So one of our readers says in an email correspondence from Portland. You know that place that just LOVES light rail? You know that place that has actually voted DOWN light rail any time the people have ever really been asked.
So read this from a Portland resident:
The original South/North project had Crime Met purchasing a good bit of right-of-way. The new and cheaper Rail Lite uses existing roadway to shove the train right up our arterials. This accomplishes all objectives of eliminating general purpose roadway by replacing it with trains and bike lanes. If you liked Interstate North, you will love SE 12th to SE 17th to Sellwood. Well, these white neo-liberals had voted for it time and time again, so good for them, now they get a train shoved up their a – a – a arterial. They choked-off Overlook; next they will choke-off Sellwood.
SE 12th at Powell / Clinton is already very congested with cars, trucks and the existing surface train crossing, so let’s take away lanes and add another train crossing to the mix. 12th and 11th is one of the few functioning one-way-couplets left in this town, say goodbye to that.
In a way it’s alarming to me as well. I was chased out of North Portland by MAX and other growth-management policy. I now live in the vicinity of SE 12th and Hawthorne. 12th is to get MAX and Hawthorne is to get the Streetcar. I wake up screaming in the middle of the night because trains keep chasing me in my nightmares. I wake only to find that my worst nightmare has come true.
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Nor do they want anyone else to hear evidence.
The democrats yesterday tried to object to evidence in the Washington State triall. Like some child with ADD they have been ignoring reality and living in their own world. Yet this judge is continually spanking them and it is almost becoming comedic.
Wednesday was an eventful and successful day in the election contest trial. The Republicans called Nicole Way, supervisor of absentee ballot processing for King County, as the day's first witness. She testified about her concerns that King County's computer system could not track absentee ballots sent or received, and the discussions she had with Garth Fell and Bill Huennekens about her concerns. The Republican lawyers showed her some absentee ballot batch slips and the "accountability" spreadsheet King County prepared that summarized all of the batch slips -- and the many discrepancies and errors involved in them -- and had her explain them to the court. When the Republicans offered the accountability spreadsheet as evidence, the Democrats objected vigorously. This was the latest instance of their strategy to stop evidence about the election from being heard -- a trend that continued throughout the day (the judge agreed with the Republicans and accepted the spreadsheet into evidence). Ms. Way confirmed (yet again) that the infamous Mail Ballot Report did not do what the law requires, which is to verify that the number of absentee ballots received was the same as the total of the number counted plus the number rejected. The number received shown on the report was merely the sum of the numbers counted and rejected, not an independent check on them.
The Democrats cross-examined Ms. Way, trying to establish that ballots were secure and that any fraud or misconduct would have been detected. They also asked if the mail ballot report had always been prepared this way. She said it had not (and later expanded that by saying that in the past the computer system produced a report showing the number issued and the number credited, which could be compared to the report of the number tabulated and the daily log of the number sent and received). The Democrats also asked her questions about the no signature on file ("Larry Phillips") ballots. When she admitted to a Republican lawyer that one reason voter records might not have a signature is that the voter did not sign their application, the lawyer for the Secretary of State asked whether unsigned applications would be processed (implying they would not). Ms. Way said she had seen actual original copies of registration applications that were processed even though they were not signed.
After Ms. Way's (long) testimony, the Republicans called Clark Bensen. Mr. Bensen testified about his collection of data relating to the 2004 election and about two aspects of the data he reviewed -- that there were 875 more absentee ballots counted than absentee voters credited in King County, and that most of the precincts with the largest surplus of ballots were won by Christine Gregoire, while most of the precincts with the largest surplus of credits were won by Dino Rossi. We believe this non-random pattern of discrepancies is strong evidence that fraud may have occurred. The Democrats objected strenuously at every stage of this questioning, seeking to bar Mr. Bensen from testifying, to bar him from talking about the 875 vote absentee discrepancy, to bar him from talking about the precincts with the largest differences, and to bar him from using visual aids to explain the data he testified about to the court. The Democrats also complained that they had not been advised of Mr. Bensen's work on voter crediting, notwithstanding that they questioned him about it during his deposition. The lawyer for the Secretary of State objected that voter crediting information could not be used to prove anything about who voted or how many people voted.
Today, the Democrats will cross-examine Mr. Bensen. There will then be a "Frye hearing" where the Democrats will seek to prevent testimony by the Republicans' experts. Assuming the judge agrees to hear the testimony, it will follow the hearing. Depending on the timing of the testimony (and how many more objections the Democrats make), the Republicans expect to complete their case Thursday afternoon or Friday morning
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Yeesh, the Seattle Times just can't get over themselves when it comes to reporting on the election trial in Chelan County.
For instance in today's paper they discuss the allowance of a GOP witness : "And the numbers were shown only after a skeptical Judge John Bridges said the Republican witness who had them was walking a thin line between sticking to the stats and giving his opinion about what they meant." Full story here.
Listen up Times readers... I watched the trial... It was not that close. It was the opposition that was skeptical and kept objecting over and over and over and the Judge at one point had to say that "I know you have a running objection." In essence telling the democratICK lawyers to just pipe down and that he was going to allow the evidence.
This judge actually gave more latitude than I have EVER seen in a trial like this, and trust me... I have been involved in a few trials over election office issues. When the judge did make some of those comments as reported in the Times it was almost as if he were feeling sorry for the dems and just threw them an emmotional bone.
I think those folks over at the times need to get out of their echo chamber, that is how they were surprised to hear the GOP argue fraud in the first 15 minutes of the trial. If they are not carefull they will miss this entire trial.
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I have recieved an email update from the folks over at "Oregon Firearms Federation," regarding HB 2768. The ugly "gut and stuff" bill we reported on here earlier.
Well, OFF is alerting us that due to the response from conserned Oregonians the bill has been "reconsidered," and pulled from the house floor. They say the bill is not DEAD, but will not be voted on by the full house.
Good job of the OFF folks for getting word out to the blogsphere. It does show some results.
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That is what a British judge has called their postal balloting system. (see story here )
But we knew that when we posted an account from a former democrat elections inspector InThisBlog .
So now police have made a number of arrests in ballot mail fraud over there. We are currently undergoing an election fraud trial over here.
All this and yet as we reported back in March (here) Senators Morton and Parlette were supporting fraud by mail in the State of Washington with SB 5744.
If you can't make it to a polling place once a year should you be voting?
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Congressman David Wu is such a hypocrit. Now he is putting his nose where it don't belong, namely into another congressman's district business. Full story clickhere.
It has to do with the Gorge Casino proposal in Oregon. Wu makes statements concerning a recent interior department decision like, (this decision) "will give Oregonians a chance to reconsider the kind of state we wish to be."
I don't know if many people remember or not, but there was a Federal Post Office in downtown Portland some years back. That post office was a landmark to many people and they wanted to save it from the wrecking ball. Wu, who was probably in cahuts with downtown democrats, decided to quietly let it die.
Yet Congressman Blumenhour stepped up to save the post office even though it was just across the Willamette from his district. Wu was beside himself. Wu could not believe how another Congressman would dare stick his nose into the business of another Congressman.
Now Wu is working with Dan Lavey to kill the Gorge Casino in Congressman Gregg Walden's district.
A word to all you Gorgies... This decision is only temporary and procedural. Once the Warm Springs Tribe purchases the property all they need to do is resubmit their application.
As for the Grand Ronde's? It is time they posit a downtown casino district right across the street from the financially challenged convention center.
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Oregon Speaker Of The House To Seek Secretary Of State Office
Remember not too long ago we reported here that squishy republican Sen. Ben Westlund was going to run for the office of Oregon Secretary of State? That he had even hired a lefty as an administrative aide, who was supposed to deliver the democratICK vote for him?
Well, now it seems that 'ol Ben will have some significant competition in the Republican primary for that seat.
Deep cover Oregon political insiders are saying that the well liked speaker of the Oregon House Karen Minnis is preparing a run for SoS.
Good Call Oregon Repubs!
While the Coyote has had his differences with the speaker over various issues in the past, one thing has always remained clear. That is that she is a stand up person and really does try to do what she thinks is right. She is not, unlike 'ol Ben, always interested in what is her best PERSONAL political move.
It is time for the groundswell of support for Speaker Minnis to start now and give her the clear shot at the seat.
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So the squishy republicans (McCain of Arizona, Graham of South Carolina, DeWine of Ohio, Warner of Virginia, Chafee of Rhode Island, Collins and Snowe of Maine) have handed the Senate over to the DemocratICK party. Just read the "Memorandum of Understanding," they singed below. Look at all of the "out" clauses the democrats have and the way they can blame it on the republicans.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
May 23, 2005 - 5PM
"We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Reid. This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon mutual trust and confidence, related to pending and future judicial nominations in the 109th Congress.
This memorandum is in two parts. Part I relates to the currently pending judicial nominees; Part II relates to subsequent individual nominations to be made by the President and to be acted upon by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.
We have agreed to the following:
Part I: Commitments on Pending Judicial Nominations
A. Votes for Certain Nominees. We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit).
B. Status of Other Nominees. Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (9th Circuit) and Henry Saad (6th Circuit).
Part II: Commitments for Future Nominations
A. Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.
B. Rules Changes. In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII.
We believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word “Advice” speaks to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President’s power to make nominations. We encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.
Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate.
We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate that we as Senators seek to uphold."
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Boy howdie, am I itchin for a revote on the Washington State Governor's election. The Chelan County Circuit Court judge set the bar a couple of weeks ago. That bar was fraud. Well, now we have the depositon of a KingCo elections worker admitting that she and her superior FALSIFIED some elections reports.
This from the Seattle Times: "The report didn't base the ballots-returned number on an actual count of ballots received from voters. Rather, Way and Fell testified, they calculated the number by simply adding the number of ballots accepted and rejected...Way said they used the misleading number because they couldn't figure out how many ballots were returned by voters..."
So, what is elections director Dean Logan's big defense? Basically: "Oh it's no big deal, this has been going on since 2000."
Whoa! Not so fast say previous elections directors LOL... "No, sorry. Don't agree," said former Elections Director Bob Bruce, who retired in 2001. He said his reports of ballots returned were based on actual counts of ballots as they came in."...Former Elections Superintendent Julie Anne Kempf also disagreed, saying her reports were based on ballot returns and rarely showed a significant discrepancy.
Buwhahaha... It looks like others are finaly telling Mr. Logan that "hey yer on yer own on this thing now buddy."
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A politician actually backstabbing the people? Heavens no. THAT never happens. Well it has and now Oregonians need to light up the lines or lose a major part of your gun owning rights. The reason? In a word "Krieger." Rep. Wayne Krieger to be exact.
It appears that he lied to both Oregon Firearms Federation(OFF) AND the NRA to take part in that nastiest of tactics, the "Gut and Stuff." That way he can tell 2nd amendment types that he supported them, while at the same time with a wink of an eye and a puff on the cigar, hand your rights over to the government... NICE.
Very few things in life are more painfull than to have someone smile at you, pat you on your head and assure you that things were going to be fine. Only to have that very same G-Dmn person walk into the next room and vote absolutely contrary to what he/she just said!
Folks should call or email Rep. Wayne Krieger now. 503.986.1401 or rep.waynekrieger@state.or.us
See the details below as reported from OFF.
BAD NEWS FOR GUN OWNERS...AND IT CAME FROM OUR "FRIENDS."In a previous alert, we warned you that a good gun bill, HB 2768 might morph into a bad bill. It did.
HB 2768, which was supposed to allow CHL holders to purchase firearms without a background check was "gut and stuffed" with language the Oregon Sheriffs wanted to make it easier to deny and revoke handgun licenses. All the good language was removed. (The new language is not yet available on the legislative website.)
Yesterday, that bill was heard in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Law.Both OFF and the NRA expressed opposition to elements of the bill. We were told that new amendments would be drafted and attached to the bill in full committee.
Both OFF and NRA stated that until we saw the amendments, we opposed the bill.
After repeated assurances that the amendments would satisfy our concerns, the bill was voted to the full committee. (Over our opposition.)The bill was scheduled to be heard in full committee today, however, the Chairman of the full committee assured us that under no circumstances would the bill be dealt with today and would be held over until we had an opportunity to see the amendments.
Based on those assurances, no representative of the gun lobby was present at the "work session" today.
Today, in spite of promises to the contrary, the bill was voted on and passed out of committee with no opportunity for us to see, or comment on, the new language. Keep in mind, the House Judiciary Committee was the one that was supposed to be friendly to gun owners. So now, in spite of months of promises that no bill of this type would get to the House floor if opposed by the gun lobby, the rug was pulled out from under us and the bill was passed out of Committee.
In our conversations with members of the committee we were told that all this was the fault of a committee staffer who told the Chair of the Committee that the "gun lobby" supported the amendments. This of course was nonsense since none of us even had copies of the amendments until moments before the hearing was due to begin.
Whether the staffer misinformed the Chair or not is beside the point. He (Representative Wayne Krieger) had said in no uncertain terms that the bill WOULD NOT be voted on today.
Oddly, while the gun lobby was told the bill would not move and as such did not attend the hearing, the Sheriffs DID have a representative there.
The staffer who told the Chair that the gun lobby "approved" of amendments we had never seen, has now asked us to please allow the bill to proceed to the House floor and promised that any problems with the bill will be addressed in the Senate! This is absurd. If the bill gets to the Senate, it will be assigned to anti-gun fanatic Ginny Burdick. Obviously, Burdick will not be doing anything to benefit gun owners.
We have made it clear to the staffer and the committee members that we will absolutely oppose this bill. While fingers are being pointed in Salem, we have been told that the bill will NOT go to the House floor. This however requires some special procedures since it HAS been voted out of committee. We are assuming NOTHING at this point.
Although we've been told the bill will be held until we have an opportunity to weigh in on it, we were also told that it WOULD not be voted on today, and that turned out to be untrue.If this bill gets to the House floor and on to the Senate, a bad bill could turn into a nightmare bill.
Please contact the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and tell him to do whatever it takes to stop HB 2768.His contact info and a sample message follows:Representative Wayne Krieger503-986-1401 or rep.waynekrieger@state.or.us
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Currently Washington State is on a headlong dive into vote-by-mail elections. This idea is of course being pushed by some liberal Democrats (because they know they can create more fraud without being caught that way) and by a few old and tired republicans (because they think it is easier for them and their wives to vote that way, and want to force everyone else to do it too.).
If Republicans are a little concerned about the way this last election fiasco was carried out then they should be staying up late at night worrying about this new method. Because at least with polling place voting we have been able to uncover election fraud by KingCo elections. If we go to all vote by mail we will never know.
Recently an anonymous reader sent me the following correspondence. I have edited it slightly for retail readability but have not changed any of the major points. This reader used to be an elections worker in NY city, and now lives out here in the great NW.
I think all-mail is a bad (i.e. Oregonian) idea that greatly enables voter fraud. Even back in the 1970's when I was an Election Inspector in New York City I, as a test, was able to register under four different names with no evidence that any of these registrations were ever invalidated. All-mail registration & voting, as pointed out in John Fund's book, makes this ten times easier because no one ever sees you. One could register & vote under 50 different names without being detected. If one had to appear in person at a voting machine to do this it would 1) take much more time & so limit the number of fraudulent ballots, & 2) make it possible to be recognized -- coming back to the same precinct under several different names would get noticed.
I sent John Fund the paragraph of the 1940 Cuban constitution on their requirements for voting. That requirement was based on effectively ending decades of some of the most extensive & sophisticated voter fraud in the world which had been so bad that the US military had been asked by Cuban opposition parties to intervene & conduct elections there. It called for voting in person with photographic ID required -- in 1940, mind you. Other 3rd World countries now -- including Iraq & Afghanistan -- have far better systems than the US to prevent voter fraud.
The "motor voter" & "count every vote" reforms of the Democrats make the US one of the worst countries in the world for voter fraud, essentially taking us back about a century to the days when Tamany Hall-style political machines dominate urban areas through voter fraud. Under the existing system any clever person can cast multiple ballots without any fear of being found out. This includes felons, foreign aliens, those under 18, foreign terrorists -- you name it. Half of the 9/11 terrorists were registered to vote (all illegally) in the USA. There is little checking or policing of registrants, in many cases even to check whether they are dead, are fictitious names, or are the names of the many people who never register or vote.
Voting by mail & other recent "reforms" diminish the power of real, legal voters, making those who illegally cast multiple ballots "more than equal." It enables people with time on their hands -- welfare recipients, civil servants, & retirees -- to cast several ballots while busy, working people (those who pay taxes) tend to only cast one each. The entire system violates the "one man one vote" principle established by the Supreme court & violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment it was derived from.
A basic rule of common sense these days is: "If that's the way they do it in Oregon, don't do it !"
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These people http://www.equilocus.com/ really need to get a life. Traveling around the United States to find ways to undermine Tribal sovereignty is really over the top. The title of their CD is "Going to Pieces," which really does describe their psychotic behavior and their single minded obsession with Indian tribes.
It seems they just can't get over themselves when it appears that some folks have found a legal way to avoid property taxes.
A word to you loons: Why don't you celebrate the fact that someone is not paying taxes LEGALLY?!
It is odd that some folks would act as if they want to start up Indian wars all over again, while we have hundreds of thousands of ILLEGAL aliens broaching our borders every month.
Sheesh... someone is REALLY going to pieces here, and it aint the tribes.
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Special thanks to orbusmax for drawing out attention to this story in the Seattle PI.
The GOP is about to argue FRAUD in the King County voting process. With so many discrepancies how could it not be?
unfortunately you have to go deep into the story to get the real meat (but what is new about the liberal "journalists" at the Seattle PI?).
The story is this: "there were 875 more absentee ballots counted in King County than there were absentee voters identified in the election. "
And: "The Elections Department reported earlier that its records reflected a cumulative discrepancy of 216 more ballots than voters among the nearly 350,000 votes cast at 540 polling places on Election Day, as well as a cumulative discrepancy of 158 more voters than ballots."
While the lefty press calls this rhetorical skirmishing one looming fact still remains. That is that the single most shocking fact that has emerged from this election contest is this: King county election officials do not know how many blank ballots they started this election with and they don't know how many more ballots were created by staff during the 3 counts. Other auditors and the Secretary of State have testified during the gathering of evidence that knowing how many ballots you have is the cornerstone of a clean election. And King County's system, alone in this state and perhaps in the nation is designed and run so that at no point does anyone know how many ballots are in play in the counting process.
Disturbing...
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For one of the most maliciously you can go to the KOMO commentary here .
Or just read me for the best parts.
You see this angry white guy Ken Schram seems to think that those of us on the east side of Washington State owe our very existence to elite liberal white guys like him. With quotes like "As for those Eastern Washington whiners who say the gas tax increase is heavily weighted in favor or Western Washington projects: Put a cork in it. Not only have you gotten your wheat field road fixes, get a clue that your economy "over there" is tied to road improvements "over here."
Isn't it just like these limousine liberal elites to become oh so condescending when they are on the verge of losing an argument? They are just fit to be tied that enough Washington citizens actually ponyed up their own hard earned cash to put the gas tax question on the ballot.
This boneheaded move by the Washington legislature of increasing the gas tax by a whopping 9.5 cents per gallon has got to go down in history as one of the colossal blunders of all time.
Then to ad insult to injury the argument from the pro tax liberals is "put a cork in it." Oooh... is that a double dog dare Ken Schram? If you were not on a major tv station in Seattle I would have simply shrugged your comments off as childish. Yet your position of importance would seem to require a certain level of maturity that is not exactly on display in this latest lashing out of yours. So with that in mind we will just call your prattle "idiotic."
For those of you new to this blog we commented on this elitist mentality of the Seattle area liberals here back in February. That was back when Joel Connelly was bent out of shape that he was not receiving enough thanks from us Rubes here on the east side.
Well now we have another opiner drinking from the idiot well over there. A warning to our conservative friends held captive in the Sound area "don't drink the water." It seems there is an idiot virus in the well.
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The city of Portland could learn something from the city of Spokane.
"Police plan to evict tent city
Handful of homeless who protested Spokane's camping ban told to leave"
This is the headline of a Spokesman Review Online article. The gist is that city is telling the homeless to get out of the park and that there will be no tent city here.
http://spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=69999
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As if the public employee unions don't have anyone else to beat up on. We now read this here , in which the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is now taking the stick out to whup up on the Congressional Black caucus.
Awe... tiz just the bitter reactions of a dying organization. For the unions are also starting to beat up on Indian Tribes in California for taking the horrible position of asserting sovereignty over their gaming operations.
Twill be interesting to see how some of these former friends of the Unions react since the thugs have been turned loose on them. It does appear that the Congressional Black Caucus is not taking it laying down.
TOUCHE' !
For some other union thug issues in Washington State you can go here and here. Oh and here and perhaps the best of all is the description of union thugs trying to silence opposition via the electoral process and censorship here .
Of course it all matches up to the Thug motto "if they don't join us BEAT'em."
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Thanks to ORBUSMAX for point out thisstory. I may have missed it.
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Phil Keasling that is. Ya'll remember him don't ya? The "father of vote by mail," and former Oregon Secretary of State.
Yup he is back with a new concoction of election reforms. It appears that he feels like he didn't screw up the election process enough with vote by mail. No... Now he wants to bring an open primary to Oregon.
It seems he does not like the idea of people being, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Green Party candidates and or politicians. He would prefer that people had no party affiliation.
Oh hey! That's kinda like Portland aint it? And we all know Portland works oh so well.
Mr. Keisling's measure allows anybody to vote in the primary for any candidate regardless of party. The top two go on to general election. Nominations are taken out of the hands of the parties and rerouted through signature gathering (1000 sigs per statewide office and congress seat, 500 for state legislative seat).
I wonder if Mr. Keisling understands just how the signature gathering process has changed since the DemocratICK party declared war on it about ten years ago?
Then again this could all just be a ruse to get his name back in front of the public. We all know he would love a shot at Mahonia Hall (that is the Governor's mansion) again someday and this "anti-politics," politics might just be the course for him.
One amazing thing is that in the pre-amble of his measure Mr. Keisling writes "Whereas citizens should be able to register and affiliate with any legal political party, or not at all, according to their beliefs, and without any coercion or diminishment of their rights as voters..."
Oh? Is he saying that currently the converse is true? People are being coerced and their rights diminished? By the Unions maybe? There wouldn't be any coercion there would there be? Does this mean that Mr. Keisling would be in favor of a measure that would get rid of forced (or coerced) union membership? Hmmm... Or is his pre-amble just a bunch of hot air?
You can read his nightmare scenario over at OrSoS .
Anyone remember the details of his signature gathering problems for his vote-by-mail initiative? I remember him getting into some hot water and the state letting him off, but I don't remember the details.
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I forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago. However military.com has a nice story about Col. Hackworth.
Col. Hackworth passed away May 4th. He was a soldier that was not afraid to criticize the leadership of both military and civilian.
I remember knowing about him even back in my army days (wow 20 years ago?!). However never really began to appreciate him until the last 5 or 10 years.
God Bless you Colonel.
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It seems we are hearing the perennial bemoaning of lobbyists again by the press and politicians in Salem storyhere .
The story is titled "Lobbyists and Lackey Cripple Legislature."
You know a few years ago the elite fed us the lie that lobbyists were in control because of term limits. Which then led to legislators like Ben Westlund, Karen Minnis, Alan Bates, Floyd Prozanski and virtually every other legislator, to pass a law that was retroactive and opened the door to sue the people of Oregon.
Sue them over the fact that the people of Oregon actually had the nerve to limit the politicians terms. You can read up on the entire saga here .
But then we started hearing the cry that we were losing so many good legislators (even though the law only took effect in about TWO sessions.). And that lobbyists were taking over.
Well most of us knew they were lying. After all when a politician AND a lawyers mouth are saying the same thing then you can bet the farm. Bet the farm that they are cooking up a lie.
Now that they think that term limits are safely behind them you get these liberal elites (in this case it is the "Nastiest Man In Oregon," Steve Duin) picking on the poor ol lobbyists again. Things like: "It's foolish, I know, to complain that most of what moves through the Capitol is scripted by lobbyists and industry lackeys, then approved by legislators who are thrilled when someone tells them what to do."
Oh? That's what you said we would get rid of once we had "experienced," legislators again.
Now you know why lobbyists were the ones MOST in favor of getting rid of term limits. After all those pesky lobbyists have oh so much money invested in each politician and they really hate the idea of having to reinvest in a new potentially maverick politician every 6 or 8 years.
So Mr. Duin and Oregonian editorial board, you get what you pay for. Or in this case you get what the lobby has paid for.
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Oh man, what a great analysis. Check out this fantastic post over at CrokerSack .
It seems that in the Washington Gubernatorial election King County broke State Law at least SIXTEEN (16) times!
Just beautiful.
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We want to thank the drunkenrepublican for point us to this little story of Democrat Harry Reid's McCarthiest screed against a judicial nominee.
Seems that Dirty Harry is fond of getting ahold of someone's confidential FBI files (or saying he has access) and proclaiming SCARY stuff in those files on the Senate floor. Only to NOT allow the accused access to said files. After all that is why they call FBI files confidential.
You know, the democratICK party is fond of using raw data in FBI files and using it against people. The scary thing is that that information is RAW and the person the file is for never gets a chance to look into it. I know... I had an extensive FBI background check done on me before I was given a Top Secret security clearance for my post in the military. The FBI comes into your little town and talks to just about EVERYONE I found out. They take notes on EVERYTHING. Some things are thrown in there by people you didn't know very well and those folks could always say things like "well I heard..."
Especially if you have developed a public career or persona. How many of you, left or right, have individuals in your circles that might say things about you that could be incorrect? Then how would you like it if some politician pulled that one quote from someone in your local opposing political circle? That'd be cool huh?
Scary... Harry...
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Ok, you just gotta love this. You know all the flap about that big bad ol' Tom Delay and his travels? Well take a guess where he ranks among the members of Congress taking privately funded trips in the last five years... C'mon just a guess...
You think the top ten? No... Top twenty? Nope, not there either. Ok, ok top 100 at least! Sorry... Not there either. Try number 123 with 14 trips.
So, you say that is pretty high up there considering that it is the upper 1/4 of Congress eh? Wonder where some members of the NW delegation end up?
Jim McDermott, (D) Washington, (you know he is the guy that was caught illegally taping another member of Congress but since he is a democratICK Congressman from Washington he is allowed to break the law), comes in at number 11 with 39 trips.
Earl Blumenauer, (D) Oregon ranks number 36 with 29. I wonder how much of his travel was on a bicycle?
Larry Craig, (R) Idaho ranks 52 with 25 trips.
Finally we have Norm Dicks (D) Washington, ranking 67 with 21.
Funny thing is, is that all of the top ten travelers are democratICK politicians. With the number ONE traveler being... drum roll please....... Congresswoman Maxine Waters!! (and the crowd goes wild)... yeahhh.... shshshs.... whooo... aahhh....
There is heap big more information over at politicalmoneyline.com . Or go to the Federal Election Commission website at http://www.fecinfo.com/ .
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Ok now this from the rumor mill.
You know that RINO republican from the Bend area we blogged about earlier here? You know, the guy that is supporting the Civil Unions legislation and getting Tim Nashiff all spun up?
You know the republican that has not seen a tax increase that he didn't like?
You know the guy that was behind the creation of the Oregon Culture Commission (or some name like that)? Or is that Culture Club?.... <>
You know the guy that was all for suing the voters of Oregon and his own district in order overturn term limits on said politicians?
Well the rumor is that Sen. Ben Westlund is angling for a run at the Oregon Secretary of State. Interesting that the guy that was all for attacking the will of the voters would actually be considering a run for the position that is supposed to be the protector of the office of elections.
To further the rumor (and this is all it is at this point, but so much of it just smells as truth) we have heard that his legislative aid is a democrat from the Bend area. From what we hear it is up to her to deliver the democratICK votes for Ben should he make it through a Republican primary.
"Should" is the operative word in this case. For it will be tough for a "small 'r', tax increasing, people suing" republican to make it through the Oregon Republican primary. Yet stranger things have happened.
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We would like to welcome a new addition to the blogsphere, Rob Kremer clickheretosee.
Rob's insights and comments on education will be a welcome edition to the public. He is certainly one of the brightest stars in Oregon politics and policy discussions. As far as education issues are concerned I would say that there is no one more respected from an educational choice point of view.
We will make sure to ad a link to Rob's site sometime in the near future.
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It seems that there is plenty of hypocrisy to go around in Oregon these days. (see story here )
You see there is a small r republican in Bend OR (Ben Westlund) who is pushing a civil unions bill in the legislature. Now as an aside, it is this same Westlund that as a state representative actually had the unmitigated gall to sue the people of Oregon and overturn the state's term limits law. If he had not done that then he would not be sitting in the Senate right now with 15 years of privlege and pushing this particular bill.
Yet it is the hypocrisy of Tim Nashiff, director of the Oregon Family Council, that I find amusing.
You see he is mailing post cards into Westlund's district. Why is that amusing? Well because it was back in the mid 1990's that certain republicans were pushing the "sue the people" bill to overturn term limits. At the time there was a certain citizen that thought that term limits was a good idea, or at least should be removed by the people and not a bunch of black robed judges while suing the very people that elected them.
This certain citizen thought it might be a good idea to send POST CARDS into the district of then State Senator John Minnis and his wife State Representative Karen Minnis and tell their constituents just what their legislators were up to. Seemed innocent enough.
Not to Mr. Nashiff. No, he found out about this (not that it was a secret) and decided to place a phone call to this private citizen and discuss the error of his ways. It was then that the private citizen was introduced to Mr. Nashiff's notorious temper. In a conversation that started amiably and moved quickly to a tirade, Mr. Nashiff used some very colorful language in castigating said citizen for having the gall to do a "hit piece" DURING the legislative session. It was in the words of Mr. Nashiff "OCA tactics," to do such things and that said citizen's political future was finished.
Said citizen and Mr. Nashiff agreed to disagree on the politeness of mailing a hit piece during the legislative session (although the politeness of the phone call was still in question). Yet he assured said citizen that no one wanted to get rid of term limits altogether. Well Oregonians know how THAT turned out. Seems he lied about that little issue. Note to Mr. Nashiff... You know what they say about elephants? They have long memories.
But back to the Sen. Westlund mailing. I wonder if Mr. Nashiff has had a serious change of heart on mailing during a legislative session? I wonder if Mr. Nashiff still thinks that it is considered "OCA tacticts," to do so? (note: I don't think one organization has a corner on hard hitting political mailing, see the Union political handbook for advice on hit mail. I actually am not opposed to mailing during a legislative session and to tell the truth, love to see it.)
Or could it be that Mr. Nashiff is just angling for a top spot in the Hypocrisy hall of fame? If so there is a certain Mayor of Spokane that could use some political help.
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I almost forgot to mention that I saw this in my local small town eastern Washington newspaper a couple of weeks ago.
It is a fascinating look into the diabolical thinking of the Union thugs.
Mr. Rich Bender (President of the Wa. State Labor Council) say's "Some people may call this “compulsory unionism.” I call it democracy." You either pay up or get fired. Nice. But I think it is fine to call it COMPULSORY UNIONISM.
Another very fascinating thing is that his twisted logic he accuses the "Right to Work" laws as actually being the heavy hand of government at work "States with right-to-shirk laws impose the heavy hand of government into collective bargaining between workers and their employers by denying them the freedom to negotiate.".... huh?
Mr. Bender seems to forget that it is the very heavy hand of government that ties the hands of employers by FORCING them to recognize the Unions and not hire who they want to hire. What he should be saying is that states with right to work laws have actually agreed NOT to insert the heavy hand of government.
However it is just like the Union thugs to twist and lie about the issues. It is in their nature. Trying to follow their logic is... well... a real mind Bender.
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You filthy Savages!
Or something like that, says Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenethal. (read the story here )
I really hope that the Republicans do start to put some distance between themselves and politicians like this. Republicans really need to drop this whole anti-Indian thing and get over it.
Even here in the northwest there are some Republicans that love to drag Indian Tribes out as some bogey man from time to time to give themselves some stature. Oh it is nothing new, that is what Custer was doing before he met his demise. Remember now that Custer had his eyes set on the Presidency and thought the way to said office was to kill some Indians.
Now we have Indian gaming and some non-Indians are really upset that tribes and tribal members are actually making money. Kinda like the gold that was found on some reservations near the turn of the century....Oh... didn't know about that?
Yes, you see there were many Indian tribes that AFTER agreeing to stop fighting and move to a reservation soon discovered there was gold on those reservations. It was then that the government decided that they made a mistake on their end of the agreement and it needed to be redone.
It is just playing out again and it would be really nice if for once I heard a prominant republican come out and say "Hey, I am really happy for these folks. They have found a niche' and many are learning how to better themselves with it."
And then turn their political attention to those individuals that are actually in the country ILLEGALLY!
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Now this is why I love radio. I have it from a reader in Portland that the new radio station in town (KYCH FM 97.1) that goes by the handle "Charlie" had been running some cute little promo's in the first days of existance.
It seems that the new station that has no DJ's and has a rotation that plays everything from Glen Campbell to The Beastie Boys, ran this cute little promo:
"We play everybody, kinda like Neil Goldschmidt."
Hmmm... Kinda funny actually, if you did not know that Neil Goldschmidt is an admitted sex offender (he had an affair with his babysitter a couple of decades ago while he was MAYOR of Portland.).
I hear that the promos of that nature have ceased.
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There is a myth that Portland liberals like to espouse, and that is that their idea of "high density dwelling" is actually a positive livability issue. This high density will bring people and businesess flocking because oh so many people are dying to live in such an area. (Perhaps they have died there and voting there as they are in King County?)
After all, in the words of former City Commissioner Charlie Hales, Portland is the most European (or was it French?) city of the US.
Well now we have a business census that proves otherwise. This census was performed by the Portland Business Alliance.here A contributor of NWRepublican has sent me a shorter version below.
Note the growth areas...Also note that 4 of the top 5 businesses are public. I guess that light rail thing aint workin so great at pulling in those private businesses eh?
Here is the most recent 2001-2004 Portland Business Alliance Census of the Downtown Portland economy, paralleling Metro data on employment, summarized by CensusTract and done annually. The PBA Census shows that Downtown Portland employment has declined 5% in four years, with private sector employment declining even more. The only growth in employment was in government jobs. Other highlights:
1) Total Downtown Portland employment declined from 86,770 (2001) to 82,500 (2004). The job loss was 4,270. The loss in private sector employment was 4,410 as government employment grew by 138 jobs in the same period.
2) The top four Downtown Portland employers are: State of Oregon, City of Portland, and the Federal government.
3) Residential locations of Downtown Portland employees continue to move away from Portland. Between 2001 and 2004 the percentage living outside Portland grew from 56% to 59%. The percentage living outside Multnomah County grew from 31% to 39%.
4) Transport mode to work given in this Census is as reported by employers (not employees) so it is not credible and tends to tell the City what they want to hear. It contradicts the U.S. 2000 Census substantially by showing a vastly higher percent using mass transit. None the less, even this "Census" shows more people using autos to get to work Downtown than using transit, 49% to 46%, with the proportion little changed since 2001. Also, most of the transit riders still get to Downtown via bus, even according to this data.
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I just want to take a moment to declare that the media does not necessarily get high marks in the West case. No, they have ignored liberal politicians' foibles over the years and just LOVE it when a conservative gets dinged.
Another thing the left just can't understand is that there is a difference between being against special rights for sexual behavior and being "anti-anybody."
The left is all over themselves trying to understand how someone could be "anti-gay" yet take part in said behavior. Which demonstrates the narrowness of liberal thinking.
I could have a few libations once in a while and yet still be against selling liquor on Sundays. Or against providing tax breaks for people that purchase libations. Or better yet be against the Oregon and Washington State Liquor Control Commissions and not be "anti-anyone that drinks libations."
No...the idiotic left just cannot, in their mind, find the difference between individual behaviors and State support. I know I know, tiz a real mind bender... (bender? did someone say bender? not on a Sunday).
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Spokane Mayor Jim West, according to today's Spokesman Review Newspaper, is accused of multiple counts of sex abuse involving boys. Mayor West admits to frequenting a Gay website to pick up young boys EVEN AS MAYOR OF SPOKANE.
Mayor West is a Republican and the story rings of the Goldschmidt abuse story. The difference is that, according to the Review, Mayor West is still "active."
It appears too that inside political circles there have been rumors of this kind for years. Why? Why in the world to the major political players continue to back these kinds of men for higher office? Why wouldn't someone inside the Republican political machine have called a stop to this long before he ever stepped up for mayor?
There goes his run for governor?
Excerpts from the Spokesman Website: SpokesmanReview
Bill Morlin / Staff writer
© The Spokesman-Review 2005
For a quarter century, the man who is now Spokane's mayor has used positions of public trust – as a sheriff's deputy, Boy Scout leader and powerful politician – to develop sexual relationships with boys and young men.
One man, Robert J. Galliher, claims in a court deposition that Jim West molested him in the mid-1970s when he was a boy and West was a Spokane County sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader.
A second man, Michael G. Grant Jr., also accuses West of sexual abuse during the same era, including an incident at Camp Cowles, a Boy Scout camp on Diamond Lake.
In addition, an investigation by The Spokesman-Review has revealed that 17 months after leaving the state Legislature, West has used the trappings of the mayor's office to entice and influence young men he met on a gay Web site.
On one recent occasion, West offered a man he believed to be an 18-year-old – whom he met online at Gay.com – gifts, favors and a City Hall internship, Internet dialogues retained by the newspaper reveal. The 18-year-old was actually a forensic computer expert working for the newspaper. (See related story.)
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Yup those danged vigilantes. Or shall we say Minutemen?
They actually worked and not a shot was fired!
Check here: http://www.minutemanproject.com/
However it can be summed up as:
857 volunteers watching the border
335 Border Patrol apprehensions due to observers
And from the Border Patrol website "We want to make it clear because we've had a lot of questions about this.....we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this Sector about the Minutemen. Every report we've received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents, they're courteous, many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever. "
The only thing close to a hint of violence was a death threat from a social worker TOWARDS members of the the Minuteman Project. Even though President Bush went out of his way to call them vigilantes. Nice to see he at least has the attention of some of the social workers of this country. Would be nicer to see him get the attention of some of those invading our country illegally.
...heavy sigh...
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