Danoodle

Sara Winchester Mystery House no Mystery

2011-06-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

A bit of CA trivia. Reason Sara Winchester's house - stairs ending abruptly, doors leading nowhere - is a mystery - marketers made it so! Real truth behind the mystery: Sara was adding on to her mansion in San Jose when the 1906 earthquake happened. All work ceased on her multi-story addition. She moved to a houseboat, never to live at her San Jose mansion ever again.

At some point after her house was sold, San Jose decided to make it a tourist attraction. Indeed they did! The myth that her house is haunted because of all the deaths from Winchester Rifles is just that - a myth!

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Photo taken at Marin Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Marin County, CA.

Wedding Bliss!

2011-04-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

ok, ok. I LOVE the Royal Couple! After oogling the Royal Wedding live on BBC from SF – Friday morning, midnight to 4:30am, I concluded this couple had real class. It showed in every detail of the Royal Wedding, but what really made me fall in love with Kate and Will was their departing Buckingham Palace in an antique Aston-Martin, with the future King driving, a big, fat “L” on the front (Learner), and their tag reading “JU5T WED”. Their “cool” factor rose 99 points. Daughter and I stayed glued to the telly all day Friday, watching “E” channel coverage, which was really fun – gossipy, sometimes outrageous, and polar opposite to BBC’s coverage. “E” channel focused on clothing, hats (OMGosh!), and backstory gossip with a panel of 4 commentators including a Monarcy expert, who explained all the pomp & circumstance. Wonderful! Hubby retreated to another room and his computer. If only this class act filters down to the 20 & 30-something “me” culture…

Royal Rumors

2011-04-28T18:10:00.001-07:00

Did Kate “pursue” Wills?

Ok, ok. I said I wasn’t going to listen or watch Royal Wedding stuff, but I can’t help myself – especially when looking at the program grid for BBC America all day Sunday – nothing but shows, and more shows, re Royal Weddings, past and present.

So, I plonked myself down in my easy chair (otherwise known as a…Recliner!), and proceeded to watch the entire day all that BBC America had to offer. The most interesting nugget of information in the BBC documentary was that Kate had a poster of Wills on her bedroom wall in middle school. No big deal. Then, she followed “in his footsteps” to Chile only a month after he journeyed there in the exact same program for some sort of life-enriching experience. She then chose the remote, Scottish college, St. Andrews , just the same as Wills, where she signed up for the exact same courses he did, and managed to get in the same dorm he lived in. Hmmmmm.

Seems slightly planned on her part (chased? stalked?) and if deliberate, shows her determination and patience, not bad traits.

Long live the King (and his Queen)!

Marin County Government salaries

2011-04-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

From the State Controller’s Office: http://lgcr.sco.ca.gov/CompensationDetail.aspx?entity=County&id=10992100000 Definitely NOT an April Fool's joke!

CPAC - terrific!

2011-02-13T13:58:00.001-08:00

Not recovered from CPAC – great! – even if Charles Krauthammer on Fox News called it “fringe.” It was most definitely not fringe, and all the tv coverage was about Ron Paul winning the straw poll. He won because only 30% of the 11,000 conservatives attending voted in the straw poll, so 70% of us did NOT vote, and would not have voted for Ron Paul. The Ron Paul supporters were very vocal & strident, per their template. Three days of non-stop speakers/seminars exhausted me! It was like being in a candy store, and not knowing which goody to choose – speakers like Don Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Andrew Breitbart, Ann Coulter, + several new Congresspeople – Fabulous! + stalwart conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly – all wonderful! Foreign policy seminar, Radical Islam seminar with Aayan Hirsi Ali, on and on and on. No time for lunch even in 3 days. This was my first CPAC, but hopefully not my last!

Great idea - YouCut

2011-01-21T14:11:00.001-08:00

From Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader: YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project - is designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Each week that the House is in session, we will take the winning item and offer it to the full House for an up-or-down vote, so that you can see where your representative stands on your priorities. Vote on this page today for your priorities and together we can begin to change Washington's culture of spending into a culture of savings. http://www.majorityleader.gov/YouCut/

Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

2011-01-04T09:19:00.001-08:00

Published: January 3, 2011, New York Times By Steven Greenhouse

Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics. Scott Walker, new Republican governor of Wisconsin, is threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts. State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets. On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers, a move that would save $200 million to $400 million and challenge labor’s traditional clout in Albany. But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones. For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries. In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers. Some new governors, most notably Scott Walker of Wisconsin, are even threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts. “We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.” … …In the 2010 elections, Republicans emerged with seven more governor’s mansions and won control of the legislature in 26 states, up from 14. That swing has put unions more on the defensive than they have been in decades…. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business&src=me

Brown Plans to Raise California Sales, Income and Car Taxes

2011-01-01T16:50:00.003-08:00

CRP Statement Concerning Brown Plans to Raise California Sales, Income and Car Taxes …"One time cuts and tax hikes are not going to solve the state's perpetual budget deficit. Bold, fundamental reform is needed. Where are the plans to move government workers from an unaffordable and underfunded defined benefit to a defined contribution pension system to wipe out our massive pension liability? Where are the proposals to give our school boards better tools in collective bargaining and flexibility to shop around for the best services at the lowest cost? How about a plan to do away with 'greenmail' tactics to allow something to actually be built in this state to expand our tax base and create jobs?... http://www.cagop.org/

Heritage Foundation: A Conservative New Year's Resolution

2011-01-01T16:50:00.001-08:00

From Heritage's daily Morning Bell email:

"In recent months, the Obama administration has begun to take ideas directly from the conservative playbook.
-On national security, they’ve canceled civilian trials for terrorists, kept Guantanamo Bay open, and extended key provisions of the Patriot Act;
-On federal spending, they have proposed a federal pay freeze as a first step towards fiscal sanity;
-On immigration, the Left has abandoned its pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform; and
-On economic recovery, they have admitted that the Obama tax hikes are wrong for America."…

www.heritage.org

CA/Marin Election Results - Nov 2, 2010

2010-11-10T13:14:00.001-08:00

For my own list-centric self, I put together the list below. Note the Maps links - fascinating!

Governor:
Jerry Brown (Dem) 4,679,643 53.3%
Meg Whitman (Rep) 3,653,670 41.6%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/governor/

Lt Governor:
Gavin Newsom (Dem) 4,253,382 49.9%
Abel Maldonado (Rep) 3,371,997 39.6%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/lieutenant-governor/

Secretary of State:
Debra Bowen (Dem) 4,423,672 52.9%
Damon Dunn (Rep) 3,247,609 38.8%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/secretary-of-state/

Controller:
John Chiang (Dem) 4,608,497 54.7%
Tony Strickland (Rep) 3,096,531 36.8%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/controller/

Treasurer:
Bill Lockyer (Dem) 4,713,645 56.2%
Mimi Walters (Rep) 3,080,269 36.7%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/treasurer/

Attorney General:
Kamala D. Harris (Dem) 3,831,825 45.6%
Steve Cooley (Rep) 3,875,037 46.1%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/attorney-general/

Insurance Commissioner:
Dave Jones (Dem) 4,134,595 50.3%
Mike Villines (Rep) 3,128,828 38.1%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/insurance-commissioner/

Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Larry Aceves 3,054,236 45.4%
Tom Torlakson 3,667,039 54.6%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/superintendent-of-public-instruction/

US Senate:
Barbara Boxer (Dem) 4,502,037 51.7%
Carly Fiorina (Rep) 3,728,712 42.9%
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/us-senate/

State Senate, District 3:
No election http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/state-senate/
Only even-numbered Senate districts have General Elections in 2010.

State Assembly, District 6: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/state-assembly/district/6/
Jared Huffman (Dem) 92,839 70.0%
Bob Stephens (Rep) 39,940 30.0%

US Congress, District 6: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/us-congress/district/6/
Lynn C. Woolsey (Dem) 132,855 65.5%
Jim Judd (Rep) 61,521 30.2%

Board of Equalization, District 1 (Marin):
Betty T. Yee (Dem) 1,320,145 62.9%
Kevin R. Scott (Rep) 663,205 31.6%

----------------

CA Supreme Court: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/supreme-court/

Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice
Yes votes: 4,209,752 67.1%
No Votes: 2,065,973 33.0%

Ming W. Chin, Associate Justice
Yes votes: 4,056,696 65.5%
No Votes: 2,138,704 34.5%

Carlos R. Moreno, Associate Justice
Yes Votes: 4,169,864 67.6%
No Votes: 2,000,540 32.4%

-----------

Courts of Appeal, District 1, Marin County: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/courts-of-appeal/district/1/county/marin/
YES for all below. See link for exact County and District percentages.

Division 1:
Kathleen M. Banke, Associate Justice
Robert L. Dondero, Associate Justice

Division 2:
James R. Lambden, Associate Justice

Division 3:
Martin J. Jenkins, Associate Justice
Peter J. Siggins, Associate Justice

Division 4:
Timothy A. Reardon, Associate Justice

Division 5:
Terence L. Bruiniers, Associate Justice
Henry E. Needham, Jr., Associate Justice

-----------------

MMWD:

Division 1
Jack Gibson 51% (incumbent)
Peter Lacques. 49%.

Division 2
Armando Quintero 42% (incumbent)
Glenn Dombeck 33%
John O'Connor 25%

Division 3
David Behar 54% (incumbent)
Frank Egger 45%

Division 4:
Cynthia Koehler 57% (incumbent)
Larry Rose 26%
Sashi McEntee 16%

Division 5:
Larry Russell (term ends 12/31/12)

--------------

State Propositions: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures/

No 19 Legalize Marijuana in CA, Regulate and Tax
YES: 4,046,644 46.1%
NO: 4,725,549 53.9%

Yes 20 Redistricting of Congressional Districts
Yes 5,075,466 61.4%
No 3,195,437 38.6%

No 21 State Park Funding. Vehicle License Surcharge.
Yes 3,648,941 42.2%
No 4,981,079 57.8%

Yes 22 Prohibit State From Taking Some Local Funds
Yes 5,060,527 60.8%
No 3,275,660 39.2%

No 23 Suspend Air Pollution Control Law (AB 32)
Yes 3,299,800 38.5%
No 5,249,508 61.5%

No 24 Repeal Allowance of Lower Business Tax Liability
Yes 3,454,449 41.5%
No 4,849,752 58.5%

Yes 25 Simple Majority Vote to Pass Budget
Yes 4,609,133 54.8%
No 3,809,774 45.2%

Yes 26 2/3 Vote for Some State/Local Fees
Yes 4,352,929 52.6%
No 3,929,445 47.4%

No 27 Eliminate State Redistricting Commission
Yes 3,280,601 40.3%
No 4,839,874 59.7%

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Prop 14 a travesty

2010-11-10T10:39:00.001-08:00

Thanks to the CFRW Newsletter Issue 2 - 2nd Quarter 2010, www.cfrw.org, for providing the link to this George Will column in the Orange County Register, 6/10/10.

...Prop. 14 is an attempt to change government policies by changing the political process. Henceforth, in primary elections that select candidates for most state and federal offices – including almost one-eighth of the U.S. House of Representatives – all voters, regardless of party registration, or those who have "decline to state" status (no party identification – 20.2 percent of Californians), will receive the same ballot. All candidates for a particular office will be listed, regardless of party affiliation, if any, which they may choose to state, or not. The two receiving the most votes will be on November ballots, regardless of the desires of the political parties the nominees may claim to represent.

Prop. 14's purpose is to weaken and marginalize parties, traditionally the principal vehicles for voter education and mobilization. It would strip them of their core function of selecting candidates who represent their members' preferences. It infringes the First Amendment protection of freedom of association, which includes the right of parties not to associate with candidates they do not select...

...But, then, blandness is the point of this reform. It seeks to generate a homogenized political class, one not lumpy with liberals and conservatives who, being conviction politicians, do not always play well with others...

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/parties-253010-political-candidates.html

NO on Prop 14

2010-06-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

Marin Independent Journal. As a long-time Marin County Republican, I highly disagree with Sashi McEntee's "yes" vote on Prop 14. advocating Open Primaries (Marin Voice 3/30/10). It destroys party affiliation, and will most definitely NOT result in higher voter turnout. If anything, it will insure LOWER voter turnout, as I, and many other Republicans and 3rd party voters, will simply not vote for one of two top Democrat vote-getters, since the Democrat Party never represents my views, nor do they have to, given the lop-sided registration numbers. Republicans may be outnumbered 3 to 1 in Marin County, but I still want the right to vote for my designated Party candidate. The Declined-to-State people can show a backbone, and choose a party affiliation. Sashi's statement that, "We've seen the damage a highly partisan legislature can do in Sacramento" is laughable, since the CA legislature is overwhelmingly Democrat, and we've seen the damage done arising from that scenario. I doubt that Sashi speaks for the Central Committee and for many Republicans here in Marin. I'm voting NO on Prop 14.

Drilling Project Plug Pulled. No $100m for CA.

2010-05-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

From CFRW Capitol Update Fri 5/7/10.

On Monday Governor Schwarzenegger decided to terminate the scheduled Santa Barbara off-shore drilling project because of the recent oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico. Although the Governor has been fighting for the Tranquillon Ridge Project for 2 years, he said in a statement on Monday that he doesn’t want to take the risk of a massive oil spill off our coast. The drilling project, from an existing oil platform, would have brought the state approximately $100 million dollars a year. Regarding this loss of potential revenue, the Governor stated, “I’d rather just figure out how to make up for that $100 million”.

Dana Walsh update

2010-03-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

Nancy Pelosi speaking at Commonwealth Club April 6, 12noon, location: Mark Hopkins Hotel, Nob Hill.

No Bay Area Tea Party protest planned so far. http://tickets.commonwealthclub.org/

GOP hopefuls cast Pelosi as fundraising bait:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/27/MNIK1CLJ9Q.DTL

Dana's website: http://www.danawalshforcongress.com/

See Dana's additional website: http://www.johndennisexposed.com/

What happens if I don't buy health insurance?

2010-03-22T18:42:00.001-07:00

Under the health care overhaul passed Sunday, most individuals would be required to buy a minimum health insurance policy -- just as most drivers today are required to have car insurance. This policy won't kick in until 2014, however. After then, if you don't buy insurance, you would have to pay a penalty on your annual income taxes. The reconciliation bill in the Senate would start with a flat penalty of $695 per member of your household each year. The maximum penalty would be 2.5 percent of your household income. (That's $1,300 for a family making $52,029 a year, the median household income in 2008.) The penalty would rise with the cost of living in future years.

-- Ryan Teague Beckwith, Congress.org

Kerry Mazzoni challenging Susan Adams (District 3) for Marin Supervisor job

2010-03-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

Former Marin Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni on Monday jumped into the race for San Rafael's seat on the Board of Supervisors, saying she will challenge Supervisor Susan Adams.

Mazzoni, who took out papers for the post, said she will file for election by Friday's deadline in order to oust Adams and "offer a different perspective" on county affairs, including the Marin Energy Authority.

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14635939

My note: Mazzoni (D) was the incumbent Assemblywoman when Russ Weiner (R) ran for the CA Assembly way back in 1998...Gee, I may vote for her as Adams is my district supervisor (San Rafael) who is championing the MEA.

Did you know...

2010-02-28T10:55:00.001-08:00

that SF is the only city that now pays for a social worker in the public library for the benefit of the homeless?

in London, a social worker is required to hand-carry money (over the weekend) to a welfare recipient's house if they need cash, because the welfare office isn't open?

OPTING OUT of MEA is required

2010-02-28T10:51:00.001-08:00

See www.commonsensemarin.com. Also, www.GreenMarin.org.

I attended the very crowded energy meeting yesterday am in San Rafael - an overflow crowd! Outrageous that the Marin Energy Authority is spending $1.5m of our tax money to startup. The worst part - you have to OPT OUT of MEA providing energy to your house. I just did this at www.pge.com. IMPORTANT: you need your Electric Service # - not your account # - to OPT OUT. The service number is listed on your PG&E bill. You need to OPT OUT online, or by calling 1-866-743-0335.

I definitely do not want MEA providing my energy. I am pleased with PG&E - very reliable. Marin does not need an alternative energy company that will cost a lot more, just so some Marinites can feel good. The cost will be much more under MEA, and the taxpayers will be on the hook.

This creation of the MEA and allocation of our tax money was never put to a vote! Charles McGlashan, a Marin County Supervisor, is the Chairman of MEA - talk about a conflict of interest!! A Marin Grand Jury said this scheme was folly and recommended "the Marin Clean Energy program be abandoned." Lots of cities, including Berkeley, have chosen not to go with an alternative energy authority, because of legal and financial risks to taxpayers.

The Marin County Treasurer-Tax Collector Michael Smith wrote in the IJ Marin Voice 2/21/10, "...ill-conceived...no public vote of approval...grand jury has recommended abandoning MCE...we as ratepayers will be in MCE unless we decide to opt out..." http://www.marinij.com/ci_14443813

Larkspur, Novato, Corte Madera, and Ross have all opted out of MEA. For some reason, San Rafael has not. Truly outrageous!

Viola Howey, RIP

2010-02-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

Viola was a wonderful mother-in-law. She lived to be 101! We will miss her terribly.

RESULT of "ONE PARTY" COMPASSION

2010-01-30T11:46:00.001-08:00

RESULT of "ONE PARTY" COMPASSION Mike DeNunzio Unemployment in San Francisco nears ten percent; yet City Supervisors refuse to schedule a hearing on tax incentives to stimulate jobs, but they will discuss a ban on feeding ducks in city parks. These people did not “seize power;” they were elected by voters of the ONE PARTY that has controlled public policy in San Francisco since 1964. Members of this ONE PARTY exalt “San Francisco values,” and congratulate their compassion for the needy-(incessantly) In January the progressive “SF WEEKLY” published a 4,700 word indictment of what their personal liberal guilt has done to the City and suggested they take personal responsibility for what they have done: "San Francisco is...arguably the worst-run big city in America. I never heard anyone say: If only [our city] could be run like San Francisco. Other liberal (cities) wouldn't put up with the dysfunction in San Francisco; says urbanologist, Joel Kotkin." (SF WEEKLY, Jan. 14, 2010, Benjamin Wachs, Joe Eskenaz.) In San Francisco the voters of this ONE PARTY have readily "put up" with serial mismanagement, deficits, debt, and repeatedly elected candidates who support policies that border on criminality: Sanctuary policies that led to murder; social policies that foster homeless, and crime, and failed transit policies. Fiscal policies with a $6.6 billion budget, 27,801 employee-- 8,000 paid $100,000 plus benefits. The voters of this ONE PARTY are solely responsible for a staggering $4 billion unfunded liability for retirement benefits that deprives services for needy children, the aged and disabled. Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results." In San Francisco the voters of this ONE PARTY continues to prove Einstein is right -liberalism is a mental disorder.

SF worst run city in America

2010-01-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

To SF Weekly authors: Your excellent, excellent article applies to Washington, DC, as well. Our "leaders" there are as corrupt as SF "leaders." You certainly have a bead on SF, and I applaud you.

"It's time to face facts: San Francisco is spectacularly mismanaged and arguably the worst-run big city in America. This year's city budget is an astonishing $6.6 billion — more than twice the budget for the entire state of Idaho — for roughly 800,000 residents. Yet despite that stratospheric amount, San Francisco can't point to progress on many of the social issues it spends liberally to tackle — and no one is made to answer when the city comes up short."

Do not miss this article! http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-city-in-the-u-s/

SENIORS SAY: “FIRST DO NO HARM”

2009-12-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

AMERICA’S SENIORS SAY: “FIRST DO NO HARM”
Mike DeNunzio, Chairman S.F Republican Assembly

“Whether to save one 20 year old who might live 60 years, or three 70 year olds who could live 10 years is unclear. We recommend the "Complete Lives System" that prioritizes younger people. Reform must redefine doctor’s ethical obligations for the greater good.‘

This ominous prognosis for America’s seniors was co written by the distinguished bio-ethicist, Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD in the British Medical Journal, January. 2009. Doctor Emanuel is Special Advisor for Health Policy to the Office of Management and Budget--his brother is Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff. Ezekiel Emanuel supports “the 2009 Health Choices Act" (HR3200 it includes: Advance Planning Consultation for End of Life Services; and a “Center for Comparative Effectiveness” to base treatment on cost and patient age. (Section (Sect.1401) Seniors are greatly troubled by HR3200 –Republicans, independents and Democrats.

“Why are we making bad decisions for the sake of passing something on a self imposed deadline. I don’t know why our Senators -Feinstein and Boxer allowed it to happen.” Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco asked this question in his column in the S.F. Chronicle, Dec. 27, 2009. Most seniors agree with “Da Mayor: Senior’s don’t buy from people in a hurry to sell something they won't buy for themselves. Americas seniors do not want their intelligence insulted: They question why Congress exempts itself and 2.4 million federal employees from HR3200. They also ask why a reform to reduce health costs excludes mal practice lawsuits that increase costs $200 million a year; and why health care leaders endorse a bill they never read. HR3200 will take over one sixth of the US economy and affect 300 million Americans from womb to tomb,

America’s forty million seniors age 65 and over, and fifty million “boomers” 50 to 64 are active, accomplished and informed: Millions work, run businesses, serve on boards, donate funds and volunteer hours valued at billions. They read, watch, listen and discuss health issues; half are married, own homes, assist their families- including aged parents. Eighteen million are veterans, and eight of ten votes regularly. Many face health and financial challenges and require costly assistance; two of ten live below poverty. They helped pay for and create a health care system that is the envy of the world. Medicare is not charity - seniors have earned it-and they don’t want it cut.

In 2008 both parties called for reforms to make health insurance and health care more affordable and available and America agreed, especially seniors. Today over half the nation opposes HR3200, and seniors oppose it most: Seniors know good intentions can cause harm; they remind proponents of HR3200– First do no harm”--the caveat of Hippocrates- the father of western medicine: HR3200 harms seniors; it cuts $500 billion from Medicare’s hospital and home care, nursing facilities, hospice, rehab, Medicare Advantage Insurance and especially the aged, disabled and terminally ill. HR3200 also increases taxes $400 billion; they include medical devices, stints and wheelchairs; and increases insurance premiums and total health costs.

Seniors ask why the American Medical Association, the American Nurses and Hospital Associations, and the AARP and PhARMA endorse a bill that cuts their Medicare. They’ve learned these health care leaders negotiated self serving deals: The AMA to protect certain billing rights; the AARP to protect sales of insurance; PhARMA to restrict drug imports; the Hospital Association to get insured patients, and the Nurses Association for pro union legislation. The AFL- CIO and SEIU and the American Bar Association also endorsed HR3200- but they don’t take care of the sick and never took an oath to ”do no harm.” Seniors now know eighty percent of America’s 800,000 doctors do not belong to the AMA -and most oppose HR3200, and over 60,000 members have quit the AARP since June..

The health care and government officials who endorse HR3200 know health budgets of countries with “government care” prioritize lower costs over patient care. Canada and European Union nations uses fewer MRIs, CT scans, advanced drugs and fewer beds per capita. They also report higher mortality for cancer and heart disease. In the EU the death rate from cancers in Great Britain is second only to Denmark, and only the German regions of Saarland, Bremen and Rheinland-Pfalz have a higher death rate from heart disease. Britain’s National Health Service also uses a system called “Quality Adjusted Life Years” to determine treatment based on cost and patient age; and it restricts renal dialysis for the aged, as do other EU nations: In Belgium and the Netherlands, euthanasia is legal; the Dutch also permit neo natal intensive care units to give lethal injections to newborns diagnosed unable to have “meaningful relationships. The entire EU invests only 16% of the world's biotech research; the US invests 78 percent for new drugs and technologies that save lives worldwide. Every year thousands from Europe seek treatment in the US; last year 39,282 came from Canada where the Supreme Court ruled: “Access to a waiting list is not health care.

Seniors know Medicare’s greatest costs are in the final years of life. they are wary of a “Center for Comparative Effectiveness” to recommend treatment based on cost and age. They also oppose federalized "Advance Consultation for "End of Life Service."(Sect.1233) Seniors have caring families and trusted advisors; those who need assistance can receive it at no cost; Every state has agencies and protective laws for Advance Directives -like California Probate Code 4700, and the national hot line (800-222-1753)

Seniors and most Americans now know the “47 million” reported to lack health insurance includes ten million who are not US citizens. The uninsured citizens include nine million that earn over $75,000 and eight million over $50,000. Another ten million citizens are eligible for insurance but not enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, S-Chip, veterans or employer’s plans. The ten million Americans who need assistance can be insured with patient centered options that preserve choice. They include; portability, interstate sales, group purchase, cash subsidies, risk pools for pre existing conditions, and tax exempt medical savings accounts.

Congress is buying the votes and will change anything to pass HR3200- and “fix it later.” Seniors know they will be first to lose most care -and the most years of life: They don’t want health policies for the “greater good,” from countries with moribund populations rampant with and anti life pathologies: The average “population replacement rate” in the EU is 1.5 per couple, and suicide, abortion and substance abuse is record high. The EU defense budget to protect its population is a telling 1.6 percent of GDP, and Canada is 1.1 percent. The US expends 6.1 percent of GDP to protect American lives- and Canadians and Europeans.

The 1991 national best seller “Parliament of Whores” by P.J. O’Rourke was hailed a “perceptive indictment of Congress.” A 2009 version could be titled “Parliament of Charlatans,” and indict health care and government officials that support HR3200. The Surgeon General should declare them "Dangerous to America's health." America's Senior’s will remind them 21st century America is not 8th century Sparta where ailing seniors and sickly newborns were left on a hillside to die: In America the right to life is inalienable, America is not the EU- “first do no harm.”

NOTE TO READERS:
SPEAKING CLEARLY presents personal views of Mike DeNunzio: They do not represent opinions or recommendations of any commission or other public or private organization of which he is a current or past member. Mike DeNunzio is Chairman of Development Services Group, Inc.-consultants to non profit organizations for health care, educational, and social services. He has guided clients throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Central America and Asia. He serves on the board of the American Institute of Ethics and "The Handicapables." Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him to the California Commission on Aging, and he was a San Francisco Commissioner on Aging-Adult Services, appointed by Mayor Willie Brown, and reappointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. He is a thrice elected past Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party and currently Chairman of the S.F. Republican Assembly.

Kicked out of House of Representatives

2009-11-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

Believe it! My friend and I were actually kicked out (along with a few other people) to make way for late-comer visitors to the House of Representatives to witness the dastardly Healthcare bill passage last night. And we were threatened with hand-cuffs if we did not leave our seats. We could, however, come back into the Gallery, but we had to go to the end of the line (very long, snaked around two corridors +). Reminded me of education's "no one is a winner" mantra - all are equal - except in this case, the late-comers were the "winners." Those of us who got to the Gallery earlier "lost." Don't know who ordered this outrageous affront to taxpayers who own this House. Could it be Nancy Pelosi, who has final say re ingress and egress of House, and had to make way for all those staffers to witness her most glorious moment?

DC Protest Nov. 5

2009-11-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

By Barbara Howey, in Washington,DC Washington, DC. Thursday, November 5. This was not fun. Compared to the 9/12 protest, which I attended, this protest was deadly serious. At the 9/12 protest, people were laughing, joking, smiling, meeting new people, a party-atmosphere. Not so with the 11/4 Healthcare Reform protest. At this protest, we Patriots were packed in like sardines on the grassy area below the West steps of the Capitol. I could not even make my way up to where my friend - another Patriot (a small business woman in Novato) who had taken the red-eye the night before, and flew out of DC that afternoon at 4pm, was standing. She managed to fight (politely, of course) close to the front of the crowd. So many signs, so many TALL people, so much earnestness was sobering. This crowd realized what was at stake if this dastardly Healthcare Reform bill that the Dems so love is passed. The people I met were from all over the States, but it seemed quite a few were from Texas. Michelle Bachman gave a brief speech, as did Mark Levine, and Jon Voight. Of course, many of the Republican Representatives had to get their few seconds of fame, so the speeches went on and on. About 1.5 hours after the start, I, and quite a few others, started leaving. I met up with my Novato friend in the security line of the Rayburn Bldg, where I was going to deliver a reasoned letter written by my husband to Nancy Pelosi's office (see below). Of course, the intern in Pelosi's office was...young, but smiling. She offered us House Gallery tickets. So, we ran off to the House Gallery to view the boring minutea of inconsequential, bureaucratic details - again, some Reps getting their 30 seconds of fame. I can't even remember the subject. It certainly was not Healthcare, or I would have listened. My Novato friend had to dash to Reagan Airport, so I ran to the Senate bldg to hand my letters to Boxer and Feinstein. From Boxer's office, I got Senate Gallery passes. Off I went to sit in the (Rogue's) gallery for 2 hours, watching all those Senators, Republicans and Democrats, pat each other on the back. Hail fellow, well met!

*****

Dear Congresswoman Woolsey,

Thank you for e-mailing me a copy of H.R. 3962. After starting to read it I discovered it was 1,990 pages long. YIKES! And I thought Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” was long at 1,168 pages. At least that was entertaining!

This only strengthens my resolve to tell you how much I do NOT want government controlled health care. I am a senior citizen and I am not ready to give up my freedom of choice; Or the quality of my health care. The quality of my health care can only be diminished by the resulting inevitable rationing if government run health care is implemented. I do not believe this is the "American Way." Neither do I believe it is consistent with the revered American traits of individual personal freedom and responsibility.

I believe a better way to provide affordable, quality health care for all is by making well-considered incremental changes because polls consistently show that the majority of citizens are satisfied with their existing health care coverage and choices. A good start would be to reform what I believe are two of the most pressing issues; pass Tort reform legislation and allow the free market to deliver real competition by authorizing the sale of Health Insurance across State lines.

Women’s health care is particularly important. A recent poll by the Independent Women’s Forum reports three out of four women surveyed (74%) consider their own health care as good or excellent. Only 40% would want even slight modifications to their own health care, and 35% would leave their health care as is. Furthermore, 64% of the women surveyed would rather have private insurance than a government-run plan and 61% do not support the individual mandate. Women also oppose the rush to pass a bill. Only 16% rate health care as their top issue and two thirds (67%) don’t want something passed that is poorly crafted. And this poll was taken before the swine flu vaccine shortage. This poll can be seen at www.iwf.org.

In contrast, the currently proposed radical restructuring of the entire health care system for the country is being rushed through the House of Representatives without allowing adequate time to read, much less debate, the proposed bill in order to even begin to understand this complex legislation or its consequences. Rather than promoting competition, I believe the proposed government-run health care plan will ultimately diminish competition, and result in government-run monopoly, runaway costs, and rationing; Or worse, denial of care.

Why do I believe this? For starters, because under the government-run program Politicians and Bureaucrats will control health care choices and decisions, Not Individuals and their Doctors. The proposed program is a vast expansion of government that goes far beyond the existing Medicare program; the same program that currently results in an estimated $68 Billion in losses from Fraud, each year!

I thank you for your attention. Fred Howey Constituent and Taxpayer

cc: Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Congresswoman Pelosi

From the Hill - Washington, DC

2009-11-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

There were about 12 Patriots in my group today. We visited (for 4.5 hrs) most of the Blue Dog Dems who were on the fence re Healthcare. Also Pelosi's office, and Woolsey's office. We encountered mostly polite receptionists and staffers, but never met with the Reps. A GA congressman, Brown, from Atlanta, stopped us in the hall, and spent about 10 mins encouraging us to continue the pressure - with our visits, with emails, telephone calls, and faxes. I also stopped in at those CA Republican Reps with a "thumbs up" when I passed their doors.

Diane, the Tea Party Patriot organizer from PA, had faxes produced from all over the country, and she handed them out at each stop. As the day wore on, our numbers dwindled. We had a female Dr from Texas who talked to Pelosi's aide for about 20 mins. Then the Dr went off on her own to lobby the Blue Dogs, stating that she thought she could be more effective in her argument/presentation alone.

All offices seemed to be aware of big event tomorrow on Capitol steps.

Woolsey's office gave me two passes to the House of Reps gallery, so I may get a chance to go & hear some of the speeches on Healthcare, either Friday, or Sat.

Real democracy in action! Barb

Danoodle Goes to Washington

2009-11-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

Going to DC to protest Healthcare Bill, along with thousands of Tea Party Patriots. Will post pictures soonest.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-30T17:56:00.001-07:00

SF Tea Party in SF today at 5pm, Union Square

2009-10-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Danoodle is back in town. Much has happened the last 6 months while I have been gone. Will post whenever possible. My friend Sally Zelikovsky heads up Bay Area Patriots. She has done a stellar job in organizing events for Marinites and SF conservatives. Click on title above for information re today's protest in SF at 5:00pm. See you there! Sally's website is www.bayareapatriots.com.

Local Businesswoman takes on Lynn Woolsey

2009-10-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

How sweet it is! Local businesswoman Catherine Bragg took on Lynn Woolsey at a Town Hall Meeting that would make any conservative proud! Go Catherine! Click on title above to view to Catherine's UTube spot.

Update - Danoodle on the road

2009-07-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Am currently touring the South on a road trip. Things definitely move slower here - possibly because of the HOT weather. Outside Charleston, SC, our car temp gauge showed 107 degrees. Am not in Marin currently, so don't know what's happening since I haven't had many Internet connections on this road trip. It's amazing how uninformed one can get - deliberately! Busy sightseeing.

Marin Republican Central Committee - CLUELESS!

2009-04-07T08:34:00.003-07:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Sally Zelikovsky
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 7:54 AM
To: Sally Zelikovsky
Subject: FW: Tea Party

This is the response I FINALLY got from the MRCC about having them forward
the press release to their email list. By the way, the SF-GOP sent it to
their 7000 member email list; didn't hesitate.

In any event, you will have rec'd my response to them already, but thought
you should see this to know the context.

I am thoroughly disgusted.

-----Original Message-----
From: Errol Tremolada
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 3:45 PM
To: sallyzel@comcast.net
Cc: Kevin Krick; Sashi McEntee
Subject: Tea Party

Sally,

I received your email via the executive chairs. I have previously emailed
with Elizabeth Appell regarding this issue but here's our policy:

We would like to fill our events calendar on the website with as many events
as possible, Republican sanctioned or not. We've added the tea party there
now. However, the email blasts will remain for official MCRCC news and
events (meetings, newsletters etc.) This is to prevent activist groups and
coalitions from using us basically as an advertising business, which is not
what we are. There are environmental conservatives that will hold events,
log cabin republican events, pro life events, traditional marriage events
etc and we cannot be in the business of advertising on their behalf all the
time. We will have these events on our website calendar. Another important
issue is to be careful how many emails get to our list's inboxes. We cannot
flood them. With meeting reminders, newsletters and the occassional press
release we will be treading a thin line. The more emails the more vulnerable
we are to people ignoring them because they are annoyed and worse they exit
the list. I support your efforts with the tea party just as I have
personally supported other coalitions events (enviromentall, pro life etc)
but we cannot use the MCRCC as a tool in that manner. I would love my por
life events to get that exposure but we can't be blasting every event. If we
did, we would create a precedent that would leave us answering emails like
yours for months and years to come. We believe this policy is clean cut
rather than picking and choosing events to blast.

Thanks for your efforts and I hope for the best success at the Tea Party.

Errol Tremolada
Communications Chair

Reply to Marin Central Committee's clueless stance

2009-04-07T08:34:00.001-07:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Sally Zelikovsky
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 7:52 AM
To: 'Errol Termolina'
Cc: 'Kevin Krick'; 'Sashi McEntee'
Subject: RE: Tea Party

Thanks for your reply.

I do have a few thoughts to share.

This struggle is remarkably different than your run-of-the-mill political
issue.

People justifiably feel they are fighting for their future, for the future
of the country, for their children, for their safety and economic security.
Every day, there is a new pronouncement from the Admin or Cong of some
liberty being whittled away. People feel they are fighting for the life of
the Republic as well as the Republican Party.

Republicans and conservatives of all shapes and sizes, are scared. People
like me, who have never protested in their lives, are taking to the streets,
clamoring to be heard in fear and desperation. For those of us having to
pay college tuition, losing our jobs and homes, seeing our retirements drip
down the drain, this isn't a game. It's real life and has real, painful
consequences. We feel like we aren't being heard or listened to and sadly,
by Democrats as well as many in our party.

This is a nationwide movement, one that the Republican Party desperately
needs to support in order for it to survive. Without the votes of the
millions who are undertaking this effort, the Republican Party will continue
in its downward spiral. What use is a party that won't take a stance on an
issue as compelling and prosperity-threatening as this one? This myopic
perspective is rooted in impotence and that's not going to recruit members,
drum up dollars or cultivate strong future candidates. If the party won't
stand behind the people, the people will not be there for the party.

Honestly, not one of us is thrilled we have to protest. We have jobs and
school and families we would rather be with on April 15th. I have been
working 24/7 on this as a volunteer-I have much better things to do w/ my
time, like look for a job. But we have literally been forced onto the
streets. Are you afraid to get your hands dirty by forwarding the press
release? It's ok for us to take to the streets, but you don't want any part
of it? And then you are going to ask us to support the candidates you prop
up? Well, I can tell you that when the 150 people on my email list get wind
of this one, they aren't going to be happy w/ the MRCC. And by the way, you
should know that many constituents are miserable that they have to protest
and feel they wouldn't have to be doing this if the Republican Party had
done its job in the first place. Yes, that's how many feel.

You can embrace your limited view or choose to do what other republican
parties have done across the country-they not only plan to use their email
lists to forward information about this event, but intend to show up to the
Tea Party and register voters while sending the message that the Republican
Party stands with the people on this issue. Now, that's a Republican Party
your average Joe will support.

The issue of our economy is vast in scope and affects all aspects of our
lives. It goes to the very core of conservatism and therefore, the
Republican platform, that is, limited government, low taxes and liberty,
including economic liberty and free enterprise. This issue is so profound,
I am even getting support from democrats. This disaster BHO has created is
giving us the opportunity to recruit disillusioned Democrats, much like 9-11
did. Yes, this is that big.

If the Republican Party cannot wrap its hands around an issue that is
uniting millions of conservatives (most of whom vote Republican) and cannot
see this as a struggle not only for the success of the Republican Party but
for the life of the country, then the Republican Party is in more trouble
than I could have ever imagined.

I think I am beginning to understand how it is the democrats can continue to
walk all over us, when we are unwilling to work with one another for petty
reasons such as (1) glutting people w/ emails (emails many of them have
indicated to me they would have liked to receive from the MRCC-and, by the
way, all I asked is for a one time distribution of the press release) and
(2) doing our advertising (I cannot even come up w/ a parenthetical for this
pathetic excuse).

I have heard rumors about the last few meetings and refused to believe them.
I stood up for the MRCC on several occasions the past few months. I know
you are facing some battles with a group of conservatives who want to take
the party in a different direction in order to have a real impact. I've
been reluctant to agree with them and have mistakenly defended the MRCC and
some of the outrageous actions that have been taken recently. However, after
seeing how you have taken such a hands off approach to this issue, the MRCC
itself has reinforced all of the negative rumors floating about town.

This is a truly sad state of affairs. My arm is still outstretched and I
remain willing to work with you on this. I hope you can see things from the
perspective of hundreds of your constituents/members.

Thank you,
Sally Zelikovsky

SF Tea Party Press Release

2009-04-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

Press Release:

Tax Day Tea Party Members Gather in San Francisco to Protest Bailouts and Wasteful

Spending in the Stimulus and Budget

Date: Wednesday, April 15th

Time: 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Place: Civic Center Park, San Francisco

San Francisco Coordinator: Sally Zelikovsky

Email: sallyzel@comcast.net

California Coordinator: Mark Meckler

Email: mark.grassroots@gmail.com

Together with Tea Parties taking place in hundreds of cities across the country, concerned taxpayers will

gather on April 15, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. in Civic Center Park in San Francisco to send

the following message to President Obama and the Congress:

• No You Can’t! spend taxpayers’ hard-earned money on reckless stimulus packages loaded with pork.

• No You Can’t! implement a pork-laden budget that can only lead to increased taxes and further debt.

• No You Can’t! put a stranglehold on our economy.

• No You Can’t! take our money and limit our freedoms.

The consequences of such profligate spending are far-reaching and will affect the economic well-being of

future generations while thwarting the basic liberties entrusted to the people by our Constitution.

When, in 1773, the colonists were not heard or respected, the Boston Tea Party was born and the Sons

of Liberty dumped tons of tea into the Harbor as a protest against the British government. Tax Day Tea

Party protesters are gathering across this great nation in the spirit of those patriots, demanding to be

heard.

The winds of change are blowing but this isn’t change any of us can believe in. The irresponsible

behavior of Washington’s politicians has prompted taxpayers to action. Hard-working Americans

throughout the country and across the economic and political spectra are joining forces to send a

message to their politicians: America is going to party like it’s 1773!

Dissent and the Media that Fails to Report it!

2009-04-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

By Sally Zelikovsky

Tea Party Organizer for SF event April 15, 2009, 11am - 1pm, Civic Center Park.

“What have you heard about tea parties,” I recently asked about a dozen people.

“Huh?”

“Like the one I had with my grandkids last week?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“Nothing, in particular.”

These are just a few of the responses my informal survey yielded. Statistically speaking it hardly comprises a representative sample but is instructive nonetheless. In short, the media are depriving Americans of all the news that’s fit to print.

This is scarcely a surprise to conservatives, but for those who are not aware of this phenomenon, take heed.

It is rudimentary that the press serves as an unofficial check on all three branches of the government. It is supposed to function independently from the government ensuring that the public receives news in its purest, most unadulterated, objective form. Our history books are replete with examples of societies in which the press functioned as an arm of the government and the havoc that came to bear on the governed as a result. While I do not claim that today’s press is an extension of the government, I’m afraid, my blissfully unaware friends, that we have journeyed to a time when our press functions as a de facto arm of the government. By failing to report newsworthy events simply because they do not comport with the collective viewpoints within a media organization, the press becomes complicit in the promotion of one ideology over another. The tyranny of the majority, which was anathema to our founding fathers, has finally found a foothold in our media and threatens all we hold dear (and by “we” I mean all of us regardless of political affiliation).

While the media knowingly and repeatedly fail to inform millions of Americans of newsworthy events, millions of Americans are also guilty for failing to demand more of their print and electronic media outlets.

Today, millions of Americans are exercising their constitutional right to dissent by staging tea parties all across the land and yet millions of Americans have not read a word about it in the papers, heard any mention of it on the radio or seen a single image about it on TV (excepting, of course, Fox News, conservative Talk Radio and conservative publications). This neglect is not accidental. The press is intentionally holding back news from you, the people.

The tea party story you are not being told has nothing to do with doilies and crumpets. It hearkens back to a time in 1773 when the Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians and emptied tea into the Boston Harbor as a protest against the King of England. This is one of the earliest episodes of dissent in this country. The only conclusion one can draw about the media’s neglect is that while dissent was patriotic in 1773, in 2009 it is patriotic only when the left dissents against the right and not the other way around.

How else to explain the fact that something big is brewing all across the land and you know nothing about it?

Since the press won’t tell you about the tea parties, I will. Over half the people who voted in this last election are fuming mad and do not agree with the economic policies of the current Administration and Congress. They have reached a tipping point and, in uncharacteristic fashion, are taking to the streets on April 15^th in close to 300 cities across the nation, with thousands expected to protest the wasteful and profligate spending in Washington; the pork-laden, so-called Stimulus Package; the trillion dollar, record breaking Budget; and proposed Health Care Plans that are sure to bankrupt the American people.

No one stood in the way of the anti-war protesters or Code Pink when they took center stage and most credible news outlets (right, left and center) reported these acts of dissent. Did you know that the conservative media also reported on these protests as well as anti-torture rallies, anti-trade demonstrations and the ubiquitous anti-Bush protests? Yet, non-conservative media outlets have neglected to inform the public that tea parties have not only already taken place, but hundreds will occur on April 15^th! We know the press is not allergic to this kind of reporting because just last week, local TV crews covered the tepid protest in front of the Marine recruitment office in the East Bay on the 6^th anniversary of the Iraq War—they didn’t miss a beat.

But when it comes to dissent from the right and center, they’ve missed an entire concerto of beats. This blatant shunning of news should worry all of us: once the press filters the news through their own lenses, the news becomes tainted and questionable and the individual is at the mercy of those in control.

Is that the news you want?

A skewed media hurts us all and whittles away at our fundamental freedoms. Whether you have actually lived in a society where the press is controlled by political forces or merely read 1984 in high school and can envision this reality through the power of fiction, you know that a free and fair press in bed with a party or an ideology flies in the face of all we value and, by definition, cannot be free and fair.

Speaking of 1984, during the Two Minute hate when viewers robotically spew hate towards Emmanuel Goldstein, Winston directs his hate against Big Brother, the Party and the Ministry of Truth. Realizing that Goldstein is just another prop in the party’s propaganda machine (funneled by a complicit media and individuals reluctant to think for themselves), Winston feels affection for Goldstein as the “sole guardian of truth and sanity in a world of lies,” a world in which he and the people around him play just as big a part as the Party and Ministry.

I challenge the Marin IJ, the San Francisco Chronicle and every local television and radio station in the Bay Area to report on the Tea Party taking place on April 15^th from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at Civic Center Park in San Francisco and to do so without bias. Let your readerships and viewerships decide. Continued failure to detail this story of dissent brings the press ever closer to Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.

CA Civil Service update - from Mark Hill

2009-01-14T08:39:00.003-08:00

Absolutely incredible.......Note the highlighted quote below.....This guy will get fired for this..but it says it all..PRESS owned by Unions.

Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
December 31, 2008
2009-10 budget: Impact on state workers; CPR revived

State Finance Director Mike Genest unveiled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2009-10 budget proposal today. It continues the call for a employee furloughs, two fewer paid holidays each year, changes to overtime pay calculations and layoffs.

The new wrinkle: Schwarzenegger wants to dump CalPERS as the health care rate negotiator / administrator for the state workforce. Here are the pertinent paragraphs on pages 45 and 46 of the governor's plan:

Porposed changes to General Fund expeditures include:

A decrease of $132.2 million in health care costs beginning in January 2010 by contracting for lower cost health care coverage directly from an insurer rather than through CalPERS. Savings beginning in 2010‑11 will prefund Other Post‑Employment Benefit costs.

And Non-General Fund adjustments include:

A decrease of $47.9 million from various special funds in health care costs by contracting for lower cost health care coverage directly from an insurer rather than through CalPERS. Savings beginning in 2010‑11 will prefund Other Post‑Employment Benefit costs.

You can read the 2009-10 budget plan here.

And remember the California Performance Review? Schwarzenegger is reaching back to it for ways to consolidate and streamline the government. An insert to the budget outlines more than two dozen state boards, agencies, bureaus and commissions the administration wants to streamline, combine or eliminate.
You can read that document by clicking on this link. The Bee is all over the governor's proposal. We have a half-dozen reporters and editors working the story from various angles this afternoon. Watch for several stories out tomorrow.

Meet the (biased) Press

2009-01-12T10:55:00.001-08:00

From my notes, but never published until now.

Sat. Sept. 8, 2007: CRP Convention Seminar, Indian Wells:

Meet the Press panel discussion featured moderator Pat (ex-CRP Communications guy), with Carla (SF Chron), Lisa (Contra Costa Times), and John (San Diego Tribune).

Same old blather...

on Reporting:

Republicans need to form personal relationships with the reporters so that their side will get covered...

Layers of editors the reporters go through to get their story approved...

Have to produce more and more with less people (SF Chronicle lost 80 reporters recently - 35% of their employees let go), which produces less in-depth reporting...

Consolidation of the papers hurts the readers a lot by reducing multiple coverages of stories...

Bloggers don't often tell the truth, [although the panel reporters do go to blogs like FlashReport daily]...

Newspaper readership is down because of free news websites, [not because people don't want to read or pay for bias]...

People who only read their side of the story are uninformed...[intimated Repubs do that more than Dems]...

on Issues:

Term Limits: public not interested.

Pollsters having problems polling as there are fewer telephone land lines, and pollsters aren't reaching cell phones.

Redistricting: for Dems, this is a nuclear issue, threatening their supremacy in CA. Dems will throw $$$$ to defeat.

on Candidates:

O'Bama is a terrific public speaker, but Hillary is running a "flawless" campaign. She has the organization in place, and will be the Dem's candidate. More and more Independents who, at first, would vote for Rudy over Hillary, are turning and supporting Hillary.

Public tenor is: not much enthusiasm for Republican candidates.

Among Repubs, lots of support for Rudy. Some for Romney. Not so with Thompson.

Huckabee "wowed" SF Chron editors recently when he interviewed with them.

Romney is bordering on "slick" instead of sincere. His support is collapsing [quite gleefully said].

In response to audience charge that lesser candidates aren't covered:

Campaign Money results in higher polling, reporters only cover candidates who are polling well.

on Abortion:

Audience question: we don't care about abortion. why do you?

Reporter: Abortion is an issue with us, so deserves coverage. [Press keeps this issue alive.]

Audience questions:

A young M.D. from Fresno put it succinctly. "We don't trust you...past reporting has shown an ignorance of facts... Lies of omission are still lies. There's a reason papers are declining. How do you propose changing our distrust of you?"

Another audience member: "When did news change from reporting to raising h---l?"

Reporters response was, of course, to deny that there is media bias, and Lisa, from the CC Times, even said, "Truth? What is Truth? There is no one Truth. There are about 50 different versions of "Truth" [so we have a hard time distinguishing what to report].

My view:

Unbelievable piety, total indifference to criticism, bubble-residing, whiney, entrenched reporters (just like bureaucrats) who believe in their hearts they are fair in their coverage; that they are unjustly maligned, that their jobs are threatened because of all the bloggers and free websites.

Final moderator quote: "You can disagree [with the press], but don't be disagreeable."

An Open, Rambling Letter of Congratulations and Hope

2008-11-08T18:54:00.001-08:00

By Sally Zelikovsky San Rafael, CA Dear Friends and Family: I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations on a truly historic election. Having endured what you believe were 8 excruciating years of poverty and devastation, I know that those of you who voted for Obama must all be relieved. I have also endured the last 8 years, but my experience is notably different from yours. And I think in looking ahead to the future, we must look to the past for lessons learned and take responsibility that those lessons won’t be repeated. From the minute George Bush was elected, the Democrats began their next campaign--and it was a brilliant one--to tarnish the Republican brand. With the exception of a short blip during 9-11, when politicians and their constituents had no choice but to put politics aside, Bush met with nightly assaults in the media on everything he said and did. First, there were the periodicals and the networks; then, the nightly talk and comedy shows; then books and movies; and finally, supposed parodies like “L’il Bush.” It was an endless onslaught defaming the brand and, it’s true, you know, if you say it enough, they will believe it. Most of us have endured your parties with your relentless scathing and often unsubstantiated claims about Bush and his policies, his lies and distortions, his nefarious character and Machiavellian desires; the constant barrage of ridicule of all things Bush and all things conservative; the distortion and manipulation of incidences…all to prop up your own brand, whether wittingly or unwittingly. I say “unwittingly” because many of you fail to recognize the role you played in this daily onslaught against the President, in particular, and the havoc it wreaked on this country, in general. Many times I tried to engage you in conversation, as many of my like-minded friends have done, only to be met with scorn, ridicule, all too often ignorance and almost always the brush off. People talk a good game about robust debate, but they have shown they don’t live up to it. I’m not trying to anger you; quite the contrary. I want you to remember “your” behavior over the last 8 years and contrast it with “mine.” First, notice the congratulatory nature of the right regarding this victory; the authentic well wishing, despite the disappointment; the articulated support for all things Obama in the hopes that this man will think about his children’s future and hence will benefit the future for all of our children. And while you observe that, recall how the right was treated by the left from the moment (back to my opening salvo) Bush took office. He, we, never stood a chance. He was the original candidate outside of the beltway seeking to reach across the aisle and nearly all of his gestures were rebuffed, only to be met with a revision of events that could only occur with the complicity of the media. Second, as Obama transitions into the White House, recall again, the way the Bush team’s truncated transition was handled: from offices left in shambles, to the very juvenile prank of “w” keys missing on all the computers, to White House staff members, CIA and State Dept. employees vowing to undermine Bush and his administration at every opportunity. Contrast that with Bush’s statements and guarantees of a smooth transition; his establishment of a Transition Council to aid the Obama administration. And let’s not forget that in Bush’s attempt to govern moderately, he displayed boundless good will by leaving in powerful positions, much to his detriment as hindsight has shown, countless holdovers from Democrat Administrations, all done with the mistaken belief that good people would put partisan politics aside when it came to the defense of this country and doing what was best for it. Again, scan the annals of your memory and recall the Bush transition in the wake of Clinton and contrast that with what you are witnessing today. But most of all, I am most proud of my conservative friends and family who never gloated when Bush was elected (twice) and aren’t spewing vitriolic hatred for someone they didn’t vote for, like you all did. I recall many comments but maybe this one will jar your memory: “He’s not my President.” I may not agree with Obama on much, but, like it or not, he is my President. And, in the course of this, you closed your minds and mouths to discussion, open and robust. You had a complicit media, feeding you only the information it wanted you to have and that you wanted to hear. I’d like to think, as opposed as I am to everything Obama stands for, I will at least expose myself to the other side. Well, I know I will because I always have and frankly, you cannot live in America without being exposed to the main stream media. But it saddens me that the electorate is not exposed to a balanced media unless individuals proactively seek it, something I’ve notice few of you do. And, when some of you do take a glimpse into the alternative press, you often start asking questions and reading and pondering and you begin to see what we all see so clearly. I am always in awe of those who do; for it takes great courage to break out of one’s somnambulism. And now you seek to shut that down with the Fairness Doctrine. What are you afraid of? Our family comes from a repressive socialist regime. When children are inundated with carefully constructed programs of information at school, when their ability to speak freely is stifled, when they are given a psychological evaluation by a school because they dared to share conservative viewpoints, when the electorate is so ignorant they cannot explain the difference between socialism and democracy, when freedom to associate and speak and publish are first mocked and then stifled with the threat of legislation, when hard work and success are rewarded with punitive tax measures and wealth is randomly redistributed instead of being steered towards investment, then we are in trouble. It’s a delicate balance, a democracy. It doesn’t take much, when the winds are blowing in the same direction, to knock it off its balance and tip it towards a place we don’t really want to go. Today, all of the winds are blowing to the left and, while that isn’t in and of itself necessarily grim, the power to tip society one way or the other now lies in the hands of a Democrat President, Democrat Congress and Democrat leaning Supreme Court. I ask nothing more of my Democrat friends and family to temper your enthusiasm with caution, your call for change with reason. I do hope our fears about Obama and the power the Democrats have is unfounded. I do hope he brings continued prosperity and security to this nation (and I say continued because now that you have prevailed and the gloves are off, I think we can dispense with the charade about how bad off we all have been for the last 8 years; you did spin it brilliantly to make for a successful campaign). And I do hope all of you exercise this power responsibly. More than anything, I hope you remember to give credit to the right for its collective behavior during this transition and I ask for some intellectual honesty and historic accuracy when I beseech you to take responsibility for the lack of peace during the last transition and the downright divisiveness, even nastiness, throughout the last 8 years. Be very skeptical of a society with a biased or controlled media. Take the time to talk with a few refusniks to refresh your memories about the powerful impact a controlled media has on its population and its politics. I doubt very much that there will be a movie about Obama called “Hussein” or that there will be a ridiculous show called “L’il Obama.” Watch carefully on your TV screens for the onslaught of Obama jokes and reporters who ooze nothing but disdain and loathing for him before he even takes office. And don’t forget to check The New Yorker to see if his caricature morphs into a big eared, tiny monkey-like figure like Bush’s has. I doubt it.

Mark's Voter Recommendations

2008-10-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

From Mark D. Hill, former Chairman of the Marin Republican Party and member, Executive Committee, CA GOP.

As a moderate republican – fiscal conservative, father of three, political commentator and minor player in CA GOP circles, I am often asked for my recommendations on the ever more confusing Ballot propositions. So I thought this time around I might send my thoughts on things. If you agree with most/all of these, feel free to forward to your friends as a guide. BTW - if you want my take on Marin County Initiatives/candidates, just email me and I will forward that.

Brief commentary: Our great State is BROKE and we can't afford any more bonds because bonds need to be paid back through taxes and assessments and we pay higher state taxes and fees than any other state already.

• The state of California has the highest Workers Compensation costs in the nation. Employers pay the higher premiums for these Workers Compensation costs.

• Only Michigan and Mississippi have a higher unemployment rate than California and 39 states have substantially lower rates. Employers' unemployment insurance rates are directly affected by the rate of usage of unemployment insurance.

• California has the highest marginal tax rate for personal income on the state level, maxing out at a whopping 10.3 percent. People do consider this when they have wealth and decide where to live.

• California has the highest state sales tax at 7.25 percent and among the most inclusive of all sales taxes. This adds over $2,100 to the cost of a $30,000 car before licensing fees! New Jersey is second at 7 percent. Again, if given a choice, why not live where less of the money you spend is grabbed by the state.

• California has the highest gas prices in the continental United States due to overbearing state regulations and poor decision making by government officials, including their mandating additives that actually poisoned our public water ways, then reversing course with the costs of the refining changes being passed on to the California consumer.

• California ranks 23rd in spending on public schools but this is severely under reported as it does not include school construction costs and interest on bonds which voters regularly vote in throughout the state. Bond costs are typically added onto the cost of real estate.

• Only 66 percent of California students graduate, ranking us 29th in the nation. This affects both employers looking for a skilled work force and families worried about the environment in which they raise their family.

• We are the 10th most dangerous state in the nation to live.

This is why our neighbors in Nevada and Arizona are booming(leaving us remaining with one hell of a debt to payoff). Most of their population growth is Californians fleeing a state that has largely been without effective leadership for over twenty years. Now we find ourselves in yet another budget crisis and the first words out of the mouths of our so called leaders are "revenue enhancements" which is a polite way of saying 'raise their taxes and increase their fees.' It is akin to the Queen being told, "The people have no bread," and responding, "Well then, let them eat cake." They simply have no idea of the problem and no desire to face up to that problem.

We are already the most taxed state in the nation. Many of those taxes are hidden in fees and higher costs. When gas costs 50 cents more in California because of burdensome regulation, that is a tax on consumers. When houses costs $50,000 to $100,000 more because of government fees and regulations, that is a tax on consumers. When cars costs $1,500 more because of stricter emissions standards, that too is a tax on consumers. When you include the extra costs we incur because of government regulation, our tax rates become absolutely burdensome and confiscatory. Add the extra costs of liability insurance because we seem to all be suing each other hoping to win a chance at the "good life" that perhaps we now feel is out of our reach and the problem become worse than ever.

As a Veteran, the hardest thing for me not to support was the Veteran's Bond Bill…but again, we are broke… nationally and statewide already….and we need to make hard choices. Supporting redistricting is critical so we can "throw the bums (current Congressmen, State Senators and legislatures) out"….. today our voting districts looks like a crazy jigsaw puzzle…as it should …given the politicians (Democrats and Republican incumbents) made the lines to ensure re election.

Below are MY personal recommended positions (and its just fine if you disagree with me on any of them).

Nationally: McCain for President

2008 Ballot Propositions PROPOSITION 1A – HIGH SPEED RAIL - OPPOSE PROPOSITION 2 – FARM ANIMALS - OPPOSE PROPOSITION 3 – CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOND ACT- OPPOSE PROPOSITION 4 – PARENTAL NOTIFICATION - SUPPORT PROPOSITION 5 – DRUG OFFENSES, SENTENCING, PAROLE - SUPPORT PROPOSITION 6 – POLICE AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES - SUPPORT PROPOSITION 7 – RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION - OPPOSE PROPOSITION 8 – PROTECT MARRIAGE – SUPPORT PROPOSITION 9 – VICTIMS' RIGHTS -SUPPORT PROPOSITION 10 – ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BOND - OPPOSE PROPOSITION 11 – REDISTRICTING - SUPPORT PROPOSITION 12 – VETERANS' BOND ACT OF 2008 - OPPOSE Proposition, but support the Vets...the Feds should fund this...not the State.

Better, not less oversight needed

2008-10-20T22:52:00.001-07:00

By Mark Hill Published Marin Independent-Journal, Oct. 20

THE BALLOT proposal by the Marin County Board of Supervisors to replace two key elected financial officials is the most brazen attempt yet by Marin's elected representatives to subvert taxpayers' interest in this county.

Measure B would merge the county auditor and treasurer-tax collector into a single finance chief's job appointed by and accountable only to the Board of Supervisors.

Representative democracy in this country has, for over 225 years, been built on the foundation of "by for and of the people" in order to protect citizens, and their tax dollars from an over-reaching, profligate and power-hungry government. Over the course of the last decade, the supervisors - all Democrats - have awarded pay packages, benefits and lifetime pensions to retiring municipal union members that in some cases total over $10 million per employee for that retiree's lifetime.

These pension benefits include lifetime salaries (70 percent to 100 percent of their final salary), full medical and dental (worth $750,000 alone) and cost-of-living increases for life. It far exceed anything available to workers in the private sector.

These egregious giveaways have saddled Marin with a conservative estimate of $1 billion in unfunded liabilities to date. That's tax dollars committed by our elected officials to the same Marin public employee unions that are their source of large campaign contributions.

These commitments will crowd out future spending for our children, our roads, our seniors, parks and health care and the environment.

The incredulous rationale from our supervisors is that by eliminating these two elected positions, we might save $100,000 a year.

We should be asking, what is the financial cost of losing the accountability that keeps our elected officials honest? The supervisors have recently recused themselves from membership on the county pension board, citing an appearance of "conflict of interest." The 250,000 residents in Marin County have been burdened with this onerous debt by our supervisors, with the complicity of 2,400 current and 3,000 retired public employees. These unilateral giveaways, "negotiated" and signed by our supervisors (all of them entitled to receiving county pension benefits) will eventually need to be paid through additional property taxes, sales taxes, service fees, user fees, higher parking fines, or whatever new scheme they come up with that will pick our pockets to preserve the status quo that provides for public employees first, and leaves taxpayers to pick up the tab. By eliminating elected financial positions and creating instead appointed "toadies," the supervisors are eliminating oversight and removing any accountability. This will allow the unions to continue to hold sway over county revenues to meet their own needs. More importantly, this move puts a padlock on the auditing and treasury functions which will further remove transparency as it relates to more giveaways.

The county already has gone out of its way not to be transparent when it comes to disclosing public employee salaries and benefits. The Marin IJ had to pressure county supervisors and fight a lawsuit filed by county managers in order to gain access to salaries paid to our public employees with taxpayer monies.

To think this was even necessary is as startling as it is telling. Our county taxpayers, residents and children deserve better and the Marin supervisors should be made to better explain why they support less transparency and less accountability by the removal of top managers elected to provide independent oversight.

This flawed plan, if successful, will surely keep our public employee union bosses happy with continued, unfettered, budget-busting giveaways by county supervisors, and ultimately put our county in even more financial peril.

Mark Hill of Tiburon is former chairman of the Marin Republican Party.

Obama's sleazy friends

2008-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

By Frank Gaffney, Washington Times, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. Not just William Ayers.

McCain Vision

2008-10-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

Click on image to enlarge. Source: NFRW’s Republican Woman Fall 2008

Joe Biden Lies 14 Times During Debate...

2008-10-06T11:56:00.001-07:00

Each time Senator Biden was on his heels, he looked directly into the camera and lied -- more than a dozen times by our count. He lied about John McCain's record, his own record, and Barak Obama's dangerous policies. Governor Palin showed the American people tonight why a McCain-Palin Administration will bring real reform, leadership, and straight talk to Washington." --Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted "the exact same way" as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, "Drill we must." But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to "raping" the Outer Continental Shelf."

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it's passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he's always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain's record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people's health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was "dead wrong on Iraq", because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn't see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn't meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of "part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20."

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

Source: NFRW Points Forward; www.JohnMcCain.com

CRP Issues Recommendations on Ballot Measures

2008-10-02T16:41:00.001-07:00

From Ron Nehring's blog: http://www.cagop.org/blog/2008/09/crp-issues-recommendations-on-ballot.html

The California Republican Party on Sunday voted to take positions on important initiatives on this November’s ballot. Together with positions adopted earlier this year, we recommend the following to all California voters: Proposition 1A: High Speed Rail Bond. Oppose Proposition 2: Farm Animals. ("Condos for Chickens"). Oppose Proposition 3: Expensive hospital bond. Oppose Proposition 4: Parental notification, "Sarah’s law." Support Proposition 5: Weaken penalties for drug crimes. Oppose Proposition 6: Anti-gang measure authored by Sen. George Runner (R). Support. Proposition 7: Expensive, unproven energy scheme. Oppose Proposition 8: Protect Marriage. Support Proposition 9: Protect Crime Victims' Rights. Support Proposition 10: Expensive alternative energy bond. Oppose Proposition 11: Redistricting reform. No Position Proposition 12: Veterans Bond. Support.

The SF Examiner endorses McCain-Palin

2008-10-02T16:31:00.001-07:00

Published 9/24/08, SF Examiner

America is at war overseas and in an economic crisis here at home. Many of her citizens believe the country is on the wrong track. It is for times such as these that men like John McCain are made, to put country first so that it can be put right in its time of need. For this reason, The Examiner endorses McCain for president and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for vice president.

Cut through the high-toned speeches and campaign cut and thrust, and the pre-eminent issues of 2008 become strikingly clear. First, the next president must have the hard-earned experience, unrelenting toughness and uncompromising character to wage and win the war against al Qaeda and other terrorists who seek the destruction of America. Second, he must have an unshakable commitment to restoring honest taxing and spending by government at all levels, the essential first step of which is ridding Washington of pork-barrel "earmarks," the gateway drug to budget deficits and political corruption.

See http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/The_Examiner_endorses_McCain-Palin.html for full story.

What caused the financial crisis - an entertaining overview

2008-09-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin's Security Clearance

2008-09-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

(Author unknown)

Before you dismiss the fact that Sarah Palin is Commander of the Alaska National Guard, consider this:

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It's on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska , Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's and certainly by far exceeds Obama's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska 's proximity to Russia , she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is.

2008 Republican Platform - national

2008-09-05T13:57:00.001-07:00

The Republicans' Call to Arms
September 5, 2008 by Phyllis Schlafly
We recall the words of the old popular song, "What a Difference a Day Makes; 24 Little Hours." In this political year, it was actually 38 hours, but the poetry is the same.
That's the time-spread between the locking up of the 2008 Republican Platform on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and the selection of conservative Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's Veep choice at 10 a.m. on Friday. In just 38 hours, disheartened conservatives were transformed into enthusiastic Republicans, armed and ready to storm the pseudo Greek temple that Barack Obama erected in the mile-high city of Denver.
It's hard to exaggerate the turnaround in the attitude of grassroots Republicans; a CNN reporter expressed herself as "shocked." Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air to John McCain's campaign.
The Republican Party Platform, hammered out by a grassroots committee with representatives from every state, gives Republicans a basis on which to rebuild their party. It's a "call to arms," a platform of bold colors with no pastel shades, just as Ronald Reagan described the 1976 Platform that Delegates adopted after rejecting the Ford-Kissinger platform.
This year's Platform is a complete break from the ponderous 2004 Platform, which strung together 40,000 tiresome words. The 2008 Platform isn't about personalities; it's about principles.
The 2004 Platform had endorsed the "Free Trade Area of the Americas," a foolish notion to bring about the economic integration of the Western Hemisphere and allow cheap labor to replace American jobs. The 2008 Platform sensibly calls for "a Western Hemisphere of sovereign nations with secure borders," and the committee unanimously rejected the goal of a "North American Union" modeled on the European Union.
This year gave us a clear improvement over the previous Platform in regard to the English language. In 2004, Republicans called English "our nation's common language" and endorsed bilingual education, but the 2008 Platform supports "English as the official language in our nation" because it is "essential as a unifying cultural force" and omits mention of bilingual ed (often called language apartheid).
The 2004 Platform had lined up with the now-defeated amnesty plan of the U.S. Senate. It endorsed a "new temporary worker program" and allowing illegal aliens currently holding jobs in the U.S. "to apply for citizenship in the same manner as those who apply from outside the United States." In a clear break, the 2008 Platform calls for building the border fence, securing our ports, enforcing existing laws against "illegal workers and lawbreaking employers," requiring the use of E-Verify, deporting criminal aliens, denying federal funds to sanctuary cities, and refusing driver's licenses, in-state college tuition rates, and Social Security benefits for illegal aliens.
The 2008 Platform marks a refreshing break from the previous Platform's obsequious kowtowing to the United Nations and other international bureaucrats. The 2004 Platform had said that the United States is "committed to lasting institutions like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization."
The 2008 Platform doesn't mention the WTO and includes several paragraphs of criticism of the United Nations, citing its "scandal-ridden and corrupt management," the "disproportionate" dues we are forced to pay, and its discrimination against Israel and the Vatican.
The 2008 Platform specifically rejects the United Nations Treaty on Women and the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child, and expresses "deep reservations" about the UN Law of the Sea Treaty.
The 2008 Platform recognizes that energy independence is vital to our national security. The Platform calls for drilling in "new oilfields" in Alaska and elsewhere, as well as developing nuclear power and clean coal.
The 2008 Platform demands that "the risk of climate change" be based on "sound science without succumbing to no-growth radicalism." The Platform also cautions against "doomsday climate change scenarios."
The plank affirming that "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," which has been part of the Republican Platform since 1984 was, of course, included again this year. The 2008 Platform becomes the most pro-life ever by endorsing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act and the ban on partial-birth abortion, both of which identify a sharp division with Barack Obama's legislative record.
Four years ago, many grassroots Republicans were offended by a Platform that called public schools "a foundation of a free, civil society" and bragged about having given us "the largest increase in federal education funding in history."
The 2008 Platform better represents Republicans by standing up for parents' rights to use vouchers, tax credits, private schools, or homeschooling, and to stop public schools from forcing students to answer personal, non-academic questionnaires without prior parental consent.
Sarah Palin and the 2008 Platform have given Republicans a new lease on life and put John McCain on the road to victory.
Read this column online.
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Marin Republican Headquarters Grand Opening tonight

2008-08-07T13:30:00.001-07:00

I just received the announcement of the Grand Opening of the Marin Republican Headquarters tonight from 5:30pm - 7:00pm. Location is 888 4th Street, San Rafael. I don't know if the distribution list is Central Committee members only; some Alternate CC members are not aware of the opening. And I found nothing on the www.maringop.org website. For info, call 415-446-4111. Our two candidates, State Assembly Candidate Paul Lavery (AD6), and State Senate Candidate Sashi McEntee (SD3) will be there.

Danoodle.com website closed. Blog still going.

2008-08-06T10:10:00.001-07:00

Hi Friends.

I'm discontinuing my Danoodle website, but will continue this Danoodle blog. You can email me through my regular email address, which most of you have.

Thanks to all who contributed material for the Danoodle.com website. I hope to keep this blog current...but no promises! I find there is life after politics, and I simply don't have time to devote to the website. Blogging is so much easier!

Cheers!

Good News - for a change

2008-07-30T02:23:00.000-07:00

Time to revisit some Positive News! Should have been on Front Page of WSJ, not on page W11. Clear-Eyed Optimists By STEPHEN MOORE, October 5, 2007; Wall Street Journal, Page W11. I'm old enough to recall the days in the late 1960s when people wore those trendy buttons that read: "Stop the Planet I Want to Get Off." And I will never forget that era's "educational" films of what life would be like in the year 2000. Played on clanky 16-millimeter projectors, they showed images of people walking down the streets of Manhattan with masks on, so they could avoid breathing the poison gases our industrial society was spewing. The future seemed mighty bleak back then, and you merely had to open the newspapers for the latest story confirming how the human species was speeding down a congested highway to extinction. A group of scientists calling themselves the Club of Rome issued a report called "Limits to Growth." It explained that lifeboat Earth had become so weighed down with humans that we were running out of food, minerals, forests, water, energy and just about everything else that we need for survival. Paul Ehrlich's best-selling book "The Population Bomb" (1968) gave England a 50-50 chance of surviving into the 21st century. In 1980, Jimmy Carter released the "Global 2000 Report," which declared that life on Earth was getting worse in every measurable way. So imagine how shocked I was to learn, officially, that we're not doomed after all. A new United Nations report called "State of the Future" concludes: "People around the world are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, more connected, and they are living longer. "Yes, of course, there was the obligatory bad news: Global warming is said to be getting worse and income disparities are widening. But the joyous trends in health and wealth documented in the report indicate a gigantic leap forward for humanity. This is probably the first time you've heard any of this because -- while the grim "Global 2000" and "Limits to Growth" reports were deemed worthy of headlines across the country -- the media mostly ignored the good news and the upbeat predictions of "State of the Future." But here they are: World-wide illiteracy rates have fallen by half since 1970 and now stand at an all-time low of 18%. More people live in free countries than ever before. The average human being today will live 50% longer in 2025 than one born in 1955. To what do we owe this improvement? Capitalism, according to the U.N. Free trade is rightly recognized as the engine of global prosperity in recent years. In 1981, 40% of the world's population lived on less than $1 a day. Now that percentage is only 25%, adjusted for inflation. And at current rates of growth, "world poverty will be cut in half between 2000 and 2015" -- which is arguably one of the greatest triumphs in human history. Trade and technology are closing the global "digital divide," and the report notes hopefully that soon laptop computers will cost $100 and almost every schoolchild will be a mouse click away from the Internet (and, regrettably, those interminable computer games). It also turns out that the Malthusians (who worried that we would overpopulate the planet) got the story wrong. Human beings aren't reproducing like Norwegian field mice. Demographers now say that in the second half of this century, the human population will stabilize and then fall. If we use the same absurd extrapolation techniques demographers used in the 1970s, Japan, with its current low birth rate, will have only a few thousand citizens left in 300 years. I take special pleasure in reciting all of this global betterment because my first professional job was working with the "doom-slaying" economist Julian Simon. Starting 30 years ago, Simon (who died in 1998) told anyone who would listen -- which wasn't many people -- that the faddish declinism of that era was bunk. He called the "Global 2000" report "globaloney." Armed with an arsenal of factual missiles, he showed that life on Earth was getting better, and that the combination of free markets and human ingenuity was the recipe for solving environmental and economic problems. Mr. Ehrlich, in response, said Simon proved that the one thing the world isn't running out of "is lunatics."Mr. Ehrlich, whose every prediction turned out wrong, won a MacArthur Foundation "genius award"; Simon, who got the story right, never won so much as a McDonald's hamburger. But now who looks like the lunatic? This latest survey of the planet is certainly sweet vindication of Simon and others, like Herman Kahn, who in the 1970s dared challenge the "settled science." (Are you listening, global-warming alarmists?) The media's collective yawn over "State of the Future" is typical of the reaction to just about any good news. When 2006 was declared the hottest year on record, there were thousands of news stories. But last month's revised data, indicating that 1934 was actually warmer, barely warranted a paragraph-long correction in most papers.So I'm happy to report that the world's six billion people are living longer, healthier and more comfortably than ever before. If only it were easy to fit that on a button. Mr. Moore is a member of The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.

Fav Quotes

2008-07-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

Time to revisit Danoodle's favorite quotes.

John Stumpf, President & CEO, Wells Fargo Bank.

Re sub-prime meltdown: ...Stumpf said he didn't even know about some of the exotic mortgage investments that enticed other banks until he read about them in the newspaper."It's interesting that the industry has invented new ways to lose money when the old ways seemed to work just fine."

Marin IJ, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007, C10. "Wells Fargo CEO: Grim outlook for housing" by Michael Liedtke, Associated Press.

Michael O'Leary, CEO, Ryanair.

"This is the problem with all this environmental claptrap . . . it's a convenient excuse for politicians to just start taxing people. Some of these guilt-laden, middle-class liberals think it's somehow good: 'Oh, that's my contribution to the environment.' It's not. You're just being robbed--it's just highway [bleeping] robbery." Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Irish low-fare air carrier Ryanair; 9/15/07. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010607

The UK's Guardian newspaper wrote in June 2005 about Michael O'Leary: "I don't give a shite if nobody likes me," he told one interviewer, stressing that he was a businessman through and through. "I am not a cloud bunny, I am not an aerosexual. I don't like aeroplanes. I never wanted to be a pilot like those other platoons of goons who populate the air industry."Casual abuse is O'Leary's stock in trade. He has described the European commission as "morons", the airport operator BAA as "overcharging rapists". Britain's air traffic control service is "poxy", British Airways are "expensive bastards" and travel agents are "f-----s" who should be "taken out and shot".

Alan Greenspan.

"Republicans in Congress swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose." Alan Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. 9/15/07. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118978549183327730.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

Julia Roberts.

"Republican - found in the dictionary between reptile and repugnant." What actress Julia Roberts said a few years back in an interview. Isn't Julia between vile and vulgar?

Danoodle seeing Broadway, at half-price

2008-06-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the "See Broadway shows" trip. Forget politics. See as many shows as possible.

Of the 18 shows I've seen, most have been half-price via the TKTS booth behind the Marriott Hotel on Broadway. As of now, there are still lots of available tickets for everything except "South Pacific."

I dragged a visiting friend to "Top Girls" last night - one of the WORST shows ever! Even my half-price ticket, $55, was too much to spend for this stinker. Theatre was only half-full. our seatmates left during the 1st intermission (yes, there were 2, count 'em, 2! intermissions). We bravely endured the endless feminist claptrap, thinking "it might get better." NOT.

Favs so far are "Gypsy" (Patti Lupone), and "Xanadu" (Cheyenne Jackson, best eye-candy on Broadway).

Props 98 and 99 - vote June 3rd

2008-05-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Nan Paget, who emailed info below on April 30:

Subject: Two important competing propositions on June 3 ballot

Dear Republican friends, Sample ballots are here for the June 3rd ballot. Some of us will be voting soon by absentee. If you have been undecided re competing Propositions 98 and 99 (wording below), remember that the major difference is that 98 is being strongly promoted by the Prop 13 people, it is stronger and eliminates rent control, but may be more likely to be challenged in the courts.

If 99 receives more votes, 98 will not go into effect. So if you want 98, it seems it would be better to vote No on 99, and let the chips fall where they may as to court challenges.

Proposition 98

1248. Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property.
Constitutional Amendment.
Proponents: Doug Mosebar, Jon Coupal and Jim Nielsen (916) 444-9950

Bars state and local governments from condemning or damaging private property for private uses. Prohibits rent control and similar measures. Prohibits deference to government in property rights cases.

Defines "just compensation." Requires an award of attorneys fees and costs if a property owner obtains a judgment for more than the amount offered by the government. Requires government to offer to original owner of condemned property the right to repurchase property at condemned price when property is put to substantially different use than was publicly stated. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Increased costs to many governments due to the measure's restrictions. The fiscal effect on most governments probably would not be significant. (Initiative 07-0015.) (Full Text)

Proposition 99

1251. Eminent Domain. Acquisition of Owner-Occupied Residence.
Constitutional Amendment.
Proponents: Christopher K. McKenzie, Susan Smartt and Kenneth Willis c/o Steve Lucas (415) 389-6800

Bars state and local governments from using eminent domain to acquire an owner-occupied residence, as defined, for conveyance to a private person or business entity. Creates exceptions for public work or improvement, public health and safety protection, and crime prevention. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: The measure would likely not have a significant fiscal impact on state or local governments. (Initiative 07-0018.) (Full Text)

Danoodle still on vacation

2008-05-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm monitoring Politics here in Washington, DC, and there is plenty to monitor! Walked past the White House and waved to George and Laura (God bless 'em). Will post some relevant Op Eds and articles that I found in Washington Times when time permits.

SF Repubs host Dr. Vicki Murray May 7. Free event.

2008-04-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

SF Republican Party's Monthly After Meeting Speaker Series features Guest Speaker Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D, Senior Policy Fellow, Education Studies, Pacific Research Institute, May 7, 2008, immediately following their 6:30 pm business meeting at SF's Hiram Johnson State Office Building, 455 Golden Gate Ave., Lower Level. NO CHARGE EVENT. Vicki E. Murray is Senior Policy Fellow, Education Studies, at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI). Dr. Murray’s research focuses on education reform measures to improve academic accountability at all levels, promote a competitive education climate, and increase parents’ control over their children’s education. Her research areas include district and charter school choice, early education, education tax credits and savings accounts, English Language Learners, special education, standards and testing, teacher pay and quality, vouchers, higher education reform, and education finance, both K-12 and postsecondary. Dr. Murray is the former director of the Goldwater Institute Center for Educational Opportunity in Phoenix, Arizona, and the author of more than a dozen education policy studies. She has advised the U.S. Department of Education on public school choice and higher education reform. She has also advised education policy makers in nearly 30 states, provided expert testimony before state legislative education committees, and served on two national accountability task forces. Dr. Murray’s research helped advance four parental choice voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs in Arizona in 2006, and she provided expert affidavits as part of the successful legal defense of choice programs for low-income, foster-care, and disabled children. Dr. Murray’s research and writings on market education policy have been widely published and cited in state and national media and research outlets, as well as outlets in Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, and New Zealand. Prior to her career in education policy, Dr. Murray taught college-level courses in American politics, English composition and rhetoric, and early British literature. She has lectured at universities nationwide, including the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and she has presented her academic research at annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, the Southwest Social Science Association, the Northeast, New England, and Midwest Political Science Associations. Dr. Murray received her Ph.D. in politics from the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas, where she was an Earhart Foundation Fellow.

Danoodle on vacation

2008-04-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Still in NYC. Weather great (for NYC). New Yorkers are friendly, upbeat, helpful! All of the Broadway shows (and I mean all except South Pacific) is at the TKT booth half-price. Wonder if that means tourism is down. Quite a few Brits here. Having Fun. No politics except New Yorkers escaped the Congestion Charge that Mayor Bloomberg, et al, wanted to enact. Go New Yorkers!

Mark Hill: Marin faces financial tsunami

2008-03-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

THE NEAR-bankruptcy of Vallejo, Marin's neighbor, reads like the script of a teen horror movie.

Greed, stupidity and lack of adult supervision means even the slowest-moving zombie (or slow-developing financial crisis) can inflict a lethal blow....

"Today, governments in Marin have more than $1 billion in unfunded liabilities - a time bomb like the Social Security Trust Fund with its enormous obligations to future generations and an inadequate funding structure. Recently, a number of early retiring public union members have literally hit the "lottery jackpot," receiving the equivalent of a $10-plus million lifetime payout over the next 25 years from Marin taxpayers. Upon retiring in their early to mid-50s to collect their accrued pension and health-care benefits, these ex-county employees are free to pursue new careers or employment, adding thousands more to their already guaranteed incomes.

"As the rolls of these retired public employees grow, the costs will escalate and quickly swamp the budget, resulting in funding reductions ahead for our roads, wastewater plants, flood systems, seniors, the environment and recreation and libraries for our youth..."

See Mark's Marin IJ Opinion piece posted 3/25/08.

New American Legion Post 911 started in SF; Event May 9

2008-03-25T10:55:00.001-07:00

Republican Friends:

Yesterday I met with Captain Michael Gerold, U.S. Army Special Forces who has recently returned from Afghanistan. (with a Purple Heart ) He's undergoing physical therapy and doing great) Mike is now a ROTC instructor and an MBA student at USF. Capt. Mike is also the founder of the new American Legion Post 911 here in San Francisco It is dedicated to helping our young GI s returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Membership in Post 911 is growing rapidly. Post 911 is dedicated to assisting GIs returning from the Middle-East with: 1) educational benefits under the GI Bill, 2) career coaching, resume writing and job placement 3) matching medical care support programs. Additionally, the Post sponsors Boy/Girl Scout programs and ROTC events t we sure need help with our High School ROTC in San Francisco). IMPORTANT: American Legion Post 911 is sponsoring a "California American Heroes AwardsCeremony"on Friday, May 9, 2008 from 6 to 8 PM at the War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. There is no charge and I hope you can attend. These men and women are our new greatest generation They deserve our support Lets welcome them and help them build Post 911 right here in SAN FRANCISCO to stand proudly like our esteemed American Legion CATHAY POST American Legion Post 911 is less than 6 months old. They need funds to get started I am sending my personal check tomorrow. Please help them any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please send your check to: Captain Michael Gerold,American Legion Post 911, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102. I Thank You.

Mike DeNunzio

Golden Goose is dying

2008-03-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

Mark Hill, Danoodle's Pension Go-To Guy, forwarded this link to me, with his comment:

And the goose is killed by union greed - a travesty; Marin is next.

Recall my “the unions will kill the goose” op ed piece three years ago in the IJ….and here we are. The virus is already here in Marin..its called public union employee bullying and, sadly, its probably too late now to do anything about it.

From SF Chronicle, March 10:

..."Vallejo has been hogtied by its police and fire unions," Moore, a local businessman, said later. "The unions are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Do I need to bring a dead goose to next week's meeting? I hope not."...

Yes, Mark, I do recall your Golden Goose article, and I'm refreshing everyone's memory:

Killing the Golden Goose
By Mark D. Hill, VP, Marin Republican Party
Published Monday, Aug. 16, 2004, MarinScope papers.

Our public employees and the unions that represent them face a compelling case for restructuring. Public employee unions have had so much success in taking care of their members that they are now risking killing the goose that lays the golden egg because their excesses threaten the fiscal solvency of the very public they serve.

For example, in our own Marin County, our Fire Chief oversees a modest 85 firefighters and has responsibility for fire prevention throughout the County. He earns over $200,000 a year in salary and benefits. Many taxpayers are astounded that a "public servant" can receive this type of compensation. The truth is that, their public employees union negotiated these and many other huge contracts. Worse, the compensation is only one component of the largess, which has been largely kept quiet by the politicians who have conveyed them and the union leaders who have negotiated them.

Becoming an officer in the US military is an incredible achievement. A Brigade Commander in the US Army, a Colonel, who oversees approximately 5000 men and assets, including tanks, infantry, and artillery, worth billions of dollars and can be shipped to war overseas at a moment's notice, makes a grand total of $92,000 a year. . His active duty benefits would include some small kickers like combat pay and a housing allowance should there be a war or special duty assignments But, he is a soldier. He can't be home with his family weeks or months at a time during deployment and field exercises; forcing real hardship on this "public servant" and his family which they endure on our behalf. If we compare his pay to what we compensate our County Fire Chief, the differences raise some serious questions.

Yet, the Fire Chief's $200,000 plus compensation are only part of the story. In Marin County, our retiring Fire Chief (or any other position deemed "hazardous") after working 25 years, will receive over 75% of his final salary annually for the rest of his life (today, would be about $150,000 to $175,000 annually plus cost of living increases). And, if he stays on for another few years, the compensation could be up to 100% of the compensation he received at retirement ....for life!! Compare that to our Colonel, who, after twenty five years of service, will receive $60,000 a year with annual cost of living increases.

Firefighters are indeed heroes. However, once one lifts the cover of the bureaucratic semantics, and sees the incredible generosity that our elected leaders have bestowed upon these servants, the glow of righteousness pales. Indeed, today, we see on a daily basis, our valiant military heroes in Iraq paying the ultimate sacrifice on America's behalf. Yet, an enlisted soldier in the military in fire suppression with four years of service makes about $20,000 per year, a Marin County fire engineer ,makes $104,647 in total compensation.

The system that allows this in Marin County is flawed. Why? Because the Public Employee Unions are one of the most active influencing bodies on our public leaders in California. They vote. They faithfully volunteer for campaigns and write big checks with union dues (paid for by taxpayers) and as individuals to their candidates, almost all with a narrow and manipulative view of their own self interest.

For Democratic candidates, the endorsement of Public Employee Unions, particularly in Marin County where all the Supervisors are Democrats, is one of the most coveted, for it means, with certainty, a huge advantage against political opponents. The promise a politician makes to the firefighters and other public service unions, is their "understanding" (aka: "vote") on compensation and retirement issues. The net effect of this dance is that these Public Employees are literally choosing and hiring their own bosses who, once elected, give the Public Employee Unions what they ask for at great financial peril to our County.

Today, the fiscal pressures on our schools and transportation network is overwhelming, yet, the County is paying over 10% of their $192 million budget , $21 million, on employees who aren't there (they are "retired"). Further, the County is preparing taxpayers for the bad news that two-thirds of our current County employee workforce, will be retiring in less than five years further straining our ability to fund for current needs. The Marin County Supervisors just passed a measure to allow some public employees to retire EARLIER so that their lifetime IOUs will kick in sooner (at a lower annual payout) so that these public servants "can move on to other careers".

The end result for Marin County is a fiscal time bomb set to go off in four or five years. At that time, we will need to figure out how to pay for these expensive and lifetime IOUs while trying to hire more even more expensive "public servants" to replace the very ones we just gave early retirement . Sadly, most, if not all of our Supervisors will have departed their positions by then, so accountability will be non existent. Which makes "gaming the system" by the unions possible.

These giveaways are bankrupting this State and will, with certainty, impact the County at the expense of our schools, transportation needs and environment. Taxpayers need to look for leadership capable and willing to restructure this mess or, these one sided giveaways will result in the Public Employees Unions killing the Golden Goose.

Virginia Fuller runs for Congress, CD 7

2008-03-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

I am Virginia Fuller. I am an immigrant, and I have resided in California for 30 years. I am a divorced mother of two; both college graduates. I was trained in The Netherlands, Europe, as a registered nurse.

Having experienced the unequal and limited access to long term nursing care for poor children, in 1989 I established and operated two pediatric care facilities. One was a 24-hour, Emergency Home for abused and neglected children, located in Oakland and the other was an Intermediate Care Facility, licensed by The State Health Dept., in Richmond.

I decided to run because Mr. Miller has demonstrated over 33 long years that he is out of step with the needs of a significant portion of his constituency and that many of his neglectful policies are disastrous to our communities.

I’m a proud, Reagan style conservative and am running for Congress in the 7th District as a citizen politician.

www.fullerforcongress.org

California's 7th congressional district covers half of Contra Costa County, Solano County and a tiny portion of Napa County. Major cities in the district include Richmond, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Vacaville and portions of Concord. It is currently represented by Democrat George Miller.

CANCELLED - SF GOP Lincoln Day Dinner March 20

2008-03-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

Updated 3/8/08: SF's Lincoln Dinner has been cancelled due to upcoming McCain fundraiser. The SF Republican Party is holding its annual Lincoln Day Dinner on March 20, 6:00pm, at CA Culinary Academy. The Guest Speaker is nationally respected pollster & strategist Stephen M. Kinney, "Presidential Politics 101 & Election 2008." Invitation is at SFGOP.org.

CA Repub Assembly's 2007 Scorecard

2008-03-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

The Assembly Members receiving perfect scores were Assemblyman Joel Anderson, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Assemblyman Mike Duvall and Assemblywoman Mimi Walters. In the Senate, Senator Jim Battin, Senator Dave Cogdill, Senator Dennis Hollingsworth and Senator Tom McClintock received perfect ratings.

Newt Gingrich Praises New Platform

2008-03-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

From CRP Chairman Ron Nehring's 3/5/08 e-update: "...Newt Gingrich, the leader of the 1994 Republican revolution and former Speaker of the House, this week praised the California Republican Party for adopting a platform based on Republican principles and issues with proven "tri-partisan" appeal."...

Phyllis Schlafly speaks in Rohnert Park March 29

2008-03-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

Eagle Forum of CA is presenting its' 7th Annual Education Conference on Saturday, March 29, in Rohnert Park. In addition to Phyllis Schlafly, other Guest Speakers include Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., Dr. Stanley Monteith, M.D. and others. See Eagle Forum of California website for more info, or call 707-539-8393.

Victory for Taxpayers!

2008-03-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

Court sides with our right to know. "It isn't for government officials to decide what information to dole out to the public. The government works for the people, not the other way around. But in recent years, more and more governments and agencies in California have been refusing to release specific payroll information." ... Marin IJ Wed. 3/5/08. County payroll is public record. "The Marin Civic Center Payroll is public record and must be available to the public..." Marin IJ Tues. 3/4/08. Danoodle wants to know: Do we taxpayers have a right to know about public salaries? (as well as Pension info) ..."The Marin County Board of Supervisors in March 2006 approved the release of the county workers salaries to settle a lawsuit the newspaper filed after the county refused to divulge the information. But the union sued, and convinced Marin Superior Court Judge Michael Dufficy to block the disclosures. "Dufficy declared that a public employee's right of privacy was more important than the public's right to know. Marin Superior Court Judge Thomas Keating and the state appeals court had concluded just the opposite when the Marin Independent Journal sued the North Marin Water District to obtain public payroll records in the 1970s..." Marin IJ Thur. 2/21/08

National Healthcare

2008-03-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

THE 47 MILLION UNINSURED AMERICANS by Mike DeNunzio, October 25, 2007, http://www.speakingclearly.org/ ...“The U.S. health insurance system is ailing, it is not dying: 250 million of 300 million Americans have health insurance from their employers or private policies and Medicare, the VA and Medicaid cover seniors, veterans and the poor. The State Children’s Health Insurance (S-CHIP) insures 6.6 million poor children. Congress and the President must re authorize this important program for poor children. It is not intended for adults to age 25 in households with incomes as high as $81,000. “Many Americans want health care in the U.S. to be an entitlement for everyone as in Canada, England and the European Union. Officials in these countries readily admit that the poor, the elderly, minorities and rural residents do not receive timely diagnosis or treatment. The reasons are: Limited access to specialists, insufficient MRI and CT Scans, lack of latest drugs and insufficient beds.”… More HillaryCare -- The Preview By SALLY C. PIPESOctober 12, 2007; Page A17. Wall Street Journal "President Bill Clinton famously declared that the era of big government is over -- after the ill-considered scheme to remake American health care his wife helped to cook up in 1993 helped Republicans retake Congress in 1994. Now Hillary Clinton is back, touting an "American Health Choices Plan." Like the earlier fiasco, Sen. Clinton's current scheme would explode government spending -- the plan's initial price tag is $110 billion -- expand bureaucratic regulation, and threaten the health and financial security of millions of Americans." ... ArnoldCare Makes Things Worse by John Fleischman, FlashReport, 10/10/07...."Yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced a health care plan that would represent a radical and extreme shift in California, moving us significantly down the path towards a government-run healthcare system." ... Our Crazy Health Insurance System by John Stossel, Townhall.com, Sept. 25, 2007. "In the end, we all pay more because no one seems to pay anything. It's why health insurance is not a good idea for anything but serious illnesses and accidents that could bankrupt you. For the rest, we should pay out of our savings."

Novato ROTC fate decided March 4.

2008-03-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

From Susan Miller, Novato Club. YOUR HELP NEEDED:

THE NOVATO SCHOOL BOARD IS DELIBERATING the fate of the Air Force Jr. ROTC program at Novato High School. They need to hear from YOU by Tuesday, March 4. They will be voting that night.

Please send an e-mail message to each of the school board members, telling them you appreciate the program at NHS and do not want it to be cut from the budget. Even if you already sent one, change the message and send it again. If each of you asks one friend to also send a message, it would have a tremendous impact. At the end of every budget workshop and meeting they have had, the school board president always asks for us to continue with our ideas and input. So let's keep it up!

If you do not live in Novato, be reminded that the program is open to any student in the county! Go ahead and voice your opinion.

Below is information about the program to help you compose your message.

GO TO: http://www.nusd.org . Thanks for your help.

-------------------------------

Novato High School Air Force Junior ROTC
This AFJROTC program was chartered in 1966 and is the oldest and longest running in California. The mission of the JROTC is NOT to build soldiers, sailors or airmen, but to work to build better students, better leaders and better citizens for our community and our nation. They accomplish this mission through the teaching of leadership related academics, personal responsibility and integrity, community involvement, strategic study skills and hands-on leadership. In the current political environment, it is important for the community to know what the JROTC is and is NOT. Many kids who may not be artists, musicians or athletes, or who have other risks affecting their scholastic success, find this program to be an elective class which helps them learn extremely important life skills and inspires them toward high expectations, provides needed tutoring or mentoring and prepares them for the rigors of college.

JROTC does NOT recruit for the military

What ROTC does provide
Full elective credit class to fulfill elective requirement
Normal day classes and after school classes available
Open to all high schools in the county
Tutoring in all subjects
Computers available and a place to study
Learn aviation history, flight science, space science, survival skills
Take part for one semester or all four years
Opportunities for scholastic competition

Life skills:
Responsibility training
Social growth through team interaction
Leadership development – cadets run the program

College and after high school preparation:
Over 90 % of the cadets go to the college of their choice
Scholarship money with no strings attached
Percentage of ROTC students who enter the military from high school is
not higher than the percentage from the general school population

Annual fun activities and events create lifelong friendships
Airplane rides each year at Gnoss Field
Build and launch Estes rockets
C-130 cargo plane ride with the Coast Guard
Formal Ball at Embassy Suites
Softball, basketball, soccer, chess tournaments and drill competitions
Extensive community service opportunities
Different field trips each semester

For more information, contact Lt.Col. Yamaguchi, 898-1180

CD 6 - Marin, Sonoma

2008-03-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

CA Congressional District 6, Marin & Sonoma.

From Wikipedia:

California's 6th congressional district stretches up the Pacific coast north of San Francisco Bay. It covers Marin County and most of Sonoma County, including the cities of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael, and Mill Valley. This district is currently represented by Democrat Lynn Woolsey. Before her, it was represented by Barbara Boxer, who resigned from the seat when she was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Dana Walsh's two "cut and run" opponents - Pelosi and Sheehan

2008-03-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

DANA WALSH CHARGES PELOSI AND SHEEHAN "DEMORALIZE TROOPS AND EMBOLDEN TERRORISTS." SFGOP CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS CALLS ON MEDIA AND LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS TO HOLD DEBATES IN 2008 AUGUST 10, 2007 CONTACT: Mike DeNunzio, 415-317-0155 OFFICIAL STATEMENT from DANA WALSH: The candidacy of Cindy Sheehan for congress now gives me two "cut and run" opponents to expose in this campaign. In words and deeds both Nancy Pelosi and Ms. Sheehan demoralize our troops and embolden the enemy. I call for total victory in the "war against Islamic terrorism;" they won't even utter the phrase, I will. I speak for victory and security at home and abroad; they won't. Both of these opponents are pliant tools of the "blame America" crowd that endangers America. In 2008 the voters will deserve a debate on issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of all Americans. I challenge Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan to debate me and I call on the San Francisco media and the League of Women voters to arrange the debates.

Dana Walsh for Congress, SF

2008-03-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

Dana Walsh is running for Congress (R) SF CD 8.

Incumbent is Nancy Pelosi-D. Contact her Campaign Manager: Michael DeNunzio, (415) 749-1942.

http://www.danawalshforcongress.org/.

October 24, 2007. Dana Walsh, SF, is running against Nancy Pelosi (D) for Congress, CD 8.

In a city where Republicans are outnumbered (40,000 Republicans; 200,000 Democrats), Dana is certainly Danoodle's Woman of the Year. Kudos to her for taking time out of her life to get out the Republican message! She is starting early, and is energetically elucidating her platform of Low Taxes, Winning the War on Terrorism, Less Government, and Stopping Illegal Immigration.

Did you know:

-Nancy Pelosi has never held a job other than bureaucrat?

-San Francisco has been so gerrymandered CD 8 that a large swath of Republicans are excluded from voting in that Congressional District? See map at http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/sen/cngplan/PDF_CD_ATLAS/CD08_NEW_SF.PDF

-SF is the fifth largest media market in the U.S.?

-Not only is Dana running against Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, but also Cindy Sheehan, Independent?

-Dana has run her own business in SF for 25 years?

-So far, Dana is unopposed for the Republican nomination in SF?

-The Statewide Direct Primary Election is held June 3, 2008?

-The Presidential General Election is held November 4, 2008?

Pls help Dana get out her (and our) Republican message by contributing today to her campaign. Send your check to:

DANA WALSH

Candidate for House of Representatives. CD 8, San Francisco

1592 Union street, #52

San Francisco, Ca. 94123

(FEC #C00436154)

Dana can be reached at:Tel: 415 -749-1942.

Email: dana@danawalshforcongress.com http://www.danawalshforcongress.com/

Also, Dana will be accepting contributions via her website beginning next week.

Dana has an experienced Campaign Manager, Mike DeNunzio, SF, who ran against Lynn Woolsey last year. His blog is at http://www.speakingclearly.org/.

Congressional District 8 - SF

2008-03-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

CD08, SF, gerrymandered for Democrats.

Dana Walsh letter to SF Chronicle

2008-03-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Dana Walsh for Congress CONTACT: MIKE DENUNZIO- (415) 749-1942 GOP CANDIDATE WALSH CHARGES PELOSI & SHEEHAN "DENIES REALITY" OF TERRORISM JULY 22, 2007. DANA WALSH, candidate for Congress in San Francisco, CD8 sent the following statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, in response to Cindy Sheehan's article in INSIGHT (Sunday July 22, 2007): San Francisco Chronicle Editor, Cindy Sheehan touts her candidacy for Congress stating she “does not live in a mansion on the hill” (Insight July 22). Neither do I. I am also a candidate for Congress against Nancy Pelosi, but unlike Mrs. Pelosi and Ms. Sheehan, I work for a living. I am not a wealthy socialite, nor am I funded by big money leftists. I have lived in San Francisco and have owned a small businesses in The City for 25 years. The Democrat party did not “start every war in the 20th Century” as Ms. Sheehan deludes. My father served in the Second World War and I honor our men and women in Iraq who are fighting in a new world war against Islamic terrorism. I support their mission to help the fledgling democracy in Iraq and to protect America at home. Mrs. Pelosi and her "Blame America” liberals are in denial. America is in a global war on terrorism. Their cut and run defeatism demoralizes our troops and emboldens our enemy. President Kennedy said: “We will pay any price, we will bear any burden, to assure the survival of liberty.” Nancy Pelosi does not. President Reagan warned: “Freedom is always one generation from extinction, every generation must defend it.” Nancy Pelosi does not. America is in a war - not a lawsuit. I want a strong Patriot Act with electronic surveillance and tough interrogation of suspected terrorists. I also want secure borders to stop illegal immigration. I oppose amnesty and illegal "sanctuary cities." Mrs. Pelosi does not. I remind the wealthy Mrs. Pelosi, who never held a real job, of Thomas Jefferson’s wise counsel: “Government shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned; the government that governs least governs best." Jefferson was not a "tax and spend" politician. Nancy Pelosi is! Mrs. Pelosi is an unwitting enabler of Al Quaeda and Cindy Sheehan is to be pitied. The real debate in next year’s Congressional campaign is not how to lose the war on terror but how to win it. This is why I am a candidate for Congress. DANA WALSH,Candidate for House of Representatives. CD 8, San Francisco. 1592 Union street, #52 San Francisco, Ca. 94123 Tel: 415 -749-1942(FEC #C00436154)

Dr. Michael Halliwell for Congress, CD 6

2008-02-29T03:52:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael Halliwell for Congress, CD 6

February 29, 2008.

Dr. Michael Halliwell (R), Cotati, is running for a second time against perennial incumbent Lynn Woolsey (D), Congressional District 6, Marin/Sonoma. Danoodle wishes Mike good luck, and a huge KUDOS for having the stamina to go for it a second time!

Republican candidates announced

2008-02-29T00:39:00.000-08:00

Per the Marin Republican Party's Central Committee meeting on Feb. 28, three Marin candidates have agreed to run for office (truly courageous!). They are:

Paul Lavery (R), Novato - CA State Assembly, AD-6.
Current Jared Huffman (D) email: pclavery@hotmail.com.

Sashi McEntee (R), Mill Valley - CA State Senate, SD 3.
Current Carole Migden (D) email: sashi@keystonebusinessdevelopment.com.

Dr. Michael Halliwell (R), Cotati - U.S. Congress, CD-6.
Current Lynn Woolsey (D) email: halliwel@csulb.edu.

Conchita Applegate, (R) SF Assembly District 12.

Harmeet Dhillon, (R) SF Assembly District 13.

DeNunzio to run for SF Supervisor

2008-02-28T23:51:00.000-08:00

Mike DeNunzio announced his candidacy for SF Supervisor (non-partisan) in District 3 (business/hotel area of SF). Kudos, and Good Luck to Mike! His website is http://www.competencematters.org/matters.org/.

March 2007. Mike Denunzio has announced his run for District 3 Supervisor in SF, a non-partisan seat. His website is http://www.competencematters.org. Mike ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2006 with appearances on local and national radio and TV including PBS and Hannity and Colmes. In 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him to the California Commissioner on Aging. He serves on the Legislative and Policy committee.

As president of Community Counseling Service, Mike has a distinguished career working successfully with civic leaders to fund major non profit projects for health, educational and social services.

Mayor Brown and Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Mike to City and State Commissions. Mayor Newsom appointed him to the Council to End Chronic Homelessness.

Mike serves on the boards of the North Beach Neighbors, the Columbus Day Committee and the Handicapables. He also works with former mayor Frank Jordan and civic leaders on the board of the American Institute of Ethics. He is a member of the renter-homeowner Barbary Coast Association, and the North Beach Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate of St. Francis Prep, Brooklyn and St. John’s University, N.Y., Mike taught law and economics on the secondary level and also served six years in the U.S. Army Reserves as a Personnel Specialist.

CA Senate District 3 - SF & North Bay

2008-02-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

California's 3rd State Senate District is one of 40 Senate Districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Senator Carole Migden of San Francisco.

The 3rd District spans the Golden Gate Bridge, connecting high income areas of the North Bay with the eastern portions of the City and County of San Francisco. The population is evenly divided between the San Francisco and North Bay portions of the district. The district is majority Non-Hispanic White, with most of San Francisco's large Asian community in the 8th Senate District.

The North Bay portion includes the entirety of Marin County, and part of Sonoma County. The cities of Petaluma and Rohnert Part as well as most of the area surrounding the city of Santa Rosa is in the 3rd district.

The San Francisco portion includes the Downtown area, as well as all of most of the Marina, Presidio, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Chinatown, Castro, Haight-Ashbury, Mission, Market, Portrero, Hunter's Point, Bay View, Miraloma Park, and Treasure Island.

From Wikipedia.

California Republican Party Endorses 'Save Our Kids' and Protect Marriage Initiatives

2008-02-28T14:47:00.005-08:00

CRP Platform (Conservative version) adopted at CRP Convention 2-24-08

2008-02-28T14:47:00.001-08:00

CA Republican Convention in SF has ended

2008-02-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Conservatives rule! At least at the past CA Republican Convention held in SF 2/22-24/08. The conservative version of the CA Republican Party Platform passed, with minimal input from the Libs in the GOP. Having seen the discord at the Indian Wells convention last September, I was totally surprised that passing a conservative Platform was relatively painless. And both sides were civil, with well-reasoned arguments - exception: 2-hr. discussion re CA water, not abortion, which the media loves to write about. In spite of the anonymous emails I got blasting Shawn Steele, the CRP ex-Chairman who was running for RNC Committeeman, won his race against Tim Morgan, who had been Committeeman for past 12 years. Shawn is conservative, Tim is "moderate." I also got anonymous emails criticizing Chairman Ron Nehring, but he ran the Convention very well, I thought. And, he's CONSERVATIVE.

Arguments to Liberal CRP Draft Platform

2008-02-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

(Liberal) Draft Platform - CRP Convention 2/22 - 2/24/08

2008-02-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

The CRP Platform Committee meets on Friday at 2pm, Hyatt Regency, to discuss draft. I plan to attend.

State GOP split as convention nears

2008-02-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...

Note from Ron: CRP's SF Convention Preview

2008-02-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

CRP's San Francisco Convention Preview, 2/21/08.

Dear Barbara,

Thank you for being such an important part of our Republican Party in California.

The CRP charges into the heart of liberal country this weekend with our state convention in San Francisco. With elections, a platform to adopt, and a long list of featured speakers, we hope you're planning to join us and be a part of it.

As a CRP member, here is your preview of what you can expect this weekend.

Platform. The CRP will adopt a new, four year platform at Sunday morning's general session. Several proposed drafts have been circulated. The Platform Committee is expected to adopt one as an initial draft, then send it to the floor, possibly after revisions. As Chairman, I'm committed to an open platform development process and will work to ensure we get to a final product for your consideration Sunday morning.

Elections. Nominations for National Committeeman, National Committeewoman, Secretary and Treasurer will take place on Saturday afternoon, with the election itself on Sunday morning. To my knowledge only the National Committeeman office is contested. I anticipate this campaign will contribute to increasing the CRP's carbon footprint through a flood of flyers and other printed materials.

Initiatives. The CRP may take positions on important initiatives slated for the June and November ballots. Liberals are pushing a long list of initiatives for the November election, including measures to increase prisoners' rights, abolish "three strikes," raise taxes, and other bright ideas.

Comprehensive workshops. To provide you with the ammunition you need to advance Republican ideas in your county, we're providing workshops on political technology and issues. "How to" workshops include communications, talk radio, and fundraising. Issues workshops include development and land use issues, dealing with organized labor, transportation, healthcare and improving schools. Workshop list

Steve Poizner. We're pleased to have our elected Insurance Commissioner as our featured speaker on Friday night. Steve is a real leader committed to building our party and advancing Republican ideas. He most recently chaired the successful "no on 93" campaign, turning back the Democrats' attempt to extend term limits. Visit Steve's website

David Horowitz. Saturday's lunch speaker is a vocal advocate for individual liberty and freedom. His "David Horowitz Freedom Center" implements a long list of ambitious programs aimed at fighting terrorism, promoting academic freedom and exposing the Left.

Congressmen Buck McKeon, Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy. These three outstanding members of California's Republican congressional delegation will highlight Saturday night's dinner. We have a great opportunity to pick up at least one congressional seat in California this year, making it harder for Nancy Pelosi to remain in that Speaker's chair.

John Fund. The Wall Street Journal's John Fund is a nationally recognized author, columnist and commentator. His most recent book, Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy, is a must-read for anyone concerned about preserving ballot integrity. John speaks at the Friday Executive Committee lunch.

Morton Blackwell. The President of Leadership Institute joins us at our Executive Committee lunch for insight on the presidential campaign, and building a strong political party for the longer term. Morton also serves as the Republican National Committeeman from Virginia. I attended my first Leadership Institute school in 1989, and it's an honor to serve on the Republican National Committee now with Morton, who has been helping to train young conservative leaders for decades.

Bill Leonard. Headling our Sunday morning Prayer Breakfast is Bill Leonard, a tenacious advocate for conservative ideas and a strong defender of taxpyers on the state Board of Equalization.

The California Republican Party is moving ahead with the support of thousands of California Republicans. Thank you for all that you do in support of our party.

Sincerely,
Ron Nehring
CHAIRMAN, California Republican Party

Off to the SF Republican Convention

2008-02-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

Wasn't it just last month I attended the Indian Wells CRP convention?? A lot has happened since the September 2007 convention, so this SF one should be very interesting. It's taking place at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero.

I hope to see familiar faces and get updated information, and I will blog as warranted.

Ron Nehring, the CRP Chairman, has done a terrific job in getting out information re this convention, and the CRP website looks snazzy, and current!

More later...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T14:58:00.001-08:00

Hope your Christmas was terrific. I wish you a healthy, happy 2008! Looks like a very busy political season. Stay tuned!

North Bay Minutemen meeting - January 12, noon

2008-01-05T14:54:00.001-08:00

There is a North Bay Minutemen meeting on January 12 at noon at the American Legion office in Larkspur, (across the street from the Left Bank restaurant).

Brainwashing, Science, & Al Gore

2007-12-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

From Holman W. Jenkins' Wall Street Journal article, Wed, 12/5/07, The Science of Gore's Nobel: ... "Availability cascade" has been coined for the way a proposition can become irresistible simply by the media repeating it [emp added]; "informational cascade" for the tendency to replace our beliefs with the crowd's beliefs; and "reputational cascade" for the rational incentive to do so."...

Non-partisan offices...not really

2007-12-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

From CRP Chairman Ron Nehring's E-Report 11/26/07: "Recently, some have complained about political parties being involved in local, so called 'non-partisan' elections. The notion that there is any government office in this state that is immune from questions of what is the proper role of government is a fiction. Every office invariably involves the taxation of citizens and the use of those funds, making the very assertion of a "non-partisan" office a quaint theory divorced from reality. [emphasis added] Anyone who's endured even a single city council or board of supervisors meeting understands this truth."...

Ever Wonder HOW MUCH Immigration Costs us Taxpayers....hold on to your seats!

2007-11-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE. BUILD THE WALL! Subject: Worth forwarding on TIME FOR A REVOLT. Hope these 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read by the majority of Americans. Then they will have something to yell at their U.S. Congress members. 1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77 2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html 3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html 4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html 5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html 6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html 7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html 8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html 9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html 10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html 11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht 12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf 13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm 14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ". http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml So using the LOWEST estimates, the annual cost OF ILLEGAL ALIENS is $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! So if deporting them costs between $206 and $230 BILLION DOLLARS, We'll be ahead after the 1st year!!! Please pass this post on. Taxpayers need to be very worried.

Let's Say Thanks To Our Troops

2007-11-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

Very easy way to say thank you to our soldiers. It's free. Choose your fav card among many done by kids - 3 clicks, and you're done. I just sent Amy's card. Xerox has done a good thing!

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

The Necessity of Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T12:05:00.000-08:00

“Tomorrow being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise; and duty calling us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us, the General... earnestly exhorts, all officers and soldiers, whose absence is not indispensably necessary, to attend with reverence the solemnities of the day.” —George Washington (December 17, 1777)

"In this era of overblown political correctness, we often hear tales of Thanksgiving that stray far afield from the truth. Contemporary textbook narratives of the first American harvest celebration portray the Pilgrim colonists as having given thanks to their Indian neighbors for teaching them how to survive in a strange new world. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the historical record, in which the colonists gave thanks to God Almighty, the Provider of their blessings."

For the rest of the story - http://patriotpost.us/pub/07-47_Thanksgiving.htm

Dec. 6th Semper Fi Dinner/Fundraiser, SF

2007-11-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 6th, the Nob Hill Republican Women's Club will hold its twelfth Annual Holiday Celebration on behalf of "Semper Fi Fund" featuring guest speaker Fred LaCosse, who will present his program on the "Founding Fathers," to be held at the S.F. Italian Athletic Club. 100% of the proceeds from the raffle will go to the families of the wounded Marines so that the families can go & visit their wounded loved ones.

This event is an evening one & will cost $75 per person for dinner. Raffle tix are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00.

Info or rsvp: pbonocore@bonocore.com, or 415-924-9991.

Lean Green Fighting Machine from http://www.semperfimarine.com/.

Dana Walsh and Melanie Morgan - dynamic duo

2007-11-19T19:30:00.003-08:00

Check out the Dana Walsh info at www.Danoodle.com on the Election 08 page. Fearless Dana is running against Nancy Pelosi in SF, and deserves our support, and contributions! Go Dana! (I've also posted a Congressional District 08 map of SF on the Election 08 page to show the ridiculous gerrymandering by the Dems in order to save their bums, errrr seats.)

Dana's Nob Hill Republican Club hosted Melanie Morgan last Friday, Nov. 16, at the Waterfront Restaurant, SF (Republican-owned, incidentally). A check for $1200 was presented to Melanie's organization, Move America Forward. Melanie teared up, bless her heart! The gift obviously meant a lot to her. So I'm sending in my donation to her organization, MAF, today!

And I'm also sending a check to Dana Walsh for her Congressional campaign!

These are two dynamic, brave, ladies; they make me proud to be a Republican. Please support them any way you can.

Danoodle in Vegas

2007-11-19T19:30:00.001-08:00

I just took a week's vacation in that cultural mecca - Las Vegas! It has been a few years since I was there, and what a change! The building going on there reminds me of what daughter wrote about Beiijing, China, after visiting there this past summer, that the air was totally polluted because of the enormous amount of construction going on for the Olympics. Well, the air in Las Vegas is not that polluted, but the cranes and construction worker-bees are certainly busy. And the traffic is at metropolitan city levels!

Las Vegas has a symphony and an art museum, which I did not check out. It's easy to catch a show or two on the Strip, and go casino-hopping (no, I don't gamble) to see the lush, and sometimes gawdy, interiors of the hotels and shopping areas. The weather was perfect at night (70), and hot during the day.

The number of very good restaurants is surprising, and one feels removed from the Strip atmosphere at many of them. The best view at night is atop THE Hotel (attached to Mandalay Bay).

Daughter joined hubby and me for a fast family vacation, although we hesitated to mention "Las Vegas" to our friends on East & West Coasts. The town was surprisingly pleasant.

Photo from www.urbanphotos.net.

Swift Kids for Truth - John Edwards

2007-11-15T23:20:00.001-08:00

For those of you who missed tonight's Special Report with Brit Hume on Fox News:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj9bjRixkVc

Remembering Our Heroes

2007-11-13T09:38:00.001-08:00

From Ron Nehring, Chairman, CA Republican Party:

Monday, Nov. 12. As we observe Veterans Day, we pause to remember the sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made while serving our nation. For more than two centuries, our 50 million veterans have fought to preserve our nation's liberty and democracy and the freedom of our citizens.

A special debt of gratitude is owed to the 1.5 million heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We remember and honor them, while holding dear in our hearts the families they have left behind.

Our men and women in uniform have raised and kept safe a nation that it might bestow upon us the blessings of liberty sought out so many years ago by our founders. These heroes in uniform have led this nation to victory through the darkest of moments, when victory seemed beyond grasp. Today we pay a special tribute to those who have and continue to sacrifice, so that we as a nation can live in freedom.

May God bless the United States of America and look over our soldiers and their families.

A History Quiz for our Political Wonks.

2007-10-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

A little history lesson. If you don't know the answer make your best guess. Answer all the questions before looking at the answers. Who said it? 1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." A. Karl Marx B. Adolph Hitler C. Joseph Stalin D. None of the above 2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity." A. Lenin B. Mussolini C. Idi Amin D. None of the Above 3) "(We) ...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people." A. Nikita Khrushev B. Josef Goebbels C. Boris Yeltsin D. None of the above 4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground." A. Mao Tse Dung B. Hugo Chavez C. Kim Jong Il D. None of the above 5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed." A. Karl Marx B. Lenin C. Molotov D. None of the above 6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched." A. Pinochet B. Milosevic C. Saddam Hussein D. None of the above Scroll down for answers Answers(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007(3) D. None of th e above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007 (5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005Be afraid, Be very afraid!

Dana Walsh speaks to Marin Club Wed., Oct. 24

2007-10-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

At today's Marin Club luncheon at 4 Points Sheraton, San Rafael, guest speaker Dana Walsh (R), SF, presented her platform. She is running against Nancy Pelosi (D) for Congress, CD 8.

In a city where Republicans are outnumbered (40,000 Republicans; 200,000 Democrats), Dana is certainly Danoodle's Woman of the Year. Kudos to her for taking time out of her life to get out the Republican message! She is starting early, and is energetically elucidating her platform of Low Taxes, Winning the War on Terrorism, Less Government, and Stopping Illegal Immigration.

Did you know:

-Nancy Pelosi has never held a job other than bureaucrat?

-San Francisco has been so gerrymandered CD 8 that a large swath of Republicans are excluded from voting in that Congressional District? See map at http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/sen/cngplan/PDF_CD_ATLAS/CD08_NEW_SF.PDF

-SF is the fifth largest media market in the U.S.?

-Not only is Dana running against Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, but also Cindy Sheehan, Independent?

-Dana has run her own business in SF for 25 years?

-So far, Dana is unopposed for the Republican nomination in SF?

-The Statewide Direct Primary Election is held June 3, 2008?
-The Presidential General Election is held November 4, 2008?

Pls help Dana get out her (and our) Republican message by contributing today to her campaign. Send your check to:

DANA WALSH
Candidate for House of Representatives. CD 8, San Francisco
1592 Union street, #52
San Francisco, Ca. 94123
(FEC #C00436154)

Dana can be reached at:
Tel: 415 -749-1942.
Email: dana@danawalshforcongress.com
http://www.danawalshforcongress.com/

Also, Dana will be accepting contributions via her website beginning next week.

Dana has an experienced Campaign Manager, Mike DeNunzio, SF, who ran against Lynn Woolsey last year. His blog is at http://www.speakingclearly.org/.

I've posted Dana's Press Releases on www.danoodle.com.

Go, Dana!

Marin Club Officers for 2008

2007-10-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Marin Club (MRWF) announced in their October Newsletter their slate of officers for 2008: President - Faye Bourret 1st VP/Programs -Judith Walker 2nd VP/Membership - Cindy Eisenhower 3rd VP/Events - Kitty Forde Treasurer - Anne Brenneis Secretary - Pat Derenzo They will be voted on at their November meeting.

The Republicans' Call to Arms
September 5, 2008	by Phyllis Schlafly
We recall the words of the old popular song, "What a Difference a Day Makes; 24 Little Hours." In this political year, it was actually 38 hours, but the poetry is the same. That's the time-spread between the locking up of the 2008 Republican Platform on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and the selection of conservative Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's Veep choice at 10 a.m. on Friday. In just 38 hours, disheartened conservatives were transformed into enthusiastic Republicans, armed and ready to storm the pseudo Greek temple that Barack Obama erected in the mile-high city of Denver. It's hard to exaggerate the turnaround in the attitude of grassroots Republicans; a CNN reporter expressed herself as "shocked." Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air to John McCain's campaign. The Republican Party Platform, hammered out by a grassroots committee with representatives from every state, gives Republicans a basis on which to rebuild their party. It's a "call to arms," a platform of bold colors with no pastel shades, just as Ronald Reagan described the 1976 Platform that Delegates adopted after rejecting the Ford-Kissinger platform. This year's Platform is a complete break from the ponderous 2004 Platform, which strung together 40,000 tiresome words. The 2008 Platform isn't about personalities; it's about principles. The 2004 Platform had endorsed the "Free Trade Area of the Americas," a foolish notion to bring about the economic integration of the Western Hemisphere and allow cheap labor to replace American jobs. The 2008 Platform sensibly calls for "a Western Hemisphere of sovereign nations with secure borders," and the committee unanimously rejected the goal of a "North American Union" modeled on the European Union. This year gave us a clear improvement over the previous Platform in regard to the English language. In 2004, Republicans called English "our nation's common language" and endorsed bilingual education, but the 2008 Platform supports "English as the official language in our nation" because it is "essential as a unifying cultural force" and omits mention of bilingual ed (often called language apartheid). The 2004 Platform had lined up with the now-defeated amnesty plan of the U.S. Senate. It endorsed a "new temporary worker program" and allowing illegal aliens currently holding jobs in the U.S. "to apply for citizenship in the same manner as those who apply from outside the United States." In a clear break, the 2008 Platform calls for building the border fence, securing our ports, enforcing existing laws against "illegal workers and lawbreaking employers," requiring the use of E-Verify, deporting criminal aliens, denying federal funds to sanctuary cities, and refusing driver's licenses, in-state college tuition rates, and Social Security benefits for illegal aliens. The 2008 Platform marks a refreshing break from the previous Platform's obsequious kowtowing to the United Nations and other international bureaucrats. The 2004 Platform had said that the United States is "committed to lasting institutions like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization." The 2008 Platform doesn't mention the WTO and includes several paragraphs of criticism of the United Nations, citing its "scandal-ridden and corrupt management," the "disproportionate" dues we are forced to pay, and its discrimination against Israel and the Vatican. The 2008 Platform specifically rejects the United Nations Treaty on Women and the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child, and expresses "deep reservations" about the UN Law of the Sea Treaty. The 2008 Platform recognizes that energy independence is vital to our national security. The Platform calls for drilling in "new oilfields" in Alaska and elsewhere, as well as developing nuclear power and clean coal. The 2008 Platform demands that "the risk of climate change" be based on "sound science without succumbing to no-growth radicalism." The Platform also cautions against "doomsday climate change scenarios." The plank affirming that "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," which has been part of the Republican Platform since 1984 was, of course, included again this year. The 2008 Platform becomes the most pro-life ever by endorsing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act and the ban on partial-birth abortion, both of which identify a sharp division with Barack Obama's legislative record. Four years ago, many grassroots Republicans were offended by a Platform that called public schools "a foundation of a free, civil society" and bragged about having given us "the largest increase in federal education funding in history." The 2008 Platform better represents Republicans by standing up for parents' rights to use vouchers, tax credits, private schools, or homeschooling, and to stop public schools from forcing students to answer personal, non-academic questionnaires without prior parental consent. Sarah Palin and the 2008 Platform have given Republicans a new lease on life and put John McCain on the road to victory. Read this column online. Join Eagle Forum and get The Phyllis Schlafly Report delivered to your door every month: Annual subscription $20. Best bargain in print! Easy to distribute to alert your friends. Make a donation to Eagle Forum. Eagle Forum www.eagleforum.org PO Box 618 Alton, IL 62002