Rancho Santa Margarita Hawks Are National Champions!

By CotoBlogzz

 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – By defeating  Vallejo of Detroit Michigan The Rancho Santa Margarita Hawks  emerged as  the 2012-2012 NJB National Champions   for grades 5^th thru 8^th in a field of 210 teams

Coach Jeff Reed, Hudson” Lucky Charm” Reed, Joey Garmin, Garin Blue, Trevor Jones, Adrease  Jackson, Brennan Campbell, Isaac  Montes, Eric Reed,  Kaden Rasheed,  Roman Kafentzis,  Mike Matranga,  Coach Nick Montes

The first game for the Hawks was a rematch of the sectional tournament against the Anaheim Raiders ending the first half with a lead of  40 to 8 and a final score of 70 to 30. Hawks big men off the bench Matranga, Montes, Garmin, and Blue came into the game early and dominated the boards along with speedy guard Campbell out on the break. Hawks starters Jackson, Jones, Kafentzis, Rasheed, and Reed trapped the Raiders all over the court as the Raiders could not even get a shot off because of the Hawks size and speed. The Hawks “Dream” had one game under their belt as they

Next up for the Hawks were the number four seed the Sequoia Eskimos from Anchorage Alaska riding a 17 game winning streak.  The Hawks started the game with Center Reed tipping  to Jackson who hits a streaking Kafentzis for a  layup igniting the 800 screaming Hawks fans and the Hawks jumped all over Sequoia.  The Hawks then went into a full court press with Guards Rasheed ,Jones and Kafentzis trapping the Eskimos all over the court causing multiple turnovers that were quickly turned into too layups. Swingman Jackson was  slicing and dicing through the lane for highlight hoops. Center Reed dominated the boards with his rebounding and outlet passing to a Kafentzis and Jones as the Hawks fast break  took over the game. Sharp shooting guard Rasheed continued to hit NBA 3s. The Hawks advanced to the Final Four with a score of 60 to 43.

The Final Four held at Brea Olinda HS featured on one side of the bracket Yorba Linda Red vs. Vallejo Hustlers and the other side featured RSM Hawks vs. Gilroy Ballers from the corn fields of Indiana.

The first game matched the two hottest teams in the nation with Gilroy riding a 42 game winning streak and the Hawks winning 33 out of the last 34 games.  Immediately,  the Hawks scored a tip play, Rasheed buried a 3 from 20 feet and Kafentzis picked the pocket of one of the guards and the Hawks led 7 to 0 30 seconds into the game.

Coach Reed’s pre-game instructions were  for the Hawks Jackson and Reed to beat their man down the floor every time to tire out “Big Country”. Hawks big men Jackson, Reed, Garmin and Blue responded by running the floor with authority and tiring out the Gilroy big men and sending “Big Country” to the bench fatigued. Hawks guards Jones, Rasheed, Kafentzis proved to be too quick and athletic for the Gilroy back court as they trapped all over the court and continued to fire freely from outside for multiple 3s. When Gilroy tried to take away the guard play the veteran Hawks backcourt quickly moved the ball inside to Jackson, Blue and Reed as the big men for the Hawks dominated the paint. At half the Hawks lead 32 to 18. The second was no different as the Hawks bigs  Jackson, Blue, Garmin and Reed  continued to own the boards and the Hawks continued to outlet pass down the court to the speedy Campbell ,Jones, Rasheed, and Kafentzis as the Hawks advanced to the National Title game by crushing  the team from the Indiana corn fields  63 to 44.

The Brea Olinda arena was packed with busloads of screaming Hawks fans as the number one seed took the floor to meet the powerful team from Michigan the Vallejo Hustlers. The Hawks clearly had the home court advantage , but they were  quickly reminded  why  Vallejo had  traveled so far:   Vallejo quickness and aggressive style caused problems for the Hawks as Hawks big men Reed and Jackson had to go to the bench early in foul trouble. Power forward Blue and backup Center Garmin came off the bench to settle the Hawks down as the first quarter ended and the Hawks were only up 12 to 11. 

Rasheed and Kafentzis got it going in the second quarter from downtown to put the Hawks up by 7 with 2 minutes to go in the half.  The Hawks went to the locker room at the half to be reminded by Coach Reed and Montes that we the Hawks still had the lead and there was  no reason to panic. Coach Reed also reminded the veteran team of their Dream  and that now is the Hawks time to achieve that Dream.

The Hawks came out the second half with their best defensive performance of the tournament as guards Rasheed, Jones and Kafentzis smoothed the Vallejo guards .Big men Blue, Reed and Jackson once again despite foul trouble dominated the boards and held the Vallejo to six points in the 3^rd quarter as the Hawks crowd were on their feet with a  17 point lead at the end of the 3^rd. Jones, Rasheed and Kafentzis continued their back court dominance of the tournament as the Vallejo guards found themselves in unfamiliar territory facing the size, speed, and outside shooting from the Hawks guards. Jackson and Blue got it going early in the fourth with inside scoring as the Hawks improved their lead to 20 points with 5 minutes to go. But Vallejo would not give up as they cut the lead to 13 with two to play. Hawks center Reed quickly crabbed a rebound off the glass and hit the racing Jackson the length of the court as he wiggled between two defenders for a fast break hoop that brought the nervous Hawks crowd to their feet. Jones stole the inbounds pass and attacked the basket for a 3-point play to again fire up the Hawk bench and crowd.  Vallejo answered with a pair of free throws, but Hawks guard Rasheed quickly hit another 3 from the corned and Kafentzis stripped the Vallejo guard on the next play and also buried a deep 3 to put the Hawks up 20 with 50 seconds to go.  The Hawk crowd remained  on their feet as the RSM Hawks became the first 8^th grade boys to team to win the All-Net National Title by a score of 60 to 40.

Not only does the Hawks set a 21 year National Tournament  record by outscoring their opponents by an average of 24 points per game, but also, his marks Coach Reed's 5th All-Net National Title.

Hail to the RSM National Champs

The Rise and Fall of the Almighty Dollar

DOLLAR DEATH AS RESERVE CURRENCY

By Chriss Street

The reign of the United States dollar as the only reserve currency in the world may be coming to an end. Over the last five years, the U.S. centric balance of economic and military power has been destabilized with the crumbling of the social welfare states of the European Union and the rise of the state sponsored capitalist BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

After 70 years of the dollar’s supremacy, the BRICS at their summit in Durban, South Africa, have reached an agreement to establish a joint financial institution that would serve the same functions as the American dominated International Monetary Fund and World Bank. With America hurting and Europe terminally burdened by over indebtedness and loss of economic competitiveness, the BRICS appear to be seizing the opportunity to attack the dollar’s preeminence.

As World War II was moving to its end in 1944, the U.S. and 43 allies reached an agreement at the Bretton Woods Conference to organize the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance the rebuilding of Europe. The conference led to the establishment of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the International Monetary Fund and later the World Bank to promote international trade, finance and the globalization of securities transactions. The agreement allowed the United States to bind countries into a capitalist bloc alliance during the Cold War. The key to these arrangements were the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and U.S. military as the world’s policeman.

Sparked by IMF and World Bank financings in U.S. dollars, the Bretton Woods agreement led to an era of unprecedented economic growth in Third World developing countries. The U.S., Japan, Germany, UK and France with 10% of the world’s population still dominate the IMF with 37.37% voting control. With a 1/3 of the world’s population, BRICS control just 11.37% of IMF voting rights.

But the historic downside of Third World progress was often high inflation, compounded with debt-financed social welfare spending. Over-leveraged developing nations’ economies tended to suffer high inflation, which destroyed the value of their currency. With their borrowings denominated in U.S. dollars, the relative costs of paying interest in U.S. dollars skyrocketed. As BRICS regularly got into financial trouble, the IMF prescribed spending cuts and higher taxes as the cost for bail-out financing. Former Brazilian President, Luis Ignacio Silva protested that the U.S. dominated IMF was at war with the Third World:

“It is a war by the United States against the Latin American continent and the Third World. It is a war over the foreign debt, one which has as its main weapon interest, a weapon more deadly than the atom bomb, more shattering than a laser beam.”

But over the last five years, the United States and its developed nation allies are the countries suffering from protracted debt and deficit spending crisis. Instead of taking their own prescribed “medicine” of spending cuts and tax increases in a financial crisis, Europe and the U.S. dramatically increased deficit spending. The current economic system and financial institutions were built around the U.S. when it was the only industrial power with the resources to stabilize a crisis. The United States is currently in no financial position to micromanage global affairs.

For the BRICS this current period of financial weakness provides a strategic opportunity to escape the economic and military dominance of the United States. By pooling their resources to form independent financial institutions, they expect to have enough resources to finance higher levels of investment in member countries and stabilize any new foreign balance-of-payments crises.

China just concluded a large-scale military weapons purchase agreement with Russia for highly advanced submarines, fighter aircraft, S-400 long-range surface-to-air missiles, jet engines, large transport aircraft and aerial refueling tankers. Combining Russia’s highly competitive military technology with China’s sophisticated manufacturing expertise creates a significant military supply competitor to the United States. If other BRICS make similar arrangements for military equipment, America’s future weapons dominance may be in question.

The United States benefited enormously from having the world’s dominant reserve currency since World War II. By dominating the International Monetary Fund and World Bank through control the largest bloc of votes, the developing world has been beholding to American interests. But with the BRICS uniting their regional strengths into an international financial and potentially military alliance, the era of all-mighty U.S. dollar may be coming to an end.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM PST
Follow My Blog: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com
Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

Recital by Saddleback College Piano Students

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA –  a recital by piano students will take place on Sunday, April 28^th at 3 pm in the McKinney Theatre, as part of the Reflections of the Ocean Classical Keyboard Series at Saddleback College.

Students from Advanced Piano and Piano Ensemble classes will present an exciting program by composers ranging from Bach to Gershwin and beyond, written for 1-2 pianos and 2, 4, 6, 8 (and possibly more) hands!

Ticket prices are $15 general; $10 students/seniors; FREE for younger students and children with a paying adult; 2 for 1 for music teachers with MTAC or CAPMT ID. The ticket office is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4 or order your tickets online at any time at www.saddleback.edu/arts.

Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Parkway in Mission Viejo, just east of Interstate 5 at the Avery Parkway exit.  Free parking is available in Lot 12.  Take Avery Parkway to Marguerite Parkway turn left to the third traffic light, which is Saddleback’s Marguerite entrance. Turn right into the campus and take the second left to Theatre Circle, turning right into Lot 12.

The Music Department has established a comprehensive program which is considered to be one of the finest in California:  a complete lower-division curriculum for transferring music majors, numerous performance groups, private and group lessons, a full concert series with faculty and guest artists, and general music courses.  The nationally recognized faculty is dedicated to performance and to teaching in all areas such as vocal, instrumental, jazz, guitar and piano.  Other music classes include harmony, musicianship, composition, history and appreciation of western art music, rock, jazz and world.

Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community.  Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers more than 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals.  For more information, please visitwww.saddleback.edu.  For Fine Arts events, visit www.saddleback.edu/arts. 

Galvanizing Laguna Woods Village City Manager Emerges with Bloody Mouth and Nose after scooter incident

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Early Friday morning on Moulton Parkway near El Toro Road, City Manager Leslie Keane was seen with a bloody nose after an electric scooter she was driving went up a driveway and hit a curbe.

Ms. Keane was involved on a DUI incident onn Friday, December 21st, 2012, when  the Laguna Woods City Staff and Council Members hosted a City Holiday Party  at the "Village Greens,"  ending at around  8:00 P.M. According to arrest records, Ms. Keane, was booked into the O.C County Jail Friday night after being arrested on suspicion of DUI .  She was issued a citation and released Saturday, December 22.

Ironically, on October 21, 2009, at a Laguna Woods City Council Meeting, Ms.Keane,  while
excoriating several of the Long Beach firefighters over a traffic issue stated: "I am passionate about  Public Safety and it took me a while to get over the fear about what could have occurred - a serious accident."

Questions remain as to whether the scooter incident was a prevenatable accident or not.

Lake Forest City Councilman Peter Herzog convicted of DUI

Posted by CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA  - Lake Forest City Council member Peter Herzog was convicted and sentenced for driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of .18 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

Herzog, 57, Lake Forest, pleaded guilty Tuesday, March 26, 2013, to one misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more and was sentenced to first time standard minimum DUI probations of three years of informal probation, fines, and required to participate in a 3-month first offender alcohol program, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) office.

At approximately 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2012, Herzog made a left turn from Portola Parkway onto Lake Forest Drive and drove on the wrong side of the road. Herzog drove over the center median to get back on to the westbound lanes. Herzog then made a wide left turn from Lake Forest Drive onto Regency Lane and hit the right side of the curb. Herzog crossed into the opposing lane of traffic and swerved back and forth across lanes until he arrived at his home.

Motorists reported the driving to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, who investigated this case, and arrested Herzog at his home. Herzog displayed objective signs of intoxication including bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, a strong odor of alcohol, and unsteady balance. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Herzog had a blood alcohol content of .18 percent.

Suicide Bomber Murders Syria's Top Cleric Friend of People of the Book

REBEL SUICIDE BOMBER MURDERS SYRIA’S TOP CLERIC

By Chriss Street

Syria’s top Muslim cleric, Dr. Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, and at least 15 other people were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber attacked them while praying inside the al-Eman Mosque in Damascus.  Dr. Al-Bouti was a friend of Christians, who the Koran refers to as ‘‘ People of the Book’’, and opposed the radical Saudi Arabian form of Sunni Islam that preaches Jihad as a military requirement that all Muslims must participate in to force conversion of all non-believers.

Dr. al-Bouti, and at least 15 other people were killed today when a suicide bomber attacked al-Eman Mosque in Damascus.  The Syrian rebels justified their attack as eliminating one of the most senior pro-regime Sunni clerics in Syria.  But Dr. al-Bouti was rated 23rd in most influential Muslims of 2009 and was the author of forty books on science, religion, literature, philosophy and sociology.

He spoke fluent English, Turkish and Kurdish and was internationally respected as head of the Department of Beliefs and Religions in Damascus and a Fellow of the High Council of the University of Oxford. 

Muhammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti was a writer who was known for research methodology and personal humility.  As a representative of the Muslim Traditional School of the Middle East, he was strongly opposed to the fundamentalists of Saudi Arabia, which he referred to as the most dangerous innovation threatening Sharia Law.  In one of his books, he accused the Salafist for manipulating the modern term “jihad” to serve their personal interests and desires for power.  His books and essays analyzed the foundations of Islamic Civilization and their relationship to the modern world.

In June 2010, he remarked regarding Islam and good relationships with Christians:

“Jihad means to its exact meaning, the struggle for the cause of God and the establishment of an Islamic society, the fight is itself an aspect of this struggle, it aims to establish an Islamic nation authentic. regard to its stages: the Jihad, as we have seen, was early the Islamic era, a call to Islam involving the need to resist difficulties and hardships by peaceful means.  At a next step, Islam gave the legitimate struggle of all those that prevent the establishment of an Islamic society, especially atheists, idolaters and polytheists because of their possible integration Islam. As people of the book [Muslim term for Christians],  they can coexist with Muslims as long as they comply with the laws that govern Muslim society and join the Islamic nation by paying the government a tribe, the equivalent of Zakat [tax for the poor] imposed on Muslims.”

On June 2011, Dr. al-Bouti published a fatwa forbidding military killing civilians on both sides of the Syrian Civil War.  But the most recent estimate by the United Nation’s Observer estimates 70,000 have died in the conflict and another 30,000 are missing.  Approximately 40,570 killed were civilians and 29,435 dead were armed combatants from the Syrian Army and rebel forces.  According to the UN, about 1.2 million Syrians are displaced within the country and over a million have fled to neighboring countries.

International organizations have accused both government and opposition forces of severe human rights violations and earlier this week there were reports that the rebel forces had used poison gas to attack a Syrian Army position.  But the murder of Dr. Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti inside an unarmed place of worship is a crime against humanity. Archbishop Luka al-Khouri, the General Vicar of the Orthodox Christian Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East said that the late scholar Dr. al-Bouti will remain the word of right that we have learned from.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com  & www.agenda21radio.com

Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-new

Facebook's Sequester of a Privacy Type

OUTED BY FACEBOOK FOR PROFIT 

By Chriss Street

 Cambridge University just published a study of how sophisticated computer programs tracking the use of Facebook can discern undisclosed private information such as the users’ sexual orientation, religion, drug-use, health and emotional stability.  Desperate to halt its stock’s dismal slide since going public, Facebook has increasingly sought new ways to make more money and prove its worth to investors.  

As the builder and repository of the largest “Big Data” treasure trove in history, Facebook is selling marketers and shady characters veiled access to its users’ deepest secrets. Big Data has always been an objective of tyrannical governments.  James Madison incorporated philosopher John Locke’s view privacy as a natural right in the Bill of RightsFourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

But what Madison could never have imagined after the Revolutionary War’s years of bloody fighting against the most intrusive government on earth, 200 years later a billion individuals would “opt-in” to convey their most confidential information to Facebook’s high-paying customer base of marketers, snoopers and criminals.

Facebook is the largest database of people ever built and contains more personal data than any other source.  Consumer Reports found that 56% of adult Facebook users posted personal information such as a full birth date – month, date, and year – (38%), photos of children (21%), children’s names (13%), home street address (8%) and details when away from home (3%) are especially vulnerable to becoming victims of abuse. which can increase their risk of becoming a victim of cyber-profiling.

According to a ProtectMyID research, 90% of Americans now own or have access to a laptop or a PC, while 49% own a smartphone.  Most of these users do not take even minimal steps to protect their personal data, including 54% who do not use a password to lock their phone or computer.

Despite Facebook making privacy settings wide-open as a default, only 18% of Facebook users reset their privacy settings to be more restrictive.  Nearly 50% of all users disclose personal information such as Amazon, eBay and their bank accounts.  Over 66% of Facebook users employ the same password for multiple other online accounts and only 51% of Facebook users click to off at the end of their current session.

Because of series of horror stories in the media about people being outed from interacting on the Facebook social network, Cambridge University’s “psychometrics” group teamed with a Microsoft-funded research center to see what information they could discover by analyzing data from 58,000 Facebook users.  Their goal was to see how many personal traits and other information they could predict that was not available in Facebook user profiles.

The psychometric group when using standardized algorithmic programs to analyze data huge amounts of data were successful in their predictions with 95% for race and 80% for religion and political leanings.  But much more troubling statistics was the ability of researchers to predict gay sexual orientation at an 88% accuracy rate, even though only 5% of users predicted to be gay were connected with explicitly gay on-line groups.

Michal Kosinksi, one of the report’s authors, told the Financial Times that the university’s techniques could easily be replicated by companies to infer personal attributes a person did not wish to share: “We used very simple and generic methods. Marketing companies and internet companies could spend much more time and resources, and hence get much higher accuracy than we did.”

Last week, after a fierce lobbying campaign from technology companies including Facebook and Google, the European Union agreed to water down proposals for a radical overhaul of data privacy regulation.  Government bureaucrats stated that they continue to be reluctant to impede internet businesses that might spur economic growth.  Judging by the scale of investment in lobbying to prevent individuals from reclaiming their privacy rights, big data has real big value.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com
Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

Sen. Cruz gives Sen. Feinstein a 6th grade civics lesson on Second Amendment’s and main-stream media does not like it

CYPRIOT BAILOUT WITHOUT SECOND AMENDMENT

By Chriss Street

Because of the Second Amendment, America will never be Cyprus.  Senator Ted Cruz may have been roundly attacked by the main-stream-media on Friday for giving fellow Senator Diane Feinstein a 6^th grade civics lesson on the Constitutional importance of the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms to protect American citizens from potentially tyrannical government actions.  .

But as demonstrated by the Cypriot bail-out, with strict gun control laws that ban private ownership of all rifles and handguns it is easy for tyrannical government to expropriate private bank deposits without fear of resistance P. J. O’Rourke famously said: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”  Nowhere can this be seen clearer than watching what European socialist politicians will do to their own people to keep loans flowing to fund deficit-spending on their union and crony capitalist masters.

Within hours of the Cruz and Feinstein dust-up, the island nation of Cyprus declared Monday a “bank holiday;” so the government could seize $7.5 billion from private bank accounts by levying a 9.9% tax on large deposits and a 6.75% tax on smaller deposits in order to qualify for another $13 billion loan from the European Union.  Bank depositors in Cyprus should feel fortunate according to the Financial Times; Germany had demanded wiping out nearly all Cypriot bank accounts as a requirement for new loans.

Conservative President Anastasiades, who was elected three weeks ago, said in a statement that Cyprus had to choose between the “catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy or the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis”.  But at local bank branches the scenario looked like chaos as throngs of panicked depositors converged on local bank branches, desperately trying to get money from A.T.M.s.

At one cashpoint in the capital city of Nicosia, a pensioner couple said they had visited several automatic teller machines without success. “We are trying to pull as much as we can,” one told Reuters News Service, reaching for a wallet containing four debit cards.  “They call Sicily the island of the mafia. It’s not Sicily, it’s Cyprus. This is theft, pure and simple,” said another pensioner.

The communist-rooted AKEL party that ruled the nation for the prior five years and had run huge deficits to increase government spending to 45% of the economy expressed shock that small depositors were being forced to take a hair-cut on their savings.  The socialist Edek party called EU demands “absurd”.  “This is unacceptably unfair and we are against it,” said Adonis Yiangou of the Greens Party.

The government of Cyprus isn’t too afraid that the common people will rise up in violent revolutionary anger, because private citizens are completely forbidden from owning handguns or any caliber rifle.  Vice President Joe Biden may be relieved to know that registered shotguns are allowed, but all ammunition sales must be recorded.  Shotguns are also limited to two rounds, with pump actions and semiautomatics prohibited.

Sebastien Galy of Society General Bank, who had been predicting a new eurozone “shockwave” this spring with a general election in Germany only six months away and voters seeming ready to blame the ruling party for bailing out spend-thrift Southern Europeans.  But Galy was surprised at the harsh terms of the Cypriot bailout: “This will probably go down as an ill-thought-out rescue plan with consequences for peripheral Europe.  “It breaks a cardinal rule — namely, public trust on which money relies.”

Seizing the bank accounts of little Cyprus that makes up only .02% of Europe’s economy may not seem like a big deal, but broken public trust could cause bank runs in peripheral Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy.  There is little risk of violent resistance, given that these European countries have very tight gun control laws similar to Section 149.26 of the Spanish Constitution: “The State shall have exclusive competence over … the regime for the production, trading, holding and use of weapons”.

After watching how easily the Cypriot bail-out robbed private bank deposits, Senator Ted Cruz’s lecture that the 2^nd Amendment protects the right of individual Americans’ to own firearms to defend against a tyrannical government action seems relevant to me.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com

Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-newsright to bear arms to protect American citizens from potentially tyrannical government actions.  But as demonstrated by the Cypriot bail-out, with strict gun control laws that ban private ownership of all rifles and handguns it is easy for tyrannical government to expropriate private bank deposits without fear of resistance.

P. J. O’Rourke famously said: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”  Nowhere can this be seen clearer than watching what European socialist politicians will do to their own people to keep loans flowing to fund deficit-spending on their union and crony capitalist masters.  Within hours of the Cruz and Feinstein dust-up, the island nation of Cyprus declared Monday a “bank holiday;” so the government could seize $7.5 billion from private bank accounts by levying a 9.9% tax on large deposits and a 6.75% tax on smaller deposits in order to qualify for another $13 billion loan from the European Union.  Bank depositors in Cyprus should feel fortunate according to the Financial Times; Germany had demanded wiping out nearly all Cypriot bank accounts as a requirement for new loans.

Conservative President Anastasiades, who was elected three weeks ago, said in a statement that Cyprus had to choose between the “catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy or the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis”.  But at local bank branches the scenario looked like chaos as throngs of panicked depositors converged on local bank branches, desperately trying to get money from A.T.M.s.

At one cashpoint in the capital city of Nicosia, a pensioner couple said they had visited several automatic teller machines without success. “We are trying to pull as much as we can,” one told Reuters News Service, reaching for a wallet containing four debit cards.  “They call Sicily the island of the mafia. It’s not Sicily, it’s Cyprus. This is theft, pure and simple,” said another pensioner.

The communist-rooted AKEL party that ruled the nation for the prior five years and had run huge deficits to increase government spending to 45% of the economy expressed shock that small depositors were being forced to take a hair-cut on their savings.  The socialist Edek party called EU demands “absurd”.  “This is unacceptably unfair and we are against it,” said Adonis Yiangou of the Greens Party.

The government of Cyprus isn’t too afraid that the common people will rise up in violent revolutionary anger, because private citizens are completely forbidden from owning handguns or any caliber rifle.  Vice President Joe Biden may be relieved to know that registered shotguns are allowed, but all ammunition sales must be recorded.  Shotguns are also limited to two rounds, with pump actions and semiautomatics prohibited.

Sebastien Galy of Society General Bank, who had been predicting a new eurozone “shockwave” this spring with a general election in Germany only six months away and voters seeming ready to blame the ruling party for bailing out spend-thrift Southern Europeans.  But Galy was surprised at the harsh terms of the Cypriot bailout: “This will probably go down as an ill-thought-out rescue plan with consequences for peripheral Europe.  “It breaks a cardinal rule — namely, public trust on which money relies.”

Seizing the bank accounts of little Cyprus that makes up only .02% of Europe’s economy may not seem like a big deal, but broken public trust could cause bank runs in peripheral Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy.  There is little risk of violent resistance, given that these European countries have very tight gun control laws similar to Section 149.26 of the Spanish Constitution: “The State shall have exclusive competence over … the regime for the production, trading, holding and use of weapons”.

After watching how easily the Cypriot bail-out robbed private bank deposits, Senator Ted Cruz’s lecture that the 2^nd Amendment protects the right of individual Americans’ to own firearms to defend against a tyrannical government action seems relevant to me.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com
Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

OBAMACARE NEW TAXES EQUAL SEQUESTER SPENDING CUT

By Chriss Street

 On Friday, March 1^st, Congress allowed the much-hyped and much-dreaded $1.2 trillion of ten year spending cuts from the budget “sequester” to take effect instead of raising taxes, except it didn’t happen!  It took President Obama and his staff another day of searching through the White House pen collection before they could find President Harry Truman pen he used in 1948 the last time the Federal government actually signed a spending cut into law. 

But before the ink dried on President’s sequester signature, tax revenue magically appeared.  The Joint Congressional Committee on Taxation released a 96 page report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimating expected ten year revenue from Obamacare’s 21 tax increases has doubled from $569 billion to $1.058 trillion.  Proving once again that for the American taxpayer, danger lurks around every corner of Congress.

The Washington D.C. frenzy in the run-up to the budget sequester reminded me of a movie scene when the Ghostbusters warn the mayor that New York City that if he doesn’t let them do their thing, the city is headed for a disaster of Biblical proportions:

    Dr. Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes… 
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

Despite 10 years of sequester trillion dollar spending cuts and Obamacare’s trillion dollar tax increases, Federal spending and national debt will rise each of the 10 years.

The Census Bureau’s recently put out a report, which was hailed by the proponents of Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that recorded a net decrease of 1.3 million in uninsured people since the passage of the bill.  But the reported drop only reflects increases in government insurance, including 2 million newly insured under Medicare merely by aging, and another 2 million joining Medicaid.  Without more insured by government, it would appear that Obamacare has already caused at least 700,000 more people to lose healthcare.  Furthermore, the expected 20% increase in annual healthcare premiums this year and another 15% next year will cause thousands of small business to terminate healthcare benefits and move workers to part-time status.

According to Forbes Magazine, The Obamacare medical device tax on revenues, not just profits, is estimated to cause more than 400,000 high-paying U.S. jobs to be eliminated as devise companies move production off-shore to escape the onerous taxes.  Boston Scientifichas estimated their taxes will rise by more than $100 million a year, so they built a $35 million research center in Ireland and announced another $150 million site in China.  Stryker of Michigan cut of 1,000 workers last November “in advance of the new Medical Device Excise Tax.”  Cook Medical of Indiana scrapped plans to open five new plants in the Midwest, while saying “in reality, we’re not looking at the U.S. to build factories anymore as long as this tax is in place.”

At the inception of Obamacare, then Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress had to “pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.”  Mostly what we have now found lurking in Obamacare’s 2,700-pages are less healthcare and more taxes.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com
Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

Calling All Fiddlers to the Roof at Saddleback College

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Open auditions for Saddleback Civic Light Opera and the Department of Theatre Arts’ production of Fiddler on the Roof will be held on Monday, March 18^th at 6:30 pm in the McKinney Theatre, Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. For show information, character breakdown and audition forms, log onto www.saddleback.edu/arts/sclo. Callbacks will be held Tuesday, March 19 at 6:30 pm and Wednesday, March 20 at 7 pm. For further information, call 949-582-4766. 

The Saddleback Civic Light Opera (SCLO) opened its doors in 1978 and instantly became a Saddleback community tradition.  SCLO is a musical theatre company that teams professional directors with college and college-prep students, bringing affordable, quality Broadway productions to our community. 

Saddleback College Theatre Arts program produces several fully-staged shows in which students are encouraged to participate.  Theatre Arts students are given the opportunity to audition for every production and Theatre Arts students are given priority in the casting process.  In addition there are numerous opportunities for students to contribute in backstage activities of all college productions.

Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community.  Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers more than 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals.  For more information, please visitwww.saddleback.edu.  For Fine Arts events, visit www.saddleback.edu/arts. 

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Get Pinked w/Legally Blonde at Saddleback College!

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – The Department of Theatre Arts at Saddleback College will  present Legally Blonde, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, Book by Heather Hack, based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwin-Mayor motion picture, on April 12-21 in the McKinney Theatre at Saddleback College.

Directed by Scott Farthing, choreographed by Deidre Cavazzi and musically directed by Lex Leigh, this exuberant musical is a treat for anyone who wants to escape to a fantasy world where an LA fashion student conquers Harvard law.  Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone "serious," Elle puts down her credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law School. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style. Legally Blonde The Musical earned seven 2007 Tony Award nominations, ten 2007 Drama Desk Award nominations, and a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award.

 Dates: April 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 at 8 pm; April 14, 21 at 3 pm.  Tickets can be purchased by calling (949) 582-4656 (noon-4 Wednesday-Saturday) and online at www.saddleback.edu/arts.  Prices are $15 general; $10 students/seniors.

The Department of Theatre Arts program at Saddleback College produces several fully-staged shows each year.  All students are given the opportunity to audition for every production yet Theatre Arts students are given priority in the casting process.  In addition there are numerous opportunities for students to contribute in backstage activities through the Entertainment and Theater Technology program.

Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Pkwy in Mission Viejo, just east of Interstate 5 at the Avery Parkway exit.  Free parking is available in Lot 12.  Take Avery Parkway to Marguerite Parkway turn left to the third traffic light, which is Saddleback’s Marguerite entrance. Turn right into the campus and take the third left to Theatre Circle, turning right into Lot 12.

Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community.  Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers over 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals.  For more information, please visit www.saddleback.eduand for Fine Arts information, please visit www.saddleback.edu/arts.  

POPE FRANCIS KNOWS THE DANGER OF INFLATION

By Chriss Street

With great joy and hope, 1.2 billion of the Catholic faithful greeted the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as Francis I, newly elected Pope, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ.  

Known for his personal humility and broad intellect, the first Americus Pope has shown a willingness to confront the moral predation of corrupt socialist politicians and their elite crony capitalist fellow travelers who engage in massive deficit-spending on themselves.  The homeland of Francis I is blessed with fertile land and abundant water, but every 10 years its people are impoverished by the grim inflation that follows massive deficit spending. Approximately 84% of the world believes in religion; a third of those people are Christians; and over half of all the Christians are Catholic.  The Church may have lost half its membership in the traditionally Catholic nations such as Italy,

 Spain, Poland, Germany and France; but in the Southern Hemisphere, African Black and South American Latin Catholic parishes are growing rapidly.  From Mexico to tip of Chile there are 425 million Catholics, while fast growing Catholic Church in Africa now has over 135 million.

Francis I is the first Jesuit priest to become Pope.  Known as the most intellectual arm of the Church, Jesuits have been persecuted for centuries in Europe for challenging government corruption and moral decay.  The Spanish Inquisition claimed they were too secretive, it was forbidden to belong in Elizabethan England, Louis the XV of France banned them, Otto von Bismarck forbade members from exercising religious functions, the Nazi regime declared them “public vermin”, and in the 1980s they were suppressed by right-wing Latin-American governments.  Tyrannical authority has always been concerned that the Jesuits pursuit of educating the downtrodden, would fill the minds of the poor with desires for personal liberty and economic freedom.

Growing up in Argentina in the Twentieth Century provided the new Pope with an invaluable education on how socialist governments can serially convert a rich nation into a pauper.    In 1946, Juan Perón with the support of his iconic wife, Eva Duarte, led a populist movement that elected him President.  Over the next 10 years they would claim to be working to eliminate poverty and to dignify labor, while aligning with powerfully corrupt unions and corporate interests to pilfer billions of dollars from the Treasury.

According to economist John Mauldin,

 “In 1913, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Argentina was about equal to those of France and Germany and close to that of the US. By 1950, Argentina’s GDP per capita wasn’t even half that of the United States.  Currency values plummeted. Inflation reached 5,000% at one point in the 1970s.  Prices increased by a factor of 20 billion from 1975-1991 – over 300% per year. In 1983, at the urging of the IMF, a new peso was introduced at a value of 10,000 to one of the old pesos. Ouch. And that was just the beginning!
The Peronist government elected in 1989, made a deal with the IMF, which promptly collapsed, leading to a rapid 12,000% inflation. On January 1, 1992, a new monetary reform replaced the austral currency with the new peso at a rate of 10,000 australs for one peso.  Another 10,000-fold devaluation – twice within ten years!”

In 1998, I led an effort to work with the pro-capitalist government to partially re-privatize the nationalized Argentina health system into an HMO.  At the time, doctors and hospitals had to wait for 6 months to be paid for services, after paying in advance a 40% bribe to union “OBRAS” bosses.  Despite the country having highly trained doctors, corruption devastated the quality of care.  Six years of strong economic growth encouraged the pro-business government to take on the unions and crony capitalists.

My business partner in forming the medical network of doctors and hospitals was an institution of the Catholic Church named Opus Dei, which is Latin for Work of God.  The Catholic Church had been the only stabilizing force for the millions of formerly middle class Argentines reduced by deficit spending driven inflation to near subsistence.  I found the Church and their officials to be completely honest, competent and reliable.

Unfortunately, before the privatization contract was signed, the nation elected a coalition associated with the Radical Civic Union, an off-shoot of the Socialist International.  The new President announced huge increases in infrastructure spending and signed big union pay increases for government workers.  Inflation skyrocketed over the next two years.  In 2001, a series of deposit runs devastated the health of the banking system.  Shortly thereafter the country was back in bankruptcy.

Pope Francis I was obviously elected by the Cardinals to confront the decline of Christianity in competition with moral relativism of the European social welfare states.  In 2008, then Cardinal Bergoglio washed the feet of 12 Aids infected recovering drug addicts to demonstrate that Catholics should love the sinner, even if they hate the sin.  It was the Polish Pope, Pope John Paul II, who “stared down communism” in Eastern Europe and Russia.  Francis I will be a powerful moral competitor seeking to stare down the corrupt European socialist politicians and their elite crony capitalist fellow travelers.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com
Click here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

HOAs and Property Management COs allowed to practice law – CA Bar

HOAs and Property Management Cos allowed to practice law – CA Bar

 Posted By CotoBlogzz

According to Robert Miller from the State Bar of California ((213) 765-1736) Homeowners associations and property management accompanies are allowed to practice law without a license. 

I used George K. Starpoli's description of what constitutes practicing law without a license in Arizona and asked Mr. Miller whether that was lawful or not in California:  For example, having the property management company fill out forms and or cite and interpret laws an statutes – In fact, I sent Mr. Brown a copy of George’s article, to be clear.

Based on his response, my conclusion is that what George describes as practicing law without a license in Arizona, is perfectly legal in California.

TWINKIE CALIFORNIA

By Chriss Street

California state tax collection for the month of February reminded me of a Twinkie; golden sweet on the outside, mushy in the center and definitely not very healthy any more.  Voters thought they were forcing the rich pay more to fund local schools by passing Proposition 30 in November.  

The initiative did raise the income tax rate on millionaires, but it also raised the sales tax rate on all Californians.  Last month, personal income tax collections slumped by 19% as those devious rich folk seem to have worked with their high priced accountants to move their business affairs to lower tax states.  Unfortunately for the middle class and poor, there was nothing sweet about having to pay higher sales taxes to bail out the Golden State.

Prop 30 drove up the personal income tax rate on millionaire Californians to 13.3%, higher than any other state in the nation.  California expected to net $5 to $7 billion a year by increasing the tax rate on the households that make more than $250,000 a year, who were already paying 62% percent of state’s income taxes, according to 2010 tax returns.  The top 2% of earners in the same year, households earning more than $450,000, were paying 46% of the taxes.  And those earning more than $1 million – just 34,000 of the state’s 14 million taxpayers – paid 25% of the entire states’ income taxes.

During the Prop 30 campaign, the Howard Jarvis Tax-Payers Association  and other opponents warned that because there is an inverse relationship between rates of personal income taxation, raising tax rates would strangle investment incentives and the volume of tax collection would fall.   Last month’s 19% drop in personal income taxes collected last month should not have been a surprise.

When combined with the Federal tax increases at the end of last year, the tax bite on the ultra-rich Californians balloons to 51.9%.  That is before the fact that the state also has the highest sales tax at 7.5% and 2^nd highest gasoline tax at $.67 per gallon.

As Tiger Woods drained a 19-foot putt Sunday to clinch winning $1.5 million at the Cadillac Championship in Florida, it had to be on his mind that by moving from Taxafornia to tax-free Florida he had just saved himself a sweet $100,000.

CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present
“The American Exceptionalism Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 7-10 PM
Click here to listen:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/american-eceptionalism-news

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