Sunday, June 18, 2006

Spanning the State--conservative abuse and corruption edition

There's a monumental back and forth taking place between my friend Becky of Preemptive Karma and the collective of NW Republican blog. Becky is reiterating her experiences with the ballot initiatives/Bill Sizemore/money laundering via Norquist. The NW Republican hive is accusing Becky of delusions of grandeur and Stockholm Syndrome (with typically little to refute what Becky is actually saying). Sadly, the conservatives are doing little more than circling their wagons in an attempt to ignore corruption by those representing their ideas.

The state mental hospital in Salem is now under investigation by the Justice Department for possible violations of patients' Constitutional rights. The investigation was launched due to an Oregonian series claiming crumbling conditions at the hospital.

A federal public defender in Eugene tells the story of the unjust, out-of-bounds legal treatment of those he's represented. His clients? Detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There appears (at least on the surface) to be an abuse of the recall system in our state. An effort inWillamina to recall two officials recently failed. Now its happening in Madras, where folks are trying to recall two Jefferson County Commissioners for not handling Measure 37 claims the way that the recallers want. Another recall effort is taking place in Coos Bay by an anti-tax group. Those folks working to recall elected officials should be doing it only if there is strong evidence of corruption or unethical behavior. Disagreeing with their votes is a reason for voting them out at the next election, not a recall.

The paper of record in Sisters wants to end the double majority requirement for tax measures. Yay them.

Oregon State University turned out a vote of confidence for its Dean Hal Salwasser following questions of inappropriate action by Salwasser and some OSU professors regarding a graduate student's research published in the journal Science.