I make no secret of how utterly worthless and shallow the RINO congresscritter from our own district happens to be.

An intellectual coward who refuses to hold open town hall meetings because of her cowardice, Ridgefield Barbie has caved over and over again, whenever her puppet-master, Cathy McMorris (Herrera used to be her gofer back in the mid 2000's; after all, someone on the legislative staff had to gt McMorris her coffee, and as one of her lowest paid staff, that sort of thing fell to Jaime) jerks her strings.

Jack up the debt ceiling?

You bet!

More horrific deficit spending?

Absolutely!

An ongoing failure to take positions on anything controversial?

Goes without saying!

Uses her own sick child as a campaign prop?

Time and again!

Abandoned the people of Clark County during the CRC/Loot Rail scam?

No question!

So, whenever I read yet another newsletter from someone who actually represents the people of his district as opposed to doing the absolute minimum required to get re-elected in this district, I turn envious at the people of Norther Idaho for electing a person of conviction and integrity.

I speak, of course, of Raul Labrador, a man I've met and who, upon examination, I would trade a thousand empty-head, vacuous, narcissistic empty suits like the one we're stupid enough to have representing me in Congress, every day and twice on Sunday.

Here's Congressman Labrador's latest newsletter that leaves no misunderstanding as to where he stands on the issues...

Labrador Letter -   February 12, 2016 Website | About Raúl | Serving You | News | Issues | Resources | Contact Me | District Dear Friends, President Obama released his final budget proposal this week. His plan is a liberal fantasy that increases spending, taxes and deficits. Over 10 years, the President’s blueprint would raise taxes by $2.6 trillion and our national debt from $19 trillion to $27 trillion – even under the Administration’s unrealistic economic assumptions. The Obama budget is so detached from reality that the House and Senate budget committees won’t waste their time holding customary hearings. While the Obama plan is irrelevant, I regret to report that if my party doesn’t find its backbone things won’t be much better. Why? Because after five years of relative discipline, spending is headed in the wrong direction. Until now I’ve been able to report progress -- as annual deficits fell nearly 70 percent, from $1.4 trillion in 2009 to $439 billion in 2015. But late last year, GOP leadership struck a deal with Democrats to increase spending and raise the debt limit. I vigorously opposed that devil’s bargain. The grim result appears in a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Under current law, CBO projects our annual deficit will rise to $1.4 trillion in 2026. Over 10 years, our debt will jump by almost $11 trillion. By 2026, our nation will be about $30 trillion in the red. I often cite former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen’s statement that the national debt is the greatest threat to national security. Mullen’s warning is borne out in another CBO projection. By 2026, interest payments on the national debt will exceed defense spending. We can trim defense spending by modernizing the world’s greatest fighting force and taking a closer look at excessive layers of Pentagon bureaucracy. But when we have to spend more on interest than defense, we will be a weakened nation. Last week, I told a conservative forum we must end the back-scratching in which Republicans and Democrats agree to protect one another’s sacred cows by raising spending for both defense and social programs. My call to action received national coverage, including this report from McClatchy. But ending the unholy alliance won’t be enough. The Defense budget and other discretionary spending such as education and transportation represent just one-third of the budget. Entitlements, which grow on autopilot, are the larger driver of our spending problem. If we fail to reform Social Security and Medicare, insolvency is on the horizon. Part of the reason anti-establishment candidates are faring so well in the presidential race is the failure of congressional Republicans to keep their campaign promises. Americans are smart. They don’t need to read CBO’s report to know that federal spending is “unsustainable.” They live in the real world, where checkbooks balance and debt must be repaid. I will continue to sound the alarm. The ordinary citizens I speak to every day know restoring fiscal sanity means tough choices. It’s time Congress muster some courage. Otherwise, we risk losing the trust of the American people forever. Thank you, Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Washington, D.C. 1523 Longworth HOB | Washington, DC 20515 | Phone: (202) 225-6611 | Fax: (202) 225-3029 Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30AM-6:30PM ET Coeur d'Alene 1250 Ironwood Drive Suite 243 Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 Phone: (208) 667-0127 Fax: (208) 667-0310 Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM Lewiston 313 D Street Suite 107 Lewiston, ID 83501 Phone: (208) 743-1388 Fax: (202) 888-0894 Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM Meridian 33 E. Broadway Avenue Suite 251 Meridian, ID 83642 Phone: (208) 888-3188 Fax: (208) 888-0894 Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM

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The confusion of motion with action: Jaime Herrera's letter to Tim "The Liar" Leavitt

Much of the local "Facebookasphere" is buzzing over the letter our local Congresswoman had her staff write to smack Tim "The Liar" Leavitt around over his childish snit thrown yesterday at my Representative, Liz Pike, over her efforts to move us on from his CRC/Loot Rail scam and by trying a different approach to addressing our cross-river vehicle transportation issues. Leavitt, of course, has offered nothing as an alternative, save to trash any other effort not spelled "CRC."

As far as that goes... neither has Herrera.  Where's her proposals?

No where.

Unfortunately, there's a harsh reality to this note as there is to all of Herrera's half-hearted, bogus efforts towards the CRC rip off, particularly in this election year: for most practical purposes, save for highlighting Pike's efforts to actually solve this issue when no one else is trying to do much of anything, it's worthless.

Not unlike Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers' Bogus Baby Bill of a few days ago, it's a rather sordid, worthless effort by Herrera to first, prove she's alive and second, continue to make her electorate believe she's actively involved and working to protect us.

Many of the more ignorant continue to (wrongly) believe she played a role in the demise of that gigantic rip off that cost us $200 million for nothing.  On the contrary: she did nothing or next to it, leaving the heavy lifting to be done by local legislators.

Well, when I say she did "nothing," that's something of an oversimplification.

What DID she do?

The same thing she did for Pike: she wrote a few letters expressing her "concerns."

The problem is that like this letter, those letters were just as worthless when it came to making an actual difference on the issue at hand.

No legislation.  No congressional action of any noticeable kind.

The "worth" of an action by anyone in the legislative branch at any level is judged entirely by it's impact.

For me, this letter has no real value because, frankly, as accurate as it is... it changes absolutely nothing concerning transportation.

Are we any closer to solving the problem because of this letter?  Will those seething in hatred of the major players in the demise of that ripoff suddenly undergo a change of heart?

Do you remotely think for one second that The Liar Leavitt gives a damn about this letter?  He certainly didn't care about any of the others Herrera's staff has written in the past.  What on earth makes anyone think he cares about this letter?

As stated, this is an election year.  Herrera is, of course, naturally concerned that the base is restive because she votes typically more like Maxine Waters than a GOP Congresswoman.

Nothing in this letter changes any of that.

Which, come to think of it, is exactly what her hide and seek letters over the years after she was elected accomplished: absolutely nothing... her concerns notwithstanding.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a classic case of the confusion of motion... over action.  It's designed to make it look like Herrera is doing something... but when the dust settles from this... how much closer will we be to the goal?

None.  No closer.  Zero.

But Herrera got earned media out there and, as I stated, even ardent opponents within the conservative GOP are congratulating her staff's letter writing skills.

From her perspective, it was a win all around... for her.

For the rest of us, it might make us FEEL better... but it accomplishes nothing.

Gee, if only the RINO House leadership (and, of course, Herrera) hadn't been such cowards.

With a government of liars on both sides of the aisle along with cowards and RINOs on the GOP side, I have to wonder: what would our level of debt look like if the GOP had refused to support these efforts to bury us in debt beginning years ago?

The GOP Establishment, of course, only cares about winning elections. And ultimately, they have no more of a problem stealing our money than the dems.

Locally, just look at Sen. Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers. Nationally, just look at our cardboard cutout of a Congresswoman, Jaime Herrera.

Neither one gave a damn or give a damn about drowning us in debt.

Their votes speak for themselves.

EXCLUSIVE: Secret Fed Docs Show Obama Misled Congress, Public During Debt Limit Crises

Richard Pollock

Reporter

8:12 PM 01/31/2016

U.S. President Barack Obama in Omaha, Nebraska, January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Federal Reserve Bank of New York officials secretly conducted real-time exercises during the 2011 and 2013 debt-limit crisis that demonstrated the federal government could function during a temporary shutdown by prioritizing spending, even as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew publicly claimed many times that such efforts were “unworkable,” according to a new report by the House Financial Services Committee obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
 
The staff report, to be released Tuesday, charges that Lew and other Obama administration officials deliberately misled Congress and the public during the federal budget and debt limit showdowns in both years. The committee will convene a public hearing on the report Feb. 2.
 
The report also states that the Obama administration crafted actual contingency plans to pay for Social Security and veterans benefits, as well as principal and interest on the national debt if the government was temporarily unable to borrow more money. The Committee concludes that over the last two years the Treasury Department has “obstructed” congressional efforts to get to the bottom of the administration’s real-time policy during the two showdowns.
 
The Constitution stipulates that only Congress can determine how much money the federal government can borrow. Presidents thus cannot unilaterally spend beyond congressional debt ceiling limits set. The committee — chaired by Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas — charged that during both confrontations, the Obama administration held the country’s creditworthiness “hostage” by claiming default was the only possibility if the debit ceiling was not raised.

Wow! Ridgefield Barbie Lives! When it comes to fundraising, anyway.

Perhaps the most cowardly congresscritter in the United States is our very own Jamie Herrera.

Unfortunately, like most in Sodom-on-Potomac, her only concern has nothing to do with representing us: au contraire.

It does, however, have everything to do with using her sick child as a campaign prop and it certainly does have everything to do with getting re-elected.

Unfortunately for us, that's not what she's supposed to be there for.

Exclusive of any of her positions, she's too much off a coward to even hold open town hall meetings.

Why?

Because we don't care.

What are her positions on the issues confronting us?

Damned if I know: she won't tell us.

When we needed her to kill the federal dollars for the CRC scam, where was she?

No where.

Oh, that doesn't mean she didn't go through a few of the motions: write a letter here and there (She's really good in having her staff write a letter or two for her)  get slapped around by Tim "The Liar" Leavitt because of it... but what did SHE, PERSONALLY, ACCOMPLISH on killing the CRC rip off?

Not a damned thing.  That was left to the locals to clean up her mess.

She had time to waste on a nowhere bill to undo the Pearson Air Museum fiasco... a bill that had no chance of accomplishing spit...

But no time to drop a bill to save us from the biggest boondoggle in the history of the Northwestern United States.

Marc Boldt got her appointed to the open legislative seat back in '07 because Cathy McMorris, who Marc had had something of a crush on during his legislative days, asked him to get her gofer a gig... even though that simple idiot hadn't even lived here in something like 11 years, had no clue what was going on, and sounded like a blithering idiot during the already greased county commissioner fake interview up in Longview.

Several times during Thursday's interview, Herrera confessed ignorance of various issues, saying for example that she hadn't known that Cowlitz County is not subject to the state's Growth Management Act.

Eh.  What the hell.  She's got no idea what's going on... give her the job anyway.

The rag described her then as a "family values conservative" because that's the scam she ran to get appointed.

Now, of course, they call her a "Republican moderate."

She is, all in all, a self-aggrandizing liar who has accomplished virtually nothing since it's been our misfortune to have her in DC.

In everything from lying to us to get appointed:

“I was honest about who I was before I was elected. I have not changed … I stuck to the issues that the people elected me to work on and I beat every Republican I ran against in the primary,” Herrera Beutler said. “If I change that now, I think that would be dishonest.”

(No.  You weren't.  You were lying your ass off to get elected, just like you lie now on those infrequent occasions when you say anything at all)

To being such a coward and so thin on the issues that she can't intelligibly articulate them while refusing to hold open town hall meetings, Jaime Herrera has been a complete and total waste of effort in DC who has done far more TOO us (Like vote "yes" on the recent RINO Ryan budget that funded everything most Republicans hate) then she has FOR us.

She does the absolute minimum to keep the job.  She's mailed it in for years and will mail it in until we wide up and get rid of her.

Ridgefield Barbie, the Camas Manikin.

That will be her legacy.

The Headline Game: headlines I'd like to see in 2016

More as I think of them, but these are a start.  In no particular order:

Clinton Indicted over email scandal, Faces 920 years confinement

Obama to resign in lieu of impeachment.

Jimmy Moeller clobbered in primary: political career thankfully over.

Democratian closes, Campbell apologizes: "We lost our way in this community and forgot our job was to report the news, not make it or try and shape it."

RTC announces I-5 Bridge replacement "to be put aside until 2 other bridges built in different locations, east of the 205 and west of the I-5 to Hillsboro."

East Bridge Construction begins.

West Bridge Bypass Construction begins

CRC contractors indicted

Tim "The Liar" Leavitt indicted for CRC conspiracy.

Rivers fails to file, will not run for reelection: "I apologize for lying to get elected on the gas tax and tab fee issue."

State Ethics recommendations to be written into law: first up, conflicts of interest require recusal when voting on legislation and judges/justices can no longer rule on cases involving campaign donors.

State Supreme Court reconsiders and throws our McCleary: acknowledges no legal grounds to order Legislature to act.

Boldt resigns over missing 2012 campaign funds: Gave himself $5000 in campaign funds while a county commissioner to repay a loan he never made to himself.

Crain destroyed in 49th District House primary: admits she was a leftist plant all along.

County Council to gut charter, go back to commissioner model and require county-wide votes for all: "Hatred is never a reason to legislate, and while legally, we can't get rid of this garbage, we can neuter it back into democracy."

County GOP sanctions Kimsey over his dishonesty on the Charter vote and use of the Voter Pamphlet as an anti-GOP position campaign piece. "That's what democrats do.  He needs to become one."

County GOP sanctions Scott Weber: "Lying to get elected is never acceptable."

County GOP sanctions Jaime Herrera: If you're going to claim to be in the GOP, you should at least, occasionally, vote like it.  Also, the idea that Herrera doesn't communicate with the people or hold open town hall meetings?  Who wants a coward representing them in Congress?"

GOP loses control over state senate: "Gee.  Maybe if we had voted like Republicans and engaged in a tad less corruption, we might have kept control over it."

Local fringe-leftist gadfly Jimmy Mains announces waves of fake Republicans running as "independents:"  "RINOs can't win any other way, so they're with me on this."

Boldt changes his mind: won't rip "In God We Trust" sign out of county council chamber.

Mariners break .500.

Vick acknowledges 2014 campaign lie: "Yeah, I claimed I was on 6 committees but that was merely eyewash to get you suckers to think I actually was working."

Boldt kicked out of PCO position:  Never showed up in 3 years he'd been a PCO.

As expected, Ridgefield Barbie throws us all under the bus with her budget vote.

Was there any other possibility for this RINO putz, except to do what her poppet-master and fellow RINO McMorris told her to do?

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 705
(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H R 2029      YEA-AND-NAY      18-Dec-2015      9:49 AM
QUESTION:  On Concurring in Senate Amdt with Amdt Specified in Section 3(a) of H.Res. 566 
BILL TITLE: Making  appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans  Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30,  2016, and for other purposes.

Herrera's silence continuuuuuuues.

One of the biggest problems I've got, of the many problems I've got with an utterly worthless representative in Congress, is that she says and does the absolute minimum required to keep you suckers voting for her each election, while she wrongly makes people THINK she does so much more.

Still suffering from the nausea that overtook me when Ridgefield Barbie got up and shot off her mouth about how MUCH she's done FOR veterans (as opposed, I supposed, TO veterans... a much longer list) while she was darkening the festivities at the Battle Ground Veteran's Memorial dedication, I again pondered the likelihood that patrolling Falujah was one of the few areas on the face of the planet more dangerous than the distance between this cardboard cutout of a congresswoman and a camera/newspaper reporter.

We continue on our course of adding to the numbers of terrorists that a grateful nation provides support and succor for and to, out military continues to shrink, our Veteran population continues tio suffer, out foreign policy is in a shambles, the middle east has become a nightmare of flypaper, the homeless situation continues to fester, Obamacare is still in full throat, nothing is being done about our cross-river transportation issues and what is this clueless idiot doing about any of these and the many other problems our region and our country face?

Beats me.

This simple idiot won't say.

Unsurprisingly, when your only concern is to keep your job and you've already proven yourself to be a coward by refusing to hold open town hall meetings, that you fail to provide a constituency you've trained to be mushrooms over the years through deliberate, benign, neglect, that pattern continues these days... as in most days... with the Camas Manikin's silence on the issues confronting us.

Of course, even a manikin knows that if you keep your mouth shut, you won't be "Rivered" by your words that subsequently turn out to be lies to get... and keep... you elected, so, I suppose that given the circumstance, for her purposes, at least; the less she says, the better.

Still, that's not what I want in a member of congress. 

I want someone who understands and represents US, someone with a horizon which, in fact, goes beyond her next re-election.

I want someone who actually DOES something.

I guess I'm destined to continue to be disappointed.

FBI concludes the obvious: San Berardino slaughter was terror. Our congresswoman remains silent.

The past few days have been rather uproarious.

Muslims slaughtered innocents, which is getting kind of old hat, and yesterday, the morons running the military decided to get more people killed by opening up combat arms to women.

They've done nothing about changing the physical requirements, you understand, and they're choosing to completely ignore the definitive study by the Marine Corps which shows what a complete disaster such a move will be, and moments ago, the FBI indicated that yes, this was an "act of terror."

So, leftist gun-control morons, the ball is in your court.

But that's not the point of this exercise: the point is this:

Where is Jaime Herrera?

Where is the Camas Manikin?  Where is Ridgefield Barbie?

Why isn't she talking about ANY of this?

Besides being dumber than a box of hammers and being so stupid she can't articulate any positions or ideas on the issues, I mean?

You see, this is why I despise this coward.  She's afraid of her own shadow, and lacks the guts to even hold open town hall meetings.

She has no business in government and represents nothing and no one save for her puppet master, Cathy McMorris, who built her out of spare parts lying around the office so my psychopathic brother-in-law could get her installed in the state house, where, exactly like her tenure in Congress, she accomplished nothing.

NOW is when we need leadership.  Neither of the two state cows in the US Senate are going to provide it.

Apparently, neither is that narcissistic putz in Congress.

Why am I not surprised?

But her silence on these issues just means MY silence on the ballot when the time comes to send her back there.  How the people of this area could send such a worthless waste of skin back is simply beyond me.

But back is where she no doubt will go until someone with money is ready to go toe-to-toe with this incompetent coward.

So. Where's our Congresswoman?

As I sit here, this Nation is facing one of it's biggest threats ever: action by ISIS.

And from our Congresswoman?

Cricket chirps.

Nothing on military responses.

Nothing on security.

Nothing on the question of Syrian refugees.

Nothing on taking funds out of the VA to pay for these refugees.

Nothing on much of anything that matters.

Color me: Not surprised.

But then, her lack of doing anything but getting that horse face into the Columbian has long since stopped surprising me.

Whenever we want to know where she's at on anything... we pretty much have to guess.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just sad.

Jaime Herrera Watch: back in business.

A couple of years ago, my former friend and colleague, State Senator Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers (Gas Tax -18) persuaded me to shut down JHW, given that Ridgefield Barbie was our Congresswoman and likely or BE our Congresswoman for quite some time, etc.

My brother-in-law had made a serious effort through others, to have me shut this down because he threw us all under the bus, having made first, a deal with former crush Cathy McMorris to give the Camas Manikin, who had been out of the area for 11 years and who had never once held a private sector job but who had, in fact, done a DAMNED fine job of getting McMorris her coffee every morning in DC.

Boldt persuaded the two male democrats in Cowlitz to vote with him for filling the vacancy in the 18th District back in 2007.  Barbie went along with the scam deliberations, being falsely described as a "young, family values conservative" in the Lazy C who has since morphed into a "Republican moderate" (as if she was ever anything else) and that launched the career of this do-nothing, card board cut out of a Member of Congress who is such a coward that she won't even hold open town hall meetings.

Anyway, at the end, watching her actually show up and speak about how much she "cares" about Veterans... got me to thinking: between "Gas Tax" Rivers personal and political betrayal of this district and Herrera's betrayal of Veterans... what could I do to get my point across?

Pulling this out of mothballs came to mind, so it's back.  I'll be updating it with the Herrera posts from CCP to provide more material.  But it's back... and I appreciate our esteemed Congresswoman's efforts for helping me arrive at this decision.

Reflections on Veteran's Day.

This is posted on the 12th, but I'm thinking about it today. (The 11th)

Veteran's Day... or Veterans Day, depending on your persuasion... what does it mean?

In the year 2015, it means that the promises made to us when we raised our hands and took the Oath are no closer to fruition now than they were when I enlisted. (One of the bigger whoppers was "free medical care for life."  Yeah, right.)

It means hundreds of thousands of claims remain at least as unresolved now as they were when the Liar-in-Chief took office promising to fix all that; meaning that hundreds of thousands of veterans are in pain not only because of the wounds and injury they suffered serving us, but because a non-responsive government ordains it.

We're still dying during the wait.  Veteran's Choice, the supposed cure-all for wait times, has proven itself to be a worthless joke; at least in my case.  And Obama has ripped off $2.5 billion from that and shifted it to Syrian

Veterans are still killing themselves at a rate of over 20 a day (The number varies depending on where it comes from, but it's a lot and it's far too many) and no progress has been made in that theater.

The sacrifices made by so many of our best and brightest have been thrown away by a clueless Administration... thousands dead, many more thousands wounded... and for what?

I served my country for many years.  Millions of us did and hundreds of thousands of us are as I write this.

But to our government, both left and right, that service is meaningless.  Locally, the value was show by naming a non-serving fringe-left former politician as Grand Martial of the Veteran's Day Parade.  Must have been because no veteran of any stature was available for the honor.  Even Jaime Herrera made one of her all too few appearances (In Battle Ground) where Mayor Bowman made the only mistake of the day and mentioned "representatives" of Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, two more slimeballs who have done nothing for us but have done a great deal TO us. as the prelude of setting up the delusion that Herrera needed to speak... to lie about what she's doing for veterans and how important we are to her.

Herrera once told me that her time away from this area... going to the UDub, being a staffer in DC and doing a few weeks as an intern in Olympia was, and I quote, "a lot like being in the military."

Right.

It's a great Memorial.  And no politician should have been mentioned... for it wasn't about them... or even their low-level staffers.  It was supposed to be about those from here who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  The pols couldn't even do that right.

Her speech made me nauseous, and I left about 30 seconds in since it wasn't even a thinly veiled campaign effort.

The Weather God was obliging: I reached my car in about 90 seconds... texted my apologies to those I'd promised I'd be there... and the sky broke.  They were drenched. 

In my mind, the service of the newest clerk, or cook, or dental assistant in the Armed Forces exceeds that of any elected official today who did not put on the uniform.

Build a fake bomb, get invited to the White House.

Get killed for your country under that incompetent's policies, and nothing.

Between the terrorist in training... and the widow and kids of that man who died serving in the Armed Forces, who was more deserving of the invite?

Today, as I write this, is a day of remembrance.

It's marked by few ceremonies... and locally, a parade taken over by fringe-left nutjobs, disrespecting what we have done for their own ends... without protest or concern from their fellow leftists in local media.

We get sales.  We get free meal scams... well, most are scams, but not all.  We get a free oil change if you've got the right car, because God Forbid that your vehicle require more than 5 quarts.

I don't do any of them.

Today, wedged between a business meeting and lunch with my lovely bride and our son, I'll be going to the Battle Ground Veteran's Memorial dedication.

But that's going to be it for me.

A government that doesn't care.  A people that allows them to get away with it.

More sick veterans.  More crippled and wounded veterans.  More homeless veterans.  A member of congress that doesn't listen and doesn't care or do anything... well, not just about veterans, but about anything else that doesn't serve her dreams of reelection.

20 to 25 of us will die today at out own hand.

20 to 25 of us will die tomorrow at our own hand.

No where to go.  No one to help.  The numbers prove we're not doing enough.

On this day, it's not a great day to be a Veteran.

How the GOP lost me at the national level.

I admit to a simplistic view of government.  What it is, is not what it's supposed to be.

I, for one, refuse to take the view that our laws are, instead, a series of suggestions to be ignored by all of those who believe they don't apply... either to them, or anyone else... including those who govern us.

We are, allegedly, a nation of laws.  It is supposed to be a major ingredient in the glue that helps to hold us together.

It's supposed to be... a matter of faith.

And my faith is waning... no thanks to the Republican Party.

Pull out a dollar bill (Or any denomination, really.)  The paper of that bill is, effectively, worthless.

What gives that piece of paper any value at all is the idea that we, as a nation, BELIEVE it has value.  What happens when that belief collapses?

Our nation continues, I believe, because there's enough of it left that people like me cling to this bright, shiny city on a hill with all of our strength.  But we cannot hold on forever.  And increasingly, we have no one to rally to... no group to believe in.

I look at the candidates running for president, for example.

Did any of them love this country enough to serve it in uniform in any capacity that ever put them at risk?

(Yes, I know that Graham is/was a JAG officer.  But somehow, I don't confuse his exploits with that, of say, Harmon Rabb of the JAG TV series.)

Only Graham bothered to serve in any capacity.  And that he was a lawyer is utterly meaningless when you need a warrior.

That was why I likely would have supported and voted for Jim Webb had he made it to the general election.  With the second highest award for combat heroism, the Distinguished Service Cross, we would have had a warrior president when we needed one... and I could care less what the letter after his name is... this isn't about a label... this is what we need to be right and wrong.

And we do need a warrior.  We are, after all, at war, and the current clown in the White House despises the military as the Army has to prepare for another 10 brigade cut that we cannot afford... but, By God, those Obamaphones are going to keep on in the cells.

But none are running.  (General Mattis, where are you when we need you?)

The politics of this country today are Neroesque.

We know what's wrong.  Anyone paying attention can see that militarily we are weakened by budget cuts, manpower reductions, social engineering and policies that should see the president slapped by the Marine Guard at the White House, instead of saluted.


We are growing trillions in debt.  The debt is unpayable.

The GOP is complicit in the border follies that have resulted in an illegal alien invasion that will take far longer to undo than it did to make it happen

With GOP acquiescence, we are being strangled by a medical system that those who govern us wouldn't be caught dead using.

Most recently, the GOP caved on the budget, fully funding everything the fringe-left wanted while, for example, our social security was raped again and those who bleed for us didn't get a cost of living increase.

These things aren't happening in a vacuum.  They are happening with the assistance and abetting of the GOP leadership of both the House and the Senate.

Even that simple idiot who just became Speaker showed HIS opposition to this budget bend-over that resulted in the most recent sell out by voting for it.

Man.

THAT'LL teach them.

Our police are being slaughtered and the GOP remains silent... just like the president.

And that's the thing.

"Just like the president" should not be the GOP watchwords.

But they sure seem to be, since they refuse to do what must be done to rein him in.

And I don't need to be a part of that RINO parade.

I won't be.

Those in office at almost every level, from the wannabes like my brother-in-law up to Congress could care less what us little people have to say.

Liz Pike is the last remaining hold out.  But from there on up, the rest of them aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell.

A party where integrity and honor mean nothing,  A party where the "Right" thing is far too often not what they do.

A party where leftist policies are inevitably never derailed, but instead, only temporarily delayed if not joined by those we put there to do something completely different.

Isn't it strange that those politicians I write about the most here have "R'" after their names?

Imagine.  If they just told the truth and kept their word, I'd have nothing to say about them.

Weber, Rivers, Vick, Boldt, Herrera and that ilk are the ones who've earned our scorn so unnecessarily... but earn it they have by lying to get elected or forgetting who they are once we're stupid enough to vote for them.

But scorn at the national level has been an equal partner in shoving me out.

Boehner/Ryan, McConnell, McMorris, Herrera...  they routinely sell us out and run away from a fight... the fights we need to have.

We were told in the run up to the last cycle that we had to hold our collective noses and vote for the RINO's because the "R's" would change everything if they controlled Congress.

Well, I'm hard pressed to figure out how things would be any different if Reid and Pelosi were still calling the shots.

To that end, I will not be voting for Republicans at any level merely because they have an "R" after their names.

Boldt supporters, for example, stupidly claim HE is a Republican... when his record of governance clearly shows he is not.

Blind obedience and support is not the answer.  And I will never vote that way again.

It didn't have to be this way.

These clowns could have told the truth.  They could have kept their word.  They could have actually tried to get rid of their job from the ballot (Weber) they could have at least voted to allow US to have the final say on the gas tax/tab fee instead of ignoring the campaign promise that helped her get elected (Rivers)  They could have actually shown up the first year and avoided the lie that they were on 6 committees (Vick) and they could have actually done something to kill off the CRC Scam at the federal level instead of leaving us to fend for ourselves (Herrera) and then voting more with Polosi then an actual Republican.

But nope.  Didn't happen.

At the federal level, they could have dismantled Obamacare and forced the president to end his open border policies that have resulted in so many murders, rapes, robberies and the like.

They could have put the military back together and re-purposed them into what they are supposed to be:a lean, mean, killing machine.

They could have ended the insanity of these social programs that are going to reduce our military capabilities, get us hurt and get us dead.

They could have cut spending and reversed the budget deficit.

In short, these RINO's have accomplished nothing that we sent them up there to do.

But no... we've been standing there much like a dear caught in the headlights.

And their abysmal, inexcusable failure?

That means I'm out.

Missed last night's debate like I'm going to miss them all until a candidate is chosen for the general.

People, people, people.

What did we learn last night that we didn't already know?

The RINOs are still RINOs.  The leftist lamestream media is still the leftist lamestream media.

Candidates acted like they act.  The media, fully in the tank for Billary, acted like they act.

What changes?

Nothing.

State democrats have arranged to keep Washington State out of the decision making by refusing to consider moving up our primary.

Swell.  Meanwhile, we have no say or power in determining who represents the GOP in the general.  We won't GET a say until May, and this thing is likely long over by then.

So why get involved in any of this now?

Look, I'm not voting for anyone because of their label.

Locally, the fake claim to being Republican has led to political creatures like Marc Boldt, Greg Kimsey, Carolyn Crain, Scott Weber and most recently, Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers.

Nationally, we have Jaime Herrera; a RINO-led Senate and a RINO-led House.

It becomes increasingly unimportant to vote when those you vote for, from the local level on up, view their elections as a key to personal anarchy, where those elected stop representing us the moment the vote is finalized.  Like Marc Boldt's hero, Steve Stuart:



Our choices, then, are clear: we continue to vote for a label without bothering to look at a record, like the situation with the on-again, off-again democrat Marc Boldt, or we look at the record and chose based on what HAS happened as opposed to what MIGHT happen if Marc has a good day.

Meanwhile, I skip the waste of time known as the debates, where leftists with spears are allowed to beat on GOP candidates like they're piñatas and do so with impunity because the show is never about the issues, but instead, will always be about efforts to destroy the candidacies in front of us.

No one, I believe, should make up their minds based on the sound-byte snippets of these dog and pony shows.

For me, the equation is simple.

There is now no democrat running that I'd vote for if you put a gun to my head.

Those that I would consider voting for to this point are 1.  Those who have a shot and 2.  those who aren't RINO's.

Of those running, then, that leaves me with a choice of Trump, Carson or Cruz.

When the presidential election rolls around a year from now, if any of those 3 are on the ballot, I'm going to vote for them in the presidential election.

If they're not, it's kinda like Paul Ryan becoming Speaker: it won't be markedly different from what we've got now... so I ask you, again: what's the point of wasting your time watching this nonsense?

Is the RINO Establishment finally getting it about Trump? RINO betrayal generally, at both the national and local level.

I freely admit I was among the talking heads who couldn't take Trump seriously when he started out: he'd taken the beginning of this path before, only to act like a 3 year old with ADHD ("Oh, look!  A kitty!") but in a short time, it became clear to me that he was actually serious.. and once he became serious, the fur began to fly.

And it also became clear, shortly after his announcement, that he was going to be the guy talking about the issues that NEEDED to be talked about.  And, as I have opined, the only chance for the Establishment was to begin the process of hauling itself into Trump's general direction and co-opting his positions.

This is not a great time to be a RINO.  This is not a great time to be an Establishment Republican.

Instead, they run away like little girls in horror at the thought of taking the high road because you know what?

They'd sell their own mothers to win... the "right thing to do" be damned.  because, God Help Us, they might lose... and it's all about keeping their butts in government.

The reasons for that are, on the whole, obvious: of the Senators running, only Cruz speaks to the issues the way the base wants them spoken to... but Cruz is hamstrung with the mark of the anti-Christ Senate, a GOP group that makes Judas look like an all-star when the obvious comparison between those elected to the US Senate and their betrayal to their voters and the betrayer of Jesus takes place.  Paul is hamstrung by both that and some of his old man's idiocy.

For years, the base sat and fumed at the lack of courage and vision of the GOP Speaker of the House.

I knew we were in trouble when Cathy McMorris took a prominent role in leadership: after all, she threw Jaime Herrera together out of spare parts laying around the office and we know how worthless McMorris's former coffee gofer has been since McMorris parachuted her back in here after an 11 year absence.

This is another reason Boldt is not someone to be trusted... or elected.

Boldt's old crush asked him to support Herrera, and Boldt made the deal with the two male Cowlitz County commissioners in office at the time... and it was done weeks before the actual appointment was made to the legislature back in that fateful day in 2007.

Boldt also went on to hire one of those two clowns for the county, when that guy, Axel Swanson, a democrat, was tossed out of office in the next election... giving him a big bucks job down here in Clark County as something of a quid-pro-quo... as part of the mutual back-scratching that's just a normal day of business for Boldt.

Meanwhile, Trump has begun his run for president.  I'm sure that the RINO/Establishment felt the same way I and many others did, that this would be entertaining for awhile and then, he would fade and then quit.

Hasn't quite worked out that way, has it?

Trump discovered the thing that the RINO Establishment had long since blocked:

The Pulse of the Base.

That's right, ladies and gents... by accident or by design, Trump... and now Carson... have their fingertips on the pulse of the base and they can feel the hatred for those who've betrayed us, those who've ignored us, those who lie to us at all levels (Right, "Gas Tax?") to get elected and get power... only to forget all about that once they get the gig.

I'm sure the GOP, like most in politics, count on the stupidity and short memories of the voting public... except this time, that ain't happening.

Thanks to the debacle that has been the US Senate since the GOP took control and made NONE of the changes they promised to get elected in the first place, the base... the party bedrock is betrayed and disillusioned.

The result?

Unfiltered voices owing nothing to the Establishment RINOs are the ones getting the support.

I would be comfortable, at this point, with a Trump presidency or a Carson presidency.  I will remain comfortable with that for the most part until such time as either of those two are shown to be something they're not.

I believed, for example, with the entirety of my heart and soul in Sen. Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers.  I believed she was different.  I believed she was the exception to the rule... her other issues notwithstanding.

But when it mattered, she was the same as any other political opportunist, selling out Clark County and saddling us with a $700 million debt, while supporting the millionaires behind the pot initiative with her effort to cut the promised pot tax in half... instead of holding the liars accountable.

They promised us $582 million per year.  You remember the lie, don't you?

"Just legalize it, tax the hell out of it and all our budget problems will be solved!"

Yeah.

Right.

Gee.  Did that show them, or what?

That was a betrayal to me personally and to the entirety of her district.

In one of the last conversations I had with her husband and my formerly close friend last March, Fred, he opined when I asked him that the 18th District would likely have voted 65% "no" on the gas tax increase, had his wife given us the opportunity TO vote... which she made damned sure did not happen.

And yet, she voted for the increase... and the emergency clause in the bill... that went with it while refusing to even try to put a referendum clause on the tax bill so we COULD have a say in the largest gas tax increase in this state's history.

As for her district?

Well, she apparently knows better than the idiots who voted for her, at least in her mind, and that includes me.

Meanwhile, the base continues a pattern of rejection of the usual RINO excuses.  I'm not even remotely interested in what the Establishment types whine about when it comes to what they CAN'T do.

Local RINO's like Brent Boger kept telling us there wasn't a thing the House could do until we got the Senate, so we had to hold our collective noses and vote THOSE RINOs in before anything could happen.

So, the people of several states followed that fraudulent advice.

And what do they have to show for it?

On EVERY MAJOR PIECE OF LEGISLATION... THE GOP SENATE HAS CAVED.

EVERY, SINGLE, ONE.

So, what's the takeaway from that?

No matter which RINO is elected to the presidency, if a Bush, or Rubio, or Christie or that ilk gets the gig... there would be no changes made beyond the superficial.

The base knows this.  They intuit this.

And that's why the RINOs are stuck in dead, low, gear.

The entire planet knows what we won't do, which is anything we NEED to do.

At this point, for the most part, Trump and Carson are the wildcards when we need one.

The only problem I'm having with this crop of GOP'ers is that none of them ever bothered to wear the uniform.

Only those who have served have a clue what it's like to be in the military responding to the orders from the White House.

But we don't.  And with Sen. Jim Webb dropping out on the d-side, we have absolutely zero military experience in or wanting to be in the White House.

I will never vote for a RINO.  I will never set myself up for betrayal again.

I see my life in politics coming to an end because I freely admit that what Battle Ground Deputy Mayor Phil Johnson belittled as merely a "lofty ideal" is the basis for my political realm.

I'm an anachronism.  Those in politics today, from the aforementioned Washougal City Councilman Boger, who strongly supports "Gas Tax" Rivers' lies and who also was instrumental in the political career of one of the biggest liars in politics here locally, County Clerk Scott "I'll get rid of my job as an elected position" Weber and people like Battle Ground Deputy Mayor Phil Johnson... thrive on the politics of lying.

Because we've let them.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the RINOs are having such a hard time of it.  That's why the ordination of Jebbie Bush was bit premature.

And that's why I will never vote for a fake Republican, like my brother-in-law Marc Boldt, ever again.