Rein in the IRS Rallies will be held at noon today across the country. Tweet, e-mail and call your Congress Critters, send letters to the editor of your failing newspapers, flash signs at busy street corners. See the full posting below from Jenny Beth Martin, of Tea Party Patriots.

We need more answers about IRS abuse of power

On May 10th, America learned that the IRS – perhaps the most frightening of all government agencies – has been singling out and targeting conservative groups, including Tea Party groups. This admission from the IRS confirms what many of us had already suspected. The IRS has, in fact, been delaying our applications and harassing those of us who wanted to form local Tea Party chapter organizations. In some extreme cases, the IRS went after Tea Party local leaders and audited their family members. President Obama said the IRS’s actions are “unacceptable.” He’s right, but these actions are also un-American and un-Constitutional.

The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, which includes the right to political speech and the right to associate and form groups with other like-minded individuals. The Tea Party movement, which began organically in 2010 in response to government excess, has attracted millions of regular Americans. The Tea Party movement is, at its core, the embodiment of the American spirit. The Tea Party movement sprang up in response to the government’s abuses of its powers, and this latest stunt from the IRS confirms for many of us why the Tea Party is so necessary.

In response to this outrageous revelation, the House Ways & Means Committee immediately held a hearing to question Steven Miller, the former acting commissioner of the IRS who resigned because of the scandal, but only one month before his term would have ended. The questions at the hearing covered a broad spectrum:

- When did you learn about this targeting? What actions did you take after learning about this issue?

- Why did you previously lie to the Ways & Means Committee? Why did you mislead the American people about this problem?

But Mr. Miller is apparently suffering from temporary amnesia because the only answer he offered was: “I don’t remember.”

The systemic abuse of power that took place for nearly three years at the IRS is simply too far-reaching and widespread for Mr. Miller to get away with not remembering what took place.

Americans expect that our government will enforce its laws and rules – especially its tax laws – with fairness and equal application. Congress needs to keep asking questions and demanding more substantive answers than the evasive responses Mr. Miller provided

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In an uproarious session of the Orinda City Council on Monday, May 13, residents of Orinda and other Bay Area communities expressed strong opposition to plans requiring local communities to build high-density, high-rise housing in Orinda and elsewhere.

About 40 individuals, over a three-hour period, told the city council that they vigorously opposed so-called stack and pack housing for Orinda and other cities. Most, but not all, of the speakers were from Orinda.

Residents of Marin and San Mateo Counties were also present. One resident of El Sobrante in Contra Costa County also spoke. She said that she opposed high-rise housing.

Over 200 people attended the city council meeting, perhaps the most heavily attended Orinda council meeting in a decade. Most council meetings draw about 10 to 20 audience members.

The speakers’ complaints were mostly about Plan Bay Area, a proposal to get people out of their cars and live in tall buildings. Some of these tall buildings may be built near BART stations.

Despite admonitions to the audience by Orinda Mayor and City Council Member, Amy Worth, not to applaud, almost every speaker who denounced high-rise, high density housing received vigorous applause.

About four Orinda residents, including a high school student, praised the high-rise plan.

Many of the speakers said that they moved to Orinda to have gardens, lawns, and a semi-rural environment. Some speakers said that they had previously lived in such cities as New York and San Francisco and moved to Orinda to get away from urban congestion and crime.

Many cities, including Orinda, in Contra Costa County are being told to construct special housing for “low-income” and “very low-income” individuals. Regional organizations like the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) are trying to order local communities to create housing for low-income individuals.

Many speakers said that an influx of new residents in Orinda will overwhelm the schools and increase crime.

The respective boards of directors or ABAG and MTC are not directly elected by voters. Mayor Worth of Orinda is an example. She was elected directly by voters to her Orinda council seat. But voters did not directly elect Ms. Worth to her MTC position. Currently, Ms. Worth is the chairperson of MTC.

One speaker accused Ms. Worth of having a conflict of interest by serving simultaneously on the Orinda City Council and the MTC.

One Orinda resident received vigorous applause when he suggested that the California Legislature pass a bill “requiring all directors, officers, and employees of ABAG and MTC to surrender their driver’s licenses and move into stack and pack housing.”

Another Orinda resident said that the MTC should be called the “KMC — the Karl Marx Commission.”

Three Orinda City Council members were present: Steve Glazer; Dean Orr; and Ms. Worth. Absent were Sue Severson and Victoria Smith.

Concord Mayor Dan Helix, Councilman Ron Leone, and Tim Grayson have one thing in common. All were registered Republicans who recently bolted the Party. It is speculated that in the case of these office holders, being a member of the GOP has proven to be a handicap not only for holding local non partisan posts, but also in dealing with political matters outside of city limits. Can the new state GOP chairman turn Republican prospects in California around?

Because of resounding defeats in the past two presidential elections combined with Republicans losing their veto power in both houses of the State Legislature in 2012 (holding less than 1/3 of the seats), the once proud party has been relegated to the status of a minor player in the Golden State. A previous submission made by me in this blog referring to Republicans as “an endangered species,” was no exaggeration.

This sad fact has not escaped incoming GOP Chairman Jim Brulte, who has urged Republicans to “leave their comfort zones.” Speaking at a local fundraiser May 7th at Vic Stewert’s Steak House in Walnut Creek, Brulte compared the role of the party to developing a farm team system in baseball. He wants to build up a solid base of prospective candidates on a local level to become viable opponents to Democrats in the 2014 legislative races.

Brulte, who has enjoyed considerable success serving in the State Assembly for 13 years and as Secretary of Transportation under President Reagan, sees his role as Party Chairman in a pragmatic way. He sees his job as creating an environment, “where Republicans can start winning again.” Brulte is concentrating on fund raising rather than pushing conservative political ideology that has characterized the party in the past several years.

As part of this strategy, the Republican Chairman wants to “stop spending so much time speaking to the choir,” and do a better job including others who do not currently participate in the Party. To do this, Brulte wants to broaden the Party’s base by reaching out to minorities who are presently not well represented among the ranks of Republicans as voters or as candidates.

Job #1 on the GOP list are Latinos who are projected to become a majority in California within 20 years. Thus far, they have not supported Republican candidates in any large numbers. Aside from immigration policies, Hispanics have often been at odds with the GOP on other issues such as drivers license requirements, insurance, marijuana, and social services. There seems to be an uneasy feeling in this community that Republicans are a racist group of white people who only pay attention to them in political campaigns when they bring out the token Mariachi Bands to woo voters.

Despite their poor record with Latinos, getting support from increasing voting block is essential if the Republican Party is to make a meaningful comeback in California. This may mean a departure from the anti-immigrant stance that has characterized GOP platforms in the past two decades. Congress passing legislation on this issue would be a big help.

With Latinos leaning towards conservative Catholic social values, they would appear to be a solid target for GOP strategists. Or, as President Reagan once commented, “Hispanics are Republicans, they just do not know it yet.”
Along with Brulte there are other Republican leaders who want to move the party away from the failed libertarian extreme right direction that has been the focus of the party’s failure in recent elections. Lynne Leach, now a spry 77, was one of the last two Republican’s elected to the State Legislature more than a decade ago. She thinks there are plenty of good issues to move the Party forward.

Among the areas Leach would like to work on is redevelopment, balancing environmental considerations with job creation, the size of government, reducing red tape, and returning power from the State to local authorities. “Prospective candidates need to buckle down and learn the issues” she said. After that, candidates will be able to convince voters to support them. Leach enthusiastically says, “This is a great time to be a Republican.”

Regardless whether the Republican Party can revive itself in the near future, it is important that some new constituency fill the void when the Democratic Party assumed their super majority in 2012; creating a stranglehold of power in Sacramento. With few checks and balances to rein in abuse of power, the big losers are the citizens of California. History has proven one voice does not work well in a Democracy. California is no exception.

Even with this compelling argument, there does not seem to be a ground swell to elect anything else but left wing legislators from safe districts in California. Jim Brutte seems well aware of this fact as he has unveiled a modest six year plan to make the GOP a major force once again in State politics. His “nuts and bolts” approach includes:

1. Outside of making up for the huge deficit of the Party, improve fund raising and to broaden the base of donors to get more people involved with the electoral process.

2. Improve the party’s infrastructure and recruit better candidates than have been running of late.

3. Reach out to Latino, Asian, Black, Indian, and other minority voters. Issues will have to be tailored to their preferences to gain their participation within the Party.

In addition to the structural changes and broadening the base of the Party as Brulte has suggested, Republicans will have to steer away from cultural issues while concentrating their energies on taxes and anti business policies carried out by the State and Federal governments. No matter what one’s political leanings might be, “food, shelter, and clothing,”, are always important considerations for the American family.

Good luck with the GOP, Jim. An excellent place to start your house cleaning is with the Republican Party of Contra Costa County. It needs to move their its base away from Rossmoor and the Crow Canyon Country Club to the real world where most of us reside. If this can be done, perhaps you can stop the defections of former Republicans; that is if you can still find them.

California Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles) says California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it sweeping authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions will meet California Constitutional requirements. Covered California plans to spend nearly $458 million on outside vendors by the end of 2014, covering lawyers, consultants, public relations advisers and other functions.

According to AP, California bureaucrats can conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The California agency was given powers that are the most restrictive in what information is required to be made public.

California will be unique among the states implementing Obamacare by creating a barrier from public disclosure that stands out nationwide.

In setting up the California exchange, lawmakers gave it the authority to keep all contracts private for a year and the amounts paid secret indefinitely. “Except for the portion of a contract that contains the rates of payment, contracts entered into pursuant to this title shall be open to inspection one year after their effective dates,” reads the code specifying what exchange records are exempt from public disclosure.

AP notes, “Other exchange records that are allowed to be kept secret include those that reveal recommendations, research, strategy of the board or its staff, or those that provide instructions, advice or training to employees. Minutes of the board meetings also are exempt from disclosure.”

Exchange spokesman Dana Howard said the agency complies with state law but declined to discuss in detail how it determines what is public and what is not.

“I’m not going to go down item by item, about how it is and what kinds of meetings and what was talked about,” he said.

It’s routine in government to keep bids secret until contracts are awarded, so one vendor does not get an unfair advantage over others. After a bid is awarded, contracts generally become fully public.

But not in California!

In California, the explicit exclusions from open-records laws may run afoul of the state constitution, said Terry Francke, head of Californians Aware, a group that promotes government transparency.

If the Legislature wants to limit access, the state constitution requires it produce findings that demonstrate the need for shielding information from the public. In the bill that authorized the exchange, the Legislature devoted two sentences to address that issue. It argued the cloaked spending was “necessary” to protect “powers and obligations to negotiate on behalf of the public.”

Those provisions are vulnerable to being declared unconstitutional, according to Francke.

He said, in essence, lawmakers are saying they need it because they need it, with no details or evidence to support it. The Legislature should have answered the questions, “Why couldn’t the exchange do its job without this secrecy? What’s the worst that could happen?” Francke said.

I just returned from watching the demolition of the Pleasant Hill Dome theater – very sad. It’s doubly frustrating in that last Monday evening I was compelled to cast the deciding city council vote to deny the last-minute appeal by the Save The Dome group.

It seems patently unfair and unlawful to impose historic landmark constraints on a property owner retroactively.

Could the Dome have been saved if it had been designated as a registered landmark in years past? We’ll never know, but there are other historically significant landmarks worthy of consideration. What of the Old Schoolhouse, the Old Firehouse, Mangini Farm, etc.?

The Pleasant Hill Historical Society and the Friends of Rodgers Ranch do their work under the protection of a registered historical landmark there, but struggle to raise the funds necessary to complete restoration.

Let’s hope we can learn from this unhappy lesson, and come together to save and make available other wonderful treasures.

~ Jack Weir is a member of the Pleasant Hill City Council. The views expressed here are his own. Thanks for the YouTube clip to “virtualvegan“.

Expensive government bureaucracies are not needed to create housing for people — low-income or otherwise. Government housing projects often require union labor, raising the price of construction by 20 percent to 50 percent. An efficient way to help the private sector construct needed housing is to use tax shelters.

These shelters were banned in the 1986 federal tax reform signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

Prior to 1986, there were real estate limited partnerships that gave investors tax relief in exchange for investing in housing developments.

Here is how such a partnership often worked: An investor would put $10,000 into the partnership. The partnership generally expired in three years.

During the first year, the investor would obtain $24,000 in tax write-off, meaning that the investor’s federal tax obligations would decrease by $24,000.

In the second year, the write-off was $8,000. For the third year, the write off was $1,000.

After three years, the partnership was sold. Any profits derived from the sale were taxable.

Thus, for a $10,000 investment, an investor would save $33,000 in taxes — a net gain of $23,000.

By using the tax system, housing could be built efficiently and cheaply.

Why not build housing by using tax shelters instead of hiring high-priced government bureaucrats who, in turn, use union labor?

Governor Jerry Brown appointed Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia (Richmond, CA) to the California Air Resources Board to fill the vacant seat representing the San Francisco Bay Area. Gioia said he is “greatly honored by being appointed to take on this new, important responsibility. I have deep respect for Governor Brown’s history of innovative and bold leadership on the environment, including on air quality issues.”

The Air Resources Board is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA). Among its many important roles is providing leadership in addressing climate change, including implementing and enforcing air pollution control rules. The Board has established California as a national air quality leader by setting the most stringent vehicle emission standards in the United States.

Mary Nichols, the current chair of the Air Resources Board, is an amazing lifelong environmentalist who was just named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for her leadership in boosting the fuel economy of American cars, and cutting acid rain and greenhouse gases.

Gioia says he looks forward to working with Nichols, and all the other board members, in tackling critical upcoming issues, including investing the state’s cap-and-trade revenues, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, advancing clean energy, and improving community health. Gioia said, “I view all of these as key to improving the quality of life in local communities, including Contra Costa, the state, and the nation.”

Being politically correct or PC as it is known, has never been one of my better attributes. Offending people with what can be charitably termed an offbeat sense of humor, has often made me struggle badly in mixed company. For instance,

Last week at a cocktail party, I told the tale of a guy whose wife sent him to the drug store to buy “some of those things” to make him perform better. Upon his return from the pharmacy this fellow was confused why his wife threw him out of the house after he handed her some diet pills.

“This is not funny Richard, you are making fun of overweight people,” I was told. “These individuals are suffering from a disease. They are victims. You’re an emotionally bankrupt chump.”

Incidents such as this tend to make me gun shy. It is so easy these days to offend people, even if one does not intentionally try to do so. Case in point is a liberal acquaintance Polyanna, who, despite my diverse group of friends of “Heinz 57″ origin, thinks I am a racist because of holding conservative political views. In addition, she considers me a sexist by virtue of a vocabulary which is not PC enough.

The other day when innocently remarking to Polyanna about planting Early Girl tomatoes in my vegetable garden, I was immediately reprimanded for offending women. The word girl apparently is not appropriate in polite conversation anymore unless one is referring to a child or a grandmotherly type.

To make things worse, I later got in more trouble when mentioning it was my intention to make a run over to “Fresh and Easy” to score some chicken. After ducking the paperweight that was thrown in my direction, I reasoned it would be best for me to re-educate myself rather than risking further difficulties with the PC crowd.

Even President Obama got in trouble with this group when he recently remarked that California Attorney General Kamala Harris is the most attractive lady holding the office in the USA. There was so much outrage about this seemingly harmless comment that Obama and his press secretary had to apologize and beg forgiveness the next day.

Things are so touchy that even basic colors can be controversial. I have learned from bitter experience that it offends certain individuals if one is critical of anything brown, black, or green. Even yellow is out if it refers to skin color. Rainbows can also be controversial unless they are somehow connected with Seasame Street or a certain coalition. Purple is OK but it is best to use this color in reference to Barney the Dinosaur. The only thing I know for certain is, that when in doubt, trash anything that is white.

Sports team mascots are not immune from wrath from PC world. For several years the Washington Redskins have been under attack by Indian rights advocates who feel this name demeans their race. Public outcry has resulted in the Houston Colt 45′s becoming Astros and Stanford Indians transforming into The Cardinal. One wonders when cheerleaders in sexy outfits will be outlawed as they are obviously a sexist activity of the highest order.

Jokes concerning religion, which at one point were considered the mainstay of our culture, are not PC in any form these days. A humorous bit that begins with a meeting of a Baptist minister, Catholic priest, and a Rabbi, is now considered to be a borderline hate crime. Former President Ronald Reagan, who was known for telling these type of stories, were he living today, might be denounced as a bigot.

Of course the big elephant in the closet is the Muslim faith. Any reference made to this group is a serious matter, as evidenced by Islamist mobs being inflamed by a novel by Salmon Rushdie, political cartoons, burning a Koran; or worse, a comedian telling a seemingly harmless joke. Before more information was made available, it was first thought the fatal attack on the American Consulate in Libya was the result of defaming Muslims by American heretics. We are getting to the point where the Adventures of Aladdin is a subject that should be treaded on lightly.

Ethnic jokes, be they Polish, Irish, Jewish, Chukchies (Russian Eskimo’s) etc., are sailing on to dangerous waters. The only way a belittling comment can be made by any nationality or race—while still keeping the PC approved label—is if the comedian is related by blood to this group. In this way, Chris Rock is hilarious if he makes fun of black folks but not so humorous if he jokes about other races.

The biggest area of Non-PC approved humor is dumb people whom we once referred to when I was a kid as being retards. Now these individuals are called “mentally challenged” or perhaps developmentally handicapped. Such people have historically been the subject of humor in punch lines to jokes that entail stupidity. No longer is this the case as our society has become more respectful to those of low IQ.

As a result, other terminology has had to be devised when people are not in the public spotlight. For example, when the movie Borat was released, the eponymous lead character had a dumb brother by the name of Bilo who was the butt of crude humor. At the time many teenagers, who related to this character, used the description of Bilo to describe 800-number types who weren’t quite all there.

In addition to PC guidelines, there are certain taboo subjects that can only bring wrath from those who judge us. Among the topics that should be avoided are global warming/climate change, organic anything, recycling, pro life, and endangered species (especially Republicans in California). It is best to keep conversations with PC sensitive people on the topic of diversity, as long as you are not referring to your hand gun collection.

There is still humor that exists today about sex but once again one has to careful that jokes on this subject are not offensive. It is still OK to make up gags involving cheating on a spouse as long as their ethnicticity, sexual preferences, age, or physical condition are not mentioned. But then again, after the PC check list is taken into account, there may not be much left over to laugh about.

In trying to avoid the wrath of the PC Police. I feel like either attending a 12 step program to cure my potty mouth or pour myself a drink, pop a pill, and smoke a reefer, to ease the pain of not being able to fit in with polite society. Or, as Jimmy Hendrix once said, Excuse me while I kiss the sky. Such is my lot in life.

The Concord Mayor’s Golf Tournament is a fundraiser that brings in anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 dollars and provided the backdrop to show off the new mobile clinic van for RotaCare which will receive a major share of the proceeds.

RotaCare sets up Thursdays at Cambridge Elementary School on Lacy Lane in Concord. The group provides FREE urgent medical care clinic for adults as well as dispense medications relating to urgent care treatment for people without insurance. A Women’s clinic is available at the Salvation Army Center on Clayton Road every fourth Wednesday from 5-8PM.

You can schedule appointments on Thursdays between 1 and 2PM at 925-429-6409

The mobile van features two examination rooms between a fully equipped nurses station/staging area. It has wall sections that can be extended out 2 feet on either side to allow for more room during the examinations. The van cost around $295,000 which was raised by the major sponsors of John Muir Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, the Mount Diablo Hospital District and the Rotary Club of Concord.

The RotoCare Van is supported by Rotary clubs in the area who provide the volunteer staff that have spear headed the funding drive to support the operation. In the last year RotoCare has served about 1,200 people keeping approximately 500 out of the emergency rooms of the community hospitals as well as providing preventive/meditative care to those without insurance.