Quick Hits: All the news that's fit to tweet.
Kari Chisholm
A bunch of recent news you may have missed:
- Senator Jeff Merkley is getting props all around for his successful effort to take a 2007 Oregon law to the national stage. From the O's editorial on Monday:
You may not remember, but on Aug. 1, 2007, Merkley promised to rock the baby world. That day, Merkley announced his long-shot bid for the U.S. Senate in an unusual setting -- a luncheon banquet for the Nursing Mothers Counsel of Oregon.
Merkley was there to help the group celebrate its 2007 legislative victory -- a new law, requiring Oregon businesses to give working mothers minimal time (unpaid breaks) and a clean space (not a bathroom) to express breast milk.
At that lunch, Merkley not only surprised the group by announcing his Senate bid, but also promised, if elected, to expand the Oregon law nationwide.
Well, let the record show he's kept his promise. The essentials of the Oregon program just became national law. Thanks to Merkley, very similar provisions are included in President Barack Obama's recently signed health care reform legislation.
- Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Kurt Schrader are working on re-entry strategies for the Oregon National Guard members who will be returning from Iraq. From the O's Julie Sullivan:
"We've learned a lot since 2004 and the previous deployments and hopefully you'll see that reflected when you touch down, " Schrader said to a screen showing soldiers seated around a long conference table in Talil, Iraq. ... Schrader and Wyden held a video conference to outline for the soldiers what has been done to prepare.
The Oregon Congressional delegation wrangled $960,000 in defense spending to help the returning Guard members and their families. The centerpiece: a virtual military base called "Fort Oregon" to replicate the support around a real military base. The Fort Oregon Web site, due up this summer, will be a clearinghouse for troops from throughout Oregon to find services and jobs.
"Everything flows from the ability to get a job," Wyden said. "Having even one soldier not able to find work is too much."
- Kitzhaber and Dudley are raising big money in the Governor's race - while Bill Bradbury and Allen Alley are lagging. From Daily Kos:
In Oregon, at least on the money front, two clear frontrunners are emerging. On the Democratic side, former Gov. John Kitzhaber raised nearly $188K over the last 30 days, compared to just $21K for primary rival Bill Bradbury. Kitzhaber also enjoys a nearly five-to-one cash-on-hand advantage over his opponent. Meanwhile, on the GOP side, former NBA baller Chris Dudley is lapping the field on the cash front, raising over $217K over the last 30 days. Half of that cash, however, came from just two sources (one of whom was Nike's Phil Knight). Dudley opponent Alvin Alley [sic] raised about one-quarter of what Dudley managed in the last month.
- On a personal note, I ran into Allen Alley on Friday night at Kell's. I was surprised, he was gracious, and we briefly chatted about college football. We then went back to our respective tables, and then each of us tweeted it. Ah, modern technology.
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Apr 6, '10
"to express breast milk"
7am. Gotta go express the cows.
Apr 6, '10
Of course, what Daily Kos doesn't tell us is that over half of Kitzhaber's $188K came from 2 doctor PACs, Kroger (Fred Meyer), Safeway, Junki Yoshida, and the owner of a local pharmaceutical company flush with cash after winning a $11.5M DoD contract last October.
Apr 6, '10
LOL it's a weird way to say "breastfeed" that's for sure. I wonder how much time those unpaid breaks are. Would be better if they were paid, yes?
Apr 6, '10
I'm looking forward to more info on this plan to help returning vets. If the "centerpiece" is a website that connects them with non-existent jobs, or clinics and services that are overwhelmed by the returning surge, it sounds like a hell of a lot of money for a hotline. It's like the social services resouce websites and hotlines that all refer you to the same underfunded, understaffed, overwhelmed programs.
The article in the O states:
[Wyden] said the troops will return to:
New local Veterans Affairs clinics in West Linn, Bend and Newport.
New equipment to fight Oregon fires and floods. About 75 percent of the Oregon equipment shipped overseas in earlier deployments has been replaced.
New health-care rules. Most of the recent health-care reforms will not kick in until 2014. But troops -- and other Americans -- may benefit sooner if they have with a child with a pre-existing condition, a small business or an older child still on their insurance. Wyden added that the new rules will not reduce their military benefits.
The 3 clinics sound like a good idea, though I don't know what type of services these clinics provide. Medical care, I assume. But how do you fund 3 clinics with less than a million dollars? Money must be coming from somewhere else. Can anyone elaborate?
Pitching equipment to fight natural disasters as a benefit to troops is specious. I'm sure my buddy coming back from Iraq is simply thrilled by this "benefit." Same with the healthcare claims. Oh wow, they get same thing as everyone else. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but saying these things are veterans' benefits is simply false.
So - as close as I can tell so far - our returning heroes will get a million dollar hotline to nowhere, and a couple of job fairs. Whoopee!
I hope I'm wrong.
Apr 6, '10
FYI: They say "express milk" because that's what most workIng women are doing - they are not breastfeeding because their child usually isn't there. Expressing milk covers both pumping it and/or breastfeeding.
Apr 6, '10
Re Allen Alley, I think it's important to remember that you can dislike someone as a politician but still like them as a person. Sadly, our current political climate encourages us to think of our political adversaries as evil inhuman monsters who must be opposed at all costs.
Also, personal hatred of politicians doesn't seem to lead to effective politics; if anything, it makes it harder to think rationally about your tactics. Blind hatred of Bill Clinton caused the Republicans to try to impeach him--this miscalculation cost them the 1998 midterms and boosted Clinton's approval ratings. I don't think progressives were well served hatred of George W. Bush, either. (One the best things Nancy Pelosi did, in my opinion, was to shoot down the idea of impeaching Bush so that people could focus on developing the ideas and message that would win the next election.)
Apr 6, '10
On a personal note, I ran into Allen Alley on Friday night at Kell's. He was gracious, I was surprised,...
Have you considered taking a vacation? You live a good chunk of your life in a confrontational hate spewing environment. I think you are starting to loose touch with reality. Just b/c we disagree, doesn't mean we have to hate each other.
Apr 6, '10
"You live a good chunk of your life in a confrontational hate spewing environment."
Kari's a Tea Party organizer?
Apr 6, '10
Speaking of breaking news, the Ct. of Appeals for the DC Circuit just ruled that the FCC lacks authority to enforce "net neutrality" rules. For those that enjoy the opportunity to obtain their news (and entertainment) from unfiltered sources, this is bad news. Hopefully the right and left can agree to fix this quickly, but I doubt it.
Apr 6, '10
Kari,
I'm curious as to why you surprised that Alley was gracious?
2:15 p.m.
Apr 6, '10
Aha. A bit of a misunderstanding here. I was NOT surprised that he was gracious. I was surprised to run into him at a bar in downtown Portland on a Friday night.
That is all.
2:18 p.m.
Apr 6, '10
From pure observance from a far, Alley always seemed like a well-meaning, earnest gentleman. I don't buy his prescription for Oregon obviously, but I thought it was sad that people made fun of his east-side walkabout. What was wrong with it? I don't mean by the standards of how he could have politically improved his chances, I mean why was it offensive to the spirit? I'm a little envious of his ability to take that time to do it, frankly.
Apr 6, '10
Seriously Kari? C'mon. Own up to your cattiness. Or apologize if you feel bad about it. Don't expect people to buy that bs.
Meanwhile, can we please hear more about the million dollar veterans program? This is important for some of us with friends and family coming home soon - coming home before this website is launched.
Apr 6, '10
The City of Bend is providing office space to help out returning OR Guard vets in cnetral Oregon. the VA had over 6 months to set something up and failed miserably, so the City stepped in. Good for them.
11:06 p.m.
Apr 6, '10