Montebello E-News

June 5, 2008  

Calculated risks of abuse are taken in order to preserve higher values.
Warren Earl Burger, 1907 – 1995,
was Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger was a conservative and considered a strict constructionist, still under his leadership, the United States Supreme Court delivered a variety of major decisions on abortion, capital punishment, religious establishment, and school desegregation.  

[Is this statement, then, the basis for what happened to the fundamentalist Mormon group in Texas whose children were taken away by the state of Texas?]

1.   Wasting Time on the Dock of the Bay

2.  It’s a Small World after All, Part 4

3. Announcements

4. Fun Facts about Pennsylvania

5. The Flashback Quarterback:  What Spring Cleaning Reveals, Part 2

6. Be Aware and Share:  Do We Know How to Yoyo?

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

 Wasting Time on the Dock of the Bay  

If there were a teenager who knew the song to which the title alluded, I would be impressed, maybe even offer him or her a job.  

The March 13, 2008, Montebello Comet ran an article about the walkouts of the Sixties in East Los Angeles .  I felt it important to point out that any solution these days would need a very different approach, lest people waste their time.  Here is my letter to the editor, printed in the March 27 edition:  

Your feature article “Walkouts:  40 Years Later, Not Much Has Changed, Students Say” points to a problem which nobody is discussing, neither grassroots activists nor Presidential candidates.  

In 1789, according to staff at the US Capitol, we had four million Americans and one hundred fifty Members of Congress.  That was a ratio of 27,000 to 1.  The ratio is now about 680,000 to 1. 

That is emblematic of a huge problem, from Congress on down to our city council.  A democracy set up in the late eighteenth century has been unable, even with a number of amendments, to keep pace with the increase in population, the decrease in available land and resources, and the ascent of corporations.  Remember when, about fifteen years ago, the argument was being made that our education system was structured for an agrarian society which no longer prevailed?  Ditto our democracy.  

Is it a wonder why former Secretary of Labor Richard Reich, in Supercapitalism, says that our democracy must be kept separate from American corporations?  

Trying to win the good fight on the playing field of today is fighting with one hand tied behind one’s back.  It is time to change the rules of play so that they be fair.  

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. A Member of Congress in 1789 represented how many people compared to how many today?

(a) Four million then compared to three hundred million now.

(b) About twenty-seven thousand then compared to about six hundred eighty thousand now.  

2. What is the significance of this stark difference?

(a) Elected officials have too much to do, meaning that ideas for change, even if supported by such officials, bottleneck in Congress or the state legislature or the county board of supervisors or the city council or the school board.

(b) We spend less money on government now than we did over two hundred years ago.  

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.
Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., 1924 – 2006,
 was a liberal Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist with international stature. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ.  In his younger days he was a superb athlete, a highly talented pianist, a CIA agent, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr's social philosophy led him to become a leader in the civil-rights and peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s.  

Have you thought about getting away, about being left alone and leaving others alone?  As the population of our planet increases and the amount of land upon which we can live remains unchanged—if not, in fact, decreasing—this dream of many becomes a fading, wistful thought.  

In the previous part, we looked at how we might ensure that technology would enable us to be left alone and to leave others alone:  the solution would depend on who controlled the technology.  In this part, we see how the quotation by Coffin above might be proved true.  

It was with interest, in fact, joy, that I watched the report of April 13, 2008, on “Sixty Minutes,” entitled “El Sistema.”  In Venezuela, poor children start playing classical music at age four.  Before entering middle school, children are in orchestras.  Presently, eighty million dollars covers three hundred thousand children, which comes to less than $270 per child per year.  

The report pointed to the value of El Sistema to motivating children and readying them for careers.  

Not only could we cover four million American children every year for four billion dollars, the amount spent in two weeks on the war in Iraq, but, also, we could win many allies around the world by underwriting music programs in those countries.  

So, should music teachers have a larger say in Congress and the White House?  For that matter, should people whose outlook is to build bridges have a larger, permanent, say, without being susceptible to the winds of politics? 

FOR EVERYONE.  Montebello Family and Friends Night.  Saturday, June 14, 7:30 p.m. at the Home Depot Center.  Chivas USA versus Real of Salt Lake in soccer.  Also, Montebello’s own Wise Guys band will be performing.  Part of the proceeds will go toward the 2008 Montebello Summer Youth Employment Program.  Busses leave from city hall at 5 p.m., 1600 West Beverly Boulevard.  For tickets, Vicente Gutierrez at 323.887.4547 or 323.887.1373, or the Senior Citizens Center, 115 South Taylor Avenue.

FOR EVERYONE.  Garage sales, yard sales.  Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 6, 7, and 8, 2008.  Montebello residents may sell items without a city permit.  A good way to meet neighbors and look for treasures.  Note:  hazardous materials may not be sold.  For more information, www.mymontebello.com/lists_tc_garagesales.htm or Montebello City Code Enforcement, 323.887.1281.

FOR EVERYONE.  City-council meeting.  Note:  meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. henceforth.  The next regular meeting of the Montebello city council will be in the council chamber at city hall on Wednesday, June 11, 2008, at 6:30 p.m.  If you wish to speak during orals, come before 6:30 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 more information, 323.887.1363.  Also, the agenda is posted at www.cityofmontebello.com.  

Pennsylvania is the first state of the fifty United States to list its Web-site URL on a license plate.  [Do we older folk know what a URL is?] 

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is considered the chocolate capital of the United States.  

In 1913 the first automobile service station opened in Pittsburgh.  [And will there be a “last” service station one day?]

In 1946 Philadelphia became home to the first computer.

The first daily newspaper was published in Philadelphia on September 21, 1784.  [By whom?]

Drake Well Museum in Titusville is on the site where Edwin L. Drake drilled the world’s first oil well in 1859 and launched the modern petroleum industry.  

Betsy Ross made the first American flag in Philadelphia.  [Do you see the syntactic problem in this sentence?]

Vowing not to lose another patient to pneumonia, Dr. George Holtzapple successfully created the first application of oxygen, thus saving his patient’s life and winning international fame through his discovery.  The year was 1885.

Philadelphia is home to the cheese-steak sandwich, water ice, soft pretzels, and TastyKakes.  [And home to Lipitor maybe?]

The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia in 1776.

Philadelphia is home to the Liberty Bell. 

Each year on Christmas day the “Crossing of the Delaware” is reenacted at Washington Crossing.  [According to Wikipedia, “the crossing, made during a time when morale was at its lowest point during the American Revolution, renewed hope for the patriot cause and boosted the morale of the troops, many of whom would reenlist despite the bitter winter to come.”]

Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia Zoo, the first public zoo in the United States.

Indiana County is the Christmas tree capital of the world.  [With climate change such a concern nowadays, I wonder whether this boast would be a good thing.]

Pittsburgh is famous for manufacturing steel.  Its professional football team is named the Pittsburgh Steelers.  [And what has NAFTA done to Pittsburgh steel?]

Philadelphia was once the United States capital city.

Ringing Hill in Lower Pottsgrove Township is named after the “ringing rocks”, which were known for the unique ringing sound they made when struck by a hammer.  

During the Depression, canned goods served as admission to The Star Theater in Mercersburg to help supply the local soup kitchen.  [That is interesting.  I would like to meet somebody who operates such a program today.]

Punxsutawney citizens are proud to be overshadowed by their town’s most famous resident, the world-renowned weather forecasting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. Punxsutawney is billed as the weather capital of the world.  [We Americans have so many “capitals.”  I wonder what that says about our world view and culture—and what people in other countries think of us.] 

In last week’s “Flashback Quarterback,” we glimpsed an incident from almost ten years ago which, depending on one’s view, was due to parents’ diversity, stupidity or duplicity.  Below is an excerpt from another article from the Los Angeles Times.  I have wondered why teachers are not as candid as David Kahn in talking about a key problem in teaching youth.  By the way, in the May 22 E-News, the community lesson was entitled “An Elephant in Your House?”  Below we read of another elephant.  Time to add a room?

Now it starts to get ugly.  Our tragic failure rate—that half of our students can’t pass—finally makes front-page news.

... News flash:  teachers are not the key factor.  

The key factor is the proverbial elephant in the living room that no one dares talk about:  poor parenting.  When was the last time you saw or read something faulting parents for the education crisis?  

... To register a child, a parent would be required to attend sessions on the school, its staff, its policies, goals and expectations.  Can’t be bothered?  Just too busy?  Then the child can’t come to school. ...  

Additionally, parents’ participation would be ongoing... .  

Furthermore, parents would be required to pay for their children’s missed school and / or failure. …  

We Americans are fond of saying that we don’t want the government running our lives.  We know what is best for our children;  don’t tell us how to raise them.  Fine.  Let’s make education optional.  Instead of an obligation, make education a privilege that must be earned.  Families that don’t want to make the commitment need not do so. ...  

... Most important, let us demand that parents take some real responsibility in the education of our children.  Kahn, David E., “Hold Parents Liable for Learning,” Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2000.

Who is Ed Slott?  When KOCE public television does a fundraiser to keep itself on the air, Ed Slott is one of the speakers who is broadcast, because what he says is so interesting.  In his taped talk entitled “Stay Rich Forever and Ever,” which I saw on April 12, 2008, Slott spoke about the “YOYO” economy.  “YOYO”?  “You’re on your own.”  In other words, we must not look to government to take care of us.  

Solutions?  One possibility is to invest in your own community, which was mentioned in “A Not-So-Divine Comedy” in the May 1, 2008, issue of E-News.  Another possibility is to save wisely, as was stated in an online article brought to my attention by a cousin:  

[Starting at age twenty-six], in 41 years of compounding at 10% annually, $20,500 ($15,500 in a 401(k) and $5,000 in an IRA) will turn into $1 million. And you'll never have to contribute another dime. Of course, inflation between now and then means that $1 million won't buy nearly as much four decades in the future as it does today. Still, it's a remarkable feat of compounding. ...  

But here's some good news for those of us who long ago celebrated a 26th birthday: The power of compounding doesn't care whether you invest it all at once, or only save a bit at a time.  

It's most important to simply sock away as much as you can, as quickly as you can, and let it compound for as long as possible. ...  

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/104801/
The-One-Year-%241-Million-Challenge?mod=retirement-401k

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.