The LO/KPOJ "Lost Limerick Challenge"

We have a double challenge today, but that has to wait for some important business:

First of all, we're proud to induct Congressman Earl Blumenauer into the Hall of Mighty Oregon Political Poets. Congratulations and welcome, Congressman--coffee and sandwiches on the side table.

This morning's Oregon news limericks, as written by me, read by quizmaster TJ of Loaded Orygun, and answered (usually) by Carl, Christine,and Paul on the KPOJ 620AM Morning Show, are posted at LO.

This morning, talk about the World Series ran long, so they used fewer limericks on the air--feels like high school all over again, doesn't it, with sports sucking the resources away from the arts? Well, less for them, more for us. Fill in the blank with the word or phrase from this week's Oregon news:

Bar owners are nobody's fools.
"Not a chance!" they averred, "Rules are rules!"
"That's our cut of the lottery--
Not for band class, or pottery."
So it's tough luck for Oregon ___________ .

His techniques are hardly endearing,
Which is why his opponents are cheering.
The initiative czar
Has been hauled to the bar--
The charge? Once again, ______________ .

(The answer can be found in the Comments below, or in this week's Spanning the State at Loaded Orygun.)

"Two hours that gave me a sense of just how confused and disjointed the Republicans are"

At Huffington Post, Earl Blumenauer describes the two hours he spent yesterday presiding over House proceedings.

Today, my two hour stint in the Chair was made up entirely of one-minute speeches. This is a House procedure where Members from both parties come to the floor, and the two sides take alternating one-minute shots talking about everything from critical issues to commemorating a championship high school softball team, to an announcement of legislation that a Member is introducing.

Sometimes, however, it isn't pretty. Today, I literally watched Republicans become unhinged as they attempted to outdo one another on the "evils" of programs being considered by President Obama and the Democrats in Congress. As the Republicans took advantage of the unlimited opportunities for one-minute speeches, dozens of them headed to the floor with competing tales of horror that are allegedly in the Democratic approach to health reform.

At one point, Blumenauer had to listen in parliamentary silence as a Republican colleague misrepresented a section of the bill that Blumenauer himself had written.

And there's this:

A colleague from Oregon claimed that 114 million Americans would lose their health insurance; that Democrats want to socialize 20% of the economy. In as much as healthcare currently is only 16% of the economy, this is quite a trick.

Tough to imagine who our math-challenged representative might be, isn't it? Let's see . . . five minus four equals . . . wait, don't tell me . . . .

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

Blumenauer, chimps, crocodiles, and pythons!

The founder of the House Bike Caucus (check the lapel pin), and OR-3's favorite son, gets the "Daily Show treatment" tonight.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Felonious Monkeys

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

And believe me, Congressman: I have a great deal of respect for you, but I don't even want to know where the "tutu and wine" thing came from.

Blumenauer: Republicans are "using the most economical, energy-efficient, and healthy forms of transportation as their whipping post"

HuffPo has Rep. Earl Blumenauer's response to the move by Senator Jim DeMint (R - Dementia) to strike funding for bicycle and pedestrian pathways from the stimulus bill.

It is a fine mixture of outrage at Republican backwardness and rolling the numbers:

Investment in bike paths will not only improve our economy, and take our country in the right direction for the future; it is exactly the kind of investment the American people want.

Moreover, bicycle and pedestrian paths are precisely the kind of infrastructure projects our country needs. These projects tend to the most "shovel-ready" and are more labor-intensive than other projects-- therefore putting more people to work per dollar spent. […]

Recent transportation surveys indicate that 52% of Americans want to bike more than they do now - but don't, because of the lack of safe and connected bicycle facilities.

Think about it: More than 50% of working Americans live less than 5 miles from home, an easy bicycle commute. Already more than 490,000 Americans bike to work; in Portland, 8% of downtown workers are bicycle commuters. Individually, they are saving $1,825 in auto-related costs, reducing their carbon emissions by 128 pounds per year, saving 145 gallons of gasoline, avoiding 50 hours of being stuck in traffic, burning 9,000 calories, reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, and enjoying 14% fewer claims on their health insurance.

Nationally, if we doubled the current 1% of all trips by bike to 2%, we would collectively save more 693 million gallons of gasoline - that's more than $5 billion dollars - each year. From 2007 - 2008, bicyclists reduced the amount Americans drive by 100 million miles.

Bicycling also has immediate and direct benefits for communities that invest in bicycle paths, bike lanes, trails, and secure bicycle parking. For each $1 million invested in an FHWA-approved paved bicycle or multi-use trail, the local economy gains 65 jobs and between $50 and $100 million in local economic benefits. Some communities are already showing the results of these investments. After investing less than 1% of their total transportation budget in bicycle facilities in the past eight years, the City of Portland has seen a 144% increase in bicycle use - and the growth of a $90 million bicycle industry that has added nearly 50 new businesses in just the past two years. […]

It's time the Republicans got the point about what Americans want. Investments in bike and pedestrian infrastructure will help us create jobs and build healthier more livable communities for the future - these projects are the gifts that keep on giving.

BikePortland.org has the details on DeMint's amendment. Considering how much it takes to create a stimulus package, it's actually kind of impressive how much damage can be done with just 17 words.

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

Mainstream

SurveyUSA reports that over 70% of Americans (including 49% of Republicans) think Congress should definitely be investigating Alberto Gonzales.

Nicely mirroring this trend, Loaded Orygun reports that 80% of Oregon's US House delegation (but including 0% Republicans) have co-sponsored the call for the impeachment of Gonzales.

Sad to see that Greg Walden (R- Fishkill) isn't joining his Oregon colleagues, but that's why they call it "being out of the mainstream."

Hats off to LO, by the way--they've been on fire over there lately.

Feingold/Reid amendment fails in Senate; "moderate" Smith votes to continue "possibly criminal" war indefinitely

Today it's good news and bad news if you're Gordon Smith (apart from the question of whether you think it would be good or bad news to be Gordon Smith--work with me here, people):

On the up side, you won't get a 2008 challenge from Earl Blumenauer. In a statement with the says-it-all title "Why I’m Not Running," Rep. Blumenauer writes:

There is no question that Gordon Smith is vulnerable to defeat. His post-election turnaround on Iraq leaves no doubt that he knows he's out of step with most Oregonians. Gordon Smith and the Republicans were supporters and enablers of the Bush/Cheney Administration and its disastrous policies not just in Iraq but, on the environment, impeding and influencing justice, questionable political appointees, Terry Schiavo........ The list is extensive on the many ways Gordon Smith and George W. Bush are out of step with Oregon.

There is also no doubt that the Senate Democrats under the Chairmanship of Senator Chuck Schumer are poised to build on their 2006 success, with all the resources necessary to wage a winning campaign.

The difficulty in even doing the ground work to evaluate the race was that I have an important, all consuming day job. After years of working in the minority, fighting the Bush administration and Tom DeLay to stop reckless policies and promote Oregon priorities, the world has dramatically changed.

My issues, from ending the Iraq war to stopping global warming, to making sure everyone has health care they can afford, a quality education, and a good job, have gained not just attention, but traction and even momentum. My committee assignments put me in the best possible position to deal with these priorities everyday

. . . and you can figure out where it goes from there. From Smith's point of view, this up side could probably stand to be a little upper, since (unlike Smith's Senate colleague Ron Wyden) Blumenauer adds:

I look forward to fighting hard to replace Gordon Smith with a progressive leader for Oregon and continuing to work with the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate to strengthen our majorities while we hold the Bush administration and their Republican allies accountable in 2008.

(Emphasis added.) But--again assuming for the moment that you're Smith--on the down side, although Rep. Pete DeFazio, the other high profile possible who might have taken you on, bowed out last month, you still face a vigorous challenge from Steve Novick, sharpening his "Paul Wellstone campaign on steroids" and aiming it directly at your most vulnerable areas.

And, of course, Smith still has to worry about a primary challenge from his right, from the Club for Growth/kill the RINOs crowd. It's amazing to think there are conservatives out there in numbers sufficient to mount a right-flank attack for whom Gordon Smith isn't conservative enough, but such is the state of American politics in 2007.

Perhaps with today's vote on the Feingold/Reid amendment--killing the amendment by voting against cloture--Smith hopes he can re-ingratiate himself with the right that he's been working so hard to drop like a bad smell since the weekend after the Republicans lost both houses of Congress last fall.

Perhaps.

Me, I think he's basically dynamiting both ends of a bridge and hoping he can stand on the middle part that doesn't fall. But that only works for the Road Runner.

And while Smith is waffling and diddling, the war drags on to no possible good end. Thanks, Senator.

Where are Walden and Hooley?

(Updated below.)

The recent semantic haggling may be an indication that Gordon Smith is experiencing that frozen moment when he realizes what's on the end of every fork (and it isn't frozen vegetables), but both he and the senior Senator from Oregon are on record as opposing Bush's "surge" plan for Iraq.

And thanks to a handy searchable database provided by Think Progress, we can see that, at the other end of the building, Smith and Wyden have been joined in their opposition by Blumenauer, Wu, and DeFazio.

But where are Walden and Hooley?

Think Progress lists their positions as "unknown." Ridenbaugh Press found found little evidence of Walden's position and even less from Hooley.

So, p3 readers from Oregon's 2nd and 5th--what's happening with your representatives?

Update: The Torrid One is on this like white on rice. See the Comments.