Oregon Publishing» Eugene Oregon

Tax Day Protest in Eugene, Oregon

Brian — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:19:11 +0000

The Below is taken from a MoveOn.org email, passing it on:
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Tax Day is coming on Monday. And Michael Moore has a message about why you should join with other MoveOn members and fellow progressive groups in Eugene to call out the big corporations who aren’t paying their taxes while programs to create jobs and help the needy get cut.

Dear Brian,

Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us?

Hardly. They’re taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam—and even send him a check, if necessary.

The joke’s on us, folks. GE and tons of other corporations will have a tax bill for 2010 of ZERO. GE had $14.2 billion in profits in 2010. Yet they will contribute NOTHING to the federal government while every last dime is soaked from us.¹

In the latest budget deal, our politicians could have tackled the deficit by stopping the flow of these ill-gotten billions to corporations. Instead they cut billions from “wasteful” programs that do “wasteful” things, like create new jobs, drive economic growth, and help the needy and our nation’s children. It’s Democracy in reverse and it sickens me.

GE spends $20 million a year to lobby Congress to throw themselves this party.² But do you know what speaks louder than $20 million? 20 million votes! 20 million people, and more, standing together and taking to the streets. That starts now, with you.

This coming Monday, April 18 is Tax Day—and that’s the day when “we the people” will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country. The folks at MoveOn tell me that the nearest event to you is in Eugene. I hope you’ll be there:

Host: Katherine W—fellow MoveOn member
Where: East 11th Ave. and Pearl (in Eugene)
When: Monday, Apr. 18, 2011, at 12:00 PM

RSVP by clicking here

LETS BE CLEAR ABOUT CENTRO LATINO APPEAL – WHO SUPPORTED, WHO OPPOSED

Brian — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:19:08 +0000

Just wanted to share some local politics that are happening.
This is from Commissioner Rob Handy
Sent today.
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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I am writing today to clarify my position on the subject of funding for Centro Latino Americano.

An article in the Sunday, April 10 Register Guard concerning an appeal for funding by Centro Latino Americano being rejected by the Lane County Board of Commissioners was deceiving. The article left the impression that there was consensus on the rejection of Centro’s appeal.

In fact, I made a motion to support the Centro appeal, a motion seconded by Commissioner Sorenson. However, the conservative majority of the Board of Commissioners voted to OPPOSE the Centro appeal, on a 3-2 vote. Those opposing the appeal were Sid Leiken, Faye Stewart, and Jay Bozievich; Pete Sorenson and I voted to support the Centro Latino Americano appeal.

This trend of obscuring facts behind biased media reporting is disturbing, as is the Board’s own effort to promote a sense of consensus where there is none. The tea party politics and tactics being practiced by the conservative Board majority is evident in recent policy changes they have ushered in.

We all must be more diligent than ever in following the votes of local elected officials. We must be informed about how elected officials are voting, and be prepared to hold those officials accountable for their votes. Those of us who work on behalf of the broadest public interest need to remain distinct from those who practice tea party conservative politics.

Thanks,
♦
Rob
Rob@robhandy.com

KAVL’s Coverage of the Story

The Register-Guard Article

Location of CLA

Old and New, Friends and Thank You-s

Brian — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:28:40 +0000

This blog posting goes out to everyone who has made it such a wonderful year for me, my business, and my family.
I found myself in downward economy last January, along with many other people.
I reached out to my family and they were there for me. I cherish that.
I reached out to my community and they recived me with welcoming arms and positive motivation.
I found new friends and colleagues that I knew were out there, but had yet to show themselves.

At this point, just 12 months later, I am in new place mentally, surrounded with new people and new opportunities.
I have even fulfilled or am in the process of fulfilling several lifelong dreams, like finally doing the Motorcycle Thing, rain or shine I'm riding baby!

A few people who have helped me out, made a difference, offered support, taught me something and offer so much back to our community here in Eugene Oregon.
Bernie Kitching of DoughCo.
Julianne Harris of Pre-Paid-Legal
Craig Tomlinson Eugene Real Estate
Patricia Rollins of EFI Printers Alliance
Thomas Price of TLP-Local to You & Green Lane
Amie Chaudoir of Reiki Results and Common Good Bank
Kerrie L. Harrigan of Zonta and Jus
Denise Vendley of Friday's at Five
Roka Walsh of Roka Walsh
Kim Crieger Goodwin:Crieger *Goodwin Real Estate Sales
Alison Kelly: Delano Designs
David and Michelle Reid of Elegant Sports Jewelry
Cally Duncan of Photography by Cally
Jamie Congedo: Voice Talent
Bree McKenzie LCC Consulting
Josh Dunn The Money Coach
Cindy Ingram: Booking & Promoting
Karen Rainsong of Rainsong Designs
Doug James of Bourland Printing Bradee Millon for choosing to Live Life!
Cliff Etzel of BluProjekt
Joan Gross: NS-Spa
Dale De Roos The Gentleman Coach
Denise Beins of CEO Systems
Eric Beins of Tradia
Kathleen Hogan Luxury Lap Desks
Sonja Frigaard: Events By Sonja
Jeannie Marr: River Road Health Mart
Stephanie Lichtenstein: Affiliate Marketing
Jason Burke my Acupuncturist (thank you)
Jack Stephens Natural Builder Network and Life Coach
Gail Taylor for connecting me with old friends via Facebook
Pamela Cournoyer: Communicate with Class
Michael Clement: Communicate with Class
and of course My Mother for always being there, being strong, supportive, loving unconditionally, and being an excellent roll model.

You all have made a difference in my life whether you know it or not. I thank you all for being the people you are and hope you will keep being the people you are in 2010 and beyond. May your personal lives and businesses continue to grow and be successful. May the community show you praise for your commitment to shopping local and sporting local small businesses. May you all have a Happy, Safe, and Successful New Year!…….And for all your mixed drinking be sure to check out over 9,000 mixed drink recipes at Pure Liquor

(shameless plug for one of my own sites)

Jamie Congedo: Voice Talent

Brian — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:10:32 +0000

Have you heard of Jamie Congedo? or rather I should ask you have you HEARD Jamie Congedo? She is a Voice Talent that has done radio spots, television commercials, and Public Service Announcements. Once advertisiers have heard one of her ads they often follow up to find out more about that dazzling voice and who that woman is. Learn more About Jamie.
She really knows how to control her voice and tune it for the product she is working on.

Jamie’s voice has been described as: Warm, Sexy, Lush, Vibrant, Sultry, Hip, Sophisticated, Fresh, Youthful, Friendly, Professional, Sweet, Real, Sensual, Inviting, Optimistic, Genuine, Knowing, Wry, Playful and Flirtatious.

I’m also happy to say Jamie Congedo trusted me to develop her website. Jamie was easy to work with and quick to follow up, provide feedback and knew what she wanted. What a great personality to work with. You can really feel the engery she offers, you only have to listen to her current voice demo once to understand that, but after you hear it once you will want to listen to it again. Jamies Voice Talent Demo is converted into MP3 and WMA formats that you can download off her website.

So next time you are looking for that extra something to make your audio advertisment stand out you should check out Jamie Congedo, a true voice talent!

Jason Burke : OR Acupuncture

Brian — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:48:32 +0000

It has been a busy week juggling several projects. This post is about OR Acupuncture. I have been working with Jason Burke developing his website and online presence. Jason is an acupuncturists and Chinese Herbalist with over 7 years of professional experience who recently moved to Eugene. He trusted me with his whole design project from start to finish. He showed me a few examples of what he liked and did not like in websites that related to his field of expertise.
Armed with that information and a few images and his Logo I set to work. Setting up his hosting, email, email forwarding along with a custom landing page in the first 24 hours of his request to use me and my services. Within a week a design was fully in place, most of his base content was added, and then we worked on adding a few more images, tweaking the site a little, and doing a final “once over” for a status of completed project. We Went live Wednesday May 27, 2009.
I have suggested to Jason adding a blog in the future to allow him more control over his website and adding content without having to be so reliant on me. I love the work, but love knowing the people and relationships I build can be empowered with more control over their websites and overall online presence. Getting paid is great, knowing I’m helping people enter the online world is personal satisfaction that money can’t buy.

Congrats on being live on the web and the opportunity to work with you. I’m looking forward to coming in for some Safe, Effective, and Drug-free Acupuncture Treatments in the next few weeks.

Climbing the Google Ranks In Local Search : Eugene Avertising

Brian — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:25:46 +0000

As the whole economy pointed down last year I have been more and more focused on my local business opportunities. The reason was two fold: First there was the clients I was working with who no longer could sustain their online presence and business models. This led to some of my regular work disappearing. Secondly, I really thought it was time for me to start thinking about how to help out my local community get their businesses online. Yes, it has been exciting working nationally and internationally from my home office and I will not give that up entirely. I still have a few contacts and clients located in the Mid-West and East-Coast and love that have figured out ways to keep turning a profit and offering me work, but local is where it is at. You know the saying, Think Global Act Local? Well, time to apply that to more than the green movement.

Living in Eugene Oregon I have seen how slow the great technology change is happing here vs a larger city. Eugene is more laid back, lots of face to face business, small local businesses, and even the wonderful Saturday Market where you can truly see the display of what this town is really all about: Community. They almost seem to resist the change that is happening all around, or not taking it very serious. I have noticed a shift recently. The change is taking hold and more people are looking for a web developer with graphic design skills.

Now to the focus of this post. Being in the domain market for the past 8 years I have seen the power of domain names shift and grow. First it was big keywords like Cars.com, then long-tail-key-words LeatherCarSeats.com, (both still holding strong value) but Google and other search engine understood the shift happing too. People wanted to know how to find the local businesses. How to find what is offered right in one’s town and city, even a broad search to cover a whole state. So getting those types of domains was the next big kick to getting some addition rank to your website. Get the Keyword and your local town’s name together. Makes sense right?

I prefer TownKeyword.com vs. KeywordTown because it has a logical sound that sticks in the brain. For example:
AdvertisingEugene.com vs. EugeneAdvertising.com
The sound of putting the proper noun in-front of the adjective is the natural flow of the English Language. Or take a product like Carpets. Would you type in Carpets Eugene into the search or address bar? Maybe, but the more natural flow is EugeneCarpets.com
Even greater than the natural linguistic flow of the domain name is the authoritative power that is conveyed.
It’s a verbal demonstration that takes place in the brain that you are THE PLACE to go for your product and/or service. That you are THE Town’s or City’s resources when it come to that specific niche.

That being said, I’m happy to have watched my Local Advertising Domain name Eugene Advertising climb to the top of the ranks. It has taken around 5 weeks, including developing the domain, providing unique content, and working some linking strategies. I was happy before when people entered Eugene Advertising and I came up #1 UNDER the list of names displayed on the local map. A few weeks later I got the top 2 spots, still UNDER that map. Now, a little over a month later working on it a few times a week, I am #2 on the map and hold the top 2 listings under the map. Nice

There is a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with dominating 3 spots at the top of the first page of google search results for Eugene Advertising ( G says: Results 1 – 10 of about 3,140,000 for eugene advertising. (0.27 seconds)

The power of domains is really a something people may still be overlooking in my town, but I’m out there more and more doing my part to help the local small business understand the value of a good domain and website. I’m starting to get calls for a range of advertising services like BillBoards. Cool.

I took the below screenshot today and highlighted my placements: