Redman in a Blue State

What?? Citizens Don't Want Higher Taxes?

The folks in the House and Senate, that claim to represent the citizens of Oregon, went to work this past June and approved a tax hike over the next two years. The bills, 2649 and  3405, would have raised $733 million to help them balance their 2009-2011 budget. 

That all ended a couple weeks ago when the signature gatherers brought in well over 125,000 signature for EACH measure, giving both measures their rightful place on the ballot in January of 2010. 

These two measures were the wrong move at the wrong time, what with unemployment in double digits, and well documented irritation from the public over just how inept our elected officials truly are when it comes to representing US! 

The public servants (cough cough), typically out of touch (if you don't believe that then you missed the part about the $733 million tax increase), rationalized it by saying it wouldn't amount to that much from each taxpayer affected.  Rep. Chris Edwards, from Eugene, was one shining example by saying the increases were akin to "a couple of videos and late fees and a quick trip to KFC." 

Well maybe so, but don't you think we deserve the right to decide if that is what we want to do with OUR money? Especially when you are talking about roughly 700 million dollars of our money? The citizens of Oregon seem to think so, and if you don't believe that, reread the 2nd paragraph.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews shows true colors

So Chris Matthews, long suspected partisan hack on MSNBC, finally admits what we knew all along. He is no journalist, he's an embarassment, emphasis on the "ass".

The Onion does it again! Hilarious

Hilarious is the only way to put this from The Onion.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Ok so predicting elections is not my strong suit, so sue me!

Ok ok, so I was wrong in my pre-election day prediction.

So sue me.

Wait.

Don't sue me, I don't have the money. But I may have soon because pretty soon Obama is going to spread some of the wealth around, or so he's said anyway.

But I digress...

I did think that McCain might pull this one out, hoped he would, but in the end he couldn't overcome the juggernaut known as the Obama Campaign.

I think it happened because in the end, McCain wasn't different enough.

He certainly wasn't a conservative, he showed that throughout his years by defying conservative principals.
He was lockstep with the liberals in supporting cap and trade for one, and for another it was his ill conceived McCain-Feingold fiasco. Amnesty for illegal aliens. He was against drilling before he was for it. There are several more examples but I think you get the picture. He was perfect example of a RINO, "Republican In Name Only".

So I was wrong, Obama was elected and that is that. But it's not all bad, for one we have elected the first black person to the highest office in the land, despite that fact that he picked an ass like Biden to be his Vice President. That is an accomplishment in and of itself!

It is amazing that we were able to elect a black man to the highest office in the land. I just wish he wasn't a Socialist at heart and a sympathizer of terrorists.

But I'm going to put all that aside as well as the questions about his true birth country (still waiting on that birth certificate Barry!) and support the person that is about to take over the reigns of the country I love. How can I do anything different? I respect the office of President of the United States of America and all it stands for and I pray that he does not do it disservice. I know a lot of people are ready to see it happen but I am not. I don't want him to fail in keeping this country the greatest place on Earth (sorry Disneyland, love you but come on!).

It is now time to prove himself to the world but more importantly, to the citizens of the United States of America. He is about to take the reigns and work with a Democratic majority in Congress to take this Country on a journey I hope will be one of much success.

However, if he doesn't, if they don't, they have no one to blame but themselves. And we will be watching and waiting, hoping for the best. I am not holding my breath however, since he ran a campaign on hope and by portraying this country in such a negative light. Personally, I've had a pretty good 8 years under Bush. Yes there have been mistakes in handling the war, they were corrected and we have had success. Bitterness from the left though has been consistent and has spread, people never really took the time to research besides reading what the MSM told them to believe.

Cautiously optimistic , guarded in my hope, waiting for the change, but never faltering in my pride for our Country regardless of the past (unlike our future First Lady).

Interesting viewpoint, is this 1992?

Read an interesting article over at Red State, taking stock on how this race compares to what happened in 1992.

Give it a read, puts things in perspective.

Could the conservative base make a comback like we did in 1994?

Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, that will be my kind of change to hope for!

Results from Oregon...

From Oregon, with 40% of the precincts reporting in, based on KPTV website results:

U.S. President Oregon, Barack Obama (D) declared winner over John McCain (R), 54% to 42% of votes cast

U.S. Representative Oregon 2nd District, Greg Walden (R) declared winner, has 69% of votes cast

U.S. Representative Oregon 3rd District, Earl Blumenauer (D) declared winner, has 76% of votes cast

U.S. Representative Oregon 4th District, Peter DeFazio (D) declared winner, has 82% of votes cast

U.S. Representative Oregon 5th District, Kurt Schrader (D) declared winner, has 58% of votes cast


Secretary of State Oregon,  Kate Brown (D) declared winner with 51% over Rick Dancer (R) 46%

State Treasurer Oregon, Ben Westlund (D) declared winner with 51% over Allen Alley (R) 46%

Attorney General Oregon, John Kroger (D) declared winner, has 74% of votes cast

In the US Senate race, Jeff Merkley (D) being called winner, 48% of votes cast to Gordon Smith (R) 47%

Ballot measures that have been declared:

54 - Yes with 71% of votes cast
55 - Yes with 77% of votes cast
56 - Yes with 55% of votes cast
57 - Yes with 61% of votes cast
58 - No with 54% of votes cast
59 - No with 63% of votes cast
60 - No with 60% of votes cast
63 - No with 63% of votes cast
65 - No with 65% of votes cast

Ballot measures that have not been declared:
61 - Yes 51%, No 49%
62 - No 59%, Yes 41%
64 - Yes 51%, No 49%


So there you have it, news from Oregon as of 10:34pm.

Elections in the State of Oregon

There are 12 measures on the ballot for consideration, 4 from the legislature and 8 initiatives that collected enough signatures to be put on the ballot.

Measure information can be found at this site, The League of Women Voters has done a credible job of outlining what the measures are about and the impact for yes and no votes. It appears this isn't too partisan of a site and explains objectively what the affect is of each measure.

Remember your vote has to be in the hands of the Elections Office by 8pm today, postmarks do not count.

And now the Oregon State Ballot Measures:

Measure 54:
Amends Constitution, Standardizes Voting Eligibility for School Board Elections with Other State and Local Elections.

Measure 55:
Amends Constitution, Changes Operative Date of Redistricting Plans; Allows Affected Legislators to Finish Term in Original District

Measure 56:
Amends Constitution, Provides That May and November Property Tax Elections Are Decided By Majority of Voters Voting

Measure 57:
Statutory Amendment, Increases Sentences for Drug Trafficking, Theft Against Elderly and Specified Repeat Property and Identity Theft Crimes; Requires Addiction Treatment for Certain Offenders.

Measure 58:
Statutory Amendment, Prohibits Teaching Public School Student in Language Other Than English for More than Two Years.

Measure 59:
Statutory Amendment, Creates an Unlimited Deduction for Federal Income Taxes on Individual Taxpayers’ Oregon Income-Tax Returns.

Measure 60:
Statutory Amendment, Teacher “Classroom Performance,” Not Seniority, Determines Pay Raises; “Most Qualified” Teachers Retained, Regardless Of Seniority.

Measure 61:
Statutory Amendment, Creates Mandatory Minimum Sentences For Certain Theft, ID, Forgery, Drug, And Burglary Crime.

Measure 62:
Amends Constitution, Allocates 15% of Lottery Proceeds to Public Safety Fund for Crime Prevention, Investigation, Prosecution.

Measure 63:
Statutory Amendment, Exempts Specified Property Owners from Building Permit Requirements for Improvements Valued at/under $35,000.

Measure 64:
Statutory Amendment, Penalizes Person, Entity, For Using Funds Collected with “Public Resource” (defined) for “Political Purpose” (defined).

Measure 65:
Statutory Amendment, Changes General Election Nomination Processes for Major/Minor Party, Independent Candidates for Most Partisan Offices.

And now on to the offices up for re-election. While there are several candidates from the Green (G) , Independent (I), Oregon Working Family (O) and Constitution Parties (C) running in several of the races, I am not going to include them (unless the race isn't clear cut) and only list the Democrat and Republican running for each office.

Let's be honest, these other parties aren't in the running in Oregon for any of these offices but if conditions change throughout the night, I'll make sure to note it.

For Senator, we have only one seat up for reelection, that is the seat that is currently held by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR). He is being challenged by Jeff Merkley (D). This race is tight from what I've seen and it is anybody's guess as to how it is going to turn out. This will be the race to watch here in Oregon.

For House of Representatives we have several up for re-election:

District 1: David Wu (D) is basically running unopposed for re-election.
District 2: Greg Walden (R) running for re-election against Noah Lemus (D). Basically unopposed here.
District 3: Earl Blumenauer (D) running for re-election against Delia Lopez (R), again basically unopposed.
District 4: Peter DeFazio (D) running for re-election, basically unopposed.
District 5: Kurt Schrader (R) versus Mike Erickson (R) in this race, which is a toss up at this point. There are candidates in the other parties but it is basically D vs R in this race as in the others. This is also a race to watch as there is no clear cut leader.

Secretary of State is a race between Kate Brown (D) and Rick Dancer (R).

Attorney General is a different story, I could be any on of 4 candidates.
J. Ashlee Albies (O), Walter Brown (G), John Kroger (D) and James Leuenberger (C).

State Treasurer is a race between Ben Westlund (D) and Allen Alley (R). Westlund has more name recognition but not clear cut win for him at this point.

We also have several races in the State Senate and State House, and info on those running can be found online at the Voter's Guide list here.

I'll update the State Senate and State House races as information comes in.

Red Man