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.

As reported in today’s Oregonian, John Roberts has been charged with the murder of his wife. However, Roberts and those close to him and his wife claim it was a mercy killing. Roberts’ wife was suffering from debilitating ALS and chose to die quickly rather than wait for an official assisted suicide. From the Oregonian article:

[Friends and family] say Virginia [Roberts] had her reasons for not using Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the only law in the nation that allows terminally ill patients to end their lives. Virginia did not want to deteriorate until doctors determined she was within six months of death, as required by the physician-assisted suicide law, they said. Nor did she want to take her own life because of her Catholic beliefs.

Like Sophocles’ Antigone, the story illuminates a sad disparity between state law and natural law. Unfortunately, I doubt the State of Oregon will realize its error any time soon. The assisted suicide laws will not be revised, and Roberts will no doubt face jail time on murder charges (manslaughter if he’s lucky). Until then, we will probably continue to hear these sorts of stories - people who take the law into their own hands after it fails them on a gross level.

This is just coming over the wire, via The Oregonian:

 A federal judge this afternoon threw out a lawsuit against Oregon’s domestic partnership law, allowing the legislation to go into effect about 4:20 p.m.

Of course, opponents of Oregon’s new domestic partnership law plan to appeal, but for now you can civil unionize to your heart’s content. Well, actually you’ll have to wait until Monday; the county offices are closed on weekends.

Tim Lussier, a 20 year-old employee of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has been caught trying to infiltrate the campaign of Democrat Jeff Merkley in what can only be described as a monumental failure in espionage. (more…)

As the OC recently reported, the State Board of Higher Education is implementing a new resource fee structure that would roll all of the “hidden fees” that state universities charge into the general tuition. Of course, President Frohnmayer is none too pleased. From the Daily Emerald’s article:

University President Dave Frohnmayer at Wednesday’s University Senate meeting lamented the passage of the Oregon University System’s new resource fee structure, reiterating his concern the “sticker shock” could drive students away.

As opposed to telling them the real cost of tuition? Oh, but I guess that would actually be ethical. Keep in mind the new structure would still not include the money-sucking incidental fee.

Over at Loaded Orygun, Democratic candidate for Attorney General John Kroger has written a blog post outlining his plan to fight the scary meth pandemic. As you’ve probably heard from every news outlet in the state, meth has ravaged at least 95 percent of Oregon’s adult population (and now it’s coming for your kids!). Here’s the opening paragraph of his two-pronged assault on tweak:

As Attorney General, I will work hard every day to tackle Oregon’s number one crime problem – meth addiction. Every year, meth costs us hundreds of millions of dollars in prison and law enforcement costs, health care expenditures, and lost workforce productivity. Meth is the biggest cause of property crime and identity theft in the state. More important, meth is the single greatest cause of serious child abuse in Oregon. That is one reason Oregon recently received a grade of “D” on a child welfare report card issued by a leading child advocacy group. To me, that is simply unacceptable.

To deal with Oregon’s meth crisis, I have proposed a two part plan, emphasizing both a new drug treatment program and tougher enforcement. This plan is based on the lessons I have learned as a federal prosecutor, public policy expert, and law professor.

A lot of things about this catch my eye, such as confusing “meth addiction” with “crimes people commit while on meth” (although you could easily argue the two go hand in hand). Most odd, though, is when Kroger throws out “lost workplace productivity.” Meth results in less productivity? Last time I checked, carnivals wouldn’t exist without meth. Workplace productivity statistics are stupid anyways, but Kroger says his plan is based on experience, so it must have some merit, right? Well, lets see. (more…)

President Dave Frohmayer announced today the details of PathwayOregon, which promises Oregon-resident, incoming freshman who qualify for the Pell Grant a free ride to the University of Oregon.

“At a time of fluctuating state support, escalating tuition and increased student debt, we are committed to providing more Oregonians than ever the financial boost they need to study at the state’s flagship university,” Frohnmayer said. “I am proud to present PathwayOregon as a cornerstone of that effort.”

According to the program’s website:

Resources for PathwayOregon come from federal, state, and university programs, including funds provided through private donations.

Last year, 3,680 UO students received the Pell Grant, according to this November R-G article, but I can’t find how many recipients of the federal grant are Oregon residents.

This program is all glitter and gleam for families whose children qualify for the grant. Everyone else, however, may be getting screwed. This study put out early 2007 by two UO economics professors (here’s a University press release on it) says the funds dished out for Pell Grants may simply be appropriated through tuition hikes.

In the end, exogenous changes in the Federal Pell Grant program are found to correlate strongly with changes in the distribution of needy students and revenues across institution quality.

The latest Eugene Weekly has a news piece on the Pacifica Forum, and (surprise!) the forum is still bat-shit crazy. If you haven’t read my piece on the Pacifica Forum in the Holiday Issue, go check it out. Anyways, here’s a little treat from the EW article:

Later, after denying that he was a conspiracy theorist, Douglas described how the burning of the Branch Davidians’ compound in Waco, Texas, and the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building were perpetrated by the U.S. government, and he said that the U.S. government was capable of using cable TV boxes as receivers to eavesdrop on people in their homes.

For those not familiar with it, the Pacifica Forum spends most of its time talking about how the Jews run the world, didn’t really die in the Holocaust, eat babies, etc. They try and cover their douchebaggery by claiming they are merely criticizing Israel and its policies, which apparently is a rock-solid defense these days.

After the Savage love fiasco earlier in the year, Eugene Weekly is in hot water again for one of its syndicated columns, this time “Ask a Mexican!”* by Gustavo Arellano. Community activists are calling for EW to stop running the column, and the paper’s letter section has been flooded with angry complaints for weeks now.

Last week, EW ran a cover story on Arellano and his column, giving the author a chance to defend himself. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say:

The point [of my column] is to debunk the stereotypes that people do have about Mexicans, to aggressively go after racists, but at the same time, do it in a way that people will want to read it every week and get entertained — whether it’s Mexicans laughing at ourselves or people laughing at stupid racists or at stupid questions. 

Poor Arellano. He has no idea how people in Eugene think, does he? We’re not allowed to laugh at anything like that ever! Outrage predictably continued unabated. According to this week’s story in EW, members of the paper recently met with concerned community leaders, including local Latino activists, who demanded that EW pull the column and replace it with content from local Latino sources.

(more…)

Very few football teams ever have to resort to relying on its forth and fifth string quarterbacks, and third runningback, to take snaps in an important game. In times like those, it is up to other leaders to make big plays and up the team morale. The defense gave a triumphant performance in the team’s loss to the UCLA Bruins, reminiscent of the Gang Green, but to no avail. The loss turns a once-Cinderella Story, BCS National Title season, into another slightly above average Ducks football season.

It was one of the poorest offensive performances in Duck football history. While I hate to lay blame on any individual in such tough circumstances, I have to say that wide receiver Jaison Williams gave one of the most uninspiring performances I have ever seen, especially for someone who came into the season as a supposed team leader.

“We lost Dixon, and a lot of guys got down and we never really got back up,” receiver Jaison Williams said. “We miss him a lot. In a big game like this, it’s too bad we couldn’t get up for it.”

Williams has dropped the ball many times this season, but nothing before like he did today. Williams made one good catch early from Brady Leaf, but later, with freshman quarterbacks looking for help to jump-start the struggling offense, Williams appeared to have his head elsewhere. Hopefully Williams can make the adjustment in mental toughness, something he showed absolutely no sign of today against the Bruins, for next week and the upcoming bowl game. 

The Commentator received an e-mail from Pavel Goberman, author of Get Energized! The release outlines his platform for his candidacy for U.S. Senate, as a democrat. His vague promises jump all over the place, but he seems to be banking on his persona as

honest, incorruptible (do not accept “contribution, donations”), with faith, integrity and highest moral principles and promise to support the Constitution and work for the People (how many politicians are saying that?). I have an education and successfully managed business, and had an award for this.

His website outlines Goberman the man, a health guru and quasi life coach - it’s like Chuck Norris, Richard Simmons and Dr. Phil somehow conceived a child. He claims to have written a request to President George W., asking to appoint him as a Counselor On Physical Fitness and Health, or Advisor to the President, “and I promised to save our nation at least $30 billion on the health care.” On his site, Goberman attacks the Livestrong Foundation, the American Cancer Association, the Oregon Health Science University and many more.

Got to give it to ole Gober, he has some tenacity. He was in The Red Tank Army and he called the Washington County Democrats “a gang of parasites, not convicted yet criminals in Democratic Party,” because they did not give him an opportunity to talk at a July 25 meeting, where Steve Novick was a featured speaker.

“Vote for me is investing in your-self, state and country.”

Portland State’s Vanguard reported last week that OSPIRG is no longer considered a student group on campus because its mission statement refers to OSPIRG as a corporation. The PSU chapter of OSPIRG is no longer receiving the benefits that student groups get. As for its budget, the Student Fee Committee will hear opinions from students before decided what to do with the OSPIRG chapter’s $128,000 of student-paid fees.

We hope the SFC will do the right thing here and set a precedent for OSPIRG on the state’s university campuses. Their claims as an on-campus student organization are a bunch of malarky. As Thomas Jefferson said: “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

I was poking around the Internets today, doing some school work and whatnot, when I made my way to the website of Representative Peter DeFazio (of bike bridge fame). As I scrolled through, I noted a link for something called the House Small Brewers Caucus. Yep, it turns out DeFazio and Greg Walden co-chair a caucus dedicated to the advancement of micro-breweries. Most of the other Oregon representatives (Hooley, Wu and Blumenauer) are there too. The website has information on brewing and even a chart on beer and food pairings, not to mention a sweet logo. Could it be that our state representatives are cooler than we all thought? Should we send them Sudsy t-shirts in hope that they’ll wear them on the floor of Congress?

Nah, but that’s still a pretty sweet logo.

The Oregon Athletic Department has thrown a curveball to the slowly-revealed plans of the new Basketball arena. The administration and AD are seeking to pay the arena by taking out $200 million in 30- or 40-year bonds, according to an article in today’s Oregonian. If this is the case, tax payers would not pay for any of the arena. They would, however, bear the loss if the department is unable to pay off the bonds.

Oregon’s current load of XI-F(1) bonds is $178 million, with 3.3 percent of the university’s total annual operating budget being used to pay back those bonds. State guidelines recommend a cap of 7 percent, which Oregon would nearly reach if the current arena financing plan went forward.

That’s before the university launches a planned overhaul of its dormitories, which could require as much as $450 million in debt,” UO senate president Gordon Sayre said.

Kilkenny said the bonds would be paid by arena revenues, and any shortfall would be paid with money from the Duck Athletic Fund. The Legacy Fund, which was just kicked off by Phil and Penny Knight’s $100 million donation, then, would cover the department’s annual operating costs.

Kilkenny estimates the department would need $11.2 million a year to cover 40-year bonds. A 2003 report estimated a new arena would generate revenues of $6 to $8.6 million, but Kilkenny said those numbers are conservative and thinks the new arena could bring in up to $16 million annually.

The zany lefty union-funded group “Our Oregon” is getting an uncomfortable amount of coddling from Oregon Executive offices. Our Oregon is known for, among other things, being union thugs who run campaigns to create a bunch of tomfoolery in areas where petitioners are trying to get signatures. An example of a such person is Jeanne Berg of Oregon, who was hired to block petitioning in Oklahoma by libertarian activist Paul Jacob, who was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to defraud the state, which was caused by the state’s vague description of “resident.” (see www.freepauljacob.com for more info).

Berg’s understudy is Patty Wentz, a former reporter of the Willamette Week who went on to take charge of Our Oregon, and who was recently hired as Governor Kulongoski’s interim spokeswomen while his press secretary has a baby. My point to all this comes from this report by Richard Leonetti. He discovered that Our Oregon did not file any campaign contribution and expenditure reports with Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.

Oregon law clearly requires that any person or entity that accepts money (”contributions”) to be used in a political campaign must register as a political committee (ORS 260.005(16)). The law also requires every political committee active in a general election to file at least 3 contribution and expenditure reports in every election year (ORS 260.073). Apparently, “Our Oregon” disregarded the law, never registered, and never reported its contributions.

Leonetti filed a formal complaint in January, 2007, but no action has been taken and Leonetti predicts that Bradbury is ready to let Our Oregon off the hook. If Our Oregon is allowed to get away with this, it will set a precedent for this loophole where anyone can form a non-profit, collect unrecorded contributions from unknown donors, and then shuttle that money into candidates or measure campaigns under the name of the non-profit.