Monday, January 31, 2011
MUSD SEEKS NEW SUPERINTENDENT
Please attend the MUSD Superintendent search session TODAY at 6:30 PM at Desmond School (Find location in Yellow Pages Maps).
I feel we need a person who actually lives in Madera. All of the MUSD administrators live in Clovis because the MUSD is so Bad and they want their kids to have a good education which can be provided in the Clovis School District. None of these administrators have buy-in for helping MUSD. MUSD is stuck in "mediocrity" and needs to recruit excellence. Most of the MUSD administrators are over-paid...and they want more. If you want to live in Clovis, get a job in Clovis. A person who lives in Madera will support our Madera businesses and schools, not the Clovis businesses.
If we citizens must pay for the MUSD administrators, I want to see some EXCELLENCE.
In addition, we have "white flight" in Madera where the white students are attending private schools and MUSD is left with 60% to 80% Hispanic students. Since our schools are mostly Hispanic, we need to recruit a minority Superintendent.
I expect the new Superintendent to have a DOCTORATE and be a well-rounded professional in education.
The only person I am familiar with at MUSD who could possibly be the next Superintendent is Deborah Woods. Anyone else currently in the district is unacceptable, unless they work for a greatly lower salary. Hence, that would mean we would get significant financial savings in return for a less-educated MEDIOCRE Superintendent. I know Porterfield wants the job but, for a number of reasons, he is not a good choice and does not provide the ROLE MODEL needed.
Please attend the meeting tonight - 6:30 PM, Desmond - or tomorrow at Madera High School, 6:30 PM.
Our kids can not succeed unless you demand EXCELLENCE.
JAKE SHERMAN | 1/31/11 9:14 AM EST
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) caught lots of flak earlier this year for hosting a swank, rock ‘n’ roll fundraiser months after his freshman class was swept to Washington after promising a renewed commitment to frugality and economic restraint.
And all that ire was before the nearly $80,000 in expenses was disclosed.
The night before lawmakers were sworn in, the first-term congressman’s political action committee appears to have doled out $25,000 to have LeAnn Rimes perform in Washington at the W Hotel for an event that raised eyebrows in both Republican and Democratic circles.
The PAC paid the W Hotel $22,000 for catering and lights, and audio services ran up a $5,000 tab. It also paid $10,000 for “floral expense and event design.”
It was a particularly bizarre event, even by Washington standards. Denham invited the media to the W Hotel before the event, where he vowed that “we’re conservatives but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.”
“Obviously this isn’t just about raising money, this is about having a good time,” Denham said to reporters before the fundraiser. “We have a great entertainer here in Grammy Award-winner LeAnn Rimes. And we’re excited about that, and excited about the event tonight.” Reporters were not permitted to attend the fundraiser itself.
The money that the PAC raised hardly covered the cost of the event — it took in $85,000. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians donated $50,000 to the committee, and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians Native donated $25,000. Blue Shield of California’s PAC chipped in $5,000 and the American Association of Clinical Urologists and a Tennessee-based donor gave $2,500 each.
Although Denham was the face of the event, the political action committee raises money for a slew of first-term Republicans, including Reps. Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.), Robert Dold (Ill.), Renee Ellmers (N.C.), Jeff Landry (La.), Tom Marino (Pa.), Tom Reed (N.Y.), David Rivera (Fla.), Jon Runyan (N.J.), Steve Southerland (Fla.), Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) and Kevin Yoder (Kan.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48487.html#ixzz1CdRE69JZ
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Just wanted to write this correction straight from Aretha. Aretha says she is fine and will reschedule her tour. She says she is housebound for 2 more weeks - then she will spend some time at the beach - maybe Hilton Head.
Thanks Aretha!!
Friday, January 07, 2011
Chowchilla defaults on bond payment for new government building. As Chowchilla heads towards bankruptcy, the city promises to dig into reserves to pay missed payment with penalty fees. Years of neglect by state officials, including then State Senator Denham have led to the pitiful state of financial affairs.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Ted Williams, a homeless man begging for money was YouTubed discussing his former career as a radio announcer. He was doing well, but fell into drugs and alcohol. Now, stating he is 2 years clean, he wants to return to radio announcing. Today he was featured on all of the morning talk shows and he will do some TV shows tomorrow. GOOD LUCK Ted. I hope you have a lucretive future career in radio. Look, Rush Limbaugh has been on illegal drugs for years and he has kept his radio job - so can you Ted. I will watch you tomorrow on TODAY show.
BOTTLED WATER A HEALTH HAZARD - TELL THE KIDS AND SAVE BIGTIME
KIDS AND SAVE BIG TIME
TELL KIDS BOTTLED WATER NOT BETTER THAN TAP WATER AND SAVE MONEY
Schools sell bottled water to kids - around $1 a day - and
the costs add up for families. Kids feel because the water is sold that the
bottled water is BETTER - NOT TRUE!!!! School administrators don't care and
continue to allow this message to be given on a daily basis. Tell kids in your
communities the truth about bottled water. Also, the water sold at schools is
often kept at varying temperatures (unrecorded) and for varying lengths of time
(unrecorded). These storage conditions can make the water even worse with higher
bacterial counts. These elevated levels of bacteria can increase oral bacterial
count and increase cavities and gum disease.
Here is an article on
BOTTLED WATER from the web:
How much do you know about the bottled water
you drink? Not nearly enough, according toa new report released today from Environmental Working
Group (EWG)."Bottled water companies try hard to hide information you
might find troubling," says Jane Houlihan, senior vice president of research for
the Washington D.C.-based research and advocacy group.
EWG analyzed the
labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if
companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water
is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The
nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment
methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water
companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what's in their
bottles.
The Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that
consumers have the right to know where their water comes from and what's in it
so they can "make informed choices that affect the health of themselves and
their families." Tap water is regularly tested and consumers can find their local water info
online. That's not necessarily the case with bottled water, which is
not required to disclose that information to consumers. "Bottled water is a food
product and every one of these companies is complying with federal law,"says Tom
Lauria, of the International Bottled Water Association.
More than half of the
bottled water products surveyed failed EWG's transparency test --18 percent
didn't say where their water comes from, and another 32 percent did not disclose
any information on treatment or purity of water.
Only three brands earned the
highest possible marks for disclosing information and using the most advanced
treatment methods available- Gerber Pure Purified Water,
Nestle PureLife Purified Water, and Penta
Ultra-PurifiedWater.
On the other end of the spectrum, these six
brands got the worst marks in EWG's report because they don't provide consumers
with the three basic facts about water on product labels or their company
website - Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water,
Vintage Natural Spring Water,Sahara Premium Drinking
Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking
Water,Market Basket Natural Spring Water,
andCumby's Spring Water.
How does your bottled water brand
stack up? Here's a look at the 10 top-selling* U.S. brands:
1. Pure Life
Purified Water (Nestle),EWG grade = B
2. Arrowhead Mountain Spring
Water(Nestle), EWG grade = C
3. Aquafina Purified Drinking Water(Pepsi),
EWG grade = D
4. Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola),EWG grade =
D
5. Deer Park Natural Spring Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
6. Ice
Mountain Natural Spring Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
7. Ozarka Natural
Spring Water (Nestle),EWG grade = D
8. Poland Spring Natural Spring
Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
9. Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water(Nestle),
EWG grade = D
10. Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CGRoxane), EWG
grade = F
Filtered tap water received the best grade (an A) from EWG because
if you change your filter regularly, EWG says it is purer than bottled water,
plus it saves money (bottled water can cost up to1,900 times more than what
flows from your tap). Drinking tap water also takes less of a toll on the
planet. EWG offers plenty of tips for filtering your tap
water so that you can drink the healthiest water
possible.
What should you do when bottled water is your only
option?"While our top choice is filtered tap water, when you do need to choose
bottled water, we recommend brands that tell you what's in the water and that
use advanced treatment technologies like reverse osmosis and micro-filtration," says
Houlihan. Advanced treatment technologies remove pollutants that other methods
don't. You should look for bottled water products that tell you where the water
is coming from and how pure it is.
Here are the results for all 173bottled water brands
included in the report. You'll find that some less popular brands rank even
lower than our list of top-sellers.
The advice to drink filtered tap water
can seem confusing when there are often reports about the contaminants found in
municipal water supplies. Just last month, for example, EWG announced that cancer causing hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) is in 31cities' tap water. Houlihan says
chromium-6 is as likely to be in your bottled water as it is in your tap water
and we need action from the federal government on this. She points out that a
reverse osmosis filter can remove the worrisome contaminant. You can guarantee
its removal in your home supply, but in many cases you don't know what's in the
bottle you're drinking from.
*Sales rankings from the Beverage
MarketingCorporation.
DENHAM SELLS OUT VALLEY AND SEEKS LOTS OF CASH
Denham rushes straight for the cash. What a CREEP!!! Denham is not my congressperson because he refused to talk to any Democrats during the past election. But for Republicans, your representative in Congress had a dinner costing $2,500 a plate in D.C. BEFORE he was even sworn in.
Why would anyone pay $2,500 for a Denham dinner?
As I said during the campaign, he is selling out the valley and the buyers came to look over Denham's weaknesses and priorities. He has gold in his eyes. No one would pay to hear Denham speak. He has no significant formal education, he ignored the Valley, so we end up with high crime, poor education, rotting infrastructure, illegal alien problems and many gangs. Denham skips out and brought in Boehner for a $1,000 a plate LUNCH and started selling out the valley to Boehner before the November general election. Boehner took the money and ran, and Denham promised he would do more to fund the Republicans. This will be Denham's place in Congress. He will have no ideas or abilities to help the valley. He is the "dirty dog" or the thug next to the mobster.
Hold on to your pocketbooks and wallets!!!
Repuublicans Fight To Make America FAIL AND STEAL OUR MONEY
John Boehner now becomes Speaker of the
House
of Representatives -- and big banks, insurance companies and
Wall
Street
lobbyists across the country rejoice.
Money is king in D.C.
again.
Boehner before even taking the
gavel already laid
out an extreme right-wing agenda. It starts with
unraveling the last Congress and a vote to repeal health
insurance reform and includes gutting Social Security,
making tax cuts for
the rich permanent and more.
John Boehner's House
will empower
right-wingers like Michele Bachmann and Eric Cantor to roll back
progressive l
egislation and empower big corporations over the middle
class. Our money
will go to the rich even faster and in larger amounts.
Let's just say
what everyone already knows -- John Boehner's
agenda has everything to do
with embarrassing President Obama and nothing to do
with creating jobs and
getting America back on track. Boehner,
Denham, Rush Limbaugh and others want
President Obama, our country and soldiers to fail.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
GREAT NEWS!!! Finally help for our soldiers and their families.
Elizabeth Warren, the Obama’s head of the new consumer financial protection agency, plans to name Holly Petraeus, the wife of General David Petraeus--the top American general in Afghanistan--, to a new position to protect military families from predatory lenders.
Holly Petraeus, a longtime advocate for military families, to crack down on unscrupulous lending operations that have thrived by focusing on vulnerable Americans-- especially military personnel and their families. Republicans in Congress, say the new agency is an enemy of free enterprise.
The lending operations that have proliferated outside military bases can charge 25 to 50 percent of the military paycheck for “banking fees,‘ “payday loans,” etc.. Many soldiers are young and poor, so they need access to the money quickly. Congress adopted rules setting a 36 percent cap on so-called payday loans made to active-duty military and their families, but the businesses just use other terminology to get the money.
"You see that strip outside installations--the pawn shops, the tattoo parlors, the shady auto dealers," Holly recently told an interviewer. "I once heard those businesses described as bears lined up at a trout stream."
Nearly three-fourths of financial counselors and attorneys said they have sometime in the last six months counseled members of the armed forces who had fallen victim to abusive or discriminatory auto lending.
In addition to active military personnel, veterans represent a potentially lucrative target for a wide range of scam artists, from online or over-the-phone identity theft rings to bogus charities set up to purportedly help service members.
Many veterans have steady access to benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies that can be particularly attractive to con operations and prostitution schemers..
Two years ago, the VA warned veterans of a telephone scam in which callers posed as VA employees and asked for credit card information over the phone, supposedly to update prescription information.
The Better Business Bureau last month warned of bogus e-mails seeking personal information that was sent out by someone who claimed to be an attorney with the VA. In addition, government computers, containing extensive military personnel identification and family information has been hacked and stolen numerous times over the past years.
From Huffington Post
Monday, January 03, 2011
I know our rescuers did not hesitate to search and rescue victims of the tragedy...and I would not have allowed them to suffer so long. Thanks President Obama. Rotten tomatoes to the Republicans in Congress.