Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 1, 2014

B5

OPINION 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 1, 2014 


GREG Welborn

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 

626-818-2698

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

I WASN’T BORN OLD IT JUST 
HAPPENED THAT WAY


WHY THE 2014 ELECTION MATTERS

Dr. James L. Snyder

Everywhere I look these days people are obsessed with age. 
More products are sold today to make you look younger 
than anything else. Everybody desires to look younger than what they actually 
are. I think that is rather hypocritical. 

 Just saying.

 It seems to me that nobody is happy with the way they are. When you are 
young, you want to be old and then when you get old you want to be young. 
Nobody is happy being what they are at the time.

 The problem with me is that not all my clocks are ticking at the same time. 
Things seem to just creep up on me without me being aware of any of it. For one, 
I did not know I was old.

 It dawned on me this past week when I was sitting in my chair in the middle of 
the afternoon with no inspiration to get out of the chair and go do something. I 
was just feeling a little tired. You know, sometimes it is important just to chill out 
for a little bit.

 Not everybody thinks this. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has a 
different view of all of this.

 As I said, I was just chilling in my chair when my wife walked by, stopped in 
front of me, put both hands on her hips and stared at me for a moment giving me 
that look. Then she said, ”I guess you’re getting old, aren’t you?”

 With that, she whirled around and walked away, leaving me to my own 
thoughts. Nothing is scarier in the whole world than to be left with your own 
thoughts. However, as I thought about this, certain things seemed to come to the 
surface.

 I did appear to be ”old,” whatever that may entail. It is funny how people use 
words and they mean different things to different people at different times.

 I never thought of myself as ”old,” but then, my wife would never lie to me. If 
she thinks I am getting old, well, I must be getting old.

 Then I chuckled to myself. I like to keep my chuckles to myself for a variety of 
reasons. As I thought about me being old and my wife recognizing that I am old, 
it dawned on me that she is older than me. Now please, do not let her know I let 
this slip out of the bag. But, if I’m old, what does that make her?

 You did not hear it from me, but I had a nice chuckle as I thought about this 
whole scenario of being old. Being the gentleman that I am, and a great lover of 
life, I will never bring this to her attention. If she finds out that she is old, she will 
never learn this information from me. I may be old, but my goal is to get older.

 Right after this little incident, I walked into a McDonald’s restaurant to get 
some coffee. I prefer to keep certain things to myself and my age is one of them. 
I cannot hide my good looks; it is all out there in the open for everybody to see. 
But my age is something a little different. I try to keep that to myself.

 ”Are you a senior citizen?” The waitress behind the counter asked chipperly.

 At first, this really irritated me. What business is it of her with regards to my 
age? I was just about ready to ask her what her age was when she changed the 
whole conversation.

 ”If you are a senior citizen your coffee is only $.80.” With that she smiled quite 
gingerly.

 That puts age in a very different perspective for me. Normally, coffee is $1.39, 
but for senior citizens, it is only $.80. A lot of things I am not very proficient at, 
but arithmetic is not one of them. If I would admit to this young lady that I was 
a senior citizen, I could save $.59. I do not know about anybody else, but $.59 is 
$.59!

 ”Why, yes,” I muttered, ”I am a senior citizen.”

 ”Oh dear,” she giggled, ”you sure do not look like a senior citizen to me.”

 Now, I do not know if she really meant that or not but allow me to repeat 
myself, $.59 is $.59!

 I have never thought of myself as old, just older. And, as a friend of mine used 
to say, ”I plan to get as old as I possibly can get.”

 Getting old has many benefits and $.59 is only the beginning.

 My great objective from this time on is to cash in on as much Senior Citizen 
benefits as I can get. After all, $.59 is $.59! And, if I get a cup of coffee every day, 
I will save $215.35 in the year, every year. Who would have thought that getting 
old would pay such rich dividends?

 There is a strange anomaly that most people do not want to get old but then 
they do not want to die either. The only remedy for not getting old is...

 It is not getting old that is the problem, it is not discovering the real foundation 
of life which is none other than Jesus Christ. 

 ”The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray 
head”

(Proverbs 20:29).

 Getting old is not for sissies. It takes a real man to get old.

 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.

Election predictions are always dangerous, 
and I can only remember a couple of 
instances when I’ve made them. But here, 
I’m going to make two more. This election 
is about something, and this election will 
matter significantly. Two sides of the 
same coin, but both sides are important to 
understand.

 In the last several weeks leading up to 
this election, the Democratic line has 
shifted from “we’re confident we’re going 
to retain the Senate”, to “even if we lose, it’s 
not really a significant event; the voters are 
just angry again and apt to do something 
stupid”. Sadly for Democrats, this election 
really is about something: the mishandling 
of the economy, governmental corruption 
and intrusiveness, and incompetence on 
the world stage.

 It is about the economy! All elections 
have some component driven by the 
economy. In good times – even fair times – 
that component is minimal. But we’re not 
in good or fair times. We are experiencing 
the weakest recovery in two generations. 
The 1 percenters are doing just fine, but it is 
those in the middle, where median income 
has fallen, who aren’t doing very well at all. 
Making it all the more unpalatable, this is 
the president who proclaims that reducing 
income inequality is the great purpose to 
which his administration is dedicated. But, 
income inequality has worsened under his 
watch because of his policies. The voters 
noticed.

 It is about governmental corruption and 
intrusiveness! It is difficult to know where 
to start here, but a fair guess would be with 
the two institutions which should be above 
politics: the IRS and the Centers for Disease 
Control (CDC). This administration 
has politicized both to the point where 
their credibility is damaged, perhaps 
unrepairably. Add to this the Veterans 
Affairs Department and the Secret Service, 
subpoenaing and wiretapping journalists, 
and you have a level of corruption which 
weakens the core of what all Americans 
thought were sacrosanct institutions or 
principles of fair governance. The voters 
noticed.

 It is about massive incompetence on the 
world stage! Most voters don’t take in the 
details of foreign policy, but they do take in 
the results of foreign policy. So, the details 
of Libya, Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan 
may just be punctuation marks, but the 
outcomes are noticed. When ISIS takes 
the territory we spent blood and treasure 
to win and secure, when a county is 
cannibalized and the cannibals mocks 
us, when our ambassador is targeted and 
murdered, we notice. And those were just 
the early innings. They were enough to 
demonstrate American weakness, and the 
bad guys noticed. Videotaped beheadings 
of James Foley and Steven Sotloff weren’t 
just savagery; they were demonstrations 
of the contempt shown by the savages 
for America – for our power, resolve and 
place in the world. The J.V. team defied 
us, dared us, and all we can do is fly a few 
meaningless sorties for press releases and 
photo ops.

 But it is Ebola which 
has crystallized the 
collapse of American 
strength. We 
contradict ourselves at 
every turn and can’t even muster common 
sense responses. We tell the world and our 
own people that quarantines don’t work – 
except for our own military personnel who 
have been in West Africa. Our protocols 
have more holes in them than swiss cheese, 
more exceptions than the rules of English 
spelling. We are a laughing stock of the 
world. The voters noticed.

 So, the election is about something – 
and something significant – after all. But 
it is also a deeply important election. My 
prediction is the Republicans will gain 
seats in the House and will take control 
of the Senate. Assuming that’s true, this 
election will set the stage for Republicans 
to demonstrate what they stand for, not just 
what they stand against. And that will be 
deeply important.

 When you’re the minority party, you 
really don’t have much of an option other 
than to be the party of “no”. I might even 
add that it is your responsibility to be the 
party of “no”. You represent an electorate 
which voted for you and wants you to stand 
up to the majority. This is a time-honored 
and deeply valuable service to the nation. 
You’re not supposed to just roll over and 
rubber stamp the policies of the party in 
the majority. You’re supposed to say “no” 
and then seek the compromises which 
make sense.

 But when/if you become the party in the 
majority in the legislature – as I believe 
this election will deliver – your obligation 
and opportunity shifts. The Republicans 
will have the opportunity, and the 
responsibility, to collectively vote through 
bills in the House and the Senate which 
reflect their positive view of what policy 
should be. Republicans will shift to become 
the party of alternative answers. Whether 
the President agrees, compromises or flatly 
refuses and uses his veto power is beside 
the point. The exercise will be clarifying 
for the nation, and there is great value in 
that because we’ll have another, more 
important, election in 2016. 

 So this election will matter greatly. 
America will have two years (2014 to 2016) 
to witness, contemplate and judge the 
competing visions for America’s future 
– both domestic and foreign. That is not 
insignificant in the annals of history or 
politics.

 Don’t be misled when you hear the 
Democratic talking points. The electorate 
may be angry, but they aren’t stupid. 
They’re paying attention; this election is 
about something, and this election will 
matter significantly.

 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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“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

RICH Johnson


AN EXCITING JOURNEY TO THE BREEDERS 
CUP 2014

MEDIA MISPRINTS 

AND MISSTEPS

 
By the time this 
goes to print, 
Friday’s races will be done, and 
Saturday’s will be underway… 
In the meantime, it’s been an 
incredible journey…I learned 
a lot and met fantastic people 
from various US states, Canada, 
England, and China!

 The excitement began October 
3 when I met Olivier Doleuze.
(From France, now races in Hong 
Kong.) His mount is Rich Tapestry, 
in Sprint.) I also met jockey Billy 
Antongeorgi. (Home state-N.Y., but 
recently raced in northern CA.) 

 Thursday the Preliminary 
Entries were read at the Baldwin 
Terrace Room; I saw Fernando 
Perez, (Hennythepenny in Juvenile 
Fillies) and wished him luck.

 Many exciting events occurred this past 
Monday/ Tuesday. At the Baldwin Terrace 
Room, Monday AM, Alan Sherman, 
Assistant Trainer of California Chrome, 
gave an update/answered questions. Alan 
said, “Chrome’s trained like a monster, keeps 
getting stronger…as good as he was at the 
Derby… Southern CA is an advantage…if 
Chrome wins, it’s a good case for Horse of 
the Year… Shared Belief and Chrome are 
similar…new turf at Santa Anita shouldn’t be 
a problem-it’s similar to Los Alamitos where 
he trains…there’s a lot less pressure for the 
Breeder’s Cup than there had been for the 
Triple Crown.”

 At 1:00 p.m., we returned to the Baldwin 
Terrace Room for the drawings. All races 
were done except Friday’s Distaff and 
Saturday’s Classic. I met writers from Oregon 
and Canada and Jan and Mike Campbell 
whose son Jesse will ride Private Prospect 
in the Juvenile. One its owners Josie Carroll 
wondered about local museums so I spoke of 
the El Monte Historical Museum and Norton 
Simon.

 The evening’s draw for the Distaff and 
Classic was a reception at the beautifully 
renovated Chandelier Room. Jockeys attending 
included Victor Espinosa, Mike Smith and 
Aaron Gryder. There were hors d’oeuvres/
drinks, and Trumpeter Jimmy readied us for 
the big draws. Later I met NBA Vet Rashard 
Lewis, one of Cigar Street’s TALL owners. Joe 
Talamo will ride V.E. Victory for the first time 
as usual jockey Joel Rosario will be on Tonalist. 
The Classic promises to be great with Victor 
on California Chrome; Mike Smith, Shared 
Belief; Rafael Bejarano, Footbridge; Tyler Base, 
Majestic Harbor; Corey Nakatani on Candy 
Boy!

 I met the tallest trainer-Charlie Hill 
who hails from England. His horse, 
Commemorative (Jockey James Doyle) will 
race in the Juvenile Turf. I also met an Irish 
trainer. In the A.M., I had seen Joe (Talamo) 
and Raffy (Bejarano) and wished them luck. 
I met Paco Lopez, mostly recently from 
Keeneland . Paco will be on Rio Antonia 
in the Distaff, Pants on Fire in the Dirt 
Mile, Souper Colassal in the Juvenile and 
Stonetastic in the Filly & Mare Sprint. 
Wednesday A.M. I saw a very sad Bob 
Baffert announce American Pharaoh being 
withdrawn from the Juvenile. It was very 
disheartening, but the horse’s welfare is the 
most important factor. A few days ago, Bob 
had noticed something funny in the way he 
moved. He ordered every test but nothing 
was detected. It’s probably a deep bruise. Of 
all horses, (Six other entries he’s trained), it 
had to be him. “I’ve never had a bad day with 
him. The way he was coming into this race so 
perfect.” Horseracing certainly has its high 
and low moments. 

 On a brighter note, I headed over to 
Ralph’s on Foothill for Aaron Gryder’s 
autograph signing. Aaron has to be one of the 
most personable people I know. Rosie from 
Clocker’s Corner came in and he made such a 
fuss over her. He came from around the table 
and posed with little kids and thrilled adults 
also. Araon mentioned it was his fourth 
time in the Breeder’s Cup.(Majestic Runner) 
He looks too young to have been racing 28 
years! I asked his favorite track and he replied 
“Santa Anita”! 

Ever read 
something in a 
newspaper or a 
magazine that 
didn’t sound 
quite right (like one of my columns)? 
You might also have read something 
on the internet that seemed a little 
peculiar or out of whack (again I refer 
you to my column).

 These misprints and missteps 
might simply be a misspelling. Like 
this misspelled word in a coffee shop 
window: Try Our Homemade Pies – 
They Are a Real Threat! I think they 
meant treat not threat.

 Even more fun is a phrase that has 
a double meaning: Fine food expertly 
served by waitresses in appetizing 
forms.

 Sigmund Freud might have 
something to say about the above 
statement. Or how about these 
following restaurant signs that 
weren’t carefully checked:

 Customers who consider our 
waitresses uncivil should see our 
manager.

 Open seven days a week and 
weekends.

 Advertisements about clothing can 
always be entertaining:

 We do not tear your clothing with 
machinery. No, we do it carefully by 
hand.

 We will oil your sewing machine 
and adjust tension in your home for 
only one dollar.

 Our bikinis are exciting. They are 
simply the tops!

 Men’s wool suits, $3.00! They won’t 
last an hour!

 A laundromat sign: Automatic 
washing machines. Please remove all 
your clothes when the light goes out.

 A sign in an auto repair garage: Free 
pickup and delivery. Try us once and 
you’ll never go anywhere again.

 A sign outside a radiator repair 
shop: The best place in town to take a 
leak.

 Sign on a plumbers van: We repair 
what your husband fixed.

 In a Florida hospital maternity 
ward: No children allowed.

 Church sign: For those of you who 
have children and don’t know it, we 
have a nursery downstairs.

 Of course, personal want ads have 
always been a hot bed of misprints:

 Dog for sale: eats anything, fond of 
children.

 Snow blower for sale – only used on 
snowy days.

 Free puppies: Half cocker spaniel 
and half sneaky neighbor’s dog.

 

Two signs found in an ear piercing 
shop:

 Ear piercing while you wait.

 Now is your chance to have your 
ears pierced and get an extra pair to 
take home too.

 Sign in a loan company office:

 Ask about our plans for owning 
your home.

 And more:

 Chef Throws Heart Into Helping 
Feed Needy.

 Safety Experts Say School Bus 
Passengers Should Be Belted.

 Police Found Safe Under Blanket.

 Here is a scientific find worth 
noting:

 Infertility unlikely to be passed on.

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge.

 Life is meant to be enjoyed even 
while it’s being endured. I hope in 
some small way I help bring a smile 
to your face.

 My fantabulous rock, roll, and 
comedy band JJ Jukebox is playing 
this Saturday night, November 8th at 
the Peppertree Grill from 6:30 – 8:30. 
Peppertree Grill is at 322 W. Sierra 
Madre Blvd. (626) 355-8444. We’ve 
pretty much sold out the main dining 
room but there are seats in the bar 
lounge and patio. Make reservations, 
come have a wonderful dinner and 
get an ear bashing of golden oldies 
from the 1960s and 1970s.

Mountain Views News

Mission Statement

The traditions of

community news-
papers 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. 

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