NAZI ERRATA
AVA,
While reading The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Wilhellm Keitel, Oberkommando der Wehmacht under Adolf Hitler in World War Two I came across the attached passage from his book. Keitel wrote much of his book while in prison during his trial by the Allied Court at Nuremberg. He was convicted of war crimes and hung October 16, 1946.
Harold Ericsson
Harbor City
Attached: “During the summer of 1941 the civilian population’s resistance to our occupation forces intensified perceptibly in every theater of war, with sabotage incidents and attacks on German security troops and installations. While partisan warfare began to assume a more menacing aspect in the Balkans where it was openly encouraged by Britain and the Soviet Union, and obliged us to launch full-scale operations against partisan centers, acts of sabotage became horrifyingly frequent in France and even in Belgium. Widespread air drops of agents and of disguised sabotage-troops, bomb incidents, the dropping of guns, ammunition, radio transmitters and spies were the order of the day. There was no doubt that in the west Britain’s hand was behind all this: she was trying to incite the population to harass the occupation forces, destroy industrial, public-utility, transport and power-supply installations, and to create general unrest and disturb the public order; she hoped to incite the population to passive resistance and even to provoke reprisals from us which, in turn, would manure the ground for the growth of a future resistance movement. While the French police initially cooperated very efficiently with us in the prosecution and elimination of saboteurs in France, very soon a palpable change came over them, often evidenced by their sympathies with the wrongdoers and even by a degree of high-level participation in the guerilla war against our security forces.
“The call for reinforcements for our security forces and the police units because increasingly urgent in time, and the early attempts at improving security measures by taking hostages and exacting reprisals on them eventually became the order of the day. As the Balkans were also crying out for troop reinforcements, and the security forces allocated to the daily expanding occupied territories of the Soviet Union were no longer able to cope either, the Fuhrer insisted on the employment of Draconian reprisal measures and ruthless action to deter the terrorists before things got out of hand — before the resistance movements could succeed in siphoning off so much of our manpower that the thing outgrew the capabilities of the occupying authorities altogether.
“The summer and autumn of 1941 accordingly saw the issue of the first orders designed to combat these new techniques of stab-in-the-back, sabotage- and commando-warfare, a kind of warfare launched at the behest of dark forces — the ‘secret service’ — by gangsters, spies and other skulking vermin, and later reinforced by idealists, all of whom are now jointly idolized as great and patriotic national “heroes.”
“These orders numbered among others the military commanders’ “hostage laws,” the Fuhrer’s Nacht und Nebel — “Cover of Darkness” — decree, which I myself signed, and all the other variations on those brutal directives of 1942 designed to emulate the enemy in his most degenerate mode of warfare, which could, of course, only really be appreciated in all its ferocity and effect at my central office into which all these reports flowed. The purpose was to make it quite plain to all those German officers who had been brought up in a make-believe world of ‘chivalry’ in war, that when they are faced with methods like these the only one to keep his head is the one who least shrinks from exacting the most ruthless reprisals in a situation where an ‘illegal war of the shadows’ has unscrupulously systematized crime to intimidate the occupying power and terrorize the country’s populace at large. That these British secret service methods were so alien to us Germans, and to our mentality, went far to justify the existence of warnings like these to our men; but whether the proper way of bringing this home to them was by issuing the slogan, ‘Terrorists can only be combatted with terrorism’ is a point which seen in retrospect people may be right to dispute. All good Germans should learn to let the house catch fire around them before they start to sniff for smoke.”
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BYPASS: NOT CONCERNED WITH WILLITS
Mr. Anderson,
I've been picking up the AVA at the store for years. It's time to subscribe. I've got a big mailbox at the end of the driveway and I know my carrier and I like to support the postal system.
I worked in three small post offices in this area. It's a noble calling. All the people I've worked with have been exemplary public servants. It's higher up where the problem is. Thank you for the phone conversation regarding the Caltrans Bypass.
Phil Frisbie said in public that this bypass was “not concerned with Willits.” It is an interstate highway, long planned, to build big for the purpose (like Richardson grove?) of federal transport of nuclear waste and military vehicles down through western California. Caltrans is the right-hand man.
Kimbal Dodge
Willits
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HARSH REMEDIES
Dear Editor:
When we know that even when a horse says neigh, it means neigh, Jessica Valenti's lament (The Nation, 4/15/13) that rape is still considered a joke is completely understandable. As a deterrent I propose the surgeon's knife, and I'm completely serious. If I were a woman I wouldn't want to have a child by a man capable of rape. There are too many people on the planet already and it could only improve the gene pool if they got snipped. They still cut off the hands of thieves in the Middle East, don't they?
Aloha,
Bill Brundage
Kurtistown, Hawaii
PS. I'm sorry to trouble you by sending a letter to the editor to the address for poetry submissions, but it's the only snail mail address on the masthead and believe it or not there are still dinosaurs out there who don't do e-mail. Please suggest to the editor that she remedy the situation.
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THE EARTH ABIDES
Editor,
Earth Day festivities at FitzMorris Lodge opened with a community cleanup, followed by music, poetry and commentary via tape by John Trudell, a potluck meal, and a mini film festival showing two documentaries, “Edward Abbey: A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness,” and “Life After People.”
The cleanup crew gathered numerous bags of cast-off debris, most of which appeared to be generated by so-called “growhouses” — a growth industry in Brooktrails. One local pot drone eventually dumped trash over his rear yard stockade fence into the green belt. So we moved the current load from the greenbelt to his front yard. He probably won't even notice, though, since pot drones hunker down indoors with the shades drawn 24/7. They creep in and out only for supply and distribution runs in jacked up pickups with tinted glass. The sinister dudes always wear shades and never speak. They remind me of the UFO cult's “Men In Black.” I guess they're on a sacred agricultural mission to feed and nurture a sick population. What a fraud! It's not agriculture; it's tissue culture. They are pharmers, not farmers. And they all “produce” more then 25 “plants” and most of the growhouses are less than 100 feet from adjoining houses — both violations of the county's — ha! ha! — “regulations.” And isn't it a zoning ordinance violation to have pharmaceutical production using toxic chemicals in residential areas?
The Trudell tapes included “AKA Graffiti Man,” “Tribal Voices,” and “How To Be A Human Being,” recorded March, 2001 in San Francisco by Jeff Blankfort for TUC radio.
Trudell, one of the clearest thinkers on the planet, says, “Life is about responsibility of thought. If you want to be free, be responsible, be clear and use your intelligence.” He observes that every one of us is a descendent of a tribe and have ancestral genetic memory encoded in our DNA, but it's been cut off by civilization. To access the ancestral knowledge, we must detach from industrial civilization.
The potluck mid-afternoon meal was a genuine feast featuring all locally grown foods, reminding us of our great fortune to live in an area of such bounty. Full disclosure, though, requires me to reveal that the nightcaps were provided by the Celtic tribe at Jamison Distillery in Ireland.
The film festival opened with “Edward Abbey: A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness,” which is part biography, part tribute, and a look back at Abbey's life as remembered by 16 of his closest friends and family members. Images of the place which Abbey loved and attended so fiercely are woven throughout the program. Rare film clips and interviews with Abby, combined with over 120 rare and unpublished photographs offer an insightful look into the personal life and philosophy of the iconoclastic writer.
Abbey's anarchism is also explored in detail. He frequently stated his position that anarchy doesn't mean “no rules,” it means “no rulers.” It's the opposite of black bloc anarchists of today who embrace chaos as anarchy.
“Life After People” is a History Channel documentary that asks the question, “If humans were to suddenly disappear, what would happen to our planet — the structures we built, the everyday items we take for granted, domesticated and wild animals, plants, trees? What would become of the things that define our species and leave our mark on this earth?”
The film, through movie quality visual effects, demonstrates how the very landscape of Earth will gradually change in our absence over a period of 10,000 years. Insights from experts in the fields of engineering, botany, ecology, biology, geology, climatology, and archaeology give the film a chilling credibility.
Ed Abbey would be bitterly disappointed to learn that large, monolithic concrete structures like Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam would take up to 10,000 years to totally deteriorate. But on a positive note, the reservoirs behind the dams would quickly silt up turning the structures into huge waterfalls.
The only man-made artifacts to survive 10,000 years would be the granite-carved Mount Rushmore, and our megatons of plastic trash. The film claims that a plastic jug would last one million years and a styrofoam cup would last forever.
Opponents of the Skunktown half-ass 101 bypass will be pleased to know that the highway would be reclaimed by nature in under 10 years after people have disappeared from the planet.
“Life After People” is a very comforting movie. I'm always inspired to see a weed growing up through a crack in the pavement. Where there's life, there's hope.
Cheers,
Don Morris
Skunktown/Willits
PS. The non-violent, direct action community should consider using coprolites rather than feces to throw at the cops. It's less messy.
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PALACIAL DEBRIS
Editor,
I had to chuckle when I read in last Thursday's Journal about the latest from the ongoing Palace Hotel fiasco; when the putative owner talks about removing debris from the building, I recalled a recent aside in an AVA column on the subject, to the effect that the entire building IS debris.
Then, when I read that she had also, “retained a financial advisor to help with acquiring financing for the rehabilitation plans,” all I could think is that it is probably more likely that she will acquire financing from her fairy godmother; we're talking many millions of dollars, and anyone with that kind of money who would think that sinking it into following in Ms. Laines's footsteps of rearranging the deck chairs on such an obviously sinking ship is a good investment, should be put under conservatorship by his or her heirs.
Sincerely,
John Arteaga
Ukiah
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IT'S YOUR CHOICE
Editor,
Thoughts on my mind, sick of doing time.
Here I sit angry with myself, angry at others. Just the sound of others' voices makes me want to explode with violence. I hate myself for allowing my life to be taken to this place once again, to hear people crying about why they are here and to hear them say it's just not fair. It makes me say, Shut the bleep up, you lame ass. You deserve every bit of trouble you piece of bleep, you lazy ass motherbleepers. This place is full of disrespectful loudmouth punks. No one really has a sense of real pride, all jailhouse mentality. No one ever talks about anything that will help their situation. They just talk about how to wiggle their way out of trouble, never paying any mind to bettering themselves. It's a very selfish place to be. Everyone is just concerned about themselves. There’s no interest in rehabilitation. No help. No hope. No love. No nothing. Just you stuck with you. And we all know it. No concern for your children, just your missing your girlfriend, if you were so lucky to have one to stand by your side. Everything feels like it is piled up on your chest. All of the bleeping stress. The walls seem to get smaller and smaller. My mind begins to slip into a weak state allowing the negative to consume your brain. Just enough food to keep you alive. Really this ain't no place to be. 80¢ for soup. $1.25 for chips. $1.25 for candy bars. You got to be rich just to exist in jail or at least someone who cares for you does. 60¢ to mail one letter. What broke ass criminal can afford this? No one I know. Everyone talks about how they got this and that, how much money they made, what kind of cars they drive, how many women they bleeped. But they are broke sitting in jail bumming soup and starving like everyone else. Is this the life that people really live? It sure the bleep is. Not just some people, but a lot of people live like this. All races, men, women of all ages, are eligible to live this lavish life: just get arrested in Mendocino County. Be part of the sorry punks who come to this jail or be the part that don't. Either way it's a choice. Don't forget that it's a choice. Because everyone has a choice. If you think not, you are a fool. Not only here but all over the nation. Many counties and states are full to the brim of their capacities, festering with addicts who have no way of getting help, just coming right back in the same old clothes to the same street that got them here before, to run into the same old friends who don't give two bleeps about themselves or about you. The health they obtain while in jail andaway from that life, the clear mind, the hope, the understanding that life could be good if they just didn't give in to that first shot of crank or heroine, or that drink of 211 or that pill they took because they thought it would help them? Time and again we all walk out of the jail blinded like we came in. It's very shameful to admit we have a problem. Blaming everyone else for our problems, never looking within to begin the inner struggle that will help us heal our broken souls. Instead we keep to our core beliefs which come from a false sense of hope and pride from prison and jail gangs and just plain and simple bad influences which allow us to build strong walls to defend us from ever feeling anything. We begin to buy into this process and accept it as if it was ours to take on. Then and only then does a man lose his fight to become something of worth. He renders himself to a life that is destructive to everything around him. Nothing to him matters, not even his own life. Life becomes about him and drugs. Jail and prison. Never stopping to think about how life could be, just mad at life for the way it is. Never realizing that your life is in your hands the whole time. Most of the time people feel it's too late or the destruction is too great. That hill is too steep. No matter what the excuse is, it is just an excuse. There are no excuses in the world that I've heard that would stop me from doing what every human being should do if their life has gone to the places that mine has. Go ahead, make your excuses about why you should sit in jail or prison or why you shouldn't become a better person. Just sit there you sorry bleepers. Because that's where you'll stay. I am not going to be there with you any longer. Why? Because my life is worth fighting for. My kid deserves me in his life. My family shall not hurt for my selfishness. Today I choose to break free from this prison/jail and become a solid man of integrity. Do you even know the words? I do. It means doing the right thing even though someone is not watching. Doing the right thing every time, no matter what tempts you. Fight that urge that pulls you down. Find someone to help because there are many people worse off than you. There's no better way to feel better than to pull someone else out of the same hole you sit in. The sooner the better, because things are piling up quickly. Do it without a sense of reward. Do it simply because it makes sense and it will make you feel better. Always remember, it's better to make someone than to break someone. There is an exception to every rule. So if you happen into one of these deadheads, smash him in the face. Throw him back into the hole. It's not worth your time as far as I'm concerned. Helping others and always striving for the top, never reaching the top because when you do get to the top the only thing left is to crash back down to that hole we crawled out of. Remember to always strive to be better no matter where you are or what prison or jail you end up in. Help others along the way because helping others is just right. There is no way to beat the system. Just change yourself. Don't expect anything. Everything in life is earned. So if you want a good life, earn it. You owe it to yourself. No one can ever take your freedom. We give it up freely every time we break the law. If you respect freedom, stop breaking the law.
Fish Hook Jackson
Mendocino County Jail, Ukiah
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TOKING TIME
To the Editor:
The Origin of "4:20"
I've heard many explanations of why 4:20 is that special time of day for cannabis consumers, and the one given last week by Steve Heilig is widely accepted. But isn't it possible that long before 1971 some hipster noticed that the face of the clock is smoking a joint at 4:20, and that he and his entourage (probably denizens of Harlem or Greenwich Village) started using 4:20 as their code term for "let's fire one up?"
East Bay Fred
Alameda
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MIXED NUTS
Mr. Anderson,
In the AVA of April 17th, you wrote:
“Our government does bad things, and bear with me here Building 7 nuts, but it hasn’t descended to blowing up random groups of Americans.”
That depends whom you consider Americans. David Koresh and The Branch Davidians were Americans. Wilson Goode, the Philadelphia police, and perhaps a few Feds blew up peaceful Osage Street near where I used to live in Philadelphia. MOVE was a bunch of scumbags, but most of the people on Osage Street were middle class homeowners. Cotton Mather, Andrew Jackson, and George Custer’s troops butchered thousands of Indians: Were they “Americans”? Jackson made a lot of money selling Indian real estate. And what about all the strikers that have been shot by Federal troops? Or does it only count when they’re “blown up”?
I’m not a nut. And I consider you a friend. Neither Alex Jones nor “Truthers” speak for me. However, I have many reasons for doubting the official story and believing the US government did blow up the three World Trade Center Buildings in NYC and The Pentagon.
As a youtube video segment shows, the WTC buildings didn’t collapse: they were pulverized. They turned into powder. I’ve looked at these images again and again and cannot conceive of anything causing this total destruction except explosives inside the buildings.
The revision of the intercept rules just before the incidents of 11 September 2001. When golfer Payne Stewart’s plane veered off course after a tragic problem with the air system killed all aboard his plane, no fewer than six F-16s intercepted and followed his plane before it crashed. Cheney changed the rules so that only the Secretary of Defense could authorize interceptions.
The list of suspects was released suspiciously quickly. Officials claimed they found a passport of one of the hijackers amid the debis of the collapsed buildings. Later this list was discredited and many names on it were found to be there erroneously.
I cannot believe any aircraft at any time could get within 50 miles of the Pentagon.
PNAC issued a document a year earlier claiming that another Pearl Harbor was necessary to spur Americans to support massive defense spending.
Normally, after an air disaster, the parts of the planes are recovered and reassembled to try to understand what exactly transpired. In this case, forensic evidence was destroyed and shipped overseas by Mayor Giuliani and other officials.
You and Mr. Scaramela and many others may disagree with me and that does not make you “nuts.” But I’m not one either.
Respectfully,
Louis S. Bedrock
New Rochelle, New Jersey
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SNOOP DOPE
Editor:
I noticed in the March 27th edition of the AVA an item for Cannabis cards featuring a bio on the rapper Snoop Dogg. How is this guy a role model for anything? Now Bob Marley (featured in a previous Cannabis card) I can see, but not someone who made his fortune through gangster rap music which features lyrics like: “I wear my blue rag on the left side 'cause that's the Crip side.” Really? Why does our culture constantly embrace this genre of music and this type of rapper? It's a continuing revelation to me — the stupidity of American society when you hear about these dummies at various awards shows hobnobbing with all the Hollywood Glitteratti. Is it really any surprise that these idiots are jumping up on the stage and snatching the mic from a girl's hands or getting into group melées at public events?
It seems the same naïve duped white people who are properly horror stricken at the mention of neo-nazis or White Power Skin-head music roll out the red carpet for these gangster rappers. Guys (mostly) whose millions of dollars are made celebrating a misogynist criminal gang lifestyle that is dooming whole generations of inner-city youth to jails, and to early deaths.
Now I understand the whole 1950's Norman Mailer philosophy about the intrinsic coolness of black culture and embracing all things black. Yet can you not see that this might be a thinly-veiled albeit politically correct form of racism? It’s like saying that “all Native Americans are noble savages” or “I like black people — I knew a black guy once and he was nice.” In other words, people are not cool, nice or alright just because they are black, white, Latino, ethnic or otherwise. Instead, let them be judged by their ethics, personal integrity and merit.
Some guy who makes his public appearances draped in a cape fashioned like a giant blue (i.e., Crip colors) bandana should not be embraced as some sort of a marijuana advocating folk hero. The dude doesn't smoke the weed as medicine, but merely to get loaded; that's it plain and simple. If he suddenly starts calling himself a rasta or speaking in a fake Jamaican patois (not unlike some of our dear homegrown Mendolanders) just remember Bunny Wailer ain't buying it, so why should you? He may sponsor a Pop Warner football team, but I wonder how many gang initiations and gang deaths his lyrics have inspired?
Signed:
Someone Somewhere In The Gulag
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FILM PERMITS NEED HEARINGS
Open Letter To The Mendocino County Film Commission (and its chief, Debra DeGraw, who also runs the Coast Chamber of Commerce):
Hi Debra—
I've been waiting to hear from you for quite some time, hoping for an apology for your remarks at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 17, 2012, when you referred to the local citizens who opposed filming ‘Practical Magic’ on the Mendocino Headlands State Park Land as ‘terrorists.’ After the horrific tragedy in Boston last week, you must realize what terrorism really consists of, and how extremely insulting and defaming your deliberate labeling is. As I tried to explain to you, a group of residents made legal appeals to the Board of Supes and the Cal. Coastal Commission. This is a legitimate procedure, not terrorism. The definition I have of Terrorism in the deliberate use of violence against citizens for political aims. When you erroneously state that we drove Warner Bros out of town, you were distorting history. If you look at the facts, you have to admit you were wrong, and that it was the decision of State Parks not to extend filming time that ended this project for Mendocino. Rick Smith, whom you mentioned to me as corroborating your false version of history, will back me up on this. The public has every right to take an opposing position on projects like this that affect their lives here, and that misuse public land and roads. Opponents of ‘Practical Magic’ were protesting the proposed location, not the film project, which was true of the majority who spoke against the ‘Need for Speed’ using major roadways instead of back roads. I strongly disagree with the current policy of our Supervisors to issue film permits without first holding a public meeting for input. If this policy is based on your misleading presentations of the facts, it should be changed. Watching our rights as citizens eroded by your untruths is extremely worrisome to me. I still hope to hear from you.
Alice Chouteau
Fort Bragg
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INTERCHANGEABLE JIMS
Dear AVA,
In the Valley People column of April 24, 2013, you mistakenly attributed a quote to me in regards to tennis courts and campus security at AVHS. These were not my words. Please check your sources.
I am requesting that you issue some form of a retraction or correction on my behalf. If you wish to quote me in the future, please be sure that you are actually quoting me and not someone else.
Thank you,
Jim Snyder
Boonville
Ed reply: The copy of your uplifting e-mail conversation with your boss omitted your end of the conversation, which I'm sure agreed with the boss. I errantly assumed the second piece of crazy talk was your response to the first piece of crazy talk from Tomlin because neither of the Jims was further identified. I'm maybe 65% sorry for the error, but if you'll supply your responses to Tomlin I'm sure we'd all be edified and enlightened.
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INCAPABLE OF GOVERNING
Editor:
A short clarifying peace on the state of our State.
I have been disheartened to see the confused state of America. Robert Reich, a former White House insider, did a fine job of amalgamating my thoughts with this short piece
Miguel Lanigan
Clearlake Oaks.
Enclosed: “Rand Paul is now near the top of the GOP's list of presidential contenders. Even Ted Cruz's star is rising. I'm old enough to remember when there were liberal Republicans who joined with liberal Democrats to do what the nation needed, such as enacting the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Environmental Protection Act. But the Grand Old Party threw out its liberals and then kicked out its moderates, and is now the party of xenophobes, homophobes, misogynists, and reactionaries -- who cling to their so-called right to own assault guns but don't give a hoot about the rights of Americans accused of crimes to have lawyers and criminal trials, who are so concerned about fetuses they deny women rights over their own bodies but don't give a damn about babies without adequate nourishment or health care, who refuse equal marriage rights but consider corporations people under the First Amendment, who don't want to close tax loopholes for the very rich but are eager to cut housing vouchers and Head Start for the poor, and who call themselves patriots and wrap themselves in the American flag but don't care enough about the well-being of their fellow Americans to want to finance good schools and adequate heath care for all. Bobby Jindal calls the GOP the “stupid party” but I think he's being too generous. It's the regressive party, dedicated to an America that no longer exists if it ever did. Some say there's no real difference between Democrats and Republicans, but that's absurd. Just open your eyes. Our democracy needs at least two robust political parties but the GOP has proven itself incapable of governing.”
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NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL
Dear Editor,
In the report of the CSD meeting two weeks ago I was quoted (accurately) as having said that I thought the “Enchanted Forest” event to be held at the Camp Masonite was principally a music event that catered to people who were making liberal use of drugs and alcohol. I have since been informed by the event coordinator that the organizers go to great lengths to keep the event free of both drugs and alcohol including informing participants in on their web site and the instruction packet that comes with the tickets that drugs and alcohol are not permitted.
Sincerely,
Colin H. Wilson, Fire Chief
Anderson Valley Fire Department
Ed note: Anderson Valley Deputy Craig Walker told us last week that the Enchanted Forest Festival permit for 2013 is for a substantially larger event than in the previous two years (from 300-400 to 1500) and that security and drug/alcohol policies are fine as far as they go, but that not all campers at the Enchanted Forest Festival observe the organizers’ rules. If the event is going to be this large, they should employ professional security staff and arrange for Sheriff’s office presence at the event to make sure that the weekend comes off safely and without health or security problems.
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CHENEY ON STEROIDS
Editor,
There are a few topics that are mostly taboo if discussed critically. Christianity is one of these topics.
It is clear to me that we ordinary humans do not direct our own affairs. I do not believe we inherently and naturally choose to wage war on our neighbors. Still, wars and collective violence are initiated and conducted in our names. This is one common experience we all know. We need to ask ourselves who directs us to engage in these recurrent horrors. Of course this is the one question no one seems able to answer. So, absent that we need to ask why we agree to these things. The premise of this piece is that we will not send our children thousands of miles to kill innocent people and pay for it simply because we are told to do so. First we must be programmed to be fearful and accepting of violence against others in our names and I think religion is that most powerful of devices that cripples and distorts the psychology of entire populations.
So Christianity and violence. I note here we are talking about Old Testament influence that Christ failed to quash. Christianity is not at all subtle about instilling fear and modeling violence as its norm. The Christian depiction of God goes right to the chase and presents God as a being to be feared. Obviously we naturally fear dark and evil acts and actors, those who can and do hurt us, those who in human terms we consider psychopaths. The behavior we find most repulsive in humans is genocide, torture and the gratuitous instilling of fear in others and these behaviors in the Christian God justify labeling Him “Cheney on Steroids,” the alpha psychopath on our planet.
First genocide: what follows is factual, right out of the Bible. We read that God created man in his image and screwed this up a little because humankind was too stiff-necked for His liking. God had a couple of choices here, he could fix their necks or murder every man, woman and child on the planet save Noah and his sons and perhaps a few others. The Christian God chose genocide not because He had to but because He wanted to thereby modeling the very first genocide on this planet — and so began the corrupting of human moral thinking. This message is powerful because religion is so influential. Next torture: The Christian God also willfully created a torture chamber into which he will cast, by my calculations, 86% of all of humanity-eat your heart out, Cheney! In human terms any parent who burns a child who displeases them is understood to be a psychopath. The Christian God is surely that as well and this too provides a model for Christian behavior — think burning women at the stake or stoning of women by this and other cultures who look to this god for guidance.
Finally, gratuitous fear mongering: when the Christian God told Abraham to kill his child it was done simply to assure that Abraham was adequately afraid of God — pretty sick and devoid of decency. No one questions the importance of religion in our lives. Should we not question the nature of the diety who sits atop this belief system and defines what it is really all about--we do introduce our children to this awful stuff. I have basically described God as the bible depicts his acts but have judged those acts as they would be judged in human terms. If you do not think the Christian God a psychopath then you hold Him to a lower standard than your neighbor.
Every Christian knows the fear this deities acts against us engenders and I believe only a compromised soul submits to such a being. I do think Christ tried to bring light to this belief system and was overwhelmed by that darkness. It is also true there are millions of good and decent people drawn to the dominant religions and their light has not brought change. We are all self-aware aspects of a true creative source which accepts us all equally and there is no god that stands between you and source unless you insist.
Don Scotten
Sprague River
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KZYX MANAGEMENT: THE CHARM THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Editor,
In trying to get justice for my right to participate in KZYX's volunteer activities, after Mary Aigner refused my request to be signed up to answer the phones during pledge drive last Tuesday, I called Board Director Fran Koliner. I asked her as my representative, to intervene on my behalf. Receiving a tepid response suggesting that staff and management had the right to refuse my participation, she added that she would speak to someone but didn't anticipate that it would alter the situation.
I then Emailed a letter to Board member Holly Madrigal asserting that I felt I was being discriminated against by the station as I was being denied the right to participate in activities that the community was invited and encouraged to engage in, through announcements on air and through the station's website. I maintained that that my Constitutional rights to free speech were being violated by one of the station's staff in selectively refusing my effort to be a volunteer.
In the past several years I have been a station member through volunteering and through financial donations.
The following day I went to the main studio to sign myself up as I had done in past years and was again refused by Aigner to be a phone volunteer. In asking why I was being singled out for refusal, she stated “If you want to write shit about me in the paper, that's fine but your not going to come here and hang out and answer phones.” She elaborated that she didn't want to spend time with me.
I responded that I would file a discrimination complaint with the FCC and CPB, the latter of which gives the station over $100K in grant money. Aigner opined that neither entity would care much about my complaint. She attempted to dodge behind the Bylaws saying that she wasn't aware of any place where it was written that I had to be permitted to be a volunteer. I mentioned the station's website as having an open invitation to the public to volunteer.
Aigner then questioned why I wanted to answer the phones. I answered that I wanted to renew my membership which she was preventing by refusing to let me volunteer.
Something must have clicked as Aigner, not known for being quick to compromise, handed me a volunteer form to fill out, stating that I could be a member but I still could not answer the phones. Being astute, it is likely that Aigner quickly realized that it was more beneficial for the station to remain under the FCC radar at a time when the station is beginning the process of renewing its license with the FCC.
I told Aigner I thought she was taking things too personally. She openly vented stating that calling her names in the AVA was personal. Ah! The real issue it seems, was a query I made on whether she was acting as the station's Nurse Ratchit — an attempt at humor after she made a rather insensitive analogy that “the hospital couldn't be run by the patients.” The irony of the situation is that by her behavior, Aigner herself provided the answer to my question.
Though formerly having a progressive perspective, more recently the station has aligned itself with a George W. Bush stance of “You're either with us or your against us” without any middle ground on which to tread.
Coming around to a comical full circle, the volunteer form specified other ways to contribute to the station, one of which was as a news reporter. I readily checked the box as well as a few others.
Now I patiently await a call from the station or Board member to fulfill my agreement to be of service in whatever capacity required.
Sheila Dawn Tracy
Mendocino
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DEM GEMS
AVA,
Dem Hotcakes did fly at the AV Solar Grange April 28th. The inaugural run was a success, thanks to 80 hungry and aware Boonters plus a few bright lighters, a dedicated Grange staff and Doug Mosel’s delicious Mendocino Grange Project Foisey wheat (mendocinograinproject.com,) ground fresh last week! Hidden assistance came via Jim Boudoures, a flapjacker in his own right, who graciously loaned his Cad-i-lac rollin’ griddle with 4 barrel Holley carb, headers and turned cam. We were smokin’ right der next to da hiway one twenty-eight! The hotcakes came from an old Grange recipe, fairin’ from the Littl’ Lake Grangers. Hats off to dem.
Here is what will be bringing ‘em back in May, June, July: local organic food, the feature gem of the event. Generous local farmers gave donations and deals of eggs, fruit, and milk. The bacon was natural, smoked and well, da Cajun grangers would say, “Ooh a ley!” and so did we. An open microphone featured singers, strummer, ivory ticklers and jammers and free breakfasts will be provided for crooners, musicians and poets.
“We’re thinkin’, hey if da weather is good, we could do dis in our back 40, with picnic tables.” As the event came to a midday close, many a Granger and even some non grangers said, “I wanted do this again, or can I help?” All I got to say is dis, “Sure! See ya den.”
Overseer Greg Krouse
AV Grange 669, Philo
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BASEBALL & BBQ!
Editor,
Anderson Valley Youth Baseball would like to give our community a huge thank you for all the continued support we have received. We have several outstanding umpires who have stepped in to oversee games. Pardini Appliance of Ukiah donated a wonderful new refrigerator at the urging of Ward Hanes, Family Life Christian Center and Steve Mann from the NFS movie have both given monetary gifts, two gorgeous picnic tables were built by the Lion's Club last year and brought down just at the end of the season and last week we were surprised to find eight bags of field chalk waiting at the field courtesy of Rossi's. If you have yet to see a game, you are truly missing out. Come on down Wednesday night at 5:30 to watch our Majors team and again on Thursday to see our two T-Ball teams slugging it out! Just being at the field to cheer the kids on means so much to them! Stay tuned for dates for our Annual Tri-Tip BBQ and Home Run Derby, this is always a fun event where everyone, young and old, can show off their batting skills and get some great food! We hope to see everyone at the baseball field!
Shauna Espinoza
AV Youth Baseball
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THEY STOLE THE GUITAR?
Editor:
On Thursday, April 25, between 5-6pm, while visiting the Mendocino Land Trust Navarro Point property on Hwy 1 about 1.5 miles south of Albion before visiting friends in the Anderson Valley, my Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was broken into, and many of my personal belongings stolen. I was en route from a business appointment in Fort Bragg to stay in Anderson Valley before helping set up the AV Wildflower Show on Friday. Instead I’m here at home dealing with the annoying details of banking, insurance, County Sheriff’s reports, etc. I’d much rather be identifying plants with my friends in Anderson Valley.
Among the personal items stolen were several small business-related (botanist’s tools) items in a gray-and-black REI backpack, including a Garmin GPS Map 76CSx receiver, a Silva Ranger compass, a Leatherman tool, a magnifying glass, et al., along with my cherished Taylor acoustic guitar, model 114, serial #2104140037, in a tan soft Taylor Guitars case. Stealing a person’s business property is low, but stealing a man’s guitar is tantamount to ripping out his heart and soul. The perp should know that I won’t ever stop looking for my musical instruments (blues harps also in the case) and for the low-life responsible for this crime.
On the positive side, I want to thank the kind people at the Albion Store for their assistance and support, and Mendocino County Sheriff’s Sergeant Joseph Comer for his diligence and thorough professionalism and concern.
I am willing to offer a modest reward for the recovery of all my belongings, at the very least, my beloved Taylor guitar.
Sincerely,
Peter Warner
Sebastopol
(707) 666-9071
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