PRESS RELEASE by the FRIENDS of the CALIFORNIA VOTING RIGHTS ACT [FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dateline 2/24/2016 Apple Valley]:
.
The Hesperia Council has determined to consider an ordinance pursuant
to Government Code Section 34886 to change to by-district elections,
since the City’s population is under 100,000. The City's attorney is
preparing a staff report and draft ordinance for the Council’s
consideration on March 15. The City will need to retain a consultant to
assist in drawing the district boundaries, the Council must decide how
many districts there should be, and hold at least two public hearings
pursuant to Elections Code Section 10010 prior to introducing the
ordinance.
.
Comments:
(1) This is something that is long
overdue. It is a start I am happy to be a part of as FCVRA's attorney.
(2) Diligent follow-up is needed so the City's review process is not a sham.
(3) Other
jurisdictions maybe needing attention include the school district in Hesperia,
Highland, Adelanto, Victorville, Apple Valley and Barstow.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Roger LaPlante Pays his fee and takes the oath in the 8th Congressional District--
Today Roger La Plante took the plunge to run in California's 8th Congressional District by filing the nomination paperwork, paying the fee and taking the oath. We need better representation than I-am-working-on-my-third public-pension Paul Cook. Best of luck Roger.
Friday, January 22, 2016
3 BIG VOTES THAT MAKE PETE AGUILAR UNFIT AS A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN
#1 REASON TO NOT VOTE FOR PETE AGUILAR [H.R. 1314]
CONGRESSMAN PETE AGUILAR [CA-31] & PAUL COOK [CA-08] VOTE TO BAN $11.4 BILLION in ADDITIONAL BENEFITS from SOCIAL SECURITY--Shame!!!
Due to a controversial clause buried on page 70 of last year's H.R. 1314 bill [in Section 831], an estimated $11.4 billion in additional benefits are set to be banned in the coming months. The reason? The legislation makes it quite clear: "To prevent individuals from obtaining larger benefits than Congress intended"--the problem is that the benefit is defined by what workers pay in--it's none of Congress @#$* business. The Public Broadcasting System said: Instead of holding a public debate, Congress tacked these changes onto an emergency bill. There was not public evaluation or discussion of these changes, and there are still no publicly identified authors of these reforms". Time magazine said that "Congress is pulling the rug out from people's retirement decisions...No retirees will ever be able to feel their Social Security benefits are safe from some backroom, midnight, rushed change in rules that are designed to meet some budget targets or accommodate some politician's wishes."
#2 REASON TO NOT VOTE FOR PETE AGUILAR [HR 2029]
PETE AGUILAR [D-FONTANA] GETS TAX CREDITS PAID FOR BY TAKING FUNDS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY – BOB CONAWAY HAS HAD ENOUGH & ANNOUNCES RUN FOR 31st CONGRESSIONAL SEAT
.
Consolidated Appropriations Act into H.R. 2029 tax package passed 318-109, with 241 Republicans — virtually the entire GOP Conference — and surprisingly (to some who aren't watching) Congressman Pete Aguilar (CD-31) voted for [with his republican buds Paul Cook (CD-08) and Pete Knight (CD-25)]. So what say some? The bill voted on by Aguilar took $150 billion from the Social Security Trust Fund–WHY???
.
So Aguilar’s, Cook’s and Knight’s buds will get tax credits of $622 billion over the next 10 years while our local senior voters get the financial shaft.
.
Aguilar, who will get his automatic Congressman's salary raise this year, seems to have forgotten that social security recipients received NO Cost Of Living (C.O.L.A.) increase for 2016 AND the fact that since H.R. 2029 is a TWO YEAR appropriations bill, there will be no cost of living increase in 2017 for Social Security recipients, already facing increases in premium for Part B coverages.
.
Bad vote Pete, Paul and Steve. For Pete, bad company to keep and a fraud to those 17% of the registered voters who elected him (the turnout in 2014 was a paltry 34% despite the campaign and its supporters spending $2.2 million to get out the vote).
.
The bill republican push for the bill was to lift the longstanding ban to export U.S. oil–too bad Aguilar, Cook and Knight know little about oil exports. Alaskan crude has been shipped to the far east for a long time. With oil at a 10 year low and with our ally Turkey helping ISIS flood the world market with stolen which is further depressing price per barrel, does anyone have a clue what they are doing? Flooding the world market with more oil will bring down the value of energy stocks, upon which many retiree's pensions are based.
.
Pete Aguilar’s attack on seniors does not stop there. Pete Aguilar (again joining republican Paul Cook and Steve Knight) voted for H.R. 1470 (also called H.R. 2) which (1) Limits choice of physicians in traditional Medicare, (2) Imposes a deductible that cannot be covered by MediGap Insurance to try and force patients to join a private plan (where there is no control over premium and a limit to the doctors seniors can chose from), (3) raises Medicare’s costs by driving more patients into private Medicare plans [setting up in effect a voucher system, which will be fixed by what Congress wants to pay, leaving increases in premium in the future something for the seniors to pick up].
.
Heh, Pete’s, Paul’s and (the other) Pete’s medical coverage are paid for by the taxpayer–what does he care about seniors?
.
Seniors can't trust Pete Aguilar. I am a senior. I need to find a way to retire him before he does more damage. BOB CONAWAY PROPOSES REQUIRING EVERY BILL or CODE of FEDERAL REGULATION PASSED POST A JOB IMPACT REPORT
For years we have seen EIR's [Environmental Impact Reports] required for developments, projects and public works projects that might impact the environment, natural resources, the air, water and the like.
.
#3 REASON TO NOT VOTE FOR PETE AGUILAR [HR 1470, now HR 2]
Paul Cook's [R, CA-08] , Pete Aguilar's [D, CA-31] and Steve Knight's [R, CA-25] Vote for H.R. 1470 [now H.R. 2] is the beginning of the end for Medicare....Repost of a great press release: [http://www.truth-out.org/…/29890-background-on-the-2015-sgr…]
.
Repeal SGR, but Don't Privatize Medicare – Thursday, 26 March 2015 00:00 By Ida Hellander, Physicians for a National Health Program | Press Release
.
The bipartisan "Doc Fix" legislation (H.R. 1470, now H.R. 2) and proposed amendments will undermine traditional Medicare and advance the goal of privatization, according to Dr. Don McCanne in a series of posts to his popular health policy blog, the Quote of the Day. If enacted as it presently reads, it will:
.
1. Limit choice of physician in traditional Medicare. Physicians in traditional Medicare would be subject to onerous new documentation requirements for payment and financial incentives to avoid complex patients under the proposed "Merit-based Incentive Payment System." The additional paperwork burden will push physicians to stop seeing patients with traditional Medicare, retire, avoid older and sicker patients, or go to work for large organizations using “alternative payment models” (which are exempt from the requirement and more likely to have contracts with private Medicare plans).
.
2. Reduce access to care in traditional Medicare. Imposes a deductible that cannot be covered by Medigap insurance (starting in 2020) to encourage patients to join a private plan. The current Part B deductible is $147 annually, although that figure has been rising in recent years; 95 percent of traditional Medicare beneficiaries have supplemental insurance that covers the deductible and other cost sharing in Medicare. The only way to avoid the deductible in the future will be to join a private Medicare Advantage plan.
.
3. Raise Medicare’s costs by driving more patients into private Medicare Advantage plans. Private plans have already cost Medicare an excess of more than $282 billion since 1985. Mandatory deductibles and reduced access to physicians in traditional Medicare will drive more patients into private Medicare Advantage plans, which are more costly than the cost of caring for patients in the traditional fee-for-service program. Although ObamaCare was supposed to reduce the amount the private plans are overpaid (the “Medicare cuts” in Obamacare), these have been mostly offset by “adjustments” and “quality awards” by the Department of Health and Human Services.
.
4. Undermine Medicare's popular support by requiring higher income seniors to pay higher premiums (means testing). Under means-tested premiums, higher-income individuals will be required to pay larger premiums, undermining the support of this influential group for Medicare program. Although the income subject to extra premiums is high, it can always be reduced in the future.
.
5. Ending the SGR should cost $20 billion, not $210 billion. These drastic measures aren't even necessary. According to Bruce Vladeck, a former top administrator at Medicare, “Since the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) was implemented in 1998, total Medicare physician expenditures have exceeded the allowed amounts by only $20 billion (on a total of almost $1 trillion). To recoup that all in one year would require a 21 percent reduction in fees for one year. And those reduced fees would then become the base for payment levels in all subsequent years. In a rational world, Congress would write off the $20 billion as a relatively small policy error and establish a more realistic prospective formula. But under Congressional budget rules, the cost of doing so is not $20 billion, but $20 billion per year, compounded by inflation, times 10 years.”
.
6. The GOP sees this bill as a step towards their longer-term goal of turning Medicare into a voucher program for private plans, shifting more costs onto patients. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., a staunch conservative, told the Washington Post he is supporting the bill because it will lead to much greater savings beyond the traditional 10-year time frame for estimating costs. Newt Gingrich stated the GOP’s goal succinctly in 1996: “Now, we don't get rid of it [Medicare] in round one because we don't think that's politically smart, and we don't think that's the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it's going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it -- voluntarily.”
.
7. Other features: Continues funding for safety-net programs
* Restricts abortion, adds funds for war
* Makes Hyde Amendment permanent law. Since the ACA is a permanent statute, any amendment to any part of the ACA becomes part of U.S. Code.
* $94 billion in additional military spending in an “off-budget account.”
CONGRESSMAN PETE AGUILAR [CA-31] & PAUL COOK [CA-08] VOTE TO BAN $11.4 BILLION in ADDITIONAL BENEFITS from SOCIAL SECURITY--Shame!!!
Due to a controversial clause buried on page 70 of last year's H.R. 1314 bill [in Section 831], an estimated $11.4 billion in additional benefits are set to be banned in the coming months. The reason? The legislation makes it quite clear: "To prevent individuals from obtaining larger benefits than Congress intended"--the problem is that the benefit is defined by what workers pay in--it's none of Congress @#$* business. The Public Broadcasting System said: Instead of holding a public debate, Congress tacked these changes onto an emergency bill. There was not public evaluation or discussion of these changes, and there are still no publicly identified authors of these reforms". Time magazine said that "Congress is pulling the rug out from people's retirement decisions...No retirees will ever be able to feel their Social Security benefits are safe from some backroom, midnight, rushed change in rules that are designed to meet some budget targets or accommodate some politician's wishes."
#2 REASON TO NOT VOTE FOR PETE AGUILAR [HR 2029]
PETE AGUILAR [D-FONTANA] GETS TAX CREDITS PAID FOR BY TAKING FUNDS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY – BOB CONAWAY HAS HAD ENOUGH & ANNOUNCES RUN FOR 31st CONGRESSIONAL SEAT
.
Consolidated Appropriations Act into H.R. 2029 tax package passed 318-109, with 241 Republicans — virtually the entire GOP Conference — and surprisingly (to some who aren't watching) Congressman Pete Aguilar (CD-31) voted for [with his republican buds Paul Cook (CD-08) and Pete Knight (CD-25)]. So what say some? The bill voted on by Aguilar took $150 billion from the Social Security Trust Fund–WHY???
.
So Aguilar’s, Cook’s and Knight’s buds will get tax credits of $622 billion over the next 10 years while our local senior voters get the financial shaft.
.
Aguilar, who will get his automatic Congressman's salary raise this year, seems to have forgotten that social security recipients received NO Cost Of Living (C.O.L.A.) increase for 2016 AND the fact that since H.R. 2029 is a TWO YEAR appropriations bill, there will be no cost of living increase in 2017 for Social Security recipients, already facing increases in premium for Part B coverages.
.
Bad vote Pete, Paul and Steve. For Pete, bad company to keep and a fraud to those 17% of the registered voters who elected him (the turnout in 2014 was a paltry 34% despite the campaign and its supporters spending $2.2 million to get out the vote).
.
The bill republican push for the bill was to lift the longstanding ban to export U.S. oil–too bad Aguilar, Cook and Knight know little about oil exports. Alaskan crude has been shipped to the far east for a long time. With oil at a 10 year low and with our ally Turkey helping ISIS flood the world market with stolen which is further depressing price per barrel, does anyone have a clue what they are doing? Flooding the world market with more oil will bring down the value of energy stocks, upon which many retiree's pensions are based.
.
Pete Aguilar’s attack on seniors does not stop there. Pete Aguilar (again joining republican Paul Cook and Steve Knight) voted for H.R. 1470 (also called H.R. 2) which (1) Limits choice of physicians in traditional Medicare, (2) Imposes a deductible that cannot be covered by MediGap Insurance to try and force patients to join a private plan (where there is no control over premium and a limit to the doctors seniors can chose from), (3) raises Medicare’s costs by driving more patients into private Medicare plans [setting up in effect a voucher system, which will be fixed by what Congress wants to pay, leaving increases in premium in the future something for the seniors to pick up].
.
Heh, Pete’s, Paul’s and (the other) Pete’s medical coverage are paid for by the taxpayer–what does he care about seniors?
.
Seniors can't trust Pete Aguilar. I am a senior. I need to find a way to retire him before he does more damage. BOB CONAWAY PROPOSES REQUIRING EVERY BILL or CODE of FEDERAL REGULATION PASSED POST A JOB IMPACT REPORT
For years we have seen EIR's [Environmental Impact Reports] required for developments, projects and public works projects that might impact the environment, natural resources, the air, water and the like.
.
#3 REASON TO NOT VOTE FOR PETE AGUILAR [HR 1470, now HR 2]
Paul Cook's [R, CA-08] , Pete Aguilar's [D, CA-31] and Steve Knight's [R, CA-25] Vote for H.R. 1470 [now H.R. 2] is the beginning of the end for Medicare....Repost of a great press release: [http://www.truth-out.org/…/29890-background-on-the-2015-sgr…]
.
Repeal SGR, but Don't Privatize Medicare – Thursday, 26 March 2015 00:00 By Ida Hellander, Physicians for a National Health Program | Press Release
.
The bipartisan "Doc Fix" legislation (H.R. 1470, now H.R. 2) and proposed amendments will undermine traditional Medicare and advance the goal of privatization, according to Dr. Don McCanne in a series of posts to his popular health policy blog, the Quote of the Day. If enacted as it presently reads, it will:
.
1. Limit choice of physician in traditional Medicare. Physicians in traditional Medicare would be subject to onerous new documentation requirements for payment and financial incentives to avoid complex patients under the proposed "Merit-based Incentive Payment System." The additional paperwork burden will push physicians to stop seeing patients with traditional Medicare, retire, avoid older and sicker patients, or go to work for large organizations using “alternative payment models” (which are exempt from the requirement and more likely to have contracts with private Medicare plans).
.
2. Reduce access to care in traditional Medicare. Imposes a deductible that cannot be covered by Medigap insurance (starting in 2020) to encourage patients to join a private plan. The current Part B deductible is $147 annually, although that figure has been rising in recent years; 95 percent of traditional Medicare beneficiaries have supplemental insurance that covers the deductible and other cost sharing in Medicare. The only way to avoid the deductible in the future will be to join a private Medicare Advantage plan.
.
3. Raise Medicare’s costs by driving more patients into private Medicare Advantage plans. Private plans have already cost Medicare an excess of more than $282 billion since 1985. Mandatory deductibles and reduced access to physicians in traditional Medicare will drive more patients into private Medicare Advantage plans, which are more costly than the cost of caring for patients in the traditional fee-for-service program. Although ObamaCare was supposed to reduce the amount the private plans are overpaid (the “Medicare cuts” in Obamacare), these have been mostly offset by “adjustments” and “quality awards” by the Department of Health and Human Services.
.
4. Undermine Medicare's popular support by requiring higher income seniors to pay higher premiums (means testing). Under means-tested premiums, higher-income individuals will be required to pay larger premiums, undermining the support of this influential group for Medicare program. Although the income subject to extra premiums is high, it can always be reduced in the future.
.
5. Ending the SGR should cost $20 billion, not $210 billion. These drastic measures aren't even necessary. According to Bruce Vladeck, a former top administrator at Medicare, “Since the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) was implemented in 1998, total Medicare physician expenditures have exceeded the allowed amounts by only $20 billion (on a total of almost $1 trillion). To recoup that all in one year would require a 21 percent reduction in fees for one year. And those reduced fees would then become the base for payment levels in all subsequent years. In a rational world, Congress would write off the $20 billion as a relatively small policy error and establish a more realistic prospective formula. But under Congressional budget rules, the cost of doing so is not $20 billion, but $20 billion per year, compounded by inflation, times 10 years.”
.
6. The GOP sees this bill as a step towards their longer-term goal of turning Medicare into a voucher program for private plans, shifting more costs onto patients. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., a staunch conservative, told the Washington Post he is supporting the bill because it will lead to much greater savings beyond the traditional 10-year time frame for estimating costs. Newt Gingrich stated the GOP’s goal succinctly in 1996: “Now, we don't get rid of it [Medicare] in round one because we don't think that's politically smart, and we don't think that's the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it's going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it -- voluntarily.”
.
7. Other features: Continues funding for safety-net programs
* Restricts abortion, adds funds for war
* Makes Hyde Amendment permanent law. Since the ACA is a permanent statute, any amendment to any part of the ACA becomes part of U.S. Code.
* $94 billion in additional military spending in an “off-budget account.”
BOB CONAWAY PROPOSES REQUIRING EVERY BILL or CODE of FEDERAL REGULATION PASSED POST A JOB IMPACT REPORT
For years we have seen EIR's [Environmental Impact Reports] required for developments, projects and public works projects that might impact the environment, natural resources, the air, water and the like.
.
For too long we have not required, when Congress passes a trade bill, a foreign bank, a foreign country, funds a trade project or treaty's enforcement, approves some change in policy that impacts manufacturing and transportation, that a JIR [Job Impact Report be generated by an independent entity for the public's consumption.
.
When we look at NAFTA, TPP, private contracting with off shore companies (or armies) or any of the countless trade pacts, import regulations, harbor management rules, we need to know HOW we are going to impact jobs in this country.
.
Something like a JIR is needed so Americans can understand what Congress' special interest funders is doing to us.
.
For too long we have not required, when Congress passes a trade bill, a foreign bank, a foreign country, funds a trade project or treaty's enforcement, approves some change in policy that impacts manufacturing and transportation, that a JIR [Job Impact Report be generated by an independent entity for the public's consumption.
.
When we look at NAFTA, TPP, private contracting with off shore companies (or armies) or any of the countless trade pacts, import regulations, harbor management rules, we need to know HOW we are going to impact jobs in this country.
.
Something like a JIR is needed so Americans can understand what Congress' special interest funders is doing to us.
CONGRESSMAN PETE AGUILAR [CA-31] & PAUL COOK [CA-08] VOTE TO BAN $11.4 BILLION in ADDITIONAL BENEFITS from SOCIAL SECURITY--Shame!!!
Due to a controversial clause buried on page 70 of last year's H.R. 1314
bill [in Section 831], an estimated $11.4 billion in additional benefits are set to be
banned in the coming months. The reason? The legislation makes it quite clear: "To prevent individuals from obtaining larger benefits than Congress intended"--the problem is that the benefit is defined by what workers pay in--it's none of Congress @#$* business. The Public Broadcasting System said: Instead of holding a public debate, Congress tacked these changes onto an emergency bill. There was not public evaluation or discussion of these changes, and there are still no publicly identified authors of these reforms". Time magazine said that "Congress is pulling the rug out from people's retirement decisions...No retiress will ever be able to feel their Social Security benefits are safe from some backroom, midnight, rushed change in rules that are designed to meet some budget targets or accomodate some politician's wishes."
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Congressmen Paul Cook [CA-08] & Pete Knight [CA-25] are ok with killing kids as long as its mining waste!
H.R. 1644 [called Delay Mountaintop Mining Valley Fill Rules] which
Paul Cook voted for would prohibit the Department of the Interior (DOI)
from
issuing any rule regarding prohibited surface mining areas near streams
until a year after the National Academy of Science (ANS) has submitted
an evaluative report of the current rule to Congress. It gives two years
for NAS to submit the report, meaning DOI would be prevented from
issuing further rules for up to three years. Don't we have enough water
quality problems without giving coal operators a license to pollute
without fear of government oversight? Wow. Flint Michigan lead, Hinkley
& PG&E....when will Cook and Knight care about the people? Both are big into the right-to-life movement--a slow kill with chemical pollution is ok?
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