Abortion Mill

Planned Parenthood’s results for 2011 are out and the numbers are interesting. Summary is here.

333,964 abortions performed in 2011 – three year total, 995,687, just missing that magic million mark, darn it! (2010-2011 Annual Report, p.5)

$542 million received in taxpayer money in 2011, 45% of budget.

92% of its “pregnancy services” is providing abortions, 7% prenatal care, 0.6% adoption.

Love abortion or hate it, it would be nice if the left stopped referring to Planned Parenthood as some sort of womens’ health care provider and admitted to what it is: an abortion mill. Then we can debate whether taxpayers should fund it.

Accepted offer reported

25 Lindsay Drive

Someone presumably received good news about his bonus this year because 25 Lindsay Drive, asking $8.9 million, has an accepted offer. The sale of the two acres this was built on probably marks the highwater mark of the 2007 feeding frenzy: priced at $3.950 million in August, 2007, it sold in four days for $4,460,000. Even at that, I’d guess these owners will make out. (UPDATE: On reflection, if these people paid $500 per square foot for each of its 11,000, they lost money – that seems hard to do at $8 million+, but …. The buyer’s beating replacement cost, that’s for sure.)

A brilliant idea, long overdue

Vandalized Prius

Oregon wants to impose a separate tax on hybrids to make up for lost gasoline revenues. Eschewing anything so simple as raising the gasoline tax itself, which would tax drivers for the amount they drive and encourage conservation, Oregon greens would install GPS tracking devices on Priuses and charge them a special rate. What liberal wouldn’t love this? It’s intrusive, ineffective, expensive and grows the bureaucracy while hitting those who can afford to pay more, rather than the illegal cabbage pickers in their 1960 Impalas. Go, Oregon!

Nothing new but some rentals and condos

Cos Cob meets West Lyon

Nothing of particular interest to write about, though I did note a West Lyon Farm condominium has come up for sale and is asking $1.395 million. The owner paid $925,000 for it in 2010 and has completely renovated it with a new kitchen, new baths, etc. All that’s nice to have, but I haven’t seen a W. Lyon Farm unit sell for that kind of money in some years now and I’m skeptical I will again. The ancient downsizers  who used to prop up prices here all seem to have shuffled off to Nathaniel Witherell or found more permanent underground lodging, and their replacements are going elsewhere.

Only Democrats invited to Newtown massacre site (including that perennial camera hog Dick Blumenthal), but it’s not political?

Republican to Gabby Giffords: “stay out of my towns”. The Dems all insist that they were in Newtown to lend aid and comfort to the victims of the recent school horror but what, they were all of the same party by coincidence?

Still, while I think the Republican was right to call them out on this bit of grandstanding I wish she’d have shown a little backbone when issuing the standard non-apology for these sort of incidents:

“The remarks I made regarding Congresswoman Gifford’s visit were insensitive and if I offended anyone I truly apologize,” Hovey said in a prepared statement released Monday afternoon.

Well of course you offended people, lady, that was the point . Is there a politician left in America who can denounce his opponent without then pretending to backtrack with one of these “if I offended anyone” statements? If you’re sorry, say so; if not, stick to your guns.

No printing press to run, no army to disband, no trillion-dollar coin in the closet.

 

Greenwich Democrat Designated Intellectual, Dollar Bill: “Are there no workhouses, no prisons for millionaires?”

New York State’s run out of borrowing capacity.

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today warned in an analysis that New York State’s heavy debt burden could jeopardize critical infrastructure projects and other capital needs. New York State has the second highest level of debt in the country and is approaching its legal borrowing limit. The state’s debt capacity is projected to dwindle to $509 million by the end of the next fiscal year.

“New York’s past borrowing is limiting our future options,” DiNapoli said. “We spend billions each year to repay existing debt, so fewer resources are available for more pressing needs. This comes at a challenging time when our state needs to rebuild and repair critical infrastructure and has growing capital needs.

New York’s outstanding debt averages $3,253 per state resident, almost three times the national median. New York’s state-funded debt totaled $63.3 billion as of March 31, second only to California and 80 percent higher than New Jersey, the state with the third highest level. This represents an increase of $24.3 billion, or 62.2 percent, from state fiscal year (SFY) 2002-03. [Connecticut leads the nation in total debt per capita, $5,840.00 - Ed]

The cost of borrowing is increasingly crowding out other state expenditures. New York paid $6.8 billion in state-funded debt service in SFY 2011-12, which amounted to approximately 5.1 percent of All Governmental Funds receipts. Growth in state-funded debt service, at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent over the last 10 years, has far outpaced average annual growth in state spending on both education (5.3 percent) and Medicaid (5.1 percent) for the same period.

When trees hug back

 

Big Gulp

Woman discovers her bicycle lost fifty years ago, swallowed by a tree.