Apparently, Obama is returning to campus to speak tomorrow in the Memorial Quad outside Knight Library. Doors (?) open at 5:45 p.m. The only source I have for this is a Facebook Event, but it appears to be hosted by Students for Obama. I’ll keep you updated. If it’s true, you’ll be able to watch the whole thing (sans sound) through the old Obelisk Cam.

UPDATE: Yep, it’s confirmed on Obama’s website.

Tony Marino, a Tigard Republican running for the Oregon House, issued a letter to several newspapers that extensively describes his myriad failures in life, including bankruptcy, divorces, IRS trouble and a fake degree. Marino is spinning it as a “honesty is the best policy” move, but you can bet the Democrats were going to dig all this up anyways.

According to the Oregonian, Marino earned a doctorate in Marketing in under three months from Ashwood University, which gives its students credit for their “life experiences.” Later he discovered the shocking truth that the “university” wasn’t accredited in the state of Oregon.

Marino did leave out a few other tidbits, though. From the Oregonian:

A background check unearthed other financial run-ins, including a $12,300 civil judgment from 2001 that he contests and that he says he didn’t know about until Thursday. He’s also making monthly installments on a $4,900 judgment from 2002, filed by Ford Motor Co.

Whoops! It will be interesting to see if Marino’s “only human” strategy works. I for one would like to see more detailed confessions from politicians. Imagine the letters coming out of DC: “This one time Arlen Specter got drunk and passed out on my couch, so I drew penises all over his face with a Sharpie. He woke up the next morning and rushed straight to the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. Everyone laughed at him, and I felt really guilty.”

The Willamette Week and several local news sources are reporting that Dave Frohnmayer will announce his upcoming retirement tomorrow, to be effective in 14 months. He’s served for 14 years thus far as University President. Love him or hate him, that’s quite a run and just one more accomplishment for someone who has held some distinguished positions over his lifetime.

So, what’s next for the Frohn? Full, relaxed-living retirement, or perhaps something else?

The ‘Ol Dirty’s front page today has a big spread on all the Earth Day events on campus. Below the fold, however, is a nice little story headlined “Researchers link biofuels to food price increase.” From the opening paragraphs of the article:

A sign outside of the SeQuential Biofuels retail fueling station in south Eugene reads “fight global warming.” But recent studies and media reports have increasingly questioned biofuel’s side in that and another life-and-death planet-scale fight.

As food riots erupt across the globe, researchers and analysts have been scrambling to explain why food prices have exploded in recent months, and the crosshairs are increasingly focused on corn-based ethanol biofuels.

The article goes on to mention the increasing criticism of biofuel production coming from sources such as The Economist (subscription wall), The New York Times and Science. Reason has been all over the subject as well. With all this scrutiny, you would think the government would be less eager to push through new biofuel subsidies and laws. Well …

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I had the pleasure of sitting through a monthly OLCC meeting this morning, and the senior citizen commissioners actually did something, well, respectable for Oregon youth and music business. After rejecting admendements to the minors posting rule in December, which allow venues that could only have 21+ shows to admit minors into shows, the board passed a revised rule change unanimously today.

All of the public testimony was in favor of the amendments, which surprised Commissioner Christine Lewandowski who noted that a MADD representative would generally be at such a hearing in opposition.

The admendment allows Oregon venues that serve alcohol to host all age shows and those that don’t serve alcohol to do so for added income, as long as they set up an approved liquor control plan. The WW’s Local Cut has a story and some video coverage here.

An initiative sponsored by Republican Kevin Mannix that would set three-year mandatory minimum prison sentences for first-time drug dealers, burglars and identity thieves will appear on the November ballot in Oregon.

According to the Oregonian, the measure “would increase Oregon’s prison population by an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 inmates and cost $128 million to $200 million a year.” Righto, sounds peachy keen! Sure, we already have a strained budget and strained prison system, but dammit, someone’s got to teach those dopers a lesson.

Of course, if voters disagree with the initiative, they will have another, more sympathetic way to waste vast amounts of money. A second initiative sponsored by the Democrat-controlled legislature, which targets repeat offenders, would only incarcerate a projected 1,600 people and cost roughly $50 million a year. It would also include $20 million a year for drug treatment programs and local jails.

If both initiatives are passed by voters, the one with the most votes will become law. (THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!)

As CJ earlier noted, the state of Oregon’s GOP is not good, to say the least. A new project is trying to form a league of “new blood and new leaders” to move the Oregon Republican Party into a position with respectable political clout.

The Conservative Majority Project is headed by Robert Kremer and Jared McKinney. Kremer is a native Oregonian, the founder and president of the Oregon Education Coalition and host of a radio show, “Kremer & Abrams.” The fact that he was a major player in killing the CIM/CAM education reform, a.k.a. the biggest waste of tax dollars EVER, is reason enough to like the guy.

McKinney is a younger guy and Native Alaskan who has worked on several political campaigns nationwide. He seems to be a true grassroots activist with a fond eye for the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the original intent of the Constitution.

Kremer also runs a blog that focuses on politics in the Portland area. The heading of it reads:

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I got a call today while working in the ASUO from a member of the Barack Obama campaign saying that Obama is planning on coming to Eugene on Friday, and they need to find a 10,000 plus occupant arena. I informed them that there would not be many students on campus at this time, at which point he responded, saying, “Yes, President Frohnmayer just informed me of that.” Of course you talked to the president of our university before little ol’ me. I don’t know if this is all for real. It might have been a hallucination caused by pulling an all-nighter in the library, taking too much aderall and the disillusionment caused by working in the ASUO. Maybe it was a premonition from God that the Messiah is coming. I will keep you posted.

Update: Word is 90% sure that Obama will be at Mac Court at 8:30pm on Friday March 21st! But this isn’t official. I am just trying to share my vision with the world. I hope no one is freaking out about this. 

Update 2: Just found a bit of confirmation for you all that my premonition about this might just in fact be true. KMTR commented on their website regarding the visit saying that is was for sure the he would in Portland on Friday and possibly Eugene.

Update 3: The Register Guard has confirmed that Obama will hold an event Friday at Mac Court. For the record, I scooped them all. It’s just too bad it’s Obama and not my man McCain.

You would cry too, if this was happening to you. Via the Oregonian, the tale of the stunning implosion of the Oregon GOP:

“It’s a wake-up call,” says former state labor commissioner Jack Roberts. “We’ve been spending so much of our time arguing about who is more Republican, and the voters are electing people who aren’t Republican at all.”

A quick survey of the party’s status in Oregon tells the story: Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature. Democrats hold every statewide office. Democrats hold five of seven seats in Congress.

And the cherry on top? Last week it came to light that the Oregon GOP was a cool $300,000 in debt. I can only wonder what the atmosphere will be like at the Republican’s annual Dorchester Conference, which commences tonight. They must not be too worried, though, because I didn’t see any entry on the official agenda titled “OMFG, guys! What the hell are we going to do!”

Remember the mayor from Eastern Oregon who got in trouble for her saucy MySpace pics? Well, the citizens of the fair town of Arlington have recalled her by a narrow vote of 142-139. Ex-mayor Kontur-Gronquist says she has no plans to seek further office, but is she saddened by this whole hullabaloo? Hell no.

“I will be involved in the city and issues, of course,” she said. “You betcha. That is what I wanted to do in the first place. I regret nothing.”

That’s the spirit! Hey,  Eugene’s got a slot for mayor open this year (wink wink, nudge nudge).

P.S. Headline reference here.

It’s been almost 40 years since Lane County and the Oregon State Highway Division blew up a whale. The story is slowly but surely securing a popular spot in Oregon’s history, not to mention the list of most hilarious uses of public money ever. Here’s the video, in case you haven’t heard of it. 

TheExplodingWhale.com, “the definitive exploding whale website,” chronicles the popularity of the story and collects other evidence that in 1970, Oregon blew up a dead, beached whale carcass with a half ton of dynamite.

Economics professor Bill Harbaugh has struck again in his hundred-year war on UO Administrator chicanery, an effort which has become the University of Oregon’s answer to those endless Family Guy chicken fights. His target this time is the Administrations pointwoman on all things douchy, University General Counsel Melinda Grier. According to the ‘Ol Dirty, the Oregon Department of Justice is looking into Harbaugh’s claims that Grier delayed the release of public records and made false statements about the new basketball arena, and the Underrepresented Minority Recruitment Plan. Although this is not an official investigation, the “inquiry” originated at the desk of AG Hardy Myers, apparently within hours of this hard-hitting blog post going up over at OregonLive… even though Harbaugh raised the allegations to the DOJ back in January .

It only takes one look at how Grier “handled” Harbaugh in the past to understand why these allegations have been raised, and to believe that there is probably something to them. I know that when I was working on a lengthy story about the Rec Center finances last year, and made multiple requests for information from Griers office, I was completely ignored by phone, email and in person. Harbaugh isn’t commenting on these current allegations for the moment, citing legal concerns, but you can always learn more about the Administrations resident thorn-in-the-side by reading our coverage of last years ethics charges against Frohnmayer and Harbaugh’s concerns about the UMRP… or better yet check out his own faculty site and alternative diversity plan. Keep up the good work Bill, and Phil Knight might just buy you that Alouette to keep you quiet!

Yesterday, the Oregon House held an atypical debate on natural rights, specifically a natural right to health care. The House Democrats successfully referred a bill to the November ballot that would make health care a constitutional right for every Oregon citizen.  From the Oregonian article:

House Joint Resolution 100 would amend the Oregon Constitution to make health care “a fundamental right” and order the Legislature to adopt a plan for giving every legal resident “access to effective and affordable health care on a regular basis.”

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The folks over at left-leaning Loaded Orygun have endorsed Democrat John Kroger for state Attorney General. (I previously wrote about Kroger’s ambitious, silly plan to end the “meth epidemic” here). However, reading through LO’s justifications for endorsing Kroger makes me wonder if they are actually running some sort of back-handed smear campaign against him. I mean, if someone wrote this about me, I might ask them to take the endorsment back (emphasis mine):

As pleasant and apparently very competent as Macpherson is, Kroger’s enthusiasm, sharply detailed vision and obvious desire for public service–in all senses of the phrase–make him the more compelling candidate. He better exemplifies the borderline-angry demand of the electorate for post-partisan change, post-fear. He’s ready to fight, but on principles for people, not for parties and politics.

What does “post-partisan change, post-fear” mean? Post-fear of what? Post-fear of witches? Post-Fear of a Black Planet? Read on to see the rest of the endorsement, with emphasis on the especially humorous parts. (more…)

The Oregonian ran a follow-up today on the strange case of John Roberts, who claims to have killed his wife out of mercy, saying she was suffering from AlS and did not want to wait for a doctor-assisted suicide. I wrote about the story here.

Although friends and family came to Roberts’ defense, prosecutors are starting to punch holes in his story, including the claim that his wife actually had ALS. The Oregonian reports that a doctor who examined Roberts’ wife in January told authorities that she did not have the disease. A fair amount of character evidence against Roberts has also come to light.

Nevertheless, I think the larger point of my previous post is still valid. Oregon needs to revise its assisted suicide laws. Although Oregon is the only state in the nation to legalize the practice, a patient with a terminal illness still has to be within six months of death before he or she can request a doctor-assisted suicide. This can leave people who would rather die in terrible pain for months, maybe years.