Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Oct 12, 2014

• Giants Win
• Panthers Win
• Mendo Blab
• Java w/Jared
• Raid Misconduct
• Catch of the Day
• Hire Hunter
• Bandit Billboards
• MCDH Bankrupt
• Local Flavor
• Heavy Metal Lover
• Hell Closed
• Nursing College
• Viral Boogeymen
• Jane Dornacker
• Frack Contamination
• DC Stehr

GIANTS BEAT CARDINALS 3-0 in the opening game of the National League pennant championship series.

Good pitching from Madison Bumgarner, clean defense and a few mistakes by the Midwest inheritors of the Bob Gibson and Stan Musial mojo were all the scrappy San Francisco Giants needed to take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series. On Sunday, former Boston Red Sox veteran Jake Peavy will attempt to give the Giants a 2-0 lead before the Giants return to San Francisco on Tuesday.

A PRE-GAME assessment in the wonderfully various Elk blog by Paul McCarthy (https://www.facebook.com/mendocinosportsplus) of Friday Night’s homecoming game between the Mendocino Cardinals and the undefeated Anderson Valley Panthers:

“Anderson Valley fans have told MSP thy have the NCL III title ‘in the bag’ and ‘no one can stop us having an undefeated season.’

“Well, we believe Mendocino can stop them and, if they do TWO things, the Cards will walk away from the Anderson Valley homecoming game tonight (7pm) the winner.

First, they have to stop the "unstoppable" Cesar Soto - something no team has managed to do so far this year.

“Soto IS the AV offense. He scored on his second touch of the ball (48-yard TD run) on Mendocino the last time the two teams met and accounted for 34 of the 42 points the Boonville team scored.

“The second, critical, element is not having any ‘dumb’ penalties — four last week caused the loss of FOUR touchdowns. It's simply too late in the season not to know what a ‘block in the back’ is.

“Mendocino has to hit on all cylinders tonight if they expect a victory. Everyone, from the Josh Pescini kick offs to the ‘wrapping up’ of the tacklers on defense, has to be spot on.

“Potter Valley had a fabled running back a few years ago that single-handedly beat the Cards — the following game he didn't collect 50 yards for all his efforts. That has to happen tonight.

“Mendo's offense has to click too. The team registered only one TD last time they faced Anderson Valley — a Preston Salmans 79-yard kickoff return.

“It seemed AV had an answer for every offensive (and defensive) formation Mendo put on the field last game — they even recovered an onside kick on Mendo! With a little patience, and taking the ‘Soto Factor’ out of the game by limiting his ‘end arounds’ and ‘cut backs,’ the Cardinals should be to handle the Panthers tonight.”

SOTO is a big school-quality runner. He's got speed and, for a little guy, he hits hard and very fast. No way Mendo can contain him. Additionally, sophomore quarterback Tony Pardini Jr. can throw to at least two guys who can catch. And Anderson Valley's defense is very tough. AV has four or five kids who'd be starting at Ukiah High School. Mendo doesn't have the speed and versatility to keep up with Boonville.

THIS IS BEING written five hours before kickoff so we shall see what we shall see.

WE DIDN'T KNOW until we read mendocinosportsplus that Mendocino High School, for the first time in 29 years Mendocino did not field a soccer team. The late Jon Shepherd would not be pleased. He moved mountains to get soccer established at the school, and devoted thousands of hours to it.

* * *

UPDATE: PANTHERS WIN. Early on it seemed like Mendo was containing Soto on the rough, dry, dusty Fairgrounds field, but as the game wore on the Cardinals became less and less able to do it and Soto was routinely making 8, 12, 15 yard gainers, much of it on his own. Kuny sent in Cedric ‘The Refrigerator’ Johnson for several short yardage plays and even though it was absolutely predictable, Johnson came through with first downs (and a couple of TDs) most of the time. RB and defensive tackle Jared Johnston and QB Tony Pardini played fine games and the Panther defense contained the determined but overmatched Mendo offense throughout most of the game. Final score: Panthers 52-Cardinals 21. Panthers remain undefeated and are now odds on favorite for the League Championship.

* * *

Just in from MendocinoSportsPlus:

CARDS FALLS 52-21 TO ANDERSON VALLEY IN BOONVILLE

Mendocino managed to “throttle down” Anderson Valley running back Cesar Soto, but the Boonville boys just had too much for the Cardinals Friday night at the Fairgrounds. Mendo gave a good account of themselves but “mental errors” plagued the team as did senseless penalties that provided Anderson Valley with good field position.

There’s a chance the teams could meet again – if Mendo can win the rest of their games – they’d meet in the 2nd Annual “Redwood Bowl” November 7th, but they have to get by Point Arena for that honor and the Pirates are the only team to stay with Anderson Valley this season (losing 34-28).

Here’s the scoring tonight:

BOX SCORE

MENDOCINO CARD 0 08 06 07 = 21

ANDERSONVALLEY 6 14 24 08 = 52

SCORING

FIRST QUARTER

1:43 AV – Cedric Johnson 1 yard run. PAT pass failed
. AV 6-0

SECOND QUARTER

11:52 Mendo – Preston Salmans 23-yrd pass to Savion Cook. Salmans PAT run
. Mendo 8-6

8:00 AV – Tony Pardini 4-yard run, PAT run failed. AV 12-8

2:23 AV – Cesar Soto 12-yard run, PAT run Jared Johnston
. AV 20-8

THIRD QUARTER

10:29 Mendo – Ryan Whitman 14 yard run. PAT failed (penalty). AV 20-14

8:20 AV – Tony Pardini 1-yard run. PAT run Cesar Soto. AV 28-14.

4:31 AV – Josh Tavares 9-yard run, PAT run Jared Johnston. AV 36-14

:55 AV – Cedric Johnson 1-yard run, PAT run by Josh Tavares. AV 44-14

FOURTH QUARTER

7:10 AV – Cesar Soto 5-yard run, PAT run Michael Delagado. AV 52-14 Running clock started

4:09 Mendo – Trevor Sisneros 65-yard “hook & ladder” pass to Preston Salmans who shuffled ball off to Kyle Moore @ 15-yard line who scored. PAT kick Calum Hunnicutt

FINAL: AV 52 MENDO 21

UKIAH COUNCIL CANDIDATE MIRANDA MOTT includes this statement in her appeal to voters: “My platform centers on community empowerment, building a sustainable foundation, bridging gaps and taking action.”

Even by the standards of Mendo-blab…

CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN'S idea of a public meeting — “Coffee with your Congressman” — occurs Wednesday at the Mendocino County Museum in Willits from 8:30-10am. “Questions may be submitted ahead of time, but question cards will also be handed out to those at the event." And “Those planning to attend must RSVP to Heather Gurewitz by e-mail at heather.gurewitz@mail.house.gov.”

ALLEGATIONS OF POLICE MISCONDUCT in Marijuana Raids Spark Legal Action — Litany of alleged abuses masked by fear of reprisal and gray pot law

By Adrian Baumann, The Willits News

http://www.willitsnews.com/localnews/ci_26705643/allegations-police-misconduct-marijuana-raids-spark-legal-action

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 12, 2014

JAMES ANDEREGG, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

TINA CARILLO, Hopland. Forgery of vehicle registration, giving false ID to cop, driving without valid license, probation revocation.

LUIS GONZALEZ-AGUILAR, Willits. Probation revocation.

REFUJIO GONZALEZ, Manchester. Probation revocation.

EDWARD JOHNSON, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

JAMES LITTLE, Ukiah. DUI, probation revocation.

BRADLEY LUCIDO, Ukiah. Probation revocation, failure to appear.

BRANDON MARTIN, Willits. Possession of meth, offense while on bail.

CHRISTOPHER McNEILL, Fort Bragg. Forgery, receiving property in assumed character, probation revocation.

JASON RAY, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

FELIX SWEARINGER, Covelo. Prohibited person with firearm, vehicle theft, under influence of controlled substance, probation revocation.

CRYSTAL TERRY, Blue Lake/Ukiah. DUI.

CHERYL TURNER, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

MICHAEL TWILLEY, Ukiah. Domestic assault, domestic battery.

ROBERT VERVILLE II, Willits. Under influence of controlled substance, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

HUNTER S. THOMPSON'S 1958 COVER LETTER for a newspaper job...

October 1, 1958
57 Perry Street New York City

To Jack Scott, Vancouver Sun

Sir,

I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I'd also like to offer my services.

Since I haven't seen a copy of the "new" Sun yet, I'll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn't know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I'm not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley.

By the time you get this letter, I'll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I'll let my offer stand. And don't think that my arrogance is unintentional: it's just that I'd rather offend you now than after I started working for you.

I didn't make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he'd tell you that I'm "not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person." (That's a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.)

Nothing beats having good references.

Of course if you asked some of the other people I've worked for, you'd get a different set of answers.

If you're interested enough to answer this letter, I'll be glad to furnish you with a list of references — including the lad I work for now.

The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It's a year old, however, and I've changed a bit since it was written. I've taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you.

Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews.

I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don't give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations.

I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.

It's a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I'd enjoy the trip.

If you think you can use me, drop me a line.

If not, good luck anyway.

Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson

HUMCO GENERAL PLAN UPDATE:

Supes support permit-free billboard rebuilds

by Daniel Mintz

In considering the General Plan Update’s policies on billboards, a majority of supervisors has decided to change draft language and allow reconstruction of billboards without discretionary permits.

The Board of Supervisors took on one of the update’s most high profile issues when it reviewed the scenic resources section at an Oct. 6 hearing. On the table was a policy in the Planning Commission draft of the update that requires conditional use permits for construction of new billboards as well as repair or reconstruction of existing ones.

That’s highly relevant to the Highway 101 corridor between Arcata and Eureka, where billboards along Humboldt Bay have been targets of criticism – and vandalism. Others have blown down in storms and agencies like the North Coast Railroad Authority have clearly stated that bayside billboards in their rights-of-ways are unwanted.

Jim Hoff has invested in land to install billboards on and said he resents the presence of what he called “bandit billboards.” He said that unpermitted billboards are unfair to those whose billboards are permitted and properly zoned.

But most supervisors supported striking the Planning Commission’s inclusion of reconstruction as requiring a conditional use permit. Jen Kalt of Humboldt Baykeeper proposed what she described as a compromise – requiring landowner consent instead of permitting.

She said contracts or other consent mechanisms for billboards that have been up for decades are no longer relevant if public agencies that control the land they’re on now oppose them.

“CBS owns most of the ‘bandit billboards’ around here, they don’t have landowner permission” she said. Kalt added that discouraging vandalism is understandable but “we’re also trying to bend these rules to try to get rid of billboards that haven’t had landowner permission in decades.”

Many of the billboards along the Humboldt Bay shoreline are owned by CBS Outdoor. Walnut Creek attorney Sean Marciniak represented the company and focused on past conditions.

“It’s not a fair statement to stand up without any proof to stand up and say that CBS has erected these without landlord permission,” he said. He prefaced the statement by acknowledging that it’s been decades since some of the billboards were erected and said disputes “may arise about the property ownership.”

Supervisor Mark Lovelace supported Kalt’s proposal to require current landowner consent. Often the lone dissenter on policies supported by the property rights-conscious board majority, Lovelace evoked property rights principles in pressing for the landowner consent clause.

“I’m not hearing interest from the board in separating out reconstruction and requiring that the property owner actually have the right to say whether or not they want to see that billboard reconstructed,” he said. “But that’s the situation I see here -- there’s a burden of proof issue and I think it’s fair for the property owner to have the right to say whether or not they want to see that billboard go back up.”

But Marciniak countered that billboards are considered legal if they’ve gotten no violation notices in five years and said the burden of proof of illegality is on landowners.

Other supervisors didn’t support requiring permits or landowner consent for re-erecting billboards. The approved policy only requires permits for new construction and Lovelace voted against it.

Another billboard policy calls for supporting the efforts of public agencies to remove billboards from their rights-of-ways. It was approved, with Board Chairman Rex Bohn dissenting due to concerns about getting involved in litigation.

On another draft policy, supervisors removed a section that barred billboards from using electronic messaging or animation and expanded the timespan of a billboard permits from five to 15 years. The modified policy was opposed by Lovelace but the rest of the board supported it.

The board will continue its review of the scenic resources section on Oct. 20.

DRUG TESTING & OUTSOURCING AT COAST HOSPITAL

Editor,

Last week’s candidates’ forum for the Mendocino Coast District Hospital showed how out of touch our local physicians are. When asked if the candidates supported Proposition 46 – random drug testing for doctors – all three physicians said no. One stated the need for federal funds to keep the hospital open. None were in favor of program cuts. Ditto for outsourcing. Nobody mentioned the fact that MCDH is bankrupt.

According to a recent report from the Association of Healthcare Philanthropists, community hospitals the size of MCDH raise an average of $1.7 million a year to stay open. A big chunk of that comes from federal grants with strings attached: random drug testing. MCDH has never received a federal grant. According to a decade or so of financial statements, MCDH raises only a quarter million a year to service its $2 million wear-and-tear bill. Which is precisely why it’s broke.

Federal money doesn’t fall out of the sky, doctors. It comes from grant applications. They must be written and tended by professional grant writers. MCDH doesn’t have any. So it's got to be outsourced. The same applies to other forms of fundraising. The average community hospital does that at a cost of $.37 per dollar raised. MCDH’s eleven-year average is $.67. In 2011 it reached $.94. That’s the cost of keeping jobs local. It wasn’t always like this. In 2008, MCDH outsourced a professional fundraising firm. The result? A cost of $.26 per dollar raised. That’s the advantage of outsourcing.

All the polls say that Proposition 46 isn’t likely to pass in the upcoming election. That doesn’t change the fact that drug testing and outsourcing can save MCDH. But only if our local physicians can get in touch with reality.

Scott M. Peterson, Mendocino

LOCAL FLAVOR

HEAVY METAL LOVER

I want your whiskey mouth

All over my blond self

Red wine, cheap perfume

And a filthy pout

Tonight bring my friends

Because a group does it better

Why river with a pair

Let's have a full house in leather

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Dirty pony, I can't wait

To hose you down

You've got to earn your love

Down in this part of town

Dirty pearls and a patch

Follow the Remington Rebels

Let's raise hell in the streets

Drink beer and get into trouble

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

I could be your girl

Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl

But would you love me

If I ruled the world, world, world?

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Women slap it, get fucked

New York coppers get drunk

Buckeyed vicars go slow

Move your pieces, you're junk

Porsche and drivers, same Jane

You're so hot, just one taste

Help me I'm on display

Baby, we were born this way

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

I could be your girl

Girl, girl, girl, girl, girl

But would you love me

If I ruled the world, world, world?

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Heavy metal lover

Heavy metal lover, heavy metal lover

Heavy metal lover, heavy metal lover

Heavy metal lover, heavy metal lover

Heavy metal lover, heavy metal lover

Heavy metal lover

— Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady GaGa)

CHOOCH AND JOE AND BILL are all old growing-up buddies. Joe is a professor of Chemistry somewhere and has declared that we all should eat 4 to 5 walnuts a day. The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid term, and an actual answer turned in by a student. The answer by one student was so “profound” that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

* * *

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, “It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,” and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct… leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God.”

This student received an A+.

(Submitted by David Severn.)

A LOCAL EDU-PROGRAM THAT WORKS

At graduation on May 22, 2014, Mendocino College had 18 nurses who were excited about their graduation, but nervous to take the state NCLEX exam. The National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) is a required exam that measures the competencies needed to perform safely and effectively as an entry level nurse and must be passed before a nurse receives their licensing. Mendocino College is proud to announce that all of the testing 2014 Mendocino College Nursing Graduates passed the NCLEX exam on the first try.

"When we received the news that all of our students who graduated in May and took their NCLEX-RN had passed there was a joyous feeling of accomplishment and pride," stated Dr. Barbara French, Director of Nursing at Mendocino College, who went on to say, "We know how very hard our students worked through the program and how hard we all work as instructors to prepare them. This confirms the hard work for both students and instructors. When a student does not pass for any reason we all try and figure out how we could have presented information differently, addressed student learning needs differently, etc. We take it personally.

Our pass rate has consistently been among the best, but finally hitting the 100 percent mark was a great feeling!"

This statement speaks for the individualized attention, positive instruction and great care that the nursing faculty have for their students. Through the hard work, determination and expertise of these faculty, Mendocino College has been able to boast a state board examination pass rate of 96 percent in the past, well above the statewide average of 86 percent.

Each fall the Mendocino College Nursing program admits eighteen new nursing students into the two-year program. Each year when the graduating nursing students are surveyed, their overwhelming response is that their success is attributed to their instructors. One past nursing student, Regina Santiago stated, "The nursing faculty have all been wonderful! They work at least as hard as we do. Our success really matters to them." Another graduate, Theresa Rohr, credits the nursing faculty at MC for inspiring her. "They were fabulous! We were all so close, and they were so important in getting me where I wanted and needed to be!"

Nursing students at Mendocino College receive a lot of specialized attention not only from the faculty, but also from the Mendocino College Foundation. In consideration of the extra time required for schooling and the loss of income faced by many students, finding the funding for all of the necessary supplies for this degree can be exhausting. That's where the Foundation steps in.

In addition to providing nursing shoes, lab coats and emergency funding for student needs (to name a few), the Foundation has a big surprise for each graduating class. In 2012, the Mendocino College Foundation, through the generosity of Mr. Albert Beltrami, surprised each of the nursing graduates with a $400 check to fund their state board examination fees. Since then, the Foundation has tirelessly fund-raised to provide the same opportunity for each of the graduating class of nurses.

French stated, "For every month a nursing candidate waits to take their state board examination, their ability to pass goes down 24 percent. It is absolutely critical that our graduates take the examination immediately following graduation, and this annual gift guarantees that they will." On average, once students begin the nursing program their annual income drops by over 43 percent due to the intensity of the program.

With continued excellence in the classroom, the nursing faculty is striving toward matching their 100 percent pass rate again next year!

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

All rapidly infectious agents with a high mortality rate in humans have an animal host which either does not get sick at all, or gets only mildly ill. All of them. With the Black Death (Pasturella Pestis), it was fleas. With SARS, it was the civet cat. The reason there were only small outbreaks of SARS in the US and Canada is because we don’t have thousands of civet cats. With Ebola, it is likely an African fruit bat. Unless a North American bat can host Ebola – without dying or getting seriously ill, Ebola will be limited to sporadic outbreaks involving people traveling from Africa, and their health care workers/immediate family.
 All infectious agents which has only human beings as a host have low mortality rates. The common cold is a triumph of human infection – humans feel mildly ill, but not so ill they stay home from work and school, where they infect others. In order to have an epidemic, the infection must either be not so severe that people stay home – such as colds, or kill SLOWLY, such as the HIV virus. The reason this Ebola outbreak is so bad is the LOW mortality rate of this strain – 70%, versus 90% in prior outbreaks. For a human-based epidemic to occur, a mortality rate of less than 50% – probably considerably less – is necessary.

I find it interesting that the “discovery” by the National Institutes of Health of three vials of live Variola (smallpox virus) went virtually unnoticed in the media. Variola has been eliminated as a human disease by vaccination (the very word vaccination comes from the Vaccinia virus, which is used to convey immunity to smallpox). Worldwide, smallpox vaccination ceased in the 1970’s. People such as myself, who were vaccinated as a child, have been found to have lost their immunity. This means that virtually the entire human population of Planet Earth are susceptible. Smallpox has a mortality rate of 30% – just low enough that it does not need an animal host. It is EASILY spread via the airborne route. Furthermore, those who survive tend to be very ill for at least a week – making it impossible for them to work. Think no police, health care workers, nuclear power plant workers, fire fighters, etc.. My best estimate, based on additional deaths due to fires, nuclear reactor melt-downs, lack of farming/food/water workers ability to function, is that the release of Variola would result in the death of 75-90% of all human beings. We would be LUCKY if our species were able to maintain a Dark Ages level of civilization. The Spanish flu of 1918 reached every corner of the world – from Eskimos to denizens of remote Pacific islands – when there was no air travel.

But let’s all panic over a disease that has been present for decades in Africa, from which there has been not one single death in the US – ever – (although I think the Liberian gentleman, who has multiple organ system failure, is doomed), and which has infected not one single person living on North American soil (although again, I expect some health care workers will become infected).

If you are serious about protecting yourself from viral boogeymen, it’s time to get an influenza shot – thousands of Americans die of influenza every year – always have, always will. 
Now let the anti-vaccine hysteria begin. Honestly, if an Ebola vaccine were perfected tomorrow, I suspect the anti-vaccine crowd would try to have it banned.

JANE-ON-ANOTHER-PLAIN

The Bravest Woman In Comedy

by Debra Keipp

The AIDS epidemic of the 80s had a profound effect on the content of sex-ed videos. The teen clinic at a Bay Area hospital where I worked was showing a new sex-ed video produced in 1979 called, “How to Put On a Condom.” It was an hilarious piece produced and shared with the hospital's teen clinic staff by comic entertainer, Jane Dornacker (pronounced “Door-knocker”), in which she suited up from head to toe as a penis, then proceeded to “slip on” a condom over her “head.”

We were all wondering, “Who is that nut?" when a doctor informed the room that she was a SF comedienne, dancer, song writer and singer with the San Francisco band, The Tubes. The point of her video was to demystify condom use for teens. The showing for counselors, staff and doctors was to see if it was age-appropriate enough to share with clinic teenagers.

I'd never seen anything like it. That was my introduction to Jane Dornacker. Disarmingly edgy didn't begin to describe her instinct for genius parody.

The Tubes were one of the first bands to create their own music video for MTV. Their 1983 single, “She's a Beauty” was a Top 10 U.S. hit and was the most frequently played music video in the early days of MTV. Their cabaret-style performance art said it all, right down to lead singer Fee Waybill's love of irony, sarcasm and costume. Fee sported platform heels high enough to cause a nose bleed. The Tubes' optimistic attitude had me riveted. The mere mention of The Tubes still puts me in a good mood.

I asked a friend the other day if he ever listened to The Tubes. A huge smile crept over his lined face as he softly sang, “Step right up and don't be shy, because you will not believe your eyes.”

The Tubes galloped through their genre one step ahead of, or behind, their audiences — seemingly unconcerned with order, always in good humor, especially with political satire. Wiki aptly described The Tubes live performance of “White Punks on Dope” as “combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics.” They starred with Olivia Newton John in the movie, “Xanadu” (1980) where they sang rock portions of the cross-genre song, 'Dancin' opposite... a big band. One reviewer described them: “The light-hearted dark humor, non-pushy rebellion and celebration of free-thinking difference created by The Tubes was refreshing during a politically oppressive era in American history.”

The Tubes hired hometown dancer, Jane Dornacker, in 1973. She had formed her own not quite all-girl band, “Leila and the Snakes.” Just about the time there was enough of Jane's music with “Leila and the Snakes” to have been released to the public as an album, Pearl E. Gates, one of the Snakes, re-formed the group into “Pearl Harbor and the Explosions”, taking the Snakes' band members with her in 1978, leaving poor Leila (Jane) behind.

An album of Jane's songs was never fully released in her lifetime. It wasn't until October 24, 2006 that former band mate and producer, Miles Corbin, released on his website, a full album of previously unreleased Jane Dornacker tunes from her early days with the Snakes. Dornacker wrote songs such as “Don't Touch Me There”, and provided lead vocals on “Christopher Columbus,” a song by cartoonist R. Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders.

In the Bay Area of the early '80's many performers were surprisingly accessible. I enjoyed many of the same satiric entertainers with whom Jane liked to work, like Robert Crumb who I ran into often while eating at Brennan's in Berkeley. Crumb was stuck in time and dressed almost always like a 1960's press corp reporter right down to the ink stains and pork-pie hat. He had one clothing style: a white, long-sleeved shirt with classic 1960's-style thin tie to match the thin lapels on his cheap (thrift store) black suit which hung from his armature-of-a-thin-ass-frame. He will always be one bony man. His hat was the only accoutrement he changed, and then only with the seasons.

Rain or shine, the lenses of Crumb's black horn-rim eyeglasses were perpetually smeared up and filthy. My first impression of this was the child-like shyness of the possibility that if Crumb couldn't see out maybe he thought no one would be able to see “in.” But then, I'd always find myself shaking my head, “Why doesn't his wife clean his eyeglasses?” Oddly, for some reason, I never wondered why Crumb never cleaned his own eyeglasses. All I know is that each time I said “Hi” to Crumb, I wanted to take his glasses off his face, clean them and slip them back on, as if he was a child.

SF comedy clubs served as proving grounds for fresh work. The neighborhood intimacy of The Boarding House, The Comedy Club, and Keystone Berkeley seemed to be unique in the country. An evening stroll between comedy clubs in San Francisco during the '80's would yield you at least a curbside view of Robin Williams sneaking into Snortin' Norton Buffalo's music bus in front of the Last Day Saloon mocking his friend with the greeting, “Excuse me, Mr. Buffalo?”

There was a whole 'nother form of crazy happening in San Francisco's music, comedy and performance art scenes: The Other Cafe, Mabuhay Gardens, the Palms Cafe and among the comedians, Jane Dornacker, made the rounds. The Old Waldorf, and Warfield, the Paramount, Bimbo's and Winterland. The best comedy show in town was the women's restroom in the Kabuki Theatre during the Gay Men's Chorus Christmas Show… Or was it Halloween? Regardless, the Bay Area enjoyed good humor with its music.

Leila Jane Dornacker was always dynamic, and often first: she was credited in 1968 as the nation's first female mail carrier; she was elected homecoming queen her freshman year at San Francisco State, campaigning on campus from inside a birdcage. Jane was a slim costume chameleon inside the six-foot frame of a dancer. When Jane performed, you got full-body. Dornacker won San Francisco's Golden Cabaret Award three consecutive years for best female comedian.

It was during her time in rock and roll that Dornacker appeared in playwright Sam Shepard's jazz opera “Inacoma” at San Francisco's Magic Theatre (1977) and was featured in other works by the Overtone Theatre. There is “Anita Sperm,” a three-minute spoof on Anita Bryant's homophobia; only one copy in one library remains.

Dornacker received some mainstream notoriety for her 1983 role as the stemmy, solemn, mysterious, and prune-faced space agency nurse in the tongue-in-cheek account of the NASA Space Agency's astronaut training program in, “The Right Stuff.” Clad in pussy-cat eyeglass frames while remaining exactly humorless in her role as the merciless Nurse Murch, Dornacker frequently brought to life oddball eye wear and simple props in her comedy.

“The Right Stuff” wasn't her only movie. Before her death, Dornacker also starred in, “The Stand-In” (1985) with Danny Glover.

The websites on Jane Dornacker are, sadly, like ghost towns: The building and store fronts remain with a smattering of desperate copies of some of her songs and performances in the windows, but behind the shell there exists a big echo padded with hardly any history. After her death it seems there were no reflective interviews with friends from her comedy days in San Francisco, or The Tubes. The silence makes one wonder in what shape she left her Bay Area connections when she moved to New York, and why did she move to New York? ...To go to a new life, or get away from the old one? Her music over the many years since her death exists only in a few clips linked to YouTube. For instance, I found no mention of the sex-ed video or many of her other even more memorable known works performed locally in the San Francisco clubs and for fundraisers. Apparently, there was no one to develop her vast body of work into a decent website after her death. Where are scrapbook clippers when ya need 'em? There outa be enough playbills, photos and news clippings to stuff a vaudeville trunk. What was Jane's story? If Jane kept an archive of her more obscure works, it was never made public.

In 1981 Dornacker gained true West Coast acclaim when she became “trafficologist” from 1981-84 on KFRC's morning traffic report. As eye-in-the-sky, she worked with Dr. Don Rose, the station's morning disc jockey. Old SF Bay Area KFRC drive-time listeners from the days of Dr. Don will no doubt have their own Dr & Dornacker fast-paced drive-time memories. Jane's performances, on and off-air, were as random as a hand of poker. She drew instinctively from a plethora of characters she'd created over the years. She fit right in, on radio.

As well as Jane Dornacker, Prairie Prince seemed to be the other “Tube” whom I happened upon now and then around Northern California.

Most recently, I saw that Prairie Prince drummed for Quicksilver in Humboldt. I heard the almost hip disc jockeys at KHUM in Ferndale exclaim what a good (unknown to them) drummer Quicksilver had enlisted. Maybe KHUM really didn't know who drummed that night. But the fact that Prairie Prince was underplayed on the bill, was so... drop-in wonderful and a lush surprise for anyone who can appreciate all the great musicians who've flowed through The Tubes, a band that once played with TWO drummers when Mingo Lewis (formerly of Santana) set his drums up next to Prairie Prince, who is considered the standard for perfect drummer, if there is such a thing.

October is both the month of Jane's birth and her death. This great comedian had barely been on the East Coast for one year in 1985 to work as helicopter traffic reporter for WNBC 66 AM radio, the station's eye-in-the-sky.

On April 18, 1986, she survived her first copter crash in the Hackinsack River. After having saved herself by successfully swimming to shore with the pilot, she reflected on that first copter malfunction in an interview by Mr. Three Dot himself... San Francisco's Herb Caen. “Jane-In-The-Plane,” as she had named herself, responded to Herb's concern for her safety with a blithe, “I'm a strong swimmer. I swam from Aquatic Park to Alcatraz twice, but it's different with a two-ton helicopter strapped to your waist.” She was a strong ocean swimmer from her years in San Francisco, and was always truthful.

WNBC leased their copters from Spectrum Helicopters; the company who was responsible for the maintenance and safety of Jane's ride. Trouble was, their deferred maintenance. After a few weeks, and against her better judgment, Jane got back in another helicopter and took to the sky again.

Death came during drive-time and game 4 of the World Series at 4:44pm on October 22, 1986, only six months after Jane had survived the plunge into the Hudson River. Dornacker, and her pilot crash-landed at 46th Street on the Manhattan Shoreline. The helicopter nose-dived 75 feet into the top of a hurricane fence on the dock; spun over the fence, and sunk into 15-20 feet of Hudson River. It would be 10-15 minutes before Jane was pulled from the wreckage, not breathing. Several spectators had jumped in to try and save her, but she died on life support several hours later. Miraculously, the pilot survived.

It's heart wrenching to hear the station's recording of Jane's last minutes. Jane had just reported to Joey Pinto of the Joey Reynolds Show, when on-air, the sound of the propeller blades sped up as the clutch malfunctioned. Jane stopped talking as she listened to the propeller speed up and the helicopter lunged forward into a nose dive. Leila Jane Dornacker gasped and exclaimed, “Hit the water! Hit the water!! Hit the water!!!.”

Static. Then silence.

Spectrum Helicopter Company had extinguished the life of the bravest woman in comedy. Leila Jane Dornacker had just celebrated her last and 39th birthday on October 1st, 1986.

The cause of the crash was due to a replacement of a clutch with faulty military surplus parts by the helicopter company, Spectrum Helicopters, which was eventually held accountable in a settlement hastily reached three years later, for both crashes. It was determined that the mechanic for Spectrum picked up the wrong clutch (military) from his bench and installed it in the (civilian) Enstrom 5-28 helicopter, finally killing Jane.

Just a few weeks after her death, I remember driving by Carol Doda's in San Francisco and hearing that Jane Dornacker's former husband had also died a few months prior to her death. While having dinner with Jane and their daughter, Bob Knickerbocker collapsed and died in front of his family. KFRC's Don Rose had organized one of several college fund-raisers in San Francisco for the orphaned daughter of (Leila) Jane Dornacker and Bob Knickerbocker. Their daughter was only 16 in 1986, the year both her parents died. The fund-raiser was announced as for “Naomi Knickerbocker-Dornacker."

Naomi Knickerbocker-Dornacker settled the wrongful death suit for $325,000, from not one, but two, helicopter companies held responsible for the death of her mother. Naomi's lawyer lamented that Spectrum, et al, got away with paying Jane's only surviving child a mere third of a million, probably because the teen was anxious to settle, and $325,000 sounded like a lot of money to her at the time.

Joey Reynolds, who was on-air with Jane when she was died, says his style changed forever that day. While doing his afternoon shift on WNBC, where he replaced Howard Stern, Reynolds remarked, “When that happened, I went and changed my whole thinking. NBC knew it very well and I became a little more compassionate, a little less of a wise-ass and a little bit more grown up.”

I remember Jane Dornacker vividly as the best all-around woman comedian in San Francisco. When she died, I regretted settling for Paula Poundstone, and just after Ellen DeGeneres made it big in SF comedy, I quit going to comedy clubs. It wasn't the same without the freshness of the fearless Jane Dornacker. I felt the same way when I heard the fatal news of Robin Williams.

Countless numbers of people have listened to the on-air recording of the crash that ended Jane's life. She'd appreciate the timeless irony of having at least stayed “current” on YouTube twenty-eight years after her death where Jane Dornacker is listed right behind Humphrey Bogart in the “Top 25 of the Most Famous Last Words Ever Uttered.”

Those of us who saw her perform, remember her still. And I remember her as I first saw her, creating a stir by trying to pull a condom down over her penis costume.

MASSIVE DUMPING OF WASTEWATER into aquifers shows Big Oil's power in California

Oil industry illegally injected nearly 3 billions of wastewater

by Dan Bacher

As the oil industry spent record amounts on lobbying in Sacramento and made record profits, documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity reveal that almost 3 billion gallons of oil industry wastewater have been illegally dumped into Central California aquifers that supply drinking water and irrigation water for farms.

The Center said the wastewater entered the aquifers through at least nine injection disposal wells used by the oil industry to dispose of waste contaminated with fracking (hydraulic fracturing) fluids and other pollutants. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/california_fracking/pdfs/20140915_State_Board_UIC_well_list_Category_1a.pdf)

The documents also reveal that Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board testing found high levels of arsenic, thallium and nitrates, contaminants sometimes found in oil industry wastewater, in water-supply wells near these waste-disposal operations.

The illegal dumping took place in a state where Big Oil is the most powerful corporate lobby and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is the most powerful corporate lobbying organization, alarming facts that the majority of the public and even many environmental activists are not aware of.

An analysis of reports filed with the California Secretary of State shows that the oil industry collectively spent over $63 million lobbying California policymakers between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2014. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), led by President Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the former chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California, topped the oil industry lobby spending with $26,969,861.

The enormous influence that the oil lobby exerts over legislators, agency leaders and state and federal regulatory officials is the reason why Big Oil has been able to contaminate groundwater aquifers, rivers and ocean waters in California for decades with impunity. The contamination of aquifers becomes even more alarming when one considers that California is now reeling from a record drought where people, farms, fish and wildlife are suffering from extremely low conditions in reservoirs, rivers and streams.

Hollin Kretzmann, a Center attorney, criticized state regulators for failing to do their job of protecting precious water supplies from oil industry pollution - and urged Governor Jerry Brown to take action to halt the environmentally destructive practice of fracking in California. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/fracking-10-06-2014.html)

"Clean water is one of California’s most crucial resources, and these documents make it clear that state regulators have utterly failed to protect our water from oil industry pollution," said Kretzmann. "Much more testing is needed to gauge the full extent of water pollution and the threat to public health. But Governor Brown should move quickly to halt fracking to ward off a surge in oil industry wastewater that California simply isn’t prepared to dispose of safely.”

Kretzmann said the State Water Resources Control Board "confirmed beyond doubt" that at least nine wastewater disposal wells have been injecting waste into aquifers that contain high-quality water that is supposed to be protected under federal and state law. (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/california_fracking/pdfs/20140915_Bishop_letter_to_Blumenfeld_Responding_to_July_17_2014_UIC_Letter.pdf)

"Thallium is an extremely toxic chemical commonly used in rat poison," according to a statement from the Center. "Arsenic is a toxic chemical that can cause cancer. Some studies show that even low-level exposure to arsenic in drinking water can compromise the immune system’s ability to fight illness."

“Arsenic and thallium are extremely dangerous chemicals,” said Timothy Krantz, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Redlands. “The fact that high concentrations are showing up in multiple water wells close to wastewater injection sites raises major concerns about the health and safety of nearby residents.”

The Center obtained a letter from the State Water Resources Control Board to the federal Environmental Protection Agency stating that the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board has confirmed that injection wells have been dumping oil industry waste into aquifers that are legally protected under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The State Water Board also concedes that another 19 wells may also have contaminated protected aquifers, and dozens more have been injecting waste into aquifers of unknown quality.

"The Central Valley Water Board tested eight water-supply wells out of more than 100 in the vicinity of these injection wells," according to the Center. "Arsenic, nitrate and thallium exceeded the maximum contaminant level in half the water samples."

The Vote No on Prop. 1 (Water Bond) Campaign responded to the Center's release of the documents by pointing out the irony of the fact that the same Legislature that nearly unanimously voted to put the water bond on the November ballot also rejected a fracking moratorium in California

"Prop 1 folks tout how it will provide funding to clean up groundwater in the SJ Valley," according to a statement from the campaign. "This is something we want to see too. But if fracking is unregulated and fracking wells are already leaking, shouldn't we work on the fracking moratorium first? Or at least simultaneously. And the legislators who passed Prop 1 voted against the fracking moratorium."

It is no surprise that the State Senators who voted no on the fracking moratorium bill received 14 times more money in campaign contributions from the oil industry than those who voted no on the measure. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/07/18757051.php)

Restore the Delta responded to the report also: "At RTD, we have always known that water needs to be shared from the Delta- we argue that it must be at levels that are sustainable for the estuary. When we see items like this, however, it's hard to maintain that reasonable stance. We predicted a year ago that SJ Valley fracking sites would contaminate groundwater making the region more dependent on exports."

Long term threat posed by waste water disposal may be even worse

The Center said that while the current extent of contamination is cause for "grave concern," the long-term threat posed by the unlawful wastewater disposal may be even more devastating.

"Benzene, toluene and other harmful chemicals used in fracking fluid are routinely found in flowback water coming out of oil wells in California, often at levels hundreds of times higher than what is considered safe, and this flowback fluid is sent to wastewater disposal wells. Underground migration of chemicals like benzene can take years," the Center stated.

The state’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) shut down 11 Kern County oil field injection wells and began scrutinizing almost 100 others that were potentially contaminating protected groundwater. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate legal authority over underground injection, ordered state officials to provide an assessment of the water-contamination risk within 60 days, and the letter from the state Water Board confirms that illegal contamination has occurred at multiple sites.

California’s oil and gas fields produce billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater each year, much of which is injected underground. California has an estimated 2,583 wastewater injection wells, of which 1,552 are currently active, according to the Center.

Wastewater injection wells are located throughout the state, from the Chico area in Northern California to Los Angeles in Southern California and even include offshore wells near Santa Barbara. Kern County in the Southern San Joaquin Valley is home to the largest number of oil wells in California.

The fracking wastewater poses a huge threat not only to human health, but to fish including endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead and wildlife as the water makes its way to rivers and streams. The last thing that imperiled salmon and steelhead populations need, as they face a combination of drought and poor management of the state's reservoirs and rivers by the state and federal agencies, is the threat of increased pollution of their habitat by Benzene, toluene and other harmful fracking chemicals,

A recent study by the US Drought Monitor reported that 58 percent of California is experiencing “exceptional drought,” the most serious category on the agency’s five-level scale. A fracking job can require as much as 140,000 to 150,000 gallons of water per day. (http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/08/01/fracking-making-california-s-drought-worse-say-activists)

For more information, go to: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

Oil industry power and money dominates California politics

As an investigative journalist who has written many articles documenting oil industry power and money in California politics, I find it extremely important to review the latest findings on the oil industry in California.

While there are many powerful industries based in California, ranging from the computer and high tech industry to corporate agribusiness, no industry has more influence over the state's environmental policies than Big Oil. Unfortunately, most of the public and even many environmental activists have no idea how much influence the oil industry has on the Governor, the Legislature and state panels and environmental processes in the state.

An ongoing analysis of reports filed with the California Secretary of State shows that the oil industry collectively spent over $63 million lobbying California policymakers between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2014. The Western States Petroleum Association led the oil industry lobby spending with $26,969,861.

"The oil industry is spending over $1 million per month lobbying Sacramento, with the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) as the second overall leading spender so far in 2014 with almost $3 million spent in the past six months," according to Stop Fooling California (http://www.stopfoolingca.org), an online and social media public education and awareness campaign that highlights oil companies efforts to mislead and confuse Californians. "Chevron, with $1.3 million spent so far in 2014, is also among the top five. If money speaks, Big Oil has the loudest voice in politics."

WSPA was California’s second overall leading lobbyist spender, with $1.5 million spent in the second quarter of 2014. This is the second largest quarter going back to January 2009.

WSPA is on pace to exceed the previous annual (2012) total in 2014. So far this session, WSPA has paid over $2 million to KP Public Affairs, the state’s highest paid lobbying firm, during the current (2013-14) legislative session, according to the group. WSPA spent $4,670,010 on lobbying in 2013 and $5,698,917 in 2012.

Chevron is the fifth overall spender in California through the second quarter of 2014, having spent $784,757 over the past quarter, an increase of nearly $300,000 over the prior quarter.

Yet these millions of dollars are just chump change to Big Oil, since the five big oil companies made over $93 billion in profits in 2013. This year, Big Oil's profits are estimated to be over $72 billion to date, based on information from The Center for American Progress (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2014/02/10/83879/with-only-93-billion-in-profits-the-big-five-oil-companies-demand-to-keep-tax-breaks/)

A report released on April 1, 2014 by the ACCE Institute and Common Cause reveals that Big Oil has spent $143.3 million on political candidates and campaigns – nearly $10 million per year and more than any other corporate lobby – over the past fifteen years. (http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/04/10/bil_oil_floods_the_capitol_4.1.14v2.pdf)

But Big Oil exerts its influence not just by making campaign contributions, but also by lobbying legislators at the State Capitol. The oil industry spent $123.6 million to lobby elected officials in California from 1999 through 2013. This was an increase of over 400 percent since the 1999-2000 legislative session, when the industry spent $4.8 million. In 2013-2014 alone, the top lobbyist employer, Western States Petroleum Association, spent $4.7 million.

Oil industry officials serve on regulatory and advisory panels

The oil industry also exerts its muscle by serving on and dominating state and federal regulatory and advisory panels. For example, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create alleged "marine protected areas" in Southern California. She also served on the task forces to create "marine protected areas" on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and South Coast.

It is no surprise that the so-called "marine protected areas" created under the helm of Reheis-Boyd and other corporate operatives failed to protect the ocean from fracking offshore oil drilling, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

Ironically, while WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd served on the task forces to "protect" the ocean, the same oil industry that the "marine guardian" represents was conducting environmentally destructive hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations off the Southern California coast.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian.” (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/19/calif-finds-more-instances-of-offshore-fracking/3045721/)

To make matters worse, Reheis-Boyd also serves on a federal government marine protected areas panel. The National Marine Protected Areas Center website lists Reheis-Boyd as a member of a 20 member MPA (Marine Protected Areas) Advisory Committee.

In addition to the oil industry spending exerting its enormous power through campaign contributions, lobbying legislators and serving on state and federal regulatory panels, the oil industry also has set up "Astroturf" groups, including the California Drivers Alliance and Fueling California, to fight against environmental regulations protecting our air, water, land, fish, wildlife and human health.

"The set up is basically this: some Californian (who is supposed to be your proxy) regurgitates Big Oil talking points that don't resemble reality, equating protecting Big Oil's profits with protecting the people," according to Stop Fooling California.

Most recently, the Monterey Herald reported that San Benito United for Energy Independence, the oil and gas industry-funded group behind a slate of ads airing throughout the Central Coast on TV and radio, raised more than $1.7 million to fight Measure J, an initiative to ban fracking in San Benito Count that goes before the voters on November 4. "While the group touts its local ties, none of the money funding Measure J's opposition comes from San Benito County," said reporter Jason Hoppin.

"San Benito United is entirely funded by an industry-backed group called Californians for Energy Independence. Oil companies have been pumping millions into that group in the last few months, including $2.5 million from San Ramon-based Chevron, $2.1 million from San Ardo-based Aera Energy and $2 million from Houston-based Occidental Petroleum," said Hoppin. (http://www.montereyherald.com/localnews/ci_26698353/big-oil-opens-wallet-fight-fracking-bans)

Politicians like Governor Jerry Brown like to portray California as a "green" leader, but the reality is that the oil industry, along with corporate agribusiness, exerts enormous influence over the state's environmental policies, making the claims that California is a "green" state highly dubious.

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CRAIG'S READY FOR THE HEART OF THE BEAST

Warm spiritual greetings,

I am available to return to d.c./seeking mutual aid. I am available to return to Washington D.C. (for the seventh time) for frontline radical environmental/peace & justice participation. I now have 1. the maximum social security benefits of $900 per month, 2. food stamps, 3.both Medical and Medicare (plans A & B...plan B premiums paid by the QMB designation I was approved for). I am asking for cooperation (i.e. "mutual aid") to relocate to Washington D.C. to perform spiritual direct action. Please contact me as soon as possible. Love and Peace Forever! Craig Louis Stehr Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com Snail mail: P.O. Box 11406, c/o NOSCW, Berkeley, CA 94712-2406 Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com