Featured Stories
Featured Stories
17th century displays, crafts galore, and apples!
Gorge Fruit and Craft Fair at Hood River returns to the County Fairgrounds at 3020 Wy’east Road in Odell, Oregon on October 19-20, from 10am to 5pm; admission and parking are free.
Are you dreaming of fall colors and bountiful harvests of delicious local apples and pears? Join us as we celebrate all the joys of a new fall season at the Gorge Fruit and Craft Fair at Hood River County Fairgrounds.
Last year’s special guest, Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), returns with special displays of various medieval reproductions of clothing, cooking, household items and traditional tools, archery, fencing and more from the pre-17th century time period. They’ll also conduct hatchet throwing demonstrations in the park. Continue reading
Frank Salvato
This is what happens when we stop teaching civics and government classes in high school. People start believing that politics is government and that appearances and personal opinion circumvent the rule of law and the US Constitution. This is a direct result of the Progressive Movement having captured the education system and the mainstream media complex.
The Associated Press published a piece on October 12th, titled, “Former Ukraine envoy testifies Trump pushed to oust her”. In the article it states:
“…former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told House impeachment investigators Friday that Trump himself pressured the State Department to oust her from her post and get her out of the country.”
Just the day before the AP published no less than three articles under three different titles covering the exact same content: Continue reading
Bryan Fischer
Donald Trump’s decision to remove American troops from the Syrian-Turkish border has become a flashpoint of international controversy. The bulk of the criticism of Trump has come from two directions. Politically, he is being condemned for abandoning the Kurds, an ally in our fight against ISIS. Spiritually, he is being condemned for abandoning the Christians in Kuridsh-occupied territory to an uncertain but an almost certain nightmarish fate.
For someone like me, a Christian first and an American second, it’s not easy to sort through everything and arrive at what seems to be the position that is the strongest both morally and ethically. I believe the president has done the correct thing here, and would like to explain why.
It’s worthy of note, for starters, to remember that the president campaigned on doing exactly what he is doing now. This is not a Continue reading
Alyssa Ahlgren
A main driver of left-wing thought, as evident in the policy recommendations by front running Democratic candidates like Bernie Sanders, is income inequality. Income inequality is measured by a gap in wealth; the difference between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest. To the left, not only is this inequity falsely seen as a benchmark for negative economic and fiscal health of a nation’s populace, it’s seen as a moral evil. The wealth gap is the bedrock of the Democratic Party platform going into 2020 and the answer is limiting monetary success through increased centralization of federal power.
Inequality is no longer an objective term. To the left, disparity is the result of discrimination. To the right, disparity is the inevitable result of equal opportunity and meritocracy. Regardless of where you fall on the description, income inequality is not an indicator of a Continue reading
Miranda Bonifield
Metro’s attempts to provide low-income public housing since last year’s $653 million bond measure passed have been stymied by the same problem encountered by cities from Portland to Stockholm: Metro’s preferred way of building housing is too expensive to be sustainable.
But instead of addressing the overwhelming costs of its projects, Metro is doubling down on ineffective practices which neither accomplish its goals nor increase the supply of so-called affordable housing.
For instance, Metro’s interest in “leading with racial equity” means they prioritize firms certified to be owned by minorities, women, or “emerging small businesses.” Members of Metro’s housing bond oversight committee recounted multiple stories in early meetings of contractors who circumvent the certification’s requirements by outsourcing their government work to other, non-certified contractors—rendering the certification nearly meaningless. Continue reading
John A. Charles, Jr.
Eric Fruits, Ph.D.
In the next week or so, Portland area voters will receive their November ballots. One of the items is Measure 26-203: a $475 million bond measure by Metro, the regional government for the Portland area. Metro wants the money so it can buy more land for its so-called parks and nature program. Measure 26-203 will raise the region’s property taxes by about $60 million a year. The $475 million request is larger than the two previous Metro natural areas bonds combined, which were $135.6 million dollars in 1995 and $227.4 million dollars in 2006.
Cascade Policy Institute has published a comprehensive study of Metro’s parks and nature program, with the following conclusions: Continue reading
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on RenewAmerica.com on July 29, 2016)
Dr. Ben Carson raised some eyebrows last week at the Republican National Convention when he mentioned Hillary Clinton and Lucifer. At first blush, it may have sounded over the top. The press went to town on this remark, castigating Carson for it.
Here is what Carson said, “Now one of the things that I have learned about Hillary Clinton is that one of her heroes, her mentors, was Saul Alinsky and her senior thesis was about Saul Alinsky. This was someone that she greatly admired and that affected all of her philosophies subsequently.”
He added, “This is a nation where every coin in our pocket and every bill in our wallet says, ‘In God we trust.’ So are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?”
I would add that the key verb there isn’t just “acknowledges” but “approves of.” Continue reading
Bryan Fischer
The Bible tells us that God created two sexes, male and female. They are not interchangeable. They are different from each other in every single solitary cell of their bodies.
Women can become mothers who breastfeed their young. Men cannot. Men can become fathers, women cannot. (“Most males can become a father, but it takes a “man” to be a “dad.”[editor] )
Men can carry heavy loads long distances, women cannot. Men have much greater upper body strength, lung capacity, and stamina than women. So what happens when the military ignores these biological and biblical realities, and tries to integrate the sexes in military service? It’s not pretty.
We’ve spent long enough pursuing this exercise in futility to realize the dumbness of ignoring God’s created order. It radically affects the three central components of military success: recruitment, retention, and readiness. Continue reading
Marlon Furtado
Little did I know when I climbed into the car, I’d have a life-changing experience that day. As Mr. Presler drove, he asked one of his boys what he had studied that morning in Sunday School. From the back of the car came the son’s reply. Then Mr. Presler said those life-changing words, “Oh, that sounds like 2 Timothy.” I thought to myself, “The Bible is like a volume of the encyclopedia. How can anyone know where certain words are found in such a huge book?” From that moment on, I determined that I would make the Word of God a priority in my life. I wanted to know it as well as Mr. Presler. His family had played a prominent role in my coming to know Christ as my personal Savior. Now, he would play a prominent role in my future.
Since that time, I have become acquainted with many people who know the Bible as well as Mr. Presler. But their knowledge of its pages did not come easily or without effort. They have spent hours poring over its pages and committing parts of it to memory. Each of them made a personal decision to know their Bible well and to let it have authority over their life. Continue reading
Rachel Dawson, Policy Analyst, Cascade Policy Institute
Portland hasn’t seen 50 road fatalities since 1996. With 43 fatalities already, it looks like 2019 will be a record-breaking year, with no thanks to Portland’s Vision Zero Action Plan.
Placing concrete pedestrian islands in the middle of the road, giving little to no room to turn onto side streets, installing plastic pylons against the roadway, and using confusing signage and lines—all Vision Zero road changes implemented to decrease road fatalities—don’t seem to be making streets safer.
While many factors are involved, perhaps distracted and dangerous walking, driving, and biking habits play a greater role in traffic accidents than the number of car lanes or crosswalks on a given street.
As a pedestrian, I’ve walked across a street with my eyes glued to my phone. Luckily, I haven’t been hit by a car. But if I had, it would’ve been due to my inability to separate my attention from my mobile device. The same goes for distracted drivers. I’ve watched drivers on the Sellwood Bridge pull out their phones when traffic slowed. Our failure to pay attention to the road and take safety precautions, especially at night, is putting ourselves and others at risk.
Portland’s approach of downsizing roads is punitive and counterproductive. Instead, everyone on the road system should take responsibility for their own behavior, regardless of what mode of travel is being used.
Rachel Dawson is a Policy Analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.