As galling as it is bigoted and stupid. From Congressman Pete Stark, DEMOCRAT, California.

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By Janet Schoenheit

After almost a year of a study costing about $120,000 of taxpayers’ money and a preponderance of negative public testimony over 3 meetings, the Clackamas County Commissioners are reconsidering the tree ordinance.
The tree ordinance would have meant that property owners within the county Urban Growth Boundary (not including cities) would have needed a permit to: cut any tree larger than 8” in diameter; cut a limit of only 2 trees or 10% of trees on their property every 2 years. They would have needed to obtain a certified arborist report to cut a diseased or hazardous tree; would have had to replace a cut tree with a tree from the county’s approved trees list; and, buy a permit if a utility company had required a tree cut, get a county permit approved, replace the tree, provide maintenance of it; and, there would have been no appeal to the ordinance.
The Clackamas County Planning Commission spent time studying the intricate plan a citizens’ commission had put together and came to the conclusion that a tree ordinance should not be proposed by a county, but by a city and sent the county commissioners their recommendation to table the ordinance. The commissioners ignored that recommendation and proceeded to bring the ordinance for public hearing testimony. This suggests that the commissioners, or perhaps commission Chair Lynn Peterson wished to promote the tree ordinance regardless of their advise.
Deborah Gerritzen, District 40 candidate for state representative said, “The issue needs to be taken to the voters that are in the unincorporated areas of the Urban Growth Boundary of Clackamas County.”
The Planning Commission stated that any county department wishing to cut a tree would also have to purchase a permit from the other county department issuing the ordinance permit according to the ordinance rules. Would one arm of the county also fine the other?
At the commissioners’ June 8th hearing, about 3 to 1 testified against the ordinance. There was excitement in the air when a pro-ordinance man was permitted to speak past his 3 minutes. People from the back of the room yelled out that it was unfair for him to be given more time when he reached 40 seconds over his limit. Chair Peterson warned that she would remove anyone who spoke further; called a recess; called the police; and, did not return. Commissioner Ann Lininger took over the hearing without further incident.
Citizens belonging to Americans for Prosperity, The 912 Project, other groups, and many non-affiliates attended the hearings to voice their opposition and concerns about the tree ordinance. A common theme from county homeowners was that they loved their trees, but did not want the county to dictate to them how they should care for their trees on their own property. Many were concerned that their rights were to be taken away and that there would be unknown permit fees and report costs relating to the ordinance. The county did not say what the cost would be to obtain a permit, an arborist report, or what fines relating to the ordinance would be, let alone the cost to the county to administer and enforce the ordinance. The Planning Commission had stated that the county did not have the funds to run the program. Where would those funds come from? Surely the county could not charge enough for a permit to pay for the program’s costs.
The commissioners decided to return the issue to the Planning Commission with instructions that it be re-worked to only include regulations for new development. They stated that perhaps the rule should be that a property that is clear-cut have a moratorium of 5 years placed on it before building could start. After more study and county money is spent, we will see what new tree ordinance develops.
The result of many citizens voicing their opposition to the county tree ordinance was that the county commissioners appear to have changed their focus to clear-cutting and developers, and away from the individual property owner on an undividable lot. September 8th 10 AM was advised as the date for further action by the commissioners on this issue. This looks like a win for citizens’ opposition to a tree ordinance that would have limited your property rights and shows the importance of paying attention to what county government considers and of you voicing your viewpoint about it.
http://www.clackamas.us/transportation/planning/treetaskforce.htm

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Lack of deference to the other constitutional officers in the state of Oregon, mission creep, empire building, naked political ambitions, and just pissing off his underlings could be the undoing of John Kroger. Or, they could make him an even bigger force in Oregon politics. Judge for yourself. 
I believe John Kroger has established himself as a hyper partisan whose politics infuse his every move.  And you can see why. See where he’s cut his political teeth. H/T Oregonian:

Politics: Democrat; served as legislative aide to then-House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., and then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; served as deputy policy director in Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign; finance chairman Oregon Democratic Party

But the story’s just getting interesting:

• A) His aim is to beef up his investigation of environmental crime. That’s right, go after companies that commit environmental crimes. That’s his priority. We are a hub of child prostitution and we’ve got Mexican drug cartels carving up the national forests to put in their marijuana grows. Are they his top priority? No. 

• B) One of his first hires to beef up his environmental agenda is the head of a far left environmentalist group. He was on the record as being against Liquified Natural Gas and, in fact, was lawyering on behalf of his environmental group against it. Kroger got the governor to give the lawyer an ethics waiver. Together they have been running a political campaign against LNG out of the AG’s office. When a little lady who runs a blog on the coast  found out about the waiver and everything else she put out the story. The lawyer was gone and Kroger has been hiding.

Willamette Week Photo

• C) Portland’s mayor admits having sex with an 18 year old teenager, but had been grooming him for months before (if not having sex). The Mayor’s attorney pays a late night call (11pm) to the teen and, over a period of hours, coerces the kid into signing an affidavit which says they didn’t have sex before he turned 18. Kroger cites difference between the document and the real story the kid tells the media as the reason he can’t bring charges against the pervert. The lawyer later loses a judgeship, which was surely his before this incident, because of the unethical nature of getting that affidavit. The “ethics” of the document is never commented upon by Kroger. He will investigate the far left, gay, pederast mayor no further. A recall of the mayor fails due to their being no charges. The mayor doesn’t have class enough to resign. Odd, isn’t it, that a guy who will seek out wrong doing or supposed wrong doing by any other party–especially evil polluters–isn’t the least bit curious about the back story and rights of a teenager predated upon and wronged by a mayor?

• D) Attends a rally by SEIU in favor of government health care. It just seems odd that a guy who’s the top law enforcement officer chooses to spend his time politically advocating for socialized medicine. It’s his right, but just the same, odd.

Oregonian Photo

• E) When 20 + other AG’s decide to fight Obamacare due to the unfunded state medicaid mandates, 10th amendment concerns, individual mandate I ask Kroger if he’ll join. Instead, he issues a press release saying he thinks socialized medicine is such a great idea that he’ll use taxpayer funds to write an amicus brief in favor. Even when his side gets its way Kroger has to go in for the political kill.

It looks as if the Zero’s picked up on this, too, by getting a copy of the review Kroger’s gotten from his workers and printed some not so flattering findings. See it here.

The owner of Hood River Juice has asked a court to toss out pollution charges against him based on “government misconduct” in prosecuting the case, an allegation that turns in part on the role played by Brent Foster, a former top aide to Attorney General John Kroger. As previously reported, the motion notes that Foster denied taking a water sample last fall near the juice plant that showed extraordinarily high pollution levels, even though he had taken it. The sample result led to a raid on Hood River Juice in October and the arrest of owner David B. Ryan. [emphasis added]

His predecessor, Hardy Myers, had been content to stay out of the headlines, running the agency with a devotion to serving as the state’s lawyer. In contrast, Kroger sees a duty to speak out on state issues.  He hasn’t stopped raising funds for his campaign committee. He took in $66,550 last year. By comparison, Secretary of State Kate Brown, a veteran in state politics, raised only $10,000. Kroger’s major donors have included four East Coast law firms, each kicking in $10,000, and Georges St. Laurent, a Vancouver developer who talks economics with Kroger. He has given $25,000.

 Kroger even has his own You Tube channel here. 
Is Kroger using public resources–a plane?–to politick?

Kroger travels the state regularly, scheduling back-to-back appointments. Last month, he started one day in Portland taking his stepson to school, then traveled across the state to Hermiston for two 15-minute meetings and a visit to the local newspaper. He continued on to Wallowa County, having coffee with a local police chief and sheriff, appearing at a meeting of the Wallowa County Democrats and ending the day with an evening reading from his autobiographical book at Fishtrap.

Gee, maybe he read these parts where he confesses to stalking an old girl friend and misses his old job of putting people in prison. H/T blogger Cara Ellison. She’s been watching Kroger for years as a blogger of all things Enron. Cara Ellison on Kroger’s crushing insecurity here. 
I’m sure the head of Hood River Juice Company will feel good about fulfilling Kroger’s fondest wishes of ordering a businessman in cuffs.

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Unbelievable, with Troops in harm’s way for all these years, fighting to protect us from another terrorist attack, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D. Az) is more concerned about whether or not the Military is using “renewable energy” in bases in Afghanistan than defeating terrorism. First, she declares the United States Air Force the largest user of energy on the planet and the Department of Defense the largest user of energy in America.

Is it proper civilian oversight to be more concerned with energy consumption than the Troops lives or the safety of the nation?

BigGovernment.com

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As galling as it is bigoted and stupid. From Congressman Pete Stark, DEMOCRAT, California.

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By Janet Schoenheit

After almost a year of a study costing about $120,000 of taxpayers’ money and a preponderance of negative public testimony over 3 meetings, the Clackamas County Commissioners are reconsidering the tree ordinance.
The tree ordinance would have meant that property owners within the county Urban Growth Boundary (not including cities) would have needed a permit to: cut any tree larger than 8” in diameter; cut a limit of only 2 trees or 10% of trees on their property every 2 years. They would have needed to obtain a certified arborist report to cut a diseased or hazardous tree; would have had to replace a cut tree with a tree from the county’s approved trees list; and, buy a permit if a utility company had required a tree cut, get a county permit approved, replace the tree, provide maintenance of it; and, there would have been no appeal to the ordinance.
The Clackamas County Planning Commission spent time studying the intricate plan a citizens’ commission had put together and came to the conclusion that a tree ordinance should not be proposed by a county, but by a city and sent the county commissioners their recommendation to table the ordinance. The commissioners ignored that recommendation and proceeded to bring the ordinance for public hearing testimony. This suggests that the commissioners, or perhaps commission Chair Lynn Peterson wished to promote the tree ordinance regardless of their advise.
Deborah Gerritzen, District 40 candidate for state representative said, “The issue needs to be taken to the voters that are in the unincorporated areas of the Urban Growth Boundary of Clackamas County.”
The Planning Commission stated that any county department wishing to cut a tree would also have to purchase a permit from the other county department issuing the ordinance permit according to the ordinance rules. Would one arm of the county also fine the other?
At the commissioners’ June 8th hearing, about 3 to 1 testified against the ordinance. There was excitement in the air when a pro-ordinance man was permitted to speak past his 3 minutes. People from the back of the room yelled out that it was unfair for him to be given more time when he reached 40 seconds over his limit. Chair Peterson warned that she would remove anyone who spoke further; called a recess; called the police; and, did not return. Commissioner Ann Lininger took over the hearing without further incident.
Citizens belonging to Americans for Prosperity, The 912 Project, other groups, and many non-affiliates attended the hearings to voice their opposition and concerns about the tree ordinance. A common theme from county homeowners was that they loved their trees, but did not want the county to dictate to them how they should care for their trees on their own property. Many were concerned that their rights were to be taken away and that there would be unknown permit fees and report costs relating to the ordinance. The county did not say what the cost would be to obtain a permit, an arborist report, or what fines relating to the ordinance would be, let alone the cost to the county to administer and enforce the ordinance. The Planning Commission had stated that the county did not have the funds to run the program. Where would those funds come from? Surely the county could not charge enough for a permit to pay for the program’s costs.
The commissioners decided to return the issue to the Planning Commission with instructions that it be re-worked to only include regulations for new development. They stated that perhaps the rule should be that a property that is clear-cut have a moratorium of 5 years placed on it before building could start. After more study and county money is spent, we will see what new tree ordinance develops.
The result of many citizens voicing their opposition to the county tree ordinance was that the county commissioners appear to have changed their focus to clear-cutting and developers, and away from the individual property owner on an undividable lot. September 8th 10 AM was advised as the date for further action by the commissioners on this issue. This looks like a win for citizens’ opposition to a tree ordinance that would have limited your property rights and shows the importance of paying attention to what county government considers and of you voicing your viewpoint about it.
http://www.clackamas.us/transportation/planning/treetaskforce.htm

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People Magazine and the Zero report the KPTV story posted here last night. And rumors of a divorce pending are being reported in both publications.

Within the last two days, Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman, has moved out of the house he shared with wife Terri Moulton Horman, and he brought their 18-month-old daughter Kiara with him, a source tells PEOPLE.
On Monday night, Terri Horman was served with a restraining order and divorce papers, the Oregonian reports.
Meanwhile, Kyron’s mother, Desiree Young, and her husband Tony, have joined Kaine Horman in releasing a cryptic statement saying they’re pulling back from the public eye.

 The cops continue to light the backfires behind the woman who last saw Kyron: his step mom.

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Lack of deference to the other constitutional officers in the state of Oregon, mission creep, empire building, naked political ambitions, and just pissing off his underlings could be the undoing of John Kroger. Or, they could make him an even bigger force in Oregon politics. Judge for yourself. 
I believe John Kroger has established himself as a hyper partisan whose politics infuse his every move.  And you can see why. See where he’s cut his political teeth. H/T Oregonian:

Politics: Democrat; served as legislative aide to then-House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., and then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; served as deputy policy director in Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign; finance chairman Oregon Democratic Party

But the story’s just getting interesting:

• A) His aim is to beef up his investigation of environmental crime. That’s right, go after companies that commit environmental crimes. That’s his priority. We are a hub of child prostitution and we’ve got Mexican drug cartels carving up the national forests to put in their marijuana grows. Are they his top priority? No. 

• B) One of his first hires to beef up his environmental agenda is the head of a far left environmentalist group. He was on the record as being against Liquified Natural Gas and, in fact, was lawyering on behalf of his environmental group against it. Kroger got the governor to give the lawyer an ethics waiver. Together they have been running a political campaign against LNG out of the AG’s office. When a little lady who runs a blog on the coast  found out about the waiver and everything else she put out the story. The lawyer was gone and Kroger has been hiding.

Willamette Week Photo

• C) Portland’s mayor admits having sex with an 18 year old teenager, but had been grooming him for months before (if not having sex). The Mayor’s attorney pays a late night call (11pm) to the teen and, over a period of hours, coerces the kid into signing an affidavit which says they didn’t have sex before he turned 18. Kroger cites difference between the document and the real story the kid tells the media as the reason he can’t bring charges against the pervert. The lawyer later loses a judgeship, which was surely his before this incident, because of the unethical nature of getting that affidavit. The “ethics” of the document is never commented upon by Kroger. He will investigate the far left, gay, pederast mayor no further. A recall of the mayor fails due to their being no charges. The mayor doesn’t have class enough to resign. Odd, isn’t it, that a guy who will seek out wrong doing or supposed wrong doing by any other party–especially evil polluters–isn’t the least bit curious about the back story and rights of a teenager predated upon and wronged by a mayor?

• D) Attends a rally by SEIU in favor of government health care. It just seems odd that a guy who’s the top law enforcement officer chooses to spend his time politically advocating for socialized medicine. It’s his right, but just the same, odd.

Oregonian Photo

• E) When 20 + other AG’s decide to fight Obamacare due to the unfunded state medicaid mandates, 10th amendment concerns, individual mandate I ask Kroger if he’ll join. Instead, he issues a press release saying he thinks socialized medicine is such a great idea that he’ll use taxpayer funds to write an amicus brief in favor. Even when his side gets its way Kroger has to go in for the political kill.

It looks as if the Zero’s picked up on this, too, by getting a copy of the review Kroger’s gotten from his workers and printed some not so flattering findings. See it here.

The owner of Hood River Juice has asked a court to toss out pollution charges against him based on “government misconduct” in prosecuting the case, an allegation that turns in part on the role played by Brent Foster, a former top aide to Attorney General John Kroger. As previously reported, the motion notes that Foster denied taking a water sample last fall near the juice plant that showed extraordinarily high pollution levels, even though he had taken it. The sample result led to a raid on Hood River Juice in October and the arrest of owner David B. Ryan. [emphasis added]

His predecessor, Hardy Myers, had been content to stay out of the headlines, running the agency with a devotion to serving as the state’s lawyer. In contrast, Kroger sees a duty to speak out on state issues.  He hasn’t stopped raising funds for his campaign committee. He took in $66,550 last year. By comparison, Secretary of State Kate Brown, a veteran in state politics, raised only $10,000. Kroger’s major donors have included four East Coast law firms, each kicking in $10,000, and Georges St. Laurent, a Vancouver developer who talks economics with Kroger. He has given $25,000.

 Kroger even has his own You Tube channel here. 
Is Kroger using public resources–a plane?–to politick?

Kroger travels the state regularly, scheduling back-to-back appointments. Last month, he started one day in Portland taking his stepson to school, then traveled across the state to Hermiston for two 15-minute meetings and a visit to the local newspaper. He continued on to Wallowa County, having coffee with a local police chief and sheriff, appearing at a meeting of the Wallowa County Democrats and ending the day with an evening reading from his autobiographical book at Fishtrap.

Gee, maybe he read these parts where he confesses to stalking an old girl friend and misses his old job of putting people in prison. H/T blogger Cara Ellison. She’s been watching Kroger for years as a blogger of all things Enron. Cara Ellison on Kroger’s crushing insecurity here. 
I’m sure the head of Hood River Juice Company will feel good about fulfilling Kroger’s fondest wishes of ordering a businessman in cuffs.

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Unbelievable, with Troops in harm’s way for all these years, fighting to protect us from another terrorist attack, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D. Az) is more concerned about whether or not the Military is using “renewable energy” in bases in Afghanistan than defeating terrorism. First, she declares the United States Air Force the largest user of energy on the planet and the Department of Defense the largest user of energy in America.

Is it proper civilian oversight to be more concerned with energy consumption than the Troops lives or the safety of the nation?

BigGovernment.com

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The City of Portland has outlawed illegal weeds (here). No, this is not a joke. An entire battery of week whackers has been hired by the “The City that Works.” They’ll deploy workers to help get rid of these illegal weeds. As we discussed on the show today (Victoria Taft, 11-3pm, KPAM 860):
Bad weeds, you understand, take nutrients and resources away from the native species.
Bad weeds take away from the more productive.
Bad weeds don’t allow the native species to flourish and reproduce because there’s less room.
Bad weeds come from somewhere else and reproduce unabated if the environment is a welcome host. 
So the Rainbow City Council has deemed them illegal.They’ll actually send someone out to your house to tell you how to get rid of them. And you’d better.
But they invite illegal aliens who do the same thing to the natives–read citizens.
So now plants are outlaws but people who break our laws, steal our resources, steal identities, reproduce to have anchor babies are ok in the city’s eyes. They spend hundreds of thousands of  our tax dollars so they can crowd us out. 

*[slogan stolen from Chicago]

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People Magazine and the Zero report the KPTV story posted here last night. And rumors of a divorce pending are being reported in both publications.

Within the last two days, Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman, has moved out of the house he shared with wife Terri Moulton Horman, and he brought their 18-month-old daughter Kiara with him, a source tells PEOPLE.
On Monday night, Terri Horman was served with a restraining order and divorce papers, the Oregonian reports.
Meanwhile, Kyron’s mother, Desiree Young, and her husband Tony, have joined Kaine Horman in releasing a cryptic statement saying they’re pulling back from the public eye.

 The cops continue to light the backfires behind the woman who last saw Kyron: his step mom.

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In light of the passing of long time West Virginia Democrat Senator, Robert Byrd, who is well known for having many structures, buildings, roads, and other projects named after him, Jim Geraghty of National Review Online tells us a witty tail of Fred Thompson traveling with Trent Lott and noticing so many buildings and such named after the former Mississippi Republican Senator and how it appeared that he missed one, when they drove past a school with a different name.

He also tells of David Castillo, candidate for Washington States 3rd Congressional District saying, “If elected, I will introduce legislation that will forbid any building, road, museum, etc. built with federal dollars from being named for a living member of Congress or family member. I am thinking about calling it the ‘Stop Naming Our Buildings,’ or, the SNOB Act.”

Gotta love a candidate with a sense of humor.

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That’s what Ch 12 is reporting here; video here.http://www.kptv.com/video/24075290/index.htmlWhat does it mean? Sounds to me like they’re lighting more back fires on the suspect/s.

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