More Laird Lies: There are no benefits to the CRC Scam, except to Laird's buddies.

The Pit Yorkie of the Columbian yaps again.

The problem is that the man is an almost compulsive liar on the issue.

He lies by omission... and lies by COmission.

Lie One:  The Pit Yorkie lies about costs:
Actually, when you add interest and the inevitable cost overruns, $10 billion is a more likely figure.

Any way you slice it, $3.1 billion is a lot of money. That's the projected cost of the Columbia River Crossing, replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge and extending light rail two miles from the Expo Center in Portland to Clark College in Vancouver. Add the estimated annual upkeep of light rail in Vancouver (about $2 million or more), and the overall financial burden intensifies. It's easy to see why some people insist the CRC is just too expensive.

But like a democrat budget writer, the actual inconvenient truths of the matter don't make it to Laird's word processor.  The actual cost is likely to be in excess of $10 billion with life-long, intergenerational tolls to suck hundreds of millions out of those least able to afford it... and the local small business depending on that money.

Lie Two:

THE most inconvenient truth of all: that the morons cheerleading for this scam have been totally hosed:

As I have been saying for almost a decade, loot rail is the driver for the CRC/Bridge Replacement program.

In its entirety, the massive, multi-billion scam known as the CRC was never driven by any "need" to replace the I-5 Bridge for reasons of freight mobility or to relieve congestion.

As I have been saying, quite literally for years, the ENTIRE reason to replace the bridge was to get the camel's nose of light rail under the Clark County tent flap, and to do it without asking us.

Now, it seems, no less then the Supreme Court of Oregon agrees.... with me.

The Oregon Supreme Court has succeeded in doing what scores of public meetings, thousands of pages of reports, and endless public relations spin could not: Give us the original rationale behind the proposed $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing.

The answer, according to the court: The massive Interstate 5 bridge and freeway project is a “political necessity” to persuade Clark County residents to accept something they previously didn’t want—a MAX light-rail line from Portland to Vancouver. (To read the Feb. 16, 2012 Oregon Supreme Court decision regarding the Columbia River Crossing Project, click here (PDF, 18 pages))

The Columbian knows this: the Pit Yorkie knows this, Brancaccio, Leave-it, Stuart, Boldt, Smith, Moeller, the entire Taliban City Council of Vancouver and every member of the CRC knows this.

AND THEY DON'T CARE.

These clowns are all about committing suicide with OUR money.

And yet, not ONE of them has acknowledged the FACT that we're getting screwed, and PORTLAND is screwing us.

You see, to a liar like Laird, no objection is "rational."  No one who opposes any aspect of the rag's agenda can possibly be more intelligent than a rock, you see.  We're cursed with a paper and with government leaders who in their massive ego-driven arrogance think us stupid.

Lie Three:

Others take a more rational approach, through the prism of a cost-benefit analysis. We hear so much about the cost of the CRC, but hardly anything about the financial benefits of a new bridge and light rail. That's unfortunate, because ignoring the potential economic gains of the CRC keeps the debate dry and barren.

Cost-benefit analysis?  Here's a "cost-benefit analysis" Laird never seems to talk about:

In Portland, for example, MAX light rail carries 0.5% capacity of adjacent freeways during operation.(14) MAX light costs about $60 per passenger, but collects only $2.50 per rider in fares.(15) This results in an annual subsidy of nearly $15,000 per passenger.

14. Cox, Wendell. Newgeography.com, “Atlanta: Ground Zero for the American Dream,” Feb. 12, 2010.

15. Id.

That's right: around $57.50 per passenger, 1/2 of one percent of the adjacent freeway capacity and a taxpayer cost of $15,000 per passenger, per year.

There's MY "cost benefit analysis."  And it makes me sick that anyone could support this crap when the numbers speak for themselves.

And this doesn't even include the other aspects... the ones Laird and his ilk don't give a damn about:

The people who will have to pay the tolls.

Let's ask the right questions, shall we?

What's the benefit to 65,000 commuters to suddenly have to pay in excess of $1300 a year in addition to Oregon State Income Tax, with an amount that will only increase every year for the rest of their lives to cross a bridge... when we already HAVE a bridge that's paid for?

What's the benefit to the small businesses around here that depend on that $100,000,000 or so in disposable income this rip off is scamming from us... that they will now no longer get?

What's the benefit to the lower income commuters, already struggling to get by? 

What's the benefit of taking food out of the mouths of their kids, clothes off their backs, increasing our social service rolls and taxpayer burdens as a result?

Why, we really don't know.

And you know WHY we don't know?

Because not a single bridger/looter/toller has asked.

And do you know WHY they haven't asked?

Because they don't... want... to... know.

They haven't asked for the same reason the Lairds, Brancaccios and the other cheerleading idiots haven't talked about the Chief Justice's ruling:

They will bode no opposition of any kind for any reason.

Stalin would be so proud.

Laird goes on with the other CRC talking point lies:

Lie Four: "Reduced congestion." 

Studies have already shown that a newly completed bridge (that, after all, has the same number of through-lanes the current bridge has) will do absolutely nothing to address congestion.

Lie Five:  Portland Max: "41 million rides" 

If Portland had 41 BILLION rides, that would be completely irrelevant: we ain't Portland.  Further, I missed Laird's discussion of per rider subsidy, above and the slow speeds these trains average. (doubling commuter time)

There's a bunch of the usual, time-worn garbage they spew, like this:

How many Trail Blazers and Timbers fans take light rail to the games? What about commuters? How much do they save on parking and gas? Doesn't that matter?

Compared to the costs we'd be paying if this steaming pile is built?

No.  It DOESN'T matter.  Since you asked... moron.  And swell.  Let the Blazers and Timbers pay for it... since, like us, no one is asking them, EITHER.

Lie Six:

Then again, I don't think money is all that matters. Many CRC benefits have nothing to do with finances. For example, to a commuter, what's the financial value of getting home to the family 15 to 30 minutes earlier each evening? Hard to say, but for those people, this benefit is crucial.

Sigh.

Yet another lie.

You see, if THAT nonsense was "crucial," THEY WOULDN'T FRICKING LIVE OVER HERE.

The hole that slime like Laird want to blast into their wallet will frequently be even MORE "crucial" then the provably non-existent "15 to 30 minutes" he's babling about.  But since the Lairds of the world won't have to pay it to go to work... why, well, that's NOTHING to him... or them.

The rest of Laird's column is all the usual lies, half truths and exaggerations, all designed to do two things:

Provide political cover for the leftist slime they support who want to ram this down our throats,

And continue their jihad to get this thing built without putting it to a vote.

When you start with lies, like those of the Pit Yorkie's, nothing falls into place.  And while I have been railing against those who would harm us by their dictatorial edicts where they will enrich themselves or their friends or their employers by extorting billions from us over decades, all without asking us, I would cheerfully pack my tent and go away on this issue if they would just put it to a county-wide vote.

Our gutless congresswoman, who is in a position to force that to happen, is doing nothing (as I knew she wouldn't) because she supports this project, including the bridge replacement, loot rail AND tolls.

Our gutless democrat legislators who whine about a "toothless vote" (You listening, Moeller?) are doing nothing to put teeth IN such a vote because they don't want ANY vote that even remotely COULD show or prove the public doesn't want this scam to be built...

And my own brother-in-law, alleged Republican and Commissioner Marc Boldt is lying to my face about a vote...

And all the Brancaccios and Lairds of the world can do is lie... over and over again.