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Intel -- the state's largest private employer -- puts the lie to Dudley's statements about investment in Oregon vs. Washington.  Intel will invest $4B -- that's BILLION -- in Oregon no matter who the Governor is, and without regard to Dudley's proposed tax cuts.

Here's what I really want to know -- how much will Dudley save personally from his proposed tax cut for rich people?  It seems his candidacy is more of a business model that a political race.

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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And so we have it.  If you live in Portland and openly wield an Xacto knife, you will be shot to death by the police (especially if black or homeless).  But if instead you wield a pistol, all is OK.  Good grief!  How did we end up here?

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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There is no constitutionally-protected right to own or carry a cellphone.  It's a red herring.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling, governments have been reluctant to regulate the possession of firearms.  It is important to remind people that the 2nd amendment restricts the *government's* ability to regulate firearms.  This does not extend to individuals or businesses.  At my former employer (Intel Corp), having a firearm on the premises (including in a car in the parking lot) is grounds for immediate dismissal.  It is also so at my business now.  Business owners are within their rights to refuse to serve customers carrying weapons, and to refuse access to their shops or stores.

I think more businesses should do this, and I think Starbucks should be ashamed for going the other direction.  I absolutely will not take my children into an establishment that allows carrying of firearms by other than trained law-enforcement officers.

Message: let them carry guns if they must, but not on private property, and refuse to patronize businesses that allow guns on their premises.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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You don't have anywhere appropriate to post this, so here goes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/arts/14npr.html

"Public Radio to Cancel a Morning Experiment"

"National Public Radio officials are expected on Monday to tell the staff members of ?Bryant Park Project? that their experimental weekday morning program, designed to draw a younger audience to public radio and capture listeners who had moved online, is being canceled."

Etc. When will OPB similarly realize that more and more unscripted, unstructured talk radio is not what its listeners want?

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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You're thinking waaay too hard about this. This has to do with the question of whether to criminalize or medicalize drug use. No high-end college or university, charging $40k or $45k/yr, is going to turn their students in to the police if they can avoid it -- the parents paying all that money would never stand for it. Reed is not distinct in this. Look at Swarthmore, Grinnell, Haverford, and a dozen other elite colleges and you'll find the same.

posted 5 years ago
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A couple of disconnected points:

1) There has been (thus far) no discussion of the death of a Portland *High School* student from heroin a couple of years ago. Portland has a heroin problem, not only Reed. This doesn't excuse what's going on / gone on there, but helps to put it on context;

2) Reed President Colin Diver told the college's Trustees at the most recent meeting that he "wouldn't have taken the job" if he had known of the extent of Reed's drug problem(s). Diver, a former Penn Law School dean, is perhaps the worst person to be in charge of this problem. Contrary to the gist of the WW article, Diver has presided over a substantial increase in the enforcement of the drug policy at Reed, which it can be argued has driven the most serious drugs underground. The painting of (e.g.) marijuana and non-binge alchohol with the same brush used for heroin, crack, or meth is a big part of the problem, and the blame for that lies in our society, but is applied at Reed by Diver.

3) While medicalizing drug use is probably a good idea, the interaction of HIPPA and other medical privacy laws and the drug problem is a negative one, preventing the college from discussing (e.g. with parents) some aspects of a student's medical life.

posted 5 years ago
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Just listened to your first program, and while you did not sink to my (very low) expectations, you still didn't rise much above dreadful. Your guests did their best, but the conversation was too fractured and there wasn't a clear narrative thread.

What is slipping through the cracks is news reporting. We have a very interesting Portland City Commission and mayoral race -- what about profiles of the candidates (not interviews!) The problem is the disease of "talk" programs rather than produced news programs. We already have Talk of the Nation and the truly awful World Have Your Say -- the last thing we need is an entire morning -- 9am - 1pm of talk programs.

By killing Oregon Considered and scattering the little bits of local news around ATC, OPB has effectively abandoned any attempts at being a channel for credible local news, and it's a shame.

So, my tepid congratulations for not sinking to the depths of "World Have Your Whine", but I'm afraid that's damning with faint praise.

posted 5 years, 4 months ago
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