Spanning the State: Moms are awesome edition
Carla Axtman
I know lots and lots of moms, including my own. I've loved being a mom, too. It's been the single most rewarding experience of my life, to date. And as my mom is fond of reminding me, there's an unconditional love that comes with the job.
And now, a group of moms have put together a Mother PAC in Oregon to help elect candidates that share their mom values. So what are they looking for?
Paid family leave and paid sick days are available to all. Parents able to find part-time work and on-the-job flexibility. Affordable, high-quality child care. A strong and vibrant public education system. Children’s environment, food, toys, and other products are not toxic to their health. Health insurance is not tied to jobs. Every Oregon family, however it is configured, is treated equally.
Awesome.
Give them money. Electing candidates that reflect our values is what its all about. And these are definitely the kind of mom-values I support.
And now, let's Span the State!
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Oregon State Representative Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) is a member of the "State Legislators for Progressive Immigration Policy", a group of lawmakers from 28 states who support policies they see as less divisive than the Arizona law. Last week, Greenlick gave a radio interview to the Public News Service about his views on immigration saying in terms of demographics, Oregon's immigrant population is a source of reliable workers that will become even more critical as Baby Boomers age. And oh by the way, they aren't stealing jobs that Americans are willing to do.
I can't link directly to the photo, but hopefully you'll catch it as it flips by on the front page of the Sisters Nugget. Four year old fisherman Aidan Waterman caught a 13.5 lb fish near the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery. WTG Aidan!
An independent filmmaker is planning to use Baker City for part of the backdrop for his new movie. Cool.
Last Wednesday, a 5.2 earthquake was measured off the Oregon Coast. It wasn't big enough to start a tsunami, but large enough for a write up in the Coos Bay World.
How to write a whole bunch of stuff in an LTE without actually saying anything truly substantive, by Roy Fuller of Scappoose.
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connect with blueoregon
7:34 a.m.
Aug 1, '10
I agree with Rep. Greenlick. Immigrants provide lots of reliable, needed workers. They are parts of our communities and consumers for many local businesses.
8:52 a.m.
Aug 1, '10
Family time, vacation, sick days, clean environment....that's just way to European Carla. What will really help families is more tax cuts for Phil Knight and Warren Buffet.
MomsRising.org is another wonderful group who works on the same type of issues.
4:07 p.m.
Aug 1, '10
Josh
Buffett has spoken out in favor of an inheritance tax and a progressive tax system.
I don't know Knight's position on taxes.
6:06 p.m.
Aug 1, '10
Paul: The economic/tax philosophies of Buffet and Knight are irrelevant to my comment. I was attempting to poke a little fun at the Republican/Conservative morally bankrupt philosophy of: cut taxes for the rich and ultra-rich no matter what the circumstance are and everything will be totally awesome.
9:38 a.m.
Aug 1, '10
I agree that working moms and dads should have equitable treatment, pay and benefits for the jobs that they perform. However, a part time entry level job rarely earns paid time off (vacation, sick whatever). But.... there could, should be no problem with lumping all earned paid time off into an earned bank at reduced benefits after one year of service for part timers. The accruals would reflect percentage of time worked versus a full time (40 hr week) position.
I also am in strong support of an employee funded paid time off system for ifamily illness. The CA system caps this at 6 weeks and the employees all pay into it. Seems to be working out.
Immigrants may be performing needed jobs and jobs others will not do. However, at least in the timber industry, specifically reforestation and brush clearing they are underbidding contractors who are not using immigrants and they are getting federal ARRA funds in the process.
11:00 a.m.
Aug 1, '10
Could we mention the "not moms by choice", that do far more by their choice for everyone's children? Sure it's tough raising kids, but it's tougher being told regularly things like "you're an abomination before God", "you'll never know the joy we have", "I'll bet you're glad your mother didn't make that choice", etc.
I think if you do the math you'll find that those women contribute more to society than you can ever contribute by raising kids. Not trying to be perverse, that's just a natural way for a progressive to see it. Blue dogs will love the post angle. As the stated intention is where "progressive come to talk", not "blue dogs come to growl at the strangers", I'll assume my sentiments won't be perceived as churlish.
7:52 a.m.
Aug 5, '10
Thanks for highlighting the Mother PAC, Carla! We're hoping to raise $25,000 for this election season, so yes, everyone, please give! And, because Oregon has that nifty tax credit going, $100 for joint filers and $50 for single filers will be a full, dollar for dollar credit.