Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017

• Hospitality Hearing
• Moratorium Necessary
• Vaccination Rates
• PD Headlines
• Saner Arraignment
• Name That Bird
• Measure B
• Rental Distinction
• Green Party
• Athletic Directors
• Frightening Sentence
• Democrats Picnic
• Yesterday's Catch
• Maker Community
• First Shot
• Holy Cockroach
• Busting Randolph
• Prison Wages
• Retirement Board
• Nazi Punching
• Lonely Seniors

PUBLIC HEARING ON HOSPITALITY HOUSE Use Permit - 8/23/17 Planning Commission

The Fort Bragg Planning Commission will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 6:00 PM at Town Hall, 363 N. Main Street, Fort Bragg to discuss modifications to Use Permit (USP 9-03/17) held by the Hospitality House.

“The Community Development Director requests that the Planning Commission make findings based on the evidence presented to modify existing Use Permit 9-03 (USP 9-03) for the Hospitality House Emergency Shelter (Hospitality House) to include additional conditions to address nuisance conditions and violations of special and standard conditions of the Use Permit.”

See Item 4B on agenda: 8/23/2017 Planning Commission

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=5361971&GUID=63F04BA2-5849-4AC0-82FD-42C34A21F5E4

Et seq. …

VACATION RENTAL MORATORIUM NECESSARY

Editor,

I enjoyed the article from Mike Koepf about his experience being an Air B and B host. And while one must admit that there are many reasons that people might choose that route with their property, it also cannot be denied that the loss of housing has become a huge problem for Mendocino County.

Many homes that were once residences for locals have now become unavailable. The housing crisis effects a broad sector of Mendocino County. It is not limited to the homelessness we observe in the streets. Public and non-profit social service agencies all attest to the strain that high rents and scarce supplies place on working families. Mendocino County public employee turnover is high in part due to the housing shortage. Our hospitals, schools, and private employers all have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified employees. Our elders are often cast adrift; just ask anyone associated with a Senior Center.

When I served on the Board of the Albion Little River Fire Protection District we regularly lost young volunteers when they could not find housing. The problem is endemic across many districts. We risk our social fabric if we cannot keep these young, idealistic, and dedicated people in our County.

Our Board of Supervisors has enacted a temporary moratorium on new vacation rental licenses while they try to parse out the many issues associated with the practice. It is my sincere hope that the effect on the housing supply will merit discussion.

Chris Skyhawk

Albion

DESPITE VACCINE LAW, LOCAL SCHOOL HAS ONE OF WORST INOCULATION RATES IN STATE

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7305038-181/some-california-schools-continue-to

Even with a new law that has boosted kindergarten vaccination rates to record highs, hundreds of schools across California still have many kids lacking full immunization, according to a new analysis of state data.

https://edsource.org/2017/vaccination-rates-by-school-in-california/580981

* * *

Mendo School Vaccination Rates

(2016-17 entering kindergartners up-to-date percentage, rounded to nearest 1%) Most unvaccinated percentages claim medical exemptions):

• AV Elementary: 92% (3%*)
• Laytonville Elementary: 90% (7%*)
• Potter Valley Elementary: 95%
• River Oak Charter (Ukiah): 68% (32% medical)
• Frank Zeek Elementary (Ukiah): 95%
• Grace Hudson Elementary (Ukiah): 95%
• Oak Manor (Ukiah): 96%
• Nokomis (Ukiah): 97%
• Yokayo (Ukiah): 98%
• Waldorf (Ukiah): 17% (prior year data only available) (65%*)
• Tree of Life Charter (Ukiah): 95+%
• Arena Elementary: 95+%
• Mendocino K-8: 70% (26%*)
• Redwood Elementary (Fort Bragg): 70% (27% medical)
• Willits Elementary (Charter): 68%% (32% medical)
• Brookside Elementary (Willits): 91% (9%*)
• Round Valley Elementary: 94
• Calpella Elementary: 94%
• St. Mary of Angels (Catholic/Private): 95+%

* “not required to have immunizations because they attend a home school or an independent study program or receive special education services in the 2016-17 school year.”)

AN ANNOTATED GUIDE to the lead stories in today's (Monday's) Press Democrat:

FRONTIERS OF FREE ENTERPRISE:
World's first chicken nugget tasting room opens in Sebastopol

REVOLT OF THE RETARDS:
White nationalists say Charlottesville just a beginning

FAIR PLAY FOR FOWL:
Protester arrested at Petaluma chicken plant

AND HE BEAT UP HIS MOTHER:
Mom previously accused Charlottesville driver of beating her

CROSS COUNTRY WHITEY:
Berkeley hot dog chain fires worker seen at white nationalist rally

HEY! WE THOUGHT ALL THE ANTI-VAC NUTS WERE IN MENDO:
Despite vaccine law, local school has one of worst inoculation rates in state

WHICH FARMER'S DOES NOT COVER:
Man shot in the head while driving on Bay Area freeway

YO! ORANGE MAN: 'THUG' IS NO LONGER A PEJORATIVE IN THESE CIRCLES:
Trump condemns KKK, neo-Nazis as 'thugs'

BOLO FOR THE GUY WITH THE LACE UNDERWEAR
Manhunt on for Kelseyville man suspected of shooting at officers.
Dozens of law enforcement officers from three counties Monday afternoon continued the search for a scantily clad man suspected of shooting at officers in Lake County.

KEVIN DAVENPORT, the DA’s Coast prosecutor, ordinarily works out of Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg. The Clark Kent-lookalike was in Judge John Behnke’s Ukiah courtroom a week ago for the arraignment of Michael Saner, who is charged with the murder of William Martinez in Navarro. Saner and Martinez had been living on a rented property at Rancho Navarro.

SANER had been on probation, so that status was revoked as a result of the new charge of first degree murder, Count One, and, Count Two, willful discharge of a firearm resulting in great bodily injury, death; bail was set a $500,000 for Count One, another $500,000 for Count Two, and $5,000 for the violation of probation. The Office of the Public Defender was appointed, and further arraignment was set in the Ten Mile Court for August 21st, at 9:00 am.

DEFENDANT SANER faces what seems an open and shut case — which, incidentally, is a fate he shares with about half-a-dozen homicides stalled these last few years in the Mendocino Superior courts. For instance the jury trial of the Covelo guy who used a bat to brain a fellow low-level pot pharm employee, has decided to go NGI (Not Guilty by reason of Insanity.) Devoted readers may recall that murder was revealed when the dead man’s loyal dog dug up his grave, thus revealing his master and his fate. (Bruce McEwen)

THE MURDER of Willie Martinez at Rancho Navarro certainly had its macabre aspects. It occurred on Fritz Ohm’s place as Fritz and the soon-to-be deceased Martinez were enjoying a bite to eat. If there’s a more gentle, peaceful soul in the Anderson Valley than Fritz Ohm we are twice blessed. Fritz is Navarro’s go-to guy, always available to his neighbors for emergency help, and for years he’s been the Rancho’s primary maintenance guy. Never known to turn anyone away, Fritz and Martinez were eating when Saner appeared and blasted Martinez with a shotgun. Martinez was not killed instantly. He made his way from his last bite to wedge himself between two vehicles in a vain attempt to escape his assailant, who’d already fled the property for Comptche where he was soon taken into custody. Martinez died despite the efforts of Fritz and nearby neighbor and AV emergency services stalwart Fal Allen to keep him alive.

THE NEWS that The Valley’s resident deputy, Craig Walker, had signed up to run for the Anderson Valley School Board inspired loud cheers in the offices of the Boonville weekly. We are also encouraged by the candidacy of Saoirse Byrne (pronounced, I think, Sair-Schah) whose thoughtful presentations to the present school trustees we’ve twice witnessed.

MEASURES To Be Submitted To The Voters consist of one measure:

MEASURE B - Mendocino County Mental Health Treatment Act (Sheriff Allman’s badly needed in-county psych unit)

THE ELECTION is November 7th.

WE THINK the Supervisors should make a legal distinction between property owners who take a whole house off the rental market to rent to visitors, and property owners who merely rent a cabin out back or a room in their own dwelling to tourists. Whole houses ought to go to families who live and work here, not to the hot tub hordes. It’s the wholesale conversion of houses to the tourist traffic that is shrinking Mendocino County’s already tight rental housing supply.

CASE IN POINT: My old house on Anderson Valley Way, which now rents for an astounding $450 a day while the rest of the red tag cabins on the half acre at 12451 Anderson Valley Way are rented to working locals. The main house draws the saps paying $450 a night to an undistinguished (except for its distinguished pedigree) three-bedroom tract job whose sulpher and iron-laden water you can smell coming out of the tap. (We did laundry up the hill and hauled our drinking water from the run-off tap on Mountain View Road.) If I even suspected that my old place would be rented out to tourists I’d never have sold it, especially now when whole families cannot find homes to rent. In fact, I tried to buy it back but got outbid by a city guy with no connection to this place.

GREEN PARTY MEETING IN BOONVILLE.

“Help develop a strong and viable Green Party. Now is the time for you to join the momentum toward a progressive and Green political future. Come join us on Sunday, August 20th, from 2pm to 5pm at Anderson Valley Brewery, either inside or outside, 17700 Boonville Rd, Boonville, CA 95415. No food but drinks for sale. Bring your action agenda! Hope to see you there! Robin Sunbeam”

AS, AHEM, the co-founder of the Mendo Green Party with Dr. Dave Colfax back in ’84 when we issued a county wide call to action convened at the Boonville elementary school, and were astounded that every loon for miles showed up, I lasted about three months, unwilling to spend hours in lunatic hippie rituals only tangentially related to political issues, being more focused on what might be called outpatient therapy. The Greens, small in number on their best days, were totally hijacked by crackpots led by the late Richard “One True Green” Johnson, and just as quickly co-opted by the local Democrats who move fast on even a hint of political energy to the left of Bill and Hillary, hence today’s Northcoast Democrats, as politically debauched as their big brothers and sisters at the national level. Maybe a revived Green Party will take on the local Democrats, but I doubt it. Here’s hoping, though, and I’ll get around to re-registering Demo to Green any day now, so long as I never, ever have to attend a Green Party meeting.

THE REDOUBTABLE PAUL McCARTHY of the indispensable MendoSportsPlus immediately took issue:

“I have to disagree about the Athletic Director post — it’s a difficult & thankless job and involves a LOT more than people know — team scheduling being the least of the headaches. Referees have to be scheduled, coaches hired, uniforms ordered, school grades for eligibility monitored, the physical plant/field has to be up to standards, etc. Being an AD is no walk in the park; they’re the focal point for parent/resident complaints — and the only time they’re ever noticed by the public is when something goes wrong.

And one other thing — they have to put up with me.

My hat is off to these unsung heroes who (for the most part) keep high school sports operating seamlessly.”

A TWO-PAGE PUFFERO on the Anderson Valley as wine theme park in the Sunday Chron concluded with this frightening sentence: “….My advice is to get up to Anderson Valley before too much changes, and experience the unspoiled charm of a world class wine region that is just hitting its stride.”

EVERYTHING-WRONG-WITH-DEMOCRATS PICNIC

Democratic Party of Mendocino County Labor Day BBQ.

We are gathering to celebrate our Labor! We are working together to make a better and more inclusive world for all! As we Labor everyday for our livelihood, we must also honor the Labor of Community! Our Labors of Love make all the difference for a better World for All! The Progressive Jam Band will be on hand! At Todd Grove Park Ukiah. September 4, 2017 11am-3pm. We'll be serving; Organic Beef Burgers, Grass Fed Pork Hot Dogs. Please bring Potluck Salads!! Beer & Wine for Sale. Sugar Shack desserts for sale!! Speaking At The Event: Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblymember Jim Wood; Labor Representatives, Elected Officials, Candidates for State Office, CADEM Officers. See you in the Park!

Sponsored by: SEIU, CTA, Jim Wood, Inland Mendocino Democratic Club

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 14, 2017

SOLAMON ACOSTA, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

FRANCISCO BARAJAS, Ukiah. DUI.

HENRY CASTORENA, Ukiah. Domestic battery, probation revocation.

JOY DAVIDSON, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

NICHOLAS DELEON, Navarro. ID theft, conspiracy, parole violation.

KEITH DRIVER, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOSE ESTRADA-WIRT, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ALEJANDRO GERVACIO-REYES, Las Vegas/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol, DUI-drugs, resisting.

BRYAN GONZALEZ, Ukiah. DUI.

ROBIN GOODNOUGH, Ukiah. Battery.

WILLIAM HOLT, Ukiah. Camping in Ukiah, probation revocation.

TRAVIS ‘THE HUMP’ HUMPHREY, Talmage. Concealed dirk-dagger.

JIMMIE ISENHART, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

EDWARD JOHNSON, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

ANDREW MAYNARD, Ukiah. Evidence destruction-concealment, disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JUSTIN MCNIEL, Talmage. Probation revocation.

MICHAEL PARKER, Ukiah. Resisting, probation revocation.

DAYNIECE SHILLINGS, Ukiah. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Walmart is a life support system for a lot of extremely poor people as are a couple of deep discount food stores. It is a bit of a freak show, at least in my city with all of the tatted up folks, the amazing obesity even of younger people, and all the women with hardware in their faces and such. It is amazing what rubbish people are buying there, even though they do have a small produce section. Most people are buying the worst foods they possibly could, like soda and pop tarts and I would have to assume that is what they subsist on. As for the actual building. They did have some really nice greenhouses there and the car park has about 25 acres of potential community garden so there is hope. The building could also be part of a “maker community” like they have in Norway. I don’t think we need to go to socialism as that is not the answer. I do think we need to change our mindset about community and survival. Can you imagine a place where woodworkers and metalworkers and restoration people can get together to make things happen? We now think in terms of dollars and time is money, etc. What if it wasn’t? There are a lot of people out there who are much more valuable than what they are getting paid to do but that is not the priority. What if by valuing people and social capital all of this could change? That might make these places worth saving for a while. You could also grow a lot of stuff up on the roof and that would actually save part of it from sun degradation which destroys roofs.

SMOKE & FIRE

by James Kunstler

Cue the corn pone Nazis. Enter, stage left. Well, what did you expect?

With the various authorities in this culture incessantly applying “white privilege” noogies to the public’s skull, sooner or later they were sure to provoke a lizard-brain response from the more limbic-oriented low orders of honkeydom. Of course, you couldn’t stage-manage a more stupidly arrant provocative act in the State of Virginia, guaranteed to bring out the raging yahoos, than threatening to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee.

There’s a depressingly tragic overtone to this whole affair that suggests the arc of history itself is driving this story — a dark animus in the national soul struggling to resolve its contradictions. And the Charlottesville incident, which left a woman dead and many others badly injured from a car-ramming, has the flavor of a “first shot” in a new civil war.

The echo civil rights campaign of the moment — a strange brew of Black Lives Matter, “Antifa” (anti-fascist), latest-wave feminism, illegal immigrant sanctuary politics, and LGBTQQ agitation — emanates from the college campuses and creeps through the culture-at-large like a miasma, poisoning group against group, in an orgy of victimization claims of the sort that inevitably lead to violence. This is how tribal and religious wars start in primitive societies.

There is also a funk of phoniness about this campaign that should alert the higher centers of judgment in the brain. The Michael Brown killing in Ferguson, MO, that kicked off the BLM movement was never a convincing case of injustice, but has been widely regarded as if it was, despite state and federal inquiries (under Obama’s DOJ), that concluded otherwise. The figment of “white privilege” is not responsible for the extraordinary black-on-black homicide rates in Chicago and Baltimore or the black teen flash mobs in malls around the country. What is suspiciously at the bottom of it all is the spectacular failure of the original civil rights campaign of the 1960s to alter the structures of poverty in black America, as well as the grinding guilt among white Democratic Progressives over the failures of their own well-intentioned policies — converted perversely into racial self-flagellation.

The latest iteration of feminism comes out of campuses that have been largely taken over by female Boomer pedagogues, especially the non-STEM departments, and is now fait accompli, so that the grievances still pouring out seem manufactured and hysterical. It also has a strong odor of simple misandry, and the whole package of ideology is wrapped in impenetrable grad school jargon designed to give it an intellectual sheen that is unearned and dishonest. The grim fact is that sooner or later even some intelligent men might notice this, and get pissed off about it.

The “Antifa” movement would be funny if it wasn’t itself prone to violence, since it espouses exactly the same kind of despotism against free thought that it pretends to fight against. It wants to shut down and stamp out debate in the public arena and trample over principles that make it uncomfortable, for instance, the First Amendment asserting the right to free speech. It makes a mockery of the battle cry for “diversity” (diversity only for Antifa-approved ideas). That so many current college students subscribe to the movement ought to make thoughtful people very uneasy about the politics of the coming generation. In their black battle garb and masks, they resemble the very fascist mobs of the 1930s that the name “Antifa” supposedly evokes as its enemy.

The illegal immigrant sanctuary movement is just plain insane, starting with the refusal by officials to even make a distinction between citizens and non-citizens. There is every reason to think that mayors of “sanctuary cities” and administrators on “sanctuary campuses” should be prosecuted under federal law. It has reached such a pitch in California, where state college deans are shepherding “undocumented” students into special programs, that they are sure to provoke the cutoff of funds and perhaps the destruction of their own institutions. The movement is the very essence of lawlessness and a disgrace to the supposedly thinking class.

The LGBTQQ movement, an offshoot of Feminism 3.0, seeks to erase biology itself as applied to human mammalian sexuality, at the same time that it wants to create new special social and political entitlements — based on various categories of sexual desire that they insist are biologically-driven, such as the urge of a man to equip himself via surgery to behave like a woman. The movement has now gone so far as to try to shame people who place themselves in the original biological categories (“cis-gender,” another grad school metaphysical jargon clot), and especially heterosexual men. Everybody else gets brownie points for being “cutting edge.” One really has to wonder how long this nonsense goes on before it provokes a reaction among the biology-literate.

If we’re entering a new civil war, don’t make the mistake of thinking that it is the product solely of extreme right-wing yahooism. These Nazi and KKK bozos are rising up because the thinking-enabled people of the center have been too cowardly to stand up against the rising tide of idiocy festering at both ends of the spectrum, and particularly on the Left with its direct wiring to the policy-making centers of American life, dictating how people must think and act, and what they should care about.

What we can’t really tell yet is whether these battles will remain joined and even escalate after the financial clusterfuck that the nation is sleepwalking into, or if the financial crisis will overwhelm them like a tsunami and leave all the stupid, tattered battle flags washed up on a lonely beach.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/JamesHowardKunstler)

ZACH RANDOLPH

by Fred Gardner

NBA star Zach Randolph, 36, was arrested in Watts August 9 "on suspicion of possessing marijuana with intent to sell, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Norma Eisenman." So said the Associated Press account of the arrest, which occurred after an LAPD Gang Squad broke up a peaceful gathering and the participants protested.

The charges against Randolph are preposterous on their face. He just signed a $24 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, and doesn't need to wring a few extra bucks from his brothers and sisters in the projects. The Times piece included this freighted sentence:

"Police on patrol observed a crowd drinking, smoking marijuana, blasting music and blocking streets at the Nickerson Gardens project in Watts, the authorities said."

It is a truth universally acknowledged that white people play music at their block parties, whereas black people blast music while blocking streets.

Randolph was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers after a year at Michigan State (same as Magic and Draymond Green). He spent eight years with the Memphis Grizzlies. Now he faces suspension by the NBA, due to a pusillanimous contract signed by the Players Association. As explained by the Memphis Commercial-Appeal:

"The league's collective bargaining agreement with the players' association says a player will be dismissed and disqualified from the NBA if he is convicted of, or pleads guilty, no contest or nolo contendere to, a crime involving the felony distribution of marijuana."

The following was written for AVA Oregon in December, 2003 — early in Zach Randolph's career.

The Purge in Portland

"Marijuana: the Blazers' Toughest Foe" screamed the five-column banner headline on the front page of the Portland Tribune Dec. 5. The hook was that Zach Randolph, a 22-year-old power forward who left Michigan State in '01 after his freshman year and has blossomed into an NBA star, got arrested last week for driving under the influence.

Randolph was driving home after a game in his Cadillac Escalade when a cop pulled him over, ostensibly for speeding. The cop claimed he smelled marijuana. Randolph was made to pee in a bottle. The contents of his bodily fluids will be revealed to the world later this week. Meanwhile he has been humiliated in the local and national media. (Not coincidentally, a black sports agent sued the city of Oakland last week for employing the racist cop who pulled over his Cadillac Escalade and then ordered him to crawl! Some cops assume that any black man in a fancy car must owe his success to "drugs," and therefore does not have any human dignity or rights. Neither Oakland nor Portland is a Southern city; racist cops are a national problem, exacerbated by the war on drugs.)

Blazer President Steve Patterson blamed the NBA players' association for limiting the punishment the team could inflict on Randolph and three other Blazers whose marijuana use came to light last season. "Our efforts have been toward enforcing a stricter policy on our players than the collective bargaining agreement would lead you to believe is permissible," said Patterson. "It's a collectively-bargained issue between the union and the league. We can't just go out and suspend Zach at this time."

Not to mention that innocent-until-proven-guilty thing.

Patterson cited the recent trade of Bonzi Wells as an example of Blazer management's get-tough attitude towards the defiant young bloods who happen to do the real work of the organization. He said, paternalistically, that there had been "a lot of discussions...to put an infrastructure in place that gets guys to comport themselves as adults and the way we expect... If guys aren't willing to do that, we'll do things like we did today (trade Wells to Memphis for Wesley Person, a shooting guard said to have "character"). By character is meant "participates in Bible study group."

The Portland media never mention the fact that Bonzi Wells tore up his knee one spring and was playing again the following fall, about four months after surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament. "Playing through pain" is also considered an indication of "character," but what has Bonzi done for them lately?

No Portland reporter wished Wells good luck in Memphis, or expressed the hope that playing for a new team might mean a new beginning for the talented young man. John Canzano of The Oregonian went out of his way to say that Wells didn't deserve any more chances. His Dec. 8 column was hedded "New Bonzi? Been through this act before."

Other Blazers who have been charged with marijuana possession include Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, and Qyntel Woods. Wallace and Stoudamire were charged with possession in November, 2002, after their car was stopped in Centralia, Washington. They were told that charges would be dropped if they didn't violate any laws for a year. Wallace made it but Stoudamire didn't. First he was busted with a pound at his home but a judge ruled that the search was illegal. Then he was busted with less than an oz at the airport in Tucson. He faces charges back in Washington that could carry a six-month jail sentence.

Said Patterson the paternal: "We worked very hard with Damon to have him go to a rehab program that was far more extensive than what wold have been required under the NBA's program. He did his aftercare, and he has been very mature and clear-eyed."

The Tribune devoted five articles to the Trailblazers' marijuana use. One concerned the financial implications of Zach Randolph's bust: "Lucrative pact may hinge on test results. Randolph's future as the highest paid Blazer is up in the air." According to reporter Kerry Eggers, "the team had exercised its contract option with him for 2004-05 and talked about giving him a seven-year contract extension that would pay him the maximum allowed. But [General Manager John] Nash said... 'Any illegal behavior is going to have a negative impact on commitments you are going to make in the future."

Note how the marijuana prohibition gives the bosses leverage to cut salaries. It saves them millions. The press conference included a contrite statement from Randolph who was cut off by Nash. "I apologize to my teammates and the organization and our fans. I am embarrassed and disappointed to the team. It's something that we don't need," said the player. "Thanks, that's all you have to say," said the boss, taking back the mike.

Eggers' piece included some financial info. "Using a estimated salary cap figure of $44 million — that figure won't be set until the summer — Randolph could reap as much as $11 million (25 percent of the team's payroll) next year. He also would qualify for a deal that would earn him a package worth $93.86 million, topping out at $19.25 million in the 2010-2011 season." Sports fans have been programmed — by the sports pages, talk radio, and "fantasy" leagues — to think like general managers. Although they have no real-world money or power, they have come to regard the magnificent young athletes as objects they can buy, own, trade, sell, etc. It's like a virtual slave market. Sometimes on the talk shows you'll hear people talking about the athletes' bodies — their vertical leap, their big butts (to block out for rebounds), their wing-spans, how much they're worth... The language of the auction block in the 21st century.

MINIMUM WAGE FOR PRISONERS?

(Coast Listserve)

Judith Vidaver:

Dear Friends,

I just signed the campaign: End Legal Slavery in U.S. Prisons. I ask you to add your name to this important issue. Every name that is added builds momentum around the campaign and makes it more likely for us to get the change we want to see. Will you join me by taking action on this campaign?

http://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/end-legal-slavery-in-u-s-prisons

After you've signed the petition please also take a moment to  share it with others. It is quick and easy — all you need to do is forward this email. Thank you!

Judith Valadao:

The petition doesn't say anything about inmates paying for room and board out of the pay. There are many people who aren't in prison for violating the law living and supporting themselves on minimum wages. My question would be, why should prisoners who have violated the law get a better deal than a hard working person trying to make ends meet that has not violated the law? I think paying an inmate minimum wage is a great idea providing they reimburse the State/County in which they are incarcerated for the expense of feeding and housing them. This would be a great start on learning money management and responsibility for paying rent, utilities and feeding ones self.

J.C. Blatt:

Sure, we can do all that, and we can even bring in Mexican Prison inmates to take the jobs American inmates won't, and pay them less than American inmates, and save money by feeding them green balogna tacos.

BROKE-ASS RETIREMENT BOARD TO MEET

August 16, 2017 Board of Retirement Meeting

The August 16, 2017 Board of Retirement meeting agenda has been posted and is available at www.mendocinocounty.org/retirement.

IS IT OK TO PUNCH A NAZI?

Slavoj Žižek

“Is it OK to punch a Nazi?” is a question that has ricocheted around Twitter ever since Jan. 20, when “alt-right” provocateur and American white supremacist Richard Spencer got slugged on video by a masked protester during Donald Trump’s US presidential inauguration. Footage of the punch spread quickly around the internet, where it became a topic of much debate, a website and even a meme.

Spread the word around.

— Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) 1:39 AM - Jan 21, 2017 · Denver, CO

But while some people celebrated the punch, others wondered if, on a more philosophical level, sucker punching a neo-Nazi is ever acceptable behavior. Most respectable types said no, while others, including many on the so-called “Dirtbag Left,” pointed out that punching Nazis is a time-honored American tradition.

I asked controversial Slovenian philosopher and professor at the European Graduate School Slavoj Žižek what he thought. His answer might surprise you.

Quartz: So, is it OK to punch a Nazi?

Žižek: No! If there is violence needed, I’m more for Gandhian, passive violence.

I once made a statement, maybe you know it, which cost me dearly. I said the problem with Hitler was that he wasn’t violent enough. Then I said, in the same statement, that Gandhi was more violent than Hitler. All Hitler’s violence was reactive violence. He killed millions, but the ultimate goal was basically to keep the system the way it was—German capitalism and so on—while Gandhi really wanted to bring down the British state. But his violence was symbolic: peaceful demonstrations, general strikes and so on.

If a guy talks like that jerk [Richard Spencer], you should just ignore him. If he hits you, turn around. Don’t even acknowledge him as a person. That’s the type of violence I would call for. Not physical violence. Because, you know, people say symbolic violence can be even worse, but don’t underestimate physical violence. Something happens when you move to physical violence. I’m not saying we should greet everyone, embrace them. Be brutal at a different level. When you encounter a guy like the one who was punched, act in such a way that even hitting him, even slapping him is too much of a recognition. You should treat him or her or whoever as a nonperson, literally.

In other words, leftists should “go high?”

I remember when [Greek leftist party] Syriza was still competing for power in Greece. A representative of [far-right political party] Golden Dawn threw glasses full of water at his Syriza opponent at a TV round table. A couple of times, Syriza members of parliament were attacked in parliament, and so on. Today it’s these new alt-right people who are acting physically violent. They represent the decay of common morality and decency. And I use here the very precise term, Hegel calls it Sittlichkeit. It’s not simple morality, it’s a set of thick unwritten rules which makes our social life bearable. And, paradoxically, I think that progressives should become the voice of common decency, politeness, good manners and so on.

Here I see also the failure of political correctness, because political correctness is, for me, a desperate reaction to this disintegration. But they are doing it in a suicidal way, by precise regulations, saying this word is forbidden and so on. If it has to proceed like this, the left has already lost.

But the “when they go low, we go high” strategy didn’t actually work for Democrats against Donald Trump in 2016.

It’s much more complex than that. I think that’s their biggest mistake. Isn’t is sad that the best left-liberal critique of Trump is political comedy? People like Jon Stewart, John Oliver and so on. It’s nice to make fun of him, but you laugh at him and he wins. My God! There is something terribly wrong with playing this game of ironically making fun of Trump. You know, in medicine they call it symptomatic healing, when you take some things, they just neutralize the effects, like you have this pain, but they don’t heal the disease itself. Criticizing Trump is just symptomatic healing. Trump is an effect of the failure of the liberal-left. Everybody knows this now. The only way to really beat Trump is to radically rethink what does the left mean today. Otherwise he will be getting ordinary people’s votes.

What do you think Trump will do? 

You know what my fear is? Not that Trump will fail and there will be chaos, but for some real period of time, what if he succeeds? You know what happened in Poland? The Law and Justice party, they did such a tremendous social transfer to the poor that no elected European government would dare to do it. They lowered retirement age, they made better conditions for health care, more help for mothers with children and so on. No wonder that people like them. My God! They did something that no left government dares to do. And for me this is the sad truth of Europe: it’s a paradox.

When I was young I remember when former US president Nixon went to China. The idea was that only a right-winger can do something like this. If a left-winger, or a Democratic president had done this, he would have been attacked as a traitor. The same paradox in France, you remember. Only De Gaulle was able to recognize an independent Algeria. A left-winger would have been considered a traitor. And we are at the end of this crazy logic. If you want better conditions for the working class, you have to be populist right wing.

What will you do?

The only way to survive such shitty times, if you ask me, is to write and read big, fat books, you know? And I’m writing now another book on Hegelian dialectics, subjectivity, ontology, quantum physics and so on. That’s the only way to survive. Like Lenin. I will use his example. You know what Lenin did, in 1915, when World War I exploded? He went to Switzerland and started to read Hegel.

In these desperate times, I’ve begun to look at old Hollywood musicals. Now everybody’s seen it, but I found a good pirate copy of La La Land. And then I saw one of the old musical masterpieces: [from 1935], Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire. Top Hat. And it occurs to me, I want to write something in defense of these old musicals, where they tend to act without psychological depth. They just move like puppets. It’s too psychological for me, La La Land. I prefer the total puppets of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Maybe I will write something.

(Quartz/Qz.com)

PROGRAMS TO HELP OLDER ADULTS FEEL LESS LONELY

The negative impacts of loneliness on wellbeing are increasingly making headlines as a public health threat. Luckily, two free Northern California-based services are available to older adults in our community to offset feelings of isolation and sadness. And, even better, neither requires participants to leave the comfort of their homes. Senior Center Without Walls and the Institute on Aging's Friendship Line engage individuals via phone or computer contact.

Senior Center Without Walls offers facilitated activities, education, friendly conversation, and an assortment of classes and support groups to individuals age 60+ nationwide. All groups are accessible by phone and online. For information, including how it works and a schedule of offerings, contact 877-797-7299 or visit www.seniorcenterwithoutwalls.org

Institute on Aging's Friendship Line is an accredited telephone warm line and crisis intervention program for individuals 60+ nationwide. Staff and volunteers are available 24/7 to offer emotional support to callers. The Friendship Line offers a safe place for older adults to call when depressed, isolated, grieving, suicidal, going through a difficult time, in an abusive situation, or when lonely and wanting to talk to someone. Institute on Aging also offers an outreach service that provides ongoing scheduled calls to interested individuals. Either way, all calls are limited to once a day for 10 minutes and are free of charge. For information, contact 800-971-0016 or visit www.ioaging.org/services/all-inclusive-health-care/friendship-line.

Aging can bring challenges, including the diminished ability to get out and about or visit with others like we used to - especially in rural settings like ours. These programs offer a way to sustain feelings of community and the wider world beyond any feeling of limitations the years may bring. Information about other services for older adults is available at Community Care's Senior Information & Assistance Program at 468-5132 or 800-510-2020 and www.SeniorResourceDirectory.org -- providing free information and assistance to those 60 years and older in Lake and Mendocino Counties through funding from the Area Agency on Aging of Lake and Mendocino Counties.

Kathy Johnson, Community Resources Specialist, Senior Information & Assistance Program, Community CarePhone (707) 468-5132, Visit www.CommunityCare707.com