Come November, vote Democratic. And if you’re in Oregon, vote “no” on every Oregon ballot measure.
[Update: Oops. When I impulsively wrote the above I'd forgotten about Measure 44, which expands the Oregon Prescription Drug Program. It deserves a "yes." Otherwise, I still advise "no" on the other measures. See my post, "I copy Laurel's ballot. Are we lawbreakers?"]
There. I’m done my minimal progressive duty and am done with politics for this blogging day. I’ll turn to photos of our recent walk around central Oregon’s Suttle Lake, a much more pleasant manifestation of physical reality.
The big fire a couple of years ago has left whitening snags around the shoreline. Black Butte peeks over the treetops.
From another angle, and zoomed in, Black Butte becomes more of a presence. The fire lookout on the top of the mountain is just barely visible.
Laurel has a talent for matching, wherever she goes. Here she’s blending in with the fall color of the vine maples and Suttle Lake’s blue. (Her not-so-fashionable “necklace” is a dog whistle).
Speaking of Serena, the wonder pet, this is a study of Suttle Lake sunlight and shade featuring her and Laurel.
More vine maples. They weren’t quite as vibrant this October as last, perhaps due to the dry summer and fall.
Ah, we’ve got such an environmentally conscious dog. With just a smidgen of coaxing (well, maybe a bit more than that) Laurel got Serena to retrieve a plastic bottle floating ten feet or so off shore. She tried her best, but the bottle must have gotten attached to some fishing line or something. Still, we’ll be nominating her for Green Anti-Litter Dog of the Year.
This is my favorite photo from our walk. Dog on a dock, contemplating…something. For sure, a different order of reality from Saxton vs. Kulongoski and Republicans vs. Democrats. Without getting too philosophical, I'll still call it a more real reality.
I read the original version of this over at Blue Oregon and was wondering what you had against 44. I guess we're in agreement.
Posted by: cwech | October 30, 2006 at 02:23 PM
Suttle Lake is beautiful. Wouldn't it be nice to reign in the poisonous political spending of all those nasty polluting companies that are currently contributing to Ron Saxton's campaign (the OLCV website can show you which ones)?
Please read yesterday's Salem S-J editorial on measures 46 & 47. It says it all.
Vote no on everything else if you like. But vote YES on 46 & 47 and help our state go from worst to first in terms of campaign & election reform.
Without some sensible restrictions in place, every other issue remains secondary. Oregon is simply being held hostage to big-money politics...please don't believe the double-speak of the many self-interested political operatives (left and right) who have unfairly maligned these measures.
Vote YES on measures 46 & 47...
Posted by: activist kaza | October 30, 2006 at 02:37 PM
activist kaza, I'm sympathetic to your arguments about 46 & 47. We thought about these measures quite a bit. In the end they just seemed too complicated and too restrictive of free political speech.
Plus, didn't I read in the Oregonian that one of the original sponsors has changed his tune and now opposes the measures?
Posted by: Brian | October 30, 2006 at 02:43 PM