Life is Hard...Get Used to It

I sometimes shake my head when I read about things like this.

"The Time to Care for Oregon Families coalition will come together to urge the passage of SB 966 in advance of a hearing of the bill in the Senate Committee Commerce and Workforce Development. Prior to the public hearing, coalition members will be available in the press room for questions and comments."

The time to care for Oregon families coalition. Like, fer shure.

You've got a serious problem with your family, you take time to take care of your family. No employer is going to get bent unless you have a track record of missing work.

But if you don't work, you don't get a paycheck. It's that simple. Friends or family steps up and helps out. But a job is not a ticket to independence from the realities of life. Sidling your employer with your responsibilities is not a way to gain greater independence and authority. SB 966 is a daydream of well-intentioned people who don't actually have to work for a living.

How dizzingly stupid is this bill? Here's a confused woman who purportedly has her own company. How to pay? Make your fellow employees pay for it. Of course this will work. It would be law.

We are facing severe job losses during the next two years, with huge increases in energy costs and taxes. Another tax to pay for "family leave"? Show me that you've funded the programs that we need, then ask me if it's time to create a new job "right." Right now, no.

Have a nice day.

Oregon Nurses Seek Handout

In an industry dominated by women, I suppose there's no surprise that when faced with a need for cash, the put their hands out.

Rather than spending their own money, the latest from the Oregon Nurses Association is a plan for you to bankroll their change in career(pdf).

And don't forget, this is a labour union. Need to clarify? Scroll down to the bottom of their webpage and you'll see the hairy-muscled union thug issues prominently displayed. The nurses for years have used union contracts and state legislation to limit entry into the field of nursing, and now they want you to pay for the outcome of rigid work-rules and limits to entry.

Solution? They want your money.

That's easier than healing their own "profession". It's not a profession. It's a union job.

The High Cost of Cigarettes: Solution

The price of smoking is pretty ridiculous. Without all the taxes, a carton of smokes would cost you about $14.50. Buck forty-five a pack. So, how to adapt in a world driven by people who want your cash?

Last week I bought my first carton of smokes across the river. I paid more than I would have in Oregon, but here's the kicker...

After a week of smoking Washington cigarettes, that annoying "hack" cough is gone. Washington smokes don't have the "self-extinguishing" chemicals in them that cigarettes in Oregon must have--by law. Of course I'm going to die in a house fire. But from what I understand about house fires, that method is preferable to the terror you'd undergo seconds from colliding with a tractor-trailer at 60 miles an hour.

And, until I die from burning down my house, I won't have that disgusting "hack" cough from "safe" cigarettes. I'm still going to be a burden on the health-care system in Oregon. (How is it again that I'm going to be a health-care system burden?) But, until that day--or night--that I succumb to smoke-inhalation, I'm smoking better cigarettes.

Overall a win/win. I don't hack, and Oregon gets stuck with the bill. (How does that happen, exactly?)

Anyway, some good news on the common sense front. Representatives Bruce Hanna and Tim Freeman have offered a bill to remove the ethanol mandate for premium grades of gasoline. Which is brilliant.

Before the ethanol mandate I always purchased premium gasoline. And a tank of gas would move my iron down the highway for 350 miles before I needed to fill-up. That meant that I could leave the house, head to Corvallis, do a little "dad" stuff--you must feed the beast--and then head home. Without having to stop for gas.

After the State--the Governor and the Democrats in the Oregon Legislature--mandated that I could only buy ethanol gasoline I can now only travel 300 miles. So I get 6/7ths of a tank of 9/10ths gasoline.

Which is bigger? 1/7th or 1/10th?

Let me put it this way: if you were really hungy, would you rather have 1/7th of your wife's seafood casserole, or 1/10th?

When the denominator is a smaller number, the portions are larger. Think of pies, one cut into seven pieces, one cut into ten pieces. Which pie has the larger pieces?

So, for more than a year I've been buying more gas, just as gas, not counting the alcohol I've also purchased at the same time, than I did before the mandate. Which was passed to reduce gasoline consumption.

And these Greeniacs in Salem seem to be oblivious to the fact that ethanol produces more "greenhouse gas" than good old gasoline.

What an example of epic fail. Oh. By the way...

If you're heading over to Washington to buy some smokes--to avoid the hack?--you can pick up real gasoline at the Chinook Store. So if you're buying what I buy, a carton of smokes a week and a tank of gas a week, you actually come out on top. Real supreme grade gas, real smokes.

I suppose some day the state will put up an agricultural inspection station at the south end of the Megler Bridge to stop the importation of decent cigarettes and gas. For now, the trip is a reason to get out of the house a little bit, mebbe have a beer in Ilwaco.

Tip to Oregon drivers: the reason Washington drivers drive so slowly when they visit is that the WSP is quick to take umbrage at speeds exceeding that which has been posted. When in Rome, observe the speed limit. They don't have a sense of humour.

Enjoy your Washington daytrip.