Mendocino County Today: Monday, March 5, 2018

• Commissioner Quits
• Edwards Retained
• Laytonville Champs
• K History
• RV Recovery
• Variety Show
• Civic Participation
• Little Dog
• Snowcat Donors
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Child Rearing
• Crude Colbert
• Plum Blossoms
• Un-American
• Opiniony Facts
• NRA Membership
• Space Treaty
• US Biowarfare
• Opioid Rallies

MOREO RESIGNS, AFTER ONLY FIVE DAYS AS AG COMMISSIONER

A Commenter on the AVA website (www.theava.com) wrote Saturday: "To add to the cannabis legalization mess, I understand our new Ag Commissioner has already quit less than a week into the job."

We asked Supervisor John McCowen for confirmation. McCowen replied, "Yes, Joe Moreo turned in his keys only five days into the job as Ag Commissioner. The only explanation I've heard is that the job was not what he thought it was.”

We also asked Supervisor McCowen about the seemingly odd choice of an inexperienced animal rights activist as the County’s new Cannabis Program Manager. McCowen: “I am optimistic that Kelly Overton, the new Cannabis Program Manager, has the skills to get the program on track. I don't see it as a downside that he does not have cannabis on his resume. What has been lacking, and what Mr. Overton will bring, is a systematic approach to processing the permit applications. He also has strong customer service, employee engagement and team building skills. I'm optimistic that he will work effectively with program staff and other departments to design and implement an effective system. We should know within a month."

GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD HOSPITAL EXECS

by Malcolm Macdonald

A helicopter hovered overhead on Tuesday evening, February 27th, while inside Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) the Board of Directors held a job performance review regarding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bob Edwards. Outside the Redwoods Room, where the Board met, a hospital employee noted that this was the third or fourth helicopter trip of the day, taking a patient away from the coastal facility, presumably to a larger hospital elsewhere.

The helicopter flights away from MCDH are emblematic of a hodgepodge of problems facing the facility. From a purely personal point of view I can say I received wonderful treatment at MCDH when I went through two cataract surgeries with Dr. Kevin Miller in 2016. Beyond Dr. Miller, I wouldn't go there for anything beyond a blood draw for my annual physical. At one time MCDH had a vast array of physicians any patient would want to see, doctors of a caliber equal to UCSF or Stanford. Now, when coastal residents get a serious health scare they head over the hill, to Santa Rosa, to UC Davis, to UCSF, to Stanford, or beyond.

My loved ones and close friends know that in case of a medical emergency, I have instructed them to drive or fly me out to a hospital facility that is safe. That's a statement that will make MCDH's Medical Executive Committee (MEC) cry bloody murder as they did last fall when members of the public dared bring up the subject of quality of care at MCDH at a board meeting.

Afterward, the MCDH MEC took out a huge ad in the coastal papers to broadly defend themselves and the local hospital. The ad was apparently authored by the leader of the MEC, John Kermen, who would do better to heed the saying, “Physician heal thyself,” than put forth the public utterances he has come up with lately.

One of those statements directed the public to ignore ongoing financial crises as well as mismanagement at the administrative level of the hospital, pass a parcel tax, then everything will work out later. This “trust us and it'll all be fine” is similar to the spiel run out to the public eight to ten years ago when MCDH reeled its way into bankruptcy with Kermen as a member of its Board of Directors. This is the same John Kermen who concluded that newspaper ad/rant with, “Do you want your property to have any value?”

I will more or less repeat here what I wrote in response to that in a December, 13, 2017 column:

“Do you want your property to have any value?” falls directly under a junior high Civics lesson highlighting the method of propaganda that appeals to fear. This taxpayer, and I'd expect a good deal of the citizenry, expect more from MCDH's chief of staff than the lowest form of fear mongering.

While that helicopter ferried yet another patient away from MCDH on February 27, the Board of Directors decided to keep Bob Edwards on as CEO, under the terms of his current contract. Five days before the same board passed a resolution calling for a June 5th election for an up or down vote on a parcel tax. The tax would be $144 per year per parcel and it would remain in place for twelve years.

The resolution approved by the MCDH Board of Directors contains the following accentuated (all capitals) language:

“UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ANY OF THE PROCEEDS OF THE HEALTH CARE PARCEL TAX BE USED FOR ADMINISTRATORS' SALARIES, BENEFITS OR PENSIONS.”

It doesn't take a doctorate in logic to figure out that the people who wrote this all capitalized sentence understand that the public has little to no faith in the highest levels of administration (Bob Edwards) at the hospital, but those same board members don't have the sense that God gave a jaybird as far as getting rid of Edwards.

There is one MCDH Board member who gets it. At a November 9th meeting Dr. Peter Glusker called for a board agenda item to consider the termination of CEO Edwards, for cause. The causes Dr. Glusker cited included the harassment of employees and Edwards' ordering employees to not answer questions from the public.

Multiple employees have confirmed to this writer that Edwards has told groups of hospital workers not to respond to the public or press when asked questions about the hospital. Some employees described meetings with Edwards as utterly lacking in collegiality or sharing of professional ideas about what's best for MCDH. To the contrary, these meetings were described as “Talked to” sessions: Only Edwards talks, everyone else is expected to listen to the gospel according to the CEO.

In a November 8, 2017 piece written for the AVA, Cindy Richards, who worked under former CFO Wade Sturgeon's direction, concluded with these words about the hospital's top two administrators (Edwards and Sturgeon),

“These corrupt, contemptuous men are strutting around like saints begging for taxpayer subsidies claiming they’re necessary for the betterment of our community, while harassing, threatening, terminating and covering up unconscionable behavior.”

In her article Ms. Richards mentioned attempting to schedule a meeting with Edwards in the spring of 2017, regarding some of her concerns, but never getting a response. Other employees have spoken to this writer about the same difficulty of pinning Edwards down as have patients with serious concerns about their treatment at MCDH.

In other matters, multiple employees from the manager level on down have recounted evidence about Edwards placing so much pressure on some managers that their behavior changed from pleasant to intimidating and harassing toward subordinates.

A November 14th closed session of the MCDH Board ended with Sturgeon's resignation. Presumably the board, with the exception of Glusker, believes that the CFO's departure combined with the promise not to give any parcel tax money to the CEO is enough to mollify two-thirds of the voting public. This same Board of Directors wants the public to ignore the fact that their proposed parcel tax will only pay for one month's worth of salaries and that doesn't even include employee benefits. They want voters to ignore last year's audit which found a discrepancy of well over a million dollars (in a negative sense) in the hospital's bottom line for the previous fiscal year. They're hoping that voters will forget that a former Human Resources Officer at MCDH has an ongoing lawsuit in federal court that cites as defendants the hospital, Edwards, Sturgeon, and Board President Steve Lund. If the case goes against MCDH not only would it be liable for damages under multiple workplace harassment complaints, it could also be cut off from Medicare funding due to false claims charges. No Medicare funding equals no hospital.

On top of all that there is money owed on capital maintenance projects. MCDH has a $1.5 million loan from the state under the Help II program to assist in the completion of ongoing maintenance required by the Office of Statewide Hospital Planning and Development (OSHPD), but that current maintenance is going to cost at least $300,000 more than the $1.5 million figure. Help II loans are the last ditch when it comes to borrowing from state entities. The hospital must complete these OSHPD projects or be subject to potential closure. There are a slew of other OSHPD required projects in the pipeline for the next couple of years with a total price tag in the multiple millions of dollars. In addition, MCDH is currently being fined monthly for not implementing an up to date electronic health records (EHR) system. The $4 million bill to complete the EHR is so beyond MCDH's current means that the institution is fulfilling their requirement with a monthly rental EHR system.

There's no more loan prospects on the horizon, yet MCDH must complete millions and millions of dollars worth of maintenance repairs and upgrades merely to stay in business. MCDH can't go to the banks, they can't go to state government agencies any longer, so they are essentially asking the public to loan them some money through the parcel tax. However, the sum total of that taxation per year is about $1.4 million, enough for one months worth of employee salaries. That's it. MCDH's leadership (administrators and Board of Directors) wants the public's money when financial institutions and the state's agencies, set up to help hospitals, have thrown up their hands and stopped loaning money to this hospital.

The etymology of the phrase, “Throwing good money after bad,” appears to derive from Colley Cibber's An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber, published in 1740.

HERE THEY ARE - THE 2017 DIVISION 6 CHAMPS

MSP noted this team photo of the Laytonville Warriors taken after the thrilling 66-65 Championship win over Cornerstone Christian Saturday night. It was posted by Tara Spitalny‎ on the "Laytonville Sports" Facebook page.

Both Warrior teams will now compete in the State CIF Hoop Tourney starting Wednesday night - the brackets will be selected tonight.

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

CHANGES TO CLASS K MAKE SENSE

We were kind of surprised to find out that Class K home building in this county was still a thing. Turns out it’s very much alive and well and in some cases getting a little too easy.

Class K is basically an alternative building code which allows you to build your own home without many of the building codes and inspections that can make home building so expensive.

The Class K code came into being back when lots of young people were moving “back to the land” in Mendocino County in the 1970s and simply bought cheap property and built a structure without any permits or following any strict building code. It should be no surprise that the Class K code in California was pioneered by Mendocino County residents.

The history is very interesting and you can find it in a book called “The Owner-Builder and the Code: Politics of Building Your Home” by three authors: Ken Kern, Ted Kogon and Rob Thallon.

It all started when, a group of young people from the Bay Area moved to MidMountain in Potter Valley and when the county finally figured out they were there, issued red tags on all of their homes and demanded they move out, calling the homes unsafe and unhealthy. They fought back not only to keep their homes but also to try to reshape the way local long-time residents thought of them, which was as freaks and druggies. They saw themselves as traditional American homesteaders. Anyway, after months of wrangling with the county they got a sympathetic ear from newly elected Governor Jerry Brown (yep same guy) and Class K was on its way (named K because the California building code at that time had A-J codes).

Today the Class K code still serves a useful purpose. It allows someone with at least one acre of land to build a single family residence of no more than two stories, and avoid hiring engineers or architects (drawings are sometimes very primitive) and limits mandatory inspections to one at the very end. A Class K permit comes with the same fees others do, so it does not get you out of that, but basically the final inspection is about making sure the home is safe. Why doesn’t everyone do this? Well, we are told that Class K homes rarely can get a mortgage, and sometimes are hard to insure as well. They often don’t have a big resale value either, although that is one issue the county supervisors pondered during their recent discussion. They wanted to limit the resale of these homes for the first three years so that speculators don’t start building them and selling them (something county staff say is happening). That, we think, is a good idea if it is possible to do legally. We also agree to limiting Class K homes to 2,000 square feet. These homes are not meant to be mansions and the larger they are the more chance of creating unsafe conditions.

Finally we are glad that the idea of requiring fire sprinklers in these homes was dropped.

There were 93 Class K homes built in 2017 in this county, about 7 percent of the total. As people look to rebuild after the Mendocino Lake Complex fire, we think it is important that the Class K code be up to date and ready to be useful for people who really need it now.

(K.C. Meadows. Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

PD: ‘DAUNTING TASK’ AHEAD in rebuilding fire-ravaged Redwood Valley.

Hope and loss mark recovery in fire-scarred Mendocino County

A valley that is home to grape growers and urban refugees has come a long way since the historic fire raced over the hills, forcing a massive evacuation and surprising many who were asleep in their homes.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8033277-181/hope-and-loss-mark-recovery

IT’S VARIETY SHOW TIME again—this weekend we will have the opportunity to see many local folks strut their stuff onstage at the 27th annual Anderson Valley Variety Show at our Grange in Philo! Tickets are available this week at Lemon's Market in Philo and at the Anderson Valley Market in Boonville. They are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and kids. We will have no less than 100 tickets available at the door each night, so come on down to the Grange this Friday and Saturday, March 9th and 10th, before the doors open at 6:30.

All your friends will be there early, and there will be food available to purchase in the parking lot before the show. It's always a fun party! We have so many exciting acts from near and further, and as always, both nights are unique, so you won't want to miss a thing. Saturday night, there will be an after party at Lauren's until midnight, with snacks and libations to celebrate the fun. Still, Friday night is not to be missed, since some our favorite local acts will only be seen on Friday! It's a very special weekend that is not to be missed, so please join us to celebrate the special character of this place and our friends and neighbors!

(Robyn Spector)

BETSY CAWN WRITES:

The reporter who finds himself or herself in the situation described in “The Final Indignity” affords the readers an individually unique insight into these typically civil proceedings, while attempting to minimize the role of the self who experiences the event as a resident relying on the services of the agency conducting the process. As a “member of the public” who engages with many quasi-legislative, quasi-jurisdictional bodies (committees, boards, and commissions created by governmental authorities), I often find myself stifling my personal reactions — to incompetent or ignorant or downright rude appointees (and equally inept “staff”) — while functioning as an individual participant in the organization’s conduct of publicly-funded health and safety operations on which my own life may some day depend.

Participating as a “self” in the existential sense (referent to time and place) requires putting “oneself” aside for the duration of the group interaction, which may later be described as an event that “I” attended, or an experience that affected “me” — but the natural inclination of a participant-observer to minimize the focus on one’s personal experience invites the common misuse of “myself” that is the least of the concerns this essay raises.

I, myself, am more concerned about lack of accountability and effective action planning by a body of decision-makers whose determinations can directly impact my community, neighborhood, family, and individual health. The particulars of this committee’s dismal performance are examples of commonly encountered public service intermediaries, few of whom are actually “supervised” by their founding agencies.

If the school district’s Board of Trustees accepts the Budget Committee’s ineffective decision-making (as reported), the public will — as usual — pay the price in lost assets and wasted time. Isn’t that the important matter at hand?

P.S. — The direct role of local residents in the conduct of public education, environmental health, law enforcement, and municipal services is one of the most important aspects of rural life; the importance of having reliable reportage on these nearly invisible governance systems is critical to the health of our small communities. Long live the AVA.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “‘Dogs are such wimps,’ Skrag says in his daily provocation. ‘Us cats can sleep in a snow bank.’ Sure they can. Snowbank cats are called 'catsicles!"

THANKS TO SNOW VEHICLE DONORS:

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office would like to thank AT&T for the use of their SnowCat to access Cahto Peak Radio site for critical repeater repairs. Photo depicts AT&T SnowCat and the Search and Rescue Utility Vehicle recently donated by Adventist Howard Memorial Hospital.

ED NOTES

A READER WRITES:

"Is KZYX corrupt? Why, yes, of course it is, in the same way that any insular, defensive, self-interested, clique of ten penny dictators is always corrupt. Ed Keller happens to be the KZYX Board member in charge of conducting the board election. In an ethical organization he would maintain a public stance of strict neutrality. But here he is sending out an email to one of the KZYX faithful encouraging her to spread the word in favor of some candidates and against others. He says that Bob [Bushansky] and Renee are the strongest candidates for the at large seat and that any votes for Robert [Vaughan] will come at their expense. So he is plainly encouraging people who support Robert to vote instead for Bob and Renee out of fear that "the fourth candidate" might benefit. What is incredible is that the KZYX powers that be have the slightest concern over the outcome of what is essentially a rigged election. The same scenario plays out every election with a slate of homies strongly supported by station management and the programmers, and a few loosely aligned insurgents. When the dust settles, the hand picked favorites of station management are always elected by a 2-1 margin. Why even bother with the elections?"

Begin forwarded message from Ed Keller:

"Hi _____, I strongly urge that you promote Bob Bushansky for the second at-large seat. The station really needs Bob's financial expertise and level head. Bob and Renee are generally considered the strongest candidates, but any votes that go to Robert will mostly be drawn from them rather than the fourth candidate. Thanks for your concern and support for the station." -Ed

PS. Ed Keller is an at-large board member. I like his reasoning, especially about the specter of vote-splitting.

[PS added by the unidentified person Ed sent the email to]

AHEM. I believe "Fourth Candidate" is a reference to the editor of Boonville's beloved weekly newspaper. It seems that KZYX's election riggers fear the Fourth Candidate, as if either he or the casually maligned Mr. Vaughan have the remotest shot at the rubber stamp, er, board seat. And I like Keller's equivalently casual "Bob and Renee are generally considered the strongest candidates...." Names, Ed, names!

ELECTIONS in the Ukraine are models of democratic functioning compared to Mendo County Public Radio, whose elections are merely annointments of station insiders. The station is dominated by its programmers, a little more than a hundred. These people vote as a bloc for whomever is least likely to interfere with them. The membership, about 2,000 are so indifferent to board elections, only a small percentage of them bother to return their ballots, which would seem to indicate an extreme disinterest in the enterprise, a disinterest shared by most of sentient Mendoland.

AS MR. VAUGHAN and I sink beneath the audio waves, and the speakers of truth to power snipe at our life preservers from the safety of Democracy Now (but not in Philo), I remain forever, The Fourth Candidate.

* * *

TOMMY WAYNE KRAMER got off to a bracing start in his Sunday column in the Ukiah Daily Journal:

"Today we celebrate Women’s History Month and I suggest we take a moment from our busy schedules and pause to honor them. Is two seconds enough? Thank you. Let’s move on.

"Women’s History Month is an annual event orchestrated by well-to-do women employed in government jobs, and its purpose is to provide a forum to sob, hug and give awards to each other. Eligibility is limited to (A) women and (B) Democrats.

"Here in Ukiah it means if the county’s first two elected District Attorneys, Vivian Rackauckas and Susan Massini, were to show up they’d be put on the cleanup crew. They’re Republicans, not women!

"Also uninvited are women who work for a living. Those in attendance will be government and school employees, along with women with “jobs” in nonprofit organizations funded by taxpayer grants. Not a waitress, not a beautician, no store owner, nobody from Walmart or Raley’s. Just government freeloaders.

"Speaking of which, the keynote great big star of the event is a member of the ‘Frisco Board of Supervisors. How’s that for celebrity? Now aren’t I sorry I can’t attend?…"

I'M SURE these exclusionary women's events elsewhere in the country are also confined to the secure, Democratic Party sectors of the female population, and in most areas of the country aren't noticed at all. TWK nails it, though, for Mendo. Same Democrats from the same public and non-profit employment zones giving each other trophies and congratulating each other on KZYX.

SPEAKING of Democrats, here comes Joe Biden, the male version of Hillary. Trump, assuming the generals don't remove him in the next couple of years, will be re-elected.

* * *

IT DOESN'T SEEM to be widely known that the NRA is the lobbying arm of gun manufacturers. The typical gun fantasist seems to think the NRA is defending his "right to bear arms," up to and including, apparently, field artillery. Nope, the NRA's a sales gang that could care less about El Yobbo's "right" to buy bazookas.

WHEN WORD got around this weekend that protesters planned to picket the NRA dinner in Fort Bragg, the remaining tickets to the event quickly sold out.

* * *

UNDERSHERIFF RANDY JOHNSON is retiring. Johnson inspired lots of dark suspicion as the Sheriff's 9.31 pot licensing guy, much of that suspicion claiming that Johnson exempted certain of the larger growers from the rules. Mrs. Johnson fed the rumor mills when she started a hubby-related business that finger-printed pot license applicants, a conflict of interest that raised hackles even further. Rumors say the feds are in town to take a long, hard look at all this, but those rumors have been circulating for a couple of years now.

* * *

"GET OUT" is one of only two movie-movies I saw this year that were really, really good, the other being "I, Tonya." Best performance should go to Allison Janney who played Tonya's mom. The best stuff these days is found at Netflicks, HBO and kindred television pay channels — The OJ saga; Patty Hearst; The Assassination of Gianni Versace (the kid who plays the assassin knocks it clear outta the park); Babylon Berlin, the German tv series is absolutely riveting, and a must see for Americans given that we're deep in our own historical Weimar period.

* * *

ONE OVERCAST DAY last week, with the wind blowing Big Mac wrappers along Ukiah's School Street, the commercial hub of what's left of a coherent County seat, I looked up to see Chinese lanterns swaying in the chill winter blasts, four blocks of them. There was something so incongruous, so forlorn about the sight I almost asked the ladies at the Mendocino Book Company for a reassuring group hug.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Mar. 4, 2018

MARCO DAVILA, Point Arena. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear, disobeying court order, probation revocation.

MARCOS DURAN, Willits. Under influence, paraphernalia.

ROBERT GREENE, Willits. DUI, loaded firearm in public.

JESSE HEARON, Ukiah. DUI, more than an ounce of pot.

ZACHARY JACKSON, Redwood Valley. DUI.

JASON KULL, Palm Harbor, Florida/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

BRIAN MCCARTHY, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

MICHAEL PARKER, Ukiah. Tear gas/tear gas weapon, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

DYAN RILEY, Mendocino. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

MICHAEL SANDOVAL, Talmage. Resisting, probation revocation.

SHANNON TOBIN, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

ALONZO VELEZ-VASQUEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I can only give you my view, obviously, but there seems to be an overwhelming societal consensus around child discipline at the moment. You my say ‘pah, feckin’ soft liberals’. Fine.

That child will learn ‘at the end of a leather belt’ that big people can force smaller, weaker people to do what they want by beating them. Great, it might be a useful life lesson, but it is unlikely to help them grow up into confident, responsible, happy and caring individuals. Do feel free to teach your grandchildren that way, but don’t come near mine with your leather belt. I also think that if parents haven’t taught their child that when you’re in a classroom you’re there to learn and not to mess about and help make the classroom a place where the teacher can’t get on with teaching the class, those are poor parents too, but not as bad as the first ones. My kids were brought up relatively strictly, by me. They knew how to behave in school and that other people mattered just as much as they did. They still know that now. They are both responsible, productive, hard-working people. I take some credit for that, although the exact amount is a moot point. There were no leather belts. They got shouted at a bit, though – my life wasn’t the easiest but it wasn’t ‘hard’ either. I think they think I did OK in the circumstances.

STEPHEN COLBERT'S ADORING AUDIENCE gave him the biggest laugh Friday night for "Dick's has balls."

Ain't it a shame about Stephen Colbert?

Then so hip and now so square

Once a brilliant comic actor

Vamping on O'Reilly's Factor

Nowadays I can't help praying

It's just another role he's playing

A Clinton fan obsessed with Trump

Helping Hill get over the hump

To soothe her psyche in Katonah

He mocks the Donald's smallest boner

And aims his mighty verbal cannon

At Vladimir Putin and Steve Bannon

But never at Anthony Wiener or Huma

Who's he playing? Amy Schumer?

Stephen Colbert. The selfsame dude—

Once so subtle, now so crude.

—Fred Gardner

PLUM TREE IN THE RAIN

(Photo by Dick Whetstone)

A POUND OF PREVENTION

Editor,

Some things today make me want to vomit.

San Diego State has a regular course for people to take on how to undermine President Trump. Just one more un-American thing.

The Oakland Mayor got on the phone and warned every illegal immigrant in the country that ICE was coming. A lot of those people should stay but a lot of them have to go. The good people who stay want the bad people to go. Another anti-American act. I hope they bring obstruction of justice charges against her.

The Golden State Warriors went to Washington DC last week. They were invited to the White House. They declined to go. All that rests on the head of Stephan Curry. He is a dirty little liberal bastard. He has his head so far up Kaepernick’s ass that he has to breathe for him. And he supported Hillary Clinton! He's a liberal all the way. And he is leading the Warriors! I like the Warriors. I like McGee. I like Livingston. I like Durant. But the rest of them—

County roads: I recently traveled from Willits to Highway 1 on Highway 20. I counted 14 places where the highway roadbed was slipping off on the outside. All the county would have to do is come out with a few cans of tar and tar those cracks so the water don't run down there and cause the road to slide off. They won’t do it. They've never heard of something I learned when I was 10: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Political correctness is the worst thing we have. It's worse than anything else that's ever happened to this country. The reason that boy went into the school building and shot the 17 kids in Florida was political correctness. The officers and the FBI had their eye on him but they couldn't get any closer to find out what was really wrong because they would be violating his rights. Political correctness.

Gun free zones make me sick. It's just like putting a can of honey in the woods for a bear. It means that nobody there can shoot back at you.

I was in the mall last Thursday and two security guards walked by. I asked them why they were not armed. They said, Well we have radios! I said, Listen, if a crazy bastard comes in here and starts shooting up the place what are you going to do? Throw your radios at him? Come on! You better tell your superiors that safety in our country is not taken for granted anymore. It's here. People are trying to kill us. Security guards should be trained and armed.

That's how rotten and stinking the Liberals have made this country. It's so sad.

God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. Within 30 days after they pass all this gun control crap there'll be another mass shooting, for sure. Gun control will not stop these killers. They can get guns anywhere they want on the black market. It makes me sick when they say guns kill people. People kill people. That's who they have to start correcting! They need real serious background checks. Maybe even with a psychologist. I don't know. Banning AR-15s will not stop these shootings. Teachers should be armed. They should go through mandatory gun training and then some of them should be armed in every school. Then the shooters would think twice before they came around. Not just schools, but other places too. Armed security guards.

NRA, GUN GROUPS SEE MEMBERSHIP SOAR AFTER FLORIDA MASSACRE

As left-wing advocacy groups and its mainstream media allies continue their daily bombardment of the National Rifle Association (NRA), desperately seeking to make gun enthusiast groups a scapegoat for the Parkland high school massacre, it now appears their efforts have embarrassingly backfired, having only succeeded in dramatically boosting memberships in the NRA and pro-gun groups, according to Time (magazine).

zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-04/nra-gun-groups-see-membership-soar-after-florida-massacre

MAJOR TOM

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I last wrote to you in early January about my new book, Major Tom, which I had just published on Amazon. Since then I have taken two steps to promote the ideals expressed in the book.

I have launched a new website, spacetreaty.org, to support The Space Treaty Project. The mission of the Project is to restore humanity's hope for the future by providing an alternative to the wars, violence, and neglect that have dominated our history. It will do so by educating the public about the benefits of the Agreement Governing The Activity Of States On The Moon And Other Celestial Bodies, commonly known as The Moon Treaty. The Treaty, proposed by the United Nations but not yet ratified by the United States and other space-faring nations, calls for an international legal regime that will protect the "Common Heritage of Mankind" (CHM) while providing regulatory certainty for economic interests. It would also ensure that the benefits of space exploration and development are shared with all nations, no matter how small or technologically advanced. Details at the website.

(Dennis O’Brien)

HEROES & PATRIOTS

Recently Declassified! U.S. Biowarfare in N. Korea -- KMEC Radio, Monday, March 5 at 1 pm, Pacific Time

Background...

Jeffrey Kaye just wrote the article “REVEALED: The long-suppressed official report on U.S. biowarfare in North Korea” for Insurge Intelligence, “people-powered watchdog journalism for the global commons.”

Insurge Intelligence writes about the report by the International Scientific Commission: “Written largely by the most prestigious British scientist of his day [Joseph Needham], this official report, containing hundreds of pages of evidence about the use of U.S. biological weapons during the Korean War, was effectively suppressed upon its original release in 1952. …

“The report provides compelling evidence of systematic violation of the laws of war against North Korea through the deployment of biological weapons — a critical context that is essential for anyone to understand the dynamics of current regional tensions, and what might be done about them.”

Kaye said today: “Among the hundreds of pages of documentation appended to the ISC report are four handwritten statements written by U.S. Air Force airmen captured by Communist forces, whose admissions of germ warfare were widely attributed to supposed brainwashing.
“The report also offers a first public accounting of the Japanese biological warfare campaign against China in the 1940s. At the time of the report (1952), these germ warfare attacks, which killed a few hundred thousand people, was said to be propaganda by Communist forces. But in fact the U.S. had made a secret agreement of cooperation with these Japanese biowarfare personnel (Unit 731).”

Kaye also describes “how the U.S. government responded to the ISC report, rejecting its conclusions and calling for an ‘independent’ UN or Red Cross investigation into the biowarfare charges. But in recently declassified documents, top government officials working for the Psychological Strategy Board (essentially a CIA-State Department collaboration) admitted internally that an ‘actual investigation’ was the last thing they wanted, as it could reveal information that would cause the U.S. government ‘psychological as well as military damage.’ They used as an example of what could be revealed ‘8th Army preparations or operations (e.g. chemical warfare).'”

-John at KMEC Radio

(Listen at 105.1 FM in Ukiah, CA. We also stream live from the web at www.kmecradio.org)

DON'T PUNISH PAIN RALLY

Don't Punish Pain will be conducting rallies at most state capitols on Saturday, April 7, 2018. The intent of the events is to raise awareness of the devastating impact the CDC prescribing "guidelines" are having on intractable pain patients and physicians.

DON’T PUNISH PAIN RALLY

Saturday, April 7th 9 AM-11 AM

State Capitol, south steps 10th and L street Sacramento, California 95814

Contact info: Don’t Punish Pain Rally group on Facebook or Dontpunishpain@gmail.com

In 2016, the CDC implemented guidelines to address the illicit Fentanyl/Heroin overdosing epidemic. Due to the OVERCORRECTED guidelines, many primary care physicians, pain management doctors, pharmacies, and even hospitals, have been forced to abandon the chronically ill community.

WHO ARE WE?

Our community includes people who suffer from painful, incurable, and often invisible illnesses. We represent millions in our country who battle a wide range of severe diseases and painful conditions.

WHY RALLY?

This rally will give us a united voice, and hopefully gain nationwide media coverage.

DOES THIS ISSUE AFFECT YOU?

YES!! The DEA drastically reduced the production of IV pain medication, which has already created a shortage.

* * *

The “Don’t Punish Pain Nationwide Rally” will be held in every state on Saturday, April 7, 2018, at 12:00pm ET, 11:00am CT, 10:00am MT and 9:00am PT.

“The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain were released in 2016. These guidelines were meant to ONLY provide recommendations for primary care clinicians who prescribe opioids for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.” 

After the release of the CDC Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, millions of chronic pain patients went to follow-up appointments and discovered their provider would no longer treat chronic pain due to the CDC Guidelines.

These patients were compliant patients, who were not abusing their legitimate prescription medications. The vast majority of chronic pain patients have developed good patient/provider relationships with their doctors and use their medications legally and exactly as prescribed.

These health care providers had been prescribing these opioids as part of an overall integrative treatment plan because they knew their patients needed to utilize them. These same health care providers have now removed legitimate patients out of fear of losing their medical licenses or fear of jail time from the DEA. Millions of chronic illness patients found that they were simply dropped from these medications, no safe weaning schedule, the medications were just stopped, period!

This left millions who suffer from chronic illnesses, such as Crohn’s Disease, Colitis, Sickle Cell, Fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Chiari Malformation, Arachnoiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Degenerative Disc Disease, Degenerative Joint Disease and thousands of other painful illnesses, “homeless” in the medical community.

Many in the chronically ill community are disabled from the pain they endure every second, every minute, every hour and every day of their lives. The chronically ill have been expunged from medical care.

Veterans, who have fought for our country were told and continue to be told that they would no longer receive opioid pain medications for traumatic battlefield injuries and are left to suffer.

Media hype and false information have the public confused about the difference in legitimate prescribed opioid pain medications and the illegal street drugs, such as illicit fentanyl.

This distinction needs to be made and must be made!

Legitimate pain patients are issuing you, the mainstream media, a challenge to tell the chronic pain patients’ stories!

Please join us in at our “Don’t Punish Pain Rally” for the chronically ill community.

This is a large step in our fight to have the CDC guidelines modified to fit the needs of all Americans.

Together we can make a change and help those in need.

About the Don’t Punish Pain Rally:

Our Mission is to energize the diverse community of people affected by pain by providing a rally for their voices to be heard. We want to help the public understand the difference between legally prescribed opioid medications and illegal illicit street drugs.

We need our elected officials to stand up for the 100 million Americans who live with a chronic illness.