2/17 Townhall in the Twenty-Seventh

Learning what the newly Democrat Party controlled legislature - with a single seat majority as of the election last fall - is attempting to do to tax payers if they have their way with imposing even more taxes, I decided to attend the single town hall meeting at the Evergreen Extension campus this year for the 27th legislative district in which I live. It wasn't my first, and it may not be my last. But, based on what I learned from attending it, I felt it would be insightful to share for my interested readers.

Before heading there this morning, I gathered together some information from my sources. Here's a list of questions I compiled, in hopes of asking and hearing their answers:

• To Sen. Jeannie Darneille: On 2/12/18, the Seattle Times published an article titled, "State Democrats on the Wrong Side of Open-records Fight" with the opening remark stating, "Since regaining control of Washington's Legislature last fall, Democrats seem bent on defining themselves as the party that opposes transparency and open government." My question to the Senator is... Why have you claimed that you are "...concerned about protecting voters from identity theft, when [her] amendment to Senate Bill 6353 renders the otherwise noble effort to expand automatic voter-registration unacceptable?" as was stated in the article? Would you please explain this contradiction, Senator?
• To Rep. Jake Fey: As a seasonal employee at Safeco Field in Seattle, I have repeatedly encountered unreliable service for the 594 Express line I rely on when boarding at the Tacoma Dome Station stop. All too often one of two circumstances occur; one, the bus arriving from Lakewood is completely full, requiring me to make a decision of standing in the center isle all the way into Seattle, or to gamble waiting for the next scheduled bus to not be the same - if it actually shows up, which also has happened at times. And two, jumping with a few others into a vehicle, wanting to get to Safeco Field in time to clock in, by taking the commuter lane into Seattle. With a Sound Transit Supervisor present only a few times in two years, a "back up" bus was provided only twice out of more than a dozen instances when this occurred. Last summer the News Tribune of Tacoma published an article in July about the impact of the I-5 repaving of the northbound lanes which forced four lanes down to one, resulting in delays in getting to work on time. The article also pointed out Sound Transit's disinterest in making any accommodations for riders being provided alternative, or additional lines to address the situation. Sound Transit refused any changes and told riders to use the existing schedules. My question to Rep. Fey is... Since you recently were on the Sound Transit Board, could you provide me with an answer to why, and how, Sound Transit can demonstrate such disregard for it rider's needs in using their buses and commuter train - The Sounder - when it's now been established, via the State Senate's hearings on ST3 being voted through in the last election, that it had not only lied to the voter about the tax impact on them, but also to the legislators as well, and not be dealing with any consequences? I find it ironic that Pierce County voters did NOT pass the initiative like the other two counties did.
• To Rep. Jinkins: The legislature just learned, and it has been reported in the news, that tax revenues are up 15.4% in this two-year budget cycle compared to the last one. From that huge figure, they're expected to grow 9.1% in the next cycle, followed by 7.6% growth in the following biennium. Question to Rep. Jinkins: How can Democrats justify ANY tax increases; especially one like the capital gains income tax bill which is scheduled for a committee hearing soon?

Upon arriving at the venue for this town hall, I learned that anyone who wished to speak - ask specific questions - were only required to write on a colored card one's name, organization, and topic of question(s). These cards were then grouped together according to topic and chosen by Sen. Darneille.

The first topic she invited speakers to was the ongoing battle between the City of Tacoma and City of Ruston over the area of land being developed in Point Ruston's new commercial center near Point Defiance Zoo and park. After about an hour, and several very emotionally frustrated resident's of Ruston remarks, the topic of the under construction LNG plant in the tide-flats of the Port of Tacoma near the Northeast bluffs turned into a shouting match by RedLine advocates for demanding construction be shut down now. Sen. Darneille remarked that there were no city council, or Port of Tacoma Board members present, one of the speakers for RedLine shot back out of turn that she was formerly on the city council. Sen. Darneille said, "You no longer have power. You only hold the power while in the position." How interesting. With some more terse responses to the shouter's disruptive behavior by two of the three legislators at front, discussion was able to continue in an organized and civil manner.

After a few more topics were addressed, I was called on to speak as the only person regarding the topic of taxes. (How interesting among predominantly liberals in the audience.) After posing my statement of facts and question to Rep. Jinkins, her response was that out of that surplus of revenue, two-thirds of it was required by law to go into the "rainy day fund". So, with the remaining third would be stretched thin to provided tax relief for the lower-income families, and when it came to the capital gains income tax, she claimed that Jeff Bazos and Bill Gates would be the focus of collecting those funds which these millionaires were happy to pay. These funds, I thought I heard her say, were intended to be used to provide tax relief in offsetting the ST3 tax on property. Huh? [Update: The Seattle Times, on Monday following this post, published the following article detailing what the Democrats budget proposal does with this windfall revenue.]

Granted, how she explained this may not be accurate, or I possibly may have not correctly recalled what she was intending to explain, but this is how it came across. Anyway, my personal suspicion as to why I was not called to ask about government transparency was that Darneille was all too aware of what I wanted to ask her about, having most likely read the Times article earlier and didn't want to have it brought up there.

Once the town hall session was ended, I went directly up to Rep. Fey who was still sitting at the front table on the dias. After sharing my issue with him in a more brief format, he informed me that Mayor Victoria Woodards was now on the Sound Transit Board, and took down my contact information after asking me if I wished to have someone from Sound Transit contact me about it. While I doubt this will lead to any significant outcome, I invite the opportunity to keep this issue "in their face", as I have working friend at Safeco Field who has initiated this issue with the upper management there at the Mariners organization, asking them to be a liaison for their employees to help resolve the transportation issue. As seems to always be the initial case with such things, management has communicated that they have some suggested solutions regarding it. However, it is the friend's concern that they are not clearly understanding the point of our contact them. He feels they may believe we've written them about our transportation problems because we want them to solve the issue, when in actuality, we are only asking them to arrange a dialog for resolving it directly with Sound Transit.

In summary, this day's experience has revealed to me that the elected officials live in a "bubble" of bureaucracy and details, while the tax payer they claim they're representing is suffering from the outcomes of their perceived solutions in the form of more laws and regulations.

Democratic Party or Communist Manifesto?

It's clear that some of the individuals being challenged are actually shocked at what they learn. They seem to be realizing just how similar the two are.
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And Now, for a Discovery Announcement 

 ~ The densest element in the known Universe has finally been found.

　　

Pelosium:

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named Pelosium.

Pelosium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 223 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311.

　

These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

　

The chemical symbol for Pelosium is: PU

　

Pelosium's mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons within the Pelosium molecule, leading to the formation of

isodopes.

　

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Pelosium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in voting concentration.

Ignoring the Obvious

With the mass killing tragedy which occurred earlier this week in Parkland, Florida, the issue of our modern society's inability, or unwillingness to deal with its uglier problem of mental health are at the forefront in the media today. 

While many are quick to react and assign blame on a political lack of will to enact some legislation which would only deal with the tool - firearms - being used by the person committing the crime, these "people control" measures are extremely short-sighted. It doesn't deal with the root issue. Its seems that only a few commentators on television demonstrate a more adept understanding at what are the true and more relevant underlying causes for these tragedies.

Anyone who's been walking and breathing since the Columbine shooting is all too aware of the common thread of a mental health issue contributing to each circumstance from then, to now. As a former public school teacher, I dealt with first hand, this issue in my classroom, on occasion. That experience has revealed to me that there has been an increase in several factors leading to younger generations having mental health problems.

To me there are many contributing factors which have, and are, influencing the manifestations of such individuals who commit these heinous acts. Sure, there have always been "nut jobs" amongst society, but the more recent series of school shooting incidences are what this post is focusing on.

First and foremost, as I've remarked in many different prior posts on this blog, is the negative impact on the family unit over the last several decades. I can't tell you how many more students who came through both mine and my wife's classrooms over our 30 plus year careers, have been from a single parent family where, for a wide variety of reasons, the father was and still is, not present in the home.

 If I bothered researching it, I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn what studies have revealed about how this one factor negatively impacts a child's personal self-worth and how they deal with others. I believe the absence of a father figure's influence on a child is massive significant. Then too, there is the issue of the two parents, working together as a support "team" to provide boundaries and moral guidance for the child as he/she is being raised. That, too often, is absent in a single parent home. How do I know? It became blatantly apparent from the conduct and behavior of some students in my classes, as well as my interaction with the single parent during conferencing discussions about the child's learning, or lack of it.

Second, which is another issue I've addressed in other prior posts here, is the advent of digital technology into our daily lives. The Internet, cell phones, video games, pornography, sexual deviancy, the desensitizing of violence... the list goes on and on. We've all encountered these issues in some personal way; it's so pervasive today. 

Third, the liberal notion which was implemented during the middle of my teaching career; gun free zones! The day the school district put up the sign at the entrance to my school's parking lot was the day I knew instantly that my students and my colleagues were in grave danger. If being in a workplace where one was unable to defend themselves from an armed attack, then my risk of survival just increased immensely. That truth has been born out all too much over the decades since then. It hasn't prevented loss of life as the concept behind the signs claim to make.

Until and unless we as a nation have sufficient leadership - and I believe, based on his remarks following the Parkland, Florida tragedy. we currently do - and resolve to address the actual contributing factors I've cited above, our nation will continue to have recurrences of such mindless savagery to our youth and their families. This is why, I believe, Trump's agenda of "Making America Great Again" is so critical to supporting. 

I count my blessings and am grateful that, during the time when our two daughters were going through high school nothing happened where they went. I can't imagine the grief the families of those who've lost their children in these events since Columbine have to deal with for the rest of their lives. For me, this is where religious faith has its place in working through such overwhelming grief at losing one's child. Just consider Congressman Steve Scalis's experience with being shot on the softball field last spring.

Just as I finish writing this post, reports have come in from news sources that a local community college has gone into lock down after reports from the campus that a shooter has fired shots.

The Puget Sound Transportation Debacle!

I just read an interesting, but sad, article by Victor Davis Hanson about the high speed train that was being built in California and I couldn't help but realize the similarities between it and my state's failure to have a vision for the future when it comes to transportation needs in this region of the country. Ours, it seems, is just as big of a debacle as theirs.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, but more specifically in the Puget Sound of western Washington, the population is densely concentrated and mostly liberal, if not radically socialist in some instances. Because of the diversity of businesses - Boeing, Microsoft, Nintendo, the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma - to name a few, the regional economy has been stronger than most other regions in the country over the last decade.

I've cringed in the past every time our Seattle Seahawks football games were broadcast on a Monday night game during the fall when the weather was beautiful, because I knew others watching in the rest of the country were viewing gorgeous views of the Olympic Mountains to the west across the Sound, and Mt. Rainier to the southeast; towering in the distance over Seattle. This was an invitation to them to come and enjoy the fantastic summers which occur occasionally here.

As a consequence, the growth of workers moving into the region from out of the state during this same period has increased exponentially. The commute from the suburbs both north and south of Seattle, geographically constrained by a narrow strip of land with the sound on the west and Lake Washington on the east, the I-5 corridor's commute has become a nightmare. 

Traveling a distance of around 30 miles during peak commute times in the a.m. and p.m. can take as much as two hours; especially on the rainy days. And there are a lot of those in the Pacific Northwest!

So, the region's Sound Transit and state's Dept. of Transportation's solution to this growth has been to implement High Occupancy Vehicle, or HOV, lanes along both I-5 and I-405 along the eastern side of Lake Washington through Bellevue, to relieve the congestion. Some sections of the I-405 on the east side - already paid for through various state and federal taxes - are charging peak commuter fees for HOV lane occupants!

While some segments of I-5 have been widened - such as the current section between Tacoma's SR-16 and the Tacoma Dome grade over the Puyallup River - much of the corridor remains gridlocked every business day; if not on many weekends.

Sound Transit, an appointed board of individuals with connections in high places within the state's governmental infrastructure, has over the last decade or two, proposed and implemented its solution of floating initiatives for tax payers to vote on promises of alleviating the congestion by building a light-rail system. Initially, it started with a proposed expansion of the Monorail system which, at that time, was still operating from the 1962 World's Fair. This failed to pass the voters' smell test for an adequate proposal that would produce a satisfactory "bang for the buck" solution.

Then Sound Transit passed "ST1", which was a light-rail system which would connect the Sea-Tac Airport to downtown Seattle. However, cost overruns put this portion in the red financially. "ST2" was passed by the voters to extend the light-rail system from downtown Seattle up to the University of Washington. Yet, this too went into financial red ink. These two "in the red" initiatives totaled $1.5 billion!

Only last fall, Sound Transit managed to convince both the legislature, and voters, to pass yet a third project to further expand the light-rail system out in three directions, but had a unique timetable for collecting taxes and completing these extensions.

While the taxes are now being collected - increased property taxes by an average of $100 per month in three counties, car tabs increased by as much as four times the previous amounts charged for newer cars, and a smaller sales tax in certain sectors - the timetable for collecting the total of $54 Billion will be over 30 to 40 years! Yet, there is no specified build requirement timeline by Sound Transit for any extension project to begin for the north or south segments!

So, those of us now paying these taxes to support a 19th century technology to solve a 21st century problem, will NEVER get to step onto one of these "rapid transit" trains, because they won't be built soon enough before we die!

Oh, and did I mention that Sound Transit is currently requesting federal funds to be used for paying off the $1.5 Billion in red ink for ST1 & ST2? Oh yea!

Collusion of A Coup

Most people who are paying any attention to the current scandal in "the swamp", depending on which news sources they frequent, believe they know precisely what's going on. But which of the two versions is factual, and which is fanciful?

For nearly two years now, we've heard the mainstream media pound the drums of the narrative that candidate, and then president-elect, Trump, was a secret agent of Vladimir Putin and the Russian intelligence community in an effort to undermine democracy in America. There's no need to provide any link here, as the coverage has been so proliferous that many who are horrified for various reasons that Hillary didn't win the election, believe it because they hate and despise him. Yet, there's not been ONE credible piece of evidence that has been found to substantiate this accusation by the liberals.

However, if one considers the analysis of a very respected scholar at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University; Victor Davis Hanson, we learn of the other side of the story which has, over just the last few months has unfolded some very disturbing facts which congressional intelligence committees in Congress are now revealing. One could also view Dick Morris' most recent video post about this issue in comparing Watergate, Iran/Contra & this current scandal.

The machinations by such players as Senator Schumer, Reps. Pelosi, Schiff and Swalwell, are attempting to play the "razzmatazz" game through the complicit media - with Swalwell even attempting to do so on Tucker Carlson's show - to confuse and distract the public from these revelations, and they are looking more stupid and guilty of covering up the truth with every passing day.

Note: Ann Coulter's latest article is titled nearly like mine. The last half gets to her main points after spending the first half to provide the specifics of what's gone on.

But the bigger issue, in my view, is this... if no government bureaucrats involved are prosecuted, convicted and sentenced in this clear violation of attempting to first discredit a presidential candidate opposing Hillary Clinton, then throwing everything the media has at the president elect to get him ousted from his elected position, what are voters - especially those who voted him into office - to think of our representative republic? 

The favor-ability rating of Congress is already at only 7%, so how much lower can it get from there? It's my belief that if such a possibility comes to pass, then it will become crystal clear to just over half the country that the media cannot be trusted or believed and many will throw in the towel when it comes to participating our democratic process.

At that point in time, the liberal/progressives will have essentially won their war on destroying the American dream of individual opportunity and freedoms. Future generations will most likely be consigned to working at an ever increasing growth rate in their share of wages for "the state" to expand its entitlement programs. And as I've already pointed out in another post, that seems to be our nation's current course; even with this administration. Unless, by some unforeseen miracle Pres. Trump's got an economic miracle up his sleeve. I can only pray that this is so!

Best Secretary to the President... EVER!

Reader: Turns out I was "spoofed" by this story below. It never actually happened. However, given the track record of this lady, IMHO, the other half about Obama's records is true! But, just imagine the screaming banshees in the press, had she actually said this!

I think the Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders,  is one of the brightest people in the current administration. She also has a quick wit about her and if you doubt it then read below.  It's got to be the answer of the year. During a recent press conference, a reporter with MSNBC hollered from the press corps, "Where is President Trump hiding his tax returns?”

Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, astutely responded, "We've found a very secure place and I'm certain they won't be found.”

"And just where is that?", said the reporter, sarcastically.

Mrs. Sanders grinned sardonically and said, "They are underneath Obama's college records, his passport application, his immigration status as a student, his funding sources to pay for college, his college records, and his Selective Service registration.”

Reality Check Time