Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 6, 2014

B4

OPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 6, 2014 

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

BUSINESS EDITOR

LaQuetta Shamblee

PRODUCTION

Richard Garcia

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

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WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

CoCo Lasalle

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

RICH Johnson

BEFORE THEY WERE 
PRESIDENT TOO


A SEVERE CASE OF YUCKITIS


Dr. James L. Snyder

 My schedule recently 
called for me to do 
some travel involving 
airplanes. I am not a 
fan of airplanes, but 
airports are something 
else altogether. They 
seem to be like a mall. Whatever you want, you 
can find it in an airport. The bigger the airport, 
the more you can find.

 I was sitting in an airport restaurant waiting 
for my plane and simply enjoying myself. I 
watched the people go by and inside I was 
laughing and making fun of them. I play a little 
game when I am all by myself. If only they knew 
what I was thinking about as they walked by, 
they would come over and give me a stern look. 
I have never seen a person that I cannot make 
fun of, including that raspy looking person in my 
bathroom mirror. It is the sort of game you can 
play when you are all by yourself with nothing 
else to do.

 I was sipping my umpteenth cup of coffee 
when I happened to notice several people 
walking by who were sneezing. At first I did 
not think too much of it, but then I began to 
notice more and more people sneezing. Is there a 
sneezing epidemic going on that I have not heard 
of yet?

 I tried not to pay attention to it and went back 
to my game of ÓWho Can I Make Fun of Now?Ó

 Maybe it was programmed into my head 
at the time, but I could not help noticing every 
other person walking by heading for an airplane 
was either sneezing or sniffling or coughing. I 
thought to myself, ÓSelf, I sure hope they are not 
on our plane?Ó

 I finally got to my gate and waited to board the 
airplane and then take off. I was checking some 
things on my cell phone when I heard a person 
behind me sneeze. Not only did they sneeze, but 
they sneezed half a dozen times and it just about 
drove me crazy. I know the road to crazy for me 
is rather a short drive, but I hate taking that road.

 It dawned on me at the time that the person 
behind me doing all the sneezing was also 
waiting to get on the same plane I was going to 
board in a few minutes. Why canÕt they check 
your sneezing at the gates before you come in so 
that you do not have to take it on board the plane? 
I mean, after all, they check for everything else!

 Finally, my number was called and I began 
boarding the airplane. I noticed in front of me 
was the man who was going all of the sneezing. I 
whispered to myself, ÓSelf, I hope he has certainly 
got all of the sneeze out of him.Ó

 We finally were seated and it takes me quite 
a while to get buckled in. Whoever designed 
planes designed them with the seven Disney 
dwarfs in mind. To get that belt around me and 
buckled is a great accomplishment. I would not 
say I am oversized, just that I am post thin, and 
by the time I squeezed myself into the seat and 
strapped myself in with the buckle it is about all I 
can do to breathe.

 On this flight, I happen to be seated in the 
middle. There would be a person on my right and 
a person on my left. It was at that time I prayed 
that they would be skinny and healthy. Two 
gentlemen came in, one on my left, the other on 
my right. By the time we all got in and buckled, 
none of us could move one way or the other.

 We smiled at each other and then the plane 
took off and we were airborne. I happened to 
notice at the time that nobody on the plane was 
sneezing, coughing, or even sniffling. I sighed a 
deep sigh and then it happened to me.

 I am not quite sure how all of this happens, but 
I felt the in the bottom of my lungs a pre-sneeze 
condition. At that point, I knew exactly what was 
coming and I did not know how to deal with it.

 When you sneeze on an airplane, you cannot 
turn to your left or to your right because people 
are sitting there. What is a person to do? If I look 
up and sneeze, it will all come down on me.

 Then I remembered the people I knew when 
they had to sneeze, sneezed into their arm. I 
raised my right arm just as I was about to sneeze, 
and boy did I sneeze.

 Whenever I sneeze, it always has to be in 
triplets. I sneezed three times in my arm and 
when I come out from that arm, it was drooping 
and dripping with all sorts of gunk that came 
from somewhere deep inside of me. What do you 
do with gunk like that on an airplane?

 As I was trying to think about what to do, a 
verse of Scripture came to my mind. ÓHow is it 
then, brethren? when ye come together, every 
one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a 
tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. 
Let all things be done unto edifyingÓ (1 
Corinthians 14:26).

 It is hard to discipline yourself to do only 
those things that edify other people. That is the 
challenge of the Christian life.

 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 1-866-552-2543 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net or website www.
jamessnyderministries.com.

 I realize you 
may think it a 
bit premature 
to discuss our 
upcoming 2016 
presidential 
election. In 2012 we 
just had Barack and 
Mitt to point our fingers at. In 2008 we 
could point out Hillary, Barak, Joe, John, 
Bill and Dennis as the Democrats. The 
Republicans gave us: Mitt, Rudy, John, 
Mike, Fred and Ron. 

 IÕm not sure who all is in the picture 
for 2016 other than Hillary. I think Joe 
Biden will make a play. Senators Bernie 
Sanders, Jim Webb and Joe Manchin 
have announced they will be giving 
Hillary a run for her money. 

 The Republican contenders so far 
include: Marsha Blackburn, John Bolton, 
Jan Brewer, Scott Brown, Jeb Bush, Ben 
Carson, Chris Christie, Bob Corker, Ted 
Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, 
Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Pete King, 
Steve King, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, 
Rick Perry, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney, 
Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, 
and, take a breath, Scott Walker. 

 Really though, I donÕt think its too 
early to start thinking about 2016. It 
wouldnÕt hurt to do what I did in 2008 
in considering our next commander in 
chief. So let me grab my lawn chair and 
sit under that tree of enlightenment and 
wait. By the way my tree has a name. ItÕs 
the Danny Osti tree of enlightenment. 

 Back in 2008 I thought we might make 
more informed choices if we knew what 
our former presidents did before they 
became president. A peek in the past 
might give us added insight toward the 
future. It may reveal clues, important 
clues. LetÕs take a gander.

 Okay, surprise, surprise: 25 of the 43 
presidents were lawyers. The next highest 
profession is no surprise either: 8 were 
soldiers. 3 were teachers, 2 were farmers 
and 2 were businessmen. 

 Only 10 presidents came from unique 
early careers. Care to guess who did 
what? (This can be tricky because some 
of these presidents were better known for 
secondary careers) 

 Lets see how you do: We have a 
surveyor, writer, postmaster, tailor, 
sheriff, rancher, editor, engineer, 
journalist and one youÕll never guess, an 
actor.

 15 presidents also served as governors, 
23 served in Congress, 14 were Vice 
Presidents and 7 were cabinet secretaries 
(Did they have to run and get coffee?) 

 Okay, okay, Ronald Reagan is the actor. 
The surveyor was George Washington. 
Thomas Jefferson is our writer. Our 
postmaster was an obscure fellow named 
Abraham Lincoln. Andrew Johnson was 
our tailor and Grover Cleveland was town 
sheriff. John Kennedy was a journalist. 
Teddy Roosevelt, was, of course, our 
rancher and Warren G. Harding was 
a newspaper editor. Rounding out our 
unique careers was Herbert Hoover the 
engineer.

 It might be interesting to note our 
3 teachers were John Adams, Lyndon 
Baines Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur. 
Three of our presidents are listed with 
only one previous career. And it was 
the same jobÉGeneral. Can you name 
them? Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant 
and Dwight David Eisenhower.

 Finally, our businessmen were late 
additions to the list and they both had 
the same last nameÉBush. What do you 
think of that?

 My choice. Way to early to speculate. 
There are so many contenders. As Will 
Rogers once said, ÒAn onion can make 
people cry but thereÕs never been a 
vegetable that can make people laugh.Ó

 What does that have to do with 
anything? Dunno.

 

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 LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn

 
ÒItÕs in Russia, in Lenin 
and Stalin Russia, and 
then Mao . . . This is the 
recruitment ground for 
fascism and itÕs not just 
historical. ItÕs what goes 
on in the suicide bomber 
recruitment.Ó

 - Richard Fink, 
Executive V.P. of Koch 
Industries, speaking 
to conferees last June against raising the 
minimum wage 

 

 Writing about Charles and David 
Koch three years ago, I described their 
combined net worth as $50 billion. 
According to Bloomberg, earlier this 
year it topped $100 billion - $50 billion 
per brother. Ranked in order, thereÕs 
Bill Gates, MexicoÕs Carlos Slim, Warren 
Buffet, Amancio Ortega (worldÕs largest 
clothing retailer) and then Charles and 
David Koch as the worldÕs fifth and sixth 
richest individuals.

 Updating my calculations, if they 
worked five days a week with two weeksÕ 
vacation a year, they could each spend 
every workday over the next twenty years 
(well into their nineties) deciding how to 
give away $10 million each and every day 
Ð and never touch the interest.

 New schools, scholarships, endowments 
and research grants for the eradication of 
poverty and disease, inner-city parklands, 
broadband access for remote rural 
classrooms, commissions for symphonies 
from promising 21st-century Gershwins - 
could all be easily affordable to the Koch 
brothers - in the first few days of those 
remaining twenty years.

 Instead, they spend what to them is 
chump change to buy politicians. With 
fronts like Americans for Prosperity to 
launder the cash, their goals are to keep 
those at the other economic extreme 
in their place; busting unions, fighting 
minimum wages, gutting Social Security 
and Medicare, while waxing nostalgic for 
the days when healthcare was the leading 
cause of family bankruptcies. Taxes 
should remain avoidable for the elite; 
a responsibility only for those without 
the means to avoid them. Government 
regulations are to be abolished Ð whether 
regarding pollution of our air and water 
or manipulation of our financial markets 
Ð while government subsidies for Big Oil 
are vigorously defended.

 As Bloomberg came out with their 
rankings last April, Freedom Partners, 
another Koch front (annual dues of 
$100,000), kicked off their battle for 
control of the U.S. Senate with a $1.1 
million TV buy targeting Sen. Mark Udall 
(D-CO) and senate candidate Rep. Bruce 
Braley (D-IA). The charge was that both 
had supported the Affordable Care Act. 

 The big Koch event was their conference 
of billionaires (an estimated 300 Ð out of 
around 500 in the U.S.) in Dana Point last 
June. The tab was $870,000 to take over 
the St. Regis Monarch Bay Resort for a 
couple days to play golf, dine and hold 
seminars on debunking climate change 
(no scientists on the panel), fighting 
campaign finance reform, repealing 
the Affordable Care Act and converting 
education into another profit source.

 It didnÕt matter if anyone paid attention 
at the seminars; the main purpose was 
money Ð raising $500 million to buy the 
U.S. Senate for Republicans, and another 
$500 million Òto make sure Hillary 
Clinton is never presidentÓ. This was an 
increase over the $400 million raised and 
spent in the 2012 elections. Exact figures 
are unknown, since the purpose of the 
Koch network is to hide where the money 
comes from and where it goes.

 The conference made news last week 
with the release of leaked audio from the 
private event Ð kept secret and secure with 
all remembering well what that leaked 
Ò47%Ó comment did to Mitt RomneyÕs 
campaign two years ago.

 U.S. Senate hopefuls came to kiss the 
rings of their benefactors. State Sen. Joni 
Ernst (R-IA), who favors eliminating the 
IRS, EPA and Dept. of Education along 
with privatizing Social Security, credited 
her nomination to Òexposure to this group 
and to this network and the opportunity 
to meet so many of youÓ. State Rep. Tom 
Cotton (R-AR) assured he wouldnÕt repeat 
the mistake of former Majority Leader 
Eric Cantor (R-VA), who, he explained, 
lost his seat because he Òendorsed 
immigration principlesÓ.

 A featured speaker was Senate Minority 
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who 
came to defend his benefactors against the 
man he would replace, Majority Leader 
Harry Reid (D-NV). The month before, 
Sen. Reid had introduced a Constitutional 
amendment to reverse the Citizens United 
ruling and again allow Congress to keep 
anonymous billionaires from buying 
elections. Sen. Reid referred to ÒThe Koch 
brothersÕ hostile takeover of the American 
electoral systemÓ and explained, ÒThe 
Constitution does not give corporations a 
vote, and the Constitution does not give 
dollar bills a vote.Ó

 Sen. McConnell outlined to the group 
his upcoming strategy of grinding things 
to a halt through constant attachment 
of unacceptable riders to appropriations 
bills: ÒWeÕre going to go after them on 
healthcare, on financial services (the 
Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and 
Wall Street reform), on the Environmental 
Protection Agency, across the board.Ó He 
explained that Òall Citizens United did 
was to level the playing field for corporate 
speechÓ, and described President 
BushÕs signing of the McCain-Feingold 
Campaign Reform Act as Òthe worst day 
of my political lifeÓ. (I suppose the 9/11 
attacks and 2008 economic meltdown 
donÕt count.)

 Appropriately, Sen. McConnell began by 
thanking his hosts, ÒCharles and David, 
for the important work you are doing. I 
donÕt know where weÕd be without you.Ó 
Outside groups have already pitched in 
$8.5 million for McConnellÕs re-election 
bid.

 Another reason for secrecy is the issue 
of legality. These outside groups arenÕt 
allowed to coordinate with parties and 
candidates, and here you have the head 
of Americans for Prosperity up on the 
dais with the chair of the Republican 
Governors Association talking strategy 
for taking over the U.S. Senate with a 
purchased Republican majority.

 Such concerns of propriety and legality 
probably donÕt matter much when youÕre 
personally worth some $50 billion. When 
it comes down to it, though, the ballots 
punched by Charles and David Koch donÕt 
carry any more weight than those marked 
by you and I. The question is, how many 
of us will show up in November to remind 
them of that.


DEADLY INCOMPETENCE

 Summer is over; welcome back to the 
real world Ð kids start school again, the 
traffic gets heavier, the weather cools, and 
the pattern of life returns to a familiar 
rhythm. The only difference is that this 
year Americans are returning to a world 
which grew much more dangerous over 
these short 3 months. WeÕre returning, 
awakening really, to a world in which 
President ObamaÕs incompetence is 
getting people killed Ð lots of people, 
thousands of people Ð and a justifiable 
fear is growing that all this death will 
soon revisit American soil.

 It has been a busy summer. Islamic 
State terrorists, who were just on the 
JV team, now control a transnational 
territory which contains 5 million 
people, major cities, oil wells (and their 
cash flow), damns, airports and other 
infrastructure, and a large cache of 
sophisticated American weaponry Ð 
including surface-to-air missiles. The 
Islamic State massacred Shiite soldiers, 
dumping their bodies in open pits, while 
Hamas executed innocent ÒcollaboratorsÓ 
in broad daylight in a central marketplace. 
SyriaÕs Assad continues to use chemical 
weapons and came close to starving the 
entire city of Aleppo. Russian troops 
openly invaded Ukraine, and Emperor 
Putin brags that he can take Kiev in two 
weeks. Russian-controlled separatists 
used Russian SAMs to down a civilian 
airliner and still prohibit any semblance 
of an honest investigation. Chinese 
warplanes threatened an American 
plane in international airspace. And ISIS 
closed out the dog days of summer with 
the grisly public beheading of not one, 
but two, American journalists, directing 
their filmed messages to America at 
large with the first murder and taunting 
Obama personally with the second.

 So the world has not gone well. 
Perhaps the President was just taken by 
surprise; he has used that excuse before, 
claiming that world events just happen 
so fast he only learns about them from 
the newspapers. But that excuse is not 
available to him. Romney warned him 
about Russia in the presidential debates; 
Israel has been warning him about the 
dangers of Hamas for a couple years; his 
own intelligence briefings have warned 
him about the growing threat from ISIS 
for at least a year; and Obama addressed 
Syria on several occasions, even 
announcing the absolute necessity of the 
immediate removal of the still-in-control 
Assad from the world stage.

 The President knows that surprise is 
not the plausible excuse it once was. Even 
the sycophant mainstream media wonÕt 
let him get away with that one this time. 
Instead, Obama again throws someone 
under the bus. This time, ironically, itÕs 
the very same press which has covered for 
him for so long. In comments this week, 
President Obama told us Òif you watch 
the nightly news, it feels like the world is 
falling apartÓ, that Òthe world has always 
been messyÓ and that ÒweÕre just noticing 
now because of social mediaÓ.

 I wonder how the folks at CBS, NBC, 
ABC and the major 
Obama campaign 
contributors in 
Silicon Valley feel 
right now. ItÕs their 
fault we ÒfeelÓ like 
the world is falling 
apart. In fact theyÕve been so good in 
messaging that recent polls shows an 
amazing unity of opinion: Republicans, 
Democrats and independents all ÒfeelÓ 
the world is going to the dumpster. Well, 
hereÕs a word of advice for the President. 
ItÕs not just a ÒfeelingÓ. The world is 
falling apart; itÕs falling apart on your 
watch; and itÕs falling apart because of 
your policies, born of an incompetence 
that has few rivals. 

 This incompetence has a cause - 
potentially an incurable one. ItÕs not 
stupidity. If only it were; stupidity can 
be corrected by hiring smarter people to 
advise you. The PresidentÕs incompetence 
has its genesis in a commitment to an 
ideology that trumps any recognition or, 
as weÕre now seeing, any violent intrusion 
of cold, hard reality. Mr. Obama was, and 
President Obama remains, a man of the 
hard left in his world view. As student, 
law professor, Senator, candidate and 
President, Obama has believed with every 
fiber of his being that America has no 
right to interfere anywhere in the world, 
that America has caused more hardship 
by its presence than any other nation on 
earth, and that America must withdraw 
from the world stage as penance for, and 
solution to, the troubles its past exploits 
have caused. Obama believes he will be 
the man who ends war. That is the real 
reason he didnÕt refuse his Nobel peace 
prize. Even if he didnÕt think he had 
earned it at that point, he was convinced 
that he would earn it eventually. This is 
where he is today Ð still committed to his 
ideology and to earning that peace prize 
no matter how many people die.

 The left has never understood that 
war is not inherently immoral any more 
than peace is inherently moral. Only the 
purpose of the war and the conditions of 
the peace can determine the morality of 
either. The PresidentÕs actions may have 
brought our troops home, but the ÒpeaceÓ 
which has been left in so many corners 
of the world is filled with terror, cruelty 
and death for many thousands. If he 
continues, and all evidence suggests he 
will, massive indiscriminant death will 
once again visit our shores. ISIS needs 
only to walk across our southern border 
with a handful of the U.S. weaponry 
it now possess. War will come, and we 
need to do so much more to win it so that 
a just and moral peace can flourish Ð here 
and abroad.

 About the author: Gregory J. Welborn 
is a freelance writer and has spoken to 
several civic and religious organizations 
on cultural and moral issues. He lives in 
the Los Angeles area with his wife and 3 
children and is active in the community. 
He can be reached at gregwelborn2@
gma/5l.com

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