Thoughts on Politics from a year ago:

Politics has pretty much consumed, in one form or another, most of my post-military life.

I became actively involved in it around '88, when I moved up here from my last duty station at Oakland Army Base (as opposed to going back to Seattle) and volunteered for Bob Williams when he ran for Congress, I volunteered for Linda Smith's campaigns and who, around then, can possibly forget the Red Wave of 1994?

I worked my way up in the GOP from volunteer, to PCO, to LD17 Chair, to Senior Legislative Assistant in the state House to Executive Director of the Washington State GOP in 2000. I became what most political, non-elected Republicans become: a consultant. I refused to work for anyone that I did not believe at the time was a conservative. Ultimately, I learned, to my dismay, how wrong I was on a few occasions and how we've all suffered for it as a result. For that, I apologize,

While I have a degree in Government/PoliSci, that was mostly theory.

Nothing could really prepare anyone for the savagery and brutality of the real political world. I had to experience it firsthand to believe it, because I simply could not fathom it until I saw it with my own eyes.

The main byproduct of that was cynicism. I discovered early on during my stretch in the Tukwila Zoo (aka party HQ) that no one was really there out of altruism and support of the tenets of the Republican Party.

I was caught in the state-level version of the local fist fight, except in this case it was between the Executive Board and the Chair, who happened to be Sen. Don Benton.

The things I experienced changed me forever politically, as I discovered that most involved at the state level were not there to further Republicanism at any level, state or national.

No... They were there for what they could get out of it.

What appointment. What job. The social ladder. We've all heard of the so-called limousine liberal, but what's only occasionally mentioned is what I refer to as the "corporate Republican."

For far too many, the title "Republican" is one of mere convenience. We see it here most recently for the past several years as PCO's have been attacked publicly and legally because they exhibit the temerity to stand in the way of the "get along to go along" attitude of the fake Republicans infesting us. Allegedly Republican mercenaries fund raising for fringe-left candidates come immediately to mind. Fake Republicans like our erstwhile soon-to-be former congresswoman throws a shadow over it as well.

I warned you. But you did not listen. And I got hammered many times for speaking the truth.

Others claimed to be one thing but wound up flipping once they had been ensconced, or flattered, or bought, or blackmailed into becoming something they pledged never to become.

In short, they sold us out for personal gain.

Politicians generally appear to be quite easy to buy. Locally, we are going to get hammered with permanent tolls, permanent tax and fee increases and voracious government that they were, ideally, supposed to protect us from.

But why do that when you can get six-figure government jobs for selling out/ignoring your constituents? Or get hired by democrat political firms as a way to bypass bribery laws?

I get why they do it: mainly, because far too many voters either don't know or care that corruption is the order of the day on both aisles.

And at the national level, we now have a $1.7 trillion dollar spending bill that has been loaded up like a Christmas tree with earmarks of our tax dollars to go to special projects that rarely benefit anyone but the chosen few. Look up the ubiquitous "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska for a prime example. Locally, it's the Portland light rail project masquerading as a bridge replacement project that the PEOPLE don't want, don't need and can't afford.

This democrat rip-off just hit the ground today. It is 4000 pages long. NO ONE has read it. NO hearings held.

Instead of doing the right thing and filibustering this garbage until January, Mitch McConnell and his band of fiscal liberals are going to bend us over and ram it in where the sun don't shine.

Well, here's the reality: as a country, as a government, the current unpaid debt is $94,268 for each and every one of us; 333,340,667 people. A debt that has required $475 BILLION (with a "B") in interest payments this year alone. A national debt that's gone up $20 million or so in the time it took me to write this.

$31,445,965,XXX,XXX = national debt at 7:08 PM Pacific time today.

We don't have $1.7 trillion. We will NEVER have it. Passage of all these debt-adding bills simply causes inflation to explode as the US Government makes money magically appear on computer screens without anything to back it except "good faith."

But instead of fiscal discipline and blocking this insanity in the Senate, they're going along with it as much as any of the democrats who wrote this garbage.

Particularly in the realm of the fiscal, how is it that the GOP is any different from the leftists we claim to despise?

Trillions have been added to the deficit this year as these same fake fiscal hawks bend us over every hour on the hour, playing ball with the neocommunists instead of doing what we sent them there to do.

Which is standing up for us.

All of which begs the issue: Why bother? What's the point?

For me, it's becoming increasingly difficult to see one. Good luck if you can.

Memo to Congresswoman Perez, (WA03): here's your opportunity to shine! Get the list of congressional lowlifes who used taxpayer funds to pay off their sexual assault victims.

It would appear that some names are going to be named concerning Epstein flights.

As they should be.

But there is another list out there that seems to avoid discussion nearly as much as the Lolita flight logs... a list , in my opinion, that is even more nefarious.

And what list might that be?

The list of Congressmembers who used millions of taxpayer dollars to pay off their sexual assault/sexual harassment victims.

I repeatedly requested that list from our erstwhile former congresswoman, Jaime Herrera.

Didn't get it, of course, but I asked.

Now, our fringe-left, antifa-supporting representative, Marie Perez has an outstanding opportunity to prove her superiority of representation over the 12-year waste of space she replaced be producing the list in question in conjunction with the Epstein List.

After all, leftist women generally are known for their situational ethics when it comes to supporting women's rights, are they not?

Well, here's your chance, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Marie Gluesenkamp Perez for Congress.

Show us what you've got. After all, it's alleged the over 200 victims, presumably entirely women, actually received cash settlements.

But I'm not holding my breath for you, either.

Portland schools seem to be confused more than usual.

To graduate from Portland schools, you'll get a diploma if you're breathing, and maybe, in the time-honored tradition of democrats, even if you've stopped.

Recently, of course. Portland teachers engaged in that favorite teacher pastime of extorting students by going on strike.

As a result of their usual perfidy, the teachers lose no money and in fact, as a result of their illegal strike (public employees, which teachers inarguably are, legally can't go on strike) they are further enriched at taxpayer... and student... expense.

HOWEVER, since the State of Oregon believes that holding students accountable for their academic efforts is racist somehow, they've instituted a rule that, in fact, (as per the woke practice of everyone getting a trophy, even the last place contestant) no graduation requirements will be in place and as a result, everyone graduates.

This, naturally, turns an Oregon high school diploma into a worthless placemat at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, but hey, when you're sentencing your children to avoidance of POSSIBLY being offended, what else can you do?

The end result?

Both students AND teachers are blowing off the strike "make up days" (there are, apparently, rules concerning the number of days schools in Oregon have to be open in a given year) so that the teachers, having extorted bigger and obviously undeserved paychecks, can actually do their time to get paid.

I can totally get students blowing off this massive waste of time.

But how bad can it be when teachers do the same?

Are you a veteran? Have you been injured on active duty? Are you refusing to file a claim(s)? Please read this:

First and foremost, this isn't an ad or some sort of referral to a "percentage" claim-filing business. It's a snapshot of my own VA claim reality.

In my internet travels I've had occasion to read the views of many veterans who are due benefits for injuries/wounds they suffered, who refuse to file claims because of what they've heard (the hassle, the story that they always deny claims, the concept that they just want you to die first) or the guilt (I'm hurt, but it's not that bad and I don't want others to think I'm a weakling) or some variation of that theme.

I was one of you.

My TBI reached the point of resulting in having a memory like a fence post.

I've been to, for example, 8 or so NASCAR races around the country over the past 7 years or so. 

I know that I went.

But I can't tell you when for sure, who won, or where. (Except the first one: Daytona)

I reached the point at work where mandatory forms that needed to be submitted weren't. MY memory, in short, has become a disaster.

I got to where I could no longer work. But I still had/have a family to support and they deserve better.

So, I bit the bullet and filed.

It was excruciating. They took a stick and dug around my guts with it.

It was one of the most painful processes I ever underwent. 

But I did it anyway. I had to. It became my mission. And ultimately, I made it happen.

I get those perspectives but ultimately, my wife pointed out that it was essentially part of the deal.

And in fact, I felt the exact same way when it came to my own disabilities.

You sign up. You get screwed up on duty. They're supposed to take care of it/you.

I hope anyone reading this and pondering their options when it comes to benefits can come to understand, as I came to understand, that these benefits are an equivalent, to, say, comp time. They equal the benefits you received for, say, moving household goods and getting paid for damages, or mileage, or any number of other benefits we received as a result of damage to our "stuff" with a process that also extends to damage to us.

No, it's not a perfect system. Yes, it is a PITA dealing with the system sometimes. Yes, it can take a long time. Yes, it can be stupid/idiotic/moronic.

But a properly prepared/documented case typically does not take a long time. (3 months or so from submission) and the key to success is to remember that the VA adjudicator may not be a veteran and has no idea WTH you're talking about. You have to paint a word picture and back it up with documentation.

If you don't have documentation, there are ways around it.

But the more complete your case is (descriptions, records, buddy statements if needed) the more likely you are to get to success. The less work the adjudicator has to do because your documentation is up to par, the faster the case gets processed.
While many have filed on their own; some successfully... I urge those considering this step to find a VSO who knows what they're doing.

Most state/counties/veterans organizations provide VSO assistance for nothing. I did (can't anymore because I can't remember most of the regulations) but if, for whatever the reason, they fail?

Then look around the net and get a referral to an attorney. They get some sort of percentage of what they make sure you're awarded as in back pay. I urge that as a last resort.

But for Christ's Sake, don't blow benefits off for ANY reason, no matter how discouraging it may be.

Because at the end of the day, you both earned them and more importantly, paid for them.

Well, it looks like the GOP is fixin' to have us bail on Ukraine.

So much for that "Never Again" shtick.

At this point, one is confronted with the bizarre reality of the GOP apparently wanting to reward Putin for murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and inflicting billions of dollars of destruction on/in Ukraine... a series of acts most recently played out this past Oct 7 in Israel.

Are they next on the abandonment list?

It looks like the movement is on to, once again, abandon a country we assured we'd support, which as far as that goes is the historical reality of the entirety of the United States historical foreign policy as we prepare to relive-in-reverse the stupidity of isolationism that brought us World War Two.

Of course, one finds it difficult to separate the chicken salad from the chicken poop. Media histrionics is one thing, practical reality is another.

But here's the next practical and historical reality:

The United States did this.

The United States publicly gave Putin permission to invade.

The United States lied to Ukraine in order to get them to turn over the nuclear weapons to Russian in the mid 1990's because Ukraine was stupid enough, or foolish enough, to actually BELIEVE us when this country guaranteed its territorial sovereignty.

The United States did this when we failed to provide the wherewithal to defeat Putin on the battlefield.

This is not the first time we've thrown a country a life ring only to yank it back and watch them drown.

Like our colossal failures in Afghanistan, we're now prepared to watch Ukraine collapse and become a Soviet serfdom and, as I knew and stated many times; fail to hold Putin, et al, accountable for their actions.... actions more reminiscent of the 3rd Reich in Europe than any other historical action since Adolf was running the show.

Now, we've watched as the Taliban have turned women back into mindless drones best described as chattel. And like the murder, rape and assault victims of post-US Afghanistan, we've watched as American and international women's groups remain silent as Russians AND hamas rape, pillage and plunder like the so-called "good old days" of the Nazi's lebensraum days.

Failing to continue our support of Ukraine is a massive, inexplicable mistake. Ukrainian men and women have been killing Russians and dying over there so we don't have to. And at some point, if we abandon Ukraine?

Dying is precisely what we're going to have to do.

And those complaining about "costs" and "corruption" and everything that goes with their opposition for some reasons real and many imagined, if we allow Ukraine to fall or reward Putin in ANY way as he seeks to reestablish the Iron Curtain...

These costs in lives, equipment, and strategic advantage don't come close to the American blood that WILL be spilled if we do this stupidity.

Putin is a modern day Hitler. He's followed Hitler's playbook to the Nth degree. His troops have frequently acted like the Einsatzgruppen of Germany in Russia and now, Russia emulates those savages like Himmler was teaching them classes on how to do it.

And I'm reminded of that phrase attributed to George Santayana that those foolish enough to forget history are doomed to repeat it.

And if anyone POSSIBLY thinks Putin intends to merely stop at whatever reward the GOP wants to provide him for this invasion without further expanding his empire into NATO in the face of this obvious intransigence, you've got another think coming.

With this failure, the United States will have turned "Never Again" into a meaningless bumper sticker.

Seattle continues to sink into the abyss...

This a quick reminder: Eric Johnson of KOMO was among the first to sound the clarion call with his seminal work "Seattle is Dying" and his follow up effort "The Fight for the Soul of Seattle" tore the cover off the conditions that few outside the King County area know of.

Screen capture for the opening scene of Seattle is Dying.

The "War on Drugs" was a failure. Not because, IMHO, it was the wrong cause.

But because we ignored the roots of the problems that brought us to this point.

Leftist government's response (frequently with the aid of GOP help) has been to legalize all drugs, everywhere.

(Yeah, I know... they eyewashed it enough to make it a misdemeanor. etc. But can anyone explain what difference any of that has made? And in this state, the GOP has been complicit in this abandonment of responsibility to those they would govern.)

As a result of these ongoing, continuing failures... more than 10,000 Americans a month are dying from illegal drugs generally and fentanyl/tranq particularly.

Government generally and leftist government particularly has surrendered. We have and continue to waste billions and the result is the problem gets worse every day.

And yet, we are just doubling down. Every year, we waste more and more money while we do nothing to hold those providing this stuff accountable.

There are some who turn a blind eye to this massacre. They claim that it's thinning out the gene pool or some such.

What would our response be to some foreign country killing 10,000 Americans a month? A slaughter that has been literally going on for years?

Open borders, lax to no law enforcement, weak to no deterrent penalties for the manufacture/distribution of these chemical death traps, inadequate rehab facilities and no emphasis on personal accountability.

We do not have the luxury of fostering such an environment.

We either have the will to address this issue and reduce the need for expanding the King County Medical Examiner's morgue, which is filled to overflowing with OD'd corpses awaiting autopsy...

Or we don't.

And it's pretty clear to me that we're nowhere near the point where we must end the confusion of motion (which accomplishes nothing while looking like SOMETHING is being DONE) and action (which accomplishes what actually needs to be done.)

If you haven't already done so, watch these two documentaries. To me, it represents the finest in journalism, an increasingly all-too-rare commodity.

And keep in mind that since these efforts were broadcasted, billions have been spent and the problems... drugs, mental illness, homelessness, sex trafficking and the other crimes supporting those... have become GEOMETRICALLY worse.

The second documentary is a follow up to the first. And sadly, the title is, I believe, prescient, in that Seattle's "soul" is long gone.

"Seattle is Dying"

"The Fight for the Soul of Seattle"