Borders Store Shutdowns

Posted on February 16, 2011 by mmunson

A sad tale is coming to an end for 30% of the stores of Borders, the bookseller chain facing difficulty in a tough economy and digital book selling.

The Chino and Montclair locations are being shut down, but if you like having a choice in where you buy your books can consider the Rancho Cucamonga location. Maybe the Barnes and Noble store in Montclair will get more business and will want to hire 1 or 2 more people due to the loss of the Montclair borders store.

The Borders company is calling it right-sizing, but actually it is down sizing.

Also its ironic that the people who run and manage the company have delusions of grandeur thinking they could afford to buy the Barnes and Noble chain.

And with bankruptcies you should use up your gift cards as soon as possible.

The Use Tax

Posted on February 13, 2011 by mmunson

I know most of us visit and shop at places such as Amazon.com. Most of us have purchased products there because generally you do not have to pay sales tax and it is not added to your invoice.

Not so fast fellow Californians, we are supposed to pay something called the Use Tax where if you use, give away, store, or consume the item in this state you are obligated to pay the use tax.

I know it is sad that the sales tax has became a very regressive piece of taxation where in some towns it reaches almost as a ten percent tax such as in Pico Rivera or Southgate, which seems absurd when their population is not traditionally rich enough to absorb all these costs.

It is natural for people to evade taxation, when taxation is too high people do their best to avoid paying the tax such as small business owners fleeing California due to its regulation and high costs of doing business in the state.

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61st District Woman of the Year

Posted on January 21, 2011 by mmunson

Just spreading the news about our Assembly woman giving a chance to acknowledge another leading lady of our district who either lives, volunteers or works in our communities of Chino, Montclair, Ontario and Pomona.

Please help us and nominate a deserving woman!

Every year, the State Assembly honors women from across the state for the remarkable contributions made to the community and society.

This year we need your help to nominate a woman from our 61st District. Please send us a letter or e-mail telling us why we should pick your candidate for the Woman of the Year.

Information Details:

Nominees must live, volunteer or work in the 61st Assembly District, and not be a public elected official. The woman who is selected will receive special recognition for "Woman of the Year" and will be invited to a ceremony to be held at the State Capitol in March.

Make sure to submit your candidates by February 11.

Click here for a nomination form.

Assemblymember Norma J. Torres
Attn: 2011 Woman of the Year
822 North Euclid, Suite A
Ontario, CA 91762
Telephone (909) 984-7741
Fax (909) 984-6695

Holiday News from Omnitrans

Posted on December 1, 2010 by mmunson

Omnitrans is offering a FREE one-day pass with your online pass purchase now through December 20th. ALSO register for a chance to win a $10 Stater Bros. Gift Card. Details and restrictions on our website. Happy Holidays from Omnitrans!

So if you are buying for yourself, a friend or a family member take advantage of these offers.

Thanks: Omnitrans Facebook Page

A Word About Medicare Coverage from Sen. McLeod

Posted on November 24, 2010 by mmunson

Medicare Open Enrollment More Critical Than Ever This Year

Open enrollment for 2011 Medicare coverage has begun, and the annual ritual is critical for Medicare recipients this year with the changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act.

Those positive changes make Medicare much stronger, while providing important new benefits beginning in January 2011: free annual wellness visits, free recommended preventative services like mammograms and colonoscopies, and a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs for seniors who fall into the so-called “donut hole” with their annual drug purchases.

For those already on Medicare or those newly eligible, open enrollment lasts almost a full seven weeks this year, from November 15 through December 31, 2010.

“These new benefits make this year’s Medicare Open Enrollment Period especially important. Those enrolled in Medicare can think of the Open Enrollment Period as a yearly coverage ‘check-up,’” said US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a department news release. “It is important for people with Medicare to look closely at their plan, look at the options available to them, consider their health status, and find what works for them.”

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Want to Help Out Some Animals

Posted on November 6, 2010 by mmunson

The independent shelter based in Ontario is selling a calendar for you to purchase for $10 if you buy thru one of the local businesses or the shelter or $12.50 if you want it mailed to you.

This is a worthy way for you to help out one of the shelters that serve over 200 animals in the west end by helping to expand their facilities and to provide a hospital to help take care of their animals.

Graphic designers at the art institute and photographers donated their time while local businesses helped pay for the printing costs of the calendars so the shelter could get the majority of the money from the sales.

H/T: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

If you want more information visit the shelter’s website here.

Or the Daily Bulletin Story that will likely stay up for the next 14 days.

Mighty Embarrassed Defenders of Bigotry?

Posted on October 18, 2010 by mmunson

From the blog LGBT POV, Karen Ocamb writes that California State Assembly Candidate Andy Pugno in district 5 is so desperate for a win he is willing to scrub major portions of his life story in order for voters to support him.

Andy may be a “taxpayer advocate”, but like other fringe candidates this year in California, they are also advocates for discrimination. Such as he was the author of Proposition 8 and was paid over 200,000 dollars for his work.

I also sensed that when Ben Lopez who ran for Assembly District 61 was never advertised as working for Lou Sheldon in newspaper stories when he ran in 2006. Ben was mentioned as a small businessman, but never mentioned the fact he worked for the Traditional Values Collation.

I thought if you are making big money defending the traditionalist status quo you should be proud for what you stand for.

words should drip like niagra falls

Posted on August 25, 2010 by mmunson

It is becoming difficult to write the perfect stories for my blog and iepolitics.com. Just like the songwriter who is looking for the greatest hit, I would like to write the words as they flow like water.

On the subject of saving money you do not need expensive cleaning solutions for your LCD monitors and televisions. All you need is distilled water and some microfiber cleaning cloths.

When you pay good money for your monitor you want to make sure dirt never gets caked in your investment.

Garage Sales Limited in the City of Ontario

Posted on July 24, 2010 by mmunson

I just received a notice that the city is going to restrict yard sales. Four weekends per year is sort of inflexible when you have people moving or having estate sales. With the economy still not as exceptional, people are still foreclosing from their homes.

I know the city wants to make sure people are not regularly doing garage sales day in and day out or regularly featuring new merchandise or items acquired for the purchase of resale. However there should be a procedure for emergency permits for garage sales for like $30.00. If you are moving to a new residence or you have a family member died where you need to do an estate sale it is not going to offer flexibility with the new policies. I think 1 emergency permit should be allowed per year to prevent the flexibility from being exploited.

The current schedule for yard sale weekends are the following:

August 6,7,8 2010

November 5,6,7 2010

February 4, 5,6 2011

May 6,7,8 2011

Responding to Robert Cruickshank

Posted on July 17, 2010 by mmunson

Robert wrote a diary on the site he is a regular diarist for at the Calitics blog reflecting about California’s unemployment rate. Here is my response to his diary.

I do not see anything about a vision for helping to create private sector jobs as well. I know firing public sector employees would cause more economic instability, but we need to learn how to create a business climate that would make private sector businesses want to take root in California or expand their existing businesses so we could get tax revenue to help keep those public sector employees employed.

It would be a great day for our state if we read in the news about 84 companies who moved to our state for business or expanded their operations here instead of the reverse.

There can be things we can do to help the economic recovery that does not require messing with overtime or lunch/break or worker protection regulations. Which is one thing I strongly disagree with Senator Dutton.

I do not expect us to spend the money we do not have. I do not want us to become Illinois. Maybe Proposition 1A would of been a good idea, protect our public services, and save money for the next rainy day. I thought we are not allowed to keep budget deficits compared to the federal government.

The cavalier attitudes of the Republican nominees in California and Nevada telling the unemployed let them eat cake is very counter productive. I have more respect for Reid than Sharon Angle even though both parties could of have nominated different people. We need to stand united where the public sector and the private sector should work together in building a stronger economy for our state. It will take shared sacrifice where both sides will have to lose something for the stability of our state.

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