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Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
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Dazzeetrader1980 on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 28 at 11:13 a.m.
Thanks for you letters Colt. Seer is a “defective” and very limited in his world view. I wouldn’t bother with him. He’ hates God, religion and the independent spirit that makes America great.
Best wishes to you Colt. Thanks for taking the time to write. Romney is a very good example of the good things in America.
Obama? not so much. Obama builds discord. Mitt Romney builds companies. Obama lives off the tax money Romney and his companies have provided much the same as other parasites who live off the strong things in our society….
Romney builds his church and contributes to the good will of the LDS.. Obama can’t even find a church (yet) despite trumpeting (falsely ) that he was a churchgoing man and a strong christian. Just more misrepresentation from Obama. Anyway, nice letters Colt. Be well.
The_Seer on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 28 at 9:47 a.m.
coltakashi: Thanks for your posts. They are mostly accurate and delivered with cogency.
With that in mind, do you care of offer an explanation for the origins of the Mormon Church and LDS faith that a reasonable person could understand why you and millions of others would devote your lives to it? The whole “golden plates” and meetings with “Gabriel” are a little hard to swallow for those with functioning brain cells. Why was Joseph Smith basically a terrorist? Why did the Mormons go to war with the U.S.?
Bullies rarely change their behavior. Romney is lying about not being able to recall the incident where he and five other adolescents (who all remember it) held down a gay student and cut his hair. Bain Capital is simply a bully in the playground we call capitalism in the U.S. “I’m strong, you’re weak, I’m taking your marbles, cutting your hair, et.al.,
coltakashi on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 28 at 8:17 a.m.
If you are a public employee, like a school teacher, your pension is probably heavily invested in private equity firms like Bain Capital, which earn far more than the paltry interest rates of Treasury Bonds and bank accounts. Companies like Bain buy companies that are not performing as well as they could, from owners who are happy to sell losing businesses, and then Bain will apply its expertise to make the companies more efficent and profitable. Sometimes that means initially reducing the work force, but if Bain had not invested, many of those businesses would have gone straight into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is risky business, betting that you can make a loser company successful, and sometimes it does not succeed, especially because there is no protection from competition globally. But Bain and other private equity firms have been successful consistently enough that public pension trustees invest most of your pensions into them, because they have a better track record of growing the funds even in recessions. And when Bain succeeds, it has created a company which servives and can continue to employ workers into the future and even expand.
The company Bain bought which is featured in Obama ads was held by Bain for 8 YEARS, and it invested an additional $100 million to modernize it and make it more competitive. A couple if years after Romney left Bain to head the 2002 Olympics, Bain sold the company that owned the steel mill to another company, and that company continues to operate, after it decided to close that one plant. A place where a steel mill continues to operate even when it loses money just to keep people employed is called the Soviet Union. Russia gave up on that, and even Communist China gave up on that idea. The only way to ensure people have jobs is to let businesses grow and make profits so they need to hire workers.
By the way, Barack Obama has been happy to accept big campaign contributions from some of the partners at Bain Capital even while calls them “vampire capitalusts”. He doesn’t mind getting a transfusion from those he calls “blood suckers”.
coltakashi on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 28 at 7:52 a.m.
Like all college students in 1967 (including myself) Romney had a Student Deferment. He could have continued using that student deferment until they were ended in 1969 with the replacement by the Draft Lottery, based on birthdays. Everyone got a number from 1 to 366 and that wwas the order in which you would get called up for the draft. Everyone born on Romney’s birthday, regardless of religion or college studies, got a number above 300, so they were not going to be called up. On the other hand, everyone who was born on MY birthday was assigned number 16, guaranteeing we would be called up.
Unlike the ministerial deferments given to students studying to be ministers, and then becoming pastors, the deferments given to Mormon missionaries were temporary, only for the 2 years of the mission. Then the guy would return home and be subject to the Draft. For every Mormon missionary who went out, another came home and was subject to the Draft. For Mormons like me and Romney, missionary service is a duty to God.
When I returned from my mission in Japan, I was immediately given a Draft physical. I decided that, in order to complete college, I would join the ROTC. After I graduated I was commissioned, and ended up serving 20 years in the Air Force, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. But if I had not been facing the Draft, I would have taken a different career path. That is what Romney did. He married, graduated college, went to law school and business school at Harvard, was recognized as a top student, and that led to the business leadership opportunities that made him a multimillionaire.
A missionary I served with in Japan also went to Harvard Law School, probably knew Romney thete, and went on to a distinguished academic career at Columbia.University, as Dean at George Washington University Law School, President if the University of Utah and.now President of the University of Washington. The Draft Lottery affected many thousands of young men’s lives, and did what it was designed to do: it took away the most widely used deferment, for college students, and made chance the decisionmaker on who would get called up.
By the way, Brigham Young University has the largest ROTC program in the US after The Citadel and VMI. Many of those in the program have served as Mormpn missionaries. The Army has centered its interpreter corps in the Utah National Guard because so many Utahns learned foreign languages during missionary service. There is an established tradition at the Air Force Academy of cadets being allowed to take a two year leave of absence for work with the Peace Corps or as Mormon missionaries, because they return as more mature leaders and often graduate near the top of their class.
Joelcannon on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 27 at 7:37 p.m.
The 1st ammendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. It is common for people to use the expression inaccurately.
The LDS church was not the first or only church to use the missionary exemption, and restricted the number called during the draft. Clinton and Biden both got student deferments, yet democrats seldom make this an issue. Obama did not serve in the military either.
So if military service is a requirement, then you have few candidates that meet your standards.
The_Seer on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 27 at 4:17 p.m.
I thought we had separation of church and state? But it’s okay for Mormons to avoid military service during a time of draft to go on their missions?
Defend your nation first, then roam the world spreading nonsense.
kkrimmer on Romney's Mormon mission partner recalls time in Paris on May 27 at 3:54 p.m.
Mitt Romney no job creator, says a man who knows
“I find it personally insulting when Romney says his work at Bain created jobs,” said Kastenbaum, a registered Republican who lives in Lafayette. “That’s not what my experience was.” http://tinyurl.com/89a5t52
How about a tally of # of jobs Romeny sent overseas or eliminated vs jobs created….
Mayocynic1 on Spokane GOP challenges Roskelley run on May 24 at 11:02 p.m.
The goal isn’t to get Ros out of the race. The goal was to show his hypocrisy. Look like the goal was achieved. It’ll come up again and again during the summer months. Roskelley is the one commissioner who squandered $20 million in County reserves. Liberal Dems love to spend without one thought of sonsequences to the taxpayer. He’s perfect for that role.
He’ll get his rear end beat. I think this whole liberal movement is about to die off for quite some time. I hope so. It’s produced nothing but debt..debt to the people who pay the huge majority of taxes for their folly.
BobEly on Charter school initiative filed on May 23 at 10:01 a.m.
I hate charter schools! This is basically a way to get a private school paid for by the taxpayers. I am asking all my Washington friends to vote against this initiative if it makes it to the ballot. We have this idiotic concept in Idaho, and it is pretty much taxation without representation.
polistra on Gregoire pushes education funding to center of debate on May 23 at 4:12 a.m.
It’s always MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
STOP IT!
There isn’t any more. All gone. You used it all up. You can’t have any more because there isn’t any more.
Just once in this universe, once between the Big Bang and the Big Collapse, JUST ONE BLOODY EFFING TIME, try making do with what you have.
You will find that less money makes education better.
Guaranteed. Guaranteed. Guaranteed.
Peaches on Spokane GOP challenges Roskelley run on May 21 at 2:43 p.m.
let the GOPers file a frivolous lawsuit……less money to spend on lies and innuendo
Peaches on A Filing Week tradition ends on May 21 at 1:10 p.m.
Question authority. Party “hand-picked” candidates don’t always rise to the occasion.
Thanks Barbara for keeping it interesting!
arroyoribera on WA Delegation to Air Force: Put new tankers at Fairchild on May 18 at 11:24 p.m.
Actually, this military base, Fairchild, long involved in mass destruction and US war crimes in various corners of the globe, needs to be shut down and converted to other non-military uses. Fairchild housed and probably does still house (despite official statements to the contrary) nuclear weapons. Its B-52 squadron for decades until they were removed at the end of the 1990s was involved in the genocidal and wanton destruction of Vietnam before the US was defeated and forced to retreat. The KC-135 refuelers now stationed at Fairchild were necessary for the global reach of the weapon of mass destruction and murder called the B-52. Spokane has announced that it is open for business by making zero noise about the fact that the SERE Program located on and off Fairchild has been intimately involved in US global torture policy and practice (via Spokane-based CIA psychologists Mitchell and Jessen). And now it flies the POW-MIA flag over its city hall as well as over its courthouse and other government buildings as further proof of its kowtowing to military interests, the BRAC (Base Realignment Commission), and defense contracting interests, not to mention the survival/torture complex here. Shut it down!
David Brookbank
arroyoribera on Gregoire tells teachers that state must raise taxes on May 18 at 10:51 p.m.
Is it just my imagination or do I hear a lame duck quacking?
WillyPeter on McMorris Rodgers: GOP designated hitter on War on Women on May 18 at 8:18 a.m.
Funny question, Jim….but you shoudda said “how’d she do responding to two ambushing, conservative women hatin’ Obama supporters.”
She’ll prove in November that she did well…:-).
WillyPeter on Matthews takes on McMorris Rodgers on May 18 at 8:00 a.m.
Chris is a zealot who can’t listen. He’s incapable of letting any Republican talk without interrupting them. And he ‘specially enjoys being impolite and interrupting good lookin’ conservative women……I guess they could be the source of another thrill up his leg….
Cathy’ll be re-elected with more than 60% of the vote. And our name-calling, mean-spirited liberals know it…..and it just drives ‘em ‘round the bend when she is so unfailingly nice and polite. Somethin’ that they’re incapable of being……
WillyPeter on Gregoire tells teachers that state must raise taxes on May 18 at 7:28 a.m.
Gregoire and Brown climb into the lifeboat and row away from the Titanic known as Washington State - the ship-of-state that they steered into the iceberg - waiving as they call to us to just fix the mammoth hole in the ship’s side by raising taxes, and then the ship will not sink!!….then we’ll all surely be happy.
Chris and Lisa meanwhile will happily row to another, newer ship, where they can search for more undiscovered icebergs……
See how simple is our solution……HOOT!
Justsayin' on Gregoire tells teachers that state must raise taxes on May 18 at 6:15 a.m.
Well sure, why not raise taxes? The state employees need to live better than the people that pay their wages. The Unions are greedy beyond belief! Just think of the taxpayers as a bottomless pit of money.
steadystu on Matthews takes on McMorris Rodgers on May 16 at 8:33 p.m.
The Democrats want to play politics to make this fit into their wider “war on women” narrative (which, at last check was failing).
The only thing standing in the way of that this week? The obvious truth. That is, anyone who actually bothers to research the bill, and the existing VAWA-funded programs, will know that they cover ALL victims of domestic abuse.
hgimhof on Matthews takes on McMorris Rodgers on May 16 at 9:50 a.m.
She is a complete tool, unable to think for herself and spewing canned talking points. It is an embarrassment to have her as our representative.
TheRain on Day 2 Filing Week: Inslee draws a crowd on May 15 at 9:39 p.m.
It’s interesting to me to see that Matt Shea has filed to be a PCO, but hasn’t filed for the 4th LD race yet.
It’s also notable how many contested PCO elections there are on the GOP side this year. Passion on their side, internecine strife, or both?
Lulubelle on Matthews takes on McMorris Rodgers on May 15 at 6:16 p.m.
How embarrassing is it to have this woman identified with Eastern WA. Matthews even said SPOKANE WA, not just some generic WA State reference.
What a shill.
jpherson on McMorris Rodgers: GOP designated hitter on War on Women on May 15 at 3:26 p.m.
“see which matchup she handled better”
“Better” being a relative term. Her inability to answer a simple question is an embarrassment to both men and women in her district.
JustinEllenbecker on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 12 at 12:17 a.m.
As another interesting point in reference to the feelings that the region has towards Occupy Spokane.
Here is the number of likes for Occupy Spokane of Facebook 7854.
Here is the number of likes for The Spokesman review 8244.
People may want to look at the numbers before speaking about how areas feel.
JustinEllenbecker on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 12 at 12:11 a.m.
The 6th LD is ready for a candidate that doesn’t want to increase state University tuition by 16% yearly as businesses are experiencing a severe lack of qualified employees. A stance that at the same time is anti-business and anti-education.
One that isn’t among the 43 member minority of the house that voted against marriage equality, ignoring the testimony of the religious communities, civil libertarians, and progressives alike.
Wayne Spitzer is a candidate that is ready to remove the obscene tax loopholes that Kevin Parker continually voted to protect. Loopholes for cosmetic surgery and private jets, or worse yet, to out of state banks at to the tune of $100,000,000 last year.
It’s time somebody stepped forward to challenge Rep. Parker and his wealth redistribution from the hard working tax payers to the corporate backers he rubs shoulders with. The 6th doesn’t stand for protectionist Socialism for the rich and predatory Capitalism for the rest, and as such it doesn’t stand with Parker.
Challenging a wealthy spin weaving campaign machine is the task of the underdog Wayne Spitzer.
hollyE on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 11 at 11:26 p.m.
Wish nothing but the best for Wayne Spitzer! It is time for a change.
Gin on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 11 at 8:19 p.m.
It is time for a change in the 6th district. Without doubt Mr. Parker has forgotten where he comes from and who he actually works for. I am looking forward to election night when the renegade campaign wins!
DebConklin on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 11 at 7:25 p.m.
A warm body is someone recruited by the Party. Wayne was NOT recruited by the party. He stepped up because no Dem insiders wanted to take on Rep Parker and he thinks that Parker should be held accountable for voting to support our current broken economic system: multinational corporations who are outsourcing American jobs, and huge banking conglomerates who are putting our economy at risk while they (Like Chase) rip off Washington tax payers through the EBT program.
And “renegade campaign” is not “I have no money” but a statement that we need to stop corporations from buying our lawmakers by showing that grassroots campaigns have new life now that Occupy has changed the political conversation.
Maybe he won’t win. But he WILL change the conversation. And maybe voters will surprise the complacent.
Raising_Hell on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 11 at 7:21 p.m.
“Not too many Occupy Spokane fans on the South Hill or Indian Trail.”
Not too many folks in those places that have actually benefitted from anything Parker (an ALEC clone who serves the corporate masters) has done in Olympia. The screws will continue to be ratcheted down tighter as our Wall Street economy moves relentlessly forward in its goal of extracting wealth from places like Spokane. You might be surprised how many fans of Occupy are everywhere. More are being made everyday as economic reality, or the economic reality facing kids and grandkids hits home to more and more people. We are a population living on the edge, one misfortune away from the streets. Land of opportunity? Only if you’re born to it.
I expect a great campaign from Wayne, who is intelligent, well spoken, and gets it. I expect that Parker will attempt to avoid actually discussing any issues, his unthinking advancement of the ALEC agenda, or his lack of accomplishments. He will hope his ideological label will be enough for an unthinking electorate. As Parker and his cronies continue to turn our world into an apocalyptic Sci-Fi film, a candidate like Wayne is familiar with the hero role that is begging to be filled.
daviking on Parker challeger, Wayne Spitzer, used to big challenges on May 11 at 4:51 p.m.
Wayne is a beautiful person with an amazing heart. Bright, caring, and adventurous. If that means he is a “warm body,” well so be it. Wayne will have my vote.