A view from afar!
"a political view"

By Rick Faller
January 2016

Crap the rain although needed is driving me out of my mind. Bored stiff as we have not seen the sun here Redding in 3 weeks. I’m feeling like a mole. So what’s to talk about? Ah yes Politics. Just when I thought there was nothing else to comment on the village idiot Donald Trump he continues to earn my Ire! Having said that I must confess I am more at odds with the idiots that support him. When Ma and Pa raised me in a fine traditional Democratic household I was a loyal trooper in that I was all in with the Dems. Back then there were honest to God statesmen in the party like Hubert Humphrey, Estes Kefauver, and Adlai Stevenson that have all but become extinct! I left the Democratic Party because the Progressive Liberal Left Wingers were slowly taking over control of the party. Right after we had endured the Carter Presidency I bolted to the Republican Party. This of course was a short venture as slowly but assuredly the Right Wingers, Tea Party, Libertarians all under the phony guise of being Conservatives took over. Let’s be clear I am grounded solidly in being a Fiscal Conservative. I am registered Republican in name only as I vote conservative. The DEM party has no conservatives within a Million Parsecs (a little Star Wars lingo) of the liberal inner circle. The truly last fiscal conservative in the Dem party was John F. Kennedy and we all know what he had in his closet!

So to have any say as an Independent, I have to remain a registered Republican so I can at least vote for a conservative. The way the voting rules are set up in most states it leaves us Independents in a tough spot through the Primary voting season. I look at the present GOP polls in this primary Iowa and New Hampshire and it is driven by the willing press and so called conservative Tea Party and Evangelical wing of the party. They like to say from the heartland of Iowa. What a load of pure nonsense! When have they ever picked a winner? After clamoring for change in having a God fearing conservative run for President they seem to be for Donald Trump and it appears also Ted Cruz. There are many ill-rational reasons for their choice. First there is the miss understanding as to why they have lost the last two elections for the White House. They say they elected two moderate republicans in John McCain and Mitt Romney to run for President and they now must have a true conservative to win. The real reason they lost is the far right wing of the GOP (Tea Party, Libertarians) went home and did not vote or support either of these two after their man lost in the primaries. They took their ball and went home!

Let us breakdown why. You see the Democrats have an advantage over us not just in numbers. No matter what scandal comes of their candidate they will circle the wagons and defend and support the party line. No matter what! The GOP on the other hand will eat their own and destroy each other to a point of no return. They will literally throw out the baby with the bath water! You see this destruction of some very good people happening today in the GOP debates. Now that I have set you up lets analyze what’s going on. Again claiming they (GOP) need of a true conservative and an outsider to Washington it appears so far their pick is Donald Trump?

Truth is the Donald is a card carrying liberal who has voted democratic for the past 25 years. He has hung with the Clinton's over the years and has enjoyed many favors from them. Fact is there are more pictures taken of Trump and his ex-wife and family with the Clinton's than you probably have of your own children and family. He believes in Eminent Domain Powers of the government where there is little recourse for the citizen to defend their rights all the while being of great benefit to the Donald and his enterprises. He wants to put a tariff on all imports from the Pacific Rim countries to balance the Trade Agreements. To clarify this, go to Macy’s, Target, K-mart, and Penney’s, Navy store, and Wall-Mart stores and we are talking 40% increase on all goods you purchase from them as almost all goods are made in these pacific rim countries. Want to buy an import car add a minimum of $7.000.00 to that price tag.

Do you think the business’s overseas wants to come back to the U.S.  where they face high taxes, ridicules  regulations and high union wages? This is not about what is right or would be nice it’s about reality. Those types of manufacturing jobs are gone because the American people want their stuff on the cheap! Then the Donald recently addressed Liberty University. This is a Christian University founded by Jerry Falwell. He cites a passage out of the Bible and refers it to being from #2 Corinthians? I’m just a guy from Alameda and I am not running for President nor am I considered a very religious man. But I know it’s called “Second Corinthians”. Excuse me? Is this a guy that you want to be President?   He’s no more a Christian than I am an Ice Cream Cone! He surely likes the taste of shoe leather as it seems he has his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion. Now he brings in Sarah Palin from Alaska who endorses him for President. Now there is some real credibility right? She endorsed Ted Cruz when he was running for the Senate now she switches to Trump. Reason is simple Cruz does not have any money to pay her. There’s nothing like loyalty in politics? I do think Sara Palin got treated unfairly when she ran for VP as McCain’s running mate. Having said that, I got to tell you when this woman talks, blood shoots out of my eyeballs! Sarah proclaims to be against the bail outs and Wall Street and Capitalist Cronyism which describe Trump to a T. Believe me when I say there is nothing in Trumps history that suggests he is a conservative. In fact he is quite the opposite. His companies have taken advantage of four bankruptcies’ to protect them from creditors. Think about that for a minute. The Reason for most bankruptcies is poor decisions and unsound business practices. Now the GOP right wingers want him to fix our economy. Anyone got a 401k? Often times your financial adviser invest in bonds through banks that invest in building projects, etc. These bond holders in Trumps case after bankruptcy got 10 cents on the dollar for their investment. Gee Thanks!

It would seem to many that I might be for Ted Cruz after this less than glowing review of the Donald? There is about as much chance for me voting for Cruz as a Nat has avoiding a bright light in the night! In fact after watching him on TV, I always feel I need to take a shower! I do feel he is eligible to run for president as I stated in a previous post. I just don’t trust him! He has burned every bridge he has ever crossed. He grandstands on every issue like a Carnival barker. He bragged about going back to Washington to vote " No" on a bill that was projected to pass overwhelmingly. I look at that as not being genuine and fraudulent and as my Mother would say “He is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters with 50% cotton!”  Have you ever been to a small town car lot and there is a guy with slicked back hair with that thin out of date tie and pants an inch or two above the shoes wearing white socks trying to convince you that car he is trying to sell you had just one owner? That is Ted Cruz!

Here is my view of the rest of the field.

Let’s start with the most prominent three Governors. We have John Kasich of Ohio, Jeb Bush ex-governor from Florida and Chris Christie Governor from New Jersey.

 John Kasich is a Moderate Conservative has the credentials of an excellent executive officer that has a great record in the congress and as Governor of Ohio. He was a main force when serving the congress the last time we ever had a balanced budget. As governor he took over a state that shall we say was mired in deep doo-doo! In balancing the budget, increasing employment, raising the school standards and creating a surplus in the state treasury there in not much not to like. His problem is he is not flashy guy and will not attack fellow republicans. Even when he addressed Hillary Clinton he keeps it to her record and nothing personal.  He does not debate as well as others in the race and kind of comes off as a station wagon in a SUV world. Not that there was anything wrong with station wagons just not pretty to look at. 

Jeb Bush serves for two terms as Governor of the state of Florida. He has been out of politics for the past 8 years or so. He also has the credentials of being an excellent executive officer and did a great job as Governor and also is more to the moderate side of the Republican Party contrary to his sell job as being a staunch conservative.  In many of the same areas mentioned for John Kasich these two seem to mirror each other in their performance. The elephant in the room that distract voters from voting for Jeb is his last name. In some ways he and Hillary suffer from the same thing in that many voters are tired of the Clinton/Bush name in politics. Shame actually as Jeb is the smarter of the previous two office holders with his last name. He looks to be a fish out of water when going after fellow Republicans and his demeanor in debates shows him to be about as exciting as a Mashed Potato Sandwich.

Chris Christy sitting governor of the State of New Jersey claims to be the conservative champion that will tell it like it is. Unless your refereeing to lane blockage across the bridge to New York.  Christie is the hardest for me to read. I can imagine him at home standing in front of the mirror practicing his speech and one liners then glancing up for a reaction to only realize he is the only one in the mirror. The big man from Jersey often falls flat in his retorts however seems to stay on point about Hillary Clinton. He gets ruffled when responding to other candidates that attack him and finally for many voters he did himself no good by hugging the President after Hurricane Sandy. To this day he still is being dogged by many survivors of the hurricane that remain homeless and feel he did not handle the crisis very well.

Marco Rubio a fresh newcomer to the presidential contest is young and seems prepared in all debates. In fact he has a 93.4% correct rate from his debates. Seems very strong in National Defense as he says he will keep America strong and safe. Not much different in what the Donald is saying only Rubio actual answers the questions put to him on how he will accomplish what he says he will do. Was a Tea Party darling when elected to the senate then all of a sudden is painted by the press and GOP electorate as an establishment candidate which to me makes little sense after just one term as senator. Personally I like him. Just don’t know if that’s enough to be a good President. His lack of experience would be the only question.

Ben Carson a brilliant man with intelligence to spare. Problem is, if he was part of the Seven Dwarfs he would be “Sleepy” He gets a No vote from me mostly because why in the world would you tell everyone ‘I wanted to kill my Mother and he stabbed someone” Shows very poor judgment. What in the world was he thinking?

Rick Santorum couldn’t win the Senate race in his home state. Tired message and a proven loser!

Mike Huckabee a former Arkansas Governor like Bill Clinton. Enough Said! He will be back on Fox with his TV show.

Rand Paul Senator -libertarian is labeled as an Isolationist and doesn’t understand that there are bad actors in the world that want to destroy us and that the only way to fight a war is to do whatever is necessary to win it!

Carly Fiorina, Business woman, who also scores high in debate performance and grades out in the 88% area in correctness. My only problem with her she comes off a little scolding in her answers to questions put to her. She is interviewing for the job and the American people are the ones to decide whether to hire her or not. As a guy who has hired many people I can tell you I would never hire a person that basically scolds me while answering the question I have asked of her. She needs to dial it back just a tad…

Jim Gilmore, is the past governor from the state of Virginia….Who?

Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont. Bernie a self-proclaimed Socialist. He is so far left you can almost see him coming up on the right! If anyone can name just one successful socialist country I will buy them a cookie! Just one! I will tell you why you can’t. It’s because the business model for socialist governments is not to achieve any level of success rather its mission is to achieve a  state mediocrity and keep all its citizens on that same level that meaning down. Over achieving is discouraged. All the business's is under direct control of the government and they distribute what they wish which is generally not enough to live on. but that's ok as all the people will be in the same boat,  fair and equal peasants. Wow what’s not to like there right?

Hillary Clinton. My goodness where do I begin?  I can never vote for her if for no other reason than  the Benghazi Tragedy. Bottom line she is a habitual liar. I have 15 times logged about proven lies she has told.  When she lied about not having secret, classified and or top secret emails on her private and unlawful private server to me she is not qualified to be President. The IG found and has released over 2400 such emails proving she had confidential, secret and top secret including SAP documents the highest secrets in her emails on a server at home.  There can be only three explanations. She either does not know what a secret document is which means she is incompetent or she is a liar! or she just does not give a crap.  I personally believe its all three. The big secret however may be what is found out about the Clinton Foundation and foreign money transactions through Canada Charity set up by the Clinton's. Be reminded General David Petraeus did nothing to the scope of what Hillary has done and he was sentenced to serve two years on probation and to pay a $100,000 fine for sharing classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell. What was shared were notes from his personal note book not actual secret documents. He was forced to resign. Here is the reason why Federal law, Title 18. Section 2071.

  "(a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.     

(b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term "office" does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States."

Yes, it explicitly states "shall forfeit his/her office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States." I hope they will do their due diligence and charge her.

Finally, I have no problem at all with either Democrats or Republicans choosing the person of their choice to be President. I would hope that you at least stay grounded in your basic principals in your choice. For me it’s obvious in the matter of Hillary Clinton.  However, if you are a Conservative you need to really investigate everything. Donald Trump for example is not a Conservative and there is nothing in his history for the past 35 years that would indicate he is anything other than a liberal Democrat running for the Republican nomination. I understand many of you are pissed! There is a lot to be concerned about,  however if you have the belief of ABH (Anyone but Hillary) attitude your choice needs  complete scrutiny of alternative choices.  Electing a guy that has insulted everyone in office and showing a total lack of any respect for his fellow Republican candidates is disgraceful. The only reason why the GOP could not get anything done the past 6 years is because Harry Reid and to some extent Nancy Pelosi hijacked the congress and the Senate. The US Constitution requires as one of the US Senate's fiduciary duties to pass a budget in order for the Government to conduct its business. For five years under Reid this was not done and in fact there was no attempt to do so.  So fix your blame where it needs to be and think!

All the above is just my personal views albeit subjective ones. You do not have to agree with me, but if I can just get you to at least look and investigate before you vote while sticking with your principals then I am OK with it. The only thing we really know for sure in all this is "ourselves". You know who and what you are and only you will know if you are being truthful to your own convictions. In the end history shows that no matter who gets in the White House odds are better than not they will probably stink up the joint!

Oh,, the Sun has finally come out. I guess I’m finished.