My take on the motorcycle helmet issue: Keep the law in place.

Here's the thing: I don't ride a motorcycle because so many car drivers are morons out there and a motorcycle provides you with zero protection.

I understand all about ABATE, the group advocating the decriminalization/legalization of everything and anything related to riding a motor.

But here's the thing: their desire to be idiots stops at my nose.

And the costs and deaths related to failing to wear helmets of the idiots too damned dumb to wear a helmet while they were riding a bike are at least jacking up our insurance rates and for those ubermorons who ride WITHOUT insurance or are under-insured, costing us bank as we get stuck with paying for their medical bills and other costs.

WASHINGTON — The average medical claim from a motorcycle crash rose by more than one-fifth last year in Michigan after the state stopped requiring all riders to wear helmets, according to an insurance industry study. Across the nation, motorcyclists opposed to mandatory helmet use have been chipping away at state helmet laws for years while crash deaths have been on the rise.

For more than 40 years, Michigan required all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. State legislators changed the law last year so that only riders younger than 21 must wear helmets. The average insurance payment on a motorcycle injury claim was $5,410 in the two years before the law was changed, and $7,257 after it was changed — an increase of 34 percent, the study by the Highway Loss Data Institute found.

After adjusting for the age and type of motorcycle, rider age, gender, marital status, weather and other factors, the actual increase was about 22 percent relative to a group of four comparative states, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin, the study found.

"The cost per injury claim is significantly higher after the law changed than before, which is consistent with other research that shows riding without a helmet leads to more head injuries," said David Zuby, chief research officer for the data institute and an affiliated organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The data institute publishes insurance loss statistics on most car, SUV, pickup truck and motorcycle models on U.S. roads.

While other studies have shown an increase motorcycle deaths after states eliminate or weaken mandatory helmet requirements, the industry study is the first to look specifically at the effect of repealing helmet requirements on the severity of injuries as measured by medical insurance claims, Zuby said.

Groups advocating for helmet stupidity ignore these and other findings that show the idiocy of getting rid of helmet laws much like the CRC Scammers around here ignore the facts surrounding their little extortion project.

For many commenting it was because, well, there was a huge jump in riders who didn't take motorcycle safety courses, or that insurance companies are up set because, as one particularly knuckle-dragging specimen said:

...insurers are upset because "life has gotten more expensive for them and they have to pay out more."

Yo, idiot-stick: when insurers have to pay out more, who gets stuck with that tab?

We do.

 And I'm not interested in paying for other people who demand the right to be stupid.

The democratian ALMOST gets it right. Legislative per diem is for housing... not for meals.

Considering the hypocrisy of the glass house the slime in the democratian work in, one has to wonder about their incessant ability to throw rocks at others without cleaning up their own mess.

Of course the system needs to be reformed.

Legislators get popped for stuff they didn't eat or drink, merely to spread the costs around under the rules.

Electronic access?  Sure.  a not bad idea, except that in reality, few will care.

Pop the lobbyists a fee?  The testimony against it is likely the case: since when is the exercise of the 1st Amendment something you can charge a fee for?

No, the idiocy in this case is the mis-definition for the term "per diem."

"Per diem" in this instance isn't for meals: it's for housing... and even then, the amount doesn't come close to what regular state employees are paid per day to live away from home for months at a time.

Or is Brancaccio advocating that these senators live as far away from their homes as 300 miles for months on end and not be paid anything for their housing expense?

So, when Lou stupidly writes something like this:

Finally, we urge them to close a loophole that allows lawmakers to claim a $90-a-day per diem even if they dine with lobbyists. That money comes from the pockets of taxpayers.

...like on so many other things, it's because he's too ignorant to understand what it's for.

So, as a result, Brancaccio's brilliant idea is to take what amounts to rent money from the Senators if they eat at a lobbyist-paid meal.

Perfect.  And just another indicator of how genuinely ignorant this slimeball really is on this... and obviously so many other subjects he babbles about.

Why are illegal aliens getting federal benefits?

If we know they're illegal, why are we deporting them instead of supporting them?

UNREAL… Illegal Immigrant Mother of Seven Given Food Stamps, Meds, Housing, and Social Security (Video)

Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, May 30, 2013, 6:41 PM

No doubt, an Obama supporter…
Illegal immigrant and mother of seven, Marita Nelson, receives $240 in food stamps, medications, $700 in Social Security and housing allowance. She entered the US by swimming the Rio Grande and has been on government assistance for 20 years.

Now she’s on a crusade to help other illegals sign up for their free stuff.
You just can’t make this stuff up!

For the record… The Obama administration is paying recruiters to sign up more people on food stamps.

Home Rule Charter goes to a hearing: democrat hypocrites and the rag, no doubt, rejoice.

Back in March, the leftist slime running the democratian were horrified at the prospect that the conservative majority would actually move this county towards a Home Rule Charter.

They whined:

 In Our View: Solutions … No Problems
 County commissioners once again ponder reforming local government
 Tuesday, March 19, 2013

When a wild goose chase clearly defines itself before it even begins, responsible travelers will decline to embark on the journey. Such is the case before Clark County commissioners as they ponder another expedition into the well-known futility of changing county government to a home rule charter.

Another apt metaphor for this crusade is a solution in search of a problem. Voters have rejected a proposed home rule charter three times in 20 years, most recently in 2002. This micro-introspection of a macro-bureaucracy became so yawn-inducing in 2011 that county commissioners declined to even pull out the stethoscope. Seven public meetings were attended by a grand total of 113 people. (The level of interest might have been even lower than such a paltry number denotes, because there's no way of knowing how many people attended multiple meetings). In response, county commissioners correctly declined to pursue the matter further.

More:

The local democrats flipped out:

Proposed changes in county charter could be awful

Clark County’s government structure is somewhat antique and outdated. A system invented to manage road construction and not much else in the way of governance clanks along clumsily in a high-speed era of complex and varied civic action.

Streamlining and modernizing the machine appeals to the progressive psyche, but the folks who have convinced the Board of Clark County Commissioners to consider adopting a new county charter have other agenda priorities.

They hope to give rural interests dominance over urban values. They suppose they can make it harder for county government to raise and spend money on social problems and infrastructure capital.

They are far away from achieving their goals, but inattention from thoughtful citizens could ease their path.

More:

They both were flipping out over even a remote possibility that a 100 votes of the people of Amboy would mean as much as 100 votes of the people of Vancouver when it comes to issues effecting the people of Clark County fortunate enough to live outside the slum of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

NOW, all of a sudden, these changes... they THINK it suddenly WON'T be "awful."

But it will be... for them.

Increasing the number of commissioners would result in a permanent GOP majority and enable a block veto.

That said, the people of this county would be enabled to vote on anything... even the garbage that is the CRC Scam.

As it is now, nothing is, as the local version or Pravda Izvestia put it, "Broken."  But because of the perception of "broken," the left has fallen into the trap.  They stupidly believe they can catch this tiger by the tail... when in all likelihood, they're going to wind up being eaten.

With the death of Sen. Carrell, expect the senate democrats to attempt a take-over.

It's a terrible loss that we have suffered with the untimely departure of Sen. Mike Carrell.

His death temporarily places the democrats in control of the senate, pending Carrell's replacement.

The same process used for appointments to unexpired terms will apply:  The district PCO's will meet, they will put a list together, put 3 names on it and forward it to the county council.

The county council will select the replacement.  He will be sworn in immediately.

If the democrats try anything in the interim, there's a variety of actions the coalition can take to forestall any effective changes these people might want to take.

First, they can require every word of every bill be read.

Second, they can load up a few hundred amendments to every effort.

Third, the coalition could always leave town... and the state... until Sen. Carrell's replacement is sworn in.

The Rules of the Senate require 25 senators be present for a quorum.  Lacking 25 senators, a call of the Senate cannot be issued... but as a precaution, the coalition can leave the state in it's entirety.

Democrats blazed that trail in Wisconsin not too long ago... so there's no reason the Coalition can't do the same.

It would be a shame to have top do these things to maintain the majority.  But the democrats would never hesitate to use a death to reassert control of the Senate.

Just sayin'.

The CRC Scammers amp up the lies to try and get the Senate to cave...

... it ain't happening.

For around a decade now, the CRC Scammers have been lying to the people.

Chicken Little types like Mike Briggs have been crapping on legislator's Facebook pages reciting the CRC Lie talking points by rote... like the good little fringe-left whack job he is.

OH MY GOD, IF YOU DON'T REPLACE THE BRIDGE BY NEXT THURSDAY, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!

And if we accept the rip of Scam of the CRC, we're not only going to kill a great deal of our small business here in Clark County as $100,000,000 plus in disposable income vaporizes in tolls every year, but we will be rewarding the evil of tyranny as the scum attempting to ram this garbage down our throats will be rewarded... instead of being punished... for their efforts.

As time runs out on these slime (the CRC Scam has a pulse that will be shut off in another 13 days or so, thanks to Jay Inslee's mounting stupidity.) the slime get ever more desperate.

The false claims that the I-5 Bridge is "unsafe" is illustrated by one, simple, unassailable fact:  it is still open.

That's right: if it were the disaster many of the more whining idiots like Briggs was telling us it is, it would be closed.

Is it?

Of course not.

So, why the lies from the CRC Scammers?

Remember Rule 1:  If you have to lie to get your project, policy or bill passed, then you shouldn't get it passed.

We all know by now that light rail has been the driver of this Scam from the beginning.

NOT earthquakes.

NOT safety.

NOT freight mobility.

NOT congestion.

When your movement has a POLICY against seeking and taking public input on a massive project like this, that's tyranny.

There is NO lie these pond scum wouldn't attempt to get this thing through.  It's too late, you understand: with light rail ON the bridge, the whole deal is off.

And, of course, these same lying scum have no problem holding the whole bridge hostage to light rail: proving that it's not about safety or earthquakes or little green men from Mars... but about loot rail and loot rail alone.

That's why NONE of these slime have moved off their position that we MUST replace the bridge and the replacement MUST have light rail... safety and the subsequent prayed for by the CRC Scammer's death of millions notwithstanding.

It's childish, playground bullshit.  And it ain't getting spit built. No matter how much these slime lie.

Had a little chat with Fredi Simpson today: she sees caving on the illegal alien issue as perfectly OK. Here's how it went:

The Washington State Republican Committeewoman asked me a question today:  here's part of  the entire exchange.

First was the post by David Castillo, who I supported as much as I could because Jaime Herrera isn't fit to carry his briefcase, as her despicable tenure in Congress has proven:

 

David Castillo

3 hours ago via Twitter ·

Congrats to my great friend Jennifer Sevilla Korn on her new position at the RNC! http://t.co/2rSIPMAiIZ”

RNC Expands Hispanic Engagement Efforts With New Hire - GOP

gop.comWASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee is expanding its Hispanic engagement efforts with the

When I was sitting in the state GOP Executive Director's chair, I fought like a wildman to expand minority outreach, believing then, as now, that the GOP must have a year-round, full time effort or otherwise cede the minority vote to the democrats.

As it turned out, I was right.

We got our asses kicked in the last election because the democrats rightfully point out that the only time the GOP gives a damn about the minority voters is in the run up to a general election.

So instead of doing what should be done, we're lurching left in an effort to out-democrat the democrats.

I don't believe that model pencils out.  Just ask Rob McKenna, Reagan Dunn and Bill Finkbeiner.  How'd that work out for them?

I believe that caving on the illegal alien issue is a recipe for national and political disaster.  And so here was my remark in reply:

• 

  Kage McClued Now, if only they'll avoid the Rubio idiocy of caving on our core principles...

  about an hour ago · Like

And this is when Ms. Simpson asked:

• 

  Fredi Simpson What 'core' principles, Kage? We haven't had a comprehensive guest worker program in over 40 years. The system is broken from within. Something has to be done and making general statements like 'caving in on our core principles' will not fix what is allowed now. 33 minutes ago · Like

It appears that Ms. Simpson has forgotten Ronald Reagan's famous observation about government:

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem... government IS the problem."

 So, here was my reply:

  Kage McClued "Caving" equates to amnesty.

I have already eliminated Rubio from the list of candidates I might support for president.

Political expediency... out-democrating the democrats in a false play to get the hispanic vote WHICH WILL NOT HAPPEN now any more than it did when Reagan screwed up with HIS amnesty (And how did that work out for us?) is an abandonment of principles that have stood the test of time... so, instead of addressing the issues that cost us the presidential election; mainly, an incompetent campaign, we're lurching left and becoming democrat-light.

The GOP, which has remained essentially silent out of fear of Obama's violations of the law concerning his edicts over illegal aliens brought here as children, is AFRAID. And the GOP CANNOT win out of fear.

There are a great many things that can be done to address illegals in this country: we as a nation just refuse to do them. So, instead, we reward those who break our laws while those who FOLLOW those laws by staying in their own country and OBEYING our requirements are penalized.

It's not fair. It's not just. It's not right. There were many opportunities to deal with it when the GOP was in charge, and they turned the same blind eye as the democrats.

Here's the thing: even if the disaster of the Rubio scam is enacted into law, that STILL won't solve the problem.

What it WILL do is open the flood gates of even more millions who actually will believe their eyes and think, well, hell, all I've got to do is get over the border and I'm in. I get the free schooling, the free medical care, the welfare, the foodstamps.

How, for example, does that qualify as ANY type of deterrence to those who view our laws as just another quick obstacle to climb over and then, voila?

America is an illegal alien destination resort compared to many of the places they came from, and we've done nothing whatsoever to address that.

THOSE core principles. Obey our law, and we welcome you with open arms: come here illegally and you should be permanently bared from ever coming back here again, let alone that idiotic "path to citizenship."

We cannot have two standards: one for those who break our laws and live here, and one for those who follow our laws and wait.

And I will not support any candidate or party that believes we can.

14 minutes ago · Edited · Like

There's more, but you get the gist.

This poster is prominently displayed in CRC Scammer headquarters.

So, the pit yorkie's replacement is Greg Jayne: I'm not encouraged.

We already know what a lying hypocrite John Laird has been for so many years.

That brings us to his replacement: what about Greg Jayne?

I'm not encouraged.

This blog has written about Jayne on 3 different occasions.  Each has been for his moronic, arrogant, Laird-like behavior.

The first effort:  (16 May 2012)

The arrogance and self-enlightened idiocy of Greg Jayne, democratian sports editor.

It takes a real dick to blow off democracy to get what they want.

Screw the people.  Who cares what they want?

We have the chance to bring in some rank amateur baseball.  Nothing else matters.  Tax the people out of their homes.  For GOD'S sake, don't let them have any say.

Odd, isn't it?

Jayne moronically reflects, to perfection, the democratian attitude about the bridge and loot rail, because, well, hell's bells, only the rag knows what's right and wrong and everybody else is stupid. 

Because it takes a monumental level of arrogance to write garbage like this:

Let’s cut past the rhetoric about the evils of a public-private partnership, past the bombast about an entertainment tax, past the caterwauling about how government should never do anything that costs anybody any money, and let’s get to the point: The idea of bringing minor-league baseball to Vancouver is a quality-of-life issue.

It's not a quality of life issue; it's a "I want baseball" issue.

See, Portland seems to have a "quality of life," don't they?

What baseball team do they have over there, again?

None?

That's the problem with morons like Jayne, whose world view is limited to what THEY want usinmg OTHER people's money, to the exclusion of what the people signing the checks want.  Message to Jayne:  If you're so damned concerned about "quality of life" then you move YOUR ignorant ass to some location that has a Class A team (Class A, one step above high school) and YOU pay for it.

The next: (5 Jun 2012)

Jayne at the democratian makes himself look like a moron.

In yet another sign that the democratian's maneuvers to get a podunk baseball team here to screw us for the next several years with yet another unneeded, unnecessary tax have long since lost any pretense of what the rest of the world calls "journalism," the muckraker's sports editor goes out of his way to prove himself to be a dullard equal in intelligence to a board fence, or John Laird, whichever comes first.

A few days ago, Commissioner Tom Mielke made, in what appears to Jayne's "bend over, keep the Vaseline" eyes, some sort of major league "mistake" by failing to screw the people of this county by signing what he idiotically refers to as a "Three Stooges version of local government."

Proving that when it comes to "stooges," no one can beat Jayne.

In his eagerness to personally benefit from this quagmire by forcing the people of Clark County to pay millions in bogus taxes that will ultimately enrich his employer while further justifying his pathetic job existence, Jayne comes across like and ignorant, whiny punk, just another arrogant prick working for a completely out of touch rag that doesn't give the first damn what the people want if it interferes with what the rag wants... in this case, desperately needed ad revenue to temporarily keep their pathetic waste of wood pulp in business.

On one hand, this sniveling putz tells us:

It didn’t mean the county would be committed to the proposed 5 percent entertainment tax, which team owners say would be necessary to help fund a stadium. It didn’t mean the county would be committed to building said stadium. It didn’t mean the county is not committed to the neighbors near Clark College.

It just meant you won’t cheat on each other. What could be wrong with that?

On the other, this sniveling punk throws a fit because it didn't go his way.  If it's so "unimportant," then why does it matter so much?

The lie here is in direct proportion to the sniveling.

If this wise decision by the commissioners was so unimportant, then why is Jayne acting like such a jerk?

And the last: (21 Aug 2012)

More of Greg Jayne's pro-ballpark, screw the taxpayer idiocy.

Nothing like enlightened self-interest.

I would much rather we risk the wild pitch and get caught looking then to get hit with the chin music morons like you are shilling.

Where's YOUR demand that the newspaper be taxed? Or that those of you who will actually go to one of these amateur games actually pay for the facility? Or the concessionaires or the owners actually paying for it?
...

See Greg, that's the problem with slime who want what they want, as long as someone else is forced, without asking them, to pay for it.

Could we use a ballpark?

Maybe. Should it be in the proposed location? Of course not. If built, it should be built at the fair grounds.

Should the people who are NOT using it be taxed to benefit the Yakima Millionaires?

Absolutely not.

Should the sculls shilling this and demanding it be forced to pay for it?

Absolutely.

Each of those 3 posts have more.

But the fact is that Jayne's transition to vice-hypocrite of the democratian will likely be seamless, given the arrogance and hypocrisy he showed during the ballpark debacle.

So, expect him to be the same kind of scum who lies, distorts, exaggerates and attacks opponents in violation of that despicable rag's on terms of use.

He has to be: if he wasn't, that slimeball Brancaccio wouldn't have hired him for the gig.

This Memorial Day, try and remember what the day is for.

All too many forget what Memorial Day is for.

In this push button-reset button world, most who don't bother to serve this country in uniform won't give a second thought to what this day is for.

They won't think for a moment what it all means... and why it's supposed to be something besides barbeque and races and softball.

The problem we've come to find out is that no one gives a damn.

I'll be visiting my brother if I can make the time work out today.  He's next to the Korean War monument at Willamette National Cemetery.   If I can't get back in time today, I'll go tomorrow.

I'll see row after row after row of markers and flags.  I'll see the family members who've made the sacrifice for this country that is supposed to make it all worth it.

I won't be blogging today... because this day is much more important than that.

Memo to John Laird: certainly Benton being in ALEC is no worse than you being a communist.

Another Laird Lie Column.

When you're psychotic in your blinding partisanship and rank hypocrisy by violating your own newspaper's terms of use to attack someone smrt enough to oppose your bizarre agenda (When is the last time the pit yorkie wrote anything approaching any of this about a democrat?) this sort of thing is to be expected.

But here's the thing:

MEMO

To:  Pit Yorkie
From: Me
Subject: Benton employment

1.  While it gripes your ass that Sen. Don Benton was hired for this position, it's no less than the idiocy that hired a moron like you to any position of responsibility.

2.  When you spew unsupported garbage, thoroughly discredited by your own newspaper:

"I am EXTREMELY positive ... in my opinion that the hiring of Clark County's new environmental director was improperly handled."

in the face of what your OWN NEWSPAPER WROTE:

"However, the county provides a few exceptions to the requirement that job positions be publicly advertised, and says elected officials have the discretion to appoint department heads."

That just makes you out to be lying, partisan, scum.

3.  Sen. Benton went to work last week.  He went to work the week before.  He's going to work next week.  And the week after.

And you know what?

There's not a damned thing that you and your fellow fringe-left scum can do about it.

Write when you find work, moron.  Call if you've got any questions.

CRC Scammers increasingly desperate: the lies and vicious attacks are flying fast and furious.

Has as already been established, there is no lie, distortion or exaggeration the CRC Scammers won't engage in to get this massive extortion built.

The current lie de jour is a variation on the "we're all going to die if light rail isn't extended into Clark County" meme.

I say "extend light rail into Clark County" as opposed to "replace the paid for, perfectly functional bridge" because even the CRC Scammers are well aware that the ONLY reason for this bridge scam to be built is to ram light rail down our throats.

The safety argument is a lie.  If the bridge was unsafe, we wouldn't be allowed to use it.  Period.

And nothing that has happened to the Skagit bridge changes any of that.

Further, even it was "unsafe," that it no way means that the only solution is to replace it.

When, for example, I have my tires on my car wear out, I don't replace the entire car: I replace the tires.

But that just goes back to the primary element of deception: it isn't about safety.  It isn't about earthquakes.  It isn't about congestion.  It isn't about freight mobility.

It is, as the Oregon State Supreme Court told us, about light rail.

The democrat running the show are foaming at the mouth.  Whack jobs like Mike Briggs are exhibiting cowardly hysteria.  The newspaper continues to lie and continues to try and whip up the Scammers and their supporters by trumpeting the same, old, tired lies, thoroughly disproven and utterly false in an effort to get even one senator to change their minds.

Beancaccio and the pit yorkie have lost their minds over this scam.  They see the end coming, and they're acting like cut cats.  But what they do is recycle the same lies... over and over and over again.

Laird, scum of the lowest order, continues to beat the anti-Benton drum, the anti-Madore drum and the anti-Mieke drum... but like I've been saying all long, none of that is going to make any difference.

Every Scammer from the whiny Mike Briggs, who appears to have lost any grip on reality in his  fringe-left, partisan fugue to uber-Communist Rep. Jim "Molehill" Moeller the slimiest of the slimy, Paul Montague, Identity Clark County scum, who's lies include these beauties:

• 
  

  
  

  Paul Montague It's amazing that Representative Pike continues to support an untenable position in opposition to replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge because of her emotional opposition to light rail. The Interstate 5 bridge has a similar structure to the bridge that failed in Skagit Valley. The Skagit bridge has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100. The Southbound span of the Interstate 5 has a sufficiency rating of 51.0 out of 100 and the Northbound span has an even worse rating of 18.5 out of 100. All three spans have an appraisal rating of Functionally Obsolete. The Interstate 5 Bridge over the Columbia River is less safe than the Skagit Valley bridge. Pretty straightforward.

  Friday at 10:18pm · Like

• 
  

  
  

  Paul Montague Let's be clear, 25% of Clark County voters voted against the sales tax measure in November. That was more than the 19% that voted for the measure, but is in no way close to a majority of voters.

  Friday at 10:59pm via mobile · Like 

And

• 
  

  
  

  Paul Montague @ Connie Jo - Let's be clear about the voting figures. 199,000 of Clark County's 242,000 voters were in the C-TRAN service district and were eligible to vote on the ill advised sales tax measure the board put on the ballot. Of those figures, approximately 60,000 voted against the measure and approximately 46,000 voted for the measure. That means that 30% of those who were eligible to vote, voted against the measure and 23% of those eligible to vote, voted for the measure. And of those 60,000 who voted against the measure, some voted against it because they didn't like light rail, some voted against it because they didn't want a new tax and some voted against it because they believed C-TRAN had other ways to pay for it.

  Yesterday at 9:27am via mobile · Like

• 
  

  
  

  Paul Montague Cathy - Two votes. One in 1995 where Clark County voters would've had to pay the entire cost of bringing light rail to Vancouver, and last fall's sales tax vote. The Feds are paying the cost of light rail in the current CRC project. Tolls won't be paying for light rail, they will be paying for the local portion of the rest of the project's cost. AND our parents and grand parents paid the entire cost of both original spans through tolls.

  Yesterday at 9:57am via mobile · Like

Since the ENTIRETY of this extortion is, in fact, a Christmas tree light rail scam, when Montague, for example lies:  "Tolls won't be paying for light rail," that is but one example of why this rip of should NEVER be built.

When the leading proponents of a project... or a bill... or a position... are flat out liars, then the project should not be built, the bill should not be passed and the position should be abandoned.

Brancaccio babbles about ANOTHER subject he knows nothing about: honesty.

I freely admit, I will never know Lou Brancaccio personally.  Instead, I know him by his work, and the "work" he allows those working for him to engage in.

That's why I spit coffee up all over my keyboard when the biggest serial liar in our community felt compelled to write about a subject as foreign to him or the rest of those working for him as conversational Sanskrit.

Brancaccio's version of honesty is quite different from the standard variety.  It is, perhaps  the most situational I've ever seen.

Honesty:

I will neither lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor allow a misleading silence to continue... nor tolerate anyone who does.

Honesty:

I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By either of these measures, Brancaccio has been an abysmal failure.  He attacks the right like a shark at a meat market.  He lays off the left like they're radioactive.

If you lie the right way to get elected, Lou and the scum working for him will do everything they can to get you re-elected.

If Lou likes you, you can take the exact same positions as a politician he hates, and he'll still say nice things about you in print.

If Lou hates you, then nothing you do well ever meet his approval and he will attack and orchestrate other attacks against you in an effort to injure you individually and those opposing his agenda as a group.  Right, cockroach?.

If Lou has an agenda, there's no lie, exaggeration or distortion he won't engage in to make it happen.

Branccacio's years-long lies in support of the CRC is the stuff of legends.

His 15 month failure to print the story concerning the Oregon Supreme Court decision that lays out the real history of the CRC Scam, and about how the entire project is based on ramming loot rail down our throats is done in ways that would have gained approval from his hero, Josef Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister before and during World War Two.

Goebbels was a "swell" guy: at the end, he poisoned his 6 kids.

Brancaccio has shown a direct inability to come close to understanding the concepts remotely associated with "honesty."

For him to write about the subject?

That makes as much sense as if he were writing about performing brain surgery.

Mike Briggs, hysterical girlie-man, dives face-first into the Moron Zone.

Briggs is a weird guy.

He's been working the CRC Scam like he's getting paid.

Like any of the other scammers, there's no lie, exaggeration, distortion or any other Chicken-Little scam he can to try and get anyone to believe him.

Fortunately our Senator in the 18th likely sees the Briggses of this district as the buffoons they are.

The latest effort from this slime?

• 
  

  
  

  Mike Briggs · Top Commenter · Freelance Writer at Freelance Writer
  

  Sen. Rivers, Ann, frankly I am surprised at your attitude now. Politics is one thing but this is now a glaring safety problem. You and I both know a bridge should be able to withstand any kind of a collision with any kind of a truck crossing it. This points to the fact that either the design or the bridge itself is (was) not safe. NO ONE builds a bridge that is that fragile. You know this Senator.
  
  This only brings to the surface that our own I-5 bridge is old, is aging, and needs to be replaced. How many wake-up calls do we get Ann? The next time it could be our own bridge here.
  
  Please Ann, you are a sensible and caring person, put your politics on hold and agree to the CRC- so we can begin construction on our bridge.
  
  No, it is not a perfect deal Ann, but it is the deal we have before us now, and all it takes is you or one otber[sic] Senator to hold Safety over Politics. Be that leader Ann.
  
  You and I know one another personally Ann. I really think now is the time you put aside party politics and look toward the general welfare of all the people who use our own I-5 bridge on an every day basis and vote for the project so it can begin the process of a new bridge.
  
  I know Ann this is what I am looking for you to do now. If I were in your shoes...I would do this immediately. You can simply not risk lives over politics.
  
  Please take immediate action to protect us all Sen. Rivers.
  
  Thank you.

The lies are many and repeated.

Obvious to anyone with the IQ slightly above a rock ape is that the Skagit Bridge collapse, caused by an over-sized truck load taking out the super-structure of a bridge and causing its collapse,has absolutely NOTHING to do with the CRC.

But not to Briggs and his ilk.

OH MY GOD, REPLACE THE BRIDGE BY TUESDAY OR WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!

Ann, who was born on a Saturday, but not LAST Saturday, rejects Briggs' garbage out of hand.

If the bridge was unsafe, it would be closed right now.

Let me repeat that:

If the bridge was unsafe, it would be closed right now.

That it ISN'T closed is proof that it's not unsafe, Briggs' babble notwithstanding.

Further, that neither governor is concerned about the safety of the bridge, as proven by their "no light rail, no bridge" bullshit shows that Briggs' hysteria is not only misplaced, it's childish.  You REALLY don't think that either governor would risk the lives of dozens by allowing us use an unsafe bridge, do you?

Briggs obviously does.

Briggs is right about one thing:  Sen. Rivers IS a "sensible and caring person."  And like ANY "sensible and caring person," she's rejecting the kind of hysterical garbage Briggs and scum like Jim Moeller are troweling out.

BECAUSE Ann Rivers IS "sensible and caring," she does not want the decades long damage that slime lime Moeller and Briggs would inflict on us for decades to come with this utterly massive waste of billions of dollars.

But hysteria of the variety Briggs is exhibiting disqualifies him for any elective office.

And those of us wise enough to oppose this extortion will not be moved by whiny, crybaby crap that means nothing.

Sen. Rivers has done an exceptional job.  And she continues to earn the nickname that will stay with her forever:

The Bridge Killer.

Meanwhile, Briggs, I suggest if you want a communist to represent you in the legislature, you move to the 49th.  Any one of those 3 stooges will fix you right up.

Another waste of time by Jaime Herrera.

Herrera is working double-overtime to become the master of confusing "Motion" with "Action."

In her latest of many worthless gestures, she had a few lines added to the budget to "request a full review and report from the U.S. Office of the Inspector General on mobile medical units tasked with serving rural veterans."

Why "request?"  Why not "require?"

Here's the thing:  If Herrera actually wants to do something that provides an immediate impact, then she should have included language that would have REQUIRED the VA to match the generic drug prices of non-VA pharmacies, or at minimum, make the offer to provide script so these drugs can be purchased at non-VA facilities.

For example, the common drug hydrochlorothiazide.

Buy 3 months worth at the VA?

$27

Buy 3 months at Fred Meyers, or Walgreen, or Costco or others?

$10

The savings to the veteran?

$68 per year for that one drug.  And to many veterans on a fixed income, that can REALLY make a difference, unlike this self-flagellating, unimportant, hooray-for-me garbage this fake congresswoman is doing.

Naturally, the morons coalesced around the idea that the I-5 Bridge over the Skagit just decided to fall into the river on it's own....

It's didn't take long for our CRC Scammers (Known as the Village Idiots) to both blame the Republicans for the bridge falling into the river AND to make the non-existent connection between the Skagit River bridge and our own I-5 Bridge.

I say "non-existent" because that segment of the bridge was knocked into the river, not by poor maintenance or age, but by a semi with an oversized load who nailed the bridge superstructure at freeway speed.

The left, of course, doesn't act by logic... it acts out of hatred and the other emotions of the moment.

So, the rag didn't waste any time drawing comparisons between the Skagit Bridge and our own down here, even though for purposes of comparison between our bridge and the collapse of that bridge...

.... there IS no comparison.

But for sheer, unadulterated idiocy, the comments under the initial article by those who want to rape this community for their own ends are simply impossible to beat.  From the outright lies of Rep. Jim "Molehill" Moeller (Communist - 49) to the rank and file morons who've drank the kool-aid.

“I presume its going to intensify the debate over the safety of the bridges. That’s been one of the principal issues with the bridges to begin with,” said Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver.

“I think it raises the question over the whole aspect of bridge safety — not only with this bridge, but also with the infrastructures of this state,” he said.

Unknowingly, because no one has ever charged Molehill with being the brightest bulb on the tree, Moeller has just deftly tossed both Kitzhaber and the brain-damaged Inslee under a CTran bus.

IF the main issue for the CRC is safety...

... then WHY is light rail the determining factor?

That's the main problem with this lying scum.

As expected, the Columbian made no real effort to find CRC opponents, failing to contact either of the anti-CRC commissioners, for example, because it's likely they didn't want to hear the obvious:

That the Skagit Bridge collapse has NOTHING to  do with our situation down here.

Nothing.  And who wants to have reality spoil their riff?

For a non-elected individual, this comment takes the prize for ignorance, partisanship, and downright stupidity, typical of the fringe-leftist:

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  George Thomas · Top Commenter
  

  Thank goodness that no one was injured, but, hey, I vote for Tim Eyeman intiatives, I'm a Tea Party Republican, I've got a Bluray in every room, four family cars, cellphones for everyone, eat out four or five times a week, am glad I moved here to avoid an income tax, have got more rooms than I need in my house, voted for Inslee who promised no new taxes and I have blamed our state workers for all our troubles too. This time, I don't think we can lay off enough state workers to get the money together to build up our state's infrastructure. By the way, does Benton have anything to do with bridge safety in this state? The Skagit bridge collapse would have been caught by a man who was doing the job he's paid to do, and we've got an environmental overseer man down here who will not do the job he's paid to do. What a deal, huh? Welcome to Washington folks, tax haven for the wealthy.

  Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · about an hour ago

This is the kind of tripe you get when you're a hater who either doesn't KNOW the facts, or doesn't CARE about the facts.