MaxRedline

Family Affairs

The "cousin" of a blog acquaintance has been threatened with death.

In a particularly disgusting turn of events, the across-the-river neighbor of Patrick Joubert's relatives has threatened to shoot Patrick's "cousin" Jessica.  The friendly neighbor claims that she's been invading his vegetable patch, but given that there are so many potential culprits in the area, it seems unlikely that he can identify anyone with certainty.

Now, if Patrick was still in the area, identification would be no problem.  That red neck....

Metro Only Wants A Few Tens Of Millions More

They're virtually guaranteed to put a $117 million dollar bond measure up in November to "improve" the Oregon Zoo.  (OZ director) Vecchio on Tuesday briefed the Metro Council, which will vote next week whether to place the bond measure on the November ballot. Councilors indicated support for the proposal.

At least you may get to vote, which contrasts with Metro's approach when it comes to "planning".

But there are a few questions you may want to ask:  such as, "What's the zoo been doing with the money they already have?"  Well, for starters, they just spent a million dollars building a trail.  Next month, that trail will host a selection of "dinosaurs" - which the zoo spent another million dollars to rent for six months.  Yep, there's a sound investment.

The last time voters approved a multimillion-dollar bond measure for the zoo, the zoo peddled it as they are today: "making improvements".  Nobody told the voters that the plan was to get rid of all of the big cats and build a salt-water aquarium atop an unstable hillside.  But that's what they did.  As a result, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to manufacture seawater, and hundreds of thousands more on fish, clams, and other delicacies to feed the voracious critters.

Meanwhile, they implore you to "save the planet", to "conserve" and all that other greenie happy stuff.  They built a salt water aquarium and they contribute to the issue of overfishing in our oceans.  And they got you to pay for it.

Then they spent a few years scratching their heads and wondering why folks were so ticked off over the disappearance of the big cats.  So they brought in a couple of tigers and a couple of leopards.  Not good enough.  Okay, new plan:  run a begging campaign and raise a few million dollars.  Trash a whole set of exhibits of Nortwest animals and - Taa-daa!  Build a new "predators" set of exhibits.  "Bring back the roar!"  Finally, after a decade of complaints, they'll bring back lions and stuff.

You're supposed to forget the fact that they got rid of them without telling you that they were going to do that when you were voting for their last multimillion-dollar measure.

But the new bond measure is peanuts compared to the last one that you passed.  That one was only $30 million.  This is over three times that amount.  So what are they promising (or hiding) from you this time around?

Well, so far, they haven't told you that they spent a million dollars to build a trail, nor have they told you that they're spending another million to rent some dinosaurs for six months.  As Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois once noted, "A million here and a million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."

What else are you not being told?  It should make you wonder.

Of course, the news media never bothers to ask the hard questions.  Any time the zoo's PR department rings them and invites them up for a story, it's always just free advertising.  The media dutifully troop up, cameras and microphones in hand, and run bubbly pieces about the latest fun stuff with the animals.  Year after year, the same stories appear:  oh look!  The polar bears get ice-treats, and these guys over here get cardboard toys!  It's so cute, so funny - and so not-news.

Why does OZ need a PR department?  They are a government agency run by another government agency - which has its own PR department.  How much do all of these PR folks cost you?

So, what do you get if you decide that the zoo needs $117 million more of your money?  Don't expect the media to tell you.  Well, not directly.  They'll just parrot back the zoo PR lines, while looking earnest and nodding a lot.  What do you get?

According to the OZ PR department, the larger animals will get more room and more interesting space.  Well, who could be against that?

Question:  As some species simply are not designed for life in captivity, why would we house them?  We know that polar bears are solitary animals, and used to traveling great distances.  Why, then, are they maintained in groups, and in small spaces?  No zoo, however large, can possibly afford them conditions remotely analagous to those to which the animals are supremely adapted.

$11.6 million for the polar bear exhibit, a concrete bowl that doesn't meet zoo protocols and was designed chiefly to keep the world's largest land predators from getting out and eating people. The concrete heats up dramatically in the summer. The bond measure would add space, chill pools and add amenities such as scratching logs, among other work. The bears have shown signs of "fixed and repeated meaningless movements," such as pacing. "They're a flagship species for the message of global climate change," Vecchio said.

Umm...how much does it cost to add scratching logs?  How much "space" would be added?  How much would it cost to add chillers to the existing pools?  This is the kind of doubletalk in which Metro and OZ routinely engage.  They can add 30 or so square feet to a facility and still note that they "added space".  Bluntly put, they can do all that they say they'll do for for a couple of hundred thousand dollars - leaving them $11.4 million for whatever else they feel like doing.  A "flagship species for the message of global climate change"?  Get real.

$11.5 million to reduce water and electricity use and improve water quality. Vecchio said facilities such as the hippo pool have to be drained and cleaned daily, because the animals defecate in the water. The project would add filtering devices that allow water to be recycled instead of drained away. The hippos now require 5 million gallons of water per year and the penguins use 9 million gallons, he said.

So why does the zoo have two non-endangered, non-threatened female hippos in the first place?  Unless the zoo's come up with something that they're keeping very quiet, these animals aren't part of an endangered species breeding program, and they clearly consume an inordinate amount of resources.  Why not move them to someplace that wants to potentially breed hippos?  The hippos are there because "Big Tony" likes what he considers to be "ugly animals", and as zoo director, he gets to make the call.

The ugly fact of the matter is that the zoo chooses to maintain resource-intensive animals, while calling upon everybody else to limit their lifestyles in order to "save the planet".

OZ and Metro would, if they were honest, simply place a $9.2 million dollar measure in place, with all funds directed toward providing upgraded or new veterinary facilities in order to provide the best possible care for the animals maintained at the zoo.

Most folks would likely be willing to fund that.  But a $117 million dollar slush fund?  That's a harder sell.  Especially given their track record to date.

Real Guy Or Doughboy? Oh, What To Do?

Get Real, Portland!  You don't want this guy in office! 

Good Lord, you can't have people with common sense on the Portland City Council; it simply is not done in Portland!  No, no no - you need more dopes.  You want more dopes.  You want the Pillsbury Doughboy!  Hit it, Chris: 

Wow, that was enlightening and inspirational.  Our local doughnut shop was crammed after that speech.  You know Chris belongs on the council - just look at the way he holds his papers with one hand!  Lewis could never do that - not with both hands on a shovel.  He'd have to stop working in order to read his lines.

Sanctimony Doesn't Look Good On Anyone

A big group of friends and I were trying to figure out a bar to go to.  But I nixed the choice, because I’m vegetarian and that place always stinks of hamburgers from their outdoor grill. My one friend and I got into a big fight about it. She said, “But you used to eat meat and not mind the smell. You make everybody’s life difficult because of your personal choice.” Yes, it was harder to decide on a bar because of me, but I feel that because the first-choice bar made me gag, that was a legitimate reason to not want to go there. Is it OK for vegetarians to insist on meat-free environments, even if it means distressing nonvegetarians? And what’s the best strategy for getting your way without alienating your friends?

The telling note here comes in the last line: "What's the best strategy for getting your way?"

That's really what food nazis, smoke nazis, transportation nazis, and all of the many "planners" and others who know so much better than you are really all about.  They don't care about getting along; much less personal freedom.  No, it's all about finding ways to impose their beliefs upon you.

They just need to find a good strategy.

It really never occurs to them that maybe their ideas and beliefs are kind of offensive to others.  "Others" simply need to be "educated".  And to do that, you need a good strategy.  You need a good way to selectively strip freedoms away from the idiots who simply aren't as "enlightened" as you are, and you need to do it in a way that won't encourage them to simply take a meat-cleaver to your skull.

The Crop Felt 'Round The World

The "Breadbasket of America" has gone away, and won't likely be coming back any time soon.  One big reason: "Global Warming".  No, crops aren't suffering as a result of any climate change - it's just that the markets have changed.  Politicians eager to demonstrate how much they "care" have been pushing biofools by subsidizing biofool refineries and mandating that petol supplies be adulterated with varying levels of biofools.  And of course, other factors contribute to the snowball.  Still, the main factor appears to be that we continue to elect idiots.  So prices skyrocket, and millions will starve.

Half a continent away, in the North Dakota country that grows the high-quality wheats used in Fleishman's bagels, many farmers are cutting back on growing wheat in favor of more profitable, less disease-prone corn and soybeans for ethanol refineries and Asian consumers.

In the 1980s, more than half the farm's acres were wheat. This year only one in 10 will be, and 40 percent will go to soybeans. Braaten and other farmers are considering investing in a $180 million plant to turn the beans into animal feed and cooking oil, both now in strong demand in China. And to stress his hopes for ethanol, his business card shows a sketch of a fuel pump.

The ethanol boom, in particular, is providing strong incentives to keep former wheat acres in corn. Within a year, Braaten will be able to truck his corn to three modern ethanol refineries, one already built and two others near completion. These huge distilleries will need corn from an area about the size of Rhode Island, and many of the acres will come at the expense of such traditional crops as wheat and sugar beets.

Another Tool In The Box Upheld

If you want to vote in Indiana, you need a valid photo I.D.  Despite protestations by Democrats and liberal "civil rights groups" that such a draconian measure would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots, the Supreme Court held that a requirement of valid identification disenfranchises no one: The law "is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting 'the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,'" Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy. Unsurprisingly, Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.  The ACLU is "extremely disappointed" by the decision, which comes a week before the Indiana primary elections.  Any time the ACLU is disappointed, it's a win for Americans.

Closer to home - and isn't this just the pits? - a poor Portland lawyer lives with "perpetual jet-lag" because every few weeks, he boards a plane in Portland and flies to the Middle East to meet with a high-profile Saudi client who cannot enter the United States because he faces charges here of financing terrorism.

Golly, there's a heart-wrenching tale.  Poor ol' Thomas Nelson is afraid that the US government is monitoring his phone and email simply because his client is charged with financing terrorism.  Good grief, you'd think that the poor guy was in league with a serial killer!  Across the country, and especially here in Oregon, it seems, lawyers who represent suspects in terrorism-related investigations complain that their ability to do their jobs is being hindered by the suspicion that the government is listening in.  Let's see:  they have no proof, yet complain that they can't do their jobs because they suspect that the government is paying attention to their clients - who happen to be suspected of financial or other involvement in terrorist activities.  Well, you can see why the lawyers would be complaining.  Souter and Ginsburg must be absolutely livid.

Sam Adams For Mayor!

This is one "vision" for the City of Portland,  and it's really shiny.  Low-tech, but shiny.  They'll get around to fixing the potholes in the streets, and maybe even add some sidewalks and stuff.  Really, they will.  Why, as mayoral candidate Sam Adams has noted, if you just cough up a half-billion dollars in additional taxes, they can get started on it right away.

Well, after they get done "planning" more streetcar and light rail lines, that is.  When you get right down to it, he never really said what "right away" actually meant.  After all, when you're "planning" a "world-class city", you've got to get your priorities straight.  Wow - I just used the words "Sam Adams" and "straight" in the same post.  How weird is that?

Nevermind, you'll get your potholes fixed.  This is Portland!  Anything can happen.  Pigs can fly.

Those Incredible Penguins

Just when you thought you'd seen everything -

Fast Tracks

As Aaron noted about a month and a half ago, You’re going to get more streetcars, whether you like it or not. Just ignore the fact they don’t really relieve congestion. In Phoenix, they build roads. Imagine that! Building transportation infrastructure which can meet the demands of the people… what a concept!

Meanwhile, The Big Zero enthuses over the new tracks:

With two new lines nearing completion, the Portland-area's rail system will add 23 miles of track and grow by 50 percent in the next year and a half.

Another MAX extension will get attention this year, as the region decides whether to include light rail in a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River.

"Decides"?  It's already been decided.  And as usual, you don't get to vote.  Already, they're looking at turning the "conversation" to placement of new lines.  It's a "conversation" that you won't get to participate in.

It's All About Me!

At least, that seems to be the mindset over in the Humphrey campaign.  I forget who said it, but the image that The Little Missus is nothing more than Hubert Humphrey in drag just stays with me.  Although there's essentially no way that Billary can win this thing, The Little Missus and her whole dysfunctional family keep slugging and slinging and scrabbling toward Denver.  It's unfortunate that McCain has decided to bring up Obama's "Reverend".  Presumably, he was just trying to help The Little Missus along, but it would really be more prudent for him to sit back in the La-Z-Boy and shut up as the slugfest continues.  Hubert and the gang are doing fine all by themselves.