Oregon Magazine is interested in media. This is about "Viewpoint," a KGW-TV Saturday show. It's a "public affairs" format produced not far from Bud Clark's favorite saloon, in which we have been eating braunschweiger sandwiches since the mid-Sixties.  The Goose Hollow sandwiches are easier to digest than this NBC affiliate's "journalism.".

Rep Larry Galizio (D) Tigard, a PCC teacher, and an equally moronic female Democrat from our new legislature, joined the inimitable Russ Lewis of KGW in the first half of the pre-dawn Saturday program.  Why do I think all three of these people are a dozen cards short of a full deck?

They didn’t mention PERS while discussing the Oregon school finance problem, and they are talking about eliminating unnecessary corporate tax loopholes to find the money to go over five billion dollars in spending.  Teachers don't like talking about PERS.  It was created by the legislature, which is entirely made of Public Employees who are part of this Retirement System.  Only the U.N. Iraq Oil for Food scam or the Kyoto Accords represent more ambitious transfers of money from the private to the public sectors.

Teachers, you see, are ignorant of how things work.  Private (non-government) businesses, for example, pay everybody's taxes.  All the money to pay all the kinds of taxes there are comes only from private businesses.  Private businesses are the only thing that keeps America from collapsing, like the old Soviet Union.  The terrible poverty in Cuba and North Korea is due to the lack of private businesses in those places.  The rescue of China from financial collapse and mass starvation was the introduction of private business, there.

For all these reasons, the most protected species in the nation should be the currently least protected species in the nation -- private businesses.  Teachers who talk about eliminating corporate tax loopholes shouldn't be allowed to have anything to do with education.  One should understand how a ignition system works before being paid to provide tuneups.

Viewpoint: Second Half

Let’s See.  Sue Hildick's Chalkboard Project doesn’t think the (Oregon education) discussion starts with money. That's like saying professional wrestling doesn't begin with bombast.  Decide the need, Sue says, then get the money to pay for it. Nobility is such a fine thing when other people finance it. (This bunch doesn't like testing, either.  One wonders how without testing one knows if the money spent is doing anything good?)  Christine Ertle of Stand for Children thinks children should come before tavern owners, and "Just because we’re spending a lot of money doesn’t mean we’re spending enough money."

Well, what can you say about these two?  I mean, after statements like those, what's the point?

This is about five billion for schools in Oregon. Here's a piece I did on the subject a few years back.   http://oregonmag.com/TMookSchools.htm

Aha, in this second half, Russ said PERS.   He didn't explain what it means, or any of the truly grotesque numbers and bizarre "investment" methods involved, but so what?  He risked his life just saying PERS out loud.  In the future, perhaps he should call it the "P-word."

Did you know that 75% of Oregonians don’t have children in school?  No wonder folks have some questions about the system, these days!  Five billion dollars is a lot of dough to spend on a baby sitter for 25% of the households.. 

The word "investment" was littered liberally through the entire program.  Any time a liberal wants to dive into your wallet for more money, he calls it an "investment."  Wait a minute!  Viewpoint's Russ Lewis, our host, just said there is evidence that Oregonians aren’t interested in higher taxes. This indicates that at least twice during recent decades, he was aware of his surroundings.  (Elections with tax-related initiatives.) 

Aha, again!  The two "citizen group" reps, Sue and Christine, know it!  They just used the word "prioritize."  That is your keyword for the week, friends.  The liberals have also noticed the results of the recent elections, initiative-wize.  There is no more cheese falling through the slats of the crate, so all the rats are going to prioritize – that is, have a bloody brawl over the portion that's already on the floor.

There is nothing nastier than two liberals fighting over the same government funding.  Rattlesnakes, wolverines and Alaskan brown bears back away from this kind of fracas.

(LL)

© 2005 Oregon Magazine