It's campaign season, and that's evident based on the assault of television and radio political ads that are dropping as the nation girds for this important election. This week's Letter of the Week underscores just how strong the feelings are running on both sides of the ticket.
Letter of the Week: What Are You Afraid Of?
Posted inOpinion
America The Business
As a boomer growing up watching Leave it to Beaver, I never quite understood why that phrase - giving someone "the business" - was always used in a negative connotation.
I get it now.
Posted inOpinion
Red, White, Blue and Green
What happens when you mix the colors red and blue? Most people would say purple, but as I observe all the confusing political jousting, it just gives me "More Blues."
Donkeys and elephants, libs and conservatives, right versus left.
Posted inOpinion
Ben Is My Guy
As a long time resident of Bend, this election seems to be evolving to be one of the most "sit up and take notice" events, EVER!
Having felt so strongly about it, I have donated the most money, ever, in an election cycle. So, I guess I have put my money where my mouth is.
Posted inOpinion
Grow a Heart
In reference to your Upfront article last week, the column entitled "World Gone Wild," I can't believe what a callous and demeaning statement Ric E. James made about "the world going to hell in a handbasket thanks to a bunch of bums who didn't pay their mortgages.
Posted inOpinion
Freaked Out
Frankly, it scares the heck out of me that someone like Sarah Palin, who desires to be Raptured, has a possibility of being in control of our "Football," that briefcase that is always within the immediate reach of the president and contains our nuclear launch codes in case of nuclear war.
The idea of the Rapture negates any usefulness of the concept of MAD, Mutual Assured Destruction, as a deterrent to nuclear war, she actually wants the destruction to come about, she wants Rapture to happen.
Posted inNews
Inside Bill Sizemore’s Brain
Plenty of celebrities have their own fan sites on the Web, but damn few have their own ANTI-fan sites. And now Bill Sizemore has joined that distinguished company.
Posted inNews
Crunch Time for Transit: Citizens Step to the Plate to Pinch Hit for BAT
Getting out the voteIt’s 9:24 a.m. and Bend Area Transit (BAT) bus number three buzzes along its route through the city’s south side, picking up passengers headed for destinations as diverse as its individual riders, when Annis Henson, seated in the second row, starts speaking out about voter registration and the November election.
Henson grips a clipboard snapped shut on brochures, voter registration forms and a pen. Everyone on the bus swings to attention at the sound of her voice.
"If you haven’t registered to vote yet, I can help you do that this morning," Henson says. "If you’re 17 years old on or before October 14 and you turn 18 by November 3 you can register to vote in the state of Oregon." She answers a bus rider’s question about registering if someone just moved here from out of state. She passes him the clipboard and he begins filling out a voter registration form. At Henson’s count that’s 70 people she’s now registered.
Henson is a member of Citizens for Bend Area Transit (C-BAT), a group of volunteers working to spread the word about a ballot proposal that would create a transit district for Bend and transfer BAT’s operating expenses from the city budget to a permanent property tax increase - 39.3 cents per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value, or about $48 a year for a home assessed at $287,000.
Posted inNews
The Bailout: Smith’s Risky Move
Locked in a tight race with Jeff Merkley, Gordon Smith made a gutsy - and risky - move yesterday in voting for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill in the Senate.
Posted inNews
You Get Tubed: The best of Bend’s YouTube submissions
As promised, here are the videos featured in the "You Get Tubed" story from this week’s special film issue.