Opinion

Dear City of Bend,
I bring you curious news from the civilized mainland. I heard a rumor of a glorious chariot, one that is capable of systematically pushing snow from the asphalt trails with a large mass of steel at the helm, known simply as a plow. This incredible marvel simultaneously prevents further snow and ice from accumulating by excreting a particular compound referred to as salt. Most importantly, this machine is not operated by dark magic or a snow shaman, but by the hand of man!

The current craze over the attempts by Interpol to arrest WikiLeak culprit Julian Assange is incredible. Media organizations of all kinds of stripes devote so much space to how the Swedish police need to “interview” Mr. Assange over “sexual misconduct” of some sort (recently reduced to sex without a condom). The leaks in question associated with Mr. Assange have been determined not very significant by U.S. officials and many world leaders, who explained that often foreign officers use diplomatic cables to float notions, ideas and opinions with the purpose to fulfill an intended end. Whatever the real damage of these leaks remains to be seen as will the fate of Mr. Assange, now in the custody of British authorities.

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Every dollar spent on unemployment benefits generates real economic growth. The Congressional Budget Office says you get $1.90 back for every dollar of unemployment compensation. Mark Zandi at Moody’s says you get $1.61. The Labor Department says $2.
Any way you add it up, it provides an immediate boost to the local economy because the unemployed spend that money in their communities. Want to help a local small business or a small chain like Bi-Mart, Grocery Outlet or Food4Less? Extend unemployment compensation to jobless workers.
Tax cuts for the wealthiest folks in town, people who still have income and savings accounts, are windfall gains that will more likely be stashed away in that savings account or perhaps spent on a vacation somewhere else, maybe not even in the U.S.

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One expects an expanded perspective from the Source, so it was with disappointment that I read Bruce Miller's recent column headlined “The Terrorist Threat Gets Too Close For Comfort.” (Wandering Eye, 12/2) In it, Mr. Miller informs us that “the threat of terrorism came home to Oregon… as the FBI foiled an alleged plot to detonate a huge bomb next to Portland's Pioneer Square.” This might sound picky, but did the FBI “foil” the plot or did it “create” the plot? It courted and groomed the teenage suspect, built the bomb (and so is accountable for its “hugeness”), and loaded the bomb into a delivery van. That doesn't sound to me like “foiling” the plot. A few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine published the sort of article that is all but extinct in the mainstream media. It described one case after another in which the FBI has entrapped dead-end losers into concocting feckless terror plots under the watchful eyes of undercover agents. The article begins with a case in which the FBI paid $8,500 to a former crack dealer with a conviction for attempted robbery to encourage a would-be jihadist to blow up a mall in Illinois. Since the “jihadist,” a video game store clerk with no car and less than $100 in the bank, could not afford any weapons of mini, much less mass, destruction, the FBI informant arranged to get him four fake grenades and a neutered hand gun in exchange for some used stereo speakers. The other cases described in the article are equally dubious, and bear a striking similarity to the recent escapades in Portland.

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Rejoice, citizens of Bend, the great goose harvest is back. Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, has provided us with an annual bounty of delicious, sustainable, organic meat. With proper management, we can all rest easy knowing that local food banks can receive an influx of nourishment every year, right when they need it most, the dead of winter. Given how recently we collected our last crop of geese, it's encouraging to see how quickly the numbers have bounced back. Canada (socialist) geese are a thoroughly unendangered species, with no rights, trans fat or aversion to repopulating the killing fields (Drake Park).