Debtor's prison and other places the US Constitution doesn't apply to

Glenn Sacks, one of the most thoughtful advocates of equal parenting laws has two great reads in his column this week.

The first is from the land of Nagin. Welfare advocates don't want shared parenting because it might reduce the amount of money paid to welfare mothers who hoard custody for money.

The next is quite a powerful look at how CSE essentially operates somewhere between organized crime and Stalin's secret police.

"[Family Court Judge] Foellger insists he's not forcing sterilization on anybody, since the offenders in his court can choose 30 days in jail instead. However, most men who fall behind on child support have led law-abiding lives and legitimately fear for their safety and mental stability if they are incarcerated.

"For example, in McCracken County earlier this year a man slit his throat in the courtroom after being sentenced to two years in jail for being $7,000 behind on child support. According to newspaper accounts, the man pleaded to the judge 'Don't put me in jail, I'm going to kill myself' before taking out a razor blade.

To me, this is a civil rights issue and it is amazing that liberal media will rail against the government listening in on known terrorists, but don't seem to have much to say about debtor's prison.

Duke Lacrosse: The hits just keep coming

Two more hits on Nifong's charts

A gag order has been sought. Not by the defense, not by the prosecution, but by the NAACP. Mr Jackson, back pedal FAST Tawana Brawley is on the phone and this time she's been raped by the entire state of Florida.

Next, it has also surfaced that prior to the 100% confidence ID of the accused, the woman could not identify ANY of her attackers from the same line up. Oops. I guess that didn't make it to the grand jury.

There has been speculation that the accuser in the Duke case will try to extort money in civil court and that the players will pay to make her go away- as was done in the Kobe Bryant case. I doubt that will happen. In fact I would bet the exact opposite will come to fruition.

These men are at the start of their careers which will be in a life other than sports. Kobe had made his money and his career and the damage was done by the time the check was paid. Kobe's damage could only increase, while the accused in this case are fast becoming pop heros in the media.

Next, attorney time isn't cheap. Someone's gonna pay for this irresponsible miscarriage of justice and defamation of character.

The Bryant/Faber case was also a he-said-she-said, while this case is a she said, changed her mind three times and said again vs a they said/the camera's said, the evidence said, the other witnesses said.

Damage has been done and needs to be undone. If I were these players I would not let up until the prosecution publicly apologizes and the accuser is in turn investigated and prosecuted for false accusation. Lastly I'd be looking for not less than 2x of what the attorney time costs.

This Memorial Day

The editors at the local Zero could not bring themselves to squeeze in 2 inches of anything positive about our fallen today; most likely they are too busy promoting the Al-Qaeda support rally in downtown (and they wonder why no one wants to shop there?)

One of the reasons this blog exists is because there are too few media outlets that don't hate our soldiers or what they are fighting for. Without this blog, it would be difficult to say that locally many of us have a different perspective than what MSM would like all of us to believe.

Because it can't be said enough:

Thank you for those who are fighting and to those that have fallen...We are eternally grateful for your service and your sacrifice.

Thoughts on Memorial Day

"Again and again mothers who lost their sons in France have come to me, and, taking my hand, have not only shed tears upon it, but they have added, 'God bless you, Mr. President!' Why should they pray God to bless me? I advised the Congress to create the situation that led to the death of their sons. I ordered their sons overseas. I consented to their sons' being put in the most difficult part of the battle line, where death was certain. ...Why should they weep upon my hand and call down the blessings of God upon me? Because they believe that their boys died for something that vastly transcends any of the immediate and palpable objects of the war. They believe, and rightly believe, that their sons saved the liberty of the world."

- Woodrow Wilson, September 1919

The PI bends over for lobbyist against shared parenting.

Lies, cherry picked data and more lies.

These women may as well be selling ethnic cleansing as trying to convince the public that it is in a child’s best interest to have only one parent or that the courts treat both parties fairly in divorce and custody battles. Especially neat is their cherry picked data to try and support the fact that blatant discrimination doesn’t happen in our courts. The bigotry is so terrible that this is now as much of a civil rights issue as it is a family issue.

Among the funny lies and omissions:

Contrary to what la fem-stalin tries to sell you: The shared parenting law before the legislature includes stipulations that the rule applies ONLY IN THE ABSENCE OF WRONG DOING.

Funny how they omit that the law is a starting point and parents can still agree on any custody arrangement they want.

Funny how they omit that fathers gain custody in less than 10% of the cases and then attempt to use cherry picked data to try and paint a different picture. Who paid for that study missy?

Funny how they omit that any reference to joint custody in a prenup agreement will not be honored if challenged in family court. This is true, even in the absense of wrong doing and both parents being financially capable.

Funny how they attempt to muddy up the water with unsubstantiated domestic violence data and then omit that child abuse is committed by mothers 2:1 over fathers.

Funny how they fail to explain that a false accusation of domestic violence by a mother will determine custody and cost $10k to prove false.

Funny how they omit that a false accusation of domestic violence is paid for by the tax payers and w/out penalty and even funnier is how unscrupulous attorneys encourage these accusations to dirty up a custody battle while simultaneously running up the divorce cost.

Special interest groups are preventing this law from passing. That is why there is an article opposing the law. Are these women by chance associated with a nonprofit organization funded by federal tax dollars?

Whatever it is these women are trying to protect, it most definately is NOT the best interest of children.

Crude skimming $70, but retail prices unmoved

My response: We're cutting our weekly trips to Costco down to once or twice a month and I turned away one of my customers in Pierce County (fuel + time > revenue). I'm pretty sure my competition up there will be able to solve the fuel + time equation.

You don't need to be an economist or have an MBA to spot the potential for a macro economic trend here. The Bush economy is on thin ice. That is truly sad, because it's one of the few things the GOP can point to GW for. Based on debate on the topic so far, I seriously doubt JKerry or Hillary could find a solution here either, even if it was taped to their pants.

BTW Re-gouging fuel companies or price caps doesn't count as a solution...it counts as driving suppliers away from the market and making sure there will be no gas to buy at all.

On a related note: There is no public ethanol E/85 fueling stations in Thurston County or anywhere in Washington for that matter. Letter to Christine supporters: that one is not GW's fault...a lot of folks have E/85 rigs-> where do you reckon they could fill it up?

Thurston County Money Minting Program link is down

Anybody awake at the Thurston County money minting department lately? I'm still waiting to see the revised permit fees posted. If I could bill smoke and mirror time out to the public at 90 bucks an hour with no one saying boo about it, I'd probably milk the clock too.

I wonder if they had to add an extra zero to every fee to recover this cost as well?

The link to the cost recovery program is dead as of the time of this posting. The new fee schedule was supposed to be implemented May 1.

Is it time to explore performance bonus for teachers?

Teachers not happy with current clock punching compensation plan.

If they could show me the metrics, I'd vote yes for a performance based bonus. Unfortunately, the unions don't want to be rendered useless nor are the school districts interested in differentiating the best teachers from the worst. Who on earth would want to work in an environment where you are not compensated more for doing a better job?

Come on now, I went to public school. Every organization has super stars as well as floaters. Why play the fool's game that everyone is performing awesome?

What do King County, New Orleans and a crack addict have in common?

Do not give money to any of them, even in times of distress. To re-elect financially corrupt racist Nagin after what that city put this country through doesn’t give a lot of motivation to anyone to want to fund rebuilding it. What exactly were you thinking while sitting up on your rooftop?

In the same light, residents of King County can tax themselves to oblivion for Ron Sim’s version of Jacko’s Neverland. Just don’t ask the rest of the state to pay for your “vibrance” as Ron puts it.

Good job to law enforcement today

I'm a huge advocate of protecting men from false allegations of domestic violence. I by no means condone DV nor pretend it doesn't exist. Lastly I make no excuses nor arguments for those who really do perpetrate it.

The police did what we pay them to do. Thanks.

This scenerio leaves me with one question, and albeit one with some possibly incorrect assumptions on this specific case: Where was the child's biological father?

Before you leaches in the Thurston County victim money machine start beating your drums, you had better validate that the child in this case wasn't one of Wickham/Casey's father elimination test families. If it was, you had better have some serious criminal convictions against the father. If the father in this case happens to read this, I invite you to come forward and tell your story. It will get heard.

Why: Because a huge killer of kids happens to be mommy's new boyfriend who either molests the kids or as in this case, puts a gun to their heads. This is something the opponents to shared parenting laws seem to leave out when the issue comes up in the legislature.

Nifong: Rope Mfg inc.

I really think Nifong is on the side of the men’s rights crowd at this point. Bigots from the black community and feminists in general wanted a lynching of the accused and what they got was Nifong who went into the rope selling business.

He’s sold them all enough rope to adequately hang themselves on this false accusation. Even the talking heads have turned against him and the accuser at this point.

I have to give Nifong credit where it is due. Raleigh’s own Inspector Clouseau has leveled the playing field for men facing false allegations of rape more than any activist on our side of the fence could have done in a 100 years. I hope Coors will someday make a beer commercial about him.

Not to make too light of this. I am concerned because there are iotas of truth to the cases of rape victims not wanting to come forward, and while that is always a tough choice they will still have to make on their own, it is choice. What is not a choice is the burden to overcome a false rape allegation. The tragedy here is not only the damage to the specific men in this case, but that feminists have really been corrupting the justice system with a process that would allow a case like this to drag 50 innocent people down the freeway for such a long period of time. The long term casualty of this black racist feminist power orgy will be the credibility of all future rape victims. To quote South Park, "You Bastards!"

Paradox or Consequence?

Crude is below $70/barrel but retail prices are still well above $3.00. When retail prices first spiked, we were told it was a direct and instantaneous result of crude.

Several stocks/funds I watch also follow crude prices. SU, HAL, and of course OIH among others track closely with crude. These stocks have fallen in direct correlation with crude prices in the past week.

So what’s up?

Nothing. We are being gouged. Deal with it. Energy is a commodity that most of us cannot stop consuming. The prices we see now are a direct result of the lack of energy alternatives and the inability to mitigate rising fuel costs without significant personal sacrifice. Much of this is by choice. I have a business which mandates a specialized truck with a high weight requirement. This is the exception to the rule. In everyday life, few of us are bolting 1300 lb chunks of steel to the back of their trucks which is why I have been able to get by with a light duty truck for all other uses for the past 11 years. I've carried some very interesting loads with that light truck too!

Dealing with it: The family go-kart. There are a lot of us buying rigs with a much heavier capacity than what we really use. The major caveat to owning a big rig is that families are seldom buying a family 25-30 MPG beater to supplement the family mega-hauler. If you’re getting 10 MPG it’s not tough to figure out that an investment in a 25 MPG rig for single person commutes over large distances makes sense.

Another point. Recall back in the 1970’s when fuel became a touchy point? Many families started their own petroleum reserve. Those with a stockpile at $2.70/ gallon are feeling pretty smart right now. Of course, think twice before putting an underground gas tank in as you could be creating a larger liability than you are solving.

A topic for another day is the economics of fuel alternatives. There are no right answers at this point, only great debates. Would you pay $15.00 for a hamburger? Perhaps. Especially if everything else on the menu were $100.00.

David GOP vs the Goliath Special Interest in the 22nd

Today’s Zero points out what I noted on this blog several months ago. A lot of money is flowing into Democrat campaigns in the 22nd district from outside of Thurston County. Rep Brendan Williams (D) doesn’t have a monopoly on large out of county contributions as the Zero’s political watcher Brad Shannon also cites Rep Gary Alexander’s (R) war chest as not exactly small nor full of local green either.

Thurston County is pretty diverse and I like it when there is a mix of political flavors at work. I like it when candidates buck their parties and vote independently. For example, I don’t agree with Swecker’s support for the gas tax, but I respect his decision to vote for it more than I respect anyone voting against their district because the party said so. It doesn’t appear Democrats are as generous in their opinion about Shelton’s Sheldon.

The Zero’s article calls out something even more depressing than out of county money: Why no formidable challengers from the GOP in the 22nd?

The answer is simple. First it is hard to find Republican candidates who would want to run. Anyone talented enough to win is making a far better living outside of the political arena. There is no way most of us are willing to break from our careers, drive our own personal finances into the ground, possibly lose and then have to go find another job in our former industry. It would be insane.

On the flipside, most elected Democrats spend their lives going from one government parasite position to another; never once holding a job that creates value in the economy and instead crafting public policy that is an anchor to anyone working for a living (gas tax, estate tax etc).

Take for example Thurston County raising the cost of home business permits to $1000! No value is created and no need is served by this, yet they insist anything less than that is a 'subsidy.' This is a mindset you will only find in government or in a company with stock that you should sell short. Life as a Senator or Rep is just another step in leaching off the taxpayers in the life of most Democrats. Look for a future Democrat to rise through the permit department ranks. Given the movement on the land grab, there are probably several future Sams, Brendans and Karens coming through those ranks.

Disagreeing with the 3 stooges above in the 22nd isn’t sufficient. They need challengers who are willing to see all points of view in their district, not just those emanating from the open toed sandal neighborhoods nor those from the Christian Coalition. Unfortunately I don’t YET see that type of charisma coming from any of us in the next election cycle.

Regardless, the out of county money is disturbing. These people are elected to represent those of us in our districts. To Brendan’s credit, he did take a meeting with yours truly regarding an important bipartisan issue this last session and even worked to influence the right outcome. On the flipside Karen would not take a meeting with me and 2 other democrats working this issue. Funny since I am in her district and my colleagues were from her party. So who exactly does Karen represent? You don’t need to log into the elections database to know who butters Sam’s bread (hint: it’s not the non-union state workers in his district).

In the end I have a lot of respect for candidates from either party who refuse to follow the party spank and special interest on any vote. Each district is a mix, if you only serve the ones from your party and dismiss the values of others; you really have no business serving in the legislature. Unfortunately judging by the laws passed in the last 2 sessions, it appears the majority of the legislature is on the lunatic fringe of Seattle.

Dear President Bush,

If a terrorist wanted to sneak a dirty bomb in through the US border with Mexico, you've made it clear to them the US federal government does not have the capacity nor the will to protect US citizens on our own soil.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of people will die as a result of your unwillingness to protect our borders from foreign invasion.

If you can't stop half starved refugees looking for a job, how do you expect to stop someone with the motivation to kill Americans?

It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when it happens.

Tuition the easy way

Right after calling today’s generation of college graduates a bunch of lazy ingrates, Hillary Clinton said this week she is going to introduce a bill that would help college students repay their student loans. The proposal would limit loan payments to a certain percentage of their incomes, according the AP story.

Why doesn’t Hillary propose extending the mandate to all children for post secondary support that is now available to children of broken homes? That’s right. If your parents are not married, you can legally force them both to pay for your college tuition and living expenses. THEY MUST PAY IT OR GO TO JAIL.

I bet you didn’t know that. The topic has been floating around many of the parent’s rights newsgroups as many are getting blindsided that they are being forced to pay tuition. The kicker is you can be a complete prick to your parents and it will have no bearing on their obligation to pay for your college tuition.

While 55-60% of parents can tell their children "don't let the screen door bump you in the ass" while you are moving out at 18, parents that are not married can be forced to pay tuition, room and board at the college of their childs liking. The actual implementation of the law stands in most states and has only been found unconstitutional in Pennsylvania. The law was nearly struck down in Oregon, but the state Supreme Court determined that this doesn’t really create a special class of citizens. Tell that to kids of intact families who have been told they have to pay their own way through college.

The current law applies to 30% of this year’s high school graduates. How’s that for a windfall for education? Children who are not from broken homes should really consider challenging their state's laws so that they too can get their tuition paid for.

Anti-family legislation shouldn't just benefit the casualties. Everyone should reap the rewards (or is it a "reward") for the breakdown of family in the United States.

Tax tip for Drinkers

State to continue collecting disputed taxes
Longview Daily News May 13, 2006

Here's a news tip for drinkers: Save those liquor receipts. Supreme Court Commissioner Geoffrey Crooks on Friday granted the state permission to continue collecting taxes imposed last year on hard liquor and product warranties. But Crooks also told the state to have a plan for refunding the money in case the taxes are judged illegal.

Corny solutions

It takes two-thirds of a gallon of oil to make a gallon equivalent of ethanol from corn, which means that one gallon of ethanol used in gasohol displaces perhaps one-third of a gallon of oil or less, notes MIT chemistry professor John Deutch. "A federal tax credit of 10 cents per gallon on gasohol, therefore, costs the taxpayer a hefty $120 per barrel of oil displaced cost. Surely it is worthwhile to look for cheaper ways to eliminate oil."

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Anti shared parenting Senator stepping down

A giant win for parents and children as Seattle's biggest man hater steps down. The question is whether Ed Murray believes in equal parenting rights for all, or just for gays. Another opponent of shared parenting (the illegal lobbiests funded by the NW Women's law center) believes only lesbian women deserve equal parenting rights but not fathers, or so their actions and press releases indicate. They are lobbying illegally by the way and I do hope the IRS starts checking into their status. Needless to say, gays and women's lobbies haven't been so interested in the right thing, just "their thing" when it comes to parenting.

How anti-father was this Senator? In the Senate Committee hearing for a watered down version of shared parenting, she came down and hugged the opposition. Heaven forbid a noncustodial parent be anything more than a monthly check to their children.

As an aside, I generally feel neither side of the aisle should be held hostage by their own farthest extremes. This is one of the big hostage takers for state democrats.

Heads up Scooby and Shaggy, Nifong finds a clue at Duke

A DNA match has surfaced from under a fingernail. This has been the first scrap of real evidence Nifong has been able to bring to the table. The DNA however was apparently not from tissue consistent with a struggle. Tests on the fingernails for those tissue matches turned up negative.

However prosecutors now have the burden to show how this fits in with the ever changing story of the accuser. This will be an uphill battle for Nifong since the fingernails were recovered from the DNA cesspool of a party house bathroom. We can safely assume nobody's mom was around to clean up. It will again be extremely embarrassing for the prosecution if the DNA is a match to someone who was at their dorm at the time the alleged rape allegedly occurred. This begs the question of why Nifong has not ordered a gag on all aspects of this case. Is Nifong still attempting to prosecute this in the media?

My assertion is the accuser is guilty of extortion. However I am open to the idea that some type of assault actually occurred. The idea that a crime was committed by one of these men will outweigh the overwhelming indicators of extortion by the accuser when we have something more than the word of a hooker with a criminal history against the consistent stories of 46 college kids with time stamped photographs contradicting the hookers story.

Nifong has not been able to supply a shred of credibility to this case and along with his acts of abusing the press coverage this has been getting, this serves as an indicator that there needs to be a major overhaul in the way rape cases are prosecuted: No one who has been raped should have to endure what this woman is going through if a rape really occurred. No one accused of rape should have to go through what these men are going through if the crime here is extortion. If the crime is extortion, it needs to be prosecuted with extreme prejudice in light of how this has been progressing.

Duke Accuser Suffered Writers Block

“She changed her story several times” say police.

A campus police report filed March 14 states that the accuser initially said she was raped by 20 white men. It goes on to say she changed her story several times.

Other reports are surfacing that she ID’d 4 of the lacrosse players in a photo line up consisting of only Duke Lacrosse players. Brilliant detective work there Nifong, what were the odds of her pointing out a Duke Lacrosse player?

Hint: better than the lottery.

Campaign Finance Watch

As the campaign season for 2006 and soon 2008 rolls into high gear, watch the kick backs go into motion. In particular, watch for the specifics of the Christine Gregoire Campaign Kick Back Fund sponsored by big tobacco. Companies will funnel small chunks of money into Gregoire and key democrat campaign pockets (wink wink) to get a much larger chunk of this money later on.

Once again, thank you Gregoire. Tobacco will be a safe investment for at least another 10 years.

BTW- be sure and get your shares soon, the ex dividend dates for MO and RAI are approaching fast.

More on the Duke Miscarriage of Justice

First it was 20 who raped her, then it was 3, two of whom she ID’d with 100% certainty. We know that one of the three accused cloned himself and took a taxi to an ATM while his evil twin forcibly had sex with her through a shower curtain (or did the broom stick have sex with her? The accuser and the DA haven’t really been clear on that one either).

Pictures show her leaving the party smiling and laughing (but wait the prosecution asserts this was while she was drugged??) but then later when she files the police report she was “crying uncontrollably.” The prosecution’s timeline plays out like a movie with really REALLY bad editing.

The only DNA surfacing so far was found on her fingernails and THAT was from men who weren’t even at the party (ICK!). Since everything this woman has said so far has been shown to be a lie, I’m really interested in seeing the DNA results from the broom as victim advocates have been saying that it was “likely a broom and anyway we don't need no stinking DNA evidence for a conviction." Maybe so, but you do need a timeline that doesn't involve science fiction and enough evidence to convince a jury that doesn't contain Chris Wickham, Paula Casey, or Senator Pat Thibaudeau.

Then the racists try to play their angle saying that if the accused had been black someone would have been in jail already, but that really blew up when it surfaced she had accused three black men of raping her several years ago and the police took no actions then either.

The accuser's story [or stories?] falls apart more and more each week. I want to know when she is going to be charged with extortion and filing a false report. You don’t get to cry wolf, ruin the lives of dozens of people (the 3 accused, the coach, the rest of the team) and then walk away.

If this case does go to court the amount of precedent that is going to be created AGAINST uonconstitional rape shield laws is going to be huge. It’s very unfortunate since these laws were created to protect legitimate victims. The upside is the legal system will be forced to get closer to the true intent of the constitution.

2008 campaign messages taking shape

The Gregoire/Chopp tag team blame game on the state’s pension crisis is a ticking stink bomb the Governor and current Democrat controlled legislature could control and fix but have no intention of doing. Why would they purposefully neglect fixing something that could turn out to be the state’s worst financial disaster? Further why are they blaming Rossi for their recent decisions to under fund the pension accounts?

Campaign season for 2008 is not far away and it appears our socialist leaders are architecting a spending crisis that only tax increases (extend the death tax to a “near death” tax perhaps?) or through rampant spending cuts sacrificing the human shields the Democrats call children. While I don’t deem state employees to be the sharpest tools in the shed, Gregoire believes them to be total imbeciles when it comes to funding pensions. Her speaking points in 2008 will include not asking state employees to give up their windfall profits at the taxpayers expense and blaming Rossi for the current gap.

From a pre-campaign standpoint the recent series of events makes perfect sense: Why fix a funding gap when you can make the gap larger and blame your future opponent? When it comes to logic Gregoire is counting on her usual constituents to drink the anti Iraq koolaid & ignore the facts of running our own state government into the ground. It so happens that her constituents happen to be about 30-40% of the state’s voters at this point.

An aside

When Christine Gregoire took office from fellow Democrat Gary Locke, she swore not to blame Gary’s mismanagement of the annual budget for the state's financial woes. Gary gave her 2 envelopes with instructions to open the first when she made a colossal error and the second letter when she made her next blunder.

Earlier this month, when the budget surplus turned into a deficit due to runaway spending, A flustered Gregoire opened the first letter to find the following written in big black ink “Blame Rossi.” I’ve seen the contents of the second envelope. It contains a letter beginning with the following instructions:

“Go to your desk and write two letters...”

The Great Immigration Debate of 1621

Here is an interesting commentary on the immigration debate. The flash movie superimposes the issues and arguments of the current debate onto the scene in 1631 when the Pilgrims came to America. Very thought provoking.

Westneat soft sells bigotry from the left hand side

Danny dreams of Baracoon school buses for whitey.

Racism is racism. You don't turn an injustice into justice by reversing the race with power and prejudice. I'm sure the talk radio I don't listen to during the day beat the heck out of Westneat on this issue, but institutional reverse racism sponsored by the government is far more dangerous than the jokes my brother in law gives me for being 1/16th black.

Unless you're on the far left. Usually you can track this down to a money trail leading to some parasite group/organization/individual (like Jesse Jackson or Seattle's own Marvin Charles) sucking off the public tit.

Kastama sounds off in the PI

Equal parenting legislation is the civil rights issue of our age.

This issue is why I am politically active. It is why I support campaigns with my time and with hard cash. It is a battle against institutional bigotry (usually but not always against men) and the victims are always children.

I don't have kids, but after experiencing first hand how an opportunist judge with no regard for the law operates in my own county, I began peeling the onion on this issue a lot more and found out how much damage is being done to families through our courts. On one side you have an institution (our county and state governments) which profits from splitting up families and placing children with the parent least able to support themselves not to mention a child (hence the state gets to put a funnel in the bank account of the more financially able parent) and on the other side you have judges and family law attorneys engaged in an incestuous money sucking enterprise designed to bleed families of all assets and on into bankruptcy.

A small army of parents trekked to Olympia to fight for shared parenting this past session, we found some great support on both sides of the aisle, and some well funded opposition.

It's unfortunate that a few professed feminists are holding the entire legislature hostage on this issue. The institutionalized bigotry these few (but not all) women Senators stand for is a disgrace and is destroying the institution of family far more than gay marriage ever will.

There are no two ways about it; the senators opposing this legislation are bigots. They hide behind illogical emotional arguments and are supported by truckloads of institutional privilege funded by the destruction of family.

So far as partisan battles go, despite the opposition mainly being from the democrat side of the aisle, this is not an R vs D issue. The biggest champion of this legislation also happens to be a democrat.

Thurston County Money Mint Department update

No update. Though the new fee structure goes into effect this week.

They must be evaluating how it will cost $1000 to print a permit to operate a PC/fax machine from your home office.

Interesting how the county commissioners have removed all links to the fee structure while re-introducing land grab CAO proposals. In essence, their strategy appears to be two fold:

1. Re-assess critical areas to increase by 300%
2. Re-assess the fee to re-assess the 300% increase re-assessment by 1000%.

I'm not joking on the fee structure. The $1000 permit was $150 3 years ago when I started my home business. It cost 5 cents to print the permit, 37 cents to mail it. The county did nothing else of value. Their side of the story is they had a dozen people run in circles for half a day. Not a big value add to my business nor my neighborhood. The fee I saw for a home based industry (baking cookies?) is $4000 dollars. Also amusing is the county offers no means of legally avoiding their Money Mint Mafia.

Ever wonder how underground businesses operating in the former Soviet Union began?

If the Thurston County Money Mint Mafia set fire to dollar bills all day, then such a cost recovery would be necessary. However, wouldn't it just be smarter to not set fire to the money in the first place? Not if you live in Olympia.

Let illegal immigrants walk off the job every day

In my experience, immigrants have a better work ethic than most Americans for lower paying jobs. I’d welcome them to my business. I am in favor of programs that allow guest workers to come here provided that they also contribute to the services and infrastructure through the same taxes and fees the rest of us pay. However, my stance is that employers should not be hiring illegal immigrants in the first place and if they have, and they lost business productivity today, it is a just dessert.

Illegal immigrants want to go another without a day of pay? How about going without a month of pay? Knock yourself out. If you’re not working here legally you are hurting employers and other workers who play by the rules. Our economy does not need illegal immigrants.

Illegal’s typically do not:

Pay income taxes
Pay L&I, Unemployment insurance
Social Security
L&I

If your business was hurt today because your illegal immigrant didn’t show up, GOOD! Also I want to see a tax on wire transfers heading to Mexico. We are financing Mexico’s ability to ignore poverty by allowing them to export it here.

Universal Health Care Advocate…. someone who has none and wants to share it with everyone

Oregon’s health care plan: for those with no coverage, no skills and no money, we’d like to share the cost of your issues with everyone. If you can’t find a job with decent health care, no need to keep trying. We’ll just stick your greedy money hoarding neighbor for the bill.


One wonders what the cost is for giving free health care to illegal immigrants in Oregon? Everyone’s a liberal until the rent comes due.