MaxRedline

Scarier Still

Alchemy Labz, creators and purveyors of fine legal drugs that undergo no significant testing.  These kinds of operations need to be shut down, but have largely been cruising along under the radar.

 

Scary, Isn't It?

Planning tally for new I-5 bridge: $108.5 million

That doesn’t include panel convening next week to study crossing’s design

The more I think about it, ol' Billy was right:

Let's kill all the lawyers planners; kill 'em tonight

Nearly $110 million peed away on nothing more than "planning".

This is where Republicans need to start:  if you want to shrink government, you start with the many "managers", the many "planners", and the many PR folks the various government agencies have.  Clean them out, and it's amazing how much cash can be saved.

 

Have A Thrilling Haloween

Take this to full-screen, and crank up the sound!

 

Pendulum

It looks like the independents are breaking right, which may be good news for Republicans in the coming days.  It's not exactly good news over the long term, though.  Independents are basically sheep. 

Lacking any actual convictions, they run here, then run there.

Their running is entirely dependent upon what, at the moment, scares them the most.  What Republicans need are some good, solid sheepdogs who can round up the mindless flock and move them into the pen.  And then they need to provide good, consistent care.

 

Amusing, If A Tad Long

Anybody can do cartoons these days.  Not well, but amusingly.

 

Just In Time For Halloween!

Metro, that sterling "regional government" had a great little money-making scheme going on - until somebody caught on. Metro's always looking for more cash to pay "planners" to find ways to force you out of your car, but they went a little overboard on this one.  Yesterday, they admitted that due to "records in disarray", they sort of accidentally resold hundreds of grave-sites in the 14 pioneer cemeteries they "manage".

As is usually the case in political circles in the Portland area, Metro held things down until the weekend; thus taking advantage of the most lethargic portion of the weekly news cycle.  Agency officials said the problem was first discovered in the fall of 2007 but did not go public with the extent of the problem until Friday. 

KATU first learned about the extent of the resold gravesites through a Metro whistleblower’s e-mail last month. In that e-mail the employee said someone had to investigate the problem because the agency was trying to hide the fact that it resold hundreds of grave sites.

“When you (KATU News reporter Thom Jensen) called to talk about it, we felt like we should let everybody know, so that’s what we did,” Metro’s COO, Michael Jordan said.

In other words:  "We got caught dirty, so now we're trying to do damage control."

 

Urban Reserves Axed

Local loon Carla crows over the fact that Oregon's LCDC (land conservation and development commission) ordered Washington County and the regional "government" known as Metro to remove 624 acres of "prime" farmland from urban reserves - which might otherwise have gone to development.

Commissioner Christine Pellett , a Central Point real estate appraiser, spoke to that during deliberations. "This particular Washington County farmland is actually a national treasure," she said, adding that climate change may hamper crop production elsewhere. 

Ah, yes - expert Christine knows that climate change may do something.  For all she knows, climate change may actually improve crop production elsewhere.  She doesn't know whether it will or whether it won't, nor whether the effect of climate change - if noticed - would be positive or negative.  Therefore, she made her decision based purely upon her theological leanings.

That her religious beliefs negatively impact a stressed area that had hoped to capitalize upon the high-tech industries in order to generate jobs is irrelevant to her, as is the fact that in Oregon, less than three percent of land in the state is "developed".

High-Speed Rail

The Oregon and Washington departments of transportation have received an additional $26.5 million in grants for development of a high-speed rail line between Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the award today along with $2.4 billion for high-speed rail development projects around the country - money that we don't have.

The Oregon state government agency will spend $4.2 million on planning and environmental studies between Eugene and Portland, and another $4 million on engineering and environmental studies related to rendering Portland's Union Station compatible with a high-speed line.  Washington's state agency will waste the rest of the cash on similar planning and environmental studies in Seattle.

$26.5 million on "planning" and "studies".  Heck, Portland could have built half an aerial tram for that kind of dough.

The Headline: Huffman Disses Palin!

Huffman Disses Palin 

RINO Jim Huffman: Sarah Palin not qualified for president 

The actual story, of course, is quite different.

BLITZER: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be president of the United States?

HUFFMAN: You know, I don't know about that. I admire her. The impact that she's had on politics, that she's rallied a lot of people to politics who haven't been involved in politics before. Whether or not she's qualified, I think she's -- her experience is probably no less than the current president's.

Go home to New York, Ron.  If your campaign has to resort to outright lies, you've no business in office.

Ted Kennedy Jr.: Partly Correct

TKJ has come out swinging against a proposed mega-wind-farm slated for Nantucket Sound by Cape Wind.  Cape Wind plans to build 130 turbines offshore in the Sound, and TKJ's dead-set against it.

Of course, skeptics will note that he simply doesn't want the view marred, but as he notes, that's not the main issue:  the power's simply too expensive to pencil out, given that there are land-based renewable resources nearby that are much less expensive.  Ah, but this is where Ted Kennedy Jr. inadvertently displays his ignorance of energy sources "green":

The facts are that clean, renewable alternatives to Cape Wind exist and are already online with capacity available to sell to Massachusetts. The choice is not simply Cape Wind vs. fossil fuels — there is wind energy from Maine, hydroelectric power from Quebec and biomass from the Berkshires.

Well, hate to break the news to you, Ted, but if you lived in Oregon, you'd already know - hydroelectric power is neither "clean" nor "renewable", according to state law.  Moreover, the EPA doesn't consider biomass to be "clean" nor "renewable", either.

So you're kind of stuck, there, Ted.  The only recognized sources of "clean, renewable" energy are wind and solar.  Although if you happen to own a fitness center and can harness the energy from stationary bikes, there's a slim possibility that government would approve those as "clean, renewable" energy sources after years of studies.