How come this is a question I don't hear asked? And don't get me wrong, my argument is not the one that the illegal alien apologists make: that this law is routinely ignored so we should just do away with it. (NOTE: Despite the fact that our president, many in congress, our governor, Portland's mayor and the state police seem to think it's ok to pick and choose what laws we follow I do obey all Oregon firework laws and do not purchase or use illegal fireworks.)
But when I heard that the Portland police were going to spend their fourth of July doing "Operation lower the boom" I did see some irony here. (New Portland police motto: We may have disbanded the Auto Theft Task Force but don't worry, we'll get those fireworks)
It's a given that anyone who violates the law should be punished. But can we please re-visit the issue of what fireworks should be allowed in Oregon? Why is Washington able to light off all kinds of goodies that in Oregon are a big no-no?
Is the general population of Oregon really opposed to having fireworks that explode in the air or is this another example of "government knows best" simply telling us what to do? (Note: I'm not positive but I think that when I drive to work today I'm going to need to be in an adult sized car-seat, thanks Kulongoski.)
31 comments:
like some other states we should ban all private fireworks as un safe and a fire hazard.
I believe we should pass sensible firework laws like our neighbor to the north.
Jack Van Nostrand
Troutdale
Guess we should also ban walking across the street since it too is unsafe! Heck lets just ban getting out of bed all together in the name of safety.
Safe safe safe.
I want everything so safe I cant stand it.
We should ban all fireworks so everyone can be totally safe.
I want all kids in booster seats until they are at least 40
Laws should be passed to require a helmet to do any activity whatsoever.
There should be a taxpayer funded giant uterus program, all citizens would be encased in a giant uterus for the duration of their lives.
Anything, any expense or burden is worth it in the name of safety.
This was forwarded to me by the Left Wing Wacko Kook Squad
You have a problem with not having cool fireworks Daniel?
Well what about all the "fireworks" war criminal and mass murderer George Bush dropped on Iraq?
You know, on this fourth, you might want to pause and reflect on the billions of babies mass murderer Bush has killed in Iraq.
Plus all the shredding the constitution stuff.
Plus Bush is an idiot.
But yeah he is also at the same time the most evil person in the world with these incredibly evil and twisted conspiracies.
But he is still an idiot.
Halliburton
Cheney bad evil.
Oh I don't know, everything is about Bush though, that's the point.
Didn't take long for some idiot to make this post about Iraq.
Amazing....the level of stupidity from some posters.
I like fireworks, the bigger the better!
Bring them down from Washington State.
Bring them down from the Indian Reservation.
I consider it patriotic to bring illegal fireworks into Oregon.
A thumb in the eye for King George or is that King Kulongoski?
Fireworks are symbolic of independence and having control over our own lives...Freedom and Liberty.
To exert our God given rights.
Searches at the border with Washington State?
Boston Tea Party?
Some would simply hand over their freedom like anon. 7:06 AM.
I won't by God.
Illegal or not, I just wish people would stop lighting fireworks at a reasonable time so that I could get some sleep.
Can't speak for the "general population" but I have talked with at least a dozen people so far today (noon on the 5th) who are dragging because fireworks noise kept them up late last night.
They are dragging from the beer and margaritas, not the noise...
At what point did getting drunk and lighting explosives until after midnight become synomous with patriotism?
Unlike helmets and car seats, where you are only endangering yourself and your progeny, fireworks are a danger to people and property outside your responsibility.
My vote for comprehensive firework reform is to get Washington on board with Oregon.
Bad drivers kill their own kids just as easily as other people, kathy.
I'm thinking regulating fireworks should be like setting speed limits.
We don't drive fast in neighborhoods because it puts people (and pets) at risk; fireworks used at home should be the benign and safe kind (yeah, and boring) because of where they are used--homes and neighborhoods shared with others.
Some folks and pets are sound senstitive, some people have to get up early for work. These beings might not share your house, but do share the neighborhood.
We do--I hope--live in a civil society where the needs of the community are sometimes put ahead of need for speed and loud-flashing-banging-screaming fireworks.
You want speed? Go to the racetrack. You want cool fireworks? Go to Fort Vancouver.
Just my non-anonymous opinion. Thanks for the post.
Man accused of rape hours after he left jail
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
Last Updated: 7/5/2007 8:29:58 PM
Maury County authorities are looking for a man they suspect raped a 15-year-old girl only hours after being released from jail.
Twenty-four-year-old Juan Villa has been in jail eleven times since 2001 on charges that include assault and public intoxication.
He was released late Friday night and authorities believe he committed rape just hours later. While investigating the crime, a 13-year-old girl also told deputies Villa raped her.
Villa is suspected of being in the country illegally and 13 other suspected illegal immigrants were arrested yesterday while agents searched for him.
A spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said today the agency was not aware of Villa until Monday.
Anthoney - You're kidding me right? I mean you didnt get it? Seriously?
Oregon has a serious problem with being BORING. Some of the posts in here are symbolic of this problem and truly representatives of the losers who live here. We are talking about one day of the year where we might see some outdoor summer partying, and some of you losers here are worried about being inconvenienced for a few extra hours. How boring is your life? How boring do you want everyone else's life to be?
Here's what we did. We started the party around 4 p.m. We had drinks, tunes, and a few daytime fireworks (smoke bombs, snakes, etc.). Then we had a BBQ and ate outside. Then the fireworks continued until we worked up to our "family pack" we had bought in Washington. These aren't the big boomers at all. They are like your glorified sparklers with flaming balls shooting up as high as about 15 feet. We stopped shooting fireworks at about 10 p.m. What's the big deal? I have heard that the rule here is 9 p.m. How stupid is that? It doesn't get truly dark until after 10 p.m. Washington has an 11 p.m. limit. Anyway the party continued in the back without fireworks. The tunes were substantially lowered. By the time the nightcap was over, it was pushing 1 a.m. I took the morning off from work. I had a buzz from the partying. No problem.
As I looked around my neighborhood, I counted about 5 houses shooting any fireworks among about 75 houses. Pathetic. I didn't hear of any parties going on. You people need to live a little and get a life. Stop being so tight about every goddamned thing in life. It's not all about you. You don't have a right to live in absolute silence from about 8 p.m. onwards. Jesus.
Most people shoot responsibly. Some don't. Go after the ones who don't. Don't criminalize your average law-abiding citizen who just wants to have a nice party on a nice summer day. And one last thing for you losers - I don't know if anyone called the cops on us or our measly little neighborhood party, but if they did, there was no enforcement to be had on July 4th. As much as you idiots try to regulate others, the less you will be able to actually control people. People are going to do what they want to do. The best thing to do is to encourage reasonablenss, not make regular people feel like they are criminals.
Your right to be a noisy and dangerous ends at my right to safety and quiet at 11pm on a Wednesay night.
Not everyone has the option to sleep in the next day.
If you want to party until the wee hours, go someplace where the neighbors aren't forced to hear it.
The people who burnt house appears on the cover of today's paper certainly didn't have a boring fourth did they. Nor did the guy who lost his 4 year old to his stash of illegal fireworks.
PS: Those complaining about car seat laws - do you HAVE kids? Wow. I'm amazed that you need a law to put your child in a car seat, or put a helmet on them.
Salem; As we sat on top of the highest hills in town, we were amazed to see over 1,000 Illegla fireworks in just a 1/2 hour from Salem to Keizer to W. Salem.
My Wife said; "This IS Independence as thousands of people say Hell with you , it is the 4th and I am lighting off Fireworks"!
At 11:45 pm a Siren went off and almost everyone stopped.
Why should Washington get all the profit from these sales?
Hear, hear to the idea of fireworks being liberized in the State of Oregon.
Where are the Democrats?
Secretly watching illegal fireworks, but publically denouncing them.
Nothing like hypocricy on the Fourth of July.
Whats new?
Sorry folks, those Big Bangs in the sky are Undocumented Fireworks.
Should not be a problem in Oregon.
My redneck neighbor was blowing off some illegal fireworks so the neighbor to the back of our lot called the cops. He recieved a fine for over $600 and his wife was taken in for a drunk and disorderly. We laughed all night long.
off topic: we keep hearing about the low approval rating of our president. You don't hear about the even lower approval rating of the democrat-controlled Congress. A mere 14%.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1640263,00.html
Now THAT's something that deserves attention
WASHINGTON - President Bush accused Democratic lawmakers on Saturday of being unable to live up to their duties, citing Congress' inability to pass legislation to fund the federal government.
"Democrats are failing in their responsibility to make tough decisions and spend the people's money wisely," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "This moment is a test."
The White House has said the failure of a broad immigration overhaul was proof that Democratic-controlled Capitol Hill cannot take on major issues. "We saw this with immigration, and we're seeing it with some other issues where Congress is having an inability to take on major challenges," said spokesman Tony Fratto.
The main reason the immigration measure died, however, was staunch opposition from Bush's own base _ conservatives. The president could not turn around members of his own party despite weeks of intense effort.
The immigration bill was the top item on Bush's domestic agenda. With its demise, Bush was left to focus on the annual appropriations process and reining in federal spending.
Twelve annual spending bills dole out approximately one-third of the federal budget. They must be passed each year by Congress, before the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year, but lawmakers began considering this year's batch just in mid-June. The House has passed half and the full Senate has not yet taken up any.
"Democrats have a chance to prove they are for open and transparent government by working to complete each spending bill independently and on time," Bush said. "I urge Democrats in Congress to step forward now and pass these bills one at a time. "
Democratic leaders say they are behind because an emergency spending measure funding the war in Iraq came first. They also had to pass an omnibus measure cleaning up last year's appropriations mess. Then, the Republicans who then controlled Congress failed to pass into law a single spending bill for domestic agencies save the Homeland Security Department _ a situation that brought little complaint from Bush.
With the Senate and House now in Democratic hands, this year's bills are producing skirmishes with the White House that also are causing delays. Almost every domestic bill already has attracted a veto threat because it exceeds Bush's proposed budget in certain areas.
All told, Democrats plan spending increases for annual agency budgets of about $23 billion above the White House budget request. Bush put it in terms of a five-year outlook, and said their budget plan would be $205 billion bigger than his over that period, and would include "the largest tax increase in history" by allowing some of his tax cuts to expire as planned.
The president said Democrats are embracing "the failed tax-and-spend policies of the past," and vowed to stand firm for fiscal restraint. Republican lawmakers have pledged to support him and sustain any vetoes.
"No nation has ever taxed and spent its way to prosperity," Bush said. "And I have made it clear that I will veto any attempt to take America down this road."
The president also applauded a new jobs report, which showed employers adding 132,000 jobs, paychecks growing solidly and the unemployment rate staying at a low 4.5 percent in June.
Bush said the evidence that the once listless economy is regaining energy is a result of his insistence on lowering taxes and spending.
"Democratic leaders in Congress want to take our country down a different track," he said.
The Declaration on Independence was ratified by the continental congress on July 2, 1776. The finalized copies were distributed on July 4. John Adams wrote this:
The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
foamie freer... the Democrats generally congregate at larger functions, Republicans (Constitutionalists & Libertarians) are loaners, or run in small packs. So the Democrat’s houses were dark and quiet as they were at, for instance, the Banks BBQ ... just hoping their idiot Republican neighbors didn't burn the neighborhood down, or their pets didn’t mess too bad locked in the basement all day...
Democrats don't do much in "secrete," they're social, not misfits.
...Come on anony 11:37... if we wanted to read the paper we'd buy it!
Chris, "The Declaration on Independence was ratified by the continental congress on July 2, 1776. The finalized copies were distributed on July 4." Good eye... and ever since I heard that I've tried to excuse the up-until-then annoying "pre-fourth" snaps, crackles and pops.
Problem with Adam's proclamation though was Oregon wasn't considered... We don't have the summer rain and humidity of DC or the South. We’re often a tinderbox of low humidity with the bulk of our resources in standing timber... Perhaps such proclamations should evolve along with our constitution!
anonymous 8:49, you don't read well, do you? I said we turned the music way down. We didn't bother anyone. Everyone here is so noise averse that I am sure that if the music had been up, I would have gotten a visit by the cops at 1 a.m. Didn't happen. Why? Because I am considerate of my neighbors. All I am asking is that you people not be so tightly wound in the ass so as to try to make life miserable for your neighbors. It's one freaking day, and if it is a great day in a short summer here, let it ride. Don't be an asshole 24/7/365. Maybe you can find it within you to take one day off.
WOW....I'm glad I live in Washington, but there are some nut cases here that want the 4th to go by without any observance. Hurray for the person who quoted John Adams...but to the person who had the comment regarding our tinderbox neighborhoods & that the quote wouldn't apply today....get a life....but not a boring one!!
It's July 9th and we still had neighbors lighting up the sky and keeping me awake at midnight (I have to get up at 5 to go to work). Yet they keep saying not to call the cops for this because they're "stretched thin".
3:11, just deal with it. Call the cops every night and keep calling. Cut the people a break on the 4th, but if it is going on now, a call seems reasonable. If you can't sleep, think about investing in an a/c and closing the windows. It isn't all about you. No one really gives a shit whether you can sleep or not. Get over it.
hah...
First off, you're more likely to harm someone innocent by irresponsible car operation than by fireworks... sure lots of fireworks injuries occur, but almost all of them are to the person holding the thing.
That said, it is well-established that the residents of Oregon and New Jersey are incompetent and unsafe with items normal folks can handle daily. After all, only in those two states are the general population forbidden from touching gas pumps.
(I've visited those other states... like Washington... and it's true... most of the folks there die daily from improper car fueling. Big Oil keeps it all out of the media though, so you won't hear about it.)
Anyway... if we can't be trusted with gasoline from a safety rated self-serve style pump, why should we be trusted with fire and explosives? Frankly, I think Oregon's independence day celebration should be observed by carefully popping colorful balloons while wearing protective gear, including helmets and goggles.
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