CABPRO Report

For All Our Warmer Friends Out There....

The Great Global Warming Fizzle

The climate religion fades in spasms of anger and twitches of boredom. Read All About It HERE!

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Happy Thanksgiving To Our Troops

American Leadership needed on Foreign Policy

by Fran Freedle

The basic premise upon which our foreign policy should rely is that America must be capable of proactively protecting the nation and its citizens.  Our armed forces must be ready to act anywhere in the world where vital national interests are threatened.  This can be achieved by giving the military the resources it needs to keep us safe and maintain freedom.

The Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute and CNN will host a debate with our Republican Presidential candidates on foreign policy and national security on November 15 (8 p.m. EST).  This debate will be an opportunity to increase public understanding of the candidates’ positions on critical foreign policy and national security questions requiring American leadership in the second decade of the 21^st century. 

National Defense Authorization Act of 2012

Both the House and Senate have several detainee-related provisions in their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that is presently being debated.  This is the main funding bill for the Department of Defense for the next Fiscal Year.  It would serve us well if Congress could base their decisions on whether the provisions support and respect the President’s power under the Constitution recognizing his power within the bounds of Supreme Court precedent, treaty obligations and common sense.

China

We must maintain a high level of awareness of China’s assertiveness in Asia.  We continue to hold differing views over the rights of coastal states in the waters and airspace beyond their territorial seas.  The US must preserve our industrial base and continue robust research and development to stay ahead and not lose our military standing. We must foster healthy relationships in the region particularly with Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.  We cannot ignore a China that threatens its neighbors. 

Terrorist plots

On the home-front, in September we thwarted the 41^st Islamic-inspired terrorist plot with 29 of the threats involving one or more American citizens, many of whom were radicalized via the web.  We must use all available tools to maintain our security and combat terrorist threats. We must use all federal, state and local resources (money, people, expertise, etc.) to keep our citizens safe and free.  We must establish better information sharing among agencies to improve efficiency and timeliness.

Defense spending and the Super Committee

The greatest threat we face could be the risk of cuts to Defense spending.  Even eliminating vital Defense spending completely would not solve our entitlement spending problems.  The share of spending for Defense has been in decline since 1970 compared to the share of spending for entitlements that has tripled. The Super Committee has to meet critical thresholds or Defense spending will be cut severely.

Obama’s sends troops

President Obama has personally deployed troops to three countries without Congressional action - Libya, Uganda and Yemen. We must remind him of the Constitutional requirements and continue to question the wisdom of deploying troops to countries that do not meet the test of threats to our vital national interest.

Fran Freedle is a former Nevada County Supervisor and the Legislative Chairman for the Nevada County Republican Women Federated.

 

“Local Government—an Oxymoron?!”

by Judi Caler

Several months ago, a young Executive Director of a community nonprofit volunteered to help a Grass Valley citizens group approach our local elected officials in order to affect public policy on an important issue. Having been a lobbyist and political activist in the past, I didn’t think I would learn anything new. I was wrong. 

Peoples’ lives are being hijacked, compliments of the United Nations and their Agenda 21 (AKA Sustainable Development); our young people, products of our public “educational” system, don’t understand how representative government was intended to work by the founders of our country. They have been indoctrinated to accept without question what is imposed upon them, and also to help impose that doctrine upon others.

Agenda 21 is the 1992 United Nations plan for the global elite to control every facet of our lives—what we have, what we do, where we live, where we go, what we eat, etc. President George H.W. Bush signed Agenda 21 for the United States along with the leaders of 178 other nations. It was deliberately designed as a non-binding “soft law” document, not a treaty, so as to avoid the Senate confirmation process.

President Clinton followed up by creating the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) by Executive Order in 1993 for the purpose of implementing Agenda 21 in the United States. He thus laid the foundation to restructure our political process to conform to a one world government.

To further carry out Agenda 21, President Obama, by Executive Order in June 2011 established the White House Rural Council to exercise control over rural America in education, food supply, land use, water use, recreation, property, energy, and the lives of 16% of the U.S. population. 

The PCSD produced “Toward A Sustainable America” in 1999. Among its 16 “We Believe” statements is Number 8:

“We need a new collaborative decision process that leads to better decisions; more rapid change; and more sensible use of human, natural and financial resources in achieving our goals.” 

In other words, the Constitution was getting in the way of their plans. The “old” political process involved private citizens lobbying their local elected officials to adopt policy, vigorous open debate on both sides, and an eventual public vote by elected officials. Sustainable Development couldn’t take hold across America if this process were allowed to continue. And so the “consensus” or “visioning” process was born. 

The consensus process bypasses local government officials, and cumbersome argument and debate; early participants are handpicked and friendly. Through stakeholder meetings, the public is given the impression that a broad spectrum of the community’s citizenry is engaged.

A typical stakeholder meeting is run by a highly trained, highly paid facilitator. His or her job is to drive a consensus sympathetic to the desired outcome of the project and marginalize any opposition. Stakeholders are persons or groups with no legal interest in the property in question, such as environmental nonprofits, dictating the use of that property to the owner. Shills are sometimes hired to join in the “consensus.”

The new process is most often accompanied by a government grant that local elected officials rarely reject, especially if the local community has been told that the grant is awarded to help usher in “sustainability.” Organizations such as the American Planning Association are provided funding to produce plans and procedures that are ready-made for local governing bodies to approve.

Only after the plan is essentially developed is the governing body called upon to give it the force of law by a formal vote. If the governing bodies do not vote as expected, the threat of a lawsuit is not uncommon. Once the new decision-making process has been established, it can be used to develop policy in all areas embraced by sustainable development, i.e. economics, social justice, education and the environment.

There can be no accountability to the people when public policy is developed by government-funded advocacy groups, administrators or bureaucrats. Individual freedom is lost as property rights are eroded. Local authority is thus removed from elected officials, and control moves up to the regional or state level or higher. Top-down government management of local communities is achieved.

To find Agenda 21 operating in your community, watch for the buzzwords (partial list): sustainable, social justice, smart growth, public/private partnership, common good, collaborative, vision/visioning, affordable, livable, walkable, consensus, stakeholder, International, regional, endangered species…

Reclaiming Our American Rights (ROAR!) is a Nevada County citizens group fighting Agenda 21. We have available a new slide show presentation entitled “What Is Sustainable Development?” It is intended as an introduction to Agenda 21, a subject we need to understand if our freedoms are to survive. To join ROAR or to arrange a showing for your group, big or small, please contact us at [email protected]. 

Sources:

"Understanding Sustainable Development – Agenda 21- For the People and their Public Officials," Freedom Advocates, 2010, www.FreedomAdvocates.org

"Sustainable Development or Sustainable Freedom?" Henry Lamb, 2010; www.sovereignty.net

Judi Caler lives in Nevada City. She founded AnimalSave and co-founded ROAR!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank a Veteran ~ 2011

by Martin Light

Many Americans mistakenly believe that Veterans Day is the day America sets aside to honor American military personnel who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained from combat. That's not quite true. Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor America's war dead.  Veterans Day, on the other hand, honors ALL American veterans, both living and dead. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for dedicated and loyal service to their country. November 11 of each year is the day that we ensure veterans know that we deeply appreciate the sacrifices they have made in their lives to keep our country free.  Our military has been working under extreme and unusual circumstances these past few years on several fronts as the current White House administration consistently sends confusing messages of support or lack thereof.  During this month of November reach out and thank our veterans and active duty members for their service to America.  Tell them how proud you are of them.

Occupy Wall Street

by Marc Cuniberti

I’m not sure what Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is all about and because they're so new, I’m pretty sure they don’t either, but the general gist is that the public is getting fed up with literally trillions of dollars going everywhere but to back to them.

People are being told a recovery is in the making and they see stocks going up and bank bonuses definitely going up, yet their neighbor can’t find work and their husbands and wives can’t find enough of what work they do find.

In the midst of this so-called recovery, smiles from the TV showing Wall Street analysts all rosy and cheery assure us companies are adding jobs and the outlook is tepid but positive and things will get better if we just give more money to those that need a bailout.

Obama keeps talking about jobs bills and everyone on Capitol Hill seems well fed and impeccably dressed yet the average Joe watching all this is wondering why none of this warm fuzzy stuff is making it downhill to the ditch he’s in.

Now that the recovery that really never was is said to be stalling, Mom and Pop are scratching their heads wondering when it started and then hear talk about more billions going to banks again and even some of their tax money being thrown at some far away place like Greece.

The coffee klatches start talking and soon Occupy Wall Street sports hundred-strong rallies, soon to be thousands. Newborn and not mission specified, what I fear in this whole Occupy Wall Street thing will end up much like the Tea Party.

The spinmeisters will whip up another deflection story and subtly nudge the OWS gun- sight away from the guilty once more and towards the very thing that can save them.

The Tea Party was branded extremists and Republicans in disguise, purposely so by the boys in the mahogany halls.

What better way to discourage potential members and erode support than to label them heartless bastards that want to cut this country to ribbons with much-needed spending cuts?

Off the Top of My Head - The Hidden Economic Costs of Non-profits

by Russ Steele

The real economic cost of funding non-profits is often hidden from the public. This is especially true among the plethora of non-profit organizations in Nevada County.

In Nevada County there are 852 nonprofit organizations that in 2010 had an annual revenue stream exceeding $150 million dollars, with total assets of over $233 million dollars. On this list of 852 there are 32 non-profits in Nevada County with a net worth of over $1million.

Most of this money does not stay in the county, but passes through to other communities.  For example, the True North Foundation in Grass Valley is a 501(C)(3) non-profit with assets of $14,695,135 dollars according to IRS filings.  The Foundation distributed about $2.7 million in 2010, mostly to charitable organizations in California and Alaska.  In 2009, they distributed over $2.3 million to 76 charities, none of which are in Nevada County.  Most of the (509(A)(1) receiving charities were in the Bay Area, with some funds going to anti-mining groups in Alaska, California, Montana, Colorado, and Minnesota. 

If you are donating to the True North Foundation, your money is not supporting organizations in Nevada County. In fact, the money is being sucked out of the county, and some of it is being given to environmentalist organizations that have a much larger anti-business agenda. 

On the larger scale, many Nevada County citizens may donate to the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Earth First, Climate Progress, Environmental Defense Fund, The World Wildlife Fund and other local environmental organizations. The actions of these environmental groups often result in anti-business policies by government agencies.

These organizations use your tax dollars to lobby legislators to craft anti-business legislation in their quest to restore the earth to its pristine state, all the while controlling how we live and work. The result is often economic disaster for some businesses. 

An Australian writer, speaker and author of The Skeptic's Handbook, Jo Nova has prepared an analysis of how our tax dollars are being used to fund environmental organizations which are trying to dupe their donors into believing in anthropogenic global warming.  Warming they claim is a significant contributor to weather disasters and future long-term droughts.

Here is a graphic that Jo Nova published on her website (joannenova.com.au), demonstrating how your tax dollars are flowing into multiple climate change scare machines.

Look closely at the Government Funded Activities block; it has some significance to our economic well being in California.  We have our own version of the US EPA and the government funded California Air Resources Board. These agencies have direct links back to the GFA block.  For example, CARB uses the UN IPCC climate change assessment reports, of questionable value, to justify the need for AB-32, the Global Warming Solutions Act.

AB 32 Five Years Later

By John Seiler

It’s been five years now since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Time for an assessment.

Two things to note up front. First, the operative euphemism has changed from “global warming” to “climate change.” So anything environmentalist extremists like Schwarzenegger or Gov. Jerry Brown say is “climate change” leads to them controlling your life. Anything. A butterfly dying out your window is an excuse for them to take over your energy production and consumer purchases.

Second, California remains just 1 percent of the global economy. AB 32 mandated a 25 percent reduction in state greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. So, that’s a 0.25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions globally. Nothing.

AB 32 is a typical California exercise in global grandiloquence. We’re the center of the universe. We have surfing and Hollywood and Silicon Valley and the Golden Gate Bridge. We set trends. Everybody follows us.

Except that’s not how the real world works. Here’s what really happens:

The Chinese use dirty coal-generated electricity to make solar panels they sell to us to meet AB 32. They’re not going to slow down their economic growth just to make Arnold and Jerry feel better.

The Europeans have their own “climate change” agenda. But they also have their own major crisis with the Euro and the whole European Union falling apart, sparked by the PIIGS crisis.

India, another up-and-coming country, doesn’t care about AB 32. They’re also concerned about continuing to bring their people out of poverty.

Japan’s problem is declining output from a rapidly aging population.

Where Are the Jobs?

The California Air Resources Board still claims on its Web site:  “The plan generates jobs, promotes a growing, clean-energy economy and a healthy environment for California at the same time.”

But where are those jobs? Five years later, the state’s economy suffers 12.1 percent unemployment, 3 percentage points higher than the U.S. economy.

And the Solyndra scandal reminded us that most “green” jobs exist only because of government subsidies and tax breaks. Solyndra got a $535 million federal loan and $35 million in California tax breaks.

Peter Lynch, a New York-based solar energy analyst, told ABC News:  “It’s very difficult to perceive a company with a model that says, well, I can build something for six dollars and sell it for three dollars. Those numbers don’t generally work. You don’t want to lose three dollars for every unit you make.”

No kidding. But that’s what the whole “green jobs” scam is based on — especially AB 32.

CARB continues: “California’s economic powerhouses support AB 32. AB 32 enjoys the strong support of a diverse and formidable alliance of California’s economic powerhouses including Google, Gap Inc., eBay, Bloom Energy, E2, Small Business California, Yahoo!, California Business Alliance for a Green Economy, Cleantech, California Ski Industry Association, and much more. (Source: California’s Global Warming Solution — the Economic Stimulus We Need)”

Back to Oklahoma

Then why is Google building a gigantic new server farm in Oklahoma?  AB 32 really is causing a Reverse Okie Trek, from California to Oklahoma.

According to the 2011 Green State Guide from Greenopia, California ranks 6th Greenest, Oklahoma way down at 33rd Greenest.  According to the rankings, “Oklahoma is amongst the cellar dwellers in number of LEED buildings (both certified and registered). Finally, Oklahoma has worse than average per capita emissions and energy consumption rates. “  LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Oklahoma doesn’t have an AB 32.

Time to load up the truck like the Joad Family in “The Grapes of Wrath” and head back the other way singing, “I’m an Okie from Muskogee.”

(Source: CalWatchdog)

 

November Dates to Remember

November 1, 1776 - Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in California. Each year, the swallows of Capistrano leave their nests there around St. John's Day (October 23rd) and return the following year near St. Joseph's Day (March 19th).

November 2, 1734 - American frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was born in Berks County, near Reading, Pennsylvania.

November 3, 1957 - Soviet Russia launched the world's first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, which carried a dog named Laika.

November 4, 1879 - American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) was born in Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). "All I know is what I read in the newspapers," he once joked. He was killed in an airplane crash with aviator Wiley Post near Point Barrow, Alaska.

November 5th - Remembered as Guy Fawkes Day in Britain, for the anniversary of the failed "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I in 1605.

November 6, 1860 - Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th U.S. President and the first Republican. He received 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote.

November 8, 1895 - X-rays (electromagnetic rays) were discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany.

November 9, 1989 - The Berlin Wall was opened up after standing for 28 years as a symbol of the Cold War. The 27.9 mile wall had been constructed in 1961.

November 10, 1775 - The U.S. Marine Corps was established as part of the U.S. Navy. It became a separate unit on July 11, 1789.

November 11th - Celebrated in the U.S. as Veterans Day (formerly called Armistice Day) with parades and military memorial ceremonies.  (Fly The Flag)