Sowing the Seeds of Hatred

I am so disgusted as I write this I'm having to reign in my anger. The photo is of a section of land not too far south of Coeur d'Alene. It is filled with gently rolling hills coupled with forest land and farm fields. It is here, at the cross roads, a developer wants to build 141 storage units on ten acres. It would require a conditional use permit because the area is rural.

Area residents turned out in significant numbers when the County Commissioners held a hearing. They were against the project. Why? According to The Mica Kidd Island Property Owners Association the facility was opposed because they didn't want a precedent set for possible commercial sprawl, it would infringe on the visual tone of the community, create traffic hazards and would be incompatible with the historical atmosphere of century old farms, barns and Grange Hall. Among others.

The argument that the facility would have a barn like appearance to fit in with it's surroundings and there was a need for boat storage in the area was not enough to outweigh the objections of the area residents. The Commissioners, in my opinion, to their credit, turned it down.

Sounds like run of the mill procedure doesn't it? Right. Wrong. Today, the Coeur d'Alene Press headlined the fact that the developer, one Haitham Joudeh, has filed a discrimination suit against the commissioners and the Mica Kidd Island Fire District claiming religious and racial discrimination.

Please. This is the most preposterous allegation imaginable. I really don't believe the area residents nor the commissioners care one iota that the man is of Middle Eastern descent nor that he follows the Islamic faith. I doubt anyone gave it a thought until this came up!

I do not know if the claim that Grange members and the Fire District held an anti-Joudeh rally or not. If they did I should like to think it was to drum up support for denying his project and had nothing to with him as an individual.

We live in an area where the vestiges of the neo-Nazi's still haunt us. I find it highly unlikely that the Commissioners would partake in any action that even smacked of that kind of racial discord.

Steve Tucker, a Spokane attorney who would do well to stay in his own state and city, tells us Mr. Joudeh was born in Idaho and graduated from the University of Idaho. If true, he well knows the attitudes in this town about that kind of simmering suggestiveness and he should be ashamed of himself.

A $25 million lawsuit this day and age, in a community of this size where the majority of the wealthy only vacation here and the less then privileged well outweigh the privileged, is a slap in our collective faces in the name of prejudice of the worst kind.

I could be wrong in my assumptions. I have only the news report and the comments from the Owners Association web site to draw from, but I just can't get my head around malacious intent of such intensity. I should think Mr. Joudeh might want to consider moving on. I doubt he'll be welcome around here and it will have nothing to with his race nor faith except for the way he's using them to drive a wedge.

Maybe Spokane would welcome him. They have a higher level of tolerance. They have Steve Tucker.

The Dark Side Of The Bank Bail Out

I do not want the government's fingers in my piggy bank! Apparently a lot of bigger banks don't either!

It leads me to wonder, why, if the government really does not want to nationalize the banks, are they not allowing banks who didn't want or need TARP money in the first place, return it?

As an example of what's happening, Investor's Business Daily tells of one bank which has no sub prime loans, no bad debts, no credit default swaps, didn't need, ask for or want the money.

They were told if they didn't take it there would be a multi-year public audit of their dealings. Now the government owns a 2% stake which gives them the right to control salaries, open access to the books, literally tell the bank how it can do business.

Again, I'm uncomfortable with the bully tactics the administration is using. To have guidelines for those that were truly bailed out is one thing; to force themselves on those who didn't want nor need their help smacks of extortion. If they succeed in nationalizing the banks and perhaps the auto industry, where will the strike next?

There is a place for government intervention, but intrusion into the private sector, under threat, where it's not needed is a dangerous precedent. I had enough of those during the Bush administration.

Keep a close eye on the charm offensive that's going on. It's only rhetoric. What counts is what's going on beneath the radar and it isn't pretty.

GM - Maybe Bankruptcy IS a Good Idea!

I saw this on MSNBC today and also in The Wall Street Journal. I just shook my head in wonder.

With GM on the verge of bankruptcy, I'm beginning to think it may be a good idea. It would get them out from under punitive union contracts and hopefully bring in a whole slate of new board members and executives. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation, but when the products you're making don't sell because they have no appeal to the buyer, why would you spend tons of research and development money on a project such as this?

P.U.M.A. Personal Urban Mobility and Accesibility. A joint venture between Segway of scooter fame and General Motors of honkin' big truck and SUV fame! It's like a marriage between Goliath and a Hobbit! Aiming for 2012, this little two seat, two wheeler will be battery run with a recharge time of six hours and will tool along at 35mph. Keep it off the highways!

Those cute little Smart Cars you see occasionally are good for where I first saw them Vancouver's Granville Island where the few streets they have are narrow and parking is scant. These are even smaller!

The New York auto show is slated for this week so GM decided it was the right time to tout this thing as the vehicle of the future. Right. They didn't even take it on a street for demonstration purposes but rather stuck to the sidewalk nearly running over a pedestrian. That might not be the best place either. Will they be able to add PUMA lanes like bus lanes?

Okay. I can see these things tooling around Sun City or similar enclosed communities, but on city streets? Like New York? You wouldn't even be able to see it unless you banned every other autombile known to man!

If selling cars is what GM is all about, I think they've missed the message here. They've slashed product development programs, advertising and auto shows budgets, yet this is what they choose to showcase.

If I were leading the change I'd be looking at how to better produce the gas guzzling trucks and SUVs they do so well. Let's face it, people from rural areas no matter where in the country, and especially those in areas that have mountains and winter, there will always be a mass market for the big and powerful. It's not a lifestyle issue; it's a necessity of life!

Senator Burr (R NC) - Obstructionist For The Sake Of It?

There has been no Cabinet appointee more right on than former General Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. You remember him. The General who Rumsfeld replaced because he told the truth about the number of troops it would take to stabilize Iraq after invasion. I should think few could understand the needs of our veterans more or care more to see that they are met.

Another stellar nomination for Assistant Secretary of the Department is Tammy Duckworth. You should remember her too. She was an Illinois Nation Guard helicopter pilot who lost both legs and the partial use of one arm when an IED downed the chopper she was piloting.. She would have bled to death had the heat from the explosion not cauterized her wounds. That's about as grim as it gets.

She went on to head veterans for the State of Illinois.

Who could be more qualified to serve? She was nominated by President Obama two months ago, her nomination hearing was last Wednesday, a confirmation vote planned for Thursday and swearing in scheduled for Friday. It didn't happen.

Senator Burr says he has "questions" about her nomination. That's what the hearings are for. To ask those questions. Everything will no be delayed until April 21.

His office offered the following rational. "He's basically doing some due diligence as he does for every nominee to ensure veterans have the best representation." Does he think she doesn't get it? Does he want the level of care they received under the Bush administration? Or does he just get a giggle out of yanking the administration's chain?

We'll always elect men like Senator Burr and he can play his games as long as his constituents don't care. If that's what he wants he should play them against someone of his own stature. There are plenty of them in the Senate. How dare he play such games with one of our military heroines who by the grace of God only gave her limbs for her country and not her life.

He can save the platitudes. He should be ashamed.

We're Tolerating This Why?

I really get angry every time I read an account of the violence against women in countries in which we are fighting. Another Dogwalk solution. Maybe I ought to change the name of my blog to Dogwalk Solutions. A simple, non-sensical way of problem solving! Either they outlaw their barbaric treatment of women or they can go it on their own. No aid. No troops. Nothing from the U.S.. Nada!

Late last week I read where there is a new Afghan law that makes it legal for a man to rape his wife. They have even put a time frame on it - the right to have intercourse every fourth night and that the wife is "bound" to respond to her husband's desires. No wonder the opium trade flourishes. Women probably indulge to escape the miserable existence they are forced, by law, to endure!

Politics? You bet. It is reported President Karzai, whose joke of a government we're trying to keep in place, signed the law to bolster his chances for re-election. How much more disgusting can it get?

Quite a bit. A video is making the rounds of a Pakistani woman being publicly flogged . Pakistan, the "ally" who is supposedly helping with the Afghanistan war. Pakistan, who just cut a deal with the Taliban to reinstitute Shiia law in the Swat Valley to keep the peace for themselves.

A spokesman for the Swat Taliban defended the punishment but conceded it should not have been done in public and should have been carried out by a prepubescent boy. Nothing like instilling acceptable behavior in the young!

Why do I write about such topics on Sunday? Maybe as we sit in church contemplating good and evil we might consider what is repugnant to us is law to those we would defend.

All I can do is repeatedly ask, "Why?"