Election Commentary

Unlike other years and other elections, I have not made any predictions for any races in this election, or generally made my personal preferences known publicly. In Port Orchard, because I have to work with whomever is elected, I've really attempted to keep the races there at an arm's length — except for endorsing Carolyn Powers for re-election, because I believe her experience, and political connections are invaluable to the City.

In spite of an ongoing attempt to draw me into the Amy Igloi-Matsuno-Fred Chang contest by a couple of Chang's more strident and vitriolic supporters, I have refused to take a public position.

However, when this election is over, I will have some very pointed commentary about candidates, winners, losers — and their supporters.

Stay tuned.

Some Serious Food For Thought...

This is a video clip with some stunning statistics about where technology is heading. Definitely worth your time.

An Interesting Video Clip...

This has been sent to me by at least 10 different people in the past 48 hours. It is Congressman Mike Rogers' opening statement on health care reform and was taken directly from the House floor. It's interesting if you're concerned about the health care debate, and runs about 4 minutes. Worth a watch.

Sgt. Joe Friday Dispensing Advice

Click here to see the legendary Sargent Joe Friday (Jack Webb) give President Barack Obama some pragmatic advice on health care, and here for a lesson on respect for the police. Well worth a couple minutes of your time.

And here to see him advise Timothy Geithner on taxes...

Not to mention Sargent Friday talking to Roman Polanski about sex with children...

Or talking to some teenagers...

And finally, a lesson about Old Glory...

Simple Math

A vehicle that gets 15 mpg and is driven12,000 miles per year, uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline. A vehicle at driven getting 25 mpg and driven 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

So, according to our governemnt, getting rid of each average "clunker" will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim that 700,000 'clunkers" have been removed from our roads, saving us 224 million gallons of gas per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil, which is approximately 25 percent of our daily consumption.

At $75 a barrel, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars.

Meaning, we all (read taxpayers) contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million.

And these are the same people who want to run our health care?

Remeber these facts when you hear their estimates of what the new health care plan will cost us (read taxpayers, one more time).

Common Sense Health Care Reform Explained

This is perhaps the most articulate, common-sense article I have read about the entire health care debate, and sums up very succinctly how I feel about it.

It was written by John Mackey, Co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, and originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Just In Case You Care About The King County Executive Race...

This was originally posted on Sound Politics, but since Brad Owen has a local connection and Brian Sonntag was elected statewide, it may be of interest to some of you...

Ex-Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman & Lt. Gov. Brad Owen back Susan Hutchison

by Ron Hebron

An elected Democrat and a long-retired elected Democrat gave their support to Susan Hutchison for King County Executive. The race is officially nonpartisan, but everyone knows the alignment of the candidates.

Lt. Governor Owen is pretty conservative for a Democrat, but he has been elected to his state-wide office. State Auditor Brian Sontag has also endorsed Susan.

Uhlman was Mayor of Seattle from 1969 to 1977 and the loser to a surprise upstart marine biologist Dixie Ray Lee in the 1976 Democratic primary for Governor.

Seattle P-I coverage of this story

In the King 5/Survey USA poll Hutchison leads by a narrow 47% to 44% margin.

Appeals Court Overturns Kitsap's Critical Areas Ordinance

The fact a Washington State Appeals Court has overturned Kitsap County's onerous Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) does not surprise me at all. I was a member of the Kitsap County Planning Commission when the CAO was rammed down our throats by the County.

The DCD Director at the time, Cindy Baker, routinely ignored numerous reasonable questions, especially the ones related to "Best Available Science," and why expanded buffers were necessary, when no new science had been brought forward to justify them. The County also ignored numerous other issues brought up by Planning Commission members.

For example: If a wetland buffer was determined under the CAO to be 150 feet, but a county road intersected the buffer at 100 feet, did the buffer cross the road or not? And if so, since the road negated the impact of the buffer, did this mean the county was in violation of its own ordinance or not? And if so, was it required to move the road?

Those were actually real-life examples of existing conditions - several that include major arterials intersecting mandated buffers. However, DCD Director Baker, under heavy pressure from then Commissioner Chris Endresen, was simply focused on meeting a deadline to get the ordinance passed - in spite of the fact the Planning Commissioners had not received anything even close to answers to most of their questions.

Without going into a lot of boring detail about what and why, the majority of the Planning Commission voted against adoption of the CAO in a 6-3 vote. All of the Planning Commissioners appointed by Endresen voted for it, and everyone else voted against adopting the CAO as written, saying it needed more work, and warning of exactly what has happened.

Yet in spite of the Planning Commission's warning, Endresen and current Bremerton Mayoral Candidate Patty Lent voted for the ordinance anyway, while then Commissioner, and now State Representative Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard), voted against it.

Thought Provoking Video

A friend sent me this a few minutes ago. SOME of you might enjoy it, while it will just piss off some others...

Responses To Obama's Health Care Speech And More

Here is the link to tonight's health care speech by President Obama.

Here is a link to a thoughtful response from a Republican legislator from Louisiana who is also a heart surgeon. This makes the most sense of anything I've heard yet. Also, check out the story that accompanies the video.

Here's the "official" Republican response to Obama's speech from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. The first 6 minutes or so are just a lot of blah, blah, blah, political blather, but he gets into the meat of it after that - worth watching.

Watch them all and decide for yourself.

And if you doubt that MSNBC has been reduced to anything but a shill for the Obama administration, check this out.