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choo's comments:
on Obama's Popularity
Before the election I remember that the program Frontline ran 2 seperate programs. One covered John McCain's background from birth to the present day and the other covered Obama. I clearly remember them speaking of Obama's time at Harvard when he won leadership of the Harvard Law Review. Many of the liberal sect was overjoyed because they thought he would do their bidding. Instead, he algned himself more w/ the conservatives and attempted to achieve common ground, even to the point of ignoring issues the left thought were crucial and necessary.
Based on that I am not surprised by the way he approached the presidency.
posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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on Your State of the Union
I was laid off late March last year and was looking for work for 8 months. I finally found a position with a company, but I had to take a paycut. It's a good company that will hopefully parlay into more.
I can say that those 8 months were the toughest of my life. I have a 3 year old son and my wife and I own a bungalow in Rose City Park. We came dangerously close to defaulting on our loan. The only way we avoided that was by borrowing money from family, which I avoided as long as I could and was extremely embarrassing to me.
I hope that we, as a nation, can turn ourselves around. However, something within me says that we will be faced with several more downturns before it gets better.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on The Selling of Oregon
Wow! Surprise surprise this is NOT New York City... thank God!
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on Stimulus Money
Rebecca, thank you for engaging me in this discussion and thank you Think Out Loud for offering the platform.
You said:
"Although the application process implied a goal of saving or creating jobs, the requirements and structure of the program have the effect of acting more as a stop-gap emergency measure, allowing us to temporarily retire debt and conserve cash for day to day operations. My partner and I will be able to save our jobs, our business will survive, but we will not hire anyone new."
I appreciate that every business is connected to a web of other service providers (I am a small business owner myself), but as you said, in respect to this stimulus, the goal is to save and create jobs. You seem to be saying in the above quote that you hear that, but that you are finding that you are using it differently as a "stop-gap emergency measure" and that its use will not achieve the intended purposes of creating jobs. That concerns me in that I wonder how that is playing out across the country and whether this is really going to help in the long run.
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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on Stimulus Money
Thank you for responding Rebecca and thanks for the link to the NY Times article, which answered my questions. I'm concerned though in your initial comments where you said the money simply saved you and your partner, but you're unable to hire anyone. No offense against you and your business, but you are providing a luxury item and thus more open to the flux of this economy and in my opinion a risky bet for future jobs. I'm sorry but I don't see the connection in the rescue of your specific company and the future health of the economy. I will certainly keep a watch of your progress. For everyone's sake I hope it is successful.
I think the goal of this money should be to keep small businesses running that show signs of aiding the community with future jobs.
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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on Stimulus Money
Here's a link to how the money has been used in Multnomah Co. and who it has been given to: http://projects.propublica.org/recovery/locale/oregon/multnomah
Why was the Hobnob Grille given $54,900.00 whereas other businesses were not? Was it just because they applied and others did not? Who makes these decisions?
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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on Stimulus Money
So Rebecca and Think Out Loud... what happens when a business like yours finds that it can't pay the money back? I'm sure your services are crucial to the fabric of our community, but you don't seem too confident in the future success of your company. I guess you're right, you should consider yourself fortunate to have received those monies. I'd be interested in knowing what sort of vetting process went on before you won this loan.
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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on Special Coverage: Kroger Won't Charge Sam Adams
You know... I can confirm that Sam Adams has a very vindictive streak. Anyone who has had professional contact with him knows that side of him. He and his right hand Tom Miller have been known to attack those who are not on the same page. Byron Beck is a partisan through and through in this argument.
posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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on Encyclopedic Ambitions
Absolutely agree. Rather than talk about how the sign could touch on the history of slavery and how it related to Oregon history the guest spoke of whether the sign would be considered "significant".
I will take a picture and send it on next time I'm down there. It is a very handsome sign that someone obviously took care in producing.
posted 4 years ago
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on Encyclopedic Ambitions
On the Deschutes River there is what looks to be a hand made sign on the trail on the east bank of the river north of hwy 26 and Warm Springs. The sign explains that at that spot a military expedition was camped in the mid 1800s and a slave who was with the outfit was killed in a brawl with one of the soldiers. I have always wanted to know more about this story and how the sign came to be.
posted 4 years ago
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