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Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Feb 14, 2016

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GHASTLY

Justice Scalia Found Dead At Home

by Larry Bensky

The first reaction, from she who is closest to me, when I brought her the news as she knelt on the black cloth cover through whose agency we are trying to turn our small, once green, front yard into something “drought resistant” (January’s deluges haven’t fooled us…) was to scream, “Yes!” and prostrate herself in the bright sun, “There is a God!”

“Not so fast,” I replied. “What kind of a ‘god’ are we talking about here? The one that Antonin Scalia sculpted so tortuously and pervasively in his personality and politics? Or the ones that will now be evoked, twisted, melted, reconstructed into self-serving ‘Vote for Me’s!’ during the next nine months – and beyond?”

A part of me gets deeply amused by all this. People ask me, endlessly, months and years before elections, what I think is going to happen. And my universal answer is a gnomic, “Whatever happens is going to be heavily influenced by what hasn’t happened yet.”

Not that there won’t be other things happening between here and there – perhaps even the same things, given the ages of the remaining eight justices (half of whom are north of 77 years, another two over 65).

But for now, let’s look at this one.

Scalia
Scalia

If you’re interested in things like peace, equality, and social justice, Scalia has been about as bad as it has ever gotten in US history. And it’s gotten pretty bad.

He claimed, and was given, nominal leadership in the US legal thought tendency known as “textualism” or “originalism.” Meaning that whatever the Constitution says, it says. That this solipsistic truism is the subject of anything other than laughter says it all. Because the self-evident truth, obvious since humans began to codify and symbolize thoughts through speech and writing is that…hold on….meanings vary and change! Depending on a vast variety of elements. And that words like “justice,” “general welfare,” and “liberty” are not self-defining. Nor can they be definitively concretized by referring to the mindsets and writing of those who, after much discussion and debate, put them on parchment. Because – hold on to your textbooks here – it took not very much time for even those who had debated and discussed them to disagree about what the result meant!

Now this may not have been the catechismic way of looking at politics in St. Francis Xavier, Scalia’s military high school (he never served in the military – did you know that?) or Georgetown of his era (he didn’t get into Princeton, which at the time was run by exclusionary WASP bigots), but it certainly was something he might have assimilated at Harvard Law School.

Yet he didn’t. Because he was, as the hard-line Commies used to say, “under discipline.” And that discipline did not come from the Constitution, but from another fabulist authority, the bible. The ordering of humanity in which Scalia believed comes not from human law, but supposedly divine guidance. Whose words are – get this! – themselves subject to….interpretation of meaning! For example, the pope who is currently treating the oppressed in Mexico to his Hallmark platitudes would not agree on very much in the bible with World War II era Pope Pius XII, who collaborated with Mussolini’s exterminist Hitlerian behavior.

The historical oddity that the Supreme Court has come to have a Catholic majority (nominal Catholics constitute about 22% of the population) stands beside its other anomalies: all (but one – she went to Columbia) graduated from either Yale or Harvard Law Schools, and all but one (our very own confused California Catholic Anthony Kennedy) come from East Coast states.

But the Court was never meant to be representative, or “diverse” in any way. It was meant primarily to resolve what were essentially property disputes. If its “original intent” were observed today, it would have nothing to do with whether someone can have an abortion, or anonymously pour billions into election campaigns, or blithely pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink, or torture someone, or walk around Texas brandishing a weapon. But in the sense that it can and does deal with such issues, however misguidedly and arbitrarily, it can sometimes provide what we tend to think we cannot even hope for. (You want an antidote to Scalia hagiography, read Juan Williams’ (unfortunately misnamed) 2000 book, “Thurgood Marshall, American Revolutionary.”)

And as for current electoral implications, try this one. (I’m not claiming to be the only one who will have thought of this, by the way, I’m writing just a couple of hours after Scalia’s demise…)

You’re Bernie Sanders. The establishment media (which is to say all newspapers, radio and TV) is picking on you because your home state is so white. So you wait a decent interval, something longer than the customary nanosecond in the silly twittersville we inhabit, and you announce a major promise.

After condolences to Ms. Scalia, their nine (!) children and abundant grandchildren, you say… “This country cannot go any further in the direction Justice Scalia took us. Therefore, my first act, upon being elected, will be to nominate his successor, “Barack Hussein Obama.”

(Larry Bensky is the retired National Affairs Correspondent for Pacifica Radio. He can be reached at: LBensky@igc.org.)

* * *

President Barack Obama says he plans to fulfill his constitutional responsibility and nominate a successor to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. In a direct rebuttal to Senate Republicans, Obama says there is plenty of time for the Senate to confirm his choice. Some Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, say the decision should rest with the next president in January 2017. Obama pointedly calls the decision "bigger than any one party." He says it is about democracy. Obama is praising the late justice as a brilliant legal mind who influenced generation of lawyers and students.

* * *

MITCH CLOGG COMMENTS:

"Ding dong, the warlock's dead!"

Such glee is unsuitable at the passing of a prominent American, and the consternation in the corporate boardrooms, the best private clubs and the back seats of limousines is nearly palpable. One is stirred almost to sympathy. Not enough that a foreign-born negro is concluding his second term as president, that a Jewish communist is seeking to replace him, that Moslem fanatics are conquering the world; now the dwindling class of true Americans must bear the loss of its bravest defender in the judiciary, the towering Antonin Scalia. As more and more revisionists made specious argument that the U.S. Constitution was a document made by and for wealthy male Caucasions and should therefore be revisited often, reformed, even replaced to reflect (allegedly) changing times, Justice Scalia stood massive and strong as an old oak stump, his stalwart lieutenant Clarence Thomas at his back.

The nation always rallies at times like these. We will see our enlightened Senate close ranks and lock arms to prevent the seating of another America-hater on our highest court. We will see the stepping forward of our bravest citizens to stem the flow of American blood at this crucial moment. Take heart, America! Nino is no longer with us, but his spirit stays strong, the deep depression where he sat at that lofty bench ready to receive a new patriot's sturdy hindquarters, and the distinguished Justice Thomas will now raise his voice in the interests that his late and lamented colleague advanced so assiduously.

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REEL SHORT MOVIE REVIEW

MICHAEL MOORE'S LATEST, Where To Invade Next, takes us to European countries and Tunisia to demonstrate deficiencies in fundamental areas of American life — education; labor policies; children's food; gender relations; crime strategies. Lots of places do it better, as most super-informed, cool-o ava readers know. The rightwing, of course, will view the film as "America bashing," not that it is and not that Moore doesn't conclude by pointing out, for two examples, that the labor reforms much of the world enjoys, or at least pays lip service to, were hard-won first here in the United States, as was free higher education via state colleges and universities.

WE LEARN a few things even a muy sophistico guy like me didn't know, such as the only bank in Iceland that didn't go broke in 2008 was a bank owned by women. "We didn't invest in anything we didn't understand." I did know that in the aftermath of Iceland's collapse a special prosecutor, assisted by an American, put Iceland's most egregious financial criminals in prison. Our crooks got bonuses and jobs advising Obama.

THE MOST STRIKING segment in the film for me was lunch time at a French public school where elementary students enjoyed a healthy four-course, sit down meal served by cafeteria workers on real china, a meal that we'd pay $60 or $70 for in a high end restaurant, and this was a working class school that could have been Boonville if we didn't know we were in France. French children, at an early age, learn how to eat well and master some table manners in the process. The school chef, shown photos of a typical American school menu, seems stunned, then says, "This isn't food."

AN AMERICAN WORKER suddenly enjoying the wages and general standard of living of an Italian or German worker would think he'd been re-born in paradise. American prisoners will be staggered to learn that Norwegian prisoners, even in the max facilities, keep the keys to their own cells. And Finn schools are the best in the world largely because private schools are outlawed. The rich, therefore, go to school with everyone else, and the rich, even the educationally handicapped ones like Trump, don't tolerate bad schools for their children. This film ought to be required viewing, especially by wage workers and, as they grandly call themselves these days, American "educators."

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‘TAKING A MESS & MAKING IT MESSIER’

Supes take an hour just to schedule the Kemper Report discussion

by Mark Scaramella

Supervisor Tom Woodhouse seems to finally realize that not everything and everyone in Ukiah is wonderful and awesome and exciting and educational. In fact, he has started actually complaining, albeit at great unnecessary length, about how hard it is to listen to other people talk, many of them those same people he previously heaped praise on.

From the 2/9/2016 Board of Supes meeting discussion of what to do on February 16:

Supervisor Dan Hamburg: “It was just mentioned that we now have a meeting scheduled for February 16. Has that been…?”

Supervisor John McCowen: “We'll take that up later today.”

CEO Carmel Angelo: “That's actually the next agenda item, Supervisor Hamburg. It’s February 16.”

Board Chair Dan Gjerde: “It's a good point. If the very next agenda item is to recommend that we have a meeting on February 16 then we would be adding that to our adopted calendar.”

Hamburg: “It seems like we should before we go further.”

Angelo: “We can do that first if you like. And then come back to this. Sure. [Laughs.] Either way the staff will adjust the calendar so however you would like to do it. We could hold off on Item 5(c) and then do 6(b). That's the Health and Human Services Committee item [the possible privatization of the Animal Shelter.].”

Gjerde: “For the moment can we hold off on 5(c) and go back to 6(b)?”

Angelo: “Sure.”

Hamburg: “In the interest of order I would like…”

Gjerde: “6(b) is the discussion and possible action regarding the recommendation of the Health and Human Services Committee which did meet yesterday, related to the Kemper consulting group mental health review.”

Hamburg: “Mr. Chairman, I just heard it a few minutes ago that — I mean, obviously I knew that this was on our agenda. But I didn't know that we were also going to be meeting on the animal issue in the morning.”

Gjerde: “It's a full meeting. Proposed.”

Hamburg: “But that wasn't what we— what was in our packet. Was it?”

Angelo: “The item in the packet is for the request for the Kemper report to be heard in the afternoon, so it would have been February 16 at 1:30. Given that we would have a full half day our thought was that we would go ahead and have a full meeting that day starting at 9. However if that does not fit the schedule of the Supervisors we could change that.”

Hamburg: “The only thing I'm bringing up is that it wasn't on our agenda. I suppose we can do anything we want with our meetings. But there was nothing on our agenda today that said we were going to be meeting next Tuesday morning to talk about animal care.”

Supervisor Carre Brown: “I've got problems with that. Because I have already scheduled meetings, in fact scheduled them for the day. And have canceled, and moved a meeting for the afternoon so I could be present for the afternoon session. I guess it's not a big deal to cancel what I have in the morning but, you know it's, it causes a lot of issues [Laughs.]”

Hamburg: “It seems a little ad hoc to me.”

Gjerde: “For the moment let's stick with the Kemper report recommendation of the ad hoc committee and we can go back to our calendar.”

Angelo: “That would be fine.”

McCowen: “I suppose it's fine to complete the discussion on the 16th and what we may do in the morning as part of the other item. For now the recommendation is that we have a special meeting on the 16th for the Kemper report. Frankly, one of my concerns is if we start at 1:30 will that be enough time? We know there is a tremendous amount of public interest in the Kemper report and in the underlying subject. So — but — I suppose this is the time when we are going to choose to set that we will hear the Kemper report at 1:30?”

Angelo: “Yes, through the chair, Lee Kemper is traveling here. So 1:30 is the timeframe that works for him. So if we started at nine o'clock in the morning I'm not certain he could be here. So that's why we thought 1:30 would work.”

Gjerde: “Do we know that he could not travel the night before?”

Angelo: “I certainly could ask him.”

Gjerde: “Or if we started say at one o'clock instead of 1:30, that might help him.”

Angelo: “I'm sure we could start at 1. I can go ahead and get a hold of him and see if we could start at 9 if you would like, but I think — I'm not certain what we’re doing. I can guarantee you that he could be here at one o'clock in the afternoon.”

McCowen: “It could be at 1?”

Angelo: “I can guarantee you that he could be here at 1, but I don't know about 9.”

McCowen: “I think that would give us a little extra time. I think that would be appropriate. Actually, by the nature of this item and the recommended motion doesn't refer to a time, it only refers to that we would schedule a special meeting for the 16th to hear the Kemper report.”

Angelo: “At 1:30.”

McCowen: “No, it does not mention the time in the recommended action motion. But if you are confident with one o'clock I think it would be appropriate to go with that time.”

Brown: “I could do 1.”

Hamburg: “I could go for that but it does say that we are going to meet at 1:30 on the request. It doesn't say that in the motion.”

McCowen: “Correct.”

Hamburg: “But anybody in the – Oh, any way.”

McCowen: “But we could adjust that if we —”

Angelo: “We could do a press release too that says 1 o'clock rather than 1:30 if you would like.”

McCowen: “I will move that we hold a special meeting on February 16 and that the Kemper report be heard beginning at one o'clock.”

Woodhouse: “I will second that.”

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McCowen: “I think it's unfortunate that we did not anticipate in advance that there might be the need to have a block of time fall on the 16th for the animal shelter discussion. But at this point a room full of people in the room yesterday have been informed that that's what we would be doing and we’ve told more people this morning. So, as part of making a decision on that in addition to the conflicts that that may create for us we should also consider the confusion it may create for the public.”

* * *

Brown: “Did I hear you say Supervisor McCowen that people have already been told we are meeting the morning of the 16th?”

McCowen: “That's what they were told yesterday.”

Brown: “By whom?”

McCowen: “By I believe staff and the committee.”

Brown: “Well — I — you know — it's — to me that is not right. Or fair.”

Woodhouse: “I am trying not to add to the confusion. I often don't say what's on my mind because the day isn't long enough. But I understand Supervisor Brown’s comment. I think it's something we are going to run into with the standing committees. It's a great idea. But what it's doing is saturating our lives with a lot more meetings and then we are going to have more joint meetings and there's a limit to how much of this I am willing to do. I've been very patient for the most part, putting up with the length of meetings and the content of what we do. But a lot of it is not deep critical thought with serious choices and using our intelligence. It's having presentations and spending a lot of time being very busy and being very sincere but not really changing the direction of the county. We really need to have some time and I'm hoping the standing committees are going to give that opportunity for a deeper look at what's going on with the county. We are very good at moving things along and approving everything but overall the county is not operating efficiently or up to what I think my expectations are. I won't speak for any of you. Each thing I look into in every department, there are so many screwed up things and so many problems that it is very very frustrating. So that's my own problem. But having endless meetings is not going to get us anywhere. When I spend time with the constituents and respond to the people with e-mails we have chances to go out in our district and hear what people are thinking. It connects them to us and gives us as supervisors a stronger base of understanding of what's going on. At this point we don't have any huge problems that are attacking us but I assume we are going to have some big challenges and we are going to be saddled with all this baggage of all this stuff we do. So I am not adverse to canceling some of the standing committee meetings when there is nothing of substance that happens there. I just think there is a limit to what this kind of forum accomplishes. I do understand — the thing I wanted to say is — the standing committees don't have any ability to make decisions and should not be making commitments. That was my mistake to be putting forward dates. We can't make decisions that affect the whole board. We should bring everything to the board and this is going to be a re-occurring theme. And I will try to be more attentive to that myself because we are going to be pulling in different directions and possibly confusing the public. This is more my frustration. I’m concerned that we just make sure we are headed in the most productive direction to change things at the county and make things better, not just keep it moving straight ahead on the edge.”

Brown: “I just want to clarify why I'm upset. This meeting was set two weeks ago. We had a hard time finding a date. It's embarrassing to me because it is meeting on constituent issues that all of a sudden we now one week away, I've got — you know — basically say cancel. I will attend if that's the decision of all of you. Certainly there are issues that can't wait. After hearing the public expression today [about animal control] — so please. I lost my temper a bit. But I will be here because it's my responsibility and I will just have to cancel and reset.”

Hamburg: “I will of course be here as well, but I do agree with Supervisor Brown, it does concern me that the standing committee would schedule a meeting without consulting the full board. I don't know if — I know things are at a very contentious place. Obviously with regard to the shelter. I don't know if putting this meeting off until March 1 is going to make things worse or maybe make things better. We did just bring someone in as an interim director. Maybe we do need to have a little cooling off period. I really don't know. But I share Supervisor Brown's sentiments and of course I will be here if the majority of the board decides to go ahead. But I'm not happy with it.”

McCowen: “I apologize to my colleagues because the standing committee can’t schedule a meeting of course and cannot do anything without the board giving that direction. What was in my mind was, Well, we are meeting on the 16th, that was — although this is in front of us as a recommendation from the standing committee it was really a discussion of the board previously that we would be meeting on the 16th to hear the Kemper report. With the issues with the animal shelter I do think that they are of sufficient gravity and things have escalated to the point where whatever direction is going to be given, the sooner that direction is given the better. So that people understand what are we going to be doing moving forward. One of the things that everyone agreed on was that the process has been too long and drawn out and I think that has contributed to a lot of the behavior that we have seen recently. People are — their frustration is spilling over. So again I do apologize to the board. I think in the bigger picture it's appropriate to meet in the morning on the 16th for the animal shelter issue.”

Woodhouse: “I’ll be brief [sic]. I don't mean to confuse things but just to suggest another way of thinking. The Kemper report is going to be hugely important that we all are focused and clear and it is going to be a tremendous amount of information. The public will want a lot of time to talk about it. It's an area where we are losing millions of dollars. And people have waited a long time for that. We could debate each of these meeting dates for ever. But having both of those on the same day— you guys are very strong, you can deal with a lot of the pressure from the public. I absorb their energy and I really care and I know you all do too and when you listen to people basically on both sides of heavy issues there is a limit to how much I can do that and still have sense and energy and then be absorbing the Kemper report. I really feel like having both those things on one day is insane. It could be that letting the animal shelter flow a little bit longer — the heavy proponents, that's what they were suggesting, they are not begging for another regular meeting, but if that's what they are going to get. I could see focusing on the Kemper report. I just said I don't like a bunch of meeting dates, but I would rather focus on Kemper one day and the shelter on another. I feel like I would be fresher and it's a big big deal — both of them are. The animal shelter — our meeting was very intense and it’s a larger crowd. It's just a whole lot to go through. So I think there's some intelligent thought to saying, Let's focus on Kemper one day. But I will do what ever you guys want. I respect you very much.”

McCowen: “Again, we have the problem of having told quite a number of people who are probably already spreading the word that we were going to meet on that issue on the 16th. Frankly, it's not unusual that we deal with two or three emotionally charged issues in a day. I don't know any other way to do it. If that were the criteria for setting our meetings we will be scheduling a lot more meetings.”

* * *

Angelo: “No one moves on social media quicker than the advocates for the animal shelter. So if this board decides that it would not work to have the animal shelter meeting on the 16th in the morning and then our mental health item in the afternoon we could very easily get that message and a new date out to the advocates with the animal shelter. That's one of the issues that we have actually, the social media issue with this [the animal shelter] group. So we know we can do that. So either way.”

Woodhouse: “Thanks for the conversation, I think immersing ourselves and doing it all is a great idea. Thanks for listening.”

Gjerde: “So have we made the issues clear as mud here? What are we looking at? Animal shelter in the morning? Or on a different day?”

McCowen: “We'll see.

McCowen then moved to have both items heard on February 16, morning and afternoon.)

Gjerde: “Is there a second?”

Brown: “Okay, I will second.”

Gjerde: “Apologies to your constituents.”

McCowen: “I will owe you really big-time Supervisor, thank you.”

Brown: “I am going to make you pay. [Laughs.]”

Motion approved 4-1, Hamburg dissenting.

* * *

But that wasn’t the end of it at all. After a brief discussion of the Library budget correction and the Transportation Director’s routine report, Supervisor Woodhouse brought it up again after CEO Angelo emphasized to the Board that she personally had contracted with Mr. Kemper, adding that she has known Mr. Kemper for many years. Then she went into how the report was distributed in advance of the Feb. 16 meeting, adding that the discussion of the Kemper report was set for 1pm on the 16th.

Woodhouse: “I don't know if it's the correct time to say this, but if I could ask a couple of questions it might help. Of course I'm concerned about that day and having both those meetings is my problem. I apologize that I am not effective enough to figure out how to make us have a better discussion about this. When he [Kemper] gives us his report do you have any idea how long it will take him to go through it if there are not a lot of interruptions for questions during their report? It's a long report and I want to hear it and I had so much to learn about that, I feel like it's going to take everything I have just to listen to that. Then dealing with the public's comments and my own questions. Generally, when you ask questions about this particular subject it is so complicated, when I ask staff and other people — I get an answer that I'm smart enough to know is not the right answer. But I am too polite to ask more than maybe one more follow-up question. But on that day we have to dig down and get to some serious things. It will take time to do it. Do you have any idea how long it would take him to go through if that’s his process and present it all to us before we get to the next part?”

Angelo: “I believe that Mr. Kemper could cover his report in one hour and then be here to answer questions. I think the approach is that for the first hour Mr. Kemper goes through the report without any interruptions because once we start a question then that will be the rest of the afternoon. So if we allow him to talk about his process and his findings and why he is making the recommendations he is making for one hour without any interruptions and then at that point however you want to do it, if you want Board questions or if you want to go straight to the public — whatever. Then Mr. Kemper could be here all afternoon so that as questions come up he could answer those questions. I agree with Supervisor Woodhouse that there may be so many questions and Supervisor McCowen has already said he doesn't think we are going to solve this in one day, so there could be the possibility of taking down those questions and coming back with a written response after that. I do not know what's going to happen. But my best guess is one hour to go through the report without interruptions and after that questions — whatever.”

Woodhouse: “That would be questions from the board which follow that for another hour or so?”

Angelo: “That is up to this board. If the board — I would assume that board members would ask questions and then go to the public.”

Woodhouse: “I just feel like it will take more time. I don't know if you picture it being — while he's here it's going to be valuable time so I want to take two hours to ask him questions so that we can all learn about it and the public will be crazy by then and they are going to want a couple of hours. How long do you picture the night going? What is your wild estimate?”

Angelo: “Somebody could call the 5:30 rule on the 16th. [Laughs.] But I imagine that we would go well into five or six o'clock or so. Then it's up to the board. We could break for dinner and come back. Or by that time be too exhausted and as Supervisor McCowen said earlier there could be another discussion of the full Board. I believe that the 16th will be the last time that we see Mr. Kemper. So whatever we need from him we need to get on the 16th. “

Hamburg: “How is the report being distributed to the public?”

Angelo: “It's online for anybody to access.“

Hamburg: [Asks about hard copies…] “Another one of my concerns is we get the report and it goes to the standing committee and they set it —”

McCowen: “No.”

Hamburg: “Not to the standing committee?”

McCowen: “Only to recommend that the Board holds a special meeting. We [the HHHSA standing committee] did not discuss it at all. In fact we just decided that we want everyone to hear the full discussion.”

Hamburg: “I'm a little concerned about this being — as Supervisor Woodhouse said — it's a 60+ page report. It's our job. We will all read it. And digest it. But it's a lot to ask members of the public in general to digest this entire report. I'm not sure a lot of people will do it. It's a lot of information.”

Angelo: “There are three pages of recommendations at the end of the report which I think are rather lengthy and wordy. If I was going to give a suggestion to anyone who asked, I would say go straight to the recommendations. We had hoped to have this process finalized and reported out to the board on December 15. That did not happen. Then we were hoping for January. But given the enormity that you can see in the report that didn't happen. So at this point I personally did not want to delay this any longer than February 16. I know that the public and us have only had the report since last Friday. …”

Hamburg: “I would not like to see us spend four or five hours on this next Tuesday and then end up referring it back to the committee for recommendations back to the board. There just has to be some kind of a process for how we deal with this so we are not going through the same process between, among ourselves and between ourselves and the public, you know, over and over again, there has to be some way to deal with these things so that they actually move forward.”

McCowen: “That direction would be an outcome of our discussion on the 16th. (More discussion of how the report was distributed and to whom and how much time they have to review it. At length.)”

* * *

Woodhouse: “This is being set up for our convenience and not the public’s convenience. We’re setting it up to not work as well as it should. This is not the right timing to give the public enough time. It should start at 9am and let it run as long as it takes. And I think there's a lot of interest in this and it's very very important and it's a screwed up mess. So I would start it early and give it all the time it deserves. Public comment will take three hours at least.”

Hamburg: “I agree with Supervisor Woodhouse. I think we are setting ourselves up for a horrendous afternoon if we start at 1 PM.”

CEO Angelo then summarized the status of the Animal Shelter and the newly hired interim Shelter manager.

Gjerde suggested just re-issuing the Animal Shelter RFP.

McCowen reviewed the situation again. "This [scheduling] just keeps getting more and more curious." McCowen noted that only one animal shelter proposal was received in response to the RFP. No other bids are pending. Angelo suggested closing the RFP and postponing it again and noting again that the Feb. 16 meeting would be arduous.

Board Chair Gjerde then also suggested devoting all of Feb. 16 to the Kemper report.

Supervisor McCowen, realizing that the discussion was both off the agenda and becoming endless, noted that there were “a lot of unanswered questions from the [proposed animal shelter] vendor" [Petaluma Animal Services] which caused Supervisor McCowen to then quip: "So we're taking a mess and making it messier, but that seems to be the tenor of the times."“

Angelo: “There have been lots of emails [regarding the Animal Shelter] which made process more difficult. It still needs more discussion. I could have erred in not deciding months ago.” Angelo said she accepts responsibility for the situation. Then she suggested closing the RFP and re-starting, adding, “It needs public discussion of the options.”

Hamburg: “Now what? Feb. 16 should be devoted to mental health. The shelter discussion should go back to the HHSA standing committee. Or back to the board.”

Gjerde asked for a motion to remove the Shelter from the Feb. 16 agenda and only deal with Mental Health on Feb. 16. (But still at 1pm.)

McCowen: “I'll just abstain. I'll show up whenever for whatever. But we have to comply with the Brown Act.”

Woodhouse: “I should just shut up because I think I'm going to get what I want out of this. But I think it's important that we have a correct pattern. The standing committee went through what to me was a very painful process, having our meeting and getting our input and doing our very best and Supervisor McCowen, I count on him a lot because he's the chair and handled that group very well, so I want to hear whatever he has to say. It seems to me like we could change our scheduling of the one meeting to the 9:30 for the discussion on Kemper but that I would want to hear from Supervisor McCowen. I guess that's the best I can do. I just feel like in a way it undercuts the standing committee. Imagine if you guys were bringing something and we kind of went around you before hearing your thing. So after we did that one, we could give our standing committee report and that would be the time to discuss the other issue, is that incorrect thinking on my part Mr. Chair?”

Supervisor McCowen then stepped out of the room. Then there was even more discussion on which agenda item was being discussed.

Gjerde asked if anyone wanted to clarify that the Kemper report be scheduled for the entire day of February 16.

Woodhouse moved to spend most of the day Tuesday the 16th on the Kemper report. Hamburg seconded.

CEO Angelo then told the Board, “Mr. Kemper has now said that he can be here at 10 AM. So we could have a full day with Mr. Kemper.”

The motion was changed to 10am for the Kemper report.

But Supervisor Brown wasn’t finished complaining about the timing.

Brown: “I will be voting against the motion because we've taken action earlier. If we are going to feel crumbed on [sic], you have heard the advocates who were here under public expression about getting to the issue to discuss the animal shelter, so I am going to — we are confusing the public. My vote will be no. I just wanted to express that.”

Gjerde: “In terms of the animal shelter by the CEO doing this and concluding that [RFP] process, it will be releasing their proposal and discussing this topic again with that information out there is important."

Brown: “I do feel we should discuss it for these people.”

Gjerde: “I disagree.”

Brown: “I was against it in the first place. I want no meeting in the morning. I have to reschedule a bunch of meetings myself and disappoint constituents, more constituents. Bottom line, I am going to vote against this. I want a discussion Tuesday morning for these people [the animal shelter people].”

Gjerde: “Any public comment?”

Brown: “Anyone brave enough?”

Hamburg: “It's all your fault.” [Nervous laughter.]

Motion passes 3-1, Brown dissenting, McCowen not present.

In all, the discussion involving simply moving the start time for the Kemper report discussion from 1:30pm to 10am took up almost an hour. And Supervisor McCowen wasn't even there to vote on it.

One can only recoil at the thought of how long the Kemper report discussion might be on Tuesday.

* * *

THE DA SAYS....

District Attorney David Eyster announced late this afternoon that the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) yesterday filed a Writ of Mandate in the Sacramento County Superior Court challenging the so-called Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act that Governor Brown is trying to rush into circulation. An explanatory press release is available on the Mendocino County District Attorney's web page

https://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/da/news.htm

by clicking on "CDAA challenges proposed initiative."

For additional background, please see the February 6th post below on this the Mendocino County District Attorney Facebook page. Just look for the "wolf" in sheep's clothing.

* * *

FIRED COASTAL COMMISSIONER SPEAKS OUT

by Tony Barboza

The newly fired executive director of the California Coastal Commission said Thursday that commissioners have shifted in recent years to be more accommodating to coastal developers and to exert tighter control over day-to-day activities at the agency.

"This commission seems to be more interested in and receptive to the concerns of the development community as a general rule," Charles Lester said in comments similar to those expressed by hundreds of supporters who spoke at a public hearing before his dismissal. "There is less focus on how we can make decisions to implement the Coastal Act.

"That's different than saying it's development versus environment," he said. "It's more nuanced. But I think it remains to be seen how it will unfold."

Lester, 53, spoke in a hotel room a few hundred feet from where the agency he ran for more than four years continued a regular meeting without him. Acting under one of the nation's strongest coastal protection laws, the 1976 Coastal Act, the agency is charged with protecting the state's 1,100-mile shoreline from overdevelopment, threats to public access and environmental damage.

For the first time in the agency's history, coastal commissioners have dismissed an executive director. Commissioners voted 7 to 5 in a closed session late Wednesday to fire their executive following a long and emotional hearing in which hundreds of speakers, including environmentalists, elected officials and former commissioners came out in Lester's defense.

Commissioners have not specified the reasons for their action, saying they are prevented from discussing the contents of past performance reviews that are confidential. But several have cited problems with management, trust and communications, including a lack of follow-through on commissioners' directions and staff not returning phone calls.

"It was like pulling teeth," Commissioner Roberto Uranga said Thursday. "We had an executive director who wasn't working with the commission."

In the hourlong interview Lester, his suitcase already packed to return to his home outside Santa Cruz, spoke calmly and carefully as he detailed his long-brewing tensions with the commission and his worries over the future of its work.

By Lester's account, when he took over at the agency in 2011, about half the commission was new, having been on the panel for less than a year. He said they began to intrude more into what are traditionally staff-managed affairs, including new hires, agendas, budgets and meeting locations. They also demanded that agency employees be more responsive to members of the panel.

He called those typical management issues that he had worked to address.

Lester cited what he said were some commissioners' "obsessive focus on the complaints about how long things take and not filing things" on projects including Newport Banning Ranch, a controversial proposal to build hundreds of homes on a 401-acre parcel that is the largest remaining privately held piece of coastal land in Orange County.

Last fall, Lester and his staff recommended denying the project on the grounds that it would destroy environmentally sensitive habitat. The project will be under consideration again by the panel in March.

Was his ouster an effort by pro-development forces to take control of the commission?

"Yes and no," said Lester, who sees the notion of a stark divide between development and the environment as an oversimplification.

Lester suspects he was fired because he was too independent. He is concerned about the direction of the panel if it chooses to replace him with an executive more amenable to the suggestions of commissioners and development interests.

Lester said the public response to his ouster has "touched a nerve about this program that I don't think is fully appreciated yet. It may be that we are at a watershed moment. Unless the political system in California recommits to the spirit and intent of the Coastal Act, it may be a fundamental shift in direction."

"This is a powerful land use agency, there's a lot at stake and there are vested interests that want things done," he said. But the agency's staff, he stressed, must remain independent and at an arm's length from political appointees in order to make impartial recommendations on projects large and small.

Lester said commissioners had long kept him on a "pretty tight leash," conducting many evaluations and quarterly check-ins on his performance over the last year. But he said he addressed the concerns raised and called commissioners' focus on the confidentiality of his written reviews a "smokescreen."

"They could talk about whatever performance issues they wanted," Lester said. "That was just a way to enable them to go into closed session."

Lester said he is considering waiving his rights to privacy over those documents to dispel the notion that they contained anything that "rises to the level of doing what they did and taking the kind of action that they did."

Such a disclosure would also have to be approved by the commission, he said.

Lester said that when he was appointed head of the politically charged agency in 2011, he understood that some would see it as "an opportunity to try to wrest the program from its historic direction," which he says has been to err on the side of coastal protection, public access and broad participation in its decision making.

"I knew people would try to take me out, or reorient the program," he said. "I think there have been people interested in doing that from the beginning."

(Courtesy, the Los Angeles Times)

* * *

1945

John Dos Passos, writing in Life magazine for January 7, 1946, quotes a “red-faced major” as saying that “Lust, liquor and loot are the soldier’s pay.” A serviceman wrote to Time magazine for November 12, 1945 “Many a sane American family would recoil in horror if they knew how ‘Our Boys’ conduct themselves, with such complete callousness in human relationships over here.” An army sergeant wrote “Our own Army and the British Army … have done their share of looting and raping … This offensive attitude among our troops is not at all general, but the percentage is large enough to have given our Army a pretty black name, and we too are considered an army of rapists.”

According to an AP dispatch of September 12, 1945, entitled “German-American Marriages Forbidden”, the Franklin Roosevelt government instructed its soldiers that marriage with the inferior Germans was absolutely forbidden, but those having illegitimate children by German women, whose husbands and boyfriends were conveniently dead or held as prisoners or slave laborers, could count on allowance money. And, according to Time magazine of September 17, 1945, the government provided these soldiers with an estimated 50 million condoms per month, and graphically instructed them as to their use. For all practical purposes, our soldiers were being told: “Teach these Germans a lesson — and have a wonderful time!” Such were the great crusaders who brought “democracy” to Europe.

For the Americans and British, open rape was not as common as among the Soviet troops. The Soviets simply raped any female from eight years up and if a German man or woman killed a Russian soldier for anything, including rape, 50 Germans were killed for each incident, as reported in Time magazine, June 11, 1945. But for most of our boys, having that “wonderful time” depended a great deal on the “cooperation” of the German and Austrian women. From the starving and the homeless, of course, sexual “cooperation” could be bought for a few pennies or a mouthful of food. I don’t think we ought to dignify this arrangement with any other than its true name of sexual slavery.

* * *

RED ROSE

RoseDrop
(photo by Annie Kalantarian)

* * *

BOOKING LOG PROBS, SHERIFF ALLMAN EXPLAINS:

We have spent a considerable amount of time trying to get the booking log up but the problem is with our record management system administrator. This is the vendor, and not any Sheriff’s Office personnel. I have a huge amount of trust in our computer guys, and they have assured me that the problem is not with our system, but rather our vendor. I certainly hope that we can take care of it next week (early). Fyi, there are no other agencies locally who offer this service so when it goes down, we are the only ones complaining.

— Tom Allman

PS. Update: Sorry to report that even though we spent more time on this today (Saturday), the problem is not solved. Hope to have better results soon.

PPS. As for the animal shelter, if the Board of Supervisors has the desire to approach me and discuss it, my door is always open. I have taken the day to day responsibility of Emergency Services and Animal Control, however at budget time, the budgets that these departments had rarely make it to our budget. I'm not complaining, I am simply predicting the future, if the shelter is given to the Sheriff’s Office. I certainly appreciate the research you are putting into the animal shelter and mental health. Welcome to my world.

* * *

CUBAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S. TO SPEAK At Sonoma State University March 7

CubanAmbassador

* * *

A REAL FAN

Editor,

So there is this guy in the high altitude seats at Levi stadium Super Bowl.

Can’t see much but he got a great deal on ticket, under 4k.

So the game has been going on for awhile and he looks down near the 50 yard line and sees this guy with an empty seat next to him.

What the hell? I’ll go down and see if I can snag it.

He asks the guy next to the empty seat if it’s taken and he says no, he bought it for his wife but she just died. “We’ve been to 22 Superbowls in a row,” he says.

The guy from the nose-bleed seats asks “Don’t you have any friends or family to bring to the game?”

The widower says: “They’re all at the funeral.”

--David Ellison, Felton

* * *

WELCOME TO MENDOCINO - WE'VE GOT CHEESECAKE

Latest Mendopia video by Scott Peterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BFkIlYpxBA&index=1&list=PLWTKx4OwAkBEZRZB07aPOA237QV8BS-b0

* * *

LOVE IN WESTPORT?

Who Would have thought....

Carolyne Cathey speaking in Westport, Sunday, on LOVE. Happy Valentines Day!

Sunday, Feb. 14, Carolyne speaks on "LOVE" at the Westport Church on Abalone Street. Note Time: 10 am.

This is a mini-workshop/discussion on Love, what Unconditional Love means, how we love ourselves, are we really supposed to love our enemy? And, how to embody love for the most glorious life. But how do we do that when we feel caught in an unloving world?

The full workshop is Feb. 17th, 1 pm & Feb 18th, 6pm, The Gathering Place.

God bless,

Carolyne Cathey
707.272.5397
Live, Love, Laugh, Enjoy, Care!
carolynecathey.com/spiritual-tools-workshops

* * *

THESE WILD BEAUTIES ARE BLOOMIN' EVERYWHERE!

EarlyBloomers
(Photo by Susie de Castro)

* * *

THIRSTY WORLD

Dear Editor:

Four Billion People Face Severe Water Scarcity

A new research report published in the journal Science Advances concludes that 2/3rds of the world population, over 4 billion, people live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year. The research also reveals that 500 million people live in places where water consumption is twice the amount replenished by rain for the entire year which results in a rundown of underground aquifers.

The World Economic Forum recently rated the water crises as one three greatest risks of harm to people and economics alongside climate change and mass migration. A prolong drought is more likely led to mass migration of farming families to the cities. The water issues will worsen as population growth and increasing water use continues to rise. Just 1%-4% of the water footprint is in the home while 25% is due to meat consumption. It takes 15,000 liters of water to make 1 kg of beef, with almost all of that used to irrigate the crops fed to the cattle. The research included environmental water requirements as to the water needed to ensure that life survives in the rivers and lakes. Even one month of severe water scarcity can have a devastating impact on the health of a river.

Yemen could run out of water in a few years, and aquifers are being continuously depleted in places such as Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. There are fragile water resources in central and western United States. Of particular concern is the continuing depletion of the Ogallala aquifer. There are numerous other places in the world with water scarcity issues. These water scarcity issues have to be considered in context with the other recent studies on climate change. The next 30-50 years will result in a world we would not know.

In peace and love,

Jim Updegraff, Sacramento

* * *

THE VORONOI TESSELLATION

"If you know what to do and you don't do it, then there you bloody well are, aren't you." --Lord Buckley

The recording of last night's 107.7fm KNYO Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available to download and keep or just listen to via http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

The new Fusion internet/phone service at Juanita's house worked way better than the old way. As I was doing the show I could see on the buffer graph that the signal only dropped out once in seven hours, and the dropout didn't last long enough for the transmitter end of the chain to even notice. Fusion is the way to go. Cheap, reliable, faster than legacy DSL (both down and up), no more paying AT&T, and free long-distance phone calls, as long as you're not calling Morocco. Really, we'll be saving around $60 a month. We should have switched over years ago. Two thumbs up.

Also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a great number (like a 1 or 2 or so with several zeroes after it) of rainy-day or rainy-night links to interesting things to see and do and learn about, such as:

The tell-tale thighs of a cheerful Soviet test cheater. http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75304/nostalgic-photos-student-life-ussr

A short Russian film about astronaut friends. (15 min.) http://video.newyorker.com/watch/we-can-t-live-without-cosmos

A complete webcomic about Midnight Radio by Ehud Lavski. (Scroll down.) http://elcomics.tumblr.com/post/138514380764/midnight-radio-written-by-ehud-lavski-art-by

And a tour of The Garden of Earthly Delights. Guided or wandering-- it's up to you. https://tuinderlusten-jheronimusbosch.ntr.nl/en

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

 

57 Comments

  1. BB Grace February 14, 2016

    RE: Tom Allman PPS/ “Welcome to my world”.

    On that note, I’d like to say this:

    If I was in high school or college and thinking about what I wanted to do as a career, but felt very limited and frustrated, I suggest applying for a job, or even volunteer for some program with the Sheriff, because Mendocino County is most fortunate to have an exceptional Sheriff all of us can learn a lot from. What an excellent opportunity for folks who like to help people, learn to help people properly and not get hurt doing it.

    There’s no better work than when you’re on a great team. It’s a rare opportunity in life.

    What a nice way Sheriff Allman tells us we are becoming a police state as the County government dumps it’s responsibilities on the Sheriff while tossing our tax dollars as if it’s a money machine game.

    • Judy Valadao February 14, 2016

      I’ll second that.

      • Randy Burke February 14, 2016

        I’ll third that

        • james marmon February 14, 2016

          Is it possible that Sheriff Tom is just trying to protect the public interests from being destroyed by the current County leadership?

          I’m glad he’s thinking about seizing these departments. I’m sure he plans on handing operations over to the right people once he saves them from Nurse Ratched’s clutches.

          He’s doing what he was elected for and that is to “Protect and Serve.”

          I’m not conforming to your rationale, it could be very dangerous, but I will keep it in mind.

  2. Judy Valadao February 14, 2016

    It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the Kemper Report is one of great importance. Why would Angelo suggest “There are three pages of recommendations at the end of the report which I think are rather lengthy and wordy. If I was going to give a suggestion to anyone who asked, I would say go straight to the recommendations.” I certainly hope SHE does more than that. The FACTS are within the report so let’s not brush this under the rug again. I believe the reason the contract was signed with OMG was because of instead of reading it someone went directly to the signature line. It is asinine to even think Kemper could go over the report in one hour as suggested by Angelo. I’m sure she is one who would like for this to just go away. It’s not going to happen. There are to many people wondering why so much money is handed over to so few organizations and very little being done in the way of helping those who need the help. Why can’t someone admit they screwed up and fix the problem? False help is usually worse than no help at all and that is exactly what a lot of people are getting under the OMG contract. People lining their pockets off the misery of others.

  3. Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

    I see a lot of criticism of Carmel Angelo on this page, but I wouldn’t trade her for all the squawking, honking cuckaburras in Kakadu; just consider this ingeniously ingenuous opener: “If I was going to give a suggestion to anyone who asked, I would say…” From Demosthenes to Cicero, there’s no rhetorical flight to compare with such a coy assertion of unsolicited opinion.

    • BB Grace February 14, 2016

      From Demosthenes: “Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master”.

      Cicero: “Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error”.

      • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

        Not his, but her, error; Carmel Angelo’s: “I could have erred in not deciding months ago.” Again, note the sly evasion even in her admission of guilt. A probation officer would seize on this like a puppy worrying one of Daddy’s new house slippers to rags. As for Demosthenes’ eloquence on war: He pushed for war w/ Macedonia and urged the Athenians on, shouting over the orders of the Greek general’s to hold the line; no-no, Demosthenes wanted them to go, go, go after “that tyrant” King Phillip II. Phillip let his center fall back, and the Athenians tumbled in like a landslide. The Macedonian line soon looked like a sickle with the Athenians in the center, and Demosthenes still screaming for Phillip’s head. Then there was a pause, like in earthquake weather, and Phillip gave the signal. Demosthenes tucked his brush and ran, the only one to escape.

        • james marmon February 14, 2016

          “Although Nurse Ratched is an antagonist of the worst kind in this book, even Chief knows that she’s simply the human face of the Combine—the machine that Chief imagines is society. In other words, according to Chief, the system is larger than Nurse Ratched; she is only part of the system. She happens to be the patients’ direct link to the mechanical system, but she is not the system itself. This puts Nurse Ratched and her power into perspective. However, even with her little amount of power, she is destructive. In the short time frame of the book, she destroys three men—two commit suicide and one is lobotomized. She gets what she wants and feels no guilt about how it’s accomplished.”

          http://www.shmoop.com/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest/nurse-ratched.html

          • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

            Apropos of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest: Ken Keasey got the idea from an article in a psychology journal from the 1960s “The Myth of Mental Illness” by Thomas S. Szasz. The popularity of the book and subsequent movie instigated a cause celebre to close down mental hospitals and our illustrious Gov. Reagan co-opted what was originally a liberal movement. Keep in mind that this was about the same time a housekeeper for the Kennedy’s published a diary she found in the trash and it came to light that JFK’s sister had been given a lobotomy for dyslexia, to keep her from embarrassing the family. All the misguided and mis-informed furvor over mistreated mental patients got us to where we are today in that regard; and then of course in Mendo where the State Mental Hospital was offered to the county for a song, the supes did the same thing they’re doing now — made a muddle of it.

            • BB Grace February 14, 2016

              Kesey

            • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

              Two additional notes on Cuckoo’s Nest: Dr. Szasz’s article was so persuasive that it is used to this day as an example in college writing textbooks; and Keasey was given LSD by Harvard psychologist Timmothy Leary when he (Keasey) wrote the book at a Stanford “best and brightest” summer camp (along with Larry McMurtry, who wrote The Last Picture Show).

              • BB Grace February 14, 2016

                Ken Kesey
                Novelist

                Kenneth Elton “Ken” Kesey was an American novelist, essayist, and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Wikipedia

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Tests

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey

                “At the instigation of Perry Lane neighbor and Stanford psychology graduate student Vik Lovell, an acquaintance of Richard Alpert and Allen Ginsberg, Kesey volunteered to take part in what turned out to be a CIA-financed study under the aegis of Project MKULTRA, a highly secret military program, at the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital[21] where he worked as a night aide.[22] The project studied the effects of psychoactive drugs, particularly LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, aMT, and DMT on people.[2] Kesey wrote many detailed accounts of his experiences with these drugs, both during the study and in the years of private experimentation that followed.”

                Dick Alpert became Ram Das.

                Leary and Kesey had completely different approaches to psychedelics perhaps because Leary was turned on in an open environment, and Kesey’s a closed environment. Kesey went “Furthur”, while Leary melted down into a very angry man at the end.

        • BB Grace February 14, 2016

          The last BOS meeting, Angelo’s responses were relishing power a little too much for my political tastes.

          Wasn’t Demosthenes survival the beginning of the insurance business?

  4. LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

    Scalia is dead. Good riddance.

    Would someone please send the Angel of Death the home addresses of Clarence Thomas and John Roberts?

    My personal choices for Scalia’s replacement would be Alice Walker.
    Would actually prefer Edna Saint Vincent Millay, but, alas, she is dead.

    There will be rose and rhododendron
    When you are dead and under ground;
    Still will be heard from white syringas
    Heavy with bees, a sunny sound;

    Still will the tamaracks be raining
    After the rain has ceased, and still
    Will there be robins in the stubble,
    Brown sheep upon the warm green hill.

    Spring will not ail nor autumn falter;
    Nothing will know that you are gone,
    Saving alone some sullen plough-land
    None but yourself sets foot upon;

    Saving the may-weed and the pig-weed
    Nothing will know that you are dead,–
    These, and perhaps a useless wagon
    Standing beside some tumbled shed.

    Oh, there will pass with your great passing
    Little of beauty not your own,–
    Only the light from common water,
    Only the grace from simple stone!

    (ESVM)

  5. LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

    With due respect to the Ms.Millay, I would alter the last two lines in honor of Scalia:

    Only the shit from common sewage,
    Only the scum from soiled stone.

  6. Russ Rasmussen February 14, 2016

    Without invoking John Donne, I find mr. Bedrocks comment about Scalia in bad taste. After all, who is going to check on Clarence Thomas to make sure he has his pants on under his robe?

    • LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

      “I find mr. Bedrocks comment about Scalia in bad taste.”

      And thus you castigate me, Sir, by writing Mr in lower case!
      A low blow.

      Comment about Uncle Judge Thomas is funny and appropriate.

    • LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

      I guess you were alluding to Mr. Donne’s “For Whom The Troll Bawls”.

  7. james marmon February 14, 2016

    I used to rule the world
    Seas would rise when I gave the word
    Now in the morning I sleep alone
    Sweep the streets I used to own

    I used to roll the dice
    Feel the fear in my enemies’ eyes
    Listen as the crowd would sing
    “Now the old king is dead, long live the king!”
    One minute I held the key
    Next the walls were closed on me
    And I discovered that my castle stands
    Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

    I hear Jerusalem bells a’ringing
    Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
    Be my mirror, my sword and shield
    My missionaries in a foreign field
    For some reason I can’t explain
    Once you’d gone it was never,
    never an honest word
    That was when I ruled the world

    It was the wicked and wild wind
    Blew down the doors to let me in
    Shattered windows and the sound of drums
    People couldn’t believe what I’d become
    Revolutionaries wait
    For my head on a silver plate
    Just a puppet on a lonely string
    Oh…who would ever wanna be king

    I hear Jerusalem bells were ringing
    Roman Cavalry choirs were singing
    Be my mirror, my sword and shield
    My missionaries in a foreign field
    For some reason I can’t explain
    I know St. Peter won’t call my name
    Never an honest word
    But that was when I ruled the world

    (Whoa…) Here Jerusalem bells were ringing
    (Whoa…) Roman Cavalry choirs were singing
    (Whoa…) Be my mirror, my sword and shield
    (Whoa…) My missionaries in a foreign field
    (Whoa…) For some reason I can’t explain
    (Whoa…) I know St. Peter won’t call my name
    Never an honest word
    But that was when I ruled the world

    Read more: Coldplay – When I Ruled The World Lyrics | MetroLyrics

    • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

      Ben Franklin would love this poem. In the bio I’m reading of George Washington, Franklin dies just when the wicked old Republicans start accusing POTUS No. 1 of “monarchical ambitions.” Sorta like Socrates’ last words* it was Franklin’s huge joke to bequeath his crab-tree walking stick to Washington as a scepter, the tumble from the exalted into the ordinary would be just like ‘His Excellency’.

      *”I owe [the Greek patron saint of good health, to which one traditionally sacrificed a chicken when one took ill] a cock … please see the debt is paid…”

  8. Lazarus February 14, 2016

    Days with no “Booking Logs”…?

    • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

      It’s a real bummer, Laz. Think of the fix it puts me in: Now I have to write extra paragraphs to make up for the vacant photo slots in my column. If the Sheriff wasn’t so busy w/ the dog pound and the 5150s maybe he could deal w/ the real issues and get us some mugshots.

      • james marmon February 14, 2016

        Be patient with the mug shots Mr. McEwen, maybe Sheriff Tom is in hot pursuit of the real bad guys, County Administration. I think some of their mugs should be posted, instead of some of those poor souls who are continually suffering from Nurse Ratched’s poor decision making. Both man and animal.

        • Lazarus February 14, 2016

          I have a source who says tech at the county is not now nor never has been a high priority.
          As always,
          Laz

          • james marmon February 14, 2016

            The County’s pretty much technologically challenged.

          • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

            My source. Laz, is top secret.

  9. Harvey Reading February 14, 2016

    Re: Obama is praising the late justice as a brilliant legal mind who influenced generation of lawyers and students.

    The ones who were already right-wing, like Obama, and the Clintons.

  10. Stephen Rosenthal February 14, 2016

    Mendopia videos: great stuff Scott. Very creative. Keep it up – some of us get it.

    Sheriff Allman, County Administration and the BOS: Is Sheriff Allman the only clear thinking, honest, reputable representative of the people in Mendocino County? Sadly, it appears so.

    • BB Grace February 14, 2016

      Second that on Peterson and Allman.

    • james marmon February 14, 2016

      Did you notice that he said that he was willing to have a discussion with the Board of Supervisors but made no mention of the County’s CEO?

      It’s hard not to read between the lines sometimes.

      • BB Grace February 14, 2016

        Sheriff Allman said his door/ line is open. That’s true for everyone, so Allman isn’t treating the BOS any different than anyone in the County. Because they are different, being elected like him, who has, I’m so grateful, the ability to be open, I take it that not only is Allman getting HHSA “dumped” on him as a “solution” least we forget Sheriff services cost more, but none of the Supes are calling Allman and asking, “What do you think about taking over HHSA Tom? We’ll keep the HHSA budget as it is, and you’re smart, you figure out how to handle the HHSA business. We’ll get that tax for the facility you proposed and that should take care of everything dontcha think?”

        And then Allman could tell them what he thinks privately rather than suggest publically they don’t communicate with the Sheriff about the HHSA services they dump on him.

        • james marmon February 14, 2016

          Ms. Grace I don’t think you completely understand the County’s structure. It has been made quite clear to Sheriff Allman by the Board that he should communicate directly with the CEO. Him personally addressing the board without her approval or blessings has been sore subject for years. The Board will probably direct them to kiss and make up. I personally don’t think there’s a lot of love lost between the two.

          Of course Sheriff Tom’s door is open to everyone, he has personally extended that invitation to me. Unfortunately, I afraid he will shut it behind me and lock it.

          • BB Grace February 14, 2016

            My lack of understanding County structure is not for my lack of trying.

            • james marmon February 14, 2016

              An understanding is what’s going to get us out of this mess. Sheriff Tom is serving the public, not the “County” machine.

              • james marmon February 14, 2016

                Welcome to the Machine. Pink Floyd

  11. Russ Rasmussen February 14, 2016

    My apologies Mr. Bedrock. The mr. was in error. I didn’t check my typing.

    • LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

      No apology necessary.
      Appreciated your comment.

  12. Alice Chouteau February 14, 2016

    Yes! Our Sheriff ismoutstanding, the best elected offical in the county. A very impressive man, willing to go to bat for the public.
    And kudos to Scott for another video that is both informative and entertaining. I hope he can do another on the highly dubious tax returns submitted by Hostility House, that nit even the treasurer could explain.
    Alice

    • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

      The Sheriff of Ishmouthstanding, the inscription at the base of a bronze statue, outstanding in his field, no doubt, notwithstanding the lisp, the typophonetic felicity that attends such “mistake” and there you have it: But this Five-Star character will go down in history w/ that noble moniker; thank you, Mille. Chouteau.

      • LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

        1. What’s the title & who’s the author of the book about Washington?

        2. How did you discover Jorge Carrera Andrade?

        • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

          A:
          His Excellency, by Joseph Ellis. I have a spare copy, by the way, if you’d like it… I’ll mail it to you w/ my compliments and a gratis copy of the AVA.
          B:
          My poetry instructor at college, David Long, introduced me to that poem, but I was so overwhelmed I had to make my own translation; see my translation at the Carlos Casteneda website “Transgenity”

          • LouisBedrock February 15, 2016

            A. Yes, Id’ be real grateful. Mr. Anderson has my address and e-mail and I give permission to share it with you. Don’t need a copy of the AVA–I have a subscription–although the Sequester is taking its toll on the Post Office and I haven’t received a copy in weeks.

            B, Good work. The poem in English was seamless.

  13. LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

    This is more Christian bullshit:

    “It’s Valentine’s Day again, which means we’ll all be buying cards, chocolates and flowers for our significant other (or ridiculing the holiday for its commercial vapidness). Since Valentine’s Day is one of the major holidays of the western world, you’ve probably heard the history:

    We celebrate Valentine’s day in honor of St. Valentinus, who was martyred a long time ago around February 14th – the “romance” part is because he continued to marry soldiers during wartime; the crime that led to his death.

    Except until the 18th Century, the “romantic” part wasn’t celebrated at all (although kind of referenced in some literature) and suddenly burst into being, with the popularity of mass-produced, factory-made Valentine’s Day cards. So how did we get from a guy dying for marriage – through an interim of around 1500 years – to the romantic meaning we have to day?

    Like almost all western holidays, St. Valentine’s day is a massive Christian cover up.

    Christian leaders soon learned that officially prohibiting a thousand-year-old cultural custom was impossible, so in every case (even the very minor holidays which they made Saints Days) they took the dates people were already celebrating and shifted the “why” – so that people could keep doing the activities they enjoyed, without becoming a threat to Church authority for disobedience.

    In Roman times, February 13th to the 15th was Lupercalia, a fertility festival. People would run around with goat phalluses and chase after women playfully. It was THE love festival of the year.

    Pope Gelasius abolished Lupercalia and then died in 496. The legends of a “Saint Valentine” (they are wispy and fragmentary) also say Valentine was martyred in 496.

    By that time, “Christmas” celebrating Jesus’ birthday had already replaced Saturnalia (a winter festival celebrated with gifts, candles, bringing cut pine trees into the temple to signify the impregnation of the Mother goddess, and the beginning of Saturn’s reign – preparing for the long months of winter).

    ‘Easter’ was the period of mourning the savior’s death, then celebrating his return – similar rituals had been performed: Osiris in Egypt, Attis and Dionysus in the North and East long before Jesus. (Isis had to go around and search for “pieces” of Osiris’ body so she could put him together and from him conceive – a myth I believe to have been acted out by hiding and finding eggs – a cultic object with ritual significance.)

    Most Christians know that Christmas and Easter doesn’t really sync up with Jesus’ “actual” biography, and there are indicators in the Bible that our dates are wrong. But the ingrained social practices of the pagans were too ingrained not to celebrate those dates with the pre-Christian rituals.

    So we do them anyway – even though they’ve lost their significance – and are tenuously given sanction as religious festivals. This knowledge is pretty common, and accepted by the majority of Christian leaders and authorities.”

    http://www.holyblasphemy.net/st-valentine-is-a-lie-and-why-that-means-you-should-question-everything/

  14. Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

    Claudias was a lame old stutterer, too hideous to buy a willing harlot even with the coffers of the empire at his disposal. Enlistments were up, in fact, because things were so bad in Rome that even the tax collectors were volunteering to go to the front. There was no excuse for it. The murder of St. Valentine was 180 proof malice, and the green stuff in that cocktail ain’t creme de minthe, sister, it’s jealousy.

  15. LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

    1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (KJV)

    3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
    4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
    5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
    6 But Christ beheld his own shadow, ran back into the spulchre, and we suffered six more weeks of winter.

  16. james marmon February 14, 2016

    Happy Valentines Day Ms. Susie de Castro.

  17. Stephen Rosenthal February 14, 2016

    What St. Valentine’s Day means to me: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine%27s_Day_Massacre

    I grew up on the north side of Chicago and saw the infamous wall many times before it was demolished. I also saw a few films at the Biograph Theater, in front of which John Dillinger was shot down by the FBI. Funny thing about going to public school in Chicago during the late 50s and 60s: we learned about its history – warts and all. I’m willing to wager they don’t teach that part anymore in the PC, hang-wringing world we live in now.

  18. Jim Updegraff February 14, 2016

    As I said yesterday I was not surprised by the death of Scalia – he was morbid obese and he was living on borrowed time. Can say the same thing about Clarence Thomas – morbid obese and the Angel of Death is circling over him

    Louis and Harvey almost 50 comments and guess who has sent most of them.

    • LouisBedrock February 14, 2016

      I sometimes wonder if Marmon is on cocaine.
      It’s no wonder he was fired.

      I wish there were a way of determining how many people actually watch the crappy videos that are posted. I suspect most people ignore them.

      At least Ms.de Castro posted one worthy message. A poem by one of the country’s best–and most neglected poets. Kudos to her for that.

      Russ Rasmussin has a point in reminding us of Donne’s poem:

      Any man’s death diminishes me,
      Because I am involved in mankind,
      And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
      It tolls for thee.

      But I find it hard to mourn for that bastard Scalia.

      Life goes on. Tomorrow is a new day. There will be more non sequiturs and nonsense from Marmon and Susie. Hopefully there will also be more intelligent comments like the many I saw today.

  19. james marmon February 14, 2016

    Here you go BB Grace.

    Excellent article in tonight’s Willits News.

    Supes need to lead, not dodge responsibility

    “Since the county switched to the executive model of government in 2005, the supervisors have evolved into rubber stamps and ceded their leadership role to the chief executive office. The Board of Supervisors meetings have become a parody of governing. They are presented with one choice and told if they don’t choose the CEO’s recommendation there will be dire consequences.”

    “Unfortunately the public did not elect the CEO, so she is not accountable to anyone except the board.”

    http://www.willitsnews.com/opinion/20160214/editorial-supes-need-to-lead-not-dodge-responsibility

    • BB Grace February 15, 2016

      Thank you very much for sharing the Willits article with me Mr. Marmon. I totally agree with Linda Williams and I’m grateful for her article because she’s saying what people are saying.

      Angelo’s plans are not working no matter how loyal everyone is; However, things like the Kemper plan (was I the only one concerned that since Kemper and Angelo are friends there was another “Pinizzotto” deal?).. But this gives a fresh start.

      If I was a Supervisior I’d:
      1. Make an appointment with the Sheriff.
      2. Schedule a Town hall meeting and connect with constituents, visit the schools, senior centers, clinics, shelters, businesses.
      3. prepare to go to tomorrows’s meeting with the idea that I was elected to represent the people, and until the people think they’re just electing a spokes person for the CEO, maybe let folks know the truth about representation.

      Because if representation means a Supervisor is a CEO spokesperson for that district, then I want a spokesperson who is funny and makes me LOL rather than makes me wonder what’s going on. If we’re all going to Hell with no choice at least let’s try to enjoy the ride.

  20. Jim Updegraff February 14, 2016

    I share your wish you sans your Smartphone.

  21. Jim Updegraff February 14, 2016

    My bedtime so I’m signing off.

    • Bruce McEwen February 14, 2016

      One more poem and I go home:

      Arise my page and quickly mount
      the horse of swiftest stride

      then breathlessly through
      woods and fields to Duncan’s palace ride.

      and wait there by the stables until
      you are espied, then ask: Which one

      of Duncan’s girls is going to be a bride?
      And if they say the “the dark haired one”

      then ride home like the blast!
      But if they say the fair haired one

      you need not ride so fast.
      But in the village buy a rope

      a rope of toughened strands,
      ride back slowly, speak no word,

      and place it in my hands.

      H. Heine

  22. Jonah Raskin February 15, 2016

    Judge Scalia seems to have been another person than Bensky and many others have allowed. Indeed, he criticized the Supreme Court for its lack of diversity and
    described it as a “select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine.”
    For the nine justices to consider the constitutionally of same sex marriage, he wrote, “is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.” Maybe Obama should pick a bi-sexual, non-lawyer and an immigrant to sit on the court. Why not? That person would probably know a great deal more about the world that the other 8 judges. Still, the Supreme Court receives far more credit for both the bad and for the good than it deserves. It’s what happens in the streets and in factories, homes and offices that shapes the letter and the spirit of the law, far more than rulings from the justices, though it certainly helps to have ruling for citizens and against corporations.

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