Mohammed Teddy Bear: Get One Today!

Ok, they don't exist yet, but by the end of the day they will. Count on it.

Sudanese student Yassin Mohamed Al Mubark a suffi student from Fitaihab, near Khartoum, brandishes his sword during the protest in Khartoum, Sudan, after Friday prayers Nov.30, 2007, calling for the execution of a British teacher after she was convicted of insulting Islam for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad. (Ap Photos/Abd Raouf)

CNN You Tube Debate: Just a Big Democrat Push Poll

When have any of the Republicans in the race for President suggested woman go to prison for an abortion?
When have any of the Republican candidates suggested "we send all 12 million illegal aliens back home" at the same time?
Answer: Never.
That's why I believe CNN took part in what was tantamount to a push poll to poison potential voters against the R candidates.
They're not true, but bring up these red herrings anyway, that's the philosophy.
Regarding all the planted question askers. Get the latest here.

Iraq War Heroes

The local man who lovingly honors the men and women from the Pacific Northwest and beyond who have died in the line of duty in the fight against the Islamofascists needs our help to continue his "missions," as he calls them. See a story about him here.
QMadp has made it to nearly every memorial service in the PNW to take pictures and honor our heroes. He does this in part to make sure America doesn't forget their sacrifice and the stakes of this war. He does this with his own money or donations from people like you. He needs donations and this size STUDDED tires: R205/70R15 95T.
Donations of money can be sent to: QMadp, PO Box 86888, Portland, Oregon 97286-0888.
Find Iraqwarheroes.com at this link.

Portland's People's Paradise Planners Say You Want Higher Taxes. Do You?

The question is being asked here at the Portland Business Journal. Mayor Moonbeam and the Rainbow City Council could SWEAR you said yes to higher taxes.
Answer their questionnaire here.
See the question posed below:

Would you be willing to pay more taxes for transportation improvements?

Transportation is a major topic of discussion at this year's Oregon Leadership Summit Dec. 3. Surveys taken earlier this year indicated that Portland residents would support paying more taxes for street repairs, including a hike in the gas tax. Earlier this week, transportation experts recommended building a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, which could cost more than $4.2 billion.

Would you be willing to pay more taxes for transportation improvements?
Yes	No
Undecided
Comments:

Half of Illegal Aliens from Mexico are on Welfare* UPDATE CIS's Mark Krikorian on the Show This PM

From Mark Krikorian at the Center for Immigration Studies:

My center released a new profile of the immigrant population today, focusing on low education levels and consequent high rates of poverty, lack of insurance, and use of government services. ...But one statistic that seems to me should have garnered more attention is that among Mexican immigrant households — by far the largest immigrant group — half are on welfare. This isn't because they're plotting to rip us off, but because they're 19th century workers in a 21st century economy, and simply don't have the tools to support themselves.

The result is government-subsidized immigration, with taxpayers footing the bill for all this "cheap" labor.

Reeducation Camps Proposed for Oregon!

A blogger shout out to Rob Kremer for mining this totalitarian nugget from the largest lefty web site in the state and the one with the most street cred with the Democrats.

And no wonder with entries like this one which suggests it’s time for the United States to re educate its citizens in camps! Just like the Communist Chinese! Cambodians! Russians! Find the post here.

Check this out…this guy’s curricula would include a week’s worth of brainwashing including these lessons:

Day one: global warming…to reduce population because it causes species loss—I’m not making it up…
Day two: Growing our own food…learning to live without corn..because it’s bad…
Day three: Capitalism is bad day..freecycling is good…
Day four: Living without a car…learning to hitchhike and tune our own bicycles
Day 5: playing well with others including how to heal and have romantic relationships—no wonder these guys are confused about the role of government

I tried to post on that blog site but, you're not going to believe this (!), they won't let me! Banned! So glad those tolerant lefties believe in "free speech."
This is what I would have said if they'd let me:

"Albert,
You forgot the lecture about the Essential Milton Friedman, the primer on Private Property Rights, "The 5th Amendment is Your Friend!" required reading would be, "See I Told You So" by Rush Limbaugh, and on the 7th day, "Jesus Loves You but Wants You to Stop Sinning; read the red parts of The Bible."
Just some suggestions. Now if we could just get Blue Oregon to sponsor the reeducation camps...
Love,
Victoria "

Portland's Anti Family Social Engineering Earns a Dart in the WSJ *But if Portland Really Wanted to Change That...

The Wall Street Journal had a mention about Portland and other cities like it today.

And city leaders aren’t going to like it much. Find it here.

As you know if you live or visit here, city leaders have gone overboard making Portland inhospitable to families of all income levels and the working class through their high taxes, small yards, and rabbit hutch living in a misguided attempt to capture the bike and pedestrian culture.
The gist of the article explains why cities that purport to be reaching out to the cool, young, jet setters, and creative class people find themselves losing jobs, losing families, and losing cache.
It says about Portland,

“Advocates of the brew-latte- and- they -will -come approach often point to greater Portland, Oregon, which has experienced consistent net gains of educated workers, including families. Yet most of that migration—as well as at least three quarters of that region’s population and job growth has been not to the increasingly childless city, but to the suburban periphery. This pattern holds true in virtually every major urban region.”

As Joel Kotkin points out in the Wall Street Journal piece,

“The evidence thus suggests that the obsession with luring singles to cities is misplaced. ...Instead the emphasis should be on retaining young people as they grow up, marry, start families and continue to raise them."

But it’s hard to do that in Portland.
Mayor Moonbeam and the Rainbow city council, along with the entire planning class, don’t like yards for kids to play, don’t want parents to use their car to take their kids to after school activities, and don’t even want mom and dad to have a car even if they could afford one AND the outrageously expensive and overtaxed property.*If Portland would like to change this trek toward anti family negative growth they could be the first around here to work a deal offering school vouchers. Full vouchers. Add to that reduced taxes and transportation flexibility and just watch the families--and capital--pour in.

Cars in the Crosshairs

Three stories torn right from the pages of the local newspaper of record, The Zero, and other publications, all target cars in Portland.
The Zero runs a story on Monday about a local taxing district that
Rainbow City Council member, Sam Adams, has proposed. The other story involves the "successful" pilot program involving lojacking our vehicles (not bikes, of course) for the sole purpose of being able to tax us by the MILE DRIVEN in addition to charging a gas tax. The idea is to eventually fade out the gas tax but how they plan to capture outtatowners' money is anybody's guess. Mine? That they'll never get rid of the gas tax and will tax us twice. The third story involves the discussion of charging tolls over Willamette River bridges (here) to raise money.Let's take these quickly one at a time.
This so called "Halo" taxing district would allow people in other neighborhoods pay for improvements in a particular 'hood. And what are those improvements? Bike paths and sidewalks. See? Bikes and peds are on the side of angels so they're
covered by a Halo. Improvements for motorized vehicles? Spawn of Satan.
Now bikes and peds are fine, but you and I know
that there will be no improvements for the one mode of transportation used most in those SW Portland neighborhoods: cars.
The fact that I travel Hamilton nearly every day at peak traffic times and have NEVER, not once, seen a bicyclist apparently means nothing to a city hellbent on becoming a Platinum Bicycle city, whatever that means. The way it has worked since time immemorial is to have, at the time of the development, the developer pay for the improvements, or, if there were no improvements, to assess the homeowners for the improvements. Now the homeowners don't want to pay
On the issue of putting the GPS or lojack on cars, well, I'll let one of my wise 5th Listeners synthesize it for you:

Victoria,
Do not be fooled. We are already paying by the mile for the privilege of driving our cars. Oregon ’s gas tax is by the gallon of gas and every car gets some number of miles to the gallon (EPA publishes that data). It is a word problem from 6^th grade. Say my Prius gets 45 miles to the gallon. Oregon averages 24 cents of tax per gallon. Thus, I am paying 24/45 or about ½ cent per mile. If I had a Hummer (please tell Santa) and only got 10 miles to the gallon, I would be paying 24/10 or 2.4 cents per mile.
But were the State folks sleeping the day they taught arithmetic? They want to tax by the mile and not call it a “gas tax” hence the GPS idea. The term “gas tax” is a bad word and a mileage tax is “good.” They also want to factor in the “impact” that a vehicle has on the road infrastructure. So the heavier the vehicle, the more it wears down the road (or so the theory goes). So, then they would want to charge more for the heavier (like a Hummer) vehicle and less for the light weight ones (like a Prius). But wait, the current gas tax does that already since miles per gallon is proportional to vehicle weight. Now, if someone comes up with a 40 mph 400 horsepower engine, then the Hummer owners would get a real deal with our current gas tax.
So in the normal manner, Oregon wants a several hundred dollar per car way to measure something they already know and let the out of state drivers pay nothing. Only in Oregon .
David

Finally the story about Sam and Ted Wheeler proposing Willamette River bridge tolls. This story is to soften up the ground a bit to get us used to the ideas that the city and county have no money to improve bridges.
May I remind you of just a few expenditures we've been asked to endure or have endured as taxpayers:
$500,000,000 in subsidies to SOWA, millions of abatements and subsidies in the Pearl, $500,000,000 requested to build a fiber optic network in Portland (what, so they can tax the internet? Why wouldn't private industry do this?), $80,000,000 for a choo choo train down Burnside. $25,000 to pay off business leaders who would ostensibly benefit by this train to sell the idea to reluctant neighbors. I Tax. Klingon translators. Gay marriage. Wapato Jail sitting idle. Screwing over Dorothy English and burning tax dollars to do it.
These are just a few examples. There are dozens more.

Oh, and, don't forget, they have no money to improve infrastructure. None.
Sure.
Cars represent freedom to go anywhere we want, when we want. They allow us to live and work in different places. The most important component to getting and maintaining a job is having the flexibility of a car. Government doesn't do that.
Consider the deleterious economic effects of making it more and more expensive to own a car.

Congratulations! Now Keep the Pressure on to DO IT RIGHT!

FROM KATU:

PORTLAND, Ore. - Neither North Interstate Avenue nor Southwest Fourth Avenue in Portland will be renamed Cesar Chavez Boulevard, the City Council decided Wednesday morning.

Instead the Council voted to table any decision on naming a street after Chavez, the late labor rights leader. And they are not going to make any decision on where to honor Chavez at this time.

"The decision was what we asked for," said Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey. "The Chinese-American community and the Hispanic community both asked that the City Council withdraw or table the Fourth Avenue recommendation and vote on the Interstate (proposal). They did that today."

Mayor Tom Potter and the Council agreed everyone in the city needed time to heal from the whole re-naming process, which garnered plenty of criticism and outcry.

It started when a local Latino group approached businesses and the mayor's office this summer to ask for their support to re-name north Portland's Interstate Avenue after Chavez. But the idea riled many, especially some business owners who claimed the change would possibly cost them thousands to change their business names, letterhead, advertisements and other facets of their business identities.

The issue got so heated that Mayor Potter walked out on a City Council meeting when it appeared a vote would be delayed on the issue.

Last week, in an unexpected move, the Council turned to the idea of re-naming Southwest Fourth Avenue in downtown Portland, which runs through the heart of the community's historic Chinatown area. That choice upset members of the Chinese-American community, who believed the Council made the decision without considering them.

It was unclear Wednesday what is the next step for those who support honoring Chavez in Portland.

Happy Thanksgiving! How the Second Thanksgiving Almost Didn't Happen

A wonderful piece by John Stossel (here) about how collectivism practiced by the Pilgrims nearly resulted in their starvation until they figured out that man is best equipped to take care of his own land and family.
As Governor John Bradford said,

"So as it well appeared that famine must still ensue the next year also, if not some way prevented," wrote Gov. William Bradford in his diary. The colonists, he said, "began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length after much debate of things, [I] (with the advice of the chiefest among them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land." "This had very good success," Bradford wrote, "for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been. By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many. "

As Stossel points out, "What private property does -- as the Pilgrims discovered -- is connect effort to reward, creating an incentive for people to produce far more. Then, if there's a free market, people will trade their surpluses to others for the things they lack. Mutual exchange for mutual benefit makes the community richer."

Let's Just Say Thanks to the Troops. You too, Earl "Bow Tie" Blumenauer

Here's where you can go to send a Thank You online.

Guv on Verge of Saying No to Driver's Licenses for Illegals?

After ignoring, batting down, rearranging the deck chairs, Kulo the Guv has now telegraphed to those in the know that he's changing his mind on giving illegal aliens driver's licenses and will issue an executive order tomorrow.
The illegal alien lobby is hopping mad about this executive order the governor may issue tomorrow. The lobby predicts fatal traffic accidents by "residents" of Oregon and wants to preserve driver's license access by those "residents."
We can only assume that after years of the democrats standing in the way of any and all attempts to stop this culturally corrosive and security damaging practice that he's seen the light. Or gotten a call from Hillary.
Contact Neil's best friend. Sure he's never listened to us before, but, hey, there's always a first time.
Call Governor Kulongoski at 503-378-4582, fax him at 503.378.6827 or send him a message online at: http://www.governor.state.or.us/Gov/contact_us.shtml

The Real Reason Rainbow City Council Changed Mind: We Wanted 4th Avenue to be Ronald Reagan Way ***WiTH DECISION DAY UPDATE***

It started a couple of weeks ago when we talked of renaming a street after Ronald Reagan. Fine. A good conversation was had by all. But I wake up this morning and the Zero has a story about the Rainbow City Council now being in favor of renaming 4th Avenue after Cesar Chavez. This is less than 2 days after I proclaimed on the air 4th Ave would be my choice for renaming Ronald Reagan Way so that Mayor Moonbeam and the Rainbow City Councils HQ would have to be on RRW. The thought was it was a numbered street, no legacy, no miffed feelings. A plan was in the offing.
Well who could have been listening that day? Randy? Sam?
Randy wanted to rename Broadway for Cesar Chavez ("I could see us closing it down every year in celebration of his birthday!" paraphrase)
Poof! Today, out of nowhere, splayed in the "newspaper of record HA!" comes their choice for Cesar Chavez Blvd: SW 4th Avenue.
Sorry, I had no idea they'd move so quickly. We were just germinating plans for the street rename and we would have FOLLOWED THE RULES!
We're carrying today's "debate" [read: food fight] on the air KPAM 860 starting at 3. I'll be your play by play gal.
We'll look forward to the Rainbow City Council presenting the supporting signatures of the business owners along 4th Avenue along with their research on changing the name of 4th Avenue.
Randy Leonard, of the Rainbow City Council, said today on Bob Miller's show that he wanted a charter change to make sure councils of the future didn't blow off the rules in these name changes. He said it right after he said he'd back the effort to change 4th Avenue. Huh?
***Also bear in mind what Mayor Moonbeam said the other day. He said that backers of Cesar Chavez Blvd were collecting signatures and they'd have them by Thursday in time for the meeting of The Rainbow City Council. The 2500 signatures is required to change the name of the street. Of course the backers of this plan (including city officials and the committee) have ignored all the other rules the city has put in place for street name changes.
NOW WE FIND OUT the signatures are being gathered VIA THE INTERNET on the CAUSA website. Homie, please. Those are activists, not necessarily residents of the neighborhood. The three neighborhood associations impacted by the INTERSTATE name change are already on record as OPPOSING the change.
The spokeswoman for the Latino Network has it right when she says:
This is not a city council acting. It is a city circus."

Open Letter to Brad Cain of the AP

Dear Brad,
I must admit it: this was the FIRST TIME EVER I have seen a democrat's name associated with wanting to discontinue giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens. And you gave them top billing.

"But the idea has drawn opposition from Democrats and Republicans in the Oregon Legislature."

What democrats? Where were they when we delivered hundreds of letters to the Secretary of State and Governor asking the same thing in Operation ID? Where were they in the last two sessions when we asked for the same thing? Nowhere, that's where. And this morning, miraculously, Rick Metsger is paraded as a spokesman for the issue, transportation committee chief or not. Where was the Linda Flores or Kim Thatcher comment? Oh, wait, they're not democrats. I forgot. Silly me.
Sincerely,
Victoria Taft (not a republican, btw)

Ask Victoria ... Cultural Competency Edition

Dear Victoria,

So, I come in to work as usual today to find a greeting card proudly displayed in the break room area. It's a picture of our President and the front of the card reads, "Happy Thanksgiving. Here's something to be thankful for..." and when you open the card it reads, "I can't run for office again."

My BOSS put that in the break room! Why is this okay? I'm offended and I'm feel like if I say anything, I'll be making trouble. I don't agree with everything the President has done, but I believe that politics should stay out of the office, don't you?

Signed, A Listener

Dear Gentle Listener, Of course it was in poor taste and boorish to boot. In the People's Republic of Portland, however, it's assumed that everyone in the proletariat has undergone reeducation by those in the "cultural competency" world and assumed, therefore, you would agree with its diktats. Alas, I fear you have outed yourself. Be careful as you may be sent back to reeducation camps outside the city by the cultural revolutionaries.
And remember the one truth about the "tolerant" 'we know better than you crowd,' tolerance doesn't apply to the right.
Sincerely,
Your Humble Talk Show Host

The Real Reason Rainbow City Council Changed Mind: We Wanted 4th Avenue to be Ronald Reagan Way

It started a couple of weeks ago when we talked of renaming a street after Ronald Reagan. Fine. A good conversation was had by all. But I wake up this morning and the Zero has a story about the Rainbow City Council now being in favor of renaming 4th Avenue after Cesar Chavez. This is less than 2 days after I proclaimed on the air 4th Ave would be my choice for renaming Ronald Reagan Way so that Mayor Moonbeam and the Rainbow City Councils HQ would have to be on RRW. The thought was it was a numbered street, no legacy, no miffed feelings. A plan was in the offing.
Well who could have been listening that day? Randy? Sam?
Randy wanted to rename Broadway for Cesar Chavez ("I could see us closing it down every year in celebration of his birthday!" paraphrase)
Poof! Today, out of nowhere, splayed in the "newspaper of record HA!" comes their choice for Cesar Chavez Blvd: SW 4th Avenue.
Sorry, I had no idea they'd move so quickly. We were just germinating plans for the street rename and we would have FOLLOWED THE RULES!
We're carrying today's "debate" [read: food fight] on the air KPAM 860 starting at 3. I'll be your play by play gal.
We'll look forward to the Rainbow City Council presenting the supporting signatures of the business owners along 4th Avenue along with their research on changing the name of 4th Avenue.
Randy Leonard, of the Rainbow City Council, said today on Bob Miller's show that he wanted a charter change to make sure councils of the future didn't blow off the rules in these name changes. He said it right after he said he'd back the effort to change 4th Avenue. Huh?

Long Lines:The "Real" Reason D's Don't Want to Check Citizenship at DMV and for Voting?

It's in the Statesman Journal this am and it's a beauty. From the mouth of the political director for the SEIU Local 503, Arthur Towers, some of the biggest cheerleaders with Democrats on open borders and no citizenship requirements for anything:

"The lines are already long enough at the DMV," he added. "This has the potential to make it even worse."

Open Season on Schools (as usual) Shirley Katz Loses Bid to Carry Gun

More later...but here's the short/sweet:

Shirley Katz…LOSES…before a Medford Judge in the case of whether she can carry a gun to school.
While schools cannot forbid you from carrying your gun to school if you’re a concealed carry permit holder…if you WORK FOR THE SCHOOL …they can. Now…does that make any sense?
We acknowledge the law says you can bring it….but because the school is your employer you can’t bring your gun.
The case boiled down to a “what the meaning of “is” is” moment…in that…the judge said the law states no ordinance can forbid you from bringing your gun into a school.
But the judge reasoned…school boards don’t make “ordinances” they make policies…and so…the law does not apply to Shirley Katz…and therefore she cannot bring her gun.
See…that’s a distinction with barely a difference.
The net effect is the same whether it’s a policy…a rule…a diktat…a suggestion.
The net effect is still the same.

Get the ruling here.

"Tolerance" Crowd Intolerant at PSU. Will PSU Leadership Condemn This?

The children going to Portland State University apparently believe that tolerance and free speech end when someone dares speak about something with which they disagree. As usual, they have vandalized a legitimate bulletin board put up by the PSU COLLEGE REPUBLICANS.
The President of the College Republicans tells me:

On Wednesday November 7th 2007, we as college republicans set up a display case in the main hallway of Smith Memorial Hall (our Student Center). The display included several different pieces of CR literature including announcements of our meeting times and contact information. The display also included 4 posters provided to us by the Young Americans foundation with a variety of content ranging from "The true victims of Che Guevara" to a poster dealing with the death tolls from historical communist regimes. Throughout the week many students have shown interest in the display and some have contacted the group inquiring more. On Friday morning November 9th at about 10am the display was found vandalized. Someone had taken a blue permanent marker and written "F*** THIS" [spelled out--blogger edits for potty talk] across one panel of the glass as well as stuck chewing gum to the outside of the glass. In addition there was a sheet of paper entitled "Bull**** Alert" [spelled out--blogger edits for potty talk] placed into the case in a manner that it blocked the contact information for the group. As a student group we have been in contact with our adviser and other PSU Faculty to get an official letter condemning this sort of unacceptable behavior. However as PSU CR's we are motivated by this action and will continue our fight in defense of conservative principles and values in higher education. We encourage all of you to share this information and let others know what is happening on the Portland State Campus in response to true conservative activism.

**blogger's note: there were other images with more vandalism, but because I try to keep this blog fairly family safe I chose not to use them**

DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE ARRAIGNED ON KIDDIE PORN CHARGES

Can't let the week go by without finally mentioning this. I haven't mentioned it on the air, maybe I will tonight (stream here 5-8pm pacific) but we wonder when the Democrats will require this man to be excommunicated from the church of the democrat, that he be publicly flogged (which,under the circumstances, he should), and when the Democrats, including Ted "Friend of Neil" Kulongoski will speak loudly about the culture of corruption in the democratic party and how they need to end it.
No doubt this will be blamed on Bush.

Scott W. Ballo, a long-time spokesman for various Democratic political campaigns and a former communications director for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, was arraigned today in Marion County Circuit Court on two charges of encouraging child sex abuse (both misdemeanors) and one charge of official misconduct (also a misdemeanor), according to the court clerk's office.

The charges relate to pornography allegedly found on Ballo's work computer when he was employed by the economic and community development department, according to a person familiar with the case.

Ballo, 36... worked as communications director for America Coming Together's Portland operation in 2004.

Gee, since ACT was a Soros and Hillary front, can we blame her. Let the games begin!

Planners Again Plan Higher Prices for Portland Houses

The good news for poor people is that Erik Sten will pay them to live here. For the rest of us...there are higher prices. Dan Saltzman shows up at a meeting in Chicago (why not, he doesn't seem to be making many in Portland) and announces that Portland housing prices will again grow. His timing is interesting isn't it? Aren't we having a bit of a housing credit crunch at the moment?
Once again, however, members of Portland's Rainbow City Council turn a deaf ear to sustainability when it involves our pocket books and announce a carbon tax plan for developers (i.e. buyers). Oh, and once again, taxpayers--that means you--you're on a 'need to know' basis only.

In a bold move to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from the Portland area, city officials plan to charge builders hundreds of dollars for each new home that is not extremely energy efficient. [extreme is right] And it would require, as part of every existing home sale, that an energy efficiency report be done by home inspectors.
[oh, look, new jobs for city friends! or are these going to be city jobs?] Believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the carbon fee and inspection requirement would levy taxes upon builders who merely comply with the energy efficiency requirements of the Oregon building code, already one of the most stringent in the nation. It would then pay cash rewards to developers who make buildings that save at least 45 percent more energy than the code requires.

Read the rest here. Mayor Moonbeam (who was with Saltzman--ah, the reflected glory) and the rest of the Rainbow City Council LOVE the encomiums from the Zero about it being a "bold move" and the "first of its kind in the nation." Aspen Institute junket, here they come!

WSJ on Oregon's 'Healthy Kids' Vote: Voters Don't Want Universal Health Care

The Wall Street Journal editorial today (see here) on Oregon's spiking of the so called "healthy kids" initiative shows how Oregon voters knew what they were doing when they said "no" and how Congress--especially our Oregon delegation--should pay attention:

"Like Beltway Democrats, Governor Ted Kulongoski and his legislature wanted to broaden eligibility for Oregon's "Healthy Kids" Schip program to 300% of the federal poverty level. They would allow all families to opt in, regardless of of income, though higher earners wouldn't get subsidies.
"...What happened was, the tobacco industry bought the election," Governor Kulongoski declared yesterday.
We're surprised the Governor thinks voters in his left leaning state are so easily gulled--especially in a contest between "healthy kids" and cigarettes. More persuasive is the notion that voters didn't want to pass a state tax increase to finance a health-care expansion that Congress might soon pass...voters understood that a tax increase on cigarettes is still a tax increase, and a highly regressive one at that."

What You Voted For...

Measure 49 backers are continuing their victory dance today. And, why not? They won. But property owners in Oregon lost. They may be in the minority but property owners still have rights:

...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

You may remember this part of the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution; it comes right after the part about being a witness against yourself.
Measure 37 added teeth behind this and Oregon's law by requiring a time limit and the end of unreasonable takings of people's property. This has all but gone away with M 49. By passing it, the voters have ceded other people's property rights to the state and the central planners.
Randal O'Toole, an Oregonian and Cato Institute Senior Fellow, has just come out with a must read book for every Oregonian and Washingtonian, "The Best Laid Plans, How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook and Your Future.

Today he published an open letter to popular Portland blogger Jack Bogdanski to express how this tax professor and influential blogger's backing of M 49 harmed Oregonians' rights and how he bears some responsibility for misleading them. Here's where you can find the letter. The following are some particularly on point observations from the letter:

If we treated any of the other freedoms the way we treat property rights — saying, for example, that you can print anything you want as long as the government censors no more than 90 percent of it or that you can worship in any of the 10 percent of churches approved by the government — there would be a revolt. But for some reason, the Supreme Court has decided that property rights don’t merit the same protection as other rights, and you and 61 percent of other Oregon voters apparently agree.

I don’t expect to change your mind. But the next time you criticize the PDC for subsidizing some condo tower, the next time you fret over a high-cost streetcar line, the next time you chortle over some inanity committed by Portland’s city council, I hope you feel a pang of guilt. Because you had a choice, and you chose density, congestion, and subsidies over freedom and property rights.

Al Qaeda Finger Prints All Over Madrid Train Bombing

So why did some of these guys get off?

WAS THE MARCH 11, 2004, attack on Madrid's commuter trains an al Qaeda operation? More than three years after 191 civilians were killed and almost two thousand more injured by ten backpack bombs planted by Islamic radicals, the answer to such a simple question remains clouded. Just this past Wednesday, as the verdicts of 28 of the accused plotters were read by a Spanish court, we were reminded how murky this issue has become.

Few, if any, in the mainstream American press referred to the plotters as agents of al Qaeda. Instead, much of the coverage was similar to the Washington Post's description:

Spanish authorities said the plot was organized locally by a cell of Islamic ideologues that had no direct connections to al-Qaeda or other international networks. But they were unable to clarify who directed the conspiracy or gave the final orders for the attacks.

Read the rest here.

Or, Wa Election Results: Cue Lucy and the Football...

Just a few observations about Oregon voters approving M 49 and defeating M 50 (which I'll come back to later in more detail).
I find it ironic that the most populous portions of the state--Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Marion, Lane, and the People's republic of Benton County passed Measure 49 because they didn't want ticky tacky housing taking up the valuable farm land; plus they didn't want Ma and Pa Kettle on the farm to build more than ten houses on their thousands of acres. Victoria, why is this ironic? Because in voting in favor of Measure 49, they have voted in favor of the very principles they supposedly abhor. The people who brought you M 49 are the VERY SAME PEOPLE (1000 Friends, Robert Liberty, Democratic Party) who required the Urban Growth Boundaries resulting in CRAMMING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TOGETHER in smaller and smaller spaces in these same counties. Those counties don't like the very things they have just endorsed in this vote. Plus, if the urban growth boundaries are so sacrosanct, then why do these pro M 49 folks allow some of the most valuable farm land in the world (Tualatin Valley) to be covered in their 'smart growth."
The other irony that never seems to be brought up is the fact that the pro M 49ers talk about the millions of dollars it would take to refund land owners for taking value from their land. They never acknowledge that if they hadn't taken the land owners' land in the first place they wouldn't have to pay it back.
By the way, not one STICK of housing, building etc has been built under M 37.
There will not be any commercial development allowed. Goodbye jobs, entrepreneurship, etc ---unless the central planners allow it.
One more noteworthy mention: The ZERO, the 'newspaper of record' in these parts, admitted, finally, today that M 49 "gutted" M 37. Which goes to prove once again that the ZERO will tell you what it wants you to hear only when its politically efficacious for them to do so.
In Washington State, R 67 was passed. This bone to trial lawyers to require judges to assess lawyers fees (what lawyer has trouble getting paid from a settlement?) and to declare open season on insurance companies is just a plan for court gridlock. There's no love lost for insurance companies, but looking at this on a macro scale, voters have just said yes to more lawsuits and hundreds of millions of dollars in premium increases when society should be going in the opposite direction of tort reform. It's easy to hate insurance companies. That voters gave themselves what's tantamount to a $200 price increase per year to stick it to--THEMSELVES--just proves it.
Elsewhere, to the right, is a picture of some Sierra Club guy smiling and hugging King County Executive Ron Sims. Why?
Sims, we thought, had seen the light on the wastefulness of light rail spending, its lack of flexibility and had come out against the largest tax increase in Washington State history. Now we know why. Those two are hugging because in defeating the light rail monies they also defeated building new roads and improving the old ones. (from the PI: King County Executive Ron Sims embraces Mike O'Brien, local chairman of the Sierra Club, which had been vocal in its opposition to Proposition 1 because it directed billions of dollars toward new roads. Sims also came out against the measure.) Oh.... cue Lucy and the Football.
This funding initiative was 5 years in the making.
Tim Eyman's curb on tax increases, requiring 2/3 of the legislature to approve it before sticking it to the taxpayers is passing.

DAY 8: Blue Oregon FINALLY Says SOMEthing About Goldschmidt, Kulongoski, Giusto

And that something is, "Gosh, it's so hard to remember if you ever found out about your bestest pal and political patron raping a young girl? Well now, WHO wouldn't let that slip away from consciousness?"
Quoting from the Zero's editorial on Sunday in which they rush to the defense of the apparent bad memory of the current Guv:

To believe that Kulongoski, with years of political, legal and judicial experience, knew about these things is to believe he knowingly set aside the knowledge and appointed Goldschmidt to lead higher education, the central initiative of the new administration. It is also to believe that, when Goldschmidt quit, citing poor health -- when the jig was nearly up -- that Kulongoski fairly begged him to stay. Think what you may about Kulongoski, but there is simply no way to square such an accusation with any other aspect of his life and career.

Could we say for certain he did not know the story? Of course not. It is impossible to prove a negative.

That is very much the governor's problem, too. Kulongoski has been asked about these events over and over, and he has denied knowing the story. Is it fair to him to ask him again to prove the negative? Is it good for Oregon?

We don't think so.

Who Is Hillary Clinton? Where Does She Stand on "The Issues?"

Is she being picked on by a bunch of bully bros? Or are they just pointing out her obvious flip flops.
You decide:

What's Surprising About This Picture?

Day 5 of Blue Oregon Ignoring Giusto/Goldschmidt/Kulongoski Story

Thank You, Dick Cheney.

The Vice President today announced that the Veteran's Administration would now allow family members to request the Flag Folding ceremony at military funerals.
One complaint at the Riverside National Cemetery sparked the ban. American Legion members, other veterans and rank and file Americans rose up with a collective raspberry at the move.

As most of you know, our nation has 125 national cemeteries operated by the VA. Burials conducted in those cemeteries should honor the wishes of the families, including those that relate to religious observances. And despite the confusing order that recently came out of the federal bureaucracy, I want you to know that honor guards at military funerals will give the 13-fold recitation at any service where the family requests it.

--Vice President Richard Cheney

Addressing the American Legion in Indianapolis, Indiana

Nov. 1, 2007