MaxRedline

Happy April 1

As a general rule, the day is associated with levity. Let's move past that.

Media Natters Takes The Fat Boy Down!

Um, well, this must be embarassing: despite all of the money that George Soros has fed David Brock and Media Natters, Limbaugh's not only still on the air; his ratings are higher than ever. No, the blowhard who's out of a job is none other than their darling boy Olbermann, who has once again been fired despite having single-mouthedly brought hundreds - if not thousands - of drooling, slobbering left-wing loons to the powerhouse network known as Current TV. AlGore hired him on a five year contract, and that's out the window after about a year.

Olbermann was immediately replaced by somebody a little less volatile, who can be relied upon to blow his paychecks on hookers but otherwise won't cause much trouble: the honorable Eliot Spitzer.

There must be something in the water - just a week or two ago, Oprah kicked her dear friend Rosie O'Donnell to the curb, and now AlGore dumps Olbermann. Of course, the big question on nobody's mind right now is "Where does Keith go from here?" He's been fired from every major and minor network that took a chance on him, and so most people might begin to wonder if they have a problem. But Keith's made of sterner stuff, and so like Barry, he'll blame somebody else.

Of course, the job pickings are getting a little slim; it's possible, however, that one of those five-watt stations that don't need to be licensed will pick him up in exchange for his help in maintaining the restroom. Alternatively, he may just take his show on the road: rumor has it that the McDonald's franchise in Philomath, Oregon is considering adding a live performance venue.

He may begin working the drive-thru, as it has a microphone, and the nice thing is that it's bound to have a lot of college-kids passing through, so the propaganda opportunities are really excellent.

If he can just stay away from the fries....

Do Environmeddlists Play The Lottery?

A photo of Jules Eichorn taken in the late 1970s at a Sierra Club Mountaineering Base Camp in the Minarets Range of the Sierra Nevada in California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lottery officials indicate that during the last few hours before the drawing Friday night clerks across the country were generating $1 million in sales per minute.

That's a lot of ink, a lot of paper, and a whole lot of that nasty electricity produced by burning coal. It would be a bit hypocritical for Sierra Club, Audubon, NRDC, or members of other environmeddlist groups to participate in such an unclean and unholy event, as it would clearly conflict with their religion. Even a $640 million payout should not tempt them.

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Human Achievement Hour March 31

Between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. this evening, some people will be sitting in the dark to express their "vote" for action on global climate change. By doing so, they they signal their desire that governments "take action" to Save The Planet™, such as implementing further restrictions upon energy production and consumption.

In other words, they'll be advocating for increased regulations, increased restrictions on resource use, and concommitant reductions in individual freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Were the sorts of restrictions that they advocate today in place a hundred years ago, they would have no lights to turn off. They'd have no telephone, no television, no refrigerator, no heating system, no plumbing, no car, no computer - basically, they'd have a whole lot of nothing.

Thats why Human Achievement Hour (HAH) was born: to counteract the luddites in celebration of the fact that now is perhaps the best time to be alive that has ever existed. Be thankful for all that you have; turn on the lights, have some friends drive over, drink a beer or a glass of wine, watch some tv or listen to some music. Or just take a hot shower - something else that was impossible a century ago.

HAH!

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Guest Post

 

By Imogen Reed

 

 Financial Train Wreck

Activists are gathering in Washington County in vocal opposition to possible construction of unnecessary light rail routes. The controversial and unjustifiably expensive light rail line that was proposed to carve its way across Clackamas County looks set to duplicate itself in Washington County. As you’d imagine, locals are as enthusiastic about the possibility as the Clackistanis are.

Pre-Emptive Action

Petitions were filed in the Washington County cities of Tigard, King City, Tualitin and Sherwood as countermeasures against possible proposals. If the petitions are successful it will mean that any announcements for new rail systems must first pass a public vote on the financing of the projects.

The hope is that the issues can be put before the special election ballot on September 13. To qualify for admission, the petitions must first gather a certain number of signatures, though the chief petitioners in each city, Doug Davina in Sherwood, Aaron Crowley in Tualatin and Billie Reynolds in King City, and Art Crino in Tigard, are all confident that volunteers will gather a sufficient quantity. The actual tally required varies from city to city due to their varying size – ranging from 4,277 signatures in Tigard to a mere 273 in King City – but compared to the percentage of each city’s population such totals relate to, only a small voice of the city is required in order for those who run it to sit up and take notice.

Councilors in Tigard confirmed that Crino had filed the petition and that they were still reviewing it. It first needs to be approved and then if it is not subsequently challenged, the ballot title will be confirmed within 17 days. Crino and his volunteers would then have until June 20 to collect the required number of signatures from the townspeople.

When asked to clarify his position, Crino stated that “We believe the public should have a voice. It’s not that we’re saying no light rail,” and that “We just want to make sure that light rail only comes through our towns if the citizens approve of it."

Although no actual projects for the construction of light rail routes have yet been officially proposed for Washington County, local government officials have initiated a study, to be carried out with Metro and Tri-Met, to investigate all the “high capacity transit” options to run along the Southwest Corridor, running along Southwest Barbur Boulevard and Highway 99.

 

Opposing Opposition

It will come as no surprise that those who actually support the light rail initiatives are voicing their concerns about the possibly detrimental effect that any such enforced vote will have on local council processes, claiming it will set a dangerous precedent.

Legislative candidate Carl Hosticka pointed out that while showing you are giving the locals a say in the matter might give a good appearance, he also declared that it was “undemocratic” to allow them to potentially overturn regional legislation and that any project “could be held hostage by a small group.” But then, he is the councilor for Metro that represents the area of Washington County in question, so he is somewhat obliged to make those kinds of statements.

The other issue raised was that any races for office would be slowed down by candidates having to take a stance on the issue, with former Metro Council candidate Steve Schopp referring to it as an “opportunity for activists to rally behind interrupting the regional policy making.” Because heaven forbid that local councilors be forced to voice an actual opinion.

 

Clackistani Uprising

 The first example of the general population making their opinions known in such a manner was in Clackamas County only a few weeks ago.

When the $1.49 billion light rail route to run through Clackamas County was announced it was met with a great deal of hostility from locals. Many felt that the idea of local legislators diverting such a vast sum of taxpayer’s money to a project without requiring general approval was utterly unjustifiable.

Almost 12,000 signatures were submitted to the County Elections Office, and although only 9,728 of them were validated by a statistical sampling method, it was still 350 more than the minimum required to qualify for the September special election.
Some 1,500 volunteers collected 8,000 of the signatures in only six days through gathering them by any means necessary, be it by going door-to-door, or grabbing people when they were on the street or out shopping for upholstery. The swiftly accumulated tally indicates how strongly opposed to the project the population truly is. If this level of opposition is anything to go by, the cities and people of Washington County will have no trouble making their voices heard.
-----------------------------------------------
Additional notes: Although voters approved construction of the initial Portland/Gresham light rail, they voted down additional lines, which government agencies built anyway. The agencies then decided not to bother with the formality of gaining voter approval, and have planned and constructed additional lines. Activists recognize that the only way to bring them under control involves severing the agencies' access to the public purse. At this writing, Metro and Tri-Met are well on the way to burning through $10 million in tax dollars on "studies" of "high capacity transit" in the southwest area. In planner lingo, that means two-car light rail "trains" - because that's all that fits into a downtown Portland city block. And in the Metro/Tri-Met mindset, everybody needs to go to downtown Portland.

In Portland and the surrounding area, "high-capacity transit" means two light-rail cars. If you want to see real high capacity transit, you might look at the El in Chicago, the Metro in D.C., or the New York City transit system - none of which run two-car "trains".

Further note: the guest writer has been permitted one plug for nonoffensive content in exchange.

Reasons To Move To Canada

They actually seem to have grownups in charge.

Where Did Barry and Al and Jesse Go?

Friends and relatives of the British tourists that 17-year old black thug Shawn Tyson murdered want to know that, too.

The powerfully built teen even looked bored as emotional DVD presentations about the dead men prepared by their grieving parents were shown in court.

You know the race-baiters'd be all over it if the skin colors were reversed.

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Oh No - Now We Have To Treat Scientists.

This research is (sorry) at polar opposites with the IPCC orthodoxy:

Current theories of the causes and impact of global warming have been thrown into question by a new study which shows that during medieval times the whole of the planet heated up.

It then cooled down naturally and there was even a 'mini ice age'. 

A team of scientists led by geochemist Zunli Lu from Syracuse University in New York state, has found that contrary to the ‘consensus’, the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ approximately 500 to 1,000 years ago wasn’t just confined to Europe.

In fact, it extended all the way down to Antarctica – which means that the Earth has already experienced global warming without the aid of human CO2 emissions.

Clearly these folks must be rounded up and treated for the illness which causes them to be skeptical of the tenets of the One True Religion, and those who promulgate such heresy must likewise be rounded up and treated.

 

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Thine Heresy Poseth Risk Unacceptable

University of Oregon "professor" refines the agenda: if you're skeptical about Anthropogenic Global Warming, you must be rounded up and treated.

LONDON — (March 26, 2012) — Resistance at individual and societal levels must be recognized and treated before real action can be taken to effectively address threats facing the planet from human-caused contributions to climate change.

That's the message to this week's Planet Under Pressure Conference by a group of speakers led by Kari Marie Norgaard, professor of sociology and environmental studies at the University of Oregon. In a news briefing today, Norgaard discussed her paper and issues her group will address in a session Wednesday, March 28, at 2 p.m. London time (9 a.m. U.S. Eastern; 6 a.m. U.S. Pacific).

In many discussions in the last 30 years, climate change has been seen as either a hoax or fixable with minimal political or economic intervention, said Norgaard, author of the book "Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life" (2011, MIT Press). "This kind of cultural resistance to very significant social threat is something that we would expect in any society facing a massive threat," she said. The discussion, she said, is comparable to what happened with challenges to racism or slavery in the U.S. South.

Professor Norgaard considers that fuzzy-studies academics such as herself must stand shoulder to shoulder with the actual real climate scientists who know some maths in an effort to change society and individuals for their own good.

Well, alright then - as long as it's being done to you for your own good. It's always comforting to know that Really Smart People are looking out for you. Go Ducks! And hey, if you doubt that people are causing Global Warming, you think slavery's fine, too.

They're taking the religious war to the next level: if you don't Believe, you're sick and require "treatment".

Priced Out Of The Market

You probably saw those "Februany" five, five-dollar, five-dollar foot long commercials that the Subway chain was running last month. As it happens, the offer was good everywhere in the USA except San Francisco. Why?

They priced themselves out of it. The city, populated by do-gooders, raised their minimum wage to $10.24 an hour, rendering the business model (to borrow a little Leftist lingo, here) unsustainable. 

The sandwich-making chain stopped selling the five-dollar footlongs in San Francisco due to the "high cost of doing business."

An interesting aspect of the minimum-wage bandwagon is that, while the costs associated with hiring unskilled workers continues to climb, your wages remain relatively flat. Minimum wage guarantees in San Francisco, Oregon, and Washington have skyrocketed in recent years; expect to see similar measures deployed by those businesses that remain in the largely Socialist Pacific states over the coming years.

When Oregon jumped onto the bandwagon a few years ago, I mentioned to a co-worker that it might be time to consider an easier line of work, as over the next decade, minimum wage will equal or exceed what took us a quarter of a century to achieve.

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