Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 27, 2015

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 27, 2015 
B6 OPINION Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 27, 2015 
B6 OPINION 
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 
Chris Leclerc 
Bob Eklund 
Howard HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Dr. Tina Paul 
Rich Johnson 
Merri Jill Finstrom 
Lori KoopRev. James SnyderTina Paul 
Mary CarneyKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanGreg WelbornRenee Quenell 
Ben Show 
Sean KaydenMarc Garlett 
Pat Birdsall (retired) 
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PETER Funt 


CALIFORNIA’S WATER 
WOES HIT HOME 

PEBBLE 

BEACH, 

Calif. – 

Pundits 

sizing up

the drought 

have said 

that water is 
the new oil. They’re wrong, of course.
Oil supplies merely send nations towar, while the water shortage pits 
neighbors against each other.

This condition is evidenced bythree types of front yards that dotthe landscape here on the parchedCentral Coast. Some are dark greenand meticulously manicured – justlike in the pre-drought days. Othershave brown remnants of lawns that 
turned quickly without daily watering.
And an increasing number of yardshave been revamped by conscientioushomeowners to include indigenous,
drought-resistant plants and ground-
covering mulch.

The underlying question goes beyondcosmetics: Is it acceptable to wastewater during a drought even if you’rewilling to pay exorbitantly for it?

Water prices vary widely across thestate but normal household use costs 
roughly $20 to $100 per month. Yet,
add an average size lawn with severalwaterings each week and the billshere soar because water companiescharge higher rates plus penalties asconsumption climbs.

A clerk at the local water company 
says she’s seen monthly bills 
over $5,000 for wealthy residentsdetermined to retain lush landscapes. 
Put another way: they would ratherpay than conserve.

Drought conditions across much of 
the West have worsened over several 
years. California Gov. Jerry Brownhas set a water conservation goal of 
25 percent and the state issued a raftof regulations to force compliance.
Yet, for individual homeowners the 
inconveniences remain minimal. 
Landscape watering is limited totwo days per week, runoff is to bemonitored, washing cars requireshoses with special shutoff nozzles, etc.

The carrot for those not otherwise 
conservation-driven is still money,
with tiered rates requiring consumersto pay more per unit as their overallusage increases. California pointsto a 2009 study by researchers fromHarvard and Yale concluding thatprice is the most effective tool for 
reducing consumption, as opposed tomandatory restrictions.

Even the pricing approach was 
thrown a bit of a curve in Aprilwhen a state appeals court ruled thatlocal municipalities may not charge 

tiered rates for water unless they candemonstrate that the actual cost of 
delivery is similarly tiered.

As if things aren’t complicatedenough, local water companies standto lose money as residents conserve 
more. Variable costs of delivery godown, but fixed costs of operationalong with maintenance and research 
expenses remain the same. To 
compensate, some water companiesare levying drought surcharges.

And this is just on the residentialside. Agriculture is California’s largestwater user, and the state has recentlymoved to limit farmers’ water suppliesfor the first time since 1977.

 But back to the moral questionconfronting homeowners. In timeof drought is it reasonable to buy asmuch water as you want if you don’tcare what it costs?

 The poster community for thisquestionable behavior is Rancho 
Santa Fe in Southern California, 
known for its lavish estates, numerous 
golf courses – and per capita water 
use that is five times the state average.
To the horror of all but the most 
dedicated lawn preservationists,
Rancho Santa Fe’s water use actuallyclimbed by 9 percent immediatelyafter the governor urged a statewide 
reduction. 

Wealthy Rancho Santa Fe residents 
insist that water is a natural resource 
to which government should not 
restrict access. The counter claim is 
that such resources, although vast, arefinite and must be conserved – by lawif necessary.

So, should it be illegal to have a lawn?
Government wouldn’t dare issue such 
an edict, preferring onerous waterpricing and penalties. But that will 
only guarantee that in drought areas 
large lawns are eventually for thesuper rich instead of just the rich. Amore equitable solution, if it comes 
to it, would be true rationing: eachhomeowner gets his share but maynot buy up to a higher level.

In the long run the best solution isa combination of price persuasionand peer pressure. It’s only a matterof time before society concludesthat lush lawns aren’t just wasteful,
they’re also ugly. It’s the same sortof evolution that has shifted our 
tastes away from large, gas-guzzlingvehicles.

 We’ll know we’re there when it 
becomes fashionable to observe with 
envy that the grass is always browneron the other side of the fence. 

Peter Funt is a writer and speaker.
His book, “Cautiously Optimistic,”
is available at Amazon.com and 
CandidCamera.com. 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

UNDERSTANDING THE 
GRANDPA RULES 

circumstance would have it, and I like 
to give circumstances due credit, I was 
visiting my grandchildren without the 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.

Normally, if there is such a status, my wife 
travels with me when we visit the grandchildren. 
However, when she is along I do not have a chance. 
I will not say that she hogs the grandchildren, 
she does, I just will not say so. As a husband, 
I know when to speak my mind and when to 
mind my speaking. The inexperienced husband 
does not know the difference and pays for it.

With the opportunity before me to go 
solo with the grandchildren, I determined 
to make the best of it. I never know when this 
kind of a situation will repeat itself. When my 
wife is with me, she always holds the reins, 
but now I have nobody to curtail my visit with 
the grandchildren. I am a freelance grandpa.

What many people may not know is 
that there are rules governing the successful 
grandfather. Most people do not know these 
rules because the most prominent grandparent 
is usually the grandmother. I’m not complaining 
here, just explaining. Somebody needs to 
explain this and the sooner the grandfather 
knows and understands these rules the sooner 
he can enjoy exploiting his role as grandpa.

The first rule that should be understood is 
simply this: whatever makes the grandchildren 
happy makes the grandfather happy. This brings 
out the unselfish nature of grandfatherhood. It is 
a wise, not to mention happy, grandfather who 
invests his resources in making the grandchildren 
happy. Whatever it takes. I say invest because 
there are marvelous dividends to be reaped. 

`This is perhaps the greatest burden the 
grandfather has to shoulder. Everybody knows 
how difficult it is to make and keep children 
happy. In addition, during the grandfather’s 
visit it should be one long happy adventure.

1 Another rule associated with 
grandfathers is rather basic. Jellybeans ARE 
fruit. Anybody with any kind of common sense 
can see the different colors of jellybeans and 
understand that they represent fruit. It is the 
dutiful responsibility of a grandfather to have 
an endless supply of jelly beans on his person at 
all times. After all, children do need their fruit. 

While on the subject of food, another rule 
has to do with vegetables. Every grandfather 
knows that vegetables are not all that 
grandmothers say they are. And broccoli... is 
absolutely forbidden when grandpa is sitting at 
the table. Another important aspect of eating at 
the table is that cleaning up everything on your 
plate is not necessary when grandpa is there.

Also, when grandpa is at the table the order 
of the dinner is drastically changed. For example, 
the dessert should be eaten first because of the 
danger of eating too much and not having enough 
room for the dessert at the end of the meal. 

When going out to a restaurant together for 
a meal there is another rule that is most crucial. 
This is something dear to my heart and something 
I wish to pass on to my grandchildren. Simply 
put, it is this, a straw has many functions. And 
the beautiful thing about a straw is it comes with 
its own supply of ammunition. There are many 
wonderful things to be done with a “loaded straw.”

Another grandpa rule is that noise is 
welcome and since grandpa is a little hard of 
hearing, the louder the better. A grandchild 
yelling like wild banshees is the music of the 
gods. And the most important part of this music 
is all of the grandchildren should be yelling 
at the same time. This idea of taking turns is 
something that only grandmothers think up.

With the children’s health in mind, this next 
rule is crucial. Jumping on the furniture is good 
exercise, especially when grandpa hits the ceiling 
with his head. And because of the great deal of 
laughter involved in such exercise, it adds to their 
health and longevity. I read somewhere where 
laughter adds to your life. Whether it is true or not 
is immaterial, the fact is children need to laugh 
and laugh a lot. Grandmothers do not understand.

Then, as long as grandpa is staying 
overnight, bedtime is merely a goal. This idea 
of having an exact bedtime is not healthy, 
especially when grandpa is visiting. Bedtime 
should be a negotiable commodity, not 
something that is an exact science. What 
does science have to do with going to bed at 
night? Leave science at school where it belongs.

There is one last rule that I need to mention. 
Grandpa’s rules trump everyone else’s rules... 
except grandma’s, which is why grandpa needs to 
visit the grandchildren by himself occasionally.

Understanding the rules enables everybody 
to enjoy the time together. Without rules, there 
would be chaos. With grandpa’s rules, the chaos 
is a marvelous harmony of joy, excitement 
and fun. Every grandchild needs a grandpa 
who understands the grandpa rules and who 
has the opportunity to exploit those rules.

There is one rulebook that I go by implicitly. 
That book is the Bible. It is the most profitable 
book I have ever discovered. “All scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness: That the man 
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

When you know the rules of life, it becomes 
a wonderful and exciting adventure. 

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. 

LEFT TURN 
HOWARD Hays As I See It 



“We can’t hide from 
any of these hard truthsabout race and justice 
in America. We have 
to name them and own 
them and then changethem.” 

- Hillary Clinton 
“I don’t know.” 

- Jeb Bush, asked if 
the shooting in SouthCarolina was “raciallymotivated” 
Candidate Bush did allow that the shooting ofnine black worshippers at Charleston’s EmmanuelAME Church was motivated by “hatred” - butdemurred in identifying who or what that hatred wasdirected against.

Part of my column a couple weeks ago was aboutan incident in McKinney, Texas. Cops were called inresponse to a fight instigated by white residents ofa predominately white community shouting racistobscenities at black kids invited to a pool party.
When the cops arrived, they went after the blackkids – with the only white person handcuffed being a12-year-old girl who stood up to the racists targetingher friends. 

The other part of the column was about thereaction, particularly on Fox News, of disgust andanger not over the incident itself but over suggestionsit had to do with race. 

In any recovery program – booze, drugs,
whatever – the first step is to admit you have theproblem. We’ve been trying, especially over the past150 years since the Civil War, to recover from rootsof racism - but there remain those unwilling to takethat first step of admitting there’s a problem.

I was familiar with Lincoln’s words about 
how “this government cannot endure . . . half slaveand half free.” But in school, the emphasis was onthe economic conflict between an increasinglyindustrialized North and a largely agrarian South.
It was later I found it was, in fact, about race - about 
regarding another human being as property. InSouth Carolina’s “Declaration of Immediate Causes” 
from December 1860 explaining its decision tosecede (the first state to do so), no mention wasmade of conflicting economic models. It was about“an increasing hostility on the part of the nonslaveholding 
States to the institution of slavery”
(based in part on “erroneous religious belief”).

The final straw was the election the month 
before of Sen. Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) to thepresidency, “whose opinions and purposes”,
according to the Declaration, “are hostile to slavery”,
and who encourages the “belief that slavery is in thecourse of ultimate extinction.” 

A hundred years later, when the Confederateflag appeared on the dome of the South Carolinastatehouse in Columbia, it was referred to as a 
commemoration of the Civil War’s centennial; a 
remembrance of those who served, of “heritage” anda “way of life”. But it was about race.
The flag was resurrected in 1948 as the symbol ofthe Dixiecrats; southern Democrats led by SouthCarolina’s Gov. Strom Thurmond. They split whenthe party led by President Truman sought to banemployment discrimination, eliminate poll taxes,
desegregate the Army and make lynching a federal 

crime. As Thurmond put it to crowds of Confederateflag–waving supporters, “There’s not enough troopsin the Army to force the Southern people to breakdown segregation and admit the Nigra race into ourtheaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes,
and into our churches.” 

The flag was prominent at Ole Miss in 1962as riots broke out over the federal government’sinsistence on admitting black student James 
Meredith. The next year, Gov. George Wallace had itraised over the statehouse in Montgomery to protestefforts to desegregate the University of Alabama.
A study by the Georgia senate in 2000 found thatalthough following the 1956 insertion of Confederate“stars and bars” in the state flag there’d been after-
the-fact explanations of it being related to the CivilWar centennial, it was in fact done at a time the 
Georgian State Assembly was “entirely devoted topassing legislation that would preserve segregationand white supremacy”. (They were removed fromthe flag in 2013.)

Charleston shooter Dylann Roof enjoyedposing with that flag, along with symbols of colonialRhodesia and apartheid South Africa. He warnedthat blacks “rape our women and you’re taking overour country. And you have to go.”

But race was somehow not an issue at Fox News. 
Steve Doocy pointed out the “hostility towardsChristians, and it was a church.” Colleague BrianKilmeade surmised the shooter “hates Christian 
churches”. Elisabeth Hasselbeck called it an “attack 
on faith”. Not to be outdone, Fox pundit and RedState blogger Erick Erickson somehow managedto make a connection with Caitlyn Jenner andtransgenderism.

On the campaign trail, presidential candidate 
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) noted, “It’s 2015 there 
are people out there looking for Christians tokill them” (without noting any similar attacks onwhite Christian churches). He described Roof not asa “thug” or “terrorist”, but as a “strange, disturbedyoung man”. The Confederate flag was defended as“part of who we are . . . it works here.” CandidateRick Santorum concurred in grouping the shootingwith “assaults on our religious freedom”. Sen. RandPaul (R-KY) identified the problem as “people notunderstanding where salvation comes from.” Newestcandidate Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) decided not togo there at all; “Law enforcement will figure out whathis so-called motivations were.” 

Most of us don’t need to rely on “lawenforcement” to “figure out” anything; DylannRoof made clear himself what his motivations 
were. We know why the Civil War - which broughtmore U.S. deaths than WWI, WWII, Korea and 
Vietnam combined – was fought. We know whatthat Confederate flag stands for. We’re also able toacknowledge the racism that continues to afflict andfester in our country.

No one expects any individual leader tooversee its eradication. But if they’re unwillingto even take that first step and admit to the“hard truths about race and justice in America”,
acknowledging at least that there’s a problem as afirst step towards recovery, we can expect little ifany recovery at all. 

JASON Stanford 


MY STEALTH CAMPAIGN FOR 
PRESIDENT

 You probably have not heard a peep about

my campaign for the Republican presidential

nomination. All the attention lately has been

focused on Lindsey Graham explaining why he’s 

single, Jeb Bush avoiding his family, and Donald

Trump telling us all how lucky we are that he is 

running for president. The way I figure, the more

attention they get, the better I look in anonymity.

So far, my plan is working perfectly. If I can remain largely unknown 
throughout the primary season, the nomination is as good as won. TheRepublican Party used to brag that it was a big tent. After the last twoweeks, the GOP has become a circus tent, and no one likes cleaning upafter elephants.

How unpopular are the Republicans running for President? Accordingto Google consumer surveys and reputable opinion polls, Voldemort—
the villain from the Harry Potter novels—is viewed more favorably by 
Americans than Bush and Trump as well as Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz,
Rick Santorum, and Chris Christie.

You’d think the most notable thing about Graham is that he thinks theproblem with America is that we aren’t at war with enough countries.
Told that most Americans lack his fervor for more war, he replied,
“Well, don’t vote for me.” Given his single-digit standings in the polls,
most Republicans are doing exactly that, but it’s for a different reason.
It’s because he’s a confirmed bachelor, or, as Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinoiswas caught saying recently, a “bro with no ho.” Apparently this is aproblem the Founding Fathers did not anticipate, but Graham is a manwith a plan, at least when it comes to not having a First Lady.
“Well, I’ve got a sister. She could play that role if necessary,” Grahamsaid. “I’ve got a lot of friends. We’ll have a rotating first lady.” So far, 
people don’t seem all that excited about his plan. He should stick tofantasizing about another land war in Iraq.

 It’s hard to recapture the majesty of America when Republicans areteasing a United States Senator because he doesn’t have a girlfriend.
But maybe Americans are easily bamboozled. That’s the thinkingbehind Bush’s—I’m sorry, Jeb!’s—campaign to make everyone forgetthe time we elected his brother. Twice.

 Sure, Jeb!—musn’t mention the last name, now—agrees with hisBrother-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on high-stakes standardized 
testing, privatizing Social Security, the Middle East, and a host of other 
vital issues of the day on which his brother’s coterie of experts advisehim. Jeb!, though loyal to his unnamed relation, is his own man. We 
know this because not only did he say, “I’m my own man,” but he putan exclamation point behind his first name in the logo: Jeb!
Snappy punctuation might not be enough for Jeb! On the day he 
announced for president Jeb! was more disliked than liked amongRepublicans. Ironically, polls now show that his brother is far morepopular than Jeb! is.

Trump is a man for whom punctuation for emphasis is superfluous.
His announcement covered myriad subjects under the Republicansun but made only one point: Trump is awesome. It would be easyto disregard Trump as a frivolous exercise in ego amplification if notfor the fact that at one point in 2012 he was the front-runner for thenomination I now seek. But having worn out his welcome, he is theleast liked person running for president, though Trump is still more 
popular than Congress.

To be fair, Americans aren’t making golden calves in the images of the 
other candidates of either party. While viewed much less unfavorably 
than the other candidates, the Democrats running for president—aswell as Rand Paul and Marco Rubio—are still less popular than Darth 
Vader and the shark from Jaws. I am not making this up.

To know the Republicans running for president is to loathe them.
That’s why I steadfastly avoid not only campaigning but refuse to serveif elected. Debates? Don’t need ‘em, don’t want ‘em. Speeches? Notgonna do it. TV ads? I’d rather watch baseball. The less I do, the betterI’m doing. 

America, I think this can work. 

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