The blog to the Rightside

Another case of I voted against it, before I voted for it????

2005-12-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

I was just watching Fox News, and Congressman Bill Cardin (D) from the state of Maryland’s 3rd District was on. I missed the question, but it had to do with the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. I did not however miss the answer:

“I was never for the sending of troops to Iraq,” said the congressman. That got me thinking, there are many Democrat Congressmen and women along with Senators saying they were never for the deployment of troops to Iraq. Well I went to the Final Votes at the clerk’s website with regards to issue HJ Res 75 Dated on 12/20/2001 during the 107th Congress 1st session. As you can see there were 177 Democrat votes to pass the resolution. And you can also see that the distinguished Congressman from Maryland was one of the YES votes. So in actuality Cardin was for sending troops to Iraq.

We have set date for removing our troops, it just happens to be the date when the Iraqis have their government up and running, and their police force is strong enough to hold order. IF we were to remove our troops one day before that, all the loss of life of both Iraqis and US troops would be a waste. The establishment of the Iraqi government is moving relatively faster and smoother than our own fledgling years of establishment.

Remember to keep our politicians on both sides honest! When they say that they were against something make sure they were. Make sure they are being true to their constituents.

Air Marshal's take action

2005-12-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

Today on an American Airline flight from Medellian, Colombia to Orlando, Fl. a passenger claimed to have a bomb in his carry-on. The plane was on the ground and the man made the bomb threat while still on the plane. The Air Marshal's took action and the man resisted, he was then shot. This is the first time that Air Marshal's have had to act since 9/11. The passenger who was shot and killed was an American Citizen and around 44 years of age. It is now being said that man DID NOT have any explosives on him, but was reaching into his bag while shouting he did have a bomb in it. Something about shouting fire in a movie theatre comes to mind. Here is a perfect example of a terror threat being treated in the proper manner, quickly and a minimum of lives lost. Terrorists who may have any thoughts about using planes again for their acts of terror, beware.

State of Fear, a book report

2005-11-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

I just got done reading the new book by Michael Crichton: State of Fear. Talk about a page turner!!
This is a fictional book based on scientific facts and scientific non-facts with regards to the Global Warming debate. Crichton sights many scientific studies on both sides of the debate through out the book including websites to find the research done on this topic. There are two appendices the first entitled: Why Politicized Science Is Dangerous, which talks about a little discussed history lesson from the United States about the theory of eugenics and the striking similarity to the way global warming is publicized. The second Appendix is the sources for all the data for the Graphs in the book. Then there is the 31 page bibliography of the sources that he used for the research of the writing of the book. It is important to note that he used authors of differing opinion so that he could make his own opinion, which he writes about as well.

The story is a fast paced plot about a National Security Agent that is trying to figure out all the pieces of a puzzle before time runs out and a catastrophic terrorist plot is achieved. Along the way he meets up with a lawyer from a firm that represents many wealthy people and a few Environmental Organizations, namely NERF.

The book will get you to think no matter what side of the debate you’re on, I recommend everyone read the book and then come back and tell me what you think, and if your thoughts on the issue have changed and why or why not?

On the Election

2005-11-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a week and a half since Californians let the Public Employee Unions get everything they needed to send this state into a tail spin of out-of-control spending. That’s right that is what this past election was all about, that is what the recall was all about, the fiscal mismanagement of the State Legislators. Remember when WE recalled Gray Davis? Was it because of Gay Right’s or Illegal Immigration? No, it was about out of control spending. So as a State WE put Arnold in to replace the guy in the corner office. And he did everything he said he would in first 100 days. He repealed the car tax, he vetoed the gay marriage deal, and the illegal immigrant driver’s license, he listened to the people. Well the people spoke again last week, and the ones that spoke the loudest where actually not the Public Employee Unions, it was those in his own party. That’s right it was the conservative base. We put him in that office because we knew he could win. McClintock is by far the more conservative, but folks this isn’t a red state. This is a blue state, and in a blue state we can’t expect to win right away with a true red politician. Incrementalization is necessary, if not vital to changing this state. As much as we would all love to beat into the heads of the liberals the common sense and logic of our views, they see their views as being logical and common sense, so beating them over the head with a 2x4 of conservatism when we are out numbered wont work.

Now there are some people like LN here who are gloating about the loss our State just under took:

“( Looking )Well, as I stated, I TOLD YOU SO!!!( smiling )So, now what happens?? Rightside?? Aaron?? Any clue??Ahnolds selling out McClintock....for that dipwad Fiorna of HewLett Packard fame. Anyone care to try to explain that one??Are we supposed to support AHNOLD or MCCLINTOCK now??Hmmmm, backstabbing a supporter, oh yea, THAT's going to win you grass root support.Ah well, here's your chance to make it 2 for 2...... 0 = ]”

To this I ask the question, are you surprised??? We as conservatives say, “Okay Arnold, here are the things we want you to do…. but when you ask us to give you the tools to get the job done we’ll be over here in the corner with our faces to the wall.”

As many of you know I study Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. I watch many matches and there is one thing that is very important that every fighter must do, and that is listen to his or her corner. But what does that fighter do when their corner is no longer giving them any support or incouragment? If that fighter is hearing nothing more than, “you’re not hitting hard enough, your going to loose this fight, just pack it up, man I wish I had another fighter in the ring… Hey buddy can I join your fighter?”

That is essentially what happened. And what did we conservatives get for it?

WE TIED the hands that hold the veto pen behind the back of the Governor = When the democrats ask for the tax increases to pay for the budget deficit… there will be no stopping it.

WE turned our backs on the one person who was strong enough in POPULARITY to stand up to the PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION MACHINE, and now they are free to do as they please with Union Dues to feed their agendas.

WE KILLED the recall, by not allowing the redistricting of gerrymandered districts = California will remain a BLUE state for the foreseeable future.

But there is a silver lining in all of this for those of us who did get out vote and supported the governor, what is that you ask? All of you who are conservative and worked so hard to defeat this governor because he was, “not conservative enough,” for you, you will reap the rewards of watching this state raise your taxes, watch as illegals get their driver’s licenses, and watch as homosexuals get to have their wishes of destroying the sanctity of marriage in name of equality. Why not the people have spoken and this governor listens to the people. So from now when you complain on this blog or on any other about what this governor is doing to this state, before warned that I will remind you of any statement on this or any other blog that was not supportive of this governor or the initiatives that were on the ballot for the people, and I will politely ask you to shut your mouth and swallow the medicine you self proscribed for this state.

Parents who care

2005-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

Now here is a couple of parents who truly care about their childs future....

Angelides vs. Arnold

2005-10-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Now I love a good joke as much as the next guy, and I have no problem with jokes that are risqué in nature, but I’m cold heartless conservative… right? Liberals are saying that we need to be sensitive to the feelings of others who are different from us. We should not make fun of the color of their skin, the way that someone speaks, or the clothes that they wear. So how can Phil Angelides have something this intolerant on his website for his political campaign?

This is not only childish with respect to the Seaseme Street but the fact that it shows yet again that the Dems still can’t put forth any ideas to better California. If Angelides’ camp had put half the effort they did into this garbage, they might have actually been able to come up with some helpful ideas on how we could finish fixing the problems that are still facing California.

Next question I have, what do you think would happen if Arnold had something like this up at a website of say Angelides, Barbra Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, and Fabian Nunez, making fun of how they talk, dress, or the nationality of their origin (for those of you who don’t know where I’m going with this, the fact that Fabian Nunez is of Hispanic Dissent). For example, and this is just off the top of my head, what if we had the same setup, but now we have Barbra Boxer in a straightjacket, Nancy Pelosi dancing around in Gay Pride parade and Fabian Nunez in a field wearing a sack cloth picking tomatoes and lettuce? Then we have Angelides walking around the neighborhood with a doctor’s mask pulling the plug on an elderly man, and in the background a garbage can with the blood of aborted babies staining the sides. I can guarantee you that with in a hours time of the first liberal who came across that “spoof” it would be pulled from the net.

Why? Doublestandards.

Public Service Announcement: Taxation

2005-10-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

In my business I have been learning a lot about how the federal tax tables work. You see it is my responsibility to teach my clients how the system works. So I thought I might share some of the things that I have learned here with you all. The information that I am using comes straight from IRS 2005 Federal Tax tables.

First I will set up the tables for you, I will be using a Married couple filing jointly (this table is having difficulty showing up on blogger, please bare with it):
Taxable Income Tax + % on Excess Of the Amount Over

Over But not Over
$0 $14,600 $0.00 10% $0.00
14,600 59,400 1,460.00 15 14,600
59,400 119,950 8,180.00 25 59,400
119,950 182,800 23,317.50 28 119,950
182,800 326,450 40,915.50 33 182,800
326,450 ….. 88,320.00 35 326,450

So this shows us that we are not taxed at one rate. I will take the 25% tax bracket where most Americans find them selves. What this means is that if for example a couple has a combined household income of $70,000 dollars they are taxed at lowest tax bracket first so they pay the $1,460.00, then they are taxed at the second tax bracket so they pay $8,180.00 and then they of to pay an additional 25% on the amount in excess of $59,400, which is $11,600 and that equates to an additional payment of $2,900. For a grand total of $25,680. So in actuality this couple is paying roughly 37% of their total income back to the government.

That same $25,680 could be used by that married couple to help them prepare for retirement or maybe start their own business.

Now lets take a look at if their was a fair tax or a flat tax of say 10%. Meaning everyone who earns an income of $0 to ….. pays an income tax of 10%

A couple who earns 14,600 would still pay the same amount. But our Married couple earning $70,000 would pay $7,000. That gives them $18,680 to invest for retirement. Now if everyone was paying an equal tax percentage, we could budget both our personal lives as well as the national budget quicker and more reliably. Also think about the retirement account you would have if were able to save that much each year, there would not have to be the big scare regarding Social Security not having funds, the people could take care of it themselves. Also we would get rid of the disincentive to make more money!

Now one note needs to be made regarding this tax table. The IRS as we all know looks at your Adjusted Gross Income, meaning this is your income after all deductions like mortgage interest, contributions to pretax investments like 401(k)’s , Pensions and deductible IRA’s. You should always consult with Certified Public Accountant or other quallified Tax proffessional before makeing changes to your retirement plan to avoid any taxable events. For more information on how to make use of the current tax codes feel free to look at my jobsite and then give me a call.

A word on Prop 75

2005-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is not very shocking, but it does give us very “up close and personal” look into the psyche of the democrat mind.

Democrats are so worried about proposition 75 passing…. why? Because they think it the Republicans wanting to take away the power of the democrat party; here is a secrete, they’re absolutely correct!!! Let’s take a look at the argument the dems are using here.

Republicans want to stop unions from taking union dues and making political contributions with out the consent of the union workers. They are making a power grab to take away power from Democrats.

Okay, so in this argument Democrats are admitting that union dues are going to political campaigns, that is no big secrete. They are also admitting that the union workers have no say in this matter. But more importantly than that, they are admitting that if the union workers actually had a say in the matter, the money would not go to the Democrats!!! The money would go to the workers and then they would spend it how they please!!! This is what troubles the Democrats the most, personal control over the funds!!

VOTE YES ON PROP 75!! ALLOW FREEDOM OF CHOICE!!! (Another thing Democrats supposedly want for the people… as long as it matches THEIR choice).

The DOJ Cracks Down on Non-Profits

2005-10-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Before I start on this topic, let me just start out by saying, I think gambling one’s paycheck away to casino is not healthy, not moral and not wise.

That said, what is happening to non-profits which use these “casino nights” to raise money for charities is wrong. There is a major difference between gambling in a casino who keeps all the money lost by the participants, and the giving of the house “winnings” to a good cause such as fighting cancer or putting money into the education system. There is also a societal difference between the two entities.

A casino: Offers the participants the chance (which is more in the favor of the house than the gambler) to take home a cash prize. People who have “won big” at a casino are never reminded that they more than likely lost more in the pursuit of the “big winning!” The casino is praying off those who are in most cases desperate for money and have the most to loose, not just monetarily. Families are lost, as well as homes and vehicles.

A non-profit organization: Any “buy-in” is known up-front as a donation. If you don’t have money to donate, more than likely you will not participate. Usually in Texas-Hold’em style there is a defined percentage that will go to the charity off the top. The money is going to go to a specific charity cause, not to make a profit for a flashy building to attract poor souls and tempt them to give up their life’s savings.

A distinction needs to be made between the two. The fact of the matter is people like to play card games. I am one of them. I also belong to a non-profit organization that has in the past used such casino events to raise money. There is an entertainment value, just as there is in the casino. The only difference is there is no false pretence that I will walk away from the one night event a millionaire. I know that my money is going to a good cause. I know that I will not be loosing my shirt, home, family or dignity by playing at the event. There is a lot of money raised that goes to our children from these types of events, money that would not otherwise go to them because of bureaucratic red tape. Besides if you ask me this is the best way for these organizations to raise money, rather than raising taxes and making everyone pay a portion, why not let those that want to give, do that, and get some entertainment while they are at it.

Bennett's Economic/Racial Remarks

2005-10-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

I know I am late to gate with this story, but I feel that there needs to be some clarifications to this debate.

In the Educational system, mainly in the Higher Educational system, and amongst Economist the idea of eliminating a portion of the population to reduce crime rates, abortions, poverty and the like is a common discussion. It is a THEORETICAL discussion but it is discussion. This discussion does cross the lines of race to show the thinking patterns of people who actually believe that this is a way to solve some of society's ills, actually wouldn't work (As Bennett said at the end of his statement, but by that time shock took over and the damage was already done).

In my time studying Economics at a Higher Institution, I experienced this debate and jumped in whole heartedly. Here is the set up of the debate:

Because the crime rate is so high in certain areas of our society that have a high concentration of certain races (black, brown, yellow), so if we were to control the birth rates of these populations we will reduce the crime rate.
RSB: The logic does flow, but there is a problem with it, morality and economically.

If we control the birth rates of these populations through for example abortions yes we would lower the population and the crime rate may possibly fall. But this argument does not take into consideration other factors for the crime rate. Population or rather over population (meaning over crowding is only a factor of the crime rate). Other factors are morality, education level, financial well-being, and family structure.

Now the argument has to change:

Because there is a high population in the ghettos, over crowding has occurred, this combined with a high poverty level and low education level on average puts the people in this area at a greater risk for a high crime rate. Couple this with lack of morals (meaning the low regard for human life, the laws of society, etc.) and you get the current crime rate situation. In order to combat this crime rate society could THEORETICALLY abort all babies of certain ethnic origins there by relieving the stress on society of over population.

RSB: The problem with this answer is again moral and economical. The person who uses this argument has painted themselves into a corner as they stated that a portion of the cause is the lack of morals (meaning the low regard for human life, the laws of society, etc.). The very act of abortion is having a low regard for human life. Secondly they are only addressing one part of the issue. Education level and financial situations are being ignored.

Now here is my answer to this debate:

Given that low morality (meaning the low regard for human life, the laws of society, etc.), education level and financial situations are all factors in the crime rate along with over population adding additional stress on society, there are several rectifying actions that need to be made.
1) Education of money
2) Education of morality
3) Ease of population living situations.

What do I mean by these:
1) Education of Money: means that schools need to teach at a young age, starting in Kindergarten how money works (really works not just the size of a Nickel compared to that of Dime).

2) Education of Morality: means that schools need to teach that morals were first handed down from God to Moses in the form of the Ten Commandments, and then have been modified and expanded upon by man's laws.

3) Ease of population living situations: means increase supply of housing. With the foundation of the first two steps worrying about affordable housing will not be as much of a concern. If one knows how money works, and can make money work for them, in moral fashion, then buying a home will not be as difficult as it is now. Now please don't think that I am saying that home owners are more moral than renters, it just goes to follow having knowledge of how money works, that one would than rather buy than rent.

What is the problem with my solution? Well for starters the education of money. And don't think that the rich don't want everyone to know how money works. Because that is not always true. It is more like some people in government do not want you to learn this. Here is why, they need you to rely on them. If you have the knowledge of how money works, than you don't rely on them to solve your biggest problem... that you don't have enough money! So you go to a public school from K-12 and they don't teach you about money, they teach you to get good Grades so that you can get a good Job that will pay you a good Wage. Then you go to college funded by government dollars, and there they instill in your brain that if you don't do well you will fail your courses and if you fail your courses you never get a good Job that pays you a good Wage. They prepare you to do just what those of you who have to get up in the morning at certain time in order to make it to work by a certain time, and punch in on a time card. You got a good Job, and you get a good Wage, and you have NO choice! So if they started teaching that money can work for you and gave you the choice of working for it or it working for you, they know that you would want to have it work for you. So they don't want to show you how money works.

Now as for the Education of Morality, I don't think I need to explain this one so much, we see how terrified certain people in politics are about this subject. It is about freedom. If you have to freedom to choose to believe or not to believe they have lost. These people who are fighting so hard for what they call "separation of church and state" don't understand that God already gave us the freedom to choose. No form of government can take that a way, and saying "under god" in the pledge of allegiance does not designate any specific God or deity that the nation must bow down to three times a day. It simply acknowledges that our founding fathers did not create this nation by themselves. They were not as egotistical as our society today is.

Breaking News.... Miers An Evangelical

2005-10-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Okay so it's not breaking news to those of us who have been following this since Monday morning. But you wouldn't know that by listening to MSM. Yes that article is on Yahoo... hardly MSM but it comes from the AP. The fears of religious beliefs on the left are laughable! I can't wait to see what they come up with next: Harriet Miers is a WOMAN!!!!!!!! You saw it here first folks!!! I broke that one.

More on Miers

2005-10-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this Fish at Roseville Conservatives blog, and my answer was a little lengthy, so I decided to post the responce here.

Check out the Roseville Conservative's blog for the "Fish's" responce. Here is mine:

Considering the source... I mean the last thing I have ever considered when dealing with a fish (and that is what sharks are) is how to fry them, and then should I use lemon or tartar sauce?
As far as Meiser goes, everything I have heard regarding her from the sources, is that the game is on. Some are worried on both sides of the aisle, some are happy, and none of the lefties are happy. Well why would they be. I mean she is a woman, replacing a woman. This is yet another "minority" being represented or put into a place of high power by a Conservative, who by all regards is supposed to be a southern shovenistic, racist, idiot who couldn't fight his way out of a recycled paper bag! Someone dropped the ball on giving this President the memo that he isn't supposed to do things like this. It is only the Democrats that are allowed to do such things... the only problem is that the Dems, like to talk... a lot. They like to put things out there and forget about them, and hope that everyone else out there does the same.
Then lets not forget that the left's ideaolgy is that everyone thinks the same...(as Stalin thought everyone should have thought like him. Sharky over there probably thinks this way) which is why when they are confronted by people like Alberto Gonzales, Condi Rice, Harriet Miers, Creig Deluz, and yours truely, all minorities who happen to have conservative ideaologies they have no idea what to do.
I sincerely hope that San Fran Nan is able to question Miers about her religion. This may surprise some of you. Well lets look to the constitution as to why I want Lou Lou to ask away.... The constitution says that we the people have to freedom to religion. To believe in God, Budda, who ever. Therefore if religion is the premis for denile of confirmation, the congress itself would be in violation of the constitution. So there goes that thougt.
If we learned anything from the Roberts hearings, we saw that asking questions regarding possible cases that will be brought before the Supreme Court are not appropriate for a nominee to answer. So don't expect many answers about her feelings or beliefs on Same-Sex Marriages, or Commerce Laws.
Now to my friends who are concerned with her lack of judicial experience, my thoughts are this... is she going to be in charge of building something that is mechanical? No. Is there anything "Technical" regarding her job? No. The job requirements are to read the cases infront of her, make a decision based on the laws in place, and not to make up laws as she goes. The fact that she has been known by the President for the last 10 years or so, and he has the confidence that she will up hold the same values that he and many, many, many of the Amercian population agrees with is a pretty good indication of her position on the issues.
Don't worry, what ever side of the aisle you are on, we shall soon see what she is made of. The gloves are on.... for now.

Bush's Second Nomination...

2005-10-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

President Bush has made his nomination; Harriet Miers from his “inner circle” is to take Justice O’Conner’s place on the Supreme Court. Miers is 60 years old. If confirmed that would give her roughly 20 or so years to serve on the bench, not exactly a short run. I don’t know a whole lot about Miers, but from the limited sources I have found she has not served as a judge before, but she has many firsts when it comes to being a woman in the profession of law.

One good thing about having Miers going in front of the Congressional Committee for Miers, that because she has not served on a bench before, she has not paper trail of past judgments. This will make it difficult for the Democrats on the committee to badger her like Roberts or Gonzales for example. But it does not mean that it will be all roses for her either. The flip side to the coin is because she has no experience. This will, I believe be the theme of those opposing her. Even though it has been reported that Miers name was one that both Republicans and Democrats had put into the hopper as suggestions for nominees.

I’m not yet sure if this is a true nomination for the bench or a test of the waters on the administrations part. If it is a true nomination I think it a bold move. Again I don’t know much about Miers, but a fresh point of view on the constitution and how the courts are to make judgments based on it, not to write laws from the bench for it would be refreshing. It would also make the Roberts confirmation that much stronger.

Keep an eye on the Western Alliance, as I am sure many of us will be throwing our opinions out on this.

Say it ain't so... no more Junk-Food!! Good!!

2005-09-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Last week the Governor signed into legislation a bill that would prohibit “junk-food” from being sold in public school venders. It seems that this has many people up in arms, primarily those who make the “junk-food!” Some people are saying this is the government reaching to far into the personal lives of citizens. Some say this will take money out of the school system that is there solely through sponsorships. If you are someone with those concerns I want you to read this very carefully, much of what I have to say will outside “the box” thinking. It is not far outside “the box,” but it is still outside it.

First lets look at the concern of the government reaching into the personal lives of your children (I say this only because I do not yet have children, but I am planning on it someday so I think I can still comment on this subject). This bill says that Pepsi and Coke, candy bars, or anything with more than 35% sugar will be allowed to be sold on public school grounds. It says nothing about a child bringing a packed lunch from home with a Pepsi or candy bar. If you want to fill your child with junk food, go right a head!! But with the growing number of obese children and the ski rocketing number of children with diabetes, all the Governor is saying is this, they won’t be getting it from the government. If you look at it closely it is like he is giving us the power to change our health! What is the hardest part of losing weight? For me it is the temptation to very from my lifestyle changes that I know need to be made in order for me to lose the weight I need to. Now I don’t go to school anymore, and I am an adult, so it no fault other mine for my weight problem. But I child is not capable yet (especially in the grade schools, not as much with the high schoolers) of determining how much sugar is enough. Especially when they know Mom and Dad aren’t watching them, and they have the two dollars for the snack machine at school.

So the health minded Governor of ours was looking at all the possibilities of where he had the authority to make changes for the betterment of our children and their futures. He can’t out law candy bars all together. He couldn’t mandate that parents only pack yogurt, sugar free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a serving of fruit in their daily lunches. But he can control what goes into the vending machines of Government building, for example a public school building.

“But they are just going to get somewhere else!” you say. That is the whole point! They wont get from the school, it is now in the hands of the parents! Now for those high school students mentioned before, some can go off campus and buy these candy bars and sodas, and again no one is stopping them from bringing it back onto campus! They just wont be able to buy them on campus. I personally think this is great!

“Well by making them go elsewhere the schools will lose money at the vending machines and through sponsors for the athletics department!” I’m sorry if child is thirsty, and needs a drink, Pepsi is the last thing they want to be drinking! Even Poweraide is not very good for quenching thirst…. why, because of the high sugar content and carbonation, it actually takes water out of the body! Making you need to have more to drink! The best thing to quench thirst is WATER!! And athletes especially need to be drinking more water due to the amount they sweat out of their bodies.

So back to the vending machine, if a child is that thirsty, they will spend the $1.25-1.75 on water just as they would on the Pepsi or Coke. Likewise if they really need the snack they put the same amount of money into the vending machine to get what ever it is they like best of the selection available.

Now on to the sponsorships. I called into the Hogue show on Friday when Eric was talking about this, here is where I go outside “the box” folks so please read carefully to follow along with me. You know how there are score boards to keep track of the score of the games? And they usually have Pepsi or Coke’s logo on it. Now I don’t want to lose anyone here so please keep up. Why can’t we get the Bottled Water company’s to sponsor the school athletics departments. Why stop there, they could also sponsor the school bands, the chess club, or anything else for that matter. For that matter we could ask the Yogurt Companies to get in the action too. All takes is the asking, and I bet if we had our Governor do the asking and he afford to have his picture on these sponsor bill boards, they would go for it. They may even pay more!

Did I lose you? If so don’t worry, I know it is wild thinking, just take a moment, relax, get a drink of water, and reread the ideas. I’m if the Senate Hearing Committee could have been sponsored by Aquafina, why not our local football teams?

An Email from Move America Forward

2005-09-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

I received an email from Joe Wierzbicki of Move America Forward. He was asking me to look into more detail the events of the “You don’t Speak for Me Cindy Sheehan” tour. And I did. Joe feels that local talk show host Eric Hogue is being unfair to MAF and the tour. That maybe true, but let us take a look at the situation completely objectively.

Joe writes:

“I've enjoyed getting to know Eric from the days of the recall campaign, and while I regret that Move America Forward is caught in between the factions in the radio wars, I am not going to respond to his attacks with more attacks from me. The circular firing squad amongst conservatives only helps those who wish our demise.”

I have had the pleasure of meeting Eric before the Western Alliance was first being developed. I have been listening to Eric since 9/11 happened. Over the last nearly four years I come to know that Eric speaks with much thought and details. Does he have biases, sure and he doesn’t hide them. He is a Conservative, and he doesn’t hide that fact.

MAF started out with clear objective of making sure that our solders understand that the majority of Americans support them and tasks that they have in front of them. MAF is still doing this, answering the call to spread the word that Cindy Sheehan does not speak for all families, specifically mothers.

Joe is correct that in-fighting amongst conservatives can be detrimental to our cause. What Joe does not realize, or at least is forgetting in this situation is that the one thing about the conservative side of the isle that is so important is the fact that we can have two Talk Show hosts, that are on the same side of the isle, that disagree with how to best spread the word that the American Public is behind our troops.

I have been listening to Eric’s position on the subject, and as many of you know, I don’t listen to Mark Williams, because I believe the issues are the important matter not necessarily tours. The issue that Eric Hogue brings to the table, is simple. How did Cindy Sheehan become an expert on war strategies, the logistics of the war on terror, when she has no experience in the military for herself? Her son was killed in action, he chose to fight for his country and the freedom of those who were suppressed by a tyrant. We all feel sorry for Cindy and her family’s loss. The way she is being used by the liberal organizations to politicize her loss is shameful. This is where we all agree, I believe.

Where we differ is that Eric, and I feel that MAF has done the same thing with Deborah Johns. They put her at the same level as Cindy Sheehan. While I agree that there needs to be some sort of response to what Move on.org has been doing, but going to their level in retaliation does not make sense. This is not the only example that MAF has that I have not agreed with. Their protest to have the art removed in the public building, and their protest at the effigy made us conservatives look like pathetic warmongers, and bible thumpers. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting the war on terror to protect our country and the world community from people who would like to do nothing more than kill each and every one of us. And there certainly is nothing wrong with evangelizing the Word. We need to do this in mature way, not a way that makes us look like kindergartners, or a Davis City Council Meeting!

Joe believes that Eric is staying silent on these issues. I don’t know how he can say this when Eric sits in front of a microphone that reaches a large number of people, and one that is gradually taking listeners from the other call letters in town, and talks about the issues everyday.

Joe I ask that you reread your email, and address some of your own concerns with some honesty. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that MAF has a place in this party. And I acknowledge that you are doing something, but we need to stop looking like the “Stupid Party.” I am not saying nor have I heard Eric Hogue call Move America Forward an Evil organization, I just think some unemotional thought needs to given before moving forward with any retaliations.

The Sound of Silence

2005-08-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

A natural disaster, an act of God, that is what Hurricane Katrina is.
The leading nation of the world is subject to the power and might of God’s will, as are we all.
This nation has time and time again come to the aid of other nations, with out some much as a thank you. It is expected, it is our duty to help those less fortunate than ourselves. But it is scary that in the aftermath of such a disaster, the eerie sound of silence from the world. I am not suggesting that other nations empty their pockets as hundreds of thousands of Americans did after the Tsunami. Nor am I suggesting that they their military to help keep order, and to help rebuild. I am only asking that the leaders of other nations, sincerely send their condolences to those effected in this time of uncertainty.

Those who have been most effected by this Natural Disaster, are indeed Americans. But as Americans, we will grieve the loss of loved ones, we will search for those we love and know to be alive, and we will rebuild.

If God had wanted to destroy this nation he would have. Instead He sent us a test, a trial, one that He knows we can pass, but still one that will remind us that He is there watching over us and the rest of the world.

There are those who will begin pointing fingers at certain leaders of our nation, saying that they have been ill prepared for such an event. But don’t be fooled by such accusations, no one could have conceived of the devastation that was to be brought by Katrina.

The prayers and hearts of my family goes out to those who have been effected by this terrible event. God bless and stay strong.

Answers to where I have been

2005-08-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have received a few questions on where I have been for the last month or so. I would like to say that I have traveling the globe getting lots of ammunition for defeating Liberals... but sadly that just is not the case. I have been working my tail off starting my own business. As I have posted before and some of you already know, I have changed careers. I used to be a business banker, and now I am an agent for New York Life Insurance Company (shameless plug, but hey it's my site). Speaking of my site, feel free to check out my work website www.alaldrete.com. Okay enough of the shameless plugs.

So I have been doing the whole start up deal, and of course spending time with wonderful wife. I have of course been listening to the Hogue Show every morning from 5 AM to 9AM on 1380 AM ( I expect a check in the mail Hogue... email me and I'll get you the address). Finally I had heard enough and couldn't contain myself anymore. It really did feel good to get that off my chest. Now I don't know how regularly I will be posting here, as I am still growing my business which means lots of calling people, going to businesses, long nights and early mornings. But if you want to help me get more time here, email me and we'll talk about the importance of life insurance in your business and family lives. Then I can spend more time here because I won’t have to out there trying to find you!!! (I would like to apologize for any feelings that might have been hurt in this post. If I have offended you or anyone in your family by the constant shameless plugs of my business, which is New York Life Insurance, and the non stop mentioning of this fact, please feel free to complain to my boss. You can reach him at the email address found at www.alaldrete.com.)

( I would like to apologize once again for the continual shameless plugs for www.alaldrete.com and here by promise that I will use said plugs from here on out very, very, very sparingly.)

(To tell you the truth I really am not at all sorry for these plugs, and if offends you in any way, shape or form, the email address you find at www.alaldrete.com does indeed to my boss, who is me and I'm sure he will not really care if these plugs offended you or not. He will though be happy that you went to the website!)

One life to live, BTK gets 10

2005-08-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

BTK, a.k.a. Dennis Rader, was ordered to serve 10 Life terms today, only because the State of Kansas had no death penalty when the crimes were originally committed. Okay, so the Tax payers of Kansas are going to have to feed, bath, and house this scum for the remainder of his pathetic life. Here is how I would carry out his term:

Take him to his cell, give him one piece of stale moldy bread, give him a cup of water out of the toilet, give him 30 seconds to consume this last meal. YES I SAID LAST MEAL. Then it I would take him out to the yard, have him strip himself down to his skivvies, tie him up and blind fold him. Then he would hear nothing but the sound of about ten riffles being loaded, their bolt actions being cocked. I would whisper in his ear, “Do you have any last requests? Anything you want to get off you chest before you are to go before the Grand Judge?”

BANG!!!!!! No I wouldn’t have him shot. That would be too quick; he didn’t give his victims a quick death. He enjoyed the pain that they went through. I would take a blunt knife and slowly cut into him and let him bleed to DEATH as he did to his victims. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Now I know that many of you may not agree with me that this is the “humane” way to treat this killer, or Terrorist, and he was a terrorist. You may think that I am being cruel to talk about the hypothetical death of this “man.” To you I say, GET OVER IT!

It is that kind of thinking that allows rapists and murders to walk our streets every night! We have too many appeals allowed in our system. What ever happened to “a quick and speedy trial?” This is an exception only because he confessed to doing the crimes!!! There are hundreds if not thousands of murder cases waiting to heard for decades!!! Mean while we tax payers are footing the bill. We NEED to get tougher on these crimes, to detour individuals from committing these types of crimes. True it will not eliminate them all together but I can say with great certainty that many people will think twice before committing a crime of this caliber if they know once they are caught, it will be a matter of month that they will meet an equal fate of their victims.

I'm BACK!!!!

2005-08-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats believe that Social Security is endangered by the Republican plan to privatize Social Security for individuals who are under the age of 45. Never mind that the type of account that is being proposed is the same type of account that these Senators and Representatives, along with many public employees have. So if these accounts are soooooo horrible why aren’t they trying to change their own retirement plans?

Now I have written about this topic many times, and I have said the same things over and over that I feel like a Democrat record… always broken!

So I just want to ask has anyone heard a decent idea from the Democrats to solve the mathematical problem we face… school is out children, this is real life, with a real life problem needing a real life solution. And in this day in age with so many people who want to be “Day-Traders” and taking their life savings and playing in the Market, giving them a some responsibility (read ownership) with what they would get from Uncle Sam in retirement is logical.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are many things to consider when planning for retirement, and one should consult with an advisor. If you can’t afford an advisor, than you should use the TSA that will be set up for you by the government. Then you should make a plan to see how you can put yourself in the position to be able to afford an advisor. Does that mean you need to change spending habits? Do you need to find a way to keep more of your paycheck? Do you need to make lunches rather than buying lunches, or maybe cut dinning out to once a month? Do you need those “spinners” or are the hubs you got work well enough? Think about paying yourself first. All it takes is a change in your thought process. Believe me I know, I have gone through the process myself.

SEAL's body found... with his head on his shoulders

2005-07-11T06:09:00.000-07:00

The body of the missing Navy SEAL was found… with head intact. Meaning the terrorists that claimed they had beheaded the man were plain lying. The SEAL died fighting for our freedoms and the freedoms of those citizens of the newly democratized Iraq. The man died with honor, along with the rest of his team. He was not killed by having his head cut off by a hooded terrorist.

This goes to show that the terrorists are losing the war. They are trying everything they can possibly do to make it seem that they are better off than they really are. They are cowards that attack innocent civilians, they go after the easy “soft” targets, rather than the more difficult “hard” targets of the military.

More to come when I have more details.

Fair Districts Now... is more like Later.

2005-07-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

The proposition for the much needed Redistricting is hitting yet another road block. Proposition 77 is under fire from Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

From the Sac BS:

Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Friday filed a lawsuit seeking to remove from the Nov. 8 ballot a measure asking voters to change the way the state draws its legislative and congressional districts, one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's main "reform" initiatives and one of the major reasons the governor called a special election for the fall.

Why is he seeking to remove the measure?

Proposition 77 backers have acknowledged that they mistakenly submitted a different version to the attorney general's office for approval than they later presented to voters as they gathered signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

But it appears that the lawyer for the backers of the measure has this to say:

…the distinctions "stylistic and immaterial," Lockyer's lawsuit said the group violated the state constitution by submitting substantively different measures.

And this as well:

"It is surprising and a shame that the attorney general would seek to prevent the chief elections officer from putting on the ballot the text of a qualified measure signed by over 900,000 voters simply because of stylistic and immaterial differences," Kolkey said.
Was an error made, yes as the backers of the Fair Districts Now measure have acknowledged already. Did the language and meaning of the measure change dramatically enough that the voters need to be worried? That is yet to remain unseen as of yet. I think what the larger question needs to be is, why are so many politicians worried about this measure… on both sides of the aisle. No matter what side of the political spectrum you sit on, that should make you sit back and wonder what is so good about this measure for the people that they are trying to stop it before it even really gets started.

CA Campaign Contributors

2005-07-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Here are the numbers in dollars for last weeks campaign contributions courtesy of the Sacramento Bee.com.

WHO'S WRITING CHECKS?
Top contributors through Friday
Governor Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team(Schwarzenegger's initiative committee)
• John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems, $121,500
• Jerry Yang, co-founder, Yahoo Inc., $100,000
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (agribusiness), $25,000
• KLA -Tencor Foundation (technology), $25,000
• Burton J. McMurtry, retired (investor), $12,500
• DeeDee McMurtry, retired (investor), $12,500
• American Resort Development Association, $10,000
• Grand Havana Enterprises (cigar clubs), $10,000
• Mike Lowther, CEO, Ticor Title, $10,000
• Carl Page, retired, $10,000
• Patrick G. Ryan, executive chairman, Aon Corp. (insurance), $7,429
• Samuel Zell, chairman, Equity Group Investments and Equity Residential, $7,429
• California Commercial Asphalt Corp., $5,000
• Terence M. Graunke, chairman and CEO, Lake Capital, $5,000
• Allergan Inc. (drugs), $5,000
• Scott Painter, self-employed, SP Holdings LLP, $5,000
• Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP (law firm), $5,000

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America CA Initiative Fund(Drug companies supporting industry-backed prescription drug measure)
• Merck & Co. Inc., $8.5 million
• Pfizer Inc., $8.5 million
• Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., $3.9 million
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., $3.4 million
• Schering Corp., $750,000•
Organon USA Inc., $175,000
• Schwarz Pharma, $175,000

Coalition for Employee Rights(Supporting measure to restrict public employee unions from spending dues money on political campaigns)
• Howard F. Ahmanson, owner, Fieldstead & Co., $30,000

Code Pink De-Coded on the Eric Hogue Show

2005-07-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

This morning on the Eric Hogue show a spokeswoman for CODE Pink, Women for Peace, exposed the true agenda for this anti military, anti America group. What is their agenda? To have a country ran by women, like an Amazonian Utopia. The topic was about the National Guard being present at the Mothers Day anti War Rally. Eric was trying to get Sam ( I am sorry I didn’t catch Sam’s last name) to answer a pointed question that she was trying very hard to duck. What was the question?

“Whose fault is it for the London bombings?”

An astute caller called in and put blame with the Islamic Fascists Radical Religious groups. Sam agreed “half-way” with the caller.

EH: “ If you agree half way, then where does the other half fall to?”

S: after trying very hard not to fall into the trap, “I will go a head and bite the bullet you are firing at me, it is President Bush’s fault.”

After going around a while and ducking various other pointed questions, Eric asked this question (paraphrased),
“What is it that you want,”

S: “A government run by women!”

At this point I like many others listening to this could no longer contain myself, and I damn near ran off the road, because I was laughing so hard. Not because I don’t think women can’t hold positions of power, but I don’t think that a country ran by a group of women such a Sam from CODE Pink would be able to do a good job of protecting the citizens of this country. Lets take a look at what CODE Pink believes in.

“CODEPINK is a women initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action”

This is off their web site. Doesn’t sound too bad does it. Well then there is this:

““ We call on women around the world to rise up and oppose the war in Iraq. We call on mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters, on workers, students, teachers, healers, artists, writers, singers, poets and every ordinary outraged woman willing to be outrageous for peace. Women have been the guardians of life—not because we are better or purer or more innately nurturing than men, but because the men have busied themselves making war. Because of our responsibility to the next generation, because of our own love for our families and communities and this country that we are a part of, we understand the love of a mother in Iraq for her children and the driving desire of that child for life” —Starhawk
So Men are warmongers and women are peacekeepers. What about the women who volunteered to go into the service, to fly helicopters, and to be gunners on the front lines? From CODE Pink’s point of view these women would be warmongers as well. In my view not only are these women extreamly brave, but they are true peacekeepers.

“With this call CODEPINKcame to the face and space of the national leadership to protest the pre-emptive strike in Iraq. Medea Benjamin, Starhawk, Jodie Evans, Diane Wilson and approximately 100 other women kicked off CODEPINK on November 17, 2002. They marched through the streets of Washington, DC and set up for a four month vigil in front of the White House. The name CODEPINK plays on the Bush Administration’s color-coded homeland security advisory system that signals terrorist threats. While Bush’s color coded alerts are based on fear, the CODEPINK alert is based on compassion and is a feisty call for women and men to “wage peace.””

So in 2002 CODEPINK came into existence, but what about when Clinton bombed nations preemptively.
Well no matter that is only a small detail. What about the last sentence? Now men can wage peace with women? I thought we all to busy making war! I am confused.

“The first all-women CODEPINKpeace delegation went to Iraq in February 2003. Another delegation travelled to Iraq in November, December and January and February 2004. CODEPINK members were also in Jordan in 2004 to deliver humanitarian aid to the refugees of Fallujah and another delegation is traveling to Iran in April of 2005.”

So this group that is for PEACE and wants our men and women to come home, go to Iraq. They go there to deliver humanitarian aid to the refugees of Fallujah, never mind that our military already delivers aid to these refugees. What I want to know is did one single member of the group go up to one of our soldiers and thank them for helping the refugees? How about thanking them for making the area safe for them to even go there!!!

This all leads to my point about why a government run by women who follow the Call to CODEPINK. Imagine a government who does not believe in a security system. Now this country is also the most economically strong countries in the world. Every other country wants to be this country in terms of wealth.

Now there is a small band of Religious Extremists that are not afraid to die. They also want to have the wealth of this above mentioned country. They want to start their own nation. They see that the CODEPINK country has no defenses. So they fly a couple of planes into two buildings, killing thousands. They fly another plane into a government building and kill hundreds more. They had yet another plane that was heading for some where, the passengers of this plane didn’t want to fight because that is frowned upon by the government, but the plane had mechanical problems and went down in a field potentially saving the lives a hundreds more, but lives on the plane were all lost.

This CODEPINK government issues out a statement to the Religious Extremists, saying,

“While we don’t wet understand why it is you felt the need to convey your displeasure with our country in such a violent manner, please except our apologies for what ever it is we have done to offend you. Please have the women leaders of you country call us so that we might work out a resolution to this ordeal.”

Sounds good. Only one problem, this Religious Extremist group doesn’t believe that women should hold any authority what so ever! They will only allow men to hold the power, and they besides that, they never had any intention in talking to anyone, they know what they want and they are going to get it! They will continue to make violent acts until the country they want is destroyed so that it will be theirs!

Now our government that we have in place now, just as it did when it was first formed has a security system in place. That system is the armed forces. The men and women who serve our Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. Now President Bush had three choices to make on 9/11. 1) Send out a statement apologizing for what ever it was that we had done to piss these guys off, 2) Say okay, you want to fight bring the fight here on our soil, ( and if you thought the Patriot act was a bad thing, can you imagine what we would have to go through if the fight was here?) 3) Take the fight over to their sandbox and have all of the inconveniences be put on the their people. Because we had to respond to the attacks of 9/11, and the evidence that we had at the time pointed to Afghanistan and Iraq, that is where we went. The terrorists who attacked yesterday did so to try to get the British to pull out of Iraq. Why? Because they have lost battle after battle in the Middle East. Because Iraq was a major stronghold and financial backer for the terrorist groups. They know that if they lose Iraq completely, which is very close to happening now, they will loose the overall war. They don’t want to loose. But they don’t want to win as much as we want to keep our freedoms. Don’t be fooled, this War on Terror is very much about our freedoms. If we loose to these terrorists, and they take over the power, then all the freedoms and liberties that we take for granted now, will be lost for ever. This not a fear tactic, this is how the plan goes for those who wish to kill each and everyone of us that live in the United States of America simply because we are Americans.

Explosions in London

2005-07-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I awoke to my alarm clock at 5:00AM…my wife hit the snooze button. I awoke again at to my alarm clock at 5:30AM, this time I heard Eric Hogue and something about bombs going off in London. I was defiantly awake then. A sequence of bombs in the subway detonated during rush hour. A group calling themselves the Secrete Al Quieda of Europe is claiming responsability.

I want to take the time now to send out my sincerest condolences to the people of London. Great Britain has been a tremendous friend to United States in the War on Terror.
To those who think this is a winning blow to the terrorists, I say this, the War on Terror will have many battle fronts, and this maybe a set back for our side, but it is not a loss in terms of the fight. It is for this very reason that things such as the Patriot Act were written. It is for this very reason that our brave men and women of all the coalition forces are fighting in this war. The very freedoms that we all hold dear are being attacked by those who hungry for power. There are those that say it is our President who is hungry for power. How much more power can you get than being the head of the most powerful country in the world? President Bush is not out for power. Where was he today when these attacks happened? He was at the G-8 meeting, talking with world leaders about how to solve the problem of world hunger, economic problems of the world, and how to stop those that would want to such violent acts as we have seen from these Islamic Radical Terrorists. It is time that we all agree that we can not negotiate with a people that have no interest in negotiating. They only know one response, fight or die. Well with each of these types of attacks, you should be warned, you only deepen the resolve of those who covet their freedoms, which means you are going to fight, and you will die. There is no gray area in this war.

Why do I have Faith?

2005-07-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

I have not been blogging very much lately, not because I haven’t wanted to, I have just been very busy building a new business. As I have been doing this, I have had some time to reflect on the necessity of Faith and Family. There is one major thing that distinguishes hard core conservatives and hard core liberals, Faith and Family.

Conservatives tend to allow their Faith in God, and in Family to be included in their day to day lives. L(l)iberals tend to try as hard as they can to not include God into their lives or their families. God is very instrumental in my life. He hasn’t always been allowed in my life, but he has always been there. Now liberals always have this one question, “In a world filled with poverty, war, corruption, diseases, how can you possibly believe that an all powerful God exists?” Truth be told I use to struggle with this very question. I couldn’t see that God has trails for each and everyone of us through out our entire lives. One thing about these trails is that there is a cheat sheet. It is in a book, that has the history of God and His chosen people.

Now here is where people who do not walk in Faith through their hands up. “Well if God has already chosen His people, and I don’t believe in God, so I must not be one of his chosen people.” Makes sense right? Well God has a chosen people in the Bible, and that is the Jewish people, those of Israel. Christians are also part of his chosen people as we are told in the New Testament. It is also explained in the New Testament that God will call others to Him. Who are the others, you and me and everyone else on this planet we call Earth. It is through the above mentioned trails that we go through on a day to day basis that God calls us to do his work. And what is this work?

To help our fellow man, be stewards of this planet, and to obey his commandments. Now helping our fellow man is not done simply by throwing money at the poor, through donations or government programs. We are creatures who need connections, physical and mental. By volunteering time and actually spending time with those who are less fortunate then you is doing God’s work. All you have to do to become a chosen one, is to ask God for His help.

Being stewards of this planet is not just asking for loggers to stop clear-cutting forests. It includes asking for true management of our environment, globally, nationally, and locally. This includes hunting. All you have to do to become a chosen one is to ask God for His help.

The last is to obey his commandments. It is easy to go out and volunteer your time to spend time with those less fortunate, or in bad health. It is easy to go out and plant trees in your neighborhood or to write a letter to your congressperson to demand responsible management of the national forests. But it is not easy to obey all of the Ten Commandments that God has asked us to do. If you are wondering why I have repeatedly said, “All you have to do to become a chosen one is to ask God for His help,” I will explain. God did not make these commandments because they are easy to comply with, but he didn’t make them so that we would fail. He made them so that we would become humble enough to realize that we can’t go through life and be complete without Him. We would have to talk to Him. We would have to ask Him for something, and something is help. This travels over to our families.

I am coming up on my second anniversary with my wife. We will have been together for six years. I am a very lucky man in that God brought me to my wife. We get along great; we love the same movies even after watching them for tenth or twentieth time. We both love our families, and we love each others families. We both love going camping, and we all love just hanging out together. But it is not always as cheerful as I have just described. We do have to work at our relationship, to make sure that we continue to get along great. A marriage is a partnership. It is a partnership between three people, my wife, me and God. God is always in our lives, and he is there to help us maintain our relationship.

These days though God is being pushed out of our lives. Liberals have tried their best to take God out of all of our lives. Here is the question that I have for all you that don’t like God being in our society:
“ In the past, when God was involved in our society, was it better or worse than today? Was the crime rate as high? Was the murder rate as high? Were corporate scandals as prevalent? Was the divorce rate as high as it is now?”

Think about it honestly, and if you want to become a chosen one, all you have to do is ask God for help.

A little late

2005-07-01T07:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, Okay I know I promised these last night.... it's a good thing that I not a writer for the Bee, I would have been canned for missing the deadline.

Ben Stien

2005-07-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Ben Stien wrote the last of his bi-weekly column. My mother forwarded this email to me of his last column. It is a must read so I copied the entire column here:

Ben Stein's Last Column... ============================================How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again. Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S.soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human. Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.By Ben Stein

GITMO COOK BOOK

2005-07-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

This was mentioned on the Hue Hewitt show: GITMO Cookbook to sold next month!!! Get all the reciepes that are being fed to imprisoned Enemy Combatants. Sing me up for that!!! Lemon Chicken sounds tasty!

New Posts Coming Tonight

2005-06-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone that I have been neglecting this blog. Work has been keeping me very busy lately (A good thing because that means I will be able to make that mortgage check out again this month) and I have not been able to keep up with everything here. I have a few posts ready to go so look here tonight... also I should have my mailing list up a ready to here in the next couple of days, so if your are interested in getting here first, drop me an email so that I can add you on.
Thank you all for your pacients and your support of this blog.

RSB

Covell Village will be on November Ballot

2005-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

4-1 vote... yes that is right Sue Greenwald just can't seem to see a good thing if it walked up and bit her in the... well you get the idea. So the Village will go through the measure J process and will be left to the people to decide. This is a good thing. The democatic process is always a good thing. It means that both the oppenents and especially the supporters will have a lot of work ahead of themselves; but project has many good economic, social and environmental aspects to it. I will be keeping a close eye on this as well as the State wide elections in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Spotlight: Energy Initiative to be on Nov. Ballot

2005-06-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

There will be an initiative on the November ballot regarding electricity…. one of the major reasons we are where we are today. The idea is to “re-regulate” the system. This sounds pretty good at first glance, but consider this from the Sac Bee yesterday:

“Despite the convenient labels, California never really deregulated electricity when the state Legislature changed the ground rules of the once-monopoly business in 1996.”

And this the next paragraph:

“Now, the ballot measure wouldn't really re-regulate, although the consumer group promoting it likes to call it a "re-regulation and blackout avoidance" initiative.”

Now look at who is backing the initiative:

“The TURN-sponsored measure is backed by the Alliance for a Better California, the coalition of nurse, firefighter, teacher and public employee unions…” now that doesn’t help me like the idea any better.

Electricity is tricky business. We haven’t seen what the system would like if it was fully deregulated, but I don’t think it would be very pretty for at least fifty years after the deregulation started. Here is why, there is a very high cost of entry into the business, and currently the state will not allow any new plants to be built. So someone who is interested in getting into the business has to lease a current plant from one of the two major power suppliers in the state PG&E or Southern Edison. So the break up of the monopoly hasn’t truly worked yet. But again even if the state allowed new plants to be built it takes close to twenty years before the plant begins to turn a profit, before the “deregulation” of the industry, the government was able to subsidize a portion of the loss each year until the plant was profitable. Now that wont happen again bringing us to the high entry cost. So the question is do we go with initiative process here or do we let the capable legislators handle this one. Well the legislators happen to be the same ones that helped to get us here so the answer is a no there. I think more thought has to be put into the initiative before it goes to the ballot for the people to decide. There are some things that I don’t like about it, starting with who is purposing it. These organizations and unions have not had the consumer in mind in past so why the change now. We have not had to many blackouts or power shortage warnings in the last year or so. Like I said this is tricky issue, we need more power plants that is one thing I am sure of. I am also contemplating the idea of solar panels on my roof… just a thought.

True Leadership by our Governor

2005-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

How is political leadership defined? It is the ability to have others follow you, to take charge of the tough issues and bring them to light. The ability to pass on praise when things go better than expected, yet to take responsibility for when they don’t go as well as planned. This is what our Governor did yesterday. He demonstrated the later part of the definition. He took responsibility for the numbers declining in the polls.

From the Sacramento Bee:

"I guarantee that all of us, in this building, can share blame," Schwarzenegger said. "All of us, including myself."
The polls are showing his “popularity” with regards to his handling of the initiatives and the negotiations with the other side of the aisle have dropped from 55% to 37% since February of this year. I for one am not too worried by this, once the information of what these initiatives are all about gets to the people, the polls will change for the better. Here is why I think this:

“The Democrat-controlled Legislature fared even worse in the poll, although its ratings have not dropped as much. Only a quarter approve of lawmakers' performance and believe they are negotiating in good faith.”

What we need to have cleared up though is this talk of members of the Governor’s administration and the dems have been talking about negotiations on the ballot initiatives.

My two-cents to the Governor and his administration; part of the reason the numbers have gone down is due to the negotiations that have gone on and the backing down of some of the important issues to the public. Negotiation time is over, the democrat politicians have had their chance to work with you and the state, they have turned their backs, now let the people decide, no changes should be made to water down the initiatives. Let the people take them or leave them. There can be no argument against this process. IF someone where to say that this is not a fair way or right way to handle this situation, then they need to be removed from the government system as they do not believe in democratic process of which this great nation was founded.

Davis: City Council to vote on Covell Villiage tonight

2005-06-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

It appears things are winding down on this story... for now. Tonight the City Council of the "People's Republic" of Davis will vote on whether or not Covell Village should go to citizens of Davis for a vote. The Davis Enterprise gives a run down of what the project entails.

You can read my commentary on the project here and here. I will post about the vote outcome when I get the info.

What do we really know about Civil Rights?

2005-06-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

This came to me via email from my blogging friend Kobayashi Maru back east, I can't believe I haven't seen this in the Bee.S. Here is a little teaser for the rest of it you will have to go his site and read the rest.

In this announcement of the 'Human Sexuality Summit' going on in San Francisco this week, I noted several choice bits, including the following from Saskia Wieringa, PhD, President of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society, Senior Research Affiliate at the Amsterdam School for Social Research at the University of Amsterdam and Director of the International Documentation Center and Archives of the Women’s Movement in Amsterdam. (Apparently, she doesn't lack for credentials... of a particular sort.):

Read More

Early Nod for Covell Village

2005-06-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well now after all the concerns have been addressed regarding the capabilities of the Davis Water Treatment facilities, fiscal impact, and economic impact it appears that the city of Davis is prepared to move forward on the planning of Covell Village. Now I have not mentioned the concerns regarding the water treatment before because that was a last minute attempt to scrap the project. A last minute attempt that was quickly slammed out of the council chambers by the City Engineer Pat Fitzsimmons.

"I don't know how this all got started," he told the council Tuesday, "but it's a very big misconception. ... The long and short of it is there is the capacity for Covell Village and there is capacity for the General Plan build-out, and then some."

This from the Davis Enterprise:

Davis' plant capacity is 7.5 million gallons per day, and today the city generates 6.25 million gallons per day. Covell Village would add .46 million gallons per day, Fitzsimmons said, leaving capacity for .79 mgd - enough for 8,000 people, speaking in terms of residential development.

The council voted 4-1, with Mayor Pro Tem Sue Greenwald dissenting, to accept the fiscal analysis for the project.

Ms. Greenwald is a typical “no growth because I don’t understand how it works” Davisite. Now not understanding how something works is not a horrible thing. I don’t understand how the liberal mind works entirely… but I am okay with that (only joking, I understand how your minds work, and just believe that it is backwards.) But to make comments like “the analysis is "woefully inadequate" and lacks information related to capital projects the development would trigger,” when the rest of the council obviously had enough confidence in the Finance Director’s proposal, and the rest of the board is mixed in political leanings, is just plain ignorance!

“Countering her position, Councilman Ted Puntillo said the analysis, which indicated the project essentially would be fiscally neutral, was conservative, and Councilman Stephen Souza praised Finance Director Paul Navazio for his work predicting future financial activity. Councilman Don Saylor said he is confident in the analysis, even after considering recent concerns of some on the Finance and Budget Commission.”

“The council voted 4-1, with Mayor Pro Tem Sue Greenwald dissenting, to accept the fiscal analysis for the project.”

A piece of information has also been given to me by Erik Reitz, a resident of Woodland who is following this very carefully. If the city does not grow in accordance with the plans of Yolo County, which is around 1.9% annually, then the county will be able to take over jurisdiction of the growth projects, meaning that the council will no longer have a say in the matter. Someone like KB Homes might be able to come in and put one home per acre in the proposed spot, and because it is under the county’s jurisdiction, they will not have to comply with the city codes as much as the County’s. Just food for thought Ms. Greenwald.

Politics or King of Molestation

2005-06-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

So Jacko got off the hook and that was the media choice last night except for two television stations in Sacramento. These two stations will have my patronage from now on (or at least until they mess things up). These two stations ran with the Governor’s live three minute speech instead of covering the King of Pop and his injustice, but that is another post for another time. Channel 3 (KCRA) and Channel 13 (KOVR) went with the speech and the others went with Wackson.

I will also give the Sacramento Bee some props for leading with the Governor on their website.

The Price of your voice vs the price of the Special Election

2005-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Special Election is moving forward in California. The cost according to the Secretary of State is approximately $40 Million. There is a blatant lie being past around by the Dems and their special interests. They are trying to scare the voters by saying that the cost of the election will cost twice the number or $80 Million. So there are a couple of questions arise. What is the price for democracy and your voice? And, what is price tag to have a better run State Government?

The beginning of this “Special Elections” was started when the populace of this state wanted to recall Gray Davis (who by the way recently admitted to not knowing what the heck he was doing in regards to the electricity crisis). If you thought or expected that the State would be fixed the day that Gray went out, then you were sadly mistaken, and probably very disappointed. But for those of us who remember that, “Rome was not built in a single day,” this is the completion of the recall. Stay tuned to this blog and the others of the Western Alliance to stay on top of the issues that will be brought forward on the special election ballot in up coming five months. Oh and don’t forget to turn your Radio dial away from the recent “born again” Night (S)Talker and listen up to Hogue in morning on KTKZ 1380, the steadfast will win the race, those that sprint in the direction of the “new hot item” will get cramps and fall to the wayside of the race.

Proof that Howard Dean is a Puppet of the Democrat Party OR how about Dean gets a Time-Out?

2005-06-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Howard Dean was pulled into Harry Reid’s the, Minority Leader, chambers and was told to tone it down a bit. This story today from the Sacramento BS shows proof that Chairman of the DNC Howard Dean is nothing more than a puppet of the Democrat party.

“ "There isn't a single person, whether it's any of us in this room, or Governor Dean, or (Republican National Committee Chairman Ken) Mehlman, that haven't misspoken," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters. He and two members of his leadership team, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York, flanked Dean in Reid's office.””

They’re just pulling on Pinocchio’s strings here. So why are they so fearful of giving Dean too much slack?

“A majority of Americans and Democrats, and Dean himself, characterize themselves as white and Christian, but proportionally Republicans are more homogeneous. But Mehlman, who is Jewish, has chastised Dean, as have several Democrats who saw it as poor strategy for a party unlikely to recapture the White House or the majority on Capitol Hill in the near future unless it wins over more white, Christian voters.”

Not that we needed an explanation as to why Hillary is trying to make herself more conservative in appearance, but there it is. And what does Nancy Pelosi think of the whole matter?

“"Governor Dean is an effective chair of the Democratic National Committee," Pelosi said. "And I believe that is why the Republicans are so relentlessly going after him."”

The reason why Republicans are “going after” Dean “so relentlessly” is because he found an old iron glove and slapped us across the face by attacking our work ethic, the way we view people (which has nothing to do with the color of ones skin, and more with one’s character), and our religion. By “going after,” I mean simply speaking up and showing the country that he lied. I have said this many times and I will say it again, I couldn’t be happier that Howard EHHAW Dean is the Chairman of the DNC. I wake up with a smile each and everyday just because of that very thought.

Okay due to a couple of comments from fellow bloggers, appearently I am stating the obvious. Therefore I updated the title of the this page.

Covell Village... growth for a no-growth town

2005-06-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Covell Village is still the hot topic in the town of Davis. Tuesday the city council had another meeting surrounding this topic. What are some of the concerns of the citizens?

“Project opponents predict traffic and other crowding and burdens on city infrastructure and finances and on other citizens. They cite strong concerns raised in recent weeks by some on a handful of city advisory commissions, including the Planning Commission and Finance and Budget Commission.”

Yes by building more homes you do bring more people into the town thereby increasing the population and the number of people who need to get around. So what does this mean? For the city it’s self, increased revenue from the new tax payers coming into the city. It means that a few roads may have to be widen. It means they will have to put a few more parking spaces Down Town if they more people to shop there. It means they can put a couple more of those electric car charges parking spots in other areas besides the two they have Down Town.

“Eileen Samitz, co-founder of Citizens for Responsible Planning and a former member of the Davis Planning Commission, criticized the development for being partly within a flood plain, being on high-quality farmland and creating air quality problems, among other reasons.”

As far as the development being partly within a flood plain, please tell me one development in the Sacramento area that is not partly in a flood plain, or potential flood plain!! We live in a VALLEY!!! That means when it rains on the mountains the water flows down hill, Ms. Samitz thank you for bringing this to our attention. Everyone it is time to move out!
In regards to the farm land issue; I have not lived in Davis year round for almost a year now. But when I lived there before (the whole 26 years of my life) I don’t recall the proposed farm land being used for much more than growing weeds in the past 6 to 10 years. There is a condemnable old barn on the land, a paint ball course and out-of-use landfill. So tell me who wants to start growing something on that?

“"If this were a car," former Mayor Ken Wagstaff said, "I would say it is wonderfully designed. ... But it won't fit in our garage, and we can't afford to run it."”
Mr. Wagstaff, if you can’t fit a 422 acre plan into a 422 acre space… you need to go back to the game of trying to put the round wooden ball into the round whole. This is not like the Hummer commercial where the guy destroys his home trying to pull into the garage. We are talking about building homes in footprint design… this is not rocket science. I also do realize that the juggling act of the infrastructure is a bit more complicated but if Davis is to be a viable city it needs to have some growth and with that means increasing infrastructure. These opponents of the growth of Davis have always had the same argument since my father went to Vet school at UCD. That is why the underpass is still constantly at rush hour traffic no matter what time of day you try to go that route. It is time to grow up and become a big town (not city).

Honoring our Flag

2005-06-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

This is from Feching Jen, one of the Western Alliance bloggers, it is an increditable piece:

"Recently I wrote of attending my brother's Air Force retirement ceremony and how moved I was. The following is the Flag Folding Ceremony and presentation:Please watch and listen as this flag is unfolded in your honor. The canton of blue with its blazing white stars representing the states will shine forth, the bold red and white of the stripes representing the commitment of the first colonies will leap into your eye. The combined colors or red, white and blue representing hardiness and valor - purity and innocense - and finally, perserverance, vigilance and justice, will not only testify to the qualities of our nation, but will also give testimony of your service."

Read the rest here.

The Western Alliance

2005-06-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so us Sacramento Bloggers have gotten together as I have posted before, we wanted to be all enclusive (in some ways), and have now called ourselves the Western Allience. We have put together a blog site that you can go to and see excerpts of new postings. From there if you want to read the whole story you can then click on the hyperlink to get you to the whole story. Please go visit the site and read all the bloggers in the Alliance. If you don't agree with us 100% of the time, that's okay, we don't agree with eachother 100% of the time, that is what makes this party so great!!!

Enjoy.

The WESTERN ALLIANCE

Does the Patriot Act Work?

2005-06-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Okay by now we have all heard about the suspected terrorists that were “sleeping” in Lodi. Here are some of my concerns:

1: The Patriot Act is set to sunset this year. The President has been out pushing to have all of the provisions reauthorized see story here.

2: If these provisions are not reauthorized then we will be setting ourselves up for another blind sided attack.

3: Leaders from the mosque that these men attended and that one of the suspects, Muhammed Adil Khan who was working to open a religious school, have not made any mention that if these allegations are true; these men would have no association with this mosque in the future. Instead it was publicly announced, that these men are good men and that the leaders of the mosque firmly believe that, “Sanity and justice will prevail.” Whose justice? Are talking about the justice of America, where one has the right to a speedy trail with an attorney? Are they talking about Holy Jihad justice? Because they have not put out any disclaimers of where they stand or expressed any outrage that one of their own had gone to a camp to learn how to kill Americans, I can only assume, and I hate that.

We are engaged in a War on Terrorism, that means that there are certain inconveniences that we all must put up with at the airport. The agents did not arrest these men in the process of planning, they got them before the plans where laid out. To me that is much better. That means these men if the allegations are true, and the evidence that is public looks pretty bad for them, there are no plans for another cell to pick up from. That means the Patriot Act has worked. We will never know how lives this arrest has saved, and that is a good thing.

Where is the ACLU?

2005-06-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so we all remember the 2000 Flori-DUH election debacle, and the Libs are still crying over the Ohi-oh-no loss from last November. But this is just to funny! It is not funny to those union members who exercised their vote, but the subtle irony involved just gets me. Here you have no Republican or conservative involved with the “election” and they still can’t get things in order. Here is the full story from the Sacramento BS.

Enter ACLU stage right.

Affirmative Action Disassembled

2005-06-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Some low income San Jose area schools have seen a dramatic increase in college attendance rates in the last few years. And it wasn't because of race-based set asides and preferences.

It was because Student from San Jose State University worked in these schools to help create a college going culture.

Go to the Craig Deluz blog to see the rest of this story... it is great news.

Pin the Tale on the George Washington

2005-06-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

This from Saturday’s Sacramento Bee:

Top contributors reported through Friday

Citizens to Save California(Business groups supporting Schwarzenegger measures)

• California Business PAC, sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, $200,000
• L.W. "Bill" Lane Jr. (publisher, Sunset magazine, retired), $5,000

Governor Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team (Schwarzenegger's initiative committee)

• Boone Pickens, CEO, BP Capital, $50,000
• Clean Energy (natural gas/hydrogen fuel supplier), $50,000
• Kohl's, $25,000
• Synergistic Marketing Inc., $25,000
• Walgreens Co., $25,000
• John J. Moores, owner, San Diego Padres, investor, $25,000
• General Mills, $15,000
• Brad Raffanti, food broker, Edge Sales & Marketing, $15,000
• Robert W. McKnight, CEO, Quicksilver Inc. (surf wear/apparel), $12,500
• Western United Dairyman State PAC, $10,000
• Griffith Co., developer, $10,000
• Flatiron Construction Corp., $10,000
• McCullough/Ames Development Inc., $10,000
• William E. Simon Jr., Republican politician, executive director, William E. Simon & Sons, $10,000
• Robert A. Day, CEO, Trust Company of the West, $7,410
• Bergelectric Corp., contractors, engineers, $5,000
• California Commercial Asphalt Corp., $5,000
• Erreca's Inc., engineering contractor, $5,000
• William J. Patterson, SPO Partners & Co. (investment firm), $5,000
• Glen A. Holden, managing partner, The Holden Company (finance), $5,000

Alliance for a Better California(Unions, Democrats opposed to Schwarzenegger measures; pushing re-regulation of electricity, lower drug prices)

• CA Faculty Association Political Issues Committee, $25,000
• CA Teachers Association Issues PAC, $20,401
• CA Professional Firefighters Ballot Issues, $15,906

Taxpayers to Save the 2/3 Vote(Supporting measure to require most fees be approved by 2/3 vote)
• Miller Brewing Co., $10,000

Coalition for Employee Rights(Supporting measure to restrict public employee unions from spending dues money on political campaigns)
• California Republican Party, $100,000

Q: How much time does a committee have to report its campaign contributions?

A: If a committee receives more than $5,000 from an individual contributor, it must report the contribution electronically to the secretary of state within 10 business days. However, in the 90 days prior to an election, committees must begin to file contributions of $1,000 or more within 24 hours. These requirements apply to special elections as well, so if Schwarzenegger calls an election for November, filing deadlines will change 90 days before the date of the election.

Interesting to see how many people are finally helping to spot for the Governor now, and how little money is going to the dems, although we still have a long way to go catch up to the Millions they have already gathered. Keep it coming and keep helping the Governor lift this state back up to it's Golden Reputation.

Howard Dean goes off the Deepend

2005-06-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Dean, the chairman of the Democrat National Committee today gave me my reason for quitting my new job. Apparently, Republicans, “most of whom have not worked an honest day in their lives,” (a paraphrase), according to Dean, have all the time in the world on Election Day. And this is the reason for the need to make the Election Day a holiday! This in hopes that more democrats will be able to make it to the ballot box on Election Day.

Okay let’s look at the facts here shall we? Where are the highest populations of democrat voters? New York, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, most metropolitan cities. These happen to also be where some of the wealthiest people live, correct? Now that means that this is where, according to Dean, all the honest jobs are held. So you farmers in the Midwest and Great Plains areas… you don’t have an honest job. If you follow Dean’s logic you have one of the most crooked jobs there is… because you are the furthest from the metropolitan cities.

Now on a personal note, I just want to thank the democrat party for making him your leader…. You could not have helped the Republican Party more. Thanks Again!!

For a video clip of Dean speaking go here and then click on the link in the right hand column called “Leaning Left.”

Fabian Nunez on School Funding

2005-06-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Let’s start with this quote from Speaker Sparky Nunez:

“If the Republicans are going to draw the line in the sand ... we are going to find another way to fund education," he said. "It's not going to be the most fiscally prudent, but we're going to find another way to do it.”

This was the final quote from the Sacramento B.S.com. This is the way democrats are looking to get the funds: Tax the “rich!!!” I have heard that come out of Fabian’s mouth too often now, that I wonder if when he is alone he puts on green tights and a feather in his cap, sporting a bow and arrow!!!

Well Mr. Speaker, please tell us who the “rich” are?

“Assembly Democrats said a couple earning $350,000,” Déjà vu (and I really dislike the French to), I believe I have posted on this before. And the idea didn’t seem to work then!

Now Gov. Schwarzenegger has said he will not go along with any tax increases, and why should he, there is already a balanced budget proposal infront of the legislature waiting for a vote. No new taxes (or increases) and no new borrowing (or increases).

This is why it is so important for us to have fiscal conservatives, Republicans, in control of spending. We need to stop this tax and spend or we’ll borrow and spend mentality. Now I know some of you will say, “But we borrowed to pay off all the debt from Gray Davis, what is the difference?” It is called refinancing at a lower rate to make the payments easier to deal with.

UPDATE:
For another look at this go to CaHighschooler Blog, this Kid has a great way of handling this situation.

Sacto Blogger Alliance

2005-05-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Bloggers Alliance has been formed!!
So far the members are as follows:

Roseville Conservative

Craig Deluz

California High School Conservative

Bonfire

Sacto Dan

Blogodoccio

Hogue's Blog

And of course yours truly The blog to the Rightside.

More information will be coming soon… keep checking in.

Follow the money

2005-05-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest round of donations in politics. It looks like the tide is turning, more Red dollars are coming in than Blue. This is a good sign. But we need to make sure that money keeps coming in through the end of the year. It is still going to be tough to beat the Union’s cash lining the pockets of the dems running.

From the Sacramento Bee on Saturday:

Who's writing checks?
Top contributors from Saturday, May 21, through Friday

Citizens to Save California(Business groups supporting Schwarzenegger measures)

• Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors Issues Fund, $25,000

Governor Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team(Schwarzenegger's initiative committee)
• Alex Spanos, developer, owner of San Diego Chargers, $1 million
• Bonadelle Development Corp., $40,866
• Dr. Thomas Mitts, Medical Arts Surgery Center, $10,000
• California Dairies, $10,000
• Emilie A. Cobb, farmer, $10,000
• Rayburn S. Dezember, retired chairman, Tejon Ranch Co., development, $10,000
• JPJ Inc., development, $10,000
• Ure Kretowicz, CEO, Cornerstone Communities, development, $10,000
• Richard's Plumbing Inc., $10,000
• Sierra Tel Communications Group, $10,000
• Tom Besmer Construction Inc., $10,000
• William L. Jones, farmer, $8,000

Californians for Fair Elections(Supporting redistricting measure)
• California Business PAC, $75,000

Californians to Stop Higher Taxes(Business and anti-tax groups opposing a variety of tax measures, including those to close so-called tax loopholes)
• State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance, $50,000

One other thing that was interesting from the article is a graphic from the Public Policy Institute of California. What is so interesting about this is that right now on all the issues that are Republican… which they all look to be conservative topics, we are in the lead and would win if an election were to held right now. That being said, there are still many undecided voters out there. We need to band together and start messaging strongly so that we can get their votes come election time. This is where we conservatives tend shoot ourselves in the foot and the Dems excel at. They have a way of using fuzzy wuzzy, good feeling words in order to make their point. We need to be able to not only show why these good feelings are just that, feelings. We also need to be able to explain why. Why is merit pay a good thing? To answer this let me first show the other side, “Merit pay is a bad thing because it puts teachers through undo stress of having to prove themselves for more than the already established two years.”

The key words in this argument are “undo stress,” “prove,” and “established.” Now how would I rebut this argument? First the facts that we want to talk about, the education system is failing, and throwing money at the this problem will not fix it because the money wont make it passed the administrators and union leaders. Secondly, in most other jobs in the economy, one must continually prove themselves to be a productive worker in order to keep their job or get a raise. So what does merit pay do to solve this problem? Here is my answer:

By having teachers go through a longer tenure process we make sure we are getting the cream of the crop in our school systems. Think of it as a TOP GUN approach to teachers. By having them continuing to have to prove themselves not only to the administrators and parents, they have to prove themselves to the children. The “established” two years is the status quo. Change is sometimes good, and the system is broke in more ways than one. It is time to fix the problem, not just put a rag over the leak.

I would then ask one question, and this question goes to all issues, “What plans to fix the problems of this state have you heard from the democrats?” All I have heard is nothing but criticism about the plans from the conservative side, I have not heard one new idea from the democrats.We will discuss more of these issues over the next few months.
Stay tuned

Remembering

2005-05-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

On this Memorial Day we will all be having some sort of BBQ with friends and family. Some of us will go out on the rivers, up to the mountains, or may just stay home. What ever you do, where ever you go, and what ever your political leaning, remember why we have this holiday. Remember why we have these freedoms to post dissent on the internet without fear of imprisonment, and the whole world to read. Remember the men and women who don’t get to take part in the holiday, because their work is not yet done.
Happy Memorial Day, and to all of those families whose Son’s and Daughter’s have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, I thank you. To all the veterans who have made it home safely, I thank you for service and I remember your brothers and sisters with you who didn’t make it back home.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” Ephesians 6-18-19 KJV

The Davis Report

2005-05-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of my contributions back to the city that I grew up in. Here's to you Davis!

Covell Village: Imagine 422 acres of land currently with nothing on them but a old run down farm, a no longer used landfill, a go-cart race track and not so well known paint ball course. This is the purposed site of Covell Village. The basics of the plans are can be found here. So what is the controversy all about? Homes, new track homes that will be built, and the added traffic. Davis touts being a no growth town, yet the nine years since I left for college, Davis has been developed in places I thought would be fields forever.
And I say it is good. They have managed growth well. But any time someone mentions growth the belly-achers, such as Till Angermann, come out of the woodwork. Remember the overpass that was stopped for months due to the possibility of disrupting an endangered toad? Only the toad wasn’t endangered! They cost the developer and the towns-people a lot of money over a misguided Graduate student who thought they found the missing link to toadom.

Well this time it is not a problem with endangered creatures, or at least not yet. Right now it is the anti-growth people trying to sound fiscally conservative. There have been three financial projections brought before the council. The first is base case, then there is a best case, and then a worst case.

“Davis Finance Director Paul Navazio ran calculations on the proposed North Davis subdivision, varying inflation, city personnel costs and home appreciation values”

A concern for some is the housing market. Understandably so. As interest rates rise it will become harder for home buyers to afford new mortgages. Given the current number (Supply) of homes in Davis, this would mean one of two things, (a) prices stableize and there would be an equal number of buyers as sellers, or the more likely scenario, (b) the housing market suffers a dip in prices. I do not see the market completely bottoming out as it did in the 80’s without a huge jump in inflation. Now of the two scenarios scenario (a) is the most preferred. One way to accomplish this is by increasing the supply to meet the demand. There by softening the blow of the rising interest rates. By bringing the price to a stable or even slightly (maybe only $10-50) lower level you allow people to barrow more at a higher rate. It is the opposite thinking of when rates are low. Then is when you wouldn’t mind having less supply than demand. In this situation the consumer can afford more cost to buying a home because the cost of borrowing is lower.

Earlier I mentioned inflation. Currently inflation is around 3-4%. We would need to see an inflation rate of roughly 5.5-6% to see a complete bottoming out of the Real Estate Market. It is my belief, and it is only a belief, that homes above the $500K price are the ones that will be most effected by the increasing interest rates. The reason behind this is because for the most part, these homes are the ones that are the most overpriced. Now I see this as a scale, the further above the home is of this price more likely the home is overpriced. The closer to the $500K price the opposite is true, the less likely it is overpriced. Now there are of course factors that play into this, such as location, what additions have been made, etc.
So what would my recommendation be to the city of Davis? Approve this plan. The revenue that will be brought in can go toward the need for added transportation, widening the roads, making sure that High Schoolers aren’t teaching elementary students about sex, that sort of thing.

The People's Republic... I mean Report of Davis

2005-05-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I grew up in the town of Davis. Yes I the RED blooded, proud REPUBLICAN grew up in the small town that I lovingly refer to as the People’s Republic of Davis. Lately the news coming out of Davis has not been the greatest. It appears there has been a rash of “Hate Crimes” and now a high school group of “Health Advisors” taught a class of sixth graders about sex a week ahead of time and therefore impromptu. Eric Hogue spent a better part of his show last Friday morning on this subject so I will not spend much more time on the subject. The point of me bringing these up is that it appears to me that Davis is in need of some help. So because the city of Davis helped me to become the man I am today, I feel obligated, nay I feel it is my duty to give back to the community from whence I came. It is my intent to at least once a week from this point on to post about an event that is affecting the town, and bring some sort of logical response to the ailments of the city and its council.

The first posting will be regarding the housing development that has been up for review on the council, known as Covell Village. I have taken some articles regarding the council and the meeting they recently had, gone to the city council website as well as one of my good friends who was present and told me some of what really went on in council room.
Be ready in the next couple of days I will have a full report.

A Deal with the Devil

2005-05-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last night 8 Republicans and 6 Democrats “Made a Deal” that while allowed an up or down vote, they are only certain judges that get the privilege. What happens to the rest… they are still waiting in the wings as it were. Lets take a look at this “Deal.”

Care of Fox News.com: (My Comments in side)

We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Reid. This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon the mutual trust and confidence (I would never trust a Democrat Senator to hold their end of a deal. There have just been too many times Republicans and the people have burned), related to pending and future judicial nominations in the 109th congress.

This memorandum is in two parts. Part I relates to the currently pending judicial nominees; Part II relates to subsequent individual nominations to be made by the President and be acted upon by the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

We have agreed to the following:

Part I: Commitments on Pending Judicial Nominations
A. Votes for Certain Nominees We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (DC Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit).(Ask yourself, “Why only these three? Why not the others?”)
B. Status of Other Nominees Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (9th circuit) and Henry Saad (6th circuit).

Part II: Commitments for Future Nominations
A. Future Nominations Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United State Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances (What is the definition of “extraordinary circumstances? Are there guidelines? Would the fact that I just don’t like the person being nominated be considered “extraordinary” if I have no feelings for the rest of the nominees?), and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgement in determining whether such circumstances exist (Well that answered the previous questions. It is up to the discretion of the signatory… kinda like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”).
B Rules Changes In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109h congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII (Where is the “extraordinary circumstances” clause here? The Democrats get a clause but the Republicans have their hands tied.).
We believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word "advice" speaks to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President's power to make nominations. We encourage the Executive branch of the government to consult with members of the Senate, both democratic (Shouldn’t this be Democrat? The way this reads sounds like Republicans are not a democratic group.) and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration (So the President is supposed to get pre-approval before making his nominations? That doesn’t make sence!) .
Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate (You know what else might reduce the rancor? Reducing the number of votes to stop the filibuster! But that is too radical.).
We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate that we as Senators seek to uphold.
Signed by:

Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
Mike DeWine, R-Ohio
Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.
Susan Collins, R-Maine
Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.
John McCain, R-Ariz.
John Warner, R-Va.
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
Mary Landrieu, D-La.
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine
Ken Salazar, R-Colo.
Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii

So eight Republicans of a 55 majority holding Senate crumbled and took the party down with them. Eric Hogue on his show today asked the question, “is the glass half full or half empty?” I have been thinking about this all day. Here is what I came up with:

I am 27 years old, and I guess that makes me a “Young Republican.” While I am extremely upset and dumbfounded by this event, I am not wavered. I look at the “Young Republicans” behind this group, one’s like the California High School Conservative, and I am lifted up by those to come. I am concerned that this small group might have just caused a long wait for potential Young Republicans to have a chance to act in a majority, but I am also confident that these individuals will have the will power and character that our current Senate leaders are lacking.
As for the eight Republicans that signed this agreement, please be careful (this is not a threat). You have just turned your backs on your constituents, and you have turned you backs on your party. And therefore there will be political consequences that you will have to face. I for one will be following your political dealings very closely and will be reminding people of your “Deal with the Devil.”

And they call us Cheats!!!

2005-05-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

I got this letter in my email tonight. And the left says we cheat in elections?

More and more reports are emerging of the extent to which Democrats were willing to go to try to influence the 2004 election.
Well, their tactics worked in Washington State.
Our Republican candidate for Governor, Dino Rossi, actually won the election. Then he won the recount.
Then Democrat-controlled King County "found" 566 new votes just in time for the second recount, enough to overturn the results of Election Day and the first recount.
The new result? Dino Rossi "lost" by 129 votes. But consider the following facts in Washington state;
943 felons illegally voted
49 dead people voted
3 people voted in Washington and another state
2 illegal aliens voted
12 people voted multiple times
174 provisional votes were counted but later found to be cast people who had already voted or were unregistered
Also, at least another 1,600 ballots are still in question:
875 more absentee votes were cast in King County than there were absentee voters
95 more ballots in King County and 50 ballots in Whitman County were "found" after both recounts, and have never been counted
At least 660 provisional ballots were improperly counted in King County.
Dino Rossi is fighting, and voters of good conscience from across this country should stand with him. For more info on Dino Rossi and his ongoing fight, please go to http://www.dinorossi.com/.
Sincerely,
Michael DuHaimeRNC Political Director

Taking Bets

2005-05-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

So the budget makes sense. There will still be some work needed to get rid of more “automatic spending” habits, but again it is a step toward the right direction. So the question is will the legislature take this budget that would be balanced without raising taxes (a good thing) and without barrowing or transferring funds (also a good thing).

Now I have been know to gamble a time or two… and if I were betting, I would bet that the Dems are not even going to look at this budget, and they are going to continue spouting the same lies about how the Governor is stealing funds from the children’s education. Again if you look at the first paragraph I said that there is no transferring of funds. The education is getting an increase in funds this year, they are getting the minimum allowed, but it is still an increase. Now we are still trying to get this state in financial shape. I would like to see us be in shape for a couple of years before we increase funding above the minimum allowed to any section of the budget… but may just be the business side of my brain.

Parents rights to be on the ballot

2005-05-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to make it onto last night’s posts but I ran out time with cramming for an exam I had take… but that is another post for another time.

Here is the good news. The proposed initiative to pass a law requiring that a minor (a person who by all other legal standards is not able to make life altering decisions) must get parental consent before having an abortion performed. What does this mean? That if it comes down to having a special election (which is more than likely to happen because the Dems have been slow learners) this initiative will of course be on the ballot for the voters.

This to me is a no brainer, and I don’t have any children!! But when I do, and if I do have daughter, and God forbid this became an issue, you are darn right I will be having something to say, and I don’t want the government telling what options my daughter has, I will let her know what the options are, how they may effect her, and what my personal feelings about each option are.

If you don’t have any idea of what my feelings are let me lay them out for you. To do this I will use a couple of quotes from the Sac BeeS:

“Groups such as Planned Parenthood of California and the national Feminist Majority Foundation have said the initiative will lead to unsafe abortions”

To this I say this, this law would make it illegal to perform these already unsafe abortions illegal to perform. I don’t know what the penalty would be but I’m sure a hefty fine and jail time might help to deter “good Samaritan” doctors to think twice.

“And is an inappropriate governmental intrusion into families' private lives.”

So what do they think about a law that makes it illegal for parents to have a say in the well being of their children. Is that not just as intrusive as making it law that a child must talk to their parents first? And they’re darn right that it is private, and that it is the family. The family is the pregnant child and her parents, and let’s not forgets about the other half. The parents of the “father” and the “father” should also be involved.

I am sorry I don’t buy the deal about it being only about the female’s body. Yes she has to carry the child, but more than likely if she is thinking in these terms, she didn’t get this way by herself. What about the “feelings” and beliefs of the “father?” If you are wondering why I am putting the word father in quotes it is because I believe any male that gets a teenage female pregnant is either a teenager himself and therefore not mature enough to be a father to another child. Or he is sick soul and therefore is not mature enough to be a father to another child.

Now where was I, oh yes the female carries the child for nine months (and make no mistake at eight weeks in the womb the fetus has all the physical attributes of human) but again she didn’t get that way by herself. So the other option for the children is to give the newborn up for adoption. At least that way the child has a chance to get into a loving family that will be better suited to provide for this life. This is not to say that the two children responsible for this newborn are not capable of emotional love, but they again are not mentally, emotionally or financially mature enough to provide the needs of this new life.
Abortions themselves have a very heavy psychological impact on the mothers. A young teenager may think that they can handle the fact that they just go into a surgery room, and have something removed and thrown away. Growing up I knew two young girls in High School, one who had an abortion, and the other had a miscarriage. Both grieved after the loss of their “child.” Both had nightmares about a baby being in their arms and then being taken away from them for many months after the fact. The difference between the two is just this. The one who had the miscarriage was able to after several months gain closer from the fact that she was able to burry the body. The one that had the abortion had no closer, and she felt guilty. I asked her why (at the time I did not know the whole story), she told me that she killed her child.

CNA National Tour

2005-05-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

The CNA just went national. What does this mean? Well it might mean big trouble for other states and their Nurses Unions. Many unions outside of the state of California are not happy about this. Why would that be? Is it because they are no longer getting the membership dues?
“Deborah Hackman, chief executive of the Georgia Nurses Association, posted an angry missive on that union's Web site, calling the CNA "the California interlopers" for efforts to enroll Georgia nurses in the National Nurses Organizing Committee. She ends with a warning: "Southerners don't take too kindly to outsiders. ... Sometimes outsiders take our smooth southern style for naivete. Their mistake."”

Those are all going to CNA now. This is what brings us to our problem. The CNA was already a big force to be reckoned with. Now they are going to have even more funding to use against initiatives they don’t like. Also how will the California legislation to prevent union dues from being used for political purposes against the will of the laborers work? Will be because the CNA is based out of the State of California they will not be able to use funds only from California workers, or will it apply to all their members? If it does apply to all members, then what will prevent them from moving their headquarters to use the loophole?

Surprise from Senator Boxer....

2005-05-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

nothing really comes to us a surprise from Sen. Boxer. She is a nut and will do anything to further obstruct anything that smells like conservatism. This from the Sac Bee.com shows just how far she will go.
I do have to give her some credit though, at least she didn’t use this unofficial means simply because she could not make the vote. But really haven’t we seen enough debate on this issue. Bolton is the right guy for the job. The U.N. is in desperate need of reform, and the same old tactics just won’t work anymore. We need someone who will go in there and take charge. We need a leader.
Here is Sen. Boxer’s phone number: 415-403-0100
Fax number: 415-956-6701
and email address: senator@boxer.senate.gov
Go ahead and call, fax or email to tell our great senator what the people of this state and nation truly want.

UPDATE: the email address above will reply back to you to go

Lets Play follow the money...

2005-05-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

I took this from the Sacramento Bee.com, it was in their Saturday edition.

WHO'S WRITING CHECKS?

Top contributors from Monday, May 2, through Friday

Citizens to Save California
(Business groups supporting Schwarzenegger measures)
• Governor Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team (governor's initiative committee), $365,000• California Business PAC, $100,000• California Building Industry Association, $100,000• Chris Steele, owner, Steele Enterprises (developer), $25,000• Elliott Homes Inc., $25,000• Gerry N. Kamilos, owner, Gerry N. Kamilos LLC, $25,000• California Business Properties Association Issues PAC, $25,000• California Optometric PAC, $10,000

Governor Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team
(Schwarzenegger's initiative committee)
• William A. Robinson, former chairman, DHL Airways (courier services), $1 million
•Californians for Schwarzenegger 2006 (governor's re-election committee), $1 million
• John J. Fisher, president, Pisces Inc. (investment group), $25,000
• George E. Handtmann III, president, Holani Holdings, $25,000
• Citigroup Inc., $25,000
• Allbright Cotton, $10,000
• DeWayne Zinkin, attorney, $10,000
• California Botana International Inc. (spa and wellness products), $10,000
• The Landbourn Co., $10,000
• Robert E. Smittcamp, CEO, Lyons-Magnus (food service), $5,000
• Paul Walters Properties, $5,000

Alliance for a Better California
(Unions, Democrats opposed to Schwarzenegger measures; pushing re-regulation of electricity, lower drug prices)
• California Teachers Association Issues PAC, $950,000
• California State Council of Service Employees Issues Committee, $250,000
• PACE of California School Employees Association, $100,000
• California Correctional Peace Officers Association Independent Expenditures Committee, $100,000
• California Federation of Teachers COPE, $100,000
Californians for Fair Redistricting(Supporting Schwarzenegger redistricting measure)
• William A Mundell, CEO, Vidyah Inc. (technology solutions), $25,000
• G. Leonard Baker Jr., managing director, Sutter Hill Ventures, $10,000
• Amir Salimzadeh, D.D.S., $5,000
• Mariam Azarm, $5,000

Californians for Fair Elections
(Supporting redistricting measure)
• California Business Political Action Committee, $350,000
• Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix.com, $250,000
• California Retailers Association Issues Committee, $50,000
• Thomas Jones, $10,000
• Marc Stern, the TCM Group Inc., $10,000
• Bill Jones, rancher/2004 U.S. Senate candidate, $5,000

Californians to Stop Higher Taxes
(Business and anti-tax groups opposing a variety of tax measures, including those to close so-called tax loopholes)
• California Business PAC, $25,000
• California Business Properties Association Issues PAC, $25,000

Coalition for Employee Rights
(Supporting measure to restrict public employee unions from spending dues money on political campaigns)
• Small Business Action Committee PAC, $225,000
• Protect Prop. 13, project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, $75,000
• Regina Public Relations, $25,000
• Arthur Rock, CEO, Arthur Rock and Co. (venture capital firm), $5,000

So it looks like two things are happening. 1) the dems are having a hard time coming up with funds to fight these initiatives. Or 2) The dems contributors are trying to save enough money up to make a last minute contribution. I would not really be surprised by either. With all of the MSM reporting of the hardships facing this governor and his initiatives why would they bother funding a war chest to fight a dead issue? This could prove to be a downfall if it is indeed what is going on, because as we know the initiatives are not dead. That is why I lean a little more toward the angle that they are building up their reserves and in the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the dead lines, we will see more big dollar contributions from the unions and other big donators to the Democrat party.

The Failings of the SCRP

2005-05-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I know I said I wasn’t going to blogging this weekend as I am trying to prepare for what I hear is very long and difficult test, but I checked my email this morning and I had received an email from fellow blogger Craig Deluz, regarding how the Sacramento County Republican Party Central Committee motioned to, “table indefinitely,” “the first reading of the resolution by Assemblyman Tim Leslie in support of Congressman Dan Lungren's March 17, 2005 statement in support of marriage between one man and one woman; the motion to waive failed and was tabled for this month's meeting.”
You need to go read the whole story on Craig’s blog.

As for my opinion on the subject this is not good. I understand that we need to gather votes. But this is not the same as the illegal immigration issue. Here homosexual couples have the majority of civil rights that a married couple have through the civil union. Here it is about a definition. A definition that for those of us who are religious and take the vows of marriage seriously, as given to us by our religions, want to keep them sacred. The vows are not just about the love of two people, at least not in Christianity (I will not speak for other religions that I am not well acquainted with). The vows are a symbol of what God had intended. For a man and a woman to love each other, take care of each other, and ultimately full fill the basics of biology…. procreate. In this I don’t understand why people think that they should be allowed to be able to force their behaviors on the people of faiths and their places of worship. I can tell you one thing, if you read the bible, this sort of thing is foretold. If you wish to see it yourself read Revelation 17 in it’s entirety. Also there is this from Romans Chapter 1 verse 23-27:

“And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping thing.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, A’-men.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving themselves that recompense of their error which is meet.”

As I wrote this I was over come with a thought. We are all children of God, and therefore we all know deep down what it is that God wants us to do and how to behave. Could this wanting to be considered married be brought on from guilt? Could it be that there are so many people who take part in this form of lifestyle that feel guilty about doing so, that they believe that if only they could be allowed to married that will take away the guilt. I have news for those that have that feeling: Marriage does not take away the guilt of turning away from God. Marriage will not reverse the fact that the behaviors you partake in. Marriage is a sacred bond between man, woman and God. It takes all three to create the bond, no other formula will work.

Go read Craig’s blog, and then write an email to the chairs of the SCRP.

No Posting this week

2005-05-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I am sorry to let you all know that I will not be posting anything new this week, as I have no time. All my time this week will be devoted to studying to take a test given by the State of California for Life Insurance. As I have been told by several people (including the Roseville Conservative) it will be a bear of a test. So with that in mind feel free to look at my archives or just poke around. I will be back in full force with some catch up posts and all new stuff come the mid of next week. Take care and happy blogging.

RSB

What do you mean Torture?

2005-05-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

The story about the military interrogator who “tortured” her prisoner by using psychological means has surfaced again. This week one of the guards that was present told how he felt that the type of interrogation used was a disgrace to our armed forces.

I have to disagree. I think the ingenuity of using their fanaticism of their religion to get pertinent information from these terrorists (they are not soldiers) shows great creativity. The female interrogator was not ordered to do what she did, she did it all on her own.

To this perspective, let’s look at all the civilians that these terrorists have beheaded. These individuals for the most part were in Iraq trying to help rebuild. The terrorists kidnapped them, and then on camera, decapitated them slowly. The terrorist that was interrogated by this female officer was able to live. He was put through some mental uncomfort, but because he was uncomfortable for 48 hours many lives have been possibly saved.

I think all these people that are up in arms regarding this; don’t really know what torture is. I think they are too worried about befriending the terrorists that they lose sight of the fact that terrorists have no friends.

A Visual Aid?

2005-05-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Governor had big showing for the “Fair Districts Now” initiative that is heading for the special election ballot. There was a minor goof in the information that was provided and gathered. Apparently the true district line was a whole 1/8th of a mile from the neighborhood that the big to do was done.

Now people, this was meant to be a visual aid if you will. The visual was of two homes across the street from each other with a red tapped line in between them representing the district line. It shows that the lines are drawn so that one family on one side of the street is in one district thereby having one government representative and the other family on the other side of the street is in a completely different district and has another representative. Now it can very easily be argued that these two families have similar needs and wants from their representatives, so why not have one representative for that same neighborhood.

Again let me stress how this was to be visual demonstration, and nothing more. For the MSM to be making such a big deal over this is not only silly but shows how they are nit picking on everything this Governor does. Is this really something worth wasting ink over? I think there are bigger fish to fry.

Unions break Negotiations

2005-05-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this on the Sac Union Blog. It appears that the unions have backed out of their dealings with the Governor after he dropped his pension reform initiative. Well it may be too late to get it back on the special election ballot, but I bet we can get it on the 2006 ballot. I say if they’re going to back out of negotiations, then we go back to our original plan.

“On April 19, union representatives participating in the talks for a new plan staged what administration officials described as a melodramatic walkout. This followed an April 13 e-mail circulated among union leaders urging "no proposals, no negotiations until all the (governor's) initiatives are pulled.’”

This is not the first time the Governor has been backstabbed by the opposition. It is time to learn from your mistakes and go ahead with the initiative process. You do have enough backing from the rest of us to make the pension reform work.

(Hat tip to Craig Deluz)

Landmark

2005-05-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have been doing this blogging thing for almost six months now, and today I just hit the 1,000 hit mark... not all that impressive to some but to celebrate this landmark occasion I have decided to open it up to everyone. Here the place to let loose, have at. If I have ever said anything that you do or don’t agree with, or if you don’t like my writing style, or anything about this blog and what it represents, here is you free shot…. aim carefully.

Enjoy
RSB

It is a small step... but it is step.

2005-05-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here is some good news with relevance to my earlier post California Border Police Force. It sounds like the majority party in the national Congress (that would be the Republicans incase anyone needed a reminder) have actually took their power and done something that will help our border situation. From the sound of things it will not have a new union organization, but will add more Border Patrol Agents, a 3.5 mile wall will be put up along the San Diego-Mexico border, and this will all be tagged on to the Iraq-Afghanistan budget. This is a small step toward what needs to happen, but at least it is a step.

So... the Dems are for......the kids.....right???

2005-05-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Jeff Denham’s (R-Merced) SB 722 was put to a halt last night by Senate Public Safety Committee members. This bill would have required convicted sex offenders who “convicted of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under the age of 12.” What was the committee’s reason for preventing this bill from passing?

“the measure was amended too late for consideration.”

So the safety of our states children is put on hold for a technicality. One that Jeff Denham disputes.

“Denham maintained his amendments had met the panel's deadline. He accused Democrats of being "disingenuous" and capitulating to the ACLU and criminal attorneys who opposed the bill”

Given the latest donation findings, that may not be to far from the truth.

Ousted, Kings must start over

2005-05-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

The Kings are in restart mode… and they want us (the tax payers) to pay for a new arena?

California Border Police Force

2005-05-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I went over to Hogue Blog to see what he had going on. I stumbled on a Breaking story regarding Assemblyman Ray Hanes (R- Riverside County) and his initiative for a California Border Police Force. I am now listening to Hogue on 1380 KTKZ, and have just got done reading the wording of the initiative. There are a couple of concerns that I have about this, and it appears Hogue has the same concerns.

1) Will this new Border Police Force (that will organized in a similar fashion to the Highway Patrol) have it’s own union?
2) If so, there is a clause in the wording that states the following:
(c) The Secretary of State shall, at the first statewide general election falling at least 10 years after the election at which this article was adopted, and at the statewide general election every fourth year thereafter, place upon the ballot a measure to determine whether the state of emergency declared pursuant to this section shall continue in effect. If a majority of the votes voting on the issue at that election vote to maintain the state of emergency, the declaration of emergency shall continue in effect for another four years. If a majority of voters voting on the issue at that election do not vote to maintain the state of emergency, the declaration of emergency shall become inoperative, and this article shall be repealed, on the day after the date of the certification of the election.
Tell me what union after ten plus years of existence would allow the voters to repeal that existence?
3) Timing: With the party’s recent winning of the “Latino” vote in the last election, is it really the time for the Republican Party to start pushing them aside? The President is trying to get a guest worker program off the floor. I would rather us wait until that gets approved then marry this initiative with the guest worker program.

I agree that laws must be enforced. Our boarders are leaky, and are in desperate need of fixing. But in California we do not hold the majority. My friends we can not afford to not win the majority in the next election. I know there is nothing “raciest” about enforcing law, it is nationalist (see my archives for my distinction on the two). But we all know that the MSM does not make those distinctions. The initiative is a good idea, just the wrong time. Wait until after the 2006 elections, become the majority and wait for the Guest Worker Program to come into effect. Then go for the borders.

2005-05-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

The newly democratically elected government in Iraq was sworn in today. Wow, it sure was a bad idea to go over there and through out that cruel, heartless and violent dictator that was once in power. It is so horrible to have a government chosen by the people. I bet those Iraqis really do miss having their families separated in the middle of the night, or being tortured, or watching their loved ones being killed in front of their eyes. Yup it was definitely a bad idea and all about oil. COME ON PEOPLE PULL YOUR HEADS OUT!!!

Terri Shiavo's Last hours

2005-05-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the account of Fr. Frank Pavone, the priest that spent six years with Terri Schiavo, including her final 14 hours. ( Hat tip to Catholicnewsgeek)

Here is a link to a story from Fox News.com. It is about a firefighter who suffered minor brain damage but was "unconsious" for 10 years!! He "woke up" this weekend. It is an amazing story, and one that I have not found in any other news source.

RIGHTSIDE MAIL LIST

2005-05-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

I have put together a mail list so that you can know about a new post right away. If you are interested in being on the list, just go to my email link in my profile and email me your request. Thank you all for your interest in this humble blog.

RSB

Two of the RSB???

2005-05-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

No not really, but how funny is this?! Two bloggers, living with in twenty miles of eachother come up with the same name for a blog and user name?!! Go check out this site, he is new but good. I will be putting up a link to the other Rightside Blogger shortly.

RSB

I'm Back!!!

2005-05-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

I’m back… I will tell you all what I have been up to. I have decided to make a career change. I was employed by a bank (which will remain nameless) for four years. I enjoyed working for this bank very much, as a matter of fact that was the longest period of time I had worked for one company since joining the workforce. What I didn’t like about the job was how much I got paid. Now there is no banking union (THANK GOD), so I couldn’t organize a strike and force the company to pay me more.

So what did I do? Now for those of you who don’t work, or work in a union (and think that is a good thing), please be for warned. The following is considered drastic by all measures that you individuals hold dear. You may want to sit down in a firm and stable chair. I quit my job to go to another one. And this job pays me much more, gives me flexibility, and allows me to be my own boss.

So that is some of the personal stuff I had to take care of. I also went camping with the in-laws (whom I love very much (no sarcasm), and hold very dear). It was great. There is nothing like being in the woods, surrounded by family, plenty of beers, wine, Crown Royal (one good thing to come from Canada), and fish that would put up a great fight on a fly rod. That said, there is always one thing… of the entire group (12) four of us that I know for sure were registered Republicans. Now as a general rule (between my wife and I) I don’t talk politics with her family. Something about my voice getting loud (I like to project), and me liking to debate that just seems to embarrass her. And because I love my wife, and I love to keep her happy I go along with this rule. Aside: It happens to be because of this rule that this blog came about.

Let me set this story up. I happen to be a hunter, fisherman, four wheeler and general outdoor loving type of guy. When I go camping I wear clothes I don’t care about getting dirty, namely my cammo gear. I was wearing my cammo pants and boots, and wife’s aunt made some comment about how my boots where even camouflaged. I said jokingly, “I guy has to accessorize.”

She asked, “What did you do, go to an army surplus store?”

Me, “ No I went to Wal*Mart.”

Aunt, “Oh GOD! Chinese camouflaged cloths! Don’t you know that you offset the trade balance when shop there?”

Me, “ I thought the Democrats say it is a ‘Global Economy’?”

Aunt, rolls eyes and drops the subject.

Isn’t funny how soon they forget their own party’s talking points? My wife gave me a stearn look, and I just smiled. Sometimes we have to just stand up for ourselves. Although there are times when staying quite is more beneficial.

SB 357....MAGNUM!!!!

2005-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento B.S. reported this story over the weekend, and Eric Hogue picked up on it this morning on his show. The Democrats want ammunition manufactures to mark each bullet produced with a unique serial code. As a gun owner and hunter am I worried about what this law means? Yes and No.

No I am not worried that any bullets I buy will be used by me to cause anyone harm (except maybe a pheasant or two).

Yes I am worried that privacy issues could arise, but again I don’t plan on using a gun to harm someone. I am worried that there will become a new victim in gun crimes. One that is not directly involved in the shooting. I am worried that if someone where to break into my home, steal my guns and ammunition, turn around and use them in a crime, I would be held responsible for the crime. I am worried that this law if passed will cause prices on ammo to increase, thereby making it more difficult for me to able to take my son (when and if I have a son) hunting to teach him the art of patience and the respect of nature.

The main problem with this law is simply this. The bad people are going to do bad things. No matter what. They will find a way to do bad things. Let punish the bad people, not good people. The Gun manufactures and ammunition manufactures are not the bad people. The people that use guns in crimes are the bad people. The people who use guns to go hunting and protect their homes are not the bad people. The people who use guns to do drive-by-shootings are the bad people. Lets make these distinctions first, then find out ways to punish the bad people without punishing the rest of us good people.

One thing that I would not mind is making gun education mandatory. Before you can buy a gun you have to go through a one week course. The course could be of minimal cost, subsidized by money from hunting licenses. The bulk of the money raised from hunting licenses goes to build and maintain wild life refuges, but I would not mind spending an extra dollar per year to have a gun safety class be funded for all those who wish to purchase a gun. Once you have completed the safety course you get a card that proves that you have been through the course. If you don’t have the card on you when you go to by the gun, then you can’t by the gun that minute, go home and get your card. I think education is the key. If people see what a gun is capable of, and learn to respect that force, I think we would have far fewer cases of criminal uses with a gun. I know I will take some heat on this view point, but at least the privacy issue is not as treaded upon. The authorities only know that I have taken a course on gun safety.

What to do with the Kings

2005-05-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Kings, what are we going to do with them? I am a Kings fan. I like having a pro sports team in the city of Sacramento. I would love to have a new arena for them. But they need to show us that they want to be here too. I know my friend over at the Wrong Blog is going to have field day with this.

Here are my reasons why we should not have the tax payers of Sacramento and the outlining areas pay for a new arena:

1) The Kings while well loved in Sacramento well before C-Web and Bibby, have not won a championship in the last 20 some years. (I agree that game 7 against the Lakers some years back should have gone our way, but if beggars had horses, they would ride’em).
2) Along the same lines, the Kings get to the playoffs but never finish. Why do we want to reward them for failing?
3) The Maloofs are smart business men. They know a good deal from a bad deal. So why if this is such a great deal, wont they put up some of their own cash? Come on people lets think about this!

If the Kings were to say win a Championship I would be more inclined to say that having the tax payers pony up some cash for a new arena is reasonable. But I don’t buy into the idea that Sacramento needs the Kings to survive. Plus where else would the Kings find more loyal fans. Just because we want to see some return for our money doesn’t mean we don’t love ya, we just want to see some success. Close aint good enough!

Light Blogging

2005-04-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

It will be pretty light blogging here the next couple of days, I have a few personal deals I have to get in order. I will be back on the blogosphere fulltime (minus the hours at work of course) on Monday. Keep telling your friends to help our Governor lift this weight to finish the recall and put our state back in order.

Regards,

RSB

Assemblymember Leno and Hogue go toe to toe

2005-04-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well Mark Leno was less than persuasive. I do have to hand it to him for the effort. Assemblymember Leno's argument was based on the right for individuals to love who ever they wish. That is fine, we already have that right. No one has denied the actual right of love. Civil Unions allow people of the same sex to enjoy all the benefits of a traditional married couple. So the basis of Assemblymember Mark Leno is false. The real reason why the homosexual movement wants a piece of paper that symbolizes their love. What is the big deal about that? 2,000 years of tradition, and beliefs, and the fact that the voters of California (not to mention in all other states that have put this type of initiative on the ballot) have voted down the measures that would allow this type of legislation of behavior.

We are nation founded on laws, and those laws were born of morality, that morality is what keeps us from allowing family members to engage in inbreeding, it is what allows us to say that certain actions are wrong. Loving someone is not wrong. But trying to enforce minority beliefs on the majority is. There is no Civil Rights precedence for this. There is no Civil Rights issue here. We are all created equal with our voice and our opinions, but that does not mean we all get equal treatment in everyday life. Life is not always fair. Realize that, get over it, and move on. You'll be happier.

The Author of AB19 to take on Hogue

2005-04-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, will wonders never cease?! All right if you want to get the scoop on the AB19 deal from the author him self, tune in tomorrow morning to 1380 KTKZ. Eric Hogue will have Mark Leno on his show at 7:05 am tomorrow 4/26/2005. I will be paying special attention to this as will many other local bloggers, be ready to do some surfing tomorrow to get all the opinions. If you are out-of-stators but are able to listen on the web, go to 1380 KTKZ on the web and listen that way. You won't want to miss this, no matter what side of the aisle you stand.

UPDATE: Van Tranh will be on with Eric Hogue at 7:30 AM Tomorrow... don't miss...

For Californians: here is what happend at the CRA Convention

2005-04-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

My good friend the Roseville Conservative has been at the CRA convention all weekend and has been posting while there. He has covered many of the speaches that were done, including one from Tom McClintock saying 'Strongly Support Schwarzenegger!'
As well as a letter from Assemblymember Van Tranh to Speaker Fabian Nunez. Here is a a little taste:

Mr. Speaker: I write to express my profound and genuine outrage at the occasion by which the Assembly earlier today honored Phung Huu Phu, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Parliament.

...Mr. Speaker, you have never lived in a land devastated by war. You have never been forced to leave the home of your birth, possibly never to return, because to remain would mean your certain death. My family and I have. Yet today you, Speaker Pro Tem Yee, and your Democratic majority honored a representative of the very communist regime that sought my death, my torture, my imprisonment -- even as a young boy -- simply because my family and I wished to be free.

Go read the whole thing... it left me speachless... which if you have been reading this blog the last couple of days, you know that aint easy.

Money Trails

2005-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

My father always told me to follow the money trail. Well Dad, I hope this does ya proud. This is from the Sacramento Bee:

WHO'S WRITING CHECKS?
This week's contributors through Friday:
Citizens to Save California
(Business groups supporting Schwarzenegger measures): California Business PAC (sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce), $130,000Cendant Corp., (real estate, travel), $100,000Tyler Miller, vice chairman, Collins Development Co., $10,000Stephen Bieri, president, the Stephen Bieri Co. (development), $5,000Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas Inc. (engineering), $5,000

Alliance for a Better California
(Unions, Democrats opposed to Schwarzenegger measures; pushing re-regulation of electricity, lower drug prices, protections for car buyers): California Teachers Association Issues PAC, $1.45 million SEIU Local 1000 California State Employees Association Issues PAC, $300,000 California State Council of Service Employees Issues Committee, $250,000 Association of California School Administrators Issues PAC, $150,000 California Correctional Peace Officers Association, $125,000 PACE of California School Employees Association, $112,000 California Faculty Association Political Issues Committee, $50,000

Taxpayers to Save the 2/3 vote
(Supporting measure to require most fees be approved by a two-thirds vote): California Steel Industries Inc., $5,000

Californians to Stop Higher Taxes
(Business and anti-tax groups opposing a variety of tax measures, including those to close so-called tax loopholes): California Business Properties Association Issues PAC, $50,000

Coalition for Employee Rights
(Supporting measure to restrict public employee unions from spending dues money on political campaigns): Small Business Action Committee (business, anti-tax groups), $35,000

Californians for Tax Fairness
(Supporting measure to increase nonresidential property taxes) California Correctional Peace Officers Association, $250,000

Californians for Fair Redistricting
(Supporting Schwarzenegger redistricting measure): William A. Mundell, CEO, Vidyah Inc., (marketing training firm), $35,000Round One Investments, LLC, (venture capital firm), $25,000

Interesting points:
This week alone the Democrats and their groups raised $2,687,000; $1,987,000 or 73.95% of the money coming from unions!
Republicans and OUR groups have raised a grand total this week of $345,000.
What is the difference in the two dollar amounts? The Democrat groups gave 7.788 times more money this week. This begs the question, what are they (the unions) afraid of? Why are they pumping this much money into the Dems war chest? What do they stand to gain? The answer to all of these questions is one thing. POLITICAL CANDY and they don’t want to lose it.
Think about this the next time someone tries to tell you that the rich Republicans are ruining the state. If you were to look at the two bank accounts right now I would venture to guess that the Dems are the CASH rich ones. So what do we Republicans have going for us. Well for starters we have the man in Big Office. And most important we have the will of the people versus the will of the few.

Marla Ruzicka

2005-04-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Bee did a very nice sounding article on the death and funeral ceremony of Marla Ruzicka. Ruzicka was the founder of CIVIC, an organization that I believe had good intentions. It is hard to argue that an organization that is trying to look out for all the civilians in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is a bad organization. Did the organization favor war, no, but nobody ever wants to go to war. The fact of the matter though is sometimes there truly is no other option. Especially when you are dealing with government leaders who don’t fear death (Saddam is an example of this), or a militant group that resembles a mafia type organization (this would be the Taliban and Al Queda).

For Marla’s death to not be in vain, I think it important that everyone who is considering going over to Iraq or Afghanistan to do peaceful work, know this, the terrorists make no distinction between the U.S. lead Collilition Forces and you. That’s right, they hate you just as much as the military forces they fight on the field. Why is that, because you are not one of them, you still represent everything they are against. You are still apart of the Great Infidel Society. Therefore you should be blown to a chard fiery corpse just like any other Westerner.

The people you are trying to help, and deserve your help, are not going to be able to receive true help until the terrorists are defeated. We are at war, and army we fight does not obey the Geneva Convention "Laws of War," as is evident by the beheadings that have happened in the recent past. Nor do they have a legitimate government or uniforms of any particular country. They look like any other civilian until they detonate the bomb around their chest. Then you can only see their message, written in the carnage that is left behind:

The Terrorists have no friends, they care about nothing but the destruction of Western Society, and they are not afraid to die for their cause.

Nunez vs. Schwarzenegger:

2005-04-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

The Democrats declared war on the Governor about two months after the recall. Now Fabian Nunez wants a "peace-accord," from the Governor. He is playing like he is at the center of the field and the Governor needs to come to him from the right. This last week has been one of the heaviest heated "battles" of wit from both the Governor and the Speaker. A lot of name calling has been done, (as usual is coming from the left), and now Speaker Sparky wants the Governor to call a truce.

"Here's what we're ready to do: We're ready to make a deal with the governor to get this entire collection of proposals out of the way," said Núñez, D-Los Angeles. "But it has to be all-encompassing."

Núñez declined to discuss details of settlement talks. He said an all-or-nothing deal is "doable," though time is short: Voter signatures are due in early May to qualify a measure for November balloting.

What does Nunez mean by this? He means all of the initiatives must be removed or the dems will bring nothing. They already haven’t brought anything to the table. So why would we even consider this as deal? Time is not short, we have until July 5th to get all signatures in. The only thing we have to worry about is the duplicate signature loophole. All the more reason to stay out there and get the signatures! Remember the reason for the recall was to get the state back on fiscal track.

Núñez said two other issues, high Democratic priorities, also must be part of any deal: lowering the cost of prescription drugs and killing a proposal that would require public employee unions to get written permission before using a member's dues for political contributions.

Okay what have the Democrats offered to lower the cost of prescription drugs? And why do they care if unions have to get written permission for donations? Aren’t the members their kind of people? Don’t they always vote democrat? Makes you have to stop and think about that one for a moment.

"Part of the reason we haven't (countered) is because we want to know, as we walk into this, that we're looking at everything -- and that if something falls apart, then the whole deal falls apart," he said.

So he wants the Republican handbook before he goes into the room. Now where is the fun in that. Okay Sparky, here is the game plan. We want to balance the budget by not raising taxes, we want to have fair voting districts, we want people to earn what they get paid, and we want people to have a say in where their money goes. Oh wait this is what we have been saying ALL ALONG!!!!! We have hidden nothing from you or anyone with ears to hear us.

Núñez criticized Schwarzenegger's plan to take his sweeping proposals directly to voters unless lawmakers accepted them quickly.

"I almost feel as though the governor picked up a grenade and sort of threw it at the Legislature and ran away," Núñez said.

That is a low blow. Here the Speaker is comparing the Governor to a war criminal who is now facing death. This is an obvious reference to the Marine who was just convicted of killing two comrades in arms and wounding several others at the beginning of the Iraq war. Does he have no shame? The answer: nope!

In a separate matter, Núñez backed off his threat at a Capitol rally Tuesday to hold up budget talks unless the Schwarzenegger administration reworks rules to carry out last year's workers' compensation legislation.

"Let's just say there were a lot of people at the rally and maybe I misspoke. ... What I meant to say is that it's going to be a budget issue, there's no question that we're going to put it on the table," he said.

Maybe the Speaker needs to go back to school and take some refresher courses on English so that these types of misspeaking would not happen.

Voter perceptions of Schwarzenegger: "They wanted a governor who wasn't going to necessarily stick to one side or the other but be a centrist who would reach out and try to forge common ground. I think the governor did that at first, but then he went sideways."

Again this shows that the dems have conveniently forgotten what the recall was all about.

Budget proposals: "You will see an alternative budget presented by Assembly Democrats that is going to outline how the budget ought to be balanced. And our values are going to embedded in that budget proposal."

This sounds a lot like Sen. John Kerry’s, " vote for me and you will see my plan for America, but not before you vote for me." Where are the ideas?!!

Sensitivity Training for the Governor Required

2005-04-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

So Fabian (Speaker Sparky as Hogue affectionately calls him) Nunez believes that our Governor needs to go to Mexico for "sensitivity training." This after the Governor said,

"We need to close the border between California and Mexico, and all a long the Mexican border. I don't think it is fair..."

This is coming from an immigrant. Yet Fabian is saying that our Governor is spouting racist remarks! I have talked about why this is a falsity already. But what gets me is that growing up in my household and my family I was told to have tough skin. Now the Governor has come out and said that it was language problem and that he meant "secure" our boarders. What did the Dems say to that,

"He needs to go back to school and take some more English courses."

So let me get this straight… it all right and hunky dory when they say that a white immigrant needs to learn the language of the country he is living in, but don’t even think about making it mandatory that ALL immigrants should learn the language. Double standard? Maybe just a bit. But is this another example of the Governor failing to get his job done.

Eric Hogue on his morning show on KTKZ 1380, made the analogy that too many people are in the weight room with the Governor but no one wants to help "spot" him (for those of you who don’t know what that term means I’ll explain). "Spotting" someone when it comes to weight lifting is when you stand over the person lifting the weight (in this case the Governor, and the weights are the initiatives) . The "Spotter" is in charge of motivating the lifter to do as many repetitions as possible. Once the lifter starts to struggle with the weight the "spotter" grabs hold of the bar and gently helps the lifter finish the last set. The bar is not grabbed from the lifter and they still do most of the work, but the spotter gives security that the bar with all the weight is not going to come crashing down on the lifter’s neck. I just want to make it known now, I don’t have a lot of money, I don’t own my own business, but I do want what is best for California, and I plan to be as close as I can to that bench to help "spot" the Governor with this heavy lift. If you wish to join us, do what ever you can to get out the word that the Governor needs help, he can’t do this on his own, and he shouldn’t have to. We all have a vested interest in his succeeding. Don’t let the democrats and certain Night Talkers convince you that this Governor is weak and can’t do it. To copy a phrase from the old SNL:
"We’re here to Pump You Up!"

Racism is Self Fulfilling

2005-04-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

I went to an event last night that my employer was major sponsor for. It was the 11th annual HOPE Latina Action Day, in Sacramento. The basic premise for the event is to recognize the accomplishments of Latina legislators in California. Now as I have stated many times on this blog, and I say it above in my introduction to this blog, I am an American with Latino decent. What do I mean by this? I mean that I am an American, not a Mexican American, not a Chicano, and not a Latino. I am an American who has a family history that comes from Mexico. At least half of my family history does. The other half of my family history is from America. I was born here, I live here and I will die here. I was very disappointed by some of the things that I heard last night at the dinner. I was there with my wife, she is what we would call Caucasian. Here are some of things that we heard:

"There are not enough people who look like us in the college system, there are not enough people who look like us in government system, there are not enough people who look like us that own their own home."

"All we want is fair chance to get into college, we want good health care, and we want to be able to get a home loan with a decent interest rate!"

So you ask me what is wrong with these statements? All of these statements imply one thing. Racism. The funny thing is that when we talk about the difference between "Mexicans" and "Americans" we are no longer talking about race but instead about Nationality. Once we start labeling "Latinos," or "Chicanos," then we start creating different groups, or segregating. And this time it is not whites doing it. The sad thing is that these "groups" are doing it to themselves! They are self-segregating! Rather than becoming one cohesive "Californian," they insist on being "Latinas."

Sen. Martha Escutia was the keynote speaker last night. She said, "My dream is that one day we no longer need a Latino Legislator Caucus, and that one day the agenda of Latinos is the agenda of California. After all we all want the same things, safe environments, a good education, good healthcare, and to be able to own our own home." She then followed up with this, "But for now you better believe that you need that caucus and you need me to lead it!" (Aside note: This is Sen. Escutia’s last year due to term limits).

My question is just this: IF we all want the same thing, then why not have one powerful voice from the citizens of California as Californians rather than small groups acting in their own interests? The only way to get rid of racism is to drop the defining lines of race. If we are all Californians, or Americans, then there is no room for Racism. There will only be room for Nationalism. These are completely different.

Take the time to think about this. Talk it over with your friends. If you don’t agree with me, let me know why.

UPDATE:
Speaker Fabian Nunez said today that what the Governor said yesterday about closing the boarders was, "Something you hear from the far right-wingers... they are against the people of dark skin and mainly against Latinos." Shame on you Nunez, for calling the Governor a racist when he did not mention once anything that has to do with race. We do need to close the boarders, at least until we can get the immigration under control, and the Mexican government does something to help it's own people. Race baiting is not the answer, but sense when have the Democrats ever been about answers or solutions. All they care about is making you dependent on them so that they can control your life. Closing the boarders is not a race issue, it is a National issue. A National Security issue especially from the northern boarder (that is where the 9/11 terrorists came from).

April 21, 2005:

UPDATE II:
This article was brought to my attention by a fellow blogger and friend. Please read this by Victor Hanson. Thank you KM for the email and bringing this to my attention. I know I couldn’t have used better words than Mr. Hanson.
Here is an Excerpt:
WORLD: You detail the nasty and often short lives of many illegal immigrants, not neglecting "the stabbings, the drunk driving . . . the plague of alcohol . . . venereal diseases . . . tuberculosis . . . the fencing of stolen property . . . meth labs." You show how hard-working illegals carry around cash after payday and are preyed upon by "Mexican gangsters who steal, maim and rape with impunity their own more ambitious brethren from Mexico." How can illegal immigrants gain protection against thugs?

HANSON: The time-honored and true antidotes to crime—come out of the shadows, gain citizenship, speak English, assimilate, and trust law enforcement. Criminals abound to prey on illegal aliens because they assume their victims are afraid to call the police, carry mostly cash, don't speak English, live as transients among mostly young males, and are not legal participants in their communities.

(Hat tip to Kobayashi Maru )

Universal Preschool: Socialized Schooling

2005-04-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Rob Reiner is at it again. He wants "Universal Preschool." This is like "Universal Healthcare." It would work the same way. The government will have total say and control of the education of our children. It sounds a lot like the old Tobacco Company slogan, "Get’em while they’re young!" So how do you fund such a preschool? Why you tap the wealthiest people in the state! Never mind that they are being tapped to try to get the above mentioned Universal Healthcare, balance the State’s deficit, and fund Social welfare. So how much do you think we can tap these fortunate individuals? So who is going to vote for this? Well to answer that lets look at just who Reiner wants to have fund this new program:

" The proposal calls for a 1.7 percent tax hike on individuals with taxable income topping $400,000 and couples exceeding $800,000. That means people earning $500,000 a year would pay an additional $8,500 in income taxes while couples with combined income of $1 million would pay $17,000. It would require approval by a simple majority."

So I don’t make $400,000. And I will bet that most of you reading this don’t make that much. So this is a free ride for us, right? Wrong. Those that do make that much employee me and you. IF we tax them an additional $8,500 to $17,000 a year, we will be looking for new employment, or be faced with a decision to move with the company that we work for to another state. And then not only do we lose out, but so will the children that we are wanting to help.

I went to preschool, I think it is important, it gives parents some much needed quite time. It also allows families that depend on two incomes, which is becoming the norm in this state, a chance to have a second income be made. It also gives children a chance to build their social skills. But I think we could accomplish this task in the private industry, you will create the same jobs, and the profits made will allow better efficiency when it comes to the use of the funds. You will have less bureaucracy when it comes to getting things done. It will be in the interest of the preschool to have safe jungle-gyms, and toys and sandboxes. Having the toilets clean, that sort of thing.

I will have more to say on this subject later. I want to look more in-depth at the workings of the initiative. Stay tuned.

A story worth reading from the Sacramento Bee.

2005-04-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Every now and then the dog actually catches his tail. Here is a heart warming story about one of our local Marines who returned home and a Kindergarden class who adopted him as their hero. Here is the story.

Koodo's to the Bee for puting a "good" story about our troops. And welcome back Lance Cpl. Scott Wilson. Thank you for your service both abroad and at home. You are a true Hero.

Conspiricies: Oklahoma City, 10 years in the making

2005-04-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

10 years to the day, Oklahoma City remembers the tragedy that came six years before 9/11/2001. 10 years have past, Timothy McVeigh has been executed, and Terry Nichols is serving a life sentence. FOXNews.com has their version of a conspiricies. Now I don't want you all to think that I am one of those people who believes in any old conspiracy theory. But in the light of 9/11, the war on terror, and how long terrorist groups have been wanting and trying to attack us on our own soil; it is becoming easier to think along the lines of McVeigh and Nichols must have had help.

So why would the government want to hide this? Well lets look at the timing of the event. Who was in office in 1995? What was their policy when it came to international crisis. Wasn't it to talk things out. Well do you think that if the country new that this horrific event was orchestrated by an Islamic terrorist group ( as is the cases in most of the conspiracy theories), that they would want to "talk" it out. The answer I think is, no.
We would have seen the same type of resolve that we did on September 11, 2001. The American people would want to capture those responsible for the planning, funding, and arming of the two men that drove that truck up to the Federal Building that April 19, 1995 at 9:00 AM.

Was the country ready for that type of resolve? Well the administration in office surely was not. It would have forced them to go against their foreign policy. The administration would have had to go to war. So what did the FBI know about the American public. Probably exactly what I said above. But they also knew that the administration in the Oval office would not have the resolve needed in order to start a long dragged out war. So they buried the evidence that would cause such a war. In the long run, probably saving hundreds of thousands of lives of our soldiers, and making sure that when we did engage in such a war, we would have an administration that would have the resolve and disciplined enough to win the war.

Like I said before, I don't like conspiracy theories, but I can at least follow the thought path in this case.

In the wake of Terry

2005-04-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

AB654 is a bill that has been pushed through committee hearings. The bill is authored to allow physician assisted suicide. This comes to light in the wake of the Terry Schiavo death, and the death of the Pope, although they are two separate and different cases in themselves. They can be used as examples here for why this bill should not be passed.

I was listening to the radio as I was driving around town the other day, and I heard a physician speak out against this bill, "this is a right that we physicians don’t want, and one that our patients don’t need." I don’t blame the guy. I would not want to have the "blood" of someone on my hands. Especially when these people that are calling for assisted suicide are the same people calling for stem cell research! I thought we were right around the corner from finding the cures to all illnesses with stem cells. If they believe that so much than why the hell do we need to give physicians the right assist a patient in giving up on hope for a cure.

The media will try to make this seem to coincide with the Terry Schiavo case. Don’t be fooled. Terry was not dying. She was still able to breath on her own, she was not hooked up to a respirator. There was no plug pulled. She was starved to death, in a way that we as a society would not let a dog die (or apparently a rabbit, as two men have demonstrated on the web. They have put a ransom on a rabbit that they say they kill and eat unless people give them $50K, so far they have raised $25K).

The Pope who also passed away in old age, was not given assisted suicide. He die naturally, as I hope we all can. I am not saying that a doctor can not make the patient as comfortable as possible in the last moments on earth. But a doctor who has taken an oath to save and preserve life as best as he/she can, should never be put in the situation that they would have to destroy life.

Write to your Senators and Congressmen and women, tell them that life is a precious thing.

One final note, I believe the individule should have the final say. That is to say that if the individule has expressed writen wishes that in given situations they would not want to revived from, then those wishes should be followed. But the government should not make it law that anyone can make that decision. If there is no expressed writen wishes for the situation then we should always err on the side of life.

Night Talker Bashes rally for Arnold

2005-04-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is just another example of how the Night Talker doesn't get it. Williams thinks that people who support the Governor need or want to see the Governor at a "pep-rally." I for one would rather not see the Governor knowing that he busy strategizing on how he can beat the true special interests, the unions. As I have said before, yes the recoil from last week was disappointing, but we can't count him out. He started this with five or six initiatives to pass. If he can only get three or four of them past, it will still be a huge victory. Only the so called Conservatives will call it a defeat. For them it is all or nothing, and even when they get it all, it could have been more, or done faster. To use a phrase from my generation, Williams is nothing more than a poser, and tool for the left.

I am sorry Mark that is not fair. You shouldn't be talked to that way, I mean you after all are a celebrity yourself, and I, I am just a pawn in Arnold's Army.

UPDATE: This comes from the Houge Blog:

The "Night Talker" has decided to attack today's rally. He starts with, "there were no more than 150 people at the rally and they were all Democrat operatives.". This is an interesting statement, considering that Roseville Conservative Blogger was in attendance, and he took some 'actual' attendance at the rally with Republican friends he 'knows' from inside of the GOP itself:

"I saw many familiar faces: CCR President Carl Burton, Calaveras CCR President Bob Vile who came all the way from Arnold, deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, El Dorado CRP Chair and El Dorado CRA Presidents John and La Veta Stelzmiller came, I saw the San Joaquin CRA President at a distance, CRA Vice President Tom Hudson (also from the Placer GOP), Sacramento Republican Assembly President Angela Azevedo and of Course myself Placer CRA President represented the entire spectrum of the GOP."

The "Night Talker" stated on his radio stage, (I was listening as I picked up my daughter from a friend's outing) ALL of those in attendance to today's rally were Democrats, or Democrat operatives. So, if you attended, and you are a Republican, know that the "Night Talker" believes you to be a Democrat because you support the governor.

I wonder how all of these people feel about being called "Democrat Operatives?"
Especialy when viewed in the light of what Eric Hogue posted yesterday here.

Seperation of Church and State

2005-04-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

Democrate Debra Ortiz is the author of a bill that will require pharmasists to fill a perscreption of the "emergency pregnacy" pill RU-486. Eric Hogue is discussing this right now on his Talk Show on 1380 KTKZ. Eric asked the question ( and I am paraphrasing this), "Isn't there a statement in the Constitution that requires the seperation of Church and State? So how can Debra Otiz create legislation that would force people to go against their religion?"

Eric, I would go one step further. This is yet another example of the Secular "Church" imposing it's values on the rest of the people, or the State. I agree with another statement from Hogue, "what will stop them from requireing a doctor to perform assisted suicide?" The answer, nothing.

The Secular "Church" is one that is advicating that everything in life must be fair. But that can't happen when people don't "believe" like they do. So try to make laws to force everyone else to "believe" like they do. Life is not fair, life is tough, and not everyone believes the same things. Not everyone who is not in an organized religion believes it is ok to kill an unborn child. So why are we going to force people to do what they don't agree with. What is the harm in making the person wait untill a pharmasis who doesn't have a problem with what RU-486 does. The patient is not in a life threating situation. We are not with holding Grandmas heart medication.

Seperation of Church and State does work both ways. The Church can not impose doctorine on the government, and government can not force laws that will require individules to something against their religion.

No ID, No Vote?

2005-04-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

I was going over some the stories I had read this week but didn't have time to comment on, and I came across this one. Conservative Schooler has some comments here.

KCRA Channel 3, is one our local MSM (Main Stream Media for the newbies to the blog) outlets. They ran this story about how Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, tried to pass legislation that would require voters to present a valid form of ID in ordered to vote. The bill was shot down. The purpose of the bill is to give more validity to our vote. To build in more goodwill and confidence that when you go to vote, you know that everyone standing in the line with you, is a registered voter... no matter which party they stand with.

"In looking at (the bill), I don't know that this is the solution," said Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.

So let's scrap the whole thing! Never mind that is a step toward a solution.

"This was not a bill that tried to cure all the problems with respect to voter fraud. This is simply a measure I thought was necessary," Cox said.

This bill was heavily opposed by "civil rights" groups. I want to know what civil liberties are being stepped on here? I work in a bank. We all have to show our drivers license in order to cash a check. Some times if the check is large enough you have to show two forms of ID. In order to open an account, you must have two forms, end of story.

In the state of California a Identification card can be obtained by a twelve year old. If you drive a car you must have a Driver's License. Is it really that big of a deal that when you drive to polling booth that you bring a Driver's License, that is required for you to drive your vehicle anyway, and dig it out of your wallet or purse, show that pretty smile, and then go vote? It adds on a whole five to ten seconds tops to the process.

Back in the old days, you were required to own property, be able to read, be a male, and be white to vote. Asking for a valid Identification card is not going to put this state or country heading back in that direction. All Senator Cox was trying to do, was to put some confidence back into the system. With dogs and dead people voting, proving who you say you are isn't much to ask.

Senators OK Health Plan

2005-04-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

I just read this article from the Sac Union I thought Edwards was no longer running for Vice President.

“If you’re wealthy in America we have the best health care system; if you’re poor we don’t,”

Oh wait, that is Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena. Someone needs to tell him that the American people didn't fall for the two Amercia's line last time.

So basics of the story: Dems want California to be more like Canada and Europe. So we can all have crapy health care. No thanks I think I'll keep my Pacific Care and not get misdiagnosed for having a broken arm when I complain to the doctor about a runny nose.

An Update on Megan

2005-04-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I had posted about a little girl named Megan and her family. I just went to their web site and saw this:

April 6, 2005: Just learned that the doctors have given up on the chemo. The most recent blood tests seem to indicate no significant positive change in kidney function. The next step is a kidney transplant according to the doctors. We are going in for a meeting to discuss the next step next week sometime. Please keep Megan in your prayers - we are looking for a healing. Remember us also, that we do the right thing for our little girl.

I just want to give glory to God, our father, because I know this situation is in his loving hands.
~ Mike

If you have a moment and would like to bring some joy to this family, simply click on the link above and sign their guestbook. Also keep them all in your prayers. Megan is a beautiful young girl and her family is incredibly strong. And Mike I know you will do what God's wishes you to do, and so you will do the right thing for your little girl.

The Governor's Black Eye

2005-04-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am not much of a baseball fan so I don't have any fancy baseball quotes to equate to the Governor's recent defeat with the union's pension plans. I am however a big fan of Ultimate Fighters, and I study Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. So I can relate what happend in these terms.
The Governor got hit hard with right jab just above his left eye. He is cut but it is not bad... yet. The problem now is the Dems think they have him on the run, and they are going to try to take him to the ground and get him to submit.

In the Sacramento Bee online, I came across this story. It does not look pretty, but it is my case and point. The liberals have already counted him out. They have him clinched and are trying to swipe one leg out from under him to get him on the ground.

"He created political problems for himself in the way the thing was designed," said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California's Institute of Governmental Studies.

"The 30-second (advertising) spots were lined up, ready to blast him with widows of cops saying their death benefits were going to get cut off. That would have just been a killer."

And speaker Sparky aka Fabian Nunez and Don Perata: "They sounded magnanimous and said they were willing to work with him. But they said they want Schwarzenegger to drop his other overhaul proposals, too."

But Don Perata had this to say as well:
"Let's give the governor a little credit for this," Perata said. "It was a bad idea and he's recognized that it was a bad idea. ... It takes a relatively big man to say, 'I'm calling it off.' "

That's what I would call a sucker punch.

So what do we do. In Ju-Jitsu, I would go to ground. I would try to take them down, but in the event they take me down, I would watch my gaurd so that they don't get too much of a position. Relax a little bit and when I feel them breathing hard with excitment, that is when I would make my move and roll them over and place them into a submision arm bar and make them tap out. So how do we do that? Keep the signature gathering going. Talk to your friends, family and neighbors, tell them so that they are informed about what is really happening in the capitol.

Did this recoil from the Governor hurt us, yes. Did it kill our will to make changes in this state, only time will tell. We have been under the safe districts for a while now, and things in this state have not been the best. It is time to make the politicians on both sides of the asile work again, and listen to the will of the people. We need to break the special interests strangle hold on the state. We need to make smart choices and word our arguments carefuly, and when the time is right, we need to punch back, we need to make a strong stance, and we need to help the Governor see that there are far more people behind him than what the polls show.

Blacks can't grasp Marriage issue says NAACP

2005-04-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Craig Deluz was on the Eric Hogue Show this morning after Alice Huffman, the President of the NAACP California Conference. Before I go further on the issue, here is the Sac Union Blogg posted by Craig.

Now here is the quote from Alice taken by the Associated Press and placed in the Sac BS:

"'This issue is really an issue that is not clearly understood by many segments of my community, especially the fundamentalists,' said Huffman, adding that despite lingering opposition among some NAACP members, the organization would testify for Leno's bill and lobby lawmakers, if necessary."

The bill in question is AB-19. But what I find absolutely incredible is the blatant fact that Ms. Huffman, who is black, thinks she is the authority on the religious beliefs (majoraly Christian) of the black community. Really? I would like to know Ms. Huffman's credentials in Theology please. Why do I ask for these? Because this morning on the radio she said (and I am paraphrasing), "How can the love between two people be against the Christian Faith?"

Because the Christian and Judaism faiths are not based on the "love" or better yet "lust" between two people, homosexual or heterosexual. The Faith is based on, in the case of Christianity, that Jesus the Christ was given to man kind from the eternal Father (God) as a sacrifice for our sins. Those who except Christ as the savior will walk with him for eternity.

Now I am no theologian, I don't claim to know more about the ways of my religion than anyone who shares my religion, and I could be way off base here (I don't think I am). The question facing our society with this AB-19 is this, " is Homosexuality a choice of behavior, or is it biological?" You can read my comments to Dennis Prager on this issue here.

This is just another example of elitist mentality in an organization that says it is for civil rights. It is also a great example of why we should not follow the ways of appeasement. Is it there an old adage, " You can try to please some of the people all the time, but never all the people all the time." Or something to the effect.

Regarding the Pope and the Catholic Religion

2005-04-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

I am 27 years old. Pope John Paul II was the leader of the Catholic church almost as long as I have been alive. My life as a Catholic has been one of heartbreak and denile, leaving and finding my way back again with the grace of God. Did the Pope have a great influence on my religious life... not directly. Did I always agree with what he said... no. Am I sad that he is gone, yes, but I am assured in my faith that he has gone on to a higher calling in the choir of angles in Heaven. Do I know what is instore for the Church... only from what the bible tells us, there are many trials to come, one we are going through right now, the molestation scandals, and the death of our leader. Our leader will be replaced by a man elected by men but with the influence from God.

Many secularists don't understand how we christians, and Catholics in particular can continue to have faith in an organized religion that has been scared by such scandles. And they wish to place blaim on a dead man. But the understanding of our faith is placed squarly in their question. Our faith is not in the organized religion, it is that fact that Jesus Christ had died for our sins and rose up from the dead on the third day, and he will come again to collect the faithful. We profess this faith every week in mass.

While I was growing up I realy did not pay all that much attention to the where abouts of the Pope. I was too ingrossed with my life. Now I hear about all the things that this Pope has done through out his palpacy that no other Pope has done. And the leftist still want to paint a horrid picture of this man simply because he represents a religion. Religion that has shaped the moral fibber of not only this country but the world, second only to Judaism. As a matter of fact Christianity is simply an extension of the Jewish faith with only one minor detail (I say that sarcasticly). I mourne the death of the Pope, but without much saddness, and with great hope for the church. The Pope John Paul II will be replaced but will remain an irreplacable man.

Night Talk Show Host Strikes Again

2005-04-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

I happend to see what the "Night Talker" aka Mark Williams, was talking about. He just had a guest caller on "Karine" who suggested boycotting major farming companies produce. Look for the idea to hit the Sac Union Blog tomorrow. Here is the problem with boycotting:

A portion of the population makes it known that they are going to boycott the purchaseing of lettuce in month X. The produce distributors get wind of this idea, and lower the price of lettuce for that month. Those that are not participating in the boycott buy double what they normally do due to the lower price. The boycott fails.

Or the price stays the same and for the month of X, the companies sales dip, but the next month they go back to what they were before. That dip in sales is really not as bad as the "activists" would have you believe. This is just more pointless banging of "pots and pans" this type of activism does not work as well as invoking true change by winning elections. Sure it is slow change, but it is change in the right direction.

Bloggodocio: Drive-by Theology

2005-04-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have been very silent on the subject of the Pope's death. The main reason is because, I know his work on this earth was done. God called him home and his job will be a hundred fold in Heaven. The MSM has been trying to equate the death the Pope to Terri Schiavo. My fellow Sacto Blogger and might I say friend Steve of Bloggodocio has put together a systematic explaination of why they are truely so different, that I don't think I could do a better a job. Please click here to read it yourself.

"Citizens United to Save California"

2005-04-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have been racking my brain, doing Goggle searches, Yahoo searches and asking around... it appears I did not go to right source. I have heard the commercials adds on KTKZ for the past three weeks or so attacking Govrernor Schwarzenegger's endorsed redistricting initiative (the wording of the initiative is from Ted Costa). Eric Hogue here sheds some light on the subject. Thank you Hoguester. Go to his site to get some backround on this so called organization. It will startle you... also do not confuse this "organization" with the true organization that is helping Arnold's Army Citizens to Save California.

UPDATE: CITIZENS UNITED sued Aronald. This updated yesterday on the Hogue blog.

UPDATE II: Law Firm behind Citizens was involed with law suits in New Mexico's ballot machine disputes in 2004 elections. Here is the article.