Dennis Hopper Dies At 74 After Battle With Cancer

Picture and story from msnbc.http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=502935&GT1=28101

Pirates take over small-town radio signal in Northern California

From Rawstory.com, by Gavin Dahl.

Residents of San Mateo County, California are hearing an unusual sound on the 89.3 frequency of their Fm radios these days. Commercial-free radio programmed by real, local people.

San Francisco-based Pirate Cat Radio has put KPDO on the air full-time. The station's new home, nestled among coastal farmlands, is about an hour south from the studio cafe in San Francisco's Mission District.

Pirate Cat Radio founder Daniel Roberts and his crew took over the radio frequency May 8, after years of defying the Federal Communications Commission by broadcasting without a license. Roberts was recently fined by the FCC for just that, as Jennifer Waits writes in Spinning Indie.

Read More

Sundberg Flip Flops On River Restoration

During the first 5th. District Supervisor debate at Azela Hall in McKinleyville on April 26th, candidate Ryan Sundberg was asked about the restoration of the Klamath River. He said that an agreement was already signed and done. There was nothing else that could be done about it. We need to move on.


Candidate Pat Higgins demanded a rebuttal and said that the agreement that was signed would be the death of the river and the salmon that live in the river for up to 4 months each year when algae blooms in the upper river would flow down river and kill salmon and harm other animals that drink the algae laden waters.

Candidate Ryan Sundberg has now said that rivers in conditions like this are unacceptable.
His latest radio commercial says:

Hi, my name is Ryan Sundberg and I'm running for 5th district supervisor.


Living in Humboldt County my whole life, I remember how healthy our river systems were and how sad it has become where our animals can not even drink safely from the water.

This is completely unacceptable to me.

As your supervisor I will institute policies that will ensure our rivers are restored and protected for generations to come.

Please voter for Ryan Sundberg on June 8th. Thank you.

(paid for by friends of Ryan Sundberg)

I am glad he has knocked on enough doors to see that Pat Higgins was right all along on this issue. Pat Higgins wrote the white paper on the:

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Potter Valley Project National Marine Fisheries Service Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA):
Implications for the Survival and Recovery of Eel River Coho Salmon, Chinook Salmon, and Steelhead Trout.

Higgins has also been involved early on working on local solutions to the MLPA (marine life protection act) with local activist, fisherman and Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Dennis Mayo. The MLPA has the potential to virtually shut down local ocean fishing on the north coast.

Higgins currently serves the 5th district as Harbor Commissioner and has progressive, jobs oriented ideas that don't put our ecosystem in jeopardy just to make short term profits.

Higgins is not funded by casinos or the building industry unlike the three other candidates.  (Jeffrey Lyttle excepted although he is a builder himself).

I think that Mr. Sundberg is a nice guy and means well. He has been involved in many impressive projects within the Trinidad Rancheria and is no dummy. He seems however to lack some of the knowledge and vision needed for Humboldt County to thrive in the 21st. century.

Sundberg has shown that he is willing to change his mind on an important issue but he seems more like a follower than a true leader on this and many other issues from the general plan to mass transit.

Also running for Supervisor for the 5th. District are Jeffrey Lyttle of McKinleyville, a construction worker and Patrick Cleary, former Wall St. man and successful radio station owner.

Vote for Patrick Higgins for 5th District Supervisor of Humboldt County!
(Sundberg photo from North Coast Journal)

Unbiased Opinion

I don't usually do CD reviews but every now and then something comes along and I feel like I have to share it with everyone. That's what happened when I found a copy of Eldin Green's new CD called " Unbiased Opinion".

Thirteen songs all in one place that just sound Humboldt. From the first song "Come On Jane" with a Todd Rundgren sort of pop sound to the funky jazzy blues sound of "Buh-bang" cut number 2, you are hooked to find out what could come next.

Track 7, "Humboldt Honey" is spot on about a cool hippie chick that hangs at the plaza eating a "whole wheat 18 grain bagel and it actually has some acorn in it, I actually made the cream cheese myself but it's not really cream cheese you see...it's tofu and mayonnaise because I'm a vegan and I don't believe in cream cheese"
You have to hear it in her voice.

Cut 10 is called "Incredible" and I think that it is. The melodic jazzy piano and deep pocket bass just make this song the perfect love song.

Cut 13, "Stuck In The Loop" is also a sultry bluesy jazzy number that just gets under your skin.

The entire CD can be listened to at Humboldt Music.com

Eldin Green plays guitars, saxophone, bass, keys and does vocals. He plays in the local super band "Dr. Squid" In addition to Eldin, two other members of Dr. Squid are on this solo album, Bob Martinez on drums and Jim Dale on bass.

If you like Steely Dan meets Todd Rundgren with a Humboldt feel, check out the album for free at the link and then I suggest you get the CD.

This is defiantly the CD to have on during your back yard parties this Summer.

Humboldt Arts Festival A Success

What do you have when you combine a weekend with beer, wine, more than 100 local visual and performing artists and a good crowd?  A success.

On Sunday, St. John and the Sinners were on the stage set up in front of the old Humboldt Machine Works building in Arcata. 

If you missed out on this but are into arts and crafts, many of the same vendors will be on hand in Trinidad next Sunday.  The opening of the Trinidad Artisan's  Market starts on May 23rd.  11 am to 3 pm next to Murphy's Market.

Thousands of Non-Profits May Lose Tax-Exemption

Charities Reporting Less Than $25K Annually Face Paying Taxes on Donations if They Don't Turn in an IRS Form by Monday

I can't print any more than that because the story is from the AP.  Go to the link to read the story.


With the amount of non-profits here in Humboltdt County, I thought I should pass this along.

White Lines

It's nothing new and happens all of the time.  Jets and their...what ever it is.

Today, when the fog burned off, the jet exaust came on shore.

The stuff moved from over the Pacific Ocean, over my head and inland.
We breathe it, and no one cares.
Happy Saturday.

First Annual Humboldt Arts Festival This Weekend!

Click for more info

US troops executing prisoners in Afghanistan, journalist says

From Rawstory.com
Seymour Hersh in video uploaded to Michael Moore's You Tube account from May 11th, 2010.

"The journalist who helped break the story that detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were being tortured by their US jailers told an audience at a journalism conference last month that American soldiers are now executing prisoners in Afghanistan."

Springtime on the North Coast

A walk along the north spur of the Hammond Coastal Trail in McKinleyville Ca. offers the remains of an old coastal railroad bed that is still visible in the grass. A pair of rails reminds one of days when lumber was king.

Sea Lions sun themselves at the mouth of the Mad River on a beautiful sunny day.

An oasis along side U.S. Highway 101 between Eureka and Arcata is home to much wildlife.

Facebook's Gone Rogue; It's Time For An Open Alternative

From Wired.com
"Then Facebook decided to turn “your” profile page into your identity online — figuring, rightly, that there’s money and power in being the place where people define themselves. But to do that, the folks at Facebook had to make sure that the information you give it was public.

So in December, with the help of newly hired Beltway privacy experts, it reneged on its privacy promises and made much of your profile information public by default. That includes the city that you live in, your name, your photo, the names of your friends and the causes you’ve signed onto.

This spring Facebook took that even further. All the items you list as things you like must become public and linked to public profile pages. If you don’t want them linked and made public, then you don’t get them — though Facebook nicely hangs onto them in its database in order to let advertisers target you.

This includes your music preferences, employment information, reading preferences, schools, etc. All the things that make up your profile. They all must be public — and linked to public pages for each of those bits of info — or you don’t get them at all. That’s hardly a choice, and the whole system is maddeningly complex.

Simultaneously, the company began shipping your profile information off pre-emptively to Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft — so that if you show up there while already logged into Facebook, the sites can “personalize” your experience when you show up. You can try to opt out after the fact, but you’ll need a master’s in Facebook bureaucracy to stop it permanently."
The entire story.

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-rogue/#ixzz0nToSmiPD

Russian paper suggests ‘nuclear explosion’ could cap gulf oil geyser

From RawStory.com:

As British Petroleum scrambles to affix a four-story, 70-ton dome over the massive oil geyser venting toxic sludge into the Gulf of Mexico, people everywhere are wondering what else can be done to stem the deadly tide.

Komsomoloskaya Pravda, Russia's best-selling daily publication, has an idea: Why not just nuke it?

During the Soviet years, Russia's communists had to deal with numerous oil disasters and on five different occasions they employed controlled, underground nuclear blasts to quickly solve the problem.
[The] underground explosion moves the rock, presses on it, and, in essence, squeezes the well’s channel," Pracda reported.

More here.
Photo from http://www.rawstory.com/

Pat Higgins Response To Ryan Sundbergs Refusal To Do 5th District Debate On KHUM

*Pat Higgins' Statement Regarding Fifth District Supervisors Debate on KHUM*


Pat Higgins, Candidate for Fifth District Supervisor, is gladly accepting the invitation to join a live radio forum on KHUM, a Lost Coast Communications station. "I welcome any opportunity to debate any time, anywhere" said Higgins. The program will air live on May 20 at 6 PM.

I am not concerned that the station is owned by one of my challengers because they have brought in a third party to host the show" Mr. Higgins stated. "It is good to see the number of events this year being broadcast on public radio and TV stations, on Access Humboldt and, in this case, a privately owned radio station. Public debates help offset the influence of unlimited paid advertising during elections. Political advertising too often resorts to sloganeering instead of presenting substantive ideas and fundraising needed to support it makes candidates beholden to special interests."

Higgins said that he is also looking forward to the KEET TV debate on May 12 at 7 PM. He reminds voters that they can visit his website www.pathiggins.org to link to the April 26 Azalea Hall debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Healthy Humboldt Coalition. Also available from the website is a link to the April 29 KHSU Thursday Night Talk debate among three of the candidates for Fifth District Supervisor.

You may call Pat Higgins at 822-9428 for further information about the Fifth District Supervisor debates or the issues facing the District.

I made the suggestion that the debate be fed to all stations from Access Humboldt (on the North Coast Journal Blog) in response to Ryan Sundberg's fear of a conflict of interest due to KHUM being owned by Patrick Cleary also running for 5th district supervisor. Cleary said he would be interested in having KGOE broadcast the debate with Jack Durham of the McKinleyville Press as the moderator. The third party moderator and our broadcast from a stream provided by Access Humboldt would allow any station in the market to also broadcast the debate including KHUM. If a more neutral location is needed we could possibly use the kgoe studios but might need equipment from khum to get the signal out to the masses.

If Ryan Sundberg, Jeffrey Lytle and Access Humboldt would agree to this, I will do my best to make it happen. This should appease Mr. Sundberg and his perceived conflict of interest due to a KHUM only debate. It should be noted again that even if this doesn't happen, the KHUM debate would not be moderated by anyone working for KHUM.

Higgins and Cleary are on board. Anyone else?

E-Cigarette Update from Bob Alexander

The guy that started this for me on the Mike Malloy show sent me a survey to fill out about my experience.
At the end of the survey Bob Alexander had this to post so I thought I would share it with you.

Reputable e-cigarette vendors do not describe an e-cig as a “smoking cessation device.” FDA approval is needed in order to say that. And I assume there are numerous hoops, hassles, and who knows what else to get FDA approval. That’s why e-cigs are marketed as an alternative to smoking.


But what I’ve noticed, in the friends and family members I’ve turned on to e-cigs, they’ve all used e-cigarettes to completely stop smoking. So even though e-cig vendors can’t say it … we can:

E-cigarettes are the most effective treatment method on the market for quitting tobacco smoking.
I didn’t say it. Dr Clifford Hulley of South Africa did.

http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Eciggies-help-45-smokers-quit-20090807

E-ciggies help 45% smokers quit

Cape Town - Forty-five percent of South African smokers who used e-cigarettes were able to quit tobacco smoking within two months, a new SA study shows.

… When asked if an e-cigarette could act as an agent to overcome all the physical and psychological challenges to quit tobacco smoking, all doctors said "yes".

Prof Martin Veller, Head Vascular Surgeon at the University of the Witwatersrand, who also participated in the project, added that e-cigarettes have the appearance of normal tobacco cigarettes but are non-toxic.
Dr Clifford Hulley, one of the participating medical professionals in the survey, reported that "an e-cigarette is the most effective treatment method on the market for quitting tobacco smoking.”
(I think if they used a better model of e-cig they probably would have had a higher success rate.)

The bottom line here is Harm Reduction. E-cigarettes are “two to three orders of magnitude safer (100 to 1000 times safer) than a tobacco cigarette.”

http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/interviews/murray-interview.html

We all know what the long-term effects of smoking cigarettes are.
Awful.
We know from the New Zealand study, medical professionals, and from users, that e-cigs are essentially harmless.

So why is the FDA, and all these other groups trying to ban them?
The American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network
The American Heart Association
The American Legacy Foundation, develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use.
The American Lung Association
The American Medical Association
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
and Public Citizen, Public Citizen has long been active before Congress, regulatory agencies, and the courts in matters relating to public health in general and regulation by the FDA in particular. Concerned about the severe health risk posed by tobacco products. Public Citizen has long advocated for increased regulation of these products and of the promotional efforts of the tobacco industry.

With your help … the results of this informal survey … I intend to find out.

Regards,

Bob Alexander

http://www.superbeans.com

Toll-Free 1-866-394-9571