Montebello E-News

 August 21, 2008

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835 – 1910,
better known by the pen name "Mark Twain", was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the "Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty. 

[What did Twain really mean?  I interpret his statement as the need to get out of the classroom and into the community—which our youth do too little of.]  

1. Can’t Touch This

2. Social-Impact Report, Part 9

3. Announcements

4. Fun Facts about Wisconsin

5. The Flashback Quarterback:  Did the Soviets Shoot Them?

6. Be Aware and Share:  When Will We Ever Learn?

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

Can’t Touch This  

The news of June 30, 2008, said that Presidential candidate Obama “rejected a retired general's suggestion that Republican John McCain's military experience didn't necessarily qualify him to be president, as GOP surrogates lined up to label the remarks indecent and disrespectful”.  “Obama Disowns Critique of McCain's Military Record”, by Beth Fouhy, Associated Press.  

There are sacred subjects which are not to be touched.  But why not?  It is a legitimate question to ask whether a person’s military experience would qualify him or her to become President.  

That President candidate McCain endured confinement, deprivation, and torture in Vietnam tells me something about his character, namely, that he can handle pressure.  But that does not mean that he could administer.  

That McCain has a quick temper tells me something else, namely, that he surrounds himself with people who lack the acumen to advise on policy or that he is intolerant of views differing from his own.  If the latter, that might be a good thing when he has to deal with lobbyists and crass capitalists.  

All aspects of a candidate’s life, public and private, should be available for discussion, because all aspects of his or her life will affect decisions.  To say that a candidate can separate the public from the private is to say that a candidate is schizophrenic or superhuman, either of which should be cause for pause.  

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 did an Obama supporter say about McCain?

(a) McCain’s war experience did not necessarily qualify him to be President.

(b) McCain’s war experience was part truth and part lies. 

2. What does this incident tell us about ourselves, the American public?

(a) We rely too much on sentiment to make choices.

(b) We pay too much attention to the news media.

 When most companies close the year, they assess their financial performance and thank their customers for sales. While we definitely succeeded on that dimension this year with over 1,000 retail locations across the United States and 300% sales growth, our far more important impact was increasing the quality of life for thousands of women and children across the globe – and we want to thank you for making that possible.  ...
Priya Haji, Co-founder and CEO
“World of Good” Social-Impact Report 2006, http://www.worldofgood.com/impact/index.shtml  

A “social-impact report”?  We have heard of “environmental-impact report”;  for example, one has to be filed with regard to the disposition of our Montebello Hills before a decision be made about the hills.  A social-impact report would talk about the probable and possible social consequences of a planned or existing activity.

What kind of social-impact report would you write based on the following?  First, we would have to establish the facts, then weed out the fallacious arguments.  As for fallacious arguments, what do you see?

Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa?

by Kay Hymowitz, Los Angeles Times, Op-Ed, June 25, 2008

...Marriage, like the firing squad, focuses the mind. If you're a young woman who has grown up believing you should be married to your child's father, you will be more careful about who that man will be. And if you're a young man who knows you will have a vital role to play as a husband and father, you'll have reason to stay in school and out of trouble. ...

Who Needs a Firing Squad When You've Got Prisons?
by Kerry Howley

...For low-income black women, the world really isn't cooperating. We put an awful lot of nonviolent black men behind bars, which is not generally conducive to good fathering. With so many young men absent, the marriage markets are heavily skewed against women, and mothers who might otherwise demand that men stay home and change diapers find themselves in a miserable bargaining position. In his book "The Logic of Life," Tim Harford describes one study indicating that "a one-percentage- point increase in the proportion of young black men in prison reduces the proportion of young black women who have ever been married by three percentage points." Now consider: In New Mexico, 30% of black men between 30 and 35 are in prison. Telling women to want marriage more just doesn't seem like an effective strategy here. ...

FOR HOME OWNERS.  About foreclosures.  Montebello Housing and Development Corporation (MHDC) board president Robert Monzon was one of several attendees at the National Council of La Raza 2008 Policy Briefing and Advocacy Day held recently in Washington, D.C.  … “We were there in hopes of persuading Congress to enact legislation to help alleviate the large number of foreclosures we are currently experiencing,” said Monzon … “We are working with Operation HOPE and other servicers to give early notice of potential foreclosures to help people keep their homes,” said Monzon.  “Sometimes families are unaware of how close they are to foreclosure.”  For more information, 323.722.3955.  Excerpted from Spotlight on Montebello, July–August, 2008.

FOR EVERYONE.  Commission meeting.  The Montebello Civil Service Commission is holding its regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, at 6 p.m. at city hall.  The meeting is open to the public.  If you wish to speak, fill a card before the start of the meeting.  For more information, 323.887.1363.

FOR EVERYONE.  City-council meeting.  The next regular meeting of the Montebello city council will be in the council chamber at city hall on Wednesday, August 27, 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.

FOR YOUTH, PARENTS, TEACHERS.  Scholarships.  For the eighth year running Ford of Montebello owner Jim Ross and his staff hosted their annual scholarship contest at the Quiet Cannon.  This year’s topic was “How has the positive influence in your life contributed to your academic success?  How will your continued success affect society in the years to come?”  Twenty-six contestants participated in this year’s event, … five were selected for $1,000 scholarships.  The five … were Victoria Banuelos and Virginia Lieu, Schurr High School;  Victor Gonzalez, Montebello High School;  Alberto Carrillo, Bell Gardens High School;  and Martha Franco, El Rancho High School. ...  Excerpted from Spotlight on Montebello, July – August, 2008.

Wisconsin visitors and residents enjoy the state’s 7,446 streams and rivers. End-to-end they’d stretch 26,767 miles. That is more than enough to circle the globe at the equator.

The House on the Rock was designed and built in the early 1940s. It is considered an architectural marvel and is perched on a sixty-foot chimney of rock. The fourteen-room house is now a complex of rooms, streets, buildings, and gardens covering over two hundred acres. The Infinity Room contains three thousand two hundred sixty-four windows.  [How many windows?]

The first practical typewriter was designed in Milwaukee in 1867.

Belleville is the “unidentified flying object capital” of Wisconsin.  [Could we make Montebello the capital of California and draw some tourists?]

Potosi is the catfish capital of the state.

Wisconsin produces more milk than any other state.

The original Barbie is from Willows.  Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts.  [The Barbie doll?]

Two Rivers is the home of the ice cream sundae.

The Republican Party was founded in Ripon in 1854. [What moved people to found the Republican Party?]

With an average of two thousand five hundred performers, Milwaukee’s Summerfest is the nation’s largest music festival.

Famous Wisconsinites include Harry Houdini, famous magician and escape artist;  Douglas MacArthur, well known World War II and Korean War general;  Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect;  William H. Rehnquist, former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court;  Don Ameche, actor and winner of an academy award for his performance in “Cocoon.”

The falls in Niagara, Wisconsin, have the same geological feature as Niagara Falls, New York.

Prairie du Sac hosts the State Cow Chip Throwing Contest on Labor Day weekend.  [Oh, those creative people of Wisconsin!  Do competitors wear gloves?]

Did the Soviets shoot them?  Speculators, I mean.

It is fascinating and disheartening at the same time that we keep singing the praises of capitalism and then find ourselves cleaning up after it.

Gas Could Fall to $2 If Congress Acts, Analysts Say
Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told
By Rex Nutting & Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch, June 23, 2008  

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday. …

"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel." ... http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gas-could-fall-2-if/
story.aspx?guid={2673C102-68E0-41D9-9C9A-10EE2E723948}

At the end of June, we received a solicitation from Easter Seals.  What concerned me was that a nice 2009 calendar had been enclosed.  We put the solicitation letter and calendar into our recycling bin.

Most people would throw away everything.

It is just as bothersome, if not more so, when an environmental organization—the Nature Conservancy, for one—send things which most people wind up discarding.

Traditional direct mail, with an expected one percent return, is not environmentally friendly.  Organizations must find alternative ways in which to fundraise.

The City of Montebello kindly mailed me a notice for an upcoming scoping meeting for the Montebello Hills, as I had asked to be on the list for notices.  However, I had stated in my request that I wanted to be e-mailed.  How hard would it have been for the notice to have come to me by e-mail?

And then there are the never-ending fireworks sales and school car washes, which are not environmentally friendly.

Are we so backed into a corner or so unable to come up with alternatives that we must continue with business as usual as our living conditions become ever more harmful to our well-being?

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.