December 6, 2007 

Capitalism is this wonderful thing that motivates people, it causes wonderful inventions to be done.  But in this area of diseases of the world at large, it's really let us down.
 William Henry “Bill” Gates III, born 1955,
is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and chairman of
Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen.  

[Does Gates not beg the question as to whether health care in America should be based on profit, as it now is?]  

1.     Ready for the Holidays?

2.     The Falling Dominos of Democracy, Part 9

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Facts about Idaho

5.     The Flashback Quarterback:  All of Us Having a Mental Block? 

6.     Beware and Share about Coming Disasters

7.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

Ready for the Holidays?  

A telemarketer claiming to call on behalf of a law-enforcement charity unfortunately got me on the phone one evening last week.  He was cheerful when he began, but I do not know what he was when we finished.    

I do not believe in hanging up the telephone on a person unless he be obnoxious.  His job is stressful:  who likes calling people uninvited and asking them to donate?  I usually chat a bit or offer a pearl of wisdom, which is hard for me to do, as I place no value in pearls.  

I told the telemarketer that, before committing, I would have to  

·        check the Web site of the California Secretary of State;  at the site you learn whether the charity would be a corporation and whether its status would be active;

·        check the Web site of the California Attorney General;  at the site you learn whether the charity had posted its annual 990 tax return.  

It is important to know how much a charity would be spending on itself—administrative and fundraising costs—instead of on its program;  I would not donate to an unfamiliar charity which spent only half of its income on its program;  I would think highly of a charity which spent at least ninety percent of its income on its program;  as for anything in between, that would depend.  (I do make an exception when solicitors come to the office, be they youth or adults.  Asking a question or two, perhaps lecturing about obesity and chocolate, I am willing to part with a dollar.)  

My answer to the telemarketer was not typical.  He had nothing useful to say, so we ended the conversation there.  

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 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. Why be nice to a telemarketer?

(a) He is trying to earn a living.  He would be somewhere else if he had a choice.

(b) She might be related to you.  

2. What are good answers to a telemarketer claiming to fundraise on behalf of a charity?

(a) You have to research about the charity at the Web sites of the California Secretary of State and the California Attorney General.

(b) You ask for written material via mail before making a decision.

(c) There is a mountain lion chasing your dog, so you cannot talk at the moment.  

3. What should you never give a telemarketer?

(a) Your social-security number.

(b) A history of your love life.

(c) Any information which would let him access your funds or personal statistics.  

  Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
-----
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
-----
I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743 – 1826,
third President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.  

In part 1, we learned that our elected representatives represented many more people than they did in the past.  In part 6, we read a compelling assertion that our country was in decline, followed by the possibility of reversing that decline through greater public participation in governance.  In part 8, we learned how an “overpopulation” of constituents was adversely affecting election campaigns.  How might we fix election campaigns?  

The first thought which comes to mind is that there is nothing sacred about having four hundred thirty-five House members, one hundred twenty California state representatives, five county supervisors, five school-board members, and five city councilors.  We could have more representatives, which means that each of them would have fewer constituents and would need less money—if any—to communicate with constituents.  

Also, if constituents were more involved in governance, a candidate could visit constituents in groups, inside of having to communicate with them individually.  This would save the candidate time and money, as well as improve the quality of the encounter, as a group of constituents would ask useful questions which each of us might not think to ask or have the courage to ask.  Did you know that a candidate for state assembly told me about a year and a half ago that he would ask lobbyists to talk first to constituent committees, which then would report to him?  Wow, what a change that could make!  Unfortunately, that candidate lost in the 2006 primary.

There is a less direct, but perhaps equally effective, way.  Imagine if donors to election campaigns told candidates how to spend donated money:  “If you want this donation, you must hire high schoolers to set up neighborhood coffees.”  This puts candidates in contact with more constituents and gets more people interested in election campaigns, possibly diluting the influence of special interests.  The bonus would be to “bring down the wall” between our schools and our community.

FOR EVERYONE.  Meeting.  The next regular meeting of the Montebello city council will be at city hall on Wednesday, December 12, 2007, at 7:30 p.m.  If you wish to speak during orals, come before 7:30 p.m. and sign up.  If you have more to say than there is time allotted, prepare a one pager, make copies, and hand out before you speak.  

FOR EVERYONE.  Meeting and holiday meal.  The public is welcome to the next gathering of the Montebello Historical Society, Tuesday, December 13, at the Montebello Senior Center, 115 South Taylor Avenue.  Enter from the back (west) side through the door next to the parking lot.  From 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. will be the annual holiday potluck, followed by the meeting and program.  The program speakers for the evening will be members of the Daughters and Sons of the Golden West, who will talk about their organization’s work to promote and preserve the history of California .  If you have questions or would like to attend, let President Gary Brougher know at 323.721.8779.

FOR EVERYONE.  Montebello memories.  At the “My Montebello” Web site, there is now a page for Montebello memories.  Imagine, for example, going duck hunting where the CVS pharmacy now stands!  To read about memories or make a submission, http://www.mymontebello.com/memories .  

FOR HOLIDAY SHOPPERS.  Where to shop?  Sister-in-law e-mailed me a story which sounded too good to be true, so I  checked on the truthfulness of the story.  (It is easy to check and each of us should check, so as not to forward a hoax to others.)  The story was true and pertained to the holidays, so I share this explanation:  

The information in this email forward is true.  The Sears company is indeed paying differences in pay and maintaining benefits for reservist employees who have been called to duty.  

US law requires that employers hold the jobs of a "person who leaves a civilian job for voluntary or involuntary service in the uniformed services."   However, employers are not required to make up the difference between the person's normal salary and the salary she or he receives as a member of the military.  Nor are employers required to maintain all of the absent worker's job benefits while he or she is away.

Therefore, it is correct that the Sears company is supporting their reservist employees well beyond the lawful requirement.  According to information on the Sears Military Supportweb page, the company continues to offer military pay differential and other benefits to employees called to duty in the Reserves or National Guard.  

It is commendable that Sears has chosen to support their employees in this way.  However, it should be noted that many other American companies are making a similar commitment to their reservist employees.  

Elk River is the home of the Idaho Champion Western Red Cedar Tree, the largest tree in the state. Estimated to be over three thousand years old this giant is more than eighteen feet in diameter and stands one hundred seventy-seven feet tall.  

In Idaho law forbids a citizen to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than fifty pounds.  

The Kamiah Valley is rich in the heritage and legends of the Nez Perce. It was here, among the ancestors of the present day Nez Perce, the Appaloosa horse was first bred, primarily for use as a war animal.  

Shoshone Falls, the “Niagara of the West,” spills over a 212-foot drop near Twin Falls.  

Shelley has been the home of the Idaho Annual Spud Day since 1927.  

Weiser is Home of the National Old Time Fiddlers Contest.  

Birds of Prey Wildlife Area is home to the world’s most dense population of nesting eagles, hawks, and falcons.  

http://www.fun-facts.com/item/86100  

I have the good, perhaps bad, fortune, of seeing first hand how my father’s union-negotiated health plan is changing.  I do not have to be convinced that a solution is needed.  What has your experience been?  

Yet, we are having a hard time deciding what to do about health care in our country.  In the quotation at the top of this newsletter, Bill Gates implies that the free market does not work for health care;  yet, most of the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates, to some extent, mix the free market into heath care.   

(If we wonder why we should question health care by profiteers, here is another example, added to those in past issues of E-News:  

A U.S. senator said Genentech's plan to restrict availability of its Avastin drug so doctors might be forced to use the more expensive medicine Lucentis to treat an eye disease will cost taxpayers $1 billion to $3 billion annually. …  “U.S. Senator Chides Genentech Plan,” by David Morrill, Contra Costa Times, November 29, 2007.)  

Don McCanne is a retired physician with an e-mail newsletter.  He is a strong advocate of universal health care and is associated with Physicians for a National Health Program, www.pnhp.org.  He says that government-run universal health care is better than what we now have.  But opponents of such care win much public sympathy by saying “government run,” which is the  equivalent of acid-reflux disease to many Americans.  

Are all of us having a mental block?  There is a middle ground which I have not heard mentioned.  What if government collected the funds and turned it over to committees of citizens and nonprofit organizations, who would manage the health care?  If we were then to complain about bureaucracy, we would be complaining about ourselves and our neighbors, not the government.  Remember that Blue Cross started as a nonprofit, then went for-profit, with its surplus income from its nonprofit days going into The California Wellness Foundation.  

There were two large, damaging oil spills last month.  Were those a foreboding, because oil use is increasing, meaning that more oil will have to be shipped?  How much environmental damage can we take around the world?  

1. From the New York Times.  

MOSCOW, Nov. 12 — An environmental disaster began to unfold in southern Russia on Monday as tens of thousands of oil-slicked seabirds and globules of heavy oil dotted the shoreline, a day after at least 11 ships, including a small oil tanker, sank or broke apart in a fierce storm, Russian officials said. ...  

A local official, Alexander Tkachyov, governor of the Krasnodar region, said 30,000 seabirds were covered with oil and would probably die, Interfax said. The World Wide Fund for Nature, a conservation group, said the heavy fuel oil also settled onto the seabed, surely destroying marine habitat and killing fish.  

The tanker, Volganeft-139, split apart as it was pounded by 18-foot waves in the Kerch Strait which links the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea, a strategic pathway for oil exported by tanker from Russia and the Caspian basin to Europe.  Its 13 crew members were rescued, but 1,300 tons of heavy, viscous oil — the equivalent of 560,000 gallons — were discharged into the sea. ...  

Oil spills from pipelines on land are common in Russia.  The country, the world’s second largest oil exporting nation after Saudi Arabia, maintains a vast terrestrial pipeline network tying Siberian fields with refineries as far away as Poland.  

2. From Treehugger, www.treehugger.com. 

“58,000 Gallons of Oil Spill into San Francisco Bay,” by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, 11.10.07  

State and local officials were left wondering what exactly went wrong in the wake of a 58,000 gallon oil spill in San Francisco Bay - the largest such spill since 1988 - this past Wednesday. The Cosco Busan, a South Korea-bound container ship, struck one of the Bay Bridge 's steel and concrete buttresses Wednesday morning as it was being guided out; the impact gouged the hull, precipitating the massive spill. ...  

"The effects of the oil spill could persist for months and possibly years," said Tina Swanson, a fish biologist affiliated with the Bay Institute. According to the latest estimates, hundreds of birds have already been caught by the spreading slick, with thousands more likely to come as it continues moving out to sea - some oil having already been sighted 15 miles north of San Francisco .  

Though Coast Guard officials have so far been able to collect close to 10,000 gallons of the spilled oil, they fear the slicks could yet reach more sites. It has already soiled at least nine beaches and parks in the area. "This is a significant event. This is one we're very concerned about," said Steve Edinger, assistant chief for the California Department of Fish and Game.  

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.