Governor Drunk On Spending

I posted here info from your Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) that 75,000 Oregonians have serious gambling problems. Today, we find out the cost.

Cost per problem gambler, $3000.00 each.

Cost per pathological gambler, $11,000.00 each.

No need to examine how many PG's are out there. With 75,000 problem gamblers at $3-k each, that's $225,000,000--two hundred twenty-five million dollars--in costs to the state.

Who cares, right?

We currently have a 2-billion dollar tax surplus. That's $2,000,000,000.00. Extra cash in the coffers. So do we do the right thing and kill state sponsored gambling, leaving intact tens of thousands of families all across Oregon? Nope.

The governor is asking for more taxes. And more spending. How much more in new taxes?

1.6-billion dollars. Why? He wants to spend an additional 3.6 billion dollars in taxes over the next two years.

Who cares, right?

What the Sam Hill?

You've heard this expression if you grew up in Oregon.

Sam Hill. A name known almost as widely as Jim Hill. From the Maryhill Museum:

"In honor of the May 13, 1857 birthday of the legendary Sam Hill, founder of the Maryhill Museum of Art, the Museum will present a series of programs on Saturday, May 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

"At 2:30 p.m. noted author Mary Dodds Schlick reads from her new, highly anticipated, memoir Coming to Stay, A Columbia River Journey. For over fifty years Mary has nourished and treasured her deep friendships with the Native people of the Columbia River Plateau. Mary is the curator of the exhibit The Day the Columbia Ran Backward, March 10, 1957.

"At 3:15 p.m. cattle rancher and historian George Rohrbacher discusses Columbia River cultures in his talk Searching for Celilo Falls. George's program is based on his soon-to-be-released novel Celilo Falls...The Story of a Murder and his recently published article Ken Kesey Meets Lewis and Clark.

"Mary's book and George's essay will be available for purchase. Following both presentations the authors will be on hand to sign their work.

"At 4:00 p.m. visitors are invited to join the artists and the curator for an interpretive walk through the Outdoor Sculpture Invitational exhibit. There are 17 sculptures in the exhibit and each of the artists will discuss their work with visitors and the curator, Lee Musgrave. Admission is free to the Sculpture Garden and interpretive walk.

"From 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. the traveling public is invited to drive on the Museum's historic Loops Road. The first asphalt-macadam paved road in the Northwest, Loops Road is a 3.5 mile course that includes 25 hairpin turns and scenic views. It is located four miles east of the Museum. Admission is free. Maryhill Museum volunteers are keeping the road open to the public and will give each visitor a coupon for $1.00 off admission to the Museum.

"'Here is an opportunity to get into your favorite car and cruise up the Historic Maryhill Loops Road," said Colleen Schafroth, executive director. "Sam Hill's construction of Loops Road was heralded far and wide, and was the inspiration behind the Historic Columbia River Highway.'"

"Perched on a stunning 6,000-acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge, Maryhill Museum of Art contains a world-class collection of artwork that ranges from early 20th century European works to Native American objects. This award-winning Museum, founded by Northwest entrepreneur and visionary Sam Hill, opened to the public in 1940. Outside the Museum is an Outdoor Sculpture Garden, Lewis and Clark interpretive panels and a life-sized replica of Stonehenge.

"The Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 15 to Nov. 15. Admission fees are $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $2 for children age 6-16. Maryhill is located off Highway 97, 12 miles south of Goldendale, Washington. Drive times to the Museum are two hours from Portland/Vancouver, 3.5 hours from Bend, four hours from Seattle, and 1.5 hours from Yakima. Visit www.maryhillmuseum.org for more information."

If you've never been, make it a part of this year's plans. It is an amazing place.

The BPA Is Telling You: Prices Are Going Up It's The Lefties In Government Doing It

In a previous post I mention how the Green Lobby--lefties--have tied up the forest industry in this state for decades. And that the science behind "The Spotted Owl Problem" is false. It's not logging that is killing off the Spotted Owl.

But bad policy predicated by bad science has become the norm. Do you remember ever hearing the phrase "ambient esoteric recreation"? The timber companies realized back in the '70's that political pressures were afoot to change the purpose of forests. For companies like International Paper it meant getting out of Oregon. For people in rural counties where forestry was the major industry, it meant mill closures and unemployment.

And more on the way. Where timber companies used to be about cutting trees, the BPA used to be about providing cheap power. Following the Vanport Flood, dams built were also used for flood control--which decreased the power capacity of each additional dam greatly. Taking a look at the corporate culture clashes between BPA, Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers is pretty entertaining reading. Just don't rely on Wiki for facts. If I lived any where near a decent library I'd give you cites, but that's life at the beach.

This latest from the BPA:

"BPA joins energy efficiency research initiative

Project will focus on use of technology to reduce electricity consumption, greenhouse gas emissions"

That's just the headline. But here's the question. Just why does BPA need to worry about anything other than cheap energy?

“Greenhouse gas emissions are clearly going to be the focus of major political initiatives responding to global climate change,” said BPA Deputy Administrator Steve Hickok. “With the United States responsible for one-quarter of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, and electric utilities responsible for one-third of that, it is only a matter of time before we are in the cross hairs. As a result, U.S. utilities are rapidly coming to the realization that we need to move out on this front and new tools need to be added to our kits.”

So this move by the BPA is admittedly wasting time, energy and money on dumb politicians and their dumb priorities.

"An analysis by EPRI found there is the potential for the U.S. electricity sector to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the coming decades through the use of new technology. Because much of this technology isn’t available yet, however, substantial research and development are needed."

So, there's no need to do this, except to avoid political pressures in the future, implementing non-existent and unnecessary technologies that are only important as a sop to the Lefties. Because you know Lefties don't do math. Truthy, yes. Mathy, no. Math is hard.

The Lefties want to do to energy what the Lefties did to the woods. Shut 'em down. Besides, none of 'em work, anyway. Well, maybe they're public employees. Or teachers. Oh, that's right, teachers are public employees.

The Senator On Common Sense Track

Yes, Virginia, there is a voting constituency.

Now the Senator has continued to build on an earlier press release noticing the correlation between logging and jobs and is offering a new commitment to common sense, it's not the owls, stupid.

Most BuRec guys have known for years that the Spotted Owl was more threatened by the Barred Owl than lumberjacks. Want to know where the "Global Warming Crisis" is taking us? Just examine the lack of good science supporting the Endangered Species Act.

Earlier, the Senator had noticed the connection between closing the forests to protect the interests of a dying species and a lack of jobs in rural Oregon. Today he's noticed that without federal funds replacing timber revenues, rural Oregon counties(pdf) won't be able to pay for schools.

At last. The Senator is sounding like an Oregonian again. Here's today's press release:

Washington, DC – U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) released the following statement today responding to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service release of two draft recovery plans for the Northern Spotted Owl:

“While setting aside 88 percent of federal forests for the owl, we’ve lost tens of thousands of jobs in rural Oregon counties and burned millions of acres of its habitat. The plan recognizes the threat to the owl is less logging than the invasive barred owl and catastrophic wildfire. This should be the first step toward allowing Oregon to responsibly manage its forests and support its counties.”

Imagine a state where people work. And pay their way. That's the Oregon I love. I'm happy to welcome the Senator back!

Obvious Hits Senator

This finally comes from the Senator:

"After three years of fighting for a long-term county payments solution, U.S. Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-OR) expressed his serious disappointment today in the compromised county payments agreement which only allows for a one-year extension.

“'This falls far short of a long term solution for rural Oregon,” Smith said. “No sooner will counties get up off the mat then this extension will expire again. Not addressing long term solutions leaves rural Oregon out to dry. If these payments are going to be ramped down, timber harvests have to be ramped up. We need a long term solution – it is just that simple.'”

It is that simple. It's time to move past the looney-lefties of "Don't Cut, Don't Tell" politics and let men and women of Oregon go back to work.

We need leadership in Oregon. Maybe Senator Gordon Smith is just the type of leader we need.

Talk of Gordon Switching

When Victoria Taft wrote about being snubbed by the Senator I wasn't shocked. The Senator has been moving away from commonly held Republican beliefs with a passion. And I don't blame him. I blame his staff.

Don't forget where the Senator comes from. In farm country common sense reigns. But, like Tom Daschle, perhaps he forgets who worked to get him elected in the first place. And the report I get from someone who worked in the state senate office when the Senator was in Salem is that he took with him to Washington a sort of political svengali, who was actually pretty much a great brown-noser. And the Senator is still taking political advice from this guy.

But today, following the vote to Cut And Run, I'm not the only guy out there talking about the Senator's upcoming defection.

From Captain's Quarters. Or, this, from Allahpundit. With a well-known lefty being purportedly groomed for next year's primary, it's so possible that Democrat Senate Candidate Gordon Smith would not win. But without the party faithful, can he win in a General Election against a well-known leftie?

Somebody's gotta talk to the Senator about his base. Don't they?

Pretension, Thy Name Is Oregon

The lack of sincerity displayed by those on the Left is astounding. Brazen. And, when caught there isn't any sign of shame. Here are some examples. If I'm overstating this feel free to tell me how.

1. Hillary Clinton's New Eubonics.

2. Senator Smith's repeated reference to his son's suicide.

3. Governor Kulongoski's "living on food stamps".

For Hillary, hit just click on this linkand you'll find Hillary talking "Black". Or, "ghetto" as the kids say. This kinda personality jump should leap out at you if you're a parent. If your kid starts acting goofy, it's time to sit down and have a talk.

Senator Smith. When you get the number of press releases that mention his son's suicide, you begin to ask why? Do we get it? Here's a press release from February 12, 2007:

"As a parent with a son who lost his life to suicide, I know all too well the indiscriminate nature of a mental illness and the frightening statistics of its regular occurrence in our society".

Here's a press release from February 13, 2007:

“Sen. Smith’s work to prevent youth suicide has shed light on a dark topic and helped countless families struggling with a child’s depression,” said AMA President William G. Plested. M.D. “His focus on health care issues in the Senate, including ensuring that the Medicare prescription drug benefit works effectively for senior and disabled patients, makes the AMA proud to recognize Sen. Smith’s public health leadership.”

Here's a press release from March 22, 2007:

"Last week our organization, the Columbia University TeenScreen Program - a suicide risk screening program, awarded our 2007 Leadership Award to Senator Gordon Smith. The awards ceremony was held in the U.S. Capitol Building, and several Oregon residents were on hand to help honor Senator Smith for his work."

The last was from Columbia University TeenScreen Program. The first two were from his office. Don't even think that the Senator's office wasn't contacted by TeenScreen before the release went out. How many more times will the Senator's office mention his son's suicide before the primary? How many between the primary and the general election?

Governor K being poor.

Well, not really. Acting poor. What pretension.

Here's a press release from the Gov's office from March 9th:

"Today First Lady Mary Oberst called for the support of CHAMP, the cultural, heritage, arts, movies, historic preservation and public broadcasting programs included in Governor Ted Kulongoski’s recommended budget for the 2007-09 biennium."

The Governor and his First Lady are so out of touch with Oregon it's unbelievable. The First Lady isn't even married to the Governor? So, he has some lady living with him whose job is to worry about culture, arts, movies, historic preservation and public broadcasting programs?

And for one week, the Governor " tomorrow will join a local Salem family for grocery shopping for the week of April 23-29, 2007 based on an average food stamp budget of $21 per person, per week."

Bejeebers. How sincere.

When you compare the current crop of political interlopers with the people who actually cared about making Oregon a better place to live, one may be flabbergasted. Oregon had men and women who actually cared about people in a real way. Today it's all about the media moment. Getting the message across.

But what is the message? Somewhere, recently, I came across a Gordon Gecko quote. I think it went something like this, "A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place." Growing up with politicians who actually cared was common place when I was a kid. Governors Hatfield, McCall, Atiyeh. Secretary of State Clay Myers and Norma Paulus. Attorney Generals, like Lee Johnson and Dave Frohnmayer. Senators and Representatives...people who put "the people" first, not re-election.

It isn't surprising to me that people who actually care about the day-to-day operation of government continues to shrink. Apathy is a learned trait.

Liberals Aren't Lefties

I remember meeting British Columbia's Premier David Barrett while I was going to college. He and his wife. Lovely man. NDP. Smart, charming and funny. We hit it off.

I joked about his socialism, he joked about all our jobs. And I took him up on his invitation to travel to BC and visit him there.

While he and I disagreed on the path governments needed to take to best serve their constituents, he was a fair man. Who believed that the shopping cart of services the government offered should be larger rather than smaller. I disagreed.

I remembered our talks when I reviewed this article, from a September 6th, 2006 article on Terry Glavin. When Dave Barrett and I talked I refered to myself as a Liberal. He referred to himself as a Liberal. I accused him of taking British Columbia to Hell-in-a-Handbasket. He accused me of turning my back on the People. But as I think back, after reading the Glavin article, it occurers to me that we were both Liberal. From Glavin:

“But when you ask the question, `Why are you hated?’ I’m sure it has something to do with me and my obnoxious personal characteristics. I’m sure. But it’s part of a long historical argument that goes back really to the end of the Second World War, to the fracture between liberalism and the social democratic left to straight communists, and that divide was sharp as a knife on the edge. And a liberal believes in a market economy and personal freedom, and these guys, no. Liberals I think also have this, and this is a key thing, a strongly anti-protectionist view, of political choice. It’s not an accident that I wrote a book called The Lesser Evil. Politics is about the management of lesser evils. The utopian left has a view that you can engage in a kind of angelic social choice, where there’s no cost, no penalties, no losses. Well, my sense is that politics is always about choosing the lesser evil, in metaphoric terms, and sometimes the lesser evil in a very real sense. You do a small evil to avoid a much greater one. And that’s actually - I don’t want to invest that with any dignity – but it is basically driven by a quite tragic sense of what politics is about. And in my view a more realistic sense. So there we are.”

Being a Liberal means certain things. It means greater value for you as an individual, than for you as a member of a group, party or cult. And defense of Liberalism means defending the individuals freedom to dissent. There are a lot of pressures on you to refrain from dissent. Pressure to believe in a catastrophic Global Warming Threat. Pressure to believe in unbridled state spending. Pressure to raise taxes.

Being a Liberal means you can say no. It doesn't mean you simply have to go along. And that's why I enjoy being a Liberal.

h/t Harry's Place!