More unabashed stupidity from OUR government: Cash for clunkers.

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There are fools, damned fools... and our government.

As a general rule, government rarely SOLVES any problem. (Can you name one.... ONE problem government has solved? I can't.) What they do is reduce the noise on the problems we face to a bearable level. It is, in fact, the implementation of the "squeaky wheel" rule.

Government typically wants the unwashed masses (That's US, by the way.) to THINK government's doing something. That's why we cost ourselves tens of billions of wasted dollars by making all of the airport security workers federal employees, for example. It was a show, designed primarily to make us believe that our government, post 9/11, was actually DOING something.

In that regard... they were not. In the aftermath, it's easy to forget that none of the 9/11 hijackers violated the security laws then in effect. Federalizing airport security BEFORE 9/11 would have made absolutely NO difference in the 9/11 outcome... unless the rules had been changed as well.

It's important to remember that as we consider the latest plan to "save us" by removing older, more polluting, gas-guzzler type vehicles from the road.

Now, I haven't seen the final version of this nonsense, and many of the rules in question would blind an accountant in their complexity, purely an accidental outcome to be sure. So, I'll let Greg Gutfeld explain it to you in his own, inimitable, way:

Making Sense of 'Cash for Clunkers'

Monday, June 22, 2009
By Greg Gutfeld

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Last week I was reading up on the "Cash for Clunkers" program which the Senate just approved, hoping to talk about it here. I gave up, however, because it didn't make any sense.

Then it dawned on me: It didn't have to! It's a government program. As long as it's paved with good intentions, it doesn't matter if the road goes nowhere.

Here's the deal: To get gas guzzlers off the roads, the government is offering vouchers worth up to $4,500 for your old car, to be used on a new car.

How does it work? (Breathe deeply.) You can trade in a car getting 18 miles per gallon for a car getting 22 mpg and get $3,500. But you'd get $4,500 if the new car is 10 mpg higher.

Now, if you own an old SUV, you could get $3,500 if your new wheels offer two more gallons per mile. If it's five more miles, then you get an extra grand.

You follow? Good, then find a gun and shoot me in the face.

Now, here's the fun part: None of this makes any sense if your old car is worth more than a voucher. Meaning this only works for crap worth under 3,500 bucks. And if that's the case, then the government pays and loses money on every junk heap.

Lastly, try to find someone with a piece of crud up on blocks in their front yard, who can suddenly afford a new car. You can count all of them on one foot, even if you're missing a toe.

So, in sum, welcome to the rebirth of big government. It'll drive you nuts just thinking about it.

Greg Gutfeld hosts "Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld" weekdays at 3 a.m. ET. Send your comments to: redeye@foxnews.com

There are, perhaps WAYS to make this actually WORK... but this plan ain't one of them.

The purpose of this, I guess, is to get people driving $4500 or cheaper cars in on a new car.

Besides credit markets so tight it makes your butt squeak, as Greg pointed out:

Lastly, try to find someone with a piece of crud up on blocks in their front yard, who can suddenly afford a new car. You can count all of them on one foot, even if you're missing a toe.

So.... here we have it. This aspect of the bill will, no doubt, have a huge roll out. "Good" for the auto-makers, "good" for the environment, "good" for the consumers.

Except... it will make little to no difference.... because the target market will not be able to afford a new car.

But it looks good, doesn't it?
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What is it that Seattle knows that the idiots in Vancouver government haven't yet figured out?

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A while back, No Choice Royce and his band of tax and spenders stupidly put together a head tax for businesses in Vancouver.

"Head taxes" are moronic, anti-business taxes that greedy governments impose when they're going broke... sort of a "kicking a dead horse" approach to filling up the increasingly larger ghost town that IS downtown Vancouver.

If one has the choice of setting up shop in an economic desolation zone like downtown only to get popped with an additional, $50 per employee tax... as if HAVING an employee, in and of itself, costs the city anything.... or setting up somewhere else where reality actually plays a role... what choice would YOU make?

The many, many empty store fronts in Vancouver speak for themselves.

It was moronic then, when the city strong-armed that massive waste of money into place by threatening (bluffing) to implement a city B&O tax that business stupidly went along with, and it's stupid now, in the midst of this huge economic downturn.

Well, the light has went on in Seattle, and they're smart enough to see this turd in the punch bowl for what it is.

Seattle is getting rid of this garbage fee on business. How is it that Seattle has figured it out... but the morons in Vancouver City Hall take no action to kill THEIR version of this idiocy?

Originally published June 23, 2009 at 11:35 AM Page modified June 23, 2009 at 11:53 AM

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Seattle ready to repeal unpopular employer tax

The Seattle City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels plan to repeal the employee head tax, which they say discourages hiring.

By Emily Heffter

Seattle Times staff reporter

The Seattle City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels plan to repeal an unpopular business tax they say discourages hiring.

The mayor proposed the annual "head tax" of $25 for every full-time employee in 2006. It raises about $4.7 million a year, revenue used for transportation projects, such as street and sidewalk maintenance.

In this economy, the mayor said in a press release, "we want to do everything possible to create jobs and help businesses grow."

Council members Tim Burgess and Richard Conlin are leading the effort on the council to repeal the tax. Even if $25 a year isn't enough to stop a business from hiring a new employee, it's complicated for businesses to calculate the tax, and it can be used by surrounding cities to make Seattle look less-than-business friendly, Burgess said.

The tax includes exemptions for workers who commute by bus, carpool, bicycle or walking.

More:
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The scum of censorship at The Columbian

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Our local newspaper is VERY big on freedom.

Freedom of the press... freedom of THEIR opinions... (even to the point of lies) and, of course, freedom to censor those they disagree with.

As mentioned below, Brancaccio's request for people to "start talkin!" because he's"listening." is limited only to those he wants to hear from. Those he doesn't want to hear? Well, he squelches their voice to silence.

I've noticed an intrepid poster over there, one of many daring to stand up to the fringe-left propaganda of our local fish wrapper. And that person's posts were almost completely obliterated this morning, regardless of content.

It's kind of like a local version of BDS. Hatred for dissenting viewpoints can be a terrible thing.

This paper expresses that hatred in a variety of ways. Fringe leftist nut job John Laird, editorial page editor and a propagandist in ways that would make Minister Goebbels blush is a case in point.

And now, Brancaccio has again joined the cast of those who would silence opposition to his paper's positions and agenda.

Gee. I bet he's proud of himself this morning. His actions and those of the Iranian secret police have a lot in common.
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Obama fiddles while Iran... and her people... burn.

Thanks to the Hot Air Blog: Neda identified? Update: New details

posted at 7:18 pm on June 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Word on the street via one Iranian tweeter is that her name was Neda Agha Soltan. That’s also the name circulating on a few websites and now being attributed to her in a hastily arranged Wikipedia bio. The rumor — and it’s all rumor until some newspaper tracks down her family — is that she was 27 years old and a philosophy student. I hope to god this isn’t really her photo because the thought of her being so beautiful and dignified makes the murder somehow that much more obscene.

Two clips below. The second you’ve already seen; the first is a new one circulating today, shot sometime before the moment of truth. The blue shirt on the gray-haired man in the foreground should look familiar. That’s almost certainly her standing to his left, watching the protest, bothering no one. Read this Time piece on Neda by Iran expert Robin Wright afterwards, as it touches on the huge significance of martyrdom not only in Shiite theology but in Iran’s political tradition. If there’s any justice, there’ll be videos like this of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad someday soon.

Update: A Farsi speaker tells HuffPo that this blogger is claiming that Neda was at the protest with her professor and several other students and that the fatal shot was fired by a Basij driving by on a motorcycle. No rhyme or reason; I wonder if he even aimed. The burial, reportedly, was today — and her memorial service was ordered canceled by the regime.

H/T to Uncle Jimbo at BLACKFIVE

The utter absurdity of Brancaccio's latest because of his censorship: Press Talk: What our RAC does for us

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It's fairly clear that Lou Brancaccio, the editor of the Columbian, wants us to THINK the paper is flexible and responsive.

He babbled on about their Reader's Advisory Council, a collection of bobble-headed, Amen Choir types that, to hear him tell it, seem to think, among other lies, that "Members felt our bridge coverage continues to be good. "

That any group could possibly believe that substituting opinion for news; lies for genuine polls, and failing to demand a vote for the entirety of this debacle simply confirms how utterly worthless this group is.

They are, in fact, a reflection of a student government, in, say, middle school. They have no real power; they go through the motions but rarely make any real change, and ultimately, they pretty much wind up becoming a reflection of the school administration.

Whoever these people are, their apparent discussions about paint jobs on this Titanic while they continue to support the nonsensical and indefensible positions of this paper... positions that have shoved them towards bankruptcy, serve to confirm how much they serve the role of window dressing... and how little impact or effect they could have, even if they wanted to have any impact, because it's clear that as change agents, they fail.

If this group has not roundly condemned John Laird's divisive and damaging columns; if this group has not repeatedly demanded fairness and accuracy in the Columbian's coverage of the I-5 Bridge/Loot Rail propaganda or that this paper demand a vote on the entirety of that debacle, then they are worthless; not representative of this community and serve no real purpose.

When the Columbian ran those fake polls suggesting that everything is hunky dory about loot rail, did they protest, or did they just sit there and nod like idiots?

The failure of this paper to implement any substantive changes... to go out and scam a B&O tax break when the rest of small business in this state is suffering FAR worse than they are... the failure to actually LISTEN and CHANGE shows that, essentially, you've put together a group that amounts to just another Amen Chorus... or that the paper ignores their positions, much like they ignore most of the positions stated under Brancaccio's columns.

You see, where this idea makes any money is where it's resulted in any changes. And as carefully as I read Brancaccio's column, I failed to note a single instance where this group or any other source of criticism has EVER made any real impact or difference to this paper. Brancaccio says they "WILL" see changes, but that infers that this group, which has been here for years, HASN'T YET MADE ANY DIFFERENCE.

Having the group? Swell. Ignoring them or any other opposition to what you're doing, particularly while you're in the midst of Chapter 11?

Moronic idiocy.

Kinda reminds me of the Supreme Soviet or the former Iraqi Congress under Saddam.

A lot of voting. But not a lot of opposing.

And then, as it turns out, if Lou doesn't "like" you, he censors your ability to comment on his columns.

The irony of his latest scam is the end of his latest bogosity:

If someone wants to comment, let them have their say. I try to keep my pie hole shut as much as I can.

I learn more when I'm listening than when I'm talking.

So start talkin'! I'm listening.

The absurdity of this is that as I write this, a grand total of FOUR posters have been allowed to comment.

FOUR. (There are 5 posters, but Lou is two.) Lou will probably point to the few comments as some sort of sign that everyone believes this paper is hunky dorry, and all's well. Other columns Lou have written have resulted in 50, 60 or even more posters telling him how idiotic his positions are.

This column, magically... mysteriously.... not one.

Now, for several months (since the website was redone) many posters have commented on the incompetence of the system because posting there is a hit or miss business.

There have been a number of complaints; posters post, but the post doesn't show up; posters post and the post disappears without comment (censored) and the like.

Brancaccio is fully aware of the idiocy of this system, but merely says his webmaster, Jeff Bunch, should be emailed about this stuff.

That's odd, but yet another sign of Brancaccio's incompetence: Bunch should be called in. He should be told to fix the problem, a problem that has gone on for 9 months now; and if HE can't fix it, Brancaccio should get someone who can.

The incompetent aspect of this is very telling: If this moron won't even fix an obvious SYSTEM problem with his web page, then how is it that anyone could possibly expect him to make any of the many, massive, substantive changes needed to make this paper even remotely competitive and fiscally viable?

Or, we have the second, likely, possibility: censorship.

When Brancaccio says "So start talkin'! I'm listening," what he REALLY means is "If you AGREE with me, I want to hear it. If you DON'T agree with me, then don't bother."

Either way, the RAC is a joke, a farce, and another in the series of offenses to this community.

Local News

Press Talk: What our RAC does for us

Friday, June 19 11:38 p.m.

BY LOU BRANCACCIO,
COLUMBIAN EDITOR

Lou Brancaccio

Summer's here!

And if you're lucky enough to have the summer off, have fun.

We typically give the summer off to our Readers Advisory Council. Of course, they have lives other than just hanging out on our council. But we do hope they have fun, as well.

Our council helps to guide us. In essence, they are another set of eyes on what we do. So throughout the year, we meet every other month to have them tell us how they think we're doing.

We don't turn down positive feedback from them, but we let them know that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for what we can do better so we can get better.

The group is made up of community members, and it's a pretty diverse group. They come from many walks of life.

The only requirement is that they read The Columbian and/or regularly look at our Web site.

We often take their advice, and they'll see changes in The Columbian. Still, a few members feel their views aren't executed. And that's because we can't execute every idea given to us. But certainly, we listen.

We listen to others as well, including those who comment on our Web site. I get quite the group, for example, that comments on this column online.

More, if you can stomach it.