The Humboldt Herald

Just like the church has done for child molesting priests, so the Republicans have done for their child predator.

Six-term Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned on Friday after Instant Messages between him and a 16 year-old boy surfaced. The messages included Foley’s sexual requests from the boy, whose mom was ”yelling at” him while the boy neglected his AP English homework.

To make matters worse, Foley was “a member of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, [which] introduced legislation in July to protect kids from adults who prey on them via the Internet.”

Foley up and resigned from Congress Friday amid a slew of questions and bad publicity about sexually suggestive e-mails he wrote to a former teenage male page. “Do I make you a little horny?” the 52-year-old Congressman asked the 16-year-old boy in one message. He asked for a picture of the boy in another.

According to CNN:

Some GOP leaders knew of contact

An aide to Rep. Tom Reynolds, the New York congressman who heads the National Republican Campaign Committee, said he knew about the matter a year ago.

Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, learned about the contacts from Louisiana Rep. Alexander in the spring, said Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden.

"It was Congressman Alexander's opinion that the contact was not of a professional nature," Madden said.

Boehner blocked a vote Friday on a resolution offered by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asking the House Ethics Committee to begin a preliminary investigation into Foley's conduct and the GOP leadership's response to it.

Thank gawd the Republicans are restoring morality to the good name of politics. I was beginning to think they really didn’t care.

UPDATE: NY Times: G.O.P. Aides Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 4:41 PM 26 comments

It is clear from her editorial that she is a tribal member and was speaking as such, but maybe the editor thought it needed to be clear that she was related, and therefore biased.

However, the ER didn’t feel the need to point out the family relation between Tim Flemming and his supervisorial candidate mother when he wrote his attack on incumbent Bonnie Neely. Why is that?

Editor’s notes should be used sparingly. The ER has a way of arguing with letter writers by placing one of these snippy notes at the end of a reader’s opinion. Take, for example, the notes placed at the end of opinions written by Max Cardoza and Michael Acosta.

Despite the huge amount of paper and ink at the ER’s disposal to make their headlines and insinuations, why not just let people respond without attaching an editor’s note at the end? Must the editor always have the last word? It just makes him look defensive.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 10:21 AM 22 comments

A new documentary that looks at a summer camp where 7 – 10 year-olds learn to pray for Bush and chant for “righteous judges” is eliciting both condemnation and hallelujahs from audiences around the country. The Kids on Fire summer camp is held in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota.

Michael Moore screened the film at his Traverse City film festival in Michigan against the wishes of the distributors. It won the Scariest Movie award.

One member of the audience there said after seeing it: "The people in the film were so bizarre, yet they were so sincere, they were like Leslie Neilsen in Airplane."

Pastor Becky Fischer, who runs the camp, is seen telling kids “This is a sick old world. Kids, you got to change things. This means war. Are you part of it?"

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In other kid news, the Petaluma sex sting (discussed earlier on this blog) that was caught on tape by Dateline NBC will air tonight despite attempts by lawyers to stop the show. This is the third installment of the “To Catch a Predator” reports aired by Dateline.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 5:04 PM 17 comments

A moment of silence to let that sink in...

Gasp!

Meanwhile, Hank Sims delights readers with an amusing exchange between Security National VP Brian Morrissey and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Diane Strassmier regarding SN’s plans for the Home Depot™ development called “Marina Center” on the waterfront. During a presentation about the development, Morrissey characterized the development as “smart growth.”

"I'm a smart growth guy," Morrissey said. The characterization drew immediate objections from Andrew Whitney of the Humboldt County Planning Department, who said that community involvement in development was a cornerstone of the smart growth movement. (He didn't mention that Arkley had the Eureka City Council kill a public study on the Balloon Track, specifically to limit public participation in the planning. See "Blown Off Course," Nov. 4, 2004.) Diane Strassmier, a San Francisco-based project manager in the Environmental Protection Agency's program on brownfields, piped up. She wasn't familiar with the project, she said, but she had a hard time taking in the idea that a big box store right near the Eureka Waterfront could be called "smart growth." She said, "I guess when I think of a waterfront community, I think of a smaller scale," she said. "A Home Depot is such a large building..."

This was something of a setback for Morrissey, as he had a slide of the EPA's "Smart Growth Principles" on the screen at the time. They were intended to bolster his point. Instead, he had to retreat a bit. "How smart is smart?" he asked. "Do you have to have all 10 out of 10?"

Excellent!

And now, my friends, at this great juncture on our path to the future of Humboldt County, let us reflect on the personal touches Security National has offered the character and color schemes of the place we call home - a place where high-heeled women in pantyhose will one day hold hands with men in loose, clean slacks, in a hetero-sexual way that is becoming to the Eureka City Council.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 12:07 PM 56 comments

As the fall-out from Tuesday’s erroneous Eureka Reporter article continues to blanket our little city by the Bay, questions of “who’s biased,” “who’s accurate,” and “who’s being defensive” are thrown around like so many pieces of piñata candy.

Taking cover from the chaos, ER editor Glenn Franco Simmons has been issuing comments and editorials from a safe spot under his desk, which is directly behind a “Berlin Wall” of file cabinets.

The ER’s only defense is to complain that DA Paul Gallegos did not immediately respond when the reporters came a’calling through a barrage of emails and phone calls demanding comment on a scenario of corruption being cooked up over at the ER HQ.

But this story has gone beyond the I’m-Gonna-Get-you-Sucka-style of reporting to become fodder to the media war between the Eureka Reporter and the Times-Standard.

GF Simmons complains:

“And then once our story was published, [Gallegos and Bear River tribal chairman Leonard Bowman] sought to discredit The Eureka Reporter by only speaking to the Times-Standard. This is a disservice to the public.”

However, the T-S points out that “[n]either Gallegos nor Bowman commented to the Times-Standard about The Eureka Reporter's article.”

Oops!

But this blogger is glad Glenn brought it up. There is a growing pattern of local players who favor one paper over the other, and consequently filter their news releases to go only to their tabloid of choice. The ER has certainly been on the receiving end of such favor by the Dikemanian and PALCOish sectors of our community. So it’s funny to see Simmons pointing fingers, especially when he’s not even accurate.

Here is another issue – what obligation should elected officials or other newsworthy figures have to respond to reporters? Other’s have said that Gallegos could have cleared up the ER’s confusion by telling them to “go talk to Max Cardoza,” who prosecuted the case under scrutiny. And maybe he should have. But Cardoza’s name was all over the case files. Paul’s was not. And anyway, the DA’s refusal to snap to attention at the beckon calls from the ER seemed to snag their whole story – and become the story. “Getting Paul” appears to be a prime motive of Arkley’s paper these days.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:28 AM 17 comments

The Times-Standard today plugs many a hole left by yesterday’s finger pointing by the Eureka Reporter concerning questions of impropriety by District Attorney Paul Gallegos. The T-S article gets to the bottom of issues that bloggers also raised – that the ER didn’t bother to contact the prosecutor handling the case, and important facts were obscured by the article’s length.

”Derek Bowman now stands convicted of several felonies as a result of the plea agreement in these cases,” [Deputy District Attorney Max] Cardoza wrote to The Eureka Reporter. “That fact is buried so deep in your article that it is almost indiscernible."

Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said he contacted Sacramento in mid-July and ran down the scenario of a large campaign contribution, noting that there was a “political bone” to pick, and that the resulting concerns had led to District Attorney Paul Gallegos and then-Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman -- former campaign foes -- distancing themselves from the case.

The truth will not satisfy the Gallegos haters, and it is likely that the ER will continue to fan the flames of discontent. Maybe it’s gas.

Or maybe it is an attempt to discredit and malign Gallegos as he mulls over charges that may or may not be pressed against the Eureka Police Department following the shooting of Eureka resident Cheri Lyn Moore.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:30 AM 22 comments

When I saw Capt. Buhne’s post last night indicating another splash was soon forth-coming, I checked in first thing this morning to get the dirt.

Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be another Eureka Reporter exposé on District Attorney Paul Gallegos.

The disappointment stems from 1) feeling let down after being led to believe that something juicy was going on, 2) seeing that it was another tired attack on Gallegos by the ER, and 3) having to read a long article that appeared more interested in finding a “scoop” than reporting facts that would allow readers to judge for themselves.

You know, if Gallegos did something really horrible, like letting a rapist off the hook because of a campaign contribution, I want to know. But at this point, I don’t expect to learn such things from the ER. If the reader has to slog through all kinds of accusations before ever getting to some facts, it deflates the bling. For example, after reading that Gallegos had “side-stepped” the issue, you must endure 860 words before reading that “there is no evidence in any of the files that Gallegos was personally involved in” the prosecution in question.

I find myself sympathizing with so many others who’ve expressed such disgust with the ER that they don’t even bother to pick it up. However, I won’t go that far. There is far too much fodder for the blogosphere to ignore Arkley’s paper.

UPDATE: Eric Kirk has more analysis of the article here.

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In more Gallegos news, today’s letters to the ER editor shine some light on the Gallegos haters. Bruce Fillman from Fortuna tells us that “Gallegos has never done anything in the District Attorney’s Office based on honesty and integrity.” Furthermore, Fillman tells us that “Worth Dikeman did nothing but stand up for what is just and good.” I mean, we’re talking angels and devils here.

In another letter, Arcata attorney Jamie Flower questions if Dikeman would have kept Gallegos as a prosecutor if Dikeman had won the election. Maybe Flower missed the televised debate in which Dikeman said in no uncertain terms that he would boot Gallegos upon winning. But Flower is right that Dikeman “signed his own pink slip when he compromised his ethics during the campaign.”

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:33 AM 32 comments

The Eureka Reporter’s recent missive entitled Sept. 11 myths debunked; kooky theorists remain received a well-written response by Joe Shermis which appears in today’s ER. While addressing legitimate, unanswered questions that persist five years after 9/11, Shermis gently explains the harm done to intelligent dialogue by personal attacks and name-calling. ER editor Glenn Franco Simmons seems challenged in understanding (or caring) about such things but is happy to spit “fruit loops” at anyone who fails to bury their head in his patch of sand.

On the media forum, we heard from another newspaper editor that the difference between their esteemed selves and we lowly readers (and bloggers) is that they are the “professional media.”

Ooh-la-la, you might say to yourself, those professional media folk sure get a higher value on their “news” and opinions than un-edjumakated word jerks like me.

But why do you think it is that most young people get their news from The Daily Show on Comedy Central? Or that the blogosphere is exploding? All signs point to the “professional media” who regularly insult both truth and intelligence with their news product.

We can’t even call this a “mainstream” media. It’s an extreme media – a media that cheerleads for war.

--From Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight back

Shermis begins his editorial with a powerful quote from Thomas Jefferson: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Such notions are practically considered treason these days. “[B]y using demeaning names and labels, [Simmons] joins his president in the demonizing of dissent.”

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 12:58 PM 19 comments

Threat to 150 year-old daily heard 'round the KHUM listening area

In a public nod to the Eureka Reporter, Humboldt blogger Capt. Buhne had kind words for the ER’s #2 Diane Batley, whose paper is movin' in on T-S territory. What follows is a partial transcript from KHUM’s Media Forum that aired 9/21/06. :

Capt. Buhne: Well, [the Eureka Reporter has] been a daily for just over, what, nine months now, and they're doing a bang-up job -- I mean, they've already exceeded the Times-Standard's circulation numbers, from what I understand and, um... gosh, you know, I -- I think they're a real threat to...the very existence of the Times-Standard -- that's, I think that's what kind of a job they're doing.

Diane Batley: Thank you (mild laughter), we appreciate that.

Oh, fiddle-dee-dee. Can you imagine! Putting the T-S out of business?

Does it even matter? Aren’t the blogs taking over anyway?

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:34 PM 12 comments

IF you tuned in last night for the media forum on KHUM you were treated to a lively discussion by those who generate the media here in Humboldt County. The lineup was as follows:

Tom Seaborn – KGOE
Half Def – Pirate radio
Charles Winkler – outgoing Times-Standard editor
Rich Sommerville – incoming Times-Standard editor
Bob Browning – Channel 3 TV news
Paul Encimer – KMUD/Greenfuse
Diane Batley – Eureka Reporter
Dave Berman – We Do Not Consent
Capt. Buhne – The Buhne Tribune
Mike Dronkers – Host (KHUM doesn’t “do news”)

The speakers revealed a wide range of approaches to media. For example, Bob Browning used the word “marketplace” in almost every sentence and said it’s all about money. Half Def, who characterized pirate radio as the “voice of the voiceless” disagreed and said the focus on money is the problem. Encimer agreed and said media should not be dependent on money. He added that KMUD is participatory media relying on more than 100 volunteers.

A dumb population will watch anything.

High-five to Mike Dronkers for making that point. I would add that mindless TV (and other media) encourages shallow-thinking people who don’t expect (or don’t know how) to look deeper into important issues.

A caller from Arcata noted the voter disenfranchisement that occurred in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. He asked what the various media reps were doing to prepare for the next election. Recalling election night 2000, when FOX news took Florida away from Gore and gave it to Bush, which caused other competing stations to do the same in order keep up with the Joneses, I was hoping for better answers. Dronkers pointed out that media is under huge pressure. Winkler said they all rely on unconfirmed election night numbers to get the report out.

Such examples remind us of the frightening power wielded by the media. Since there are millions of US Americans who are too tired, hungry and overworked to question whether facts reported by the media are accurate, manipulation is easy.

Another caller pointed out a more subtle manipulation by using words like “anti-American” to describe Hugo Chavez (or any other person who dares criticize George Bush). If the government (and some influential media) insist that the only way to be a “good American” is to fall into lockstep with the billionaires in DC (or Eureka), then any care for the founding principles of the US Constitution are lost.

The issue of reporting on elections is how the KHUM media forum was born. Dronkers saw Dave Berman on election night in June who asked why Dronkers was reporting numbers he could not verify. Dronkers thought Berman had a good point.

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The call from Capt. Buhne, whose voice was disguised during the broadcast seemed to rankle the feathers of the T-S editors, who said there is a difference between the “professional media” and the oft-anonymous bloggers.

And yes, there is a difference. Perhaps another forum could go deeper into this issue in the future. Afterall, it was the “professional media” who caved to competitive pressure to throw Florida to Bush in 2000, and who falsely reported that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in the lead up to the US invasion of that country.

The forum ended with an encouragement from the out-going Winkler to have monthly media panels such as the one that aired last night. “It’s dynamite,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”

UPDATE: Capt. Buhne has a partial transcript up here.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:38 AM 27 comments

Dave Berman announced the forum on KMUD news last night. Capt. Buhne will be on, as well as other local media folk. Tune in to KHUM at 104.7 (or 104.3) at 6pm for the one-hour program.

As you have no doubt noticed, many local bloggers comment extensively on the news. Some commenters even display an unhealthy obsession with those who make the news. Perhaps it is because of sour personal run-ins with local media makers. Or maybe those media personalities possess some magnetic force due to the power they wield from telling the stories that become history. Not all of those stories are accurate, mind you, which can rouse some hefty resentment among readers.

Blogs themselves are called the “new media” and are exerting an influence over traditional media by picking up on stories that would go otherwise ignored. Bloggers are also more apt to express their opinion rather than pretend they are objective when researching and writing the news. But is this really a new thing?

According to this interesting article, the founding fathers would have approved of blogging and would have probably engaged in the “new media” themselves.

Many of the Founders were the 18th-century equivalent of a certain category of modern-day bloggers who write on politics, often using a pen name, and are explicitly and unapologetically partisan.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay - these and other notables of the Founding Fathers were not just drafters and signers of America's founding documents, wartime leaders, statesmen, diplomats, and jurists. They were also prolific media commentators capable of great works of political philosophy as well as ribald jests and character assassination.

Of course, traditional media does not shy away from “ribald jests and character assassination,” but the cultural myth that the news is “fair and balanced” can lend unfounded credibility to such jabs. At least now there are legions of bloggers who can call them on it.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:34 AM 13 comments

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer is suing automakers for their contributions to worldwide temperature changes. The suit claims damages to California’s natural resources from car pollution.

The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.

Well, that oughta push the envelope on the global warming discussion.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:02 AM 7 comments

[t]he devil came here yesterday. He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world...It still smells of sulphur today.

The Associated Press reports:

The South American leader, who joined Iran last week in an alliance against U.S. influence, accused Washington of "domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world."

"We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 1:09 PM 31 comments

There is a new radio station in town. Give it a listen if you haven’t yet. KKDS is operating on a low power frequency at 97.7. From their website:

KKDS began in 2000 when Eric and Viviana Hollenbeck of Blue Ox Millworks and the Blue Ox School of the Traditional Arts applied for the FCC's newly-created Low Power FM service. With the help of Dell Arte, an application was submitted during the only window of opportunity that has ever been granted. Since Cal Trans applied for the same space on the FM dial, it took four years to receive a construction permit.

The station is only running part-time until they work the kinks out. They are holding a contest to find people interested in being a DJ. Go here for more info.

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With the election season in full swing, discussion on a range of topics continues throughout the blogosphere (oh, and the newspapers, too). A while back I posted a little something called Eureka: Supportive Community or Haven for Drunkards? With most posts, the comments stop once the post disappears off the front page. But people are still sharing their thoughts on this one. With the upcoming Eureka City Council elections and the race for 4^th district supervisor, all eyes are on the county seat.

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Speaking of election-related stuff, Worth Dikeman was spotted today leaving the CostCo parking lot and pulling into Walgreen’s. I suppose this means he’s already cleaned out his desk.

And now that he will no longer be a prosecutor for Humboldt County, let alone a candidate for the seat of top prosecutor, some stubborn local voters might consider taking down their Dikeman for DA signs. Or, you know, not. Somebody on Humboldt Bay is pretty attached to the ghost of elections past. Screw the current election!

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 5:38 PM 8 comments

You can’t support big boxes and push for living wage jobs. Or maybe you can, but it sure looks funny.

“Neely’s failed policies have not just hurt our economy but have hurt the families that she claims to represent,” the news release stated.

But have no fear. Nancy will have you restocking cheap underwear in no time. It’s just a vote away.

For years Flemming has championed big box stores and their plight to erect mammoth corporate crapola on the shores of Humboldt Bay. Hey everyone! How about rock bottom wages that must be subsidized by taxpayer coffers?

Flemming indicated Friday in a news release that if Neely truly had the interest of working families in the 4th District in mind, they would not be faced with a poverty rate higher than the state and national average or having to deal with a median household income that has not kept pace with the exploding housing prices.

No matter how you spin it, a job at Home Depot is not going to get you the American Dream house in Eureka.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 10:59 PM 20 comments

Just making a note of it. Capt. Buhne broke the story and Humboldt County attorney Eric Kirk blogs his thoughts on this high profile bit o' news.

Worth Dikeman is 63 and has had a long career as a prosecutor. The ending of his career has been a series of crashes and bangs these last few months, from his tumultuous campaign against Paul Gallegos, to the recent ruling by the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals that he acted with racial bias, and now this firing by the incumbent he tried twice to unseat. Goes to show you never can predict how things are going to turn out.

Now we shall see if there’s truth to the dire predictions that Dikeman’s exodus from the courthouse will cause the wheels of justice to careen over the nearest cliff.

Or, perhaps, the in-house sabotage against Gallegos will cease and the transformation of the Humboldt County DA’s office will push forward with renewed vigor.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 11:52 PM 21 comments

On September 8, 2006, The Humboldt Herald reported that Humboldt DA Paul Gallegos was guilty of “pulling a Stunich” when he was accused of plagiarizing portions of two editorials that appeared in the Times-Standard. Eureka lawyer Andy Stunich faced accusations of plagiarism in the blogosphere in July when it was discovered that an editorial by him in the Eureka Reporter contained portions of writings that appeared on another website.

There are several differences between Gallegosgate and Stunichgate. When the accusations of plagiarism surfaced, Gallegos apologized and voiced humiliation. In contrast, Stunich argued that the copyright on the sentences he borrowed was probably invalid. He then claimed he had permission to use portions of the work.

Also, as repeatedly pointed out here, the Stunich editorial appeared in the ER, which had threatened to bring Lucifer’s hammer down on anyone who dared submit a letter or editorial written by someone other than the person offering it for publication. The Gallegos editorials, on the other hand, were not published in the Eureka Reporter, but appeared in the T-S.

Mr. Stunich has demanded a correction from this blogger that Mr. Gallegos did not “pull a Stunich.” Based on the above-mentioned differences, I agree.

Whether or not Stunich’s actions legally constitute plagiarism is not for me to say. The experts, however, have voiced their opinions. The ER quoted Lee Bowker, PH.D as saying "The taking of even a single line from another source without attribution is plagiarism."

The North Coast Journal stated this week that “Andrew Stunich did not commit plagiarism. Repeat: He did not commit plagiarism. All right? He merely took someone else's words and put them under his own name.” Fair enough.

Andy’s latest response to this situation has been posted on Eric Kirk’s blog, and will reportedly be published in the ER. While I disagree that Stunich has been "viciously attacked" for his actions, I understand why he feels defensive. However, criticisms posted on this blog have largely been directed at the Eureka Reporter for their hypocritical handling of the situation.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 8:21 PM 24 comments

From the Times-Standard's coverage of the Coroner's Inquest:

Harpham and Johnson said the SWAT team decided not to bring in ballistic shields because their plan depended on the element of surprise and the need to move quickly. Johnson said the team discussed flare guns and whether they should be considered lethal weapons.

Did their discussion involve any facts obtained after discovering that she had a flare gun, or was it all speculation? It sounds like guesswork, otherwise they would know the shields would protect them from the single shot the gun was capable of shooting. She would then be unarmed and easily taken into custody (or given the medication she requested).

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:54 PM 15 comments

If all is going according to plan, the first witness took the stand at 9AM. The jury was seated yesterday in preparation of the 3-4 day inquest.

The Times-Standard reports that at least some of the jurors are aware of the shooting from various media reports. Maybe there is more leeway in this proceeding than in regular court hearings where the jury must be relatively ignorant of the facts presented to them. But the inquest is shaping up to be more of a charade than an actual inquiry, so who cares what they know? Only a select group of witnesses will be presented by the coroner who has repeatedly stated his belief that the shooting was justified. Any "expert" witnesses chosen by the coroner will not challenge that belief.

Why does the Eureka Reporter call it a “police-involved shooting?” It was the cops who made the decision to deny her medication, to storm her apartment, and blow her away.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:57 AM 33 comments

The opinion page in today’s Eureka Reporter tells us repeatedly to not forget 9/11/01. Is forgetting really a possibility? No one will forget where they were when they first saw the images of a plane hitting the second tower and the implosion of the buildings.

A more challenging task is to look deeper into the events of that day, and consider how the tragedy was spun to get us into a war that has no connection to the attacks of 9/11.

Recently, Bush recounted to a crowd of listeners how he saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center, because “of course” the TV was on. Since Bush has not seen Fahrenheit 9-11, he doesn’t realize that millions of us know that he was actually reading “My Pet Goat” to school children. And anyway, television cameras did not catch the first plane hitting the towers. But hey, what’s another little lie on top of so many?

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The Times-Standard had an editorial yesterday entitled Moore Inquest will answer many, but not all, questions. In it, they opine that coroner Frank Jager should not recuse himself from the Inquest, which starts tomorrow. However, they completely miss the irony that the reason not all questions will be answered is because not all questions will be asked.

In related news, Capt. Buhne connects the dots for anyone having trouble.

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Due to circumstances beyond my control, updates to the Humboldt Herald may be irregular over the next week. Thankfully, the burgeoning local blogosphere will continue to supply you with enlightening discussion and observation while serving as a forum for learning to discuss our difference with courtesy and good manners.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 10:23 AM 25 comments

As noted in the local papers and blogs, DA Paul Gallegos apologized for the plagiarism ordeal. This blogger appreciates his humility and hopes it will serve as an example to others who screw up. I can think of a local paper, a local attorney, and a local police force that in recent months failed to accept responsibility for their errors, and instead made excuses, cover-ups or denials that any blunder occurred.

Whether by intention or accidental, shit happens. Sometimes a mishap’s manure is deeper than other bouts of do-do. There is a matter of degree. But whatever the rank on the Richter scale, an apology can go a long way to righting the wrong, if possible, or ensuring that it doesn’t happen again.

Of course, apologizing doesn’t mean everyone will forgive you. Perhaps that is the greatest barrier to admissions of guilt.

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Speaking of people who owe the mother load of apologies, tomorrow marks the five-year anniversary of events that were used as a pretense for an attack and occupation of Iraq. As most people are aware, Iraq had zilch to do with the attacks of 9/11/01. The Downing Street Memos confirmed that BushCo. had it out for Iraq since before that fateful day, and the administration used 9/11 as an excuse to attack the virtually defenseless country.

Instead of apologies, or any action to right the horrific wrongs that have been committed based on a pile of lies, we get excuses, unsupportable justifications and more untruths. In addition, we get torture, carnage and a lot more people wishing death to the United States. The erosion of our Bill of Rights is no small matter, either.

To commemorate the tragic events of 9/11/01 and the ensuing lies told by the morally bankrupt con men who run this country, tomorrow will be observed as Distrust Your Government Day, with a demonstration to be held at the Federal building at noon in Eureka (corner of 5^th and I). Organizers encourage participants to bring signs or wear costumes that express lack of faith in the powers that be.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 4:13 PM 19 comments

Not coroner Frank Jager, since he’s repeatedly stated the April 14, 2006 police shooting of Cheri Lyn Moore was justified.

“An inquest really serves no purpose,” Frank Jager told the Eureka Reporter.

But despite these statements, Frank has some poopy words for NAMI – The National Alliance on Mental Illness – who raised concerns about Jager’s involvement in the upcoming coroner’s inquest into the shooting of the mentally ill woman.

“I am disappointed that this NAMI group has chosen to make this such a public spectacle right now because what they are doing is contaminating the potential jury.”

Why does he care, since the inquest serves no purpose? And why does he feel the need to belittle them by the phrase “this NAMI group?” And of course Frank had no objections to making a public spectacle when he encouraged Chief Douglas to go tell the public that the shooting was justified.

“(Also) they need to examine their own bias,” he said. Uh, Frank? NAMI is an advocacy group. You’re running the show. Big difference.

Maybe if NAMI got to chose all the witnesses and decide which questions will be asked, their “bias” would be an issue. But since they’re not in that position, and Frank is, his bias is a problem.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 4:47 PM 38 comments

Now that Gallegos got caught pulling a Stunich – twice, apparently – which landed the DA some damaging headlines, the Eureka Reporter editorializes on the difference between the two attorneys. One, they point out, is an elected official “who is paid by Humboldt County residents to uphold laws.” Stunich, on the other hand, is just another lawyer to whom truth and plagiarism do not matter.

I guess that kind of addresses the difference in the ER’s handling of the two strikingly similar situations, despite their strongly worded promise to crack down on shady opinion writers. And at the time, it appeared they weren’t kidding – the paper’s editor took the extreme action of calling the cops on Richard Salzman for sending letters to the editor under fake names.

But such extremism doesn’t need an explanation. Rob Arkley, Jr., owner of the “priceless” paper, laid it out months in advance in an email sent to Salzman.

"Richard, I see the devious way that you fight and I will take it to you in the future," read the e-mail, in part. "You, not I, are going to be the topic in the future. On Talk Shop, you will be famous. On Channel 3, the same. Poor rich radical from the city who wants to tell us all what to do. ... This will be fun. Get ready. You have had your run. Now, it is my turn."

But I digress. Today's editorial ends with the promise to be better plagiarism-spotters.

This entire episode has taught us a lesson: We need to find a better way to determine that what is published by The Eureka Reporter is actually written by the person submitting it. To that end, we plan to subscribe to a plagiarism prevention service that will keep us and our contributors honest.

Pay no mind to the fact that the editorials by Gallegos were not published in the Eureka Reporter, unlike the major cut-and-paste job by Mr. Andy Stunich.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 11:40 AM 41 comments

Breaking up is hard to do.

But now that Frank Bacik is dashing off on his latest escapade as vice president for Pacific Lumber, the firm left behind will dissolve into the sand, like a great and mighty wave that crashes to the shore.

"I'm departing to take on another adventure in lawyering," he said. "And as a result, the remaining members are dissolving the law firm in Ukiah - we've been around since the 1950s in one form or another."

The firm has spawned three judges in that time, including Judges Golden, Behnke and Mayfield, and has, "at one time or other, included within its ranks legal mavens as Tom Brigham, Scott Gaustad, Sandra Applegate and, or course, Jared Carter, our long time patriarch and my mentor, partner and friend."

Taking the leap from the solid ground of an established law firm to a sinking timber company that has more debt than trees might seem questionable to some. But if Frank was the glue that held the firm together, maybe he can work some magic for Maxxam’s floundering timber child. Let’s just hope he doesn’t terrorize the opposition in the process.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 10:16 AM 4 comments

Sometimes shit hits the fan in Humboldt County like a mac truck to a cow. You wake up in the morning, look at the news and oh my god! some crazy lady is getting offed by the cops in her downtown apartment, or the DA got busted committing syntax. The screams can be heard for miles.

But in the brave new world, you don’t have to wait for the letters to appear on the opinion pages of your favorite daily. No sir, you just need to log-on to the local blogs.

Take today, for example. The latest windstorm came via the Eureka Reporter, and long before the noontime whistle blew (see below), Fred, the Captain, Eric and yours truly had blogged our reactions while the comment counters ticked.

Dig our timeliness:

The Eureka Reporter: Selective News for Local Dupes

posted by Heraldo @ 9:06 AM

Did the big G plagiarize?

posted by Eric V. Kirk @ 10:08 AM

More Accusations of Plagiarism

posted by Fred @ 9:39 AM

SAY IT AIN'T SO, GAGS: Web-Surfin' D.A.'s Heavy Lifting Scandal

posted by Capt. Buhne (exact time unknown, but spotted in the AM).

And hell, it wasn’t just early risers getting their blog on. There were anonymous comments left on Eric’s blog last night that signaled a foul wind this way cometh. See, the internets got people who know the news before its news.

I dare say that even the print journolos are getting some mileage out of the blogosphere. The past couple of Dandy articles in the North Coast Journal rehashed some subject matter that began on SoHum Parlance.

At any rate, the conduit for public opinion just ain't what it used to be.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 3:09 PM 40 comments

The Eureka Reporter is making bold headlines out of accusations that Humboldt County DA Paul Gallegos lifted portions of a 2000 academic paper for an editorial that appeared in last week’s Times-Standard. The Eureka Reporter cares about plagiarism, you see. They REALLY care. Unless, of course, the person alleged to have committed this embarrassing faux pas slurps from the same political trough.

The article in today’s ER compares sentences and partial sentences in the DA’s editorial with a paper by Robert Louis Felix. The longest identical section is 19 words long.

In sharp contrast, the Eureka Reporter looked the other way and whistled Dixie after local attorney Andrew Stunich was found to have plagiarized major sections of a previously published work in an editorial published in the Eureka Reporter last May, including one 109-word section that was nearly identical to the original copy-written material.

When leftist political strategist Richard Salzman submitted letters to the editor under fake names, ER editor Glen Franco Simmons called the police.

When right-wing lawyer Andrew Stunich plagiarized someone else’s work for an ER editorial, the Arkley-owned paper ran a teensy-weensy “clarification” that “it is possible” that Stunich put his name on another person’s writings.

Now that Paul Gallegos is accused to doing exactly what Stunich did (only on a smaller scale), the ER busts out with a giant headline.

Something reeks at the Eureka Reporter, and it’s not a pompous editor’s SUV.

If Gallegos intentionally copied someone else’s work and put his name on it, he should apologize. When contacted by the ER, Gallegos said “Obviously the question here is whether I intended to take direct quotes without attribution, and no, I didn’t intend that.”

If the ER contacted Stunich about his obvious use of someone else’s work, no comment was published, and certainly no headline blared from the top of A1 or anywhere else in the paper.

Is the Eureka Reporter a legitimate news source or a propaganda rag for the political right? The answer appears more and more obvious as time goes on.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:06 AM 83 comments

As bloggers continue to take over the world, mainstream news outlets publish their analysis on what gets the pajamahadeen all a twitter. Since there are 5.7 trazillion blogs out there, it is hard to comprehend how any respectable news organization can pin-point and rank the issues that drive ordinary Joes and Janes to tickle the lettered keys.

If CBS really does have their finger on the “buzz on must-read blogs,” than you have to believe that an apology issued by mega-star Tom Cruise to mega-star Brooke Shields is of utmost importance. The magnitude of this world shattering event somehow missed the radar of the Humboldt Herald, and for that, kind readers, I apologize.

It is, however, easier to grok that Bloggers Rage Over ABC/Disney 9/11 Miniseries. Apparently the six-hour “docudrama” intends to blame former president Bill Clinton for the events of September 11, 2001. Sadly, a shocking number of US citizens will swallow whatever history-be-damned drivel flashes from the boob tube as followers of Fox News can attest to. Can I git an “amen?”

ABC is apparently giving advanced copies of the docudrama to right-wing bloggers while excluding those on the left from participating in a conference call that promotes the film.

UPDATE: I'm not kidding about this blog stuff. A new one just popped up called Open Letter to ABC: Don’t Airbrush 9/11.

Meanwhile, former advisor to Bill Clinton, Donna Brazile, is encouraging members of the Democratic Party to dig the power of the blogosphere. She explained,

Like most Democratic insiders, I have a love-hate relationship with bloggers and the “net-roots” community. At times, I am irritated by many of their strident, arrogant, self-righteous comments and their disapproving attitudes about us old dinosaurs. But after they helped score an impressive primary victory this summer in the Connecticut Senate Democratic primary between incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman and unknown businessman Ned Lamont, they clearly have earned a seat at the table.

[C]orporations apparently try much harder to reach untrusting Western bloggers, and make much less effort to communicate with their more trusting counterparts in Japan.

So blog forth, be snarky, and await contact from the powers that be. Your witty reviews of some new product line just might make the news.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 2:38 PM 5 comments

The September 12, 2006 coroner’s inquest into the police shooting of Eureka resident Cheri Lyn Moore will include dozens of witnesses, a majority of whom will be police officers.

If Frank Jager gets his way, no independent experts will testify.

Concerns have already been raised that Jager is too close to the officers and agency involved in the shooting to oversee an inquest that presents all the evidence. There is reason for concern based on Jager’s own words to the Times-Standard just days after the shooting:

Jager said he believes that as more information comes out, people will realize police acted reasonably when they shot Moore.

”My sense is there won't be a question about whether the shooting was justified,” he said. “The questions will be why they went in when they did and whether they could have used other means of force.”

He said the officers in charge during the standoff “are real level-headed people.”

Ballistics expert Ronald Scott was contacted by the T-S when the paper conducted their own unscientific experiment with a 12-gage Orion flare gun, which Moore had in her apartment during the short stand-off. Scott has looked into this matter. He wrote on his website:

Preliminary investigation indicates that the Eureka PD failed to employ sufficiently trained negotiators, did not use less lethal options first, and by their own action created the very situation which required the use of deadly force. The Eureka PD policy and procedure calls for incremental use of force which was not followed and they failed to maintain the principle of preservation of life as the primary goal.

Otherwise it’s just a dog and pony show.

You can request Ronald Scott be included as a witness for the coroner’s inquest by calling the coroner’s office at (707) 445-7242.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 12:03 PM 73 comments

Today we are enticed to honor all the workers who keep the wheels of the modern way of life turning.

Here in Humboldt County, there's a lot of talk about jobs - where the new ones will come from and who’s responsible for the loss of a once-booming timber industry whose pride was the economic backbone of the area. Rational discourse on the matter can scarcely be heard above the din of accusations, anger and despair over the events of the last twenty years. The hottest button of contention - Maxxam’s 1986 take-over of Pacific Lumber, and the lawsuits, landslides, debt, mill closures, protests and PR campaigns that followed have left a thick cloud of distrust that hangs in the air like Houston smog.

And its not just timber. The mortal blows suffered by the fishing industry over the last several years hits especially hard this year, when the fishing season was cut down just enough to leave the door ajar due to steep declines of salmon in the ailing Klamath river. If the bureaucrats and fat cats would pull their heads out of their collective ass, people could be put to work taking out the Klamath dams to bring the salmon home.

Of course, it’s not just Humboldt County that is seeing the loss of industries that shaped the character of this place for more than a century. Mendocino County has been transformed from timber to wine country, and the little hamlet of Hayfork has a similar song to sing, though no new industry has come to pick up the pieces. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Glen Martin reports from his unique perspective having lived in worked in Hayfork during the boom. The entire article, excerpted below, is worth reading for Humboldt County residents concerned about the decline of timber in our area, and what the future brings.

Hayfork was booming during my time there, fueled by a U.S. Forest Service policy that emphasized the liquidation of big trees. The "timber beasts" ruled the agency then -- government foresters who wanted to farm federal lands for softwoods. Payrolls for the town's two big mills, numerous logging companies and the forest service were all fat. Then things changed.

Hayfork's decline began in the 1990s, as inventories of large timber declined in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, environmental regulations tightened and mills shut down. The town's downturn attracted considerable national attention. It became a locus for Option Nine, a federal plan to help logging communities transit to new economies in the aftermath of the spotted-owl brouhaha. During his presidential campaign in 1992, Pat Buchanan made a whistle-stop in Hayfork to inveigh against fuzzy-headed environmentalists.

Nothing much came of Option Nine, and even less of Buchanan, but for a brief period, Hayfork's cri de coeur was heard. Journalists wrote about the town, and the implications its unhappy evolution held for the West in general. I was one of them, unique only because my interest was personal as well as professional: Something of value was being lost in Hayfork, something that could not be measured in dollars and cents.

Given the Forest Service's essential mandate in the 1970s and 1980s -- the cutting of all merchantable timber -- Hayfork's crash was inevitable. The timber boom of that period gripped the West from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast, and most of the big trees came down. It was the final buffalo hunt. And like the buffalo hunters, the loggers found themselves out of work when the last great beast was laid low.

True, there are a lot of opinions on just who or what is culpable for the collapse. The loggers blamed the town's unraveling on the relatively tough environmental legislation -- personified by the spotted owl -- that was passed in the 1990s. Competition from foreign softwood producers with lower production costs was also a factor.

But one fact trumps the rest: The town's essential resource -- large-diameter conifers -- no longer existed in quantity by the late 1980s. Hayfork's mills weren't tooled to process the second- and third-growth trees that increasingly dominated the north state's national forests. Also, cutting small trees isn't as lucrative as cutting big trees, and the loggers found it financially impractical to harvest "peckerpoles" at existing prices. Finally, the Forest Service slammed the door on timber harvests. Spooked by environmental lawsuits and hobbled by metastasizing red tape, the agency slashed its timber sales in the Shasta-Trinity.

There have been undeniable environmental benefits to the unraveling of the county's timber industry. Most pertinently, sedimentation from ill-engineered logging roads and scalped mountainsides has decreased, benefiting fisheries on the Trinity River and its tributaries. But the utter collapse of the timber economy also has been tragic, because it's not just an industry that has disappeared; a way of life has passed.

Logging had its own language, social values, ethos. Though the work was arduous and dangerous, it was not brute labor. It encompassed a set of skills that required years of study and practice to master. Those who didn't attain proficiency sought other work -- or died.

The difficulty and hazards of the work, the sense of shared purpose, the isolation of the venues made logging and its ancillary industry, milling, a culture. And the demise of logging culture has impoverished the state. Think of the Castro without gay culture, or the Mission without Latino culture. The sense of loss would be incalculable for San Franciscans. Hayfork -- all the little towns in California, Oregon and Washington that once derived their economies from the woods -- are now grappling with an analogous situation. The very essence of what they are has disappeared.

To regain old-growth characteristics in a reasonable period of time, new wave logging advocates say, these forests need active management. Not clear-cutting -- but sustained judicious thinning and prescription burning, with emphasis placed on minimal land disturbance. And the lumber and fiber yielded by such enterprises could make up the base of an entirely new economy, strengthening the local constituency for forest biodiversity and health.

In theory, at least, it all sounds good. And I see something else that might be saved by taking this path: woods culture. The recent U.N. conference notwithstanding, there are many people who can't abide cities, and want no part of them. They are square pegs who can't be hammered into the urban round hole; they are miserably unsuited for white collar or service work, and they are miserable when forced to do it. We need these people back in Hayfork, and all the other little Western towns where trees were once central to the way of life. We need to let loggers be loggers, albeit with some very tough ground rules. They contribute nothing to the richness of our society when we force them to work for Wal-Mart or Burger King.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 11:13 AM 5 comments

30 Men Seized In Petaluma Sex Sting

Thirty men from around the state who went to a Petaluma house expecting to have sex with children were instead caught in a sting operation. The sting was set up by Petaluma police in collaboration with Perverted Justice, an organization that combats Internet predators.

The group set up fictitious identities in Internet chat rooms for supposed ten-to13-year-old boys and girls. When men propositioned the decoys, they were invited to the house.

Waiting for them there were a reporter from "Dateline NBC," hidden cameras and law enforcement officers from Petaluma, Sonoma County, Santa Rosa and the state Bureau of Investigation.

I’m pretty sure that Perverted Justice was involved in the arrest of a man from Loleta, but can’t find the link to the story that appeared in the Eureka Reporter.

Magazine salesman sentenced in rape of 74-year-old

Prosecutors said Friday that a magazine salesman who pleaded guilty to raping a 74-year-old woman near Prospect High School in San Jose would face a minimum of 27 years in prison.

The solicitor, Larry Gene Jackson, 42, pleaded guilty Thursday to rape, forcible oral copulation and threatening a witness as his jury trial was to begin.

``I think he basically saw the writing on the wall,'' said Deputy DA Tim McInerny. ``There was never any question that he did it.''

In the San Jose case, which occurred in December, authorities said Jackson knocked on the woman's door, flashed identification and asked whether he could come inside for a glass of water.

Once inside the house, he dragged the elderly woman to a back bedroom, where he raped her. ``It was a terrible case,'' McInerny said.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 6:04 PM 11 comments

When the legal system is adhered to, the system demonstrates its commitment to the very laws it tells citizens they must comply with. It also manages risk in favor of its citizenry. If the accused is found guilty, the system has worked. If the accused is found not guilty, the system remains intact, functions as a model of compliance with the law, and firmly establishes that our individual freedoms are intricately intertwined with the maintenance of our laws.

Perhaps Gallegos editorial is in reference to the upcoming coroner’s inquest into the police shooting of Eureka resident Cheri Lyn Moore. In that case, the EPD’s chief Douglas publicly stated the shooting was justified. Gallegos was pressured to do the same – in absence of due process of law.

Or perhaps he is talking about the dog torturers from Trinity County. In any case, the legal system, for all its checks and balances, is run by people with their own prejudices and preconceived notions. This is why concerned citizens must be vigilant and open to all the evidence, and insist the system is, too.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 9:44 AM 39 comments

The U.S. command in Baghdad is seeking bidders for a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for monitoring the tone of Iraq news stories filed by U.S. and foreign media.

Proposals, due Sept. 6, ask companies to show how they'll "provide continuous monitoring and near-real time reporting of Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international, and U.S. media," according to the solicitation issued last week.

Pentagon officials have defended the program as a necessary tool in the war on terror. But critics have said it contradicts American values of freedom of the press.

Activists filed a civil-rights lawsuit Thursday claiming Secretary of State Ken Blackwell deprived people of their voting rights during the 2004 presidential election and seeking to have him removed from overseeing the general election in November.

The plaintiffs, who range from the Ohio Voter Rights Alliance for Democracy to the head of a Columbus neighborhood association, accuse Blackwell of distributing fewer voting machines per person in black neighborhoods, purging voter registrations and disproportionately assigning provisional ballots to blacks. Those provisional ballots then were disqualified at higher rates than in nearby precincts that were mostly white, the plaintiffs allege.

Ah, freedom. Free to be as corrupt and devious as they wanna be.

permalink I posted by Heraldo Riviera @ 10:16 AM 13 comments