Rural Fervor.

I wish Australians would make US maps all the time. Suddenly Oregon has become the sight of not just GTA-style criminal exploits, but also the nation’s capital! This is the most relevant we will ever appear to be.

Oregon Court Takes Up Death Row Inmate's Push to Die

One of the most intriguing cases in Oregon right now.

Guy on death row waives legal appeals that could’ve delayed his execution as a “protest against a criminal justice system he views as broken and inequitable.” Anti-death penalty governor delays his execution indefinitely, citing an absolute gubernatorial power of clemency. State constitution says the death penalty is legal.

Prisoner argues:

Governor’s reprieve is not actually a reprieve for want of an expiration date.
Alternatively, the prisoner must accept the reprieve for it to be valid.
This is an illegal attempt by the governor to nullify a law he doesn’t like.

Governor argues:

Prisoner can’t reject a reprieve with no conditions attached.
Prisoners can’t force their government to execute them—that’s a power equivalent to the governor’s.
The clemency power is absolute. No other branch is entitled to question the reasons or motive behind it.

The fuck is this blue sky shit?!

First disgruntled words out of my mouth every morning that it’s sunny.

Did you know that Oregon became the first state to decriminalize marijuana in 1972 and yet we STILL haven’t legalized it and even just this evening soundly defeated a measure to do so?

Is the problem that we have so many drug dealers here voting against it that we can never win?

You know you’re in Oregon when…

the darkest, reddest areas on the weather map are 90 and 92°.

Like it’s a tragedy we even broke into the nineties.

You know it’s a mild summer in Eugene when…

…the street fashion consensus is that it’s still black-socks-with-birkenstocks weather in July.

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princeflame:

I give full respect to senator Ron Wyden.

“There is no sound policy reason to sacrifice the privacy rights of law abiding American citizens in the name of cyber-security and I will fight any legislation that asks this Senate to make that choice.”

That’s my senator!

(Side Note: Interestingly, of the results returned for a tumblr search of his name, all but maybe one or two are positive. So rare to find such a well-liked politician.)

(Adjacent Side Note: Wyden got his J.D. from the UO School of Law! I feel a kinship with him.)

(via princeflame-deactivated20120717)