briandoleary.com Blog

[Ed.--also available @ My Oregon]

Eighty-five million dollars for the City of Portland to hand-out, making the erstwhile Civic Stadium a soccer-specific venue is dead wrong.  ['Paulson takes his first (not baby) steps' and other similar articles from The Oregonian/oregonlive.com]  The last thing the city should do is spend more money at the expense of its taxpayers, especially at the favor of social elites.  Perhaps this is the problem with government spending in the first place.  The poor never get the help they need, yet the squawky class–the loud elbow-rubbing crowd tied-in with the machinations of government– get more than enough attention and money. (more…)

My father rang me the other morning and told me he had a letter of his own published in the Las Vegas Sun on 3 December.  As we share little in the way of political and social views, I chose to respond to the online version of his letter under an assumed moniker.  Guess who I might be as you read the replies.  Long and maybe a typo or two, forgive me as I wrote it on my mobile phone just before I got in my rig to leave town.
Zeke’s letter “Give talk radio from the right a rest” (3 December 2008).

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This morning, I fired out this missive to The Oregonian.  In response to front-page article today.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2008/12/kulongoski_proposes_big_jump_i.html

I get Governor Kulongoski’s fee increases to pay for his budget.  Sure I do. In this down-turning economy, how in the world would government get the money to fund their precious agencies otherwise?  Rep. Bruce Hanna claims he wants to make the fee increases “transparent.”  Fine as well, but Hanna lives not in the real world either.

In this high echelon of government, the elites still use semantics and politicking to get their way and feed their pockets. The Democratic leader and the Republican spokesman share little differences in their approach, even though both rather enjoy finger-pointing. (more…)

I don’t believe this was published, but here it is, 150 words to The Oregonian in response to the Editorial (26 November 2008) “Federal action would speed Oregon health care reform.”

Here’s to hoping for “increasing health outcomes and reducing costs.”  Your editors say that “is precisely what needs to happen.” (more…)

The Oregonian titled this piece, Prioritize jobs over ‘greens’

It originally appeared in the 25 November 2008 Oregonian.

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My take on the two mainstream candidates before the election:

12 October 2008 (PDF)

Also, for further discussion:

Oregonlive.com’s version: Right on taxes, judges

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