Monday, March 22, 2021

Liz Writes Life 3-24-21 Doug LaMalfa voices opposition

 March 24, 2021

Liz Writes Life

Garden

Early daffodils are blooming as are the little purple violets and blue and pink tiny flowers on the lungwort! Yay! Spring is here!

Some folks are likely getting fidgety wanting to start their gardens, especially on warm sunny days. Because, I am (publicly) admitting that arthritis is slowing me down, I have decided that I must reduce my workload and make things simpler. Yep, I am gonna try. Ha, ha. My biggest goal is to lay-down soaker hoses and do very little hand-watering. I have found the black material-like soaker hoses work well, sometimes seeping so fast that the length of irrigation time can be greatly reduced. I will also ask my grandkids to help me more, which they will gladly do. They are good helpers!

Because I really do like flowers and I don’t need the volume of vegetables that I used to produce, I am planning for just two long rows of soaker hoses in the garden. One will provide water to perennial and annual flowers and the other to several giant pumpkins, six tomato plants, cantaloupe and cucumber plants. Oh, and just one zucchini this year. Finding takers for zucchini from three plants kept me busy last year. I like to share, but that was ridiculous. Luckily, I did have several takers that liked zucchini a lot more than I did!

So, happy “planning” for your garden. Darn, it looks like we will have another long warm spring.

Crazy stuff

Most of my readers know that I am a conservative. I find it interesting that many names of legislative bills and other policies will actually do the opposite of what their titles insinuate. A friend recently pointed out that there is a new bill in the California Assembly, called AB 655 that sounds like a good thing. But, when you read the description -- uh-oh! It is titled “California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act.”

The bill is set for its first hearing on April 6 in the Assembly Public Safety Committee. The California Family Council is asking those who oppose the bill to contact California Assembly legislators. Ours are Assemblywoman Megan Dahle and her husband, Senator Brian Dahle.

This bill, if passed, will ban police officers and officer candidates from serving as cops that are members of violent hate groups or have used hate speech. Sounds like a good thing, right? But, AB 655 defines a “hate group” or “hate speech” so broadly that if these individuals have expressed conservative religious or political views on abortion, marriage, gender, or belong to a church, synagogue or mosque that has – they will be disqualified. Yep, in today’s cancel culture we are seeing the loss of free speech. If you are concerned, call or write to our state legislators.

Doug LaMalfa

Congressman LaMalfa is working hard opposing bills that I certainly believe should be stopped. One is the House bill H.R. 6 that will grant mass amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants and does nothing to improve boarder security. The name of the bill is “American Dream and Promise Act of 2021”.

Here, I will say that I am not against immigrants, but the overwhelming mass of illegal immigrants, at the southern border, is not safe for our country or many of the people seeking entry, especially the children that are being sent. The stats show that drug trafficking and human sex trafficking are hugely on the increase. My heart breaks for those that get caught in those situations. Yes, it is a crisis on our border.

LaMalfa issued this statement in his opposition: The Department of Homeland Security has told Congress it expects over 115,000 unaccompanied children to arrive in the United States this year alone, and legislation like this one is a major reason why. We must stop sending signals to the rest of the world that we will give temporary protection followed by a shortcut to citizenship to those who cross the border if they are a minor. We need an orderly, fair immigrations system that starts with complete control over our border.

Congressman LaMalfa also opposes bill H.R. 1620 that will “reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.” Yep, another bill that will do the opposite of its title.

LaMalfa said: “This outrageously partisan bill contains numerous issues that would end up harming women rather than protecting them. The most glaring example is it would force women’s shelters to accept men who claim to be women or lose federal grant funding. This puts women who are fleeing abusive and dangerous situations in harm’s way rather than offering protection.”

He then explained about a situation in 2018, when nine women sued a women’s shelter in Fresno claiming they were subject to sexual harassment by a transgender individual and staff failed to take action to stop it. The transgender was a pre-operative male (dressed in women’s clothing), but engaged in showering, sexually harassing activities and inappropriate comments, while nude. The women felt threatened.

I searched the web to learn the result to this lawsuit and found some decisions were made June 28, 2019 and the women (plaintiffs) lost on every count. I don’t think this was the final decision. And, I don’t always understand how lawsuits work, except judges tend to decide opposite of my opinion.

Patriots meet

The Siskiyou Patriots will meet tomorrow, March 25, 2021, at the Covenant Chapel Church at 200 Greenhorn Rd in Yreka at 6:30 p.m. Steven Thornburg, president of the Siskiyou Co. Chapter of the Civil Grand Jury Assoc., will speak about the Grand Jury and its processes. Richard Marshall, president of the Siskiyou Water Users Assoc. is also slated to speak. The meeting is free.

Parting thought: Peace may be hard to find, but we must seek for it -- especially for our hearts and minds. Smile!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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