I remember hearing the news headline that American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.

Oregon’s forests burn, wildlife is destroyed, our air is polluted, and carbon is released.

Another legislative session has passed. Unfortunately, the real problems, the hard

Measure would be on the 2018 November ballot

(Salem, Or) -- Dr. Bud Pierce, the Republican nominee for governor in 2016 and his wife Selma have filed an initiative petition to put into place Term Limits for legislators in Oregon.

In 1859, Oregon became America’s 33rd state.  The authors of Oregon’s Constitution wisely term limited Oregon’s Governor, Secretary of State, and Treasurer.  These founding citizens realized that politicians consolidate power when elected to political office.  With increasing time in office, political power only increases.  Special interests, including the very wealthy, big business, and powerful labor, ask for favors in exchange for political support.  These favors generally enhance the control and the ease of living for these special interests and their members, to the detriment of ordinary everyday Oregonians.  The political class controls the machinery of government, and incumbent office holders are shielded from accountability by the bureaucracy.  Many political office holders seek to control the press, to control information available to the public. 

Thirty years ago I listened carefully as President Ronald Reagan told America’s citizens that he was preparing to sign the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. The Act required that employers attest to their employees’ immigration status, made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants knowingly, and legalized certain seasonal agricultural workers.  It also allowed approximately 4 million illegal immigrants, who had resided in America prior to 1982 and did not have a criminal record, to apply for legal status.  Applicants were required to pay a fine, pay any back taxes due, and possess basic knowledge of English, US government and US history.  We were told that we would never face the problem of illegal immigration again………