MaxRedline

Dem Taxes

Don't you wish you could just ignore tax bills in the range of $43,000 to $128,000?  Wouldn't it be nice if that was just "chump change" to you?  That seems to be the case for at least a couple of Obama's chosen department heads.  Timothy F. Geithner, who was chosen to run the Treasury Department, disclosed that he had not paid some taxes and subsequently paid $43,000 in taxes and penalties. He was sworn in on Jan. 26.

Tim just ponied up the missing 43 grand; no problem.

Thomas A. Daschle, nominated to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, did not pay more than $128,000 in taxes over three years, a revelation that poses a potential obstacle to his Senate confirmation.

The back taxes, along with $12,000 in interest and penalties, involved unreported consulting fees, questionable charitable contributions, and a car and driver provided by a private equity firm run by entrepreneur and longtime Democratic Party donor Leo J. Hindery Jr., according to a confidential draft report prepared by Senate Finance Committee staff.

A spokeswoman for Daschle confirmed last night that he recently paid back taxes in excess of $100,000. She said that Daschle, a former Senate majority leader, and his accountant discovered the error regarding the luxury car service and reported it to the committee after his vetting was completed.

These aren't "errors".  Most people don't suddenly "discover" that they didn't pay $43,000 or $128,000.  If you think these guys just made honest "mistakes", you'll likely buy anything.

Change?

Obama's putting thieves in as department heads.  You can bet that they'll hang onto their change, while prying yours out of your pocket.

The Religion Begins To Falter

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate.

This is an interesting discussion of the foundations of the new Religion and its current status.  It will be interesting to see what spin is applied approximately three years from now, when the storm currently brewing in the sun is projected to strike.

ICE Claimed To Engage In Racial Profiling

Illegal alien advocates scored some video footage taken by a 7-11 security system a couple of years ago and released it yesterday, along with a claim that it clearly shows federal agents unfairly targeted Latinos.

The video, taken from store cameras, captured U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounding up 24 men suspected of being illegal immigrants. Most have since been deported or left the country voluntarily.

Dang.  The agents were doing their jobs.  Another couple of dozen illegals off the streets!

Of course, this really ticks off the "advocates".  "Today, with this video, we're fighting back," said Jessica Alvarez, chairwoman of the National Capital Immigration Coalition. "Today, we are showing everyone exactly what our community has been telling us about the abuses, about the racial profiling."

Get out there and fight, Ms. Alvarez.  In fact, let me join you: WAAH!  There, that ought to show the mean old feds that you're not going to be pushed around any more.  On the other hand, if you folks didn't violate our laws over and over again, you'd have nothing to complain about.  On yet another hand, since the folks you represent insist upon violating our laws, you still have nothing to complain about.

Why is it so difficult for you to understand this one, simple truth: we don't want them here.

AR Groups Lose, Salmon Win - For Now

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) - which isn't an humane society at all, but merely an animal "rights" activist group, wanted to stop the removal and/or killing of nonendangered California sea lions which gather to rip chunks out of salmon below Bonneville Dam.  They have been spurned.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled in November against the Humane Society, which is trying to prevent Oregon, Washington and Idaho from killing or transporting up to 425 California sea lions over five years to relieve pressure on the spring chinook salmon run.

The AR nuts, of course, plan to appeal.  That's pretty much what they do:  HSUS doesn't save any animals.  Generally, they just kill them.  They were in the news a couple of years ago because they were sending vans around the east coast, picking up unwanted puppies and kittens for adoption.  In reality, they were picking them up, killing them, and dumping bags of corpses into commercial dumpsters.  They got busted for that, so they may not be doing it any longer.

But because they're a "humane society", folks get conned into sending them money, and since they don't really have anything to do with animals, they have tons of money to spend on obstructive litigation.

ConRail Disbanded

The Sheriff had a great money-saving idea: use light rail to transport extradited criminals from the airport to the downtown jail.  After a couple of trial runs, the plan's been halted.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office disbanded the new “Con Rail” program Thursday after only two inmate transports.

The cost-cutting plan announced Tuesday to use the Metro light rail to transport extradited inmates from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to the Fourth Avenue jail was met with criticism and unrest. Both Metro officials and riders expressed concern over the possibility of riding with inmates.

This makes no sense:  do you think anybody'd be acting up on a lrt car with a couple of deputies and a handcuffed inmate?  Portland ought to enact such a program!  That'd go a long way toward cutting down on crime around the east-side light rail lines.

The Dems Vs. Rush

Oh, you know that they know that they've got big trouble - so big that they're reduced to pathetic attempts to demonize a radio talk show host and in the process (they wish) to paint all Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, and anybody else who dares to disagree with their communist ideology with the same brush.

Did George Bush ever stoop to telling Senators that they've got to stop listening to Chris "the tingle" Matthews?  You know that the "Bam" is going out of Obama when he stoops to that level.

He's On A Roll

Which explains the butter-stains on the back-side of his trousers.

Obama's $800 billion (which will cost $1.2 trillion or so) "stimulus" package sailed through the U.S. House shortly after he went to the trouble of pointing out to Republicans "I won".  Not one Republican went along with it - and to their credit, nearly a dozen Dems failed to sign on.  That's because those folks know PORK when they see it.

That whole "reach across the aisle", "bipartisan" thing?  Forget about it.  That was just a campaign slogan.  Obama's got four years.  The clock's ticking.  And already it looks like he'll come up short.  It won't be because of dastardly Republicans.  It'll be because he'll have nothing of substance to show for his time in office.

Let's be clear about this.  Ronald Reagan inherited a huge economic mess, and despite the derision constantly dumped upon him, history shows that he made the correct decisions.  By contrast, Obama is already on the wrong track.

If he wants to entertain any hope of success, Obama needs to quit following Hoover and FDR, and look instead to Reagan.

Current Affairs

Well, back in Illinois, "Hot" Rod Blagojevich has been booted out of office.  Adding to it all, he's barred from any elective office - a political death sentence.  Now, whatever you may think of Blago, the fact of the matter is that the guy's not done anything that any other politician's not done.  The only actual beef with this guy is that they caught him on tape, using colorful language.  Every other politician does the same thing, using winks and nods.  Blago got busted and run out of office not because of what he did, but because he expressed what he wanted to do in a tactless and moronic way.  An' hey - that's embarrassin'.

Like it or not, they got principles back there in Illinois.

Which are sadly lacking here in the "progressive" Portland area.

Portly Debaucher In Chief Sam Adams never was taped saying something like "Sonuvabitch, what a hottie!  I f---in' wanna get inta that cute boy's pants!"

Nope.  He follows the Nike motto: Just Do It.

He lies about it, and sanctimoniously trashes those who dare to mention it.  He convinces his boy-toy to cover, wins election as Mayor, hires a reporterette into a high-paying job for which she's totally unqualified as a means of paying her off for her silence at a critical time, and heads off to D.C to "celebrate diversity" or whatever.

Then - and only then - after a very astute reporter puts the pieces together and gives him a call, Hizzboner Hizzonner decides to 'fess up before it all goes into print.  How very Portland.  Child rapist Neil Goldschmidt did the same thing after hearing from this same reporter.  This is how it works in Portland, see:  politician commits crimes but still gets helped into office.  People of course find out about it, but it's all okay.  Portland's like, really progressive.

Portland's a model for the nation.

Blago's biggest problem was his judgement and his direction.  He should have been doing his thing in the Portland-Salem circuit.  Unquestionably, he'd still be in office, here.

Freed From The Surly Bonds Of Earth

And never to be forgotten.  January 28, 1986.

AlGore Got Run Over By A Reindeer

Braving miserably cold weather, AlGore jetted in to tell our Senators all about how dire the threat to our home, our planet, really is.  I believe he also gave away several signed copies of "Earth In The Lurch" and other important works that he's done as the Grand Poo-bah of the Religion of Man-Made Global Warming.  A grand time was had by all.

Meanwhile, AlGore's go-to guy, James Hansen, was getting taken several notches down by none other than his former supervisor. 

Yes, one could say that I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results. I did not have the authority to give him his annual performance evaluation. He was never muzzled even though he violated NASA’s official agency position on climate forecasting (i.e., we did not know enough to forecast climate change or mankind's effect on it). He thus embarrassed NASA by coming out with his claims of global warming in 1988 in his testimony before Congress. 

Golly, don't you just hate it when your top prophets get outed?  Nothing can mess up a great religion quite like that.