From the desk of ORBUSMAX

If you haven’t read any stories recently about illegal immigration, prepare for your blood to boil and read on.

From the Examiner.com,  “Sanctuary City” status taken to new heights in Los Angeles:

In a move that’s sure to disturb Americans seeking a solution to the illegal alien problem, California’s ”City of Angeles” is taking its sanctuary title more seriously than most by ordering police officers to stop enforcing a state public safety law because it creates an “unfair burden” for illegal immigrants, according to a report by a top Washington, DC-based public interest group.

A few weeks ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to stop impounding the vehicles of illegal aliens who are unlicensed drivers for 30 days as per California state law, according to Judicial Watch, a non-profit organization that investigates and exposes government corruption and abuse.

(Photo: LAPD)
Even more ourageous is that the police chief, Charlie Beck , says the impound law presents an “unfair burden” and “disproportionate blow” for illegal aliens.  This is not sitting well with the police union:

The Los Angeles police union is outraged and is charging the mayor with putting politics above public safety. “This new policy will result in innocent people being injured and killed,” the union said in a statement posted on its web site.

There aren’t many times when I agree with a public sector union, but on this issue they are right on the money.  One more example of how our UN-secured borders are real threat to this nation.

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Looks like that despite the ‘tough talk’ from Portland Mayor Adams, the city is about to give in to some of the demands from the Occupiers.  From the OREGONIAN website:

Adams wants to take up the call to invest Portland taxpayers’ money following the guidelines of the “Move Your Money” movement. It’s not clear yet what his proposal may involve, but a draft is expected this week and it could look like Seattle’s, which is largely aspirational.

Adams also wants a Portland resolution aimed at corporate personhood, another target of protesters. It’s unclear when this will emerge.

On Dec. 2, Adams tweeted this: ”We will have a resolution on topic too RT @occupy_thyself LA to be the first city to call for end of corp personhood. #opdx #pdx“

Just what the Northwest needs during a recession: more demonization of those who keep the economy going, and more coddling of those who site around like spoiled brats, demanding everyone else pay attention and give them things they can’t earn themselves.

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I hope all of you enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, as we celebrate one of the most important traditions of our great nation. I have included some links to get you in the spirit of the holiday, along with one of the funniest TV episodes ever. Enjoy!

S & L - Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Lars Larson Audio – What  Thanksgiving Means To Me

Rush Limbaugh – The Real Story Of Thanksgiving

Victoria Taft – Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Our Daily Journey – Psalm 128 1-14

RWN – Let Us Give Thanks To god Above

Hot Air – Counting Our Blessings

Gateway Pundit - 1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Fellowship of the Minds – Thankful for our troops

Sarah Palin – A Personal Thanksgiving Reflection

Big Govt – A Message of Hope, Redemption, and Dada

WKRP in Cincinnatti – “Turkeys Away” (Funny part begins at 17:00)

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Last week, former GOP WA state legislator Alex Deccio passed away at the age of 89. He served 32 years in the state House and Senate, retiring in 2006. He was a fairly powerful and respected elected official who was known for his bi-partisanship on many issues.

As a member of the alternative media who follows Northwest politics pretty closely, I was surprised I hadn’t heard about Deccio’s death until today, over a week later. I wondered how I could have missed something this significant.

A few days earlier, rising Democrat star legislator Scott White was found dead while attending a leadership conference in central Washington. Just 41, his tragic and sudden death was widely reported by Northwest and National media for several days. You would have had to have been off the grid for a week not to have heard about it.

So I thought about both stories and wondered why there was such a discrepancy in coverage. Was I being a conspiracy theorist? Well, maybe not according to a couple of Google News searches I did:

Google news search: washington senator “alex deccio” – 8 RESULTS

Google news search: washington senator “scott white” – 393 RESULTS

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**** UPDATES BELOW – CONFIRMATION ****

This past weekend during the Occupy Portland protests, a fellow Tweeter (@kurtbradwill) was watching a livestream of events and claims to have seen a protester comparing “working to get ahead” to a sign above WWII Nazi death camp at Auschwitz  that read “work will set you free”.

@OccupyPDX responded: “Feel free to post the context of that comment as well”.  Not exactly a denial.

After a little more back and forth, Bradwill says he found the archived video.  Only problem: Bradwill says it appears the tape was edited and the event in question was scrubbed out.  He says what he saw should be somewhere around the 10:45 mark of the clip.

This story is still developing, as Bradwill says he is trying to contact the person who shot the video to see if he has the original footage.

1:25 PM Update – I was able to view the clip showing the protester speaking to the crowd, comparing “working hard” with the Nazi death camp sign (with the crowd chanting back in approval). It’s legit, and in my opinion really disgusting. The owner of the video has as of now decided not to make it public. Here is what Tweeter Bradwill emailed me:

“I don’t think it will stay public, I told him if even just the audio was public it would be ok and give him and the occupier more anonymity, trying to quell any fears he had about that…”

2:10 PM Update – An update from Bradwill: “… this is the latest response I’ve gotten. “I will have to ponder a bit to see if it is in the best interest of all involved for me to release the video or audio to you” Coincidentally, I went to Jamison Sq. (where they moved their shindig) and I got something punctured into my tire. Had to get home before the thing blew out, and changed to the temp. spare. So I actually have to go to Les Schwab right now…”

As Jim Hoft from Gateway Pundit likes to say: “Just like the Tea Party”.

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Not a good day for the Church of Global Warming: Lawsuit (by kids) demanding govt fix the (non)problem is thrown out; Calls for more action to reverse global warming… even if it’s only ‘theoretical’ and could yield ‘unintended and even irreversible consequences’; Another major climate model flaw discovered (will the Northwest media report ?); And….. ready for the coming ICE AGE?

1.) In Montana, the State Supreme Court throws out a lawsuit – brought by kids – to require the state to curb greenhouse gases.  As reported by The Missoulian:

Siding with Attorney General Steve Bullock, justices wrote in Wednesday’s order that the case raised too many questions about Montana’s contribution to a global problem for a ruling on purely legal questions as sought by the plaintiffs. ”The court is ill-equipped to resolve the factual assertions presented by the petitioners,” justices wrote.

2.)  Via The Guardian: Leaked documents ahead of key Lima meeting suggest UN body is looking to slow emissions with technological fixes rather than talks.

But here’s the problem:

In a move that suggests the UN and rich countries are despairing of reaching agreement by consensus at global climate talks, the US, British and other western scientists will outline a series of ideas to manipulate the world’s climate to reduce carbon emissions. But they accept that even though the ideas could theoretically work, they might equally have unintended and even irreversible consequences

I happened to re-watch “The Day The Earth Stood Still” the other night.  Always wondered what became of Klaatu – now I know.

3.) H/T to NwRepublican, another major flaw discovered in the Climate Change Model: “Sierra et al. discovered that climate models are presently incapable of accurately modeling the release of CO2 from the soil, which holds multiple times more carbon than the atmosphere. In essence, climate model predictions will continue to be wrong as long as soil CO2 releases continue to be incorrectly accounted for.”

Oops.

4.) And finally, guess what: more proof we are headed for an Ice Age

And just in case you missed it from earlier in the week, a stunner from U of Washington Prof and big-time Climate Change believer Cliff Mass:

“The bottom line is that there has NOT been major snowpack losa during the past few decades in the western U.S. and the long-term trend, starting over a hundred years ago, is gently down with some natural variation on top of that… We are in the early days of the warming and most of the action is yet to come. We need to be very careful on jumping to conclusions too early, since that only aids the deniers and skeptics who are just looking to pounce on excessive claims.”

How many more jobs are going to be lost… how much more public and private money is going to be wasted… and how much more personal freedom is going to be taken away…. before we all say “ENOUGH!”???

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Lars Larson Audio: Is the President telling the truth about the auto industry making a ‘comeback’?

Click here

Bill Post wonders: What’s going on with the Oregon House GOP?

Click here

Victoria Taft has thoughts on Scott Walker’s Victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

Click here

David Boze on the GOP Debate – Win, Lose, Draw:

Click here

Dori Monson Audio, Commenting on Bill Gates to give away all his money:

Click here

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So last Tuesday, voters around WA state said ‘NO’ to new taxes, in particular the WA I-1098 income tax that would only affect the rich, mean selfish people.   And we all went to bed that night thinking for once, the citizens got to push back a little on government with their fat hands out asking for more of our life energy.

Still feeling good?  Then you may not want to read much further… I was tipped off by a faithful friend of ORBUSMAX who opened up their bill from Vonage. The following excerpt explains:

Dear Vonage Customer, Due to a determination by the state of Washington that residential VoIP service is subject to sales tax, Vonage must begin assessing sales tax on our residential service plans. As of this billing cycle, your service will be subject to Washington state and county sales taxes. The total state and county sales tax varies by county but ranges from approximately 7% to 9.5%. If you have any questions, please visit Vonage Customer Support.Additionally, remember to access your online account to keep track of your charges, phone calls, and set features than can help you stay better connected to friends and family. Thank you for your business. Vonage

Yep you read that right – if you pay for VOIP, you now have the privilege of adding up to another 9.5% on your bill each month.

So, the Gov, the legislature and all the rest of the whining ‘progressives’ get a little payback and revenge on the rest of us.  Stupid voters.  Why can’t you just play nice and turn over your paychecks to the kind, caring government like your supposed to?  They know what’s best for you….

***** P.S. – PLEASE DON’T TAKE OUT YOUR FRUSTRATIONS ON VONAGE, IT’S NOT THEIR FAULT.  THEY ARE JUST FOLLOWING THE RULES AND COMPLYING WITH THE LAW.  I’M SURE THEY AREN’T HAPPY JACKING UP YOUR PRICES AND BECOMING A COLLECTION AGENCY FOR THE STATE OF WA, WITH NO ADDED REVENUE TO THEM.

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+++++ For the latest news from the Northwest and beyond, visit www.orbusmax.com +++++

WA STATE:

Here’s some new info and food for thought regarding the on-going vote count in WA state, post Dino Rossi concession (which I still think was too premature – you can read my post from yesterday by clicking here):

1.) I got confirmation on ‘unprocessed numbers’ from ORBUSMAX visitor Mike. He sent me a spreadsheet he has been working on (I have saved it as a webpage that you can view by clicking here) that estimates what Rossi would need to pull from remaining ballots based on trending data.  But he also includes the ‘unprocessed’ numbers from yesterday and then again today, and confirms those numbers aren’t just going up in King County – they are going up HUGE.  As Mike said in an email to me (his words and opinion):

“Whatcom and Snohomish found some as well, but nothing like King County. Believing they ‘discovered’ over 200,000 uncounted ballots defies even their preferred perception of ineptitude…  If King County has counted ~500,000 ballots with another 270,000 left to be counted, the suggestion that King County had 72% turnout is absurd…”

2.) I received an email from another ORBUSMAX visitor, commenting on the vote by mail weirdness. This person says he/she has worked at several King County elections in the past but not this year:

“Rossi should not have conceded. I have worked at kc elections for several years (but not this election). The system is made to give the impression of high-tech security — armed deputies, name tags, pass words, computer monitors, lots of people, scanning devices, video streaming of busy workers, etc — but really it isn’t all that secure or high-tech, mostly a big dog and pony show. “

“Most of the ballots were received prior to Nov 2 and would have been sent through the optical signature scanner (but not opened) immediately as they arrived prior to Nov 2. These machines read the signatures and count at 20-30K+ per hour. Plus the layout of the Tukwila location is such that it would be necessary for all incoming ballots be processed the day of receipt after Nov 2. (Infact I believe those are the rules…)  KC Elections knew and knows exactly how many ballots have come in everyday and would know exactly how many ballots had been returned by 5 pm each day….no mystery. “

“The way that the KC Election press releases / interviews were written/given, especially the stuff about how long it might take to process the ballots, etc struck me as BS — Murray is a must save for the Democrats and internationalist — what they were really telegraphing for anyone who knew the system is that  Rossi wasn’t going to win.”

“Each one of the voters of rejected ballots should each receive a letter explaining the problem with time to respond. Rossi gave up way too early (unless he was pressured to do so).”

The emailer then makes another conclusion regarding the tight WA State Supreme Court race:

“Sanders is out as well, can just tell….”

3.) A very interesting quote from WA 2 CD candidate John Koster’s campaign spokesman Larry Stickney:

“Though John Koster remains in a position to win, we are keenly aware that there are those who will do everything they can to keep this seat out of the hands of the new House majority… Therefore, we have a team of observers on the ground at county courthouses throughout the 2nd Congressional District. We are working with attorneys and election experts at the state and federal levels in anticipation of a possible recount scenario.”

The WA 2 CD race continues to be very close, with ~2000 votes separating Koster from incumbent Rick Larsen.  You can bet ‘lawyer up’  and re-count prep is underway.

ALASKA SENATE RACE:

Latest developments, re-count and lawyer-up activities underway there as well:

1.)  Alaska Sen Race: Miller, on ‘Today’ show, calls Murkowski “little victory speech” premature

2.) Murkowski, Miller prep for legal battle over write-ins

3.) RedCounty: Will the Mike Dingmans of Alaska Cut Down the “Murkowski” Write-in Tally?

4.) Murkowski Acts Like Victor but Questions Linger

MULTNOMAH  CO VOTE-BY-MAIL UPDATE:

I pinged Law Prof Jack “BoJack” Bogdanski ( http://bojack.org ), who was the one of the first, if not first person to call into question the GROWING number of uncounted ballots:

“Nothing new.  The Oregon secretary of state has stopped sending out “returned ballot” numbers to the e-mail list I’m on, and so I don’t know what the official story is today.”

So another day, and more questions than answers regarding the soap opera that is Northwest Vote-By-Mail.

Stay tuned…..

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***** Update below

Blogger BoJack is keeping tabs on some fishy mail ballot numbers in Portland Multnomah County (you can read about it here).  Could something similar be brewing in King County? An alert ORBUSMAX visitor (and personal friend) had been watching the King County and State of WA numbers for ballots to be processed, and after reading the linked post by BoJack, decided to visit the vote.wa.gov site to get the latest numbers (his interest has to do with I-1100 passage, and if there were enough outstanding KingCo ballots to be processed to overtake the rest of the state which voted against it).

And surprise, surprise…  according to my friend, the number of outstanding ballots to be processed has INCREASED by around 100,000 from earlier today when he looked at the numbers (roughly from 171,500 to 270,000 by this evening).

I don’t have the exact numbers from earlier in the day, but my friend is pretty good about details when it comes to numbers and stats, so I trust him.  But I plan to start checking the numbers throught out the day and recording them.

I have made screen shots of whats on the state site now for the current numbers and will try to get them uploaded at some point.

I could use some help i.e. eyeballs from people to check the numbers throughout the days and confirm what I am seeing.  The state site URL is http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/VoterTurnout.aspx?ElectionID=37 .

I want to be clear… I’m NOT accusing anyone of anything.  I admit I don’t have precise numbers from earlier in the day.  Obviously mail-in balloting is slower than electronic and traditional polls.  And I am of the understanding a person could mail in a ballot as late as midnight on Tuesday as long as it was postmarked (were any post offices actually open that late?).  In short, a lot variables and caveats.

Nonetheless, it sounds extremely similar to what is going on down in Multnomah County.  And if a left-wing law professor from a liberal college smells something rotten – well…. You do the math (pun intended).

Update:

Forgot to mention this:   The total ballots unprocessed (617,170)  and the total votes counted (1,872,195)… does that mean roughly 1/3 of all votes cast have not been tabulated?  And if so, even if King County represents about 45% of that number… why is the hell is Dino Rossi conceding????

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