Who You Talkin' To?

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is upset and had this to say on her Facebook page.

Like many of you, I oppose President Obama's unprecedented recess appointment of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - I believe it is all too indicative of this President's unwillingness to work with Congress. At a time when the American people are demanding bipartisan solutions, the President couldn't have picked a worse way to start the New Year. It's time for the President and Congress to work together to address America's problems because that's the only way we're going to solve them.

Our congresswoman is severely bothered that President Obama is unwilling to work with a Congress which has been rendered incapable of legislating by a Republican party that is solely focused on making Obama a one term president and ensuring the One Percent get to keep their money all the while pretending to look out for you and me.

Not only did Obama do a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is not able to completely function without an appointed director. He also appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board which was unable to function as of January 3 when the term of one of it's members--a recess appointment from last year--ended and left it with only two people. (The Supreme Court ruled that a quorum of three is required.) With a full board it is ready to continue its work. The CFPB can now do its job of protecting consumers in the "shadow" banking arena and announced it will begin examining payday lenders and others outside the banking industry.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is not pleased with this. Not pleased at all. Apparently she would prefer that Senator Mitch McConnell continue his filibuster of these appointments, as he has been doing for quite some time now. Recess appointments are not common, but only because the Senate has rarely been involved in a determined effort to prevent a president from making any appointments. Here is the result of such an effort since Mitch McConnell took over as Senate Minority Leader with the 110th Congress.


A cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. In the meantime, around fifty people nominated for federal judge positions wait...and wait...and wait as McConnell and his fellow Republican party senators filibuster without speaking.

McMorris Rodgers is right. It is time for the President and Congress to work together to address America's problems. But I get the impression she's not directing her remarks to her own party.

Downtown Spokane Today

Seems you can't go anywhere without someone pointing a camera at you.

Surprise!

Last night my mom called up. She's been sick and was started on an antibiotic the day before and now she was having a reaction to the medicine. It was late and Kathy, being the good nurse, wife, and daughter-in-law, recognizing that I had to work in the morning and she didn't, volunteered to pick up some Benadryl and bring it over. Yes, my wife is an angel. She left and I went to bed.

When I woke up this morning I saw that the other half of the bed was empty. There had been no phone calls during the night so I assumed Kathy stayed with my mom. Like I said, she is an angel.

The garage door opened at 6:15 this morning, signalling me that Kathy was home. She walked in carrying a few groceries and wearing a big smile. I asked if she spent the night at mom's and if everything was okay.

I spent the night at the casino.

Uh...what?

I made sure your mom was doing okay after giving her the Benadryl. It was about 11:00 when I left and I thought, "I'm not that far from the casino."

Call me strange, but when I'm leaving my mom's house in the West Central area, that is not the first thought that comes to my mind. And then she gives me the good news.

I won six hundred dollars!

Not only is that good news, it's also very unusual. As in, it's never happened before.

Do you want a hundred dollars? I can give you a hundred bucks if you want.

Sure, who doesn't want a hundred bucks. She hands me a crisp Ben Franklin.

I'm going to bed and get some sleep. You have a good day at work.

I kissed her goodbye and headed out to the park 'n' ride to catch my bus. But I had this nagging feeling. I sensed something was wrong and then it finally dawned on me. Maybe some of you readers picked up on what is wrong here.

Washington is a community property state. I should get half.

Oh, and mom is doing better.

No Need To Know The Words

I saw this a few days ago and it kept popping up in my head so maybe posting it will help me think of other things. I love the antics of bass and piano players.

Extending The Children Of the Sun Trail

Progress on the North-South Corridor continues and yesterday, while taking my new ride out for a spin, I happened to check out the new section of North-South Corridor roadway that's going to connect Highway 395 with Highway 2 and the existing NSC roadway. In doing so I discovered that the Children of the Sun Trail will continue to run parallel to the NSC all the way to the Village Centre Cinema at Wandermere. I stumbled upon the trail where Pittsburgh ends a block north of Northwood Middle School.

Looking west on the trail from Pittsburgh. There will eventually be a chain link fence separating the trail from the roadway.

A pleasant downhill going towards Wandermere.

From here you can turn down Wandermere Road or continue onwards on the left.

End of the trail. Welcome to the movies. Note that to the right is a controlled intersection so you can get across Highway 395 and head towards the Mead High School area or northwest to Mill Road.

At the other end, there's a trail head on the north side of the NSC connecting to Shady Slope Road. There are two paths to take from here. Going left takes you to an underpass.

The underpass gets you on the south side of the NSC.

Giving kids who live on the north side of the NSC a safe way to get to Farwell Elementary and Northwood Middle Schools. Nice.

Following the right side path from the Shady Slope trail head takes you across Highway 2 and to this bridge crossing Farwell Road and connecting to the existing trail. As you can see, the danger signs probably refer to the fact that the sides of the bridge are not completed.

All of the trail is paved except for a section that runs parallel to the NSC from Farwell school to Pittsburgh. In the meantime you can dump out at Farwell school, follow Center west to Pittsburgh, turn right and get back on at the end of the road. Even though the roadway and trail are not officially open to traffic yet, there was no shortage of runners and dog walkers making use of them yesterday. Hopefully that will increase once it's open.

Houses by Wandermere Golf Course in the shadow of a NSC bridge.

Is This Idaho?

We have a lot of clocks in the house. They are all functional but many of them are primarily decorative. I just noticed that I did not change the time on the clock in one bathroom nearly two months ago when we returned to Daylight Wasting Time. So far nobody has come rushing out of that bathroom claiming to be late nor has anyone remarked on the incorrect time. Just in case I suppose I could leave the clock alone and hang a sign on the door.