Tag Archives: Portland Oregon

Misplaced Priorities

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On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about some of the spending priorities in the state of Oregon.

The article reports:

Oregon will spend more in its current budget period on free health care for immigrants regardless of legal status than on state police by $500 million or more, according to state officials and budget documents.

Oregon officials expect to spend $1.5 billion in combined state and federal taxpayer dollars on a program that offers health benefits to illegal aliens from 2025 to 2027. They expect to spend $717 million on Oregon State Police over the same period, the documents indicate.

The state’s health agency, the Oregon Health Authority, said in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the state expects to allocate $1.2 billion to the program — originally named “Cover All People” and now called the “Healthier Oregon Program” (HOP). Oregon lays out budgets in two-year “bienniums.”

The federal government will supply 25% of the funding to provide health benefits to illegal aliens in Oregon, the OHA told the DCNF.

The data emblematizes some of the Democratic stronghold’s policy priorities — facilitating illegal immigrants’ access to health care and reducing criminal crackdowns. These very policies have touched off a government shutdown in Washington, D.C., and protests in Portland.

Medicaid — the joint federal-state program that traditionally provided health services to children, pregnant mothers and disabled adults — formally bars illegal immigrants from receiving benefits.

But some blue states have innovated creative accounting methods to extract federal dollars without the federal restrictions, according to the Paragon Health Institute, a non-partisan policy research group. Blue states will issue taxes on Medicaid insurers and providers, obtain a bundle of federal matching dollars for those funds, then return the taxed money to those institutions, the think tank points out.

The article concludes with some information on what is happening in Portland:

Meanwhile in Portland, nightly protests continue outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

Attorneys for the state of Oregon and city of Portland have argued in court against the deployment of the National Guard, saying that violent crime in Portland is significantly down.

But on Wednesday, the Portland City Council heard testimony from several small business owners who argued in support of an initiative to revive Portland storefronts amid break-ins, fires, graffiti, shoplifting, public drug use and visible mental health crises.

“I’ve replaced a total of nine windows, three locks from attempted break-ins, I’ve been spit on, I’ve been punched twice, once resulting in a black eye. I had a man masturbating in my window. I’ve had a gun pulled on me twice — once was last week. I’ve had a knife pulled on me,” said Steve Cook, owner of Portland business Vinyl Resting Place. “When I’m found dead in my shop, I’m gonna be like ‘I told you so.’”

The voters in Oregon need to take a good look at where their money is going and whether or not they want to be safe in their homes.

Mistaken Identity?

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On September 29 (updated September 30), Newsweek posted an article about the firebombing of Ice Cube crew’s tour bus in Portland, Oregon. There is speculation that the person who placed the firebomb thought that the bus had something to do with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE).

The article reports:

Initial reports allege that the attack was instigated by protesters who mistakenly identified the vehicle—due to its prominent “ICE” letters—as belonging to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to The Times of India newspaper, a group believed to be associated with Antifa threw incendiary devices at the bus, causing significant exterior damage but not causing any injuries.

Why It Matters

The firebombing has raised concerns about protest violence, mistaken identity and public safety at large concert events. The incident, reportedly motivated by a misunderstanding involving a bus’ “ICE” lettering, highlights the risks facing touring artists and their crews amid a polarized American social climate. Law enforcement is actively investigating, while Ice Cube’s response emphasizes composure and resilience in the face of property damage and mistaken protest targeting. No injuries were reported, but the event has sparked debate over protest tactics and the safety of high-profile performers.

President Trump told Oregon Governor Tina Kotek that 200 members of the Oregon National Guard were being federalized, placing them under his command. Since then, the move has received broad pushback from officials in Portland, who say troops are unnecessary and detrimental to their efforts.

First of all, we need smarter protesters. Second of all, we need protesters who follow the law when protesting. Protesting is legal. Destroying property is not legal. Based on the videos coming out of Portland, the troops are necessary.

Priorities??

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On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about some of the current budget priorities in Portland, Oregon.

The article reports:

As crime and homelessness strains Portland, Oregon, the city’s liberal mayor has proposed spending more than $10 million on marijuana-related initiatives in the upcoming year, nearly double the amount requested to hire new police officers.

Portland mayor Ted Wheeler (D.) made a point to stress his intention to increase investments in public safety, announcing in early May that he aimed to spend $5.3 million to hire 43 new police officers to better address rising vehicle and retail thefts. What the mayor didn’t publicly stress, however, is that the city will be spending almost twice as much on various marijuana initiatives in the city.

Wheeler’s budget includes a proposal to put $3 million behind an “ongoing” Cannabis Fund and another $7 million behind a “one-time Cannabis Fund.” Of the more than $10 million dedicated to marijuana programs, $2.3 million is earmarked for funding so-called Social Equity and Education Development grants, which disburse funds to rectify “past racially-biased cannabis policies and disparate cannabis-related arrests” and support “Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and women led/owned small business initiatives.”

The article concludes:

The city also allocated $115,200 to hold an “equity summit” for the LGBTQIA+ community, provide community engagement, and train city staff. “Site assessment for My People’s Market,” another initiative, is set to get $137,000 “to fund a site relocation analysis” for “a marketplace aimed at advancing opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs.”

Additionally, the city is prepared to shell out $147,339 for a diversity program aimed at “BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee communities” as well as up to $109,512 for a government bureaucrat tasked with “broadening inclusion and diversity” in city government.

What the voters decide to do in their city is their business. However, when it spills over into the state and into the entire country, it is no longer a local issue. The Founding Fathers set up a nation of individual states that were to act as laboratories. Theoretically, when a state enacted a policy that improved the quality of life for its residents, other states would copy that policy. When a policy provide detrimental to a state, that state would abandon the policy and other states would not copy it. The problem today is that when a state has massive problems with overspending and bad governance, the expectation is that the federal government (we, the taxpayers) will bail them out. For a not-so-current example, research the funding of the ‘big dig’ in Boston, Massachusetts. Bad policy impacts all of us eventually.

What Used To Be A Beautiful City

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On Sunday, BizPacReview posted an article about a business in Portland, Oregon, that put a sign on their door:

…Marcy Landolfo has shuttered her Rains PDX shop in the most conspicuous way possible — with a large note on the store’s front door.

“Rains PDX was a locally-owned small business. But, due to the constant, and unrelenting, criminal behavior, coupled with escalating safety issues for our employees, we have decided to permanently close,” the note reads.

Our city is in peril. Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins… We have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd,” it continues.

The note concludes, “Portland has always been known for its thriving and abundant local, independently owned, small businesses. If small businesses are forced out, then our city will have lost a lot of what makes it a unique and desirable place to live. Please do your part to support small businesses, this holiday season, and beyond. Please be vigilant in voting to make our city safe again.”

The article notes that a local coffeehouse that tried to host a ‘coffee with a cop’ was smashed up & sprayed w/paint everywhere by 6 masked assailants using hammers & crowbars. #Antifa then celebrated the attack on social media.

However, there is hope. The article notes:

Dovetailing back to Landolfo’s note, take heed of how she urged people to “be vigilant in voting to make our city safe again.”

To their credit, some Portland residents have been doing exactly that. Indeed, during the midterm elections earlier this month, they ousted the city’s anti-police, pro-criminal commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty:

…According to The Oregonian, she lost specifically to political newcomer Rene Gonzalez, a pro-police candidate who wants to re-fund the cops.

The voters are the people who can make a difference locally which will eventually make a difference nationally.

It is well to remember the words of Tip O’Neill–“All Politics is Local.”

 

 

Elections Have Consequences

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It is no secret that George Soros has poured a lot of money into American elections over the years. It is also no secret that a lot of that money has gone into the state and city offices such as mayor, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. We are now seeing the consequences of the money poured into those elections. When the head of law enforcement in a state or city chooses not to enforce the law, bad things happen.

On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about what is happening in Portland, Oregon.

The article reports:

Families in Democrat-run Portland are fleeing the city due to out-of-control homelessness and crime, according to a report.

Homeless camps across the Peninsula Crossing Trail in North Portland — located approximately eight miles from downtown — have changed what once was a desirable neighborhood into an unsafe area, causing some longtime residents to either leave or consider it.

“It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually seriously thought about moving,” Greg Dilkes, who has lived in North Portland for thirty years, told KGW 8.

The uptick in crime has also caused local residents to feel unsafe even when doing simple activities such as walking, the local news outlet noted.

“Every day if you go from one end of the street to the other, you’re confronting some very difficult situations, people in really dire straits,” said Mark Smith, whose backyard is next to a homeless encampment.

“For Sale” signs have become a common sight in the North Portland neighborhood, as one resident told the local news outlet they know of three families that have left due to the rampant homelessness.

The article concludes:

The growing homeless problem has recently forced Starbucks to shut down some of its locations in the City of Roses, along with other Democrat-run American cities, due to rampant crime and homelessness, Breitbart News reported.

Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz blamed city and state leaders for the closure, saying they “have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime.”

Portland experienced a massive spike in its homicide rate from 2019 to 2021, recording a 207 percent increase. During that same timeframe, frequent ANTIFA riots were also occurring in the downtown area.

Elections have consequences. Please remember that in November.

Elections Have Consequences–Sometimes The Voters Don’t Like Those Consequences

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On Monday, Hot Air posted an article about the quality of life in Portland, Oregon.

The article reports:

I know you’ll be shocked to hear this but voters in the city which saw a string of nightly riots, beatings and even a murder by an Antifa mob over the past 18 months feels quality of life is on the decline. An annual survey of registered voters in Portland and the surrounding area funded by the Portland Business Alliance found 88% of respondents felt that way. The poll also included a right-track, wrong-track question which found that nearly 3/4 of respondents in Portland felt the city was going in the wrong direction.

Maybe the voters need to ask themselves who voted for the current leadership of Portland. However, it does seem as if the voters have learned their lesson.

The article concludes:

In other words, even in the city of Portland, voters have rejected “defund the police.” It never made sense that it was necessary to cut police funding in order to fund other priorities. The activist left has now lost this argument in the city that was probably most prone to agree with it.

Finally, it looks like voters haven’t forgotten who was pushing those issues. City Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty who has been the loudest proponent of defunding the police is going to be facing a tough reelection. Just 18% of respondents support her while 54% say they are ready to vote for someone else.

I think all Americans have learned in the recent past that elections have consequences.

The Violence Continues

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Somehow the state government of Oregon has not yet learned how to run an organized, civil society. The riots in Portland have continued despite the fact that the administration in Washington D.C. has changed. However, the media seems to be uninterested in reporting the riots.

CNS News posted an article Friday about recent events in Portland.

The article reports:

“The left-wing insurrection continues in Portland and the media yawn,” Bozell tweeted in response to a post by former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.

Retweeting video and news by Post Millennial Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo of Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) rioters storming a U.S. courthouse in Portland, Fleischer noted the double-standard regarding violence against federal government facilities:

“Attacking some Federal Courthouse in Portland is ok it seems. At least, attacking it all the time doesn’t lead to mass condemnation. Attacking the US Congress is not ok. That was and should be condemned. The Portland attacks should be condemned too.”

…In his tweet, Ngo describes the scene as federal offices clash with taunting rioters:

“Footage of #antifa & BLM rioters being pushed back by federal officers after they tried to storm the Mark O. Hatfield US Courthouse in downtown Portland. They taunt the officers, telling them to shoot. #PortlandRiots”

This does not sound like something the media should be ignoring or that the government should not want to stop.

Do You Remember Scholastic Magazine?

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It seems like propaganda has become a way of life for American education. I remember fondly when Scholastic Magazine would arrive in the classroom, and we would all read it to find out what was going on in the world at a level we could understand. The magazine still exists, but its purpose seems to have changed drastically.

Yesterday John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about the current state of Scholastic Magazine.

The article reports:

This is what our children are being told about President’s Trump’s position on “Racial Justice”:

The long history of unjust treatment of Black people in America is a major focus of this election.

This past spring, in the wake of police killings of Black Americans, huge protests erupted across the country in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has seriously underscored the widespread problem of racial inequality in the United States. Data show that people of color are contracting and dying of the virus at the highest rates, largely because of the wealth gap that exists between white people and people of color. Many Americans of all races are now demanding an end to police violence and other injustices toward Black people in this country.

That’s the preface. This is an issue, according to Scholastic Magazine, on which there is only one possible perspective.

In June, President Trump signed an executive order encouraging police departments to change how they train officers and use force. But overall, he has defended law enforcement…

As well he should!

…opposed protesters’ calls for reforms, and taken an aggressive stance against the largely peaceful demonstrations.

“Largely peaceful,” the Democrats’ weasel phrase.

In July, for instance, he sent federal police to Portland, Oregon, to break up rallies there. Local officials say those officers illegally detained protesters and sparked violence.

This is outrageous. What was happening in Portland was not “rallies.” It was rioting, arson, crime and violence. The idea that the presence of federal officers “sparked violence” is a far-left trope that is totally at odds with the facts. The violence long preceded, and succeeded, any federal involvement.

Many people see the president’s response to the protests as part of a pattern of racism.

“Many people.” The most dishonest trick of the left-wing journalist.

He has repeatedly made racist statements and at times shown support for people who promote white supremacy.

This is a lie. It is intended to poison young minds against the president, his party and his supporters.

Please follow the link to read the rest of the article. It is disturbing. It’s time to take a stand against the garbage our children are being taught in school. Pay attention to School Board elections. Your future could depend on them.

I spent part of my day today handing out campaign literature at the polls. I met a very sweet, but very misled young lady who told me that socialism didn’t deserve the ‘bad rep’ it has. It’s really a good thing. God help us if the people she supports ever get in power.

What Did They Expect?

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Yesterday The Washington Times posted an article about the increase of shootings in Portland, Oregon, after the Mayor Ted Wheeler disbanded the city’s police gun crimes unit. What did they expect?

The article reports:

The city recorded 223 shootings in July and August, up from 77 over the same period in 2019. And a little more than halfway through September the city already had 64 shootings, or double the shootings from the same month last year.

The numbers were released last week.

On Monday the federal Justice Department declared Portland and two other cities, Seattle and New York, to be “Anarchy Jurisdictions.” In Portland the federal officials cited the increase in gun crimes as one reason.

The city has faced near-nightly mayhem since late May, when protests broke out over the death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis. More than 25 riots have been declared in the days since.

The article concludes:

Mr. Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, announced in early June he was disbanding the Portland Police Bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team as part of an effort to “reimagine” city policing. Protesters had said the unit unfairly targeted Black men.

In August, after seeing the spike in shootings in July, Mr. Wheeler said he was pondering restoring some type of gun crimes unit.

At least Mr. Wheeler is considering correcting his mistake.

When You Release People Who Broke The Law, Bad Things Happen

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PJ Media posted an article yesterday about a Portland man who had been arrested for starting fires and then released.

The article reports:

On Sunday, police arrested a man who confessed to starting a brush fire with a Molotov cocktail in Portland. They booked him in Multnomah County Jail. Portland being Portland, the authorities released the suspect that evening. The man then went on to start six more fires before the police arrested him yet again. The cops took him to a hospital for a mental evaluation.

What community resources were used to put out the six fires? What was the cost of putting out the six fires? How much disruption would have been avoided had the police taken him to a hospital for a mental evaluation and kept him in custody after the first arrest?

The article continues:

A reasonable person might expect the story to end there. The suspect confessed to the crime, the cops booked him in jail and got him off the streets. With a little time and some well-deserved punishment, the arsonist might reconsider his destructive ways. After all, the Pacific Northwest is undergoing a particularly harsh fire season, and fires near Portland have discolored the sky with smoke.

The story did not end there, however. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt has notoriously taken the side of violent antifa rioters against the police they attack, and he announced that his office would not prosecute many riot-related crimes, even when some of those crimes endanger the lives of police officers. Perhaps that attitude helps explain why Domingo Lopez Jr. left jail on Sunday evening. Apparently, the suspect had enough time on his hands to set a whopping six more fires before the police again detained him.

The article concludes:

“Portland Fire and Rescue extinguished three of them while passing community members put out the other three. All were caught early. No one was injured and no structures were burnt,” the police reported. Officers again arrested Lopez, seizing a lighter as evidence.

“Lopez was transported to a hospital on a Police Officer Hold for a mental health evaluation. He was issued citations for 6 additional counts of Reckless Burning,” PPB added.

This is what happens when authorities release dangerous criminals — they commit more crimes and endanger more people. Yet activists want to abolish the police?

This madness needs to end.

When people are arrested, they should not be immediately released.

Note that the article includes seven fires that were not caused by global warming.

The List

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Yesterday The Washington Free Beacon posted a list of some of the violence and intimidation engaged in by the political left this week. The article included the following picture:

I have a problem with the phrase ‘fiery but mostly peaceful,’ but here is the list of noteworthy events:

7. Activist Shaun King Threatens to Dox Random Police Officers | Washington Free Beacon

6. Left-Wing Protesters Bring Back the Guillotine | The Independent

5. BLM Protesters Vandalize Dinosaur Museum | The Post Millennial

4. Portland Protesters Vandalize City Hall, Light Fires Outside Police Union Headquarters | OregonLive

3. ‘Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests’ in Kenosha | CNN

2. BLM Heckles DC Diners, Demanding Solidarity | The Washington Post

1. Seattle Rioters Use Rebar and Quick-Drying Concrete to Try to Trap and Burn Cops | KING5 News

It is past time to deal with this foolishness. I need someone to explain to me what a dinosaur museum has to do with any protest. Please follow the link to the article to read the details of these incidents.

The Reasons Portland Has Suddenly Gone Quiet

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Portland has suddenly gone quiet. According to BizPacReview, Thursday evening marked “the first time in 93 days” that downtown Portland didn’t succumb to rioting. Somehow I doubt that was because the rioters were home watching President Trump speak.

Andy Ngo, who has been covering the riots for the past three months, tweeted early Friday morning, he speculated that the silence may be a result of reports that the FBI’s Portland branch has begun actively investigating the Black Lives Matter and Antifa extremists responsible for the rioting.

The article reports:

“Portland, Oregon’s FBI chief said Wednesday he is shifting the agency’s resources to focus more heavily on the nightly [extremist riots] in Oregon’s largest city that often end in vandalism, clashes with local police and dozens of arrests,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

“Special Agent in Charge Renn Cannon said he is pulling agents from fraud and organized crime teams to focus on ‘acts of violence and federal crimes’ committed during nearly three months of unrest.”

“We do investigate major threats of violence and federal crimes. And sometimes a major threat of violence is a cumulative threat that happens over a period of time. It starts to have a really negative impact on the community,” Cannon said to the AP.

“Here in Portland, we’re … making the assessment that we should be trying to do a little more than we have, because the cumulative effects and the nature of the problem indicate that the community needs help.”

The article includes a tweet from the FBI Portland showing pictures of rioters and asking for information.

There is, however, another aspect of this. The article includes the following tweet:

I realize the tweet is blurry. What it essentially says is that approval for Black Lives Matter is rapidly dropping (probably because of the riots). Keep in mind that the Democrat Party has managed to link themselves with Black Lives Matter by claiming the riots are simply valid protests. At one point a member of the mainstream media described a protest as a mostly peaceful but fiery protest as the fires burned behind him. I think most Americans want to feel safe in their homes, and the violence they are seeing undermines that feeling. The Democrats reluctance to condemn those perpetuating the violence is undermining the support for the Democrat party.

What Does This Accomplish?

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One of the things that needs to be listed in the legacy of the Obama Administration is the dividing of Americans into sub-groups. It seems as if we are no longer Americans–we are Hispanics, Blacks, feminists, etc. Occasionally this reaches a point where it is not only ridiculous, but harmful to innocent people.

The Daily Wire posted an article on its website yesterday that illustrates how silly we have become.

The following story is featured on a number of websites, this is from CSNBBS:

Just one week after Kooks Burritos in Portland, Ore., was featured in a profile for local publication Willamette Week, the pop-up Mexican food cart has closed down amid accusations that they ripped off their recipes.

Kali Wilgus and Liz “LC” Connelly, the two white women who started Kooks earlier this year, have been accused of stealing their techniques from the “tortilla ladies” of Puerto Nuevo, Mexico — because Connelly told Willamette Week that they gathered their recipes and tortilla-making processes during a holiday road-trip to the Baja California village.

“I picked the brains of every tortilla lady there in the worst broken Spanish ever, and they showed me a little of what they did,” she told the site. “They told us the basic ingredients, and we saw them moving and stretching the dough similar to how pizza makers do before rolling it out with rolling pins.”

Note that the tortilla ladies were in Puerto Nuevo, Mexico–they were not running competing restaurants in Portland, Oregon.

The Daily Wire explains what happened next:

Getting a whiff of Wilgus and Connelly’s process of creating tortilla recipes, leftist outlets like Mic.com and The Portland Mercury pounced: painting the female entrepreneurs contributing to society as racist, sticky-fingered villains. 

“Because of Portland’s underlying racism, the people who rightly own these traditions and cultures that exist are already treated poorly. These appropriating businesses are erasing and exploiting their already marginalized identities for the purpose of profit and praise,” accused The Portland Mercury.

“People of color are nothing more than an afterthought when the white perpetrators of this tradition continue to do this on a regular basis. While Portland is supposedly a progressive place, super liberal white people usually only have other super white liberal people to answer to — which means this cycle of cultural appropriation will never end until people of color call attention to it,” the piece continued. 

Soon after, the business was forced into closing its doors, and its online presence has all but disappeared. The Portland Mercury called the closure a “victory.” 

That is so sad. It is also stupid. These people are proud because they took the livelihood away from the owners of the business because the owners of the business learned how to do something from someone the liberals regarded as underprivileged. So if I go to Italy and watch people make pizza and come home and open a pizza stand, should I be put out of business? Can only Chinese people own Chinese restaurants?

Our Founding Fathers, who believed in free enterprise and free markets, are turning over in their graves.

What About The Baker’s Rights?

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On Sunday, KATU.com reported that the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ruled that the Gresham bakery violated the civil rights of a same-sex couple when it refused the order for a wedding cake on Jan.17, 2013.

The article reports:

Portland, OR—A Gresham bakery violated the civil rights of a same-sex couple when it denied service based on sexual orientation, a Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) investigation has found.

The couple filed the complaint against Sweet Cakes by Melissa under the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, a law that protects the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender Oregonians in employment, housing and public places.

Under Oregon law, Oregonians may not be denied service based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The law provides an exemption for religious organizations and schools, but does not allow private business owners to discriminate based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot legally deny service based on race, sex, age, disability or religion.

The investigation concludes that the bakery is not a religious institution under law and that the business’ policy of refusing to make same-sex wedding cakes represents unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation.

What about the rights of the bakery owners to practice their religion? If they are Bible-believing Christians, their Bible states that homosexual marriage is wrong. To bake a cake for a lesbian couple goes against the bakery owners’ religious beliefs. I think this is a situation where the law should not be involved–the couple could have easily gone to another bakery for their cake. If we are going to support the rights of homosexuals, we also need to support the rights of Christians.

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Has The Desire For Cheaper Products Caused Americans To Forget Who They Are ?

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Investors.com posted a story yesterday about a disturbing note found in a box of Halloween decorations sold at K-Mart.

The article reports:

Last October, Julie Keith, of Portland, Ore., opened up a kitschy box of “Totally Ghoul” Halloween decorations bought at Kmart and between two Styrofoam headstones found something more authentically jarring: an unsigned note in mangled English and Mandarin reading: “Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands of people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever. This product produced by Unit 8, Department 2, Mashanjia Labour Camp, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.”

The mysterious writer went on to note that the workers were effectively slaves, paid about $1.61 a month, with many prisoners sentenced to work there to punish them for belonging to Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation sect reviled by Beijing as a threat.

Meanwhile, what is the American media and business community saying about China? New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has stated, “One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks, but when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages.” He added that such a one-party state can “just impose” the policies that are needed. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt has stated, “The one thing that actually works, state-run communism a bit — may not be your cup of tea, but their government works.” Please define ‘works.’

The article reminds us:

The main reason for the Obama administration’s lack of interest in human rights in China is because China enables the U.S. to continue its wild deficit spending. They’ve bought our silence on slave labor, in effect.

China now holds $1.16 trillion in U.S. treasury bonds, and is our largest creditor. So long as China enables Obama to spend cash at home, the silent screams will continue from China’s slave labor camps, only occasionally reaching the ears of the West.

The obvious reaction to this story is to say that we should no longer buy things that are made in China, but I am not sure that is the solution. Americans buy goods from China because those goods are less expensive than American made goods. Obviously, the American worker cannot compete with slave labor. As long as we are financing China through our overspending, our government and media will not even report what is going on in China.  I wonder if this story were widely reported if it would impact the buying habits of Americans. It is a concern that some of the American media and some of America’s business leader view the government of China as acceptable. If they truly believe that, are they willing to live there?

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