A “level playing field” sounds inherently fair, so why should domestic solar manufacturing have to suffer for the sins of legacy energy production?

In Portland, Oregon, Occupy Oregon (also known as Occupy PDX) re-occupied Shermanski Park last night. They setup tents, tarps, and folding tables at 4:35 pm PST. A police officer drove by and informed the occupiers it was illegal to “camp” in a public park. The occupiers continued to setup the new encampment. Families with their children were there and a kitchen went up in the park too. They even had a bat signal shining on a building that was able to broadcast text messages from people all over the world.

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, M.D., in an announcement today at the state capital, said he will put a temporary reprieve on executions in the state, including the pending execution of Gary Haugen, convicted of two murders in 1981 and 2003. The governor, in an unexpected addendum to his announcement regarding Haugen, also said he will not sign any death warrants while in office.

Just as US Attorney General Eric Holder announces that he will shortly “clarify Department policy” on marijuana dispensaries in states where laws allow them (Rhode Island in particular), United States Attorney Dwight Holton rounded up all but two of the District Attorneys in Oregon to sign a letter about the Feds’ zero tolerance policy.

Watching Republicans lie about taxes and money can be entertaining, such as what we’re seeing happen with any Republican who dares touch the leprosy-transmitting kryptonite known as Paul Ryan’s Fantasy Budget. But that doesn’t mean the lies are any less nasty — or that we can depend on the evening news to swat down these lies.

Local organizers in Oregon have begun the push to gather the required 87,213 signatures to put the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) on the ballot in 2012, now that the petition has been approved by the Secretary of State.

I don’t know exactly what tomorrow’s meet-and-greet format will be, so I’m not sure how many chances I’ll get to ask questions of the Senator. But if you had a chance to ask a question tomorrow, what would you ask? I’ll try to get the answers and bring them back in a MyFDL post later this week.

Thanks, the floor is yours.

Over the weekend, nine Oregon police officers were accused of fighting against Measure 74, the state’s ballot initiative to regulate medical marijuana by providing safe access with dispensaries in the state. It is illegal for officers in Oregon to engage in any sort of electioneering.

God bless you, Alice B. Toklas.

For millions of medical marijuana patients across the country, this is the scary, unfortunate reality. But there is hope: in Oregon, voters are about to take up Measure 74, a ballot measure to provide safe, regulated access to medical marijuana for patients in the state. Just Say Now is working with the Measure 74 campaign to let voters know how badly patients need this measure.