MaxRedline

Transit -Washington/Oregon

Washington governor Inslee wants more perks extended to those who buy electric cars.

SEATTLE — Looking for ways to boost the use of clean-fuel cars in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee wants to extend a sales tax break for electric vehicles and explore giving them access to car pool lanes.

Unsurprisingly, EV supporters are all behind it, claiming that they reduce our reliance on "fossil fuels" and Save The Planet™ and so on, while completely ignoring the environmental effects of battery production and the power requirements involved in producing the vehicles. As has been mentioned here before, buying and driving two HumVees is more environmentally sensitive that buying and driving a Prius; the main difference is that Prius owners get the smug factor going.

And Inslee's getting a bit of push-back:

"Tell me that a person that buys a Tesla for $70,000 or $80,000 shouldn't have to pay sales tax? They can afford to pay that kind of money, why aren't they paying the sales tax?" asked Sen. Curtis King, who co-chairs the Transportation Committee, though he added that he would have to analyze the break before making a firm decision.

Maybe Inslee's thinking Nissan rather than Tesla, but it's still a good point.

Down here in Porkland, it looks almost as though Metro and Tri-Met are giving up on their dream of ramming another light rail line through southeast, as they're holding a Dec. 1 "forum" at Clinton Street Theater to discuss BRT (bus rapid transit) in the area, and light rail's not on the schedule. It seems kind of hard to believe, but it appears that a combination of factors has come into play that affect their choo-choo fantasies:

Federal money's starting to dry up, the realities of the huge operating costs associated with rail are starting to emerge, and voters have been passing ballot measures that call for a vote before any city funds are spent on light rail projects in Tigard, King City, and Tualatin. Not only is the writing on the wall, taxpayers have slapped them upside the head for good measure. So now they have to look at BRT.

As has been mentioned here before, fixed rail is just that: fixed. When one component breaks, everything stops. BRT doesn't have that issue; if there's a problem, they can divert to other streets to route around it. They don't come to a standstill.

It's taken Metro and Tri-Met too many years to grasp that reality.

Related articles

Inslee promotes electric cars to tackle pollution

DNA Plasmids Survive Launch & Reentry

Swiss and German researchers dotted seams and rivets on a rocket with DNA plasmids and found that upon recovery, some of the plasmids were not only still intact, but biologically active.

Surprisingly, they discovered that some of those building blocks of life remained intact during the hostile conditions of the flight and could pass on genetic information even after exiting and reentering the atmosphere during a roughly 13-minute round trip into space.

This has a couple of implications: for one thing, it emphasizes the importance of complete sterilization of spacecraft bound for planets or moons, as when searching for signs of life, we may inadvertently detect not alien life, but our own.

Moreover, as the plasmids survived atmospheric reentry, the possibility that astroid impacts may have deposited active DNA on the planet cannot be summarily dismissed; God, as the saying goes, works in mysterious ways.

Related articles

DNA Space Test - It's Alive!

Dope'n'Chains

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has spent November acting with a defiant fury, moving with little regard for the message voters sent at the polls.

This damn-the-GOP-torpedoes burst is dramatically different from the contrition and soul searching other presidents endured after their parties suffered stinging defeats.

George W. Bush worked with the new Democratic-controlled Congress after the 2006 election to craft economic stimulus legislation. Bill Clinton in 1994 overhauled his political team and would work to craft a bipartisan welfare overhaul. After Republicans lost Senate control in 1986, Ronald Reagan brought in Washington insider Howard Baker, who had been Senate majority leader, to run his staff.

Barry maintains that he's right; it's just the darned obstructionist Republicans that are messing things up. Of course, that's long been an established theme of his - after years of blaming Bush for his failures, he began blaming Republicans in general. When other presidents saw their parties suffer a crushing defeat, they got over being upset and found ways to work with the new majority. Not Barry. 

No, this is the same attitude he's consistently displayed from the very start, beginning with his famed dismissal of Republicans in a meeting shortly after he took office, in which he told them, "I won".

Not "we won", which might have been interpreted as including his fellow Democratics; to Barry, it's all about him - and it always has been. It's only going to get nastier over the course of the next two years.

And it appears that the Republicans have nothing to offer as a replacement.

 

Boko Haram Not Discriminatory

Those guys aren't just going after Christians any more; they blew up the main mosque in the Nigerian city of Kano and then started shooting. Dozens were killed; casualties overall estimated to be above 200.

Three explosions were reported in and around the mosque. The attackers also turned gunfire on worshippers.

They've gone from their initial rationale: opposing western education to plain old mayhem - all in the name of Islam, of course.

Offhand, it looks as though they'd fit right in around Ferguson, Missouri.

Related articles

Scores feared dead after explosions at Nigerian mosque

Brits Take Another American Tradition

Not only are they celebrating Thanksgiving, they've also adopted the Black Friday brawl:

Greater Manchester Police appealed for calm after attending seven Tesco shops, at which three men were arrested and a woman was hit by a falling television.

Pikers. Here in the USA, we've been doing it for years. Heck, that Brit woman only ended up with a broken wrist and a head injury!

We have a website devoted to tracking Black Friday deaths and injuries; we've got some experience with this stuff, while the Brits are playing catch-up.

We even know where the most dangerous places to shop on Black Friday are - we keep track of that stuff. We know, for example, that number one on the list is Best Buy, while Toys R Us is a close second. Walmart and Target are also good bets for trouble; Walmart can get you killed in a few heartbeats if you slip and fall when the doors open, so you need shoes with good traction.

Related articles

Black Friday problems hit Britain

The Magic Has Gone

Things have certainly turned ugly among D.C. Democratics in recent weeks. It must have something to do with the election results. In any case, the love is definitely not happening now:

In a high-profile speech on Tuesday dissecting Democrats' losses in this month's midterm elections, Charles Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, listed "a cascade of issues" botched by the White House, starting with Obama's push for healthcare reforms soon after he took office in 2009.

Later on Tuesday, the White House took the unusual step of publicly pledging to veto a deal on tax breaks that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was trying to hammer out with Republicans in the House of Representatives.

It seems a little early for Barry to start acting all petulant, since his Democratics still control the Senate for the next month, but then, without the Teleprompter-in-Chief, it's not all that surprising. Measured judgement has never been his forte.

Related articles

Civil War? Harry Reid Tells White House To "Get a Life"

Well, That Was Fun

I inadvertently managed to delete a post I left yesterday to the effect that it should be a good Thanksgiving as I'm not dead yet. Thanks much to those who left comments on that; they were and are appreciated. I trust that you all have had a great Thanksgiving, and I wish you many more.

I'm putting a new set of fingers on my Christmas wish list....

Related articles

Update: Should Be A Good Thanksgiving, I'm Not Dead Yet

Budding Businesses Already Pinched

As expected, deep pockets and big business are already moving into the pot business, as they can manage the regulatory and fee-based environments that are already tripping up the small-scale enterprises. What this means is that my arguments against recreational legalization in Oregon are already playing out.

Despite the claims of proponents, legalization will not bring a halt to illegal pot growing operations in our forests, with their attendant environmental damage; there will always be a black market for relatively less expensive weed.

Other states have also created rules that restrict entry into the cannabis industry. This year Connecticut issued four growing licenses that required each qualifier to put $2 million in escrow. A press release announcing the licenses said Connecticut is the "first state medical marijuana program based squarely on the pharmaceutical/medical model."

As experts debate, the results for entrepreneurs are clearer: Where legal marijuana is treated as something that should only come out of a pharmaceutical company, small storefront businesses won’t have much of a chance.

Most of these guys don't have an extra couple million dollars lying around to stick into an escrow account. So they won't open a storefront, they won't pay the high fees - but they will continue to acquire and sell product. Users will doubtless feel better about themselves, and some may actually purchase the high-dollar stuff. But most of the current users are comfortable with their current sources; why should they be motivated to pay so much more for "legal" weed?

None of the claims advanced by proponents will come to pass. It would have been smarter for Oregonians to wait a few years and observe what transpires elsewhere before leaping onto the legalization train. But then, that's not what the Valley voters tend to do. Washington and Colorado expect to rake in millions of dollars in additional taxes. Maybe they will; maybe they won't.

Related articles

Millions expected in Wash. pot taxes to 2019

Legal Marijuana Will Help Oregon Economy

Thanksgiving Blues

At most stores - even the widely reviled Walmart - employees who want overtime pay are given first crack at going in to work on Thanksgiving. Not so at Radio Shack, whose employees must show up, whether they want to or not.

After some pushback from its employees, RadioShack gave in just a little: after originally planning to open from 8 a.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving, its stores will now close for a few hours in the middle of the day so that its folks can have a little bit of family time.

Big of them, isn't it? Former Tandy drone Jon Bois gives us an inside look at what it's like to work there. It's a story of long hours, low pay, extensive labor law violations, and much more during the 3.5 years he worked for the company.

Black Friday, 2004: arrive at the store at 4:30 a.m. First customer appears at 9 a.m. to purchase a cordless phone battery, yielding a potential commission of as much as 23 cents. And it's all downhill from there.

A story of graciousness and good cheer, this isn't.

In my tinkering days, back when Radio Shack stocked dozens of small bins full of resistors and capacitors and stuff, I used to visit on occasion. But those days went away around the same time as the venerable 5.25" floppy disk; Now, they mostly stock phones, batteries, televisions. Not parts. Want a remote-controllable toy car? They've got you covered.

Of course, so does Fred Meyer.

But speaking of good cheer this holiday season, let's scoot over to Prineville, Oregon, where Woodgrain Millwork on Tuesday laid off nearly 200 workers. The mill's been the third-largest employer in Crook County, which was built on the timber industry. And while there's no really good time to find out you're suddenly unemployed, dropping that bomb two days before Thanksgiving sort of redefines the term, "low-class". Yet with folks like this around, all may not be lost:

I am going to help. I am going to give.

Six weeks ago I blew out my hand while logging and have been out of work. The situation has had far less of an impact than I had expected. I have trusted God would work it for good- and He has. I have done what I could and left the rest to Him, taking Him at His word.

I feel blessed, and I am. There is so much I have to be thankful for. My heart grieves for these families, and I want to be a blessing as I have been blessed. My wife and I have discussed sponsoring a family, and while I'm not sure exactly what that means yet, I have faith an avenue will be revealed.

I trust many in Central Oregon will help ease this burden suddenly imposed in Prineville. We are Americans, and that is what we do- we help our neighbors in need. As we enjoy this Holiday with our friends and family, and consider all we have to be thankful for, I encourage you to join others who also desire to be a blessing and give to this cause. Together we can show how Central Oregon takes care of it's own- because we do, and we will.

May your turkey be tender, your gravy goopy, and your friends many. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Indeed.

Happy Thanksgiving! Now Eat Your Cranberries

Cranberry growers have a vexing problem: they've been way too successful on the production end. And let's face it; the only time most of us eat cranberries is as a sauce on Thanksgiving.

For some growers who sell cranberries to processors, a pound that brought in 90 cents in 2008 was worth about 12 cents this year.

They've been able to offload around six million pounds of berries to China, and USDA just agreed to buy $55 million worth, which will be distributed to food banks and school lunch programs. Still, they need to break into some new markets. And something I was unaware of until now:

Wisconsin growers hosted Chinese buyers in August, letting them taste tart raw berries and cranberry wine. In October, Chinese journalists spent two days in Massachusetts cranberry fields, where they donned waders and stood thigh-deep in bogs filled with floating cranberries. (Such scenes, popularized in advertisements by Ocean Spray, actually happen only at harvest when growers flood their marshes so berries can be mechanically pulled from their vines and skimmed from the surface.)

I'd always assumed that they just grew in the water. And who knew Wisconsin's one of the big production centers?

Related articles

USDA buying cranberries due to oversupply

Thanksgiving Day 2014 Quotes: 10 MORE Thanksgiving Quotes to Eat Turkey By