How High Can We Go?

Gasoline in England has shot up to $9.67/gallon and promises to go higher with the trouble in the Middle East.  www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/26/Gas-shoots-to-967-a-gallon-in-Britain/UPI-78851298704546/  Oregon is not there yet but I did see premium yesterday at $3.76/ gallon and a chunk of that is for taxes.

Did you know that Oregon was the first to tax gas at the pump in 1919? It also has one of the higher gas taxes in the country as shown on the map in the attached article with a combined state/local/federal rate as high as 56.4 cents/gallon. That's about 15% of the price of each gallon. Something else that is interesting to note is that with the exception of North Carolina and Florida, all the high gas tax states are true blue Democratic politically. Also, if you correlate job growth with gasoline taxes it ain't the red states on the map shown here that are growing. An inverse relationship between high taxes and economic growth perhaps? Hmm... what a novel thought!

www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/02/0225oregon-gasoline-tax/

Foto of Farms a Felony?

I am not a big fan of PETA. In fact one of the most enjoyable episodes ever involving PETA was when a PETA supporter in a fish costume showed up at a professional bass tournament to harass the contestants as they brought in their fish for weigh-in. He got himself clocked  in the nose by one of the contestants eager to get his fish weighed and ended up in the water looking like a carp in trouble. Do not mess with bass fishermen! Nevertheless, a bill introduced in the Florida Legislature by a Republican is just plain silly.

The bill makes it a crime to take pictures of a farm without the farmer's permission. It is aimed at preventing PETA from making films about allegedly inhumane (really, "inhumane"?) conditions for farm animals. Besides being flagrantly unconstitutional, it's just stupid and hands PETA and its fellow travelers something to discredit legitimate agriculture in the ongoing PR battle. C'mon guys, don't play into their hands!

fltrib.com/photographing-cows-or-other-farm-scenery-could-land-you-jail-under-senate-bill

Wind Bags

Ze Zeppelin returns! If I saw this baby at night and did not know that it was in the area I would definitely do the Close Encounters thing and file a UFO report. The Pentagon likes it and has ordered a 300-footer for use in Afghanistan as an observation platform. It can be remotely piloted and sit on station for weeks at 20,000 feet checking out anything that moves below.

While the military applications are obvious, the more interesting application is moving freight. It can lift 20 tons, which is about the same payload as a C-130, and doesn't need a runway. A new version that can handle 100 tons is being developed. This could revolutionize freight delivery to remote locations. Even across the ocean with high - but not highest - priority cargo, it could deliver rapid service with big payloads. I suspect that FedEx and UPS are already looking at the technology for this and other applications. Like the movie says, Back to the Future!

www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1357747/Airships-Pioneering-Brits-heralding-dawn-new-Zeppelin-age.html

Please Pass the Tartar Sauce

Even sea lions can tell that government isn't serious. Stellar sea lions have been munching away on salmon at Bonneville Dam for 10 years and have now decided to vary their menu by crunching sturgeon. Both fish species are being depleted yet the Feds and the courts go on wringing their hands. Just for the record, these seals haven't just found a good gig and eat only as needed - they are killing for fun, whacking salmon and now sturgeon with reckless abandon. It is long past time for these few bad actors to get whacked themselves. The word will get out surprisingly quickly that Bonneville isn't such a great gig after all.

www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/02/stellar_sea_lions_munching_stu.html

Multiculturalism for Dummies

If you, like me, are having some trouble making sense of multiculturalism, then head on over to PJTV and take a look at Andrew Klavan's helpful explanation. Enjoy!

www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=80&load=4988

Why I Don't Belong to the American Bar Association

Oregon lawyers must belong to the Oregon State Bar Association which is ultimately supervised by the Oregon Supreme Court. Membership in the American Bar Association (ABA), though, is voluntary. ABA membership is great for writing off trips to exotic destinations to attend educational seminars, getting gilt-edged certificates to hang on your office wall to impress clients, and other such important benefits. ABA executive ranks, however, have long since been taken over by leftists that use the prestige of the organization to support all the usual leftist causes and therein lies the problem.

A current example is the ABA executive council organizing a task force to assist opponents of anti-Sharia laws being passed in many states. Islam does not believe in a separation of church and state, which is a bedrock Constitutional principle of the United States. Iran, in contrast, is run by the mullahs who ultimately call the shots on all things religious and political under the Sharia law system. For example, chopping off the hand of a thief, killing a female family member who has brought "dishonor" to the family by falling in love with an infidel, and other similarly intriguing concepts of justice are hallmarks of Sharia law. Substantial Muslim populations have sprung up in England and Europe and they are agitating for Sharia law to be the governing law in their communities. Now some Muslims in the U.S. are actively pushing for the same thing here to supersede the current state and municipal law that applies and 14 states are pushing back by passing legislation that absolutely forbids it. It is the push back from the states that the ABA executive council is going to fight.

The absurdity of this position is manifest. How about Buddhist law for Asian areas, Catholic law for Irish areas in Boston and Chicago, Shinto law for Japanese communities, etc., etc.? The national motto of the United States is E Pluribus Unum - from the many, one. The left, however, is trying to deconstruct America in whatever way it can. One of our central unifying values as Americans is a common legal system that applies to everyone in this country regardless of race, creed, color or national origin, so what better way to bring the U.S. down than to subvert that system?  It is ironic in the extreme that an organization supposedly dedicated to the rule of law is busily working to destroy it. It is also why, when my annual invitation to join the ABA arrives in the mail, I will unceremoniously drop it on the "round file" under my desk.

www.cnsnews.com/news/article/american-bar-association-executive-counc

The Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.

Many nations in the Middle East are in play politically and it is anybody's guess who will end up in the driver's seat in the end. Certainly democratic elements are playing a prominent role in the turmoil in several countries. Iraq has set the template and although it is imperfect, it has provided a model to hope that Arab democracies are possible. There are also the forces that would like to turn the page back to the 5th century and establish an Islamic caliphate. Chief among these players is the Muslim Brotherhood. What most Americans are totally ignorant of is how active the Muslim Brotherhood is in this country.

The FBI has been quietly investigating the Muslim Brotherhood for several years and the results are disquieting. Jihadists with suits and ties have penetrated Washington, DC and its political class and their aim, as set out on their own words, is to lay the foundation for an overthrow of this country from within. Their primary tool is the same that always works with politicians: money. Also in their favor is the current mindset of political correctness, which they are not shy about using.

There is certainly no need to panic but there is a growing need to be informed about what these people are up to. Our Constitution allows freedom of religion but it does does not allow religious organizations as a front for treason against the United States.


www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=266725

Man Bites Dog!

Here is a story that I thought I would never see:

"Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has urged business groups to counter union efforts to defeat his budget, which cuts spending by $3.7 billion."

I was shocked, shocked when I saw this report in the Wall Street Journal. There actually are big state Democrats (New York - Cuomo) who want to get their budget under control and are willing to buck the public employee unions! Perhaps progress is beginning to be made after all. But then there's Oregon.

The same article also notes that Oregon public employee unions spearheaded the pro-Measures 66-67 push that was designed to avoid budget cuts, contributing 75% of the campaign funds. They were successful but soon found out that revenues were only about half of what was expected. Amazingly enough companies and higher income individuals knew that they were not welcome and left. Kitzhaber's new budget is 8% higher than the last biennium, so he apparently hasn't got religion like Cuomo. It remains to be seen if Oregon too will have to really bite the bullet or we keep adding taxes and more and more people and businesses move out of state.

The Wall Street Journal article is a good review of states who are starting to get serious, led by New Jersey and Wisconsin. It cannot happen soon enough for the economic viability of this country.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576105760131773034.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Causing a System Crash

The Cloward/Piven strategy was named after a pair of sociologists from Columbia University in the 1960s,  They were committed Marxists who wanted to crash the welfare system to precipitate a "blue screen of death" for the U.S. as we know it. Their shtick was to pile people on to the welfare rolls until the system broke down under its own weight, in turn causing a societal crisis and conditions for a Marxist overthrow. The New Order would be a system much more simpatico for all good progressives. Their strategy worked for awhile, but fortunately there was a big blowback from the folks who pay the bills and welfare reform was ultimately passed and signed by President Clinton. The key points to remember are: overwhelm the system and Marxists because we are seeing a reprise today.

It is apparent from what the Democrats did when they controlled Congress and the White House and with the new budget submitted by President Obama, that they are not interested in economic recovery. Their plain strategy is to overwhelm the economy with deficit spending in the hope that it will collapse, leaving the way open for a socialist/Marxist state. The flood of deficit dollars is primarily flowing to the Democrat's government and private union allies who will be the ones actually manning the barricades if things do get as bad as they hope. Using Cloward/Piven II, they hope to institute a new order presided over, of course, by themselves as the Ruling Class - the Enlightened Ones. The Nancy Pelosi era in the House gives you some faint idea of what this might look like. Why so many believe that a socialist state would be any better this time around than in the past is a mystery, since it has never worked anywhere on a sustained basis for even 100 years.

Government doesn't do economics well because it has no incentive. A private company has to keep its customers happy and run efficiently or it goes out of business. Government does neither. It simply requires people to use its services (think health care) and if it runs deficits, it just prints money and raise taxes/prices (think the US Postal Service). Without even a 2-party system to keep the politicians honest, the situation gets worse and worse until it gets so sclerotic that a thriving black market develops as a workaround and even so, the whole system ultimately grinds to a halt (think the late and not-so-great USSR). The general populace does not do well in a socialist system.

The cynical view is that the Ruling Class wannabes don't believe that things will be better for most folks - just that they will be in charge. That answer does have some historical validity. Such magnificent moments in history as Mao's Great Leap Forward, Stalin's Gulags, and Hitler's Auschwitz, Belsen and others garden spots come to mind.  "They" know better and it will be different this time. Sure.

As a Ruling Class becomes entrenched it also enjoys special privileges and immunities from the grim situation that it imposes in the name of the people. Power has its perks and this is something to grasp firmly as well.

Many people pushing for revolutionary change think that they will be on the inside when the New Order emerges and be the "doers" rather than the "do-ees.". The dirty little secret is that they are wrong. Lenin called such people "Useful Idiots." Historically the Ruling Class is a small cohort and the Useful Idiots get themselves shot, sent to Siberia, or other similarly glamorous postings.

For the rest of us a massive state security apparatus is the prescribed course. More rules, regulations, violations, administrative hearings - all to keep you in line. Look for new Federal quasi-police agencies. Obama has already hired 16,000 IRS agents for his health insurance plan. Does that ring any alarm bells for you? Health insurance and IRS agents are not terms that normally go together. It is also not an accident that Democrats and "progressives" want gun control so badly. Americans have always had an independent streak which, when combined with guns, does not bode well for such an American KGB or the Ruling Class.  In fact, many of the military and police would probably join the citizenry which is a further conundrum for the Ruling Class. They're working on it.

Freedom is something that must be zealously guarded or it will be lost. You can lose it by invasion, or by selling out for a mass of pottage, or by indulging frivolous Utopian ideas that will never come to fruition, or by simple neglect and indifference. Classical thinker Edmund Burke said that "Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." Evil people are afoot in this country and around the world. America has been the Land of the Free and an ideal for the rest of the world for 235 years. It is going to take some hard work by a lot of good people to keep it that way.

www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/the_clowardpiven_strategy_of_e.html

Answered Prayer

If you have read my blog, you know that I am a huge Five Guys hamburger fan. They came to Salem last year with a store on Lancaster Dr. NE but it was still something of a trip out there. No longer! A new Five Guys will be opening in South Salem at the old Izzy's at Commercial and Vista SE in June. How cool is that? Answer: Very! I promise I will walk up there and back to get something of a calorie burn going before indulging.

Why Am I Not Surprised?

The Oregonian has what it calls a "truth-o-meter" to analyze politicians' claims for truthfulness. Today's column, though, makes me think that the meter itself needs to be re-tuned.

The claim examined is that Gov. Kitzhaber's new budget is 8% more than the last budget and rates it a "barely true." Huh? Reporter Shawn Lindsay concedes that side-by-side the old budget was $13.5 billion and the new one is $14.7 billion. Case closed, right? Well, no. He says that since Oregon actually spent more in the last biennium than it is for the new 2-year cycle, thanks to the Feds pumping in $1.3 billion that it didn't really have either, presto chango - even though we will be spending more Oregon dollars, we will be spending less, and that means the budget has been cut! That is logic that only a liberal can follow. Jabberwocky. Consequently, I am awarding my new award, the Best of Bologna, to Shawn, the Oregonian and its truth-o-meter. Congrats guys!







www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2011/feb/18/shawn-lindsay/shawn-lindsay-says-john-kitzhabers-budget-proposal/

Today's Namesake

St. Valentine is the patron saint of love, young people, and happy marriages, and also bee keepers, epilepsy, and various and assorted other things. Did you know that he was beaten to death and then beheaded by Roman Emperor Claudius II in 270 A.D. when he refused to renounce the Christian faith? Have a Happy Valentine's Day but don't forget the man for which it is named.

 www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159

And the Connection Is?

The Oregonian has a story about possible Federal budget cuts that could impact Oregon. The Ports of Garibaldi and Umpqua could lose their funds for dredging. The Suicide Hotline could run short of funds; ditto the Portland Housing Authority. The questions that needs to be asked is: why are these Federal concerns? I mean, why should a farmer in South Dakota pay to dredge the channel in Garibaldi. or build low income housing in Portland? The only item mentioned in the article that really is a Federal interest is moving the NOAA Pacific headquarters to Newport, as that is a national research project. Yes, it will be tough to absorb some of these cuts because we have been taking Federal fiscal crack for so long and their will be withdrawal symptoms, but we have to get our financial house in order or that won't be anymore house at all.

www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/plans_for_federal_budget_cuts.html

So Ted, What's Really on Your Mind?

Under the category of "Capitol Notes" the Oregon Legislature is in session (Oh Jeez!) and Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli was clearly having a bad day when he responded to a letter writer from Greece writing him to save the wolves as follows:

"Are you kidding?" he wrote, incredulous that a foreigner would try to get involved. Then he added: "By the way, perhaps I should be writing to EU ministers to stop bailing out Greece. Clearly it has become a haven for morons.

"Go away!" 

www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/ferrioli_to_greeks_i_offer_my.html

While I have some sympathy for his response, and it's true that there aren't many votes to be had in Greece, this is a letter that in retrospect he might have better to let sit on his desk overnight and gone back to it the next morning when he was a little fresher.

Dude!

Amazingly enough I once surfed. We lived on Maui for a year and I became proficient, if unlikely to win the Pipeline Masters Tournament. My biggest wave was a 14-footer at Honolua Bay and it was plenty big to inspire real respect on my part. "Jaws" at Ho'okipa on Maui's northeast shore, however, is an entirely different order of magnitude. In the winter Jaws can break 40 feet and up. Pioneered by Laird Hamilton and his posse, this place is only for the best of the best and even then it helps to be moderately suicidal. Now along comes this new guy, Chuck Patterson, who skis - yup, skis - down the face of the giants at Jaws. Take a look at the video - it really is quite amazing.

www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/24197/chuck+patterson+stuns+surfing+world+by+skiing+massive+waves/

Oregon Company Corners Wasabi Market

Green jobs - bah humbug! Beaverton Foods is the kind of business that produces jobs without public subsidies or much hoopla, and this product is green. All that is required is that government stay the heck off its back! The company has positioned itself to be the biggest wasabi producer in the country and also produces a number of other niche food and condiment products that are excellent. Their Sweet Hot Mustard is a staple at our house and the creamed horseradish is excellent with prime rib. We will look forward to trying their fresh wasabi when it rolls out.

www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2011/02/beaverton_foods_takes_on_national_wasabi_market_from_its_factory_in_hillsboro.html

Why the NY Times is the Newspaper of Record

The Best of the Web in the Wall Street Journal shows why the New York Times has earned this august title:


'Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate

The following correction appeared Sunday in the New York Times:
An article on Jan. 16 about drilling for oil off the coast of Angola erroneously reported a story about cows falling from planes, as an example of risks in any engineering endeavor. No cows, smuggled or otherwise, ever fell from a plane into a Japanese fishing rig. The story is an urban legend, and versions of it have been reported in Scotland, Germany, Russia and other locations."

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576134273113211948.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

 No, I am not making this up.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

So-called "green jobs" are at the center of Gov. Kitzhaber's strategy for jump-starting Oregon's economy. Is there really the pot of gold in green jobs at the end of the rainbow that he seems to think? Columnist Debra Saunders says think again.

Massachusetts celebrated the opening of Evergreen Solar's  manufacturing plant in 2008 and all the jobs it would bring to the Bay State. The state had pumped $43 million of economic development funds into this project to get it off the ground. Last month the company announced that it was moving the whole shebang to China. Pot of gold becomes pot of clay. Saunders reports on a similar story in California.

Her caution - and one with which I agree - is whether it is wise public policy to subsidize "green" companies with oodles of public dollars and then have them offshore their manufacturing operations. Green energy cannot be produced at a comparable cost in most cases to existing energy sources. Neither can green products be produced here at anywhere close to the production cost in China and other countries. Perhaps it's time to develop our own energy resources and quit buying oil from Arab sheiks and Venezuelan thugs, as well as ending throwing scarce public dollars over the rainbow.  


www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110209/OPINION/102090412/1049/Americans-must-realize-solar-energy-not-our-savior

Cuban Missile Crisis Deja Vu

I was 12 years old in 1962 when the U.S. and the Soviet Union squared off over Soviet IRBMs based in Cuba. At the peak of the crisis the U.S. was fully mobilized and I remember asking my dad in the backyard one night if we were going to war. He was a WWII vet and his eyes were troubled when he replied that he really didn't know. Fortunately, Khrushchev blinked and the crisis receded as the missies were removed. Solomon said there is nothing really new under the sun and regarding foreign missiles in this hemisphere again, he may well be right.

Reports are beginning to bubble up to the surface that the Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is cooperating with the Iranians to base their IRBMs in Venezuela. The article below is by the U.S. Attorney for New York and he thinks it is certainly within the realm of possibility. From there, they could hit a good portion of the U.S. and if they complete their nuclear weapon development, large mushroom clouds could accompany their use.

What is particularly scary is that we are exceptionally vulnerable to EMP - Electro Magnetic Pulse. Basically, two nuclear warheads going off about 300 miles up over the center of the country would fry all our computer chips and life as we know it would grind to a halt.There would be no cars, phones, computers, electricity, television, mass scale food production, medicines, etc. The U.S. military has equipment that is "hardened" against this threat, but that does the rest of us little good. The death projections are really scary from an EMP hit and Ahmadinejad would revel in doing Allah's will. Hugo would laugh too. Pearl Harbor is a  historical fact. Let's not repeat history ourselves by ignoring these cockroaches.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574400792835972018.html

Super Witness

Aaron Rodgers, the Packer's quarterback, kept his cool yesterday when his receivers went on a pass dropping spree in the middle of the game. Eventually their hands came back on line and the Pack beat the Steelers to win the Super Bowl and Rodgers the MVP. What you may have missed in all the hoorah is that Rodgers is a strong Christian with a consistent witness. We are called to give witness to Christ in all circumstances and yesterday's events were pretty sweet for him. Win or lose, though, I suspect he would have handled either with equal grace. May we all do the same.

townhall.com/news/religion/2011/02/02/super_bowl_aaron_rodgers,_other_packers,_looking_to_follow_jesus_example

Let the Drones Fly Forth

Here's an interesting idea to help jump start the Central Oregon economy. A drone flight test corridor is being proposed for an area roughly bounded by Bend to the west, Burns to the east, and Lakeview to the south. Drone testing can be difficult because of crowded skies around urban areas - running a drone into a 737 or a Cessna is not a great idea.  Some private pilots are concerned about conflicts, but having driven throughout the area of the proposed corridor I can say with certainty that there ain't much out there and conflicts would be minimal. It should be possible to negotiate the boundaries to satisfy everybody. Bringing in aerospace companies from all over to test their UAVs could be a real economic boon to Bend and other Central Oregon communities. Oregon could do worse than being known as an aerospace test center.

 www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/02/central_oregon_airspace_targeted_for_start-up_drone_testing_plans_but_idea_worries_private_pilots.html

It Wasn't My Fault

The last 2 + years have been brutal economically. It is the worst that I have personally experienced since the recession of the early 1980s and actually it's worse because we were digging out of that recession by now. Chuck Colson's Breakpoint column today says that a new report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission states that it was all "avoidable" and the cast of characters to blame is large and wide. Consider.

First, there's government. The Federal Reserve could have adopted prudent mortgage loan rules and didn't. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowed $75 for every $1 in equity and jumped into the sub-prime mortgage market with both feet. Of course, they were egged on in the by Barney Frank in the House and Chris Dodd in the Senate.

Wall Street gets a big share of the blame. Selling sub-prime mortgage-backed securities without enough information to inform its investors was one charge. Merrill Lynch didn't disclose how shaky its internal finances were to potential customers and investors.

Banks jumped into the sub-prime mess too and borrowers lined up for the loans hoping to "flip" a property and pocket a bucketload of cash. I remember one person who cashed out their retirement account to do this with condos in Portland. Couldn't miss. Did. Ouch.

The bottom line - character still counts, and in all sectors of life. We cannot laugh at morality and then be surprised when people act immorally. They did here on a massive scale and we are now paying the price. I hope we have learned, but the jury is still out.


www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/16341

And They Lived Happily Ever After

Way back on July 11, 2009 I posted on a new "progressive" labor provision that the then-new Democratic Congress was trying to cram down the throat of FedEx. If passed, the legislation would have allowed any local with a grievance to shut down the company nationally. The times they are a'changin, though, and the new Congress, with a Republican House and a closely divided Senate, easily killed this proposal yesterday, stripping it from an FAA funding bill. It's so nice to have adults back in charge.  May their ranks continue to grow.

www.airportbusiness.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=42572

Help Wanted; Oh Never Mind

It seems that state funding for breakfast for needy Colorado school kids was going to run $125,000 short under the budget of the new Republican governor. A local Colorado Springs newspaper columnist challenged the many Christian non-profits headquartered in the area and local churches to step up and put their money where their mouths are regarding "widows and orphans." To their credit, they did. Of course, a grateful state government said a big "Thank You!" Well, maybe not so much. Instead it said the matter had to be studied, the numbers crunched, Legislative authorizations made, harumph, harumph! The Christian groups are holding to their course and are confident they will overcome the obstacles to helping  the kids get breakfast. C'mon Colorado, I thought this was about the kids?

www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=258949

Dost Thou Speaketh Jabberwocky?

Jabberwocky is a poem of total nonsense read during her travels by Alice of Wonderland fame. Here is a sample:

 Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe

It is also startlingly similar to the news reports screaming about the "devastating" budget "cuts" Gov. Kitzhaber doled out to the press yesterday. Let's start with the word "cuts." Actually, there is an 8% budget increase over last year. What??!! www.kgw.com/news/Kitzhaber-to-release-budget-recommendations-115011639.html Well, then, que es la problema?

La problema is that the Legislature smoked some Federal fiscal crack during the last biennium to the tune of about $1.8 billion and spread it around like expensive caviar to fund all sorts of things that they couldn't pickpocket from Oregonians' pockets. Unfortunately the dealer cut off the crack (being broke too) and it's a heckuva hangover now that the party's over. Tough love, tough love. Now that you know the real story, when you start hearing the Governor and his minions bemoaning their predicament with references to "slithy toves" and the dire consequences that will inevitably cause  "gyre abd gimble in the wabe", you can in good conscience smile sympathetically, put your hand over your wallet, and walk away as fast as you can.

Chicago Melts Down

OK, maybe not. This is Chicago today. Al Gore said that it is perfectly explainable by global warming. Note the comment in the window. It applies to Al's comments too.
 
www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/al-gore-global-warming/2011/02/02/id/384742