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I am a bit disappointed with your armchair reporting on the local hero, Robert Tadjiki. This story has been shared in other print material over the past few years that I have lived in Bend. I do not want to discount what Mr. Tadjiki is doing, but I think he has had his share of fame and it is now time to recognize some of the thousands of other employees in the Bend-La Pine school district. I would recommend that you call any school and talk to any principal or student and they can easily provide you with numerous names of teachers who are everyday heroes. These teachers continue to teach more students and earn less pay each year. They have given up pay raises to secure employment for all.
Opinion
Give The Geese A Chance
It is encouraging that so many have responded to the Bend Park District's call for volunteers in its geese program.
The Park Volunteer Coordinator stated that she was “feeling really good about the quantity of volunteers who have stepped up” for this effort.
Another Round of Republican Boots, Please
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Hey, don't stop with the BOOT to Greg Walden and his evil GOP cronies (the Koch Brothers party) for wanting to defund Planned Parenthood. They have every intention of destroying even more: PBS and the EPA, just to name two. There are a lot of petitions circulating on the Internet that need to be signed against this idiocy. Spend a little time with a two year old and see all the great programming there is for little people on PBS. Did you know that you can find every single NPR radio station programmed into your route map on MapQuest if you are on a road trip?
Greg Walden's Vote Against Women
In 1916, Margaret Sanger, founder of the organization that eventually became Planned Parenthood, opened the first center in the United States offering birth control devices and counseling. She was promptly arrested and jailed.
You won't get thrown into prison for passing out condoms in the United States in 2011, but the vote in the House last week to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding proves that the battle of women for full reproductive freedom is a long way from being won.
The vote on the amendment to cut funding was 240 to 185. Virtually every Republican – including our own Rep. Greg Walden, naturally – voted in favor. To their credit Oregon's four other members of the House, all Democrats, voted no.
The vote was the climax of what has every appearance of a well-orchestrated campaign to discredit Planned Parenthood, which is the largest family planning provider in the United States and serves more than 5 million clients a year. Video from a clever sting operation staged by an anti-abortion group aimed at showing that Planned Parenthood supports child prostitution got a lot of publicity; less well-publicized was the fact that in every case, staffers reported the man posing as a “pimp” to police.
The Bad Lieutenant
There's an old saying absolute power and corruption. We're not sure that's the case with former Redmond police lieutenant Larry Prince, the man charged with stealing and then selling guns from the Redmond police armory, which Prince, according to court documents, ran with little to no oversight for more than a decade.
Free Straight Poop Delivered Weekly to a Location Near You
Monday, Feb. 14
The Middle East ablaze: Iranian government uses force to quell protests … Pluto's replacement? Two scientists at the University of Louisiana think they've found a ninth planet in our solar system that's four times bigger than Jupiter. Maybe they'll call it “Goofy” … Bieber Fever! In an apparent act of revenge after their downy-cheeked demigod was upset by jazz bassist-singer-composer Esperanza Spalding for “Best New Artist” at the Grammies, Justin Bieber fans hack Spalding's Wikipedia page. Nasty exchanges between Bieberites and anti-Bieberites go on for 13 minutes before Wikipedia editors lock the page … Fevered Beavers! After Oregon State University says no, students raise $4,000 on their own to pay for self-styled feminist pornographer Tristan Taormino to speak on “Claiming Your Sexual Power”… Please sir, may I have another: President Obama unveils budget that cuts programs for middle-class and poor people. Republicans (big surprise here) say it doesn't cut deep enough.
Tuesday, Feb. 15
Mini-Snowpocalypse! Sneaky snowstorm dumps a foot or so of concrete-like glop on Bend; downed trees and power outages ensue … Storm dusts higher elevations of Portland; panic ensues … Who could have guessed: Jailed Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, in first prison interview, says banks and investors he worked with “had to know” his activities were not exactly kosher. “But the attitude was sort of, 'If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know'” … Who could have guessed, cont.: Rafid Ahnmed Alwan al-Janabi, code name “Curveball,” admits he made up stories about scary weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration used to justify invading Iraq … Another Middle East flare-up: Thousands swarm into streets of Bahrain to
Dog Owners Deserve Equality Opportunities
A cross country skier without a dog can spend half an hour skiing the two-mile beginner loop at Swampy Sno-Park and then spend days skiing the other 98 or so miles of trails along Cascade Lakes Highway. A skier with a dog can ski the two-mile Wanoga Trail and then.
Jobs, Not Taxes
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Fidelity's New Skyline Deal Deserves Scrutiny
When is a deal not a deal? Apparently when one of the parties to the agreement is an out-of-state landowner that controls more than 33,000 acres of forest outside Bend's backdoor. At least that's what we can glean from the recent behind-the-scenes negotiations that have been going on between Fidelity National Timber Resources and a host of other stakeholders that supported a compromise deal two years ago to trade some limited residential and resort development on the northwest end of the roughly 100-square-mile forest that sits between Bend and Sisters.
Your Complete Weekly Dump of Straight Poop
Monday, Feb. 7
Bloody Cairo: At least 297 people have been killed in Egypt's anti-government uprising, according to Human Rights Watch … Must've been a slow news day: Glenn Beck rips into Super Bowl players for not standing with their hands over their hearts when Christina Aguilera sang the National Anthem. This reporter had both hands over his ears … More scary Mayan Calendar stuff: Reported shark attacks worldwide were up 25% in 2010; shark expert calls it “hugely unusual” … Getting off easy: Prosecutors say no charges will be filed against Lindsay Lohan for allegedly swiping a $2,500 necklace from a jewelry store.

