Kids, try not to get sick if you don’t have insurance.

People need to keep their cigarette prices down.Well, at least we didn’t have to amend the Oregon Constitution…yes THAT Oregon Constitution.

“They haven’t done that since 1890!!”

Big tobacco, deceptive advertising and special interest win again. (also those flannel shirted people in their kitchen won too. I blame them the most!)

Don’t forget to Vote!
Ballots are due TOMORROW, Tuesday, at 8pm. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors! Get out the Vote.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM!

It’s the Dudes birthday today! You know him as the creator of this badass beautiful blog. He’s dazzled us with his wise and witty words.

Cam, The bus hearts you! Thank you for creating this online space for us. You make politics crazy and fun for everyone.

Nothing has given me as much comic relief as the “No on 50″ ads with the flannel-shirted couple in their kitchen talking about…”Changing the Constitution?! They haven’t done that in almost 800 years!” I would love to talk to all of the 2nd amendment backers to see how they would argue THAT change to the constitution!

Now that you’ve seen all of the commercials, heard all of the radio ads and hopefully seen some online advertising (hint, hint..49), it is time to choose what you believe. Let’s take a Straw Poll!

Measure 49: MODIFIES MEASURE 37; CLARIFIES RIGHT TO BUILD HOMES; LIMITS LARGE DEVELOPMENTS; PROTECTS FARMS, FORESTS, GROUNDWATER.

Measure 50: AMENDS CONSTITUTION: DEDICATES FUNDS TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN, FUND TOBACCO PREVENTION, THROUGH INCREASED TOBACCO TAX.

Stay tuned for the Eugene measures in an upcoming post!

Opponents of Measure 50 have put $4.5 million into a TV and radio buy (compliments RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris).

R.J. Reynolds, a spin-off of Reynolds American Inc., may have broken a spending record with its anti-Oregon Ballot Measure 50 advertisements.

R.J. Reynolds, which owns six of the 10 most popular U.S. cigarette brands, recently ran a series of advertisements decrying the proposed 84.5-cent tax on cigarettes.

The Yes on 50 / Healthy Kids Team, which includes the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, has these words to say to big tobacco:
“Hey, Big Tobacco! Butt Out of Oregon!”.

Watch the “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” below. The end is the best part.

Are you beggin’ for a taste of that sweet sweet Bus Trip honey?
(You know you are.)

You best not miss out on August 18th in Portland as the Bus rolls out its biggest Trip of the summer.

Come be the volunteer launchpad for the Healthy Kids campaign at our Mississippi Day for Democracy & Block Party, replete with rollicking afterparty featuring the jazz-dub-hip-hop stylings of Portland’s own Copacrescent, who’ll be rocking out on a sound system generously donated by our good friends at Ethos Music Center. And, oh, did we mention there’ll be a moonbounce? The PolitiCorps Fellows who are organizing the day (rightly) insisted on one.

10AM - 2PM
Knock the neighborhood for Healthy Kids, and help win health insurance for over 117,000 uninsured children in Oregon. Mr. Butts won’t like it, but seems like most other folks who hear about it do. Which is why we need to get the word out.

2PM - 6PM
Party in the park! Tasty food-type things! Live Bands! MOONBOUNCE! Oh Yeah!!!

All this goodness is going down at Unthank Park in N. Portland, on the corner of Haight and Failing

There will be a caravan leaving from Eugene so.…Sign up now.

Get on da Bus. Do a Day for Democracy.

Another 3884 words wasted. In the ongoing pseudo-saga of CNN v Michael Moore, we are learning more about modern day journalism than about the health care system. Moore presents a portrait of the richest nation in the world with a worse than second-rate health care system that is mediocre to the people that have it and non-existent for the tens of millions that don’t have it.

Instead of pondering why the national media have rarely gone in depth and uncovered the same rock-bottom outcomes at sky-high prices — they spend their words pulling little contrasting tidbits to the points Moore raises. These tidbits don’t contradict Moore’s points, but they do perform the same “balance” act that Fox uses to water down the main and objective point.

A journalistic principle that has nearly vanished is that spending time/words on a story should be proportional to that topic’s effect on our society and people.

Dissecting a failed health care system, based on bang-for-buck or outcomes, should constitute a lions share of journalistic time and energy. What are the problems? How have countries with great outcomes for low prices succeeded and failed? Why did this topic get attention through a blockbuster movie instead of through the normal channels of our media system? This CNN v Moore controversy is only a controversy by the amount of time wasted on this side-show distraction and not the core issue that is affecting millions.

CNN has a great set of pages they set up on Impacting Your World. It has links to charities and helps steer people to giving to those wonderful causes.

What it doesn’t have is another concept: try to get people elected that can put the full charitable power of the United States behind ending poverty, contributing to stable governments, and spreading the western sentiments of tolerance, equal rights, and democracy. These concepts have been watered down as we have been doing them quid pro quo for so long that just doing them because they are American values has lost its meaning. We must support the good people in nations without sending in shipments of weapons that destabilize the very visions we hope for.

Supporting the amazing candidates is a long term prospect at fixing the ills of the world, but without it we have the moneyed interests and failed policies overshadowing any charitable giving we can do individually.

This was passed along from Tom Klaus at Advocates for Youth.

Please take one minute and 13 seconds to take a look at the trailer of this new film by Jim Winkle. Jim just completed his MPH at the University of Minnesota and his Master’s thesis was a video documentary titled, “Sex Ed and the State”

The documentary follows a bill through the Minnesota legislature during this past legislative session. It is a good educational piece and a terrific advocacy tool.