Cerritos Republican Club News
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January thru July 2010
CRC Annual BBQ
July 13, 2010
The annual BBQ of the Cerritos Republican Club was held at Cerritos Park East. Sixty members and guests enjoyed the hamburgers, veggie burgers, and hotdogs grilled by Lew Gentiluomo and John Dawson. Salads, fruit, and desserts complemented the grilled food.
After the scrumtious meal, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe talked about the state of Los Angeles County. He related the success of the Safe Surrender Program, 10,000 Jobs Program, and Most Wanted Delinquent Parents Program. He has recently been appointed as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the L.A.County MTA. Don mentioned that Republicans must take advantage of the disenchantment with the Obama programs and actively show that the Republican way is a viable alternative. We can't just sit back and let things happen. We must be proactive.
This is my lovely wife Julie!
Let Freedom Ring Celebration
July 4, 2010
Several CRC members participated in the Let Freedom Ring celebration at the Cerritos Civic Center. Volunteers at the CRC tic tac toe game booth were John and Janice Dawson with their granddaugther Elise, Roger Garrett, Jim and Candy Yee, Ken and Sue Husting, Allen Wood, Dixie Primosch, Joan Pylman, and Lew Gentiluomo.
In the formal ceremony on stage were Council members Bruce Barrows, Carol Chen, and Jim Edwards as well as Let Freedom Ring Committee Chairperson John Dawson.
Also seen at the event were Sophia Tse, Lily Kuo, Hedy and Larry Anduha, Matt Kauble, and U.S. 39th District Representative candidate Larry Andre.
Voter Registration at the Los Cerritos Mall
May 15, 2010
Several CRC members participated in the second voter registration event at the Los Cerritos Mall. Voter Registration Chair of the 56th AD Republican Central Committee Joan Pylman made arrangements with the Mall to set up a table outside the Forever 21 flagship store. Among participants were Lew Gentiluomo, Matt Kauble, Joan Pylman, Fern Turner, Allen Wood, Candy Yee, and Jim Yee.
CRC General Meeting
May 11, 2010
Jeffrey Ball, Founder and President of Friendly Hills Bank in Whittier spoke about how community banks like his can really help local businesses survive in today's economic environment. Large commercial banks are less likely to provide loans for startups and struggling small businesses than community banks. He also stated that the present administration in Washington is not at all friendly to business. It appears that Washington wants to impose too many regulations and taxes on business rather than letting businesses run their own business in a competitive environment.
Bruce Barrows discussed the propositions that are on the June 8 ballot. He recommended "Yes" on Proposition 13 and "No" on all the other propositions. After his talk, a motion was made and seconded for the Club to support those recommendations. The motion was passed by the members in attendance.
Candidates Forum at CRC General Meeting
April 13, 2010
Republican candidates (or their representatives) for several offices spoke at the General Meeting on their platforms.
Fundraiser for Assemblyman Van Tran in Cerritos
April 6, 2010
Several CRC members attended a Coffee and Desert Fundraiser for Assemblyman Van Tran at the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel. He is running for the 47th Congressional District seat currently held by Loretta Sanchez. The Honorable Senator John McCain was in attendance to support his longtime friend. Although there are slightly more registered Democrats than Republicans in the 47th District, with the momentum of the various tea parties and growing disenchantment with the Obama Administration, Assemblyman Tran will have an excellent chance of ousting Ms. Sanchez from her office. We must work hard to keep the ball rolling toward his victory in November.
CRC General Meeting
March 9, 2010
The meeting began with Bruce Brown telling us about his Conservative Movement. Conservatism IS the preservation of four principles:
- Freedom requires a moral society and this is why the first Amendment states "Congress shall pass no law interfering with the practice of religion."
- Freedom requires our leadership and representatives to be dedicated to preserving our Freedom and to serve the people with honor.
- Freedom requires an informed society.
- Freedom requires a Free Press to sound the alarm when Freedom is threatened.
Alex Burrola, Secretary of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, spoke about the efforts to register more Republicans, which resulted in an increase of over 40 thousand new Republicans. He also talked about upcoming countywide events.
Chrystopher Smith addressed the membership about his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Assembly for the 39th Congressional District. For more about Chrystopher's positions, check out his website at www.smithwin2010.com.
Larry Andre also addressed the membership about his candidacy for the Republican nomination to face Linda Sanchez in the 39th Congressional District.
CRC General Meeting
February 9, 2010
The meeting began with Larry Andre giving a short talk on his candidacy for the 39th Congressional District. He is a baby boomer who wants to get our economy thriving again and return America to full employment. Larry's website is www.voteandre.com
Lydia Gutierrez, a teacher by profession and now a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Education, followed with a few of her positions on California education. She believes that California needs educational reform in order for our students to be successful in learning. We need to go back to basics such as learning math, history, and science. She believes that SB777 and AB1541 have not been successful in addressing the problems they were supposed to solve. Lydia's website is www.LydiaforKids2010.com
The guest speaker was Timothy O'Reilly, an attorney and the Long Beach Assistant City Prosecutor, who is running for Long Beach City Prosecutor. He selected "Inside the Wire" as the title of his talk. He served one year beginning in early 2005 as the Operations Officer at the United States detainment facility at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The base has a barbed wire fence surrounding its 45 square miles area; hence the title of his talk. Being at the southernmost part of Cuba, its weather is extremely hot. In the summer, walking outdoors is like "sticking your head in a hot oven." Since 2002, "terrorists" have been detained there in "camps" that meet United States federal prison standards, and the detainees are treated according to the Geneva convention.
Timothy's role at the Delta camp of the Guantanamo naval base, nicknamed GTMO or "Gitmo", was to assure that the above standards were being met. He showed many pictures of Delta camp. These include the living quarters for medium security detainees who actually had more living space than the soldiers guarding them. For maximum security detainees, it was one person per cell. Unlike what you might imagine as solitary confinement, the single person cell was very well lighted with one wall consisting of an iron diamond fence which allowed detainees to see and talk with other detainees in the ward. Exercise equipment similar to what you see in Cerritos Park East were made available to the detainees.
Medical inspections are made with every single detainee daily. "How are you today?" "My big toe hurts." "I'll report that to the doctor." The next day the detained has an appointment to see the doctor about his hurt toe. They have better health care than many Americans. Refrigerators with soft drinks, Gatorade, and ice are available. Prayer time is announced according to an atomic clock. An arrow pointing to Mecca is provided so that they can always face Mecca during prayer. Life was so good that many detainees did not want to leave when they were being released.
In order to understand why these "terrorists" are being detained, one must understand who they are. First of all, in their society, birth records and other public records are nonexistent. So we don't know who they are, and it's very difficult to find out. If you read The Al Queda Manual found in Manchester, England, you will find that the recruits are being called into a confrontation (jihad or holy war). They will learn "... the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun..." If they are caught and questioned, they are taught to lie and not reveal any information that would identify them as terrorists. "I am a beekeeper and I heard that there were a lot of bees there...." However sometimes a detainee may reveal a small bit of information (such as the name of a friend in New York) which is followed up. Some of these tidbits have been useful in discovering terrorist cells throughout the world. This in itself justifies Gitmo's existence.
In 2004 when news of torture in Abu Ghraib surfaced, much attention was drawn toward Gitmo. The media presumed that Gitmo would have similar problems. In contrast, investigations found that Gitmo was a well run facility where NO DETAINEE has ever been abused. It was reported that extreme temperatures were imposed on detainees to torture them. An investigation revealled that, yes, they were exposed to temperature extremes. Picture this: The detainee is in his cell, perhaps in a larger room with several other detainees. The room is air conditioned. Everyone is nice and comfortable. Then they are asked to go outside where the temperature is in the 90s. That's hot! This is misrepresented as temperature extreme torture. How many times have Palm Springs residents submitted themselves to this kind of temperature extreme?
What about prisoners abusing their guards? There are over a million reports of this type of abuse. Examples include incidents when prisoners have hidden a cup of feces mixed with urine under a blanket and, at the right moment, threw the cup's contents on unsuspecting guards. What kind of behavior is this?
What about the future of Gitmo detainees? Many of them will be released because they are not the hard core terrorists. What about the remaining 250 or so hard core terrorists? We cannot put them in federal prisons on American soil where they will immediately gain legal rights causing huge problems. Who will take them? No one wants them. What will happen? Maybe the Obama Administration will find a solution.
CRC General Meeting
January 12, 2010
Rick Royse was the guest speaker. He is a former member of the Bellflower USD School Board. Has been a member of the Minuteman Corps for four years. Has logged over 5000 hours of border watching. Has observed numerous illegal border crossings by drug traffickers. His group has helped the Border Patrol arrest numerous illegal aliens and confiscate tons of illegal drugs and weapons.
Rick Royse is a co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
Rick showed several video clips recording illegal crossings. Some of the clips were shown in Lou Dobbs' Broken Borders live special on May 2, 2007. Some have also been shown on the National Geographics Channel. Look for the Border Wars series which airs on Monday nights.