September 2009
41 posts
Nike to quit Chamber post in climate protest →
Nike will relinquish its spot on the board of directors at the Chamber of Commerce to protest the business lobby’s opposition to climate-change legislation… the announcement is another blow to the business lobby, which has come under intense fire for its position on cap and trade legislation. Over the past two weeks, three major utilities have left the group. Environmentalists heralded the...
Jury awards damages to three men who sued City of... →
“Obama finds himself at that same lonely decision point now. Though he came to...”
– Frank Rich, September 26, 2009
The Dead Freeway Society →
As Subprime Lending Crisis Unfolded, Watchdog Fed... →
Under a policy quietly formalized in 1998, the Fed refused to police lenders’ compliance with federal laws protecting borrowers, despite repeated urging by consumer advocates across the country and even by other government agencies.
Merkley demands answers on mortgage relief funds →
“To date … we have spent, out the door, $288 billion to the banks, $76 billion to the auto industry, and … $270,000 according to (the independent General Accountability Office) for our homeowners,” Merkley told Assistant Treasury Secretary Herbert M. Allison.
Banks fight to kill proposed consumer protection... →
Though virtually every cause of the nation’s recent financial crisis was rooted in weak consumer protection, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading the fight against the proposed agency on grounds that it would make credit less available and more costly.
Strategy Shift in Afghan War? →
Wyden & Feingold team up to propose overhaul of... →
Portland convention center hotel is dead →
Thank God. And thank you Chair Wheeler for always being skeptical of this silly project.
Project ‘Gaydar’ →
At MIT, an experiment identifies which students are gay, raising new questions about online privacy.
Jury orders Portland to pay man who was shot with... →
Reform or Bust →
Beaverton 19-year-old goes from McDonald's... →
Health Reform’s Missing Ingredient - By Senator... →
The Bill Clinton Tapes →
It has been nearly forty years since three young Democratic activists named Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham, and Taylor Branch moved into a small apartment together in Austin, Texas, to wage a presidential campaign for George McGovern. In the decades since, the Clintons have taken that political fire to the center of American political life, while Branch has chosen a quieter course, writing three...
Insurance Company Must Pay $10 Million For... →
Proudly Changing My Position on DOMA (Rep.... →
Durbin Ready To Return To Cramdown Battle With... →
Durbin is the man. Now if only President Obama would actually lift a finger to support this provision passing the Senate…
Why Obama Won't Be Able to Reform Wall Street →
“[The proposed settlement] suggests a rather cynical relationship between the...”
– Judge Jed Rakoff rejecting the S.E.C. settlement over Merrill bonuses
35 Years In Training →
Born of a ’70s freeway rebellion, I-205 Green Line finally arrives.
Obama Gets Failing Grades From Privacy Advocates →
“Tonight he [President Obama] fired a shot across the bow of some of the...”
– Paul Begala, CNN, Sept. 9, 2009
Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid →
Why Liberals Should Drop the Public Option →
Baucus Cuts Bait: Moving Forward With Or Without... →
Max Baucus is getting serious. Just a few hours before President Obama is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, the Finance Committee chairman announced that the committee would be moving forward with a health care reform bill - with or without the GOP.
Eligible For Help Under Obama Plan But Still... →
Whitaker handed the second application to a Chase rep at a branch in Sacramento. According to Whitaker, the rep said everything appeared to be in order. Three weeks later, in June, Whitaker called the bank’s 800 number and was told the file had not been reviewed. Then, in July, she was told that her application had been closed out — but it wasn’t clear whether the person on the...
“Maybe you could be a good writer — maybe even good enough to write a book...”
– President Obama’s Speech to Students
“You could start out with some sawdust, add calcium or Vitamin A and meet the...”
– Dr. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, regarding the new “Smart Choices” label system meant to indicate healthy products, but that appears on foods such as Fruit Loops & Fudgsicles. (via antsonalog)
Developer Joe Weston says times are tough, but... →
At 71, Weston has built a real estate empire that ranks him among the city’s wealthiest men. But he doesn’t drive a Mercedes. He doesn’t live on an estate. He doesn’t do pinstripes.
No, Weston drives a yellow VW bug with a smiley face plastered on the side. He rents an 1,800-square-foot apartment just off Northwest 23rd Avenue, his home for the last 16 years.
Pro-Health Care Reform Rally In Seattle Ignored By... →
WatchStonemason Reed Cole didn’t feel like working Friday morning.
So his boss, knowing Cole moonlighted as a musician, made him a deal.
“We had found this old, beat-up piano down the road,” John DiBona, of DiBona Stone-works, said. “I told him for as long as he played that piano, he didn’t have to work.
Full story.
DEQ won't back Durkee cement plant on mercury... →
Thank God the DEQ changed its position:
Last month, air program administrator Andy Ginsburg told The Oregonian that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality would seek a provision in the new standards that would benefit the Durkee cement kiln. It is the nation’s largest single source of airborne mercury emissions.
“We’ll be advocating in our comments through the...
Tom Curtis -- student body president and armed... →
Tom Curtis, the Grant High School student body president who led friends in a string of audacious armed robberies in the 1990s, was released from Oregon state prison Friday.
Is Afghanistan Obama's LBJ Moment? →
Conservative Tony Blankley thinks so:
Today President Barack Obama is on the cusp of a fateful policy decision. He has argued consistently that the war in Afghanistan is necessary to deny al-Qaida a base of terrorist operations and to stop the Taliban insurrection from destabilizing nuclear Pakistan. But serious doubts are being raised by many policy experts and an emerging majority of the...
Portland affordable housing plan delayed (again) →
The Portland Development Commission, the city’s urban renewal agency, originally pledged to start construction on the first affordable apartments [in South Waterfront] in 2005.
Verizon Sponsoring Anti-Climate Rally Backed By... →