Off the Record (May 10, 2024)

THE CAMPUS DEMONSTRATIONS seem harmless from here, the International Desk at the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Other than a few scuffles, there hasn't been any real violence. Some Jewish students feel threatened, while many other Jewish students are with the demonstrators, but feelings are hardly grounds for college administration to call the cops, although I have to admit I did get a laugh at a young woman, a Columbia student presumably, and undoubtedly cosseted all her young life, being hauled gently off for trespassing as she screamed, “I'm being seriously violated.” As any veteran of the 60s demonstrations in San Francisco can tell you, being truly seriously violated was then part of the arrest process.

I'VE TOLD this story before — I've probably told all my stories before — but I'll make it quick for you newcomers to these cyber-pages while I have you trapped. It was a cool night in, I dunno, '68 I think, when my brother and I joined a protest against Field Marshall Ky, one of the thugs briefly atop the stooged Vietnamese government who was staying at the then-most expensive hotel in the city, the Fairmont, all expenses paid by the American taxpayer. 

AS ALWAYS wary of Frisco's tactical squad, all big guys wielding fungo-bat length billy clubs, we stayed to the rear of the phalanx of protesters arrayed across the street from the hotel where the Tac Squad lined the sidewalk at the grand entrance as if the protest might bullrush the place. We knew it was only a matter of time before the big boys charged the protest because clashes were part of the choreography of the time. We knew we'd have to be ready to hop the fence at the Pacific Union Club to make our escape when the cops kicked off the inevitable mayhem. 

THIS VIOLENT OCCASION may have been the very last time a left-lib male dared shout, “Chicks up front!” And perhaps also the very last time a dozen of so “chicks” got up front and sat down, the strategy pegged to the utterly naive notion that the Tac Squad would not attack women, that the women would serve as a barrier to the wuss-wamps standing safely, they thought, behind their wives and love interests. 

NO SOONER had the chicks assumed the seated position, someone from our ranks threw a balloon full of red paint up against the wall of the venerable Fairmont, and here came the fungo boys charging across the street clubbing everyone in sight. 

BRO and I hopped the fence and beat feet past the rear of that ruling class bastion, the most exclusive club in the city, where a cook, chef's hat and checkered kitchen trousers, yelled, “Hey! You can't run through here.” One of us straight-armed him into a garbage can (I don't recall doing it) and kept running, veering back over to California Street and continuing west. 

DOUBLING back an hour or so later because we lived in Chinatown on the Bay side of the Fairmont and had to get around it to get home without a long, hilly detour downtown, the Tac Squad was still chasing likely individuals up and down the street, assaulting, I read the next day, a tourist couple who'd wandered out of the Mark Hopkins for a look at the excitement.

UNLIKELY that the forces of law and order will manhandle today's student demonstrators, what with all the cameras on hand, besides which the cops, like everyone else, are ruled by accountants and liability lawyers, not the primitive unwitessed passions of yesteryear.

WHAT HAPPENED TO JENA CONNER? A couple of retired Child and Family Services staffers called us Tuesday to see if we know anything about the recent death of Jena Conner, who, until recently, was Mendo’s Deputy Director of Family & Children Services. According to the callers Ms. Conner, believed to be in her late 40s, was found dead a week or so ago at home in Willits after her coworkers requested a Sheriff’s welfare check when she didn’t show up for work. Considered to be an experienced and competent Social Services manager, her loss has been a tragic blow to the Social Services Department coming on the heels of the retirement of Social Services Director Bekkie Emery. So far there has been no interim appointment to run Family and Children’s Services. The already seriously understaffed department (Sonoma County has recently snagged a number of Mendo’s experienced Social Service employees) has apparently become another office being temporarily managed out of the stretched-thin CEO’s office. (Mark Scaramella)

WHATEVER happened to voice modulation? My mother was on my sisters constantly. “Shoulders back! Speak from the diaphragm, girls, the diaphragm!”

OVER ON FOX this morning things got positively weird, weirder than usual. I tune in mornings to check on the opposition, although Fox's hosts are a seemingly identical collection of doll-like automatons with the same fake bonhomie and compulsive, tweaker-like chatter we get on the “liberal” morning shows. For another fifty grand a year they run over to MSNBC.

LAST WEEK, Fox featured a lot of hysterical fulminating about “outside agitators corrupting our nation's youth.” I guess there's an uncorrupted youth somewhere, maybe a retro-hippie kid raised way the hell up Spy Rock, off the grid and far, far from computer and television set, but then even the Amish seem to have slipped lately. 

“OUTSIDE AGITATORS.” Kinda got nostalgic hearing that one. It was outside agitators who caused all that trouble back in the sixties. Without them, I for one never would have looked up from the sports page.

ODD that Fox would think that young people, yet to have the idealism stomped outta them by adult life, would need an outside agitator to hip them to the eternally screwed status of Palestinians and the monstrous slaughter of Gazans. Something need clarifying there?

AND THEN Fox got downright surreal, cutting via live feed to about a twenty-person panel featuring the mayor of New York and his police department’s top brass, all of them lamenting the corruption of our nation’s youth by outside agitators and preening at how efficiently they’d arrested a hundred or so unresisting Columbia demonstrators, a few of them apparently outside agitators, or at least non-students. (Yeah, yeah, a barricade is resistance, but once past the barricades the barricados went like lambs.) To hear the mayor and the police brass tell it you'd have thought the NYPD had just vanquished a battalion of Taliban.

ONE OF THE HAIRCUTS congratulated the mayor for standing “against violent anti-Israel protests” when the mayor declared, “We are not surrendering our way of life to anyone.” 

WHOA! These demonstrations are “anti-Israel” and a threat to “our way of life”?

SURE, a lot of these kids are a little hazy on the particulars of what’s involved here, but I’ll bet a large majority are simply shocked at the grotesquely disproportionate Israeli response to the Hamas atrocities of October 7th.

OUR WAY OF LIFE? As defined by who, and isn't the mayor of New York a liberal? (Scratch a lib and you get a Fox, a fact of American political life forever.) 

WHEW! THE OUTSIDE AGITATORS seem to have bypassed Mendocino College, zipping on up 101 to the redwood north to roil the college at Arcata. Mendo youth remain uncorrupted!

YOU READ it here first: That riot on the UCLA campus Tuesday night is being falsely reported as simply a “clash between pro-and anti-Palestinian demonstrators.” Really? A large group of young anti's, all young men, show up at the pro-Palestinian tent camp at 11pm and attack the entrenched pros? The few cops on hand were too few to break up two hours of subsequent hand to hand combat, and it took two hours for the LAPD to arrive with enough personnel to break it up. Prediction: The aggressors will be revealed as one of the many rightwing LA-area militias who used student defense of the Palestinians as the pretext for assaulting people they perceive as liberals.

IS BUDGET TRACKING TOO MUCH WORK FOR MENDO? An exchange…

NORM THURSTON:

Reporting budget vs. actual revenues for a particular month (or for year-to-date periods) can be misleading. As noted, revenues are often not received evenly throughout the year. Budgets for revenues are developed on an annual basis, but budgets for a given month simply use one-twelfth of the annual amount. For example, the property tax revenue for the month of July will show a budgeted amount equaling one-twelfth of the annual budget, while actual collections will equal only a small fraction of that amount. The budget vs. actual projection is not useful, because it may mislead some to think property tax collections are tanking. It is possible to develop realistic budget projections for each month of the year, but that would require considerable additional work, and the County simply does not have enough accountants to perform that work. It is far more efficient to use budget projections that estimate the total revenue that will be received or accrued by the end of the year based on the most recent information, and compare that amount to the annual budgeted amount. In this way, you can inform interested parties of changes in anticipated revenues that became known after the adoption of the annual budget. Explanation of significant changes from original estimates should be provided (e.g. changes in economic conditions, addition of new revenues or cuts to existing revenues, and other unexpected differences).

There are also expenses for which these timing differences exist, and the benefit of using updated projections applies to those, as well.

MARK SCARAMELLA:

It’s disappointing to read Norm Thurston say that reporting actual revenue to budgeted revenue is “misleading.” 

The County knows when to expect revenue and they should be tracking it based on when it’s expected, not month over month. If it’s late, that should be followed up on and explained and corrective action taken if applicable. Same if it’s below projections. Revenue is not and should not be projected based on monthly averages because that would indeed be misleading. It should be budgeted and tracked based on when it’s due.

On the expense side, actual expenses should be tracked monthly (because most of the expenses are for staffing which is very predictable). And in that case variations should be explained whenever they differ from budget by a significant amount. 

I’m pretty sure the departments already do monthly expense tracking as is. The Auditor-Controller should be doing revenue budgeting, tracking and reporting. 

At mid-year there should be a budget adjustment with explanations and spending plans should be adjusted by department as needed.

Mendo also needs to track the various major special funds on at least a quarterly basis: Teeter Plan, Road Fund, Mental Health, Cannabis, and any other funds where Mendo has to pay out first and then request reimbursement later. Major projects should have their own budgets and tracking as well. The PHF and the Jail Expansion, for example. 

Mendo should not need “additional accountants,” they need to do ordinary budgeting and reporting like every other government organization does. 

THURSTON: 

I don’t think we’re that far apart on the goal: accurate and timely budget analyses. If you move to looking at each month as its own sub-budget that reflects the timing of revenues and expenditures, it will create a tremendous amount of additional work. It’s hard to find the personnel that are skilled in that work, and even if you find them the extra cost will be an issue. It’s a question every entity wrestles with: at what point does the cost of producing complete and timely information outweigh the benefits derived? During my time with the County, that threshold was pretty low. But if that has changed, I will be among those in support of hiring more accountants. And not just in the ACTTC Office, but in other departments where is a significant amount of budgeting and other fiscal work. My comments on budgeting reflect the actual practice I used in submitting quarterly budget reports which were compiled by the CEO and presented to the Board. I started with the actual revenues and expenditures as of the last day of the quarter, then computed the anticipated amounts for the remainder of the year based on the most current information. Those two amounts were added together to project the year-end totals, and that total was compared to the annual budget. Material variances were analyzed, and explained. So, basically, I was addressing your areas of concern following the first 3 fiscal quarters in comprehensive way, and at times that allowed for adjustments to be made, using a process that was much more efficient than your proposal. If I had to provide the same information every month without additional help, well I would not have stayed long. And no system will work well if you don’t have personnel that understand budgeting and accounting, and who do not have a very good understanding of their department’s major revenues and expenditures. And finally I will say that I think your proposal would significantly increase the workload for departmental fiscal personnel, and I can tell you that most of those folks already have a full plate. Significant increases in workloads on an ongoing basis should not be done without consideration for the possible need of additional staffing. What if the AVA were to go from a weekly print edition, to a schedule of producing a daily paper, without additional personnel and resources? (Yes, I know the print edition is ending.)

SCARAMELLA:

I find it hard to believe that Mendo doesn’t know when its general fund revenues are expected to come in and whether they do, nor that it would take “a tremendous amount of work” to see that it does. There are three main sources of those revenues: property taxes, sales taxes, and bed taxes. History should say what revenues should come in when. Keeping tabs on quarterly totals is straightforward. Not to mention that it’s important to know if you are getting the revenues that you’re supposed to get. As far as departments keeping track of their expenditures: Let’s start with what they’re doing now (Ms. Antle says they keep their own spreadsheets) and work from there. The “too much work” excuse doesn’t fly. If you aren’t keeping track of your budgeted revenues and expenses why budget at all? You seem to be saying that Mendo has to fly blind because they don’t have anybody to clean the windshield.

PS. Need I remind you that CEO Angelo produced a budget to actual expense budget report once a couple of years ago proving they can do it, but then quit doing it because a few ordinary questions were asked? She didn’t say it would be too much work then. Of course they can.

THURSTON:

The quarterly projections required a deep dive and reporting out to the Board and public through the CEO in Oct, Jan, and April. Going through that process 11 times instead of 3 takes a lot more time. It is repetition that takes time and is not necessary. I can’t speak for others, but I was responsible for a lot more than just the budget.

SCARAMELLA:

I’ll settle for quarterly. Thanks for the exchange.

THURSTON: Ditto.

“LAZARUS” of Willits:

A Budget…Ha!!!

At this point, what difference does it make? When the United States creates nearly a Trillion dollars of debt every hundred days (CNBC Mar 1, 2024), how long does the Republic have?

Mental health has failed, homelessness is uncontrollable, the county roads are crumbling, the weed has completely tanked for the small licensed growers, and the County BOS Chair is line dancing. What a County!

The wages are low, and the prices are high.

The money loans for 7 to 8 percent, which makes owning a home impossible for most.

Just another day at the office for the BOS, CEO, and their likes.

They’ll drink from the trough until it’s gone. And if you think the State or Federal Government will be here to save you, think again.

LESSER-OF-TWO-EVILISM remains the Democrat's traditional bludgeon, but this election at least it comes with some plausibility, what with the Orange Monster running strong for another four years as primary chaos agent. If we don't get behind Biden, the lib labs tell us, Trump “will end our democracy.” Which, for all practical purposes years ago segued into an oligarchy or, as George Carlin put it, “It's a club, and you ain't in it.”

AND WHO IS BIDEN? He's a non-functioning ceremonial figure trotted out on limited occasions to pretend he's president while an anonymous junta does whatever needs to be done. The office is running itself. But we're supposed to ratify this arrangement because it isn't Trump. 

AND how much democracy do we have? From the little guy perspective of Mendocino County, we have democracy right up to the county line. Beyond that, anonymous Democratic big shots choose our candidates who are duly ratified, and overwhelmingly, by the alleged progressive Democrat voters of the Northcoast because Biden on down through Huffman, Wood and McGuire aren't Trump or Trumpists.

WE HAVE a machine Democrat congressman, like a majority of Democrats, who blithely signs off on funding for the Israeli fascists, making all of us registered Democrats complicit in major crimes against humanity. We're supposed to vote for more of this because the Democrats aren't Trump?

WHEN THE INTERNET kicked in 30 years ago, I knew print was in trouble. And the way the ’net took hold so fast and became so prevalent… the repercussions are still creating havoc with not only print but with other media, notably audio, notably public audio like KQED in the Bay Area and probably KZYX where fundraising has always been frantic but now seems positively frightened. 

PATTERNS of media consumption are still in flux, and the flux seems fluxing away from public radio and public television. The few young people I know — the young people I know are between the ages of 50 and 70 and they're all lib-left — tune in their preferred commentators directly for information about the great world outside. People younger than that seem to get all their media input from their telephones, and that info doesn't seem pegged to linear thought about the real world.

THE GREAT MASS of people under the age of forty don't listen to radio, don't read newspapers in either print or cyber form, watch mindless television, and don't buy books. I'd bet the average age of a KQED or KZYX consumer is around 55 or more.

INFORMATION is as fragmented as our crumbling society, although the public library bookstore here in San Anselmo does a brisk trade in used books — I even saw a teenage boy browsing the shelves one day — and the local librarian tells me, “We're always busy.”

OF COURSE if we were still a literate society, not that we ever fully were, we certainly wouldn't have a presidential choice between the Biden junta and Trump.

ACCORDING to several tabloids this morning, IQ scores are falling in the US. One self-certified expert said technology could be to blame. Could be, but it also could be the quality of peanut butter. The average IQ score in the US is now 98 down from 100, but some states outranked others in intelligence. New Mexico ranked last for intelligence levels at 95, while New Hampshire came in at number one with an average of 103.2 IQ level. 

MENDOCINO COUNTY wasn't specifically measured but we all know the collective IQ of the Albion-Mendocino Corridor is the highest ever recorded.

FACT IS we're all endowed with about the same candlepower, with a small minority of men and women born with superior mental ability whose gifts are obvious from a young age. A few of them even get the training their brains entitle them to, or should entitle them to. 

I REMEMBER when public ed, all the way down to the Boonville level, allocated money for students identified as “gifted and talented.” The criteria was, ah, flexible, and there was a mini-hullabaloo from parents angry because their little wunderkind wasn't selected. But rather than place the allegedly gifted and talented kid in an accelerated reading, writing and math program, the Boonville “gifted and talented” spent an hour or so a day monkeying around with art projects. If a little Mozart were to appear in the Mendo schools these days? He or she would pass the school hours waiting for the bell to ring.

IN THE SCATTERSHOT ABUSE heaped on us lib-labs by the Magas and related yobbos of American neo-fascism, the one that annoys me most is “Marxist” because it’s the dumbest, the most meaningless, not that the Fox brigades care. 

IF THE FASCISTI had even the most basic integrity, they’d at least check Wikipedia for the simplest definition of Marxism so they'd sound like veritable intellectuals when they falsely lashed conservative libs of the Biden-Democratic Party type as communists.

THERE ARE, AT MOST, maybe a quarter million Marxists in the United States, none that I know of in Mendocino County, none north of the Golden Gate Bridge all the way to Eugene, Oregon where there's maybe five. And no Leninists among them. (Lenin overthrew the Czar with what? About three hundred hardcore revolutionaries funded by donations from very wealthy men and women and the bank robberies that were Stalin's specialty.)

EQUATING Biden-Democrats with revolutionaries is laughable, but since the Magas only talk to each other, the point is to slime conservative libs in the fervid minds of the Fox demographic, not to use words with their specific meanings.

WE HAVE TWO capitalist political parties. There is no popular socialist party let alone a serious communist party. Liberals are not communists. Most aren't even socialists. Libs are as wed to capitalism as Elon Musk. The better ones want social programs that are helpful to their fellow citizens but they think the present system — more stuff for more people forever — can be fine tuned to work better for most Americans as the libs snag their political funding from the same people who fund the Republicans.

I'M PROUD to say I haven't voted for a Democrat since McGovern, and don't plan to start this year to stop the Orange Beast which, so far, is the only Democrat argument for voting for the Biden construct, slayer of Gazan children. Way, way back I cast my sole life vote for a Republican when I voted for George Christopher for mayor of San Francisco, the best mayor the city has had.

OH, so what kind of system would you impose on America, Mr. Boonville commie? I am not now nor have I ever been a communist mainly because I can't get through the qualifying literature without falling asleep. But thank you for asking. What would I do? I'd go back to the future by reinstating the 90% income tax on the rich, and simply confiscate all the money they have stashed overseas. The money thus accumulated would fund Medi-Care for all, a federal housing program, free education through the university level, and definitely an Oobie, a universal basic income. America would instantly be a much less violent, unhappy country. It has always surprised me how docile so many working Americans are, that they get ripped off in so many ways without identifying the true source of their struggle, their constant anxiety, and it's getting worse for everyday people by the day. Hint: Trump is not the answer. Neither is the Biden construct. Reform is probably impossible at this juncture. Objectively, it looks like the great slide will just slide on into social-political chaos and, probably, serious regional violence in November.

 ‘PALMS INN FATAL STABBING SUSPECT DIES ALONE In Sonoma County Jail Cell, Cause Of Death Unknown’

FORMER SHERIFF TONY CRAVER used to say that the Mendocino County Jail saved a lot of people from themselves, giving the drug addicted a forced time out, time for his/her distorted physiology to recover and him/her drug-free time to perhaps reconsider his/her commitment to self-destruction. 

WITHOUT local incarceration, it's probably certain that a lot more young Mendo people would die from drugs. 

ONE GOOD COP is worth a whole office of helping professionals, most of whom help only themselves. (cf Redwood Community Services, Mendocino County's privatized welfare system, Mr. and Mrs. Schraeder, props, and you'll never know how much this up-from-hippie couple takes off the top. It's proprietary, you see.) 

I THOUGHT ABOUT CRAVER'S theory of incarceration-as-life-raft when I read the sad story of this kid, Skyler Rasmussen, who was awaiting trial for the murder of another drug person in a “supportive housing facility” in Santa Rosa. “Supportive housing” in this case was a re-tooled motel stuffed with screwed up people and the drug addicted. Rasmussen “died alone in his cell at the Sonoma County jail on Wednesday,” according to the Press Democrat. His lawyer said Rasmussen had awakened to his nowhere drug life and had wanted to lead a sane, productive life when, it seems, he got some jail house drugs strong enough to kill himself, presumably accidentally.

I'D LIKE the opinions of you Sixties oppositionists about how the widespread bad feeling over the Vietnam War compares to the Israeli-Hamas tragedy. (Lee? Lee Edmundson?) I took part in innumerable Vietnam demonstrations and was in innumerable arguments over the war, but the only violence I can recall was either by the police or the occasional Nazi group who attacked some of the marches. (And got themselves severely thumped.) The first demos I participated in were the CORE-organized civil rights demos in SF. There was huge opposition to those, including from the Frisco media. MLK was regularly denounced as a generally subversive figure who was “going too far.”)

TODAY? Seems from here, that Israel-Hamas is angrier and much, much nastier, intensified by an overlay of resurrgent anti-Semitism, and doubly intensified by the often distorted media coverage of events. You'd get the impression from not only Fox (dependably corrupt) but from the “liberal” television media at MSNBC and CNN that the campus demonstrations are the work of “outside agitators” busily duping know-nothing students. The few student spokespeople I've seen on TV have been impressively knowledgeable and articulate, and certainly not pro-Hamas.

ONE EXAMPLE of how media distort coverage of the demonstrations is that as they carefully register how many non-students are among the arrestees, they don't ask, “How many are ‘pro-Hamas’ vs ‘anti-bombing food aid convoys and targeting civilians’”?

VERY FEW PEOPLE are “pro-Hamas,” but millions of Americans are against bombing trapped Gazans and are very unhappy that the Biden Construct continues to fund the Netanyahu government of Israel. (Trump can be depended on to boost military aid to Netanyahu. The choice in November is between competing disasters.)

AS YET ANOTHER public service brought to you by the Boonville cyber-daily, here is the correct political stance re-Israel-Hamas that correct-thinking Mendo people should adopt: Immediate cease-fire; unimpeded aid to Gaza; a two-state solution. All of which is wishful thinking, especially a two-state solution, but it’s the only humane alternative to the monstrous present. 

LEE EDMUNDSON:

Hello? Did I hear my name being called? OK.

Differences between the Viet Nam and Israel/Hamas wars… Where to begin?

From the other side, both are wars for liberation and independence. The Vietnamese war for liberation — the first one — began in the 19th century after France colonized Indochina. This was went through several incarnations, first against the French, then against the occupying Japanese during WWII, then again against France after it reestablished themselves after the defeat of the Japanese. Then, after the Viet Minh (the Vietnamese freedom fighters) defeated the French militarily at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords of 1954 partitioned Viet Nam into two sectors: Viet Minh sympathizers were to go to the north, French sympathizers were to go to the south. There was to be a referendum held in 1956 to reunify the country.

I should note that in the war for liberation against the French after WWII the United States was underwriting 80% of France’s war effort. In the days before Dien Bien Phu fell, certain American war-mongers were urging (then) President Eisenhower to drop nukes in order to save the French garrison there. Eisenhower demurred. Whew!

The reunification elections scheduled for 1956 were never held, sabotaged by the United States, which installed a Catholic figurehead — Diem — as South Viet Nam’s President. The US sent military “advisors” to help train South Vietnamese troops. President Kennedy — having inherited this slow-moving fiasco from Eisenhower — met with General Douglas MacArthur, who advised him to “avoid a major land war in Asia.” The lesson took, and Kennedy, about a month before his assassination, ordered a reduction of military advisors by 1000. The big idea on Kennedy’s part, was that after his re-election in 1964, he would withdraw all American military forces from Viet Nam. Alas.

Instead, Lyndon Johnson was elected President in 1964, running on a platform of No Wider War in Viet Nam. He notably said during his campaign that, “I’m not sending American boys 10,000 miles from home to fight in a war the Vietnamese should be fighting themselves.” Then, he almost immediately began the war’s escalation, much to the chagrin (and outrage) of many (most?) of the American people.

The anti Viet Nam War movement centered around bringing American troops home. Ending the American part of the war. There was a highly unpopular military draft which conscripted civilians boys and young men into the military, many of whom being sent to Virt Nam as “cannon fodder.” Many (most?) folks saw this as an outrage. Many considered the carpet bombing occurring there as an abomination. Many (most?) viewed to execution of the war as an insult and effrontery to humanity, if not (as many did) a crime against humanity. We protested to end the war and bring the boys home. We were labeled Anti-American, Communist.

President Johnson fell because of his knuckle-headed pursuit of the war. In March of 1968, when he said on national television that he, “Would not seek, and will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” we all cheered after breathing a rejoicing sigh of relief.

At the subsequent Democratic National Convention in August 1968, we no longer had much faith in Democratic politics. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in April, Bobby Kennedy assassinated in June. The good-ole-boys of the Democratic Party backed Hubert Humphrey — Johnson’s Vice-President — in a closed convention. Chaos ensued. I mean, real, genuine and dangerous chaos.

Richard Nixon ran and was elected on a platform to end the war in Viet Nam. Boy, did he ever! He escalated the bombing and managed to prolong the war for another seven (7) years. It was only after the American Congress voted to cut off all funding for the war that it was brought to an end. Did we protesters play a role in that? Yes, though not a definitive one.

As for Gaza… totally different beast. The history is similar though not the same. After WWII, the western powers — chiefly the United States and Great Britain — backed the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. This had been called for by European and American Zionists since the 19th Century and the institutional guilt resulting from the Holocaust led to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. It should be noted that Jews and Palestinians had for centuries lived in peace in a relatively prosperous Palestine. Sure, occasional conflicts occurred between them, but nothing organized, planned. Until 1948.

In 1948, organized Jewish militias — ones that had been terrorizing the British troops there (Britain had a “mandate” from the first World War to govern Palestine) began terrorizing their Palestinian neighbors. All this in anticipation of the creation of a Jewish State: Israel. The Grand Mufti — supreme leader/spokesperson for the Palestinian Arab Muslims — called upon Palestinians to flee, to vacate their homes and lands to avoid being killed by the Jewish militias. Palestinians were killed, towns and villages razed. The Palestinians fled for their lives. This period is known by Palestinians as the Nakbah — the catastrophe.

Israel was created by the United Nations as a Jewish State. At the same time, the United Nations called for the creation of a Palestinian State, which — for reasons begging understanding — never happened.

Surrounding Arab states — Egypt, Jordan et alia — attacked Israel. Israel won. 1948, 1967, the 1970s. Israel’s existence was assured. Maybe.

But what about the Palestinian state?

Some of the chronology here gets lost in the “foggy ruins of time” — Bob Dylan, but there were the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords…other accords, that tried to undo the Gordian Knot of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. To little or no avail.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) morphed into the Palestinian Authority, which governed both the West Bank and Gaza. In 2005 elections were held in the Gaza strip, and Hamas defeated the Palestinian Authority. The Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, made a tactical decision to back Hamas, knowing that Hamas would never agree to a two-state solution. Bibi supported the transfer of monies from Qatar to Hamas. And so it went for almost 20 years. Then a segment of Hamas attacked Israelis on October 7, 2023. Mayhem and brutal behavior. Disgusting. Atrocious.

Israel dropped their hammer on Gaza. Over 34,000 dead — overwhelmingly women and children. 50 to 70% of all structures — homes, hospitals, universities, schools, infrastructure, farms, orchards…the list goes on and on — destroyed.

Most of this devastation accomplished with American made, American supplied weaponry.

And there is no end in sight.

So, what are the similarities and differences between the anti Viet Nam War protesters and the anti Hamas/Israeli War protesters? 

To begin with, American protesters have no skin in the Hamas/Israeli war. It ain’t our boys killing and dying over there. Anti Viet Nam protesters knew friends and/or family who were over there, wounded and died there. Not so in Gaza. Hence, the intensity of the protests is much more low key.

Protesters today are more compliant. Almost docile as a consequence. The Gaza war is more abstract for them.

The time frame is different. In Viet Nam, we had decades of this war to deal with. In Gaza, it’s been only months. The true effects of the Gaza war long-term have yet to be seen.

The outrages of the Viet Nam war went on for decades. One might argue that the Israeli/Palestinian war has similarly been going on for decades, but that is not this present conflict.

Whereas the Viet Nam war conflated being Anti-American with Communist, the Gazan war has brought to fore a much more pernicious conflation: Anti-Semitic conflated with Anti-War with Anti-Zionist with Anti-Netanyahu. This is dangerous, very dangerous. One can oppose the Gaza War and the Likud government and the Greater Israel movement without being Anti-Semitic. Yet these differences/distinctions are conflated in the press.

The phrase, “From the River to the Sea” is attributed to the notion that Arab extremists want to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. Yet the same phrase, “From the River to the Sea” also expresses the aims of the Greater Israel movement: to eradicate Palestinians from Palestine.

One can oppose this war without being anti-semitic. In fact, most people opposing it are not anti-semitic. Just anti-war.

Likud and Netanyahu are opposed to any semblance of a two-state solution. So… where does it go from here?

Starvation and famine as an operation of war. Wanton massacre of civilians. Devastation of infrastructure. What does the “Day After” look like?

OK, can I go now? My brain is full.

FROM AN INSIDER: 

Interesting reading the Mendocino Tourism Commission annual BID report to the Board of Supervisors: https://mendocino.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12898868&GUID=350D99C0-652C-433A-A512-DD9A3653ECA8.

Of particular note is that the organization now proposes to spend 22% more on personnel costs ($658,235) than on its mission: advertising/marketing… $537,700. 

Compare these numbers to the (erroneously labeled table) in the 2022/23 BID report. (What happened to 2023/24?)

LOCAL SEAWEED BUSINESS FOR SALE!

For Sale - Vibrant, local seaweed business that sells ethically sourced, sustainably harvested, hand-processed seaweeds for culinary, medicinal, and cometic markets. If you are interested in learning more and owning a thriving local business, contact Terry at: oceanharvestseaweed@gmail.com

THE BOOMER ELITES have lost a generation, and instead of listening to the young, they search for excuses. What they cannot comprehend is that maybe they lost this generation—including many of my fellow Jews—because they have been selling a lie about Israel and the United States being forces for good, and the young are tired of pretending that it is anything other than an ugly hoax. 

— Dave Zirin

USAL, JEFF BURROUGHS REMEMBERS:

I almost died at Usal. I was just 7 years of age but I was considered by many to be the best tree climber in Boonville. Therefore I felt it my obligation, my duty, to reinforce the belief that I was indeed the very best tree climber. It just so happened that such an opportunity presented itself on a bright July afternoon while camping with the family at the old mill site at Wolf Creek. For anyone who has been to Usal, you know the place I'm talking about. The place is a mass of old jagged metal and weathered concrete, an absolute kid's paradise for adventure. I'm not sure what words were spoken exactly but the implications were quite obvious to a 7 year old boy. A challenge was made by one of the other kids from a nearby campsite and a tall tree was selected. With the point of a finger from the biggest kid in the group I stepped up, chin held high I made my way to the base of the huge tree. A spit in both hands, and I was off to the races. About a quarter of the way up one of the branches I was standing on snapped, I didnt even flinch. I was really moving now, higher and higher I climbed, reaching way out and grabbing branches like a monkey. I came to hush all doubters. It was somewhere in that moment of arrogance I let my concentration stray and I missed the next branch, then another and another. The next thing I knew I was in free fall, unable to regain control.

I woke up the next day in the Fort Bragg hospital. Apparently I had fallen all the way to the ground and landed just inches from one if the concrete slabs. My poor parents had to drive that 1 hour long, Usal dirt road with their son draped over his mother's lap, bloody and unresponsive. Needless to say I recovered but I never climbed another tree until I was a teenager. I fell out of that tree too, but that's a story for another day.

TOM ALLMAN: 

On May 3rd, Boomers in Laytonville had its official closing party. Boomers has been part of the Northern Mendocino history for 6 decades. On Sunday, May 19th, you could own historic memorabilia as we will be auctioning off dozens of signs, stools and fun stuff. If you have ever been to Boomers, plan on being at the auction to hear stories, see old friends and maybe go home with some history.

THE WORLD is holding its breath as Israeli tanks are entering Rafah after rocket strikes were launched on the city in Gaza just hours after a ceasefire deal with Hamas was dismissed as “a ruse.”

“ISRAEL stepped up attacks Monday on the southern city of Rafah hours after Hamas laid out new terms for a cease-fire that its leaders said they would accept. The Israeli prime minister’s office said that while the new proposal failed to meet Israel’s demands, the country would still send a working-level delegation to talks in hopes of reaching an acceptable deal.”

PERPLEXED IN BOONVILLE: Coupla months ago the Israelis told the North Gazans to head south where they'd be safe. Now the North Gazans who'd fled south to Rafah are told simply to get out of the way, here we come. Bear in mind that Gaza is roughly the dimensions of the Anderson Valley, smaller in fact, and Gazans cannot leave Gaza and aid can't get in. Does their situation add up to “genocide”? If it doesn't it's certainly getting there.

CINCO DE GRINGO has come and gone, so we can all put away our sombreros and salsa as this obscure 19th century victory of Mexico over Napoleon the third (?) is celebrated in lieu of the genuinely triumphant Mexican Revolution begun in 1910 and culminating in a democratic constitution in 1917. Celebrating Cinco de Mayo is like the U.S. celebrating the Battle of New Orleans.

TRUMP'S JUDGE in the Stormy Daniels matter has now threatened Orange Man with jail if he violates his gag order again. Will the judge do it? He'd better or his gag order is a joke, but jailing Orange Man will only give his campaign another big boost.

IT WASN'T that long ago that every time a big county job opened up we'd get an announcement that “a national search for excellence” had been launched, and darned if the excellency didn't turn out to have been in Ukiah all along. A genuine search for excellence? Won't happen here, but there are lots of smart, capable people in-county who could function effectively as County CEO if competence were the primary consideration. The young guy who runs Ukiah Safeway could do the job with time left over to manage the produce section. Ditto for the CostCo manager. I'd say Sheriff Kendall or Boonville school superintendent Louise Simon could steer the county away from the rocks when you consider that present CEO Darcy Antle was installed in the CEO job by her wine buddy, previous CEO Carmel Angelo, who operated strictly on the buddy hiring plan, with gender as the deciding factor. (Antle does seem to be learning on the job without the thuggery that characterized the Angelo regime. Angelo's bona fides? She was a nurse. Antle's cv? Wine shop manager. The Safeway manager? Boonville's school superintendent? Sheriff Kendall? Years of verified, successful management.

MARK SCARAMELLA ADDS: Over our frequent objections, the late three-term Fifth District Supervisor J. David Colfax campaigned for years to raise the Supervisors salary on the grounds that doing so would attract the best candidates. We’ve had a few good candidates lately, but I did not get the impression that they were running for the pay and very generous perks. In fact, one of them campaigned on a platform that included taking a 50% pay cut. If he were alive today, we’d bet that even Colfax would admit that this current set of incumbents is not what he envisioned. 

THE FOLLOWING PRESSER REMINDS ME of that wonderful mile footrace in Ukiah featuring world class athletes zipping along South State Street to the finish line down around where K-Mart used to be. Several thousand Mendo people lined the streets for that one, including me, thrilled at the sight of famous runners magically appearing in, of all places, Ukiah. I managed to confuse Sebastian Coe with Steve Ovett, but the true facts follow this: 

"With over 500 participants expected, the 2024 Ukiah-Mendo Hopper mixed-terrain cycling race on Saturday, May 11 and related events leading up to the race on May 9-10, 2024, are guaranteed to bring excitement and attention to the City of Ukiah and Mendocino County. The event is the fourth and final stop in the 2024 Grasshopper Series and is also part of the Gravel Earth Series, which spans twenty events across thirteen countries."

FROM THE AVA OF JULY 25, 2012

MENDO SPORTS HISTORY. A reader writes: “After reading the AVA for 20 years I finally found a mistake. (sic) Seb Coe never set foot in Mendocino Co. It was his arch rival, Steve Ovett. They are commonly associated as they are both English, were the two best milers in the world, each won Olympic gold medals in 1980 (Ovett 800 meters, Coe 1500 meters) and exchanged world records in the mile and 1500 meters over the early 80's. I was there and saw Ovett put on his racing shoes while sitting against the side of a barn (long gone) on Orchard Ave. This was the only year that there was a mile race (run basically around the Pear Tree shopping center). The field included 8-9 guys who were four minute milers. Ovett won in 3:55-3:56. A couple days later my son, a college kid who worked at Penny's, sold Ovett a suitcase. The traditional Penofin race was a 10K (6.2 miles) which started at the Penofin offices on Lake Mendocino Drive, turned south onto State and finished at the Seventh Day Adventist School 200 yards west of the end of State Street. The winner would get $5-$7K (unsure of the amount) and there was money for the top ten. This attracted top quality runners, many from Africa. They would come in 4-5 days before the race. I lived on Standley on the west side and from my front porch would see skinny black guys on training runs, their feet not touching the ground. The Ovett race was on Saturday. He ran in the 10K the following day, but jogged it as a light workout, finishing 30th or 40th.”

AND THIS COUNTY'S PREMIER Senior runner, Jim Gibbons, fresh off yet another triumph, age 68, but finishing fourth overall in the 9th Annual 5k Redwood Run in Ukiah, elaborates: “Your mention of the '86 Penofin race last week, which made me look it up and realize Seb Coe did NOT run the Sub 4 Invitational Mile. In fact, there was NO mile in '86, just the 10K. The Sub4 Mile was the year before, when Steve Ovett outkicked five others who all finished under 4 minutes! A first for California! Coe was there, but only as a rep for Nike, he didn't run, though he did hold the world record in both the mile and the 800 meters.”

BIG BAND DANCE IN FORT BRAGG, MAY 11TH

This Saturday night, May 11th, Bob Ayres famous 17 piece Boonville Big Band will be playing at Tall Guy Brewing, 362 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg. No cover. Show starts at 6:30. Come for the music, dancing, and great beer.

ON-LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

[1] I believe the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza and that we are complicit by providing the weapons and money to achieve it. It is not antisemitism to express that. It is also not antisemitism to note that Israel and Jewish groups in America (e.g., AIPAC) have an undue influence on our government. It’s time to get our independence back before Israel drags us into attacking Iran and creating a regional conflict or worse. As for the students on the college campuses, they have the right to express their opinions without being labeled antisemitic. I say that with the knowledge that in any large group on protesters, there will be a few who say hateful things. I respect the Israeli people, but some of their politicians have said very hateful things about the Gazans.

[2] I see the same Trump argument disappear for a brief while and then reappear, part of a wider argument that there is absolutely no difference between the two parties. In a general way, I agree that the difference is minuscule. I’ve also pointed out more than once that Trump did something that made the greatest imaginable difference in my own life, as I know it did for others. That single thing was to remove the penalty for not having health insurance, which was about to make my husband and I bankrupt and possibly homeless after he’d had a serious stroke and been dismissed from his job. For us, it was a matter of survival, and that single thing made our survival possible. I know we weren’t the only ones.

I’m a fundamentally optimistic person, so I do think these small things make a difference – as in the Butterfly Effect. No one can know what will be the end result of voting for someone who may be only a tiny bit better than the other “choice”. I think it’s reasonable to choose the lesser of the evils, even if “lesser” is barely measurable. You never know upon what small matter larger events may turn.

[3] Psychopathy is a technical psychiatric term for a specific personality trait that involves lack of conscience, pathological lying, lack of empathy, manipulative interaction style, and a penchant for cheating. When a person has the trait, they are called a psychopath. Most psychopaths eventually end up in and out of prison or killed on the streets (these likely have the psychiatric diagnosis of Antisocial personality disorder), but about 25% are called ‘socially adept psychopaths.’ Many of the latter end up in political power positions and some in DC, hence all the mendacity, manipulation, and lying in places of power.

[4] The average house in San Diego is now over $1,000,000.

The condos are around $650,000.

The average rent is $2,800 and climbing.

Gas is over $5.30 a gallon.

A hamburger meal is $15

I had a breakfast yesterday 3 eggs, 3 pieces of bacon, hashbrowns, two pieces of sourdough bread one sausage patty and a coffee it come to $28 dollars before tip.

I took the sausage patty home for the neighbors dog and then thought better about spending $6.50 on a dog that was not even mine.

None of these kids are buying houses.

Looking to buy land out in the desert somewhere.

That used to be $1,500 an acre now…who knows.

[5] I see references to the MSM Press and the Democratic Party as being “the Left”…yikes! The Press in America is owned by 5 groups of Billionaires (notorious Bolsheviks). Further, the 5 are Comcast and 4 Right wing families (Murdochs, Luces, Disneys and Redstones). Every war since WW2 has started with a US government Lie, which the press amplified, disseminated, but, most importantly, made sure all public discussion (editorial pages, TV political discussions [e.g. “Face the Nation”]) of the lie’s truth or relevance would be tightly controlled:Only a known stable of sychophantic catamites of the Rich are allowed to participate. This “liberal press” also famously buried Bernie Sanders” 2016 campaign! But alluding to the DNC as “the Left” is, possibly, worse! A group of insider-trading millionaires, sending Billions of taxpayer dollars to a pair of fascist nations, funding Genocide, killing all attempts at Health Care reform, over-funding the War Department (sorry, “defense”…ha!)…howTF is this, in any way, “Left”? The terms come from the 1780’s French Senate…the only issue was income, high Gini coefficient or more equality… no Gun Control, Abortion access or gender confusion. Oh yeah…”communism” has a real meaning, too!