Maybe he's a dittohead. Rush said the VTech shooter was a liberal.

While I dont agree with his assesment of the impact of gay rights it doesnt seem that he is equating VT with gay rights. Simply he is saying that two tagic things occured this week the passage of the gay rights bill and the VT shooting. Seems like you guys are making a big deal over nothing.

It's been a few years since I took a logic class, but I do believe it goes something like this:

If A=B and C=B, then A=C.

And to fully connect the dots, if VT = tragedy and SB 2 = tragedy, then VT = SB 2.

Or something like that...

After Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point) said gays were more likely to commit crimes against children, Rep. Tina Kotek (D-Portland) rose in protest. Kotek, who's lesbian, told Richardson to stop defaming her character.

link

Do you know what else happened today that was tragic? Dennis Richardson was allowed to continue to serve in public office.

Dear Dennis: What if one of your children someday tells you that he or she is gay? Will you say the same about him or her? Would you disown that child? Would you accuse your own child of being a pedophile?

Dennis Richardson's "Tragedy Alert" Emails

Dennis, what other matters have made it on your list of tragedy-email blasts? That any number of children in our own communities went to bed hungry? Went without needed health care? That any number of women lost their lives because of domestic violence? That an obscene number of innocent people were killed in Iraq on any given day? Are some tragedies just a little more "tragic", as far as Dennis is concerned?

(Kari! Psst! Michelle me!)

How much money you guys wanna bet against me that something "Tragic" will happen to Richardson and before you know it he's being arrested on child porn charges just like in Donnie Darko. Anyone that repressed MUST be hiding something.

Not sure I agree that Richardson equated the VT slaughter with passage of gay rights legislation, but he obviously believes that both are bad things. Richardson is entitled to his own (stupid and wrong) opinions. The more troubling aspect is that he probably is speaking for a majority of his constituents in Central Point when he trashes gay rights legislation.

I choose to view bigots and their twisted thinking as a form of disease - like smallpox or polio. Keep in mind that those diseases were wiped out in most of the "developed" world fairly quickly after discovery of the appropriate preventative measures, but there were isolated areas where the diseases continued to thrive for decades. It may take another two or three or four decades before mid-continent, southern, or small town capital "C" christians are willing to accept the fact that gay people are just ordinary people entitled to ordinary privileges and benefits of our country and society. I don't think there is much that can be done about these pockets of bigotry and I am not going to spend a lot of time worrying about them.

Hi Folks...

Perhaps we should start emphasizing that adherence to a particular religious dogma is a voluntary lifestyle choice. Richardson's bigotry is completely voluntary, but, like Ted Haggard, maybe he can be cured in three weeks.

Regards

So, it wasn't a tragic week last week?

Gee, I always thouht Democrats had more feeling than that.

I don't think there is much that can be done about these pockets of bigotry

"Pockets" of bigotry? Pockets? If only it were pockets!

Try the Archdiocese of Portland, the Albina Ministerial Alliance, and over 60% of Oregonians who are NOT "willing to accept the fact that gay people are just ordinary people entitled to ordinary privileges and benefits of our country and society."

Those are big pockets..!

It is disgusting. I've been reading the other blogs and noticed that there's a little history about Dennis the Menace Richardson. What I didn't see were some interesting coincidences that I wish I could use the same logic Dennis is is using to show where he's coming from. He's from Central Point. He was the treasurer of the Rep. Party. Hmm, Perry Atkinson was the chair of the Republican party and his christian radio station is in Central Point. Also interstingly enough IRS tax records for Restore America list Mr. Atkinson on the Board of Directors. Quick look at Restore America website has a little blurb on it about how hurricane Katrina was god's punishment for all the homosexualaity and gambling going on down there. Dick Cheney has twice visited Carter High School in Central Point instead of neighboring Medford, the hub of the Rogue Valley. Central Point is also the home of the "Perfect Bull Ride", that's right a bull rider competing at rodeo in Central Point got a perfect score riding a bull. Are you starting to see a theme connected with Central Point? Oh I almost forgot, Central Point isn't all the bad, it does have a Grange Co-op store, a truck stop, a pathethic little "Adult Store", and a fairly new Mormon Temple plus it takes less than 5 minutes, if traffic is heavy, to drive through downtown.

we watched "man of the year" last night--the political comedy/drama with robin williams. his character has a great line about same sex marriage. paraphrased: "what's the big deal politicians have with same sex marriage? everyone knows when you're married it's always the same sex."

sigh. i just long for the day when these folks look within at their own fears and sexual repression and therefore the gay rights issue is no longer an issue.

I served as Richardson's L.A. last session, so feel compelled to clear some things up here. While the gay issue is one of the things he and I disagreed on and still disgree on, this post is completely out of line and motivated by crass partisanship and opportunism. Rep. Richardson NEVER compared the Virginia Tech shooting to the passage of those bills in any way, shape or form. Anyone who actually read his newsletter knows as much. You are being disingenuous and intellectually dishonest by trying to imply that he made that connection. That sentence, which you took completely out of context, was the lead for his newsletter. The first section of the newsletter was about the Virginia Tech incident, which was the biggest news item of the week. The second half was about his opinion regarding the passage of those bills, which was the biggest legislative news item of the week. In no way were they connected, and I think you guys know that. If you want to beat up on Richardson, there are many better ways to do it. He has pretty thick skin, and he'll understand. But this is a cheap attempt to distort the facts and try to make political hay out of something just for the sake of doing so.

Kari-

Rep. Richardson was talking about two completely separate subjects. Had you posted the entire text of his newsletter, that would have been clear to all of your readers. And knowing Richardson, I can tell you that he probably does consider the passage of the gay rights bills to be a tragedy, but not nearly the tragedy of the Virginia Tech incident. He just underestimated, I would imagine, the extent to which partisan hacks and crybaby liberals would try and beat him up about this. Plain and simple, you're trying to make an issue out of this for purely political purposes. You have no idea how hard it is for me to even try and defend him on this, or anything, because I did not leave his office on good terms...largely because of the gay rights issue. But I think your criticism is unwarranted here and motivated by something other than genuine concern for either the VT victims or the gay community. Rather, you're simply exploiting this for attempted political gain, which is kind of sickening.

Golly, I kinda like Central Point... the Grange Co-Op is pretty cool, what with the water-wheel and all. It also has, you know, a couple of restaurants worth eating at. The highway sure is wide through town, though.

But that's beside the point: This crankpot of a legislator is a disgrace to the town. I sure hope that he gets booted out in the next election. I wonder if anybody who lives in Central Point could be supported to challenge him and take him out?

Right on Kari.

"Tragedy" is a heavy word, whether in drama, philosophy, or human events.

I cannot think of any public policy context in which domestic benefits for same-sex couples could be construed as "tragic." If one does call it tragic, I believe it telegraphs a religious or moral conclusion. I have yet to have someone show me that how two people relate in a consensual relationship can be immoral and do so without basing the argument on faith. If his is a faith-based conclusion, so be it, but it is not tragic public policy.

When I read his words - taking two disparate events ocurring in the same week and calling both tragic, all I could conclude was that he demeaned the events in Blacksburg. If you use the words, why shouldn't the reader or listener take those words at the face value the sentence structure conveys?

And knowing Richardson, I can tell you that he probably does consider the passage of the gay rights bills to be a tragedy, but not nearly the tragedy of the Virginia Tech incident.

Well, I'm glad we cleared THAT up.

People here sure do become emotional over the silliest things. That is the real tragedy.

How many people has AIDs infected blood killed? GAYS spread disease - and mis-information about their disease, and usually tend to be child molesting democrRATS.

Kari-

Rep. Richardson used the same format for this update as he does for all his other ones, which is essentially as follows: Some things happened this week. I will touch on these different topics in this update. Topic one: blah blah blah Topic two: blah blah blah Etc., Etc. You're still avoiding the question of why you deliberately failed to put the rest of that newsletter on here. For your information, I have scrolled through these comments, and stand by my statment that you're being deliberately disingenuous. So, for the first time, here is the actual text of what was written (I left out the bit about Rachel's story, though it is intersting):

This past week has been like no other. On Monday the world witnessed the tragedy at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. On Tuesday Oregon witnessed the passage of Domestic Benefits for same-sex couples (HB 2007) and Civil Rights based on sexual orientation. I will address each of these issues below and end will a postscript on last week’s Rachel story.

Reflections on Virginia Tech Tragedy We mourn with the families, friends and fellow Americans with the loss of the 33 students, facility and staff killed by the Virginia Tech madman. Words cannot express the shock and grief our nation, and in fact, the entire world felt on April 16, 2007.

A Chinese friend emailed her regrets and condolences from the People’s Republic of China for the loss of the Virginia Tech students. She asked what might be done to keep guns away from such madmen. I explained to her in my opinion if violent killers, such as this madman, had no guns available to them, they would accomplish their vicious goals using some other means--explosives, deadly poisons, chemicals or otherwise. Such isolated acts of extreme violence are a sad commentary on the deprived level to which our society has devolved.

Although there is nothing I can do about what occurred in Blacksburg, Virginia, there are a couple of notes, principles and lessons from the Virginia Tech incident I thought I would share with you.

Note: Thirty-two innocent people woke up on the morning of April 16, 2007. Each of them got up, got dressed and began their day, just like every other day. For those thirty-two people--although they had no way of knowing--it was their last day on earth. Principle 1: No matter how routine a person’s life may seem to be, unforeseeable disasters can occur anytime. Lesson: Live life as if every day may unexpectedly be your last…one day it will. Lesson: Forgive everyone and keep silent the criticisms that sting those who you love; express your love everyday through word, touch and service.

Note: Virginia Tech student Jason Joseph stated after the massacre, "It's pretty shocking, to be honest." He went on to say, "It's not like our school's dangerous. There's always this sense of security ... I didn't feel like I was in any sense of danger." Principle 2: No matter how secure you might feel, in a free society the government cannot always protect the innocent from violent or deranged people. Lesson: Make and implement a plan to ensure your ability for self-protection. Final thought: A Salt Lake City newspaper told of a Utah co-ed who was asked if the Virginia Tech massacre made her feel insecure on her Utah college campus. She said she felt secure to know many of her [veteran, law enforcement and other] classmates had concealed-carry permits and were armed. (In Virginia it is illegal for students to be armed on campus; the only person with a gun was the shooter. If the madman had started shooting on a Utah campus, it is likely there would have been fewer casualties, and the shooter’s death would not have been by suicide.)

Aftermath of House Bill 2007 and Senate Bill 2 On April 17, 2007, after a long House Floor debate, House Bill 2007 and Senate Bill 2 were passed by the Democrats after broad and serious opposition from House Republicans. House Bill 2007 passed the House with a 34 to 26 vote. H.B. 2007 creates “Domestic Partnerships,” and states the following:

"Any privilege, immunity, right or benefit granted…because the individual is…married…is granted on equivalent terms…to an individual because the individual is…in a domestic partnership.” (H.B. 2007 Section (9) (1))

Thus, whether you support or oppose the concept, Oregon’s Domestic Partnerships truly are marriage by another name. HB 2007 was presented as an “anti-discrimination” bill. In fact, it creates a special class of beneficiaries by giving the benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples, while depriving those same rights from non-gay and lesbian couples, such as two adult sisters who live together, or a mother who lives with her adult child. In sum, HB 2007 creates special rights for a politically powerful minority, while discriminating against others in similar co-dependent circumstances.

House Bill 2007 now goes to the Senate for hearings, debate and a vote. The Governor is anxious to sign the bill and create Domestic Partnerships for “qualifying” couples. Senate Bill 2 passed the House by a 35 to 25 vote and is on its way to the Governor’s pen. S.B. 2 elevates “Sexual Orientation” to the same protected “civil rights” status as race and religion. The bill defines “Sexual Orientation” as follows:

“Sexual orientation” means an individual’s actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or gender identity, regardless of whether the individual’s gender identity, appearance, expression or behavior differs from that traditionally associated with the individual’s sex at birth. (Senate Bill 2, Section 1, para. 6)

This is a broad and uncertain definition. Since it provides government enforcement power against those accused of discriminating because of “perceived” homosexuality, appearance, expression and behavior SB 2 will have far-reaching consequences. During the floor debate many instances of unintended consequences of SB 2 were proposed by the bills opponents, and the courts ultimately will be called on to sort them out. I believe there will be societial anomalies to deal with as well as the legal ones. In the years ahead, I believe SB 2 will result in a small minority of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) activists imposing their lifestyles and views of behavior on an unwilling majority in Oregon’s schools, work places, and eventually in all aspects of our society. When it comes to political strategy and maneuvering, the GLBT activists have certainly been successful in moving forward their political agenda.

Stu,

Your comment in this thread is incomprehensible. This is about an elected official equating a mass homicide to granting equal rights protection to individuals. Thankfully, in Oregon it will soon be illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation, and I am pretty sure that this law will someday be one that you are faced with directly. Your vitriolic diatribe certainly says as much.

AIDS deaths in 2006 = 2.9 million http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm

Origin of AIDS: "A number of gay men in New York and San Francisco suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. " http://www.avert.org/origins.htm

Mass Murder? Looks like the gay bath-houses might be bigger mass murders than the hated bu$h.

Boy, I was wondering when someone out there was going to pick up on this rediculous BS from Richardson. Dennis evem posted his newsletter on his website for all of the world to see his rediculousness: "A Tragic Week in Review" Richardson obviously values the lives of VTech students more than he values gays and lesbians in Oregon. What a sad man.

Scott- aren't you a reporter now? You should understand the power and importance of words and their relation to one another. If you don't, a little more school might help you understand Dennis' tragic error.

JTT-

I'm perfectly aware of the power and importance of words and their relation to each other. That's why I felt compelled to comment on the blatant manipulation of words that has occurred here with regards to this newsletter. That's also why I spent countless hours during the 05 session arguing with Richardson over this issue. As you can tell, I lost that argument with him.

Kari- Copyright violations, hu? You should be more worried about the fact that a guy who is a lawyer (and a pretty good one at that) has enough to work with here to file a libel suit against you. I admit to not being technically savvy enough to work the blue text and make those things magically appear.

I'm as surprised as anyone that I would bother to defend Richardson, especially on this site. But your original assertion that he somehow equated these two things in his newsletter has been proven to be untrue, and your true agenda has been revealed.

Now, that's just sad. Scott, when something appears in blue letters, that's what we call a "link." If you put your "cursor" (the thing that moves when you wiggle your "mouse") over a "link," it will look like a pointer finger. If you then "click" (that means to push down the button) on your "mouse," a whole new website will open up, offering a whole lot of new information.

Now, the hard thing to learn (maybe you should work on this next week) is that links on other sites are not always designated by blue letters. But they are (except on really badly organized sites) always clearly different from the rest of the text. This is how somebody whose really incredibly technically savvy could come to Blue Oregon and guess that the blue words might be links. But like I said, that's really advanced stuff. First you should just practice clicking on links.

Kari, I'm appalled. Surely you've been around the Interweb long enough to know that fancy conventions aren't always obvious to innocent newbies!

Gosh, now, where was the last mass shooting? Oh, yeah, a couple months ago In Trolley Square, a shopping mall in the middle of Salt Lake City.

Yeah, it really helped, having all those permits.

And is he serious? co-ed??? Even in Utah, nobody's used that word for decades.

It will probably take another mass killing of innocent students before administrators wake up and at least arm their campus security police.

Kari-

I was simply stating that Richardson suing you for libel would be much more likely than your flimsy "copyright infringement" excuse. torridjoe was right about that, especially since this involves a public document (see, joe? I'm not ignoring you. I was just waiting for you to contribute something productive here. Contempt has nothing to do with it, as I find your nonsensical ravings somewhat amusing). But you knew it was a public document all along, which gets back to the whole intellectual dishonesty thing. A tinpot Karl Rove, hu? Actually, I have no interest in being a partisan political hack, though you do make it look like fun. Anymore, my main interest is in calling guys like you on your bullshit, which is exactly what happened here. I don't have a dog in this fight. But it's guys like you that have caused the average person (partisan ideologues aside) to lose faith in the entire political process. I just want to see the truth come out, which is the difference between you and I (well, that and about 200 pounds). The fact that I spent some time as a propaganda agent just makes it easier to see through your extremely transparent tactics and call you on it. Your attempts to try and make this argument about me are funny, because you've given up on trying to make your original point...which the facts did not support. It's also worth mentioning that NOBODY in the MSM picked up on this. Why? Because it was never a story. Nice try, Kari. Better luck next time.

From the Reps Newsletter:

such as this madman, had no guns available to them, they would accomplish their vicious goals using some other means--explosives, deadly poisons, chemicals or otherwise. Such isolated acts of extreme violence are a sad commentary on the deprived level to which our society has devolved.

I am glad he admits that some of our society is deprived- but maybe he means depraved? Or am I just being an elitist liberal grammar communist that demands that a OR State Rep have an SAT score above 700.

There is no reason, other than religious dogma, to deny equal rights to GLBTs- and that is only some religions.

Isn't religion a lifestyle choice? Why is it Constitutionally protected.

<h2>Did You All Read This?</h2>