Coastal Post Online
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October, 2004
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Letters To The Editor
Marin's Snowmobiles
In The Sky?
If you are wondering where that
incessant noise from small planes and helicopters is coming from lately, it's
from a company called Seaplane Tours.
With offices at Fisherman's Wharf and
With a complete and utter disregard
for the rights of the citizens of Marin County, with no feeling toward all the
wildlife patterns they are disrupting, claiming no responsibility for fire
hazards flying over parched hills with dangerous, gas fueled planes can bring
and turning a blind eye to security
problems which can arise from ferrying people from all over the world without
proper clearance, they continue to fly in the face of reason in pursuit of
profit.
This is only the beginning, citing the National Parks Air Tour Management Plan
Act of 2000 (PL 106-181), a plan which
favors the quick approval of overflight permits
without regard to environmental or safety concerns of the affected communities,
many new companies will be formed, hoping to capitalize on the success of
Seaplane Tours Inc.
Soon,
Please contact Steve Price, owner and fellow Marin county resident at
415-332-4843 and try to talk some sense into himÉ.barring
that you may want to call
Brian O'Neill Supt. of GGNRA at 415-561-4722
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey at 415-507-9554
Federal Aviation Administration Jared
Weaver at 510-748-0122
Homeland Security at 1-800-237-3239
Lisa Flay-local contact person at 415-847-1989 or largentof55@aol.com
Please help us keep Marin a safe and
quiet place .
Thomas Martell
730 Panoramic Hwy.
(415)847-1989
November Marin Healthcare District Election
This November most of us will vote for
what we consider the better choices. Voters of the Marin Healthcare District
(all of Marin except
The chief function of the board is to
oversee
Sutter Health uses MGH as a cash cow. Moneis siphoned by Sutter from the non-profit MGH can
legally be invested in for-profit Sutter business. Patient revenue siphoned to
The role of the elected board is
limited until the hospital reverts to community control in 2015. Nevertheless,
we need consumer advocates on the board as strong as Dr. Ramirez and Jonathan Frieman doing everything possible to upgrade patient care.
Norman Carrigg, MD
Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, Please!
I am urging the Governor to sign SB
1438. Everyone is well aware of the deficiencies in electronic voting machines
as they are presently programmed. If we are to ensure reliable voting, we must
be able to verify each and every vote. ATM machines provide a paper receipt. So
must e-voting machines. Approving and-more important-enforcing SB 1438 will
make it possible to verify all votes on secure paper ballots which can be
counted and, if necessary, recounted. I believe e-voting machines should owned and operated by the government entities responsible
for conducting elections-not the manufacturers. We must never privatize our
precious democracy.
Eileen Siedman
Great Turnout For The Environment
On
Many of the students in our program
learned of it through the public service announcements that appeared in your
newspaper throughout the spring and summer.
We are grateful to you for publishing
the information about our program repeatedly and we appreciate your support of
volunteer organizations such as the Environmental Forum of Marin, and your
efforts toward improving the community as a whole.
Thank you. (You were the best!)
Marilyn McConnell
Recruitment Chair
Environmental Forum of Marin
Over The Top On
I've always loved your paper, BUT! aren't you being a little over the top with your
If it isn't Jewish it doesn't get an
article. Your venom for
Mili Klein
Schwarzenegger's Alternate Universe
Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a good
sounding speech but he seems to be talking about a different reality than the
one I remember. He says that we have a strong economy now in spite of the
recession we inherited (from
Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing
Marc Perkel
Catastrophic Bush
So President Bush calls his war with
Bush also conceded to a reporter that
he "miscalculated" on the never ending fighting with the insurgents
after his so-called victory.
His "miscalculation" might
not have been so serious if it were just referring to a tax cut but
"miscalculating" on the war with
Bush's apology hasn't diminished his
"rib thumping" however before his captive audiences. He still claims he wants 4 more years to fix
the economy (where has he been the last 4)? To cut the annual 500 billion
dollar deficit in half (which he created), To give
health care to the 45 million uninsured all the while chanting "as your
commander-in-chief I have a vision."
Well, so far Bush's vision has been
rather myopic. I suggest that he
re-climb Mr. Sinai and meditate for 40 days and nights to see if he can improve
upon it.
David A. Whelan
Major Hanky Panky By Halliburton
I am an accountant and when I read the
New York Times story of
In the Halliburton case, it was
concluded by the SEC investigators that, not one, but the two highest-ranking
accounting personnel of a multi-billion dollar corporation took it upon
themselves, without consultation or direction from higher company management,
to misrepresent the financial results of the corporation. While it is true that
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles permit the change in accounting
reporting that was made, it is also unmistakable that the change must be
disclosed in a clear and unambiguous manner to the public along with the dollar
affect upon the financial statements of the accounting change.
In the instant case, both required disclosures
were not made to the public. It is more likely that the sun will not come up
tomorrow than that any highly-compensated accountant for a major U. S.
corporation would "forget" to disclose this GAAP-required information
to the public should such a change in accounting policy be made.
The critical question is why would an
accountant make such a financial reporting change without consulting or
informing higher corporate management? An accountant taking such independent
initiative would be subject to not only losing his job but also to losing his
career if the deception of the public were to become evident. The alleged
behavior of the accountants on the basis of these facts alone makes no sense
whatsoever.
But what if the accountants were
directed to make the change "unbeknownst" to highest corporate
management? The undisclosed change would
be of at least temporary benefit to the company and its executive management.
Stocks of major companies almost invariably suffer a big price decline when the
street analysts' expectations are not met. Accountants for the company are
never blamed for the failure to meet the analysts' expectations; it is the
performance of the company's management (i.e. Dick Cheney) that is called into
question.
The New York Times August 4 article
reads: "The [SEC] commission said that pretax profit for all of 1998 was
reported at $278.8 million, 46 percent more than the $190.9 million that would
have been reported under the old accounting... Halliburton's reported profits
for the quarter exceeded analysts' estimates but would have fallen far short of
them had the change not been made, the S.E.C. said."
And here's the question for the
readers of the Coastal Post to consider: Why have not the New York Times, the
Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal written an editorial on this
subject?
David Lockmiller
Green Buildings
You may be interested in writing about
the recent work of a local Bay Area environmental consultant who created the
green building industry in the 1990s.
Enclosed are materials describing a new book by David Gottfried, founder
of the
"Greed To Green: The
transformation of an industry and a life" is a compelling memoir detailing
Mr. Gottfried's personal and professional struggles,
as he renounced a wealthy life in the real estate industry in order to nearly
single-handedly create the leading green building organization in the world-the
USGBC-as well as coordinate green building into a global cooperative effort
with the World GBC.
One of the fastest-growing nonprofits
in the world with over 3500 organizational members, the US Green Building
Council is an eye-catching topic in environmental news today. Energy- and resource- efficient buildings
save cost economically, environmentally, and socially, in the famous
"triple bottom line".
"Greed To Green" provides an inside
view not only of the ways in which our homes and offices are becoming greener,
but also of the value of a green life as an individual.
David Gottfried's
story shows how one person can change lives and even entire industries, helping
the planet in the process. Please find enclosed what The Washington Post, Paul Hawken, Ray Anderson, and others have to say about this
inspiring book. We look forward to
hearing your review of "Greed To Green" in
your publication, and if convenient, please also send a copy to the address
below.
For more information, please visit our
websites at http://www.worldbuild.com, and http://www.greedtogreen.com.
Finally, please let me know if you prefer to receive this information by postal
mail rather than via email, and I'll gladly send you a book review package.
Brooke Ray Smith
This is to express my appreciation for
the article "The Wall: There, and
Here", by Frank Scott, in the August 2004 issue.
Mr. Scott is very perceptive in
identifying the American mind as being walled in, analogous to the Palestinians
in their cities and villages. The entire
world outside the
I am a retired oil company engineer who worked in the
The "mind management" that
Mr. Scott speaks of in the article is, of course, the product of decades of
Zionist propaganda. They have accomplished inversion
of the truth, and I call this the Big Zionist Lie.
With respect, I would like to point
out that part of the Big Zionist Lie has even been incorporated in the article, due I'm sure to Mr. Scott's unwitting absorption of
it.
The article refers indirectly to
The Zionists have worked hard to get
these two concepts accepted by the world, but they are both wrong. They are prime examples of the Big Zionist
Lie and they are key elements in the management of the American mind.
I would be very pleased to see an
article on this subject written by Mr. Scott in a forthcoming issue of Coastal
Post.
Richard Herman
Fact Checking? What's That?
The current breast beating on the
part of CBS' Dan Rather about
the documents he used on "60 Minutes" regarding Bush'
records in the Texas Air National Guard is laughable given the media's
performance prior to the invasion of
None of the major media outlets did
any fact checking, vetting or authenticating of any of the White House claims
of the presence of WMD's, Sadaam
Hussiens alleged ties to Al Qaeda,
acting essentially as stenographers for the Bush Administration. They all beat
the drums of war despite a plethora of information from credible sources that
said that these weapons did not exist, that Sadaam Hussien had kept Al Qaeda out of
Iraq and Osama bin Laden and he were bitter enemies.
Fake documents or not used by CBS in
the "60 Minutes" segment, Bush' records (or absence thereof) of his
avoidance of
Dan Rather has a few more "mea culpa's" to do about accuracy
in reporting facts vs. fiction. Wasn't he the one who said he would "line
up" behind "his president" in his drumbeat for war prior to the
invasion of
Meg Brizzolara
Stand Down Order?
What is going on in the Pentagon? Out
of the blue someone gives the order that the military is going to take a rest
and at the end of the year an offensive will be started to take the insurgent
held cities and be ready to hold elections.
At least it puts off any more show air
strikes till after the elections but with the inability of the US forces to
stem the tide of off shore volunteers coming to fight the coalition they will
have two months to beef up their forces and President Bush will try to get
about 300,000 additional troops into Iraq to really smother and further
antagonize the loving population who hate the interim government and is
building up support for all the small militias and leaders of the mosques.
Thank goodness that the wisdom of the
State Department in
I don't understand why all the reports
of American military policy never disclose any names whereas all the Iraqi
Sunni and Shia leaders who are speaking out are
identified. It's probably because no American wants to take responsibility. But
the stand down policy from the Pentagon must be Bush's deliberate desiree not to get much deeper
into violence before the election.
It is also high time that the impotent
Congress investigate why the insurgents can put up such a good fight against
the most modern fighting force in the world. They can't train Iraqis to fight
but can train them to play soccer. I say keep Bush in office till the people
can't stand his mismanagement of the Iraqi debacle and then watch the fur fly.
It took the magnificent US military machine 21 days to take Baghdad, Bush tells
us Mission Accomplished and it looks as though it will take 10 years or longer
to return from Baghdad to Camp Pendleton.
The scene is not pretty and as long as
the American people can fight the war on terror with borrowed money, no six
pack football and baseball fan will give a damn. The future is not pretty.
Dr. Norman E. Mann
Another Four Years Of...
The 2004 presidential election is more
than who is the better candidate; it is about whether Americans want another
four years of Bush/Cheney lies, deceit and secrecy.
Harry Truman: Secrecy and a free
democracy don't mix.
Will "war president" Bush,
have 1000 crosses tattooed on his back?
Given a choice between Bush tax cuts
or achieving universal health coverage, 81% of Americans said they would rather
get the health care.
Bush religious right wingers and
anti-abortionists will strike down Roe vs. Wade if they retain the presidency
for another four years.
Bush oxymoron: Nuclear weapons will
make the world safer.
The White House message to the world:
Do as we do even though our agenda is based on an extremist unilateralist
ideology.
The great threat to freedom is
concentration of power. Milton Frieman Bush/Republicans
control all branches of government.
45 million are uninsured, 38 million
Americans live below the poverty line, all of whom the Bush administration
could care less about. That's a substantial voting bloc.
Plato had it right: "One of the
penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being
governed by your inferiors." Four years have proved the case.
Take
I'm looking forward to the defeat of
Bush November 2. How bout you?
Ron Lowe
* *
* *
Extremists
Nationally syndicated columnist Cal
Thomas misses the point again by saying Islam is root of terror." That's
like saying that Christianity is the root of anti-abortion extremism. Mr.
Thomas goes on to say that one thing characterizes terrorists-they are Muslim.
Get specific
Ron Lowe
A Small Taste Of
My 21-year old daughter disappeared from NYC last
Tuesday afternoon when walking with friends
through a park where no protest was being held-and was held prisoner-
without being charged-by the NYPD for three days.
The first day and night she spent in
an unsafe and inhumane facility at Pier 57 ("Little Guantanamo")
provided by the Republican Party. Yes,
it was managed
by the Republican National Committee. It was leased by the RNC to hold political dissenters who
disagreed with the Bush administration.
The second two days, my daughter was
in a city jail in
She is a graduate student in Poli
Sci at the
Pier 57 was leased by the RNC before their convention.
They arranged for the NYPD to put up the chain link holding pens with razor wire on top in the old
Pier 57 warehouse that had oil, gas and
asbestos dust on the floor from a previous fire. My heart was in my throat when I got a
call from one of my daughter's friends on
I looked it up on the internet and fear crept into me. I
called my daughter's cell phone over and over ("it's mom, where
ARE you, call me") She didn't
answer. Only hours before, she had been calling us with joy, telling us
of the peaceful
protests and beautiful march. But now, nothing. I had nightmarish visions
of a fire sweeping over the combustible floor with hundreds-nearly a thousand-trapped in the chainlink
pens, razor wire on the top of the pens
making escape impossible.
My husband called the NYPD to ask who
had issued a Certificate of Occupancy or Fire Safety Inspection Certificate and
who was managing
Pier 57. He was given the number for the Republican National Committee. Yes. My husband and I
looked at each other in silent, cold horror. In
My husband slowly dialed that number,
got the RNC, and the
Republican rep who answered the phone said, in answer to my husbands' inquiries about safety: "those
protesters don't deserve a Holiday Inn, and they're all criminals anyway!" ....Say what?! My daughter, who doesn't smoke or drink
or do drugs and is a practicing Buddhist
Vegan? A criminal?
Warning signs that reporters saw
posted around Pier 57
said not to enter without protective clothing and mask. My exhausted daughter, with hundreds of others, tried to
sleep that first night ...on the chemical-covered
oily, cold cement floor of these pens, without food or water, without being read her rights, without being
offered a chance to post bail, without
seeing a judge although the National Lawyers Guild offered to represent them pro bono, without being
charged or told why she was arrested and
handcuffed and taken there, without being allowed to make a call to a lawyer or friend or parent or anyone-all
cell phones were confiscated as
"terrorist weapons." Her purse was taken. She had nothing but the clothes on her back.
Meanwhile... ordinary criminals
arrested that same day in NYC for burglary, rape and heinous crimes were
processed by the courts in less than 10
hours. My daughter, who had
committed no crime, was incarcerated for three days incommunicado.
People suffered chemical burns, bug bites,
overcrowding and medical problems because
their medicine was confiscated. A pregnant woman sat crying on the floor
in the oil. It
wasn't until my daughter was taken out of the Republican-managed "Little Guantanamo" and placed in a cell in a
I never thought I'd be grateful to get
a call from a
friend saying that my daughter was in a
I called
The Republicans wanted to "teach
those protesters a lesson." They wanted to terrorize my daughter. But the
lesson that the hundreds and hundreds of prisoners were taught... was not the
one that the Republican Party intended, I
would wager. My daughter had gone to NYC to walk in the peaceful protest
of 500K people
the day before the Republican National Convention began.
She was not engaged in protest at the time of
her arrest. She had been walking with friends near a park. There was no
protest in action when they were arrested along with tourists and city employees
going to work. Anyone caught in the NYPD orange fence netting was told to
sit on the ground, handcuffed, and
pushed into large NYC busses. Our sweet daughter, born and brought up in
a small
rainforest in
At the Republican National Convention to elect Bush as
their candidate, there were thousands
arrested. I suspect that Republicans might say this was a good
thing. Being tough.
This group-roundup tactic is called by the Republican party
"preventative detention" (like the "pre-emptive war" in
Hitler told the German people that
they would have to "give up a few of your rights ...temporarily...so
that we can fight the enemy." That's what Ashcroft said, about the
misnamed PATRIOT ACT. Wake up,
Erin Starr
Where Not To Live
The hurricanes in
Humans can't live in
George W. Bush's goal seems to be to
prolong this profligate living-beyond-our-means as long as possible -- at least
long enough for he and his rich friends to profit from
it, and leave the nation holding the bag: the largest debt in our nation's
history! For promoting nuclear weapons and the destruction of our environment,
he represents the greatest living threat to life on Earth. We need to get rid
of this usurper before he does any more damage! Please vote for John Kerry!
For more information, see
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans
("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years
fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
A Poem From A Marine
This is very moving. My dad sent this to
me if you couldn't tell from looking right below what I'm writing. I have to admit that my dad and I don't get
along very well, but what else can you expect from two people who are very bull
headed and strong willed. I still love
him though and I miss him all the same.
I hope you all read it and enjoy.
Sabrina
To my marine buddies and other great soldiers I know
A Poem From A Marine
This is a poem being sent from a Marine
to his Dad. For those
who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his
Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly be thankful for
not only the Marines,
but ALL of our troops.
THE MARINE
We all came together,
Both young and old.
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.
In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.
Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.
I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.
But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.
I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a US MARINE!
So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.
Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.
Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor. Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.
But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.
Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert
US Marine
USS SAIPAN,
We Can Agree
Marc Perkel
George Steinbrenner,
Owner, NY Yankees
Dear George,
Imagine my surprise when I whirled
around at the peaceful anti-war rally outside the Republican National
Convention near
In particular, one thug, wearing Babe
Ruth's #3 and a German helmet, knocked over a pregnant woman as he kicked the sides
of his bike and slammed it further into the crowd, which had gathered in the
legal "free speech zone."
Only later was I informed that those
"bozos on bikes" were
During the protests, I witnessed many
New York Police Department personnel acting in ways that disgraced their
uniforms. And by that, I don't mean the NYPD blues but the famed pinstripes of
the NY Yankees.
I am going to say something here that
may frighten or appall many of my friends: "I am a Yankee fan." I've
been a Yankee fan since Horace Stoneham stole the NY Giants and my beloved
Willie Mays out to
Gives new meaning to "the Sultan
of Swat," doesn't it?
Writing to the police commissioner,
Ray Kelly, is a hopeless cause. But I am hoping that the NY Yankees might
better hear my protest of this abuse of their uniforms and history, and that
you rebuke those cops who in the future should be made to wear Boston Red Sox
uniforms.
At the very least, for the next large
demonstration perhaps the Yankees could supply the protesters with NY Yankee
uniforms as well. Then we could have everyone wearing the Yankee logo, with
Babe Ruth coming at Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle swinging at Bernie Williams ?- the
New York Yankees antiwar affinity groups choreographed by Fellini.
Maybe then the cries will go out to stop this "Yankee on Yankee"
violence once and for all.
More than one thousand protesters were
held for 48 hours and longer at Pier 57 on the
For many of us Greens and other
environmental and antiwar activists, it's becoming increasingly difficult to
remain a NY Yankee fan when surrounded by thugs in NY Yankee uniforms who are
beating on us, while the Yankee management says nothing about this. My
girlfriend, who had been tolerant to a fault in allowing my late night TV fare,
now insists that I turn off the YES network's replays of the ballgames.
"How can you root for those fascists after what they did to us?" she
screams at me. She has a point.
(One of the saving graces for the
Yankees among activists is that the City Councilman in the Mets' area of
So I have one more suggestion as a
means of rewarding the faithful, who have stuck with the Yankees through thick
and thin: Hold an "anti-war demonstrators" night at the Stadium,
where all those 1,821 who were arrested last week and their antiwar supporters
could come for free to a game at Yankee Stadium and enjoy the team again. (Hint:
Playoff tickets would be ideal É. )
Oh, it would also be helpful, in that
case, if we could substitute organic tofu dogs for the Ballpark franks.
Mitchel Cohen
Green Party of NY State