Mendocino County Today: September 8, 2013

“BUT IF THOUGHT CORRUPTS LANGUAGE, language can also corrupt thought.” — George Orwell, 1984

IN THE FOLLOWING, Mendocino County manages to corrupt both language and thought.

* * *

THE FIRST ITEM on next Monday’s (Sep 9, 2013) Board of Supervisors agenda: “9:30am: Presentation of the County Leadership Philosophy by Representatives of the County Leadership Team.”

“SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Approximately two years ago, the County Executive Office launched a leadership development initiative that initially included County Department Heads, members of regional leadership training events, and “up and coming leaders” on the recommendation of their Department Head. Today, this group encompasses over 60 individuals, representing over 18 County departments, ranging from line staff to our CEO, to our elected officials. At its core, the purpose of the leadership development initiative is to transform our organizational culture by cultivating ‘leaders at all levels’ within the organization by engaging, developing, supporting, and utilizing our employees to their fullest potential. Today’s team presentation represents the culmination of 18 months of focused collaboration within the organization, and with our regional partners, in sharing with the Board Our Leadership Philosophy [emphasis in original]. In the coming months, the elements of our leadership philosophy will be realized through employee training and development, shared personal and professional commitments, and a pledge to embrace best practices in superior public service. We invite all members of the organization to join with us in transforming our organizational culture through active participation and engagement in upcoming initiatives.”

ONE OF THE KEY PRESENTATIONS that Mendo’s unwieldy “leadership team” absorbed was from Steve Zuieback, a Ukiah-based one-man company he calls “Synectics LLC.” Mr. Zuieback, you might recall, prompted much merriment when the warmer, fuzzier members of the Ukiah City Council and their city manager thought Zuieback's “Process Enneagram, a Journey Map” just might steer Ukiah away from the fiscal rocks.

ZUIEBACK’S “PROCESS ENNEAGRAM” is an amorphous amalgam of abstract whatever they ares, but don't take our word for it take a look and a listen for yourself at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcCUeJNE6FA

HERE'S Zuieback-think as presented to Mendocino County’s leaders:

“Building High-Performance Organizations — The organizational change approach that forms the basis of this seminar seeks to ‘cast a net’ over what has been learned from the past 100 years [!] of academic theory and practical organizational applications and to synthesize that knowledge base into a diagnostic change model explaining why some organizations are high performers while many are not. The seminar does not [emphasis in original] attempt to ‘tell an organization what's wrong with it’ or to deliver a ‘cookbook’ of what to do to improve it. Rather, the seminar introduces a series of ‘lenses’ through which participants can view their own organizations and decide for themselves what changes may be necessary to improve their own performance.”

NOT A SINGLE word about Mendocino County, no mention of management, but lots of passive-aggressive jargon about cooperation and listening and blah de blah.

FOR EXAMPLE, the next item on Monday’s agenda is entitled “Adoption of Proclamation in Recognition of September as School Attendance Awareness Month in Mendocino County …”

“The Board routinely adopts proclamations in recognition of significant events and accomplishments … Throughout the month of September, many communities across the nation will embrace National Attendance Awareness Month by focusing on school attendance rates and ways to improve them. In Mendocino County, local nonprofit groups and educational coalitions have put out a call to action to take a hard look at unacceptably high rates of truancy in some areas of the County. Specifically, the Board of Supervisors is requested to recognize the month of September as School Attendance Awareness Month in Mendocino County, in recognition of National Attendance Awareness Month, and to focus on what can be done to reduce chronic truancy problems within our County.”

ALTHOUGH BOARD CHAIR DAN HAMBURG ruled John Sakowicz out of order a few weeks ago for trying to complain about a Ukiah City bureaucrat because said bureaucrat was “not within the County’s purview,” the Board can go on at length about school attendance over which it has no control because… ?

ANSWER: “…a focus moving forward for these Mendocino County organizations will be to enhance the representation of key Public Safety agencies, such as the District Attorney’s Office, Child Protective Services, and the Probation Department, at three County School Attendance Review Board (SARB) meetings annually to show that Mendocino County is committed to keeping its children in schools to learn and prepare themselves for a productive adulthood.”

MENDOCINO COUNTY is committed to no such thing because truancy is way beyond the Board’s purview.

ANOTHER “LEADERSHIP” EXAMPLE:

“Agenda Title: Discussion and Possible Direction to Staff Regarding Coordination of the October 21, 2013, Board Goal-Setting Session … Summary of Request: At its July 16, 2013, meeting, the Board approved in concept, scheduling a Board goal-setting workshop to be held in the fall, and directed the Executive Office to work with Supervisors Gjerde and Hamburg to develop a proposed workshop framework. The general purpose of the workshop as envisioned would be to engage the Board of Supervisors in a proactive discussion of long-term fiscal forecasting, identification of methods to reduce expenditures, and identify/prioritize organization-wide initiatives to achieve the County’s fiscal and performance goals. Executive Office and Board representatives met on July 30, to share ideas and discuss the proposed workshop format including consideration of potential facilitators and an off-site location suitable for the workshop. As envisioned, a component of the workshop would also include participation by County Department Heads/representatives. Subsequent to this meeting, the date of October 21, was established as the preferred workshop date. The purpose of today’s update is to provide the Board with additional developments, and to receive Board approval to proceed with finalizing plans for coordination of an October 21, off-site facilitated workshop.”

“LEADERSHIP” takes a lot of time and deliberation, apparently, because navigating an entire Process Enneagram Journey Map is a slow and painstaking (and costly) process.

===================

BUT MURKY AS MENDO-THINK can be, the Los Angeles Unified School District has just set a new low for mindless extravagance. (And we hesitate to mention it here for fear of giving our local educrats ideas, but…)

ACCORDING TO THE LA TIMES: The Los Angeles Unified School District will “distribute Apple iPads to 650,000 students, from kindergarten on up over the next year or so. The district is paying $678 per device — higher than tablets cost in stores — with pre-loaded educational software that has been only partially developed. The tablets come with tracking software, a sturdy case and a three-year warranty. The district is using school construction bonds, approved by Los Angeles voters, which didn't mention the purchase of iPads. This factor raised questions among members of the appointed Bond Oversight Committee.”

THAT’S RIGHT. In July LA Unified’s School Board approved the spending of $1 billion of borrowed school construction bond money to give overpriced iPads (i.e., touchscreen tablet computers) to 650,000 school kids!

A TRUSTEE OF THE LA Unified School Board is a woman named Tamar Galatzan. She declared, “This is an amazing adventure we're about to embark on, so hopefully [!] we're making the right choice. Nothing is perfect, but we've made the best choice possible, based on the advice that's out there. This is the least-expensive option and, hopefully [!], we're in for a fruitful relationship.”

LET’S SET ASIDE the fact that these touchscreen computers have no real educational value despite the yahoo chorus of edu-techno idiots who say they do.

INSTEAD, LET’S LOOK ONLY at a few confirming conventional aspects of LA Unified's decision:

• The iPads are overpriced to begin with and will be doubly overpriced because they’re being paid for with borrowed money over the standard 30-year bond period.

• The iPads will be obsolete in three years but they’ll be paying for them for 30 years.

• The so-called “educational software” isn’t even developed yet, but they’re claiming it has educational value.

• The kids will be allowed to take their iPads home and used for whatever silly thing the kid wants to use it for.

• Many of the iPads will be sold by the “students” on the street for a quick buck because, according to the terms of the contract, Apple will replace 5% of iPads that are lost, broken, stolen or malfunctioning at no additional cost. “Hey Teach! Somebody stole my iPad! Get me a new one!” After that, the School District is on the hook for replacements. (Note: At a similar pilot program in the UK recently, the breakage rate alone was 50% in the first year.)

• Not to mention that an LA Unified student with an iPad is much more likely to get mugged for his iPad than his fancy sneakers.

• The iPads don’t have keyboards. Just last week, the LA Unified Board realized their “oversight” and approved the expenditure of millions more to buy keyboards for all the iPads!

• One of the claimed cost-savings for the iPad is that over time using them for e-textbooks will be cheaper than real textbooks. But, as several commentators have noted, the e-textbooks cost $15 per year per iPad (or more) whereas conventional textbooks stay in circulation for at least seven years, therefore, costly as they are, textbooks are cheaper than e-texbooks over seven years.

• According to a prior LA Times article by Steve Lopez, LA Unified “has billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, with no fewer than 35,000 unresolved calls for basic repairs and service, with broken air conditioners, leaky roofs and crumbling bleachers, among other problems.” (Much of which construction bonds are supposed to be used to replace or upgrade.)

• And finally, this paragraph in the LA Times’s lame coverage of the first Phase of the iPad giveaway program: “Students drew a bucket on their iPads with a finger, then typed in what they wanted it to contain. It's the kind of activity that could be done with paper, pencil and crayons, but the teacher was excited by the potential of the device.”

===================

MEMO OF THE WEEK

Mendocino County Fire Chiefs' Association

President: Larry Tunzi; Vice President: Mike Suddith, Secretary/Treasurer: Jeff Schlafer

PO Box 164, Comptche, CA 95427

September 4, 2013

TO: Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer, Mendocino County, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482

Dear Ms. Angelo,

The Mendocino County Fire Chiefs' Association (MCFCA) has read the July 29, 2013 Fitch Report and is providing the following comments. First, the MCFCA commends the Board of Supervisors for recognizing that the emergency medical services system in Mendocino County is at a critical stage. As identified in the Fitch Report, there are significant areas of Mendocino County that are underserved or are facing significant future staffing and financial challenges. The MCFCA does not challenge the report's findings of inconsistency, unreliability, and instability in the county's EMS system. As has been noted before, the volunteer agencies in this county fulfill a vital role in providing critical emergency services. Changing social structure, increasing workload, additional training demands and fiscal limitations are pushing the volunteer agencies to the breaking point.

A single failure in the existing system will have a domino effect that will impact the entire county. Unfortunately, the general public does not realize the fragile nature of the system. It is the responsibility of both the MCFCA and the County to ensure that the system is sound and sustainable. It is critical that the board and MCFCA work together to develop a plan of action that will resolve the current issues and provide a foundation for an inadequately funded system that meets the public's expectations for quality service.

The MCFCA has found that there are a number of factual errors in the statistical data supplied in the report. However, none of these errors detract from or alter the findings within the report. Therefore, we will not attempt to enumerate each error. Clearly, as identified in the report, the costs associated with providing EMS in the county far exceed revenue generated. Not noted in the report is the fact that the future margins between revenues and costs will only deteriorate. An example of this trend is the recent announcement of a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursements.

The MCFCA recognizes the historical contribution of the County's ambulance providers. These providers have operated under very challenging conditions and have shown a commitment to providing the best possible service to the citizens of the county. Nevertheless, we feel that the present operational model for the county is not sustainable over the long haul. The report pointed out the extremely varied level of service in the county and identified large areas of the county that operate at a minimal basic life support level. The report states, “patients who require ALS interventions when ALS is unavailable are less likely to have positive outcomes.”

The MCFCA believes that Advanced Life Support should be the standard throughout the County of Mendocino.

The report identifies the fact that, “in many areas of Mendocino County, residents cannot reliably expect an immediate ambulance response to the 911 request.” We recognize that few areas within the county have call volumes which will independently support a 24/7 ALS provider. We also recognize that the areas outside the main population centers do not have the private or public organizations that can financially sustain an ALS service. The California Health and Safety Code section 1797.200 states that, “each county may develop an emergency medical services program.” The MCFCA believes that the county has committed to a program through its agreement with Coastal Valleys EMS as its EMS agency. It is further stated in section 1797.206 that, “the local EMS agencies shall be responsible for implementation of advanced life-support systems.”

The MCFCA believes it is the obligation of the County of Mendocino to implement and support a reliable advanced life-support system in all areas of the county.

Mendocino County has a long history of community independence and self-sufficiency. The historical economic base and social structure of the county his change significantly over the past 20 years. The more rural of the county's communities no longer have the local job base for economic stability to maintain independent EMS systems. The MCFCA supports the report's finding that, “It is clear that without action, there will be a continued disintegration of the Mendocino County EMS system and that the result will be lower levels of care, and in many instances, extremely long response times to emergency events.”

The MCFCA supports an EMS system that integrates the strength of a locally based provider with the economic stability of a countywide system.

The report has recommended the establishment of exclusive operating areas (EOAs) as an operational model for the county. The report further identifies the need for the selected providers to work with existing ambulance services to develop agreements that will provide for the utilization of local resources.

The MCFCA supports the concept of establishing an exclusive operating area for ALS response and ambulance transport. The MCFCA supports the establishment of a single exclusive operating area with the inclusion of cooperative agreements with the existing EMS providers in the underserved areas.

The MCFCA recognizes that funding is the key issue in any attempt to bring Mendocino County EMS system up to an acceptable standard. The report concludes with the statement, “In order to ensure access countywide to reliable responses and access to advanced life support level of care, it will be necessary to develop a long-term funding solution.”

The MCFCA and county staff worked for a number of years to develop a countywide funding source for emergency services. This Ad Hoc committee, established by the Board, identified the same issues that have been included in the two Fitch Reports. The committee held numerous meetings over several years and had developed specified recommendations. Ultimately, funding became the key elements that needed to be resolved before any progress could be made. The committee reviewed a number of options including Proposition 172 (Prop 172) funding, a parcel tax through County Services Area #3 [areas of the County not already covered by existing fire taxes/fees], and a Sales Tax increment. In 2011 the committee was prepared to recommend to the Board of Supervisors that they implement County Service Area #3 and establish a parcel tax. Unfortunately, at the same time, the State Legislature imposed within the County the State Responsibility Area (SRA) fee. It was then the decision of the committee not to make the recommendation based on the unlikely approval of the parcel tax by the voters.

The committee had also considered a sales tax increment. State law does not allow the establishment of a county sales tax that does not include the incorporated cities. At the same time, each of the cities within the County had a reliable ambulance service and a local sales tax. It was the conclusion of the committee that the inclusion of the cities would make it impossible to establish a countywide emergency services sales tax.

During the early phases of the committee, the MCFCA had recommended a revenue-sharing plan for Proposition 172 money. In 1993 the Local Public Safety Protection and Improvement Act was approved by the state's voters. This Act established a statewide half-cent sales tax dedicated to local public safety including fire and EMS. In Mendocino County, the entire proceeds from the tax have gone to law enforcement. The MCFCA proposal was to allocate the annual increase in revenue to fire and EMS. The existing law-enforcement portion would have stayed constant until the Fire-EMS portion reached a cap at 25% of the total revenue. This proposal was not pursued because of opposition by the Sheriff and county staff. The MCFCA believes but a revenue-sharing plan for Prop 172 money remains the most appropriate method for funding emergency services.

The MCFCA maintains its long-held position that Proposition 172 money should be shared. This is consistent with the intent of the proposition to support the County EMS system. The Fitch Report findings substantiate this allocation of these funds.

In 2011 Measure A was placed on the ballot to add a 1/8¢ sales tax to support the library. This measure passed with a 75% approval. The sales tax was estimated to raise $1.3 million. A similar sales-tax dedicated to emergency services would provide funding to adequately support a countywide ALS system.

As an alternative to the appropriation of Proposition 172 funds, the MCFCA proposes the county place before the voters a proposal to adopt a 1/8¢ to 1/4¢ sales tax for emergency services. The MCFCA further recommends that the Board of Supervisors take the necessary steps to place this proposal before the voters at the earliest possible date.

The MCFCA recognizes that the establishment of an exclusive operating area will represent a significant departure from the historical participation of the county in providing emergency services. The increasing number of calls for service, the evolving expectations of the public, and the social changes with within our communities leave us with few alternatives. Ensuring that the citizens of Mendocino County have access to the best possible emergency medical services should be one of the county's highest priorities.

As an initial step, the MCFCA recommends that the Board of Supervisors reconvene the joint County/Fire Chiefs committee to develop a specific plan for the implementation and operation of a sustainable countywide ALS system.

The MCFCA recognizes that the county has entered into an area that will be extremely challenging. However, we feel that at this time there is no choice but to address these issues and to develop a new system in the shortest possible time. The MCFCA looks forward to working closely with the county toward the development of a quality EMS system that will best serve the public.

Sincerely, Larry S. Tunzi, President, MCFCA

===================

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Dearest Editor:

Why do people allow their pooches to poop, in public, and then don't pick it up?

Puzzled, Fort Bragg

ED REPLY: Because they're slobs, and we've become a nation of slobs. Feel free, ladies and germs, to ask Mr. Wizard any old question vexing you.

===================

HUGO OLEA-LOPEZ, 23, of Upper Lake was found shot to death in a Spy Rock marijuana garden back on June 17th. The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force, armed with three search warrants and accompanied by Probation and Fish and Game officers, raided the remote neighborhood northeast of Laytonville on August 29th, hoping to find evidence helpful to the ongoing investigation into Olea-Lopez's murder. The Task Force commander, Rich Russell, said the police turned out in force because the area is considered so dangerous the usual door-to-door investigative work is not safe for detectives. From one location, the raid team seized eight guns including an assault rifle, a new Subaru and $25,000 in cash.

===================

AT ANOTHER POT OP, Garland M. Reid, 29, of Laytonville, and Virginia E. Keehne, 38, of Laytonville were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale and cultivating marijuana. At another, Justin W. Roberts, 37, of Laytonville, was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, cultivating marijuana and being armed with a gun. At yet another site on Registered Guest Road off Spy Rock Road, Michael E. Griffin, 45, of Redding, was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, cultivating marijuana and being an ex-felon with a gun. Mason D. Arnold, 37, of Phoenix, was also taken into custody on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale and cultivating marijuana.

===================

THE NEXT DAY, pot raiders confiscated 454 marijuana plants from three different gardens north of Van Arsdale Road in Potter Valley. No one was arrested.

===================

NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM LAUNCHED

In August, and just in time for the new school year, eight coastal residents launched the Mendocino Coast Environmental Scholarship – a new scholarship program designed to foster interest in majoring in college environmental studies and environmental careers along with grassroots activism. They already fundraised over $4,000 for the first year. Keystone grants were provided by a number of individuals as well as Out of this World and Jeff & Joan Stanford of the Stanford Inn. The most recent grant was for $1,000 from an anonymous Fort Bragg donor. The MCES governing committee is comprised of Louisa Morris, Tom Wodetzki, Chuck Greenberg, Pete Kalvass, Warren deSmidt, Lee Edmundson, and Deborah Kettner, along with Rod Jones who serves as interim program administrator.

MCES committee members will be seeking additional donors who are willing to participate by contributing $100 or more and who will consider pledging a minimum $100 for subsequent years. The initial focus was for students in the Mendocino Unified School District but MCES is seeking donors and participants to help expand fund coverage to all coast schools and then possibly to extend county-wide. With the most recent grant from the Fort Bragg donor, MCES is already on its way in that direction. Interested parties may drop a note to P.O. Box 189, Mendocino, 95460, email rodjones@mcn.org, or call 937.3725.

Seen here at their breakfast meeting at the Raven’s Restaurant are MCES Committee Members (left to right) Tom Wodetzki, Pete Kalvass, Deborah Kettner, Rod Jones, Chuck Greenberg, Warren deSmidt, and Louisa Morris.

===================

AUDITIONS FOR THE FIRST PLAY OF THE 2014 SEASON: Other Desert Cities!

The Mendocino Theatre Company will be holding auditions for the first play of its 2014 Season, Other Desert Cities, by Jon Robin Baitz. The production will be directed by veteran company member, Bob Cohen. “You know that sign on the highway where you can either turn off for Palm Springs or keep going to “Other Desert Cities”? I’m always so tempted to just keep on driving. Christmas Eve, 2004, writer Brooke Wyeth arrives at the Palm Springs home of her parents Lyman and Polly, former Hollywood Golden Era Republicans and personal friends of the Reagans. As family tensions begin to rise, it becomes clear that Brooke has arrived for more than just a family visit. Known as one of the most complex and sophisticated American plays of the current decade, Other Desert Cities is a bitingly funny comedy/drama that takes a razor sharp look at familial responsibility, family secrets, and the objectivity of memoir. Auditions will be held on September 23rd and 24th at 6:30pm at The Mendocino Theatre Company, 45200 Little Lake Street, Mendocino. Casting is open for the following roles: Brooke Wyeth, Female, mid to late 40s; Lyman Wyeth, Male, 70s; Silda Grauman, Female, 60s; Trip Wyeth, Male, mid to late 30s; The role of Polly Wyeth has been pre-cast. Other Desert Cities runs February 27th-April 6th, 2014, with a total of 21 performances over six weeks. Perusal scripts are available at the MTC box office at 45200 Little Lake Street in Mendocino. If you wish to check out a script, please contact the MTC box office at 707-937-4477. If you are unable to make an audition time or would like more information, please contact Director Bob Cohen at 707-937-1949.

===================

STATEMENT OF THE DAY: What a sick, twisted system. 12 million people can’t find work, wages have been stagnant for over a decade, 47 million people are on food stamps, household income is down more than 8% since 2000, consumer spending is on the ropes (personal spending rose a meager 0.1% in July), the homeless shelters are bulging, the food banks are maxed out, and the unemployment rate just dropped to 7.3% because — get this — another 312,000 workers threw in the towel and gave up looking for a job altogether. Get the picture? The US economy is in the shitter! Meanwhile — while the financial system teeters and the country goes to hell — the geniuses at the Central Bank keep juicing the money supply and boinking rates to help their rich slacker friends get richer still. What a racket. (Mike Whitney)

===================

JOHN SAKOWICZ WRITES: Here's my updated post on yesterday's show on “Articles of Impeachment,” including quotes from four sources with national reputations. All four sources are law professors and constitutional law experts.

http://www.kzyx.org/index.php/talk-shows/politics-and-public-affairs/all-about-the-money/entry/syria-and-qthe-business-of-warq-on-kzyx-friday-sept-6—9-am-pacific-time

===================

THE REPETITION COMPULSION FOR WAR

and How It Might Fail This Time

By Norman Solomon

No matter how many times we’ve seen it before, the frenzy for launching a military attack on another country is — to the extent we’re not numb — profoundly upsetting. Tanked up with talking points in Washington, top officials drive policy while intoxicated with what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism,” and most media coverage becomes similarly unhinged. That’s where we are now.

But new variables have opened up possibilities for disrupting the repetitive plunge to war. Syria is in the crosshairs of US firepower, but cracks in the political machinery of the warfare state are widening here at home. For advocates of militarism and empire by any other name, the specter of democratic constraint looms as an ominous threat.

Into the Capitol Hill arena, the Obama White House sent Secretary of State John Kerry to speak in a best-and-brightest dialect of neocon tongues. The congressional hierarchies of both parties — Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, John Boehner, Eric Cantor — are on the same page for an attack on Syria. And meanwhile, the U.S. mass media have been cranking up the usual adrenalin-pumped hype for war.

More than 10 years ago, American media outlets were filled with breathless idolatry of the latest U.S. weapons poised to strike Iraq. Now, the big TV networks are at it again – starting to hype the Pentagon’s high-tech arsenal that’s ready to demolish Syrian targets. Of course the people at the other end of the weaponry aren’t in the picture.

The Media Education Foundation has just posted a two-minute montage of coverage <http://vimeo.com/73969073> from MSNBC, Fox and CNN idolizing the latest Pentagon weaponry for use in the Iraq invasion a decade ago — as well as Walter Cronkite doing the same on CBS during the Vietnam War. As a present-day bookend, a CNN clip<http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/international/2013/09/02/lead-live-russia-ships-give-syria-us-warning.cnn.html> from a few days ago provides a glimpse of how little has changed (except for slicker on-screen graphics).

But the usual agenda-building for war may not work this time.

The first week of September has stunned the military-industrial-media complex. It began with a familiar bellicose call for action from the president, seconded by leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill and echoed by mass media. And yet by the end of the week, grassroots opposition had interrupted the war momentum.

Senators and members of the House are being overwhelmed with anti-war messages via email, fax and phone. People are rising up to demand that Congress vote against launching a war on yet another country.

Whether Obama would actually abide by failure to gain congressional “authorization” to attack Syria is by no means clear. But our immediate task is to create such a failure.

This is a pivotal juncture of history in real time, an “all hands on deck” moment to exert enough public pressure to prevent a war-on-Syria resolution from getting through Congress. Such an outcome would thoroughly delegitimize any order from Obama to attack Syria. In the process, we would make real progress against the masters of war.

There’s an antidote to the repetition compulsion for war. It’s called democracy.

(Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” Information about the documentary based on the book is at www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org

SAN FRANCISCO SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE BOMBING OF SYRIA

THE EDITOR attended today's rally and march and will be writing about it for tomorrow's posts.

PEACE ACTIVISTS from the San Francisco Bay Area demonstrate against the announcement by the Obama administration that it intends to bomb Syria, at Justin Herman Plaza on the city's waterfront.

Photos by David Bacon