Benefit Bash

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, fighting for higher wages that is. We took the Party to Arcata for Saturday night as Backwoods Capo And headliner Rooster McClintock Rocked the Veterans Memorial.
Etta was jazzed to go

Bill was there to help with Setting up

Some more of the crew

The Fair Wage Graphics Contest

The Band Arrived

We had a Killer Sunset

People Began to arrive

Even the little ones came out

Backwoods Capo

Dancing to Rooster McClintock

Having some brew

Thanks to The Ink People, Mad River Brewery, PARC, Bien Padre, The Gold Rush, The Veteran's Hall and all the folks that Came out.
A special thanks to Sunset, Gemini and their crew for organizing and cooking the feast.
And last but not least Backwoods Capo and Rooster McClintock for playing so we could kick up our heals.

A Fool's Errand

Utterly awesome photo courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope and our tax dollars in action.
To the Editorial page Eureka Times-Standard,
This is in response to “God's funeral in the heart of darkness,” a My Word by Paul Mann.
Some will call this a fool's errand, comparing tragedies, but I feel the need to put it out into the universe, foolish or not.
The idea of a classroom full of small corpses is horrible to contemplate. "The immutability of evil seen only by coroners and police officers..." as Mr. Mann so eloquently put it. Unfortunately many communities are forced to endure this evil on a regular basis around the world. We as a people in the form of American imperialism are the cause.
In a misguided attempt to feel safe we are on an almost daily basis forcing other mothers and fathers to live that horror. With the same astounding precision that the AR 15 mowed down the victims in Newtown, we blow apart families at weddings and in school yards with unmanned drones and smart weapons. Those grieving families will never see the perpetrator of such evil as the drone operator continues the carnage at some undisclosed remote location.
We live in a society that values certain lives differently. Children in far off lands are blown apart by land mines and we count the profits and dismiss that loss. We support the bombing and starving of children in Gaza, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran calling it economic sanctions needed to keep "US" safe, “fighting them over there so we don't have to over here.” The right says the only way to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. They do not realize that the man with the gun is never good. The descent into madness that took Adam into that room with a gun is the same path that we travel as a nation when our fear turns to impotent rage that we vent on the rest of the world.
We have a long history of massacres in the history of our nation. They don't begin in a McDonald's in San Yisidro or even out on the Island that sits in our Bay, but at their roots they have always come from the devaluation of the lives of “others”. To paraphrase the quote, I saw the inconceivable mystery of a nation who knew no restraint. The nation has been at the the murder scene, watching through the lens of the smart bomb nose camera, yet we do not "banish the idolatrous gun culture" of war.
“Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children -- all of them -- safe from harm?” The man that asked this question is the same man that has expanded the use of deadly drone attacks around the world. 176 Pakistani children since 2002 have been killed by drones alone. When we do not look upon All the Children of the
Submitted but as of yet not published by the Times Standard.
Thanks to Verbena Lea for her editing assistance.

Party People Wanted

Benefit for the Eureka Fair Wage Act
featuring wild and local honky-tonk band, Rooster McClintock
Saturday, January 19th at the Arcata Veteran's Memorial Building (Vet's Hall)
music begins at 7:00pm
Brews from Mad River Brewing and Six Rivers Brewery

The Vet's Hall is at 1425 J Street in Arcata
Tickets are $12 at the door.
Must be 21 or older to attend
And if you live in Eureka or Manila, a Shuttle bus will leave the show at 11pm to return people home

A night of music and brews to raise the minimum wage!

The Fair Wage Graphics contest winner will be announced during the January 19th benefit concert. Need not be present to win.

Raise a glass. Raise the roof. Raise the minimum wage!
Saturday, January 19th at the Arcata Vet's Hall.

Happy New Year

This has been the 2nd weirdest 2 years in my life. Since Don died I have been on another odyssey. It went askew from the first move. Could not get the car transferred, the weight around the neck of possessions. Being owned by the things we have acquired. By the time I solved that problem it was August. In the spring came the Occupy and 9 months of revolt. I followed those strange days into a morass of local politics from which I am still not extracted. They should be somewhat resolved by the end of next month and it will be time to seek the next challenge. I did not make it out to the beach but a friend gave me a candle to light and remember those departed. In the end not a bad way to end the year.

Party On Dudes.

One Pill Makes You...

Some of you may remember me mentioning a J or two in my writings. It is a common initial and I know many, hell I am one myself. I met this J down the rabbit hole, a chair at the Madhatter’s Tea prepared in perpetuity. It is scary the talk going around since the Newton school shooting of making adjustments to provide more seats at said table as long as they are permanent. That was the counter argument to gun control on some of the chattering class circle jerks. That and giving the teachers guns so they can shoot back.

I will leave the gun control for the time being. I am conflicted about it anyway. I certainly don’t want a world where only the piggy on the corner gets to have guns. And getting rid of high volume delivery devices and military style weapons will probably take too long to work for our vapid little culture. Perhaps this is a turning point moment. When the folks at home see the dog actually being set on the grandmother in her Sunday go to meetin clothes by the State Trooper it can sometimes never be unseen. I have little faith in my fellow man. I have even less in our current crop of leaders.

Getting back to the rooms of rubber. I should not make light of the plight, as part of the problem is that we end up isolating those that need help with bad jokes and poor understanding. My friend is a bit outside the middle of the curve but far from either tail. When told a certain way any of our tales can come across as “crazy.” When they say wanting to go home is a sign of sickness anyone can be branded ill. My friend’s crime was getting on the wrong bus and making the mistake of calling the system. Before anyone starts talking about locking people up to save the children let us look at what happens to real people in that system.

Locked away for months I met J when someone from the Human rights commission dropped another friends name and she came to a place I help out now and again. Let that sink in, the Human Rights Commission could do nothing to help someone being deprived of their basic human right to live free. No right to refuse to take a shot you hate that makes you feel sick. No right to live with your spouse.

We did some research and went to the spot she lived, like so many in Humboldt County uniquely beautiful and took some pictures. Talked with some folks and ruffled some feathers. That was unintentional and the party in question was a bit over sensitive but in the end our friend went home and is out from under the thumb of the crazy police. All it cost her was 4 months of her life.

I am convinced that without some outside agitators J would still be locked away. Before we go off the deep end locking people up remember that fragile hold we have on freedom.

Fair Wage Cafe

The Cafe was a huge success. lots of food lots of folks and lots of music.