THE NATION MAGAZINE characterizes the late Alexander Cockburn's life as a “Fierce, protracted resistance in the defense of democracy.” That's certainly true of Cockburn, but not the magazine itself, now an arm of the Democratic Party. Its great thinkers will be gearing up for Obama as the lesser of two evils; if Cockburn were still with us they'd have to chloroform him to keep him quiet on that subject. The mag seems to have forgotten that its editors and funders asked Cockburn to tone down his criticism of the Clintons, all of it more than justified. Then the Nation cut his column's size and frequency. Today, the Nation is about as interesting as David Brooks and Mark Shields wondering at each other if the wars in the Middle East have been “worth it.” Brooks says yes, Shields says yes but.
THE NEW YORK TIMES headline over Cockburn's obituary Sunday read, “Alexander Cockburn — radical leftist writer.” I guess there are leftists who aren't considered radicals, but in Cockburn's case it's code for Beyond The Pale. Cockburn would have enjoyed the redundancy of the hed, and wouldn't have been at all surprised at how he's misrepresented, as in this silly para: “He had regular columns in ideologically disparate publications like the Nation and the Wall Street Journal” — both publications are wed heart and soul to capitalism and not all that disparate, boiled down — “and became known as an unapologetic leftist of the sort who appeared to take pleasure in condemning what he saw as the outrages of the right and what he often considered the tepidness and timidity of the U.S. liberal establishment.” Jesus H. There was something to apologize for? Like, Gee, I just said something leftist but I'm really, really sorry about it. And then there's, “What he considered…" Dudes! Even in the U.S. among millions of people, and outside the U.S. unanimously, these are statements of the obvious. But Cockburn being a writer of big gifts, he brought wit and style and new insights to these discussions that no one writing today can manage. The Times probably should have given the obit assignment to one of its literary log rollers. Some of them seem more or less capable of recognizing superior prose when they see it.
YOU DON'T HEAR of suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge because the Bay Area media don't report them. There were 37 confirmed last year, putting the total number at 1600 known jumpers, a figure that would be considerably larger but the remains of many aren't ever found. The Golden Gate Bridge District, for years, had preferred the non-reporting policy because the constant flow of suicides off the landmark tarnished its magnificence as both artifact and tourist draw. The Bridge District also resisted a suicide barrier for aesthetic reasons, as did many influential Bay Area citizens. The thinking was better a few leapers than ruin the Bridge's iconic appearance. But the sheer volume of suicides off the Bridge, combined with the testimony of survivors that they certainly wouldn't choose to do it again, and probably wouldn't have attempted oblivion from the Bridge in the first place if it weren't so convenient, so romantically compelling, finally convinced the Bridge District to erect a suicide barrier, which has turned out to be a net, a diaphanous net, barely visible. It will catch jumpers and, as the depressed learn that they can't end it all from Golden Gate Bridge, the Bridge will no longer beckon as a means to end it all. And at last federal money, some $45 million, has been allocated to build and install the net — not it specifically, but a category of money intended for safety strategies out of which the net is a certainty to be funded.
IN THE WAKE of the State Parks scandal — Parks suddenly “found” $54 million after announcing most parks around the state would have to close or be raffled off to private entrepreneurs for lack of money — we learn that Alan Olmstead, one of many persons to step forward to raise money to keep the parks open, sent a check for $9,500 to help keep Mendocino County's Jug Handle State Natural Reserve open. Olmstead had distributed 60 donation buckets around Northern California to collect donations and had sent the $9,500 on in to State Parks. But the State didn't cash the check raised for Jug Handle. And the State didn't cash another $3,000 raised to keep open Greenwood State Beach near Elk. Where are these specific funds? No one seems to know.
BUT WHAT LOTS of people do know, having learned the hard way that State Parks seems to be a criminally inclined enterprise at its top management level and that the State can somehow misplace $54 million, is that Governor Brown is going to have an even harder time getting his tax initiative passed, the one that says, basically, there's plenty of money to fund a high speed train but not enough to fund Parks and any number of programs benefiting the destitute.
RECOMMENDED READING: An excellent piece by Laura Rena Murray in last week's SF Weekly. Called “Collapse of the Vanguard,” Ms. Murray details how “A con man, a leftist hero, and white guilt have brought down a storied foundation.” Vanguard disappeared in 2006, and millions disappeared with its “heroic” founder, Hari Dillon who packed his board of directors with famous “leftists” as he and a character called Mouli Cohen helped themselves to the millions duped liberals sent to them to do good with. Skeptics were, as usual, denounced as reactionaries, racists and so on as these two guys looted the sacrosanct foundation.
THE SAME KIND of vilification and non-personing continues on what's left of the left, as long-time members and listeners of KPFA can tell you. Which is what happens when (1) these secretive, grasping little cliques of self-certified “radicals” manage to get themselves in charge of opening the mail and depositing the money and (2) dupes with crippling groupie tendencies put their critical faculties on hold as soon as they spot Ed Asner on the masthead. Closer to home, a small group of NorCal crooks are still collecting money under several “non-profits” to save Headwaters and to help Daryl Cherney find the person or person who bombed Judi Bari!
THE BIG MILL FIRE which burned for almost three weeks in the southern part of the Mendocino National Forest was finally declared “contained” and moved into “mop up” by CalFire Wednesday night. The fire burned almost 30,000 acres and produced clouds of gray soot that filled the area’s air for days. CalFire hasn’t said what the cause of the fire back on July 7 was (spurring some wild speculation by some locals that it was a meth lab that blew up — hard to believe since most of the meth labs are in Mexico nowadays). Five outbuildings were burned but no homes, main buildings or people were lost, although four firefighters were reported injured. Firefighting was aided in recent days by cooler temperatures and higher humidities. The intense Mill Fire was reported to have burned hotter, brighter and higher than most fires which caused it to spread faster as flaming tree crowns spewed hot burning embers into whatever wasn’t already on fire. Most of the firefighting was fighting fire with fire — backfires mainly, far in advance of the main blaze. Meanwhile, fire crews were dispatched to protect recreational areas and buildings. According to CalFire the tab for firefighting was almost $16 million, mostly for the 250-plus firefighters who did the hard, hot work in the remote, steep areas of the forest.
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