BOO OH BLOODY HELL YAAAAHH!!!!!!!

Every 20 years or so, Reason and Logic have a resurgence!

I like to think that Saint Ronald has figured his way around Heaven, and is getting some things effing done!

Thanks to Cox and Forkum.

Property Taxes in South Carolina

There, but for the grace of Ballot Measure 5, go I.

After paying my Lane County Property taxes, this editorial in the Wall Street Journal appeared today. It seems that with the real estate boom, property taxes are going through the roof. School districts in SC are seeing unprecedented revenue but are still some of the worst in the nation. (So much for the 'all we need is more money' crowd.)

Thank you Don McIntire and others for Measures 5, 47 & 50. It looks like South Carolina is the next State to limit taxes on wealth. As the article notes, accumalated wealth is not a measure of ability to pay taxes. Senoir citizens are being forced to sell houses in order to avoid the high tax bills.

Friday cat blogging

This is Comet.

Hayakutake was in the sky when she was born, and she has what looks like a comet's tail on her back.

She is the prettiest cat in the world. -Just ask her.

We have the votes and the guns

What's more heartwarming than a nine-year-old operating a full-auto 30?

I have to wonder how many granola snarfing, Kucinich voting, Progressives show up at a nice place like this?

What Thanksgiving means to me

By Bobby, -age 4 and one half.(decades)

Can something die with a glorious, and pathetic whimper?

I like to give thanks for the death of the first Socialist system that was attempted in the Western Hemisphere!

Apparently, the Pilgrims did too.

I'm also thankful (again) to Dr. Ray for mentioning a link I'd been looking for all week.

I'd be right beholden to anyone who could point me in the direction of Ben Franklin's account of the first Thanksgiving.

The Eugene Ham Authority

click on title

In case you're tired of turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving

I was going to make a Turduckhen, but with only 4 people here, it seemed like way too much food. No entertaining this week, -just nice and quiet.

Tonight's menu:
Free range turkey with savory corn bread stuffing.
Mashed potatoes and gravy.
Yam casserole with marshmallows and roasted garlic. -(highly experimental!)
Asparagus in a light orange sauce.
Green salad. (It think there's still some lettuce in the garden)

What I will NOT be doing:

I read the article, and these guys comitted at least three major no-no's of deep-frying a turkey.
I'll bet the homeowner ain't laughing!

UPDATES:

1. Nobody had touched any of the pies I made before I went to bed Thursday. When I got up on Friday, I saw this:


The pumkin pie was only 10% consumed, the traditional apple pie was 25% gone, but the Dutch apple pie was 75% gone! -So much for pumkin pie!

2. The yam casserole was not the worst thing I'd ever tasted. Given a choice between it and, say, lutefisk, thae casserole would've won.

I put it outside last night, but not even the raccoons would eat it.

Wal Mart rocks!

Missus and I went to the Mega Ultra Super-duper Wal Mart that recently opened out on west eleventh.

I have to say, I was impressed. Obviously, the prices were generally much lower than Safeway or Albertson's, and competitive with Winco.

Selection and quality was very acceptable, but they tend to feature their store brand more than I think they ought.

Big positive: They are hiring scores of twenty and thirty-somethings who have obviously never worked before, -EVER! -Just to check, I chatted a few of them and, by golly, this is their very first job! Welcome to the work force you guys! I hope you stay and grow.

Minor and temporary negatives:

Scores of workers who require more training! I was especially concerned with the deli workers. One had some non-working chums hanging around, and they kept passing a cell phone to her. I think her boyfriend was on the other end. Hand hygiene was weak. One girl stuffed her tresses into a hair net and went right to handling cookies. I saw no hand washing and plastic gloves were not used. Also, service was pretty slow. (Of-course these are just training issues, and I expect they will improve daily.)

The other weakness, in my opinion, is Wal Mart's checkout system. I was never impressed with it, and it certianly bogs down when you've got a grocery cart full of stuff. I hope they change it soon.

I'm sure we'll be back on a regular basis.

Lucky adores her giant fish flavored water bowl.

Disaster relief for Northerners

I think Hockeypuck put this up a few months ago, but it's making the rounds, and was recently sent to me again by a Democrat who works very hard to keep himself employable!

WEATHER BULLETIN: Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:George Bush did not come....FEMA staged nothing....No one howled for the government...No one even uttered an expletive on TV...Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....No one looted....Phil Cantori of the Weather Channel did not come....And Geraldo Rivera did not move in.

Nope, we just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps, and put on an extra layer of clothes because up here it is 'work or die'.

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the worlds social problems evaporate.

Harry Potter's World

Like Gully, I have read all six books and I am eagerly awaiting my chance to go see the new movie. I love those books and I just figured out why. I love the world Harry Potter lives in.

In Potter's world his school is not controlled by the government. All of the citizens are free to arm themselves, with wands, as they please.

Two of the most likable characters, the Weasley twins, are unabashed capitalists. Through their hard work and research they develop products that are popular and earn lots of gold selling them.

I also noticed that there does not seem to be an inheritence tax. Can you imagine being allowed to leave your child a vault full of gold without concern for setting up a living trust and sheltering the gold from the government?

I could go on for pages about how the commerce system is purely free market in the wizarding world or that Mrs. Weasley is a stay at home mom that is not taking welfare or the Hogwarts School actually celebrates Christmas. But I have to go earn some gold for my family.

Mackenzie Willamette finds a home!

click on title

WE HOPE!

While I will miss the back nine of River Ridge, it's certainly a perfect setting for a twenty-first century hospital.

Please join us in wishing Triad all the luck in the world as they deal with the bomb-throwers down at Eugene City hall. Let's see if they have more luck then PeaceHealth did.

GO KITTY addendum

If I may, offer a guess?

If Springfield appears to be getting a good rub from Triad anytime in the near future, or if they should go so far as to announce they have struck a deal to build in Glenwood, it'll never happen. The state will not issue a certificate of need for two hospitals in Springfield, or the county will not authorize a land use decision, or the DOT will have a problem with the transportation infrastructure, or....you get my point.

The nanny statist mentality in the governments above the Eugene City council (and yes, that's the way they would refer to themselves - above the city council) will not allow a couple dozen screaming irrational Eugene residents (who happen to be able to bum a ride down to the public hearing) to go without 'Health Care' (which is a right) on their front door. The state, who not only lauds their free health plan and winces whenever cuts are made, but also considers it their duty to intervene when deemed appropriate, won't allow business to trump government's social engineering projects.

So remember, when things get blocked 6 months from now, you heard it here first. (Here being Eugene Underground, not Eastern Minnesota).

Kitty watch -update

Wonderful news citizens! Your freedom is being protected!

You are free to find ways to do without essential materials!

You will soon be free to build a smaller house on your lot!

Rejoice! All hail comrade Kitty! All hail the enlightened council!

Come celebrate your new freedoms at the new "white people sure are bad" monument!

Time to clean the garage.

As some of you know, I despise the bottle bill.

We entertain alot, but being an elitist boor, I refuse to go to the container redemption center. As a result, the garage is full of empties.

I used to give them to Buddy down at the Rite Aid on 28th, and he would redeem them for the children's miracle network. Now that the Rite Aid has moved, I'm not sure that they have room for a truckload of empties.

Does anybody know of a local charity that might want a whole mess of cans and bottles?

GO KITTY!

"Feel free to be opening business in Eugene, Comrades! Heh heh heh...."

Kitty and the Council killed the WEP again! Also, it looks like Springfield will end up with two hospitals!

Eugene is open for business! -As long as you're just opening a little shop for hemp clothing, patchouli oil, and bongs.

Atkinson for Governor

click on title

I met with Jason Atkinson yesterday, along with many other Eugene Bloggers. He is a very nice man, and does not speak like a polititian. He has a clear vision of what he wants for the future of Oregon.

Gully has a very nice account here.

He wants more government than I do, (Heck, everybody wants more government than I do!) but he wants that government to be efficient and accountable to the people.

He certainly want much less government than, say, Mannix or the Democrats, so you can bet he's MY CANDIDATE!


Time to go put my money where my mouth is......

Getting it wrong

Augie and Sal. -Pals forever!

It turns out that Allende was murdered by his Soviet and Cuban handlers!

At least Pinochet is off the hook for something.

What, exactly, should the General be "on the hook" for?

It should be pointed out that Chile is currently a very bright spot of free-market ideals and personal freedom, on a continent that's fast on its way to becoming a Socialist sh#thole.

Maybe he should've quit after he shot all those "labor leaders" ?


Sal and Che -good riddance!

BUY! BUY! BUY!

It looks like the stream of refugees will continue. I predict that any property within 30 minutes of I-5 will continue to appreciate at 8 - 12 percent per year.

As long as it's not in California!

"Prosperity or Lane County?"

A new report from Steve Buckstein of Cascade Policy Institute, Prosperity or Portland?, on Portlands Business Income Tax (BIT) is a must read for all those concerned about Lane County's efforts to find a new tax to provide additional funding for public safety.

Just to add insult to injury, the Small Business and Entreprenuers Council came out with their annual state-by state ranking of small business climate and Oregon ranked 37th out of 50, mainly due to our high capital gains and income taxes. (Our crime rate and minimum wage did not help us either) Do you think adding a local gross reciepts tax will help our unemployment rate?

It was also recently reported that the investment of venture capital in Oregon was down 15% this year. These investors go where they think business will be sucessful. Do you think the investors will like the addition of a new business tax?

Memo to the Lane County Commissioners:

Do not burden Lane County with a local business tax. Try getting a handle on the 6% growth rate in costs first, then if you really need more revenue, try a transparent tax like a sales tax.

Rainy season

It's certainly here, in case you haven't noticed.

Along with the nearly constant rain comes a new army of slugs. On the positive side, I delight in finding new ways to effect their demise.



Did you know that if you spray them with 12-hour Afrin, they stop moving? I don't know if it actually kills them, but it paralyzes them until they get eaten by their friends.

I wonder if it works on Progressives?