Bank locally :-)

Sick of banks deemed "too big to fail" lining up at the United Taxpayer ATM? Do something about it. Put your money in a local bank or one of the many credit unions. Local institutions aren't subject to the whims of money-grubbing Wall Street fat cats, and they're more likely to lend locally.

Taxing cyclists :-(

State Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, has proposed a $54 biannual bike tax for cyclists. At a time when more people are riding to work due to finances, or simply putting their hearts in the right place, the last thing the state needs to do is give them a reason to stop. Let's consider the reduced pollution and call it even.

Saturday Market opens early :-)

Food, flowers and fun - all a month earlier than usual. The Salem Saturday Market kicks off the 2009 season April 4 with all willing vendors participating. In the past, the market held only limited offerings in April. Get out and support it; maybe the early opening will become a new tradition.

The war on drugs :-0

In the past two years, gang-related violence has claimed an estimated 8,000 lives in Mexico as cartels battle it out for access to American drug users. The Obama administration is responding by sending $700 million in personnel to increase border security. While lives must be protected, a better use for the money would be diversion programs for American citizens. The root cause of the drug problem isn't the producers; it's the circumstances that turn people into users.

Saturday bus service :-(

Yeah, we're sad it's gone, too. But what chafes us more is when folks claim to be shocked, SHOCKED, they say, that Saturday service is gone. This is what happens when people don't participate in democracy. There was plenty of time to get involved in the run up to the election in which the transit levy was killed.