Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 11, 2012

11

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 11, 2012 

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

STUART Tolchin......On LIFE 

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

PRODUCTION 

Richard Garcia

PHOTOGRAPHY

Lina Johnson

Ivonne Durant

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Jeff Brown

Pat Birdsall

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Ron Carter

Rev. James Snyder

Bobby Eldridge

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Wellborn

Dr. John Talevich

Meaghan Allen

Sean Kayden


I NEVER TALK TO THOSE PEOPLE

BYE BYE BILL OF RIGHTS

 For me 
the most 
unforgettable 
moment 
of the 
interminable 
Republican 
Presidential 
Debates was the CNN sponsored 
event during which a question 
was addressed to Candidate Ron 
Paul. Paul is known to oppose 
all Federal-Assistance programs 
and was asked to respond to a 
hypothetical question in which 
a previously healthy person 
decides to save money and not 
purchase health-insurance. Now 
the person has some medical 
condition and has not the money 
to pay for medical treatment. 
Before Congressman Paul can 
even respond to the question, 
the audience which is composed 
entirely of Republican activists, 
yells out “Let him Die.” The 
audience reaction is frightening 
and to me seems completely 
bewildering.

 Over the phone this morning 
I described the incident to a 
friend as part of telling her about 
a remarkable interview program 
that had been presented on 
Super-Bowl Sunday. The friend 
interrupted to say, “I know. I 
never talk to those people. I just 
can’t stand them.” I tried to tell 
her that this was the very point 
that the interview was trying 
to make, and that it was very 
important that we be able to 
talk to one another. My friend 
said she didn’t care—she just 
hated people like that and wasn’t 
going to waste her time talking to 
heartless idiots.

 This conversation went 
absolutely nowhere, so now I 
am going to try and reach you. 
The interview program, Moyers 
and Company, was broadcast 
on the PBS station, channel 50, 
and is undoubtedly going to be 
rebroadcast. The interviewer 
was Bill Moyers, that incredibly 
sincere, White Protestant from 
the age of Lyndon Johnson. 
The interviewee was some 
guy named Jonathan Haidt 
and the subject-matter was 
paralysis, Dysfunction, and 
Rage. Throughout the interview 
Mr. Haidt maintained the 
position that both Liberals and 
Conservatives were subject to 
the same kind of blindness. Both 
sides had demonized the other 
to the extent that there could be 
no conversation. It has become 
impossible for compromises 
to be formed, as each side now 
views their position as so sacred 
that to work with the other side is 
to join hands with the Devil.

 At first I did not find the 
program very interesting. I 
have never understood the 
position of Conservatives who 
value self-reliance above caring 
for those in need. Similarly 
I have never understood the 
moral position of those who 
congratulate themselves for 
their foresight in being born 
as Americans or Caucasians 
or males or heterosexuals or 
whatever privileged position 
fortune has given them. Still as 
I listened to the program I began 
to expand my perspective. Mr. 
Haidt referred to the fable of 
the ant and the grasshopper. 
For you non-Aesop-fable fans, 
this ancient story describes the 
lives of two insects. During the 
plentiful summer months the ant 
conserves his food and saves for 
the winter, while the grasshopper 
happily eats everything available 
and has a great old time. 
Eventually winter comes and the 
starving grasshopper goes to the 
ant begging for food. Does the 
ant have the moral responsibility 
to share his food with the 
formerly carefree grasshopper?

 Of course Mr. Moyers, good 
and responsible liberal that he 
is, maintained that the ant had 
the responsibility to share his 
store of food with the starving 
grasshopper. Certainly I agreed 
with this position. Isn’t that 
what society is all about—doing 
what is best for the common 
good? Mr. Haidt took a different 
position and carefully explained 
that for many, self-reliance is 
the basis of society. People must 
be encouraged to take care of 
themselves and there must be 
consequences if they do not. 
He spoke of the meaning of the 
term karma, and talked about 
the belief that people earn the 
life that they have created for 
themselves. Many religions teach 
that the concept of karma even 
extends from one life to another. 
He talked about how concepts 
of loyalty and the acceptance of 
authority are fundamental to the 
efficient maintenance of a culture. 
Next he moved to a discussion 
of hypocrisy. He explained that 
we are all hypocrites expressing 
positions that we secretly do not 
follow ourselves. In this age of 
seemingly universally revealed 
lying politicians, things began 
to make sense to me. I still find 
disgusting the conservative’s fear 
of income redistribution or gun 
control or personal freedom, but 
I am beginning to understand 
something new. Human beings 
need help. We all want to be 
respected by others and strive 
to be worthy of that respect, 
even to the extent that we hide 
from ourselves. Yes, I know it 
doesn’t make much sense but, 
as Mr. Haidt explains it, that is 
the human condition. What 
others think of us is often more 
important that what we think of 
ourselves. The most important 
thing, he says, is acceptance by 
our own tribal group.

 I disagree with this viewpoint 
but I’m thinking about it. Why 
do I take the trouble to write 
these articles if all I care about is 
self-acceptance? I’m still learning 
about myself and strongly 
recommend the Bill Moyers 
program to you as possibly being 
helpful in the expansion of your 
own perspective. 

 
Little did I know that while 
I was welcoming in the New 
Year out of touch on my 
hellish Caribbean cruise (see 
my 1/21 column), President 
Obama was signing into law 
HR 1540, the National Defense Authorization 
Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2012.

 Many of you may be thinking “Who cares?” 
or “Why does it matter to me?” However, the 
NDAA should matter to all Americans, both as 
citizens and human beings. Imbedded in this act 
is the most insidious threat to our civil liberties 
since the Patriot Act was first passed. 

 Sections 1021 and 1022 gives the government 
the right to detain American citizens indefinitely 
without trial and remand anyone detained 
into military custody if they “pose a threat” 
to the government. This law is supposed to be 
an act against terrorism, to protect the public 
from the dangers we are supposedly fighting in 
Afghanistan. 

 The NDAA states that anyone “who was part of 
or substantially supported al-Qaida, the Taliban, 
or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities 
against the United States or its coalition partners” 
or commits a “belligerent act” against the United 
States government can be held “without trial, 
until the end of the hostilities authorized by the 
Authorization for Use of Military Forces.” 

 In case you’ve forgotten what you learned in high 
school civics class, the Bill of Rights guarantees 
that in all criminal cases, Americans have a right 
to be informed of the charge against them, have 
the assistance of counsel, and a trial decided by 
a jury of our peers. In other words, it guarantees 
that there will be “No punishment without due 
process of law.” The government seems to have 
forgotten this part of the Constitution.

 Some of you may be thinking that since you 
don’t bad-mouth the government you don’t have 
to worry. Well, this law permits the government 
to arrest and incarcerate you indefinitely without 
having to get an arrest warrant. They don’t have 
to prove you did anything wrong, and they can 
arrest you for more reasons than just being a part 
of al-Qaida.

 Under the guise of Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA) our rights have 
slowly been eroded to make us conform to their 
globalist ideals. The NDAA is just another step 
in the direction toward the “New World Order”.

 FEMA is building hundreds of camps all 
over the United States, a number of them run by 
Halliburton. These have been in existence since 
2009. They call them “residential centers.” 

 Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, in his 
television show “Conspiracy Theory,” explored 
one of these FEMA camps. What he saw, and 
what I saw on TV, was utterly shocking. Behind 
the double fences of the camp was a playground 
— with children already using it. These camps are 
already in use. Not just for fugitives, illegal aliens, 
or al-Qaida members. But for American women, 
children, and entire families.

 This particular camp has two layers of fencing 
around the perimeter, warehouses, playgrounds, 
unusually large furnaces, and atop the fences is 
razor wire. Not so much to keep people out, but 
to keep them in. Along the length of the fencing 
is a railroad track. Army and government trains 
are commonly seen on it. 

 Outside the FEMA camp Jesse visited is a 
menacing notice board. It warns all visitors 
“not bring on the grounds any instrument that 
may be used as an aid in attempting escape.” The 
word “escape” implies that people do not want 
to be there. Perhaps this is why they are often 
compared to the Nazi concentration camps.

 The NDAA was not a supported bill in the 
United States. Only 1 in 4 Americans supported 
the act, yet Obama still signed it. Many senators 
were actually paid hundreds of thousands of 
dollars to pass the NDAA. Ohio senator, Robert 
Portman not only voted in favor of it, but was 
paid $272,853 to do so. 

 This is supposed to be America, land of the 
free, not America, land of the oppressed. Don’t 
take this lying down. 

 Call or email President Obama, Senators 
Feinstein and Boxer, and Rep. Dreier demanding 
the repeal of NDAA Sections 1021 and 1022. 

 Do it now before it’s too late!


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OUT TO PASTOR A Weekly Religion Column


RICH Johnson


I take a certain amount of 
well deserved, if I say so 
myself, pride in keeping 
to a well organized schedule; 
my to-do-list. If it is 
on that list, I am going to 
do it, regardless of the difficulty 
attached. The trick 
is to get on that list which 
I guard with my very life.

 Not that I worship my to-do-list, but I do reverence 
it with a great deal of deep personal appreciation. 
I think long and hard before anything 
appears on my to-do-list. Once something is on 
my to-do-list, there it is for all and sundry to gape 
upon it. It is a deep honor for anything to be put 
on my to-do-list.

 Another reason I take my time in putting something 
on that list is that the only way it can come 
off is if I actually do it. After all, that list is not supposed 
to be stared at but rather to inspire activity 
on my part.

 The other night I was busy with my to do list going 
over each and every item with the utmost care 
hoping that St. Nick would soon be there. Each 
item on that list needs to be carefully scrutinized 
and sometimes even underlined for emphasis. 
Often I have to recalculate and sort out the items 
and give them new priorities. I must have been 
busily engaged for I did not hear the Gracious 
Mistress of the Parsonage address me.

 Finally, it dawned on me that somebody, other 
than my inner conscience, was addressing me. I 
looked in her direction and said, "Huh?"

 "I just said," she quipped, "what are you so intently 
engaged in?"

 "I'm working on my December to-do-list," I said 
with a touch of irritation in my voice for being 
interrupted during such delicate meditation.

 "You're working on what?"

 "My December to-do-list," I said trying to get back 
into my sphere of supersensitive concentration.

 There was silence for a bit and then my residential 
companion broke said silence by saying, "You 
do know what month it is, don't you?"

 With an air of sarcasm in my voice I answered, 
"Of coarse I know what month it is. It's December 
and I'm trying to sort out my to-do-list for 
the month. I think I've got just about everything 
covered."

 Again, there was that silence that you could cut 
with a butter knife if you had one on your person.

 "So," she said rather thoughtfully. "You are completing 
your December's to-do-list. Is that right?"

 I grunted my approval and continued with my 
ultra-concentration work at hand. I really have 
no time for nonsensical chitchat. My time is valuable; 
I have work that needs to be done. I cannot 
be side tracked by every little noise that comes up.

 I take great pride in working through my to-do-
list each month. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction 
knowing that I am actually accomplishing 
something and I have the records to prove it. If 
somebody would ever come up to me and ask me 
to prove that I have been busily engaged in profitable 
activity, all I would have to do is show them 
my well documented to-do-list.

 "I hate to bust your bubble, but…"

I hate when people say they hate to do something 
and then they go right ahead and do it. I wanted 
to tell her to save herself a bucket of hate and refrain 
from busting my bubble, or whatever she 
was trying to bust at the time.

 Then, being the gentleman that I am, I allowed 
her to say what was on her mind.

 "I hate to bust your bubble, but it is February not 
December."

 Now there was silence from my end of the room. 
Being the good-natured person that I am, I just 
burst out laughing.

 "Boy," I said heartily, "you almost got me with 
that one. I'll give that one to you." Then I went 
back to my work.

 "But it is February," she said more sternly than I 
have heard her say anything for a long time. "It is 
now February, not December."

 I had to pause. Normally she does not play tricks 
on me like this. Most of the time she is an upstanding 
person and always tells me the truth, 
even when there are times I do not want to hear 
the truth.

 "You’re sure it's February?"

 She smiled one of those smiles that really irritates 
me and simply shook her head in the affirmative. 
I know I am an easy turkey to pluck, but this was 
actually serious. With the rather stunned tone to 
my voice I ask, "Whatever happened to January?"

 It was then the laughter started. I must say it has 
not subsided appreciably since. She has a way of 
rubbing things in when I am wrong. If the tables 
were turned, and they never are, I would not take 
advantage of such a situation.

 I swallowed my pride, which I have had a lot of 
practice doing, and began to realize I had been 
working on a false premise. It was actually February, 
time had gone by so quick and I was so busy I 
did not realize how fast it was going.

 In Ecclesiastes 3:1, the man of God says, "To every 
thing there is a season, and a time to every 
purpose under the heaven."

 If you are too busy to know what time it is, you 
are too busy.

The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God 
Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He lives 
with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him 
at 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The 
church web site is www.whatafellowship.com.

WHERE IN MY SCHEDULE DID JANUARY GO?

THE END OF THE WORLD

There’s a lot 
of talk that 
the world 
is going to 
end in 2012. 
I suspect the 
Mayan Calendar. The Mayans 
seemed particularly interested 
in astronomy. Thus the advanced 
mathematics and primitive 
astronomy resulted in what many 
call the most accurate calendar 
in the world. The calendar began 
in 3.114 B.C. and mars time 
in roughly 394 year periods. 
These are known as Baktuns. 
The Mayans had a thing for the 
number 13 and they wrote that 
the 13th Baktun would end on 
December 31, 2012. Apparently 
that’s when a solar shift, a Venus 
transit and violent earthquakes 
take place marking the end of the 
world. 

Predictions of the end of the 
world are nothing new. There are 
over 200 recorded predictions 
of the end of the world starting 
in 44AD. In 1186 the “Letter of 
Toledo” warned everyone to hide 
in caves and mountains. The 
world would be destroyed and 
on a few would be spared. My 
question is, if the world is going 
to be destroyed how will it help 
to hide in a cave?

1910 was the year of a notable 
end of the world prediction. 
It coincided with the revisit of 
Haley’s Comet. One enterprising 
man sold comet pills to protect 
people from the effect of any of 
the comet’s gases.

One of the major religions of 
the world began predicting the 
beginning of the end of the world 
in 1914. This date was computed 
from the 4th chapter of the Book 
of Daniel in the Old Testament. 
1975 was another big year of 
predictions by this religion of 
7.65 million members. In fact 
predictions were made by this 
group in 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 
1914m 1918m 1925m 1975 and 
1984

What I have always wondered 
is how evangelical Christians 
could ever claim to know when 
the end of the world would come 
with the return of Jesus Christ. 
In the 24th chapter of Matthew 
Jesus, himself, says in verse 36, 
“But of that day and hour no 
one knows, not even the angels 
of heaven, nor the Son, but the 
Father alone.”

Of course, in this media 
drenched society one wonders 
how the media would report the 
end of the world. I took a look at 
the printed media. Here are some 
potential headlines:

The Wall Street Journal: 
“Dow Jones Plummets As World 
Ends”

PC Magazine: “Apple Loses 
Market Share”

Victoria’s Secret: “Our Final 
Sale”

Sports Illustrated: “Game Over”

Rolling Stone: “Grateful Dead 
Announces Reunion Tour”

Readers Digest: “’Bye”

Cosmopolitan: “Lose 10 lbs. 
by Judgment Day With Our New 
Armageddon Diet”

Forbes Magazine: “10 Ways You 
Can Profit From the Apocalypse”

USA Today: “We’re Dead” 
(complete with a pie chart)

Enough about the end of the 
world. On a more important 
note, The Barry, Lisa and Rich 
comedy radio show is going 
well. We have produced 5 
programs to date. Each program 
is approximately an hour long. 
The show airs on Monday and 
Saturday mornings at 10:00 on 
the internet. The internet radio 
station is www.radiofishbowl.
com. If you listen in I hope you 
find it entertaining. We certainly 
our entertaining ourselves.

On another note, my oldies rock 
and roll band, JJ Jukebox, is 
scheduled to perform at Café 322 
on Saturday night, March 31st. 
More details later.

Mountain Views News

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Integrity will be our 
guide. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com