Scale Of Values

"Life is life's greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life's scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest."
--Lloyd Biggle Jr.

Keith Olbermann Delivers One Hell Of a Commentary on Rumsfeld

Thanks to Salon's War Room for the head's up, and to Crooks & Liars--an awesome website, spread the word--for carrying the clip.

And after you're done wiping tears from your eyes that there's at least one person on television that's not just another gutless wonder, send Keith a thank-you note, KOlbermann@msnbc.com


Crooks & Liars' summary:

Keith had some very choice words about Rumsfeld’s "fascism" comments tonight. Watch it, save it and share it.

Olbermann delivered this commentary with fire and passion while highlighting how Rumsfeld’s comments echoes other times in our world’s history when anyone who questioned the administration was coined as a traitor, unpatriotic, communist or any other colorful term. Luckily we pulled out of those times and we will pull out of these times.

Remember - Rumsfeld did not just call the Democrats out yesterday, he called out a majority of this country. This wasn’t only a partisan attack, but more so an attack against the majority of Americans.

_______________________________

Keith is one of the few remaining journalists that deserve to be called a journalist. In the tradition of the best of Murrow's "See It Now", the only tv news show worth watching, Countdown, MSNBC, 8pm Eastern time.

TLC

More On The Educational Police State

As the item on cops in the schools has hit several newspapers via the AP wire service, I rewrote/expanded upon my earlier Post and turned it into another letter to the editor:

Dear Editor:

The dispute over how "school resource officers" are to be funded illustrates how far we have fled from the ideals of those who founded our country.

It wasn't that long ago that police stationed in schools was something we in the US accurately said was one of the horrors of the old Soviet Union (USSR) and other totalitarian regimes.

My how times have changed.

Cops in the schools, and children whacked out of their minds on sugar and mind-altering drugs (The "legal" ones--BigPharma has more effective lobbyists than those for less dangerous drugs like marijuana). A generation being trained, socially and chemically, to accept authoritarian power as an ever-present part of their lives, while being placed in a constant state of fear that without the presence of Big Brother, all will be lost. Narcotics serve to further numb the next generation. Children who have "adverse reactions" to those pharmaceutical toxins, such as anxiety, aggression, and complete mental breakdowns, will be swept under the rug as mere "collateral damage", and be used to maintain the constant state of terror among other children and the public.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." --Sinclair Lewis

Or a badge and a prescription pad.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Think

"Either you think – or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you."
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
Source: Tender is the Night, 1934

Educational Police State

UPDATE: Since the news item hit several papers via the wire AP wire service, I expanded upon my post below and turned it into a letter to the editor.


From the website of KSAL Radio, Salina, Kansas:

An escalating feud between the city and school district could mean the end of police officers in Wichita schools. The fight is over who should pay for the 22 school resource officers. School officials think the district should pay only for half of the time the officers are in schools, while city officials think the schools should pay more.

This year the Salina School District agreed to foot the bill for police officers that are stationed in the middle and high schools. SROs, or School Resource Officers, have been in USD 305 since 1997, but up until this year were paid with grant money and city funds.

The Salina School District budgeted $157,000 to pay four SROs for the school term. The City pays the officers when school is not in session.

________________________________

It wasn't that long ago that cops stationed in schools was something that the propagandists in the US said was one of the horrors of the old Soviet Union (USSR).

My how times have changed...

Cops in the schools, and children whacked out of their minds on sugar and mind-altering drugs (The "legal" ones--BigPharma has more effective lobbyists than lobbyists for less dangerous drugs like marijuana).

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
--Sinclair Lewis


Or a badge and a prescription pad.

TLC

The Wisdom Of The World Resides In Arkansas

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, of Little Rock, has decided they will only print letters to the editors from residents of Arkansas.

Well, Ich bin ein Arkansan.

So I sent them a little missive giving them a piece of my mind:

How interesting that you only print letters from the oppressed peoples of Arkansas. Are you afraid that someone from the outside might bring light to your part of the world? That they might encourage the suppressed to rise up against the monied powers and realize that they, not their rulers, hold the real power, that they, not the moneychangers that Jesus threw out of the temple, are in charge of their own destiny--all they have to do is use the power they already have.

TLC

More Hysterical Irrelevant "Breaking News" From Mickey Mouse

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:15:14 -0700
From: "ABC News"
Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

JURORS FIND ALFONSO RODRIGUEZ GUILTY IN DEATH OF NORTH DAKOTA COLLEGE STUDENT DRU SJODIN
http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396

________________________

Yes, the lives of millions of Americans will be affected by this earth-shaking "news"...

TLC

Examples

"Whether or not we realize it each of us has within us the ability to set some kind of example for people. Knowing this would you rather be the one known for being the one who encouraged others, or the one who inadvertently discouraged those around you?"
--Josh Hinds

The Bu$h League Times

The New York Times' Web site is blocking British readers from a news article detailing the investigation into the recent airline terror plot, turning its Internet ad-targeting technology into a means of complying with U.K. laws. The SF Chronicle carried the wire service article about the Times' decision.

Until they yank it and put it on their overpriced NYT Select, you can read the censored article HERE--unless you're stuck in Britain, in which case it'll take you an extra 30 seconds to track the article down.


My letter to the New York Times, SF Chronicle, and various other publications:


Dear Editor:

The New York Times (NYT) has chosen to prevent British citizens from accessing an article on its website concerning a recent alleged airline terror plot.

Are the British authorities, having convicted the accused many times over in their own media through selective leaks, now doing a 180 degree turn out of concern for the rights of the accused to a fair trial? Or are they concerned that an informed citizenry will, through analysis of contradictory claims, discover that they have again been victims of fearmongering by their own government, a cabal desperate to maintain power and distract the public from paying attention to the Washington puppetmasters behind the facade?

The NYT once led the fight against a secretive government in the Pentagon Papers case. But more recently, they have suppressed the story of Bush wearing a satellite receiver during the presidential debates, and delayed until over a year after the 2004 (s)election disclosure of widespread spying by the US government on its citizens. No doubt the next step in the de-evolution of the NYT will be to accede to demands made upon it by the governments of China and Saudi Arabia.

The NYT should, as a result of its compliant cowardice during these times when courage is required, be renamed to the Bu$h League Times.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Power-Drunk Chimpanzees

"But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts us absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many lifeless bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas." --Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., (1922- ) Author

Saving Who From Who...

This afternoon I received an email from one of the many wonderful people involved in animal rescue, concerning a dog in LA, that stated, in relevant part, as follows:


SOS! DOG ESCAPED AC AND NEEDS RESCUING!!!!

This morning a dog was found wandering... The dog was sweet and docile to the people who found it. Animal Control was called and they came out. Once the dog saw the officer the dog took off. The officer cornered the dog and was able to catch it with the pole/rope thing they use. When trying to put the dog in the truck, the dog escaped and took off running again - no doubt because it was terrified... The dog was last seen on...

Please, if anyone is in that area, keep your eyes out for this poor scared baby...

_________________________

My response:

As I wrote last night:

Those who work at and contribute to the noble efforts at Noah's Ark recognized that where there is life, there is hope. And that when government agencies in California become involved, there is, all too often, death.

_______________

The dog escaped from those who would become his executioners. Frankly, I have difficulty with this one. Seize the prisoner, and take him to his death?

What he needs rescuing from is the homicidal killers at "Animal Control".

TLC

Junior Propaganda Minister Rumsfeld

A good article in Salon's War Room today about Rumsfeld's speech to the American Legion. My Posting at Salon:

When I first skimmed the wire service articles on this, I thought Rumsfeld had broken ranks and was, finally, warning the American people about the Fourth Reich that threatens our futures.

Never mind. Same old Goebbels Junior.

TLC

The Illusion Of Television & Newspaper News

From the NY Times, August 28, 2006--but use the SF Chronicle reprinting, as they don't charge you up the ying-yang after 14 days--are some interesting admissions as to how what you see on television is an illusion, and that the networks are frequently too gutless to turn their cameras from the script and show reality. Consider also that even the NY Times, the supposed bastion of freedom of the press, buries critical facts deep in their articles just like Pravda and Izvestia in the 1960's USSR, and spins the "news" like the White House Press Office:


Paragraph 7 of the article--note how even the NY Times fears offending Reich Chancellor Bu$h:

In an event with echoes of his prime-time speech in Jackson Square in New Orleans last September, Bush spoke Monday in a working-class neighborhood in Biloxi against a backdrop of neatly reconstructed homes. But just a few feet away, outside the scene captured by the camera, stood gutted houses with wires dangling from ceilings. A tattered piece of crime-scene tape hung from a tree in the field where Bush spoke. A toilet sat on its side in the grass.


Work your way down to Paragraph 12 of the article, and this glimmer of truth emerges:

Nearby, along the ocean, ravaged antebellum homes and churches dotted the waterfront. The beach, stretching from Gulfport to Biloxi, was deserted. Debris hung from trees, and motels stood shuttered. Blue tarpaulins still patched the roofs of most dwellings. Written in green spray paint on a fence around a home in Biloxi was: "You loot, I shoot."


Three more down, Paragraph 15, is this incredible line. "Perception"??? Uh, folks, it's a stark raving reality. "Perception" is a term straight out of Goebbels, er, Rove, Inc.:

Images of a remote president playing guitar on a military base, then later peering out the window of Air Force One as it flew over the devastation helped fuel the perception that Bush failed to respond adequately to the storm.



TLC

Now That JonBenet's Over...

August 29, 2006, 07:18:08 Pacific Standard Time

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
FUGITIVE POLYGAMIST SECT LEADER WARREN JEFFS IS ARRESTED NEAR LAS VEGAS
http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396

"Trust Our Government"

Letter to The Salina [Kansas] Journal, August 29, 2006, from a resident of Abilene, Kansas, whose name has I have omitted because he is just symbolic of the brainwashing going on in this country:


Trust our government

Warrantless surveillances are unconstitutional, says federal judge A.D. Taylor.

Judicial fiat precluding the execution of various methods of obtaining information to thwart those who would do America great harm is unconscionable.

Prevention does provide hope as seen just a few days ago in England. I would wager there were a few "warrantless surveillances" used to bring this "close one" to its necessary conclusion.

Do we not have enough trust in those who operate under governmental authority to use common sense and differentiate between titillating conversations and those contemplating terrorist attacks?

There are laws to deal with those who would abuse the authority under which they operate.

President Bush is not perfect, but those entities that wish to destroy him, whether they are members of the media, Congress or the judiciary, do America a great disservice and place her in grave jeopardy by preventing any measure he may deem necessary for the safety of America

_____________________________________

And if there are laws to deal with those who would abuse their authority, such as the U.S. Constitution, they should be ignored.

Trust the government to distinguish between titillating and important? how sad is the lack of collective memory. It hasn't been that many years since J. Edgar Hoover built an empire based on the titillating, the scandalous, the embarrassing.

"Any measure he may deem necessary"? I thought we got rid of King George. Oh wait, that was a mere King. Today we have Reich Chancellor Bu$h. Never mind.

TLC

Ramsey: The Coming Media Introspection

My email to ABC, CBS, NBC Nightly News, NBC Today Show, CNN, Larry King Live, Faux News (I couldn't resist), and Keith Olbermann (Practically the only corporate television news person with a brain that actually uses it):


So the charges against John Mark Karr for the killing of JonBenet Ramsey have been dropped due to the lack of evidence.

Now, no doubt, we can look forward to 24/7 coverage of how the corporate news media went into a frenzy based on rumor and innuendo, while ignoring so many things that actually ARE important.

Yes, your laugh for the day. You're welcome.

Terry L. Clark

Truths

"The truth is not always the same as the majority decision."
--Pope John Paul II

Noah's Ark In Long Beach: Speak Out On Behalf Of Animals In Need

The Noah's Ark Animal Rescue in Long Beach, California, was recently raided by the government for allegedly not properly caring for the animals there. My letter to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, speakout@presstelegram.com, and other papers carrying the wire service article, is below. The SF Chronicle version of the AP article, August 26, 2006, can be found HERE.

For those willing to speak up for those whose voices so many choose to ignore, be sure to send a letter to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, speakout@presstelegram.com

Then, do a Google News search, http://news.google.com/news, on Alexia Tiraki-Kyrklund for additional newspapers covering the story.

TLC

__________________________________

Dear Editor:

The unfortunate events at Noah's Ark Animal Rescue speak volumes about the extent to which life is respected in California.

On first impression, it appears that Noah's Ark took on too many animals given their limited financial and human resources. The news reports, however, fail to connect the dots as to why Noah's Ark held onto those animals in less than optimal conditions.

The first "why" is staring the reader in the eye: Rather than roll up their sleeves and call upon others in the "law enforcement" community to pitch in and help out, the Long Beach and County authoritarians had a one-word response: Kill.

"Kill" has become a common response of governments in California to sentient beings that are considered inconvenient.

California is awash in the blood of those slaughtered by the California Department Of Fish & Game, whose mission, alas only on paper, is to "manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources".

Stanley "Tookie" Williams had made great strides toward turning his life around, reaching out to the youth of California to show them that there is a better way than to join gangs. But to spare Williams' life might have made HerrGoobernator appear to be "soft on crime", and so in order to get a few more votes, the highest elected official in California had Mr. Williams killed.

But even in supposedly-liberal northern California, an officer of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department responded to an animal hoarder's threat to shoot her dogs, not with an admonition to do no such thing, and not with an offer of help, but rather with: "I advised her we would need to verify the dog(s) had been destroyed prior to her disposing of the bodies". http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=14242

More than thirty years ago, a thorough FBI study documented that serial killers often start with animals. Today, many California governmental "law enforcement" personnel reflect that profile.

Those who work at and contribute to the noble efforts at Noah's Ark recognized that where there is life, there is hope. And that when government agencies in California become involved, there is, all too often, death.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Defending Wolves From Idaho & From Others Who Don't Get It

An old friend of mine responded to a plea to stop the Idaho Wolf Slaughter, in which wolves will be killed "by any means necessary", even where they are protected under the Endanged Species Act. The response indicated we environmentalists and defenders of wolves approve of "animal ethnic cleansing", and continued:

I am totally confused as to why it makes a difference whether it is the great Hunter and his family eating the deer and elk or the wolves eating them.

Still Confused
____________________________

My response:


Dear Confused,

Allow me to alleviate your mental anguish.

Nature has provided for the proper balance. The strong survive, the weak are devoured by those further up the food chain.

But Man, in his Almighty arrogance, has taken in upon himself to kill indiscriminately, to kill for convenience, to kill for economic profit, to kill for fun. Unlike the balance provided by nature, Man has crafted tools to destroy that balance. Thanks to the Wisdom of Man, over 60 million people were killed during World War II alone because of Man's supposed superiority. Man, however "doesn't get it".

Earth did not evolve due because of supposedly higher life forms blowing away those deemed "expendable". Life on Earth evolved because of balance established by a truly Higher and wiser Power.

Studies have shown that Earth could feed upwards of 20 million humans were they to turn to a vegetarian diet. But Almighty Man, in His Solemn and Infinite Wisdom, prefers to eat flesh, with the result that, every four seconds, another human dies because of malnutrition or starvation.

Oh Yes, let us humans with our pristine track record continue to impose our Supreme Wisdom, until, at last,
Nature bats back, and erases human life altogether as Nature ultimately does with parasites.

TLC

Governmentium, The Response

There are so many inane things unthinkingly being emailed all about. One of the inanities starts out:

"A major research institution (MRI) has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named Governmentium. Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312."

If you haven't read the whole diatribe, are masochistic, and wish to risk damage to your brain cells, you can read the whole thing HERE.

My Response:

Would you care to turn governmental functions over to Halliburton, ExxonMobil, and the other corporations that have bought our Democratic Republic?

Or do we need to get off our collective a**es and reclaim our government?

"The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty." --Eugene McCarthy, Time magazine, February 12, 1979

But of course, it is the multinational corporations that desire to alienate the American people from their government, so that the multinationals can reign supreme.

As they say in AA, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it".

TLC

The Importance Of Tiger Woods

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal's anonymous Extension 333 Line, August 28, 2006:

"Whoopee. What a hero. Tiger Woods can hit a little white ball with a stick. That's something to read about."

An Ode To Salina

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal's anonymous Extension 333 Line, August 28, 2006:

"If God were to give North America an enema, I do believe Salina, Kansas, is where he would stick the tube."

News

"The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were."
-- David Brinkley

Welcome To SNAKE Farm Insurance

Sometimes the wire services get it right. A solid exposé on one of the many ways in which insurance companies have been screwing royally the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Shocked? Then you've either been lucky, or not had the common experience of dealing with insurance companies who increasingly take the approach that the only thing they "insure" is corporate profits and executive salaries/perks. Full Article, SF Chronicle, August 26, 2006.

Imagination

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."
--Albert Einstein

UPDATE: Killed For Existing

One of the newspapers I emailed my letter to the editor on the Kansas City Pit Bull slaughter back on
August 13th was published, in The Salina [Kansas] Journal, on August 26, 2006.

TLC

Appearances

"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are more often influenced by the things that 'seem' than by those that 'are'." --Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian Philosopher, Statesman, Diplomatist, Writer

The Irony Of "Democracy Now"

From DN's daily email, August 25, 2006:

Democracy Now! 10th Anniversary Tour and launch of Amy andDavid Goodman's second book STATIC: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.

______________________________________

Apparently they haven't been reading my emails, most recently:

Democracy Now, Surrender Now

Democracy Now: Buying The Republican's Language


and going down memory lane:

Democracy Now: Covering For The Republicrats

Democracy Now: Friend Of Big Pharma

"Unable" or "Unwilling"

Vichy Iraq


Maybe they'll invite Moi to tour with them as one who fights back against the cheerleading of "Democracy Now"?

TLC

Democracy Now, Surrender Now

My email to Democracy Now, followed by the offending "news" item:


There you go again.

The State Department is "investigating" Israel's use of cluster bombs just as diligently as the Republican National Committee is looking for a complete set of Bu$h's Texas National Guard records.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." --George Orwell

"We Surrender"
--Democracy Now

TLC
________________________________________

U.S. State Dept Investigates Israeli Use Of Cluster Bombs

The U.S. State Department has begun investigating Israel’s use of U.S.-made cluster bombs in southern Lebanon. The New York Times reports that Israel may have violated secret agreements with the United States that restrict when it can employ such weapons. Three types of U.S.-made cluster munitions have been found so far in southern Lebanon. The State Department has also held up sending Israel a shipment of M-26 artillery rockets, a cluster weapon. During the 1980s, the U.S. imposed a six-year ban on sales of cluster bombs to Israel after a Congressional investigation determined that Israel had used the weapons against civilians during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Yesterday we questioned Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Carmon, about the cluster bombing of the Lebanese civilian population.

Ambassador Daniel Carmon: What I can tell you, that Israel abides by the principle of international law and international military law. I don't want to go specifically into details of something that has been written in one report, respectable as it is or not. I’d rather not go into the details.

Amy Goodman: Well, Israel hasn't denied that it's used cluster bombs in Lebanon. And now, after the hot conflict has begun to simmer down, you still have these bomblets on the
ground that are exploding.

Ambassador Daniel Carmon: Well, I didn't deny it either. What I was saying, that we are abiding by the international law, the military and the international humanitarian law. And I would leave it at that.

In Lebanon, the long process of clearing areas of cluster bombs and landmines has already begun. Frederick Gras of the Mine Advisory Group: "It is very difficult to say how long we need to recover everything. When we walk in a garden sometimes we find ammunition from the last war so it will take many years."

Brain Cancer For Money

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal, August 25, 2006:

To mark its expansion into north-central Kansas, officials with U.S. Cellular on Thursday presented a $5,000 check to Child Abuse Prevention Services, Salina.

The money will be used for the organization's Child Advocacy Center, Chris' Place.

Carolee Jones, director of CAPS, said she was "thrilled" by the unexpected gift. She said money will be used to upgrade equipment in the room where abused children are interviewed.

_______________________________________

Maybe for an encore they could take money from sellers of crack? Would CAPS be equally "thrilled" at a donation from another consortium that likewise profits from the pain of children and other living creatures?

http://www.mercola.com/article/cell_phones/index.htm


How about an educational grant that discourages the use of cell phones because they cause brain cancer and other irreparable problems?

TLC

Strength II

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."
--Friedrich Nietzsche

BookTV: Impeachment, Stolen Election, Katrina

Book TV, Weekend of August 26/27

Full Schedule: http://www.booktv.org/schedule/

Highlights:

The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office by Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky

Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count, with Steven Freeman, Joel Bleifuss, Rep. John Conyers, Jr.

There are also several shows on Katrina and its aftermath.

TLC

CBS "News": Fluff Over Substance

Good news for Katie Couric: Lots of people know her and like her. In fact, Couric, who takes the "CBS Evening News" anchor chair Sept. 5, is better known than her soon-to-be rivals, according to a poll released Thursday by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

While the word most often associated with all three journalists was good, the list of adjectives for Couric included perky, cute, nice, energetic, bubbly and fluffy--words no one raised for Gibson or Williams.

Other words Couric inspired were informed, knowledgeable and smart. But her personality and style were foremost on the minds of the respondents, as opposed to their words describing Gibson and Williams.

Full Story: SF Chronicle, August 24, 2006

______________________

I wonder, did the survey people ask those responding, as to "Katie", about the words, embarrassmentt", "joke", and "farce"?

TLC

"Book TV" airing Lindorff's "The Case for Impeachment" talk

C-Span "Book TV" begins airing The Case for Impeachment talk

An exciting 75-minute book event featuring Lindorff and Olshansky, which was taped by C-Span at Robin's Books in Philadelphia in July, will begin airing nationally on C-Span2's "Book TV" program this Saturday. The first airings are set for Saturday (8/26) at 11pm ET (10pm CT/9pm MT/8pm PT) and again Sunday (8/27) at 8:15am ET (7:15am CT/6:15am MT/5:15am PT).

Democracy Now: Buying The Republican's Language

My email to Democracy Now:

Good Grief!

When you use the language of the Republicans, puppets of the monied interests that think they rule this country, you become part of the problem.

"Eco-sabotage"? That's what the industrialists and other elites are doing to our planet!

If you were truly interested in presenting an accurate picture of reality, you would hammer hard the fact that the government is seeking the equivalent of a Soviet Union Political Show Trial, and that the people charged were in fact opposing terrorism upon humans and other living beings.

Tell me, has the primary source of funding of Democracy Now become the Republican National Committee, or like the Petroleum Broadcasting System (PBS), funded by a grant from ExxonMobil?

TLC
__________________________________

Democracy Now, August 24, 2006, reported:

U.S. Judge Postpones Trial of Activists Accused of Eco-sabotage

A U.S. judge in Oregon has postponed the trial of four environmentalists facing life sentences for committing arson and sabotage. The trial was scheduled to begin in October but has been delayed, possibly until March. Defense lawyers said they needed more time to analyze tens of thousands of pages of evidence. The activists, Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher, have been accused of being involved in a series of arsons done in the name of the Earth Liberation Front. The arsons resulted in widespread property damage but no one was injured in any of the fires. The government’s case rests largely on testimony from six other co-defendants. The National Lawyers Guild has accused the government of intimidating the co-defendants into become cooperating witnesses by charging them with offenses that carry life sentences. This is attorney Lauren Regan, the founder and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Oregon.

Lauren Regan: Well, in these cases the people are alleged to have committed property damage -- not murder, arson. You know, if you want to call it that, call it arson, the burning of property. And as you can see, approximately five years is the average sentence. Well, these people are looking at life plus at the maximum -- life plus 1,115 years in prison for alleged crimes of arson.

Soar

"Come to the edge," He said. They said, "We are afraid." "Come to the edge," He said. They came. He pushed them... and they flew.
--Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) French writer

Fun

"The more you disapprove,
The more fun it is for me"
--Bumper Sticker

The All-Loving Hate-Filled God

Letter To The Salina [Kansas] Journal, August 23, 2006


Apology is due

My blood boiled when I read the comment in the Salina Journal by an anonymous caller on the Ext. 333 line insinuating that Jesus Christ was homosexual.

While on Earth our God was all loving and did no wrong. He allowed Himself to be crucified out of love for us. Jesus' death was the most unfair cruelty that ever there was.

Why would you print this caller's hurtful comment? I believe the Salina Journal owes Christians an apology.

[Name Deleted, Why Further Humuliate This Misbegotten Person?]
Sylvan Grove

__________________________________________________

So lemmie get this straight, God was "all loving"...except for homosexuals for whom God was filled with hate?

I get soooooooo confused...

TLC

Doctrine

"There are many who lust for the simple answers of doctrine or decree. They are on the left and right. They are not confined to a single part of the society. They are terrorists of the mind."
-- A(ngelo) Bartlett Giamatti (1938-89), American educator, President, Yale

Scales

"Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold- blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omission of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

Such A Nice "Christian" Attitude

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal's anonymous 333 call-in line, printed August 22, 2006:


"I hope the person who thinks the Bible doesn't apply anymore enjoys his eternity in hell."

Paths

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Smoking A Little Too Much Stuff At Blackrock, Too

CBS is as Mickey Mouse as ABC.

CBS' "Breaking News" email bellowed:

Police in Blacksburg, Va., say they've captured a fugitive believed to have shot and killed two men and caused a shutdown of the Virginia Tech campus.


My email to CBS News:

Subject: Smoking A Little Too Much Stuff At Blackrock

What in the world are you people smoking?

Or have you become full-time salaried employees of Rove, Inc.? Forever working to distract the masses from things that are actually important?

TLC

Republican '06 Slogans

Rolling Stone, August 21, 2006, is asking for slogans for the Republican campaigns in 2006.

Mine: McBu$hes: Over 30,000 Killed

TLC

ABC's Latest Idea Of "Breaking News"

ABC's "Breaking News" email, August 21, 2006:

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
POLICE: ESCAPED INMATE IN VIRGINIA TAKEN INTO CUSTODY

My email to ABC "News":


Subject: Smoking A Little Too Much Stuff At Disneyland

What in the world are you people smoking?

Or have you become full-time salaried employees of Rove, Inc.? Forever working to distract the masses from things that are actually important?

TLC

What's Important: JonBenet, Not The U.S. Constitution

TV Networks Focus on JonBenet Ramsey Case Over NSA Ruling

The major court ruling on the National Security Agency surveillance program has received scant coverage from the nation’s three major networks. On Thursday, ABC, CBS and NBC all led their nightly broadcasts with the latest in the 1996 murder case of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. ABC devoted twice as much time in its broadcast to Ramsey as it did to the NSA story. CBS offered seven times as much airtime to Ramsey as it did to the NSA story. And NBC devoted 15 times more airtime to Ramsey.

Source: Democracy Now, August 21, 2006

Length of Iraq War Exceeds Length of U.S. Involvement in WWII

Length of Iraq War Exceeds Length of U.S. Involvement in WWII

Meanwhile more than 1250 days have passed since the U.S. invaded Iraq. The length of the ongoing war in Iraq is now a week longer than the U.S. involvement in World War II.

Thanks to Democracy Now, August 21, 2006

Greatly

"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."
--Michael E. Gerber

In The End

"In the end, animals in shelters are not being killed because there are too many of them, because there are too few homes, or because the public is irresponsible. Animals in shelters are dying for one reason--because people in shelters are killing them."
--Nathan Winograd http://www.nokillsolutions.com

Deeply

"Look deep into the eyes of any animal, and then for a moment, trade places, their life becomes as precious as yours and you become as vulnerable as them. Now smile if you believe all animals deserve our respect and our protection, for in a way, they are us, and we are them."
--Philip Ochoa Board Member, ALL FOR ANIMALS

A Rabbit Killer Gets His

A YOUNG farmer has died from rabbit flu in what vets believe is the first time that the bacterium has been fatally transmitted from animal to human in this country.

John Freeman became infected with the bacterium Pasteurella multocida after picking up a rabbit he had shot on his farm. He fell ill with a fever the next day and doctors initially suspected flu or chickenpox.

His mother said that countryside pursuits had been his hobby. “John had a ready smile and a quick wit. He gave up rugby so he could spend more time shooting. He simply loved getting out into the countryside with his gun.”

Full Article, London Times, August 21, 2006


Boo Hoo. What makes a serial killer of sentient beings that walk on four legs any better than killers of those who walk on only two legs?

Mother Nature can get down and nasty, too...

TLC

Our Destiny

"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it."
--President John F. Kennedy

Return Of The Religious Police To Afghanistan

Afghanistan to reconstitute religious police Karzai government insists new version will educate, not repress

Nearly five years after the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, President Hamid Karzai plans to breathe new life into a strict Islamic institution that many Afghans were happy to see die: the Amr Bilmaruf va Nahi az Mankar, or literally, "Do the good, don't do the bad."

Last month, Karzai's Cabinet approved a proposal to re-establish the agency also known as the Department for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, whose police under the Taliban beat and imprisoned Afghans for violating Shariah law. For many, the revival of religious cops raises painful memories of ruffians zipping around Kabul in Datsun pickups mainly in search of women and girls who refused to wear the head-to-toe burqa, donned high heels, wore nail polish or walked down city streets without a male relative. Men were cited for sporting short beards, drinking alcohol, working during prayer time, playing chess or listening to nonreligious music.

Full Story, SF Chronicle, August 19, 2006

My letter to the SF Chronicle:

Dear Editor:

Remind me, what was all that empty rhetoric Bu$h said about women having rights and being respected in Afghanistan thanks to the U.S. throwing out the Taliban?

Oh yes, another pack of lies, just like the reason for invading and conquering Iraq being the imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Immortality

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."
--Anon

Demand The House Vote To Impeach

Send a message to your member of the House Of Representatives, the place where any Articles Of Impeachment must originate.

Make a point to customize your message. Mine went to Rep. Mike Thompson, a Vietnam Veteran who has stuck his toe on top of the Impeachment waters but lacks the courage to even cover a single toenail. His recent constituent newsletter, for example, talked about impeachment, yet he waffled on even the purely symbolic step of voting for a Resolution of Censure because he wasn't sure of its legality. So let's see, he concedes that Bu$h is violating the law right-and-left yet proposes to do nothing at all about it.

Tonight on his website, Rep. Thompson lists as "Issues": Energy, Environment, Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care, Veterans, and Wine Issues. "Wine Issues"??? Booze is more important than the fate of our Constitutional form of government, the fate of our nation and perhaps of life on this planet??? Is your member of Congress any more reality-based than mine? Send 'em a message! Here's the one I sent:



My father fought the Nazis in Europe during World War II. Why? So that a cowardly Congress could vote in the Fourth Reich, sitting on their hands trembling in fear and wetting their pants while Hitler's progeny roll on unobstructed?

Fighting in the ground war in Europe required courage. A single bullet, a piece of shrapnel, death and dismemberment all around. So many lives risked, so many lost, so many ruined.

Yet today, few members of Congress have the courage or the integrity to even raise their hand or their voice in opposition to a new generation of tyrants.

Where are the descendents of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others who founded this once-great nation? With rare exceptions, obviously not in the halls of Congress.


TLC

HerrGoobernator's Assistant

The Eureka Times-Standard, August 18, 2006, had the following headline:

Schwarzenegger aid speaks to Republican women

__________________________

Is that kinda like AIDS, as distinguished from an aide?

TLC

Rolling Stone & Biden: A Reminder Of The Importance Of Context

Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone had the following Post:

8/18/06, 1:54 pm EST
Quote of the Day: Biden and Wiretaps
“No one is against wiretapping suspected terrorists. The question is how to bring this program within the law.” — 2008 contender Sen Joe Biden (D-Delaware) responding to the ruling that Bush’s warrantless NSA wiretaps are unconstitutional. -- Tim Dickinson

My reply, Posted to the Comments section:

I'm no fan of Biden--far from it. However, the quote you provide, however delightful, is taken out of context. The preceding paragraph of the Chicago Times article states:

"Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said the decision "confirms the doubts I have had about the program's constitutionality ever since I first learned about it." He urged the White House to work with Congress to make changes to the program."


Read in context, I think it is clear that Biden agrees that the program is unconstitutional, and needs to be brought within the confines of the Constitution.

Are there many RepublicoFascists in Congress and elsewhere that think a law passed by Congress will make constitutional that which is unconstitutional? Absolutely. Is Biden one of them? Maybe--but that's not what he said.

Let those of us who believe that FauxNews is nothing more than the modern equivalent of a Goebbels propaganda organ be careful not to emulate Faux by taking things out of context.

TLC

Prosecuted For Being A Bad Doctor...Or Not Following BigPharma's Marching Orders

An interesting story in the Topeka Capital-Journal of August 18, 2006, about a doctor who is being prosecuted for killing a patient with a non-FDA (Federal Drug Advocates) substance:


"According to a statement issued by District Attorney Robert Hecht and the grand jury indictment, Toth is charged in the death of Beverly A. Wunder, 47, of Topeka, who received intravenous infusions of a toxic metallic element known as Bismuth or Bismacine, which doesn't have FDA approval for intravenous use.
Hecht characterized the treatment as 'unauthorized, inappropriate and professionally unrecognized by the medical profession.'"


The newspaper is vague as to the reason for the second charge:


"The aggravated battery count is tied to a patient who was going into kidney failure and was hospitalized for 'a substantial period of time in serious condition,' Hecht wrote. That patient was scheduled to receive an intravenous infusion of the same heavy metal on April 19, 2005, Hecht wrote."



Perhaps the doctor truly is a menace to society...but the superficial coverage given by the Topeka Capital-Journal makes me nervous that perhaps the doctor is being prosecuted for not following the marching orders of medicate with BigPharma approved toxins, slice/dice, and radiate.

Back in the late 70's, when I was attending Washburn University in Topeka, a Topeka doctor was being persecuted for using Laetrile as a cancer treatment. Historically, the authorities in Kansas do not have a good track record on tolerance of "alternative" therapies.

TLC

Laws

"Do you think that we want those laws to be observed?
We want them broken. There’s no way to rule innocent men.
The only power the government has is the power to crack down
on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them.
One declares so many things to be a crime that
it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
-- Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author
Source: Atlas Shrugged, 1957

The Politics Of Cowardice

When it comes to terrorism, much of our political leadership appears to have lost both its nerve and its mind. Consider this statement: "I'm worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don't appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us - more evil, or as evil, as Nazism, and probably more dangerous than the Soviet communists we fought during the long Cold War."

These words were not uttered by an involuntary resident of a mental hospital, or Mel Gibson after a night of perusing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and drinking single-malt scotch, but by Joseph Lieberman, a man who has been a senator for the past 18 years, and who came within a handful of dangling chads of becoming vice president of the United States.

That a statement like this is treated as a reasonable observation rather than denounced as transparently hysterical nonsense indicates the extent to which hysterical nonsense now passes for clear-eyed statesmanship. And that should be far more frightening to Americans than any terrorist threat.


Full Article, August 15, 2006--Well worth reading--by Paul Campos, professor of law at the University of Colorado, thanks to the Rocky Mountain News

The Mel Gibson Special

Mel Gibson got a sweetheart deal today, copping a Plea and avoiding any jail time for his recent DWI. To celebrate, I fired off the following letter to various newspapers:


Dear Editor:

Let's grab a bottle of Tequila and go driving around L.A.!

It's not like the District Attorney would do anything serious to us if we got caught. I'm sure we too would be given the Mel Gibson Special, even without the best influence that money can buy.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Murder By Private Parties, Murder As Public Policy

Associated Press had an article, August 16, 2006, on singer Troy Gentry's alleged murder of a caged, tame bear, with a bow and arrow. My letter to the editor of various newspapers carrying the story:


Dear Editor,

Certainly the alleged murder of a tame bear by Troy Gentry, if true, is the act of a very sick and twisted individual.

But is it not even more barbaric when, for example, the California Department Of Fish And Game, which theoretically exists to protect and preserve wildlife, goes out--often with packs of other "law enforcement" officials--and guns down bears and other sentient beings because it would be too much work to tranquilize God's furry friends and transport them to areas away from human colonies?

I guess when the government engages in savagery, it is just business as usual, another day at the office, not worthy of major headlines.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

'Christian fascism'

'Christian fascism'

Editor -- President Bush now speaks of "Islamic fascism.'' Consider the source. Conquest, occupation, prison camps, torture, total domestic surveillance -- all justified by a religious-driven ideology of nationalism. Is it time to talk about Christian fascism?

MICHAEL URBAN, Santa Cruz

SF Chronicle, Letter To The Editor, August 17, 2006

Tyrants

"A tyrant... is always stirring up some war or other,
in order that the people may require a leader."
-- Plato (429-347 BC)
Source: The Republic

Born

"Born to lead, Not to follow."
--Otto Von Bismarck

Another Reason I Love Arcata

"The government is still stark raving mad."
--Arcata City Councilperson Dave Merserve on U.S. leadership, quoted in the Arcata Eye,
edition of August 15, 2006


And members of your local government are saying...?

TLC

Lives

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
--Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961) American Writer

UPDATE: Storm Troopers From CPS

Recently I Posted an item on the San Francisco "Child Protective Services" (CPS) assault on a family and their dogs.

Although not bothering to publish my politically incorrect letter, or for that matter any other letter questioning the fundamental systemic problems with California's CPS, the SF Chronicle, August 15, 2006, had a followup news article on the current family situation. Briefly, Andrew is back home, and his mom is diligently working on finding a forever home for Cricket, the three-year-old dog who has lived with Andrew since Cricket was a pup. Kudos to mom, in this day and age so many people just murder their family pet when the government scares them. Perhaps young Andrew will learn the value of loyalty from his family, and be able to overcome the lessons of abandonment and disposability that the government seeks to teach.

The Judge gave lip service to Andrew's bond with the dog, but chose to further traumatize Andrew by making the family give up their friend and companion. Thanks Judge (Commissioner) William Gargano, with friends like you, why don't we make it official, child abuse is public policy? Or is that one of those kicks that is permitted only by government officials who hide behind their immunity and taxpayer-paid hoards of attorneys ready to leap to their defense?

The Chronicle, not one to rock the boat, threw in this gem of a line: "[Andrew] Louie will be required to continue with therapy 'to deal with parenting issues,' she said.", apparently referring to a comment made by Andrew's mom. Perhaps mom has been brainwashed, or perhaps mom is just cowtowing to the Storm Troopers and their Judge/Commissioner. But really, Chronicle, why not point out the fact and the reality that Andrew is going to need quite a bit of counseling because he has been traumatized and screwed over so royally by the government?

TLC

Sins

"The worst sin is, to be indifferent."
--George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish-born British Dramatist, Novelist, Critic

Blaming Bu$h's Katrina Victims

The wire services ran an article on the supposed crime wave sweeping Texas, particularly Houston, that could have been written by the Ku Klux Klan. My letter to the SF Chronicle and multiple other newspapers that ran that travesty:


Dear Editor:

Of course the alleged upsurge of crime in Houston following the disaster in New Orleans and influx of refugees has nothing to do with the economy tanking, the complete despair of people suffering from being uprooted from their homes and families, having no place to call their own-not even a FEMA trailer, the lack of jobs in Texas, and the use of illegal immigrants to rebuild New Orleans while simultaneously screwing the people of darker complexion who once lived there.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

"Destroying" What Is Too Expensive To Repair

A teenage driver escaped injury early Sunday when the car she was driving hit a cow east of Salina.

The driver...was heading east on Country Club Road about 1 a.m. Near the Brenda Lane intersection, she saw a black cow standing in the road and could not brake in time to avoid a collision, said Lt. Mike Smith of the Saline County Sheriff's Office.

The cow survived and was collected by the owner, but it was likely to have to be destroyed due to its injuries, Smith said.

Source: The Salina [Kansas] Journal, August 14, 2006


Hummm, I wonder if the driver of the car would likewise have been "destroyed" if someone decided it would cost too much to repair her injuries?

And don't you just love euphemisms? We don't "kill", we "destroy". Much more sterile that way.

TLC

Offices

Nobody on his deathbed ever said, "I wish I had spent more time at the office"
--Paul Tsongas

Killed For Existing

UPDATE:

One of the newspapers I emailed my letter to the editor on the Kansas City Pit Bull slaughter, below, back on
August 13th, was published, in The Salina [Kansas] Journal, on August 26, 2006.

TLC
____________________________

The amnesty granted to Kansas City, Kan., pit bull owners ends at 5 p.m. Sunday, and with it the city’s intensified enforcement of its ban on the dog breed.

As of Thursday, animal control had picked up or received 149 pit bulls since July 28, when Mayor Joe Reardon announced that the city would temporarily waive penalties for pit bull owners who relinquished their animals. More than two-thirds of those dogs were picked up or turned in during the first week.

Full Article, Kansas City Star, August 12, 2006.


My letter to the Kansas City Star, and others who carried that or variations of that article:


Dear Editor,

How sad that Kansas City Kansas, like other cities, has made the mere status of being a pit bull, or even looking too much like a pit bull, to be a crime punishable by death.

How long until this mindset is extended to others, such as people of color, people without a home of their own, and people who were born at a different spot on this planet we share but who are in the U.S. without a green card?

We've been down this road before. Then it was Jews, Gypsies, and other "undesirables". Unfortunately, some have learned the wrong lessons from history.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

The North Coast Reporter

While on the subject of Humboldt County's Newspaper Wars, following is my letter to the editor that was published in the Humboldt Advocate, issue of June 23, 2006:


Dear Editor,

The front page of the June 15, 2006, issue of the North Coast Journal (NCJ) contained the headline, “OMG! Andrea Arnot is 40?!?”.

One would expect that headline on the front page of the Eureka Reporter (ER), not the NCJ. While Mrs. Arnot may be a very nice person, a birthday is hardly the stuff of a front-page headline and a big writeup in an ostensibly competing newspaper.

Certainly the Arkleys have contributed generously to the arts in Eureka. Their work with homeless animals is exemplary. But does that, coupled with the ownership of a (soon to be more?) newspaper, ordain that the only social life in Humboldt County involves the Arkleys’ friends, social circle, and causes?

Edward R. Murrow believed journalistic integrity meant something, that there were strict lines between the “news” and “entertainment” divisions. Those days are becoming relegated to nostalgia, George Clooney’s movie, and the alternative press. Today’s mainstream media increasingly serves only the bottom-line financial interests of its owners, sometimes morphing into mere propaganda organs. It is bad enough for Dateline NBC, a pseudo-news show, to promote its own with specials on programs from NBC’s entertainment division such as “Friends”. But the NCJ-ER cross-pollination is more akin to CBS News doing a “documentary” on ABC’s Disneyland.

Blurring of distinctions between “news”, “entertainment”, and “editorial” are certainly part and parcel of the “About Town” column, charming though it may be. While there are an abundance of photos of Rex Bohn, it will probably be a cold day in the netherworld before Chris Kerrigan appears more than rarely.

Does this new relationship between the old and the new foreshadow an addition to the embryonic Arkley media empire? What next, a formal “Merger Announcement”, along the lines of a birth announcement?

Sincerely,

Terry Lee Clark

Eureka's Newspaper War In The SF Chronicle

For those outside Humboldt County, or locals who do not follow closely the bloodfeud between the Eureka Times-Standard (a/k/a the SubStandard) and the Eureka Reporter (a/k/a the Arkleyville Gazette), the SF Chronicle, August 13, 2006, had a nice article giving an overview of the fight. Unfortunately, the article focused on the views of those in the newspaper business, with an absence of any opinions from the community.

See also my previous Posts on the Eureka Reporter, for example:
--Watering Down The News
--Humboldt County Newspaper Wars: Printing One's Own Reality
--Lies, Damned Lies, And Newspaper Headlines,
--We Shade The News--You Figure It Out

I have on occasion taken the Times-Standard to task, and will do so more often when time permits:
--Town Without Pity, Headline Without Meaning

It should be noted that the Eureka Reporter has printed every letter I have submitted, without any tampering. The Times-Standard, in contrast, has declined to print one of my letters without explanation or even the courtesy of a reply when I asked if it would be printed, and has "edited" (read: changed the meaning) of two others that they did print.

TLC

Intellect

"If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business because we'd be cynical. Well that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down".
--Ray Bradbury

HWJK (How Would Jesus Kill)

Extremely brutally if the US and Israel are reflective of Jesus' sentiments--which, of course, they are not. Paste 666 on your forehead and read Dave Lindorff's article on the atrocities being funded by your tax dollars and carried out in your name!

TLC

The Latest Boogeymen Story From Bush & Company

Wayne Madsen, August 11, 2006, has a detailed report on the latest terror scare of Bu$h/Blair. An excellent read if you want insight into the puppetmasters behind the scam.

TLC

Poetry

"Poetry is like a horse that freely roams the world despite the prison bars".
--Ahmed Fouad NegmEgyptian Poet

Petition: Tell Harry Reid To Strip LIEberman Of All Democratic Committee Positions

The Title says it all. Signup Here.

TLC

Think It's Hot Here/Prayer For The Troops

Today's inanity is an email asking for prayers for the troops in Iraq (does the prayer include the Iraqis fighting to get control of their country?) where the temperature hits 122 or more. You can see a typical example of the email HERE.

My response:

"Dear Lord, we humans have f***ed things up again. We let our highest offices be stolen, we sat on our posteriors while some of our best and brightest were sent off to kill thousands of the brown people you created, just so our oil companies could make more money. Please Lord, don't expect us to do anything about this mess. Just put an air-conditioned bubble around the troops we put in harms way while we focus on more important things--like who's going to emerge the winner from the Big Brother house".

TLC

Meddling

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats,
for they are subtle and will pee on your computer."
--Bruce Graham

Commission For Sale

My Op-Ed sent to the Salina [Kansas] Journal, followed by the editorial concerned:

Apparently, Tom Bell wants the best County Commission that the private sector can rent or buy.

Under Mr. Bell's proposal to pay Commissioners a paltry $300.00 per month, it would be virtually impossible for people with full-time employment to dedicate the time and energy needed to properly serve. But perhaps that is the idea.

One likely outcome would be that those able to put in the substantial time and effort required of the office would have to be wealthy or retired. The dearth of seniors clamoring to work for a pittance during the sunset of their lives quickly dispels the latter notion.

Alternatively, Commissioners could spend very limited time at their duties, doing an extremely mediocre job and letting the proverbial inmates run the asylum. Mr. Bell seems to relish that prospect.

A third option would be for Commissioners to emulate Congress. A little research at http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.asp will illustrate how Saline County's government could be bought and sold through the creative use of bribes, er, "campaign contributions", just as with Congress. Take away the ability of Commissioners of modest means to serve, and the power of that office too will gravitate toward those able to purchase influence.

$26,561 plus benefits annually is certainly not too much to spend for a dedicated, quality, County Commissioner. The Commission is responsible for establishing and reviewing many laws and policies that have a significant impact on the community. Supervision of numerous County Departments, such as the Appraiser's Office that has been running amok for years, is no easy task, although Mr. Bell would apparently prefer to allow department heads to operate with no meaningful oversight from the Commission. In Mr. Bell's world, the power of County agencies would, as a practical matter, be limited only and rarely by those few who are wealthy enough to spend substantial sums on attorney fees they will not be reimbursed for in the event they prevail over the government. Last but not least, determining spending priorities for a $27 million budget, and ensuring those funds are properly spent, should not be reduced to an underpaid Commission lacking the time to do anything more than rubber-stamp whatever is placed before it.

A separate question is whether Saline County is getting Commissioners worthy of holding such an important public office. However, in order to have an informed citizenry capable of selecting the most qualified candidates, one must have solid reporting and analysis from the news media. Unfortunately, when the primary source of news drops the ball, preferring to let expensive-and profitable for the newspaper-but vapid campaign ads inform the public, the intellects of the voters could starve to death given the steady diet of drivel they are consistently served.

Terry L. Clark

___________________________

Opinion - Page A07
August 6, 2006

Rich pay ought to be cut
County commission pay is so high it can attract candidates interested mostly in money

Tom Bell, Editor & Publisher

During recent budget talks, members of the Hutchinson City Council eliminated their own $100-a-month pay, starting when new terms begin in April 2007.

What a splendid idea to adopt locally -- particularly for the handsomely paid Saline County commissioners. The paychecks they draw for their part-time jobs total $26,561 a year. Plus commissioners give themselves benefits that total $6,300 to nearly $10,000 annually, depending on health insurance choices.

That is way too much money.

(Salina City commissioners, like their counterparts in Hutchinson, are paid a token amount -- $300 per month in Salina. That's about minimum wage considering the hours commissioners spend in study sessions, talking with residents, hearing complaints, attending various commissions and boards, and making courtesy appearances at public events.)

In contrast, the pay for county commissioners is so high people will campaign for office because they need the income and county medical benefits. That's not proper motivation to run for public office. Candidates should have passion for their community and their constituents. (This is not saying current commissioners campaigned for the cash. But it has been true in the past and will be true in the future.)

Another reason to reduce or eliminate county commission pay is to make county government more efficient. If commissioners were paid $300 per month with no benefits, like city commissioners, they would make better use of their time. Now they hang around the City-County Building whether the commission has business or not. They micromanage county matters and debate minor details better left to administrative staff.

After the fall elections a new face will join the county commission. Let's hope this is the start of a new era in county government -- where commissioners will eliminate generous pay and the problems that come with it.

Britain Elected A New Breed Of Fascist

Britain facing a new breed of fascist, warns Reid

Britain is facing a new breed of "unconstrained" terrorists who have access to chemical and biological weapons to cause mass destruction, the Home Secretary warned today.

Full Article, London Times, August 9, 2006

______________________

My letter to the London Times:

Dear Editor:

When I saw the headline, "Britain facing a new breed of fascist", I thought you were finally doing an insightful article on Tony Blair. Chemical and biological weapons, mass destruction? That certainly describes the role of Britain and the US in Iraq, and elsewhere.

Unfortunately, such an insightful article turned out to be wishful thinking on my part.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Why LIEberman Is Running As An "Independent"

He fears America might become a two-party State.

TLC

Milk

"Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of a field in hope that the cow will back up to them."
-- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

Storm Troopers From CPS

UPDATED INFO/POST, August 15, 2006. But read the below first if you haven't already.


The San Francisco Chronicle had a lengthy article about the horrors a family suffered at the hands of "Child Proctive Services". My letter to the Chronicle:


Dear Editor:

The Storm Troopers from "Child Protective Services" (CPS) have, once again, established that they think they own the children of our state.

CPS swiped six-year-old Andrew from his mother and a loving home on the pretext of "protecting" Andrew from loyal, protective, family pets. CPS, having established its "alpha status", then dumped Andrew in a "foster home" where he was sexually abused by an older boy-although in true CPS fashion, that agency conveniently finds the sexual abuse to be "unfounded". No doubt that conclusion was reached after a thorough coverup, er, "investigation".

Rather than place Andrew with relatives, CPS had to maintain their dominance, and jerked the family around for several more months, further traumatizing poor Andrew who was a mere pawn in CPS' power game.

There is no question who the vicious animals are in Andrew's case. And they do not walk on four legs.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

What If

What if they had a war and nobody switched to that channel?

If a war is alone in the forest of television channels and nobody watches, do the dying make a sound?

TLC

Beware Of False Idols

Thousands of "American Idol" hopefuls descended on the Rose Bowl before dawn Tuesday with wide-eyed dreams of becoming the next Taylor Hicks or Carrie Underwood.
Full Story, MSNBC, August 8, 2006

War in Iraq? 2600 dead Americans, 20,000+ wounded? Tens of thousands of dead Iraqis in order to preserve control of oil supplies and thus keep prices high? Yawn.

American Idol tryouts? Let's Get In Line!!!

TLC

Give War A Chance

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal's anonymous Extension 333 Line, August 8, 2006:

"I'd like to thank everyone at the Smoky Hill Bomb Range for the wonderful open house they had. It was really great! And also to the two war protesters, I hope you saw the two fingers I had for you."

Days

"Unless each day can be looked back upon by an individual as one in which he has had some fun, some joy, some real satisfaction, that day is a loss."
--Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) 34th U.S. President (1953-61)

T-Shirts

"Beef: it's what's rotting in your colon"

"Pork: The other dead animal"

Priorities

"After fifty years as a Prohibitionist, I am more convinced than ever that we need a good party, not just good men and good women. Most public officials are united in the war against terrorism. They, like we, are outraged at the deaths of some 3,000 Americans on September 11. Yet, most are willing to give unqualified support to the traffic in liquor and tobacco in exchange for campaign cash. Those products jointly claim at least 600,000 American lives each year. Two hundred die each year from use of alcohol and tobacco for every one who died in the September 11 attacks. Need another reason for being a Prohibitionist?"
-- Earl F. Dodge
Editor of 'The National Statesman' of the Prohibition Party
Source: The National Statesman, September 2002, p. 3

In Defense Of Poodles

Letter to the Independent UK, August 5, 2006:

Blair's no poodle

Sir: As a dog lover, I must object to your depiction of Tony Blair as a poodle in the cartoons you publish. The original poodle was a brave and very intelligent dog and a credit to his species.

VIV GRIFFITHS
MUMBLES SWANSEA

Boo Hoo: Blair's Delayed Summer Vacation

Oh my--Tony Blair's summer vacation has been delayed by the events in Lebanon.

Or so the story goes, according to the Independent UK, the London Times, and the Guardian UK.

My letter to the Independent UK, the London Times, and the Guardian UK:


Dear Editor:

Boo Hoo. Tony's delaying his summer vacation.

It's not like he's going to get off his posterior and do anything other than suck up to whatever George Dubya Bu$h wants him to do.

Memo to Great Britain: Get a Prime Minister. Dump the lapdog.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark

Cumejo For Governor: "Running" or Walking In Place

My email to the Cumejo For Governor campaign:


Why do I rarely get emails from you?

Why is your campaign site so outdated?

Where is the campaign?

Where is the media coverage?

How do you expect anyone to take the Green Party seriously when you appear to fear that, if HerrGoobernator wins over Phil In-Every-Other-Special-Interest-Group's-Pocket, you will get some bad publicity?

Why "run" when you're not even walking in place?

TLC

Imagine

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."
--Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

Best Wishes To Freddy Fender

Freddy Fender has been determined by the slice/dice, medicate or radiate conventional medicine vultures to have incureable cancer. Perhaps they have completely dropped the ball, as they so often do, but then again, where there is life there is hope. You can send you well-wishes to Freddy at his website, in the Guestbook section.

My comments posted at the site:


My best wishes and prayers for a complete recovery. Please look into either of the books, or the DVD, by Burton Goldberg on cancer, from the people who put out Alternative Medicine Magazine. There may be a cure, but it has to be customized to fit your unique body chemistry. Conventional medicine, in contrast, is itself a cancer that will discard you when either you have ran out of money, or when their "treatment" has finally proven completely ineffective and it is too late for alternatives. Don't wait until it is too late like Coretta Scott King did, you still have years of joy ahead if you continue to believe in yourself and take control of your destiny.

My Letter: Saving Arcata From The "New" Minor Theatre

Earlier I Posted an item about Arcata's need for help with letters to the corporation that took over the once-great Minor Theatre. My letter to the corporation:


Dear Minor Theatre,

I regret to inform you that I will not be visiting you during the month of August.

You used to be such a vibrant, wise old theatre. Back in the day you brought our unique community of Arcata delightful, independent movies. Once upon a time you provided a warm, comfortable place where one could sit down, relax, and have their mind and soul stimulated and nurtured.

But now, Minor Theatre, you have become The Stepford Theatre. Just another corporate cookie-cutter, bringing in the same old drivel that is being shown at the other factory theatres in our area. Assaulting the audience with noisy advertisements for various toxic concoctions that the automatons will be glad to sell us from the Purple Kool-Aid stand in the lobby.

Some would say that, like an elderly relative that has descended into dementia, I should come and visit you this month anyhow. But somehow those continued visits seem to encourage the disease you have come down with, and that I cannot bear.

So perhaps next month I will come and visit. Although if the prognosis for recovery continues to appear abysmal, I may instead console myself with more visits to the local video store where my intelligence is still respected, and then on to pick up some organic popcorn at one of the local health food stores before heading home for the evening for some munchies and a good movie.

Sincerely,

Terry Lee Clark

Cliques

"Every clique is a refuge for incompetence. It fosters corruption and disloyalty, it begets cowardice, and consequently is a burden upon and a drawback to the progress of the country. Its instincts and actions are those of the pack."
--Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (1898-2003) Chinese Revolutionary Leader

Arcata Needs Your Help: Bring Back Our Independent Movie Theatre

Arcata used to have a delightful movie theatre, the Minor, which showed independent movies and didn't torture the audience with 10 minutes of blaring junk food ads prior to starting the movie.

Now the Minor is just another corporate cookie cutter.

Help us get back a movie theatre that respects and honors our unique community. Send a short letter of protest, letting them know that you will be boycotting the Minor Theatre during the month of August, to the Minor Theatre:

doni@catheatres.com

and send a copy to the fearless leader of this march for freedom, Kathy Marshall, at:

kmschoolboard@reninet.com

Kathy's letter in this week's Arcata Eye follows, below.

Thanks,

TLC
________________________________________________

It’s DVD month

Dear Arcata Moviegoers,

Well, I’ve finally reached my breaking point. With my last letter complaining about the new management of the Minor Theatre I was not yet ready to say the word “boycott.” But I’m ready now! I keep hoping to see the Minor’s commitment to independent film screenings come back to its pre-new management level. But it hasn’t.

Coming Attractions describes itself as a “first run theatre,” defined by Wikipedia as, “A theater that runs primarily mainstream film fare from the major film companies and distributors, during the initial release period of each film.”

I can see every first-run Hollywood movie at the Minor and everywhere else. Their self-proclaimed status as a first run theatre, along with the decided lack of contact information on their website, gives me little hope that Coming Attractions will ever be particularly receptive to this community’s diverse taste in movie fare.

So, I’ve decided that if there is a Hollywood production that I absolutely must see I will patronize the Broadway or Mill Creek, I never expected either of those venues to be anything but mainstream.

DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST I WILL NOT GO TO THE MINOR FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER... not even to see an indie. Instead, I will add any indie title to the list I keep for DVD rentals at Video Experience or Figuerido’s. Anyone care to join me?

Oh, and one more thing... I wonder why CA can offer corporate discounts (their website makes the following offer, “CORPORATE MOVIE TICKET DISCOUNT PROGRAMS Save up to 35 percent on Movie Tickets Reward your employees or use as a promotional item”) but they can’t offer movie cards to the general public at a discount any longer. If their management’s assertion that movie card discounts are illegal is correct, wouldn’t you think that any other discounts would also be illegal? After all, it all amounts to the same thing... a discount.

So, how about it Arcata? Join me in boycotting the Minor Theatre during the month of August. Let them know how you feel by e-mailing doni@catheatres.com (this e-mail address was not on the CA website; I got it after several phone calls to the Minor theatre). Carbon copy those e-mails to me at kmschoolboard@reninet.com and I will keep track of the numbers of you willing to join me in this effort.

Let’s affect them where it will really counts, in their bottom line.

Sincerely,

Kathy Marshall
Sunny Brae

Welcome To America...Where Waving The Flag Is A Crime

Davenport Police Confiscate Little Flagsticks to Protect Cheney, They Say

It was absolutely ridiculous,” says a 66-year-old retiredschoolteacher, who had her flagstick taken away. “Talk about overkill.”
Berta was carrying a sign that said: “No, You Can’t Have My Rights, I’m Still Using Them.”
And she was also holding a little American flag on a stick.
But the police wouldn’t let her, or anyone else, carry the flags.
“I’m going to have to take your stick,” one officer told her, she says.

Full Story, The Progressive, July 31, 2006

Evolution

"All evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct."
--George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish-born British Dramatist, Novelist, Critic

Pimping For Gibson

My email to ABC News, followed by their "Breaking News" email:


And this is "Breaking News" because...the entertainment industry doesn't want to lose one of its' cash cows?

Gibson admitted and apologized several days ago--that he did so again is nothing more than stale--not "breaking"--news.

How much money does ABC stand to lose if Gibson's career goes down in flames?

TLC
___________________________________________________


Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
ACTOR MEL GIBSON ADMITS MAKING ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS, APOLOGIZES TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOR THE 'VITRIOLIC AND HARMFUL WORDS" HE SAID
http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396