MaxRedline

Don't Get Rid Of Your Car Just Yet

Horror stories abound when people actually make the mistake of attempting to use TriMet to get from point a to point b.  I actually used it once to go to work.  My home's a 12-minute drive away, and I get to work at 6 a.m.  Using TriMet, I arrived just over two and a half hours late.  Frankly, I don't have five hours a day to spare in order to be "green" and ride transit.  Apparently, I'm not alone: 

And just a few days before Christmas, a writer at the Gresham Outlook described a similar situation, in which traveling nine miles from home to work required four bus rides and then some - at a cost in time of around the same length I experienced.  H/T to Troutdale Councilor Canfield for the find.

Heh! Portland and Metro Get Reined In A Bit.

This has got to make you smile.  Sam Adams and his merry band of thieves have run into a bit of a problem.  It seems that the feds aren't all that willing to kick in the taxpayer dough to help Sam fulfill his wet-dream of more streetcars.  It's looking as though Sam and the Planners are going to have to find pleasure in other ways.  That's a good thing, as the back pocket that holds your wallet can only hold so much K-Y gel.

The Federal Transit Administration says that Portland is failing to meet a cost-effectiveness test that planners here say is biased against streetcars in favor of high-capacity bus lines.

Now, that's interesting.  The "planners" at Metro and CoPo are claiming that the Feds are biased against their lovely little multimillion-dollar fixed-rail lines, when anybody who's lived here for a while can clearly see that the "planners" are biased in favor of inflexible fixed-rail.  What the Feds are saying is: build roads that can handle traffic and buses.  Which is pretty much in line with what us "little people" have been saying all along.

Golly, if they stopped dumping millions into fixed-rail and started fixing potholes - and maybe even (gasp!) laid more asphalt to create more road space, why, who knows?  They might finally stumble across a cost-effective approach.  Neil Goldschmidt's influence appears to be on the wane.

San Francisco Treat

You just can't buy this level of publicity.

The zoo director has admitted that the wall in front of their tiger exhibit isn't really 18 feet high, as he'd previously stated.  Actually, it's only 2/3 that high - and nearly 3 feet below minimum AZA standards.  The fact of the matter is that no matter the degree of motivation, the facility should be constructed to contain the animal even in a worst-case situation.  They failed.

People often do stupid stuff, and it appears that the kids on Christmas were more into taunting than contemplation.  That doesn't excuse the SF Zoo.  Just about every year, you can bet that some idiot is going to cross a barrier and dangle over the wall when exhibit designs allow idiots to do that.  In most cases, this serves as a means toward cleansing the gene pool.  The animals don't get out, but the idiot does get in.  And thus, luncheon is served.

The SFZ design allowed the unforgiveable:  the animal was able to leave the enclosure.  That should never occur.

Earmarks - Stealth Growth Of Government

Oregon’s U.S. senators presented the state with a series of gifts on Christmas Eve — a list of $360 million worth of Oregon projects in the recently passed omnibus spending bill.

The projects, otherwise known as earmarks, range from millions to continue TriMet’s light rail line to Clackamas County to thousands for historic preservation.

“From combating meth addiction to improving mass transit to protecting our most precious natural resources, the funding in this bill will go directly to making Oregon an even better place to live, work and play,” said Wyden.

“This vital funding helps ensure our kids are healthy and receive a quality education, our seniors get the care they need and our economy stays strong and growing,” Smith said. “Congress finally reached common ground to keep critical support going to the programs that need it most.”

What a crock!  This is commonly known as "bringing home the bacon" - in other words, pork.

A million dollars to buy 17 acres around Bridal Veil - a defunct mill-town near Bridal Veil Falls in the western part of the Columbia River Gorge?  A million dollars?  What the hell are these idiots doing? 

$78 million to build 8.5 miles of light rail?

Is there a contest going on to see who can pee away more of the taxpayers' dollars?  Ronny, Gordo: can you buy a clue for a bit less money?  You're not presenting us with "gifts".  That's our money, and we're getting pretty ticked off at the way you millionaire elites toss it around like confetti.

Then you have the unmitigated audacity to claim that you're "helping" us with these "gifts".  Here's a novel concept, boys:  How about cutting back on the "gifts" that nobody needs nor wants?  Have you boys ever heard of an interesting idea that is sometimes referred to as "fiscal responsibility"?  You may want to have one of your staffers run a web-search on the term for you.  The rest of us already understand it.

AlGore: "The Debate Is Over"

That seems a bit premature, as the head of the Church of Human-Caused Global Warming hasn't been willing to debate anybody.  AlGore just jets around the globe, dressed in his penguin suit, and waves to his adoring acolytes.  He did his debating back when he was running for office, and since that whole thing didn't work out, he's evidently decided to give up on the practice and just stick to preaching.  That's the wonderful thing about being a religious leader - you don't have to answer nagging questions.

Christmas dinner with the in-laws wasn't bad.

Could be worse - you could have been mauled to death by a tiger at the zoo cafeteria.  Why the heck anyone would want to visit a zoo on Christmas Day is unclear.  Fortunately, the Portland zoo is closed on Christmas, so presumably any Christmas treats for the tigers would be limited to zoo staff, rather than including visitors on the menu.  And as Portland's tigers appear accounted for, then all is calm; all is bright.

Ignore that persistent scratching at the door; toss another log on the fire.  Santa has come and gone, so you know it's not him.  It's probably just wind-blown snow hitting the door, anyway.  Do you really want to answer the door at this hour?  Probably not.

Just In Time For The Holidays

Actually, a bit late to the party, as noted by Federal Reserve head for New York: adverse self-reinforcing dynamic - which is Fed-talk for an economic downward spiral.  In other words, your 401(k) is about to go down the tubes.  Gold prices are increasing; paper prices not so much.  And when people who do economics for a living suddenly start to say things like

"They still have another couple of months before this starts imploding. Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don't think the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park," he adds.

it might be time to consider your options.

Huckabee campaigning for 23% sales tax

On the one hand, the Huckster claims that a 23% sales tax would be a wonderful thing, as it would abolish any need for the I.R.S.  Sounds great, as everybody hates, fears, and loathes the Internal Revenue Service.  "Service"?  Yeah right.  Just like you'd get "serviced" if you bend over to pick up an errant bar of soap in the showers at Shawshank Prison.

Yet bad as the I.R.S. may be, the Huckster's "plan" is far worse.  Much as Democrats and Liberal Republicans decry the current tax system, the fact remains that around 10% of America's richest folks pay close to 90% of the taxes.  Slap an across-the-board tax that takes a quarter of your income with each purchase you make, and you don't have to be Ronald McDonald to understand that such a program is going to affect middle-income and poor citizens very negatively.

Actually, prior to 1986, when Republican Bob Packwood of Oregon undertook a massive re-writing of federal tax code, the tax situation in the USA was remarkably fair.  It was sort of like a game: they have your money; how much can you legally get back?  If you played it right, you could write down the taxes you pay on fuel.  Interest on credit cards was deductible.  You didn't have to pay taxes on interest earned in a savings account.

All of that changed under the "guidance" of Packwood: even as he bragged in ads about how he was "putting more money into the pocket of your jeans", he was actually "guiding" one of the greatest ripoffs the American taxpayer has ever seen.  Soon enough, "experts" began worrying that Americans weren't saving money.  Savings accounts became liabilities under the Packwood Plan, so why should this development have come as a surprise?  If you put $100 into a bank and earned 5% interest - you suddenly got taxed on that interest.  And if you never added to that $100, you still got taxed - year after year, on any interest earned.  Somehow, it was a big surprise that Americans dramatically cut deposits into savings accounts.

Bad as the Packwood Plan was, in terms of ultimate effects - the Huckster's is even worse.

Not Merry At All

A guy down on his luck meets a woman with a big heart, and she offers to rent him a room in her apartment for next to nothing.  He agrees, and moves in.  All seems well, until she asks him to quit drinking the milk from the carton.  That's a killing.

Rios says the girl and her older brother did everything they could to protect their mother that night. "He got mad, went in his room and got a machete. And Sergio tried to stop him." Police believe Cruz that used a machete to kill Alvarez. Her children are still recovering from that attack.

The Clintons Have Problems

When Maureen Dowd, writing in the New York Times, starts raking Mr. and Mrs. Bill Clinton over the coals, they've got some big worries.  They're also likely really irritated.  And that's never a good thing.  Just ask the folks over at the White House Travel Office.  You sure can't ask Vince Foster.