Two New Polls: OREGON'S GUV'S RACE TIED

TURN IN YOUR BALLOT TODAY!
WSJ/ZOGBY AND RASMUSSEN.

THE DEMOCRATS: UNFIT FOR COMMAND

So you see the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were right. This apparently is what the Democrats mean when they say they "Support the Troops." This loser is in Washington today with Maria Cantwell whose opponent Mike! McGavick has pulled into a dead heat with her. Gee, do you suppose any of the mainstream media will ask John Kerry in Seattle today about his comments? Me neither.




"You know education [sic]... If you make the most of it, study hard, you do your homework and if you make an effort to be smart, you do well. If you don't you get stuck in Iraq."

**TURN IN YOUR BALLOT TODAY! UPDATE**

Ron Saxton
Mike Erickson
Jim Feldkamp
Derrick Kitts
Jack Roberts for Supreme Court
Yes on Measures 39, 40, 41, 43, 48
No on Mult Co Local School Option-school board caved and gave teachers huge raises with the last one (I want teachers well paid, but I don't get a raise without money in the bank)
No on 17% increase in Library Levy. Last time they said they'd extend hours with the levy. They cut hours and gave the libararian a 20+% increase. You've GOT to be kidding me.
Confused about judges? Go to Crime Victim's United website here.

Caption Contest!

Governor Saxton always tells the stories from throughout the state where locals ask him when he gets elected if he'll ever come back because Kulongoski never has. Now apparently Ted is going back with one week left in the election. Note: the date on the picture.

SEND IN YOUR BALLOT TODAY

DON'T LEAVE YOUR BALLOT TIL THE LAST MINUTE THIS YEAR! DON'T. TURN IT IN NOW.

Help Name the Two Tram Cars *Plus a Special "Ask Victoria"

They've been claimed from customs and are on their way to floating like 'bubbles' over the freeway, highway, homes of those poor schmucks on Lair Hill. Yes, the two tram cars are here at a cost of a half a mil each. And the people in charge--either OHSU, City of Portland, Homer Williams, PDC---we have no idea--want you to help name them. So I'm taking your suggestions. I'll go first.

BOON -DOGGLE
KOHLER-COASTER (this name already exists to pay disrepect to outgoing OHSU head Peter Kohler for this ill conceived idea, but we're looking for names of both cars and I thought we could reprise this for purposes of this contest).
Listener Bill writes in and suggests
WAL-MART
RONALD-REAGAN
Keep the ideas rolling in !

Dear Victoria,
If the tram holds 78 people, are they going to replace the buses that seat 40 but can squeeze 60-80? Will it be a "frequent service" line, running every 15 minutes or less? Will it run when the buses can't make it up and down the hill in the snow and ice?
Just pondering,
Gerry
Beaverton
Dear Gentle Listener,
The Tram will result in fewer buses running to pill hill to ensure that at least someone will ride the tram besides the doctors, nurses, staff etc who work at OHSU.
There will be plenty of buses around during frosty, windy days because the tram, in all liklihood, will not be able to operate.
Thank you for asking.
Victoria
PS This is just another reason why we call it the "Tram Scam"

The Commercial That Makes the Democrats CRAZY!

OFIR UNVEILING

*NEW TO THE BLOG: ASK VICTORIA*

MAIL IN BALLOTING

Dear Victoria,

Can it be shown, that the current vote-by-mail process, in Oregon, has more fraud occurring than the combination of show-up-at-the-polls AND absentee-ballot processes in other states? Should this not be shown, before fraud is used as an excuse to eliminate vote by mail? Or are you also proposing that the absentee ballot process be eliminated? Does fraud not usually start with the registration process. Perhaps this is the process that needs more scrutiny (as opposed to the ballot marking and submission process). When you say that Ron Wyden, wants to "further exploit the voter" (as you stated on your radio show) what do you mean? I believe that some want to eliminate vote by mail, because it changes the timing of when people vote. This is a challenge to those using advertising to manipulate the thinking of the voter. Timing is an important element of such advertising.

Dear Gentle Listener,

How about requiring people to show legitimate ID when registering to vote and voting--at a polling place. And by legitimate I DON'T mean ODL's.
If you use an absentee ballot (which could be limited to a certain percentage of voters), your vote will not be counted until you provide legitimate ID if you haven't already.
In just *four* counties in 2004, there were 20,000 votes that were counted without the voter ever sending in the ID required by law. There were 11,000 in MultCo alone. When it was discovered by the SOS's office that Ruth Bendel and Mike Belenisi were requesting and receiving this information, the SOS's office told the County Election offices that it was adviseable--and lawful (cuz he makes up the rules) to destroy those records. Now I'm not a chem trail kind of gal, but that is something that needs to be looked at.
The state of Oregon has a complaint driven system. That means they don't cull through to check to see if those folks ---for example the 152,000--who stayed home in post 2004 elections are REAL citizens--either of this country or legal residents of this state. If you've heard me rant about this before (and if you listen to my show how could you not?) you know that the DMV has a don't ask don't tell policy on citizenship. So when non citizens get their ODL's they're also --by law--given a voter reg card.
80,000 illegal aliens (that we know of) were given driver's licenses during the past few years (the Robleto cases in Wash Co), how many of those people had ballots sent to their "homes" and how many of those ballots were voted? The SOS's office doesn't know because it doesn't check.
It's nothing short of a scandal of enormous proportions.

Sincerely,

Your Devoted Talk Show Host

In addition, please read John Fund’s piece here. Here are the money ‘graphs:

But absentee ballots aren't the answer to election fears. They clearly increase the potential for fraud "The lack of at-the-polls accountability and protection from intimidation makes absentee ballots the tool of choice for those who commit fraud," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded in 1998 after a mayoral election in Miami was thrown out when it was learned "vote brokers" had submitted hundreds of phony absentee ballots. More recently, in Wise County, Va., three elected officials were charged this past March with 900 counts of ballot fraud. They had filled out absentee ballot applications for others, intercepted the ballots in the mail, and then filled them out themselves. Last year a Connecticut state representative admitted, according to the Hartford Courant, that he "illegally induced elderly residents of the Betty Knox housing complex in Hartford to cast absentee ballots for him." He got off with a $10,000 fine and community service.

Mr. Fortier [of the American Enterprise Insititute who’s just written a book on voting] says that greater measures to combat absentee ballot fraud are needed, such as using computer software to check signatures and investigating those that don't match. Similarly, an inked-space could be provided for voters to submit a fingerprint with their absentee ballot--a precaution that is taken in Mexico and several other countries. To provide for voter convenience, Mr. Fortier suggests expanding the number of hours a day that states allow early voting at government buildings, although he believes the early voting period should be limited to 10 days before an election to ensure that as many voters as possible have the same information available to them when they make their choices.

New Poll Shows Kulongoski Pulling Away. VOTE!

Do you suppose the numbers will move when the voters figure out the future former governor's tax 'plan'? Image from Oregon Catalyst. Oregon Catalyst has a look at the "plan."
This is the latest from Riley Research Associates. Stream the Victoria Taft show here.
KULONGOSKI 47%
SAXTON 36%
STARRETT 4%
OTHERS 2%
UNDECIDED 12%

Here's what one insider says: the last Riley poll was taken before Kulogoski's ads got off the ground and Saxton's immigration ads were in full flow.

Here's NW Republican's Coyote's take on it:
Victoria,
A couple of things about this poll.
First, you never like to see your guy behind. However that being said, it cannot be a good sign that the incumbent is still below 50%. What you may be looking at here is that Kulongoski as the incumbent has peaked. Conventional political wisdom says that if you are the incumbent and you are still below 50% at this point in the election you are not going to convince any new people to vote for you.
That is why so many Republicans nationally are in trouble.
So the undecideds will break more heavily toward the challenger.
Obviously that won't be enough. However that brings me to my second point. I just don't see Starrett pulling 4%. I don't get it. No, perhaps people are telling pollsters that but in the end I just can't see her pulling more than 2%.
So:
Ad 2% from Starrett onto Saxton... 38%
Ad 9% from undecided onto Saxton... 47%
Ad 1% from undecided to Kulongoski... 48%
I bet that is closer to where things really are. In my humble opinion.
Yip Yip

Democrats Gone Wild! Begin Defacing Saxton Signs. What Else is New for These People?

Thanks to orbusmax.com for the above pic.
NW Republican calls my attention to this defaced sign (below) in Washington County on SOMEONE'S PRIVATE PROPERTY!


This must be the one I saw the other day at Cedar Hills Boulevard and Barnes, a popular place for political signs and kitty corner from where WalMart wanted to build a store.
I want you to think back to previous election cycles. Can you remember ONE case of a republican defacing signs, shattering huge picture windows at headquarters, slashing tires, spray painting cars with candidate stickers on them? Of course not, but all of those things happened in Portland to republicans' signs, headquarters, and cars.
The Democrats are scared and out of control.
According to Oregon GOP officials this is the latest death toll of Saxton signs:
ALL THE SAXTON SIGNS IN BEND AND REDMOND WERE SPRAY PAINTED.
MANY IN WASHINGTON COUNTY WERE PAINTED OR SLASHED.
ALL OF LINCOLN COUNTY'S SAXTON SIGNS WERE STOLEN.
ALONG VISTA (IN PORTLAND) SAXTON SIGNS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING STOLEN.

NYT Finally Apologizes for Throwing Lot in With Terrorists

***Late Ad: Michelle Malkin asks the public editor what he meant by the "Vicious Response" here.
Too little, too late? From the NYT'S Public Editor who's just figured out that giving details of a program that will help track the terrorists money funneling schemes might help keep us a alive.

My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s decision to publish its June 23 article on a once-secret banking-data surveillance program. After pondering for several months, I have decided I was off base. There were reasons to publish the controversial article, but they were slightly outweighed by two factors to which I gave too little emphasis. While it’s a close call now, as it was then, I don’t think the article should have been published.

Those two factors are really what bring me to this corrective commentary: the apparent legality of the program in the United States, and the absence of any evidence that anyone’s private data had actually been misused. I had mentioned both as being part of “the most substantial argument against running the story,” but that reference was relegated to the bottom of my column.

What kept me from seeing these matters more clearly earlier in what admittedly was a close call? I fear I allowed the vicious criticism of The Times by the Bush administration to trigger my instinctive affinity for the underdog and enduring faith in a free press — two traits that I warned readers about in my first column.

Vicious criticism?" The NYT's public editor calls the righteous indignation felt by the government charged with keeping us safe 'vicious criticism.' Whose side are these people on?

Why Iraq Could be Like Vietnam

Read on:
From Investors Business Daily on Friday:

Iraq War: President Bush's acknowledgment that some "could be right" in comparing Iraq to Vietnam cheered the anti-war left. But he didn't mean it the way they think, and he won't give them the results they want.

It's a mantra of the anti-war left that Iraq is like Vietnam in the quagmire sense, a waste of vast amounts of treasure and blood in a futile attempt to impose our will on a population rising up to resist us. It's also part of the mantra that 1968's Tet offensive was an American and South Vietnamese defeat.

So when the president responded to a question by former Clintonista George Stephanopoulos by saying New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman "could be right" in his assessment that the current escalation of violence in Iraq was akin to the Tet offensive in Vietnam, leftist hearts everywhere fluttered in joy and the misquoting began in earnest.

What Bush actually said, for those who really paid attention, was that, as in 1968, there's "certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election." He added that the jihadists in Iraq, like the North Vietnamese, "believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and force the government to withdraw."

Tet was a military disaster for the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap failed in his plan to seize and hold 13 of 16 provincial capitals and trigger a popular uprising. The communist forces lost upward of 50,000 killed and as many wounded. After Tet, the Viet Cong were effectively finished as a fighting force, with the NVA taking over.

But when Walter Cronkite was on the air proclaiming Tet a communist victory in the first televised war, the facts on the ground got lost. We may be thankful that CBS News didn't have cameras in the Ardennes in 1944 while asking Eisenhower why he didn't plan for the onslaught and what his exit strategy was.

In a postwar interview, Bui Tin, who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese army and who received South Vietnam's surrender in 1975, said it was the anti-war movement, fanned by gloomy media reports, that was "essential to our strategy."

Highly covered visits by Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark, et al. "gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses." Today we have Cindy Sheehan and John Murtha. America lost the war, Bui Tin observed, "because of its democracy. Through dissent and protest, it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win."

What Bush meant when he conceded Friedman "could be right" in comparing the current escalation in violence to Tet is that the jihadists in Iraq hope to play our media like a fiddle, bombarding us with graphic images of car bombs killing innocent civilians until the last helicopter leaves the roof of our embassy in Baghdad.

This election is like the election of 1974. Thirty-odd years ago, the Democratic "Watergate babies" were elected, and one of their first actions was to vote to deny South Vietnam $800 million in military aid, including ammunition and spare parts. Five weeks after that vote, North Vietnam began planning an armored invasion of the South, knowing we had grown war-weary and would not help.

In 1975, two years after the armistice we signed with North Vietnam, Saigon fell to an army of 570,000 North Vietnamese regular soldiers and 900 Soviet tanks, well-supplied and armed by their Soviet and Chinese benefactors — after a Democratic Congress, in a fit of post-Watergate pique, cut off aid.

Georges Clemenceau once observed that war is a series of catastrophes that lead to victory. But only if the victor's will and resolve remain unshaken. As in Vietnam, the decision of who wins in Iraq may not be determined on the battlefield but at the polls Nov. 7.

Democrats Choose Draperies in Leadership Offices

But as voters you should remember the stakes:

From the NYT this am:

“I know a lot of people are in somersault land,” Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said reproachfully of fellow Democrats. “I just don’t have the liberty and freedom to do that.”

Still, Democratic ebullience could be found in all corners of Washington over the past few days. It was palpable at social and work gatherings, where Democrats traded gossip about how big a Democratic majority in the House could be; in Capitol Hill conference rooms, where Democrats were preparing transition plans (under orders to keep them quiet); and in offices of Democratic strategists and pollsters, who were drawing up growing lists of Republicans who might be vulnerable.

“I feel better than I ever have,” said Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a Democrat from upstate New York. “I think we have the best chance to take over simply because of the pileup of disasters.”

Stanley B. Greenberg, who was the White House pollster for President Bill Clinton in 1994 when Republicans shocked Democrats by capturing the House, commissioned a poll recently and e-mailed it around town with a single-word headline: “Meltdown.” In an interview, Mr. Greenberg said, “I don’t see how we can lose the House; I don’t think it’s even close.”

The stakes are huge--not just in US but world wide. Karl Rove on the D's in the WaPo:

"You can't say I want to win the war but not be willing to fight the war," said Rove, Bush's top political adviser. "And if leading Democrats have their way, our nation will be weaker and the enemies of our nation will be stronger. And that's a stark fact, and it's the reason that this fall election will turn very heavily on national security."

For instance, he needled congressional Democrats for voting against a GOP plan to try terrorist suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Many Democrats said the plan violated basic rights, but Rove rejected that. "You need to have the ability to try these people without worrying about the ACLU showing up saying, 'Wait a minute, did you Mirandize them when you found them on the battlefield,' " he said. "With all due respect, I don't happen to remember that in World War II, that when we captured Nazis and Japanese and took them to camps, that the first thing we did was provide them legal aid."

He also went after the would-be House speaker for voting against renewing the USA Patriot Act, the warrantless wiretapping program and the war in Iraq. "With a record like that, you can see why Nancy Pelosi wouldn't want this election to be about national security," Rove said.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly responded, "Clearly, the White House is getting desperate to keep their rubber-stamp Republican Congress."

Pelosi unconvincingly "pledges" not to spend time "impeaching" GW Bush when she becomes House Speaker:

Democrats in Texas Promise Hispanic Voters State Will Return to Mexico?

See if for yourself:

Illegal Immigrants: "Show Me the Money!"

And when you do they send it home. The amount of remittances has grown to $45 BILLION each year. Wow. As much as $3 billion to El Salvador (15% of their GDP), $24 billion to Mexico (its number 2 source of income!).
The World Bank is preparing a report about remittances showing that the people who work here illegally should be able to INVEST their money in their home country to further alleviate poverty.
That's very nice of us.
Couldn't we use that money here?
Here's the WaPo story.

Why Vote Republican? Watch and Remember.

Greatest Invention Since the Founding: The Car

I want to thank Oregonian Randal O'Toole for his persistent, exhaustive research into the benefits brought about by the car, land use policies, and fall out of government policies. O'Toole is the head of the Thoreau Institute and part of the American Dream Coalition. He's an avid biker, a realist, and NOT a car hata.
Here's a bullet point paper by the American Dream Coalition (thanks to Matt Wingard for bringing my attention to this).

HOW AUTOMOBILES MADE AMERICA
By Randal O'Toole

The automobile has been widely criticized for its social costs, including accidents, pollution, and changes to urban form. But few of the critics consider the many benefits that the auto has produced for the average American. This new paper from the American Dream Coalition fills that gap, showing that the automobile has played a large or dominant role in:

Increasing personal incomes by seven times;

Increasing personal mobility by six to eight times’

Increasing home ownership rates by nearly 50%

Reducing the cost of consumer goods and increasing the variety of such goods by up to 100 times or more;

Enabling the civil rights and women’s liberation movements;

Making outdoor sports and numerous other recreational and social opportunities available to the average person;

Reforesting 80 million acres of deforested horse pasture lands and converting 40 million acres of other pastures to higher value croplands;

Providing rapid access to fire and other emergency services and swift escape from natural disasters.

Because of these benefits, it is reasonable to call the mass produced automobile the greatest invention in the 230 years since the American republic was founded. Those who seek to reduce the amount of driving people do by imposing disincentives to the auto or allowing traffic congestion to increase risk killing, or at least limiting, the automotive goose that laid the golden egg of American prosperity.

PATTY THE PINK PIGGYBANK ON TOUR FOR MEASURE 48

YES ON 48!
That's Dan McIntire, chief petitioner for Measure 48 with Patty the Pink Piggybank. Patty is supposed to remind voters that we need to have a piggybank into which we put a share of the state's money for a RAINY DAY. Measure 48 is NOT a "Tabor" bill. It actually allows the legislature to spend the money its supposed to save--but it needs a super majority and a vote of the people. That's not a bad idea. We all know that if we don't force legislators to SAVE money for a rainy day they WON'T.
To them it's always raining.
Here's the Measure 48 website.Here's another one. A copy of the measure is in a word document there.

OREGONIAN ENDORSES Governor Saxton

Which goes to prove that SOMEtimes the newspaper of record (HA!) GETS IT RIGHT.

The following excerpts are from the Saxton campaign which is touting the endorsement. Herewith are some of the quotes the Saxton folks say are contained in Sunday's Oregonian.

"Ron Saxton opens many of his campaign appearances with a question: Are you satisfied with Oregon and its state government? We’re not.”

“This state must change, and the change must begin at the top: Voters should elect Ron Saxton as the next governor.”

“But Oregon needs new energy, new blood, new ideas and a determination to get them done. And only Saxton, the most capable Republican candidate for Oregon governor in the 24 years that Democrats have held the job, promises to bring that passion for change to the executive office.”

“Saxton, meanwhile, is eager to pursue creative, even controversial, ways to make available dollars stretch further. He doesn’t believe the only chance is a new insurance tax, or the same shrunken state patrol. He’s ready to attack the health care costs eroding education budgets. He’s prepared to experiment with outsourcing some state administrative tasks to save money and be more effective. He’s willing to go looking for cost savings, efficiencies and innovations where no Oregon governor has gone over the past two decades.”

“…on the core issues – strengthening education, bolstering the police and restoring the trust of voters – Saxton stands just where Oregon’s next governor must stand.”

"...we recommend that voters select him as their next Governor"

VOTE BY PHONE EXPANDED IN OREGON. EXPECT FRAUDULARITY TO ENSUE.

Oregon, the state that brought you full time vote by mail, is now moving the state toward vote by phone. In fact the Secretary of State (a partisan democrat who was John Kerry's Oregon campaign chair) has expanded vote by phone to all 36 counties. He's done this through administrative rule.
Ostensibly he's done this to comply with the Help America Vote act (HAVA) which requires there be some way to help folks with disabilities vote. Sounds reasonable enough. However before this vote by phone change, sight impaired people were physically helped by county officials and volunteers.
Now what could possibly be the problem with this?
The SOS, Bill Bradbury, WILL introduce vote by phone to the wider populace. Currently, the SOS doesn't even know who's voting. Oh sure, eventually they catch up with the dead people who vote etc., but they don't cull through to determine for instance whether you're actually a citizen of this country before you vote. The SOS has stated several times in speeches to the AFL-CIO that he will do everything in his power to make it as easy as possible to vote. The problem in Oregon is any Tom, Dick or Jose can pack in a van, come to Oregon and get a driver's license--AND THEY HAVE (in two recent cases in Oregon, prosecutors established that 80,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS came to Oregon to get driver's licenses). Under the motor voter act they also get voter registration materials. The SOS does not check the voter database to determine if those registered to vote are citizens--even though we've begged him AND he has millions of dollars to do it from HAVA.
Bill Bradbury, whom John Fund has determined is the 'most partisan Secretary of State in the country', also is under fire by a commission made up of some of Oregon's big shots. They've determined that perhaps elections should not be in the SOS's portfolio because the appearance of partisanship undermines the credibility of the electoral process. Yeah, you can look that up at noduh.com. Still, it's gratifying that others---including democrats---see this Bradbury for what he is: a political hack.
We know what Bradbury will do. Even if he leaves office early so that the governor can name his replacement and they can run as an incumbent (the Oregon way...alas...), the democrat will continue Bradbury's policies. Administrative rules, are written by staff, not the hack in the chair.
Shark @ www.soundpolitics.org has helped me sound the alarm here.

If Iran and North Korea Want You to Vote for Democrats Shouldn't That Tell You Something?

Bush on the Axis of Evil: Was He Right? Or Did He Cause it?

The Washington Post opines (in a 'news' story) that if it weren't for George Bush calling out Kim Jung Il as part of the Axis of Evil that everything would have been a lot better now.

In Bush's 2002 State of the Union address, a speech designed to shift the political debate from a battle against al-Qaeda to a possible confrontation with Iraq, the president mentioned North Korea, Iraq and Iran and declared: "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. . . . In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic."All three issues came to a head in 2003: The United States invaded Iraq and discovered no weapons of mass destruction*; North Korea began to obtain weapons-grade plutonium from fuel rods that had been under international observation; and Iran disclosed that it had made rapid progress with a previously secret uranium-enrichment

*unless you count the ones we noted here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and apparently they won't let me put any more links here.
so...here they for you to cut and paste:

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/07/iraq-wmd-location-location-location.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/06/wmd-found-in-iraq.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/07/north-korea-take-out-their-missile.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/06/wmd-found-in-iraq.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/06/wmd-found-in-iraq-yeah-we-know.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2006/02/wmd-in-iraq-reminder.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2005/11/have-wmd-been-found-in-iraq-yes-just.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2005/11/have-wmd-been-found-in-iraq-yes-just.html

http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2005/11/16-words-joe-wilson-is-lying-again.html

Unscientific Poll in the Newspaper of Record (ha!)

find the poll here.

Portland Day Labor Outpost Site of Saturday Protest

Oregonians for Immigration Reform will at long last come to the day labor site I've been complaining about: Burnside and 6th--near Hippo Hardware. OFIR wants you to bring cameras, peaceful signs, coffee to stay for awhile on Saturday, Oct 14th at 7am.

COOK: Oregon Governor's Race Officially a Toss Up

It's Governor Saxton's --if he works hard enough to get it!
See the report here.

Everyone Remain Calm: The UN is in Charge

Portland Plans to Pay People to Stay and/or Lure Them Back

Portland schools lose more students. There's a 20% reduction in the past decade. Only 20% of the people who live in Portland have kids in the schools and now the City of Portland is asking what it can do to keep the people in the city--the same people they've systematically disaffected by making the city les attractive to working families. Who's left? Old schoolers? Liberals? Does this mean they want the Reagan Republicans back? Maybe. But here's the story, now the city wants to pay people to stay or lure them back with rent subsidies, mortgage subsidies and underwriting mortgages through the PDC. Find the big plan by Erik Sten here.

How did they let this happen?

By siphoning money from the general fund to pay off their union pension plans
By skimming money that would have gone to the schools, fire and cops to go to urban renewal plans, or, as I like to call it, "The Homer Williams full employment Plan."
By its anti car culture by making it untenable to drive thus making little Susie's trips to ballet, spanish, or art after school (since the schools can't afford that stuff anymore) too difficult--try carpooling, grocery shopping, and after school activities on a bike with your kids.
By making inner city housing too expensive through urban renewal and the urban growth boundary restricting supply of land

Now, after all that (plus undoubtedly many more) the coupe de grace is this: they've reduced themselves to having to pay people to stay.
By the way the other thing you might want to take a look at in THIS DOCUMENT calls for a take over of the schools.

WalMart Pulls Out of Hayden Island

Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams is doing a victory lap over at his blog.
Here's WalMart's statement. Money quote:

"Together with the property owner, Howard Dietrich Jr., Wal-Mart has decided that although the Hayden Island site Is appropriately zoned for a Wal-Mart store and the store would be an allowed use, constructing a store on the site doesn't make economic sense. Wal-Mart has a commitment to its shareholders to invest their money in projects that protect their investment...
"Wal-Mart's decision not to pursue a new store on Hayden Island Is purely a business decision based on basic economics and cost analysis of purchasing the property and constructing the store, and is not a response to Portland Commissioner Sam Adams' proposed temporary development moratorium on the island."

And as I asked on Sam's blog:

So let me get this straight: Sam has agreed to recuse himself from all future WalMart discussion/votes before City Council. Then if WalMart decides to move to another City of Portland location I'll assume Commissioner Sam will have no part in the discussion/voting, correct? Sam, will you come on my show to discuss this? Victoria Taft, 5-8pm, Monday through Friday, on AM 860 KPAM, "The Talk Station"

WHERE TED? Part Deux. Kulongoski's "Fans" Upset About Governor Saxton's Immigration Ad

The party that has brought you scary stories about Diebold voting machines, fraud-welcoming mail in ballots, and vote by phone now want you to believe there is NO problem with Oregon's voting system. Hey, the democrats are in charge, what could go wrong?
Governor Saxton's ad about ILLEGAL immigration (find it here)
has hit a nerve. The libs are furious that the future former Guv has not responded to the ad. But what can he say? Oregon has no problem with ILLEGAL aliens? That it doesn't provide services to ILLEGAL aliens? That it doesn't give driver's licenses to ILLEGAL aliens? That when they get their ODL's they also get a voter registration card? That the state doesn't check to see if the voter rolls are rife with ILLEGALLY REGISTERED voters?
Secry of State Darth Bradbury's complains that Governor Saxton's ad is "false" because he doesn't get a lot of complaints about illegal voters. Sure, Darth, sure. Notwithstanding Ruth Bendel's complaint about the dozens of illegals 'living' in a vacant house in Hillsboro in 2004, I'm sure you don't get a lot of ILLEGAL aliens informing on themselves. If you don't check the voter rolls and/or get complaints, I guess you can sit back in your padded government chair, guffaw, and complain that you have no proof ILLEGALS vote.
However, as Ted from NW Republican rightly points out, Bradbury DOES know illegal voters vote. As Bradbury reitterated over the weekend (and Victoria Taft blog has documented here the many times he has said it in speeches in the past), he acknowledges that programs designed to make sure only citizens vote will reduce participation in elections.
Here's the latest on the race from the national perspective. This is well worth a look.

City Hall Hatas: Why Put Parking Meters on Hawthorne?

Commissioner Sam Adams has decided that in order to generate more money for the City of Portland, businesses should be saddled with another cost of doing business. That's right. After the overhaul of the Hawthorne Bridge nearly put a few of the Hawthorne Boulevard businesses under, now Adams wants to put a premium on the customers of the businesses there by putting in parking meters. Sam has been attending another junket (in this case a Rail-Volution conference---I'm NOT making up that name--an Earl Blumenauer brainchild) and has been overwhelmed by the need for charging people to park on the street. See Commissioner Sam's blog here. Eric the Great is attempting to snag Sam for the show this afternoon. Sam?

Columbine Dad: Easier to Kill Kids Because We Have Devalued Life

Did you see this on CBS news last night? Didn't think so, but here is a chilling commentary from this father of a murdered Columbine High School student on the latest spate of school shootings. His written comments are below. His video is here.
"(CBS) I'm saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week’s school murders.

When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I’ve tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?"
This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.
We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.
Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children.
Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.

©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Here are some of the comments by the 'tolerant' crowd who hated the speech:

RE:Rohrbough: Are you trying to outdo Fox Network taking sides by choosing NeoCons on every topic? What ever happened to Integrity, Independence, Wisdom, Understanding and Compassion. If you continue on your present path, your career will certainly be ruined as viewers turn to more professional news programs without overt bias. How sad!

Posted by melmontana at 12:52 PM : Oct 04, 2006

People, the problem with our public schools has nothing to do with God, or the lack thereof. In the first place, since the public schools are an arm of government, a Christian God (ANY god, for that matter) MUST be excluded. That's what churches are for. If you disagree with me, fine; but read the First Amendment before you start bashing me as in immoral, atheistic, commie, pinko, etc. As for the schools teaching morality, isn't that the parents job? No, the problem with our public schools is that they have stopped teaching our children how to think. Rather, since the Federal Government began funding public education in this great country, the public schools have been charged with teaching our children WHAT to think. I thank the gods every day that I grew up in the 60's and 70's, when it was acceptable to question what I was being taught and to investigate on my own.

On Secrets and Hostage Negotiations. The Victoria Taft Show Today, 5-8pm on AM 860 KPAM

Bill Gertz is the Washington Times Pentagon reporter who spilled the beans about the upcoming threat of China, the oil for food scandal at the United Nations, and now has written a book about how America’s secrets have been stolen---often with our unwitting complicity. He’s on the show today. Stream the Victoria Taft Show from 5-8pm (Pacific) here.

Another school shooting… More children are dying. Why? Because schools are soft, easy targets. Would an armed cop or trained and armed teachers help the situation and telegraph in advance to would-be school shooters that they may get theirs before they can take out anyone?

And what of the hostage negotiations? What do hostage negotiators expect from the perp? Is the hostage negotiator’s job to save the innocents inside or to prevent the bad actor from getting outside and hurting more people?
Today on the show I’ll talk to Clint Van Zandt, the former FBI hostage negotiator. He’s co written this book, Facing Down Evil. Stream the show here.

On Polishing Halos, Perverted Pols, and Mark Foley

LATE AD: FOLEY IM'S AND EMAILS ALTERED. READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE.

The Speaker of the House, Republican Denny Hastert has launched an