Montebello E-News

 December 4, 2008

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.
Alan Coren, 27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007,
was an English humorist, writer and satirist who was well known as a regular panelist on the BBC radio quiz “The News Quiz” and a team captain on BBC television's “Call My Bluff”. Coren was also a journalist, and for nine years was the editor of Punch magazine.

 [Is this, in fact, how American democracy operates?]

  1.  Spill the Pills, Part 3

2.  Are We Going to Lose This One?, Part 5

3. Announcements

4. Sobering Fact about Freedom of the Press

5. The Flashback Quarterback:  Lost in America    

6. Be Aware and Share:  The President Who Would Be King, Part 2

7. About Montebello E-News “My Montebello”

Spill the Pills, Part 3

More on overcoming the harm to the body from acidic food and liquids.  Excerpted from an e-mail which little sister received and forwarded to me:

Our bodies are 70% alkaline water (with a pH of 7.3 -  7.45). Every day we lose over 2 liters of water through  our normal bodily functions...so it only makes sense that  we need to take in enough water to replace what we lose.  ...

Just a 5% drop in bodily fluids will cause a 25-30%  energy loss in most people, and a 15% drop will cause death. ...

The great news is that getting the water we need is easy-- we can drink water and eat high water content foods (fresh fruits and vegetables).

When it comes to drinking water, know this: All water is NOT created equal. Since our bodies are alkaline, our water must be alkaline too. Thanks to acid rain, that isn't always a given. The best sources of alkaline water are distilled water or filtered water (using reverse osmosis, Brita filters or similar filtering). Regular (unfiltered) tap water is acidic and contains harmful toxins like fluoride and chlorine.

Some people think bottled water is the best. Not always. Here's a list of common brands of bottled water and their pH (remember--anything 7.0 or greater is alkaline, less  than 7.0 is acidic):

San Pellegrino spring water--4.49 (acidic);  Perrier--4.91 (acidic);  Pellegrino sparkling water--5.28 (acidic); Aquafina--5.96 (acidic);  Volvic--7.07 (alkaline);  Whistler Water--7.18 (alkaline);  Dasani--7.2 (alkaline);  Evian--7.53 (alkaline);  Canadian Mountain--7.96 (alkaline);  Vittel--7.98 (alkaline).

Eating high water content foods is by far the BEST way to get your body's water needs. Not only are they alkaline by nature, but they also contain essential nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy. ...

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2008 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. What comprises 70% of our bodies?  (a) Flesh and bones.  (b) Alkaline water.

2. What is the best source of alkaline water?  (a) Tap water.  (b)  High water-content food.

Libertarian ideologues and moneygrubbers stand aside. Make room for the people.
Statement of August 19, 2008, by Don McCanne,
retired physician and an advocate on behalf of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of fourteen thousand American physicians advocating for single-payer national health insurance.

See the letter below, which I wrote to the president of the United Auto Workers, “UAW”. After an exchange of letters, UAW has not replied.  It does not bode well for democracy or the environment that a large organization like UAW would not implement the requests.

August 6, 2008

Mr. Ron Gettelfinger                                              
President, UAW
Solidarity House
8000 East Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48214

Dear Mr. Gettlefinger:

My father, Harutun Ajemian, a General Motors retiree and UAW member, received the enclosed in the mail.

He asked me what it meant.  An attorney by profession, I chose to write you this letter, in the hope that UAW implement a common-sense policy about notices.

My father gets notices occasionally about changes in benefits.  Generally, the notices are incomprehensible unless one spend considerable time reading them.   Given that my father is eighty-five and handicapped by macular degeneration and limited English, the notices are, unfortunately, a perfunctory, meaningless gesture.  They do not become meaningful just because public law mandates that they be sent.

I ask that you set in motion a policy, as quickly as possible, that

(a) retirees who are not attorneys write the notices, which then could be checked by attorneys for accuracy;  this not only would be helpful, but, also, revolutionary, sending a message to government agencies that they would do better to do the same;

(b) announcements about notices be conveyed via postcard, with the notices themselves available upon request or upon visiting the UAW Web site;  this, too, would send a message about the importance of environmentally-friendly methods of communication;  if this would not comport with the law, do so anyway following from a public statement that, all things considered, this would be the sensible thing to do, and government should rewrite laws so that they be environmentally sensible.

Do not wait for government to do the right thing.  Set an example for government and the public.

Please, no more notices.  Just postcard announcements about notices.  Thank you.

Van Ajemian, 331 North Vail Avenue, Montebello, California 90640

Enclosure:  notice

FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS, TEACHERS, PARENTS.  Childhood’s end or the Grinch who stole childhood?  Thankfully, I am not the only one who thinks that our young people need to mature.  Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has an essay online entitled “Let’s End Adolescence”. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/
content/08_45/b4107085289974.htm

FOR EVERYONE.  Charity check before writing check.  Avoid scams by first learning about charities.  1. Charity Navigator www.charitynavigator.org.  "Charity Navigator, America 's premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,300 of America's largest charities."  2.  BBB Wise Giving Alliance www.BBB.org/charity.  "The BBB Wise Giving Alliance (the Alliance) helps donors make informed giving decisions and advances high standards of conduct among organizations that solicit contributions from the public."  3.  Guide Star www.guidestar.org.  "GuideStar's mission is to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving."

From  Nonprofit Online News, 11.23.08:

… I recommend … Project Censored's Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009 : (1) Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation, (2) Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA, (3) InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business, (4) ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?, (5) Seizing War Protesters' Assets, (6) The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, (7) Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking, (8) Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly, (9) Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify, (10) APA Complicit in CIA Torture, (11) El Salvador's Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror, (12) Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind, (13) Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq, (14) Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste, (15) Worldwide Slavery, (16) Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights, (17) UN's Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights, (18) Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers, (19) Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction, (20) Marijuana Arrests Set New Record, (21) NATO Considers "First Strike" Nuclear Option, (22) CARE Rejects US Food Aid, (23) FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs, (24) Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror, and (25) Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer. http://news.gilbert.org/clickthru/redir/6901/10524/rms

Is the teenager in the story below typical of his generation?

This last Saturday I went to shoot the Rebelution Conference. Toward the end of the conference, Brett challenged attendees with six tasks. They were all extremely practical and thoughtful steps. One that intrigued me the most was asking older people what they wish they would have known or done when they were younger. On my way back home from D.C. I decided to give this a go.

The flight from D.C. to Minneapolis I sat next to a financial adviser. He was very clean cut, but had calluses on his hands from when he worked in carpentry and construction. I asked him this question, and he looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. “You know, I’m not sure exactly how to answer that. I wish I wouldn’t have done as many stupid things when I was in college.”

It was promising to be an interesting conversation, but he got up and took a different aisle seat. My flight from MN to PDX was really different. I sat in the exit row. On my left was a teenage basketball player.

Obviously, I couldn’t ask the teenager what he would have done differently — he didn’t have all that much life experience. So, I decided to change it up. I found out that he had just graduated, and was extremely glad to do so because he thought school was incredibly boring.

He wasn’t sure where he was going next. He wanted to play for a school but the recruiting season was mostly over. If he didn’t play for school, he thought he might go into fashion design, because he liked clothes.

After this chit chat, I asked, “What would you do to change the world if you could?”

A blank stare was my response for a full five seconds, and then his face became a mask of incredulity. “Why you askin’ me that?” He demanded. “No one ever asked me that before.”

I came from a different angle. “Well, what moves you?”

He sat back and crossed his arms. “Nothing.”

“Nothing moves you?”

He shook his head.

His next argument was that he couldn’t do anything about anything, because people are people and they decide what they want to decide and believe what they want to believe, and he can’t change anything about that.

His statements made me so sad. But the worse part came when I asked why he believed that he couldn’t affect change.

“Because I’m black.”

I felt like the wind had been knocked from my lungs. “That’s lame.” I said aloud before I could help it.

He glared at me. “That’s easy for you to say,” he challenged.

“Dude, my dad is black. He works for a technology company and is very successful.”

He got quiet at this, and after a few moments, I tried to be kinder. “Well, I guess the moral of this story is…” I waited until he looked into my eyes. “Don’t use who you are as an excuse for not becoming who you could be.”

He didn’t say anything. But he nodded after a moment.  And then, he turned on his iPod.

I didn’t realize this was the extent of my generation. In a culture where individuality is prized, we still don’t believe that one person can make a difference. We don’t believe that every choice matters and affects those around us.

We still don’t believe that our lives can change the world.

I, for one, am not going to accept that. ...

Special Guest Post by Rebelutionary Christina Dickson
http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2008/08/change-the-world-today/

In the October 16, 2008, E-News, there was an article “The President Who Would Be King”, in which it was asserted that we Americans preferred a king to make decisions for us.  Here is another piece which supports that assertion.

... China has found how tyranny and economic prosperity can go together. If China really is the nation of the twenty-first century, what the USA was in the twentieth, that kind of authoritarianism really may be the wave of the near future. Dictatorships really can be more efficient than Democracies in “getting things done,” which is what even Americans now want from their government. We are not sure what we want done and we citizens do not want to be bothered with figuring it out, preferring to leave that to the experts and to state power. Greek democracy was abandoned; the Roman republic gave way to Emperor. Couldn’t that happen with us too? … http://www.geneveith.com/

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter, and for submitting stories to “Montebello Memories” at the Web site.