State of Our Union

Only the most jaded of the left wing proponents can find fault with the president's state of union message. Earlier today, an on line poll dominated by left wing types were asked to grade Donald Trump's presidency. This with just five or so weeks into his presidency and even without his full cabinet confirmed. Every one except me gave him an F.

Tonight, President Trump gave perhaps the most scintillating speech  I have ever heard. He started by honoring black history month then condemned violence against minorities and the Jewish community. He honored our veterans especially those that have given their lives in the line of duty.

Tonight, the president flung the gauntlet down. Either help us govern, or face the voters if you don't.

There were so many positives during this speech that I cannot repeat them all. Congratulations Mr President, today you truly became a president in deed as in name.

I won't go any further with this, since either you didn't watch the address, or you did and were blinded by party politics. Either way, it was your loss.

Cape Horn Road Closed

According to Sheryl Puckett, who sent out an e-mail, Cape Horn Road is washed out east of the summit, just past Terrace Road. A stretch estimated at 30-35 feet long, 6-8 feet wide and 20-25 feet deep has closed the road.

Water lines were severed at the scene and have been shut off. Please avoid the area as it is very unstable.

Update: Cape Horn Road is now open to all traffic and the water lines are secured.

Hate Crimes

A hate crime may be thee only one where the motive outweighs the act itself. If I punch someone in the nose, I'm guilty of third degree assault, a misdemeanor. Conversely, if I utter an ethnic or racial epitaph before the punch in the nose, I'm then guilty of a felony.

Folks, punishing a person for their motive rather than the act is blatantly UN-American. I don't advocate racial or ethnic slurs, but they fall under the category of poor behavior, not felonious crimes.

Why this hasn't been tested in an appellate court  blows my mind.

In this one generation we have allowed people to tramp all over our rights of free speech. Political correctness was born from the left wing press and carried forth by the Democrats.

Freedom of speech has been voided by those that only accept that speech with which they agree with. God help us all as we swirl down the proverbial drain of a people who once was free..

Mexican Farm Workers

Back when I was a teen, way back,in the 1950's, we had no fast food outlets at all. The route to teen income was either an allowance from parents, or in Summer, the bean fields.

Flashing forward 60 years, the valley that stretched from Renton, Washington to Puyallup, Washington, some eighteen miles, was solid bean fields. There weren't enough teen age workers that could pick fast enough to overcome the youth grab ass tendencies. After all, pursuing the opposite sex was paramount in our minds, bodies, and dreams. What to do?

Braceros. Braceros were Mexican farm workers that could pick three times as fast as we slothly teens.  They were paid by the hour, since by our scale it would have cost the farmers more than they wanted to pay. First mistake, but then this was the 1960's where our sense of justice did not extend to our neighbors to the south.

From time to time I spoke with some of the Bracero's I much admired them for their ambition and productivity. The way it worked, was that the Mexican farm worker were imported for a season's work in he fields. When that season was done thy could, if sponsored,  follow the crops north to fruit orchards. etc. The bottom line here, was they were imported by employers, then taken back by them as well. When winter came, they rejoined their families in Mexico.

I do not know what happened to that program. Perhaps it was the farm workers union of the 1960's. That is a valid concern. Importing alien workers must not be allowed to undercut the living wage of resident farm workers who are here legally. Importing lesser wage workers would first not be right, and secondly, would create wars in the farm community.

Why hasn't ts occurred to our government?

Winter From Hell

Something told me this winter was going to be a challenge. It is. While 2007-2008 had more snow, the below zero weather followed by more than a foot of snow has stopped people in their tracks.

For those that still believe in the groundhog predictions, stuff it.

At this point, with the snow being rained on, we now have a foot of slush, too deep to drive through. I can only hope that the Mercantile delivers, because I'm going nowhere fast.

As it looks now, and it's 10:00 am Sunday, that the rain is going to change back to snow. I see ice ruts in our future.

As always, be safe.If you do not absolutely have to be somewhere, don't go. Besides, you get great gas mileage when not driving your car.

Total page views to date 500,333

Thank You

As I see 499,163 page views, since I started this blog 11 years ago, passing 500,00 tomorrow, I realized after reflection that I haven't thanked those most responsible for this success.

First,none of this would have happened if Dave Oliveria hadn't urged me to do this thing. Dave is ring master at Huckleberries on line, the North Idaho blog sponsored by the Spokesman-Review. When Steve Smith, former editor of the Spokesman-Review expanded to North Idaho with the Handle Extra  then the Prairie Voice, he recommended me as a correspondent for Northern Kootenai County, a position I held for about five years. When the S/R pulled in it's horns, discontinuing the Idaho editions, I was done. In my area of coverage, between Athol and Bayview,  the paper lost 60 subscribers. People that liked me to write about them and those events that were important to them.

The format for Bayviews, was designed for me by StebbiJo. The design that I still use.  She was a wealth of information and assistance during those early days where my computer skills were practically non-existent.

Then there was Bill McCrory, retired secret service officer. I must have called him at least three times a week for technical advise. He never hesitated to patiently help me over those hurdles.

While there were many more, these were the ones that made it all possible. Most likely, I will cross the half million page views tomorrow. Thank you all again. I just wish I would have done this way sooner.