Thanks for the memories
To All Carefree Citizens and Residents: It is time for me to say good bye. It has been my privilege to have served on the Carefree Council for the past twelve years. My top priority has always been you, your health and safety, and maintaining Carefree in the manner you have requested me to. Unfortunately, my health became a factor and I could no longer continue.
I have made many Carefree friends and acquaintances over the years. While I may no longer be on the council, I will always be available to anyone that has concerns or questions regarding Carefree. Please feel free to contact me at any time BobCoadyaz@ aol.com or (480)488-3565.
I would be remiss if I did not personally thank Don Sorchych and Sonoran News for their invaluable assistance in advertising all of Carefree’s recycling events over the years. Without the Sonoran News, many citizens would never have been made aware of issues that directly affected them as well as Carefree.
I have received so many positive e-mails and I am truly overwhelmed. You have made these past twelve years a wonderful and worthwhile experience.
Again, I thank you all for your support and for giving me the opportunity to represent you.
Councilman Bob Coady | Carefree
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What are they thinking?
That question loses all meaning when each day brings a new level of absurdity to the situation in Libya. Today's N.Y. Times headline screamed, "Washington in Fierce Debate on Arming Libyan Rebels." I am now firmly convinced that administration officials in Washington have completely lost their minds. Bending to the will of the United Nations, an organization almost as anti-American as Iran, was bad enough. Actually supplying the rebels, in what has clearly become a civil war, goes beyond all bounds of sanity.
How quickly those elected and appointed intellectual midgets forget that Osama bin Laden was the creation of the USA when we 'armed' the resistance against Russia in Afghanistan. Do we really need another bin Laden? Do we need the Executive branch of our Federal government making totally inept foreign policy decisions? And where, oh where, are all the Democrats that condemned previous Republican administrations because of military involvement? Their anti-war rhetoric seems oddly silent under Democratic leadership, leadership that shirts the Constitution at every given opportunity.
Finding no legitimate reason for United States involvement in Libya, those leaders have raised the humanitarian flag. Really? Why now, why Libya and not Yemen, or Egypt, or Syria, or the Congo, or some other hell hole where maniacs continue to slaughter their own?
This county is rapidly losing many of the unique qualities that have made us great. The obvious lean toward socialism is real and frightening; acceptance of U.N. direction is akin to abdication of our role as world leader. The few supporting the many is a dark day for our future, almost as dark as this administration continually flaunting the Constitution.
Czars, Cabinet Secretaries, and the elected leadership need to be shown the door. In 2012, which can't come soon enough, remember who brought you change and honestly ask yourself if they gave you the change you expected.
John Traynor | Carefree
Link to the story
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President Obama should now withdraw support for Ground Zero Mosque
Imam Feisal Rauf Says That With Bin Laden Death Time to Heal; Freedom Watch Case Against GZ Mosque Proceeding
NEW YORK, New York, May 5, 2011 – Today, President Barack Obama will visit with 9/11 victims’ families and lay a wreath at Ground Zero in the wake of the death of Osama Bin Laden. He and many Muslim leaders, in what is obviously a coordinated public relations effort, have called this a time to heal.
By giving Bin Laden a Shariah law Muslim burial at sea and by not releasing the photos of his demise, the President has shown great sensitivity to the Muslim culture and religion. Now is the time for the President to show similar sensitivity to those who died and were seriously injured at 9/11, and it is thus time for him to withdraw his support for the Ground Zero mosque.
Vinny Forras, the brave First Responder who almost died at 9/11 and who is fatally ill as a result of chemical and other poisoning, has brought a class action suit against the Ground Zero mosque and its Imam Rauf, in order to stop this new provocation from being built as planned. The case is not an attack on Islam, but rather is based primarily on a nuisance cause of action; namely that it will be a magnet for more terrorism in New York City. The prospect of more terrorism is particularly apparent, by the Obama administration’s own admission, in retaliation for the death of Bin Laden.
Today, Vinny Forras and his lawyer Larry Klayman respectfully call upon President Obama to exhibit the same degree of courage he displayed in ordering the Bin Laden mission and withdraw his support for the Ground Zero mosque. To build this structure would not only heighten the risk of additional terrorism, but would open the wounds of 9/11. “If this is a time to heal, as both Imam Rauf and the President claim, then the Ground Zero mosque must not reopen the wounds of 9/11,” stated Mr. Forras.
Visit www.freedomwatchusa.org and www.unmasquethemosque.com
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This week’s editorial
Great editorial this week. Something is wrong when the top 50 percent of workers pay 97 percent of income taxes so we can keep doling out the free bucks to those who won’t work or have no business even being in this country.
John Stossel had a great piece last fall on Fox News about what a joke the welfare system is. He interviewed a black woman in California who had been on the dole for seven years. She said the government encouraged her to be part of the welfare system. All she had to do is not have children, not have a job, and not have savings. She received free food stamps, medical, and two checks a month from the government. She was able to rent a nice apartment with a fireplace and a spa located near Venice Beach. She said that her routine included “playing on the beach all afternoon” and although she had job opportunities, she turned them down because welfare paid better. Meanwhile we have people, most of whom look like they never paid a tax in their lives, parading around with signs and shouting “Raise my taxes!”
It’s ultra important that Obama get defeated in 2012. Although the Republicans cleaned house in 2010 and will probably retain those voters, they must come up with a strong candidate for 2012 and it must be soon. There will be a lot more minorities and college kids voting next year who will probably be in the Obama camp. If we can’t get rid of him we must maintain the House and win the Senate to blunt any of his leftist notions.
Jim McAllister | Phoenix
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Regarding Pope John Paul II's beatification, May 1, 2011
Pope John Paul II, a man of deep faith, will one day be proclaimed a saint by the Catholic Church! The Holy Father was an inspiration and a model witness to the life of Christ; a shepherd of truth immersed in profound humility and immense love for both God and man.
His many writings and tireless, world-wide pilgrimages of faith have been a source of strength, encouragement, confidence, optimism and enlightenment not only to Catholics but to all men of good will.
A champion of the poor and ardent exponent of Christian unity, the Polish Pontiff was in many and such capacities as teaching, governing and sanctifying, both a beacon of light and salt of the earth.
He lived the Christian virtues in an heroic way. He was slow to condemn and quick to forgive, applying the medicine of mercy to all sinners including the man who tired to assassinate him and the Church's wayward clergy.
Alongside his historic role in the fall of Communism, John Paul II was the world's most influential and uncompromising defender of the dignity of human life. His tenacious pleas for the development of a "culture of life" and parallel denunciations of the "culture of death" have been instrumental in rallying opposition to war, terrorism, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, contraception, and embryonic-tissue research.
With respectful and cordial best wishes, I remain, Sincerely yours,
Paul Kokoski | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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The Obama Eligibility Debate is a lot more than just this
Dear legislative and free press body of our society,
I have been doing a lot of research on the Obama Eligibility debate and have some questions and concerns I would like to share with you.
Obama co-sponsors McCain's Senate Resolution 511 bill and in the process admits he is ineligible to be POTUS (to qualify two parents needed to be USA citizens for at least 14 years and the child born on territory of the USA) to be declared Natural Born. Obama agreed to this when he Co-Sponsored the 511 Bill as if it were his own bill for qualification to be eligible for POTUS. This has the USA deeply divided. The fact the U.S. Supreme courts are not taking this issue up to define the eligibility clause that dates back to the 1868 14th amendment ruling is what has led us to this point of total division.
The two political parties have drawn a line in the sand on whether the USA is governed under a English Version of Constitutional law and order or as a independent Nation that follows its Own Original Drafts of the US Constitution.
Two and a half months after the 511 Bill a law professor came out with a review on McCain being ineligible for POTUS and reaffirms his claim even today.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract-id=1157621
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-20/opinion/chin.natural.born_1_natural-law-united-states-and-subject-citizenship-clause?_s=PM:OPINION
This stinks of massive corruption bribing McCain and the Republican Party, because they allowed McCain to perpetuate knowing he was ineligible and presented the evidence two and a half months later, after Obama co-sponsored McCain's ratification for POTUS. WHY? And why didn't they disqualify McCain at the time instead of allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to back a straw man candidate? Was it to keep McCain quite on Obama's ineligibility problems because he had agreed to McCain needing two parents who were U.S. citizens for Obama to qualify himself?
The two parties conspired to cover this up and bribe each other and they are still to this day locked in a battle of deceit over this. You can tell by the way they will not challenge each other in constitutional order. We the people are under siege and it must STOP NOW!!!!
When this review of McCain's ineligibility came out two and a half months later the bribing and cover-up and deal making between the two parties began.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_J._Chin
And on the up and coming effort by the Obama Administration to move the debate on amnesty for illegal immigration, I saw something in this review (first URL above) that made me think about how Obama is going to use McCain to pass immigration reform.
Here is the quote from the last sentence of the law review: "This essay concludes by exploring how changes in constitutional law implied by the Tribe-Olson Opinion, such as limiting the Insular Cases and expanding judicial review of immigration and nationality laws passed by Congress, could make Senator McCain a citizen at birth and thus a natural born citizen."
In this review the professor talks about how changing the Constitution's immigration law could change the statutes so that McCain could be declared a natural Born citizen so this professor’s motives are far reaching when he wrote this review of how McCain was ineligible to be POTUS in 2008, and I bet we see Obama try and use some part of this to move immigration policy soon and win favor from McCain in the senate. Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Tony Newbill | Wickenburg
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Apraio to revamp office
JJ/Yvonne/Michael, I must commend Sheriff Joe (the best dog-gone sheriff in the states) for having the foresight to make changes in his office.
When I worked for Microsoft Bill would shake up the management once a year from the top down and keep things fresh with new ideas. We also had hundreds of outside consultants that dealt in leadership and management in all areas from finance to shipping and everything in between.
I feel Joe should work with consultants in all areas, not just one consultant to maintain his “world class” department.
I’d like to see the AZ Republic do the same as it is getting stagnant.
Tom Zbytek | E-mail
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Bowl cuts ties for former chairmen
Craig Harris, your boss John Zidich was a former member of the executive committee that had approved spending money on gifts to many folks, yet you failed to mention him in any reporting. Could it be the AZ Republic is covering for him? It’s hard to believe after all the years he was on the board he was not aware of/involved in any of the things you accuse others of doing.
Keep digging, maybe someone at the Republic will stumble across something that he knew about.
Tom Zbytek | E-mail
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Really surprised
John [Zidich]/Randy [Lovely], if [Laurie] Roberts is guessing Sheriff Joe knew what Dr. Evil was doing. Does she/you also think Mayor Philly knew Jack Harris was giving false data to the feds on Phoenix kidnappings? I’m surprised you have dropped reporting on Phil/Jack, both Dems, while piling on the Republicans, really surprised.
Tom Zbytek | E-mail
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Or, let's not have another Cairo here
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971, before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven took 1 year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits. 12 years only, one of the possible options below.
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
2. No Tenure/No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present and future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3 percent.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS.
Jack Grenard | Carefree
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Need comprehensive energy strategy
The increase in gasoline prices reflects the instability in the Middle East and attendant speculation in the oil markets. We need to address the huge runup in oil prices with comprehensive policies designed to provide solutions to our energy consumption problems. Unfortunately, past administrations have failed us.
The Obama administration should continue to promote democracy in North Africa and the Middle East, and hopefully democratic reforms in these countries will provide some stability in the region and thereby help decrease speculation in the oil markets.
The U.S. has to increase domestic oil production, including oil derived from our Western U.S. oil shale and Alaskan oil deposits; build new refineries; build nuclear power plants meeting stringent U.S. specifications, including strict siting requirements; increase power production from natural gas and alternative energy sources, e.g. biomass, wind and solar; promote public transportation; and conserve energy in our homes, businesses, vehicles and in our travels. Another way to conserve gasoline consumption is to decrease the speed limits to 55 mph or 60 mph on our expressways, and we have to enforce these limits. Unfortunately many states have increased speed limits to between 70 mph and 85 mph. Some studies have shown going from 75 mph to 55 mph will reduce gasoline consumption by 33 percent.
U.S. nuclear plants should be designed to withstand a 9.0 earthquake, tornadoes, category 5 hurricanes and floods, and have battery and diesel generator back-up to provide power to coolant water for at least one month. Existing plants can only withstand a 7.5 earthquake and have four hours battery back-up; and spent fuel rods are currently stored on site. A reprocessing system must be established to neutralize or reuse these fuel rods.
We need the Obama administration to provide some leadership and implement a comprehensive energy strategy.
Donald A. Moskowitz | Londonderry, New Hampshire
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