Salem Political Snark

Armed right-wing protesters look foolish at Capitol today

There was a successful one-day special session of the Oregon Legislature today, where several Covid relief bills were passed. There also was a farcical protest by Patriot Prayer members and other right-wingers who were outraged about... something or other.

Being asked to wear a mask? Not being allowed into the Capitol building, even though no members of the public were able to go inside during the special session? Angry that their Beloved Leader, Donald Trump, lost to Joe Biden?

Who knows. These days it doesn't make sense to ask what right-wing wackos are protesting about, because even when they give an answer, it doesn't make much sense. 

I suspect that those who showed up at the Capitol had finished their Christmas shopping, needed something to do, figured that Salem is a great place to do something, and wanted another opportunity to play toy soldier -- since some of those protesting were armed, as shown in a Daily Beast photo accompanying a story, "Heavily Armed Far-Right Mob Floods Oregon Capitol."

Wow, that would have been a funny Halloween costume, but today was December 21, not October 31. I wonder if this person with the scads of extra ammo attached to their waist realizes how foolish they look. 

Probably not, since self-awareness isn't much in evidence at these sorts of right-wing protest costume parties. 

These jerks also came with pepper spray. Which they used on police, according to a Statesman Journal story, "Arrests made after protesters attempt to enter Oregon State Capitol during session."

Oregon State Police said at about 8:30 a.m. protestors entered the building and at least one used "chemical agents" on officers. 

Two hours later, state police and Salem police started to push people out of the Capitol. Bear spray was used against police. 

“At one point we used pepper balls. I don’t know what else," said Lt. Treven Upkes of Salem Police. "When people attempted to come into the building they actually used pepper spray and other things on officers. In return, we used those to separate ourselves and get them to hold that spot. So I don’t know what all was used but I know at least pepper ball was used.

The Salem Reporter also has a story, "As lawmakers meet, protestors attempt to storm Capitol building." It includes some of the ridiculous things protesters were saying.

The crowd of protesters that arrived Monday morning was mostly maskless. Many were decked out in Donald Trump hats and waved flags from the president’s campaign. Some carried long rifles and sported body armor. One man wore a shirt calling for the imprisonment of Gov. Kate Brown.

Many yelled angrily at lawmakers gathered inside.

“Cowards!”

“What they are doing in that building right now is illegal!”

“The Chinese have taken over!”

“Vaccines are not effective!”

“I do not consent to a new world order!”

Well, my advice to these protesters is that what you're yelling should have at least a tenuous connection to reality. Otherwise you sound like a mentally ill person standing on a street corner shouting crazy stuff. Which likely would make more sense than "The Chinese have taken over!" 

Here's some tweets that came across my Twitter feed today.

Oregonians need to step back from the brink of Crazy Cliff

A moderate amount of craziness adds spice to life. Who wants to be perfectly rational and reasonable all of the time? But currently there's way too much craziness going on -- both here in Oregon and elsewhere in the United States.

So join me in making a heartfelt plea to all Oregonians to take several big steps back from the brink of Crazy Cliff. Going over the edge won't benefit anyone on the left, right, or middle of our political spectrum.

I think of myself as an open-minded progressive. As you can read below, I'm fine with criticizing people on the left when they've done something objectionable. 

However, it seems indisputable that those manifesting the greatest degree of craziness these days are right-wingers. I can't call them conservatives because what those crazies are espousing has very little to do with traditional conservatism. 

Here's examples of the craziness in Oregon that needs to be dialed down.

Denying Biden won the election. Since Oregon isn't a swing state, we've been spared the worst of President-elect Biden denialism.

But since polls show that a clear majority of Trump voters feel that Biden didn't win a free and fair election, there's little doubt that hundreds of thousands of Oregonians have jumped on board the train to Crazy Town (to mix my crazy metaphors).

There's no evidence to support that assertion. Trump and his crazed legal team are simply out to steal the election. Rudy Giuliani and Co. are throwing out increasingly bizarre claims about how massive fraud was carried out on November 3.

Notably, "a claim by Trump lawyer Sidney Powell that U.S. voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. used software made in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chavez. Chavez, who served as that country’s president, died in 2013."

That's super crazy! So it gets top billing in this blog post. 

Dowplaying the skyrocketing COVID-19 case, hospitalization, and death count. Throughout the pandemic Oregon has been doing better than most of the rest of the country. That's good news.

Yet instead of trusting Governor Brown and her public health team to continue doing what's necessary to combat COVID-19, there's been resistance to Brown's recent two-week rollback of some reopening policies, such as no longer allowing in-person dining at restaurants.

The Oregon Restaurant Association has sued the governor, objecting to the two-week restaurant policy. Protesters gathered at the state capitol, saying they wouldn't comply with Governor Brown's orders. Courthouse Club Fitness here in Salem is defying the two-week closure of health clubs. 

Crazy!

I can't understand why people are reluctant to save lives and lay the foundation for complete reopening of the Oregon economy by doing their part to comply with public health orders.

Oregon is facing the worst COVID-19 crisis of the pandemic, but many people are only thinking of themselves, not the common good.

Two counties make it a crime to enforce gun laws. Columbia and Umatilla counties in Oregon have passed ordinances that make it a misdemeanor crime for police to enforce certain gun laws.

Northwest Oregon’s Columbia County and eastern Oregon’s Umatilla County approved ordinances directing county workers – police included – to ignore the state’s extreme risk protection law, the concealed carry law and most other state regulation of guns. Passed in 2017, Oregon’s extreme risk protection law gives judges discretion to remove guns from people not convicted of a crime who show signs they might shoot themselves or someone else.

Deputies and officers who choose to enforce those laws risk prosecution and hefty fees -- criminal sanctions that “we are very proud of,” said Rob Taylor, an Oregon gun rights activist who has lobbied for such measures across the state.

Sometimes civil disobedience is called for. But this isn't one of those times. It is simply right-wing gun-nut craziness to claim that enforcing necessary laws is illegal. Almost certainly courts will agree and put a stop to this particular craziness. 

Portland "protesters" trash buildings. I'm not completely sure if this is an example of left-wing craziness, though it seems like it is, since it's hard to put anarchists on any part of the political spectrum. All they care about is creating chaos. 

It bugs me big-time when the nightly news calls those who damage businesses and other property in Portland protesters. They're thugs, rioters, criminals. Those are the names they deserve. An Oregonian story says: 

Crews cleaned up broken glass and boarded up shattered windows Saturday in Northeast Portland after demonstrators marched through the area the previous night.

Wooden boards covered broken windows and doors of multiple buildings along Northeast Sandy Boulevard, including a State Farm, Chase Bank, Whole Foods, Wells Fargo and Rite Aid. The Portland Police Bureau on Saturday said 26 businesses or workspaces and one apartment building were damaged with graffiti, broken windows or both in the Hollywood District.

Hey, Oregonian reporters. These aren't demonstrators. They are vandals. All they're demonstrating is how crazily stupid they are. They need to be charged with crimes and made to pay for the damage they do.

Why I'm feeling post-election progressive joy

Tuesday's election could have been better, but it also could have been a whole lot worse from my progressive point of view. So I'm feeling fine right now, for these reasons.

Biden appears to have defeated Trump. This is the biggest contributor to my positive mood, since another four years of Trump would have thrown me into a serious depression. Last night I was anxious, but as I checked election results throughout today, I started feeling better and better.

At the moment it looks like Biden has a good chance of winning Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

Coupled with the states Biden already has won -- notably Wisconsin and Michigan -- this gives him numerous options to get to 270 electoral votes. So I'm counting my Biden-win chicken before it has completely hatched. 

Sure, right now it seems Biden won't have a Democratic Senate.

That sucks. It makes it a lot harder for Biden to push the legislative agenda he campaigned on. But simply having Biden rather than Trump as president is huge. (Note: at the end of this post I talk about the non-sucky possibility of the Democrats winning two Georgia Senate seats in January 2021.)

Winning the Senate would have been the icing on the election cake. Which means, there's still the cake to be enjoyed. (Assuming Biden wins.) Biden will be able to do a lot of good things even with Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans stonewalling him.

Here's a series of tweets by Daniel Hemel that illustrate this. 

A Biden presidency w/a narrow GOP majority in the Senate is not half a loaf. It's the loaf. I'd be happier if Ds had flipped the Senate -- to mix baked-goods metaphors, that would be icing on the cake. But this still will make an enormous difference in Americans' lives 1/

Probably the most important task facing the winner of this presidential election is SARS-CoV-2 vaccine rollout. This won't be easy under any President. But imagine doing it under a President who doesn't believe in science, downplays the virus, & stokes anti-vaxxer sentiment 2/

Instead we'll have vaccine rollout under a President who puts public health first, empowers scientists, & tells the truth. That's a world of difference 3/

The 2nd most important task facing the winner of the presidential election is saving the planet. Will Biden be able to get an ambitious clean-energy package through a GOP-majority Senate? We'll see, though if anyone can, he's the guy. & in any event, here's what he can do: 4/

-Reinstate & strengthen Obama administration corporate average fuel economy standards -Reinstate & strengthen Obama administration regs requiring power plants & other large stationary sources to reduce GHG emissions -Return the US to the Paris climate accords on Day 1 5/

We'll have a President who acts w/in the ACA to expand health care coverage. We'll have a President who works w/in the immigration statutes to make it easier to come to the US legally. Dreamers won't be deported. Refugee admissions will increase dramatically 6/

We probably won't get tax reform until 2023 at the earliest, but we'll likely get aggressive regulatory action against some of the worst loopholes & shelters. We'll likely see IRS focus audit resources on very high-net-worth folks rather than EITC claimants 7/

We've stalled since the end of the Obama administration re: motor vehicle safety standards. We'll now likely see National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rulemakings that reduce auto deaths by thousands 8/

A Biden administration -- even w/out control of the Senate -- won't just end the long national nightmare of the last 4 years. It will put us on a better path. This is cause for celebration. 9/9

Yeah, it sure is cause for celebration. That's why I want to keep our Biden-Harris sign up for the next four years.

Out here in rural south Salem some people in our neighborhood have had a giant Trump sign displayed since he was elected in 2016. It annoys me every time I pass it on my daily late afternoon dog walk. Time for some progressive payback.

Oregon election results also were pleasant. I was thrilled to see that Democrat Deb Patterson narrowly defeated Republican Denyc Boles in the Senate District 10 race. Patterson is competent, super-nice, and will be a terrific state senator. Boles deserved to lose, having walked off her legislative job with other Republicans after being appointed to Jackie Winters' seat after Winters died.

It also was great that all four statewide ballot measures passed, and that Shemia Fagan became Secretary of State, getting that office out of Republican hands.

I wasn't sure if Measure 109 would pass. "Magic mushrooms" show promise for treating PTSD and other mental health problems. Oregon is the first state to authorize the supervised use of psilocybin. 

We also are the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs, a step that hopefully will be taken by many other states. When it looked like Trump could be re-elected last night and I'd have to suffer through four more years of the Liar-in-Chief, I took some solace in the fact that if I became a heroin addict to soothe the pain, at least I wouldn't go to jail.

Now I'm looking forward to celebrating Biden's victory -- may it come soon -- with less potent, but decidedly healthier, home grown Oregon marijuana.

To end on another positive note, I just saw a tweet by someone who said it appears that both Senate races in Georgia will be going to a January runoff. Incumbent Republican David Perdue is down to a 50.2% winning percentage, with 5% of the vote from mostly liberal areas left to be counted. So if he dips below 50% Perdue would face off again against Democrat Jon Osssoff, joining Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler in another runoff race. 

If the Democrats won both races, that would produce a 50-50 split in the Senate, with Vice-President Harris breaking ties. Love that idea! It isn't all that far-fetched, since Biden and Trump are separated by just 0.6 of a percentage point in Georgia at the moment.

Dumb and dumber: Capitol vandals and Sam Brentano

Saturday's Statesman Journal featured stories about a couple of spectacularly dumb local people. It took me a while to decide who deserves the "dumb" award in this blog post, and who the "dumber," but I'm going with this:

Dumb -- whoever spray painted two marble sculptures in front of the state Capitol building during the first weekend of Black Lives Matter protests.

Dumber -- Marion County commissioner Sam Brentano, for being so irritated at Governor Brown's pausing of county reopening plans due to a spike in coronavirus cases in Oregon.

Sure, it can be argued that these dumb and dumber awards should be switched, and I could go along with that argument, because each of these individuals engaged in some spectacularly misinformed behavior.

Looking at the spray painter first, who so far hasn't been identified, I wish I could share an online link to this Statesman Journal story. But after two days it hasn't appeared on the newspaper's web site, for some baffling reason. 

Anyway, here's a photo of the front page of the print edition.

This is how the story by Capi Lynn starts out.

A pair of massive marble sculptures stand sentinel in front of the Oregon State Capitol. Their heroic figures, carved deep into the history of our state, flank the majestic granite steps leading to the main entrance, acting as both guards and greeters. 

But their vulnerability was exposed during the first weekend of protests.

Vandals defaced the 81-year-old sculptures by spray-painting profanity-laced messages on their stone surfaces. Their pedestals are made of granite.

A mason restoration company from Tigard has been working all week to remove the paint with little success, and the sculptures remain covered with tarps.

"It's not working very good because we didn't get on it soon enough," Joe Bryson of Pioneer Waterproofing Co. said Friday. "The longer it sits on there, the harder it is to get off. We keep trying, but I don't know if it will ever come off." 

The vandalism occurred between 10 p.m. Saturday, May 30, and 12:30 a.m. Sunday, May 31, the first weekend crowds gathered at the Capitol protest [against] police brutality and the death of George Floyd.

l have no idea how anyone could think that spray-painting graffiti on the sculptures helps in any way to further the Black Lives Matter movement. Actually, it hurts the movement, by distracting attention from the many positive aspects of the protests to this senseless act of vandalism.

Hopefully the vandals will be identified and punished. The story ends with: "If you have information about the incident, contact Trooper Greg Williams at the Capitol Mall Area Command, 503-986-1122."

Now, as dumb as the spray-painting was, it didn't cause physical harm to any people, just the statues. So Commissioner Sam Brentano gets the dumber award because another front-page story, "Marion, Polk, wait for more reopening," shows how clueless Brentano is about the danger reopening too quickly poses to Oregonians.

Here's excerpts from the story by Claire Withycombe.

Bars and restaurants in Marion and Polk counties will still be closing by 10 p.m., and residents still can't go bowling or to a movie theater, for at least one more week due to a recent jump in cases of COVID-19.

Nearly all of Oregon's counties have been approved by the governor's office to "reopen" for some public activities after months of what was practically a lockdown to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. 

Brown's office has laid out a plan that allows each county to apply to reopen in three phases.

Marion and Polk counties are currently in the first phase, which allows limited reopening of restaurants and bars and gatherings of up to 25 people. You can see what else you can do during the first phase on the governor's website.

But no county will be permitted to open up any further for another week at least, Brown announced Thursday. That means Marion and Polk counties' efforts to move into the second phase won't be approved for at least another week.

...On Thursday, the Oregon Health Authority reported 178 new cases, the most in a single day since the pandemic started. On Friday, another 142 cases were announced.

...Local county commissioners expressed disappointment after Brown's decision.

"We're not going to be able to go like this forever," said Marion County Commissioner Sam Brentano, reached by phone Friday morning. "All government should be doing is alerting when there's a problem and then let people make their own choices to protect themselves."

Brentano said he was concerned by the uptick in cases in Marion County, which reported 29 new cases Friday.

"Right now is a dangerous time, and that part's right," Brentano said. "But I don't feel I want to continue leaving authority to make decisions to live or operate up to the state."

Spoken like the true science-denier that you are, Commissioner Brentano. He has been an outspoken opponent of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, since Brentano doesn't believe that humans are causing the global warming that is having increasingly disastrous consequences.

So it isn't surprising that just as Brentano wants people and corporations to be able to spew as many carbon emissions as they want, he also wants to allow individuals and businesses to be able to spread the coronavirus in any way they want.

Fortunately, Brentano isn't in charge of Oregon. Governor Kate Brown is. And she is relying on advice from our state's public health experts as she makes decisions about how to re-open Oregon safely, decisions that the Oregon Supreme Court recently has ruled are totally legal.

UPDATE: Just came across this apt passage in a Texas Monthly story that I read vis Apple News.

A version of “personal responsibility” that looks like “I’ll take responsibility for my risk, and you take responsibility for your risk,” though, neglects the reality of a pandemic. Responsibility may be personal—but risk is communal. Everyone can both get sick with the virus and pass it on to someone else.

A person who gets infected while packed into an overcrowded bar can pass the disease to a supermarket cashier who is otherwise steadfastly avoiding high-risk situations. A healthy young person whose sense of personal responsibility leaves him comfortable spending a leisurely evening in a bustling restaurant can infect a roommate who works in a nursing home.

Trump will have to pry Oregon's stay-home order out of my cold, dead hands

Today President Trump's authoritarianism reached a peak when he said at the White House coronavirus briefing that his authority is total. This was in reference to his supposed ability to order states to relax their stay-at-home and physical distancing orders.

“The president of the United States calls the shots,” he said at his evening news briefing. “They can’t do anything without the approval of the president of the United States.”

Asked what provisions of the Constitution gave him the power to override the states if they wanted to remain closed, he said, “Numerous provisions,” without naming any. “When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total.”

Well, I'm eager to learn how all the conservatives who champion states rights will react to this extremely dubious interpretation of the constitution, which gives a lot of power to states, including when it comes to public health. 

Twenty years ago Charlton Heston warned of government overreach when he said at a NRA (National Rifle Association) speech:

"So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: 'From my cold, dead hands.'"

Mr. President, that's exactly how I feel about your absurd attempt to determine how Oregon should respond to the coronavirus crisis. Our governor, Kate Brown, has issued an executive Stay Home, Save Lives order. It's working well, and it needs to remain in place until, according to Brown, Oregon has ten days without a COVID-19 death.

There's no way that I, along with most other Oregonians, would patronize a business that chooses to ignore the governor's order if it is more restrictive than whatever plan for reopening our state's economy Trump comes up with. So Trump needs to understand that most Americans trust our local leaders a heck of a lot more than the would-be dictator who currently inhabits the White House.

It's beyond absurd that while Trump has been saying for weeks that it is up to each state to determine how it will deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to stay-at-home orders in most states, Trump now is claiming that he has the sole authority to rescind or alter those orders even though he had nothing to do with putting them in place.

My wife and I live in a rural area about five miles from the Salem city limits. That isn't far geographically, but it is a light year politically from the mostly liberal capital city of Oregon. 

We regularly are treated to the sound of loud gunshots as some of our mostly conservative neighbors do some target practicing. They aren't shy about saying that they want to be ready when either social breakdown occurs as a result of the coronavirus crisis and urban hordes descend upon us country folk, or when the black helicopters arrive from the United Nations or a Democratic president to take away their guns.

But it turns out that the biggest threat to our freedom is coming from a Republican president who wrongly believes that the president can do whatever they want. 

Imagine what would happen if somehow, against all odds, Trump was to succeed in getting the Supreme Court to agree that, as Trump argued today, the president's authority is total. Meaning, there are no curbs on it. None. Zilch. Nada. This would mean that a President Biden could do whatever he wanted to combat global warming, reduce gun deaths, or deal with any other emergency that was declared from the Oval Office.

I can guarantee that Fox News would have a total freak-out, along with other right-wing organizations and leaders. So that's why I'm intensely interested in how conservatives are going to respond to Trump's assertion that there are no limits on what a president can do. 

Sure, Trump has been acting as if this was the case -- ignoring subpoenas from Congress, bashing reporters who dare to ask probing questions, and in so many other ways trashing the norms of how a president should behave in a constitutional democracy. Today, though, Trump explicitly stated that he can do whatever he wants. 

And when a reporter asked Vice President Pence if he agreed that this was the case, Pence stood in front of the microphone and said the powers of the presidency are “unquestionably plenary”. In other words, absolute. 

This should scare all Americans, liberal, conservative, everybody. A bit of good news is that a story in the Washington Examiner, a conservative newspaper, took issue with Trump's bizarre interpretation of the Constitution.

Contrary to what President Trump seems to think, he does not have the authority to dictate when and how individual states reopen as the threat posed by the coronavirus diminishes. Nor should he want it.

This assertion — that only Trump can decide the question of reopening — is obviously wrong, as anyone remotely familiar with the U.S. Constitution and the principles of federalism understands. Only the individual governors can decide when their states will begin to reopen, and only they can determine what that process will look like.

...Whatever plan Trump does roll out must be specific, and it must be respectful of the states. He cannot rule by fiat, and a pandemic does not change that.

Make Oregon Republicans pay for their anti-democracy walkout

Four days ago I titled a blog post, "It's a make-or-break week for democracy in Oregon." Well, today we learned that Democrats in the state legislature stood firm in defense of democracy, while the Republicans who walked out basically said screw you, democracy.

 
Oregonians need to remember this in the upcoming November election. Democrats care about democracy. Republicans don't. It's that simple. Vote accordingly on the local, state, and national level. 

The only bright spot in the legislature being forced to close up shop because of the Republican walkout, which was a taxpayer-funded vacation for them, was how Democratic leaders acted this time.

While in 2019 they killed some bills to get the Republicans to do the job they were elected to do -- act as legislators -- this time they refused to make any deals. Good for them. The only deal House and Senate Republicans deserve is to have as many of them as possible voted out of office.

Here's some information about the walkout aftermath that I gleaned from my Twitter feed. The Salem Reporter also has a good story about this, as does the Oregonian. As you can read below, Governor Kate Brown has vowed to make reductions in carbon emissions via executive order, a pleasing move.

It's a make-or-break week for democracy in Oregon

With the coronavirus consuming so much attention, we shouldn't lose sight of another major threat to Oregon's wellbeing: the fifth walkout of Republican state legislators in just two years.

Photo I took at a protest against a 2019 GOP walkout

Why? Because the GOP hasn't been able to win elections in this state. 

Normally the party that lacks control of a political body, like the Oregon House and Senate, sucks it up and accepts that elections have consequences. Which is nicely summed up in two images included in a February 29 Vox story, "Oregon Republicans are subverting democracy by running away. Again."

You know, it really doesn't matter why Republicans have walked out those five times, preventing the legislature from doing its business because the Oregon constitution has a crazy requirement that 2/3 of the members of the House or Senate have to be present for a quorum.

(Most state legislatures require a mere majority.)

So those Republicans are getting a paid vacation in Idaho, or wherever they're hiding out. They don't want a cap-and-trade climate bill to pass in the 2020 session, just as they didn't want a similar bill to pass in the 2019 session. Since they succeeded last year, it isn't surprising that they're using the same walkout tactic again this year.

It's a terrible blow to democracy. 

Oregon Democrats had a successful election in 2018. They campaigned on passing a bill to reduce our state's carbon pollution, and voters chose to give Democrats a very healthy majority in both the House and Senate. Yet rather than try harder to win elections, Oregon Republicans have taken the crybaby approach and walked out.

Having written those words, I just had a mild case of PTSD. When she was young, my daughter and I would play Monopoly. I painfully remember how, a number of times, I'd have her on the edge of bankruptcy when she'd tip the board over, sending pieces flying, and yell "It's a tie! Nobody won!"

OK, that's sort of acceptable when you're 12 years old. But grown men and women shouldn't make a habit of doing what amounts to the same thing by tipping over the ability of the Oregon legislature to function by going on a taxpayer-paid walkout.

The Vox story does an excellent job of explaining why this is such a horrible precedent. I did the same thing last year in "Oregon democracy threatened by Senate GOP walkout."

Below are some excerpts from the Vox piece. If the walkout extends past the end of this year's short legislative session, I hope that Governor Brown will keep calling a special session every single day until the Republicans return to do their job, or the November election happens and voters hopefully punish the Oregon GOP by electing more Democrats.

In Oregon right now, a handful of white people from the far right are holding the state government hostage.

No, it’s not another armed occupation of government buildings, like in 2016. This time it’s a handful of Oregon lawmakers who refuse to enter government buildings, thereby holding the business of the legislature hostage.

It ought to be getting more national attention, if for no other reason than it perfectly encapsulates larger national political trends. It is like a snow globe, a perfect miniature representation of what the Republican Party is becoming.

In a nutshell, Oregon Republicans are exploiting an arcane constitutional provision in order to exert veto power over legislation developed by the Democratic majority, on behalf of an almost entirely white, rural minority. Five times in the past 10 months, they have simply refused to show up for work, preventing the legislature from passing bills on guns, forestry, health care, and budgeting. The fifth walkout, over a climate change bill, is ongoing.

It is an extraordinary escalation of anti-democratic behavior from the right, gone almost completely unnoticed by the national political media. Nevertheless, it is a big deal, worth pausing to consider, not only because it is preventing Oregon from addressing climate change, but because it shows in stark terms where the national GOP is headed.

...The second main GOP talking point is that, instead of simply voting the bill through the normal way legislatures do, Democrats should send it to voters as a direct ballot referendum.

It’s clear enough why this would serve Republican purposes. It would kick the can down the road and give them months to access billions of dollars of oil money to crush the referendum, just as oil billions crushed ballot initiatives in Washington and Colorado in 2018.

What I don’t understand is why this proposal is being taken seriously, by anyone, for even a second. It is facially absurd. The rules of the democratic process are written down in black and white. Democrats played by them. They campaigned — on cap-and-trade, among other things — and got a large majority of votes. So they are developing a bill and now they’re going to pass it. That’s how democracy works.

Republicans don’t just get to arbitrarily decide, as a defeated minority, how the majority’s bills pass, or what form they take. Their enormous sense of entitlement notwithstanding, they don’t get to rewrite the rules of democracy on the fly as it suits them, from bill to bill.

Marion County garbage burner propaganda disputed by Clean Air Now Coalition

Most of us don't pay much attention to where our garbage goes after it is picked up.

But if you live in Marion County (Oregon), you should. Because the end point of our trash gets burned up by an incinerator owned and operated by Covanta, a multi-billion dollar company that's trying to get the Oregon legislature to give it renewable energy tax credits.

Yes, for burning garbage. Who knew that garbage was a renewable resource? (It isn't -- that's why hardly anybody but Covanta favors bestowing taxpayer money on the incinerator in Brooks, north of Salem.)

On February 21, a week ago today, the Salem City Club made a big mistake. Instead of allowing both proponents and opponents of the garbage burner to have their say, the City Club decided to only let Marion County representatives speak -- both of whom spouted Covanta propaganda shamelessly since the county contracts with Covanta.

I wrote about this travesty in "Marion County officials are clueless about profit margin of garbage incinerator." This was only one of many WTF? moments at the City Club program.

Fortunately, the Clean Air Now Coalition put together a well-written, factual, nicely documented rebuttal of the Covanta/Marion County propaganda that I painfully had to listen to for over an hour, being a Salem City Club member who usually enjoys the programs, this one being a notable exception.

Below is what the Clear Air Now Coalition said.

I've added some paragraph breaks to make the rebuttal easier to read, and inserted links to several PDF files included with the coalition's report. It's must-reading for anyone who cares about reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Marion County, and protecting people from the harmful chemicals emitted by the garbage burner.

There are members of the Clean Air Now Coalition who want to take exception to much of the presentation made by Marion County staff to the Salem City Club on February 21, 2020. The presenters may simply be otherwise well-meaning targets of Covanta propaganda, but that resulted in elements of distraction and misdirection that seemed similar to what one might observe in a magic act.

In one example of misdirection (“Hey, look over there!”) the audience was basically given two waste management paths from which to choose: 

1) the waste incinerator, which was presented as having a few tolerable flaws, versus 

2) landfills that produce methane, take up farmland, and potentially pollute ground water.

The sustainable option of waste prevention and waste reduction was presented as a supplement to incineration and landfilling rather than a completely separate option from either the incinerator or methane-producing landfills. 

This sustainable option should be seen as a separate option all on its own and be pursued diligently until Marion County over a period of years reaches at least a 90% diversion of its waste stream through waste prevention, reuse, repair, recycling, and composting. What remains can be landfilled (in less space than that currently used each year by incinerator ash) with the methane-producing organic matter diverted to composting. 

Also, the incineration of waste at the Covanta Marion incinerator is the antithesis of waste reduction because Marion County's contract with Covanta requires that the County provide enough waste to fully fuel the incinerator. 

If that obligation is not met, the County is penalized. Thus, at such time that a waste reduction program became successful enough to reduce the waste stream below that required incinerator fuel level, the County would begin being penalized for further waste reduction.

We want to point out that toxic emissions from the incinerator are NOT monitored continuously, as Mr. Nicholas incorrectly said initially. 

Toxic heavy metals, extremely toxic dioxins, and hydrogen chloride are only measured annually with samples taken during three pre-announced runs during a testing period of a few days by a contractor of Covanta’s choosing. Numerous other toxins known to be emitted by solid waste incinerators are not measured at all.

During the question and answer period of the City Club program the presenters partially corrected themselves but implied that the few gases that are monitored continuously (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide) serve as “indicators“ for all of the other things that are not monitored continuously. We strongly take issue with that contention.

If somehow a large batch of lead or cadmium entered the waste stream, for example, they would certainly increase the emissions of those toxins; but the magnitude of that increase would not be detectable by monitoring the few gases that are part of the continuous emissions monitoring system. Only by continuous monitoring of the toxins themselves  (as is done in many European incinerators) would a reasonably accurate measure be taken.

In addition to the problem of infrequent testing for toxins, there is also a flaw in the timing of testing for toxins such as dioxin.  The incinerator’s air quality permit specifies that measurements may only be taken during optimal operating conditions. It has been demonstrated in a European study that the production of dioxins can increase 30 to 50 times during malfunctions, startup, and shutdown as compared to their production during optimal operating conditions.

The presenters pointed out how the Covanta Marion incinerator overwhelmingly meets the emissions limits set by the current air quality permit. However, the following things that they did not point out are very important: This incinerator burns over 11,000 tons of medical waste per year (with about 10,000 tons of that coming from out of state). That is over five times the amount of medical waste that a large medical waste incinerator would have to burn in order to qualify for a much stricter set of emissions limits. 

The Covanta Marion incinerator’s emissions of acid gases and heavy metals exceeded these stricter emission limits consistently and extensively during the past seven years for which we have data. In spite of the fact that they conceivably burn more medical waste then some actual large medical waste incinerators, they are held to much more lax emission standards than large medical waste incinerators just because they are called a “municipal solid waste incinerator."

This inconsistency created by EPA (with possible corporate and political influence in our opinion) does not make logical sense at all. The toxins the Covanta Marion incinerator emits are no less harmful than if they had been emitted from an incinerator officially called a “large medical waste incinerator." A table showing these emission comparisons, with figures provided by the Oregon DEQ, is attached.

Download GA - Covanta current limits and actual emissions with explanations 2-13-20

Another example of distraction during the presentation was the statement that the greenhouse gas emitted by the incinerator represents only a small fraction of the greenhouse gas from other sources, such as transportation and production of electricity.

We would compare that to the “murderer versus mass murderer“ defense argument.  In this scenario the murderer says, “You should set me free because I only murdered one person in cold blood, whereas that person over there murdered 50 people.”  It is estimated that this incinerator produces greenhouse gas each year equivalent to the annual production of greenhouse gas by about 34,000 automobiles.

It is also ironic that the presenters would include the production of electricity in their comparison of the relative amounts of greenhouse gases coming from various sources. It is estimated that electricity created by waste incineration produces approximately 2.5 times as much greenhouse gas per unit of electricity as a coal fired power plant.  See this link:  http://www.energyjustice.net/incineration/climate

The presenters showed a graph that they stated multiple times was produced by the incinerator industry and not by them. It purported to show that waste incineration is a net reducer of greenhouse gases because it helps “avoid“ other sources of greenhouse gas, such as fossil fuel electricity generation and smelting of metal ores. 

That claim regarding the 19th greatest industrial producer of greenhouse gas in Oregon per a report from the Oregon DEQ is not only ludicrous on the face of it (which is probably why the presenters took pains to ensure we understood it was not their graph); it does not stand up to critical analysis. Please see the same link as presented in the preceding paragraph to read more about that analysis.

The presenters also presented graphics that seemed to show that the incinerator is not known to cause harm to environmental justice populations (minorities, disadvantaged, etc.). Yet in our own analysis for the area which incinerator emissions could be expected to reach, we found that “according to the US EPA, the neighborhoods within a 7-mile radius around the Covanta waste incineration facility are in the 88th percentile for cancer and respiratory risks (using National Air Toxics Assessment data). 

Furthermore the US EPA lists the area’s demographics indicators for minority (86th percentile), low-income (70th percentile) and linguistically isolated populations (88th percentile) for an overall Demographic Index in the 83rd percentile compared to other areas in Oregon. The bottom line is that environmental justice populations are at risk from the incinerator's emissions.

We have also attached to this message a waste reduction sample plan for Marion County and a copy of the "Healthy and Sustainable Waste Management" handout that was available on the registration table at the February 21 City Club program.

Download Waste reduction plan - sample 11-17-18
Download Healthy and Sustainable Waste Management (revised) 2-16-20

There are no doubt other points to be made about the February 21 presentation, but we will stop here and allow you to reach your own conclusions. 

Clean Air Now Coalition
http://cleanair-now.org/  

Covanta Marion garbage incinerator

Marion County officials are clueless about profit margin of garbage incinerator

Today's Salem City Club program on the controversial Covanta garbage incinerator that handles Marion County trash was as disappointing as I and others expected it to be.

Back in January I criticized the City Club for making the program totally biased in a blog post called "Salem City Club sparks outrage with one-sided garbage burner program." 

Last week I was included in email exchanges between environmentalists from the local chapter of 350.org and City Club members in charge of the garbage burner program. My sympathies then, as now, are with the environmentalists.

For after failing to have the Oregon legislature approve a bill in 2019 that would grant Renewable Energy Credits to Covanta, there's another effort underway in the upcoming 2020 short legislative session to pass a similar bill.

...So Marion County, which handles the Covanta contract and is overseen by an all-Republican Board of Commissioners who, so far as I know, are all global warming deniers (Sam Brentano definitely is), gets to use the February 21 City Club program to present a one-sided view of how wonderful the Covanta garbage burner is, and why renewable energy credits should be bestowed on the Covanta corporation.

This makes no sense to me, especially since February 21 is right in the middle of the February 3 - March 7 legislative session.

By not allowing an environmentalist like Andy Harris to be able to refute the claims of the Marion County representatives who will have the podium all to themselves, the Salem City Club has chosen to align itself with one-side of the Covanta garbage burner debate -- which happens to be the side that has the least scientific credibility, in my view.

Indeed, today's program turned out even worse than I thought it would be. I'd hoped that Cindy Condon, the City Club member who planned the program, would allow plenty of time for questions during the hour (12 pm to 1 pm) presentations normally last.

But two Marion County employees used up the entire hour, and then some, with what essentially was a infomercial for the Covanta garbage burner. Covanta, a giant corporation, is trying to get the Oregon legislature to bestow renewable energy tax credits on the burner, even though it seems clear that garbage isn't a renewable resource.

A few minutes after 1 pm, when people were starting to leave, a question and answer period started. I got to ask what I thought was an excellent probing question, given that Covanta has said that it may have to shut down the garbage burner if it doesn't get the tax credits.

Here's what I asked the Marion County officials:

A recent Statesman Journal story says that Covanta didn't respond to a state legislator's request for information about how much money the company is making from the incinerator. Do you know what Covanta's annual profit is on the Marion County garbage incinerator?

After some bureaucratic blather, the answer I got was: NO.

I was surprised that not only won't Covanta tell state legislators how much money they're making on the garbage burner that it owns, and which Marion County pays them to run, but either Covanta won't give Marion County officials this information either, or those officials don't want to find out the profit margin because it won't support their goal of getting the renewable energy tax credits.

Since Covanta had revenues of almost $2 billion in 2019, it's difficult to feel any sympathy for the company, especially since they're being so secretive about how much money they're making from the Marion County incinerator.

Check out an excellent Statesman Journal story by Tracy Loew about the garbage burner, "Marion County wants renewable energy status for burning trash as power revenue falls." That idea is opposed by many environmental groups in Oregon.

Many of Oregon's largest environmental groups have lined up in opposition to HB 4049, saying it defeats the purpose of the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which is to create new investments in clean energy. 

Opponents include the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, Oregon Environmental Council, Northwest Energy Coalition, Renewable Northwest, Oregon Chapter Sierra Club, Climate Solutions, Environment Oregon, Verde, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Beyond Toxics, 350 Salem, Clean Air Now Coalition, Zero Waste Oregon, Oregon Community Rights Network, and Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association. 

"Renewable energy credits are meant to support new renewable energy projects, not an old, polluting facility from 1987," said Damon Motz-Storey, of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility.

"Every dollar that would be spent giving a corporate handout to Covanta, a multinational company, would be a dollar not spent on clean technology, such as wind and solar energy projects that promote green, living-wage jobs and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels," Motz-Storey said.

Also, there was an excellent anti-garbage burner handout at the City Club registration desk prepared by the Clean Air Now Coalition. Have a read. I just wish opponents of the polluting garbage burner had been given an opportunity to present their side at the City Club meeting, which would have made for a much more accurate and informative program.

 

Some rural Oregonians want to join Idaho. Good luck with that.

There's a movement to have the most rural Oregon counties join with Idaho so those living outside of the Willamette Valley don't have to put up with annoying democratic niceties such as elections have consequences. 

Here's what Greater Idaho would look like if that fantasy were to somehow become reality, against great odds, courtesy of a map in the Oregonian story.

This is how a USA Today story, "Secession in the Pacific Northwest? Some Oregon residents petition to join Idaho," starts out.

Frustrated by liberal policies, some Oregon residents are petitioning to leave the state –by moving the border with Idaho westward. 

The movement has secured initial approval from two counties and aims to get enough signatures to put the proposal on local ballots in November, said the group Move Oregon's Border for a Greater Idaho.

If the group succeeds, voters in southeast Oregon may see a question on whether their county should become part of Idaho by redrawing the border.

“Rural counties have become increasingly outraged by laws coming out of the Oregon Legislature that threaten our livelihoods, our industries, our wallet, our gun rights, and our values,” Mike McCarter, one of the chief petitioners, said in a press release. “We tried voting those legislators out but rural Oregon is outnumbered and our voices are now ignored. This is our last resort.”

Oh, boo-hoo. Those of us who didn't vote for Trump are equally outraged at the horrible policies emanating from the White House and Republican-controlled Senate. 

But we aren't petitioning to join Canada, though I have to admit that this idea has crossed the mind of quite a few Democrats.

Instead, what we're working hard to do is win the 2020 presidential election.

Likewise, Oregon Republicans could put more effort into taking control of the Governor's office and state legislature, something that has more chance of succeeding than the notion of rural counties joining Idaho, which I suspect is more of a public relations stunt than a serious endeavor.

(The secession group does have a Facebook page, though, with a whole 824 "likes" at the moment.)

Here's the hurdle that needs to be met by those dreaming of a Greater Idaho.

Even if Oregon’s eastern counties do vote to join Idaho, approval would then be needed from the Oregon and Idaho legislatures -- and the U.S. Congress.

So Job #1 for the secessionists should be winning Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. Good luck with that, sad-faced conservatives. Looks like you're stuck sharing Oregon with us progressives. Of course, there's another option open to you: move to Idaho.