- Climate Strikes
- New Commissioner
- Water Tender
- Caltrans Meeting
- Appreciation Dinner
- DA Upset
- Shutdown Potential
- Killarney Sunset
- Ed Notes
- Water Spout
- Plant Sale
- Yesterday's Catch
- Lady Prez
- Self Defense
- Trump Voter
- Say/Do
- Ruling Choice
- Dysfunction
- Brook Benton
- Shockingly Incoherent
- Planning Agenda
- Great Lakes
- Netanyahu Losing
- Vaping Danger
- National Healthcare
- Found Object
A STALWART SQUAD OF ENTHUSIASTIC CLIMATE STRIKERS walked out of Boonville schools Friday afternoon to join students around the world in a "climate strike to save the planet." The students were accompanied by a few supportive chaperones as they marched from Boonville High School to Boont Berry Store in downtown Boonville with their heartfelt hand-made signs.
Our favorite, "Think or Swim," was carried by a student who confirmed that they had indeed walked out of class; they did not just wait for school to be let out.
ACCORDING TO MENDOCINOSPORTSPLUS, as always Johnny on the Spot, climate change protests saw fairly large turnouts in both Fort Bragg and Mendocino, with Mendocino's the larger.
From MSP's video, the crowd in Mendocino looks like the largest since a thousand of us waited on the bluffs one foggy weekend afternoon for a visit from Jesse Jackson who never showed. There was also a good-sized turnout in Gualala, another one in the County seat of Ukiah, and even a few noble souls took to the streets in Boonville to protest our new human status as frogs in a global pan of ever-warmer water. Is it all too late? Are we cooked as a species? The preponderance of scientific opinion says we've set in motion all the precursors.
COUNTY COURTHOUSE CLIMATE DEMO in Ukiah:
DAVID SEVERN (who accompanied the Boonville contingent of Friday’s Climate Strikers) writes: “When I got to Philo this guy was standing in front of the PO.”
ms notes: We’re pretty sure the quote on the sign is from Mark Twain.
SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS: We [The Board of Supervisors] unanimously appointed Jim Donnelly as Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures at the Tuesday BoS meeting. My exchanges with Jim have been full of depth. He brings a balance of knowledge, work ethic and calmness to the job. I have confidence he’ll serve us well. He served as Ag Commissioner for Lassen County 2008-2011 and Glenn County 2011-2015.
AV FIRE CHIEF Andres Avila posted on Thursday morning: “We are selling our 2500 gallon water tender. It currently has a leak in the hydraulic line for the pump but otherwise is operable. This would be a great ranch or agricultural truck with it's sprayers and high volume pump. It could also be used as a water storage tank. Put in your bid by Friday September 27th or buy it prior to Friday if the bid is over $5000 (highest bid above $5000 at 5pm of the day until gone).
ms notes: Water Tender 7497 was sold within a matter of hours to a local woman for $7,000.
ALSO FROM SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS:
The CalTrans Navarro Ridge Safety/Drainage meeting was contentious. It started as standing only with exhibitions and literature on tables, but with strong encouragement from attendees, Frank Demling presented project basics and fielded questions. After the meeting, I reached out to Frank to offer support in moderating a future forum. The interactions have escalated from years of bridge debate. I’m hopeful that we can transition away from tension and move towards meaningful dialogue so that the people can effectively assist CalTrans in selecting necessary safety improvements supportive of character preservation. I’ve been to several vehicle accidents below the target stretch of highway so I grasp the severity and motivation behind the proposed improvements, but I also understand the community’s concern about introducing an urban highway incrementally. There is potential to work together, but it’ll take effort.
SEPTEMBER AT THE YORKVILLE MARKET
Thank you to all who joined us in July - we had a fun Flea Market and a wild BBQ competition with truly delicious ribs. Your support is greatly appreciated and allows us to continue hosting fun community events. Stay tuned for more information on our 2nd Annual Yorkville Fire Station Appreciation Dinner on Saturday, October 12th. Looking forward to seeing all of you!
Best,
Lisa at the Yorkville Market
MENDO DA UPSET to Learn of Former EPD Officer's Past Dishonesty, Will Dismiss Cases that Require His Testimony.
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has grave concerns about the Willits Police Department’s hiring of Jacob Jones, having learned of sustained allegations of the officer’s dishonesty during his tenure with the Eureka Police Department.
PG&E 'POWER SHUT OFF' HAS 'ELEVATED' CHANCE NEXT WEEK — Possibility Of Power Shutdown Next Monday/Tuesday
MendocinoSportsPlus will run this feature daily during fire season of the PG&E "projection" of possible/potential "Public Safety Power Shutdowns" (PSPS). PG&E, however, may announce a PSPS with only a 24 or 48-hour notice.
For the first time since we've been posting this, we see a possible shutdown in the near future.
PG&E said they have 2,334 miles of power lines in Mendocino County.
Here’s the forecast published Friday by an operational meteorologist from PG&E’s Meteorology and Analytics team:
“Weather forecast models continue to indicate that dry, offshore winds may develop Monday into Tuesday in the Sacramento Valley and elevated terrain in the northern half of the PG&E territory. The event is approximately 80 hours away and forecast models continue to vary on strength, but the updated PSPS potential forecast indicates elevated potential in the northern portion of zones 3, 4 and 5 for Monday and Tuesday. Please note that PSPS decisions are made at a more granular level; thus, only a portion of a zone may experience a PSPS event if warranted. Although precipitation was welcome across northern California earlier this week, it will only provide a temporary reprieve from critical fire potential that is typical for this time of year. High pressure will build across California today and tomorrow, allowing for warm and dry conditions to develop as light to moderate northerly winds develop at times and maximum temperatures Saturday rise into the upper 80s to low 90s away from the coast. Breezy to gusty north to northeast winds may develop Monday into Tuesday down the Sacramento Valley and elevated terrain in the north half of the PG&E territory; these winds continue to be watched closely for changes. The moisture earlier this week produced an increase. … NOTE: This forecast is based on weather conditions and fuel moisture content only and does not include other criteria used to determine whether a PSPS may be necessary.”
(via MendocinoSportsPlus)
WEATHER CONDITIONS MAY PROMPT PG&E TO SHUT OFF POWER IN PARTS OF NORTH BAY
With forecasts predicting hot, dry and windy weather early next week, PG&E advised Friday there is an increased possibility it may shut off power in parts of the North Bay to reduce wildfire risk.
pressdemocrat.com/news/local/10073357-181/weather-conditions-may-prompt-pge
SUNSET IN KILLARNEY
KERRY AIRPORT, and toilets that don't work
(Photos by Randy Burke, in Ireland)
ED NOTES
RECOMMENDED VIEWING, the interview with Elk publican Bobby Beacon who, as one of the few remaining, truly vivid Mendo old timers, has ranched, logged, fire-fought, restaurant-ed, and now presides over his Beacon Light bar, described by the New York Times as among the best dive bars in the United States. The talented Mr. Beacon is also a very good pianist, especially considering he's self-taught. The Beacon Light is open Fridays and Saturdays from 5pm, and not only offers the gamut of spirits and a spirited clientele to go with them, but the best sundown ocean view with liquid accompaniment anywhere north of Frisco. (The interview with the inimitable Mr. B can be seen elsewhere on this website.)
A FEMALE big rig driver died when her truck plummeted off Highway 101 north of Laytonville near Stapp Creek Friday morning about 8:08 a.m. The CHP has not yet released its report on the accident.
I HAVE no idea how Craig Stehr became affixed to the ava, but he has been affixed for some time. Maybe he'll tell us. I have a vague memory of meeting Craig, I think, at one of the anarchist book fairs in San Francisco, where I also remember being struck by how conventional he appeared, so neatly dressed, so comprehensively un-crazy — especially in that crowd — that he stood out. I'm beginning to worry about the guy after years of regarding him as a comic figure, this eco-Don Quixote with a strong overlay of Hindu mysticism, and I regret now having regarded him as a figure of fun. I'm worried about him. His typically merry wacky-grams posted on our website have taken a more worried, plaintive turn, as well they might as Craig turns 70, with a total income of less than $300 a month, and only an estranged brother remaining of his family, as he couch-surfs up and down 101, and, for the moment, is temporarily couched in Garberville. There are certainly less welcoming communities than Garberville-Redway where Craig has been able to temporarily berth with long-time resident, the simpatico Andy Caffrey. I have no idea what kind of roommate or tenant Craig is, but if he could manage to keep his Vishnus and Hari-Haris to himself I doubt he'd be any more tiresome than the next frazzled, garrulous old boy we find in our neighborhood coffee shops. America is not a happy place for an untethered senior citizen with almost no money and no home. Maybe someone out there has a permanent place for the old guy, a place he wouldn't have to keep on moving from.
GIANT WATER SPOUT, TAMPA BAY
FALL PLANT SALE
The Nursery at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens annual Plant Sale ends this Sunday! All Plants and select items from The Garden Store are 10% off, members of the Gardens receive a 20% discount. Just one great reason to become a member of the Gardens (https://www.gardenbythesea.org/about/membership/). Fall in love with our healthy plants, beautiful home decor, and more. Be sure to take advantage of the low prices during the sale and remember, there is never an admission fee to visit the Nursery or Store.
CATCH OF THE DAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019
GARY BALMAIN JR., Willits. Domestic abuse.
TRAVIS BECKMAN, Forestville/Willits. Probation revocation.
ROBERT BERG, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia.
JOHN BILLS, Philo. Grand theft/firearm, stolen property, failure to appear.
JAMES BROWN SR., Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)
DEBRA FITZGERALD, Woodland/Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.
FERNANDO JOAQUIN, Covelo. Parole violation.
HEATHER LYONS-BRITT, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
TYLER MAZZANTI, Cloverdale/Ukiah. DUI.
SAMUEL OJEDA, Oakland/Ukiah. Under influence, reckless driving, suspended license (for DUI).
OFELIA PEREZ-REYES, Ukiah. Domestic battery.
DONALD SHARP, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, community supervision violation.
KNOX SOWERS, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, probation revocation.
BRENDAN UNDERWOOD, Ukiah. Contempt of court, failure to appear.
PRESIDENT OF THE SELFIES
by James Kunstler
Unlike the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren doesn’t radiate contempt, loathing, and horror at the task of mingling with the hoi polloi. Rather, she has become famous for staging lengthy sessions after campaign speeches to pose for selfies with her fans. The selfie-seekers, you will notice, are all women. It’s heartwarming as all get out. This is at the center of Senator Warren’s strategy for winning the next election: to cadge all of the women’s vote and become the President of all the women of the United States.
It’s a shrewd strategy, to turn the election into a gender-bonding contest, but elections have turned on equally fatuous premises, probably more often than not. Paradoxically, the lumbering President Trump, with his bay window belly, mystifying bouffant, fourth-grade vocabulary, and grab-them-by-the-pussy approach to romance, scored 53 percent of women’s votes last time around. Perhaps that was more a reflection of his opponent’s titanic loathsomeness than of Mr. Trump’s charms. But it only underscores Ms. Warren’s gambit: all she has to do is swing a generous majority of American women over to her side.
She is, in many ways, an exemplar of her sex. She’s made the best of her corn-fed Oklahoma looks. At 69, she capers energetically around the hustings in spanx and Nina McLemore jewel-toned, popped-collar jackets as though she were America’s yoga instructor, an appealing addition to her previous career as a distinguished Harvard law professor. She scores well on the feelings and sharing index, qualities that most men can only caricature. (Claiming to be a Cherokee was a forgivable way of sharing — sharing useful identities for career advancement.) And she has a palpable edge of anger about all the swindles and injustices in American life today, especially those spawned on Wall Street by the financial patriarchy — hey, who can argue with that one? If she has a husband (she has, Harvard law prof Bruce H. Mann) he might as well be hiding under a rock.
Ms. Warren’s big sell at this point in the campaign is Medicare for all, nationalized single-payer health care. The appeal is obvious: for one thing, other civilized countries manage to provide it for their citizens. And despite the counter-claims that “people like their health insurance,” the world has probably never seen such a pitiless, odious racket as the current system in the USA. Ask the schnooks forced to take their kids to the emergency room who end up stuck with bills for $6000 for a few stitches. Ms. Warren proposes a new system that would turn medicine into something more like the motor vehicle bureau with doctors — if you could find any doctors who would willingly sign on, which I doubt. And, of course, because it evokes such strong feelings of maternal sympathy, Ms. Warren also avidly raised her hand to support free health care for illegal immigrants, too, as a companion piece to the Democrats’ open borders policy.
Ms. Warren might win the nomination and even the election just on that portfolio of qualities, especially if the economy goes in the tank under the Golden Golem of Greatness, where it is apparently headed as I write, if you look at dismal car sales and the stats on plummeting world trade. There’s more than a year before the election for that scene to worsen. In the event, though, President Warren would be stuck on-the-job in a second Great Depression much worse than the one of the 1930s.
I doubt she could FDR her way through it. America back then still had plenty of everything except cash money. Lots of oil, ores, factories, and well-regimented workers. Now we’re officially $22 trillion in debt. The remaining oil costs so much to get out of the ground it’s bankrupting the oil companies. The ores are gone. The factories stand in ruin. And the workforce has degenerated into various mobs demanding something for nothing. The coming disposition of things will be less a depression than a long emergency of permanent contraction, and even Ms. Warren’s zesty grandmotherly charms may not avail to preserve the civil order under those conditions.
The picture I draw is admittedly severe, but what troubles me as much is the prospect of a civil war between the sexes. Things are already bad enough, as witnessed this week by the latest campaign by The New York Times to take down Judge Kavanaugh in the sensationally mendacious reporting by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly. The educated class of American women is earning a reputation for dishonesty and wickedness every bit as bad as the patriarchy they inveigh against. And believe it or not, men are still out there, even some heroic ones, and they won’t stand for this nonsense forever.
(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I don’t know, I’m a woman of some scholastic achievement, so I guess that makes me “educated”.
I certainly would not vote for Liz just because she’s a woman. That stuff goes over bigger in academia, which most educated women I know aren’t really a part of.
I’m one of those Women for Trump, and have been for a long, long time.
He’s the only person who was running for office who even talked about the things I had been thinking about for decades, as I watched my hometown decay, and I could see for myself that the reasons the talking heads and the professors and the politicians were giving for that were not valid. They bore no relationship to what I was seeing right in front of me.
He may be making mistakes (as if those who spnt their entire careers in government don’t make mistakes), but he is The Man In The Arena, that counts for not just something, to me it counts for everything.
Liz isn’t The Woman In The Arena, she’s the woman in the bubble, and she’s a large part of the reason we have a generation enslaved to student loan debt.
If she can’t even figure out the financial fraud going on right in front of her (which Bernie benefitted from as well), how is she going to fix ANYTHING?
I notice the MSM and our “justice system” have attempted to make some vapid and phony SJW type celebrities the scapegoats for the racket that is Higher Ed.
This is very similar to what they accomplished when they put Bernie Madoff out there as the evil face of Wall Street.
Bernie had nothing to do with Wall Street, mortgages, bailouts, or anything.
BTW, if you ask the average person what Martha Stewart went to prison for, the answer you will get is “insider trading”.
Are we sure about that?
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2
“He’s the only person who was running for office who even talked about the things I had been thinking about for decades, as I watched my hometown decay, and I could see for myself that the reasons the talking heads and the professors and the politicians were giving for that were not valid. They bore no relationship to what I was seeing right in front of me.”
Trump is a savant at telling people what they want to hear. But what has he DONE:
Tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, creating the largest non-recession budget deficit in history.
Instigated a conflict in the Middle East that puts us in a no-win situation and potentially catastrophic outcome for the world economy and existential threat to multiple states in the region.
Withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia, putting Europe and the US in existential danger.
Oh and BTW, Stewart went to prison because she had an idiot as a lawyer that let her go into a interview with Federal law enforcement officials.
“THAT FEELING that Bernie people are expressing is not fear of losing. It’s not anxiety over a good campaign. It’s not questioning their own commitment. It’s the collective recognition that the ruling class has made its choice. And her name is Warren.”
— Eric Draitser
“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHING. Nowadays, everybody’s gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on Sally Jessy Raphael and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn’t know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn’t be able to shut him up! And then it’s dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!”
— James Gandolfini
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOK BENTON, born September 19th 1931. Gone but not forgotten
"IN MOST CIRCUMSTANCES, presenting information in as intelligible a form as possible is what we are trained for. But the shock I felt hearing half an hour of unfiltered meanderings from the president of the United States made me wonder whether the editing does our readers a disservice. I’ve read so many stories about his bluster and boasting and ill-founded attacks, I’ve listened to speeches and hours of analysis, and yet I was still taken back by just how disjointed and meandering the unedited president could sound. Here he was trying to land the message that he had delivered at least something towards one of his biggest campaign promises and sounding like a construction manager with some long-winded and badly improvised sales lines. I’d understood the dilemma of normalizing Trump’s ideas and policies — the racism, misogyny and demonization of the free press. But watching just one press conference from Otay Mesa the other day helped me understand how the process of reporting about this president can mask and normalize his full and alarming incoherence."
— Lenore Taylor, Editor of the Guardian Australia
DARN RIGHT WE HAVE PLANNING. LOOK AT STATE STREET!
Subject: Planning Commission - October 3rd
The October 3, 2019 Planning Commission agenda has been posted to the department website at the below link:
mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission
NETANYAHU LOSES: NETANYAHU ERA IS OVER
After waging the battle of his life, Netanyahu waged a campaign of incitement and lies, driving away thousands of sane and moderate voters
haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-israel-election-results-netanyahu-era-over-1.7859306
TWENTY FIVE WAYS the Canadian Health Care System is Better than Obamacare for the 2020 Elections
by Ralph Nader
Dear America:
Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare, and although it has improved access to healthcare for some, tens of millions of Americans still cannot afford basic medical care for their family. No healthcare system is without problems but Canadian-style single-payer — full Medicare for all — is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal for all basic and emergency medical and hospital services.
In the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson enrolled 20 million elderly Americans into Medicare in six months. There were no websites. They did it with index cards!
Below please find 25 ways the Canadian health care system — and the resulting quality of life in Canada — is better than the chaotic, wasteful and often cruel U.S. system.
Replace it with the much more efficient Medicare-for-all: everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital. It will produce far less anxiety, dread, and fear. Hear that, Congress and the White House!
Number 25:
In Canada, everyone is covered automatically at birth – everybody in, nobody out. A human right.
In the United States, under Obamacare, 28 million Americans (9 percent) are still uninsured and 85 million Americans (26 percent) are underinsured. Obamacare is made even worse by Trumpcare restrictions. (See Trumpcare by John Geyman MD (2019)).
Number 24:
In Canada, the health system is designed to put people, not profits, first.
In the United States, Obamacare has done little to curb insurance industry profits and in fact has increased the concentrated insurance industry’s massive profits.
Number 23:
In Canada, coverage is not tied to a job or dependent on your income – rich and poor are in the same system, the best guaranty of quality.
In the United States, under Obamacare, much still depends on your job or income. Lose your job or lose your income, and you might lose your existing health insurance or have to settle for lesser coverage.
Number 22:
In Canada, health care coverage stays with you for your entire life.
In the United States, under Obamacare, for tens of millions of Americans, health care coverage stays with you only for as long as you can afford your insurance.
Number 21:
In Canada, you can freely choose your doctors and hospitals and keep them.
In the United States, under Obamacare, the in-network list of places where you can get treated is shrinking – thus restricting freedom of choice – and if you want to go out of network, you pay dearly for it.
Number 20:
In Canada, the health care system is funded by income, sales and corporate taxes that, combined, are much lower than what Americans pay in insurance premiums directly and indirectly per employer.
In the United States, under Obamacare, for thousands of Americans, it’s pay or die – if you can’t pay, you die. That’s why many thousands will still die every year under Obamacare from lack of health insurance to get diagnosed and treated in time. The survivors are confronted with very high, often unregulated drug prices.
Number 19:
In Canada, there are no complex hospital or doctor bills. In fact, usually you don’t even see a bill.
In the United States, under Obamacare, hospital and doctor bills are terribly complex, replete with massive billing fraud estimated to be at least $350 billion a year by Harvard Professor Malcolm Sparrow.
Number 18:
In Canada, costs are controlled. Canada pays 10 percent of its GDP for its health care system, covering everyone.
In the United States, under Obamacare, costs continue to skyrocket. The U.S. currently pays 17.9 percent of its GDP and still doesn’t cover tens of millions of people.
Number 17:
In Canada, it is unheard of for anyone to go bankrupt due to health care costs.
In the United States, health-care-driven bankruptcy will continue to plague Americans.
Number 16:
In Canada, simplicity leads to major savings in administrative costs and overhead.
In the United States, under Obamacare, often staggering complexity ratchets up huge administrative costs and overhead.
Number 15:
In Canada, when you go to a doctor or hospital the first thing they ask you is: “What’s wrong?”
In the United States, the first thing they ask you is: “What kind of insurance do you have?”
Number 14:
In Canada, the government negotiates drug prices so they are more affordable.
In the United States, under Obamacare, Congress made it specifically illegal for the government to negotiate drug prices for volume purchases. As a result, drug prices remain exorbitant and continue to skyrocket.
Number 13:
In Canada, the government health care funds are not profitably diverted to the top one percent.
In the United States, under Obamacare, health care funds will continue to flow to the top. In 2017, the CEO of Aetna alone made a whopping $59 million.
Number 12:
In Canada, there are no required co-pays or deductibles in inscrutable contracts.
In the United States, under Obamacare, the deductibles and co-pays will continue to be unaffordable for many millions of Americans. Fine print traps are everywhere.
Number 11:
In Canada, the health care system contributes to social solidarity and national pride.
In the United States, Obamacare is divisive, with rich and poor in different systems and tens of millions left out or with sorely limited benefits.
Number 10:
In Canada, delays in health care are not due to the cost of insurance.
In the United States, under Obamacare, patients without health insurance or who are underinsured delay or forgo care and put their lives at risk.
Number 9:
In Canada, nobody dies due to lack of health insurance.
In the United States, tens of thousands of Americans will continue to die every year because they lack health insurance or can’t pay much higher prices for drugs, medical devices, and health care itself.
Number 8:
In Canada, health care on average costs half as much, per person, as in the United States. And in Canada, unlike in the United States, everyone is covered.
In the United States, a majority support Medicare-for-all. But they are being blocked by lawmakers and their corporate paymasters.
Number 7:
In Canada, the tax payments to fund the health care system are modestly progressive – the lowest 20 percent pays 6 percent of income into the system while the highest 20 percent pays 8 percent.
In the United States, under Obamacare, the poor pay a larger share of their income for health care than the affluent.
Number 6:
In Canada, people use GoFundMe to start new businesses.
In the United States, fully one in three GoFundMe fundraisers are now to raise money to pay medical bills. Recently, one American was rejected for a heart transplant because she couldn’t afford the follow-up care. Her insurance company suggested she raise the money through GoFundMe.
Number 5:
In Canada, people avoid prison at all costs.
In the United States, some Americans commit minor crimes so that they can get to prison and receive free health care.
Number 4:
In Canada, people look forward to the benefits of early retirement.
In the United States, people delay retirement to 65 to avoid being uninsured.
Number 3:
In Canada, Nobel Prize winners hold on to their medal and pass it down to their children and grandchildren.
In the United States, a Nobel Prize winner sold his medal to help pay for his medical bills.
Leon Lederman won a Nobel Prize in 1988 for his pioneering physics research. But in 2015, the physicist, who passed away in November 2018, sold his Nobel Prize medal for $765,000 to pay his mounting medical bills.
Number 2:
In Canada, the system is simple. You get a health care card when you are born. And you swipe it when you go to a doctor or hospital. End of story.
In the United States, Obamacare’s 954 pages plus regulations (the Canadian Medicare Bill was 13 pages) is so complex that then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said before passage “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”
Number 1:
In Canada, the majority of citizens love their health care system.
In the United States, a growing majority of citizens, physicians, and nurses prefer the Canadian type system – Medicare-for-all, free choice of doctor and hospital, everybody in, nobody out and far less expensive with better outcomes overall.
It’s decision time, America!
For more information, see Single Payer Action.
(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)
FOUND OBJECT
ms notes: We’re pretty sure the quote on the sign is from Mark Twain.
When in doubt, attribute anything to Mark Twain…
…or Huey Long.
A STALWART SQUAD OF ENTHUSIASTIC CLIMATE STRIKERS
Good for the kids, but it’s gonna take more than signs to change the status quo. “Occupy” got a lot of press but changed nothing.
“I HAVE no idea how Craig Stehr became affixed to the ava, but he has been affixed for some time. …I’m beginning to worry about the guy after years of regarding him as a comic figure, as a figure of fun. … . His typically merry wacky-grams posted on our website have taken a more worried, plaintive turn, as well they might as Craig turns 70, with a total income of less than $300 a month, and only an estranged brother remaining of his family, as he couch-surfs up and down 101, and, for the moment, is temporarily couched in Garberville.”
I understand Mr. Anderson’s concern but I agree with Mr. Reading’s observation,
“The person addressed in the comment made his own decisions earlier in life that led to his current status. Buddhist monks did (do?) much the same. Their begging obligates no one to comply with their begging. I feel sorry for homeless people but not for someone who chose to be a bum of that person’s own free will.”
MTC is my favorite feature in the AVA and I’m tired of seeing Mr. Stehr’s haughty, sanctimonious arguments on why we, the rest of the world, owe him a living. Like the homeless grasshopper of the fable, he chose a life of self-indulgence while the rest of us were working, contributing to Social Security, and accruing our pensions—if we’re fortunate enough to have one.
Mr. McEwen is being a hypocrite. He has frequently attacked Mr. Stehr and ridiculed his comments. He’s using feigned compassion for Mr. Stehr to justify his own malice.
Mr. Stehr has voiced concern about his being an alcoholic. Mr. McEwen pretends to be unconcerned and insists his life style is his choice. Perhaps both would do well to confront their common problem and seek help. I’ve been there and I’m not putting anyone else down in this comment.
Lazarus is right. “We all struggle with some kind of desperation, anxiety, depression, pain, whatever.”
I HAVE no idea how Craig Stehr became affixed to the ava,
Why don’t YOU take him in, rather than shunting the self-made man off on others?
Used o take in lots of strays at our old headquarters where we had space for them and us, too. New place is not configured to do it. How about your place in Cheney Land, Harv?
I feel like I worked hard enough for most of my life to have earned the right to live in relative solitude if I so choose. I feel no guilt whatsoever about the plight of self-made people like Mr. Stehr. Accept it or not.
Bruce isnt a hypocrite on this front: he helpfully treats all his friends that way, lol.
I dont know what shoulda coulda talk has to do concretely with Craig’s current situation. A complete waste of time in addressing what should be addressed. Every morning i see old people emerging from hidden places, hunched and soiled. And, then i get brief fantasies of inserting myself in McEwen’s novel as Commander of the Pelican Bay Brigade on a rampage down 101. And correcting this situation.
Warm spiritual greetings, Yesterday I was approved for a significant increase in my social security benefits (SSI) beginning October 1st. I need a place to live and beyond that need to earn money so that we may do all that we are spiritually called to do on earth. I am asking for cooperation so that I may be kept in play for the rest of my time on earth. Feel free to share this information with anybody whom you choose. I am ready to move off of Andy Caffrey’s couch in Garberville, CA. AM LEAVING THIS ENTIRELY IN THE HANDS OF THE DIVINE ABSOLUTE! Craig Louis Stehr Telephone messages: (707) 923-2114. Thank you very much.
Craig Louis StehrSeptember 21, 2019Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com
Do you or Andy know Danny Sheehan? He is now President of The New Paradigm College which has 2 or 3 live in young employees. (There is a dorm wing of single rms at the site, the old Lucerne Castle.) Maybe they need a landscaper…or something there? In exchange for a room? In case you guys know him:
daniel.p.sheehan@gmail.com
I know, a longshot idea….
Thank you for your positive and timely response. I AM LEAVING ALL OF IT HENCEFORTH IN THE HANDS OF THE DIVINE ABSOLUTE. P.S. I am NOT an alcoholic, although I did enjoy a pitcher of Eel River IPA with Andy at lunch (following the Eureka Climate Strike), when Andy & I went off to Hey Juan! restaurant to celebrate his 62nd birthday. I dunno, Shitbird, I believe that I am on the planet earth appropriately. Obviously, I disagree with most of my critics here on the AVA online edition. I am centered spiritually right this moment. How’s the rest of America doing right now? ;-)
Painful enough for you to take him in?
I live in a small studio with rental agreemen limits.
My response was directed to Ms. Susie.
The frequent flyer sept 16 arrest of Jennifer Degroot for “failure to appear” was probably simply a way to shower her, get her a clean set of clothes, and a few healthy meals. She was back home yesterday morning, settling in at the door of the closed Bank of America.
Measure B agenda:
https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=30173
As always,
Laz
3d) Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Request for Qualification/Request for interest in the operations of the proposed Crisis Residential Treatment (CRT) facility, Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) and the Psychiatric Heath Facility (PHF)
This is stupid, we all know who’s getting the job, the Schraeders. It’s been the plan since day one. The main hurdle was to get the county to buy the unimproved portion of the “Orchard Property” so that the Schraeders could bid on operations. Kit Elliot informed the Measure B committee several months ago that if the Schraeders owned the property they would not be able to bid because of an appearance of an unfair advantage. Angelo fixed it and now she will make sure Measure B reimburses the County and builds the facility for the Schraeders right next door to their 2.2 million dollar office building that they used the CRT grant to purchase.
The Schraeders should have been stuck with the property and forced to pay back the $380,000.00 grant money she used for the down-payment for her new place.
James Marmon MSW
Had Camille just bought a 3 bedroom house to use as a CRT there would have been a substantial savings over the past 2 years in hospitalization charges. She shouldn’t be rewarded for her misuse of the grant money.
Good-Bye Puff; Hello Camille.
“Liberty: “Probably the odds-on favorite for being the operator [of the proposed Mental Health Crisis Facility in Ukiah] is RCS (Redwood Community Services) and RCS owns the design… And, full disclosure, we talked a little bit about this. They own the design. I think that the kind of odds-on favorite for being the operator [RCS] has a recommended design and that should probably be something we want to look at. But they own the actual property and so we would have to ask that that be available and as part of using that to go out for a biddable design. If we’re going to use that [RCS property] we can’t do that without their blessing, so we understand that. I am not an intellectual property attorney but I’m pretty sure that you guys [RCS] own the intellectual property and actually, Mark [Mertle, another Measure B committee member], you have an understanding of that, right? They have a design, they have a rough design and that could not be available —”
Mark Mertle (Owner of Fort Bragg Electrical): “It’s not ours it’s theirs.”
Liberty: “Right. So if we were to advertise with that design we would probably have to get your [RCS’s] permission to use it.””
https://www.theava.com/archives/95931
Occurred : 8/19/2019 21:50 (Entered as : 8/19/2019 21:50)
Reported: 8/25/2019 12:41:40 AM 00:41
Posted: 9/6/2019
Location: Ukiah, CA
Shape: Unknown
Duration:10 secondsA green object came into the atmosphere, Southwestern area of the sky. It fell towards the ground and appeared to be close. This was different than a fireball as the color was a glowing green and seemed to Be cool not hot. It fell in a diagonal pattern and I faintly heard a high pitch sound. The night air was heavy, dense, and dark. The temperature was cool for August; the air had a smell of an overheated radiator. I felt an uneasy energy .
The old Buddhist monk practice came up in comments….just saw this, Ukiah plaza:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rgLKph70K/?igshid=1plcb1he90bw5
And
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rgHOnhxLS/?igshid=117p1klbwkmqr
Wonder if the green object was a leprechaun…
Perhaps it was Greta Thunberg on a broomstick.
Harvey, I only take very short leaps in my imaginings to reach a conclusion and in this case, insufficient as it is in the data dept, i have no f…ing clue.
Now: example of short leap: a white house secret service agent tells me about his sighting in the hudson valley, early 80s. (He is sharing at our education table at zero point on the wh ellipse, march 1992): he described the massive craft in detail and says simply: it was an alien craft.
April 2018, after midnight, sitting in meditation by west facing window, hills, canyons, and scattered homes in view. A concentrated blast of white light comes thru my window. I get up and look: a very long craft with groves and darkish red lights on bottom (i started counting, up to 8 and then stop with a “wtf”) cruising slowly and silently just over the trees. It spans the whole length of the stand of trees behind a lonely and large house (craft probably twice size of airliners). They fucking shined a light into my room! Needless to say, i slump back into the chair and dont watch it from outside. If this was the greys, well …. the light beams transport folks aboard!!
You have your standards. I have mine, Shitbird. I consider “sightings” as pure hokum. Earth has nothing to offer a truly advanced species and the universe is very, very big. Humans, a rather primitive bunch of monkeys are susceptible to weird interpretations of what they think they see, or saw. Ask any cop who has dealt with multiple “eye” witnesses to a crime and count the number of different stories the cop heard.
Uuuuuhhh, hate to tell you this Harvey but last night you kinda became Mr Magoo, you might say “officially” so: Michio Kaku now is basicly saying “they are here”. The confirmation of hard evidence by the navy this week is a complete game changer.
My lectures now being written for the close encounters of the 3rd and 4th kind will give good intel on what is up with various civikizations and species. For now, i would just say alot of creative stuff going on.
I tend to severely discount any babble coming from the military. Most of it is for the reason of getting yet more funding for new toys.
It seems we have a Fox Mulder among us. Very nice, we already have several “cause celebres’, a pseudo-intellectual pet and not to be left out, the conscious of all things good and evil…
As always…….
Laz
No.
I am Professor Shitbird, attired in the same manner as Professor Irwin Corey…except my wild eyed look is enhanced with glasses.
I suppose i could be a dashing FBI agent but that would be laughably delusional.
Listen…i am not like the young guns in ufology eager for disclosure b/c their family and friends think they’re nuts. I simply dont care! I do believe in good public ed and helping prepare folks psychologically, so i am creating easily accessed material which people from over 60 countries have already checked out. Going by the actuarial tables, i will be dead soon but that site is paid up for thru 2023…so i wont have to be here anymore for that.
While I agree with you about the unlikelihood of extraterrestrial visitation, the frequently invoked notion that humans are primitive in some celestial sense is actually part of the belief system of the ufo people. There is no way to even guess the odds that other life exists since there isn’t any evidence for it. Think of it this way: in the same way that the many-worlds theory tries to explain a universe like ours that is fit for life by claiming infinite universes, of which we are but the lucky one, a single universe, huge enough, like ours, might have only hit the life jackpot once. There is no need to believe life must exist elsewhere, let alone life as complex as ours. It might, but It’s very possible that human brains are the most highly organized (least primitive) matter in the universe. A miracle and a tragedy.
Narcissus at the pond, gazing fixedly at His Image.
I must not have explained it very well…
As far as I am concerned, the primitiveness of humans is self-evident. We are so stupid that we are still making the same mistakes we made as we began our walk out of Africa, away from Ma Lucy and Pa Desi.
I disagree with the statement that probability of life elsewhere cannot be estimated. There is a fair amount of knowledge regarding composition of the universe, and that includes presence or absence of elements needed for life, at least life as we know it. That’s a very large clue that life probably–undoubtedly in my opinion–exists elsewhere, probably at numerous locations. Further, our definition of life seems to me rather a limited one, based on a sample size of exactly one.
My argument is not against the possibility that other life forms exist in other parts of the universe. It would be surprising to me if in fact they did NOT exist. I do find it difficult to believe that such other life forms, ones that had achieved a level of technology allowing them to travel in an interstellar manner would have the slightest interest in a bunch of primitive monkeys like humans and their gutted planet, a species so ignorant and primitive that it still depends on the equivalent of bottle rockets to escape earth’s gravitational field.
Some good points. But using rockets to escape our gravitational field hasn’t been achieved anywhere else as far as anyone knows. You make a leap of faith in your position. Perhaps the only reason you can envision another (better?) way to escape gravity is because of your highly evolved mind. Dogs and cats and birds likely don’t think about that, but people do. ‘Ignorant’ is a relative term, but you only use it relative to an ideal you hold, not something objective. Isn’t it more accurate to say humans have failed ourselves in many ways than to say for certain there is something higher we can be compared to (and that by implication we channel that wisdom to make the distinction)? That is getting close to religious thought. I think when someone describes humans as ignorant, etc. it misses the point. As a species we are not ignorant. We could even be said to be brilliant but not, as I grew up hearing, living up to our potential.
I await discovery of a new biology in my lifetime, if it exists. That would be monumental and it would bolster your position. I’d say if any other life form at all is ever discovered it would greatly increase the odds of other intelligent life existing in the universe.
“…as far as anyone knows…,” isn’t saying much, and supports my opinion that humans are primitive, ignorant beasts.
I’m afraid it seems to me as if yours is the more religion-related way of seeing things.
How is that you know what a dog thinks? I consider mine more intelligent than many humans, even though communication between him and me is limited by my inborn stupidity–and he may think the same of me. Animals may know far more than they are given credit for knowing by our limited human minds. I suspect that they are laughing at us most of the time, when not escaping us in terror of our primitive behavior.
You speak of wisdom, yet we lack it entirely, else we would not continue making the same bad mistakes we have been making throughout our existence.
No, you can waste all the words you choose to waste. That’s your business. But I’ll stick to what I learn from those who make the real investigations into the universe and the world around us. Philosophy and religion has never been of much interest to me.
Incidentally, any “new” biology would be built on current biology, which would be included as an approximation to the old, much like Newton is an approximation to Einstein with respect to the gravitational field.
At least for humans.
“old” should be “new” on the 4th line.
Gee, didn’t mean to make you mad.
I’m not mad. But I am set in my ways and have had too many discussions like this for one lifetime.
Here’s an AVA interview I did with Craig Stehr 3 years back, as I was curious/concerned about him too. He has worked, studied, been a wandering activist, yes…anyway, here’s the man behind the messages, including his Mendo history.
https://www.theava.com/archives/58942
(I agree that nobody “owes” him a living or home, but to me he seems a decent if perhaps troubled guy, and maybe, just once, even those certain daily AVA commenters who seem to know everything about everything might consider trying to Judge Not, as both Jesus and Bob Marley warned…)
Hi Steve.
Good to hear from you but do you have to say everything twice?
I thought your interview with Stehr was a nice piece then; I still think it’s a good piece. And, in your article, he seemed like a nice guy.
However, I am very tired of Mr. Stehr’s recent comments in the AVA.
He absolves himself of any responsibility for his current plight, he shows no humility, and seems to blame everybody and everything else for his problems except himself. And he is demanding, not requesting, our help.
Jesus is the fictitious creation of a writer or group of writers referred to as “Mark”. Marley is a great song writer, not a philosopher or prophet.
If I never heard another word about Stehr, it will be too soon.
All the best to you, Mr. Heilig.
Hey Louis, Have you considered just not reading what I post? It’s real simple: you skip it! Good luck. ;-)
Found Object
Elon Musk finally realized China’s richest man is an idiot…?
As always,
Laz
Found Object
And then there’s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT7_IZPHHb0
As always,
Laz
https://county10.com/breaking-one-dead-in-shooting-at-riverton-walmart/
Life in a state where concealed carry is legal. I hope Walmart takes the next step and bans the practice on their properties nationwide. Something needs to be done with insecure morons who insist on going around toting guns.
The shooting was by a policeman of a guy who attacked a cop with a knife in the parking lot. The assailant died.
The whole Craig Stehr thing reminds me of a song by the late great Dan Hicks: How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? I’ll hazard a guess that many of his current and former couch providers feel the same way.
Inapropropriate as it may be for me to say so, your comment gave me a big belly laugh. Thanks.
Me too!
“Presently I don’t do anything for a living. I’ve got $150,000 in my Mechanics Bank checking account and a debit card.”
(Heilig interview)
I wonder what happened to the $150,000.
That’s a lot of cold beer and warm scotch.
Steve, I am NOT couch surfing. I am working with others on radical environmental and peace & justice efforts, and use the couch because it is free. I am welcome where I am! Just got an invite to move back into The Magic Ranch house in Redwood Valley from the owner on Facebook ten minutes ago. And nobody is even living there presently…everybody is elsewhere making money…I may have not just the couch, but the whole house and property all to myself. Okay? Y’all have got this totally misunderstood. I move around a lot in the name of radical activism. Been to Washington, D.C. 15 time since June of 1991 when I helped run the Zacchaeus Kitchen and lived at Olive Branch Catholic Worker house. Thank you for understanding this. Hoping that your Sunday is going to be as good as mine. ;-)
my granddaughter Aubree ( the one on the right).
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/70887389_2425439037573165_6183198381481918464_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_oc=AQllNn2viBAajIJ6RkJFWomCUJakN5ukRBb6mnnW6zZGvzgdrKgISoueYhXpguKj_TyW2Joa1esjgL16BYpmD2fC&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=23890b0902dc7c7b022128c1260bd773&oe=5E01D2BC
My neighbors’ ten-year-old daughter is named Abree.
Aubree is only 15 years old. Her dad is an ex-marine and owns guns. She’s tall like he is so people think she’s a lot older. She thinks she’s a lot older too.
Abree’s dad is a sergeant in the Riverton Police Department. He’s ex-army. Did time in one of our Mideast fiascoes, probably Pappy’s.
Caption for Found Object of the Day: “Elon Musk and Jack Ma agree: The biggest problem the world will face is Elon Musk and Jack Ma.”
Lipstick on a pig.
AVA MCT June 22,2019:
TO MOMENT IN MENDO
Summer Solstice 2019 Message
Having just now returned from miles of walking on country roads chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantram, halfway point being the intersection which is “downtown Redwood Valley, California”; enjoyed a delicious chile relleno burrito and a bottle of raspberry flavored Yerba Mate. Visited the market nearby for an energy drink to enhance the walk back to The Magic Ranch. Bored to near death with the pointlessness of postmodernism, am doing nothing at all but witnessing moment to moment here in Mendocino county. Am awake! Chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantram continuously. I’m ready! Sending out networking emails to the Washington, D.C. region stating that I am available for more radical activism. No offers are being received other than I am welcome to stay for short periods of time on a couch if I show up. Also, networking emails recently sent to the San Francisco bay area saying that I would go there if anybody offered me couch space have gone unanswered. Unsure of why I have been receiving email messages for awhile saying that it would be great to see me again there. If it would be so great, where are the invitations to stay some place?? Bored to near death with the pointlessness of postmodernism, I am here. I am awake. I am chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantram. I am available. I am here. I am awake. I am chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantram.
Craig Louis Stehr
Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com
* * *
Many other such missives can be found with a keyword search in the archives.
“Many other such missives can be found with a keyword search in the archives.”
Thank you Stephen.
Now I’ll have plenty to read for the rest of this hot day in Roselle, New Jersey.
It’s clear that Stehr doesn’t surf on couches. he just sleeps on them.