The Washington Policy Center (WPC) has several posts over the last few days on transportation and Sound Transit.
WPC examined ‘Sound Transit II’ (ST2), the second phase of Sound Transit’s longterm overall operational plan and funding. ‘ST1′ said that if ST2 failed to pass a vote of the people that Sound Transit would roll back the taxes raised under ST1. They have yet to do so:
(more…)
Miley Cyrus, singer and actress known for her role as ‘Hannah Montana’ in the Disney conglomerate, is the most recent victim of the exploitation from the entertainment industry.
The vultures at Vanity Fair sent their sleazy photographer Annie Leibovitz to shoot Miss Cyrus for an upcoming issue. As per usual, Leibovitz tried to get the sleaziest shots she possibly could. The magazine released the photos in their never-ending quest to sell magazines and magazine ads.
Is this the beginning of the end for yet another young pop star? Is she on the same road as Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears?
It turns out that ‘Miley’ is a nickname given to her by her father, country singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus. She was born ‘Destiny Hope Cyrus’, a name chosen by her father because of a ‘vision’ he had of his daughter when she was born. He said of the name that “it’s her destiny to bring hope to many…”
Is it now her destiny to bring hope to paparazzi and tabloid magazines?
(more…)
I had no idea that Harrison Ford felt so deeply about deforestation (h/t NewsBusters.Org). He’s actually gone to a salon to have his chest hair removed:
In an effort to showcase the pain involved in deforestation, Harrison willingly subject himself to the painful process of stripping his chest of all its follicles.
Having worked with [Conservation International] for 15 years, it was Harrison’s hope that his trip to the salon might just shock people into thinking “green.”
Ever since I heard about the plight of baboons in Tanzania I’ve wanted to show them that I care. Now I’ve found a way.
The Puget Sound Regional Council today released what they called a study. I guess in some definitions it would qualify as a study, but in the truest sense, it’s a piece of agitprop. Their goal was obviously to find out if drivers would actually pay more money, but they veiled it in other terms. Anything to avoid doing their job of building roads.
The problem with congestion pricing:
Starting with the basic premise of the study, asking the question, “would drivers change their driving habits if they were charged congestion pricing”. What happened to the question of ’should they have to change their driving habits’? They have paid for the roads, they shouldn’t have to pay for them all over again.
Next, congestion pricing is a punitive fee placed on taxpayers for a failure in government. Neither the drivers nor the taxpayers are at fault for congestion. The responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of government for failing to meet the demand. Taxpayers trusted these people to provide adequate means of transportation, but the people they trusted used the money for pet projects instead of paying for the roads that the money was intended to cover. Here’s some comments on that from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation:
Secretary Paula Hammond displayed a trend graph of the last 25 years, which showed population, licensed drivers, employment, and vehicle miles traveled rising between 50% and 100%, while new lane miles barely increased 10%.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been quoting the Bible. Well not actually quoting. And, well, not actually the Bible.
What she’s been saying is, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’” (More over at MichelleMalkin.com.)
The word ‘minister’ simply means ’serve’, so Nancy is telling us to serve created things. And is it an act of worship? Probably, but not one that is worshiping God. When you worship God, you worship God, not the things He created. But since she was ambiguous about who or what was is being worshiped, maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she meant ’serving created things is also worshiping created things’.
(more…)
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is an idea that liberals support to justify exorbitant expenditures on mass transit projects. It starts when they spend a bunch of money on a mass transit (usually rail) claiming that it will bring more development to the area around train stations and bus transit centers. Then, when it fails to do so, they have to pump a bunch more money into development so they can justify their original waste of money on the transit projects.
Portland, OR is a prime example of this liberal folly. The most recent problem is that they’re facing a lawsuit from a developer who bought a piece of land near a transit center for just $1.
TriMet officials originally said they were in favor of the Allegro partly because it would have stood right next to a light-rail station, which would have encouraged more MAX ridership.
So, at this point, I’m a little confused. Wasn’t MAX supposed to encourage the development? But they need to pump money into development (in the form of the $1 sale of land) to encourage MAX ridership? What if they had just relied on buses until the development came about. Then they would only have had to pay for half of this chicken-egg equation.
(more…)
Earth day. In the 70’s it was a bunch of aging hippies trying to fight their growing insignificance. Now it’s a political firestorm being used as a way to gain support for raising taxes and stripping land owners of their property rights.
In case you are too young to remember, the last climate change scare was ‘the coming ice age’. The Washington Policy Institute put together a list of climate change quotes about the last climate hoax (Earth Day 2008: Predictions of Environmental Disaster Were Wrong). Just one example:
Frank Rogers, a long-time Pierce County Republican and active member, has written an open letter to the state party chair, Luke Esser, regarding the handling of a vote at the convention last week.
I’ve been mulling over some concerns about that vote for the last week and couldn’t settle on how (or whether) to blog about it. Since this post is available, I guess I have a way to talk about it. What held me back from commenting was that I’m not well versed on parliamentary procedures at this point, so I wasn’t sure what to focus on. This open letter helped me find a way to address it.
After reading the letter I spoke with the convention parliamentarian (Alex Hays, see our discussion about another matter at the convention in the comments here.) His points about the County Executive endorsement vote were basically:
(more…)
Not the usual DV Web site. This one seems to be focused on Washington state and the issues of domestic violence against men and father’s rights. I think it might be a spinoff of Thurston Pundits, but I can’t be sure (if I’m wrong about that and they let me know, I’ll correct this post).
I’m glad that sites like this are around. I wish them well in what they’re trying to accomplish. The ‘pendullum’ of domestic violence has swung too far in the direction of a radical feminist agenda and needs to swing back again.
(more…)
Terry Bergeson, WA State Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke at the Pierce County GOP Convention on Saturday. Now we find out that she approved an effort to bring children from public schools in 25 counties to see the Dalai Lama. When asked whether she would do the same for the Pope, her response was:
[Essex] PORTER: Would the Superintendent of Public Instruction urge schools to bring kids to the Pope?
[Terry] BERGESON: Well, I probably couldn’t get away with that as the Pope, Essex. But the Dalai Lama is a man of the whole world.
Radio talk show host Dori Monson talked with Bergeson about the issue. Give it a listen. She tries to make a distinction between the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Buddhists, and the Pope, spiritual leader of Roman Catholics. But as she does she describes Dalai Lama’s efforts as religious in nature, bringing our hearts, minds and spirits together to bring more compassion.
(more…)
