Kathleen Sebelius:"There is absolutely no evidence -- and every economist will tell you this -- that there is any job loss related to the Affordable Care Act," Has she ever read anything by Thomas Sowell, Lawrence Kudlow, Charles Krauthammer, or Charles Payne? When politicians assert such things so forcefully, you know they're blowing smoke up your skirt. They know it's a lie, so they say something really outrageous ("What difference, at this point, does it make?") and hope to cut  the opposition off at the knees. Unfortunately,  it works all too often.

       Okay.  I give up.  I resisted responding to the Yuma Sun article “Global warming debate heats up with polar vortex.” But now the president pledges billions more of my tax dollars to fight the phenomenon, and John Kerry calls it a threat on par with terrorism.  I cannot hold my tongue.  Such hubris!

       We are microbes in an endlessly vast universe.  To pretend that the science is settled on any issue is absurd.  Yesterday coffee was deadly.  Today it prevents heart attacks if you drink at least 5 cups.  Yesterday milk fat caused obesity.  Today, consuming skim milk products leads to obesity.  Whole grains are good.  Carbohydrate are deadly.

          The Sun editorial would have you believe that only Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh are questioning the science.  Prepare for an epiphany!  In my last letter on this issue I cited the work Israeli astrophysicist Nir Shaviv and Canadian geologist Jan Veizer that demonstrated a 5,000 year correlation between fluctuation in earth temperatures and  the way the earth is affected by varying degrees of the inflow of cosmic rays as it passes through the spiral arms of our galaxy. 

         Check out the work of  Syun-Ichi Akasofu, Ph.D. geophysics at the Ankorage University who says  ". . . climate change during the last few hundred years may be interpreted mainly in terms of a combination of the recovery effect and the multi-decadal oscillation. These are natural changes.”

        Study Khabibullo Ismailovich Abdusamatova physicist at the Russian Academy of Sciences who claims that "global warming results not from the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but from an unusually high level of solar radiation and a lengthy—almost throughout the last century—growth in its intensity."

         Read Claude Allègre of the Institute of Geophysics, Paris who argues that elected officials should avoid implementing climate change policy because it would "divert resources from real needs and are based on alarming but untenable claims of 'incontrovertible' evidence." 

         Or maybe Augie Auer Jr.,  an atmospheric scientist and meteorologist in New Zealand, who….  Oh but this is tiresome.  At one time I had a list of some 1,500 scientists, many of them Nobel Prize winners, who questioned the conclusions of the pretenders, the pseudo scientists, the political hacks looking for easy money who sign off on the various global warming protocols.  

           There is so much we do not understand about our universe, so much we don’t understand even about our solar system, the sun’s geomagnetic storms, its coronal mass ejections and solar flares.   No real scientist would ever claim that “the science is settled,” on any issue, and especially on issues as complex and the climate.  Questioning, probing, inquiry is the life blood of a real scientist.  And for politicians to make assertions to the contrary indicates that we are being grossly deceived.

        Thomas Sowell reminds us that some of our biggest problems are caused by the intellectuals among us “who have trouble remembering that they are not God.”  

Saguaro Mobile Estates

At Wednesday's annual meeting property owners expressed an interest in knowing what was going on whether or not they were in residence.  I had been working on a web page, but the work is slow and tedious.  I decided to use what I already have, my blog.

This morning the Saguaro women are working on a Dresses for Africa project.  It's an excuse to spend quality time together and do your part to make the world a better place. 

I thought this might also be a place to post the minutes from Board Meeting.  To that end here are the minutes from the January 30, 2014 annual meeting.

Saguaro Mobile Estates

Annual Meeting

January 29, 2014

Gordon Haugen………President Brian Gardner……….Vice President Cora Lee Schingnitz…Secretary Joan Frenzel……Acting Treasurer	Block 1:  Ray Belair and John Ord Block 2:   Jim Williams and Don Sears Block 3:   Carol Frantal and Doug vanEden Block 4:  Jim Martin and Louise Franche

President Gordon called the meeting to order at 1:00.

Marlene Larsen offered the opening prayer.

The meeting was attended by 73 home owners with14 proxies represented.

All board members were present except Jim Williams.

Members observed a moment of silence in honor of friends we lost this year: Paula Robbins, Obie Tu, Shirley Wilcox, Nilace Sparks, Frank Hayes, and Billy Anderson, son of Shirley Anderson.

John Ord explained the parliamentary procedures that will be used during this meeting limiting each speaker to two minutes for the subject at hand.

Joan Frenzel  read the minutes from the last annual meeting for Secretary Cora Lee who was preparing ballots. Bill Meyers moved the minutes be accepted.  Margaret Baumgartner seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

President Gordon, in keeping with the decision of the board at the last meeting, had the maintenance forms distributed and instructed homeowners to fill them out before they leave for the summer and give them to Jim Williams who will monitor designated gardeners.

Stan Strle reported that the audit committee had completed its examination of the books and found everything to be in order.  “Everything balanced.”

Joan Frenzel, Acting Treasurer, gave the treasurers report: A balance of $3,081.29 in checking and $48,682.71 in savings for a total of $51,764,00.  Jim March moved that the report be accepted.  Del Wulf seconded.  Discussion ensued with regard to a discrepancy in the assessment figures for 2013.  Some homeowners had paid in December of 2012 for the 2013 year, so the budget reflected a shortfall suggesting there were homeowners in arrears which is not the case except for one piece of property against which the park has filed a lien for past dues, maintenance, and interest..  Joan explained that if she were to be elected treasurer, she will in future, not accept payment until after the first of the year in order to clear up the discrepancy.  Motion to accept the treasure report passed unanimously.

President Gordon introduced the new owners in the park. Joe and Rikki Brafford, Doug and Cora van Eden, Phil and Jennie Dahl, George and Judy Bishop, George and Jean Johnson, and Joe Weamer.

Joan Frenzel submitted the recreation report:  Checking balance $4,390.26, Petty Cash $30,00 for a total of $4,420.36.   Angie Gardener moved that it be accepted, Fran Tracy seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

Brian Gardner reported on the decisions made by the finance committee. Discussion ensued with regard to how much the proposed 2014 budget differed from the 2013 budget The numbers were almost identical.  Larry Aebly moved that the budget be accepted,  Avis Janke seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

Monica Swank reported that the new phone book (purple this year) would go to the printer tomorrow morning and could be available as early as Monday.

Bob Johnson reported that Bob Boomer had agreed to run for vice-president and Joan Frenzel for treasurer.  President Gordon call three times for additional nominees for vice president..  There being none, Bob was elected by acclamation. President Gordon called three times for additional nominees for treasurer.  There being none, Joan Frenzel was elected by acclamation.

President Gordon called for a vote designating signers on our bank accounts.  Monica Swank moved that we designate Joan Frenzel and Ginger Martin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Bob Boomer reported on behalf of the ByLaw committee explaining Part I, the first four pages of the recommendations dealt with ByLaws only which  can be changed by a 2/3rds vote as long as they do not violate the intent of the CC&Rs. The last page dealt with a rental exception, and requires a change in the CC&Rs that would have to be filed officially with Yuma County Board.  Much discussion ensued with regard to the board’s ability to dismiss a member by 2/3 vote without cause.  Bob Boomer explained that it was a matter of protecting the association from expensive lawsuits.

 John Colvin moved that we postpone voting on the CC&R rental exception until next year because some members voiced objections to issue.  Roy Cormier seconded the motion.  The motion was defeated.

President Gordon called for a vote and both issues passed with a 76% and a 70% margin respectively.

Gordon asked for a discussion regarding how to deal with the pool cover.  Larry Aebly moved that we uncover the pool from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Ray Cortez seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Gordon asked members to volunteer to cover and uncover the pool daily.  Ray Cortez and Lou Franche both said that they would be willing to help any time.  Just knock on their doors.

President Gordon apologized to Mike Haley when he realized he had spoken inappropriately during the heated discussion over the ByLaws and the CC&Rs

The next board meeting will be February 10, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.

Somebody moved and somebody seconded that the meeting be adjourned, and everybody left.

Nuff said?

Minutes submitted by Cora Lee Schingnitz, Secretary.

To: Senator John McCain

        Senator John McCain says that the actions of House Republicans causing the government shutdown is one of the most “shameful chapters he’s seen” in all his years in congress.  Mr. McCain, I am ashamed to say that I campaigned for you for president and supported you in your run for the senate.  I am ashamed.

         First of all, the government has shut down 17 times since 1976 when budgeting processes allowed it to happen, and you have worked through 9 of them.  The government shut down every year when Ronald Reagan was president.  How were they resolved?  President Reagan refused to inflict pain on the American people, so he negotiated and compromised. 

         It was not the Republicans but President Obama and the Democrats who shut down the government because they refuse to negotiate, refuse to compromise.  Republicans offered proposal after proposal and each one was either rejected or ignored. 

         First they offered a budget that funded everything except Obamacare.  Rejected.  

          Second, they offered a budget that funded everything but proposed to delay Obamacare for a year and repeal the malevolent medical device tax.  Rejected.

          Third, they proposed a budget that funded everything, but delayed Obamacare’s individual mandate for just one year and required the president, the vice president, political appointees, and all members of Congress and their staffs to enroll in Obamacare’s health-care exchanges with no employer contribution.  Rejected. 

          Fourth, the House tried passing small appropriations bills to keep specific portions of the government running.  Ignored.  Obama demands they restore all government funding without conditions.  

           Republicans proposed keeping the sequester cuts in place, but giving departments of government the flexibility to apply those cuts in ways least harmful to services.  Democrats said no.  Sequester cuts must be applied across the board in ways that inflict the most pain on the American people.

           Democrats insist on an all or nothing approach despite the fact that in every government shutdown in the past, spending gap measures have always been passed to protect important services.

           Senator McCain, I am embarrassed that you demonize those of us in These United states who insist on a fiscally responsible government.  Blame President Obama.  He is so inept he hasn’t been able to get a budget passed in 5 years, even during those years when Democrats controlled  both houses.  Blame Democrats who criminally refuse to face the mind boggling realities of a 17 trillion debt coupled with 90 trillion dollars in future unfunded liabilities. 

           Obama and the Democrats have opted to simply ignore the doom and gloom.  Harry Reed refuses to bring even President Obama’s proposed budgets to the floor of the senate for a vote, and he and goes home grinning because he has manipulated the press, and you, into blaming Conservative Republicans. “They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade.”  God forbid we should have legislators who put principle before power.

               Senator McCain, I love you.  I respect you.  But I regret to say that you have, for 33 years, sacrificed principle for power.  God forbid we lose every election, but at least Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Mike Lee and David Vitter, Jeff Sessions, Pat Roberts, Jim Risch, Rand Paul, James M. Inhofe and Mike Enzi will rest in peace, knowing they fought the good fight.

Another gem from the past (2005?) but relevant today.

            My high school journalism instructor back in 1954 was adamant about making sure we understood the difference between news and opinion, and more important, the difference between opinion and propaganda.  Your article “White House defends reports,” Friday, June 10, 2005, demonstrates once again that journalism schools no longer make those distinctions.

            Propaganda, my teacher called it yellow journalism, pretends to be news but slants the content of the report so as to influence public opinion.  The Author of “White House….” would have us believe that President Bush is reluctant to sign off on the Kyoto Protocol because he is influenced by the oil industry, especially Exxon /corporation.  As an oil man himself, he may well be so influenced, but shouldn’t the article at least mention that 17,100 scientists from over 100 countries, most with advanced degrees, 72 of them Nobel Prize winners have been challenging the science upon which the protocol was based for 13 years, from the very beginning.

            The computer models that were used to predict global catastrophe were already proven to be absurdly wrong by 1998, but the media refuse to report on that fact, and if they do it’s in the form of a hint in a one inch column in the middle of page 16.  Instead they continue to treat the Kyoto Protocol as though it were sacred.

            Earth’s ecosystem is profoundly complex and the CO2 concentrations are dictated by the physical and chemical laws of nature that the best scientists don’t understand and the consequences of which are impossible to predict.  Ice cores drilled at the poles show us that the earth has been heating up and cooling off for thousands, millions of years, long before the advent of man, say nothing of the advent of the industrial age.  For homo sapien to think that he is in change of the majesty that is this planet, the universe, is the height of hubris

            Scientists cannot predict what the weather will be like this afternoon, how they can possibly pretend to predict what it will be like in 10 years.  Researchers prove themselves wrong on almost every issue year after year. The changes in dietary recommendations for babies are just one small example.   At one time we were told that we must feed our babies one egg a day, then it was, no eggs at all, then it was not the whole egg, just the yolk, then it was no, not the yolk, just the white.   First coffee causes heart problems, now we learn it can prevent heart problems if we drink at least five cups a day.  Chocolate is bad, no chocolate is good; especially for your teeth Carbohydrates are good!  Carbohydrates are bad!!

            There are those who say it is best to err on the side of caution.  But erring in face of evidence that proves we are wrong from the beginning is silly.  The results show us that there would be no benefit to following the protocol and the costs would be enormous.  Western governments tend to do the feel good thing rather than make decisions based on logical analysis. Let’s opt for the right thing rather than the feel good thing.

Immigration Bill

I have been reluctant to speak about the immigration bill because dealing justly with our rampant immigration problems is so important.  We are a land of immigrants, and how we come together to become Americans is fundamental to what the idea of America is or will become.

However, what I have seen lately is insane.  It’s over 1200 pages.  The first 155 deal with critical immigration issues.  The rest is an example of the utter contempt our political class has for the American electorate. They obviously agree with Bill Maher that we are a bunch of ignorant knuckle draggers.

Like the Affordable Care Act, the Immigration bill panders to every special interest group.  Reid and Dan Heller get 100 million to encourage tourism.  Alaska gets special exemption for seafood workers. Kickbacks and perks ad nauseum. 

It establishes huge bureaucracies that will be run by un-elected officials who answer to no one, thousands more government workers who will grant themselves huge bonuses for watching porn. 

Marco said there is a very strict work requirement, but immigrants are exempt from the requirement if they are working on a GED, caring for a child or parent, or can’t get a job for a reason they consider no fault of their own. A work requirement that doesn’t require work?

The Sanders amendment recycles the defeated jobs bill providing $1.5 billion over two years to help 400,000 people between the ages of 16 and 24 find summer and year round jobs. Can we have an immigration bill that deals with immigration?

Did you think the bill would require the government to finish the fence? I thought so.   Some 180 days after the enactment of the bill, Napolitano will identify where the fence should be deployed, but “nothing in this section requires the Secretary to install fencing.”   

The bill doesn’t strengthen immigration requirements, it weakens them.  Asylum seekers get extended deadlines and new layers of appeals and the bill gives the Attorney General’s office the right to pay for all the legal bills incurred by those who seek asylum.

The bill handcuffs border patrol agents by protecting the “civil rights” of those who cross illegally.  They cannot be punished if it is “against the best interest” of the individual attempting to cross. 

As usual, our legislators are promoting another great big joke.  I for one am not laughing. 

Government devours wealth

               To get us to vote a certain way government pretends to do what it does to help the little guy, promote jobs, and increase opportunities.  In reality, government destroys job opportunities for the little guy.  Take California where blue collar industries like Chevron get taxed at a 44 per cent rate.  White collar industries like Apple and Google get taxed at a 10 per cent rate.  Blue color industries are heavily regulated.  White collar industries get the green light.

               The bigger the government, the more vulnerable it is to outside influence and manipulation, and who are the expert manipulators?  The guys at the top.  George Soros has devoted his life to working the system.  He may not be the richest man in the world yet, but he’s close.      

               When gas prices spiked from 25 cents to 75 cents a gallon in 1977, President Carter felt our pain at the pump, so  he created the Department of Energy to ensure energy independence and availability. The department employs 116,000 employees including contract employees and spends nearly 30 billion a year.  Is that close to 1.5 trillion we’ve spent on solving our energy problems only to pay close to $5.00 a gallon today? 

               I have no idea how many people work at the department of labor, but I was astounded by the size of the building when I visited Washington a year ago.  I’m guessing it employs well over a hundred thousand of white collar people hard at work trying to make rules and regulations that likely depress the blue collar market.

               And big government impulses are not party specific.   Jim Talent (R-MO) just sponsored the Skilled Work--force Enhancement Act (H.R. 1824), a bill that purports to help blue collar workers.  My prediction is that the bill will increase the white collar work force in D.C. and in government centers across the country, but it will do little to promote blue collar jobs.

               The one thing that creates jobs for the little guy is free enterprise. What big government is good at is devouring wealth, creating poverty, and keeping the underclasses dependent.