Local gas tax insanity;

If someone had asked me before this past session, "Hey, you wanna bet that the GOP State Senate will slam us with a gas tax, allow the Lieutenant Governor to scam us on the GOP Super Majority rule, cave on promised reforms to get it, lie about Inslee's bogus carbon tax threats, slap a fake emergency clause on it and refuse to put a referendum clause in it?"

I'd have bet my house that they'd never do such a thing.

But that's exactly what happened.

Of the 4 local Republican Senators, 2 sold us out.

Sen. Curtis King (R-14) and Sen. Ann Rivers (R-18)

Vancouver's Hobbit, Sen. Annette Cleveland (D-49) naturally flipped when it mattered and provided a "yes" vote on this travesty as well.  After all, the 49th is getting most of the few crumbs in this rip off that Clark County is begging for ($98 million) to waste on a CRC intersection project that's a complete, unneeded waste of money... so why not?

Sen. Don Benton (R-17) and Sen. John Braun (R-20) were the GOP senators who, well, acted like GOP senators.

Meanwhile, the GOP Senate will now undoubtedly lose control of that body in 2016 because frankly, they've eliminated any reason to vote them.

I know I will not be voting for any Republican running for the state senate in the next election, incumbent or otherwise.

I will not reward the GOP Senate with my vote for this rape of the people.

And then, this insanity: One of the local paid liars, Mark Brown (Who makes major, 6-figure money to lie to support his causes representing local governments, including the Vancouver Soviet) tells us THIS whopper:

"This is a damn good package for Clark County," said Mark Brown, a lobbyist who represents the region in Olympia.

That's a crock, of course.  It's a lie based on a lie.

First, the promised reforms, getting rid of prevailing wage and ending the sales tax on these projects so that a huge percentage of these funds are not shifted from transportation to the general fund... are gone.

But then, you knew they would be.  And so, we get screwed out of billions right there, money wasted that will not make one inch of transportation improvements.

Second, Clark County stands to get right around $200 million of this package.

Out of a $15 BILLION pot.

That's right, gang, those voting for this crap pile sold us out for around 1.3%.

And Brown tells us this is a "damn good package for Clark County?"

Yeah.  And Rachel Dolezal is black.

Let's review the bidding to set the stage, shall we?

For months before session, Inslee babbled about... and everyone ran in horror from... his fake threat to implement a tax... unilaterally... without legislative approval... on carbon emissions.  That, of course, was the set up for everything that happened after; pure political cover for the GOP Scam.

The corruption on the part of the GOP Senate began implementation with the widely spread-by-the-media decision by Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen that the newly implemented GOP Senate Rule requiring a super majority to increase taxes or start new taxes was "Unconstitutional."

I said at the time that was a crock, that he had no such right to make such a ruling and that, unless a deal had been cut, the GOP Senate, who IMPLEMENTED THE RULE IN THE FIRST PLACE, would appeal the decision through a simple up or down vote to overturn that "ruling."

They, the GOP Senate, did nothing.  No effort was made to overturn the Owen ruling.

And that's when I knew it was over.  That this gas tax was GOING to happen because the GOP... The REPUBLICANS... WANTED IT TO HAPPEN.

And then I saw where those SAME REPUBLICANS, had SLAPPED AN EMERGENCY CLAUSE on this bill and had MADE NO EFFORT TO ALLOW US TO VOTE BY PUTTING A REFERENDUM CLAUSE IN IT.

And to JUSTIFY this "out-democrating the democrats" scam, we were lied to using the meme, previously set up with Inslee to provide the GOP with political cover... that Inslee was going to wave a wand and do something he had zero legal authority TO do: implement a huge (As much as $2.00 per gallon) carbon tax increase and that they HAD to jack our gas tax to keep that from happening.

What a fricking lie.

Here's the thing: there are a wide variety of ways to stop that from happening.

None of them need involve jacking up the gas tax.

But taking it a step further, what we were being told was that by screwing us for an almost 12 cent gas tax increase, that somehow would keep the governor from arbitrarily implementing a TWO DOLLAR GAS TAX, which would be the equivalent of pulling a political gun, sticking it next to the head of most every democrat in this state and then, pulling the trigger?

How does THAT work?

Yeah, yeah... I know all about the bogus, unconstitutional language in the bill: if Inslee does X, then Y will happen to the gas tax revenue... at least until the Court throws the bill language out since monies once bonded CANNOT be withheld.

And the LAST thing the Republicans could do was allow a mere pittance like the Will of the People to get in the way of all that... could they?

After all, what if we said "no?"

So, here's today's quiz, boys and girls.  Name the governors of this state who have EVER unilaterally, without legislative approval, implemented a tax or a fee.

Go on... I'll wait.

(Tick, tock.  Insert Final Jeopardy music theme here.)

Give up?

The answer is:  NONE.

It's NEVER happened.  The authority to unilaterally implement a tax or a fee without legislative approval DOES NOT EXIST.

Much like the ability of the Supreme Court to force the Legislature to go along with their idea of school funding: THAT AUTHORITY DOES NOT EXIST.

THEN, we fast forward to the general fund/operating budget.

And guess what?

That SAME Lieutenant Governor REVERSED HIMSELF, and the previously UNCONSTITUTIONAL Rule is suddenly and inexplicably, well, CONSTITUTIONAL again!

LEGISLATIVE MAGIC!

"There's no place like home, no place like home..."

You remember back when Owen killed the rule and how that got so much coverage by the local media?  Well, they didn't seem to have anything to say about Owen reversing himself for the General Fund Budget.

Wonder why?

Where have you heard about that... except here?  Why wasn't declaring the rule constitutional given as much coverage as declaring it UNconstitutional?

Aspiring gubernatorial candidate and GOP Chief Budget writer Sen.Andy Hill (R-45) was like a kid in a candy store as a result.

He could take all these leftist votes and make all these leftist amendments to the budget that he KNEW were not going to pass... even with 29 votes (30 were needed under the GOP Super Majority rule) and Hill was, frequently, the 29th vote.

And that garbage will look GREAT on a campaign flyer, won't it?

Now, the GOP Senate, having screwed us without even the benefit of lubrication, has provided all the cover local pols need to follow suit: watch now, as cities left and right jack the tab fee without asking and find various other insidious ways to hurt our wallets even more.

After all, they're only doing what the GOP Senate has done, so who can get mad?

THIS is the microcosm of why I am out of campaigns, permanently.

THIS is the kind of crap the left is known for.  The GOP is SUPPOSED to be BETTER than that.

And those I believed in... worked so hard to get elected... many of them have thrown it all away.

I am simply too old for this... and I'm done.  And when asked "why," this is what I am going to point to.  My personal betrayal and the betrayal of the people of this state by politicians who view their vision as supreme and who look down on us because they believe we simply can't understand, or they feel compelled to exhibit that nonsensical "leadership" word that's kicked around whenever they intend to bend us over.

The problem is that many of us DO "understand."

All too well.

The list of Senators who voted for and against the gas tax.

Wow. And it was so damned important for the GOP to take over the state senate as much as it was the US Senate.


Bold Faced Senators represent some part of Clark County.

2ESSB 5987

Transportation revenue

Senate vote on 3rd Reading & Final Passage

6/29/2015

Yeas: 39 Nays: 9 Absent: 0 Excused: 1

Voting Yea: Senator Angel, Bailey, Baumgartner, Becker, Billig, Brown, Chase, Cleveland, Conway, Dammeier, Darneille, Fain, Fraser, Frockt, Habib, Hasegawa, Hatfield, Hewitt, Hill, Hobbs, Honeyford, Jayapal, Keiser, King, Kohl-Welles, Liias, Litzow, McAuliffe, McCoy, Miloscia, Mullet, Nelson, O'Ban, Parlette, Pedersen, Rivers, Schoesler, Sheldon, Warnick

Voting Nay: Senator Benton, Braun, Dansel, Ericksen, Hargrove, Padden, Pearson, Ranker, Roach

Absent:

Excused: Senator Rolfes

So, who's screwing us on the massive state gas tax increase? Here's a hint: their initials are G.O.P.

WOW! Did the GOP ride to the rescue on the general fund budget battle, or what?

Or what.

Be careful about the "slight of hand," we may... MAY... have dodged a bullet on the general fund budget... but on the gas tax?

We're getting run over by a WADOT Truck.

The reality of the gas tax... the indisputable reality... is this:

1. The corruption of the GOP Senate is responsible for this.

2. It was widely disseminated that Brad Owen, who has zero right to do so, declared the GOP Senate Super Majority tax increase rule (requiring a super majority vote for new taxes and tax increases) "unconstitutional," and he did that specifically so the gas tax could pass out of the Senate, since there were not enough votes otherwise, and, of course, it would not pass under the Senate rules.

The GOP Senate failed to challenge his ruling, which they could have overturned with a simple majority vote.

There are 26 Members of the GOP Caucus.  They would have needed 25 votes to overturn Owens.

3. Not mentioned was a month later when the "unconstitutional" GOP Senate Super Majority rule suddenly BECAME constitutional again when the same Brad Owen, now let off the hook by the GOP Senate from his ethics changes, reversed himself and said that rule was OK on the general fund budget to give Andy Hill several campaign photo ops to begin his campaign for governor by making all these democrat-type amendments to the general fund budget... and even though many of those amendments received 29 (!) votes, they needed 30 and they lost, but Hill is on record of voting FOR them.

4. The GOP Senate made sure that there was no referendum clause AND that there's an emergency clause on this crap pile, making it, effectively, impossible to put to a vote.

5. Of the BILLIONS in this package, Clark County stands to get a whole 1.5% (Actually, 1.3% as it turned out) or so of all of that money, most of which is being sucked up by the unwanted, unneeded CRC-project-I-5 Mill Plain intersection scam. That leaves practically nothing for other NEEDED projects in Clark County.

6. MY senator (Rivers) told me that she HAD to vote for this, otherwise her district would get zero projects. The problem I had and still have with that is that Cleveland, in the 49th, was a "no" on this scam, yet where is the most money going?

Right to Cleveland's district for that I-5/Mill Plain rip off.

7. I was also told that they HAD to vote for this scam because if they didn't, the governor, Inslee, was going to do something that he had no way OF doing, specifically, jack up the gas tax $1.60, arbitrarily and on his own by edict as if there was no legislature and this 11.7 cent scam contains some unenforceable poison pill to allegedly keep him from doing that.

As if.

8. Folks, once that money is bonded out, you CANNOT stop it. Courts have ruled that repeatedly. And that's why the GOP-controlled Senate slapped the emergency clause on it and refused to put a referendum clause in it.

You know... like the democrats?

Do not listen to what they say. Pay the closest possible attention to what they do.

This is a Puget Sound, Big Bertha/Floating Bridge scam that makes the horror of the CRC/Loot Rail rip off look like a fender-bender in comparison.

The Legislative "Deal." Grab your crotch... and your wallet. (Reminder: the GOP state senate is screwing us on a massive gas tax increase)

Wow, everyone with the letter "R" after their name is telling us that a "deal" has been reached and the "deal" is without any tax increases.

Well, the devil is always in the details, and their may be dozens of ways to jack our cash in this deal.

But what remains increasingly likely is that the State Senate GOP, including our own Sen. Ann "Bridge Killer" Rivers, have screwed us into the ground with the largest gas tax increase in the history of this state that will, in fact, result in billions of additional revenue to pay for a wide variety of things that have nothing to do with roads... all without asking us and, in fact, with steps taken to make as sure as possible that we will not have any say.

Here's the story that I put up months ago that explains it.

Saturday, April 04, 2015

When does a rule declared "unconstitutional" by the President of the State Senate suddenly become constitutional again?

Earlier this session, a couple of things happened simultaneously in our state senate that homeboy (me) cordially detested as a betrayal of GOP tenets.

The signs were startlingly clear; in everything from allowing a bogus, nonsensical emergency clause to refusing to add a referendum clause, they could also have overturned the lieutenant governor's bogus edict that the farce of a GOP senate rule was "unconstitutional" (As if that was his call) by implementing the rules of the senate that REQUIRE a vote to change the rules... 

The Senate could vote to overturn Owen’s ruling. Majority Republicans, who pushed through passage of the rule at the beginning of the 105-day legislative session in January, didn’t tip their hand about whether they would challenge it.

They didn't.  It was a vote that never came... And that means the GOP Senate has made it clear that they WANT to impose this massive tax increase on us.

They've made it just as clear that they don't WANT us to have any say.

I have yet to hear how that is different from the democrats.

We are selling our gas tax souls for a paltry 1.3% of the total package... less than $200 million out of $15 billion statewide... goes to Clark County.

Well.... guess what?

The rule... declared unconstitutional by our esteemed Lieutenant Governor so that the GOP could ram a gas tax down our throats... is suddenly back in effect!

The first instance occurred back on Jan. 12, the opening day of the 2015 legislative session. In a 26-23 partisan tally, the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus passed a new rule that required a two-thirds vote to pass any new taxes. That rule would have effectively scuttled a capital gains tax proposed by House budget writers. Lt. Gov. Bruce Owen, who presides over the Senate, declared the rule unconstitutional and void on March 1. On Thursday, Owen, a conservative Democrat, did an about-face, declaring the 60-percent-amendment rule valid.

Wow.

"Unconstitutional" (Which is not something the Lieutenant Governor CAN rule) when they need it to be (i.e., to get a gas tax rammed down our collective throats) and then suddenly completely "constitutional" when they need it to be (Budget votes.) all without one word of protest from the GOP majority who easily could have overturned Owen's bogus decree, but who obviously choose not to in order to get the gas tax jack through.

So, now that the rule that brought us the gas tax is back, does that mean that the GOP Senate is now going to reconsider their betrayal and run this legislation through the same filter, this time with the allegedly "unconstitutional" rule back in place?

Nah.

The GOP scam continues... because you have DAMNED sure not heard about the rule change until now... this very minute.

Wonder why?

Well, we also know that the GOP Senate let the Lieutenant Governor off the hook from his ethics charges.

Put it all together and this variety of corruption stinks.

Meanwhile, when the GOP wanders around telling us what a great job they've done with a "no tax increase budget," remind them of the massive gas tax increase THEY are going to be responsible for with the transportation budget.

Remember that they lied to us when they told us they HAD to do it this way to keep the governor from doing something he could not do anyway: arbitrarily jack up the gas tax on his own (The so-called carbon tax) as much as $1.60 per gallon.

That was as much a lie, which I've been trying to tell everyone from the beginning, as Owen's determination that the off-again, on-again GOP tax rule was "unconstitutional."

Remember who did this to you... to us.  Remember, this is yet another example... at all levels... that there's damned little difference between the GOP and the democrats.

Because what the Republicans in the Senate are doing to us on the gas tax rip off is what the democrats have done for decades.

And out-democrating the democrats is no way for the GOP to continue to expect to govern.

Boehner's latest official portrait

When you have cowards running government, a cowardly president, a cowardly Senate majority leader and, of course, our coward of a Speaker, the current rate of destruction of our country is to be expected.

The NEW and IMPROVED John Boehner.(Credit - Drudge)

Who knew that the GOP majority in Congress would be so politically expedient that the leaders of these Houses would have worn out a gross of kneepads in front of this scumbag?

These people have been out-thought, out-played and out-politicked by an ignorant twit.

Everyone was so excited when the GOP fought their way to control of Congress on a platform of, among other things, getting rid of Obamacare.

Well, that same GOP Congress has sat on it's ass hoping the Chief Leftist of the Supreme Court would do their dirty work for them.  And as unlikely a scenario as that was, common sense, let along common POLITICAL sense, would indicate that two plans should have been in place: one - what does the GOP do if the Court rules against Obamacare?

Two: what does the GOP Congress do if the Court rules for Obamacare?

Clearly, these incompetence had a plan for neither.

So, the signature issue of the GOP in the last cycle, the elimination of Obamacare: the entire reason they were elected... remains unaddressed and as much in effect now as it was a year ago.

And it's the GOP's fault, start to finish.

In honor of that and other political betrayals such as giving the president even MORE power by voting for bills they never bothered to read and which were kept secret from the American people, like so much of what our government does, I provide you all with the latest portrait of Speaker John Boehner.

Although a meld with the Belle of Botox, Nancy Pelosi, would be much more appropriate since there genuinely is no telling them apart, this is the best that could be done on short notice.

Lying Lefty Lou: "You're a scumbag."

It's become clear to me over the years during Lying Lefty's tenure here as our own local version of Goebbels, that he is little more than a whiny bitch.

Generally, Lying Lefty's columns can be divided into 3 categories:

Self-congratulatory.

Among the very most self-congratulatory leftists among us, Lying Lefty has one of the larger soapboxs around to pat himself on the back as someone he claims to know, well, dies.... so he can babble about how he used to get that person his coffee and a pastry back in 75, or something.

Those he pats himself on the back WITH, likely have no recollection of this back-bencher wallflower, likely had no idea who Lying Lefty actually was/is, you understand, but Lying Lefty's self-loathing forces him to take every opportunity to tell us how great he thinks he is.

No one I've read in print pats himself on the back with such frequency and such force.

As if that mattered to anyone but him.

Lying in support of his agenda.

And how that man can lie.

From the charter scam where he finally broke and told the truth, that our entire system of local government was trashed by those on the left who hated David Madore, to his dogged support of the CRC/Loot Rail Scam, through the ballpark scam... their was no lie, either through commission or omission, he would not use to buttress his agenda.

For example, 3 years ago it was discovered that the Oregon State Supreme Court had ruled that the entire purpose of the CRC Scam was to stuff loot rail into Clark County.

Those words have never appeared in an article in Lying Lefty's democratian rag, because they never fit Lying Lefty's meme: that we needed to replace the I-5 Bridge because of age, or safety, or something.

Putting out the truth as determined by Oregon's Supreme Court?

That would NEVER do.

So, he never did it.  And it's not like he didn't KNOW.  It's much more like he knew that would be the death knell for his dying project.

Hatred of the right generally, Benton/Madore and Mielke specifically.

This represents the vast majority of Lying Lefty's efforts.


Literally for years now, Lying Lefty has used his column of lies to trash those men smart enough to disagree with him and to whip up those incapable of thinking for themselves, which is the standard definition of your average, run of the mill leftist.

I say "men" because he's much more circumspect when it comes to women who oppose his agenda.  Many have been quite effective in putting a stop to his political idiocy on projects such as the CRC/Loot Rail scam... with an outcome that made Lying Lefty Lou's dogged insistence on the CRC Scam's completion look as foolish as, well, Marc Boldt's.

Yet, Lying Lefty is ever the gentleman... because, of course, he fears being characterized as someone who beats on women... personally or in print.  So, Sen. Ann "Bridge Killer" Rivers and Rep. Liz Pike don't feel the sting of Lying Lefty's editorial whip.  While Lying Lefty attempted to trash Jeanne Stewart for standing with the people, it was a half-hearted effort at best.  His last effort was to beat her up over David Madore's support in her election against Pridemore.

The end result is that they call her "Councilor," and Pridemore "loser."

Lying Lefty feels no such compunction when it comes to local male political targets, however.

Face it: locally, David Madore was a huge player in killing the CRC Scam, even before he took office.  He went out of pocket to hire the forensic accountant, Tiffany Couch, who ferreted out most of the corruption of the CRC Scam and publicized it, also providing ammunition for Benton and Rivers in the Senate to kill this crap pile off.

Everything Madore does or tries to do is grist for Lying Lefty's hatred.  Doesn't matter what or how.  And, I admit, some of that is self-inflicted.

But instead of countering Madore's vision with any viable alternative, what does Lying Lefty do?

Where, for example, is Lying Lefty's plan, or any OTHER CRC cheerleader's plan, to address our cross-river transportation issues, save for resurrecting the CRC Scam, most recently tried during the current legislative session by Vancouver's own Hobbit, Sen. Anette Cleveland?

No where.

Even those who fought the CRC Scam have foolishly bought into the "must replace the I-5 Bridge rip off, this time without loot rail" scam, when the LAST thing we need to do is to replace that bridge AFTER two additional bridges are built to the west of the I-5 Bridge to bypass the Portland traffic hell-hole altogether, and one to the east of I-205 in anticipation of the massive growth that will be taking place in east county.

On the political front, Tom Mielke was the lone voice on the county commission to fight this insidious fungus that showed both the best of politicians who actually listened to the people and did their best to represent us, and the very worst: those in government who knew our minds but ignored us regardless.

Combine that with the Mielke-Madore successful effort to dump the local Pravda as the "official newspaper of Clark County" which cost the rag a few bucks... but not nearly as much as Lying Lefty's fringe-left attacks against anyone to the right of Mao... and this is what you get.

And Benton had been among the very loudest voices in opposition to the CRC rip off from the very beginning, way back during the first effort in the 90's, an effort crushed 70/30 county-wide back when we were actually allowed to vote.

Lying Lefty went all in on the downtown mafia project, and he got his ass handed to him in a basket.  And somebody has to pay for making Lying Lefty look like an idiot.

Although he frequently manages to do that all on his own, without any one's help.

So, in the end, today's column was a Cat 3 combo: a combination of hatred of Benton, Madore and Mielke, and some of his own whiny, sniveling, "I'm a victim" crap that is sickening to read.

Because, in reality, Benton was dead on:  Lying Lefty Lou IS a scumbag.  And while the truth must hurt Lying Lefty, it is refreshing to read it in print.

His fellow leftist nutjobs will be "outraged," of course, though most of them have said far worse about Benton as Lying Lefty himself has written far worse.  The C3G2 ("Clark County Citizens for Leftist Governance) hate site is replete with trash talking, fringe-left insults against those three.  Lying Lefty and his minions are folk heroes over there.

This is just another of the many signs that Lying Lefty can dish it out, but like most playground bullies, he can't take it.

Everyone has a lot in life, Lefty.  Yours just happens to be that of "scumbag."

And you should be used to it by now.

The Supreme Court fails us again.

I suppose we should get used to Supreme Courts doing this sort of thing.

Our own state's Supreme Court has no legal ability to force the Legislature to do anything, any more than the Legislature can force the Supreme Court to do anything.

You wouldn't know it by the state GOP Senate's actions, though, as they go through the motions to satisfy their Supreme Court Masters by wasting additional billions on the state education plant that they do not have to spend.

At the national level, yesterday was the Supreme Court's misfeasance in acknowledging a law,

 “In this instance, the context and structure of the Act

ignoring the plan language reading of the law (See footnote Carcieri)

compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase.”

And then legislating what they think the law SHOULD be.

In reality, the proper decision would simply be to throw the law out and to tell Congress to fix it.

That was their only job.

Instead, they ignored what was right in front of them, ignored established precedent (Plain language) and then simply made it up as they went along.

How this is supposed to inspire the American People to have any confidence in their Judicial System is beyond me.

Don't like the law?  Ignore it and turn it into whatever you want.  Yesterday, Pandora's judicial box was blown open, and now judges everywhere will be emboldened to do the exact... same... thing.

Today, we get more of the same on gay marriage.

Laws against gay marriage were never discriminatory.

I, for example, could not marry someone of the same gender.  Nor could anyone else.

That is non-discriminatory in every sense of the word.  But the socialization and politicization of gay marriage has twisted the word "discrimination" into knots.

Merriam-Webster defines discrimination thusly:

: the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people

Clearly, then, if a restriction is placed on all people equally, that cannot be discrimination.  And restrictions against same-gender marriage applied to all, regardless of gender.

With equal clarity, without discrimination, there should be no judicial remedy.  That there has been is a rank bastardization of the entirety of our judicial process.

And for me, this issue does not involve morality, or biblical teachings or religion or anything else.

It involves the law.  It involves how government at all levels and in all branches ignore the law when they see fit and how they do so without being held accountable for their acts.

To suddenly discover a non-existent right that has lain dormant in the Constitution, unseen or unheard of since the 18th century when it was written, is utterly absurd... utterly disheartening... and shakes the very foundation of our government and what the concepts of freedom genuinely mean.

We are a country where, literally, up is down and down is up.  In everything from declaring women a minority for purposes of affirmative action even though they are numerically superior as a part of our population to declaring a basketball is a watermelon as the Court did yesterday on Obamacare, our government continues to fail us at every level.

We truly have the government we deserve.  And since the GOP is complicit, there really is no hope.

Carcieri

Reversed and remanded. Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the court.^[2]

Thomas determined that the authority of the BIA to take Indian land into a trust status hinged on the phrase "now under Federal jurisdiction" in 25 U.S.C. § 479. Using rules of statutory construction, he determined that this phrase limited the BIA to only take Indian Land into trust if the tribe was federally recognized in 1934 at the time of the laws enactment. This holding excluded the Narrangansett tribe from turning land over to the BIA as they were not federally recognized until 1983.^[3]

More leftist hypocrisy: Benton wouldn't shake Lying Lefty Lou's hand?

Imagine, a slimy leftist worm upset that Don Benton wouldn't shake Lying Lefty Lou's hand.

Here's the whiny, sniveling little letter to the editor this putz penned:

Letter: Right to disagree ... respectfully 

Published: June 25, 2015, 6:00 AM 

I attended the Tuesday Clark County council public meeting. Prior to the meeting, I saw Don Benton, one of our state senators and director of the Clark County Environmental Services Department, come up the aisle toward Lou Brancaccio, editor of The Columbian. Brancaccio extended his hand to Benton, who refused to shake it and said something to Brancaccio, then turned his back and walked away. Judging by the way Brancaccio's jaw dropped I could tell the comment was not a positive one. 

This is no way for a public servant and county employee to act. Benton has every right to disagree with Brancaccio, but should not make derogatory comments in a very public place. Benton was at the meeting in his official capacity as a county employee. As such he is expected to act in a professional and courteous way and not make demeaning comments to a citizen of the county, whom he is hired to serve. A professional would have shaken hands and moved on down the aisle. Obviously, Benton is not able to respond in a professional way. 

This is not the first time Benton's interpersonal skills have been questioned, which leads to the question: why is he still an employee of the county? 

Charlie Roe
Vancouver

Considering Lying Left Lou's decades of lies, attacks and character assassination against Benton, Lying Lefty is damned lucky that Benton didn't bust him in the head with a chair.

"Respectful disagreement" is something that only the left wants to receive... never provide.

The routine leftist insults and lies towards Benton, Madore and Mielke from Lying Lefty Lou is despicable.

Lying Lefty's jaw dropped?

He's fortunate it didn't get fractured.

The hypocrisy of this fringe-left author is clear: when Lying Lefty trashes Benton or the others or whips up the lynch mob as Lying Lefty is wont to do, there was no letter of outrage from any of the leftist scum infesting us.  In fact, they'd routinely cheer Lying Lefty on.

So, this is one of those occasions where I can actually applaud Benton's tolerance.  I might not have been so charitable to the Fresh Prince of Just For Men.

Corruption at all levels: Supreme Court fails to read; GOP Congress too cowardly to act; and a dictator in the White House.

Congratulations to the US Government.

Today's Supreme Court decision, much like the previous sell out in deciding that the concept of forcing Americans to buy something... anything... somehow passes Constitutional muster is now joined by a politically driven failure to read... the ... law.

The wording of the law is quite plain and unambiguous.  Any ignorant leftist, for example, understands these words:

“The Court holds that when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act says ‘Exchange established by the State’ it means ‘Exchange established by the State or the Federal Government.’ That is of course quite absurd, and the Court’s 21 pages of explanation make it no less so,” Scalia wrote.

 Scalia added, “Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State.’ It is hard to come up with a clearer way to limit tax credits to state Exchanges than to use the words ‘established by the State.’ And it is hard to come up with a reason to include the words ‘by the State’ other than the purpose of limiting credits to state Exchanges.”

Even the scumbag Chief Justice admits that he's ignoring the actual plain meaning of the words that are in the law, words which,on the surface

“In this instance, the context and structure of the Act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase.”

The only thing that keeps this nation together is some level of confidence in our branches of government that our freedoms are protected by these branches doing their jobs.

Legislators legislate.  Judges judge what is there, not what they wish was there.  And the President has the basic competence to run an elevator.

None of that is now in place.

The cancer of ISIS grows unabated.  Our debt is bankrupting us.  Our military is gutted by budget cuts and idiotic social programs.  Millions of illegal aliens pour over our borders to suck at the taxpayers apparently limitless tit as the left strives to grab the illegal alien vote and the right shrinks in horror. The GOP Congress lied itself into control.  The president at best is a complete moron, at worst is some sort of 5th columnist bent on destroying this country, since he's done more damage in real terms than any enemy this Nation has yet faced.

Government as a term becomes less and less meaningful when that government abrogates their responsibilities in favor of a self-perpetuating, amorphous blob that has long since reversed it's position from serving us... to having us serve them.

This Nation does not have an indefinite time remaining.

Let freedom ring?

Today, the US Supreme Court sounded our death knell.  Because now, any court, anywhere, can simply ignore what the law says and interpret it the way the may want in response to whatever pressure or agenda the judge may have.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, in no way begins to resemble what the Founding Fathers envisioned or what the Constitution actually either says or intimates.

I am disheartened by this decision, not only because of what it actually means concerning the insanity of Obamacare, but the ripple effect throughout the judiciary branch as, according to Justice Scalia... judicial notice has just been provided that in fact, words no longer have any meaning.

Before today, I always felt that you could call a basketball a watermelon, but that wouldn't make it so.

The scum in the majority of the United States Supreme Court have just proven me wrong.

Amazon stops selling the Confederate flag... but sells THIS:

Rank leftist hypocrisy.

When is the First Amendment NOT the First Amendment? Time to ban the US Flag.

Well, the answer used to be "never."

Until the past week.

Now, we have a scenario where fear of name-calling shapes policy and points out cowardice while the left laughs at us and no one... NO ONE... will change their vote to the cowards one wit because they caved into fear.

It's what they expected the GOP to do.  It's what the GOP ALWAYS does.

Here's the real cause of the church attack.

A small group manufactures outrage over a situation they, for the most part, didn't give a damn about 2 weeks ago.

The minor detail here is that NONE of this was caused by a flag.  Not one of these cowards would go so far as to blame it on a piece of cloth.

So, here's the thing: I can think of another flag that meets all the criteria of the active effort to ban the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia.

To a certain segment of our society, the American Flag stands for much of the same thing, as well as genocide, disease, a permanent second-class citizenship... the whole thing.

Right?

I am, of course, referring to our Native American population.

You cannot actively hate just one flag that stands for this sort of thing to just one group, without also hating another flag that stands for much of the same thing to another.

Can you?

I mean, God hates a hypocrite... doesn't He?

I have never been ashamed of this country as much as I am now.

Just like we're allowing muslims to slaughter tens of thousands...  and at some point, millions... when we abandoned a Middle East that WE, as a nation, is responsible for.... precisely like this country allowed... even fostered... the Nazi's in Germany doing the precise, same thing while we stood by and watched... doing nothing.

Combine that with the Scumbag-in-Chief's caving on negotiating with terrorists, and just wait for the bloodbath to become a blood ocean.

God Help Us.

 

Obama turns the US into Mexico; Creates thousands of new jobs in the foreign hostage market; cements his place as the worst president this Nation has ever known.

Look, we all know that Obama has been striking for the rank of dead last when it comes to being the worst president this country has ever known, easily outdistancing his closest rival, Jimmy Carter, by a thousand miles.

But to assist terrorists in overtly financing their operations and giving the high sign to international criminals?

That takes an extraordinary level of idiocy.

This clown, famous for trading 5 high-level taliban terrorists for an Army deserter while lionizing both him and his parents in a Rose Garden ceremony, couldn't pour pee out of a boot.  He uses the Constitution on a daily basis for his own peculiar brand of toilet paper and his list of actions long since worthy of impeachment is both long and distinguished... except, of course, the GOP-controlled Congress is even more inept and incompetent than he is, so I suppose that it's to be expected.

But now, this scumbag has made the commercialization of kidnapping/hostage taking possible at the world wide level.

For those who have not seen the movie, "Man on Fire," It's a case study of the Mexican kidnapping business, a bloody tour de force staring Denzel Washington and Christopher Walken, among others.

THIS is yet another hole, blown from the inside-out, in the American ship of state.

Until now, American hostage taking has been a pin-prick.  Now, thanks to this scumbag's decision to allow private payment to hostage takers, is there any doubt that the torrent will turn into a flood?

I could, perhaps, forgive this short-bus reject if he had surrounded himself with people smarter than he is.

But he didn't.  And we are suffering now... and we will be suffering for decades... because this scumbag darkened the doorway of the White House... and Congress, both democrat and GOP... are letting him.

Despicable.

Medical pot is a scam.

When pro-pot smokers began that "pot cures everything known to human-kind," you knew it had to be a crock.

Well, it is.

Of course, advocates for pot who want their buzz for everything trivial under the sun deny it, but the reality is even more uncomfortable than the bogus afflictions most medical marijuana users complain of.

un 23, 12:01 PM EDT

STUDY: SCANT EVIDENCE THAT MEDICAL POT HELPS MANY ILLNESSES

BY LINDSEY TANNER 
AP MEDICAL WRITER

CHICAGO (AP) -- Medical marijuana has not been proven to work for many illnesses that state laws have approved it for, according to the first comprehensive analysis of research on its potential benefits.

The strongest evidence is for chronic pain and for muscle stiffness in multiple sclerosis, according to the review, which evaluated 79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients. Evidence was weak for many other conditions, including anxiety, sleep disorders, and Tourette's syndrome and the authors recommend more research.

The analysis is among several medical marijuana articles published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They include a small study suggesting that many brand labels for edible marijuana products list inaccurate amounts of active ingredients. More than half of brands tested had much lower amounts than labeled, meaning users might get no effect.

Highlights from the journal:

THE ANALYSIS

The researchers pooled results from studies that tested marijuana against placebos, usual care or no treatment. That's the most rigorous kind of research but many studies found no conclusive evidence of any benefit. Side effects were common and included dizziness, dry mouth and sleepiness. A less extensive research review in the journal found similar results.

It's possible medical marijuana could have widespread benefits, but strong evidence from high-quality studies is lacking, authors of both articles say.

"It's not a wonder drug but it certainly has some potential," said Dr. Robert Wolff, a co-author and researcher with Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd., a research company in York, England.

EDIBLE PRODUCTS

Researchers evaluated 47 brands of medical marijuana products, including candy, baked goods and drinks, bought at dispensaries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Independent laboratory testing for THC, marijuana's leading active ingredient, found accurate amounts listed on labels for just 13 of 75 products. Almost 1 in 4 had higher amounts than labeled, which could cause ill effects. Most had lower-than-listed amounts. There were similar findings for another active ingredient. Products were not identified by name.

Johns Hopkins University researcher Ryan Vandrey, the lead author, said he was surprised so many labels were inaccurate. The researchers note, however, that the results may not be the same in other locations.

MORE:

Republican betrayal at the federal level is now complete:

For the time since the GOP took complete control over Congress, the lies were obvious and, to coin a phrase, came fast and furious.

I warned everyone that there would be no difference between the parties.  Time has borne my vision out.

I had hopes, but those were emotions.  My academic self knew better.

The betrayal is now complete.

I will never vote for a Republican or Democrat at the federal level again.

And it's becoming increasingly difficult to vote GOP at the state level as well, given the Senate GOP's betrayal of us on the gas tax scam and the corruption they engaged in with the Lieutenant Governor.

I have less than no confidence that the GOP will do anything but be willing accomplices to our ongoing weakening and ultimate destruction.

I see no evidence to the contrary and much evidence to support that conclusion as the rest of the world laughs at us at EVERY level.

REPUBLICANS GIVE HIM POWER

Indeed.  The GOP is now supporting this despicable cur more than his own party.

Betrayal?

That's not the half of it.

The rank hypocrisy of WalMart: Confederate Battle Flag v. Che Guevara.

Yesterday, the United States was treated to it's own version of Kristalnacht by spineless, pandering politicians and historically ignorant leftist revisionists who deflected the root causes of the tragedy of the Charleston AME Church shooting to... the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virgina.

The political jujitsu was breathless in it's breadth and depth.  The parallels between the Nazi German mindset and the mindset of those who view the First Amendment as the First Suggestion in their effort to pander to the more hypocritical leftist elements stunning to behold.

Up until this successful effort by the hypocritical left and the more milquetoast RINO elements among us to deflect and demonize a symbol over the substance of the racial divide that the president and his thugs have worked so hard to foster since his stain darkened the history of our democracy., I hadn't paid much attention to this issue.


I don't have one of these flags or any other symbol rooted in the politics surrounding the Civil War.

But I intend to get one.

Of those babbling about this issue, I may have some unique qualifications to address it: I have experienced racism aimed at me personally as a white child attending a heavily majority populated elementary school for 6 year, I have seen a half-Asian step-son claim it as the basis for all of his failures in school while my oldest son half-Asian son has just completed his second year of Oregon Law School.

I'm cursed with a historical perspective, a knowledge of history and an anger directed at tyranny.

That perspective has provided me with a fear of "banning."

Once the ability to "ban" is used... there's no stopping it.

What's the next thing... idea... song.. picture... thought... look... to be banned?

Who enforces it?  Who starts it?

Who stops it?

I'm further cursed with a deep-seated disdain for pandering politicians and companies that take advantage of any disaster (As Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of America's Abattoir (Chicago) where what happened in that Charleston Church is typically called "Friday" in the numbers killed in that city, week in and week out; famously stated Rahm's Rule; "never let a serious crisis go to waste") such as, in this instance, the despicable Hillary Clinton.

There's this drivel from the Murderer of Benghazi today:

 

And here's her take on the issue a few years back:

The list of politicians running from/pandering to what they foolishly believe to be the popular sentiment is long and distinguished. (Quoting "Goose" in the movie Top Gun, when asked "whose ass did you kiss to get in here?"  Goose replied "The list was long... and distinguished.")

Given the rampant cowardice among most, I completely get why the pols are scurrying to get on the "me-too" list while ignoring history and concluding that the issues are just too-deep for Joe Sixpack to understand.

After all, how often have our own representatives betrayed us by concluding, as they shaft us, that we "just wouldn't understand" while they proceed to ignore the will of the people with such monuments to their arrogance as the CRC/Light Rail scam, and jacking up our gas tax, campaign promises to the contrary notwithstanding and the idiocy of the BRT which we will waste millions and millions on... only to see it go away a few years from now as we can no longer afford it.

But then... along comes WalMart.

WalMart is despised by certain segments of this society.  The Arkansas-based multi-national has had portrayals that could be filed under the label of "not too particularly flattering."

Yesterday, someone high up in the administration of that company decided they needed to implement the ubiquitous "Rahm Rule" at the corporate level by exclaiming that they would cease selling any confederate-flag themed merchandise.

That, of course, is WalMart's choice to make.  Just like it's my choice to make to never set foot in that company's doorway as a result, having defended their practices literally, for years.

Meanwhile, having applied a certain standard to their merchandise, one has to wonder: where does it stop?

WalMart also sells guns and ammo.  A LOT of guns and ammo.

Are they going to stop selling that as well, given the leftist butthurt over guns and their efforts to control us through trying to restrict those sales and purchases?

Whatever.  Meanwhile, as I say, what WalMart sells is completely up to them.

So why are they selling anything related to that darling of the left, Ernesto "Che" Guevara?

You've seen that merchandise.  Here's a sample off WalMart's website of what you can buy emblazoned with the visage of a murdering thug of a communist scumbag... all from your friendly, neighborhood, WalMart.

You know... the store that just announced they were no longer going to sell the Confederate flag because it was "bad," or something?




As well as these beauties:

Che Guevara Speaks

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Q&A

Walmart #: 000000000

Che Guevara: Where You'd Never Imagine Him

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Q&A 

By: null

And other pieces of filth for that piece of filth... all directly from the WalMart web site.

Can't find this poster at WalMart, though:




Now, don't get me wrong.

Che wasn't always a murderous thug who personally shot hundreds and beat several more to death with a baseball bat.

But whatever Che's redeeming social value may have been, I know that the Confederate flag never killed anyone.

Che Guevara personally murdered hundreds, if not thousands.

And WalMart sells his Tshirt.  But then, hypocrisy infests us at all levels, and not just the political.  Right, Sam?

It's the symbolism, you see.  It doesn't matter what the Battle Flag of Northern Virgina ACTUALLY means... it's what people THINK it means that matters.  The PERCEPTION is the reality.

It's not politicians who act out of the courage of their convictions... it's about political opportunists required to get on the "me too" band wagon.

It's about the ignorant who have not seen what I have seen, who have not personally experienced what I have experienced and who are inculcated with that moronic "white guilt/privilege" garbage.

It's about the lack of principle infesting the GOP at a cellular level where political promises and tenets of the conservative philosophy are meaningless items to be cast aside whenever opportunity knocks... because you are damned sure not going to find anyone running for office who will EVER say "I would rather be right... than be president."

As I was a little boy in Central Seattle in the early 60's... even then, I came to know, first hand, the impacts of racism in ways that few of those running off at the mouth over it will ever know.

As a parent of a multi-racial child, I have seen the impacts and victimization of those who choose to use it as an excuse for their own lack of effort and failure... and those who view it as an obstacle... but not an insurmountable wall.

A terrible mistake was made here yesterday as ignorant knees jerked the way they were told for reasons that do us no credit.  And frankly, it makes me even more ashamed of my government and many people outside of government today.

Like WalMart.