If the shoe fits…

A toast to the North Coast's handicapable Assemblyman Wes Chesbro.

Wes Chesbro’s office put out a news release last week announcing that the Assemblyman from Arcata has been chosen to chair the Assembly Select Committee on Wine and the Assembly Select Committee on Disabilities.

Uh, yeah.

We haven’t heard of a more fitting appointment since Patty Berg was named to head up the Blue Ribbon Commission on Smoking Six Packs a Day Until Your Damn Face Falls Off.

We heart prog logic

EPIC’s Scott Greacen loves salmon soooo much, he opposes removing dams on the Klamath to save them.

Brilliant!!

Reminds us of all the ”environmentalists” who care soooo much about the bay and its surrounding wetlands that they spent years working to prevent cleanup of the Balloon Track.

Let’s see now. How did that turn out for them?

Oh that’s right.

Maybe Snarky Marky Lovelace, who is doing everything he can behind the scenes to scotch the Klamath agreements, should take note.

Removing the dams will take a monumental effort.

Removing dishonest, deceitful hypocrites from office turns out to be quite a bit easier.

Just FYI on that.

Stranger in a strange town

This Times-Standard reader says public officials should make decisions based on the public’s best interest.

He must not be from here.

Sidestepping the process

Letter to the Editor, Jan. 22, 2011

I attended the Jan. 18 Board of Supervisors meeting in which the reappointment of outgoing Planning Commissioner Emad, was a vocal, focal point. I applaud Mr. Emad for his public service exemplified by many years on the Planning Commission. The critics of the reappointment were not critical of Mr. Emad, but were critical of the basis on which some members of the board were prepared to act.

Public officials should make their decisions based on what is in the public’s best interest. This should be the ultimate benchmark in their decision-making process. Injecting factors such as whether someone will feel “slighted,” “inconvenienced” or “hurt” have no place in the political, decision-making arena. There will always be someone “hurt,” “slighted” or “inconvenienced” by their decision.

It was encouraging to me that the new faces on the board recognized that the normal appointment process was being unwisely sidestepped. Once one starts short circuiting a well-tested appointment process it makes it easier to do it in again in the future. Why establish a vetted and proven appointment process if it can be sidestepped so casually? If the appointment term is four years, why choose an applicant who has publicly informed the board that they are not prepared to serve out the full term? A new appointee with “fire in their belly” may add a new and needed perspective to a commission that is publicly growing frustrated with the pace of the update process.

Bob Morris

Blocksburg

Singleton out at Media News Group

This isn't really Dean Singleton, but you get the general idea.

The tight-fisted former owner of the Times-Standard’s parent company has been kicked unceremoniously to the curb.

William Dean Singleton, veteran newsman and sizable fuckstick, rose from the ranks to build Media News Group, one of the world’s largest and most despised newspaper chains. He forfeited control of the company in a 2010 bankruptcy, and now has likely paid for that with his job.

Just a few days before today’s announcement, Times-Standard staff was informed that mandatory furloughs were back in effect. Word is that reporters, photographers, copy-editors, etc., will be required to take five unpaid days off in the first half of the year. That works out to about a five percent cut in pay, which may not seem like much until you consider there wasn’t much to begin with.

Editorial staff have been subjected to similar belt-tightening measures in the past. They began around the time the Eureka Reporter shut down, which is when Singleton permanently furloughed his interest in the North Coast.

Au revoir, asshat.

Photo gratefully borrowed from here.

Times-Standard unveils new front-page job search service for unpopular former bureaucrats

 According to the Times-Standard, deposed supervisor Bonnie Neely is tanned, rested and ready for her next job.

Like Nixon, only with a pulse.

To read the homage, which purports to be a news article, is to come face to face with a combination of desperation and wishful revisionism not often found outside a Craigslist Missed Connection ad.

In Neely’s own words:

Whether I’m in office or not,

FYI: You’re not.

I still have 30 years of experience making government work for people.

FYI: You don’t.

I’m absolutely ecstatic to begin a new chapter in my life

And yet nowhere near as ecstatic as we are.

where I can use that experience to solve problems in the community

Now that would be a new chapter and mark a dramatic departure from your long history of exacerbating existing problems and creating entirely new ones.

without the sometimes harsh public spotlight that comes with elected office.

Oh Bon Bon. You won’t have to go without!

Promise.

We’ll always be here for you.

Hugs!

Love always, Bonnie Neely

Did we know the Bon Bon was good friends with Neal Latt?

Yes, the overbearing ”organic farmer” (*cough*) who spends his life telling everyone how wrong and stupid they are. That Neal Latt.

Maybe you knew it. We did not.

But looky what someone slipped under our door. An old letter the former supervisor wrote in support of the obnoxious asshat’s application to law school.

Not terribly important but kinda funny. It’s like the progs travel in packs or something. You never find one without six more right behind telling everyone how brilliant the first one is.

Such is the case here. Oh well. Maybe Neal can use his ”unique qualities necessary to overcome adversity” along with his clout as a  ”member of a local Ad-Hoc Wireless Telecommunications Committee” (one of six west-side whackadoos who insist cell towers are the devil) to write a reciprocal letter for the Bon Bon. Word is she’s looking for a job.

September 24, 2009
 
Law School Admission Council
662 Pen Street
P.O. Box 8508
Newtown, PA 18940-8508
 
RE: Letter of Recommendations for Neal G. Latt
 
Dear Council:
 
I am writing in support of Neal Latt’s application for admission to law school.  I have known Neal for over six years and in that time he has shown himself to be an extremely dedicated and committed individual. 
 
I am very pleased that Neal has chosen to pursue the field of law.  His character and determination in getting the job done is a testament to his overall leadership potential and drive to succeed.  As the owner/operator of Avalon Farms since 1996, Neal has demonstrated his philanthropic spirit by donating over 8,000 lbs. of fresh produce to local charities and non-profits.  He is active in many community organizations such as Food for People and Citizens for Real Economic Growth.  He continues to be a member of a local Ad-Hoc Wireless Telecommunications Committee formed to help guide local policy makers in the area of wireless communications.
 
Neal has the ability and fortitude to meet the challenges of advanced academic study.  He has set himself apart in both his professional and personal life and possesses those unique qualities necessary to overcome adversity.  I believe he is an exceptional individual and would bring a fresh new perspective to any law school.
 
I am respectfully requesting your favorable consideration of Neal’s application.   Thank you.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Bonnie Neely, 4th District Supervisor
County of Humboldt

We told Barb Leonard to blow us, but she wrote a guest post instead. We don’t need to tell you who won that round.

A few months back, the bugs and Barb Leonard got into a tiff over our use of a particular photo of Paul Gallegos. There was sturm, there was drang, and yes–we really did tell Jeff Leonard’s mother to blow us. She took a pass on that, but we agreed to disagree, then became pen pals, and next thing you know the old gal’s writing for the Humboldt Mirror.

Pinch us!

Anyhoo. For her inaugural missive, the incomparable Barbster gives us her take on political fear-monging.

Bottom line?

She’s against it.

See for yourself:

Since the ploy to incite fear of cell tower installations is receiving more guffaws than a Jerry Seinfeld rerun, the brain trust that makes this stuff up has decided to give “emissions from Smart Meters” a whirl around the dance floor.

Sorry, I don’t buy it. I grew up in an era when DDT was a household staple. Our mothers used atomizers to spray the precious carcinogen inside our homes. The sight of flying insects hitting the deck was followed with hoots of “mission accomplished!!” Those were the good old days, when second hand smoke was the expectation and no one had ever heard of car seats or Sarah Palin.

So, when I arrived home one day last month and found a door hanger and brochure informing us PG&E had installed our new smart meters, I obviously found no cause for alarm.

After viewing recent civic meetings, where questions of mysterious health issues with Smart Meters have been raised, we decided to be more cognizant of how we are feeling… always a riveting subject when trapped into conversations with Seniors.

So far, we have not experienced constipation, headaches, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, altered vision, diarrhea, vomiting, sleeplessness, brain malfunction, suicidal tendencies or erections lasting over four hours. I must admit if the latter was an issue, suicide could become an option, although a spirited game of ring toss might be more appealing.

You want to live in fear? Here’s another opportunity to spread misinformation and scare your neighbors shitless. On the other hand, if you believe this is just another anti-corporation ploy by the usual suspects open your windows and holler “DING…NEXT,” and we can move on to some really scary stuff like sonar invasion and dead birds.

BREAKING: Bass hate speech sparks courthouse furor

Fourth District Supervisor Virginia Bass thrust Humboldt County into the center of a national debate when she employed a violent metaphor during a contentious dispute over raw milk.

The incident occurred as the board began its discussion of the issue, when Bass glared into the audience and said:

My comments will come out kind of in a shotgun approach.

We’re not sure what happened after that. We missed the rest of the broadcast because we were busy looking around wildly for someone to maim. No word yet on how many of the meeting attendees killed each other, but we’re thinking it was probably most of them.

After the meeting, a chagrined Bass vowed to henceforth refrain from using the language of violence, except against fish.

Humboldt Herald somehow manages to be even stupider than usual

The brain trust over at the Humboldt Herald has determined that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is personally responsible for that awful business in Arizona where a mentally ill young man shot 18 people, killing six, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, and critically wounding Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

If we wind up dead nine months from now, we'll have only ourselves to blame.

The basis of the Herald’s accusation? A Palin-sponsored campaign piece from last March that encouraged Republicans to vote against representatives of 20 Congressional districts that supported federal health care legislation. The 20 districts are identified on a map with small icons that resemble crosshairs, and one such district happened to have been Giffords’.

Get the connection?

Well??

Yeah. We don’t either.

The Herald post making this breathless pronouncement begins with a curious statement:

“Reap what you have sown, inflammatory swine.”

We think the inflammatory swine writing that blog would do well to heed their own advice.

Prog discontent spreads, as Shane Brinton cries, swears, uninvites entire Arcata City Council to his birthday

Au revoir, les enfants terribles.

Just when residents were thinking about letting Arcata City Councilbaby Shane Brinton eat at the adult table, he pitched a major temper tantrum as he was replaced on the Humboldt Waste Management Authority board of directors by fellow Councilmember Michael Winkler.

The Arcata Eye’s Kevin Hoover reports that as Brinton saw his cherished appointment slip away, he tried to talk the council out of it. When this failed, he asked Winkler to withdraw his request for the seat. Winkler didn’t respond.

[Councilmember Alex] Stillman began to make a motion, but in something of a breach of protocol, Brinton interrupted her and nominated himself for HWMA rep. It didn’t get a second. [Councilmember Mark] Wheetley then made a motion which included Winkler as HWMA rep and Brinton as alternate.

[Mayor Susan] Ornelas called for discussion, and with his voice slightly trembling, Brinton cautioned his colleagues. “I would like to impress upon you the ill will that you will engender if you remove me from the Humboldt Waste Management Authority,” he said.

Wheetley’s motion carried anyway, with only Brinton opposed.

Hoover writes that a while later, when the council took a break,

Winkler and Brinton exchanged words, with Winkler asking Brinton for his assistance with the HWMA assignment.

“Fuck you, Michael,” Brinton shot back. The curse was clearly heard by viewers watching the meeting on Access Humboldt, and can also be heard on the archived video of the meeting.

Get the whole story here.

Bayshore Best Buy?

As previously tweeted by capdiamont, rumors abound that the electronics superstore Best Buy has inked an agreement to open a retail outlet in the Bayshore Mall.

While there has been no official announcement yet (and we’re wrong about most things), it’s never too early for the progs to bang on about how the world will end, and the rest of us to hope the move would give a bit of a boost to our local economy and breathe some life into our sad little half-empty mall.

Oh and Larry Glass: Are there to be any historical re-enactments in your future? Just remember Davy. The other guys win.

But then you’re probably getting used to that by now.

Denied w/ Update

It's all cool. No hard feelings, right?

Outgoing Gov. Arnold delivered the best Christmas gift ever yesterday with his appointment to the Coastal Commission. The link and the text quoted below has since been scrubbed by Gov. Moonbeam.

Kenneth Zanzi, 67, of Fortuna, has been appointed to the California Coastal Commission representing the north coast region. He has been mayor pro tem of the city of Fortuna since 2010 and where he served as city councilmember from 2008 to 2010. Zanzi has owned Mad River Parkway Business Center since 1983. He worked for the Department of Fish and Game from 1965 to 1998 retiring as the deputy chief of the Wildlife Management Division. Zanzi is a member of the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary. Zanzi is a Republican.

Sorry Mark. You’ll have to sit this one out.

January 3, 2011 update:

According to “Time running out for appointment to coastal commission” by the Times-Standard’s reporter and journalistic prognosticator John Driscoll, a few blogs must have jumped the gun on the news about the appointment of Fortuna Mayor Ken Zanzi to the Coastal Commission.

While outgoing Gov. Schwarzenegger’s website listed Zanzi among the Governator’s appointments as of Dec. 31, Driscoll hath decreed in an article posted on the T-S online edition today that everyone is still waiting to hear who will be appointed. The article states that Zanzi hadn’t heard anything from Schwarzenegger as of deadline on Thursday [Dec. 30, 2010].

Curiously, a lot has happened since then, including the appointment of Zanzi to the Coastal Commission.

But we are left wondering if Driscoll is now allowed to simply write his own news? Did the T-S institute “Future Reporting” to avoid all the hassle of having to actually wait for events to occur before reporting them?

Did they just screw the pooch on this article by running it four days old? Is there anyone running that paper?