Enlarge Photo

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Next month, on the fifth, Fillmore will be privileged to host our US Navy SEALs. Fillmore’s School District Superintendent Alan Nishino has arranged to have a SEAL group give a talk to Fillmore High School seniors at the gym. The SEALS will also set-up a training course on the football field and demonstrate underwater training techniques at the community swimming pool.

Dr. Nishino with others attended on-going SEAL training at Coronado, CA a few months ago. He thereafter arranged for this special visit. More details will be available next week.

I have the greatest respect for all members of our armed forces. Anyone willing to take up arms in defense of our nation deserves that respect. I’ve read a great deal about our US Navy SEAL teams, especially since they destroyed Osama. They are unquestionably the elite among the elite. It is not the boxer, Olympic athlete, or cage fighter who makes that team. It is, above all, the men with extraordinary heart, a determination never to quit.

Fillmore welcomes the SEALS. I know they will inspire those seniors who are lucky enough to see what makes winners.

The long awaited decision by Administrative Judge Joseph D. Montoya in the Egedi case was published last week for two particular reasons. First, it’s necessary to establish fault. The case had dragged on (unnecessarily in my opinion) for many years, at great expense to the county and the City of Fillmore. Second, much false information (hearsay) and many false allegations had been directed against those seeking to bring criminal charges and a dismissal from employment. The record had to be established to question the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars, even though no trial was ever set and no reimbursement made to the city or county.

Publication has put an end to approximately six years of the public being unable to discover information as the case was “under investigation.” The public can make up its own mind as to how well this matter was handled. In the end, Judge Joseph D. Montoya rendered a fair and precise decision.

* * *

I read that the Seahawks had “cracked the code” used by Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning. If true, the Seahawks knew in advance every play the Broncos took. Surprisingly, I haven’t heard much about this. Again, if true, hundreds of millions of fans would have seen an entirely different game, and possible outcome. I hope it wasn’t true.

* * *

Bill Clinton – again? Why don’t these two (or three, etc.) lovebirds just fade into the sunset?

We have fought last minute computer problems this week to publish the final results in the Egedi case. I don’t have time to write a more complete column on this, the greatest scandal in Fillmore history. After 6 long years, one dismissal, and two investigative hearings, justice has been done. Administrative Judge Joseph D. Montoya’s meticulous discernment of the facts in this case restores much of my faith in the law. This is a truly outrageous case that should have been tried years ago. Thank you Judge Montoya!

This week, I am providing space in this little paper to acknowledge the biggest crime the world faces today, the cruelest tragedy imaginable, abortion.

Since the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, which loosed this engine of slaughter, 55 million innocent American souls have been lost to us by abortion.

Life is the first and greatest gift of God, a gift which is immediately shared by all of us. Regardless of our education or state in life, natural law, the conscience of every human being, informs each of us that abortion is absolutely evil, an utter injustice.

I know Ms. Kristan Hawkins, the author of this fine article, will forgive me for reprinting it without permission.
***

"I Am Overwhelmed by 55 Million Babies Killed Since Roe v. Wade, by Kristan Hawkins | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/22/13 11:40 AM

"What can I say that hasn’t already been said about today?

Yesterday evening, I was sitting in my living room working while watching my sons play. I began to think about what my life would have been without them. How different I would be. How their lives have already made this world a different place since they were born. How much I would hurt if I had chosen abortion.

Then, I thought of the more than 55,000,000 lives that have been taken in the U.S. since 1973, and I became overwhelmed at the tragedy. Tragedy for the babies, their mothers, their fathers, families, and us.

Who is our nation missing? What price is our society paying for the ultimate deceit of abortion?

40 years ago today, seven men on the Supreme Court decided in favor of a case presented to them from a 27 year-old, unknown, post-abortive lawyer, Sarah Weddington. That case was Roe v. Wade and, along with its companion Doe v. Bolton, it legalized abortion in all 9 months of pregnancy, for any reason, in the United States.

Today, this 27 year-old is writing to you as a survivor of that decision. The undeniable fact is that nearly a third of my generation is missing. We are missing brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, husbands and wives.

You see, Miss Weddington’s generation got it wrong. In attempting to correct gender inequality in the workplace and in our society, they set into motion the ultimate act of discrimination – abortion. Instead of glorifying motherhood, they pitted the mother against her child, creating an endless cycle of selfishness, pain, and deceit.

But this generation is determined to set it right. We’ve seen the ultrasounds of our siblings, googled “abortion” and seen the bloody images, and sat with a friend as she cried about her abortion. This youth generation is the most pro-life generation of young people since 1973; we’re even more pro-life than even our parents’ generation. And this week our presence will be known as this generation will be the predominant participants in Wednesday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. and pro-life rallies across the nation.

This week, we will be proudly carrying our “I am the Pro-Life Generation” signs, and Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry will watch their target audience slip away.

In fact, we already have. When Nancy Keenan, the former president of NARAL/Pro-Choice America, announced her resignation last year, she cited the lack of young pro-abortion leaders as the reason she wanted to step down. This month’s Time magazine headline story dealt with the same problem, claiming that the pro-abortion movement has been losing since 1973.

And last week’s new Planned Parenthood video and talking points on abortion confirm this fact. They don’t want to use the term “pro-choice” anymore because it’s too negatively associated with abortion. You see, they know when abortion is mentioned, their favorability falls. Their goal? Never bring it up.

So, what should be our goal? To bring up abortion in every conversation we can – in church, the grocery store, at school, and at the neighborhood party. To never forget about abortion, no matter how busy our lives may get or how sad or immobilized we become by this immense, overwhelming tragedy.

Friend, it’s time to rise up. Rise up off of your couch, out of your dorm room, or pew. Rise up and dedicate your life to something bigger than yourself."

Good grief! Just after I’ve learned that our N.S.A. is videotaping me through my computer screen, revealing me sleeping at my desk, I now learn that the “N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet”. “The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.” Now they can hear me snoring! Is it time for paranoiacs to toss out the tinfoil hats and walk triumphantly in the sunshine again. Maybe they ARE trying to “get us”. They sure want something.

In a strange way maybe these revelations will bring some solace to the morbidly paranoid. This information may comfort them by justifying their fears, providing them with an “I told you so” defense. The rest of us, well, may begin to appreciate some value in a touch of paranoia.

No matter what you might think about all of this super-tech privacy deprivation, it’s past time for reasonable Americans to acknowledge the fact that we have lost virtually all rights to privacy. We are now cooperating victims of unrestrained governmental and civilian spying. Snooping abilities attack us with nearly infinite variety, from dragonfly-sized drones to large, high-flying predators and dirigibles. Cameras in every street seek us out.

Corporations of historically unprecedented size and power, like Google, having more technical ability than government, have videotaped every street in the world and tapped every communications line. There is no shelter from the prying eyes of our overseers, no protection from those seeking personal information, from those seeking to reduce our liberties. Sounds a little paranoid, doesn’t it?

“They” want to know everything possible about us, from facial recognition to DNA, to fingerprints. They want to know what we buy, where we pray, our attitudes, predispositions, and IQs. Ultimately this acquisitiveness will involve more than simple commercial interests.

This is why our Constitution is so vitally important to us and why it must be protected from “Them”. This is also why President Obama must be outed as the serial liar he is, and the clear and present danger he represents to traditional American freedoms. Our nation has never before been entrusted to such untrustworthy hands – charlatan to American citizens, obsequious to most heads of state, craven before our Iranian enemies. With three years to go in his second term, Obama will go down in history as the infamous despoiler of the greatest nation in human history.

Former defense secretary Robert Gates has just released his book which slams Obama’s leadership ability, particularly as it relates to the American war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His assessment of Obama’s failings is no surprise to those of us who recognized Obama as a charlatan from his first year in office. I am only surprised that this revelation has been revealed before the end of his term. For that we owe a debt of thanks to Secretary Gates. Taking into account Obama’s utter cynicism about our military, his ignorance of foreign policy, and his extreme Leftist ideology, I’m surprised Gates did not quit as he so often wanted to.

This book (of which I’ve read only excerpts) exposes Obama’s fatal flaws – fatal at least to the young men and women he sent to the fight without a conviction of winning the war. This attitude is also reflected in Hillary Clinton’s shocking outburst “What difference does it make...?” whether we responded to the calls for military assistance in Benghazi. With this Leftist crowd the only thing that matters is politics and getting elected. They are more than a stain on America’s moral history (lives forfeited for nothing) they are the corrosive stuff that is eating away morale and unit cohesiveness.

It does not take great knowledge of military history; it just takes a little common sense to understand the end game here. Obama, contrary to the opinions of his best military strategists, pulled our troops out of Afghanistan far too quickly and completely. This guaranteed that the Taliban, streaming in from Pakistan, would simply fill the vacuum and once again take over the country. Even after 10 years of training, the Afghan military is unable to defend against the Taliban.

Iraq will also probably fall to the Jihadists. Then Syria will fall. After this, Libya will follow suit.

Then, Jordan, Egypt, etc.

Knowing that Iran will soon have the bomb to share with its Jihadist friends, what should the average reasonable man expect Israel to do in order to protect its existence?

Happy New Year everyone. May it prove to be happier than last year (nationally)!

One particularly bright spot stands out for the City of Fillmore. That is the election of our new city council and the seating of our new City Manager, David Rowlands.

When I recall the dismal situation the city was in before the 2012 election it seems remarkable we have made so much progress since that time. Most of the worst problems we faced back then have been resolved to our benefit. Other fiscal challenges are well on the way to being fixed. I’ll try to include a summary of Fillmore’s achievements since 2012 in next week’s Gazette; they are impressive!

* * *

One challenge on the city’s front burner for the New Year is the completion of the Business Park. This is the key to Fillmore’s economic future. It will provide the new jobs and cash flow needed to spark healthy growth for Fillmore. No other project comes close in importance for the city’s fiscal health. I know the city is working very hard to promote a successful outcome.

* * *

NEW PRICE FOR THE GAZETTE.
Beginning January, 2014, the new retail price of the Fillmore Gazette will be set at 75 cents. Also be alert for the new paywall for our online edition, www.fillmoregazette.com.

* * *

I wish I could be as optimistic concerning America’s future, but common sense and experience won’t permit it. When I consider the gross incompetence, corruption, and invincible political correctness imbedded in what pretends to be American leadership today, I want to shout duck and cover!

This is an alarming time for traditional Judeo-Christian conservatives. The Leftists seem to have a death grip on American culture. Our Constitution, at every level, is under deconstruction. Our republic has become deeply Orwellian. We have little personal defense remaining against Big Brother. Probable cause amounts to little more than the Leftist inclinations of a corrupt legal system. Otherwise, why would the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, in September of 2010 have been authorized to wiretap my office (Wiretap NO. 10-108)?

Why would Target capture my photo on its facial recognition apparatus? I wondered how anyone such as the pharmacy lady could welcome me by name as I approached the counter a year ago, as I had not been in the store for three weeks. I congratulated her on her superior memory, but on my way out it dawned on me that the store must be using that much vaunted secretive identity snatching software. That image, of course, is shared within the ever growing commercial network (shades of our NSA). After verifying that Target does use this system, I’ve never been back. Why bother asking why it was done?

America has abandoned its innocence. There is no longer a place for private life, to think, to act, to pray. Cameras search out the quietest corners, busiest streets, offices, bedrooms. No chance to foil or defend. We learn of these invasions only after they are revealed by equally secretive hackers. We now know that strangers can videotape us as we tap out our computer work. I especially resent this particular type of voyeurism because I don’t wish to have the rest of the world see me sleeping at my desk!

But, I think most of all, my hope for America ebbs when I remind myself that we Americans have consciously inflicted our rapid demise on ourselves. We elected (twice) the most radical Leftist in Congress to lead this nation as its Chief Executive Officer and Commander in Chief. He has neither the experience nor the ability to succeed at either job. Until he was elected president I didn’t know a profession entitled “community organizer” existed. But every aspect of Obama’s life is clouded with strangeness and uncertainty. He is not a leader and stands outside traditional American character and culture. In foreign policy, especially, he is bringing the country to catastrophe, and has plenty of time to succeed during the next three years.

Merry Christmas everyone. God bless all men of good will as America celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace.

For those who do not celebrate Christmas, or who may even object to the celebration of Christmas, I wish you the peace and happiness of this day as well.

We’re enjoying incredible December weather this year, something else to be thankful for.

* * *

In September of this year the Gazette celebrated its 25th anniversary. It’s hard for me to believe it. Fillmore has changed so much during that period of time. We started-up on September 15, 1989. Recalling all of the issues and events we have reported during the past 25 years seems surreal to me. Millions of stories and photos, even more struggles overcome.

The Gazette will make some changes beginning the New Year. We want more readers to discover what’s going on in our town, so we will make it less expensive to purchase the paper. Starting January 1, 2014 the cost of a single issue of the Gazette will drop to 75 cents.

Also, the Gazette has faced a challenge as never before, the most ironic challenge in our history. This is the same challenge that every newspaper in the nation is dealing with, from the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times to the smallest community weekly. That is how to maintain both the printed edition of the paper and our online website, www.fillmoregazette.com.

The question is, how can we compete with ourselves? The online edition cannot exist without the print edition, yet the online edition, being part of the internet, reaches round the world while the print edition specializes in coverage of Fillmore, Bardsdale, and Piru in Ventura County.

The crux of the dilemma we face is while the print edition supplies the online edition, the online edition has been published to hundreds of thousands of readers free of charge while the print edition picks up most of the cost.

The online edition, about 8 years old, has been extremely costly over the years in production, and maintenance, and has been phenomenally successful, averaging 25,000 to 32,000 unique hits per month. In a city of 14,000 this is a very significant attraction.

Therefore, the online edition must start to carry its own weight or it must disappear. In order to make the website more viable we will be creating what we call a pay wall. This arrangement has already been designed. It is hoped that it will be launched in January of 2014. We have worked diligently to make the transition as quick and simple as possible.

Our loyal Gazette subscribers will not be adversely affected by the move.

It’s our hope that the new website arrangement will enable the Gazette to double its news coverage and add many exciting new features.

Following 25 years of serving Fillmore as its Newspaper of Record we are confident that this change will assure an even brighter future.

Thank all of our faithful readers for their support all of these years.

Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, I’ve been given 130 words this week. So, I’ll just concentrate on two topics.

First, I want to wish all Gazette readers a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and holy celebration. I would also like to encourage everyone to boycott stores who refuse to recognize Christmas; after all, it is a national holiday as well as a celebration of Christ’s birth.

***

Secondly, we should think about recent remarks from Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai. He no longer trusts the US and has entered into negotiations with the Taliban. America has spent more than a decade lavishing our blood and treasure (one trillion?) to clean out the Taliban and enable girls to attend school and bring Afghanistan into the modern world. We have sacrificed much to help this Muslim country. I hope America has finally learned that we have no friends in any Islamic country and that Israel is our only trustworthy friend.

The staff at the Fillmore Gazette wishes all of our readers a very happy Thanksgiving.

I regret that this holiday is going the way of Christmas, with commercial interests coming before the day’s traditional purpose, which is to thank God for his bountiful blessings.

Everything is commercial today. Money has become our god. Christmas, in particular, is under attack, in our schools, government, and businesses. I refuse to shop in any store that refuses to acknowledge “Christmas”, and I won’t be shopping on Thanksgiving Day. If more people ignored the sales and respected the meaning of these special holidays our nation and families would be stronger.

So, have a safe, happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

It’s great to see the town coming together again after so many years of financial challenges. I have to attribute that to an excellent, professional city council and our new city manager. I see nothing but progress going forward at city council meetings these days, without the need for extra Sheriff’s deputies to keep the peace. Congratulations to the council and to City Manager David Rowlands for your excellent work.

* * *

Now for a little less-than-positive from the DRUDGE REPORT:

“US May Have Let 'Dozens' of Terrorists Into Country As Refugees...” Check out this FBI surveillance video from 2010. Remember, this is a 3-year-old incident we’re being shown. Tens of thousands of Iraqi nationals have been brought to the US as “refugees”. (Why not help them find refuge elsewhere?) As it turns out, some are active Muslim Jihadist terrorists. This should not surprise us because our government has never taken border security seriously, north, south, east, or west.

“UPDATE: North Texas Drivers Stopped at Roadblock Asked for Saliva, Blood...” This also bothers me very much. Note the authorities here are federal government “contractors”.
It’s not the particular, coercive incident conducted by our government that bothers me. It’s now all far-beyond the Orwellian 1984 nightmare; the only thing lacking now is broad, simultaneous government implementation. We already have hyper-surveillance and well-armed, multiple government agency mini-armies. Imagine what the picture will look like with two more Leftist Supreme Court justices snuffing-out traditional Constitutional rights. When this happens all the hard-fought legal battles to preserve our Bill of Rights will have been for naught.
As we know, we get the government we vote for – well, at least what 51 percent votes for.

I regret that after covering a crime scene this a.m.—see FillmoreGazette.com. I have no time left for my column.
Just one observation: The word around Washington these days is that the Obama care website crash is Bush’s fault!

I think Rush Limbaugh was right when he said, a week or so ago, that Obama and his team didn’t write this Affordable Health Care law. It’s probably been sitting in someone’s desk drawer for years. No one read it before passing the bill (certainly no member of Congress had read it). They just dusted it off and had a bunch of underlings draft thousands of pages of regulations to patch any obvious holes. Remember that famous Pelosi statement about having to pass the bill before we can understand what’s in it? Well now we know.

One prominent web program expert has said that he would be embarrassed to admit such a program had cost him more than a million dollars to create.

But, A clever company with a CEO who was a personal friend of Mrs. Obama was given 3 years and more than half a billion dollars to assemble this unworkable computer program which (working in tandem with the equally unworkable health care law) is wrecking millions of good health care policies. The Obama scheme, of course, is to collapse private health care and force the nation into a European-style government, single payer program. Another big government power grab to further his socialist inclinations.

So-called Obama Care is quickly raising havoc within the existing private healthcare system.

I have no hesitation repeating my opinion, expressed after Obama’s re-election. Obama will cause our nation to fall to our enemies and will destroy the stability of our military, economic, and moral foundations. He will appoint two new Supreme Court leftists, endangering our Constitutional freedoms) will pass so-called “comprehensive” immigration (which will end our two-party system) and be responsible for a WMD attack upon this country by Islamic Jihadists (including his Muslim Brotherhood pals).

Next week I’ll get into the negative aspects of my predictions.

Steve Rogers, long time proprietor of Fillmore Video, passed away last week. Our condolences to family and friends.

***

Back in June of this year the Fillmore School District changed the schedule for its Board meetings. For as long as anyone can remember school board meetings were held on Tuesdays which alternated with City Council meetings, also held on Tuesdays. This change created a serious conflict for those residents who wished to attend both District and Council meetings, now set for the same evening.

The Gazette has always covered both meetings, but the change has made that impossible. The Gazette has asked the Board for an explanation. We were told the change was necessary to avoid vacation conflicts and that the schedule would change back after November 19.

Many very important issues are being discussed now, such as the new Core Curriculum which threatens some senior’s graduation hopes. Question: Asked once again: Why do we have to wait until November 19?

***

I don’t know how much attention America is paying to the unparalleled barbarity the Religion of Peace (Jihadist Islam) is unleashing upon Christians of the Middle East today. It can’t be much, otherwise the call would go out for a new Crusader defense force.

Thousands of Christian churches are being destroyed and thousands of Christians are being systematically tortured, murdered, and enslaved in the name of Jihad.

Reports from Syria, Egypt, and (especially) Pakistan are horrific.

Pregnant women being targeted by Jihadist snipers. Rewards paid for those who shoot pregnant women in the belly. Pakistan: Christian wedding party exiting a church machine-gunned down, men, women, and children. This psychopathic conduct even involves domestic animals: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood using "puppy bombs" dipped in gasoline and set on fire.

“But don't call it "savagery" Muhammad didn't like dogs:” "Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, 'We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog.'" -- Sahih Bukhari 4.54.50 "Abdullah (b. Umar)...” (Robert Spenser)

Ignoring this explosive world-wide Jihadist insurgence only provokes and excites these butchers sworn to destroy everything associated with the Judeo-Christian West. Why do we continue to give billions of dollars to these energized Jihadist Middle Eastern Nations? The Far East is equally murderous.

President Obama is largely responsible for starting and fanning the flames. He supports the Muslim Brotherhood, which is at the center of the bloodshed, to the extent that even Saudi Arabia is rejecting him and America.

Things are quickly falling apart. With this absence of leadership, for another 3 years, I believe those countries we have squandered thousands of lives and trillions of dollars on (Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, etc.) will very soon be lost to Al-Qaida. All for nothing.

Inform yourselves – visit Jihad Watch for a daily briefing.

No time left today for my usual scribbling. I just want to remind everyone that the City of Fillmore is truly back in business. The ladies and gentlemen pictured on this week’s front page are responsible for this incredible turnaround.

Our new City Manager, David Rowlands, with our new city council and diligent city staff are to be congratulated for this success.

Special thanks are due to Mike Sedell, former City Manager of Simi Valley. Mike has worked tirelessly to fix what was wrong with our city. He has volunteered his expertise and extraordinary talent, imagination and ideas, to bring new life back to our town. He and the entire new team have succeeded in an incredibly short period of time.

A few more comments on a few facts reported on DRUDGE: Debt Ceiling: “How Much is $16.699 Trillion?” Well, that figure was the old U.S. debt ceiling, and that was quietly passed back in May, made possible by “extraordinary measures.”

America is living in a deadly, politically correct dream bubble. This last-minute deal between the House and Senate changes nothing. Any rational person must know that our country, thanks to Leftist-Liberal-Socialist policies (since President Wilson’s time, but especially during the Obama régime) America is de facto bankrupt. Whether we suddenly crash or slowly suffocate, there is no longer time to recover normal economic stability. We have lived the good life for decades on borrowed money, most of it borrowed from our most treacherous and dangerous enemies. Now they mock and deride us for our fiscal foolishness. The situation is so obviously dire that even rank amateurs like me can see the approaching disaster; just look clearly at the facts and ignore the lies and deceptions of the Liberal Left media and you will awaken in a cold sweat.

Obama On 'Coolest' Perk Of Being Prez: 'If I Want To Call Anyone In World And Talk, They Will Answer'...
Spoken like the spoiled child that 51 percent of our electorate voted into office, twice. Ah, the cool phone calls, and those regular foot massages, the office of Commander in Chief is a great gig.

Graham: Politicians In Washington Have Greed and Lust In Their Hearts...
True. But then it’s always been that way. The difference today is that’s all that’s left of much public service.

Turkey missile deal shows China's growing Mideast clout...Turkey is no longer a trusted friend, if it ever was. America’s only Middle Eastern friend is Israel, and we are selling her out. Turkey is just putting the final touches on its Islamification plan.

Agent CAN publish book on 'Fast and Furious'... I can’t wait for this one!

Tourists Fined $125 For Stopping Outside Closed National Park To Pose For Picture... Another example of what the Liberal Left is inflicting on American liberties. Take notice of how quickly those kindly Smokey the Bear helpers snapped to quasi-Fascist attention after hearing their master’s voice. Dr. Jekyll meets General Hyde. Are we now expected to live in fear? Let’s hope the perception in this case does not become the reality.

I thought it would be interesting to just go down the DRUDGE links for today, making short comments.

WWII vets were kept from entering the national WWII memorial at our nation’s capital. President Obama refused to waive the Park Service closure so that an Honor Flight of vets could enter and threatened to arrest the group for removing the barriers. The vets obtained the objective of visiting their memorial with the same determination they had crossing the beaches on D Day.

* * *

Just 6.6% of EPA employees deemed ‘essential’... during the government closedown. Now, if there were only some way to lock them out permanently the country would be a healthier, wealthier, and happier place.

* * *

Would you like to see the full printout of the Obamacare legislation? Go to: freebeacon.com/lawsuit-challenging-obamacare-subsidies-moves-forward/.Of course this is not the entire law. Amendments, adjustments, (and 10,000 new regulations) have been added. Exemptions fo favored groups will continue to be added into law for years to come. Remember, not a single Republican voted for this monstrosity, and remember also the words of our brilliant House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it” I guarantee that no individual has ever read the entire law, nor ever will.

* * *

PUTIN NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE... Why not? They gave Obama one for doing nothing. At least they’re consistently political.

I attended the District meeting this Tuesday and had it videotaped. It was a standing-room-only affair because the senior class perceives the new curriculum as a challenge to graduation.

For the first time in the 25 years that the Gazette has been covering the Fillmore Unified School District School Board, the Board calendar has been inexplicably changed. Instead of being scheduled on alternate Tuesdays, to avoid conflicting with the Fillmore City Council, the District now holds its meetings on the same days that the Council is in session. This makes it impossible for residents to attend both meetings, and very difficult for the Gazette to report on both as we have done for decades. We have asked the District to explain this curious change which inconveniences everyone. (Just in: it’s rumored that the change-back is done.)

I left the meeting after about 2 hours and missed the very informative comments made by Karen Ashem. She also criticized the Board meeting schedule change.

The elephant in the room last night, however, was the effect of the recent adoption of something called the Common Core State Standards Initiative. I have to learn more about this highly controversial government initiative. I pulled this off the web at the last minute: “The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a U.S. education initiative that seeks to bring diverse state curricula into alignment with each other by following the principles of standards-based education reform. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).” Conservatives are fighting this idea because they fear it’s just another government power grab.

The District chose to begin this curriculum change with this year’s Junior-Senior classes, which mandates the unexpected addition of Algebra II.

According to Mrs. Ashem, our District had a choice of when to adopt this Core curriculum. Their choice of starting with this year’s Junior and Senior classes, a complete surprise for them, has caused alarm. It would be more reasonable to begin with the Freshman class. Algebra II is the real fear among upperclassmen who see this as a last minute stumbling block to graduation. For complete coverage of these issues, please view the entire Board meeting video on fillmoregazette.com, soon.

* * *

I watch with horror President Obama’s recent foreign policy moves. Among the other world leaders he is a laughingstock, an obvious amateur masquerading as some sort of political genius, a high-minded diplomatic prodigy destined to lead the world to peace and prosperity. The truth is, as David Horowitz states, “The President of the United States may be the most brazen and compulsive liar to ever occupy the White House...” And, he continues, “Obama has set the Middle East on fire and run down American power and prestige to the point where no enemy fears us and no ally trusts us. While Obama claims the terrorists have been defeated, America is closer to being the victim of terrorist attacks than at any time since 9/11.” Trusting Syria and Iran is simply insane. Duck and cover!

My deepest sympathies go out to the Marmont family for the truly tragic death of Astrid Marmont and the serious injuries suffered by her husband Lindsey. The incident was caused by an explosion of a propane bottle which overheated during a backyard barbecue. The prayers of many are with you.

***

Another mass shooting has taken place at a military base in Washington, D.C. And again, the liberal-left media immediately blindly seized upon the opportunity to condemn that most popular American firearm, the AR-15. This has been the default option for the liberal press and leftist politicians for years. The usual irrational, hysterical firearms phobics, like Senators Feinstein, Boxer, and that wussy British talk show host, Piers Morgan, all opened their mouths before their brains were engaged – all for anti-gun political purposes. I’m waiting for apologies.

Had they waited even an hour they would have learned that it was not that notorious AR-15 that was used in this outrageous killing spree – it happened to be a shotgun.

But, once again, it was not the weapon that mattered most here. It was the fact that this perpetrator was known to have a dangerous, longstanding mental condition which was negligently overlooked. He was, as news commentator Charles Krauthammer (also a psychiatrist) has stated, a classic paranoid schizophrenic. The perpetrator had a long history of serious problems with the law including shooting incidents. But, he was able to obtain a secret clearance just the same, provided by the government, which gave him access to the naval base.

The shooter's profile here mimics the profiles of other mass shooters of the past several years. Once again, the problem is not the mechanical device used to kill people. The central problem is mental disorder which liberals refuse to admit is the proximate cause. Other problems include turning areas into “gun free zones”, especially at military bases (Clinton’s decision). This case also shares features with the Fort Hood masacre where political correctness promoted that killer in rank providing access and opportunity even though his problems were also clearly known, but ignored by his Politically Correct superiors. Both cases were caused more by gross criminal negligence than firearms.

I no longer have any confidence in our nation’s present ability to protect us against enemies foreign and domestic, on the border or battlefiels (if there's a difference) because of liberal incompetence and naivete. Liberals have rotted-away even our common sense defensive provisions. And liberals don't understand why hundreds of millions of Americans seek to arm themselves as a matter of right under our Second Amendment?

P.S. Navy Yard murderer Aaron Alexis created webpage with name "Mohammed Salem"
Sep 19, 2013 08:35 am | Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch.

Frankly, I’m so disgusted and angered at the sight of our Sad Sack Commander in Chief’s surrender to Putin and Assad that it’s going to take me a week to cool down.

The world can now see that all of Obama’s repeated red line threats and tough talk was sheer bluster, empty words. His pathetic inability to follow-up on military punishment in Syria shows the emperor has no clothes, and, for all her power, Obama has shown America is impotent in a show-down. Our enemy Russia has snookered the U.S. into a ridiculous plan to remove thousands of tons of nerve gas from Syria to someplace else; an impossible task given that security can never be satisfactorily provided. These weapons have been dispersed all over the country and will certainly fall into the hands of psychopathic Jihadists.

Most important here is the fact that Obama has sold the farm for a handful of beans. He has sold-out America’s reputation as a serious shield for the free world against the sworn enemies of peace, justice, and freedom. Now North Korea, Iran, China, Russia and of course Syria know they have little to fear in carrying-out their criminal activities. Now every throat-cutting Muslim Jihadist is energized to build that Caliphate. Look what’s happening across the Middle East today – particularly in Egypt.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters have began forcing the roughly 15,000 Christian Copts of Dalga village in Egypt to pay a jizya tax as indicated in Koran 9:29, author and translator Raymond Ibrahim reported on Sunday. In some cases, families not able to pay have been attacked. As many as 40 Christian families have now fled Dalga, Mr. Ibrahim reported. Just over the weekend Syrian rebels went into a Christian man’s “shop and gave him three options: become Muslim; pay $70,000 as a tax levied on non-Muslims, known as jizya; or be killed along with his family,” Christian Science Monitor reported.”

Obama has undercut our military to an extreme degree, just as the Muslim Jihad terrorist movement is spreading across the world. Welcome to the wacky world of the Leftist-liberal Democratic mindset.

And, oh – did you hear that Putin is sailing some “carrier-killing” war ships into Syria? Run, Barry, run!