Why Me? Why Me?

In a quote-without comment (on my part) item from today's WSJ Best of the Web:

"Why Me? I'm So Complacent!
In a USA Today op-ed, Tom Krattenmaker of Portland, Ore., "a writer specializing in religion in public life," puzzles over why a terrorist would consider bombing his city:

For several good reasons, many of us Portlanders are having a hard time wrapping our minds around the horrific thought of a 19-year-old from the local suburbs wanting to kill and destroy. Why would Portland, of all places, be the site of a terror attack?

The "People's Republic of Portland"--so dubbed for its liberal ways--seems so utterly different from New York, Mumbai, London, or the other places that one associates with terrorist attacks. Portland is so much smaller, light years from the figurative front lines. This is a laid-back city where the red-hot rhetoric around terrorism, Islam, the "ground zero mosque," and the like runs cooler. It's a place where a live-and-let-live spirit extends ample latitude to anyone who might otherwise stand out--whether it's for wearing a Santa hat and pedaling around on a unicycle playing bagpipes (which my wife actually witnessed last year), covering every inch of your arm with tattoos, or wearing a head scarf and praying at a mosque rather than a church or synagogue.

This guy really needs to get out more. Portland is liberal, welcoming of weirdos, and munificent toward Muslims, and he thinks that sets it apart--from New York? And how self-absorbed do you have to be to think, almost a decade after 9/11, that terrorists won't target you because of your "live-and-let-live spirit"?"

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703296604576005542958085686.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

To Where in a Handbasket?

As Portland goes, so goes the rest of the state. Well, here's a new report that shows where Portland is going economically and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the state.

Basically, a new economic study shows that Portland has gone from near parity with other big Western cities in the 1970s to way down the list when it comes to income. The report notes:

"The sobering report says Multnomah County, the state's main economic engine, ranked second from last in private-sector job creation among 194 Western counties and five multicounty areas from 1997 to 2009. Per capita incomes in metro Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis exceed those in greater Portland by 16 to 21 percent..."


Interestingly, the Clark County, Washington area just across the Columbia showed more growth than Portland. Surely it couldn't be all the state and local taxes could it? Nah - and don't call me Shirley!


Portland officials can blow smoke all day long about "green jobs" and the "creative class" but at the end of the day, more high-paying manufacturing and other jobs have left than have located here and Portland is becoming a green version of the Rust Belt cities of the East and Midwest. I would remind them mold is green too. 

www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/portland_area_wages_job_creati.html

A Penny for Your Thoughts?

As it turns out, Obama's commitment to reducing the deficit isn't worth even a penny. Take a look at the video and get a very graphic view of how big the deficit really is and the itsy bitsy, teeny weeny austerity measures pledged by the administration.

wimp.com/budgetcuts/

(Tip 'o the hat to Al Lyons)

Proof of the Dems Great Job with the Economy

No Gas for You!

A new study finds that the gases used for surgical anesthesia have the same effect on global warming as a million cars. I guess that means I can drive an SUV to the hospital but I can't be put out for my surgery. Well, no price is too high to protect the polar bears! Al Gore, we'll be watching the next time you get cut.
 
www.express.co.uk/posts/view/215352/Global-warming-What-a-gas-surgery-is-now-being-blamed

Mystery Missile Shot

A couple of weeks ago someone popped a missile about 35 miles offshore from Los Angeles. It was filmed by a television helicopter that happened to be in the area. Some have tried to brush it off as a jet contrail. Some alarmists said that it was fired by a Chinese missile sub as a warning to the U.S. I think the real story is starting to emerge and not surprisingly it was one of ours.

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is tasked with providing accurate navigation for the U.S. armed forces. www1.nga.mil/Pages/Default.aspx In late October this agency issued a notice to mariners of "intermittent missile firings" in the eastern Pacific off California. www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235013  It is undoubtedly a coincidence that the area where this missile was launched was directly off the Navy's Pt. Mugu sea warfare test center which describes itself as a:

" ... unique coastal location offers an isolated area, which encompasses 36,000 square-miles of fully instrumented and integrated sea test range for the testing and evaluation of weapons and aircraft systems. San Nicolas Island, 60 miles offshore, further extends this coverage and provides an airfield for launching full-scale target drone aircraft and an emergency divert aircraft operating on the range."

Thus the launch site was well within the 60-mile boundary of this facility. So what's going on?

The U.S. has been worried for a long time about the growing anti-satellite capability of a number of countries, China chief among them. Our military is heavily dependent on GPS navigation, satellite imagery, and satellite communications links. It would be a real problem if several of our satellites were taken out by an adversary, particulary in the early stages of a conflict. What to do?

My guess is that the answer was tested a few weeks ago off Pt. Mugu - a nav sat launched from one of our ballistic missile subs. This explains the copter sighting, the notice to mariners, and the reluctance of the government to talk about it. Such a satellite and launch capability would allow us to pre-position these nav sats around the world on our ballistic missile subs and as soon as one was needed, up it would go. I am open to other interpretations of what happened but this fits the facts better than anything else. It's also a great idea.

Glo ... I Mean Climate Change Conference Held in Cancun

Bet you didn't know that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is being held right now in Cancun, Mexico. Why Cancun you say? Well, why not and besides, it's c-o-l-d in much of the rest of the world. Oh I forgot - it's "climate change" and not "global warming" any more. But we still know what it really means, don't we? So hoist a margarita or daiquiri to the rest of us freezing our tooties off in the nether regions of the world not yet affected by the name-that-cannot-be-mentioned!
 unfccc.int/2860.php