The respective mayors of Vancouver and Portland announced an agreement yesterday concerning the Columbia River Crossing, the project to replace the aging spans between the two cities known as the Interstate Bridge.

The mayors of Portland and Vancouver say that a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River should have 12 lanes.

They also propose a bistate commission to manage the new bridge, along with the Interstate 205 crossing upstream, including tolls, high-occupancy lanes and transit fares “to reduce vehicle miles traveled and pollution.”

So over at NPI Advocate, a poster named Brock raises concerns about how all this is going to cause more sprawl, destroy farms, etc. Basically they’re the same concerns voiced by some folks in Portland about a “huge” new bridge, with a fair amount of focus on the number of lanes on the bridge itself.

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WTF? I swear I was just going to ignore the guy, but really.

When Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered the official Republican response to President Obama’s speech last night, he blasted elements of the economic stimulus package as “wasteful spending”– among them, “$140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’”

“Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.,” Jindal said.

What was that all about? Well, Congress authorized some of that $140 million to be spent on volcano monitoring, but not all of it, ProPublica notes in a blow-by-blow of the economic recovery package. That line, ProPublica says, is directed to “U.S. Geological Survey facilities and equipment, including stream gages, seismic and volcano monitoring systems and national map activities.”

Just another Republican idiot. You don’t hear Democrats calling NOAA “wasteful spending.” See, here’s the thing–Louisiana is full of our fellow American citizens, and I’m happy the federal government funds research and prediction efforts regarding tropical storms and hurricanes. It’s a necessary and rational function of the government, just like having the USGS monitor volcanoes.

Good lord. Guess Jindal never heard of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, some 45 miles or so as the crow flies from my location. It was in the news and everything at the time.

UPDATE 11:15 PM PST– Now Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard, a retired military officer and no shrinking violet, has weighed in (via CNN. com:)

“Does the governor have a volcano in his backyard?” Royce Pollard, the mayor of Vancouver, Washington, said on Wednesday. “We have one that’s very active, and it still rumbles and spits and coughs very frequently.”

—snip—

Pollard, a former Army officer who has served as Vancouver’s mayor for 14 years, said USGS equipment used to keep tabs on volcanoes is frequently damaged or destroyed. He said he wasn’t sure how many jobs the money could produce, but, “For us and the people who live closer to it than Vancouver, it’s important.”

“We lost lives the last time, and we could lose them again,” he said.

Not continuing to subsidize a polluting business that closed down part of the operation for which it was given a subsidy in the first place is crazy! Or so says Don Brunell of the Association of Washington Business in his weekly advertisement column in The Columbian. (Still waiting for that weekly labor column from the paper. Yeah….)

The state budget may be horrific, but the bidness guys and gals gotta have their cut, even if they are from Canada. (Nothing against the fine regular citizens of Canada.)

I don’t know why liberals don’t understand the free market better, it’s really pretty simple. First a Columbian reporter writes an article highlighting a modest proposal from Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, then an editorial appears from Don Brunell or another writer, then the free market continues giving a foreign company tax breaks. Econ 101, people.

I say aim the budget ax at the wee kiddies instead, the little monsters. The ingrates certainly don’t deserve clean air, let alone instructors.

I give the non-SOTU speech a grade of “B.” Lots of good stuff about education, health care, energy and foreign policy, but he’s still not really dealing with the pressing question of the moment, namely what to do with the insolvent large banks.

Whether this is because he’s going to outfox the Tranche Class in the end or because the Tranche Class is well represented in his administration is not known. Yeah, sure, it’s all about utilitarianism, but since everyone from Greenspan to Krugman is saying what needs to be done, well, you know, it needs to be done. Not sure what bigger platform Obama could have had.

Obama explains things well in a lot of ways, and can form sentences. It’s rather jarring after all this time. The president is not a buffoon! Hurrah!

Also, it’s fun to watch Republicans look at each other and go “darn, we have to stand up and clap or we look like even bigger uncaring jerks.” The distaste on some of their faces was priceless. They looked like a bunch of old southern white guys in suits.

Apparently the Murcan People Who Play By The Rules, which is most of us, are Furious At Those Who Live Beyond Their Means.

Those people being, of course, the working poor and middle class who got ripped off with variable interest mortgages, outright fraud and assorted criminality. They are The Undeserving Who Must Be Blamed As a Class, because Grandma Millie should have realized her mortgage agent might forge her signature and stick her with an ARM, and she really should have realized that the whole tranche thing was a house of cards supported by the ratings agencies, and unless she’s a complete moron she should have known that Uncle Allen was creating cheap money to make up for the tech bubble bust, thus creating a classic bubble in housing.

I don’t know about you, but I freakin’ hate Grandma Millie, she’s scum and I don’t want to help her because you know I am one heartless bastard. Plus she didn’t learn a damn thing eight years ago when we shut off her electricity, the poor old dear.

Tranches, even though rarely discussed, are very very cool though. The Tranche Class will now be put in charge of saving all of us, live on CNBC.

It’s not class warfare if the sewage flows downhill.

Some scientist says social networking causes lack

‘My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.’

Oh I dont thin k thats realy very true—omg an ambulance just went bye…..

Di you see Hell’s Kitchen last week?Mises cuz basketball game.

Then they got up and were like “oh, no, that is so totally

Oscars!

Bloggers, on the other hand, are relentlessly focused. s Miss you! Happy b-day cutey 3.14!

The world needs more social networking. And cheese. Definitely more cheeses.

Aardvark.

So according to Glenn Greenwald the lovely Fox Noise channel is going to “war game” a possible civil war this week. Nice.

They discuss a coming “civil war” led by American “Bubba” militias — Beck says he “believes we’re on this road” — and they contemplate whether the U.S. military would follow the President’s orders to subdue civil unrest or would instead join with “the people” in defense of their Constitutional rights against the Government (they agree that the U.S. military would be with “the people”):

I really don’t have much comment other than to offer an image. It’s one painted onto the wall of the state capital in Topeka, Kansas. This is my cultural heritage, if the “Bubbas” want to start in with waving the bloody shirt after 144 years.

Fun times.

At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. The number that is most often quoted is 620,000. At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation’s loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.
The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:
Battle deaths: 110,070
Disease, etc.: 250,152
Total 360,222

The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:
Battle deaths: 94,000
Disease, etc.: 164,000
Total 258,000

Oh, and BTW, the Union won. Funny how the “Bubbas” always seem to forget that part. The South was destroyed by military force, occupied, and then ultimately (after another 100 years) forced to submit to the rules of civilization.

They can bitch and moan about it all they want on AM radio, but they still lost. You don’t see me putting pictures of John Brown on my pickup truck and calling for neo-Reconstruction, now, do you? Although I will still argue that Florida should have lost some Congress-critters after the 2000 election debacle….

Sorry for the family’s pain, actually. Too many media flashbacks involving sharks. Anyhow.

An arrest may be near in the nearly decade-old slaying of federal intern Chandra Levy, whose disappearance in 2001 ended Gary Condit’s congressional career, several television stations reported.

The California Democrat was romantically linked to Levy, but was not considered a suspect in her death or disappearance. Television stations, KFSN and KCRA in California and WRC in Washington, D.C., reported that police were seeking an arrest warrant.

Speaking of the media, that second graph is kind of confusing. If you google around it appears authorities are looking at some guy, not Condit, who is in prison already.

If one were to point to an exact moment when people started passionately hating the legacy media, the Chandra Levy-summer of sharks frenzy would merit serious consideration. Again, sad for the Levy family, having your loved one’s death compounded by an absurd media circus. I’m sure all the right wing radio blowhards are very very sorry now.

Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, OR.

For those keeping score at home, that’s a total of three Pacific NW banks so far this year. The previous two were Pinnacle Bank of Beaverton, OR., and Bank of Clark County of Vancouver, WA.

Of course, the number of banks is not so important as the size. If you go back to last September, there was some big NW banky thing that had to be dealt with, even if they were technically listed as Nevada and Utah institutions.

I have to say, cat blogging is way cuter. I can haz natunilization pweeze? :-)

Inside is an excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1936 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGAgu6zI9v0[/youtube]

Props to Ryan Chittum at Columbia Journalism Review for quoting from History of the World, Part I in a column about Count de Monet’s Rick Santelli’s “revolutionary” outburst today.

Count de Monet: “The People Are Revolting!”
Louis XVI: “You said it—they stink on ice!”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA[/youtube]

Because the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is exactly like the rest of America.

Cute to throw in the concept of a Chicago Tea Party, when what’s actually happening is more like the attempted escape from Versailles.

I say take Santelli back to Paris, and keep an eye on him. Revolutionary analogies are fun, though! I’ll take the Winter Palace for $800, Alex.

Sounds like there could be a campaign to keep Washington state alive!

With another dismal state revenue forecast expected today, House Democratic leaders now say they’ll likely propose sending voters a tax package this year to help deal with a staggering shortfall in the state budget.

“I’m assuming there will probably be something that goes on the ballot,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham. House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler agreed.

And of course the gate-keepers would want to keep on gate-keeping, assuming they can stay in business:

Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen and Scott Campbell, publisher of The Columbian in Vancouver, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee they need help during tumultuous times in the industry.

Under the proposed measure, the business and occupation tax on newspapers would be cut by 40 percent through 2015.

Yes, newspapers are important. But really? Someone is seriously considering yanking, in effect, money that could be used in my kids’ classroom to keep publishers like Blethen and Campbell in business?

So all that right-wing agit-prop about free markets and how terrible unions are was just a joke, or what? Why don’t they ask Don Brunell for the money, he’s been placing columns in The Columbian for years now. I’d say he owes them.

Nice catch by Niki Sullivan over at the TVW blog during testimony on SB 6035, which would reform the retrospective ratings plan system (the infamous “retro” money that BIAW uses as a slush fund to launch endless and usually untruthful attacks against Democrats.)

Rick D. (Didn’t catch his last name): “The Retro program is desperate for serious reform… this program is completely lacking in rigorous … accounting.” He said he participated in the BIAW Retro pool for some time. He would receive refunds, but never knew why or what it was based on. When he found out the BIAW was using some of the refund money to buy political ads, he protested. He says he was kicked out of the program for questioning it.

But it sounds like a couple of senators weren’t buying it so much:

Sen. Karen Keiser asked Rick if he ever received any safety information from his retro program. Yes, he said. He attended training that was “invaluable.”

Sen. Janea Holmquist said she was having a “hard time believing” that Rick didn’t know where the money was spent. She asked if he was on the board of the program. He said yes, for one meeting.

“I just want to highlight that this is a voluntary program,” Holmquist said. You belong to the Retro pool voluntarily and give them your money voluntarily.

Unless, of course, you say something the BIAW doesn’t like, then they kick you out.

It would be a shame if BIAW had to actually go out and solicit donations to fund its vicious campaigns. It’s pretty clear a lot of their own members don’t even like what they do.

Today Sullivan rounds up the proposed legislation here. Requiring an actuarial review and requiring refunds to members, less administrative costs, sounds pretty reasonable. But wait!

That’s the basic framework. But there’s more: During the 2008 campaign, the state Democratic party raised concerns about the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW, the largest retro program) using some of its retro refund for political activity — something that is not illegal. In the public hearing yesterday, some who testified in opposition to the bill said they thought it was an attempt to curb political speech. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a sponsor, said the bill has nothing to do with that.

To back the train up to the starting point: most regular citizens would be beyond surprised to know that BIAW funds its political activities from rebates in a worker’s compensation fund. It’s downright sleazy and outrageous, and there’s no logical reason to allow the practice to continue, despite the whimpering from BIAW and others.

It’s a freaking insurance program administered by the state, for crying out loud, and protestations about free speech are more than a little ridiculous in that context. The state is under no obligation to enable BIAW or any other group to divert insurance funds towards politics.

Sure, BIAW will cry like stuck pigs about “retribution,” but who cares? Side with the little people for once, Democrats! All those small contractors deserve to get their money back, especially with the economy in the toilet, not pay for a bunch of horseshit right-wing television ads.

It may be nothing, but worth noting in case it is something:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has postponed a public meeting for Wednesday that was intended to answer questions about the recent closure of the Bank of Clark County.

The meeting was to have been held at Skyview High School, near Vancouver.

FDIC officials plan to hold the meeting at a later date, said Anne Butler, a former bank employee who is working for the FDIC since the bank closure.

Readers may recall that some depositors were tipped off about the impending problems at the bank, and well, others were not. Best anyone can tell that’s all legal, if not fair. Little old un-connected people didn’t seem to come out so well.

This town (Vancouver, WA) stinks to high heaven and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out all sorts of interesting stuff someday. But that’s just a hunch. Most likely it will all go away in the end with a combination of fake “I’m sorries” and a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. The little old ladies who lost their uninsured deposits, you know, they’ll die sometime.