Op Ed: 'Californication'
Looming Large
On Tax Posture

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Henry Ruark June 17, 2009 10:21 am (Pacific time)

To all: Poresident O's commonsense sensitive demand for decency and solid central regulation of perpetrations penetrating our entire fiscal/financial system reflect what MUST be done for reform NOW. "Corporate campaign contributions" represent the working tool for seduction and simple perversion, used in big piles of pelf delivered in questionable, controversial manner to those we trust to work first, foremost and always for the commonweal. See upcoming series of Op Eds for moresoon on WHY, WHAT and HOW all this fits into the "big picture" begun in 1800...

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Henry Ruark June 16, 2009 2:41 pm (Pacific time)

To all: Simpson simply selling his own self-denial of realities. Remember Reagan and Iran/Contra ? That ties to S. American corporate seduction re such as North-funded "rebels", leading on to Project for A New American Century, then to our occupation of Iraq, and with overtones many other places...all costing billions, blood, blasted lives, and the intense resentment of those other nations nastified and negated by our own attacks. Anyone want to question what is unquestioned history ? Send full ID and working phone to Editor Tim. Let's "get it on", thus proving possible points re whose patriotism stands the test of sensible commonsense and current world consensus. Be not benighted by such as Simpson; seek out sources and see who they really are, and why they do what they do as they surely try.

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Henry Ruark June 15, 2009 4:57 pm (Pacific time)

To all
  Please note Legislature now paying overdue attention to formation and usage of the initiative in Oregon issue decision.
  Voice of the people has its essential place and we need to preserve, protect and project that right to speak up on any and all actions.
  BUT in past years it has also become a tool of "interests" -- on both sides of that strong divide we all know-- used to distort, pervert and especially to divide the proper public scope of probing investigation and then wise action....as in the "Californication" Op Ed.

  Perhaps the most important consequence of renewed interest at the Legislature may be the real attention now to make sure it is the sharp tool originally intended, and not simply another way to put out more defiance, delay and other deadly actions for all reform.

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Daniel Johnson June 15, 2009 4:43 pm (Pacific time)

Mark Simpson (if that, indeed, is your real name) wrote: "History shows that we have always responded in self-defense or have gone in concert with many other countries via the United Nations." Your "history shows" is total nonsense. Since 1893 United States governments have set out to overthrow fourteen LEGITIMATE governments because corporate interests free and easy access to the resources of a weaker country, beginning with Hawaii in 1893. Queen Liliuokalani was deposed at the behest of the Dole Fruit Co. Name sound familiar? And on it went through the twentieth century with Puerto Rico, Phillipines, Nicauragua, Panama, Chile, to name only a few. You can verify this by reading "Overthrow" by Stephen Kinzer who knows of which he writes.

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Henry Ruark June 15, 2009 8:23 am (Pacific time)

"Anon" et M.S.: See my just-preceding re long- winded pseudo-history clumsily filtered through long disproved neocon distortion, for personal pandering to that point of view. Report here is on Oregon's extremely distressing state of tax-reform neglect. NOT ONE of your comments is in any way relevant, and serve only to distract, displace, and if possible destroy the impacts presented in depth, detail and documentation. In all due respect to our readers, do believe you need to go direct to Editor Tim for anything further you find so absolutely necessary to shout at each other, to the damaging detriment of our channel meant for sharing/learning on the topic covered in the report. To do otherwise is to allow open, honest, democratic lane for dialog to be distracted and distorted into simple and sometimes silly attention to past detail still open to any and all dissemblers for their distinct propaganda usage. Serious readers (as well as serious writers !) may well decide to skip whole mess when presented with such overspiced views, each with deep overtone and odor of propaganda widely presented by those wishing to help derail democracy by that action, since they cannot now summor historical fact to inflate their hot/aired image.

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Henry Ruark June 14, 2009 2:36 pm (Pacific time)

To all:
  Simpson continues dual-shot ploy of distortion coupled wit distraction, hoping no one is well acquainted enough with his perverted personal view of events to disclaim, disprove without losing total view of the Op Ed content.
  Despite repeated responses, he continues baseless propaganda points entirely irrelevant to any answers re the SEVENTY YEAR bonanza and protracted effort to shift fair tax burden to citizens and away from corporate profit producers based in Oregon.
  Do not be benighted by that highly blameworthy and democracy-blasting attempt.
  "See with own eyes" those revealing OCPP-guaranteed realistic numbers in Part One Op Ed, preceding this one, at STAFF, HCR "Written by..."line thus negating this neocon negativity plainly perpetrated to penetrate passivity via any possible kind of distortion and distraction.

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Mark Simpson June 14, 2009 5:50 pm (Pacific time)

My point exactly regarding Hugo Chavez, he is a left-wing zealot who is nationalizing different commerce as fast as he can. That is the primary method of all dictatorships whether on the left or right, which is to enlarge governmental control. Does that sound familiar? I do say since America came into being, what wars have we started so as to conquer the world? History shows that we have always responded in self-defense or have gone in concert with many other countries via the United Nations. Our military move into Iraq was with what, 40 some other nations after 17 UN resolutions, and a majority vote was passed by congress. When it comes to different races who have done their best to conquer the world, are you not familiar with the Mongols? Japan? How about Hannibal from North Africa (he was not from the white race)? When it comes to a body count, no one has killed more than those on the left. The Soviet Union killed tens of millions in the 20th century as did China, Vietnam, Cambodia and who knows what the body count is in Burma and North Korea. I would say that the white race has brought far more positive things to the planet than negative.

Editor: Hugo Chavez simply took control away from the big corporations and that makes him a total villan, that and the fact that he openly insulted Bush at the UN.  You want to suggest that the invasion of Iraq was some popular idea and it was not.  A handful of people at the very top waned to see it and you know who i'm talking about.  It strained the mission in Afghanistan greatly, I know because I was there, and didn't do Iraq one slight bit of good.  Now we are rolling back every big of progress that was made by disbanding a measly amount of money that could have been used to continue paying the Sunni Awakening Council's Sons of Iraq programs.  Bush wasn't even good enough to suggest it.  The Surge was a temporary answer that took a little heat off the administration with no legitimate hope of helping the Iraqi people, just further dividing them so they have a terrible civil war after we leave.  Your right wing party pillages throughout history, enslaves and colonizes people of other races and cultures, and always tries to shift the blame to the people who in the end, at least have the courage to stand up for the common man.  Communism in places like North Korea equates essentially to a form of totalitarianism and that is also what the right wing sometimes resembles.  I don't know why this is so important to go on about, there are people right and wrong on both sides of the aisle.  Iraq was not supported the way you imply it was, and I saw the people who are supporting it over there and it isn't some big overwhelming Coalition of other nations, it is almost all Americans in the occupation of Iraq. 

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Anonymous June 14, 2009 1:19 pm (Pacific time)

I read the editor's post and will say that the communists going back to the USSR and currently in places like China certainly want to rule the world, as does those who spread Islam. Just look at the latters violent record in the last 1,300 years. North Korea, a far left state has started a war and is about to start another one. It appears to me that most of the wars going on past and present are pretty much done by all the major races, and certainly the white race in the United States has been responding in a self-defense mode when dealing with most other wars. Except LBJ's war in Vietnam. Seems that the United States is who other peoples look for help and we provide it. Tough sell to call us willful colonizers, but the distractions by those who do not know history never shocks me anymore.

Editor: Wow, I wish what you said was true, if it was everything would be a little easier to accept.  The United States attacked Iraq 100% without proper cause or authority.  We financed the French to go back to Vietnam after WWII and that led to the eventual deaths of over 58k Americans.  Why?  Because we ignore every good opportunity we get.  How about Truman's decision to finance Israel?  Rather than approaching it from a sound perspective, they attacked the Palestinian people and murdered them and terrorized them out of their homes and villages.  Google Deir Yassin to learn more about that.  Left wing groups fight oppression and they battle for human rights.  After a while, like in the case of FARC, they lose their direction.  Finally, you are wrong about Islamic people wanting to take over the world.  Pay just a little attention to what is actually taking place and you will see an entirely different picture.   

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Mark Simpson June 14, 2009 12:16 pm (Pacific time)

Editor my point about labeling Nazi's left wingers is steeped in comparative history. Frankly we can also call them right wingers, either way they were quite evil. During the past several years in the American press, many groups have frequently denounced the Republicans as Nazis due to their attempts to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic. Let me share a little about the Nazis and recall some of their exploits. First of all, "Nazi" was gutter slang for the verb "to nationalize". The Bider-Mienhoff gang gave themselves this moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was "The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany". Hitler and the Brownshirts advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, national resources, manufacturing, distribution and law enforcement. Hitler came to power by turning the working class, unemployed, and academic elite against the conservative republic. After Der Fuhrer's election ceased being a political conspiracy and was transformed into a fashionable social phenomenon, party membership was especially popular with educators, bureaucrats, and the press. Being a Nazi was "politically correct". They called themselves "The Children of the New Age of World Order" and looked down their noses at everyone else. As Hitler acquired more power, he referred to his critics as "The Dark Forces of Anarchy and Hatred". Anyone who questioned Nazi high-handedness in the German press was branded a "Conservative Reactionary". Joseph Goebbels, minister of communications, proclaimed a "New World Order". The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the Jews, Bohemians and Gypses who were said to be arming themselves to overthrow the "New World Order" and Hitler demanded that all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of "terrorists and madmen".Right-wing fanatics of the "Old Order" who protested firearms registration were arrested by the S.S. and put in jail for "fomenting hatred against the Government of the German people". Please see that Hugo Chavez has been busily nationalizing much in his country, as did Castro, are they right wingers?

Editor: I have researched President Chavez extensively and the man's politics are as absolutely left wing as they could possibly be.  You can try to launch a game of semantics but it will never take hold.  The right wing is the military arm, the right wing is staunch conservative politics, the right wing is behind the death penalty, they are the ones who start wars in the name of capitalism and greed.  The left wing goes too far out there sometimes with environmental politics  and they are just too peaceful to get anywhere sometimes.  The right wing is Israel today with their murderous politics.  The right wing is the unflinching desire of the white man to rule the world.      

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Mark Simpson June 14, 2009 11:13 am (Pacific time)

 Editor: Mark, I should have paid more attention to this ridiculous assertion of yours that Nazi's are left wing.  Did you even go to school at all?  Hitler was right wing, RIGHT WING and that is why all the neocons have so damned much in common.  I regret allowing this BS to ever be posted.

My below posts are based on historical record, they are accurate and a matter of both historical and current record. Please point out something that one would like clarification for. My hope is that with Health Care, about to be put on the front burner in congress (and I'm sure we are going to see many pro and con commercials in the immediate future), that the national debate will include the Safeway Corporation model. It's outstanding and has a long successful record for primarily ensuring good health and medical treatment, plus keeping costs down. We need many good ideas to confront this huge and growing health care problem we have, and contrary to the Stimulus Bill which was much heralded to do more than it has (so far), we cannot afford to go willy nilly on health care, we must take the time to do it correctly. I again want to mention that I pointed out that the Nazi's were essentially left wingers and that the holocaust shooter was more closely related to them than any so-called right wing group. With our current high unemployment in Oregon, it seems that higher taxes will reduce jobs by having small businesses cutting expenses along with making the state pretty unfriendly for new business start ups. I'm sure many of you have seen how large corporations are given tax cuts to come and stay here, well the majority of employers do not get that sweet deal. There are a lot of people out looking for work and we need private industry jobs to grow out of this recession. Government jobs without a growing revenue base will fade very quickly.

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Henry Ruark June 13, 2009 5:48 pm (Pacific time)

To all: Now neocon negativity providers no longer excoriate FDR and the New Deal, or Johnson's Great Society, since history has illuminated them brightly and well with current recurring crisis-events. SO they have shifted to Nazis, Hitler and socialist national "successes" as bete noirs now in their maligning fashion.

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Henry Ruark June 13, 2009 12:13 pm (Pacific time)

M.S.: As psychologically intriguing as your two may be, they are only over-simplified personal statement lacking any definite checkable links or documentation to those with proven record and right to speak from experience and special preparation. Where's YOURS ? We know you not from any other name-masked man at door selling peculiar product in profuse wrapping, with peculiar (familiar) odor. Distracting details drawn from questionable "historical" ref.mean little laid alongside content of Op Ed, which does pertain precisely to Oregon necessities now. Do you undertake challenge to current crisis conditions by displacing key numbers from proven OCPP source, cited in preceding Op Ed ? IF so, yours here now is simple waste of words perpetrated to produce distraction via distortion. IF action-now to end very longtime coasting on corporate equal-share of tax burden, you avoid any specifics whatsoever while wildly worrying about past European history in no way relevant to Oregon Leg. steps just taken...or do you wish to put Leg. in position to have followed the Nazi pattern you purport to overview ? Nothing is relevant in yours to SEVENTY YEARS cumulating colossal non-compensation by those sliding slippery past ethical obligations with only that measly "Tenner" pursued by literally thouasands over past SEVEN FULL DECADES. SO WHY NOT NOW ID-self with working phone to Editor Tim, for possible also-intriguing further pursuit of ethical, open, honest dialog directly, thus saving diversion and very definite waste of space here ? That provides perfect shot for YOU, while pursuing very needed time,patience, cost and frustration-savings for Editor Tim.

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Mark Simpson June 13, 2009 9:42 am (Pacific time)

I noticed a poster below mentioned the Holocaust shooting, well there is a more accurate way of interpreting that event. Holocaust shooter "von Brunn" had more in common with left- than right-wingers: he railed against Christianity, “neocons,” President Bush, John McCain, and Bill O’Reilly, peddled 9/11 conspiracy theories, and had in his possession the address of another possible target: the building that houses The Weekly Standard and the American Enterprise Institute, the nerve center of neoconservatism. Like the DHS report itself, the left-wing commenters simply assume that “racist” = “right-wing,” and therefore lump together conservatives with racists who reject, root and branch, virtually everything conservatives believe in. (This is the historical fallacy used to designate the Nazis as right-wing, when in fact they were thoroughgoing economic statists, marketed themselves as a socialist worker’s movement, pushed a platform with numerous planks that could come straight from modern-day liberals and did in fact come from early 20th century American progressives , were obsessed with health food and anything “natural” or “organic,” and campaigned persistently to undermine, subvert and replace the authority and legitimacy of Christianity, among other family resemblances. Earlier this year the Dept. of Homeland Sec. issued guidelines that all veterans could be possible right-wing terrorists, or easily recruited by them. There are tens of millions of veterans and in short order she did pull that outrageous guideline, but it is being mentioned by some in the media after the Holocaust shooting. To belittle our veterans like that is beyond the pale and smacks of how our Vietnam veterans have been treated by some in the left-wing still today.

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Mark Simpson June 13, 2009 8:43 am (Pacific time)

Daniel Johnson good pick up on Krugman's view of California, which is held by many who "know how" to follow historical trends accurately. As you may be aware 64% of the voters in California rejected the recent legislative request to increase taxes. In Oregon every time there has been a request to raise taxes significantly or have a sales tax it has been rejected by a significant margin. I imagine the current tax and fee increase that has been put out by this Oregon legislature will be dealt with in the 2010 election. Oregon has the second highest state unemployment rate and the far left trys to spin it, while raising taxes. I find it Owellian - real terrorists are friends. Citizens are terrorists. War is peace. Love is hate. It’s 1984 in the legislature and for their lap poodles. By the way are you familiar with the Safeway Corporation's approach to health care? If we could adopt their model, do some tune-ups to meet our needs, we could save the private healthcare industry, keep costs down, and avoid the rationing situation and high costs that historically come with government run programs. It's a terrific model and has years of success while allowing their employees to enjoy significantly better health than the average American.

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Henry Ruark June 12, 2009 1:14 pm (Pacific time)

To all: First step in continuing fight is to put the pieces together to see what they tell you when lined up. Here's "see with own eyes" item for your cogitation re its relevance to upcoming wild initiative fight in Oregon: www.moveon.com "Less than 48 hours ago, the biggest corporations in the country declared war on President Obama's agenda. The scale of the attack is mind-boggling. The right-wing lobbyists at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will spend $100 million to defeat Obama's plans for health care and a clean energy economy. They call it their "most important project" in nearly 100 years." ------------------ This is noted channel for a strong impact of corporate dollars on many key issues. Do you really believe that corporate taxes and reform on healthcare are not part of the overall effort of a very large and complex cabal dedicated to "laissez-faire" -- translated into DO NOTHING to change what has paid off in billions for a few for so very long ??

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Henry Ruark June 12, 2009 11:49 am (Pacific time)

To all: Here's "see with own eyes" link to today's Krugman column further substantiating our continuing references to that "Noise Machine" very well documented by many: www.nytimes.com The Big Hate By PAUL KRUGMAN Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists. But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient." ------------ For the simple-WHY of how this is relevant to Op Ed, simply see content and evaluate with own mind !!

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Henry Ruark June 12, 2009 11:39 am (Pacific time)

D.J. et al: What ongoing struggle boils down to now --ever since Middle Age of monarchs and monstrous landlords living on hill while peasants dug His Honor'ss ditches-- is simply then-military/muscle, now dollar-dominated media machinations. We must fight now with wise words well-armed via factual analysis from easily testable sources, with continuous solid confirmation via relevant and direct personal experiences. That's the WHY of "see with own eyes, evaluate with own mind" --even for our own words laid out in detail with real documentation here, for all to see, check, test and THEN cogitate...even if painful !!

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Henry Ruark June 12, 2009 11:04 am (Pacific time)

D.J. Your insights appreciated, sir. Happens that's one of about 40-similar,in many formats, used for this one, unlisted now since solid ref. demands too much space here. "Informed"-opinion demands multiple, sometimes massive, strong resort to authoritative others, prior to cogitation to produce personal/pattern worth publication space. Here our Op Eds have at least 30, sometimes up to 60, such sources, sought over long previous intense interest, and on file for final application as needed. No great kudos --that's the simple professional pattern in use by many for decades, part of journalistic principle and ethical approach. Soft-based, no-background comments here sometimes bring "intense" response: Given that effort for each Op Ed, perhaps this needed explanation will soften impacts on any honest reader.

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Henry Ruark June 12, 2009 9:34 am (Pacific time)

To all: Please note this Op Ed was written, transmitted just before our Senate reached its inevitable decision. We now face costly, useless and damage-detailing further struggle via initiative(s), reflecting precisely the same process (AND debilitating enforced postures !) as in California.

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Daniel Johnson June 12, 2009 9:32 am (Pacific time)

Hank: Paul Krugman starts a recent column with: "California, it has long been claimed, is where the future happens first. But is that still true? If it is, God help America." It's at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/opinion/25krugman.html

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