The Oregon Catalyst

Remembering the Wall that fell 20 years ago today

nospam@example.com (Steve Buckstein) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Steve Buckstein is founder and senior policy analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research center.

Congressman Greg Walden: On Health Care Vote

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Congressman Greg Walden,

Walden supports reform that lowers cost of premiums, cuts deficit, protects seniors, expands coverage, and ensures that those with pre-existing conditions can find coverage

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) released the following statement following the passage of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-San Francisco) $1.3 trillion government takeover of healthcare. Rep. Walden voted for the Republican healthcare reform plan.“Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives had a choice of two healthcare reform plans. I voted for healthcare reform that would reduce the cost of health insurance premiums by 10 percent, cut the federal deficit by $68 billion, and make insurance more accessible to millions of Americans. Unfortunately, that’s not the plan that passed. As a small business owner for more than 21 years, I know what it’s like to pay the bills and sign the front side of a paycheck. Independent analysts estimate that the $730 billion in new taxes on Americans families and small businesses in the bill that passed today will result in the loss of 5.5 million American jobs. There’s even an unthinkable new tax on items like pacemakers, artificial hips, and stints.

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Speaking Truth to Power about Tax Increases and PERS

nospam@example.com (Steve Buckstein) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0700

The cost of Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System is about
to skyrocket to budget-busting levels. - The Oregonian, Oct. 24, 2009

When will a prominent Oregon politician stand up and say what California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D) recently told his legislature?

Steve Buckstein is founder and senior policy analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research center.

Lars Larson: The Vaccine National Emergency

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0700

So President Obama, if it’s really a national emergency why aren’t your daughters immunized against it?

I understand we’re supposed to stay “hands-off” when it comes to the President’s family. The fact is, the man drags his family around everywhere with him and here’s the hypocrisy I see in his latest move.

President Obama announced that the H1N1 influenza virus is a national emergency, and it may be. Some of the predictions are that millions of people will get it and hundreds of thousands will be hospitalized. An awful lot of people, maybe as many as 90,000 will die. That would be a national emergency in my book.

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Failed Obama economic prediction chart

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:05:00 -0700

Karl Rove: What the numbers mean behind Tuesday's election

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0700

Karl Rove highlights this week from his Wall Street Journal column,

Barack Obama was said to have redrawn the electoral map by winning Virginia last year with 53% of the vote. On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell flipped the state back to the GOP, winning his election for governor with 59% of the vote. Mr. Obama carried New Jersey easily last year with 57% of the vote. This year, despite being outspent 3-to-1, Republican Chris Christie ousted Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine there by 49% to 45%. Mr. Obama carried Pennsylvania last year by 10 points. On Tuesday, Republican Judge Joan Orie Melvin was elected to the state's Supreme Court by 53% to 47%, leading a GOP sweep of six of seven statewide contests.

The trend here is that suburban and independent voters moved into the GOP column. The overall shift away from Democrats was 13 points in Virginia, 12 points in New Jersey, and eight points in Pennsylvania. Even a five-point swing in 2010 could bring a tidal wave of change. Today, Democrats enjoy 60 votes in the Senate, Republicans a mere 40. Had there been a five-point swing away from Democrats last fall, the party would have started this year with 54 seats and the Republicans 46...

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Weekly video: Barney Frank dismissing housing bubble in 2005

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0700

Ex-Blazer, Chris Dudley, closer to Governor run with website

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:37:56 -0700

You know former Oregon Trail Blazer and NBA star, Chris Dudley, is closer to running for Governor when he posts a website, forms a committee and announces he is taking donations.

The Chris Dudley website mentions, "By opening the Friends of Chris Dudley committee, I've taken the first necessary step toward determining how I can help, whether running for Governor or some other way. I'll make a decision soon and report back. One way or another, I intend to help change Oregon for the better."

Is this the candidate who can save Oregon?

Is this the candidate who can win?

Summer Internships for Liberty

nospam@example.com (Kurt Weber) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0700

College students have until Jan. 30, 2010 to apply for the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program, which offers summer internships with state-based free-market think tanks, or policy institutes located in Washington, D.C. The intensive 10-week program starts in June. Fellows are provided a housing allowance and a $1,500 stipend. In addition, Fellows take part in weekly policy lectures and two week-long career skills seminars held in the D.C. area.

Time Magazine covers showcase how out of touch they are

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Time Inc. will lay off roughly 540 employees this month. Just look at the covers. This week it is CEO bashing, last week was praising California as the hope of the future. California? Most articles on California are using the state as a test case for their business exodus and their government as a bankruptcy horror story. Then a few weeks prior we had Glenn Beck as a mad man?

Does medical pot negate Second Amendment rights?

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:07:49 -0700

Should medical marijuana users lose their right to bear arms?

Some local sheriffs are pushing against allowing concealed handgun permits for medical pot patients which has moved the controversy into the Oregon Court of Appeals. The sheriffs contend that Marijuana is still defined under federal law as a controlled substance. Defenders say that this intervention is just local police trying to put pressure on a law they do not like. Read more here.

Please comment.

Lars Larson: The Government regulating internet “neutrality”

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:05:00 -0700

The last thing the American people need is the government regulating the internet further. The United States government already regulates the internet plenty. The fact is the government should keep its hands off as much as possible.

The internet is a gold mine of entrepreneurial access for American citizens. It’s a great place to get information. But, Julius Genachowski who is now running the Federal Communications Commission says he wants to regulate the internet. Something called “net neutrality”.

What Did the Elections Teach Us?

nospam@example.com (Tim Lyman) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0700

Anyone who tries to paint Tuesday’s election results as anything other than a crushing defeat for the Democrat Party and Obama is either deluded or lying; and yes, I’m including New York in that analysis.

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Guest Speaker on Exposing Fairness Doctrine. This Wednesday.

nospam@example.com (In the news) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -0700

KXL program director/author, "The Threat to Silence Talk Radio."
Oregon Executive Club Monthly Speaker Series
Open to the public
Portland Airport Shilo Inn, Wed. Nov 4th, 6:30pm

Our November meeting features special guest Brian Jennings, an award winning journalist, and a man who has been declared byTalkers magazine as a founding father of the conservative talk radio format. Jennings, a Northwest native, has returned to Portland as the program director for KXL, the great talk radio outlet and the flagship station of the Lar's Larson show. Brian will focus on the alarming desire of the Democrat majority in Congress to cripple our nation's best outlet for political truth, talk radio. This is the subject of his new book "CENSORSHIP - The Threat to Silence Talk Radio, The 'New' Fairness Doctrine Exposed."Don't miss this presentation by a true fighter for our freedom of speech. Note that the forward to his book is written by Sean Hannity and its flyleaf contains this incisive quote by Rush Limbaugh, "Talk radio is the American voter!"

Government Spending Without a Brain

nospam@example.com (Larry Huss) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0700

It is difficult to generalize about any group because there are always readily identifiable exceptions to the rule. Even so, the old saw about a Democrat seeing a man drowning seventy five feet offshore throws him both ends of a fifty foot rope and hurries off to “rescue” someone else, while a Republican throws him a fifty foot rope and tells him to swim for it, appears to be relatively accurate.

What a mess we are in. On one side we have the Republicans who pretty much have a tin ear when it comes to recognizing human suffering and whose general response to someone else raising the issue is “get a job you dirty hippie.” And on the other side are the Democrats who have such acute antennae that they perceive a problem even before it exists and who are institutionally and intellectually incapable of finding an actual workable solution. Not only are they incapable of providing a workable solution, most often their solutions make the problems even worse. Following are three examples.

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