Incursio

The Oregonian (newspaper) has decided that it cannot endorse the assisted suicide initiative that Washington voters will be deciding on this November ( WA Initiative 1000 ). Despite the fact Oregon's law has been successful: Ten years' experience with Oregon's one-of-a-kind Death With Dignity Act has shown that our deepest concerns were unfounded. Safeguards built into the law appear to be working. On the plus side, the law has not created a tidal wave of assisted suicide since its enactment in 1997. Only 341 patients, 86 percent of them with terminal cancer, have died under its provisions. More than a third of those who have obtained lethal prescriptions never used them. Despite the fact that Oregon's law has been popular: It's also true that the law is popular, twice winning voter approval, and that vigorous public debate over it has led to much-improved end-of-life care in Oregon. The state is recognized today as the national leader in providing access...

I have written in the past about how much plastic we consume, and throw away - and the permanent nature of plastics. ( Every bit of plastic ever made still exists. ) Almost 90 percent of floating marine debris is plastic. Plastic and other trash in our oceans is estimated to be killing more than a million sea birds and 100,000 mammals and turtles each year according to United Nations reports Curbside recycling in Portland, and the metro area is pretty good. We do a good share better than many other cities of the United States, that is for sure. But there is a huge amount of plastics that we can't recycle at the curb - and it always pains me to throw them in the trash. We can do better! I just found this tidbit , you can recycle all sorts of plastic that they don't pick up at the curb! Check out the Plastic Roundup , coming in October (and is actually a fairly regular event). Start saving up all those plastics that you normally throw away, and give them new life!...

On Thursday night this last week, I had to drive into Tigard and Beaverton (two cities on Portland's west side) during the night time. I was amazed to see that a major construction project on Oleson Rd. was running during the night! Oleson Rd. is a very valuable connector in the hilly southwest part of the metro area. It has been undergoing a redesign and repaving project for what seems like forever. But it runs almost 100% through residential neighborhoods. There is almost zero non-residential property actually on Oleson. But Sunday through Thursday nights, they are working through the nights on the road. With bright lights and loud equipment. Many, probably hundreds, of homes are within mere feet of the road construction. As they widened the road, the yards of these homes shrunk considerably. Lots of the homes are now within one dog-leash of the new sidewalks. And there are significantly more homes in close proximity. So apparently those communities would rather no...