ELECTION UPDATE: MENDEZ MAINTAINS LEAD

Last Updated: 14:05 11/18/2011

Candidate Party Votes Percent
GARY MENDEZ NP 978 37.13
LIL RONNIE LAWRENCE NP 927 35.19
M G MACEDONIO NP 548 20.8
FRANK VASQUEZ NP 181 6.87



You Smell That?! You Smell That?! Smells like Victory!

POLITIKATE-DO

Politikate-do(&jutsu) is as much about basic physics as it is about the spiritual aspect. Politikate seeks to make the weak equal to the strong, and the big equal to the small simply by using some basic concepts of physics. By using torques, momentum and stability in the techniques, and relatively small politico can effectively defend themselves from an attack by much larger politicos. Highly related to Aikijutsu & Kara-te, an art which also seeks to rob an uke of stability, Politikate incorporates many other martial arts as well, all of which contribute to the basic idea of unbalancing your uke by using their own energy against them. Equally important to making an uke unstable is retaining your own stability. A great deal of emphasis is placed upon the ability of an Politikatist to stay "centered." In terms of physics, this is the control over the location of your center of mass. The movement of the center of mass from within one's body to a point where that person is no longer in equilibrium is the reason why people fall down.

Newton's Laws
All three of Newton's laws can be applied to Politikate and the techniques therein. Lets take a look at them one at a time.

1) An object in motion tends to remain in motion.
A Politikateist realizes that an object moving in a direction will probably continue in that direction. A giant political thug(s) charging at you is not going to be stopped easily, so why bother stopping him? By simply getting out of the way, and avoiding the attack a Politikateist has already begun a technique. Certain techniques take advantage of the fact that a body in motion remains in motion. For the Timing-and-Breath throw, the uke is spun in a circle before an arm across the face halts their head's forward motion. Unfortunately for them, the rest of their body keeps moving forward and *plop* they fall to the ground.

2) F = ma.
Force equals mass times acceleration. Again, let us take the giant political thug(s) that are attacking. He/they have a great deal of mass, and depending upon his attack, a great deal of acceleration as well. So what must a Politkateist do? Many of the techniques in Politikate focus on manipulating joints (human body, da) in a manner that requires very little force. By focusing on these vulnerable points in the body, an Politikateist need only to apply an acceleration to a small mass (a hand) instead of a large mass (a body) to control his uke. By applying a wrist technique, the Politkateist can get away with applying a small amount of force. The rest of the uke will follow, or lose their wrist.

3) Every action has an Equal and Opposite reaction.
The techniques of Politikate are primarily concerned with redirection of movement, and thus there is very little actual opposition to forces. Politikate techniques to not strike blows or bodily move an uke around. The third law applied whenever a small Politkate tries to move a big uke. A small person cannot exert enough force to overcome his uke without also flinging himself halfway across the room. The small Politikateist can try and push the big uke over, but that uke's body will just push back with an equal force. The small Politikateist must therefore not exert direct force on his uke, but instead make good use of the other two laws.

Levers and Torques
Levers and torques are yet one more critically important aspect of the physics of Politikate. Many techniques make use of an ukes arm as a lever to exert a significant amount of torque to a shoulder or elbow joint. On the other side of things, an Politikateist also places himself to rob his uke or attacker of a lever to use against him. Placement of arms, legs and body are critical to performing techniques correctly by providing the appropriate levers for an Politkateist to apply techniques. Kaiten Nage uses the ukes arms as levers to apply a torque, and the Timing and breath throw shows the rotation of the uke's body around an axis in space.

Henceforth, Politikate-Do (& Jutsu) may allow one to overcome great politcal mass and demonstrates that Spirit amd skill may overcome the tyranny of political bullies.

Rio Hondo College - No Class Cuts! Holding the line.- Whittier Daily News

Community college, CSU chancellors predict more cuts and higher fees - Whittier Daily News

Rio Hondo College is one of the ONLY community colleges in California that has NOT cut classes, furloughed employees, laid-off faculty & staff, nor cut services and programs. Why? We saved reserves, practiced fiscal discipline, and kept our administration lean as the impending budget crises approached. The crisis was no secret but we had to prepare, we did and now we are able to offer more classes and services than most community colleges.

We are fairing very well compared to other community colleges, local schools and cities. Little Lake School District laid-off a great amount teachers and staff, increased class size, cut programs and services, and increased the cost of children’s school lunches. The City of Santa Ana has cut so many employees and residential services that they have even cannibalized their Community Developed Department seizing funds to pay debt.

At Rio Hondo College, due to our fiscal preparedness and responsibility, we were able to hire 13 faculty and 35 staff in 2011 to serve students. In addition, our $300 million dollar building program has employed over 300 local skilled-workers and professionals to build our new facilities.

Things may get tougher, but we will be diligent, prudent and discilpined in the coming budget cycles. It comes down to our mission, serve students.

Rio Hondo Breaks Ground for the El Monte Education Center

On Wednesday, August 17, 2011, we finally broke ground for Rio Hondo College’s El Monte Education Center that will be ready to serve students in two years. Im very excited! It took time, patience and effort to negotiate with the City of El Monte, and at times the project was uncertain, but that has past and now we have a site.

Over six years ago, the Board of Trustee’s work diligently to select communities to host a “College Center”. South Whittier being geographically the furthest community from the Main campus was a sure host and El Monte for its population density.

El Monte was the first to host a "College Center" over ten years ago when it was on Valley Blvd and it’s great to see El Monte have a Rio Hondo presence again.

Go Rio Student Transit Program MOU Approved by Norwalk City Council with the Norwalk Transit System.

Tuesday night, August 16, 2011, I attended the Norwalk City Council Meeting to speak on Council AgendaItem 13; Go Rio! Transit Program MOU with Norwalk Transit System.

The Norwalk City Council Approved Unanimously the MOU with Rio Hondo Community College District for the Go Rio Public Transportation Program continuing service to students and residents.

The Council had various questions and concerns regarding the recent fair increases and whether Rio Hondo was going to pay for the increases the Council recently approved. Mr. James Parker, Transportation Director, very clearly reported that Rio Hondo has been a partner for over five years and that the MOU contains language that responds to fair increase and that the MOU doesn’t not create a special route but rather utilizes existing routes. The City Attorney also informed the Council that the MOU pays (in advance) fairs at the established rate set by council.

The Council further asked how the City will know how many people will use the service to be sure that the City is being adequately compensated. Mr. Parker responded that the new "TAP" card and its technology collects data instantly and reports can be generated daily, weekly or monthly.

I was given the opportunity to speak on "Open Comment" and extended Rio’s deep appreciation and gratitude for the partnership created over five years ago and expanded on the many benefits of the program: 1) Greater access to Rio Hondo for residents of Norwalk; 2) decreased demand for on-campus parking; 3) decrease in auto emissions-pollution; 4) making college more affordable by utilizing public transit; and 5) a greater environmentally conscience student.

I want to thank Vice Mayor Kelly, Councilmembers Rodarte, Vernola, and Shryock for approving the item and continuing the service.

VINDICATED - DISMISSED

Im an Outdoorsman and being in the Outdoors is a great part of my life and soul.

In 2010, I was accused of carrying a “switchblade”, and having an unpaid speeding ticket, upon my return from a backpacking/camping trip after having dinner at Maggie’s Pub in Santa Fe Springs.

In July 2010, the traffic ticket was paid and the case on “suspicion of carrying a switchblade” was dismissed by the presiding Superior Court Judge. At that proceeding, the District Attorney (DA) moved to dismiss the case and stated that he had inspected the knife in question and said that it was clearly not a “switchblade” and was instead a legal folded camping knife. The Judge agreed and granted a dismissal stating that “the Whittier Police Department has NO Business redefining State Law on what is a “switchblade” and what’s a legal folded camping knife”. I was Vindicated!

It has been a long tradition in my family to commune in nature. The camping knife is a great part of my outdoors ethos. As an American, I don’t see why I need to change that.

The California Penal Code Section 653k is very clear on what is a “switchblade” and what its not. The code states a ““Switchblade knife” does not include a knife that opens with one had utilizing thumb pressure applied solely to the blade of the knife or a thumb stud attached to the blade…” The Law is very clear, there is no ambiguity. I just don’t see how the Whittier Police officer could have misinterpreted the law. It makes me wonder.

I have since returned to my hiking, camping, backpacking and the outdoors lifestyle.

However, my political opponents continue to portray me as a “switchblade carrying cholo”. Two have promised to play the dirtiest campaign yet seen in our community.

I can’t stop them and they know thier wrong. That’s politics and I will do what I do best: fight for justice and be resilient.