Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Essays”

Illegal Junkers & Other Strange Charges

Three interesting charges have appeared in the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Bookings lately, all of which have prompted a bit of cyber-skepticism about why a person would be arrested on such charges. Two people in recent…

Looking For Truth, Finding Myths

The latest effort to canonize Judi Bari is unfolding on Facebook, the social network that reaches millions of possible new converts on the web.

The Left, 1960-2010: Downhill From Greensboro

Half a century ago, a new decade ushered in the rebirth of the American left and of those forces for radical change grievously wounded by the savage cold war pogroms of the 50s. If you…

Among the LaRouchies

An excerpt from this week’s Off the Record, in which Bruce Anderson has an amusing encounter with a coupla’ LaRouchies in San Francisco…

Farm To Farm

Trees are losing their grip and falling wholesale throughout the North Coast as the ground is satu­rated for the first time in four years, and storm winds are blowing. On the gravel portion of Lambert…

Bird’s Eye View By Turkey Vulture

 Greetings one and all. If you are sitting comforta­bly then I shall begin. Well, they did it again! Yes folks, Gloria Ross, “The Bishop of Boonville,” and her team of volunteers put on a superb…

For Howard Zinn: LaGuardia & The Truth About Marijuana

Howard Zinn greatly admired Fiorello LaGuardia and in the end the two men had important things in common. They grew up in New York City, two gen­erations apart, sons of immigrants. They both flew bombing missions for the U.S. Army -LaGuardia over Italy during World War One, Zinn over occupied France in World War Two- and then reconsidered the worth of those missions. They both spent their lives speaking for people whose voices hardly got heard.

Letter From Tuscon

Not all has been peaches and cream in Tucson, AZ this winter, I’ll tell you that much. About a month ago gray clouds obscured the sun for three consecutive days. Temperatures dipped into the lower…

Coppola’s Descent into Journalism: Apocalypse Then

Three years ago an unusual volume was issued by Crown Books. It was signed by Cathie Black, presi­dent of Hearst Magazines, and titled “Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in…

-