Archives

Friday, March 16, 2012

400-408 – [Big H/T to Angel Barragan, one of the Lennox parents, who sent me an email on this last night.]  Roberto Aguirre (310.930.4230), President of Lennox Little League (lennoxbaseball.com, LennoxLittleLeague@gmail.com), getting national attention for politely declining a much badly-needed donation from a local strip club.  You can make a donation under the  "Sponsorships and Donations" tab.  On the landing page, you can watch a video of their 9-10 age group boys who won their district division, for the first time in 20 years.

• Daily Breeze (3/15/2012) Lennox Little League gets new money offers.

// The league needed about $1,500 to cover the increase in fees. The $1,600 donation from local paramedic Joe Chidley - who owns McCormick Ambulance serving much of the South Bay - more than covers the increase.

• Daily Breeze (1/9/2012) Lennox Little League calls foul over new fees.

413-423 – Roberto Aguirre

428-438 – Ayesha Robinson (Cell 323-345-7952), sent me an email last night about a community need she's aware of.  For the past 13 years, she's been the 5th-6th Special Ed teacher at Loren Miller Elementary School in South Central (Loren Miller Elementary School, 323.752.4445).  And, with all the budget cuts, she doesn't have transportation to get all 18 of her students in Room 50 to the UCLA Bruin School Days Track and Field Event on Saturday, March 31st.  

As she wrote, "These students have never received an opportunity to go to a real college campus and be a part of an event such as this.  The event is now two weeks away and I thought maybe the donor program was going to be my back up plan but sadly they don't supply busses… Quite simply, we are asking if you or anyone connected to your radio station would be able to donate a bus to us."  

And it was signed by:  Jose, Eric, Cory, Asia, Angel, Sierra, Jose,  Andrew, Adan, Rudy, Christian, Luis, Hannalene, Trayveon, Cedric, Jenica, Terrell, Jessica,..… and Ayesha Robinson.  (Ayesha wants to give a shout out to her mentor, Kim Hurley too!).

443-452 – Steve Mays, pastor of Calvary Chapel South Bay, heard weeknights right after my show beginning at 7pm, calls in to offer $4,000 to Ayesha, and he volunteered to even feed the kids!  Way to go Steve!

458-508 – Ayesha Robinson

512-523 – Eric, from Orange, needs musical instruments, especially keyboards and guitars, for the music program he and his wife run in Orange Unified School District (soliencore.com).

528-539 – Mrs. Fields, from Inglewood, needs money to build a bungalow at Century Community Charter School, where her kids attend, or else they're going to have to close the school (centurycommunitycharter.weebly.com). 

Kim Hurley, a 30-year teacher at Loren Miller shares how meaningful today is.

Adrienne, from Compton, needs donations to continue her campus Girls Club for 6th-8th grade students, in which they provide a free lunch every Friday to the girls who would like to be mentored.  80 girls participated today.  They have a dress-up tea in May.  Her number is 310-532-9235.

544-554 – Ben, is with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and he's putting together an FCA collegiate baseball team to compete in a secular league.  They need players, fields, uniforms, resources, etc., (socalcatch.org).

558-608 – Adriana, from Los Angeles, needs money to continue providing backpacks to children on skid-row (thereobakpak.com).

Teresa, from Glen Avon Church in Riverside, needs a sound system for the church (951-440-0545, or gacc3@yahoo.com).

Eileen, from Monterey Park, needs tables and cleaning supplies for Merci adult school for the mentally disabled (626-289-8817, merci.org).

612-623 – Trisha, from Choices Women's Resource Center in Pomona, near Cal Poly and Mt. Sac, has the money in the bank for a new ultrasound machine, but she needs the doctor and the nurse to oversee it (optionminded.com).

Jennifer, from Living Well Crisis Pregnancy Center in Pasadena, needs to remodel their offices, (626-440-9400, jenniferv@living-well.org).

628-639 – Dominique, from Acts Thrift Store in Pasadena, needs donations, especially men's clothing (actsthrift.org, 626-577-4477).

Jocelyn, from Ministerio Potada LA Gracia Church, needs a van to replace the one that ran over a mattress on the freeway and caught on fire (323-620-3444, mieo.org).  

Nick, from Camarillo, has a ministry that teaches Hebrew and he wants to expand, and he needs a website designer along with printing supplies (hebrewmadesimple.com). 

644-654 – Shannon, needs a van for her church (loveandunitychurch.org, 562-215-1038).

David, in Receda, needs money to help youth develop their talents (951-768-6737, davidjohnson7.com).

Maria, from LA, needs arts & crafts supplies and a web designer for her work in Leimert Park, near the corner of Crenshaw and King, in which she works with young people who come out to hear the African drum corps due their thing on Sunday afternoons from 2-4pm (323-363-3944).

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 • Breitbart (3/16/2012) NETANYAHU: 'GAZA IS IRAN'.

// In a speech to parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu accused Iran of arming, financing and training Gaza militants, and giving them their marching orders. "Gaza is Iran," he declared.

Israel considers Iran to be its most fearsome enemy, in large part because it is convinced Tehran is developing atomic weapons technology, despite its claims its nuclear program is peaceful.

In the U.S. last week, where he met with President Obama, Mr. Netanyahu was markedly more vocal about Israel's willingness to attack Iran's program, alone if necessary, though he said no decision had been made on whether to strike.

On Wednesday, he ratcheted up the tough talk, suggesting Israel would be ready to attack Iran's nuclear facilities even if the U.S. objected.

"Israel has never left its fate to others, not even the best of its friends," he said, citing Israel's 1981 attack on an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor, which at the time was condemned by the U.S.

• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (3/14/2012) United for Religious Freedom:  A Statement of the Administrative Committee Of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (pdf).

// One particular religious freedom issue demands our immediate attention: the now- finalized rule of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would force virtually all private health plans nationwide to provide coverage of sterilization and contraception—including abortifacient drugs—subject to an exemption for "religious employers" that is arbitrarily narrow, and to an unspecified and dubious future "accommodation" for other religious organizations that are denied the exemption.

// Second, we wish to clarify what this debate is—and is not—about. This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church's hand and with the Church's funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops' somehow "banning contraception," when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions—to act against Church teachings. This is not a matter of opposition to universal health care, which has been a concern of the Bishops' Conference since 1919, virtually at its founding. This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. Finally, this is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue.

So what is it about?

An unwarranted government definition of religion. The mandate includes an extremely narrow definition of what HHS deems a "religious employer" deserving exemption—employers who, among other things, must hire and serve primarily those of their own faith. We are deeply concerned about this new definition of who we are as people of faith and what constitutes our ministry. The introduction of this unprecedented defining of faith communities and their ministries has precipitated this struggle for religious freedom. Government has no place defining religion and religious ministry. HHS thus creates and enforces a new distinction—alien both to our Catholic tradition and to federal law—between our houses of worship and our great ministries of service to our neighbors, namely, the poor, the homeless, the sick, the students in our schools and universities, and others in need, of any faith community or none.

// Those deemed by HHS not to be "religious employers" will be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world.

// A violation of personal civil rights. The HHS mandate creates still a third class, those with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with their faith and moral values. They, too, face a government mandate to aid in providing "services" contrary to those values—whether in their sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their payment of insurance premiums as employees; or as insurers themselves—without even the semblance of an exemption. This, too, is unprecedented in federal law, which has long been generous in protecting the rights of individuals not to act against their religious beliefs or moral convictions. We have consistently supported these rights, particularly in the area of protecting the dignity of all human life, and we continue to do so.

(:32), Lt. Andra Brown, on NBC San Diego, discusses the incident at Pacific Beach with Jason Russell.  

• NBC San Diego (3/16/2012) Invisible Children Co-Founder Detained: SDPD.  SDPD said he was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something.

• Fox News (3/16/2012) Ex-Rutgers student found guilty of hate crime in webcam spy case.

• Peter Wehner (Commentary, 3/16/2012) The Problem With Obama's Documentary.

// In the film we don't hear anything about the deficit or the debt, the unemployment rate, economic growth, our standard of living, the housing crisis, bending the health care cost curve down, poverty, America's credit rating, et cetera. That is because on these crucial measures, Obama has no story to tell, no successes to cite, nothing to look back to with pride or forward to with hope.

Obama's tenure has been, by any reasonable standard, a failure. Not even a Tom Hanks-narrated documentary can change that.

(1:41) Maxine Waters to Anti-War Group in LA on March 12th.  

• Joel Pollock (Breitbart, 3/16/2012) EXCLUSIVE VIDEO - WATERS: NETANYAHU LYING, ISRAEL WON'T ATTACK IRAN ALONE.

• Netanyahu told President Obama in the Oval Office, in full view of the media – Israel must have the ability always to defend itself by itself against any threat; and that when it comes to Israel's security, Israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions.  I believe that's why you appreciate, Mr. President, that Israel must reserve the right to defend itself.

Netanyahu also told the delegates at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee – 2012 is not 1944. The American government today is different. You heard it in President Obama's speech yesterday.  But here's my point: The Jewish people are also different. Today we have a state of our own. And the purpose of the Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives and to secure the Jewish future.  Never again will we not be masters of the fate of our very survival. Never again.  That is why Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.

Democrat Maxine Waters to Anti-War group in LA on March 12th, Transcript – And so I think that the President is on the right track at this point. I really think he's on the right track. And I think that with his talk with Netanyahu that he, even though it may not have looked like it, that he and Netanyahu really did come to an understanding, that while we certainly have Israel's back, we're not prepared to go to war. We're not prepared to go to war at this time. And I think they got that message across.  [Applause]

I think that message--you know, sometimes when they come out to the public, and Netanyahu in particular, he has to really appear really, really tough, and he made his point, he said over and over again, "We do not leave the decision about our security to anyone," and that's what, you know, people wanted to hear from him, you know. He knows what message to send in order to create some kind of sense of security of those people who are fighting, fighting, fighting. And so he did that. but believe me, belied closed doors, I'm sure that he said, "Mr. President, we're worried, Mr. President, we're scared, we have scared people--but I hear you loud and clear. And I know that we're not going to simply take an action without the United States agreeing and supporting that action." 

And I guarantee you, the United States, with the deficit problem that we have, with these wars with Afghanistan and what has happened in Iraq, [we're] not prepared to go to [war with] anybody.


• Eryn Brown (LAT, 3/14/2012) Red meat: What makes it unhealthy?

• Ramesh Ponnuru (NRO, 3/15/2012) The Sandra Sideshow.

• Peggy Noonan (NRO, 3/16/2012) America's Real War on Women.  Some men think they can get away with vulgarity because they're on the 'correct' side on social issues; others tire of being bullied by the language police.

• Sam Baker (The Hill, 3/15/2012) Obama shifts healthcare defense.

• Young America's Foundation, TOP CONSERVATIVE COLLEGES.  Young America's Foundation is pleased to release the "Top Conservative College" list in response to the frequently asked question by parents and students of which schools we recommend to those seeking conservative colleges. The Top Conservative College list includes Christendom College, College of the Ozarks, Colorado Christian UniversityFranciscan University, Grove City College, Harding University, Hillsdale College, The King's College, Liberty University, Patrick Henry College, Regent University, Saint Vincent College, Thomas Aquinas College, Thomas More College, and Wisconsin Lutheran College.