Clark County Politics

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So, the news is out: The deal is cut and we're screwed.

The claim?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ending a perilous stalemate, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced agreement Sunday night on an emergency deal to avoid to avert the nation's first-ever financial default. The arrangement would cut more than $2 trillion from federal spending over a decade.

This is an out and out lie.

The "deal," "cuts" nothing.

That's right, I said it: There will be NO cuts.

What the "deal" does for a short time is reduce the increases scheduled for upcoming budgets.

NO budget will be ANY SMALLER then the budget we have now.

Only in DC and Olympia does a "cut" somehow equate to spending hundreds of billions more then we are spending now.

And the GOP, including that clueless moron representing us in Congress now, will go along with this... this.... abortion.

And now, as we hurtle over the cliff both parties are shoving us over, we have to wonder: what was all the fuss about? After all, we now all know that Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are the models we're following. Who in their right minds believes for one second that under these conditions, our outcomes will be any different?

This columnist sums it up far better then I ever could:

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them...

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits..... The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who was the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She was the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, could have approved any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. And what did they do? Nothing.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power...

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

There is some question as to who wrote this. But "who" wrote it is immaterial to WHAT they wrote.

Everything written here is true. When these clowns look at us and tell us this is the best they can do, they're lying. And at some point, soon, our budget WILL be cut in the classic sense because bankruptcy has a tendency to reduce spending.

And next week or so when we lose our AAA+ rating and we have to pay billions more for loans, who gets the "credit" for that?

And that's how Obama screwed us and the GOP proved itself no better.

A curse on both their houses as they jam us into 3rd world status (If that) while they pee on our legs and tell us it's raining.

And you can bet Ridgefield Barbie will be a "yes" on that because she's dumber then a box of rocks and really has no clue what we're facing.

As for Boehner?

It's time for him to go.

Cross posted at Jaime Herrera Watch.
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Democrat county commissioner Steve "The Liar" Stuart earned his moniker the same way Tim "The Liar" Leavitt earned his: Lies were a major part of his campaign, a campaign he barely won against a complete unknown.

That said, he really earned it today with this quote:

Let’s keep light rail out of the discussion. For now.

“There’s no connection between this November’s vote and light rail. Zero,” Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart, also a C-Tran board member, said last week.

It has everything to do with the despicable scam he's been running along with his running buddy, Tim "The Liar" Leavitt.

You see, Steve, it has EVERYTHING to do with it. The connection is inescapable.

We all know that our mayoral slimeball was elected with Stuart's strategy of making up the "no tolls" lie.

So, when you combine that with Stuart's campaign lie:

That's right, late in Stuart's despicable campaign, he lied:

As a member of the C-Tran board, Stuart said, he worked to protect lower fares for disabled riders and fought a move to cut transit services to the disabled.
As for light rail, he said, “My focus is to provide you with a vote, and because of the work we did, there is going to be a vote next November.”

It's hard to escape the conclusion that this vote should not be used as a protest vote... a vote against scum like Stuart and Leavitt; a vote against the corruption and affront to democracy they represent; a vote against the kind of government where a small group of people who will benefit directly and indirectly from this scam are uniquely positioned to hurt tens of thousands of people.

Of course, it was the scum like Stuart who screwed us with a gerrymandered C-Trans district in the first place... a district where 100,000 or more voters were excluded from voting, but not paying the tax these scum rammed down our throats; a feat accomplished by including every major retail store in the county within their "district."

Stuart, like Leavitt, should resign immediately. There brand of integrity is too much like that of Hitler and the "we have peace in our time" types back before the war.

They represent the worst in local politics. And every time they open their mouths, it's likely that lies are coming forth.
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

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The Olympian and the democratian both did an article today on the same subject: the legislature forcing pay cuts on state employees while failing to take those cuts themselves.

Here's the Olympian article:

Lawmakers cut state worker pay; few cut own pay
BRAD SHANNON | Staff writer • Published July 30, 2011
35 Comments

Lawmakers cut most state workers’ by 3 percent this year, but few have taken pay cuts of their own despite crafting legal language encouraging themselves and statewide elected officials to do so.

Four House members – out of 147 Senate and House lawmakers – have elected to cut their pay.

“You know, not everyone can afford to take a pay cut. I’m just really glad that I can,” said Rep. Ann Rivers, a first-term Republican from La Center, who works as a public-affairs consultant and elected to cut her $42,106 salary by 3 percent. She called it “a very personal decision” and said that after voting to cut public employees’ pay, she felt it was wrong not to reduce hers.
The three other lawmakers cutting their pay are Democratic Reps. Frank Chopp, Larry Seaquist and Troy Kelley; each is taking a cut of 5 percent or more. Chopp, as House speaker, earns $50,106.
A few state officials are donating money to charity or scholarships instead of waiving pay. As of Friday, Gov. Chris Gregoire, state Treasurer Jim McIntire and state schools superintendent Randy Dorn, all Democrats, were the only statewide elected officers to have signed up for pay waivers using a new form available through the state Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials’ website, www.salaries.wa.gov.
For Gregoire, whose base pay is $166,891, that’s a $5,007 cut. She also donates a monthly pay raise that the commission granted her in 2009, spokesman Cory Curtis said, adding that she is taking the cuts to lead by example.
“It’s important for state employees and morale right now to know we are all in this together,” he said.
Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1986 to create the salary commission and give it the exclusive power to set elected officials’ pay. Its mandate was to keep pay fair, competitive and in line with duties of officers, and it typically takes into account the pay for officials in other states.
But the 1986 language did not allow downward pay revisions – even if an official’s duties were reduced by law. After several proposals to amend the Constitution failed, Gregoire sought language in the state-worker pay-cut bill to encourage the voluntary waivers, Curtis said.
Democratic Sen. Derek Kilmer of Gig Harbor sponsored one of the constitutional amendments that died this year. He hasn’t volunteered for a pay cut; he said he already donated a portion of his pay – roughly 3 percent, or $1,260 – for college scholarships to recent high school graduates in his legislative district.
“Different people do different things. A 3 percent cut for a legislator is about $1,260. I gave roughly the equivalent of the amount to scholarships at high schools in my district,” he said. “The other thing I did during the special session was forgo per diem – so it’s a $2,700 pay cut” on top of the 3 percent donated. Per diem is the $90-per-day expense subsidy lawmakers receive when meeting in Olympia.
Chopp’s request was the first filed – and it was done quietly and directly to the House Chief Clerk’s Office in mid-February. Gregoire’s budget director, Marty Brown, sent a memo to all elected officials in late June urging them to participate.
“It’s disappointing. We had hoped for more participation,” said Teri Wright, director for the state Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials.
Like Gregoire, commission members were frustrated that they can’t reduce pay across the board. They instead settled for a two-year pay freeze for the 479 elected statewide, legislative and judicial officers under the commission’s jurisdiction.
And they asked Wright to seek authority from the Legislature to reduce salaries in the future, if appropriate. Wright said she intends to seek such a constitutional amendment next year.
Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Thurston County, is one of the lawmakers who sponsored a constitutional amendment. He said Friday that he had not known about the pay waiver form on the commission’s website and now plans to waive 3 percent of his pay.
Several other officials told the citizen commission in February that they wanted to be treated the same as their employees. Among them was state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, who filed paperwork in June to authorize the donation of 3 percent of his pay to the state’s charitable Combined Fund Drive, spokeswoman Sandi Peck said.
Like Alexander, Democratic Rep. Sam Hunt of Olympia co-sponsored a pay-authority bill and said he didn’t know about the new pay-waiver option. Hunt was in Hawaii on Friday with his wife to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and said he’ll look into the waiver when he returns.
Hunt said he forfeited the $90 daily expense claim during the special session and took a reduced amount during the 90-day regular session – part of lawmakers’ effort to cut expenses as they bridged a $5 billion budget gap.
Brad Shannon: 360-753-1688
bshannon@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/politicsblog

Well, here's the local rag's take on that article:.

Lawmakers cut everyone's pay but their own
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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More like this
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Lawmakers cut most state workers' pay by 3 percent this year, but few have taken pay cuts themselves.
That's despite crafting legal language encouraging themselves and statewide officials to cut their pay.
The Olympian reports four House members - out of 147 Senate and House lawmakers - have elected to cut their own pay.
Rep. Ann Rivers of La Center says she made a personal decision to cut her pay, but notes that not everyone can afford to take a pay cut.
A few state officials are donating money to charity or scholarships instead of waiving pay.
As of Friday, Gov. Chris Gregoire, state Treasurer Jim McIntire and state schools superintendent Randy Dorn were the only statewide elected officers to have signed up for pay waivers.
___
Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com

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As usual, the democratian's article leave so much out that it goes beyond worthless. Given their complete lack of journalism on the CRC, Jim Jacks and the like...

Why am I not surprised?
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We all know the situation with Portland Mayor Sam Adams having sex with that kid and then lying about. I've got to tell you, I really don't give a damn if Adams was nailing chickens as far as that goes.

Morality aside (Is homosexuality wrong is for another post) one thing people should be able to agree on is that Adams showed a complete lack of character and integrity by first, claiming that the allegations were untrue and that second, he then brutally and relentlessly attacked his opponent who, as it turns out, WAS telling the truth.

Here in our little burg, we've got the same situation. We've got a lying pig as a mayor of Vancouver, a genuine slimeball who assured everyone and their brother he was firmly opposed to tolls as a made-up wedge issue that was a lie from start to finish. Like Adams, Leavitt is a serial liar who can't be trusted to tell you the time, let along the truth. Like Adams, he has a monumental arrogance about him that delusionally has convinced himself that, in fact, his view, his judgment and his decision making transcends the will of the people he lied to on a psychopathic level... as I repeatedly warned people he was lying... to get elected.

The sooner The Liar announces he's done, the better. Because he's going to hear about each and every lie; over and over and over again... until even he's sick of it.

Adams, ultimately, made the right decision. Leavitt, so far, has shown himself incapable of following suit... incapable of making the right decision when arrogance and deceit drive his personal agenda.
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The list is easy. The way to determine if a candidate should be supported or opposed is simple: ask them this:

1. Do you support either the bridge replacement, or the bridge replacement and loot rail, or this moronic ballpark scam?
2. Will you demand a countywide vote on these issues?
3. Will you oppose these issues unless there is a county wide vote?

I am personally opposed to all three of these issues, obviously. Anyone currently in office running for re-election, therefore, should be opposed because no incumbent has made the commitment to oppose any of these without a county wide vote.

They know these issues would fail county wide. That's why they don't want to hear it. And that's the problem: they don't want to hear it... and as elected officials... they SHOULD want to hear it.

Fearing the will of the people is no way to govern unless you're interested in a 4th Reich.

Further, all incumbents have been rabidly supportive of the rip off known as the CRC. While that's their privilege, their rabid fear of a vote and their efforts to make sure we can't HAVE a vote on this issue disqualifies them from holding office.

These positions equate to an arrogance-driven tenure where they turn a blind eye to wards the demands of their constituents, placing their judgment at a level self-delusionally greater then their own.

Their fear of a vote is based entirely on the strong likelihood of voter disapproval of their positions, and they don't want to allow the mere will of the people to interfere with their vision. Can't have that, can we?

So, the list of who to vote for is easy. As is the list of who to vote against.

Anyone currently in office who has failed to lead a jihad against the CRC, against the bridge, against light rail or against the rape of the ballpark (which means all incumbents in every position) should be voted out.

The people we want in their are those responsive to the needs of the entirety of their constituency, not just those with offices in downtown Vancouver or those with offices that will stand to benefit directly from the rip offs confronting us.

That is not to say that all incumbents support the ballpark ripoff... most of them, apparently, do not. But where they fall down on their job is they ignore their constituency about just voting to kill it right now, and they have done nothing to end the slow-motion trainwreck that is the Columbia River Crossing.

In the 49th, vote for Riley.

While Riley hasn't come out swinging against these projects, Wylie has made no bones about her blind support of the CRC, a crippling waste of time, money and effort. That support represents a danger to our community and on that basis alone, she should be replaced.

In Vancouver, vote for Bill Turley who has a well-known track record of opposition to the moronic CRC; Joesephine Wentzel because her election would make heads explode in Vancouver, starting with Tim "The Liar" Leavitt's; and Cory Barnes, because Smith has done nothing to get in the way of the CRC and nothing to require a county wide, or even a district wide vote... nor has any other incumbent.

That is not to say that I don't appreciate the efforts of many incumbents on the issue of the anathema to democracy admissions tax, where the monies will be used to further enrich the Yakima Millionaires; but my fear is, that in the end, just like they did for the CRC, those strongly opposed to that idiotic ballpark and its even more idiotic admissions tax will cave to the same special interests such as the downtown mafia and identity Vancouver that own them outright on the CRC.

Thus, their opposition to one while completely ignoring the demands of the people on the other tends to serve as the reason that they, too, should be replaced.
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Friday, July 29, 2011

I am opposed to the Boehner plan.

Our congresscritter, obviously, is not since she voted for this horse-hockey.

We fork over $900 BILLION in increased debt ceiling... and next year, we get a $7 whole billion reduction in our budget INCREASE.

Meanwhile, the can is kicked down the road again, when we get to do the same thing, with the same verbiage, all over again, solving... and changing... nothing.

We are spending ourselves into Weimar Republic bankruptcy.

We're lied to when we're told that failing to give into this scam would be a "disaster."

I always thought that when the Titanic was cruising along at full speed and slammed into that iceberg that had they faced the oncoming disaster with a little more caution... you know, slowed down, maybe, and turned to port a few degrees, that wouldn't have happened and James Cameron would have had to find some other disaster to make bank off of.

We see the iceberg ahead. And instead of changing course and slowing down, we're speeding up and turning into it. We see Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain. And do we take the steps to avoid becoming like that?

Hell, no.

We see the talking heads babbling about out "downgrade" if this thing isn't passed. Well, what are we going to do when it IS passed, and they DOWNGRADE US ANYWAY, because the rating firms know the entire bow of our ship of state is rotten clear through, and likely to sink any minute?

What then?

Well, Ridgefield Barbie's boilerplate press release doesn't talk about that, does it?

Will it be tough to default? Sure. But there will be a great many benefits as well, such as torpedoing the moronic CRC rip off. I'd go through with it just to accomplish THAT.

This is a bad bill. It doesn't cut nearly enough. And one of the problems DC has is that while they expect everyone ELSE to sacrifice... none of them are lined up to join with us in that requirement.

So, here it is: Jaime's cowardly explanation, given to her by CMR, no doubt, as to why she tossed us under the bus... again.

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Rep. Herrera Beutler votes for Boehner debt limit plan, releases statement
By Kathie Durbin
Columbian Staff Reporter
Friday, July 29, 2011
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler joined a slim majority of House members Friday in voting in favor of House Speaker John Boehner’s debt ceiling proposal. The measure needed 217 votes to pass; it passed 218-210, with 22 Republicans voting no.
Herrera Beutler released this statement after the vote:
“All through the debate over how to address the debt ceiling, I have maintained that our solution must meet three criteria. First, it must protect Social Security. Not only does this plan include no cuts to Social Security benefits, it helps us meet our debt obligations and stops the administration from making a decision to withhold Social Security checks.“
“Second, I said I could not support a plan that included any increase in tax rates on families and small businesses in my district. This plan does not include a single tax increase.”
“Third, the plan must put our country back on a financially responsible path by addressing Washington, D.C.’s overspending problem. This plan not only changes the trajectory of this country’s spending, it makes a down payment on lowering our nation’s debt.
“I do not want August 2 to pass without a solution to our country’s impending debt ceiling issue. This plan represents the second solution in that many weeks that I have helped send to the Senate, after last week’s bipartisan ‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ proposal. The plan I voted for today isn’t perfect, but it’s a serious proposal to meet the nation’s debt obligations without issuing D.C. another ‘blank check.’”

Cross posted at Clark County Politics.

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We truly do have the government we deserve. Someone (Yeah, it was me) tried to warn people that electing an empty suit to any position (Including Ridgefield Barbie to Congress) was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Well, it's happening. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

APPLE Now Has More Cash Than U.S. Gov't?
Q1 CRASHED TO JUST 0.4%!
Gold soars, Dow plunges...

GDP AT 1.3

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Light to no blogging today; mostly out of the office.
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Locally, we're confronted with the largest waste of money the northwestern United States has ever known: The $10 billion or more the unneeded, unwanted and unaffordable Columbia River Crossing scam will cost us.

Our rag, frequently self-delusional in their cloying nonsense when it comes to the leftists they've endorsed, show that they're willing to wear out their kneepads when it comes to fringe-leftist, rabid state-income tax supporter and former state representative Jim McIntire, who continues on with his partisan crap as state treasurer.

McIntire, who this rag endorsed over the Republican candidate endorsed by the democrat treasurer and 33 county treasurers at the time, back in their "For open seats, we're only going to endorse democrats" phase of the 08 election, thought he'd get some free publicity by sending out a letter that no one cares about. The rag, ever doing all they can for those they "like," wrote this about the little whiner who snivels about Eyman initiatives like a donut maker punching out holes:

McIntire — one of the smartest and most trusted of our statewide elected officials — told the lawmakers that failure to resolve the debt-ceiling dilemma “will likely crush a fragile economy, irreparably harm struggling businesses and families, damage responsible state governments and undermine emerging stability among our community banks. This is a risk we cannot afford to take.”

The fact that McIntire is really not that smart, but that he is a democrat, drives this kind of pap. But as the rag has shown, when they like you, they like you.

But what caught my eye in this Goebellesque rant of the rags was this tidbit, also from tax and spender McIntire:

McIntire credited Washington’s Legislature for taking a “hard-nosed and practical approach” to prepare for this day. Borrowing costs have been kept down for the state, but federal inaction on the debt ceiling could erase all that, and “it will not be possible to finance major construction projects or execute refundings to save taxpayer dollars … .”

McIntire is delusional at best in reference to our ever-growing state budget as his leftist colleagues look to stick it to the taxpayers as they engage in their personal jihad to redistribute the wealth of anyone making more than minimum wage. But what nails it for me was this line: "but federal inaction on the debt ceiling could erase all that, and “it will not be possible to finance major construction projects..."

How can I not hope for immediate default? How can we not hope that events within which we have no control over will conspire to kill the criminal waste of our money on this horrific projects?

If it takes default to kill this massive, criminal waste of money and bury it permanently, then I'm all for it.

In the words of another Republican: "Bring It On."

At some point, with these fringe leftists spending us into bankruptcy, default might as well happen now, since it's going to happen anyway. And the first project on the chopping block?

I volunteer this massive vaporization of cash that would accomplish nothing except to bury us even deeper under the mountain of democrat debt.

Links to follow.
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Joanne · July 28, 2011

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While many morons in this state support giving illegal aliens precious slots that keep actual American citizens out of universities, the facts speak for themselves:

Degree doesn’t help illegal immigrants
July 28, 2011 By Joanne 2 Comments
California has passed the “Half Dream Act,” which opens state-run private scholarships to undocumented students who’ve graduated from the state’s high schools. But, even if they earn a college degree, undocumented immigrants end up in the same jobs as their parents,

concludes a University of Chicago survey. Without legal immigration status, they typically work in construction, restaurants, cleaning and child care.

Also on Community College Spotlight: Most community college students are women, but most athletes are male, reports the New York Times. A Florida college has achieved gender equity by spending to recruit female athletes directly from college and by limiting men’s sports.

A blind man could see this in a minute.
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With her history of co-sponsoring and voting for SEIU legislation while voting to help the fringe leftists in the legislature empty out the state's emergency account, it's not surprising that she's turned her back on Republican principles.

Voting with her buds is something we've come to look forward to from Babs.

Her first time of note in Congress involved only one other GOP'er when she voted to continue funding Obama's mortgage savior program that, not surprisingly, saved practically nothing.

Now, she votes to keep funding the horrifically expensive and unsuccessful Endangered Species Act, one of the most moronic pieces of legislation ever passed.

Here's a sample of their idiocy:

Four trash fish in Colorado - the squaw fish, two types of Chub and a sucker, which, until a few years ago were poisoned by the USFWS, are
now listed on the ESA? Their recovery is estimated to cost $60 million dollars and impacts costs are over $650,000,000. Meanwhile, in the state of Washington, anglers are paid $3 by the USFWS for every squawfish caught that measures over 11 inches.

That's right, folks. We spent a fortune to kill the squaw fish off in Colorado... then have spent tens of millions to restore them... and we're doing our very best to kill them off up here on the Columbia.

That's what our cardboard cut out of a congresswoman voted for.

Idiot.

Cross posted at Jaime Herrera Watch.
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Michael Angley

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Of course, I would have been stunned had the cardboard cut-out of a congresswoman had the guts to actually do this, but hope springs eternal:

Congress Fails To Put Military Pay First, Effectively Joining Obama’s Threats To Our Heroes

Posted by Michael Angley Jul 28th 2011 at 10:19 am in Congress, Economy, Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics, Soldiers, veterans | Comments (9)

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Our Congress continues to disappoint. Texas GOP Representative Louie Gohmert began a petition drive to introduce a “Pay Troops First” bill to guarantee funding for military pay, veterans benefits, and military retiree income. He began the effort because of President Obama’s threats to not pay these patriots in the event of a government shutdown due to the debt ceiling crisis. Although Gohmert expected to easily obtain the 218 signatures necessary to bring the bill to the House floor, in two weeks time he had received only 9 signatures.
That’s sad and shameful.

Concurrently, Texas GOP Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced similar legislation in the Upper House, but the Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid, refused to allow the proposal to leave committee.
Both Gohmert’s and Hutchison’s proposals seemed like no-brainer, sail-to-victory pieces of legislation, but they failed to muster any movement.

What’s going on?

Apparently both Reid and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), wanted to keep the troop pay issue alive as they wrangle over competing proposals for addressing the debt crisis:

Leaders on both sides do not want to remove military pay from the debate because they believe that having it at risk will make it easier for lawmakers to go along with a deal for which they otherwise would not vote.

More:

And no, I don't get a dime in disability.

Cross posted at Jaime Herrera Watch.
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Race and religion are sensitive subjects, both within and without the military.

I am Caucasian. My son is half Asian. The knee jerk reaction to what I have to say will likely be that Hinton is a racist or some such garbage, when that has nothing to do with it.

Captain Raj Srinivason, US Army, has a blog which I've been following for quite some time. I initially commented on the blog in question back when Raj was a platoon leader in Afghanistan over the occasionally driven question as whether, or if, the Service Academies were worthy of our continued government support (I believe they were and are, even though I was ROTC.).

Raj is a brilliant writer. His passion and ability to communicate to the reader in ways that transform him or her into the time, place, and circumstance is as good as any I've ever seen.

He is a fine officer in every way; I wouldn't hesitate to serve with him where bullets were flying and blood was spilling.

Unfortunately, right now, Raj is serving as a "Minority Outreach Admissions Officer" at West Point.

I say "unfortunately" because as a combat leader of proven ability, holding that post in the middle of a war is a complete waste of time, talent and money.

I say "unfortunately" because the Army used to strive to be color-blind, but given our vacuous leadership has now become one where "diversity" is a more important mission then killing the enemy, or training to kill the enemy.

Raj was among a group of combat soldiers selected to go to the White House.

There seems to have been but two criteria: that the soldiers in question are, in fact, combat veterans of the current war(s)... and that they practice Hinduism.

To use a religion to INclude is to use a religion to EXclude. And I find that kind of nonsense to be utterly sickening.

Raj views it as an "honor." He fails to understand that he's being used as yet another campaign prop for a President who quite literally despises the military he refused to serve in and views as just another pawn to be moved around his board.

"Blood has but one color," a platoon Sergeant of mine rammed down our Recon throats. But it has multiple religions and the idea that it should somehow be a criteria for either inclusion or exclusion is anathema to what either being in the Army generally or being an officer specifically is supposed to be about.

Rajiv Srinivasan
Im honored to be invited to the White House tomorrow to be recognized with other Hindu Americans who have served this country in combat.

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We've been assaulted by bogus studies before with pre-ordained outcomes; the slime ramming this horrific bridge and loot rail scam down our throats immediately come to mind as a case in point.

The CREDC study, with it's impossibly high numbers if full of lies and deceit... and it was a result of a $5000 check from, you guessed it, the Yakima Millionaires trying to scam this community the same way the scum behind the prospective waste of billions of dollars are trying to scam us on the CRC.

The REAL facts speak for themselves: There's no groundswell of support demanding that the Yakima Millionaires stay in Yakima, as there no doubt would be if, in fact, the economic impact were anything like the fantasy presented in this study.

We've heard words like this before. You know, "If we just blow this $867 BILLION on a pokulous, unemployment will stay under 8%."

Those working so hard to screw this entire community will no doubt trumpet this massive lie. But that's the problem for them; it IS a lie, and we KNOW it's a lie.

The numbers are clear: the expectation is that 100,000 attendance would actually generate $10 million a year for 20 years.

The lying numbers?

The $206.5 million figure includes $34.5 million from construction, $4.6 million annually from the Yakima Bears and another $4 million annually from using the stadium to host regional and national tournaments.

Odd how a $22.7 million dollar ballpark manages to generate $34.5 million in construction.

And the other figures? These slimeballs can;'t figure out a way to divert $1 million a year from the fantasy $8.6 million they claim this cesspool will generate?

I was born at night... but not LAST night.

And since these scum have to lie to get this thing built like this, there's only one answer: "No."

"No."

You clowns claim you've got "alternatives?" Then use them. Use any one of them, or all of them.

But don't build that manure pile here, rip us off to pay for it, pee on our legs and then tell us it's raining.
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I've had problems with teachers of late; militant unionists who's sense of self-importance transcend our horrific economy and many who, somehow, see themselves as being above bad economy and who believe they should have total immunity from its effects.

Many times we've heard about the battle between administrators and teachers. But this kind of activity proves the barriers to be artificial at beast... because, after all, the staff that smokes meth together, stays together. Right?

School Shut Down After Meth Found Inside

Updated: Wednesday, 27 Jul 2011, 6:53 AM EDT

Published : Tuesday, 26 Jul 2011, 7:51 AM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A West Virginia public vocational school has been shut down indefinitely after traces of methamphetamine were found throughout the building during an investigation of the principal and a teacher.

State Police Sgt. Andy Perdue said Monday that traces of the drug were found in the ducts, principal's office, hallways and bathrooms of the Boone County Career and Technical Center. Perdue says the teacher admitted he smoked meth with the principal in the principal's office.

He says police do not have evidence the school was used as a meth lab.

Teacher Jack Turley faces charges of manufacturing meth and procuring Sudafed for making meth. Principal Keith Phipps faces charges of purchasing over the legal limit of Sudafed.

Their attorneys didn't return calls seeking comment.

I guess we all CAN just get along.
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7PM

Alternative River Crossing (ARC)

There is more than one way to cross a river!

Citizens are not stuck with the Columbia River Crossing, CRC All or Nothing, There are alternatives we can Respect and Support.

A Final Decision Has Not Been Made

July 29th 5:30 to 7PM
Open House lean about alternative chat with elected officials.

July 30th 10AM to 8PM
Open house with formal presentation every ½ hour form noon to 5PM

Everyone is welcome
New bridges
Upgrades to the current bridges
Upgrading I-5 Freeway
Transit alternatives
Come be Part of the Solution!

1300 Franklin St. Vancouver WA 98663

Clark County Service Building

Presented by Third Bridge Now.com / Thirdbridgenow@aol.com

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You remember that gutless pig's attack against me if you've been a regular reader of this blog. It was about a year or so ago that the local rag's scumbag-in-chief came after me because, well, he doesn't like the way I write.

I was not impressed then, nor am I now. The premise for his cowardice was that a state representative candidate who I supported with time, money and effort because they were the best one for the job should be "held accountable" like this slimeball believed Benito Obama was "held accountable" for knowing and being friends with a complete dick by the name of Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Of course, typically comparing me to Wright is worth a punch in the mouth. The point of the exercise was to attack ME, because I despise everything Brancaccio is or stands for. And he used this candidate to try and get to me.

I, of course, am guilty. I'm guilty of writing a letter, a letter my BOSS APPROVED OF, SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. I'm guilty of using a fake name in letters to the editor so I could protect the legislator I worked for. I'm guilty of doing what I was told while a senate staffer.

But most of all, I'm guilty for beating the living crap out of Brancaccio's positions that have, and are, doing so very much to harm our community. Because you can bet your ass that if I had been this rabid in SUPPORT of that scumbucket as I am in opposition, he'd likely have written me into his will.

And that brings us to this application of what is, no doubt, Brancaccio's situational ethics.

So, here's your chance, Lou. Let's see you tear into John Kerry for the same reasons you tore into me.

July 26, 2011

Kerry spokesman stripped of Silver Star

John Kerry was introduced at the 2004 Democratic National Convention by Wade Sanders, a retired Navy Captain and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy who served as a Swift Boat officer in Vietnam. Like Kerry, Sanders was the recipient of a Silver Star for gallantry in action. During the 2004 campaign, Sanders functioned as Kerry lead attack dog against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, repeatedly denouncing the veterans on the air as liars and comparing them to Nazi propagandists.

Wade Sanders is now in Federal prison, serving a 37-month sentence for possessing child pornography. Now the Navy Times reports that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has revoked Sanders' Silver Star. The highly unusual decision appears unrelated to Sanders' felony conviction. A Navy spokesman cited "subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself." John Kerry has to be hoping this doesn't become a trend.

As one might imagine, the media has ignored this story. Even the Navy Times declined to post its own article online.

Update: Here is the Sanders sentencing memorandum. Horrific.

Fat chance any of this will ever see the light of day in our local carbuncle on Clark County.
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Thanks to Tom Mielke for making the statement that had to be made: you clowns want a baseball stadium? Then you clowns pay for it. Pay for ALL of it.

Pay for the dirt you're going to build it on; pay for the structure, pay for the maintenance, pay for the infrastructure... pay for it all, and leave the taxpayers alone. And if you have "alternate plans," then feel free to get off your greedy asses and use them.

Unfortunately, the two democrats on the commission, Steve "The Liar" Stuart and Marc "Turncoat" Boldt, voted to continue on with this rip off.

The idea that in this economy, the people of this county should be taxed without asking them to enrich a bunch of millionaires from Yakima is simply beyond any construct of common sense.

There is no excuse. There is no explanation. There is no reason. These dillwads threaten to take their show down the road?

Then swell. Don't let the door hit you in your collective asses on the way out.
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For those with selective memories, Benito Obama was characterized thusly by Joe Biden and Bill Clinton during the campaign:

As I may have mentioned... repeatedly... over and over again... the one thing that a president MUST have to sway the people... the one element that is required... and that Obama no longer has (Even to much of his base) is believability.

And the president doesn't have any left.

Like our local versions, Tim "The Liar" Leavitt and Steve "The Liar" Stuart, lies and misleading statements to get elected kill your credibility.

Obama lied repeatedly to get elected. And once elected, he lied repeatedly to get programs passed that have buried us under a mountain of debt that will take generations to repay... if it's repayable at all.

Within the past few weeks, he's lied about such mundane matters as Social Security checks and the like.

Combined with his weekly White House parties, multi-million dollar vacations and golf, what we seem to have acquired in a president is nothing so much as a re-incarnated Marie Antoinette.

So, when he grabs his bully pulpit and preaches to us about the fake impacts of "defaulting," his shattered credibility keeps him from making any difference.

In the various military Leadership Academies I attended, as well as during my officer's training, we were taught that the basic underpinning of the art of leadership includes the requirement that, as a leader, you must never, ever, promise what you can't deliver.

That impacts at every level, both in the military... and in government.

Obama never served his country in the military. He, apparently, never attended any school that taught the tenets of leadership, or if he did, he's long forgotten or ignored what he learned.

The result? Last night's speech accomplished nothing.

I didn't listen to Obama's speech. I know, at a cellular level, that every time this guy talks, he's lying... so why bother, particularly when I can get the highlights in a few minutes and avoid wasting my time?

It was, as many believed it would be, a campaign speech. Obama's trouble is that his verbiage rings hollow.

He's lied so much on so many things, he's hung so many people out and tossed so many under the passing buses that he can no longer move the population to his position merely because he says so.

He's lost the most important ability a president must have.

And he's got no one to blame but himself.
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Just another Weiner, only bigger. And it took this long for these people to get rid of this psycho?

Sheesh.
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Gee. Ya think?

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The arrogant scum who own the Yakima Millionaires most likely killed any chance they had, no matter how small it was, to see their gigantic rip off through to fruition, Tim "The Liar" leavitt's bogus "perked up" fantasy notwithstanding.

The money part of the article showing them to be arrogant, scum-sucking slime?

Councilors Larry Smith and Jack Burkman said they wanted to hear alternatives to an admissions tax. They didn’t get any.

After the workshop, co-owner K.L. Wombacher said the team does have alternate plans, but they don’t involve the city of Vancouver.

“This is our first choice,” said Wombacher, whose team nabbed exclusive negotiating rights to a market that opened up after the Beavers left Portland.

The Portland-Vancouver market is the largest metropolitan area in the country without a professional baseball team.

“Baseball will return to the area,” Wombacher said.

But the team might be in Beaverton, Milwaukie or Portland, he said.

“There isn’t a stadium in the country that didn’t use some type of public financing,” Wombacher said.

Which excuses and justifies nothing.

That every other community in the country with one of these cess polls was stupid enough to go that route is meaningless here.

You left out the part where most every "public financing" project in the country ALSO had a VOTE. But then, when it comes to raping us, facts aren't real big on your agenda.

Clearly, slimeballs like The Liar Leavitt and The Liar Stuart made assurances to you that precluded any other plan but taxing hundreds of thousands to get your crap pile built... and now they can't deliver.

Arrogance isn't an endearing trait. Once again you and those shilling for you have been shown we don't want you here, we don't need you here and if you think that threatening to go somewhere else will do anything but help us to show your arrogant ass out the door, you've got another think coming.

Leavitt is the quintessential liar. Harris is a psycho. When they tell us that baseball would "enhance" the ghetto known as Vancouver, they're speaking with a voice lubricated by hundreds of thousands of people who will have to pay their fricking tax but who do not live in the Sewercouver and who will not have any benefit from this scam of any kind. And how easy it is for the Bobbsey Twins of government to spend OUR money striped off the backs of small businesses here depending on those funds.

The only "opportunity" this is consists of an arrogant liar like Leavitt and Stuart doing all they can to rip off the people of this county so they can get a stadium built in their backyard at OUR expense.

Temple Lentz summed it up while bitch-slapping her former candidate:

Vancouver resident Temple Lentz, Leavitt’s former campaign manager, echoed many concerns of speakers, asking if a baseball stadium was the highest or best use of public money. At a time when public services are being cut, a fire station closed, federal grants used to keep cops on the street and the city lacks money to fill all its potholes, she questioned the rationality of raising a tax for a stadium.

She referenced an email Leavitt sent to Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart about the odds of the city council supporting the tax.

“The terms political will and vision were used as qualities to make this happen,” she said. “But giving $20 million of other people’s money to the first guy who comes up and asks for it is not political will or vision.”

This entire concept is insane. The figures, which will likely be ignored with the study the Yakima Millionaires have bought and paid for, because, like the rip off of the CRC scam, these scum don't want any of the facts to interfere with their conclusions.

Kill this thing. Let these arrogant assholes use their "alternate plans" and get the hell out of here while leaving us alone. And they can take The Liar with them.
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Monday, July 25, 2011

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Leftist heads are exploding... again... as Tim Eyman's work takes another step towards fruition with the likely outcome of both passage... and a stake through the heart of the organized crime known as the Columbia River Crossing.

Jim Moeller's probably having a cow. The Liar's Leavitt and Stuart are hoping against hope this fails so they can continue their despicable games with those they're SUPPOSED to be protecting, instead of those who own them.

Voters to decide tolling initiative

Eyman measure qualifies for fall ballot
By Washington Secretary of State's office
Monday, July 25, 2011

Secretary of State Sam Reed on Monday certified Initiative 1125 to the statewide fall ballot. The measure, sponsored by initiative activist Tim Eyman, deals with transportation tolling.

The measure was the first citizen initiative to secure a place on the Nov. 8 ballot. State Elections Division crews began a random-sample check of I-1183, submitted by Costco and other supporters of a plan to privatize liquor sales in Washington. A third measure, a home care-worker initiative submitted by SEIU, I-1163, will follow in order.

The certificate signed by Secretary Reed said I-1125 backers submitted 328,632 signatures, enough to allow a 3 percent random sample of 10,012 signatures. Checkers rejected 1,051: Registrations were not found for 940 signers, a signature verification from the voter’s home county was still pending for 27 people, 71 signatures did not match the one on file, and 13 pairs of duplicates were found. All told the error rate was calculated at 14.63 percent.

The measure easily qualified for the ballot. It takes 241,153 valid signatures to win a spot. The full text is here.

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Daily Mail Reporter

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This slaughter may... finally... cause Norway to fundamentally review and change their society to one that actually bears some resemblance to reality.

When you think about it, the loss of 92 people out of 4.9 million, for purposes of comparison, would have roughly the statistical impact of the loss of roughly 63 times that many here in the US, based on our population sizes... Norway with 4.9 million, the US with 307 million or so... or 5800 killed... almost twice that of our 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The idea that this guy could ever see the light of day again is incomprehensible... like many of the policies of the "living-in-a-cocoon" euro-governments where reality is an abstract construct and you get the economic strength of socialist countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Span and Italy... ongoing, slow-motion train wrecks.

Norway has the lowest incarceration rate in Europe, roughly a 8% or so of that in our country.

Laws like this, obviously, are why.

Why Norway's worst mass killer will be given a jail sentence of only 21 years... and could be on weekend parole in seven

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:29 PM on 24th July 2011

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Killer: Anders Behring Breivik, as seen on his Facebook profile

Norway's mass killer faces a maximum jail term of just 21 years. Astonishingly, that is the longest sentence available to judges in Norway's benevolent justice system.

In England and Wales, repeat killers can be told they will die behind bars with a 'whole life' tariff, and killers who use a knife or gun face minimum terms of 25 and 30 years.

But in Norway, few killers serve more than 14 years.

Even those given the maximum term can be released after two-thirds of their sentence, and many are given unsupervised weekend parole after just one third.

Only in exceptional cases, if officials consider a prisoner is still highly dangerous, will sentences be extended for additional five-year blocks.

Norway’s incarceration rates – the number of people jailed per head of population – are among the lowest in Europe. Some 66 are behind bars for every 100,000 citizens, less than half the figure for the UK.

The age of criminal responsibility is 15, compared with ten in England and Wales.
Lack of jail spaces means some offenders can wait weeks or even months before being locked up.

Many spend this time at home, often in the heart of the communities where they committed their crimes.In one notorious case, two boys who killed a five-year-old girl were back at school within two weeks.

So... how's that working out for them?

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Ridgefield Barbie signed off on yet another propaganda piece prepared for her... showing yet again that the one thing we can count on her for is to lie, and the other is to lack the courage and vision that members of Congress MUST have to get us out of this mess.

She tells us:

"I am not a DC veteran?" Seriously? Part of your election campaign shtick was your lies about the job you had getting coffee for Cathy McMorris Rogers... you know, that "Senior Legislative Assistant" lie of yours?

How come you were a DC veteran THEN... but you're not a "DC veteran" NOW? Obviously, whoever wrote this garbage for you doesn't know you.

Your bizarre insistence that Social Security is off the table shows you to be the gutless disappointment I knew you were going to be.

EVERYTHING has to be on the table. EVERYTHING. And that INCLUDES Social Security. Because as much as people depend on it now, they'll depend on it even more when it disappears because gutless empty suits like you put your re-election ahead of doing what's needed.

As for "Congressional Leadership," you wouldn't know it if it bit you in your wide-glide butt. Leadership means doing the tough thing... the hard thing... when it needs to be done. And that's simply not possible for a coward like you.

You had... and failed... your first test when you mixed it up with Tim "The Liar" Leavitt and he slapped you so hard your mom felt it and you went silent on the bogus issue you were trying to convince people you were on... but many of us knew you were just playing politics and you didn't... really... mean it.

We have the government we deserve. But I am ashamed that you're a part of it.

Cross posted on Jaime Herrera Watch.
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July 22, 2011

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Take a quick look at this article. Guess what's wrong with it...

Which month of the calendar is this?
Blog: All politics is local
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By Andrea Damewood (Columbian Staff)
July 22, 2011

The excellent Fire in the Park fundraiser event is this Saturday, and we all know Vancouver City Councilor Bart Hansen loves public safety. He loves public safety enough to pose, high school senior photo style, on a fire engine:

Best comment? Al Angelo III's: "What month of the calendar is this!?!"

Hansen will emcee the event, which will pit local chefs and firehouse chili aficionados against their peers in a cook-off to benefit Share.

The event will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Esther Short Park. Admission is free. Chili tasting is $1 a cup, and tasters will be part of a people's choice award for best chili.

The event is sponsored by the Vancouver Firefighters Union (who also sponsor Hansen with $800 in campaign donations for his reelection run this year and an endorsement).

For afficianadoes, the use of official fire equipment and official uniforms infers agency endorsement and is, therefore, a violation of state law.:

RCW 42.17.130

Use of public office or agency facilities in campaigns — Prohibition — Exceptions. (Effective until January 1, 2012. Recodified as RCW 42.17A.555.)

No elective official nor any employee of his [or her] office nor any person appointed to or employed by any public office or agency may use or authorize the use of any of the facilities of a public office or agency, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. Facilities of a public office or agency include, but are not limited to, use of stationery, postage, machines, and equipment, use of employees of the office or agency during working hours, vehicles, office space, publications of the office or agency, and clientele lists of persons served by the office or agency. However, this does not apply to the following activities:

The democratian knows this, of course, but like all democrats and those who work for their agenda (See their cover-up of Rep. Jim Jacks misconduct in Olympia that led to his expulsion from the House) the paper, instead of pointing out the violation doesn't even mention it, instead using it as a campaign piece for the candidate in question.

That's the sliminess from the local rag that I've come to know and appreciate.
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We're cursed with a publication that utilizes situational ethics as their watch word when it comes to reporting on projects THEY support... such as this bizarre waste of billions for a project we don't want in the form of billions wasted on a bridge and loot rail, all the way down to bending US over to pay for a ballpark THEY want by jack US with taxes that THEY won't have to pay... all so THEY will make bank off the advertising.

Today's idiocy from Brancaccio involves the fact that The Rag told us first about the problems with tolls providing enough money.

Their "in-depth" reporting consisted of a single paragraph, buried in one of their interminable cheerleading articles for this criminal waste of billions of dollars... never, apparently, to address the issue again... until the Oregonian blew the lid off it and the rag was forced to print something... again failing to print the entire story because, well, you damned sure don't want to give people like ME any MORE ammunition to prove how criminal, dishonest, and fraudulent the scum supporting this massive waste of money have actually become.

“Cortright contends that planners are probably greatly underestimating construction costs while overestimating toll revenue. (The CRC) focuses on projections that traffic will steadily increase across the new bridge, even though traffic counts actually declined across the existing bridge from 2005 to 2009

And that's it.

You would think a slimeball like Brancaccio would spend at least as much time going after that as he has going after me, instead of, once again, breaking his own shoulder patting himself on his own back for burying a paragraph like this in a story that should have been treated like the Oregonian treated it.

But when you've been bent over by, and have become one of the special interests shilling for a crap pile like this, the idea that you would do or say ANYTHING that might slow it down or, God-forbid, stop it altogether is just out of the question. So, you sit on information like this.

Because when you want something that YOU won't have to pay for like the scuzball Brancaccio wants this bridge/loot rail project... it's easy to close your eyes to information that might make this project go away.

For example, I haven't seen anything about all this from Tim "The Liar" Leavitt or Steve "The Liar" Stuart, two of the most rabid bridger/looters. And the downtown mafia/Identity Vancouver types sure seem quiet all of a sudden.

And the democratians own sleazeball, John Laird?

Not a peep.

But here you have it. Brancaccio and his cold sore of a paper have continued to rabidly support screwing us EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW THE NUMBERS DIDN'T WORK.

And this time, Lou... there WAS a paper trail.
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The little clock widget continues the countdown from the day political journalism finally died at the democratian.

It was 120 days ago that then State Representative Jim Jacks was unceremoniously ejected in a web of lies, drunkenness and misconduct with female staffers, all while our local rag stood there, paralyzed like it had just been visited by a Tarantula Wasp, stung, and had the egg laid on it's abdomen to be eaten alive later after the egg hatched.

Given the last election cycle and Lou Brancaccio's despicable columns crucifying candidates and others smart enough to oppose his twisted world view, it's hard to deny his efforts to protect a fellow leftist, particularly one who had carried the rag's agenda like Gunga Din bringing Slurpees to the troops out in the field.

There's precisely no excuse for this floor-flusher's failure to have gone after Jacks with all the enthusiasm he displayed in going after, say, me... or Peter Van Nortwick... or as he was winding up to punch Brent Boger before others with some decency knocked him into next week.

Let's set the stage. Then Rep. Jacks (D-49) was a drunk. He engaged in misconduct with his own legislative assistant and with a female staffer from OPR. He was o0berved by another legislator engaging in that misconduct on St. Patrick's Day this year in Olympia. As a result, he was gone before the week was out.

I know this. Brancaccio knew off it, and when he had his bogus interview with Jacks, he had a journalistic duty to ASK Jacks about it... but instead, all we got was this garbage:

Being an alcoholic is a difficult thing in and of itself. But oftentimes, having one too many also results in bad behavior.

So I asked Jacks if his drinking resulted in his doing anything inappropriate. At first he wasn’t exactly sure what I meant.

“I have no criminal record. I’ve gotten no DUIs. I’m sure I’ve driven when I should not have been driving. But I resigned because I had to fix my problem. I resigned because I’m an alcoholic.”

Still, I pressed him further. Notwithstanding the drinking while driving, is it possible that someone might show up later and say you did something inappropriate to them while you were drinking?

He said no.

The interview moved forward.
"The interview moved forward."

Codespeak for "I let him off the hook and didn't ask the questions that needed to be asked."

Questions like this:

Did you, in any way, engage in conduct that could be construed as sexual harassment of anyone?

Did you engage in “drunk calls” to anyone?

Did you engage in unwanted advances to anyone at any time generally, but legislative staffers particularly?

That Jacks never got popped for anything criminally as a result of his alcoholism doesn't mean that he did not engage in the kind of conduct that would result in his caucus wanting to get rid of him in a hurry, as quickly and as quietly as possible. And those are not the actions on the part of a caucus that result from mere alcoholism alone. Brancaccio knows that as well as I do.

These are the kinds of questions, based on the information readily available to Lou or any other journalist, that SHOULD have been asked.

But when you're in full democrat protection mode, and you already know the answers and you don't want those answers published... why even ask the questions?

I've been right all along.

Brancaccio doesn't know... because he doesn't want to know.

Any other genuine journalist would have asked the same questions or similar. But not someone with a reeking left wing bias.

And you know damned well that if Jacks had been an "R", the entire interview would have centered around those questions and those questions alone.

Just another day in the Lazy C's twisted world. And imagine how much better off we'd be without them... and him.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lawmakers cut everyone's pay but their own

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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Friday, July 29, 2011

Rep. Herrera Beutler votes for Boehner debt limit plan, releases statement

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Rajiv Srinivasan Im honored to be invited to the White House tomorrow to be recognized with other Hindu Americans who have served this country in combat.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

Eyman measure qualifies for fall ballot

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Blog: All politics is local

Rajiv Srinivasan
Im honored to be invited to the White House tomorrow to be recognized with other Hindu Americans who have served this country in combat.