Oregon Convention Center (outside)
NE Holladay St & MLK Blvd
Wednedsday October 19th, 5:00 pm
(that's the time of the protest)

Condoleezza Rice comes to our city, PSU and the Convention Center, as the honored (and hugely paid) keynote speaker for PSU's Simon Benson Awards.  Individuals for Justice, members of Code Pink, and members of Veterans For Peace will be there outside the Convention Center to greet this proponent of unjust war and torture.

As Willamette Week wrote (Sept 18):

$5,000. That’s the minimum donation necessary to get a personal photo op with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She’s scheduled to deliver the keynote speech Oct. 19 at the Simon Benson Awards dinner, which benefits Portland State University. Rice, as you may recall, argued for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and (according to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee) approved the waterboarding of prisoners in U.S. custody. In a letter to faculty, PSU President Wim Wiewel defended the choice of Rice “largely because of her personal story” and rise from humble beginnings. The private PSU Foundation is organizing the event, and even though public entities are sponsoring it—including PSU Athletics, the Port of Portland and Oregon Health & Science University—Wiewel says Rice’s speaking fee is classified.

Classified!  Does he think PSU is now part of the CIA?  Miami University recently paid Condi $150,000 for a similar speech.  PSU should not be sponsoring a pay-off to this advocate of torture and "preemptive war."  She is featured in War Criminals Watch; http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/wcw-events/details/945-protest-condoleezza-rice-in-portland-or

Good Jobs for All! No Cuts!
March from Portland to Vancouver
Saturday, Oct. 22 at 11 am

Meet at the field just off I-5 Exit 308 to Jantzen Beach* to march across the I-5 bridge for a Noon Rally at Esther Short Park* in Vancouver

Listen to this 1 minute clip of Franklin Roosevelt, seeking re-election in 1936. Then try to imaging Barack Obama saying anything remotely similar.

In what was not a surprise, Congress passed the So. Korea, Panama, and Colombia "Free" trade agreements today in what is being described as a victory for bi-partisanship and the White House.

The votes, in part, were 278 - 151 in the House on the So Korea agreement. In the Senate, the votes were 83-15 So. Korea, 77-22 Panama, and 66-33 Columbia.

Even so, the votes among Democrats in the House was lopsided in opposition. From The Hill, "All three agreements had broad Republican support, while they divided House Democrats. Only 31 Democrats supported the deal with Colombia, while 59 Democrats backed the deal with South Korea and 66 supported the Panama agreement."

President Obama introduced three NAFTA-style "Free Trade Agreements" into Congress today. These are with Panama, Colombia and So. Korea. These agreements had been negotiated by Pres. Bush, and now, like Pres Clinton did with NAFTA, our Democratic party President is moving these Republican negotiated agreement ahead.

These agreements must be defeated. Each agreement signed using the NAFTA template is another nail in the coffin of democracy. "Free Trade Agreements" allow corporations to sue in secret international trade tribunals when they think that future profits will be threatened. Recently the WTO in two cases ruled against laws passed by the US Congress and signed by the US President . A third decision is pending. The two laws (1) allowed a Dolphin Safe label on canned tuna and (2) restricted the import of clove flavored cigarettes. The cigarette restriction was enacted as clove cigarettes are regarded as an entry-level cigarette to hook young people on smoking.

Such rulings on the part of the WTO undermine our democractic processes; they steal our sovereignty. We cannot pass more of these agreements and still call ourselves a self-governing people.

SPREAD THE WORD, PUT THIS OUT ON YOUR LIST, WE MUST MAKE LIFE HOT FOR THE WAR CRIMINALS AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEM. THIS EVENT IS SICK AND NEEDS A DOCTOR.

About the Event from PSU: "Portland State is pleased to honor the Melvin Mark and William Furman Families at its twelfth annual Simon Benson Awards Dinner, October 19, 2011. The event will take place at the Oregon Convention Center's Portland Ballroom, and will feature a compelling keynote address by former secretary of state, Dr. Condoleezza Rice."

So let me get this straight, Portland State University is going to bring a war criminal to give the keynote address to raise money for higher learning. This is outrageous and must be confronted at PSU and the Convention Center. Individuals For Justice will be spreading the word and will confront Rice when she arrives here in October.

War crime charge(s):

1. Crime against peace – planning and carrying out a war of aggression.
2. Complicity in the commission of a war crime – wanton destruction of cities and villages, evastation not justified by military necessity, ill-treatment of civilian population of or in occupied territory.
3. Complicity in the commission of a war crime – torture, ill-treatment of detainees.

We will protest this event-meet us on October 19 Location: NE 1st Ave. and NE LLoyd Blvd, Convention Center Time 5:00 PM

The Theme is to call **condi a liar, that will be on my protest sign and the chant for the people going in to listen to her lies. We can tell people going in that what this monster is going to tell them is a lie.

Please get the word out now, talk to your friends and let us stand against this defective being coming to Portland. It is suspected she will get the same amount of money she received from Miami University $150,000. The president of PSU refuses to let us know what she is being paid; however we do not think she is going to give her talk below what Miami paid her.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/410164.shtml?discuss
http://individualsforjustice.com
http://warcriminalswatch.org

**Refuse to cap due to disrespect and/or disgust.

OPP member Barbara Ellis has put together a post explaining the purpose of 3rd parties for her political friends who still cling to the Democratic Party as the only hope Americans have for the nation's survival. Read on.

"...when the variety and number of political parties increases, the chance for oppression, factionalism, and nonskeptical acceptance of ideas decreases."-- James Madison

"The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day."-- Theodore Roosevelt

"How many more decades are we going to give them before we get rid of this least-worst, this lesser-of-two-evils mind set and start breaking this corporate grip . . . and have alternative candidates from alternative parties that stand as if people mattered first and foremost?"--Ralph Nader

Why Third Parties?

They rarely win, but 3rd party candidates are essential.

By ROBERT LONGLEY (About.com/Guide)

While their presidential candidates stand little chance of being elected, members of America's third parties have historically promoted concepts and policies that have been incorporated as important parts of our social and political lives. Here are some major examples:

Women's Right to Vote.  Both the Prohibition and Socialist Parties promoted women's suffrage during the late 1800's. By 1916, both Republicans and Democrats supported it and by 1920 the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote had been ratified.

Child Labor Laws.  The Socialist Party first advocated laws establishing minimum ages and limiting hours of work for American children in 1904. The Keating-Owen Act established such laws in 1916.

Immigration Restrictions.  The Immigration Act of 1924 came about as a result of support by the Populist Party starting as early as the early 1890's.

Reduction of Working Hours.  You can thank the Populist and Socialist Parties for the 40-hour work week. Their support for reduced working hours during the 1890's led to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Income Tax.  In the 1890's, the Populist and Socialist Parties supported a "progressive" tax system that would base a person's tax liability on their amount of income. The idea led to ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913.

Social Security.  The Socialist Party also supported a fund to provide temporary compensation for the unemployed in the late 1920's. The idea led to the creation of laws establishing unemployment insurance and the Social Security Act of 1935.

Read more ...

Obama yields on smog rule in face of GOP demands
Julie Pace and Dina Cappiello, Associated Press
9/2/2011 WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a dramatic reversal, President Barack Obama on Friday scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy. Withdrawal of the proposed regulation marked the latest in a string of retreats by the president in the face of GOP opposition, and it drew quick criticism from liberals. Environmentalists, a key Obama constituency, accused him of caving to corporate polluters, and the American Lung Association threatened to restart the legal action it had begun against rules proposed by President George W. Bush.     Read more at AP

How high?

Click on Cartoon for Bigger Image

Click on Cartoon for Bigger Image

About a month ago, we revised our issues table on the front page of this website to show that the Progressive Party opposes cuts in Medicare, while the Democrats and Republicans do not. A prominent Democrat questioned our conclusion that the Democratic Party is in favor of Medicare cuts. We said, "Just wait and see."    Read more ...

David Wu will soon resign as the U.S. Representative for the 1st District of Oregon.  Governor Kitzhaber must call a special election to fill the vacancy.  He says he will allow sufficient time for the major parties to conduct primaries, which means that the special election to fill the seat will take place sometime 80 days after Wu resigns.  A somewhat likely election date would be November 8, 2011, which is when the normal off-year election will occur in any event.

The Oregon Progressive Party has the right to place a candidate on the ballot for this seat.

The deadline for the Party to choose a candidate is to be set by the Secretary of State of Oregon.  It could be as soon as September 8.

The legal qualifications are simple.  The U.S. Constitution specifies:

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

So a candidate needs to be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for 7 years, and an inhabitant of Oregon at the time of the election.

There is no legal requirement that the candidate be a resident of the 1st District, but it would help.  Here is the current 1st Congressional District of Oregon Map, which we believe will not apply to the special election.  It zooms all the way in to the street level.  The District includes most of Portland west of the Willamette River as well as Clatsop, Columbia, Washington, and Yamhill Counties.  And here is the Redistricted Map of the 1st Congressional District of Oregon, which the redistricting law enacted by the 2011 Legislature indicates is in effect as of July 2011 for congressional elections.  The new boundary lines are very, very similar to the old ones, except that the new district will include the area between Scapoose and NW Portland that is currently in the 3rd District.

If you are interested in being the nominee of the Oregon Progressive Party, please fill out the short Candidate Questionnaire.