Tag Archives: Measure 11

Shredding the Public Safety Net

Hell’s coming, but it isn’t coming for Oregon legislators. It’s coming for some unlucky, ordinary Oregonians who will encounter violence – courtesy of lawmakers who sided with criminals in the recently concluded legislative session. At least, we can still call them “criminals.” Among the laws passed this session in the Oregon legislature was one requiring […]

Nurturing Our ‘Freddy Kruegers’

One of the best things that ever happened to Noah Schultz was being treated like an adult when he was 17 years old. He was dealing drugs – had been since he was 12 – when he pistol-whipped another drug dealer in Portland, Ore. It was April 2009, and Schultz wasn’t much concerned about the […]

A Lesson for Harvey’s Girls

The last thing the Harvey Weinstein Pile-On needs is a mewling #MeToo hashtag so females everywhere can easily climb on board. If women want to be taken seriously, they should turn to the example of someone like Dee Dee Kouns. She learned through the worst kind of tragedy how to fight injustice. Her 26-year-old daughter, […]

The Real Face of ‘White Privilege’

To hear these eight white women and two white men tell it, they have journeyed into a heart of darkness. The horror, the horror! The lack of respect. The sight of handcuffs. The restricted visiting hours. The rules on appropriate visitor’s attire. The guards who don’t smile. The dreams of college and career interrupted. What […]

Ballad of the Green Pear

Too bad Johnny Cash never got to meet Daniel R. Luke. The Man in Black could have taught Danny boy the meaning of hard time. On Dec. 5, 2010, Luke broke into his ex-wife’s Northeast Portland home and tried to strangle her while his two young sons were there. The police arrived and arrested him. […]

Bullied by a Trendy Crime

The identity of the shooter in the Sparks, Nev., school killings hadn’t been released before a popular excuse was quickly invoked: He had been bullied. “There has to be an end to this bullying. It is the responsibility not only of the parents but also the schools have to put a stop to this. Bullying […]

A Mark on Judicial Majesty

There was a time – and not that long ago – when Paul DeMuniz entered a courtroom,  people stood up. Those days are gone. Now that DeMuniz is no longer chief justice of the Oregon State Supreme Court, he doesn’t command the respect he used to. Perhaps that’s appropriate. For the past two years, he […]

The Universe of What’s Possible

Frank Rizzo, tough cop and former Philadelphia mayor, coined a phrase that has become a popular myth: “A conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged the night before.” No, a liberal who’s been mugged is probably still a liberal – but with an appreciation for what it’s really like to be mugged. This is a […]

The Leonard Pitts Solution

Two days after Leonard Pitts wrote still another column on the injustices of harsh prison sentences, a New Jersey judge showed him how lenient sentences can also be unjust. Dharun Ravi received 30 days in jail for 15 counts related to using a webcam to spy on his gay college roommate being intimate with a […]

A False Choice: Teachers or Cops

It’s a sad sight when adults sulk like 4-year-olds. When the adults are members of a school board, it’s disturbing. Yet there sat Bobbie Regan this week as the Portland Public Schools Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a budget that nobody liked. “I want us to remain UPSET so we can take this […]