Jack: Did I miss anything

JK: Schopp went on vacation. I posted a few public policy trivia questions and Randy threatended to tattle on me. (Does this make me a tattletale?)

PS: Be sure to catch Schopp's TV show (without Schopp) on Wednesday night at 8pm on cable channel 11 (Portland & TVTV).

It will be about smart growth, probably with mention of how Portland is spreading its "word" to the world. (Special guest promised.)

Welcome back

Thanks
JK

Rats! I was going to tease everyone with my "Jack Bog" sighting at PDX last night, but now that's old news. Glad you're back and rested. Cute family, too.

Re: voter-financed elections. I'm willing to send Jack Bog $5 to start his (voter-financed) campaign.

Your forcing the taxpayers to do it the hard way isn't going to help you. It's going down. All the OSPIRG kids you can bus up here from Eugene won't be able to save it.

I think I've said this before, but will repeat it: my frustration with this vo-fi thing (can I trademark that?) is that it is not only easy to defeat, but easy to use as a brush to tar politicians I might otherwise agree with. Don't these guys realize that ANY funding request, no matter how reasonable, anywhere in MultCo for the next however many years is going to be defeated thanks to the elections thing?

"Eric Sten wants to raise your taxes to pay for city parks. But last year, Eric Sten didn't allow you to vote on giving free money to his political campaign. Vote NO, and tell Eric Sten to put away the charge card."

The ads are almost too easy to write. How about, "Eric Sten wants to raise your taxes because he says the city has no money to pay for a library. So why was he able to find more than a million dollars of taxpayer dollars to help politicians run free political campaigns?"

In the abstract sense, yes, voter-financed elections are a good thing. But we don't live in the abstract sense, we live in a world where people I disagree with (Hel-lo, Kevin Mannix!) will use voter annoyance over this issue to defeat people and issues I really support. If you don't give people a voice on issue A, they will take that voice and use it against you on issues B-Z.

Petty? Perhaps. Shortsighted? Yep. But a definite reality, and it frustrates the hell out of me that politicians alleged to be brilliant don't grasp this simple concept.

That was "Atlas Shrugged" that the boys at city hall flushed down the toilet.

That was "Atlas Shrugged" that the boys at city hall flushed down the toilet.

Ayn't it great.

re: That was "Atlas Shrugged" that the boys at city hall flushed down the toilet.

Ayn't it great.

JK: They ran out of copies of the constitution.

Thanks
JK

Welcome back. We tried to keep hope alive. In your absence I was forced to read BlueOregon. Man I hate authoritarian lefties. The feeling seemed to be mutual.

You .... were .... missed.

Did you miss anything? Just the usual - I got drunk, asked someone to make out with me (*cough* b!X *cough*) and was ignored.

Portland City Council members are ignorant fools if they think this financing scheme is going to curtail special interest group influence.

What a waste of time and money.

I am thrilled that 4 of 5 City Council members had the courage to vote this in. I guess folks are so use to politicians passing the buck to voters that folks cannot appreciate having politicans that actually make decisions!

It's not courage to enact an ordinance that virtually guarantees a sitting commissioner's re-election. It's political skulldruggery. And for the council to make this change without voter consent is the height of elitist arrogance.

If it's "Voter Owned Elections" then let the owners vote.

Dave, Consider who posted that she was "thrilled", well so are we, that she is out of Salem.

You missed this:In a message dated 06/06/2005 5:23:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time, dhagmann@adelphia.net writes:
Portland, Oregon:
A Sleepy City or City of Sleepers
by Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

6 June 2005: Portland appears to be a city of many distinctions, not the least of which is that it is the home of the “Portland Seven,” referring to seven Portland area Islamic militants who were arrested and accused of conspiring to travel to Afghanistan to help the Taliban fight the U.S. military. Six of the defendants are serving prison terms of up to 18 years while the seventh was killed in an October 2003 shootout in Pakistan.

More recently, Portland achieved the distinction to be the first municipality in the nation to pull out of the Justice Department’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Some called it a “rejection of President Bush’s politics of fear,” while more rational people have called it just plain stupid. I vote for the latter, especially in light of the events of this weekend in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Multnomah County Sheriff deputies caught two Muslim men, Abdullah Shabbaz and Jason Merrigan, a/k/a Yassin Abdurahman shooting assault rifles on Larch Mountain on Saturday, 28 May 2005. According to police reports, they also possessed a duffle bag containing semi-automatic assault rifles, handguns, clips and a gas mask, in addition to the assault rifles they were shooting. Both men were ticketed for trespassing and lying to authorities; Abdurahman (Merrigan) also had an outstanding warrant for a drug charge. In an interesting coincidence, the area where the two were shooting is a heavily wooded area near the Columbia River Gorge, just across the river from the gravel pit where some of the "Portland Seven" were found to be "target practicing" shortly before their arrest.

Portland: From the “City of Roses” to the “City of Guns & Roses?”

Portland has long been known as the “City of Roses.” Perhaps with the political grandstanding that led to the majority of Portland’s leaders nixing their interaction with the U.S. Justice Department, it will become known as the city of “Guns & Roses.” The stated cause for Portland’s pullout from the JTTF stems from the demand by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and Chief of Police Derrick Foxworth that they be granted the same “top secret” clearance as the Portland police officers assigned to the FBI directed Task Force. Absent of that, they reasoned, there would be no way to insure the JTTF operates within the bounds of Oregon law and the state Constitution.

In a news conference about the issue earlier this year, Robert Jordan, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Portland, stated that the demand is “not feasible or reasonable” since no other mayor in the 100 cities and towns with JTTF teams has been granted top secret clearance.

Apparently, though, the issue is a moot point if you would ask Portland city commissioner Randy Leonard. Written in an article on Portland’s own official website dated Tuesday, March 1, 2005, “Portland city commissioner Randy Leonard scoffed at a CNN report that said Portland may be one of six cities with "terror sleeper cells" and said the report is part of a public relations campaign being waged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to force the city into joining an anti-terror task force without conditions.”

In that same article, FBI SAC Jordan stated that the bureau knows of "jihadists" who trained in Afghanistan and other unspecified countries and are now living in Oregon.

"We don't have an imminent threat that we're aware of. But I will say this: We have people here in Oregon that have trained in jihadist camps in bad areas, in the bad neighborhoods of the world," Jordan told the Associated Press in Portland in late January.

The FBI report was apparently not sufficient for the non-believing Randy Leonard, as the article stated: “If sleeper cells are in the community's midst, no one from the Portland FBI has ever told him, Leonard said.”

Although doubtful, one can only hope that the sound of assault rifles being fired in his own backyard by Shabbaz and Abdurahman, who are apparently waging their own public relations campaign of Islamic militancy might be a sufficient wake-up call for the city commissioner and his political sycophants.

Douglas J. Hagmann

Director, Northeast Intelligence Network

Editor, HQ INTEL-ALERT

www.HomelandSecurityUS.com

Author: Tactical Surveillance Copyright © 2003

WARNING: CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATIVE WORK PRODUCT: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and legally privileged information. It is intended soley for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination or copying of this e-mail and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or fax. Thank you.

-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: FYI
Date: 06/06/2005 5:23:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: dhagmann@adelphia.net
To: Dat5Racer@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Portland, Oregon:
A Sleepy City or City of Sleepers
by Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

6 June 2005: Portland appears to be a city of many distinctions, not the least of which is that it is the home of the “Portland Seven,” referring to seven Portland area Islamic militants who were arrested and accused of conspiring to travel to Afghanistan to help the Taliban fight the U.S. military. Six of the defendants are serving prison terms of up to 18 years while the seventh was killed in an October 2003 shootout in Pakistan.

More recently, Portland achieved the distinction to be the first municipality in the nation to pull out of the Justice Department’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Some called it a “rejection of President Bush’s politics of fear,” while more rational people have called it just plain stupid. I vote for the latter, especially in light of the events of this weekend in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Multnomah County Sheriff deputies caught two Muslim men, Abdullah Shabbaz and Jason Merrigan, a/k/a Yassin Abdurahman shooting assault rifles on Larch Mountain on Saturday, 28 May 2005. According to police reports, they also possessed a duffle bag containing semi-automatic assault rifles, handguns, clips and a gas mask, in addition to the assault rifles they were shooting. Both men were ticketed for trespassing and lying to authorities; Abdurahman (Merrigan) also had an outstanding warrant for a drug charge. In an interesting coincidence, the area where the two were shooting is a heavily wooded area near the Columbia River Gorge, just across the river from the gravel pit where some of the "Portland Seven" were found to be "target practicing" shortly before their arrest.

Portland: From the “City of Roses” to the “City of Guns & Roses?”

Portland has long been known as the “City of Roses.” Perhaps with the political grandstanding that led to the majority of Portland’s leaders nixing their interaction with the U.S. Justice Department, it will become known as the city of “Guns & Roses.” The stated cause for Portland’s pullout from the JTTF stems from the demand by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and Chief of Police Derrick Foxworth that they be granted the same “top secret” clearance as the Portland police officers assigned to the FBI directed Task Force. Absent of that, they reasoned, there would be no way to insure the JTTF operates within the bounds of Oregon law and the state Constitution.

In a news conference about the issue earlier this year, Robert Jordan, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Portland, stated that the demand is “not feasible or reasonable” since no other mayor in the 100 cities and towns with JTTF teams has been granted top secret clearance.

Apparently, though, the issue is a moot point if you would ask Portland city commissioner Randy Leonard. Written in an article on Portland’s own official website dated Tuesday, March 1, 2005, “Portland city commissioner Randy Leonard scoffed at a CNN report that said Portland may be one of six cities with "terror sleeper cells" and said the report is part of a public relations campaign being waged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to force the city into joining an anti-terror task force without conditions.”

In that same article, FBI SAC Jordan stated that the bureau knows of "jihadists" who trained in Afghanistan and other unspecified countries and are now living in Oregon.

"We don't have an imminent threat that we're aware of. But I will say this: We have people here in Oregon that have trained in jihadist camps in bad areas, in the bad neighborhoods of the world," Jordan told the Associated Press in Portland in late January.

The FBI report was apparently not sufficient for the non-believing Randy Leonard, as the article stated: “If sleeper cells are in the community's midst, no one from the Portland FBI has ever told him, Leonard said.”

Although doubtful, one can only hope that the sound of assault rifles being fired in his own backyard by Shabbaz and Abdurahman, who are apparently waging their own public relations campaign of Islamic militancy might be a sufficient wake-up call for the city commissioner and his political sycophants.

Douglas J. Hagmann

Director, Northeast Intelligence Network

Editor, HQ INTEL-ALERT

www.HomelandSecurityUS.com

Author: Tactical Surveillance Copyright © 2003

WARNING: CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATIVE WORK PRODUCT: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and legally privileged information. It is intended soley for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination or copying of this e-mail and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or fax. Thank you.