CABPRO Report

I'm doing my part....

By making sacrificial and proportional cuts in your own personal budget, you can appreciate that budget cutting really cuts to the quick.
 
Please accept my apology in advance for the following about an unpleasant subject. I tried very hard not to do it, but because it helped my perspective and made me feel much better; I thought perhaps it would do as much for you.  It's tough, but we all need to do our part. 

The President ordered the cabinet to cut a whopping $100 million from the $3.5 trillion federal budget.

I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2,000 a month on groceries, medicine, bills, etc. etc., and now  it's time to get out my budget cutting axe, go line by line through my expenses, and get to work.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio as the President - 1/35,000 of my total budget.  After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending $2,000 a month; I'm going to have to cut that number downward by six cents!

Yes, I know that’s a lot and I must somehow get by with $1,999.94, but that is what sacrifice is all about. The President has requested that we get some of our own “skin in the game” with everyone else.  So we'll just have to do without some things, quite frankly I hope I can adjust without those luxuries those six cents normally would buy me.  Tough decision.

Hope this helps brighten your day ... and gives you a little better understanding of just how serious our President is with our money.  

Feel better now?

What's going on inside Nevada County's Rood Center?

by Stan Meckler, President, Nevada County Tea Party Patriots

It appears that there is a lot going on in our Nevada County government that is not transparent.  I'm talking about the lawsuit between Nevada County and AtPac, the former supplier of software to our County Clerk/Recorder's office.

Depositions recently made public show that the Clerk/Recorder's office shared AtPac's confidential software codes with their new software supplier, Aptitude Solutions, in violation of federal law.  That's why this case is in the federal courts.  To date, this lawsuit has cost you and me over $350,000 in legal fees, and the cost increases every week.  Documents show that the county could have avoided this problem before the lawsuit was filed.

Other depositions, taken under oath, have shown that documents were intentionally given to Aptitude Solutions under the direction of  the County Clerk/Recorders office.  These documents also show that management ordered documents to be destroyed so that they would not be available for the courts to view in this lawsuit. The county has already been fined $20,000 of our money for not providing some documents as ordered by the court.

The Board of Supervisors were warned in advance at a public meeting that this was going to happen and chose to ignore the pending problem.  Why?  I have no idea.  I spoke to one of the Board of Supervisors early on and was told that this was a nuisance lawsuit and would just go away.  Well, it hasn't!  Now the costs are skyrocketing and you and I will have to pay the bill.  How high will it go?  Nobody can answer that.  If the county loses this lawsuit, it is my understanding that we will also have to pay the attorney’s fees for AtPac.  The costs to us, the taxpayers, could be more than one million dollars or more. 

I appeared before the Board of Supervisors to express the NCTPP's concern over the costs involved in this lawsuit.  They said they couldn't answer any questions because all their discussions were held in a closed session.  That means that their discussions are secret as provided by law.  How's that for transparency?

This is a perfect issue for the Tea Party Patriots.  We expect fiscal responsibility from our elected officials.  We expect transparency from our elected officials.  How many other lawsuits are going on that we don't know about?  What other monies are they wasting?  At a time when county employees are being laid off and services being cut, how much of that would have been saved had this lawsuit been avoided?  Why are these discussions held behind closed doors?  What are the Supervisors hiding and why?

Below is a recent comment written by Chuck Whitten of KNCO radio and heard on that station.  The Union newspaper has also taken on this issue.

Chuck Whitten April 18 07:35am
Last Tuesday A Federal District Judge issued a ruling in ongoing proceedings in a lawsuit filed against Nevada County and its current software provider by its former software provider, ATPac Incorporated. U-S District Judge William Shubb, says the county was obligated to preserve information contained on a computer that was relevant to the action filed against the county. The judge says that County employees destroyed that information.  The plaintiff’s attorney for ATPac, Michael Thomas, says the judge will be instructing the jury concerning that ruling.
“The court is going to instruct the jury as a consequence of this destruction of evidence. It is to presume that the files on my client’s server were copied to the files on the server that the defendants destroyed in bad faith.”

Thomas says employees of the county gave its new software provider, Aptitude Solutions, access to ATPac's proprietary software by transferring information from one computer server to another.  However the attorney representing the county, Robert Muller, says that's not accurate “What Nevada County and Aptitude will be able to do at the time of trial, is present evidence that that actually did not take place. So the ultimate result of the ruling, at this point in the case, is that the issue has not been established as a fact and the county and Aptitude will put their evidence in at trial to show that, in fact, there was no wrongdoing) Muller says ATPac had previously instructed the county to purge their proprietary information from the server and Aptitude Solutions only had access to data the county must retain.  The case is expected to go to trial in December.

The Union newspaper article dated April 19, 2011
A ruling issued recently by a federal judge finds Nevada County employees destroyed evidence on a server crucial to ongoing litigation against Nevada County, Clerk/Recorder Gregory Diaz and a Florida based software firm, Aptitude Solutions.  U.S. District Judge William Shubb noted in a court order that county employees “scrubbed – deleted – information off a server allegedly used to transfer data from ATPac to Aptitude.” “Defendants scrubbed a server that they had a duty to preserve and produce to the plaintiff,” Shubb said.  “The server was related to the merits of the action, and plaintiff  has almost certainly been prejudiced by its destruction.”  “The spoliation (destruction), combined with other deceptive practices by the defendant, indicates that without some sort of sanction, a fair and just resolution of the action will be impossible”.  Shubb is expected to instruct jurors when the case goes to court in December that it may infer that any files on the ATPac servers were transferred to the Aptitude server, which was subsequently scrubbed according to court documents released last week.

We need to write to each member of the Board of Supervisors and to The Union's “letters to the editor” and demand to know what is going on.

Let's all get involved in finding out the truth.

AB 192 Puts Law Enforcement First

by Assemblyman Dan Logue
 
When times are hard, it becomes more important than ever that government prioritize its spending, and shift the funds to where they are needed most. One of California’s biggest problems has been our state government’s inability to cut wasteful spending and protect our highest budget priorities. In my opinion, and many of yours, there can be no higher priority than our public safety – protecting the public is the main reason government exists.
 
Taxpayers already pay enough for these services, and we should not have to raise taxes to keep the public safe. Law enforcement should be one of the first things funded in the state budget. But law enforcement officials have spent the last few years being forced to do more with less, and it’s getting hard to keep up. Life gets more dangerous for them as their funding declines. It gets more dangerous for our families as well. What has become clear over the last few years and should be of serious concern to all of us is that law enforcement is not considered a priority by the majority of our State Legislature.
 
Public safety is often paid for after everything else. Education, MediCal, even welfare and other public assistance comes first. Our own Governor Jerry Brown wants to extend keeping law enforcement funded through Vehicle License Fees for five more years. That means less money when VLF revenues go down – a concern expressed by law enforcement agencies across the state.
 
That’s not right, and it’s time for a change.
 
I have authored a bill, AB 192, that would make law enforcement funding a top priority without raising taxes. AB 192 is co-authored by 22 other legislators, and would shift $500 million from the General Fund to the Local Safety and Protection Account. This account helps fund local law enforcement in their fight against illegal drugs, gang activities, sexual assaults, and technology theft. It helps county sheriffs, juvenile justice, and probation programs as well. It is crucial spending for our rural communities that should be a top priority.
 
Police officers shouldn’t have to beg for funding. They also shouldn’t be pitted against the taxpayers with “either/or” scenarios like heavy VLF fees. The taxpayers deserve to have their lives and property protected out of the taxes they already pay. Our officers deserve to have their basic duties paid for off the top, not the bottom, of the state budget.
 
Let’s at least put law enforcement funding ahead of welfare, and show our officers that we truly honor and appreciate their service.
 
AB 192 is a start in the right direction towards better funding priorities in our state government. Please join me in this fight. Pick up your phone and call your legislator today. Tell them you support law enforcement, and tell them to vote yes on AB 192.
 
Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, represents the 3rd Assembly District in the California Legislature. He is vice-chair of the Assembly Committee on Health, and Chairman of the Assembly Republican Task Force on Jobs and the Economy.

All About Boundary Surveys

by Andy Cassano

A boundary survey is a professional surveyor’s opinion as to the locations of your property lines, based on your deed and other available title information.

Boundary determinations are based on long established and accepted principles.   Typically, the survey research begins with your title insurance policy or preliminary
title report which contains the insurable legal description of the property.  We also review all previously recorded maps in the area of your property. The field portion of a boundary survey begins with a preliminary survey, during which a field crew using a
“total station” (integrated transit, electronic distance measurer, and computer), takes accurate measurements to property corner markers that are found on or near the property being surveyed.  A Global Positioning System (GPS) is sometimes used on large properties with limited tree cover.

The preliminary field survey information is then analyzed, with the standard boundary principles being applied, to determine the boundary location.  The survey
crew then returns to the property to set corner monuments or markers wherever they are needed.

Finally, State law requires that a record-of-survey map be prepared to document the work, whenever we set markers that have never been established on a prior
recorded survey, or whenever we find discrepancies with prior record information.  The law also requires that we pay a fee to the County Surveyor to check the
map to assure that it meets certain technical
requirements.

We are sometimes asked if a survey can be challenged. Keeping in mind that a boundary survey represents our professional opinion based on available information, it is possible that another surveyor, perhaps based on new or additional evidence could arrive at a different opinion. This occurrence is rare.  If a question arises at any time following our survey, we will work with any other surveyor in an effort to agree on the proper boundary location and to record clarifying documentation.

Andrew R. Cassano is a City/Regional Planner and Professional Land Surveyor with more than 41 years of experience in Northern California. He is CEO of
Nevada City Engineering, Inc., a firm offering regional planning, surveying, and civil engineering consulting to the private and public sector since 1978

Put me in charge . . .

Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away.  If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a  job.
 
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations.  Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings.  If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
 
Put me in charge of government housing.  Ever live in a military barracks?  You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair.  Your "home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried.  If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
 
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job.  It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you..  We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good.”
 
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary.  If you want our money, accept our rules.  Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
 
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices.  The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
 
AND While you are on Gov’t subsistence, you no longer can VOTE!  Yes that is correct.  For you to vote would be a conflict of interest.  You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov’t welfare check.  If you want to vote, then get a job.

This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX Nov 18, 2010

When is Enough...Enough?

by CABPRO Staff

A recent “Business Investor’s Daily” article provided very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.

Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S.        65%
England    46%
Canada    42%

Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S.        93%
England    15%
Canada    43%

Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S.        90%
England    15%
Canada    43%

Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S.        77%
England    40%
Canada    43%

Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in “excellent” health:
U.S.        12%
England    12%
Canada    6%

THIS HELPS TO EXPLAIN THE INCOMPETENCE OF THIS ADMINISTRATION: ONLY 8% OF THEM HAVE EVER WORKED IN PRIVATE BUSINESS!
The percentage of each past president’s cabinet who had worked in the private business sector PRIOR to their appointment to the cabinet.  You know what the private business sector is….a real-life business, not a government job. Here are the percentages.

T. Roosevelt……………38%
Taft……………………...40%
Wilson…………………..52%
Harding………………….49%
Coolidge…………………48%
Hoover…………………..42%
F. Roosevelt…………….50%
Truman………………….50%
Eisenhower……………..57%
Kennedy…………………30%
Johnson………………….47%
Nixon……………………..53%
Ford………………………42%
Carter…………………….32%
Reagan…………………..56%
GH Bush………………….51%
Clinton…………………….39%
GW Bush………………….55%

And the winner is:

OBAMA……………………8%

This helps to explain the incompetence of this administration: only 8% of them have every worked in private business!

That’s right!  Only eight percent---the least, by far, of the last 19 presidents!  And these people are trying to tell our big corporations how to run their business?  They know what’s best for GM, Chrysler, Wall Street, and you and me?

How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about business when he’s never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has never had one? And when it’s the same for 92% of his senior staff and closest advisors?  They’ve spent most of their time in academia, government and/or non-profit jobs as “community organizers.”  They should have been in an employment line.

Rejection of Obama Care ~ Gives Lawmakers, Governor Opportunity for Do-Over

by Assemblyman Dan Logue
Vice Chairman of The Health Committee

Democrats and Republicans alike are anxiously waiting to see whether the job-killing, government-run health care law signed last year by President Obama survives its legal challenges.  Just last month a federal judge deemed the “lynchpin” component of “ObamaCare”—the individual mandate that requires everyone to purchase the kind of health care coverage the government thinks is best for you—to be unconstitutional.  

Although California has “taken the lead” in advancing ObamaCare, which could cause the collapse of our entire health care delivery system, it is not too late for lawmakers and the Governor to see the writing on the wall and seize the opportunity for a do-over. 

Now is the time to embrace reforms to make health care more affordable and accessible.  Adopting fiscally-responsible reforms can improve the economy and reduce the number of uninsured, without growing government or raising taxes.

Jobs are leaving California because Sacramento has made it too expensive to create and retain them.  This includes health care.  Costly mandates and high taxes imposed by the Legislature have made health care more expensive for providers and employers. 

Instead of nationalizing health care, why not move into the 21st century and give patients more affordable health care choices by allowing out-of-state health plans to sell their products across state lines in California? 

Let’s allow Californians of all income levels to take advantage of personal health accounts, whereby individuals set aside money in tax-free accounts for health care.  These contributions are often matched in whole or part by the employer.  For those on a fixed income, charitable and taxpayer-subsidized contributions to a personal health account could replace our archaic Medi-Cal system.  The key to reform is empowering patients to decide for themselves how to spend health care dollars. 

But replacing ObamaCare with a single payer, or government-run, health care system is the wrong approach.  Under government-run health care, visiting the doctor would be like visiting the DMV – long lines, higher costs and bureaucrats making health care decisions for you.  This will mean higher taxes and fewer jobs.

Working families oppose government-run health care because they know it will hurt their wallets and the economy.  It’s time Sacramento listens to the people for a change and works together to give Californians the affordable health care options they are seeking.  Reforming health care the right way may be just the boost we need to get our economy back on track.

Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, represents the 3rd Assembly District in the California Legislature.

There Are Tools We're Not Using To Prevent Election Fraud

REDSTATE has an interesting article today: DOJ Whistleblower Christian Adams: There Are Tools We're Not Using To Prevent Election Fraud.  Here's an excerpt:

Department of Justice whistleblower Christian Adams delivered one of the more interesting speeches at the  True The Vote Summit last week in Houston, Texas. He recounted the voter intimidation case in Philadelphia. Then, he talked about how liberals elect people so that every element of the election process is controlled by liberals. That way, in close elections, every decision point leans left.

With 2012 elections just 18 months away we as a nation should be extremely concerned about keeping it honest.

The entire article can be found here.

Off the Top of My Head: SmartMeters™ -- Rational and not so rational fears

by Russ Steele
 
We live in a messy world of radio frequency energy, from the AM stations we get the morning news, FM stations that fill our day with music and news, the wireless telephones that save us many steps everyday answering the phone, and of course, our indispensable cellphones and smart phones. And then there are those radio signals we do not think about that much, the satellite signals that bring us hundreds of TV channels to the corner of our house and GPS navigation signals that guide us from point A to point B.
 
If we live near an airport the radar signals guiding airplanes to safe landings sweep by the house, and in our case, the Beale AFB Pave Paws Radar we can hear on our police scanners. Other radio signals we hear on our scanner are the police, fire, public service, and ham radio users.  Finally, let's not forget those WiFi signals that bring broadband to our laptops and Netflix movies to our Apple TV.
 
We already live in a messy radio frequency world, so why are people complaining about those tiny radio signals coming from the PG&E SmartMeters™?  Why are these specific radio signals causing so much irrational concern among the folks in Marin County? These signals are only a very small addition to the total RF spectrum that surrounds us, unless we live in a metal faraday cage designed to keep out radio signals?

April Dates to Remember

by CABPRO Staff

April 1, 1945 – The World War II  Battle of Okinawa began. The “Typhoon of Steel” lasted 82 days ending in U.S. victory.

April 2, 1792 – Congress established the first U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

April 4, 1968 – Civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

April 6, 1917 - President Woodrow Wilson spoke to Congress leading to the U.S. declaration of war against Germany during World War I.

April 9, 1865 – The Confederate Army surrendered to the Union at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, ending the American Civil War.

April 12, 1981 – The space shuttle Columbia became the first space shuttle launched into space.

April 13, 1743 – President and Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was born
in Virginia.

April 14, 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC; he died the following day.

April 18, 1775 – Paul Revere made his ‘Midnight Ride’ during the American Revolution, warning patriots of the attack of the British.

April 18, 1906 – A massive earthquake and fire decimated San Francisco and the Bay Area.

April 18, 1983 – A suicide bomber destroyed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.

April 19, 1995 – The Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a truck bomb detonated by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh, killing 168.

April 21, 1836 – Battle of San Jacinto between Texans led by Sam Houston and Mexicans led by Santa Anna, won by the Texans.

April 28, 1952 – U.S. ended its occupation of Japan following World War II.

April 30, 1803 – Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed in Paris.