Voting in Rural America

2011-10-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Today two incompatible and irreconcilable philosophies — freedom and socialism — compete for our nation’s future and the stage is set for one of the greatest debates in the history of the American Republic.

October 8, 2011
A Second Term for Obama Would Make the United States Go as California Has Gone
By Rep. Tom McClintock

Note: Congressman Tom McClintock delivered the following speech to the Council for National Policy:

Second Term for Obama would make the United States go as California has gone!

Here is a very clear written description of Why "Anybody But Obama" ( ABO ) is imperative for 2012 Presidential Election. I, myself, Like Herman Cain for President because he is not a politician. Herman tells it like it truly is.
Herman Cain Website

I also frequent this independent website for ideas on how to support Herman Cain.
Nerds 4 Cain website

My question that I hope you comment on is this: "You can convince me on your point of view (ideas) with facts, figures. But give the same information to a Liberal voter, and they will continue to spout back their feelings, opinions, and non-sensible ideas. How would one frame an argument or 30 second speech to reach the mind of a Liberal voter, who is convinced that Obama is leading us in a good direction and would vote for Obama in 2012?"

It seems as long as a person has a job, gets paid every two weeks, and can pay the mortgage or rent, the car payment, the food and other bills, that they don't pay much attention to political information. When that same person gets a pink slip and starts to look for a job and finds none out there that will pay his mortgage, that he is more likely to engage his mind to understand facts and figures. (ie that the government spent too much money and is going broke!) Until that time, he will continue to follow the democratic talking points. What do you think? Comments Please!

I was out trucking in the Midwest during November 3, 2010 election night and was amazed to see republican state legislatures and governors win! I wondered what happened in California. Why they picked a politician Jerry Brown over a woman Meg Whitman who actually ran a Billion Dollar business? I wonder how high does unemployment need to be (or how big a California State deficit, 28 billion dollars?), before voters will change course and vote for republicans and fiscal responsibility. I guess 12 percent is not enough. How about 15% or 20%

I remember seeing the signs posted in the farmers fields about how the government locked up the water and made the land a desert again! (No Water, No Crops, No Food, No Jobs, No Money)
What were they thinking about? As a 2012 Voter, use your mind to learn the facts and figures and make your best choice! Learn from California's mistake and don't repeat it in your neighborhood.

Fred Finster

ps. Why Vote for Herman Cain. Read this Blog.
Nerds 4 Cain Blog 689

Herman Cain is drawing voters to him seemingly out of nowhere. The stories are countless of people that went to a straw poll event intent on voting for someone else, hearing Herman Cain speak, and immediately changing their vote. Once people hear Herman Cain, they love Herman Cain. His clear and powerful speaking ability draws supporters to him. The highest voter intensity rating, charisma, a powerful speaker—that’s the formula for a winner. If a winner is what you’re looking for, why not Herman Cain?

Herman Cain says, Wall Street Protesters need to get a job

Comments from www.redstate.com

I agree with your second point. The country is tired of Obamanomics. If Steve Jobs tried to start Apple today, it would get strangled in the crib by regulations.

It takes 6 weeks to open a burger restaurant in Texas. It takes 2 years to open the same restaurant in California because of all the regulations.

NickDeringer

Log in to Reply
Concrete examples, not meaningless slogans.
Common_Cents Monday, October 10th at 12:41PM EDT (link)
“It takes 6 weeks to open a burger restaurant in Texas. It takes 2 years to open the same restaurant in California because of all the regulations.”

Exactly right. This stuff gets peoples’ attention. Not, “let’s put America back to work again”, duh?

Leaders don’t create movements. Movements create leaders. Get involved. Your future depends on it.

Govt “invests” YOUR tax money for POLITICAL return rather than economic return.

2011-04-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hope and Change working for you? with rising gas prices and rising food prices? Post your protest vote with a Yellow Sticky Note.
See this Facebook Page for an example and a nice video.

FaceBook Hope & Change Yellow Sticky Note Event

This is definitely a grass roots campaign idea to encourage others to think when they fill their gas tank or buy food at the store.

Here is the www.redstate.com Original Link with still camera pictures of Yellow Sticky notes on Gas Pumps, Store Shelves, Hot Pink Bowling balls.
Sticky Yellow Note Pictures and article

Note from RabidCaveman :
Just read this article, and I would have NO PROBLEM with these notes, in either of my stores.

Guerilla warfare, along with the constant bombardment of these sticky notes, can only educate those who eat food, drive vehicles, and drink liquids, even though they vote for the enemy.

Note from Common_Cents says:
Many people do not see the connections between stuff they read online/paper about DC policy Fed policy, taxes, inflation etc…and their own lives. They talk about the stuff or ignore it like it is another planet.

The disconnection is what the DC elites want. Like hiding tax collection forcing gas stations to collect it, forcing employers to collect it etc….

These type of direct links from wallet to Obama are powerful.

Our strategy should be strongly linking the two in a tangible way.

2011-04-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

I enjoy using Linux Mint 8 Helena Operating System on my computer. Now I can purchase a T-shirt to advertise Linux Mint to my friends.

Here is the direct link that I googled for purchasing a Linux Mint Polo Shirt. Select your country, then you will arrive, to purchase your T-Shirt with worldwide shipping.

Buy Linux Mint Polo Shirt.

Linux Mint Polo Shirt

Linux Mint T-Shirt

Wear Linux Mint proudly!

Want to help advertise/sell Mint T-Shirts on your website?

http://hellotux.com Main webpage entry. I enjoyed looking at all HelloTux products. Buy an LinuxTux labeled cooking apron for your summer barbeque.

Linux Mint 8 Helena start page Linux Mint 8 Helena start page
Linux Mint Home page
Announcement Here at Mint Blog Linux Mint Blog announcement of Polo Shirt availability

I like Polo Shirt / T-Shirts, you might also enjoy them, too. Alrighty Then, Fred

2011-04-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

April 14, 2011 Filling out Fillable 2010 TAX Forms from the Government Using Evince PDF Viewer on Linux Mint 8 Helena. Check out www.pdfescacpe.com if you cant FILL in the PDF fillable form from your linux desktop with Evince Viewer. My Federal 1040 form file f1040.pdf worked great in Evince, but My State form Oregon 40S I could not fill in the form blocks, so I punted and used the website www.pdfescape.com A Free PDF Fillable form Website that allowed me to print out my Filled Form and also save it to my hard disk for future printing.

Below is a list of othe Links and tools that I found.

http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/PERTAX/formspit.shtml Oregon 40S tax form download
http://www.pdfescape.com/open is the webpage I used to fill out the Oregon Tax Form 40S.
http://www.irs.gov/ IRS website to download 1040 form from.

QPDF is the program I downloaded to try to take decryption off from the file.
http://qpdf.sourceforge.net/
http://qpdf.sourceforge.net/files/qpdf-manual.html

Evince worked with the Federal 1040 form, but not with the 2008 Oregon 40S form. What Gives?

http://library.gnome.org/users/evince/stable/forms.html.en

Article about filling out Canadian TAX Revenue Forms
http://www.roadtocanada.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=172 Saving Fillable Forms
http://rubypdf.appspot.com/pdfdecrypt.html PDF Online password remove.

i * remove restrictions on any secured PDF document (you should have the right to do it, for example, if you forgot the password). Any Acrobat version up to 9 is supported, even with 128-bit AES or 128-bit RC4 encryption. PDF restrictions removal is an instant process. Unlocked file can be opened in any PDF viewer without any restrictions so you may edit/copy/print it.
* remove the PDF open password. Decryption of the file with password for opening is guaranteed for PDF files Any Acrobat version up to 9 is supported, even with 128-bit AES or 128-bit RC4 encryption,but you must know the password first.

Four methods to creating Fillable Forms with Adobe Acrobat. Found PDFEscape.Com
Website from this link
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2651735/four_methods_to_convert_pdf_forms_into_pg3.html?cat=15

Found this from germany abuot filling out Tax forms that are encrypted to
keep you from saving your work or printing out with your filled in values.
http://blogs.gnome.org/muelli/2010/12/bafog-pdf-and-evince-decrypted-pdf-documents/

Linux Magazine article about PDFTool Kit and filling out Tax forms with FDF.

http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/53701
http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/
http://www.paehl.de/pdf/gui_pdftk.html

Open Tax Solver 2010 version 8.05
http://sourceforge.net/projects/opentaxsolver/
tiny description
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Office/Finance/Open-Tax-Solver-10645.shtml

Chase Bank Routing Numbers
https://www.chase.com/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/smallbusiness/shared/page/routing_number

2010-10-24T00:25:00.000-07:00

Hispanic American citizens are turning out to vote Republican.

Joel invites you to vote for Republican candidates in place of following what you have done in
previous elections, i.e. voting for Democrat candidates. See Dr. Manny Alvarez video below.

I find it interesting to listen to a small business man ( a christmas tree farmer), paying his fair share of tazes to the IRS and losing his house to foreclosure in the down economy of 2009, because the IRS took money directly out from his bank account.
How did the IRS find him? Joel is a legal naturalized citizen and has a proper legal social security number. When you open a bank account, you have to provide a SSI number and current address to follow the proper legal banking regulations. Joel is dissatisfied that for ten years he paid taxes into the IRS for the government, but when he needed help, no one helped him during his economic difficulty. Yet, if he was an illegal alien, and unemployed, the Department of Health Services (DHS) would have been right there to help him. Seems so unfair. People that are lazy and choose NOT TO WORK, get help. Those that have worked long hours everyday for years, get NO HELP at ALL. Yet, Joel Leal, chooses to follow the law, be legal, and do the right action for this situation he finds himself working through. Yes, it hurts sometimes to select and follow through on the right, legal action. But each separate citizen obeying the law passed by our government in his community, makes life better for all of us together living in these wonderful United States of America. Let's choose good candidates for Public office with our vote Today!

Vote on November 2nd like your way of life and freedom depends on it... BECAUSE IT DOES!!!

A vote for ANY liberal, represent a vote for the destruction of Capitalism!! Just ask Obama and Soros!!!

Dr. Manny Alvarez - Proud Hispanic Republican Fires Back at Harry Reid on Fox News Interview! on YouTube. Manny says you can be a
thoughtful person and select to support the Republican Party. You should not be called stupied for, "Making an informed choice!"

Fred Finster 503 400-9106 Call me with your ideas and suggestions for this Blog Post. Or Please Post a comment below.

Hispanic American citizens are turning out to vote Republican.

Restaurant owner Juan invites you to the Taqueria 7 Estrellas Restaurant here on 87th St. and Center just Southwest of Dollar Store and JoAnn Fabrics west of Hall Blvd in Tigard Oregon.

Call 503 747-0864 for take out.

View Larger Map

Democrat candidates voted for Obama Health Care plan, which includes higer taxes, higher health care costs (not lower), more government regulation, and less friendly business environment, This means less job creation in small businesses! So literally, a vote for a Democrat Candidate, could result in 6 months as a vote that caused YOUR JOB to be eliminated in the business where you work, while the business works to stem costs. THINK ABOUT IT! YOUR VOTE COUNTS.

Vote for republican candidates on your ballot today and we will see change on November 2nd!

A referendum, not an election

Next Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010, is not Election Day. It is Referendum Day.

Articles, Videos, and websites about Hispanic Republicans.

Viva La Reagan Revolucion 'Our Principals ..' from somosrepublicans webmaster Alex political commentary. Our Core Principles are to support the Right to Life, Free Market Capitalism, Low Taxes, Small Government, Second Amendment, Traditional Marriage, and a Humane Immigration Reform that fits our Free Market economy and labor.

Republican National Hispanic Association. website
Local Dallas Texas Hispanic Republicans Voice Support for DREAM Act

Somos Republicans in Arizona Oct 14, 2010 ... The NYtimes framed this prediction as a sign of how dissatisfied Hispanics are with Republicans over immigration. On the other hand, ...
Hispanics Republicans of Texas website, please see their video encouraging Hispanics That introductory video from their website is uplifting., Hispanics constitute the largest single growing community in Texas and have a profound impact on this state. They contribute to our economy as job creators, they contribute to the armed forces through their patriotism and they contribute to our democracy with their vote and public service.

Great Article about Latinos and SB 1070 and Jan Brewer from this letter, We believe United States Hispanic citizens have a right to be safe in their person from illegal searches and seizures, and we believe Pearce’s efforts are violating that. SB 1070 is a direct slap in the face to Hispanic Americans who have fought and died for several American wars because this new law can be abused by authorities to pull us over with mere “reasonable suspicion”.

Texas versus California on Business friendly taxes.

Candidate Websites and OregonLive Voter Guide

OregonLive Guide to help you select your votes, can print out your selections or email to yourself. Very Helpful
Faith 2 Action voter guide
Faith 2 Action OREGON voter guide

Chris Dudley for Governor Campaign website

Rob Cornilles for US Representative 1st District
Gordon Fiddes 4 Congress Oregon House District 35
Gordon Fiddes Facebook

Sample Ballot for Tualation Oreogn

J M Browning of Axe Men History Channel Show, letter to President Obama.

Share Joel with your Friends via a SMS cellphone Text Message.

Send free text messages!

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2010-05-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

Vote the Lemmings Out!
Cartoon Drawing created by Jay M. Browning Astoria Oregon Axe Men Logger.

Here is Axe Man Logger Jay Brownings thoughts and cartoon drawing.

Logger J.M. Browning Letter concern for the economic recession on Small Business by the Government policys
This letter was published in the "Letters to Editor" of the March 2010 issue of Loggers Worled.

Logger J.M. Browning Phoenix Cartoon Drawing on the Stimulus Bill

J. M. Browning Reply to Representative District 31 D-Clatskanie Brad Witt

Oregon State Website for Representative District 31 Brad Witt

What are your thoughts on how to eliminate (vote out the lemmings, April 2010 issue Loggers World), Michael Crouse (editor of Loggers World and Log Trucker) .

Vote out the Lemmings!

Perhaps most bizarre is the “march of the lemmings” we are witnessing as the congressional majority worms its way through approving legislation on what is quaintly referred to as “health care reform,” which the vast majority of Americans are vehemently opposed too. The ideologically driven agenda has little to do with the reform that's needed, and has ballooned to a behemoth of complexity sure to feed bureaucratic health for decades to come.
The legacy to our children is unprecedented in its debt and unlike any left to future generations in our nation's history.
We pray that people are sufficiently inflamed and motivated to push the lemmings over the edge and out of sight. The key remains finding candidates with some sorta of sanity who will in fact carry their convictions on the election trail on into their actions once elected.

The Lemmings.... (email note from Michael Crouse)

I had lived in what is now the Wu congressional district, although that's been 25 years ago now. Even at that point in time, the district was strongly influenced by the start of "political correctness" cancer that has given us the rabble we now have in congress.

Its difficult to talk financial constraint when the district is populated by folks who have little fiscal constraint in their own lives. Its possible that audience may be fiscally conservative and do not spend beyond their means, however its more likely they in fact buy into this politically correct cancer that is consuming the nation.

At a guess... as i've not given this particular district any thought since moving to Washington in 1984... my first appeal would be to our children, grandchildren and others in future generation who are being spent to the poor house by their parents. There is no free lunch, never had been, never will be. The best way to fix that is electing people who have a back bone, can say no to spending, thus no to new taxes, make priority spending decisions that in fact will eliminate levels of government and governmental employment. This is NOT the message that government workers wish to hear. Nonetheless its the message that will bring government sprawl under control IF we have the courage to elect someone with the courage to be very unpopular for doing the work that needs to be done.

The colleges, and schools will not like this at all. Nor will federal, state, regional, or county government. Nor will the legal community who feeds up to their bellies and beyond at the public trough. The campaign then will likely be pushed to "fair" versus good management and public policy designed to benefit the public rather than the minions dependent on public employment.

Winning is demonstrating to the voting public that presently it is their ox being gored, and it is costing not onlyi their children's future but their grandchildren's as well.

Wu and the Democrat leadership were handed the reigns by the Republican parties spending, borrowing, and growing government, rather than controlling and stopping all of those things. The Republicans need to actually demonstrate they will not lose all memory of constraint, and commitment to sound management and controlling government girth and actually doing the bold deed and stopping it. I assure you from experience, you do not get loved for eliminating programs and re-ordering priorities. A lot of very smart people dedicated to largess will fight it tooth and nail to the death.

However, our future depends on it. Freedom depends on it. The collapse we saw in the Communist block came because they ran out of other people's money, just as Greece and Spain are experiencing currently. We'll meet that same fate if we continue on the Obama-esque route. I agree in hope and change... but we need to do this with the idea of what is best for the country rather than this or that constituency.

Crouse

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Finster
To: logworld@aol.com
Sent: Mon, May 24, 2010 8:14 am
Subject: Hello Mr. Crouse, Hope your cold is better this week.

Mike, yes keep the deadlines happy first :>) and I do hope your nasty cold has mellowed out. Hope to hear your thoughts on "Voting the Lemmings" out in November.

Sincerely,

Fred Finster
503 400-9106
wb7odyfred@yahoo.com
http://voting-in-rural-america.blogspot.com

p.s. My candidate for Oregon Congressional District 1, John Kuzmanich and the other candidate Douglas Keller won 56% of the total (14,567 + 14,245 = 28,809 votes) versus Rob Cornilles 41% ( 21,113 votes) so John and Doug split the vote and Rob won. I believe either Doug or John would have been a better US Congress representative than Rob, but now I must support Rob Cornilles to eliminate David Wu ( the incumbent lemming for Congressional District 1 who has been in for many years) in the November General election. The question being ( 51,300 versus 74,800 votes) will the Oregon voters choose the new guy Rob Cornilles, or keep the lemming they know David Wu.
What are your thoughts on how to eliminate (vote out the lemmings), Michael.

Oregon State May 18th 2010 Primary Election results

Republican
Votes Percent

_________________ _________________
Douglas Fitzgerald Keller
14,567 28.36%
John Kuzmanich
14,245 27.73%
Stephan Andrew Brodhead
1,192 2.32%
Rob Cornilles
21,113 41.11%
Write-in Votes
245 0.48%

_________________ _________________

Totals: 51,362 100%

Democrat
Votes Percent

_________________ _________________
David Robinson
13,880 18.54%
David Wu
60,705 81.08%
Write-in Votes
288 0.38%

_________________ _________________

Totals: 74,873 100%

It might be possible for Rob Cornilles to win against David Wu for CD1, if Rob supports cutting government.

Other Links to visit
You Cut Taxes web
Good Video presentation from Dino Rossi for WA Senate
Brandon has a great message Cut Government

Hear from their own mouth.
Notes on how to win in a digital world.

2010-05-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Remember 66 and 67 institute a 10% Tax on Gross Revenue of the business, not the NET profit after expenses. Say you have a wholesale business that buys $100,000 dollars of products that you resale and distribute for a GROSS REVENUE of $120,000 dollars The tax from 66 & 67 will cost you 10% or $12,000 to send to the state of Oregon, Leaving you $8,000 of profit. Will you stay in business long? How do you modify your business methods to generate that lost profit you need to stay in business? Charge more for your product? Less customers will buy from you when you raise your prices, further deflating your profit, while the state of Oregon continues to TAX your "GROSS REVENUE" If you business survives on a razor thin margin of less than 10%, after paying 10% TAX to the state of Oregon, where is the profit and reason to stay in business. There is none! Time to close the doors or move your business out of state.

Today I am finishing out my Oregon mail in ballot. With an eye to Taxes.

2010-05-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Blog of Helios: Austin Group Prepares for Linux Against Poverty.

Linux Against Poverty June 19 2010 is building a couple hundred computer for kids in Austin Texas. I think this is a great Idea and needs some support. Maybe we could do something like this here in the Portland Oregon Metro Area.

AlThough the prices at Green Century recycling with the Linux Mint 7 preloaded are more than resaonable.

The Green Century Recycle Center in Portland south west waterfront
SBK Recycle $36 1.5Ghz 512MB Linux Mint 7 ---- $70 2.8Ghz 1Gbyte Linux Mint 7

6932 SW Macadam, Suite D
Portland, OR 97219
503-998-5357

Beaverton Oregon $50 ubuntu Linux computer
EcoBinary LLC
8260 SW Nimbus Ave. BLDG 3
Beaverton, OR. 97008
PH: 503-887-9790
email: recycle@ecobinary.com

OK Computers used computer parts, sales & service
Tel: 503 895-6653
4040 S.W. 114th Ave. Beaverton OR 97005
Great service good prices.

Puppy Linux to the rescue!

Barry K's Puppy Linux around 105Megabyte Linux Distro. Can even be installed to a 128 Megabyte Flash Drive

pick one of these puplets here from the NEWs section

Need a spanish Puppy Linux.

Molinux Zero 2.0 is based on Bobby 1.0 which in turn is based on Puppy Linux 4.20. Go to the download page.

Molinux Zero 2.0 se basa en Bobby 1,0 que a su vez estÃ¡ basada en Puppy Linux 4.20. Ir a la pÃ¡gina de descarga.

Molinux Zero can operate in old PC - it will operate in minimum 166Mhz processor, 32Mb Ram + Swap (64MB recommended), + 20 x CDROM drive and hard drive.

Molinux Zero puede funcionar en PC antiguos - que operarÃ¡ en el procesador de 166Mhz mÃnimo, 32MB RAM + Swap (se recomiendan 64 MB), + 20 x unidad de CD-ROM y disco duro.

For feedback, visit the Forum.

Para comentarios, visite el Foro.

¿Qué es MoLinux?

MoLinux es una iniciativa de la JCCM para introducir a la comunidad castellano-manchega en la vanguardia de la Información. El proyecto MoLinux ataca la brecha digital reduciendo los costes del software y ofreciendo un sistema operativo fácil de usar. MoLinux es un sistema operativo general. Pronto estarán disponibles versiones modulares adaptadas a usos más específicos

Use any Linux for a high quality computer user environment.

Check out Puppy Linux.

2009-05-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

While heading east on I-84 in Eastern Oregon,I stopped in La Grande Oregon to eat breakfast at 6:37 am in the morning at the local SmokeHouse Restaurant 2208 Adams St. 541 963-9692. I ordered the SMokeHouse Lite Breakfast ( 2 sausage, 2 bacon 2 eggs, 2 rye toast) Many other customers were eating breaksfast too. I asked about the local economy, and was told that Boise Cascade Lumber Mill was clsoing up. I had picked up a load of Lumber last August 2008 when they had a 7:00 am meeting discussing the shut down and layoff of the 2nd shift workers. At that time after getting a load of lumber on the Salem Express Truck #05 , an International 9200 model, and strapped down, I wrote a list of web addresses that I felt would be helpful, if I found myself out looking for a job
Helpful with his "Get out of Debt' 'Total Money Management' and 'Financial Peace University' programs. to create business cards to hand out for your side jobs (use OpenOffice Writer select New --> Business cards) and to also create and update your resume for searching for new jobs.

So now Boise Cascade is closing down to get rid of the union jobs and opening in Pilot Rock as non-union. Maybe some time in the future to come back to La Grande. What would you do if you had worked in the same job for the past 15-20 years at Boise Cascade. There is no other large industry in town. The RV manufacturer is closing down also because of the slumping RV sales.

Later we stopped at Vern's Elk Creek Enterprises Old Highway 30, 890 Elm Baker City, OR 97814
(541) 523-3439 to see if they had used chainsaws for sale. No used chain saws for sale, because May 1st the federal timber land was open for firewood cutting. With the slow economy, everybody and their brother was out cutting firewood. They had new chainsaws for sale, and lots of customers saws on the floor with tags finished being repaired waiting for pickup.
Vern mentioned that the saw mill in Baker City had be closed for a few years now, so the loggers were not buying new saw and selling their older used chainsaws. The environmentalists were also trying to shutdown the Cement Mill because of concerns for tiny amounts of mercury being released in the air from the mining of cement. Mercury is in the rocks being mined. The Cement Mill brings in over 9 million dollars a year into the local eastern Oregon economy. If it got shutdown, then where will the jobs come from? You tell me? Travel over to Eastern Oregon and spend some money to support the local economy. I watch as Oakridge Oregon 40 miles east of Eugene is dwindling down to Coffee Houses, Motels, and one restaurant since the local lumber mill closed up. Oakridge has an industrial development park for several years but no company has moved in to the industrial development park. It just stands empty! So I figure looking at Oakridge will be the model for what will happen in La Grande Oregon after Boise Cascade Lumber Mill closes down. The La Grande waitress mentioned that the mill workers after losing their jobs can get upto 26 weeks unemployment, but then after that time they would just have to pickup and move somewhere where there is a job.

Becasue of the Lumber slump, Wyerhauser Mill in Dallas Oregon closed down just recently too. I spoke with a couple men with grey hair just like me, at the Dallas Worksource Oregon office, whose jobs had just ended at Wyerhauser Dallas plant.

So you be careful and thoughtful of WHO YOU VOTE FOR, you might unintentionally VOTE yourself into unemployment. Realize this --> No company selects to open for business where they pay high taxes. It becomes a bad business choice! So be careful if you support a candidate for public office who supports higher business taxes. YOUR JOB COULD END when the company closes from a lack of profit! Yet the government will still ask the public to vote for higher taxes, for new programs, while you sit home without a job. Remember The people voted for ballot initiatives 66 and 67 here in Oregon, and are now watching the jobs leave Oregon or just go away from higher taxes.

Remember 66 and 67 institute a 10% Tax on Gross Revenue of the business, not the NET profit after expenses. Say you have a wholesale business that buys $100,000 dollars of products that you resale and distribute for a GROSS REVENUE of $120,000 dollars The tax from 66 & 67 will cost you 10% or $12,000 to send to the state of Oregon, Leaving you $8,000 of profit. Will you stay in business long? How do you modify your business methods to generate that lost profit you need to stay in business? Charge more for your product? Less customers will buy from you when you raise your prices, further deflating your profit, while the state of Oregon continues to TAX your "GROSS REVENUE" If you business survives on a razor thin margin of less than 10%, after paying 10% TAX to the state of Oregon, where is the profit and reason to stay in business. There is none! Time to close the doors or move your business out of state.

2006-10-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

From the stump column page 2 October 2006 Log Truck Magazine

by publisher/writer Micheal P. Crouse email: logworld at aol dot com

A potential election house-of-horrors?

Mid-term elections are notorious for low voter turnouts because they generally fail to capture the public's imagination, but this year the media is yet again salivating at the thought there may be a return of their… whoops, forgot how unbiased the media is so strike that… the return of the Democrats to power in the House of Representatives. While we can be thankful this isn't a slam dunk certainty there is a potential, and it's a potential that would be greatly enhanced should voter turnouts be low. There are a few reasons for this.

First and foremost, the media has spun their very best in support of their party, the Democrats. Now granted, the Republicans are some of the very worst publicists on the planet, seemingly unable to convey the plan, or actively engage in the debate when they're being criticized, for the most part hoping it will just go away. No explanation means people's imagination, fueled by the opposition, is allowed to wander and exaggerate beyond all reason. Not the best way to approach a problem or have your direction understood.

Second, the Hollywood gaggle, where people who pretend being someone else for a living, will speak from a prepared script about what they think, over a host of the world's issues. Certainly they're entitled to their opinion, and they perform well in front of the camera (that is, after all, their primary talent)… but informed, independent thought given media precedence due to their fame? Ugh!! That has far more to do with television ratings, than informed choice. To no one's surprise, a host of experts from Dr. Meryl Streep, to Dr. George Clooney, and Dr. Tom Cruise giving their time supporting their favorite Democrat candidate or cause on the national media.

Yet in spite of the barrage of bias from the “enlightened” and anointed in the media, the past few elections have come out considerably different than projections… proving two things: 1) the media has the power to distort and 2) you cannot fool a majority of the people all the time.

The critical element is turnout of voters whose vision of government is limited in size, scope, and spending. That turnout has been present the past several elections and the results, much to the chagrin of the national media, shifted national priorities from the socialistic myopia of the past to the more optimistic view of limited and local government of the future. That was the vision, but it was a vision that has fallen short of its promise in that once they were settled into power in the lofty perch of Washington D.C. many settled into the spending habits of old,, seeming to endorse government's growth, and uncontrolled budget largess.

Faced with similar behavior from a party who collectively seems to have lost its way, re-enforced by a daily barrage from a media interested only in emphasizing failures while ignoring successes, many voters are tossing up their hands in disgust and considering just not participating. Good strategy were it to generate positive change, but unfortunately, it is a strategy which assures a regression to bigger government, contempt for local control, and total disregard for private property rights and accountability.

Looking at it from another point of view, you are trading access to the process to being locked out of the process… with the potential for disaster being elevated completely out of sight. Not voting, not participating, not communicating, is not the means to a positive change. It is a means to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), amongst other disasters such as Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY).

Contemplate for a moment what this change would do for our country and our collective and individual futures… then after you've cleared your stomach, pass this thinking along to all of your crew, friends, family, and associates… and remind them of the importance of being involved and voting.

Are we disappointed in the progress made the past several years? Of course… spending remains out of control, and we have a growing plethora of federal agencies staffed with highly paid bureaucrats whose sole purpose seems questionable at best, and while each party talks about it, no one seems willing to actually change anything. But there has been a shift, albeit minor, from the extreme left, which had become the accepted norm for decades. Private property rights is at least on the radar screen, the states individual interests occasionally see the light of day, and there are some in the judiciary who have some passing interest in the letter of the law rather than the whim of the judicial activist cry of the moment. And while progress has been painfully slow, at least it is progress with some fleeting interest in those of us who live in rural America at long last.

Certainly, things could be better, much better. The best path towards improvement comes from being involved in the process with those who at least recognize there is a rural America, and that we have a substantial impact both on the economy and independence. Do you seriously believe that would improve, were the balance of congress to regress to the oppression of the past?

Keep this reality in mind: If you choose not to participate by voting or being involved in the coming election you are submitting to the will of the urbanites who've given us the MTV generational mindset, bigger government, and thousands of pages of law over the past several decades that have chased business from our own shores and eviscerated rural economies. Do you really want to return to those times? Not voting, and not participating is precisely an action through inaction, surrendering your will to the will of the opposition that fervently believes private property is a quaint notion whose time has passed.

Make it your personal mission to be certain everyone you know, work with, deal with, and are acquainted with, registers and votes in the coming election. Vote as if both your and their future depends on it… for it truly does.

Transitions

The past month took me to the Midwest for a week, then to the southern Oregon coast. Most notable in the Midwest was the difference in fuel costs, from what was $2.99/gallon of regular in the Pacific Northwest to $2.31-$2.41 in Indiana and Kentucky… 60+ cents per gallon. Not having talked with any truckers on that swing, I have no idea of the differential in diesel prices, but the difference for gas was pretty amazing. What accounts for the difference is unknown to me other than I strongly suspect there are more refineries up and operating in the Midwest than in the West. That may not be a factor whatsoever, but the certaintly is when the West groans about fuel prices being higher, there is (or was at the time of this column) at sixty-cent differential between the two.

The trip to Reedsport was particularly memorable in that the makeup of that community has changed extraordinarily in the past decade, in much the same manor as many rural, resource based communities have changed with the change of national natural resource management policy.

For all the prattle of the politicians, and the eco-industry, two decades after the nation's shift in public lands policy, rural communities such as Reedsport, Oregon have taken the brunt of the reality in effectively gutting the area's economy. The economic argument attracts no interest from the urban-based media, and thus no interest from the public in general, but the results are undeniable in the economic and demographic makeup of rural America. This hit home when I drove by what had been a paper mill built in 1962 in Reedsport, and weas being dismantled for scrap about a decade after it ceased operations. It was striking in that the mill was relatively new, and that with its departure went several hundred family-wage jobs associated with the mills operations, to say nothing of the supporting businesses that in turn were dependent on that mill for trade. This in an area totally surrounded in all directions by trees. The same fate came to a lumber mill in the area.

Reedsport is some distance from the more populous metropolitan areas, very far from the media, and generally speaking out of sight and out of mind. It serves as a tourist area presently, which is good for business in that time of the year when tourism thrives… the rest of the time, it is just quiet, as its economy is now based on tourism…. Ho hum.

But the effect was beyond the jobs and industry, also affecting the school population, where the high school had supported graduating classes of 160 students, today's population is roughly half of that, a direct result of their being a dramatically smaller economy, which does not support any quantity of family wages.

Similarly, fewer jobs result in fewer opportunities and a resulting departure of younger people finding far greater opportunity in the metropolitan areas where the economies aren't under such severe attack by zealots. When you lose your youngsters, you've lost much of your area's future viability. It is more subtle then assaulting an area's economy, but the end result is the same: reduced opportunity, losing your youth, losing the innovation and lifeblood of the youth, and leaving but a shell of a community in its place.

What was striking in Reedsport was its paralleling many areas of rural America where for the social designs of a few, the dreams of many were forever altered, and lives forever changed. Those who could have thrived and greatly contributed in so many ways to our American way of life based on small community life and values and instead thrust into the vagueness vacuum of the metropolitan areas.

When you vote, and please make a point of voting in November, remember the many unintended consequences thrust on rural America by the politically righteous whose sense of social outrage is so vastly hampered by terminal social myopia. Their unintended consequences, which we have witnessed the past few decades, have resulted in a social, economic, and ecological change that has benefited precious few outside the legal community, and been directly responsible for changing lives, and our standard of living. Every time I hear some of the socially “elite” spout off over their social “compassion” I think back to the thousands of acres orf burned, wasted, and rotting timber, the communities void of youth, and the difficult time one has in finding employees of any sort in rural America.

Compassion in the liberally afflicted is limited to the blinders required to live in a large city where you don't know your next door neighbors, yet have the gall to make believe everything you read, without actually exploring the America that existed when rural America was recognized as a worthwhile place to live, rather than a “nice place to visit.”

Remember that, and vote accordingly. Talk is cheap.

Podcast MP3 audio file of the text above,
is here
Google Map for Reedsport Oregon. See the trees all around?