Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 7/23/2024

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YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Ukiah 108°, Yorkville 105°, Laytonville 104°, Covelo 103°, Boonville 99°, Fort Bragg 62°, Mendocino 61°, Point Arena 59°

TODAY will be the warmest day in many of the inland areas. Gradual cooling is expected later in the week with a return to more seasonal temperatures by Friday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 53F under mostly clear skies this Tuesday morning on the coast. I do see some high clouds coming in from the south. Our forecast is for mostly clear skies but of course with some patchy fog thrown in as usual this time of the year.

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MOUNTAIN VIEW ROAD CLOSURE

Beginning Monday, August 5, 2024, there will be road construction on Mountain View Road outside of Boonville. Traffic may be delayed up to five hours due to the size and limited mobility of the equipment. Construction will begin each morning at 7:00 am and stop between 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm to allow traffic through. Construction will cease at 5:30 pm each day, However, work may be required on the weekend and after 6:00 pm. Please check the website regularly for further updates.

mendocinocounty.gov/departments/transportation/road-closures-and-delays

Once road construction begins, the website will be updated daily with specific locations/mileposts of the next day’s closure limits.

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LOCAL EVENTS (this week)

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ACCORDING TO last week’s Independent Coast Observer, the tiny town of Point Arena is considering a sales tax increase of .875% to help close a budget deficit that the town faces due to increasing costs and flat revenue. Apparently, the town’s staff has already been cut to six people and their hours have been reduced to 25 hours per week cutting payroll by about 50%, but leading to significant service cuts. Without the estimated $90k from the small sales tax increment, there might be more cuts or even, as Ducey noted in a memo to the City Council, “consider dissolving as an independent city.” The ICO’s Anthony Cuesta notes that Point Arena’s Interim City Manager Peggy Ducey (former Fort Bragg City Manager) proposed the tax for the November ballot in the hopes that they can get it approved before Mendocino County proposes one which could put the countywide tax to the state maximum and eliminate the city’s sales tax option. Interestingly, there is no mention of whether Point Arena can take advantage of the County’s recently approved and very one-sided tax sharing agreement which could, theoretically, allow Point Arena (and other local incorporated towns) to annex taxable properties on the outskirts of the small coastal town. (At last report, Point Arena was sent the Tax Sharing agreement template and was supposed to be considering signing up.) At the same time, three City Council seats are up for election in November. For now no one knows if the incumbents, Jim Koogle, Jeff Hanson and Dan Doyle, will be up for re-election or if any new candidates are interested. Historically, there’s a pretty small population of registered voters in Point Arena who qualify to run.

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LADIES, PLEASE

On 07/15/2024 at approximately 11:35 am, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) Officers spoke with a victim who advised he believed he lost his wallet in the 1100 Block of Airport Park Blvd on 07/14/2024. The victim advised there were fraudulent charges to his account. UPD Officers checked video surveillance at a gas station where the charges occurred. Utilizing the time stamps of the fraudulent bank charges, UPD Officers were able  to identify a female subject who used the card at the gas station cash register. The subject was identified as Jennifer Pifer. Pifer got into a vehicle and left the location. Utilizing the FLOCK camera system UPD officers were able to obtain the vehicle’s license plate. 

The suspect vehicle was later located in the 500 block of South Orchard Avenue. The vehicle was driven by  Pifer and there were two other passengers in the vehicle which included Janine Ponciano. The stolen wallet and debit cards were in Pifer’s possession. UPD Officers conducted their investigation and Pifer was eventually arrested for violations of 496(a) PC, 530.5(a) PC, and 484g PC. 

Ponciano was determined to have a local Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office warrant for her arrest. Ponciano was placed under arrest and determined to be in possession of drugs with the intent to sell. Ponciano was also in possession of a stun gun/taser. A records check was conducted and Ponciano was determined to have been convicted of multiple felony charges of 487(a) PC (grand theft) and was not allowed to possess a stun gun/taser.  

During the course of the investigation, UPD officers also determined Ponciano had rented a hotel room in the Ukiah area. The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force (MMCTF) was contacted and advised of the investigation due to the amount of drugs Ponciano was in possession of. MMCTF authored a search warrant for the hotel room that belonged to Ponciano.  

UPD Officers assisted MMCTF agents with serving the search warrant. A large quantity of drugs was located that were packaged for sales. (see attached photograph). Ponciano was charged with 11351 H&S, 11352 H&S,  22610 PC, 11364(a) H&S, and 11377(a) H&S. Ponciano and Pifer were booked and lodged at the Mendocino  County Jail.  

The Ukiah Police Department would like to thank the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force for their assistance with this investigation.  

As always, our mission at UPD is to make Ukiah as safe a place as possible. If you would like to know more  about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cell phone, and email notifications by  clicking the Nixle button on our website; http://www.ukiahpolice.com

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ED NOTES

CRAZY DAYS, what with the Trumpers demanding proof that Biden is still alive, and the Democrat's abrupt pivot to Kamala. For now. The long knives are out, and nobody does treachery better than these people. Kamala will not be the candidate. She can't beat Orange Man, and the Dems know that. I'm betting Michelle Obama will be the candidate with some de-balled white guy as vp. (Biden eventually sent a raspy-voiced message to Kamala saying he was “watching her,” benignly it is to be presumed. Conspiracy people will of course claim Biden is speaking from beyond the grave, but the Democrats haven't gone full Borgia. Yet.)

ONLY A LOW-INFORMATION person could say that Biden deserves all the superlatives being heaped on him by his fellow Democrats. Nothing honorable about his years of “service,” from which he emerged a multi-millionaire. Among his many crimes, count the usurious interest on your credit cards, for one. The CC giants are based in Delaware where Biden has always faithfully repped them.

AS PER the last fifty years, the Democrats are denouncing us third party people as essentially Trump voters. As per the last fifty years us third party voters say the problem isn't us, it's you Democrats who are the prob because your policies are in lockstep with the corporate oligarchy that funds both parties. Us third party people are what the Democrats used to be.

LOOKING BACK. Some of you may recall that competing left-right rally in Fort Bragg, almost twenty-five years ago. The peace people outdrew the war people about two-to-one — 400 or so peace people to 200 or so war people. Fort Bragg police stood between the two groups. The war people described the peace people as “the hippies”; the peace people referenced the war people as “the rednecks.” A peace person told me she felt “threatened” by the war people; a war person told me the peace people wouldn't let the war people talk into the peace people’s open mike. A peace person said the war people “were very violent.” A war person said the peace people “were the usual weirdos.” A good time was had by all.

THERE ARE PLENTY of anti-war books around that could make a pacifist out of anyone. ‘Johnny Got His Gun’ by Dalton Trumbo is a genuinely subversive novel and thus highly recommended by this newspaper as must reading for your war-age kid. The movie version is unfaithful to the book and badly done besides, but if I'd read the novel before I went into the Marines, I think I would have become permanently 4-F the way a friend of mine accomplished it in the Vietnam years by climbing up on the roof of a downtown San Francisco building, stuck one leg over the side and yelled down at passersby, “I can't stand anymore of this and I'm going to jump!” He was hauled off to the psycho ward at SF General and held a few hours for “observation.” He told the on-duty shrink that the thought of killing anyone made him suicidally depressed. In his real life, the guy was a recreational bar fighter, meaning he enjoyed getting in fights with strangers. He only wanted to avoid a military-type fight. And he did by simply staging his rooftop psycho drama because the shrink thought it was real.

‘JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN’ is a compellingly graphic story told from a war wounded young man's hard earned perspective that war — any war — isn't worth a young person's life. Trumbo’s horribly maimed young man fleshes out his story with long passages about the cynical profiteering of the old men who bamboozle the young into soldiering for them.

ANOTHER good anti-war book is ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ about the front line troops of World War One by Erich Remarque. (Remarque had to flee the Nazi takeover of Germany.) He fought in the trenches for Germany and knew first hand what he was writing about. This one may be even more dated than Tolstoy's ‘Sebastopol,’ another great war book about Russia's Crimean campaigns of the mid-19th century. ‘Dispatches’ by Michael Herr seems to me the very best book about combat Vietnam, while the best books I've read about both World War Two and Korea were both unadorned first hand accounts by combatants, both of them Marines.

THE CDC (Community Development Corporation) manages the county's low-cost housing stock, some of it county-owned, some of it privately owned but subsidized by the federal government through the fed’s Department of Housing and Urban Development. The feds give the private landlord the difference between what low-income people can afford to pay for shelter and prevailing, private sector rents.

THE AGENCY'S BOSSES are drawn from the county's seemingly inexhaustible supply of rotating public agency directors and sub-directors, all of whom have had long experience sitting around in pointless meetings paradigming and interfacing with other of the county's well-paid, smiley-faced doers of good.

(DO-GOODING in Mendocino County would be left to a few church-based charities if the county's helping bureaucracies were suddenly unfunded by the feds. Their propaganda notwithstanding, and in my direct experience, the folks staffing the big pay slots at the helping professional offices, all the school bureaucracies, entities like North Coast Opportunities, and so on are more mercenary than merciful and, to be sure, fervent Democrats.) But several get-government-off-our-backs Ukiah families also appreciate all those HUD checks flowing their way.

WHAT DO I KNOW about food? Nothing. Seldom eat out, and when I do I avoid places where the basic fueling process is delayed by a lot of ritualistic back and forth with the waitperson, the wineperson, the cook, fellow patrons, and other gastro-obsessives. If I have to spend more than an hour in a restaurant I consider every minute beyond 60 minutes, down time. But I can honestly say you cannot get bad food in the Anderson Valley. All our restaurants are unpretentious and very good.

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RE: WAR BOOKS. I really liked Nigel Hamilton’s FDR-at-war trilogy: ‘The Mantle of Command,’ ‘Commander in Chief’ and ‘War and Peace.’ Of all the principals of World War II, FDR was the only one who didn’t live long enough to write his own account. Hamilton’s recent account, based heavily on the detailed notes of FDR’s confidant during much of the war, Canadian Prime Minister McKenzie King, is the best substitute and makes today’s leaders look like third graders, if that’s not an insult to third graders. I also liked David Halberstam’s ‘The Forgotten War: America in Korea,’ an unstinting account of what really is the forgotten war — but not to the vets who were there. (Mark Scaramella)

RE: THE BOGUS PRAISE being heaped on Biden. Don’t forget his huge errand for credit card companies and big banks, the misleadingly titled “Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act” of 2005 which made it nearly impossible for everyday Americans facing oppressive medical bills, seniors, service members, union members who lost their pensions, students (who he now is trying to back away from; too late) and victims of deadbeat dads (et al) to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. (Mark Scaramella)

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TUESDAY'S MEETING OF THE SUPERVISORS

[1] John McKenzie:

I posted this as an eComment to Tuesday’s Board meeting. I can not attend but wanted my opinion to be on the record.

Here is my comment:

The whole idea of the “salary survey” is flawed to begin with. It’s comparing apples to oranges. How do you think it would go if I walked into my bosses office and asked for a raise just because my neighbor makes more money than me? I’m fairly certain they would laugh me out of the office. Well, the residents of this county are your boss and that’s what you are asking of us, with a straight face I might add. The sad thing is, you’re not really asking us are you. I spent some time running numbers from Publicpay.ca.gov and what I came up with is very interesting. It turns out the board of supervisors are already overpaid when you compare oranges to oranges. I’m suggesting the pay should be determined by some real world metrics that might include population, county size, total budget, number of employees, total employee wages. The results of this algorithm should be a multiplier that is applied the the average county employee pay. This is just an unfinished thought on my part, but something must be done about elected officials voting on their own pay package, it should not be the case for county executives either. Just to put the supervisors current pay into perspective. The current average total wage reported to publicpay (excluding benefits package) for a Mendocino County Supervisor is $110,381.00. Using population of 89476 put the per capita pay of $1233.64 per 1000. That number doesn’t mean much by itself until compared to the rates of the 58 other California counties. It puts Mendocino at number 14 out of 58, only 13 counties pay their supervisors more per capita. All the surrounding counties pay less, Sonoma county substantially less. Obviously it wouldn’t be very accurate to just use population to determine pay but it’s better than using geographic proximity.

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[2] Jim Shields

Without getting into background discussions and sources, I can tell you that at tomorrow’s BOS meeting there will be no delays or postponements putting off the salary raises issue until the two new supervisors are seated in January, thus allowing them to at least vote on this bad idea.

This is another example of the county staff tail wagging the BOS dog. I’ve always said that the motto of those at the helm of County government regarding County residents is, “After us, you come first.”

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FORMER MENDOCINO HISTORICAL REVIEW BOARD CHAIRS CALL FOR DISSOLUTION

by Dan Potash

Ten months ago Mendocino County floated the idea of dissolving the Mendocino Historical Review Board (MHRB) and incorporate its function into the Planning Commission as a cost saving measure. I joined a chorus of righteous indignation at the time. I now think it’s an idea worth considering, but maybe not for the reason it was proposed.

By way of background, I have written a near-monthly news article since the end of 2022 covering the MHRB meetings. For reasons I am about to explain, I will no longer be covering these meetings. I previously served on the Board for two terms, including as chair. Prior to that, I was a land use attorney and helped preserve a large historic district in Silicon Valley now occupied by Oracle. It is with this familiarity of preservation that I submit a stark reality: the MHRB has eviscerated its purpose and should be reformulated as a design review committee rather than perpetuate a mythical stamp of historical approval.

During my six-year tenure on the Board it was apparent that it suffered from two fundamental problems. One, the pool of eligible volunteer Board members is relatively limited. As a result, and to no one’s surprise, members of the MHRB generally have a limited understanding about historic preservation, myself included. Two, County enforcement of the rules governing preservation was, and continues to be, nearly nonexistent. Consequently, most people – at least those who are even aware that there are restrictions - understand that such rules are best considered a suggestion, except in the case of a new building or substantial changes to an existing one that is too obvious to not notice.

But the Board existed for decades with these two shortcomings, and the town was largely preserved in a manner that residents found a source of pride, and visitors came from far and wide to enjoy and adore. These shortcomings were involuntary, largely out of our control given the rules of Board eligibility and the priorities of the County.

Over the past few years, however, another fundamental problem has arisen, one which is entirely voluntary and reflects a profoundly new direction. In an effort to reform the Board into a “kinder, gentler” review body, the Board has largely become unhinged from the very guidelines it is responsible for following. These guidelines are now not only ignored, but are scoffed at by Board members, at least those who are even aware that the guidelines exist. Lively debate over how best to apply the guidelines to the facts of an application has been replaced with how outdated the historic guidelines are and how they are impeding the growth and maintenance of the town.

We now have uniquely modern aluminum clad doors on the uniquely historical hotel. We now have new homes that are beautifully designed, but would be more suitable in Modesto than Mendocino. We have Board members who openly decide the merits of applications on a “case by case” basis without any consideration of past decisions, leaving applicants wondering just how arbitrarily and capriciously the Board will decide their fate. We have Board members voting based on their self-proclaimed understanding of what the younger generation is looking for, as though that somehow is relevant to the limited role of a Board member to apply the guidelines to the applications. We have Board members who believes that modern construction materials, all of which existed when the guidelines were written, should now be considered appropriate because they “last longer.”

A basic ignorance of the guidelines is not limited to the Board members. At a recent meeting, staff was asked to clarify how the guidelines addressed sliding doors. The response was completely in error. However, to staff’s credit, they did ask for a moment to check their misunderstanding, and came back to the Board with the correct regulation. But just to highlight that staff misunderstanding of the guidelines is surpassed only by Board disinterest in the guidelines, the Board quickly approved the application anyway without a single comment about why it was making such an exception to the clear prohibition in the guidelines.

Now, you may say, why throw the baby out with the bath water? Why not work towards reconnecting the Board’s decisions with the guidelines upon which it’s supposed to be making decisions? And that gets us to the final and most distressing culprit. For a number of reasons – age, fading interest, diminished energy, relocation – the “old guard” has largely disappeared, leaving really no advocacy for maintaining the integrity and application of the historic guidelines. In this vacuum, decisions are now made based on Board members’ purely subjective feelings about the aesthetics of a design rather than its conformance to any principles of historic preservation.

So this is where we have come, and we should think very seriously of accepting it rather than pretending something else. This is not some isolated sentiment, but one shared by at least three former members with a combined 18 years of experience on the MHRB. For example, another former chair of the committee, John Simonich, concurred, “I thank you for putting this forward. I whole heartedly agree with it.….I wish it were possible for the MHRB to be the body that it once was, but sadly I agree with you that that seems unlikely. It seems like the town is now run by the business interests and the locals have little to say in what is done.” Recently termed-out Board member Holm Kappler shared similar agreement, lamenting “I appreciate your memo and I must say that I don’t disagree with anything you have said about the state of the Board or the county staff.”

People will say, oh my, we need MHRB to be sure we don’t end up with McDonalds or Holiday Inn. No, no we don’t; the Planning Commission can do that. Or wait, what if everyone wants to install weather-proof doors and windows? Apparently, they already can if it’s permitted on one of the most historic buildings in town.

The simple truth is that the MHRB now only serves as the very last line of defense against the most egregious violations of the letter and spirit of preservation guidelines. And as such, this last line of defense does not require the cost, uncertainty, or bureaucratic challenges of the Mendocino Historical Review Board. The County should take steps necessary to reauthorize it so its purpose honestly aligns with its new reality.

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GREAT REDWOOD TRAIL AD AIRS ON NBC

by Mark Scaramella

California taxpayers probably paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a slick half-hour ad on NBC Bay Area Sunday night. It was quite the propaganda coup, although we doubt many people actually watch “OpenRoads with Doug McConnell.”

The Trail’s grandiosity was underscored by the contrast between the two principle presenters, the fairly fit Mr. McConnell and the contrasting unfit Elaine Hogan who doesn’t exactly come across as a poster woman for outdoor fitness that the Great Redwood Trail that she’s the point person for.

The show was paid for by the Great Redwood Trail organization (and a few associated parks and trails organizations) according to their funding list at the end of the ad, but, curiously, they never mentioned actual dollar amounts for either the “Trail” or the ad.

McConnell and Hogan were filmed cheerfully “biking” along a couple of short segments of the trail between Arcata and Eureka where, we were told, “500 people a day” use the trail. But the visuals contradicted the stat because, besides McConnell and Hogan, there were only one or two other hikers/bikers on the trail during the filming.

Of course, because it was a paid ad, there was the expected gross simplification of the Trail project which “will stretch for 307 miles from San Francisco to Arcata.”

Viewers were told of all the wonderful stuff that will accompany the Trail: Exhibitions! Interpretive signage! Museums! Native American tributes! Bike rentals! River raft rentals! Birding! (There were no birds during the filming which the narrator said was because it was a windy day (?).) Viewers were also told that the Trail “will revitalize economy of the entire region” and bring jobs!

A nature conservation non-profit called the “Wildlands Conservancy” has purchased 18.5 miles of Eel River Canyon (price and source of funding not mentioned, of course) and chirpy reps from that organization were interviewed with more giddy wild promises about the trail with vague phrases like “when the Great Redwood Trail is finished…” They at least acknowledged that the Eel River Canyon itself is “very remote,” and “only a few people will venture into it,” as they rafted down their “one little part” of the river and pointed up to the inaccessible collapsing old tracks where the Trail is proposed to run someday.

The entire half hour was accompanied by the familiar KZYX-style hum&strum that is supposed to evoke the back country but has become trite and a symbol of pot smoking neo-hippies and silliness nowadays.

Besides McConnell’s NBC crew which filmed the very abbreviated bike riding and river rafting segments, all the dramatic photos and aerial film of the nearly inaccessible Eel River Canyon were provided by the oh-so helpful Great Redwood Trail staff.

As the chuckling rafters floated down the relatively calm (during the filming anyway) and “very remote” Eel, we couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if something went wrong. A raft capsizes, an injury occurs, a medical emergency arises, an accident, a missing person or child, a drug episode, lighting, escaped campfires, a crime…

Funny, there was no mention of any of that kind of thing.

And there certainly wasn’t any mention of the many criticisms and complaints from critics and neighboring property owners.

They never made it to the five mile Ukiah segment of the Trail from the shiny metal buildings north of Ukiah to the scenic sewage treatment plant on the south, Supervisor Maureen Mulheren’s own home-segment. Perhaps that will covered in an upcoming ad.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, July 22, 2024

JOSHUA BONNET, Leggett. Reckless evasion.

BHAKTI DILLENBECK, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-under influence. (Frequent flyer.)

ROBERT LEWIS, Monroe, Louisiana/Ukiah. Assault with firearm, use of firearm, priors within ten years.

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ATMAN HAS THE ANSWER, CRAIG THE QUESTION

Enlightened, Liberated While Alive, Parabrahman

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Watching the body type these words, and watching the mind think about the global chaos which characterizes this civilization, while sending out networking messages to realize coherence for the sake of direct action.  That's what I am doing tonight.  Feel free to contact me with your specifics.  What are we going to do ritually?  How are we going to collectively bring in the spiritual mojo?  What are we going to do in the face of this crazy American presidential spectacle?  What about global warming, as the planet fries? And shall we discuss the international situation?  

Let us all identify with the Immortal Atman centered in the heart chakra.  Then we may take action together! That is Divine Intervention. 

Craig Louis Stehr <craiglouisstehr@gmail.com>

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ANOTHER HEAT WAVE IS HITTING CALIFORNIA THIS WEEK. WHEN WILL IT END?

by Anthony Edwards

A strong area of high pressure continues to dominate West Coast weather this July, contributing to what could wind up as the hottest month on record in several western states.

After a brief weekend cool-down, hot weather will return to California on Monday. Temperatures are forecast to hit the triple digits in the Central Valley and parts of the Bay Area, prompting the National Weather Service to issue excessive heat warnings and advisories, which go into effect at 11 a.m. Monday and are set to expire Wednesday evening.

It’s the fourth round of excessive heat warnings or advisories issued this month by the weather service office in Monterey, which covers a majority of the Bay Area counties.

In San Jose the weather service forecasts highs of 93, 96 and 92 from Monday through Wednesday, respectively. Three more 90-degree days would make 13 this month in San Jose, a new record. Sacramento has hit or exceeded 100 degrees 13 days this July, four shy of a record 17 set in 1988.

This month is the hottest on record in numerous other western U.S. cities, including Las Vegas, Reno, Fresno and Portland, Ore. Through July 20, the average temperature in Redding this month is 91.9 degrees, more than 3 degrees higher than the current hottest month on record, August 1967.

Summers have been warming rapidly across the West in recent years. Anthropogenic, or human-caused, fossil fuel emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, resulting in global warming.

The record-breaking heat is being caused by a stubborn area of high pressure, also known as a ridge, that has parked itself over the West since the month began. Summertime high-pressure systems result in sunny skies and hot weather, deflecting storms well to the north.

The map below shows an area of anomalous high pressure over the western U.S. from July 1 to 19. Warm colors correlate with unusually high atmospheric pressure, with the largest anomaly centered over the Pacific Northwest.

After weakening slightly over the weekend, the ridge will again expand into California on Monday. By Wednesday, upper atmospheric pressure is predicted to exceed the 99th percentile over Central California, and the 99.9th percentile over Las Vegas. This would be one of the strongest high-pressure systems on record for late July.

However, there are signs that this resilient ridge will break down late in the week. Weather models predict a low-pressure system will swing across Northern California late Friday into Saturday morning. The system is expected to usher in cooler air in its wake and put an end to the marathon heat event.

“Latest guidance continues to show a steady transition toward a more typical summertime pattern,” the Weather Prediction Center wrote in an online forecast. “Expect the strong ridge initially over the West (producing hazardous heat from the West into the northern High Plains) to become weaker and more suppressed.”

(SFgate)

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TEENAGE WASTELAND

by Marilyn Davin

I was midway into my first cup of coffee one long-ago morning when my 16-year-old daughter plopped her one-gloved self (it was the height of Michael Jackson mania) down at the kitchen table and informed me that she was getting a tattoo. I put my cup down and looked at her full-on to make sure she was paying attention before saying something along the lines of “Over my dead body you will.”

Oh, the angst, the tears, the hysteria as she raged that she wanted a tattoo and was going to get one. It was her body and she could do with it whatever she wanted.

“Wrong,” I said. “You are a minor.” I further explained that if she unwisely got a tattoo I would hunt down the ink parlor and not rest until it was shut down for illegally tattooing a minor. The possibility of such a scandal involving her parent (the horror!) quieted her right down. She did finally get her tattoo on her 18th birthday and then spent thousands of dollars to have it removed a few years later when she started teaching.

I enjoyed my kids’ teenaged years; sharing their world views and passionate ideals was exciting stuff. It’s what young people have always done, what they are meant to do; they’re exploring their expanding worlds and testing their own often confusing places within it. Parents do themselves and their kids a disservice when they discount their opinions and evolving beliefs; it’s a natural part of growing up.

But that exploration, however hotly expressed, doesn’t mean that they’re legally adults. The law recognizes, as does anyone who has raised a teenager, that kids don’t always make the best decisions during their tumultuous young-adult years, and that parents can and should override them (like getting those pesky tattoos). Navigating these uncharted waters is tricky, and changes over generations. An inter-galactic visiting alien, if one ever landed here, would no doubt be befuddled by the actual practice of this philosophy. On the one hand if you’re not old enough to vote, or to buy booze, tobacco, or a firearm, how can you on the other hand be tried as an adult in a court of law or sent out, M-16 in hand, to kill a bunch of people you’ve never seen on the other side of the world? This is the philosophical conundrum, the murky transitional time between childhood and adulthood.

California’s new law prohibiting teachers from informing parents if their students show signs of switching their genders was only necessary because some conservative, MAGA-inclined parents have succeeded elsewhere in doing the exact opposite: legally requiring teachers to inform parents if their students change, for example, their personal pronouns or exhibit other signs of gender change.

Such expressions of underage gender identity change kick über-conservative parents squarely in the gut of their sex-obsessed worst fears: that “permissive” school policies somehow have the power to change their kids in unwanted (in this case sexual) ways, even down to changing their genders. This fear, like many if not most fears, is both highly emotional and wholly unsupported by the facts, despite Elon Musk’s very public charge that he’s moving part of his company to Texas because California schools turned one of his kids transgender. For a mega-ego like Musk it must have been inconceivable that he could not dictate his child’s sexuality, however impossible the task.

The new parental notification ban should never have risen to the level of state law; it only did so because California, like every other state, ultimately genuflects to business rather than to kids’ mental health, allowing Big Tech to roll along in its unfettered, unregulated, multi-billion-dollar way despite increasing evidence that non-stop screen time, offering up the unedited world 24/7 for all to see, largely contributes to teen depression, violence, and other psychic ills. So parents, most both working full time to provide food and a roof over their families’ heads, turn to what they think they may be able to actually influence – like public school policy. Many look out at the wasteland of our crumbling communities and failing education system and fear what kind of future awaits their kids. What parent wouldn’t?

In a rational world, during parent-teacher conferences teachers and parents should be able to rely upon their collective common sense and shared concerns to openly share their observations of their students or kids with compassion and thoughtfulness and without a political playbook, whatever one’s beliefs. My old friend Kitty, a retired high school teacher in rural Connecticut, summed this up nicely during a recent conversation. She explained that, as a high school teacher, she did not take up secondary roles. What she meant by that was that she was not a psychologist who counseled her students or a cop who toted a gun in her classroom. “I was a high school teacher,” she said simply.

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ANTHONY BOURDAIN

“…I understand that inside me there is a greedy, gluttonous lazy hippie. I understand that free time is probably my enemy. That if I’m given too much free time to contemplate the mysteries of the universe, I’m afraid of that inner hippie emerging. There’s a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, and smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons, and old movies. I could easily do that. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy. It goes back to heroin—if heroin, or delicious delicious food, is the Number One thing on the to-do list everyday, there probably won’t be a Number Two thing on your Things To-Do list, you know. I paid my dues as a line cook in the New York restaurant racket, at a time when it was full of crooks and hard drugs; I was a junkie for years. I was 44, I was uninsured, I was broke, and I was dunking fries into a fast-food fryer. ‘Kitchen Confidential’ was a hit with the foodies—but even more so with voyeurs on the outside, in the way l portrayed the people who live for food as hustlers who are driven, obsessive, damaged, drug-gobbling, nasty pieces of work. I was a long-time drug addict, and one of the things drug addiction did, especially when you have to score cocaine or heroin everyday on the streets of New York—you learn a lot of skills that are useful when dealing with Hollywood or the business world …You don’t fall victim to amateur bullshit when you’ve put up with professional bullshit.”

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ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAVE TAKEN BURNING MAN TO TASK. HERE'S THEIR LATEST RESPONSE.

by Greta Reich

By 2030, Burning Man will be carbon-negative and ecologically regenerative. At least, that’s the goal.

Following years of controversy over Burning Man’s increasingly unsustainable festivities, which led to a protest last year that blocked the entrance to the event, the project on Friday shared its progress toward a carbon-negative Burning Man at its fifth annual sustainability report call.

Each year, organizers share updates regarding the project’s 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap, which has three goals: to “Handle waste ecologically,” to “Be Regenerative” and to “Remove more carbon from the environment than we put into it” by 2030. Much of it comes back to one of Burning Man’s 10 original principles written in 2004 by co-founder Larry Harvey: Leave no trace.

As of this year, about 52% of camps are working toward the sustainability roadmap, according to Burning Man Project associate director of city planning Bryant Tan, and the plan is for this year’s temple to be built with carbon neutrality in mind.

Burning Man’s climate controversy largely surrounds the carbon emissions that it produces. The festival calculated that an estimated 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide are emitted each year, according to a 2019 article in Dezeen, an architecture and design magazine.

Its carbon footprint is a combination of event operations (45% of the footprint) and participant activities (55% of the footprint), according to George Reed III, the director of regeneration for BMP.

Burning Man uses a three-pillar framework to address the climate issue: technological, policy-based and cultural. It’s the cultural piece that the event’s organizers are most concerned with, according to Christopher Breedlove, BMP’s director of civic activation.

“My hope is that our efforts can also serve as a message of hope and inspiration that we can all bring back to our default world communities where the real magic and change can happen,” Reed said during the call.

But the call failed to address a primary complaint about Burning Man’s sustainability: the oversight of MOOP, or matter out of place, pickup after the event.

In the past two years particularly, burners have left above-average amounts of MOOP in Black Rock City, partly due to the extreme heat and extreme mud that the past two years saw.

Reno residents have been complaining of trash left behind at the site for years. In 2019, BMP had to adapt to changes recommended in the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental impact statement. Last year, it just barely passed the Bureau of Land Management inspection after the event.

What the call did address was how carbon emissions are being handled on the operations and participant side. Burning Man is replacing its generators with renewable diesel and introducing alternative means of power, like running multiple batteries in parallel in a single system to decrease the total number of generators needed.

These improvements should save 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of fuel and “if things go according to plan for this event, we will reduce our carbon impact of producing power for the infrastructure by more than 65% in just three years’ time,” said Chris Neary, associate director of Burning Man’s department of public works.

But the majority of carbon emissions come from participants, an effect that has been exacerbated by the increasing number of participants. Attendees went from 35,000 people in 2004 to about 73,000 in 2023, increasing the number of vehicles going to and from the site as well as the number of elaborate displays that require climate-unfriendly resources.

On an individual level, many burners are aligned with the sustainability road map.

For example, Marcus De Paula’s camp — Bao Chicka Wow Wow — has a goal to be the largest food offering camp with completely renewable energy, using solar panels as both power and shade structure, De Paula said on the call.

Bao Chicka Wow Wow camp is going into its ninth year at Burning Man, and this year, it plans on bringing an all-electric art car in addition to offering assembly kits and hosting build weekends so other camps can follow its environmental lead.

Camps interested in climate change activism, like De Paula’s, have been at Burning Man for most of its years. In 2007, the year that Burning Man’s theme was the Green Man, one display created a giant mushroom cloud to draw attention to extreme waste and pollution. Ironically, they used 2,000 gallons of propane and 900 gallons of jet fuel to power it.

Some of the more recent attendees have become a reason for further controversy in themselves, according to Vox, mainly due to their Silicon Valley tech billionaire status and use of private jets and gas-guzzling RVs.

The call ended with a statement from BMP co-founder and chief culture officer Harley K. Dubois.

“We started off with just a bunch of underground hipsters going to the desert but there was creativity, there was the spirit of innovation, this ingenuity,” Dubois said. “To see how far it’s come and how inspiring you are all now and how we can have an impact with people that never even come to Burning Man is really very rewarding to me.”

(SFgate)

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DONALD TRUMP DONATED TO KAMALA HARRIS’ A.G. CAMPAIGN

by Brian Niemietz

Donald Trump donated to the campaign of the woman he’ll likely run against to be the nation’s 47th president.

Online records managed by California’s Secretary of State indicate Trump gave $5,000 to Kamala Harris in 2011 when she ran to become California’s attorney general. He would later donate another $1,000 to help Harris keep that job she held from 2011 to 2017 before she became a senator.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump also gave $2,000 to Harris’s campaign.

Vice President Harris became the Democratic party’s likely nominee for president Sunday when President Joe Biden said he would not seek a second term. Pressure for Biden, 81, to drop out of the race came to a head in recent weeks after he performed poorly in a June debate with Trump, 78, who is now poised to become the oldest candidate on a presidential ballot. Biden endorsed Harris, 59, to take his place as the Democratic nominee.

Trump admitted to donating money to Democrats and Republicans running for political office when he campaigned for president in 2016.

“I gotta give to them,” he claimed. “Because when I want something, I get it. When I call, they kiss my a–.”

Trump starred on the reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice” from 2008 to 2015. He also ran a real estate empire that paid $750 in taxes in 2016, according to the New York Times.

Despite donating to Harris’ campaigns in California, Trump referred to her as a “badly failing presidential candidate” in 2019 when she challenged Biden for the Democratic party’s nomination. The party will officially name a nominee next month during its convention in Chicago.

(SF Chronicle)

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I think when we get men physically fit it has to be done the hard way. There is no substitute for going through the daily grind - no matter what people might say. Once it was said that there was no substitute for experience - well, there is no substitute for work in getting into physical condition. After the daily grind has gone on and a man is in good physical condition and his courage and morale increase, then we can give him competitive games to play to develop that will to win on the baseball diamond or on the gridiron or in the prize ring.'

— Gene Tunney

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TOTALLY, HOPELESSLY OFF

Editor:

The American experiment is under attack. Institutionally, the attack emanates from educational, governmental, corporate and journalistic elites. Ideologically, it is shaped by atheistic humanism, evolutionism and neo-Marxism. Since so many seem ready to reject our great experiment in ordered liberty, we do well to consider it afresh.

It rests squarely on two pillars, largely derived from the biblical worldview. First, God exists: the creator, ruler, benefactor, lawgiver and judge of all nations. The experiment cannot succeed unless a majority of citizens honors and obeys him. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” John Adams wrote.

Secondly, mankind — God’s supreme creation — is fallen and sinful, given to various lusts, including the lust for power. Government is indeed necessary to protect the weak and innocent from the powerful; but it too can become corrupt and tyrannical. Therefore, said the founders, good government will confine itself to an administration of basic justice, incorporate healthy checks and balances and maximize the religious, economic and political freedom of the people. Beyond that, all must look to God.

And I pray we will, for I see no other way to, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, “nobly save the last best hope of earth.”

Dean Davis

Santa Rosa

ED REPLY: Read some history, Deano, and you'll discover that the Founding Fathers were mostly atheists, or deists, who set it up so only wealthy white boys like themselves could vote, a stipulation that restricted the franchise to about 7 percent of the population at the time. Additionally, having seen what religious fanaticism had done to Europe, the founding aristos separated church and state, a fact our latter day fanatics prefer not to hear. Finally, the reigning Democrats are conservative liberals, not neo-Marxists, whatever you mean by that boogeyman prevalent among Magats.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Whenever I consider Donald Trump in his entirety, my mind goes back to the Fall of 2020 when he did nothing to deal with the massive FRAUD, when he had the power to do so. Back then, there were quite a few folks who suggested that Trump exercise his prerogative to invoke an existing Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency, ironically under the Insurrection clause. Word was then that he feared the repercussions from such a radical act. Once again, the need to be loved, admired, thought well of, came forth (what will people think?). Also ironically, he got just what he wanted to avoid, i.e. having half the nation hate him. He should have just bit the bullet and done what needed to be done to protect the voting process in these United States as the Chief Executive. Donald Trump is a wussie. He has no backbone.

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MEDIA FAILURE (NUMBER 85 MILLION)

Editor:

Millions watched the presidential debate and saw that Joe Biden’s mental faculties have declined to the point of great concern. Those in conservative circles have known this. To others, this was a surprise. For this, we can blame the media. Recently, the media has made it their role to promote a narrative rather than simply report the news. Much of the news that we may find on the front page of our favorite newspaper is simply opinion barely fit for the opinion page. They see it as their job to censor, omit and spin to promote the Democratic Party. Doubt me? Thumb through today’s newspaper and tell me what you see is fair and unbiased.

Some will never be convinced. For they love to bask in their illusions. But what we witnessed at the debate was laid bare for all to see. If the media was doing their job, the president’s decline would have come as no surprise to anyone. But that is not the case. Perhaps I may be the first to point it out, but the emperor wears no clothes.

Shane Camozzi

Santa Rosa

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LEAD STORIES IN TUESDAY'S NYT

• Harris Clinches Majority of Delegates as She Closes In on Nomination
• Trump’s New Rival May Bring Out His Harshest Instincts
• Seeking Answers, Lawmakers From Both Parties Ask Secret Service Chief to Quit
• Frustrated Californians May Be Ready for a Tougher Approach to Crime
• A.I. Can Write Poetry, but It Struggles With Math

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WHO'S RUNNING THIS COUNTRY?

If it happened in Belarus, Burundi, or Myanmar, Joe Biden’s blitzkrieg withdrawal from the presidential race would have inspired eye rolls. We jettisoned an incumbent president’s re-election campaign with all the pomp of an NFL practice squad transition, announcing the move via a blip of a social media post. Only in America is anyone tempted to take such head-scratching events at face value.

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Is Joe Biden Alive?

It’s hashtag #ProofOfLife time, as the 2024 Presidential Election has somehow grown more improbable and absurd in the last 24 hours. Please tune in as Walter Kirn and I pop in for what we hope is one last emergency livestream, to cover the instant departure of Joe Biden, the first public remarks of Kamala Harris as frontrunner, and the lingering question: who’s really in charge?

Click here

https://substack.com/redirect/b9d417df-2dae-4d79-9fac-63d56dc81dd2?j=eyJ1IjoiOWdodzUifQ.bLemxattHAtyI0BvjsK94xWfaTSg9Q_2KyV-o_xCZTE

for YouTube.

(Matt Taibbi)

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MY THOUGHTS ON BIDEN DROPPING OUT

by Chris Hedges

Joe Biden was discarded by the same billionaire class he assiduously served throughout his political career. Barely able to stumble his way through the words on a TelePrompter and not always cognizant of what is happening around him, his billionaire supporters pulled the plug. He was their creature – he has been in federal office for 47 years - from start to finish. He was used as a foil to defeat Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries and was anointed as the candidate in 2024 in a Soviet-style primary campaign. The billionaire class will now anoint someone else. Democratic Party voters are stage props in this political farce. Donald Trump, unlike Kamala Harris or any other apparatchik the billionaire class selects as a presidential candidate, has a genuine and committed base, however fascistic.

In Hitler and the Germans, the political philosopher Eric Vogelin dismisses the idea that Hitler — gifted in oratory and political opportunism but poorly educated and vulgar — mesmerized and seduced the German people. The Germans, he writes, supported Hitler and the “grotesque, marginal figures” surrounding him because he embodied the pathologies of a diseased society, one beset by economic collapse and hopelessness. Voegelin defines stupidity as a “loss of reality.” The loss of reality means a “stupid” person cannot “rightly orient his action in the world, in which he lives.” The demagogue, who is always an idiote, is not a freak or social mutation. The demagogue expresses the society’s zeitgeist.

Biden and the Democratic Party are responsible for this zeitgeist. They orchestrated the deindustrialization of the United States, ensuring that 30 million workers lost their jobs in mass layoffs. As I write in America, The Farewell Tour, this assault on the working class created a crisis that forced the ruling elites to devise a new political paradigm. Trumpeted by a compliant media, this paradigm shifted its focus from the common good to race, crime and law and order. Biden was at the epicenter of this paradigm shift. Those undergoing profound economic and political change were told that their suffering stemmed not from rampant militarism and corporate greed but from a threat to national integrity. The old consensus that buttressed New Deal programs and the welfare state was attacked as enabling criminal Black youth, “welfare queens” and other alleged social parasites. This opened the door to a faux populism, begun by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, which supposedly championed family values, traditional morality, individual autonomy, law and order, the Christian faith and the return to a mythical past, at least for white Americans. The Democratic Party, especially under Bill Clinton and Biden, became largely indistinguishable from the establishment Republican Party to which it is now allied.

The Democratic Party refuses to accept its responsibility for the capture of democratic institutions by a rapacious oligarchy, the grotesque social inequality, the cruelty of predatory corporations and an unchecked militarism. The Democrats will anoint another amoral politician, probably Harris, to use as a mask for outsized corporate greed, the folly of endless war, the facilitation of genocide and the assault on our most basic civil liberties. The Democrats, tools of Wall Street, gave us Trump, and the 74 million people who voted for him in 2020. They look set to give us Trump again. God help us.

(chrishedges.substack.com)

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TRUCK DRIVER Robert Nuher and his family gathered around the television in 1949, at a time when screens first invaded the American living room. A new station had just debuted in the Nuhers’ hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.

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CONGRESSIONAL DAY OF INFAMY: JULY 24, 2024

by Ralph Nader

Unless the GOP in Congress has a last-minute rethinking, P.M. Netanyahu of Israel will enjoy his record-setting fourth address to a Joint Session of Congress on July 24, 2024. Scores of Democrats are boycotting the event. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Netanyahu is committing mass murders/war crimes and killing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, most of them children and women, blowing up their crucial life-saving facilities and wounding the survivors rendered homeless and defenseless against Biden-provided deadly weapons.

Netanyahu’s first address to Congress was on July 10, 1996, when a younger Netanyahu promised to end U.S. aid to a prosperous Israel and received a standing ovation. He obviously has broken this promise, as his U.S. lobbies have demanded tens of billions of more U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Netanyahu’s third address to Congress on March 3, 2015 bypassed President Barack Obama in an arrogant breach of protocol. The supine Congress gave him many standing ovations.

The push for Netanyahu’s forthcoming address was spearheaded by the fanatic GOP House Speaker Michael Johnson (R-LA) who easily politically intimidated House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer into going along.

Johnson’s invitation has outraged many Israelis – majorities of whom despise Netanyahu, who is under indictment by Israeli prosecutors for corruption and because of his attacks on the judiciary and destruction of their protest rights.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN regarding the invitation to Netanyahu “I think this is wrong.” Hundreds of House and Senate staffers are signing petitions urging Democratic lawmakers to protest or boycott it. The staffers pointed to “bombings of schools, hospitals, and mosques” and a “campaign of mass starvation against Palestinian children” in addition to censoring media coverage of the devastation.

Noting that world opinion is overwhelmingly against Netanyahu’s genocidal war on Gaza, the staffers’ letter emphasized that “Israelis have been protesting in the streets for months, decrying his failure to negotiate a ceasefire and release of hostages.”

An outstanding affirmation of these sentiments by Congressional staff came on June 26, 2024 in an op-ed in the New York Times by six very prominent Israelis, including a former prime minister, titled “We Are Israelis Calling on Congress to Disinvite Netanyahu.” It is pertinent to present an excerpt from this urgent dispatch, as follows:

“WE ARE ISRAELIS CALLING ON CONGRESS TO DISINVITE NETANYAHU

by David Harel, Tamir Pardo, Talia Sasson, Ehud Barak, Aaron Ciechanover and David Grossman

The leaders of the U.S. Congress have invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to address a joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives on July 24. Normally, we Israelis would consider the invitation recognition of our two nations’ shared values and a welcome gesture from our closest friend and ally, to whom we are deeply and morally indebted.

But Congress has made a terrible mistake. Mr. Netanyahu’s appearance in Washington will not represent the State of Israel and its citizens, and it will reward his scandalous and destructive conduct toward our country.

We come from a variety of areas of Israeli society: science, technology, politics, defense, law and culture. We are thus in a good position to assess the overall effect of Mr. Netanyahu’s government, and like many, we believe that he is driving Israel downhill at an alarming speed, to the extent that we may eventually lose the country we love.

To date, Mr. Netanyahu has failed to come up with a plan to end the war in Gaza and has been unable to gain the freedom of scores of hostages. At the very least, an invitation to address Congress should have been contingent upon resolving these two issues and, in addition, calling for new elections in Israel.

Inviting Mr. Netanyahu will reward his contempt for U.S. efforts to establish a peace plan, allow more aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza and do a better job of sparing civilians. Time and again, he has rejected President Biden’s plan to remove Hamas from power in Gaza through the establishment of a peacekeeping force. Such a move would very likely bring in its wake a far broader regional alliance, including a vision to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is not only in Israel’s interest but also in the interest of both political parties in the United States. Mr. Netanyahu constitutes the main obstacle to these outcomes.

The man who will address Congress next month has failed to assume responsibility for the blunders that allowed the Hamas assault, initially blaming security chiefs (then quickly backtracking), and has yet to announce the establishment of a direly needed state commission of inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge to look into the fiasco.

…

Above all, many Israelis are convinced that Mr. Netanyahu has obstructed proposed deals with Hamas that would have led to the release of the hostages in order to keep the war going and thus avoid the inevitable political reckoning he will face when it ends.

…

For months now, many of us have participated in nationwide demonstrations demanding an immediate release of the hostages, an end to the war and immediate elections. Polls of Israelis show that a majority want immediate elections, or elections right at the end of the war.

A large portion of Israelis have lost faith in Mr. Netanyahu’s government.

…

That’s where Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress fits in with his political needs. No doubt it will be carefully stage-managed to prop up his shaky hold on power and allow him to boast to his constituents about America’s so-called support for his failed policies.

His supporters in Israel will be emboldened by his appearance in Congress to insist that the war continue, which will further distance any deal to secure the release of the hostages, including several U.S. citizens.

Giving Mr. Netanyahu the stage in Washington will all but dismiss the rage and pain of his people, as expressed in the demonstrations throughout the country. American lawmakers should not let that happen. They should ask Mr. Netanyahu to stay home.”

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This full communication to the American people can be seen either in the New York Times or the Congressional Record of July 11, 2024.

There will be mass protests outside Congress on July 24th by Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace and other civic groups. But there would be a great benefit for boycotters like Senator Bernie Sanders, Progressive House Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, and Cong. Mark Pocan to secure a House Committee Room and invite, via Zoom, these six leading Israelis to testify before the media on the same day. These messages could reach the grisly, complicit architects of this disgraceful defamation of the Peoples’ Legislature more than the bullhorns of the upstanding peaceful protestors kept far away by the security police.

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DISPATCHES FROM ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASS

by Carlos Martinez

Intro: This is an absolutely true account of what went on at “Anger Management Class,” which I was forced to attend as part of my so-called “punishment.” I have not used student names, but all quotes and attributions are verbatim. Every description of why each particular student was in this class is exactly what they said. Admin One is David Strand, and Admin Two is Gaia Mika. They're still at CU, and they're still doing this ridiculous crap.

The “Managing Anger Constructively” class is put on by two administrators; there are only six of us, but two administrators. To borrow from Dr. Seuss, I will call them Admin One and Admin Two.

They are both in the room

they want us to have fun,

Admin Two

and Admin One.

I am asked to sign-in by Admin One. I am not here to punch a time clock, so I refuse to sign. I am merely here to “attend,” this “class,” which is exactly as I have been instructed to do.

Starting off our class, Admin One and Admin Two want to lay out some ground rules.

First, we are going to take a vow of confidentiality — this is done without actually having taken a vow … apparently we are just supposed to nod in assent, or something. We are told that we can’t talk to other people about what goes on in here. So, of course, I openly start taking notes.

Second, if we need a letter to show that we have attended the class, we must first sign a release of authorization.

Finally, for us to be in this group, we are being asked to participate. The Admins tell us that if we are not going to participate, then there isn’t any point in showing up and just sitting here. Admin Two says, “We expect you to participate.” We are not asked to agree — it just is.

Let the healing begin…

Getting started, we go around the table and say our names. Since we're supposed to be bonding, this group of a bunch of so-called angry people, we are actually going to tell our best AA-style anger confessions about why we are here.

My name is Carlos, and I am angry.

After listening to the confessions told from around the table I am convinced of one thing: These people need stupidity management, not anger management.

Our first student, Student One, is here because he got drunk and punched out a window in his dorm — for no reason. But, he says, he’s a pretty laid back guy. Right…

Student Two blathers on for ten minutes just to get to the punch line: He got into a fight with another student over name calling. Just like in grade school. His parents must be proud. This fight got him kicked out of student housing. That easily doubled the cost of school. His parents are really loving him now. He had to meet with Matthew Lopez-Phillips. His best quote: “Lopez-Phillips is just a dick.” Student Two is also a laid back guy, he was just chillin'…

Student Three is another drinking and dorms story. Playing loud music … “somehow” the Room Administrator got pushed … the room got searched … and there was alcohol in room. Any trouble with anger? He says, “Not really, I was just really drunk.” Yeah, he's on the Honor Roll. Student Two gives Student Three some moral support and says, “I don’t know how that really relates to anger.” Exactly…

Student Four is the only female student here and she tells a riveting tale about when she was drunk … in the dorms. Of course! Why else would she be here? Their Room Administrator came by, but in a deft move the students do not go to the door and instead they pretend they're sleeping. (The old I'm-5-years-old-and-I-can-fool-my-parents-trick.) It didn’t work. The girl brandishes her misconduct at the rest of us and says, “They didn’t find any alcohol because we had, uh, like, hidden it.” When Admin Two asks if she is angry, the girl says, “I guess, like, yeah, when I get drunk, I get angry.” More moral support arrives from Student Two, he says, “It’s bullshit.” Fight the power, man, fight the power…

The stories are all the same, only the names, and the names of the dorms, seem to change. And, I could be wrong, but none of these students are even old enough to purchase alcohol. So, you know, there's that — but then we're here about “anger.”

The final story also involves alcohol, and fighting. Student Five, another self-described “laid back” guy says, there was no choice — another person took a swing at him, what else was he supposed to do? Window punching student, Student One, he agrees, “Sometimes you have to fight. It’s instinct.” Admin One says, “I disagree with you about that, but I hear what you are saying.” Those are professionally honed listening skills that I have just witnessed. Wow!

It is now my turn, the table has come full circle. I consider saying, “This one time, at band camp…” Instead, I politely remark that I have nothing to say.

Admin One and Admin Two are not pleased — and before I can see them high-five into action, I am tag-teamed. Wonder Twin powers, activate! Admin One: Form of, shared understanding. Admin One launches the ground rules at me. But I politely say, “Sorry, that is not my problem.” (I'm here to “attend,” remember?) Admin Two: Shape of, an assertion. Admin Two swings into action with: “No point in just sitting here.” Air-swing, it fails to connect. I get no moral support from Student Two. Where's the love, man? Admin Two swings another assertion and states that she does not want me to attend, and I am asked to leave. Yeah, well, sorry, that is not my problem. Wonder Twin powers, deactivate!

I suggest to Admin Two that she should call University Counsel, because apparently no one bothered to give her the four-one-one. “I will do that,” she snaps. I don't like her tone. I hear myself saying, “Knock yourself out,” but I think she hears, “Go fuck yourself.” And now Student Two finally chimes in, “I think anger is okay if there is a good reason.”

My name is Carlos, and I am angry.

Moving on, Admin One is going to tell us what “anger” is. It is a very natural emotion, a state of physiological arousal; another way of saying that would be: Preparedness. Anger is a state of arousal of readiness. (Uhh… what?) But what we do about that is up to us. While the question is fresh in the air, Admin One and Admin Two have a handout. Of course, I do not take one. Admin One and Admin Two have duly noted this. I brace for their Wonder Twin powers…

We are going to talk about feelings as messenger… I sure have a message I want to send at this point. But I don’t. This probably belies my need for anger management.

They continue: We get mixed messages from our culture. Oh no, how do we make sense of it all? Admin One says that boys can’t cry; boys aren’t supposed to be scared. All we have is being mad. Admin Two says that the worst thing for girls is to be mad, “It’s just not okay.” But we have powers.

We have powers, like “Superman,” and (to show our gender sensitivity) “Superwoman.” It is like the power to fly. But, we have to know how to use the power. If we over-use the power, then it would be like Superman taking off, and crashing into a building. That would be bad. And when the powers get twisted, then we don’t have the power. The underlying message is, we must use the force. When we are not using it well, it's using us. (I am not making this up, I swear to God I am not.)

Admin One and Admin Two talk about the four powers. Glad. Sad. Scared. Mad. Glad is good. But too much glad is not good, it is “out of touch with reality.” Sad is a power too. Student Two says it tells you what’s important to you. The girl, Student Four, she says, “I think I get a lot of joy feeling sad [laughs nervously] — I don’t know why.” Admin One imparts this wisdom: “Being sad helps us get through a lot; it’s pretty healing.”

With this knowledge, I feel like I can face the day. As God as my witness, I'll never get angry again.

“Let’s talk about the power of Scared. What might be the power in that?,” Admin One asks. The girl says, “I hate being scared.” Admin Two says, “Yeah, not fun.” The empathy just oozes from her. Student Two says, “It’s like snowboarding … and duh … duh … duh.” This goes on for some time. Out of nowhere Admin Two says, “I think anger is often the energy of change.” Energy. I cannot believe she is actually talking about energy. I think I feel an aneurysm developing.

We have a homework assignment. This time I take the handout, so that I can report the facts of the “Anger Journal” we should be keeping. Here it is.

Class ends. Admin One and Admin Two make a point of saying “Thanks for your participation,” and then they shoot me a look.

This angers me… Just kidding. See you next week.

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Update: The next day, Admin Two, Gaia Mika, telephoned and asked me to come in for a meeting with Admin One and Admin Two, for Monday morning. I politely declined, of course, and requested she speak to my attorney. She became angry and abruptly ended the conversation.

Mika also said that I was being sent a letter and claimed she was going to fax it, but then never did. Maybe she was sending it via some other energy source.

Nonetheless, I sent a letter to the Director. The Director, Arnold Eldridge Greer, never bothered to respond.

Admin One, David Strand, and Admin Two, Gaia Mike, have both viewed this article several times. It made them angry. I'm sure it has been recorded in their Anger Journals.

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To: Carlos Martinez, Boulder, Colorado (CONFIDENTIAL)

April 12. As co-facilitators of our April Anger Management group at Counseling and Psychological Services: A Multicultural Center, we are following up on our conversation that took place in our initial group meeting of April 11th. We have determined that it is inappropriate for you to continue as a member in this group. We would like to offer you some referrals that might better be able to meet your needs. 1. Boulder County Mental Health Services, 447-1665, or 2. AMEND, 4448064.

If you wish to discuss this matter we have given you some available times over the phone. Feel free to call either one of us (Dr. Strand at 492-2171 or Dr. Mika at 492-2162) if you wish to meet with us in person.

Sincerely, Gaia Mika, PhD and David Strand, PhD. Counseling and Psychological Services: A Multicultural Center; University of Colorado at Boulder.

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