The morons at the Columbian strike again!

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Today's nonsense from the tax-dodgers themselves involves their opportunity to do some more PR work for Gov. Gregoire and the dems running our state's legislature.

As anyone watching for more than ten minutes knows, Oregon is a slow-motion fiscal train wreck. Think of, say, a westernized version of Pakistan and you can get the drift.

While we have a high, business crippling sales and B&O tax, Oregon makes do with a high income tax. Lacking a sales tax kind of acts as a statewide commercial campaign to draw consumers from the surrounding states of Washington, Idaho and Kali-fornia into their state.

Now the primary motivation for our legislature was fear. The 1994 cycle is all too close a nightmare for our state's leftists, and while 2010 is shaping up as a greater or lesser version of the same, that's primarily a consequence of the stupidity, lack of depth, cluelessness and vision at the top of the ticket.

The local rag, of course, benefited from some of your basic quid-pro-quo. They stole money from the other small businesses of this state by arranging for their leftist masters to give them a massive B&O business tax CUT, a CUT that the rest of us didn't get in the midst of this $10 billion deficit... and a cut that, you guessed it, WE will have to make up.

Is it any wonder they lie and exaggerate in their support for the biggest waste of money the northwestern United States has ever seen, given that THEY won't have to pay for it?

Now, this sets the table for today's moronic idiocy. When it comes to matters of development, the morons pumping out editorials view this area as their own, personal, post card. This paper views the Gorge as their own personal fiefdom, advocating restrictions on the residents living there that they, themselves, would never CONSIDER living under.

And how many times has Koenninger regaled us with one of his "the way things were" columns while attacking anyone opposing his Utopian view and his efforts to force others to live under a standard that he, himself, does NOT have to live under.

That, of course, brings us to today's drivel.

Regardless, it seems likely many entrepreneurs and wealthy people will vote with their feet and take a look at moving to Clark County. The county has long been a desirable place for wealthy Oregon retirees, who can enjoy Clark County and the Portland area without paying personal income taxes on pensions...

...So, for their actions on behalf of Clark County, we thank the Oregon Legislature and say, "Welcome, newcomers."

When I left the Army and moved here in 88 or so, Clark County had a population of just over 200,000.

Today, it has a population far in excess of 400,000.

Since that time, our commissioners have done a great deal under the auspices of the growth management plan. But whatever they've done, this paper has been whining, moaning and complaining about the growth management boundary; how often it's been changed (Massive, explosive growth notwithstanding) and the Californication of the region.

Now today's idiocy appears to be throwing out the welcome mat for Oregonian Refugees to move here to a county already burdened by major shortcomings in all manner of infrastructure.

Of course, the preferred member of the O.R. class is that limited to the "wealthy" class... but the problem with that is ALL taxpayers are oppressed by massive tax and fee increases... and the implementation of thousands of dollars in tolls without a vote.

The result? The human tidal wave the idiot who wrote this editorial is referring to will not be limited to those with fat retirements and checkbooks. And if this rag's vision comes to fruition, well, guess what? The commissioners will have to revisit the growth management plan AGAIN, because all of these wonderful people will require somewhere to live, and the kids will require somewhere to go to school, and somewhere to buy groceries, and somewhere to buy furniture and so on and so on.

I would be the first to admit that like the city boundaries of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Vancouver, I wouldn't be caught dead living in Oregon.

That, however, does not explain this bizarre position where, on one hand, the morons running the paper want the "wealthy" to move here because of our oh, so, superior tax structure (soon to be obliterated by the fringe leftists this rag supports as they do everything they can to allow us to become a train wreck just like Oregon when they impose OUR version of an income tax) while, on the other, they bitch like cut cats over growth and it's consequences.

Yeah... you can REALLY trust this waste of wood pulp's vision for our future.

Idiots.