Archive for November, 2009

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) issued this proclamation:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.

Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverance and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

This past month’s poor voter turnout has been criticized by many as an example of “lazy residents” who want to complain about issues but not get out and vote on those issues.

17% of registered voters in Lake Havasu City turned out for the three ballot initiatives; initiatives, I might add, that if passed would have end up costing people in general more money to be in our city. Higher taxes on residential properties, and higher taxes on the lifeblood of our community: the tourists in the hotels.

The increase in bed taxes was slated to go to the tourism promotion for Lake Havasu. But what advertising campaign would coax tourists back to a city that had ever-increasing hotel room costs and marginal customer service? Really, $200 per night for a hotel room built in 1982. Then an increased tax on top of that. Too many of our regular visitors have been burned by this cost. I have to hear it all the time.

If the two budget overrides had passed, the Lake Havasu Unified School District would have kept in place some funding that was originally advertised as a one-time fix for their budget. That’s right, when they got these overrides to pass several years ago, the voters were told the school district only needed a few years of extra money to get them back on track. We were told the overrides would expire after a few years and that would be that.
I must add, this is not money for every student in Lake Havasu, just the ones that attend the School District. Does not include the charters, private schools, home schooling students, or faith-based schools.

So then the overrides were placed on our ballots this month. We were told that we wouldn’t be seeing an increase in taxes, we would merely be keeping in place, or MAINTAINING the current level of funding. What happened to the original promise? That temporary fix that the schools needed a few years ago?

And in economic times like this, when we’re making less money but working twice as hard to earn it, we’re all looking for a way to cut down on our spending, taxes, bills, etc.
Why would the citizens vote for more taxes?

I say the dismal 17% voter turnout in Lake Havasu this month was the voter’s way of saying, “We are just so burned out on this stuff.” The citizens know that the upper level administration of the Unified School District have not suffered the pay cuts that everyone else has. They have not cut the fat. They have put the stress and the cut backs on the front lines, the teachers, so the public will interpret that as a need for more funding. That’s their way of doing public relations.

And here’s mine: a no vote.

I bet a lot of you didn’t know about the years where there were two Thanksgivings?

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of the month to be a day of “thanksgiving and praise.” For the first time, Thanksgiving became a national, annual holiday with a specific date.

However Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 moved Thanksgiving to the second to the last Thursday of the month instead of the last to help boost retail sales. In 1939, the last Thursday of November was going to be November 30. Retailers complained to FDR that this only left 24 shopping days to Christmas and begged him to push Thanksgiving just one week earlier. It was determined that most people do their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving and retailers hoped that with an extra week of shopping, people would buy more.

You can image what controversy this caused. Schools had to change their calendar in order for kids to have Thanksgiving off of school. Tests had to be rescheduled and vacation plans had to be changed. All calendars that were already printed for the year 1940 had to be reprinted with Thanksgiving now falling on the third Thursday of the month. Thanksgiving is a big day for football games, so the game schedule had to be examined. Political opponents of FDR and many others questioned the president’s right to change the holiday and stressed the breaking of precedent and disregard for tradition. Many believed that changing a cherished holiday just to appease businesses was not a sufficient reason for change. Atlantic City’s mayor derogatorily called November 23, the second to the last Thursday of the month, as “Franksgiving.”

In 1939, twenty-three states followed FDR’s change and declared Thanksgiving to be November 23. Twenty-three other states disagreed with FDR and kept the traditional date for Thanksgiving, November 30. Two states, Colorado and Texas, decided to honor both dates. In 1940, 31 states followed him with the earlier date and 17 kept the traditional date. It was in 1941, after the debate over the day on which Thanksgiving fell was tearing this country apart, that Congress passed a law declaring that Thanksgiving would occur every year on the fourth Thursday of November.

Well what a week it has been in the world of politics (both locally and nationally).

- First off, the Republican Party won two big seats in the 2009 elections last Tuesday. We won both the governor races in Virgina and New Jersey. We lost the New York race. Well if you honestly think Republican Dede Scozzafava was indeed a TRUE republican. Doug Hoffman ran on the Conservative Party’s ticket and got by far more votes than Dede Scozzafava, who many called too liberal to be a Republican. In the end, the battle of the two who claimed to be ‘conservative’ in the state of New York handed that race over to the Democratic ticket. But either way – the Republican Party did win two seats. However; I can’t say it’s a major win. This was a non-election year vote. In Virginia for example the overall voter turnout was 39.8 percent. It was actually the lowest voter turnout in Virginia in forty years. So to say it was a major win for the Republican Party in my opinion is not accurate. It was a victory, but it doesn’t mean the Republican Party can sit back and just hope the 2010 elections are handed to us on a silver platter. We have to get out there, make our voices heard, and give people a reason to vote for the Republican Party in 2010. As much as Obama digs himself into a hole everyday, we cannot count on that alone to win us the 2010 election! And we need to start now – we need to start making out voices heard. One of the major reasons I believe McCain lost the 2008 election was that he didn’t say enough. He sat back and let Obama win. He never really vocally fought back which is something he should have done. We need to make our voices heard because that is the only way we will win in 2010!

- The house passed the Health Care Bill (now onto the Senate). It was a close vote – 220 to 215. Have you looked at this version of the Health Care Bill? Of course not, it’s way too long and time consuming to sit there and read every single detail. Who’s to say these Representatives who passed this bill even read it? You don’t sign on the dotted line unless you have read the contract over thoroughly. Well I supposed the good thing is though that the ban on federal funding for abortion passed.

- Locally, the override and the bed tax did not pass in Lake Havasu. What will the consequences be? Who’s to say! I have read newspaper after newspaper since of school teachers fearing for the worst that they might lose their job. I personally voted for it because I was in High School in the year 2005 before the original override passed, and since then I do see the benefits that it brought to the school. But it didn’t pass. So now the school must find a way to deal with it. How about cutting salaries and laying off people at the top of the food chain first instead of the body? Does anyone find it ridicules that the X Superintend of Schools, Gail Malay, can not only collect off of her retirement fund but also was rehired by the district and receiving a salary as well? Why don’t we make it so people can’t double dip like that at the top levels. It would save jobs and money for the school district. Anyway, the school overrides failed and now we sit back and see just what the school district is going to do about it.

- Oh and one more thing – the Sosey’s in Havasu got to keep their windmill! : )

Sarah