MCT: Sunday, March 10, 2019

• Lingering Instability
• Forest Jobs
• Emergency Planning
• Pets
• LakeCo Management
• Public Officials
• Traffic Planning
• Point Arena
• Ed Notes
• Night King
• Arresting Italians
• Unemployment Up
• Community Grants
• Inland Dems
• Yesterday's Catch
• Christie Fired
• Gender Laws
• Beav Today
• AC Adapters
• Terrorist USA
• Israeli Warmongers
• Cinderblocked
• Jesus Today
• Delta Plan
• Selfie
• Marco Radio
• Dumbing Down
• Stehr DC
• Lost Hour

LINGERING INSTABILITY will lead to scattered showers over the interior today. Dry weather is expected on Monday before a quick moving system brings rain and mountain snow on Tuesday. Dry weather is forecast for the remainder of the coming week. (National Weather Service)

AN IGNORED GREEN SOLUTION

Dear Editor,

Regarding Mr. Art Harwood and MRC for that matter.

Five years ago Mrs. Hoaglin arranged a meeting with Mr. Art Harwood to discuss other possible solutions to make his enterprise more efficient. It was held at the old Garberville school. There were 17 people there. I saw many eager potential could-be workers there.

I pointed out that with their hack and poison squirt method that although the leaves mostly all will die someday, maybe a whole year later the fact remains that the giant tree trunk and all its branches remain and will still cast big shadows on the money trees, redwood and fir. There is only one most efficient way to do it right and provide jobs at the same time and eliminate the need for poison.

It would be arranged like this: two four-man crews would approach each valley from its end, downstream. All the oaks and madrones would be felled starting at the bottom. Once felled they could be dragged out by a local team of either horses or oxen. The trees would then brought to a big landing where they’d be de-limbed and either bucked up or, if millable, lumber made. There is another two or three person crew. They could be women and they would split up the rounds and make $300 cords of hardwood. I personally can buck up and split half a cord a day. So a double splitting crew would be needed for quick "trash tree" removal into another usable product like firewood or lumber. As for firewood, I see five cords of firewood a day with such a big crew and a paltry amount of expense. So that's $1500 a day, $7500 a week — when sold of course. That makes $30,000 a month with absolutely no exaggeration!

Next, all the limbs go into the chipper for eventually making huge amounts of wood chips that can be sprinkled with blood meal or something, tossed once or twice a week with a backhoe to introduce oxygen. These mountains of chips would sit for a whole year before they would be ready for the ravenous hordes who value such products. I don't know how many thousands of dollars that would raise. Let's say $20,000 is probably an underestimate.

Everyone would start out at $10 an hour with a chance to rise higher on the pay scale depending on their hustle. $30,000 a month. I checked with our local State Farm agent about adequate insurance for 15 fieldworkers. Details are available. I remember that two kinds were needed and it would amount to about $11,000 a year, I think.

There would be a mobile dimensional saw on site sawing the bigger trees into some very fine lumber which would be much sought after if properly seasoned. A big metal shed or two to sticker, stack and protect the wood against the harsh sun.

The revenue from this endeavor alone would generate $50,000 a year minimum.

Remember when hack and squirt is used the tree trunk and all the branches continue to cast at shadow on the money trees 12 months of every year. But progress would continue up the hill falling the next batch of trash trees falling downhill with no hangups due to the removal of that lower row. See? They get dragged to the "products flat" to be bucked, limbed, split and stacked into 4’x8’ firewood stacks left in the sun. Safety would always come first. The fallers continue to the top making sure no money trees are damaged. One three-man crew on each side of the valley doing same thing. $30,000 a month is real money.

Mr. Harwood of RFFI would not seem to be needed for any payroll responsibilities. Mr. Harwood when he heard my detailed, perfectly doable plan laughed and ridiculed me saying something about how some people would make more money with their welfare checks. He not only couldn't see the self financing aspects of this venture nor any possibilities of avoiding his and MRC’s use of poisons.

Think about it. All trash trees completely gone along with their ponderous girth that can be completely free to be taken over by the fast-growing "money trees." Would it take a long time? You bet. But think about the best part. Lots of local good paying jobs with insurance. Hundreds of $300 cords of seasoned hardwood firewood. $50,000 worth of lumber. The one-year-old compost mountains. I'd bet it would add up to no less than another $50,000 a year. Perfectly legitimate, well-thought-out, financed and insured and Mr. Harwood laughed out loud at me.

Two backhoes, 12 chain saws, two log splitters, gloves, protective clothing, helmets with earmuffs, a 500 gallon fuel tank, 2-4 pairs of caulk (pronounced "cork”) boots, tee posts, ten Mcloud's, and various double bit axes, six peaveys and whatever incidentals I missed. The two metal sheds would need to be built for lumber storage. The miller could be shaded.

Mr. Harwood wouldn't even give us a chance to see if it really could work. There is absolutely no doubt at all that my plan would work as enumerated. When I say “us,” I saw at least six willing workers who would have started probably the next day. If anyone can find a flaw in his plan, let's hear it. The creeks would be protected by parallel placements of some of the limbed trees to protect the creek from winter mud and would serve for the chosen logging outfit when they decide years down the line to harvest their money trees. No mud, dust or dirt in the creek.

While we were out there why would we not choker up some of that dead standing wood? That's fuel removal too. We would be around and through the whole valley so then would be the perfect time to eliminate that flammable stuff.

That, my friends, is the most perfect method of true "forest management." But Mr. Harwood and his bald chemical-loving comrade laughed. What a huge loss for our community that could use a new industry somewhere, anywhere around here.

Roderick Brown

Whitethorn

UKIAH SHELTER PETS OF THE WEEK

Sunny, aka Mr. Friendly, is a gorgeous dog who looks like a creamsicle, and he's sweet as one, too! Sunny knows SIT and DOWN and he's easy to walk on a leash. He's been a pet and knows the rules, so he's going to adjust to his forever home quickly. Sunny will need a home with secure fencing, as he has a bit of wanderlust. This guys is sure to put a smile on your face and be the sunshine of your life!

Visit Sunny’s webpage at http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com/dogblog/sunny The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah; adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm. To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, please visit us online at: mendoanimalshelter.com For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

LAKE COUNTY MANAGEMENT REPORT

http://lakeconews.com/index.php/news/60264-registrar-of-voters-office-loses-decades-of-experience-supervisors-to-consider-candidates

Viz. the above link: Our Registrar of Voters position issues in Lake County, explained in excellent detail by the editor/publisher of “Lake County News” — and a rare example of the editor’s skills as well as an exceptional challenge to local government personnel maneuvers — lays out the sore feelings and fears of potential abuse of office by the county’s Chief Administrative Officer, Carol Huchingson. (I give the author great credit for not dramatizing the statements, just telling it like it is, which is one of the criteria for winners of The Essential Public Information Center’s annual award for exceptional reporting on this side of the Cow.)

Huchingson has had decades of empire building (as the director of the county’s Social Services Department) in shared organizational management of the Area Agency on Aging, along with the leadership of Mendocino’s Health and Human Services (ouch!) agency under the authority of your county CEO, Ms. Carmelo. Reforms under way since her placement as the Chief Administrative Officer of the County of Lake have included the disappearance of any sign of County involvement in “long-term recovery” from the Valley Fire (except for a symbolic website), let alone any real county response to recover from subsequent disasters; internal initiatives for the consolidation of our Auditor-Controller’s office with the county Treasurer (no conflict there?); and lately the assumption of the Interim Registrar of Voters, for which the former incumbent and hands-down best possible choice was thrown under the proverbial bus.

The deeper implications of rejecting a laudable, respected, and highly capable successor to our recently retired Registrar, are the access to and knowledge of hundreds of records related to the formation of special districts, benefit zones, commissions, and voter-based or land-owner-based assessment districts.

The public’s inability to get public information out of the County administration (which includes, as I see it, most powerful department heads) was what prompted me to establish The Essential Public Information Center in 2005. After being accused of “impersonating a public official” by the Chief Administrative Officer (who was easily corrected, but still…), for requesting a legally-required public record (about something relatively benign, as well), and years of having to “sign up” to be allowed to buy copies of the local Grant Jury reports from the Auditor-Controller’s Office (why not the court clerk?), my relationship to county administration intensified when we began reporting on the status of public health and service requirements and their handling by county authorities, in 2015.

To me (and some friends, of course) the iniquity we endure is calmly limned in Elizabeth Larson’s elucidation of the discriminatory conditions imposed on a very qualified, proven-loyal, extremely responsible and supportive public servant, to which the response was appropriately, go fuck yourself.

Your unflagging attention and unabashed criticism of Mendo County administration is deeply appreciated. It’s always a joy to wake up to the AVA.

Betsy Cawn

The Essential Public Information Center

Upper Lake, CA

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS PRESENT

STUDY & SHELVE

Editor,

The current recommendation to modify downtown State St. reminds me of a few years ago when the City spent tens of thousands of dollars for a study to change the State St. traffic plan. At that time the firm that was hired recommended making State St. one way north and diverting the southbound traffic two blocks over to Oak St. through the residential areas. Upon presenting the plan to a public forum the criticism was universal. Finally when everyone had their say Judy Pruden spoke up and said, “I think it would be better to make State St. one way south and divert the northbound traffic to Main St. and encourage the merchants on the east side of State to ‘spiff up’ their back doors to provide access from both streets.” The “so called” traffic expert commented with wonderment in his voice, “That’s a good idea.”

Needless to say, the traffic plan ended up on the shelves with the many other studies at city hall. The lesson learned may be to find out what the locals want and solicit their solutions.

Janet Freeman

Ukiah

SHERIFF ALLMAN IN POINT ARENA

The Point Arena Cove is a treasured gem of our county. If you can enlarge this picture, you will see thousands of 45° geological striations that are beautiful. The restaurant at the cove has award winning clam chowder and the wonderful wooden pier is a fun observation point.

You have time this weekend? Go explore our county and post your pictures.

ED NOTES

BART was closed Saturday, all stations, the whole works. Seems there was a computer glitch, as all systems become so complicated the slightest quiver in their grand cyber-network wreaks havoc. There's probably only one or two gizmo-geniuses who understand BART's system, and if they can even be found on a weekend they will have to be brought in at quadruple overtime rates to puzzle it all out and get BART's grimy, lout-heavy cars rolling again. Used to be that the East Bay was linked to Frisco by the Key System whose feeder routes ran to all the heavily populated neighborhoods of Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley and, I believe, east to Hayward. The Key ran across the Bay Bridge. It was electrically powered and the greenest mechanic could quickly repair anything that went wrong. It was never out of service. Where all this techno-dependence is sending us is to China, whose government makes the trains run on time and then some, with a citizenship rating being imposed on a couple of provinces where high tech systems spy on and rate every person on everything from his personal deportment to his work habits. Back to the future anyone?

THE MANAFORT SENTENCING has done major good in dramatizing the hugely disproportionate sentences of our courts, at every level. Everyone pretends to want to make justice fair, but gol durned if just keeps on not happening. Justice might look a little bit more fair in this country if every lawyer all the way up to Supreme Court justices, as a requirement of their credentialing, had to spend a month in the nearest county jail. And the entire regimen of court fines and fees? How about bringing some proportion to them, too? A person (like a judge, for instance) pulling down a coupla hundred grand a year ought to be fined at the same extortionate rate a person making $40 g's is now fined.

QUICK ANECDOTE: My first trip into the local county jail was back in '87, I think it was, the jail was so over-crowded that I and twenty or so other guys slept on the floor for three days. The showers ran all day and night, a fine dusting of sheetrock fell from the ceilings, helpful passersby driving up and down nearby Low Gap road threw tennis balls filled with dope over the fence. The ensuing scramble was always a hoot. That jail is gone and now its replacement is falling apart. If judges were aware of conditions, they ignored them, and I doubt they pay much attention now.

THE COUNTY JAIL is reputably run. Nobody is arbitrarily pushed around by staff, the food's good (especially, lately, the bread), the dangerous guys of the predator, career felon type are separated out from the miscellaneous incompetents who comprise the bulk of any prison population, the vulnerable also housed separately. But I'll bet if judges had to do a mandatory month in a county jail they'd see that there's no need to make them so bleak.

ANYBODY SURPRISED? Blurb for Jane Mayer in The New Yorker on the Fox-Trump relationship:

"He wasn't the first — or only — Fox News personality to align with the president. In November, Fox News host Sean Hannity, who reportedly speaks to Trump "almost daily," faced criticism after joining Trump onstage during a rally. And New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer reports that 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch speaks to Trump on a weekly basis and that Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs has been "patched into" Oval Office meetings."

THE ABOVE statement of the obvious was fleshed out by Terry Gross of NPR who advertised her chat with Ms. Mayer with the shocker that Fox ignored the hush money to Stormy Daniels until after the election, swinging the vote to Trump.

NO SURPRISE that Fox functions as Trump's publicist, but the average male Fox viewer, I daresay, totally approved of Stormy and the Don, envying their hero's mercantile prowess with high end prostitutes. Even if Fox had released news of the Stormy interlude, it probably would have helped Trump with the cretinous Fox demographic, not hurt him.

THIS EXCHANGE re the MCN chatline neatly condenses the ongoing comment line dilemma; how to manage it to beat back trolls and the tiresome legions of shut-ins who stalk comment lines seemingly round the clock. Of course I agree with comment 2, and at the mighty ava we edit our comment line to at least try to keep the conversation at a reasonably civilized level. But we have the advantage of a pay wall, which keeps out the MCN-like chronophages. MCN is entirely public, so all its readers can do is scroll on past the omni-present boors.

(1) So what about the facts and truth? Shouldn’t that be the foundational thing? Spreading bad ideas when the only thing that is relevant about them being ‘circulation’ is not going to help any society. Filling the pool with dirty water makes everyone want to not use it eh?

(2) As long as you insist that you, and you alone, possess the facts and the truth, there can be no discussion. I’ve been on this list since it began, and it has always been contentious, more vitriol than discussion, people hurling insults at one another, calling for censorship, calling for a moat around Mendocino, threatening lawsuits. It has always been difficult to distinguish the trolls from the community. Most of the original posters have disappeared out of fear of one another. I’m not sure there can be a dialogue between left and right, unless we can talk about values and ideas, and unless we are persuadable. Class struggle is inherently antagonistic. It isn’t helpful to post thousands of links “proving” your point. You spent ten years defending Glyphosate! Nobody reads them. They are just more dirty water. Those who bemoan the loss of their discussion list should use it and model rational discussion.

LATE NIGHTS, Marco Maclean writes:

Safeway in Fort Bragg is still open all night, though the deli’s closed in the wee hours and the doughnut case is empty and forlorn. The workers are kept scrambling to clean the floors and refill and re-front and properly label the shelves. I’m sure it’s not easy work. When I stop there on my way home from the radio station at 5am or so, I always feel a little guilty taking a stocker away from what he or she is doing in order to run the register.

I’d always much rather grocery shop, and drive, and do just about anything in the middle of the night than in the crowded, dangerous, embarrassing daytime. At night you’re practically king of the world. You’ve got the whole road to yourself. It feels so much safer, but I’m white and a man, so.

LAST WEEK a high school exchange student from Italy visited our research center, looking for evidence of local arrests of Italian Americans during the era of WWII, for a History Day project describing the internment of Italian immigrants legalized through Executive Order 9066.

Using the Humboldt County Jail booking registers, recently transferred to the Research Center from the Clarke Historical Museum, we were able to find notes describing the arrests of three Italian immigrants, by the FBI, on August 21, 1942. Marino Sichi was a 20 year old baker's helper living in Arcata, Frank Cetina was a 55 year old dish washer living in Eureka, and Luigi De Santo was a 63 year old laborer living in Wildwood.

Student History Day projects will be available for public viewing during the County judging event at Humboldt State University tomorrow, March 9.

(Via KymKemp.com)

THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE in Mendocino County was 5.2 percent in January 2019, up from 4.2 percent in December 2018.

The county added jobs in local government and the information sector. Fewer jobs were available in mining, logging and construction; transportation, warehousing and utilities; and local government.

northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/sonomacounty/9366623-181/sonoma-solano-lake-mendocino-marin

COMMUNITY RESILIENCY AND DISASTER PREPAREDNESS GRANTS AWARDED

All local Community Foundation grant applications undergo a thorough review process, and the new Resiliency and Preparedness Grant Program is no different. After careful review by our program staff, applications are given to a review committee selected for expertise in their area of interest. And as the newly formed Community Resiliency and Preparedness Fund committee gathered to review grant applications on a wet winter afternoon at the Community Foundation office, we felt embraced by the warmth and vibrancy of the Mendocino County mural gracing the wall. The mural, painted by artist Lauren Sinnott, depicts a rich community drawn together in a tapestry of forest and water. It echoes the county’s unique natural, cultural, and social history, reminding us of our unique charge of stewardship and community enrichment. It feels connected and optimistic, two things I hope the new Community Resiliency and Preparedness Fund can support with direct funding to local programs throughout the county.

The Resiliency and Preparedness grant committee is comprised of a retired firefighter, the chair of the local Voluntary Organizations Active in a Disaster (VOAD), a community leader with a strong history of creating firesafe communities, and the Foundation’s project manager for fire recovery. Together this thoughtful team reviews each application, develops a series of questions or concerns, then follows up with site visits in person or over the phone for further information. The team weighs the spectrum of issues that will be addressed across each of the seven regions, as well as the available pool of funding. The committee’s recommendations are sent to our Board of Directors for final review and approval, ensuring alignment with our countywide funding strategies.

Our goal is to offer the Community Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness grant for three years. We are pleased to announce the inaugural year grants awarded to nine local organizations totaling $50,000.

The recipients are:

• KZYX radio to maintain a reliable broadcast signal during emergencies;
• Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department to purchase satellite phones and service to ensure connection during disaster response;
• North Coast Opportunities Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to provide an emergency response trailer for CERT teams in coastal areas;
• Westport Volunteer Fire Community to purchase new radios and spotlights to be used for emergency response by the Westport Volunteer Fire Department;
• Mendocino County Resource Conservation District to develop a business plan to provide fuels management and defensible space program for low-income property owners, which also provides a long-term sustainment program for the Fire Safe Council;
• Friends of the Round Valley Public Library to offer a series of wildfire preparedness workshops;
• Redwood Coast Medical Services to support the required permitting of the Emergency Medical Services helipad;
• Little Lake Grange/ KLLG-LP 97.9FM Radio to purchase an emergency generator to keep KLLG on air during a disaster; and
• Sherwood Firewise to develop evacuation plans for the 5,000 residents of Sherwood Corridor to include updated maps of new emergency travel routes, local communication network enhancement, public education and evacuation training drills.

Grants were made throughout the county, and will fund both grassroots and more established non-profit organizations. These grants serve to strengthen the capacity of non-profit organizations in Mendocino County to ensure resilient and prepared communities now and in the future.

For more information about the grants and about how you can make a gift to the Community Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness Fund, visit: www.communityfound.org

Megan Barber Allende, CEO, Mendocino Community Foundation

INLAND DEMS

Next Meeting of the Inland Mendocino Democratic Club on March 14th

The Inland Mendocino Democratic Club will hold our next meeting Thursday, March 14 at 5:30 pm at Yokayo Bowling Alley, 1401 N State St, Ukiah, CA 95482. Let’s all join together to make our county an oasis of Justice and Peace. Come lend a hand. All are welcome. See us on Facebook and at http://inlandmendodems.org

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 9, 2019

ALEXANDER BONITTO, San Rafael/Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

DAVID CHURCHILL, Laytonville. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOSHUA DEPREE, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

DANIEL FOX, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation.

ARMONDO GALINDO, Willits. Parole violation.

SERGIO GONZALEZ, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

EUFEMIO HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

MARK HUTCHINSON, Willits. County parole violation.

WILLIAM LOCKETT, Willits. Protective order violation.

JUSTIN MAXFIELD, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

DENA MORRIS, Redwood Valley. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

ROSALINO REYES-MARTINEZ, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JULIO REYNOSO, Fort Bragg. DUI, misdemeanor hit&run.

JOSHUA ROGERS, Willits. DUI, suspended license, probation revocation.

SHANE ROORK, Ukiah. Smuggling controlled substance or liquor into jail, controlled substance, failure to appear.

RHONDA SANDERS, Fort Bragg. Disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JUSTIN SCHAEFER, Eureka/Fort Bragg. Public nuisance, probation revocation.

THE KING & I

Perhaps the defining moment of the Trump presidency occurred before it had even begun, two days after his election. Since May 2016, Chris Christie, then governor of New Jersey, had been head of the transition team planning for the takeover of power if Trump won in November. Given the candidate’s complete lack of experience in public office, this process was even more important than usual. Trump himself, however, did not think so. In his self-pitying memoir Let Me Finish, a title that soon becomes the reader’s prayer, Christie records that “as far back as Labor Day,” the prospective president told him, “Chris, you and I are so smart, and we’ve known each other for so long, we could do the whole transition together if we just leave the victory party two hours early!” But Christie plowed on, and two days after that party, he arrived at Trump Tower to present a “carefully crafted, thirty-volume transition plan.” His team of 140 people had spent nearly six months designing for Trump “an entire federal government in his image and likeness.” It included shortlists of pre-vetted candidates for all the top jobs in the administration, as well as timetables for action on Trump’s signature policies and the drafts of executive orders.

What followed seems, on Trump’s part, gleefully sadistic. Christie was a big figure in the Trump campaign: the first serving senior officeholder to endorse and legitimize his candidacy. His star had fallen since his stunning landslide reelection in New Jersey in 2013, but he was still, as the Republican governor of a deep blue state, a figure of real political substance. He also imagined that Trump had been a close personal friend since 2002. Yet when he arrived at Trump Tower to present his thirty binders of plans for the new administration, he was met by Steve Bannon. Bannon told Christie that he was being fired with immediate effect, “and we do not want you to be in the building anymore.” His painstaking work was literally trashed: “All thirty binders were tossed in a Trump Tower dumpster, never to be seen again.” Are they, one wonders, now rotting away gently somewhere in the wastelands of New Jersey, like the bodies of disposable characters in The Sopranos?

— Fintan O’Toole, New York Review of Books

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

When you live your life on-line, who would need such a thing as a “downtown”? To do what? Besides, it’s like the mythical white-picket fences and the fictitious era of middle-class employment when Dad had a job and Mom stayed home to take care of everyone. Nobody who isn’t “woke” believes any of it, it’s a figment of the right-wing-proto-fascist imagination, propagated by TV-Land. Ward and June Cleaver as marital bliss? Wally and the Beav as the ideal of youthful unquestioning compliance? Really, does anybody put any credence in the Leave it to Beaver depiction of American life of the 1950s and 60s? Of course not, this was appropriated by the worst, most racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic elements of American society and politics to present a picture of American life that never existed, never will exist, nor should exist. In any realistic account, Ward would be a depressed bi-sexual, precariously employed in low-wage work, dependent on June’s high-powered executive career. And the Beav would be playing with dolls and Wally would be a tranny.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

I was considering going ex-pat somewhere, and I was looking at a number of countries. But, I decided to ride out the storm of collapse here, where I can

1. reliably cash my SS checks until the crooks at the top figure out how to steal old peoples’ money in the SSA
2. navigate in a country where everyone speaks my language
3. avoid those few who want to grab an American and cut his head off, or his belly open

I’m concerned that there might be roving gangs here in the US after everything fails, who will shoot me in the head so they can look in my pantry.

So, given that there may be a few more years before SS is stolen or made unavailable, there’s safety here in the states for me, a veteran, white man, elderly.

If your point is that I have no right to see what’s going on with this terrorist organization called the USA, well, you’re mistaken. Everyone has the right to observe these criminals and to say something about it.

I volunteered for Vietnam and consider myself a patriot, but not a blind patriot. I am against illegal murders and thievery by this gang masquerading as a government. Nobody has to leave the country for being awake to this evil. That’s preposterous.

CINDER BLOCK CONSTRUCTION AND THE GEEZER LIFE

And for today's unexpected subject, the Great Spirit reaches into his bag and pulls out cinder block construction. Now that's unexpected. But it's also my life. The world according to Buckaroo Bonzai. Or Garp. Or somebody. No matter where you go, there you are. Trusting the universe. The bow and the ever-present thank you.

The place I have just moved to is a one story building with nine one story apartments. It was built probably in the late fifties, maybe as late as the early sixties. As I continue to wish I understood physics better, I wondered about whether Eugene's normal summer heat would make my un-air-conditioned apartment warmer or more cool in the summer heat. My son will be here in six days, if he can make it from Roseburg. He knows construction. Inspects buildings commercial and residential. He will be authoritative.

As luck [!] would have it, I met a neighbor yesterday while checking my mail. He warned me that on hot days all the apartments on my side, the south-facing side, get unbearably hot. Just the question I researched on the internet. Answer, as usual, ambiguous enough to be unhelpful and confusing. So unless the predicted snow doesn't come and July heat is our lot, my son will be authoritative. I look forward to his answers nearly as much as I look forward to seeing him. Seventy-five. Confused. Looking for to seeing my son. My already full plate. Writing pre-dawn. Relaxing. With love and ill will for none except the Orange One. This is like a Mahler symphony that just doesn't want to end. And then, finally the end. Thank you. Bow.

If his answer is to buy a room air-conditioner, I may not do it. Seventy-five. Confused. Finally, the end. Thank you. Bow. Finally, out.

(Bruce Brady)

FISHING GROUPS: VOLUNTEER AGREEMENTS TO REPLACE TO BAY DELTA PLAN UPDATE ARE ALL ‘SMOKE AND MIRRORS'

by Dan Bacher

A coalition of fishing, river and environmental groups today released a 10-page analysis challenging a controversial voluntary settlement proposal submitted last week by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) as an alternative to the Bay Delta Plan Update now before the State Water Resources Control Board.

Forty-forty individuals, including water agencies, irrigation districts and big NGOs, such as American Rivers, Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited, signed on to the proposal submitted.

The documents, available on the Natural Resources Agency website, “reflect progress since December to flesh-out the previously submitted framework to improve conditions for fish through targeted river flows and a suite of habitat-enhancing projects including floodplain inundation and physical improvement of spawning and rearing areas,” according to a press release from the agency. “Further work and analysis is needed to determine whether the agreements can meet environmental objectives required by law and identified in the State Water Board’s update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan.”

Governor Gavin Newson, who received $637,398 from agribusiness interests in his campaign for Governor, including $116,800 from the Wonderful Company owners Lynda and Stewart Resnick, praised the voluntary agreements that would yield less flows for San Joaquin River and Delta salmon, steelhead and other fish species.

“Today’s submittal is an important step forward towards protecting the environment and providing greater long-term certainty to water users, “Governor Newsom said. “I appreciate that so many diverse parties, north and south, from the environmental community and water users alike, continue to work collaboratively towards voluntary agreements. Much hard work remains, but I am encouraged by the continued progress.”

In response to the proposal, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), Institute for Fishery Resources, Restore the Delta, Friends of the River and the Tuolumne River Trust released their analysis criticizing the voluntary agreements.

Their analysis concludes that the proposed agreement does not sufficiently increase flows, does not include any restrictions on exports by the state and federal water projects, and does not include flow standards based on a percentage of unimpaired flows.

The analysis describes “foundational problems” with the agreements as proposed by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and others on December 12, 2018 and March 1, 2019, according to Chris Schutes of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:

Entitled “Smoke and Mirrors,” the analysis criticizes the as yet incomplete Voluntary Agreements as outlined to date because they:

•   Double-count habitat restoration projects that are already required or planned using existing funds, and that would occur without such an agreement;
•   
•   Fail to provide sufficient flow increases to protect and restore the Bay-Delta estuary, its native fish and wildlife, and the thousands of jobs that depend on it;
•   
•   Fail to include any restrictions on Delta pumping and other operations of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP); such restrictions are necessary to prevent the water projects from diverting any additional flow provided from upstream farms and cities and to prevent the Trump Administration from gutting Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the Bay-Delta;
•   
•   Fail to include carryover storage requirements in upstream reservoirs to ensure water supplies for future droughts and adequate water temperatures for salmon;
•   
•   Fail to use the transparent approach of flow standards based on a percentage of unimpaired flows, and instead use the failed approach of State Water Board Decision 1641;
•   
•   Fail to ensure that Bay-Delta standards will be enforced and will respond to new scientific information; and
•   
•   Fail to include investments in water supply reliability and economic development projects that will help cities and farms adapt to a future with less water diverted from the Bay-Delta. 
•   

Read the 10-page analysis here: Smoke and Mirrors: Voluntary Agreements Purport to Add Water and Habitat, But Might Actually Worsen Conditions for the Bay-Delta Estuary,Rivers, and Native Fish and Wildlife

To read my article about the Governor’s agriculture and water board appointments, go here: www.dailykos.com/…

For more information about Governor Newsom’s campaign contributions, go here: votesmart.org/…

MEMO OF THE AIR: Ignatz! interrupted.

The recording of last night's (2019-03-08) KNYO Fort Bragg and KMEC Ukiah world-class Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available by one or two clicks, depending on whether you want to listen to it now or download it and keep it for later and, speaking of which, it's right here:

https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0323

Besides that, also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you can find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile educational items I set aside for you while gathering the show together. Such as:

Here's exactly why never to use water to put out a grease fire. Grease gets way hotter than the boiling point of water. The water flash-boils and sends burning grease everywhere, fanning the flames of the exploding grease with now cubic yards of turbulent air, where before the store of available oxygen was no bigger than the pot. Cover it with a pot lid or the pull-out cutting board, or use baking soda on uneven surfaces. Not flour, though. Flour explodes too. I think so does powdered sugar. Little fire extinguishers are cheap, and the kitchen is a really smart place to keep one. Hang it on a wall anywhere but above the stove. http://tinyurl.com/GreaseFireDemo

Here's an old interview where Claudia Black talks about her career as an actress up to that point, and Farscape in particular. I put it through StretchSite so you can fix the aspect ratio. (Pull the top-middle slider a little to the left. You'll know it's right when the video is the shape of the dead Zenith in your basement.) (35 min.) http://tinyurl.com/CBFInterview

Remember how outraged you felt when you read that the weasels and stoats invaded and occupied Toad Hall? Well, what if you had known that a stoat /is/ a weasel, and that it is this cute. Changes everything. (Then it leaps, takes your nose and an ear off and runs gashes in a jagged spiral around your neck and down your back and left side, flips, lands and prepares to leap at your face again, and for a moment, even then, Oh, how cute.) They're not cute to dogs. The dog thinks you are an idiot, and not because it's jealous that you're looking at another animal, but rather, What's the matter with you! Kick it with your giant leg! Kill it with fire!

View post on imgur.com

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

MEANWHILE OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE…

Jivan Mukta at Union Station

Following a productive day yesterday, meeting with Peace Vigil in front of the White House, and later with a longtime eco-anarchist friend, got up this morning and went to Union Station in a cold rain. Winter is slowly turning to spring in Washington, D.C. The word has gone out: if the radical frontline wants me here, then offer me housing. It really is as simple as that. Enjoyed a warm meal, followed by coffee and a cookie. Then, walked to the train station area and sat down in a chair for a couple of hours. Focused the mind on that which is prior to consciousness. Additionally, repeated silently the Hare Krishna Mahamantram. Objectively watched thoughts arise and dissipate for the next two hours, mostly detailing the demonic hell of this civilization. Hey, what else could one expect during the dark phase of Kali Yuga? Returned to the travel hostel around 9 P.M. where I am booked into a warm, comfortable shared room until the Spring Equinox March 20th. Posted a notice on the Washington, D.C. Independent Media Center advising all that I am here and available for direct action. Again, offer me housing!

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

THE RISE, SET AND RISE OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

As you grumble about your lost hour of sleep this weekend, just remember: Don’t blame Benjamin Franklin. Despite legend, the nerdiest Founding Father did not invent daylight saving time. (He did, however, suggest cities wake residents earlier on summer mornings by the sound of cannon fire, so perhaps it’s best he didn’t get his way.) No, the reason you may have an extra cup of coffee Sunday is World War I. And golf.

washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/09/rise-set-rise-daylight-saving-time/

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COMMENTER NICELY SUMS IT UP:

Subject: Daylight Spending Time [MCN-Announce]

It's become a tradition, I guess, to mess with the clocks twice a year (not including battery changes, practical jokes, and alarm adjustments).

So it's time, tonight, or rather "tomorrow" at 2:00 AM, to fast-forward to 3:00 AM and just burn that hour faster than Hell money at your ancestors' altar.

And then awaken with a groan, watch the sun set ridiculously late, lather, rinse, repeat. Bah, it was probably a bitter hour anyway.

Cheers,
Molly