I can’t imagine why
Why was the irrigation water in the San Joaquin Valley of California shut off, to “save” a 2 inch fish, clogging up a drainage pipe? Aren’t people more important? Or is the loss of approximately 50,000 jobs better, as well as many farmers going bankrupt?
Why, when we have discovered FOUR major oil finds in the U.S., are we not allowed to drill? Look not only at how many jobs this would create, but we would also keep more money in the U.S. rather than sending it to Arab countries who hate us.
Why haven’t the Kern County oil fields been reopened (shut down by Carter in 1978) which will create more jobs? The wells are already drilled and have been inactive for 31 years!
Why do we not have any savvy economists in Congress or the White House who can better manage our finances? Do they just like to tax and spend?
Why have we not gone to a two-term limit for Congress – and why should they not be in the Social Security system as we are? Why don’t they propose the same health care program for themselves as they have for us?
Why has our President spent his first six months in office pushing his health care program with complete abandonment of the people’s wishes?
Why do we have 37 CZARS appointed with absolute power in too many areas? Who (and why) appointed admitted communist/American Hater Van Jones as a CZAR?
My questions could go on and on, but honest answers never come forth from Washington or the liberal news media who have a “blind” right eye.
Art Tuber | Scottsdale
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Vote in favor of Proposition 400 and 401
Our economic future depends on it
I am a Cave Creek resident of 13 years. I’ve raised my two kids in this safe and stable community. I appreciate the excellent public school system, our eclectic downtown shopping area and more than anything, our extraordinarily peaceful desert lifestyle. I’m not quite sure why I deserve such a wonderful life, but I have one, and I’m eternally grateful.
That said, as I drive by vacant storefronts along Cave Creek Road and especially the casualty of Stagecoach Village due to the recession, I am stricken with profound sadness.
Cave Creek is desperate for an infusion of tax revenue to sustain our town and individual property values. We cannot look a gift horse in the mouth and reject Walmart in Cave Creek. Instead, we should be welcoming this major employer and corporate sponsor, and encouraging their active participation in our town.
Walmart will be located outside the Town Core near Home Depot, Lowe’s and CVS among other commercial establishments. Let the competition begin! Vote in favor of Proposition 400 and 401. Our economic future depends on it.
Kathryn Bikos Schmitt | Cave Creek
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Healthcare
Government run healthcare, are you kidding me. Medicare is bad enough, now I’m going to be paying for someone else as well. They plan to take 500 billion dollars from our Medicare program to redistribute to those who never earned it. We paid for it and now they are going to take it away. For the betterment of all they say. So all living in this country legal or not, natural born or not can have health insurance. Oh no, I forgot they are going to trim all the fat and pay for it that way. Sure they are. Are we part of the fat?
One way to make healthcare more affordable to ALL Citizens of America is to eliminate expensive malpractice insurance by making the loser of any lawsuit pay for all legal fees and court costs. This will lower the cost of expensive malpractice insurance, which will lower the costs of doctors. It will also eliminate the need for unnecessary, cover your butt tests preformed every day. The lawyers shut down the manufacture of general aviation aircraft in the 70s and 80s by suing the builders when some idiot killed himself in a small plane.
Gullible and uninformed jurors awarded millions in settlements and made the cost of liability insurance so high for manufacturers, no one could afford the added cost to buy a small airplane, so the industry died.
The legal profession has done the same to healthcare today. Obama’s crowd should love this solution, because, screw a few lawyers, it is for the greater good. And it won’t cost us a dime.
Charlie Liffick, Captain | America West Airlines, Retired | Carefree
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Two Steps for Freedom
Our federal government is out of control. Most federal representatives completely ignore our Constitution that they took a solemn oath to uphold. The feds are responsible, but the real blame is that we the people have allowed it to happen. And it will continue to get worse unless we stop it.
We can start by contacting our Senators and Congressman and demand that they make no changes to our health care. The current administration wants, over time, to take total control of our heath care.
Our dollar is no longer backed by gold or silver. It is fiat money made legal tender by the federal government. Furthermore, the unconstitutional Federal Reserve Bank, a private entity not responsible to anyone, determines how much money should be in circulation. We need to make a first true audit of this organization by urging Congress to pass H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009.
If we can get enough people to contact Congress about these two items, we will be well on the way to reining in our runaway federal government.
Edward Milton Ventresca | Canyon Country, California
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We have so much to gain
All municipalities, large and small, develop General Plans and Zoning Ordinances in anticipation of the future, without benefit of a crystal ball. These by necessity are dynamic documents, subject to amendment as required in order to adapt to the changing needs of a growing community and fluctuations in the economic landscape.
In the spring elections, the voters of Cave Creek elected both new and incumbent members to the Town Council, all of whom campaigned with support for Walmart joining our community. Indeed, the first two votes this council executed were as promised and now the voters need to support the people they elected by affirming their actions. An earlier council yielded to pressure and saw fit to refuse Home Depot and every time a Cave Creek resident shops there we should regret that. Our current council is being proactive and visionary.
It has become abundantly clear that funding from the state of Arizona is not always reliable.
Our public schools lack opportunities to generate additional revenue other than by voters agreeing to small increases in taxation. This is most unfortunate. The Town of Cave Creek on the other hand, has options; tax ourselves through property taxes while we give our sales tax dollars to neighboring towns, or we can buy more goods in our own community’s commercial areas and invite others to do the same.
We have so much to gain by affirming our council’s actions and welcoming a strong corporate partner such as Walmart to our town. Our non-profits, our open space preservation efforts, even our schools will benefit from generosity of Walmart. The sales tax revenue stream will, along with continued good town management and planning help ensure the future of this town we love. VOTE YES ON 400 AND 401.
Toby Payne | Cave Creek
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Power drunk socialists
The illegitimate offspring of Marx and Lenin, who populate the far left of the ruling party inside the beltway, have devised a scheme to backdoor the American people handing the White House a victory on health care. Senate majority leader, Harry Reed, unable to gather the sixty votes necessary to achieve cloture intends to attach the Senate’s health care bill to the previously approved House bill taxing bonuses issued by TARP assisted corporations, as an amendment. Thus advanced the total package would be forwarded to Princess Nancy Pelosi whose duty will be to rubber stamp the bill before sending it on for a guaranteed Presidential signature.
At long last the power drunk socialists who have infiltrated our political system will have accomplished their ultimate goal; the God-like power of life and death over us all.
Randy Edwards | Cave Creek
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A winning combination for the community
In these challenging times, the Town of Cave Creek and its residents should seek new opportunities for economic development. Propositions 400 and 401 offer the town a diversified means of tax revenue by allowing rezoning so Walmart can construct a new store. Walmart is a worldwide leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy, and one of the largest employers in Arizona. A partnership with Cave Creek would mean invaluable benefits for our town, both economically and philanthropically.
Based upon revenue alone, Cave Creek will profit greatly from the addition of a Walmart store. This year, Walmart has paid more then $69.1 million in state and local taxes to Arizona, along with collecting more then $342.9 million in sales tax for the state. Cave Creek residents will also profit from Walmart as revenue source; a new Supercenter could prevent the town from implementing a costly property tax on residential homes. This added tax revenue will also enable Cave Creek to sustain town services for its residents.
Additionally, Walmart will introduce convenience that is uncommon in Cave Creek by allowing residents to fulfill their shopping needs within the town limits at competitive prices. There are also assurances that Walmart’s environmentally friendly stores will save energy and water, the design and ordinance standards of our town will be honored, and our town’s one-of-a-kind character preserved.
When accounting for all of these factors, Cave Creek and Walmart is a winning combination for the community in any economic climate, but especially during these tough times. A YES vote on propositions 400 and 401 will ensure the security of our town against the dangers of this recession and contribute to its economic growth and prosperity.
George Ross | Cave Creek
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SRP: Arrogance of Power in a Power Company
Lord Acton warned us that power corrupts and Arizona’s Salt River Project has just given us a new pun as we learn of the arrogance of power in this power company. The abuse of expense accounts by senior management at SRP is only the most recent example of Lord Acton’s dictum. SRP is an unusual entity in that is really regulated by no one, even though it enjoys a water and power monopoly in its service territory. All monopolies, whether actual government agencies or quasi-government entities like SRP, will eventually abuse their status. It is long past time to end this monopoly and privatize SRP so it has to compete for its customers and be responsible to shareholders for its expenditures.
Roy Miller | Phoenix
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Way behind the information curve
Your Aug. 26 issue triggered a comment. The reader in the “Your View” column (name not given) was venting about the Cash for Clunkers program being a payoff for the Detroit Unions. This person is way behind the information curve. The Federal Government report after the first wave of Cash for Clunkers recorded that 4 of 5 people taking advantage of the program bought Foreign Cars, not American Cars. If this were a truly American stimulus effort, it failed terribly. There are many American cars that have the same or better fuel economy of foreign cars. I wrote to both Arizona senators prior to the subsequent phase of Cash for Clunkers and did recommend that people should only be able to qualify (it’s my tax dollar) if they purchased an economy American car. I never received a reply from my Senators. It’s not just Detroit manufacturers who benefit; it is all of the American suppliers and aftermarket vendors. This would have been a tremendous boost for the U.S. manufacturers and the people in Japan and Europe are thanking us for giving them a stimulus package with no strings.
Tom P. | Phoenix
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In GOD we trust; in Obama not so much
In the early days of his “presidency” Barack Hussein Obama signed an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.
However, during the presidential campaign Obama told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions.
At the time of Obamas executive order, or as I like to call it, Executive Genocide Decision, Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee pointed out that Obama is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control.
What I find very interesting is that Obama’s Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, John Holdren, in an ecology textbook he co-authored advocated:
Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food;
Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” – in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives – using an armed international police force.
Do you think the possibility of “death panels” is out of the question with these loonies in control?
Crazies, madmen, loons, communists and Marxists are in our government.
Are you still asleep?
Tom Carbone | via e-mail
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First in a long line
Business, as with most things, is cyclical. Our town is struggling to stay afloat and local businesses have certainly felt the impact of the weakened economy.
One of the biggest problems that comes with recession is a reduction in discretionary spending. Unfortunately for Cave Creek, most of our small businesses rely upon tourism and unrestricted dollars from visitors and residents alike. During this recession, people have spent less and saved more in preparation for worse times ahead. While this is somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the economy continues to trend downward and Cave Creek needs a unique solution to the increasingly difficult budget issue. In good times or bad, Walmart would provide necessary additional tax dollars to the Town of Cave Creek. Walmart would enable residents to spend less on necessary, daily items and allow them some additional money for discretionary spending in other local stores. In addition, a Walmart in Cave Creek would draw a customer base from surrounding cities who would be retained in the town and spend supplementary dollars in our cafes and shops. It will take a creative partnership between our stores and Walmart, and continued advertising from local businesses; however, it is not unreasonable to think all stores in Cave Creek will benefit from the addition of the Walmart.
Walmart is not the only solution, but it is a first in a long line of considerations that will lead to financial salvation of Cave Creek – Vote yes on 400 and 401 in November.
Michael P. Johnson | Cave Creek
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