Stand up for Life and Conscience RightsStanding up for life is one of the Republican Party Platforms. This is one area where you truly can make a difference. Please join us in supporting Initiative the end the taxpayer funding of abortions in Oregon. Sign a petition to put the question before the voters. Help out by gathering signatures on petitions. Every life is precious. p.s. this initiative does not outlaw abortions in Oregon. End the Death TaxYou can also support the petition to phase out the inheritance taxes. Here Is Your Opportunity to Promote Our 2nd Amendment Right to Bear ArmsThe Linn County Republican Party is raffling a Glock 23 for $5.00 per ticket - only 1,000 tickets will be sold. We are asking all PCPs to sell 20 tickets - we still have 750 tickets to sell. Not a PCP? You are welcome to buy as many as you want. This Saturday, Bill Sheretz will be at Pop's Branding Iron Restaurant in Albany - 901 Pacific Blvd SE - Albany, at 10 a.m. in the main dining area. If you have sold tickets, you may take the money and entry stubs to Bill on Saturday as well. Contact Bill Sheretz to check out raffle tickets at 541-999-8718, do not contact CNS or First Strike, as they do not have tickets. We have attached a flyer with more information, if you would like some of these pre-printed please call Renee' at 541-619-3041.
Oregon World War II MemorialPlease Save the Date of June 6, 2012 for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Oregon World War II Memorial on the grounds of the Oregon State Capitol Rainbows and MoonbeamsBy Allen Alley Was it a "Portlandia" script or an Oregonian front page story? The April 17 article on Governor Kitzhaber and Cylvia Hayes, who spent three hours in a class to learn how to construct a happiness index, could have been either one. This happiness index, promoted by a Portland State University professor, purports to give a more accurate picture of economic health than the value of all goods and services produced, also known as gross domestic product (GDP). The happiness index or Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was promoted at a recent United Nations summit meeting on happiness and originated in that bastion of economic energy, Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a tiny Himalayan country with a GDP per person of $2,600. Bhutan's GDP ranks 129th in the world with other economic powerhouses such as Bolivia, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. In perspective, the U.S. GDP per person is 18 times higher than Bhutan. Is the Governor really going to model our economy after a third world country? Are we giving up trying to measure ourselves by the economic measures of successful nations and instead partner with the Bhutanese and the UN to just make up our own happiness index? Even "Portlandia's" writers could not have conceived of this plot twist. A trip to Taiwan in 1982 proved to me that economic prosperity creates happiness and a cleaner environment. At the time, the streets of Taipei looked like a scene from Blade Runner. Acid rain literally etched the buildings and stripped the paint off cars and signs. Swarms of smoke-belching dilapidated scooters were the transportation mode of choice. It seemed that Taiwan might sink into the ocean under the weight of the detritus of society, and all that would be left would be an oil slick and Styrofoam packing worms. Then an amazing thing happened. They became prosperous. Today the GDP per person of Taipei is second only to Tokyo in Asia and is higher than that of Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Once they became economically prosperous, they did not want to live in squalor. They had the community wealth to clean up their environment, and they did. Oregon's economic report card is apparently so stubbornly awful that rather than creating an environment where prosperity can flourish, Governor Kitzhaber is going to change the grading system. Now our economic F will be waved away, because we try really hard and have nice parks. Global economic competition is brutal. There are no bonus points for effort or style. You either succeed or fail, and lately Oregon has been failing. Since 1995 Oregonians have been getting poorer relative to other Americans. We have slipped 10 places in state personal income ranking from 22nd to 32nd. At the same time our neighbor to the north Washington rose from 16th to 13th. In 1995 an Oregonian earned $750 less than the average American in personal income, today we are $3,700 behind. That means the average family of 4 in Oregon is $14,800 a year poorer than the average American family. So either we have to have significantly higher taxes or settle for inferior schools, roads, and public safety. We cannot fill potholes with happiness. Governor Kitzhaber, we need to embrace GDP and rededicate ourselves to creating an environment where it actually increases. We must maximize access to the assets that make Oregon a potentially great place to build prosperity. Open and expand our ports. Use our natural resources. Go out and actively promote Oregon timber as the greenest building product on earth. Keep power rates low. Manage the Columbia River to extract more economic value for Oregon. Embrace hydro power as the renewable, CO2 free, source of clean energy that it is. Create an environment where we feel our state is a partner in prosperity, not an impediment. It's difficult to attain long-term happiness without some measure of security and prosperity. Gone are the days when a barter economy could provide all of the goods and services we need. Besides, much of the capital created in Oregon comes from trade with other states and nations. Happiness is a result, not a thing that can be traded. Oregonians cannot pay their mortgage with moonbeams, and even the governor is unlikely to convince the public employee unions to accept rainbows rather than raises. We will be needing office space for the upcoming campaign season, if you know of anyone who has office space they can donate, please let us know. Article of interest: America's Ruling Class |
Nations grown corrupt Love bondage more than liberty; Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty. —John Milton Become a Precinct Committee Person! Precinct Maps:
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