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SINGLE-PAYER
CONFERENCE
IN PORTLAND
Should Oregon be among the first in
the nation to lead the charge to single-
payer health insurance? A Eugene
contingency is planning to attend a
statewide conference on single-payer
insurance from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Saturday, Jan. 29, at the First Unitarian
Church, SW 12th and Main in downtown
Portland.
Keynote speakers will be Congressman
John Conyers of Michigan and Dr.
Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a
National Health Program (PNHP). Conyers
has presented HR 676, a plan for a national
single-payer system, at every congressional
session of the last decade. Flowers was
one of many activists arrested at the 2009
hearings of the Senate Finance Committee
for demanding the committee hear
testimony on Conyers’ bill.
“The single-payer movement is alive,
getting organized and growing in Oregon,”
COUPON
slant
• One point is clear after reading Coos County Judge Gillespie’s opinion
against Lane County Commissioners Rob Handy and Pete Sorenson on the Oregon
Open Meetings Law: This opinion cries out for further clarification by at least the
Oregon Court of Appeals. What’s an acceptable use of email in coming to decisions?
What are the hazards of serial conversations, one on one, in finding a way to a vote?
A quorum on this board is three, but Commissioner Fleenor was excused from the
ruling, so how can just two commissioners violate quorum rules?
Maybe it was the judge’s intent to seek clarification in this technological age,
and maybe rewrite the rules. But as the opinion stands, it defies understanding and
logic and will certainly discourage good candidates from running for any public
office in Oregon. The financial and political risks from chatting with your colleague
around the water cooler or on the drive to Salem are too serious. Lane County has
a duty to appeal and protect all its commissioners from financial ruin.
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• The Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce is surveying its members to see if the
chamber should support or fight an income tax for Eugene’s two public school
districts. The short survey asks if members think education is important to them
and if the quality of local education has an affect on recruiting, training and
retaining employees. Another question: Is education important to the quality of life
in our valley? The survey is for chamber members only, so we won’t give out the
web address and skew the results; but if you know people who are members, it’s fair
to lobby them. Keep in mind that our local chamber fought the passage of Measures
66 & 67 last November. The chamber has, over the years, alienated many small
business owners by touting the standard Republican dogma that government is the
enemy of business. The chamber board could build a bigger membership if they
ever recognize that a strong infrastructure, including education, creates a fertile
environment for enterprise. Some small business owners balk at chamber
membership because they don’t want to see their dues fund lobbying efforts
against their best interests. This survey is a good idea and gives us hope for a more
enlightened approach from this conservative business organization.
• The R-G lost another 2,008 subscribers in 2010, according to the weekday
circulation numbers posted in the new directory of the Oregon Newspaper
Publishers Association. This is good news considering the daily lost 6,300 weekday
subscribers in 2009 and 3,350 in 2008. We buy multiple subscriptions for our
offices and many of us subscribe at home. We’re trying to keep the daily afloat,
despite our nearly constant criticism of the R-G for pretending to be objective while
pursuing a malicious vendetta against some of our most conscientious public
servants. The latest round of diatribes, including a silly “me-too” op-ed Jan. 23
from former R-G reporter Mike Thoele, could lose the paper even more subscribers.
The anger against the R-G on progressive listservs is palpable and builds on many
years of complaints.
Hey, EW is far from perfect as newspapers go, but we are now printing about
40,000 papers a week, up from 30,000 a decade ago. The new year is starting off
well for us, and at this rate we’ll catch up to the daily’s 57,068 subscribers in a few
years. Scary thought for them — and for us. Every community needs at least two
strong newspapers with divergent views.
• Activist and Author Van Jones brilliantly challenged UO students filling the EMU
ballroom Jan. 24 to “change the way we deal with fuel and food,” creating green
jobs with “our workers producing the products of tomorrow.” One of his fascinating
numbers: The U.S. has 80,000 coalminers, and now 80,000 workers in the wind
power industry. Best-selling author of The Green-Collar Economy, Jones
reminded the students that their voter bloc provided the winning margin
for President Obama in 2008, but didn’t turn out in 2010. He was part of the
Oregon Humanities Center’s “Sustenance” series, a yearlong campus wide
exploration of the things that sustain us and the earth in every sense: body, mind
and spirit.
• Check out Garrett Epps’ essay in The Nation (www.thenation.com) called
“Stealing the Constitution.” Epps is a constitutional scholar from Eugene and his
3,500-word piece is all about “reclaiming our Constitution from the lunatic right.”
He writes, “Americans today are frightened and disoriented. In the midst of
uncertainty, they are turning to the Constitution for tools to deal with crisis. The
far right — the toxic coalition of Fox News talking heads, radio hosts, angry ‘patriot’
groups and power-hungry right-wing politicians — is responding to this demand by
feeding their fellow citizens mythology and lies.”
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good
rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
10
JANUARY 27, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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