Crystal Skull the last gasp for Indiana Jones franchise?
Film in Focus
By Michael the K
There was a time when the opening of the film was a great event. There would be lots of publicity, long advance of the premiere and a state of excitement would be generated by the film going public. When the event finally came, the audience would religiously attend the opening with an enthusiastic fervor. The curtains would open (no curtains today, as we are not given the protocol that the theater once displayed) and the film would begin. Immediately from the first moment we would be drawn into another world, the fantasy world only film could bring.
With this hope of once again experiencing the phenomena, I drove down to the Broadway Theater on Tuesday night to buy my ticket for the midnight Wednesday premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I remember attending the opening of the original Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, at the Regency I Theater in San Francisco. Wow, what a wonder it was! Closely following the phenomenon of Star Wars and starring Harrison Ford, the film took us back to the old days of being swept away into the drama and immersed in worlds we could only imagine.
This night, I was surrounded by people who emulated Indiana Jones, dressed in leather jackets and a big game hunters’ hat, waiting for the film to begin. At 12:10, after 30 minutes of visuals and trivia that were projected on the screen (they were so low-quality as to blur my vision), the lights dimmed and the show began. Replacing the curtain opening, three commercials appeared, one for Coca Cola, one for Verizon, and the other I don’t even remember. What’s this, I thought to myself, I could see this at home on TV. After they ruined the atmosphere, the familiar THX demo filled the screen, to the audience’s approval and cheers. I myself thought that even this had gone downhill over the ones in the past, which were so much more dramatic. Several trailers of new films followed, including Hancock and other films I hadn’t much interest in. Only the teaser for Get Smart held any interest, hopefully it will do justice for the old TV show which reigned supreme in the 60s.
Now on to the main event, with the title of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull blazing across the screen. As the film started, the first thing that hit me was: Wow, how grainy and badly lit the scenes were! Was I so jaded by my home theater system that the movie’s full theatric presentation pales in comparison?
That aside, I concentrated on the film. Harrison Ford appeared in a lackluster entrance, and Russians replaced the Nazi villains of old. I harrumphed. Cate Blanchett appeared in a black wig that almost disguised her from recognition. The ending scene of the original film was paid homage to at this point, as they rummaged through the government storage hanger of dark secrets. Even the Arc of the Covenant was visible in a flashback.
Without wanting to give the plot away too much, I will vaguely give away my likes and dislikes. Indy winds up in an atom bomb test site, where he escapes death via a lead-lined refrigerator. Come on, George Lucas (the Executive Producer), is he now Superman?
It went on and on with these impossible fight scenes featuring the cast escaping machine gun fire, which would have slain a herd of elephants, if not dinosaurs. Movies have become a video game, it seems. Do they think people will believe everything they see? I guess I’ve been around too long and seen too many films with great story lines and amazing follow-throughs to be sucked into this cartoon-like execution.
It seems George Lucas once again drew from scenes in films of old to give this storyline life. The ant scenes reflect The Naked Jungle, the sand-evolving pyramids, The Land of the Pharohs, the underground pyramid much like Journey to the Center of the Earth, etc. This is similar to the pod race in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace which cloned the chariot race in Ben Hur. I don’t mind the use of these ideas, but I’d like to see some new once thrown in to balance it all out.
Harrison Ford looked haggard and played the role in a sarcastic manner. Gone was the funny and amusing Indiana of old. John Hurt, a fabulous actor, was lost in the mediocre screenplay, and Shia LeBeouf played his role to the hilt, even if, at times, he verged on Superboy. Karen Allen, reprising her role as Marianne, the lost love of Indiana from Raiders, was a breath of fresh air and brought some realism to the script. Kudos, Ms. Allen, we missed you!
Even the real story of the crystal skulls (discovered by Mitchell Hedges, a model of Indiana) was twisted a bit too much for my taste. It was also some Spielburg nonsense about prairie dogs and monkeys you can form your own judgments of.
To sum it all up, it was not the best of all. In fact, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was 4th of the four-part series so far. Supposedly there is a fifth installment in the works for the year 2012. I thought this chapter might be a set-up for the fifth one, but the idea was disguised, if there at all. The audience seemed to like it, and much applause was heard during the credits. I think Lucas and Spielburg have long lost their touch with the audiences, and they’re lucky to have the following of die-hard fans who will continue to keep this cult alive.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Historic Ships In Modern Day Duel
Appearance of Mary Washington marks start to summer events
What’s the Buzz?
By Michael the K
The buzz this season has been, so far, bigger than the end product. A number of the local businesses which gave Old Town its special character have closed down or changed hands. The Boardwalk conitnues to be underused and mostly empty, and Eureka still hasn't managed to get its act together to grow the Arts Alive! event out of its provincial roots.
One bright spot, however, was that the annual Rhododendron Parade, which was in danger of cancellation, got under way in the early afternoon on April. This small hometown-type event was really a lot of fun. Clowns rode rampant in mini-cars along with Shriners who seemed to be in a race of sorts. Marching bands and floats filled the parade route and ice cream was passed out to all along the way. Of special merit was the marching band from Fortuna, who gave a masterful performance to the delight of the crowd. All in all, the parade was a wonderful surprise and a lot of fun.
The biggest event of the whole season should have been the return of the historic sailing ship, the Mary Washington. Unfortuantely it did not return with its sister ship, the Hawaiian Chieftain, and only stayed for a few days, as did the Revolutionary War-styled vessel, the Lynx. It was a real shame there wasn't more done this year, as these historic seaworthy vessels are becoming an annual attraction in Eureka.
Two years ago, the two tall ships Mary Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain sailed from their homeport in Grays Harbor, Washington, visiting ports along the west coast of America all the way to Mexico. They provide quality shipboard education to thousands of students and members of the general public.
The main direction is the accurate representation of the sailing techniques of the period. The group offers two cruises a day with one as an authentic representation of an 18th Century sea battle. The Mary Washington by the way was featured in the film Pirates of the Caribbean and other historic films. I was also informed by a crew member that it was the only real ship in the film. The others they said were sets build on floating barges or computer generated vessels. They also informed me that some of the crew aboard on this trip, played parts in the Pirates series and in other films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World.
Well my imagination was fired up and I decided to climb aboard and sample a taste of yesteryear on the High Seas, or at least Humboldt Bay. I chose to travel aboard the Hawaiian Chieftain and a friend chose the Mary Washington. Well I didn’t know what a treat I was in for as the 106 foot Ketch left the dock and pursued the Washington out of the harbor and out towards the bay. Captain Andy and crew were highly skilled at the art of sailing and tacked and skimmed around piers and obstacles, making it look like child’s play. Alas it definitely was not, as I observed the amount of tedious labor and precision the crew had to accomplish to sail this mighty ship. Commands from the captain rang out over the decks, being repeated and answered by the vigilant, well-trained crew.
After almost an hour of sailing and tacking the ships into battle positions, the real show began. Canons roared at one another as the ships traded volleys. Captain Andy not only called off orders to the crew, he explained each ships’ best position for the battle. The canons used real black powder, not the usual carbide charges. All that was missing was the heavy ball shot that did the real damage. I was so glad I decided to take this once in a lifetime adventure. When you think about it, a trip like this is very much like traveling back in time and I can think of very few places that can achieve that. I really felt what it was like to be out at sea in the violent world of the 18th century. After the battle, which the Mary Washington won, by the way, we took a leisurely cruise of the outer bay and headed back to our pier to dock the ships for the night .
Wow, what a great way to spend an afternoon! I bid a fond farewell to the captain and crew of this great sea adventure. The ships plan to make this an annual stop in the coming years and have been receiving a gracious welcome by the city and its citizens. The cruises were well attended and sold out fast, with families more than welcome as the company observes all Coast Guard rules and regulations to make all its cruises safe and comfortable, not to mention extremely educational . You can find out more by visiting their websites at ladywashington.org, tallshipshore.org or by calling (800) 200-5239 ex. 197.
What’s the Buzz?
By Michael the K
The buzz this season has been, so far, bigger than the end product. A number of the local businesses which gave Old Town its special character have closed down or changed hands. The Boardwalk conitnues to be underused and mostly empty, and Eureka still hasn't managed to get its act together to grow the Arts Alive! event out of its provincial roots.
One bright spot, however, was that the annual Rhododendron Parade, which was in danger of cancellation, got under way in the early afternoon on April. This small hometown-type event was really a lot of fun. Clowns rode rampant in mini-cars along with Shriners who seemed to be in a race of sorts. Marching bands and floats filled the parade route and ice cream was passed out to all along the way. Of special merit was the marching band from Fortuna, who gave a masterful performance to the delight of the crowd. All in all, the parade was a wonderful surprise and a lot of fun.
The biggest event of the whole season should have been the return of the historic sailing ship, the Mary Washington. Unfortuantely it did not return with its sister ship, the Hawaiian Chieftain, and only stayed for a few days, as did the Revolutionary War-styled vessel, the Lynx. It was a real shame there wasn't more done this year, as these historic seaworthy vessels are becoming an annual attraction in Eureka.
Two years ago, the two tall ships Mary Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain sailed from their homeport in Grays Harbor, Washington, visiting ports along the west coast of America all the way to Mexico. They provide quality shipboard education to thousands of students and members of the general public.
The main direction is the accurate representation of the sailing techniques of the period. The group offers two cruises a day with one as an authentic representation of an 18th Century sea battle. The Mary Washington by the way was featured in the film Pirates of the Caribbean and other historic films. I was also informed by a crew member that it was the only real ship in the film. The others they said were sets build on floating barges or computer generated vessels. They also informed me that some of the crew aboard on this trip, played parts in the Pirates series and in other films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World.
Well my imagination was fired up and I decided to climb aboard and sample a taste of yesteryear on the High Seas, or at least Humboldt Bay. I chose to travel aboard the Hawaiian Chieftain and a friend chose the Mary Washington. Well I didn’t know what a treat I was in for as the 106 foot Ketch left the dock and pursued the Washington out of the harbor and out towards the bay. Captain Andy and crew were highly skilled at the art of sailing and tacked and skimmed around piers and obstacles, making it look like child’s play. Alas it definitely was not, as I observed the amount of tedious labor and precision the crew had to accomplish to sail this mighty ship. Commands from the captain rang out over the decks, being repeated and answered by the vigilant, well-trained crew.
After almost an hour of sailing and tacking the ships into battle positions, the real show began. Canons roared at one another as the ships traded volleys. Captain Andy not only called off orders to the crew, he explained each ships’ best position for the battle. The canons used real black powder, not the usual carbide charges. All that was missing was the heavy ball shot that did the real damage. I was so glad I decided to take this once in a lifetime adventure. When you think about it, a trip like this is very much like traveling back in time and I can think of very few places that can achieve that. I really felt what it was like to be out at sea in the violent world of the 18th century. After the battle, which the Mary Washington won, by the way, we took a leisurely cruise of the outer bay and headed back to our pier to dock the ships for the night .
Wow, what a great way to spend an afternoon! I bid a fond farewell to the captain and crew of this great sea adventure. The ships plan to make this an annual stop in the coming years and have been receiving a gracious welcome by the city and its citizens. The cruises were well attended and sold out fast, with families more than welcome as the company observes all Coast Guard rules and regulations to make all its cruises safe and comfortable, not to mention extremely educational . You can find out more by visiting their websites at ladywashington.org, tallshipshore.org or by calling (800) 200-5239 ex. 197.
Freak Show From Another World
Taboos transcended in style in Forbidden Zone
Pick of the Month
By David Giarrizzo
Welcome to my pick of the month, the odd cabaret of the mind called Forbidden Zone, a weird 1980 debut creation of Richard Elfman (sometimes credited as Aristide Sumatra), the elder brother of famed Danny Elfman. Richard has an impressive continued career in film, directing Oingo Boingo: Skeletons In The Closet, Shrunken Heads, Streets Of Rage, Modern Vampires, Date Or Disaster, and in production for this year 2006, The Sixth Element where two shambling dimension-hopping investigators who must save us from an altered future run by the drug corporations and deranged psychiatrists. We’ll be looking for that one! But let’s get back to the predecessor.
Forbidden Zone is a combination of an odd freak show vaudeville act and a Max Fleischer cartoon. It didn’t have widespread distribution and was primarily seen when one dedicated fan showed their second-generation bootleg videotape to friends. Watching the DVD with its digitally re-mastered widescreen presentation is like seeing the movie new again. The soundtrack has been upgraded to Dolby 5.1 standards, and even includes a separate music-only option to listen to Danny Elfman’s musical genius on its own.
Beyond the quality upgrade, the DVD has tons of nooks and crannies to explore. You can check out the music video Richard Elfman directed for Oingo Boingo, or bust a gut at the deleted scenes that have been missing all these years. There is tremendous insight with the audio commentary or watch the new Forbidden Zone documentary and get the inside scoop on the creative process behind this cinematic madness. I won’t reveal that here, you’ll have to do that!
Our tale centers upon the Hercules family. Frenchy Hercules has a fake French accent and an impish spirit procured from her so called Foreign Exchange program in France. Then there’s Flash Hercules, the oldest child alive, Jimmy Durante meets Curly Fein! Gramps Hercules is a manic depressive ex-wrestler who has to be kept contained – one of Flash's chores is to tie up Gramps before going to school. Regarding Ma and Pa Hercules, he works at a “smoke free environment” at the La Brae Tar Pits while she apparently is a couch potato withdrawn on permanently alarmed eyebrows.
The two kids, Flash and Frenchy, go to school and meet Squeezit (the geeky kid who always got beat up in school) sitting in a trash can acting like he is a chicken. Most of the people in the film are less than fully dressed so we get to see a cast of people in their undergarments, definitely a draw for all those Rocky Horror fans.
In the Hercules’ basement is a portal to the anal exit of the Forbidden Zone, complete with huge pillows shaped like dookies. King Fausto, played by Herve Villachez of Fantasy Island and Doris, played by Susan Tyrell (a cult actress and voiceover talent), rule over a subterranean world filled with clashing music and a dice motif. Screaming naked slaves (often whipped by the topless torpedo-titted Princess) in a cardboard and paint set, reminiscent of The Little Rascals.
School degenerates into a gunfight between the teacher and some students as Frenchy shrewdly exits via the window. The scamp tramp sneaks home and enters the basement where a mislaid roller skate propels her into the forbidden gateway to Purgatory. An animated sequence provided by the great John Muto follows. To get to the Forbidden Zone you travel through an intestine before eventually being flushed out of a huge squatting butt. The animation reminds me of the old Max Fleischer cartoon, when real film footage was first mixed with animated.
Frenchy’s investigation of the bizarre land is interrupted by the Princess; the intruder is taken to the King for judgment. He dispatches her to cell number 63, where all of his favorite concubines live. Fausto has the hots for Frenchy, a little detail the Queen does not miss. The two incompatible sovereigns eventually have a spat over the issue, but Fausto neutralizes the situation by having sex with her royal scariness on the long dining table in the white room, complete with a human chandelier.
Did I mention that Squeezit’s sister, or should I say cross-dressing brother, had disappeared into the Forbidden Zone earlier? With both ‘girls’ missing, Flash tries to enlist Squeezit's help. He fails and brings Gramps along for the trip through the intestines. Upon arrival, they immediately find three fat girls in bathing suits and lingerie and begin dry humping them. I mean that they still have their clothes on, but appear to be going to town. Bust Rod, the Frog Butler, captures the would-be rescuers and delivers them to the Martha Rae-like Queen.
The Queen has both Flash and Gramps dropped off of a cliff into a large boiler, but they improbably survive. While looking for the way out they are attacked by a gorilla and Flash is knocked off yet another cliff and drops into the prison of the ex-queen. He starts dry humping away as she explains how Doris tricked her and stole the crown. Meanwhile, Gramps wrestles the gorilla and all hell breaks loose.
Squeezit is still in the normal world, along with his chickens, typewriter, and drunken parents when Flash finds a phone and calls Chicken Boy to beg for help. The appeal works; Squeezit finally gets fed up with his measly existence and enters the Forbidden Zone.
The geek quickly becomes the prisoner of two black robed figures, one of which is made out to be a stereotypical sambo character as well as a couple more times during the movie. The two captors are agents of Satan, Danny Elfman singing a bastardized version of "Minnie the Moocher." Cab Hellaway makes a deal with Squeezit to ensure that Frenchy and the others are saved in exchange for the topless Princess.
Such improbable antics continue unabated, complete with a demented show tune finale which is available on the excellent soundtrack. Forbidden Zone was aptly named for such taboos of taste are rarely crossed so stylishly.
Grade: B
David Giarrizzo is a writer, musician and Scene Editor for the Humboldt Sentinel. He can be reached at scene ~AT~~ humboldtsentinel.com.
Pick of the Month
By David Giarrizzo
Welcome to my pick of the month, the odd cabaret of the mind called Forbidden Zone, a weird 1980 debut creation of Richard Elfman (sometimes credited as Aristide Sumatra), the elder brother of famed Danny Elfman. Richard has an impressive continued career in film, directing Oingo Boingo: Skeletons In The Closet, Shrunken Heads, Streets Of Rage, Modern Vampires, Date Or Disaster, and in production for this year 2006, The Sixth Element where two shambling dimension-hopping investigators who must save us from an altered future run by the drug corporations and deranged psychiatrists. We’ll be looking for that one! But let’s get back to the predecessor.
Forbidden Zone is a combination of an odd freak show vaudeville act and a Max Fleischer cartoon. It didn’t have widespread distribution and was primarily seen when one dedicated fan showed their second-generation bootleg videotape to friends. Watching the DVD with its digitally re-mastered widescreen presentation is like seeing the movie new again. The soundtrack has been upgraded to Dolby 5.1 standards, and even includes a separate music-only option to listen to Danny Elfman’s musical genius on its own.
Beyond the quality upgrade, the DVD has tons of nooks and crannies to explore. You can check out the music video Richard Elfman directed for Oingo Boingo, or bust a gut at the deleted scenes that have been missing all these years. There is tremendous insight with the audio commentary or watch the new Forbidden Zone documentary and get the inside scoop on the creative process behind this cinematic madness. I won’t reveal that here, you’ll have to do that!
Our tale centers upon the Hercules family. Frenchy Hercules has a fake French accent and an impish spirit procured from her so called Foreign Exchange program in France. Then there’s Flash Hercules, the oldest child alive, Jimmy Durante meets Curly Fein! Gramps Hercules is a manic depressive ex-wrestler who has to be kept contained – one of Flash's chores is to tie up Gramps before going to school. Regarding Ma and Pa Hercules, he works at a “smoke free environment” at the La Brae Tar Pits while she apparently is a couch potato withdrawn on permanently alarmed eyebrows.
The two kids, Flash and Frenchy, go to school and meet Squeezit (the geeky kid who always got beat up in school) sitting in a trash can acting like he is a chicken. Most of the people in the film are less than fully dressed so we get to see a cast of people in their undergarments, definitely a draw for all those Rocky Horror fans.
In the Hercules’ basement is a portal to the anal exit of the Forbidden Zone, complete with huge pillows shaped like dookies. King Fausto, played by Herve Villachez of Fantasy Island and Doris, played by Susan Tyrell (a cult actress and voiceover talent), rule over a subterranean world filled with clashing music and a dice motif. Screaming naked slaves (often whipped by the topless torpedo-titted Princess) in a cardboard and paint set, reminiscent of The Little Rascals.
School degenerates into a gunfight between the teacher and some students as Frenchy shrewdly exits via the window. The scamp tramp sneaks home and enters the basement where a mislaid roller skate propels her into the forbidden gateway to Purgatory. An animated sequence provided by the great John Muto follows. To get to the Forbidden Zone you travel through an intestine before eventually being flushed out of a huge squatting butt. The animation reminds me of the old Max Fleischer cartoon, when real film footage was first mixed with animated.
Frenchy’s investigation of the bizarre land is interrupted by the Princess; the intruder is taken to the King for judgment. He dispatches her to cell number 63, where all of his favorite concubines live. Fausto has the hots for Frenchy, a little detail the Queen does not miss. The two incompatible sovereigns eventually have a spat over the issue, but Fausto neutralizes the situation by having sex with her royal scariness on the long dining table in the white room, complete with a human chandelier.
Did I mention that Squeezit’s sister, or should I say cross-dressing brother, had disappeared into the Forbidden Zone earlier? With both ‘girls’ missing, Flash tries to enlist Squeezit's help. He fails and brings Gramps along for the trip through the intestines. Upon arrival, they immediately find three fat girls in bathing suits and lingerie and begin dry humping them. I mean that they still have their clothes on, but appear to be going to town. Bust Rod, the Frog Butler, captures the would-be rescuers and delivers them to the Martha Rae-like Queen.
The Queen has both Flash and Gramps dropped off of a cliff into a large boiler, but they improbably survive. While looking for the way out they are attacked by a gorilla and Flash is knocked off yet another cliff and drops into the prison of the ex-queen. He starts dry humping away as she explains how Doris tricked her and stole the crown. Meanwhile, Gramps wrestles the gorilla and all hell breaks loose.
Squeezit is still in the normal world, along with his chickens, typewriter, and drunken parents when Flash finds a phone and calls Chicken Boy to beg for help. The appeal works; Squeezit finally gets fed up with his measly existence and enters the Forbidden Zone.
The geek quickly becomes the prisoner of two black robed figures, one of which is made out to be a stereotypical sambo character as well as a couple more times during the movie. The two captors are agents of Satan, Danny Elfman singing a bastardized version of "Minnie the Moocher." Cab Hellaway makes a deal with Squeezit to ensure that Frenchy and the others are saved in exchange for the topless Princess.
Such improbable antics continue unabated, complete with a demented show tune finale which is available on the excellent soundtrack. Forbidden Zone was aptly named for such taboos of taste are rarely crossed so stylishly.
Grade: B
David Giarrizzo is a writer, musician and Scene Editor for the Humboldt Sentinel. He can be reached at scene ~AT~~ humboldtsentinel.com.
Obama's Money Cartel
Fronting for the most vicious predators on Wall Street
Guest Opinion
By Pam Martens
Wall Street, known variously as a barren wasteland for diversity or the last plantation in America, has defied courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for decades in its failure to hire blacks as stockbrokers. Now it’s marshalling its money machine to elect a black man to the highest office in the land. Why isn’t the press curious about this?
Walk into any of the largest Wall Street brokerage firms today and you’ll see a self-portrait of upper management racism and sexism: women sitting at secretarial desks outside fancy offices occupied by predominantly white males. According to the EEOC as well as the recent racial discrimination class actions filed against UBS and Merrill Lynch, blacks make up between 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent of stockbrokers -- this after 30 years of litigation, settlements and empty promises to do better by the largest Wall Street firms.
The first clue to an entrenched white male bastion seeking a black male occupant in the oval office (having placed only five blacks in the U.S. Senate in the last two centuries) appeared in February on a chart at the Center for Responsive Politics website. It was a list of the 20 top contributors to the Barack Obama campaign, and it looked like one of those comprehension tests where you match up things that go together and eliminate those that don’t. Of the 20 top contributors, I eliminated six that didn’t compute. I was now looking at a sight only slightly less frightening to democracy than a Diebold voting machine. It was a Wall Street cartel of financial firms, their registered lobbyists, and go-to law firms that have a death grip on our federal government.
Why is the “yes, we can” candidate in bed with this cartel? How can "we," the people, make change if Obama’s money backers block our ability to be heard?
Seven of the Obama campaign’s top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages. These latest frauds have left thousands of children in some of our largest minority communities coming home from school to see eviction notices and foreclosure signs nailed to their front doors. Those scars will last a lifetime.
These seven Wall Street firms are (in order of money given): Goldman Sachs, UBS AG, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. There is also a large hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group, which is a major source of fee income to Wall Street. There are five large corporate law firms that are also registered lobbyists; and one is a corporate law firm that is no longer a registered lobbyist but does legal work for Wall Street. The cumulative total of these 14 contributors through February 1, 2008, was $2,872,128, and we’re still in the primary season.
But hasn’t Senator Obama repeatedly told us in ads and speeches and debates that he wasn’t taking money from registered lobbyists? Hasn’t the press given him a free pass on this statement?
Barack Obama, speaking in Greenville, South Carolina on January 22, 2008:
"Washington lobbyists haven’t funded my campaign, they won’t run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am president."
Barack Obama, in an email to supporters on June 25, 2007, as reported by the Boston Globe:
"Candidates typically spend a week like this – right before the critical June 30th financial reporting deadline – on the phone, day and night, begging Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs to write huge checks. Not me. Our campaign has rejected the money-for-influence game and refused to accept funds from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees."
The Center for Responsive Politics website allows one to pull up the filings made by lobbyists, registering under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and secretary of the U.S. Senate. These top five contributors to the Obama campaign have filed as registered lobbyists: Sidley Austin LLP; Skadden, Arps, et al; Jenner & Block; Kirkland & Ellis; Wilmerhale, aka Wilmer Cutler Pickering.
Is it possible that Senator Obama does not know that corporate law firms are also frequently registered lobbyists? Or is he making a distinction that because these funds are coming from the employees of these firms, he’s not really taking money directly from registered lobbyists? That thesis seems disingenuous when many of these individual donors own these law firms as equity partners or shareholders and share in the profits generated from lobbying.
Far from keeping his distance from lobbyists, Senator Obama and his campaign seems to be brainstorming with them.
The political publication, The Hill, reported on December 20, 2007, that three salaried aides on the Obama campaign were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations. (The Obama campaign said they had stopped lobbying since joining the campaign.) Bob Bauer, counsel to the Obama campaign, is an attorney with Perkins Coie. That law firm is also a registered lobbyist.
What might account for this persistent (but non-reality based) theme of distancing the Obama campaign from lobbyists? Odds are it traces back to one of the largest corporate lobbyist spending sprees in the history of Washington whose details would cast an unwholesome pall on the Obama campaign, unless our cognitive abilities are regularly bombarded with abstract vacuities of hope and change and sentimental homages to Dr. King and President Kennedy .
On February 10, 2005, Senator Obama voted in favor of the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. Senators Biden, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Corzine, Durbin, Feingold, Kerry, Leahy, Reid and 16 other Democrats voted against it. It passed the Senate 72-26 and was signed into law on February 18, 2005.
Here is an excerpt of remarks Senator Obama made on the Senate floor on February 14, 2005, concerning the passage of this legislation:
"Every American deserves their day in court. This bill, while not perfect, gives people that day while still providing the reasonable reforms necessary to safeguard against the most blatant abuses of the system. I also hope that the federal judiciary takes seriously their expanded role in class action litigation, and upholds their responsibility to fairly certify class actions so that they may protect our civil and consumer rights..."
Three days before Senator Obama expressed that fateful yea vote, 14 state attorneys general, including Lisa Madigan of Senator Obama’s home state of Illinois, filed a letter with the Senate and House, pleading to stop the passage of this corporate giveaway: The AGs wrote: "State attorneys general frequently investigate and bring actions against defendants who have caused harm to our citizens... In some instances, such actions have been brought with the attorney general acting as the class representative for the consumers of the state. We are concerned that certain provisions of S.5 might be misinterpreted to impede the ability of the attorneys general to bring such actions..."
The Senate also received a desperate plea from more than 40 civil rights and labor organizations, including the NAACP, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Justice and Democracy, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), and Alliance for Justice. They wrote as follows:
"Under the [Class Action Fairness Act of 2005], citizens are denied the right to use their own state courts to bring class actions against corporations that violate these state wage and hour and state civil rights laws, even where that corporation has hundreds of employees in that state. Moving these state law cases into federal court will delay and likely deny justice for working men and women and victims of discrimination. The federal courts are already overburdened. Additionally, federal courts are less likely to certify classes or provide relief for violations of state law."
This legislation, which dramatically impaired labor rights, consumer rights and civil rights, involved five years of pressure from 100 corporations, 475 lobbyists, tens of millions of corporate dollars buying influence in our government, and the active participation of the Wall Street firms now funding the Obama campaign. "The Civil Justice Reform Group, a business alliance comprising general counsels from Fortune 100 firms, was instrumental in drafting the class-action bill," says Public Citizen.
One of the hardest working registered lobbyists to push this corporate giveaway was the law firm Mayer-Brown, hired by the leading business lobby group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Chamber of Commerce spent $16 million in just 2003, lobbying the government on various business issues, including class action reform.
According to a 2003 report from Public Citizen, Mayer-Brown’s class action lobbyists included "Mark Gitenstein, former chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading architect of the Senate strategy in support of class-action legislation; John Schmitz, who was deputy counsel to President George H.W. Bush; David McIntosh, former Republican congressman from Indiana; and Jeffrey Lewis, who was on the staffs of both Sen. John Breaux (D-La) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La)."
While not on the Center for Responsive Politics list of the top 20 contributors to the Obama presidential campaign, Mayer-Brown’s partners and employees are in rarefied company, giving a total of $92,817 through December 31, 2007, to the Obama campaign. (The firm is also defending Merrill Lynch in court against charges of racial discrimination.)
Senator Obama graduated Harvard Law magna cum laude and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Given those credentials, one assumes that he understood the ramifications to the poor and middle class in this country as he helped gut one of the few weapons left to seek justice against giant corporations and their legions of giant law firms. The class-action vehicle confers upon each citizen one of the most powerful rights in our society: the ability to function as a private attorney general and seek redress for wrongs inflicted on ourselves as well as for those similarly injured that might not otherwise have a voice.
Those rights should have been strengthened, not restricted, at this dangerous time in our nation’s history. According to a comprehensive report from the nonprofit group, United for a Fair Economy, over the past eight years the total loss of wealth for people of color is between $164 billion and $213 billion for subprime loans which is the greatest loss of wealth for people of color in modern history:
"According to federal data, people of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans: high-cost loans account for 55 per cent of loans to blacks, but only 17 per cent of loans to whites."
If there had been equitable distribution of subprime loans, losses for white people would be 44.5 per cent higher and losses for people of color would be about 24 per cent lower. "This is evidence of systemic prejudice and institutional racism."
Before the current crisis, based on improvements in median household net worth, it would take 594 more years for blacks to achieve parity with whites. The current crisis is likely to stretch this even further.
So, how should we react when we learn that the top contributors to the Obama campaign are the very Wall Street firms whose shady mortgage lenders buried the elderly and the poor and minority under predatory loans? How should we react when we learn that on the big donor list is Citigroup, whose former employee at CitiFinancial testified to the Federal Trade Commission that it was was standard practice to target people based on race and educational level, with the sales force winning bonuses called "Rocopoly Money" (like a sick board game), after "blitz" nights of soliciting loans by phone? How should we react when we learn that these very same firms, arm in arm with their corporate lawyers and registered lobbyists, have weakened our ability to fight back with the class-action vehicle?
Should there be any doubt left as to who owns our government? The very same cast of characters making the Obama hit parade of campaign loot are the clever creators of the industry solutions to the wave of foreclosures gripping this nation’s poor and middle class, effectively putting the solution in the hands of the robbers. The names of these programs (that have failed to make a dent in the problem) have the same vacuous ring: Hope Now; Project Lifeline.
Senator Obama has become the inspiration and role model to millions of children and young people in this country. He has only two paths now: to be a dream maker or a dream killer. But be assured of one thing: this country will not countenance any more grand illusions.
The Obama phenomenon has been likened to that of cults, celebrity groupies and Messiah worshipers. But what we’re actually witnessing is ObamaMania (as in tulip mania), the third and final bubble orchestrated and financed by the wonderful Wall Street folks who brought us the first two: the Nasdaq/tech bubble and a subprime-mortgage-in-every-pot bubble.
To understand why Wall Street desperately needs this final bubble, we need to first review how the first two bubbles were orchestrated and why.
In March of 2000, the Nasdaq stock market, hyped with spurious claims for startup tech and dot.com companies, reached a peak of over 5,000. Eight years later, it’s trading in the 2,300 range and most of those companies no longer exist. From peak to trough, Nasdaq transferred over $4 trillion from the pockets of small mania-gripped investors to the wealthy and elite market manipulators.
The highest monetary authority during those bubble days, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, consistently told us that the market was efficient and stock prices were being set by the judgment of millions of "highly knowledgeable" investors.
Mr. Greenspan was the wind beneath the wings of a carefully orchestrated wealth transfer system known as "pump and dump" on Wall Street. As hundreds of court cases, internal emails, and insider testimony now confirm, this bubble was no naturally occurring phenomenon any more than the Obama bubble is.
First, Wall Street firms issued knowingly false research reports to trumpet the growth prospects for the company and stock price; second, they lined up big institutional clients who were instructed how and when to buy at escalating prices to make the stock price skyrocket (laddering); third, the firms instructed the hundreds of thousands of stockbrokers serving the mom-and-pop market to advise their clients to sit still as the stock price flew to the moon or else the broker would have his commissions taken away (penalty bid). While the little folks' money served as a prop under prices, the wealthy elite on Wall Street and corporate insiders were allowed to sell at the top of the market (pump-and-dump wealth transfer).
Why did people buy into this mania for brand new, untested companies when there is a basic caveat that most people in this country know, i.e., the majority of all new businesses fail? Common sense failed and mania prevailed because of massive hype pumped by big media, big public relations, and shielded from regulation by big law firms, all eager to collect their share of Wall Street’s rigged cash cow.
The current housing bubble bust is just a freshly minted version of Wall Street’s real estate limited partnership frauds of the ‘80s, but on a grander scale. In the 1980s version, the firms packaged real estate into limited partnerships and peddled it as secure investments to moms and pops. The major underpinning of this wealth transfer mechanism was that regulators turned a blind eye to the fact that the investments were listed at the original face amount on the clients’ brokerage statements long after they had lost most of their value.
Today’s real estate related securities (CDOs and SIVs) that are blowing up around the globe are simply the above scheme with more billable hours for corporate law firms.
Wall Street created an artificial demand for housing (a bubble) by soliciting high interest rate mortgages (subprime) because they could be bundled and quickly resold for big fees to yield-hungry hedge funds and institutions. A major underpinning of this scheme was that Wall Street secured an artificial rating of AAA from rating agencies that were paid by Wall Street to provide the rating. When demand from institutions was saturated, Wall Street kept the scheme going by hiding the debt off its balance sheets and stuffed this long-term product into mom-and-pop money markets, notwithstanding that money markets are required by law to hold only short-term investments. To further perpetuate the bubble as long as possible, Wall Street prevented pricing transparency by keeping the trading off regulated exchanges and used unregulated over-the-counter contracts instead. (All of this required lots of lobbyist hours in Washington.)
But how could there be a genuine national housing price boom propelled by massive consumer demand at the same time there was the largest income and wealth disparity in the nation’s history? Rational thought is no match for manias.
That brings us to today’s bubble. We are being asked to accept on its face the notion that after more than two centuries of entrenched racism in this country, which saw only five black members of the U.S. Senate, it’s all being eradicated with some rousing stump speeches.
We are asked to believe that those kindly white executives at all the biggest Wall Street firms, which rank in the top 20 donors to the Obama presidential campaign, after failing to achieve more than 3.5 per cent black stockbrokers over 30 years, now want a black populist president because they crave a level playing field for the American people.
The number one industry supporting the Obama presidential bid, by the start of February, -- the crucial time in primary season -- according to the widely respected, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, was “lawyers/law firms” (most on Wall Street’s payroll), giving a total of $11,246,596.
This presents three unique credibility problems for the yes-we-can-little-choo-choo-that-could campaign: (1) these are not just "lawyers/law firms;" the vast majority of these firms are also registered lobbyists at the Federal level; (2) Senator Obama has made it a core tenet of his campaign platform that the way he is gong to bring the country hope and change is not taking money from federal lobbyists; and (3) with the past seven ignoble years of lies and distortions fresh in the minds of voters, building a candidacy based on half-truths is not a sustainable strategy to secure the west wing from the right wing.
Yes, the other leading presidential candidates are taking money from lawyers/law firms/lobbyists, but Senator Obama is the only one rallying with the populist cry that he isn’t. That makes it not only a legitimate but a necessary line of inquiry.
The Obama campaign’s populist bubble is underpinned by what, on the surface, seems to be a real snoozer of a story. It all centers around business classification codes developed by the U.S. government and used by the Center for Responsive Politics to classify contributions. Here’s how the Center explained its classifications in 2003:
"The codes used for business groups follow the general guidelines of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes initially designed by the Office of Management and Budget and later replaced by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)..."
The Akin Gump law firm is a prime example of how something as mundane as a business classification code can be gamed for political advantage. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump ranks third among all Federal lobbyists, raking in $205,225,000 to lobby our elected officials in Washington from 1998 through 2007. The firm is listed as a registered federal lobbyist with the House of Representatives and the Senate; the firm held lobbying retainer contracts for more than 100 corporate clients in 2007. But when its non-registered law partners, the people who own this business and profit from its lobbying operations, give to the Obama campaign, the contribution is classified as coming from a law firm, not a lobbyist.
The same holds true for Greenberg Traurig, the law firm that employed the criminally inclined lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Greenberg Traurig ranks ninth among all lobbyists for the same period, with lobbying revenues of $96,708,249. Its partners and employee donations to the Obama campaign of $70,650 by February 1 -- again at that strategic time -- appear not under lobbyist but the classification lawyers/law firms, as do 30 other corporate law firm/lobbyists.
Additionally, looking at Public Citizen’s list of bundlers for the Obama campaign (people soliciting donations from others), 27 are employed by law firms registered as federal lobbyists. The total sum raised by bundlers for Obama from these 27 firms till February 1: $2,650,000. (There are also dozens of high powered bundlers from Wall Street working the Armani-suit and red-suspenders cocktail circuits, like Bruce Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs; J. Michael Schell, vice chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup; Louis Susman, managing director, Citigroup; Robert Wolf, CEO, UBS Americas. Each raised over $200,000 for the Obama campaign.)
Senator Obama’s premise and credibility of not taking money from federal lobbyists hangs on a carefully crafted distinction: he is taking money, lots of it, from owners and employees of firms registered as federal lobbyists but not the actual individual lobbyists.
But is that dealing honestly with the American people? According to the website of Akin Gump, it takes a village to deliver a capital to the corporations:
"The public law and policy practice [lobbying] at Akin Gump is integrated throughout the firm’s offices in the United States and abroad. As part of a full-service law firm, the group is able to draw upon the experience of members of other Akin Gump practices – including bankruptcy, communications, corporate, energy, environmental, labor and employment, health care, intellectual property, international, real estate, tax and trade regulation – that may have substantive, day-to-day experience with the issues that lie at the heart of a client’s situation. This is the internal component of Akin Gump’s team-based approach: matching the needs of clients with the appropriate area of experience in the firm ... Akin Gump has a broad range of active representations before every major committee of Congress and executive branch department and agency."
When queried about this, Massie Ritsch, communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics, says: "The wall between a firm’s legal practice and its lobbying shop can be low – the work of an attorney and a lobbyist trying to influence regulations and laws can be so intertwined. So, if anything, the influence of the lobbying industry in presidential campaigns is undercounted."
Those critical thinkers over at the Black Agenda Report for the Journal of African American Political Thought and Action have zeroed in on the making of the Obama bubble:
"The 2008 Obama presidential run may be the most slickly orchestrated marketing machine in memory. That’s not a good thing. Marketing is not even distantly related to democracy or civic empowerment. Marketing is about creating emotional, even irrational bonds between your product and your target audience."
And slick it is. According to the Obama campaign’s financial filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and aggregated at the Center for Responsive Politics, the Obama campaign has spent over $52 million on media, strategy consultants, image building, marketing research and telemarketing.
The money has gone to firms like GMMB, whose website says its "goal is to change minds and change hearts, win in the court of public opinion and win votes” using “the power of branding – with principles rooted in commercial marketing," and Elevation Ltd., which targets the Hispanic population and has "a combined experience of well over 50 years in developing and implementing advertising and marketing solutions for Fortune 500 companies, political candidates, government agencies."
Their client list includes the Department of Homeland Security. There’s also the Birmingham, Alabama, based The Parker Group which promises: "Valid research results are assured given our extensive experience with testing, scripting, skip logic, question rotation and quota control ... In-house list management and maintenance services encompass sophisticated geo-coding, mapping and scrubbing applications." Is it any wonder America’s brains are scrambled?
The Wall Street plan for the Obama-bubble presidency is that of the cleanup crew for the housing bubble: sweep all the corruption and losses, would-be indictments, perp walks and prosecutions under the rug and get on with an unprecedented taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. (The corporate law firms have piled on to funding the plan because most were up to their eyeballs in writing prospectuses or providing legal opinions for what has turned out to be bogus AAA securities. Lawsuits naming the Wall Street firms will, no doubt, shortly begin adding the law firms that rendered the legal guidance to issue the securities.) Who better to sell this agenda to the millions of duped mortgage holders and foreclosed homeowners in minority communities across America than our first, beloved, black president of hope and change?
Why do Wall Street and the corporate law firms think they will find a President Obama to be accommodating? As the Black Agenda Report notes, "Evidently, the giant insurance companies, the airlines, oil companies, Wall Street, military contractors and others had closely examined and vetted Barack Obama and found him pleasing."
That vetting included his remarkable "yes" vote on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, a five-year effort by 475 lobbyists, despite appeals from the NAACP and every other major civil rights group. Thanks to the passage of that legislation, when defrauded homeowners of the housing bubble and defrauded investors of the bundled mortgages try to fight back through the class-action vehicle, they will find a new layer of corporate-friendly hurdles.
I personally admire Senator Obama. I want to believe Senator Obama is not a party to the scheme. But corporate interests have had plenty of time to do their vetting. Democracy demands no less of we, the people.
Pam Martens writes on public interest issues from New Hampshire. She can be reached at pamk741 ~~AT~~ aol.com.
Guest Opinion
By Pam Martens
Wall Street, known variously as a barren wasteland for diversity or the last plantation in America, has defied courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for decades in its failure to hire blacks as stockbrokers. Now it’s marshalling its money machine to elect a black man to the highest office in the land. Why isn’t the press curious about this?
Walk into any of the largest Wall Street brokerage firms today and you’ll see a self-portrait of upper management racism and sexism: women sitting at secretarial desks outside fancy offices occupied by predominantly white males. According to the EEOC as well as the recent racial discrimination class actions filed against UBS and Merrill Lynch, blacks make up between 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent of stockbrokers -- this after 30 years of litigation, settlements and empty promises to do better by the largest Wall Street firms.
The first clue to an entrenched white male bastion seeking a black male occupant in the oval office (having placed only five blacks in the U.S. Senate in the last two centuries) appeared in February on a chart at the Center for Responsive Politics website. It was a list of the 20 top contributors to the Barack Obama campaign, and it looked like one of those comprehension tests where you match up things that go together and eliminate those that don’t. Of the 20 top contributors, I eliminated six that didn’t compute. I was now looking at a sight only slightly less frightening to democracy than a Diebold voting machine. It was a Wall Street cartel of financial firms, their registered lobbyists, and go-to law firms that have a death grip on our federal government.
Why is the “yes, we can” candidate in bed with this cartel? How can "we," the people, make change if Obama’s money backers block our ability to be heard?
Seven of the Obama campaign’s top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages. These latest frauds have left thousands of children in some of our largest minority communities coming home from school to see eviction notices and foreclosure signs nailed to their front doors. Those scars will last a lifetime.
These seven Wall Street firms are (in order of money given): Goldman Sachs, UBS AG, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. There is also a large hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group, which is a major source of fee income to Wall Street. There are five large corporate law firms that are also registered lobbyists; and one is a corporate law firm that is no longer a registered lobbyist but does legal work for Wall Street. The cumulative total of these 14 contributors through February 1, 2008, was $2,872,128, and we’re still in the primary season.
But hasn’t Senator Obama repeatedly told us in ads and speeches and debates that he wasn’t taking money from registered lobbyists? Hasn’t the press given him a free pass on this statement?
Barack Obama, speaking in Greenville, South Carolina on January 22, 2008:
"Washington lobbyists haven’t funded my campaign, they won’t run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am president."
Barack Obama, in an email to supporters on June 25, 2007, as reported by the Boston Globe:
"Candidates typically spend a week like this – right before the critical June 30th financial reporting deadline – on the phone, day and night, begging Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs to write huge checks. Not me. Our campaign has rejected the money-for-influence game and refused to accept funds from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees."
The Center for Responsive Politics website allows one to pull up the filings made by lobbyists, registering under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and secretary of the U.S. Senate. These top five contributors to the Obama campaign have filed as registered lobbyists: Sidley Austin LLP; Skadden, Arps, et al; Jenner & Block; Kirkland & Ellis; Wilmerhale, aka Wilmer Cutler Pickering.
Is it possible that Senator Obama does not know that corporate law firms are also frequently registered lobbyists? Or is he making a distinction that because these funds are coming from the employees of these firms, he’s not really taking money directly from registered lobbyists? That thesis seems disingenuous when many of these individual donors own these law firms as equity partners or shareholders and share in the profits generated from lobbying.
Far from keeping his distance from lobbyists, Senator Obama and his campaign seems to be brainstorming with them.
The political publication, The Hill, reported on December 20, 2007, that three salaried aides on the Obama campaign were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations. (The Obama campaign said they had stopped lobbying since joining the campaign.) Bob Bauer, counsel to the Obama campaign, is an attorney with Perkins Coie. That law firm is also a registered lobbyist.
What might account for this persistent (but non-reality based) theme of distancing the Obama campaign from lobbyists? Odds are it traces back to one of the largest corporate lobbyist spending sprees in the history of Washington whose details would cast an unwholesome pall on the Obama campaign, unless our cognitive abilities are regularly bombarded with abstract vacuities of hope and change and sentimental homages to Dr. King and President Kennedy .
On February 10, 2005, Senator Obama voted in favor of the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. Senators Biden, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Corzine, Durbin, Feingold, Kerry, Leahy, Reid and 16 other Democrats voted against it. It passed the Senate 72-26 and was signed into law on February 18, 2005.
Here is an excerpt of remarks Senator Obama made on the Senate floor on February 14, 2005, concerning the passage of this legislation:
"Every American deserves their day in court. This bill, while not perfect, gives people that day while still providing the reasonable reforms necessary to safeguard against the most blatant abuses of the system. I also hope that the federal judiciary takes seriously their expanded role in class action litigation, and upholds their responsibility to fairly certify class actions so that they may protect our civil and consumer rights..."
Three days before Senator Obama expressed that fateful yea vote, 14 state attorneys general, including Lisa Madigan of Senator Obama’s home state of Illinois, filed a letter with the Senate and House, pleading to stop the passage of this corporate giveaway: The AGs wrote: "State attorneys general frequently investigate and bring actions against defendants who have caused harm to our citizens... In some instances, such actions have been brought with the attorney general acting as the class representative for the consumers of the state. We are concerned that certain provisions of S.5 might be misinterpreted to impede the ability of the attorneys general to bring such actions..."
The Senate also received a desperate plea from more than 40 civil rights and labor organizations, including the NAACP, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Justice and Democracy, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), and Alliance for Justice. They wrote as follows:
"Under the [Class Action Fairness Act of 2005], citizens are denied the right to use their own state courts to bring class actions against corporations that violate these state wage and hour and state civil rights laws, even where that corporation has hundreds of employees in that state. Moving these state law cases into federal court will delay and likely deny justice for working men and women and victims of discrimination. The federal courts are already overburdened. Additionally, federal courts are less likely to certify classes or provide relief for violations of state law."
This legislation, which dramatically impaired labor rights, consumer rights and civil rights, involved five years of pressure from 100 corporations, 475 lobbyists, tens of millions of corporate dollars buying influence in our government, and the active participation of the Wall Street firms now funding the Obama campaign. "The Civil Justice Reform Group, a business alliance comprising general counsels from Fortune 100 firms, was instrumental in drafting the class-action bill," says Public Citizen.
One of the hardest working registered lobbyists to push this corporate giveaway was the law firm Mayer-Brown, hired by the leading business lobby group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Chamber of Commerce spent $16 million in just 2003, lobbying the government on various business issues, including class action reform.
According to a 2003 report from Public Citizen, Mayer-Brown’s class action lobbyists included "Mark Gitenstein, former chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading architect of the Senate strategy in support of class-action legislation; John Schmitz, who was deputy counsel to President George H.W. Bush; David McIntosh, former Republican congressman from Indiana; and Jeffrey Lewis, who was on the staffs of both Sen. John Breaux (D-La) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La)."
While not on the Center for Responsive Politics list of the top 20 contributors to the Obama presidential campaign, Mayer-Brown’s partners and employees are in rarefied company, giving a total of $92,817 through December 31, 2007, to the Obama campaign. (The firm is also defending Merrill Lynch in court against charges of racial discrimination.)
Senator Obama graduated Harvard Law magna cum laude and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Given those credentials, one assumes that he understood the ramifications to the poor and middle class in this country as he helped gut one of the few weapons left to seek justice against giant corporations and their legions of giant law firms. The class-action vehicle confers upon each citizen one of the most powerful rights in our society: the ability to function as a private attorney general and seek redress for wrongs inflicted on ourselves as well as for those similarly injured that might not otherwise have a voice.
Those rights should have been strengthened, not restricted, at this dangerous time in our nation’s history. According to a comprehensive report from the nonprofit group, United for a Fair Economy, over the past eight years the total loss of wealth for people of color is between $164 billion and $213 billion for subprime loans which is the greatest loss of wealth for people of color in modern history:
"According to federal data, people of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans: high-cost loans account for 55 per cent of loans to blacks, but only 17 per cent of loans to whites."
If there had been equitable distribution of subprime loans, losses for white people would be 44.5 per cent higher and losses for people of color would be about 24 per cent lower. "This is evidence of systemic prejudice and institutional racism."
Before the current crisis, based on improvements in median household net worth, it would take 594 more years for blacks to achieve parity with whites. The current crisis is likely to stretch this even further.
So, how should we react when we learn that the top contributors to the Obama campaign are the very Wall Street firms whose shady mortgage lenders buried the elderly and the poor and minority under predatory loans? How should we react when we learn that on the big donor list is Citigroup, whose former employee at CitiFinancial testified to the Federal Trade Commission that it was was standard practice to target people based on race and educational level, with the sales force winning bonuses called "Rocopoly Money" (like a sick board game), after "blitz" nights of soliciting loans by phone? How should we react when we learn that these very same firms, arm in arm with their corporate lawyers and registered lobbyists, have weakened our ability to fight back with the class-action vehicle?
Should there be any doubt left as to who owns our government? The very same cast of characters making the Obama hit parade of campaign loot are the clever creators of the industry solutions to the wave of foreclosures gripping this nation’s poor and middle class, effectively putting the solution in the hands of the robbers. The names of these programs (that have failed to make a dent in the problem) have the same vacuous ring: Hope Now; Project Lifeline.
Senator Obama has become the inspiration and role model to millions of children and young people in this country. He has only two paths now: to be a dream maker or a dream killer. But be assured of one thing: this country will not countenance any more grand illusions.
The Obama phenomenon has been likened to that of cults, celebrity groupies and Messiah worshipers. But what we’re actually witnessing is ObamaMania (as in tulip mania), the third and final bubble orchestrated and financed by the wonderful Wall Street folks who brought us the first two: the Nasdaq/tech bubble and a subprime-mortgage-in-every-pot bubble.
To understand why Wall Street desperately needs this final bubble, we need to first review how the first two bubbles were orchestrated and why.
In March of 2000, the Nasdaq stock market, hyped with spurious claims for startup tech and dot.com companies, reached a peak of over 5,000. Eight years later, it’s trading in the 2,300 range and most of those companies no longer exist. From peak to trough, Nasdaq transferred over $4 trillion from the pockets of small mania-gripped investors to the wealthy and elite market manipulators.
The highest monetary authority during those bubble days, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, consistently told us that the market was efficient and stock prices were being set by the judgment of millions of "highly knowledgeable" investors.
Mr. Greenspan was the wind beneath the wings of a carefully orchestrated wealth transfer system known as "pump and dump" on Wall Street. As hundreds of court cases, internal emails, and insider testimony now confirm, this bubble was no naturally occurring phenomenon any more than the Obama bubble is.
First, Wall Street firms issued knowingly false research reports to trumpet the growth prospects for the company and stock price; second, they lined up big institutional clients who were instructed how and when to buy at escalating prices to make the stock price skyrocket (laddering); third, the firms instructed the hundreds of thousands of stockbrokers serving the mom-and-pop market to advise their clients to sit still as the stock price flew to the moon or else the broker would have his commissions taken away (penalty bid). While the little folks' money served as a prop under prices, the wealthy elite on Wall Street and corporate insiders were allowed to sell at the top of the market (pump-and-dump wealth transfer).
Why did people buy into this mania for brand new, untested companies when there is a basic caveat that most people in this country know, i.e., the majority of all new businesses fail? Common sense failed and mania prevailed because of massive hype pumped by big media, big public relations, and shielded from regulation by big law firms, all eager to collect their share of Wall Street’s rigged cash cow.
The current housing bubble bust is just a freshly minted version of Wall Street’s real estate limited partnership frauds of the ‘80s, but on a grander scale. In the 1980s version, the firms packaged real estate into limited partnerships and peddled it as secure investments to moms and pops. The major underpinning of this wealth transfer mechanism was that regulators turned a blind eye to the fact that the investments were listed at the original face amount on the clients’ brokerage statements long after they had lost most of their value.
Today’s real estate related securities (CDOs and SIVs) that are blowing up around the globe are simply the above scheme with more billable hours for corporate law firms.
Wall Street created an artificial demand for housing (a bubble) by soliciting high interest rate mortgages (subprime) because they could be bundled and quickly resold for big fees to yield-hungry hedge funds and institutions. A major underpinning of this scheme was that Wall Street secured an artificial rating of AAA from rating agencies that were paid by Wall Street to provide the rating. When demand from institutions was saturated, Wall Street kept the scheme going by hiding the debt off its balance sheets and stuffed this long-term product into mom-and-pop money markets, notwithstanding that money markets are required by law to hold only short-term investments. To further perpetuate the bubble as long as possible, Wall Street prevented pricing transparency by keeping the trading off regulated exchanges and used unregulated over-the-counter contracts instead. (All of this required lots of lobbyist hours in Washington.)
But how could there be a genuine national housing price boom propelled by massive consumer demand at the same time there was the largest income and wealth disparity in the nation’s history? Rational thought is no match for manias.
That brings us to today’s bubble. We are being asked to accept on its face the notion that after more than two centuries of entrenched racism in this country, which saw only five black members of the U.S. Senate, it’s all being eradicated with some rousing stump speeches.
We are asked to believe that those kindly white executives at all the biggest Wall Street firms, which rank in the top 20 donors to the Obama presidential campaign, after failing to achieve more than 3.5 per cent black stockbrokers over 30 years, now want a black populist president because they crave a level playing field for the American people.
The number one industry supporting the Obama presidential bid, by the start of February, -- the crucial time in primary season -- according to the widely respected, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, was “lawyers/law firms” (most on Wall Street’s payroll), giving a total of $11,246,596.
This presents three unique credibility problems for the yes-we-can-little-choo-choo-that-could campaign: (1) these are not just "lawyers/law firms;" the vast majority of these firms are also registered lobbyists at the Federal level; (2) Senator Obama has made it a core tenet of his campaign platform that the way he is gong to bring the country hope and change is not taking money from federal lobbyists; and (3) with the past seven ignoble years of lies and distortions fresh in the minds of voters, building a candidacy based on half-truths is not a sustainable strategy to secure the west wing from the right wing.
Yes, the other leading presidential candidates are taking money from lawyers/law firms/lobbyists, but Senator Obama is the only one rallying with the populist cry that he isn’t. That makes it not only a legitimate but a necessary line of inquiry.
The Obama campaign’s populist bubble is underpinned by what, on the surface, seems to be a real snoozer of a story. It all centers around business classification codes developed by the U.S. government and used by the Center for Responsive Politics to classify contributions. Here’s how the Center explained its classifications in 2003:
"The codes used for business groups follow the general guidelines of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes initially designed by the Office of Management and Budget and later replaced by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)..."
The Akin Gump law firm is a prime example of how something as mundane as a business classification code can be gamed for political advantage. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump ranks third among all Federal lobbyists, raking in $205,225,000 to lobby our elected officials in Washington from 1998 through 2007. The firm is listed as a registered federal lobbyist with the House of Representatives and the Senate; the firm held lobbying retainer contracts for more than 100 corporate clients in 2007. But when its non-registered law partners, the people who own this business and profit from its lobbying operations, give to the Obama campaign, the contribution is classified as coming from a law firm, not a lobbyist.
The same holds true for Greenberg Traurig, the law firm that employed the criminally inclined lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Greenberg Traurig ranks ninth among all lobbyists for the same period, with lobbying revenues of $96,708,249. Its partners and employee donations to the Obama campaign of $70,650 by February 1 -- again at that strategic time -- appear not under lobbyist but the classification lawyers/law firms, as do 30 other corporate law firm/lobbyists.
Additionally, looking at Public Citizen’s list of bundlers for the Obama campaign (people soliciting donations from others), 27 are employed by law firms registered as federal lobbyists. The total sum raised by bundlers for Obama from these 27 firms till February 1: $2,650,000. (There are also dozens of high powered bundlers from Wall Street working the Armani-suit and red-suspenders cocktail circuits, like Bruce Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs; J. Michael Schell, vice chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup; Louis Susman, managing director, Citigroup; Robert Wolf, CEO, UBS Americas. Each raised over $200,000 for the Obama campaign.)
Senator Obama’s premise and credibility of not taking money from federal lobbyists hangs on a carefully crafted distinction: he is taking money, lots of it, from owners and employees of firms registered as federal lobbyists but not the actual individual lobbyists.
But is that dealing honestly with the American people? According to the website of Akin Gump, it takes a village to deliver a capital to the corporations:
"The public law and policy practice [lobbying] at Akin Gump is integrated throughout the firm’s offices in the United States and abroad. As part of a full-service law firm, the group is able to draw upon the experience of members of other Akin Gump practices – including bankruptcy, communications, corporate, energy, environmental, labor and employment, health care, intellectual property, international, real estate, tax and trade regulation – that may have substantive, day-to-day experience with the issues that lie at the heart of a client’s situation. This is the internal component of Akin Gump’s team-based approach: matching the needs of clients with the appropriate area of experience in the firm ... Akin Gump has a broad range of active representations before every major committee of Congress and executive branch department and agency."
When queried about this, Massie Ritsch, communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics, says: "The wall between a firm’s legal practice and its lobbying shop can be low – the work of an attorney and a lobbyist trying to influence regulations and laws can be so intertwined. So, if anything, the influence of the lobbying industry in presidential campaigns is undercounted."
Those critical thinkers over at the Black Agenda Report for the Journal of African American Political Thought and Action have zeroed in on the making of the Obama bubble:
"The 2008 Obama presidential run may be the most slickly orchestrated marketing machine in memory. That’s not a good thing. Marketing is not even distantly related to democracy or civic empowerment. Marketing is about creating emotional, even irrational bonds between your product and your target audience."
And slick it is. According to the Obama campaign’s financial filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and aggregated at the Center for Responsive Politics, the Obama campaign has spent over $52 million on media, strategy consultants, image building, marketing research and telemarketing.
The money has gone to firms like GMMB, whose website says its "goal is to change minds and change hearts, win in the court of public opinion and win votes” using “the power of branding – with principles rooted in commercial marketing," and Elevation Ltd., which targets the Hispanic population and has "a combined experience of well over 50 years in developing and implementing advertising and marketing solutions for Fortune 500 companies, political candidates, government agencies."
Their client list includes the Department of Homeland Security. There’s also the Birmingham, Alabama, based The Parker Group which promises: "Valid research results are assured given our extensive experience with testing, scripting, skip logic, question rotation and quota control ... In-house list management and maintenance services encompass sophisticated geo-coding, mapping and scrubbing applications." Is it any wonder America’s brains are scrambled?
The Wall Street plan for the Obama-bubble presidency is that of the cleanup crew for the housing bubble: sweep all the corruption and losses, would-be indictments, perp walks and prosecutions under the rug and get on with an unprecedented taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. (The corporate law firms have piled on to funding the plan because most were up to their eyeballs in writing prospectuses or providing legal opinions for what has turned out to be bogus AAA securities. Lawsuits naming the Wall Street firms will, no doubt, shortly begin adding the law firms that rendered the legal guidance to issue the securities.) Who better to sell this agenda to the millions of duped mortgage holders and foreclosed homeowners in minority communities across America than our first, beloved, black president of hope and change?
Why do Wall Street and the corporate law firms think they will find a President Obama to be accommodating? As the Black Agenda Report notes, "Evidently, the giant insurance companies, the airlines, oil companies, Wall Street, military contractors and others had closely examined and vetted Barack Obama and found him pleasing."
That vetting included his remarkable "yes" vote on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, a five-year effort by 475 lobbyists, despite appeals from the NAACP and every other major civil rights group. Thanks to the passage of that legislation, when defrauded homeowners of the housing bubble and defrauded investors of the bundled mortgages try to fight back through the class-action vehicle, they will find a new layer of corporate-friendly hurdles.
I personally admire Senator Obama. I want to believe Senator Obama is not a party to the scheme. But corporate interests have had plenty of time to do their vetting. Democracy demands no less of we, the people.
Pam Martens writes on public interest issues from New Hampshire. She can be reached at pamk741 ~~AT~~ aol.com.
The Crisis At Home
The poor in Bush's America
Faces of Poverty
By Saul Landau
If you live in affluent neighborhoods you might have conditioned yourself to ignore the significant sector of US society that gets in your face by showing they’re poor, suffering from disease and acute angst – if not worse.
Sure, plenty of tree-lined, suburban streets contain apparently normal, satisfied men and women who work and take children to school. Advertisers understand that underneath the “normal” exterior, these people have anxieties. They prey upon fragile middle class publics by selling them “relief,” from their physical and psychic “pain.”
When a “normal person” confronts a “homeless one,” the “normal” might well say “there but for the grace of God go I.” “I see those people [homeless] and I buy books like on how to increase my financial intelligence quota,” an acquaintance told me. “They scare me.” Yet, Hollywood and television continue to use stereotyped middle class characters to display “The Real America” – the country George Bush sells to the world in his speeches. This made-up America faces “a security threat,” from which “Homeland Security” will protect. Sell that to the homeless!
When mass media chatterers raise abstractions – like is the working class bitter, should candidates wear flag pins or will withdrawal from Iraq mean less security? – desperately poor people shake their heads and laugh. Security means a bed, a roof over it, and a minimal and healthy meal, plus occasional access to medical care.
On the corner of High Street and Bancroft, in East Oakland, California – and similar corners through the country – another America vibrates with angst. As I drove my wife to work on April 25, 22 young men, all Latinos (from Mexico or Central America) shivered in the morning cold waiting for someone to choose them for a day’s menial work. On nearby corners dozens more try to pass the idle time by talking, day-dreaming of their village, their family or the possibility that a man with a pick up truck will stop and say: “Yard work.”
Jornaleros or day workers abound in cities through the country. Those that get work fear they’ll get mugged by crack heads en route to their boarding houses where they share rooms with up to seven other men. They are not eligible for unemployment insurance. Some of the formally unemployed sign up for benefits; others have used them up. Some get depressed.
Before Bear Stearns imploded, 200 of its executives arrived each day in a chauffer-driven limo. At the end of the day, the gas guzzling mobile comfort lounges awaited these important mortgage dealers. Each executive earned – a strange word that hardly applies to them – more in one day than most of the jornaleros truly earn in two years. Top executives received an average of approximately $10 million in 2006.
Driving east on Bancroft, one meets the shopping cart brigade. Scores of African Americans push Safeway wagons filled with cans and bottles to redeem them at the recycling plant. Under this merchandise they found in dumpsters, they keep their meager belongings that all street people must guard during the day.
The rare multi-service outreach agency where my wife works tries to meet the rudimentary health and social needs of some poor residents of this enormous Alameda County neighborhood. The majority have no other access to medical care other than those provided by County emergency rooms. Bush doesn’t not acknowledge the daily “drop ins” by young women, mostly African American and Latina, who use the East Oakland Center. It helps them survive each day in the land of the free and home of the brave. Some have served in Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and Iraq and, because they could not readjust to civilian life, they depend on the generosity of those they beg from and the waning publicly supported institutions that still offer some sustenance.
“2.3 to 3.5 million people are homeless at some point during an average year,” reports the National health Care for the Homeless Council. 13.5 million have experienced “literal homelessness” at least once.
An estimated one third of street-lovers suffer from chronic physical illness. Another one-third have mental illnesses. Almost one-half have current or past drug or alcohol addictions. Communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, ravage the homeless. Street people also suffer from countless varieties of infections in addition to violence-induced trauma. Their conditions of life often expose them to unbearable cold and rain, states the Council web site.
I see Jayce holding a “help” sign near the freeway on ramp. He wears clean but shabby clothes and sports a metal peg leg. A ratty dog sits next to him. A few people offer him coins. Most don’t even look at him.
He makes me uncomfortable. His health problems are worse than mine. Street people have up to six times more medical issues than people who have homes. Jayce sleeps in an abandoned vehicle or under the freeway on cold damp ground, covered with patched blankets and quilts. His leg pains – and heroine addiction – will probably get more acute. Average life expectancy for a street person like Jayce is less than 50.
36% of the homeless consist of families with kids. Almost 1.5 million American children spend part of their year without living in a home. Some find shelters; others exist in cars or abandoned vehicles and in city parks and untended green areas. Almost 7 million kids had no health coverage in 2007, the year Bush vetoed the Children’s Health Coverage bill. These kids join 47 million more Americans who have no health coverage.
The Census Bureau lists some 37 million Americans living in dire poverty, deprived of health care, shelter, and sufficient food; 12.3 percent of the population.
What a contrast to George Bush’s people. In 2006, the elite one percent of the population sucked in some 22 percent of US income. In 2006, 1 percent of Americans absorbed almost 15% of the nation’s income. According to a 2007 report by the Institute for Policy Studies, United for a Fair Economy and Citizens for Tax Justice, 46 of the 275 largest companies paid no federal income tax in 2003. Each year, Bush has cut taxes for the wealthiest. In 2005, the bottom 50% of the population received less than 13% of the nation’s created values. (Reuters, October 12, 2007)
In the Berkeley or Piedmont Hills, one could live without witnessing any of the horror of what goes on in the flats. The former Bear Stearns execs in NY didn’t have to see the thousands of beggars and street people. The sat back in their limos and read the Wall St. Journal or watched child porn on the flat screen TVs in the back seat while the chauffer maneuvered through NY traffic en route to posh Long Island or Dutchess County mansions.
The only contact the rich have with the poor is master-servant relations -- and even these are mediated through underlings hired to protect the sensibilities of the super rich from the sights and odors that emanate from the poor.
Compare the statistics, the sights and sounds, and the reality of the poor on the street to the idealized America that Bush promotes, a democratic, fair, just society. What a gap between reality and political discourse!
Congress will soon approve another monstrously large bill to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and shell out some $700 billion for overall defense. Don’t most voters think that the priorities of those running the country and aspiring for office might have gone very wrong? Has the time come for the public to demonstrate in the streets, through emails and even letters, that the campaigners should stop their puerile nonsense: the poor people are in crisis that has little or nothing to do with Iraq, Iran or Islam. The so-called Christian candidates should cast aside their ambition and instead of attacking the truly well-meaning Reverend Wright, focus on what both and Luke and Matthew said: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34, Matthew 6-19:24)
Bush and his predecessors to a lesser extent have used this country’s treasure for war. None of the candidates have yet talked about changing the current priorities, although they all refer to themselves as deeply religious. Have we reached the point where Christianity stands for war and destruction, where its advocates eschew real need? Too bad George Stephanopoulos didn’t ask that question at the ABC debate instead of his carping on Barack’s flag tie pins.
Saul Landau is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of "A Bush and Botox World." He can be reached at roundworldproductions ~~AT~~ gmail.com.
Faces of Poverty
By Saul Landau
If you live in affluent neighborhoods you might have conditioned yourself to ignore the significant sector of US society that gets in your face by showing they’re poor, suffering from disease and acute angst – if not worse.
Sure, plenty of tree-lined, suburban streets contain apparently normal, satisfied men and women who work and take children to school. Advertisers understand that underneath the “normal” exterior, these people have anxieties. They prey upon fragile middle class publics by selling them “relief,” from their physical and psychic “pain.”
When a “normal person” confronts a “homeless one,” the “normal” might well say “there but for the grace of God go I.” “I see those people [homeless] and I buy books like on how to increase my financial intelligence quota,” an acquaintance told me. “They scare me.” Yet, Hollywood and television continue to use stereotyped middle class characters to display “The Real America” – the country George Bush sells to the world in his speeches. This made-up America faces “a security threat,” from which “Homeland Security” will protect. Sell that to the homeless!
When mass media chatterers raise abstractions – like is the working class bitter, should candidates wear flag pins or will withdrawal from Iraq mean less security? – desperately poor people shake their heads and laugh. Security means a bed, a roof over it, and a minimal and healthy meal, plus occasional access to medical care.
On the corner of High Street and Bancroft, in East Oakland, California – and similar corners through the country – another America vibrates with angst. As I drove my wife to work on April 25, 22 young men, all Latinos (from Mexico or Central America) shivered in the morning cold waiting for someone to choose them for a day’s menial work. On nearby corners dozens more try to pass the idle time by talking, day-dreaming of their village, their family or the possibility that a man with a pick up truck will stop and say: “Yard work.”
Jornaleros or day workers abound in cities through the country. Those that get work fear they’ll get mugged by crack heads en route to their boarding houses where they share rooms with up to seven other men. They are not eligible for unemployment insurance. Some of the formally unemployed sign up for benefits; others have used them up. Some get depressed.
Before Bear Stearns imploded, 200 of its executives arrived each day in a chauffer-driven limo. At the end of the day, the gas guzzling mobile comfort lounges awaited these important mortgage dealers. Each executive earned – a strange word that hardly applies to them – more in one day than most of the jornaleros truly earn in two years. Top executives received an average of approximately $10 million in 2006.
Driving east on Bancroft, one meets the shopping cart brigade. Scores of African Americans push Safeway wagons filled with cans and bottles to redeem them at the recycling plant. Under this merchandise they found in dumpsters, they keep their meager belongings that all street people must guard during the day.
The rare multi-service outreach agency where my wife works tries to meet the rudimentary health and social needs of some poor residents of this enormous Alameda County neighborhood. The majority have no other access to medical care other than those provided by County emergency rooms. Bush doesn’t not acknowledge the daily “drop ins” by young women, mostly African American and Latina, who use the East Oakland Center. It helps them survive each day in the land of the free and home of the brave. Some have served in Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and Iraq and, because they could not readjust to civilian life, they depend on the generosity of those they beg from and the waning publicly supported institutions that still offer some sustenance.
“2.3 to 3.5 million people are homeless at some point during an average year,” reports the National health Care for the Homeless Council. 13.5 million have experienced “literal homelessness” at least once.
An estimated one third of street-lovers suffer from chronic physical illness. Another one-third have mental illnesses. Almost one-half have current or past drug or alcohol addictions. Communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, ravage the homeless. Street people also suffer from countless varieties of infections in addition to violence-induced trauma. Their conditions of life often expose them to unbearable cold and rain, states the Council web site.
I see Jayce holding a “help” sign near the freeway on ramp. He wears clean but shabby clothes and sports a metal peg leg. A ratty dog sits next to him. A few people offer him coins. Most don’t even look at him.
He makes me uncomfortable. His health problems are worse than mine. Street people have up to six times more medical issues than people who have homes. Jayce sleeps in an abandoned vehicle or under the freeway on cold damp ground, covered with patched blankets and quilts. His leg pains – and heroine addiction – will probably get more acute. Average life expectancy for a street person like Jayce is less than 50.
36% of the homeless consist of families with kids. Almost 1.5 million American children spend part of their year without living in a home. Some find shelters; others exist in cars or abandoned vehicles and in city parks and untended green areas. Almost 7 million kids had no health coverage in 2007, the year Bush vetoed the Children’s Health Coverage bill. These kids join 47 million more Americans who have no health coverage.
The Census Bureau lists some 37 million Americans living in dire poverty, deprived of health care, shelter, and sufficient food; 12.3 percent of the population.
What a contrast to George Bush’s people. In 2006, the elite one percent of the population sucked in some 22 percent of US income. In 2006, 1 percent of Americans absorbed almost 15% of the nation’s income. According to a 2007 report by the Institute for Policy Studies, United for a Fair Economy and Citizens for Tax Justice, 46 of the 275 largest companies paid no federal income tax in 2003. Each year, Bush has cut taxes for the wealthiest. In 2005, the bottom 50% of the population received less than 13% of the nation’s created values. (Reuters, October 12, 2007)
In the Berkeley or Piedmont Hills, one could live without witnessing any of the horror of what goes on in the flats. The former Bear Stearns execs in NY didn’t have to see the thousands of beggars and street people. The sat back in their limos and read the Wall St. Journal or watched child porn on the flat screen TVs in the back seat while the chauffer maneuvered through NY traffic en route to posh Long Island or Dutchess County mansions.
The only contact the rich have with the poor is master-servant relations -- and even these are mediated through underlings hired to protect the sensibilities of the super rich from the sights and odors that emanate from the poor.
Compare the statistics, the sights and sounds, and the reality of the poor on the street to the idealized America that Bush promotes, a democratic, fair, just society. What a gap between reality and political discourse!
Congress will soon approve another monstrously large bill to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and shell out some $700 billion for overall defense. Don’t most voters think that the priorities of those running the country and aspiring for office might have gone very wrong? Has the time come for the public to demonstrate in the streets, through emails and even letters, that the campaigners should stop their puerile nonsense: the poor people are in crisis that has little or nothing to do with Iraq, Iran or Islam. The so-called Christian candidates should cast aside their ambition and instead of attacking the truly well-meaning Reverend Wright, focus on what both and Luke and Matthew said: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34, Matthew 6-19:24)
Bush and his predecessors to a lesser extent have used this country’s treasure for war. None of the candidates have yet talked about changing the current priorities, although they all refer to themselves as deeply religious. Have we reached the point where Christianity stands for war and destruction, where its advocates eschew real need? Too bad George Stephanopoulos didn’t ask that question at the ABC debate instead of his carping on Barack’s flag tie pins.
Saul Landau is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of "A Bush and Botox World." He can be reached at roundworldproductions ~~AT~~ gmail.com.
Dirty Tricks And The Perils Of Sloth
Can smearing, jeering and bombing be beaten by smoothies?
Getting Graphic
By Anonymous 4:20, Tom Tomorrow, Matt Wuerker and Matt Bors
Getting Graphic
By Anonymous 4:20, Tom Tomorrow, Matt Wuerker and Matt Bors
Why the Oil Price Is High
Warmongering, Fed's fuzzy math undermining currency
Ending Hegemony
By Paul Craig Roberts
How to explain the oil price? Why is it so high? Are we running out? Are supplies disrupted, or is the high price a reflection of oil company greed or OPEC greed? Are Hugo Chavez and the Saudis conspiring against us?
In my opinion, the two biggest factors in oil's high price are the weakness in the U.S. dollar's exchange value and the liquidity that the Federal Reserve is pumping out. The dollar is weak because of large trade and budget deficits, the closing of which is beyond American political will. As abuse wears out the U.S. dollar's reserve currency role, sellers demand more dollars as a hedge against its declining exchange value and ultimate loss of reserve currency status.
In an effort to forestall a serious recession and further crises in derivative instruments, the Federal Reserve is pouring out liquidity that is financing speculation in oil futures contracts. Hedge funds and investment banks are restoring their impaired capital structures with profits made by speculating in highly leveraged oil future contracts, just as real estate speculators flipping contracts pushed up home prices. The oil futures bubble, too, will pop, hopefully before new derivatives are created on the basis of high oil prices.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi recently stated, "There is no justification for the current rise in prices." What the minister means is that there are no shortages or supply disruptions. He means no real reasons, as distinct from speculative or psychological reasons.
When Bush invaded
Oil prices have been high in the past. Until 2008, the record monthly oil price was $104 in December 1979 (measured in December 2007 dollars). As recently as 1998, the real price of oil was lower than in 1946, when the nominal price of oil was $1.63 per barrel. During the Bush regime, the price of oil in 2007 dollars has risen from $27 to approximately $135.
Possibly, the rise in the oil price was held down, prior to the recent jump, by expectations that Democrats would eventually end the conflict and restrain
Perhaps more difficult to understand than the high price of oil is the low
Of course, Americans don't get real inflation numbers from their government and have not since the Consumer Price Index was rigged during the
Understating inflation makes real GDP growth appear higher. If inflation were properly measured, the
Williams reports that for decades political administrations have fiddled with the inflation and employment numbers to make themselves look slightly better. The cumulative effect has been to deprive these measurements of veracity. If I understand Williams, today both inflation and unemployment rates, as originally measured, are around 12 percent.
By pumping out money in an effort to forestall recession and paper over balance-sheet problems, the Federal Reserve is driving up commodity and food prices in general. Yet American real incomes are not growing. Even without jobs offshoring,
The crisis that looms for the
This crisis will eliminate the
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Mendo Redwood Co Assumes Control Of Pacific Lumber
Environmentalists hail "new era" in Humboldt County
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/8/08
By David Courtland
CORPUS CRISTI -- A
Within a few weeks the Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) will take over Pacific Lumber’s operations, including logging on 220,000 acres of Humboldt County forest, the Scotia Pacific Company and the PL mill in Scotia.
Judge Richard S. Schmidt’s ruling is real progress for the region, say spokesmen for the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and the Sierra Club.
“At long last, MAXXAM is gone,” said Sam Johnston, private lands campaigner for EPIC. “This marks a new era for both the people and forests of Humboldt County.”
EPIC and the Sierra Club have battled PL’s logging practices‑especially clear-cutting that environmentalists consider destructive‑since MAXXAM’s CEO Charles Hurwitz orchestrated a hostile takeover the timber company in 1985.
Schmidt’s decision resolved uncertainties looming over the bankruptcy proceedings as creditors took positions on who should take over PL and its subsidiary, Scotia Pacific.
“This is a positive development for the forested watersheds and people of Humboldt County,” said Paul Mason with the Sierra Club. “We look forward to working with a company that has a much stronger track record of responsible management than its predecessor.”
Mason and Johnston say they hope to see a halt to old growth logging with permanent maintenance of timberland and use of selective harvest methods.
Environmentalists are also lobbying for permanent protection of some species habitat, with conservation areas for the marbled murrelet and other threatened wildlife.
Sierra Club and EPIC are optimistic that Mendocino Redwood Company can meet these challenges, said Johnston, although it needs to perform extensive restoration work on damaged watersheds such as Elk River, Freshwater and Bear Creek.
“MRC inherits a landscape that has suffered grievously from more than two decades of serious abuse,” he said. “We appreciate MRC’s background in restoration-focused forestry, and want to work with MRC to build a truly sustainable timber company for the long term.”
Johnston noted one of the first tasks the new owners face is changing PL logging plans already in the pipeline, including a plan to clear-cut redwoods next to Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Eureka Therapist To Head Mental Health Oversight
Mayberg swears in Sheri Whitt to implement Prop. 63
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/7/08
By Sentinel Staff
Last week, Stephen Mayberg, the state mental health director, swore into office Sheri Whitt as Executive Director of the commission, which is charged with implementing voter-approved Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act. Whitt had already been serving in the position on an interim basis for the last year.
“I am so pleased to accept this position,” she said in a release. “This work comes from my heart and I am very dedicated to support this commission’s work in implementing the Mental Health Services Act.”
Whitt boasts of a quarter century’s worth of experience working with non-profits, local and state governments and specifically with mental health counseling for Native American communities.
The MHSA funds programs to serve people in need of mental health services through grants to the counties, as well as directly serve clients through programs for prevention and early intervention as well as housing for the mentally ill. It is funded by a one percent income tax on those who earn more than $1 million a year.
Linford Gayle, chair of the commission, applauded Whitt’s selection, specifically the growth in the number of commission staffers from three to 19 during her interim administration.
“I am so pleased that we have got this finalized,” Gayle said in a release. “Sheri Whitt has the compassion, vision and executive skills to take the commission’s work to the highest level.”
Friday, June 6, 2008
Mysterious Death In Whitethorn
Cause of death yet to be determined
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/6/08
By Sentinel Staff
WHITETHORN -- Human remains were discovered by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department Friday in Southern Humboldt, although the case does not appear to be suspicious in nature.
Deputies responded to a report received yesterday from a man who was walking in an isolated area off of Nooning Creek Road near Whitethorn about 10:30 in the morning. The man found a parked sports utility vehicle and a skeleton nearby. Sheriff's detectives, a deputy coroner and a criminal investigator from the Department of Justice arrived on scene about 2:00 p.m., and their preliminary conclusion is that the remains had been there for several months.
There has been a preliminary identification made of the decedent, although the name has not been released to the public at this time and the cause of death has yet to be determined pending further investigation by the coroner.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/6/08
By Sentinel Staff
WHITETHORN -- Human remains were discovered by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department Friday in Southern Humboldt, although the case does not appear to be suspicious in nature.
Deputies responded to a report received yesterday from a man who was walking in an isolated area off of Nooning Creek Road near Whitethorn about 10:30 in the morning. The man found a parked sports utility vehicle and a skeleton nearby. Sheriff's detectives, a deputy coroner and a criminal investigator from the Department of Justice arrived on scene about 2:00 p.m., and their preliminary conclusion is that the remains had been there for several months.
There has been a preliminary identification made of the decedent, although the name has not been released to the public at this time and the cause of death has yet to be determined pending further investigation by the coroner.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Telehealth Technology Bill Filed In Congress
Medicare recipients to virtually see specialists
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/5/08
By Sentinel Staff
WASHINGTON -- Expanded Medicare reimbursement could lead to increased opportunities for local residents to see specialists on video, if a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson (D - St. Helena) and Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R - Columbia, MO) makes its way through Congress this year.
Their bill would increase the number of facilities offering telehealth services in urban and suburban areas. Currently Medicare reimbursement for these services is limited to rural areas, and only for certain kinds of health facilities.
"People in rural Congressional Districts like ours often have to travel long distances to see a specialty physician," Thompson said in a release. "We know that telehealth technologies are an effective way to bring high-quality, affordable healthcare to Americans, no matter where they live. This legislation will make sure Medicare recipients can access telemedicine technology in more cities and towns and in more health facilities. As healthcare becomes more expensive, telehealth technology is a great way to help people get the care they need."
The proposal would also allocate $30 million to provide grants to help health facilities pay for telehealth equipment and support services.
"Telehealth has the potential to make the best treatments and medical professionals available to any American," Hulshof said in a statement. "This legislation has broad support from the medical community, as we all share the same goal: to take full advantage of medical and technological advances to save lives and keep people healthy. Telehealth also has great potential to save billions of taxpayer dollars, so this bill is truly a win-win."
Advocates of telehealth claim that it provides more effective management of chronic diseases, reduces visits to emergency rooms and reduces overall costs, and is especially needed in rural areas where physicians with certain specialties are in short supply.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/5/08
By Sentinel Staff
WASHINGTON -- Expanded Medicare reimbursement could lead to increased opportunities for local residents to see specialists on video, if a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson (D - St. Helena) and Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R - Columbia, MO) makes its way through Congress this year.
Their bill would increase the number of facilities offering telehealth services in urban and suburban areas. Currently Medicare reimbursement for these services is limited to rural areas, and only for certain kinds of health facilities.
"People in rural Congressional Districts like ours often have to travel long distances to see a specialty physician," Thompson said in a release. "We know that telehealth technologies are an effective way to bring high-quality, affordable healthcare to Americans, no matter where they live. This legislation will make sure Medicare recipients can access telemedicine technology in more cities and towns and in more health facilities. As healthcare becomes more expensive, telehealth technology is a great way to help people get the care they need."
The proposal would also allocate $30 million to provide grants to help health facilities pay for telehealth equipment and support services.
"Telehealth has the potential to make the best treatments and medical professionals available to any American," Hulshof said in a statement. "This legislation has broad support from the medical community, as we all share the same goal: to take full advantage of medical and technological advances to save lives and keep people healthy. Telehealth also has great potential to save billions of taxpayer dollars, so this bill is truly a win-win."
Advocates of telehealth claim that it provides more effective management of chronic diseases, reduces visits to emergency rooms and reduces overall costs, and is especially needed in rural areas where physicians with certain specialties are in short supply.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Clendenen, Fennell Head To Run-Off Election
California voters back 99, flunk 98; Smith re-elected easily
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Charles Douglas
EUREKA -- Sometimes you can win the most votes and lose the election, as was the case last night for the late Supervisor Roger Rodoni, who edged out a 16 vote victory in preliminary results released by Humboldt County Elections but fell far short of the majority vote needed to force another appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger to the seat temporarily held by Rodoni's wife, Johanna.
Instead, the top two living contenders for the 2nd District seat will advance to a November run-off election, with Fortuna business owner Clif Clendenen clearly in the driver's seat after receiving a preliminary total of 2,417 votes, or 36.5% of the total. His opponent will be ex-radio news host Estelle Fennell of Redway, who finished in third place with 1,773 votes, or 26.8%.
Humboldt voters will not get the opportunity to vote in a run-off for the other two seats, however. Supervisor Jimmy Smith won in a landslide to retain his 1st District seat, with 3,691 votes or 71.7% of the uncertified count, while his opponent, Ferndale dairyman John Vevoda finished with 1,451 votes or 28.2%.
In the 3rd District, which saw a competitive election for the first time in 12 years, an incredibly low turnout rate of 28%, in part due to the timing of the election designed to exclude the votes of students, faculty and staff of Humboldt State University out of town for the summer, bore out a win for consultant and lobbyist Mark Lovelace with 2,454 votes or 52.6%. Lovelace massively outspent his opponents, stock broker Bryan Plumley who garnered 1,600 votes or 34.3% and Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino who finished third with 595 votes or 12.8%.
The electorate across California fairly well agreed with Humboldt County voters on the two ballot initiatives concerning eminent domain. The anti-rent control Prop. 98, backed by the Farm Bureau, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the landlord lobby, was handily defeated by nearly a million votes statewide, with only 39% of California voters in favor and 41% in Humboldt specifically. The competing measure to emplace more moderate restrictions on the eminent domain authority of local and state government, Prop. 99, won the support of 62.5% of voters statewide and 61.9% of those in Humboldt.
The only local ballot initiative was Measure C, an educational facilities bond for the McKinleyville Union School District. It passed 1,340 to 1,012 in the uncertified results, giving it a margin of victory of nearly 14%.
Money also made the difference in partisan primaries for the North Coast's 1st Congressional District. Five-term incumbent Congressman Mike Thompson, flush with millions from agricultural, armament and other industries, cruised to yet another win with 52,316 votes or 87.8% over his unfunded opponent, Fort Bragg journalist Mitch Clogg, who got 7,463 votes or 12.2%. On the Republican side, businessman Zane Starkewolf outspent and outran defense attorney Douglas Pharr to score a 54-46% win. Albion-based psychologist Carol Wolman advanced to the general election as well, running uncontested in the Green Party primary.
There was no contest to speak of for the local 1st Assembly District, as former State Senator Wes Chesbro of Arcata and retired law enforcement officer Jim Pell advanced uncontested from their respective Democrat and Republican primaries.
Although it took him several unsuccessful races for Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and Humboldt County Board of Education, Eureka social worker Jake Pickering has evidently overcome his losing streak and won himself a seat on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee for the 4th District. Pickering is only 4 votes ahead of incumbent Bob Service in preliminary results, 560 to 556. The Service family will continue to serve on the HCDCC though, as Pam Service easily won re-election with 720 votes, along with incumbents Charlene Cutler-Ploss and Richard Marks, who received 755 and 743 votes, respectively. The other HCDCC districts saw incumbents re-elected without opposition, as did all the incumbents on the Republican Central Committee.
The Libertarian, American Independent and Peace & Freedom parties continue to be completely unorganized in Humboldt County with no candidates filed for their Central Committee or County Council seats, while all 7 incumbents on the Green Party County Council will lose their seats this month, as not one of them bothered to file for re-election. This will leave the Greens without elected representation locally for the first time in over a decade, as their voter registration numbers and organizational impact continues to plummet following a bitterly contested County Council contest in 2006 which led to the purging of Greg Allen, Xandra Manns and other elected leaders at the hands of a clique led by former attorney David Cobb of Eureka.
Rounding out local election news was the uncontested election of Joyce Hinrichs to the Superior Court Judge seat being vacated by the retiring J. Michael Brown. Hinrichs will not face an election challenge through 2014.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Charles Douglas
EUREKA -- Sometimes you can win the most votes and lose the election, as was the case last night for the late Supervisor Roger Rodoni, who edged out a 16 vote victory in preliminary results released by Humboldt County Elections but fell far short of the majority vote needed to force another appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger to the seat temporarily held by Rodoni's wife, Johanna.
Instead, the top two living contenders for the 2nd District seat will advance to a November run-off election, with Fortuna business owner Clif Clendenen clearly in the driver's seat after receiving a preliminary total of 2,417 votes, or 36.5% of the total. His opponent will be ex-radio news host Estelle Fennell of Redway, who finished in third place with 1,773 votes, or 26.8%.
Humboldt voters will not get the opportunity to vote in a run-off for the other two seats, however. Supervisor Jimmy Smith won in a landslide to retain his 1st District seat, with 3,691 votes or 71.7% of the uncertified count, while his opponent, Ferndale dairyman John Vevoda finished with 1,451 votes or 28.2%.
In the 3rd District, which saw a competitive election for the first time in 12 years, an incredibly low turnout rate of 28%, in part due to the timing of the election designed to exclude the votes of students, faculty and staff of Humboldt State University out of town for the summer, bore out a win for consultant and lobbyist Mark Lovelace with 2,454 votes or 52.6%. Lovelace massively outspent his opponents, stock broker Bryan Plumley who garnered 1,600 votes or 34.3% and Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino who finished third with 595 votes or 12.8%.
The electorate across California fairly well agreed with Humboldt County voters on the two ballot initiatives concerning eminent domain. The anti-rent control Prop. 98, backed by the Farm Bureau, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the landlord lobby, was handily defeated by nearly a million votes statewide, with only 39% of California voters in favor and 41% in Humboldt specifically. The competing measure to emplace more moderate restrictions on the eminent domain authority of local and state government, Prop. 99, won the support of 62.5% of voters statewide and 61.9% of those in Humboldt.
The only local ballot initiative was Measure C, an educational facilities bond for the McKinleyville Union School District. It passed 1,340 to 1,012 in the uncertified results, giving it a margin of victory of nearly 14%.
Money also made the difference in partisan primaries for the North Coast's 1st Congressional District. Five-term incumbent Congressman Mike Thompson, flush with millions from agricultural, armament and other industries, cruised to yet another win with 52,316 votes or 87.8% over his unfunded opponent, Fort Bragg journalist Mitch Clogg, who got 7,463 votes or 12.2%. On the Republican side, businessman Zane Starkewolf outspent and outran defense attorney Douglas Pharr to score a 54-46% win. Albion-based psychologist Carol Wolman advanced to the general election as well, running uncontested in the Green Party primary.
There was no contest to speak of for the local 1st Assembly District, as former State Senator Wes Chesbro of Arcata and retired law enforcement officer Jim Pell advanced uncontested from their respective Democrat and Republican primaries.
Although it took him several unsuccessful races for Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and Humboldt County Board of Education, Eureka social worker Jake Pickering has evidently overcome his losing streak and won himself a seat on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee for the 4th District. Pickering is only 4 votes ahead of incumbent Bob Service in preliminary results, 560 to 556. The Service family will continue to serve on the HCDCC though, as Pam Service easily won re-election with 720 votes, along with incumbents Charlene Cutler-Ploss and Richard Marks, who received 755 and 743 votes, respectively. The other HCDCC districts saw incumbents re-elected without opposition, as did all the incumbents on the Republican Central Committee.
The Libertarian, American Independent and Peace & Freedom parties continue to be completely unorganized in Humboldt County with no candidates filed for their Central Committee or County Council seats, while all 7 incumbents on the Green Party County Council will lose their seats this month, as not one of them bothered to file for re-election. This will leave the Greens without elected representation locally for the first time in over a decade, as their voter registration numbers and organizational impact continues to plummet following a bitterly contested County Council contest in 2006 which led to the purging of Greg Allen, Xandra Manns and other elected leaders at the hands of a clique led by former attorney David Cobb of Eureka.
Rounding out local election news was the uncontested election of Joyce Hinrichs to the Superior Court Judge seat being vacated by the retiring J. Michael Brown. Hinrichs will not face an election challenge through 2014.
Kidnap And Robbery Suspect Nabbed
Juan Jose Estrada-Chavez held on $50,000 bail
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Sentinel Staff
BLUE LAKE -- A man is in Humboldt County jail for allegedly kidnapping and robbing a woman in Blue Lake on Wednesday, May 28. Juan Jose Estrada-Chavez, 31, of Mexico is being held for $50,000 bail.
Estrada-Chavez was spotted by the 20-year-old kidnap victim leaving the Blue Lake Casino as she was being taken back to Blue Lake by a Eureka Police Dept. detective.
After Estrada-Chavez and three other people getting into a car and leaving the casino parking lot, the detective followed as deputies, California Highway Patrol officers and U.S. marshals answered his call for back-up. A countywide "be on the lookout" alert had been sent to local law enforcement agencies earlier in the day after woman told Eureka police she had been approached by a man with a handgun while she was parked in a spot near the Sequoia Park duck pond.
The woman said Estrada-Chavez got into her car, demanded her cellular phone, keys and money, then forced her to drive him to places in Manila, Trinidad, and Blue Lake before fleeing into a wooded rural area south of Blue Lake.
The woman waited a few minutes before using her spare car key to drive away, flagging down the first motorist she saw, who used their cell phone to call police.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Sentinel Staff
BLUE LAKE -- A man is in Humboldt County jail for allegedly kidnapping and robbing a woman in Blue Lake on Wednesday, May 28. Juan Jose Estrada-Chavez, 31, of Mexico is being held for $50,000 bail.
Estrada-Chavez was spotted by the 20-year-old kidnap victim leaving the Blue Lake Casino as she was being taken back to Blue Lake by a Eureka Police Dept. detective.
After Estrada-Chavez and three other people getting into a car and leaving the casino parking lot, the detective followed as deputies, California Highway Patrol officers and U.S. marshals answered his call for back-up. A countywide "be on the lookout" alert had been sent to local law enforcement agencies earlier in the day after woman told Eureka police she had been approached by a man with a handgun while she was parked in a spot near the Sequoia Park duck pond.
The woman said Estrada-Chavez got into her car, demanded her cellular phone, keys and money, then forced her to drive him to places in Manila, Trinidad, and Blue Lake before fleeing into a wooded rural area south of Blue Lake.
The woman waited a few minutes before using her spare car key to drive away, flagging down the first motorist she saw, who used their cell phone to call police.
HSU Discontinues German Program
Richmond cites low enrollment, budget crisis
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Sentinel Staff
ARCATA -- Citing the one-two punch of low enrollment and the ongoing campus budget crisis, HSU President Rollin Richmond announced he has asked
"I hope that those who favor its retention will recognize the sometimes agonizing decisions that the administration has been forced to make in the face of continuing reductions in the CSU budget by our Legislature and the Governor," Rollins wrote in a memo to HSU's Academic Senate.
No additional students will be accepted for the major as it is phased out over the next couple years. Plans will be made to accommodate students already in the major, and
The decision follows a year-long review process by the Academic Senate and other campus groups.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Fortuna Senior Wins Regional Art Contest
Arcata artist also receives Honorable Mention
Humboldt Sentinel
Scene 6/3/08
By Sentinel Staff
A local high school senior's artistic talent has earned her praise from the United States Congress.
Sarah Swanlund, who is graduating this month from Fortuna High School, was chosen by Congressman Mike Thompson (D - St. Helena) from contestants across the First District for the 2008 Artistic Discovery Award.
"Sarah is a tremendously talented artist," Thompson said in a release. "Her winning entry, Jazz, is emotional and fluid. She has a mastery of technique far beyond her years."
Sarah's art, along with winners from 434 other districts, will be on display at the U.S. Capitol for the next year. Swanlund and two guests will be flown to Washington, D.C. for an exhibit ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 25.
According to the release, Swanlund is attending Humboldt State University this fall and plans to pursue art and graphic design.
The Artistic Discovery contest has been sponsored annually by Congress since 1982 for high school students to showcase their talent, and hundreds of thousands of high school students have participated throughout the country. In addition to the local winner, an Honorable Mention was awarded to Vajra Snow from the Arcata Art Institute for a pop art self portrait.
Humboldt Sentinel
Scene 6/3/08
By Sentinel Staff
A local high school senior's artistic talent has earned her praise from the United States Congress.
Sarah Swanlund, who is graduating this month from Fortuna High School, was chosen by Congressman Mike Thompson (D - St. Helena) from contestants across the First District for the 2008 Artistic Discovery Award.
"Sarah is a tremendously talented artist," Thompson said in a release. "Her winning entry, Jazz, is emotional and fluid. She has a mastery of technique far beyond her years."
Sarah's art, along with winners from 434 other districts, will be on display at the U.S. Capitol for the next year. Swanlund and two guests will be flown to Washington, D.C. for an exhibit ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 25.
According to the release, Swanlund is attending Humboldt State University this fall and plans to pursue art and graphic design.
The Artistic Discovery contest has been sponsored annually by Congress since 1982 for high school students to showcase their talent, and hundreds of thousands of high school students have participated throughout the country. In addition to the local winner, an Honorable Mention was awarded to Vajra Snow from the Arcata Art Institute for a pop art self portrait.
Diesel-Contaminated Creek Reopened For Residents
State officials, contractors sill working to mitigate impact
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/3/08
By Sentinel Staff
MIRANDA -- Residents around the north fork of Hacker Creek can resume using local drinking supplies as county and state officials announced today that their water test samples are now turning up clean.
An effort coordinated among several state and county agencies, including the county's Division of Environmental Health, followed the May 14 discovery of an estimated 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled in the Hacker Creek area. Fuel tests up to 1,500 yards below the spill area confirm that the creek water is no longer being impacted by petroleum, although additional tests will be conducted over the next few days to confirm these findings.
DEH, state Fish and Game and the Regional Water Quality Control Board are working with private contractors SHN Consulting and North Coast Environmental Construction to contain the spill with oil absorbent booms, pads and other materials. Contractors have also dug an interceptor ditch to divert diesel from the area around the creek.
Officials are still advising caution from residents who draw water from Hacker Creek. Specifically, DEH is advising residents to treat drinking water with chlorine, flush their wells and creek intake systems to ensure that spill-impacted water is removed, and to watch for fuel odor and petroleum sheen in the water.
Additional information can be obtained from DEH by calling (707) 445-6215.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/3/08
By Sentinel Staff
MIRANDA -- Residents around the north fork of Hacker Creek can resume using local drinking supplies as county and state officials announced today that their water test samples are now turning up clean.
An effort coordinated among several state and county agencies, including the county's Division of Environmental Health, followed the May 14 discovery of an estimated 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled in the Hacker Creek area. Fuel tests up to 1,500 yards below the spill area confirm that the creek water is no longer being impacted by petroleum, although additional tests will be conducted over the next few days to confirm these findings.
DEH, state Fish and Game and the Regional Water Quality Control Board are working with private contractors SHN Consulting and North Coast Environmental Construction to contain the spill with oil absorbent booms, pads and other materials. Contractors have also dug an interceptor ditch to divert diesel from the area around the creek.
Officials are still advising caution from residents who draw water from Hacker Creek. Specifically, DEH is advising residents to treat drinking water with chlorine, flush their wells and creek intake systems to ensure that spill-impacted water is removed, and to watch for fuel odor and petroleum sheen in the water.
Additional information can be obtained from DEH by calling (707) 445-6215.
Monday, June 2, 2008
And The Sentinel Endorses...
Pitino, Clendenen, Smith for Supervisor
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
After extensive research and discussion amongst our editorial board pertaining to the prosperity and future development of Humboldt County, and how to move the county forward in a manner beneficial to all who reside here, we decided to extensively review the qualifications and political philosophies guiding the candidates running for supervisor.
We made these endorsements based on the prospective candidates' views and solutions on a myriad of issues involving land use, code enforcement, economic stability, transportation infrastructure viability, law enforcement oversight and the direction of the new General Plan.
3rd District Supervisor
(Arcata, Manila, Bayside, Freshwater)
Paul Pitino
If we were to sit down and write up the sketch of a perfect candidate to represent Arcata on the Board of Supervisors, it would strongly resemble Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino. His endorsement was the easiest decision we had to make.
For a town increasingly dominated by intolerant yuppies who seek to overturn Prop. 215, freeze out marketplace competition and generally make life a living hell for the poor and homeless populations, Pitino's ethic of compassion and respect have repeatedly borne out in Arcata affairs. His consistently reasonable stances on the Arcata Council on behalf of the people, not the powerful, have demonstrated real Green values when fake progressives whither in the face of contention. While the establishment media (especially in Arcata) have uniformly dismissed him as an also-ran, not-ready-for-prime-time candidate overly focused on pet issues, Pitino's specific pledges of change on issues of transportation, transparency and fiscal restraint would be a breath of fresh air in the overly-stuffy Supervisors' Chamber.
Our decision was made even easier given the paltry competition Pitino faced. Bryan Plumley hauls the baggage of backing from the Arkley wing of the local Democrat establishment, a sure kiss of death in Arcata politics. Plumley's record of failed leadership as the President of Arcata Mainstreet, especially his treatment of their Executive Director, the late Michael Behney was none-too-impressive to the Plaza merchants we spoke with, and it's difficult to see what positive changes he would bring to the Board of Supervisors.
Even with this said, we'd be hard-pressed to come up with a decision should Plumley make a run-off with Mark Lovelace, who seeks to continue the dynastic tradition of the yuppiecrats running Democrat Central Command, where each officeholder gets to dub their successor who gets to hold on to the position until term limits, retirement or death-in-office opens up the seat for yet another royal coronation. Lovelace essentially promises business-as-usual in the vein of the outgoing John Woolley, and this is just unacceptable given the growing problems Humboldt County faces.
Neither Lovelace nor Plumley are willing to stand up to the police lobby on the issue of civilian review, nor the merchant lobby on the issue of helping homeless people instead of persecuting them, nor the bureaucrat lobby on the tide of overspending, mostly on themselves, which is driving Humboldt County into yet another budget crisis which will be felt the most by those who can afford cuts the least. Pitino is running an ultra-grassroots campaign expressly to avoid undue influence from the moneyed interests, and for this he deserves the highest of praise, not the mocking snipes of jackals who profit off of status quo dirty politics. Paul would make an outstanding supervisor.
2nd District Supervisor
(Fortuna, Rio Dell, Garberville, Shelter Cove)
Clif Clendenen
Although subject to lengthy discussion, the Sentinel eventually opted to endorse Fortuna business owner Clif Clendenen as the best candidate to bridge the gap between "SoHum" culture and the more conservative Eel River Valley. He was born and raised in Fortuna, is raising a family there, and runs his family orchard business, a community institution for over a century.
Clendenen knows how important it is to protect local small businesses, and his work with Fortuna's General Plan update gives him the experience needed to take an in-depth, detail-oriented approach to the county General Plan update in progress. He also recognizes the importance of civic pride and to this end was instrumental in starting Fortuna's Apple Harvest Festival and Summer Concert Series, which provides him valuable connections across socio-political lines. Clif also impressed us with his logical approach towards problems facing the Eel River, and we're confident in his ability to stand up to the forces which have prevented it from becoming once more an environmentally healthy fishing destination.
Estelle Fennell could potentially be a fine representative given her hard work for 17 years at KMUD as a radio news director, a position which gave her an insurmountable array of knowledge on district issues. We appreciate her hard work and her continued support for local fire suppression and health care institutions, and we certainly appreciate her stance on protecting property rights and providing more accountability for local law enforcement. When it came to our decision, however, the editorial board felt Clif's vision of a supervisor as mediator would in the end make him a more effective representative of the public.
The death of Roger Rodoni was a horrible shock to the comunity, and we offer our condolences to all who loved him. Johanna Rodoni, to her credit, immediately stepped up and showed interest in his seat, to which she was appointed through the end of the year. Johanna should have run as a write-in candidate if she was interested in her late husband's position in the next term, but instead is running under his name, which lingers on the ballot due to a loophole in state election law. We could not in all good conscience advocate voting for a dead man with the unverifiable expectation that his wife would simply slide in to his place. While we respect Johanna's work in the community, we're fairly unaware of where she stands, and if her platform is a carbon-copy of Roger's, then we can only voice our respectful disagreement with many of the late supervisor's positions on social justice and environmental quality issues. Besides, who can say what Arnold Schwarzenegger will do with the authority voters may grant him? It's far too much of a risk to take with what's at stake for the people of Humboldt County. Clif deserves support and the 2nd District deserves a change of pace.
1st District Supervisor
(Cutten, Humboldt Hill, Ferndale)
Jimmy Smith
With some reservation, the editorial board gives the nod to incumbent Jimmy Smith's re-election bid. His wide array of knowledge on a variety of issues involving port stability and infrastructure has been a key force in ensuring the necessary funding needed to revitalizing port development. Smith's leadership has led to the opening of Pedrazzini Park, which will provide for various forms of waterway use for years to benefit prospective businesses and the general public. His pragmatic view of the General Plan and his concern about improperly researched development impressed us.
Smith is truly dedicated to finding a middle ground, sometimes to our frustration when issues like poverty, police review and election reform demand a more definite stance. Yet we must give Smith credit for standing up against the golden parachute pay-off of the incompetent former County Counsel, Tamara Falor, and we hope this sense of fiscal restraint will emerge once more as county staff push for more pay and benefits for themselves.
John Vevoda could have potential for a future run at the 1st District seat. We agree with him on protecting farmland, creating jobs, and defending property rights. However, we weren't impressed with his ability to provide succinct solutions to his most revered concerns, and we found his stances on economic development a bit timid. We hope John continues to work hard for the community on issues where his expertise is self-evident and build towards another bid. For now, Jimmy Smith has our backing and that of his community.
State Propositions
No on 98, Yes on 99
This summer’s state ballot is really just a battle of dueling special interests. Specifically, rich property owners hoping to get richer vs. a group of renters, business owners, labor and environmental activists and local government officials -- in other words, people representing the rest of us.
Prop. 98 has been written by and for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., the people who brought you 1978’s Prop. 13 and every state budget crisis since then. This time the Jarvis-heads want to ban rent control. But they can’t say that, since almost nobody would vote for it. So instead they’re saying they just want to stop government from using eminent domain to take your home to make room for a new shopping mall.
That sounds nifty, but it’s something people really don’t have to worry about -- states and local governments very rarely take single-family homes to make room for anything. Eminent domain is almost always used to clear away abandoned or blighted eyesores to make room for something new.
That’s where Prop. 99 comes in. It bans exactly what the Jarvis-heads say they want to ban -- using eminent domain to take residential homes. But it doesn’t do anything else -- there are no hidden agendas, just a rule against something that almost never happens anyway.
At a time when people are losing their homes because they can’t make mortgage payments, nobody needs landlords taking advantage of them with the threat of higher rents. So vote No on Prop. 98, and Yes on Prop. 99.
U.S. Congress
Mitch Clogg (Democrat)
Mitch's campaign is the first primary challenge in a decade to the pesticide industry's best friend in Congress, Mike Thompson, founder of the wine caucus and all-around corporate-friendly Blue Dog. It's thanks to right-wing Democrats like Mike that the war continues to be fully funded by Congress, and it's thanks to Mike that toxic pesticides like methyl bromide continue to pollute groundwater, poison farmworkers and destroy the ozone layer. Mike's new position on a counter-terrorism subcommittee may have brought him fat contributions from war profiteer Lockheed Martin, but have brought our nation no closer to confronting the counter-Constitutional behavior of an out-of-control unitary executive bent on shredding the Bill of Rights and international human rights law.
Mitch Clogg stand for ending the war, ending the war profiteering and ending the sale of Congress to the highest bidder. It's about time one of the few progressives left in the Democrat side of the isle prove that this persuasion of their party still actually exists, even if most of them are too cowardly to stand up to a five-term incumbent who shows no sign of respecting the concept of term limits, much less the ethic of campaign finance reform. Anybody but Mike.
Douglas Pharr (Republican)
For a Republican Party dominated by denial of the mounting health care and environmental catastrophes partially brought on by their policies, criminal defense attorney Doug Pharr appears as a voice of change. While hardly taking a brave stance for universal health care, Pharr's embrace of the Divided We Fail pledge from the AARP show him to be at least moderately interested in health care reform. His stance on massive public investment in clean energy is far more impressive and goes way beyond what McCain or Hagel are offering in terms of holding government, as well as industry, accountable for making real progress -- although we hasten to differ with his Obama-like support of the inconceivably wasteful and unsustainable nuclear power industry.
Pharr contrasts sharply with Davis business owner Zane Starkewolf, who delusionally declares the Iraq war as a "victory." His pro-serfdom stance on agricultural labor and immigration reform issues fit just right with his background in the wine industry, specifically Rombauer Vineyards. Oddly enough, Joan Rombauer has contributed thousands of dollars to Thompson's re-election campaigns over the years. Is this a case of the polluting industry of choice in the southern part of the district placing bets on both sides of the D.C. establishment? The last thing the North Coast needs is one politician in the pocket of the wine industry replacing another. Vote for Douglas.
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
After extensive research and discussion amongst our editorial board pertaining to the prosperity and future development of Humboldt County, and how to move the county forward in a manner beneficial to all who reside here, we decided to extensively review the qualifications and political philosophies guiding the candidates running for supervisor.
We made these endorsements based on the prospective candidates' views and solutions on a myriad of issues involving land use, code enforcement, economic stability, transportation infrastructure viability, law enforcement oversight and the direction of the new General Plan.
3rd District Supervisor
(Arcata, Manila, Bayside, Freshwater)
Paul Pitino
If we were to sit down and write up the sketch of a perfect candidate to represent Arcata on the Board of Supervisors, it would strongly resemble Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino. His endorsement was the easiest decision we had to make.
For a town increasingly dominated by intolerant yuppies who seek to overturn Prop. 215, freeze out marketplace competition and generally make life a living hell for the poor and homeless populations, Pitino's ethic of compassion and respect have repeatedly borne out in Arcata affairs. His consistently reasonable stances on the Arcata Council on behalf of the people, not the powerful, have demonstrated real Green values when fake progressives whither in the face of contention. While the establishment media (especially in Arcata) have uniformly dismissed him as an also-ran, not-ready-for-prime-time candidate overly focused on pet issues, Pitino's specific pledges of change on issues of transportation, transparency and fiscal restraint would be a breath of fresh air in the overly-stuffy Supervisors' Chamber.
Our decision was made even easier given the paltry competition Pitino faced. Bryan Plumley hauls the baggage of backing from the Arkley wing of the local Democrat establishment, a sure kiss of death in Arcata politics. Plumley's record of failed leadership as the President of Arcata Mainstreet, especially his treatment of their Executive Director, the late Michael Behney was none-too-impressive to the Plaza merchants we spoke with, and it's difficult to see what positive changes he would bring to the Board of Supervisors.
Even with this said, we'd be hard-pressed to come up with a decision should Plumley make a run-off with Mark Lovelace, who seeks to continue the dynastic tradition of the yuppiecrats running Democrat Central Command, where each officeholder gets to dub their successor who gets to hold on to the position until term limits, retirement or death-in-office opens up the seat for yet another royal coronation. Lovelace essentially promises business-as-usual in the vein of the outgoing John Woolley, and this is just unacceptable given the growing problems Humboldt County faces.
Neither Lovelace nor Plumley are willing to stand up to the police lobby on the issue of civilian review, nor the merchant lobby on the issue of helping homeless people instead of persecuting them, nor the bureaucrat lobby on the tide of overspending, mostly on themselves, which is driving Humboldt County into yet another budget crisis which will be felt the most by those who can afford cuts the least. Pitino is running an ultra-grassroots campaign expressly to avoid undue influence from the moneyed interests, and for this he deserves the highest of praise, not the mocking snipes of jackals who profit off of status quo dirty politics. Paul would make an outstanding supervisor.
2nd District Supervisor
(Fortuna, Rio Dell, Garberville, Shelter Cove)
Clif Clendenen
Although subject to lengthy discussion, the Sentinel eventually opted to endorse Fortuna business owner Clif Clendenen as the best candidate to bridge the gap between "SoHum" culture and the more conservative Eel River Valley. He was born and raised in Fortuna, is raising a family there, and runs his family orchard business, a community institution for over a century.
Clendenen knows how important it is to protect local small businesses, and his work with Fortuna's General Plan update gives him the experience needed to take an in-depth, detail-oriented approach to the county General Plan update in progress. He also recognizes the importance of civic pride and to this end was instrumental in starting Fortuna's Apple Harvest Festival and Summer Concert Series, which provides him valuable connections across socio-political lines. Clif also impressed us with his logical approach towards problems facing the Eel River, and we're confident in his ability to stand up to the forces which have prevented it from becoming once more an environmentally healthy fishing destination.
Estelle Fennell could potentially be a fine representative given her hard work for 17 years at KMUD as a radio news director, a position which gave her an insurmountable array of knowledge on district issues. We appreciate her hard work and her continued support for local fire suppression and health care institutions, and we certainly appreciate her stance on protecting property rights and providing more accountability for local law enforcement. When it came to our decision, however, the editorial board felt Clif's vision of a supervisor as mediator would in the end make him a more effective representative of the public.
The death of Roger Rodoni was a horrible shock to the comunity, and we offer our condolences to all who loved him. Johanna Rodoni, to her credit, immediately stepped up and showed interest in his seat, to which she was appointed through the end of the year. Johanna should have run as a write-in candidate if she was interested in her late husband's position in the next term, but instead is running under his name, which lingers on the ballot due to a loophole in state election law. We could not in all good conscience advocate voting for a dead man with the unverifiable expectation that his wife would simply slide in to his place. While we respect Johanna's work in the community, we're fairly unaware of where she stands, and if her platform is a carbon-copy of Roger's, then we can only voice our respectful disagreement with many of the late supervisor's positions on social justice and environmental quality issues. Besides, who can say what Arnold Schwarzenegger will do with the authority voters may grant him? It's far too much of a risk to take with what's at stake for the people of Humboldt County. Clif deserves support and the 2nd District deserves a change of pace.
1st District Supervisor
(Cutten, Humboldt Hill, Ferndale)
Jimmy Smith
With some reservation, the editorial board gives the nod to incumbent Jimmy Smith's re-election bid. His wide array of knowledge on a variety of issues involving port stability and infrastructure has been a key force in ensuring the necessary funding needed to revitalizing port development. Smith's leadership has led to the opening of Pedrazzini Park, which will provide for various forms of waterway use for years to benefit prospective businesses and the general public. His pragmatic view of the General Plan and his concern about improperly researched development impressed us.
Smith is truly dedicated to finding a middle ground, sometimes to our frustration when issues like poverty, police review and election reform demand a more definite stance. Yet we must give Smith credit for standing up against the golden parachute pay-off of the incompetent former County Counsel, Tamara Falor, and we hope this sense of fiscal restraint will emerge once more as county staff push for more pay and benefits for themselves.
John Vevoda could have potential for a future run at the 1st District seat. We agree with him on protecting farmland, creating jobs, and defending property rights. However, we weren't impressed with his ability to provide succinct solutions to his most revered concerns, and we found his stances on economic development a bit timid. We hope John continues to work hard for the community on issues where his expertise is self-evident and build towards another bid. For now, Jimmy Smith has our backing and that of his community.
State Propositions
No on 98, Yes on 99
This summer’s state ballot is really just a battle of dueling special interests. Specifically, rich property owners hoping to get richer vs. a group of renters, business owners, labor and environmental activists and local government officials -- in other words, people representing the rest of us.
Prop. 98 has been written by and for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., the people who brought you 1978’s Prop. 13 and every state budget crisis since then. This time the Jarvis-heads want to ban rent control. But they can’t say that, since almost nobody would vote for it. So instead they’re saying they just want to stop government from using eminent domain to take your home to make room for a new shopping mall.
That sounds nifty, but it’s something people really don’t have to worry about -- states and local governments very rarely take single-family homes to make room for anything. Eminent domain is almost always used to clear away abandoned or blighted eyesores to make room for something new.
That’s where Prop. 99 comes in. It bans exactly what the Jarvis-heads say they want to ban -- using eminent domain to take residential homes. But it doesn’t do anything else -- there are no hidden agendas, just a rule against something that almost never happens anyway.
At a time when people are losing their homes because they can’t make mortgage payments, nobody needs landlords taking advantage of them with the threat of higher rents. So vote No on Prop. 98, and Yes on Prop. 99.
U.S. Congress
Mitch Clogg (Democrat)
Mitch's campaign is the first primary challenge in a decade to the pesticide industry's best friend in Congress, Mike Thompson, founder of the wine caucus and all-around corporate-friendly Blue Dog. It's thanks to right-wing Democrats like Mike that the war continues to be fully funded by Congress, and it's thanks to Mike that toxic pesticides like methyl bromide continue to pollute groundwater, poison farmworkers and destroy the ozone layer. Mike's new position on a counter-terrorism subcommittee may have brought him fat contributions from war profiteer Lockheed Martin, but have brought our nation no closer to confronting the counter-Constitutional behavior of an out-of-control unitary executive bent on shredding the Bill of Rights and international human rights law.
Mitch Clogg stand for ending the war, ending the war profiteering and ending the sale of Congress to the highest bidder. It's about time one of the few progressives left in the Democrat side of the isle prove that this persuasion of their party still actually exists, even if most of them are too cowardly to stand up to a five-term incumbent who shows no sign of respecting the concept of term limits, much less the ethic of campaign finance reform. Anybody but Mike.
Douglas Pharr (Republican)
For a Republican Party dominated by denial of the mounting health care and environmental catastrophes partially brought on by their policies, criminal defense attorney Doug Pharr appears as a voice of change. While hardly taking a brave stance for universal health care, Pharr's embrace of the Divided We Fail pledge from the AARP show him to be at least moderately interested in health care reform. His stance on massive public investment in clean energy is far more impressive and goes way beyond what McCain or Hagel are offering in terms of holding government, as well as industry, accountable for making real progress -- although we hasten to differ with his Obama-like support of the inconceivably wasteful and unsustainable nuclear power industry.
Pharr contrasts sharply with Davis business owner Zane Starkewolf, who delusionally declares the Iraq war as a "victory." His pro-serfdom stance on agricultural labor and immigration reform issues fit just right with his background in the wine industry, specifically Rombauer Vineyards. Oddly enough, Joan Rombauer has contributed thousands of dollars to Thompson's re-election campaigns over the years. Is this a case of the polluting industry of choice in the southern part of the district placing bets on both sides of the D.C. establishment? The last thing the North Coast needs is one politician in the pocket of the wine industry replacing another. Vote for Douglas.
Candidates Respond To Hand-Counted Ballot Push
Voter committee asks, Lovelace, others don't answer
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/2/08
By Sentinel Staff
EUREKA -- Confidence in local candidates varies, at least for members of the Voter Confidence Committee, who released last week the results of their short survey of local candidates.
One question alone dominated their dialogue with candidates for Humboldt County Supervisor, State Assembly and Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee: Do they want our ballots to be hand-counted or tabulated by electronic voting machines?
Fully 40% of the candidates surveyed failed to register any reply with the VCC prior to their release, including supervisorial candidates Lovelace, Clendenen, Vevoda and Smith, as well as Johanna Rodoni, whose late husband Roger remains as a choice on the ballot next Tuesday. Also ignoring the survey was former State Senator Wes Chesbro of Arcata, who is running for the Assembly seat being vacated at the end of this year by Patty Berg.
Those registering support for switching Humboldt County's election system to hand-counted ballots included Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino and former KMUD radio host Estelle Fennell, who are running for the third and second district supervisorial seats, respectively. Also in favor of hand-counting are Jake Pickering, Richard Marks and Charlene Cutler-Ploss, who are running for the county democratic central committee from the Eureka area.
In their release, the VCC contends that all electronic voting machines used in California can be tampered with, and that a review of the recount results of the January 2008 New Hampshire primary revealed that the same type of equipment used in Humboldt County had an error rate several times higher than hand-counting.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/2/08
By Sentinel Staff
EUREKA -- Confidence in local candidates varies, at least for members of the Voter Confidence Committee, who released last week the results of their short survey of local candidates.
One question alone dominated their dialogue with candidates for Humboldt County Supervisor, State Assembly and Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee: Do they want our ballots to be hand-counted or tabulated by electronic voting machines?
Fully 40% of the candidates surveyed failed to register any reply with the VCC prior to their release, including supervisorial candidates Lovelace, Clendenen, Vevoda and Smith, as well as Johanna Rodoni, whose late husband Roger remains as a choice on the ballot next Tuesday. Also ignoring the survey was former State Senator Wes Chesbro of Arcata, who is running for the Assembly seat being vacated at the end of this year by Patty Berg.
Those registering support for switching Humboldt County's election system to hand-counted ballots included Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino and former KMUD radio host Estelle Fennell, who are running for the third and second district supervisorial seats, respectively. Also in favor of hand-counting are Jake Pickering, Richard Marks and Charlene Cutler-Ploss, who are running for the county democratic central committee from the Eureka area.
In their release, the VCC contends that all electronic voting machines used in California can be tampered with, and that a review of the recount results of the January 2008 New Hampshire primary revealed that the same type of equipment used in Humboldt County had an error rate several times higher than hand-counting.
Construction At HSU Leads To Paint In Arcata Creek
Clean-up underway from spill at new athletics complex
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/2/08
By Sentinel Staff
ARCATA -- Clean-up efforts continue at Humboldt State University after paint from the new athletics building washed into Campbell Creek.
Just before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, university police received a complaint from a member of the public concerning paint contaminating Campbell Creek, which runs through the campus and downstream into Arcata proper and Humboldt Bay.
After searching a number of sites on campus, the source was located about two hours later, when investigators from HSU and the City of Arcata discovered that wash water used to clean paint brushes and rollers had been illegally dumped into a storm water drain which was mislabeled as a sewer. The paint was being used at the Kinesiology and Athletics Building construction site on the east side of campus.
While HSU claims the latex paint in question is not acutely hazardous, officials at the Environmental Health Division of Humboldt County were notified, as well as the Regional Water Quality Control Board. While the flow of contaminated water has been cut off, the investigation is ongoing, and also involves California Fish and Game officials who examined the site on Friday.
HSU Vice President of Administrative Affairs Carl Coffey said in a release that mitigation efforts are underway, the campus has insisted on an aggressive clean-up of the creek system and that expertise from the faculty has been offered.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/2/08
By Sentinel Staff
ARCATA -- Clean-up efforts continue at Humboldt State University after paint from the new athletics building washed into Campbell Creek.
Just before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, university police received a complaint from a member of the public concerning paint contaminating Campbell Creek, which runs through the campus and downstream into Arcata proper and Humboldt Bay.
After searching a number of sites on campus, the source was located about two hours later, when investigators from HSU and the City of Arcata discovered that wash water used to clean paint brushes and rollers had been illegally dumped into a storm water drain which was mislabeled as a sewer. The paint was being used at the Kinesiology and Athletics Building construction site on the east side of campus.
While HSU claims the latex paint in question is not acutely hazardous, officials at the Environmental Health Division of Humboldt County were notified, as well as the Regional Water Quality Control Board. While the flow of contaminated water has been cut off, the investigation is ongoing, and also involves California Fish and Game officials who examined the site on Friday.
HSU Vice President of Administrative Affairs Carl Coffey said in a release that mitigation efforts are underway, the campus has insisted on an aggressive clean-up of the creek system and that expertise from the faculty has been offered.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Supes Set To Impose County Hiring Freeze
CAO proposes record $296 million budget for 2008-09
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/1/08
By Charles Douglas
EUREKA -- Despite a proposed 11% increase in spending for next year's budget, supervisors are looking at a freeze on hiring in Humboldt County for a whole range of local government agencies.
For the first time in five years, County Administrative Officer Loretta Nickolaus is requesting a hiring freeze, leaving vacant positions unfilled. Unlike years past, however, the CAO is looking to wield the power of granting exceptions to this freeze herself, rather than as action items to be determined by the Board of Supervisors.
Additionally at their meeting on Tuesday, supervisors will see the first draft of the 2008-09 budget for Humboldt County, which sets a new record at $296.5 million, primarily due to employee salary and benefit increases, technological modernization projects and increased expenses at the county jail.
"California faces a fiscal emergency...The proposed budget before you includes several measures to cushion the impact of currently unknown State cuts, including a responsible fund balance in the General Fund," Nickolaus states in her report. "If new state actions cripple the county's ability to continue operating under this budget, staff will return to your board with further cuts."
If no further unpleasant surprises turn up in the budget process taking place between the Governor and the Legislature in Sacramento, the CAO promises that no staff layoffs will be necessary, and that new hires for law enforcement will be top priority for exemptions from the hiring freeze. To provide a further cushion for the tight budget, Nickolaus is also requesting approval of a voluntary unpaid furlough program for her own position as well as the other department heads, who would be similarly authorized to grant furloughs to their staff.
Although at first glance it would appear that almost half of the county budget was devoted to health and human services, most of this reflects mandates already imposed and funded, to varying degrees of sufficiency, by state and federal government. Of the $93.8 million of discretionary spending reflected in the General Fund, over 48% goes to law enforcement and jail administration.
Even with the cuts sought in various departments, Supervisors are set to create a "rainy day" reserve fund of $2 million in the budget.
Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/1/08
By Charles Douglas
EUREKA -- Despite a proposed 11% increase in spending for next year's budget, supervisors are looking at a freeze on hiring in Humboldt County for a whole range of local government agencies.
For the first time in five years, County Administrative Officer Loretta Nickolaus is requesting a hiring freeze, leaving vacant positions unfilled. Unlike years past, however, the CAO is looking to wield the power of granting exceptions to this freeze herself, rather than as action items to be determined by the Board of Supervisors.
Additionally at their meeting on Tuesday, supervisors will see the first draft of the 2008-09 budget for Humboldt County, which sets a new record at $296.5 million, primarily due to employee salary and benefit increases, technological modernization projects and increased expenses at the county jail.
"California faces a fiscal emergency...The proposed budget before you includes several measures to cushion the impact of currently unknown State cuts, including a responsible fund balance in the General Fund," Nickolaus states in her report. "If new state actions cripple the county's ability to continue operating under this budget, staff will return to your board with further cuts."
If no further unpleasant surprises turn up in the budget process taking place between the Governor and the Legislature in Sacramento, the CAO promises that no staff layoffs will be necessary, and that new hires for law enforcement will be top priority for exemptions from the hiring freeze. To provide a further cushion for the tight budget, Nickolaus is also requesting approval of a voluntary unpaid furlough program for her own position as well as the other department heads, who would be similarly authorized to grant furloughs to their staff.
Although at first glance it would appear that almost half of the county budget was devoted to health and human services, most of this reflects mandates already imposed and funded, to varying degrees of sufficiency, by state and federal government. Of the $93.8 million of discretionary spending reflected in the General Fund, over 48% goes to law enforcement and jail administration.
Even with the cuts sought in various departments, Supervisors are set to create a "rainy day" reserve fund of $2 million in the budget.
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