Larry, Curly, and Moe? Groucho, Harpo, and Zeppo?

Whatever side of the Balloon Track controversy one falls on, surely we expect our elected city officials to read documents upon which they will be expected to vote. At the October 27 city council meeting, when it came time to vote on whether to approve the environmental impact report on the massively polluted tract, Frank was a bit wiggy on the whether he actually needed to read the admittedly dense document.

"I’d like to make a motion without being tasked with reading the whole thing.” Well, sure.

This was after Mike Jones asked for clarification about...what, exactly they were voting on? Tonight? Um?

Jeff Leonard rounded out this trio of informed brilliance by taking a moment to express that this EIR is a jewel compared to the many, many EIRs he has read in his long, long life. Oh, and as a postscript, please please don't sue us until we do what we want. Please

Boys, I for one would really like encourage you to do as much homework as is necessary to do your jobs, without making excuses or waxing lyrical .

Yes, Frank, I task thee.

(photos shamelessly lifted from the Humboldt Herald, Northcoast Jounal, and Humboldt Sentinel)

Haunting Memoir

Sarah Palin's book is ready to debut, ghost written by Lynn Vincent, editor of the evangelical mag, WORLD. Geoffrey Dunn makes some excellent points on the Huffington Post about Palin's notorious inability to communicate coherently.

Attributing this 400 page load of moose manure to Palin is just more of the woman's shuck and jive. In May she said to the AP: "There's been so much written about and spoken about in the mainstream media and in the anonymous blogosphere world, that this will be a wonderful, refreshing chance for me to get to tell my story, that a lot of people have asked about, unfiltered" [emphasis mine].

Ghostwriter = unfiltered. Tell us, Sarah, what do you think about the Bush Doctrine?

For this--slapping her name on a book someone else wrote--she threw over her responsiblities as governor of Alaska. I'd bet an elk pot pie she'll never convince a majority of voters again, for anything.

People, people, people

Tonight, I’m feeling pretty fed up. I know there are Nelson Mandelas and Desmond Tutus out there. There is a Dalai Lama and a Tich Nhat Hanh. There was a Mother Teresa. But man, those folks are few and far between, and they have to work inordinately hard to hold back the dark side.

A perusal of various forums in the cyberworld seems to point to a dearth of intelligence, a lack of empathy, an inability allow for ideas other than those one espouses. Civility, courtesy, and simple human kindness seem to be disappearing from the planet. American citizens use the most heinous racist language to talk about the President of the United States, his wife, his young daughters. Fortune and fame are lavished on the nastiest and most vicious social pundits.

It is as if our vast population has turned into a pack of dogs, overbred, overpopulated, reflexively biting our own kind. Our differences terrify us. We can’t share. We can’t allow. We want to overtalk, overpower. We use whatever influence we have to create the world in our own image. We hate each other. We kill each other.

Yes, I’m feeling a little sick of our species today.

(photo credit)

Early Environmentalism, Humboldt Style

The Daily Humboldt Times, Wednesday, November 25, 1896:

"M. J. McIntosh killed two northern or spotted owls on the island opposite Carson's Mill Monday morning. The largest measured four feet, ten inches from tip to tip. These birds are seldom seen as far south as this. Rotermund, the taxidermist, will mount them."

(Photo credit)

Do we really need healthcare reform?

Yes.

Guess where I'm posting from? St. Joseph hospital. Chest pain, ER, overnight observation. While in the ER, the older lady in the next cubicle explained to the doctor that she hadn't taken her medication for the past few days because she couldn't afford to refill the prescription

This is bullshit.

I had to decide whether to risk going home overnight, or staying in the hospital overnight--the doctor's recommendation--because I can't afford this bill, even though I have insurance.

This, also, is bullshit.

If I were wealthy, I could afford my healthcare and would not stress out about how I could pay for even basic care. If I were poor, I could get Medi-Cal, etc. But no, my husband and I are just super hardworking lower middle class folks, living quite low on the proverbial hog--and we can't afford to take care of ourselves because of the outrageous state of American healthcare

Those of you who are hysterically screaming "socialism" can pucker up and kiss my ass--it's right there, hanging out of this be-frigged hospital johnny.

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT HEALTHCARE REFORM!!

I found out what the Obama Administration is really cooking up behind closed doors. You want to talk end-of-life issues? You want to talk death panels??

Here's what's really happening:

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!

Would you like to ride....

...in my beautiful, my beautiful balloooooooon...tract?

As regards the Arkley's druthers to convert one type of blight into another type of blight altogether, you can peruse the Supplemental Interim Remedial Action Plan being considered by the California Regional Water Quality Control. Their website is a bit of a pain to navigate, but said supplemental plan may be read in Part 1 and Part 2 .

The opportunity for public comment is very short and nearly over. (It ends September 10.) You can get the gist of the issue here, and find the GeoTracker info on the balloon tract here.