President Obama is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds...

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/21/morning-bell-rules-for-a-radical-whi...

 


 

After thousands of Americans attended hundreds of townhalls this summer, after the President of the United States delivered a rare speech to a... CONTINUED »

 
North Fillmore Storefront Grand Re-Opening

FILLMORE CITY COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2009
NORTH FILLMORE STOREFRONT GRAND RE-OPENING
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
4:00 P.M.
NORTH FILLMORE POLICE STOREFRONT
642 LEMON WAY, FILLMORE, CALIFORNIA 93015-1907

AGENDA
1. CALL TO ORDER FOR THE GRAND RE-OPENING OF THE NORTH FILLMORE POLICE STOREFRONT
2. PRESENTATIONS BY MASTER OF CEREMONIES, COUNCILMEMBER LAURIE HERNANDEZ
3. ADJOURNMENT – City Council adjourns to a special meeting for a FEMA Flood Insurance Presentation & Discussion set for Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fillmore Veterans Memorial Building, 511 Second Street, Fillmore, California.

 
Senator George Runner
Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

The Cato Institute, a non-partisan think tank, recently launched an ambitious project aimed at educating both policymakers and the general public about how the federal government is spending our money. They warn that the enormous budget deficits and gross overspending occurring in Washington right now are setting us, our children and theirs, up for even more financial turmoil—massive tax hikes and a reduced standard of living.

At DownsizingGovernment.org, Cato’s scholars provide not only an agency-by-agency breakdown of how much is spent and where, but specific areas where the federal government is failing taxpayers; where reform is needed; and where cuts should be made.

It’s a worthy effort, much like the way Senate Republicans have consistently advocated for greater transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent, and for reductions to California’s over-bloated and inefficient bureacracies.

For years government grew and grew, with little or no CONTINUED »

 
Senator George Runner
Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

SACRAMENTO – Sen. George Runner (R- Antelope Valley) filed a petition yesterday in Sacramento Superior Court to compel Attorney General Jerry Brown to comply with state election laws. Specifically, Runner has requested the court to issue a writ of mandate that requires Brown to prepare a true and impartial summary of Vote SAFE – an anti-fraud ballot initiative – so that voter signatures can be collected to qualify for next year’s election cycle.

“Vote SAFE proposes common-sense changes to ensure greater fairness and less opportunity for fraud in California elections,” Runner said. “It requires voters to display state or federal photo I.D. before voting at the polls. Voters without I.D. will still be allowed to vote provisionally.”

Runner added, Vote SAFE will make absentee ballots more secure and ensure that military ballots mailed on or before Election Day are counted, Despite the fact that that United States Supreme Court upheld a similar initiative voter I.D. requirement (in 2007), Attorney General Brown has twice prepared a title summary for Vote SAFE that characterizes the initiative as a prohibition against voting.

Brown describes Vote SAFE as follows:
“Limits on Voting CONTINUED »

 
Will Protect Renters in Foreclosure from Eviction by Banks

One month after its passage at the Ridgecrest (CA) City Council, a new law went into effect this week that will prevent banks from evicting renters in foreclosed residential properties. This law will provide significant relief to hundreds of tenants who have become innocent victims of the mortgage meltdown.

Many tenants in Ridgecrest, as in communities across California, have been hit hard by a crisis they did nothing to create. They’ve faithfully paid rent. Yet mortgages have gone unpaid, their homes have gone into foreclosure, and many renters have been needlessly displaced.

“In Ridgecrest, tenants mobilized, brought their stories to the City Council, and diligently pushed the Council to take action. A majority on the Council responded to the crisis and did the right thing by passing a law that provides sorely needed relief to tenants while preventing unnecessary vacancies and blight in the community,” said Andy Blue, an organizer with Tenants Together.

Tenants Together has created a “Know Your Rights” CONTINUED »

 
Senator George Runner
Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

SACRAMENTO – Sen. George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) today announced that five of his bills were signed by Governor Schwarzenegger over the weekend, including legislation that strengthens restraining order laws as they pertain to educational institutions; and measures that protect local money and improve public safety for boaters.

Runner’s 2009 legislation signed by the governor:

Senate Bill 188 modifies the definition of “employer” to allow educational facilities such as schools, colleges, universities, or technical institutes to file for one restraining order on behalf of students, volunteers and employees.

While current law gives courts the discretion to issue a restraining order to protect an individual student at an educational facility, there is no mechanism to extend a restraining order to encompass an entire campus, including students, volunteer, and staff. In other words, if an individual poses a threat to a campus with 400 students and staff, the court must issue 400 separate restraining orders instead of one. SB 188 is needed to protect students, volunteers, and staff at educational facilities from violence.

Senate Bill 671 addresses the issue of CONTINUED »

 

This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions................. Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs CONTINUED »

 
Senator George Runner
Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Sen. George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) today issued the following statements in response to Governor Schwarzenegger signing two bills - one that honors late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and another that recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states:

“At a time when our education system, our transportation infrastructure and our public safety net are deteriorating, the last thing the governor needed to do was sign a bill to honor an abstract person who did very little for the general good of society.

“Harvey Milk, after all, was not a courageous trailblazer of civil rights like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks.

“As for signing a bill that recognizes same-sex marriage performed in other states, it's more than ironic that the Governor has twice vetoed California legislation that would legalize gay marriage but accepts it from other states. There is nothing brave or daring about the governor's act, and in fact, he has ignored the will of the people who voted against gay marriage in 2008.”

 

As fellow Americans we always take pride in the achievements and awards of our compatriots. Although we congratulate President Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize today, he should accept the award on behalf of the American people for all our many sacrifices to make the world a better place.

Everyone recognizes, however, that the Nobel Committee awarded the prize to President Obama on the basis of hope for the future rather than...

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/09/morning-bell-the-nobel-intentions-pr...

 

There is an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.

This year’s term was "Political Correctness" and The winner wrote:

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

 

If al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the rest of the Looney Tunes brigade want to kick America to death, they had better move in quickly and grab a piece of the action before Barack Obama finishes the job himself. Never in the history of the United States has a president worked so actively against the interests of his own people – not even Jimmy Carter.

Obama’s problem is that he does not know who the enemy is. To him...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/9614177/Barack_Obama_and_...

 

Housing Mess: A huge, government-run housing agency shows massive losses and needs a bailout. Fannie Mae? Freddie Mac? No. It's the Federal Housing Administration, in a bad case of financial-meltdown deja vu.

The FHA, which insures mortgages made by first-time buyers with...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=508559

 

American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.

Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6865359.e...

 
This chart shows the 10 largest floods recorded on the Sespe Creek along with the old and new theoretical 100-year flows.
This chart shows the 10 largest floods recorded on the Sespe Creek along with the old and new theoretical 100-year flows.
Enlarge Photo
Bert Rapp
Bert Rapp
City of Fillmore, Public Works Director

Question: Why is the 100-year design flow in the Sespe Creek increasing I have never seen flood flows that high?

Answer: The 100-year flood has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year.

The design of the Sespe Creek levee was done in 1979 after the devastating Los Serenos flood in 1978. At that time we had about 46 years of records of flood flows on the Sespe Creek. The statistical flood analysis estimated a Q-100 of 98,000 Cubic Feet per Second (cfs) in 1979. Today we have 77 years of record. The Ventura County Watershed Protection District has applied the same statistical calculations used in 1979 to the enlarged data base and now calculates the Q-100 to be 135,000 cfs. A look at the flood flow record shows there has been a significant increase in high volume flood flows on the Sespe in the last 30 years.

In the first 46 years of record from 1933 to 1979 there were four floods greater than 40,000 CFS. From 1979 to 2006 there were seven floods greater than 40,000 CFS in only 27 years! In 2005 the Sespe experienced the largest recorded flood of 85,300 CFS. This increase in large floods in the last 30 years is the driving factor in increasing the 100-year from 98,000 to 135,000.

Given this flood flow record, the probability analysis calculates a theoretical Q-100 of 135,000 CFS. This means that there is a 1% chance in any given year that a flow of 135,000 CFS could occur.

None of us has ever seen a 100-year flood flow on the Sespe Creek. The 1978 flow of 73,000 CFS is about equal to a 25 year flood and the record 2005 flow of 85,300 CFS is equal to about a 40-year frequency flood.

If you have questions you may call Bert Rapp at 524-1500 x 231.

 

TAX BILLS MAILED: Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector Lawrence L. Matheney announced that the Secured Property Tax Bills for the 2009/10 tax year are being mailed between October 8 and 13, 2009. Property owners who have not received the Fiscal Year 2009/10 secured property tax statement by October 19 should either telephone his office at (805) 654-3744, or send an Email request for a duplicate bill to HelpingHand@ventura.org. A “virtual bill” for each Ventura County taxable parcel is available online through the Tax Collector’s website: www.venturapropertytax.org

ONLINE PAYMENT FEES REDUCED: Mr. Matheney also announced that he has successfully negotiated reduced rates for the convenience fees charged by the processing company for both credit card and electronic check payment options. “I am pleased to be able to provide local property owners with a less expensive way to conveniently pay their property taxes,” said Matheney. “Paying taxes is seldom pleasant, but the sting can be reduced by treating people with respect, giving them reasonable payment choices, and making important information readily available.” The new rate for paying online with an electronic check is a flat $2, making it particularly inexpensive for those who want to pay multiple installments on-line. The credit card fee, which applies to all Internet, telephone and front counter credit card transactions, is down to 2.35%. Internet payments can be made from the Tax Collector’s website: www.venturapropertytax.org

The slumping real estate market has had a negative impact on CONTINUED »

 

President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese. The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader. It means Mr Obama will become the first president...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6...

 

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

If only terrorists would be so accommodating as not to change cell phones, the new curbs on the Patriot Act being pushed by Democrats in Congress would not be so dangerous. But, unfortunately, even a book entitled Terrorism for Dummies would tell them to use multiple cell phones to plot their mayhem.

In the aftermath of Oklahoma City, President Clinton asked Congress...Read more at the link below:

http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2009/10/05/good-news-for-terrorists-democ...

 

Amended 10/2/2009 (Add Item 5B)
JOINT MEETING OF THE
FILLMORE CITY COUNCIL
-and-
NORTH FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEE
LEMON WAY POLICE STOREFRONT
642 LEMON WAY
FILLMORE, CA 93015
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2009
7 P.M.
AGENDA
ITEM REFERENCE*
1. CALL TO ORDER and PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
2. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - This is the time for citizen presentations or comments not related to items appearing on the
agenda, but within the responsibility of the North Fillmore Neighborhood Committee and/or Fillmore City Council. (Please state your
name and address for the record and please limit your comments to five minutes.)
3. JOINT DISCUSSION/INFORMATION
3A. Status Report: City Matters. Oral
3B. Status Report: North Fillmore Neighborhood Committee Matters. Oral
3C. Status Report: North Fillmore Police Storefront Construction Project Oral
3D. Discussion on Other Items of Mutual Interest to City Council and North Fillmore Oral
Neighborhood Committee.
ADJOURN NORTH FILLMORE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEE – Committee adjourns to its next
regular meeting, date and time to be announced.
4. CITY COUNCIL MEETING – CONSENT CALENDAR
4A. Minutes of the August 25, 2009 Regular Meeting
4B. Minutes of the September 8, 2009 Regular Meeting
4C. Minutes of the September 22, 2009 Regular Meeting
Amended 10/2/2009 (Add Item 5B)
Tuesday October 7, 2009 Page 2 of 2
5. CLOSED SESSION
5A. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – Existing Litigation (subdivision (a) of
Section 54956.9): Richard P. McKee v. Fillmore City Council; Ventura County Superior
Court; Case No. 56-2009-00357966-CU-WM-VTA.
5B. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – Existing Litigation (subdivision (a) of
Section 54956.9): El Dorado Estates v. City of Fillmore; Ventura County Superior Court;
Case No. 56-2009-00358555-CU-WM-VTA
6. ADJOURN CITY COUNCIL - Fillmore City Council adjourns to a regular meeting set for Tuesday,
October 13, 2009 at Fillmore City Hall, 250 Central Avenue, Fillmore, California.
PLEASE NOTE: If you challenge the actions of the City Council in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public
hearing described in the public notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City Council at, or prior to, the public hearing. (Calif. Gov't Code §65009)
Any legal action by an applicant seeking to obtain a judicial review of the City Council's decision on a Hearing listed on this Agenda may be subject to the 90-day
filing period of, and governed by, Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Administrative Assistant at
(805) 524-3701. Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangement to ensure accessibility to this meeting. (28 CFR
35.102-35.104 ADA Title II)
*Memorandums relating to agenda items are on file in the Administrative Assistant’s Office. If you have questions regarding the agenda please call the
Administrative Assistant at (805) 524-3701 or come to City Hall.