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Opinion
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- Written by: Sen. George Runner
In 2006, the City of Los Angeles hiked trash collection fees to raise an additional $100 million to add another 1,000 officers to patrol the streets. When all was said and done, LA officials used a paltry $42 million of the new funds to add a mere 400 new cops rather than the promised thousand. Recently, Mayor Villaraigosa has proposed another increase in fees to be used to pay for enhanced public safety.
The City of Sacramento is contemplating a voter initiative to pass a "gang crime" tax to deal with its rampant gang problems. Facing an election year and plagued by a rash of crime, city officials want to increase the local sales taxes to 8 percent. This would raise an estimated $16 million a year for prevention and enforcement. Yet this sales tax proposal is ill-planned and hastily pushed and is even opposed by law enforcement leaders.
The City of Oakland joined the tax bandwagon as well by placing a parcel tax on the November local ballot. Officials promise that the money from this tax would be used to add 105 new police officers and 75 technicians. Amazingly, city officials continue to ask for more taxpayer dollars amid allegations of mishandling of existing funds, nepotism and corruption.
While these cities scheme to tax, a plan to infuse local governments with funds and tools for fighting crimes already exists. Proposition 6 – The Safe Neighborhoods Act would guarantee state funding for law enforcement and programs designed to reduce and prevent gang crime.
The LA City Council opposes Prop 6. This knee-jerk hostility toward the measure comes even though the proposition would increase the number of cops on the street – something the council continues to promise but fails to deliver.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums opposes Prop 6 as well, despite its benefits to his city, which is no model for public safety.
While these cities and others continue to wrangle for more taxpayer dollars, they offer few concrete plans on how the dollars will be spent. That's how the LA City Council was able to renege on its promise – by asking voters to approve higher taxes but giving few specifics on how that money would be spent.
Prop 6 will guarantee public safety spending from existing state dollars. This means more officers will patrol the street, more prevention programs, and more rehabilitation without raising taxes. Unlike individual city tax schemes, Prop 6 includes accountability. The measure will ensure that the dollars spent on prevention and rehabilitation will be used efficiently and effectively.
Prioritizing existing dollars is the winning strategy, especially since voters have clearly expressed opposition to increases in their tax burden. Recent PPIC polls show California voters overwhelmingly opposed to increases in sales tax and vehicle fees. With the passage of Prop 6, we can squeeze gangs without squeezing the taxpayers.
Senator Runner is the chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus and a co-author of Proposition 6-The Safe Neighborhoods Act. He previously authored California's Jessica's Law and Amber Alert. He represents Santa Clarita, the Antelope Valley, the Victor Valley, and portions of both the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County. Visit SafeNeighborhoodsAct.com.
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- Written by: Terry Figone
This is a struggle no one should have to face alone or otherwise. So as a parent you try to help any way you can.
For the last 10 months, my daughter has struggled through the court system. It's like swimming up stream in a raging river full of debris, first fighting for custody of her two children and then financial support. She waited several months before the financial part was ever addressed. I guess since lawyers are getting their money, why worry. Don’t even get me started on that subject (I’ve spent thousands)!
During that time my husband and I bought groceries and paid bills that had been left unpaid (some for awhile) when my daughter's husband left. He had removed her from all accounts several years earlier. She was by all intents penniless. Not once at any time did he call and ask about food, heat, etc. There were two children in the house. At one point in January there was no heat for a week, before she asked for help. Before that she would leave the heat off unless the kids were home and then they bundled up. This made me heartsick; to think my child was ever married to someone like this.
After several months my daughter found a job to replace her part-time job. Her new employers have been very kind and extremely supportive. May I say she loves her job with a capital “L.”
She was finally awarded monthly support to which back support was added. A small portion was tacked on to currant monthly payments. This amounted to about $1,500 a month. In the four months since the judgment, he has paid one full support payment and three partial payments and now nothing. He does not respond to Child Support Services to which the case was turned over. This seems to be his M.O. We have even gotten calls regarding collection accounts (evidently he gave our phone number) and my daughter receives collections calls constantly. I guess he thinks if he doesn’t respond they will give up.
Buy the way, did I mention he owns a business BUT he claims he’s disabled with an arm injury; he’s paid cash when working, isn’t this illegal? However, he goes boating and kneeboards (don’t you have to hold onto a rope that pulls you up?), he plays baseball too, all the while collecting disability. He moved into a larger house on a golf course ... in essence, his life has not changed.
His abusive behavior has not changed, only his address. This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
My grandchildren are going to counseling because of the trauma of divorce, plus things that are said to them about their mother. My daughter had to take him to court to get an order for the therapist. My granddaughter seems to be his main target; she is constantly worried about something happening to her mother. He finally decided to agree to therapy.
And his manipulation continues.
Today, for me the final straw broke this camel’s back! My daughter called sobbing; the accountant for her work told her that her wages were being garnished because her ex had failed to report a retirement (401k?) account he cashed in 2004. They can’t find him (he lives in the same community), so they settled for the next best person. As, I stated before, he doesn’t respond to any agency.
Did I mention that he stated in court that he hadn’t filed business taxes EVER because he and his partner where saving monies for a “nest egg” ... honest, it's court-documented!
But I digress. I was so angry that I called his cell phone, I knew he didn’t have the courage to answer, so I left a terse message stating that I thought he was a coward, not a man and that everything he has put my daughter through should come back to him and he could choke on it. That really is the gist of the message, no foul language etc., but I was so angry I was shaking and I had to let him know what human waste he is. You probably think that was a bit childish; but I have not spoken to him since prior to the divorce proceedings and I just could not hold back any longer. He has deliberately set out to not only emotionally ruin my daughter, but financially too. He has an agenda.
I have tons of scenarios that go through my head daily. I would say my fantasy life about body parts falling off is pretty graphic. But as I have said many times, he isn’t worth going to jail for. I will only say, he is a product of his upbringing!
You may be thinking, why doesn’t she stop bitching and just pay the tax? Well, I’ve paid a lot of his past bills over the months just so my daughter could stay in a house that went into foreclosure because he stopped paying the house payments, her car was repossessed, light bills, water, gas were unpaid and the list goes on. That’s why!
Where to go from here? Well, one day at a time I guess. My daughter is calling the tax board to hopefully work something out. I pray they will work with her. She was raised with a conscience and a set of morals that her ex was not, that is evident in everything he has done. So whatever comes, she’ll do the right thing.
But the big question is: Why isn’t anyone or any agency going after the person who committed these problems? The answer: Well, it depends on whom you are talking to. Does the government really want to waste manpower looking into a deadbeat father? Or is it easier to go after someone who is in the working community and only trying to stay off welfare and make a good life for her and her children?
Time and many phone calls will tell. If my daughter cannot resolve this, she may have to consider quitting her job and go on welfare, adding to the list of state dependents. As I said, she loves her job and would truly hate to quit. But how can she survive on maybe $800 a month when her rent is $1,100? We also helped her get into that.
While sitting in court and listening to many cases eerily similar to my daughter's, I have to question: What’s going on? Is this a case of a “boys will be boys” attitude? Are there so many of these so-called men that, once out the door, their responsibilities are over? Is this another societal (patriarchal) way to keep women in their place? Are the courts so overflowing with this type of behavior that they have become complacent, jaded or just too overworked?
There are more and more women with children living below poverty level, and no one seems to be concerned. It's easier to say she’s lazy or wants a free ride, instead of acknowledging that most women have either stayed home to care for their children and/or they worked part-time and were out of the job force. I haven’t meet any yet that likes being on welfare.
A woman makes 60 cents to every dollar a man makes. Childcare is cost prohibitive in many cases. So what are the options?
How do the courts make the husband/father take care his responsibilities to his family? There is the Deadbeat Dad law, but that doesn’t always work, it can take months or years to catch up with him and sometimes never.
Is there some kind of manual out there that sells for $2.50 that explains in 30 words or less “How To Be A Deadbeat And Get Away With It”?
This, unfortunately, is only a small portion of my daughter’s story. And the saga continues.
Terry Figone lives in Petaluma. Her daughter and grandchildren live in Lake County.
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- Written by: Wanda Harris
At the state level groups have worked to support SB 840, California's Universal Health Care Act, introduced by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, and co-authored by the legislators who represent or have represented Lake County in Sacramento: Assembly woman Patty Berg, former state Sen. Wes Chesbro and current state Sen. Patricia Wiggins.
SB 840 is California's plan to establish a functional, modern, universal health care system for the 21st century.
This bill covers every California resident with comprehensive, affordable health benefits and contains the growth in health care spending while improving quality. It guarantees every patient the total choice of their doctors and hospitals.
California's own budget crisis is greatly affected by the rising health care costs. The state budget buys health care directly through public programs and as employers. The bill is supported by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, who are the principle sponsor of the bill, as well as the California Physicians Alliance.
Also in support, California School Employees Association, League of Women Voters, Health Care for All-California, California Labor Federation, California Church IMPACT, and leading seniors' organizations including the California Congress of Seniors and California Association of Retired Americans.
This bill was passed by both houses of the legislature in Sacramento in 2006 and was vetoed by the governor.
As of this writing, SB 840 has been placed on suspend by the Assembly appropriations committee. It is lodged there, pending resolution of the state's budget crisis.
In early August, the committee will vote on whether or not to send the bill to the floor, where it will surely pass again, and then it will be forwarded to the governor's desk for his signature.
In July of 2007, the Lake County Board of Supervisors did a cost comparison detailing how much Lake County taxpayers would save if the SB 840 single payer health care system was enacted in California.
The Board's figures revealed that Lake County could save at least $1.5 million dollars in health care costs under SB 840 every year.
That's $1.5 million of tax revenue that could be spent on other county services or returned to the taxpayers. (See http://lakeconews.com/content/view/1267/764/.)
Answering a written request from Lake County single-payer health care advocates, that was sent to cities and school boards, in the summer of 2007, the Konocti Unified School District did the calculations and showed a $3 million annual savings in their budget. The school board and union representatives notified the governor of their position supporting SB 840.
In June of this year, Clearlake City Council member Joyce Overton, in response to the 2007 letter, requested that the city of Clearlake's finance director, Michael Vivrette, perform the same cost analysis. The results are that the city could save $404,000 if SB 840 was enacted.
Around the state of California, these studies are being requested of local jurisdictions, by citizens who are interested in a cost-effective and fair implementation of health care delivery.
For example, the Sonoma County Office of Education calculated a savings of $1.35 million, the city of Rohnert Park calculated a cost savings of $1.4 million, the county of Sonoma calculated a cost savings of $20 million, the City of Newport Beach calculated a cost savings of $6 million. The Grey Panthers of California have made similar calculations for other jurisdictions. Of the only 15 government entities in California that have been calculated, the savings to taxpayers range from $230 to $435 million.
The Lewin Group, an independent, nationally respected health care research organization, analyzed SB 840 and California's current broken health care system. They reported that around $20 billion in premiums paid to the health insurance industry in California each year never reaches health care providers. It disappears into competing advertising and other overhead expenses, and multimillion dollar bonuses to health care industry CEOs.
The Lewin Report says that California could save around $8 billion in health care costs in the first year after SB 840's enactment. (Reference site: www.healthcareforall.org.)
Here’s how to calculate savings in four simple steps:
Step One: Multiply $7,000 (the exemption per employee) by the number of insured employees. The result is the amount of the total payroll that is exempt from SB 840 taxes.
Step Two: Subtract the result in step one from the total annual payroll of those same employees. The result is the SB 840 taxable payroll.
Step Three: Multiply the result in step two by 0.0817 (the SB 840 factor of 8.17 percent, as shown in the Lake County memo). The result is the new annual health care cost under SB 840.
Step Four: Subtract the result in step three from the current annual health care cost (include retirees' cost). The result is the potential annual cost reduction.
Taxpayers would be well advised to contact their local school boards, water boards, and city and county governments and ask those jurisdictions to calculate the savings under a single-payer health care plan.
SB 840 provides truly universal health care – affordable, patient-centered health care – with doctors in charge, not insurance companies.
It's tested, it's possible, a majority of Californians are in support and it's time.
Wanda Harris is chair of the Lake County Democratic Central Committee. She lives in Hidden Valley Lake.
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Beauty and ugliness are but two human perceptions and interpretations of a universal energy that is neither good nor evil but infinitely greater than the sum of these thoughts.
A simplistic approach to the question of the divine nature states that all that was created was originally perfectly good, but as humanity misbehaved it needed to be punished, "banished from paradise," and all suffering and even diseases and death are the outcome of this punishment.
According to Christian doctrines "salvation" would come through the repudiation of all that is bad or "evil" ("sins") and a complete surrender to what is good as strictly defined by this dualistic religion.
Furthermore, according to Carl Jung, the Anima (the feminine aspect of the human psyche) represents the "primitive" layer of man's psychology, a "heretic" in more or less open revolt against the dualistic Christian point of view. Jung defined the Anima as a "negative entity" representing the "inferior Eros in man."
Not only were "heaven" and "hell," or the spirit and the flesh, conceptually separated by patriarchal cultural beliefs, so were the male and female principles, which facilitated the oppression of women,
who were sensed to be "instinctive dialecticians" intent upon undermining the "progressively developing dualistic principles of rational thought" upon which western civilization and to a lesser extent other patriarchal societies were able to build their destructive and coercive, authoritarian
dominant power.
This dualistic ideology, which still pervades our thoughts, guides our world and causes much chaos and unnecessary suffering, is about as realistic and accurate as to view the above-ground part of a tree, its beautiful leaves and fragrant fruits and flowers blossoming in the clean air and sparkling sunlight, as good and existing in accordance with divine laws, and its roots, that spread blindly in the dark and "dirty" soil "infested" with worms, lowly insects and "ugly and repulsive" creatures of the "underworld" as evil, the outcome of a transgression against the divine and the creation of a "devil."
Could a plant exist without its roots? Could the day exist without the night? Could pleasure be known without pain? Could life be appreciated without the knowledge of certain death? And could love be as intense as it can be without experiencing loss?
The redemption of the human heart is not dependent upon a person following a particular religion's precepts and dogma, but when all joy and all sadness, all pleasure and all pain, all fear and creativity are embraced as boldly as if they were the ebb and flow of the same tide of consciousness expanding in
the act of life itself, because they are.
It is when life is lived halfway, when the timid heart retreats into numbness, detachment or rationalization, and pleasure is sought and held against all reason, and pain is avoided as if it was the devil itself, that "heaven" and "hell" become as true enemies in our psyches, our inner clarity is lost in this internal mayhem, and confusion and struggle become our very identity.
Peace returns to the person who makes the two as one: the above and the below, the inner and the outer, life and death, good and evil, "heaven" and "hell,” because they are one and can only be experienced as being separate in the dualistic conceptual creations of the human mind.
However they cannot be understood to be one, that is to say inseparable and complementary, in intellectual detachment: they can only be re-integrated successfully in the heart that is completely open, and when in the full intensity of all of its experiences of ecstasy and despair it grows to manifest the true invincibility and wholeness that are part of the essence of the eternal soul.
Out of decay springs new life, a life that can neither be born nor sustained in a sterile environment. Worlds, nations, people and all of the elements of nature experience internal decay ... from death itself arises a richer and more powerful life.
Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.
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