tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23272162427384385642024-02-22T23:43:05.040-08:00Paradise From My Porch.Travels, Travails and Terrors of Northern California from an Off Grid, Green PerspectiveAllan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-62443772470279827982016-10-29T13:02:00.001-07:002016-10-29T13:05:57.009-07:00An Open Letter to the Butte County Democratic Central Committee regarding Measure L<br />
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Dear Junta,<br />
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"All politics is local" goes the old expression. And nothing could be more local, or harmful, than the explosion of the Cannabis Industry in Butte County. We've been fighting about cannabis policy for the past four years, with ballot initiatives showing up four times now in as many years. Most of us are sick of it, but the Extremists in the Inland Cannabis Growers Association keep tilting at windmills, believing that just "one more vote" will persuade the voters to abandon their prior positions and take a hit of the bong.<br />
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Somehow the leaders in the Democratic Central Committee have managed to back the losing horse in these races. I forgave you for your misguided backing of the Industry's Measure B in 2014. I understand that many of us old Liberal/Leftists who live in the urban areas have a certain nostalgia for getting high. It brings us back to our youth, when we were rebels, arguing against the system as we waged peace while getting stoned prior to having to actually work to make a living. <br />
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The voters soundly rejected the Cannabis Industry's Measure B and, instead, overwhelmingly approved Measure A--which intends to end the commercial Cannabis Industry in Butte County. <br />
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Why do you think the voters did that? Because they love the Jackboot of Government on the Potsmoker's neck? Because we are all just Sheeple, who spend our time going to church, praising Jesus, while cleaning our guns and roaming about town with Trump bumper stickers on our F-150's? <br />
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Or maybe the voters don't approve of what the Cannabis Industry has done to Butte County? Maybe they care about a permissive substance abuse culture that leads to mental illness and decreased lifetime incomes for our youth? Maybe they care about our youth? <br />
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Maybe they care about our wildlife? Have you visited rural Butte County lately? Have you seen what has happened over the last decade? Save the Whales! for sure. Fight Fracking! Absolutely. But you can't let the Pot Industry divert our streams, slaughter our wildlife, and destroy habitat. <br />
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I don't think the voters care for yet another greedy industry that poisons the earth and puts our youth at risk.<br />
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Many of us in the Democratic Party expressed to you, our leaders, that we didn't like your endorsement of the Cannabis Industry. So what did you do? With no debate, you endorsed the Inland Cannabis Association's Measure L that will usher in a new age of exploitation in Butte County, if passed.<br />
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Again, this was done with no debate. And with no input from the rank and file Democrats, like me.<br />
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The No on Measure L people are easy to find. The guy who heads up the No campaign is a Democrat. BSANE, which has pointed out the excesses of the Cannabis Industry, was created by FOUR DEMOCRATS! I know. I was there. And yet, I've heard it said that BSANE endorses the militarization of the police. Rubbish. BSANE is a simple website, heroically run by a guy who has voted for Democrats his whole life.<br />
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It seems that the Central Committee has become a Junta. What is it with your love of substance abuse? When you don't listen to anybody but the Extremists in the Inland Cannabis Farmers' Association, you have ceased to honorably represent your constituents. You have stifled debate. And your endorsement, if passed, will change the culture of rural Butte County forever.<br />
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Please, this is not about prohibition. This is about an out of control, greedy industry that you seem to love being in bed with. Shame.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-14011508449983016552016-08-30T20:22:00.000-07:002016-08-30T20:24:43.719-07:00Silent Summer 2016<br />
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My bird feeders are always busy. I always have Lesser Goldfinches* and House Finches at the feeder. You generally will see Titmice, Towhees and Nuthatches. In the summer, a few Black Headed Grosbeaks hang out---once I managed to catch some Evening Grosbeaks. I don't think there is a more beautiful bird around here other than the painfully beautiful Evening Grosbeaks. In the early mornings, the Mourning Doves would feed on the ground.<br />
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In addition, there are three Squirrels who love to steal the sunflower seed that I serve the birds. They tease the dogs, an endless game between Squirrel and Canine.<br />
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For the last month, I have only seen a couple of the Black Headed Grosbeaks. Every other bird has been AWOL. In all the years I have lived here, I have always had at least Goldfinches and House Finches at the feeder. Not this year.<br />
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Why? Where have they gone?<br />
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One friend said they will disappear when it is hot. But this summer hasn't been very hot and every other year the birds were here even when the weather was scorchingly hot.<br />
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I miss them. This place isn't the same without them.<br />
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My trail camera broke, and I just got a new one. So far, nothing has wandered past its lens other than a jackrabbit. <br />
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So why the Silent Summer? Where are the birds? Where are the Squirrels?<br />
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I'm going to call Fish and Wildlife and ask them. <br />
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I have a theory though.<br />
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I am surrounded by Pot Growers. The number one problem they have been having is mites, which can consume the flowering parts of the plant, the part that gets you high, and cut the yield substantially. Most of the growers around me are kids in their 20's. My theory is that one or more of these growers have been using a miticide like Avid, which is very toxic to fish and birds. Avid is illegal to use on food crops---it is for ornamentals, but it is the "go to" miticide to deal with the mite that kills cannabis plants. If inhaled, Avid is carcinogenic. (don't put that in your pipe and smoke it).<br />
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I think one or more of the growers have been using large amounts of Avid, or something similar, on their plants and somehow it has gotten into the food chain. Hence the disappearance of Squirrels and my beloved winged friends. <br />
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* I understand it is customary to not use the upper case letter for wildlife unless there is a qualifier before it: Steller's jay as opposed to sparrows. It is my custom to always capitalize the names of wildlife: they deserve it.<br />
<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-49905093257797217612016-08-03T17:06:00.000-07:002016-08-03T17:06:09.489-07:00Endings...<br />
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I guess that Stellar Jay that appeared all those years ago wasn't strong enough. Note to self: Use your head while following your heart. This is gonna hurt. Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-32567190879692034242016-07-30T20:23:00.001-07:002016-07-30T20:23:29.819-07:005 Days on the Trail...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The plan was to spend 12 days on the trail. Turned out to be 5. Lack of preparation, being out of shape, altitude and, for the youngster amongst us, an unstable detox from electronics. <br />
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Sonora Pass starts at 9,600 feet. Just a month ago, it was very dangerous to hike here due to the snow on the shoots. Some snow remained for us, enough to give a sense of adventure. Yes, it was a little dangerous in places.<br />
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But that's what the trail is for. Danger! Adventure! The trail is the perfect antidote for all the absurdities of modern living. All those little and major crises: job, family, failure, success, stress---all problems recede when boot hits the trail. Worried about divorce? Hard to worry too much when you are hauling a 50 pound pack up a steep trail in altitude. Out of shape I am----at times reduced on the first climb to taking ten steps, stopping, resting, taking ten steps, stopping, resting, repeating the whole process for a few hours.<br />
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"We can always hitch to town and spend our vacation driving", my son said as he watched me heave and breathe.<br />
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"No", I said, "This is what I live for".<br />
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And I do. No matter how out of shape. Or how much suffering is being endured. Of course, the trail is best enjoyed while in good physical conditioning. Been awhile since that's been the case with me.<br />
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We had planned to do eight to nine miles the first day. We settled for five when we found a really nice camp site. A pattern began then: First I'd lie on my pack for about an hour. Then I would set up my tent, get inside, and rest. It was five pm. Time for bed.<br />
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The altitude made me nauseous. No dinner. We tried to cook up one of those dehydrated meals but it was unpalatable and we flushed it down the stream. That started a five day pattern of no appetite.<br />
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Back to my tent. About six. My 30 year old son wasn't quite used to such hours. He is a computer programmer and spends more time in the unreal cyber world then the real world. The reality of breeze and sunlight, leaves and views takes a bit getting used to when you'd spent much of the last week chasing Pokémon. <br />
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He got used to seeing the stars though, something he doesn't get to experienced in the overly urbanized world of the megacities of the East Coast. <br />
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Ah, wilderness. Home on the PCT. <br />
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Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-82926225504779021362016-06-08T21:57:00.000-07:002016-06-08T22:08:00.669-07:00Butte County June Election Post Mortem<br />
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There are still some 11,000 votes to count so the numbers might change a little. But not much. The election is history. And although the cadaver is fresh, it is still worth looking at the numbers a bit.<br />
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First off, Bernie Sanders won Butte County. Of course, that makes sense since we have a University and our population is mostly white. Bernie won white counties; he lost Hispanic and African-American counties. I learned one thing: Don't suggest that that is the reason that he lost in a North Staters for Bernie Facebook page. It looks like the youth vote, that likes rallies and hacky sack games, didn't show up as much as expected and that Bernie didn't do well with Minority groups. Plus the nomination was called for Hillary the night before.<br />
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Local Berners, predictably, said it was all a conspiracy much like Florida in 2000. One guy mentioned that perhaps it was orchestrated by the same people. Really? There were complaints that the No Party Preference people weren't given the Democratic ballot when asked. Some said that their Mail In ballot came with the wrong party (My spouse's ballot came with the Green Party choices). One of the Bernie Delegates, who will be going to Philadelphia, vows to change her party affiliation if Bernie isn't the nominee. <br />
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Zealots.<br />
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Do I think there was a conspiracy against Bernie by the Establishment? No. Not for a minute.<br />
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Jim Reed, Democrat candidate for Congress, took Butte County due to a split in the Republican vote where Joe Montes ran a great challenge against Doug LaMalfa. The Republicans around here argue with each other just as much as, if not more than, the Democrats do.<br />
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The Supervisor vote went pretty much according to plan, with Steve Lambert and Bill Connelly winning easily. Doug Teeter will have to be in a run-off against Big Mo Huffman (who is a Democrat). That could change as there are 11,000 votes to count, probably a couple thousand of them from the 5th District and third place finisher, Dianna Wright is only 112 votes behind Big Mo. Teeter had two challengers to his Right and one from his Left. He should win easily in November.<br />
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The abolition of Fracking in Butte County won with 71% of the vote. This is amazing as the Republican Party was opposed to it, although Joe Montes, a serious Republican candidate challenging Doug LaMalfa, was opposed to Fracking. It is quite evident that on this vote, people didn't vote much according to party line. <br />
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Joni got the Measure on the ballot single-handedly by taking on the Oil and Gas Companies in court. When the Measure passed, she only received one phone call of gratitude.<br />
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People obviously crossed party lines to vote Yes on the Cannabis Measures G and H. Both won easily, and to win with that margin, it is obvious that many Democrats crossed over to the dark side to vote for improved regulation of Cannabis. The Cannabis Taliban said that the voters "just didn't understand what they were voting for." I think they did.<br />
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But the Cannabis Taliban True Believers will be back in November with yet another ballot measure. This time they want regulation and licensure in order to open the Butte County Wild Lands to more excessive pot grows. It is an ambitious ordinance that doesn't have a chance. Why? Because the majority in Butte County do not want a Commercial Cannabis Industry in our county. It is that simple.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-1159832511885760942016-06-04T12:17:00.001-07:002016-06-04T12:17:23.364-07:00My Endorsements for the June 7 election:<strong></strong><br />
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<strong>1st District Supervisor: William Connelly.</strong> <br />
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It isn't so much that the careerist Connelly is good but, really, it is about just how bad his opponents are. Both Ron Stoker and Mark Warner give the impression that they have never set foot outside of Oroville. They both are uninformed and hopelessly naïve.<br />
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<strong>4th District Supervisor: Steve Lambert.</strong> <br />
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Mr. Lambert has been a leader on both the fracking issue and on the regulation of cannabis. He deserves re-election for his leadership.<br />
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<strong>5th District: Doug Teeter.</strong><br />
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Doug can be a bit timid and tends to swerve towards the middle of the road. He avoids controversy and his recent conversion to the Republican Party doesn't help his reputation as being a non-partisan Independent. He should have remained an Independent. Yet Teeter has been a leader for the environmental protection of the rural areas of Butte County. Big Mo Huffman is running as a Democrat, and it would be nice to see a Democrat on the board. Unfortunately, Big Mo doesn't present a good enough of an argument as to why Teeter should be replaced. The same can be said for Dianna Wright and D.H. Grumbles.<br />
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<strong>4th District Assemblyman: Ed Ritchie. </strong><br />
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Gallagher is just too much of the same lackluster leadership heading to Sacramento. This rural area could use a Democrat to voice our concerns.<br />
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<strong>1st District Assembly: Brian Dahle.</strong><br />
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There is a reason why Dahle has no opposition: he is a well studied, and fair Assemblyman. Yes, he is wrong on more than a few issues, especially SB277, but on the whole, he expresses the needs of the 1st District better than anyone in recent memory.<br />
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<strong>Congress: Jim Reed.</strong><br />
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Jim Reed is a bit of an oddball. But so is LaMalfa. Montes is putting forth a valiant effort against LaMalfa and we hope that he is successful in beating him. A third place finish for LaMalfa would be a fitting end for this Welfare Rancher.<br />
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<strong>Senate: Steve Stokes.</strong> <br />
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Steve endorsed Bernie Sanders. We need someone outside the Democratic Party establishment and a Progressive, to take Barbara Boxer's seat.<br />
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<strong>President: Bernie Sanders.</strong> <br />
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We will support Hillary Clinton when she is chosen. But Bernie has established the Left Wing of the Democratic Party to be a real force for good. Hopefully, the Democratic Party will endorse his agenda in the coming years. Donald Trump is an unstable, dangerous person with nationalistic views that are frightening in its racism and xenophobia.<br />
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<strong>Measure E: Yes.</strong> <br />
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We need a fracking ban if, for anything, to be a precendent for the other counties in California and the nation. Butte county loves renewables, as you can tell by all the solar panels going up everywhere.<br />
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<strong>Measure G: Yes.</strong><br />
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Cannabis is not an established crop. And the current Cannabis Industry is irresponsible and rude to neighbors, wildlife and the earth. We need to be able to complain about the negative sides of cannabis production.<br />
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<strong>Measure H: Yes.</strong><br />
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The timely collection of fines will deter commercial production of cannabis in Butte County. We are all sick of the stench, the pit bulls, the substance abuse non-culture, and the real threat that cannabis abuse poses to our youth through the mental health effects (everything from amotivation to anxiety, to depression, to schizophrenia). Please vote Yes.</div>
Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-58685454960127059752016-05-28T20:49:00.000-07:002016-05-28T20:57:48.406-07:00Some Notes on the June 7 Butte County Primary Election...Montes and Teeter<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_574a6040a3b265e73786731">
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Joe Montes</div>
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Doug Teeter<br />
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This primary election season has been much more interesting than normal here in Butte County, California. It should be noted that Democratic registration is way up. In fact, about 1,000 more mail-in ballots have been sent to Butte County Democrats than Republicans. Despite the hoopla regarding Donald Trump supposedly bringing in more Republican voters, so far it seems that Bernie Sanders has had more of an impact in Butte County. <br />
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The last time Butte County went blue was in 2008, which was a very special year. Might we s<span class="text_exposed_show">ee a repeat in November?</span><br />
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And there have been way more letters-to-the-editor in favor of Joe Montes over Doug LaMalfa. Democrat Jim Reed has been absent from the Opinion pages. Despite that, the increased registration of Democratic voters should assure Jim Reed a slot in the November election. Might Joe Montes be the new challenger? Or maybe we will all be surprised and it will be a Montes versus LaMalfa runoff in November. Stay tuned.<br />
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Neither the Chico ER nor the Paradise Post have made an endorsement. The CNR predictably endorsed Reed. This is a race that most of us thought would be pretty boring that has turned out to furnish some excitement, complete with the usual dirty tricks by LaMalfa. <br />
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The Republican Party seems split on the matter. Republican Chair, Mike Zuccollillo sent out a mailer where he endorsed Montes over LaMalfa. He also complained regarding the use of mailers by LaMalfa which implied that the Butte County Republican Party had endorsed him. This is all very interesting.<br />
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The other race that is interesting in Butte County is the 5th Supervisor District. The Incumbent, Doug Teeter, read the tea leaves and registered as a Republican. He used to be an Independent and, in fact, got the endorsement from the Paradise Democratic Club back in 2012. This year he has a couple of Republican challengers, the most aggressive from Dianna Wright who is a prolific letter writer and Republican Gadfly. The problem is that Dianna Wright might split the Republican vote that Teeter so desperately seeks, throwing the election to Big Mo Huffman. <br />
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Huffman is running as a Democrat and the Dems have actually done some work this year. They have opened an office in Paradise and they have been reinvigorated by a couple of rowdy locals. With the increased voter Registration of the Dems (almost even in Paradise in mail-in vote ballots sent), the BERNIE effect, along with Dianna Wright splitting the Republican Teeter vote, just might make Big MO' Huffman's election possible. <br />
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Of course, Doug Teeter has been a good supervisor. He has done his homework and he is especially interested in protecting (and providing access to) Butte County's wild lands. Losing Teeter would be a shame because he deserves re-election. He should have stuck it out as an Independent and given up aligning himself with Doug LaMalfa in a mailer.<br />
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Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-51268968027670924292016-05-14T15:52:00.002-07:002016-05-14T16:45:30.597-07:00Yes on G: Yes on H<br />
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Measure A changed Butte County's unincorporated areas for the better. It began the process of reigning in an out-of-control, unregulated Cannabis Industry where any Felon or Greedhead from Ohio, could find a piece of land and make a million dollars within one season. And they could do that tax-free with the blessing of the county.<br />
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When the Greedheads ruled the rural areas of Butte County, all sorts of abuses occurred. For those of us who live out in the remote hills where many of the Cannabis Growers chose to hide out, we noticed immediate changes when they moved in en masse. The first thing I noticed was that I saw fewer critter tracks on hikes. And then a local felon who was released from jail purchased a bit of land and started growing pot. The land rush was on! Then I noticed the herd of deer, which numbered in the dozens, were gone. Then I noticed that the Red tailed hawk that used to inhabit a meadow near my home was gone. He probably died from rodenticide that the growers use voraciously. <br />
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Gun shots would ring out at night--probably taking out deer that strayed too close to a grow.<br />
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A Fish and Wildlife person told me that the tributaries of Lake Oroville have been destroyed by the Cannabis Farming. On a hike one day, way out in the middle of no-where, a small trickle of a seep from a spring had a pipe attached, leading it to a grow. Almost all the water sources were tapped in the rural areas illegally, to the detriment of wildlife. The MJ grows were everywhere. Millions of dollars were to be made! Wells were put in for commercial purchases and the Commercial Growers don't pay a nickel for the water. Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife Service report that the local fauna suffered from the water that was stolen to raise pot.<br />
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Frankly, it was a rape of the land akin to the Gold Rush days. Call it the Green Rush. These foothills, which really are the last decent habitat for anything wild in California, was under full assault by an industry that cared nothing for its impact on the land. <br />
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Then the voters of Butte County got smart and passed Measure A; things instantly got better. Many of the growers reduced their grows and also put them under plastic. Many growers left for greener pastures in other counties. Gun shots during the night were greatly reduced. The amount of young, stoned kids at the swimming hole was reduced by half. These kids move out here for the growing season; fewer workers means fewer grows. All in all, I'd guess the grows in my area were reduced by fifty percent.<br />
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Civility improved in my rural area due to the Growers having to be a bit more friendly to their neighbors or they could be turned in (the rules as to who could report a grow had changed). The Growers weren't near as cavalier with their attitudes as they were prior to the passage of Measure A.<br />
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Now the County is back with more reforms. The first, Measure G, wants to make sure Cannabis isn't listed as a protected agricultural product. Of course, THC isn't wheat. And if you are growing pot to be your Pharmacy---the equivalent of Norco or Percocet, well, Norco isn't a crop and neither is your Cannabis. You will still be able to report the stench of a pot grow as a public nuisance if Cannabis isn't a protected agricultural product.<br />
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Measure H streamlines the collection of fines. Last year, the first for Measure A, a couple million dollars in fines were written, and through stonewalling, only a couple hundred thousand dollars were collected. The Greedheads still managed to grow their crop and skedaddle out of there to enjoy their profits before their day in court came due. Streamlining a code matter just makes sense. And it will help deter those who want to grow commercially and, if they do grow commercially, the County will be able to collect the fines faster.<br />
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Justice should be quick.<br />
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And so I am voting for Measure G and H. I will vote for it because the wildlife of Butte County can't vote for it. Neither the Red tailed hawk, nor the Pacific fisher, nor the eagle, nor the osprey, nor the black tailed deer, nor the otter, nor the eagle, nor the opossum, nor the jackrabbit, nor the bear, nor the skunk, nor the raccoon, nor the mountain lion, nor the martens, nor the salmon, nor the trout, nor the raccoon, nor the coyote, nor the fox----none of these animals that have been impacted by the Greedheads can vote. We have to be the voice of wildlife. Vote yes on G and H.<br />
<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-25922490634842089062016-05-07T17:55:00.003-07:002016-05-07T22:34:10.615-07:00In Defense of Opiates<br />
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"Ease their pain." That was the first, and best, nursing advice I've ever been given. It was given to me 25 years ago by a very wise Nurse Manager. That's how deep knowledge gets passed on in nursing: by the younger ones listening to the experience of the elders. Treating people's pain was important when I first became an RN.<br />
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No longer. <br />
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Easing people's pain has now been limited to ibuprofen and cannabis. Opiates are frowned upon due to the increase in suicides from opiate overdoses. However, in my experience, the suicide epidemic from opiates occurs from the UNDER treatment of pain and the ineffectiveness of pain management and NOT because of the opiate itself. I believe this current epidemic of heroin overdoses is a result of NOT treating pain properly. We are getting it wrong.<br />
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We don't have many arrows in our quiver when it comes to treating pain. And when it comes to treating severe pain, most of the arrows don't work. Yes, I know every Granola Guru thinks that Cannabis is the answer for everything from chronic pain to cancer, when in reality, cannabis can be helpful but it pales in comparison to an opiate. <br />
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A few years ago, a 300 pound homicidal Schizophrenic with command auditory hallucinations to kill people, hit me as hard as he could with his elbow. He broke a couple of my ribs, damaged a lung, and injured my back. The back injury resulted in something called Peri-Scapular Myofascial Pain Syndrome. It means that the area around my right scapula is in constant spasm and pain. The pain feels like a dozen hamsters are chewing on the muscles in my back. The feeling is similar to the sensation you would have if someone stuck a knife through your back and twisted it. <br />
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I've been in treatment for this injury for years. I've tried injections to cure it. All of the pain medications. Two different chiropractors. Massage. Nothing works long term. <br />
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Norco takes care of the pain.<br />
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Without Norco (an opiate) I couldn't function. Thankfully I have a Physician who understands me, has seen me through out this injury, and has the wit and the compassion to prescribe the medication to me despite the current pressure to no longer use opiates.<br />
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We used to believe that pain was the "Fifth Vital Sign". Now doctors are being harassed for prescribing opiates--even being threatened with jail. I have seen the consequences of this in my own practice. You see, I work outpatient as a Home Health Nurse. Nothing makes you feel more helpless than watching an elderly person suffer from the cessation of pain medication. They not only go through withdrawal but they lose function. And they suffer pain. I had one client who could walk when she had Norco; now she is wheelchair bound because her doctor refuses to prescribe it. <br />
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That's how to gauge the effectiveness of a pain regimen: does it increase activity and function. The same should be true when pain medication is withheld: if activity and function decreases, then the pain medication should be restored. Not to mention the compassionate aspect of Easing Their Pain.<br />
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Life in capitalist America isn't easy for the majority of people who have to work for a living-- sometimes holding two or three jobs at the same time. Low wages and too many hours are causing injuries and wearing out workers. I don't believe the record use of pain medication and anti-depressants in the United States is caused by Big Pharma; I believe the record use of these drugs is caused by an economic system that is downright cruel to the poor, workers, and the oppressed. Percocet and Prozac have become the new opiates of the people (replacing religion, like Marx thought). We need the anti-depressants and the opiates just to summon the energy and pain relief to plod through the day. Getting old isn't easy. Working in America isn't easy. Rare is the elderly person who doesn't suffer from a bit of pain.<br />
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Over the past year, the toughest part of my job has been watching people suffer from the under treatment of pain. It has caused a near existential crises in me, as I watch people try and cope with the pronouncements of their Doctors that "We have to cut your pain medication down." Many live in fear every month that their Doctor will decide that treating their pain is no longer worth jeopardizing their license to practice medicine. Many consider suicide. Some have attempted it. Some have died.<br />
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It doesn't help when a celebrity, like Prince, dies from a probable Percocet OD. The knee jerk response is to blame the opiate and the use of them, resulting in the pressure to discontinue easing people's pain, which, in the long run, just ends in more overdoses, more pain, more suffering. <br />
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We have branded the person who suffers from Chronic Pain to be Drug Seeking Addicts if they use opiates. They (or we, because I am one) have become second class citizens. We are punished by having to see a doctor every 30 days. Our scripts are given on a triplicate form that must be brought to the Pharmacy and not sent electronically like every other prescription. We must show an ID to pick up our medications and we have to make the trip to the pharmacy as the meds cannot be delivered. <br />
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People who suffer from Chronic Pain now wear a scarlet letter. The pendulum has swung too far. We need to Ease Their Pain.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-78026195494989364852016-05-01T19:45:00.000-07:002016-05-01T19:46:20.827-07:00Combine May Day with Naked Gardening Day!<br />
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For people like me, May Day just might as well be considered a High Holy Day. It is an Eco-Socialist's dream day. Too bad so few celebrate it. Although May Day has a rival now: May 2nd has been designated "Naked Gardening Day". That holiday should be scrapped and the nakedness should just be added to the May Day celebrations. Although Fidel Castro might not approve. Nor is imagining the old Politburo reviewing the military weapons parade in their birthday suits very appealing.<br />
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You can trace the Pagan holiday of Beltane back to herding and pastoralism of the Celtic people from pre-agriculture days thousands of years ago. They celebrated Beltane on May 1st. Modern day Pagans tend to be Earthy sorts of people and you can find them in Urban Bohemian areas building a bonfire on this evening. These Modern Day Pagans have a randy saying: "Hurray, Hurray, it is the First of May; Outdoor Fucking begins today."<br />
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That seems a whole lot more fun than spreading fertilizer and hoeing while naked in a garden.<br />
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It was a bit more innocent of a holiday when I was a child. We would make a May Basket and then find a person of the opposite sex with whom we were enamored. You then would leave the basket at their front door and ring the doorbell. <br />
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And then you ran away. The person who got the May Basket is supposed to chase you down and give you a kiss. This is a child's game that needs to come back into style. <br />
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But the reason why we really don't celebrate May Day properly is because of its connection with the struggle for an eight hour work day. For this I borrow from an article written in the IWW newsletter:<br />
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<em>"On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye."</em><br />
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May Day has its origins in the United States. It is a holiday for labor agitation. It is a holiday created by American Socialists, Communists and Anarchists. Later Brezhnev and company stole the holiday and used it for displaying their military might. They usurped an American tradition. May Day is as American as apple pie. Bring it back.<br />
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<em></em><br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-25331748644045502102016-04-30T20:14:00.003-07:002016-04-30T20:21:02.946-07:00Nine Years in the Mud Hut<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nine years.<br />
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It was nine years ago today that I looked at this house. We put an offer in on it immediately. I slept on our deck that night in a sleeping bag, excited to be out in the "middle of nowhere". <br />
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Nine years is the longest I have ever lived anyplace since I left the nest at age 18. It takes the record by a longshot as, I think the longest I have lived in one house previous to this place was three years. <br />
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I like it here. Yes, the area has become much more settled with all the pot growers that have moved in. This is temporary and they will be gone when 1. it is legal everywhere and 2. Butte County continues to get strict about land use and ending the commercial cannabis business in decent wildlife habitat. <br />
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It has been quite an adventure. The girls hate it here. Joni doesn't enjoy it as much as I do. This place isn't convenient. And we haven't always had the budget, or the energy, to do the things we planned on doing. <br />
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I don't know how many years we went without hot water. Three? And I think it took us two years to get a heat source. For the first couple years, all four of us slept in the 350 square foot cabin (I slept in the incomplete addition as long as the temperature was above forty degrees). <br />
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Has life been hard here? Yes. Especially for Joni. I've experienced some judgment from her friends for living out here in the middle of nowhere without the normal implements of luxury you find in town. My defense? I am a poor man from a poor family. <br />
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Now that I am the top of the family pyramid, my inheritance from my father was one very rusty van that I plan on turning into a chicken coop when it dies; I also inherited a rocking chair. My father always said that you should spend less than you make. That's the way to get ahead. That's what this frugal, simple structure give us the capacity to do.<br />
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For the last two years I have worked taking care of the elderly, visiting them in their homes. This has been an eye opening experience as I have seen the extremes of comfortable retirement living and also those who are dirt poor, suffering. I've had to buy food for clients when they wouldn't have any food in the house for another week. Poverty does not appeal to me one bit. Poor people die younger; are less happy; have more health problems; and experience much less joy. <br />
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Getting old requires planning. When you don't have a job that provides a retirement (like a cushy government job), or if you come from hardscrabble Peasant stock, you have to be even smarter. Such is the story of wealth in America. As America has become incredibly unequal when it comes to wealth, the rules have changed in order to keep the wealthy, wealthy. It is called the "Born on Third Base" phenomena. Think of it this way: we currently can inherit 1.6 Million dollars tax free. <br />
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I inherited a rocking chair. Therefore, living in an inexpensive house in the middle of nowhere not only allows access to beauty and critters--- it also affords me an opportunity to save money. I have to earn money the old fashioned way: I have to earn it. <br />
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Left Wingers and Radicals often have an uncomfortable relationship with money. We generally have a bit of disgust for the rich. So many of us Lefties fall into two camps: The Trustfunders and the "Poverty is a Virtue" Crowd---otherwise known as "voluntary poverty". I am not a Trustfunder and I learned long ago that Voluntary Poverty has a nasty way of turning into mind numbing, plain ole' poverty. I have no interest in being poor. And no Left Winger should tolerate anyone having to live in poverty. <br />
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This house has made it so that we could raise a couple of kids in later middle age and save a decent amount of money with a very modest income. Perks of simplicity. Joni and I didn't have a lick of savings when we moved out here. Now, we are on track to living a bit more comfortably. That's what a Mud House has done for us.<br />
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So for my critics: those who think I have done damage to both spouse and children by living in the middle of nowhere in a Mud Hut. Tell me how I could have done it differently and still had a few shekels to rub together in retirement? I think this was the right decision. Hard as it is sometimes.<br />
<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-9779246669732900652016-04-08T22:24:00.001-07:002016-04-08T23:12:32.240-07:00This Presdidential Race Needs a Dr. Gonzo to Cover It.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Can you believe this Presidential race? <br />
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On one hand we have the resurrection of a real Left Wing political movement in the Democratic Party, where Bernie Sanders valiantly battles with the worn out Corporatist Wing of the Party. <br />
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Meanwhile, the Republicans have a race between a Billionaire Celebrity with a bad hairpiece versus a Texas Religious Shithead who has no friends even in his own party.<br />
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The Democrats reach new heights of real debate and the Republicans sink to ever lower depths of, well let's call it what it is, Fascism.<br />
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Oh I wish I could read a real writer/journalist's take on the race. Alex Cockburn is dead. If Hunter Thompson knew this presidential race was gonna happen, he might not have eaten that slug. And Hitch, what would Hitch say about it all? Oh to get their take on the race. There aren't any decent radical journalists left in the US on the campaign trail. Most of them have retired to the Ivory Tower where the health benefits and pension ensure a decent retirement (if they quit drinking and smoking soon enough to enjoy it). <br />
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MSNBC covers this race with some intelligence but without really saying what is going on within the Democratic Party. And MSNBC has borrowed the FOX formula by having only attractive female reporters following the Presidential Candidates. I don't mind. They all seem to be named "Kate" or "Kasie". They do an admirable job of reporting on their subjects. My favorite is Kasie Hunt who, I hope, ends up with her own program when she is done chasing Bernie Sanders around the country. Kasie is spunky and sounds a bit like a female John Chancellor as she, with very proper posture, reports on the days events. <br />
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Of course none of these reporters can stray too far outside the Network MSM "Box". That box might be a bit more liberal at MSNBC than it is at Fox, but both of them have boxes that shall not be breached. <br />
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I haven't turned the dial over to FOX to see how they are covering this race. I've been too scared to do that. And CNN? S.E. Cupp looks great in those glasses and their graphics are awesome, but the commentary is a bit tired with the same faces giving the same schtick over and over again.<br />
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If I were a rich blogger with press credentials, I'd love to follow along with this race. It'd be a hoot to cover. Rich in nuance. I mean look what is happening: We have the redevelopment of a viable Left Wing in the Democratic Party at the same time that the Republicans devolve into a dangerous cesspool of racism and hate. <br />
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It is a dangerous and exciting year. A time for real Fear and Loathing. If only I could find some decent radical commentary on it worth reading. You would think that with the rise of a viable Left Wing in the Democratic Party, we would have some talented Left Wing writer out there who could fully chronicle what is going on and present it to us in readable and punchy prose. I can't find anybody worth reading. Have you?<br />
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***Addendum: John Nichols of The Nation writes a good campaign blog worth reading. It misses a bit of flare and I don't think Nichols gives Sanders enough credit for reinvigorating the Left in the US. You can read it<a href="http://www.thenation.com/authors/john-nichols/" target="_blank"> here</a><br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-10012271317293736052016-03-25T22:16:00.000-07:002016-03-25T22:23:11.104-07:00Extreme Moderation and Meniere's Disease: My Struggle.<br />
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Two years ago in May, I was at work on the Psych Unit in St. Helena when things started to get a bit wobbly. I felt a weird, heavy sensation in my head, followed by a rushing noise in my ears, followed by a "spin". The world was spinning so fast, much like a Tilt-a-Whirl at a carnival, that I had a hard time walking. A kind colleague walked me down to the Emergency Room (where I did the psych evals) and helped me into a gurney. The doctor there said it was just "vertigo" caused by a recent cold that I had had. An inner ear disturbance. He gave me meclizine and told me to take a couple days off and rest. He got it partially right; it was inner ear related.<br />
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A couple months later, it happened again. And again after a couple more months. And so on. <br />
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I had started calling them "attacks", these vertigo spins. They lasted for up to two hours, but generally they are over after forty five minutes. Joni was concerned. <br />
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Then last April I had one while driving on a busy section of highway 99 about ten miles outside of Chico. This attack was a bit worse than all the others. Joni had to come rescue me (from 45 miles away) and the spin was still going. I fell into the van and endured the spin. She went to the grocery store while I continued to spin in the back of the van; when the spin just wouldn't subside, she took me to the Emergency Room. In the Emergency Room waiting area, the spin continued and I started to vomit.<br />
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I was hospitalized for the weekend. <br />
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They ruled out a stroke and a heart attack. But I didn't get the diagnosis until I saw an Ear, Nose and Throat MD a week after the hospitalization. <br />
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I have Meniere's Disease. It sucks.<br />
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Meniere's Disease is a disturbance of the inner ear where, they think, the fluid builds up over time and then bursts, causing the motion center of the ear to become unstable. The result is the classic "spin" or "vertigo attack". The attacks last for an hour or two and, unfortunately, affect your hearing. Hearing loss to the point of deafness is not uncommon. <br />
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Meniere's Disease has three components: Tinnitus (ringing in your ears); vertigo attacks; and hearing loss. Nobody really knows what causes it. Once you have it, you have a life-long chronic illness. There is no cure.<br />
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I've always had Tinnitus. I always thought it was from playing music too loud in my teenaged years. I liked my Beatles and Larry Norman to be played at rock concert decibel levels. That certainly could be the case, but, more than likely, the tinnitus has been a prodromal symptom of my Meniere's Disease. <br />
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The ENT checked my hearing (minor hearing loss in the upper registers, not enough to warrant a hearing aid) and told me to come back in a year to check my hearing again. He also told me to come back if the attacks became unmanageable. He put me on HCTZ, a diuretic, and told me not to eat salt.<br />
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I continued to have attacks over the next nine months. They started to get more frequent, and I started to fear for my safety while driving. I drive about six to eight hundred miles a week for my job. I get about a minute's warning with the heavy head sensation and the weird feeling and the whoosh in my ears that an attack is imminent. Once the attack happens, I am helpless for the next hour or two. So that gives me about a minute to find a safe place to park the car and ride out the spin. I started to carry a lounge chair in the trunk of my car so that I could set it up and ride out the vertigo. I carry meclizine (motion sickness pills) at all times. After an attack, I am exhausted and generally need to sleep for the rest of the day.<br />
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With attacks starting to happen every two weeks or so, I finally got around to getting serious about this disease. Disability seemed like more than a possibility. A car accident certainly seemed within the realm of possibility too. <br />
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I got serious about my salt intake. Turns out there is salt in everything. Eating out isn't possible anymore. I try to keep my sodium intake to be under 1,500 milligrams a day. A quarter pounder from McDonald's has 1,200 milligrams of sodium in it. <br />
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Over the last two years of "attacks", I've come to realize they happen towards the end of the day at the end of the week. The attacks seem to be triggered by, what I call, the THREE S's: Sleep (or lack thereof); Salt (too much); and Stress (too much). If you have Meniere's, you have to get lots of sleep, give up salt and reduce/manage your stress. Yeah, right.<br />
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I ordered a half dozen books on Meniere's and did my research. It is a relatively obscure disease and the literature out there tends to be self-published by those of us who have the disease. Around 40,000 people are diagnosed every year in the US with Meniere's. I'm one of the unlucky members of the class of 2015.<br />
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After reading the books, I discovered that you need to go a bit farther than just eliminating salt, getting sleep and reducing stress. In order to reduce the number of attacks, you also have to give up CAFFEINE, NICOTINE and ALCOHOL. Nicotine isn't a problem, but giving up coffee? Beer? Wine? Scotch? Is there anything left to live for?<br />
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So I got serious in January. A couple of the books suggested that after you get a diagnosis of Meniere's, you should take two years off from work to learn how to manage the disease. Must be Trustfunders, because I need money or I will end up sleeping under a bridge. But I did start to get serious about this illness. There's plenty of incentive. Can you imagine living without music? Hearing birds? Hearing the squabble of children? I'm not interested in becoming deaf.<br />
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So I greatly reduced the caffeine and pretty much gave up alcohol. I had a couple beers on my birthday at the Sierra Nevada Brewery and a couple glasses of wine about a month before that---and that's it. Caffeine I have pretty much given up except a latte' as a treat now and then.<br />
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As I write this, I haven't had a Meniere's Attack since January 28. That's 57 days. With any luck, I hope I'm on my way to managing this disease. It ain't fun. I'd love to have a potato chip. Just one. I'd love to have French fries with salt on them. But I can't. I like listening to Abbey Road too much to jeopardize that by eating a potato chip.<br />
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But oh, to have a glass of Scotch every night before bed in the winter, like I used to. Forced into sobriety, I am. It ain't all that bad. And with any luck, as I learn to manage this illness, I might be able to have a potato chip or a glass of Scotch now and then. I am learning to practice Extreme Moderation.<br />
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57 days and counting without a spin. I can't tell you how exciting that is for me.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-32186973170657972832016-03-05T14:52:00.002-08:002016-03-05T15:31:32.901-08:00Trump and Wallace<br />
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Both George Wallace and Donald Trump exploded their political careers into the national spotlight by focusing on race and walls. Race: George through Segregation; Donald through Birtherism. As for walls: Wallace barricaded the halls of a University to stop Black students from opportunity; Trump through his outlandish claim to build a wall on the border (and end opportunity for poor Hispanics). <br />
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Wallace and Trump were both populists. They both tried (and try) to appeal beyond race. But race is what they will both be remembered for. And the racial insults of Donald Trump automatically disqualifies him from being a serious presidential candidate.<br />
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Both Wallace and Trump could entice and entertain. Here is Gonzo Journalist Hunter Thompson writing in 1972 about Wallace when HST interviewed a Polish factory worker:<br />
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"This guy is the real thing" one of them said. "I never cared anything about politics before, but Wallace ain't the same as the others. He doesn't sneak around the bush. He just comes right out and says it". <br />
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Thompson goes on to write about a Wallace rally: <br />
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"It was the first time I'd ever seen Wallace in person. There were no seats in the hall; everybody was standing. The air was electric even before he started talking, and by the time he was five or six minutes into his spiel, I had a sense that the bastard had levitated himself and was hovering over us. It reminded me of a Janis Joplin concert. Anybody who doubts the Wallace appeal should go out and catch his act sometime."<br />
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There are a lot of George Wallace's political genes in Donald Trump. They are both populist racists separated only by 50 years of history. They both represent the worst, most awful, political impulse the American people are capable of. Yes, there are some good things in Trump's program: his critique of exporting jobs to other countries and his opposition to TPP. Even the devil has good qualities. But when you boil Trump down to his basic essence, you find the stench of racism.<br />
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American people: Wake up!<br />
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Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-74667185760398672682016-01-09T16:08:00.000-08:002016-01-09T18:40:40.621-08:00Ammon Bundy, Joni and Me...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The government's response to the Right Wing Occupiers up in Oregon, where disgruntled Yeehawistas have taken over a bird refuge, is quite underwhelming. Whereas it is reported that the Bundy clan and other armed, anti-government cowboys aren't well liked by the locals, I have seen photos of the local sheriff shaking hands with the lead Bundy, Ammon--even offering him safe passage out of the state. <br />
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No SWAT team has been deployed. No National Guard. Where are they?<br />
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I had my own little Occupation a couple years ago. When the government closed down Lassen National Park, I climbed Mount Harkness within the Park's boundary ignoring the park's closure order. I did it to write a story about for the CNR about Ed Abbey, as he completed his seminal work, Desert Solitaire, in the Mount Harkness fire tower back in 1967. If you ever get the chance to be the only person in a national park, I suggest you take advantage of the situation. It was glorious.<br />
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The Lassen National Park Rangers didn't take my silly little occupation lightly: they dispatched a Ranger, on the government dime, to drive 5 hours round trip to drive to my home in order to give me a ticket for illegal camping and refusing to obey a park closure rule. I had to pay two hundred fifty dollars.<br />
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A year before that, I had a Modoc County sheriff threaten to arrest me for simply trying to cover an illegal coyote hunt on federal land up in Aiden, California. He even threatened to throw my 12 year-old granddaughter in jail for trying to buy a soda.<br />
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My spouse had her own Occupation of federal land. Back in 1992, the forest service was going to allow logging on a huge grove of 500 year old Englemann spruce in Colorado's South San Juan National Forest. The trees were located at 9,000 feet; a replacement stand of trees would take hundreds of years to reach any considerable size. Joni didn't care much for this, so she climbed a tree and zipped around the tree canopy, frustrating logging attempts and holding back the operation for a few days. The forest service brought in a SWAT team, armed with automatic weapons and night vision goggles, to apprehend one tree sitter (my wife) and break up a small support encampment of a dozen hippies with bongos. Joni ended up going to prison for a month.<br />
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Both Joni and I have gotten more severe penalties from the government for our lowly occupations than the armed Oath Keeper's and the Bundy's have received thus far. But then again, Joni and I are left wing, unarmed enviros, the sorts of people the government has no problem arresting and ticketing. We must be dangerous people. <br />
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Let's hope Ammon Bundy has to pay a fine of at least $250. Actually, I hope they send him to jail for a long, long time. The birds deserve that.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-66837712079372848012015-12-06T22:34:00.000-08:002015-12-06T23:36:44.586-08:00Some Words in Defense of Jesus...<br />
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Drive around Paradise, California and you will see more churches than fast food restaurants, thrift stores, and pickup trucks combined. The churches are everywhere. The biggest one is called the "CMA", and it is monstrous. It is probably the biggest building in Paradise and is certainly in better repair than the high school that serves 1,200 students. The church is so big, they have their own gym. The parking lot is gigantic enough to host a farmers' market every Thursday with ample parking.<a href="http://paradisecma.org/" target="_blank"> </a><br />
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On the <a href="http://paradisecma.org/" target="_blank">Church's website,</a> spend some time poking through the sermons archive and you get a nauseating combination of self-help tripe combined with simplistic steps to take to solve any problem. It is a church for white families who own Chevy Tahoes. It's one of those popular churches that are in vogue for people who are lonely and find life without meaning. A meaningless, lonely life sucks and I don't think it is an awful thing to go to church to place a little salve on it.<br />
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What I do object to is the ostentatiousness of the Church. Turns my stomach. I'm not so certain that Jesus wouldn't be nauseated by the whole thing too.<br />
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I consider myself a Christian. Although I find most of the post resurrection stuff about Jesus as a work of fiction. Dead people do not become alive again. Atonement for sins is silly. I don't want anyone paying the price for my sins but me: I deserve it. It is called cause and effect. To me grace is just luck.<br />
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I don't believe Jesus was born of a virgin while three wise men followed a star to his cradle. That's a beautiful story, but it is a myth.<br />
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I don't believe Jesus rose from the dead. In fact, I doubt any body was ever recovered. Generally crucified people were fed to the dogs.<br />
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I don't believe Jesus is coming again. I don't believe he was God. Some say he didn't even exist. I think he did.<br />
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That doesn't really leave much of the Apostle's or the Nicene Creed to recite. All that stuff comes from the Post Resurrection Jesus. The Post Resurrection Jesus is responsible for a whole lot of problems. I like the Pre-Resurrection Jesus. The historical Jesus. The one that Jesus scholars have been uncovering, like an archaeological dig. That Jesus excites me. That Jesus makes me proud to say I'm a Christian.<br />
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So what is there to love about Jesus? Jesus was a poor, Mediterranean peasant who preached radical egalitarianism, was critical of the rich, and was full of wisdom. He practiced free healing and the one ritual he created was a common meal. What's not to love about fish, bread and wine? What's not to love about making a ritual out of such a simple meal? What's not to love about providing access to healthcare?<br />
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Every indication states he was a practitioner of non-violence. He resisted becoming a Che' Guevara to the Roman Occupation. That doesn't mean he didn't rebel against it: it was the Romans that ultimately killed him.<br />
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The stories in the gospels are thrilling. Some real; many fictional. What is real, I believe, are his humble upbringing, his healing, his wisdom, his charisma, his common meal, his devotion to service, his devotion to his God, his poverty, his travels by foot (he was a hiker), his act of civil disobedience in the Temple that led to his death.<br />
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He was a real man. Not some fictitious character that overcame death and lived as a god. Somehow that cheapens the story for me. A real Jesus, standing up to the temple, to the Romans, to the elites of the Temple who take in the donations and side entirely with empire---getting pissed off in the Temple, causing a demonstration and then dying a political death because of that: that is real. That is courage. That is worthy of worship. A man like that is worth following. That's not the man they worship at the CMA Paradise Alliance Church in Paradise.<br />
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So that's who I follow. I don't mind celebrating such a person's birth at this time of the year. Even if all the nativity sets have wise men there. Wise men and women will listen to this man's powerful story and, hopefully, emulate it.<br />
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And for hikers, there is a new<a href="http://jesustrail.com/" target="_blank"> "Jesus Trail"</a> in Galilee that connects Jesus' two home towns: Nazareth and Capernaum. That's an adventure for the bucket list.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-26719977534123545302015-12-05T22:01:00.001-08:002015-12-05T22:48:25.305-08:00Let's Quit Calling Hateful Killers People Who Were "Radicalized"<br />
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Lately the media, acting like a galloping herd, likes to state over and over again that various Islamic extremists became "radicalized" in order to do the awful things they have done. And so the couple in San Bernardino were "radicalized". The shooters in Paris were "radicalized". We worry about normal devout Muslim people becoming "radicalized". <br />
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It is an easy way to talk about a brain-washing conversion process, that takes normal people, possibly weak-minded or with psychopathic traits, and turns them into monsters. And yet, nobody said the Planned Parenthood shooter was "radicalized". We seem to save the term for violent extremists, usually of the type that we love to hate. The process seems to be reserved for Islamists and Leftists.<br />
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The Islamic State is an awful thing. Don't get me wrong. Their methods of recruitment are ingenious and prey upon weak minds that are susceptible to evil. But I find it curious that we use this notion of becoming "radicalized" to describe the followers of the most repugnant political movement since Fascism.<br />
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There are radicals and there are radicals. We have seen many fine "radical" journalists: Alex Cockburn, Izzy Stone, Glen Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges, Claud Cockburn, Jack Reed, Hunter Thompson: they all would fit easily into the term. We have many fine radical political commentators: Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Doug Henwood, John Bellamy Foster.<br />
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Then there are the off the chart radicals, of the Left and the Right: you find them in the Anti-Vax Movement, or in the Libertarian tradition, in the Truthers and the Birthers. The kooks and the weirdoes. <br />
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I've heard Jesus called a "radical egalitarian" who practiced "radical non-violence". Would you say that his followers were "radicalized"?<br />
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We save the process of "radicalization" for those we hate. Mostly Leftists and Islamists. <br />
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Look at the Republican Party this year. Is there anybody out there saying that Donald Trump is "radicalizing" the party? After all, he is calling economic refugees "rapists" and calls for tracking and registering all Muslims in this country. How about the Tea Party? Do we say the local gun toting Obama Hater is a person who was radicalized? Why not?<br />
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Because we save the term for Leftists and Islamists. <br />
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Lenin said once: "Be as radical as reality". That's what real radicals try to do: Describe reality and complement that with a vision of something better. Radicals don't tinker; radicals create.<br />
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Ed Abbey almost single handedly created the Radical Environmental Movement. I fancy myself a Radical in many ways and I ascribe myself into a radical tradition that includes many thinkers that I admire. I find myself politically someplace between Ed Abbey and Che' Guevara. <br />
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We don't need to say "Radical Extremists" Just say violent Extremists. It is all in how you look at the use of violence, it isn't about your social criticism. We don't need to say the couple in San Bernardino were "radicalized". They were brainwashed into following a sick tradition that is willing to kill innocent people and abandon their own children.<br />
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Yes, we talk about the radical wings of both parties. It is a way of justifying the status quo. A radical critique is one that seeks truth. And it points to something better. Lenin (although certainly no saint) is right: reality is radical. And America has a fine Radical Tradition. A fine non-violent Radical Tradition. Let's not ruin that word.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-26413847872944461112015-12-03T22:11:00.000-08:002015-12-03T22:11:26.141-08:00Requiem for Rocky..<br />
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With all the senseless killing going on--Paris, Colorado Springs, San Bernardino---the death of one pet, on one homestead, in the middle of the woods, seems trivial. Unless it is your pet. Our 12 year old cat, Rocky, has been missing for four days. We fear the worst.<br />
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Rocky was a fantastic cat. Fiercely independent. He held his own with three very large dogs who tormented him daily. He spent his days and nights outside, coming to and fro through a cat door we built into the cobb of the house. I would spot him on my wildlife camera---sauntering along before the camera, sometimes just an hour or two before or after a coyote or a fox was in the area.<br />
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Rocky had grown more affectionate lately. Both Joni and I noticed it. On Sunday night, he slept on my lap as I sat in the Lazy Boy---something he almost never did. He was in good shape for being twelve, but Joni speculated that he knew his reflexes were slowing; eyesight not as keen; getting older. His increased affection lately makes me think that he wanted to say: "Thank you. Thanks for the good life. Thanks for letting me roam in these woods. For letting me be an outdoor/indoor cat. For inviting me into your lives."<br />
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Joni cried all day when Rocky didn't come home. I was at work, talking to clients about their troubles, yet I could barely listen. I was troubled by my dear cat being gone.<br />
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Joni and I have gotten older while living with Rocky. We were young when we got him. Now age and girth have caught up with me. I've grown slower too. And those predators are on my tail: the predators of the American Lifestyle, signified by an ever increasing A1C and an ever growing medication list. Sooner or later, the predators will get you. A lesson.<br />
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Kylie holds out hope that Rocky will return: "He is a mountain cat", she says. "He'll come back". <br />
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Doubtful.<br />
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God bless Rocky. You are missed.Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-24699241999120258382015-11-26T00:39:00.001-08:002015-11-26T09:01:25.742-08:00Thanksgiving 2015---My Women Caretakers.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Industrial Revolution came to my hometown in 1963, just a couple years after I was born. The Revolution came in the form of a factory. A feeder factory for GM. General Motors (called "Governmental Motors" after Obama bailed out the company in 2009). The factory in Rushford made the switch that turned on the heat in all the General Motors cars from the model years 1964 until 1992. That factory meant jobs for my impoverished town. It meant jobs for the whole county, which, last I checked, was the poorest county in Minnesota.<br />
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My mom and dad were scraping out a living in the 1950's. They rented a farm and mom stayed home with my brother and sister. Dad worked in town during the day at the Tri County Oil Cooperative (a great socialist institution). In the evening dad came home and worked on the farm. My mom told me once those impoverished farm years were the best years of her life. <br />
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Working that hard must have been tough on dad so they moved to town. And when the factory opened, my mom was there on the first day on the assembly line. From there she spent the next 30 years or so putting GM switches together. If you owned a GM car in those decades, my mom might have made you warmer by making the heater switch. I still feel guilty for owning a couple of Japanese cars. GM paid the bills when I was a kid.<br />
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And thanks to the first Clinton and NAFTA, the factory was moved to Mexico in the early 90's. And just to show how greedy Multinationals have become, even Mexican labor got to be too expensive, so they moved the whole damned thing again to China where a young Chinese lady now works, doing the same thing my mom did. Except I doubt the work pays enough to feed a family.<br />
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Factory work for mom, meant they had to find daycare for me. And so mom and dad hired my grandmother "Olga" to watch me while mom sat on the assembly line. Grandma was a simple woman. She followed the old adages like Monday being washday, Tuesday bread day and so on. Grandpa and Grandma Klungtvedt ate out of their garden. They canned their food. Harvested walnuts. They spoke Norwegian in the home and I'm told I could speak a bit of it with them. They eeked out a living before retirement by renting a farm. Money was never in abundance and, in fact, it wasn't until they collected Social Security that they could buy their first home (Thank God for FDR!). They supplemented that money by watching me, although I never knew that. <br />
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There is a myth about poor people being happy with the simple things. That's bullshit. Poverty sucks, no matter how you slice it and my grandma and grandpa weren't overly happy people. I don't remember much laughter. I do remember summer days listening to the Minnesota Twins on the radio and playing endless games of dominoes with my grandma. Grandpa Klungtvedt was a World War 1 veteran. A private. He was in those god awful trenches with the Mustard gas and came back permanently emotionally wounded from that experience. I only heard him talk about the trenches once. About getting lost and how horrible it was to see the dead bodies. When President Johnson sent men into Vietnam, grandpa Klungtvedt railed against it. "Sending all those innocent kids to die", I remember him saying.<br />
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But mostly I was cared for by the women in my family. Mom. Grandma. And Ruth.<br />
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Ruth, my elder sister by 10 years, got stuck watching me a couple of summers. I'm sure it was no fun for a 16 year old to be stuck having a 6 year old tagging along for most everything. But she did it. I remember walking barefoot with her on the streets of our town. Going to the diners. When Ruth turned 18, she moved to far northern Minnesota and pretty much disappeared from my life. Older siblings often do that when they are corralled into doing childcare against their will. <br />
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Ruth died of cancer a couple years ago, and I was lucky enough to see her on the last good weekend she had alive. Breast cancer. My own theory about all these baby boomer women who die of breast cancer is that they are paying the price for the above ground nuclear bomb tests we had in the 1950's. All that milk that Ruth drank on the farm from a couple of dairy cows in the 50's contaminated with strontium and the like. Eating local and organic wasn't an expensive, nor a trendy thing to do back then: it was just called food. Sure, it was organic; but if you had a garden or a dairy cow, it also was radioactive as hell.<br />
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Ruth was born on Thanksgiving. November 23, 1950.<br />
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Grandma Klungtvedt died on Thanksgiving. November 22, 1990.<br />
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My wonderful mother died on Thanksgiving. November 25, 1999.<br />
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Thanksgiving is special to me because of the Thanksgiving connection with the women who shaped my attitude towards life: simplicity from my Grandmother; devotion to mind numbing work done for love of family from my Mother; and a love of the Beatles, organ music, and even a bit of curiosity about politics from watching my sister put a scrapbook together of JFK's assassination---from my sister: all have helped shape who I am. <br />
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And so on Thanksgiving, I celebrate the women who shaped me. A bittersweet day as they are gone. Two died on this day; one was born on this day. They are gone now. Gone, but not forgotten.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-24753311084815234152015-10-03T23:08:00.001-07:002015-10-03T23:21:58.069-07:00Homelessness and the Inheritance Tax...<br />
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Chico has a homeless problem. That much is obvious. The whole region has a homeless problem. Today I walked my dog on the trail in Paradise where a homeless couple smoked cigarettes and drank beer, hiding in the shade of a tree. Drive anyplace in the region and you will see men with backpacks, sometimes with dogs on a leash, walking and thumbing it on the side of the road. And we've all seen the "Hungry" and "God Bless" cardboard signs held by sometimes very young people, often with dogs in tow, who also are subjected to the life of wandering. Unless it is all one big scam. <br />
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The Chico City Council adopted a "get tough" approach to the problem of homeless camps and trash. Many letters-to-the-editor have been written, both for and against, the new "get tough" approach. People are passionate about the issue because it involves everything from public safety to environmental degradation. <br />
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But isn't it obvious that with our low wage economy, we would have a homeless problem? The roots of this crises can be traced back to trade policies and the fact that the minimum wage doesn't enable anyone to survive. Over the last 35 years, we have done away with inheritance taxes and have let the minimum wage lie dormant. It is almost as if the cultural elites think a job is just a hobby; the real money comes from inheritances.<br />
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Call it class war, of sorts. Working for a living is devalued; investments are barely taxed and inheritances aren't taxed at all. Isn't that just the way a person from an upper class background would like it?<br />
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And so the poor you see out there, scraping by, all have different reasons for being homeless. Substance abuse? Sure. Inability to hold a job or a desire not to work for peanuts because you wind up homeless anyway? Probably. <br />
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But one thing unites all of the homeless: They probably don't have an inheritance check coming in the mail.Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-17622986557557260382015-09-26T20:28:00.000-07:002015-09-26T20:44:56.071-07:00My Take on Hunter Thompson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been trying to figure out why people have a fascination with Hunter Thompson for a couple of years now. I used to work with another nurse who idolized Hunter. He even looked like Hunter and his idea of a "flight of wine" was to get three 750 ml bottles of wine and drink them in quick succession. Spending a night with this nurse friend, or once, a drunken expedition into San Francisco, was like spending time with the real Doctor. He even mumbled, when drunk, like the his idol.<br />
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I just finished a couple of biographies of the real Hunter Thompson. And I also got around to reading "Hey Rube" which is a collection of his sports pieces from ESPN. <strong>Hey Rube</strong> is worth it solely for his often quoted sage-like musings the day after 9/11. <br />
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Thompson wrote:<br />
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<em><span style="color: #274e13;">The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now — with somebody — and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #274e13;">It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #274e13;">…</span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #274e13;">We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or the New York papers calling for WAR seem to know who did it or where to look for them.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #274e13;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #274e13;">This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed — for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won’t hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force.</span></em><br />
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So why the fascination with Hunter? Because he helped to create a genre'. For Hunter the story was found in getting the story. <strong>Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</strong> is the classic exaggerated high point of the genre' and also the best example of this literary device. Every writer in every alternative weekly (including this free-lancer) owes him a bit of thanks for creating his gutsy GONZO style when Thompson took up shop with Rolling Stone. Hunter is every journalist's ID, as in the Freudian term. And his opinion of most everyone, except those he saw as being pure (McGovern and Carter are on that list)---are that we are just sex starved, power hungry degenerates who long for that next drink, orgasm, or line of coke. We are all fiends in Thompson's view. <br />
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His celebrity got him connections. He was kind of like the journalistic version of Paris Hilton. Once a following is created, he could publish most anything and make it sell. His behavior on the expense accounts of magazines is legendary. And real. <br />
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Thompson wrote the way many journalists wish they could. No holds barred. Just bear down and write whatever comes to mind. Let your imagination fly----helped along by a whole shitload of pharmaceuticals. I'm sure many straight news writers, bored to tears by keeping themselves out of the story, using whatever connections they have to quote, responsibly, and with no malice or bias, BOTH sides of a story---wish they could just once, do a line and type what they really think. Journalism suffers from this silly idea of neutral, sterile balance. There are always just two sides of a story. Never three, four, five or sixteen sides of a story. Always just two. Balance, they call it. Boring. It's the ying/yang of news. A dialectic borrowed from Hegel and all those other emotionless, stoic German Rationalists.<br />
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Along comes Hunter playing the role of the independent free-lancer. And succeeding at it. The rest of us need day jobs, usually teaching English or Journalism. Some stoop to becoming an editor---a chore that destroys any love of the English language. Editors are good people; it's just hard to edit and then go home and write something decent after following all the rules from the Hegelian paragraph above.<br />
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I do think Hunter Thompson was a bit of a psychopath. He was nearly arrested for vandalism by the FBI as a young child. He almost went to jail once after some youthful burglary but was told to go into the military instead. If not a psychopath, he was, at the very least, unscrupulous with other people's money (witness Fear and Loathing), with his fascination with things that blow up, and with his penchant for young women (a trait shared with Edward Abbey). <br />
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The women of Thompson's life? Always the 24 year old assistant leggy female journalism student hired to research, read and edit his stuff. The relationships always ended acrimoniously (with the exception of his first marriage). The 24 year old wouldn't be able to keep up with the lifestyle and the partying and would move on only to have her (and it was always a her) job filled by another 24 year old, female journalism student.<br />
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Yes, Hunter was an original. He became part of the journalism's upper tiered tribe. Lucky SOB. A great drinking buddy for the 60 Minutes set. And the Hollywood Elites (their roles are more and more mingled: just witness the guest list of the annual Journalist's Washington Dinner). <br />
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Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail from the 72 race is every Lefty/Liberal political junkies favorite campaign book. Or at least it should be. He could be wildly inaccurate and sometimes dabbled in downright kookdom, such as his friendly words he wrote about George Wallace or at the end of his life when he dabbled a bit in what was to become the 9/11 Truth Movement. The kind words for George can be traced to his working class, white kid Kentucky Roots; his 9/11 conspiracy thinking must be nothing more than drug paranoia.<br />
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Reading through every letter and exchange that is published out there by Hunter is like wading through a garden of clovers looking for one with four leaves. It takes awhile, but you will find one eventually. <br />
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What a lucky guy. He arose in the afternoon to peruse all the major newspapers. That's followed by conversations with pundits and connections. All while drinking and carrying on from his holdout in the Rocky Mountains. He'd start writing around midnight and would continue writing, and calling friends, until dawn. <br />
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And the suicide? A natural conclusion to a life filled with substance abuse and guns. Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-77869558087242859042015-08-01T17:43:00.000-07:002015-08-01T17:46:10.840-07:00The Death of a Boyhood Home.<br />
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My life hasn't been a stable one. I've had more than my share of change: cities, states, partners, friends, names, family, geography. I don't think I could list all the different addresses I've had since I turned 18. My brother, many years ago, wrote my address in his Address Book in pencil so that it could be easily erased. I remember one time when I first moved to Reno, that I had four moves in a couple of months. Change has been a constant feature in my adult life.<br />
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But for the first 18 years of my life (except a couple of summers), I lived in one residence. My mom and dad's home in Rushford, Minnesota. How we ended up living in this monster beheamoth Victorian is unbeknownst to me; our family income certainly didn't match the house. It was a Victorian in a sleepy little river town in southeastern Minnesota. A town filled with Victorians and amazing architecture. <br />
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Rushford had around 1,000 people living in it back then. Rural. In the "Driftless Area" meaning that, for some inexplicable reason, the last few glaciers didn't squish the place flat. What was left behind were "bluffs". From a child's perspective, they were mini-mountains. Hardwood forests and "open space" (in the words of city planners) abounded. I crawled all over those bluffs. All of them surrounding the town of Rushford. Some of the bluffs had names: Magellson's (I don't know who Magellson was, but there is a city park on top of the bluff); "Star" bluff was where the "star" was that was lit up at Christmas. I used to carry my tent in a pack up to the top of that one and camp out, looking out over the town below. No trails back then: I just grunted the stuff straight up the bluff.<br />
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It was an idyllic childhood with lots of time playing in creeks and hiking the bluffs. Rare was the day that my friends and I weren't out hiking. My huge leg muscles were developed from such exploits.<br />
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Life was stable back then. The economy was good. Rushford was supported by "The Plant". This was a factory that made heater switches for GM. Two shifts churned these things out, day after day. It gave a decent wage to hundreds of workers who could live very inexpensivlely in this town. My mom was one of them who worked in the factory from the day it opened nearly up until the day it was dismantled and shipped to Mexico courtesy of NAFTA and Bill Clinton. Voters for Hillary, be warned.<br />
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Our town of 1,000 people boasted three grocery stores, a butcher shop, a fantastic bakery, three diners, a local dairy that made their own ice cream and butter---in short, this was a localvores dream. And it still existed 45 years ago. Affluence had its downside too; much of the beautiful downtown architecture got torn down in order to modernize. Rushford lost many of its historic buildings. Other towns that weren't so prosperous, like Lanesboro, were discovered by Yuppies from the Twin Cities and became a tourist destination with fancy restaurants, a theatre (acting kind) and newly restored downtown buildings turned into B and B's. <br />
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That was Rushford in the 60's and 70's. I miss it.<br />
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Of course, I couldn't wait to get out of there. I dreamed of going to the city, then moving all over the place, eventually settling in California after a bunch of craziness. I've lived in Vegas, Reno, the Napa Valley, and the western slope of Colorado. From my upbringing, the one rule I've had is that I want to live in a place of physical beauty. Vegas was a move out of desperation for a job--but there is beauty there if you look for it.<br />
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But now that that house back in Rushford is gone, I find myself immensely sad. <br />
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It is said that to have a sense of "Place" you need Space and Culture. Space and Culture = Place. Now that almost every place looks the same; the same restaurants, the same gas stations, the same architecture, the same Box Stores---it hardly matters where you live. We've lost the culture part. Or rather, the economics of Corporate Culture destroyed all that was local. <br />
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Except for where the rich congregate. They can afford to have a sense of place. Witness the Napa Valley with their "NO CHAIN RESTAURANT" rules. Or Lanesboro, Minnesota.<br />
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One of my places is gone now. That bedrock of childhood yanked away by Alzheimer's and the need to pay for care. <br />
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I fear I will never get over it.<br />
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<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-72131652551120338712015-07-21T21:32:00.003-07:002015-07-21T22:57:45.094-07:00You'd be a fool to let the Lotus Guide you...<br />
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The Lotus Guide is a free publication distributed in Northern California. It is filled with the normal New Age fair: meditation and past life regressions, rebirthing and homages to Yogis and Yodas. You will find the usual Woo stuff there. I've read it a few times. Not all that impressive. Most of the content in the magazine sells you some sort of enlightenment. Enlightenment is usually for sale from an Ayurvedic Healer or some other peddler of New Age Goofiness. The Advertisements are for "Life Coaches" (usually Trust-funders who haven't a clue as to how to manage their own life, called upon to tell you how to manage yours) and various dietary claims. <br />
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And so it is with curiosity that I picked up the most recent copy where the Publisher named Rahasya (really?) Poe. He names his piece <a href="http://www.lotusguide.com/disinformation-and-misinformation/" target="_blank">"Disinformation and Misinformation: What’s the Difference And Why Does It Matter?</a>: In it he states:<br />
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<strong><em>"I recently read in two local newspapers who published two separate stories that were specifically meant to be disinformation pieces, meaning that they were deliberately published to mislead their readers. </em></strong><br />
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<strong><em>The first one was on vaccinations, giving them approval in a way that was meant to persuade parents to vaccinate their children but that left out pertinent information most parents should have to make an “informed” decision."</em></strong><br />
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He doesn't identify my piece on vaccinations as the one he is talking about, but I have seen this guy elsewhere exclaim his disgust <a href="https://www.newsreview.com/chico/sparring-over-the-syringe/content?oid=16984216" target="_blank">for my article.</a> Frankly, he should have the courage to acknowledge who he is responding to so that people could go and read the article and decide for themselves whether the piece was intellectually honest. <br />
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Rahasya then goes on to quote VAERS (the vaccine injury reporting system) to point out just how dangerous vaccines are. He claims the Measles vaccine has killed 108 kids. <a href="http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2015/mar/03/naturalnewscom/vaccine-claim-misinterprets-data/" target="_blank">(It hasn't).</a> When it comes to Misinformation, his article is the one that is guilty of the act. <br />
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My tolerance for New Agers gets less and less the older I get. The fact that a New Age Magazine is opposed to vaccinations is not very surprising. New Age Religions are pretty much narcissistic, selfish exercises that ignores the needs of the majority. You won't find much talk about "no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for another" from a New Ager. Nope. New Agers are about their own Enlightenment and to hell with everybody else. They seek their own path. And if others are trodden upon or lethal disease is spread or reawakened? Big deal. More than likely they would argue that their own Immune System is arrogantly superior to the disease. Too bad for those lesser humans who die. If they only were Gluten Free and ate Organic, they could handle the disease.<br />
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If vaccinations are safe (they are), effective (they are) and if Herd Immunity is real (it is) then an Anti-Vaxxer has no moral ground to stand on in their opposition to vaccines. It is immoral to oppose them. <br />
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A final note, the other article Mr. Poe objects to is one that is critical of those who believe in Chem Trails. Need I say anymore? <br />
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Lenin wrote that one must strive to be as radical as reality itself. The radical thing in some circles is to stand up for Vaccinations (they work!), or to state that some things are unreal, a mere fiction (Chem Trails!). Or state that Bush didn't blow up the Twin Towers (which is absurd). Or that cannabis farming is disastrous to the Pacific fisher population and is destroying some of our last wild areas of California (because it is). Liberal Orthodoxy can be pretty bizarre. But Radicals need to tell the truth. Even if it hurts. We need to be as Radical as Reality itself.<br />
<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-83964782391077041782015-07-07T22:58:00.002-07:002015-07-07T23:07:14.981-07:00Murder: Chicago and the Northern Sacramento Valley Compared<br />
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Chicago made national news when they had 7 murders last weekend.<br />
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The 45 mile patch between Orland and Cottonwood in California suffered 6 murders from 4 separate incidents between July 2 and July 5. Just guessing, but I would put the population of this area of California at, tops, 40,000 people. <br />
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Chicago has 2.7 million people. <br />
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The murder rate in the northern part of the Sacramento Valley must be close to Guatemala or El Salvador's in the early 80's. All 6 of the unfortunate victims were killed by guns. Two of the incidents were family violence: an ex-husband killed his ex-wife and ex-father in law; a 19 year-old female in Orland killed her 16 year-old sister and her father and then turned the gun on herself. The 19 year -old lived but is in serious condition having shot herself in the head.<br />
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The two other incidents? A teenager from Chico killed by a gun in Orland (three murders in Orland over the weekend). Orland has a population of just under 8,000 people. A 28 year-old man was killed by a gun in the small town of Corning. Corning's population is 7,600 people. So far, the motives behind these two murders are a mystery.<br />
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So what to blame? Guns are dangerous things to have when our emotions are challenged by a situational crises. This rural part of California is awash in guns. The NRA dinners are well attended. Guns are loved. Cherished. Worshipped. Available.<br />
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When we don't teach emotional intelligence, when we don't teach people how to withstand tough emotional problems such as divorce, betrayal, jealousy---and when we add easy access to guns to the mix---people die. People Die.<br />
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And they died in this rural, agricultural breadbasket of California over the last weekend.<br />
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And yet, the gun worship continues. We need a cultural shift when it comes to guns. Soon. If you have a friend going through a tough time, check in with them. Figure out if they are unstable. Ask to take their guns "for awhile", until things simmer down. <br />
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We license drivers; it is time to license gun owners.<br />
<br />Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2327216242738438564.post-25591690034600159852015-07-04T11:43:00.001-07:002015-07-04T11:47:06.499-07:00Three Huge Decisions and the Big Three's Response.I wrote the following for a Facebook page I admin. on Butte County Media.<br />
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Three huge events occurred in the world of politics over the last week. Two national issues involving the Supreme Court with marriage equality and Obamacare, and one state issue regarding mandatory vaccinations. <br />
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So how did the the Big Three (Chico ER, Chico News and Review, the Paradise Post) deal with this? You can learn as much about a paper by what it omitted, rather than by what they chose to comment on.<br />
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#1. Marriage equality: The Chico News and Review (CNR) lauded the Supreme Court's decision to extend same sex marriage to all 50 states. They called it "about time". The Chico ER's editorial board was silent on the issue. They did publish a couple letters to the editor, both pro and con. The editorial board of the Paradise Post had a first paragraph where they said they were happy that gay people can get married, then they went on to publish extensively from the dissenters, bringing up concerns about an activist court and polygamy. Jim Chastain, columnist for the Paradise Post went much further and outright condemned the decision. He called the Supreme Court an "American Politburo". <br />
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Overall, CNR (pro); Chico ER (avoidant); Paradise Post (mostly negative).<br />
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#2: The opinion pages of all three newspapers avoided Obmacare being upheld. The Chico News and Review did have a small news blurb on the story. So far, no letters-to-the-editor, nor columns mentioned it. Nor were there any editorials on the fact that Obamcare was upheld. Quite the omission on such an important decision.<br />
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Overall on the Supreme Court decision? The Big Three avoided the topic. <br />
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#3. In a surprise move, Governor Brown signed SB277 on Tuesday, which requires school aged children to receive vaccinations from 10 diseases in order to attend public and private schools. The Chico News and Review devoted a feature story in May to the issue, and have been editorially friendly to vaccinations, but they were quiet on its passage--probably because it happened close to press time for them. The Chico ER has been very pro-vaccination since the Disneyland measles epidemic. They ran an editorial applauding the Governor's decision to sign the bill. On this issue, they have strayed from the positions of Sen. Nielson, Assemblyman Gallagher and Assemblyman Dahle, who all voted against SB277. The Paradise Post has been silent on the issue so far. And there have been no columns or letters to the editor on the Gov. Brown signing the legislation. Yet.<br />
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Overall on SB277: CNR (silent); Chico ER (pro); Paradise Post (silent).<br />
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So what to make of this? The Chico ER's position on vaccinations is refreshing. The ER occasionally departs from the conservative lockstep regarding important issues. Their silence on Marriage Equality is a bit disappointing. As is their silence on Obamacare.<br />
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It is interesting that the CNR had nothing to say editorially on Obamacare. The ACA isn't popular among liberals because many support Single Payer. When the Public Option was lost from the bill, most liberals lost their enthusiasm for the law. They still support it because something is better than nothing, but it is hard for Lefties to get excited about it. <br />
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When it comes to Obamacare, the silence of the Chico ER and the Paradise Post is deafening. Conservatives don't want to admit that this law is now codified and will be very difficult to repeal. They are beyond anger and outrage and have settled into a quiet acceptance (and depression?) regarding the law, thus completing their stages of grief on the issue.<br />
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Overall, this was a very interesting week reading the Big Three. Some of these topics might be taken up in subsequent weeks.Allan Stellarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07167114447852191877noreply@blogger.com0