Writers

Eric Hogue

“Manny is to Baseball, As Jerry is to Politics”

by Eric Hogue

Being an Indians fan, I am a scorned lover of the game of baseball.

And it’s the same ‘love-hate relationship’ that has me very concerned about my love of California and her political future. I’ve pinned my hopes and dreams to a charismatic ‘player’ before; the outcome is always the same.

Charisma is never a substitute for the fundamentals of the game.

When I cheered for Chief Wahoo they featured a left-fielder by the name of Manny Ramirez.

Manny was a rookie back then, displaying a great looking swing that occasionally connected with the baseball. But it was the ‘rest of his package’ that brought the most trepidation.

After losing two World Series’ Manny left Cleveland for Boston; he added himself to a team that won a historic World Series. Eventually Manny soured in Beantown too. Boston let him go (do you ever wonder why?) and he now plays for the ‘Dodger blue’ of Los Angeles … a team that once believed that Manny would bring them fortune.

None of that has materialized in the land of plenty.

Manny’s dreadlocks, bagging uniform and lack of personal attention to anything that isn’t self-serving has caused the Dodgers – and their fans – great pause; wondering if this well traveled Manny is worth their investment.

Oh sure, Manny can swing a bat – he sure does look good.

But Manny can’t catch a line-drive if you gave him a fifty-foot tuna net.

Manny is a terrible base-runner who is in great need of his own dashboard navigation device. And his lack of substance at the plate often features his amazing talent of turning a sure double into a loafing single without breaking a sweat.

How can we forget his about Manny’s 50-days of suspension?

While Manny was vacationing during his suspension punishment, he took to braiding more dread-locks, visiting New York night clubs and displaying his nonchalant attitude, lack of concern and refusal to pay attention to anything accountable. All the while, everyone in baseball was racing to a microphone apologizing for his immature behavior.

It’s where the phrase was birthed; “It’s just Manny being Manny.”

I am beginning to sense the same as it relates to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

Here is another ‘well-traveled player of yesterday,’ seemingly more concerned about his next government job than the fundemental stability of the state he says he represents.

Like Manny, Jerry displays a good looking swing, but it’s his fundamentals that become the Achilles heel.

Recently Jerry took to criticizing Meg Whitman – his opponent come November – stating that Meg has only produced a 40-page pamphlet of ideas surrounding what she would do as Governor of California.

What is humorous is Jerry’s reply when the media asked of his ’budgetary batter’s eye.’

Jerry was hit a ‘can of corn’ – a fungo fly-ball to left field from the weak hitting media and Jerry’s stance was similar to the famous swing offered by the late Ted Kennedy when Roger Mudd asked, “Why are you running for President?”

Jerry’s play, “I’ll tell you after the election.”

A real crowd pleasure that Jerry, but way too costly if you’re considering the type of play needed to come back against the late inning deficit of Sacramento’s $20 billion hole.

Sure the crowd laughed as they walked away … mumbling under their breath, “Oh, that’s just Jerry Being Jerry.”/

The problem; the taxpaying season ticket holders of California’s citizenry, the shrinking private sector and burdened business holders believe it is time for a leader that instills the confidence of a California rally cap … not the hilarities of a low-budget stand-up act.

Upon a May weekend’s vigorous workout – as Jerry tells it – he literally ran across a news reporter in the Oakland Hills. Jerry, once again looking to make light of his play, struck up a controversial conversation that compared his opponent to Nazi Germany.

As Jerry tells it, “It’s what guys do … we get together and talk about these things.”

Really?

In this dialogue between guys Jerry referenced Meg Whitman’s campaign to that of the evil Nazi minister of propaganda. When Jerry was pressed to explain by members of the media his retort was that the reporter had misquoted him.

That the tenured reporter didn’t actually have a tape recorder (who uses such in 2010?), and that the reporter should have had a pencil to write down his quote if he wanted it to be used “on the record.”

Again – really; this from the same man who, as California’s Attorney General, was found to be recording (blamed it on a staffer, who was fired) phone conversations to the AG’s Office without the callers knowledge?

Jerry played his ”Nazi comment” explanation into a ’three-run error.’ And just like baseball’s Dodger, Jerry never apologized – he left everyone else in the Democrat Party to explain his lack-luster play in left-field.

For those trying to make sense of his immature, abrasive and illogical comments we scratch our heads.

Why does the media chuckle and respond with a short tenured laugh during each Jerry Brown press conference? To help you understand this disconnect you only have to consider the reality of the political mentality surrounding the coverage of Jerry Brown.

Baseball explains it as “Manny just being Manny,” and California’s political media explains it as “Jerry just being Jerry.”

Hogue News
WWW.HOGUENEWS.COM
1380 KTKZ / Sacramento

Poppoff!
Mary Jane Popp

Fat Talk

www.poppoff.com

Obesity has become an epidemic in our country. The Surgeon General told us back in 2001 that more than 61% of adults are overweight…31% obese. Obese means 30% over ideal weight. Kids fare no better at 13%. According to research done in 2002, people overweight at 40 are likely to die at least three years sooner than those who are slim and trim. Would you believe being fat at 40 and beyond is just as bad as smoking for your life expectancy? Dr. William Parsons says it’s time for “Tough Talk About Fat”…How to Reach and Maintain Your Ideal Weight. 10 pounds or 100 pounds, you can lose it. “Tough Talk” doesn’t scold you for being fat. It teaches us how to get rid of it…all of it!

Dr. P says it works like your bank balance. Take out more than you put in, and it goes down. There are some other incredible edible facts like, don’t fret about protein vs. carbs or whatever. Calorie control is everything. Then there’s the exercise thing. Although important for fitness, exercise plays a minor role in weight control.

Dr Parsons also put it very bluntly when it comes to books on weight control. There are thousands of ideas out there. According to Dr. P, in the U.S., the weight loss industry is a $58 Billion business with a 98% failure rate. Encouraging huh!? But Dr P says he is more concerned that obesity is now a major risk factor for Heart Attacks and Diabetes. He added that by wearing out weight-bearing joints, obesity is a major cause of disability. Then there’s the big surgery surge movement for morbid surgery. Dr Parsons says it saves lives, but he feels “Tough Talk” can save more.

He gets into a lot of great tips like reducing our eating by 500-700 calories a day can drop 4-5 pounds a month. He goes into tips on how to design your own program to lose weight, along with special strategies for your weight reduction program like:

1. Buy small…not the largest banana, apple, melon, other
2. Cook smaller amount
3. No nibbling while cooking
4. Use smaller plates
5. Stop eating when you feel satisfied not stuffed
6. Leave some food on your plate…contrary to what mother told you about cleaning your plat

The list goes on and on, and it’s pretty simple reading with basics to follow. Dr Parsons even gets into Legislation Congress should pass for a major attack on the epidemic of obesity.

With the July 4th just around the corner, you may want to fortify yourself from the mounds of desserts and taste desires by boning up on “Tough Talk About Fat”. You can find all the information you need about Dr Parsons and his books at www.cholesterolnodiet.com. Just a bit of tough talk to make a difference in out life. Happy Eating I mean nibbling!!!

Eric Hogue

Tricky 93 Proposition, Careful Conservatives

There is an important message to send, and we have little time to lose in getting out the message to voters. We the voters must stop Proposition 93 on the February Presidential Primary ballot.

Titled “Limits on Legislators’ Term in Office”, Prop 93 is easily the most deceptive ballot measure Californians have faced in a generation. While it’s described as ‘term limits reduction’, what it would really do is give the current crop of free-spending, big-government lawmakers even more time in office.

Prop 93 was crafted by the same lawmakers who moved California’s Presidential Primary from June to February, at the cost of millions of dollars for the added election. The excuse for moving up the election was that California would have more say in the selecting the Presidential candidates.

Well, have you seen the Presidential candidates, or even their campaign workers knocking on doors in your neighborhood? The truth is, during a period of record budget deficits created by the current lawmakers in Sacramento, we now get to pay for an expensive, extra February election, an election forced upon us by the same legislative ‘fat cats’ who brought us the deficit in the first place – Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Don Perata.

So if Prop 93 passes, these same ‘Capitol Fat Cats’ will have time to file re-election papers and get on the ballot in time for California’s real primary come June.

This deceptive labeling was no accident. All ballot measures are submitted to the Attorney General, who has final say on each ballot measure “title and summary” – The name and short descriptive that appears on the ballot and the voting materials we receive before each election.

Attorney General (and Democrat loyalist) Jerry Brown went right along with the Prop 93 bunch, agreeing to call it a term limits reduction. Why? Because Brown and his cronies Nunez and Perata know the people who are likely to turn out and vote in California don’t trust the legislature, and know that political corruption goes hand-in-hand with too much time in office.

So, when you read voters “Limits on Legislators” on your sample ballot and in the voting booth, don’t fill in that “YES” box, don’t do it, it’s a trick.

Preying upon the voter’s negative attitude toward the legislature is the lawmakers’ strategy, and it’s working. Although the latest Prop 93 polls show support for the measure is slipping, a majority of conservative voters still support it. This is why I’m releasing this statement: We must STOP PROP 93 in February, or we’ll have more budget deficits with “raise the taxes solutions” in the near future.

Tell a friend, a co-worker, and a fellow church member that we must be sensible, we all want a better legislature, but this is not the way to go about it. We must STOP PROP 93 in February. Just say NO to 93!

Phil Cowan

Rock On, Home Schoolers

In our inexorable march toward Orwellian-style government control over all that we do and think, another attempt has been made to corral those dangerous radical anarchists, the home schoolers. Judge H. Walter Croskey, of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, recently ruled that California law requires school-age children be taught by credentialed teachers, whether in a public or private school, or even at home. Got that, home schoolers? Without a teaching credential, you’re not qualified to teach your kids, and you might be subject to criminal prosecution if you try.

This isn’t the first time the state has attempted to squash home schooling. Back in 2002, then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin issued an ominous memo that said essentially the same thing, warning parents who home school that they were in violation of California law without a credential, or unless they had their child’s education supervised by a credentialed teacher. That memo didn’t change a thing, and neither will Judge Croskey’s decision.

I’ve known many home school families over the years, some who are close friends, and not one of them has produced an uneducated dunderhead. One cannot say the same for the public education system, which has produced millions. For those who would point out that my evidence is purely anecdotal, I invite you to go online and look into a number of studies that clearly indicate that home schooled students achieve consistently higher scores on standardized tests than public school students. Most of these studies, especially the more recent ones, were conducted by home school advocates, but that’s largely because public education gave up such research years ago. It kept making them look bad.

There is a primary reason why these kids are better educated, regardless of where the child is taught: parental involvement. In any education setting, when a child’s parents take an interest in their outcome they have a much higher opportunity for success. A public school teacher can have the highest qualifications imaginable, and it won’t matter one bit to a child whose parents don’t care. Parents willing to send their kids to private schools obviously have a keener interest in their education hence they tend to outperform public school students. Home schoolers, by definition, care deeply about their child’s education, and the results speak for themselves. The failure of kids in public schools isn’t an education problem nearly as much as it’s a parenting problem.

So why, if the state is really acting in the best interest of the kids, would they attempt to undermine such success? Some of it is big government, nanny state goons, who think anybody who chooses to educate their own kids is a religious-zealot-gun-nut on a par with the Branch Davidians. Some of it is teacher’s union stooges who fear any threat to their funding or power, which is based on the universal need for more teachers, more teachers, MORE TEACHERS! The good news is this court decision won’t stand. It will be appealed, and if a higher court won’t overturn it, Governor Schwarzenegger has made it clear that the issue will be addressed in the legislature, allowing home schoolers to keep on schooling. How about that? Arnold, standing up for a conservative principle!