MaxRedline

Another Reason Not To Vote For Charlie

If Vera's endorsing him, he's the worst possible choice.

One thing that was really cool in the S.M Stirling novels was when he described Vera impaled on a pike outside the entrance to Multnomah County's Central Library.

Barry, Drink Your TEA

John Kuzmanich, over at KUIK, today discussed some of the apparent efforts by the IRS under the Obama administration to selectively target TEA party organizations around the country. This came out a couple of weeks ago, when a group in Ohio made known what's been going on for the past year with their application for nonprofit 501(c)(4) status.

If you've not tuned into Kuzmanich, you should probably consider it. The 1360 am signal doesn't get very far (heck, Tualatin mountain blocks it), but you can stream it off the internet, and you'll likely find it well worth the time. In any case, the IRS/TEA Party issue has been gaining some traction, and it appears to be an especially disturbing glimpse into our collective future, comrades.

Breitbart has recently reported that other TEA Party organizations around the country have been subjected to similar delaying tactics by the agency, in which additional (and irrelevant) information is demanded. 

Among the demands sent by the agency: “Please identify your volunteers” or “are there board members or officers who have run or will run for office (including relatives)”? What possible reason would the IRS have for Tea Parties to “name your donors” when said donations are non-deductible? 

Although the IRS has messed around since 2010 in many cases, they suddenly demand the above data and more, giving the TEA Party organizations a two-week deadline to comply.

It's enough to make you wonder if there's a conflict of interest going on; after all, TEA party folks are well-known to favor reduced government, which is surely anathema to the bureaucrats at the IRS. 

Related articles

• HMM: Congressional investigations sought over IRS 'assault' on tea party groups. Well, when ... (pjmedia.com)

Media Natters And The Pooch

Media Natters, an attack organization set up by former "conservative" - turned - Lefty David Brock and generously funded by George Soros, appears to have screwed the pooch. Daily Caller has been hitting them hard this month, and today's story of blackmail simply adds to the destruction of what little credibility the organization had retained.

Media Natters was established with a clear mission: to destroy Fox News, though they expanded to include any and all non-Left media outlets. With close ties to the Obama administration, they were on a roll for a while, but the Daily Caller's continued revelations have damaged their brand, and it's just getting worse: now, the liberal Alan Dershowitz has launched an attack against the organization in today's New York Daily News.  When even avowed liberals are coming out against your leftist enterprise, you've really screwed up.

Related articles

• Exposed: Media Matters Collaborated With Obama White House and News Organizations, Made Enemies List Of 'Preliminary Targets' (5440fight.com)
• THE DAILY CALLER: Interesting Nuggets From Media Matters' Tax Records. My favorite: "Media Matter... (pjmedia.com)
• INSIDE MEDIA MATTERS: David Brock's Enemies List. "An internal Media Matters For America memo obtai... (pjmedia.com)
• Media Matters Boss Paid $850,000 in Blackmail (inquisitr.com)
• Religious broadcasters group reportedly urges IRS review of Media Matters' status (foxnews.com)
• Lott: David Brock, Media Matters and gun control hypocrisy (junkscience.com)

Snakebit

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore, always carry a small snake.” - W.C. Fields

How much control is too much to cede to government?

 

Money For Nothing

The five cities with the highest water/sewer rates in the United States in 2011:

• Atlanta, Georgia
• Seattle, Washington
• Newport, Rhode Island
• San Francisco, California
• Portland, Oregon

Given the amount of rainfall and the huge amounts of mountain runoff available, doesn't it seem a bit odd that two of the most expensive places for water and sewer in the entire country are located in the Pacific Northwest?

At least we don't have a sales tax. Of course, Washington doesn't have an income tax. On the other hand, Washingtonians are nickel-and-dimed nearly to death: most states tax some services, such as telecommunications, water use, etc. But the state that taxes the most services is Hawaii, with Washington and New Mexico right behind, tied for second place.

In fact, out of all 57 states, only six tax more than 100 services: Hawaii taxes 160; Washington and New Mexico each tax 158. It seems unbelievable - how many "services" are there in existence. after all? Get ready, and remember that in Washington state, many of the same apply: Hawaii taxes barber shops and salons, dating services, interior design, pet grooming, window cleaning, gift wrapping services, laundry and dry cleaning, bowling alley and amusement park admission and tuxedo rentals.
 
In addition, any person in Hawaii engaging in service business, including professional services is assessed a tax equal to four percent of the gross income of the business. Professional services may include contractors, medical providers, tax preparers, dentists and hygienists, interior designers, hairstylists and/or legal services.

These taxes, it should be noted, disproportionately target moderate to low income brackets, and penalize small businesses. In states such as Hawaii and Washington, the Bill Gates and Paul Allens are relatively unaffected, as are the Microsofts and Boeings - the brunt of the taxation scheme is directed squarely at those with fewer resources. A four percent tax on gross income is huge for any small business, as gross income is not correlated to profit. Gross income is what is taken in prior to expenses such as materials, employees, utilities, and a host of other expenses essential to any business.

Oregon has a well-deserved reputation as business-unfriendly, but Washington is arguably no better, although they manage to support large enterprises, which Oregon is completely unable to do. Still, Boeing moved its headquarters to a more business-friendly midwestern environment, while in recent years, Oregon has lost virtually all of its former Fortune 500 headquarters.

Maybe there's something in the water.

 

Related articles

• Waterless Says Water Rates Continue to Rise (waterlessco.wordpress.com)
• States With No and High Income Taxes: A Quick Review (taxdebthelp.com)
• Will sales taxes come between Washington and Oregon shoppers? (dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com)

Feeding You OATS

Oregon "Active Transportation Summit" starts the day after your income taxes are due, which only makes sense: after all, the goal is to take your money and redirect it toward stuff that they think is important. Accordingly, this year they plan to talk about Economic Benefits; Advocacy; Planning, Technology and Tools; Funding; and Equity and Social Justice.

Yessir, gotta have that "equity and social justice" thing going. It wouldn't be proper communism without it. And "planning" is critical; you can't effectively steal without a plan, and the goal, here, is to divert funds from roads to bike paths. In the "advocacy" session, you'll learn that we don't call them "bike paths"; the proper term is "active transport". "Bike paths" and similar language are doubleplusungood.

Roads? Don't Be Silly!

The world will end this year, as foretold by the Mayans and evidenced by the fact that The Oregonian actually published a significant piece of journalism. Readers are hard-pressed to point to anything like it over the past forty years, but if the paper continues along this line, it may potentially regain some subscribers.

When it comes to cutting down to the core of Portland's many problems, however, Mark Hemingway nails it.

Why We Need Annual Legislative Sessions

It allows them to tackle the big, all-consuming issues, as we saw Friday when a ground-breaking bi-partisan bill was passed unanimously out of the House Rules committee for debate and consideration on the House floor. House Bill 4170 would allow people to train dogs on land zoned exclusively for farm use.

Thank goodness we can count on them to deal with the tough issues.

The Coming Ice Age

A report released at the end of January by British climate scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit showed that the Earth’s average temperatures have dropped to the same levels seen back in 1997 before the so-called “big warmup.”

The British scientists agree with many Russian and Japanese climate scientists that the world could be headed toward a mini ice age sometime in the near future.

The Czech Republic town of Kvilda on Feb. 4 logged an all-time record low temperature of minus 40 degrees. On the same morning, Graubuenden, Switzerland, plunged to minus 35 degrees, likewise a record low.

The record coldwave pushed all the way south into North Africa. One Saharan outpost reported 16 degrees. This trading station had never seen a minimum temperature below 25 degrees.

Clearly, the Brits at one of the focal points of the "climategate" email scandal have joined ranks with the Deniers of the Religion of Anthropogenic Global Warming. It's time to call Peter Gleick, so he can set them straight. He's good at faking documents.

Of course, forty years ago, we were all gonna die because of Anthropogenic Global Cooling. Today, the media dismiss it as mythology, but the fact of the matter is that in the 1970's, many of the people who today are profiting from the AGW scare were pushing AGC.

Related articles

• Is global warming hysteria finally dying? (examiner.com)

Wild In Wyo.

Having apparently resolved all other pressing issues, legislators in Wyoming have established a "task force" charged with assessing the feasibility of issuing their own currency, implementing a draft, mounting a standing army, and securing fighter aircraft and an aircraft carrier, just in case the USA undergoes a complete economic or political meltdown.

An aircraft carrier? Have those folks looked at a map, lately?