MaxRedline

McCain's No Reagan

But it's nice to see him getting nudged in that direction.

Thanks to Coyote over at Northwest Republicanfor the find!

As Goes Vallejo, So Goes Portland

Vallejo is in Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and given the state of affairs around here, it's not hard to imagine that Portland may soon be hot on its heels.  Portland has a huge amount of debt, which they keep borrowing to pay off.  It can't be long before Portland follows Vallejo's lead.

To balance the 2008-2009 fiscal year spending plan, council members voted in May to declare the city in bankruptcy. City officials decided to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection after city staff projected a $16 million-plus deficit , and city and public employee union negotiators were unable to settle on a long-term plan to avoid insolvency.

City officials pointed to a plummeting housing economy and increasing city employee salary and benefit commitments, as well as past budget mismanagement, when explaining the bankruptcy decision.

Wednesday's spending blueprint proposes breaking negotiated contracts with the city's four employee unions in order to erase the deficit and reach a $1 million reserve. Employee salaries and benefits would be frozen at rates set during a stop-gap negotiated deal from March.

While Portland keeps borrowing money to pay for trains and trams, cutting sweet deals for developers along the way, you've got to suspect that their approach is not, to use their favorite buzzword, "sustainable".

The condo card-houses are going to come tumbling down, as Portland's "leaders" have set us upon a course with only one likely outcome: a train-wreck.

Actually, under years of Democrat "leadership", the entire state may be headed down the Vallejo trail:  The state will likely hold back $25 million, forcing agencies to make cuts to afford raises

How Cool Is This?

"Off with his head!"  Well, okay...Wexler didn't actually say that, but it was certainly implied,  In fact, his whole campaign has been based upon nothing but implication, a la "Big Brother". 

During questioning of McClellan, Wexler asked the former White House press secretary if he believed Bush authorized the leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson's name. When McClellan said no, Wexler said this meant that Cheney must have been the source of the leak, meaning Cheney was seeking to retaliate against the wife of an administration critic.

It doesn't matter whether or not Wexler actually said "Off with his head!"; the implication is clear enough.  After all, Democrats routinely try to convict folks by implication, rather than evidence.  And if Cheney's guilty of "thought crime", then clearly Wexler is as well.

Oh, hey wait - it's not supposed to go that way!

Great Kickoff!

Multnomah County Chairman Ted Wheeler's showing his clout by favoring light rail, and by pushing out MC election officials.  Having run on a campaign of "change", Wheeler's showing us already that he's just another Wheeler and dealer.

Martha MacKenzie, leaving Ted's balls in a jar by the door

Who are they for?

All the lonely creatures

Where do they all belong?

All the lonely creatures

Where do they all come from?

Fledgeling Packs A Punch

Recent startup Conservative Majority Project (CMP) has demonstrated early successes, as all candidates backed by the grassroots effor have passed the test of the primaries.  Spearheaded by Rob Kremer and Jared McKinney, CMP raised around $45,000 for the primary battles; virtually all of which went to the fight rather than into the pockets of political "consultants". 

Matt Lindland pushed through with a major victory over the "certified smart" people and won a decisive victory of almost 20%.   Wingard and Weidner also won, while current representative Flores and Thatcher prepare to take things to the mat in November.

Congratulations to CMP for conclusively demonstrating that conservatives can make a difference even in a state that is widely regarded as a Democrat stronghold.  Now is not the time to rest, however - if we are to rock in November, the time to get ready is now.  Anything you can do to support these folks is going to be effective,  And remember, you get a credit in Oregon for political contributions up to $50.  That's just a month of lattes at Starbucks!

Jim Weidner

Matt Lindland

Matt Wingard

Rep. Kim Thatcher

Rep. Linda Flores

Ah, Those Wacky Dems!

Democrats oppose drilling for oil in the USA, even though we have more reserves than Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, or Venezuala.  They also oppose building new refineries.  It seems odd that they adhere to this stance while calling for "energy independence".  They oppose nuke plants, hydropower, coal or natural gas.

So where does this "energy independence" come from?  It must be a big secret, because they're not saying.  Perhaps they want to install windmills in Congress.

In fairness, it must be noted that they're busy with other important stuff:

"Hopefully, there will soon be no more Countrywide," declared Barney Frank (D., Mass.) last week. Calling Countrywide "unusually sleazy," the House author of Congress's $300 billion housing bailout added: "Having Bank of America buy up Countrywide is a good thing for America." Yesterday, Countrywide shareholders seconded that by approving the transaction.

Oddly, a number of Democrats have mortgages from Countrywide, including Washington's Maria Cantwell - who was the only congress-critter contacted by Politico who refused to reveal her mortgage information.  As a result, Countrywide has become informally known as the Bank of Congress.

Meanwhile, back in Washington state, Democrats have been running an ad against Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, set to the theme song of "The Sopranos" - a popular tv show about the Italian mafia.  Called on that, they've decided to "amend" their ad.  They didn't see anything offensive about it, though many did: 

Democratic Party spokesman Kelly Steele said the video was not meant to imply a tie to the Mafia or organized crime.

Oh, of course not.  It was all just an innocent little flub on their part.  Happens all the time, you know, in the heat of campaigning and all.

So What About That Melting North Pole?

It turns out that undersea volcanoes are the culprit.  Darn, it just gets harder and harder to blame people when Mother Nature keeps getting in the way.  The news may not be all bad, however, as methods are being explored to harness some of that energy to produce power that people can use.  You just know that the environmeddlists are going to pitch a fit over that idea.

According to pop theology, Global Warming Is All Your Fault.  Yet today, even folks over at The Wall Street Journal are beginning to question the religious tenet: 

The essence of the scientific method is the formulation of hypotheses (ideas) and the using of these hypotheses to make predictions that can be experimentally tested. In the words of Sir Thomas Eddington in "The Philosophy of Physical Science," "Every item of physical knowledge must therefore be an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure."

Nevertheless, over the past several decades an increasing number of scientists have shed the restraints imposed by the scientific method and begun to proclaim the truth of man-made global warming. This is a hypothesis that remains untested, makes no predictions that can be tested in the near future, and cannot offer a numerical explanation for the limited evidence to which it clings. No equations have been shown to explain the relationship between fossil-fuel emission and global temperature. The only predictions that have been made are apocalyptic, so the hypothesis has to be accepted before it can be tested.

As we've noted before, there is very little that, according to the Religion, cannot be directly attributed to human activity that causes Global Warming.  The list is mind-numbingly long, and clearly demonstrates the urgent need for governments to impinge upon your freedom in order to Save The Planet.

Freedom, once surrendered, is not willingly returned.

100% Free

Sweet deal!

Most state employees received a pay increase of 3 percent one year ago and a continuation of fully paid health-insurance premiums for 2008, although they have co-payments for specific services and medications.

They are scheduled to receive another pay increase of 3.2 percent starting Nov. 1, under the negotiated contracts, and the state will cover an average 12 percent increase in premiums in 2009. Insurance is handled on a calendar-year basisreceived a pay increase of 3 percent one year ago and a continuation of fully paid health-insurance premiums for 2008, although they have co-payments for specific services and medications.

They are scheduled to receive another pay increase of 3.2 percent starting Nov. 1, under the negotiated contracts, and the state will cover an average 12 percent increase in premiums in 2009. Insurance is handled on a calendar-year basis.

Must be nice to get a 6.2% pay increase in only two years, with fully-paid health insurance premiums.  The state will cover it.  Well, better the state than you and me.  Oh, wait....

We're On A Bridge To Nowhere.

It's a done deal, as we all knew from the start.  It'll include light rail, which was also a foregone conclusion.  It will have six lanes - or maybe twelve, depending on what your definition of the word "lane" is.  It'll cost $4 billion (wink, wink).  Part of the cost will be defrayed by tolls.  The tolls will be tabulated electronically.

The Mouth of the Columbia was all over that, speculating that every vehicle crossing this bridge will have to be outfitted with a gps system.  Nahh.  They're going to use the same sort of RFID tagging technology that they use in Freddies for loss control.  It'll have much the same effect.

If the checkout person fails to run your package of ribeye across a neutralizing pad and just tosses it into your environmentally-friendly, re-useable bag, alarms'll go off when you exit the building.  It's not a problem; nobody's going to do anything.  It'll be pretty much the same thing on the bridge.

7th Century Progressivism

Down Under, the leader of Melbourne's Somali community yesterday backed calls for polygamy to be made legal, as an Islamic women's organisation said it was on the rise in Victoria.

Although in Australia, marriage is defined as a union of one man and one woman, some immigrants seem to believe that Australia should accommodatetheir culture.  It seems to be a recurrent theme, these days.

Here's a radical idea: if you aren't willing to adapt to the culture in your new "home", perhaps you shouldn't move.