MaxRedline

Your Tax Dollars At Work

A University of Illinois perfesser has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation in order to pursue a cure for cancer means of altering the sexes of papaya plants.  No, this isn't a put-on; your money is really going to fund this critically important endeavor.  Apparently, the recession hasn't significantly impacted the halls of academia (or is that macademia?).  Either way, it's nuts.

U. of I. plant biology professor Ray Ming secured a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to change the papayas' sex to grow only plants that produce hermaphrodite offspring.

Why Bother?

Conservatives generally believe in the value of work.  You profit, or you fail, by dint of your work ethic and the value of your ideas.  While conservatives are among the most generous of people, we believe that welfare is a safety net, not a hammock.  Leftists don't share this perspective, and constantly attempt to portray conservatives as greedy, selfish bastards.

Few have the skills to put into words the basic ethics underlying conservative thought and action but OregonGuy is among those few.  He has a brilliant post on the subject.  After reading it, you may want a glimpse into what the Left offers.

We have a very obvious choice.  The selection process is underway.

Oregon: We Don't Just Grow Vegetables, We Hire Them

Oregon Department of "Transportation" (ODOT) has come up with a great idea to alleviate congestion on the 217 freeway  around southwest Portland:  close on-ramps.  We don't need to add traffic lanes, when that sort of money could be spent on fixed rail.  If they just close some of the on-ramps, then there will be less traffic on the freeway!  Problem solved!

I've got another suggestion: get rid of the brain-trust running ODOT, and use the savings to let the folks who actually know what to do - just do it.  The people on the ground don't need highly-paid "administrators" to make decisions for them.

Oregon could save millions of dollars - both now, and in future PERS liabilities - by dumping "administration" staff in virtually every department.  If they are needed, hire them back on an as-needed basis.  The plain fact of the matter is that the administrative classes, in every level of government, require close examination, because administrators add more administrators for a couple of reasons: they can build up their own little fiefdoms while justifying huge payscales because they're "supervising" all these other government staffers.  That means that they get their PERS payouts inflated as well.  It's really time to ask:  Just how many administrators does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  As none of them actually replace the bulb, do we really need them?

State Censorship, Round Two

A while back, Oregon tried to prevent people from publishing state laws, claiming that the state held copyright to the material.  This claim was bogus from the start, as any laws enacted by any public agency clearly fall into public domain.  After a brief battle, the state gave it up as a lost cause.

Intelligent creatures have a common feature in their repertoire, which we refer to as "single-trial learning".  In general, when an intelligent animal screws up big-time, it will not repeat the mistake.  It learns from that single bad episode.

This, however, is Oregon: Things Look Different Here.  And while there may be many things that can be credited toward our officials, intelligence isn't among them.  Attorney General John Kroger is now attempting to claim copyright over the Attorney General's Public Record and Public Meeting Manual.

Amazing.  The manual is intended to provide assistance to state agencies, local governments and to the public generally.  But it's copyrighted, so you can't have it unless you purchase it from the state.  Wrong again!  It's a public agency publication.  It is no more subject to copyright protection that are Kroger's e-mails.

Why is it that Democrats always promise openness, transparency, and honesty?

The Worst Bill Ever

That's how The Wall Street Journal describes the 1,990-page "health bill" that Nanny Pelosi unveiled last week.  If anything, WSJ sugar-coated it.  Among the many "features" of the bill are some which are likely unconstitutional, such as the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance or face heavy penalties. 

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has served in the Senate for 33 years and is a longtime member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not believe the Democrats’ health-care reform plan is constitutionally justifiable, noting that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance “then there is literally nothing the federal government can’t force us to do.”

This is roughly akin to the feds suddenly deciding that because milk has vitamins and minerals and is therefore "good for you", then everybody should be required to purchase milk.  You may, for reasons of your own, prefer not to buy it.  Your preferences, however, no longer matter, because milk purchase is now a requirement.  You will buy it, or suffer the consequences for your failure to comply.

If you want to drive, most states require that you pass a test, register and license the vehicle, and purchase insurance, correct?

Actually, no.  Most states require that you either purchase vehicle insurance or demonstrate that you possess sufficient financial resources to render such purchase unnecessary.  The states don't require you to purchase insurance or to provide similar assurance unless you choose to drive on public roadways.

If you have a large ranch, for example, and if you drive only on that ranch, you are not required to pass a test, to pay registration and license fees, nor to purchase insurance in order to drive a vehicle (on your own property).  What democrats hope to ram through is entirely different: it is an attempt to impose a federal requirement that you purchase a specific product, and this is far outside the purview of government in the USA.  Or, it has been - until now.

This is but one of several egregious attempts during the past month - all at the hands of democrats - to permanently degrade your freedom.

Democrats during the past month placed an amendment on a defense appropriations bill to make speech against homosexual conduct a thought crime.  The President joined with Egypt to sponsor a U.N. resolution that would ban speech that "defames religion" (though presumably exemptions were inserted into the language so that Jews and Christians can continue to have their beliefs urinated upon).

BO campaigned (his only real accomplishment to date) on a message of "hope and change".  That was the message - but it was likely only because the fawning media had dyslexic issues.  The real message was likely "dope and change". 

San Francisco Takes On Kellogg's

Apparently having solved all of their other problems, their City Attorney, one Dennis Herrera, has fired off a letter to Kellogg's (yes, the cereal company) demanding evidence that Cocoa Krispies really "helps support your child's immunity" as it purports to do on the front of the box.

Herrera claims that the company is playing to the public's fears about the recent swine flu epidemic by insinuating that eating Cocoa Krispies is analogous to, say, getting a flu shot.

Herrera's spokesman, Matt Dorsey told SF Weekly that although other cereals
may make similar medicinal claims, oftentimes those companies will include "language that adds 'truthiness,'" he said.

Truthiness?  What, exactly, is that?  We should send letters to Dorsey demanding evidence of the existence of "truthiness" anywhere in the San Francisco metropolitan area - or better yet, evidence backing up his claims to having obtained an education.

At least San Francisco is going after claims on a Cocoa Krispies box, unlike that other idiot who sued after discovering that Fruit Loops doesn't actually contain fruit.

Lawsuit Of The Day

Defective Underwear Causes Penis Pain.  Seriously, this is what "law" has come to in the USA.  Albert Freed won a trip to Hawaii, and his wife bought him some new Hanes undies.  The reason for the purchase is unclear.

A question for the guys out there: How long would it take you to correct a problem involving sandpaper and your penis? Don’t you think penis chafing is something that requires immediate attention and decisive action?

Corrollary query: would you actually file a lawsuit over something like this?

The War On America

Isn't it a curious thing?  This administration seems to require an unending parade of domestic enemies.  Fox News is an enemy.  So are tax protestors.  So are ObamaCare protestors.  As Valerie said, “I think that what the administration has said very clearly is that we’re going to speak truth to power. When we saw all of the distortions in the course of the summer, when people were coming down to town-hall meetings and putting up signs that were scaring seniors to death. . . . ”

Putting up signs is a Very Bad Thing.  That whole First Amendment thing is really quaint, but archaic and inconvenient.  "Truth to power"?  What a catchy, Leftist turn of phrase.  You can almost see Val out in the streets, railing against "the Man".  Of course, as BO's "senior advisor", she is the Man.  She's railing against herself.

Now BO and Co. are doing damage-control in advance of what they anticipate will be an election day that will not go well for them.  Of course, it's all Bush's fault, and Fox news, and a bunch of tea-baggers who really shouldn't be allowed any voice in important issues at all.

The most transparent administration in the history of the country that was promised has failed to materialize.  What we have, instead, is the whiniest administration in the history of the country.  Everything is always somebody else's fault.

The only individual in the administration who seems able to tell the truth is - surprisingly - Hillary Clinton.  “The percentage of taxes on GDP (in Pakistan) is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,” she said.

It may not be what she meant to say, and it may further strain her relations with BO's administration.  But the truth of her statement is indisputable, unlike what the rest of BO's administration has been trying to feed us. 

Homeland InSecurity

BO's Homeland InSecurity chief, Janet Napolitano, has issued some new rules for law enforcement:  Under "revised" 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and state and local law enforcement agencies, any information about local police efforts to enforce federal immigration law must be cleared through ICE before it can be released to the media or the public. DHS says it is doing this to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.

You don't want people who have no business being here to feel uncomfortable, after all.

Fearmongering

  Today's Fear-fest on swine flu involves your toothbrush.  Wash your hands before and after touching your toothbrush.  Wash your toothbrush before and after each use.  Disinfect your toothbrush daily.  Follow these directions carefully, or your toothbrush will surely kill you.