MaxRedline

New Domestic Terror Threat

At present this appears to be only a threat, as apparently no action has occurred thus far.  However, a number of sources are reporting that visitors to Atlas Shrugs and to Politico have had a http://www.whitehouse.gov cookie inserted onto their computer hard drive. 

First, BO wanted you to send an email to the White House if you conversed with somebody and discovered that he or she opposed his policies.  Now, they've gone past that and appear to be surreptiously placing tracking cookies onto systems that dare to access sites that BO may find objectionable.  It's kind of like having a Big Brother watching benovolently over you.

Sleep tight.

Fat, Lazy, And Totally Out Of Touch

In today's news, one woman is "horrified" to find that chickens have heads, while in New Zealand, animal "rights" groups equate rabbits to your grandma.

The "horrified" U.K. shopper was given around $180 and a brand new vacuum cleaner to help her get over the ordeal.  Click that link; you'll love the caption accompanying the photo.

While in general, people don't exactly look forward to the end of life, it may well be preferable to enduring prolonged years amongst ever-increasing "political correctness" and the amazing degrees of stupidity that are accepted without question.  It seems clearly a generational thing; so many in their 30's and early 40's apparently lack any concept of what it means to actually work for a living - they want things handed to them while they sit on their butts to save the polar bears.

They have no analytical skills, no ability to prioritize, are easily "offended", and expect praise for simply showing up.  The Eagles have a song for that.

Just A Mass Of Tissue

No problem.  Easy enough to get rid of.

Sometimes The Headlines Write Themselves

Businesses fear city bike plan might drive people away

It might "drive" people away.  No, the people will drive away, because they can.

That might be because most people who might visit a business don't ride bicycles to get there.  You don't see a lot of bicycles parked at Home Depot or IKEA, and the brain trusts at Metro and CoPo "planning" departments aren't exactly what you'd call quick studies.

Their "planning" has decimated downtown Portland, because they focused on one thing: privately owned vehicles.  They hate those things.  So they pursued their grand vision of "creating" a "liveable,vibrant community" downtown, where people would walk, or ride bicycles, or maybe take a ride on a light rail "train" or a streetcar.

"If we build it, they will come".  That was their philosophy.

And so they built it, replete with no parking.  Oddly, people stopped visiting downtown Portland, and long-time businesses have fled the core to more vehicle-friendly sites.  Walk (or take a streetcar) through the downtown area today, and the empty storefronts speak volumes.  Obviously, the many "planners" at the City of Portland and the regional "government" have failed miserably in their attempts to engineer a social utopia in which private transport by vehicle is eschewed in favor of walking, biking, and streetcars.

But that doesn't really matter - because you're still paying $60,000 to over $100,000 (plus benefits) per "planner".  And there are dozens of them.  You're paying for a documentable history of failure, and you and your children will continue to pay.  That's because in the world of government, consequences don't exist.

People will continue to "drive away" from downtown Portland because as yet, Leftists haven't yet been able to tax-and-fee people quite enough to pry them out of their cars and trucks.  But shoppers and businesses can see the writing on the wall.  They don't need Portland, nor its "vibrant" downtown. 

What they do need is for Portland's fake mayor to turn his cell phone off "vibrant" mode, and keep his pants on.  What they do need is for the idiots who keep voting for "leaders" like Sam and Randy to either become informed, or to exercise their right not to vote.

Poor Polanski

Rarely do I find myself in agreement with anything published in Salon, but Kate's dead-on in her assessment of the Polanski arrest.

With any luck, he won't be extradited to Oregon, where induhviduals like Neil Goldschmidt and Sam Adams are not only accepted, but celebrated.

And So It Begins

Yesterday, in State of Connecticut et al. v. American Electric Power et al., the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals decided that states and other plaintiffs have the right to sue electric utilities for creating a ”public nuisance” by emitting CO2 and, thus, contributing to global warming.

This development can be viewed in a couple of ways.  First and foremost, obviously, is the likely effect that such suits will have upon your wallet.  When such suits are permitted, the only effect for you, financially, will be negative.  As is the case with most environmeddlist lawsuits filed in recent years, the net result is more money yanked out of your wallet while little, if any, substantive positive results are obtained.

As noted just in the past few days, environmeddlists are going after manufacturers of multi-ply toilet paper, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has agreed to divert a couple of million dollars per year toward creation of mosquito habitat in order to head off yet another environmeddlist lawsuit threat.

In regard to the utilities, however, it's hard to summon up any degree of sympathy:  These utilities for years have lobbied for carbon cap-and-trade schemes. Instead of opposing climate alarmism, they have helped promote it.

Once again, you get to pay for their idiocy.

You're So Green. You Probly Think This Post Is About You

Apologies to Carly

Portland's pervy "mayor" ran out to southeast Portland and shoveled some gravel into a pothole.  Yep, ol' Sammy's there for you, despite the fact that he's diverted a couple of million dollars away from road maintenance and toward his pet projects.  By golly, he's out there in a presser, showing you just how much he cares.

Vanity and insanity rules in Portland.

Environmeddlists have threatened to sue ODOT because runoff from roads may harm the environment.  ODOT has agreed to spend $2 million a year for at least the next 5 years to install wetlands and bioswales along the roadways so that when rain falls, the road-gunk will be moved into these new features, where plants will neutralize the pollution.  Expect ODOT to be threatened with lawsuits soon for providing mosquito habitat.  West Nile, or swine flu?

Meanwhile, that's another $2 million a year that won't go toward maintaining (much less improving) our roads.

Nutty Lewis & Clark Perfesser Strikes Again

He exhorts you to "weep for our country" in his latest installment of Bush/Cheney/Rove/Palin/ (any Republican will do) foaming and spittling hatred.  Dang, he's such a smart guy.  That would be why he tries to "ban" anybody who disagrees with him (or has a sense of humor) from commenting on his little ruminations.  The tax law perfesser gives you a prime example of liberal "tolerance" - and liberal brainpower.  And this guy may be "teaching" your kids?

Small wonder that the country's going to hell.

Newsflash: There's Mercury In Fish

Well, as Ronald Reagan once said, there you go again.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of people who eat average amounts of fish, the U.S. Geological Survey report said.

More than two-thirds exceeded the EPA-set level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. The USGS is part of the Interior Department.

And what, it their infinite wisdom, has our government mandated - pushed by heavy enviro lobbying?

Phasing out incandescent lightbulbs in favor of "energy efficient" compact flourescents.  By reducing energy consumption, we're "Saving The Planet".  Energy-inefficient incandescent lightbulbs are a thing of the past.  You are required to purchase "energy-efficient" compact flourescents (CFC).

Oh, one little problem with CFC - they all contain mercury.  If you break a standard lightbulb, you sweep it up and toss it.  Break a CFC, and it becomes a hazmat issue.  Most folks don't realize that, so they'll live in a mercury-poisoned environment.

And their government worries about fish.

It's Free Money! The Other Shoe Drops

As noted yesterday, a "free money" program in New York distributed $200 per kid.  It didn't take long for the other shoe to drop: the program has opened the door to rampant fraud, and the Monroe County Executive has called for the program to be halted.

Members of Gov. David Paterson's administration defended the program, saying tales of increased sales of video gameequipment and televisions are just anecdotes. The program allows families who couldn't otherwise afford back-to-school supplies to equip their children for a new year.

What's clear is that the actual amount of fraud will never be documented because state officials said there is no way for them to see how families are spending the $200-per-child benefit.

 Who could have seen this coming?  Fraud and welfare abuse?  Unthinkable!  As for the claim that the run on high-end electronics are nothing more than anecdotes, Wal-Mart was upset because they had no warning of what was about to go down last Tuesday.  The county reports that employees at the Wal-Mart store on Hudson Avenue called the Department of Human Services to say they thought welfare fraud was going on because there was a run on high-end electronics.

The stores received no notice of the program and would have been prepared had they known, spokeswomen from Tops and Wegmans said.

This wouldn't be news if only a few welfare mommas were involved, but the "free money" handouts resulted in stores running out of televisions and other electronics, and ATMs were cleaned of cash shortly after the "free money" was credited to the food stamp debit cards.

Tops reported that people would go through the checkout to purchase a pack of gum in order to get cash back from their food stamp debit card and repeat the process, as only $40 is allowed at a time, said communications manager Katie McKenna. Registers ran out of money.