Thank God for the Tester amendment. This is why small communities in Montana will survive, while Oregon's rural communities won't. At least someone in Congress still cares about providing family wage jobs for middle class rural Americans.

Crazy. Been crazier stuff, but this ranks.

I would advise against swallowing whole or in large chunks a radically biased piece such as the one you posted.

Epic fail indeed! We'd be so much better off if McCain and Palin were in office right now . . . er . . . ummmm . . .

Eric, you beat me to it.

Eric and Sadie, there is NO WAY that it could be worse. Obama took a bad situation and ran down hill with it. The man is clueless, plain and simple.

Tester amendment? To what, and why only Montana?

"Better than absolute s**t" is not my standard of performance.

Fail.

Nothing wrong with cutting trees. Growing young trees produce more oxygen than old ones. And they suck up more CO2.

We hate our planet.

Purists of both the left and the right never get all they want, and thank God for that. Could you imagine if George W. Bush's evangelical Christian base got everything they wanted?! We'd be burning homosexuals right now, not allowing them (finally) to serve openly in our Armed Forces.

Fortunately Jon Tester's amendment died along with the omnibus bill.

http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/IndyBlog/archives/2010/12/17/democrats-abandon-omnibus-bill-and-sen-testers-forest-bill-with-it

Tester is already in enough trouble with the left for his vote against DREAM. He's not going to win this next election cycle in the general. So I guess he is doing an "Obama" and lurching (radically) right.

Well, I guess if Tester's amendment is considered a radical lurch to the right by today's progressives, rural Americans are really in trouble. Back when I was a kid (in Columbia County of course), Tester would have been just the kind of Democrat that got elected, because of amendments like this one. Too bad he's now considered to lurch to the right when he proposes an amendment to provide jobs for his constituents.

And if he loses in the general, I guess that means another Republican will join the Senate, and probably propose the exact same type of legislation. And this time it will pass, because the Republicans will control the Senate, and Obama will sign it.

The tent's too small in today's Democratic party if guys like Tester get pummeled for sticking up for the rural working class. I wish Merkley and Wyden had the same cojones.

Columbia County Kid, I believe that some local politicos proposed Columbia River fish wheels to trap 100% of returning salmon. This is a great project to provide jobs to rural working class folks.

Really? How bout you provide specifics, including the "politicos" who sponsored the legislation, the specific legislation which contained this idea and how the legislation would provide jobs to rural Oregonians.

In the meantime, I'll continue to support any politician (Democrat or Republican) who tries to do what he/she can to attract family wage jobs to his/her state, especially in rural areas, where unemployment and poverty are high, even if the jobs aren't considered "green" or "sustainable" by the environmental industry.

Gee, helping working class families make a better way in life - what a concept.

Columbia County Kid | December 22, 2010 5:17 PM

The environmental industry (and it is) is not "sustainable."

Thanks for your posts.

This post is just about 180 degrees off. When we look back on the first two years of Obama's presidency they will stand out for extraordinary -- even historic -- accomplishments. But we deems are hard to please.

Yeah:

Single payer? Dead.

Public option? Dead.

End of Bush tax cuts? Dead.

Net neutrality? Dead.

Close Gitmo? Dead.

This with iron-clad majorities in both houses, and the White House. Two decent Supreme Court appointments is all the Democratic Party has to show. The rest is crap.

Epic. Fail.

Jack, do you admit to being surprised by Obama's dismal performance?

Let me add:

Wall Street "reform"? Laughable.

Strengthen Social Security? No, the opposite.

Fiscal responsibility? Dead.

Obama is another Wyden "Democrat." The same sellout as Clinton and Gore, only more blatant and with far less political skills. Incompetent, and whatever competence is shown, is easily bought off.

Two decent Supreme Court appointments is all the Democratic Party has to show.

Yep--despite the other failures, this is why Obama will get my vote in '12. There may be more appointments in the next 6 yrs.

Great standards you set for yourself. God help our kids.

There's hope out there:

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_72dd5cac-0623-11e0-91bc-001cc4c03286.html

Stuff like this warms the heart. (Particularly when they are buying out Plum Creek lands... a former GOP congressman called them the "Darth Vadar" of logging companies.)

Really? How bout you provide specifics, including the "politicos" who sponsored the legislation, the specific legislation which contained this idea and how the legislation would provide jobs to rural Oregonians.

Columbia County Kid, a few Democratic and several GOP state senators recently toured the land in St Helens for the proposed "sea slurry" processing plant.

There, twelve industrial scale fish wheels are proposed to span the Columbia and capture "the entirety of all upriver-bound piscine species, including lamprey, salmon, and steelhead".

The sea slurry processing plant will employ at least 75 full-time (presumably) local residents.

The email I got stated that this is a "win-win" for rural blue collar workers and the environment. "Local workers can rest assured that their work will help the environment, by maximizing 100% use of local wild fish (who otherwise rot in area streams) for the pet food and aquaculture industries."

I'm surprised you haven't heard of this??

If anyone really believes the media hype about this huge wave of so called Tea Party Activists that are going to go into Congress and clean house they really need to lay down and take a nap. First, the vast majority of people elected to this congress are not so called "Tea Baggers". Next, they have no power and no seniority and will do what the establishment tells them to do. And they eventually will become as corrupt and bloated as the people they replaced. Talk is cheap and money is money. Remember 1994 and the Contract On America? They will eventually Animal Farm the whole thing.

Never fear Jackie Boy! Who needs freedom of speech when Obama Bucks are a-flyin'!!!

Bread and Circuses boys and girls.

Watch the hand...watch the hand...

http://www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org/en/faq

Mortgage Payment Assistance, pays the mortgage of a qualified recipient household for an entire year, up to $20,000. The MPA application deadline is January 14, 2011. A household suffering a loss of income of 25% or more may qualify for this program.