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I Fear for the ?Grand Old Republic?
The very idea of any one party appointing up to four new Supreme Court Justices to the bench is terrifying.
The possibility of disenfranchising fifty percent of our citizens appears to me to be one of the greatest dangers to the stability of our society. The growing imbalance in wealth within American society is unsettling enough, but to make half of our citizens impotent and under-represented in Washington is dangerous. For example, the Palestinians feel impotent and powerless, and see how they react. The citizens of this great country have always had some representation in Washington. Regretfully, I can project a conservative dominated Supreme Court as changing the very dynamics of our political structure.
The pendulum would swing way over to the right wing as small splinter groups would gain greater power because theirs would be the swing votes needed to accomplish anything in a bitterly partisan House and Senate. Yes, this election has capped a bitter period in American politics. Monica-gate created deep partisan bitterness and this election has made it worse. God help us, and help our elected representatives to find common ground or our system will come to a halt. Good Luck to the winner! I do not think anyone will win from this election, especially the American people. Yes, I am bitter, because the popularly elected candidate will lose.
The hard won social programs will be cut back, and the deficit will grow and an inflationary tax cut will make the new President popular with the wealthy and upper middle class. We were just making strides to include the welfare mothers into the work force with workfare, and now all we are faced with is uncertainty. Buena Suerte!
Pork Barrel Again!
I am ashamed to call myself a Democrat. I
have noticed that except for the basic concept of Republicans
favoring the have's, and the Democrats favoring the have not's,
politicians are just alike. They are most concerned with job
security. Lobbyists give out campaign donations like a fisherman
chums for sharks. Politicians gather around for feeding, like pigs at
a trough. The concept of a public servant is ancient history.
Americans are consumers now, not citizens. Citizens keep informed,
and decide on issues by their merits. Except for opinion polls the
democrats are similar to Republicans. Republicans have traditionally
thought the rabble incapable of rational thought, and
self-government.
Our Governor has recently signed a five billion dollar transportation
bill. He bypassed the California Transportation Commission, which
allocates funds to any California projects that can show a need. All
five billion dollars were project specific, which means they could
not be spent elsewhere. One giant omission is readily apparent.
Thirty-six rural counties including Lake, got zippo. That's right,
nothing. This is the reason that I call the transportation bill a
prime piece of pork. Only the high population, voter intensive
counties got any money.
Meanwhile our roads are pockmarked, we lack
adequate bus service on Cobb, lack any service to Ukiah. For shame
governor, Northern California gives water, now you allow our roads
stagnate. Infrastructure is an important part of a country's worth.
Bad roads cost millions or more in wreaked front-end suspensions
every year. Excessive gas mileage can be another product of bad
roads.
Governor Davis, please remember that we are citizen's also
Dave Gebhard
Yuba College is making great strides to improve their school in Lower Lake.
Guenoc Valley College in Middletown will be a reality in just a few years. I witnessed Dr. Perretti, the new President of this new liberal arts college at the Board of Supervisors meeting, and she is dynamic.
Both the Ukiah Campus and Lake Center could take a serious loss of students to these two dynamic programs. I witnessed Dr. Perretti's oratory, and it was enough to convince me that she will keep her word.
She is highly qualified, experienced and enthusiastic. She is downright irresistible, to use the idiom.
The Lake Center has improved its facilities greatly. The building is beautifully outfitted and groomed. This is purely cosmetic. The Lake Center is just a classroom extension of the main campus. The instructors are mostly part-time though highly qualified, supplemented by a few full-time instructors teaching a few courses far from home. I laud the instructors that travel so far to teach so few.
I guess that I cannot complain too loudly, as I believe that I received a first rate education from Mendocino College. The students following after me, especially those from the northern end of Lake County should have if not equal facilities, then comparable ones. The study halls at Ukiah are a dream. Lake Center students can only make do, and many do not have computers at home. Many cannot afford textbooks. The study halls at Ukiah contain dozens of each. The computer classes are so successful at Lake Center that the students who need to use computers must wait until classes are over. Perhaps we are the victims of success, but what does it take to get the college 'powers that be,' to lease the old Cal Works offices and convert them into study halls. We can use the public library, even though it suffers the same fate as all rural libraries, and transportation facilities, lack of money.
If Mendocino does not wake up, the two growing programs to the south will gobble up many northern students who would have rather matriculated near home.
Dave Gebhard
So that we might ALL know!
Our Congress "persons" don't pay in to Social Security, and of course, they don't collect from it.
The reason is they have a "special retirement plan" that they voted for themselves many years ago. For all practical purposes ... it works like this: When they retire(or just leave office),they continue to draw the same pay until they die and it is increased from time to time for their cost of living adjustments.
For instance, former Senator Bill Bradley, and his wife are expected to draw $7,900,000. Mrs. Bradley would draw another $275,000 during the last year of her life. This is calculated on an average life span for each.
This would be well and good, except ... they paid nothing torward any kind of retirement plan ... nor do any of our Congress "persons".
Their fine retirement package comes straight out of our general fund. It is OUR tax money! We who work hard all our lives can look forward to only drawing an average of $1000 a month from
Social Security which is also considered taxable income. Imagine ... if you can, a retirement plan so desirable that people have extra deducted from their paychecks so they can increase their own personal retirement income. A retirement plan that works so well for all Railroad employees, Postal workers, and all the others who aren't in it... would be clamoring to get in it!
That's how good Social Security could be if only a single change were made: Jerk the Golden Fleece retirement package from our Congress "persons" and make them qualify under the current Social Security system with the rest of us ... then watch how fast they fix it!!!
If enough people receive this ... one or more of us sends this along to others in our e-mail circles ... we might give notice to SOME OF OUR CONGRESS "PERSONS" to actually WAKE up and remember WHO put them in office !!!
Sonoma County is experiencing the highest rise in property values in the state. There is a shortage of employees for their rapidly expanding high tech industry. The pay is high, and the higher is higher and harder to find. Therefore, these employees are moving into Lake County in even higher numbers. This trend will only be exacerbated by the continued success of Sonoma County's Telecom Valley.
This is the background for the vital necessity of improving our access now, before we have traffic problems, such as the metropolitan areas possess in such profusion. The governor has funded the rail line that will eventually link the 101 corridor from Marin County all the way to Eureka. A bus from Lakeport to Ukiah would allow one to carpool to Lakeport and take the bus to Ukiah and transfer either to Mendocino Transit or the new train. This would alleviate much of the possibility of gridlock that none of us wish to see again. Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa, Konocti Vista Casino, Robinson Rancheria, and commuters would all benefit.
I have heretofore addressed this mainly from a student's point of view. Recently a lady from Agilent Corporation contacted me and gave me a whole new perspective. She knows of many fellow employees who live in this county, and dislike the drive over the mountain. It is a hypnotic corkscrew of a road, that gets one tense before the work day evens begins, not to mention the drive home after laboring all day.
How many people from around the country would like to just fly in and not have to rent a car? Who wants to study maps to find our great access routes? Many tourists do not want stress; in fact, they go on vacation to forget the rat race.
We are the students, the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the unemployed. We still do not have the optionof a bus route to Ukiah. The other satellite campuses for Mendocino College have them, no matter how inadequate, because of Mendocino Transit. Lake County Students are under represented because these cities are in different counties. Please keep this in mind and treat it as the "unmet transit need" it is. This is not important to the average citizen who owns a dependable vehicle. Some of us are not healthy enough to drive this route daily. I know lots of people who feel uncomfortable driving this route night or day. I think everyone should be concerned with keeping the traffic low, and therefore the safety high. A bus route with a low enough fare so people with limited incomes could ride to doctors, jobs, classes, or just to leave town for a couple of hours. Do not just sweep us under the rug because we do not have economic power, we are your neighbors. We depend on you to have compassion, and empathy. Thanks,
Dave Gebhard 205 Walnut Drive
Lakeport, Ca. 95453 263-3875
gebhard99@yahoo.com
Thought you might like to read this. Have a happy 4th with your family & friends.
Five signers were captured by the British as
traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons
serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons
captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste, he found his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!
I hope you will show your support by please sending this to as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.
Why do Mendocino residents get a fine facility such as Mendocino Community College in their backyard? How many Lake residents currently attend the Ukiah campus?
The Lake students must drive over the mountain everyday. We know why Lake students attend Ukiah, because they have classes that do not exist in Lakeport. I cannot believe that the legislature meant to make Lake County a lesser educational magnet.
Common sense would seem to favor Lake County as a place with cheaper property values, and therefore a perfect place for more development. Lake Campus does not have a library or study halls, sports, picnics, grassy knolls, or a quad. These things not make a campus, but academics, learners, and a fine faculty we have in abundance.
We should have our own campus with plenty of
parking, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and study halls for
each discipline. They even have a snack shop in Ukiah, we have
"Hamburger Hill."
Dave Gebhard 205 Walnut Drive Lakeport, Ca.
95453 263-3875
gebhard99@yahoo.com
Dave Gebhard
# 01163 hits since July 19 2006