... subsidizing eastern Oregon canola farmers ...

All part of the fireman's plan to be the next governor.

His only obstacle will be the guy who aspires to be the first governor to be openly gay upon taking office. [The wording is important to get around the James McGreevey asterisk.]

Evidence again that we shouldn't let Randy play with matches or do our math homework for us.

These guys have sharp minds for business.

Did you see that "In Portland" feature on the Council in the Oregonian? You can read the incompetence and insecurity on their faces. They all look like they're thinking: "How did I end up here? When is someone going to yell FRAUD?"

Too bad the $6.75 biodiesel can't be used to run those $28,000 Smart cars.

If this were true:

Leonard defended the program’s environmental benefit of producing less global warming gases, as well as its economic development benefit for Eastern Oregon.

Then at least there would be an argument for paying a premium for agrofuels.

But, there are (a) no greenhouse benefits (see http://is.gd/aef5 and here: http://is.gd/aegO); and (b) no economic development benefits because all we're doing is creating a subsidized industry that would not exist otherwise. That is to "economic development" what high-fructose corn syrup is to nutrition.

Leonard didn't mention driving up the price of food for the entire world by using cropland to grow fuel for cars rather than food for people, but that's also the case.

The agrofuels mania is another sad proof that scientific ignorance and a belief in something-for-nothing does not solely reside in the Caribou Barbies of this world.

They paid $28,000 for Smart cars too? Boy, they are a thrifty bunch. Isnt the list price like $16k?

Or did they buy grey market models before they were officially imported?

the Smart Cars, like the biodiesel buy, were (are) poorly thought out, superficial attempts at "green" marketing.

the best defense I heard of the Smart Cars is that they "would inspire citizens and raise awareness about sustaniability." um, no.

the best defense I heard about the biodiesel buy is that it would "reduce greenhouse gas emissions." "greenhouse gas" is only one measure of ecological damage; "rapid topsoil depletion" and "food insecurity due to moving food crops and land to fuel production" are a few others.

good grief. and now, Saltzman's "high performance building" standard, another superficial attempt, has been mostly gutted. all of these are not the vision we need. when will local government realize that you can't serve two (or three, or four, or six) masters?

His only obstacle will be the guy who aspires to be the first governor to be openly gay upon taking office. [The wording is important to get around the James McGreevey asterisk.]

I just watched The Times of Harvey Milk on DVD. Harvey Milk might have been the first openly gay governor had he not been assassinated.

Jon, the City bought two gray-market "Smart" cars before the current model was officially introduced in the US. Hence the little price bump.

"City bought two gray-market "Smart" cars before the current model was officially introduced in the US."

Crazy idea, they could have bought Toyota Yaris's that get almost equal gas mileage for less than 50% and still carry 4 people. God forbid, they should buy a Ford Focus at even less.

Besides, why should City Council care? It's Other People's Money.

Sustainability= multi-faceted privatization effort augmented by shady money laundering foundations and the non-profit industrial complex

Crazy idea, they could have bought Toyota Yaris's that get almost equal gas mileage for less than 50% and still carry 4 people.

Yeah, but when four people go out in the two Smarts*, although the capital cost is at least four times that of one Yaris, and the total fuel consumption is about 3x (Smarts aren't very economical, as it turns out, on fuel), they get twice the exposure for their sustainability image.

*Of course, each car would need a chauffeur, so transporting four people would require four trips each way.

I am reserving jugment on Randy until I see what happens with the new Multnomah County Animal Services task force. I am not hopeful, because Randy has made inane comments to the press to the effect that we should be "not focusing on problems but solutions". (Solutions to what, Randy? You have to understand what the problems are before you can begin to tackle solving them). And he took a bold stand favoring cat licensing, obviously without investigating the troubling issues it raises to anyone who follows animal issues.

But of the two "leaders' working on the task force project, Ted Wheeler is the real loser in my book. I wrote the guy a letter explaining that the statistical model the task force is using (The Asilomar Accords) is flawed in that it permits agencies to define "healthy" animal in a way that excludes entire categories of animals, including feral cats and neonatal orphaned kittens, even animals with the colds they often catch in shelter settings. The Asilomar Accords permit something less than transparent public records. Ted wrote back bragging about the Asilomar Accords and the task force model based on "collaboration". Ted clearly didn't read my letter, nor does he understand anything about building legitmate collaboration/consensus. It begins with truth telling and stake holders expressing openly what it is they can't compromise, not just everyone caving in-that is forced agreement, by definition the opposite of consensus building.

In Portland, it does no good to be a careful reader and researcher, nor does it pay to take the best courses in public policy mediation. Nuance and genuine collaboration seem to have no place in the us vs. them political machine that runs over reason.

So anyone know how much in subsidies this eastern Oregon farmer gets from the Feds?

Okay here's an answer to my own question and it looks like the man is farming for tax dollars. Wahoooo! Enjoy.

http://farm.ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=008770405

I'd love to see the annual expenditures on new automobiles at the City of Portland. I've recently seen shiny new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans and SMART cars, diesel VW Passats/Jettas, and Jeep Grand Cherokees, plus a variety of electric vehicles.

Whatever happened to buying gasoline powered sedans from Ford and Chevy?

And why would the City of Portland send our tax dollars to subsidize canola farmers?

This is why I refuse to move to Multnomah County and the City of Portland. A bunch of morons run the show there. The fact that any of my property tax money goes to these monkeys burns my ass. I'm all for bio-diesel but not at that kind of premium. Do these people have any brains?

"Do these people have any brains?"

No.

Someone ask Randy,
"What's the Randy number?"
"$7.50"?
"$9.25"?
"$14.65/gallon"?

"What price would cause you, Randy, to say this is really dumb"? and pull the plug?

Are we almost there at $6.75 and you're feeling pretty stupid?

Or you simply don't give a crap?

Give us more than gosh this is not such a good deal but it's worth it.

Since Randy runs the motor pool, why does he support sending our tax dollars to European and Asian car manufactures? Include the whole city council for this question.

It is hypocrisy that our city advocates to buy locally, regionally and nationally and then many times buys globally. Then they wonder why citizens can be upset that city council can't even facilitate helping to acquire permits to allow Columbia Sportswear to stay in Portland. But they can easily suggest giving $12.2 Million in city taxpayer dollars and lobby the State for an additional $25 Million in state taxpayer dollars subsidies for Vestes, a European company.

Forgive them Lord, for they are dumb.

Cities have never been, and can never be, sustainable. They consume an ever greater amount of resources from an ever-expanding geographic area. *always*.

But to admit this means the end of a way of life. Not a reversion to stone tools, but an end to life as we know it now.

So--no one will admit it. even I don't want to admit it. we're locked into a system that believes we can save the planet by making slightly different purchasing decisions.

Use gas you hippies.

Dead-tree O this morning says that it's up to $7.21/gallon, and quotes a Leonard minion saying that it's still a good idea because it's building up the canola industry in eastern Oregon.