Scottsdale Activist #157

With the announcement of the demise of the Scottsdale Tribune in January, we will be losing the only "middle of the road" print newspaper which is delivered in Scottsdale.

Both Scottsdale and Tempe will be dropped as cities in which the Trib will be reporting events or delivering their paper due to the lack of subscribers and advertising.

The new paper will be free and available in the same manner apparently as the Sonoran News, North Scottsdale Times and the New Times and other News rack papers.

In response to that sad loss, we would like to suggest the following news media, some who will still be in print and are at least conservative or middle of the road to a great extent (which cannot be said for the Scottsdale Republic), and others that are either blogs or on-line newsletters with similar views.

All of these media can be accessed from our Information Area right here in the Scottsdale Activist.

Ron McCullagh: You once had the vote, but hopefully no more after this revelation.

You told her that you did and would support workforce housing opportunities in Scottsdale.

Our thanks go to the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce for publishing their survey questions and the responses from the candidates.

You were the only candidate to answer "NO" to supporting essential worker housing.

At the Frances Young Community Heroes luncheon, the questions were flying and Ms. Young was not at all happy.

As we have stated many times in the Scottsdale Activist, you have spoken with forked tongue as long as you have been on the council by saying one thing, usually against something proposed as asked for you to do by the citizens, then voted against the citizens but for the proposal simply because "Queen" Mary and her bought and paid for clique did.

We understand that you did not attend the Frances Young Community Heroes luncheon, nor have you been campaigning for re-election because at this critical election time for Scottsdale residents you are apparently vacationing in China.

We guess you figure you "have it made", and can’t be touched after you big finish in the General Election and have successfully suckered and lied to the voters yet again.

Sooner or later you have to come back to Scottsdale and when you do you have a lot of explaining to do….. If anyone is now willing to listen to a blatant and proven liar who, in our opinion should be considered a political lowlife and dire enemy of the Scottsdale citizenry.

This is the same Ron McCullagh who has almost 95% of his campaign donations from Developers in and outside the state of Arizona on whose properties or projects he has either voted to approve or has said they should be approved while never recusing himself from a single council vote concerning developer projects..

October 16, 2008, the Scottsdale Community Council offered residents another chance to question the candidates for City offices. For anyone who is not familiar with the Scottsdale Community Council they have been in effect since 1987 and provide opportunities for a public discussion of issues of important to the mature neighborhoods of Scottsdale, and provide a neighborhood voice in the revitalization process including economic vitality.

Personally, we think their dedication to our community is part and parcel to the quality of life we all prize and we salute them for their dedication to Scottsdale and its citizens.

Thursday’s meeting wound up with Mayor Manross jumping on the decency bandwagon, again. Lately we have seen many postings on the Blogs in the Scottsdale Republic and the Scottsdale Tribune from an organization called Americans for Decency.

These are the folks who supported the illegal amending of the Adult Entertainment Ordinance led by Mayor Manross, the City Council majority with approval from City Attorney Deborah Robberson and former City Manager Jan Dolan.

The Manross Administration chose to completely circumvent the Scottsdale City Charter, the State Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, step all over the rights of the businesses involved and licensed by the City, and completely close the door on public input. They even brought in a former Scottsdale attorney, Steve Bergthold, graduate of Regent University, now living in Tennessee, to do it.

Mr. Bergtold’s two-year contract also pays ^$200 per hour for his consulting time, up to ^$20,000 plus expenses to help update the city's 1993 regulations for strip clubs.

Mayor Manross chose to chastise her opponent, City Councilman and Mayoral Candidate Jim Lane, who by the way voted with Manross in support of the amendment, for taking campaign donations from an attorney known to defend adult oriented business clients.

The Mayor doesn’t think that is such a good idea. Yet, promising on moral and ethical grounds not to take campaign contributions from developers, she has now taken campaign contributions from Westcor and other major developers fro whom she has voted to approve projects.

Once again our Mayor and Council took the advice of their staff legal counsel, City Attorney Roberson, on December 12, 2005, to "not discuss publicly their decision on the regulations."

This is where all of those violations of rights, business and civil, violation of the City Charter fell into gear (you’ll notice the Manross Administration and Council Majority had 191 secret executive sessions since 2004).

Parroting Bergthold, Robberson also maintained that "the city did not have to prove the secondary effects exist locally because the ordinance is aimed at preventing or abating problems in the future…." Oops……hang on it got better.

Quoting Leslie Wright’s article in the Scottsdale Republic: Mayor Mary Manross said, "The city had the right and responsibility to make sure the ordinance was clear, enforceable and defensible in court.

"We are not here to close down a business or to prevent First Amendment expression," she said.

It most certainly did violate many national, state and city rights, laws and ordinances .. particularly our City Charter.

To get down to the nitty gritty, the adult entertainment business owners were able to get over 9,000 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot and Scottsdale voters went to the polls Sept. 12, 2006 to decide Prop. 401, a referendum on city Ordinance No. 3658 related to sexually oriented businesses.

That election saw 56% of the voters send the amended ordinance to the "round file" sending a couple of messages to the Mayor and Council.

This is another case where the correct process required by our City Charter, along with creation of policy was bent, broken and battered at the expense of taxpayer dollars by the ever errant Manross Administration and the Council Majority.

We are a city within a state, within a country, of laws and civil rights and no elected officials should presume to tread upon the rights of anyone. Everyone is entitled to legal representation, not matter the issue. Maybe it is time Scottsdale citizens and taxpayers were afforded legal representation to protect themselves against out of control and runaway city administrations.

Finally, this whole issue of decency is being slapped on every Blog available in the Scottsdale Republic and Scottsdale Tribune, even on comments to articles that have nothing to do with the issue.

So, it was startling to hear Manross quote, almost verbatim, the comments made by the Blogger tagged "Decency" with complete references taken from the Arizona branch of the far right group Americans For Decency.

We have a national Constitution, a state Constitution and a City Charter and none of them are getting a whole lot of use these day thanks to out of touch and self-serving Prima Dona’s in the ilk of Mary Katherine Manross and those dwindling few who still support her questionable shenanigans and ethics.

In May of this year, I sent the following Letter (with others preceding it) to Connie Padian of the city Planning Department. To date, I have not received an answer. Why??

Could this be one of the reasons, among many others, that Frank Gray all of a sudden resigned?

Below the letter are still more signs and other issues which need permits or to be inspected.

Since that time, the following still newer installations are now being questioned:

Also; why hasn’t the huge advertising mural on Allen Instruments building located on Earll Rd. been taken down? Isn’t it the same as and should be considered a billboard? Is it allowed because they do business with the City? Is it even legal?

If all businesses in the city wanted to paint a mural or scene on the side of their building to help advertise their trade, would they be allowed to do so without city council approval? How about a mural of the McDowell Mountain range? If so, under what provision of the sign ordinance do these situations fall?

How about the huge color projection against a wall such as that at the Indigo Hotel downtown? Is that allowed because it is deemed to be "Art" and doesn’t include the hotel name?

Don’t you suppose that anyone looking at the huge projection knows full well that it is sponsored and projected by the Indigo Hotel?

How about a provocative nude or two with their private areas discreetly covered or veiled, or maybe a scantily clad couple in a semi sensual situation projected against a large wall in full public view on one of the new upscale hotels downtown or up north? Would that be considered "Art" as it is in some Art Galleries nationwide?

How about many clubs in the downtown area allowing a live feed from inside the club to be projected on their wall outside without their name being shown? Would that also be allowed as "Art"?

We think it’s time that Inspection Services and Code Enforcement were investigated and scrutinized as the City Auditor originally intended, by an outside audit firm to provide the REAL answers as to what is going on behind the scenes in those departments. The police report concerning the Brian Rickerd case suggests that there might be more than meets the eye and that needs to be investigated.

There are far too many issues coming out that show that too many employees, including upper management, are apparently not qualified or certified to hold the positions they currently hold.

In addition, it seems that former City Manager Jan Dolan, with the approval of Mayor Manross, had Job Qualifications and Requirements for Code Enforcement and Planning Departments reduced so they could hire much less qualified personnel to use that money elsewhere.

The firing of the employee in the Survey Unit of Inspection Services for selling city equipment on the Internet is a prime example. He was promoted and if we read his testimony correctly to the Scottsdale police detective, he didn’t know why he was promoted and he probably wasn’t even qualified for the promotion.

The reason ladies and gentlemen is very simple:

The Manross Administration doesn’t have a clue about finance or managing the city and allowed former City Manager Jan Dolan and City Attorney Deborah Robberson to set or change policy as they saw fit (many times against the City Charter), employees and the citizens be damned and it’s that simple.

According to the story in the Scottsdale Tribune below, the Manross Administration wants to sell the city taxpayers still deeper into debt by issuing ^$230 million in Bonds to cover their mistakes and misspending of the last few years.

Yup!! You and I the taxpayers will again foot the bill for the inability of the Manross Administration to live within their means and maintain acceptable spending restraints.

We see many different types of spending which has not increased the sales tax or property tax revenue over the 8 years of the Manross Administration.

Included within the poor spending are the many issues within the Transportation Department where unnecessary and unwanted entry islands, roundabouts and street furniture have been installed with expensive initial investments and huge annual costs for maintenance and repair from accidents while our residential streets, curbs, sidewalks and gutters continue to deteriorate and an increasingly rapid rate.

This taxpayer funded new Bond request comes right behind another approval for over 500 million dollars (half a Billion dollars) for "improvements" to our water and sewer systems which should have been financed by the developers who reaped the profits from the new projects approved by the Manross Administration.

The above editorial in the Trib tells it all and to quote a phrase "It’s not a pretty or palatable picture" for any taxpayer in Scottsdale.

Do you REALLY want to continue to trust our current mayor and council majority to spend our hard earned tax dollars after reading this article?

~ I Almost Lost My Lunch…..

When I got home to my South Scottsdale home following a tasty lunch at the wonderful Los Olives restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale, what should I find stuck in my front door, but an election campaign flier suggesting that I vote for Mary Manross because she has done so much for South Scottsdale.

That’s when I almost lost my lunch…… Not gonna vote for Mary Manross under any condition!!

Manross messed up what could have been a stellar project at SkySong, aka Los Arcos, because of a total lack of vision and follow through. Neither the Manross administration nor the Scottsdale Chamber has done anything to promote SkySong and surrounding neighborhoods as a good place to do business and live.

Every effort has been left up to the developer to wade through. We know because we asked former Economic Development Director David Roderique and Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director what kind of program or efforts they were undertaking to promote and stimulate the revitalization of that area, more specifically, SkySong. They simply said, "Nothing."

Jobs at SkySong...... no we do not have 4,000 new jobs at SkySong and it will be a long time if ever before we do, particularly with the international economy as it stands. We’re lucky to have even 100 employees working there.

Well, did she fight for the ASU presence? We will probably never know because of secret closed door meetings and promises. You will note that there was a citizen campaign, both sides that resulted in a referendum that opposed the ^$38.7 million subsidy to bring a Wal-Mart to Scottsdale.

Then please note that significant "incentives" were given to bring ASU/ASU Foundation to that corner. Costly "incentives" valued over the 198 year lease period are in excess of 4 times the amount wanted for the Wal-Mart deal with zero return. In retrospect, If Wal-Mart had been built, we probably would have already regained the ^$38.7 million subsidy plus sales and property tax revenue on top of that.

Our Mayor would have you believe that Jim Lane opposed every thing good to stimulate the economy.

That’s simply Not true.

Jim Lane has advocated, from the first time he took his Council seat, good business practices and understanding accountability and responsibility in doing the business of the people.

The Mayor's flier states that Lane did not support funding for public safety, including a new gang unit.

Mayor, what happened to the old gang unit and community policing that was in effect and improving until 2000 when you took over?

Accountability and responsibility that is easily visible and allowed to be questioned must return to Scottsdale.

Please fellow voters, think about that when you cast your votes.

Dodie Geist
Scottsdale

P.S. ~ For all of those worried about completing the Preserve to the North. This City's voters elected to create and complete the Preserve and we don't intend to go back on that no matter who is elected. Please think of the revitalization of South Scottsdale in all of its ramification when you go to the polls.

VOTE for a New, Improved, Honest, Ethical and
Open Scottsdale city government November 4th,
Vote Lane, Nesvig and Giller !!

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~ COGS Corner

The Coalition of Greater Scottsdale, a citizen and small business owner’s advocacy organization particularly concerned with "consistent land use policy and protecting our unique quality of Scottsdale life" provide the following information. More information is available on their website at http://cogsAZ.org

~There will be a COGS meeting November 13th: Many of our members are working on mayoral and city council candidate campaigns and that includes evening door-to-door work. We also have other members mobilizing their neighborhoods on the Waterview and SRP electrical substation relocation. If you cannot attend the hearings, please watch on the City Channel 11 for the Planning Commission and City Council meetings in October. For our November 13th meeting, we will have special guest speakers so please mark your calendar and save us the date---6:30 PM at the Granite Reef Senior Center.

~Planning Commission Agenda Items # 5,6, and 7 are the Waterview/Solis project and the alley abandonment issue: Postponed until late October You can get more background on the Waterview/Solis Project from the following city website:

http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/downtown/projects/Waterview_at_Scottsdale.asp.

Check our website www.cogsAZ.org (or .net)

for the COGS Board of Directors
Sonnie Kirtley, Chairperson
cellular: 602. 717. 3886 anytime

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~Shout and Spout ~

shoutandspout@scottsdaleactivist.com

The nights have been so nice lately that I have found myself sitting out on the bookshelf watching the characters from the other realms go back and forth between pages when on one of the rare occasions I noted the clanging of the gates opening from "One flew over the Cuckoos Nest."

As this is a rare occasion, to hear the gates open, I noted that everyone on the shelf came to a sudden stop to also see what was happening. In a flash we saw a raspy little person with fake black hair, come tumbling out of the gates and skid to a stop in the middle of the bookshelf. As quick as she stood up, a large black SUV roared up, snatched the raspy looking thing up and shoved it into the back seat and sped off.

As usual my curiosity got the better of me and I wandered over to have a chat with the gate keepers. I asked them what happened as you never see anyone going out of that realm, only going in.

The larger of the two gate keepers looked at me and asked if I was too far away to have recognized who it was they tossed out? I explained that it all happened so fast I did not get a good look.

They told me that it was none other than our own "Wicked Witch of Oz" (Mary Manross) who got the bums rush from the nest and they tossed her out because she was too crazy to have been admitted or even believed.

I became confused and asked how the heck she got in there to begin with? I was told that she had a free pass for a check-up from our own Oz Chamber of Lunacy. Naturally, I had to ask what it was that she was doing that could have gotten her tossed from a realm that is always dealing with insanity. They told me that she was running around with banners asking our residents to vacation in Oz; and she had a plan to make the Munchkins of Oz pay for it!

They said she wrote an article on toilet paper and had strung it all over the complex and that it was so packed with just plain insanity that they had no choice, but to toss her out on her ear.

As the guards turned to close the gates I could hear them laughing so hard that one of them called for an oxygen tank.

Then it dawned on me that I had noticed an article in the Oz Repugnant that was written by the "Wicked Witch" and I rushed back to my hut to find the article.

Sure enough, I found the article and quickly began to read all the lies and insanity in the "Wicked Witches’ opinion" article and soon realized why the Cuckoos Nest tossed her out on her ear.

The "Wicked Witch" stated that she proposed a new "bond" program, for when the economy rebounds, during her "State of Oz" speech.

The fact is the "Wicked Witch" made this comment well before the speech and it was carried in the Oz Repugnant newspaper, and was quickly shouted down.

The people did not want to pay for tourism with their tax money when so many other things needed to be addressed and projects needed to be completed. Residents of Oz yelled that the "Three Ring Circus of Oz" was still spending money like drunken Pirates.

I thought to myself, "the audacity this moron must have, to think that Ozites would be stupid enough to fall for another ploy to suck yet more money from their wallets to "promote tourism," when the city already uses bed tax money for these issues and it is run and managed by the Oz Tourism folks!

Why in the world does she think we would ever fall in line with using taxpayer’s money, and in a "bond" of all things, to promote tourism when someone has to pay back all the interest charges for this lunacy?

Then she has the gall to say that in her meetings with some others including Craig Jackson……wait! Back up the city bus here!

Craig Jackson (of the very successful Barrett-Jackson Auction fame) has made it clear that he has never met with the Mayor regarding the negotiations for him to sign a long term contract with the city, and he has scaled back the Oz event, but he has opened a new event in Vegas!

I continued to read the rest of the article and as hard as I tried to finish I could not! My head was reeling from outright lies and promotion of giveaways, yet again, to developers and at the expense of the community and our quality of life issues. Things began to go dim.

When I awoke I was told by the Munchkins that this same black SUV stopped in front of my hut and then left. I noted that the hogwash and insanity that was written on all of those pages was gone.

If any of you read the article you are sure to have noted all the stupidity and ignorance that was spewed by the "Wicked Witch" that will again lead Ozites even further and deeper into the City of Oz, with all trying to dig deeper into your wallets for yet another sham brought forward by the "Wicked Witch."

Is this the mentality of the person you want in office for another four years? Is this what you want in these times when we are going to have some real problems because the economy is never going to rebound, like times before the bubble burst?

Well, I see the "Chamber of Stupidity" is at it again, with lying and half truths to the public in another one of their infamous campaigns to keep their dogs of war in power.

Funny thing is, the Chamber has less than 15% of Scottsdale businesses in their organization. The rest are all from Phoenix and other areas.

It always makes me wonder why they do not just call themselves the "metro area chamber of commerce" as they do not deserve the title they use now with the name of Scottsdale.

I loved seeing their "survey results." The survey was conducted by none other than ASU, the new shadow government of Scottsdale along with Scottsdale Health Care.

Let’s not forget that their "survey," conducted by ASU, was to a select group of respondents and of such a small number of respondents, 400, that it should never be construed that this was really the opinion of the majority of the public. That number was also never stated in their ad I saw in the paper the other day.

Even funnier is the editorial by none other than Rick Kidder himself, the "head cheese wiz" of the Chamber of Lunacy.

I noted the many times he made mention of the "community" and I had to ask, "What community?"

What community was he speaking of as he does not care one bit about the community that we residents call home. So he must have been speaking on behalf of the "business" community, and as usual not the real business community or the residents.

He even goes on to stress the issue of "quality of life," but he and the "Chamber of Lunacy" have been promoting everything that has continued to destroy much of the community’s quality of life - more traffic, higher density, taller buildings, mass subsidies paid for by residents not business and so many other atrocities.

If this is a "chamber of commerce", what is his take on giving these mass subsidies to businesses that other mom and pop, small businesses, which do not get any of the money?

Now they decided that the McDowell Corridor should be transformed into a "technology corridor" to match the SkySwindle program.

That means that as residents who have to foot the bill we can expect to see even more city giveaways to supposed "technology" ventures that are a sham just like the SkySwindle venture of 160 million dollars that we already have to pay for with no return in sight for the rest of its 200 years.

Sounds like the recent bubble burst that the city, state and the country are facing with the same old failed plans.

Do yourself a favor and reject any candidate that the Chamber is endorsing as you did with the Mayor and make a statement that we are tired of the Chamber and their cronies running the city by the back door system because these folks are not the taxpayers friends by any means.

1. Which country can boast that their brands occupy 2 of the top 3 spots for long-term reliability?

Answer: United States . Per J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, Mercury and Cadillac are in the top 3, along with Lexus. An d in 2007, Buick was tied with Lexus for the top spot.
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008115

2. As of August 2007, which manufacturer had the most recalled vehicles in the U.S. for that year?

Answer: Volkswagen.
According to Business Week, Volkswagen had the most recalls at this time a year ago. The second worst was Toyota .

3. Which midsize sedan has the highest initial quality?

Answer: The Chevrolet Malibu has better initial quality than any competitor, including the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The Ford Fusion also beat all 3 Japanese competitors.
This too is from the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, which also reveals that above average are American brands Mercury, Ford, Cadillac, Chevrolet , Pontiac, Lincoln, and Buick.   Below average are import brands Acura, Kia, Nissan, BMW, Mazda, VW, Subaru, and Scion (and several others).
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Midsize-and-Large-Cars

4. Which large sedan has the highest initial quality?

Answer: Again per J.D. Power, the highest quality large car is the Pontiac Grand Prix, beating the Toyota Avalon. Two other Detroit cars that beat the Avalon are the Mercury Sable and Mercury Grand Marquis.
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Midsize-and-Large-Cars

5. Which midsize pickup has the highest initial quality?

Answer: The Dodge Dakota has the best quality for midsize pickups, proving that Chrysler too can beat the imports. Both the Dakota and the Ford Ranger beat the Toyota Tacoma.
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Pickups-and-Vans

6. Which car is the most economical overall?

Answer: Per Edmunds.com, the premier automotive analysis site, the most economical car in America , taking into account not only mileage but all costs, is the Chevrolet Aveo. The Honda Fit is #3 and the Toyota Prius is a distant #34.
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/127806/article.html

7.   Which car did the Los Angeles Times describe as 'a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti'?

Answer: 'Cadillac makes a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti, and that car is the 2008 CTS. No other car in the mass market dares so much as this expressive and audacious bit of automotive avant-gardism.' Dan Neil,20LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil12dec12-pg,0,5427133.photogallery

8. Which company makes the winner of the 2008 'Green Car of the Year' award?

Answer: The Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid is the winner of this award. How could a full-size SUV defeat the media darling Toyota Prius? Read the link below and you will discover, 'What's equally eye-opening is that the Tahoe's 21 mpg city fuel efficiency rating is the same as that of the city EPA rating for the four-cylinder Toyota Camry sedan. '

Did you catch that? A huge, full-size SUV from Chevrolet that gets the same city mileage as a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry!! Chevy obtained this remarkable achievement through the use of its 2-mode hybrid system, a technology that Toyota does not have. And I was also personally involved in the design of the braking system for this vehicle. Therefore, purchasing it puts money directly into my and my coworkers' paychecks!
http://www.greencar.com/features/2008greencar/

9.   Which car was selected by the North American automotive press corps as the 'North American Car of the Year' for 2007?

Answer: Not only was the Saturn Aura picked by the automotive press corps as better than the Honda Fit and the Toyota Camry, 'When a panel of 47 journalists named the Saturn Aura the North American Car of the Year over the Toyota Camry, the vote wasn't even close, 205-89.' Chicago Tribune, 1/15/07
http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html

10. Which car won the same award for 2008?

Answer: GM again crushed the Japanese competition in 2008 when the Malibu received 190 votes to the Honda Accord's 95.   The Accord actually ca me in 3rd since GM's other finalist, the Cadillac CTS, received 165 votes.
http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html

11.   Which company had a luxury vehicle, a midsize sedan, and a large truck removed from the Consumer Reports recommended vehicles list in October 2007 because of mounting quality problems?

Answer: Toyota's much publicized quality problems resulted in Consumer Reports actually removing from their recommended vehicles list the Lexus GS luxury car, Camry V6 sedan, and Tundra pickup. This demotion occurred in October 2007.

This Q&A list was put together by an employee of an American car company who just might lose his job because of public perceptions that do not match reality. If you are one of the many Americans who gave up on Detroit 's cars because of a bad experience many years ago, it's time to rethink your position. Rethink Detroit.

Secondly, you also may be under the belief that buying a vehicle from a foreign automaker supports American jobs because it was built in America .

Yes, that is true. But if you compare the amount of American jobs supported for every American vehicle sold to that of foreign automakers, the difference is almost 3 to 1!

Detroit automakers: 79 U.S. jobs per 2,500 cars sold in America .
Foreign automakers: 33 U.S. jobs per 2,500 cars sold in America .

That is because while purchasing a vehicle from a foreign automaker could support some American manufacturing jobs, purchasing a vehicle from an American automaker also supports all the design, engineering, finance, sales, marketing, HR, etc. jobs! And that does not include all of the jobs of their American suppliers.

Interesting website:

http://levelfieldinstitute.org/

Imagine if Barack Obama were running on a platform of confiscating 75 percent of the income of Chinese Americans as punishment for being too studious. Also imagine if John McCain were running on a platform of confiscating 60 percent of the income of East-Indian Americans as punishment for being too industrious.

I assume that you’d say no, because you’d find both platforms to be reprehensible and immoral, even if the confiscation were allowed under the law and supported by a majority of voters. Moreover, I assume that you wouldn’t vote for McCain just because his confiscation would be less than Obama’s.

Okay, if my assumptions are true, we’ve now established three principles: (1) that it is wrong to vote for a candidate who advocates an immoral policy; (2) that just because a policy is legal and supported by the majority of voters in a so-called nation of laws, it is not necessarily moral; and (3) that it is wrong to choose the lesser of two evils.

Having established the three principles, let’s now look at the actual platforms of the two presidential candidates. We’ll focus only on the moral question of confiscation and not on other moral questions, such as war and abortion. The reason for this selectivity is that if the candidates’ platforms don’t pass moral muster on confiscation, there is no need to examine the more complicated questions, for a failing grade on the one question would be reason enough to withhold your vote.

Both candidates advocate confiscatory policies that are similar in kind but not necessarily degree to the hypothetical policies in the opening paragraph--that is, they advocate confiscating money from politically weak or politically out-of-favor classes of Americans for the direct benefit of politically strong and politically favored classes and special interests.

The most egregious example is their policy of sending a bill of nearly $1 million to each American under the age of 18 for the unfunded liabilities of entitlements. In other words, they are planning to confiscate the future earnings of children in order to appease the well-organized members of AARP, many of whom are financially well-off and don’t fall under the Christian precept of helping the poor. As a result, today’s children will face tax rates of 60-75 percent as adults, according to reliable estimates.

If you believe that it would be wrong to confiscate 60 percent of the income of East-Indian Americans and 75 percent of the income of Chinese Americans, then to be morally and intellectually consistent, you must also believe that it is wrong to confiscate the same percentage of future earnings from children.

Granted, McCain advocates the partial privatization of Social Security, but he has said that the much larger unfunded liability of Medicare would not be touched. This makes him the lesser of two evils on this issue but evil nonetheless.

Other examples abound, including subsidies, handouts, tax breaks, protective tariffs, transfer payments, racial spoils, and bailouts for a variety of organized and influential special interests, such as farmers, rent-seeking corporations, teacher unions, ACORN, the NAACP, La Raza, sub-prime borrowers, and Wall Street scoundrels.

Where does the money come from? It comes from the studious, the productive, the frugal, and the law-abiding--from individuals who have deferred gratification, invested their own money in their future, and lived below their means. Outnumbered and out-organized, they are no longer the Silent Majority but are the Pillaged Minority.

The country’s moral compass is so askew that the thousands of empty talking heads on network TV, 24-hour cable news, and talk radio don’t raise a moral objection to the confiscation or point out that Congress has become a huge chop-shop operation, but without the honesty of tattoos, razor wire, and pit bulls. Instead, they treat the thieves with respect.

Recently for example, a young woman said to an empty head that she shouldn’t have to pay college tuition. It didn’t dawn on the empty head to ask her why she thought it was moral to confiscate money from other people for her college expenses, including from people of modest means who don’t attend college.

Without a properly functioning moral compass, we get a nation that thinks like the young woman. We also get housing bubbles and economic meltdowns. The compass will never be fixed as long as we keep voting for candidates who advocate immorality.

New Issue Brewing? The City of Scottsdale has no formal noise ordinance. As new residential projects are approved in the downtown core, as existing neighborhoods nearby are impacted, and as new liquor and nightclub licenses are approved----abusive noise levels are an increasing problem for local residents. We have one COGS member who reports that a nearby club plays live music until 2 AM with their doors open. The level of noise is unlivable---and unsleepable in their home. They have received no enforcement from the police department. We haven't received a timetable on this discussion yet.

Unfortunately we have had to revise our Cafe Discussion Series for the Southern Scottsdale Community Area Plan Process. We now have only two events to attend. Please see the attached flyer for more information. And we encourage you to sign up and help shape the future of Southern Scottsdale!

Ryan Stee
Associate Planner
7506 E. Indian School Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
O - 480.312.7089
F - 480.312.7314

Check the Candidate section for the latest endorsements for Council and Mayoral candidates. You might be surprised who has endorsed who and who hasn't been endorsed.

Information is added to the candidates list as the candidates send it to us. We do not solicit such information, but will will include it if offered by any and all candidates for Scottsdale elected offices at no charge.

Gathering of Eagles Website was launched 2/9/07. Click on the Logo above for more information on how they are protecting America's Memorials.

Every American should check out all of these websites to learn more about what the American population is about to have to deal with.

I don't normally allow anything but Scottsdale information in the Scottsdale Activist but after receiving many emails about this and viewing it, I think that it's imperative that every adult at least look at what's offered here if for nothing more than their own education and to have everyone stop and think about the future of our country. Click on the link below,

If you don't have Adobe Flash, install it from the bottom of the page that comes up after you click on the link above. You should be able to view all available links within the main page.

The website below is of great interest as seen from a Lebanese point of view:

If you have any problems, check your firewall and other safety features which could block access to the city site.

The Scottsdale Citizens Transportation Study Committee invites you to view their website for more questions and answers at www.norailforscottsdale.com .

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Simply click on the links below to get all the information you'll ever need concerning Light Rail.

If you have any questions about light rail, send them to editor@scottsdaleactivist.com and we'll get the answers to you as soon as we can.

These modern-day robocops make ticketing easier and can be huge moneymakers for local governments. But critics question their accuracy and fret over privacy issues.