recall bill dwyer

bill dwyer represents me as a lane county commisioner. he was one of the three commisioners that decided to enact a county income tax without voter approval. not only did they do it without voter approval, they did it even though voters denied an identical tax in the last two elections. i want to remind him that he was elected to uphold the will of the people. and the will of the people was clearly to not have a county income tax. not only that, again and again voters in my area turn down tax measures, and i see that as a clear indication to the elected officials, that what voters really want is for them to manage the money we already give them more effectively. they continue to use scare tactics, such as no money for schools, no money for aiding the elderly, and no money for public safety. i say if they take the entire budget, fund those things we care about, then if there is anything left over, fund other things. thats my two cents, and with the cost of living increasing at a much faster pace than our wages, thats all i have! my suggested solution to this problem: to recall the officials who clearly do not represent us, and? i bet if we established a citizen commitee to review the budget each year or even each quarter, officials would be bound to spend the money we give them in ways that we would approve. P.S.: if you happen to read this and know how i can get involved in an effort to recall our county commisioner, let me know!

big brother

o.k., this is the last time, i promise. well that's probably not true. i can't guarantee that my mind will not wander into realms of the spiritual or political. i have mentioned before that my intention is not to use this blog to espouse my political or spiritual beliefs. and that is still my intention. but really- no one reads this anyway. so i can say whatever i want!
for as long as i have been old enough to vote (and i am going to pretend that that hasn't been but a couple of years!) i have been dissapointed in the system. it seems that every election there are laws the voters enact and repeal that somehow either never actually get enacted or get enacted anyway. if you are from oregon, you will remember the bill that was referred to as the "assisted suicide" bill. voters passed it twice and one judge prevented it from being enacted. this went on for years. or there are the laws that get enacted even without a vote- (in my area:) the smoking ban for example. i have been voicing a concern over the legality or constitutionality of this for years. i am not a lawyer, or someone specifically educated in the area of the constitution, but i was taught in school about the constitution, and what it means. and i am pretty sure that we have the right to vote for a reason.
well, something happened today that has got norman all riled up, so i had to find out more about it. well, here it is: our county comissioners (do they even have the authority?) passed a law today creating a county income tax. that's right, not only did they do it without putting it before voters, they did it even though voters in our area have said no to an identical county income tax in the last two elections! the arguments in favor made these citations: IF congress doesn't renew federal funding... we COULD BE facing a loss of UP TO 40 million dollars annually... they say a 1% county income tax (1% seeems pretty high tp me) COULD raise the needed 30 million (but some say it would raise 2 or 3 times that). additionally, if congress does renew funding the tax will still be there, although they did say it MIGHT be reduced. well, i am all riled up now too! and as i am stewing over writing this, the local news is reporting that the county is considering negotiations to buy a local park area for 26 million dollars! seems to me that's 26 million they don't need to get by raising taxes.

happy valentine's day

the kids and i frosted heart shaped cookies and i made this cake for norm. red velvet with cherry filling. it wasn't actually very good, but it is the thought that counts - right?