We're In A Recession And Dems Throw A Party

It doesn't matter what "sector" of our economy I talk to; there is bad ju-ju out there.

Uncertainty and risk are factors that dominate every decision. While the Left is jumping up and down congratulating themselves on their ability to fix health care, the Left has no conception of what extraordinary uncertainty they have created for those in the private sector.

We have no idea of what the actual effect of this transformative legislation is going to be. We do have a hint of what happens to economies when they are helped by Leftist dreams of social justice.









You've been promised Hope™ and Change™. We are now federalizing Social Justice.

Remember this when someone tells you that we need more federal, state and local control over our lives and the lives of our neighbors. Remember this when someone tells you that we need to rely upon science to avoid a bleak future. Remember this when someone tells you we need to do more for others and less for ourselves. Remember this when you realize they have taken the right to your wages, the right to your property.

Remember the thugs who taught your children to quit thinking like a cowboy. Quit thinking of yourself. Work for the community. Remember when you read what your schools are teaching your kids;

"Students of the Astoria School District will achieve their individual potentials through academic excellence and the use of critical and creative thinking. Students will be citizens of the earth, embracing responsibility for self, family, community, and democracy."

Ah! Community and democracy. It's more important to teach kids to have food drives rather than how to create an independent individual.

UPDATE: Don Boudreaux on the decent and sensible behavior of politicians.

Top Ten Christmas Songs

According to Mediaguide:

1. "Sleigh Ride" (Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish)
- played 118,918 times



2. "Jingle Bell Rock" (Joseph Carleton Beal, James Roth
Boothe) - played 118,601 times



3. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Edward Pola, George
Wyle) - played 101,614 times



4. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) - played 89,348 times



5. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith)
- played 77,599 times



6. "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
(Mel Tormé, Robert Wells) - played 74,360 times.



7. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Johnny Marks) - played 57,948 times



8. "Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine K. Davis, Henry V. Onorati, Harry
Simeone) - played 55,617 times.



9. "Feliz Navidad" (José Feliciano) - played 51,072 times



10. "Frosty the Snowman" (Steve Nelson, Walter E. Rollins)
- played 51,068 times

Male Aggression

Maybe you've heard of it. Male. Aggression.


The sciencey guys--and girlies--like having big thoughts. One popular thought among sciencey guys and girlies is, males are aggressive because of their Male Hormones. That is, when dealing with the male of the species, steps must be taken to overcome the aggression of the male.


Aggression is therefore, hard-wired into the male of the species.


And the critical component of this male aggression--almost a trip-wire to rage--is testosterone.


Ah! sweet testosterone. Male pattern baldness and hair on your back.


What if it isn't true?


What if, just as a fer instance, it turns out that the presence of testosterone isn't a liability (moments away from killing lust) but is instead a key to social order?

One of the fundamentals of public school teachers is, that boys need to be controlled. If you have a boy in a public school, chances are that you will either get a note, or a conference, about your son.

Normal things, like an aversion to gay (homosexual) behaviour will trip a call or note. Disagreements about things like whether or not we should be citizens of the earth, embracing responsibility for self, family, community and democracy can result in expulsion.

But, what if, all the things that the witches of your public schools, your group circles, your feminist group, all these things were unfounded? What if, instead of being a negative, male testosterone was found to be one of the inhibitors of irrational behaviours?

""'It appears that it is not testosterone itself that induces aggressiveness but rather the myth surrounding the hormone,' said economist Michael Naef of Royal Holloway."

So, when do we find out what we already know about female hormones?

Seaport Air

The following is a guest post from IAmCoyote at NW Republican.

Dave Lister + Chris Dudley + Dan Lavey + Betsy Johnson + Subsidies = Seaport Airlines

Recently the liberal-wannabe-conservative opinion writer Dave *burp* Lister wrote this glowing piece about "Seaport Airlines." The title of Lister's fawn was "A high-flying lesson on free enterprise."

Cept... Cept the lesson on Seaport Airlines was neither "free enterprise" nor is it "high flying." There are just way too many threads intertwined in this spiderweb to make it "free" and the companies problems with lawsuits and poor financial performance to make it not so "high flying."

However, let me try to take a stab at this and perhaps teach Lister a lesson. First let's see what Lister had to say about the 80% subsidized company called Seaport Air:

For a little over a year now, Kent Craford, formerly a lobbyist with the Gallatin Group, and a couple of associates, have set out to disprove that adage. During a time when airlines have been going bankrupt left and right, Craford and his partners launched a new airline. SeaPort Airlines, initially offering 10 daily commuter flights from Portland to Seattle, is not only thriving but growing...

Then while after taking his (Lister's) perfunctory jab at Mayor Sam Adams he closes with this money line:

They need to take a lesson from Kent Craford and the guys at SeaPort Airlines.

Oooh kay... So first of all we learn that former (he was fired less than a month after Lister wrote his glowing piece) airline chief executive Kent Craford was a former lobbyist. A former lobbyist with the firm "the Gallatin Group" of which Dan Lavey is a partner. (Dan Lavey was Gordon Smith's mastermind and back room adviser to Chris Dudley.)

Second we have learned that the airlines benefited from a great relationship to the embattled Oregon State Senator, Democratic Betsy Johnson.

The air link to Newport "was absolutely one of the positive factors," says Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose. "The presence of that airline there and the presence of that safe, well-equipped airport were vital elements of Newport's proposal."

Johnson, head of the Oregon Legislature's nine-member coastal caucus, was instrumental in helping Newport and Astoria receive state grant money from lottery-backed bonds to help jump-start the PDX flights. Altogether, the two towns received $4.5 million in state and federal grants to prop up the new service for two years in hopes it can become economically viable by early 2011.

So in light of this, the airlines can hardly be called "free enterprise." And further we come to find out that the old wheeler dealer herself, Democrat Sen. Betsy Johnson, seemed to be lobbied on the idea to kick Seaport a few million dollars from the state of Oregon. Now I wonder what group was doing the lobbying? Any guesses?

But the airline must be doing fine, yes? I mean you have a former lobbyist for a powerful lobbyist group (Gallatin) who had strong ties at the Federal level with former Sen. Gordon Smith. You have the wheeling and dealing Democrat Sen. Betsy Johnson throwing millions of dollars at the business. You have the ear of the not-so-powerful part time writer Dave Lister. And you still have power player Dan Lavey as a partner of the Gallatin Group. I mean there are just way to many strings and ties there to NOT be successful. No? Except...

Skeptics are quick to point out that the flights remain heavily subsidized. In the first six months, the two coastal communities have spent more than $1 million of the grant money to support the airline, while the flights have generated just $213,000 in revenue.

Meanwhile on November 11th Seaport Airlines was sued by an Alaska couple for not making their payments on a hanger.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland-based SeaPort Airlines has been sued by an Alaska couple because it stopped making payments on a Juneau airplane hangar purchased last year.

The complaint filed in Alaska this month by Robert and Darlene Jacobsen says the 24,000 square-foot hangar is worth at least $2 million and they are still owed about $1.6 million.

Ouch... Perhaps Democrat Sen. Betsy Johnson can get the Oregon Lottery to cough up enough loose change to make good on that $1.6 million dollar commitment?

And finally we learn in yesterday's Associated Press that the Astoria to Portland flights by Seaport are drawing few passengers.

After nine months, ticket sales of flights between Astoria and Portland run by a subsidized airline have been sluggish, with some flights being canceled because of low passenger numbers even after an aggressive marketing campaign.

The Daily Astorian reports that returns on ticket sales by SeaPort Airlines, which serves three daily round-trip flights from Astoria to Portland, is being closely watched by officials in Newport and Port of Astoria. It also said the flights in nine-seat planes carry only two people on average.

Flights have been canceled due to lack of passengers.

OK so things are not going quite as swimmingly as Dave Lister portrayed. I wonder why that was? In fact I wonder who was shopping that piece to Lister in the first place. Knowing what we now know it is obvious he either 1) got took or 2) knew what he was doing and was angling for something.

Either way, I have never really put much stock in Lister's reporting and this is further proof as to why he really is a non-starter in the conservative community and why the liberals at The Oregonian really do not fear him.

However this all leads to some interesting questions going forward. Some of these questions need to directed right at Oregon Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley.

If as governor, it looks like Seaport Airlines still needs the state to subsidize their operations, will you continue to back-fill SA's cashflow with Lottery dollars? Uh you don't get to pick up your cell phone and ask Dan. You must answer that one on your own.

Will you as governor ask Seaport Air to make any payments back to the state of Oregon? And will you require any recipient of state grant dollars to stay current on all of their financial obligations? aka the hangar in Alaska.

I know this is probably a long shot, but did former Sen. Gordon Smith have anything to do with the development of this airline?

Will Democrat Betsy Johnson be held accountable to the entire state of Oregon should this airline fail? I mean we know that the good folks of Newport are making out pretty good, but what about the folks in Enterprise or Banks?

What groups were lobbying for these million dollar subsidies?

What lobbying firms were involved?

I would love to see an investigative story on this issue. The power players in this thing are numerous and read like a who's who in Oregon recent past, present and future political circles.

UPDATE: As I was working on this story I was publishing another snippet on this saga. Apparently now Washington Senator Maria Cantwell may be calling for an investigation into why the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) headquarters was located in Newport instead of one of the Washington sites. Representative Cowan (D. Newport) is crying foul.

So it could be that if we do not get a press investigation we may indeed get a Congressional investigation.

POSTED BY I AM COYOTE

My Sister's Words At Christmas

My sis lives in Peking.

She is one of three sisters. I'm the only son among all this femaleness. That's not always a bad thing. I grew used to the feminine long before I was taught, or told, I needed to be aware of the feminine.

My mom is one of seven sisters.

I learned more about the feminine than most men ever think about by the time I was nine years old. This, in the face of my oldest sister believing that I have no clue about the feminine. (If you were to ask her about my sisters' beliefs about the feminine, there's a strong chance that they--my sisters--would also fail her "test" of clueishenss about the "feminine."

It is Christmas time. For my sister, who lives in China, I sent an e-mail to let her know that I love her. This is her reply:

I just got back to the office from lunch and when I saw you had written and that your subject was I love you I had to open your email right away.

My brother, you have touched me so very deeply what what you have said... Oh my goodness... I am quite blown away... in the best sense of the words... :-)

Bro, thank you so much for sharing these thoughts with me. You will never know how much they mean to me and I feel the same way toward you... always have and always will love you deeply my dear little brother.... I am so proud of you and am so thankful for the times we have had together in recent years... not enough time but good...

I need to get back to work now...

The good news is, that the Chinese New Year is coming up. I'll be seeing her within the next few--four to six--weeks.

Christ didn't tell us what to love. He taught us how to love. Funny thing is, it's the way we naturally love.

I love my family, my mom, my sisters, my boys. And I know that they love me.

Merry Christmas!

The State of the Union

Just watch. It gets good at 5:36.




Palin, 2012.

More tomorrow.

Clueless Emma Is Back

She was off the intertubes for over a month.

She blames swampage.

How To Increase Unemployment And Save Oregon

Fire a third of all state employees.

The Best Senators Money Can Buy

Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley voted for the Nebraska Exception.

Why do I wonder about the passage of this Exception with another studied moment in our national experience, the Missouri Compromise?

How well is Oregon represented in the Senate when our guys exempt Nebraska from ever paying for their health care costs? The biggest growth industry in Nebraska for the next forty years is going to be their health care industry.

It's free in Nebraska!

Who pays? Well, anyone not residing in Nebraska, of course.

You would be mad to not take advantage of this remarkable Exception. Why would a single employer offer his employees private insurance when the State of Nebraska will never pay a health care bill again?

"Among other things, Nelson had a provision added to the bill requiring the federal government to cover Nebraska's costs for expanded Medicaid coverage after 2016. No other state is currently slated to receive such a benefit."

They will get paid. But not with Nebraska cash.

Never heard of Lake McConaughty? It's Nebraska's largest lake and one of the most popular places for water-based recreation on the Plains. (Note to Northern Californians; water-based recreation has a different meaning on the Plains.)

And don't forget Johnson Lake! And the corn fed beef! And history! Did you know the Enola Gay was built in Nebraska?

Yep. There's a lot to love about Nebraska. And now, free health care forever.

Thanks, Senator Wyden and Merkley. You guys represent us well.

Huge.