SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER

                                     January 2008      

 

President: Ellen Longworth (408)354-0419 ~ 1st V.P & Program: Carol Greenleaf (408)867-5680

~2nd V.P/Membership: Laura Riffle (408)263-0990 ~ Treasurer: Naomi Blais ~

Secretary: Gloria Estes ~ Newsletter Editor/Legislation: Eve Bretzke  

Website: www.svrwf.org,  Address: PO Box 2153, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

 

THIS MONTH’S MEETING INFORMATION

All SVRWF Luncheon and Dinner Meetings are held at the Ramada Inn,

Silicon Valley located at 1217 Wildwood Ave. Sunnyvale, California.

Luncheon Meetings: Social 11:30 AM., Lunch 12:00 PM, Cost $18.00.

Dinner Meetings:    Social 6:30 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM, Cost $25.00

 

 

Our next luncheon meeting is January 3rd at 11:30 AM.  Menu Choices:  

Baked Beef Lasagna w/ Garlic Bread OR Chicken Picatta - Chicken w/ Creamy Lemon Caper Sauce.  Call Louise Kenny 739-4724 or Alice Wilson 733-6352 for reservations. 

“A reservation made is a reservation paid!”

 

Our guest speaker this month is Fred LaCosse, former San Francisco TV broadcaster.  His presentation is titled “Your American Freedoms:  Protect Them or Lose Them.”

 

Born and raised in South Bend, IN he received his MA from Northwestern University and later moved to San Jose, Mr. LaCosse was the evening anchor at KNTV in the early 70’s and later at KRON in San Francisco.  Fred also co-hosted the daily talk show “AM-San Francisco”.  He completed his on-air career anchoring “Silicon Valley Business This Week” from 1995 to 2001.  Mr. LaCosse also owns a business.  He runs LaCosse Productions which produces corporate video and news training seminars. 

 

After becoming concerned over the shallow American history lessons that his granddaughters were receiving in school he created and developed presentations about the founding of America.  Fred tells the story of that incredible period in American History, 1763 to 1789, when our Founding Fathers came together sharing their passion for liberty, won a revolution and created a government that works better than any government in history to protect individual rights and prevent tyranny. 

 

Let’s welcome Fred LaCosse to this month’s luncheon meeting.  Bring a friend to this most interesting topic and presentation!  See you there.   

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2008

 

 

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE (12/20/07)

 

In spite of all the confusion over calling a tree a Christmas tree and all the fuss over the nativity scenes I hope you celebrated Christmas with good cheer.  The times we’re living in now can really test your faith and beliefs.

 

At our first meeting of the year we are going to have a wonderful program.  Mr. Fred LaCosse will present special program on our U.S. Constitution.  It is very apropos considering we are all involved in electing a new United States President later this year.  There are many candidates to choose from.  It is important you listen to the debates, read what has been written and watch TV reports.  All theses things help you decide who you will vote for.

 

By coming to this program about our constitution you will be reminded of how our founding fathers wrote this most important document that is the blueprint for our country.  It is always good to review the laws of our country and there’s nothing like starting off the New Year well informed.

 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to come.

 

Regards,

 

Ellen Longworth,

President, SVRWF

 

 

 

 

UPCOMMING EVENTS

 

 

 

Jan. 3              Regular Luncheon Meeting, 11:30 AM Social, 12:00 PM Lunch.  Fred LaCosse - Speaker, Ramada Inn Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale

 

Jan. 10            Regular Board Meeting, Location TBA, Contact Ellen for more details.

 

Jan. 10            Absentee ballots for the February 5th election will be available

 

 Feb. 5                        Primary Elections

Apr. 20-22     CFRW 33rd Advocacy Workshop and Spring 2008 Board of Directors' Meeting,

Hyatt Regency at Capitol Park, Sacramento, April 20-22, 2008.

 

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2008

 

 

LEGISLATION

 

California Update from CRWF and other sources:

 

New Rules for Voting in the Party Primaries

Voters who are registered as “Decline to State” and are unaffiliated with any political party should be aware of the rules adopted by parties for the presidential primaries. There are six parties fielding candidates in this election. California voters who wish to cast ballots in the Republican, Libertarian, Green or Peace & Freedom parties' primaries must be registered to vote with those parties. The Democratic and American Independent parties will permit "Decline to State" voters to participate in their primary elections. "Decline to State" voters who wish to do so must request a partisan ballot.

 

Stop SB 777 Referendum Campaign needs your help!   Senate Bill 777 is one of those pieces of legislation that makes you wonder why legislators cannot let schools concentrate on education.  Based on no real

evidence of problems in our government schools, the bill orders schools not to discriminate against people on the basis of gender or sexual orientation.  If this new law does not do anything much different, as many of its proponents seem to now suggest, then it is a waste of everyone's time.  However, my experience 

is that every new law has consequences and if it is not immediately obvious by the time the regulations are promulgated and the court interpretations are made, the consequences may be dire. If you share the concerns about what SB777 could mean, please join Capitol Resource Family Impact’s referendum on the bill and sign the petition.  They are circulating petitions now and must collect nearly 500,000 signatures before January 1st, the same day the law goes into effect, to place the matter before California voters.  For more information visit http://saveourkids.net/index.html

 

National Update from NRWF and other sources:

 

Republicans Gaining Upper Hand in Congress 

This has not been a good year for the majority party in Congress.  The December Gallup Poll has the surge in Iraq twice as popular as Congress is with the public. The Democrats’ are ceding ground and passing an Iraq spending bill the President wants.  They have not gained any traction on pulling out of Iraq, or tax hikes on various wealthy targets.  And there is a gigantic issue lurking in the background.  In the coming year, 25 million Americans will be hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT was created in 1969 to go after 155 people who were considered rich but were not paying taxes because of other deductions.

This horrible idea was signed into law by Richard Nixon.  Then the Carter administration extended it further.  Presidents Reagan, Bush 39, and Clinton all either confirmed, or raised the breadth of the AMT, because politically it was safe to call it a “tax on the wealthy.” Things are now so out of control that it is estimated that 94% of married filers who make between $75,000 and $100,000 a year will be hit by the AMT by 2010. The Democrats in both houses had previously agreed on the principle of “pay-as-you-go,” meaning they would oppose any tax cut unless offset by either spending cuts (ha-ha) or tax increases elsewhere, like on “the wealthy.” Well, as seen above, the AMT is no longer just capturing wealthy people and this is a big problem for the Democrats.  Senate President Harry Reid (D- NV) has conceded and allowed a one-year fix to get voted on in the Senate that would prevent the expected 25 million  Americans from getting hit by this next year.  It passed 88-5. Now the bill goes to the House of Representatives.  -- The Leonard Letter 12-10-07

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2008