Community Wellness Workshop Report 2011

A Community Wellness Workshop was held on April 6, 2011 at Cotati’s City Hall. De Novo Planning Group, Sonoma County Department of Public Health and Bay Area Air Quality Management District all gave presentations. The Council Chambers was full and it would seem the “Community” Workshop was a success until it became clear that only a handful of citizens were in attendance, while the others were stakeholders, business owners, representatives for the Lung Association, the planning commission and staff.  

Bringing attention to the lack of private citizen presence, I asked the gentleman from De Novo Management District how they were reaching out to the community. How many of you read the flyer that comes inside of you PG&E bill? Well, that is one way they advertised this workshop. 

When Lynn Waldon, Healthy Communities Section Manager, Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Public Health Division made her presentation, I noticed it mirrored the Healthy Eating Active Living (H.E.A.L.) resolution Cotati adopted.  Here are some of the slides she presented that would support the changes that will soon be implemented in the plans for Cotati, but without the spin.

Here is a link to the presentation: 

 http://cotati.generalplan.org/sites/default/files/DPH_Cotati.pdf

Slides of obesity trends among U.S. adults from 1985 – 2009 were shown and numbers emphasized so the next slide would get the full impact intended.

 

 

It’s true that obesity is a major health issue in our country and the statistics on childhood obesity is heartbreaking and it must be addressed. But are you willing to have Cotati become your Nanny? Our Government was never intended to dictate how we should and should not live our lives and this government worker from Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Public Health Division manipulated these slides to make it seem that we need Government to rid us of obesity. 

 

  We can see in this slide a quote from Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative.  They believe in and are pushing social engineering.

 

It was this slide that threw me into what seemed like another dimension. Poverty, stress and racism seem to be the key to all of our nation’s woes. These are not issues in Cotati and why are we talking about fixing them based on “Theory of Change”? 

 

This is nothing more than propaganda. Yes, we do have unpaved sidewalks and that is to be expected in the more rural parts of Cotati and children are able to ride their bikes on the streets. What about the condition of Old Redwood Hwy and other streets that is in need of repair? The city of Cotati has already spent millions on the Downtown Specific Plan, purposely neglecting the repairs that at some point may become safety issue. 

 

“It is unreasonable to expect that people will change their behavior easily when so many forces in the…….” There is truth to this in the sense that we are influenced by advertising, but we are responsible for our own lives. Parents, teach your children well. It is our duty as parents, grandparents and friends and neighbors to teach our children by example. This slide is an attack on capitalism and continues in upcoming slides. Our Government continues to blame Coca-Cola, McDonald's, smoking and drinking for health issues and even death, rather than placing responsibility on the individuals. This is what propaganda looks like folks.

 

 In this slide, nutrition, physical activity, alcohol and tobacco used to begin eliminating businesses they feel are not suitable for Cotati. They will begin fining businesses who are selling goods they consider to be “poor or inadequate nutrition” and those who sell “alcohol and tobacco,” all for the good of our “youth.” Need I remind you Downtown Cotati’s main businesses are bars?

 

 Community gardens are going to be pushed on us while our neighborhood stores and bars will be pushed out for their sales of unhealthy foods, liquor and “unhealthy advertising.” Our convenience stores are an inconvenience to their Downtown Specific Plan.

 

The absence of buffer separating cars from walkers and poorly maintained sidewalks and roads are unsafe and are being used as talking points for this project, when in reality, the City is neglecting these issues as tools to implement their visions. Our safety is NOT their priority; their Nanny State Downtown Specific Plan is their priority. 

Millions of tax payers’ dollars have already been spent on this plan and is a part of a plan much greater than the one they lay out for us to see…well, those of us who are interested. Below is a slide that was on the presentation that was brought before the Council to sell them on adopting the H.E.A.L. resolution. This is an attack on these businesses. The elimination of these thriving businesses is a huge part of the Government.

 

Please take a look at this next slide and ask yourselves if our Government has any right to intrude on these areas of our lives?

 

 Americans are beginning to pay attention to what is happening nationally because it is clear we are a Nation who is in trouble and the issues are now having an effect on the individual. Those who do keep up with the current events of our country are frustrated because they feel helpless and want to do something, but are not sure what it is they can do.  As impossible as it may seem, there continues to be a majority of individuals who do not know or care to know what is happening in our Nation.  What is it that needs to be done to wake them up? 

I see people stepping up and locking arms with others who are aware that this is not about POLITICS. There are Democrats and Republicans who are working on local issues together because they understand what it is that must be done. They realize the magnitude of our National problems and KNOW that we MUST begin right here in our own backyards! 

It is in our local City Halls that resolutions and ordinances are being implemented. Our Mayors and Council members are putting these plans in place at the instruction and encouragement of outside entities, and it is up to each of us to get this information out to our communities. 

Here is where our battles begin. We are fighting for our INDIVIDUAL liberties and freedoms. I know that the resolutions and ordinances that have been passed in Cotati have been passed or will be passed in your city. Go onto your City’s website and begin your education! Don’t wait for someone to do something that you are capable of doing for yourself….for your family. There are individuals who are willing to stand side by side with you and share the information and tools you will need to arm yourselves with the knowledge you need. 

Leave a comment right now….don’t wait another day. We can make a difference.  Let your children see you taking an interest and being active in your communities and lead the way for our future generations.

Ode to Christopher Dorner?

In regards to the responses to the Christopher Dorner's Manifesto: I read the Manifesto and was taken back by the fact this man was not insane but in fact quite smart and educated in many aspects of our culture and political sphere in the USA. What was more concerning to me were the positive comments by ordinary people to his despicable murder spree. Here is my comment: "I can't believe the comments I'm reading below! There is no excuse.....PERIOD! This man was very methodical in his planning and murders....he thought about it for years. His personal choice of celebrities and media hero's are not only whacked but are insight to his mindset! I'm clueless to the pass you all are giving this man for his deplorable actions in taking ANY LIFE! He is not a hero...he is a zero. He is not a martyr he is a murderer and unfortunate criminal who reflects our social crisis today! I fear for our youth and the future of America when these horrible acts of crime has been accepted and understood in his reasoning in his well thought out manifesto! This is the result of accepting liberalism as a mindset....you excuse WRONG as acceptable. Wrong is wrong and evil will always be evil! This man was evil!" Enough Said!

Pass A Balance Budget Amendment

Sent to President Obama, Senator Boxer, Senator Feinstin and Congresswoman Woolsey:

The time for political games is over. I am not a "Tea Party" individual nor am I to be disrespected or misrepresented. I am (along with those who are associated with the Tea Party) a constituent, an American who is using my right to inform Congress that it is their duty to pass a balanced budget amendment to avoid the mismanagement of the American taxpayers money in the future!

This is in the interest of the American people and in the interest of America, period! I'm asking Congress to use common sense by making sure that fiscal responsibility be a priority and not left for your predecessors to deal with!

Do not go down in history as the ones who refused to keep America credible!

Sent August 8, 2011

It's The Constitution Baby!: Are California Public Employees Overpaid?

It's The Constitution Baby!: Are California Public Employees Overpaid?: "At the DMV the other day, every employee had an SEIU mouse pad. That says it all. via The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/Resea..."

We Must Reflect On Our Past

I woke up this morning and tuned into the reading of the Constitution being read in The House of Representatives by members of the 112th Congress on their second day "on the job." This is a start in the right direction, I thought to myself. It should be mandated that each government official should have to know the Constitution of the United States....after all each government official swears to preserve, protect and defend it.

During the past two years our Nation has gone through promised fundamental changes, but not the changes the majority of American’s had in mind. The Obama Administration, The Democratic Senate and Congressional majority have managed to shock and dumbfound the American people out of their slumber with their bold and blatant disregard for the people they serve, the seats they hold and for the laws of the land that set us apart from other Nations and made America great. We suddenly found ourselves concerned for our future and the future of our families and began to pay attention to our leaders, the issues and a Government we barely recognize.

We watched as hundreds of American’s across the Nation began to speak up and begin to question the decisions coming out of Washington. Rather than acknowledging the growing concern from American’s across the Nation, the President, the Speaker of the House, Senators, Congressmen and women and the mainstream media demonized, dismissed and disrespected us with malice and without shame. As the behavior in our leaders intensified, it sparked something greater than our collective imagination could have foreseen. Hundreds of thousands of American Patriots began to reach out to one another and arm their selves with America’s history, the Constitution, they read the bills and legislation as they came to the floor, they used every source of information available to determine facts from fiction, truth from blatant lies and they wrote their Representatives and officials and even confronted them face to face at Town Hall Meetings across the Country. They organized and united peacefully while they protested despite of the constant attempts from the media all the way to those in the White House as they tried to discourage, degrade and intimidate them into silence.

Many have said, “The Sleeping Giant has awaken” and I couldn’t agree more with that reference, but we woke up to America at a major fork in the road and there are two major roads that will either destroy or preserve our freedoms and liberties and the third is key to which road we take. While we were sleeping, living our own lives, we were unaware that we were taking for granted our freedoms. While we were sleeping the enemy of the American Experiment was hard at work chipping away at the very foundation that made us great for over 200 years, they have been violating our laws of the land, rewriting our Nation’s history and infiltrating our education system, deceiving and indoctrinating our children and intruding and twisting our society on every aspect. The road these anti-America individuals are shoving us down are the same we fought from going down over two centuries ago. The same anti-America individuals George Washington warned us about in his farewell speech. They have many titles and with each title are distinctive visions for our Country. Socialists, Marxists, Communists, Progressives, Leftists and they can have a “D” or “R” as their alias, but they can be determined by their love of power, money and their dismissal of our Constitution. There are those more than others that are calculating, experienced, organized and determined and they have been successful in their mission of deceiving their prey, the young, poor and uneducated into hating, demonizing and categorizing Republican’s and anyone who doesn’t agree with their agenda.

America’s heart and spirit lives within the majority of Americans and although we allowed this to happen to ourselves and our children, we are still the heart of America and we know we are capable of great things. We rose up in droves, with God leading us every step as we began stepping up and out of our comfort zone, educating ourselves, talking to our families, friends and strangers, knocking on doors, walking our neighborhoods, making phone calls, supporting candidates, protesting, becoming leaders and making a difference. It did not take decades for us to make a difference; we did this in 2 years. We know we made a mistake and admit it. We are not political people and we come from all walks of life but we all share the same passion, we all realize this is greater than all of us and it is now or never. We will take our Government back! We know the necessity of truth and history, we believe in questioning and not accepting what we hear as fact. Educating ourselves is becoming second nature and empowering. We understand with God on our side we can do anything. We know which road we are to go down. Our Forefathers knew our Creator is the key to happiness and if we keep Him at the center of our lives, we will prosper in love, faith, hope and in charity.

These are the two obvious roads we are to take. We know which road leads to freedom, liberty, prosperity and happiness, but what about that third road? Where does that lead? I believe that is the road that holds the keys. I believe that is the road we were on while we were sleeping and that is where we are going to get our strength. I believe that is where the uninterested, uneducated, poor, lonely, lost, confused and deceived people are. I believe those who are out to destroy this Nation know that these people are key to their numbers for power, but what they don’t know is these people are America and sooner or later they will see truth through the lies if they are armed with truth. It is up to us to reach out to them with the persistence and commitment that America’s enemy has been using for all these years and believe me; they are ramping up their outreach. I know this is the key. For decades these people have been prey. They have been used and lied to by these Progressives who fake sincerity in the name of their agenda. They are being deceived and used because these people, these victims are searching for something.

Ever since “The Sleeping Giant” rose from its slumber, miracles upon miracles have been occurring across the Nation and have not been observed as so. Our history books show how The Word of God was a part of everyday life. Applying the lessons Jesus taught, placing the Father before all, living in love and in prayer, was encouraged and evident in America’s great documents. I’m sure our Forefathers viewed the trials and victories as miracles. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were a miracle because they were conceived with God at the head of each thought, each conversation, each meeting. Learning from our Nation’s history is needed to take back our freedoms and preserve them for our children and grandchildren. Reaching out to our community in love, charity, truth, education and unwavering will save unsuspecting people from what we are fighting against. I know this will open the eyes of people who are like some of us use to be….not interested. They deserve the truth and we need them to understand the dangers that we face.

We have hard work ahead of us. We woke up one day and realized we were in danger of losing what we took for granted, our freedoms and liberties. We stood up and stood together and saw miracles. We realized we are the keepers of this Great Nation and we continue to learn how great this Nation really is. In our unity, we know we are the people and our message has been heard by many in Washington and the need to hold their feet to the fire. We now know that we are not the only ones who failed at the helm, we are not the only ones who don’t know our history or Constitution, it seems our leaders are in need of education as well. I woke up this morning and tuned into the reading of the Constitution being read in The House of Representatives by members of the 112th Congress on their second day "on the job" only to find out later, they purposely left out 2 Amendments because they did not want to offend other members. The Amendments left out are crucial parts of history and it shows our leaders do not understand the meaning or history of our Nation. We must demand our officials know our history and laws of our land and that they honor and respect the oats they recite as they take office. We must know who we vote for.

We must reflect on our past in order to keep from repeating our failures and mistakes. We must talk to our children and grandchildren and pass on our heritage, our history, our freedoms and liberties. We must reflect on our past in order to preserve our future.

U.S. Constitution read in the House today - 1-6-2011

Congress reading the Constitution

Urgent: House leaving out portions of the Constitution

Per Pergram-Capitol Hill

The House is leaving out reading portions of the Constitution that have been amended.

In other words, portions of the Constitution are never DELETED. Just amended. Yet, Republicans are LEAVING OUT portions of the Constitution that no longer have power. But are STILL THERE in the Constitution. For instance, the part about counting slaves and Native Americans as 3/5ths of a person, et al.

But they are skipping over some of these sections or parts which are antiquated or in some cases, perhaps offensive.

For instance, they did not read the 18th Amendment which imposed prohibition in 1919. However, they did read the 21st Amedment which repealed prohibition in 1933.

This is why Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA), Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) and even Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) raised hackles on the floor.

Now here’s the inherit issue with reading the Constitution this way.

Congress’s own Joint Committee on Printing (which is an official committee, not an ad hoc organization)…has printed HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of copies of the U.S. Constitution which they shop around the Hill. They are in numerous Congressional offices for constituents and passersby to pick up, et al.

ALL of those copies of the Constitution…which Congress itself has authorized to print and distribute…contain the original language and the amendments. Yet that is not what is being read today.

I should point out however that the Joint Committee on Printing that authorized the printings of those Constitutions…came under Democratic control. The Chair and vice chairs were Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Others on the committee includes Reps. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Susan Davis (D-CA), then-Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The Senate members include President Pro Tempore Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), then-Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

Something to watch: What will those copies of the Constitution contain once the new Joint Committee on Printing is consituted?

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/45645-upcoming-newsouth-huck-finn-eliminates-the-n-word.html

http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/01/06/footnotes-research-from-tv-162011/

The Legacy of the Declaration of Independence

The Legacy of the Declaration of Independence

This Sunday, July 4th, we will once again celebrate our nation's founding, marking the day in 1776 that the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence was intended to be an official statement explaining why the 13 American colonies had declared their independence from Great Britain. In the years following its passage, however, this statement of principles about the rights of man grew to mean much more.

America became the only country in history founded, as Leo Strauss explained, "in explicit opposition to Machiavellian principles," by which he meant crass, power politics. Instead, America was founded on a set of clearly expressed "self-evident" truths. Thomas Jefferson said the Declaration was "intended to be an expression of the American mind," and indeed, no document since has so succinctly and so eloquently spelled out the spirit of America.

Our country has evolved out of the timeless truths expressed in the Declaration of Independence to develop a distinct character and set of values that distinguishes us from even other Western democracies.

This holiday, it is worth taking a look at how several key phrases from the Declaration of Independence have served as definitional statements about the aspirations of America, and how those words of our Founding Fathers' have affected America in the 234 years since they were written.

"...all men are created equal"

The Founding Fathers who authored the Declaration were the first people in the history of the world ever to express our natural equality as a principle of government in such an unqualified way. Though neither the Constitution that followed nor the Founders personally quite fulfilled the promise of those words, it has since been the project of our country to accomplish them.

America came to recognize that though we are not all literally equal -- we are born with different capabilities and attributes, and to different stations in life -- the words of the founders capture the truth that we must treat each other as equals. We are "created equal" in the sense that all men (and, we now recognize, all women) have the same natural rights, granted to them by God. We are all the same under the law.

This powerful statement of universal rights was used by abolitionists as a moral cudgel to rid the United States of slavery, an institution explicitly at odds with the truths expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Abraham Lincoln consistently evoked the phrase in his famous Peoria speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and later during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. As President, Lincoln again included the phrase in the Gettysburg Address as the moral underpinning by which the union should be rededicated. Later, during the women's suffrage movement and civil rights struggles of the 1960s, leaders such as Martin Luther King used the powerful phrase as a reminder to America that separate (treating people differently under the law based on their race) was not equal.

Leaders such as Lincoln and King believed that as America's founding political document, the Declaration of Independence is our moral guide with which to interpret the Constitution. They saw that we cannot divorce the law from the moral underpinnings that legitimize it.

But by what authority does that moral underpinning exist?

"...endowed by their Creator"

The core contention of the Declaration of Independence and the principle of natural rights upon which America was founded is that there is a higher moral order upon which the laws of man must be based. The Declaration asserts the existence of "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God," which had a clear meaning in 18th Century England and America. It referred to the will of God as displayed by the natural order of the world.

John Locke, who was widely read by the leaders of colonial America, wrote in his Second Treatise on Government: "Thus the law of nature stands as an eternal rule of all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men's actions, must...be conformable to the law of nature, i.e., to the will of God."

William Blackstone, who was arguably the single greatest influence on the creation of the American legal system, wrote in Commentaries on the Laws of England, "As man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should at all points conform to his maker's will."

America's founding was heavily influenced by the English and Scottish enlightenment, which specifically included a space for God and religion in its conceptions of rights, freedom and human reason. This gave the American Revolution a distinctly different character than the French Revolution, which in its most radical phase sought freedom by casting off all authority and remnants of the existing order -- especially God.

In the American formulation as declared by our founders, man's rights come from God, not from man's ability to "reason" them into existence. Man does not depend on government to grant him rights through a bureaucratic process, but instead to secure those rights that have been granted to him by God.

In other words, power comes from God, to you, which is then loaned to government. Thus, the Declaration states, "That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The English and Scottish enlightenment's conscious inclusion of a space for God and religion had another key influence on the American system of government. Whereas the French Revolution believed it could create a "new man" through government education and indoctrination, the American Founding Fathers had a profound sense of the fallen nature of man. Thus, they created a system of checks and balances that would serve as a restraint on those in power.

"...the pursuit of happiness"

Here again we see the influence of the English and Scottish enlightenment on the Founding Fathers. For writers such as John Locke and Francis Hutcheson, the term "happiness" meant something close to "wisdom and virtue." It did not mean hedonism or other shallow pleasures as the term is too often confused to mean today.

It is also essential to note that the Declaration does not say that we have a right to have happiness provided to us. It says we have the right to pursue happiness - an active verb. As I point out in jest to audiences in my speeches, the Declaration says nothing about a right to redistribution of happiness. It says nothing about happiness stamps. It does not say some people can be too happy and that government should make them less happy out of a sense of fairness.

The Founding Fathers understood that government could not give people happiness, that it was instead up to government to create an environment where the people could best work to achieve their dreams. As AEI's Arthur Brooks has pointed out, polls of wealthy and successful people show that the harder one works for that success, the greater happiness one derives from it.

America is a land where through hard work, determination, and entrepreneurialism, people can achieve their big dreams. The right of "the pursuit of happiness" spelled out in the Declaration is a definitional statement about the nature of America that has attracted people from all over the world to come here to pursue those dreams.

Who We Are This July 4th

A bedrock belief of American conservatism is a respect for the established traditions and values of American culture. Conservatives believe from the time the first colonists landed in Jamestown, America took on a unique culture and set of values that have set us apart from our European cousins: a belief in natural rights, strong religious faith and values, the importance of the work ethic, and a spirit of community that manifests itself in a belief in limited government and strong civic participation. It is this set of beliefs -- truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- that have made America so successful, and they deserve to be protected.

The modern Left -- what I describe in my book To Save America as a "secular-socialist machine" -- is using every lever of power at its disposal to dismantle our unique American civilization and replace it with a secular, bureaucratic culture in which government is big, citizens are small, and our rights are defined by the state rather than endowed by our Creator. Equality under the law is being discarded in favor of equality of results; consent of the governed is being subverted by an increasingly overbearing federal bureaucracy and imperial judiciary; and the pursuit of happiness is being undermined by a redistributive welfare state that kills the can-do, entrepreneurial spirit of America.

This July 4th, I hope you will take time to read the Declaration of Independence and consider the truths about our rights and freedoms contained within. I hope you will take time to appreciate the sacrifices made by the founding generation and generations since to secure our liberty.

But most of all, I hope you will take time to appreciate the greatness of America and how hard we must be willing to work to preserve that which makes it so special.

Happy Independence Day.

Your friend,

Newt