Silicon Valley Republican Women Federated
NEWSLETTER
www.svrwf.org * September 2005
President:
Doris Whitney - 408-997-0581 * 1st VP &
Program: Alice Story - 408-733-3248 * 2nd
VP & Membership: Marie Dominguez-Gasson - * Newsletter
Editor: Laura Riffle - 408-263-0990
All SVRWF
luncheons and dinner meetings are held at the Ramada Inn
Silicon Valley, 1217 Wildwood Avenue, Sunnyvale, California -
Luncheon Meetings: Social 11:30am, Lunch 12:00 Noon - Dinner Meetings: Social
6:30pm, Dinner 7:00pm - Luncheon: $16.00 - Dinner: $20.00 - For reservations
please call Louise Kinney at 408-739-4724 or
Alice Wilson at 408-733-6352 or
Doris Whitney at 408-997-0581
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
SVRWF DINNER Meeting September 1
SVRWF Board Meeting ... September 8
NFRW Biennial Convention - Nashville September 8-11
Convention - California Republican Party .......... September 16-18
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day ... September 17
CFRW Convention - Irvine .. Sept. 30 - Oct. 2
SVRWF Luncheon Meeting . October 6
SVRWF Board Meeting October 13
SVRWF Luncheon Meeting . November 3
SVRWF Board Meeting . November 10
Northern Division Convention - Pleasanton . November 10-12
SVRWF Luncheon Meeting . December 1
OUR SPEAKER
Our September Speaker, Bill Whitney, is a professor at West Valley College will help us celebrate Constitution Month and Constitution Day and citizenship Day by reviewing our founding document. And, he will be educating us on the various ballot propositions that will be appearing on the ballot in November's Special Election.
- Alice Story,
1st Vice President
PRESIDENT'S LETTER
September 1, 2005 will be our second night meeting for 2005. Our club has two night meetings a year to assist members and associates who cannot attend our day meetings because of work schedules, transportation or children. Our speaker will be William Whitney, American Government Professor, who will speak on the Constitution and the upcoming November election. For your information: Constitution Day will be observed by all U.S. public schools with a Constitution program. Public schools must have a Constitution program to receive any federal funds. Constitution Day is September 17.
Jane Reed, Ways and Means Chair, is busy working on the bridge groups. This activity is one of our fund raisers for our group and for anyone who plays bridge, Jane would be pleased to have you join the bridge players' group.
In September, I will travel to Nashville to attend our biennial NFRW convention.
Volunteers are always welcome (and
appreciated) for assisting with programs or activities. I look forward to seeing
each of you September 1, after our summer break.
My best to you,
Doris Whitney,
President Silicon Valley Republican Women Federated
Membership - SVRWF membership
dues are: Active Voting Member - $25.00, Associate Member - $15.00,
Patron - $40.00 ($25.00 dues plus a $15.00 gratuity to the club).
A person can only be a voting member of one federated club but may be an associate member of one or more clubs if she is already an active voting member of a Unit Club.
Please make your checks payable to SVRWF and mail to:
SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT BRIDGE NEWS
Bridge will start in October this year. Players will receive their schedules at the October meeting or through the mail.
We need bridge players to make this project a successful fund-raiser for our Club. Contact Jane Reed (408-245-2429 with information on people who will play. We have couples, regular bridge and Chicago. So get a partner and sign up right away! $15 each player, each group.
Thanks,
Jane Reed
* Next NEWSLETTER DEADLINE - Sunday, September
18th *
Political News
Compiled by Eve Bretzke
News from Washington, D.C.
In the Executive Branch, President Bush signed the energy bill into law this week and his opponents are up in arms because the price of gas hasn't gone down yet. In fact, this bill is designed as a long-term solution for the nation's energy situation, not a quick fix to lower gasoline prices for three months, and then disappear from the agenda. Designed to give America a sound energy policy geared toward less dependence on foreign oil, it encourages exploration and the development of cleaner energy sources.
Source: 12 August 2005, Federalist
Patriot No. 05-32 Friday Digest
HR 3622. The Border Protection
Corps Act, sponsored by Texas Rep. John Culberson, would create a corps
made up of citizen volunteers to protect the nation's borders from illegal
aliens. These volunteers would be sworn to uphold the law and act under
the direction of the governors of the border states.
Source: 12 August 2005, Federalist
Patriot No. 05-32 Friday Digest
Rep. Walter Jones introduced the Military
Academy First Amendment Protection Act (HR 3430) to further secure religious
liberty of military service academies to include voluntary, nondenominational
prayer as an element of their activities.
Source: 12 August 2005, Federalist Patriot No. 05-32 Friday Digest
Sen. Hillary Clinton's fundraising machine has been in high gear these days, having raised $6 million in the last three months. According to the Federal Election Commission, her reelection funds now stand at $12 million. Her supporters believe she will need every penny of it, since observers expect that her 2006 challenger will be well funded.
Now that would-be dragon slayer has stepped into the public square, promising the chattering village folk that she has the fortitude to challenge the incumbent in what will be the most widely reported Senatorial race of 2006. Jeanine Pirro, District Attorney for Westchester County, NY, announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Clinton because she believes, and rightly so, that New York "deserves a senator who will give her all to the people of New York for a full term, who will not miss votes to campaign in [presidential] primaries."
Pirro has gained national fame as a tough prosecutor in a county that includes the Clintons' adopted home of Chappaqua. She is the second high-profile Republican to enter the race against Clinton. Attorney Edward Cox, son-in-law of the late Richard Nixon, joined the fray earlier this year. Currently, Clinton holds a sharp advantage in the polls. In order to maintain her high numbers, she will have to return to her recently-shedded liberal base, bringing a dose of reality to this race and a dash of hope to the Republicans. Source: 12 August 2005, Federalist Patriot No. 05-32 Friday Digest
The White House has announced that President George W. Bush will nominate Terry Neese of the Oklahoma City RW (Okla.) as Director of the Mint at the Department of the Treasury. Neese is president and co-founder of Women Impacting Public Policy, a bipartisan public policy organization advocating for women in business. She previously served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the National Women's Business Council.
Source: NRWF email newsletter August 8, 2005
Yesterday, it was announced that the outrageously false ads aired by NARAL attacking Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts would no longer be seen on television screens across the country. Despite Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi's refusal to condemn the false ads, the American people have spoken loudly against this degradation and NARAL has conceded to the overwhelming pressure.
Source: GOP.com email newsletter August
13, 2005
News from Sacramento
Teachers union the villain, not the
governor Breaking News: Redistricting Back on Nov. Ballot - The
Governor's redistricting reform measure has been put back on the Special
Election ballot, thanks to the California State Supreme Court ruling today. The
court determined that the differences in the two copies of the initiatives were
not likely to have misled the persons who signed the initiative petition.
adding "that it would not be appropriate to deny the electorate the opportunity
to vote on Proposition 77..."
Source: Santa Clara GOP email
newsletter August 13,2005
"This Damn Election" -- That's the
sentiment of Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on the upcoming special
election, on this first day back for the Legislature after the summer recess.
The feeling in the corridors of the Capitol today is kind of like that "back to
school" sensation. But Perata echoed what others are also saying: that it will
be hard to focus on what's going in the classroom, so to speak, with everyone
buzzing about the big brawl taking place after class... on November 8th.
Source: John Myers
Capital Notes weblog -- 8/15/05
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by the California Teachers Association and state education Superintendent Jack O'Connell against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which claims the state owes schools $3.1 billion, is weak on legal grounds. The respected Legislative Analyst's Office has already demolished the argument that spending levels violate legally mandated minimums. The lawsuit is also plainly partisan. Why not sue the Democratic-run Legislature, which approved the education budget, as well as the Republican governor? The lawsuit also ignores a key detail - the fact that education spending is going up 7 percent this year, at Schwarzenegger's behest.
But what's worst is how it plays into and reinforces the central fiction of the education debate: the assumption that school quality is a function of how much you spend.
Consider what's happened nationwide since 1983. That was the year that a federal commission issued a landmark report which warned that public schools were so mediocre they amounted to a threat to national security.
Unfortunately, besides toughening curriculums, the only major change backed by the panel that was widely implemented was its recommendation to increase education spending and teacher pay. The commission's call for merit pay for good teachers and competency tests for all teachers went nowhere in the face of bitter opposition from teachers unions, which argued that money was the only thing needed to improve schools.
Lawmakers and school boards bought the argument. And since 1983, inflation-adjusted education spending has gone up 60 percent.
So schools got much better, right? Not even close. Test scores have remained basically flat, and the same complaints the commission made in 1983 ring true today. If anything should hammer home that defining reform as spending more is nutty, this is it.
Yet even now, far too many politicians, journalists and parents accept the money-solves-everything premise and its equally ludicrous companion theory that teachers unions are benign and benevolent.
Obviously, many individual teachers are wonderful, caring, deeply valuable members of the community. But collectively, they are powerful, unrelenting defenders of an unacceptable status quo.
If you don't believe it, take a look at the California Teachers Association Web site. You can spend an hour there without ever finding a kind word for accountability or tougher standards or anything resembling real reform. Why? Because the CTA doesn't give a hoot about the quality of public education - only about how much is spent on public education.
And that is why the CTA isn't just suing the governor over funding, it's leading the opposition to his push for merit pay and tenure changes. Union bosses don't care if the status quo puts California's future at risk - so long as no teacher's job is at risk.
Keep this in mind during the teachers' campaign to demonize Schwarzenegger. On this issue, Arnold's on the side of the angels.
Source: Editorial in San Diego Union Tribune, August 12, 2005
More Stuff
Lengths to which Democrats went in an
attempt to Influence in the outcome of the 2004 elections, specifically, the
Washington State Governor's race.
Our Republican candidate, Dino Rossi,
actually won the election, and then the recount, before then Democrat-controlled
King County "found" 566 new votes just in time for a second recount, enough to
overturn the results of Election Day and the first recount. The judge who
presided over the court case that followed, actually said "this election may not
be set aside simply because the number of fraudulent votes exceeds the margin of
victory" when he issued his ruling against the Republican challenge. Now, The
American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund (ACVR Legislative Fund), a
non-partisan, non-profit organization has released a new report documenting how
thousands of Americans were disenfranchised during the 2004 elections because
paid Democrat operatives were heavily involved in voter intimidation and
suppression.
A few of examples include: 1)
Coordinated efforts by certain "non-partisan" organizations to disrupt the
election process in at least 12 states through voter registration fraud. 2)
Democrat operatives convicted for tire-slashing on GOP election day vans in
Milwaukee, 3) An Ohio court order stopping Democrat operatives from
calling Republican voters telling them the wrong date for the election, and
location for polling places
Top 5 "hot spots" in the nation for
voter fraud:
1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Milwaukee, WI
3. Seattle, WA
4. St. Louis, MO/East St. Louis, IL
5. Cleveland, OH
View the ACVR report in it's entirety at www.ac4vr.com
Source: GOP.com email newsletter August
11, 2005
"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." -
Source: Noah Webster (quoted in
Federalist Patriot email newsletter August 15, 2005
IChThUS IMPRIMIS
"So we are we left with Judeo-Christian values and secular left values. The latter, as noted, hold sway among the world's elites. But they are personally so unfulfilling and morally so confused that they cannot work. Western Europe will hopefully awaken to this fact as its socialist economies fail and as it realizes that you cannot fight faith (radical Islam) with no faith (secularism). ... The Judeo-Christian value system is not only the best value system for humanity; it is the only viable one. If we do not promote it, moral chaos will ensue. And we can't promote it if we don't know what it is." -- Dennis Prager
Source: Dennis Prager (quoted in Federalist Patriot email newsletter August 15, 2005
CULTURE
"Tolerating intolerance, goodhearted people are beginning to see, does not necessarily produce tolerance in turn. ... Multiculturalism is based on the lie that all cultures are morally equal. In practice, that soon degenerates to: All cultures are morally equal, except ours, which is worse. But all cultures are not equal in respecting representative government, guaranteed liberties and the rule of law. And those things arose not simultaneously and in all cultures, but in certain specific times and places -- mostly in Britain and America, but also in various parts of Europe. In America, as in Britain, multiculturalism has become the fashion in large swathes of our society. So the Founding Fathers are presented only as slaveholders, World War II is limited to the internment of Japanese-Americans and the bombing of Hiroshima. Slavery is identified with America, though it has existed in every society and the antislavery movement arose first among English-speaking evangelical Christians. But most Americans know there is something special about our cultural heritage. ... Mutilculturalist intellectuals do not think our kind of society is worth defending. But millions here and increasing numbers in Britain and other countries know better." --Michael Barone
Source: Michael Barone (quoted
in Federalist Patriot email newsletter August 15, 2005
THE GIPPER
"I think the so-called conservative is today what was, in the classic sense, the liberal. The classical liberal, during the Revolutionary time, was a man who wanted less power for the king and more power for the people. He wanted people to have more say in the running of their lives and he wanted protection for the God-given rights of the people. He did not believe those rights were dispensations granted by the king to the people, he believed that he was born with them. Well, that today is the conservative." --Ronald Reagan
Source: Ronald Regan (quoted in
Federalist Patriot email newsletter August 15, 2005
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408-998-9500 Extension 237
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California 95128 -
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408-551-2130
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408-245-1322 408-225-1533 408-263-4330
RAMADA SILICON VALLEY * Home of the SVRWF
Guide to the November 8 Ballot (From Ron Nehring - CRP Vice Chair via JoAnn Barr)
Note: As of the NEWSLETTER deadline, the CFRW recommendations on the propositions were not available
YES! Proposition 73: Parents Right to Know and Child Protection Initiative. Requires a parent be notified and a 48 hour waiting period before a minor's pregnancy is terminated.
YES! Proposition 74: The Put Kids First Act. Reforms the tenure system in California so teachers receive tenure after five years, not just two. This helps to ensure that well qualified teachers who will do right by our kids receive tenure.
YES! Proposition 75: Paycheck Protection. Gives union members the choice to decide whether their dues will be used for politics. Workers should be treated with respect, and have the choice to make decisions about political giving themselves, not have them made by union officials.
YES! Proposition 76: Live Within Our Means Act. To prevent future state budget deficits, this initiative limits state spending increases to a rolling average of the previous three years. Budget surpluses would be rolled into a rainy day fund, and the Governor would be given mid-year budget authority to bring spending back into line with revenues.
YES! Proposition 77: Voter Empowerment Act. Instead of having state and federal district boundaries drawn by politicians, this initiative places that power with an independent panel, and voters would have the final say on any redistricting plan.
YES! Proposition 78: The RIGHT Prescription Drug Plan. State will negotiate discounts and with drug manufacturers. It's based on an Ohio program through which all major drug companies provide discounted drugs to uninsured low and moderate income residents. Commitment evident by establishing clearinghouse for discounted and free drugs (Rx Help for California). Last year, companies provided 22 million free or discounted prescriptions nationally.
NO! Proposition 79: The WRONG Prescription Dug Plan. Trial-lawyer supported drug program based on a plan that was passed and then abandoned in Maine without ever going into effect. Essentially would deny low income Californians on Medi-Cal access to prescription drugs unless the manufacturer agreed to provide discounted drugs to families earning up to $77,00+ per year. Buried within the measure are provisions that allow trial lawyers to sue manufacturers and pharmacists for unjust or unreasonable profits, terms not defined.
NO! Proposition 80: Electricity Re-Regulation. (Don't they have this in Cuba?) Proposition 80 is an anti-consumer, anti-environmental, high-risk approach to California's energy policy. This deeply flawed measure would undermine current efforts to prevent blackouts and increase energy supplies, deny customers an option for lower cost and green electricity and limit state goals for more environmentally-friendly wind, solar and geothermal generation.
SVRWF
20181 Almaden Road, San Jose, CA 95120