Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 24, 2015

16

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, October 24, 2015 


LETTER TO THE EDITOR

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

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

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

Pat Birdsall (retired)

IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES AND IT 
WAS THE WORSTER OF TIMES 

Dear Ms. Henderson,

 Concerning the October 17 MVN article, “Utility User Tax 
Measure Headed for April Ballot”, about the city council’s 
proposed UUT measure, you quoted Revenue Committee Member 
Pat Holland as saying at a city council meeting, “If we want to live 
in Sierra Madre we have to pay for it.” 

 It should go without saying that if we want services we have 
to pay for them, however we should not have to pay more than is 
necessary or for ill conceived, uncontrollable, unsustainable, open 
ended expenses like retirement programs that have no limits.

 The council will soon decide what rate to set for the UUT 
measure. Except for me the Revenue Committee members all 
recommended 12%. I favored 9%. I would like to explain why I 
think 9% is the proper rate. 

 Any increase in taxes should be coupled with a decrease in 
expenses. Government must show the people that elected them 
that they try to be as efficient as possible by reducing costs as well 
as increasing taxes.

 A 9% rate will require $250,000.00 in cuts to balance next year’s 
budget. Earlier this year the city staff indentified budget cuts 
ranging from about $400,000.00 to just over $1,000,000.00. 

 $250,000.00 is less than the lowest staff recommendation. This 
should not be difficult to do. That is why I think 9% is the right 
rate. And the voters are much more likely to approve the measure 
if the rate is lower and they see the city is also cutting cost. The 
consequences of the measure failing are going to be very hard to 
deal with.

 Finally, these are desperate times. Whether the UUT increase 
measure passes or not the city will still have to ask the tax payers 
to approve millions of dollars more in a parcel or other property 
based tax to pay for the replacement of our failing infrastructure, 
namely our 7.5 miles of rusting water pipes. Another reason to 
keep the UUT increase to a minimum.

 Yes, if we want to live in Sierra Madre we have to pay for 
it. We also have to make cuts too. As distasteful as it might be, 
and especially if the UUT measure fails, I recommend that we 
contract with LSSI to handle our library operation. LSSI made an 
extremely impressive presentation to the Library Study Committee 
on October 20. We should also contract with the County Sherriff 
to provide our public safety services. I do not think the level of 
services will diminish at all. In fact I think we will save tens of 
thousands of dollars and see the same or better services since both 
organizations, LSSI and the Sheriff, have such large resources to 
draw from.

 With a 9% UUT and outsourcing the Library and the Policy 
Department we all benefit and save money at the same time. Then 
we can seriously start working on the infrastructure improvements 
that can no longer be put off.

Respectfully,

Barry Gold

411 Ramona Ave, Sierra Madre, CA 91024

Whenever anybody says things can’t get any 
worse, they usually do. No matter how bad 
something is, there is always a good chance it will 
get worse. Experience may not be my best teacher, 
but sometimes it is the only teacher on duty.

 This is where I have a wee bit of a conflict with 
the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. She 
is always looking on the bright side of things. 
Sometimes her cheery disposition is a little 
more than I can handle. No matter how bad the 
situation may be, she can always find something 
good in it.

 “There’s a little bit of good in everything, you 
just have to look for it.”

 For me, experience has taught that too often the 
look isn’t worth the find.

 A recent event brought to light our differences 
of outlook in life.

 I have two sets of keys to my pickup and last 
week I lost one set. I was all a dither and did 
not know what I was going to do. Then my wife 
said, “At least you didn’t lose your pickup.” 
It was not so much what she said, as how she 
said it. I knew exactly what she meant.

 Several weeks ago, I borrowed her car to go 
to Wal-Mart and get some things for a project I 
was working on. At the time, I had my project on 
my mind and was not thinking too clearly about 
what I was doing. The fact that I got to the store 
comes very near to a miracle in and of itself. I got 
the things I needed and came out to get into my 
pickup and get back to my office to complete my 
project.

 Much to my chagrin, I could not find my 
pickup. I walked up and down the parking lot 
looking, looking but to no avail. My pickup was 
nowhere to be found. Several pickups looked like 
mine, but my keys would not open any of them.

 Fortunately, I had my cell phone on my person. 
Normally, I do not carry my cell phone with me 
wherever I go. Frankly, I do not want to be that 
easy to get a hold of unless it is a real emergency. 
By emergency, I mean where my life is in 
imminent danger.

 I stalled as long as I could, reluctant to call 
my wife but finally, out of sheer desperation, I 
called her. Sometimes a husband has to do what a 
husband has to do and I had to call my wife. This 
is a last resort, at least for Yours Truly. You can 
stand in the middle of a parking lot looking lost 
for so long before someone calls the authorities. I 
knew I had to take quick action.

 I called my wife. “I lost my truck. I looked all 
over the parking lot and I can’t find my truck. I 
don’t know what to do.”

 There was a long, awkward pause on the 
other end of the phone. Finally, her voice came 
back and said, “I’m looking at your pickup in 
our driveway. Where in the world are you?” 
It then dawned on me. I did not lose my pickup 
but rather drove my wife’s car. This is what I 
mean by something going from bad to worse. For 
the rest of my life my gracious and loving wife 
will find creative ways of reminding me that I 
really did not lose my truck.

 My wife can see a silver lining in every cloud. I 
see a cloud in every silver lining.

 When it’s raining, my wife always looks for the 
rainbow. I usually look for an umbrella.

 To her, a glass is half-full, while to me it is 
half-empty.

 On those rare occasions when we go shopping 
together, I invariably lose a quarter and she will 
find a dollar bill.

 All of this positive thinking is positively 
discouraging and a person can only 
take so much positive goobly-gook. 
By Friday, she is soaring high because her week 
has gotten better and better. Whereas, by Friday, 
I am dragging under a heavy load of things that 
has gotten worse for me.

 Even when she has a bad week she cheerfully 
says, “Next week will be better, I’m sure.”

 When I have a bad week I drearily say, “Next 
week it will surely get worse.” And it usually does.

 She keeps telling me that if I just would 
entertain good and positive thoughts I would 
have happy things happen to me. She might be 
right. But some people do not deserve being 
happy and I think I am one of those people. At 
least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 I did find my lost set of keys. Ironically, they 
were exactly where I left them. On my dresser. 
Of course, I have not told my wife I found 
them. Let’s just keep this as our little secret. 
Thinking on these things, I concluded, no life 
is all bad, and no life is all good. It is amazing 
how life is a mixture of these two things. Jesus 
said, “That ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise 
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45 KJV).

 In reality, no day is any worse than any other day. 


 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family 
of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 
34472. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver 
Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site 
is www.whatafellowship.com.

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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 

HOWARD Hays As I See It

MICHAEL Reagan Making Sense


IT’S CHOOSING 

TIME FOR THE GOP

 Maybe Joe took my advice.

 I told a friend of the VP’s recently that he should 
not run for president in 2016 but instead should leave 
the political stage as an elder statesman.

 No matter why Biden really decided to let Hillary 
Clinton have the Democrats’ presidential nomination 
without a fight, it’s great news for the GOP.

At least it should be.

 In an ordinary election season, the GOP should be thrilled to pieces at the 
chance to duke it out with Hillary and the U-Haul load of dirty old political 
baggage she and her husband are always dragging around with them.

 But this is no ordinary season. It’s the upside-down season of Donald Trump.

 What Trump has done to hurt the GOP’s chances so far is enough to make a 
conspiratorialist think Hillary and Bill paid him to run as a Republican.

 But I forgot. Trump is so rich no one has enough loot to buy him off, not even 
Bill and Hillary.

 What Trump is doing to the GOP continues to amaze me.

 It’s bad enough he has infected what’s left of the party’s conservative brand 
with his Democrat-lite ideas.

 But one-by-one he’s been biting his fellow Republicans like a liberal attack dog 
– even ones he’s not running against.

 As part of his nonstop bullying of Jeb Bush, Trump tried to make it seem Jeb’s 
big brother George W. was somehow responsible for the 9/11 attack on America.

 It was a cheap shot that knocked Jeb off his message – a message no one is 
hearing anyway – and forced him to defend his brother.

 Democrats have been unfairly blaming George W. for 9/11 -- and everything 
else that’s gone wrong in the world -- for eight years. So now Trump piles on?

 GW could have done nothing to stop the attack, which occurred just nine 
months after he replaced Bill Clinton in the White House.

People like Trump forget that in 2001 the U.S. Senate wouldn’t allow 
GW to appoint a new CIA director or appoint other people he needed who could 
have given him better intelligence information.

 On top of Trump’s stupid 9-11 statement, Dr. Ben Carson came out with an 
even dumber one.

 The GOP’s Mister Rogers candidate said he would have brought Osama Bin 
Laden to justice in two weeks without going to war in Afghanistan.

He said he simply would have told the Saudis we were going to become oil 
independent.

 That threat to their bottom line, he said, would have caused the Saudi’s to rush 
out and capture Osama and turn him over to us.

These are the two top-tier Republican people trying to become President of the 
U.S.?

 Trump and Carson may say things in the primary that some want to hear.

 But the most important question is, “Can they actually do what you want them 
to do if they win?”

 To be a successful president, even a conservative one, in the real world you have 
to work with members of Congress, not call them names. Trump will never be 
able to work with anyone in Congress — on either side. 

 GOP desperately needs to save itself from being Trumped.

 With Hillary and her heavy baggage as the competition, Republicans and 
conservatives have been handed a great chance to win in 2016.

 But they also have a great chance to absolutely blow winning 2016 if they don’t 
stop Trump, who could cinch the nomination as early as next march on Super 
Tuesday. 

 Despite its dysfunction, the GOP still has time to derail the Trump Express. It 
has a deep bench of conservative politicians and leaders from around the country.

But if they’re going to beat Hillary and prevent the GOP from becoming the next 
Whig Party, Republicans have to unite behind someone like Jeb Bush, Marco 
Rubio, John Kasich or Chris Christie.

They have to choose wisely -- and they better do it fast. 

——-

Copyright ©2015 Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald 
Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. 
Martin’s Press). He is the founder of the email service reagan.com and president 
of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and 
www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.
com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. 

 Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. 
For info on using columns contact Sales at sales@cagle.com.k

“On this stage you didn’t 
hear anyone denigrate 
women; you didn’t hear 
anyone make racist 
comments about new 
American immigrants. You 
didn’t hear anyone speak 
ill of another American 
because of their religious 
beliefs. What you heard 
was an honest search for the 
answers that will move our country forward”.

- Former Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD), at 
the October 13 Democratic presidential debate

 Yes, I did catch most of the Democratic 
candidates’ debate. No, I wasn’t able to submit 
a column last week to comment on it. But since 
none of the other MVN columnists did, I figure 
it’s not too late to offer my own two cents.

 Although “thoughtful” doesn’t seem to play 
in a debate, I thought O’Malley made some 
of the best remarks, including one of the best 
explanations I’ve heard for Black Lives Matter. 
He recalled going to his state legislature when 
running for Mayor of Baltimore where he told 
of burying 350 mostly poor, young black men 
every year; and charging that if they had been 
poor, young white men instead, “we would be 
marching in the streets”.

 For the other outsiders on stage, literally 
and figuratively, Webb lost it for me when he 
sided with the “Death to America” mullahs in 
opposing the deal between the U.S., Iran and 
five other world powers to rein in Iran’s nuclear 
program. Former Rhode Island Governor 
Lincoln Chafee was knocked out by one 
word from Hillary Clinton. When moderator 
Anderson Cooper asked if she’d like to respond 
to Chafee’s remark that this e-mail story raised 
questions of “credibility”, Clinton said “no”, 
the crowd cheered, and that was it for Chafee. 
That he had little, if anything, to offer was 
apparent when he brought up “Travelgate” and 
“Whitewater” a while back on the Bill Maher 
show. How many voters would have a clue what 
he was talking about? 

 Eight years ago there seemed to be an effort 
to downplay her gender, but this time Hillary 
Clinton opened by declaring, “Finally, fathers 
will be able to say to their daughters, ‘You, too, 
can grow up to be president’”. When asked to 
follow up on the call from Sen. Bernie Sanders 
(I-VT) to expand Social Security, she focused 
on the needs of widows and single moms. The 
connection continued with calls for equal pay 
for equal work and paid family leave.

 She noted how, while Republicans can’t get 
behind paid family leave or providing health 
care because of “big government”, “they don’t 
mind having big government interfere with a 
woman’s right to choose and to try to take down 
Planned Parenthood” and, she added, “I’m sick 
of it.”

 Clinton, more than any candidate in either 
party, struck a balance between ideology 
and ability, idealism and pragmatism when 
she declared herself “a progressive. But I’m a 
progressive who likes to get things done,”

 Sanders pointed out the obvious when he 
stated, “Congress doesn’t regulate Wall Street. 
Wall Street regulates Congress.” But most 
memorably, although admitting it “may not 
be great politics”, he pointed out that “the 
American people are sick and tired of hearing 
about (Clinton’s) damn emails”. According to 
a just-released Monmouth University poll, 59% 
of Americans are, in fact, sick and tired of it – 
with less than a third wanting continued media 
coverage on the issue.

 Sanders said he learned from voters across 
the country that what they are concerned 
about is that ”the middle class in this country 
is collapsing, we have 27 million people living 
in poverty, we have trade policies that have 
cost us millions of decent jobs. The American 
people want to know if we are going to have a 
democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens 
United. Enough of the emails, let’s talk about the 
real issues facing America.”

 Some of those “real issues” covered at the 
Democratic debate, but not by the Republicans, 
included gun control, global trade, campaign 
finance, criminal justice, domestic spying, Wall 
Street reform, and college affordability. Another 
subject was “diplomacy” – a word not mentioned 
at all in either of the two Republican debates.

 On the Republican side, the real issue is whether 
George W. Bush was president on September 
11, 2001. Donald Trump says he was. Jeb Bush 
calls the charge “pathetic”. A close review of the 
historical record, however, shows that although 
Al Gore had received more votes the previous 
November, Bush was indeed president on that 
day. And, he did receive that August 6 memo 
“Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US” at his 
Crawford ranch, and then decided to stay on 
vacation for the rest of the month. According to 
Peter Beinart in this month’s Atlantic, it was one 
of 36 separate warnings the president received 
prior to the attack.

 This past week, Hillary Clinton again testified 
before a Congressional committee called to 
investigate the deaths of four Americans at 
Benghazi, to answer charges long since found 
bogus. Thirteen years ago, a Congressional 
commission was called to investigate the deaths 
of 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Center. It 
took over a year to get it off the ground, though, 
with Republicans insisting it was all “political” 
and that the White House should just be left 
to run its own investigation. Back then, Sean 
Hannity summed up the sentiment on Fox 
News; “I don’t have any faith in this commission. 
I think it’s become politicized. I think it’s a 
farce.”

 In the meantime, House Republicans are 
showing what might happen were they left in 
charge of the entire government. But at the 
Democratic debate, Martin O’Malley concluded 
his remarks by advising those “who become 
discouraged about our gridlock in Congress, talk 
to our people under 30. You’ll never find among 
them people who want to bash immigrants, 
people who want to deny rights to gay couples. 
That tells me we are moving to a more connected, 
generous, compassionate place, and we need to 
speak to the goodness within our country.”

 And Canada just selected a new Prime 
Minister – with the entire campaign running 
less than eleven weeks. If only . . . 

Mountain Views News

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