Standing Rock

http://www.insidesources.com/what-the-dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-arent-telling-you

This is an example of biased journalism, once again. Read it if you are open minded. Government and federal district court records show that this standing rock group is a damn lie.

Several Thoughts

I have followed the squealing and crying of the young left of which most didn't vote. After two weeks, I have come to the conclusion that these people should only not vote, but shouldn't be allowed to breed.

The surge of criticism about the cabinet selections before they are even 25% done is damning before the fact. I don't know quite where to start. Trunp has shown a desire to balance his cabinet with both supporters and critics. That is a good thing.

I will drink another wine and add to this tomorrow morning. 

Fidel is Dead

After watching the Gonzaga game, then Arizona vs Arizona State, A news bulletin was announced that Fidel Castro died. 1926-2016. Our relationship with that country has been a convoluted one.

First, we liberated Cuba from Spain during the Spanish-American war, along with the Philippines. We then turned Cuba loose to seek its own destiny. But a dictatorship evolved, aided by our Costa Nostra who took over much of the tourist industry, building huge casinos, with gambling galore.

Castro and others came along and staged their own revolution. Only this one was communist backed. Then The Soviet Union proceeded to import missiles that could reach most of the east coast of the U.S. This happened right during the transition from the Eisenhower administration to the Kennedy's.

Caught by surprise, Kennedy botched the invasion of Cuba, but did institute a blockade forcing Russian ships to turn back from the continuation of arming Cuba.Many years have gone by in which we have isolated Cuba from the West, keeping them in poverty.

Unwilling to ease up with the Island's dictatorship in full force, it as lasted many years. My question, is how can we differentiate between the dictatorship in Cuba, and the dictatorship in China, our principal trading partner in the far east.

The answer lies in Florida, where thousands of escapees from Cuba adamantly refuse to give up their sacrifices for a peace unearned by new comers. The Cuban Florida vote is powerful enough to throw national elections  into turmoil.

Now the question is can we, should we, have the political will to ignore that power block and normalize relations with this Island Nation.

Archives 2005

http://bayviews.blogspot.com/2005/12/conversation-with-kathleen-parker.html

Working Class

There are several labels that piss me off. One is working class. Like DFO goes to work most weeks, juggling news stories, controlling debate, answering his phone while trying to keep track of the day's activities via the police calls. He doesn't work? White collar office workers and government employees don't work, just because they wear ties?

All of these people are working class. They just don't work in industrial or construction trades, all honorable. Perhaps a term such as blue collar workers would be less pejorative.

Then there is the term, "Little People." How can one get more insulting than that?

I spent the majority of my career wearing a suit and tie, working in the mortgage lending field. Back when it was respectable with legitimate income/debt ratios which spelled out one's ability to pay.

I worked my butt off in that endeavor, taking on the responsibility of guiding borrowers into lending programs that were the best fit for them. I too, was a working man.

It is time that the working press, yes they work too, comes up with less insulting labels to describe the various people that exist in our classless society.

Bayview Water & Sewer

Trump 2016

I don't view this year's presidential election as an anomaly, but a serious long term polar shift in partisan politics.

It all started several years ago when the Democrat Party chose to abandon organized labor and switched to racial minorities. For years, labor had no advocates. Suddenly, they all rose up simultaneously, as a group. They chose to adopt or take over the GOP.

Following a somewhat billionaire redneck, these blue collar workers voted in the Republican primary for Trump. The only question was whether they would just  make noise, or would they, many for the first time ever, go to the polls and actually cast a vote.

Now we have a party that is distinctly divided into a new labor party, along side of so called Tea Party  conservatives. This could develop into several different scenarios. We could end up with three political parties very easily, which would leave the Dems in control.

What ever happens, it is going to be very interesting. So far the labor interests are just at the presidential level. but that could change, as the labor people flex their collective muscles.

Trump's selection of cabinet and judges will reveal a lot. He can make up his lack of experience with judicious choices for his cabinet. With congressional leaders distancing themselves in order to protect their majorities, relations with Trump could be strained at the very least.

One thing for sure, the next few months will not be boring.

466,680 page views since 2005

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Bayview Poll News

County Clerk, Jim Brannon reported that as of 9:30 am, 109 votes were cast in Bayview. Wow!

Clothespins

I missed out on a sure fire way to riches recently. I came up with a public service that would cause money to pour in on election day.

All I had to do was buy a ton of clothespins that could be sold at polling places so those that wished to avoid the odor coming from some of the choices, could apply the clothespin to their noses.

Alas, a great idea went up in smoke when I couldn't find any clothespins for sale anywhere. Oh well, back to the drawing board as they say.

Deplorables

Defining Deplorables according to the arrogant Hillary Clinton is any blue collar worker that is tired of elitists and fumbling bumbling politicians that accomplish nothing but running for public office.

Drug prices? tort reform? veterans suffering VA budget problems and bad management? All of these unfinished problems can be laid at the feet of the current administration and their policies, plus the congress, made up mostly of attorneys, that will not vote to fence in bad laws and worse lawyers.

In my adult lifetime, lawyers were not permitted to advertise. Now the airways are flooded with class action suits that attack every pharmaceutical product as soon as it hits the streets. We need more real people in public office. Doctors, businessmen,  yes and even laborers.

Many of us think that Hillary, Bill and other elitists are the real Deplorables. Please do not vote for a criminal that would be impeached leaving us with a no name VP as president.

If Trump turns out as his detractors say, we can get rid of him quickly, leaving us with a real qualified president, Governor Pence.

The Bell

A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Onion Creek School's reunion. My mother taught there in 1932. The original school bell was still there. I can understand why a couple of people would want to ring the bell in McEuen Park.

Faced with a bell, most of us would immediately want to ring it. I fully understand why the couple did so, accidentally damaged the one in Coeur d'Alene.

When I was taken on a tour of the original one room schoolhouse, I too, rang that bell.

My Opinion

In recent events, along with the previous FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's misuse of official State Department communications, several things are coming together.

The odd way FBI Director, James Comey dismissed the allegations of misuse of classified material, choosing to characterize it as sloppy but not criminal is and was suspect.

Combined with the fact that our current Justice Department is the most politicized in my memory, suggests that James Comey was coerced into dropping the charges that could and should have been levied. A recent interview with a retired federal judge brought out the emphatic statement that intent is not an issue in laws pertaining to security matters.

That would make sense as to why he suddenly reopened the investigation. The controversy within the FBI faced Comey with a difficult choice.His reputation versus following the party line which obviously is pro-Clinton. He chose to go with his sense of integrity in what is a scandal of epic proportions, much that will come out only after the election.

The huge scandal though, is when Director Comey asked the Attorney General for permission to investigate the Clinton Foundation for corruption, he was turned down.

Whether one is a liberal or a conservative, our country should trump (no pun intended) partisanship in favor of integrity. Lacking that, I'd rather have another peanut farmer, than Hillary. She makes Slick Willy look like an angel.Clinton is right. There is a double standard, just not the one she spins. Justice and equal treatment under the law va blatant partisanship.