tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6062890607611616382024-02-19T03:26:33.154-08:00Whatcom WorksWhatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-20165834611958699982016-10-25T13:14:00.003-07:002016-10-25T13:28:51.609-07:00Identity Crisis<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--> <br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This is a long
post. Sorry, but the topic is a bit complicated. Thanks for tuning in.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One thing that the 2016 US Presidential Election has
shown the world is that Americans are having an identity crisis. Shall I narrow
this? Nominal American Christians (70%) are having notable identity crisis. Shall
I go further? Evangelical, born again leaders and laity (30%) are having a shattering
identity crisis.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Jesus Christ told his followers to make learners wherever
they went. He gave them a message that turned the Roman world upside down a few
short years after his death and resurrection, supplanting the lucrative market
place pantheon of demi-gods with flesh and blood, still living, community
benefiting saints. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What were some key principles that accomplished this? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth</i>,” </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
was enlarged with </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>“</b>…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were
illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions…made a gazingstock both
by reproaches and afflictions…took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance</i>.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Early Christians invested in local community with abandon
and grace, not demanding a reward from their fellows, but being confident of a
reward in the after life. This was a tactic that was irrepressible by their
foes.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Centuries later, a church whose identity had shifted into
empire, not charitable holiness, was turned upside down by reformers, who again
made learners of the serfs and tradesmen that bishops and princes had used and
discarded like face tissues. The reformers got down and dirty with “sinners”
like Jesus did.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Leading reformers searched the Holy Bible for clues on
successful governance and market place ideology. A stream of Biblically sifted
public polity insights from the Hugenots in France, to the dissenters in
England and Scotland, to the Pilgrims and Puritans in America, led through town
hall governance to the Old World Order defying American Revolution and
Constitution.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
These past Christian pioneers in governance, over
centuries, faced down tremendous opposition, even amid death of many of their
number. In the Anglosphere—England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
even India, the fruits of Christian governance multiplied. At the same time, as
Christians indulged themselves, increasingly giving up on earning and saving to
give, [aka John Wesley], progressive dons stepped into the void, and the
socialist seeds of Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Darwin and Sangor spread
quickly in fertile soil.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Fast forward to today. Have you tracked the 2016 national
evangelical debate over #NeverTrump? Have you have seen the parade of
conservative and evangelical media, church, business and educational leaders
who are staggering and roaring and moaning and sweating in the tug-o-war over a
“binary choice” vs a third candidate protest vote?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The “elephant in the room” is that Christian “salt” has
lost its influence on America. Whether by external, strategic anti Christian
driven activism in the last 200 years (Mann, Dewey, Dawkins), or by internal supplanting
of the sacrificial cross life by materialism and hedonism (Presley, Bakker, Driscoll,
Sproul Jr., Duggar Jr.), Christians seem to be suddenly discovering their
values are mocked and they are targeted for silencing, with fewer and fewer
predictable political champions for Christian concerns.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
As long as there was an “evil” political opponent, the
nagging question of failing larger influence was quenched by short term, feel
good, united posturing in political campaigns for “prosperity”, best seen in
races against socialist, tax and spend candidates with Leninist/Frankfurt
Marxist ideologies, or Wilsonian quasi-Christian progressive bona fides.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The current reality of two morally bankrupt candidates
for president, exacerbated by media “reality show” news bombs in the last weeks
of the presidential campaign has prompted many evangelical leaders to begin to
jump from their burning ivory towers.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
These “thought leaders” do not want to walk the gauntlet
of government with morally “failed” leaders. Rather than scrutinize the failed
“saltiness” of their own systematic theologies and denominational orthopraxies,
as seen in lost influence in media and public educational venues, they plan to go
AWOL from voting. They appear to hope that washing their hands of Trump and/or
Clinton, will convince others they cannot be associated with any part of what
has or is to come.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why are Christian thought leaders now in meltdown over
Donald Trump? Did not Jesus tell his disciples to find the “worthy” man (a
locally recognized leader) in each village and bring help and blessings to that
village? Was not Jesus’ test for involvement with secular leaders their openness
to receiving help, and not their prior virtue?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Did not the patron apostle of Reformed Soteriology, Paul,
say that the first communal priority of any church was prayers for holders of
public office? And included in those prayers were even governors where power
came often by corruptions of dagger and purse, not observable purity?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Identity drives choices of association. If a Christian
identifies with Jesus Christ, with a view of sure reward in the life to come,
he or she will not fear loss or shaming in this life, even forced association
with one like Donald Trump. Jesus Christ said the soul of man was eternal, but
the comforts and shout outs of this life were transitory and should be rated
secondary and disposable.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When Christians adore loan and credit ratings, and despise
having children by using contraceptives, they have lost their salt. When
Christian thought leaders can rave and admire sex and violence laden story
plots in Game of Thrones episodes, they have little ground to criticize Clintonesque
peddling of influence or Trumpian pimping of fleeting pelvic and pocketbook
pleasures.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Christian, what will you do when you wake up the morning
after November 8, 2016? Will you roll up your sleeves and seek to influence
public policy with grace? Or will you extend your abstention from voting and
disappear from the public square for the next four years?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
On the local level, will you shut your ears, eyes, and
mouth to the skewing of local school board policy because the school board
members are all hardened progressive activists and you cannot not find a sympathetic
ear? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At the state level, will you refuse to vote for either
Republican Washington State Treasurer candidate, because one has received funds
from Planned Parenthood, and the other funds from SEIU?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This identity meltdown can only be addressed at the level
of personal saltlessness. When our good works as Christians are funded by walking
our own capital through hard work and savings and answered prayer to God, rather
than prayers to bank loan managers, then we will begin to have an identity with
clout.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When our educational guidelines promote wisdom and
discard folly, when we can equally accept or disdain the shifting praise of elite
educators, businessmen or media stars, even Christian superstar theologians,
then we will become at the same time stable local community leaders and radical
world change agents.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When we abandon “Beach Boys to Rap pelvic libido culture”
in our recreation and youth groups and worship services, then perhaps we will obey
the still small voice that builds lasting foundations of peacemaking that over
ride human bankruptcy with God’s wisdom and workings.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Until then…the saltless meltdown and identity crisis of
conservatives and evangelicals will only continue to grow.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
PS: </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I voted for Trump.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I voted against the EMS levy. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I voted against I-1501. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last Tuesday, I took the day to testify in Olympia on
solutions to improve the Growth Management Act, where I suggested that that the
Growth Management Hearings Board be repopulated with one industry qualified
specialist specific to each of the 14 elements. I would further suggest that these
positions be elected, not appointed.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I voted for DeWolf, Zempel and Larsen for State Supreme
Court. The Hirst v Whatcom County ruling should be a wake up call for all
Washington citizens on progressive strongarm takeover tactics. Saul Alinsky is
a viper, but so is Mitch McConnell. Property rights is Life 101. In the Bible
it comes right after the 10 commandments (Exodus 20-23). Private philanthropy
(vs government funding for everything) is Life 201.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In this above list, if Trump is the only thing that you
as a Christian or “conservative” can talk knowledgeably about, you need to get
out from under your rock. Please don’t lecture me about being judgmental of
sinners when these observations above come after six years of quite close
involvement in local and state public policy issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-21780935239243643042016-02-11T22:45:00.000-08:002016-02-12T20:45:57.803-08:00You Will Be Made To Care<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What happens when an ordinary family gets involved in
public policy and elections at the city and county level? That is our story for
the last four years.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What happens when a <u><span style="color: blue;">“<a href="http://youwillbemadetocare.com/?mc_cid=008c0245a8&mc_eid=bc7d29d047" target="_blank">tell it all book</a>”</span></u> is about to be published, and you can have a small part in
spreading its message around? That is the focus of this blog post.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Whatcom Works has been a blog that the Kirk family
(mostly Dad, me that is) has used to chronicle our efforts, observations, hopes
and frustrations over the last 30 months of involvement in public policy
service in Whatcom County, Washington.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We have been privileged to do a lot of door belling in
GOTV, to work at phone banks, to provide live streaming services for several
debates. Some of us have worked as campaign media coordinators, fund raising
banquet assistants, website and social media support staff, and one daughter is
currently session aide for our State Senator Doug Ericksen.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some of us have gone to dozens of meetings at the Whatcom
County Council, Whatcom County Planning Commission, Public Utility District #1,
Farm Bureau, Whatcom Cattleman's Association, WRIA 1 Water Board, Whatcom CAPR board,
and more. There have also been many bull sessions with various conservative activists.
We have worked on policy language, having some passed into policy, and some
rejected, even by other conservatives.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A year ago, my daughter and I flew to Colorado and
California to take training that would facilitate recruitment and deployment of
interested local citizens as observers and reporters of routine business in the
dozens of committees that carry out the business of Whatcom County government.
Public policy activists have to go to meetings, and what if that work load could
be delegated to dozens of like minded peers, giving them a chance to taste,
explore and sharpen their skills in local governance?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Recently, we assessed our public policy involvements
versus family responsibilities in home schooling and home maintenance.
Volunteer service may be given freely, but someone has to pick up the tab for
living. So, we have not been going to many meetings recently. For a number of months,
Whatcom Works has been silent.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But there is something I really want to write about!
Someone has <a href="http://youwillbemadetocare.com/?mc_cid=008c0245a8&mc_eid=bc7d29d047" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">written a new book</span></u></a> that
addresses the pressures I have outlined above. This soon to be published book
also has a lot more to say. A whole lot more.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Conservatives and Christians in Washington State are hard
to shock. Perhaps, in Washington State, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>highly
unchurched and agnostic, we have become like the proverbial frog in the kettle.
Oh, yah, another case of abusing freedom of speech. So what! What’s on for
sports tonight? Maybe next year we can elect a governor who is not in the
pocket of Big Labor, the Eco Fascists, and the LGBT community.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://youwillbemadetocare.com/?mc_cid=008c0245a8&mc_eid=bc7d29d047" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">“You… WILL… Be... Made… To… Care…!”</span></u></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Erick Erickson and
Bill Blankschaen, living in the far away
state of Georgia, have written a book that you really need to read. Actually,
that you really need to buy and read. Actually, that you really need to <a href="http://youwillbemadetocare.com/?mc_cid=008c0245a8&mc_eid=bc7d29d047" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">pre-order now</span></u></a> so a lot more people can hear about
a very useful book that is having a high profile rollout. And, a book that you
can discuss with your friends and church leaders and pastors.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I have read this book. (I am not getting money for
writing this review.) I have read some reviews of this book. Frankly, it is a
lifeline book. Especially for those who are not a part of the chattering class.
You may know who I mean. Political activists who go to conferences and link to
each others blogs and support each other well may not need this book. But those
of us who are in the trenches and alone and wondering where the cavalry has
gone need a lifeline. This is one!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Two years ago, our family attended a home school
conference. One of the keynote speakers, a real “Mr. Big”, spent an hour
outlining the plans of the LGBT community to “make us care” and fear and serve
them. It was very depressing. He ended by saying he really did not have any
answers or advice for us. Since then, I have heard he has taken a seminary
service post in Africa. Cool for him!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When you read this book, you need to get to the last
part. The first two thirds outlines the dire straits Christians are facing over
the “pelvic wars”. It is painful. Really painful! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will meet outstanding Christian
conservatives, in business, public service, non profits who have been targeted
and taken to the cleaners by LGBT activists and their friends in the judiciary,
education and media.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But I would really like to give a shout out to the last
few chapters. The development sequence is real. The book champions “resurgent”
faith and conservatism. For you Biblicists, think “overcomer”, as in Revelation
chapters 2 and 3. Think finding and serving the worthy man, as in Matthew 10:7-20.
Even John the Baptist was granted resurgence when he was pinned down in Herod’s
prison.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Our family has found the authors’ sequence of developing
resurgence spot on. First is community. We have met many other Christians and
conservatives from a very diverse range of persuasions. And we clicked with them. The
problem is the conservative activist community is relatively very small! </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, we go to “school”. As individuals (secondly) we
enlarge our parameters, we broaden our information base and theology, we hone our skills. Yet, solitary
activists here and there, working in ones and twos, are still solitary.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, thirdly, we add the family. Get the children, grandparents,
and aunts and uncles involved. Suddenly, a multiplier comes into play that is
huge. And has tremendous import for decades to come!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here is where it gets dicey. When, fourthly, the church
is challenged to be resurgent in the public square, our experience is that it frequently
acts like the LGBT community, striking back, holding tightly to its “little
earthly store, nor sending thy messengers unto some distant shore”. Coping with sour faith community responses takes patience. Organized, funded groups of Christians are slowly waking up to see that they ARE being targeted and made to
care. Having this book on the church leader’s desk or in the church library
will be very timely.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Lastly, the resurgent citizen is one who is not just
about influencing culture by top down elected influence, but who rubs elbows
with their progressive neighbors, who defuses bias and gives gifts that influence
culture. They do this person by local person. The resurgent citizen is salt and light,
regardless of their political connections or lack thereof. And, since elections do have consequences, resurgent citizens become engaged in elections and or public policy as they serve in the larger community..</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The framers of the American constitution were largely
Biblicists. It is no wonder that the LGBT community has targeted Christians, champions
of freedom of speech and property rights, above all others. Christians care and
don’t back down. The Christian Bible is a fountain of freedom and public policy
wisdom. That is why socialists, communists and fascists have hated it, and hate
the American Constitution. (Disclaimer: the US Constitution does not supercede
the Christian Bible). Now, the maladies of socialism are content for another
post.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, have I convinced you yet? Go <a href="http://youwillbemadetocare.com/?mc_cid=008c0245a8&mc_eid=bc7d29d047" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">pre order, and access the bonus gifts</span></u></a>. This is
a good thing. Thanks for coming back to Whatcom Works and reading this post.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK (John Kirk)</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-48717768053157330552015-06-29T07:02:00.001-07:002015-06-29T08:23:48.717-07:00Hoping For Nothing<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Baltimore burns. Charleston prays. Two worldviews are at
war in American communities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Destroying to gain versus Gaining the destroyer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do these faraway realities touch Whatcom County? There is
that takes for itself, and loses. There is that quietly gives amid pain, and
gains. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What attitude rebuilds community after wars of
aggression? It is “Hoping for nothing,” passing on to the next generation a
legacy of selflessness in the face of ultimate sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is the ruler who submits himself to the rule of law.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is the elected representative who sees community
strife not as a shortselling moment to advantage his friends, but as a refinery
that turns disparate metals into strong alloys. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is the soldiering businessman who puts his life and
business in the cross hairs of the bitter game of chance that is cultural war,
tough love, risking the bullets of market retribution.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
County Council has poured gasoline on local public policy
again. Whatcom County’s Home Rule Charter has been made a burning rag in an
ideological tug of war. Locals can go and watch the circle of fire Tuesday
night, July 7, 2015 at the County Council Chambers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What gives?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
is really going on? Do not the community fathers do all things well?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Frankly, after months of paying relatively close
attention to the Charter Review process, and after working on two proposed
charter amendments,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have come to the
conclusion that some leaders are ships passing in the night, and other leaders
are privateers, ready to board and pillage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who have been the actors on the Charter Review stage? More
importantly, who are the Geppetos, working the strings out of sight?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1. Elected leaders: the county executive and the county
council.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2. Career city and county employees: managers of finance
and natural resources, technical experts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3. State and Federal bureaucrats: Department of Ecology,
Conservation District, Environmental Protection Agency, Puget Sound
Partnership, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Army Corps of
Engineers…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4. Non profit, “third sector” ideologues, staffers,
activists, lawyers: Whatcom Land Trust, ReSources, Futurewise, Sustainable
Connections, Salish Community Solutions… oh, and the local Food Bank. Cathy
Lehman could give you a list of twenty or more “key local players” she
represents, including Tom Steyer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
5. Business owners and investors: Corporate globalists,
small time entrepreneurs, farmers…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
6. Media apparatchiks: Bored reporters, biased editors
and owners, lucre seeking advertising agents.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
7. Facilitators: legal counsels, clerks, facilities
owners.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
8. I almost forgot. The fifteen elected Charter Review
commissioners.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably know that
the major bones of charter contention are:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1) Should <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
whole county vote for all elected council races, or should county districts
have partitioned voting, each district voting for two positions plus one at
large position.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2) Should the Whatcom County Council be prevented from
reversing any ballot approved charter amendments detailing voter districting
formulas in Whatcom County?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
County wide voting appears to favor candidates that
appeal to Bellingham’s clientele, and district partitioned voting appears to
favor candidates that appeal to the non Bellingham clientele.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The elephant in the room that most of the above actors do
not want to deal with is the growing cultural divide between Bellingham and the
rest of the county. Or is it a growing cultural war? Do the grant and
government funding models that pay many Whatcom County salaries bring people
together? Or enlarge cultural ghettos with protective taboos and suspicions?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After the decision by the county council to place four
proposed amendements on the ballot, largely mirroring and countering the likely
charter amendments of the charter review committee, it is again obvious that
the dialogue and mediation that brings diverse groups together is not
happening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Listening to citizen testimony during the public comment
period is says it all. County “conservatives” speak of disenfranchisement and
the need to restore parity. City “progressives” push back against “power
plays”, against being forced to share the public square with conservatives.
Horrors!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why is there such a heightened sense of battle lines? Why
has the county council intervened so precipitously? What back room deals have
been brokered to sacrifice predetermined county groups on the altars of
business status quo and progressive cultural fadism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There are two books, among others, that shape today’s
political plays. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince</i>, by
Nicholas Machiavelli, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rules for
Radicals</i> by Saul Alinsky. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
George Bush (R) and Bill Clinton (D) know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince</i> well. Dedicated to Lorenzo di
Medici, the rules of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince</i> led
to the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of emerging Hugenot Protestants at the
hands of Catholic queen Catherine di Medici, a generation after the book was
written. In the power plays of corporations, triangulation still makes and
breaks men and their fortunes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hilary Clinton (D) and Barack Obama (D) know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rules for Radicals</i> well. A protégé of
Frank Nitti of Al Capone fame, Saul Alinsky absorbed mob methods, then modeled
them, framed with legal cover for the New Left before his death several decades
ago. Behind the disarming smile of progressive non profit advocacy is a cold dagger
and the tightly clenched fist that seeks power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Is Jack Louws a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Prince</i> man? Is Carl Wiemer a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rules
for Radicals</i> man? I can not say for sure. I could try to interview them,
but to what end? Would they tell me their secrets? What about Ken Mann? Pete
Kremen? Rud Browne? What about the circle of power brokers in natural resources
such as Steven Jilks at the PUD? Or George Boggs at the Conservation District?
Or the leaders of ReSources, Whatcom Land Trust, Futurewise, and Sustainable
Connections? What about the various bureaucrats embedded in city, county, state
and federal agencies, lusting for the grant streams fed by the growing national
debt?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The point is this. If the sharing of spoils in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prince</i> type proposals coming out of
the County Executive Office do not pacify the power hungry Alinsky radicals on
the County Council and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>local “green” non
profit boards, the radicals and the triangulators will end up eating each other
and us, leaving a burnt earth legacy. Just review the fractured path of the
proposed Whatcom County Jail.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, will Bellingham be Baltimore? Or will it be Charleston?
Will we burn each other with anger? Or will we face down haters with
determined, rebuilding openess?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Non profit
agencies?</b> Who grew the legacy of the non profit tradition? Francis of
Assissi? Bernard of Clairvaux? William Carey of India? The Salvation Army in
the slums of London? Lighthouse Mission? Catholic Community Services? These
were and are people who largely “hope for nothing”. But, wherever there are
givers, there are pretenders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The “green” non profits of America are a different breed.
Flying on the coat tails of good will of past generations, the current enviro
activists talk kindly, but underneath the smiles clench fists of green,
sustainable power. Their non profit vehicle is temporary, until government is
fully socialist and communitarian. Their advocacy for first nations peoples
destroys both the tribal youth and their own youth. Bake into their cake a
fascist flavor of markets with triple bottom lines, and the world is redefined
into a gray, grim Orwellian nanny state.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Churches?</b> Redefining
themselves as Lyndon Johnson 501c3 non profits, many churches act like monkeys,
clutching peanuts in a gourd trap, waiting to be captured and eaten. American
courts are systematically removing the hedge of honor increasingly saltless American
churches have enjoyed. Persecution in the public square will unleash self
persecuting churches, but until then, public policy is piously delegated to
“others” by a majority of Christians. Most Christians are more concerned about
paying back their loans on their single family homes, about pushing their
children to get degrees from socialist educators who turn their Christian
legacy of “hoping for nothing” on its head. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Educators?</b> College
appears now to be where environmentalist activists first learn to write grants,
then maybe do a little work—not really hoping for nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is hoping for nothing? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is delighting to give rather than get, trusting that
the Creator of all men and means will repay sacrificial service in His time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is deferring immediate gratification for much larger,
delayed benefits. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is choosing to give, after working to earn, and
leading others to work to earn. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It may be waiting long for the siren songs of materialism
and power, progressive or capitalist, to be replaced by hoping for nothing, by
giving away, yet ultimately gaining much, much more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Baltimore or Charleston? Which will Whatcom County and
Bellingham be?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-73119915695113057112015-03-04T09:53:00.000-08:002015-03-10T18:47:01.946-07:00Please Walk in and Vote at the Conservation District for Larry Helm, SupervisorThere is an important election<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>for Whatcom Conservation District Supervisor, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00
p.m.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>on Tuesday,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Mar 10, 2015,</b> at the CD Office, 6975 Hannegan Road.<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Five Conservation District Supervisors<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>provide board level oversight of the Whatcom
County Conservation District [CD] and its approximately 12 employees.
Typically, Whatcom County CD provides most of its services to local farmers.
Two supervisors are appointed by the Washington State governor, and three are
locally elected.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Any registered voter, urban or rural, may vote
in this CD election.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Whatcom County is
different.</b> Most Washington State Conservation Districts have very low
profile elections for Supervisor positions, with farmers casting 100 or less
ballots per district to choose their supervisors.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Three years ago, this particular Whatcom County Supervisor
position election had over 3000 votes cast, with the winner’s margin being
approximately 60 votes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that
election, the Bellingham environmentalist community almost elected their
candidate to the CD board, but were defeated last minute by a large number of
rural and small town voters who voted in person at the CD office on election
day. On election day, more than 600 people walked in to vote at the CD office,
mostly for Larry Helm.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bad Cows + Rain = Big
Money</b>. Why does Whatcom County have this unusually high turnout? Why is
control of a farm service agency being sought by non farm environmental
activists?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Environmentalist groups pay their leaders and staff out
of federal, state and local grants that address environmental problems. More
problems mean more grants, and that means more “envirocrat” jobs. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Cow (dairy and beef)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>farms in Whatcom County are targeted as the alleged primary culprit for
varying levels of coliform pollution in tidal shellfish beds. Bellingham’s
large group of enviro activists want to use the CD to promote their agenda, giving
the “public” and the Lummi nation the “benefit” of attacking farmers with cows
in Whatcom County.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
To compound this, in the last months, the Whatcom
Conservation District has been initiating plans to become the service agency managing storm-water runoff grants and programs for the City of Bellingham. De-prioritizing
farm services for city services looks like a good business money move. However,
farmers may become second class citizens in their own service agency. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Storm-water runoff management is a very lucrative grant
stream. Your taxes administer and salary technicians with vast government
oversight of rainwater running off your property. There is lots of rain in
Whatcom County. Again, this money is coveted by envirocrats and increasing
numbers of university grads seeking jobs in line with their environmental
degrees.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Grant streams are also the lifeblood of the Conservation
District. The under the radar issue in this election is direction and
prioritization of grants. Should the CD get any and all grants possible, such
as EPA and Puget Sound Partnership urban and farm storm-water control grants, or
focus its grant writing towards less lucrative farm service issues such as
ditch cleaning, and soil and manure management services.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Local farmers do not want EPA grant strings impacting
their farm plans. Period. Grants come with strings. The EPA and other state and
county agencies offer large funding incentives to farmers who will let them
move closer and closer into overseeing farm management plans. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
As well, farmers are facing increasing fees and
mitigation costs by Whatcom County Conservation District and Whatcom County
Planning Department. CD technicians have a lot of power to levy fines and
rulings. These technicians are currently under significant criticism for
allowing environmental activist pressure to skew their farm site assessments
against small farmers and small farm profitability. Farmers need a supervisor
who will quickly and strongly address rules over reach when it happens.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wildfowl.</b> It
is a fact that various technicians in state and county storm-water runoff
monitoring positions are refusing to calculate how much coliform pollution
comes from wild fowl such as ducks, geese and swans. Large water fowls, such as
geese, produce 5 pounds of poop per day. 500 swans could deposit 2500 pounds of
excrement close to a drainage ditch in one day, and then the cows get blamed.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In spite of this, Fish and Wildlife officials routinely
refuse state funding grants to help them test coliform food source DNA to
identify what coliform came from cows or birds. Cow farmers rightly feel
unfairly targeted as the main coliform pollution source when wildfowl poop on
fields by ditches is totally ruled out by activists and technicians. It’s the “bad
cow” grant stream, stupid.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No one escapes</b>.
This is not just an issue for dairy or beef farmers. It is an issue for any
small acreage family who has animals. It is an issue for home owners in towns
and cities. Not only has the EPA put rules in place to regulate the puddles of
rain on your driveway, but when farm neighbors are subject to the whims of
urban regulators, the resulting uncertainty also hurts town and city businesses
that supply farms.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The incumbent for this position is Larry Helm, a small
beef farmer in the Squalicum Creek watershed east of Squalicum Mountain. Larry
has consistently resisted the urban grant stream influences, trying to focus CD
services to farmers. He runs a clean farm with minimum stream buffers, and with
stream coliform levels at one quarter of the current pollution threshold
level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even so, Larry is being
misrepresented and smeared as a polluter <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrY0dDSnBlWUhtV00/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">by environmental activists</span></a> supporting his opponent. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The issue is not whether Larry’s opponent sells locally
grown vegetables at a roadside stand, but which former public official can be
trusted to use grants to serve farmers first, not the salaries of non profits
and public officials, and the multiplying rules police that stifle farm
economies in Whatcom County.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Remember packing houses? How <a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/welcome_page/?shf=/2014/12/30/4053314_slaughter-allowed-on-whatcom-farmland.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">many new packing houses</span></a> have come to Whatcom County in this last year after
the envirocrats worked over packing house policy?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Whatcom County Farm Bureau, the GOP, and the Cattleman’s
Association have endorsed Larry. His opponent is supported by the Democrat
party circle. Democrat voters from Alabama Hill and the Columbia District have
heavily responded to Larry’s opponent’s doorbell campaign to use mail in
voting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you get the picture? Where might
Futurewise and ReSources and Whatcom Land Trust be in this?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Floodplains by
Design is</b> being cued up. With characteristic doublespeak, an extensive
program grant application by <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrRFl5dE9CSHo1b3M/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Whatcom Land Trust targeting prime farmland for wilding in the South Fork area</span></a> has been filed with
the Washington State Department of Ecology. Note the promises that prime
farmland is only going to be moved away from the river, not taken away.
Really!! Do the farmers of Whatcom County need a friend of farmers on the CD
board of supervisors, or a friend of progressive, Democrat, urban
environmentalists?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Note the letters of support in the appendix from Whatcom
County Public Works (Paula Cooper), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatcom County Parks (Mike McFarlane), and the
Nooksack Tribe (Bob Kelly)</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GreenLinks is here</b>!
The Squalicum Creek watershed, from downtown Bellingham out to the Rome area on
SR542, is being set up for an intensively managed water runoff program called <a href="http://greenlinkbellingham.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Green Links</span></a>, jointly administered by the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.cob.org/" target="_blank">City of Bellingham</a> </span>and<span style="color: blue;">
<a href="http://futurewise.org/" target="_blank">Futurewise</a></span>, the recent litigant against Whatcom County’s exempt well
policies. Would not the Conservation District better the public interest by
electing a supervisor who would check and balance intensive environmental
advocacy (salmon are the emotional hot button in the above joint venture)
rather than smiling while urban eco activists <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsreTNMUi1SNkhIWnM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">collectively rezone</a> </span>the Squalicum Creek watershed.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Larry’s challenger in this election is an Everson area
resident who worked for the City of Bellingham Public Works, and runs a summer time
vegetable stand from her garden. As a past Democratic party candidate, she is
most notable recently in her loss to Vincent Buys for District 42 State
Representative. Larry’s opponent has benefited from considerable resources to
door bell neighborhoods in Bellingham environmentalist hot zones, people who
are NOT farmers, and adversarial to most current Whatcom farmers.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Monday, February 9, 2015 was the cutoff date to request a
mail in ballot from the Conservation District office, which manages this
election apart from the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office. As of that date, over 3600
ballots had been requested, most to Bellingham addresses. Ballots may also be
cast by people who walk in and vote in the Conservation District office on
March 10, 2015. Last year, 600 people voted in person at the CD office.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Walk in and vote</b>.
If you don’t want to see farmers, big or small, significantly damaged by
Bellingham eco activists, please take the time to go to the CD office in person
and vote for Larry Helm on Tuesday, March 10, 2015. His opponent may have a
very pleasant demeanor, but her handlers and supporters are determined to turn
local cows into “the” environmental scapegoat and grant stream. You can read
their words <a href="http://www.nwcitizen.com/entry/the-hidden-election1" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/pdfs/issues/201504.pdf#page=8" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>,
and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhatcomHawk/search/?query=Larry%20Helm" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Please pass this walk in voting information on to people
in your rural and small farm town circles. This election will determine who manages
CD grant programs, urban shell fish guardians or farmers. Your tax money, your
rural farm profitability, and your freedom to manage your own storm water
runoff costs is at stake. This is a very pressing issue, even for those living
in town lots.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Please walk in and vote for Larry Helm for CD
commissioner at the Conservation District office at Hinotes Corner, (Pole and
Hannegan),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6975 Hannegan Road, 9:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 10, 2015.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Thank you,</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
John Kirk</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Whatcom Works</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Post Script: </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do you see the shell
game? </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The straw man here is having
to choose between shell fish (or salmon) and cows. That is just the current version
of a much larger shell game, using the Marxist dialectic to establish fascist
communitarian socialism for nihilist narcissists. Chew on that for a while.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In other words—</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
One party (globalist dialectical power brokers) gets two other parties (cow farmers and salmon/shellfish environmentalists) to fight, and then lives well off the two weakened
parties.<br />
Collecting juicy fees to manage perpetual reparations (socialism) perpetuates the outcomes of the fights.<br />
Rules that tax “offender's” profits (fascism) return more than taking their
assets (communism).<br />
The expectation of no ultimate consequences for making such a mess (nihilism) trains
people to only talk, think, act and care about their own desires and comforts
(narcissism).</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Thus, a key milestone in the enviro terrorism program is
ruined “trust” between urbanites and farmers. The key movers are quiet, eco
activist, grant funded, power base building community organizers who do public policy by <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/rules%20for%20revolution%20%282%29.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alinsky rules</span></a>—deceive, flatter, fatten, divide—then defund and enslave the
middle class (BOTH farmers AND urbanites) before they know what hit them. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A second problem is well meaning, sophomoric urbanites
with ruinous ideas for how farm families should run their farms, significant
ignorance of how Whatcom County farmers are improving in environmental
stewardship, and the gross delusion that heavy regulations on farmers will
improve urban outcomes, and never come to be applied to their own free wheeling
urban lifestyles.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A third problem may also be farm families, in debt to
their eyeballs, whose fewer and fewer children do not want to assume the pressure
cooker of large scale farming in a free falling society, parents whose retirement
income can only be secured by corporate culture, selling out or hiring in. What
stops the free fall? Who will feed you or me, my corporate farmer or urban
environmentalist friend, in ten, twenty, forty years?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Really now, How will you get vegetable garden dirt out
from under your finger nails?</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-14511133440225771292015-01-29T11:40:00.000-08:002015-01-29T11:40:38.805-08:00Sam Crawford Resigns - Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nbpxvZ28J2k/0.jpg" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nbpxvZ28J2k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-87386663750389068292015-01-28T11:57:00.001-08:002015-01-29T09:46:11.222-08:00Replacing Sam CrawfordCouncil member Sam Crawford has resigned from county council, effective March 1, 2015.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbpxvZ28J2k&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank"> A video of his statement and some of the other council member's responses can be seen here.</a><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There will be time to review council member Crawford's 16
year legacy of public service. There will be time to say, “Thank you!” and ask
“Why?”. Sam will become a full time, Westside Building Center manager. Best
wishes, Sam!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But what reality presses hard? A position needs to
be filled. The council will choose a replacement. There will be no election. An
appointment will be made. If council cannot agree on a replacement in thirty
days, the county executive has fifteen days to appoint a person to fill out the
balance of Mr. Crawford’s term.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Six elected council persons will either cross swords
intractably (remember Bob Kelly), or will collaborate to make an appointment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What do you expect? How many candidates will apply? How
will council members frame their favorites?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here is my prediction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There is one determined, progressively aligned council
member who heavily supported a progressively aligned District 2 person who lost
the race for District 42 State Representative in November, 2014. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This council member is one of four progressively aligned
council members who vote as a progressively aligned bloc on appointments for key
council appointed boards. It is highly likely we will see this district 2
council position filled by this district 2 progressively aligned person who was
soundly rejected by district 2 voters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Period.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When Bob Kelly resigned, Pete Kremen wisely avoided
appointing the progressive favorite who had lost elections two times just
before that event. Conservative voters picked Tony Larson a few months later,
and the retired Pete Kremen, as a new councilman unseated Larson a year after
that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
However, the business world operates bone on bone. Free
markets pick winners and losers. Canny business men buy low and sell high, and
delight in extending their business reach. Patronage works. The only problem is
that an unbridled drive to “control” ends up destroying both patrons and heirs.
Successful public policy thrives, not on bitter force, but on trust built
through servant leadership.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tonight at county council, this same council member pressed
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hard to deny $30,000.00 for WRIA 1 planning
unit quarterly operations. He said to wait for the state to fund this unfunded
mandate. This is chump change. $20,000.00 for a two day, one time water seminar
was freely given to WRIA 1 naysayers in the recent past.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This was nothing but a thinly disguised effort to crush dissent
and irregularity. Rud Browne proposed a new “water council” that would
supersede the WRIA 1 planning unit, an advisory only board totally synchronized
by the executive’s office. Bone on bone. Crush “employee” dissent. Fire those
who are shouting “fire”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tonight, two new, progressively approved persons were
appointed to the planning commission, shutting out the reapplying conservative
planning commission chair. David Onkels, known for challenging progressive
planners and their dogma, with experience and counter balance, was tossed on
the trash heap by county council.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Time will tell if the progressive Gang of Four on County
Council have shown foresight in appointing only their own ideological kin to
the leading Whatcom County advisory boards. Time will tell if the WRIA 1
planning unit’s contrarian instincts truly adds value or just angst to the WRIA
1 Joint Board, which has operated outside the RCW legal framework since 2009.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Time will show who truly can meld<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<ul>
<li>fair, <u>big government</u>, mercy
minded progressives, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(give to gov't charity)</li>
<li><u>free</u>, big <u>market</u>,
justice minded conservatives, <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(give to private charity)</li>
<li>USING “humble”
<u>servant </u>minded <u>leadership</u>. <span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>(invest in adversaries).</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is the model and values of the servant leader Christ
on the cross that gave us our western civilization. It is both the progressive AND
conservative abandonment of that model for self actuated nihilism in the “new”,
Post Modern West that is steadily leading us into <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nHV3j8InRQ" target="_blank">a new dark age.</a></span></u><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK, Whatcom Works<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-------------<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbpxvZ28J2k&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Sam Crawford Resigns from Whatcom County Council</a><br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nHV3j8InRQ" target="_blank">Vishal Mangalwadi, Allahabad University trained philosopher and social reformer compares the value of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism for global civilization today in his recent block buster historical overview, “The Book That Made Your World.”</a><o:p></o:p></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-80896699167418185112015-01-17T05:56:00.006-08:002015-01-17T06:34:46.528-08:00Whatcom Water Trust – The Progressive in My Mirror<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Observations from
the recent Water Rights Exchange <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">Trust</span></b> Forum<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I started writing this early Monday morning, my chest ripped
with the painful coughs of a common cold. With time, rest, nutrition and
exercise, breathing will return to normal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I am finishing this Friday morning. This is draft #5. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This post got longer, and then shorter. Thank
you for reading it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The cold is almost gone, and I am wondering what will be
the new normal of this new day. There is work, there is family, and there are
the hard-to-pin-down public policy service opportunities. I suppose community
involvement never was a linear thing. The more I learn, the more holes and
frayed edges and dangling threads I see.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
My used-to-be-tidy life is more and more ripped with the
spasms of water and land use conflict in Whatcom County. PSNERP. Meat packing
on farms. Lawsuits over rural wells. Shellfish bed closures. Lynden water withdrawals.
Small farm plans. Cycling paths. Wetlands. Water Improvement Districts. Senior
water rights. Salmon and herring. Pacific Rim shipping.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Fresh cheeked youth spill into hearings to berate
grizzled farmers. White haired seniors argue with each other over natural
resources for the future. Planning technicians and planning commissioners
redline out each others copy. Managers of parks and land trusts silently build
empires. Volunteers snoop behind farms while distant lawyers and globalists unload
on local elections. News editors and profs pull strings and spin the fresh
cheeked youth, hawking this thing called “progress”. The racking spasms go on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Progressives. <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY3vpsndCVo" target="_blank">Last night I viewed a lecture</a></span></u> by the former progressive community organizer and
publisher, David Horowitz. A key leader in the 1970’s leftist movement, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Horowitz turned on his progressive peers in
the early ‘80’s, abandoning the “fight for justice”, arrested by the long list of
civic destructions generations of progressives had wrought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Born to card carrying American Communists, Horowitz was
shocked out of the “dream” by <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
San Francisco’s hot anger when he confronted ‘80’s gays
over sending AIDS throughout America from the SF gay bath houses. Pressed with feeding
his four children, he abandoned the donors of the new left and became a
capitalist, working in the traditional American free market economy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What was Horowitz’ message? Don’t make deals with
progressives when they are in the driver’s seat. They cannot be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">trusted</span></b>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But do not most key
water players in Whatcom County call themselves progressives?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why would Horowitz
so vehemently accuse progressives? Who is a progressive? What makes a person
progressive? Is this truly relevant to Whatcom County? To water rights?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last Thursday afternoon, Jan 8, I saw my face in the
public mirror. I went to <a href="http://wria1project.whatcomcounty.org/Resource-Library/2015-Whatcom-Water-Exchange/111.aspx" target="_blank">a water forum in Lynden</a> examining the idea of a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">trust</span></b> to facilitate local water rights exchange. I
use water to feed livestock. The issues of tribal senior water rights on the
Nooksack River, the current urgency to prove a hydrological flow between river
and ground water, and the resulting attachment of groundwater rights to tribal
salmon management is a critical concern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I went to hear what the heavy lifters would say.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After a 2.5 hour survey of laws and water rights exchange
trusts in other places, things were very quiet in the room. When an informal
survey of audience affiliation was taken, at least one half of those present declined
to identify themselves with any group—agriculture, government, NGO or citizens.
This was hardly a gregarious day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the last hour, six agency leaders talked for three
minutes each about how they might relate to a water rights exchange trust.
Lynden’s representative was very positive. The PUD was warm to the idea.
Bellingham talked about things that had failed, and Whatcom County was quite
guarded, notably qualifying ideas with questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A local water services manager shared his
perspectives, and a county staffer tried to decopage the natural resources
marketplace model onto water rights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I was amazed at the meekness of normally quite self-assured
local government water managers when the lawyers interviewed them, pointing out
gaps in their understanding of water rights exchanges. As I watched and
listened, I began making my own list of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust
breakers</b> that I have observed in Whatcom County.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1) 6+ highly polarized scientific issues that kill water
policy consensus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2) 8+ agency motivations that divide rather than build
cooperation in water use policy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3) 12+ events or interveners that have shredded <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b> between water users.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The lawyers gave a very concise, easy to understand,
helpful presentation of water rights law. The DOE expert gave multiple, interesting
examples of water rights exchange trusts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A full video of the afternoon maybe viewed by <a href="http://wria1project.whatcomcounty.org/Resource-Library/2015-Whatcom-Water-Exchange/111.aspx" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">going here</span></u>.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I learned several new things.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1. WA state law treats water rights as property rights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2. Water rights are extremely valuable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3. Water rights are guarded intensely. Legislators are
very unwilling to risk any fix of RCW problems.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4. Water rights transfers are very expensive. Water
rights exchange trusts could offer scales of economy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
5. Current Washington water banking models use free
market pricing principles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
6. WA state government does not currently set water
rights pricing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
7. Water rights banks can ease water shortages with no
grants needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
8. Government grants have been used to buy and resell
water rights to preserve existing water users who have no or faulty water
rights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Other takeaways: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
9. Other property rights such as stream buffers and fish
habitat, have extremely little market value compared to water rights. It seems
grants and donations, not free markets is the only funding stream a Natural
Resources Marketplace could swim in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
10. Selling water rights as property rights could force
progressive light persons to see the historical value of property rights. Such
a trust could provide some very teachable moments, reversing the Democrat / progressive
choice to forecast no personal property rights in the future—IF Olympia leaves
pricing alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After this forum, my first question was not <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Could a water
rights exchange <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b> help here?”,</i>
BUT <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Who locally could
be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trusted</b> to search out if a water
rights exchange <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b> would work,</i>
AND <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Who could be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trusted</b> to manage it?”.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Let me illustrate. Several days earlier, a sharp observer
pointed out to me a $20,000.00 line item in a recent WRIA1 joint board budget
for hosting this forum. Having been involved in putting on forums, I know that
amount is much, much more than what is needed to rent a room for up to 150
people, buy some cookies, and pay even high priced lawyers to speak for 3-4
hours. So, who might be getting all that dough?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I brought up this line item in a meeting a couple of days
earlier, offending a colleague who really liked this forum. I decided to go
straight to the organizers, and found out that the budget line item was based
on a prior event that was 16 hours long, with multiple meals. It was a budget
number, not a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>disbursement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
(Was a two day forum planned? Then reduced to one day?
Then reduced to one afternoon? Are water rights, property rights too explosive
for local water use gurus to unpack?)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now why not just <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b> the government bean counters? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See item #4 below).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY3vpsndCVo" target="_blank">David Horowitz, a formernational progressive heavyweight, identifies</a></span></u> four <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">trust</b> busters that define today’s progressive
leaders from his 1960s group. <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/rules%20for%20revolution%20%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">Saul Alinsky</a> is their prophet, and Bill Ayers, Hillary Clinton, David Axelrod, Valerie
Jarrett and <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/rules%20for%20revolution%20%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">Barack Obama</a></span></u> are the “born
with a progressive spoon” rulers who inherited the 1930-50 communist
progressive legacy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1) <u>Progressive
leaders are dialectic contrarians.</u> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Progressives work a cycle of institutional
destruction to “set innocents free”. This is the opposite of America’s founders,
who “checked and balanced sinners” against eternal, unchanging laws.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2) <u>Progressive
leaders are arrogant</u>.</i> They are jihadi-envangelists of a never before
seen, soon to be seen utopia that common sense does not confirm.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">3) <u>Progressive
leaders hate Judeo-Christian America.</u> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>America’s sins are magnified, and her excellences
are discredited. Progressives create class warfare to conquer Americans and
destroy their institutions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">4) <u>Progressive
leaders are liars</u>. </i>Spin, argument, denial is the habituated progressive
yellow brick road to the future.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But, you ask, what does this have to do with our green,
verdant Whatcom County home? Who dares to class the fine friends and children
of conservative Lynden with Lenin, Stalin or Mao. Even Alinsky, nasty god son
of the Chicago Mafia, has passed away. Are not today’s progressives gentle and
benevolent and totally approachable?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Horowitz answers this linking question. His 1960s,
Vietnam War busting, Che Guevarra and Castro loving generation broke a
progessive rule. They refused to deceive. They openly spit on the returning
soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They openly spilled blood on
American streets. They openly called themselves communists.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The young left despised the double standard their <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Son-A-Generational-Odyssey/dp/0684840057" target="_blank">Jewish New York parents</a></span></u> had lived. The parents
claimed to be “Jeffersonian Democrats”, yet collaborated secretly with Moscow’s
KGB handlers. The children rebelled against their parent’s cautions, sowing open,
violent, bloody revolution, and it failed. America ignored them, and they had
to abandon revolution for jobs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hence, Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Put on suits and
heels. Penetrate American institutions. Slowly, steadily create the largest
army of tactic proxies possible, winning America’s next generations to
socialism through the public schools and universities. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Alinsky and his core group have succeeded beyond their
wildest dreams. Two generations of Americans have become progressive light, are
proud of it, and gladly move the progressive dream “forward”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Are you a progressive? Give yourself a test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evaluate the idea of a water rights exchange
trust using the following grid, adapted from <a href="http://www.principlesofliberty.org/Core%20Principles/Index.php" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">historical
American values of freedom</span></u>.<o:p></o:p></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free People:</i></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts protect individual liberty?</li>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts promote personal responsibility?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free Markets:</i></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts protect property rights?</li>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts promote free markets?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good Governance:</i></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts maintain limited government?</li>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts protect local powers from state or federal over
reach?</li>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts promote fiscal responsibility?</li>
<li>Do water rights exchange trusts provide equal protections for all under the
rule of law?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If my guess is right, the above issues seem strange or
irrelevant or bothersome to you, don’t they. If so, you are likely “progressive
light.” If you have a multiple reasons why the above nine values are moral
faults to absolutely obliterate, you are more than progressive light.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Frankly, in spite of my “conservative” education, I have
had to bend my mind to think about the above issues in the last several years.
Why is that?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Probably the
greatest tool for transforming Americans from being a free, motivated, sharing
nation into a stagflated two tier model of progressive socialism (elites and
masses) has been easy money. Loans, and grants.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why would I say that? Do we not need an active WIT,
Whatcom Integration Team, pulling in the maximum in outside grants as an
approved “local integrating organization”? (WIT was rebuked sharply by County Council
a number of months ago for classifying rural values that did not represent a
majority of Whatcom County citizens.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Good financial management is uncommon. Financial failure,
in business and government and NGO/church groups is the norm. Easy loans and
grants make freefall unnoticeable and turn shattering landings into an
irrelevant dream that disappears in summer mornings of ease.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What better way to use an enemy’s strengths against him.
Make economic hyperwarp growth the norm, turn the debt load and grant streams
into a dagger, and the traditional American Judeo Christian moralist will fall
to his knees, begging to drink this pure water at the progressive fountain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Let me relate this to the forum on water rights exchange
trusts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why must a WRIA
region with too much water talk about a trust to transfer “scarce” water
rights?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When is there
scarcity of water?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Answer:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>July and August, as relates to certain salmon
spawning cycles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why would a
majority of people need a trust to exchange a minority portion of water rights?</i>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Answer: because unusual favor has been granted to a
minority people to sue and win the majority portion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who decided this?
Why?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Answer One: The progressives. Innocents must be set free
from debilitating institutions. And, the most innocent “environment” is the
“original, natural one”, where there were no roads, no planes, no farms, no
sawmills… …just wild animals roaming free, and first nations foraging and
hunting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Answer Two:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
progressives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rich oppressors must be forced
to share, being <a href="http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/" target="_blank">moved from consumptive suburban lifestyles and homes to high density urban enclaves, </a>using only
public transit, not owning property, but sharing only what local cooperative
soviets determine is good for one and all equally.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Answer Three:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
progressives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fathers and mothers saw
the nice homes and cars and vacations and chose the mortgage and the second
job. Public schools, being well funded, well staffed models of American decorum,
could be trusted with the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
sixty years later, generation x rocks to a progressive beat, and progressive teachers
wink and smile as the core American values lie bound and gagged on an altar
built to salmon, cycling viewsheds, organic chocolate and boundless sex.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who is the
progressive in the mirror? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is me. My generation. My parents generation. The
public servants I have delegated my citizen responsibilities to so I need not
be stressed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me, does Whatcom still
work?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Should I resist the
public policy of whoever I call a progressive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i>Maybe. Maybe not. There are the far left progressives that want me
to burn out fighting their nasty machine. Then, there are the ‘progressive
lights” who are just doing the job they are being paid to do, watching to see
if I can eat humble pie, make the leader of the day successful, and carry a
load wherever possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How does one make
worthy local leaders successful, regardless of conservative or progressive
orientation?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.principlesofliberty.org/Equip%20Yourself%20for%20Liberty/2014%20Scorecard%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">Shine the light. Lend a hand. Ask before blaming. Gather the facts. Interpret the choices. Don’t beintimidated. Tell the world about both good and bad public polices. Do it again.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
America still requires its citizens to choose their
leaders. Are you concerned about public policy abuse? In the next few months
you may have a chance to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>get involved up
close in shining the lights. Stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And, thank you, facilitators of this water rights
exchange forum for putting on a very informative afternoon, and…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… for not spending the whole $20,000.00 on we
who attended. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Time will tell if a water rights exchange trust is a good
idea. It may very well be a next step in re-engaging true civic service and
public policy awareness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK – Whatcom Works<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-----------<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY3vpsndCVo" target="_blank">David Horowitz video short version</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://wria1project.whatcomcounty.org/Resource-Library/2015-Whatcom-Water-Exchange/111.aspx" target="_blank">Water forum link</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/rules%20for%20revolution%20%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">Obama’s Rules for Radicals</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Son-A-Generational-Odyssey/dp/0684840057" target="_blank">Radical Son</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.principlesofliberty.org/Core%20Principles/Index.php" target="_blank">Principles of Liberty – principles</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.principlesofliberty.org/Equip%20Yourself%20for%20Liberty/2014%20Scorecard%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">Principles of Liberty – reports</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/" target="_blank">Democrats against Agenda 21</a></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-76167267024911332612014-11-01T10:01:00.001-07:002014-11-05T10:08:02.456-08:00Hues...Votes...$260 Million+ for a new Lummi Casino salmon marsh in Whatcom County.Stars of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">mercy</span></b> guiding the mariner on the night seas…
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Clouds of dew and shade <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">nurturing</span></b> the tender plant before
the full heat of the sun…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Mountains, unbending <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">standard bearers</span></b>, dividing fertile plains of loam,
sand, and clay…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Seas, whose age old tidal boundaries, swarming coral
reefs, green feeding billows, and black silent depths beckon and guard <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">stories</span></b> of
gain and loss…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The natural world is full of spiritual dialectical hues. The
question is what spirituality lens is used? A pantheist’s pantheon? A deist’s
dream? A humanist’s mirror? A theist’s day in court?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am reading some
books these days</i>. Techgnosis, by Erik Davis. Can technology unleash the age
old energies of spirit and searching? Is this for progressive San Francisco yin/yang
doctors only? Do Christian conservatives also have an age old connection to technologically
driven spirituality in this same old—new age? Whose words or tweets or
newsfeeds crackle through the techniverse with Ultimate Power? Is the Book in
LED luminescence as relevant as it is on parchment?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am reading the
news these days</i>. Is 2014 the apex of progressive promise? The poster
children of dialectical crush, the disciples of Saul Alinsky, Antonio Gramsci,
Karl Marx, grasping the levers of power in government, media, education,
business, food production, natural resources, find themselves unable to shake
the people in the street of the fear of God. Ebola, ISIS, Benghazi, food
stamps, immigration amnesties for foreign street gangs… is this the brave new
world order?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am working in
homes these days</i>. The swelling tide of governmental regulation reaches to
the neck, the chin, the nose, the eyes. In the daylight, community organizers proclaim
the waters of government micro management to be warm and nutrient rich,
spawning all kinds of socialist goodness. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the dark, the burdens of debt, the volatility of markets
whose time worn steering wheels are laden with grease and wildly spinning, and
the loneliness of a technocracy that divorces the visions of youth from the
wisdom of their parents—these whisper fear and loathing.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Where is hope? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For millions caught in the last world war, a dim memory
to youth today, hope did not lie in football and turkey, or in a glittering
tree, spiced eggnog and lavishly wrapped treasures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hope did not lie in cycling viewsheds, in the return of
wolves and cougars and wood rats, in vast tracts of wilderness relieved by
reduced carbon emissions and erasure of humankind.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hope did not lie in proposed Whatcom County tidal salmon
spawning marshes,</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/factsheets/Nooksack_TSP.pdf" target="_blank">$260 millionprice tag to remove levees, raise bridges</a></li>
<li>one of <a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/selected_plans.html" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">11 Puget Sound shoreline projects</span></u></a></li>
<li>a <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/oct1014c/" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">late, quietly advertised hearing by Washington Fish and Wildlife</span></u></a></li>
<li>managed by the <a href="http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/ProgramsandProjects/Projects/PugetSoundNearshoreEcosystemRestoration.aspx" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">Army Corp of Engineers</span></u></a></li>
<li>funded through <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrYThUeTV5X09Fcnc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">unknown LIO’s </a> (and NGO’s
??),</li>
<li>caring little for raised upriver water tables through <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrYmpDRlI1M29uRms/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">unstudied flood drainage,</span></u></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrYmpDRlI1M29uRms/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> </a></span></li>
<li>a
crescent of <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrS2lmLXoyRzVGNjg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">flooded farmland showcased around the Lummi casino.</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hope did not lie in aborting children to secure a fading quality
of life lived in cloned, high urban density neighborhoods filled with faux,
ever morphing relationships that bruise community and innocence.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Hope for those millions lay down a bloody road, a 20th
century cross, finding the blue skies of freedom through sacrificial death and
tear laden life. Orphans and widows found meaning and renewal. Our parents and
grandparents, they struggled to give us a future. Their prosperity after war,
however, fueled a generation of bitter rebels. The most hardened and focused of
those offspring now rule, thumbing their nose at both wisdom and folly. Tyranny
is no longer a foreign reality.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This is the countdown week to the 2014 American election.
Life trajectories pass quickly. Loyalties, graven in the heart in childhood,
fuel lifelong conflicts over worldviews. In the end, the old people sit,
panting on rocking chairs, still arguing over ideas.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Where is wisdom in this? Why vote? Why struggle to define
and build community?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you are a
fool, you alone will suffer. Prosperity is relative. Happiness is both a crust
of bread in famine, and chicken cordon bleu in prosperity. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Discontent also knows no class boundaries. Enough is
never enough. Percieved success and failure, a cup half empty or half full, can
co-exist in the same house.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, why vote? Why care? True, unshakeable, quiet
contentment comes in deliberately choosing to share, to bear a communal cross, to
feed one’s neighbor before the mocking foe. Contentment lies in the hope of
life after death, in the promise of the just Creator that the dialectic will then
be over. And, hope lies in his quiet hand of provision during days of turmoil.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Until then, there will be many hues. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Stars of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">mercy</span></b> guiding the mariner on the night seas…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Clouds of dew and shade <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">nurturing</span></b> the tender plant before
the full heat of the sun…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Mountains, unbending <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">standard bearers</span></b>, dividing fertile plains of loam,
sand, and clay…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Seas, whose age old tidal boundaries, swarming coral
reefs, green feeding billows, and black silent depths beckon and guard <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">stories</span></b>
of gain and loss…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2036:5-6&version=KJV" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: blue;">So? </span></u></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Just go vote!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/factsheets/Nooksack_TSP.pdf" target="_blank">$260 million price tag to remove levees, raise bridges</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/selected_plans.html" target="_blank">one of 11 Puget Sound shoreline projects</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/oct1014c/" target="_blank">a late, quietly advertised hearing by Washington Fish and Wildlife</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/ProgramsandProjects/Projects/PugetSoundNearshoreEcosystemRestoration.aspx" target="_blank">managed by the Army Corp of Engineers</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrYThUeTV5X09Fcnc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">funded through unknown LIO’s (and NGO’s ??)</a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrYmpDRlI1M29uRms/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">caring little for raised upriver water tables through unstudiedflood drainage</a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrS2lmLXoyRzVGNjg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">a crescent of flooded farmland showcased around the Lummi casino.</a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/technical_papers/cdr/Design_Rpt_final.pdf" target="_blank">Full Report - <span class="table_text"></span></a><a href="http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/technical_papers/cdr/Design_Rpt_final.pdf">Strategic Restoration Conceptual Engineering — Final Design Report</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/Portals/27/docs/environmental/resources/2014%20Environmental%20Documents/PugetSoundNearshore-EcosystemRestoration_Draft-FeasibilityReport-EIS.pdf" target="_blank">Full Report -PugetSoundNearshore-EcosystemRestoration_Draft-FeasibilityReport-EIS</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2036:5-6&version=KJV" target="_blank"><span class="MsoHyperlink">Psalm 36:5,6</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-42390532780992671752014-09-30T08:45:00.001-07:002014-09-30T08:54:45.059-07:00Seth Fleetwood Body Language and Voter’s Most Pressing Issues<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0px;">This cartoon came to mind after watching a half hour of the Fleetwood – Ericksen debate sponsored by the Bellingham City Club. For all the audience cheers he had, Seth Fleetwood still had a hard time speaking eye to eye to the crowd. Maybe this is a lawyer’s way of keeping concentration on the stand. Or maybe it is body language that foretells more than the words being said.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKBVvcZo0Rgt7FWr1RFdIFgmH64Pp4JBjNKDsIB4212Ip5LWL5AifWXW4Kh5U9yS3PZkJ6srlLADqaHOsMee0ps0aPYPTInYriC9ddc7cbI9JawZBeGqGUwGblgdUrigfByibJA1Cgs0/s1600/Scan0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKBVvcZo0Rgt7FWr1RFdIFgmH64Pp4JBjNKDsIB4212Ip5LWL5AifWXW4Kh5U9yS3PZkJ6srlLADqaHOsMee0ps0aPYPTInYriC9ddc7cbI9JawZBeGqGUwGblgdUrigfByibJA1Cgs0/s1600/Scan0001.jpg" height="282" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on cartoon to enlarge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These last two weeks, our home has been INUNDATED with professional survey takers, an average of one survey per day. What are these people fishing for? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The </span><span style="color: #0133cc; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Blueprint-Democrats-Republicans-Everywhere/dp/1936218003" target="_blank">Colorado Blueprint</a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> method in September works this way:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1) Survey every voter (needs lots of money) to have bulletproof intel for messaging.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2) Identify their most pressing issues / frustrations.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3) Re-cast the progressive candidate as the best person to solve these issues, even when there is no way that progressive candidate will buck the party whip to fulfil his campaign promises in the legislature.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">4) Parade the recast, dolled up candidate. Promise the moon on those most pressing issues.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">5) Overpower voter hesitations and the opponent’s rebuttals with gush of well crafted news reports, commercials and mailers. Dramatize the progressive candidate’s bona fides (needs lots of money).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This morning I saw a Fleetwood commercial. What do swing voters in North Bellingham?? care about?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">1) The coal trains. (Be sure to link to Ericksen’s lobbyist lunch schedule)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">2) Low wages for women. (Single moms? Entry level female workers? Can we get them out to vote?)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">3) Partisan gridlock. (Cast Fleetwood as a peacemaker. Pre-emptively bury the 2009 “yellow sign down zoning” war he helped bring on while on Whatcom County Council. Lisa McShane knows all about that.)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is all in the Comcast ad running today, Monday, September 29. And, of course, Seth Fleetwood has the answers, and will work for “you”. Colorado Blueprint smokescreen. High priced, targeted messaging. It worked in Colorado. Will it work on low information voters in North Bellingham? Good chance.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It worked last year in Whatcom County. Vote NO COAL TRAINS. Only thing, those million dollar promises were unattainable. Train traffic grows on, only with OIL TRAINS. And, now, Vancouver Canada has approved a coal terminal. So much for the Steyer funded promises delivered per last year’s Colorado Blueprint.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sooner or later, even Tom Steyer’s millions won’t buy credibility to drive votes using the Colorado Blueprint. But, until then, we must endure giddy, well paid millennials wooing us with the latest Colorado Blueprint survey.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Also from the Colorado Blueprint—501c4’s—lots of them. Just because Tom Steyer says his money will go to target other key senate races farther south, does that mean the Fleetwood race has been back burnered by the progressive gurus? Don’t count on it. Keep watching. The money moves here and there and everywhere, through the “collazione” of progressive 501c4’s. It is pure genius. What a Colorado Blueprint meal! It is not over til the “fat lady sings”. Or til the </span><span style="color: #0133cc; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unintimidated-Governors-Story-Nations-Challenge/dp/1595231110/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" target="_blank">Scott Walkers</a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> of the world outflank the Colorado Blueprint. Think about that!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">---------------</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Blueprint-Democrats-Republicans-Everywhere/dp/1936218003" target="_blank">The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado</a></span></div>
<div style="color: #0433ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 11px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unintimidated-Governors-Story-Nations-Challenge/dp/1595231110/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" target="_blank">Unintimidated: …Scott Walker</a></span></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-23796109440767538242014-09-15T16:43:00.000-07:002014-09-15T17:28:20.576-07:00Muddy WatersTuesday evening at Whatcom County Council, a hearing on
the formation of four new Watershed Improvement Districts will take place. A
formality, this hearing precedes an upcoming vote by farmer—owners of open
spaces qualified properties on whether to initiate WIDs over themselves, and
join Bellingham, Whatcom County, the tribes, and the PUD as a tax assessing
authority at the table of water negotiations.
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the local world of water rights, quality and quantity,
this is a big development. Water is a big deal, and the prospect of farmers
successfully organizing into a cohesive group is—well, shocking, kind of like a
large brontosauros, waking up and looking long at your stilt house. Maybe the
farmers will change the water game. Maybe not.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Having made a serious effort to understand the water
issues, and participating as a small Whatcom County hobby farmer, I see several
factors.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Funding is a central issue in determining water rules.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Money pays salaries and determines balances of power. City
water managers, contract water managers, expert hydro-geological engineers, soil
conservation regulators, tribal water system managers and lawyers, state and
federal water oversight and grant agencies, NGO socio-environmentalist lobbies
generally can count on funding with generous amounts of not water, but money. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There are some things funding can’t buy, such as children
who work the soil for love of farming, foregoing the relative ease of urban
living. Many big farmers in Whatcom County advise their children to not take on
the increasingly onerous burden of perpetuating the family farm. Out of state
and country corporations and individuals continue to buy up prime Whatcom
County farmland. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Toughing it out, the average Whatcom County Farmer does
not have the luxury of a staff of water experts to secure ditch cleaning
permits, negotiate water rights, argue with Fish and Wildlife Agency activists,
and lobby other recalcitrant government agencies, often staffed by planners who
seem more concerned about their career peer legacies than walking a mile in the
farmers’ shoes. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Then, there are native tribal customs. If you have
opportunity to work in planning sessions with them, tribal leaders can be approachable.
However, there is a huge ring of appointed bureaucrats, activist judges,
government and non-government agency activists who hedge in the tribes, making
finding local solutions a big headache.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If the farmers are not at the table, they will be on the
menu. But do Whatcom farmers want to organize and represent themselves at the
table of water negotiations?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After attending a significant number of farmer meetings,
my observation is that farmers are highly independent, expect their virtues
will protect them from activists, and thus are really not interested in
collective funding or organizing, unless it is within their own crop sector.
Farmers have traditionally kept their heads down and tried to fly under the
radar. Most farmers choose partnerships with marketing boards, co-ops and
corporations who will buy their product in one annual agreement, freeing them
to roam their fields and have coffee with their friends. The people who grow
our food generally avoid us.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Muddying this further are well meaning conservative small
acreage holders. Not farmers themselves, they push back at the aggression of
socio-environmental activists in NGO lobbies and local county agencies. Having
the same adversaries, however, does not guarantee them understanding of, or
standing with their big farmer neighbors. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some of the Whatcom small acreage people have revived the
state mandated WRIA 1 Water Planning Unit that was sidelined by the “Joint
Water Board” about five years ago. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The Lummi and Nooksack Tribes formally abandoned the
Planning Unit almost from the beginning. Contentious and dragged out legal and
water engineering studies destroyed momentum and farmer interest in the
Planning Unit, giving a cadre of well placed civic water officials the freedom
to move water policy along socio-environmental activist lines. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Unofficially, the tribes and the civic officials have
made a host of decisions behind closed doors. However, as conservative acreage
holders began observing the public meetings of related county and city
agencies, these plans were uncovered and challenged, and a movement to
resurrect the oversight of the Planning Unit took place. Farmers looked at this
with skepticism and open hostility.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Key civic officials scoffed at and sought to sabotage the
Planning Unit revival. And, the Planning Unit advocates have duly noted the
disinterest of the farmers in water rights issues for small acreage holders. On
the other hand, big farm advocacy groups have supported the County appeal
against the recent Futurewise lawsuit over “exempt” residential wells.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, to sum up—on one side is a host of well funded (by
the taxpayer, in various ways) non food growing “guardians” of water and land,
and on the other side is a ragtag, conflicted band of farmers and small acreage
conservatives.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Enter Watershed Improvement Districts. Central in water
conflict resolution elsewhere in Washington State, Watershed Improvement
Districts in Whatcom County have the legal potential to absorb irrigation and
diking/drainage districts. Assessing a tax, WIDs will have more or less money
to secure grants, and coordinate and carry out projects with other peer
agencies with legal standing, whether county, state, or federal, whether
volunteer or salaried.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Farmers have duly noted the sluggish agency staffers who
soak up irrigation and diking/draining funds, and county administrators who
transfer these funds to other contentious projects outside the initial scope of
the tax assessments. Hence, there is a plan to create a joint WID board,
representing the two existing and four proposed WIDs, and not with county staffing
or administrative service.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What does it mean to improve a watershed? WIDs have a
broader scope of endeavor than irrigation or diking districts. Assuming
watershed responsibilities can be a headache, but has been looked on with
significant favor by state legislators, who have provided very large financial
grants to WID projects in other counties. The key is working out a watershed
improvement plan acceptable to WID members and other entities such as tribes
and cities.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This early October ballot will allow farmland holders in
Whatcom County, whose land is in the “Open Spaces” reduced tax program to
decide to organize as WIDs. In other words, the WIDs are being organized in a
way that gives farmers control of their agenda. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A temporary committee of farmers, framers of the
watershed “boundaries” have modified the initial boundary lines to increase the
chances of the 2/3 approval needed to establish the WIDs. And, votes are based
on acreage, specifically, 2 votes for every 5 acres enrolled in the boundaries.
This “gerrymandering” has been contentious, not only with “yes vote” farmers
who have been excluded, but also with “no vote” farmers who have been excluded.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
My informal observation is that the volunteer boundary
committee is pressed to the limit by lack of organizing staff and bare bones
funding, just as the Planning Unit revivalists are struggle as County officials
fund meeting facilitators handsomely, but provide relatively little staff or
funds for Planning Unit members to carry out real life, non-meeting projects.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In other words, “gerrymandering” accusations seem to be
largely fears that the WIDs will be a foe of legitimate Planning Unit
processes, becoming a power center that overshadows the Planning Unit and
further marginalizes rural non farm conservatives on the Planning Unit. Farmers
and Planning Unit conservatives need patience and a servant’s mindset here.
There is no perfect, eternally static balance of power or system of checks and
balances. It is the open hand that undergirds community life. And, the consensus
decision making process of the Planning Unit is onerous and notoriously slow.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What sets apart pretending and legitimate water curators
here? 1) Children. 2) Growing food.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Thirty or fifty years from now, whose children will
manage the water and land resources? Progressive partners have few children.
Farmers’ children don’t stay on the farm. Many tribal children move off the
reservation and out of the boats. Grey headed activists, environmental and
conservative, rarely have their children and grandchildren engaged locally with
them.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Perhaps, the greatest contribution towards good water
policy will be farm sensitive youth living on food producing parcels, who can,
in community and good faith, without endless overlays of urban officials,
negotiate water use rules that provide balanced stewardship of natural
resources. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who provides food from the land and the water? It is the
tribes and the farmers. Working the soil and the seas are the hard scrabble
trusts that validate water policy expertise. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Maybe the WIDs and tribes can work together to sweep away
the Seattle based, UN/federal agency funded NGO encrustments in Whatcom County,
to model service based, not adversarial driven agreements. Again, the open hand
gets things done. The closed hand destroys.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Maybe the big, local Whatcom farmers will pursue a model
that allows global sales, yet also enables local urban and suburbanites and their
children to again produce value added foods, to balance and preserve farming
with businesses and cash flows, farms not so dependent on bank financing and
government subsidies.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Maybe.</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-40681741579394162662014-09-15T16:01:00.002-07:002014-09-15T16:04:39.562-07:00Collaring Public Employee Negotiators/PAC Managers OR Collaring Citizens in BlaineLast week, two petitions were submitted to the City of
Blaine, which, if there are no insurmountable regularities, will either be
approved by Blaine City Council as written, or will be approved or rejected in
a February 2015 ballot initiative put to the citizens of Blaine.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDzb9guC4VPpI0FWBzZkrSF0wQpwpdMjMV_uvM_jXCjOX_lfYQvSSB5D-kweLRrM9vP5FqH6nRmgRtcpsynacIWOx58YkM3agC6g3absSri_qFhtMLfIVgthSVB-hsA8qNn6f0ng5F70/s1600/IMG_2446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDzb9guC4VPpI0FWBzZkrSF0wQpwpdMjMV_uvM_jXCjOX_lfYQvSSB5D-kweLRrM9vP5FqH6nRmgRtcpsynacIWOx58YkM3agC6g3absSri_qFhtMLfIVgthSVB-hsA8qNn6f0ng5F70/s1600/IMG_2446.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This is interesting. Novel. Amusing. Even threatening.
City and County officials have been tasked with processing two petitions that
cut to the core of their group identity and vocational remuneration.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The Bellingham Herald gave a news report Saturday on
these petitions. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Blaine voters may
consider measure to weaken city employees’ unions.”</i> It was a basic article,
basic news reporting. Or was it?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I see a number of questions that were not answered.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1) What union or unions serve Blaine city employees?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2) Are all Blaine city employees unionized?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3) Are collective bargaining agreements in Blaine
negotiated behind closed doors, with terms buried to all but the most
persistent researchers? Or are these agreements an open public process?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4) How do Blaine City union agreements compare to those,
say of Lynden, or Ferndale, or Bellingham?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
5) What percent of Blaine city employees approve their
union’s political contributions?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
6) How many citizens live in Blaine?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
7) What percent of that number is 500 petitioners? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
8) Do residents of Blaine (and Whatcom County) disapprove
of levels of public sector service under unionization?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
9) How hard was it, how many hours did it take to
accumulate these signatures?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
10) Has the public perception of unions changed from
champions of the underdog to body guards of privilege and nepotistic
politicking?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
11) Should unions for public employees have more
limitations than other unions?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
12) Do all public sector unions nobly avoid collusion
with elected legislators who ratify their contracts? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
13) Who is Freedom Foundation?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
14) Why would they have boilerplate initiative language
for these petitions on their website?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
15) What marks Freedom Foundation’s relationships with
unions in Washington State?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
16) What marks Freedom Foundation’s relationships with
conservative activists in Whatcom County?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
These questions were not addressed by the Bellingham
Herald Reporter. In depth, balanced reporting takes time, which is money,
something the Herald seems to be in short supply of these days.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I would make some additional observations. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1) The two largest employers in Whatcom County are
Western Washington University and the Public School Boards. Public sector union
engagement is a central issue in Whatcom County. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2) A ballot result in Blaine is also a referendum on the public
sector unions serving these larger entities. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3) I know a number of public sector unionized employees who
are happy to take their pay, yet highly critical of levels of service,
political priorities and management collaring brought about by their union’s
contract agreements. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4) This is not a little issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who should be collared? Unions? or Public sector
employees? or Citizens? We may see what Blaine voters think.</div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-51957401371523468682014-06-17T20:10:00.000-07:002014-06-18T07:14:17.890-07:00Executive Fiat<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Once upon a time there was a land where attendance at the
state approved church meant the difference between liberty or death. Many
people died when kings and queens changed which church was approved. It became
obvious that the decreed church had less to do with God, and more to do with
the king’s grip on power.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Thousands of loyal subjects joined together to build a
far flung colony of that land. They made covenants and implemented local town
hall rule. They wanted a church unshackled from royal fiat, and hoped the king
and his clerics were watching and learning.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Each landed citizen had a voice and used it. A later king
did not like the distant ministers whose unfettered sermons thundered against
unjust government policies. He made plans to send an army and trash the distant
churches. That king died suddenly, and the ministers and townhalls and churches
lived on.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A century later, another king moved to crush the town
hall people. A war was fought, and the king lost his distant colonies. “We the
people” and citizen based rule was allowed to enlarge itself over the next two
centuries into the America that we know today.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Today, “we the people” honor citizen based rule, and bump
along with the forms and instruments of government handed down from our New
England forbearers, yet something is wrong.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Kings are quietly beginning to rule over us. And being at
great ease, “we the town hall people” let them. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At local, state and federal levels, the voting game plays
its loud tunes, but the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2014/04/two-blueprints.html" target="_blank">quiet power more and more lies in unelected coalitions</a> of bureaucrats and non profits and
multi national corporations, not with the town hall people.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last week, an enterprising group, Shiftwa.org published
highlights of e-mails obtained from the first year of Washington State Governer
Jay Inslee’s term in office. In essence, Governor Inslee’s office <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shiftwa.org/5-things-we-learned-from-jay-mannings-grant-proposals/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">right from the start</a>, hired outside
consultants to solicit <a href="http://shiftwa.org/inslees-enviro-outsourcing-asking-special-interest-groups-to-pay-for-his-political-activities/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">non profits and corporate leaders to fund</a> up an environmentally driven governor’s agenda that
would not <a href="http://shiftwa.org/helped-keep-inslee-from-getting-mired-in-governing/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">be mired in restraints of the legislature. </a>This is executive fiat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A month or so ago, April 29, Governor Inslee signed <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.governor.wa.gov/office/execorders/documents/14-04.pdf" target="_blank">executive order 14-04</a>, creating a Carbon Emissions
Reduction Task Force. Read the whereas line items. Do sweeping, minimally
supported conclusions and initial West Coast regional discussions (not even non-binding
alliances) <a href="http://researchcouncil.org/2014/05/01/gov-inslee-names-carbon-emissions-reduction-task-force/" target="_blank">justify unilateral executive orders?</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you know the governor’s powers vested in unelected
appointments to the Growth Management Hearings Board? What about the Governor’s
Office controlled <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://archive.myfreedomfoundation.com/docLib/20140114_PSPreport2013Final003.pdf" target="_blank">(and ailing) Puget Sound Partnership </a>that dishes out EPA funds for environmental
“improvements”?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At the Whatcom County level is the unauthorized spending
of the WRIA1 Joint Administrative Board. Stopping short of direct legal suit, a
coalition of water districts have written <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrVVVZWnpqZWRiVU0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">an open letter to the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office </a>and Executive
Jack Louws, detailing violations of the Whatcom County Charter in the budgets
and spending of the Joint Administrative Board. They are challenging executive
fiat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who will prevail? Who really rules, the executive or the
cadre of non profit advisors and facilitators, the business consultants and
specialists who hover in clouds in city and county health, planning and parks offices,
and further their interests through our youth and educational halls, and honor
themselves through a complicit media.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Counter-Group-Manipulation-Tactics-Consensus-Building/dp/145051913X" target="_blank">Schooled and skilled ingroup manipulation tactics,</a> progressives keep the town hall people
three steps behind in the game of public policy and media/education virtual
reality. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Don’t you want to be liked? Didn’t you fill out the
“share your thoughts” survey? Wouldn’t you like to attend a neighborhood discussion
on bike lanes and downzoning of arterial roads? Your thoughts collected by
skilled progressive group manipulators are usually excluded from their
predetermined reports, and worse, you stop watching and resisting with a false
sense of being heard and represented. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Conservatives, newly elected to public office, struggling
to learn the ropes of public policy, networking with the panoply of local,
state and federal bureaucrats, NGOs and business alliances, and wanting to
establish a reputation for balanced, productive, teamwork in governing, are
easy prey for environmental handlers. “Getting along” is not always a good
thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The media pats you on the back, and your legacy
unwittingly becomes one of furthering the progressive, environmentally
justified takings of private properties and personal freedoms. And the town
hall people who elected you slumber on.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Executive fiat. The new reality. Or is it all that new?
What is the lesson of American history?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When people of Christian faith walked the talk, there was
salt and light, amid conflict. That was the story of <a href="http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=105213" target="_blank">the “Black Robed Regiment”of 1776</a>. That was the motivation for British generals to stable their horses in
New England church auditoriums, or use them as beer halls. Today, there is
precious little Christian salt and interest in town hall or citizen driven
legislation. Kings and executive branches take up the slack, and a saltless Christian
church, drowning in comforts and Madison Avenue marketing, is poised to be
ground into the pavement. There may be a temporary euphoria of freedom while
the culture is in free fall, but when the ground is found, the “kings” grind
fine and hard.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Maybe the future hot political career will be court
advisor. Maybe not. Maybe it will be salt maker.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Are you voting conservative in the primary? Vet your state
representative candidate over loyalties to executive agencies like Puget Sound
Partnership or the Growth Management Hearings Board. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At the county level, did your rep candidate turn a blind
eye to the WRIA 1 Joint Administrative Board’s (Bellingham Mayor, County
Executive, PUD manager, Nooksack and Lummi tribal representative) <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrVVVZWnpqZWRiVU0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">out of compliance, unfettered spending and policy making</a>?
You may be surprised.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
--------------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2014/04/two-blueprints.html" target="_blank">Colorado progressive money vs Scott Walker character</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shiftwa.org/5-things-we-learned-from-jay-mannings-grant-proposals/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">Longterm gas tax/carbon credit planning by Jay Inslee</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shiftwa.org/inslees-enviro-outsourcing-asking-special-interest-groups-to-pay-for-his-political-activities/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">Inslee seeks NGO evironmentalist funding</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shiftwa.org/helped-keep-inslee-from-getting-mired-in-governing/?utm_source=wir&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060914" target="_blank">Governors should avoid the environmental mire.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.governor.wa.gov/office/execorders/documents/14-04.pdf" target="_blank">Governor’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Taskforce</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://researchcouncil.org/2014/05/01/gov-inslee-names-carbon-emissions-reduction-task-force/" target="_blank">Reactions to the Inslee CERT</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://archive.myfreedomfoundation.com/docLib/20140114_PSPreport2013Final003.pdf" target="_blank">Puget Sound Partnership history and failures</a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-wfmH4xMsrVVVZWnpqZWRiVU0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Water District Coalition serves formal attorney’s noticeto the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office of Joint Administrative Board policyand funding violations under the Whatcom County Charter.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Counter-Group-Manipulation-Tactics-Consensus-Building/dp/145051913X" target="_blank">Countering Group Manipulation Tactics by B.K Eakman</a></span></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-28344569260608057402014-06-05T13:32:00.003-07:002014-06-06T22:34:22.747-07:00Parades, Ballots, Scorecards <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->Have you looked at Whatcom County Ballot for <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/elections/Candidates/WhoFiled?countyCode=wm" target="_blank">all open positions,</a> and for<a href="https://wei.sos.wa.gov/county/whatcom/en/Documents/Candidate%20Ballot%20Order%202014.pdf" target="_blank"> primary elections </a>this year?
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
How well informed are your civic taste buds?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A couple of days ago, my wife suggested we invite some
other families to walk candidate floats in parades this summer. It is a fun way
for younger children to begin to learn about civic processes, and you see that
political candidates are real people, with very diverse personas. BUT…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This year, who should we help? For example, State Rep
Position 1 has four candidates, two of whom we would be inclined to help.
Walking in parades means choosing now. Am I ready to choose? Have these
candidates fully framed their legislative priorities and values? Do they intend
to do so? Or must I choose by sentimental feelings? A candidate first serves
voters by defining his or her self to those voters.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last year, my daughter Krista and I covered 2013 Whatcom
County <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-other-election.html" target="_blank">school board elections.</a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large slate of uncontested candidates stayed
home and silent. Competition may spend dollars, but the value far outweighs the
cost. Competitive elections enable informed votes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Voters grapple with three levels of citizen
responsibility in civic government. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At a foundational level is virtue. We teach our children
to listen well, honor jurisdiction, be grateful, be truthful, be orderly, and
work hard. The list of character goes on. Families, faiths, schools operate on a
cycle of childhood, about fifteen to twenty years.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At a practical level is public policy. Happy people know
issues, jurisdictions, and rules, and work within them. Unhappy peoples ignore
or twist them. Public policy issues generally are a project of 2-5 years.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At the painful level are elections. “Go to” people rise
to the top, and whether by formal ballot or habituated service, are there in
times of need. The wheels of humility and pride grind hard, however, and elected
service has large costs in addition to large benefits. Election seasons are
measured in weeks and months, short and intense.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Easy to ignore, elections are still the hinges of the
future, a time to mix epoxies that shape very long trajectories. Elections are
like weddings—a lot of pomp and fuss, a big party, and a potential big hangover.
Yet, that wedding intiates a fruitful or disastrous family life. So are
elections. The hassles of elections underwrite both big rewards and losses.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This Saturday in Lynden, the 2014 season of local small
town American fairs and parades begins. Who should I vote for? What do these
candidates stand for?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Should I vote for a candidate because I knew them from
childhood?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Should I vote for them because they have raised a good
family?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Should I vote for them because they manage money well?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Should I vote for them because they successfully help
needy people?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Should I vote for them because we need racial diversity
in government office?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Frankly, what is the job description?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you buy a dump truck to go to the corner store? Do you
buy a sports car to drive the baseball team to out of town games? Do you buy a
corn chopper to take your RV to the lake?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The volume of local, state and federal business that
elected officials deal with overwhelms the best voter. After the election, the
newly minted public voices begin yelling into the meat grinder of the
bureaucracy. Elected representatives come and go, but bureaucratic apparatchiks
stay long, very long. Elected reps must be very perceptive, focused and quick -- tough and able cookies.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Candidates, please do me a favor. Can you write your own
score card? I don’t mean photo opp flyers. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Can you write an honest scorecard that compares your
priorities to your competition? Sometimes good score cards are very unsettling.
But that can also be very good in the long run. And, how you frame issues on
your score card shows us your underlying assumptions.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1) Prove to me you know what the policy categories of
your civic arena are.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2) Prove to me you know how to coordinate research,
amendment, and writing of law.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3) Prove to me you can improve bureaucracies, especially
vis the public sector unions.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4) Prove to me you have staying power, can ride the
bronco of day to day rules making.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
5) Prove to me you can delegate, can build your team, can
affect good policy in caucus.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
6) Prove to me you can swim with media sharks, not serve
them, not quarrel with them.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
7) Prove to me you are a quick study.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
8) Prove to me you are not for sale to the highest
bidder, especially to global corporate or non profit trusts.<br />
9) Prove to me you will not allow outside grant/tax dollars to overwhelm local governance.<br />
10) Prove to me you will reduce the power of shadow government in unelected regional councils and boards</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I could go on. Is it possible to be an informed voter? Is
it possible to be an informed candidate?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One last thing. What might you gain by working for
candidates, by letting the barbecue stay cold for a few more nights than normal
this summer, by helping an election campaign? Why care? Why walk? Why doorbell?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Elections close the loop. What value has virtue if it is
not applied to policy? What value has policy if it does not connect with
people? Elections remind us that we must steer our own boats if we don’t want
to be swamped by the side winds.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You may not know it all, but you can scrape the rust off,
re-oil, and re-engage. Turn off the TV and turn out to some meetings. Ask some
hard questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is better
entertainment, and better living.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
----------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/elections/Candidates/WhoFiled?countyCode=wm" target="_blank">Whatcom County Candidates – all</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="https://wei.sos.wa.gov/county/whatcom/en/Documents/Candidate%20Ballot%20Order%202014.pdf" target="_blank">Whatcom County Primary Election Ballot, 2014</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-other-election.html" target="_blank">What happens when candidates run unopposed</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-65659029398012915072014-06-04T13:52:00.001-07:002014-06-04T21:58:03.546-07:00Correction. More Honor. Environmental Lawsuit Settlement Tactics.Last Thursday, I went to a forum on water, hosted by Doug
Erickson and Vincent Buys. It was an upbeat rollout of a solution for some of
the water woes of Whatcom County. <br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Simply said, constraints on water use from the Nooksack
River Basin, driven by environmentally clad activism, legislation, and
bureaucratic oversight, have risen to the level that local cities, tribes,
industry and farms are being turned into bitter rivals. And, there seems to be
no end in sight.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The rotating door of local and state environmentalist
activist groups keeps putting fresh, enthusiastic, activists into the fray,
attaching to, penetrating and wearing down local business and government
leaders. Grant driven, environmentally clad, social reform pays well in Whatcom
County.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The forum last Thursday had a sense of fresh air. A very
high volume water flow, not hydrologically connected to the Nooksack Basin has
been appropriated by the Birch Bay/Blaine water authorities. Excess water from
these deep wells, added to the reclamation water from Blaine’s state of the art
septic treatment system is being proposed as a solution to supplement the
twelve or so “distressed” rural water systems located around and north of Lynden.
For now, this water is beyond the reach of the environmentalists.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Time will tell how this plays.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last Sunday, a friend sent me a link to a Growth
Management Hearings Board Case 13-2-0022, <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/LoadDocument.aspx?did=3539" target="_blank"> a very recent settlement extension</a>. My friend said this settlement extension was for a
citizen lawsuit against Whatcom County over water management, filed with the
Growth Management Hearings Board. They said it showed settlement negotiations
were ongoing between Whatcom County officials and the appellants, contrary to,
and undermining Whatcom County Council’s decision to continue funding the
appeal of the GMHB ruling on Whatcom County non-compliance in ground water
management in Skagit and/or Thurston County Superior Court regarding this
lawsuit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After being challenged by another friend on a mix up of GMHB
case numbers, I found the first information incorrect, and have rewritten this
article to reflect these facts. The settlement extension is for Case 13-2-0022,
not for <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/LoadDocument.aspx?did=3466" target="_blank">Case 12-2-0013. </a>No excuses for
my error—please accept my apology and corrections.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The primary question I asked earlier still stands. Can
Whatcom County Council members resist the request by the Futurewise supported
appellants Jean Melious, David Stalheim, Laura Leigh Brakke and Eric Hirst to
negotiate a settlement rather than undergoing the more rigorous scrutiny and
final precedents of Superior Court? What if the GMHB was found out of
compliance in their non-compliance ruling?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Who on County Council would want to negotiate a settlement
with these folks? Carl Wiemer? Rud Browne? Ken Mann? Sam Crawford? Pete Kremen?
Barry Buchanan? Barbara Brenner? Did not the County Council vote to continue
funding for the appeal of this GMHB ruling to a higher court?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why would a settlement not be better than a ruling? Why
not kiss up and avoid the legal burdens?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“A typical way these policies get implemented is for
environmental interest groups to sue a government agency under either the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Endangered Species Act (ESA),
and for the agency then to settle the lawsuit in the interest group’s favor.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“Sometimes—as in a 2008 lawsuit filed against the U.S.
Forest Service by three environmental groups to prevent oil, gas, and mineral
extraction in Pennsylvania—the government not only settles the lawsuit but also
pays the interest groups for their complaints (in that case paying out nearly
$20,000)…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/file/archives/pdf/2014_04_Imprimis.pdf" target="_blank">Sagebrush Rebellion Redivivus” by William Perry Pendley, Hillsdale College Imprimus, April 2014</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Did not the Lummi Groundwater Management Lawsuit go to
settlement several years ago, with the tribes coming out much bigger winners
than they would have in a court ruling? Did not Washington State grant property
rights not in law to the Lummis by refusing to complete the court adjudication?
By going to settlement, did not Washington State leave private non-tribal land
owners subject to tribal approval if they want to buy or sell their parcels? Is
this not an effort to create a tribal reservation by fiat, contrary to fee title
law?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Settlement Tactics 101.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One. Raise environmental concerns through the media /
education / smart growth echo chamber. Fully research environmental laws and
tort options. Watch for an alignment of sympathetic bureaucrats, judges and
elected officials.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Two. Bring an egregious lawsuit that has little chance of
standing up in final courts. Request benchmark claims that make all ears ring
and eyes bug open.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Three. Wait for lawsuit fatigue to set in.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Four. Offer to drop the lawsuit if a settlement with some
teeny, weeny concessions can be made.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Five. Negotiate a settlement behind closed doors, in
extended executive sessions, getting as much as possible in the process. Make
those giving up things feel guilty for existing. Rely on your media echo
chamber to cover your back. It is of utmost important to destroy the morale of
your opponents. Resource use changes come after the social fabric is melted and
reformed with “social equity”.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Six. Retire into the shadows</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Seven. Do it again, in another place, at another time,
with another issue. Activist lawsuits and court rulings happen all the time,
only usually at a state or<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={B63CE6CC-D4C3-4C42-890B-E9D0CA04E7CB}" target="_blank"> federal level,</a>
far removed from our local sensibilities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In American Representative Republican Democracy,
elections have consequences. County Council may legally flaunt open public
meeting laws with back room executive sessions to deal with lawsuit driven
issues. What a gift between environmental comrades. And what is the test for
the rest of us? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Honor. Virtue. Should collusive lawsuit tactics draw dirt
in reply? In the face of evil, render what?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What was the major foundation of American Democracy until
post civil war anti trust legalese was needed, leading to Constitutional
Societies drumming up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the 1930’s?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Rule of honor. A mans word was his guarantee.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Rule of honor. Elected officials were accorded more
honor, and generally served with honor.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Rule of honor. Virtue, not religion, not money had the
highest respect.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Rule of honor. More honor. Elections have consequences.
Elections place officials on stage for service, for praise or shame. In the
end, what counts more? Water? Salmon? Shell fish? Crops? Manufactured goods? Drinking
water? Children?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Whose children? Who will the next generation honor?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here’s the rub. Children will honor the adults who deal
with honor. Can elected officials rule with honor? Yes. Is this an honorable
lawsuit? Doubtful. Was a pressurized settlement always the end game? Likely. ReSources
has proven, locally, that small lawsuits do get cash settlements rather than
run up larger legal fees. And, ReSources and Futurewise have the hot line to
County Council right now, in this big stakes lawsuit. Is this not so?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Honor? More honor? County Council, Whatcom County is
watching.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/LoadDocument.aspx?did=3539"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/LoadDocument.aspx?did=3539" target="_blank">The Washington GMHB enlarges to 150 days the settlement period for a citizen lawsuit against Whatcom County packing house rules.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.gmhb.wa.gov/LoadDocument.aspx?did=3466" target="_blank">The Futurewise et al lawsuit against Whatcom County over groundwater management policies.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/file/archives/pdf/2014_04_Imprimis.pdf" target="_blank">How environmental activists sue and settle for maximum gains</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={B63CE6CC-D4C3-4C42-890B-E9D0CA04E7CB}" target="_blank">Supreme Court ruling protects efforts to designate all childrenas wards of the state and strike down parental oversight rights.</a></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-41611791696953854902014-05-27T11:45:00.001-07:002014-05-28T23:04:49.098-07:00Airspace. Alternatives to Cap & TradeWe become what we think about.
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We choose what to think about.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The hinges of history are the minds and hearts, the
“airspace wars” around our children.<br />
Walmart turns Cap & Trade on its head. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
------------------------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Technology affects us. A few days ago, I was looking on
the Whatcom County Library website for a certain book title. You can never just
get the answer alone. Sidebars pop up with other suggested titles.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Librarians no longer are grumpy old ladies with tight
buns who tell you to be quiet or leave. Now, sophisticated databases of book
collections are fronted by artificially intelligent, data mining, choice
tracking, market driving software front ends. And, perhaps, there is a preppy
young intern in some smoke free back room cataloging and experimenting with
your reading choices.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“Aha! Here is a title you might like to consider. Never
mind that you don’t know me.” Who is that man with a white coat watching me
through that portal. I don’t know. Does it matter? Do you believe in ghosts?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Anyways, a suggested author and his book popped up on my
screen. Air space. Bingo. I saw, connected the “dots”, and checked the book
out. Not only one, but three, by the same author. The topic was multinational
corporate trending and abuses.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
i AM interested in comparing entrepreneurial, mom and pop,
small time business ventures with the big, bad boys of international finance,
resource extraction, third world manufacturing, global marketing and
environmentally swaddled social engineering.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The books sucked. Lots of snappy personal narrative. A
LOT of social dogma. The barest of bare citations. These were shill creations,
a modicum of truth wrapped with blatantly conflicted conclusions. I started to
do web searches, putting in the author’s name – liar – debunked.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I found quite a bit of reaction. Mostly journalists and
progressive activists who read the book, saw the holes, started to fact check,
found common ideological ground, and ended up “hesitatingly” recommending the
author and cutting his stories huge slack.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Airspace. Do you get the picture? Find the young person, and
spin yourself to him. Help him create his virtual world along side you on this unhappy
ball. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It didn’t matter that in addition to being a former
clandestine operative for multinational firms that this author became an expert,
published author on psychic mind travel and a poster child “convert” on
documentaries by extreme environmental activist groups. It didn’t matter that
he was raised in a puritanical Christian home, yet found a global, multinational
career with many juicy romps with a string of shady ladies, coming out very
cool, smart and “socially corrected”.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Airspace. There was a full index, and several very full appendices
of environmentally just, socially equitable non profits you might want to get
on board with. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This guy had a lot of
help. Do you get the picture yet? Published in 2009, the idea of<u> <span style="color: #0033cc;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u><a href="http://americanpolicy.org/deweesereport/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/092013.pdf" target="_blank">B-corps, triple bottom line activist businesses </a>had not yet risen to high visibility
it has today. Too bad. Maybe he needs to write another cool book.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You can go and try to find this author in our fine local
library if you like.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
My point is this. Socialist, environmentalist dialectical
advance craves airspace. You must be made to react. When you react, you pull in,
and parallel the moves, engaging with the ideas. You become more and more like
what you detest. What ingenuity. Keep the children in reaction to fringe
elements, and they become fringe element advocates, willingly or otherwise.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last week, Whatcom County was treated to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HTBrZpRCJE&list=UUbVnJc9WfgGHbyoNDl3_nMg" target="_blank">Freedom Foundation sponsored debate </a>on
proposed cap and trade initiatives of Governor Inslee. In spite of no concrete
legislation or proposals, there was a robust discussion. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Dr. Yoram Bouman, youthful pro cap and trade economics
professor from University of Washington came for a romp, gleefully throwing out
ideas to test audience reaction. Senator Doug Erickson, chair of the Senate
Energy Committee, met Bouman steel to steel, idea to idea, fact to fact.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Afterwards, I talked briefly with “Samir”, a policy
intern who came along with the pro cap and trade delegation. I asked him if the
think tank he was a part of compared <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">business
driven</i> energy use projects with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">grant
NGO driven</i> energy use projects. He was not sure what the difference was.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I asked him if he had heard of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqU-oBpCW2c" target="_blank">Walmart’s prototype big rig tractor trailer.</a> He had not.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I asked him if he had heard of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxK3XBwDd9k" target="_blank">turf war over A1 – A2 milk in New Zealand </a>a
decade ago, between a privately held corporation and the big New Zealand milk
coop. He had not.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Air space. What ideas do our youth breathe these days?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Right now Western is running a set of positional ads on
Whatcom Transit Authority buses, aimed at children and parents, seeking to
dominate the air space in parent/child heads. They are visibly competing with
Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College. After the recent
“acid rain” speeches filling the airspace with affirmative action, enrollment
quota, grant seeking agitprop, Western is candy coating themselves again with
pictures of nice children hanging out with nice Western students. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Parents need to look at the professors, the books, the
student leaders, not getting taken by happy, feely ad pictures. Parents need to
fill the airspace with other options than those fronted by publicity and
marketing firm. For example, build a worldview membrane of entrepreneurial
ideas and experiences in your child’s head that will allow them to partner with divine dynamics, even amid the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjo5f9eiX8" target="_blank">peevish totalitarian mindsets</a> of today's educational system. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
New Air space. FaceBook is a fragmented but real and
powerful medium today. It wastes time, aggregates details you would rather not
know, could be replaced by the next web medium tomorrow, and fills intelligence
files on you for the government. But, with a media and education that is co
opted by activists who claim your children for their brave new world, it is
gives some airspace to push back.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
My suggestion? Drive your own air space.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Yesterday, the boys and I made a chicken tractor. I asked
my eighteen year old daughter to take some pictures of our “farmwork” for
FaceBook. She was too busy organizing the pictures she took of the Memorial Day
event at the cemetery. Memorial day with "old soldiers? That was intergenerational airspace. Okay, she was too busy for the boys for now, but her larger airspace wheel was getting spun.<br />
<br />
And, the chickens will still be going to a socially engineered, “happy”, high density
urban growth community where they will feed the elite few, with gobs of
greenspace to cycle over for the next few months.<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhex5IF-5LWGnTaFss7yRIMZnD2mm8e7FEsclyACocAD9X_T_QxnaAOJ_CGuG0FVwO0YZ3GmmZQb-CYECbegEUVPZ-Q3fo0FTDYK3YfHxfQLtCgAh4WUBsXTz4yPgsP2Bu6jidmN03QlxA/s1600/IMG_5604.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<br />
So, the thirteen year old brother took her camera and piddled around with
it. The dog licked the UV filter while he was
taking a ground level shot. It was a long day. But, we had Airspace.<br />
<br />
Don’t forsake the next generation, your
children and grand children, brothers or sisters, to the media or the union and
common core business (Microsoft) mandated educational models. Revisit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your own heart to the Wisdom Book you may
have been raised on, and <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.fbma.net/" target="_blank">build its golden words </a></span>into
yourself and your children. Character 101. Economics 101. Food 101. Honesty 101. Sacrifice 101.
It is in the Book.<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Airspace. You do have a choice.</div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HTBrZpRCJE&list=UUbVnJc9WfgGHbyoNDl3_nMg" target="_blank">Debate from Freedom Foundation</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqU-oBpCW2c" target="_blank">Walmart's new truck</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NER9X4_gtYk" target="_blank">Walmart truck details</a></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-41843787642339958912014-05-21T08:55:00.002-07:002014-05-21T08:56:45.028-07:00Clean Weblockers and Social Equity. A really big deal!Yesterday, I took in a Port of Bellingham meeting. The
room was packed, as the Port Staff were presenting a final recommended Moorage
Rate and Policy Plan for the next four years. The plan was passed by a
unanimous commissioner vote, 3-0.
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There were plenty of kudos to go around. The Marine
Advisory Committee had worked hard. A subcommittee on key details had really
done a great job finding compromises all could agree on. Staff had facilitated
the whole process admirably. Warm fuzzies and smiles were flying back and
forth.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Then the matter of web lockers came up. Just what is a
web locker? Well—apparently for a significant number of Bellingham fishermen,
web lockers are a place for fishermen to store significant quantities of
critical fishing gear—like pool tables, artificial palm trees, old sofas, dead
runabouts, unused hot tubs—at rates less than half of normal commercial storage
unit spaces, subsided mostly by recreational moorage users, and to a lesser
degree, by the tax payer.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Big deal? Fishermen are needy souls, aren’t they?
Suffering along with the tribes due to reduced salmon runs? (I’d like to hear
more about the record runs of Chinook this last year, and the absence of Korean
salmon boats just outside the 200 mile offshore territorial<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>zone).</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Commissioner Robbins drew significant ire at his proposal
to raise weblocker rates from 0.15 cents per ft square to 0.30 cents. His case
in point? In the last couple of months, a Bellingham fisherman docked his boat
in another port because local web lockers were all taken. Full. Not available.
He needed one, and since Bellingham was “full”, he went elsewhere.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up to $60,000.00
in repair and maintenance revenue went elsewhere, as this fisherman drove
several hours each day from his Bellingham home to the distant port.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Big deal? Bad Dan Robbins? Why not overlook these “small”
matters? Why rock the boat? (Pun intended).</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I would like to commend Commissioner Robbins for the guts
to speak up and take some heat for bringing up unenforced weblocker rules, and
for proposing a change that might help ease enforcement.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is the little “holes” in the hull that ruin the cargo.
It is the little barnacles that waste fuel and time. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Would I want for a coach on my athletic team who ignores
breaches in teamwork and personal discipline, or the one who runs a “tight”
ship?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I hear a lot about “affluenza”. The market place is bad.
We need to unstring the bow and let the younger generation “take it easy”.
Common core curriculum is good because the children learn to value people over
mathematical accuracy. It is okay for public officials to make back room deals
and break transparency laws because it is for the “common good”. Restrictive
State and Federal Constitutions are advisory, outdated documents that need to
be tossed out. Just chill out!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Really? Little compromises don’t count?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Dan Robbins was “put in his place”. I can understand the
odious nature of confronting recalcitrant, sloppy fishermen who are” out of
town”. But then, why not create public policy that promotes clean, properly
used weblockers? Maybe a larger weblocker fee increase would ease staff workloads
and bring in business for other waterfront entities. Common sense is not initially
common. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Little holes very quickly turn large gains into large
losses. “Socially equitable” public policy destroys the common good, and the
self worth of the very businessmen it is supposed to move ahead.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Clean, purposefully rented weblockers count! Think about
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JK</div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
<w:Word11KerningPairs/>
<w:CachedColBalance/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-82476363899438121202014-05-12T10:18:00.003-07:002014-05-12T10:51:47.088-07:00Tom Steyer – Off Shore Coal Merchant<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->During the recent “coal war” in Whatcom County, I
wondered about this.<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Then I heard rumors of it.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Now it appears to have broken open.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here it is. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tom Steyer is heavily invested in <a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/04/the-epic-hypocrisy-of-tom-steyer.php" target="_blank">foreign coal.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tom Steyer plays the <a href="http://terra-strategies.com/case-studies/case-study-whatcom-county/" target="_blank">fervent environmental non-profit movement</a> like a <a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/outsider-manipulation-of-whatcom-politics-noted-nationally.html" target="_blank">fiddle.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tom Steyer is <a href="http://shiftwa.org/public-records-investigation-uncovers-truth-behind-inslees-gas-tax-scheme/" target="_blank">a big player in Jay Inslee’s </a>carbon tax program for Washington State.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A few hundred million invested in environmental “solutions”
reaps billions in environmental “damages.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Though not impossible, it seems very difficult for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/091298645X" target="_blank">big money</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-War-Against-Jews/dp/0312156480" target="_blank">big energy</a> to be <a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2014/05/wisdom-on-financial-balance.html" target="_blank">ethical</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Right now, market driven gas production is a <a href="http://stevemaley.com/2014/05/11/when-your-goal-is-not-really-a-goal/" target="_blank">better environmental hero.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But is saving the environment the first priority? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Is not big government tax based spending on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-nye-battles-crossfires-s-e-cupp-over-climate-change-scare-tactics/" target="_blank">green space mitigation </a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
driven by willful disregard of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI" target="_blank">solutions from the Creator of the green space.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-----------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/04/the-epic-hypocrisy-of-tom-steyer.php" target="_blank">Tom Steyer IS Big Coal</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://terra-strategies.com/case-studies/case-study-whatcom-county/" target="_blank">Tom Steyer funds Iowa electioneering oversight in Whatcom County</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/outsider-manipulation-of-whatcom-politics-noted-nationally.html" target="_blank">Whatcom 2013 election is a nationally noted Tom Steyer win</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://shiftwa.org/public-records-investigation-uncovers-truth-behind-inslees-gas-tax-scheme/" target="_blank">Tom Steyer is a player in Jay Inslee’s carbon tax double talk.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/091298645X" target="_blank">American Big money families and the troubled US Federal Reserve</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-War-Against-Jews/dp/0312156480" target="_blank">American Big money families and Big Oil; serial multi-national corporate intrigues and abuses.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://whatcomworks.blogspot.com/2014/05/wisdom-on-financial-balance.html" target="_blank">Wisdom on Financial Balance</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://stevemaley.com/2014/05/11/when-your-goal-is-not-really-a-goal/" target="_blank">Steve Maley: Kyoto protocol vs gas and fracking</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-nye-battles-crossfires-s-e-cupp-over-climate-change-scare-tactics/" target="_blank">Bill Nye’s climate change religion spends lots of your money</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI" target="_blank">Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham: two environmental worldviews AND two price tags</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-24517560892107175632014-05-12T10:07:00.000-07:002014-05-12T10:07:04.865-07:00Wisdom on Financial Balance <div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Two <i>things</i> have I required of thee; deny me <i>them</i>
not before I die:</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither
poverty nor riches;</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
feed me with food convenient for me: </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Lest I be full, and deny <i>thee</i>, and say, Who <i>is</i>
the LORD? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God
<i>in vain</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>--
ancient wisdom from a common man [Proverbs 30:7-10</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-48816193660996844032014-05-09T12:32:00.001-07:002014-05-11T22:32:27.154-07:00Frying Pan or Fire<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->What do you desire or fear the most?
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Wealth <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>…
or Poverty?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Health <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>…
or Pain?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Honor <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>…
or Shame?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Synergy <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…
or Shackles?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Desire for gain and fear of loss are two extremely
powerful motivators. Regardless of personal worldview, happiness and hazards drive
us all. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But, it is the starting points that make a huge
difference.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you seek to plumb the “wisdom” of ancient eastern
religions, channeling some spirit guide from a distant past under the tutelage
of a powerful master?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you seek to embody the best of Greek philosophy and
common sense? To “redefine the wheel” and recreate a “fine human driven
cultural space” before your life is past?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do you ride the laurels of American Christian tradition, telling
stories of bygone hardships, faith and family while feasting on as many
personal comforts as possible?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>starting point?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last night my wife and I had a conversation before
drifting into sleep.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
J: <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
was your day?”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
B:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>”Wearying.
It seems all I do is handle sheep and make cheese.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
J:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I am
tired too. I spent most of the day installing wiring in a crawl space.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
B: <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Is
this the rest of my life?”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why do we do what we do? Why do you do what you do? Why
put up with pain? Why hope? What for?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Our teenage and young adult expectations of cheerful
service gave way to the sober realization that America (and Canada) was
changing. The relative simplicity and sunshine of our childhood sixties lifestyle
darkened into the wars and protests of Vietnam, the fatigue of mortgaged homes
and working moms, and the crumbling of Judeo-Christian piety into a utilitarian
all-religions marketplace presided over by the painted high priestesses of
media and humanistic education.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
By the time our first daughter was born, we were
questioning the system, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>looking for a
better way. Two decades ago, we also questioned a church culture that was
increasingly fragmented within, and indistinguishable from modern culture
without.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We laid modern wisdom beside ancient ways. We contrasted
what pewmates honored in the church parking lot with what was actually in the
Book of books. We often found very direct contradictions.</div>
<ul>
<li><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We noted the ancient
Biblical texts identifying lower and higher wisdom, using imagery of a healthy,
joyful land. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some Christian leaders said
that in a modern, non-agricultural society, plants, animals and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>land did not matter so much, so ignore the
farm and field vignettes in the Book.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“…saith
the LORD. For <i>as</i> the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For as the rain comes down, and the snow from
heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So shall my word be that goes forth out of my
mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I
please, and it shall prosper <i>in the thing</i> whereto I sent it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with
peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap <i>their</i> hands. Instead of the
thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the
myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign <i>that</i>
shall not be cut off. [Isaiah 55:8-13]</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div>
<ul>
<li><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We noted the proverbs
of Solomon joining labor, land, and family; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and frowning upon loan driven, get rich quick
schemes.We compared this with pewmates admiration of credit ratings and
rocketing business success, and their distaste for soil toughened hands.</i>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He
that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain <i>persons</i>
shall have poverty enough.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Prepare your work without, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and
afterwards build your house.</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b> </b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes
haste to be rich shall not be innocent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
rich rules over the poor, and the borrower <i>is</i> servant to the lender. [</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Proverbs 28:19, 24:27, 28:20, 22:7]</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>
</div>
<ul>
<li><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We saw the ancient
culture war, now re-incarnated in Common Core and Planned Parenthood, between
culture/government/mega corporation driven, genocidal destruction of “unwanted”
children, and the power of “large” families in decentralized, town hall oriented
society. We saw fellow church members speaking against abortion, yet using the
morning after pill, and mocking our larger family. We also saw the unchurched
admiring our children, and expressing grief over their own children who were
imploding in their progressive world.</i></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build
the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city,
the watchman wakes <i>but</i> in vain. <i>It is</i> vain for you to rise up
early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: <i>for</i> so he gives his
beloved sleep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lo, children <i>are</i>
an heritage of the LORD: <i>and</i> the fruit of the womb <i>is his</i> reward.
As arrows <i>are</i> in the hand of a mighty man; so <i>are</i> children of the
youth. Happy <i>is</i> the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall
not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (place of
public policy)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Psalm 127]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now there
arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his
people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel <i>are</i> more and
mightier than we:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come on, let us deal
wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when a war
begins, they join also our enemies, and fight against us, and <i>so</i> go up
out of the land…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>… And the king of Egypt spoke to
the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one <i>was</i> Shiphrah, and the
name of the other Puah: And he said, When you act as midwife to the Hebrew
women, and see <i>them</i> upon the stools; if it <i>be</i> a son, then you
shall kill him: but if it <i>be</i> a daughter, then she shall live. But the
midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved
the male children alive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and
said unto them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children
alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women <i>are</i>
not as the Egyptian women; for they <i>are</i> fast, and deliver before the
midwives come to them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore God
dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. And
it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And
Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast
into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. [Exodus 1:15-22]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, we bought an acreage. We bought and milked sheep. We
dreamed and started family business. We back burnered religious and non profit
leadership, and invested in children, our own children! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We offended certain church program leaders,
whose efforts we did not join. We found ourselves in their frying pan.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I left the white collar world of centralized planning and
media marketed consumerism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
apprenticed four years as an electrician. I got callouses on my hands, and a
host of street wise blue collar friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We let the children come. After the age of thirty, every
two years or so, a new life was added, until natural processes moved us beyond
child bearing. We home schooled, a definite chore, but much more blessing than
burden. In early years, we shaped our children’s worldview. Now, they challenge
other worldviews.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We are aging. In the mid fifties, there is not the same
spin at the end of the day. In fifteen years, we reach the age where death is
expected. Yet, I am not depressed.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the world of local public policy, which I have
observed more closely in the last two years, I see in most conservative and
progressive public policy leaders a common feature. Their activism is not
strongly supported by their children. Whether “reformed” hippie professors in
the colleges, retired couples on their dream acreage, or weary farmers trying
to get the planting, harvesting and milking done, there is a shortage of young
people. In the public square, it is mostly old people competing with old
people. Where there are public policy grants, there are usually young people.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Many young people, exiting college with a vision of living
close to the land, find American public policy actually very <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unfriendly to a land based, sustainable
lifestyle. Agenda 21 trained public planners make value added agriculture very
difficult to do. They are largely faux experts. Their college degrees are not
laurels, but boat anchors, hindering them and the people whose assets and
values they “plan” for.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Again, last night I talked with a local family who are working
on final approvals to market value added dairy products. Their dealings with
Whatcom County Planning and Development Services, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Whatcom County Health Department, and the
Washington State Department of Ecology have been irregular, expensive, and with
significant manipulative, “precautionary”, asset hijacking hammers and carrots.
They have been hesitant to speak out for fear the government approval processes
will be stalled.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For example, the milky water waste from this creamery’s
wash down is treated as a pollutant to be hauled at significant cost,
“unrecycled” to a septic disposal facility. The benefits of milky irrigation
water in increasing organic soil life escape the local bureaucratic mavens who
are saving the land. Or, perhaps, this is ancient eastern wisdom, as if every
molecule of foreign milk substance that rests on a dirt clod in Whatcom County could
reduce the quality of life somewhere in China or Timbuktu. Gads!!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Education and the future? Progressive legislators are
increasingly doubling down with provisions to micro manage families and homes
that don’t “meet the standards”. I have linked to <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={DD58585B-634A-4F80-9927-879B09866DAB}" target="_blank">a report of “in your face” child oversight laws</a> that outlines a
pattern of fires that are being set in homes, schools and hospitals. A second freedom
advocate connects <a href="http://americanpolicy.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3af5d41d21ad9fce53c86ba9d&id=a3e67952e8&e=b60365bbe5" target="_blank">six threatening realities with the one world, big UN corporate and government agenda. </a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Is Agenda 21 real? Why don’t you see it in Whatcom
County? Read some <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://sustainablefreedomlab.org/files/files/Millenium%20Papers%20-%20Lawrence.pdf" target="_blank">quotes on pages 3, 5, 6 and 9</a> of Millenium Papers ISSUE 2: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Future
of Local Agenda 21 in the New Millennium</i> by J. Gary Lawrence, 2002,
UNED-UK, London, England.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Frying pan or fire? Does it matter? I have no regrets
over being roasted by church friends for living out the Bible’s wisdom on
sustainable living. Or, burned in the fires of progressive ideology with its attacks
on Biblical wisdom that are moving fast and threaten to vaporize conservatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is comforting to know the hidden hand
controls both fire and frying pan.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And, it is refreshing to be working with my neighbors who
care about these things, and are ferreting out <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/that-was-quick-renata-vamoosed.html" target="_blank">“sustainable operatives” who hide amid and booby trap</a> the freedoms we enjoy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You might also find <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://terra-strategies.com/case-studies/case-study-whatcom-county/" target="_blank">this brag piece by Terra Strategies</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>on their “success” in electing Browne,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Buchanan, Mann and Wiemer, last fall interesting. Then read these <a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/outsider-manipulation-of-whatcom-politics-noted-nationally.html" target="_blank">exposes on Tom Steyer.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-- JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
----------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={DD58585B-634A-4F80-9927-879B09866DAB}" target="_blank">States Status Update from Parental Rights.org – Is Justina finally going home?</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://americanpolicy.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3af5d41d21ad9fce53c86ba9d&id=a3e67952e8&e=b60365bbe5" target="_blank">Six issues that affect you, driven by United Nations Agenda21</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://sustainablefreedomlab.org/files/files/Millenium%20Papers%20-%20Lawrence.pdf" target="_blank">Yellow highlights on pp 3, 5, 6 and 9 of this UNED-UK paper explain why and where Agenda 21 has been hidden in the United States (Whatcom County).</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/that-was-quick-renata-vamoosed.html" target="_blank">Renata “leaves” Whatcom County for New York?</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://terra-strategies.com/case-studies/case-study-whatcom-county/" target="_blank">Terra Strategies of Des Moines, Iowa ran the Democrat Election show Whatcom County</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://www.whatcomexcavator.org/3/post/2014/05/outsider-manipulation-of-whatcom-politics-noted-nationally.html" target="_blank">Tom Steyer, famous in Whatcom County and abroad</a></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-84712279631981931262014-05-01T10:58:00.002-07:002014-05-01T11:08:00.685-07:00This Week<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->This week, Saturday, two days from today, I am supposed
to give a 50 minute presentation on how to build your own blog. Ha! If they
only knew!
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What lies behind the polished surface of a reasonably
well crafted monologue? A blog post is either the tip of a quiet life iceberg,
or it is a hollow, hyper perforated pickle ball, full of air and noise, flying
with great force for a few feet, only to land with a few soggy bounces.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Blogging is not my first life goal. However, at the
present, it is a vehicle that accomplishes a lot of things for myself and our
family.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I am aware of the power of the written page. Take the
spread of Christianity—and of communism. A <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Henry-Frost-Inland-Mission/dp/9971972654" target="_blank">Christian missionary to China in the early 1900’s wrote</a> of the full blown
contest between the Leninist advance agents and Christian missionaries who were
competing for the soul of the awakening Oriental giant. Large numbers of
Communist ideological leaflets were being distributed among the gullible
peasants, with dozens of articles attacking the ideas of God, the Bible,
missionaries, and the church. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A war of words had begun which has had full and ebb tides
for continual decades since then, and has been recorded in the blood of both incarcerated
and executed Christian expats and nationals, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the sequence of Communist leaders who pass
from worship to hatred to indifference among their own people.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Why would I blog? Writing and spreading words around is
both soothing and incendiary. For a few paragraphs, as I think about what to
say to people about blogging on public policy and our family’s civic
engagement, I will muse about the back stories of this week.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, we went to church as a family. Our late teen
girls prepared a lesson for children. Team teaching in rotating pairs, they
spell off parents who would listen undistracted to adult teachers. Sunday
morning we came home from church. What is the balance between Christ and Plato,
between Augustine and Socrates, between Aquinas and Aristotle? Why is the word
theology not in the Bible? Do family life lessons need to be strained through
many layers of historical religious creeds? For seminarians, this is usually
their bread and butter. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Philosophy and theology encapsulate life, and they can
also plug up the jets of civic service. Where is the black robed regiment of
the 1600’s and 1700’s in New England, that struck fear into the hearts of
overbearing English regents, that led King Charles to plan to send bloody Percy
Kirk, fresh from war with the Moors, to New England to stamp out the fires of
town hall democracy by crushing the congregationalist churches. Charles died,
and Kirk never sailed, and ministers continued to preach sermons that were
“blogged” (printed in the 1680’s, and re-printed in the 1770’s ), whose
phraseology was directly incorporated into the Declaration of Independence. No
wonder English redcoats in the revolutionary war made it policy to stable their
horses in American churches and burn the benches for firewood.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, I finished replacing the bearings on our old
utility trailer axle drums. I did the bearings myself, Monday morning, hurrying
to get it done and get to the first electrical job. Mechanics are great, but
cash flow is small. That evening, we loaded the crop of ewe lambs up and moved
them to the neighbors pasture. Which were more active, the lambs, gamboling up
to the loading ramp, or the teenagers, racing after lambs who had a different
mindset? Why make an effort to milk dairy sheep? We almost got stuck in a wet
area of that pasture. After coming home, I had to wash a layer of mud off my
van in the dark. I wanted to be ready for work the next day.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Our neighbor has leased his barn and garden space to the
manager of the Bellingham Farmers Market. We had a nice introduction to each
other yesterday. I wonder if he will like our children like the two girls from
Utah did last summer. It is great to share notes with other value added Ag
people, even if they may be city oriented progressives or traditional farm kids.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Dairy sheep continues to be a money sink, as we are not
yet licensed to sell aged raw milk cheese. That is coming! But, the process of
doing this without loans teaches our young people character and basic business
principles—the old fashioned ones that built America. Do I hate banks? No. Do I
over work our family? I don’t think so. There are a lot of fun moments. And, working
the land as a family gives opportunities to talk about water rights, land
rights, social programs, capital programs, work habits, marketing, education—you
get the picture.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, we started a new unit study in our home
schooling. We use a curriculum that looks at basic school subjects through the
lens of the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, the classically recognized
pinnacle of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Published by an organization that
has fallen into great disfavor and whose founder is currently under accusation
for serious ethics violations, this curriculum is nevertheless one of the best.
So we quietly continue to use it.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It seems that success and favor destroy more people than
failure and rejection. The text? “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and
persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my
sake”. Does that sound like civic service?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, I spent a few minutes at the end of the work
day chatting with the Bellingham home owner whose kitchen and bathroom I am
being paid to help remodel. We talked about under cabinet lighting, about the
beauty AND the price tag of energy efficient undercabinet LED light tape. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Then we talked about their parents home on Portal Way,
and the grouchy county inspectors who have declared the back forty to be
wetlands, and won’t let them drive a pickup truck out back. We talked about the
rude City of Bellingham public works employee, who twice angrily snarled at
this lady the day before, when she suggested the water shut off might be
farther from the road than it was. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We talked about the militant activism of public sector
unions, about their punishing and demanding attitudes towards the public they
are “serving”. We talked about Freedom Foundations bills in the last several
months that highlighted <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://smartergovernmentwa.org/government-unions-oppose-common-sense-transparency/" target="_blank">Washington union leaders pushback </a>against Wisconsin style reforms here. You get the picture.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week…</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, I am tired. Yet, I am happy. My desk has
several months old piles of unfiled public service handouts, articles, meeting
notes. My computer desktop is also spilling over. Every day I read about
problems in our country. This blog. That blog. This city. That family. This
business. That government leader. Learning and engaging in public policy really
can destroy that “Better Homes and Garden” look.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week, I and five of our young people will trek to
Meridian High School for a <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.whatcomgop.com/?tribe_events=whatcom-gop-spring-leadership-summit" target="_blank">day of engaging with other public policy volunteers</a>. We will raise a standard for
conservative Whatcom citizens. For one day, as a group of locals, we will renew
the focus of conservative civic service that was the norm in the American past,
that has been co-opted and outflanked by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Agenda-Grinding-America-Curtis-Bowers/dp/B003Z3CZGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398966865&sr=8-1&keywords=agenda+the+movie" target="_blank">decades of focused socialist, agnostic educators bent on separating our children to their agenda.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This week… ??</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
See you at Meridian at 9 a.m. on Saturday!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
----------</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://smartergovernmentwa.org/government-unions-oppose-common-sense-transparency/" target="_blank">Washington Union Leaders Run For Cover</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.whatcomgop.com/?tribe_events=whatcom-gop-spring-leadership-summit" target="_blank">Whatcom GOP Leadership Summit</a></span></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-39698258852728162272014-04-14T11:32:00.001-07:002014-04-14T11:35:13.295-07:00Two Blueprints<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->Secrecy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Come
here, I want to tell you a secret. Did you know that…?”
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There is power in secrecy, in conspiracy. From playground
cliques to business boardrooms to surprise birthday bashes, people delight in
working surprises.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some surprises build up and enable. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some surprises unwittingly defraud and destroy. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some surprises are designed in advance to defraud and
destroy.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The power of secrecy is in its suddenness, its
irreversibility, its use of momentums by the few, to bring to pass things that
the many did not conceive, would not have wanted, and cannot turn back. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The curse of secrecy is that it usually destroys those
who use it to destroy.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
First, secrets are often driven by misunderstandings,
which could have been seen and abandoned if discussed openly. There is a wisdom
of the just that flows in the open, dancing and flashing like a merry stream in
the morning sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The urgency of action
that drives secrecy may involve brilliant, feverish reasoning, but having the
wrong starting points, ends in devastating failures.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Secondly, the hidden pit that is dug by secret desires
may ensnare the perceived adversaries, but often the perpetrator, in time ruins
himself and his followers, falling into his own pit.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Lastly, the curse of secrecy, like painful, bitter gout,
seems to disable the wealthy and their heirs. Success usually breeds
destruction, while failure, more often than not, brings forth healing words
that sweeten and soften the end of its companions.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In 2010, Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer published a record
of conflicted conservative governance in Colorado, and the emergence of a
progressive power structure that for the time being, has almost totally
obliterated conservative governance in Colorado. They titled their book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blueprint-Democrats-Colorado-Republicans-Everywhere/dp/1936218003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397498595&sr=1-1&keywords=the+blueprint" target="_blank">“The Blueprint”.</a> This book should be required
reading for every conservative political activist. This blueprint explains what
progressives are doing in and through elections. Get it. Read it. See beyond
it.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Comprehensively researched, this book cracks open the
windows of the “smokeless backrooms” of progressive election strategy. After
reading it, I see the fingerprints of these strategists in our own last Whatcom
Election of 2013.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And, surprisingly, this book is not in the local public
library. The interlibrary loan came from Tacoma, for some reason, and is
marked, “No renewals”. Either it is highly sought in Tacoma, or some librarian somewhere
unhappily wants to keep this book a secret. Censorship is secrecy. It is no secret,
however, that American education (and libraries) are under the thumb of
progressive operatives. Go figure.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What will you find in these covers?</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>cocky, arm twisting, power drunk Colorado Republicans who tallied many black
marks.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span>a threatened heiress of a big Colorado money business family.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>young, tech savvy, disciplined and totally focused instant millionaire
progressives</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>extremely focused gay activists</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>a new paradigm for election funding—strategically intertwined 501c3, 501c4, and
527 non-profits that funnel funds to campaigns, flanking campaign reform laws
and making political party infrastructures irrelevant and subservient to
outside activist groups.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>a new paradigm for social change—targeting overwhelming donations from of out
of state or city donors to win key state and local progressive candidates, that
if elected, will strategically advance the goals of the emerging poster child
gay society in America.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>targeted advance polling to uncover micro local issues to trigger unstoppable messaging
in elections</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>precisely targeted, intensively managed, exquisitely wooed voter blocs that trigger
election upsets</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>blatant, dishonest rebranding of progressive candidates and their opponents, and
a complicit media.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>paid armies of campaign volunteers who upload daily reports to give extensive
voter trends.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>the power of secret momentums—an illusion of inaction in spring and summer—hidden
door to door campaigns, then sudden, huge, late campaign “contributions” / media
buys that blow up opponents in the final weeks before an election.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>the redux of truth in the furnace of self gratification by American philosopher
kings.
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There is another blueprint that was traditionally very
open in America, but is now being hidden “under a basket” by fearful
conservatives. (Think RINO vs. Tea Party in D.C.) That is the power of good <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">works</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I would illustrate this from the Scott Walker’s recent
book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unintimidated-Governors-Story-Nations-Challenge/dp/1595231072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397498757&sr=1-1&keywords=Unintimidated" target="_blank">“Unintimidated”.</a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In their introduction to “The Blueprint”, Schrager and
Witwer retell a presentation by Rob Stein of Democracy Alliance at the 2008
Democratic National Convention in Denver. Building on the “Colorado model”,
Stein was projecting huge progressive successes in 30 key states in 2010. One
of those states was Wisconsin.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Something else happened in Wisconsin in 2012. And, like Colorado,
it had roots that fed on the character of Republican, conservative leaders, but
unlike Colorado, in a good way.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the introduction to “Unintimidated”, after detailing
the national gloom that wafts from Washington D.C., Scott Walker and Marc
Thiessen list the surprising surge of conservative political influence at the
state governance level from 2007 to 2013.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>the number of GOP governors rose from 21 in 2008 to 30 in 2013, with no
incumbent GOP governors unseated in that time.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>in 2012, even though President Obama was soundly re-elected, Republicans made
gains in 34 legislatures, including four states won by Obama: New Mexico, Ohio,
Washington, and Wisconsin.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>in 2009, Republicans controlled eight state governments (governor plus
legislatures). In 2013, they controlled 23, states whose population equals
nearly half of American citizens.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“Unintimidated” is a story of a ground zero fight between
progressives and conservatives. In the end, the 2008 vision for Wisconsin of
Rob Stein from Democracy Alliance lay shattered beyond recognition. The
birthplace of public sector unions in 1936, and first state to grant collective
bargaining to government employees in 1959, Wisconsin voters unflinchingly
voted to keep the conservatives who dismantled public sector union hegemony in
2012 and 2013 in their state.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The fight was intense. First, 100,000 protestors, some bused
in from as far away as Nevada, took over the State Capitol grounds. Agitators
banged drums and blasted horns, up to 105 decibels, day and night in the
Capitol building. The homes, children’s schools and grocery sources of
Republican lawmakers were picketed by activists who shouted and harassed for
several months. The Capitol was trashed and smelled like a port-a-John.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Then 14 Democrat state senators fled Wisconsin so as to
deny the quorum needed to vote on a budget bill. Conservatives split the
funding elements out of the public sector reforms and passed those reforms with
the Democrats absent. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This was followed by a failed targeting of a Wisconsin Supreme
Court justice who might vote to support conservative union reforms. This was
followed by failed recall efforts on many Republican Senators, the lieutenant
governor, and finally governor Scott Walker.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The unions and the progressives failed, big time. Today,
the economic benefits of limiting public sector union power are bigger than
life. A growing Wisconsin economy. More money to avoid public school teacher
layoffs. Lower property taxes. The only fully funded state pension system in
the USA. A 3.6 billion dollar deficit that became a 500 million dollar surplus.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here are the questions. Is the Colorado “Blueprint” an
invincible strategy? Why did it come to ruin in Wisconsin? What might this have
to do with Washington State? With Whatcom County and Bellingham?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
“Unintimidated” is not a soft sell presidential campaign
propaganda piece. Very few childhood and family life vignettes are presented.
This is a book full of hard edged war story, with many lessons from a short,
very intense political power struggle. Are you interested yet?</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>Conservatives must not just sell an economic vision, but also a social vision,
to beat the progressives at their own fairness game.<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>Centrist voters will follow a conservative leader who does not compromise
principles, but is willing to compromise some details.<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>Messaging discipline, owning up to past mistakes, and returning good for evil plays
well with a media that is usually biased in favor of progressives.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What made Scott Walker successful? In his postscript, he
credits his parents. Mrs. Pat Walker is a selfless, unflappable woman who
modeled returning evil for good. From her Scott learned that the political
opponent of today may be the ally of tomorrow—don’t personalize policy
differences.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Llew Walker was a pastor who taught Scott to be
comfortable speaking in public. A man who took detailed interest in all people
he met, Llew Walker also served on the city council of small town Plainfield,
Wisconsin.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is the conservative blueprint? It is not using the
fantastic fortunes of dot.com business startups or legacy mainline American
corporations to buy elections for legislators who will vote for shady and
socially devastating fairness policies. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Conservative success is a long-term strategy—investing in
children, parents modeling in a faithful, small way, values that children will
apply in larger circles, starting earlier, reaching farther, and standing on
the shoulders of humble, consistent, local parents.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Do progressives have a long term strategy? Yes. Wait and
pick off stragglers. Co-opt the youth, then suddenly destroy unsuspecting conservative
neighbors for personal power and gain. Think East Germany, Romania, Hungary,
Poland. Think the framing and murder of national WW2 resistance heroes as
secret Nazi collaborators. Read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Disinformation-Strategies-Undermining-Attacking-Promoting/dp/1936488604/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397498906&sr=1-1&keywords=disinformation+pacepa" target="_blank">“Disinformation”</a>
by Ion Pacepa. Marxist roots give Marxist fruits.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do civilizations
falter and fall? Yes. But, salt, if not diluted, preserves and restores. Wise
works are a light that shines far in the night. The progressives may have won a
Whatcom County battle fronting against coal trains with layers of non-profit
funding, strategically placed GOTV organizers, lawyers, educators and media
blocs, but their fruit will always be like that of Wisconsin, largely
unpalatable, unsustaining and un-sustainable.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Easy, fast money is very hard to handle well. That is why
1792 constitutional framers counter balanced government powers under “puritan”
voter style accountability. Unchecked prosperity is a cancer that ruins both
conservatives and progressives. In time, the rottenness of the union leadership
and environmentalist and other progressive power brokers rivals the rottenness
of multi-national corporations and multi-national NGO’s.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
However, the persecution of progressives distills motives
and clarifies character. Whatcom County conservatives must not run from the
tests. There are great rewards for persevering against fairness bullies and
public union tax grabs.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The question is, will conservatives still have a torch to
shine when that happens? Will conservatives retain their salt in Whatcom County
or will they just go along to get along, to join the binge feed at the public
funding trough?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Will conservatives in Whatcom County work with their own
hands for their own bread and break dependance on government business handouts?
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Will conservatives avoid polarizing personal vendettas
with their center left progressive neighbors? Can Whatcom conservatives put the
“serve” back in conservative, even under progressive governance? Even when
progressives are executing strategies to reshape American society by
micro-controlling private property and <a href="http://www.capr.us/whatcom/whatcom_events.php" target="_blank">water rights</a>?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Those are personal questions. Those are personal choices,
made one person, one family at a time. Only you can decide that for you.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
JK</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-56648350556190738982014-03-16T21:08:00.000-07:002014-03-16T22:24:36.755-07:00A Safe Place<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This post
has been joggling around in my head for a while. Some things have slippery edges
or sharp corners. Eventually, what is dimly sensed precipitates out, even amid
the whitewaters of living. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Disinformation-Strategies-Undermining-Attacking-Promoting/dp/1936488604" target="_blank">Ion Pacepa’s book on socialist tactics</a>
has helped in recent days, filling in gaps and succinctly giving the history,
development, and bitter fruits of socialist, communist <i>disinformation</i>.</span>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Violated
trust. Lost innocence. When was the last time you were burned by someone? The
saying flashes into mind, “You fool me once—shame on you. You fool me
twice—shame on me.” No one likes trust breakers. Every one wants a “safe
space”.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Burglars.
Do you remember the <a href="http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=f37436ad-684a-4175-9ad2-836108131712" target="_blank">Beagle Brothers, </a>comic book villains from a different time? They were so easy to spot—the brown
and blue numbered prison uniforms, the heavy black rimmed goggles, the scraggly
three days beard, and, of course, the sacks full of loot. And, those bad guys
always came in at least a group of three, driving a broken down car. Yah, easy
to spot! Not so with socialist disinformants.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Judeo
Christian democratic experiment of America was based upon respect for and
cooperation with authority. Differences of perspective created occasional,
severe national conflicts, but time washed away most acids, and ongoing
generations knew seasons of national peace and growth. The time honored formula
for success under authority was—fear God, obey the ruler, honor your father and
mother. Americans can be easy to subvert. Trust and honor is very easy to
abuse.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Glasnost.
According to Ion Pacepa, chief of Romanian intelligence under Nicolai Ceascescu
until his defection to America in 1978, glasnost was not a new attitude of
openness and democracy birthed in Russia around Mikhail Gorbachev. Glasnost was
the ancient “polishing” of the ruler’s persona and public image, made possible
by changing official documents, by rewriting history, by reinventing personas.
Glasnost was the policy of all Russian Czars, dating back to Ivan the Terrible
of the sixteenth century. Glasnost is spinning new “truth”.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My personal
experience is that things go best when leaders are honored, even if they have
cracks and faults. This has been a policy of my electrical business. Pay for the
permits. Do work to the required standards. Plan for inspections. Avoiding war
with inspectors has been good for business.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do I agree
with all the electrical rules? Maybe not. Can I work within the system to
challenge abuses? Yes. And, most electrical inspectors abhor
glasnost.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The same
cannot be said for other pillars of community. Along with swallowing the opiate
of Russian glasnost, western professors and media have fawned on many other
Russian points of disinformation. Pacepa details how Yuri Andropov and and the
international arm of the KGB set up western leaders to think Nicolai Ceaucescu
was a reforming Communist, moving away from totalitarianism towards democracy, a
forlorn rebel against Russia who was bravely leading his country towards western
freedoms. Ceaucescu was an intentional dry run for the Gorbachev “glasnost” to
follow.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Disinformation. The west fell for it. At the height of the
deception, Pacepa defected, eventually writing a book for Romanians that felled
Ceaucescu, detailing his horrific crimes against humanity, and leading to his
death by hanging. Jimmy Carter had been offended at Pacepa, especially at the
evidence that his brother Billy had been recruited by communist infiltrators.
Carter issued a gag order on Pacepa, apologized to Ceaucescu for Pacepa’s
defection, and promised that Pacepa would not harm US-Romanian harmony. The
Reagan administration reversed that order in 1985.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whatcom
County is groping its way through water management policy decisions. Our county
is a kaleidoscope of cultural, moral and financial diversities. Soviet style
disinformation, however, is ripping Whatcom county apart, and the reserves of
goodwill are draining away. As many county citizens concentrate on personal
survival amid growing financial and moral adversities, subversive elements
quietly reduce voter accountability, while <a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/03/13/3524946/moratorium-on-oil-terminal-permitting.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0033cc;">clamorously fanning fears of catastrophic environmental collapse. </span></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Agenda driven (21 anyone?)<u><span style="color: #0033cc;"> </span></u><a href="http://www.commdiginews.com/environment/renewable-energy-in-decline-less-than-1-of-global-energy-11004/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0033cc;">political psuedo science eventually unravels</span></a>, but leaves a trail of wreckage in its
wake.<u><span style="color: #0033cc;"></span></u></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A student
of Soviet tactics can see the shoots of Soviet style socialist, totalitarian
inventions springing up in America. Massaged by mainline media, by educational
and labor union leaders, by multinational corporations such as <span style="color: #0033cc;"><a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2014/03/11/crisis-common-core/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_term=headline&utm_content=140315&utm_campaign=saturday" target="_blank">Microsoft (Common Core)</a>,</span> trusting Americans
alternate between Tea Party ascetic, do or die reactions, and Madison Avenue
“you owe it to yourself” luxurious escapism.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confusion.
The intended goal of Russian disinformation was to create confusion, to
eliminate trust. The Vietnam anti war movement was deftly orchestrated by Soviet
agents. Pacepa tells it all. Andropov’s great delight was to see the Western
media and educators become skilled at disinformation, and joint long term
laborers in his cause.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confusion.
Trust breaking is at epidemic proportions. It is much easier to lie, to destroy,
to steal, and kill than to speak truth, increase values, enabling the poor while
raising one’s own offspring. Today's youth have a crisis of confusion. When a
house is pulled down on the heads of its occupants, can it be
rebuilt?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confusion.
A farmer sacrifices to send his
child to college. In college, “honorable, trustworthy” professors rant against
the environmentalist farm practices that bought tuition, books and
residency.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confusion.
Well owners are highly suspicious of large farmers and the proposed Water
Improvement Districts. Farmers are tired of trying to make the Water Planning
Unit work. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confusion.
Did I miss your particular circumstance? Who is the stranger that you do not
know or trust? How much trust capital should be risked when there seem to be so
many agents of disinformation in the media, in the colleges, in the county
planning, parks and health departments?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>The first bottom line is that there is no
safe space</i> on this green and blue and brown ball. There is no safe family,
no safe circle of activist friends, no politician or bureaucrat that does not
eventually disappoint and offend.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is no
property rights group, or water rights group, or animal rights or wilderness
preservation group that can guarantee vision, relationships and
outcomes.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even
religious Americans get shorted. Ministers lose their touch. Church buildings
wear out and programs get boring. When the King of the universe lived with men,
even he was crucified. But there is the rub. <i>The second bottom line is that the divine
change agent rose from the dead.
</i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According
to unreligious writer, David Goldman, in his uncomfortable book, “<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/leapfrogging/2011/09/22/book-review-david-goldmans-how-civilizations-die/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0033cc;">How Civilizations Die</span></a>”, only evangelical
Americans and orthodox Jews resist the spectral dirge to limit children to one
or two per nuclear family. Why does he say that is? These groups have hope. An
expectation that goes beyond death. An eternal, secure reward. A safe place. The
next trust conflict need not impact eternal hopes.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>The third bottom line? Trust is forged one
relationship at a time.</i> The giving of alms, the showing of mercy can build
trust in flashes and surges, but it can be rebuffed and wasted just as grimly
and wickedly. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My
suggestion? First, focus on a key result area. Don’t try to be an expert on
every area of county policy. Support your person at the planning commission, or
on county council, or at the port, or at your local school board. Connect with
those who are in other areas. <a href="http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=14803" target="_blank">Share information and encouragement.</a> Diligence in
a smaller area enables trust and coordination, and ferrets out
destroyers.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Secondly,
avoid the temptation of purity tests. There are many people who think like you,
who desire trust, who offer trust, but differ in certain values. Relationships
are eternal. The loss of physical assets may be painful, but the loss of
trustworthy friends can be terminal. Seek wisdom in balancing asset trusts vs
relationship TRUST!!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>The fourth bottom line? Trust is a chosen
risk.</i> I may open myself up to a stranger, and they could destroy my life, my
family and my assets. They could also supply just the solution that I have been
missing for “so long”. Am I willing to take that risk? Am I ready to “die”? to
be slightly embarrassed? Even to pass from this life?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>So, it comes to the fifth bottom line.
Wisdom for assessing trust worthiness is needed.</i> I can grow it slowly and
painfully in the school of hard knocks, or I can jump start wisdom by absorbing
it from people who have gone before. The Proverbs of Solomon are outstanding
purveyors of wisdom!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can
politicians, activists, or bureaucrats be truly known? Can their trustworthiness
be screened?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One—Their
budgets (not their press releases) show their trustworthiness from
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_966924135" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">yesterday</span></span>.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two—Their
friends (not their degrees or net worth) show their trustworthiness for
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_966924136" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">tomorrow</span></span>.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Three—Their
book reviews (not their promises) show their trustworthiness in coming
years.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is it
possible to be a peacemaker? Yes! People can be brought together. But, there is
a price to pay. Disinformants put a bulls eye on the back of the trust builders.
Thieves need confusion. There is
always pain and slander for salty, radiant peacemakers.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are you up
to the challenge? Are you ready to trust? My suggestion and goal? Follow the
example of the greatest public activist of all times. Get to know his Father as
he did. That is where the safe place is.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">--
JK</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Disinformation-Strategies-Undermining-Attacking-Promoting/dp/1936488604" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Disinformation, 2013, Ion Mihai Pacepa, former Romanian Spy Agency Chief</span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=f37436ad-684a-4175-9ad2-836108131712" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beagle brothers first comic book, 1964</span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/03/13/3524946/moratorium-on-oil-terminal-permitting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moratorium on oil terminal permitting </span></a><br />
<br />
<div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.commdiginews.com/environment/renewable-energy-in-decline-less-than-1-of-global-energy-11004/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Climate change disinformation is unraveling</span></a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2014/03/11/crisis-common-core/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_term=headline&utm_content=140315&utm_campaign=saturday" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Common Core update</span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/leapfrogging/2011/09/22/book-review-david-goldmans-how-civilizations-die/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How Civilizations Die, David Goldman, 2011</span></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=14803" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Farmer’s entrepreneurial win in Virginia</span></a></div>
</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-21986529749860964732014-02-21T07:04:00.000-08:002014-02-21T08:43:16.434-08:00Doing Time.<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Time is a great leveler. Time proves persons and unrolls
a line of life works scrutiny.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This last week, our family carried out an exercise in
public service scrutiny. We “met” the Port of Bellingham. I have lived in
Whatcom County since Dec 30, 1994, but there is so much that I have not known.
In the late 1990’s, I worked as an electrician on the total remodel of the Port
of Bellingham office building. I have not passed through those doors again
until three days ago, Tuesday afternoon.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">First impressions—the port commissioners meeting reminded
me of a school board meeting. The
executive, Rob Fix sat at a table with the three commissioners and the
executive secretary. A panel of department managers and the legal counsel sat
at the second table. Managers gave reports and commissioners voted on various
items.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The meeting started with public comment. The frequent
fliers were there representing the progressive lobby. Along with their causes
of environmental concern and “job creation”, they raised an unholy ruckus over
the lack of a video record of the boards meetings. Even county commissioner Rud
Browne showed up to grace the effort, suggesting that the Port administrators
partner join the happy technology and services that the County will likely roll
out – some enhanced video airings of the County Council meetings. Browne said
he was speaking as a private citizen, of course!?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why the screaming call for video? I would suggest the
progressive movement and its media allies in Bellingham have an insatiable
appetite for public controversy. If you have a degree in a field that lends
itself to “community organizing”, you must have stories to fire up your
neighborhood controversies. Visuals can be groomed to just the right “message”,
and every traditional service can be “retooled” into another cog for the
progressive redistribution of wealth machine.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
Of course, access to audio or video recordings of port meetings does provide archival records which are a part of due public process. And, if the Port Authority is moving towards providing such, a person with balance will be grateful and patient, rather than pompous and demanding.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">What were we doing at the Port? Our family home schools.
As our young people consider life works, we have pushed an entrepreneurial
mindset. A major aspect in business startups is capital development and
application. In other words, getting and growing money by providing worthwhile
services. When I heard that the Port may do an RFP (request for proposal) for
video services, we decided to walk a few hundred feet in those shoes. My
daughter and I took some simple video equipment in, and recorded about 45
minutes of the 2.5 hour meeting.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The video turned out fine. Sound quality was variable. The
Port’s AV system has an upgrade expense line in the budget. Commissioner
McCauley has a problem projecting his voice. Otherwise, he did a very
acceptable job of keeping the meeting moving. We tested microphone and camera
placements. We would need to upgrade our equipment. What else is new! It was a
good chance to meet some of the decision makers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We also watched a bit of a side show, as another group
did a video recording dry run. Somehow they obtained a WI-FI hotspot on the
port’s network—without adequate authorization. They wanted to demo live
streaming. When the hotspot was discovered and taken from them, there was a
howl of protest about the Port obscuring its public meetings. Otherwise, they
made their recording peaceably as well.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the home front, this last month has been full with
farm projects. More hay has been purchased and brought in. Broken trailer wheel
brakes still need repair. A small portable egg laying hen house was designed
and put together with the boys. Maybe there will be some takers if this is
offered to urban farmers under the new chickens in the back yard rules.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lambing is in full swing. It is a joy to see new life
squirt out, dry off and begin to crave milk. It is sad when newborns are missed
and cool off and die. It is a hassle when the baby monitor in the barn
transmits those “groans” at three in the morning. The fresh sheep’s milk, and
the improved health of our daughter on that milk makes it worth while.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This week, my wife Bev has been attending a three day
seminar on cheese making, a five hundred dollar gift from a fellow farmer who
decided to not attend and share his seat. Thank you, my friend! It is kindnesses
like this that build community.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Farming is hard work. Milking animals is slogging hard
work, with limited respites. Making cheese is also hard work. Burnout and
personal physical injuries are issues we as adults in our fifth decade of life
must consider. Again, the pressures of fast capital infusion are evident, as
that new creamery equipment others at the cheese making class are buying must
be quickly brought on line to pay down the loans. We have survived with the
willing help of family who work together. And by staying out of debt. We are “doing
our own time” in our life shackles.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday, with my wife out of the saddle, I went with
our young people to an after school club they lead at Kendall Elementary
School. Forewarned, I went prepared to ride shotgun on a certain group of boys
that have been turning the club into their own ego show.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sure enough, a cherubic little ten year old drank his
milk quickly, then put the carton down and stomped out a loud pop, easing back
in “surprise” when all heads turned his way. Too busy to eat their snacks
during the snack time, the boys settled down to discuss their concerns in the
back row while they loudly chomped their food in contest with the leader up
front.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">After an hour of moving ten year old boys farther and
farther apart, things settled down to a dull roar in the back row. It is
amazing the energy protesters have when there is a joint cause. It is also
amazing the grateful responses of little girls who wait for these boys to be
quieted so they can peacefully do the games and hear the stories.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, I return to public comments at the port. Sometimes,
the little boys and girls never grow up inside, becoming adults who still love
to show off in public comment. Do they seek the public good? Or, are they more concerned
with turns of wit, with showing off extraneous knowledge while they take down
leaders who have “done their time” and proven themselves in public service.
These activists are also doing time, but in a different prison.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> --
JK</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-40958855668177553552014-01-29T10:59:00.000-08:002014-01-29T11:48:31.290-08:00Good Cop, Bad CopLast night, January 28, 2014, several hundred Whatcom
County residents packed out the Council Chambers to watch and speak to the
decision on continuing or dropping the Whatcom County Government appeal over
the GMHB determination on exempt wells.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NSQ8PwVySzEeKc0AC-gZDkE1cHH2pqKdNRCoUwmsFmiGe0K5qadJWIZUKLPhuLUwFnUUuewVPd8qXuJblfw0h3RCV80JHN-y0x8TMkyTTe0IimHyzpD233v90MOeefSTY3NbaHSaAU0/s1600/IMG_00001602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NSQ8PwVySzEeKc0AC-gZDkE1cHH2pqKdNRCoUwmsFmiGe0K5qadJWIZUKLPhuLUwFnUUuewVPd8qXuJblfw0h3RCV80JHN-y0x8TMkyTTe0IimHyzpD233v90MOeefSTY3NbaHSaAU0/s1600/IMG_00001602.jpg" height="180" title="County Council Chambers" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crowd about 10 minutes before the meeting started.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
As if anticipating a heated, blistering evening of
rhetoric, Carl Weimer and Ken Mann opened the Council meeting with an
announcement that a closed door decision had not been made during the
immediately preceding executive session. They then promptly moved to continue
funding for the appeal. Carl Wiemer generously acknowledged that a court ruling
in this situation would provide certainty that would be good for all. Great
guy, Carl Wiemer. Council voted 7 to 0 to continue funding the appeal. Then
open session testimony began.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Testimony largely ran unchecked in favor of challenging
the growth management hearings board ruling. There were several who chided
council and landowners for seeking financial gain over wellness or good will.
There were also two sizable groups that spoke in favor of 1) local regulation
of marijuana growing or processing business locations and 2) creating taxing
authority (another progressive funding stream) for arts groups in local
settings.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Having watched the acrimony of the past election season,
and seen the predominance of progressive minded testimony on local issues in
the last year, the silence from the local progressive organizers last night was
deafening. Adding that to the strong campaign promises of Mann and Wiemer with
their pre-election votes to scuttle the GMHB well appeal, I said to myself,
“What is up? Is this another charade? Why the tight lipped silence from the
progressives? Something is fishy here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After a prolonged release of air from the emotional balloon,
the open session ended and 75% of the people went home. Then came the selection
of appointees to various commissions and boards. I said to myself, “Perhaps
this change of course for Mann and Wiemer on the well appeal is calculated to clear
the air, to suggest a spirit of good will and coming together. Perhaps, but
keep watching, John.”</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Sure enough, a different tack was taken with appointment
of planning commissioners. Incumbents Jeff Rainey and Rod Erickson, having a
track record of supporting existing property rights and landowners and
challenging progressive initiatives from planning department staff, were decisively
replaced with three progressively oriented commissioners. Michelle Luke did not
re-apply.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One of the “new” planning commission appointees, (having served
two prior terms on the planning commission), lawyer David Hunter,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has a reputation as being extremely verbally
abusive, a gifted and biting cross examiner of property and business owners
that “enter his private court” during planning commission sessions.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The David Hunter appointment, to me is instructive of
where things will go with this council. Ken Mann and Barry Buchanan first
preferred a more moderate progressive, (there is the engaging smile) while Carl
Weimer and Rud Browne voted for Hunter (the finger in the eye). Brenner,
Crawford and Kremen voted for Jeff Rainey. In the second vote, Mann and
Buchanan came together with Weimer and Browne to appoint David Hunter.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The impact of the planning commissioners, in my view,
will have a far greater impact on ongoing county policy than the exempt wells
ruling appeal. Smart, hungry progressives. Sleepy, sheepy conservatives. The
fairy tales of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood are playing
again.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Good cop, bad cop. Limiting choices. Move county policy
and citizens left, left, left. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
How does Saul Alinsky advise his disciples to operate? Only
moderate in appearance. Always go for the kill. Keep the fight going. If they
bring a knife, you bring a gun. Alinsky’s dedication of his book, Rules for
Radicals, to Lucifer is fitting. Once upon a time there was a cruel king named
Herod. No means were too violent, too evil if they kept him in power. Watch
out, Whatcom County!!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One last thought. What if the exempt wells ruling appeal
went to negotiation? What if the appeals court or the supreme court never had
to validate the rule of law here? What if Mann and Wiemer met with the lawyer
for the exempt wells litigants behind closed doors and worked out some
concessions from the county for a measure of peace and joint progressive
advance? RE Sources (Weimer) and Futurewise (Melious) both have the same basic
playbook.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What if the same pattern that got the Lummis off the hook
in the ground water dispute several years ago was used here? In that setting,
when the judge was indicating that the Washington State supported Lummi claims
were without grounds, the Lummi’s withdrew their suit and filed for
negotiation. In the end, they got a large measure of what they wanted, outside
the courts, and their claims were held in abeyance, never ruled against.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Good cop, Bad cop. The game is on.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is the next stage? Just as the national Republican
Establishment is at war with the Tea Party over stripping away entitlements and
K Street influence, so local individual conservative activists will likely end
up ground between the progressive upper mill stone, and the corporate business
lower stone.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
An example of this is the proposed WID system that
farmers are considering. To maintain some self determination, farmers are
realizing that they have to organize like their tribal and governmental bureaucracy
adversaries. It is not just enough to show up, you have to have taxation
authority (funding), and be able to threaten serious damage to the other side.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What a great place to live. Behind the tall cedars and
glorious vistas of Whatcom County is this war. Will local corporate interests
stand up for their historical neighbors? Most likely not. Survival of the
business will supersede survival of traditional local values.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Case in point? Again, from last night, it is a local
corporate name, Lautenbach, that has applied for a marijuana license in a
building in the middle of Clearbrook community in north Whatcom County. After
considering an appeal from the Clearbrook families to grow/process marijuana
with some setbacks from the homes, the applicant has decided his hot business
prospects trump local family values and safety concerns.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Good cop, bad cop. The only winners will be those whose
endgame is multi-generational. After this “cold, socialist war” plays itself
out, in thirty or fifty or one hundred years, (think USSR 1916-1989) some one’s
descendants will rebuild something here.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What does the future hold? The future is the children!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-- JK</div>
Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-606289060761161638.post-80895743331864582512014-01-26T18:38:00.002-08:002014-01-26T18:50:19.389-08:00Sure Footing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->When I was fifteen, I bought a pair of hiking boots. I
wore them every day during that summer. Jumping from boulder to boulder along
miles of beaches, pulling myself along the abandoned rail grades through tall
forests on Quadra Island, I was able to enjoy the company of other like-minded
young people as we lived out the idyllic weeks of summer and sun. I still have
those boots, forty years later. They were quality made!
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
How did those boots tame sharp rocks? What made them
laugh at soggy rail beds? They were crafted to endure and protect, to carry
human sized weights with comfort and strength. They gave sure footing.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Rural and suburban residents of Whatcom County are facing
sharp rocks and steep inclines these days. Certain “neighbors” have taken it
upon themselves to “democratize” the rest of us, to use lawsuits and social
action groups to “correct” land and water usages which they have decided are
immoral.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There will always be playground bullies, acting out the
good cop/bad cop routine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When bullies
gather in gangs, they usually get their way. When bullies are sophisticated in massaging
the truth to their ends, they can go quite a ways towards gaining their
objectives before their victims even know they are being plundered. Surprise
and subterfuge are important. Paralyzing dismay indicates the “game” is almost
over, the plunder is almost complete.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Such is the state of Whatcom County, of Washington State,
of America. The progressives have been <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://agendadocumentary.com/trailer/" target="_blank">termiting our culture</a> for many decades.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
How did we get here? Is there anything that can be done?
What victim reactions will do more damage than the oppressors could ever
imagine? Who are the oppressors? Who ARE the victims?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Is the system beyond repair? What compromises must be
endured? Are compromises even a possibility? Must the polarizing of this county
and country increase? What happened to win-win solutions?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I would like to use three of Solomon’s proverbs to
attempt to craft footwear for these perilous times here in Whatcom County. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
(Just as the Bolsheviks redistributed the wealth of
Ukrainian businessmen in the 1920’s, and brought decades of famine and death,
so we have <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://blog.faithandfreedom.us/2014/01/npr-reports-secret-progressive-network.html" target="_blank">progressive politicos who are toying with the money of Seattle millionaires</a> to affect redistribution of
property and water rights in Whatcom County by electing extremely progressive
legislators who appoint extremely progressive judges and commissioners.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Proverbs 22:3</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A prudent <i>man</i> foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the
simple pass on, and are punished.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Proverbs 28:28</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the
righteous increase.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Proverbs 29:18</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where <i>there is</i> no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth
the law, happy <i>is</i> he.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Good people are now calling for an all out appeal to the
newly elected Whatcom County Council over their expected decision this coming
Tuesday evening, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regarding the water
rights appeal lawsuit before the Washington State Appeals Court. It is good to
speak up for rights established in law. I would encourage you to speak up in
favor of completing this appeals court lawsuit.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It can be argued that where “conservative” council
members have been besieged by legions of foppish progressive proxies, the
appearance of awakened conservative land owners in county chambers has slowed
the progressive onslaught somewhat. Such appeals strengthened the resolve of
conservative leaders to oppose redistribution of wealth and unlawful takings of
property.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But is this the full hiking boot that is needed for the
razor sharp perils we must walk through? What is the vision that will surmount
the evil day?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1) Identify and
work with real problem solvers. </b>Cut out the pretenders. Cross boundaries
and de-stratify conservative action groups.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last week, I listened to a group of farming community
leaders discuss plans to counter the progressive land and water grabs. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
ReSources was there, and used their allotted to ten
minutes to put their best foot forward. Carl Wiemer, ReSources guru, attended,
and listened attentively as Wendy Steffenson painted the ReSources project in
the Ten Mile Creek watershed in glowing water stewardship colors. Sharp
questioning was deferred, and a civil atmosphere was maintained.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The Lummi Tribe was there. Jeremy Friemund made a case
for Lummi water rights, however, in contrast to the ReSources presentation, there
was extensive, substantive questioning that went back and forth.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The last hour of that meeting was a nine member working
group of farmers, three each from dairy, berries and general horticulture, who
presented a plan to create county wide Water Improvement Districts. By law, a
WID can self organize itself, collect, and use taxes to carry out its agreed on
projects. In other parts of Washington State, WIDs have worked together with
tribes to hammer out win-win solutions. The state legislature seems to look
with favor on such coalitions, sending millions of dollars of funding to help
with capital infrastructure programs such as separation of handling facilities
for potable water from irrigation water. After the meeting, farmers were
encouraged to sign up for involvement in setting up WIDs in five or six
sub-watersheds in Whatcom County.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is my point?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Farmers are large water users. For a couple of decades,
farmers have been hiding themselves. A barrier to the EPA/DOE WA onslaught was
created by having WSDA inspect local dairy farms for manure handling and water
quality standards. That barrier is now under large assault by progressive
change agents.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Now, however, with a progressive dominated county
council, farmers have their backs to the wall. Other resource use groups such
as the BIA of Washington State are stepping up to plate to offer funding for
this water appeal. Such developments are heartening, but late in the game. Still,
the progressive bullies may have to play hardball instead of plundering other
surprised citizens.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
My question is this. Farmers who feed the rest of us have
grounds to push back against water and property grabs by the progressives. But,
where are the farmer’s kids? Where is the next generation? There were many
youthful faces in the farmer’s meeting. But, how can an electorate that votes
to deny local slaughterhouses come to terms with the practical careers of
producing food?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2) Invest in
children. </b>This is a contest of generations. Get ready to pass the baton to
the next generation.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Many conservative water rights activists themselves live
the life of Riley, eating but not producing food. After the farmers’ WID
meeting, the question was, what is the role of the non farmers in water rights
discussions? If the WID group dominates, what about well owners? Manufacturers?
Other non farm groups? The stratification of modern culture is much more pervasive
than we realize. Do we really understand and accept and work with other groups
we pay initial lip service to?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One more window. Last week I was invited to a multi-level
marketing promotion. A privately held company, ACN Inc, has gained the confidence
of many essential service providers. With the legislated deregulation of gas
and electric utilities, individuals will be able to shop rates from businesses
that buy and sell gas and electricity futures. There is big sales force money
to be made as service providers prefer the efficiencies of multi-level marketing
groups such as ACN.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Apart from disliking multi level sales pressures, I am
alarmed. The return on investment of corporate employees has fallen so low that
all large cellular providers allow ACN to underbid their own in house plans,
knowing they will make more money from the motivated external sales and service
agents than from their own employees.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What a commentary on our culture. What a rebuke to our
business systems, to our educators, to our parents. What footwear can give sure
footing in such cultural quicksands? The problems of water and property rights
in Whatcom County pale in comparison to living in a nation of incompetents.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What hiking boots will carry the day? What gives sure footing?
An evil day brings suffering to all.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One. Survivors measure
objectives against abilities</i>. Douglas MacArthur did return to the
Philippines to lead liberation forces against Japanese invaders, but he had to
leave first. Sure footing requires sure ground, and engagements in quicksand
usually end in both parties being sucked to doom.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Two. Survivors see
the end game</i>. Folly collapses under its own weight, but not usually the
first day. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three. Survivors
stay fit</i>. Seriously, why did conservatives along the BNSF right of way become
the slim majority that gave the progressives this most recent Whatcom County election?
Maybe we conservatives need to lose some pounds to fit into the hiking boots.
Maybe we have become like the monkey that is easily captured because it will
not let go of the peanuts in the entrapping gourd. What is more important?
Money? Investments? Retirements? Luxury waterfront homes? Or skills, character,
generosity and generational transfer of values?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Four. Ultimate
survivors see and serve the hidden hand</i>. There is a transcendent element to
this life on this ball. We are not just animals, fighting out survival and then
vanishing forever. There is a God who rules and rewards, who even allows
progressive county councils for his larger purposes. Is Whatcom County the
destination, or a “green room” for something bigger?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In his book, <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Civilizations-Die-Islam-Dying/dp/159698273X" target="_blank">“How Civilizations Die”, David Goldman</a> singles out evangelical Christians
and orthodox Jews as ethnicities that will survive when other groups fall below
a reproduction rate of 1.2 children per family. He says it is their sense of
heaven or a coming kingdom of God where physical death is reversed and life is
restored in an ultimate paradise that motivates them to bear and raise full
families that preserve their traditions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, let’s speak up. Let’s organize. Let’s force the
progressives to stop playing shell games. Let’s work with real stake holders
like the tribes, not these phony pretenders like <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://youtu.be/GiPGTTwy89s" target="_blank">Stalheim</a>
and Melious and their <a href="http://blog.faithandfreedom.us/2014/01/npr-reports-secret-progressive-network.html" target="_blank">millionaire meddlers</a>.
Let’s grow some of our own food. Let’s encourage the farmers who feed us. Let’s
understand the tribal groups and give them a measure of the certainty that they
desire. And, let us also be willing to invest, even die for the next
generations, not just our own petty comforts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-- JK</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://smllibertyroad.com/whatcom-county-council-special-council-of-the-whole-to-meet-at-6pm-jan-28th-2014-your-water-rights-are-at-stake/" target="_blank">Water Rights Talking Points For Letters To County Council Members</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Civilizations-Die-Islam-Dying/dp/159698273X" target="_blank">Children Are The Sure Footwear Of The Future.</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://blog.faithandfreedom.us/2014/01/npr-reports-secret-progressive-network.html" target="_blank">Reporter Austin Jenkins And His Story Vetted By Conservative Activist, Gary Randall</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://agendadocumentary.com/trailer/" target="_blank">Progressive Generations And Successes In America</a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://youtu.be/GiPGTTwy89s" target="_blank">Progressive Activist, David Stalhiem, Gets Huffy at County Council </a></span></div>
<br />
<br />Whatcom Workshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08334477141977538141noreply@blogger.com0