Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Apr 1, 2015

• Frost Advisory
• Hillary Caucus
• Adolescent Education
• Head Banger
• Denouncing Gramma
• BOS Meetings
• Public Banks
• Forest Death
• Asphalt Plant
• Legal Victory
• Catch of the Day
• MendoVito Opposition
• Caltrans Projects
• President Ghani
• Massys
• 20th Century Man

FROST FAN NOISE WARNING!

A Frost advisory is in effect Wednesday from 3 - 8am. Low temperatures mid-30s. Locations include Willits, Brooktrails, Covelo, Dos Rios, Laytonville, Boonville, Philo, Potter Valley and Anderson Valley.

—National Weather Service

DEPT. OF SODDEN THOUGHTS: Congress has a progressive caucus we never hear about, the Senate has Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But will any of them take on the beast come election time? No. The Democratic convention will conclude with the usual big show of solidarity as Sanders and Warren, do their Kucinich grins and ask us all to get behind Hillary.

EVERY DAY there's a story about how bad American education is, but if you live in one of the wealthy bubbles where the public schools are quite good, a bubble like Marin, or you can afford $40 grand a year to send your little heirs to a private school, K-12 education here in Liberty Land is probably as good as it is anywhere else in the world.

THE WHITE AND ASIAN professional classes of San Francisco have pretty much abandoned Frisco's public schools, not that any of them would likely admit that it's the pure fear of their children being physically harmed in the perceived chaos of the keen teen-public school milieu that propels the wealthy away from public ed.

ONE OF MY NEPHEWS sent all three of his kids to San Francisco public schools through junior high school where they became bilingual. His eldest daughter just won a Fullbright to teach in Mexico. His son abandoned secondary education to go off to Spain with his girlfriend who seems to have also abandoned four years of high school seat time. Nephew's three kids commuted to school on Muni. The worst thing that ever happened to any of them was nephew's daughter got called a “white bitch” by a Mexican girl. (Another thing liberal SF never mentions is that street-level racism of the “white bitch” type comes mostly from the black and brown victims of racism.)

WHICH BRINGS ME, class, to the point of today's sermon: Get rid of high schools altogether. For most young people they're a waste of time. It was for me, certainly, and I passed through one many years ago, bored out of my skull, doing just enough classroom work to stay eligible for sports. I read a lot, though, simply as a means of self-defense, meaning that as a kid I read to try to understand what was going on around me, adult informants being totally unreliable or straight-up crazy. Another stumbling four years of seat time at institutions of alleged higher learning prepared me for exactly nothing, unless you consider lying down and reading a book some kind of qualification. Liberal arts kinds of people should be encouraged to pack it in after the 8th grade. I wish I had, and I wish, looking back, I'd learned some kind of trade with specific skills attached like basic carpentry or, better yet, the fundamentals of agriculture.

YOUNG PEOPLE with an aptitude for science would continue their training in technical schools. For all of us, the most important part of the 8th grade leaving school forever in order to learn ceremony would be the presentation of a reading list, a comprehensive selection of crucial fiction and non-fiction that would prepare you to, ah, become a blah-blah person — lawyer, helping professional, teacher, and all those professions would be entered after rigorous examinations. Since schools no longer even bother to teach composition, although the ability to write clearly gives any young person a HUGE leg up in the world, it's the worst thing the schools don't do among everything else they don't do.

I KNOW, I KNOW. In the big world out there it's a waste of time to even discuss other ways of organizing life in sensible ways. Out there, we've reached a perfect state of entropy. Nothing can change. If this country does change in any significant way, I mean change for the better and not careen into overt fascism, it will be in the tumult following catastrophe and, to me anyway, it seems that catastrophe is coming right up.

PS. A COLLEAGUE JUST ASKED, “Well, gee, didn't you have any good teachers?” I don't know. Maybe. But I only remember one, a guy named Ted Miranda. I think he taught math, but I knew him mostly as a football and baseball coach at the JV level of those sports. He ran afoul of the administration somehow and wouldn't back down. I have vague memories of all of us being for him and admiring his unyielding stance. Whatever his stance was, Miranda was putting his job on the line for it. Of course he wound up getting fired and I remember being very angry about it — everyone who knew him was angry about it. It was the first time I'd seen an adult stand up, really stand up against the idiot kind of authoritarians who run public schools and everything else. Looking back, I'm sure Miranda was exactly the kind of guy sensible people would want their kids around, but then and now, fear rules, and Miranda was the kind of principled person that our system fears most.

ONE MORE THING: Miranda vs The Horribles would have been around 1954 at Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley, an odd school for the times in that the student body was about a third black, a third rich kids, everyone else the scions of everyday working people, including lots of blue collar working people. There were “racial tensions,” as the euphemism goes, with the first full-on race riot in all of the Bay Area at Tam High in, I think, '54 or '55, where the fighting was so fierce it took cops from all over, including San Francisco, to break it up. Anyway, the politics of the era — it was the time of Senator McCarthy — were just as poisonous as race relations. A nutty old bat named Ann Smart (sic) was a constant presence at Marin County school board meetings where she demanded that high school libraries be purged of “subversive” books. Natch, all the school boards and school administrators hurried to comply with Ms. Smart's crackpot ultimatums, the upshot being that subversive books were kept behind literal lock and key. Students had to have written permission from their parents to read them. I, like a couple of hundred other nascent beatniks, immediately obtained the requisite permission from my dear old mum and was soon plowing my way through otherwise unread vegetarian and pacifist tracts that Ms. Smart had deemed subversive.

HEAD BANGER

On 03/21/15 at about 236 AM, Ukiah Police Officers were dispatched to the area of Irvington Dr, regarding someone calling for help after a window had been smashed. Upon arrival officers contacted Angelo Bettega who was bleeding on the right side of his head. When officers questioned Bettega as to his identity and what had happened to him, he provided a false name and claimed he had fallen. An ambulance was called and Bettega was transported to the ER for treatment. Officers checked the surrounding area and located a nearby residence which had a broken window. Upon contacting the resident officers learned Bettega’s true identity and that he had caused a verbal argument inside the residence and had been asked to leave. When Bettega left he struck his head on the window causing it to shatter and injure himself. After speaking with the resident who desired no prosecution for the vandalism officers requested a records check on Bettega and found that he had a felony warrant for his arrest for assault with a deadly weapon. Officers responded to the ER and placed Bettega under arrest once he had been treated for his injuries for the warrant and for providing a false information to a peace officer.

DENOUNCING GRAMMA

On 3/21/15, at about 758 PM, Ukiah Police Officers were dispatched to a residence on Lorraine St regarding a disturbance. Upon officers arrival, they learned that Shane Miller, a resident of the home, had been drinking alcohol all day, and was being verbally abusive towards his elderly grandmother. As officers attempted to find a solution to the disturbance, as no violations of the law had occurred, Miller had left the residence going towards the street. Officers advised Miller that if he left the property he would be arrested for public intoxication. Miller responded by telling officers that he wanted to go to jail. Miller then clinched his hands into a fist and stood in a fighting stance as he faced the officers. Based on this behavior and Miller’s obvious signs of intoxication, officers went to place him under arrest. Miller began resisting the officers as they took hold of him to place him under arrest. As officers attempted to place handcuffs on Miller, continued to struggle by pulling his arms away from officers as he yelled that they were not going to be able to arrest him. Miller was then forced to the ground where he was placed in handcuffs. After handcuffing Miller, officers went to stand him up and he began kicking at the officers. Due to this a leg restraint was placed on Miller to prevent him from kicking officers after which he was carried to the patrol vehicle. Miller was then transported to the Mendocino County Jail. During this time it was learned that Miller is currently on court diversion and ordered to obey all laws by the courts. Miller was therefore also charged with violation of a court order and public intoxication.

RIGHT DAN! MORE STUDIES! MAYBE A GRANT OR TWO! AND IN THE MEANTIME COME OUT AND LISTEN TO L-P'S OLD FORESTER TELL US ALL ABOUT IT. AND, GOSH, HOW GOOD OF YOU TO INVITE PUBLIC COMMENT!

(Supervisor Dan Hamburg on MCN Listserve 3/31/2015)

CalFire Mendocino Unit Chief Chris Rowney will be at the Board of Supervisors meeting at 1:30 pm on April 7 to discuss a grant program for fire prevention. The funding for this program comes from the payment of State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees which are assessed to landowners throughout our County. Public agencies (eg, Mendocino County, municipalities, special districts) can apply for funds for a variety of fire prevention activities as can nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). I have participated in discussions regarding the feasibility of a countywide "fire ecology" study that would help us to determine the levels of fire danger we face, particularly with the ongoing drought, the onslaught of Sudden Oak Disease (SOD) and the use of herbicides (eg, Imazapyr) that leave standing dead trees in the forest.

Presumably, such a study would also make recommendations on how we can best keep ourselves safe in this fire-prone habitat. One organization that performs these types of studies is Wildland Fire Associates (http://www.wildlandfireassociates.com/). The public is always free to offer comments. Another discussion of fire issues is currently planned for 1:30 on April 21.

THEIR BANKS OR OUR BANKS?

Dear Editor:

Does the general public know some differences between private banks and public banks?

Private Banks are in business to make a profit for their investors.

Privatized Wall Street banks cannot resist incentives to bet on failure, (i.e.,.loan defaults) if it is profitable to do so; witness the sub prime housing loans and the foreclosures that caused the 2008 economic crisis.

The Federal Reserve, a private central bank, allows banks to practice the "Fractional Reserve Banking System" to expand the money supply.

Fractional Reserve Banking along with the magic of the "Double Entry Book Keeping System" makes liabilities into assets in order to make more loans and add more assets.

Asset backed securities are backed with assets based on loan liabilities. When the loan is paid off - that electronic money disappears.

Public Banks are mandated to serve the community, city county or state in which they are licensed. A public bank has only one depositor - the government. Returns on investment go to work for the people and businesses for infrastructure loans. They work with local banks and credit unions to buy down interest rates.

To appeal to voters who must pass an initiative, a Public Bank designed to increase affordable housing could gain traction and provide foreclosure relief that Washington has not done.

Public Banks can generate new non-tax revenues for community treasuries.

Public banks provide lower risks for public funds, i.e., the County Employee Retirement funds, school bonds and rainy day funds.

Public Banks do not speculate in the financial market, because they are mandated to serve the public good and may hold the key to economic recovery.

Reference: Ellen Brown's book THE PUBLIC BANK SOLUTION.

Sincerely,

Agnes Woolsey, Mendocino

THE POISONER’S HANDBOOK

Over the years Timber Companies have sprayed herbicides on tens of thousands of acres in Mendocino County. Many of these dead standing trees, which increase fire risk, can be seen here: www.deadforest.org

These herbicide totals below only include the last 3 years and only include the most commonly used herbicide, Imazapyr. The practice continues.

Mendocino County Ag Data For Forest-Timberland Imazapyr Users

2014 Imazapyr Totals: 6838 acres, 1022 gallons

Users:

• 4752 acres; 758 gallons — Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC
• 923 acres; 114 gallons — Campbell Timberland Management
• 570 acres; 25 gallons — Blencowe Watershed Management
• 240 acres; 51 gallons — Gualala Redwoods INC
• 160 acres; 23 gallons — Soper Wheeler
• 70 acres; 15 gallons — Powers Forestry
• 47 acres; 23 gallons — North Coast Resource Management
• 40 acres; 5 gallons — Jackson Demo State Forest CDF
• 36 acres; 8 gallons — Conservation Fund

2013 Imazapyr Totals: 9101 acres, 1560 gallons

Users:

• 6676 acres; 1213 gallons — Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC
• 1122 acres; 163 gallons — Campbell Timberland Management
• 345 acres; 18 gallons — Blencowe Watershed Management
• 271 acres; 32 gallons — Conservation Fund
• 266 acres; 21 gallons — Soper Wheeler
• 234 acres; 78 gallons — EMCOT Forest LLC
• 90 acres; 10 gallons — Camp Mendocino - Boys & Girls
• 35 acres; 13 gallons — Coomb's Tree Farms, INC
• 27 acres; 4 gallons — Gualala Redwoods INC
• 25 acres; 5 gallons — Aaron Wells
• 10 acres; 3 gallons — Jackson Demo State Forest CDF

2012 Imazapyr Totals: 6825 acres, 1200 gallons

Users:

• 5837 acres; 876 gallons — Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC
• 295 acres; 54 gallons — Campbell Timberland Management
• 282 acres; 127 gallons — Soper Wheeler
• 268 acres; 124 gallons — EMCOT Forest LLC
• 73 acres; 10 gallons — Conservation Fund
• 70 acres; 5 gallons — Congaree River Limited

NOTES:

1. Brand names of Imazapyr used 2012-2014:

• Alligare Imazapyr 4
• Arsenal Herbicide Ap
• Nufarm Polaris (With Many Different Brand-Name Endings)
• Rotary 2 SL

2. Timber companies may use other herbicides (besides Imazapyr) to Hack & Squirt trees, so the above totals may not represent the complete extent of H&S done in Mendocino County the past few years. For example, in 2014, in addition to their imazapyr use (seen above), MRC also used sizable amounts of glyphosate and triclopyr:

• 1004 acres; 317 gallons — triclopyr (aka Garlon)
• 811 acres; 299 gallons — glyphosate (aka RoundUp)

— Chris Skyhawk

WRONG DECISION

To the Editor:

Dear Neighbors:

With a heavy heart I am letting you know that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve “resumed” asphalt manufacturing at Grist Creek. The board said the new operation will create jobs and reduce the county’s need to buy asphalt from Humboldt and Sonoma counties. They believe the plant will “contribute to the County’s general welfare and economic well-being.”

Opponents of asphalt manufacturing from our community included Glen, Sandy, Lyn, Kirk, Doug, Ron of Willits, myself and a neighbor who lives near the plant. All the speakers were eloquent and courteous; many mentioned the lack of notification to neighbors and the potential risks to Outlet Creek as well as to local air quality, noise, and traffic on Covelo Road. The only folks who spoke in favor of the plant were the Grist Creek lawyer and the owner.

Doug is in the process of reviving the Friends of Outlet Creek web site and organization and vows to continue the fight. Friends of Outlet Creek has retained Greenfire Law to represent the group. The supervisors mentioned they had received a letter this morning from another law firm that has threatened to sue them and/or Grist Creek over the decision to allow asphalt manufacturing, but I don’t remember which firm it was and the Supes didn’t say who hired the law firm.

I was extremely disappointed with our new Third District Supervisor, Tom Woodhouse, sponsor of the proposal to allow asphalt production at Grist Creek. He said very little, and when he spoke, he mumbled. He seemed unfamiliar with supervisors’ parliamentary procedures and did not present himself as a forceful leader who believes in what he’s doing. After his proposition passed, he promised opponents in the audience that he would like to hear from us if we experience any problems with the plant, including noise from trucks or the plant, dust or harm to the creek. We won’t forget that when the new operation goes on line, possibly in May.

Thanks to all of you who cared enough to write the board and/or attend the meeting. I would say that at the very least the board felt uncomfortable approving a project in such an environmentally sensitive area and that is so clearly unpopular with many of its neighbors.

Jane Futcher, Ukiah

AKERSTROM’S BIG LEGAL VICTORY

Lawsuit over Redwood Valley dam project settled for $7.5 million

A Ukiah firm received several million dollars this month from the insurance company State Farm to settle a lawsuit stemming from a dam construction project in Redwood Valley.

According to the Ukiah law offices of Duncan M. James, the suit was filed in the early 2000s after State Farm reportedly denied coverage to North Counties Engineering, run by engineer Gary Akerstrom, who was hired by Lolonis Vineyards of Redwood Valley to design a dam.

Though their contract was signed in 1974, the dam wasn’t completed until 1999, and five years later state regulators sued the winery after “investigating neighbors’ complaints about erosion and excess sediment in surrounding waterways that occurred shortly after the dam was completed.” The winery in turn sued North Counties Engineering, claiming the damage was partly caused by “negligent dam construction.”

At the time, North Counties Engineering had a policy with State Farm that reportedly “included the standard ‘professional services’ exclusion to coverage, and specifically added coverages for damages arising from North Counties’ completed work.

But, according to James, State Farm “denied coverage to the engineering firm and refused to defend it in the dam-related litigation,” and continued to deny coverage for several years.

In 2007, however, State Farm concluded after an internal investigation that the coverage claimed by North Counties had been issued, and the insurance company began helping cover a portion of the firm’s legal fees, but “refused to reimburse the company for more than $500,000 in legal fees from years prior.”

In 2010, the firm settled its lawsuit with Lolonis Winery, and focused on its lawsuit with State Farm, which went to a jury trial in Sonoma County Superior Court in 2011.

After the case was dismissed by the judge, the firm turned to the state’s Court of Appeal, which in 2014 reversed the previous court decision, ruling in favor of North Counties Engineering.

“As a result, the law offices of Duncan James received a final $7.5 million settlement payment this month from State Farm,” James reported. “The cash settlement reimburses North Counties Engineering of Ukiah for attorney’s fees, costs, lost interest and damages.”

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 31, 2015

JOSEPH ALLEN, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance, probation revocation.

DAVID BARRETT, Willits. Grand theft.

JAIME CEJA, Cloverdale/Willits. Pot cultivation, processing for sale, probation revocation.

DAVID FREEMAN, Ukiah. Petty theft, under influence of controlled substance.

RONALD HOEL SR., Ukiah. Possession of drug paraphernalia.

NOEY JOHNSON JR., Probation violation.

NOEY JOHNSON SR., Ukiah. Probation revocation.

AARON KOSKI, Fort Bragg. Resisting arrest, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JAMES LAFORCE, Ukiah. Possession of controlled substance & paraphernalia, probation revocation.

NAOMI MANNONEN, Fort Bragg. Evasion, resisting, possession of drug paraphernalia.

DOUGLAS MONTAGUE, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance.

CARLOS OSORIO, Redwood Valley. DUI, no license.

DAVID RUSSEL, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DUSTIN SCOTT, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

VINCENT SIMMONS, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance.

JOEY SOTO, Laytonville. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

DAKOTA SWENSEN, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

MOISES VILLEGAS, Ukiah. Misdemeanor Hit&run, suspended license.

‘FARMERS’ v. FANTASISTS

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3720668-181/group-of-mendocino-county-farmers

HEADS UP

According to Caltrans, signs are already up warning drivers of the pending work, which will be centered “two miles west of the three-way intersection of North Cloverdale Boulevard/ North Redwood Highway/Oat Valley Road, and approximately 1.8 miles east of the Mendocino County line.”

Construction was expected to begin this week and continue through October 2015.

Most of the traffic through the area will be subjected to one-way control, so drivers should expect delays. Anyone driving a semi-truck, however, will be detoured to Highway 253.

“Starting in late April or early May 2015, the width of SR-128 roadway will be temporarily reduced at a hair-pin curve so big rigs will not be able to travel through the construction zone,” Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie Jr. noted in a press release. “Message signs will be in place one week prior to alert drivers regarding the closure for big rigs.”

Frisbie also explained that “a second slope protection project will begin in May 2015, approximately 2.4 miles east of the Mendocino County line. This project will not have a big rig restriction,” but the restriction will remain in effect until the first project is completed.

If this work is delayed due to weather conditions, it will be rescheduled for a later time.

For more information about other Caltrans projects, visit the website at www.dot.ca.gov

THE BALANCING TENSIONS OF ASHRAF GHANI

‘Defending Freedom’?

by Ralpha Nader

Ashraf Ghani, the thoughtful new president of Afghanistan, came to Washington last week and the trip probably met his expectations. He wanted to thank the United States for “defending freedom” in his country and he did this more profusely than any foreign leader in recent history.

He thanked the Congress, President Obama, the generals, the soldiers, the civic affairs specialists, the diplomats, the taxpayers of America and so on. If this came across as excessive flattery toward our government, which after all committed many atrocities and preventable casualties and destruction, President Ghani had a purpose. He wanted to erase the acrimonious legacy of U.S. relations with his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, and lay the foundation for the continued presence of 10,000 U.S. soldiers plus thousands of contractors and economic assistance to give his government some breathing room.

The Congress responded to this former professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and former official of the World Bank in Washington with a standing ovation, though far shorter than the one that the fire-breathing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu received earlier this month.

During his three days in Washington, President Ghani soothed fears and raised his profile. America has done no wrong in his presentations, which also included praise for the imperial Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham.

His address before the joint session of Congress covered a wide range of plans and activities. He spent about ten minutes on the advances made by Afghan girls in school, of women voting more and of the advances in providing a constitutional, equal opportunity and cultural basis for the emergence of women not just as a matter of human rights but of “national necessity.”

He embraced globalization while emphasizing self-reliance—without noting the contradictions that would be forthcoming in such a stance, especially with the “harmonization” promoted by the World Trade Organization and its sanctions-based corporatist governance.

The “real” Ashraf Ghani emerged at various points of his Congressional speech. He spoke about the budding partnership with the U.S. and its regional neighbors that would start “to balance the focus on security (he did not avoid using the words “extremism” and terrorism”) with “a new emphasis on the rule of law and justice [one of his favorite words], growth in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation.” He painted a vision of what his country could be like with the “politics of unity.” He described the geographical beauty of Afghanistan and envisioned a future with Americans visiting his country as tourists and partners.

He spoke extensively of peace, but noted that Afghans know how to fight and have triumphed over most of the empires that have invaded them over the centuries. Then he asked: “Who is entitled to speak for Islam? Leaders, intellectuals and those many millions of Muslims who believe that Islam is a religion of tolerance and virtue must find their voice. Silence is not acceptable. But silence is not what the world will hear from us. Afghanistan is joining a new consensus that’s emerging in the Muslim world, a consensus that rejects intolerance, extremism and war. They have documented beautifully central Asia’s long tradition of rationalism and scientific inquiry.”

He acknowledged the depths of poverty in his country and the “corruption and impunity” that permeate the government and have to be rooted out. President Ghani is arguably the world’s leading expert on the intricacies and functions of widespread corruption in poor countries, which may explain his appointing someone accused of a corrupt past to head his anti-corruption agency.

He stressed that waging peace requires diplomacy, a strong army and a serious initiative for national reconciliation. He used these words for the insurgents: “The Taliban need to choose not to be al-Qaeda. And if they choose to be Afghan, they will be welcomed to be part of the fabric of our society. Many believe themselves to be patriots against the corruption and criminality that they saw in their towns and villages.”

These words illustrate the empathy and inclusiveness that mark the presidency of Ashraf Ghani. He sees hostilities through the lens of grievances by others. He strives to include former adversaries or tribal leaders in his government—starting with his vice-president—and he rarely publically resorts to harsh language against his critics or enemies.

Above all, President Ghani wants to neutralize anybody or anything that undermines or distracts from his focus on building trust in government through trusted, competent public servants, of encouraging autonomy down to the village level through self-reliance and of amassing the natural resources of his country for public benefit rather than for unfettered multinational corporate exploitation.

To get the job done, he will flatter, invite, partner and overwhelm those presenting obstacles with a pragmatism that relies on a steely determination so as to avoid such tactics becoming self-betrayal. This is a tall order in a very difficult arena.

Two issues were neglected in this otherwise compelling speech. First, President Ghani’s wide-ranging speech could have helped lay better the basis for regional peace if he had briefly advised Congress to press for an Israeli/Palestinian two-state solution by recognizing the repeated 2002 invitation to Israel by a coalition of many Arab and Islamic nations for a comprehensive, durable peace in accordance with the long-ignored United Nations resolutions.

Second, he declined to mention the U.S./Iranian confrontations in historical and contemporary ways that he is superbly able to explain. Our government would benefit greatly by seeking his advice on what our relations with Iran could be. Never mentioning Israel, Palestine and Iran within a gracious speech of great praise of the U.S. was however an unfortunate strategic omission and a lost opportunity.

He might have earned more lasting respect for his erudition and candor among significant segments of American opinion had he done so.

Ralph Nader’s latest book is: Unstoppable: the Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.

20TH CENTURY MAN

This is the age of machinery

A mechanical nightmare

The wonderful world of technology

Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare

 

This is the twentieth century

But too much aggravation

It's the age of insanity

What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem

 

Ain't got no ambition

I'm just disillusioned

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want

I don't wanna be here

 

Mama said she can't understand me

She can't see my motivation

Just give me some security

I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century

 

You keep all your smart modern writers

Give me William Shakespeare

You keep all your smart modern painters

I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough

 

Girl, we gotta get out of here

We gotta find a solution

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want

I don't wanna die here

 

I was born in a welfare state, ruled by bureaucracy

Controlled by civil servants and people dressed in gray

Got no privacy, got no liberty

'cause the twentieth century people

Took it all away from me

 

Don't wanna get myself shot down

By some trigger happy policeman

Gotta keep a hold on my sanity

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here

 

Mama says she can't understand me

She can't see my motivation

Ain't got no security

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here

 

This is the twentieth century

But too much aggravation

This is the edge of insanity

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here

— Ray Davies