The Hypocrites of the Morongo Valley

When your highest good is to be viewed as good, the result of your life and message is that you are good for nothing.  This is the biblical definition of Pharisee spirituality.  At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were a part of the religious community of Israel and claimed to practically live out the instructions of their Old Testament religion.  The faith of the Pharisee was concerned mostly with being viewed as one of the good guys, the religiously pure, placing themselves at the front of the temple, giving grandiose prayers at worship and parading themselves in religious duds.  With their noses in the air, the Pharisees considered all others of lesser quality and questionable character.  Because of their self-imposed spiritual superiority and aloofness, their brand of spirituality had no influence upon others, they proved themselves to be good for nothing.
      

Christianity has always been conflicted at this point for just as the religion of Israel was stuck in the mirror, some believers are in that very same club.  These believers must be viewed by others as the moral ones, with moral values and moral friends living out a moral religion.  When Jesus entered the temple at age twelve, was he fellowshiping with the religious masters or was he debating with them?  In my limited understanding of the scripture, I believe that Jesus was debating with the masters about what was at the heart of their religion, a love for God which should culminate in a love for all others, sinner and saint.  This opinion cannot be proof texted for we are not told but this opinion seems to fit the before and after scriptures.

I am a short term, five year, resident of Landers and the Morongo Valley.  We love it here, my dogs, Hammer, Belle and our pet gander Herbert.  It did not take long, however, to assess that a segment of the religious community of the Morongo Basin may have a possible priority of looking good to the folk, no matter the cost.  You know, that forest for the trees thing.  This presidential election season has confirmed my suspicion as our Republican political leadership can only trash the man, Donald J Trump. Joining forces with the Democratic smear misters of the valley, Chad Mayes objects to Donald Trump on moral grounds?  I ask, what is moral about what you are doing, now, today, not twenty years ago?  Corneal Cook is hiding in his foxhole when his military brothers need a friend in the White House.  None of this makes sense on biblical moral grounds or if one prefers, with the use of pure logic.

The only possible explanation for their collusion with the left can be pure self-interest.  All the morality plays and hiding are cowardly actions taken to bring home the vote and rejoin the ranks of the politically corrupted.  I apologize but could we return to the Bible.  Was it not Jesus who slammed the religion of Israel six times in Mathew, Chapter 23, “You hypocrites!”, each time exposing another facet of their duplicitous nature.  The biblical Greek word that is translated hypocrite for us, means to be an actor on a stage, to be playing a role so it can be seen and appreciated by men.  Should we not ask, what is at the heart of our Republican political and moral hypocrites?   

Could it be the new trade agenda of Mr. Trump and the threat it poses to the funding sources of the political class of folk?  Could it be the promise of Mr. Trump to clean out the swamp?

 

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA.      

Stiffing Fox News

Congrats Mr. Trump, we who believe in your candidacy for president of this America, agree that your stiffing of the debate is smart.  These media types think they are divinely lead to embarrass your candidacy and then call it reporting.  Their questions are sometimes not about policy or what the country is desperate to find in their leader, to them it is about ratings, money and career.  Every person running for the office has vulnerabilities that can be exploited for personal gamesmanship.  Just because a candidate has the mojo to do the job and has the courage to seek the office, does not necessarily mean that he or she is perfect in every way.  It is what is ugly about American politics, a candidate should not be fair game.

  

Some candidates would have us believe that they are so close to perfection that they deserve the office.  These candidates have an agenda and it is not the agenda of the people, certainly not the agenda of we working and middle class folk.  Should they ever have to be honest, like the rest of us, they will have to show their warbles.  All of us have them, you know, those lumps or tumors beneath the skin of the back of a horse, imperfections caused by the constant motion of the saddle under pressure.  Are any equestrian types out there?

Life is about surviving under the pressures caused by our circumstances, the pressures we inflict upon others and our own poor decisions.  Mr. Trump, you have warbles like the rest of us, wear them like the badges of honor that they are.  As you do, your example is an encouragement to the rest of us.  Ignore the debates, ignore the unfair journalism, do whatever seems right, we are in your corner.  No other candidate will buck the system and bring jobs home.  No other candidate will buck the system and make illegal immigration a distant memory.

Every other candidate will give us more of the same injustice perpetrated upon we the most vulnerable in our society.  Every other candidate will fuss around the edges but avoid what matters to us.  Every other candidate, even the conservative Ted Cruz, will not be able to buck the system or get elected in the first place.  Trump, you are the last hope for the Republican Party and the last hope for American jobs.  

Should the Republican electorate or power structure turn against you, this Republican will care only about a better climate and leave America to the Recycling Bin.  We might as well go south, at least there will be lots of sun and a lower standard of living.

I will be haunted by the knowledge that we sadly left the mess for the kids.

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Conservatism

Conservatism is great.  Political conservatism that demands limited government, adherence to the Constitution and personal freedom is the America of old.  This America hasn’t existed for at least a hundred years and when it did, the country wasn’t big enough to handle that much freedom.  One man’s freedom began to intrude upon the freedom of others and the government had to grow to mediate.  This is an oversimplification but for this discussion, the point being made is that conservatism has never been a political or societal cure all.

Conversely, today’s political landscape has reached an extreme dependence upon big government, robbing America of the God given freedoms passed to us by the founders of our nation.  Both political parties have contributed to this American demise but for different reasons, the Democrats are willing to trade freedom for societal control and the Republicans are willing to trade freedom for economic control.  Both parties have gotten what they wanted but we the people have gotten shafted because politics is no longer about us.

The political debate for 2016 is largely about labels such as conservatism.  The National Review, a conservative magazine has gathered more than 20 of their brothers to bash Donald Trump for being, according to their criteria, a phony conservative.  These are radio, TV and print personalities who trade on their conservatism and will accept nothing short of their purist understanding of the term.  The people do not matter, the fact that the working and middle class are paying for their retrenchment does not matter.  They are, after all, selling their wares.

Our country must change course and retreat toward the conservative principles that gave our nation such a great beginning but it won’t happen tomorrow.  First the bleeding must be stopped, first aid says apply a tourniquet, the people say apply Donald Trump.  There is no other logical choice.  A purist conservative candidate will never win the 2016 general election with our divided national electorate.  The people ask, how long must we put up with a conservative movement that is content to be only the loyal opposition, content to be losers?

The working and the middle classes of American are angry, our wellbeing has been ignored by our politicians who they lie and deceive to keep us under foot.  The Pied Piper has spoken the two words that matter most to us, jobs and borders.  No longer will Wall Street and the too big to fail banks be allowed to destroy the American wage earner in order to open exports to feed the big corporations and the stock market.  That is a heavy price to pay for 1% of the GDP and who picks up that check?  No longer are we content to allow an open borders policy made possible by our politicians of both parties who are being paid to bring in cheaper labor.  America has become wretchedly immoral.

Pie in the sky conservatism will not help our take home pay next week.  Why do they and all the other politicians avoid the magic words?  That’s right, they too are on the payroll of those lobbyists in Washington D.C.  Mr. Trump is the only person on the ballot who is free of these lobbyists and is willing to say the magic words.    

Will a Trump presidency stop the bleeding?  Who knows, at least the people will get the opportunity to stick it to those blood sucking politicians.  This is the only option left for the people and it feels so very good, even better than sex.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

How Far !!!

Hillary Clinton has to win the presidency or go to jail.  Those are the only options in her future.  If she becomes president she will only be a mouthpiece for Obama who has control of the evidence that proves she mishandled secret documents.  This is the deal she is striking right now. 

That is not what we need, another Obama presidency in absentia.  The Obama remake of America can then continue but if the Republican candidate wins, it means prosecution and prison. 

Our America stinks, how can anyone vote for a Democrat?

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca.

  

County Tyranny

This Landers resident is a newbie in our rural community but I have lived in San Bernardino County for the last twenty five years.  We have a wonderfully different lifestyle here in Landers, one that I greatly prefer to the more fast paced communities of this county with their paved and lighted streets.  Our sandy right of ways keep us close to the beauty of our desert environment.  It truly is a joy to live in Landers.

The last two and a half years in Landers has also been a learning experience as I have gotten to know the folk.  These people believe they have long been ignored, neglected and abused by San Bernardino County government.  You, the county, have said by your actions that the concerns of Landers are not be the concern of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.  This newbie is now another witness to the abuse and believes that you should be embarrassed and held accountable.

The abuse begins with the first request for county help in Landers, help that is supposed to be available.  Yes, we do pay county property taxes in Landers.  My own experience contacting county services is that their first priority of county employees is to be as unhelpful as possible, minimizing their response obligations.  Some of us are just stubborn enough to demand that the county workers do their jobs no matter how overtaxed they may or may not be, no excuses.  After repeated calls to code enforcement and animal control about a trashy property and loose dogs in the neighborhood, I finally made contact with the heads of each department and positive outcomes began to happen.      

Most offensive to the folk are two current issues in which the Board of Supervisors has been complicit in dismissing the concerns of Landers.  In June of 2013, the BOS approved a rate increase upon the customers of the county run W-1 Water District in Landers, effective in thirty days.  An emergency scenario in W-1 was dishonestly dumped upon the Supervisors to justify the increase, this dishonesty resides in the lap of county run and funded Special Districts.  While the BOS failed to do due diligence on the worthiness of this request for a rate increase, BOS should have known not to trust anything emanating from this rouge department, Special Districts.  The approval for a rate increase was a slap in the face upon the good folk of Landers who knew that the increase and the threat of future increases were financially indefensible.

When Bighorn Desert View Water Agency stepped up to offer relief to W 1 customers by way of annexation, Special Districts management went into panic mode and were suddenly content with just one rate increase.  The residents of Landers would like to know for whom else their rate increases were to fund?  Is this how the political leaders of this county operate, taking from the relatively poor and giving to the down the hill rich?  My requests for financial documentation from Special Districts were again dishonest, deflecting my request for information to the regular audit that was to be out in November. Here we are in January, has anyone seen their audit?  Something very shaky is going on and the Board of Supervisors is ultimately responsible. How is it that Bighorn Desert View Water Agency can operate more efficiently, with 100% financial transparency, in the same community with the same resources as the county run W-1?  The answer is that we the people have been asked to participate in the decision making at Bighorn.

The second issue is the counties expediting of solar projects in Landers.  Please let me be crystal clear, these projects are not wanted in Landers and while we got a slow start, our community has come together and is up in arms against the tyranny of our county politicians, we have had enough!  The Planning Commission, a board appointed by the BOS, approved the Bowman Solar Project with little community comment and no support.  Our solar leaders in Landers have filed an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the project.  The Board of Supervisors will be airing the appeal at a January 6 meeting that should be well attended and of concern to all desert lovers.

We shall be saying, “Don’t trash my desert”!

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca.

 

The Gun

Divine intervention seemingly lead me to stumbled across 1990 Gibralter Road on the website Zillow, May of 2012. So many things came together in these days that this landing strip just seemed to be waiting and it was an affordable retirement home.  The rebuilt 2 bedroom, 1 ¾ bath bungalow with a large detached garage on 2 ½ acres of desert is perfect.  There are majestic Joshua trees for and aft of the house, a large Eucalyptus tree and a pepper tree in the backyard.  All of this abundance for less than it would cost to rent a one bedroom apartment almost everywhere else in California.
                                                                                                                           
My dogs and I take hikes on our sandy roads while trying not to explore exactly the same route twice.  From my front porch I can watch the sun peek above Goat Mountain and then slip beneath the San Bernardino Mountains each evening.  The night is the most spectacular event of the day with the light show above and the darkness that surrounds our little world.  The  barking dogs in the neighborhood give us the security necessary to avoid those nasty street lights of the civilized world.  We have said good bye to that world in exchange for the wild, wild, west character of our small community.    

The good fortune that we enjoy in Landers is being threatened again by our politicians.  The legislature has passed AB 1014 and it sits on the governors desk awaiting his signature by September 30.  This legislation is an addition to present gun law and is called  “the gun violence restraining order”.  Anyone would be able to report to the police any legal gun owner that they deemed a danger to themselves or to others.  A judge, without evidence, a hearing, representing attorneys or a trial, can order the police to remove the legal gun, or guns, from the possession of the legal gun owner for up to a year and the removal can be renewed indefinitely.  This “hear say” persecution of the gun owner is a clear violation of the Second Amendment given to us by the U.S. Constitution and every legal gun owner is at risk of being harassed by such an order.

Everyone in Landers has a gun including the elderly ladies.  A gun is the last means of home defense when an emergency call to the sheriff means a thirty minute response time.  How long does it take to break in the front door?  We are not a wealthy community which is regularly subjected to this type of crime but we have our crime risks and having a gun in the house is a deterrent.  Our politicians are not at all concerned about the safety of you and I, only how they can score a few public relation points by doing something even if that something is boneheaded.

Our legislature is reacting to the killings in Isla Vista, California in May of this year.  While the weapons of Elliot Rodgers were registered and legal they were also recently purchased.  Mr. Rodgers was a 22 year old student who experienced a schizophrenic break with reality killing six and wounding 13.  No one saw this coming, not his family and he got close enough to kill his first three victims, his roommates, with a knife.  This mental disorder occurs most regularly with young men at this age but not in the general population.  Would it not be a more sane public policy to delay legal gun sales to men in this age group than to over regulate the vast majority of gun owners?  

Every legal gun owner in California should be on the phone now to express your displeasure with this new regulation, Governor Brown please do not sign AB 1014.  The Governor can be reached at 916-445-2841 or fax 916-558-3160.  Thank you.

G.Goslaw
Landers

Wanted

                                               Dead or Alive

                          $ 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  Reward

                            All traitorous liberal progressive politicians
                          who are saving the world by killing their own
                           American citizens in order to keep power!
                                     
                                      Citizens for the American Way

                                                G.Goslaw
                                              Landers, Ca

DUI

A little juvenile shit head from Texas kills four while driving DUI.  If they had been my family, I would take the insurance money, pass it on to the family and then make sure the kid met an unfortunate accident sometime within his ten year probationary sentence.  The father and the judge are mutually culpable and deserving of the same fate.  Justice is blind to all but our moneyed interests.

Texas Republicans, why are you silent?   What no comment Governor Perry?  Could it be that money talks more than justice for your people?   Hypocrites, there is no honor among thieves, millionaires, homicidal drunks and politicians!  Your rank dishonesty is why the people have no trust in the working of governmental justice, Democrat or Republican.  Justice, like everything else is for sale!

Rehabilitation be hanged, my family has no chance for recovery but you say, does not God forgive?  Yes, God eventual forgives but some of us are not there yet.

G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca.