IT'S CONSTANTLY ANNOYING to listen to slobbery talk from “liberal” candidates about “healing” and “bringing us together” when what most of us want in government is basic competence. Given the array of nutballs and incompetents running for office these days.... Well, excuse me for not voting for any of the individual candidates on Tuesday's ballot because I see them all as choices between unacceptable and terrifying. I voted NO on all the judges out of personal pique at my unhappy experiences in the state courts, nevermind the obvious injustice built into the justice system, voted for both local initiatives for the libraries and firefighters, and voted on all the state propositions pretty much as recommended by the sage of Garberville, Eric Kirk. I resent in my bones, in my bones, I tell you! that both parties have excluded any and all alternatives to them. Sayanora, Peace and Freedom; nice knowing you, Greenies.
MICKIE ZEKLEY, founder of Lark Camp, at Mendocino Woodlands, died October 28, 2022
It is with deep sadness that we tell you of Mickie Zekley’s death from pneumonia very early in the morning on Friday, October 28. We are especially sad that after 3 years of hiatus related to the pandemic, we won’t be able to see him at in-person camp in 2023. Many people are posting memories and condolences on Facebook.
For those of you who don’t know this history, Mickie founded Lark Camp in 1979. For many years, Mickie also ran Lark in the Morning, an instrument store with locations in Mendocino, San Francisco and Seattle that boasted an exhaustive catalog of instruments from around the world. Mickie named the camp after the store, and then when the store sold, simplified the name to what we call it now—Lark Camp. We look forward to being at Lark Camp together in 2023, to share our grief and memories of Mickie and take comfort in each other’s camaraderie. We are forever grateful for the musical magic of Lark Camp that Mickie created.
A READER WRITES: “Dear Mr. Anderson, I am curious to know if you have seen the Netflix documentary about sex cult that was based in San Francisco. Orgasm Inc: The story of One Taste. Very interesting but also they have a farm that is still open for business in Philo. I would love to hear your deep dive opinion on it since it made me angry they were here in our county and still making money off of people and their trauma they caused. Could you put it in your paper I looked up the website and saw no mention of founder but she is there —Nicole Deadone...she ripped off people and allowed sexual assault as a way of healing people of their trauma. Please make my query anonymous. Thanks for your time.”
WE'VE WRITTEN DISPARAGINGLY OF ONE TASTE from the time of their Philo arrival that it seemed to us beyond absurd that wealthy neurotics would pay a lot of money to do big naked piles on the redwood banks of the Navarro. I haven't seen the doc, but given that the Anderson Valley has suffered a steady parade of lunatics all the way back to Jim Jones, and on through the Manson Family and the Moonies, not to mention free range maniacs like Leonard Lake and Kenneth Parnell, One Taste's arrival here was certainly in the grand tradition, maybe even inevitable.
SO LET'S CLASS-ANGLE IT. Jones was so broke he needed a job, which he got at Anderson Valley Elementary from a fellow Hoosier, Bob Mathias, who was superintendent at the time, circa late 1960s. Of course Jones was not yet full-on psycho and, better yet from the school district's fiscal perspective, he brought a bunch of kids with him from his doomed church’s headquarters in Redwood Valley where he was rapidly amassing a fortune off the dependent elderly and dependent children, which he was to parlay into a buddy relationship with big shot San Francisco Democrats and on into his last stand in Guyana.
PROPERTY was cheap in the Anderson Valley up through the 1970s, cheap and rustic-remote for psychopaths to hide out from law enforcement. I think Manson's seraglio paid about a hundred a month for their place on Gschwend Road in Navarro, Lake and Ng not much more than that for their headquarters in Philo less than a mile, as it happened, from One Taste's property.
I BOUGHT my house on AV Way in 1973 for $23,500 with a thou down I chiseled from credit cards, and sold it in 2005 for half-a-mil, a major (for me) miracle of capitalism!
BUT CHEAP, plentiful housing was over by the middle 1980s as The Valley went over to high end wine tourism and a huge dearth of housing for honest working people, and an even larger dearth of shelter for active maniacs although we remain home to a number of non-lethal loons. Only well-heeled maniacs could possibly afford an expensive property like One Taste's place in Philo which, by the way, is up for sale again for multiples of a million dollars.
A READER WRITES: “Mendo jail flap and 'One Taste.' The same lawyer is threatening KZYX, Mendo Fever, and Kym Kemp for publishing their stories.”
AS A PERSON who has collected plenty of demand letters in my many years as boss man at Boonville's beloved weekly, I would advise the above besieged to simply print, “We retract.” That should do it. Hell, you've already won by revealing these people as the hustlers they are. No way you should go to the expense of a protracted legal fight with these crackpots.
MY STRATEGY, however, is to simply re-print the alleged libel, thus getting another shot in at the enemy while also having some fun with the legal bully boy or girl hired to intimidate you into an extorted apology.
WITH ‘One Taste’ — a huge satirical target — you could write your retraction this way: “We retract any implication that One Taste is a high end sex cult catering to well-healed voyeur-perverts whose principals attempted respectability by inserting themselves into the Sheriff's inmate farm program.”
IT WAS SARAH REITH'S article on One Taste's surreptitious insertion of themselves into the Sheriff's program which was posted by MendoFever and Kym Kemp at Redheaded Blackbelt, hence the demand letter aimed at them from One Taste's legal hack. Ms. Reith's story was first read by her on KZYX. She is always a scrupulously careful reporter whose irrefutable account of what happened with One Taste and the Sheriff, in all its irrefutableness, has obviously stung the One Taste cultists.
“NOSE CHANDELIER,” a new term to me, and one that made me laugh, as I and every other geezer wonder why a pretty girl would want to deface herself like this.
THIS YOUNG WOMAN was involved in the infamous Settler murder case out of Laytonville's deep outback, a full account of which is available in a new podcast described and posted elsewhere in this morning's ava news.
I WOULDN'T ORDINARILY recommend a movie re-creation of Jeffrey Dahmer's uniquely depraved life, but this Netflix series is so brilliantly acted even vegetarians are likely to get sucked in. I tried to watch it a couple of weeks ago, but was put off by the murky opening scene of Jeff's neighbor confronting him about the “smell coming from your apartment.” I thought to myself, “Uh, do I really want to watch this story whose outcome we all know, on a perfect Fall afternoon, the birds singing, the trees turning brilliant yellows and reds?” At the time I decided, No, I'd rather go outside. Then I read somewhere that the Dahmer saga was Netflix's all-time draw so I just had to see if it was as good as all that. It is, and then some, though the righteous race lectures occupying too many episodes at the end coulda, shoulda been cut, imo, since the fact that our hero preyed on young black and brown men (and at least one 14-year-old boy) made the racism implicit. No need to take two hours to make the point that the Milwaukee police department of the time — ’78-’91 — was dominated by oafs and incompetents. The series is pretty heavy going in some parts when, for instance, Jeff, an otherwise model tenant “who always paid his rent on time,” offers his complaining neighbor a peace offering sandwich containing guess what? The poor woman was dealing with a constant stench — “Just some old pork chops gone bad,” Jeff explained, not bothering to explain the late night thumping as he subdued his victims and went to work dismembering them with drills and electric saws. The most chilling passage, to me, was a verbatim recording of the police call from an astounded black woman complaining that the police had just returned a drugged, battered, obviously underage kid to Dahmer's custody. To conclude, this thing is a truly excellently done rendition of a horrifying series of events by one more lonely monster produced by world headquarters of lonely monsters.
THE MENDO VOTE TURNOUT is always better than fifty percent, while the statewide and national turnouts are typically under fifty percent. In Tuesday's election Mendo, as usual, voted the straight Middle-of-the-Road ticket, enthusiastically returning the three zeds — Huffman, McGuire and Wood — for another stay in office doing little for the Northcoast they allegedly represent. The three zeds, incidentally, have been selected for us by Demo Central. We have zero input into the party's cash and carry affairs, let alone its candidates.
I DIDN'T VOTE for any of the individual candidates, he sniffed, deluding himself that anybody cared other than the people yelling at him to sit down and shut up. Pardon the following free association, but writing “sit down and shut up” reminded me of a high school civics teacher, an old guy named Benefield who, like a lot of veteran teachers sick and tired of dealing with smart ass high school kids, had long before ceased bothering to learn anybody's name. He called us all Pedro. “Sit down and shut up, Pedro. We're not there yet. That's next week.” Anyway, I'm unhappy that the political duopoly has shut out all the other alternatives to them. Used to be you could at least protest vote for P&F or Green, but now it's the three zeds or the unspeakables running as Republicans.
THE ONLY GOOD NEWS out of the state and national elections is the failure of the fascists to surf their predicted red wave coast to coast, that and the evident thumping that Trump himself took as party leader. But heir apparent, DeSantis, is much smarter and much more marketable than the Orange Curse as the big fascist bucks flow his way. This guy is much more of a menace than Trump.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM easily tromped Brian Dahle, the sacrificial Republican. Can Newsom beat DeSantis? Newsom's clearly gearing up to run for the top spot as armed militias open fire on each other, and is the only plausible Democrat available. As Democrats go, the glib Marin County boy is preferable to any of the hacks and hackettes who coughed up the appalling Biden last time around, and the only person since Hillary who could have possibly lost to Trump. The two of them are by far the worst pair of candidates we've suffered in this country.
NO SURPRISES in the local elections. Libraries and firefighters cruised to reliable funding, although the fire people will have to keep a close watch on their money to ensure it doesn't disappear into the County's general fund.
KINDA SORRY to see John Redding lose his seat on the Coast Hospital Board simply for the entertainment value he brought with him. But to win election to any office in Mendo, you've got to be good at uplift, that bland mix of togetherness nostrums and the ability to look lunatics in the eye while smiling and repeating, mantra-like, “I hear you. Great idea. Thank you for sharing.”
MALCOLM MACDONALD: My new book, Mendocino History Exposed, will be a topic of discussion with host Michelle Blackwell on her KZYX radio interview show, “Upwelling,” on November 30th at 9 AM. In the meantime, you can pick up your copies of Mendocino History Exposed at local independent book sellers like Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino or in Fort Bragg at The Bookstore on Laurel St. as well as Windsong on Main St. gallerybookshop.com offers an easier online way to order than through the impersonal corporations. If you already have your own copy, Mendocino History Exposed's tales of our county, from pre-Gold Rush to “the tire baby” make a wonderful gift.
ACCORDING TO The Week magazine there were 6,800 fires in the Golden State this year, which seems to assume that every cigarette burn roadside scorcher is included in that stat along with the big acreage fires.
EVERY DAY a MoveOn plea to help Democrats wafts out of cyber-space and on into my computer. Why, darned if Joe Biden himself didn't ask me for a donation! Today, MoveOn asked me to “Help stop Herschal Walker.” I had to explain that I'm too old and Herschal is too big and too fast for me to stop him.
A READER ASKS, “Wonder if you've read John Fante's ’Ask The Dust,’ which is my all-time favorite novel. Too bad San Francisco never had a chronicler like L.A.'s Fante, there's never been a love story better written.”
YEAH, I liked “Ask The Dust” and also “Brotherhood of the Grape,” too. I liked this passage from Ask so much I've kept it:
‘I hate you,’ she said.
I felt her hatred. I could smell it, even hear it coming out of her, but I sneered again. ‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘Because there must be something pretty fine about a guy who rates your hatred.’
Then she said a strange thing; I remember it clearly. ‘I hope you die of heart failure,’ she said. ‘Right there in that chair.’
I AGREE about the odd absence of a big novel about San Francisco, but there's a lot of non-fiction that's a pretty good substitute, all of Herb Caen, for instance, and Gary Kamiya, to name two non-fiction writers who consistently and accurately give the reader a real feel for the place. I thought McTeague was an interesting fictional rendition of SF in the early part of the 20th century. Some of Jack London, too. London's “Tales of the Fish Patrol” set on San Francisco Bay are a wonderful read.
DON'T READ much fiction these days other than an occasional — very occasional — short story in The New Yorker. I picture their fiction editor as a neurasthenic young woman with an eating disorder and a gay boyfriend she doesn't realize is gay. She would be from an elite college where writers like Fante and Bukowski, the latter inspired by Fante, are unknown, and if they are known, despised for fashionable political reasons. I sent a story to The New Yorker once, not expecting it to be accepted but to see if I'd get a response. I did. In a teensy, tight-assed script a woman I assumed was very young and probably an intern, wrote: “If you send us another story please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with it.” Once every few months they'll publish a readable story, but most of the mag's fiction is fashion driven. And terrible. (“Sasha loved her dog Rimbaud more than she loved her husband, Josh, she thought as she ordered her morning decaf latte…”
THE OTHER DAY, at the Friends of the Library store in San Anselmo, I picked up a giant tome called, “The Best American Short Stories of the Century,” edited by John Updike, whose Rabbit books ought to be required reading on the off chance there are still teachers out there who read and recommend crucial fiction to the oddball kid who might be interested.
I PLAN to plow through all the stories in this collection, which begin with a 1915 story called “Zelig” by Benjamin Rosenblatt. As a guy with OCD tendencies, I too often feel compelled to finish whatever I've started. Zelig was kinda interesting as a portrait of immigrant life of that period but pretty weak as imaginative lit. It held my interest but just barely. But the next story from 1916, “Little Selves” by Mary Lerner, knocked me out. It's about an old lady, assumed on the edge of dementia by her family, who's abrupt with them simply because she wants to get back to retrieving, re-imagining, the best moments from her childhood. Not what you would ordinarily consider a guy story, but old guys would be likely to be as moved by it as I was because it propels the elderly reader irresistibly back to his childhood. It did that to me, anyway.
I LOST the exact question, but a reader had asked what exactly is the origin of the problem with the consolidation of the Auditor and Tax Collector offices.
THE ORIGIN OF THE PROB is one more land mine left behind by former County CEO Angelo, of whom her five captive supervisors were so terrified they didn't dare ask her questions likely to enrage her, which was any question suggesting she was not infallible.
“I would like to know: From where is this animus against the Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector originating? Knowing the origin may provide some insight about the motives behind it. But from what I can see, the Board of Supervisors has failed to adequately justify their actions. And their actions may have happened in the past, but the consequences of those actions continues haunt them.”
MY COLLEAGUE, MAJOR USAF (RET) Mark Scaramella relayed not only the history of Angelo's and the Board’s unwise consolidation of the two offices but put that disaster in an understandable overall context: Major! Take it away!
We’re into some serious tea-leaf reading here. But here are some tentative observations based on watching the Supes pretty closely for quite some time.
CEO Angelo once told the Board that she, and she alone, managed the budget by keeping a firm lid on hiring and vacancies. The weak boards during her time as CEO were mostly happy with that because it meant they could jabber about other stuff and not worry much about the budget. Angelo then used the vacancies as a de facto slush fund, without any concern for whether work got done, and at the end of each year she balanced the budget with the unspent staff money and put whatever was left over into “reserves” which she liked to brag about.
After Angelo’s retirement a snowball of events brought the situation to a head.
Auditor Lloyd Weer retired.
Ms. Cubbison was denied the “Interim” Auditor position because of some petty gripes from the DA in response to which Cubbison pushed back. Instead of simply promoting Cubbison because the DA’s gripes were minor, the Board punted and started the consolidation process of merging the Auditor with the Tax Collector, a crazy idea to begin with because it’s unwise to put the same person in charge of revenues and expenses.
Relations between Cubbison and the Board became strained and the Board chose the path of least resistance in the wake of Angelo’s retirement by trying to hold Cubbison responsible for the Board’s own negligence in not requiring financial reporting under the Angelo regime.
Added to that was a perfect storm of complications which exacerbated and intensified the problems created by the historic lack of financial reporting.
A new property tax system was installed with time-consuming implementation problems.
Covid
Abnormally high inflation.
Employee contracts expiring.
A new CEO.
Several inexperienced and irresponsible new supervisors.
Resignations and retirements from the Auditor and Tax Collector offices.
Unplanned, accelerated and unjustified consolidation of Financial Offices and election of Cubbison as combo Auditor-Controller-Tax Collector-Treasurer.
These developments were in addition to many underlying, unattended-to pre-existing problems like local housing limitations, hiring delays, uncompetitive salaries, on top of Angelo’s carefully engineered long-standing staff shortages and vacancies.
These expanding problems would have been challenging for even a competent and cooperative management team. But instead the Board got off on the wrong foot with Ms. Cubbison, creating a superficial and childish need to try to blame her for the financial shortcomings which have put the Board on the spot with their employees as months and months of delay go by, in turn putting the Board under more pressure from employees and outside agencies.
But, lead by Williams and Gjerde who continue to insist that they bear no responsibility for the rift between the Board and Cubbison, the Board continues to try shift the blame to Cubbison who, correctly, refuses to accept it.
Unless Williams and Gjerde and McGourty stop pestering Cubbison about problems that she bears no responsibility for, this situation is not likely to improve.
At the moment we’re supposed to get some very belated budget carryover info at the end of this month when last Fiscal year’s books close (five months after the fiscal year ended). If, as the union suspects, the systemic vacancies have created any budget cushion, the problem might ebb some. But if there’s no/not enough cushion, no COLA, no new employee contracts with somewhat competitive raises, the pressure on the Board will increase and, if history is any guide, the “Get Cubbison” tendency will only worsen.
BAD NEWS FOR SUPERVISOR GJERDE, who hasn’t appeared at meetings in person for more than two years, continuing his Covid absence. According to California’s new post-covid Brown Act rules, beginning in January of 2023, for meetings using teleconferencing (Zoom), a quorum of members must be present in person. Board members are limited to participating via Zoom twice per year.
SHERIFF MATT KENDALL told the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council last week that six newly-hired correctional officers were sworn in on October 31. There are two deputy sheriff’s candidates at the police academy, and two more in the pipeline to be hired. There are still openings for correctional officers, deputies, and dispatchers, so Kendall asked that the public spread the word to anybody who might be interested. (From a MendoFever report by Monica Huetl.)
CLOSING THE BOOKS on a fiscal year can be tricky when the economy itself is bogging down, especially in Mendo at the tail end of the national economy. Traditionally, a government agency should be able to close its books at the end of August, two months after the June 30 end of the fiscal year. But these days with staff shortages all over the place and supply chain delays and contractor delays, the bill for a project, for example, can be delayed for months and even then it can come in higher than budgeted or with errors or add-ons.
WE HOPE THAT frequent on-line commenter Eric Sunswheat is wrong with his expectation that “Hopefully the new County general sales tax, aka ‘fire tax,’ will be partially used to backfill the funding shortfall with health insurance costs for County workers who are designated emergency workers for times of disaster including fire, and with overseeing the planning for fire and its aftermath.”
That kind of twisted speculation reflects the contorted thinking that this Board of Supervisors has demonstrated in the past and is quite capable of doing.
At last Tuesday’s Board meeting CEO Darcie Antle reminded the Board that although the surprise $4.6 million health plan deficit from prior years had been “covered” with American Rescue Plan federal dollars, there was an additional $2.6 million deficit for the current year that has not yet been accounted for. There’s nothing in the Measure P “fire tax” sales tax language to prevent the County from re-directing some of the new money expected to come in from the “fire tax” away from actual local fire department disbursements and using it for their own “essential services” purposes. And even if the local fire chiefs and their supporters complain, they have no legal standing to prevent it.
A CALLER COMPLAINED FRIDAY that even though stores are charging recycling deposits there’s no place to redeem them. He wanted to know if anybody has any idea how much the public is paying without any way to get back the deposit. The closest recycling center is in Santa Rosa, a completely impractical option. We couldn’t find the value of those deposits, but it’s probably large and appears to be a problem statewide.
(Mark Scaramella)
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY used to be shaped–at least partially–by social movements–especially labor and civil rights. Now it’s shaped by the movements of money: does Raytheon want more war in Ukraine? Does Goldman Sachs need a bailout? Who does Cargill think will provide the biggest ag subsidies? — Jeff St. Clair
DON'T SEE IT MYSELF, but the Anti-Defamation League says these remarks from Dave Chappelle’s Saturday Night Live monologue re Kanye West’s idiot anti-semitism are themselves anti-semitic: “It’s a big deal, he had broken the show business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. If they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it. I’ve been to Hollywood and—no one get mad at me—I’m just telling you what I saw. It’s a lot of Jews. Like a lot. The delusion that Jews run show business is not a crazy thing to think, but it’s a crazy thing to say out loud.”
THE ADL’s CEO Jonathan Goldblatt noted, “We shouldn't expect @DaveChappelle to serve as society's moral compass, but disturbing to see @nbcsnl not just normalize but popularize #antisemitism. Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”
ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK
[1] Well, ladies and germs;
The Lottery is this PM. What would you do with the largess?
I would take the 30 year payout. Before taxes, it would equate to approximately $5 million a month. I would then proceed to give the majority of it away.
Veterans hospitals,
Animal Shelters.
2nd Amendment organizations.
Food banks.
I figure, that I could give $2 million a month away to legitimate entities that would limit my tax burden to almost nothing.
The remaining would be spent on hookers and blow.
[2] There is no way to continue our current overconsumption so it will stop, and all the foot stomping and breath holding demands for it to continue will not produce more oil, topsoil or water.
The last 80 years were an incredible assault on the ecosystem that sustains all life on the planet, and it really ramped up after 1980.
Taking chemical weapons designed to kill people and using them after the war on food in order to destroy insects seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess, but it hasn’t really worked out well, although it ballooned the human population to obscene levels.
Using fossil fuels to raze forests, vacuum oceans and strip mine topsoil was also a bad idea.
I don’t think it can be fixed, but even if it could, there is no will to do so.
[3] MENDO COUNTY MANAGEMENT, an on-line comment: “Absolutely disgusting. The reason that Mendocino County held on to their own insurance for so long was supposedly to “cut costs and to keep healthcare costs controlled.” But, when you look a little deeper there’s a lot of long-term senior employees who have left in the last 5 years or so that have massive health expenses, absorbed by all the insured. A vast majority of the employees at Mendocino County cannot even see a doctor with their Mendocino County Insurance because many local providers won’t accept it or they are full, not accepting any more patients. So there’s a learning curve here. CEO Darcie Antle only knew what Angelo told her. Now she in turn must figure it out for herself and only tells what she wants to to paint her picture. The Board of Supervisors — so much of this is so out of their cerebral scope that there is no way to rectify it. They need to start doing their jobs instead of running on and on with the dialogue. We got to walk and chew gum at the same time or else we’re doomed in perpetuity. Oh goody… more of the same old same old. Honestly, this is just be the tip of a massive iceberg as it rapidly melts.”
[4] “I believe Jury Duty is a civic responsibility that should be undertaken with pride and professionalism. Yes, it is disruptive to one’s normal schedule and can have long periods of boredom while waiting to be called to a jury pool. “
On October 10th I left early to make the trip over the hill to perform my duty. Having confirmed my group number was required to show up the Friday before I sucked it up and rearranged my schedule.
Once I arrived at the court house I found the jury room empty and a lone woman explaining that all trials were vacated for the day. Asked for an explanation she replied that the powers that be never informed the people who make the recorded announcements that trials wouldn’t be held. No reimbursement for time and travel costs were offered.
The only benefit to the wasted day was a fine meal at the Redwood Drive In.
(Chuck Wilcher, Comptche)
[5] Being retired, I have the luxury of reading an awful lot of commentary about a lot of different issues. One of the issues that is almost never discussed is how this country actually works at the most basic level. It is as simple as this: the One-Percent control this country and the Ninety-Nine Percent pay them. The wealth of the One-Percent is immense and they own the legislators and government officials who do their bidding. It is not a matter of being Republican or being Democratic. Both parties have the same owner, the super wealthy rentier-oligarchs who comprise the One-Percent. Their wealth comes from us and is based on little more than privileges given to them by government. Perhaps you think I’m nuts.
Imagine this. You go to college or vocational training and end up having no debt. You have health insurance at nominal cost. You get married and start a family, and in time, buy a home without paying anyone interest. All the money you and your family earn is yours and is spent on you and your family, not transferred to others. These ideas seem so strange that you have a hard time even wrapping your mind around them. I am talking about overturning things have we have been doing for over a hundred years. I am talking about the government working for the Ninety-Nine Percent, not the One-Percent.
Of course, this is a dream, or a nightmare if you are in the One-Percent, and there zero chance it could happen. Why, because the One-Percent owns government, and government makes all the laws. The owners laugh while we distract ourselves with various issues and vote accordingly, while we get poorer and poorer and they get richer and richer taking our money. Sure, issues are important, but in the big picture they are on the periphery. Their significance would fade, if the country was run for the Ninety-Nine Percent and not the One-Percent.
Most of the wars would not have taken place. The One-Percent preserved their wealth and global control, while the Ninety-Nine Percent were handed flags folded three-corner.
So, if you are buying any of this, who represents the Ninety-Nine Percent? Is it Trump or DeSantis?
[6] (a) ELECTRIC TRUCKS: Yes, but it’s just the thing for Suzy Cream Cheese, Westport Trophy wife, to drive to Starbucks for a latte and then on to the spa — all the time virtue signaling that she “Cares about Climate Change”, plus “living the rugged outdoor life” by driving a real pickup truck.
(b) Yes, it’s gonna be like winning the STATUS mega-jackpot!!!
(c) With a lot of planning, people like Suzy and even me, could drive our little electric golf cart type vehicles around town for our errands, leaving the diesel for use where it is needed. That would take “leaders” who were serious about the environment, the economy, and the welfare of the people. There’s no money in that.
[7] I’ve been using bicycles now to go shopping. I got motivated to do this after making friends with a person who was one of those very unusual people you might run into only a few times in a lifetime. Unusual in that this fellow never learned how to drive a car and refused to even try. He depended on others for help when he absolutely needed a ride, but for everything else he pedaled his bike everywhere he went. He did own a car, and depended on others (often his lady friends) to drive it for him. His car was driven maybe once a week. I never asked him what his problem was with driving, and he never volunteered to explain. This guy was solid muscle, did landscaping work, and could go very fast on a bicycle, a lot faster than I could go.
He and I are very fortunate in that this small town invested a lot of money in a greenway/bicycle trail that goes through the most scenic areas of this town and yet gives easy access to shopping areas and downtown. I can pedal my way through a miles long park with a big creek, woods, small fields, etc. and yet at the same time take short cuts off trail into parking lots and onto back streets and pull right up to a grocery store or strip mall. I’ve got a junker bike I chain up in the parking lot, and I can buy anything I can manage to stuff into my saddlebags. I’ve discovered that during times of rush hour and stalling traffic, I can cruise right by the automobile mess, riding on the sidewalks or avoiding it all together and riding in the park. I’ve discovered that my bicycles at times are almost as fast as using a car, and I spend zero on fuel and get a great workout. I’ve got a suspicion that this sort of lifestyle might be what the future of transportation will be like when fuel is rationed and people are broke.
In my opinion, building bicycle roads makes far more sense than building more roads for autos. We’ve all been wanting to experience communism, so under democrat leadership, we’ll be changing into something Chairman Mao first cooked up for China – bicycles! The most popular mass produced wheeled vehicle ever made is the Chinese “Flying Pigeon” model bicycle. Let’s look forward to the Democrat new world on two wheels that is coming. It’s all we’ll be able to afford after the dollar dies and is buried.
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