Many themes converge on the Martin family's tragedy. Since first suggested thousands of years ago, universal acceptance of the Golden Rule seems to be taking forever. Hard-wired traits are difficult to overcome. 

Feeling threatened by people who don't look like us and believing that killing others makes us safer,  helped keep some of our ancestors alive in the distant and primitive past.  Fortunately these prehistoric beliefs are no longer necessary for our survival,  unfortunately they still influence our lawmaking. 

Brendan Fischer's report reveals how money and power, in this case wielded by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the National Rifleman's Association (NRA), can institutionalize fear and empower public endangerment. It's well worth reading http://www.prwatch.org/node/11366

Understanding the link between "primitivism" and modern lawmaking helps us refine self-governance so that it begins with the Golden Rule. Let's start by being vigilant as both ALEC and the NRA continue to lean on Legislatures, including Oregon's. As Trayvon's death makes clear, we all lose when fear and murder are legalized. 

What do you think?

    Narrowing the discussion of public policy to two choices, as the City is doing, prevents the public from considering a range of possibilities we need to adapt to climatic, economic and social changes.
     Government insists that the only way the economy can recover is through “belt tightening."
     Instead the City, any government really, can consider managing government in a way that allows individuals, companies and non-profits to work together. Now is the time to make sure our public structures like our schools, legal system, and our roads are running smoothly and safely. More than frugality, what we need is stability that preserves our quality of life.
     Cutting budgets weakens our ability to respond in an organized way to climatic, economic and social changes. Instead of limiting our options, we should use today’s resources to make sure our public structures can serve us tomorrow. We know what happens when we postpone dealing with problems, they stay with us and cost more to fix later on.

Are more taxes in our future? 

    Let’s remember that budgets and the taxes that fund them are a way of “paying it forward.” We don’t always get an immediate bump from today’s taxes. What we’re doing is making sure funds are in place for future needs. Today’s public “goods and services” are with us thanks to those who paid in the past. Interrupting that forward exchange by cutting taxes and budgets today can leave tomorrow’s beneficiaries behind. Not only will costs to maintain public structures be higher but meeting the increased need for them will be unaffordable.
     We use our public budgets to plan for our fiscal future and we are more likely to solve today’s climatic, economic and social challenges when governments and citizens come together to re-examine their budgets and talk about shared priorities. Government officials and elected representatives have been thoughtful in shaping budgets to meet these unprecedented times. But we can’t stop now. Budgets cuts are affecting our quality of life.
     More cuts, without considering their long-range impacts, will seriously damage our communities. As public structures decline fewer of us will be able to recover from the economic slowdown or move forward. More of us will have to work together more of the time on a wider range of options that can ensure future generations and families will have the foundation they need. A “family first” priority helps us find agreement and be more creative with our budgets.

_Protect Farm and Forest Land Posted: February 10, 2012
Act Now! HB 4095 has passed out of the House Judiciary Committee. If it passes through the House and Senate, it will gut Farm and Forest Land Protections in Southern Oregon. The bill is likely to be scheduled in Ways and Means soon.

Contact Governor Kitzhaber and ask him NOT to Support House Bill 4095.
Phone: (503) 378‐4582
Email: Governor@state.or.us

Ask your Legislator to oppose this bill

Message to Convey: Governor Kitzhaber needs to know you think this bill is a bad idea for Oregon. 

Here are some reasons why:

Unnecessary: Many of HB 4095′s provisions are already possible under current law.  Mainly, HB 2229 (2009) allows remapping of lands much like this bill does.  HB 4095 adds new remapping  criteria (as well as for the new definitions) that will allow counties to declare good agricultural and forest lands as non‐resource. It removes some protections that were part of the Big Look recommendation.

Risky: HB 4095 compromises important farm and forest economy protections. This could lead to sprawling subdivisions on lands that have been in continuous farm or forest use for generations. It will take farms and forest lands out of production, harming Oregon’s growing agricultural sector and costing local communities jobs.

Too Complex : HB 4095 adds unnecessary land use program complexity.

Wasteful : HB 4095 spends money in ways that will undermine other important planning efforts. HB 4095 would derail the Bear Creek Valley Regional Problem Solving process (RPS) currently drawing to an end. A significant amount of state money has gone to RPS in grants. Ending the process now would waste those taxpayer resources.
 
Background: This bill has been designated a Major Threat by the Oregon Conservation Network. LWVOR opposed this bill with written testimony.

This bill would allow Jackson, Josephine and Douglas Counties to petition the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) to redefine farm and forest lands, based in part on factors other than soil productivity or resource use history . The bill allows counties to re‐designate such lands as ”non‐resource”, even if they are in active production, paving the way for development and increasing uncertainty for family farms and foresters.

For more information: Contact Peggy Lynch at zuludar@aol.com
Content courtesy of 1000 Friends of Oregon

Category: Action Alerts

MEMBERS:  Your Salem CityWatch board is seeking input from members concerning upcoming priorities.  Please download the attached file and rank the project priority options (with "1" being your top, most-preferred, choice, and "2" being your next choice, etc.).  Mail the completed survey (with additional comments and ideas welcomed) to

2012 Member Survey, Salem CityWatch,
PO Box 3602, Salem, OR 97302

This NAR graph illustrates the massive housing finance crisis. There are plenty of houses to go around but financial waste, fraud and abuse in the industry killed the market. Banks won't lend when titles are clouded by "robo-signing" or homeowners may not be able to keep their jobs.
In the meantime real estate developers in Oregon and probably most other states, keep pushing to "liberalize" land use and zoning as if regulation was the problem. In Oregon HB 4095 is one of several examples where elected representatives are being asked to throw aside regulation and increase subsidy for real estate and economic development.
This graph makes it clear that taxpayers cannot afford to bail out real estate or subsidize so-called "job creation."

_From the author's website.  Those who attended the Salem Progressive Film Series showing of "The Economics of Happiness" will recall Ms. Schor from a few of the interview clips in that movie:

In Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, economist and bestselling author Juliet B. Schor offers a groundbreaking intellectual statement about the economics and sociology of ecological decline, suggesting a radical change in how we think about consumer goods, value, and ways to live.

Humans are degrading the planet far faster than they are regenerating it. As we travel along this shutdown path, food, energy, transport and consumer goods are becoming increasingly expensive. The economic downturn that has accompanied the ecological crisis has led to another type of scarcity: incomes, jobs, and credit are also in short supply. Our usual way back to growth — a debt-financed consumer boom — is no longer an option our households, or planet, can afford.



Responding to our current moment, Plenitude puts sustainability at its core, but it is not a paradigm of sacrifice. Instead it’s an argument that through a major shift to new sources of wealth, green technologies, and different ways of living, individuals and the country as a whole can actually be better off and more economically secure.



And as Schor observes, Plenitude is already emerging. In pockets around the country and the world, people are busy creating lifestyles that offer a way out of the work and spend cycle. These pioneers’ lives are scarce in conventional consumer goods and rich in the newly abundant resources of time, information, creativity and community. Urban farmers, D.I.Y renovators, Craig’s List users, cob builders — all are spreading their risk and establishing novel sources of income and outlets for procuring consumer goods. Taken together, these trends represent a movement away from the conventional market and offer a way toward an efficient, rewarding life in an era of high prices and traditional resource scarcity.



Based on recent developments in economic theory, social analysis, and ecological design, as well as evidence from the cutting edge people and places putting these ideas into practice, Plenitude is a road map for the next two decades. In encouraging us to value our gifts — nature, community, intelligence, and time — Schor offers the opportunity to participate in creating a world of wealth and well-being.