Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 10, 2012

17

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 10, 2012 

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

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

BUSINESS EDITOR

LaQuetta Shamblee

SENIOR EDITOR

Pat Birdall

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

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

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Jasmine Kelsey Williams


WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE

 Well I’m jumping the gun a little bit and writing this article 
Monday night. I’m just going to pretend the good-guys won; it 
would be nice don’t you think? Okay let’s pretend that the good 
guys are in office with a Senate and Congress that will cooperate 
with the Presidents program. What would I like to see happen?

 Okay, remember this is just me. Number one I would like 
to see the possession, manufacture, importation, and purchase of 
all firearms be completely prohibited. How do you like that you 
second amendment fans? Next right along with gun prohibition I would prohibit 
the use of all non-prescription drugs and alcohol. I would also include stimulants 
like coffee and tea. I think it is certainly worth the sacrifice of a little productivity, if 
that would really be the result, in exchange for a little more sanity. Let us eliminate 
message urging escapes from life’s ever-present challenges.

 Speaking of escapes must non-stop diversion actually be provided? What 
would a world without home-entertainment be like? What would people do with 
their time if they couldn’t get high, couldn’t get drunk, and couldn’t watch TV? Why 
they might actually have to talk together and revive the lost art of conversation. 
People might actually try and learn how to do things themselves rather than to rely 
on experts to cope with daily problems. Really it was not so long ago that a high 
percentage of Americans were farmers who actually fixed things themselves.

 Another problem that is faced by many of us is the fact that we are exhausted 
from our daily commutes to work We utilize expensive fossil fuel driven vehicles 
that poison the atmosphere with toxic emissions and also kill and seriously injure 
tremendous numbers of people. We should get rid of them; the cars not the people. 
How? Cheap electric golf cart like vehicles should be used for the simple rides 
around town for shopping and taking the kids to school and visiting grandma on the 
weekends. Longer rides should utilize ecologically sensitive public transportation 
and, of course, working from home should be done whenever possible.

 What about public awareness and responsibility? Really a democracy cannot 
function without an informed electorate. We don’t have one. A universal draft would 
change that. I favor a draft that exempts no one and requires a yearly participation in 
some sort of public service sort of like a Mormon Mission. It is likely then that many 
more would choose to educate themselves about what was going on in their country. 
That is what happened in the 60’s and 70’s and it is something that authoritarian 
governments fear. 

 

A final thing I want to discuss is war. Presently we are fighting wars involving tens 
of thousands of young Americans and no one is paying much attention. World 
governments should work to avoid wars rather than to start them. The threat of 
nuclear war and global annihilation is still present. I favor a kind of world-wide 
disarmament that would make it a little more difficult for us to destroy ourselves. 
Is that too much to ask? Are any of the changes I suggest workable? All of these 
changes are designed to help people to talk to one another and to be more involved 
in their own lives. The universal draft will assist people in getting out of their own 
limited spheres of understanding and in the end all of these changes will allow people 
to live more satisfactory and complete lives.

 I’ve already started by not watching sports for one whole night; of course this 
is made easier by the fact that most Laker games do not arrive on my television. Yet, 
I have survived. 

 It’s 15 hours later now and I have voted and am back from work. I reread 
my article and wonder if I was out of my mind last night. Did my fears regarding 
the election result in me thinking like a Mormon? Was it my fantasy to go back 
to a world that no longer exists or may have never existed? I talk about the know-
how of farmers and yearn to recover their abilities and understanding. Surprise, 
the industrial revolution, information revolution, and technological revolution 
have taken place and we are accelerating exponentially into a presently unknowable 
technological future. How are we humans to adjust to the new demands that will be 
placed upon us? Much like ex-Governor Romney (who knows what his title will be 
when you read this article) I hereby retract my statements from the day before as I 
now realize that they are inappropriate to this new time and place. I realize that we 
cannot hold back the future, much as we might long to, and must instead adapt to 
the needs of today and tomorrow. We must honor human diversity and changing 
political perspectives. Human beings have always wanted to get high and gain some 
respite from the tensions of living and that desire is not going to disappear. Hopefully 
ways can be devised that this can be done safely without endangering the future of the 
individual.

 One final word. I do wish the peoples of the world would stop killing and 
threatening to kill one another and that restrictions upon individual fossil-fueled 
transportation be enforced.. Cheers to the victors and a continued hope for congenial 
cooperation. 


CONGRATULATIONS 
PRESIDENT OBAMA!

 Thanks to your leadership, every American will finally 
have access to comprehensive affordable health care - 
something no other generation has ever been able to claim! 
I think the Affordable Care Act is the single most important 
accomplishment of your first term as President.

 Kudos to the Supreme Court for upholding the Affordable Care Act! 
Health care reform is the right thing to do - thank you for making it final! The 
Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it is called by its detractors, is already 
paying off with millions of Americans benefitting from free preventive care, 
students remaining on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 and seniors 
paying less for prescriptions as the ‘donut hole’ closes. 

 More importantly, the Affordable Health Care Act means that people 
suffering from chronic long-term illnesses can no longer have their health 
insurance terminated just because their insurer doesn’t want to pay anymore. 
The security of knowing that your loved one will continue to get the care they 
need is a blessing.

 But in a larger sense your victory is bittersweet. The nation remains divided 
and the culture wars continue. Not surprisingly, The New York Times and 
The Wall Street Journal have radically different editorials about the events on 
election night. 

 The New York Times says Obama’s victory “was a strong endorsement of 
economic policies that stress job growth, health care reform, tax increases and 
balanced deficit reduction--and of moderate policies on immigration, abortion 
and same-sex marriage. It was a repudiation of Reagan-era bromides about 
tax-cutting and trickle-down economics, and the politics of fear, intolerance 
and disinformation.”

 The Wall Street Journal says it was a victory of “hope over experience,” and 
“the definition of winning ugly.” The election, according to the WSJ editorial, 
was won through “single women, the young and culturally liberal, government 
and other unions’ workers, and especially minority voters.” 

 Obama’s strategy, continues the editorial, was “to portray Mitt Romney as a 
plutocrat and intolerant threat to each of these voting blocs,” denying women 
contraception and heralding “a return to Jim Crow via voter ID laws.” 

 True to form, House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, defiantly repeated what 
he had said on Monday before the election: that he will not even consider 
raising taxes on people making more than $1 million, let alone on individuals 
earning more than $200,000, which President Obama has promised to do if he 
is reelected. Obama has also promised to raise taxes on couples earning more 
than $250,000 a year.

 For what it’s worth, my opinion is that the President’s victory depended 
heavily on the economically hard-hit Midwestern Rust Belt states like 
Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio where Romney couldn’t shake his image 
as a jobs outsourcer, not a jobs creator. But Romney’s most serious blunders 
were his failure to connect with Latinos, and his 47% guffaw which killed any 
chance he had of attracting African-Americans, women, and the working 
poor.

 Mr. President, we did it again, and the best is yet to come. In you we trust 
for a better America and a better world! I, along with all your other supporters, 
wish you success in your second term as President. It was a hard-fought 
campaign, but now comes the really difficult part -- convincing Republicans 
to work together with Democrats for the betterment of all Americans. 

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


RICH Johnson

1972

Well, I did it. I crafted a little bumper stick that said, “Don’t 
blame me, I voted for Romney.” It was in fun because I 
certainly hope the “kids” in the sandbox we call Washington 
D.C. can learn to play together. And that the country will 
thrive over the next four years. 

My little bumper sticker was fashioned after one that made the rounds in 1972. 
George McGovern was the democratic party candidate for President and lost in a 
landslide to Richard Nixon. Then the Watergate incident broke ultimately leading 
President Nixon to resign. During the Watergate hearings a bumper sticker started 
to appear on cars around the nation. It said, “Don’t blame me, I voted for McGovern.” 
The funny thing, people said during this bumper sticker phenomenon, was that if 
as many people had voted for McGovern as had bumper stickers on their cars, 
McGovern would have won in a landslide. 

Anyway, 1972 was an interesting year. Guess what they found on the Island of 
Guam on January 24th, 1972? Give up? In the jungles of Guam they found a Japanese 
soldier who believed World War II was still going on. Shoichi Yokoi had spent 28 
years hiding in a cave. He had seen leaflets dropped years earlier announcing the 
end of the war but thought it was propaganda. He was given back pay totaling $300 
and a small pension.

President Nixon set the ball in motion ordering the development of the space 
shuttle program. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman 
to run for President. American Bobby Fisher beat Boris Spassky in the world chess 
championships. The first American to do that. Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz 
won seven gold medals in swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In a real 
achievement comedian George Carlin was arrested in Milwaukee Wisconsin for 
reciting his seven words you can never say on television.

The last moonwalker, Eugene Cernan (played by Ed Harris in Apollo 13) took his 
famous stroll on December 14th 1972.

Inventions that year included the hacky sack. A little footbag you keep off the 
ground without using your hands. Atari opened its doors in 1972 releasing their 
first game in November. Remember “Pong”. The first home video game system was 
released, not by Atari, but by Magnavox. It was called Oddysey. We first saw digital 
watches and scientific hand held calculators in 1972.

The top two movies of 1972 were “The Godfather” and “The Poseidon Adventure”. 
Others included “Deliverance” and “Cabaret”. Remember the top TV shows of 
1972? 5. Bridget Loves Bernie. 4. Maude. 3. Hawaii 5-0. 2. Sanford and Son. 1. All 
In the Family. New shows included M*A*S*H, Sanford and Son and Kung Fu.

Famous people born in 1972: Shaquille O’Neal, Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, 
Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Jennifer Garner, Chris Tucker and Jude Law among 
others.

1972 music brought us classics such as “American Pie”, “A Horse With No Name”, 
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Lean on Me”, “I am Woman”, and “Heart of 
Gold” among many others. We first experienced Abba, Styx, Steely Dan, Alabama, 
Manhattan Transfer and Oingo Boingo in 1972.

So, what did you do in ’72? 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

FREE IS AS FREE GIVES----and I 
don’t like free, ususally!

 I am not the kind 
of person looking 
for a handout or 
anything free. 
When somebody offers me something 
free, I know there is a catch somewhere, 
and as long as I still have a slice of sanity 
in my noodle soup, nobody is going to 
catch me.

 Before I had made this a hard and 
fast rule, the Gracious Mistress of the 
Parsonage and I took a company up on 
their free offer of three days and two 
nights in a marvelous resort hotel. “All 
you have to do,” the person on the phone 
said, “is listen to a short presentation.”

 That “short presentation” took exactly 
three days and two nights. By the time 
we were done and ready to come home 
we were exhausted. How many times can 
you say no, and for it to register in the 
person to which it is directed? Obviously, 
from our experience, there is no answer 
to that question.

 I learned my lesson and have never 
accepted a free offer since. Not that I have 
not had the opportunity, I just am highly 
suspicious of anything that contains that 
five-letter word “free.”

 Recently an event happened that has 
upgraded my thoughts concerning the 
word “free.”

 The day began as usual, which included 
a trip to the local grocery store and the 
bakery department for the obligatory 
Apple Fritter. A day without an Apple 
Fritter is a day I do not want to get out of 
bed. This one thing drives me out of my 
cozy bed in the morning and puts a little 
bit of get-up in my get-along.

 I am not sure if an Apple Fritter a day 
will keep the doctor away, but who am I 
to challenge such likelihood? Personally, 
I would rather err on the side of the 
Apple Fritter.

 It all began years ago when my wife 
insisted I add more fruit to my diet. It was 
then I discovered the marvelous delicacy 
of the old-fashioned Apple Fritter. Just 
the word apple makes it a fruit in my 
mind.

 My wife and I have had very few 
disputes during the almost half-century 
of our relationship but this is one. She 
feels an Apple Fritter does not qualify as a 
fruit. I think she is rather fruity along this 
line myself; however, I am too wise and 
love life too much to actually say it to her. 
What I say under my breath and behind 
her back does me no harm whatsoever.

 My argument is that there is enough Apple 
in an Apple Fritter to qualify it for a fruit. 
I am not sure who has won this 
argument, but I am not going to challenge 
it. Rather, I will enjoy the fruity nature of 
my delectable Apple Fritter.

 Getting back to the incident that has 
changed my mind about free. I entered the 
grocery store, walked back to the bakery 
department and selected a freshly baked 
Apple Fritter. It was about all I can do to 
keep from eating it between the bakery 
department and the cashier counter. We 
all have our crosses to bear, and this is 
one of mine. I need to wait until I get to 
my office where I can leisurely enjoy one 
of the great delicacies of life. Also, no one 
can see me eat it, especially, you know 
who.

 I got to the checkout counter and 
handed over, reluctantly, my Apple 
Fritter in order to pay for it. It is the best 
$.79 I spend every day.

 Then the inevitable happened.

 “I’m sorry,” the young lady behind 
the counter said, “but there is something 
wrong with this Apple Fritter.”

 Boy, did she have my attention. I was 
about to give her a piece of my mind. 
Who did she think she was? My wife? 
I wanted to give her a spicy lecture on 
the importance of the Apple Fritter in 
question. In my mind, there was nothing 
wrong with this Apple Fritter.

 I do not often get my dander up. After 
all, I do not have the hair I used to have, 
so it is rather difficult to do it. This rather 
came close for me.

 As I stood there steaming, she looked 
at me and said, “I’m sorry, the pricing is 
wrong on this Apple Fritter. I guess the 
bakery department made a mistake.” 
She then paused for a moment, did 
something on the cash machine and then 
said some words that caused me to dance 
in the aisles.

 “I’m sorry that this mistake happened, 
so according to our store policy, this 
Apple Fritter is free.”

 I stood there unable to speak. All my 
reservations about “free,” went out the 
window. I smiled. I smiled a smile that 
went from one end of the store to the 
other. Then to make sure I understood 
correctly I asked her, “Are you sure this 
is free?”

 When she answered in the affirmative, I 
gently picked up that “free” Apple Fritter 
and departed from the store, not afraid 
for anybody to see my Apple Fritter and 
me together.

 The only other free offer I ever accept 
is from God.

 “For the wages of sin is death; but the 
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 KJV). 
God’s gift carries with it marvelous 
compensations both now and eternally.

 God’s free is free indeed.


Mountain Views News

Mission Statement

The traditions of the c

ommunity 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.