Your President, Again

    Well, he did it again.  Now, no more campaigning(on his own behalf).  He'll get right back to business.  And he should; the fiscal cliff looms over the White House as the due date lurks around the corner.  It will take some doing, but faced with some serious blowback from his base in addition to the dinosaurs across the aisle, he'll get the job done.
      The big surprise for us Tahomans was the passage of Prop 30, Jerry Brown's Save Our Schools initiative.  He took the chance that he could scare enough voters into raising taxes across the board to bail out the state after the Dems in the legislature spent beyond their means.  So now, and for the next 4-5 years, we'll all be paying 1/4% more on state sales tax amounts, and more income taxes, especially those pesky professional athletes who bank millions for chasing balls, throwing balls, kicking balls, shooting pucks, etc.
     You and me, we won't be paying too much more income taxes.  Poor Chief Pang at Meeks Bay Fire District, he'll definitely be paying more income taxes on his astronomical salary of $240,000(+).  Oh, well. He can afford to pay more.  But wait.  Don't our property taxes pay his salary?  Maybe we should pay him less, then , he wouldn't have to pay more.  That's another issue.

MARIJUANA SHOWDOWN IN COLORADO AND WASHINGTON

       Voters in these two states passed laws making RECREATIONAL use of marijuana legal.  Yes, LEGAL.  Folks agree:  it doesn't make good sense to incarcerate an individual for puffing a little weed.  Especially when it's legal to drink yourself silly with all the booze one can consume, no matter the outcome.  How much does alcohol abuse cost the citizens/culture/society?  More than the slight effect of some weed.  However, the big,bad Federal Gov has a stake in this fight.  Attorneys General will be meeting with AG Eric Holder this week to discuss tactics and where they can go with this new situation.  Now that Obama will be here for 4 more big ones, who knows?  He might tell his hitman to back off.  We'll all know soon enough.

Thanksgiving Around the Corner
      Will we be skiing on the holiday weekend?  Certainly, limited runs will be open.   All resorts/areas have snowmaking-equipment, and with the base, more will be made.  A small system may bring a little more over the next few days, and temps will drop.  Get ready for winter.