Seeing Things Clearly Through The Smoke

Summer is here and along with it fire season.  Living in the West you soon get used to it as an annual occurrence.  A devastating one at that.

Not only does it destroy millions of acres of forest and grass lands,  it displaces wildlife and destroys homes.  Peoples entire lives can go up in smoke in a matter of minutes.

This summer we've one right up the road.  Maybe 10 miles from where we live.  It's roaring up a steep mountainside just north of the tiny community of Bayview on  the east side of Lake Pend Oreille.

The air is thick with smoke.  Even here my eyes sting and my throat is scratchy.  Nothing, I'm sure, compared to what exists closer in.

What strikes me, as it always does, is the spirit of the people who are directly involved.  I wrote just a few days ago about how this area has heart.  Well, it sure does now.  And not just here but all across the region where wild fires are raging.

Neighbors help neighbors over and above what shelters provide.  They help clear homes, take care of live stock and pets, offer helping hands where ever needed.  The news is filled with people shaking their heads over the generosity of others.  It's that sense of community.  Communities with heart.

So what happens when the fire is over and people are left to put their lives back together?  Much the same.  People helping people.  It doesn't stop because the fire is out.  They rebuild and make things better.

It's something lost on our political class.  I'd like to see every last one of them don the yellow shirts of the fire fighters and join the lines.  Find out first hand what hard work really is.  What hard work really is when it's being done for someone other than themselves. Experience first hand that sense of community and even bask in the glow of appreciation that comes from those communities even if nearly everything is lost.  They've appreciated the effort.  And that's why you were on the line.  To work.  For them. Not yourself.

Maybe lighting a fire under the politicians is the wrong tactic.  Maybe we should just make them fight a real one where their life is at stake - all for others.  Then maybe they'd begin to understand what this country is about.

I won't, however, hold my breath.  Right now it's difficult enough to breathe.  It would be a breath of fresh air though, wouldn't it?

Let Trump Be!

Donald Trump.  The man who looks as if he is perpetually sucking on a lemon leaves just as sour a taste in many mouths.  But for heavens sake, leave the guy alone.

Gracefully said or not he speaks to the truth when saying those crossing the Mexican border illegally are not Mexico's best.  The fact they're coming here illegally should be enough to give him a pass.  Instead saying that many are rapists is what is picked up on and many are according to statistics.  Many may be perfectly fine people too, which he also said, though again, they are coming illegally.

Does his inartfullness really call for NBC and Univision cancelling contracts?  NBC known for it's truthfulness over the decades but maybe it's okay because Brian Williams is more polished and Al Sharpton is a White House crony? Macy's dropping his line of clothing?  Did you even know he had one?

Why is it we always want to bring the big guys down.  Is it their success?  The fact he doesn't have to get up close and personal with people he's never met and beg for money? Doesn't he really talk the way most of us do?  Murdering the King's English?  I'd think we could better identify with him more than the silver tongued politicians who are falling all over themselves trying to discredit him.

Do you think he even has a prayer of getting the nomination?  The pols will tell you not a chance.  Then why are they so upset? I'd worry more about Iran getting the bomb which is pretty much a sure thing at this point and who will deliver that news other than the ever so slick John Kerry?  Or maybe it will be Obama who will skew the details into a perfectly acceptable lie like has has done on so many occasions before.

Trump? Maybe they're worried because they fear he really does have a chance. He says things the way he sees them and from the attention he's getting the people are at least listening.

Let's face it.  You can't ruin the guy.  He could buy NBC and Macys if he wanted. He could arm our middle eastern allies if he wanted. Yep.  He's rich.  Mega rich. He's running for President because he doesn't like the way the country is going.  Do any of us?

Are we as sure of the motivation of 99% of the other candidates? So leave him be.  Let him have his say no matter how it comes out and in so doing hold the feet of the others to the fire. Some one needs to do it.  I can't.  You can't.  But he can because he can afford to.

So here's to The Donald.  Have at it Mr. Trump!

Finally, A Race!

I was beginning to wonder if it would happen.  A real contender would join the Democrat field for the presidential nomination.  And so it has.

Jim Webb is a good man and I think he'll give Hillary a real run for her money.  She's been inching left to keep Elizabeth Warren out of the race but I don't think Ms. Warren ever intended to run.  I think she sees herself being more effective as a power in the Senate.  If so I agree.

Webb will now pull Hillary back toward the center or he will own it.  It will be interesting to see how she handles it and what her minions have planned for Mr. Webb.  I doubt it will be fair nor truthful.

For the moment anyway, I'm elated.  Not only does Hillary have some real competition, Jim Webb is a man I could vote for.  I hope that doesn't jinx him!

If You're Looking For Heart...

If you're looking for heart our little corner of the world sure has it.  We are anything but perfect.  There are the social climbers, the ne'er do wells, the takers - and the givers.  When the chips are down they far outweigh the negatives.

The towns here remind me of a big metropolitan area where the boundaries are blurred by growth.  Such it is here between Rathdrum, Post Falls Hayden and Coeur d' Alene with even more smaller ones tossed in for good measure.

When there is need they all respond.  Take a few mosnths ago when a police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty. The support for his family was phenomenal from moral support to cash contributions.  One little girl set up a lemonade stand to raise money for the officer's kids.

As fate and weird stories would have it, shortly thereafter the little girl's own father was killed in an auto accident. Again the out pouring of support including the police who set up their own lemonade  stand to raise money for her family.  We don't hate our police around here. They are us. Neighbors.  Friends.  With heart.

Then there was Iron Man last week in which a blind vet competed and finished.  He was accompanied by a very special brother-in-law who not only trained with him but competed with him every step of the way.  Both are more than Iron Men to me! And certainly have stout hearts!

Most recently was a story on the news last night.  A councilwoman from Post Falls was letting people know there were yard signs available for houses where vets live who could be spooked by fire works.  No charge.  She got the idea when she  planned to attend the big show in Coeur d'Alene with a combat vet.  He couldn't even get to the beginning of it.  Oh my, there are so many of them of whom we are unaware. It's the caring that sparked the action! And heart.

There are places listed as best to retire, best place to vacation, best this and best that but if you want an example of the most important aspect of any community - heart - then check out this little corner of northern Idaho.

You'll recognize it.  In the people.

Rethink The Direction Of Your Anger!

I listened to Chris Christie announce for the presidency this morning.  I heard him say Americans are not angry but yes, they are frustrated.  Well, some are angry and I suspect among those are the professional protesters.  Why else would there be calls for a mass burning of the American flag because it's only a piece of cloth that we worship while the problem is the oppressed.

Or to disarm the NYPD because they represent the powers that be.  I don't think they'd necessarily agree with that.

Back to the flag.  Yes, it is a piece of cloth and it is merely symbolism but rethink about what it represents.  Not oppression.  Rather at the moment it represents what the country once was, not what it is now.

But don't burn the flag.  Revere it and do what's necessary to return it's stature.  Protest those who have brought it to it's figurative knees.  The politicians.  Both parties are surviving and thriving on discord and it has gone beyond frightening.  It's disgusting.

Who is to blame?  Those among us who are apathetic.  Those who revere a scandal tainted Hillary Clinton above all others in the quest for the presidency.  Just because she's a Democrat?  What a lousy reason.  Because the rest of the declared democratic field is a joke?  Whose fault is that?  Pay attention!

As for the Republican field, there are some good people vying for the nomination but someone had better set a fire under themselves and soon.  Right now they all kind of blend together.  Where's the scrap?  The fight?  The indignity toward how we've fallen in world stature?  Sure they all speak to it and blame this administration but it isn't just them.  Congress is to blame.  The Court too is guilty of over stepping its bounds.  Yet we're not hearing it.  Like the old cell commercial - Verizon if I remember correctly - where the guy is always saying, "Can you hear me now?" No.  I cannot hear you.

But that's what we need.  Someone so strong the press has to pay attention.  Someone who can make headlines during every news cycle so no one can doubt who he or she is. The media isn't going to help them.  They're going to have to do it on their own. The cause, restoring the country to greatness, must become the focal point and the candidate must be the one who rallies the people.

Do we have such a person?  Maybe.  But who and where?  I throw down the gauntlet.  Is anyone willing to pick it up and run with it?  We desperately need you if you're out there.  Time's a wastin'!