Oregonians tricked into annual sessions
We were bamboozled when we supported the 2010 statewide ballot measure to allow annual sessions of the Oregon Legislature … and we had lots of company. More on that below, but first, the 2016 fallout: Super-majority ...
Jim Gullo: Requiem for the luckiest generation
My mother, Sylvia Gullo Driscoll, passed away gracefully and somewhat effortlessly, as was her style, last month at the age of 83. Among the many things she did well, the quality that I’d have to ...
Jeb Bladine: Abuses spawned in permissive times
We can’t be absolutely sure about the allegations of sexual relations between a McMinnville teacher and a 15-16-year-old student back in 1994-95. But we can be certain about the following: Boundaries ...
Emily Grosvenor: A leap forward in creativity
We picture the writer alone at the desk, perhaps banging a head against a keyboard, nothing on the page printed for the eventual book on the shelf. But this is not how most books or writing come to life. ...
Jeb Bladine: The PERS question: Asked and answered
Seventeen years ago in this space, I posed a question: “How long will Oregonians accept the excessive cost of the Public Employees Retirement System, which produces benefits that far outstrip those ...
Dave Robinson: Principles of disaster prep
Call them core values, immutable truths or life rules; I feel one must form his or her own personal “prepper philosophy.” The following 10 principles I’ve developed are a work in progress. ...
Jeb Bladine: Congress dives into drug-cost scandals
Nationwide scandals about rising drug costs are unfolding in two congressional hearings this week. Wednesday, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs began inquiry into profiteering charges involving ...
Nick Walton: The power of the Schnecken
We produce a product not necessary for the sustenance of human life. That was the realization I had, sitting on the floor of our kitchen, crying with my wife one night the first winter our coffeehouse ...
Jeb Bladine: Minimum wage? How about reducing COL?
Liberal politicians, union interests and many well-intended citizens want Oregon’s minimum wage raised by 50-60 percent. Like so much political noise, however, it’s a proposal made behind blinders ...
Seamus McCarthy: Transformative wellbeing
“Pain is different for each person.” Sadly, Chris Trunde knows the subject well, from personal experience. From a childhood automobile accident, from arthritis and from his 48 years of living, ...
Jeb Bladine: Palin re-emerges as a newsmaker
Regrettably, Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump was big news this week. New York Times reporters Alan Rappeport and Maggie Haberman, dripping with etiquette, portrayed Palin as a political ...
Tom Hastings: Cruzing for love
“We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion. I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out!” — Ted “Aspirational War Criminal” Cruz OK, carpet ...
Michael Crabtree: A healthier Miller Woods
The Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District (district) completed a much needed thinning project at our Miller Woods property last summer. Managing a forest for the overall health of the trees, understory ...
Jeb Bladine: Attention spans continue to shrink
If one thing is clear — and I’m not sure anything truly is clear these days — it’s that our attention spans have grown dangerously short. Some blame 24/7 news programming, while ...
Kathy Beckwith - Breaking the habit of war
Have people given up on “Peace on Earth?” When January rolls around, do we pack the words away with the decorations for another year, and assume it’s a nice, but unlikely, concept? Perhaps ...
