Right Mind

This is your chance!

On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment, courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn which would require all Members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan.
 
Congressman John Fleming has proposed an amendment that would require Congressmen and Senators to take the same health care plan that they would force on us. (Under proposed legislation they are exempt.)
 
Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go to his Website and sign his petition.  The process is very simple.  I have done just that at:  http://fleming.house.gov/index.html
 
Senator Coburn and Congressman Fleming are both physicians.  Regardless of your political beliefs, it sure seems reasonable that Congress should have exactly the same medical coverage that they impose on the rest of us.

All of this has happened on Mayor Nancy Chaney's watch

The following letter to the editor is from Ray Petersen and appeared in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

I have lived in and around Moscow all of my life and, even though I now live just outside of Moscow, what happens in town still affects me.

I have watched with interest as we have lost two car dealerships and a chance for a Walmart. Pullman will get the Walmart and, as in the Lewiston/Clarkston valley, the Walmart in Moscow will probably be closed.

Whether you are a fan of Walmart or not, the city cannot afford to lose this much tax base and still provide the services people have come to expect.

All of this has happened on Mayor Nancy Chaney's watch. If the proposed mall across the border is built, the city has the chance of losing even more businesses. The city cannot afford to let this trend continue

And Chaney likes to tell everyone that her “no growth” persona is all a fable.

Yea, right.

FedMed: growing list of taxes and/or fees and/or mandates

The Canada Free Press has a growing list of all the taxes and/or fees and/or mandates — and they are only 1/5^th of the way thru the bill.

Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275)
If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages.  Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).

Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296)
If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium.  MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324)
Non-prescription medications would no longer be able to be purchased from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).  Insulin excepted.

Cap on FSAs (Page 325)
FSAs would face an annual cap of $2500 (currently uncapped).

Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326)
Non-qualified distributions from HSAs would face an additional tax of 20 percent (current law is 10 percent).  This disadvantages HSAs relative to other tax-free accounts (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 plans, etc.)

Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327)
This would further erode private sector participation in delivery of Medicare services.

Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336)
Imposes an income surtax of 5.4 percent on MAGI over $500,000 ($1 million married filing jointly).  MAGI adds back in the itemized deduction for margin loan interest.  This would raise the top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 39.6 percent under current law to 45 percent—a new effective top rate.

Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339)
Imposes a new excise tax on medical device manufacturers equal to 2.5 percent of the wholesale price.  It excludes retail sales and unspecified medical devices sold to the general public.

Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344)
Requires that 1099-MISC forms be issued to corporations as well as persons for trade or business payments.  Current law limits to just persons for small business compliance complexity reasons.  Also expands reporting to exchanges of property.

Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345)
Delays for nine years the worldwide allocation of interest, a corporate tax relief provision from the American Jobs Creation Act

Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346)
Increases taxes on U.S. employers with overseas operations looking to avoid double taxation of earnings.

Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349)
Empowers the IRS to disallow a perfectly legal tax deduction or other tax relief merely because the IRS deems that the motive of the taxpayer was not primarily business-related.

Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357)
Publicly-traded partnerships and corporations with annual gross receipts in excess of $100 million have raised standards on penalties.  If there is a tax underpayment by these taxpayers, they must be able to prove that the estimated tax paid would have more likely than not been sufficient to cover final tax liability

HT: Bill J.

FBI: Radical Islamist Group Ruled by Inmate in "Supermax" Jail

From the FBI press release on last night’s Dearborn, MI raid-turned-shootout that left radical Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, aka Christopher Thomas, dead:

Abdullah was the leader of part of a group that calls themselves Ummah (“the brotherhood”), a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States. The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown, who is serving a state sentence in USP Florence, CO, ADMAX, for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.

From The Weekly Standard.

Interesting to note the active tense used in the release. The use of the phrase “is ruled” should raise an eyebrow or two for those following the debate over where to relocate the terrorists currently housed at Gitmo. Two of the most mentioned locations being considered by the Obama administration are the federal prison in Standish, Michigan and the federal Administrative Maximum (aka “Supermax”) prison in Florence, Colorado. One of the left’s core arguments in the debate rests on the belief that the security provided by such a facility would render Gitmo’s terrorists totally unable to organize and convert fellow prisoners eager to learn from the jihad-masters.

In this case, not only did a domestic Islamic terrorist organization arise from within the walls of our prison system, but the “Supermax” facility currently serves as the headquarters for this radical group.

It appears FBI Director Robert Mueller’s “relevant concerns” about bringing Gitmo’s terrorists to the United States are not so far-fetched after all.

So far as we know, no terror cells are currently being run from inside Guantanamo.

Supermax: A secure work enviornment.

HT: Bill J.

Time for Conservatives?

A new Gallup Poll says 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 36 percent moderate and 20 percent liberal.

Conservatives have generally believed in limited government, individualism, independence, and self-reliance. All of these are anathema to the statists.

But the Republican Party is overrun by “statists lite”. For the most part, they believe in statism, just not the full-throated statism of the Democrats.

HT: Rosa @ Newsy

Quote of the Day

“Partisanship is a bastion for dependent thinking.”

Palin, Cheney disturb lefties

The following commentary by Michael Costello ran in today's Lewiston Tribune. Costello is always well worth reading.

You can find a copy on his website: The Pajamahadin.

I don't think that there is anything that gets under the skin of a lefty more than when a member of a demographic that Democrats take for granted gains prominence in the conservative movement. Democrats prefer blacks and women as docile, servile victims rather than strong and independent thinkers.

Just ask Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Beginning with his nomination, Thomas has been subjected to the left's hateful, full-throated and often racist vitriol for nearly two decades.

Two free thinkers who have resisted appeals to victimhood, and have earned the left's most passionate hatred as a consequence, are Sarah Palin and Liz Cheney. Both are attractive and have accomplished all that feminists have claimed is possible for all women, but which none who follow feminism's prescriptions ever achieve. Each has had five children while succeeding in her career. And both are frequent targets of the worst that the left can throw at them.

Palin really seems to get under the left's skin. They hate her because she's effective. While non-roguish Republicans have remained trembling on the sidelines, hoping that Democrats would self-destruct, Palin has not shown the slightest hesitancy to step into the arena. Nothing has done more to slow the imposition of Obamacare than her pithy summation of Obamacare's "death panels."

In mid-April, Obama told Bloomberg News where he expected to achieve the financial savings he promises for Obamacare: "The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here."

You really have to let that sink in. It’s a statement of fact. But what the progressives want to do with that demographic is chilling.

The Republican mainstream said nothing.

About three weeks later, he told a New York Times Sunday Magazine how health care rationing would be administered: "I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that's part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance."

If the Republican mainstream noticed, they kept it to themselves.

As I’ve said before, Obama won’t need “death panels.” The Dems will be able to accomplish the same thing by rationing. “Oh, you need that surgery now? You’ll have to wait six months. Sorry you’ll be dead by then. But thanks for saving the collective all that money.”

In June, during an ABC-produced Obamacare infomercial, he told a questioner from the audience that the elderly might need to content themselves with a pain pill rather than expect life-extending healthcare.

After all, there’s no real quality of life at the end of life, right? Just massive expenses to the American collective.

No pulse was detected in the Republican mainstream.

All it took to bring Obamacare's warts into clear focus was for Palin on Aug. 7 to express her concern that her chronically ill newborn son might not meet Obama's standard for continued care and would be condemned by a "death panel." With that succinct distillation, she cleared away all of Obama's long-winded, rhetorical squid's ink and illuminated what Obamacare advocates did not want you to know.

The term stuck because it had the ring of truth and Obamacare has run aground, giving Americans more time to evaluate the legislation and consider what's wrong with it. It had been the Democrats' goal to ram this through before anybody, even congressmen, had a chance to read it.

To get a sense of the left's uncompromising hate for her, a look-alike collection of venomous anti-Palin essays called "Going Rouge" is scheduled to arrive on bookshelves the same day as Palin's memoir "Going Rogue." The obvious intent is to trick Palin fans into buying the bogus book.

How obsessive must your hatred be to go to all that trouble just to sabotage a book release?

The malevolent left has lately turned its smear machine on Cheney. Her crime has been her clear, logical and informed criticism of Obama's unfocused and ineffective foreign policy. Civilization's enemies have not felt so comfortable and secure since Jimmy Carter's reign of error.

Along with William Kristol and Debra Burlingame, she helped establish a Web site that focuses attention on Obama's inattention, http://www.KeepAmericaSafe.com/. The site aggregates news and commentary on Obama's feeble foreign policy. She has also appeared on talk shows and has shown herself to be a confident and informed commentator who can parry any leftist thrust. The left has responded predictably, not by addressing the substance of her arguments, but with personal attacks and name-calling.

It won't be getting any easier for lefties. Michelle Bachman is another rising conservative star. And she has five children too.

Moscow police put focus on bicycles and traffic laws

The following article ran in the Lewiston Tribune.

 As the popularity of bicycling and the number of bicycle vs. vehicle accidents continues to increase in this university town, authorities are trying to increase public awareness of safety and laws.

To that end, the Moscow Police Department recently announced officers will be focusing on violation of traffic codes specifically pertaining to riding bicycles. The laws, among other things, deal with stop-sign and traffic-light procedures, speed, direction of travel, yielding to pedestrians, passing and lane travel.

My friend, Gary Crabtree, proposed an idea that should be warmly embraced by Moscow’s progressives:

I am somewhat stunned that with the preponderance of folks on this list who look to the state for any and all answers to life's little dilemmas that the obvious solution to this problem hasn't been put forward long ago. All bicyclists must be required to take a 16 week training course, pass a stringent written test covering regulations and obligations and demonstrate competency before a panel of bike safety experts. They must submit to a full background check (with fingerprints and DNA sample) and a drug test. They shall obtain a state issued license that must be renewed every three years (with a fee adequate to cover all attendant costs for implementing and maintaining this new program) and they shall be required to carry proof of adequate insurance to cover any damage that may befall themselves as well as the scuffed paint of any vehicle they come in contact with. Surely this will put an end to the scourge or bicycle/automobile mayhem.
 
It's the only reasonable response to the problem.

Washington, Idaho Avista rates decline

Great news, especially as we head into the winter months.

From the Associated Press:

Avista Utilities customers in Washington and Idaho should see lower energy bills because of a decline in natural gas prices.

Washington residential and small-business customers will see natural gas rates cut by 25 percent starting Sunday. Avista customers in Idaho will see their rates cut 23 percent.

Regulators in both states approved the cuts this week.

In Washington, the average customer using 70 therms of natural gas a month will save $20, for a bill of about $59 a month. In Idaho, a typical customer can expect a decrease $17, for a monthly bill of $57.

Linda Pall: Wrong about Chaney

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Re-elect Mayor Nancy Chaney

One candidate for mayor has a track record of bringing economic development to Moscow, with concern for sustainability, neighborhood integrity and a sound foundation for future economic prosperity: Nancy Chaney.

I urge you to retain her balanced, fair, inclusive approach to the leadership of our city. She has involved the university and sought its assistance and support as our primary engine of wealth and prosperity in this community. She has reached out to the private sector and in a number of creative, productive partnerships during her four-year term and has created opportunities for individual enterprise and development options.

She would not agree to sell Moscow's water to commercial competitors in another state, a decision that took care, concern and political courage.

…
Linda Pall, Moscow 

But it was Chaney’s idea. And she was for it before she was against it (following the lead of John Kerry).

I wonder if that even makes any difference to the Chaney acolytes.

Here’s the details.

File Attachment: 20091021_NancyChaneyLetter.pdf (119 KB)

Mayor honored to be city's 'official greeter'

The following editorial by Mayor Nancy Chaney appeared in yesterday’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

I hope they will give Chaney’s opponent an opportunity to respond as well.

Columnist Henry D. Johnston delivers harsh criticism of Moscow's record of economic development ("Who should be Moscow's business greeter?", His View, Oct. 27), but his argument is a straw house of factual errors and misleading statements.

If he's trying to attract new businesses, he might try a different tack.

See, I thought all along he was trying a different tack: throwing Chaney out of office.

In a new take on the old lesson, "you'll catch more flies with honey," Councilor Tom Lamar likened the approach to a restaurateur standing curbside, shouting, "we serve bad food!" and wondering where his customers are. How ironic that Johnston and his bitter associates claim to support economic development, but choose to spread false and damaging rumors instead.

And Chaney is shouting “we serve no food” (or nothing but tofu, but that’s for a different post)…

Johnston distilled the mayor's role to one of greeting guests at the front door of our community. Borrowing from his analogy, I suggest the most appreciated hosts are those who have adequately prepared for their guests, anticipate their needs and make them feel welcome and valued. Ironically, Johnston seems averse to candidates who favor thoughtful planning and preparation for newcomers through fair, predictable policies, desired infrastructure and amenities.

For those who mistakenly think our economic development glass is half empty, here's news to fill it. In 2006, I was part of a team that secured a $450,000 state grant for fiber-optic connectivity to Alturas Technology Park.

Barret Schroeder responded to this ludicrous defense:

Mayor Chaney's radio ads are bragging about a fiber optic project. In fact, it was Walter Steed who wrote and administered this grant, before he was on the Moscow City Council. Steed also has been instrumental in Friendship Square renovation, pedestrian crossings, sidewalks and most recently in restoring funding for the Sojourners' Alliance shelter.

Back to Nancy Chaney’s free, pre-election editorial:

Johnston would have been well-advised to look for more illustrative examples of an anti-business mindset than one that was about public safety - not economic development. The prospective new business he highlighted wanted to locate on a congested corner of Jackson and Sixth streets, leading into the University of Idaho campus. The proposal involved a drive-through establishment, accessed across a busy bike lane and sidewalk. The outcome may not have been to Johnston's liking, but is an example of governmental checks and balances, involving the appeal process, public input, transparent deliberation and a vote by freely elected representatives, including a tie-breaker by the mayor. That's how our democratic process is supposed to work. It's interesting to note that the property involved is within Legacy Crossing Urban Renewal area between UI and downtown, now poised for exciting mixed-use development.

And we may see the democratic process throw out the bums who stop businesses from opening. For heaven’s sake, this is still America, even here in Moscow.

And of course, there’s that “little” hypocrisy of Mayor Chaney’s decision to purchase big-ticket items at a big-box store. Vera White posted about that in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

I have no problem with Chaney shopping there — go where you can get the most for your money. But I have a problem with her talking out of both sides of her mouth.

Steed supports smoking ban

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Steed supports smoking ban

It is very disappointing that Tim Brown and Dennis Deccio indicate they would have voted against banning smoking in bars. They want to continue to subject those working in bars to the dangers of secondhand smoke. No other group of employees are more at risk from the dangers of environmental hazards than workers in bars that allow smoking.

Walt Steed, on the other hand, not only voted to ban smoking in bars, but also helped strengthen the ordinance banning smoking. Please keep these facts in mind when voting Tuesday.

Bill Parks, Moscow

Thanks for the reminder, Bill. This is why I won’t vote for Steed.  

Cap-and-Trade Update

On 30 Sep 2009, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) revealed their proposal for cap-and-trade legislation.

The Senate bill calls for a 20% reduction of CO₂ emissions by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050.

Similar target levels passed the House of Representatives in June.

Do a little thought experiment with me. These are the GDP quarterly numbers during the last 18 months (this is from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis). These numbers are in billions of US dollars:

• 2008 Q3: 14,546.7
• 2008 Q4: 14,347.3
• 2009 Q1: 14,178.0
• 2009 Q2: 14,151.2
• 2009 Q3: 14,301.5

As you can see, the economy contracted 1.2% between 08Q4 and 09Q1, and the economy contracted another 0.2% between 09Q1 and 09Q2.

Here’s my point: the Dems want to reduce CO₂ emissions by 80% by 2050. Imagine the impact that will have on the economy. This last two-quarter recession will be nothing in comparison to that.

We really live in crazy times.

Climate Debt Treaty Coming

Bolton and Lord Monckton talked about the world government and transfer of national wealth that the treaty would bring. 

Obama and the Left are stripping the U.S. of its sovereignty and wealth transfer.

If it is to be stopped, it must be stopped in the Senate.

HT: Bill J.

It is Time to be Smarter Than a Government Economist

From Gresham Bouma in Viola:

Already this year 106 banks have failed as of Sunday, October 25. This should have us all wide awake, and we should be carefully considering the financial health of our country. Bank failures were 26 for all of 2008, and 3 for all of 2007, there had been none for several years before that, so 106 should invoke terror. FDIC is out of money and a candidate for bail-out itself. This is all true in spite of the hundreds of billions pumped into the banks through the TARP facility’s purchases of bank assets that were essentially worthless.

If we look around for a silver lining to these dark financial clouds, what do we see? Our national debt is standing at twelve trillion, this amounts to over $110,000 per tax-paying citizen. Our Federal Governments unfunded liabilities amount to over $105 Trillion at present. This liability is composed of Social Security, prescription drug benefits, and Medicare. In other words, this is the amount we should have saved up right now to pay for the benefits that those programs were supposed to pay out in the coming years. That comes to a liability of $343,000 per man, woman, and child in America. That would come to over $1,000,000 a-piece for the tax-paying portion of our population. In other words we have no hope of maintaining financial solvency and paying all those benefits. We are going to go through a crisis, possibly bigger than any in our nation’s history. The big question is, what will we look like on the other side of it? Will we as citizens yield even more power to our Federal Govt. in hopes of getting some of our coveted benefits, or will we realized it was a hopeless mistake to trust our govt. with our retirement plans and our old-age health issues? Will we insist that it return to strictly limited constitutional constraints or will we let the monstrosity continue to consume us? Will we let central planning determine our energy investments (as in the ethanol mal-investment), our health treatment options (as in the public option), what forms of transportation we are allowed (a publicly owned auto industry) or a host of other issues? Will we let big govt. continue its attack on small business through ever more bureaucratic requirements, regulations, taxes, and subsidies that go to keep monopoly-size business entities in power?

These trends have been growing, and not limited to one party or another. We are fed adjusted statistics and flawed analysis to give us hope in the viability of our system even as it is being dismantled. This week we are told that the recession is over because GDP went up. This is an example of propaganda at work. Like the "consumer based economy" or the "service based economy" ideas we were sold several years ago, GDP itself is a misleading indicator and certainly does not equate to healthy growth in the economy. For example, several years ago when oil prices were spiking, and Americans were struggling to pay the higher prices at the pumps, turning to their credit cards to do so, GDP went up because of it. GDP is boosted by debt driven consumption, so GDP can go up while we go broke. It is even more flawed when the spending associated with it is directed by govt. policy in unsustainable directions, as in the housing bubble. To say it another way, growing GDP can be bad or good depending on the fundamentals driving it. We will not truly see economic recovery until we see job growth that is driven by the grass roots needs of individuals (the free market), not driven by centralized planning that sends financial and human resources in unsustainable and inefficient directions. To do our "duty" of ignoring the danger we are in, to continue to accept the propaganda with nary a grain of common sense, is enabling the destruction of our system. Our only hope is to return to the form of govt. that our constitution requires, strictly limited in scope and power.

Gresham Bouma, Viola

CNN Breaking: White House says 650,000 jobs were created or saved by $150 billion in stimulus funds.

From CNN:

White House says 650,000 jobs were created or saved by $150 billion in stimulus funds.

OK, let’s do some higher-level math here.

Now there’s some money well spent.

Only the government would see this kind of ludicrous spending as being successful spending.

Blood Money Trailer

www.bloodmoneyfilm.com

Will student prez be ousted over this? Christian ignites campus firestorm on Constitution Day, faces wrath of school

The irony here is amazing.

From World Net Daily:

A California college student government president says he is feeling the wrath of peers and school administration and facing a recall election because he allowed a pro-life display on campus during the school's Constitution Day.

Each year, the Sacramento City College Associated Student Government votes to invite outside groups and speakers to participate in a two-day event on campus in celebration of the Constitution and free speech. But ASG President Steve Macias, a 19-year-old Christian student, is now subject to a recall election because he allowed the Genocide Awareness Project, a group affiliated with the Sanctity of Human Life Network, to host a pro-life exhibit.

The student government unanimously voted to allow the Genocide Awareness Project to host a display on campus Sept. 16 and 17 as part of the Constitution Day event.

The display ignited debate after photographs of aborted unborn babies offended some students.

Macias told WND Sacramento City College Vice President of Student Affairs Michael Poindexter and ASG faculty adviser Lee Weathers-Miguel pulled him out of class and demanded that he tell the pro-life group to leave campus – even though the community college campus is open to the public.

"I was in class," he said. "The administration tried to call my phone a million times. Eventually, I walked out of the classroom and picked up the phone. They said, 'Where are you at?' We need to talk to you now. I said, 'I'm in class.' They said, 'Stay there. We'll come and get you.'"

Macias said the vice president and faculty adviser told him to tell the pro-life group to leave immediately.

"I said, 'I can't tell them to leave. They have every right to be here.'"

He said the administrators responded, "Go out there and tell them to move their display somewhere off campus or turn their signs around. Tell them this isn't OK."

Macias responded, "I can't tell them to do any of that. They have every right to be here, and it's not my place to tell them what to do with their display."

He said they also told him he should have invited a pro-abortion group to the event.

"After I refused to tell the group to take it down, they said, 'We're pi--sed off about this. This is unacceptable,'" Macias said. "They said if I had invited people from the other side, this would have been OK. If I would have included Planned Parenthood in this, then it would be perfectly fine. But because I hadn't, they needed to go."

HT: Andrea S.

Avista - What it means to be a Regulated Utility

I got the following email from Avista Utilities today.

As I’ve said before, I consider Avista and its customers to be victims of the government’s price gouging.

When you go to the pump, you get to see how much of the price per gallon is going to taxes. Too bad Avista cannot do the same. Avista would have to determine the how the government’s taxes and regulations have increased the costs on the energy market. That would be a lot of work (e.g., how much lower would energy costs be if we could refine the oil beneath Alaska?).

Dear Avista Customer,

 

The cost of energy is a topic that’s important to everyone, so we invite you to join us in a continuing conversation about energy and rates.
 
Many of our customers have asked how rates are set. Avista is a regulated utility, so we can’t simply change rates whenever we want. Because we’re regulated, our rates can change only with state approval. The state utility regulatory commission conducts a detailed and transparent process whenever we request a rate change.

 

For both electricity and natural gas, one of the biggest components of rates is the wholesale cost of energy. We work hard to keep all costs low, but ultimately a major portion of the cost of energy is set by the wholesale market.

 

For natural gas, the good news is that the wholesale cost has fallen. So for the third time this year, we have proposed lowering natural gas rates for our customers. The state utility commission is considering our request so you’ll be hearing more about this in the near future.
 
We invite you to learn more and share your views, questions and comments with us on these and any other topics. Join the conversation at www.avistautilities.com/blog or email us at conversation@avistautilities.com. 

Thank you for your time and interest.

 

Kelly Norwood

Vice President for State and Federal Regulation

Avista Corporation

Nick Gier: Putting His Money where his Mouth Is

Concerning the vandalism of the American Humanist Association’s billboard on the south side of Moscow, Nick Gier wrote the following to Vision2020: 

How much you want to bet that this was a cowardly act of Trinitarian Skylarking by young Kirkers? 

I emailed Gier and took him up on that bet — loser pays $100. I recommend that it goes to the winner’s favorite charity.

This is easy money for me.

Chávez Declares Socialism the ‘Kingdom of God’

You just cannot make this kind of stuff up. Reality is so hard to satirize these days.

Every day I’m more of a revolutionary, every day I’m more socialist… I’m going to take Venezuela toward socialism, with the people and the workers…The revolution is not negotiable, socialism is not negotiable, because every day I’m more convinced that socialism is the kingdom of God on earth. That is what Christ came to announce.

—Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, El Universal

The Church of Global Warming

Michael Crichton has a great article titled Enviornmentalism as Religion.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday---these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don't want to talk anybody out of them, as I don't want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don't want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can't talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren't necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It's about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.

Where the Jobs are: The U-Haul Indicator

Mark J. Perry discusses the U-Haul indicator as one of the best measures of interstate mobility.

I've posted numerous times (here, here, here and here) about how one-way U-Haul truck rental rates reflect supply and demand in action and measure household migration patterns, resulting in high one-way rental prices that reflect high outbound demand (and low inbound demand), and low prices that reflect low outbound demand (and high inbound demand).

Now MSN Money reports on this phenomenon in an article "Where Jobs Are: The U-Haul Indicator".

I’ve been following the U-Haul Indicator discussions for about 4 years on various economic blogs. Now the MSM is picking up on it.

Reagan Backs Goldwater

Forty-five years ago yesterday, that is, at the 1964 Republican National Convention.

It became known as “The Speech:”

This idea that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream — the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.

After the US is fed up with Obama, will the country be ripe for a tertium quid?

Where will we find another Reagan. Ron Paul? Sarah Palin?

HT: David Boaz

Down syndrome genocide

From the U.K. Telegraph:

An increasing number of pregnant women are being told their babies have the condition because of a growing number of women putting off having children until their 30s and 40s and improvements in screening, doctors say.

And around nine in ten women who are told they are going to have a baby with the problem opt for a termination.

And this is progress?

Top Obama Aide Blasts Fox News While Ducking MSNBC Question

Actually, she’s stumped about the MSNBC question.

Obama inks defense bill with hate crimes provision

From MyWay:

Trumpeting a victory against careless spending, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a defense bill that kills some costly weapons projects and expands war efforts. In a major civil rights change, the law also makes it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation. 

I'm trying to figure out what the defense bill has to do with federal hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

Right-Mind Rankings

I just checked in over at BlogNetNews to see what this site’s ranking is.

They’ve put up a new chart tool that shows the influence ranking graphically. Right-Mind is still #1 for six months running.

Thanks for reading and contributing!

1. Right Mind
2. Ridenbaugh Press
3. Idaho Falls Today
4. Adam's Blog
5. Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News
6. The Boise Guardian

Gallup Poll of Interest: Conservatives outnumber moderates, liberals

Recent polls of interest from the Gallup Organization:

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

Let’s hope that the 76% conservative-moderates can hold the 20% at bay until the 2010 elections.

Gallup Poll of Interest: U.S. Diabetes Rate Climbs Above 11%; Could Hit 15% by 2015

Recent polls of interest from the Gallup Organization:

U.S. Diabetes Rate Climbs Above 11%; Could Hit 15% by 2015: The percentage of American adults reporting that they have been diagnosed with diabetes continues to climb, with 11.3% of Americans in the third quarter of 2009 saying so, compared to 10.4% in the first quarter of 2008. Obese adults are three times more likely than non-obese adults to say they have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Another downside of socialized medicine.