MaxRedline

Light Rail To Clark County

It's rare that left and right can meet in the middle and agree on something, but it's happening in regard to light rail extensions into Vancouver WA.  Only the most extreme advocates of idiocy, like Metro's Rex Burkholder, insist on pushing for hugely expensive fixed-rail "systems" that serve only a small proportion of the taxpaying public and which do nothing to counter the congestion that slows our ability to deliver goods and sevices to a snail's pace.  Rex and his pals think congestion is just wonderful.  The rest of us live in the real world, and we recognize economic catastrophe on the horizon.  Why's Rex in office?  Inertia.

Breeding Out Homosexuality?

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be “deeply offended” by the social implications of the tests.

Well, how interesting.  If homosexuality is in fact an aberration related to hormonal balance, then the matter should be investigated.  While it is certainly appreciated that homosexuals will, in general, not pass on any defects in genetic or hormonal makeup, the fact remains that if such imbalances can be proven and subsequently mediated, a major division in human society could abruptly disappear.

Homosexuals have comandeered terms such as "gay".  The old carol that goes "Don we now our gay apparel" doesn't refer to sexual conduct and style.  Yet now, when most people hear the term "gay" it is immediately associated with fudgepackers: homosexual men.  They've made great strides toward co-opting the language.

It must be admitted, however, that homosexuality is an anomaly.  It is neither "normal" nor productive.  There is no "right" to be homosexual.  It's not a psychological issue, it's a medical issue - and deserves further research.

critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans

And the problem is...what?

Saddam Hussein's execution, as covered by the major networks.

Saddam Hussein's execution, as covered by the major networks. Do you notice a difference?

Saddam Hussein Execution on Arab TV

Full video on Saddam Hussein execution in Baghdad on 30/12/2006, on Arab Tv Channel

Smuggling Our Way Into The USA

While "bipartisan" approaches to letting the roaches have amnesty yet again percolates through D.C., the upgraded enforcement along our southern border has had the effect of creating a boom in the lucrative business of smuggling.  In many cases, what once was seen as a discretionary expense is now viewed by would-be illegal aliens as an absolute necessity.  It's also spawned open warfare among competing smugglers.

"Leaders" of the "bipartisan effort" to further ruin our country include Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz. On the House side, Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.  Obviously, Flake is appropriately named.  You'd think that the flakes from Arizona would have at least a degree of understanding of the havoc that illegal aliens cause in the USA, but you'd be wrong.  They're clueless.

Meliton Aurelio Sanchez presents a wonderful example of what's wrong with American border security:

Over a two-week span he tried to cross four times in groups of about 20 people, but the Border Patrol nabbed him each time. After being dumped back into Mexico, Sanchez would return to the bustling border boomtown of Altar, a 90-minute drive from the Arizona state line. Mexicans who are arrested are typically freed within 24 hours, after a quick stop at jail for fingerprints. (Sanchez eventually got across. In a later phone interview from Durham, N.C., where he landed a $10-an-hour carpentry job, he said he paid $1,800 to a smuggler to be guided across the Rio Grande near Laredo, Texas, and be shuttled to Chicago by van and bus.)

In technical parlance, this is known as "catch and release", and while it may be a praiseworthy practice for fishermen, it's a stupid approach to border control.  It'd be much more cost-effective to fly these folks to Mexico's southern border and turn 'em loose down there.  Certainly, you wouldn't find the same folks trying to cross our border illegally four times in a two-week time-frame.  They may even give it up entirely.  Make it harder, and you at least slow them down.  The present approach is just silly.

What A Misleading Headline!

The Eugene Register-Guard really goes off the charts with this one:

Representatives gear up to protect cycling interests

Shouldn't that more appropriately read: Representatives gear up to push cycling agenda?  Because that is, in fact, what it amounts to.  Peter DeFazio, after all, has a bike and pedestrian bridge named after him, and it's a safe assumption that following his appointment as chairman of the Surface Subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee, he'll be pushing bicycles hard.

Although the work should reasonably focus on transportation infrastructure involving roads and bridges designed to maximize the efficiency of delivery of goods and services, DeFazio's likely focus will be on "mass transit" and, of course, bicycles.  Yeah, Petey - let's load this here Ikea couch onto the handlebars and just peddle it on down to our SoWhat condo, shall we?  What's that?  Impractical, you say?  Well then hey - light rail has a stop right outside the store, so just help me wrestle this thing onto the choo-choo, okay?  No problem; it's all good.  When we get to downtown Portland, we can lug it off the train and onto the streetcar!  What's that?  Impractical, you say?  Well try this for a novel approach:  build and maintain roads and bridges, so I can load the couch into the bed of my pickup and just drive it on home.

His Final Words

"Palestine is Arab."  And with that, Saddam was hanged - to the joy of many, to the consternation of others, and to the sorrow of the so-called Palestinians.  Saddam, after all, was their greatest ally.  Palestinians cheered during the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam launched scud missiles into Israel.

He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising with Israel by giving US$25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and US$10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends amounted to an estimated US$35 million.

$35 million could have moved a lot of Iraqis out of mud homes, but Saddam had better things to do with the money.  So it's unsurprising that the "Palestinians" are mourning.  Who, now, will pay off the homicide bombers' families?

A Million Here, A Million There...

Pretty soon, you're talking real money.  About four years ago, the Portland Development Commission paid some $1.2 million to purchase some land at Southwest Third Avenue and Oak Street.  Earlier this year, the PDC had the land appraised (apparently by somebody connected with a developer), and surprisingly, that appraisal came up with a negative number for the value of the property.  A negative number of around minus $2.7 million.

For a piece of property in the heart of downtown Portland?  Even folks living on the outskirts of town are seeing their property values rise each year.  Clearly, something smells in this scenario - and we can't blame it all on the dog snoozing in front of the fireplace.

Yet PDC took that number and ran with it, apparently not noticing any odoriferous qualities.  They proposed to simply give the property away to a developer in exchange for said developer's promise to build a 26-story condo tower there.  Yeah, that's the ticket - Portland really needs another condo tower.  Eventually, prevailing breezes carried the odor toward Portland's City Hall, and that's when it got interesting.

Commish "fireman" Randy Leonard decided that it was time to audit the stinkin' mess, while Mayor Tommy Potty crapped his drawers and objected vehemently to any such procedure.  Of course, his complaints were largely muffled, due to the fact that he was objecting loudly from the Council's Royal Bathroom, where Tommy stood buck-naked from the waist down as he busily washed his drawers in the Royal Sink.  Apparently, his objections were either overruled, or never actually heard at all; in which case we can blame poor bathroom accoustics.

Bottom line (sorry, Tom):  independent appraisal placed the value of the property at $1.2 million - or abut what PDC paid for it four years ago.  Well, "OOPS"!  Looks like everybody needs to go back to the conference room.

"I don't think a high-rise condo tower with affordable housing is viable today with a million-dollar land appraisal," said Robert Hinnen, Trammell Crow's senior managing director in Portland.

A Banner Year In NYC

New York City's Council really out-did themselves in 2006, banning 16 things and counting (pit-bulls are still pending).  They banned everything from aluminum baseball bats to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily Circus - and everything in between.  Foie Gras?  Banned.  Trans-fats?  Banned.  Cell phones in upscale restaurants?  Banned.  Wal-Mart?  Banned.

Apparently subscribing to the view that "common folk" are unable to arrive at sensible decisions on their own (and there is a case to be made for that view, as "common folk" elected these Council members to office), they've decided that the only humane thing to do is to increase the vigilance of the Nanny State.  It's an interesting exercise to guess at what will be up for bans in the coming year.  Meat or milk from cloned animals?  Zoos?  K-Mart?  Parakeets?  Macy's?

Global Warming "Crisis"

The world-renowned astrophysicist and global warming expert, AlGore, and his many companions are working hard for you.  They're doing their best to scare you to death.  And if you won't buy into their story line, then they'll give it away to teachers to indoctinate your kids.

It's Global Warming!  And We're All Gonna Die!  And It's All Your Fault!  As Charlie Brown of "Peanuts" comic-strip fame (himself also a noted climatological expert) might note:  "AUUUGGH!"

Of course, alarmists state with confidence that human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have reached such a high level that we're killing our planet, due to a "greenhouse effect".  In a "greenhouse" situation, CO2 prevents sunlight from leaving the planet; effectively raising global temperatures and resulting in untold catastrophe.  What you don't read or hear about today, in the Age of Big Brother, is the fact that identical arguments regarding anthropogenic CO2 emissions were advanced nearly forty years ago.  However, at that time, the argument went that human-caused CO2 emissions were certain to cause global cooling.  As a result, glaciers were predicted to advance as far as the equator.  And of course, this catasrophe would be All Your Fault.  During the past forty years, alarmists have done nothing other than to change their view of the nature of the Dire Consequences of Human Activity.  Since global cooling didn't exactly pan out for them, they've decided that we're responsible for global warming.

If they truly believed these dire scenarios, don't you think they'd do their absolute best to limit CO2 production in their own lives?  Like maybe by shutting up?  Or better yet, by simply dispensing with breathing entirely? 

Over two decades ago, when the atmosphere's CO2 concentration was approximately 340 ppm (up from a pre-industrial value on the order of 280 ppm), Idso (1982) stated in a small self-published book (Carbon Dioxide: Friend or Foe?) that if the air's CO2 content continued to climb, it would enhance plant growth and water use efficiency to the point that semi-arid lands not then suitable for cultivation "could be brought into profitable production," further stating that "the deserts themselves could 'blossom as the rose'." A few years later he advanced essentially the same thesis, this time in the pages of Nature (Idso, 1986) in a brief paper entitled "Industrial Age Leading to the Greening of the Earth." Then, after nine more years had passed, he once again propounded the concept, this time in a publication based on a talk he gave as part of the University of Minnesota (USA) Kuehnast Lecture Series on the topic of "CO2 and the Biosphere: The Incredible Legacy of the Industrial Revolution."

Throughout most of the succeeding years, this highly optimistic view of the biospheric consequences of the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content - and the great good it can do for humanity and nature alike - was largely ignored, as the world's climate alarmists took center stage with headline-grabbing predictions of catastrophic CO2-induced global warming and the host of disasters they contend it would cause. Now, however, enough has been learned to take Idso's upbeat view of the subject more seriously, in support of which statement we report the following information that has been developed from real-world observations and model projections of vegetative productivity made throughout the vast continent of Asia.

In other words, just like you were taught back in elementary science class, CO2 is captured and used by plants.  And as a byproduct, plants give off - O2 (oxygen).  As you may recall, that's what most animal life needs to use.

Completely and intentionally unaddressed by the lunatic fringe is the fact that the most potent "greenhouse gas" by far is not CO2, but methane.  And the reason it's unaddressed is because the global warming lunatics aren't really especially interested in global warming or global cooling.  They just want to accrue power over your life.  They can do this, they imagine, by blaming you for increased CO2.  And amusingly, even as they try to rake you over the coals, they promote preservation and expansion of the most significant source of potent greenhouse gases on the planet: wetlands.

Yes, according to the EPA, 76% of all atmospheric methane comes from wetlands.  The largest source (11%) from animals on the planet comes from:  (guess who?  It ain't you!) termites.

87% of the most potent of all so-called "greenhouse gases" can be traced directly to non-anthropogenic sources, yet the lunatics want you to stop driving your car in order to "save the planet".