Local Political Stuff

The Eureka Reporter takes a look at the two candidates for 1st district, state assembly this morning. I was beginning to think Republican Jim Pell was a paper candidate only as he doesn't seem to even have a campaign web page. Since he at least went along with an interview with the Eureka Reporter, I guess we'll grant him slightly more than just paper candidate status.

More of the same from Wes Chesbro. I usually vote for the Republican in state level races if there's no Libertarian Party candidate running. If nothing else, the Democrats have a pretty much insurmountable majority in the state legislature. The closer we can even things out, the better off we will be. Gridlock is good.

In this case, I'll definitely be voting for Jim Pell, despite his silly letter- to- the- editor the other day. Unlike Patty Berg, Wes Chesbro was a relatively major player in bringing the state to the financial mess it's in today- he already having served at least two terms in the state senate back when they blew all the money from the dotcom boom. Jim Pell is clearly the only choice in that race.

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Speaking of local politics, I didn't see any coverage of the Eureka City Council Race civil liberties forum the ACLU held last night. Did anybody attend? How'd it go?

Janne and Brandon

I've noticed this part of the Eureka Reporter's Sunday Life section before. You can't see it online but, in the hard copy, they include pictures. A photo- essay, if you will, of certain weddings that took place around the county. One thing I don't understand is why they feature weddings that happened so long ago?

Today's featured wedding is that of my nephew, Brandon Rasmussen, to Janne Debets. Why are they doing that one now? The wedding was a couple months ago on July 12. Great space filler, I suppose.

I actually do my best to stay away from depressing events such as weddings or funerals. Like car wrecks, I don't like hearing or seeing them but I can't help but look when I'm driving by one.

So, I tend to stop and look at this particular column when I'm reading the Sunday paper. Kind of like those car wrecks. I guess it's morbid curiosity.

I suppose a lot of others besides myself have that same morbid curiosity and that's what the Eureka Reporter is trying to appeal to in publishing photos of these months old weddings. Hey, a dead body often looks even more gruesome a few months after it died, doesn't it? Same with weddings, I would think.

The Reporter might have a winner with this strategy but, to really make it work, they should probably include funerals, as well.

Local ACLU Holding Candidate Forum

Looks like our friends over at the Redwood ACLU will be holding a candidate forum for the Eureka City Council candidates next Monday. Among other things they'll be looking for the candidate's views on local civil liberties issues. What those issues are remains to be seen.

This is kind of neat. While certainly one wants to know if a candidate supports or opposes some of the more common projects in Eureka, like becoming a tree lined city, I've always been more interested in the more libertarian aspects of the race: How the candidate feels about asset forfeiture in regards the seizing of cars of men found soliciting prostitution in Eureka, or the towing of cars found parked for more than 72 hours where there hasn't been a complaint made.

I'm not saying the ACLU is necessarily a libertarian organization, although we certainly hold common ground on some issues like Measure T, but at least this forum might address some issues more in line with my concerns.

Pell's Letter

I don't believe I've ever seen it written anywhere, but one rule I've always felt should be followed by candidates for public office is to stay out of issues that don't apply to the office you're seeking. There's too much to lose and not much to gain. Jim Pell is Patty Berg's (Ooops, that should read Wes Chesbro's) opponent in the race for 1st district, state assembly. His letter to the editor of the Eureka Reporter is a case in point.

He seems intent on alienating the Board of Supervisors (and those who might support them) over an issue that doesn't have anything to do with the race for state assembly. Then he tries to drag Patty Berg into it. What the connection is he doesn't make clear to me.

If that's an example of his campaign's attempt at spreading his message, I'd suggest at the very least he give up on writing letters to the editor.

No On Props 2 and 10

I was already leaning strongly against Proposition 2. That's the initiative that will require farmers to give animals a certain amount of space to live in. With food prices already soaring, it would seem foolhardy to voluntarily raise food prices even further.

Eggs from hens grown cage- free already cost $1.00 more per dozen than caged, or so I've been told. If all egg producers were required to give hens more room, you can just imagine the ripple effect it would have. Eggs are a component of many other foods. If eggs go up in price, other foods will likely rise even more than they already have. At least now food manufacturers have the option of buying the cheaper eggs. If Prop 2 passes they won't, unless they ship them in from out of state.

This editorial against Prop 2 in yesterday's S.F. Chronicle pretty much confirmed my opposition to it. At the end they make the point that, if there are unintended consequences to Prop 2, the only way to rid ourselves of the law would be to pass another ballot initiative to repeal it. That's something I don't know that I'd considered before when thinking about ballot initiatives.

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The Chronicle also had a good piece on Prop 10 in their paper today. Worth a read, although I was already planning on voting NO on that one.

Breaking News!!!

Federal court places injunction on Measure T! Yessss!!!

Who Was First?

After meeting Captain Buhne at the Blogger's Picnic, I believe one of the first things he asked me was which one of us started our blog first. I've heard at least one other person tell me that "You started it all...". Someone must of told him the same thing. I wasn't first but, if I did anything to get things going, it was probably just networking with other bloggers as I found them until a community of sorts developed.

Buhne was first, but I found out about his blog after I started mine. Read about the Buhne Tribune in a short piece by Hank Sims in the North Coast Journal way back then. Went to the site and became a regular there.

Ryan said he started his in February of 2005(?), I believe. A quick look at my archives shows my first post being made on March 9, 2005 with the first comment being made by my internet buddy, Tom Knapp, of The Knappster blog (and current vice- presidential candidate for the Boston Tea Party).

In the second post, the first comment was made by none other than Becky Carr, of recent fame in that her and her hubby were the main witnesses to the murder/ suicide not long ago on Union Street in Eureka.

Tom was probably my first inspiration to start a blog, although I wanted to deal with more local stuff and not national or Libertarian Party politics as he often does. Once I saw the Buhne Tribune I realized that was more along the line of what I wanted to do but realized I didn't have the satiristic skill to do that. So what you see here is what I ended up doing.

Now there's umpteen local blogs. Too many to keep track of although I have around 35 bookmarked that I check daily. What would be interesting to do, if I had the time, would be to create a chronology of Humboldt blog history with a list showing what blogs started when. I'll leave that task to someone else.

Ron Paul Finally Endorses

Ron Paul, in a rather lengthy statement, finally decided to endorse one of the other current presidential candidates. I agree with a number of others that this is likely a well deserved snub to Libertarian Party candidate, Bob Barr.

North Coast Travelogue 9/21/08

You could almost consider yesterday a historical event for me. This would be the first time I'd be leaving the Eureka city limits for non- business purposes in years. I can't remember the last time I left town for reasons other than I had to.

I headed to the first ever Humboldt Blogger's picnic. That means there could be a lot of people and I get nervous around crowds. So, a bit nervous with anticipation, I left home a little before 11am, figuring I should get there about 11:30ish.

Deja vu kicked in as I was at the stoplight and Henderson and Broadway. I been here before, thought I. I realized I was taking the same route at about the same time I nearly always take when I'm heading to UCSF Medical Center. How weird.

Then I realized something was missing. Oh, yeah. What about my iced tea? I usually enjoy some plain old unflavored iced tea when driving. Before the light turned green I decided I'd stop by Taco Bell for a large glass of iced tea to go.

As I left Taco Bell I realized this isn't all that bad. I'm just going to Rio Dell and I can take my time, drink my tea and drive. Life is good. First time out of town in years that I didn't have to go of town.

I hadn't emptied the bed of my truck of the grass, leaves and other debris I acquire from work before I'd left. I'd briefly considered whether that might cause a problem on the freeway, but didn't consider it for long.

As I get up to 55mph, southbound from Eureka, the leaves and grass in the back of the truck really create a cloud. It seemed to mostly be a big swirl of debris that stayed above the bed of the truck with not a whole lot being blown out, but I wondered if it might bother other drivers behind me, or distract them.

No problem. By the time I passed Field's Landing the stuff in the back of the truck seemed to calm down. I realized later that much of it had been forced by the wind to the front of the bed where it wasn't as likely to be blown around. Didn't see much stuff blowing around after that.

Get to Rio Dell. Sure seemed quick this time. Usually it seems to take forever. Then I had to start figuring out how to get to the so- called Fireman's Park. Rough directions I'd read seemed easy enough. Main thing was I knew I had to find Wildwood Road, which is the main drag through Rio Dell. I knew that much without having actually been in Rio Dell in probably 20 years.

Found Wildwood Road right off the freeway. Should have taken the first offramp, though. Took a left turn, instead of right, on Wildwood. Just as well. Nothing wrong with taking a tour of Rio Dell. Fun getting that small town feeling with people on the street all seeming to look at me as I drove by; Who's that? Don't think I've seen that truck around here before?

Finally realized I wasn't going the right direction and turned back the other way. I figured I was in the right area. Found Center Street, or whatever it was called but turned right, instead of left. As I turned around and went back to Wildwood, I noticed some kind of fire department place up ahead to the left.

Might that be where the park is? I had to look for a second and as I crossed the road I saw the park behind the firehouse. Yep, this is it.

Parked and spent close to three hours at the picnic. Others have covered the picnic quite well so no need to go there on this blog. I will say that a fun time was had by all. The only disappointments being those who didn't show up. Hopefully, they'll be there next time around.

A little after 2 o'clockish I figured it was time to go. I wanted to get home to take care of any of the usual Sunday stuff I hadn't done yet.

That's when I noticed the North entrance to Rio Dell was right there close to the park the picnic was being held at. That's where I should have come in to town.

Get on the freeway and head north. To my surprise all the debris in the bed of my truck starts flying around again. Must have been the slightly different headwinds? Not to worry, though, as it stopped flying around after a few miles just as it did when I started out.

Made it home in about the usual half hour, wishing again it went that fast when I had to make that drive.

Took about a quarter of a tank of gas to get there and back. That's about five gallons. Kind of hard to believe. I usually use about a quarter tank of gas a week.

Anyway, looking forward to making that same trip to the Blogger's Picnic next year.

DAMN!!!

Now everybody knows about the Blogger's Picnic. Thanks, Nathan. I guess.

Porch Potatoes

This is my sister- in- law, Jeannette, relaxing on her front porch. She lives across the street from me.

She wants to return to the days where people spent the late afternoons and evenings relaxing and socializing on their front porches. You know, like on Andy of Mayberry.

Do we want to go back to those days? I suppose we could do worse.

Anon.r Dead?

Can it be true? Did our very own Anon.r, blogger at Super Happy Fun Blog, meet his demise?

I'd taken his blog out of my bookmarks a month or so ago because he hadn't posted in over a month. Went back there today to see if he'd posted anything new and he still hadn't- the last post being made July 23. Checked the comments on his last post and found this:

"We regret to inform you that the man known as Anon.R.mous died a hero while fighting a blaze in southern California. His name is being witheld at the request of family, nontheless I will say that he was a firefighter often sent to many places in the country both to fight fires and train others to fight fires. He died a hero, and will be fondly remembered by those who knew him."

Is this for real? The only thing that makes me wonder is I got the impression he lived in Arcata and I don't recall hearing of any locals that were killed in this summer's fires. I was also under the impression that he was a truck driver since he'd be gone for periods of time. Maybe he wasn't?

Thompson Opposes Fed MJ Decriminalization

Some of you might remember me bringing up H.R. 5843 a while back. That's the bill, sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank, that would end federal criminal penalties for possession by individuals of small amounts of marijuana.

I sent a letter to our very own congressman, Mike Thompson, asking that he become a co- sponsor to the bill. I fully expected him to go along and sign up. I got a reply in the mail yesterday. He won't.

Apparently he feels that, while he supported Prop 215 (medical marijuana), he feels that Prop 215 has caused too much crime and has led to more incidents of grow related diesel spills and such. He points to Mendocino County's recently passed Measure B as proof that being easy on marijuana possession isn't what the public wants.

What he doesn't seem to grasp is that HR 5843 would repeal FEDERAL criminal penalties against possession of small amounts of marijuana. It would do nothing in regards state penalties and even allows the feds to continue eradication efforts of large marijuana grows.

I suspect Congressman Thompson likely knows that and he's just playing it politically safe. Few congresscritters are willing to put their name on the line in something as "risky" as marijuana decriminalization. Mike Thompson isn't one of them. Only seven in congress are, at this point.

Local ACLU Supports Measure T Lawsuit

The Redwood Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sent out a press release yesterday blasting Measure T and at least one of its proponents. Oh, they also support the current lawsuit against against it. That's the way I read it, anyway. You can read the release on their web site.

Way to go, ACLU!

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Addendum: I notice there's a disclosure in the ACLU release saying that Stephen Davies is on their board and he recused himself from voting on this issue since he's Kaitlin S-P's opponent in the water board election. Hmmm???

I mentioned elsewhere that I'd probably vote for Kaitlin S-P in that race since she voted against water fluoridation. I wonder how Davies feels on the issue?

Over at Heraldette's blog, I got the impression Davies supported fluoridation, but that might have been because some were jeering Kaitlin S-P because she opposed it. I took an attack on her as meaning Davies supported fluoridation. No way of knowing if that's true.

When I think about it, Kaitlin's opposition to fluoride is likely more because she sees it as some sort of corporate conspiracy, not as a matter off choice. Could be wrong about that, though.

But, it looks like Davies likely opposes Measure T as a matter of legal principle. Kaitlin, of course, is outspoken in her support of Measure T, for whatever reasons.

I'll have to take another look at this race as things develop although I guess, as far as the water district goes, fluoride might be the more pertinent issue. I'm not sure.

.com or .org?

The next door neighbor just put up a couple Obama signs in her front yard. Taking a brief look at them I noticed the Obama web site url ends with .com. Silly Obama worshippers, don't they know that a political organization is supposed to use .org at the end of the url?

I've always been under the impression that .com stands for a commercial web site and .org is for political or non- profit organizations. Have I been wrong all this time?

So I come in here and take a look to see if some of the other candidates have it right. Taking a look at McCain's site, nope, he's using .com, too.

Certainly my very own Libertarian Party has it right, don't we? I don't remember ever paying attention before. Nope, even Bob Barr's site uses .com. How embarrassing. At least the Libertarian Party's web site itself uses .org.

The Green Party's, Cynthia Mckinney, follows everyone with a .com, as well, along with the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin. The only presidential candidate I found using .org was Ralph Nader.

What a sordid state of affairs, at least as far as the internet goes. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe it's considered accepted usage to use .com for non- commercial stuff, but that's not the impression I was under.

Klamath Fishing Report

The Daily Triplicate reports on salmon fishing on the Klamath River. They make it sound like it's mostly smaller fish being caught but the one in the picture accompanying the story looks pretty big to me.

One thing I was unaware of was that members of indian tribes can fish for salmon commercially using gill nets. I was under the impression they had to eat whatever they caught.

Rob Burgess Headed To SoHum

Those of you in the Garberville area need to keep an eye out. Rob Burgess, reporter for the Ukiah Daily Journal is thinking about heading up to your neck of the woods. Let us know if you see him.

New Courthouse Security

Gee, I feel so much safer now knowing that we'll have to go through the same security measures going to the courthouse as we do boarding airplanes. NOT!!!

This is BS. I wonder just whose idea this was? I know I've heard murmurs of this happening off and on for some time. Now it's real.

The Eureka Reporter article makes it sound like County Administrative Officer Loretta Nicholas thinks this is a great development. I can't help but wonder how many of you out there agree?

Girl For Hire

Cute story. Those of you in the Garberville area should give this girl a call.

The Presidential Candidates on Marijuana

This just in from the Marijuana Policy Project: A look at some of the presidential candidate's views on marijuana prohibition. I say "some" because Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate is left out.

Kind of interesting at the end of the film they mention MPP isn't endorsing any particular candidate. Then, in the credits, they make a disclosure that LP candidate, Bob Barr, has been working with MPP to get rid of a law he sponsored.

Video runs about 6 1/2 minutes.

Constitution Voters?

Why am I not thrilled at this latest effort by the ACLU?

I would think I would be the first to sign up for one of these free Constitution Voter bumper stickers. For some reason I don't think I will.

I guess it's probably because the vast majority of people who will sign on to this are people who regularly vote for candidates who don't support the constitution or, if they do, it's only in regard certain issues when it fits their agenda.

Oh well, if anyone wants to sign up, you can do so here. There's a list on the left that defines the Constitution Voter. Do you think it applies to you? How about your chosen candidates this fall?

A Non- Event

I guess Ron Paul's appearance at the National Press Club turned out, at least so far, to be a non- event. All he seems to have done is ask people to reject the two major parties and vote for someone else. That's a message I like to hear but it's hardly exciting news. Here's the text of his prepared speech if anyone else is interested.

So, I guess this is my non- interesting comment on a non- event.

CCPOA Launches Recall Of Governator

The California Correctional Peace Officer's Association is using their big bucks to launch a recall of the Governor. But, wait: What about Measure T? Oh, that's right, this recall is outside the jurisdiction of Measure T. Besides, Measure T doesn't limit contributions by unions.

UDJ's Weekly Review

I just noticed this You Tube video a few days ago on the Ukiah Daily Journal web site. It seems to be a Week In Review type of show where K.C. Meadows goes around the UDJ newsroom chatting with local reporters about the week's events. The week's events (the video was dated end of August) include an animal cruelty trial and the county budget situation, among other things.

The video runs just under nine minutes and I enjoyed it. I think they may have something there. It looks like they might of hired somebody to film it, from the labeling of the video, but I imagine you could probably do about a good as job with any half decent video camera.

I think they should do this regularly but, how to make money doing it, I'm not sure.

Stancliff/ Palin

I see Dave Stancliff is up to his left wing hijinks again telling us old news about some of the Left's accusations against GOP VP candidate, Sarah Palin.

I don't really get it. Why did they discontinue Dave Cobb's column but keep publishing Stancliff's? Oh, I see. The Times- Standard says he's one of their columnists. I assume he gets paid for that? If not, why Stancliff but not Cobb?

Speaking of Palin, I swear I don't follow Sarah around reading everything about her. This story was on Calnews.com this morning so I thought I'd check it out. The thing I find interesting about her is it seems that even most of the people she went up against don't seem to have that bad of feelings about her.

But I loved reading the fourth paragraph from the bottom:

"It contends that soon after Palin took office, she “made a political enemy of Carney,” who owned a garbage removal company, by voting against an ordinance he proposed that would have required city residents pay for curbside pickup."

She voted against a mandatory garbage pick- up proposal in her town! The same sort of scam that the Eureka City Council recently passed unanimously. If Palin doesn't end up Vice President, I say we lobby her to move here. Sarah Palin for Eureka City Council!!!

Polly Endert Up And Running

Looks like Polly Endert finally got her campaign page up and running. The first thing I noticed I wasn't pleased with. Why web page designers have their screen settings set so their page doesn't fit in the average browser is beyone me.

You (well, at least I have to) need to scroll the page horizontally to see the entire page. Must be the latest rage among web designers as I see George Clark's campaign page is done the same way.

I finally found her page location, not in the Eureka Reporter article on Polly this morning, but in a large ad found a page or two after the article in the Reporter. For some reason I was surprised to see the ad. It lists some of her endorsers, including the Virginia Bass, Mike Jones and Jeff Leonard.

I don't know if quoting someone is considered an endorsement, but the ad quotes Larry Glass in making a favorable comment about Polly. His name isn't included with the other endorsers. I guess that's a way being able to have it both ways. Gives a nod to Polly but doesn't piss off his friends on the Left.

Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a full list of Polly's endorsers on her we page. I'd be interested to see if there are any surprises on that list.

Zombie Does The DNC

Checking in on the Zombieblog, I see she and her crew covered the Democratic National Convention. She's posted the photo essays on the conservative Little Green Footballs blog and Pajamas Media (never heard of that one before). Pretty good stuff, most of it, but I found the one on the Giant Puppet Parade rather dull.

Most of the other reports are typical Zombie. This one, on the prelude to Obama's speech at the Invesco Stadium I found fascinating. I can't imagine anyone standing in a line that length for that long and would suggest that anyone doing so- Republican or Democrat- must be a mind- numbed robot. I don't think I'd stand in a line like that for anyone.

The first picture in The Hillary March report got me to wondering? That lady says her Hillary vote will turn into a McCain vote if Hillary isn't nominated. Is she serious? I've heard from people that have said the same thing, but that was just sound bites on news reports. I'm curious just exactly what similarities, or differences, they find between the candidates that they would limit their choice to Hillary first, McCain second. Anybody have an idea?

Fascinating coverage of the Recreate 68 group's attempt to start a riot in Denver. Zombie actually gets trapped with the "rioters" in that one.

Kind of gets me to wondering under just what auspices she participated in the Democratic National Convention? She said something about not being able to get press credentials but got in some other way. I wonder how? However she did it, it obviously didn't make her official looking enough that she could get through the police line.

Oh well. Thanks to Zombie, we're seeing pictures of some things we might not have seen through the more conventional media.

What's Ron Paul Up To?

Ron Paul will be making a big announcement next week at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. I understand third party presidential candidates Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin are planning on being there. What will this announcement be? Will he be endorsing either Barr, Baldwin, both or NOTA? Inquiring minds want to know.

Alexander Cockburn on Palin

This commentary from Alexander Cockburn was published in the Eureka Reporter this morning. I couldn't find it on the ER web site, but it was up on Creators. I'll have to say it is a pleasure to read some sound commentary from a lefty that isn't hung up on partisanship. He calls it the way he sees it.

A Libertarian Story

This CNN/ Times story was included in the monthly fundraising letter I received from the Libertarian Party yesterday. Never saw when it was first published in July. Fun read for me and might also be for those that like to read about the LP or political parties in general.

Show and Tell

I guess Kym and I must be related. We have the same kind of stove in our homes. She posted a picture of hers on her blog. Here's a picture of mine. For some reason the picture came out a lot smaller than I wanted it too, but you get the idea.

One difference is her oven windows are round, ours are square. You can't really see it but there's a griddle in between the top burners just like hers has but we don't have a cover on ours. Doesn't really matter as we've never really used the griddle but, during the winter, one or both of our cats like to curl up on it since it's nice and warm there. I know, some might think that's gross, but we don't care unless we're trying to cook something.

Our stove actually used to be out in the laundry room behind the garage. There used to be a real old fashioned wood cook stove where this Wedgewood now sits. That stove was given to one of Connie's brothers- in- law.

Directly across from the stove, to the left in the picture, is where this computer sits and I spend much of my time. You can't see that in this picture. You probably wouldn't want to as it's a mess, as is this entire house.

Bob Barr on Social Security

Bob Barr had a nice piece in the Washington Times this morning on the looming problems with the Social Security system. He makes the point that private investment tools have consistently outperformed Social Security in returns.

I agree with Barr wholeheartedly, for the most part, that social security should generally be transformed into private investment funds owned by individuals. The one point where I'll differ with my fellow libertarians is I think there should be some alternative for people that lose everything, including their retirement accounts, later on in their lives.

That can happen through illness or any number of other ways. We lost our retirement accounts to pay for medical expenses. I'm sure it's happened to others. There should be some sort of safety network for those in situations like that.

However, call it what you want, it shouldn't be our current social security system. It should probably be more along the line of some kind of welfare program that is means tested.

Still, I don't understand those from the Left that criticize those from the center, and rightward, who supposedly want to "end social security". If a private company was running an operation along the lines of our current social security system, those same lefties would be screaming for prison time for that company's executives.

I'm Hacking

So, I brought out my laptop to do any necessary program upgrades. I try to do that a couple times a month, otherwise it can take forever to do all the windows, firewall and anti- virus updates all at once.

I checked to make sure the radio- the thing that connects to wireless networks- is disabled. Then I wondered if were are any wireless networks nearby so I enabled the radio to see what signals I could get.

I did pick up one, and only one, strong wireless signal and it wasn't a secured network. So I tried connecting and it worked. I'm using it right now to write this post.

This is kinda neat although I'm not sure how ethical it is. I know some states have laws against such things. Doesn't matter. I prefer hard line DSL, anyway, if it's available and I do have hard line DSL. Nice to know this is available, though.

The name of the network is a somebody's last name. I'll have to ask my new next door neighbor what her last name is. Who needs government to provide wireless when your neighbors provide it for you?