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Posts published in “Essays”

River Views

Last week’s column recounted how Fort Bragg police officer Craig Guydan shot a dog on December 21st, the only officer-involved shooting in the coastal town last year. Guydan also drew his gun on a group…

Getting Rid Of Rose

Della cleans houses on The Sea Ranch. Several years ago, one of the homes Della cleaned was that of Milton and Rose Friedman prior to leaving The Sea Ranch in their twilight years.

Monsanto University

Last month the University of California intervened in a high stakes U.S. Supreme Court case on the side of the agribusiness giant Monsanto Company by filing an amicus brief stating that the university would be…

Citizen O’Brien Sues

Dennis C. O’Brien v. County of Mendocino, Raley’s, et al First Cause Of Action: Unlawful Interference With Freedom Of Speech 1. Plaintiff Dennis C. O’Brien is a competent adult and a resident of Mendocino County.…

Greed Redux

“It has always seemed strange to me…the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed,…

Propaganda & Poison At The Oscars

Seth MacFarlane claimed in his opening monologue that this year’s Oscars adopted for the first time ever a theme — “the wedding of film and music” as he put it. The spectacle that followed the…

Two Sides Of Gun Propaganda

Two emails came in this morning, forwarded material from people trying to “spread the word.” The topic of both was guns, one rabidly pro andone timidly con. This is perfectly predictable and typical. The pro-gun…

The Gas Gougers

Here we go again. A sudden surge in the price of gasoline and heating oil is followed by reported expressions of frustrated despair by hard-pressed consumers in the midst of silence from the oil companies…

How One Sentence Saved Me From Living My Whole Life As A Well-Meaning Hick

There were upsides to growing up in Willits in the 1980s — an enduring appreciation for Mötley Crüe’s first album, all the free shade leaf you could smoke — but there were downsides, too. I’ve been thinking about one of those downsides this week, what with the news and the commentary and all.

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