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GENERAL MEETING
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m. Gather and social
10:30 a.m. Business Meeting starts promptly – all are invited to attend
12:00 p.m. Luncheon
1:00 p.m. Program
Location: Radisson Hotel in Chatsworth
9777 Topanga Canyon Blvd. Chatsworth
Cost: $22.00 per person
Menu: Rosemary chicken or Cobb Salad and chocolate mousse for dessert
Let Shirley know your choice when you make your reservation
Bring your own box if you want to take any of your leftover lunch home.
Reservations:
Contact SHIRLEY AMES
by Sunday, February 14, 2010
If you make a reservation and cannot attend, be sure to cancel your reservation; or you will be responsible for the cost. Remember, Board members and committee chairpersons have standing reservations for the general meeting. **********************************
Donate books. Bring them to the club meeting for a sale to someone else. Proceeds to go to our club treasury.
If they don’t sell, please take them back home with you.
PROGRAM
Cheryl Sullivan
Newly assigned to head the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Kirk J. Albanese will be our guest speaker.
(Andy Holzman/Daily News Photographer
From his police academy training on November 17, 1980, he has steadily moved up through the ranks: including, police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and commander. He was promoted to the rank of deputy chief by Police Chief William J. Bratton, on March 29, 2009.
During his 28 year career Deputy Chief Albanese has held assignments in patrol, gang enforcement, narcotics, Internal Affairs, Juvenile and administrative positions. He supervised a Community Policing/government based problem solving unit referred to as FALCON (Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and Neighborhoods). As a lieutenant, he was assigned to Internal Affairs as both an officer-in-charge and as a chief investigator.
He is credited with establishing innovative crime reduction systems including, the “War Room Concept
He says, "Here's the bottom line with me: If there's an issue, we'll find a solution."
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I was very pleased to see the wonderful turnout of our members who braved the heavy rains and winds to attend our January meeting. It was a test of venturesome and we all know we women love to undertake new and exciting adventures.
Our first meeting of 2010 was so jubilant following the day after the Republican victory in Massachusetts. It is very obvious to all of us how very powerful we can be when we set our minds to it. I have heard about the many California Republicans who donated money and made calls from their homes to assist in this very important election.
This is the third Republican victory in a year for this heavily Democrat administration, and fourth when we count the senator from the south who changed from Democrat to Republican. And if we set our minds to victory for our Republican party, the count will most definitely go up. Strength united is always stronger! I hope the Executive Branch of our government hears our message that we do not want a socialistic government – and reacts accordingly.
Remember 2010 dues are due now, please send your checks to Barbara Cirks. Spread the word of our club to your friends to increase our membership, inform them about our many accomplishments, friendly members and interesting and informative meetings.
Also, Shirley Ames has been busy setting up the March 16 tour to Desconso Gardens which will be a tour of the beautiful gardens and a nice box lunch. I’ll see you there. I hope you all responded to Lorraine’s request and signed up to serve on her Ways and Means Committee. Working together we certainly can come up with ideas for a successful fundraiser. Remember, happiness is being involved!
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LACFRW awards scholarships to two Southern California high school seniors every year and our Club donates to this scholarship fund every year. The Charlotte Mousel Scholarship is awarded to assist graduating high school seniors in their quest for higher education. If you know of a high school senior who is deserving of a scholarship, please contact Pat Hicks for the application. The deadline for submitting their application to our club is February 25 as we must get it to our LA County Scholarship Chairman by March 2. We don't have much time so if you have a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, or know of someone who does have a deserving high school senior, let's work hard to get their application submitted.
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As the new Vice President of Membership for our club this year I am very gratified by the initial response of renewals for membership for the year 2010.
Approximately 60% of our members have renewed already, and nearly 50% of our associate members have renewed. You each received a pre-addressed envelope in the last newsletter to send in your renewal. That should make it convenient to respond. Please continue to remind your friends who may not have renewed yet to send in their membership as soon as possible.
With the positive election outlook for Republicans this year it seems it would be a great time to invite new friends to join our organization. Invite them to a meeting or an activity, and please introduce them to me for a possible follow-up contact.
RENEWING MEMBERS:. Elvira Brigante, Linda Brooks, Alene Buckwalter, Penny Chaffin, Barbara Cirks, Mary Lou Dudzak, Josephin Eshelby, Arline Fiorito, Janet Fisher, Mary Galeana, Virginia Gillespie, Islay Mae Gourlay, Mary Hamersen, Edna Hertz, Pat Hicks, Teddy Howell, Ethel Johnson, Edie Kaul, June Kinee, Diane Legler, Joann Menard, Anjanette Milham, Patricia Milham, Jan Mooneyham, Diane Newton, Andria Page, Patricia Pappler, Marjorie Payne, Monica Plattenburger, Barbara Pulver, Linda Pulver, Cleo Reynolds, Jan Roper, Jackie Russo, Maria Schwartz, Patricia Schwartz, Julie Stranges, Lorraine Strieby-Gunn, Cheryl Sullivan, Priscilla Sullivan, Helen Williams, Brigitte Zemmrich
NEW MEMBER: Estelle Muranski
ASSOCIATES: Camille Boisseree, Geri de Rubertis, Mary Hawkins, Mary Holland, Laurel Hubbard, Carol Jensen, Jane Leisure, Russell Milham, LaNelle Thomas
Total Renewals: 42
Total Associates: 9
If you haven’t already done so, please PAY your dues now for 2010. Make out a $35 check (or $15 for Associate Members)
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Join the Canoga Park/West Hills Republican Women Federated
On a Tour of DESCANSO GARDENS
We will be taking a guided tour on a tram and view the various areas of the garden. Descanso Gardens is home to thousands of camellias and was awarded the status “Garden of Excellence” by the International Camellia Society. There are hundreds of cultivars to view during the blooming season. Also to be found are other trees and plants, including: Magnolias, wildflowers, tulips, cherry trees and crab apples. Descanso’s Lilac Grove exhibits more than 250 varieties of this fragrant plant. We will be there the best time to visit when lilacs put on an attractive display of blooms showcasing a near-rainbow of colors—white, violet, blue, pink, magenta and purple.
Lunch included: We will furnish a catered picnic lunch. Choice of sandwich includes: roast beef, ham, or turkey. Please indicate your choice of meat when you send your check.
Tour Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Meet at: - Parking lot behind City Councilman Dennis Zine's office, 19040 Vanowen St., Reseda. Enter from the side street of Vanalden.
Time: The bus is scheduled to arrive at 9:00 a.m. and we will leave at 9:30 so get there early to check in
Cost: $30 per person
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American Exceptionalism
One day in 1984, at the height of his fame, Michael Jackson made a visit to the White House. President and Nancy Reagan may not have dug his music, but they understood the power Mr. Jackson commanded as a common pop-cultural touchstone for just about everyone else. Mr. Jackson had given the White House permission to use his smash hit "Beat It" in a campaign to halt teen drinking and driving, and the Reagans wanted to bestow on him a public-safety award and their personal thanks.
The now-iconic photograph of their visit reveals much about the towering personalities and even more about America. Mr. Jackson stands between the Reagans, wearing a tamer version of his famous sequined faux-military costume. Hands clasped in front of him, he waits silently as the president finishes making a point to Mrs. Reagan. He gazes up at the president, his eyes as wide as saucers. His awe is palpable. The world's greatest performer has discovered himself on a stage even bigger and more profound than the ones he is used to occupying.
The boy from Tampico, Ill., standing with the boy from Gary, Ind.: two children of the Midwest who went on to become among the most influential people the world has ever known. Their stories, although distinct, share one thing in common: They are quintessentially American.
During his public life, Barack Obama has often referred to his biracial background and itinerant childhood and
has said, "In no other country on Earth is my story even possible." True.
But earlier this year, while attending the European summit of the Group of 20 major economic countries, the president was asked if he believed in American exceptionalism. He replied, "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."
Not exactly the way Mr. Reagan would have answered.
In 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville was the first to discuss American exceptionalism in Democracy in America, and he is still correct. There was and continues to be now in this country a remarkable commitment to liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, and laissez-faire values. He gave three explanations for this state of affairs: we came to occupy a vast, largely empty, and isolated continent; we have benefited from a legal system that involves federalism and an independent judiciary; and we have embraced certain "habits of the heart" that were profoundly shaped by our religious tradition.
Even in extremely difficult times, American exceptionalism has survived. Liberty provides opportunity, which is why in our 233 short years, we have produced (even with its flaws and flawed representatives) the greatest democracy in the world, the most productive engine of economic growth, the most influential culture and the most far-reaching effects of innovation.
President Obama's reference to British or Greek exceptionalism suggests a belief that the United States doesn't stand alone with a particular greatness but that every nation is great in its own way and America is simply one of many nations with something cool to offer. In other words, American exceptionalism was so last century.
But Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, and even Barack Obama, came from nothing to scale the greatest heights. Only by returning to limited government will we ensure that we remain the only country on Earth where stories like theirs are still possible.
Excerpts taken from Monica Crowley, Washington Times and James Q. Wilson, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
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The Senate rejected a proposal to establish a powerful commission to reduce the federal budget deficit, despite President Obama's endorsement and the swelling voter anger about government spending & debt.
The bipartisan measure would have required Congress to accept or reject the commission’s recommendations w/out making changes, a provision designed to prevent lawmakers from dodging the most politically risky proposals. The CBO reported the govt. was on course to DOUBLE the national debt in five years and to triple it in a decade.
Against the backdrop of the amazing Massachusetts win last week, the White House said that it would try to curb deficits by imposing a three-year freeze on govt. spending. BUT critics derided that as a fig leaf because the freeze would apply only to a small part of the budget.
Obama had increased levels of spending 36%-40% in the various government departments, so his freeze will not effect these huge increases. If Republicans take the house this coming November they will want to halt the increased spending, but too late...Obama has frozen his own increased spending... The FREEZE WILL BE MEANINGLESS - LIKE OBAMA,
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Written by Connie Zheng, GetSolar.com
Monday, 25 January 2010
A swath of land with enormous solar potential, it’s no wonder that Los Angeles County offers a wealth of opportunities to go solar. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) mandated four years ago that all investor-owned utilities in the state must offer a solar rebate, and in 2008 began requiring municipal utilities to do so as well. As a result, Los Angeles County residents have numerous solar rebates and incentives available, depending on electric utility.
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Whether it’s an attempt to atone for its smog-inducing days of yore or a belief in the ultimate profitability of solar, the LADWP boasts one of the most ambitious Renewable Portfolio Standards in the state, gunning for a lofty 35% by 2020. This target includes the LADWP’s objective of generating 10% of its energy through solar, a plan it calls Solar LA. The key to realizing such a goal lies in the LADWP Solar Photovoltaic Incentive Program.
The program is composed of ten declining “steps”, in which the rebate rate available to a customer falls as the number of MW of solar PV connected to the LADWP grid rises by certain increments. Only solar photovoltaic systems between 1 kW and 1 MW in installed capacity are eligible for the rebate, which will cover up to 75 percent of residential solar installation costs and up to 50 percent of commercial solar installation costs. The rebate will be delivered to you in a one-time payment after your solar system has been installed, inspected and approved, and is calculated.
Basically, the incentive amount is based on the expected electrical output of the system for the first twenty years of its life. LADWP prefers predicted output to be calculated with the National Renewable Energy Lab’s PVWatts program. It’s a tool that requires some experience and training to use properly, so you may want to find a solar installer before doing anything else.
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Written by CA Political News on January 05, 2010, 10:30 AM
Thomas Elias: Cities, counties brace for pension crises
Tom Elias, Bakersfield Californian, 1/04/10
Until now, the horrifying losses absorbed over the past two years by California's largest public employee pension plan were mostly bad news that didn't really affect anyone.
Here, for example, is what the California Public Employees' Retirement System, CalPERS, told its retired members early in the fall of 2008, when it had lost more than $70 billion on its investments so far that year, more than one-fourth of the previous $260 billion value of all its investments:
"It is important for you to know that the current credit crisis does not directly affect your retirement benefits, which are securely protected by law, or our ability to pay benefits."
Translation: Not to worry; the taxpayers will have to bail us out.
In fact, retired public employees from the 2,000-odd cities and counties that contribute to the plan have not seen a nickel's reduction in their stipends. CalPERS paid out $10.88 billion in retirement benefits in 2008, plus an estimated $5.7 billion in health benefits.
This meant, for instance, that in the small San Francisco suburb of San Bruno alone, 12 retirees received benefits totaling at least $100,000, with the top city retiree getting $187,358 for the year. Plenty of larger cities and counties had many more six-figure pensioners.
But until now, those cities and counties have not been forced to cut services and work forces or seek new taxes. That's because the setting of CalPERS "dues" generally lags two years behind investment performance. Rates paid by member cities and counties have been flat during this fiscal year, because fiscal 2007 was a very good year for CalPERS investments, the peak of the real estate bubble producing gains of 19.1 percent on the huge fund's often-risky investments.
That fat year is past, and CalPERS will be challenged this year to attain the 7.75 percent annual gain on investments it has said it needs to meet its obligations. That's where things get back to the reassuring statement the fund sent its pensioners 15 months ago.
Pensions are protected by law and contract, even when the pension fund can't pay. Where does the money come from in such times? Cities and counties, of course. Us.
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CalWatchdog.com
Jan. 12, 2010
A bill designed to combat voter fraud was disenfranchised in the state Senate’s elections committee after a close vote and plenty of testimony in opposition.
The committee heard testimony of the bill proposed by Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, requiring government-issued identification to vote. Current law states that only first-time voters are required to show identification.
Huff appeared before the committee and explained that SB465 was necessary for “maintaining integrity at the ballot box – we must know our vote will count.” When Senator Huff first introduced the bill in March 2009, he explained that the purpose of the bill would help ensure that only those who have a constitutional right to vote are choosing our elected officials.
In testimony, Huff explained that voter fraud is a problem in California and has been highlighted many times in news investigations, citing the 1999 60 Minutes story that found people in California who used mail-in forms to register fictitious voters, and even their pets, and then obtained absentee ballots in those names. Huff said that fraud still occurs, necessitating the voter identification bill.
Huff also shared the example of the illegal immigrant who assassinated a Mexican presidential candidate who, ironically was registered twice to vote in San Pedro, Calif.
Representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, AARP, the League of Women Voters, Disability Rights California, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, and California Immigrant Policy Center testified in opposition to the Voter ID bill, each presenting a common theme of “voter disenfranchisement” and “discrimination.”
The bill failed, 3-2.
In 2008, with 29 states already requiring some form of identification to vote, the U. S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold voter identification laws. In California, there are currently 30 different forms of identification that can be used under HAVA.
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Mon Jan 25, 8:45 pm ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested California could ease its crowded prison system by sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built jails in Mexico.
Speaking to reporters at the Sacramento Press Club, Schwarzenegger said California could ease its strained finances by a billion dollars if 20,000 illegal immigrants currently held in the state were housed across the border.
"I think that we can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take, inmates for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here and get them to Mexico," Schwarzenegger said.
"
Think about it -- if California gives Mexico the money. Not 'Hey, you take care of them, these are your citizens'. No. Not at all. "We pay them to build the prison down in Mexico. And then we have those undocumented immigrants down there in prison. It would half the costs to build the prison and run the prison. We could save a billion dollars right there that could go into higher education."
Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency earlier this month, warning severe cuts were necessary to stem a 19.9-billion-dollar deficit.
California has some of the most overcrowded prisons in the United States, with an estimated 170,000 inmates housed in facilities designed for 100,000 people, according to 2007 figures.
Schwarzenegger said he believed the financial burden of California's prisons could be eased if the private sector moved into the industry.
"I think that there is no reason why we should have just state employees and public prisons," Schwarzenegger said. "Why shouldn't we have private prisons and private prisons competing with public prisons?
"I don't want to go and get rid of public prisons, not at all. It's not an attack on their labor union even though they may take it as such.
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• Too bad it's not in U.S. waters.
• AUGUST 18, 2009, 1:45 P.M. ET Wall Street Journal
You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.
But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.
The Bush Administration's five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.
Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won't allow at home. The good old name of “Soros” has been mentioned
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FEDS CHARGE RECORD NUMBER OF IMMIGRATION CRIMES
By Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News, 1/04/10
and reported by CA Political News on January 05, 2010,
• . In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department filed nearly 92,000 immigration-related criminal cases in the federal courts. The record-breaking trend accounted for more than half of all new federal prosecutions in the country, according to Justice Department data maintained at Syracuse University. As of October, the latest figures available, federal prosecutors had filed nearly 300 such cases in the Northern California federal courts, which include San Jose. Syracuse researchers projected that figure would reach nearly 400 by the end of the year, more than double the number filed in 2005. The Bay Area federal courts ranked 10th out of the country's 93 districts in such filings.
Spurred by the relentless surge of illegal immigration in border states such as Texas and Arizona, where immigration prosecutions total in the thousands, the federal government has concluded that simple deportation is no longer an adequate response to repeat offenders with criminal records. Experts attribute the steady rise in prosecutions to several factors, including an increase in immigration and border patrol agents during the Bush administration, and greater emphasis on prosecuting cases that are often easy to prove.
There is ample doubt that criminal enforcement can put much of a dent in the nation's illegal immigration problems. And critics worry that many routine immigration matters are being transformed into federal felony charges with increasingly lengthy sentences. There is also concern about a disproportionate impact on Mexican nationals. A Mercury News review of 52 immigration cases filed in the San Jose federal courts between January and October found every defendant was from Mexico.
•
"It's riding and walking while Hispanic," said Barry Portman, the Bay Area's federal public defender, whose office typically represents immigrants too poor to pay for their own lawyers.
Supporters of the tougher enforcement approach say the prosecutions are needed to target illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds who keep re-entering the country. Indeed, the review of the San Jose cases shows these defendants are often unsympathetic. They have typically been deported numerous times, and they carry rap sheets that run the gamut from drug and robbery charges to domestic violence.
In some instances, they have even been prosecuted before in federal court, serving time for immigration crimes before being deported, only to return to the United States. One San Jose defendant charged this year, Esequiel Sandoval-Ramos, has been deported eight times and was convicted four separate times in San Diego federal court on illegal re-entry charges before his most recent arrest here, court records show.
Prosecutors say they must deter illegal immigration by those with criminal records, which is driving up the numbers.
"Does it always work? Of course not," said Brian Stretch, chief of the criminal division for the Bay Area U.S. attorney's office. "But it's important to keep trying."
Advocates for tighter immigration enforcement say such prosecutions are overdue, but they caution criminal charges are only part of dealing with the sprawling immigration issue.
"We need to have these prosecutions, but they are not the silver bullet," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates stricter measures such as curtailing the ability of illegal immigrants to secure jobs here.
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1/27/10
“I just finished delivering my first State of the Union, and I wanted to send you a quick note.
“We face big and difficult challenges. Change on the scale we seek does not come easily. But I will never accept second place for the United States of America.
“That is why I called for a robust jobs bill without delay. It's why I proposed a small businesses tax credit, new investments in infrastructure, and pushed for climate legislation to create a clean energy economy.
“It's why we're taking on big banks, reforming Wall Street, revitalizing our education system, increasing transparency -- and finishing the job on health insurance reform.
“It's why I need your help -- because I am determined to fight to defend the middle class, and special interest lobbyists will go all out to fight us. What the American people hope - what they deserve - is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bills. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.”
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President Obama, in his State of the Union Speech said that he won't 'walk away' from health care, even as he turns attention to jobs creation, economic recovery.
Pelosi said "Regardless of Massachusetts, it will happen" and Democrats are continuing to work to reconcile the House and Senate ObamaCare bills and are proceeding to force a through a process called "budget reconciliation," where they only need 51 votes to pass a bill, not 60.
Obama, Reid and Pelosi are still circling and have vowed to continue working on passing a scaled down ObamaCare bill by picking America apart with new taxes, increased healthcare costs and insurance premiums by hiding ObamaCare in future spending bills.
Joseph Smith, in his article entitled, “The ObamaCare Leviathan” as printed in the AMERICAN THINKER, December 13, 2009:
”Perhaps the greatest expansion of power will be in the Department of Health and Human Services. The Secretary of HHS will become the monarch of the health care kingdom. The Washington Examiner said the Senate health bill contains the word 'secretary' 2,500 times, and that '[t]he legislation lists 1,697 times where the Secretary of Health and Human Services is given the authority to create, determine or define things in the bill.'
”In a massive power shift, the Secretary of HHS would take over insurance regulation from the states and would define qualified plans, what they cover, what they should cost, and whom should be covered. Competition and choice, the president's favorite buzz words, will disappear as HHS becomes the focal point of central planning for health care.
”A second epicenter in the new health care infrastructure will be the IRS, which is poised to assume a powerful role in rulings, collections, and enforcement of health care mandates and taxes. There is a provision in the Senate bill for a reporting requirement similar to the current W-2. It would require, in Section 1502, the name, address, tax ID number, dates insured, and plan qualification, among other things. An expanded IRS is likely to become even more intrusive, dispelling any remaining illusions of a compassionate government-run program.
”Embedded in the legislation in section 3403 is the Independent Medicare Advisory Board, one of 118 new boards, commissions, and programs making up a third power center that will have immense control over life and death.”
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Part of the remarks delivered by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, providing the Republican response to Obama's State of the Union speech on Jan. 27, 2010
In recent months, the American people have made clear that they want government leaders to listen and then act on the issues most important to them. We want results, not rhetoric. We want cooperation, not partisanship.
There is much common ground. All Americans agree that we need health -- health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality. But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.
Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform health care, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes.
And we will do that by implementing commonsense reforms, like letting families and businesses buy health insurance policies across state lines and ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your health care.
And our solutions aren't 1,000-page bills that no one has fully read, after being crafted behind closed doors with special interests. In fact, many of our proposals are available online at solutions.gop.gov, and we welcome your ideas on Facebook and Twitter.
All Americans agree that this nation must become more energy independent and secure. ……Advances in technology can unleash more natural gas, nuclear, wind, coal, alternative energy that will lower your utility bills. Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to become the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas off-shore.
But this administration's policies are delaying off-shore production, hindering nuclear energy expansion, and seeking to impose job-killing cap-and-trade energy taxes. Now is the time to adopt innovative energy policies that create jobs and lower energy prices.
The president and I agree on expanding the number of high-quality charter schools and rewarding teachers for excellent performance. More school choices for parents and students mean more accountability and greater achievement.
A child's educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her ZIP Code.
All Americans agree that we must maintain a strong national defense. The courage and success of our armed forces is allowing us to draw down troop levels in Iraq as that government is increasingly able to step up.
We applaud President Obama's decision to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. We agree that victory there is imperative for national security.
But we have serious concerns over the recent steps the administration has taken regarding suspected terrorists. Americans were shocked on Christmas Day to learn of the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence.
As Senator-elect Scott Brown has said, we should be spending taxpayer dollars to defeat terrorists, not to protect them.
Many Americans are concerned about this administration's effort to exert greater control over car companies, banks, energy, and health care, but over-regulating employers won't create more employment, overtaxing investors won't foster more investment.
Top-down, one-size-fits-all decision-making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism. As our founders clearly stated, and we governors clearly understand, government closest to the people governs best.
America will always blaze the trail of opportunity and prosperity. America will -- must always be a land where liberty and property are valued and respected and innocent human life is protected.
Government should have this clear goal: Where opportunity is absent, we must create it. Where opportunity is limited, we must expand it. Where opportunity is unequal, we must make it open to everyone.
Our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to create this great nation. Now we should pledge as Democrats, Republicans and independents -- Americans all -- to work together to leave this nation an ever better place than we found it.
God bless you, and God bless this great land of America. Thank you very much.
Go to www.solutions.Gop.gov to see Republican proposals
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UNITED STATES PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington D.C. 20500
(202) 456-1414 Comments at (202) 456-1111 fax at (202 456-2461
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (213) 897-0322
State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 fax (213) .897-0319
governor@governor.gov
U.S. SENATORS
Diane Feinstein (D) (310) 914-7300
11111 Santa Monica Blvd #915, Los Angeles, CA 90025
331Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510 202) 224-3841
www.Feinstein.senate.gov
Barbara Boxer (D) (213) 894-5000
312 N, Spring St., Ste 1748, Los Angeles, CA 90012 fax (213) 894-5012
112 Hart Senate Office Bldg, Washington D.C. 20514 (202) 224-3553
www.boxer.senate.gov
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS
27th Brad Sherman (D) (818)501-9200
5000Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
sherman.personal@mail.house.gov
www.BradSherman.house.gov
28thHoward Berman(D) (818) 891-0543
10200 Sepulveda Blvd., #300, Mission Hills, CA 91345
Howard.Berman@mail.house.gov
30th Henry Waxman (D)………………………………………...(818) 878-7400
8436 W. Third St. #600, Los Angeles, CA 90048
www.house.gov/waxman/
CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE
17th George Runner (R) …………………….……………………..….(661) 729-6232
848 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster, CA 93534
19th Tony Strickland (R) (805) 306-8886
2655 First Street - #230 Simi Valley, CA 93065
State Capitol Room 3070, Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-8873
20th Alex Padilla (D) (818) 901-5588
6150 Van Nuys Blvd., 400, Van Nuys, CA 91401
23rd Fran Pavley (D) (310) 441-9084
10951 W. Pico Blvd. #202, Los Angeles, CA 90064
State Capitol, Room 4032, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 445-1353
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
37th Audra Strickland (R)…………….………………………………..(805) 230-9167
2659 Townsgate Road, #236, Westlake Village, CA 91361
38th Cameron Smyth (R) (661) 286-1565
23734 Valencia Blvd., #303, Santa Cclarita,CA 91355 State Capitol, Room 4153, Sacramento, CA 95814 …..916) 319-2038
40 Bob Blumenfield (D) (818) 904-3840
6150 Van Nuys Blvd., #300, Van Nuys, Ca 91401
State Capitol, Room 6011, Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2040
41st Julia Brownley (D) (818) 596-4141
6355 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Ste. 205, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
State Capitol, room 5144, Sacramento, CA 94249 (916) 319-2041
LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Central Office, 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
3rdZev Yaroslavsky(D) (818) 880-9416
26500 W. Agoura R., Calabasas, CA 91302
5th Michael D. Antonovich ( R )…………….………………………. (818) 993-5170
…………21943 Plummer Street, Chatsworth, CA 91311
fifthdistrict@lacbos.org
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL
City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
3rdDennis Zine(R) (818) 756-8848
19040 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335
counvilmember.zine@lacity.org
12thGreig Smith (R) (818) 886-5210
18917 Nordhoff St., #18, Northridge, CA 91324
councilmember.smith@lacity.org
LOS ANGELES CITY MAYOR
Antonio Villaraigosa (D)………………………………………(818) 778-4990
City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street,, Room 303, Los Angeles, CA 90012
City Hall, 14410 Sylvan Street, Van Nuys, CA 91411
Julyor@lacity.org
CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN PARTY
1903 w. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA 91506 ………………….(818) 841-5210
alternate phone (714) 893-8004
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FEDERATION OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN (LACFRW)
NANCY EISENHART, PRESIDENT………………….(818) 389-0423
P.O. BOX 8995, CALABASAS, CA 91372-8995
newrepublicanwoman@yahoo.com
www.lacfrw.org
User name: lacfrw Password: bush
Join LACFRW on Facebook. We've started a new group which can be found at www.facebook.com Please invite your Republican friends to join.
not, If you are not already on FACEBOOK, you will need to register, a simple process. Join in the conversation.
California Federation of Republican Women Southern Division
www.cfrwsoutherndivision.org
User name: sodiv Password: sunny
California Federation of Republican Women
www.cfrw.org
User name: cfrw Password: ULC2hK
National Federation of Republican Women
www.nfrw.org
User name: federation Password: 1938nfrw
NFRW Fall 2010 magazine now on-line This
magazine is printed quarterly
WEBSITES FOR CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION
www.ReaganAction.com
www.majoritynext.org
www.OurLA.org
http://lgstarr.blogspot.com
GOVERNMENT WEBSITES:
www.whitehouse.gov
www.superiorcourt.gov
www.senate.gov
www.house.gov
www.sen.ca.gov
www.assembly.ca.gov
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