Mendocino County Today: Saturday, April 14, 2018

• Spring Weather
• Syria Strike
• Train Wreck
• Crude Shenanigans
• Thottapilly Updates
• Little Dog
• Hart Toxicology
• Ed Notes
• Dispatch 1940
• Trash News
• Railroad Tracks
• Attempted Suicide
• Yesterday's Catch
• Regulations
• Who We Are
• Moral Busybodies
• Tax Decisions
• Marco Radio

DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED FOR TODAY with wet weather returning for Sunday. A low pressure system will bring rain and high elevation snow through Monday along with the possibility of small hail Sunday evening through Monday. The forecast becomes a bit more tricky for the midweek with dry weather forecast for Tuesday and the possibility of additional rain returning on Wednesday. (National Weather Service)

TRUMP'S ATTACK ON SYRIA IS NOT WITHOUT RISK – BUT IT'S NOT WORLD WAR THREE

by Ewen MacAskill

The US-led operation against Syria, which included the contribution of four RAF Tornados, was a relatively limited one, a short, sharp attack against targets alleged to be linked to chemical weapons.

It is intended as a one-off, with no further strikes planned unless Syrian president Bashar al-Assad conducts chemical attacks in the future.

There had been speculation in advance of the attack that there was a risk it could lead to world war three. It was far from that.

But it was much heavier than the strike the US conducted last year unilaterally against a Syrian air base. On that occasion, 20 Syrian planes were destroyed, estimated at 20% of the Syrian air force. The US fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in that attack: no planes were used, to minimise the risk of American losses.

This weekend the attack involved twice as much weaponry, using planes as well as missiles. That is not a major escalation. Targets were restricted to air bases, research facilities and storage space alleged to have been used in the preparation of chemical attacks.

The main overall aim, apart from sending a message to Assad to desist from chemical weapons attacks, was to keep as far away as possible from Russian and Iranian positions, to avoid widening the conflict by directly drawing in Russia or Iran.

In spite of Russian rhetoric during the week of potential retaliation in the event of the attack, in reality Russia is far short of the military strength it enjoyed as the Soviet Union, with Moscow as anxious as Washington to avoid conflict. In almost every area other than nuclear weapons, Russia is heavily outnumbered in terms of defence spending and equipment compared with the US.

The US spends about $550bn annually on defence compared to Russia’s $70bn. To take just one indicator, Russia has one ageing aircraft carrier while the US has 20.

If Russia was to seek to retaliate, it would be through some form of hybrid warfare, a deniable action such as a cyber attack rather than open conflict.

To help avoid conflict, the US warned the Russians in advance that the attack was coming and the air corridors that would be used but not the targets.

The US aim in Syria, as Donald Trump indicated before the Douma attack, is to leave Syria as soon as the US judges Islamic State to have been totally defeated. The attack does not change that. It was not used to attempt regime change. Assad’s presidential palace, exposed on a high hill above Damascus, was left off the target list.

Assad could well be relatively happy with the outcome and the impact on him may be less than the US raid last year.

The US, British and French appear to have escaped unscathed. There was a risk from the relatively sophisticated air defence system that Russia has equipped Syria with. An Israeli plane crashed in February, which the Syrians claimed they had downed. The planes in this latest raid did come under attack from surface to air missiles but all missed their targets.

Another potential risk was that hitting any chemical weapons could result in spreading the poison. But British chemical weapons experts said the risk was minimal and that any chemical weapons would be blown up rather than dispersed.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons expert who led the UK and Nato chemical weapons response teams, said: “The best way to destroy chemical weapons is to blow them up.”

Another chemical weapons expert, Richard Guthrie, said it depended on the form the material was in and how it is stored. At one extreme, he said, referring to an unpublished study he did on the impact of an attack on a chemical plant in the Balkans, there could have been a substantial loss of life. “At the other extreme, a small stockpile of materials for chemical weapons held in binary form probably wouldn’t cause a huge hazard if bombed,” Guthrie said.

The other risk was of hitting Russian or Iranian military personnel or a miscalculation that led to high civilian casualties. Although the US and UK military insist missiles are more precise and intelligence better, mistakes happen. In the 1991 Iraq war the al-Amiriyah bomb shelter in Baghdad was hit killing more than 400 civilians and there was the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999.

To try to avoid Russian or Iranian or civilian casualties, the US, British and French planners opted for targets they believed were far enough away to avoid such an outcome.

The speculation that the world was on the brink of global conflict is likely to prove unfounded. In the end, the raid was only a minor escalation of the one conducted last year.

(Guardian of London)

STATE OF THE UNION

WARMONGER’S REMORSE

by James Kunstler

I don’t know about you, but for a couple of days there I expected to wake up to the sight of mushroom clouds billowing across the horizon, all our exceptional hopes, wishes, troubles, and cares as a nation gone up in a vapor of smoking plastic. I think it was the Defense Secretary, nickname “Mad Dog,” who put the kibosh on the latest neocon temper tantrum against Bashar “The Animal” al-Assad. General Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee that the US was, er, “still looking for evidence” of an alleged poison gas attack against civilians in Douma, Syria.

That phrase “still looking for evidence” sounds like an elliptical way of saying we have no idea what, if anything, might have actually happened over there, just possibly even nothing at all. The Russians were busy looking for evidence on the ground in and around Douma, and they claimed to have found nothing — no traces of poison gas, no corpses, no gassing victims in the local hospital — and put out a call for international inspectors to come have a look. No reply on that from our side. Which does raise the question: are we even interested in the truth?

Maybe not. Also apparently not in the strange case of the poisoned Skripals that preceded the incident (or not) at Douma, and which touched off an expulsion orgy of Russian Diplomats among the US and our allies. Sergei Skripal, a Russian/British double-agent who had been exchanged to Britain in a spy-swap, fell ill along with his daughter, Yulia, on a park bench after lunching in quaint old Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. The supposed weapon in that case, Novichok, an advanced neurotoxin that kills instantly, was found on the doorknob of the Skripal house, and yet the couple made it downtown, enjoyed a leisurely meal, and took a post-luncheon stroll. Casual observers did note that Salisbury is only a ten-minute drive from the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, where military poisons are stored and evaluated, and after two weeks of idle chatter, scientists there released a galling report that they could not determine the origin of whatever knocked out the Skripals.

In any case, it didn’t kill them. Yulia Skripal was released from the hospital this week and is, apparently, some sort of hostage of the British government. You’d suppose that in a free country, Yulia might be interested in talking to the press, and certainly vice-versa, but she is incommunicado and was whisked away under guard to some mysterious hideaway. Sergei, we’re told, is coming out of it, too, in his hospital room, and seems to have nothing to say, either. There was chatter in the US media that the Skripals might be sent here under some sort of US witness protection program. It looks like the US and Britain are running out of rugs to sweep stuff under.

Clownish as it was, the Skripal affair ramped up already poor relations between Russia and the West (mainly the US) to code red levels, as perhaps intended by the dream factory known as the Intelligence Community. At least that’s how it played in Deep State officialdom. The distracted public has stopped paying attention to it. Note: neither The New York Times, the WashPo, nor CNN, have issued any righteous calls for answers in the malodorous Skripal matter. They’re all probably embarrassed that they latched on to the story and played it like “Pearl Harbor.” But no one is accountable and the net result is a Russian diplomatic presence reduced to a skeleton crew in Washington, which can’t be a great thing for mutual understanding.

So, now, the Russians and Syrians have had plenty of time to scramble their airplanes and move personnel around the landscape to await another US smackdown, and the Russians have promised to shoot down our missiles with some spooky new technology, and it looks like our side is blinking. Do we have any idea whether the Russians actually can shoot down our offensive missiles? Maybe we don’t want to know. We surely don’t want the world to know. It would be — how you say? — bad optics.

Of course, this latest uproar over the Douma poison gas incident coincided with the first day at work of National Security Advisor John Bolton, a reputed devotee of military monkey business. But it’s possible that even Mr. Bolton is embarrassed by these crude shenanigans, which just preceded his return to influence on the political scene. If he has any influence at all, perhaps he might use it to suggest that the President of the United States just shut the fuck up for a while.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

THOTTAPILLY FAMILY RECOVERY UPDATE

On 04-13-2018 at approximately 10:45 AM searchers located the deceased body of an adult female approximately 7 miles north of the reported crash site (Eel River flows in a northern direction). The body was found on exposed terrain which appeared to have covered by the Eel River within the last few days as a result of a recent weather storm which brought heavy rain to the area. Identification of the body is pending at this time and an autopsy is anticipated to be conducted on 04-17-2018. Searchers are continuing to search for the missing family members and their vehicle which is believed to still be submerged somewhere in the Eel River.

**04-12-18 UPDATE**

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol, Garberville Area Office, are continuing their efforts along the South Fork of the Eel River, just north of the town of Leggett CA, to locate and recover a vehicle that was reported to have been submerged in the river on around 1:10 PM on Friday 4/06/2018. During their investigation the Highway Patrol discovered a possible car part, that was thought to have been broken from the vehicle, at the scene. Through their investigation they were able to determine that particular part belonged to a Honda Pilot, maroon in color. On Monday 4/9/18 the Highway Patrol became aware of an overdue family of 4, the Thottapilly family from Santa Clarita CA, who was believed to be traveling through the Redwood Coast Highway, on vacation. Their investigation later showed the overdue family was supposed to have arrived to visit a friend in the San Jose area on 4/6/2018 but did not make it as scheduled. The family was last heard from in the town of Klamath, Del Norte County, on 4/5/2018. The Highway Patrol developed information this family were traveling in a family vehicle, a 2016 maroon Honda Pilot. The family was officially reported as missing to the San Jose Police Department on 4/8/2018. The California Highway Patrol contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office in the early afternoon of Friday 4/6/18 regarding the availability of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Dive Team to evaluate the possibility of vehicle recovery. After a complete assessment it was determine that diving or swift water rescue operations could not be conducted in a safe manner due to the height and flow of the river during the storm. The Sheriff's Office and the Highway Patrol agreed to do continuous evaluations as the river levels receded.

On 4/10 and again on 4/11/2018 it was determined the water levels would allow the insertion of Swift Water Rescue Teams to conduct a bank search as well as some limited "probing", a technique using a long pole being probed underwater to see if the vehicle or anything metallic could be located. The teams accessed the river in inflatable boats and on River Boards, a small floatation device designed to allow full access under overhanging trees or tight areas not accessible by boat. The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office also assisted with the use of their jet boat with side scan sonar system. Between the two search days the teams were able to cover approximately 12 miles of river bank. The teams were unsuccessful in locating the vehicle or any occupants from the vehicle. They were able to locate numerous items that appeared to have come from a vehicle body and interior. Some of these items were consistent with a Honda vehicle. Also located were various personal items that were consistent with a family traveling on vacation. Several items have been positively identified, by family members, as belonging to the Thottapilly family. These items were of a personal nature and will not be described further at this time, but it does confirm the fact the vehicle that was seen going into the river was that of the Thottapilly family. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office has been in contact with numerous other county dive teams and technical rescue responders that can be called upon, when the vehicle is located, to assist with recovery of the vehicle. Once recovered the Highway Patrol will conduct a complete mechanical inspection of the vehicle as part of the accident investigation.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Skrag says he does some gardening. ‘Oh yeah? Prove it,’ I say. ‘Where do you think catnip comes from, short round?’ he says and strolls off.”

CHP ISSUES HART FAMILY INVESTIGATION UPDATE:

HART FAMILY DEATHS show — again — how much home school children need case workers’ vigilance

oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/04/hart_family_deaths_show_--_aga.html

ED NOTES

THE FEDS will be in town next week to have a close-up look at operations at pseudo public radio, KZYX. Insider hiring, pals of insiders getting prime time programs, startling financial improprieties, and so on. I hope the investigators don't think the complaints come from a non-representative group of malcontents but truly reflect widespread disenchantment. The positively heroic former board member, Larry Minson, seems to have at last compelled the feds to take a look. Seems from here even the most cursory glance reveals the enterprise as, in the words of former program director manager Raoul Van Hall, "toxic." We shall see what we shall see.

* * *

To: Ms. Mollick (of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting),

Years ago, I and a group of 5-6 people, wrote to you about improprieties at KZYX. The General Manager at the time was Mr. John Coate who resigned when issues came to light. Long time Program Director, Mary Aigner also resigned, but oddly, was kept on as a volunteer programmer to this day. Ms. Aigner had been with KZYX since its inception.

My complaint was dismissed and the station carried on business as usual. I, along with the other members of the small group, were publicly ridiculed for our attempt to shine light on the ineffective board, staff controlling elections, finances; programmers turned away because Ms Aigner couldn't control them, and violations of the station's by-laws and station policy and practises.

Below is a link to a letter from a recent board member, Larry Minson which appeared in a local paper. Mr. Minson resigned under protest after learning first hand of financial improprieties by at least one person, Stuart Campbell, who was a failed candidate for the GM position after Mr Coate resigned. Mr. Campbell has been involved with the station since Coate's departure, and is the person who permitted his girlfriend/wife, Sarah Reith to be hired without public notification of an open position at the station resulting in nepotism.

https://www.theava.com/archives/81410#2

At a minimum, the most recent election process needs to be investigated. The station had approximately 2300 voters in this past election. Only paid members are permitted to vote.

The interesting fact: This is the number of donors the station has maintained for the past ten years with little fluctuation. One has to ask:

Why has there been no growth in membership after 10+ years? What was the purpose of changing the rules in this particular election? Was it to keep out candidates who recognize the already stated facts about the station and its management obscuring or hiding its operations from paid donors and the greater community?

Ed Keller was the Election Coordinator this time round along with the General Manager, Jeffrey Parker. Mr Keller is a very close friend of Stuart Campbell and they served on the board together. Mr Keller very much wanted Mr Campbell to become the GM when John Coate resigned. When Stuart Campbell wasn't hired as the GM, he remained involved with the station on any level he could, most specifically, in the area of budget and finances. At one point, he served as Treasurer. Mr. Minson has already alerted you, Ms Mollick, of what he saw first-hand about the way Mr Campbell managed the station's finances and nepotism.

I realize that the scope of your inspection may not be one that addresses the vast complaints that have been made about the board and staff, both past and present.

However, you cannot award money to a group of people who effectively are not serving the station and the community in their designated capacities. You cannot award funding to keep a station going when the staff and board mask the processes by which people are hired, elections unfold, finances are managed, job descriptions are absent, time management and accountability are non-existent, and queries by paid station members are seen as intrusive and eventually abandoned.

I would suggest a thorough examination of Mendocino County Public Radio one year prior to GM John Coate's departure. You will then see what patterns, practices, exclusions and adherence to by-laws were kept by the Board and Staff at KZYX/Z.

Thank you.

Mary Massey, Mendocino, CA

* * *

A MENDO CHILD CUSTODY CASE involving a grandmother named Morales and her grandson got into federal court where grandma and son were awarded damages of some $90,000, with Gran's attorney probably getting more than $300,000 simply to defend the Moraleses. The County of Mendo is on the hook for not only the Morales' $90 thou but the County, as it so often does, contracted outside attorneys to lose the case against its bungling social workers, a loss that just in attorney's fees will cost the County roughly half a million dollars. Again and as always, taxpayers are left wondering why the County's own attorneys can't at least defend County cases themselves.

* * *

HEARTENING to see that Mike Thompson, the wine industry's wine rep on the Northcoast for many years, and now the industry's wine gofer in a Demo-gerrymandered district next door, has some serious opposition from the Demo left, aka the Bernie left. A young dude named Nils Palsson, 32, is running hard to unseat the entrenched Thompson, a guy well to the political right of Billery.

http://nilsforcongress.com

Here on the Northcoast, where a large majority of Democrats preferred Bernie to Hillary, our Thompson clone of a Congressman, Huffman, has zero opposition.

* * *

MEMORY LANE: This question was posed to the five candidates running for Fifth District supervisor: "I would like to know, have any of the candidates grown marijuana/cannabis for profit at any time in the past 10 years?"

YEARS AGO, at a candidate's night in Elk, DA hopefuls Al Kubanis, Susan Massini and Vivian Rackauckas weren't asked that question, but Rackauckas, having the last word at the close of their three presentations, as time was up, "I'm the only candidate for this office who can truthfully say I have never smoked marijuana!" Kubanis laughed, Massini looked like she was going to explode, and the audience enjoyed heck out of the spectacle.

* * *

IF ANYBODY needs confirmation that the wine industry calls the tune in Mendocino County with a blanket effectiveness the timber industry can only envy, consider my colleague, Mark Scaramella essentially sued the County to basically implement the wine industry’s stated wind fan policy in a futile struggle for basic neighborliness that cost him around $11k.

THE COUNTY'S tax paid lawyer, then-County Counsel Doug Losak, wanted Scaramella to post a million dollar bond just to get the beef in front of a judge, a judicial wine guy called Richard "Ricky" Henderson, as if a local judge would look out at a courtroom stuffed with florid-faced wine moguls and order the arrogant boors to dial down the racket. (Turn up the sound full blast on the film, Black Hawk Down and get your local high school football team to simultaneously beat on the walls of your house and you'll have some idea of the Boonville-Philo sound track on cold Spring mornings, midnight to an hour past dawn.)

AT THE TIME of Scaramella’s lawsuit, the local wine industry posted their position on the controvery on their website in semi-response to the controversy:

avwines.com/data/avwines.com/File/V%203_Wind%20Fan%20Letter%20-Final(1).pdf

That webpage containing their position on the subject has since disappeared, but it specifically said (middle of page 1), “Mendocino County is the only county in California to require a permit for the installation of wind machines. They take into account placement, noise and need when considering the application.”

At Scaramella’s first court appearance then-County Counsel Losak prompted a sidelong glance from the judge when Losak said that, no, the County only evaluates the concrete pad and the wiring on wind fan permit applications. (!)

Yes, taxpayers, you had two tax-paid attorneys, Losak and Henderson, running interference for a private industry already heavily subsidized by a plethora of public institutions, from local clinics and hospitals through a range of public amenities.

But we agree with the AV Winegrowers that taking noise, placement and need into account in processing individual wind fan permits is, conceptually, the same thing we sought in court. It's unfortunate that we had to go through all this legal rigamarole for something we seem to agree on, simply because the County of Mendocino, and specifically our District Supervisor Dan Hamburg, refused to even consider non-judicial compromise, preferring instead to stonewall while the rest of Anderson Valley is kept awake for entire nights at a time for as many days as the Wine Industry cares to do it.

SOCO DISPATCH, 1940s

(via MendocinoSportsPlus)

ROBERT CARLSON, Mendo’s recently hired trash czar replacing Mendocino County’s most interesting man, Mike Sweeney, told the Supervisors Tuesday that the Chinese market for most recyclables has collapsed, and trash haulers are now having to pay by the ton to simply dump almost all of their carefully bundled (former) recyclables in landfills. Only aluminum still has recycling value. The rest of our detritus — paper, plastic, wood, etc. is either piling up at trash hauler facilities or is being hauled to distant landfills.

CARLSON told the Board that the proposal for a new Central Coast Transfer Station on Highway 20 near Fort Bragg has been in limbo for upwards of two years now. But Carlson didn’t have much to say about it other than, “One of the current and most pressing items is the Central Coast Transfer Station. It's been worked on for some time. We are continuing to pursue that option as a new site on Highway 20 for essentially a replacement for the existing self call transfer station at Casper.”

CARLSON also described a problem at the Caspar Transfer Station involving commercial construction debris, primarily roofing. There are severe capacity limits at Caspar. Roofing makes the bins too heavy to haul inland without weight and load restrictions. These limitations have created some very tricky logistics problems for coast roofing contractors who have to very carefully schedule and size their shingles and other debris loads and then arrive at the overwhelmed transfer station so they can be off-loaded and hauled outtahere at very precise times.

TOWARD THE END of the discussion about the construction debris logistics at Caspar, Carlson noted that “The Caspar transfer station is set up to be a small self haul transfer station. It is not set up to accommodate large commercial construction waste. The Caspar transfer station would be shut down if the Central Coast Transfer Station moves forward. And because the Central Coast Transfer Station has been in a limbo state for several years, it is very difficult to justify the expense of bringing Caspar up to the standards necessary to accept more commercial demolition waste, especially if it might be open for another 9 or 18 or 24 months.

BUT WHO KNOWS how long Caspar might be open? With WMI's existing site at Pudding Creek apparently out of consideration, it has been difficult to justify spending $.5 million or $2 million to increase the capacity at Caspar.

BOARD CHAIR DAN Hamburg wrapped up the Solid Waste Management discussion by complimenting Carlson on his work so far, adding that he likes the fact that “the Central Coast Transfer Station is starting to move forward under your guidance.” But whatever slight “movement” Hamburg may have been referring to is not going to be sped up by the collapse of the recycled materials market.

TRACKS NEAR THE CEMETERY, FORT BRAGG

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

CLOSE CALL AT THE JAIL

On 4-13-2018 at about 3:48 AM, a Correctional Deputy was performing routine cell checks in the correctional facility. During the checks, the Correctional Deputy noticed a sheet tied to the window grate in a cell. Upon further look, the Correctional Deputy noticed that the inmate, a 50 year old male, was hanging in the cell. The deputy summoned assistance and entered the cell. Once in the cell, the ligature was removed from the inmate’s neck. The deputy assessed the inmate and found that he had a pulse and was breathing. Jail medical staff arrived shortly after and continued to assess the inmate’s condition until an ambulance arrived. The subject was transported to an area hospital for treatment. After a medical and mental health assessment, the inmate was returned to the County Jail.

Sheriff’s Captain Tim Pearce

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 13, 2018

JOSE CEJA-LOPEZ, Ukiah. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

JOSE GONZALEZ-BARRAGAN, Gualala. Forgery, bad checks, probation revocation.

FRANKLIN PATTY, Willits. Community supervision violation.

MIGUEL PLASCENCIA-BARAJAS, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license, resisting, probation revocation.

DOESN'T HURT, MAT

Editor:

There are many regulations that I find annoying, such as stop signs where one can see that no cars are coming and having to report how much water I use from my well. I accept these, and many others, on the ground that the societal good outweighs the fact that I am bothered by them.

When someone complains about a regulation, I ask, “Exactly how does it damage you, other than your feelings being hurt?”

On the subject of taking a DNA sample when a person is taken into custody I need some more information before I can have an opinion.

Is the collection physically damaging in any way? Is the lab work done properly and the sample securely stored? Is racial profiling involved? Are there potential financial or any other kinds of problems created for the people sampled?

If these concerns are satisfied, and collecting DNA from suspects helps solve some crimes, then the societal benefit outweighs the negatives.

Mat Keller

Occidental

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The GGG is the American in Chief. Can anyone here find any part of our society that has not been exposed as completely corrupt since the day of 45’s inauguration? We are not looking into a funhouse mirror. What you see is an accurate reflection of what we have become. A nation of carnivores fed by industrial animal husbandry that have their panties in a wad about animal cruelty. There was a time when I was a residential framing contractor. There were developers who only felt they were successful if the subcontractors lost money or were deprived of their final draw. I explained it to them this way, “When you fuck with my money you’re are fucking with my children, if you do that I will FUCK YOU UP. When I get out of jail you will think back on your first ass whipping as a Sunday picnic." The United States has been this type of developer. The world is now a different subcontractor.

“OF ALL TYRANNIES, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time be likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

— C.S. Lewis

“You can’t count all of them as dependents.”

MEMO OF THE AIR

Mike Jamieson wrote: "...We were on freeway 80 heading west, at first we think was a drone. But when we close to it, it was big whit lights shape blue and yellow . Stop and after move fast up and down. Left and right. And then stop again. Then just despair..."

Mike, despair is near the very lowest point on the Scientology tone scale, which itself is low on plenty of other scales. In this case I see no cause for despair. I've never been abducted by space aliens, but when I was four Doctor Meyers, who had a lovely Porche of the time period, stuck a thermometer up my butt, which might be close to what you felt. It's not good, but you know they're gonna take out whatever they put in there and let you go. They're not gonna like murder your whole family and stick you in Guantanamo and drown and revive you twenty times a week and never let you out. And then he gave me a lollypop, which was just confusing. What a world.

But so many have been abducted by aliens and have come forward to tell about it. Here are some true stories told by real abductees. Apparently your experience depends on which aliens grab you, the A-team or the B-team (or the Z-team, in the case of abductee Kate M.) and also on what sort of mood they're in. Since 1947 they're just arriving in huge numbers and doing what they do and it's rather a crap-shoot as to what transpires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPdYYsEfAE -and- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kELDEdMbkyg

I'm a big fan of all three of the Stargate teevee series (SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe). One of my favorite episodes of Stargate SG-1 involves the team turning the tables on a rare /evil/ gray alien and knocking him out, so he wakes up confused, strapped to his own abduction-and-probe table, sees the humans standing over him and says quietly to himself, comically bewildered, "This-- /this/ is not right..." See, he's usually on the other end of things. That's what's /not right/ to him; he's not the one in control now.

*In Other News: I'll be in Fort Bragg for Friday night's MOTA radio show. If you want to talk about your project, or play your new song, or read your poetry or confessional or erotic memoir or alien abduction testimony or whatever, you can drop by 325 N. Franklin, next door to the Tip Top bar, after 9pm and just wander in. Head for the lighted room at the back and you're safe and warm and on the air. I promise you, nobody will get anywhere near your backside. And there's chocolate, and maybe also pickles, I haven't decided yet about that. And a secret present for Jon and Molly; I meant to give it months ago but keep forgetting. It's in the car; I'll just go out and get it if you come in; I know you're busy.

The deadline to email writing to be read on MOTA is always about 5 or 6pm the night of the show. So you've got a little while to get that together for tonight. Just paste your poem or essay or kvetch or sale item or event notice into the body of an email, check that it's going to memo@mcn.org and not to the whole group, unless that's what you want, and press /send/.

Besides that, you can have /your own whole regular real radio show of your own style and devising/ on KNYO. Contact Bob Young: bobb@poetworld.net and introduce yourself; he'll fix you up.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio: Every Friday, 9pm to 4 or 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg, and 105.1fm KMEC-LP Ukiah. And also there and anywhere else via http://knyo.org or http://kmecradio.org and if none of that works for you try http://TuneIn.com and look up KNYO-LP. Generally about eighty-percent of all that complex machinery works without a hitch, and that should be good enough for anybody.

-- Marco McClean

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com