Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Jan 26, 2016

• Doris Krause
• Fan Noise
• PD Headline
• Oaky Joe
• Cultured Affair
• Charter Movement
• Ticket Amnesty
• Sneaker Wave
• Walnuts Skillets
• Caltrans Info
• Yesterday's Catch
• Mexico News
• Enter Bloomberg
• Ohio
• Ukiah Symphony
• Cliches
• Flatline Bowling
• Rustin Documentary
• Eggman Option
• Library Events
• Human Indifference
• Missing Plane

DORIS L. KRAUSE

Doris L. Krause, mother of Allison Krause killed in the Kent State massacre of May 4, 1970, peacefully crossed over on January 17, 2016 in the loving arms of her family

Eulogy for Doris L. Krause from her daughter, Laurel Krause

Last week while I was walking along the California coast near my home, I was called to my mother Doris Krause’s bedside by hospice caregivers informing me that her time was near. Mom had stayed in Pittsburgh, our family home, perhaps for the same reason I went very far away. We shared a tragedy in our family that broke our hearts and wounded our spirits but ultimately deepened the love between us in ways we might not have otherwise known. We have carried this wound for so many years but I arrived back home in Pittsburgh to experience a profound healing with Mom. I am moved to share our experience as we lay her body to rest.

It is well known among you all that our family has been troubled by my sister’s Allison’s killing by the US military as she protested the Vietnam War on her campus, Kent State University. What you may not know is the ensuing US government pressure and harassment of our family that affected every aspect of our life since May 4, 1970. The pain of losing my beautiful sister was unspeakable to me. I carry her loss with me to this day, as I do her immense, magnanimous spirit. But my mother lost a child. And that is perhaps the greatest burden of all. When we add to this how unnecessary Allison’s death was, the betrayal of it being carried out by a government meant to protect us, and the crushing pressure of the denial of accountability for now decades, I am truly astounded by the grace and fortitude with which Doris faced this legacy.

When my father Arthur passed away in 1988, my mother was left to maintain our now small family on her own, along with me, to honor Allison’s legacy.

We have walked a difficult path together but this week, all our troubles fell away. My mother and I loved each other without limit, and got beyond our lifelong hurt in losing Allison in such a painful, public way. All that mattered in our time together this past week was the love we shared, the joyful memories of growing up together, the laughter and the eternal bond we carry with us.

Mom and I found a way to let our mutual pain go. We expressed our deep gratitude to each other for sharing so much love, and most importantly, we found peace.

Mom shared with me that she was afraid to go to the other side but I was blessed to be able to walk her over and let her know about the welcome banquet being prepared in her name. That our beloved dog LB was ready to greet her and that my father Arthur and sister Allison had been waiting too long for her arrival.

At 90 Mom has been severely health challenged these last few years. As we walked together, I saw her leave her troubles and suffering behind. She went home to my father now gone 28 years. She has been able to embrace her daughter Allison, now gone almost 46 years and I watched and encouraged her. My sister had stood for peace and had died in its service. We have since been honoring her memory with our own commitment to peace. And as my mother left this world at my side, I saw for the first time … my mother at peace. And I know that she is now free.

Voiced at the graveside service of Doris L. Krause by Laurel Krause on January 19, 2016

(Artwork by Roger Ballas)

DEAR GLENDA:

(Revised/Updated)

About Those Frost Fans In Anderson Valley That Disturb The Sleep Of Roughly A Thousand People…

THE SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT'S “Ukiah Bureau” — Glenda Anderson working out of her home — asked a third party, "Whatever became of Scaramella's fan case?”

SHUCKS, Glenda. Call me Mark, but thank you for asking. It's not a happy story, and unlikely to fit well in your wine-dependent, happy talk newspaper, but anyhoo…

IT BECAME PAINFULLY obvious that Official Mendocino County didn’t give a damn about the problem. There is presently no supervisor who would say so much as Boo to the titans of the grape.

BUT AS the struggle for a decent night's sleep staggered forward, my three SoBo wine grape neighbors turned out to at least give a bit of a damn; I quickly arrived at the settlements with Foursight and Pennyroyal, which involved their retooling their fans from two blades to three.

V.SATTUI'S fans — he's the third of my din-creating nabes — are different and do not easily lend themselves to three-bladed fan upgrades. I've been pursuing alternatives with him which have still not been finalized. His attorneys have thus far been reasonable about it. V.Sattui’s manager has insisted on confidentiality of these discussions which I have agreed to. If there’s a settlement with him I’ll advise.

I'VE heard the new three-bladed fans at Pennyroyal and Foursight briefly when they installed and tested them; they are significantly less loud, nor do they generate the kind of low frequency rumble that the two-blade models did. Several of my non-grape-growing neighbors have thanked me for the audible improvement.

MY GRAPE GROWING neighbors have been much more cooperative than the County. As far as the County and the Superior Court goes, we did some discovery and got some meaningless responses from the Ag Department and the Planning Department.

THE AV WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION continues to insist on their website that “Mendocino County is the only County in the state that requires permits for wind machines, and that those permits address noise, placement, and need.”

NOPE. NOT TRUE. If true I would not have had to sue the County.

THE COUNTY only requires permits for the “post-and-pad” machines (not the portables/towables) and those permits are only reviewed for construction and electrical wiring compliance. There is no review (and none is needed) for the portable/towable machines because they are not as loud.

IF MY SUPERVISOR, Dan Hamburg, had convened a meeting with me, some neighbors, the winegrowers and the Planning Department we could have worked something out for post-and-pad fans along the lines that the winegrowers themselves now seem inclined to install.

HAMBURG, who seems more and more removed from the reality the rest of us share, did absolutely nothing. In fact, he had the gall to tell KZYX's Valerie Kim that my lawsuit was "unproductive," while lavishing praise on County Ag Commissioner Chuck Morse for all that Mr. Morse had done to deal with the problem. Morse also did exactly nothing.

MORSE, asked during the legal process to “Describe any information the County provides Vineyard Operators with respect to their use and operation of Wind Machines,” Morse blandly replied, “The County’s Agricultural Commissioner does not provide any information to vineyard Operators with respect to their use and operation of Wind Machines.”

IF JUDGE HENDERSON had ordered the parties in my case into a settlement conference at the outset, we could have arrived at an agreement like the one we ended up with for much less cost and bother. The judge’s implication that decibel testing was needed was completely impracticable, as it involves the hiring of a sound expert etc. That the noise level of these things was way over the County’s noise standard was not in dispute. Even their majesties of the wine industry didn't argue that fact.

MY CASE cost me, so far, upwards of $8,000. The outcome is far from ideal for those throughout the Anderson Valley who live near the infernal two-bladed machines, but given the utter absence of reputable authority in Mendocino County in the Ag Department, the Superior Court and in Supervisor Humbug, it’s better than where we started.

PD HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: “Five Songs Sure To Make You Happy.”

OAKY JOE? You out there? Oaky Joe Munson, white courtesy telephone, please. Your fans are clamoring for your 2016 calendar. We need 'em, man. Everyone needs them.

CULTURED AFFAIR: Yes we are finally re-opening! Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes (and some home remedies) to me. Also a BIG thank you to everyone who sent good thoughts to my mom, she is recovering at a rehab facility and doing much better. She smiled when I told her that everyone from Wiccans to Baptist and everyone in between were sending her good thoughts. We are happy to be opening again, we've missed all our regulars. Thanks for reading,

Laura and Art Evans, Cultured Affair Café

Albion Str. just west of Kasten, 11-4:30PM daily, 937-1430

THE CHARTER PROJECT of Mendocino County has turned in roughly 4,000 qualifying signatures to the Registrar of Voters. About 2,500 valid signatures qualify a measure for the ballot. The state constitution recognizes two types of counties – general law, which adheres to state law as performed by elected officials, and which we have now; or a charter county which gives locals more control over developments within our borders.

Former Supervisor Norman de Vall is a Charter County stalwart. I invited him to weigh in:

"Over the years I've been in eleven elections, (lost four, won seven) but never engaged in a proposition/measure.

"The Charter movement is one I researched in my first term and learned from Al Barbaro that it had been tried before and lost by one vote.

"The movement found new life with the Occupy Movement which challenged the foreclosure process. That lead to learning about Public Bank. Proponents found that to be a chartered county rather than a general law county was an easier way to go to develop a Public Bank which, I believe, is at the top of the list to accomplish.

"The campaign is a sequel to Measure H but seems to have a different organization style: It has a few serious hard working point people but is not structured as a candidate campaign would be: No manager, statistician, treasurer, office or easy access phone numbers.

"A great deal of time and effort has gone into drafting a charter (read: Constitution) for Mendocino County but whatever will be in front of the voters in November General Election will be decided by the Charter Commission.

"In sum: It's probably best to scan the web, go to the Charter website and follow us on Facebook. Charter has a list.serv site on mcn.org”

THE MENDO Superior Court's ticket amnesty program runs to March of 2017. As of New Year’s Day, if you've picked up one or another of the usual exorbitant tickets for driving without a license, driving on a suspended license or having your license put on hold for unpaid fines, you can get them lowered by applying for mercy.

THIS IS WHAT A SNEAKER WAVE LOOKS LIKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPypT9dOvSY

FROM TODAY'S PRESS DEMOCRAT: "The 74-year-old Santa Rosa woman told a courtroom Monday that her adult son beat her with cast iron skillets after she confronted him about letting her dog eat walnuts." That's enough. Spare us all the details.

CALTRANS SAYS SORRY

Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 9:35 PM
To: Frisbie Jr, Phil N@DOT
Subject: traffic congestion/construction problem

Hello,

Yesterday, the following information was incorrect for 128 at hwy 1 at time stated. Gate did not open for several hours later. I could provide email documentation from traveling public inconvenienced, and final opening email from KOZT radio. Fort Bragg

This highway information is the latest reported as of Monday, January 18, 2016 at 10:22 .

SR 128

[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA]

NO TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS ARE REPORTED FOR THIS AREA.

[IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA]

NO TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS ARE REPORTED FOR THIS AREA.

* * *

From: Frisbie Jr, Phil N@DOT <phil.frisbie@dot.ca.gov>
Date: Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 8:08 AM
Subject: RE: traffic congestion/construction problem

We are sorry for the incorrect information on the Mendocino County closures over the holiday weekend (Monday was a State holiday). We are looking into why our website and the 800 number were not updated when the closures occurred. However, our newer system, http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ , was correct in showing the closures. We also kept our Facebook page up to date at https://www.facebook.com/CaltransD1/ Feel free to contact me directly if there are any future issues.

Sincerely,

Phil Frisbie, Jr.

Public Information Officer for Lake and Mendocino Counties
Web Content Administrator
Caltrans District 1

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 26, 2016

ANTONIO COLLINS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

JAMES JENKINS, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent Flyer)

JEFFREY KOSTICK, Fort Bragg. Protective order violation.

WILLIAM LOCKETT, Ukiah. Under influence, vandalism.

REMO McOSKER, Ukiah. Failure to appear. (Frequent Flyer)

DARA PETERS, Oakland. DUI.

ANNETTE PRICE, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

MATTHEW STILES, Willits. Under influence, paraphernalia, receipt of stolen property.

STINKING BADGES

by Clancy Sigal

“Badges? We ain’t got no badges.
We don’t need no badges.
I don’t have to show you
any stinking badges”

— Mexican bandits to Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of Sierra Madre

For long, dreary months CNN, MSNBC and most other news channels have violated me by refusing to report anything other than what’s easy, boring and accessible, the lunatic primary races. Aside from the Flint water poisoning scandal and snow storms outside their offices, that’s it.

So, because I need sometimes to get a whiff of the real world’s oxygen I step outside my door into the sweaty, chattering, roach coach world of Durango, Chiapas, Jalisco, Michoacan and Zacatecas – home states of the immigrant workmen and women – gardeners, tree trimmers and dry wallers, nannies and housekeepers – who way outnumber Anglos any weekday in my neighborhood. They work fiercely hard and depart at sundown in their pickups. We don’t know their names except they work cheaper than the original, now-aging Japanese American gardeners whose own kids prefer white collars to leaf blowers.

In any real sense Los Angeles is a Mexican town – sorry, Donald! – with an added mix of Central Americans looking for jobs or dodging MS13-style murder or both. In LA alone there are tens of thousands of Mexican gardeners; on building sites round my corner “American” is a foreign language. Without them southern California would implode.

Their home country is two-and-a-half hours down the I-5 South of San Diego to Tijuana, Baja California and deep into Cartelia. But as far as most of my mainstream news outlets are concerned Mexico might be located in Tibet or at the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle. I know more about Mosul in Iraq or Kiev in the Ukraine than I do about anything south of my border.

What I do know is that Mexico is North America’s ISIS, a raging war with itself.

And that the drug cartels are effectively Mexico’s shadow government, exerting control at every level from village to Presidential palace. 98% of murders go unsolved, few people report crime to the police who themselves may be the criminals.

All I have to do is flip over to a Spanish-only TV channel and even without knowing the language it’s perfectly clear who actually runs the country. Images tell the story. Multiple beheaded corpses and bodies hanging from bridges, thousands of youngsters “disappeared” (43 in one small town Iguala alone), uncountable mass graves, 100 local mayors assassinated in the past decade.

We shrug. “Oh, Mexico – what can you expect? corruption is as old as the country itself,” and ignore the inescapable fact that the Sinaloa, Zeta, Los Rojos and Knights Templar drug rings are moving on from shaking down government to boldly taking over the apparatus. Their own mayors, their own governors and police chiefs.

Forget the Hollywoodized “capture” of El Chapo. Some triumph! Every time our DEA and Mexico’s “elite Marines” nab or kill a “kingpin”, it gets worse because his underlings splinter into even more predatory gangs. That’s how we spend our $300 million a year in “drug war aid” to the fabulously corrupt Mexican federal government which turns over much of the money to municipalities which are forced to hand it over to the criminals. Thus, our epidemic craving for cocaine, heroin and Mexican weed, and our “war on drugs” tax money, feeds the head-choppers and torturers.

Although star TV anchors like Rachel Maddow and Anderson Cooper have abandoned their posts by ignoring the al-Queda-like war in our nearest southern neighbor, no blame to the Mexican media whose reporters, editors and photographers daily risk their lives just by going to the office.

If you work as a Mexican journalist you accommodate to the sicarios, the hired (often teenage) killers, or pay a terrible price not only yourself but your family. So you check with the gangsters first who brazenly have their own media directors. Some drug bosses love publicity, and some will burn you alive for it.

In the past ten years four journalists have been killed at El Manana, one of the leading papers along the US-Mexican border that must print different editions for different places depending the good or bad will of cartel psychopaths like El Chapo. Grenade and fire bombings are routine; likewise kidnappings. Self censorship is like a Kevlar vest, as necessary to a reporter as armor is to a battlefield soldier. At least 88 journalists have been murdered since 2000, and more to come.

Come on, Rachel and Anderson, get off your duffs and do some leg work on the Syria so near to us, so far from God.

(Clancy Sigal is a screenwriter and novelist. His latest book is Hemingway Lives. Sigal and Doris Lessing lived together in London for several years.)

THE AGONIES OF SENSIBLE PEOPLE

by James Kunstler

Much as many people-who-ought-to-know-better have been enjoying the disruptive antics of Donald Trump, surely other cohorts and coteries have endured dark nights of the soul as they witness the 2016 election spin into a perfect storm of rebellion, corruption, and idiocy. Imagine the scenes in Michael Bloomberg’s drawing room the past eight months, the agonies of sensible people! And so after the close of business Friday comes news that the former three-time mayor of New York City is laying concrete plans to run for president on a third-party ticket. Extreme times call for extreme moves by non-extremists.

The Trump phenomenon is pretty well-understood: a politically paralyzed nation hostage to malign forces, mired in racketeering, captive to PC witch-hunters, and pitching into bankruptcy, turns to a TV clown with no filter on his angry brain and he acts out all the discontents of our time. Does anybody doubt that the perfidies of the day beg to be opposed? But those shadowy figures in Bloomberg’s drawing room must be saying, “is this the best we can do?” And so an honorable man steps forward. Someone had to.

Couple of gigantic problems. First, what about Bloomberg being Wall Street’s pet politician? To many, I suppose, Bloomberg is exactly that. I’m not so sure. While he made his multi-billion dollar fortune building a computerized information service for Wall Street, with a news service and some other apps pinned on, he was not a bankster. He consorted with them all the livelong day, day in and day out, for decades. Maybe that was bad enough. Maybe it also puts him at a very special advantage, since other public figures can only pretend to understand the esoteric rackets lately engineered in lower Manhattan.

For instance, Bloomberg must know what a CDO is, and how outfits like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs used them to swindle the taxpayers. I’m not convinced that Donald Trump could explain that to an audience if given an hour of airtime. He rarely speaks in two consecutive coherent sentences, for all his entertainment value. The next president will be on duty during the gravest and most powerful financial unwind in history, and it might be a good thing if he understood how it worked. He will probably be blamed for it in any case, but at least he will be a true mariner in a storm, not just a bigmouth passenger on the ship. Anyway, the salient question is whether the voters could ever accept him as something besides a tool of the banks?

The public that Bloomberg would have to appeal to has become a weird amalgam of cultural mutants, zombies, and special pleaders — Duck Dynasty and Straight Out of Compton meet The House of Wax. Worse, they are inflamed, not exactly disposed to weigh political fine points. They’re just out for blood against a system that has been bleeding them badly. Did I leave out some big wad of voters between the extremes who retain a few shreds of critical thought? I’m not sure they exist anymore. We’re about to find out in the months ahead. The group in Bloomberg’s drawing room may be deluding itself that there is any thread of clear thinking on the street outside. It would be very sad, if so.

I think it is fair to say that Michael Bloomberg’s success as the three-term mayor of New York City (2002 – 2013) was due almost completely to the financialization of the economy. A Niagara of money flowed into the city as banking ballooned from 5 percent to 40 percent of the US economy. As all the formerly skeezy neighborhoods of New York — the Bowery, the Meatpacking District, etc — got buffed up, the desolation in places like Utica, Dayton, Gary, and Memphis got worse. You might say New York City benefited hugely from all the assets stripped out of the flyover states. All of which is to say that that recent revival of New York City was not necessarily due to Michael Bloomberg’s genius. He presided over a very special moment in history when money was flowing in a particular way, and he went with flow.

For all that, it seems likely that he was also an able administrator as this occurred. A lot of out-front elements of city life improved visibly while he was around. Crime went down, the subways ran better, public spaces were improved. What would he be able to do in the compressive deflationary depression that I call the long emergency? Could he restore faith in authority? Could he comfort a battered public on the airwaves? Could he begin the awful task of politically deconstructing the matrix of rackets that has made it impossible for this country to move where history is taking us (smaller, finer, more local)?

Finally, on top of his Wall Street connection, Bloomberg is Jewish. (As I am.) Is the country now crazed enough to see the emergence of a Jewish Wall Streeter as the incarnation of all their hobgoblin-infested nightmares? Very possibly so, since the old left wing Progressives have adopted the Palestinians as their new pet oppressed minority du jour and have been inveighing against Israel incessantly. Well, that would be a darn shame. But that’s what you might get in a shameless land where anything goes and nothing matters.

For now, anyway, the real disrupter is turning out to be Michael Bloomberg. Finally a serious man enters the stage.

(Support Kunstler’s columns by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page!)

OHIO

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

--Neil Young

UKIAH SYMPHONY PLAYS COPLAND--Feb. 20-21 at SPACE Theater

Copland—America’s Composer

by Karen Rifkin

In a tribute to Aaron Copland, one of the most respected American classical composers of the twentieth century, the Ukiah Symphony will be performing his Quiet City, Clarinet Concerto and Appalachian Spring on Saturday, February 20th at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 21st at 3 p.m. at Near and Arnold's School of Performing Arts & Cultural Education Theater. Two Elegiac Melodies, Opus 34 by Norwegian Romantic composer and pianist Edvard Grieg will be presented during the first half of the chamber concert performance. Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, originally commissioned by legendary swing musician Benny Goodman in 1947, will feature Luiz Coelho on clarinet with an instrumental accompaniment of strings and harp. In Appalachian Spring, Copland weaves melodies that evoke simplicity and the good-natured piety of Shaker culture. Able to capture a vast emotional world, Appalachian Spring has achieved widespread and enduring popularity. Tickets for "Copland--America’s Composer" at SPACE Theater are available at www.brownpapertickets.com <http://www.brownpapertickets.com>; Mendocino Book Company at 102 South School St. in Ukiah; and Mail Center, Etc. at 207A North Cloverdale Blvd. in Cloverdale. Prices are: $25 adults, $20 seniors, and $5 for those under 18 or ASB card holders. For more information call 462-0236. Concert sponsors are Ukiah Valley Medical Center; Rich and Jean Craig; and Monte and Kay Hill.

ABSOLUTELY MYRIAD DECADES of single word cliches around the globe

"Myriad" now joins the other single-word cliches littering our written and spoken language: From a hed on an Alternet story: The Myriad Ways Political Corruption and Mass Incarceration Go Hand and Hand.

What's wrong with plain old "many"? Nothing, since it's more familiar, less pretentious, means the same, and has only two syllables instead of the three in myriad.

On absolutely, decades, and globe.

See also this and this.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

We went to two bowling alleys today. Both were packed with 45 minute wait times for a lane. Hint: bowling alleys are not frequented by the 1%. The middle class and the lower class have money to burn on bowling on the weekend. But wait! I thought the economy was in dire straits, people were maxed out on their credit cards, in debt, unemployed. What are they doing enjoying bowling on the weekend? Don’t they know the economy has “flatlined”? Trust your own eyes. People are driving. People are taking vacations. The Mall parking lots are full. Demand has not “flatlined.” What? They didn’t spend all their money on Christmas? No, the economic collapse is bogus, just as is the “flatlining” of the oil industry. Some people need to learn that a tactical business decision, in order to return to fight in the future, is not the death of an industry. Statistics like the Baltic Dry Index do not tell the rest of the story. You can believe flatlining has happened when supplies are not moving, when the military grinds to a halt for lack of fossil fuels. Ain’t happened. Ain’t happening. Ain’t gonna happen. Chill, y’all.

A PBS/POV Documentary, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

On Wednesday, February 3^rd at 5 pm, in honor of Black History Month, the Mendocino County Library, Ukiah Branch, is hosting the PBS/POV documentary, Brother Outsider, which explores the life and work of civil rights and LBGT activist, Bayard Rustin.

Rustin was a pacifist, an experienced organizer, an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., and openly gay. Because of the homophobia in the Civil Rights movement (and in the country in general), Rustin’s honesty about his sexuality was considered a liability and he voluntarily remained in the background. Nevertheless he advised Martin Luther King on the nonviolent strategies used in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956 and was a central organizer for the March on Washington in 1963. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

Brother Outsider, a PBS/POV documentary, was created by filmmakers Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer.

Following the screening, Lorraine Dechter, General Manager of KZYX, will moderate a discussion of the film. All PBS/POV documentary screenings at Ukiah Library are food-friendly. Please feel free to bring your dinner or snacks.

ASSEMBLYMEMBER EGGMAN INTRODUCES BILL TO FORCE VOTE ON DELTA TUNNELS

by Dan Bacher

Sacramento — On the day after Governor Jerry Brown once again touted his Delta Tunnels Plan ("reliable conveyance") as a "solution" to California's water problems in his State of the State address, Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) announced the introduction of legislation to block the Governor’s controversial project unless it is approved by California voters on a statewide ballot.

“An enormous amount of time and energy has been wasted rebranding and repackaging the same old Peripheral Canal plan that voters rejected decades ago,” Eggman said. “It’s tragic that despite our ongoing drought, this flawed plan is being forced on us without any true debate even though it will not add one drop of water to California’s supply, but it will raise the water rates and potentially property taxes of millions of Californians.”

The California voters overwhelmingly defeated a measure to build the earlier version of the project, the Peripheral Canal, in November 1982. Jerry Brown opposes a public vote on the tunnels, as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did before him.

Eggman said the new bill will require approval via ballot initiative for "any infrastructure project that conveys water directly from a diversion point in the Sacramento River to pumping facilities of the State Water Project or the federal Central Valley Project south of the Delta."

“In 2012, the Governor was committed to asking the voters to approve a substantial tax increase. I’m hopeful he will be just as committed to seeking voter approval before embarking on a project that will cost tens of billions of dollars and greatly impact the Delta region,” Eggman said.

Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), a recognized leader on state water policy issues who has represented the Delta region in the State Legislature for 13 years, joined Eggman in announcing the introduction of the bill.

“California’s taxpayers and ratepayers should have the opportunity to weigh in on whether to commit billions of dollars to a project that economists say isn’t a good investment, scientists say is a disaster for the Delta’s ecosystem, and the water exporters’ own studies show will not produce a single drop of new water supply," said Wolk.

“The proposed tunnels are the most expensive, most controversial water project proposed in half a century with the potential to permanently destroy the Delta’s ecosystem and community. Californians have the right to look at the facts and decide whether the tunnels are good for California, or whether we should drop this plan once and for all,” she concluded.

The state and federal water agencies rebranded the Peripheral Canal/Tunnels project as the “California Water Fix” last summer after the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) failed to meet environmental standards required to obtain the necessary permits from the federal regulatory agencies. The agencies split the BDCP into two components — the tunnels plan, the California Water Fix, and the habitat “restoration” plan, California Eco Restore.

The tunnels project would cost at least $15 billion to $25 billion, according to the administration's estimates, although the real cost of the tunnels could be over $67 billion. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given the widely-contested project a failing grade, calling the new environmental impact report “inadequate," according to a news release from Eggman's Office.

Assemblymember Catharine Baker, Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, Assemblymember Jim Cooper, Assemblymember Jim Frazier and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty are joining Eggman and Wolk as co-authors of the legislation.

While the Eggman bill focuses just on the Delta Tunnels, there is currently on the November 8 ballot a measure, the "No Blank Checks Initiative," that would force voter approval for public infrastructure bonds amounting to more than $2 billion and requiring new or increased taxes or fees. This initiative, if passed, would effectively force a vote on the tunnels and other similar projects. Dean Cortopassi, a Stockton region farmer and landowner, is spearheading the initiative. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/03/1444112/-Initiative-threatening-Delta-Tunnels-Qualifies-For-Ballot)

Environmental groups praise bill

Representatives of environmental, fishing and anti-corporate groups praised the introduction of Eggman's legislation, since it will force a vote on a project that will hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species and will destroy the San Francisco Bay/Delta Estuary, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The California Water Fix also imperils the steelhead and salmon run on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, fish populations that are an integral part of the culture and livelihood of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes.

“Restore the Delta supports fully Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman's legislation blocking the tunnels without a vote of the people," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD). "The tunnels will destroy the sole source of drinking water for one million Delta residents, the physical environment and the state's most magnificent fisheries and breathtaking habitat for birds on the Pacific flyway - not to mention the agricultural and related economies for an additional three million Delta area residents. The Delta is not California's sacrifice zone."

Conner Everts, Executive Director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance, said, “Given this so called Delta fix has grown in costs, lost any illusion of environmental mitigation, and doesn't provide Southern California with any new water, the time has come to know what the true cost-benefit ratio is and allow a vote. This legislation reinstates the legislature’s prerogative, and gives the entire state a voice, especially those in Southern California who would have to pay for the project. The drought has shown that people in Southern California want a say in how their water utility payments are invested and that local water strategies are the best result for each dollar spent."

“Food & Water Watch applauds Assemblymember Eggman for introducing legislation that empowers everyday Californians to vote on the wasteful Delta tunnels project," said Adam Scow, California Director of Food & Water Watch. "It’s only fair that Californians get to vote on a project that demands so much of our water and money, especially when we need to invest billions toward fixing our aging local water and wastewater systems."

While bragging about his standing in the national polls, Donald Trump told supporters Saturday at a campaign rally that he could shoot someone and he would still be on top. "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters," Trump said. The Republican presidential candidate declined to elaborate when a CNN reporter later asked about his comment.

UPCOMING CLASSES & EVENTS AT UKIAH LIBRARY

http://mendolibrary.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3696d38b68efac10f9e33fa9a&id=a3efd06acc&e=a3c5eb703b

HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS HUSBANDRY FOR FUN AND PROFIT

Editor,

(Warming myself at the AVA's crackling little webedition over the past couple days, I've had this creeping and creepy suspicion sidling up, one that maybe I'd better not give voice to; the Best Kind of Story? In any case, I'm not blaming America's Last Newspaper for any of this...)

Surveying recent events in Flint, Michigan and Kabul, Afghanistan and San Bernardino and Oregon and points between and beyond, I was struck by a disturbing question: If 'our' government had deliberately set out from Square One to kill off the Humans in its 'charge,' how much different would our world look, now? And without getting too close to an answer fit for mixed company, it then occurred to me that the Larger Forces calling the shots are not actively trying to extinguish the Race, they're just not trying not to. And there's the rub: indifference makes all the difference. So, that's what I have to tell my Grandchildren, "'They' had their heads so far up their Bottom Line, they couldn't find their Assets with both hands and a GPS...so the Biosphere's gone flatline?!"

Recall S. Brian Willson (sp?) seating himself on the tracks in front of the munitions train leaving Concord Naval Weapons Station in CA, during another bunch of illegal wars. The Navy saw fit to open the yard gates, and with full knowledge that the crowd of People was on the tracks, set the train in motion. [Ignore for the moment that the locomotive actually accelerated just as it approached Willson]. All but Willson, a Viet Nam war veteran, were able to get out of the way. He lost his legs there but lived to fight on. The crew didn't have to try to run over Willson...once the train was rolling, it was sufficient just refraining from trying not to. The crew could have hit the brakes and stopped the train. They didn't.

* * *

So. Consider the likelihood that Human populations, in the United States and elsewhere, have been, and are being herded like tax-cattle:

Have been allowed, even encouraged to dangerously overpopulate, (1) for labor forces for PRODUCTION of wealth, (2) for mass market for CONSUMPTION, (3) for making wars to enforce this arrangement, ensure it remains in place...(a Divide-and-Conquer Production, nullifying any unity among the Opposition, and handily pruning back that pesky old Human Population Problem. If several hundred thousand young men were 'coming of age' in your midst in any given week, making trouble and asking questions, what would you do on your way to Empire?)...and (4) for now; it is possible, even likely, that we Humans may become more trouble than we're worth down at the hockshop...

So what if the Biosphere ceases to produce at this accelerating rate, we flat run out of species to exploit and the energies to do it, leaving big Human populations without visible means of support, no food, water, shelter, or means to get there?

Like I said, So What? The Deal went off prezackly according to plan, putting a price on every head, making the biggest killing Ever, and funneling every dime straight into One Pocket....Mission Accomplished!

Have been disenfranchised and subjugated, by the ascendance of the Corpirations and similar artificial organisms successfully masquerading as 'Citizens.' Humans do not have, as a group, the upper hand on Wall Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue, or on either side of the Capitol dome, nor any Standing in any Court whatever, in spite of the Law, mind you. Humans do not have, as a group, a fleet of lawyers to keep track of the fine print; an army of 'troops' to keep track of the blunt objects; a cadre of 'lobbyists' to cuddle up to 'our' Senators and Congresspersons, slipping 'em schemes to sign into 'law,' (Those offices first constituted and still overpaid to provide these services have long since gone AWOL from our service, Elsewhere). We Humans do not have, as a group, factories and processing and packaging plants and storage/warehousing/distribution stations positioned in each and every big patch of voters, providing jobs and 'community,' and loyalties... ...and by the complicity of Media with some enthusiasm, and quite some profits... ...and by the studied, richly rewarding collaboration of institutions of 'Higher Learning'... ...and by the symbiosis among the Human appendages of Pentagon/Industry/Offices of Government, acting as Judas Goats for the Rich and Richer... ...and by pharmacological policies of market manipulation for unlawful gain; plundering the public, looting the coffers of trust and good will among Humans for generations; imposing dependencies and hardships of scope and depth unimagined by your local junky/pusher... ...and by the shameful national disease of incarceration-for-profit, engendering a national profile of 'Enlist 'em or Jail 'em' regarding young males (...or Shoot 'em, depending on how lightly they're colored)... Have been inundated in Diversions, blindered by them, for decades upon decades. We've internalized and embedded them in our 'folklores,' accommodating them as part of our 'heritage,'... ...positive Diversions, like our 'Love Affair With the Automobile,'...which has had us over the Barrel, and had its way with us for 100 years and counting; 'Here, take this appliance of personal power and mobility, cheap, and enjoy!!' (and keep reeling the suckers in by the generations); Firearms, the blessings of fingertip Control of Destiny, just like fucking Roy Rogers; The celphone, so packed with communications 'apps' and intelligent features, its users all take the pose made famous on the POW/MIA silhouette flag...all day. ...negative Diversions, like nebulous wars 'for Freedom' that never work as promised, but never end anyway; numerous and various other outrages, overflowing... This makes 'feral' look downright civilized.

Rick Weddle

Brookings, Oregon

MH370 still missing

Jeff Wise is closely following the MH370 story on his blog:

It’s been almost two years since MH370, and the worldwide search into the greatest mystery in the history of aviation is looking a little ragged. Nothing has been found on the seabed where satellite analytics said the plane must have gone. Only a single piece of debris has turned up, and it’s under lock and key in France. Some are starting to grumble that we’re reaching the end of profitable inquiry. Others say maybe it’s time to consider a broader range of possible fates for the missing plane.

To get a sense of the mood of the room (as it were) I’d like to pose a question to readers:

If the search of the seabed comes up empty, no further debris is found, and investigators find significant problems with the flaperon (such as proof that the barnacles are less than a year old, or that the the barnacle species mix indicates it didn’t originate on the 7th arc), would you be willing to seriously consider the possibility that the satellite signal was deliberately tampered with and that the plane went somewhere else other than the southern Indian Ocean?

No, this is an unreasonable idea. Tampering with the satellite signal would be so complicated that no one could have attempted it, and in fact it might even just be totally impossible. The plane must have been on the seventh arc somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere at 0:19. Occam’s razor.

Yes, and in fact we should disregard satcom data entirely. Maybe it was corrupted deliberately by Inmarsat or a Western intelligence agency, and maybe the so-called experts don’t know what they’re talking about. The plane could be anywhere.

Yes, but we can’t disregard the satellite data entirely. The data is not illusory, it had to be generated by some physical process that originated on the airplane, and analyzing it might help us understand where the plane went.

None of the above. (Explain).

(Courtesy, Distric5Diary)