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Official: City headed in right direction

This has got to be because of the newly active citizens, whom I am provoking to stand up for their rights. This Story is trying real hard to keep the wool over our eyes. Doesn't She know that not reporting $46,000+ to your employer as the amount that was overpaid, would be viewed as embezzlement?

By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
May 02, 2012 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - Despite a barrage of bad news, Stockton has jump-started the revitalization of its downtown, begun a road project that will open up south Stockton commerce and formed a committee set on curbing the city's violence.

The city's long-inert Community Development Department is in the midst of a cultural overhaul, and vacant department head positions will be filled within weeks.

So City Manager Bob Deis told the City Council on Tuesday, ticking off a long list of steps Stockton is taking forward.

Deis said the city is having to overcome years of mismanagement and apathy at City Hall. He predicted that in another year, the foundation the city is laying now will begin to pay off.

"Stay the course," he told the City Council in a study session, outlining the successes and ongoing challenges. "The city of Stockton is doing some things right, making headway."

A year ago, the City Council set four goals: straightening its finances; increasing public safety; stimulating Stockton's economy; and making City Hall efficient.

Under those interlocking goals, city leaders pinpointed a list of 38 specific items that needed fixing.

Deis and other city staffers reported item by item a description of each specific area, who in City Hall is leading the effort and a status check - what's on schedule, behind or complete.

As glowing examples, Deis said the city invited a strike team from the Urban Land Institute for a week in February that will soon send recommendations for revitalizing Stockton's troubled core. In April, a committee formed under the Marshall Plan on crime met for the first time. After the meeting, Deis said members said they were impressed with the outlook.

All of this progress came even with significant distractions, like tense labor negotiations with the city's represented employees and Stockton having gone into confidential mediation with creditors in a pre-bankruptcy stage.

City Hall also experienced an exodus of key city staff within the past year, said Deis, who has worked at six different local governments in his career. He complimented the council for taking aggressive actions.

"Everywhere, councils develop goals, and that's it," he said. "Very few translate those into action."

Mayor Ann Johnston passed the compliment back to city staff for their work.

"I, too, am frankly amazed at the progress we've made despite all the challenges," she said.



Vice Mayor Kathy Miller also pointed out that the city has kept open community pools, started a youth tennis program and found a partner to keep the inner-city Merlo gym open with activities.

Too often, the headlines splash with the challenges, she said. "It's important to let the public know that we are busy and we are delivering critical services," she said.

Resident Gary Malloy pressed the council and city leaders for tangible results coming from the plans on paper. He asked when more police will be on the streets and why monthly financial reports weren't available.

"The citizens want to see action on crime and action on the finances," he said. Two people were found slain earlier in the day.

Police Chief Eric Jones responded to his staffing levels, saying that he has 344 budgeted positions and 326 officers now on the job. His office is actively recruiting, and soon, a federal grant will allow his office to hire 17 more officers, he said.

Stockton police are constantly working with the FBI, federal marshals and the California Highway Patrol, he added.

Deis said the downside is a federal grant giving Stockton 20 police officers soon expires, and the city's general fund will have to absorb their pay. "Come hell or high water," he said, "we're not going to cut those positions."

Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/smithblog.

“RON PAUL WINS MINNESOTA DELEGATES BY A LANDSLIDE”

That’s the headline right now at Slate where Dave Weigel writes:

A few weeks back, when Rick Santorum was arguing that he could power out delegate wins by organizing the little-noticed state conventions and caucuses, I agreed with him. And then Santorum quit. This left the state delegate pool hot and panting for Romneymentum, right?

Not quite yet. Over the weekend, Minnesota held congressional district conventions. Now, the state’s February caucus — one of the trio of non-binding contests Santorum won early that month — went 45 percent for Santorum, 27 percent for Paul, and only 17 percent for Romney. The Associated Press and other groups went on to estimate that Santorum would win 17 of Minnesota’s delegates, Paul would win 10, and Romney 6.

Wrong. Ron Paul dominated the CD conventions. According to a tweet from RNC committeewoman Pat Anderson, Paul took 20 of the 24 delegates available in the CDs.

That’s 20 delegates more than the zero that Paul got from Minnesota in 2008. Keep watching this. The Paul movement spent five years prepping for a guerilla delegate campaign…

This Race is just getting started. Do not believe the Lies coming from your TV...

2pac On Stage at 2012 Coachella Festival

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The stars came out on the final day of So-Cal's Coachella festival, only at Coachella would a surprise dance tent performance by a superstar like Rihanna (more on that later) not be THE most talked-about event of the day. Instead, everyone was talking about another, much more surprising superstar cameo, by Tupac. Yes, the late Tupac Shakur. In hologram form.
Tupac died in 1996, three years before the first Coachella festival took place, but that didn't stop him--or at least his bizarrely lifelike 3D image--from joining Dr. Dre onstage during Dre's much-hyped festival finale this year. Call it better gigging through technology: About halfway through Dre's 70-minute set, what appeared to be an actual shirtless Tupac appeared onstage, greeted the crowd with "What up, Coachella?"--and then traded rhymes with Dre's co-billed Coachella partner, the flesh-and-blood Snoop Dogg, on "Come With Me," "Hail Mary," and "Gangsta Party." Concertgoers at first seemed confused--the audience momentarily grew abnormally silent--and that confusion only increased when Tupac suddenly vaporized and vanished from the stage as quickly as he had materialized. All eyez were on him, so to speak, and then, POOF--'Pac was gone.

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All Website Polls show Ron Paul By Far the Favorite Candidate for President

"I agree with Pattyk. Obama is a fraud. He was subpoenaed to appear in a GA court last month and produce his original birth certificate. He failed to appear in court. He regards himself as above the law. The social security number that he is using belongs to a deceased woman. He goes to war without going to Congress, which is unconstitutional. He is for spending, spending, spending. He is destroying our nation morally and financially. Americans who want liberty, and peace should Vote for Ron Paul." - Lulyn



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Gov. Brown's tax-the-rich pitch looks like a winner

— Paul Whitefield

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown speaks at a news conference at a Boeing plant in Long Beach. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Californians don’t actually hate taxes. They just don’t want to pay taxes.

Huh?

No, that’s not a contradiction. As my colleague Anthony York reported in Sunday’s Times:

California voters strongly support Gov. Jerry Brown's new proposal to increase the sales tax and raise levies on upper incomes to help raise money for schools and balance the state's budget, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they supported the governor's measure, which he hopes to place on the November ballot. It would hike the state sales tax by a quarter-cent per dollar for the next four years and create a graduated surcharge on incomes of more than $250,000 that would last seven years. A third of respondents opposed the measure.

Brown's new plan, rewritten recently amid pressure from liberal activist and union groups that had a competing proposal, relies on a larger share of revenue from upper-income earners than his original measure. Correspondingly, it leans less upon sales taxes, which are paid by all California consumers. The poll shows that taxing high earners is overwhelmingly popular.

You see: Californians aren’t opposed to tax increases — as long as it is someone else being taxed.

You want to raise my taxes? Over my dead body!

You want to raise taxes on the rich? As Oliver Twist might say, “More please.”

Or, as The Times story said:

"These poll results illustrate that Brown was very smart to put together this initiative the way he did," said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

Well, yes. Go ahead with all those “Gov. Moonbeam” jokes if you want, but Brown is no dummy. The state needs money. Republicans in the Legislature act as if raising taxes violates one of the Ten Commandments. Californians believe, wrongly, that they are taxed to death (or rightly, that the Legislature needs to get a grip on how it spends tax dollars).

The solution? Pick on the rich. Because here’s what that strategy buys you:

Shirley Karns, 74, an independent voter from the Northern California town of Lakeport who backs the governor's new plan, said the wealthy should pay more.

"Those who have an unbelievable amount more than those who do not should contribute more," she said. "And on the sales tax, the more you buy, the more you pay. It's pretty tough on low-income people who have to pay an extra nickel here and there, but we've got to get the money from somewhere."

Shirley, we can safely assume, does not qualify for membership in the California millionaires club. (Nor, apparently, does she buy a lot of big-ticket items.)

Of course, these are just poll results. Poll results don’t matter as much as what happens when people step into that private little place called a voting booth. (See: L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, governor’s race, 1982.)

But with the state’s education system crumbling, its infrastructure eroding and its budget bathed in red ink, a tax increase certainly appears to be at least one part of the solution.

And here’s betting that most Californians will agree in November — especially if they’re not the ones who’ll feel the pain.

VIRGO: Saturday's Horoscope

Daily Virgo Horoscope
Saturday, Mar 17, 2012 -- So much has happened in your life over the past couple of months, yet you might not be able to see the changes yet. Although progress continues to be slower than you wish, your life is undergoing a subtle transformation. Instead of thinking about what has gone wrong, direct your energy toward small tasks that you can finish. Instead of working harder, use your brain and work smarter. You have more time than you realize, so don't let self-criticism get in the way of your ultimate success.

There's The Phone, Hey Mom!

Official defends 'lethal force' against US citizens

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday defended the government's use of "lethal force," even against American citizens abroad, as part of the effort to protect the nation against terror attacks.

The speech marked the first time a senior US official has publicly justified in legal terms the drone attacks that are believed to have killed at least three US citizens on foreign soil in recent months, including key Al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaqi.

"Given the nature of how terrorists act and where they tend to hide, it may not always be feasible to capture a United States citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack," Holder said in a speech at a law school in Chicago.

"In that case, our government has the clear authority to defend the United States with lethal force."

Holder said there were circumstances under which "an operation using lethal force in a foreign country, targeted against a US citizen who is a senior operational leader of Al-Qaeda or associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans, would be lawful."

Such circumstances included that a thorough review had determined the individual posed "an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States" and that "capture is not feasible."

Thirdly, the "operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles," Holder told the audience at the Northwestern University School of Law.

"Some have called such operations 'assassinations.' They are not... assassinations are unlawful killings," Holder said.

"Our legal authority is not limited to the battlefield in Afghanistan... We are at war with a stateless enemy, prone to shifting operations from country to country," he added.

"Our government has both a responsibility and a right to protect this nation and its people from such threats." Civil rights groups have cried foul since the killing of Awlaqi in Yemen in September in a US raid.

Some argued it was illegal for the US military to kill an American citizen on the battlefield, following no attempt to indict him. US intelligence officials believed Awlaqi was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in 2009 in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on December 25, 2009.

President Barack Obama said in September that Awlaqi's killing was a "major blow" to Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch, and marked "another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last month filed a lawsuit seeking the release of documents authorizing targeted drone strikes, such as the one on Awlaqi.

US citizen Samir Khan was killed in the same attack on Awlaqi, and Awlaqi's US-born teenage son was killed in October in a separate suspected US air strike in Yemen.

Ron Paul - Vote 2012

Ron Paul deserves a chance to be heard! www.knkt.me

All Delegates Belong to Ron Paul

No Other candidate has been awarded any delegates, but Ron Paul. Don't believe what they are telling you!

Ron Paul: "No Deal" with Romney

Paul talks hemp, federal regulation in ND visit

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul praised hemp as an alternative crop and said a free-market approach would protect the nation's environment Monday during North Dakota campaign stops that drew hundreds of cheering supporters.

North Dakota, which is holding Republican presidential caucuses March 6, is one of 13 states with a caucus or primary from Feb. 28 to March 6. North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention in August, although the caucus results will not dictate how any of them vote.

Paul campaigned in Williston, Dickinson, Jamestown and Bismarck on Sunday and Monday, following rival Rick Santorum's swing through Fargo, on the Minnesota border, and the northwestern oil-country town of Tioga last week.

In Jamestown, about 100 miles east of Bismarck, Paul was critical of the federal government's ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp, a crop that is related to marijuana but does not have its mind-affecting properties.

Industrial hemp is grown in neighboring Canada and other countries, where it is used to make paper, lotions, clothing and biofuels.

North Dakota's Legislature and Agriculture Department have pushed allowing hemp to be grown in the state. A state lawmaker who wanted to cultivate the crop filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration, seeking a declaration that doing so would be legal.

"There is no reason, in a free society, that farmers shouldn't be allowed to raise hemp," Paul said during a Jamestown appearance that drew about 300 people. "Hemp is a good product."

In Bismarck, where the Republican congressman spoke to about 1,200 people Monday night in the gymnasium of a private Christian school, Paul said enforcement of private property rights would be sufficient to protect citizens against pollution, rather than relying on the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

"The more socialized a system is, the worse the property is, and the worse the environment is," Paul said. "We should never be bashful about saying we believe in property rights ... and we don't have to give one inch and say that we're careless with the environment, because you don't have a right to pollute your neighbor's property."

In North Dakota's Republican presidential caucuses in 2008, Paul finished third behind Mitt Romney and John McCain, getting 21 percent of the almost 9,800 votes case.

Duane Sattler, of Richardton, was one of the sign-carrying Paul supporters who attended his Bismarck speech. His son, 13-year-old Shawn Sattler, sat nearby, waving an American flag.

"He's been standing alone a lot of times," Sattler said of Paul. "He votes for our personal freedoms, for sound money, and for less government and less taxes."

He became a Paul supporter during his presidential run in 2008, Sattler said. "I really went and did some research, and the deeper I dug, the more I liked the man," he said. "With the other candidates, the deeper I dug, the less I liked them."

Rate on 30-year mortgage drops to record 3.89 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates fell once again to a record low, offering a great opportunity for those who can afford to buy or refinance homes. But few are able to take advantage of the historic rates.

Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.89 percent. That's below the previous record of 3.91 percent reached three weeks ago.

Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.16 percent. That's down from a record 3.21 percent three weeks ago. Mortgage rates are lower because they track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent. They could fall even lower this year if the Fed launches another round of bond purchases, as some economists expect.

Average fixed mortgage rates hovered around 4 percent at the end of 2011. Yet many Americans either can't take advantage of the rates or have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don't want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Mortgage applications have fallen slightly on a seasonally adjusted basis over the past four weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said that until hiring picks up and unemployment drops significantly, the impact of lower mortgage rates will remain muted.

To finish reading this story, click here: Yahoo!

Santorum Proves Unfit for Presidency with Bible Attack

COMMENTARY | Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum effectively disqualified himself from the office of the presidency today. Speaking in Ohio, Santorum revealed his inability to govern a pluralistic society. The truth emerged in the context of an attack on President Barack Obama, whose agenda he claimed is "about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology," according to the Associated Press.
For a man running for president to suggest governmental policy should be based on the Bible raises a red flag that proves his unfitness for the job. Santorum calling non-Bible-based religion phony tells voters he will only represent Christians. The U.S. is not a theologically defined society but one governed by a Constitution, whose First Amendment precludes government establishment of religion. The government cannot base public policy on the Christian Bible without running afoul of this governing principle.

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RON PAUL ENDORSED BY MISSOURI STATE REP. PAUL CURTMAN

POISED TO INTRODUCE DR. PAUL TONIGHT, REP. CURTMAN CITES PROLIFE STANCE, PROTECTION OF LIBERTY, AND ‘PLAN TO RESTORE AMERICA’ AS INSPIRATION FOR ENDORSEMENT

LAKE JACKSON, Texas– 2012 Republican Presidential candidate was endorsed today by Missouri State Representative Paul Curtman of the 105th Legislative District, comprising parts of Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Louis counties.

Rep. Curtman, a rising star in the conservative political establishment, will introduce Dr. Paul tonight at a campaign rally the 12-term Congressman from Texas will hold in Kansas City.

In making his public endorsement, Rep. Curtman issued the following statement:

“Missouri is a prolife state, and if we handle the abortion issue at the state level like Ron Paul says, then we could end the practice of abortion in Missouri.

“Political office is reserved as a position of service, not a position of status. The fact that Ron Paul hasn’t applied for congressional benefits tells me that he is a public servant determined to protect my liberty.

“I find great value in Ron Paul’s principled stand for protecting personal freedom and sound financial principles. Blind loyalty to political figures has done nothing but expand the size of government, and it creates budget deficits that will take generations to pay off. Ron Paul has a plan to cut a trillion dollars of spending his first year, and he has consistently fought for personal freedom throughout his time in Congress.”

Today an ardent student of history and outspoken defender of the U.S. Constitution, Paul R. Curtman graduated from Pacific High School in 1999. He subsequently enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served his country as an infantryman with Golf Co. 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines. As a Sergeant in the Marines, Paul deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After leaving active duty, Paul continued his service as a Marines Reservist for six years. During that time, Paul attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he earned a bachelors’ degree in Political Science. Upon graduation, he became licensed as a Series 7 Investment Representative and employed at a major investment firm.

Paul is the fourth of five children with two brothers and two sisters. His father, Dr. C.R. Curtman, has pastored a Baptist church for nearly 35 years with the support of his wife, Paul’s mother. Paul’s brothers and sisters include a biologist, accountant, police officer, and businessman.

In addition to his endorsement as a lawmaker in the Show-Me State, as a function of this announcement Rep. Curtman also joins the national advisory board of “Veterans for Ron Paul,” in particular its Missouri steering committee.

Providing a strong boost to Ron Paul’s Missouri state organization, such endorsements present Ron Paul as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. They also demonstrate that the 12-term Congressman from Texas has the only campaign organization capable of maintaining a 50-state competition with the moderate-establishment Romney.

Big Win For Ron Paul in Maine

Big Win For Ron Paul in Maine