I find it quite ironic that a large group of
people would leave a beautiful country, where rich Americans go for
vacation, and come to a free country and then protest for better
treatment.

If these 11 million people protested their oil-rich,
fraudulent government, they just might get out of poverty and stay in
their own country, speak Spanish and keep their culture.

Ms Harriet Paradis, of Corvallis, wrote to the Gazette-Times to suggest that, as "we fought for our country; let them go back to their beautiful sunshine country and fight for their legal rights there."  The first bit of stupidity is that the illegal immigrants all come from a single country, presumably Mexico. 

The three Republicans running for the GOP nomination for governor are prostrating themselves before the religion fanatics who have decided that the elimination of a woman's right to control her reproductive health is the only factor on which to pick our next governor.  Kevin Mannix has once again secured the endorsement of Oregon Right to Life, and he seems happy about it.  Jason Atkinson is pissed because he thinks his anti-choice record is stronger than Mannix's; he and his daddy, a religious broadcaster from down south -- Medford -- feel betrayed.  RTL made their choice, if I can use that word in conjunction with them, based on their belief that Mannix has a better chance to win than Atkinson.

Over at her website's forum (one poster so far, but it's early), Robin Brown, challenging Sara Gelser for the HD 16 seat, makes this extraordinary statement:

...except for emergency services, we need to stop giving aid and services to illegal aliens, which are bankrupting our state and overcrowding our health clinics.

So the crisis in health care is because of illegal immigrants.  That's a new one, but the Rs do so like to blame "others" for every problem under the sun.  No sense finding the real source of the health care problem -- the selling of care to the highest bidders, profit-driven corporations, lousy preventative care; how much easier to point fingers at the villian du jour.

Well, not exactly; hell, not even close. But the net result is the same.

Until about two years ago, there was a branch of Citizens Bank on the corner of the lot where the Fred Meyer store stands here in Corvallis, at Kings and Buchanan. The bank apparently decided they did not need this branch anymore; customers could go to either the main bank downtown or the other branch about a mile east. In a small town like Corvallis, three branches of a bank are too much. So the Fred Meyers Citizens Bank closed up shop, and the building stood empty.

And then, a little over a month ago, they began to demolish the building. I had wondered if some other business might move in, but the answer was clearly no. No new building was constructed in its place, either; no fast food outlet (despite there being no such businesses in that area and the larger of our two high schools just blocks away, not to mention several thousand college students living with walking distance. The site turned out to have a single value to the Kroger Corporation, which owns Fred Meters: parking.

oh joy, to quote the Scarecrow. i now am an Onward Oregon blogger. and i am glad; i love to write, and i love that i have so much to say. i wish that what needs to be written about wasn't so terribly important. i wish the schools were funded abundantly, that health care was free, that our air and water were clean, that guns were obsolete, that Eric Gagne's elbow was guaranteed for the next 10 years. alas, i am to be sorely disappointed in all this. Gagne's elbow being the possible exception, a good start, but still this means much to write about and work on for a very long time.

kos, over at DailyKos (his very own blog-at-the-top-of-the-lefty-heap) is worried about November's elections:

And if we want to be really pessimistic, this may be further evidence of the lack of motivation amongst Democrats in general. I am truly sensing a national malaise that may very well cost us significant gains in November.

the source of his angst? that three Dem candidates for IL CD-6 garnered 4,000 total votes fewer than the 2004 primary. this he sees as evidence that we Dems may be in trouble this year.

i was reading an excellent exposition on why Bush, Cheney and others should be impeached in The Progressive online edition (by Matthew Rothschild; detailed but vital reading). one of the commenters came up with a justification for the war i had not seen before: it's merely a continuation of Gulf War I. since no peace treaty had been signed, we could simply resume our efforts under the terms that allowed that invasion. GWI did not end; it was on hiatus.

any nation out there without a signed peace treaty from previous wars: get your game on.