MaxRedline

The History Tax. Plus Efforts To Hike Rates.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.  In Portland, after all, the most outlandish things can become reality.

The Oregon Historical Society now finds itself low on funds; a situation that bears some resemblance to what occurred with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.  Both museums vacated their prior digs in favor of new locations.  OMSI managed to find cash from the state in order to stay afloat, but OHS hasn't been quite as adept. Thus, OHS is exploring the creation of a "Heritage Taxing District" which would collect "a modest amount of property taxes" in Multnomah County.

Sorry, folks, but this isn't the Multnomah Country Historical Society.  So if you want cash, go state-wide or go nowhere.

In the meantime, having stolen $20 million from the Portland ratepayers to pay for Sam the Sham's latest pet project, water and sewer bureaucrats now want another 9% increase in rates - which are already the highest in the nation. We've seen a 64% increase in rates over the past 11 years, and they want still more.  And in the absence of any checks to the process, it takes three Portland City Council votes to keep shafting ratepayers.

Will there ever be anybody in Portland with the spine to say that enough is enough?  One thing's for sure - it ain't Randy Leonard.

Look For The Energy Star!

You know about the federal "Energy Star" program: your computer monitor was awarded Energy Star status, as was your dishwasher, your refrigerator, your cfc lights, and much more.  The program, run by the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, identifies energy-efficient products; in some cases, tax credits or rebates are provided to encourage you to buy them.

Investigations conducted by the Genearal Accounting Office were reported by that office yesterday, and it is eye-opening:  of 20 fake products they tried to get certified, two were rejected; 3 didn't get a response.  The other 15, however, passed - including a 1.5' diameter gasoline powered "alarm clock" with the model name "Black Gold" and an "air cleaner" that was actually a space heater adorned with a feather duster and several fly strips. A photo of the device is presented for your edification and consternation.  Yessir, folks, this got an Energy Star rating by the EPA.  No word on how much, if any, rebates were to be offered to encourage you to run right out and buy one. 

Government-run health care ought to be a real blast.

Peace, Respect, And Tolerance: It's The Leftist Way

Even as the Left and their friends in the media fret ever more loudly about "right wing hate speech" from the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and others, they seem curiously comfortable with the spittle-laden rants of their own:  Maher says that Democratic should treat Republicans the way Tiger Woods treats women, while "Avatar" director Cameron calls Beck a "f*ing A$$hole" before backpedaling a bit and stating that Beck is dangerous because his ideas are poisonous.

Now, I rarely listen to Beck, Limbaugh, or Hannity, but I've never heard them uses such terms.  Far from being laced with invective, the seem generally humorous in their approach to their leftist opponents.  Certainly, not once has there ever been an incident reported engaging in the sort of commentary recently spewed by Airhead Malloy, in which he called for the deaths of Limbaugh, Beck, and O'Reilly. "You rat bastards are going to cause another Murrah federal building explosion," said Malloy. "[M]aybe at that point Beck will do the honorable thing and blow his brains out."

"Rat bastards?" "Blow his brains out?"  Where are Nanny Pelosi and all the other Leftists who endlessly bemoan the "hate speech" which they claim emanates from right-wing extremists? 

Hope And Change

Things are getting interesting in Oregon, at long last.  Maybe some of the Democratic kids have started to grow up; maybe it's just a swing of the pendulum.  But it looks as though Scott Bruun has a shot at unseating Rep. Kurt Schrader - at least, according to Mapes in the big Zero.

Interesting as well is the fact that conservatives are moving in to contest seats held at the Metro regional government.  Jeff Reynolds  is currently holding a kickoff for his run out in aptly-named Fairview, and if conservatives can win seats on the Metro Council, it's just possible that the brakes can be applied to a runaway organization.

A recent audit found that Metro's zoo improvement project ran $1.6 million over budget, and a myriad of issues exist that will require even more money.  Metro is also paying $30 million per year to service the interest on the debt incurred from the construction of the Oregon Convention Center.  They're leaking millions of your dollars.  The Metropolitan Service District has clearly taken on much more than they can manage.

Lottery Profits Down, State Cuts Treatment

You could have seen this coming from miles away:  Oregon bans smoking in bars, and video-game revenues plummet.  How odd. Apparently it never occurred to folks that smoking is addictive, and gambling can be as well.  Smoking, however, is generally the more addictive of the two.  So when you tell people they can't smoke while playing Oregon Lottery games, you kill revenue from the lottery.

Back when I used to frequent bars, I was enlightened by first-hand observations.  People - especially older women, it seemed - would order water or maybe a pint, then head straight for the machines. They'd light up, stuff a $20 in, and start smoking and playing.  I've seen people go through about a pack of smokes and as much as $1700 in an evening.  It's amazing to watch.

Anybody with a butt for a brain could have figured out that by banning smoking, Oregon was effectively killing the lottery upon which state bureaucrats had come to depend.  Darned if that didn't come to pass.

And so the state, which has assuaged itself by touting its gambling addiction programs has, in the face of declining revenues, decided to cut the addiction programs.  What they should be doing: cutting bureaucrats and other staff.  Those people make their living off the addictions of others.  That's where cuts should be made.

And More Obamanation

As noted previously, BO has big plans, and passage of his health insurance initiative has apparently emboldened him.  The fact that the plan is doomed to failure doesn't matter, because the failure will occur when he's safely out of office.  He will, as always, simply blame somebody else.

But there are a few other issues cropping up, and it seems less likely that he can just walk away as he did with Netanyahu.  During the course of his campaign, he noted that his emphasis upon so-called "green energy" meant that prices would "necessarily skyrocket".  In Los Angeles, that means that electricity prices may rise by 37% during the next four years.  And AlGore stands to make a ton of money  from ratepayers' pain.

On the international front, BO continually attempts to humiliate our ally in the Middle East; berating them for building "settlements" in the long-established Orthodox enclave in their capital city.  BO may claim not to have heard any of Jeremiah Wright's many rants against Jews and against Israel during the two decades of their relationship, but one thing is abundantly clear: BO listened.

Obamanation

BO has big plans, and is apparently emboldened by the successful selling of his health insurance overhaul.  One aspect of the overhaul has inspired a number of legal challenges, and that aspect involves the individual mandate provision, which requires that by 2014, you must purchase health insurance from a government-approved exchange, or face penalties.  The I.R.S. is tasked with enforcement of those penalties.

BUT:  The Democratics who wrote the bill also included language that effectively prohibits the I.R.S. - or any other agency - from enforcing the mandate. 

The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

Anthropogenic Global Warming Will Cause Genocide

That's what the folks at National Geographic claim, and if you can't trust them, well, who can you trust?  They've always been there for you, right?  You've got to change your evil ways, baby.

Ummm...or not.  A couple of days ago, France did a sudden u-turn; abandoning plans to implement a carbon tax, much to the consternation of Environmeddlists across the globe.  Of course, with the routine rioting and car-torching that goes on over there, it seems pretty unlikely that a carbon tax could ever really work anyway.  It's not as though they could track down every rioter and hit him with a tax for torching somebody's Renault.

These Idiots Once Ruled An Empire

Okay, there's a 5-year-old 20 feet up in a tree.  At school.

You're a teacher or an administrator, so you take decisive action, in accordance with policy.  You "retreat inside the school to watch from a safe distance so the child will not get distracted and fall".

That's how you notice that a woman passing by has the audacity to actually help the child down from the tree.  That woman is very bad.  She was trespassing, don't you know.

Pip-pip, and all that rot.

BO Continues To Diss Israel

It'll be so nice to get our incompetent president out of office.  BO makes Jimmuh Cahtah look like a great statesman.