Response to 'A Letter to Manteca Citizens from Manteca Police Officers Association

I am hoping that today is the last day of Summer for us. It has been too hot and I'm ready for the Fall and Winter weather. That said, today's Manteca Bulletin printed an open letter from the Manteca Police Officers Association to all citizens of Manteca.

http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/7431/

I decided to respond to this letter by commenting on it in the Manteca Bulletin. Why? Because this letter appears to be a letter inviting anyone who will listen to take the side of the MPOA in their personal fight against the City Manager, Steve Pinkerton, and the current city council.

Why do I say a personal fight? Because that is exactly what it is. A personal fight. There are two sides here and what the public is not aware of is the fact that this association spent money and endorsed the candidates several times over who in turn hired the current city manager. That's putting it simple. Now they cry foul? And want you and me to join in?

Why now do we have to get involved with this cat fight all in the name of public safety? In this letter we are being reminded that we have a gang problem, the State is considering (and they will do it) letting out violent offenders because of budget problems and Manteca is going to get hit. We might as well be told that a meteorite is on the path directly towards earth and it's going to have a direct impact on Manteca. We are ground zero.

While I am for police and fire, and for the safety of our city and the protection of our citizens and for true candidates that would do the job, this association needs to clean house. They endorsed these candidates and incumbents and now they are paying the price and appealing to our feelings disguised as common sense. What I don't like about this letter is they do not appeal to us about their past deeds.

Let me put it to you this way. They are basically asking you (us)(Manteca citizens) to join their association. What do most people do when they decide to join a club or organization? They do their due diligence and investigate the group before they make a decision to be a part of that association. Right? Well, that's how it goes for the most of us. We take a look before we make a move.

We're being asked to voice our opinion, contact city hall, speak in open forum to the council and tell them like it is. For what? And I say this, while I commented online, I was told to not make this political or mention candidates. Why not? This is a political letter and a political situation. The Manteca police officers association has made it so. They have been involved in politics telling us who we should vote for in all the elections since their inception. Why now should I shut up? It sounds like a political union boss telling me what to do. Could it be that is why they are in a cat fight with the city manager?

It appears that both sides are no longer listening and now the MPOA is attempting to recruit citizens on their side explaining just one side of the issue.

While I support our police and chief, I will not support an organization association that has control of it's officers, tells them who they should vote for, tells me who I should vote for, tells their officers to live with it and then informs me I too should shut up and go along with their open letter and not make it political.

I think the MPOA needs to do some reorganization of their own and clean house and stop endorsing candidates if they want to appeal to the citizens of Manteca and get their support. There are hungry children on the streets with mothers who are homeless that need food and warm blankets and shelter tonight. Spend it on them instead of candidates who really don't give a shit about you or I and then turn their backs on you.

You (MPOA) have put yourselves in this position and don't expect a bail-out from the public, we've already been raped by Washington and Sacramento, we don't need another screwing without a thank you.

Rhetoric And Fraud

"Hubris-laden charlatans" was the way a recent e-mail from a reader characterized the Obama administration. That phrase seems especially appropriate for the Charlatan-in-Chief, Barack Obama, whose speech to a joint session of Congress was both a masterpiece of rhetoric and a shameless fraud.

To tell us, with a straight face, that he can insure millions more people without adding to the already skyrocketing deficit, is world-class chutzpa and an insult to anyone's intelligence. To do so after an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has already showed this to be impossible reveals the depths of moral bankruptcy behind the glittering words.

Did we really need CBO experts to tell us that there is no free lunch? Some people probably did and the true believers in the Obama cult may still believe the President, instead of believing either common sense or budget experts.

Even those who can believe that Obama can conjure up the money through eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" should ask themselves where he is going to conjure up the additional doctors, nurses, and hospitals needed to take care of millions more patients.

If he can't pull off that miracle, then government-run medical care in the United States can be expected to produce what government-run medical care in Canada, Britain, and other countries has produced-- delays of weeks or months to get many treatments, not to mention arbitrary rationing decisions by bureaucrats.

Obama can deny it in words but what matters are deeds-- and no one's words have been more repeatedly the direct opposite of his deeds-- whether talking about how his election campaign would be financed, how he would not rush legislation through Congress, or how his administration was not going to go after CIA agents for their past efforts to extract information from captured terrorists.

President Obama has also declared emphatically that he will not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations-- while telling the Israelis where they can and cannot build settlements and telling the Hondurans whom they should and should not choose to be their president.

One of the secrets of being a glib talker is not getting hung up over whether what you are saying is true, and instead giving your full attention to what is required by the audience and the circumstances of the moment, without letting facts get in your way and cramp your style. Obama has mastered that art.

Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe. No message has been more welcomed by the gullible, in countries around the world, than the promise of something for nothing. That is the core of Barack Obama's medical care plan.

President Obama tells us that he will impose various mandates on insurance companies but will not interfere with our free choice between being insured by these companies or by the government. But if he can drive up the cost of private insurance with mandates and subsidize government insurance with the taxpayers' money, how long do you think it will be before we have the "single payer" system has he has advocated in the past?

Mandates by politicians are what have driven up the cost of insurance already. Politicians love to play Santa Claus and leave it to others to raise prices to cover the inevitable costs.

Politicians have driven privately owned municipal transit systems out of business in many cities, by simply imposing costs and restricting the fare increases needed to cover those costs. The federal government can drive out private insurance the same way that local politicians have driven out private municipal transit and replaced it with government-run transit systems.

Barack Obama's insistence that various dangerous policies are not in the legislation he proposes sounds good but means nothing. Unbridled power is a blank check, no matter what its rationale may be. No law gave the President of the United States the power to fire the head of General Motors, but TARP money did.

When there are "advisory" panels on what treatments to approve and the White House's existing medical advisor has complained of Americans' "over-utilization" of medical care, what does it take to connect the dots?

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Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His Web site is www.tsowell.com.

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A True American Hero

Congressman Joe Wilson was the ONLY Republican with balls! He pointed out with a loud SHOUT from his lungs, which were OUR voices as ONE to inform this fake president of his lies and outright theft of the American economy and to ensure illegals get citizenship.

Now, current Republicans are speaking out against one of their own about his behavior. How dare them. We need new conservatives and better congressman and congresswomen who do not put down their own. It's time for new leadership.

Shame on the Republicans for turning on Joe Wilson. He's the New Joe the Plumber. Obama is a fake, fraud and liar to the tilt and last nights address was a shame to the House and Senate floors. He spoke like a true socialist and dictator that he wants to be.

Republicans can now look forward to no more money, no more support from the membership. I am now canceling my membership to the RNC. Chairman Steele better get his microphone turned on in support of Joe Wilson and do it fast or he will start to loose membership.

Joe! Never apologize! You gave in. Shame on you for doing that. What you did was right but now you gave in. This is so terrible. Republican leadership needs to get out and we need to vote them out.

This was sent to me by email and thought I would pass it on

When a Veteran leaves the 'job' and retires to a better life, many are jealous, some are pleased, and others, who may have already retired, wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.

1. We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.

2. We know in the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet.

3. We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.

These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people suspiciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and always will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing.

Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life. You are only escaping the 'job' and merely being allowed to leave 'active' duty.

So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in your heart you never forget for one moment that you are still a member of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.

NOW! Civilian Friends vs. Veteran Friends Comparisons

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week. VETERAN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you met..
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry. VETERAN FRIENDS: Have cried with you.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours. VETERAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you. VETERAN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will kick the crowd's ass that left you behind.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are for a while. VETERAN FRIENDS: Are for life.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have shared a few experiences... VETERAN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no citizen could ever dream of..
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, 'You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!' Then carry you home safely and put you to bed...
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will talk crap to the person who talks crap about you. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will knock the hell out OF THEM...for using your name in vain.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will care more about their own person and try to reprimand you about BS to cover their own third party pseudo friends. VETERAN FRIENDS will stand up for you because you have an opinion and never put you down.

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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will ignore this. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will forward this.
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A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or reserve- is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The Government of the United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life'. . . and military wives are as much veterans as their spouses.

From one Veteran to another, it's an honor to be in your company. Thank you.