SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER

                 November 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

 

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 $20.00*

 

Our next luncheon meeting is Thursday, November 6th at 11:30 AM.

“A reservation made is a reservation paid!” -  *Please note that our lunch prices have increased to $20 each.

 

Menu Choices*:  Turkey with Trimming’s OR Fiesta Taco Salad

Louise Kenny 739-4724 or Alice Wilson 733-6352 for reservations.

 

Our guest speaker this month is Ben Ferguson of Adopt-a-Chaplain, a local non-profit group that sends care packages and support to military chaplains serving in Iraq. 

 

Adopt-a-Chaplain is a non-profit, local group that supports our troops through the chaplains who serve them.  By providing needed items in the form of weekly care packages of comfort foods and toiletries, a chaplain can provide a non-threatening “excuse” for soldiers to drop in for a visit. Chaplains also visit troops at forward operating bases.  With no PX available, the chaplain is a source of goods they would not otherwise receive.  Weekly, Adopt-a-Chaplain volunteers gather to sort, box and ship requested items to our chaplains.  Ben Ferguson is co-founder of Adopt-a-Chaplain and will share his experiences of supporting the chaplains.    

 

Bring donations for the Adopt-a-Chaplain care packages (see list of needed items inside newsletter)!

Also, we will be taking donations for the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital in honor of Veterans Day and Jane Reed is taking orders for See’s Candy.

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2008

 

 

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE (10/20/08)

 

There are only a few days left now until we vote for a new President.  Every election is important, especially the one voting fore President of our country.  This year is different not only because of the time that the candidates used to win the nomination of their party for the office of President but the terrible one-sided media spreading hate and mistrust day after day.  The Democrat Party is vicious about crucifying Republicans.  So many lies have been repeated over and over.  People in high offices are doing their best to frighten us and keep us worried.

 

We Republicans must remain strong.  Keep on believing in our values and beliefs and remember our fighting men and women who are serving our country.  Whatever happens keep the faith.  So many people just want this election to be over with.  The stock market and bank problems and financial matters happening all over the world, companies laying off workers and not to mention people loosing their homes have been added to our concerns.  There are men in our congress who were warned the financial mess was already dangerous but they waited until the election got down to a short amount of time and then acted so surprised and blamed it all on the Republicans. 

 

Pray for our country and hope we survive these bad times.  When you come to our meeting be sure to bring good thought and stay strong.  We have other important elections coming up in the near future.  Who is going to be our party choice for California Governor?  We will wish each other a very happy Thanksgiving Day.  It’s the one special day in the year when our nation gathers family and friends to give thanks for all we have.  Say a prayer on that day and ask God’s blessing for our country, our family, and for mankind.  Be sure to put out your flag for Veterans Day, November 11^th.   It is a sign you really believe in your country and you are proud of it.  You honor those who gave their lives in the past and also those who are still living with the scars of past wars. 

 

Regards,

 

Ellen Longworth,

President, SVRWF

 

 

UPCOMMING EVENTS

 

Nov. 4             Election Day – VOTE REPUBLICAN!

 

Nov. 6             Regular Luncheon Meeting, 11:30 AM Social, 12:00 PM Lunch.  Speaker: Ben Ferguson. 

 

Nov. 13           Regular Board Meeting, Location / Time TBA

 

Nov. 22-23      Northern Division Fall Conference -"Race to the Crowne Plaza", Foster City, Nov. 22-23.

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2008

 

MEMBER NEWS

 

2009 Nominating Committee Report - Below are the proposed club Slate of Officers for 2009:

President:  Laura Riffle

1st Vice President:  Ellen Longworth

2nd Vice President: Marylou Von Rotz

Treasurer:  Naomi Blais

Secretary:  Gloria Estes (Note: current secretary has agreed to serve another term)

 

LEGISLATION

 

California Update from CRWF and other sources

Not So Fast, Mr. Lockyer - Last week George Skelton’s Los Angeles Times column described a phone conversation with state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who elaborately insists Republicans are to blame for the state’s fiscal mess.  Lockyer concedes the state has a spending problem, but argues that we are not bringing in enough revenue.  His theory is programs the Democrats want to protect from cuts– and K-12 education– have been costing the state less over the last decade after taking into account inflation and population growth.  He then points to major spending areas Republicans support--like prisons and the car tax -- and says that because these have grown faster than inflation and population, it is Republican spending that is busting the budget. Therefore, he argues, Republicans ought to support tax increases, or else they are hypocrites. Well, there is more than one way to crunch numbers. Lockyer focuses on General Fund spending over the last decade.  What he conveniently ignores is revenue over the same period.  Since he focused on General Fund spending, I will do the same with revenues.  Looking at the major revenue totals at the Legislative Analyst’s site, it shows that in 1998-99, major General Fund revenue was $58.2 billion.  In 2008-09, it is expected to be $98.4 billion.  That is a 69% over the period.  Adjusting for inflation, it is still a 27% increase real spending.  Adjusting for inflation AND population growth, per capital spending has increased from roughly $1,780 per Californian to $1,950, which is about 10% more per Californian.  That is plenty of extra cash to cover a 7% annual increase imprisons, just one category of spending.  It is also plenty to cover a 25% increase of the cost of the car tax over the decade, with plenty left over. Californians continue to give more of their money– yes, in real terms– to the state of California.  California government continues to spend even more.  We do not have a revenue problem.  We do have a spending problem. -- Bill Leonard, Leonard Letter 10/20/08.  

National Update from NRWF and other sources

Plan To Stabilize Financial System Is Limited in Size, Scope, And Duration:  President Bush visited the United States Chamber of Commerce and discussed the actions that the Federal Government has taken in response to the financial crisis. The President explained that the government took swift action to protect the financial security of the American people. The government's involvement is limited in size.  The government's investment is capped for any individual firm that chooses to participate in this voluntary program, so that private investors retain control.  The government's involvement is limited in scope.  The government will not exercise control over any private firm.  The shares owned by the government will have voting rights that can be used only to protect the taxpayer's investment - not to direct the firm's operations. The government's involvement is limited in duration.  This program includes provisions to encourage banks to buy back their shares from the government when the markets stabilize and they can raise money from private investors. We must never lose sight of the enormous benefits delivered by the free enterprise system.  Democratic capitalism remains the greatest system ever devised.  Around the world, free market policies have lifted millions of people out of poverty and given them the opportunity to build a more hopeful life.  In the United States, it has given our large and dynamic economy the flexibility and resilience to absorb shocks, adjust, and bounce back. The Government Is Focused On Preserving The Stability Of The Financial System. The Government Has Undertaken An Extraordinary Effort To Help Banks Get Loans Flowing To American Consumers And Businesses. It Is Vital That We Update Our Financial Regulations to Meet the Realities of Today's Global Financial System -- NFRW Political Briefing, the Week of October 19, 2008

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2008

 

The Wall Street Journal Calls Obama's Numerous Refundable Tax Credits, Tens of Billions of Dollars in Government Handouts.  "For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase 'tax credit.'" (Editorial, "Obama's 95% Illusion," The Wall Street Journal, 10/13/08)

 

Palin breaks with McCain on gay marriage amendment.  Palin breaks with McCain on gay marriage amendment.  Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin says she supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a break with John McCain who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is. -- Associated Press, October 21, 2008

Other

 

“How odd that all those boring lessons from our grandparents turn out to be true in the globalized, hip 21st century: Save your money. Don’t borrow what you can’t pay back. Look first at a man’s character, not his degrees. And if a promised return on an investment seems too good to be true, it probably is.” —Victor Davis Hanson

 

“Gaze into the giant zero of the Obama logo, the hole in the star-spangled doughnut, the vast fathomless nullity that is the gaping keyhole to the door of utopia. To a sad shriveled Republican cynic, there’s nothing there but the wide open spaces of Obama’s blank résumé.” —Mark Steyn

 

“Reviewing the polls printed in The New York Times and The Washington Post in the last month of every presidential election since 1976, I found the polls were never wrong in a friendly way to Republicans. When the polls were wrong, which was often, they overestimated support for the Democrat, usually by about 6 to 10 points.” —Ann Coulter

 

“Feeling a bit, well, depressed? It’s not surprising. Headlines around the world are filled with the D word, as if an epic global economic collapse were inevitable—especially here in the U.S. It isn’t. No, we’re not hopelessly out of touch. As our coverage shows, we know how serious the current financial mess is—and how important it is to the U.S. and the rest of the world that we begin to settle down our markets. The loss of $8 trillion in stock market wealth in a matter of months is no small thing. The dive will have a major impact on people’s spending and investment decisions. A new economic forecast of 52 leading economists shows most expect the U.S. economy to shrink in the third and fourth quarters, plus the first quarter of 2009—the first time in nearly half a century that the economy will undergo three quarters of contraction. In short, we might be in for a brief, yet brutal, recession. But talk of a depression and other apocalyptic possibilities are way overdone... This is the U.S.’ edge—and it’s not going away soon. Since 1980, real per capita GDP has expanded 69.2% in the U.S. vs. 65.6% for the EU 15. Why? Our productivity is greater. In just the last 10 years, U.S. productivity has expanded 2.5% a year, with Europe growing nearly a full percentage point less. This will widen... Financial crisis notwithstanding, the U.S. economy will be twice Europe’s size by 2025. Even after our stock market and housing losses, the U.S. is still extraordinarily wealthy. In the second quarter, Fed data show, the U.S. private sector owned $110.6 trillion in assets—an immense amount of wealth. The estimated $1 trillion to $2 trillion cost of the current financial mess is small by comparison. During the Great Depression, U.S. output plunged 27% in four years; unemployment neared a third of the work force. Real private investment shrank 87% in three years; personal spending plunged 41%. We’re not close to that. Nor are we likely to be—unless we foolishly pursue high-tax policies that would kill growth. It’s easy to give in to excessive pessimism these days. But the U.S. model—based on productive labor, free trade, fewer rules, lower taxes and rewards for entrepreneurial effort—is still sound. We’ll soon emerge stronger, and better, for our current tribulations.” —Investor’s Business Daily

 

“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” —Milton Friedman

 

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2008