Heredia Slinging Mud about Voter Fraud

           With regard to Luis Heredia “Election Law Targets Democrats favors Republicans” (AZ Republic July 1, 2013) I don’t know how Arizona’s HB 2305 can favor Republicans.  It prohibits volunteers from any political organization, that’s both Republican and Democrat, from picking up early voter ballots and taking them to the polls.  I have worked the polls and know that members of political organizations drop over 50 ballots at a time in the box at the polls.  There is no record of where they came from or who is authorized to deliver them.  I would think that both Democrats and Republicans would be concerned about truing the vote, unless it’s an open admission that it’s only Democrats that do it.

             Heredia also accused Arizona of having antiquated precinct restriction.  In the last election, voters could vote at any precinct which is one of the reasons that lines were so long.  Poll workers had to have ballots from every precinct to be sure all comers could vote.  It was awkward, expensive, and time consuming, but there were certainly no restrictions.

               Heredia also sees the new law as evidence of Arizona’s “dark history of discrimination.”  It’s the Democratic Party that has the dark history of discrimination.  Republicans have been pushing for voter rights for generations while Democrats have insisted on all manner of restrictions like poll taxes and literacy tests in their attempt to deny the vote.

              As is true of so many pundits on the left, Luis Heredia turns out accusation after accusation, failing to cite evidence in support even one. He subscribes to the rhetorical camp that recommends, “Sling the mud.  Something might stick.”

Dick Durbin's lapse of memory

             Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator from Illinois, laid thick and heavy praise on Obama’s staff laying out a clear vision for conflict in Syria.  He said the distinction between the 2003 Iraq war and the case in Syria is clear.  There is a moral component in what President Obama is proposing. The use of biological weapons is a clear red line.  By comparison, he claims that in the 2003 war President Bush committed a “mortal political sin” by lying to the American people about the weapons of mass destruction. 

             Durbin credits himself with a long memory, but apparently he forgot that Saddam Hussein attempted genocide using biological weapons on the Kurdish populations in Iraq killing 5,000 and injuring another 10,000. According to the August 21^st report, perhaps 650 were killed in Syria.

             He probably also forgot Saddam Hussein violated the agreements he signed at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. U.N. inspectors we supposed to periodically inspect sites suspected of concealing weapons of mass destruction.  For 12 years Saddam refused access.  What was he hiding? Apparently not weapons of mass destruction, but he clearly pretended to have them. 

           The “Mortal Sin” is that we keep sending people like Dick Durbin to Washington over and over again.  They lose sight of truth and honor.  They've forgotten how to work and produce. They have lost any sense of fairness and honesty. We have been stupid to scrimp and sacrifice in order to provide them with their luxurious life style, their sumptuous benefits, and their golden retirement parachute.  What were we thinking?  

          And it is absolutely dishonorable for them to expect or accept it.   

Being a Conservative Clarified

              Connie Burkhard (“Many differences between liberals and conservatives” Yuma Sun, February 2, 2013.) made some statements about being a conservative that need some elaboration. 

             “Pro-life”?  Most conservatives are probably pro-life, but most as well do not want the federal government interfering in the personal decisions of individuals or states. Conservatives fiercely defend the 10^th Amendment which leaves to the states all those powers not specified in Article I Section of 8 of the constitution. Basically, the federal government’s responsibility is to provide for the common defense and protect our borders. “Do your job.  Pass a budget and then go home and get a real job.” 

            “Equality takes a back seat”?  Absolutely not! That all men are created equal is at the core of conservative belief. Our individual gifts abound and for the federal government to interfere in our individual pursuit of happiness is abhorrent.

            “Patriarchal”?  Perhaps.  We certainly believe in family; and a family, like a ship, needs a captain.  The evidence is irrefutable that children raised by single parents are at a stark disadvantage, so we abhor government programs that encourage that life style.

            “No gun regulation“?  Somewhat true. I think most conservatives support thorough background checks for gun buyers.  Gunowners certainly do not want their names and addresses published in the local paper, though.

             “No social help.”? Absolutely false.  Conservatives believe in providing a safety net for those truly in need, but we believe that it should not be the responsibility of the federal government. Federal government largess simply leads to corruption.  We cannot let politicians buy votes with tax money.  State and county and municipal governments do a much better job of identifying and helping with those in need.  Conservatives give more to charity than any other political group.

              “Religion in the public schools”? No.  “The federal government will make no law regarding the establishment of religion.”  However, at the same time the federal government will make no law “prohibition the free exercise” of religion. We all should feel free to exercise our religious rights at all times and in all places.

             Thomas Jefferson is thought to be the most non-religious among the founders; but even he said,”God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”  So we don’t establish a religion, but we must realize that if we don’t recognize that our rights are God given, we are in peril of losing them.  Washington, too, expressed many times, his belief about the importance of religion:  “Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports."

               Darrell Scott who lost his daughter at Columbine touched our hearts when he said, “What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.”

Choosing Happiness

             A friend of mine who dearly loved my mother just sent me an email saying our family reminded her of “Little House on the Prairie.”  That brought to mind a guy I used to teach with who called us the Flagstaff Waltons.  It causes me to reflect.  

             According to my mother’s count, we moved some 28 times into a series of 1 or 2 bedroom houses.  (Our Minot house had 4 bedrooms, but we rented out 3 of them to college students.)  \

     Once when reflecting on the “good old times,” a friend spoke of the pot under the bed.  Now we didn’t even have a pot under the bed.  If it was too cold to go out we used the slop bucket under the sink.  So when we say we didn’t have a pot to piss in, it was absolutely true. 

        Our life was not golden, but we were a very happy family, because we chose to be.  Listening to a lecture on Prageru.com got me thinking about this.  He says the pursuit of happiness is not a selfish pursuit, it’s an obligation.  We bathe and use deodorant so as not to offend others.  By the same token, we should take on a happy spirit so as not to infect others with our unhappiness. 

         Our move to Arizona illustrates how we somehow knew that.  My four older brothers and sisters had followed their dreams, and my  Dad had always wanted to pursue distant horizons as well, so we packed up our car with what was left of our earthly possessions in the trunk and a carrier on top of our car and the remaining six of us headed for Arizona.   As we headed down Black Canyon Highway toward Phoenix mid-August we were all exuded excitement. We'd stuck our arms out the window of the our un-air-conditioned car and exclaimed “Oh, feel that heat.  Isn’t it wonderful?  Look at that cactus.  Isn’t it beautiful” 

       Some years later, my sister Diane and I were sitting on the couch in our Page trailer house and I said, “I’ve got to tell you, when we drove down that last stretch of highway toward Phoenix, I was appalled.  I could not believe we had done such a dumb thing.  It was God awful hot and ugly.”  Both Mom and Diane said, “Really?  Me too.”  We laughed hysterically at our mutual deceit. 

          How did my parents teach us to choose happiness, to not infect others with misery and gloom?

“All happiness depends on courage and work.” ― Honoré de Balzac

              The Colorado River Tea Party hosted a successful, very informative Meet the Candidates Forum at the Martin Luther King center Thursday evening.  We are fortunate to have such a fine slate of candidates.

             My parents were of America’s “Greatest Generation.”  Their contributions to the nation were enormous.  I’m afraid my generation has been the generation that, through complacency, bought the nation to its knees.  I am heartened to see a new generation that has accepted civic responsibility, that realizes that we have a government of “we the people,” and that “we the people” have to step up to the plate.

              The candidates all made strong statements with regard to creating a council that is committed to working harmoniously with the mayor to promote a fiscally responsible government that is business friendly, transparent and committed to public safety.

            One query in the Q and A session piqued my interest, a question that diminished the respectability of a minimum wage job.  I have respect for my nephews who went to college and became doctors and engineers and nurses.  But I have even more respect for my nephews who were not above washing dishes and slinging pizza and eventually landing a minimum wage job at Lowes or Home Depot.

             They saved and invested their money and worked their way up the ladder of success to become store managers and district managers. Yuma has the highest unemployment rate in the country.  Let’s build an attitude of respect for work, respect for minimum wage jobs that are the ladder to success. 

     One season, my grandson successfully juggled three minimum wage jobs in order to make ends meet.  He made me so proud I burst the buttons in my shirt.  Well, in truth, that may have been as a result of massive weight gain, but I was proud as punch.

             We need to take Ashton Kutchner’s attitude to heart.  At the Teen Choice Award he said, “I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than….washing dishes, sweeping cereal flakes off the factory floor….  Every job was a stepping stone to the next job….  Sexy is being smart, thoughtful and generous.  Everything else is crap.”

Of course they are Socialists!

               Denial is a coping mechanism that prevents us from dealing with difficult problems.  I love my dog Cricket, partly because her lustrous black coat reminds me of the comfortable furry body of my late husband.   For months I denied her shedding problem, but I finally had to admit that she not only sheds, she molts, large tufts and scattering threads of hair, anathema to my house guests.

               John Beisner is in denial as well.  The Democrat agenda socialist?  “Hardly,” he says.  Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party candidate for president, said himself that we didn’t need a socialist party in America any more because the Democrats had so thoroughly adopted their platform. 

               According to Mr. Beisner,  I blame politicians of “the Democrat persuasion” for the shrinking of the middle class.  Actually, I respect Democrats for being forthright about their platform: raising taxes in order to increase the scope of government. The politicians for whom I have the least respect are Republicans who pretend to abhor large government waste but who, as one friend of mine says, “fall in love with the smell of marble” and abandon principle the moment get their first whiff.

               Beisner also fails to fully explain problems with with regard to income disparities.  It is probably true that incomes rose by 111 per cent between 1954 and 1982, but he fails to reckon with the fact that the cost of living rose by 300 per cent. The major reason the middle class has lost buying power is the grotesquely burgeoning cost of government regulations which have tripled in recent decades, strangling the middle class and suffocating entrepreneurship.

       President Obama scoffs at the notion that he supports socialist policies, but Newsweek magazine had it right.  “We are all socialists now.”  And history is undeniable.  Socialism is a kind of Dracula that feeds off the blood of its people, sapping them of strength and ingenuity. The ruling elite live lavishly in their seaside dachas, the rest of us stashed like worker bees in hive-like housing projects, carefully monitored, under constant surveillance, zoned out on alcohol or marijuana, or a daily ration of soma tablets.  

        Hello “Brave New World.”

Solar Power - Another burden on the back of the middle class.

                   The Yuma Sun article, (“Charges being added to APS electricity bills,” February 05, 2013) said that APS needed to raise their prices in order to cover fixed costs like infrastructure and power poles.

                 I think we need to look deeper into the real reason APS is raising its rates. There are other factors besides the fact that we aren’t buying enough power to maintain their infrastructure.

                 One factor is that the APS consumers are funding solar energy projects all over the state.  APS gives $2400 to $7000 rebates to every person who installs a solar energy unit.  They have to raise our rates in order to fund the generous rebates.  Does it make sense that those of us who are struggling to pay our power bills are expected to pick up the tab for generous rebates to people who are wealthy enough to afford solar panels?     

                  APS is also raising our rates in order to fund the huge megawatt renewable energy power plants they are building all over the state. That’s pretty expensive infrastructure and somebody has to pay for it.  Supposedly we’ll reap the benefits somewhere down the road, but I am not counting on it.

It’s another example of how government doesn’t solve problems; it creates problems.  In 2010 the Arizona Corporation Commission passed rules requiring utilities to cut their customers' annual energy use by at least 22 percent by 2020.  The federal government mandated green energy initiatives.

                    You will notice that the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation District power costs are about 60 per cent of what ours are.  They are not members of the corporation commission.  They’re run by a local board of directors, so they are not bound by the demand to build expensive renewable energy plants.  Their customers pay for the energy they use.

                   We have to pay for the energy we use and a little more for the cost of building plants like the 100 acre 15 megawatt solar plant located at Luke Air force Base. It will be a couple of generations before the plants begin to pay for themselves and by then they’ll be broken down eyesores just like the hay bale drying plant on the north side of Highway 8 that was obsolete before it dried one bale.