Out With The Truth

Posted inOpinion

Out With The Truth

Eric Flowers

Cognitive dissonance can be defined as an irresolvable conflict between what we hold (or wish) to be true and what we know to be true.
There is an old saying that one should never discuss religion or politics. Perhaps this is because these subjects conjure up large amounts of cognitive dissonance.
People hold that their particular brand of religion is true, even knowing it is based on faith. Americans hold that our political system is judicious, while knowing that it is full of corruption.
We hold that our politicians (typically lawyers) are telling us the truth or actually care about us, knowing that most of them don't have an honest bone in their bodies, or give a rat's patuti about the common people.
Some hold that patriotism is never questioning your government's authority, when reality dictates that responsible government requires constant vigilance and demand for accountability by a country's citizens.

Posted inOpinion

The Hatchet Falls At Mt. B.: POWDR Corp clears house

Mike Bookey

A Dump of Snow Can’t fix EverythingJust days after the end of an embattled season that saw near record snowfall but a dip in visitors at Mt. Bachelor, the brass at POWDR Corp. is apparently clearing house in Bend.
A tipster told Upfront that several front office folks at Mt. Bachelor got their walking papers on Tuesday, including President Matt Janney.
Mt. B's former marketing director, Carly Carmichael, confirmed that she had been let go by her employer on Tuesday, just one day after the season ended on the mountain.
Carmichael said she couldn't comment on anything related to her departure.
"They told me they were restructuring," she said.

Posted inOpinion

Time For Badlands Wilderness Is Now

Eric Flowers

As a little girl growing up in the desert east of Bend, nothing escaped my inquisitive eye. Everything from the blue summer sky to the warm sand under my bare feet, each unique attribute of my desert world, was observed, touched, smelled, heard, and occasionally tasted. My childhood memories are speckled with the scent of sage leaves crushed between my fingers, the carefree songs of finches and chickadees, the rough feel of juniper bark, and the mesmerizing activity of an anthill. Every blue-bellied lizard and lichen-painted rock told me its story, and I was fortunate enough to be in the right place and time to hear it. The desert molded my childhood life and has a large influence on the person I am today.

Posted inOpinion

Lay Off the Park

Intern

As a longtime resident and active member of this community, I take offense at The Bulletin's attack on the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District. Once again The Bulletin is misguiding readers with inaccurate and misleading information. As a neighborhood representative, I attend 99% of park district meetings and have heard first-hand the plans for the new administrative building and adjacent park complex as well as those for the Pine Nursery and multiple other projects. The district has revised plans in response to the slow down in local construction which funds SDC's, (System Development Charges), the funds used for growth related projects. Because of this slow down, SDC's, citywide have dropped by 67%. In regard to the new office building, it sits on the upper end of the 14-acre Riverbend Park land, near, not next to the river.

Posted inOpinion

tSW Primary Primer: For President… Barack Obama

Intern

It will take an extraordinary president to heal the wounds inflicted upon America and the world by the disastrous George W. Bush regime. Both Democratic candidates say they can do the job. And both basically have the right ideas about how to do it.
 
But only one seems able to unite and inspire the nation to bring about the kind of fundamental change in our corrupt and dysfunctional political system that we urgently need. That is Sen. Barack Obama.
Hilary Clinton has touted her superior experience. It's true she's been around Washington longer than Obama - eight years as First Lady, seven as a senator. But in these times, is that really a plus?
Hilary and Bill Clinton have been in Washington so long they are woven into the fabric of its culture and politics. Our worry is that a Hilary Clinton presidency would mean more triangulation and temporizing, more sacrificing progressive principles to accommodate corporate contributors, more going along to get along.

Posted inNews

The Home Stretch: On the verge of victory, Obama parachutes into Central Oregon

Elise Jones

It's 9am and the local press is anxious. It's been 40 years since the last presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, visited Central Oregon and Barack Obama will be here any minute. Gulping organic coffee and checking lenses, "Change We Can Believe In" badges pinned to our chests, the bran muffins go ignored.
 
Across the lot, PV Powered employees huddle together, a brisk wind keeping jackets zipped, overtime conversation close. They're the first for Secret Service, electronic devices aside as the magic wand swipes over bodies. They enter, but we aren't allowed: "Thank you, now stand over there - Again." 
 
And then the bus arrives - not Barack's black world-tour barge but the traveling press. Reuters and NBC, bloggers, months into this morass and better equipped, CNN and ABC bring small stepladders, wear laminated badges reading "Fired Up! Ready to go!" and "Camp Pain 2008." They sprint for the caffeine. The bran muffins still go untouched.
To my right is Jessica Slider, staring off at the three towers of the Old Mill, the Stars and Stripes swaying on high. Doing video stills and new media for the campaign since February 2007 and promoted to the plane only recently, "I feel good." she replies when asked. Grateful that she'll be home tomorrow, in Chicago for a well-deserved Mother's Day off, she then she looks about nervously - as if her personal welfare isn't approved for release. "I really shouldn't be on the record." she apologizes then disappears.
Moments later, I get the expected pat on the back, "Hi! Don't I know you?"
"No." Seeing the short, energetic man-child all too eager to know me. It's Nick Shapiro, Oregon communications director for the Obama campaign. Jessica did the requisite handoff; Nick wants to be on the record.

Posted inOutside

They’re not for sale!: The thing about skinks…

Jim Anderson

About three days before my son, Caleb, turned (who is now grown with a son of his own) 16, we were zipping along Highway 26 between Sisters and Redmond, preparing him for his check ride with the Motor Vehicle Driving Examiner. As we passed the Cline Falls Airport I spotted two young boys standing next to a sign, "Lizards and skinks for sale."
"Whoa! Caleb!" I said. "We have to go back."
"Why, Dad?" He asked. (He was asking "Why?" about everything! Now his son asks the same questions. Love it!)
"Because there are some kids back there selling lizards and skinks. That's why!"
Pulling up to the lizard sales booth, two young men about 12 years old watched us eagerly with the sense of a big sale written all over their faces.

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