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Hero and Zero

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:39:26 PST

HERO: We're mighty impressed by folks who don't subscribe to that zero approach of finders keepers, losers weepers. Kevin Foor of San Rafael brings us another story about a good citizen returning the goods to their rightful owner. After using self-checkout at the Safeway in Terra Linda, Kevin left his $20 cash-back in the machine. Returning to the store later, Shafer Bell, a Safeway cashier, asked Kevin if he came back for his $20. "He could have kept the money and claimed he knew nothing about it," says Kevin. "I remain touched by his honesty." Shafer Bell, you're our Hero this week, not only for helping Kevin, but for helping us keep our faith in humanity. Safeway, give that man a raise. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=5178 posted Friday, February 3, 2012, 12:00 AM

Talking Pictures: They don't make 'em like they used to

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:55:19 PST

"I'm always quoting old movies," says comedian Mort Sahl, absently watching some less-than-fresh cream dissolve into flaky little chunks in his cup of coffee. "And the pictures I always seem to be quoting are the old ones, the classics—the kind of stuff I feel is typical of American cinema. So that's what I've been exploring in this series." Read the full story here http://pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=5177 posted Friday, February 3, 2012, 12:00 AM

'Phonic boom!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:36:09 PST

This month we focus on one of the brightest lights currently coming out of the Bay Area music scene, the funk-soul juggernaut known as Monophonics. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4017 posted Thursday, February 2, 2012, 12:15 PM

Smart-meter 'opt out' approved--at a price

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:02:38 PST

In the world of energy meters, some things change, some stay the same--well, for $10 a month they do. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4016&e=y posted Thursday, February 2, 2012, 10:48 AM

Souza pleads guilty to murder

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:23:35 PST

Frank Souza will receive life without the possibility of parole for 2010 prison-yard stabbing. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4018 posted Thursday, February 2, 2012, 1:09 PM

Letter: Dead air

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:32:31 PST

Nikki Silverstein's story on the format change at KGO ("Cumulus Killed the Radio Star?" Jan. 4) is one of the best editorials I have read in your magazine in years... Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4015&e=y posted Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 1:01 PM

New York Times Takes A Bite Out of Our Apple

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:35 PST

Talk about ingratitude. After all Steve Jobs tried to do to save that worthless rag. Now they are trying to turn Americans against our premier phone maker. There are thousands of Americans working right here in the U.S.A. for this tech giant. And yes there are thousands doing assembly work in China. The same company that assembles Apple products also assemble most of the other phones and electronic products of the world. Apple is not the only sour fruit in the barrel. But at least they're our product. I for one will always support Apple. We own the Iphones, Ipads, Ipods, Macs and look forward to buying the new ITV. I will never buy a New York Times. I like to read the Chronicle,the PacSun and the Independent Journal. End of story. Insert counter argument below.

The Role of the Courts Issue--Heritage Foundation

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:25:43 PST

Here's the latest from our Conservative think tank. The Founders envisioned the judiciary as the �least dangerous branch,� but activist judges have transformed the courts into policymaking bodies that wield wide-ranging power reaching virtually all aspects of American life. Rather than fulfilling their duty to interpret the Constitution and laws as they are written, judges increasingly seek to impose their own policy preferences on the nation. Disturbingly, some judges have begun to rely on foreign law to modify the requirements of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has overstepped its bounds in many areas, even asserting its authority to strike down national secu�rity measures that are clearly supposed to be left to the President as Commander in Chief. In order to restore the rule of law in America, elected officials, legal experts, and concerned citizens must oppose judicial activism and encourage the President to select constitutionalist judges. Judicial activism occurs when judges write subjective policy preferences into the law rather than applying the law impartially according to its original meaning. Judicial activism can be either liberal or conservative; it is not a function of outcomes, but one of interpretation. While some argue that judicial activism is simply the striking down of any law or reaching a bad policy conclusion, it is not. A judge acting properly must strike down laws that violate the Constitution, and in applying the law dutifully, a judge could very well reach conclusions that might be perceived as bad policy but are nonetheless correctly decided according to the law�s original meaning. A constitutionalist judge, by contrast, interprets the laws as they are written, regardless of whether he or she personally approves of the laws or would prefer a different outcome in the case. As Chief Justice John Roberts insightfully explained in his confirmation hearing, �Judges are like umpires. Umpires don�t make the rules; they apply them.� This is how the American Founders understood the judicial role. By engaging in judicial activism, judges undermine both the rule of law and the ability of the people to decide important issues through their elected representatives. Put another way, judicial activism undermines the democratic process that is vital to our system of government. Instead of deferring to the role of the elected branches of government, judges take it upon themselves to directly influence policy areas that will inevitably lead the nation down a particular legal path. Several egregious examples of judicial activism have occurred over the past decade at all levels of the judiciary. In Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court interpreted the Takings Clause of the Consti�tution to allow government to seize citizens� homes�not to build a road or fulfill some other public use as is required by the Fifth Amendment, but to transfer the property to a private corporation because it could pay more taxes. In the area of gun rights, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment did not apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment and does not even implicate a fundamental right�a position that ignored a century�s worth of interpretation of constitutional rights. This decision was corrected by the Supreme Court, but only by a razor-thin 5�4 vote. There are many other questions concerning the right to keep and bear arms that are likely to come before the Supreme Court, and a switch of just one vote could change the outcome. Finally, in upholding the individual health care mandate of Obamacare, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Congress, pursuant to its constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce, could force Americans not engaged in commercial activity to purchase a product from a private company and to continue doing so from cradle to grave. If this interpretation were adopted by the Supreme Court, it would result in an unprecedented expansion of government authority and would fundamentally rewrite the Constitution and its limitations on federal power. Other major cases involving state authority to enact immigration laws, examining whether states may constitutionally enforce equal protection of the laws by forbidding racial preferences, and assessing whether there is a constitutional right to homosexual marriage are all pending in federal courts. The outcome of these cases will depend on whether the judges deciding the cases adhere to what the Constitution requires or what their policy preferences prescribe. Regrettably, President Barack Obama has said that he wants to appoint judges who will make decisions based on empathy rather than what the law as it is written requires. His appointment of activist Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, as well as numerous appointments to the lower courts, demonstrates that he is largely succeeding. Recommendations 1. Elected officials should seek to promote robust dialogue regarding the importance of approving constitutionalist judges. They should seek to educate the American people concerning the threat of judicial activism and pledge to promote the appointment or election of constitutionalist judges. 2. Public officials should help to ensure that those who are selected to be judges will faithfully interpret the Constitution and laws as written. This means that the judge will follow and apply the text�s public meaning at the time of its enactment, regardless of whether the judge personally approves of the outcome or would prefer a dif�ferent outcome. At the federal level, the President should nominate and Senators should confirm only such faithful constitutionalists. At the state level, officials with appointing authority should do the same. In states with an elected judiciary, public officials should encourage citizens to evaluate every judicial candidate�s approach to judging, including the candidate�s record of fidelity to the Constitution and laws as written. 3. Senators should vigorously question a judicial nominee regard�ing his or her philosophy of judging. Senators have the duty to gauge whether a nominee will be faithful to the original meaning of the Constitu�tion and laws. Senators should ask the nominee what role, if any, empathy will play in his or her decision-making. Will the nominee interpret the Constitution according to its original meaning or accord�ing to his or her personal view of �evolving standards?� Additionally, they should question a nominee�s position on the role that foreign law should play in interpreting the U.S. Constitution and laws. 4. Senators should carefully examine their role in the �advice and consent� process. The President has the constitutional duty to nominate judges to the federal courts, but Senators have a constitutional duty to advise him and give their consent to the appointment of these judges. In addition to considering a nominee�s experience, intelligence, and integrity, Senators should seriously consider whether a nominee demonstrates that he or she will apply the laws as they are written. In casting their votes, Senators must keep in mind their own oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Facts & Figures * In a national survey of 800 actual voters conducted by the polling company� inc./WomanTrend for the Federalist Society, 70 percent of voters surveyed preferred Supreme Court justices and other federal judges �who will interpret and apply the law as it is written and not take into account their own viewpoints and experiences.� * When asked what qualities Senators should consider most in the advice and consent process, 41 percent of those surveyed answered that the most important consideration should be whether a nominee has a record of �interpreting the law as it is written in past rulings.� According to the sur�vey, this is even more important to voters than the nominee�s �past experi�ence as a judge.� * Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be 83 and Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy will be 80 by Election Day 2016. Should either Scalia or Kennedy retire and be replaced with a liberal activist justice, that would significantly alter the current balance on the Supreme Court. * The Supreme Court currently hangs in a delicate balance. Only four of the nine current justices have demonstrated that they are usually faithful and consistent constitutionalists. The others are either liberal activists or inconsistent in their approach. * Some of the most significant decisions over the past few years have also been decided by 5�4 votes. These include D.C. v. Heller, the case confirm�ing an individual right to bear arms; Kennedy v. Louisiana, the notoriously activist case declaring that states� imposition of the death penalty on child rapists violates the Constitution�s ban on cruel and unusual punishment; and Boumediene v. Bush, which declared the right of habeas corpus for Guantanamo Bay detainees�one of several of the Court�s usurpations of national security authority. * Unable to justify their desired outcomes with United States law, several justices have resorted to citing foreign law in interpreting our Constitution and laws. At least three of the current justices have publicly promoted this practice. * Because the Supreme Court hears so few cases a year, the circuit courts are often the last resort for citizens challenging an injury. It is therefore vitally important that constitutionalist judges are nominated and confirmed for the circuit courts as well.

Shame on Susan G. Komen Foundation

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:49:02 PST

Nation�s Largest Cancer Charity Caves To Right Wing Pressure, Ends Relationship With Planned Parenthood Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the country�s best-known and best-funded breast cancer organization. Known for it�s iconic pink ribbon and annual Race for the Cure event, the organization has invested nearly $2 billion in cancer education and research since its founding in 1982. But today, bowing to political pressure, Komen for the Cure announced that it is severing its partnership with Planned Parenthood and will stop providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants that allow their centers to perform breast exams on women who could not otherwise get them. Since anti-abortion activists and their Republican allies ratcheted up their crusade against Planned Parenthood last year, they�ve targeted any and all allies of the organization to try to make inroads, including the cancer charity. Planned Parenthood provides birth control, STD testing, and cancer screenings to low-income women. In a press release Planned Parenthood said it was deeply saddened and disappointed by the decision: Planned Parenthood Federation of America today expressed deep disappointment in response to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation�s decision to stop funding breast cancer prevention, screenings and education at Planned Parenthood health centers. Anti-choice groups in America have repeatedly threatened the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for partnering with Planned Parenthood to provide these lifesaving cancer screenings and news articles suggest that the Komen Foundation ultimately succumbed to these pressures. �We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count,� said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In the last few weeks, the Komen Foundation has begun notifying local Planned Parenthood programs that their breast cancer initiatives will not be eligible for new grants(beyond existing agreements or plans). Komen�s pretext for ending the alliance is the spurious congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood led by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL). Democrats say the far-reaching investigation is a political witch hunt and abuse of government resources. Komen�s new Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Karen Handel, not only has a long anti-choice history, butpledged to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2010. According to Planned Parenthood, in the past five years support from Susan G. Komen allowed their health centers to provide nearly 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals. The charity�s decision has succeeded only in depriving low-income women of cancer screenings that could save their lives � a move that flies in the face of Komen�s mission. By Marie Diamond | Sourced from Think Progress Posted at February 1, 2012, 6:42 am

How Fox News Is Destroying The Republican Party

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:41:12 PST

Media Matters for America / By Eric Boehlert How Fox News Is Destroying The Republican Party It's becoming increasingly clear that Fox's programming and the radical, fear-based agenda it's setting for Republicans is now doing lasting damage to the Grand Old Party. January 30, 2012 Wannabe kingmaker Roger Ailes is facing an open revolt. More and more despondent conservatives are expressing alarm over the unfolding Republican primary season and what they see as the party's dwindling chances of defeating President Obama in November. Spooked at the general elections prospects facing frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich (especially Gingrich), members of the so-called Republican Establishment seem to want to reboot the election season and try their nominating luck again. Sorry, it's too late. If the current state of concern transforms into a larger, enveloping blame game, Fox News chairman Ailes ought be a looming target. True, conservatives in recent years have shown virtually no interest in critiquing, let alone trying to reign in, Ailes' empire. Still, it's becoming increasingly clear that Fox's programming and the radical, fear-based agenda it's setting for Republicans is now doing lasting damage to the Grand Old Party. That's because Fox News isn't simply offering a rightward take on the day's events, or innocently providing Republican-friendly commentary, of course. It's leading an exhausting, day-in, day-out attack campaign against Obama, Democrats and all their liberal allies. (Real or imagined.) Its relentless, paranoid crusade falls well outside the mainstream of American politics, which is why the Republican primary season, so proudly sponsored by Fox News, is shaping up to be such an embarrassment. Make no mistake, kingmaker Ailes has made sure his channel's profoundly un-serious stamp permeates this year's GOP contest. For more and more spooked Republicans though, it's a stamp of failure and looming defeat. For Ailes and company, that slash-and-burn formula works wonders in terms of super-serving its hardcore, hard-right audience of three million viewers. But in terms of supporting a serious, national campaign and a serious, national conversation? It's not working. At all. As Fox News has moved in and essentially replaced the RNC as the driving electoral force in Republican politics today, and with Ailes ensconced in his kingmaker role, candidates have had to bow down to Fox in search of votes and the channel's coveted free airtime. That means campaigns have been forced to become part of the channel's culture of personal destruction, as well as its signature self-pity. The truth is, the Republican Establishment all but ceded control of the party, or at least the public face of the party, to Fox News (and Rush Limbaugh) in January, 2009. Party leaders, demoralized by John McCain's electoral landslide defeat, faded into the background and obediently followed Fox News' often-hysterical lead as Rupert Murdoch's cable channel unveiled an unprecedented effort to demonize and delegitimize the newly elected president. (In the Fox-led world, it's conventional wisdom that Obama's a foreign, race-baiting Marxist who undermines Israel and is determined to destroy the American way of life.) With Fox News at the irresponsible helm, the conservative movement in America, including the emerging Tea Party, became first and foremost a media movement, and one that gleefully cut ties with common sense and decency. (See: Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh.) As blogger Andrew Sullivan noted this week: The Republican Establishment is Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, Karl Rove, and their mainfold products, from Hannity to Levin. They rule on the talk radio airwaves and on the GOP's own "news" channel, Fox. With media outlets setting the conservative agenda, as well as raising campaign funds and boosting GOP candidates, it was Fox News that quickly transformed itself into the Opposition Party. It was Roger Ailes who, officially or unofficially, began to wear two hats: Program Director at Fox News, Chairman of the RNC. In terms of whipping up bouts of anti-Obama hysteria, the crass Fox approach enjoyed some short-term success. However, that same media movement is now three long and rhetorically repetitive years into its Obama crusade and trying to nominate a presidential candidate via an extended national campaign. According to more and more worried conservatives, the results on display are disastrous. Of course, conservatives should have thought that through before handing over the reins to Ailes and his misinformation minions. Indeed, none of this is unexpected. It's all entirely predictable. It's what happens when a mainstream political movement embraces a radical media strategy like the one being promoted by Fox News; the movement marches itself off a cliff. Conservative leaders themselves have freely adopted Fox News' profoundly un-unprofessional rhetoric about Obama, claiming just this week he's "pro-poverty" and his politics are "almost un-American." That's the Fox-ification of the GOP. As Andrew Sullivan noted this week, the current GOP "purges dissidents, it vaunts total loyalty, it polices discourse for any deviation." That sounds a lot like Fox News. Two years ago, despondent conservative and former Bush speechwriter David Frum, noting the sweeping power that Ailes was accumulating, observed that, "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox." As the Republican primary unfolds, I wonder if more and more poll-weary conservatives would like to fire their new boss.

Developers get green light in Novato

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:10:25 PST

Novato's Hanna Ranch Project is moving ahead, and when the thus-far undeveloped land opens its hotel and retail center, Novato city officials are expecting a net financial benefit to the City of about $500,000--and that's after the five-year Measure F sales tax ends. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4012&e=y posted Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 1:41 PM

Discover St. Rita's K-8 School in Fairfax!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:44:43 PST

Have you had it with the state budget woes? Discover an affordable alternative in St. Rita's K-8 School in Fairfax. St. Rita's is a nurturing, wholesome community of learners, believers, and friends. OPEN HOUSE: Sunday, February 5, 10am-1pm. Find out more: http://stritaschool.info/ or call for a campus tour: 456-1003

Letter: We'll meter again, don't know where, don't know when...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:37:51 PST

... in fairness, that "zero" has also been earned by the California Public Utilities Commission... Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4011&e=y posted Monday, January 30, 2012, 7:38 PM

California will run out of CASH by March!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:16:27 PST

For all you liberal/progressives who sent "moonbeam" back to the Capitol instead of Meg Whitman and ALWAYS vote for fiscally irresponsible Dumbocrats this is on your heads. John Chaing sent a letter to the state legislature today informing them that the state will run out of cash by March. Nice job on the budget Dumbocrats. Always assume new revenue and be sure to "tax the rich." The formerly golden state is a fiscal bad joke. Next time do your homework before voting in clowns.

No Dog Leash--Get Tazed!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:57:01 PST

Really! You're kidding me? Nope, it's true. I read the story in the Chronicle today. A man was walking two lap dogs,off leash, in a new section of the Golden Gate Ntl. Park. He was confronted by a Park Ranger and tried to walk away rather than get a ticket. So the Park Ranger felt she could not let this criminal escape without a good tazing to teach him a lesson. Did the punishment fit this crime? Next time you go to the grocery store and someone has 11 items in the 10 item line, taze them. If you see someone top off at a gas station, taze them (but be careful not to blow up the place). And don't even think about voting Republican in this County. You will sure get tazed one way or another.

Occupy Movement Is Just As Messy As Tea Party Folk

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:12:15 PST

I don't know why everyone keeps complaining about all of the damage caused by the nice Occupy People. Who cares if a few people were arrested and some women were raped at there sites. Who cares if the rats moved in with the Rats of the Liberal Left. Who cares if buildings were torched or defecated on. Who cares if drugs and crime were rampant at their sites. As for the Tea Party and Glen Beck rally's, they found a Juicy Fruit and Snikers wrapper near a trash can. Now that's just terrible. And they were so cowardly, they actually went home that very evening, to hide in their own beds and use their own bathrooms. Shameful, just shameful, isn't it.

Scholarship opportunity for Marin County students studying classical music

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:59:18 PST

Marin Music Chest accepting scholarship audition applications SAN RAFAEL, CA - The Marin Music Chest is still accepting applications for its annual scholarship audition program which provides financial support to Marin County students studying classical music. Students studying woodwinds, brass and string instruments; piano; percussion; and voice are encouraged to apply. Scholarship applicants must be residents of Marin County for a minimum of two years and have at least two years of music study prior to the audition. Junior Division instrumentalists must be between 10 and 13-years of age and vocalists between 14 and 16-years of age. The Junior Division application deadline is Feb. 10, 2012 and auditions will be held March 10, 2012. Scholarship amounts are $800 for each junior scholarship award winner. Senior Division instrumentalists must be between 14 and 19-years of age and vocalists between 17 and 24-years of age. The Senior Division application deadline is Feb. 24, 2012 and auditions will be held on March 24, 2012. Scholarship amounts are $1,200 for each senior scholarship award winner. Junior and Senior Applicants will perform a required piece and one piece of their choice. All scholarship recipients will be required to perform in the Marin Music Chest Scholarship Winners� Concert presented at San Domenico School in San Anselmo on Sunday, May 6, 2012. The Marin Music Chest was founded in 1933 with the mission of bringing the worlds� greatest musical artists to Marin and to award annual music scholarships to young, talented Marin County musicians. Past scholarship award-winners include Hugo Rinaldi, founder of Marin Opera; Hai-Ye Ni, principal cello, Philadelphia Orchestra; and Joseph Alessi, principal trombone, New York Philharmonic Orchestra. For more information about the Marin Music Chest scholarship award program and to download the application form and list of required pieces, visit the website at www.marinmusicchest.org / or / http://www.marinmusicchest.org/application.html or call Michael Struck at 415-892-9731.

Repeal-SMART puffs out of signatures

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:16:07 PST

Without the signatures to require a place on the ballot, the registrar of voters will turn the petition over to SMART, whose board will almost certainly reject the proposal at its meeting next month. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=4006&e=y posted Monday, January 30, 2012, 1:22 PM

Head above Sweetwater

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:42:58 PST

After months of delays, and considerable anticipation, the latest nightclub to bear the Sweetwater moniker takes its place with a soft opening this week on the suddenly resurgent Marin club scene. Read the full story here http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=3994 posted Thursday, January 26, 2012, 12:07 PM

Who is Saul Alinsky, and why is Newt Gingrich so obsessed with him?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:21:53 PST

Who is Saul Alinsky, and why is Newt Gingrich so obsessed with him? By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / January 28, 2012 Newt Gingrich keeps likening President Obama to radical community organizer Saul Alinsky. But Gingrich seems to have adopted Alinsky's tactics himself, as has the tea party. Mainstream Republicans aren't happy. Some compare the Alinsky�s activities and goals to a more recent American political insurgency. �The Tea Party comes from the same sense of outrage that the elites, as Gingrich calls them, are running the country,� Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist and former Chicago alderman, told Bloomberg News. �The Tea Party has understood how to mobilize their anger and turn it to political results, which is the underlying motif of Alinsky.� Alinsky, Simpson says, was �a master community organizer who attempted to organize people without power, people that today we�d call the 99 percent, by using the strength of numbers to overcome clout and wealth.� FREEDOMWORKS, THE TEA PARTY GROUP HEADED BY FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER DICK ARMEY, GIVES COPIES OF "RULES FOR RADICALS" TO ITS LEADERS. �His tactics when it comes to grass-roots organizing are incredibly effective,� FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon told the Wall Street Journal. Tea Partyers aggressively confronting lawmakers at town hall meetings is STRAIGHT FROM ALINSKY'S PLAYBOOK. ( I DOUBT JOHNNYMARIN CAN COMPREHEND THIS!) Conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. called the Chicago radical "very close to being an organizational genius." As a former history professor, Gingrich not only understands Alinsky�s motif, he�s made it a key part of his campaign. �Gingrich's clashes against the establishment are classic Alinsky,� writes Philip Klein, senior editorial writer for the conservative Washington Examiner. Democrats may rankle at Gingrich�s painting Obama as an Alinsky acolyte � a sort of red-baiting, although Alinsky never joined any organization, communist or otherwise. But some Republicans say the former House Speaker himself IS DESTRUCTIVELY CHANNELING ALINSKY when, for example, he goes after Mitt Romney�s wealth. �What the hell are you doing, Newt?� asked an incredulous Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and one-time presidential candidate, on Fox News. �I expect this from Saul Alinsky. This is what Saul Alinsky taught Barack Obama, and what you�re saying is part of the reason we�re in so much trouble right now,� Giuliani said. ( YET IT IS THE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE DOING IT!) All of which makes for a very interesting development within conservative American politics, including the Republican Party. �GOP nomination fights are often described as battles between Rockefeller Republicans and Goldwater Republicans,� writes Klein. �In 2012, Gingrich has brought us the Alinsky Republican.� Wherever Newt Gingrich goes these days � stumping in Florida, arguing on televised debates with fellow Republican presidential hopefuls, jotting down notes for his umpteenth book � he carries with him a scary but useful ghost: Saul Alinsky. The radical community organizer (gone now these 40 years) is the specter on which Barack Obama has modeled his life, Gingrich warns. It�s no coincidence, he says, that both Alinsky and Obama were from Chicago or that the President passed up far more lucrative possibilities to become � a community organizer. �The centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky,� Gingrich said in his South Carolina primary victory speech, a charge he finds constant ways to repeat. "Saul Alinsky radicalism is at the heart of Obama,� he said on CNN. So who was Saul Alinsky? Born in Chicago in 1909 to Russian immigrant parents, Alinsky worked his way through the University of Chicago, then dropped out of grad school to organize the poor in the city�s slums, demanding better working and living conditions. He went on to do the same thing in other US cities. Published the year before he died in 1972, Alinsky�s �Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals� has been compared to the writing of Thomas Paine, and it inspired many young idealists (including, apparently, Hillary Clinton, who wrote her Wellesley College senior thesis on Alinsky). "What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be,� Alinsky begins his book. �The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away."

Ruthless Officiancy?!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:10:06 PST

So, you want to be a Minister?? Maybe it's because I'm Catholic... I find the ability to become an officiate of weddings "online" offensive. So, we're turning the practice of ministry into a "quickie" joke now, are we??? After reading the article, I was intruiged so I had to find out for myself. I went to the Life Church Ministries site and went on to read the "steps" it takes to become "ordained". Apparently after you pay your $12 or whatever the total is (my figures is pre-tax, of course), you are then allowed to officiate weddings, baptisms and even listen to and bless your friends and families transgressions. Well! How convenient! Good Lord... (no disrespect intended) only in Marin.

Letters

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:32:04 PST

They may be paranoid, but it doesn't mean airplane vapor ain't out to get them! Read the full story here http://pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=5174 posted Friday, January 27, 2012, 12:00 AM

AlterNet / By Joshua Holland 21 COMMENTS The 10 Most Brazen Lies Offered By the Remaining GOP Presidential Hopefuls Just because some of its wheels have come flying off, that doesn't mean the GOP clown car isn't still moving down the road toward Election

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:12:40 PST
AlterNet / By Joshua Holland The 10 Most Brazen Lies Offered By the Remaining GOP Presidential Hopefuls Just because some of its wheels have come flying off, that doesn't mean the GOP clown car isn't still moving down the road toward Election Day. January 26, 2012 | Americans are still struggling to come to terms with the loss they felt as the wackier GOP candidates fell by the wayside. For pure entertainment value, the mendacity they offered on the campaign trail couldn't be beat. Who can forget Herman Cain worrying about how China, a member of the club for almost a half-century, is now "trying to develop nuclear capability"? How can one top the convincing specificity of Michele Bachmann's claim that on �page 92� of the healthcare reform bill, it says �people can't purchase private health insurance after a date certain, which means people will ultimately go into a single-payer plan�? We have to admit that we'll miss Rick Perry telling us wild tales of Obama's totalitarianism extending to �telling us what kind of light bulb we can use." Those kind of bizarre untruths were like a series of small gifts for political watchers and late-night comedy writers alike. But just because some of its more colorful wheels have come flying off, that doesn't mean the GOP clown car isn't still moving down the road toward the November elections. We thought we'd take a look at some of the brazen falsehoods offered up by the candidates who remain standing today. 1. Mitt Romney: No Apologies Mitt Romney wrote a book called No Apology, and has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that Obama took a world tour at the beginning of his presidency to issue mea culpas to dastardly foreigners everywhere. This lie is so brazen not only because it never happened, but also because Romney uses the talking-point in speech after speech. Ironically, as James Taub noted in the New York Times, �In a major speech in Cairo in 2005, Condoleezza Rice, then Mr. Bush�s secretary of state, said that 'for 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East � and we achieved neither.' What was she doing if not apologizing on behalf of the United States � and vowing to put an end to a pattern of misguided policy?� 2. Newt Gingrich: Christmas Warrior Why should the nutjobs at Fox News have all the fun? In Davenport, Iowa, on December 19, Gingrich revealed the results of something he said he'd �been investigating ... for the last three days.� What was it? Apparently if the president sends out Christmas cards, they are paid for the Democratic or Republican National Committees because no federal official at any level is currently allowed to say �Merry Christmas.� And the idea, I think, is that the government should be neutral. � I'm going to go back and find out how was this law written, when was it passed. We�ve had this whole � in my mind � very destructive attitude in the last 50 years that we have to drive religion out of public life. Guess what? Yup � he just pulled that one out of... perhaps one of those mass emails your crazy right-wing uncle keeps forwarding you. 3. Ron Paul: New Poll Shows That Everyone Agrees With Me! We'd guess that most Americans haven't given much thought to Ron Paul's quixotic quest to return the United States to the gold standard and the regular cycle of booms and crushing busts that long accompanied it. But on January 3, Paul told his supporters, "today there was a national poll that came out and they were talking about how many people supported the gold standard. How long has it been since they've taken a national poll on the gold standard? And guess what? The majority of the American people believe we should have a gold standard and not a paper standard!" Politifact asked Paul's campaign to provide some documentation, and they were pointed to a column that referenced three polls showing slim majorities of respondents holding a favorable view of the idea, but they were polls of only Republicans and Republican leaners, and they were conducted in just three states. A real national poll, meanwhile, found that the gold standard is on the wish-list of a minority of Americans. 4. Santorum: A Dingo Is Eating Your Baby! (Or Something) Rick Santorum is obviously a man who is fascinated with dead babies and inflammatory rhetoric. Last March, he married the two in an attack on Obama at the Iowa Faith and Freedom conference. Speaking of a wingnutty bill that would require doctors to treat fetuses after �botched abortions,� Santorum said that Obama had opposed the measure when he was in the Illinois state senate, which was true, but then went on to claim that Obama had �said in fact that any child, prior to nine months of gestation would be able to be killed.� He added: �Think about that: any child born prematurely, according to the president, in his own words, can be killed. Now, who's the extremist in this abortion debate?� There are some things that shouldn't even need to be debunked. Obviously, no politician would ever go on record saying something so crazy � that's just common sense. But if you really need to verify that Obama never suggested anything of the sort, here's the fact check. 5. Romney's Tax Fairytales Mitt Romney said he wouldn't release his returns, then he said he'd release them in April and then Newt Gingrich gave him a hard time and he folded. It's courage like that which makes one wonder how he'd deal with North Korea. Anyway, the returns show that the "unemployed" candidate made over $40 million in 2010 and 2011, and paid 13.9 percent in taxes on those sums. A paltry figure, and Romney is responding to the criticism he's received on the topic with two age-old and wholly dishonest conservative talking-points, and an additional sleight-of-hand, all rolled into one juicy bundle of mendacity. Via Think Progress, this is what he told Univision's Jorge Ramos in an interview this week: ROMNEY: One of the reasons why we have a lower tax rate on capital gains is because capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level. So as businesses earn profits, that�s taxed at 35 percent, then as they distribute those profits as dividends, that�s taxed at 15 percent more. So, all total, the tax rate is really closer to 45 or 50 percent. RAMOS: But is it fair what you pay, 13 percent, while most pay much more than that? ROMNEY: Well, again, I go back to the point that the, that the funds are being taxed twice at two different levels. Mendacious talking point, the first: �double-taxation.� We don't tax �funds� in this country, we tax transactions. If a company turns a profit on its transactions, it pays taxes on that profit. When it pays money out to investors as dividends, or when investors sell stock at a profit, those transactions are also taxed. No transaction is taxed twice. Mendacious talking point, the second: that 35 percent tax rate. That's the top corporate tax rate on the books, but because businesses take advantage of all manner of loopholes, the effective rate � what they actually pay -- is actually far lower. It's a classic conservative talking-point that we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, but the reality is that we collect less in corporate taxes than most developed countries. Studies of some of the biggest companies have shown their effective tax rates to be, on average, less than half of what's on the books. And the sleight-of-hand: Bain Capital is a Limited Liability Company. This is what's known as a �pass-through� structure, meaning that the company pays zero in corporate income taxes � the partners' shares are taxed as income or losses on their personal returns, and in this case, most of the gains are investment income taxed at 15 percent. In other words, even if we bought the �double-taxation� nonsense and the 35 percent rate, his talking-point still wouldn't be true. 6. 'Nancy Pelosi May Destroy the Entire Gop With a Single Wave of Her Wand' That headline is borrowed from Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent, who reports on a dark conspiracy theory Mitt Romney has embraced to argue that Newt Gingrich is unelectable. Sargent explains: There seems to be a very persistent belief in some Republican and conservative circles that Nancy Pelosi is in possession of secret and damning information about Newt Gingrich that would immediately cause his presidential campaign to implode if she leaked it. A little while ago, Pelosi said in an interview that she was familiar with �a thousand pages� of documents related to the ethics probe of Gingrich that got him bounced from Congress. That triggered the first round of right-wing conspiracy-mongering.... But, alas, she was just talking about the House Ethics Committee's report on Gingrich's corruption, which is already widely available. In fact, if you want to read Pelosi's �secret� treasure-trove of damning info, it's available online right here! 7: Gingrich: Conservative Republicans Are Secret Liberals Speaking of which, Newt himself is offering a big lie about his ethics troubles. He said this week that he'd been wholly exonerated in the investigation � an odd claim given that he was sanctioned by the House and it fined him $300,000 to cover the costs of the investigation. Perhaps that's not as bad as the fib he offered gullible Fox News viewers in December. Gingrich told Greta Van Susteren that the House Ethics Committee (then called the Standards of Official Conduct Committee), �was a very partisan political committee and that the way I was dealt with related more to the politics of the Democratic Party than to ethics. And I think in that sense, [the campaign issue] actually helps me in getting people to understand, this was a Nancy Pelosi-driven effort.� But, as Politifact noted in awarding Gingrich a �pants on fire� for the claim, three of the four Republicans on the committee voted to recommend that Gingrich be sanctioned, and then the �full House went on to pass the ethics report 395 to 28, with 196 Republicans voting for it and just 26 voting against it.� 8. Newt Lies About Food Stamps Gingrich lies shamelessly about food stamps � it makes him look hip with the Ayn Rand crowd. He has said, repeatedly, that �more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history." And while it's true that the overall number of folks receiving nutritional assistance is at an all-time high, thanks to a crushing recession, Gingrich's claim is simply false: 444,574 more people were added to the program under Bush than during Obama's term. But that one may not be as brazen as a claim he made in November in Council Bluffs, Iowa. �We now give [benefits] away as cash,� he said. �You don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate?� This is just silly. According to the USDA's rules, �households can use benefits to buy groceries or to buy seeds and plants which produce food. (In some places where subsistence fishing is the norm, such as remote areas of Alaska, recipients can also pay for nets, hooks, fishing line, rods, harpoons and knives.) And in some areas, restaurants can be authorized to accept SNAP benefits from qualified homeless, elderly, or disabled people in exchange for low-cost meals.� As for the millionaires, no again. To be eligible for benefits a family can't be earning more than 30 percent over the poverty line. 9. How Many Jobs Plans Have the GOP Blocked? During a January 16 debate, Mitt Romney said of Obama, "Three years into office, he doesn't have a jobs plan." We're guessing this will be an oft-repeated talking point as the campaign progresses. It's also a brazen bit of historical revisionism. As the AP notes, �Like them or not, Obama has proposed several plans intended to spur the economy and create jobs.� From the stimulus to the payroll tax deal, Obama's offered all sorts of plans that the GOP, eager to go into the election with a sluggish economy, has blocked. The most recent of these, as the AP notes, was offered just a few months ago: In September, Obama introduced his most recent jobs plan, rolling it out in a speech to the full Congress in which he urged Congress to "pass it right away." It included $450 billion in tax cuts and new spending, including greater cuts to payroll taxes and tax breaks for companies that hire those who've been out of work for six months or more. Almost none of it has been passed into law. 10. Romney's Mythical War on Religion Romney's got a little problem: many of the evangelicals who have long served as the foot-soldiers in GOP campaigns really, really hate Mormons. So, Mitt's trying desperately to shore up support by showing that he's as dedicated to the culture wars as any good American right-winger. Here's what he said on a conference call with Ralph Reed�s Faith and Freedom Coalition on Wednesday: Then of course there�s the assault on religion�.now he�s gone forward and said that religious institutions, universities, hospitals and so forth, religious institutions have to provide free contraceptives to all their employees, even if that religious institution is opposed to the use of contraception, as in the case of the Catholic Church. Even in that regard, fighting to eliminate the conscience clause for healthcare workers who wish not to provide abortion services or contraceptives in their workplace, in their hospital for instance. It�s an assault on religion unlike anything we have seen. There�s been an assault on marriage. I think he is very aggressively trying to pave the path to same-sex marriage. Two problems here. First, much to the frustration of his LGBT supporters, Obama doesn't favor gay marriage. Second, as Igor Volsky (who reported Romney's comments for Think Progress) notes, �Federal regulations contain clear provisions in three separate laws shielding federally funded healthcare providers� right of conscience.� For instance, the1976 Church Amendment �prevents the government (as a condition of a federal grant) from requiring healthcare providers or institutions to perform or assist in abortion or sterilization procedures against their moral or religious convictions,� the Coats Amendment of 1996 prohibits the government from �discriminating� against medical residency programs or other entities that lose accreditation because they fail to provide or require training in abortion services� and the Hyde/Weldon Conscience Protection Amendment of 2004 �forbids federal, state and local governments from requiring any individual or institutional provider or payer to perform, provide, refer for, or pay for an abortion.� These �conscience clauses� are also enshrined in Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. So, thankfully, the Christian majority remains just as un-oppressed today as it has been in the past.

Tropical Marinites

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:56:07 PST
After living in Marin all our lives (and generations of our families), we moved to Costa Rica. We created our Tropical Plantation Inn to accommodate friends and family that wanted first world hospitality. We want to expand that to you all, so we created Vista Del Valle Plantation Inn (www.vistadelvalle.com). Starting in the mid 60's as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Trainer, Humanitarian, doing Relief & Development work, we've added our interest in Sustainable Development. We welcome you to visit. Have a Vacation with a purpose: Let us set you up for an expanding experence. We've got 45 years of involvement and know the best places to go to. Let us show you the best of Costa Rica starting at Vista Del Valle. Whether your interests are to "Kick back" or to have an Eco Adventure, get an Education, learn of the Culture, "Healing, Restoring or Repairing", or whatever you can think of, we're happy to orient you and set you off on the best Tropical vacation. We also do private tours. Let us know your interests. We're here to make your time in Costa Rica worth your time. Hasta Pronto! Mike and Jo Bresnan mikejo@vistadelvalle.com .... www.vistadelvalle.com

What does OMG mean?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:40:24 PST
Obama Must Go! How do you starve an Obama supporter? It's really very simple.....just hide their food stamps under their work shoes! Obama 2012 the end of an ERROR!