Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 25, 2014

Mountain Views News Saturday, January 25, 2014 
13OPINION
Mountain 
Views 
News 
PUBLISHER/ EDITOR 
Susan Henderson 
CITY EDITOR 
Dean Lee 
EAST VALLEY EDITOR 
Joan Schmidt 
BUSINESS EDITOR 
LaQuetta Shamblee 
SENIOR COMMUNITY 
EDITOR 
Pat Birdsall 
SALES 
Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698 
WEBMASTER 
John Aveny 
CONTRIBUTORS 
Chris Leclerc 
Bob Eklund 
Howard HaysPaul CarpenterStuart Tolchin 
Kim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Hail Hamilton 
Rich Johnson 
Merri Jill Finstrom 
Lori KoopRev. James SnyderTina Paul 
Mary CarneyKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanGreg WelbornRenee Quenell 
Ben Show 
Sean KaydenJasmine Kelsey Williams 
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STUART Tolchin........On LIFE 
OH CALIFORNIA 

Do the drought, me and was invited to play along. They

the dirty air, the all seemed like nice men but, alas, soon 

water restrictions, the discussion drifted into politics. These 

the unseasonal men, individual entrepreneurs I guess,

temperatures, and the were truly horrified by the possibility 

likelihood of future that the minimum wage was going to be 
climate disasters concern you? Probably raised. How dare unskilled, uneducated 
not. The newspapers talk of ambitious drop-outs expect to make more than they 
and expensive plans for the future, while were already being paid? A raise in the 
I worry that there will be no future. minimum wag, they were certain, would 
Governments all over the world seem so drive up wages at higher levels which 
dysfunctional that I have no confidence would force companies to employ fewer 
that our civilization will be able to people and would therefore damage thetake the required action to meet future economy even more and create moreemergencies. joblessness.

Every work-day morning I fight the I couldn’t take it. I tried to explain 
traffic to get downtown. The freeways that the problems in the country reflected 
are parking lots filled with cars with one the impossibly unfair discrepancy in 
occupant as, seemingly, everyone devotes earnings. Increasingly those at the top 
a couple of hours per day to going to and receive a greater proportion of the profits 
from work. Maybe the cars are more than do their salaried employees. Of 
efficient in terms of miles per gallon, but course they do, agreed the threesome andfor the most part almost all the cars rely on they should. Why? Because they are 
fossil fuels which pollute the atmosphere.smarter and more talented. They deserve 

to make more money and the rest of the

 For my entire adult life I have relied on 

society rides around on their coattails.

the morning Sports Section as an infalliblemethod for forgetting real problems and That kind of thinking really makes me 
escaping into the minutiae of yesterday’s sick. If the rich are really so meritorious, 
results and today’s upcoming games. This I am sure they can find other rewards in 
old tried and true method no longer works. life besides money. Furthermore today’s 
Reading about the unimaginable gigantic rich, like the obscenely wealthy Walton 
salaries that athletes are paid absolutely offspring, have inherited their wealth and 
makes me sick. Baseball and basketball have done nothing to deserve it other than 
players receive contracts that pay in having the foresight to being produced by 
excess of twenty-five million dollars a wealthy parent.
per year. Is this possible? The greatest 

 Speaking of foresight - the other group 

players of my youth, Willie Mays, Sandy 

loathed by my companions were the

Koufax, Don Drysdale, were forced to 

illegal aliens. Why did these people

go on strike in order to obtain salaries at 

not have the foresight to be born in the 

approximately the $100,000 level. What 

United States like we wise, clear thinking 

has happened—are the players so much 

native-born Americans? Illegal aliens are 

more talented than they were before? Of 

just here to bask in the free welfare and 

course not! 

benefits of Americans. I tried to point out 

The difference is the obscene manner that undocumented workers pay taxes but 
in which wealth has come to dominate receive no benefits. The other men did 
our society. If there is so much money not want to hear about this and someone 
to be made by owning and controlling called me a “liberal” which, I guess, is 
professional sports teams doesn’t it make a bad word. It makes me sad to realize 
sense that these teams should become that many “liberals” now call themselves 
municipally owned so that the huge Progressives.
profits could be used for the public at 

 Sometimes it’s hard to remember that 

large? In fact, reasonable caps could be 

California has a Democratic Governor, 

placed on Player’s yearly salaries (isn’t a 

Lieutenant Governor, two U.S. Senators, 

few million a year enough for anyone?) 

and is considered to be among the most 

with the excess amounts being available 

Progressive States. It is quite possible 

for the public good. It makes no sense at 

that the Republican Party has been

all to me that many teams are owned by 

so asinine in its positions that in the 

the relatives of deceased innovators who 

foreseeable future it will not be able to 

actually built the teams which are now 

gain National Public Office. I certainly 

run by, to my mind, undeserving sons, 

hope so. Nevertheless, the attitudes of 

daughter, and sons-in-law who do little 

Americans and their interests seem so

more than squander the wealth.

uninformed that it is clear that great 

Leaving aside my concerns for the changes are necessary if we are to be able 
world today, I decided to treat myself to to cope with the uncertain future. Maybea round of golf. At first I played alone then I would feel safer talking to people 
as a single but, by about the tenth hole, I on the golf course.
caught up with the threesome in front of 

HOWARD Hays As I See It

 
“Mr. President, in deformation of a human being. These 

honor of Martin Luther could well have been loving mothers and 

King Jr. and all who fathers, homemakers, workers, churchgoers 

commit to ending any – but here their bodies were trembling, eyes 

racial divide, no more blazing, faces contorted, spittle-spewing 

playing the race card”voices cracking with obscene screams of 

- Sarah Palinhatred and rage. 
With “The Reel Deal” Viewing the footage fifty years after it was 

and “Sean’s Shameless shot, I felt a visceral fear for the safety of the 

Reviews”, the last thing targeted children. They appeared for only a 

Susan needs is another few moments – seemingly the only ones not 

movie reviewer for the MVN. But this time drawn to the cameras and microphones. 

of year, as the awards season kicks in and I But they did appear to have direction. 

try to catch up on what I’ve missed (which Groomed and dressed for first-day-of


this year is just about everything), I wanted school, it seemed to be, “look straight 

to share a couple reflections.ahead, stay quiet and focused, don’t engage 

 I thought “12 Years a Slave” was terrific, or acknowledge the sidelines”. Interviewed 

with eye-opening depictions of people as later, they said their only objective was to 

property. We know how folks might fly off go to school.

in a rage and smash a piece of furniture; Almost as bad as not knowing history is 

it’s destructive, but it’s their property. A not applying it, of relegating it to the past. 

plantation wife smashes a piece of china Martin Luther King spoke of desegregation. 

into the head of a girl entertaining dinner Today, public schools are more segregated 

guests. It may be momentarily awkward for than they were forty years ago. Black 

the guests, but she’s her property.workers today earn an average $22,000 a 

 Bodies hang from the limb of a tree in year less than their white counterparts. 

the yard. Around and behind the tree, He spoke of a “living wage”. At the time 

older slaves go about their work, young of the 1963 March on Washington, he 

ones run around playing. No one dare said “anything less than $2.00 an hour” 

even acknowledge the hanging bodies, lest would fail to “give all Americans a decent 

they suffer the same fate. Property has no standard of living.” In today’s dollars, that 

recourse.$2.00 would be $15.27. The current federal 

 I also caught Lee Daniel’s “The Butler”, minimum wage is less than half that.

which used the life of a White House He spoke of fair voting. Last year, 33 

attendant to frame the civil rights struggle states enacted voter suppression laws, and 

of the last half of the last century. My the Supreme Court overturned key parts of 

misgivings began upon seeing Robin the Voting Rights Act. He warned against 

Williams as Dwight Eisenhower (though “right to work” laws, explaining their 

just the thought of Jane Fonda as Nancy “purpose is to destroy labor unions and the 

Reagan is a hoot). Everything seemed too freedom of collective bargaining by which 

glossy and too clean.unions have improved wages and working 

 After watching a movie, I habitually log conditions of everyone”. Today, workers 

onto the IMDB to see what others thought in “right to work” states, whether union 

of it. Viewers gave “The Butler” outstanding members or not, earn $1,500 less per year 

reviews, and I read their comments. They than counterparts in other states, with less 

were not so much on the quality of the film, likelihood of having benefits like healthcare 

but of what was learned from it: they were and pensions.

like, “Gee, I had no idea!” Yes, there was Speaking in 1968 in support of striking 

indeed racism in this country, there was sanitation workers in Memphis, Dr. King 

hatred and brutality. Reviewers thanked alluded to Moses as he said God had 

the film for having exposed them to this “allowed me to go up to the mountain. 

lesson on how Americans had treated one And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the 

another, and expressed retroactive shame Promised Land. I may not get there with 

 From my perspective, I already knew a you. But I want you to know tonight that 

bit of the history, and I’ve seen footage that’s we, as a people, will get to the Promised 

incomparable in its chilling depiction of it.Land.”

 Years ago I worked in a film library, and Some see this speech as some eerie 

I remember opening up rusted metal cans premonition of his murder the very 

of tightly-wound rolls of grainy black-and-next day after he gave it. I see it more as 

white 16mm news film. The cameras and recognition that the struggle for equality, 

microphones had been there to cover the peace and justice would be ongoing beyond 

crowd around Little Rock’s Central High his lifetime.

School in September, 1957. In Buddhism, “enlightenment” is seen not 

 The girls in pony-tails, skirts and as a moment when a light bulb goes off, but 

sweaters, clutching school books, recited as something pursued through countless 

the talking points: “They got their own lifetimes. History is not a done deal, but 

school! I don’t see why they gotta be comin’ “karma” that continues to be a part of us.

to our school!” The guys, duck-tails and Our Founding Fathers saw the purpose of 

tee shirts, had a school-sanctioned, and the Constitution as to “form a more perfect 

encouraged, opportunity to cut class and Union” - not to achieve perfection, but 

hang out – yuckin’ it up on the school steps, implying a responsibility for each ensuing 

waving the Confederate flag and shouting generation to make it more perfect still; 

racial obscenities.to every day be conscience of and strive 

 The image of the parents was searing; towards those goals of equality, peace, and 
I doubt the most talented filmmaking justice.
could capture such emotional and physical And not just on MLK Day. 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

I’VE NEVER ROBBED A BANK..YET! 

Some people have Where that came from, I will never know. 
what they call their To my recollection, I have never even 
"bucket list." I am thought about robbing a bank. I do not 
not too sure what know where I would start in the first place.
this is all about but With an astonished look my wife respond-
it seems to me it is a ed, "What bank have you been thinking of 

list of things people would like to do before robbing?" 
they "kick the bucket." Me, I do not plan to 
kick any bucket as long as I am alive. I have It worked beautifully. I did not think it 
other targets for my kicking. would work as well as it did because I did 

not put any forethought into this. However, 
I understand that the general concept is it did get her off the topic at hand. For the 
there are things people would like to do next several moments, all she could talk 
before they die and I suppose everyone has about was me robbing a bank and the hortheir 
own list. But I have too many things rific trouble we would be in if caught. 
on my "to-do-list" from the Gracious Mistress 
of the Parsonage. I affectionately refer Any individual successful in life needs to be 
to this as the "kick my butt list." able to put forth the proper words. For me, 

I found the right words. 
As long as I have been married, and it has 
been longer than I can remember, you Coming in the door the other day I was 
would think I would have come to grips greeted with, "Did you get the quart of 
with this dynamic in the marriage relation-milk I asked you to get when you left this 
ship. To a certain extent, I have. I do certain morning?" 
things without asking any questions or even 
complaining, at least out loud. What I say Without thinking, which is the beauty of 
under my breath is between me and myself. this strategy, I responded by saying, "No, 

and I haven't robbed a bank yet, either." 
Sometimes we, me and myself, get into 
significant arguments. The problem is, I Only one problem with this kind of victory. 
never know if me is winning or myself? In Who can I brag to about it? I cannot tell my 
one case, there was a tie, but I cannot recall wife because then I could not use it any-
what it was about. more. It is awful to have something that you 

cannot share with your significant other. I 
Lately, I have come up with a novel tactic am not sure how long I can keep this secret. 
in dealing with this scenario. It came to me 
quite by accident. You know how it is, you The only thing I can do at this point is to 
think of something to say, but usually the smile. And boy, have I been smiling lately. 
day after you needed to say it. I have great 
comebacks to everything I hear except the No matter what she throws my way, I re-
fact that the comebacks are usually a day spond by smiling and saying, "And I haven't 
late and a phrase too short. robbed a bank yet, either." 

I hate it when I am driving down and think Is it possible to have too much fun? I mean, 
of what I should have said. I have a whole as a husband? 
list of what I should have said to certain 
people but it is too late and there is nothing All my life I have tried to get the upper hand 
I can do about it. and all my life I have not succeeded only to 

shake hands with myself. Until now, that is. 
Recently I hit the target. (I just hope my How long it will last is anybody's guess. I'm 
identity has not been hacked!) just not guessing at this point. 

It was one day last week when my wife Sometimes people get depressed about all 
looked at me and said in one of "those the things they have done in life. Some are 
tones," "Have you taken out the garbage?" pretty bad things. Occasionally, it is good 
She is always surprising me with questions to think about all the things you have not 
related to things she has asked me to do. done. I may not be as good as I should be 
My problem is my attention span is about but then again, I am not as bad as I could 
as long as my memory. Personally, I think be, either. Leastways, I have never robbed 
she takes advantage of me in this area. a bank. 

Thinking about this I was reminded of what 
I looked at her with one of my infamous the apostle Paul said. "Not by works of righdummified 
faces. She responded, "You did teousness which we have done, but accord-
not take out the garbage, did you? You nev-ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing 
er do what I ask you to do." of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 

Ghost" (Titus 3:5). 
Without thinking, and I mean it quite lit-

Thankfully, my salvation is not built upon 

erally, I quipped, "Well, I've never robbed a 

what I can do, but upon what He has al


bank... yet!" 

ready done for me. 

GREG Welborn 
HAS THE DEATH SPIRAL BEGUN? 

LEFT TURN /RIGHT TURN 
New statistics released by the oppose the program. 
administration and new polls -not released That’s a new record 
by the administration – suggest that the and is up from55% 
Obamacare death spiral has begun. For just six months ago. 
those not familiar with the phrase, it’s a Surprisingly, the 
term used to describe the process whereby increase comes from 
too few of the right people sign up for both independents 
Obamacare, prompting premiums to (going from 53% to 
rise, which in turns motivates still more 64%) and Democrats (going from 22% to 
people to not enroll, or to withdraw, 30%) in opposition. 
thus exacerbating the problem. The loop 
continues, spinning downward to an ugly This explains why we may be in the 
crash – hence the phrase “death spiral”. beginning turns of the death spiral. 


President Obama’s 40 million new people 
Seeking the right people somehow sounds were supposed to be those who didn’t 
elitist, but it’s not in the insurance context. have health insurance. 40 million new 
Insurance only works if enough people insurance purchasers would be a good 
who don’t need it sign up to offset those thing if they included enough of the right 
signing up who will need it. Think about people. The right people are those who 
those poor people who suffered hurricane won’t have to make catastrophic claims 
Sandy’s wrath. Most of them had property against their policies (typically the young 
insurance and will receive reimbursement who have fewer medical needs) in order 
for their losses. But they can only be to pay premiums to support those who do 
reimbursed if there are enough of us who have large claims (typically the elderly who 
haven’t had our homes launched airborne have substantial medical needs). 
to 10,000 feet at 200 miles per hour. Our 
premiums provide the capital pool which The statistics released by the administration 
allows Sandy’s victims to be compensated. show that far fewer people than expected 

are signing up for coverage, of those 
Thank God for the right people – We, signing up only 11% are people who didn’t 
who pay premiums but who don’t need have insurance previously, and among the 
reimbursements now, are the right people. 11% there are very few of the right – young, 
Tomorrow, the right people may be those healthy – people. Most of the people 
in New Jersey who pay premiums so that buying coverage through Obamacare 
we Californian’s can be compensated for a are those who lost their private coverage 
fire. The right people is a different crowd thanks to the stupidity of Obamacare rules. 
each time. It has to be. 

Why aren’t the young, healthy people 
But what if it’s not? The whole insurance signing up? Well, the law states that you 
thing works because none of us knows can’t be denied coverage. So there’s no 
when we will need insurance and when we need to buy health insurance when you’re 
won’t. If we knew, we’d only buy insurance healthy. Why pay premiums when you 
when we needed it, and we’d stop buying don’t need insurance if you know you can 
insurance when we didn’t. There wouldn’t simply join the gravy train when you do? 
be enough people in the premium pool to The right people have figured out you don’t 
sustain claims. The insurance companies need to, so they aren’t buying. 
would fail and nobody would get 
reimbursements. Insurance works when If the death spiral has not already begun, it 
enough of the right people are motivated is warming up. If the numbers mean that 
to buy insurance. That motivation is a premiums have to be raised in order to 
function of costs and a sense that we need make these policies viable, then you’ll see 
coverage “just in case.” fewer people still sign up, and then existing 

buyers will start to drop out. All of this was 
Obamacare’s fatal flaw is that it structure predicted. Conservatives warned of the 
violates both these premises. While it is fatal flaws in the legislation, but Democrats 
a complicated piece of legislation – some and The President ignored them. The 
ungodly number of pages that had to be death spiral will kill the program, but it 
passed so we could see what was in them – may also bring down a presidency and 
but as people figure it out, the program will the Democratic Party. It will have been a 
fail. The polls and statistics I referenced wasted 8 years. 
above seem to indicate Americans are 
smarter than the administration hoped, 
and they’re figuring it out quickly. About the author: Gregory J. Welborn 

is a freelance writer and has spoken to 
40 million new people were supposed several civic and religious organizations 
to enroll in Obamacare, according to on cultural and moral issues. He lives in 
President Obama, and the program was the Los Angeles area with his wife and 3 
supposed to get more popular as people children and is active in the community. 
learned more about it. A new poll just He can be reached gregwelborn2@gmail. 
released today, shows that 59% of voters com