Strawman, I have to give you credit. You certainly live up to your chosen Handle on the forum.
I don't remember ever seeing a single post where anyone made the claim that AA is better than AAA. Where are all the people making that claim?
What many people have said, is that there are numerous players in AA who could play AAA if they so chose. The same could be said for A players playing AA.
This isn't conjecture, it's fact. Just looking at the teams my kid played on in the last 2 seasons, he has 4 former teammates who are now playing AAA. They are all talented players, but none of them were generally considered to be the best player on the team nor were any of the 4 statistically the top scorers.
In my opinion, the CAHA system has artificially limited AAA opportunity, so there are likely more players who would be playing AAA in other markets, that are playing AA in California. One of the reasons I've been hearing recently for the level of churn in the Ducks is the move to Irvine that has made it untenable for some families who can't justify the commute. This reinforces the simple fact that in a state as large as California, with only 3 teams, there are going to be many families who just can't get to one of the 3 AAA rinks.
This isn't a knock against the quality or capabilities of kids playing AAA.
As for Bantam AA this year, the writing was on the wall in the spring when the Saints got to the finals of the AAA division and as I recall were beaten by a Patriots team comprised of AAA Ducks and Kings only after a coming behind late in the 3rd. The Bears is pretty much a new team this season, but the Saints played AAA tournaments last year after CAHA ended and beat a number of mid level AAA teams in the process. It also says something about the level of AA, that this same Saints team, was put in Flight2 last year, and were tied or beaten by other Flight2 teams, which says a lot about the Flighting process in terms of teams that have been denied a chance to play in Flight1 in the 2 years of flighting.