4
TAFT INDEPENDENT Editorial
Westside Watcher
The Taft
Independent
Restaurant and Entertainment Guide
Your Guide To The Best Restaurants and Entertainment on the Westside Tumbleweed Café Asian Experience and Steakhouse Asian Food and Pizza
Steak, Seafood, Wild Game, Full Bar Monday – Friday 6 am to 2 pm Saturday – Sunday 7 am – 2 pm Dinner Hours Friday and Saturday 6 pm to 9 pm 24870 Highway 33, Derby Acres 768-4655
Paik’s Ranch House Where Everybody Meets Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Open 7 Days Mon. Tues. Thur. 6 am-8:30 pm Sun. Wed. Fri. & Sat. 6 am - 9 pm 765-6915 200 Kern St. Taft Sagebrush Annie’s Restaurant and Wine Tasting Wine Tasting and Lunch Sat. & Sun. 11:30-5 pm 4211 Highway 33, Ventucopa (661) 766-2319
Lunch and Dinner Tuesday - Friday 11 am - 2 pm 4 pm - 9 pm Saturday 4 pm - 9 pm 215 Center Street, Taft 763- 1815
Black Gold Cafe & Deli Pastas - Sandwiches Espresso - Beer - Wine Craft Beers Open Monday to Friday 6:30am to 8pm Saturday 7:30am to 8pm Sunday 10am to 2pm 508 Center Street 765-6556
514 Center Street • (661)765-7469 LIKE us on Facebook: Fox Theatre Taft TAFTFOX.COM Week of Friday, August 10, 2012 through Thursday, August 16, 2012 The Bourne Legacy (PG-13) No Passes Allowed Fri: (5:15), 7:50, 10:30 Sat: (11:45 AM), (2:20), (5:10), 7:50, 10:30 Sun: (11:45 AM), (2:20), (5:10), 7:50 Mon - Thu: (5:10), 7:50 Total Recall (PG-13) No Passes Allowed Fri: (5:00), 7:30, 10:00 Sat: (12:00), (2:30), (5:00), 7:30, 10:00 Sun: (12:00), (2:30), (5:00), 7:30 Mon - Thu: (5:00), 7:30 The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13) No Passes Allowed Fri: (4:30), 7:45 Sat: (12:30), (3:45), 7:00, 10:10 Sun: (12:30), (3:45), 7:00 Mon - Thu: (3:45), 7:00
Taft Petroleum Club 450 Petroleum Club Road - 763-3268 Open Monday- Friday 3:30pm to Close
Friday Night Ribeye Steak or Chicken Dinner from 6pm - 8pm
CLOSED JULY 4th Industry Night
July Industry Night will be Wednesday, July 11th due to July 4th being a holiday.
Industry Night for July is sponsored by LDL Services The club is available for Weddings, Birthdays, and Anniversaries Hall holds up to 200 people and the bar can hold 70.
How do you Know Something is True? Use Constants. By Dr. Harold Pease While on vacation in a neighboring state helping my son-in-law build a second bathroom for his soon to be family of six, I noticed more fully what I have always known; if your base is wrong so is everything else. Nothing was square, plumb or level. Things fit, and almost fall into place as if by design, when the base is right. When the foundation is level and when studs are vertically placed 16 inches on center 4 by 8 sheets of sheetrock fit perfectly, as does every thing else. If, as in my case, there are no true reference points, or constants, nothing is right, nothing fits. I had to begin anew with a rectangle room without a single wall from which to get a true bearing. Getting back to the basics that I new to be true, was painful and many times harder, but it had to be done. In construction, as in all areas of endeavor, there are tools to get us back to proven constants such as a squares, chalk lines, or levels. In other fields it may be a ruler, compass, or a Bible. Ancient mariners used the North Star as a constant. Math, algebra, geometry are based upon constants. In chemistry water is always, and forever will be, H2O and freezes at 32 degrees. In government the constant should be the Constitution. My point. What are your constants? What do you use to decide if something is true? Are there constants in all fields of study—even in political science? When I find another out of harmony with myself, I want to know his/her constants. What do you read or watch? What is your base? I am unimpressed when I hear the labels republican, democrat, liberal or conservative as these change—thus are not constants. John F. Kennedy, a liberal and a democrat, would make George W. Bush, a conservative and a republican, look very liberal. These terms are not trustworthy over time. I am far more impressed when opinion is based upon factors resistant to change such as natural law and human nature are mentioned instead. Because the Constitution is based upon these constants it will deal with every crisis now or another 200 plus years from now. The Preamble identifies the purposes of government. For over 20 years I have asked my students in every political science class what they would add or remove. What is outdated or no longer relevant? No additions or deletions have been suggested. So, what are some of those time-tested constants? Let’s identify two big ones. First, all governments tend to grow. They view everything in a way to extend their power. Either the government comes to control the people or they control it. That is why historically countries that are truly free are rare and why we are losing our freedom today. Second, the more apathetic and indifferent the public becomes the greater their tendency to shove decisionmaking power upward to the seat of government. To prevent the growth of government all power not listed in Article I, Section 8, or identified in a subsequent amendment, was left with the states and the people (Amendment 10). The little power remaining was then specifically identified and separated
Paik’s
Ranch House Restaurant “Where Everybody Meets”
August 10 - 16 2012
California’s Fire Tax - An Assault on Rural Taxpayers
SACRAMENTO - North State Assemblyman and Chief Republican Whip Dan Logue announced today that in mid-August the State Board of Equalization will begin sending out tax bills to the first of 825,000+ Californians who own habitable structures in a State Responsibility Area (SRA). The new law requires taxpayers to pay within 30 days of receiving a bill or face steep penalties and interest. “I have opposed this new tax from the beginning, because I believe it is unconstitutional and a blatant attempt to circumvent Prop 26 restrictions. The liberals simply called it a “fee” to skirt the 2/3rds vote requirement designed to protect taxpayers,” stated Logue. “I intend to join a lawsuit asking the courts to halt this illegal money-grab as soon as possible. However, procedurally no one can file a lawsuit to stop the tax until after the bills go out.” Unfortunately, last year the liberals and Governor Jerry Brown were able to get what has become known as the “Fire Tax” passed on a simple majority basis. This new law requires nearly a million rural Californians who own habitable structures in a State Responsibility Area (SRA), to pay a new annual tax of $150 for every habitable structure found on their property. The “Fire Tax” also unfairly impacts rural residents because many of these property owners already pay an annual assessment for fire services and won’t receive any benefit from the tax. Moreover, many North State residents in the SRA are seniors and families on fixed incomes who are already struggling to get by in the current tough times. “The Sacramento bureaucrats claim the purpose of this socalled “fire prevention fee” is to prevent fires, but in truth the millions of dollars collected will be used to fund Cal-FIRE’s existing bureaucracy rather than expand the state’s fire prevention efforts. I’m fed up with state agencies money shell games and slush funds and I believe California taxpayers are too!” Added Logue. To find out if you live in an SRA and might soon receive a fire tax bill, visit the State Responsibility Area Viewer: Click Here The path to economic recovery for California will not be found in another shell-game tax scheme. We need to focus on the basics, balance the state budget, reduce regulatory burdens to encourage business growth and investment. I am committed to working to put California back to work and together, I believe we can. Assemblyman Logue represents the 3rd Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the communities of Butte, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra and Yuba. into a branch to make all law (Article I, Section I), another to execute the law (Article II), and yet another to adjudicate the law (Article III), each with a list of powers in its respective area. The Bill of Rights was ten areas specifically identified as off limits to the federal government—again to keep it from totally controlling the people. The constants of the Constitution will keep the government from dominating or controlling everything. It will even checkmate apathy for a time until a majority of the people fall into this category. These constants must be taught in our homes and schools so that we are not “tossed about by every wind of doctrine,” and that we have a dependable base to reference. It is our level, chalk line, and square in government and if not used nothing is right and nothing fits. Just as a child eventually learns that he must understand, and be in obedience to, the law of gravity to survive, we as a nation must return to constitutional constants to survive as a free nation. Will you make the Constitution your constant and only vote for those who do likewise? Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He has taught history and political science from this perspective for over 25 years at Taft College. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Open 7 Days
Mon, Tues, Thurs - 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wed, Fri. Sat. and Sun. 6 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
765-6915
200 Kern Street, Taft, Ca.
Visit Us Online taftindependent.com