PONTIFICATING DISGRACES
To the Editor:
We’ve all seen movies about the crimes and evils concocted in corporate and political boardrooms, most of the time based on agendas cooked up behind closed doors. We’re all a bit uneasy as we watch them because we know we’re watching as much, or more, truth than fiction. The plots vary; but primarily the little guy gets screwed.
Well, right here in our little county a true version of one of these stories has played out for a year. Mendocino County’s Board of Supervisors has engaged itself, primarily through its representatives, in an aggressive, confrontational process of trying to impose a 15% pay reduction coupled with threats of a reduced workweek — something the workforce could not survive. Many suspect this to be the inside work of an aggressive anti-labor agenda. Those who have witnessed the Board in action, as I have, doubt that they have the mentality to have done this entirely on their own.
The sad truth — and this is the truth if they get their way — is that this will so irreparable harm to a loyal workforce. The bargaining unit at risk is made up of 700 families. A great majority of these people are lower middleclass living on the edge of losing homes or making vicious cuts to the budgets of themselves and their children. I have witnessed testimonials given directly to this Board that would have swayed anybody with compassion and character.
All five of these clowns stared at all the folks telling their vulnerabilities, then promptly ignored them. The only props missing for the Board were black robes and powdered wigs. It has been disgusting to witness the amorality represented by these sorry characters. If it wasn’t for the tragedies involved, they’d make a great Saturday Night Live skit.
There was a clear solution offered by the union and entertained by the Board’s representatives as possible. It allowed the County to realize a huge savings in payroll while allowing the workforce to reduce its workweek by 10% and some people to get second jobs. The County essentially bummed the deal by making all 700 people part-time.
Then they went further by insulting their own managers by stating, on the record, that they felt it would be too complicated for management to figure out how to manage a 36-hour workweek. A junior in high school could figure it out, and we had already had a period of 36-hour workweeks last year. And, by the way, California labor laws do not set a universal full time workweek at 40 hours.
I urge you to go to a board meeting and witness these pathetic, amoral characters in action.
Recently they gloated about all the reserves they are building, for unknown contingencies, while they knowingly destroy the lives of many.
I can only vote once to unseat the Supervisor in my district. But I will make every effort possible to unseat them all. I urge every voting member or acquaintance of these 700 families, every person who has ever worked for the County, all the thousands who are served by the everyday efforts of the County workforce, everyone who has ever been on the labor side of the equation, and all the business owners who will be harmed by this travesty to do everything you can to get rid of these five disgraces.
They pontificate that they must speak as one. They need to be soundly condemned as one.
Don Crawford
Ukiah
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IT CAN (HAS) HAPPEN(ED) HERE
Dear AVA,
Howdy! I hope this letter finds you in robust health and spirits. I am writing because Ms. Dorotheya Dorman from Radical Ridge Road in Redwood Valley told me she had written and asked if you could send me a complimentary subscription. But she had my old address from when I was in the Corcoran Security Housing Unit.
My old prison refuses to forward newspapers so if you did agree to send me one I wouldn't have received it.
Prison really sucks. I've been in prison for 21 years now, serving a sentence of death by incarceration. So if you could send me a subscription that would really help me to keep in touch with the outside world and it would really be appreciated.
Thank you for considering it. I am morbidly indigent but maybe I can contribute something other than money? Perhaps you'd like to print the following letter to the editor. You have my permission to edit and publish it. Thanks for considering it also.
Dear Editor: Do you remember in the 80s when the Americans felt so smug because the USSR had rolling blackouts, a bad economy, corrupt politicians, a corrupt mainstream media that fed them lies, armed soldiers on their streets who would randomly stop people for their papers and identification? Do you remember how evil the USSR was because they had a Department of Homeland Security ("KGB,” in Russian) that was permitted to say who could travel and who couldn't because they were on a “no fly” list? They could lock people up forever without benefit of trial or evidence and they could tap phones, search homes, follow people around and keep tabs on them solely because of their political or religious beliefs.
Remember that? I guess Russia can laugh at us now because we let all of that happened here. “And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I'm told I'm free.”
Patriotically yours,
Jason Wilcox
Kern Valley State Prison
Delano, California
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PARADIGM DOWNSHIFT
Editor,
This chart represents, for me, a lifetime of thought distilled to its essence. This is a concept I have been developing over the past several years and wanted to get your impressions.
Charlie Musslewhite
Geyserville
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Memo Of The Week
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
(Document accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011)
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
• They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
• They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
• They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
• They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
• They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
• They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
• They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
• They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
• They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
• They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
• They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
• They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
• They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
• They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
• They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
• They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
• They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
• They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
• They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
• They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
• They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
• They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.
(These grievances are not all-inclusive.)
To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal. Join us and make your voices heard!
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DEPORT THE BANKSTERS
Editor,
I'd like to share a couple short, interesting quotations from Republican President Teddy Roosevelt. He wrote in 1906,
“As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and disregard of legitimate business methods on the part of the business world can materially mar this prosperity.”
Free-market capitalism tends toward “reckless speculation,” hence the Great Depressions and today's 3-year-old recession. We learned before that Wall Street badly needs regulations, but the corporate-backed anti-regulations Right got them removed, and now we're paying the costs.
Roosevelt also wrote, “I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already past one House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly.”
If Teddy Roosevelt and the trust-busting progressive reformers then had succeeded in banning corporate influence in our government, our country wouldn't be run by and for the corporate rich as it is today, with its painful economic crises, endless (and profitable!) wars, and growing gap between the rich and the rest of us.
End Corporate Rule! Restore real democracy, by and for the People, not the bankers.
Tom Wodetzki
Albion
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POWER OF ATTORNEY ABUSE
Dear Sir:
I am writing in regards to a man who is so obsessed with power and control that it is ruining my family.
First of all he has connived his way into being my mother's power of attorney. That is supposed to be for someone who is incompetent to make rational decisions on their own. My mother is far, far from that. The legal paperwork on this has yet to be seen!
I will list a view of the events that he has caused during his so-called power of attorney. What comes to mind is when I came home late to my mother's house I had seen a flashlight coming toward me in my mother's driveway. I noticed it was him. He said, “I'm [bleeping] tired of you coming back this late.” That is when he cracked me on the back of the head. When I fell to the ground he hit me on the left side with the same flashlight!
I went to my aunt “Syl's” house and called 911. When the police came so did the ambulance. While I was being checked out by the EMTs I learned that the police took him away at gunpoint which was a good decision on their part considering his long past and present history of violence. The man with the “power and control” issues and hateful attitude toward my family is none other than Eugene Allen Lincoln Jr., aka, “Bear Lincoln.” And the woman he “supposedly” has power of attorney over is my mother Lucille Lincoln.
The reason I use “my” family and “my” mother is because I don't think he ever did claim any of us as family. He cares more about all his weed plants in Lucille's backyard than he does about her!
I am going to list some of the things that he has done since his trial for killing Deputy Bob Davis. During Bear's trial we had been there every day to give our support. I cannot understand this change of attitude since he got away with it! Maybe it could be the steroids he takes?
He was not even supposed to come back to Covelo in the first place! He is listed as a “threat to the community.”
Following is a list of these threatful events, all of which he caused. What comes to mind is when he completed the trial and came back to Covelo (which he wasn't supposed to do). He shot at the home of Pat Lincoln and on the same night at the home of Mike Pina, both of whom had children inside! I don't know how much time he got for those acts of violence. That was years back.
More recently his unpredictable behavior is becoming so obsessive that I truly am fearful of my mother's safety especially since one time when I was away I heard that at some birthday dinner Bear — he must have been coming down — couldn't find any forks. He went up to my brother Carlos who is diabetic and an amputee in a wheelchair and said, It's all your [bleeping] fault. And gave him two black eyes!
He wouldn't let anyone take him to the clinic because he didn't want to get in trouble!
This is the reason I am so worried about my mother Lucille. I him unable to go over there anymore because after Bear spent one day in jail he got bailed out and put a restraining order against me so I can't see Lucille and Carlos. I guess he overlooked the fact that when I'm there I cook for both Lucille and Carlos to make sure that they both take their morning, noon and afternoon medications. Also their afternoon insulin shots. But Bear put a stop to all of that. That has to be some kind of abuse on his behalf.
He is making my mother a prisoner in her own home!
Besides myself, using his so-called power of attorney he also has restraining orders against my sister Tina, my nephew Winterhawk, my niece Deb and Cheney, Winter's girlfriend. Bear doesn't even care for Deb's two kids or Winter and Cheney's five.
It's one thing not liking the parent, but it is totally another thing taking out that hate on the children which Bear has been doing.
If Bear feels someone is getting in his way he will do what “he” feels is necessary to make things better for himself, no matter who he hurts in the process.
Besides beating me with that flashlight, one morning I was cooking Lucile breakfast, eggs, potatoes, bacon and toast, and he was at the table in the dining room. He said, Eric, there is no more drinking around here. You have anything to say about that? And I said, What that means is, no more drugs around here either. He must have been coming down because he ran straight towards me and shoved my shoulders. There went my mother's breakfast flying all over the kitchen floor. When I rose up from the floor, Bear grabbed me by the neck and said, You are [bleeping] getting out now! Then he drug me by the neck down the ramp with me holding on. He threw me off at the end of it onto the ground. All this was in front of my mother, Lucille.
Bear has done countless other things against my family that will be known. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It needs to be heard.
One time he snuck over to Winter and his family's trailer while they were all asleep and held a knife to seven-year-old Joseph telling him to be quiet while he woke Winter up at knifepoint. He threatened to come back and kill him. All because he thought Winter took some of his weed plants! Joseph was so scared that he jumped out of the front door and hid “under” the trailer! Another time Bear called Winter's two daughters “sluts and whores,” saying that they were Lincolns and they didn't belong in the horse field (where our trailers are). And these girls are only ten and seven years old!
I mean, Bear is a 57-year-old man! His behavior with these three kids alone proves that he is not qualified to be around kids who he feels threatened by.
Who knows what would happen if he was in a “bad mood” which is about 90% of the time. His attitude and mood swings are so unpredictable that he can seriously use professional help before something compels him to repeat his past. (Davis).
I have this bad feeling that it will be me or one of my family members who he has exiled from our mother's house who will be the next person in the obituaries. I hope to God I could be wrong.
Still here,
Eric Lincoln
Covelo
PS. Bear the truth, you shouldn't have freed the Bear.
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DELUSIONS, COLLUSIONS, SCHMULUSIONS
Editor,
We’ve been lectured over and over again that “conspiracy theories” are paranoid delusions, that secret collusions don’t, in fact to paraphrase Alexander Cockburn, apparently can’t exist in this open society. So, the American populace in Pavlovian fashion immediately dismisses any questioning that the political, economic, or religious authorities to which they cleave might be acting with motives other than what they profess. Yet, we have numerous well documented counterexamples going back hundreds of years. Will Parrish has been so competently uncovering ongoing ones occurring right here and now.
Recently, investigative author Anthony Summers and Florida-based journalist Dan Christensen in articles jointly published in the Miami Herald and on the nonprofit news site BrowardBulldog.org reported that a secret FBI probe, never shared with Congressional investigators or the presidential 9/11 commission, had uncovered information indicating the possibility of support for the hijackers from previously unknown Saudi Arabian confederates in the United States during 2001. The FBI found these individuals had been in regular contact with the highjackers and their plot leader Mohammed Atta until just prior to 9/11, when they precipitously left the country. Subsequently, it has been learned that these individuals are highly placed in Saudi Arabian society. Former Florida U.S. Senator Bob Graham, who served as co-chair of the congressional joint inquiry into 9/11, is expressing outrage. “Each of the intelligence agencies, including the FBI, was asked to provide all information that agency possessed in relation to 9/11.” he told The Herald. Graham noted that the Bureau also failed to turn over information connecting the hijackers to other Saudis living in California, which his own investigators later discovered on their own. The Bush family had extensive business relationships with the Saudis — and with the CIA. President Bush’s actions in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon assaults with regard to the Saudi royal family have long been known but have yet to be fully explored. Shortly after the attacks, President Bush permitted an exception to the ban on air traffic so that planes could take prominent Saudis out of the country. This story is further documented in Russ Baker’s article, “Is the Saudi Royal Family Connected to 9/11 Hijackers?” on WhoWhatWhy.com.
I’m ever more wondering if Alexander Cockburn may be actually a right wing cutout. I’m anti-fond of the neoliberal establishment nearly as much as the neoconservative one. Cockburn appears to be particularly interested in trashing the former. Yet, when it comes to conspiracy theories, he immediately bows to authority, except for what he calls the “global warming” conspiracy theory, which he considers justified in condemning in common with those on the right wing.
Don Sanderson
Hopland
Ed note: Nobody asked me, but I think that the truthers and the birthers operate with comparable intellectual firepower. Cockburn isn't the only guy to point out that massive conspiracies would inevitably spawn massive numbers of snitches, which hasn't happened in the alleged 911 conspiracy because, heck, as we all know, Bush and Cheney alone humped tons of after hours nitro into the Twin Towers so the Towers would come down when Atta and the fanatics flew the hijacked airliners into them. Truthers! Stay off the internet. It's bad for you. PS. Michael Moore devoted a whole convincing movie to the connection between the Saudi Royal Family and the Bushes. He and others have made it pretty clear that Atta and the boys had a Saudi support base here in the U.S. prior to 911. PPS. Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. PPPS. Holding minority opinions doesn't make a person any kind of political cutout.
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THE AVA FROM 30 FEET
Esteemed Editor,
Recently, I was sitting outside the AMTRAK station in Davis, waiting for the eastbound Zephyr. I was trying to read the nine-point print of the AVA in direct sunlight with my one semi-usable eye. From 30 feet away, a woman called out to me: “Excuse me, sir, is that the AVA you’re reading?” Surprised, I allowed as how it was. “Do you know the editor?” she asked. Sensing a trap, I hesitated. “Uh, yes… Sort of.” Then she got to her real question. “Is he as much of a curmudgeon in person as he is in print.” “Oh, much more so!” I assured her, “You wouldn’t believe it.” She nodded, apparently satisfied. She and her husband were headed back home, somewhere in the Mid-west.
Stewart Bowen
Suisun Valley
PS. I am delighted to hear that you are getting back to your normal state of curmudgeonliness.
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A PEACE RALLY WHERE?
Editor,
Peace rally/protest in Gualala on Saturday, October 8th at noon:
October 7 marks the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war. Tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed since the war began. According to a U.N. report, 1,462 civilians were killed in the first half of 2011, 15 percent more than in the corresponding period in 2010.
More than 2,600 U.S. and other NATO troops have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded — many suffering catastrophic brain trauma or amputations.
At a time when health, education and other vital programs are being slashed, the war in Afghanistan devours $330 million per day. A recent study estimated that the total cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will exceed $4 trillion—$4,000,000,000,000.
We need money for Health Care, Jobs, Education, And Housing, not for Corporations and the Pentagon!
Join us on Saturday, October 8th at noon in front of the Gualala Post Office to stand for PEACE! Bring your friends, neighbors and families as well as posters, banners, flags, musical instruments and smiles. All are welcome to STAND FOR PEACE!
Only the People United can make Real Change.
For information call 707-884-4703
See you there!
Sister Yasmin
Gualala
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START WITH WILL
Editor and staff,
Just so you know, I have subscribed to the AVA largely due to the fine writing and relevance of Will Parrish's articles on the environmental and socio-economic impacts (more like devastations) in the Russian River basin and beyond.
Thank you.
Larry Hanson
Forestville
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STORM, NOT WIND
Dear AVA,
Don't know if it was the Advertiser or Fred Gardner who got the title of Carl Oglesby's book wrong. It's not Ravens in the Wind but Ravens in the Storm. I'm reading it now, and I thank Fred for recommending it, it's a great history of the 60s and the “New Left.”
Regards,
John Wester
San Diego
PS. For Carl Oglesby
Truth to powerless offends the pride
Of those believing nothing’s wrong.
Truth to powerless who take a side
Will have known it all along:
There’s nothing you can do alone
But sit around and moan and groan.
(First line from Carl Oglesby’s Ravens in the Storm.)
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PICK YOUR CONSPIRACY
Dear Editor,
Thank you for printing my last letter. I loved your headline “Fear & Loathing In Ione” in homage to our late great friend Hunter S. Thompson.
If you think I write too many letters to print all of them, please just send this to Mr. Cockburn.
Yes, bin Laden's gang did 9/11 and thinking that Bush or Cheney did it is silly. There is also no proof the Nazis burned the Reichstag, but they used it.
I disagree that FDR might have known about Pearl Harbor. He wanted war with Germany, not Japan. No one could have guessed Hitler was insane enough to declare war on the United States on December 11. Japan had refused to help Germany fight Russia and Hitler never honored treaties anyway. Having failed to take Moscow before winter, Hitler apparently chose the most dramatic possible suicide. Had Hitler not thrown his insane tantrum on December 11, Pearl Harbor would have made it harder for FDR to help beat Hitler.
There was a JFK conspiracy. Either the FBI had bizarrely failed to watch a real communist who lived in Russia and had lived in Russia and might have worked for the KGB — and that was covered up — or the CIA told the FBI not to watch him because he worked for them and that was covered up. If Oswald was a “lone gunman” (which I doubt), he was someone's rogue agent. You didn't go to Russia in the 50s, come back, and receive no hassles.
When did Bobby Kennedy debate Reagan? I once worked for Bobby and never heard about that.
Michael Bear Carson
Ione
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JUDICIAL BEDFELLOWS
To the Editor and his Court reporter,
Mr. McEwen's imagined response on behalf of Camper Morris to Judge Moorman's admonition to her regarding the company she “chooses” to keep was alone worth the $50 annual subscription.
Thank you, Bruce & Bruce.
Michael DeLang
Coal Creek Canyon, CO
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FALSE TITLE
Dear AVA,
Thank you so much for the wonderful coverage of the atrocity being perpetrated in Lake County. As a long-time resident of Lake County I am thrilled that someone is reporting the injustice that continues to plague the Native Americans of this country. What has been and is being done to them is a shame and an injustice that must be stopped. We Americans as a whole have screwed over one the Indians for nearly 300 years. Breaking our word time after time. As we fenced my home in Upper Lake several years ago we found one of the cannon balls from the infamous massacre of bloody island. Through this discovery and friendship with many local natives I studied the history of Lake County and how it has dealt with the natives. Rape, murder, and slavery are only a few of the crimes. We proudly named towns after the white people who did these horrid things. So Supervisor Rob Brown and his two partners helping to steal Rattlesnake Island is no surprise. But then none of the questionable decisions made by those three is ever a surprise.
Denise Rushing is to be applauded for her efforts. Sadly I don't see it doing much to help as she is constantly outvoted even when she seems to be the only one willing to do the right thing. I suppose if one were to do as my father always said — “follow the money” — we would find the answers as to why newcomers such as the infamous three, and yes when the natives have been there for 14,000 years, we are all newcomers. As to the flawed conclusion that a false title gives them the right to take such a sacred place from the natives? That could only come from three “Good Old (white) boys” on the Board of Supervisors.
I hope and pray people will stand up and put this to rest by seeing to it that the rightful owners once again have possession of their sacred land and are shown the respect they deserve!
Eddy Lepp
Lompoc
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TONY BENNETT’S COMMON SENSE
Editor,
Iconic US singer Tony Bennett, still crooning at 85, resonates with many people in the US. When he says, “they flew the planes, but we provoked them,” and then asks “who are the terrorists, them or us?” He is saying the empire has no clothes.
It may just be common sense, but how often does any figure in the media speak with this sort of common sense?
It's not surprising I found this in Spanish language media, since the libby Zionists and their “Arab” friends aren't ever impressed with what anyone says — unless they're Jewish — and have no idea how much weight this statement carries.
Note there's not much vilification of Bennett — the Zionists are too smart for that, since they know it would just backfire on them.
But they’ll try to make sure this story gets buried, and their MECA and ANSWER friends won't publicize this either.
Mark Richie
Cotati
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WE’D BELIEVE IT
Mr. Anderson,
I cannot believe the Post Office got my letter to you with no address and no zipcode. My hat is off to them.
You are one of the few good guys left in this world we live in. If and when I should ever get a chance to repay you for your kindness I promise to do just that. Thank you.
I told you I do prison art. Here's a card with one of my drawings. These will be yours to do as you please, and you will receive one a week.
Note: There is a reason for this card is beat up, but you wouldn't believe it if I told you.
Bowie Richard
Deuel Vocational Institution
Tracy
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UNPUBLISHABLE SINS
Dear Editor,
This may not be publishable but here it is.
When Troy Davis was executed in Georgia a goodly number of right wingers had a massive ejaculation.
One and only one con here, a Republican, knows anything about politics. He wants to bet that Turkey will invade Syria within two months. I think I will accept that bet.
From the Asylum, I remain,
Ronald Del Raine
Florence, Colorado
PS. Which phrase wins the oxymoron prize? “Military intelligence” or “evangelical intelligentsia"?
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MISLABELED
Editor,
I have thoroughly enjoyed Will Parrish's investigative writing on the corporate wineries and equally your snarky condemnation of smaller vineyards overtaking the valley. However I was surprised to find some well tailored junk mail in my Post Office box with a label which matched exactly the one that arrives weekly on my copy of the AVA. I hope the complementary cases of Hungry Hollow make decent bookends for your volumes on the evils of the vine mongers.
Regards,
Chris Holland
Little River
Ed note: We have no idea what you're talking about. We have not and will never sell our mailing list to anyone.
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CAIN’S NOT CAEN
Editor,
Chris Mathews mispoke on “Hardball” yesterday and called Herman Cain, the rightwing Repub from Florida, “Herb Caen.” Screamin' Chris promptly corrected himself. But that's not the item, as the master used to say... Herb Caen, the great San Francisco gossip columnist, proposed a simple reform that would almost certainly result in more Americans taking part in the electoral process: a lottery that voters enter by saving the stub on our ballots. Done right, with provisions for lots of prizes and well-publicized mega-prizes, the Caen Lottery Act of 2011 could increase voter participation by 214%. (Margin of error ± 3%.)
Fred Gardner
Alameda
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KEEP YOUR DIRTY MONEY, BANKSTERS
Editor,
Donations to Norman Solomon’s congressional campaign have surged above the $200,000 mark, despite his refusal to accept any corporate PAC money “as a matter of principle.”
Solomon -- a progressive Democrat running for the open seat in California’s new coastal district that extends from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border -- has taken the unusual step of pledging not to accept a single campaign contribution from a corporate Political Action Committee.
“The large corporations giving big bucks to candidates are not engaged in philanthropy -- they’re buying influence,” Solomon said. “Candidates for Congress routinely take money from Wall Street and say it’s necessary. I say it’s undermining democracy, and I don’t want any part of it.”
Solomon says that his campaign’s ongoing success at fundraising is due to wide and deep grassroots support.
Already, he has participated in several dozen campaign “house parties” -- far more than all the other candidates combined -- discussing issues, hearing concerns and receiving contributions. In addition, online donations via the campaign’s website, www.SolomonForCongress.com , have been brisk.
“I’m proud that our campaign has already raised more than $200,000 from non-corporate sources -- and we’re just getting started,” Solomon said. Referring to the corporations that are major donors in congressional races, he added: “I don't want their money. I want to be accountable to voters, not Wall Street. We need to invigorate democracy, not sell it off to the highest bidders.”
Solomon, who was elected as an Obama delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, is an outspoken foe of what he calls “undue deference to Wall Street” in Washington.
“We hear a lot about shared sacrifice in these difficult economic times,” Solomon said, “but the vast majority of us are being sacrificed to the financial benefit of big banks and large corporations.” Charging that “Congress has acted in the financial interests of the rich instead of the public,” he insists: “That must change.”
Now in his third term as an elected delegate to the California Democratic Party state central committee, Solomon is also national co-chair of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign. The other co-chairs are Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association.
Solomon for Congress
Inverness
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MERCY, MERCY
Letters to the Editor,
How is this for a conundrum? We are not guarding our borders resulting in Mexicans swarming into our country creating problems (adequately diagnosed elsewhere). But, there is an exception.
Pregnant Mexican women who make it into our country and give birth will give US citizenship to her newborn child/children. (She may have twins or more in one dump.) We know how this works, eh?
Now, there are the religious Rights who want it established that life begins at the time of conception. If this would be accepted (which is bull shit) then the pregnant woman is bring two or more illegals into our country.
The end result would be that the mother and her newborn should be considered to be illegals and all should be required to go back to Mexico rather than remaining and gaining access to all the benefits due to us legal citizens (well, the fortunate few).
I could bend my views on whether life begins when an animal is able to sustain itself by breathing on its own (true) as compared to merely being a parasitic part of the host mother in order to get them to go back to their native country and stay until they can re-enter legally and gain citizenship after paying their due.
There are few countries on our finite planet where illegals are allowed to remain and enjoy the benefits of citizens, and one of those countries is Mexico. Our country (alleged by many to be the best this planet has ever known) is a disaster heading down-stream on a surfboard in Shit Creek without a life jacket.
Though being an atheist I will allow myself to express the thought of “MERCY.”
Carl Flach
Alameda
PS: The Editor could consider making the AVA available on Amazon Kindles or such as are huge numbers of newspapers and other publications and books. The printed media are an endangered species, reading quality news is not losing its charm and need.
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STEP BY STEP
Dear Mr. Parrish,
We have been following your essays in the AVA on water resources and viticulture since we subscribed earlier this year in anticipation of an eventual move to the Mendonoma coast for retirement. My marginal understanding of the root of the problem is the long-standing research for, and promotion of, industrial viticulture by UC Davis. I also understand that grapes have been grown for centuries without irrigation and frost protection in climates harsher than those of the Anderson and Russian River Valleys. So, how do we as consumers of wine determine which labels bottle from grapes grown with sustainable practices? Perhaps more important, how might we identify and avoid the worst offenders? Is there a directory of responsible wineries published by someone other than the foxes guarding the henhouses?
As an aside, we discovered the AVA after hearing it highlighted on an NPR story as an example of excellence in community journalism, and it has certainly lived up to the claim. In spite of its narrow coverage and limited content it contains some of the most thoughtful and literate contributions of the papers we read regularly, including our daily NY Times. Yours included.
Whyte Owen
Rochester, Minnesota
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CODDLING PANHANDLERS
Editor:
I am very disturbed by the number of homeless transients invading our small town. I read in the Ukiah Daily Journal that a panhandler was harassing customers at the Grocery Outlet. The store called the police about him last week and was told he has a right to be there.
The City of Ukiah has an ordinance making panhandling illegal within the city limits. If all the police do is counsel the panhandlers they will continue to do it.
Jack In The Box, WalMart and QuikStop have an enormous problem with homeless harassing their customers. These three businesses are huge contributors of tax revenue to the City of Ukiah. They and many other businesses should not have to put up with these bums. There is a regular bum convention going on daily on the property owned by WalMart. The bums sit around under the trees and drink booze, smoke pot, and leave an enormous amount of garbage. When they are asked to leave by the police, they leave only to return a short time later.
We have so many social services here that Ukiah is becoming a bum magnet. Other cities and states are giving free bus tickets to people so that they can come here and take advantage of our liberal services and, it appears, our welcoming attitude.
I am all for helping those who need a little assistance and are willing to take some responsibility for themselves. And people do need to take care of the mentally ill. But those who just want to suck off the system and do nothing for themselves need to leave.
We need to get the word out to those in our community. Do not give money to panhandlers. It does not help them. It only encourages them to panhandle. It gives them money for booze, drugs and cigarettes. If they are hungry, food is available at Plowshares, the Food Bank, the homeless shelter and some churches.
Ruth Mann
Ukiah
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SAVE THE DOGCATCHER
Editor,
Mendocino County is the highest taxed county in California and California is one of the highest taxed states in the United States. Another distinction is that we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States. How did these great distinctions come about? Our great leaders have cried wolf about everything for the last 50 years or more that we have to put another sales tax or parcel tax and all kinds of new fees. Our population constantly fell for passing these. Worst of all we constantly put these same politicians in office, until death due we part.
We finally beat the pants off them in the last quarter-cent election in Mendocino County, but OH NO, let’s try another raise in sales tax for libraries. I wish someone would tell me what we pay all these taxes for. Don’t we call them “public libraries”? If this tax passes they will probably use it for the libraries, but money that usually goes to pay for libraries will now be available to create or further extend a bureaucracy or increase benefits and get us just further in debt.
Then with a victory as in the past we will have another raise in the sales tax to save the County Clerk or the assessor’s office or the tax collector. How about the dogcatcher, the planning department and absolutely the Road department or a zillion other parts of county departments.
There are closed stores and businesses all over the County. Do we put a sales tax to keep them open? They are human beings too, who go through really rough times. Again, I am saying there is only one fair way to balance the budget. First of all, don’t spend for things the County can get by without, like a new courthouse, then everyone takes a cut of 15% or 20%. No exclusions, including judges who are paid by the State (however they have to do it).
Those getting higher pay should also take a higher cut. Then work harder not less and get efficient, as we have to do in the competitive private world. We have to turn this tax down and put something on to lower taxes to save our county, state and country.
Emil Rossi
Boonville
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SAVE THE JOBS
Editor,
Unemployment, recession, a debt crisis, foreclosures, bankruptcy — the news is full of stories on these subjects. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime.
The one common denominator in these problems is lack of jobs.
I first become aware of the job outsourcing in the early 1970s. Twin manufacturing plants began springing up along the Mexican border. The labor-intensive portion of a manufacturing operation would be done by Mexicans. The final assembly and testing would be completed by a few highly skilled works in the US.
In the last 40 years these kinds of arrangements have blossomed. Most of our heavy manufacturing (steel, smelting, glass, etc.) is now done elsewhere. Labor-intensive light manufacturing is pretty much gone.
We Americans are a clever people. We still invent things. Cellphones, solar cells and iPads were invented here in America. But their production — and the associated jobs – takes place offshore, in places like China.
These changes occurred because the Congress, the presidents (both Democrat and Republicans) and business leaders colluded to make it happen. Legislation was passed, tax laws were revised and free trade agreements were signed codifying these job-destroying policies.
If there was any real desire to improve the lot of the working class this legislation would be reversed. Small changes could nudge companies to return their call enters to the US. Tax law could be re-written to encourage Apple to manufacture iPhones in America. Trade policy could be revised to make it attractive to produce shoes, televisions, cars and textiles here in the US.
I’m even in favor of tariffs. If an import auto, built with coolie labor, sells for $5,000 less than a comparable US car, then let’s slap a $5,000 tariff on it.
If something’s not done, industry will continue to drive labor costs to the bottom. This will destroy the middle class.
Best regards,
Bart Boyer
San Diego
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RECOLLECTIONS
Dear Ex Mayor Sinnott,
Your ridiculous and verbose letters are mildly entertaining and completely delusional. Do you actually believe you were recalled by a 2 to 1 margin because of some affair you may or may not have had with whomever? Like anyone cares who or what you have sex with? Don’t you remember firing a valued member of the community without charges? Don’t you remember subverting the electoral process through a technocratic loophole? Don’t you remember reappointing yourself to your illegitimate position? Don’t you remember blowing tens of thousands of dollars on a redundant waste treatment study against the wishes of your constituents?
Your “leaked” letters read like National Enquirer meets Harlequin Romance. Your editorial flacks from out of town fooled no one. You are not being victimized; you and your boys on the Point Arena City Council were legitimately recalled by a wide margin. Deal with it. Take a look in the mirror; only you disgraced yourself. You behaved as if your constituents didn’t matter, like this was a platform for furthering your political career. Well guess what, the people of Point Arena clearly care about their council and their community. Perhaps it’s time to move back to Texas.
Chris Campbell
Point Arena del Sur
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REUNIONS
To the Editor:
During the week-end of the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show the Anderson Valley class of 1961 celebrated their 50th class reunion. The great class of 1961 would like to thank the following business for their generous donations.
Anderson Valley Farm Supply and Nursery, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Anderson Valley Market, Breggo Winery, Foursight Wines, Gowan’s Oak Tree, Husch Vineyards, Phillips Hill, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Roederer Estate, Rossi Hardware, Scharffenberger Cellars, Standish Wine Company, The Apple Farmers, Toulouse Vineyards
The donated products were showcased at the Saturday night dinner and given away as prizes. Because of the generosity of the above businesses our 50th class reunion was a huge success.
Linda (Tuttle) Stewart, Potter Valley
Sharolyn (Tolman) Bierman, Woodland
And the Class of 1961
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NOT A WITCH HUNT
Editor,
Wrong again, Tamara.
At the September 21st Community Services District meeting you told the story of your father and expressed your support for medicinal marijuana. The audience respected your position and was sympathetic to your story. You failed, however, to identify yourself as the partner/landlord for the proposed Boonville dispensary (with an alleged rent of $800 per month). At that point, I asked you to reveal your position so we had genuine transparency.
Once AGAIN, in your letter to the editor you have elicited support for an enterprise from which you will gain financially without revealing your partner/landlord position. By doing that your arguments lose power. When you toss out accusations of hypocrisy, you might review your own behavior. It is not a witch hunt for people to express their views in a public meeting. That's called democracy. Healthy disagreement is what helps to lead to better solutions. I felt the majority of speakers were articulate and respectful. It is not hypocritical to believe medical marijuana is useful and yet, have strong negative feelings about the siting of a delivery system which is touted as “medicine” but is obtained outside the legal medical system. It is hypocrisy to not look at the flaws in the recommendations/”prescriptions,” the many grows which have nothing to do with medical cannabis and everything to do with money, as well as the hopes and wishes for the development of pot tourism and open recreational use (the undiscussed big elephants).
Education, whether about pot or any other subject, does not work well under name calling threats like “witch hunting.” Name calling does alienate the very audience with whom one might want to truly communicate.
Beverly Dutra
Philo
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A REAL DEMO
Dear AVA,
The pundits who compare the Wall Street demonstrations to the “peaceful” revolution in Egypt while dismissing the former as a naughty frat party, are missing the point. Or missing the message, as Marshall McLuhan might put it. The story is not that the demonstrations are happening, or that they lack the staying power of an Egyptian revolution. The story is in how quickly they were organized. Champions of status quo must be putting money and serious thought into finding ways to disrupt digital communication which is universal, instant and easy to use. The problem is: how to frustrate the flash mobs without affecting commerce.
Regards,
John Wester
San Diego
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