Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 31, 2014

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 31, 2014 
B4 OPINION 
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 CarpenterKim 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 KaydenMarc Garlett 
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SUSAN Henderson OPEN ISN’T THE 
PROBLEM 
On June 3rd, California will hold an open primary 
in which voters can state their preference without 
consideration of party affiliation. There are many 
who feel that this is another California experiment in 
‘being different’ and others who feel that it will allow 
for the two most popular candidates to battle it out in 
November to the benefit of voters. Personally, I tend to 
agree with the latter. 
Therefore, when it comes down to endorsements, 
in certain cases it will be necessary to see where the 
dust settles by November. Example, in the LA County’s Sheriff race, Retired LASD 
Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell are almost 
certain to face each other in November. Tanaka, current Mayor of Gardena, while 
taking the heat for the current investigation of the Sheriff ’s Department when it was 
under the leadership of Lee Baca has a couple of things in his favor in my opinion: 
1. It is clear that Tanaka disagreed with Baca’s policies as Tanaka’s decision torun for the office and challenge the leadership of the Sheriff’s department occurredbefore Baca resigned. 
2. In a statement from his campaign earlier this year, Tanaka indicated thatas Sheriff he would not be interested in contracting with the City of Sierra Madre 
for police services. Given the constraints the county is operating under already, I 
appreciate a leader who is not interested in taking our money and strengtheningtheir coffers while providing fewer services. 
3. Credit should also be given to the fact that at the trial of one of the deputieson trial in the Sheriff’s scandal, Tanaka could have easily ‘thrown the deputy under 
the bus’ but instead acknowledged that the man was in fact following orders. In the 
real world, police officers, firefighters, military men are trained to take orders fromtheir commanding officers without question and it is the expected duty of superiorofficers to support their men. He gets credit for that in my book. (I’m not sayingwhether or not any of the allegations of ‘hiding’ an informant were true, but it isreally wrong to allow someone who works for you to go to jail for something they 
were ordered to do.) If Tanaka had done what most ‘politicians’ do, he would havelet the deputy take the fall. 
On the other hand Jim McDonnell, current police chief of Long Beach has an 
admirable record as a law enforcement officer and has impressive endorsementsfrom current DA Jackie Lacey, former DA Steve Cooley and LAPD Chief CharlieBeck. (All of whom I supported) However, the strength of his campaign lies mostlyin the fact that he is not a member of the leadership of the LASD. He was runner 
up for Chief of the LAPD and ascension to higher office is definitely a part of hiscareer path. It should be noted that Long Beach PD hasn’t been without its shareof troubles. 
So, the good news about this open primary will be that voters will more than likelybe able to make an informed decision between whether or not the new Sheriff should 
be someone with experience from within the sheriff’s department or someone totallyon the outside. And believe me, by election day in November, all the facts will belaid out on the table. 
In the meantime, I’m going to do what most people do, vote for what they believe isin their best interest. As of this date, I’m supporting Paul Tanaka because he’s notinterested in bringing the Sheriff’s Department to Sierra Madre. Come November,
however, that may change. 
The Governor’s race: 
Governor: Jerry Brown – This is a no brainer. We were in a deficit when he took 
office. We have a surplus now. It wasn’t easy, but he did it. 
As for the openness of this race, looks like Jerry will be running against either ‘take 
a gun on an airplane’ former Minuteman Leader, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly who, 
pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded handgun while attempting to board a commercial 
flight and was sentenced to three years’ probation. 
Or 
Neel Kashkari who appears to be giving Donnelly a run for his money. Kashkari 
wants to “unleash the private sector” from regulation, especially manufacturing 
and energy; he envisions a California oil and gas “fracking” boom much like North 
Dakota’s. And he’d like to see overtime pay kick in only after a 40-hour workweek, 
not after an eight-hour day. Add insult to injury, his endorsements are almost as 
scary as his ideas: Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Pete Wilson…..really? 
Short of waking up on June 4th and finding out that Jerry Brown did not make it to 
the November ballot, this Governor’s race should be a done deal. If the top two vote 
getters end up being Donnelly and Kashkari, we’re in for big troubles in paradise. 
Other Endorsements: 
Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom 
Secretary of State: Alex Padilla 
Controller: John Perez 
Treasurer: John Chang 
Attorney General: Kamala D. Harris 
Insurance Commissioner: No Endorsement 
Board of Equalization District 3 Jerome Horton 
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson 
27th Congressional District Judy Chiu 
41st Assembly District Chris Holden 
County Assessor : Jeffrey Prang 
PROP 41 YES! Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond 
Act. We just can’t continue to ignore the very men and women who make our wayof life possible. California needs to do its part to take care of its own. 
PROP 42 NO Public Records, Open Meetings, State Reimbursement to localagencies Constitutional Amendment. Every public records requests costs localgovernments in staff time and resources. The state should reimburse cities for the 
cost of compliance. Otherwise, cities will bear the burden and further stress alreadytight budgets. 
Regardless of who you vote for, PLEASE VOTE. We complain about the way thingsare but don’t do much to really change things. Who’s in charge DOES MAKE ADIFFERENCE. And when we don’t vote, politicians prey our inaction. Your vote 
has power. Use it.
OUT TO PASTOR 
A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 
RIGHT TURN ONLY 
GREG WelbornDANCING ON THEIR GRAVES 
BEFORE THEY’RE EVEN BURIED 
JUST DON’T CALL ME ON MONDAY! 
Those who know 
me would agree that 
I am cool, calm, and 
collected, although 
not in that order. It 
takes quite a bit to razzle me and get me out 
of sync with my inner harmony. No matter 
what happens, I can always find something 
to amuse me and to laugh it off. I am just that 
kind of guy. 
I must confess that, while that is mostly 
true, I did have an incident this past week 
that threw all of that out of the window. That 
is what I get for leaving my window down! 
The week started out as normal. Mondays 
are usually my down day. After a full 
weekend of preparation and ministry, I need 
one day to really chill out and get my wits 
about me re-collected. On Mondays, I do 
not wish to do anything or see anybody or go 
anywhere. My motto for Monday is simply, 
just don’t call me! 
I have one rule for Monday and that is it 
is impossible to oversleep. Whenever I wake 
up on Monday is when I get up. If ever the 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage set the 
alarm clock for Monday morning, she will 
have to deal with a grouchy old geezer with 
an unpleasant attitude. I am sorry, that is the 
way life is. 
On this particular Monday when I finally 
awakened, the first thing I noticed was that 
my wife had already left the house. Out in 
the kitchen the coffee had been brewed and 
waiting for my consumption. There was a 
nice bowl of oatmeal ready just for me. 
Life cannot get any better than that! I only 
wish there were more Mondays in the week. 
I think when the Beatles sang that song, 
“Eight Days a Week,” they were referring to 
two Mondays. 
I fixed my coffee, got my oatmeal ready 
and proceeded into the living room where I 
could set in my easy chair and watch a little 
bit of television for as long as I could stay 
awake. Nothing is quite as nice as a Monday 
with nothing to do and nobody to bother 
you while you are doing it. 
I got situated and took a nice sip of 
delicious coffee and then proceeded to turn 
on the television. That is when my Monday 
exploded. 
I could not turn the TV on; something 
was wrong with the service. Usually at times 
like this, my wife takes care of the situation 
and resolves the problem. Here I was all on 
my own and I needed to step up and take 
care of business. 
I distinctly remember one occasion when 
my wife had to face such a situation and she 
would call the TV service. She would speak 
to some people there and in a few moments 
(after some rather angry screeching), the 
problem was solved. So I decided to do the 
same thing, minus the screeching. 
When was the last time you called a tech 
person to help you solve a problem with 
your TV and Internet service? Therefore, 
you know what I am about to get into. It is 
something worse than Rod Sterling’s The 
Twilight Zone. 
I called the number associated with our 
TV and Internet service and that is when the 
games began. 
One of my problems is that I can remember 
“the day” when you talked to a live person. 
Someone actually living and breathing and 
living in your own country. How was I to 
know that the service technicians were 
somewhere in the hills of India? 
After punching 2,743 numbers on my 
phone, I finally got somebody. Actually, it 
was not really somebody; it was a recording 
telling me that I was 47th in line waiting for 
the technician. 
According to my calculation, it would 
take me 29 Mondays to get to talk to a live, 
breathing technician. 
By the time I was connected to a live 
technician, I had completely lost my cool 
and was close to not being collected. 
One of the problems I faced was trying to 
explain to this technician what my problem 
was. The next problem was to understand 
what he was saying to me. I believe if you 
are going to service American people, you 
need to speak good old-fashioned American 
without some accent that makes you sound 
like you are from Mars. 
Each minute on the phone with this 
technician caused me to lose more of my 
cool until I was absolutely hot under the 
collar. He knew almost as much about my 
problem as some stray cat in the backyard. 
Finally, I had enough and thought the 
best part of valor on my part would it be to 
bid him adios before I said some things that 
I would later regret. 
After I hung up and cooled down a little 
bit I thought of something. Why don’t I just 
unplug the whole mess and then restart 
everything. It worked and I did not have to 
say it with some strange accent. 
In my devotions that morning, I read from 
Psalms 33:4 where David says, “For the word 
of the LORD is right; and all his works are 
done in truth.” 
Sometimes the best course of action is 
to do it yourself. Not being a do-it-yourself 
guru, it does not come naturally to me. 
If you blame someone else for your 
problems, you are pointing the finger in the 
wrong direction. 
To my knowledge, we hadn’t even had 
the first burial of a victim from Santa 
Barbara’s killing spree before the Left 
started exploiting the situation for 
political gains. I don’t know whether the 
purpose is to raise money for their cause, 
to push through quickly ill-advised 
legislation because they don’t want a 
tragedy to go to waste, or just to vent 
their own vile hatred, but it is shameful 
and pathetic. Dancing on the graves of 
these innocents is bad enough, but doing 
so before they’re even in the ground 
has established a new low in supposed 
political discourse. 
Tuesday, the 27th, witnessed the first 
memorial service for several young 
victims of Elliot Rodger, the spineless 
coward who killed 6 people in Santa 
Barbara. On that very same day, Salon 
published an article by Brittney Cooper 
blaming the deaths on “white privilege”. 
While technology has shortened 
publishing lead times considerably, it’s 
inconceivable that Ms. Cooper’s article 
was not already in the works prior to the 
memorial, a fact which should challenge 
the very concept of Liberal empathy for 
the downtrodden. 
Ms. Cooper wrote, “Can I scream yet? 
It’s time for America to admit what it’s 
long resisted: white male privilege kills”. 
The self-deception here is amazing in its 
willingness to ignore facts. Mr. Rodger 
was half Asian, and he killed himself. 
Why is this white privilege, Ms. Cooper? 
Why isn’t it Asian privilege? Relative 
to their proportion in the population, 
more Asians are admitted to the UCs 
than whites or other racial groups. Isn’t 
that a privilege? To grant Ms. Cooper 
any semblance of logic to her ramblings, 
based on the events in Santa Barbara, 
shouldn’t we request that the UCs begin 
instructing their Asian students to 
“check their privilege” as is being done 
to so many white students at several 
of America’s elite colleges? Of course, 
it is ridiculous to ascribe this to Asian 
privilege, but such linkages are the heart 
of Ms. Cooper’s position. 
Come to think of it, why is there any 
evidence of privilege at all? Mr. Rodger 
ultimately killed himself and left behind 
a manifesto documenting a pretty 
miserable psychological existence. 
Whatever monetary advantage his 
family’s entertainment industry– 
I believe of all races, 
but that was probably 
an oversight due to the 
speed with which they, 
too, jumped on the 
coffins of the innocent 
victims. 
A spokesman for the 
Southern PovertyLaw Center told MSNBC on Tuesday 
that “the killing of four men and two 
women by Elliot Rodger was part of a 
war on women which began in 1989” (we 
even have a beginning date), adding that 
“the misogynistic man-o-sphere online 
created a number of mass killers.” Not 
to be left out of the hate-fest, MSNBC’s 
host, Joy Reid, noted that Elliott Rodger 
“spent most of his time on websites in 
which men expressed their frustrations 
about feminism and their difficulties in 
attracting women”. 
So the war on women is being fueled by 
online entertainment. That raises some 
interesting issues which the Left has 
conveniently neglected to explore. The 
war on women was previously thought 
to be a product of conservatism. But if 
this misogynistic movement is fueled by 
the entertainment industry, then doesn’t 
that make it a product of liberalism, 
not conservatism? Secondarily, if the 
entertainment industry can produce 
websites which create and/or exacerbate 
violent tendencies in males, doesn’t 
that give some credence to conservative 
concerns about the effects on society of 
the debauchery and violence that passes 
for mainstream entertainment on T.V. 
and in the theatres? 
I will pass on the opportunity to make 
the political points to which the answers 
to the above questions might lead. I do, 
after all, have empathy for those who 
have lost loved ones, and I do want to 
allow them their time to grieve without 
being drawn into a political debate. 
That leaves this article a bit unfinished, 
but that is at it should be. As for Rutgers, 
who employs, and MSNBC, who provides 
airtime, to such insensitive, callous and 
deceitful opportunists, shame on you. I 
never expected better from the likes of 
Brittney Cooper or the Southern Poverty 
Law Center. I had hoped that a leading 
educational institution and a mainstream 
American media firm would have better 
Mountain Views News 
Mission Statement 
The traditions of 
community newspapers 
and the 
concerns of our readers 
are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperouscommunity of well-
informed citizens. 
We hold in highregard the values 
of the exceptionalquality of life in our 
community, including 
generated wealth provided wasn’t 
much of a privilege after all. There is 
no evidence of any privilege in this 
situation, but there certainly was an 
opportunity for a leading intellectual of 
the Left (she teaches at Rutgers, after all) 
to push Liberal theories of class, gender 
vetting processes. That was a false hope. 
For the victims’ families, my apologies 
that you have to be included in any 
discussion, debate or distortion at this 
difficult time in your lives. Our prayers 
go out to you for healing, comforting and 
the magnificence of 
our natural resources. 
Integrity will be our 
guide. 
and racial divisions. 
The same can be said of the Southern 
Poverty Law Center’s attempt to lay 
blame for the killings on frustrated men 
eventually some sliver of peace during 
your long walk in the valley of the shadow 
of death where you can know that God is 
with you. 

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