"We Honor You"

2017 Veterans Day honors from the third grade kids at Tussing Elementary School

SHEET MUSIC on their website - http://www.restored.faithweb.com

Politics, a Blood Sport? Or just Cockroaches Hiding in the Shadows?

A quote from the leftist Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, “politics is a bloodsport” is often heard from fringe elements to justify their vitriol and smearing of opponents in campaigns. Mostly it seems to now be coming from more right wing elements professing deep hatred for anything on the left.

To them, compromise or meeting in the middle is tantamount to high treason as they seek to impose their tyrannical view by any means deemed appropriate.

Tragically, we see this attitude all too often these past few years right here in Clark County Political campaigns as a small but nefarious group of right wingers seems hellbent on seizing power in our county by any means necessary.

It was three years ago this blogger became a target of this vitriolic hate group and remains in their crosshairs with whisper campaigns, so called “newsletters” spewing untruths or condemnation for having the audacity to allow voluntary contributions last year to help defray expenses.

But any not to their liking are subject to being targeted with innuendo, lies, smears and rumors all from anonymous sources like a gaggle of cockroaches lurking in the shadows just waiting for the lights to be turned off so they can squirm out to do their damage in hopes of fooling enough people to vote for the other guy, usually one of their group that likely has much less experience and less of a record than the targeted one.

Even though fringe right, they rely on another leftist belief, “the ends justify the means.”

Already in this election, only one day into filing, some are being targeted with vicious innuendo and rumor of personal behavior.

It is unknown just who will be filing against these people as they have yet to file their campaigns with the Elections Department. But we will know who the fringe wants by the end of the week, bank on it.

In the meantime, rumors are flying and having the desired effect as even candidates targeted wonder if it is worth the sacrifice with unrelenting smears and rumors launched against them.

We have seen allegations of “fake news” thrown about in national politics and I cannot refute those claims as the bias in the media is glaring today.

But these often baseless or exaggerated rumors and innuendos thrown about locally from the fringe right are not media and are even more destructive as voters not paying close attention may fall for the ploy and allow themselves to be manipulated into voting different than they initially might have.

We must not allow ourselves to be deluded or manipulated by fringe elements from either side casting aspersions over standing on someone’s record and accomplishments.

Candidates whose supporters engage in such tactics must immediately come out to disavow and correct their supporters for such underhanded efforts.

As voters, we all must be discerning and look past baseless rumors and innuendos and seek those who best serve our communities, not a fringe party line.

It is up to us to push back against the fringe that seeks to impose their tyrannical views on us by any means.

No politician is perfect just as we too are human and make mistakes. But we push on in spite of mistakes and do what is best for us and our families. That does not make any rumor being currently circulated true mind you, but it also must inform us that often times a claim or photo circulated is taken far out of context or in today’s computer generated era, possibly fabricated to lend support to an untruth.

Don’t believe everything you hear about any candidate. Instead, look at their record of accomplishments and how they have served the community.

Aneurin Bevan was correct in his claim of politics being a bloodsport, but it is only that way by choice of the fringe that makes it that way to smear and bludgeon their way into office over us.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

I would add to that, allowing ourselves to be misled by fringe partisans.

It will only change by you refusing to reward their vitriol with your vote.

No Longer Indifferent on Benton Nomination to Selective Service

Don Benton

As we all know by now, former 5 term state senator Don Benton has been nominated by President Trump to head the Selective Service, aka the Draft to those of us old enough to remember that era.

I see no need to delve into the history of the draft, but also realize there is little chance it will be reactivated to induct young men and possibly young women into the Military.

That being said, I have been largely indifferent to the nomination of Don Benton or that he never served in the Military himself in any capacity. Although if approved he would be the first ever to head the department without Military Service, it really made no difference to me in large part due to the unlikelihood our youth would once again be conscripted.

I have supported Don over the years and have defended him, some of the time when his actions might have seemed indefensible.

That has now changed due solely to a flippant comment Don made to the Reflector in an article, Benton’s role in D.C. changes.

The article ends with;

“Although he himself never served, Benton brought up that he comes from a military family, with his father being a naval officer who helped prepare for the invasion of Normandy in World War II and both of his older brothers being veterans themselves.”

“‘I don’t think you will find anyone who understands the commitment and the sacrifice more than I do,’ Benton said.”

I have called out many, both Democrat and Republican for relying on relative’s Military Service to bolster their public image. That is their relative’s service, their valor, their sacrifices, not yours.

What they did is not yours to claim.

What you did is what matters.

I also must take great exception to Don’s claim of “I don’t think you will find anyone who understands the commitment and the sacrifice more than I do.”

Don is too young to have been caught up in the draft when it was active, but he will never know the sinking feeling you get when starting off life as a young man to receive the letter “ordering” you to report for “immediate induction” into the Armed Services. Especially when the country is deeply embroiled in an unpopular war with riots and demonstrations going on against it.

Since he never felt it necessary to enlist, he will never know what Basic Training is like.

He will never know what being rocked out of your bunk in the wee hours of morning to the sound of incoming mortar rounds or a sapper attack is like.

He will never know what standing armed guard and hearing unknown noises behind you is like.

He has no idea of what forming a close friendship with a buddy, only to see him cut down is like.

He has no clue what coming home to a country you love only to be spat upon or otherwise castigated for serving in the Army is like.

He has no understanding what jumping at sudden, loud noises or being wary of strangers coming too close to you for the rest of your life is like.

No Don, you have not earned the right to make such a claim of understanding what our sacrifices were.

It is knowledge that cannot be learned from accounts made by your relatives, reading books or watching movies. It can only be gained by first-hand experience.

So no Don, you are dead wrong. There are hundreds of thousands of us, millions of us that did don the uniform. That did serve and fully realize what our commitment and sacrifice is and was.

You are not with us and whether you support us or not, are not entitled to make such a claim.

As many of us Vietnam Veterans have said time and again, “If you didn’t go, you wouldn’t know.”

Protesting is Good, Again

Funny thing about the words spoken in the video, and if you note the exclusion of a major group of protesters in it, the stated attitude did not seem to apply when a mixed group of Conservatives, Liberals and Independents joined together nationwide in 2009 to protest Obamacare.

That’s right, the group known as the TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already) was ridiculed, lambasted, labeled racist (as nearly any disagreement with Obama was for 8 years) and marginalized often by the media, including our own Lazy C.

I recall a significant turnout at Esther Short Park of TEA Party activists that they did not even bother to send a writer to cover, even though over 1500 people attended it.

In fact, John Laird, former political page editor penned back then, Political rallies: just huffin’ and puffin’ where he wrote, “But at the tea party, angry protesters will frown and snarl ‘No!’ and ‘From my cold, dead fingers’!”

Late in November 2009 Laird penned Coming soon! A giant anger-palooza where he wrote claims of, “This was the year their crusade was born, and the screaming and kicking hasn't stopped yet,” “town hall meetings have become boisterous, bigoted shout-downs where the only things that matter are volume and venom,” “when a president wins the Nobel Peace Prize, a large segment of Americans actually boo” and “This year we increasingly heard, ‘I want my country back!’ proclaimed by people who had difficulty accepting the will of the national electorate.”

Laird somehow seemed to have forgotten just months earlier how President George W. Bush was greeted by boos, jeers and singing of “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” as he walked out at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Are we not today hearing the cry of “I Want My Country Back” from those protesters marching throughout the country who seem unable to accept the will of voters in the latest election?

By 2013 Laird was describing TEA Party activists as “Political piranhas” in an editorial.

That is in addition to when we citizens took a stand against the bloated Columbia River Crossing Light Rail project labeling us as “cockroaches,” “Hounds of Whinerville” and more.

And just today we read in the Lazy C’s opinion page, In Our View: Marches Grab Attention,
“Demonstration of what makes America great sends message to administration” and “It was a remarkable demonstration of what truly makes America great. Dissent, it has been said, is the highest form of patriotism, and Saturday’s events rank among this nation’s most memorable patriotic outpourings.”

And it wasn’t just our local Lacy C. Main media blasted TEA Party rallies, even blended pro-second amendment rallies with TEA Party in an effort to label us as armed malcontents.

No, protesting wasn’t seen as noble or how to effect change throughout the 8 years of Obama, just the opposite.

And as much as I distrust Trump’s ability to do what he says he will do or that it will improve much, it is the media and their bias and double standards responsible for him being elected.

A large number of citizens are fed up with being manipulated and lied to by biased, dishonest media that portrays dissent as “patriotic” only when a Republican is in office.

So go ahead and make your noise, falsely think you are doing something great and noble by burning businesses and cars or beating up on people that disagree with you.

Then in 4 years, thank yourselves again should Trump win a second term.