted inOpinion

Got Your Fresh, Piping Hot Straight Poop Right Here

Source Weekly

Monday, March 7
Peace feelers? “The Wisconsin 14,” Democratic senators who fled state to prevent vote on union-busting bill, say they're willing to talk with Gov. Scott Walker – but won't come home just yet … You gotta problem wit dat? New Jersey's in-your-face Gov. Chris Christie voted most popular politician in America in Quinnipiac Poll, edging President Obama by half a point … Geographical confusion: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says iPods and iPhones “are built in the United States of America.” Sorry, John, they're built in China, like everything else … The better part of valor: Marisol Valles, 21-year-old police chief of crime-ravaged Mexican town of Praxedis G. Guerrero, flees to US after getting death threats, is fired … Wages of sin: Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), caught in affair with campaign aide, announces he won't seek re-election. “There are consequences to sin,” he tells reporters.

Posted inOpinion

Flaherty's Prosecutorial Crusade

Source Weekly

Zeal, in general, is a fine thing in a district attorney. We want a DA who goes after the bad guys with vigor and single-minded intensity.
In his first couple of months on the job, though, Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty seems to be channeling most of his zeal into going after county employees and local journalists.
It all started when The Bulletin put in a request for copies of the job applications and résumés of the new assistant district attorneys and other staffers Flaherty has hired since taking over. It was a perfectly legitimate request; the public has a right to know the qualifications and backgrounds of people who are being paid with its tax dollars. Since the request was legitimate, the county complied.

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