Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 18, 2010

11

OPINION

 Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 18, 2010 


STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE


Mountain 
Views

News

Publisher/ Editor

Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

Sales

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

Art Director

Allison Kirkham

Production Assistant

Richard Garcia

Photography

Jacqueline Truong

Lina Johnson

Contributors

Teresa Baxter

Pat Birdsall

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Editorial Cartoonist

Ann Cleaves

Webmaster

John Aveny 

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

THE ART OF LIVING WELL

HO! HO! HO!

The DREAM Act and 

Amnesty may be under 
the tree this year

I think I’m beginning to understand; 
it’s not about understanding. 
I’m the kind of person 
that is always trying to find 
the true meaning of things. 
Often I am caught up in my 
head pondering questions of 
ultimate truth and am eternally 
caught in internal dialogues that seem pointless 
even to me. As you may have already guessed, 
I freely admit that I don’t really know what I am 
talking about. The experience I have of writing 
these articles is something like that of a turbo-
charged engine operating in a car being driven by 
someone who has little idea of where he’s going. 

Now I admit that sometimes, even most of the 
time, I have some general idea of where I want 
the writing to go but generally what I’m aware of 
is the recommendation given to me by a friend. 
A piece of writing should conclude with “the dog 
biting itself in the end”. What I want to share 
with the reader is a kind of mental hiking experience 
that is both enjoyable and instructive. My 
aim, I think, is to have my imaginary readers accompany 
me on a trek through our joint mental 
wilderness. Occasionally along the way I will 
notice something of interest like a flower, or an 
interesting rock grouping, or a fascinating cloud 
formation and I will point that out to the reader 
as we continue along our trail. Giving attention 
to these incidental observations I have been told 
is often distracting and annoying to my actual 
readers. What can I say? Reader, we are continuing 
our joint-journey to who knows where. 
We will get there soon enough, about at the eight 
hundred word limit, and until then it’s best to relax 
and just enjoy the view.

Yesterday I was leaving the hospital where I 
had left my mother the day before. (See already 
doesn’t this seem like an annoying digression? 
Why am I talking about my mother? I thought 
we were on a hike. Yes, we are; but we’re chatting 
as we hike and it is all connected—JUST BE 
PATIENT.) Back to my mother. I had called the 
hospital at about 4; 00a.m. and was told she had a 
fall as she tried to make her way to the bathroom. 
This sounded crazy to me as my mother had not 
even been able to walk for three days which was 
part of the reason I had brought her to the hospital 
in the first place. She was weak, she wasn’t recognizing 
me, and wasn’t even acknowledging my 
presence. How could she have fallen on her way 
to the bathroom when she couldn’t even get out 
of bed? I had to be in Pasadena Court by 9:00; 
nevertheless, I soon found myself dressed and 
diving for an hour and 45 minutes through traffic 
to get to the hospital located west of Chatsworth. 
Breathlessly I eventually reached my mother’s 
room and saw her diminutive form lying under 
the covers of her bed. I called her name and she 
uncovered her face and looked at me and said 
“Stuart’ I’m glad you’re here. Help me find some 
clothes and let’s go somewhere.” Hallelujah! She 
had been given some medication and was stronger 
and, if not quite back to reality, she was much 
closer. We had a short conversation; she has wax 
in her ears and doesn’t really hear very well. I 
held her hand and learned that my sister was on 
the way and I was able to leave and head back to 
Court. As I walked back to my car, after about 
a fifteen minute visit, and prepared to drive another 
hour and a half back to Pasadena, I heard 
in my head Bob Marley singing, “Everything is 
Gonna Be All Right”. Where was this coming 
from and Why? I looked around and noticed a 
car on which a picture of Bob Marley was displayed. 
I had not noticed the picture before but, 
I guess, a part of my brain had. Not only had my 
brain seen the picture it had selected a song to go 
with that picture and that song was exactly the 
right song for me to be hearing at that moment. 
Way to go, brain.

Well that’s the insight. Our brain, or I guess it 
should be called our mind, often acts as a great 
survival tool. How does it do that? In my head I 
hear Wittgenstein saying, “Ask not the meaning, 
but the use.” Ready for the dog to bite itself? The 
Art of Living Well is probably quieting the constant 
brain chatter about meaning and rules and 
fears and, in this momentary quiet, hearing the 
music and experiencing the miracles all around 
and inside of us. How to do that?—I think that is 
the challenge. Let us live well.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 

The DREAM Act includes a massive amnesty, 
regardless what its proponents say. This amnesty 
opens a wide path to citizenship for any alien who entered 
the country before the age of 16 and has been in the country for 
at least five years. The guiding notion seems to be “The longer you 
have violated federal law, the better.”

Beyond that, all the alien needs is a high school diploma or a 
GED earned in the United States. If he can persuade an institution 
of higher education in the United States—any community college, 
technical school, or college—to admit him, that will suffice. Any 
illegal alien who meets these conditions (or who can produce 
fraudulent papers indicating that he meets the conditions) gets 
immediate legal status in the form of a “conditional” green card 
good for six years, according to Section 4(a)(1).

It is important to recognize just how sweeping this amnesty is.

• There is no upper age limit. Any illegal alien can walk into a 
U.S. Customs and Immigration Services office and declare that 
he is eligible. For example, a 45 year old can claim that he illegally 
entered the United States 30 years ago at the age of 15. There is 
no requirement that the alien prove that he entered the United 
States at the claimed time by providing particular documents. The 
DREAM Act’s Section 4(a) merely requires him to “demonstrate” 
that he is eligible—which in practice could mean simply making 
a sworn statement to that effect. Thus, it is an invitation for just 
about every illegal alien to fraudulently claim the amnesty. 

• The alien then has six years to adjust his status from a conditional 
green card holder to a non-conditional one. To do so, he 
need only complete two years of study at an institution of higher 
education. If the alien has already completed two years of study, 
he can convert to non-conditional status immediately (and use 
his green card as a platform to bring in family members). As an 
alternative to two years of study, he can enlist in the U.S. military 
and spend two years there. This provision allows Senator Durbin 
to claim that the DREAM Act is somehow germane to a defense 
authorization bill. 

• An illegal alien who applies for the DREAM Act amnesty gets 
to count his years under “conditional” green card status toward 
the five years needed for citizenship. (Section 5(e)) On top of that, 
the illegal alien could claim “retroactive benefits” and start the 
clock running the day that the DREAM Act is enacted. (Section 6) 
In combination, these two provisions put illegal aliens on a high-
speed track to U.S. citizenship—moving from illegal alien to U.S. 
citizen in as little as five years. Lawfully present aliens, meanwhile, 
must follow a slower path to citizenship. 

• It would be absurdly easy for just about any illegal alien—even 
one who does not qualify for the amnesty—to evade the law. According 
to Section 4(f) of the DREAM Act, once an alien files 
an application—any application, no matter how ridiculous—the 
federal government is prohibited from deporting him. Moreover, 
with few exceptions, federal officers are prohibited from either using 
information from the application to deport the alien or sharing 
that information with another federal agency, under threat of 
up to $10,000 fine. Thus, an alien’s admission that he has violated 
federal immigration law cannot be used against him—even if he 
never had any chance of qualifying for the DREAM Act amnesty 
in the first place. 

The DREAM Act also makes illegal aliens eligible for federal 
student loans and federal work-study programs—another benefit 
that law-abiding foreign students cannot receive—all at taxpayer 
expense. A consistent theme emerges: Illegal aliens are treated 
much more favorably than aliens who follow the law. There is no 
penalty for illegal behavior. In short, the Dream Act is a dream 
for illegal immigrants who refuse to obey U.S. Immigration Law. 

aWhen it come giving out the biggest (and arguably) the most 
expensive present this Christmas you can thank Nancy Pelosi, 
Barbara Boxer, Jack Reid, and all the other amnesty-open borders 
advocates in Congress. 


RICH Johnson

How Hard Does Santa Work on Christmas?

Santa Claus does not get his 
due. I was reached by his 
handlers who asked me to 
help make the public aware 
of the sheer scope of his job. 
I am focusing on the tip of 
the iceberg so to speak. The 
days immediately surrounding Christmas. 

Though the data for this article was accumulated 
nearly twenty years ago and should be adjusted 
for population growth, these 1990 numbers will 
give us a peek into Santa’s Herculean efforts.

There are roughly 2 billion children under the 
age of 18 in the world. Fortunately for Santa, 
he need deal with only 15% of that number. He 
doesn’t have the franchise to deliver Christmas 
presents to Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist 
households. That leaves him responsible for 
roughly 378 million children or roughly 92 million 
homes. 

Traveling east to west and considering the time 
zones and rotation of the earth, Saint Nick has 
only 31 hours in which to deliver his gifts. Do 
the math and he has to visit 822.6 households 
per second (less if we discount the houses that 
have no children that have been good.) This gives 
Santa 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of 
the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, 
distribute the presents, eat the snacks, back 
up the chimney, out and on his way. If the average 
distance between houses is .78 miles he has 
a total trip of 75.5 million miles. (I’m not counting 
the occasional rest stops for him and the 
reindeer.)

Santa’s sleigh must be capable of moving 650 
miles per second, or roughly 3,000 times the 
speed of sound. That’s a mere 2,340,000 miles per 
hour. That’s fast.

While we’re at it let’s consider the weight of the 
Christmas gifts and how it affects Santa’s trip. 
If each child gets a gift averaging 2 pounds, the 
sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons not counting our 
roly-poly driver. Now, if a typical reindeer were 
pulling a sled, that reindeer could pull ten times 
their weight. We would need 214,200 reindeer to 
pull Santa’s sled. Thank God they’re not your average 
reindeer. Add the weight of the 214k reindeer 
to the overall weight and we have a whopping 
353,430 tons (more than two times the 
weight of the Queen Mary.)

But wait! There’s more. 353,300 tons traveling at 
650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance. 
In other words…heat. The lead reindeer, if 
they were normal would absorb 14.3 quintillion 
joules of energy. They would burst into flames instantaneously 
creating deafening sonic booms in 
their wake. The rest of the reindeer team would 
be vaporized 4.26 thousandths of a second later. 
And Santa is not off the hook. He will be subjected 
to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater 
than gravity. He would be pinned to the back of 
his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

All this to say we need to appreciate the effort 
Santa Claus puts into his job. If you run into him 
on Christmas Eve and he seems a bit rushed…
well now maybe you’ll understand.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mountain Views News 
has been adjudicated as 
a newspaper of General 
Circulation for the County 
of Los Angeles in Court 
Case number GS004724: 
for the City of Sierra 
Madre; in Court Case 
GS005940 and for the 
City of Monrovia in Court 
Case No. GS006989 and 
is published every Saturday 
at 55 W. Sierra Madre 
Blvd., No. 302, Sierra 
Madre, California, 91024. 
All contents are copyrighted 
and may not be 
reproduced without the 
express written consent of 
the publisher. All rights 
reserved. All submissions 
to this newspaper become 
the property of the Mountain 
Views News and may 
be published in part or 
whole. 

Opinions and views 
expressed by the writers 
printed in this paper do not 
necessarily express the views 
and opinions of the publisher 
or staff of the Mountain 
Views News. 

Mountain Views News 
is wholly owned by Grace 
Lorraine Publications, 
Inc. and reserves the right 
to refuse publication of 
advertisements and other 
materials submitted for 
publication. 

Letters to the editor and 
correspondence should be 
sent to: 

Mountain Views News

 80 W. Sierra Madre Bl. 
#327

Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024

Phone: 626-355-2737

Fax: 626-609-3285

email: 

mtnviewsnews@aol.com


HOWARD Hays

 As I See It

 ‘Tis the Season - for images on TV of bundled-
up kids building snowmen, glittering icicles 
beneath the eaves, couples skating over frozen 
duck ponds, and familiar faces on Fox News declaring 
it all proves there’s no such thing as “global 
warming”.

 ‘Tis the Season - to check the scores, the “win-loss” stats, and 
predict who might take it all the way. The Super Bowl (Falcons vs. 
Pats?) is on for February 6 in Arlington, Texas. The “final” showdown 
over the Affordable Care Act looks to be on for the Supreme 
Court shortly before 2014, when the full Act is set to kick off.

Ever notice how partisans for a team might gloat over a successful 
play from their favorites while ignoring decisive plays from the 
other side, or that overall prospects for their team are lousy? That 
happened last week with the ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry 
Hudson against the ACA, in particular its “individual mandate” 
provision. Lots of cheering from the bleachers, but last I checked 
the scoreboard read 1-2-14; that’s Judge Hudson’s decision against 
the Act, two Judges’ ruling in support, and 14 who didn’t see a 
contest so wouldn’t take it up.

Even those siding with Judge Hudson are Monday-morning-
quarterbacking about his ruling, and there’s not much optimism 
for the playoffs. Regulating healthcare falls under the Commerce 
Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and passing laws to advance those 
regulations falls under the “Necessary and Proper” clause. Although 
some laws might be “necessary and proper” to carry out 
Congress’ intent, others, like imposing consequences for buying 
(or not buying) something (like health insurance), are not specifically 
permitted under the Commerce Clause, so are therefore 
unconstitutional - according to Judge Hudson.

But according to law professors and legal scholars, this reasoning 
turns the whole purpose behind “Necessary and Proper” on 
its head. The reason it’s in the Constitution at all, they say, is to 
allow Congress to exercise powers not specifically enumerated 
under Article 1 (which enumerates the powers of Congress). This 
view is especially popular among conservatives - and has been 
promoted by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in decrying 
“judicial activism”; judges who “legislate from the bench” by overturning 
laws passed by Congress.

To the consternation of coaches from the healthcare and insurance 
industries on the sidelines, Judge Hudson’s ruling was confined 
to the “individual mandate” portion of the ACA - with other 
portions unaffected. Those money players argue the only way 
they can survive restrictions on lifetime benefit caps or denials 
based on pre-existing conditions is if they’re coupled with mandates 
that everyone gets insured.

 In calling defense at the next big game, I’d have them resurrect 
those impassioned speeches and op-ed columns by Republicans 
extolling the “individual mandate” as their preferred alternative 
to President Clinton’s healthcare plan in 1993.

‘Tis the Season (every two years) - for those heading to Washington 
after the holidays to tell us of the bright new day coming 
with the bright new Congress. Our own Congressman David 
Dreier, as quoted in last week’s MV News, cites the “need to make 
the House more transparent and accountable”, and to “encourage 
spending reductions and economic growth.” I can only surmise 
he’s had some epiphany over the past four years, and is committed 
to an entirely different path than that by which he and his Party 
plunged our country into two disastrous wars and set us on the 
road to economic meltdown before being kicked out in 2006.

Along with Rep. Dreier set to take over the House Rules Committee, 
we’re familiar with others set to take over prominent committee 
chairs - and we know who bought them their seats. 

Set to head Armed Services is Californian Rep. Howard McKeon, 
paid for by the defense industry, as part of a total $1.8 million 
in PAC money. He’s been a strong (continued on page 13)

Live Free Or Die 
Under Obamacare

GREG Welborn

Hopefully, the title of this week’s article grabbed 
your attention, because the topic really is of critical 
importance. With all the press coverage focused 
on the tax deal, one of the most important court 
decisions in this country has gone relatively unnoticed. 
The central core facet of Obamacare has always 
been the mandate that individuals must buy 
health insurance of a type approved by the government, 
and it is that central core facet which, if allowed 
to stand, threatens our most basic freedoms. 
Fortunately, a federal judge has come to the same 
conclusion, striking down the individual mandate. 
This is not an argument against or in favor of 
healthcare supplied by the government. This is an 
argument about basic freedoms.

Last week U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. 
Hudson ruled that Obamacare’s requirement that 
everyone carry health insurance or be fined is unconstitutional, 
which will ultimately force this issue 
to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that is exactly 
where this issue needs to be decided. The stakes 
are so high that to have the issue decided at any 
lower level would be a travesty. There can be no 
mistake about the fact that if the government can 
compel me to buy health insurance under the 
commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution, then it 
can force me to buy anything, or not buy something, 
based on that same clause. It may seem incredulously 
silly, but it is nonetheless true, that if I 
can be forced to buy insurance for my own health, 
I can be forced to eat my spinach as well. If this 
requirement is allowed to stand, all vestiges of individual 
freedom will eventually disappear.

Fortunately, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli 
filed the lawsuit challenging the law’s individual 
mandate provision that requires all citizens 
to buy health insurance or, beginning in 2014, pay 
a penalty. More than 20 states now have similar 
lawsuits pending. Mr. Cuccinelli has accurately 
pointed out that the individual mandate is the 
“common thread” running through all of the legal 
challenges. It is absolutely fitting that he ask the 
Supreme Court to take the case immediately because 
it is of such imperative public importance as 
to justify deviation from normal appellate practice 
and to require immediate determination in this 
Court. 

Judge Hudson is the first judge to strike down the 
law, but he is not the only serious-thinking public 
official to see the obvious. Most Republicans and 
the vast majority of Americans (65% at last measure) 
believe that the government has overstepped 
its proper boundaries with 
this requirement. That’s why 
even as the courts consider 
this, there is plenty of time for 
our political leaders to do the 
right thing, which is to kill this 
monstrosity and start over with 
something that actually solves 
the problem while preserving 
our individual liberties. The 
major provisions of this law, including the individual 
mandate, won’t take effect for three years, 
so there really is plenty of time for newly-empowered 
Republicans to draft legislation reflecting true 
health care reform, which would be based more 
on the free market and individual choice, not top-
down government mandates.

Of course, we still have a president who is likely 
to veto such an approach, but the recent ruling and 
the Supreme Court hearings are likely to make this 
a central issue in the 2012 campaigns. The individual 
mandate is the clearest example of the core 
issue in today’s culture wars: the power of the government 
vs the power of the individual citizens. 

Obamacare’s individual mandate always rested 
on the absurd theory that the Commerce Clause 
empowered the federal government to regulate 
Americans’ decisions not to engage in commercial 
activity. That wording is key. We’re not talking 
about the commerce clause applying to business 
transactions that have already been completed. 
We’re talking about making someone engage in a 
business transaction that they might not want to 
do. That is to say, the purchase of a product or service 
from a government approved supplier. If that 
principle is accepted, then it will vest the federal 
government with the power to regulate virtually 
every aspect of Americans’ lives.

Hopefully, my liberal friends and readers of this 
column can put aside their feelings and really think 
this one through. If the federal government is allowed 
to order individuals to buy health insurance 
based on interstate commerce laws, then the federal 
government could order us to submit to any 
other practice or purchase any product or service 
it deems in our best interest. That might seem a 
bit over the top, but we already have some debates 
occurring in this state over the sale and advertisement 
of fast food. I kid you not! At least one city 
council in this fine state has debated whether or 
not to allow fast food restaurants to exist because 
their product is bad for the consumer’s health. Of 
course, ice cream is bad for us to. Last I read, there 
are some pretty (cont. on page 12)


Mountain Views 
News

Mission Statement

The traditions of 
the community 
newspaper and 
the concerns of 
our readers are 
this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperous 
community of well-
informed citizens. 
We hold in high 
regard the values 
of the exceptional 
quality of life in our 
community, including 
the magnificence 
of our natural 
resources. Integrity 
will be our guide.