Az I See It....
Prologue: "The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed." - Publius Syrus(42 B.C.)
International: The Vatican has criticized the installation of condom vending machines at a Rome, Italy high school, saying it sends the wrong message. Evidently the right message recently surfaced, when it became known that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger knew about, and approved, transfers of child-abusing priests - and protected them, instead of exposing their atrocities, and turning them over to the proper authorities. Oh - and Ratzinger is now known as Pope Benedict XVI!
National: "Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid!" - John Wayne....The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the use of the words 'In God We Trust' on U.S. currency, and 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag!....The Dept. of Homeland Security announced that implementation of advanced cargo-screening technology has been scrapped, claiming it is too expensive, and that the new, human strip-search machines are way-cool already!....A now-senior Taliban commander was a prisoner at Gitmo, until he convinced the Bush Administration that he was just a simple man, wanting to return to his family, so he was released in 2008. Bush-whacked again!....U.S. Education secretary Arne Duncan says the title No Child Left Behind will soon be dropped, in favor of a still-to-be-decided title. How about Stop Throwing Us Politically Inept Designs(STUPID)....My home town, Buffalo, NY, ranks as the nation's 8th most miserable city. Cleveland, OH ranks 1st!
State: As the nation set their clocks forward, observing Daylight Savings Time, Arizona set their clocks back another 20 years, passing legislation which will plunge hundreds of thousands of citizens into further debt and squalor. The 2010 budget slashes funding for many major programs(children, seniors & social services) and education, while maintaining many tax breaks for the wealthiest of Arizonans - including the legislature! All government employees employees will take pay cuts, except for state legislators, who have already far-surpassed their annual salaries with extra per diem allotments for the historical extra-sessions required to pass the State budget!....The new budget depends upon a May 18th vote to increase the State sales tax by almost 18% - from 5.6% to 6.6%. With city taxes, we will pay almost a 10% tax on most purchases! The legislature has proven - almost EVERY time - that they cannot be trusted with our tax monies. Why should we vote to increase what we give them? Vote NO on an increase in Arizona's sales taxes!....And now the legislature wants to repeal the law that created term limits, saying it is too difficult to do business when people must consistently be trained to the order of business. THAT is why term limits came about(74% approval in 1992) - because the people were tired of the way the 'Good Old Boy' system conducted business! Let's keep it the way it is, and elect officials with integrity, intelligence and ingenuity - not greediness, gluttony, and gormandizing!
Local: Arizona Diamondbacks officials are urging passage of an additional countywide sales tax increase to support MLB Spring Training facilities. Why not have the teams pony up? In the present economy, and with those same teams still maintaining record gate receipts, it is just too expensive for the locals - who are already staring-down a 1% increase in the State sales tax!....A Scottsdale police officer. routinely assigned to high-profile, dangerous felony cases, is under investigation because he has been involved in six justified shooting incidents. Amazing he isn't investigated for his courage-under-fire!
Epilogue: There is always something to be thankful for. If you cannot pay your bills, you can be thankful you are not one of your creditors!
International: The Vatican has criticized the installation of condom vending machines at a Rome, Italy high school, saying it sends the wrong message. Evidently the right message recently surfaced, when it became known that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger knew about, and approved, transfers of child-abusing priests - and protected them, instead of exposing their atrocities, and turning them over to the proper authorities. Oh - and Ratzinger is now known as Pope Benedict XVI!
National: "Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid!" - John Wayne....The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the use of the words 'In God We Trust' on U.S. currency, and 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag!....The Dept. of Homeland Security announced that implementation of advanced cargo-screening technology has been scrapped, claiming it is too expensive, and that the new, human strip-search machines are way-cool already!....A now-senior Taliban commander was a prisoner at Gitmo, until he convinced the Bush Administration that he was just a simple man, wanting to return to his family, so he was released in 2008. Bush-whacked again!....U.S. Education secretary Arne Duncan says the title No Child Left Behind will soon be dropped, in favor of a still-to-be-decided title. How about Stop Throwing Us Politically Inept Designs(STUPID)....My home town, Buffalo, NY, ranks as the nation's 8th most miserable city. Cleveland, OH ranks 1st!
State: As the nation set their clocks forward, observing Daylight Savings Time, Arizona set their clocks back another 20 years, passing legislation which will plunge hundreds of thousands of citizens into further debt and squalor. The 2010 budget slashes funding for many major programs(children, seniors & social services) and education, while maintaining many tax breaks for the wealthiest of Arizonans - including the legislature! All government employees employees will take pay cuts, except for state legislators, who have already far-surpassed their annual salaries with extra per diem allotments for the historical extra-sessions required to pass the State budget!....The new budget depends upon a May 18th vote to increase the State sales tax by almost 18% - from 5.6% to 6.6%. With city taxes, we will pay almost a 10% tax on most purchases! The legislature has proven - almost EVERY time - that they cannot be trusted with our tax monies. Why should we vote to increase what we give them? Vote NO on an increase in Arizona's sales taxes!....And now the legislature wants to repeal the law that created term limits, saying it is too difficult to do business when people must consistently be trained to the order of business. THAT is why term limits came about(74% approval in 1992) - because the people were tired of the way the 'Good Old Boy' system conducted business! Let's keep it the way it is, and elect officials with integrity, intelligence and ingenuity - not greediness, gluttony, and gormandizing!
Local: Arizona Diamondbacks officials are urging passage of an additional countywide sales tax increase to support MLB Spring Training facilities. Why not have the teams pony up? In the present economy, and with those same teams still maintaining record gate receipts, it is just too expensive for the locals - who are already staring-down a 1% increase in the State sales tax!....A Scottsdale police officer. routinely assigned to high-profile, dangerous felony cases, is under investigation because he has been involved in six justified shooting incidents. Amazing he isn't investigated for his courage-under-fire!
Epilogue: There is always something to be thankful for. If you cannot pay your bills, you can be thankful you are not one of your creditors!
Understand Chapter #1 is having a 50th birthday in Sept. 2010. Our chapter #5109 Florham Park, NJ is having a 15th b.d. this year and will celebrate both b-days together in Nov.2010.
Can you tell us if you still have regular meetings and how many members there are? How active is the chapter and any other tid-bit you would like to share.
Reply to this