Citizens Active in Local Government
Tom Konis, Spokane Tax Collector is on Facebook.
Did you know that the Board Members of the Spokane Tax Assessor are Realtors/and or/Brokers except for one who is a Lawyer specializing in Real Estate? Does this look like a Conflict-Of-Interest to you? We have Realtors appraising the value of our property at inflated values that in turn will create an increase in the amount of their commission when they sell your place. Sounds like insider trading to me.
The Spokane County Tax Assessor is Tom Konis. It was surprising to find that Konis is listed in our Voter’s Pamphlet as running Unopposed. Is this a good idea for a man who has made over 1-1/2 million dollars in this assessor’s office all ready to be handed the position for the next 4 years without any effort having to be put forth?
He was an appraiser since 1993 (26 years), assessing residential property values in Spokane County. A residential appraiser for 26 years, at $50,884.08 works out to wages in the neighborhood of $1,322,986.08. For 3 years he has been the Spokane County Assessor at a wage of $114,351.57 so, Tom Konis has received a total of $343,054.71 so far in that position. We should get someone to be a write-in candidate to at least make the election have some semblance of fairness.
Wages for our elected officials are listed here.
I grew up in Hawaii and in our schools there was no extensive study of the founding fathers and the creation of American Civil Rights. Our level of education generally wasn’t the greatest. So, I am taking a free course online at Hillsdale College to learn about them now.
The first lecture was, “Why Civil Rights Matter“. It introduced me to begin considering things I have never really sat down and thought about.
The second lecture was, “Civil Rights and the American Founding.” Now, I have to bust out the dictionary to keep up but the effort is well worth it. It kind of explains the different types of rights involved. I am learning about American politics and how things are supposed to work.
Before being confronted the next time, maybe you too would like to be more informed. How is our government supposed to work? Hopefully, the next confrontation with an excited liberal will be less stressful. I want to be able to talk calmly and intelligently about truth, instead of reacting to inflated emotions?
I’d suggest that you take this course. In fact, I wish all Americans would.
Ranting dust-mask wearing. The Governor is wrong to deny Christians the right to participate in celebrating our religion. Singing at Christmas is a way that we have celebrated the birth of Our Lord for centuries. Attending church and singing should not be something an elected official in Seattle has a right to monitor or allow/disallow.
Requiring that everyone wear a dust mask for extended periods of time as we live in forced isolation (except for the political officials) is not a viable solution to the problem of C-o-v-i-d-1-9. It is not a solution of any kind. Our population grows increasingly weaker due to in-activity & isolation, with increases in depression and economic fearfulness. Wearing dust masks for extended periods of time is downright ridiculous. It is not beneficial to maintaining good health. Masks worn, are not typically sterile, and they decrease the free flow of fresh oxygen as they recirculate moist contaminated exhaled breath. Can you spell I-N-F-E-C-T-I-O-N?
The only way a mask could protect me from contracting China Flu is if I were able to suit up in a clean sealed system similar to what auto painters, hazmat clean-up workers, or astronauts use. A fully-sealed suit with a contained bottled air supply. If we are dressed like Neil Armstrong then we are in masks that are truly safe.
Take a good look at your face mask.
We are talking about a thin cloth dust mask protecting us from molecules of virus or bacteria on particles in the air and on surfaces. Here is your sign. Yep. You can’t see individual pathogens with the naked-human-eye. Think about that. The media shows us the virus cells as seen-through-a-microscope (these guys are tiny buggers). Do you believe that wearing a face dust mask made of cloth that you can see-thru, is going to screen these microscopic particles out of the air you breathe? Dream on… I wore these dust masks every time I had to break out concrete on a jobsite. Yep. 8 years of wearing these buggers and believe me I fully understand what they are capable of screening out. They have a hard time screening out dust let alone microscopic stuff. BS and more BS from an ever more ignorant bunch of politicians.
I’m sorry, I digress (no I am not sorry).
Here are some hopes for quarantine from a country hick. You might be a country hick if you choose to stay home and garden. Can what you grow and also cook all meals from scratch. Country folk know what is going into their bodies and are able to pronounce all the ingredients in their foods.
We tend to take our time and living rurally makes us limit our trips into town. Why? Because the drive there and back takes enough time to require it. We plan a whole day of errands whenever we go into town, so, we hardly ever run to the store for one item.
As a society we rush-rush-rush
For years I have watched working people, getting in line at fast foods on the way home. Rushing around, taking kids to numerous after-school programs as they run around like a chicken-with-their-head-cut-off. Finally, they arrive home exhausted to open a box of cold food for dinner. Unfortunately, this routine allows no time to wind down. Rush to eat, and head to bed, and do it all over again the next day.
Before the quarantine, I’d see people buying boxed fast foods and frozen bags of ready-to-heat-up stuff. I’d wonder, has everyone forgotten how to make basic foods? Baking bread, rolling out pasta, roasts, stew, soups, whole chickens, sauces, and casseroles from leftovers. It’s not that hard and truthfully, homemade food tastes better.
Besides, a whole cart full of flour, sugar, produce, and meats amount to about half the cost of a cart full of fast food packages. I’ve often walked out of the store wondering how families can afford to buy expensive, less healthy foods like that?
To share my Corona Virus Thoughts, taken from impressions of the fear of the “Virus” being exhibited by the general populace of Spokane Washington. First off, I should share that the word Corona does not bring up a vision of creepy bacteria spores to me. I think that the owners of the Corona brewery should file a lawsuit against whoever decided to change this flu name to their brand name. Seriously.
I go to town and shop every two weeks or sometimes only once every month. Arriving early, I had to park in the outer regions of the parking lot at Costco. My next discovery was that there were no carts available at the store, which was a first. I went back outside to get a cart from someone who had just finished loading their car.
I was shocked by the change in the stores as I was buying staples and groceries. The store was more crowded than I have ever seen it. People had carts full of bottled water and toilet paper, and very little groceries. Strange! I asked one couple who had 2 carts, one toilet paper, and one water, “What are you going to do with all that toilet paper and water?” They looked at me as though I was a crazy lunatic and said in unison, “The Corona Virus”. Really?
Honestly, publicizing that we should stock up on bottled water and toilet paper. What good does that do for anyone?
The logic is missing something. Now is when we need to remember common sense. We live in a region with an overabundance of clean drinking water. So, why bottled water? What good is a ton of toilet paper to a household facing a virus? Having a clean bottom is not going to save my life, neither is having a large abundance of TP in stock at the house.
I don’t put much worth into what I hear on the news anymore. The broadcasts have become extremely unbalanced. We are stuck with biased political rhetoric instead of newscasters giving us two sides of a story, allowing us the opportunity to make up our own minds. The news has become an unreliable source of information for me, one that I choose to ignore. A virtual waste of time, as it continues to spew political pollution and fear.
Taking a break from social media has freed up about an hour a day for more important stuff to get done in my life. Being “social media-free” is a good way to figure out the priorities for me. I am back from a 6-week break, from the social media world.
Breaking away from obsessing about FaceBook or checking my phone for messages repeatedly has made me free. I get up and do my work or chores without interruption or bombardment of tons of minutia that social media produces. I see how much of a distraction my phone has become. Things go a lot better without that distraction for my spirit.
A large majority of people only live on the fringe or border of their lives, as they stare into blue screens. Glancing at their lives going by (on the side) as they check into their social media sites. What a waste.
I walk through the grocery store seeing children trying to talk to a parent who is fully engaged with their phone?
Is that phone screen more important than your child?
At a restaurant, you see a couple who looks like they are on a first or second date. Both looking at their phones instead of each other.
How important is your date’s company during this meal?
I prefer communicating with another human being face-to-face whenever possible. It is the quality of friendships in life that makes my spirit soar, not the quantity of FB friends that like what I have to say. Having friends who get to actually see each other “face-to-face”, or at least want to do that (if too far apart) does make my life worth living.
I leave my phone off during dates or meetings. Friends and family that are present are more important than any text, phone call, or FaceBook post. My cell phone is simply a tool that I pay for. I choose when I want to make calls, look up info on the internet, or find directions. Since I am not a slave to my phone, I don’t have to immediately respond to it. I can return calls later on, at my own discretion.
It is amazing how many people walk around with their phones right in front of their faces 24/7. If you enter a doctor’s waiting room or an elevator. Not a single person smiles to greet you and there are no welcome nods. All are looking at their phones, ignoring everyone in the room?
Does anyone pay attention to life going on around them now? Police probably hate interviewing witnesses. Witnesses who gaze at the blue screen as they walk down the sidewalk. What do they notice?
What happened? Did you see what the driver looked like? The color was the car? How about the license number? How many people were in the car? What were they wearing? Was there a gun? Which hand was the gun in?
I don’t intend to only notice my life in the peripherals as I live distracted by social media. I have only one chance to live and I plan to be present and live this life to the best of my ability, right now.
Blog has gotten crazy….
I intend to take a break from the blog and FaceBook for a while, call me if you need me for something.
My thoughts regarding the time I spend on FB. “More is not better”. I have changed what I share on FB by taking a more private stance on what info and images I will be sharing in the future. This is strictly a family and friends page from here on. I will only share posts that I believe my friends and family would enjoy here. I will not be sharing each and every little thing.
LESS is better!
If you want to know something, give me a call, or let’s get together and visit without a blue screen.
I absolutely refuse to debate politics, which I believe is simply a waste of time.
If you want me to debate about anything, you will have to do that in-person “face-to-face”… and even then it is highly unlikely I will engage. My having my own (different) opinions and urgently expressing them to you, will most likely NOT result in you changing your opinion or the world.
If you have enjoyed seeing posts about my profession, hobbies, and crafts;
• Art
• Needlework
• Gardening
• Outdoor Activities
They are available on my artist page for people who follow and ”like” the page at
https://www.facebook.com/ValerieWoelkartist/
If you signup and follow my artist page you can see the “How-to’s”, about art projects with images that show the processes and procedures I follow along with explanations while creating art.
Just in case you ever wondered what an artist does in her spare time. This artist page is also whatever else I do in my spare time that is sharable, like embroidery tablecloths, sewing, hiking, dog antics, photography, walking, gardening, skiing.