President Obama told an audience of rich supporters in Seattle over the weekend that the Republican vision for America–not raising taxes in a recession, reducing government bureaucracy and regulation on job-creation, reducing the deficit, drilling for American oil and natural gas, protecting the border,  resisting another multi-billion dollar thinly disguised pay-off to Democratic Party constituencies, whether it is called Stimulus-two or the Obama ‘jobs’ bill,  repealing or un-funding the unpopular, cost-ballooning, service slashing Obamacare bill, controlling the presently out-of-control cost of public employee pensions and benefits, and generally getting  big-government czars off the backs of Americans striving for excellence—that vision would “fundamentally cripple” the country.  Obama’s audience paid $36,000 a couple–so, for the moment, he stopped demonizing the rich.  He said he has tried nothing but sensible reforms since he took office to improve the economy and give people more opportunity.  His weekend campaign tour skipped Oregon.

Governor Kitzhaber has named a Democratic Party insider from Eugene to a newly-created job in his office.  Democratic political campaign war-room strategist Dan Carol will be Kitzhaber’s Director of Multi-state Issues, at an annual salary of more than 110-thousand dollars.  Kitzhaber says the Party insider worked on campaigns for Bill Clinton, Ron Wyden, Barak Obama, and, of course, he was a key member of the Kitzhaber campaign.  Carol will work with other states to develop Oregon jobs–keying in on green industries.  Carol has limited private business experience, but he founded or worked with several Environmentalist groups, and has been a Party power-player in Oregon since the 1990’s.

A group of millionaires is financing a new internet start-up–they’re starting up a third political party.  The group “Americans Elect” is launching a petition drive this week in Oregon to make the state’s 2012 Presidential ballot.  The group plans to nominate candidates for President and Vice President entirely online, and run them against the two major party candidates in 2012.  “Americans Elect” has already qualified for the ballot in six states, and says it has enough signatures for a seventh–California.  Internet advocates say the group could blow open the U.S. political process, as Amazon did to book selling, and as the Apple I-pod changed the music industry.

The Bureau of Land Management says a fossil found by employees is the oldest known beaver fossil ever found in North America.  The  beaver buck teeth found in northeastern Oregon are believed to be about seven million years old.  The earliest beaver fossils ever found were in Germany–about twelve million years old.  Scientists say beavers waddled their way across Asia and crossed the Bering Strait land bridge to Oregon.

A gadabout former Utah gubernatorial candidate has been arrested for base jumping–paragliding off the top of the 125-foot tall Astoria Column over the weekend.  The jump was made Saturday, and a video was immediately posted on Youtube by the jumper’s friends.  Then, Del Schanze hung around town.  He was arrested after he was spotted at the beach, basking in the glory.  He was cited and released.  Outside the jail, he said the government was stifling his creativity.  The city attorney calls the stunt a Class A Misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a thousand dollar fine.  A local paragliding guide says only a skilled jumper could make the difficult flight.  He said Schanze set a terrible example that could get an inexperienced copy-cat killed.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department says researcher Audrey Magoun had it right when she said she tracked a wolverine in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon.  Photos from a remote bait-triggered camera clearly show two of the rare animals.  Magoun says she turned the camera so that the next time the wolverines come back for a meal she will be able to get pictures of their underbellies and determine their sex.  Wolverines are a threatened species in Oregon.

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton says the majority of so-called medical marijuana ‘patients’ in Oregon don’t need the drug.  He points out that Oregon–a much smaller state in population than California–has almost as many medical marijuana smokers as the Golden State.  Holton says that means either Oregon is a ‘sick state’, or many Oregonians are working the medical marijuana system here.  A Portland pot activist says Holton and other law enforcement professionals shouldn’t question the motives of the relatively few Oregon doctors who write thousands of pot prescriptions, saying, “did Holton go to medical school?’.  And he says cops should not be able to check on medical marijuana growers to see if excess pot is being grown illegally, which is becoming more and more common.  A bill that would have allowed police checks on pot growers is being held up in the Oregon Senate by Democrat Floyd Prozanski of Eugene-Springfield, who says the issue hasn’t been talked about enough publicly to move forward.

Republicans at the annual Dorchester Conference over the weekend in Seaside, Oregon, chose Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as their top choice for president in a straw poll.  Daniels got 66 votes.  Next was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 51 votes.  Sarah Palin was third with 41 votes, and Mike Huckabee got 23.  Daniels has not declared for President, and is not a factor in early nationwide polling, but he also won a straw poll of Republicans in a similar Washington state get-together.