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LITTLE NOTES

2002 Little Notes
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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.





FEBRUARY 2002 LITTLE NOTES

GOOD NEWS FOR MOTHER ANGELICA FANS: In a December 14 press release, Cox Communications of San Diego County announced that it is adding her Eternal Word Television Network to its programming lineup. Cox said that the demand for spiritual, faith-based programming had been brought to the forefront by the events of September 11th, and that, "beginning January 8, 2002, Cox Digital Cable will offer the new Faith and Values package featuring three channels-- Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Inspirational Life TV (I-Lifetv) and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Now in its 20th year, EWTN is the world's largest religious media network." EWTN also features Spanish-language programming. A phone call to the local Cox Media and public relations office confirmed that the three new channels are in fact available 24 hours per day.


TWO REPUBLICAN STATE ASSEMBLY members, Dennis Hollingsworth (R-66) and Charlene Zettel (R-75), are battling for the newly redrawn 36th District senate seat in the March 5 primary. Senator Ray Haynes is vacating the seat due to term limits.

According to electronic filings with the Secretary of State at http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov, as of January 17 "Hollingsworth for Senate" had received total contributions of $70,275.63 while "Zettel for Senate" had received a total of $319,436.20.

A check of contributors showed that Zettel's contributions come primarily from special interest groups and political action committees, while Hollingsworth's contributions come from a variety of businesses and individuals.

Zettel's largest contributions include $6000 from the California Medical Association Small Contributor Committee and $5000 from the California State Council of Laborers PAC. Hollingsworth's largest contributions include $3000 from the Philip Morris Management Company and $2225 from the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians.

According to Hollingsworth campaign spokesman Tim Clark, "There's a problem with unions nowadays and with reapportionment. All but two of the 40 senate seats are 'safe' (strictly Republican or Democrat); only two will be in play over the next 10 years. In the assembly, there's only one or two seats total out of 80 that are not safe. So the unions, if they want to increase their margins, have to play in Republican primaries and elect union-friendly Republicans who will vote Democrat.

"We see this in a couple of different races around the state where the unions are making a play, including Zettel's. For example, the California State Council of Laborers gave her $5000 on Nov. 15 to help bolster her campaign. That's a pretty liberal organization. They donated from their small donor committee, so they've given her more than most contributors are allowed to give."

Smaller contributions to Zettel's campaign include $250 on November 8, 2001 from Poway abortionist and past supporter Bruce J. Tarzy, M.D., Inc.; $1500 on December 31 from his wife, Elizabeth A. Tarzy; and $100 on December 10 from Mary-Ellyn Tarzy, a special education teacher at Meadowbrook Middle School in Poway and wife of Neil T. Tarzy, a licensed physicians assistant supervisor with the El Norte Medical Group in Escondido.

Paul Ecke Jr. of the Carlsbad-based Paul Ecke Ranch flower grower family also contributed $250 to Zettel's campaign on November 3. His wife, "Jinx" Ecke, received the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties at its 2000 annual dinner and helped convert Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-51) to the pro-abortion point of view after she accompanied him on a tour of Planned Parenthood's Escondido facility in 1998 (see Little Notes, November 1999.)

In a January 16 telephone interview, Hollingsworth told News Notes, "There are several differences between Charlene and me when it comes to basic issues important to Republicans. Charlene's voted for two of the greatest expansions in state spending in history. She's voted with Governor Davis and the Democrats to expand government 39 percent. That spending spree means that now the Democrats and everyone who's engaged in that spending spree has put us at risk of having to pay the piper -- raising taxes -- so my opponent can't say that she's against raising taxes and yet indulge in the spending spree, because they're two sides of the same coin.

"Secondly, I am 100% pro-life. I have a proud zero percent rating from Planned Parenthood. My opponent in her first term had a Planned Parenthood rating in the 80s and this last year it was in the high 50s. I don't think taxpayers should be paying the bills for partial-birth abortions or abortions without parental consent on 14-year-olds."

"I am the only co-author with Assemblyman (Dennis) Mountjoy of a bill (AB 1326) that just failed passage in the education committee today. It was a simple bill that said homosexuality shall not be promoted in the public school system. Despite Assemblyman Mountjoy presenting to the committee all sorts of vile descriptions of perverse activity that is being presented to 6th and 7th graders, the committee did not pass that bill. Zettel is on education committee." (A January 16 press release from the pro-homosexual California Alliance for Pride and Equality stated that "Republican Assemblymembers Mark Wyland and Charlene Zettel, as well as Democratic Assemblymember Simon Salinas, were not in the committee room when the initial vote was taken."

"So there's a big difference," concluded Hollingsworth. "Apparently she thinks one individual's life is different from another individual. I think everybody's lives are equally valuable and that murder is murder."

To help with Hollingsworth campaign, write Hollingsworth for Senate 2002, 5020-D Baltimore Dr. #337, La Mesa, CA 91941, phone (619) 644-5400, or www.dennishollingsworth.org.


FROM THE SAN DIEGO GAY NEWS, an internet news site, on December 14: "Conventional wisdom had San Diego City Councilman Scott Peters on our side, but he voted against us. This was supposed to be a close 5-4 decision and instead it was a decisive 6-3 defeat. Everyone with half a political brain knew that City Councilman Brian Maienschein would support the Scouts' discriminatory policy, except for those who foolishly labeled him the swing vote. The rest of the world expected a 5-4 vote. Peters changed that by changing sides. I called to speak with him, but we were unable to squeeze a quickie into our tight schedules. Instead I dueled with his Chief of Staff Christina Cameron. 'He honestly had not made up his mind,' she said while acknowledging that conventional wisdom had it otherwise.... Peters acknowledged in his comments that he once thought that charging them [the Boy Scouts] market rates would be a fair solution. He made these comments while running for office and led us to believe that he would not support discrimination. The bottom line for him, as it is with most elected officials, is that the overwhelming consensus in his district supported the Scouts. "It's clear from our email, our mail, and our phone calls," Peters said. "While I hope that popular opinion is never the sole reason I make a vote, it is difficult for me to ignore the overwhelming desire of the people."


A SUMMER INTERNSHIP for students is available with the Sisters of Life. Located in the New York City metropolitan area, the Sisters were founded several years ago by the late John Cardinal O'Connor to assist the Church in protecting human life. An important resource provided by the Sisters is the Dr. Stanton Library, "currently one of the largest comprehensive collections of pro-life materials in the country, consisting of books, periodicals, medical journals, newspaper clippings, as well as video and audiocassette tapes. Library director Sister Dorothy Guadalupe explains her hope that "it will become a national and even an international resource and a treasure for the pro-life movement."

The sisters need assistance in organizing and cataloguing materials, joining and linking the library to existing pro-life web sites and in making "the Dr. Stanton Library as accessible to someone in Florida or New Zealand as it is to our walk-in visitors in the Bronx. We are looking for volunteers with skills ranging from cutting and pasting all the way up to librarian-level analytic skills for a massive data entry effort, with the hopes that by Fall 2002 our book and periodical catalogs will be online. If you live far away and want to help, you can! We have Internet research projects, off-site data collection, and some data entry. We would also love to have student interns for the summer." Individual volunteers are also welcome at the library on Mondays through Wednesdays and most Saturdays. For more information, please call 718-881-7286 or fax 718-881-7287.


APPROXIMATELY 25 PEOPLE attended a rally January 14 in front of the Chula Vista office of Catholic state assemblyman Juan Vargas to urge him to oppose AB 1338, the California civil unions bill. Protesters included pro-family Hispanics who represented Vargas' heavily Latino-populated South Bay constituency.

As a San Diego city councilmember in February 2000, Vargas co-authored a formal city council resolution to oppose Proposition 22, the "Limits on Marriage" (Defense of Marriage) act. As a state assemblymember in September 2001, he voted for AB 25, the domestic partners bill that granted homosexual registered domestic partners several rights equivalent to traditional marriage.

Among those who spoke at the rally were Karen Holgate of the Capitol Resource Institute, Yuri Mantilla of the Family Research Council, and Eric Diaz of Los Angeles-based Universidad Cristiana Agape.

Diaz: "The Latino community supports the same moral values -- San Diego's values -- regardless of ethnicity. We want to unite with Anglos, Blacks, and others on this moral issue."

Dimitri Kesari of Family Research Council, who flew with Mantilla from Washington D.C. to California for a week of protest events, told a News Notes reporter, "We are here to speak out against AB 1338 because as California goes, so goes the nation. This is not a rally opposing homosexuals but to support the traditional family. Having counterfeit marriage will not help families, will not help children, and will destroy traditional marriage."

Cindy Moles, director of San Diego and Imperial Counties for Concerned Women for America, described the rally: "Most of the ladies there were our CWA ladies. ABC News was there. The San Diego Union-Tribune was there. I went in and spoke with George Jordan, Vargas' district coordinator. He told me Vargas had not yet taken a position on the bill, that every call he had gotten that day was against AB 1338, but he had one walk-in that was in favor of it."

"We have got to get information into the hands of the Hispanic community," Moles continued. "We need to get the information to them in their own language. If anyone in the Hispanic community would like to start a CWA chapter, I'd like to work with them. We'll find a way to translate if they don't speak English and get information into their hands that will help educate and equip them for action."

To get involved with CWA, call Moles at (760) 929-0352 or e-mail her at sd.california@state.cwfa.org.


THOMAS W. MARTIN, 40, is the only candidate opposing incumbent Democrat Donna Frye for the San Diego city council 6th District seat in the upcoming March election. "We are as different as night and day when it comes to the community and how it should be represented," he said in a January 7 telephone interview. "Frye's heart and soul are in the beaches and bays, but my ideas are more for the whole community."

Martin, 40, is a life-long San Diego resident and the current president of the Clairemont Town Council "I still live in the same house in Clairemont I was adopted into in 1961. I am a native San Diegan born at Mercy Hospital. I am a faithful Christian. My wife is Catholic, so I'm an 'adopted Catholic.' We go to Mass at St. Catherine Laboure. I'm more Catholic than I am Methodist, but I was raised Methodist."

Of incumbent Frye's voting record, Martin said, "I was disappointed with the needle exchange vote. That to me is a moral issue. I think it sends the wrong message that we're willing to support drug abuse. That's one of the largest issues that I personally feel was not a good vote. We need to look at how we can save our community from the front end instead of playing catch-up all the time.

For more information or to help with Martin's campaign and "Six Point" plan, visit his website at www.thomaswmartin.com or phone (858) 541-2434.


CHORUS BREVIARII San Diego marks its first anniversary with liturgies planned for the spring of 2002. Vespers will be sung in choir on February 10 and March 10 in St. Augustine Chapel in San Diego and on March 17, in the ornate Serra Chapel of Mission San Juan Capistrano. This celebration will take place before the concluding Mass of Una Voce Orange County's twenty-mile Lenten Pilgrimage Walk. In addition, Tenebræ will be sung once again during Holy Week at St. Maximilian Kolbe Roman Catholic Polish Mission in Pacific Beach. CB Vespers and Benediction services blossomed in November and December (master of ceremonies Carl Horst stopped counting at 125 attendees; the chapel holds 100), leading to talk of a larger venue in the future. www.chorusbreviarii.com or www.uvoc.org or phone 858-273-5180.


ALLYSON SMITH on December 14 wrote to Councilman Inzunza after his comments on his pro-gay vote regarding his Catholic faith (see front-page story, this issue): "There is nothing 'unique' about being a Catholic who seeks 'not to impose our religious beliefs on others.' To the contrary, such Catholics are unfortunately all too common and bear a large share of the blame for the culture of death -- including homosexuality -- that now runs rampant in our society....

"You said: 'I want my child to grow up in an atmosphere where he is willing to understand different approaches and different cultures, and people who have different religious backgrounds, different sexual orientation. That's part of who we are as Americans, and it's part of what I believe makes us a better country.'

"When you said this, I got the impression that you want your child not only to understand different sexual orientations, but to also accept them. Unfortunately, in our society today, 'acceptance' of disordered sexuality too often translates as 'condoning' it. As a Catholic parent, you have a responsibility to teach your child the truth that sexual expression is permitted only within the context of monogamous, heterosexual marriage. In teaching your child to understand differences, you must never teach him to accept heterosexual behavior outside of holy matrimony or homosexual behavior under any circumstances. Homosexual persons must be respected and treated with dignity but their behavior can never be condoned...."


GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COLLEGE board trustee and former El Cajon city planning commissioner Gary Kendrick is running for office again on March 5: This time for Todd Keegan's old seat on the El Cajon city council, which Keegan resigned from last summer after he and fellow councilmembers Dick Ramos and Charles Santos voted earlier in the year to kick Kendrick off the planning commission.

Of nine contenders for the seat, Kendrick is the best financed. According to a January 12 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, he has "amassed $38,000 in early campaign contributions. The infusion is nearly five times what his closest competitor has raised and $10,000 more than anyone has ever spent in an election here."

Kendrick is endorsed by conservative councilmember Bob McClellan. Mayor Mark Lewis has not endorsed him, although he voted to keep Kendrick on the planning commission.

One major campaign issue is churches. According to a January 10 editorial in the Union-Tribune, "Lewis, who will seek a second term in November, and McClellan are political allies. They are looking for a third vote to push their agenda, which includes allowing their church, the Foothills Christian Fellowship, to relocate to the Towne Center mall. Ramos and Santos oppose the proposed move because they believe that the center needs a vibrant commercial enterprise that will generate tax revenues. Meantime, the church has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging religious discrimination."

If elected, Kendrick said, "I think we're going to have three people on the council that are business-friendly and church-friendly. Churches exist in the city of El Cajon with the permission of the city council and city planning commission. If they want to have a new church or expand, or if they want to stay in business when conditional use permits expire, they have to re-apply. When St. Ephrem's (Maronite parish) wanted to change over from daycare to an elementary school, they had to come before the planning commission for permission. I supported that even though some neighbors opposed it."


BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, pro-lifer Brenna Sullenger, 20, will be living in her new home: Wichita, Kansas, home of infamous late-term abortionist George Tiller. She joins Operation West director Troy Newman, who with his family has already moved to the Sunflower State. They will be there for approximately one year. Last July, Sullenger did advance work and participated in the week-long Summer of Mercy Renewal protest against Tiller.

"The reason we're moving back to Wichita," she explained in a January 7 interview with News Notes, "is to confront Tiller and just try to get things organized so we can try to shut him down. There are churches on every corner, and a lot of them you can tell are adding on to their buildings, but there's a lot of churches but they don't really do much of anything."


FROM G.K. CHESTERTON'S LORD KITCHENER, written in 1917: "There is in Islam a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace. The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy out of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology. It affirms, with no little sublimity, something that is not merely the singleness but rather the solitude of God. There is the same extreme simplification in the solitary figure of the Prophet; and yet this isolation perpetually reacts into its own opposite. A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it.

"There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude of lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets. Of these the mightiest in modern times were the man whose name was Ahmed, and whose more famous title was the Mahdi; and his more ferocious successor Abdullahi, who was generally known as the Khalifa. These great fanatics, or great creators of fanaticism, succeeded in making a militarism almost as famous and formidable as that of the Turkish Empire on whose frontiers it hovered, and in spreading a reign of terror such as can seldom be organised except by civilisation."


CORRECTION. The address in the ad for Concerned Roman Catholics of America was wrong in the Jan. 2002 edition; the correct address is CRCOA, 10736 Jefferson Blvd., #664, Culver City, CA 90230.

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