Meeting Fools Half-Way

The following letter to the editor was submitted to The Daily World on November 1:

 Dear Editor,

The other day, I was listening to Jim Eddy do a, “get out to vote” ad on the radio. As part of the ad, he identified himself as a proud Democrat, and supporting their policies.

Standing next to me, listening to the same ad, was a friend who asked me why Democrats and Republicans couldn't meet half way on issues.

Interesting question that can only be answered with a question. What Democrat policy could I support as a Tea Party Republican? For example, where could a Republican meet half-way on the policy of supplying Mexican drug cartels with assault weapons i.e., “Fast & Furious”. How do you compromise on the lives of 300 murder victims and two border agents? The short answer is: You don't. I'm concerned that Republicans have met them half-way after-the-fact, by not prosecuting those involved or extraditing the criminals involved to Mexico to stand trial.

The budget is another example of how Republicans have met Democrats halfway. Obama hasn't passed a budget since he came to the White House. He had control of both houses of Congress and even Democrats with total control of the process, wouldn't pass one of his budgets. Republicans in a stroke of lunacy met Democrats half-way, by repeatedly raising the debt ceiling.

By this “meeting” half-way, we now have a deficit that exceeds the GDP. One story on the internet shows that the debt crisis, is well past crisis. If the government and armed services, were shut-down tomorrow, the income available would only pay the interest on the national debt and mandatory Social Security payments. We are the new face of Greece.

We ended up in this boat by bowing to the wishes of those that should not have been listened to in the first place and then trying to meet them halfway. When you loose track of who you are and become influenced by fools, you reap the benefits of a fool. AND only a fool will meet another fool half-way.

Sincerely,

John Straka

Straka on "Loyal Opposition - Who Not to Vote For and Why

John Straka's letter to the editor was sent to The Daily World on October 25:

 After reading a few of The Daily World endorsements, I would like to voice the loyal opposition's position of who “not” to vote for and why.

President

I would start with Office of the President. The Benghazi incident and how it was handled is a clear signal that Obama lacks the leadership qualities and intestinal fortitude for the post he holds. That embassy was under siege for 7 hours, there were military assets an hour away, and he did nothing. He did nothing, allowing 4 citizens to be tortured and murdered. That was deplorable. Watching it live on video and then lying about the entire incident turns my stomach.

I-502

While I support the decriminalization of Marijuana, I do not support Initiative 502. The state does not belong in the regulation and taxation of Marijuana. Sorry, but tax monies won't go to the schools, any more that gambling monies did. This is a scam for another level of government regulation and bureaucracy we don't need.

Couny Commissioner

County Commissioner Terry Willis is my next “don't-do-it”. She is a self-centered, controlling individual, who alienates those she is supposed to work with. She angers those she should be building bridges with. The jail issue being the most recent incident, that should not have been the antagonistic event it became. The requests made of her were reasonable and timely.

Legislative

The next “anyone but” to consider, is legislative candidates Blake, Takko, Hargrove, Tharinger, Van De Wege and Hatfield. They were summoned to Olympia by the governor and had three chances to address the budget and didn't do it. Instead of a budget, they gave us gay marriage. Not only did they fail to a job they were asked to do, but campaign promises of jobs. As a community we can't afford anymore empty promises about jobs.

Congress

Derek Kilmer has to be my favorite scammer. He has real firefighters that support him because he will protect their pensions. Those real firefighters should have been checked for real brains. How will Kilmer protect underfunded pensions? Is he talking about funding them and if he is, where is the money coming from? He has also dedicated his life to jobs. The question is what jobs? His campaign is clearly directed to the gullible and intellectually challenged.

U.S. Senate

Maria Cantwell boldly talks about all the jobs she has saved and her commitment to jobs. Sorry, great commercial, but that is where that story ends and where her job should end.

"Time for a Change"?

Frank Gordon makes me as nervous as anybody running. He talks about “Time for Change” and I agree. Only he is not the change we need. He has failed to show leadership or bring change as an Aberdeen city councilman. The question is, how will he do something for the county he couldn't do for the city?

PUD Commissioner

Finally Chris Thomas should not be the PUD commissioner replacing Tom Casey. This is a non-partisan position that has become partisan. Casey's fingerprints are all over his campaign. Thomas should have run his campaign on his merits. The PUD doesn’t need a Casey puppet and the influences he would bring with him.

Sincerely,

John Straka 

***

Grays Harbor Republican Party endorsements can be found here.

Reasons to Vote Democrat

The following letter to the editor was submitted to The Daily World on October 9:

Linda Orgel's "Sign Up" list overlooked a few reasons to vote Democrat, like:

1. Washington can keep barreling toward Californization.  Forty years of Democratic rule have bankrupted that state, crippled its economy with skyrocketing taxes, "progressive" regulations and pricey green-energy policies that drive away businesses, drive up housing prices, dry up growth, or all of the above.

2. Women need government to take care of us.  We're only interested in access to abortion, “free” birth-control or government sponsored “free” healthcare, not issues like government spending and infringement of our Constitutional rights, unemployment, national security, taxes, crime, education or the impact of future government debt on our children and grandchildren.

3. Women need more 'equal pay for equal work' like at the Democratic National Committee, where women staffers make 15 percent less than their male counterparts (Washington Free Beacon, August 8, 2012).  Ditto the Obama White House, where female staffers make 18% less than male staffers (WFB study based on 2011 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff).  (Maybe these ladies will file suit under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act?)

As for the oft-repeated myth that "Republicans are generally opposed to any type of unions," the truth is that most Republicans support employment growth, increased job opportunities and higher compensation, all of which are higher in Right to Work states. 

According to the National Institute for Labor Relations' report on the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis 2011, "All of the top five, and 10 of the top 12, states for 2001-2011 private-employment growth are Right to Work states. Meanwhile, the 10 bottom-ranking states for employment growth all lacked Right to Work statutes at the time.  According to the BEA, private-sector, nonfarm employment grew by 12.5% over the past decade. That’s well over triple the average for forced-unionism states, and nearly double the national average.  And workers in forced-unionism states suffer from lower compensation growth as well as fewer job opportunities." 

What most Republicans oppose is forced public sector unionism that routinely picks the pocket of state government at taxpayer expense.

Is more of the same old, same old what we want for Washington State?  Your vote will be the answer.

Should Taxpayers Fund Murrell's Fanciful Version of 'History''?

Grays Harbor history professor Gary Murrell, in his frequent misrepresentations of US history, doesn’t appear to like America. If he were just a private citizen, that’s his right to spout off. But as a history professor at Grays Harbor College, taxpayers are funding his erroneous teaching to our children. That shouldn’t be tolerated, and it’s time the public demanded an end to institutionally sanctioned lies and distortions.

In his letter response to Schaeffer, Murrell lies by omission. He wrote, “‘One of the most chilling images in early American history is the deliberate firing of Fort Mystic during the Pequot War of 1637,’ according to one historian. ‘Five hundred Indian men, women, and children died that day, burned alive along with their homes and possessions by a vengeful Puritan militia intent on doing God’s will.’ Is Murrell ignorant of facts, or is he purposely omitting details that changes the interpretation?

Why does Murrell omit that the colonialists felt their very survival was threatened when the Pequots had declared a war of annihilation? According to ‘A Brief History of the Pequot War’ (free at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu then search on the title), the Pequots had pledged a ‘Resolution to Destroy the English’ in which they also solicited the support of neighboring tribes. Fort Mystic was the Pequot’s primary staging point. A historical account of the killing of numerous colonials between 1634-7 gives some of the colonials’ rationale for the retribution. Do I fault the Pequots from wanting to drive off the English? No more than I fault the English for wanting to stay. That’s the way the world has evolved over tens of thousands of years.

Why does Murrell omit that over half the attacking colonial force were native Americans who hated the Pequots? In promoting their war against the colonials, the Pequots had solicited another tribe, the Narragansetts to kill the colonists’ cattle, burn the houses, and lie in ambush, while the Pequots and their depending tribes would do the killing. Some tribes feared the Pequots even more, and thus the Narragansetts and some of their Niantic allies sided and ‘marched’ with the colonists.

Yes, hundreds of men, women, and children died that day, but read the historical account and realize that many natives just refused to evacuate the burning fort. Was it unfortunate people died? Of course, and I’m not claiming either side was entirely wrong or right. But I am saying Murrell provides a frequently one-sided viewpoint that skews history towards his negative attitude towards America and organized religion. If you were threatened with extermination, what would you do?

In another omission, Murrell complains about the men who wrote the Constitution, calling them, “a group of bourgeois, fallible, wealthy white men — real estate speculators, merchants, slave owners — the richest men in their states.” He neglects to mention 23 of 40 were military veterans of the Revolution. Why? Probably he felt he couldn’t manipulate public sentiment by including it. He didn’t mention that by being rich but fighting the English in a war they weren’t sure they’d win, they could lose everything. To these men, the risk for freedom was everything. And not all the signers were wealthy. The Secretary of the Constitutional Congress, William Jackson, was an impoverished law student when he joined the signers. Nor does Murrell mention that these men were among the best educated in America, and that by NOT including a nobility system as in England, they actually were reducing the power of their legacy. Gone were titles they may have passed to their later generations. That took guts to create a meritocracy.

Murrell, in demeaning our Constitution, wrote, “contains some decidedly vile provisions as well, especially those that protect and promote the original sin of the United States: slavery.” Anyone who has studied the Constitution knows it didn’t ‘promote’ slavery – it tolerated it as a compromise to keep the country together. Slavery was an abhorrent practice (still practiced in Africa) but America has freed and uplifted more people around the world than any other nations, and should be so honored.

Murrell, no doubt is goading a public response, by using charged phrases, such as “those interlopers stumbled on to shore”...’”the theocratic invasion”... “terribly inconvenient to acknowledge the holocaust perpetuated in the genocide of First Peoples and Africans by the original Europeans and their descendants”...” deliberately sought to wipe out the indigenous population”. Like many progressives, Murrell is an apologist to Europeans setting foot on the Americas – and no doubt laments anyone from European descent being in Grays Harbor as a consequence.

It’s hypocritical that Murrell writes, “Schaeffer would be better off engaging in some serious study of U. S. history rather than attempting to mold and distort history to her dogmatic religious beliefs,” when it is he, as a paid public servant, who is distorting history to our children.

I am not unbiased in this debate. I distrust Murrell in anything he writes, and I’ve begged Grays Harbor College to take responsibility for his unprofessional lying and deleting academic records during a term. I’ve published an account of Murrell’s professorial dishonesty at http://graysharborgop.blogspot.com/2012/05/academic-dishonesty-at-grays-harbor.html.

Regards,

Randy Dutton

CDR, USNR-Retired

Initiative & Referendum Forum Set for October 8

An Initiative and Referendum Forum for the community "to ask questions about the initiatives and referendums that will be offered to the voters this election season" is set for Monday, October 8, at Elma High School at 7:00 p.m.

 

Sponsored by The League of Women Voters, the forum will include Initiative 1185 (2/3 vote required to raise taxes), Initiative 1240 (charter schools), Initiative 502 (marijuana), and Referendum Measure 74 (same sex marriage).  Representatives from both sides of each issue will be present.   Info.: 360.289.4444.

What's Next?

The following article was submitted as a letter to the editor of  The Daily World on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 12:17 p.m.:

For many Americans, disagreement and politics go together like morning and coffee.  Spirited debate on issues and policy are part of our cultural milieu, especially during campaign season.  But property damage, verbal abuse and physical assault are another matter. 

As reported in the September 12 issue of The Daily World, a fourteen year-old young lady was spat upon during the Logger's Play Day Parade in Hoquiam.  This incident is the most recent in a series of attacks on both property and persons related to the exercise of the prerogative to engage in a political activity.  While each act is disturbing, the trend and escalation of aggression provides additional cause for pause. For those who may not be aware, the following is a brief chronology of some recent events. 

Our sign coordinator reports that "over two hundred" Republican candidate yard signs have been destroyed or stolen countywide since July.  Removing or defacing political signs is a misdemeanor (RCW 29A.84.040), subjecting the perpetrator to a maximum of 90 days in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, or both.  "The defacement or removal of each item constitutes a separate violation."

Yard sign damage was followed by the defacing and theft of numerous large Rob McKenna signs.  This is also illegal per the above.  Police reports have been filed with the Hoquiam and Aberdeen police departments and the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s office.  The defacement was also reported on KOMO 4 TV in Seattle. 

Is this how Grays Harbor wants to be seen by the rest of the state?

Another incident occurred at the Grays Harbor County Fair in August when a physically challenged young man wearing a Young Republicans T-shirt walked by the Grays Harbor Democrat booth.  In passing, the polite young man was verbally abused by a woman (obviously not a lady) tending that booth.  She shouted at him that he was a “Nazi rebel” and had been “brainwashed." 

In the wake of the Tucson shooting that killed six and severely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, President Obama urged "more civility in our public discourse."  Apparently this message hasn't reached Grays Harbor.  Ranking near the top in unemployment statewide, Grays Harbor also seems to be leading in intolerance and criminal behavior related to political speech. 

This brings us to Logger's Play Day, when an adult male spit in the face of a fourteen year-old girl who was walking the parade and passing out campaign literature.  You read that right: an adult male physically assaulted a fourteen year-old girl who was exercising her prerogative to engage in a political activity. 

What's next?

I'm asking any and all individuals who may have witnessed this assault to step forward and contact the Hoquiam Police.  A concerned citizen has offered a $650 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the spitting criminal.

While there is no hard evidence that these acts, other than at the Fair, were perpetrated by Democrats, I call on Mr. Patrick Wadsworth, Chairman of the Grays Harbor Democrat Party, to join me in publicly condemning these actions and the person(s) who committed them in the strongest terms possible.  I also request that our County Commissioners and City Councils pass resolutions denouncing this type of action and behavior.

Kristine Lowder

Chair

Grays Harbor Republican Party

Wondering About Willis

Just a quick comment on Commissioner Willis's decision to hire relatives.

I'll leave my opinion of whether or not it was the right thing to do out of it and let you, the  reader, make that call.

What does come to mind is the esteemed Commissioner's qualifications to do the job for which she was elected. She didn't know that a "special" office position was created to employ a 17 year old,  as well she didn't know that 17 years of age was  too young an age to hold a flagger position? Didn't she have a job description listing duties and requirements of the job?

Willis also said that she was unaware that the part time positions were not advertised, though according to  Human Resources Director Marilyn Lewis,  the jobs are picked exclusively by the county commissioners. That poses an interesting question doesn't it?

Well, it really doesn't surprise me that Commissioner Willis didn't know the above stated stuff. It's pretty obvious when one looks at her performance and the state of affairs at the County Courthouse during her time in office.  She really doesn't know much about running any other county business, either!

If you want to really voice your opinion on the Commissioners performance, do it on election day and vote her out of office!

- Bruce Daniels