The OC Blog Back Issues Our Mission Contact Us Masthead
Sudsy Wants You to Join the Oregon Commentator
 

Archive for September, 2008

Another stumble of a start for the Ol’ Dirty

September 29th, 2008 by Ossie

Has the Ol’ Dirty Emerald joined the fight of The Oregonian’s hack-of-an-editor Sandy Rowe in transforming daily newspapers into complete rags? On the front page of today’s Ol’ Dirty is maybe four inches of news. The cutout of LaGarrett Blount in a teaser is the same size of actual news story on the front page. Dirty, what are the students paying you for? What a joke.

Interview With A Commie

September 29th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

It must be the first day of school because those “radical Marxists” are out at the entrance of the University again, pushing their commie rag on polisci undergrads. Usually I just pass by them with a frosty stare, but I noticed they had a wide array of hilarious signage this year. To wit:

I was quite intrigued by this, so I decided to ask one of the people at the table about it. At first he was reluctant to talk to me, saying that they do not usually do interviews. I only managed to quote him by promising anonymity. Apparently the revolution will neither be televised nor on the record. There’s a transcript of our enlightening conversation after the jump. (more…)

Your Tax Dollars at Work! [UPDATED]

September 29th, 2008 by Vincent

New details have emerged on how the government came up with the $700,000,000,000 bailout figure:

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”  

They arrived at a figure of 700 billion of our tax dollars because they wanted a big number. Glad we have such consummate professionals working on our behalf out there in Washington.

(hat tip: Radley Balko)

[UPDATE 09/29/08]

The bailout has failed in the House. The Spectator opines:

One of the things the market seems to fear about a bailout is inflation due to the staggering price tag. Even if the government recoups some of its purchases when the market stabilizes, as bailout proponents argue, the spending outlays will be done immediately, requiring a huge increase in the debt limit that’s in the current plan.

So a substantial indirect effect of the bailout will be higher prices for food and gasoline, and this will probably hit ordinary households sooner than many politicians expect. When speculators expect the dollar to fall or be volatile, they immediately try to hedge an unstable currency through buying commodity futures. Thus, last week saw a big spike in oil prices, which had been steadily declining over the last few months. Other commodities, notably gold, also shot up. Corn and wheat prices, already boosted because of ethanol mandates, will also likely shoot up in response to a falling dollar.

I’m still pessimistic about the prospects of avoiding a bailout entirely.

That Fabulous Barack and His Amazing Magic Wizard Hat!

September 26th, 2008 by Vincent

You have found a Wand of Hope and Change, +3 to Overblown Rhetoric:

Clearly, if the next US president were to be Barack Obama, the colour of his skin would do a great deal to change radically the image of America in the world. 

Suddenly America would move from a culture dominated by fear to a culture dominated by hope, at a time when Europeans would still be deeply immersed in a culture of fear.

What the hell does stuff like that even mean?

Keep it Classy, Democrats

September 24th, 2008 by Vincent

Someone’s been reading a little too much of Naomi Wolf’s paranoid ramblings about fascism, methinks:

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday. Hastings, who is African-American, was explaining what he intended to tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through,” Hastings added as the room erupted in laughter and applause.

“What they do” with them? Words have meaning. So, you just think that through.

Naomi Wolf: Drama Queen

September 23rd, 2008 by Vincent

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what a tantrum looks like:

Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah “Evita” Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.


I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election.

I can tell you one thing, if electing Obama means we won’t be subjected to another four years of tiresome faux-antifa screeds and “Save the Republic!” posturing, I might consider voting for him.*

To be fair to Ms. Wolf, though, she’s been playing at this little game of hers for awhile now, so maybe she actually believes it.

* Not really.

Biden not smarter than fifth grader, Foxworthy declares

September 23rd, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, “look, here’s what happened.”

That was Joe “chock full o’ years and wisdom” Biden explaining an alternate version of history where FDR was elected four years earlier, televisions were already invented and the 1929 stock market crash directly led to the great depression.

Hat tip to Reason.

Ol’ Dirty on BWA Hair Scandal

September 22nd, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

The ODE just released their Back to the Books issue, complete with a big ol’ story on the BWA hair scandal. They haven’t updated their damn website yet FIXED. Here’s some of the more outrageous parts:

[A]ccording to the University’s Office of the Registrar, Callier-Wells was not a registered student during the entire 2007-2008 academic year. She could not be reached for comment.

The ASUO Senate approved the $64,000 request on May 14 with the support of every senator present other than then-Senate President Athan Papailiou […] During the group’s presentation to the Senate, all chatter ended when Callier-Wells spoke of the significance hair had in her life as a cancer patient. Senators spent little time discussing the proposal before voting for it, despite several having questioned and tried to reduce the amount of the project the previous night […] None of the objections were repeated before the full Senate.

The proposal stated the event would take place on March 7, 2009 at the Hult Center in downtown Eugene. The budget included $25,000 for a “star performer” who was never named and a $1,000 runway. The planned advertising for the event included $500 for “commercial clips” and $200 for a camera crew.

McLain said she did not hear concerns from group members until after the memos had been signed. however, the timing of the events is unclear. The paperwork for every over-realized proposal, known officially as Incidental Fee Action Memos, were signed on may 24 – McLain’s last day in office. The letter to Frohnmayer is dated May 23.

If you see Robert D’Andrea, the Ol’ Dirty ASUO reporter, give him a high five or buy him a drink.

Some Thoughts on the Palin E-Mail Debacle [update 09/19]

September 18th, 2008 by Vincent

No doubt that by now everyone has heard that Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account(s) were cracked and the contents thereof distributed on the Internet. The whole imbroglio has got both Team Red and Team Blue riled up, and I’ve got a few thoughts on the affair.

(more…)

Anonymous Oregon Blogger Revealed, Turns Out To Be Asshat

September 17th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

There’s a fairly hilarious kerfuffle going on right now between two Oregon bloggers, Jack Bog and “Oregon Reality.” Mr. Bog became so outraged by the other blogger’s attacks on him that he “outed” the anonymous blogger, revealing his true identity for all to see. (As we all know, that is the ultimate disgrace for anonymous bloggers, much like masked luchadores). And it was none other than … Troutdale City Councilor Rob Canfield.

Normally I wouldn’t be writing about such an Internet wank-fest, but I happened to notice this little tidbit in Jack Bog’s post:

Canfield also posts on other internet sites as himself, as “Oregon Reality,” and apparently as “wob” or “wobboh,” using a Verizon account.

Could it be? Is Canfield the same “wubba wubba” who instigated one of the most ridiculous comment threads in Oregon Commentator history? For shame, Troutdale. For shame.

Blowing Sunshine…

September 16th, 2008 by Vincent

Calling it “a ray of economic sunshine”, Doug Chuck Sheketoff at Blue Oregon heralds Oregon’s impending minimum wage hike from $7.95 to $8.40, marveling over the fact that it will mean “an extra $936 a year for a family with one full-time minimum wage worker.”

As one person in the comments section of his post mentions, this is probably going to have consequences for  small employers who may have to cut hours (or even jobs) to continue to make the bottom line.

Almost comically, another commenter replies that, in order to offset the harm of the wage increase, business owners should… you know… just raise prices a little bit.

And the wheel goes ’round…

[EDIT 09/17]

Apologies to  Chuck Sheketoff for somehow mixing up his first name. Fixed now.

Penn Universities Ban All Smoking

September 16th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Some students at the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education are fuming over a decision announced by their chancellor last week. On Wednesday, the day before a state law that prohibits smoking in any public place in Pennsylvania took effect, Chancellor John Cavanaugh informed them that the ban would be enforced everywhere on the system’s campuses, even outdoors.

I’m sure all the nannies in the Oregon State Board of Higher Education are stroking their chins thoughtfully.

Bellotti Mustache Watch In Effect

September 14th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

In case you didn’t notice, the R-G had an amazing article all about Bellotti’s facial hair. (In case you also didn’t notice, Bellotti has been rocking a goatee lately.) The kicker?

Bad news: Bellotti might shave it this morning, or tomorrow, or Sunday. The only good news is, when he does, he might clean the chin and keep the ’stache.

But only “for a day or something.”

Keep your eyes peeled, folks. The Bellotti ‘stache could return at any moment. Go for it, coach!

Shine On, You Crazy Diamonds

September 13th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

The Southern Poverty Law Center has a delightful little write-up of my old friends from the Pacifica Forum. There’s not any new information, but there are some funny quotes. To wit:

Anelauskas declined a request for an interview. “I hope that one day you will end up, as the communist KGB did, in the dustbin of history,” he E-mailed the Intelligence Report.

Trimming the Fat From the ASUO

September 11th, 2008 by CJ Ciaramella

I had a little chat with ASUO Executive Sam Dotters-Katz yesterday, and he filled me in on some of the ASUO summer happenings.

  • The UO administration denied the BWA and CALC over-realized requests that the ASUO Senate previously approved. If you were looking forward to that $64,000 hair show, you’ll just have to wait for some other time. The money will be rolled back into the over-realized fund. Dotters-Katz said there are ways to greatly benefit the student body without spending exorbitant amounts of money, citing a plan he is working on with the VFSA to install a satellite communications system that would allow family and friends to communicate with troops stationed overseas. The system would cost only $5,000.
  • Over the summer, Dotters-Katz trimmed roughly $50,000 from the incidental fee budget by firing the campus OSA coordinator and changing the Holden Leadership Center to a non-EMU program.
  • Most promising, Dotters-Katz said he plans to use the burgeoning over-realized fund to defray i-fee costs to students. The over-realized fund is already up to about $200,000 and is projected to reach almost two million dollars. “It’s my goal to use 75 percent of the over-realized fund to buy down the incidental fee by $1,250,000 if the fee is under or at $1.5 million,” he said. Dotters-Katz said he would have more concrete plans once “we have a better idea of what the number is going to look like.”

All in all, great work from Dotters-Katz and crew. Buying down the I-fee would be a huge step forward in fiscal responsibility. I hope they keep up this precedent throughout the coming school year.