MaxRedline

It Just Get Sillier

In Britain , the politicians have swallowed AlGore's line (and hook, and sinker):  "Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say."

That's just silly.

Meanwhile, over in the Czech Republic, saner  heads prevail:  "Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday he is ready to debate Al Gore about global warming, as he presented the English version of his latest book that argues environmentalism poses a threat to basic human freedoms."

Klaus has lived under socialism, so he recognizes red even when it's wrapped up in "green".

Lest We Forget

Our US Congress has become a charitable organization.  The time has long since passed for this behavior to be halted, as it is unConstitutional.  H/T Antihippiesfor the link.

Taking The 5th

Even the Big Zero's piling on Mike Erickson.  Ordinarily, you'd expect them to sit back and quietly cheer on the Democrat contender for Darlene Hooey's cold seat, so this is an unusual turn of events.  They even did some homework:  Erickson's got a lot of cash, but not much else.  Oregon Right To Life won't endorse him, Kevin Mannix won't support him, and even El Gordo de Smitho isn't going to back him.  That means that Mike's going to lose a lot more of his own money in an effort to buy the seat; the RNC sure isn't likely to devote much effort or other resources to him. 

"By doing the right thing for the good of his party, Erickson might regain some respect."

It's not as though the Zero's in any position to talk about regaining some respect, but if even they figure that they can talk that way about you and get away with it, you've got deep trouble.

American Invasion

A thousand traps are being laid across the border between Scotland and Northern England to counter an American invasion: grey squirrels from the former colonies appear poised to wipe out the indigenous red squirrels, employing a classic imperialist technique.  Just as imperialist invaders from Europe cleverly deployed bacteriological warfare in order to virtually wipe out the peaceful native american populations who lived in harmony with the planet, the dastardly grey squirrels - harboring as they do a pox virus (which they carry with natural immunity) - similarly threaten the peaceful red squirrel, which also lives in harmony with the planet.  And the viral effects are truly awful: 

"Although the method of transmission is unknown, once infected, reds die within a matter of days.

Early symptoms include lethargy progressing to open lesions and ulcers around the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, paws and genitals which cause blindness."

You know it's bad when it affects the genitals and causes blindness - just like your mom always warned.

An Export Opportunity!

There's one thing that Oregon grows in abundance, and that's "planners".  Recent developments in France have created an unprecedented opportunity for Oregon to shed some of its bumper crop: 

"Although still sparsely populated, like the rest of La France profonde, the Gers region in the south-west has seen waves of new arrivals. According to the local chamber of agriculture, behind the tableau of sunflowers, wheat and barley fields stretching far over its lush, rolling hills lie simmering disputes between farmers and the so-called "neo-rurals".

While they were drawn to the country's second biggest farming départment for its Armagnac, foie gras, and romantic reputation as home to The Three Musketeers, incomers have repeatedly complained about the stench of manure and poultry, and the roar of combine harvesters operating throughout the night."

Oregon should be able to capitalize upon this faster than you can say "urban growth boundary"!  Just a couple of questions need to be addressed up front:  do we price our planners by the kilo, or by the regulation?  In order to obtain the greatest profit, it seems as though it'd be best to go with the "by the regulation" formula; not all planners weigh 350 pounds, but they can all dash off a new regulation in the space of a heartbeat.  We should be able to resolve the question relatively expeditiously, and then quickly enter trade negotiations with France.

$125 Million Measure Slated For November Ballot

Dig deep; it's for a worthy cause.

Hang Onto Your Wallet, It's Going To Be A Rough Ride

With Sam Adams at the helm as Portland's mayor, expect even more big-money projects.  He's got big plans - and your money.  At 44, the Mayor's already been through one personal bankruptcy.  And if he's learned anything from that experience, the lesson is this: don't put your own money on the line.

Sam's planning to "remake" Portland's transportation systems.  Cars are out; fixed-rail is in.  Sounds a lot like our ol' buddy Neil Goldschmidt.

Sam wants to emphasize bicycle transportation, as well.  That may be okay on the floodplains that lie to the east of the Willamette River and in north Portland, but it's evident that the boy's never tried to ride a bicycle from, say, S.W. Taylor's Ferry Road to Sylvan.

What boy geniuses fail to grasp is that - particularly for those who live in the near-in southwest Portland environs, a trip to work takes ten to fifteen minutes by car - but two hours or more by public transit.  That's around four hours each day, round-trip (if you're lucky).  And it's a big reason why public transportation systems that depend upon fixed rail and a smattering of buses are doomed to fail, no matter how much lipstick politicians attempt to apply to the pigs. 

But hey, it's not his money he'll be playing with.

It's yours.

Politics Of Ascension

The Clintons are at it again.  Bill claims that he's never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running, and while he's shooting from the lipagain in South Dakota, the campaign blames Obambifor the minor backlash regarding The Little Missus' comment about RFK having been assassinated in June.  It seems a bit bizarre for Bill to lecture anybody on the subject of respect, as perhaps nobody has displayed less respect for his wife than Billy himself.  It's also odd to see the campaign - which ostensibly wants to distance itself from the repercussions of the RFK remark - continuing to keep the issue alive by blaming  somebody else.  It seems as though the more intelligent move would involve not bringing the subject into the forefront again.  Whatever happened to "the smartest woman in the world"?

Where Are The Environmeddlists?

GILROY, Calif. - Firefighters continued to fight a persistent wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that has chewed through acres of centuries-old redwoods, destroyed at least 17 homes and displaced hundreds of people.

Okay, we already know they don't give a rat's heinie about people or homes, but good grief!  That fire has gone through "acres of centuries-old redwoods"!  If a logging company went in to do selective thinning in such an area, you know that the earth-firsters and the sierra club and any number of other whackjobs would be right on the scene, protesting their stoned little hearts out and claiming that they somehow have a dog in the fight.  So what are they doing about this fire?  Where is their dog now?

Fueling Climate Change: Drugs

When it comes to tropical rainforest clear-cutting and the elimination of species, your car's not the problem.  Drugs are:  So far, Colombia's coca producers have destroyed 5.5 million acres of rainforest – an area larger than Wales – with slash and burn cultivation.  Mr Santos said: "This destruction of the rainforest for coca production and coca plantation has gone on under the radar of the environmentalists. We hope that this will be a wake-up call. We hope that the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace will start saying 'what is this?' "

Suggestion to Mr. Santos:  Don't hold your breath.  Most environmeddlists seem to be users, themselves.

It's not just a Columbia issue; USA wildlife refugesare being co-opted by druggers using the spaces to grow marijuana and to produce methamphetamine, according to the head of the National Wildlife Refuge Association and chairman of the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement.

This is a global problem, and the only way to halt the destruction would involve removing the demand.  Clearly, the US War On Drugs, with its primary focus upon growers and smugglers, is never going to work.  The US routinely sprays areas with broad-spectrum herbicides, which simply kills everything vegetative and results in additional slash-and-burn.  Smugglers won't stop because there's so much money involved. 

The focus needs to be upon the end users.  One method which would certainly be applauded by the politically-correct crowd would involve intensive educational "outreach" (they love that term!) in the hope of helping them to understand that their use of drugs is bad for the environment.  Of course, that won't work either.

Busting them, trying them, and then tossing them in jail won't work.

There's actually only one cost-effective approach that has any chance of working.

That approach involves adultrating significant portions of the drug supplies with lethal agents.  As users kill themselves by voluntarily taking the drugs, demand will fall off.  Assuming that we can agree that the most effective means of reducing the devastation involves insuring that end users die quickly after ingesting the drugs, we need to look into ways of promoting this desirable outcome.

One means might involve bioengineering.  Rather than indiscriminantly killing vegetation by applying herbicides, spraying a bioengineered population of microbes that selectively target coca would certainly be more effective in reducing the pace of deforestation than present methods.  It's not difficult to conceive, given the present state of genetics research, of development of a set of microbes that target coca and render the neuroactive components of the plants lethally toxic.  The growers wouldn't notice anything, nor would the processors nor the smugglers.  The only ones who would notice anything would be the end-users, who ideally would die within moments of ingestion.

Remove the users; remove the incentive.  That, and only that, will remove the problem.