I'm listening to Joe Keating talk to Thom Hartmann about how the Pacific Greens are the only party that can and will protect our environment. I'm hearing from him the same line of crap we got from the Naderites 6 years ago: There's no difference between the Republicans and the Democrats.

O yea, they got that so right.

I wish the Dems were much stronger on the environment, but to make the claim that Kulo is just as bad as Saxton on the environment is to totally ignore reality. But that's politics. Candidates must pump themselves up; Ted's doing it, Ron has no choice because he's got nothing but his hot air, and Joe Keating is doing it. He has to take the line that the Dems are bad on the environment, just as he has to claim that the major environmental groups have sold out because they support Ted and the Democrtats. That's how this game is played.

100Actions.com has a post called "Take a Vacation Day" that's worth checking out...

Start planning for Election Day by taking November 7th off work. You can't help get out the vote if you have other obligations, so take a minute to clear your schedule early.

Last week, Jack Burright dropped out of the race for Benton Counth Sheriff. Yesterday, incumbent State Rep Jeff Kropf dropped out of the race for HD 17. In HD 16, popular wisdom is that State Rep Sara Gelser's opponent, untested and with no background in public service, is a virtual non-opponent. So what do Diana Simpson, Dan Thackaberry and Sara Gelser have in common?

They have to run races as strong and urgent as if facing the most powerful of opponents. Simpson faces a tremendous battle to convince large portions of the electorate that she is the best candidate; sometimes being unopposed can have the unintended consequence of taking away the candidate's opportunity to get out a message and demonstrate vote-worthiness. Thackaberry had an opponent and now has a question mark. Kropf had the worst attendance record in the 2005 Legislature and has spent most of this year flying his plane over the Mexican border, playing great guardian of the skies. He was an easy target; whoever the Rs pick to replace him will be an actual grown-up.

Steve Duin, columnist with The Oregonian, has had enough of Americans silently accepting their complicity in the pointless, brutal deaths of troops like Army Pfc. Tom Tucker of Madras and Spc. Robert Jones of Milwaukie. He finds the moments of silence at their funerals indicative of how we all have become silent allies in Bush's war.

John J Miller of the NRO had the lack of good sense to make a list of the 50 most conservative songs of all time. That it got published means either no one at NRO has any clue about rock or conservatism, or his editor hates him and wants to embarrass him. Suffice it to say that he puts John Lennon, Bono and Everclear in as conservative song writers.

Read the whole thing at

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When the Class of 2006 graduated from Corvallis High School the other night, teacher Rob Cornell delivered an address that clearly was political.  A bit odd, seeing that Mr Cornell is a math teacher, but he understands, it seems to me, one important point:  Life is political.  Every choice we make has an impact on other people, and the more choices we make — and the more public those choice — the more political become our actions.  (And never forget: the choice to not act is a choice as large as any.)  Mr Cornell spoke about the nature of contemporary American life and the way our present government behaves.  He asked the following of the graduating seniors:

Oregon schools spend 3% of their budget on central administration. That's it. Not 30%, not 40%; 3%. THREE PERCENT! This is frugality, not waste. This is good management of our very limited resources, and we need to celebrate that leadership.

In today's Gazette-Times, John T.L. Lee, a local Dem volunteer, asked "What was Howard Dean thinking?"  He's referring to Dean and the DNC's determination not to give up the religious vote, including that of evangelicals, to the radical Republican right.  Dean believes that on many issues, even fundamentalists have more in  common with the Democratic Party than the GOP. 

(i wrote the following for Blue Oregon after the debate between Pete Sorenson & Jim Hill. you can go to the original post to read the comments.)

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Democratic Debate in Corvallis: The Incredible Shrinking Governor

T.A. Barnhart

The Benton County Democrats and OSU College Democrats hosted a debate Monday night in Corvallis between the three candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor. Pete Sorenson and Jim Hill showed up, as they have been doing all around the state, and both represented their issues and personalities admirably. The governor was represented by a little old lady who could do nothing other than demonstrate how unworthy Ted Kulongski has become of our vote. He was not merely absent from the proceedings; he became "The Incredible Shrinking Governor."

it's great when someone in the community speaks, or writes, the unvarnished truth about why we are Democrats (although he did not exactly say that...)

Universal health care ‘outrageous’?

In last Sunday’s article about the Earth Charter, Republican candidate Robin Brown says that it is “fairly outrageous” that the charter calls for universal access to health care, and providing clean air, food and water for the people of the world. It’s helpful to be reminded every once in a while why I don’t vote Republican any more.