THE VOTE IN A TIME OF CATASTROPHE
Events long ago overwhelmed the two-party system, a system offering people drawn to public office to enrich themselves in an apparatus funded by malign forces. It all looks like entropy to me, but with a violent attack on the whole show coming right up in November.
Voting, at this point, is futile, but I've been doing it for so long I look forward to the democratic charade and never fail to participate as if it matters, although it does matter at the purely local level here in Mendocino County
Which brings me to the elections for Supervisor where Bernie Norvell, Mayor of Fort Bragg, promises to become the first real Fourth District supervisor since John Cimolino. His competition is a young-ish, disoriented woman who seems to have walked into the wrong room in Ukiah and magically emerged a candidate.
Mo Mulheren, having established that she has zero business in public office, is one of five reasons the county is on the verge of civic collapse. Blithely voting yes with her four irresponsible colleagues, Mo is opposed by the impressive Jacob Brown, former Marine, backed by such influential Ukiah liberals as Barry Vogel, and a sure sign that Mo is finished and that Mendocino County at last has a shot at an effective board of supervisors. Predictably, she's supported by the lamebrains of the local Democratic Party and the kind of estranged women who think any woman is preferable to any man.
The First District offers the two of the strongest candidates in years, Adam Gaska and Carrie Shattuck. The Democrats, natch, are either supporting two other unqualified people solely because they're Democrats or because they're tools of the Wine Mafia and/or the Farm Bureau. These two, a very young cowgirl from Potter Valley named Cline, and a grinning cipher called Trevor Mockel, who is endorsed by the Democrats because he worked for State Senator Mike McGuire and McGuire told the local Democrats, “Support this guy or you'll never get to meet Adam Schiff.” If you haven't noticed, the state Democrats try to insert these empty-headed Manchurian candidates wherever they can. (cf Rusty Hicks, a hustling carpetbagger from LA supported by Assemblyman Wood and, of course, the lockstep local Democrats. If their guy Mockel were in an election of the feebleminded, he'd come in third. Jim Armstrong said he'd vote for Mockel and Cline for homecoming king and queen.
At the depressing state level, I'm voting for Katie Porter because she isn't Adam Schiff, the latter a certain sign that our country is in free fall decay.
Whoever Armando ‘Mando’ Perez Serrato is, he got my vote for president over the mumbling, stumbling cadaver called Joe Biden, another symbol of an utterly corrupt Democratic Party.
Jolian Jo Kangas for Congress because he isn't the yes vote for the mass murder of Palestinians that our incumbent congressman is, and because he's from Humboldt County, works for a living, and serves as a foster parent.
FRANKIE MEYERS, state assembly. Yurok tribal officer not backed by the Democrats. His campaign statements are a load of the usual cliches, but his roots on the Northcoast go all the way back to the land bridge from Asia. The dude has seniority! And can he be any worse than his predecessor? Whatever you do, do not vote for carpetbagger Rusty Hicks, the candidate of the Democrat’s machine.
Proposition One. Shifts fiscal responsibility from counties to the state for the ever larger numbers of walking wounded, the vast army who lost the War of Capitalism. Despite millions spent, no real plan of remediation is in sight.
Of course we all support the ongoing vehicle abatement program.
ANOTHER BALLOT MIX-UP
Adam Gaska writes:
[The problem appeared when] someone posted on the Redwood Valley Community page Facebook group that they believed they got the wrong replacement ballot since they were not able to vote for Supervisor. I asked where she was and she said Lorene Road which is down the street from me. I looked at the County GIS map of voting districts and all of Lorene Road is in the First district (mainly Potter Valley and Redwood Valley) and I told her.
I knew the administrator of the page and asked if they would tell me the poster's name, which they did. So I looked the name up on the spreadsheet of First district voters that I had made from the County's voter rolls that I paid for as a part of my campaign.
They did not show up on the First district spreadsheet I had. So I looked them up on the master list of the entire county voter rolls. They popped up in a precinct called Lennix that is in the Fifth district. I looked through this small precinct of 62 people and recognized quite a few names, as they are my neighbors. When I compared the County GIS map and the spreadsheet I realized pretty quickly that there are people in the First and Fifth in the Lennix precinct.
I called my neighbors directly behind me as we had a conversation last election about how the boundary between the First and Fifth had moved very close to us but that we were still in the First. When they got their ballots for the midterm elections, they called me and asked about being in the First because they received Fifth district ballots. I looked at the County GIS map and confirmed that they are in the First. I told them to contact the Elections office and report it. They did and were issued new ballots. They were told the problem would be fixed.
The problem was not fixed and now there is a precinct of 62 people where roughly 40 of those people who should have received First district ballots have received Fifth district ballots. I have contacted as many as I know to make them aware. They have contacted the elections office and requested new ballots.
STEPHEN ROSENTHAL: So let’s see, multiple ballot snafus, paying the Interim County Counsel’s personal San Francisco law firm to advise (conflict of interest, misappropriation of county funds), and not a peep from any of the Supervisors or the DA. It took Adam Gaska to discover it – at his own expense! The question of election fraud must be raised and Bartolomie should be suspended immediately without pay. Just like the scenario of the manufactured charges against Cubbison.
A FEW WORDS in defense of County Clerk-Recorder Bartolomei: The huge, complicated systems that rule us all can suddenly become unreliable, even hostile. Ms. B had never before had any prob with the corp that handles Mendo ballots. She has also been a rock of reliability over the long years, working under the wholly destructive CEO Mommie Dearest and a howlingly incompetent board of supervisors, plus enduring a steadily heavier work load. I think she has done an excellent job under onerous circumstances.
HIGHWAY 50, NOT 49
A Reader Writes: Reading your fine paper I noticed about half way through “The devil in the hole” article Gregg Stevens says, “A month or two earlier the water had been lapping at the Highway 49 bridge 60 feet overhead.” This is not possible as the American river corridor is serviced by highway 50, not 49. A small correction but to those who know it is somewhat jarring. To put it in Mendo terms, it’s like mixing up Highway 20 and 128.
MARK DONEGAN:
Whatever happened to Janelle Rau? I would like to know exactly in detail. I don’t want a single detail of this last year and board forgotten. A lot of light was shined on the inner workings and very human people who have given us their best. Everyone makes mistakes I think will be highlighted as Ms. Cubbison’s case moves through the system showing just about everyone but her, made one. Hoping First District will vote Carrie Shattuck to the board. Our best shot for continued visibility and accountability. Adam Gaska is very impressive and would also be a great supervisor with his knowledge of water issues alone. Making it right with veterans by giving them THEIR house back of which there are none on this board should be immediate. And my favorite mutt in the fight, Ted Williams, for Assembly and Supervisor.
My two cents for now.
I have other work for my next 3 minutes.
CARRIE SHATTUCK:
Madeline Cline has stated she was asked to run for Supervisor.
Her campaign manager works in the Executive Office, under the CEO. She is a registered lobbyist and career politician. Where has she been, for the last several years, to stand up to PG&E? Also she has the same donors that McGourty had for his election in 2020.
WE ARE PROUD BOYS — How A Rightwing Street Gang Ushered In A New Era Of American Extremism by Andy Campbell describes America's fledgling brownshirts that fascist elements of the Republican Party deploy to assault liberal demonstrators at Republican events. The PB's, and other groups of their ilk, wrap themselves in the flag as true patriots fending off the commiemarxistsocialistfarleft subversives like me and most ava readers. They haven't arrived yet on the Northcoast, but the following guy found Willits comfortable:
A Mendocino County man affiliated with the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys has been sentenced to over seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of firearms, including “ghost guns,” and ammunition.
CUNEY, who has a residence in Willits, received an 87-month prison sentence — to be followed by three years of supervised release — for crimes that occurred between August 2018 and November 2019, the Department of Justice announced in a Dec. 2 news release. In June, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to purchasing weapon parts online and assembling them into handguns, rifles and silencers without serial numbers. These “ghost guns” were received and put together at sites in New York, Rhode Island and Willits.
ACCORDING to the California Endowment and the Institute for Rural Studies, the latter a non-profit based in Davis that studies agriculture, farmworkers endure poorer nutrition, higher cholesterol and much higher blood pressure than the general population their labor provides with fresh fruit and vegetables. The study surveyed 971 farmworkers, chosen at random to represent the state's estimated 700,000 agricultural laborers. In addition to asking questions about their ailments, health insurance status, income and other demographic facts, the study took blood samples and performed physical exams to obtain objective data about farmworker health.
• Nearly 80 percent of the respondents were overweight, with 28 percent of the men and 37 percent of the women being classified as obese.
• Male farmworkers had higher serum cholesterol levels on average than the general adult population, while male and female farmworkers alike had a higher incidence of high blood pressure, early precursors of heart disease and stroke.
• Respondents, 96 percent of whom were Latino, reported a median annual income under $10,000. Nearly 70 percent lacked any form of health insurance. And even among the 16.5 percent whose employers did offer a health benefit, only one out of three took advantage of it. Most could not afford the co-payments.
TWO-THIRDS of the surveyed farmworkers were U.S. citizens, green card holders or legal aliens in the process of getting green cards. As a result of their legal status and low income, they are eligible to apply for MediCal, the state's health insurance of last resort. However, only 7 percent of the farmworkers surveyed took advantage of MediCal, because the rules of the system force them to reapply when they cross county lines, a requirement difficult to impossible for itinerant workers to meet. The California Farm Bureau, the main trade association for the state's $26.8 billion agricultural industry, claims its members are struggling with higher fuel prices and falling commodity prices, and cannot afford more for worker health care.
MANY YEARS AGO, in a convoluted financial deal that placed the ancient SF Examiner in the problematical hands of a young, disinterested member of the Fang Family, this young Fang hired Warren Hinckle to run the paper, and Hinckle promptly hired me and Alexander Cockburn as columnists.
Cockburn and I were great admirers of Warren, me especially, all the way back to his Ramparts and his Scanlan’s magazines. He was the last Frisco journalist of the fearless type, a vividly large, eyepatched man, a front line soldier of the night who never published a boring paper or magazine, a claim no other editor in this country could make.
I'd worked with Warren in the past, most notably on the Mitchell case, that's Mitchell as in Jim and Artie Mitchell of the infamous O'Farrell Theater. Jim was convicted of killing his brother in a court case followed by the national media. Not long afterwards, came the vague invite Warren issued to contribute to the depleted Examiner; the Fangs had put him in charge.
I KNEW Hinckle's Examiner would be a memorably wild ride amid a torrent of editorial hand-wringing from the Chronicle, and even the national press, that said the Ex was clearly doomed.
NEWSPAPERS were then already on the skids, and are now virtually extinct, swallowed by computerized telephones, and then as now, the newsstands offered only a desert of tedium, pretending to a professionalism which long ago rendered newspapers mere extensions of chambers of commerce. Journalism is like a vast Little League banquet; everyone gets a trophy even though there’s maybe a dozen people left who know how to play the game.
Can you even imagine a contemporary editor daring to hire Ambrose Bierce, as old man Hearst did? And the old boy wasn’t a bad writer himself, much better than the prison warden types who “edit” most of this country's remaining papers, wringing their pink little hands as they memorize the libel statutes and pucker up for those great grey drones who own the things, men and women whose only interest in their publications is how much the ad department can wring out of the enterprise.
Although there are a lot of good newspaper writers still around, the majority of them are confined to the sports page, while the editing of papers is a cringing fear of their readers. (cf the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.)
The Examiner under Hinckle lasted a few months until the lawyers and accountants regained control, but for Cockburn and I it was a great time.
I couldn't get anywhere near the ancient ramparts of St. Peter and Paul in North Beach for Warren's memorial service. “Everyone” was there, rich and poor and in between, many of them awake before noon for the first time in many years.
ORION STOCKER: Copper lines degrade, and wages go up. Every time AT&T sends out a truck to the ranch I live on, I am sure they are losing hundreds and hundreds of dollars. The truth is trying to maintain and/or replace copper lines is throwing good money after bad, and just generally a bad idea. The lines are reaching end-of-life, and running new copper would be absurd at this point. Maybe it’s still fair to hold AT&T accountable for making sure everybody has some kind of phone access, but copper is not the solution. The CPUC should be focused on how to upgrade our infrastructure, not remove it. The estimate on fiber to all was $770M and funding has been $56M.
MARCO McCLEAN: (After reading another letter supporting the changing of Fort Bragg’s name to something else, purportedly because Braxton Bragg was a bad man who defended slavery and was a Confederate General):
“I’m trying to stop myself from saying that I’m getting a little tired of this changing-the-name-of-Fort-Bragg crap. I’m not really getting tired of it, it’s just that that’s exactly what it is! It’s not funny anymore. At first it was funny because of course it’s not going to happen! But then it turned into Why can’t these people see it’s never going to happen? And now it’s every week I get another story like this to read out loud and it’s the same thing over and over and over and it’s not convincing me. It’s just not really funny anymore and I think that’s what I’m tired of.
UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL ENDORSES: Gaska, Mulheren, Norvell for Supervisor March 5
Today, Sunday February 25, 2024, we are endorsing the people we believe are the best choice for supervisor in Mendocino County in the primary election March 5.
In talking to candidates we heard a number of similar themes: The county needs more transparency from its county government; there’s way too much buddy system in promotions and the hierarchy; public input is minimal if sought at all; and there appears to be little debate about anything anymore.
We agree and most of the candidates out there see it. Nonetheless we noted differences among candidates that helped us make our decisions.
For 1st District, the seat being vacated by Supervisor Glenn McGourty, we endorse Adam Gaska. Mr. Gaska is a lifelong county resident who has been involved in his community. He has been an active businessman and farmer, owner of Mendocino Organics, a member of the Redwood Valley Water District and the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council. Mr. Gaska is also the agricultural representative on the Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
In our conversation with Mr. Gaska we found a man who has a good grip on what this county needs, from water policy to small business promotion, and he strikes us as someone who will be active and involved in the complex challenges of the job as county supervisor. We like his stance that the supervisors are often not demanding from staff the specific information they need to make policy decisions and are therefore not fully informed when making those decisions.
In the 2nd District, we endorse incumbent Maureen Mulheren. We believe Ms. Mulheren has made mistakes in her first term but has learned from them. County supervisor is a hard job, especially in the current financial crisis and Ms. Mulheren knows that the county needs to get its financial house in order. She has also learned that people don’t like change and the county system has some ingrained attitudes that need pushback, but she also promotes getting line workers market rate pay while curbing the tendency to anoint staff with supervisory jobs just to give them raises.
She believes the county needs to do a better job of accessing state and federal funds where available rather than plugging in general funds, she is involved in finally getting tax sharing between the county and its cities, reducing county real estate holdings, and getting the supervisors to admit when they make a mistake (i.e., the veterans hall eviction).
Ms. Mulheren’s only opponent is a well meaning person but inexperienced and we encourage him to get more involved in county issues as he pursues politics.
In the 4th District we endorse Fort Bragg’s Bernie Norvell. Our sister newspaper, The Fort Bragg Advocate-News has given Norvell the nod in this endorsement:
Mr. Norvell was elected to the Fort Bragg City Council in 2016 and has been successful in addressing some of the most pressing community issues during his tenure. He has focused on tackling problems such as homelessness, transience, mental health, substance abuse, and housing and recognizes the importance of providing support and assistance to those who need it the most.
Mr. Novell has demonstrated a deep understanding of the challenges facing Fort Bragg and the surrounding area. He has worked closely with local organizations and community leaders to develop innovative solutions to these issues, and his efforts have been recognized as an example of effective leadership and civic engagement.
Considering the success of Mr. Norvell’s approach in Fort Bragg, we strongly believe that the county could greatly benefit from adopting similar strategies to address its many challenges.
BILLIONAIRES AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS are getting involved in the 2024 elections as we speak — currently spending millions against Katie Porter in the California Senate race. Super PACs are running misleading television and digital ads across the state in the final weeks ahead of the primary in the hopes of defeating her.
Why could they be targeting Katie Porter? Oh I don’t know, it could be because of her record of calling out corporate greed and because she’s been a strong voice for consumers.
Wealthy special interest groups have no place in our democratic process. If you’re able, please split a donation of $3 or anything you can between Katie Porter, my re-election campaign, and the PCCC so that she can compete with this outside spending and we can fight on behalf of working people — not special interests — in the Senate together.
– Senator Elizabeth Warren
ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK
[1] Since I don’t watch the corporate news media (that’s my wife’s domain), please tell me if there is no mention of Biden’s incompetence. Even as dumb as many of my fellow Americans are, surely half of their number cannot be believing that Biden is seriously running for president again!
[2] There was a huge, lengthy, and generally very sincere ‘thread’ in these comments asking the question, “How do we fix this?”. Folks pointed out some plain truths, e.g. regular folks have to work for a living, while our adversaries are getting a free ride on our backs (I’m looking at all those bureaucrats making all those rules, and those elected officials who are making all those laws). We don’t have time to deal with all these assholes even if we had some means.
Welp, I read of one remedy – sort of the current ‘NYC Truckers Boycott’ writ large. A General Strike. It’s non-violent. It’s impossible to make some rule or law against it. And even if you could take away the money in everyone’s bank account that’s just part of a General Strike too.
Here’s an allegorical example which pits violence vs. a passive approach. We have a monumental problem here out in America’s countryside (but now invading suburbia), Feral Hogs. They destroy billions of dollars of agricultural production each year.
There are two methods being in general use to combat these pests. Active and passive. The active approach involves hunting them down with rifles one pig at a time. Very inefficient given the numbers of pest animals and the number of hunters. The passive approach is traps. Very efficient, removing many animals at once.
I thought of this when considering whether we serfs should go with the active approach, such as “a well-regulated militia”, or the passive approach, a general strike. You can kill these assholes lording over us one at a time, or get them all at once with a general strike ‘trap’.
Nota bene: Gandhi chose the strike.
[3] A tale of the yokes.
Compare the yokes a good egg will have to a yoke that is almost orange.
Most farm raised yokes never see the sun, chickens have pale yellow yolks.
Chickens need to run around and scratch in the dirt, chase bugs, eat greens and be chickens.
As others have said, get a couple of hens and a rooster to keep them happy and safe.
There is nothing more relaxing than listening to happy chickens go about their day — unless you have a rooster that starts crowing at 3 am.
[4] You might know by now that Commander Biden, the President’s dog, has been reported as having bitten secret service agents …24 times. Commander has been sent out to the country to “run and chase rabbits.” Reports are that he was offered up for adoption, and there were no takers. It is axiomatic that there are no bad dogs…just bad owners. Biden may not have a way with dogs, but at least he raised a fine, strapping son, and look what he has done for the country!
[5] Prayer is much more internal than external. Those doing it, even if less than fervently, are not expecting winning lottery numbers or an extra inch…rather self-reflection and grounding in acknowledging that we are not necessarily the be all and end all. For the human makeup, it’s about as healthy a practice as can be. Even if it all turns out to be a cosmic game show upon death, and we spin the big wheel to find out what we’ve won from a guy with a toupee, the effort used to be appreciated in society. Currently it’s ridiculed by those who don’t even claim to try for more than themselves.
[6] This morning – as I was thinking about getting out of bed to get ready for the day, I must’ve been still half asleep, and suddenly I had a “vision”, or an emanation from my unconscious. I saw a giant bloodshot eye staring at a giant clock. The eye was clouded over, and was not seeing that the clock was ticking down, time was running out….I’m not a psychic, but to me, this image of the giant eye represents unconscious humanity, not realizing how close to a collective disaster we are.
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