MaxRedline

Trying To Beat The Heat?

In Aloha, OR, one nice set of property managers is telling tenants that window unit are conditioners are tacky.  Remove them, or be evicted.

The Sneaky Burmese

As if North Korea wasn't bad enough, if appears as though the paranoic Burmese, having packed up their capital and moved it out of Rangoon, are busily occupied with building nukes in tunnels they've carved into the mountains near Russia.  This ought to throw most of Asia into panic mode.

I Beg Your Pardon, I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight is at it again.  Is there anything they can get right?  They had to run in and bail out their own ClunkerCare program after only four days.  The Beer Summit.  Are they capable of thinking anything through?  Heck, they can't even get something as basic as growing a vegetable garden right.

MO was all hot to "set an example of healthy eating".  She was going to have an organic garden right there at the White House where they could grow their own arugula and lush tomatoes.  Just one problem: they didn't check the soil.  Now, if they'd gone really green and done the whole raised-bed thing, using 3 feet or so of organically-raised, free-range compost, they might have been okay.  Instead, they just brought in a rototiller.

Therein lies the problem.  The Clinton administration, being uber-greenies themselves, used sewage sludge to fertilize the lawns back in the 1990's.  As a result, the dirt in Mo's garden contains 93 ppm of lead - and an array of other lovely toxics - according to tests recently performed by the National Parks Service.  MO's definitely not having an organic garden, although the level of toxicity probably isn't harmful - the EPA sets a threshold of 100 ppm. for growing food crops, and MO's only got 93.

Still, you know this would never have happened on Kerry's watch: Heinz won't accept produce grown in sewage sludge.

Is it reasonable to blame the Clintons for this debacle?  Given the sludge that pours daily from the current President's mouth, one has to wonder.

Restless Natives

It's got nothing to do with global warming, but folks in Congress are starting to feel some heat.  Average folks seem to be getting a little hot under the collar, and they're beginning to make their feelings known.

At a health care town hall event in Syracuse, N.Y., earlier this month, police were called in to restore order, and at least one heckler was taken away by local police. Close to 100 sign-carrying protesters greeted Rep. Allen Boyd(D-Fla.) at a late June community college small-business development forum in Panama City, Fla. Last week, Danville, Va., anti-tax tea party activists claimed they were “refused an opportunity” to ask Rep. Thomas Perriello(D-Va.) a question at a town hall event and instructed by a plainclothes police officer to leave the property after they attempted to hold up protest signs.

According to Democrats, who are most often targets of protest, it all boils down to their personal courage: they're "tackling the tough issues".  That's all it is.  People just don't understand.

“I think it’s just the fact that we are dealing with some of the most important public policy issues in a generation,” said Rep. Bruce Braley(D-Iowa), who was confronted by a protester angry about his position on health care reform at a town hall event several weeks ago.

Evidently, the possibility that folks don't think that the "important public policy issues" are being "tackled" in a reasonable manner doesn't occur to them.

Moving On Out - Go By Light Rail!

Latest player to move their corporate headquarters out of Oregon is AVI BioPharma.  Hard as it may be to believe, they're abandoning Oregon's biotech hotbed in favor of new space in Seattle.  Meanwhile, Washington's Democrat Senator Patty Murray has donned her sneakers and begun pushing the FTA to fund a light rail "extension" over the behemoth new bridge planned for the Columbia River, the liar's budget for which is currently projected at over $4 billion.  The FTA doesn't seem to think it'd be a cost-effective "investment", so Murray inserted a provision into the DOT budget that would require the FTA to alter the way it analyzes projects for cost-effectiveness.

Portland officials and Oregon's congressional delegation have complained that the FTA holds transit projects to a strict, artificial standard of cost effectiveness per transit rider, but there is no such evaluation for highways.  In view of the fact that light rail has never been cost-effective, the way to get to the federal funding needed for adding light rail to the bridge seems to involve changing the way cost-benefit is calculated.

The Great Health Insurance Scam

Ever heard of AHIP?  Probably not, as it doesn't garner a lot of recognition.  The acronym stands for America's Health Insurance Plans, the lobbying arm of the health insurance companies.  They sound evil.  No wonder that Obama and Pelosi have been relentlessly hammering the insurance industry; just this week the Speaker labeled them villains.  Anonymice all across the blosphere have taken up that refrain.  Just one tiny problem with it:  it's not true.

In December 2008, AHIP unveiled its big proposal: Insurance companies would guarantee coverage for all, dropping exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions, and they would charge the same premiums to everyone in a geographic region, subject only to their age and the benefit structure of their policy.

The trade AHIP sought was a mandate that everyone be covered, giving the industry the opportunity to sell policies to 40 million to 50 million presently uninsured people.

On top of all this, Ignagni was a major organizer of the "stakeholder" group - including hospitals, doctors, device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies - that met with White House officials and then with Obama, pledging savings of $2 trillion over 10 years.

Yet the villification continues, unabated.  Government couldn't run "Cash for Clunkers".  They'll do better with your health care, though.

Mileage Tax Dies - For Now

Oregon’s experiment with a mileage tax using GPS technology is over, but the legislature now wants to study a congestion tax.  Toward that end, the legislature eliminated a sunset provision that would have killed the Road User Fee Task Force,  so this group will be around forever, studying new ways to siphon more cash from your wallet.  One of the things they're looking into is a variable-fee scheme in which drivers will be charged for driving; the highest fees would be collected during "peak hours".

It's a safe bet that they'll also look into a plan that will go into effect in some districts around the ever-so-progressive U.K. in the next couple of years: any firm with 11 or more staff parking spaces will be charged £250 a year for each. That cost could rise to £350 within two years.  Companies will be free to pass along the costs to their employees; effectively handing them a salary cut. 

Even better, the fees apply 24/7, further penalizing those who work odd hours, when public transit isn't running.

Poor Little Kid!

Poor little Marjorie ran up around $120,000 in student loan debt as she pursued a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.  She got the degree, but failed the basic test: she's deeply in debt.  The 26-year-old is making $7.25 an hour plus tips serving beer at a bowling alley, working 25 to 30 hours a week.  And she has a Baby!  Isn't that just special?

Don't you feel sorry for her?  Can't you hire her to run your business?  You can tell she's a good decision-maker; she has a degree, after all.

 

Pelosi, Pregnancy, Posterity

In an era of symbolic breakthroughs, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is closing in on a dubious achievement — being the least effective leader of the House in the modern era.  Not to be deterred, she continues to villify health insurance companies. 

"It's almost immoral what they are doing," Pelosi said to reporters, referring to insurance companies. "Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure," she said, adding, "They are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening."

This is what Pelosi and Obama want to support:

A pregnant woman who has already had 13 children taken into care last night vowed to keep on giving birth until she is allowed to keep one.

Theresa Winters has spent almost half of her life having babies, but has not been allowed to keep any of them beyond the age of two.

Even her own sister believes that she should be sterilised.

But Miss Winters, 36, a heavy smoker who was herself taken into care as a teenager, insisted it was time for a 'second chance'.

Miss Winters, who left school with no qualifications and worked as a factory packer until giving birth to her first child, receives £271 a month disability allowance. An accident left it difficult for her to walk.

Mr Housden, 36, is her registered carer and they receive £511.33 a month in income support, plus £300 a month for housing benefit and council tax on their one-bedroom flat. Mr Housden used to work as a pizza delivery man but gave up 17 years ago.

He used to work, but gave up 17 years ago.  They live on the public dole (but they can afford to support her fag habit). 

 

2 Free Months Of Stamps.com

Just a public service announcement that fell into the inbox this morning:

Coburn v. Stamps.com
Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC353721
A settlement (the "Settlement") has been reached in the class action lawsuit entitled Coburn v. Stamps.com, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC353721.
According to Stamps.com's records, you are a member of the class. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO DO ANYTHING. However if you wish to take advantage of the Settlement, Stamps.com will provide you two free months of standard Stamps.com service, with no obligation after the two-month period.
TO CLAIM THE BENEFITS OF THE SETTLEMENT:
You will have one year from July 29, to take advantage of the two month free service benefit. Once you respond to settlementaccept@stamps.com, you will be provided instructions to open your account and to start your 2 months of free service. Please note that, other than the free service, you remain responsible for all actual U.S. Postage costs and other charges incurred by you through your account. Therefore, a valid credit card will be required at sign-up to use the Stamps.com service. Also, this settlement benefit is only available to the actual individual that is part of the settlement class and is not transferable.
At the completion of the two month free period, your account will be automatically closed and all unused postage purchased by you will be returned to you pursuant to United States Postal Service regulations. You will not be charged anything more. If you wish to continue with a Stamps.com account, at the conclusion of the two month free period you will be provided an opportunity to continue your account with Stamps.com, although you will be under no obligation to do so.