• Apple's Tax Avoidance Scheme

    Apple’s Tax Avoidance Scheme

    How Apple avoids paying $17 million in taxes per day!

  • Election results

    You can see the results of yesterday’s special election on the Clackamas County Elections site.

  • Rep. Parrish vs. card rooms

    Rep. Parrish vs. card rooms

    Republican Rep. Parrish, in a drive to get card room poker out of Oregon, has introduced a bill to do just that. Ms. Parrish, as usual, is way off base in her facts on this one. The bill was recently heard in the House Rules Committee and, all things being equal, will be buried in that committee and never see the light of day again.

  • From the left bank

    From the left bank

    In this From the Left Bank, editor Peter Toll discusses a variety of topics of local interest, from still yet another Sherry Hall election error, to this year’s successful OLCV Ecoprom, to the West Linn campaign to save the White Oak Savanna.

  • From the left bank

    From the left bank

    How refreshing it can be to hear voices you don’t hear very often. In this case, it was the Dalai Lama, David Suzuki, John Kitzhaber and Andrea Durbin at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum last week. John Ludlow and Tootie Smith wouldn’t have enjoyed it at all.

  • Ludlow's loss is county's gain

    Ludlow’s loss is county’s gain

    County Commissioner John Ludlow wants to see all county employees at their desks every day of the week. No more of this four days, 10 hours a day stuff. In this case, though, Commissioner Jim Bernard favors reality in the form of actual dollar savings to the county and increased efficiency.

Apple’s Tax Avoidance Scheme

 featured, The Nation and Beyond  No Responses »
May 222013
 

Apple_gray_logo We all knew Mitt Romney was parking money overseas to avoid U.S. taxes. We also know Apple has billions of dollars socked away in cash, one of the largest corporate fortunes ever amassed. What we now know, too, is that Apple is not being very American, not very patriotic in its civic responsibility as it takes advantage of tax loopholes to save $17 million in taxes (which could otherwise offset the U.S. deficit) per day. Yes, per day. That’s good news for investors who can benefit from Apple dividends. But the money should be going to help our country’s fiscal situation. Apple’s priorities are all screwed up.

This report goes a lot further than “overseas money” simplicity concerning Apple’s billions in the bank. It is the first truly detailed version—based on Apple’s own data—ever revealed. A sad but true story. Read the full article here.

Rep. Parrish vs. card rooms

 featured, State of Oregon  No Responses »
May 192013
 
Photo by Matt Waldron

Photo by Matt Waldron

Look out, campers, Julie is at it again. Republican Rep. Parrish, in a drive to get card room poker out of Oregon, has introduced a bill to do just that. Curious, she has no card rooms in her district, and one has to wonder just what the motivation for this bill could be? Ms. Parrish, as usual, is way off base in her facts on this one. The bill was recently heard in the House Rules Committee and, all things being equal, will be buried in that committee and never see the light of day again.

 

From the left bank

 Clackamas County, featured, State of Oregon  1 Response »
May 172013
 

By Peter Toll

Sherry HallNEW TROUBLES FOR SHERRY HALL AND OTHER ELECTION TIDBITS — Election controversy, appearances, and activities are attracting our attention this weekend in Clackamas County. Once again, County Clerk Sherry Hall is in trouble for a shoddy elections job. Some 800 Clackamas County voters in the Aurora Fire District, which spans the border between Marion and Clackamas Counties, didn’t get any information in their voters’ pamphlet on their district’s race this month. The Marion County voters’ pamphlet had the material, but not Clackamas. At least one candidate is scratching his head over this.

Voters in the River Grove area of Lake Oswego, that portion closest to I-5, are sometimes confused as to where to cast their ballot — on the Lake Oswego municipal bond measure or for directors of the River Grove Water District. Democratic volunteers working door-to-door for write-in candidate Larry Kitchen found several homeowners who said they were Lake Oswego customers and had never voted on a Lake Oswego water measure. One gentleman waved his bill in the face of the canvasser and said, “I’ve been paying these guys for 40 years and haven’t seen a ballot yet!” Volunteers contacted both Lake Oswego city and County Elections staff and brought this, ahem, oversight to their attention. Continue reading »

From the left bank

 featured, Portland and Metro, State of Oregon  No Responses »
May 162013
 

By Peter Toll

Photo by Christopher Michel

Photo by Christopher Michel

How refreshing it can be to hear voices you don’t hear very often. In this case, it was the Dalai Lama, David Suzuki, John Kitzhaber and Andrea Durbin at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum last week. How far away they seemed with their strongly held views on the environment, the job situation, education and mutual responsibility for one another. John Ludlow and Tootie Smith wouldn’t have enjoyed it at all.

“Universal Responsibility and the Global Environment” was the theme of the free-wheeling, unscripted exchange and discussion emceed by Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Dave Miller. It covered the merging of spiritual values in turning ideas into action with positive impacts on the environment.

The 14th Dalai Lama emphasized education and the ability to adjust. How is it possible, he was asked, for him to change his position on a topic, even when it is a full contradiction to a personal view he once held? “New information,” he responded, “makes you look at it differently.” Education was a common theme for him. “And not just facts and knowledge, but examination and understanding.” By knowing more, you are in a better position to rethink, reanalyze, and thus change your position without conflict or dissension.

Continue reading »

Ludlow’s loss is county’s gain

 Clackamas County, featured  No Responses »
May 132013
 
Time card

What is more important in the political arena, perception or reality? In the eyes of Clackamas County chair John Ludlow, it is perception. He wants to see all county employees at their desks every day of the week. No more of this four days, 10 hours a day stuff, something Ludlow obviously sees as a utopian dream. (You know, just like all those other One World fantasies Ludlow fears so much.) In this case, though, Commissioner Jim Bernard favors reality in the form of actual dollar savings to the county and increased efficiency. Fortunately, Bernard prevailed, but Ludlow gave notice that he’s not giving up with his own agenda.

Does the term penny wise and pound foolish make you think of John Ludlow and the tea party? Perhaps it should, as the mantle of fiscal responsibility is not falling on Republican shoulders.

 

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