O cto b e r 14, 200 9
P ag e A 2
Health Care Plan
Closer to Law
photo by
M ark W ashington /P ortland O bserver
The Clarendon Elementary School in north Portland has sat vacant for years, causing some neighbors to complain
that it attracts blight.
Empty School Rankles Neighbors
Since Clarendon Elementary School
in north Portland closed in 2007, it has
steadily morphed from a community hub
into an eyesore.
It is poorly maintained, with broken
lights and w indow s, in addition to
grafitti.
Portland Public Schools is keeping the
space unoccupied, for “swing space.”
The district is hoping to begin reno­
v atin g its b u ild in g s as soon as it
scrounges up enough money. Once it
Nastiness
continued ^ J r o m Front
sphere produced a staggering
break with decorum last month
when a member of the House of
R epresentatives shouted out
"You lie!" as Obama spoke to a
joint session of Congress, extol­
ling his efforts to overhaul the
American health care system.
Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst
drew the South Carolina Repub­
lican a rebuke from the House,
but, te llin g ly , su p p o rters
quickly began donating heavily
to his political war chest.
Not long afterward Rep. Alan
G ray so n , D -F la., took the
House floor to attack minority
Republicans on health care,
declaring, "The Republicans
want you to die quickly if you
get sick." A Republican con­
gressman quickly drafted a call
for Grayson's reprimand, but the
matter was later dropped.
Partisan political pundits took
both events and ran with them,
conservative Republicans prais­
ing Wilson's courage as liberals
voiced shock over his lack of re­
spect. Grayson took praise and
heat from opposite ends of the
political spectrum.
"Political animosity has be­
come professionalized," said
Frazier, specifically mentioning
talk radio's ultraconservative
Rush Limbaugh, who openly
calls for the failure of the Obama
presidency. Fox News' Glenn
Beck says Obama is a racist.
The revival of bitter partisan­
ship has b u ilt quickly and
steadily since the nation united
behind Bush in the aftermath
does, it will need some place to put stu­
dents while upgrades take place.
But neighbors are beginning to com­
plain that the building is becoming ugly,
attracts unsavory activity, and will ulti­
mately bring down their property values.
of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the United States. It
was quickly discovered that his
rationale for going to war in Iraq
— claims that Saddam Hussein
had weapons of mass destruc­
tion — was untrue and the tem­
porary unity dissolved.
" It's a hard thing to stop and
it is escalating" each time Re­
publicans or Democrats cede
power in the capital, said Jack
Holmes, political science pro­
fessor at Hope College in Hol­
land, Mich.
Is there away out?
"At a certain point the public
well demand an end, say 'we
want this to stop,'" said Holmes.
"The public has to demand it
and will start judging political
leaders accordingly."
A signal moment arose when
Obama came under attack from
opponents when he planned an
Internet address at the start of
the school year to encourage
students to work hard and stay
in school. He was accused, be­
fore the very moderate and apo­
litical address, of wanting to in­
doctrinate pupils and students
with his alleged "socialist" ide­
als. He left the doomsayers with
red faces.
Frazier said a return to unity
or at least a w illingness to
compromise can only happen
around the p re sid e n t, the
country's m ost visible and
powerful symbol. Given that,
he said at first, that he believed
a modicum of bipartisanship
would only take hold if the
United States again faced an
extraordinary external threat,
such as Sept. 11.
On reflection, he was more
optimistic, but not much: "I
don't think that we are hope­
lessly stuck in th is nasty
place. I don't really think there
is anything we can do, but I
do think it's possible that the
lustiness will run its course."
(AP) -- With support from a
lone Republican, a key Senate
committee Tuesday approved
a middle-of-the-road health care
plan th at m oves P re sid e n t
Barack Obama's goal of wider
and affordable coverage a gi­
ant step closer to becoming law.
Maine Republican Olympia
Snowe said she was laying aside
misgivings for now and voting
to advance the bill, a sweeping
$829-billon, 10-year health care
remake that would help most
Americans get coverage without
creating a new government in­
surance plan. "When history
calls, history calls," said Snowe.
Finance Committee Chairman
Max Baucus, D-Mont., called
his bill "a commonsense, bal­
anced solution." A distance
runner, Baucus has endured
months of marathon meetings
Health care legislation is ex­
pected to be on the Senate floor
the w eek after next, said a
spokesman for Majority Leader
Harry Reid of Nevada. But it
won't be the Baucus bill. Reid
will combine the Finance ver­
sion with a more liberal proposal
from the health committee —
with unpredictable results.
The vote in the Finance Com­
mittee was 14-9, with Snowe
joining all 13 Democrats in sup­
port. In a sign of long political
battles ahead, every other Re­
publican voted against it.
Sen. Olympia Snowe of-
Maine, the only Republican
to approve a health care
plan by a key Senate
committee Tuesday.
The ultimate fate of the legis­
lation hinges on how lawmak­
ers decide dozens of unresolved
issues, from letting government
sell insurance to abortion cov­
erage. Even some senators who
voted for the Baucus bill said
they have concerns it will de­
liver on providing access to af­
fordable coverage for all.
The Baucus plan would, for
the first tim e, require m ost
Americans to purchase insur­
ance and it also aims to hold
down spiraling medical costs
over the long term. Questions
persist about whether it would
truly provide access to afford­
able coverage, particularly for
self employed people with solid
middle class incomes.
King Children Settle Lawsuit
The children o f Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dexter Scott
King (from left), Rev. Bernice King, Yolanda King and
Martin Luther King III gather in Atlanta in 2006. Yolanda
died last year. The heirs o f the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
reached a settlement Monday that will keep the family
from a public jury trial. Martin Luther King III, Bernice King
and Dexter King had aired their grievances in open court
for more than a year.(AP Photo)
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African American Alliance for Homeownership
Presents:
11 th ANNUAL
HOMEOWNERSHIP FAIR
Housing Resources
Foreclosure Prevention
1’ Time Homebuyer
Programs
Saturday, October 24,2009
10:00am - 2:30pm
Emanuel Hospital Atrium • 501 North Graham • Portland
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1
Just a reminder, always call
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and ca ll
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* FREE TO THE PUBLIC *
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for fence posts or installing underground sprinklers, knowing where the power lines
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Lets turn the answers on.
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