Letters To The Editor

CALTRANS’ BYPASS DECEIT

To the editor:

I agree with those who call for civility. We should listen and treat each other with respect, even when we disagree. At the same time, I need to acknowledge my strong emotions about this bypass — the frustration, sadness and regrets that sometimes keep me sleepless.

I'm very disheartened to hear of young people locking down to equipment or perching for months in trees, putting their bodies on the line for their deeply-held beliefs, in what they see as a struggle between the earth and the machines that ravage her. That idea is not so simplistic or naïve. Of course humans and our machines exploit nature all the time — mining, modifying, harvesting — to serve our human needs. But to cause unnecessary damage to our environment is self-destructive. As Chief Seattle said long ago: “What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.”

The damage this over-built bypass is doing to our valley — our wetlands, streams, forests and wildlife — is indeed unnecessary. Having researched it quite thoroughly, I can document not only that future traffic does not warrant a 4-lane freeway, but also that Caltrans repeatedly misrepresented and deceived in their claims to justify this project.

Some say the time to object was years ago. Many of us did so, but our objections fell on deaf ears. I regret I did not do more back then. I hoped the project would “die a natural death” (which seemed to happen at least twice).

Some say, whether it's justified or not, it's too late to change it now. True, much of the damage is already done, and Phase 1 of this bypass is, no doubt, getting built. I believe, however, that it is not too late to reduce the particularly egregious impacts of the planned northern interchange — a 40-acre, up to 40-foot high, and 80 foot deep underground dam on the valley's “little lake” wetlands. This I-5 style, costly interchange is clearly not necessary to connect a two-lane bypass to the existing two-lane highway north of town.

Unfortunately, local leaders bought into this project long ago. We needed a bypass, and this is the only one Caltrans would build. It's hard to buck the powers-that-be, or to change ones mind. I'm disappointed with the majority on both City Council and Board of Supervisors who are unwilling to support even a modest compromise.

That brings me back to the sad sight of young people (and others of all ages) trying to affect the outcome of this “earth vs. machines” struggle. Civil disobedience is a last resort. The politicians have failed them. The “system” isn't working for the public interest. It is heavily tilted to those with the most money and power. This is true at the global and national level, as climate change threatens the world and we do little to even begin the fundamental course-correction needed.

And here, in our own little valley, is a perfect microcosm. I would love to look back on this year and say, in our own small way, we made a difference. The idealism of our youth — even their survival — is on the line. I worry for our children and grandchildren's future.

Madge Strong, a Willits city councilwoman

Willits

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WHY I’M RUNNING AGAIN

Editor,

The Mission Statement of the Point Arena School District “is to educate people to become competent, responsible participants in a local and global community.” It is no secret that there has been discord resonating in this school district for many, many years. Community members, parents, students and teachers deserve better. This community needs a board who exemplifies their own Mission Statement. This can be accomplished by having trustees be mindful “watchdogs” doing their due diligence transparently and at the same time allow the opinions of community members and employees be heard.

The current board president believes, “The Brown Act affords citizens the right to see us, in a free country, do the work of the district in public. They get to see the process, they get to see the decision making ability and they get to see the results of it. That is what happens in a free county and that is the primary purpose of the Brown Act.”

However, Brown Act Law states it “exist to aid in the conduct of people's business.” I believe our our current school board (district which extends from Stewart's Point to Elk) should do everything possible to aid in conducting the people's business by including the right to hear the voice of the community and not just to have the public see and hear their decision making process.

Government Code also states, “As the courts have stated, the purpose of the Brown Act is to facilitate public participation in local government decision…”

Yes, the school board makes the ultimate final decisions, but this community deserves a school board that facilitates pubic participation and does not use draconian methods and , again, as their mission statement states,: “Be responsible participants....who continue to learn''.

As a school board trustee, I would encourage the voice of each and every community member, parent and teacher be heard. I want their voices to be a vital part at the board meetings and in the decision making process, When elected, I will strive to work in unison with community members, parents and teachers — your voice is important and should be heard for the betterment of every student!

Respectfully,

Suzanne Rush

Manchester

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FRACTIONAL BORROWING

Editor,

The below email was from a very dear Belgian friend of mine who was responding to my wife’s rant regarding banks playing with her hard earned money (and charging her with overdrawn fees) rather than recognizing her funds as solvent for her own use at the same moment they were “good enough” for them to use. Upon my wife’s outcry and threat to coordinate a class action suit, I suggested that she first contact our friend the Sailor (knowing that it might well launch one of his classic diatribes on that pesky little annoyance called banks. Let’s consider my friend’s name The Sailor. His pleasures are in the teaching and the anonymity (cowardice does not run in his veins). While he does love peaceful water sport, his command of water vessels is not of the same level of expertise as his soap box classics. This one is short and sweet.

I thought that his mail was worthy of your still fine weekly (and still my favorite read, in addition to being a big hit with the Sailor). If you think otherwise, I guess I missed the mark, though it changes nothing.

Thanks for being there.

Curt Westley

Atlanta, Georgia

* * *

Aaaaaaaaaaaah, banks.

Grandiose subject. Nothing better than a whining rant to kick energy up to higher levels.

Let us take the subject more seriously than it deserves to be, and both you and I pretend we care about solving it.

Since I am born into banks, even went as far as being engaged to a banker for many stormy years, and still live among the empty suits every day of my life, yes, indeed, the Captain was right; the Sailor is your man. What he was hiding to you is that the subject invariably triggers one of those rants that amuse him in their full ridiculous pomp. I am sure he was secretly hoping for you to be the middleman of a renewed bout of circus. Let us give him this pleasure.

Now, let us be brutally honest here, unlike a lawyer would be, luring you into long and hopeless (to his sole knowledge) legal action draining the monies your bank pretends is in your current accounts while they have already lent out the precious tool of barter to the greedy for the purchase of German machinery and production tools that will be sent to China for the exploitation of the Communist masses. The banking obscurantists helped by the political correctness America is exporting around the world call it Fractional Reserve Banking. Fractional Reserve being the tiny share of your monies they really keep for you, while pretending the whole thing is right there. Seriously and to cut this dramatic side-subject short, if you sue, your chances at winning are very slim. The fine print you signed when opening your account is probably clear enough for you to lose.

It does not change the fact that what they do is monstrously unfair, and that whining is perfectly acceptable under the circumstances! Nobody ever said bankers were in there for social purposes, except when the invariably regular losses need to be covered for the good of the Nation and the Preservation of the capacity of all the Poor to service their Interest and Principal, and hence the Nation. Call it holding each other by the balls and having the bank invariably win the game, they being far more educated than the politicians tipping the balance in their favor. Go find one single politician who understands how banking works. Take your time.

Do not worry, Europe is the same, and has been even worse. Europe put extremism to a halt not so many years ago, as it used to be credit plus two days and debit minus three when I started wiring monies at a young age! Now it is credit plus one day and debit minus one day, probably the only sane law the European Parliament ever passed, and only half-way by the way. I regularly pay debit interest when my account reaches nirvanic amounts filling me with waves of pleasure. To discover that the obscure banking rules treated me as if I were in debt. Pleasure gone fast.

See, I wouldn't have a problem with the whole scheme, if that would make my bank account free of charge, or my loans cheaper, or if I got a real kind smile in exchange and other meaningful toys. It is that sneaky slimy “I care for your life and finances” bullshit that makes me trigger-happy. Let us bluntly say that bankers have devised a scheme, straight out of the Middle Ages, based on a legally enforced Ponzi Scheme enabling governments to promise more than they can pay for, while enriching the bankers, a devilish legally-enforced nightmare of which bank runs are the invariable result, and which we all accept as being the norm. I gasp at the imbecility and docility of the general population.

Oh, Alli, I could write you a book about all the practices of banking, a business that has not been changed since the Age of Pest and Ignorance, just speeded up with IT these days. The suits only give it an air of science and honesty it never had and still hasn't.

But I will spare you the diatribe. Curt is already deafened by my previous supplications to Mammon in a vain attempt at stopping the Circus that is going to trigger blood one day, starting in the emerging markets, and then coming back to hit our shores. India and Indonesia were on the brink recently, and probably the reason your dear Ben took the unexpected decision to keep printing at high pace. See, we need to print enough to cover the 90% of your monies that are immobilized in those machines in China to get back on safer ground.

— The Sailor

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NO PROGRESS

Editor,

I want to thank Mr. Macdonald for the article “More Panels Less Help.” I am a member of NAMI and I have wondered why nothing seems to be done for the mentally ill here on the coast. With all the money involved and the Ortner Organization now in charge, I see no progress for those who need help the most. I do see frustration on the part of families who try and deal with sons and daughters and other family members afflicted with this illness. Attending meeting after meeting looking for help and answers then realizing all they are going to get is rhetoric. Before Ortner took over I wrote a letter of concern., hoping the money would not go for administrative purposes leaving the most needy out of the link. Our community has some strong, well informed, dedicated people and Ortner should consider their input. Not much seems to happen here, just lots of homeless mentally ill men and women wandering the streets and holding up signs, begging for gas and food. It is hard to believe this is 2013, looks more like 1929 after the market crash .

Joan Hansen,

Fort Bragg

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UNFAIR? WHO’S UNFAIR?

To The Editor,

I am writing this in response to a recent news release from the Mendocino County Executive Office concerning the one-day Unfair Labor Practice Strike conducted by the members of SEIU 1021 who are trying to get a fair contract with the county.

We have filed several unfair labor practice charges against the county for bargaining in bad faith, surface bargaining and trying to interfere with employees rights to discuss matters at work as well as a few other charges. As such this was a totally legal activity.

We charged that they are bargaining in bad faith because our first proposal to the county was to restore our 10%. Their counter offer was to roll over the current contract for a year with no changes of any kind. We countered with spreading the 10% out over 3 years, with the first installment to begin on January 2014. The county has not moved from their original offer of rolling over the contract. That is not negotiating, that is surface bargaining. They knew from the beginning they were not gong to offer anything and comments from more than one of the county supervisors outside of the bargaining setting has verified that. The initial cost to the county for that first installment of our wages in January 2014 would be a little more than they are paying to their professional lead negotiator to do their dirty work. On the last scheduled day of negotiations, when we were expecting a counter-proposal to our 10% over three years, our team was handed a notice of impasse.

I reject the premise that any employees were bullied or intimidated by any co-workers or union staff for choosing to cross the picket lines. These are people we work with everyday and although we may not have agreed with their decision to work, we respect the fact that they had to choose for themselves. Bullying and intimidation are not how we treat our co-workers. Those are tactics used by the CEO’s office and her cohorts, as evidenced by the internal memo distributed prior to the strike warning us that we couldn’t strike and then the distribution of the CEO’s news release to county employees during work time after the strike. She consistently uses such devices to “keep people in line,” anyone who has a different opinion than what she wants to hear.

The CEO has a knack for spinning the truth to fit what she wants the Supervisors and the public to believe. She wants them to believe that she is a capable executive who has everything and everyone under control but the truth is our people have been intimidated, and abused and are leaving in droves. Our low morale was usually the main topic in the Labor Management Committee meetings and management continuously asked how it could be improved. Well, let me tell you, the energy and morale on September 24th was the highest I have seen it among us since we thought we had a good contract in June 2011, before the county went back on their word, because we are finally feeling empowered and in some control of what’s been happening to us.

We have always negotiated in good faith, with expectations of working through our differences to the satisfaction of both parties and we have consistently been met with rudeness, disrespect and dishonesty.

The improvement to the county’s credit rating has in large part been achieved by the sacrifices of our membership. We were happy to help bring the county back from the brink of bankruptcy during the “Great Recession” but that is over now. The county has consistently overestimated their expenses and underestimated their revenue and they find themselves in a much better financial position than she admits, with reserves that continue to increase with every update. I don’t know if even the Supervisors the CEO is supposed to be working for know the real story. They’d have to actually look at the details of the budget to figure it out, but it doesn’t take an accountant to do that, just someone who is interested.

We know the county has the money to start giving us back what they took. They have “restricted” accounts that are restricted only because they say they are not because of any law or regulation. They can unrestrict them at any time. There are also accounts that are holding accounts for money they can access at anytime but are not labeled as such. They can pay down their debt just a little bit slower than they have been and still make good progress. They can replace the fleet of vehicles at a slower rate. There are many ways it can be done if they really wanted to make us whole again but to this date all they have offered is lip service and lies.

If the Board of Supervisors were ignorant about the $2.5 million the county had to return to the Federal Government because they didn’t use it, what else don’t they know about in the budget? Maybe they should look for themselves and not just drink the Kool-aid the CEO is serving them.

Helen Michael

Ukiah

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IMPLOSION

Editor,

World War I occasioned a psychotic break in Western civilization. This resulted in the hysteria in the stock market in the 20s and the Great Depression in the 30s, accompanied by Fascism and WWII. A return to sanity was offered up by the New Age in the 60’s and 70s, which went almost nowhere, given the depth of the psychosis in the civilization. Then came the threat of nuclear annihilation and the Cold War, accompanied by the rebuilding of Germany and Japan after they had attempted to eradicate Western Civilization. As a compensatory mechanism all of this has been followed by these socio-economic phenomenon: a fetish for economic growth; loss of control of population growth far beyond sustainability; the fusion of government and corporate business interests; the destruction of the middle class; the permanency of the underclass, the destruction of the global ecosystem beyond the tipping point, foreign policy that perpetuates war, a revival of mass delusionary religiosity, and on and on. Is it, then, any wonder that one of four Americans will suffer from mental illness in any given year; that one of 15 Americans will suffer long term disabling functional impairment caused by depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia? How does one summarize all of this? We are increasing the longevity of the individuals; we live longer than ever before. We are shortening the time when the entire civilization will implode. If that is not insanity, what is?

Lee Simon,

Far ’n Away Farm, Virginia

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ANNOYING ANTICS

Editor,

Oh my god, could there possibly be anything more tear-your-hair-out annoying than the Republican antics currently playing out in Congress over Obamacare?! The 21 hour long meaningless exercise in narcissism performed by Texas tea party nut Ted Cruz set a new benchmark in congressional irrelevance. When the Rs claim that they're “listening to the people, who don't want Obamacare” they’re ignoring the fact that there have been two presidential elections, both of which were won decisively by the candidate proposing the Affordable Care Act; isn't that listening to people?

I think it must be that the only people that the Rs ever meet are the 1% who pay for their political careers! No wonder they have a different perception of what “the people” want!

If only a majority of Americans could see just how simple and effective medical care is in most other first world democracies; how little paperwork is created, how much more efficiently that time the medical professionals is used, once they are freed of the huge paperwork monkey they must carry on their backs in our system. We are forced, in effect, to pay twice as much as we should for health care, just so that we may enjoy the privilege of denying it to those deemed unworthy.

It's like the fact that I read about many years ago when BART was first built; that the portion of BART's budget devoted to taking and sales of tickets was less than the money generated by the sale of those tickets! The only excuse, therefore, for charging riders for using BART is to keep the rolling stock from turning into mobile homeless encampments. Perhaps Canada is not exactly like the USA, but their medical waiting rooms don't seem to have turned into homeless shelters.

If the Rs shut down the entire government and destroy our credit rating over their delusional misapprehension of the will of the people, costing us all a fortune in unjustified debt finance charges, will Republican voters have finally had enough?! One can only hope so.

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

PS. Welcome to the world of the rational! I was so delighted to read in your September 4 edition Off The Record, that at least someone there has taken the heretofore heretical stance of noting one of the absurdities of the anti-bypass obsessives; that in the endless war of attrition against this much needed project (now one quarter complete), the effort to trump up legal stumbling blocks to earthmoving efforts from a nearby Bald Hill source, may result in the clearcutting of a nicely wooded alternative soil source location, further from the site (thus requiring more fuel, road impact, traffic, etc.). Apparently the clear-cut may be done even if they don't end up using that soil, just so that that alternative source will be available if the courts, yielding to the relentless mau-mauing of the monomaniacal Luddites, block the use of the original, closer source! I wish that the diehard bypass opponents would give a few moments thought to what the actual effects of their cause is becoming; nothing but an expensive burden on their fellow citizens, and now the environment! Do any of them really believe that there is the slightest chance of them actually stopping the bypass from being completed?! Now that it is one quarter done? It seems to me that at this late date, anyone who truly believes that is simply delusional.

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GIVING STRATFOR WHATFOR

Open Letter to General C. Robert Kehler, Commander, USSTRATCOM

To: General C. Robert Kehler, Commander, USSTRATCOM

Subject: Vice Adm. Tim Giardina

Date: 28 09 2013

Dear General Kehler, Commander, USSTRATCOM:

We met at your Christmas party at the Space Command at Peterson AFB in December 2010.

You may also remember that during these past few years I have copied you on press releases for some of my shows. I have done several shows here at KZYX, Mendocino County Community Radio, on the trillion-dollar cost of nuclear deterence, prompt global strike, missile defense, arms control, and the search for strategic stability in a constrained budget environment. My latest show (20 September) was about Israel's multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons industry.

See link: http://www.kzyx.org/index.php/talk-shows/politics-and-public-affairs/all-about-the-money/entry/israels-nuclear-weapons-industry-on-kzyx

With the latest scandal involving Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, Deputy Commander of USSRATCOM, I have four questions:

1.) When will you, General Kehler, issue a press release regarding the suspension of Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, Deputy Commander of USSRATCOM?

2.) If Vice Adm. Tim Giardina was suspended on September 3, why is it only now (28 September) that news of his suspension has become public information?

3.) When will the results of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation into Vice Adm. Tim Giardina's misconduct be completed and released to the public?

4.) Does USSTRATCOM expect implications for its FY 2014 budget request as a result of the scandal involving Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, and other negative incidents, i.e., the unprecedented removal of 17 launch officers at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB due to a failed inspection on combat readiness?

Incidentally, a local young man, 2LT Max Walker, from Ukiah, CA, is currently assigned as a launch officer at Malmstron AFB. We a very proud of him here in Mendocino County.

Thank you.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

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WHO GETS THE AX?

Editor,

Nobody here but us mopes.

I don't agree with the with most of what Jeff Costello has to say about race, “mopes,” eugenics and related matters ("a bunch of mopes"? 9/3/13 AVA). But I welcome the chance to get a few more words in edgewise.

First I'd like to make a distinction between racial profiling and racial prejudice. It will sharpen our thinking not to conflate the two. I take racial profiling to be the instantaneous, automatic recognition of another person's race, while racial prejudice, if it comes into play, is what immediately follows when we process the information. It may seem like splitting hairs because only saints are prejudice free, but profiling has gotten a bum rap while prejudice deserves the bad name. Only in the above sense, because it’s unavoidable, is it correct to say I am “for” racial profiling, and of course I am “against” racial prejudice in the pejorative sense. The distinction helps a mope like me be more mindful as to whether it's my frontal lobes that are doing the thinking or if my unconscious prejudices are quacking. The idea, as Freud said, is to make the unconscious conscious so we can modify our bad behavior.

My former correspondent may be entirely right that “mopes” is used by “upper-class prep school boys” to describe what his parents “might have called nogoodniks, undeserving, unproductive, dare I say, interior people.” But I was a preppy (lower middle-class scholarship boy), and this is news to me. It wasn't used as a noun by students to refer to “inferior people,” but rather by teachers to hurry the lingering students on to class. Mostly it was used to reprimand those who were just “moping around” instead of doing something more productive. For the record, I was inspired to use the phrase “a bunch of mopes” because our Mighty Editor once used it to my great delight and by imitating him I wanted to let him know how much I enjoyed it.

Costello never lets a chance to pounce go by when ever he spots what he calls a “giveaway.” One of his long-standing prejudices is on display when we read that prep schoolboys are “a species that assumes its own natural superiority.” I beg your pardon? As our old friend Tal Rick used to say, “I represent those remarks!” Long time readers of the AVA may recall among other gratuitous attacks on anything that smacks of privilege, the way he took Jackie Kennedy to task for attending Miss Porter's school. Psychoanalysis calls a concentration of psychic energy upon a particular person or idea a “cathexis,” and to judge from all the psychic energy he's put into bashing the upper classes over the years, I dare say this cathexis has become an obsessionional prejudice.

When it comes to doing something to prevent an overpopulation Armageddon, he's sticking to his same old story. “Who decides?” he delights in asking and thinks it's the end of the discussion. I think this is where it should begin. It's certainly not for individuals to decide who “gets the ax,” as he so eloquently puts it, although that is what he seemed to think I think. The result is his perfectly supercilious pronouncement that he will “consider eugenics again when someone steps forward to say 'I and my family should be purged. We are a blight on the planet'.” Come on, man, get serious.

Let's not shy away from the tough decisions that have to be made. I submit that China's one child policy may well so far have postponed a war after which a possible next war would have to be fought with rocks. Assuming that both humanity and mother nature would be better off if we can defuse the population bomb, how do we proceed? One mope to another, I've got a few ideas and suggestions for whatever they may be worth.

We've got to start with what we've got, and in this country we've got duly elected representatives and the courts that we entrust to make decisions for the greater good. I'm fine with letting the courts decide to revoke the licenses of drivers who are a menace to society. Just like having a driver's license isn't a God-given right but a privilege that must be earned by passing a test, so I think we'd be moving in the right direction if we looked at having children in the same way. If negative population growth is going to be needed to keep Gaia from letting the Four Horsemen loose to reduce the population for us, it only makes sense to have a “test” to determine the most and least qualified to have children. Hitler gave eugenics a bad name because he had the wrong test. The dictionary tells me that eugenics is “science that deals with the improvement of races and breeds, especially the human race through the control of hereditary factors.” Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. It's pretty self-evident that the criminally insane or those with severe physical or mental “challenges,” for instance, shouldn't pass the qualifying exam.

On a personal note as per a previous letter published in these pages I would add rapists to the list of the disqualified. I'm not conscious of why I find it such a despicable crime (perhaps I was a woman who got brutally raped in a previous lifetime?), but I would recommend that the courts and the legislatures reconsider the legality and morality of corporal punishment and impose sentences of sterilization upon incorriigible rapists.

Finally, a last word on the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. Prejudice, not profiling, seems to have been the root cause for Martin's sad and untimely death. Neither was a saint. Witnesses testified that Zimmerman wasn't a racist in normal, everyday life, but it's reasonable to have our doubts about whether his higher self was doing the thinking. But with Trayvon Martin there is no mystery to what is revealed by his remark to his girlfriend on the phone that he was being followed around by a “creepy-ass cracker.” He may not have been cruisin' for a bruisin' but with an attitude like that perhaps a collision was written in the stars.

Aloha,

Bill Brundage

Kurtistown, Hawaii

PS. At a risk of belaboring the issue, a few more thoughts on the death of Trayvon. Don't blame it on “stand your ground” laws. Don't blame it on racial profiling. Blame it on racial prejudice, which is “value added” racial profiling, which is the same as “racial discrimination” in the strict sense, without the value added. For a balanced view we should also note that not all prejudice is unfavorable. Sometimes it goes to the opposite extreme as in the case of so-called “wiggers” who indiscriminately love and imitate anything black. I plead guilty to having been biased in that direction during the heady days of the early civil rights movement which undoubtedly had a good bit to do with my interracial marriage which was far from fashionable at the time. MLK had it right: best to judge by content of character, not the color of skin.

PPS. I guess I didn't get the nickname “the Professor” for nothing.

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PARDON ME

Hello,

It's me again. William Newport, aka “Bongo Bill.” You made a slight mistake. I've got 105 years to life.

I noticed you like to write eye-catching articles. Lately the TV news and radio, NPR, talked about prison overcrowding. Let's see how Governor Moonbeam gets rid of inmates. First, he sends them out of state. Next he sends them to county jails. This particular one is the most unique yet.

But first let's backtrack to the Governator Schwarzenegger. I got this information from a lifer's newsletter. So pull up a log, sit on the stump, and let this bit of news tickle your taxpaying funnybone.

Our ex-Governator Schwarzenegger brags about shameless commutation for political allies. Our beloved Actornator Governor, ignoring justified applications by many lifers deserving of clemency, commutation or pardon, only commuted the life sentence of Esteban Nunez. Nunez is the son of — drumroll please — Conan the Barbarian's pal and political ally, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

In an interview with Schwarzenegger published in Newsweek, he said he understood the anger over reducing a prison sentence for the son of a political ally but, he said, he feels “good about the decision.” “I understand people's disappointments. I understand a parent's anger. I'd probably feel the same way.” Quack, bad Conan. The younger Nunez pleaded guilty for his role in the 2008 stabbing death of San Diego Mesa College student Luis Santos, 22. Conan cut Nunez's sentence from 16 years to 7 years. Conan didn't apologize, but stated arrogantly, “and I'm ultimately responsible.” Conan added, “I feel good about the decision. I happen to know the kid really well. I don't apologize about it.”

(Writer's note: Wasn't this that awe-inspiring Governator who was tough on crime and inmates?)

My favorite was his outer exterior of the tough guy act on “Three Strikes” and the many pictures of inmates on the cardboard platform behind him. Some dead, some from other states. Quack again, bad Governator.

Now let's speed up to our present Governor Moonbeam choo-choo train (the Little Engine that Shouldn't). Jerry Brown, who yesterday September 23, 2013 at 11:30am let a man walk out of prison to get extradited back to France. I watched Alex Mirzayance walk through the door myself. This man killed a woman, got 25 years to life — drumroll please — pays restitution, court fees (well, mommy and daddy pays) for Fabian Nunez's boy Esteban. Now this Frenchman Alex Mirzayance gets a plane trip back to France to do his time.

Follow the money. I'm sure anyone could do this by checking out a resident of Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. The old political ethic of scratch my political back and I'll scratch yours.

Well, there is good news. Governor choo-choo Moonbeam Express Jerry Brown has reduced prison overcrowding. One down, 9,999 more for this quarter. I wonder, heck, whose restitution can Bongo Bill pay and get a plane ticket to France? Wait a minute. This could have changed the overcrowding. I should have run for Governor myself. Oh yes, I'm an inmate and thus ineligible.

PS. Governor Bongo gives you a pardon. It's enclosed.

William Newport

Ione

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MORE THAN NINE YARDS

Editor,

Monsieur Quixote, a novel by Graham Greene.

We read all the Graham Greene books our tiny Mendo library has on hard-sewn covers. Each one a winner.

Love affairs — twisted relationships — the last days of the British Empire — the period during and after the second world war. Cruel and sadistic rich men — boring and pathetic civil servants — several suicides of leading players — a huge body of work has Greene left us. Far and away the most interesting was the novel Monsieur Quixote. Cervantes' tale brought into Spain just after Franco's death.

Father Quixote is a poor Spanish priest in a tiny village. He is the distant relative of Cervantes Quixote.

His rebirth happens when he rescues a Bishop — stranded in his Mercedes in their town.

Father Quixote takes the bishop home and wines and dines him — fixes his car — it was out of gas — and as luck would have it — the Bishop intercedes with the Holy Father and slam-bang makes the poor old priest a monsignor — Sancho comes into the tale as a recently defeated Communist mayor of the tiny town and off they go to play out a modern version of the old tale. They confront the police — they cause riots — the whole nine yards.

Captain Fathom

Albion

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WAAAYYYY TOO LONG

Letter to the Editor

Some long-time Humboldt pals came through town, and I showed them last week's AVA with the long "Megalomaniac of the Week" letter from Congressional candidate Andy Caffrey of Redway. My friends saw his name, rolled their eyes so hard I was worried they'd damage their vision, and one said, “Now there's a prime example of a guy who has lived in Humboldt way

too long!”

Steve Heilig

San Francisco

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VISIONARIES

Editor,

A couple of updates:

I am doing a radio program with EMF Safety Network leader, Sandi Maurer which unfortunately will have passed when you publish this but there is two parts of the show that may interest your readers. I will upload the show to www.kzyx.org site and put it on the Ecology hour page which Toxic Free Future, my show, lives when not on the radio.

The first is an update on Smartmeters, those wireless power monitors that were forced on many people worldwide. Lawsuits are pending in many States and Countries in the wake of higher bills, fires post installation and sensitive folks who essentially had to vacate their homes and businesses to maintain functionality. I will augment this note next week with highlights on that. Ms. Maurer has other concerns though as Educators decide to make schools wireless and “save” money on e-books using iPads.

History reveals that we have subjected our children to all sorts of new untested developments that have left many kids maimed including asbestos, novel building materials and techniques, sealed classrooms with new carpeting and even building schools on cheap toxic dump sites (see PITS of local activist fame.) The problem is that impacted children who may really enjoy their schools may have to stay home schooling. This makes parents have to seek outside socialization for their children as well. Further, iPad engaged children will bring their iPads home to do homework and inevitably play on them. If somehow one of your listeners have missed my comments on wireless let me direct them to the book “Disconnect” by respected Dr. Debra Davies, an epidemiologist among other credentials. This is a good summary of the problems done from a very open unbiased medical viewpoint. I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Davies, who has taken this issue to senate chambers and collaborates with doctors and other concern folks internationally. In the book and on my show, Davies referred to the dangerous disruption of the blood brain barrier; she also mentioned that there was some impact on blood thickening. This is confirmed by Dr. Magda Havas, in Canada, who small study showed heart arrhythmias in 70% of subjects impacted by a simple DECT home remote phone in a double blind study using an independent cardiologist. Once one hears of these sorts of impacts one starts looking around at odd disease. For example, brain cancer was uncommon and associated with occupational hazards like chemical and petroleum cracking plants. It was unheard of in children. Not today! Most interesting or terrifying is the unusual cancers in the spine, which is surrounded by the Blood Brain Barrier. This barrier is crucial to keeping natural toxins out of sensitive tissue. It is the reason we take such high doses of drugs that must get through the barrier to work. Imagine high dosed drugs with no barrier. Further noted by Dr. Johannson was the immediate reaction of the body to immune reaction with RF or wireless exposure. Maurers points out that Doctors are recommending very little screen time for young children and a few hours for most kids which are now heavy computer users. I should add many years back a visionary Comptche Mother cleverly called her child’s play station, NoFriendo. There are serious repercussions of heavy use of electronic devices that this newest generation will pay for in health and health costs. I think that Educators go too far. The thought is that e-books will be cheap, yet we all know that the industry will raise the prices for these virtual materials. Wireless devices have no business in schools where wired faster and more secure systems can be established inexpensively. Further though is the comment about children’s screen time. How will this impact their visual acuity?

In personal research to determine any downsides to LED lights, I found it was not the apparatus (unless cheaply made) but the actual quality of the light. We are circadian beings that run internally with clocks that are set by our sun distinctive colors. The article discussed how exposure to a defined set of light colors in our computers and TVs could reset or confuse our internal clocks and cause us to not be able to sleep. The sun’s spectrum changes throughout the day from hot reds to cooler blues defines night. Computers and TVs are on their own time. This coupled with the fact that RF wireless decreases melatonin levels, which are crucial to sleep, leaves children vulnerable to less sleep. Incidentally, the first group of symptoms to wireless sensitivity is sleep disorders (nightmares, lack of sleep etc.) Curiously, turning off rotors, cell phones and other wireless devices often leads to a good night sleep. The mandated double wireless Smartmeter is a 24/7 device. The new Smart? Appliances that talk to the S/meters are also 24/7. I am deeply concerned about the layer upon layers of wireless devices in our living spaces. I will also discuss the recent upset to remove the Monsanto support clause from the senate bill. It is a big win against the rampant, well moneyed run against sanity with genetically engineered products that allow rampant saturation use of pesticides or pesticide imbedded toxins that are causing all sorts of tumors and health issues.

Sincerely

Greg Krouse

Philo