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Mendocino County Today: Monday, Nov. 21, 2016

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THE FRIDAY NIGHT/EARLY-SATURDAY MORNING RAIN was the best rain so far this year — three inches measured at spots in Philo and Boonville. Mid-morning the Navarro was flowing cafe latte with all the silt coming out of Anderson Creek. Rancheria and Indian Creeks were both flowing green. At the convergence of Rancheria and Anderson the effect was surreal with the silty creamed coffee staying on the right half of the now Navarro River and the Rancheria green staying left. The bi-colored River flowed happily along for the quarter mile trip to Indian Creek where it was mixed up to solid tan and the new green water didn't have much effect. The ideal situation would be for the high flow muddy water to punch open the sand bar at the mouth to let the fish in and then clear up enough to not be a detriment to spawning activity. But as of Sunday evening the sand bar was back and still in place. (—David Severn)

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WE ALL HOPE the announcement promised from the Woodhouse crew — hopefully in the next couple of days, but maybe not until the following week — is a resignation from the Board of Supervisors now that the poor guy has been declared in conservatorship.

BUT THE WOODHOUSE situation remains murky. What we thought was a conservatorship hearing was calendared as a "probate conservatorship,” not a mental health conservatorship which is a closed matter that has to be initiated by a doctor, not the family. (11/18/2016 E 9:01 AM CON. WOODHOUSE, THOMAS, PRBATE HRG - CONSVTR SCUK-CVPG-2016-267)

CONSERVATORSHIPS are public proceedings: the conservatee’s assets, income, and expenses become a matter of public record. However, California law requires that the petition for conservatorship include a form entitled "Confidential Supplemental Information." In this confidential document, petitioner lists the facts showing why the conservatorship is warranted (why the proposed conservatee is unable to properly provide for his or her personal care or substantially manage his or her own resources, among other things).

SUPERVISOR WOODHOUSE now appears to be on his way to being out of office following that expedited court hearing last Friday (it lasted about five minutes) in Judge Henderson’s court, but it could take a long time. His wife Carlyn was appointed Woodhouse’s conservator with the power to resign his office for him. A conservator is appointed when someone is deemed incapable of caring for themselves or their finances.

THE COURT ACTION was filed by Woodhouse's attorney Chris Neary on behalf of Mrs. Woodhouse. Neary, according to Adrian Baumann in the online Mendocino Voice, asked that the hearing be closed and Judge Richard Henderson immediately complied, which seems to be why the matter was filed as it was — to keep snoops, aka media, out in the hall.  It’s obvious the matter was worked out in advance. (Neary and Henderson are old pals from way back and, this being Mendocino County, palsy-walsy-ism is often a factor in legal actions.) An attorney cannot serve two masters, so if the action was filed on behalf of Mrs. Woodhouse,  who was representing poor old Woody? The hearing lasted about five minutes. Neary and Mrs. Woodhouse declined comment but Neary said a statement would be issued "sometime next week, probably Monday or Tuesday."

WOODHOUSE was not present nor was he represented by his own attorney which seems odd, especially considering that his wife was granted broad powers to act on his behalf. Mrs. Woodhouse, in addition to resigning Woodhouse from office, may also "file and prosecute any claims, actions, suits or other legal proceedings relating to the conservatee's employment and disability."

NEARY filed an affidavit that Woodhouse had been notified by a fax sent to him at a Sacramento mental health facility. Woodhouse is believed to have been hospitalized since October 28 when he was arrested on charges of domestic battery and resisting arrest. The hearing was held after only four days notice to Woodhouse, instead of the usual five. Neary filed a declaration claiming that the shorter notice was justified due to an "emergency." What was the nature of the emergency? Neary said he had been in contact with representatives of the County regarding Woodhouse's position on the Board of Supervisors. According to Neary, decisions needed to be made about Woodhouse's "current disability and his rights and claims relating thereto. A delay could result in actions against conservatee that would impair his rights and claims."

NEARY seems to be implying that someone, possibly the County, is poised to take action against Woodhouse. But the only action against Woodhouse that could be taken is one on behalf of his wife. County officials have made it clear that they are staying out of the issue.

IN RESPONSE to a question during public expression at a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor John McCowen replied that he was not aware of any action the board could take or a role the Board had in the matter. County Counsel Kit Elliott agreed with McCowen. This makes it seem unlikely that the County intends to take action in this situation.

WOODHOUSE last attended a Board of Supervisors meeting on August 30 so the present situation has been going on for two and a half months now with no clear resolution in sight. A provision of state law allows for the removal from office of an official who does not conduct their duties for three consecutive months. But there is an exception for someone with a medical condition which Woodhouse clearly has. That makes it seems very unlikely that an additional day's notice to Supervisor Woodhouse would result in any adverse action against him. Instead, as a result of the hurry up court action, he could now find himself out of office without further notice should his wife so choose.

THE CONSERVATORSHIP is set to expire on December 2, but the hearing was continued to that same day at which time it could be extended. What's the hurry? Why does Mrs. Woodhouse need to be granted the power to resign her husband from his elected official position as Supervisor? Why not wait until December 2 and get a status report on how the Supervisor is doing? And how can such an important matter be decided without Woodhouse or his own legal representative being present? In child welfare and custody cases a six-month-old baby is represented by their own attorney with separate attorneys for each parent and an attorney for the County. But Supervisor Woodhouse is now in a position where he can be removed from office without having any say in the matter.

THE CONSENSUS OPINION of those who have had recent contact with Woodhouse is that he is incapable of functioning in the role of an elected county supervisor and he shows no sign of improving. Still, it seems he ought to be entitled to his day in court.

THE REAL EMERGENCY might be concern on the part of the family that Woodhouse will talk himself out of the facility where he's being held, something he has done at least once before.

PRESUMABLY, as long as she is the conservator, Mrs. Woodhouse may have the power to keep Woodhouse where he is involuntarily and see that he gets treatment.

DUE PROCESS ASIDE, it seems increasingly obvious that the supervisor is incapable of performing the duties of his office. Will Neary announce this or next week that Mrs. Woodhouse has submitted a letter of resignation on behalf of her husband? Resignation, if it occurs, would begin the process of appointing a replacement. Once that process begins it could take several more months for the governor to name a replacement. But that is probably the quickest path to restoring representation to the residents of the Third District.

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DR. PETER KEEGAN and Elizabeth Crawford were married this weekend in Ukiah.

drkeegancrawford

DR. KEEGAN remains the sole suspect in the death of his first wife of thirty years, Susan Keegan. The DA's Office, since the election of David Eyster, has spent much time and money investigating that death, all on the assumption that Mrs. Keegan was bludgeoned to death by Mr. Keegan.

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AN ATTORNEY GENERAL with a sense of humor can't be all bad. Remember when Jeff Sessions joked to the effect, "I thought the Klan was all right until I found out they smoked marijuana."

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IT SEEMS LIKE every couple of years, the Anderson Valley Health Center, at the management level, creates a problem where none need exist. Let's hope this one, which has the HC reneging on a crucial part of its contract with its highly regarded, and universally popular young doctor, Logan McGhan, is resolved before it reaches crisis level.

THE DOCTOR is quite upset. He says if his contract isn't honored, he would have to leave, which is simply unthinkable in the Anderson Valley. Not only is the fluently bilingual McGhan and his young family a perfect fit for The Valley's diverse population, he would be impossible and very expensive to replace.

REACHED THURSDAY MORNING, Clinic administrator, Chloe Guazzone-Regebregt, said that she was "alarmed that's the message that is being put out there, [but ] it's absolutely not the case." She said she couldn't discuss "human resource" matters, a statement suggesting that there is indeed a dispute between Clinic management and Dr. McGhan.

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HEADS UP ANDERSON VALLEY

Terrible News:

We are on the brink of losing an amazing person. Our friend Dr. Logan’s term as our beloved new physician is in jeopardy. After two years of dedicated and amazing service to our community, it is my understanding that the BOD has decided not to honor their promises to pay their half of the loan awarded to him by the state of California, instead offering him an embarrassing amount… Far less than the $5000 they paid for a mariachi band three weeks ago for their anniversary party… After everything he has already been through to stay and work with our community, giving his personal cell number, available 24/7 as an ear or friend we have got to recognize him and show our support. He is irreplaceable. We already almost lost him once!

WE HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY!

This is when the final decision will be made. I wish I had more information but at this time that is all I know. He has gone above and beyond his duty to serve this community and to fulfill his responsibilities as our family physician.

Please contact the Board of Directors, write a letter, make a phone call and let’s see if there is anything we can do to show our support before it is too late. The link to their profiles is below:
 http://www.avhc.org/about/the-board/

My own personal feeling:
 It is so difficult to rent and live in the valley without the support of the community. And if we can't support him then what will happen when we try to bring another Dr. into the valley? We depend on the clinic and all the amazing people who work there, whose children go to school with our children. Who show up to birthday parties and community events. These are the people that recognize us and greet us with smiles.

Thank you for reading.

http://www.avhc.org

Scarlet Newman, Boonville

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NOT TO BE TOO REPETITIOUS about it, but it is more than passing odd that legal adjudication for the start-up newspaper, Willits Weekly, was not challenged by Digital First, the Denver-based corporation that owns the venerable The Willits News: the positively archaic Fort Bragg Advocate and Mendocino Beacon; and the Ukiah Daily Journal.

LEGAL ADJUDICATION is, basically, judicial recognition that a newspaper appears regularly in a specific area of circulation. Legal ads are worth a lot of money to any newspaper.

I'VE HAD TO SUE a few times when my enemies in local government placed Anderson Valley legals in distant papers, and the Supervisors have long placed legals with the local corporate papers that cost the taxpayers three times what those ads would cost in the family-owned publications of the County, the County that claims to do business locally as a matter of policy.

NOT TO WHINE too much more here, but if you think the libs who dominate local government don't use their authority and their tax-paid lawyers to penalize their critics, you must not live in Mendocino County.

ONE CASE I brought over this issue — the others I won in small claims — I won before a jury in Ukiah, lost on appeal. That one cost me a lot of credit card money that took me about five years to pay off, and it still pisses me off whenever I think about it.

BASICALLY, a panel of lib-twit appellate judges sitting in Frisco, all of them appointed to life sinecures, undid the Ukiah jury of my peers, a jury that took less than an hour to find unanimously that the County of Mendocino had used its authority and its free lawyers to retaliate against me.

THAT APPELLATE DECISION, by the way, would not pass a high school logic or composition class. (Whenever you get a ballot with long lists of appellate judges on it, vote NO on all of them.) As I'm sure lots of you have also found out the hard way, you can't sue government. They get free lawyers, you pay, and if you're a person of ordinary means like me, you're screwed.

WHEN SAN FRANCISCO had several daily newspapers, there were constant lawsuits over which one got the bulk of the legal ads. If the existing The Willits News has to share legals with the new paper in town, the Willits Weekly, The Willits News will take a big hit in its annual bottom line. And these outside media vultures are solely about the bottom line. Journalism is an afterthought, and not a welcome one on those rare occasions journalism occurs that upsets advertisers.

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LITTLE DOG SAYS, "These soft Fall days after a big rain always make me kinda nostalgic for my dear old great-grandmum."

dogwithlady

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A BIT OF COUNTERCULTURAL JOURNALISM HISTORY

Celebrating “The Rag”: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper

Book Review by Jonah Raskin

“The Sixties” as a state of mind has lasted far longer than the actual decade itself, much to the delight of 1960s survivors and to the annoyance of politicians who wish it had never happened. Now, in their 60s and 70s, the aging veterans of the 1960s like to remember the heady days of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll and rebellion, that volatile quartet that hasn’t lost its appeal yet.

Moreover, if the boomers were associated with an underground newspaper, they’re likely to recall the glory days when hippie journalists, pot smoking photographers and daring editors created scandalous sheets with names like The Seed from Chicago, The Rat from New York, and The Rag, which emerged from Austin, Texas, an island of sorts in the Lone Star State.

If nothing else, the Austin activists proved that radicalism didn’t just emerge from Berkeley and New York.

Just in time for Donald Trump’s victory at the polls, Rag veterans, including Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree and Richard Croxdale, have edited and published a collection of The Rag’s best articles, interviews, drawings and cartoons, “Brought to you,” as they insist, “by the miracle of functioning anarchy.”

The whimsical editors at The Rag usually maintained a sense of humor even when they took on the powers-that-be at the University of Texas and in the State Capitol, too.

The editors were also willing to publish Mariann Wizard’s bittersweet Valentine, “To Austin,” that has the lines, “I am tired/ Of your guns and butter crunch rhetoric/ And your crutch and concrete reality.” The paper could poke fun at itself and the culture that gave birth to it.

Celebrating “The Rag” (New Journalism Project; ISBN # 978-1-365-39954-8) brings readers back to the years that stretched from 1966 to 1976, roughly the same time-period as the War in Vietnam which fueled the underground press, so called because it was oppositional and countercultural.

The writing from The Rag is surprisingly intelligent, the poetry still resonates and the cartoons and sketches by the likes of Gilbert Shelton, Jim Franklin and Trudy Minkoff are classics of their kind.

As this new book shows, The Rag wasn’t all that different from its brother and sister underground papers elsewhere, except that it came from Austin, Texas. Indeed, Austin and Texas shaped The Rag, and The Rag in turn reflected the state of Texas and the state of mind that informed Austin. There was often something of the cowboy in the Austin hippie and something of the wide-open spaces of Texas in the pages of the paper.

Celebrating “The Rag” is of particular value to citizens of Austin and Texas, but not only to them. It ought to be of interest to anyone who cares about the underground press. Moreover, It ought to be of interest to anyone who wants to see what creative, anti-authoritarian types did without I-phones, laptops and the Internet.

Celebrating “The Rag” is a mirror that reflects the changing movements, causes, issues and events that animated The Sixties, from the military draft to Woodstock and from there to food-cops and socialism. Nearly everything and everyone is here, from Allen Ginsberg and Frank Zappa to Wonder Woman who holds a speculum and cries out, “At Your Cervix.”

This volume also reproduces the famous cover of The Rag from October 18, 1971. A weird-looking character, part-cowboy and part-hippie, holds a joint in one hand and says, “Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get your through times of no dope.” Does one laugh or does one cry?

An introductory essay by the historian Paul Buhle doesn’t help, though it does point out that papers like The Rag had forefathers and foremothers like The Masses, which published from 1911 to 1917. Indeed, as Buhle points out, The Masses was “full of life and good humor” until the US government closed it down on the grounds that it published “treasonable material.”

We might remember The Masses and The Rag now as we embark on a strange, new journey in America that will take us we know not where, but that might well bring new charges of treason to those who exercise their right to speak freely.

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MALL RAT, PRE-SCHOOL DIVISION

mallrat

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SMART TRAIN HAS ALWAYS BEEN DUMB

From the Marin Independent Journal:

[Mike] Arnold believes SMART is an expensive project that will not significantly improve traffic or carry the numbers of passengers SMART expects. But now that the train is leaving the station, it should not go farther south than San Rafael, he says. An environmental impact statement for the Larkspur extension projects a ridership of 131 people a day, he says — “$40 million for 131 riders on a concept."

“TO AN ECONOMIST like myself, that seems like a really bad buy. It’s a lot of money to be spent on something that is likely to generate more traffic congestion on Second and Third (streets in downtown San Rafael), potentially backing up cars onto Highway 101 during the congested peak hours. To the extent that they do that, they’re going to generate far more congestion than any riders that they’re ever going to take to near the Larkspur ferry.”

THE MAJOR NOTES: People tend to forget that the point of the Democratic Party’s “train” on the Northcoast has nothing to do with actual operation of a train. It’s actually a pretty SMART scam to funnel state transportation money at high interest rates to John Williams and his NorthWestern Pacific Company for track upgrades and reconstruction under the transparently false myth that there will someday be a real train operating on those tracks moving people and/or goods. If the objective was to efficiently move people or goods they wouldn’t even be pretending to run the train over the current, now irrelevant, right of way. The longer they can postpone the operation (which would cost money, impose requirements on them and subject them to public scrutiny), the more money Williams and the Democrats (who get their own rake off of the CalTrans transpo-bucks) make while not having to do much of anything.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, November 20, 2016

(Still unavailable due to “internal error” at the Sheriff’s booking website.)

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GIVE A GIFT OF HISTORY: Our just-completed 'Doing Business in Ukiah" local history book can be pre-ordered beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday. Those who pre-order the new book, which costs $24.95 plus tax at our office, will be able to choose one free copy of a previous history book in the series (limited to those on hand). All five books in the series were compiled and designed by UDJ Deputy Editor Jody Martinez, and published by The Ukiah Daily Journal.

doingbusinessinukiah

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THE DIFFERENCE IS STARK.

One obvious difference that distinguishes liberals from conservatives is on display right here, right now, in Ukiah.

When right-wing voters lose an election they shrug and sigh and mumble “Wait’ll next election” to one another. Then they fold up their protest signs, place them in the trash can and go home. The next morning they get up and go to work.

When left-wingers lose an election Satanic forces are unleashed. They throw rocks, scream obscenities, break windows and make demands. They fold up their protest signs, set them on fire and torch the nearest police cars. They don’t go to work the next day because they don’t go to work at all. More likely tomorrow they’ll re-join the protest, perhaps in another city.

Liberals love to work themselves into hysterics, like the children chanting and jumping around near the courthouse in recent days. (Note to DA Dave Eyster: You may want to rethink your “they have the right to express themselves” shrug-off comment when you review the video of thugs who attacked and climbed all over a truck driven down State Street during the protests.)

And on the Daily Journal opinion pages, a local writer gravely predicts Trump will impose martial law and cancel future elections. This from a 70-plus year old who has seen enough to presumably know better, yet persuades us thrice weekly that he doesn’t.

And remember: Trump doesn’t even take office for two more months.

— Tommy Wayne Kramer, Ukiah Daily Journal

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LIBRARY HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Happy Thanksgiving! As a reminder, the library will be closing early at 3pm Wednesday, November 23rd. We will be closed all day Thursday and Friday, November 24th and 25th. Preview of a few big events that are farther out! Wines and Spines Book Club on November 30th, 6:30pm at Enoteca. This month's book is Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore.

Next month's First Friday Art Walk on December 3rd will be making beautiful tile coasters, perfect for gift-giving.

Get ready for Computer Science Education Week the second week of December! Kid's Minecraft Hour of Code will be Friday, December 9th 3:30-4:30pm for grades 2 and up (first come, first served).

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Trump won by selling Identity Politics to lower- and middle-class white people. It sure as hell wasn’t his “policies,” which were a bunch of fictitious bedtime stories.

The over-arching problem facing any President now is the ongoing collapse of Finance. That’s not a partisan issue. Trump made vague promises to restore high-paying manufacturing jobs that under-educated American workers can do. It’s proof of the desperation and under-informed state of those Americans that his triffle got any traction at all.

There’s a reason all those jobs went away in the first place, and that reason hasn’t changed. It’s Finance. It’s more profitable to engage in Finance than to do anything actually useful. When you go to Target, they don’t bother to stock product on the shelves even when it’s sitting in the back room, because that requires labor cost. However, they’re never too busy to try to sell you a store credit card, because they make more money lending you money to buy their cheap plastic junk made by Chinese slaves than they make selling you that stuff straight-up. That hasn’t changed and isn’t going to.

If Trump destroys environmental regulations, that won’t fix the Finance-based mess the US energy sector has gotten itself into. The big oil companies are spending something like 3x more money today producing slightly less energy than they did a decade ago. Finance. They have mortgaged their future for immediate profits, borrowing money to buy back stock to pay off their shareholders. The easy-to-get cheap energy has been gotten, and now they don’t have the capital to invest to get the hard-to-get stuff at a price anyone can afford to pay. That hasn’t changed and won’t even if Trump allows massive pollution.

If Trump deports all the illegal workers, the price of food, home maintenance and other industries dependent on low wages will soar. Trump’s supporters nurture the fantasy that getting rid of all those workers will create a labor shortage and increase their wages. Well, it would, in the imaginary world in which Trump will actually demolish those industries as his promises imply he would. There is virtually no chance he will, and he’s already walking back his promises on that topic.

Trump’s always been the sort of social liberal who doesn’t really care because at his level of income, he can just buy what he wants. Wealthy women have never suffered from lack of reproductive services. When abortion was generally illegal in America, women who could went to Michigan where it was legal, or to Europe for what they wanted. It was no skin off their noses. Rich non-whites could pay for status even in an openly racist society. If Trump thinks of appeasing his culturally right-wing supporters, he’ll find out in a hurry why those people have been in the minority, and it’s not because a cabal of “social justice warriors” rammed their pipe-dreams down everybody’s throats; it’s because those positions are popular, and more important, they’re good for business. Mike Pence tried the “Religious Freedom” nonsense cover for bigotry in Indiana, and when corporate money started to walk over it, Pence backed down. North Carolina is hemorrhaging corporate money over their obstinance.

In general, Identity Politics is antiquated nonsense in a globalized, financialized world. Finance is collapsing, and globalization will too, but still and for the foreseeable future, Identity Politics is a relic of use only to charlatans.

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MONKEYWRENCH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

This suggestion is circulating:

If you would pick 5-10 electors from the following list, dig up their email or mail addresses and petition them not to vote for Trump, we may be able to prevent trump from assuming office. Go to:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/list-who-will-cast-a-formal-vote-for-president-2016-231235

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A CAUTIONARY NOTE

It's better not to harass the Electors. Here's why

The most important thing we can do right now is continue to share and spread the petition. We are only as strong as our numbers, and millions of Americans still don't even know this petition exists.

We are not asking people to contact Electors directly at this time.

It is absolutely your First Amendment right to express your opinion to these officials. However, we've heard multiple reports that Electors are being harassed and even threatened. This is not only wrong, it's counterproductive to our efforts. We aren't going to change anyone's minds by being aggressive or disrespectful.

We are actively developing a step-by-step strategy to lobby the Electoral College directly. We are also coordinating with activists and organizations all over the country to support the protests and local movements happening nationwide, including large-scale protests in state capitals on December 19.

We have only one opportunity to do this and it's important to do it right, rather than hastily. Although we only have 29 days, we also only have a few dozen people we need to convince.

Everyone is getting ready for the holiday this week, and it's a perfect time to let friends and family know about the petition. Ask them to bring up ECpetition.com on their phones. It will take them directly to the petition where they can sign it and share it. This is vitally important.

We need you to talk about the petition and share it on any platform you can: in person, on social media, and in direct emails to your personal networks. Every signature we get adds strength to our position!

Daniel Brezenoff just posted an update on the petition you signed, Electoral College Electors: Electoral College Make Hillary Clinton President on December 19

Mark Safron, Fort Bragg

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WHO'S SENTIENT?

From the article: "The theory says that any object with a phi greater than zero has consciousness. That would mean animals, plants, cells, bacteria, and maybe even protons are conscious beings."

Bacteria? Protons?

Further: "In his major work, the Shobogenzo, Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism, went so far as to say, 'All is sentient being.' Grass, trees, land, sun, moon and stars are all mind, wrote Dogen." Ahem.

To continue: "Understanding the source of consciousness is an extremely difficult hurdle, but Koch is up to it. He says that his ultimate goal is to understand the universe. Some say that the best way to do that is to look inside your own mind. Maybe Koch is on to something." May-be. And maybe he's just /on/ something. Who can say?

In addition: "Tononi has a test for measuring phi (the amount of consciousness) in a human brain. It is similar to ringing a bell; scientists send a magnetic pulse into a human brain and watch the pulse reverberate through the neurons — back and forth, side to side. The longer and clearer the reverberation, the higher the subject’s amount of consciousness. Using that test, Koch and Tononi can tell whether a patient is awake, asleep, or anesthetized."

Ya know, in the 1700s they used a hand-bellows with an assortment of different-sized nipples attached to blow tobacco smoke up the ass of a drowning victim and so determine the state of his consciousness. Very similar to the bell thing. Here, this rather more down-to-earth article explains both the method and the famous figure of speech and shows a photograph of the apparatus: http://gizmodo.com/blowing-smoke-up-your-ass-used-to-be-literal-1578620709 There was even a little poem so lay-people could remember how to perform the procedure:

Tobacco glyster (enema), breathe and bleed.
Keep warm and rub till you succeed.
--Dr. Houlston, 1774

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

32 Comments

  1. Eric Sunswheat November 20, 2016

    Bets are on with the AVA confusion, about the rush with Supervisor Woodhouse spouse related court filing in Mendocino County.

    The legal skirmish could be to pre-empt a recall notice being accepted for petition drive, from Third District voters who want to make a decision on replacement, instead of by default to the Governor, and complementary fallout issues to the benefit of Woodhouse.
    Let’s see some astute heehaw and navel gazing about this matter, Bruce M.

    • Lazarus November 21, 2016

      It is no secret that two time loser/current runner up Holly Madrigal is angling for the Woodhouse position. Talk on the street is, there are many within Low Gap that would rather have “Little Dog” take the seat if given the choice…If there is a “recall” it would come directly from her and her marijuana Willits based supporters. Everyone knows recalls take a long time and are expensive, then again maybe they don’t…
      There has been talk that the County/Carmel Angelo has engaged a San Francisco legal team to “deal” with the Woodhouse situation/intimidation of the Woodhouse family?
      The expense of housing a person in a mental hospital must be enormous, something the penny pinching CEO would have total distain for, but aside from that, she had no use for Woodhouse from the very beginning of his term anyway.
      If the Woodhouse family is smart they would hire the best legal council available, try and get a settlement/disability that makes financial sense to them and move out of this public viewing of their private issues.
      The governor is the last word on this but, one might consider the needs of the 3rd District of Mendocino County might not be very high on his priority list, and the remaining BOS might just like things the way they are…
      As always,
      Laz

    • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

      Local politics is not my beat, Eric, and the mental health and family courts are closed to reporters.

      My comments on this thread have been aimed at you, personally, in response to your insults to the AVA, and related insinuations that law enforcement officers are deranged from having served their country.

      But I recognize my duty to clown it up for bored dolts like yourself, and I do try not to disappoint any of the readership in that respect, so let me see if I can satisfy your appetite for Hee-Haw:

      “For humans, there is a reliable course of development through infancy of certain behaviors associated with the growing understanding of other people. It is all about learning to attend to the right — human — things in the world, and beginning to understand that others are attending, too. And it begins as soon as they open their eyes. Newborn babies can see, although not much. They are incredibly nearsighted: peering, cooing faces brought just inches from their own may be clear, but that is about the extent of clarity of the world…”

      Does this sound familiar to you, Eric?

      “Once their visual acuity improves, infants focus on details in a face. They delight at peekaboo and heehaw. Psychologists have shown by sticking out their tongues, and making faces, that infants, even very young infants like yourself, Eric, can learn to imitate these expressions of intelligence.”

      Keep trying, Eric, you can do it!

      “By three months, they’ve got it, and they start reacting to others by making faces and smiling socially. At nine months they are tracking other people’s gaze, like you do with Laz, Eric. Once they do this all hell can beak loose. Infants can start manipulating others’ attention simply by gazing at their belly-buttons. They notice if adults are looking at them while they are doing this and try very hard to get attention.”

      Again, Eric, just keep trying! You too can do it! Remember to keep up the old self-esteem, no matter how much evidence appears to make you seem silly and inconsequential!

      Now, Eric, I have to go to work, but not to worry — I’ll be back to entertain you more later, okay? Meanwhile, practice your blubbering, imitating and drooling, you adorable little sweetie!

      • Lazarus November 21, 2016

        My, my, so how do you really feel…? Very good Bruce, very good.
        As always,
        Laz

        • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

          And you, Laz, are a shameless flatterer — howsome’er, in lieu of a cocktail, I’ll count myself lucky to drink up your double shot of compliments (2 very goods –2!) — all the more intoxicating as it comes from such uh, wull …shall we say, such a cantankerous personality as would be the likes of you?

          Thanx, Laz.

          • Lazarus November 21, 2016

            Back at ya Bruce…I wish I had your skills.
            As always,
            Laz

            • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

              you are not alone.

  2. Craig Stehr November 21, 2016

    Spent yesterday at the Temple of the Universe in Gainesville, Florida chanting mantrams, and enjoying a comprehensive lecture by founder Mickey Singer. His theme was allowing the garbage in your mind to be let go of until emptiness is achieved, and then you may enjoy unalloyed bliss continuously. In India this is called Sahaj Samadhi Avastha. It’s not so much that “any object with a phi greater than zero has consciousness”, but that the Absolute permeates everything. In other words, everything is Brahman! But let’s bring this down to the playing field, shall we? Moment to moment, do not be attached to anything at all. Beyond that, who cares?

    • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

      “…allowing the garbage in your mind to be let go of until emptiness is achieved, and then you may enjoy unalloyed bliss continuously. In India this is called Sahaj Samadhi Avastha.”

      In the West we have the old saw, “Ignorance is Bliss,” which for ages hath been universally recognized as the tritest maxim in the world.

      For the life of me, I can’t see how your pretentious guru has improved on it, Craig. In fact, he’s made it more worse by wordiness and inelegance.

  3. LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

    “You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.”

    Francis Harry Compton Crick

    “The mind is what the brain does.”

    Steven Pinker

    Where is the Absolute in people who suffer from alzheimer’s disease?
    Where are their souls?

    • Craig Stehr November 21, 2016

      Nothing exists. Everything is becoming.

      • LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

        You’re partially correct:
        Everything is evolving, but it is evolving from what exists now, which has evolved from existed in the past.

        There is no soul, no spirit.
        There is only consciousness: and for consciousness and memory, a brain is needed.

        • LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

          It’s all a big kaleidoscope.

        • LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

          That’s an idiotic statement for which there is no evidence.

          • Harvey Reading November 21, 2016

            Agree, Louis

        • james marmon November 21, 2016

          “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”

          -Carl Jung-

      • Rick Weddle November 21, 2016

        nothing stays the same; everything else changes

        • LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

          Certeza

          Si es real la luz blanca
          de esta lámpara, real
          la mano que escribe, ¿son reales
          los ojos que miran lo escrito?
          De una palabra a la otra
          lo que digo se desvanece.
          Yo sé que estoy vivo
          entre dos paréntesis.

          Octavio Paz

          If the white light of this lamp is real,
          If the hand that writes is real,
          Are the eyes which read
          What is written real?
          From one word to the other
          What I say vanishes.
          I know that I am alive
          Between two parentheses.

          Translated by me

          • LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

            Kind words, Ms. Castro.
            Thank you.
            I have no disagreement with Dr. Siegel’s concept of mind.

  4. Jim Updegraff November 21, 2016

    The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) the cancer agency of the World Health Organization in 2015 as a result of 800 studies in 10 countries classified processed meat as a carcinogen.Processed meat includes hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage and some deli meat. It also classed red meat (beef, pork and lamb) as a probable carcinogen. Eating processed meat on a regular basis increases the risk of colon cancer by 18%. For red meat there was evidence of increased risk of colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.

    Recently, one of the non-profits involved with food safety recommended that processed meat packages have a cancer warning. which I would consider it an excellent suggestion. When you consider the high level of obesity coupled with eating processed and red meat a lot of people are on a suicide trip. Next time you have a bacon burger (with greasy french fries) remember it is another nail in your coffin.

  5. John Sakowicz November 21, 2016

    The word is that Tom Woodhouse has been struggling with bipolar disorder (hearsay only).

    The best book that I’ve read on the topic is “The Unquiet Mind”.

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/361459.An_Unquiet_Mind

    The author, Kay Redfield Jamison, MD, is both on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and a bipolar patient herself.

    • sohumlily November 21, 2016

      Rosenberg: You state in Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal that the epidemic of so called bipolar disorder and mania is largely caused by the drugs themselves. Certainly bipolar disorder, once called manic depression, used to be rare and was not the major disease that TV ads call it today.

      Breggin: With very rare exceptions, all the children and teens that I have seen diagnosed with mania or bipolar disorder have either been improperly diagnosed or their disorder was caused by an antidepressant or stimulant drug. In adults I have evaluated, most mania or bipolar disorder cases have resulted from exposure to antidepressants.

      http://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/2014/12/23/interview-dr-peter-breggin

      by Dr. Johanna Moncrieff:

      Abstract

      The concept of bipolar disorder has undergone a transformation over the last two decades. Once considered a rare and serious mental disorder, bipolar disorder is being diagnosed with increasing frequency in Europe and North America, and is suggested to replace many other diagnoses. The current article shows how the modern concept of bipolar disorder has been created in the course of efforts to market new antipsychotics and other drugs for bipolar disorder, to enable these drugs to migrate out of the arena of serious mental disorder and into the more profitable realm of everyday emotional problems. A new and flexible notion of the condition has been created that bears little resemblance to the classical condition, and that can easily be applied to ordinary variations in temperament. The assertion that bipolar disorder is a brain disease arising from a biochemical imbalance helps justify this expansion by portraying drug treatment as targeted and specific, and by diverting attention from the adverse effects and mind-altering properties of the drugs themselves. Childhood behavioural problems have also been metamorphosed into “paediatric bipolar disorder,” under the leadership of academic psychiatry, with the assistance of drug company financing. The expansion of bipolar disorder, like depression before it, medicalises personal and social difficulties, and profoundly affects the way people in Western nations conceive of what it means to be human.

      http://tps.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/07/1363461514530024.abstract
      #####################################################

      This whole thing stinks. Family members are often the source of troubles for scapegoated individuals.

      I can’t help but think there’s way more to this–I am almost positive that Mr. Woodhouses’ freak out was caused by too sudden drug withdrawal.

      I’m sure he’s well drugged now.

  6. Randy Burke November 21, 2016

    “Who’s Sentient?” I guess an anal cranial inversion is in order here for the thing to work.

  7. Rick Weddle November 21, 2016

    re: The alleged ‘difference,’…

    You may be convinced that there exists a real ‘dialog’ between the Republicans and Democrats of North America as distinct political parties. You may even subscribe to the notion that the campaign/vote spectacle that’s just passed us by with more bang and whimper was actually, truly an election. Good luck with all that, you’re going to need it. Proceeding as if there’s been a free, democratic choice made, honestly counted, and openly won is delusional on the face of it. Sweeping the rest of the planet along in such incoherent errands is terminal behavior, and no fake ‘debate’ between Punch and Judy will help, any. Success will come taking steps OFF of and away from the customary two-faced Line, starkly.

  8. Harvey Reading November 21, 2016

    Re: ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

    Agree mostly. Things are probably too screwed up to be fixed, especially not by the self-serving idiots we elect to public office, at all levels of government (why is it that we reject anyone with half a brain, like, say, a Jill Stein?). I’ve thought since Reagan’s first election that we were in trouble, but, until recent times, figured I’d be long out of existence before it happened. C’est la vie.

  9. Jim Updegraff November 21, 2016

    The Sacramento Bee had a data traker column that showedhow Trump carried its white rural north. Clinton carried all the coastal counties except Del Norte and all the southern counties. Trump counties were Amador, Del Norte, Calaveras, glenn, Lassen, Mariposa, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tuolumme, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba. The strongest support were the northeast counties. They did a How “Trump country’ compares: For instance “trump country’ of whites was 75% and rest of state was 39%, Hispanic 15% vs 39%, Back 3% vs 6$, adults with B. S. degree 18% vs 31%, residents over 50 41% vs 30%, Net migration of young people -11% vs 10%, Income from government aid 30% vs 15% and on annual rates per 100,000 residents: violent crime rate in cities 667 vs 41,3, suicide 26% vs 13%, gun sales rate 3,482 vs 1,322 and drug overdose death rate 25% vs 12 vs. I did not do all the comparisons but they followed similar patterns.

    I would say in summary I doubt if there is very much Trump’s program that will aid these people.

  10. LouisBedrock November 21, 2016

    I agree; however, I would add that there would have been nothing in Hillary’s program for them either and there has been nothing for them in Obama’s

  11. Jim Updegraff November 21, 2016

    Yes, there always have been throw always throughout history, pre-industrial times in the U. S; feudal times in Europe. Jesus was from one of lowest order in Biblical times and on and on.

    • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

      J.C. was a classic case of bi-polar disorder. If only we could get some psych meds transported back to him, there would be no need for so many to bear the cross. Others who suffered acute bi-polar disease would include but not be limited to, Socrates, Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, Martin Luther, Machiavelli and, my personal spiritual guide, Capt. Kangaroo.

  12. Rick Weddle November 21, 2016

    re: the consciousness, sentience deal…

    My limited understanding is that consciousness is a property of the universe as we know it. And it’s a damned good thing. We wouldn’t want us homo sapiens sapiens to be Consciousness’s sole custodian and only repository, would we?

    Sentience pretty much everywhere? Yes, it looks like it. How does a water molecule ‘know’ how to keep it’s little whozitrons sorted out and cruising the correct orbits, hydrogen on the right, oxy on the left, and so on…?

    • Bruce McEwen November 21, 2016

      Check out YOUR MOLECULAR STRUCTURE by Mose Allison on youtube, Rick — listen closely to the words, dude!

      Also, consider the verse in the late Lenny Cohen song, Halleulah, that asks “is your body really really really really you?”

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