Pacifica Riptide

Danger: Missing "R" Goes Over the Falls

The sign (above) is on a dead-end road that leads from the east side of Kauai to Wailua Falls. (Alan Proulx photos)

Bean Counters: Civil Service Salary Survey

SALARY SURVEY: SEARCHABLE DATABASE

[forwarded by Mark Stechbart et al.]

Opinion: Don't Let Wall Street Run Health Care

Until last year, Wendell Potter was head of corporate communications for CIGNA — the country's fourth-largest health insurance company. Now he has seen the light and decided to tell the truth about what we are seeing as opposition to health care reform: "The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent and accountable, publicly accountable health care option as, quote, 'government-run health care.' What we have today is Wall Street-run health care that has proven itself an untrustworthy partner to its customers, to the doctors and hospitals who deliver care and to the state and federal governments that attempt to regulate it." Hear him speak here:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html

Since the United States has the dubious distinction of being #37 in the World Health Organization's list of best and worst health care plans and practices on earth (France being #1), why not celebrate in song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgOl3cETb

Fact: 80% of home foreclosures are directly related to debt accrued in relation to sickness and rising health care costs. So blaming it on low-income people who were taken in by predatory lenders cynically capitalizing on everyone's wish for the "American Dream" will no longer be the convenient scapegoat. This has got to change. Oh, we can't afford it? Where were all the penny pinchers when Bush was raiding the treasury?

[forwarded by Nancy Hall]



 

 

Pacifica Gardens: Food Donation Program

With the development of our Food Donation Program this spring, we have been given the opportunity to share locally grown organic produce with Pacifica families in need. This program is a chance for us to give back to the community and share the bounty of our efforts and the project with those in need. The program is supported by a grant from Silicon Valley Community Foundation and San Mateo County. As we have harvested this summer and fall, a portion of the harvest from Pacifica Gardens has been set aside for donation to Pacifica Resource Center, which is aware of families that need assistance. Our produce is distributed while it is still fresh, nutritionally sound, and wonderful! So far this year, we have donated 225 pounds of food through this program. Thank you to all volunteers for your efforts and participation in the Pacifica Gardens project. You help make this type of giving possible.

MARJI DAVIS
PACIFICA GARDENS
A PROJECT OF PACIFICA'S ENVIRONMENTAL FAMILY

Poblitz's Pacifica Panoramas: Fog Fest Fotos

ELI POBLITZ FOG FEST PHOTOS

Sumo Diet: Why Americans Are Getting Fatter

BY DR. CYNTHIA LUCE

Are you on the Sumo diet? I am. No wonder my midsection has expanded to the point where I can no longer see my feet unless I bend way over. I am not the only one, either. My patients are on the Sumo diet, too. The Sumo diet seems to be all the rage these days. Americans are becoming alarmingly more obese each year from just following this ancient way of the Sumo wrestler. It is not a diet I recommend, mind you. It just so happens that many of us are on it without knowing it. Take my patient "Bob," a computer programmer who works from home. He really has no excuse when it comes to meal preparation. He is just lazy or busy. The extra 80 pounds piled up around his middle show his lack of culinary enthusiasm. His daily grind goes something like this. He wakes up, turns on the computer, and makes coffee. After his caffeine-rich liquid breakfast, he sets off to check e-mail and catch up on a few to-do items for clients. Before he knows it, it is time for lunch. Does he stop in the middle of his day to eat? Heavens, no! There is work to be done, problems to be solved. He pushes on to the afternoon. When 4 p.m. rolls around, he grows tired and faint and realizes he has been so consumed in his activity that he has forgotten to eat at all. Looking back on the day, wondering what he has eaten, he realizes it was perhaps only a piece of toast with honey on it somewhere between e-mails and telephone conferences. Now that late afternoon has arrived, he is hungry but doesn’t want to spoil his appetite so he waits for dinner. At 8 p.m. he finally sits down to a well-prepared meal, lovingly cooked by his wife. He then proceeds to eat the caloric consumption of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one sitting, plus or minus a few snacks in between. If that were not enough to satiate his hunger, he may even top it off with dessert—a big bowl of ice cream. Then, staying true to the Sumo diet, his head hits the pillow no more than two hours after eating a 3,200-calorie meal. It is the ancient art of KU-CHYA-NEY. It means to eat and drink extraordinary amounts at one sitting and then go immediately to sleep.  It is a proven sure-fire way to pack on pounds. Sumo have used and perfected this diet for centuries. Americans are adopting this way of eating, less the physical training of the Sumo. We are reaching epic weights never before seen, as popularized by such TV shows as The Biggest Loser. This forced fasting due to “business,” followed by gorging, is taking a toll on our waistlines as well as general health and family time. Gone are the days of the sit-down family meals we enjoyed in our youth. Social meals have been replaced by fast food, food on the go, skipped meals, eating in front of the TV, gluttonous gorging in a single meal. Has all this technological progress really helped if we are killing ourselves prematurely with our eating habits? So how do we stop this ever-escalating weight gain? Stop the Sumo madness, for starters, and eat/graze throughout the day. Which reminds me, I need to go make a snack. Tune in next time for “Starve the Fat, Not the Muscle.”

Dr. Cynthia Luce is a chiropractor, practicing for 15 years. She has been studying nutrition for the past decade under Dr. Jeffrey Bland, PhD, founder of the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Luce's office is in Rockaway Beach, Pacifica. She strives to help her clients with natural alternatives for health and healing through understanding nutrition and supplementation. She is holding a weekly nutrition class focusing on weight loss, starting Monday evenings  from 7 – 8:30, October 19 through November 30. Classes are free with a nominal fee to cover the cost of handouts. To register, call 650-359-6800 or email DrLuce@lucebones.com.

CDC Update: Swine Flu Surges Across U.S.

CDC WEB SITE: LATEST INFO ON SWINE FLU

http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/coldandflu/nationalreports/?from=coldandflu_welcome

Local Politics: Who's on First?

BY BILL COLLINS
RIPTIDE CORRESPONDENT

Our state Senator Leland Yee, who represents some 800,000+ constituents in the western part of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County, is likely to run for mayor of San Francisco and if he wins, there would be a special election to fill the remaining year of his term in the state Senate. The winner of that special election is likely to win re-election later for two full terms. The logical candidates are the Assembly members within the Senate district: Fiona Ma of San Francisco/Daly City and Jerry Hill of northern San Mateo County. But Ma supposedly is running for insurance commissioner, and if she sticks to that, freshman Assemblymember Jerry Hill, if he chooses to run, would be hard to beat. Like Yee, Hill is a proficient fundraiser and he gets around the district. A lot of "ifs" here, but after nine years in the state Senate (assuming election to two 4-year terms plus the remainder of Yee's term), Hill could return to finish four years or so in the Assembly before he'd reach his limit of six years in the Assembly. South San Francisco City Councilman Kevin Mullin,  son of Hill's predecessor Gene Mullin, is interested in succeeding Hill to the Assembly. All are Democrats, Republican officeholders having become extinct in the county some years ago.

Good News: State Parks & Beaches Stay Open

Knowing of your interest in our state parks, I am pleased to forward the latest information indicating that the parks will remain open. Please do not hesitate to contact me at http://www.assembly.ca.gov/hill or (650) 349-1900 if you have any questions regarding this new development or any other state issues of concern to you. (JERRY HILL, Assemblymember, 19th District)

Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Plan to Keep State Parks Open
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today unveiled a plan that would allow for all state parks to remain open without increasing the Department of Parks and Recreation budget appropriation. Following the passage of the budget reduction in July, the Governor tasked the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Finance to work together on a plan to achieve $14.2 million in budget savings in the current fiscal year while mitigating the number of park closures. "Working closely with my Departments of Finance and Parks and Recreation, we have successfully found a way to avoid closing parks this year," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "This is fantastic news for all Californians." Below is the memo from the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Finance outlining the budget solution:
Date: September 24, 2009
To: Paul Feist, Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary
From: Ruth Coleman, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation; Ana Matosantos, Chief Deputy Director, Department of Finance
Subject: Solution to Avoid Park Closures
After several weeks of analyzing Parks' initial proposal to achieve savings in the 2009-10 budget, an alternative solution has been developed that achieves the necessary savings and avoids full and complete park closures. Parks' initial proposal included a plan to fully and partially close over 100 state parks. Several of the parks identified on the initial closure list had among the highest attendance throughout the state park system. However, after further discussion and analysis, Finance was able to determine that several of these parks on the closure list were actually not being proposed to be closed, but were going to remain open with substantial service reductions. Furthermore, the parks that were identified on the closure list included closure plans that differed significantly from one park to another. In some cases, the parks were proposed to be fully, or 100 percent, closed. In other cases, the parks were proposed to be less than 1 percent closed. To avoid full and complete park closures while achieving the budgeted savings, the Administration can take the following actions:

In the current fiscal year, Parks can achieve one-time budget savings in the following manner:

• Maintenance and Equipment: Reduce ongoing maintenance for the remainder of 2009-10 and eliminate all major equipment purchases, such as vehicle replacements. (Savings estimated at $12.1 million)  
• Service Reductions: Reducing hours and/or days of operation at most State Park units, reducing expenditures on seasonal staff, reducing staffing and operations at Headquarters (Savings estimated at $2.1 million). Examples of service reductions include; (1) some facilities will close weekdays and be open on weekends and holidays, (2) portions of a unit may be closed, such as the back loop of a campground, (3) for a park with multiple campgrounds, one whole campground or day use facility may be closed while the rest of the park remains open, and (4) parks that already close due to seasonal conditions may see a longer closure. Service reductions will be planned to minimize disruptions to visitors, achieve cost savings and maintain park fee revenues.
  

To achieve the $22.2 million of ongoing future General Fund savings that was included in the 2009 Budget Act, the Administration can explore various solutions for inclusion in the January 10 budget to generate ongoing budget savings while minimizing full and complete park closures.

Conservative Heat: Fall in Pacifica

Just in time for fall, the weather bureau says to "expect conservative warming along the coast." Well, we hope that's a liberal interpretation. As locals know, this is the warmest time of year.