anger at us is misplaced. Your anger should be directed to Wormy — I mean Werbe — the lying opportunist. You have been snookered … and we have been the victims of deliberate character assassination.
26
Local attorney Gil Stein wrote a letter to the Santa Cruz Sentinel recently, saying that anti-Semitism is alive and well at UC Santa Cruz. The Sentinel, on November 18th, also reported that anti-Semitism is increasing on college campuses throughout the country. How is this possible in institutions of higher learning where parents of college students pay as much as $ 100,000 for four years so their children can become educated, fair-thinking members of society? Because Gil Stein’s letter is very worrisome, I will repeat portions of the letter along with my own thoughts so that many others in this area can be made aware of the ugly situation, which, if not confronted, will escalate just as it did in Germany in the early 1930s. Please listen, then register your outrage with the local chancellor and those irresponsible members of the faculty. Remember: When good people remain silent and do nothing, bad things happen and evil takes hold. It’s called ‘the sin of omission.’
Gil’s letter refers only to this campus where anti-Israel faculty and students intimidate Jewish students who express support for Israel. You won’t believe the following, but it’s true. Tenured professor Nancy Stoller, who teaches at this campus, was caught red-handed, removing flyers posted by pro-Israel students. This incident happened last year, but the then-chancellor just looked the other way.
Pro-Palestinian speakers receive university sponsorship, while pro-Israeli speakers are denied sponsorship by those same departments. The university promotes diversity, but not diversity with which they disagree. This policy of looking the other way when certain speakers spout racist venom needs to stop. Academic freedom should not be a cover for bigotry. All campuses should also be open to speakers who do not represent the views of the ”politically correct.”
Kudos to Gil Stein for uncovering this ugliness. I say shame on the biased and gutless faculty and leaders who encourage prejudice to fester in places of higher learning. We The People must vigorously protest to those accountable. Our publicly financed universities must no longer become institutions of hate and selective discrimination.
27
Looking back, a really sad aspect of California’s budget disaster has been the behavior of too many self-serving state and county lawmakers. These officials, who betrayed us, were elected in good faith. They must share the blame for the reckless decisions which have taken our Golden State to the brink of bankruptcy.
They knew they were spending more than was in the coffers, yet that did not stop them from voting themselves raises in salaries and pensions plus untold bonuses and perks like personal cars. When the extent of the deficit became public knowledge, these same lawmakers warned We the People to expect to endure tough and serious cuts. First hurt - who else? - the defenseless, that is the poor, elderly, sick, and handicapped, while those responsible for creating the deficit shortfall are getting off scot-free. Has even one of them displayed any remorse, guilt, or been willing to give up anything personal? They could propose to roll back their raises, but that won’t happen — they rationalize that the law is very clear that they must take their already-voted raises regardless of the state of the economy.
I say, “Bull-pucky! They made the laws, so they have the power to change the laws.” The recourse for We the People now is to use the initiative process while it is still available. Let’s pass a law stating that all salaries and pensions of state and county lawmakers must be voted upon by the people, and no more sneaky hidden perks which chip away at the peoples’ money.
With our dynamite daytime signal covering one-third of California, KSCO ownership will pledge to make available a substantial amount of free air time to any serious organized group of citizens with an aggressive leader willing to pursue this democratic process.
Kudos to our new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, for being willing to take on an astonishing challenge (and it must be added, we sure could use more state and county leaders with the caliber of a Tom McClintock). And to those irresponsible lawmakers who should be voted out of office, to paraphrase a fitting quote, “Cheat us once, shame on you; cheat us again and again and again, shame on us.”
28
What a happy surprise it was to open the Sentinel this morning and read the following front page headline: “Unions Forego Salary Boosts.” This gesture could create a groundswell of good things to happen. Kudos to our Santa Cruz city police and firefighters who will give up a portion of their pay increases to help reduce the city’s deficit. Kudos also to City Manger Dick Wilson for making the suggestion to them. This move will save the city approximately $1 million over the next three years.
I do believe that all government cost of living increases should be suspended until our budget is in balance. However, now, if all Santa Cruz city leaders would willingly take cutbacks in their wages, the city deficit would get smaller, or maybe even disappear. Then, if the Santa Cruz County Supervisors would willingly take the cut in their high yearly salary of about $94,000 for approximately 35 meetings per year, plus a pension, and personal cars and perks, and if our CAO Susan Mauriello would willingly cut back on her close to $200,000 per year, plus pension, etc., our county deficit might even disappear.
Talk about a wonderful ripple effect. Remember, the fish always stinks from the head down, and if our state lawmakers would willingly take cuts in their salaries etc., our state deficit would also shrink or disappear.
Finally, that move might inspire our lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to give up their exclusive retirement fund of $14,000 per month per congressperson, and instead, join the more reasonable Social Security retirement system with the rest of us schleps. Just think, instead of a countrywide deficit, we would probably have a large surplus. So much good could come from this voluntary generosity. The poor, handicapped and mentally ill could have their desperately needed benefits restored to them. And, best of all, every willing participant would feel an indescribable warm glow of joy for making this joint goodness happen.
29
What I am about to tell you could easily be referring to our own beautiful Santa Cruz. It is a city that is in Los Angeles County, and it has 97% Hispanic population, more than half foreign-born, and 40% illegal. It has achieved quite a goal. It is now as lawless and chaotic as anyplace in Mexico. It is called Maywood, California. This is a warning to every city and town in America.
The Maywood City Council announced recently that after years of radical policies, corruption, and scandal, the city was broke and all city employees would be laid off and essential city services contracted out to neighboring cities or to L.A. County government.
How did this happen?
Maywood was the first California city with an elected all-Hispanic City Council, one of the first sanctuary cities for illegal aliens. The first city to pass a resolution calling for a boycott of Arizona after that State passed a law to enforce federal immigration laws, because the federal government chose to not enforce them. Instead the federal government is now suing Arizona for enforcing them. This is nuts!
Maywood was the first California city to order the police department not to require drivers to have licenses to drive. It is the first America city to call on Congress for amnesty to all illegals.
Council meetings were conducted in Spanish.
The City of Maywood started out quite differently. Back after World War 2, Maywood was a booming blue collar town with good jobs, a multi-ethnic suburb of L.A.
But, the early 1970s saw these industrial jobs in aerospace, auto and furniture manufacturing, and food processing evaporate under higher taxes, increased regulations, and cheaper land and cheaper labor elsewhere.
The multi-ethnic Maywood of the post war years was transformed in the 1980s and 1990s by wave after wave of Hispanic immigrants, many of them illegal.
Today, Maywood is broke. Its police department is dismantled along with all other city departments and personnel. Maywood