Election season is heating up and there is a lot going on!

Have you registered to vote in the primary of your state?  If not, time is running out and you need to get going so that you will have an opportunity to elect the candidate of your choice.  Never let others make decisions for you, you are the master of your own destiny.  There are times when people sit back and say that they do not believe that getting into the fray is for them.  Then they complain about how the process did not work for them.  The process does work and you have to take charge.  Registering to vote it the start!!!

The field of candidates in the Republican party has narrowed down to 6 remaining.  This week there will be elections in South Carolina followed by Nevada.  On the Democrat side of the fence there are two left and it is up to the voters to determine which one of the two will be there at the finish line.  

It was a sad day for the Supreme Court when Justice Scalia passed.  There are a lot of people who have been expounding theories about a conspiracy and how something sinister had taken place.  It is the type of thing when people who have to start a newsworthy item try to get into the limelight and get attention.  The best way to stop this type of thing is to have uniform rules of conduct when investigating the death of prominent people.  There is no excuse for some folks to step into the arena and try to  do things their way.  No simplistic method is being advocated, but there should be a means to be sure there are no surprises!

Hope that everyone had a great Valentine's Day!  We sure did! 

 

September 21, 2015 My the Summer Flew by and now we are going into Fall!

Lots of Turmoil 

 We have survived the stinging heat of summer and are now heading into what used to be called Indian Summer.  The weather has shown a last gasp of furious storms and we shall be getting a couple more in the next few days.  However, we have gotten through the worst of the tumult!

Elections 

 

All attention is now focused on the debates and the elections which will take place a year from now.  It seems that there is a lot of name calling which is going on and those people who yell the loudest seem to be getting heard more than the others.  

Isn't it strange that religion seems to be playing a role in the election process.  Many are now protesting that a Muslim is in the White House.  Well, to you it is clear, he is not running for a 3rd term.  There is no need to defend him or to castigate those who do not.  His time will be up soon!  What we need to hear from the candidates is what is it you are going to do! There are two sides to every story and without definitive proof, President Obama has to be taken at his word.  After all, you all elected him!

Programs and platforms are the agenda.  Let us know what you have planned for the common man and the things which will make life better.  Thomas Payne called this Common Sense!

Immigration:    

 Plans for those who are currently here and plans for those coming need to be formalized in some fashion.  We do not have a count of how many came in during the past 7 years.  Much less, those who have come in during the time since the last census of 2010!  During the time of taking census, the takers would go house to house and get every living place counted.  Finding illegals was normal business, since the census is confidential, those who are here never show up except in a statistical way.   I can recall the 2000 census in Houston, there were many people who were there illegally and living in apartments with other illegals.  All were either looking for work or were working under the same social security number.  When I pointed this out to the powers that be, they said it was not our business.  We just had to count people.  I wonder what other countries do?

Many people come to our country by walking across the open borders and are greeted with open arms.  They are sent to various places where no one seems to care who they are or where they came from.  Children are enrolled in school, jobs are given to some, and the rest go on the public dole for medical and food.

Now, contrast that with an American citizen who goes on a trip to a foreign country.  Must show a passport when entering that  country, must  show a passport upon returning.  Fail to do that and they cannot get back in!  Use your heads people, go to the open border and walk in!  Once here you can use your drivers license to get everything, just as if you never left!!!

Muslims are being invited to come here as they are refugees and the number is about 85,000 to 100,000.  How many will be combatants?  Are we inviting an enemy in once again to attack us?  Remember the Twin Towers?  We allowed the enemy to train and practically gave them the planes to take down a national treasure.  It is not as if we did have a premonition something bad was going to happen to the buildings.  They had been trying for years with failed attempts until they had succeeded.  We hear there are many people who are going to be with those coming in who are probably ISIS trained.  Some estimates say they will be about 2 per hundred of those people coming in.  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson seemed to know way back there would be problems with the Muslims.  This is not saying that all are bad, but do you think that maybe we should do some checking on those coming?

Have a great rest of this month and we can chat again soon.  Let me know if you like what I say!

Thanks

Clark  

June 23, 2015 Update on Arsenic and other thoughts for the week!

Update on What is Happening on the Arsenic question in our community!

Our community has an arsenic problem and the State of Arizona ADEQ Department is doing a fine job of addressing the issues.  Problem is that it just is taking too long.  In 2006 the standards were changed by the Federal EPA from 50 PPB to 10 PPB and this was a shock to the water systems everywhere since they had to adjust and drop their levels quickly.

What did that mean?     Local water systems had to put in place equipment that could take the arsenic levels down.  Some of the communities chose to blend their water supplies with water that had lower levels with those waters which had higher levels to achieve a balanced drinking supply that would fit within the guidelines.  The EPA was funded with special loan supplies made possible by the Federal Government to assist in the transition.  Was this good enough?  Yes, but the questions remains, why didn't all those communities which had problems partake in the dole out?  Well, what was obvious is that the money had to be paid back.  Greed in trying to get more than what was needed is also a concern.

How can this be that 9 years later communities are still dawdling! In a small community like the one in which I live the water company has been procrastinating in putting in the water program which would be beneficial to the residents.  The water supply is over the Federal EPA guides.  Measurement of the level of arsenic in the water is done by both the state and the water company.  It seems there is a discrepancy in their numbers. No one seems to respond directly to the variation, but each point of variance means a question as to the risk factors in play.

Illness is caused by AR III and AR V:  The water in our community has AR III and AR V.  Testing done by a supplier of filters in a reverse osmosis system was for the purpose of determining which filter was needed to remove the type of arsenic.  Illness is cancer in humans, death in pets, and a variety of other illness factors which build up since the body absorbs arsenic and retains it.

Where do we go from here?  Is it acceptable to wait until the court ordered time of May 2016 or should the remediation of the water take place now?  It is not rocket science to have a company come in and advise what should be done to reduce the level of arsenic in the water.  Also, how long should it take to put the system in place?  Answers by the water company have not been forth coming, have they done anything to provide them?  It does not appear so!  They keep procrastinating and it has been 9 years from the issuance of the mandate by the EPA.  Problems in the water supply were present since 1980, isn't that nice! One of the legislators from our district has stepped up and had those involved at the state level report where and what things were being done. 

Many residents have come forward:  A meeting of the residents of my community was held a week ago.  We had a county supervisor present and he assured he would look into the matter as he was unaware of the problem.  We asked that water be tested by the community health service since it was a matter of health and safety.  He assured he would get them into the matter of testing.  I estimate that about 75 residents were at the meeting, a very good turnout on short notice.

We need to have more residents get into the fray!  Write to the HOA Board, your Board of Supervisors, your legislators, and the state people at the EPA.

What can you do to protect yourself?

I have installed a filter system for water which we drink and for cooking.  It is installed under the sink and works well to remove the arsenic III and V from our water.  This is short term, but the filter will last for 1000 gallons which is about a year's supply.  That will take us through the court ordered May 2016 date when the water company is supposed to have their reduction in place.  If not?  Well, we will buy another arsenic filter (Cost $89) to go another year.  The water company offers a gallon of water per day per person, but their source is inadequate and when people have shown up to get 2 gallons of water, were given one plus a small amount in another gallon as they had run out.  Another option is to purchase water from local stores in larger quantities (5 gallon).

Personal Note:

In 2004 my brother Leslie Alfred Isaacs died.  He was 72.  Today is June 23rd, the date he was born!  I surely miss him as we used to talk everyday about the events that were going on in our lives and our children.  He was a good man who cared so much about others and their needs.  We all should care and do something about it.  That is one of the reasons that I am so interested in community affairs and those who live around us.

June 12, 2015: Update on Arsenic in the water in Valle Vista

Times are a changing with regard to the water and Arsenic:

The water situation has escalated into a whole different realm.  When I discussed the water problem with Culligan Water Company recently I was told that they had installed a special filter to treat the water that would be obtained from the Truxton Water Company.  Reason was that the water contained Arsenic III which is the inorganic variety and most deadly since it cannot be removed with ordinary filtration like Arsenic V.

The Brita water filters only work to remove particles, chlorine, and other contaminants, but only ARV and nothing to do with ARIII.  I talked with the store where I purchased the system (Home Depot) and they said they were unaware that ARIII had to be removed and assumed it was ARV which is the organic kind of arsenic.

The folks at Home Depot were very cooperative and said that I could bring the Brita system back and get a full refund.  Also, they did not have any type of filter system which could remove ARIII.

Searched the Internet:

What a wonderful life we lead in 2015.  I was able to search the internet and find Pure Earth Technologies.  The call that I placed gave me a lot of information in addition to printed information on their website.  It seems that they do not use a reverse osmosis system, it is an on demand system which will purify the water immediately when you turn on the faucet!  I ordered the system and it cost $289.00 including free delivery and no sales tax because it comes from Georgia.  It will arrive on 6/15/2015.

Decided it was time to inform other people!

At first I thought that I would tell a few friends about the situation.  Especially the person who had installed the Brita system.  Then my letter was published in the newsletter which is distributed to all residents of Valle Vista.  I have received a number of calls and then an invitation to speak at the Board of Directors meeting on Monday the 15th of June.  Since then, there have been other calls and other people whom I had never met before, contacting me about the meeting.  I decided additionally to write the legislators in our district and the Mohave County Commissioner for our district.  Commissioner Gary Watson is coming to our meeting on Monday!  I have to prepare a talk to explain what I have discovered so far, and let me say that it is a lot!

Arsenic III is very dangerous when you drink the water and the symptoms appear quickly.  Loss of appetite, nausea, and other signs that you know you are ill.  On top of this the big C is going to  attack you unless something is done pronto.  Best recommendation is to stop drinking the water!!!  Get bottled water!  Make coffee and cook with bottled water!!!

Truxton Water has been aware since 1980:

The shame of this whole situation is that Truxton Water Company has been aware of this situation since 1980.  Has violated ADEQ court orders (a state agency) and is now under order to provide drinkable water to the community it serves which is 740 customers.  Their solution is laughable: 1 gallon of water per person per day.  This is to be done from a system which provides  60 gallons of water per day.  There are about 2200 people residing in Valle Vista alone.  There are other customers on the service and they are not even considered in the count.

Additionally, there are people who are not  customers of Truxton directly.  They are secondary customers who purchase water to haul to their homes from a stand-pipe which is located at a local gas station.  There are no warning signs that this water has AR III or AR V in the water.  They take the water home, feed their animals, drink it, and blithely think all is well.  It is not!

What remedies are available to get better water and safety?

First:  Immediately require signage which warns of the extent that the water is dangerous.

Second: Require that Truxton put in a water treatment facility in 60 days and not wait until one year or May 2016!

Third:  A serious remedy would be Condemnation by the County or State of the entire water system, from well to pipes.  In other words, take over the water company.  As a part of this allow only those customers currently receiving water to  purchase shares in the water company.  Have management of this company be done by the Valle Vista Home Owners Association.

Fourth:  Compensation of the owners of the water company should be determined by the courts.  Claims against any all funds allocated could also be adjudicated at the same court.

Fifth:  A Class Action lawsuit should be investigated for the purpose of determining loss of value for existing property owners due to the negative publicity and diminution of values created by tainted water and the inability of new home owners being allowed to purchase water from Truxton Water Company.

These are a few suggestions and are by no means penultimate solution.  It should be up to the customers of Truxton Water Company and the water company itself to achieve a fair and just solution to this horrendous problem.

June 5, 2015:  Thoughts to the start of the summer months

A drought in California and Arsenic in our water in Arizona..

There are many folks living in California who are having severe water problems because of a lack of water and those living in Texas are having severe water problems because of excess water.  Doesn't that make you wonder why sometimes we never get things right?  There are icebergs melting in the cold climes adding water to the oceans and we have politicians running around talking about how we have global warming, scientists saying that for the next few years we are going to have global cooling!  What is the end result?  Who knows...progress causes everyone to scratch their heads and say huh?

Here in our Arizona community we have a problem with Arsenic:

Our community is serviced by a water company who has been trying to make it next to impossible to do business with them.  Under an agreement with the officials at the state's attorney general's office the water company agreed to provide potable drinking water during the lull of when they put in a large water removal plant to take the arsenic out of the customers water.  That won't happen until May 2016 which is their deadline and they are always waiting until the last minute to get things done.  Don't you wonder where they get their water? 

We went to Home Depot to get an Arsenic filter for our own water rather than go to the office of the water company every day and get 1 gallon of water per person at a set time and sign in when you get the water.  The other problem is that they are giving the water out from behind closed doors!  Yes, they put the water system they have into a closed room, no one can see what they are doing, and you cannot question if the water is good or not. 

The Brita Water system we got is for under the sink.  We replaced a leaky Culligan system and the cost differential was not too much than to get the parts from Culligan.  Problems we had with the new system were discovered after our handy-man installed the system.  It seems that there is a little gadget called a water restrictor which the instruction booklet says is a must do in order to make the system function.  Well, we had this running for some time and nothing was happening!  The water was not going into the pressure tank, the water was not flowing from the faucet, and we could not stand the noise.  So at about 3 am in the morning we got up and turned off the water flowing into the drain!  Read many of the YouTube comments and the videos which had people talking about their methodology of installation and came to the conclusion that first thing in the morning we would  correct some of the problems. 

Our fix..which worked!  Put some air in the pressure tank.  You use a bicycle pump!  Check if the restrictor valve was installed.  We put the air in and installed the restrictor valve which had been put in the box for safe keeping? (Only the handyman knows why it need to be there rather than in the system).  Right away the water filled the tank!  Right away the noisy flow of water was eliminated! Now we go through the steps of purging the system of particles which are cast off by the filters when first installed.  We have only one more time to do this and we then can turn on the line to the ice maker in the refrigerator.  Oh Happy Day!

I have said enough today!  More in a few days. 

Memorial Day 2015 - Remember our troops and Family who served

This is the time to remember family who served and have died!

My brother Leslie Isaacs died, not in battle, but after he had come back after he had served his country, family, and his Masonic brothers.  A life which was noble and giving to all of those who were fortunate to have known him.  He was far to young to be taken by cancer as he had so much more to give to humanity.  I miss him and pray for him every day when I open my computer and see his smiling face which I have as my splash screen.

My first cousin Darwin Boslov died this past year.  He too served his nation and was a fine humanitarian who lived out his last years being legally blind.  What I recall most about him was that both my brother and I had worn his Navy uniforms when we served.  Darwin had a great sense of humor, was athletic, and lived life to its fullest.

Joseph Berger was married to my cousin Shirley Boslov.  Both of them are deceased now.  Joe served in the Army.  He was a man who tried his best in the things that he did and always had a great sense of being pleasant even when circumstances were difficult.  He provided well for his family and left two children Diane and Ronald.

This memorial day I feel honored to have known them and pray that they are at peace in heaven!

Thoughts about protests:

The other day I read that protests in Ferguson Mo were paid demonstrations.  Those people who went out into the streets were there at someone else beckoning to raise a ruckus.  Do we see anyone doing an investigation of who did the paying and the motives?  No!  Some news articles are decrying the person or persons as instigating the unrest!  If this was true and information is known, we should justly be totally upset!  Inciting a riot is a felony crime.  Yet - nothing is being done.    Then in Baltimore, there were riots, destruction of property, and death caused by the mob mentality.

Now, Cleveland is the next bastion of trouble.  71 people were arrested last night (Saturday May 23, 2015) for crimes against persons and failure to disperse.  The question is were these "demonstrators" spontaneous protestations of outrage or were they paid by the same organizers of Ferguson and Baltimore?  Can we rely on the efficacy of the Justice Department to investigate?  I doubt it, what they seem to be doing to second guessing the legal system as to the innocence or guilt of the police officer who had been in court and found to be innocent!  Double jeopardy should attach, even if there is a Federal violation found in an effort to placate an unruly mob!

We need to have all people stand up and demand that enough is enough.  This could be a summer of violence worse than the 1960's when many cities, both North and South were left smoldering.  We are a people far better than that and when foreign interests interfere with our livelihoods, safety, and prosperity it is time for the people to react peacefully.  Demand that Congress step in and pass some laws which will protect and allow the police to serve.

It was a terrible time in Baltimore when the Mayor and Chief of Police refused to allow officers to do their jobs.  The result was destruction until there was outrage by the citizens.  Same went for Ferguson and it looks like Ferguson will never recover the stature of its fine past.

There are great solutions available to resolve some of the problems that we have here in the United States.  It appears that unemployment and pride in earning a living for the black community is necessary.  Congress can develop some inventive ways to put youth and the unemployed adults to work doing meaningful jobs which are geared to help the communities.  Daily we read about the wonderful collection of taxes and the money that flows into the treasury.  Why not dedicate some of that money for training, education, and jobs?  Stop wasteful spending where we read about the glorious travel of the President and his entourage to Kenya!  Why go there when we have severe problems here at home  that need addressing now, not later?

Whenever people have problems in their lives they seem to extricate themselves by the old fashioned method of hard work.  Congress should stay in session until they get the job done!  Who says that they have to take a summer off?  Passing legislation, holding hearings, investigating wrongdoing, and all the necessary things they were elected to do are mandates given by the people.  Adhere to these time honored traditions and get busy!

Is Congress going to start passing legislation which will be in keeping with the goals of all Americans?

One of the things that we Americans keep wondering is whether or not the Republican dominated House and Senate will pass legislation which is adverse to the President's wishes.  We keep hearing they are upset with many things and will be doing a lot about it.  So far in the past few months of their tenure they have been weak in getting things done which would put a band-aide on presidential executive orders to stop the bleeding of American values.

We need to address several issues and today Sen. Rand Paul said that he was going to be a filibusterer and delay many things which were put into the Patriot Act which allows temporary violations of individual rights which has been done in violation of the Constitution because exigent circumstances existed because of 911.  Well the time has come to address search and seizure provisions which allow searches without warrants if probable cause exists which would harm the United States.  There are many other things which the act provides and they need to be addressed with a full airing and discussion of whether or not they should be stricken down for the future.

Additionally, there is the question of immigration policies (or the lack thereof) by Presidential fiat!  We are starting to see many border crossings and little stoppage of illegals.  The question is tantamount to open borders.  News media who report (many do not) say that there is a waiting list of about 5 million people who are legally applying for US citizenship and are put on waiting lists.  What is weird is that the illegals who walk across the southern border to not get stopped, no waiting, just come on in!  There is hardly any track-age of their where about and over 80% who are given court appearance dates fail to show up and they have melded into the local communities.  

We find that states must give driver's licenses, Social Security will give out cards, and then to make matters worse the way that voting is handled, they are given the right to vote! 

Much is said on Facebook about issues which plague the illegals, but to have them file for taxes and get refunds when they do not work and do not pay into the system is abhorrent.  When you look into the proof of some of the claims it seems that they are untrue and made up by fearful citizenry.  Take what you read with some skepticism, check out the facts for yourself.  Then, if you are satisfied with your conclusions, by all means speak out!  However, do so with putting your sources there for everyone to check themselves.

If Congress does not do something, then again we shall have a shuffling of the deck and many people will once again vote what they think best.  The regime will change or shift!  

NFL and Patriotism!

 

The news broke over the weekend that 14 NFL teams took money from the Federal Government to demonstrate their patriotism with troops and the country by showing the Flag.  

What a crock! 

The NFL lets the Superbowl be played knowing full well there was tampering with the footballs before the game and instead of checking them before play let the game go on!  Now they are going to use their righteousness to castigate Tom Brady when they easily could have countered the problem.

These two instances are enough to turn off a lot of fans who have been loyal all these years.  

One of the things that makes America different is that we support sports teams with dollars, viewership, and pride in our own individuality.  Now, we are being shown the door of decency with a quick slam in our faces.  Respect of fans is out the window and the cost of things at the games is outrageous.  We are not a bunch of sheep who can be led by the greed of certain people.  Maybe we should walk away!  

Have a great week, be alert, stay safe, and above all...love thy neighbor, but don't covet thy neighbor's wife!!!