Dock from a Fishing Port in Aomori, Japan Washed up on Oregon Coast Near Newport

with some invasive marine species hitching the ride across the Pacific Ocean of about 5,000 miles.

From AP (6/6/2012):

Official: Dock found in Ore. is debris from Japan

By JEFF BARNARD

A nearly 70-foot-long dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, a Japanese Consulate official said Wednesday.

A commemorative plaque on the dock showed it was one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa on the northern tip of the main island, Deputy Consul Hirofumi Murabayashi said from Portland, Ore.

One of the four docks turned up several weeks later on an island south of Misawa, but the other two are still missing, said Akihisa Sato, an engineer with Zeniya Kaiyo Service, the dock's Tokyo-based manufacturer.

The docks weigh 165 tons each, Sato said.

The one that floated to Oregon was first spotted floating offshore Monday, and mistaken by several people for a barge, said Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation. It washed ashore early Tuesday on Agate Beach, a mile north of Newport on the central Oregon Coast. It's made of concrete with a metal pontoon and measures 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high.

The distance between Japan and Oregon is roughly 5,000 miles.

A starfish native to Japan was among the marine life still clinging to the structure after the long voyage, Havel said.

"This is tsunami debris, not just from Japan, but from the tsunami itself," Havel said.

John Chapman, a research scientist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center, said hundreds of millions of other organisms also hitchhiked across the ocean on the dock — some of which are invasive species never before seen on this part of the West Coast.

Among the organisms are a species of tiny crab that has run wild on the East Coast but not on the West, and a kind of algae that has hit southern California but not Oregon, Chapman said.

"This is a very clear threat," he said. "It's exactly like saying you threw a bowling ball into a China shop. It's going to break something. But will it be valuable or cheap glass. It's incredibly difficult to predict what will happen next."

A radiation check of the dock came up negative, which was to be expected if the dock broke loose before the nuclear power plant accident triggered by the waves, Havel said. The parks department was overseeing efforts to identify and remove the dock.

(Full article at the link)

Photos from AP (more at the link):

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Oregon Vote on 'Tax the Rich': Public Unions vs The Rest of Us

Oregon is voting today to decide whether to raise taxes on higher income earners to pay for schools and other public services. Public employee unions are in favor, as the new taxes would help secure their jobs. Businesses are against, calling the measures "job killers".

How will the people in Oregon vote? After all, this is a state known for its anti-tax tradition.

Last-minute voters could decide tax Measures 66, 67
(1/25/2010 The Oregonian)

"After a bruising campaign and weeks of voting by mail, today's big tax election may be decided by an onslaught of last-minute voters such as Courtenay Morton and Neil McManaway, two Portlanders who were among a steady stream of voters dropping off ballots Monday at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

""The election is going to be close enough that those who are still wrestling with a decision and sending in their ballots can have a significant effect," said Pat McCormick, spokesman for Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, the main group opposing Measures 66 and 67.

"Tuesday is the last day to vote on whether to increase taxes on higher-income earners and corporations to pay for schools and other state services. Ballots, which have been in the hands of voters for nearly three weeks, must be deposited in one of nearly 300 drop-box sites across Oregon. It's too late to mail them to meet Tuesday's 8 p.m. deadline." [The article continues.]

According to the article, the turnout seems unusually high (62 to 64%). The state is divided into two opposing camps: public employee unions (teachers, firefighters, policeman, etc.) vs the business community.

Public employee unions has raised more money ($6.8 million) than the opponents ($4.6 million) in support for the measures. Teachers union has contributed millions of dollars.

If these measures are to be passed, Oregon will tie with Hawaii for the highest personal income tax rate in the nation, the highest capital gains tax, and the highest minimum corporate tax. Read this article from LA Times for more details.

The LA Times article features a young woman carrying placard that says "Protect middle class, preserve vital services". Can't argue against that, can you? But at what price? Vital to who? They are the services that the taxpayers pay, but at some point the taxpayers would rather have less or no such services than pay through their noses.

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