Double Standards

In reading this morning's Spokesman-Review, an Associated Press reporter gushed over a black jockey, Kenvin Krigger, who is scheduled to ride in the Kentucky Derby. The gushing wasn't about his success as a jockey, or his contribution to society. The gushing was about his race.

In an era that demands that we be blind to sexual orientation, color, ethnic origins, religion and other various things that make us stand out as different, this smug reporter committed the sin of racial prejudice simply by singling him out as a member of one of the above categories, rather than just his accomplishments.

There are so many examples of these double standards that it causes me to wonder if people listen to their own words, or perhaps it is alright to differentiate it you are saying nice things about a racial minority.

Some of the more obvious violations of this taboo, are the Congressional Black Caucus. How do you suppose people, especially the radical left print reporters would react to the formation of a White Caucus.

If equality is our goal, as it should be, then stop singling out individuals or groups based solely on their color, creed or national origins and simply discuss them as Americans.

R.I.P

We had an unusually sad  week as we lost two long time well known residents.

LaVerne Rickle, widow of Ivan died suddenly of an apparent heart attack last week. Her and her husband operated the Rickle Ranch just south and east of Silverwood prior to their retirement. Just like a clock that keeps perfect time, LaVerne would be at the door waiting at Ralph's if he should show up late for opening. knowing better than to keep her waiting, he was on time. During their lives, Ivan and now LaVerne never had anything bad to say about anyone and conversely, they didn't't have any enemies either. She will, as her late husband, be sorely missed.

The other death was Skip Wilcox. Skip worked tirelessly, contributing to his community. Some of his contributions were always welcome, some were not. At the end of the day, nobody doubted his sincerity nor his dedication whether they agreed with his positions or not. He will also be missed by many.

Although Skip hadn't  lived in Bayview all his life, he settled here after retiring from the U.S Air Force as a Lt. Colonel working in the cold war missile silos. his family goes way back. John Wilcox, his grandfather, owned a two story float house in Bayview with living quarters above and a boat rental business below.

It burned down and was replaced with a single story building after the fire. Chased off the frontage he occupied after another pioneer bought the riparian lots facing him, he promptly purchased the lot just west of the old location and using logs, rolled the house up onto his lot.

He sold out to the Navy when World War 11 came along and the building was subsequently sold again, operating as Boileau's Resort. The old float house is now the Button Hook restaurant, currently closed.

If you wish more of the history of that building and other ownerships, go to spokesman.com/archives for part three, history of Bayview, written by yours truly and assisted greatly by Linda Hackbarth, Bayview's own historian.

Boston, The Aftermath

All weekend long, the pundits, quasi-experts and uninformed media has inundated us with whether or not to mirandize the remaining suspect in the bombing. This stirred quite a debate which I consider wasted effort.

Miranda, as I understand it was designed to give a suspect the opportunity to not give testimony, or information to investigators that might incriminate them. It is a non issue. They do not need any confession of guilt. The authorities have him cold.

The only reason to question him now is to try to determine whether or not their was others involved, either domestic or Jihadists from abroad. It don't matter if they did or did not mirandize him.

Two things came out of this incident. The first, is no matter how long Islamic immigrants have been in this country, they cannot be trusted. Secondly, we ought to, since we cannot with any accuracy differentiate, cease issuing visas to these creeps. If we are going to allow students from other countries to live here, make it from countries without  a terrorist tradition.

The only good thing about extremist Jihadists is that they can only blow themselves up once. Lets make it a little harder to do that. Stop trying to be their friends and go back to the basics of U.S. Government. Protect public safety. No where in our constitution does making nice with Jihadist assholes trump the protection clause. Shut the doors. We cannot justify a border patrol if we invite them in through the front door.

There have been many examples of trusted Moslems suddenly turning violent screaming Alahu Akbar as they mow down our innocent civilians and or military. (See the Army officer at Ft. Hood)

A Miracle In Bayview

Those that do not believe in miracles or even religion will have to take a step back today. Last week,  a local bible study group from the Real Life Church in Post Falls, got together and decided to help Yvonne Wallis, the victim a couple of years ago of the dastardly attack by a deranged neighbor wilding a hammer. Yvonne's daughter-in-law, patty was killed and Yvonne endured two years of surgeries and long recovery periods in which she had to have twice daily antibiotics intravenously administered by friends and neighbors.

Today she is once again healthy and in addition to that she became interested in a neighbor who hosted a bible study group in her home. One thing led to another, as her home was in sad shape without the necessary funds to improve it.

In stepped the bible study group, Bayview residents, all. They arranged for Yvonne to visit relatives for a week while they did a makeover, and wow, what a makeover.

When Yvonne walked through the door, she faced an entirely new living room from carpet up to new furniture. Turning toward her kitchen, she observed new cabinets and a brand spanking new kitchen range.

Long having to sleep in her old recliner due to an old back injury, the group obtained a new hospital bed which can mechanically raise and lower both the head and middle of the bed. She slept pain free in it for the first time last night.

This church group didn't just use platitudes, they donated several hundred dollars to make this dream come true. They not only put up the money for new furniture and appliances, they also spent the entire week painting, cleaning and spiffing the place up. As she stepped onto her deck she was greeted to a very nice patio furniture set. If this wasn't a Christian miracle, I've never seen one.

Today, Yvonne Wallis has the start of a new life. Healthy once more, found a Christian life style and now a home that for all intent and purposes is brand new.

A Clear Choice

Back in the 1960's, the ultra-conservatives were mostly members of the John Birch Society. Discredited in the mid-sixties, they segued into what was called the Constitution party. One of their first presidential candidates was a former Bircher, John Schmidt, a Southern Californian.

In more recent years, the Constitutionalists realizing they weren't capturing any political offices, began to infiltrate the Republican Party. Today, many of the more active members of the Kootenai County party are those people. Flying false colors they purport to be Republicans when actually they are RINOS. Republicans in name only.

These people are not satisfied with conquering Republican seats in the legislature and the County Council, they want the non-partisan offices as well. Two of the candidates for the 1st and 5th district School Board are such ideologists. On the other hand, Christa Hazel and Tom Hearn are eminently qualified, not along by political affiliation but by actual qualifications. Their opponents have only their ideology.

This year's school board trustee election is not your usual flip a coin and pick 'em. One challenger is Christa Hazel. She is an attorney, a mother and a community activist. She has a balanced view on the various subjects that are brought up, but most importantly, she is issue orientated, not ideological. A person that votes only for political purity as in the Constitution party will deserve what she or he gets. On top of that, ironically, Her opponent home schools his kids. To hire someone to supervise students in a school he doesn't believe in is madness. ...But then Wackos tend toward those extremes.

Then we have Tom Hearn. A professional Mental Health doctor, father of three. He is opposed by a self proclaimed Constitution party member. At the last Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting, he roared at the council telling them that there are thousands  of his ilk out there. (How about a couple of hundred?, Maybe just a few dozen?)  The extreme elements in Kootenai County are making an obvious run at controlling everything including non-partisan offices.

This attitude reflects a mirror image of Washington State where liberal democrats have ruled for a long time. I was once a worker in Ronald Reagan's campaign for California governor in 1965-66. Sure, we had weirdo's down there, but they called themselves the "John Birch Society." Not so with the real Reagan's record. He stood for party unity, not the splits that the Republican party is famous for. He coined the phrase, "Eleventh Commandment" which stated thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans.

He was also a consensus builder. In both the California legislature and then as president of the United States, he was faced with powerful democratic leadership. He somehow managed to get along with those people and brought California out of a serious cash flow problem. Of course other subsequent governors  put them right back where they were financially.

As you can see, some locals thinking to gain legitimacy by using his name in vain are the archetypical wolf in sheep's clothing. These extremists are well organized and the public needs to participate. If they don't, the extremists will win by default. If you want issues resolved, not right wing extremism vote for a sensible school board candidate like Christa Hazel and Tom Hearn.

Yvonne Wallis Revisited

As many of you remember, Yvonne along with her daughter-in-law, were attack by a hammer wielding neighbor who obviously had mental issues. The daughter-in-law, Patricia was killed, but Yvonne survived. Many of you helped out financially to pull her through this period of recovery which took all of two
years.

Recently, Yvonne has joined the Real Life Church where she met local people that had formed a bible study group.This group decided to do a complete makeover of her single wide mobile home that is aging.Paint, carpet, furnishings, etc. One need we are reaching out for is a hospital bed. One that cranks up and down. She currently sleeps in her recliner, due to a severe back problem that precludes her sleeping on a flat surface.

If you have, or know of someone that has a hospital be that is not in use and is willing to donate it, please contact me at 208-683-9107, Bayview, Idaho or at: bayviewherb@gmail.com

From The BBC

 


Apparently, camels in Mali aren't just used as beasts of burden. Here's a story from the BBC

says Mali is to send the French president a replacement camel after the first, given to him as a gift, was eaten, Reuters reports.
Francois Hollande had left the creature with a family in Timbuktu for safekeeping, after it was presented to him by local residents in February.
But it was promptly slaughtered and used in a tagine.
France sent troops to Mali in January to regain the north from a loose coalition of militant Islamist groups.
During the young camel's handover ceremony, Mr Hollande had joked about using "it as much a I can as a means of transport" around the Parisian traffic jams.

"It was a present that did not deserve this fate”

Unnamed Malian official
 

French officials had originally planned to transport the animal to a zoo in France, but because of the complex logistics it was decided instead to entrust the beast to a local family.

The French defence minister informed the president of the camel's death during a recent cabinet meeting, Valeurs Actuelles magazine reported.
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," Reuters quoted an unnamed Malian official as saying.
"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate."
France currently has 4,000 troops in Mali, backed by thousands of Malian, Chadian and other African forces.

 France's defence ministry said this week it had started the withdrawal of its forces from Mali.

Diamond Cup Regatta

Tickets are moving fast and given preferencial seating as they are sold. Don't get left out with tickets to right field. Straightaway tickets are still available at Tickets West, but it isn't too early to order now.

We'll have a full slate of classes with the jet boats, H-1 series, the vintage boats and Grandprix class that use automotive power and are almost as fast as the big boats.

You can park all day at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds for $10 per day and take a shuttle to the race course.

Alcoholic beverages are allowed only in designated beer gardens. This will assure families of a well behaved crowd.

If many of you haven't experienced the thunder boats, the vintage class with Rolls-Merlin engines (from Spitfire fighters) are featured. The boat skips from sid to side on the rear corner of the sponsons and the bottom half of the prop. The top half sticking out of the water creates the huge rooster tails missing in the more modern jet craft.

Funds Needed

I have raised money  for several people in need, but find myself, or I should say, my daughter in need Her name is Michaella Olivera.  She was recently diagnosed with stage three Cancer. She will shortly travel to Stanford University for radiation and chemotherapy. 

If you cannot help with money, please send prayers.

Her address is: 1475 - 41st Ave
 Capitola, CA 95010

I previously had the address wrong. It has been corrected.

My address is: PO Box 884, Bayview, ID 83803
My phone is 208-683-9107

Loaded With Choices

This year's school board trustee election is not your usual flip a coin and pick 'em. One challenger is Christa Hazel. She is an attorney, a mother and a community activist. She has a balanced view on the various subjects that are brought up, but most importantly, she is issue orientated, not ideological. A person that votes only for political purity as in the Constitution party will deserve what she or he gets. On top of that, ironically, Her opponent home schools his kids. To hire someone to supervise students in a school he doesn't believe in is madness. ...But then Wackos tend toward those extremes.

Then we have Tom Hearn. A professional Mental Health doctor, father of three. He is opposed by a self ;proclaimed Constitution party member. At the last Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting, he roared at the council telling them that there are thousands  of his ilk out there. (How about a couple of hundred?)
The extreme elements in Kootenai County are making an obvious run at controling everything including non-partisan offices.

This attitude reflects a mirror image of Washington State where liberal democrats have ruled for a long time.I was once a worker in Ronald Reagan's campaign for California governor in 1965-66. Sure, we had weirdos down there, but they called themselves the "John Birch Society." Not so with the real Reagan's record. He stood for party unity, not the splits that the Republican party is famous for. He coined the phrase, "Eleventh Commandment" which stated thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans.

He was also a consensus builder. In both the California legislature and then as president of the United States, he was faced with powerful democratic leadership. He somehow managed to get along with those people and brought California out of a serious cash flow problem. Of course other subsequent governors  put them right back where they were financially.

As you can see, some locals thinking to gain legitimacy by using his name in vain are the archetypical wolf in sheep's clothing. These extremists are well organized and the public needs to participate. If they don't, the extremists will win by default. If you want issues resolved, not right wing extremism vote for a sensible school board candidate like Christa Hazel and Tom Hearn.

For those that are curious, I am a Republican since  1964. I am right of center, but not far.I don't wish to tear our party up, but to bring everyone under the same tent. Ceding the party to the extremists will only marginalize it. Another Reagan quote, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (Lord Acton.) If organizations wish to use his name they ought to stand for his principles. It is not healthy for one party or one segment to win control over everything, even non-partisan offices.

If you are wondering why a Bayview resident such as myself is involved, keep in mind that many of the Reagan Republicans  and other organizations do not live in Coeur d'Alene either. Most are from Post Falls and Northern Kootenai County.