Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Leave me alone--stop it--just stop doggin' me around
MJ
Apparently the Bush Campaign no longer considers Oregon a swing state. This week the administration has brought down a full frontal assault on the Beaver State.
First is the continued "dog with a bone" antics of Bush's Justice Department on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. In May the Ninth Circuit Court ruled 2-1 that the Justice Department couldn't prosecute physicians who write lethal prescription's under Oregon's law. Aschroft has asked the Ninth to reconsider the decision with all eleven justices in attendance. In today's New York Times, Nicolas Kristof (an Oregonian himself)notes:
Mr. Ashcroft and other critics have so far lost in their efforts, in the courts and in Congress, to block the Oregon law. But instead of moving on and letting Oregon proceed with its pathbreaking experiment, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday for a new hearing.
The Oregon law deserves to be upheld. It forces us to examine the question of what is special about human life. The answer, I think, is the autonomy and dignity inherent in our individuality — in making hard decisions for ourselves and determining our own destinies. Oregon honors that vision of what is sacred about life.
Also this week, the Bush Administration lifted Clinton administration restrictions on building roads and logging in roadless areas. This effects about 58 million acres of land in the US, approximately 2 million of which are in Oregon. The Bush plan requires governors of the individual states to petition the federal government to have these lands protected. It essentially eviscerates a bipartisan plan put together by the Western governors to have a comprehensive western forest management plan.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulingoski blasted the plan on national television yesterday:
"There is nothing in this proposal that is being put forward that will make this certain or stable for any state," Kulongoski said.
Federal agencies already must consult state leaders on land management issues, he said, but "it doesn't get us anyplace." The Bush plan to have states petition on behalf of roadless lands is hardly better, he said, because states have no real authority over those lands.
"I would urge that if in fact the administration is truly interested in providing more jobs for the people of our states which have large holdings of federal lands, that they would do it in a way that would engage us in a partnership, that would allow us to actually have some of the responsibility," .
Oregon is a state that's been at the forefront of many progressive issues...we're mavericks. Oregon was one of the first states to enact comprehensive statewide forest management practices. Oregon was the first state to have a "bottle bill" to encourage recycling. Oregon is also the first state to have a Death With Dignity law. Oregonians don't like the federal government trying to manhandle them, either. If Bush really wanted the votes of the citizens of Oregon, he'd know this.
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Apparently the Bush Campaign no longer considers Oregon a swing state. This week the administration has brought down a full frontal assault on the Beaver State.
First is the continued "dog with a bone" antics of Bush's Justice Department on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. In May the Ninth Circuit Court ruled 2-1 that the Justice Department couldn't prosecute physicians who write lethal prescription's under Oregon's law. Aschroft has asked the Ninth to reconsider the decision with all eleven justices in attendance. In today's New York Times, Nicolas Kristof (an Oregonian himself)notes:
Mr. Ashcroft and other critics have so far lost in their efforts, in the courts and in Congress, to block the Oregon law. But instead of moving on and letting Oregon proceed with its pathbreaking experiment, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday for a new hearing.
The Oregon law deserves to be upheld. It forces us to examine the question of what is special about human life. The answer, I think, is the autonomy and dignity inherent in our individuality — in making hard decisions for ourselves and determining our own destinies. Oregon honors that vision of what is sacred about life.
Also this week, the Bush Administration lifted Clinton administration restrictions on building roads and logging in roadless areas. This effects about 58 million acres of land in the US, approximately 2 million of which are in Oregon. The Bush plan requires governors of the individual states to petition the federal government to have these lands protected. It essentially eviscerates a bipartisan plan put together by the Western governors to have a comprehensive western forest management plan.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulingoski blasted the plan on national television yesterday:
"There is nothing in this proposal that is being put forward that will make this certain or stable for any state," Kulongoski said.
Federal agencies already must consult state leaders on land management issues, he said, but "it doesn't get us anyplace." The Bush plan to have states petition on behalf of roadless lands is hardly better, he said, because states have no real authority over those lands.
"I would urge that if in fact the administration is truly interested in providing more jobs for the people of our states which have large holdings of federal lands, that they would do it in a way that would engage us in a partnership, that would allow us to actually have some of the responsibility," .
Oregon is a state that's been at the forefront of many progressive issues...we're mavericks. Oregon was one of the first states to enact comprehensive statewide forest management practices. Oregon was the first state to have a "bottle bill" to encourage recycling. Oregon is also the first state to have a Death With Dignity law. Oregonians don't like the federal government trying to manhandle them, either. If Bush really wanted the votes of the citizens of Oregon, he'd know this.
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