Last Friday afternoon, June 12, I had the pleasure of having Tami Jo Nix and Wendy Alexander in my home. They were here to help promote our Heart of California Quilters’ Guild quilt show that will be held on June 27 and June 28 at Holy Spouses Hall in Madera.

Wendy took many pictures of our quilt group and Tami Jo was so easy to talk with. They took a genuine interest in our quilting projects and asked many questions. Tami Jo listened to our answers and was able to make a good story out of our sometimes vague remarks.

Both ladies are very professional and are great representatives of The Madera Tribune. How nice it is to have a local paper that covers such a variety of Madera events.

Virginia Whistler,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

A bit of interesting news on the energy front: The Wall Street Journal reports that four U.S. utilities have been chosen to build the next generation of nuclear power plants, and that they have made them eligible to split $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for the projects.

That probably will mean nuclear energy, which now supplies about a fifth of America’s electricity, will become an ever-larger source of clean energy.
Electricity from nuclear fission creates no carbon dioxide, which should be terrific news for those who worry about humankind’s contribution to global warming.

Other carbon-free methods of generation, such as wind and solar, no doubt will be coming on line, too, but they are primarily supplemental sources to other means of generation. That’s because the sun doesn’t shine all the time, nor does the wind always blow.

Demand for electricity is growing, and that will continue. Even in the San Joaquin Valley, the need for more power is being felt. A new natural-gas-fired “peaker” power plant just went on line in Mendota, and that won’t be the only one. People thought it was a joke when some business people suggested siting a nuclear power plant in Fresno, but don’t be surprised if it eventually is built.

In fact, nuclear power would make more sense in this area than a conventionally fired plant. Our problems with air pollution would be exacerbated by the burning of coal or more natural gas.

Finding places to build nuclear power plants can be difficult, because there’s a residual hysteria surrounding nuclear power — a hysteria that’s unjustified.

Besides the 20 percent contribution Nuclear power makes to America’s grid, it supplies 76 percent in France, 28 percent in Germany, 25 percent in Japan and 15 percent in Canada.

The time for nuclear power’s re-emergence appears to have come.

It didn’t take long for health officials to declare swine flu an epidemic recently. With some 400 suspected cases in the United States, emergency rooms were put on alert and more than a half-million students were kept home from school. At a cost certainly reaching into the millions of dollars, no expense was spared to prevent the spread of the disease.

But if the appearance of some 400 suspected cases in the entire United States constitutes a potential pandemic, what do you call something suspected of impacting more than 2,500 children in Madera County every year? That something is child abuse, and each year tens of thousands of California children are victimized.

But wait, you say. Child abuse isn’t an infectious disease.

Child abuse and neglect may not be infectious, but they are spread widely through a well understood cycle of violence.

Parents who were abused as children are at great risk of abusing their own kids. We know this. We know how to treat and prevent child abuse. It doesn’t cost nearly as much to stop the cycle of violence that creates the conditions that lead to the abuse of children as it seems to cost to curb the spread of swine flu. And while few would suggest we spend less to fight an infectious disease, those who work with abused children know that much more could be spent fighting our nation’s pandemic of child abuse.

And child abuse, we now know, has serious health impacts. Studies by Dr. Vincent Felitti and the Centers for Disease Control of tens of thousands of adults who experienced abuse as children show a direct correlation between the number of adverse childhood experiences and the state of adult health. Child abuse and neglect are major risk factors for the onset of obesity, heart disease, and cancer and are strong implicated in drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness.

Just like the flu, child abuse and neglect does not discriminate among populations. The children of wealthy parents are as likely to be abused as those of poor parents. It is essential, however, to identify child abuse and break the generational cycle of violence that perpetuates it. The cycle can be broken through parent education, therapeutic intervention, and broad social awareness of what child abuse looks like and how to report it.

This will never require the dollars it takes to prevent a flu epidemic. But every dollar spent will make an enormous difference in the health, and potential happiness of many, many children.

Joyce T. Bianchi,
Regional coordinator, Central California Coalition of Child Abuse Prevention Councils,
Fresno

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

President Bush famously referred to Iran and North Korea as part of the “axis of evil,” and always made it clear he considered them to be totalitarian states unworthy of much diplomatic effort.

President Obama recently has tried to set a softer tone, but now North Korea and Iran both seem out to prove that Bush may have been right.

First, North Korea has been shooting off missiles and atomic bombs. The world has appeared concerned by that, but has responded merely with more sanctions that North Korea seems to shrug off. Kim Jung-Il, the North Korean despot, can’t seem to care less about sanctions.

Comes now Iran, which proves in its recent presidential election and that election’s aftermath that its claims to democracy are fiction. People voted for the opponent of current President Mamoud Ahmadinejad in significant numbers, but Ahmadinejad claimed victory by 63 percent. Well, if you believe that, you also believe Ahmadinejad is a rabbi.

Remember, he’s the guy who claims the Holocaust was made up.

Both Kim and Ahmadinejad are likely to wind up disappointing Obama very much.

Kim’s government tried, convicted and sentenced to 12 years in jail a couple of American reporters who may or may not have crossed illegally into North Korea while doing a story on North Koreans trying to flee into China.

Ahmadinejad is having the stuffing beat out of his opponents if they have the temerity to demonstrate against the election results. Oh, and he continues to more forward with plans to build and presumably be able to deliver nuclear weapons. In fact, he may buy components from Kim.

Obama probably knows he is in for a showdown with these despots sooner or later. He will have some hard choices.

Madera County Arts Council had its annual Gala For The Arts (June 13) at the Madera Municipal Golf Course’s St. Andrew’s Ballroom.

As chairman of the event I would to thank Federico Mora, owner-manager, and his staff of the Clubhouse Restaurant for a job well done. We could not have asked for more cooperative, helpful, and pleasant service, which made for such a wonderful evening. Many of the attendees complimented me on the excellent taste and choice of the dinner entrees.

Thank you, Larry Latimer, for your beautiful work of art for the entrance to the banquet room.

The event would not have been possible without our sponsors: Gary Leal, CPA; Foster & Parker Insurance (Ross Thornton. LUTCF); Country Villa Rehabilitation & Nursing Center; Madera Art & Frame; Seabury, Copeland & Anderson; Darin M. Camarena Health Center, Inc.; and Creative Copy, all of Madera; and Tamsen Munger Fine Gifts, and Kaiser Permanente of Fresno.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the businesses and individuals who donated items for the raffle and auction.

Thank you, Jan Armbruster and Jan Zitek, who were responsible for obtaining the donations. We had it covered from A to Z.

Most of all, our thanks to The Madera Tribune for their coverage of this event which helped so much to make it a success.

Cal Crane, chair,
Gala For The Arts,
Madera County Arts Council

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Here is something you may not believe, but it’s true. Real estate prices are the best they’ve been in years, and if you don’t own a home now, and want to own one, this may be the best chance you will have in your lifetime to buy one.

People who make a living by investing in real estate seem to know this, and they are trolling for bargains because they know good deals are out there. But the bargains are also there for just plain folks, providing you have a little money, decent credit and the grit it takes to find the place you want, bargain for it and get the transaction closed.

Here are some advantages you have going for you:

If you are a first-time home buyer, you will benefit from an $8,000 tax credit if you buy a house now. That’s part of the stimulus package, meant to get people who can afford them into houses.

If you buy a newly constructed house, you become eligible for an additional $10,000 tax credit.

Those credits are like free money. For a small home, that’s like somebody making the down payment for you; for a larger home, it is a great help both with the down payment and assisting in eligibility.

Mortgage interest rates right now are the lowest they’ve been in decades. That means not only that your payments will be at historic lows right now, but you will wind up paying thousands of dollars less for your house as long as you hold the mortgage.

This confluence of good news for buyers isn’t going to last very long. The market won’t let it, even though a lot of price-lowering foreclosures are still under way. Many houses regularly have multiple offers, which means prices already are being bid upward.

Nobody knows how long these bargains will last, but most Realtors believe you won’t see them a year from now. Don’t delay.

It looks as though the government has pretty much taken over the auto industry. Why take on a liability when we are broke? If we want to nationalize something lets go after something that is making money so we can replenish our treasury.

Reading the Tribune, I see such an industry right here in California. It is run by left wing liberal Democrats anyway, and they voted for and supported a redistribution-of-wealth platform. So why not nationalize them, and everyone will be for the better.

This industry is the movie industry. In the Tribune, Monday, it reported $34 million in receipts for just one movie, “Hangover.” If we nationalized Hollywood, Washington could be making that money.

Seems simple to me, but then I maybe suffering from “Hangover.”

Bill Hoffrage,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

California has some wonderful state parks, and it seems a shame that most of them could close. It turns out the parks are very popular, not only with Californians, but with tourists.

Park closures have been floated as one way to help balance the state budget later this year. There is an option, though: Keep the parks open, but charge high enough entrance fees to pay the costs.

Another cut that’s being talked about is eliminating health care assistance for about 2 million Californians by ending the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs. An option to cutting off public support would be for the state to charge the beneficiaries the cost of the insurance to keep it going.

And so forth.

If thousands more teachers have to be laid off, why not keep them on the job and pay them by taxing those parents who have kids in school and would be most immediately affected by the problems that would result due to teacher layoffs?

If thousands of prisoners have to be released from state pens, why not put them to work instead, to raise money for their keep? Some money could even be put away for them so they would have money when they are released.

If these ideas seem to you like suggestions from outer space, they aren’t. They’re all based on things that have been done in the past, or are done even now.

People pay hundreds of dollars a day to stay at resorts, but we have talked ourselves into thinking parks should be supported by the public, including those in the public who never use them.

Fifty years ago, we all paid for our own health care. Very little was paid by government, and that was in public clinics.

Prisoners used to work on roads and keep parks clean, and still do in some places. Why not now?

School districts used to vote their own operating levies. Some still do. And in private schools, parents pay tuition.

They’re at it again. If they can’t take our guns, they will take our ammunition.

California Assembly Bill 962 passed the Assembly by a vote of 42-31. This bill is now in the Senate Public Safety Committee. AB962, sponsored by Kevin De Leon (D 45) would make it a crime to privately transfer more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month. You will not even be allowed to transfer ammo between family and friends.

Ammunition retailers would have to be licensed and store ammunition in such a manner that it would be inaccessible to purchasers. The bill would also require purchasers to submit to fingerprinting, which would be submitted to the Department of Justice. Mail order ammunition sale would be prohibited. This law will virtually eliminate the ability of law abiding citizens to become proficient with a firearm, as most classes require 500 to 1,000 rounds.

Please don’t sit idly by, hoping someone else will oppose this bill. We all have to make our voices heard, before we go the way of England and Australia, where all guns were confiscated and destroyed, even non-firing collector’s pieces. As soon as the general populace was disarmed, the violent crime rate soared, as criminals knew there would be no armed resistance. Two years after the British gun ban, gun crimes were up 40 percent (BBC News, July 16, 2001). According to FBI statistics, when guns were banned in Washington D.C., the crime rate nationally went up 12 percent, but in D.C. it went up 200 percent (FBI Metropolitan Police of D.C. 2000).

I am smaller and weaker than most violent criminals. Owning a firearm somewhat levels the playing field. The basic right to keep and bear arms is what keeps our country free. In the words of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of Japan during World War II: “I would never invade the United States. There would be a gun behind every blade of grass.”

Let’s keep it that way.

Protect your 2nd Amendment rights by calling and writing the members of the State Senate Public Safety Committee. They need to hear from enough people to give them pause about taking away the rights of law abiding citizens. They are:

State Senator Mark Leno (D-3), Chair, (916) 651-4003, senator.leno (at) senate.ca.gov
State Senator John J. Benoit (R-37), Vice-Chair, (916) 651-4037
State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-22), (916) 651-4022
State Senator Loni Hancock (D-9), (916) 651-4009
State Senator Robert Huff (R-29), (916) 651-4029
State Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-6), (916) 651-4006
State Senator Roderick Wright (D-25), (916) 651-4025

Assembly Committee on Public Safety:
Assembly Member Jose Solorio (D-69), Chair, (916) 319-2069, Assemblymember.solorio (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Curt Hagman (R-60), Vice Chair, (916) 319-2060, Assemblymember.Hagman (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Warren T. Furutani (D-55), (916) 319-2055, Assemblymember.Furutani (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Danny D. Gilmore (R-30), (916) 319-2030, Assemblymember.Gilmore (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Jerry Hill (D-19), (916) 319-2019, Assemblymember.Hill (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Fiona Ma (D-12), (916) 319-2012, Assemblymember.Ma (at) assembly.ca.gov
Assembly Member Nancy Skinner (D-14), (916) 319-2014, Assemblymember.Skinner (at) assembly.ca.gov

Rochelle M. Noblett,
Pete’s Sport Shop, Inc.,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

It doesn’t seem much progress has been made in the California Legislature about resolving the state’s budget crisis, and it isn’t hard to understand. Legislators far prefer to spend money rather than not spend it.

When they spend money, they please constituents. Spending money causes things — sometimes good things — to happen.

For example, if the Legislature decides to spend money fixing up a road, and the road gets fixed, a lot of people are made happy. The people who build the road are happy, because they have jobs. The people who drive on the road are happy because their cars and trucks don’t rattle around as much, and they feel safer.

Not spending money means the road doesn’t get fixed. While that may not displease people in the beginning, it will eventually. People who build roads will have less work. People who drive on them may have more accidents, may have to have their vehicles repaired more often.

But a lot of spending is more subtle than that.

For example, spending money on health inspectors doesn’t result in any new roads — may actually result in nothing immediately noticable. But if people start getting sick because food vendors aren’t inspected, that gets noticed right away, at least by those who become ill.

Then, people will squeal for more inspectors.

I don’t envy the legislators their tasks. I’ve been cutting back on the cat’s food lately, as she is beginning to assume the shape of a watermelon with little legs. But she will have no part of having her rations cut. She gives me a bawling out like you wouldn’t believe.

Political constituents are just like that cat. You don’t fix that road, they let you know about it. You don’t inspect that restaurant, and they get sick, they give you no end of grief.