Deep Politics: Environment, Democracy, Health & Beyond -- and a Bit of Fun

Obama-Holder’s “Justice” Dept Seizes Major Media Phone Records – including Home Phone Records (and don’t forget Obama-Alexander’s NSA tapes your every Phone Call.)

David — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:06:21 +0000

**“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”**

– Frederick Douglass

If you and I are not tyrants – have we reached the limits of our endurance?

US Attorney General Eric Holder Seized AP Phone Records

Chief executive Gary Pruitt said AP was told on Friday the justice department had gathered records of outgoing calls from more than 20 phone lines.

“The Associated Press has described the US government’s secret seizure of its journalists’ telephone records as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion“.

Mr Pruitt said there could be “no possible justification for such an overbroad collection“.

“The justice department has provided no explanation for the seizure.”

“However, officials have previously said the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia was conducting a criminal investigation into information contained in an AP story last year.

“Published in May 2012, the article was about a CIA operation in Yemen that foiled an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a US-bound airplane.”

“I am very troubled by these allegations and want to hear the government’s explanation”- Senator Patrick Leahy, Judiciary Committee chairman (Democrat)

The American Civil Liberties Union accused the Obama administration of “press intimidation”.

Darrell Issa, chairman of the investigative House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee (Republican) told CNN –

“They had an obligation to look for every other way to get it before they intruded on the freedom of the press”

AP Chief Gary Pruitt wrote

“These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

Not Just Call Records – The White House and FBI have all Your Phone Conversations

NSA’s General Keith B. Alexander, U.S. Army

Some believe NSA’s electronic surveillance program is only a “pen register” limited form of wiretap where only basic call data such as originating and receiving telephone numbers, time of call and duration are logged that have much lower legal standards than conventional wiretaps, and are not subject to Fourth Amendment protection.

But they may not be aware of NSA’s Boeing-Narus System that stores copies of all emails and phone calls sent inside the United States

“National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney reveals he believes domestic surveillance has become more expansive under President Obama than President George W. Bush. He estimates the NSA has assembled 20 trillion “transactions” — phone calls, emails and other forms of data — from Americans. This likely includes copies of almost all of the emails sent and received from most people living in the United States” – and more.

“WILLIAM BINNEY: Right. All they would have to do is put various Narus devices at various points along the network, at choke points or convergent points, where the network converges, and they could basically take down and have copies of most everything on the network.”

That means the content of every phone call.

Boeing-Narus’ CEO McNerny

In fact Boeing-Narus marketing vice president Steve Bannerman brags about it.

“Anything that comes through (an internet protocol network), we can record. We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their (voice over internet protocol) calls.”

“Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion emails, phone calls and other types of communications.“- Washington Post

“I can tell you that no digital communication is secure. These digital communications will be found out, the conversation will be known.” – former counter intelligence FBI agent Tim Clemente

“[Federal authorities] certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation,” – former counter intelligence FBI agent Tim Clemente

“N.S.A. eavesdrops without warrants on up to 500 people in the United States at any given time. The list changes as some names are added and others dropped, so the number monitored in this country may have reached into the thousands since the program began, several officials said. Overseas, about 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time, according to those officials.” – New York Times

“The NSA is too busy illegally recording our private e-mails, texts, Facebook posts, and phone calls to figure out how many of us are already caught in their net. And, furthermore, there is nothing Congress can do about it.”

NSA Director’s Alexander’s careful choice of words lets me understand that NSA won’t do the dirty work of the actual interception of private communication — it will outsource the Constitutional violations to Internet service providers and cellphone companies.

The Obama administration has shown it doesn’t care about criminal acts by governments (or Wall Street Bankers) what really angers it is those who expose criminal government actions.

The New York Times Editorial explains how this Constitutional violation intimidates Whistleblowers from reporting illegal government actions.

It makes me wonder – If this does not trigger our tolerance maximum – what is our limit ?

——————–

References:

Associated Press Letter of Outrage to Attorney General Holder Insisting that he Destroy the records and provide a prompt explanation.

Update: “Carl Bernstein: AP Phone Scandal a ‘Nuclear Event’”

Whistleblower: The NSA Is Lying–U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails

NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls – USAToday

Call detail record

Narus (Boeing Subsidiary)

30 trillion emails / year by Americans

Congressional Outrage Over AP Phone Records

Bush vs. Obama: Who is More Wrong-Wing ?

New York Times Editorial “Spying on The Associated Press”

Triple Standard – Some Lives are Worth More. More Deaths Are Not Newsworthy

David — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:56:59 +0000

(c) Copyright 2013 David Dilworth

Three heartwrenching tragedies in the past week showed three wildly different responses that are intensely revealing of our culture.

Boston Marathon Bomb
April 15, 2013 Texas Fertilizer Explosion
April 17, 2013 Deaths by Doctors & Hospitals
April 15, 2013

Killed 3 14 120-600
See references 1, 2 and 3)

News Coverage Massive, worldwide Widespread None.

Presidential acknowledgement of the deaths. Yes, Attended and Spoke at Memorial Service Yes "A tight-knit community has been shaken, and good, hard-working people have lost their lives," Silent. Zero acknowledgment.

Presidential Visit Yes No No

President On Those Responsible "Yes we will find you, and yes, you will face justice…" Silent about the West Fertilizer Co. plant Owners Silent about the Doctors and Hospitals

Commentary:

Let me point out some notable contrasts.

1. Admittedly this is only three data points (and the events are apples and oranges), yet notably more deaths means less attention from the media and the President.

Horribly, this supports Stalin’s quote, “One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.“

2. Those directly responsible and known are ignored, while the responsible and unknown are vilified.

Does a business license deflect the crime of manslaughter ?

References:

1. Is US Health Really the Best in the World? (JAMA, Journal American Medical Association)

2. “Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Killing 225,000 People Every Year”

3. Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000 Americans A Year

4. Google news search — 123 million results for “Boston marathon” bomb
5. Google news search — 95 thousand results for “Texas Fertilizer Explosion” April 2013
6. Google news search — “No results found for “Death caused by Doctor” “April 15, 2013″

David Walton Concludes a Gracious, Giving Life in China

David — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:35:13 +0000

David Walton, Home in China

Have you been around Monterey long enough to remember the groundbreaking Sancho Panza Bohemian coffee house or Gallatin’s elegant dining ?

The genius behind Sancho Panza, and the grace at Gallatin’s was my friend David Walton who died in China this month.

David’s nephew Todd Walton gave me permission to share his memories, so splendidly illustrated with words — it brings David back to life.

__________________________

Uncle David

(c) Copyright Todd Walton 2013

My uncle David Walton died in China on March 8 at the ripe old age of eighty-seven, just a week ago as I write this, yet I have already received an email with photographs from the lovely memorial service that was held for him in Xichang where David lived and taught English for the last several years, his Xichang friends and students in attendance. And that memorial service email was just one of many I have received so far along with several phone calls from a tiny fraction of the hundreds of people who knew and loved David.

David was the youngest of three brothers, my father Charles the eldest, Robert in the middle. They grew up in Beverly Hills, their father a bookkeeper for movie stars and people who needed a bookkeeper, his most famous client Hedy Lamarr. The child movie star Jackie Cooper lived down the street and the Walton boys attended one of Jackie’s birthday parties when David was very young. The brothers graduated from Beverly Hills High, where my father met my mother, and David went to MIT, as did Robert, the alma mater of their father, while my dad broke with family tradition and went to UCLA after which he attended medical school in San Francisco.

Upon graduating from MIT, David returned to Los Angeles and went to work for his father as a bookkeeper for some years, and when his father semi-retired in the early 1950’s, David relocated with his parents and brother Robert, who was by then severely disabled, to Carmel and Monterey, which is when my firsthand memories of Uncle David begin.

David was a handsome man, graceful and charming. In middle and old age he resembled the actor Alec Guinness to such a remarkable degree that after the first Star Wars movie came out, people frequently approached him thinking he was Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know this to be true because I was with David on two occasions when he was waylaid by star-struck people wanting Obi-Wan’s autograph.

David wore the same outfit every day of his life starting when he was in his early twenties. Unless he was backpacking in his beloved Sierras, he wore black shoes, black socks, black slacks, white dress shirt, bow tie, and black dinner jacket. In the privacy of his home he liked to wear a silk bathrobe. His bow tie was most often black, but occasionally plaid, the plaid of the Ross clan, which Uncle Bob discovered was a big part of our Scottish lineage. David told me that wearing the same clothes every day—his uniform as he called it—saved him time and trouble and money, made his suitcase light, and fulfilled his vision of himself as a kind of butler-at-large.

A butler? Yes. David told me that when he was eleven, circa 1937, he saw the movie My Man Godfrey, and thereafter knew who and what he wanted to be. The movie is a zany comedy starring the charismatic William Powell as a derelict who becomes a butler in the home of a wealthy and highly dysfunctional family, the female lead played by Carole Lombard. David told me that William Powell’s character Godfrey, the confidante and indispensable aide to everyone in the family, became David’s ideal for the kind of person he wanted to be; and to a remarkable degree David’s life reflected his adherence to the role of an indispensable servant, in butler’s dress no less.

In Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim, the young hero is known to his admirers as Little Friend of All the World, and that, too, describes Uncle David, for he had legions of friends around the world, many of them falling under his spell while being served by him in one or another of the famous eateries he opened in Monterey, first in the 1950’s and then again in the 1980’s.

The first place David opened (circa 1955) was a coffee house, the Sancho Panza, in downtown Monterey when Monterey was a still a sleepy little town and Cannery Row was boarded up and abandoned. Sancho Panza, you will recall, was the loyal servant to Don Quixote, and David was the loyal servant to the public that came to hang out in that now mythic café for the decade when it was a cultural epicenter for artists and renegades and sophisticates and regular folk of Monterey and Carmel and Pacific Grove, as well as a wonderful surprise for tourists and travelers from far and wide.

The Sancho Panza, according to David, was home to the second genuine Italian espresso coffee machine on the entire west coast of North America when he first opened his doors, the first such machine being in Caffé Trieste in North Beach, the founders of that famous coffee joint being David’s friends and through whom David got his machine. Henry Miller, Joan Baez, Alan Watts, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and Bob Dylan were among the many writers and artists and musicians who frequented the Sancho Panza, the coffee drinks legendary, as were the fruit frappes David concocted to go with yummy comestibles.

David would eventually open a little bookstore upstairs over the café, and in the early 1960’s David opened his second establishment The Palace on Cannery Row, which was one of the earliest sparks leading to the revival of that now aquarium-centric hot spot. The Palace was a beer and sandwich joint with a stage for live performers, and I regret I never got to experience The Palace in full swing. The Sancho Panza, on the other hand, was the highlight of our trips to visit my grandparents, and I would always have a peach or banana frappe and a cookie while hanging on Uncle David’s every word.

And while he was running the Sancho Panza and The Palace and performing in local theatre productions, David continued to be his brother Bob’s main caretaker, Bob having been paralyzed on the entire right side of his body as the result of a terrible car accident when he was in his mid-twenties. David was also a daily visitor to his parents’ house just up the hill from his café, his mother and father staunch Republicans and proud members of the John Birch Society, while the lefties and lesbians and Buddhists and artists gathered at the Sancho Panza to drink cappuccinos and revel in the Bohemian joint that David built.

Then in 1966, much to the shock and dismay of his many friends and followers, David announced he was selling both the Sancho Panza and The Palace and going to Vietnam to open USO clubs for the troops. David’s father, my grandfather, had recently died, and David had settled his mother into a nice apartment he shared with her on the beach in Monterey, and he arranged for people to do for Bob what he had been doing for Bob, and off he went to Vietnam.

“When I got off the jet in Saigon,” David told me, “and I was being driven to the site of the first club I opened, I felt deep in my bones I’m home. I’m finally home.” He came to realize that this feeling of being home was not so much about Vietnam as it was about Asia, for after a few years in Vietnam, David moved to Thailand and lived in and around Bangkok for many years. He came back to America fairly often to check on Bob and visit his many friends, but he was committed to living in Thailand where he was planning to build a retirement community and open a restaurant on an island owned by wealthy Thai friends.

I am, believe me, skating over the surface of David’s life, much of it unknown to me. When in 1978, I published my first novel Inside Moves, I let David know that Doubleday was throwing a publication party for me in Manhattan, and David sent me a roster of a dozen of his New York City friends he wanted me to invite. I did invite them and they all came out of loyalty to David, among them corporate executives, college professors, and penniless poets. One of the wealthy executives bought a dozen copies of my book and said as I signed them, “It is a great honor to meet the nephew of David Walton.”

“How do you know David?” I asked him.

“We go way back,” he said, winking mysteriously. “He’s a great man. One of the greatest.”

Then in 1984, just as David was about to open a Thai-American restaurant in Thailand, a friend called and offered him a restaurant location across the street from the brand new Monterey Bay Aquarium, and as David told me, “I couldn’t pass up the chance, so I brought my crew from Thailand and we opened the Beau Thai.” And that restaurant, known as David Walton’s Beau Thai, was soon famous and adored by locals as well as tourists, and David settled back into life in Monterey in his little beachside apartment, which he shared with two and sometimes three folks from Thailand.

No matter the season, David would take a daily plunge in frigid Monterey Bay before donning his uniform and heading off to the Beau Thai. Sadly, at the zenith of the Beau Thai’s popularity, tax trouble forced David to close the place, after which he returned to Thailand where he became entranced with the idea of moving to China, which he eventually did. David’s first home in China was an apartment in the enormous city of Chengdu where he lived for some years before moving to Xichang in the foothills of the Himalayas where he swam in Lake Qionghai, taught English to eager students (though he spoke no Chinese) and lived quite happily until he died. His sole income was from a pittance, less than eight hundred dollars a month, from Social Security, “Which is more than enough,” David told me, “to live quite well in Xichang.”

“I will cross over on my ninetieth birthday,” he said to me on several occasions, and though he died three years shy of ninety, knowing David as I do, I would not be surprised if he waits to cross over entirely until another three years have gone by, which would be fine with me because he was a wonderful spirit, a vibrant fun-loving soul who always encouraged me on my less traveled path, which was a great boon to me.

I have barely scratched the surface of David’s life in this telling, and I have at least a hundred good stories to tell about David, but that is nothing to the thousands, nay, tens of thousands of stories his many friends could tell about him, which supports my lifelong suspicion that there must have been more than one of this astounding fellow.

Here is one very telling story about David. When he was a young man, he drove up from Monterey in his famous yellow convertible Volkswagen bug to visit relatives in Oakland, and stopped at a florist’s shop to get flowers to bring to his cousins. He entered the shop to find the owners, a middle-aged couple, in crisis because their delivery person had suddenly walked off the job. Without a moment’s hesitation, David said, “I will be happy to deliver flowers for you,” which he did for the rest of that day and the next. He became fast friends with the couple, visited them many times over the ensuing years, they came to the Sancho Panza when in Monterey, and when the woman’s husband died, David helped the woman move to a commodious trailer on a lot in Vallejo, a lot and trailer, along with all the woman’s earthly possessions, that David inherited when she died.

David told me that story when I visited him in a tree house he’d built in a gigantic old pine tree in Pacific Grove on the property of a good friend. The tree house was full of books and things he’d inherited from his parents and various folks who loved him along his way.

“Take anything you want,” he said to me. “I’m not attached to any of it. But do let me have a look at what you take before you go and I’ll tell you the story behind it.”

—————As you can tell, David was a marvelous fellow and Todd is a fabulous writer.

Perfectly done. Magnificent.

To read more of Todd’s work his website is UnderTheTableBooks.com

I love the story about Star Wars fans thinking David was Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Upon reflection, I’m not sure they were wrong.

Todd is right. There are so many more stories. He quietly befriended so many wonderful people. For one, David was a friend of “Bucky” Fuller, as he called him. Once brought him to Monterey to give a talk.

And I delight in the films “My Man Godfrey” but never suspected David aspired to that model.

In hindsight – that is a marvelous fit.

(Here’s another wonderful, beautifully written article article about David “A Great Man“ by Haven Livingston of Santa Cruz.)

With further reflection, until reading Todd’s memorial I never realized how much David and my father’s character matched.

They both graciously did breathtakingly good things for our world and rarely even mentioned them.

David and my father might share the emblem –

“Better to do good things quietly,

and have them found out by accident.”

Pacific Grove Illegal-Pension-Gift Signatures Turned In

David — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:35:06 +0000

Pacific Grove City Clerk receiving the signed petitions with 1,303 signatures

This morning a group of dedicated Pacific Grove citizens turned in more than 1,300 signatures of registered Pacific Grove voters to put on the ballot whether to void an illegal pension increase gift to city employees in 2002.

“I’m disappointed that the city government chose to ignore the need for rescinding this generous “3 at 50” pension and refused to consider it in the negotiations. So we have been left with no alternative but to file our petition.” – Frances Grate

Update April 22, 2013: The County Elections Department certified that sufficient valid signatures have been turned in. While only 950 were needed, apparently some 1,995 were gathered and turned in.

After the 2002 illegal approval was discovered in 2009 a group of citizens including former Councilman Dan Davis has given the City Council every opportunity to rescind the illegal gift now costing the city some $45 million in extra pensions. While the Council has even admitted the gift of public money to city employees was illegal, they have refused to rescind it or do anything about it themselves – claiming they are worried they could get sued.

Commentary: That’s an empty excuse that is hostile to the resident’s and voter’s repeatedly strongly shown desires. The potential gain for the city and taxpayers from overturning the illegal 2002 Pension gifts is tens of millions of dollars possibly as much as 75 or 90 million. On the other hand the potential loss from a lawsuit – win or lose, is a few million dollars.

Next steps:

1. The Pacific Grove City Clerk gives the petitions to the County Elections Dept. who will verify whether sufficient valid signatures were turned in.

2. Then the City Council has two options:

a. Put the measure on the next public vote ballot, or

b. The City Council can adopt it themselves thus rescinding the 2002 gift. This would save Pacific Grove taxpayers some $43,000 for ballot expenses.

Commentary:
Overturning the illegal pensions could reduce up to $45 million dollars in blindly approved City Debt, but losing a lawsuit would at most only cost a small fraction of that.

Assuming sufficient valid signatures were turned in, this vote will be a key test of who each Council person supports: Residents or city employees.

Remembering how City voters have recently overwhelmingly approved two city measures to limit pensions, it appears that any Councilperson refusing to adopt this measure directly is voting against public interests.

Further reading:
Pacific Grove Council Begins Unwinding Pension Gifts Granted Illegally in 2002 (That effort evaporated with the newly seated Council led by Bill Kampe)

How City Bankruptcy Benefits Pacific Grove Residents
by John M. Moore for Pacific Grove Taxpayers Association

Kampe Closely Following in Potter’s Harmful Wake

David — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:50:37 +0000

It took the Sierra Club some 8 years to catch on to County Supervisor Dave Potter’s systematic Eco-Fraud.

Bill Kampe – Shark in Otter’s Clothing

How much longer before everyone catches on to Bill Kampe’s harmful intent and acts?

Kampe’s bad acts are now affecting our greater Peninsula community.

On a major water and development issue Kampe just cast a key vote against County Supervisor Jane Parker (by far the most public interest minded Supervisor in the past 30 years) and for Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass (the Peninsula’s most pro-development elected official).

“The board in January split 6-6 between Pendergrass and progressive Supervisor Jane Parker for the important committee. Supervisor Dave Potter, who was absent previously, voted for Pendergrass, and Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Kampe switched his vote to the Sand City mayor.” -Monterey Herald, “FORA lawyer quits, saying job isn’t fun anymore” March 15, 2013

Do not mistake Kampe’s vote for that of a merely uninformed novice. He knew exactly what he was doing. Kampe fully intended to block Jane Parker so developers could have a vast majority on the Water Board – and get as much water for development as they can.

If Kampe’s bad direction goes unrecognized and unchecked much longer – he could end up doing a lot more harm to our environment and participatory democracy than you can imagine. He’s not as lazy as Potter, so he has the potential to make Potter’s bad acts look amateurish.

Remember Kampe was in Marketing – he knows how to make black look white.

He did the impossible in getting Thom Akeman to run his campaign, then gleefully signed the tree destruction ordinance. That undermined a lot of Thom’s effort to protect Pacific Grove trees on the Natural Resources Committee.

I can only hope President Lincoln was right – “you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

__________________________

Further reading:

* Kampe Hates Trees – Brags that he Ran for Council to Gut Tree Protection Law – and he got his wish: Tree Destruction Effort Led by Kampe and Huitt

Welcome to Pacific Stump – Thanks to Bill Kampe and Robert Huitt

* Kampe wants Fast Food Legalized see: Bill Kampe’s Fast Food Gets Bad Reviews in Pacific Grove

Dave Potter’s Anti-Environmental Voting Record

“Flower” Singing “Cow Cow Boogie” with Friends

David — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:55:34 +0000

Found this terrific old film of a fun song “Cow Cow Boogie.”
Singing Cows, Credit: Tony Hutchings

Skeptico’s Misconstruction of Basic Logical Fallacies – while Spreading his own Fallacy Fog

David — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:49:15 +0000

Fencing – Another Way to Solve Disputes
This is an article about several Logical Fallacy disputes.

On one side is me, describing my Analysis of more than two dozen logical fallacies found in a blog article by Michael Eisen favoring Genetically Modified food.

On the other side is an anonymous blogger hiding under the name “Skeptico” who disputes my Analysis. (and No, I don’t suspect Eisen and “Skeptico” are the same person.)

No matter which elements of this debate you end up agreeing with, when you complete this article you should come away with a better understanding of several important, deep and sometimes subtle or confusing logical fallacies. So here we go.

Opposite of Correct Isn’t Wrong – Credit: Non Sequitur Comics

I wrote an introductory article called “New World Record? Six Logical Fallacies with a Single Sentence promoting Genetically Modified Food” to outline an Analysis of the two dozen Logical Fallacies made by Michael Eisen defending Genetically Modified food.

“Skeptico” disputes five of them using arguments about logical fallacies that superficially appear as though he knows what he is talking about, and there is always a possibility that I made an error. However, under calm analysis, while he commendably understands some fallacies correctly, Skeptico’s logic is often exposed as mistaken, myopic, tortured, rushed, and sometimes directly contradictory.

Skeptico fundamentally misconstrues, confuses or misunderstands highly important fallacies including Burden of Proof Reversal, Ambiguity Assertion and Self-Contradiction.

Skeptico claims expertise at logical fallacies, so its a mystery why he employs them so often here including Contradiction, Straw man, Distraction, Guilt by Association, and Appeal to Hypocrisy / You Too / Tu Quoque. I wonder if he even realizes he does this?

Further damaging his credibility, he unreasonably implies that I’m responsible for defining words used by the original author, enigmatically fights for obscuring language / against agreeing on the meaning of key terms and refuses to answer respectful clarifying questions.

Strawman. Credit Union of Concerned Scientists

This doesn’t mean all of his arguments are fallacious, conflicting or wrong. Some of his arguments are worthwhile, two made me curious to do further enjoyable research to discern if I had made an error, and some of his errors might be forgivable because they involve subtle or complex analysis.

The problem is Skeptico’s opinions about logical fallacies are so erratic and superficial they are unreliable. I suspect his errors impair others trying to understand logic. However, his work does show a much better familiarity with fallacies than an earlier critique, which couldn’t even demonstrate a starting ability to understand, diagnose or apply logical fallacies.

“Skeptico” is like a Neutrino – Interacts Only Rarely and Weakly

Skeptico’s refusal to read the primary document he disputes (my Analysis), much of what I’ve written directly responding to his comments, or to answer respectful clarifying questions is why I have decided to write this article instead of responding to his fallacy-filled Blog replies awash with incorrect and misleading claims.

Responsible Discourse vs Plain Arguing

When he has responded to something I’ve written, he has demonstrated he doesn’t often even try to understand how my points could be valid. That’s not responsible discourse trying to reach a rational or reasonable conclusion, that’s just arguing.

Its also contrary to the Principle of Charity, which means roughly – giving your opponent’s work the full chance to be understood as valid. (Note: abusing this principle is not a logical fallacy. Following it is just responsible discourse.)

1. Contradiction Fallacy
Here’s an example of a Skeptico logical fallacy while refusing to answer a directly relevant clarifying question.

Contradiction-fallacy

Skeptico claims all meaning in Eisen’s GMO article is “crystal clear” (January 2) –

Skeptico: “What [Eisen] says, to me, [about all meanings in Eisen’s article, including the terms “Safe and “Science] is completely unambiguous and crystal clear”

Yet later he writes (January 8) –

Skeptico: “No. I didn’t “claim to know what [Eisen] means by those terms “Safe” and “Science”,”

Unfortunately for all of us, those two Skeptico claims directly conflict.

How can anyone claim all meaning in an article is “crystal clear” (including the terms “Safe” and “Science”) – yet deny understanding “what [author Eisen] means by those terms ‘Safe’ and ‘Science.’”

Thats probably the most elementary formal logical fallacy called Conflicting Conditions or Self-Contradiction. Skeptico disagrees, making the stunning assertion that there is no such thing as a contradiction fallacy.

Skeptico: “Contradiction is not a fallacy, otherwise you’d never be able to disagree with anyone…”

(I accept part of the blame for that, as the link I provided for further reading on logical fallacies was, while a good start, somewhat less than comprehensive and adequate. I have provided much better links at the bottom of this article.)

I’m Willing to Correct Errors – Are they?

I value rationality based on experiment derived evidence and helping others understand how to do so. I’m not (very) emotionally attached to being right as evidenced by my willingness to acknowledge I make errors and to correct my own errors.

I wish Eisen and Skeptico could claim that. But both seem more interested in arguing than in reaching rational conclusions. Of the two (except for his contradictions) Skeptico generally commits slightly fewer and less severe logical fallacies.
Disabled Hypocrisy Appeal

Using a Distraction logical fallacy called Appeal to Hypocrisy (or Tu Quoque), Skeptico claims that just like the article I analyze I don’t always define “science” when I use it. He’s technically correct.

However, the difference between me and Eisen and Skeptico is that I am always happy to correct my errors; to help define and explain any terms I use that are unclear. (My use of the ambiguous term “science” is now available here.) By contrast, the anonymous Skeptico flat out refused to clarify or define two key terms he is asked about. Eisen was even less responsible. He just ignored it.

Lets examine Skeptico’s overarching errors, one of which is a Burden of Proof Reversal Logical Fallacy and why this misunderstanding invalidates his argument about Ambiguity.

2. Burden of Proof Reversal Fallacy

Responsibility Reversal

Defined: “Burden of Proof [Reversal] is a fallacy in which the burden of proof is placed on the wrong side.”

“usually(1) one who makes an assertion must assume the responsibility of defending it. If this responsibility or burden of proof is shifted to a critic, the fallacy of appealing to ignorance is committed.”

“In many situations, one side has the burden of proof resting on it. This side is obligated to provide evidence for its position.”

“The burden of proof is always on the claim that X exists . . .”

Sometimes it is difficult to correctly decide which side the burden of proof rests on. Let me explain this burden of proof dispute so you can make up your own mind.

The two disputes involves four claims:

1) Eisen’s original claim that Genetically Modified food is “safe,” and
2) My subsequent claim that “safe” as he uses it is ambiguous.

3) Eisen’s original claim that there is a “War on science,” and
4) My subsequent claim that “War on science” as he uses it is ambiguous.

“[t]here is no point in venturing to resolve a difference of opinion through an argumentative exchange of views if there is no mutual commitment to a common starting point“

This means the original argument is meaningless until both sides fully understand and agree what the dispute is.

I cannot understand what Eisen means by “safe” or “war on science” because there are so many widely differing and even contradictory meanings possible. This means Eisen still has the burden of proof until he clarifies or “disambiguates” the terms he used.

Eisen makes the original claims of existence of a “war on science” and “safe” Genetically Modified Food. Even though it is not my responsibility, I point out multiple conflicting and confusing meanings for Eisen’s use of the terms “safe” and “science” which, as we will soon see, is all that is needed to establish an Ambiguity Assertion Fallacy.

Skeptico wholly ignores how Eisen made the original claims, and then (still not acknowledging) claims that Eisen made his terms clear enough. Eisen agreeing with Skeptico is not a mutual agreement; other readers need to agree as well.

With that Skeptico tries to reverse the Burden of Proof to a questioner, me, …

Me – “How can anyone ‘demonstrate that Eisen wants you to accept [a] definition’ when he doesn’t explain which definition he is using ?”

Skeptico: “That’s not really my problem, is it? You claimed it was a fallacy – it’s your burden to demonstrate it is.”

and

Skeptico: “The burden is with you to demonstrate that Eisen’s use of these words was fallacious.”

… when the responsibility for clarity remains with the original author (Eisen), until he explains what he means by those terms.

After Eisen has defined his terms adequately and presented evidence of some kind, then and only then is the burden correctly put on questioners and skeptics.

3. Applying Burden of Proof

Skeptico strongly implies the readers (you and me) are responsible for defining the terms the author (Eisen) uses because Skeptico refuses to make the author responsible for the definitions. Eisen’s wording is good enough for him: “completely unambiguous and crystal clear.”

Implying that it is anyone else’s responsibility to define ambiguous terms that Eisen uses is laughable in its absurdity. No possible rational analysis can make that reasonable.

Skeptico is simply wrong to prematurely reverse the Burden of Proof because Eisen made the first claims “there is a war on science” and that Genetically Modified food is “safe.” Next, we’ll see how I first identified the terms as ambiguous, and then correctly concluded they are logical fallacies because their use is ambiguous.

4. Ambiguous Assertion Fallacy

Ambiguity – Not What You think it Is

An important fallacy I identified at least four times in my Analysis of Eisen’s article is called an Ambiguous Assertion Fallacy.

Ambiguous Assertion: “An unclear statement is made that could have multiple meanings, but is not used multiple times like amphiboly.”

All that is necessary to trigger this fallacy is the use of one term that can give a sentence multiple meanings. It is more obvious when a core term is ambiguous, and stronger yet when you can show intent. However, neither intent or core-term ambiguity is strictly required. All that is required is potentially different meanings for the sentence.

Though words are frequently ambiguous, few words invoke this fallacy because ambiguous words do not often result in potentially different meanings of a sentence.

All that is necessary to identify this fallacy is to show how “safe” or “science” has multiple meanings in the sentence as it is used. That’s easily done with this embedded Monsanto quote.

Politicians and Industry Putting the “Mis” in MisInformation. Credit: Union of Concerned Scientists

“Monsanto once advertised its pesticide Roundup was ‘safer than table salt.’”

Of course we could also illustrate how “safe” means “not harmful to Monsanto’s profits.” This illustrates how the term “safe,” as Eisen used it, not only has multiple meanings, it has multiple, related and conflicting meanings. But Skeptico even refused to acknowledge that the word “safe” as used by Eisen can give a sentence multiple meanings.

Aristotle – Earliest Known Study of Logic

He goes on to claim that for Ambiguity to be a fallacy it must provide a “debating advantage” but provides no evidence, quote, citation or reference to that novel claim. He pretends / imagines I meant Equivocation, which has a different set of rules, rather than Ambiguity which I was using, and which takes many forms that he fails to recognize.

Skeptico’s definition is far narrower than Aristotle’s(2) and is amusingly close to an ad hoc fallacy. The ancient sage wrote that if a sentence can be understood in two ways because of a homonym it is a logical fallacy.

(Skeptico’s error is confusing an Ambiguity Assertion Fallacy with Equivocation, so he insists on using criteria for that, while he ignores or rejects the correct and easier to meet criteria for Ambiguity Assertion fallacy. Substituting an easily refutable idea for difficult one is called a Straw-man Fallacy.)

5. Intent Not Required for Ambiguity Fallacy: Skeptico claimed to have accepted my evidence and rationale that Intent is not required for a logical fallacy.

Touch !

“The logical nature of a fallacy is independent of the intention of the party using it.”, Peter Coffey, “The science of logic”

Sophistry is the intent to deceive with logical fallacies, while Paralogism is a logical fallacy that deceives un-intentionally.

But then in his very next paragraph Skeptico resumes insisting intent is required to establish an “Equivocation” fallacy (it is required, but that’s irrelevant because Equivocation is a different fallacy), and then insists any Ambiguity fallacy must meet those criteria.

Skeptico: “Maybe you’re correct in that they don’t have to be intentionally using fallacious logic. However, for it to be equivocation, the arguer has to intend you to agree with a false version of the argument (ie using one definition of the word), while in reality you only agree with the correct version of the argument (ie another definition of the word). You haven’t demonstrated this.”

Don’t his two contrary assertions about intent make another Inconsistency fallacy?
And how about wrongly equating Equivocation with Ambiguity Assertion?

6. Responsible Debate Refused

What makes Skeptico’s credibility fall to pieces is his refusal to help clarify what Eisen meant – especially since he claimed to know completely “unambiguously and crystal” clearly what Eisen meant.

7. Principle of Charity
The Principle of Charity means roughly – giving your opponent’s evidence and rationale a full chance to be understood as valid. (I try to take my own responsibility for this a bit further and try to explain their arguments in my own words.)

“The principle of charity is a methodological presumption made in seeking to understand a point of view whereby we seek to understand that view in its strongest, most persuasive form before subjecting the view to evaluation.” - Wikipedia

Skeptico doesn’t even try to use the Principle of Charity to try to understand how my points could be valid.

While I read Eisen’s article (many times) and all of Skeptico’s arguments, Skeptico admits not reading my Analysis. He didn’t even read the original article by Eisen.

Skeptico “I just haven’t been able to find it [Analysis of the sentence with six logical fallacies] and I don’t fancy reading Eisen’s entire article.”

Skeptico chose to first shoot at my logic while admitting ignorance of explanations and evidence, and now hangs on to his mistaken first impression in spite of overwhelming evidence of his errors.

He claimed to be interested in reading about “Six Logical Fallacies with a Single Sentence” but Skeptico never read the actual Analysis of the sentence before criticizing my logic. This is even though the blog article he did skim had at least four (4) direct links to the Analysis, and explained in the first sentence that the Blog article was only “an article about an Analysis” and even had the full award winning sentence in the notes at the end of the article.

8. Steps to Considering a Logical Fallacy

Here is my step-by-step method to determining a logical fallacy. For an example, lets use the first part of the infamous award winning sentence which claims a lie was committed.

“For the backers of the initiative to claim [ Genetically Modified food might be harmful ] as a finding of fact is an outright lie…”

I identified the “lie” claim as a logical fallacy. Here’s how I evaluated the claim.

1) If the “lie” claim is true, it means that Food Safety people have falsely and publicly asserted the Genetically Modified food is harmful when they know it is safe.

That’s a serious claim, but lets take it just as seriously that someone has asserted false information. If it is true, how do we check?

2) It must meet the minimum for all the criteria to establish a lie. So what are the rational criteria for a lie? (The claim must meet the minimum for all the criteria without any missing links.)
A. There are actually four criteria: Asserting something that is (a)provably (b)false, and the alleged liar (c)knew it was false (d)when asserted.

“To lie is to deliver a false statement to another person which the speaking person knows is not the whole truth, intentionally.” – Wikipedia

3) a. Is there any evidence that Genetically Modified food is “safe?”

(There must be some evidence, not just a bald assertion. The evidence should be potentially provably true.)

A. Even though all Eisen’s claims about this can be refuted, I need to ignore all counter arguments for now.
The only question is – is there any evidence at all, no matter how faint or contra-logical? Even though the rationale and evidence collapse under deeper review (and simple logic), by ignoring all refuting arguments and defining “safety” the way Monsanto wants, Eisen has argued enough to meet the bare minimum that there is potentially some evidence of “safety.”

3) b. Is there any evidence that Food Safety people said Genetically Modified food is not harmful?

A. Yes, there is enough evidence to start. Eisen’s article does provide some evidence of some Food Safety people asserting that Genetically Modified food is harmful (contrary to Eisen’s beliefs), in the reference to a public Initiative that potentially could be reviewed.

5) Does the claim fit the third criteria for a lie – known falsity?

A No. There is no evidence, reference, quote or even mention of Food Safety people knowing that Genetically Modified food is safe. We can stop here, because of this failure to meet one of the required criteria.

Conclusion: This makes the claim of a lie unproven.

6) Is an unproven claim of a lie a logical fallacy?

A. Yes, it is a standard Proof by Assertion fallacy: “Proof by Assertion is an argument that states something as true without offering supporting evidence or attempting to construct a valid argument.”

B. It can also be described as Begging the Question (Petitio Principii ): “where premises that are passed on as being valid without supporting evidence.”

C. Abusive ad Hominem: a direct attack on a person’s character rather than focusing on his or her arguments. Is falsely calling an argument a “lie” a character attack ? It might seem like that, but no. If he had called them “liars” that would have been a character attack. By correctly confining his (unproven) attack to their actions he did not invoke this type of fallacy.

In this case, Skeptico grudgingly agreed that this might be a fallacy. While I correctly identified the false claim of a lie as a logical fallacy, I erred in identifying it as a Non-Sequitur, when it is really a Proof by Assertion fallacy.

Summary

For the three logical fallacies we’ve revisited so far of which Skeptico disputed two – all three identifications of Eisen’s fallacies solidly withstood scrutiny. One was mis-categorized, but it was still correctly identified as a logical fallacy. In failing to overturn any of those fallacies Skeptico committed a bit more than three logical fallacies of his own. Neglecting to read anything but the “book cover,” ignoring reasonable rationale and evidence, making incorrect snap judgments while committing numerous fallacies might reasonably be described as “Hit and Run” arguments.

__________________

End Part 1

I hope you have benefited from and enjoyed this analysis. I’m always happy to discuss or debate logical fallacies with responsible discourse when the mutual goal is to respectfully reach a rational, reasonable conclusion.

Please stay tuned for Part II

References :
1. “In some cases a reversed burden of proof may be appropriate: for example, when an empirical relationship has been observed but the underlying mechanism is unknown, it may be reasonable to infer from the lack of conflicting evidence that the empirically observed relationship is most likely causal. However, according to the scientific method the relationship is not formally proven in this instance.”

2. In his Sophistical Refutations (the earliest known formal study of logic), in chapter 17, Aristotle has this to say about fallacies of homonymy (thanks to Susanne Bobzien):

“If nobody ever made two questions into one question, the fallacy based on homonymy and ambiguity would not have come about, but. Steps to Considering a Logical Fallacy either a refutation or no refutation. For how does asking whether Callias and Themiscodes are musical differ from if bemoth, though being different people, shared a single name? For if the name signified more than one thing, had asked more than one question. Now, is there any evidence that it is not right to ask to be given without qualification one answer to two questions, it is clear that it is not proper no answer without qualification any homonymous.

_______________________

Further reading :

Logically Fallacious, by Bo Bennett

A List Of Fallacious Arguments by Don Lindsay

B-List Fallacies, by Bo Bennett

Jud Vandevere – World Class Naturalist and Friend

David — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:23:36 +0000

Jud Vandevere at Ed Leeper’s Costume Party

Our world just lost one its finest people, and the highest quality encyclopedia of natural phenomena he put together in his mind and happily shared with all.

Monterey’s Jud Vandevere passed away on Christmas leaving a legacy of dramatically more insightful and inspired people in his wake.

Walking in a forest with Jud was a delightfully slow experience. He not only knew each plant – he could (and would if you gave him half a chance) tell you an entertaining story about each one.

Never one to leave you with a superficial story, he would explain how each plant and creature depended upon each other.

One of his funnier stories was how the building at Bird Rock came to be referred to as the Bathroom Obscura . . .

He always had time to explain a natural phenomenon, and would do so gently and leave you happy you asked. He was a perfect example of how a world class expert has absolutely no need for pompousness or arrogance. Jud was happy to teach anyone who truly wanted to learn.

Jud, I’ll miss your wonderful stories and your kind, gentle, insightful happy countenance. Its has been an honor to know you.

Incompetent Drumbeats Alarming for the Wrong Reason

David — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:44:44 +0000

Drumbeats normally make me smile. They’re an inducement to dance; drumming inspires friendship. There’s a marvelous drum class in my community that inspires thousands when they play in public like last New Years eve. Smiles as far as you can see across the crowd.

There’s another kind of drumbeat that alarms me. It occurs when a country wants to go to war without justification. They “frame” another country for crimes that never happened; they manufacture evidence of crimes by the intended victim.

My own country has done this twice in the recent past. In 2002 George Bush 2nd used false information of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to get us into a trillion dollar war in Afghanistan and then Iraq. In 1991 George Bush the 1rst used false information from one of the US’s biggest Public Relations firms to get us into Kuwait. (The “Incubator Baby Hoax”).

Now contrary to Obama’s reasoned articulation on why it is a bad idea, it seems the Obama administration is beating the drums to go to war with Iran. Every week you hear another reason why the US should go to war with Iran – or why Israel would be justified in “Pre-emptively” attacking them as the US did to Iraq.

Remember when Iran caught one of our CIA spy drones flying over their country. Yet the US was outraged that Iran caught it and even landed it without crashing. They demanded it back as though it was as harmless as a baseball accidentally thrown over a fence.

That’s as “unreasonable” (aren’t I a master of understatement?) as if you caught a burglar snooping in your home – but the burglar is outraged and demands you give him his housebreaking tools back !

Here’s an expose of this week’s incompetent attempt to get us into a War with Iran in the latest Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. (Expose by Yousaff But and Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress of MIIS)

“This week the Associated Press reported that unnamed officials “from a country critical of Iran’s nuclear program” leaked an illustration to demonstrate that “Iranian scientists have run computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would produce more than triple the explosive force of the World War II bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.” The article stated that these officials provided the undated diagram “to bolster their arguments that Iran’s nuclear program must be halted.”

The graphic has not yet been authenticated; however, even if authentic, it would not qualify as proof of a nuclear weapons program. Besides the issue of authenticity, the diagram features quite a massive error, which is unlikely to have been made by research scientists working at a national level.

To summarize – like a spitball fired when the teacher’s back was turned, the diagram was a school-boyish attempt to convince the world public that Iran has a secret nuclear program, but

the drawing has no evidence connecting it to Iranian engineers,

Even if there was evidence – it is not “proof of a nuclear program”

Even if it was proof of a nuclear program – it show gross incompetence – meaning nuclear bombs made by the diagram author would not work – they would just fizzle.

Call your Congressman and tell him about the expose so he can laugh at the fabricated evidence.

You might alert him how bad drummers can ruin your whole day.

_________________________

References:

1. Article in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/diy-graphic-design

2. Analysis Author credits

Yousaf Butt

Butt is a research professor and scientist-in-residence at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute for International Studies. Previously, Butt was a scientific consultant to the Federation of American Scientists and a physicist in the High-Energy Astrophysics Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He was on the instrument operations team responsible for the main focal plane instrument aboard NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory from 1999-2004. He has also been a fellow in the Committee on International Security and Arms Control at the National Academy of Sciences and a research fellow in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress

Dalnoki-Veress is scientist-in-residence at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He holds a PhD in high energy physics specializing in ultra-low radioactivity background detectors and has professional experience in the field of astroparticle physics, primarily neutrino physics. He has been involved in several major discoveries in the field of neutrino physics and has worked on several international collaborations in Canada, Germany, Italy, and the United States.

Dalnoki-Veress is scientist-in-residence at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He holds a PhD in high energy physics specializing in ultra-low radioactivity background detectors and has professional experience in the field of astroparticle physics, primarily neutrino physics. He has been involved in several major discoveries in the field of neutrino physics and has worked on several international collaborations in Canada, Germany, Italy, and the United States.

3. The great Iraq War lie. The pictured girl told the world under tears that she saw how Saddam Hussein’s soldiers took babies out of their incubators and let them die on the cold floor. In November 1990 Bush 41 told this lie to the poor soldiers. In truth she hadn’t been in Kuwait at the time. The girl was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador in Washington, USA. http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/incubatorlie.html

4. Nayirah Testimony refers to the controversial testimony given before the non-governmental Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, by a female who provided only her first name, Nayirah.

Dave Potter’s Fantasy — “I’m a Friend of the Environment”

David — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:02:25 +0000

There’s a new campaign mailing advertising Potter for Supervisor with the text “Our Place, our values, our voice. . . “

Potter Fantasy

The photograph is of a place that doesn’t exist – just like Potter’s “friendship with our environment.”

What’s really going on is the photograph is of Big Sur’s Point Sur, but just like Potter’s distorted political ads, the photograph is reversed – side to side.

The only way one would ever recognize the place is in a fantasy or a mirror.

Just like Potter’s horrible track record when he could have voted or tried to protect our environment – but actively, deliberately refused to do so. his actions were a mirror image of what he could have done.

Here’s a few of Dave Potter’s lowlights in his Anti-Environmental Voting Record.

Midnight Earthquake 5.3 in Salinas Valley Shakes Buildings in Pacific Grove on Monterey Peninsula

David — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 07:07:19 +0000

Earthquake 5.3 Richter middnight October 20, 2012 (53-121-36)
Just 5 minutes before midnight turning into October 21, 2012 an Earthquake on the Eastern edge of the Salinas Valley gave buildings in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula a good shake.

Did you feel the earth quake shake our Peninsula at midnight? That’s the largest one I’ve felt in years.

It was right on the San Andreas Fault – centered South-East of Salinas, East of and slightly North of King City. One person reported feeling it as far North as Sebastopol in Marin County and 4 people felt it in in Goleta, next to Santa Barbara. Three people reported feeling it in Yosemite National Park and several people East of the Sierras reported it. In the first hour seventy-five people reported feeling it in Monterey.

I felt a little bit of something, then quiet, then it returned and gave the Pacific Grove home I’m in a good shake – lasting maybe 5 seconds. The building swayed a little.

Let me invite you to write what you felt what happened where you were and your general location. Happy Holidays !

Don’t Chop Down Our Pacific Grove Trees – 3,000 Trees at Immediate Risk

David — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 23:35:44 +0000

Tree Destruction Effort Led by Kampe and Huitt

Tree Scream: New Law – 3,000 Trees Could be Chopped Down without any Permit in Pacific Grove

Stumps: Pacific Grove’s Newest Industry

Last night, Wednesday October 17, 2012 four City Council members voted to get rid of protection for trees on all residential property that are not Monterey Cypress, Coast live Oak or Monterey Pine. That loss of protection was estimated at 3,000 trees, but could be as high as 5,600 to 6,000 trees (1).

The tree destruction law was eagerly led and pushed by Mayor Candidate Bill Kampe.

Mayor Carmelita Garcia voted against this tree destruction when she was stunned to learn it would mean a death warrant for at least 3,000 trees as soon as next week.

Pacific Grove has lost about half of its trees since 1986 – which is just short while ago in tree years.

You might think a town with reverence for trees in its very own name would try to stop that crisis. But no, Pacific Grove now joins Seaside in a race to see which town can remove all trees first.

The canopy was down to only 33% in 1986 because the first two-thirds were cut down in the previous 100 years. We only have 19 percent left today. This is because more than 700 trees a year are chopped down every year because City Staff refused to enforce the law. Few trees are planted; fewer still survive.

For more than half a Century all trees on residential land in Pacific Grove were protected. As of today only native trees are protected – and oh by the way the Council specifically excluded our native Redwoods from the definition of native trees; meaning magnificent Giant Redwoods can be cut without a permit.

You know those beautiful huge Redwoods all over town and the towering Douglas Firs? Owners won’t even need a permit to chop them down – even when they are perfectly healthy. Worse yet, it is now cheaper to cut a tree down without a permit (only a $100 fine) – than to get a permit.

Huitt believes We have to Destroy the Forest to Improve It

Councilman Huitt showed no remorse in voting to destroy the trees. He tried to persuade himself that somehow by allowing more trees to get cut (more than the 700+ trees we lose every year) and eliminating meaningful penalties for logging without a permit — the new ordinance “should improve our forest.” (His opponent Councilman and Candidate Dan Miller voted against the tree harming law.)

If you love trees – you can return their favors – Vote NO on Kampe and Huitt

Notes:
1. The tree loss estimate was not done in the CEQA environmental analysis – it was done “seat of the pants” during the 2nd reading at the Council meeting – after public comment was closed.

City Planner Hardgrave estimated that the city has some 25,000 trees and 25 percent of Pacific Grove trees / tree canopy are non-native. This resulted in a discussion of some 3,000 trees that could be cut down without a permit.

The CEQA analysis was essentially worthless on this point because the project changed at the last minute. There was no estimate of the tree loss due to the last minute change just before the Council meeting of Sept 2012. The project changed from protecting (requiring a permit) for all tree chopping on residential land to allowing cutting down all non-native trees on residential land.

No on “F” and No on Kampe

Barbara Thomas — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:07:43 +0000

Nader Agha’s and Leddy’s Holman’s Hotel Across from our Library (drawing is much smaller than proposed Zoning)
I attended the very first “informational” community meeting at Chautauqua Hall regarding the Holman Hotel project at which developer Drake Leddy gave an overview of his company, his intentions to build a first class hotel and answered questions from audience members. When I entered the meeting I was neither for or against the project.

The first words out of Mr. Leddy’s mouth were appreciative greetings to “at least 50% of you in the audience with whom I have met before ” with nods to most of those sitting in the first rows. From the type of questions asked by audience members and an unwanted and disturbing NO rant by a person who had to be quieted, it became obvious this was the first time Mr. Leddy had experienced any opposition to the project. By the end of the talk he was visibly upset.

For those who were truly there to find out about the project, the project lost credibility when Mr. Leddy stated he was legally bound not answer any questions about WATER, mentioned discussions of a three story garage being built behind the theater level to Fountain Avenue, did not adequately address issues of increased traffic, what streets would be shut down during building (which might take 2 years), disruption to the Library and neighbors and the possibility of balconies overhanging some sidewalks.

He then informed everyone he did not plan to build out 100%. So, why, if he had no intention of building out 100%, were those 100% build out terms included in Measure F ?? Unease among audience members increased when someone asked if the property owner could, according to Measure F, fill in any space left over after the construction of the hotel and “new” Holman building at anytime in the future. The answer was yes. The crowd was also told that the property owner, Mr. Agha, would be retaining two levels of the Holman building; one level being at Lighthouse Avenue.

The most interesting (and distressing) moment for me was watching one of the front row supporters, stand up, and after applauding, walk over and clap Bill Kampe on the back before Mr. Kampe rushed out the back door. That hotel/Holman project supporter was Dan Cort.

Sadly, it gave more credence to a statement to me by a longtime resident and City committees and commissions member that “you can never win because they have more money” (referring to anyone opposing Kampe and his political machine).

I feel sorry for and sympathetic toward Mr. Leddy, and unsuspecting, well-meaning volunteers and citizens, caught being a front man or woman and pawn for a long time in planning project by a group backed by commercial real estate investors and business owners who are out for the bottom dollar, not for the residents and residential property owners.

There seems to be a land grab going on and with help of lead staff it appears our little town is up for sale to the highest bidders . . . who want to make it their personal playground. The perception that the town is being swallowed up and totally changed by a financial and political machine didn’t seem so far off when reading the Chamber of Commerce’s top billing sponsor of the annual fashion show is MONTEREY DOWNS.

No on F, No on Kampe, who stated “We should back the hotel project” at the candidates’ forum.

Vote NO on Kampe, No on Huitt, No on Lucius in Pacific Grove, and No on Potter

David — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:05:47 +0000

David Dilworth’s Take-it or Leave-it

November 2012

No. NO. NO !

There’s a lot of “Bad” up for a vote this season.

Perhaps the local area with the most to lose is Pacific Grove.

* Choose badly and it will cost the city tens of millions and cost You Personally thousands of dollars.
* Choose badly and our Pacific Grove forest-tree canopy is gone; we’ll lose most of what is left of our few remaining trees.
* Choose badly and Pacific Grove’ll get a gigantic hotel at Holmans and Fast Food – all over town.

Summary of Most Important Issues:

PG: Please Vote — NO on Kampe, No on Huitt and NO on Lucius.

and Yes on Dan Miller, Mary Norton, Robert Pacelli and PG Mayor Carmelita; and in Marina — Mayor Bruce Delgado.

PG: “F – NO !” Measure F -No on the Holman-Strosity. Its a Bait-and-Switch trick. You gotta give the developer credit for Texas sized arrogance with his mailer. – A Texas Developer telling Pacific Grove residents what we need – when we didn’t even ask for his opinion. (All the while Holman’s controversial property owner Nader Agha is hiding behind the curtains, knowing full well that the whole house of cards collapses when his name is mentioned.)

Both PG Mayor candidates Garcia and Kampe appear to support the hotel but in very different ways. Garcia voted to put it on the ballot so that we residents can choose if we want it or not, Kampe supports the giant hotel so much he voted to keep it off the ballot – but Kampe tries to disguise his secret extra-credit efforts to help the developers Nader Agha and Texas’ Leddy.

Yes on State Prop 37 = Will Require GMO (Genetically Modified) Food to carry Labels The only organized opposition to labeling our food is Monsanto and the other GMO manufacturers.

Details (for “Yes” votes – keep reading to the end)

Councilman Bill "Fast-Food" Kampe - the Tree Hater
My goal with this article it to help you avoid the worst voting mistakes by explaining what candidates DO versus what they Say.

Warning: If you don’t have a strong stomach – you might want to stop reading here.

PG: Kampe – NO ! For this voting season, electing Bill Kampe is the worst mistake any community could make. His political career is probably the biggest hoax I’ve seen around here in a long time. What he says contrasted to what he does as an official could not be more upside down to each other.

His actions are so awful; so systematically, persistently and reliably awful it is hard to choose where to start. His official acts have revealed his real character: persistently insincere, disingenuous, untruthful (he regularly tells “Whoppers”) and his real values, which he wisely takes great pains to hide, are radically anti-public interest. Kampe loathes Open Government and our environment, Planning and financial responsibility. That’s as rare a combination as it is dangerous. Kampe has something for every one to dislike (except Pine Cone Publisher Paul Miller).

It is not because Kampe is stupid – he knows exactly what he is doing. He reminds me of Samuel Butler’s idea “Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.“

* Kampe Hates Trees – Brags that he Ran for Council to Gut Tree Protection Law – and he’s getting his wish . . . (See article “Welcome to Pacific Stump – Thanks to Bill Kampe and Robert Huitt“

* Kampe wants Fast Food Legalized (See article: Kampe’s Fast Food Gets Bad Reviews)

* Kampe is a major Holman Hotel supporter in “secret” meetings at City Hall – but is now falsely pretending he’s against the giant hotel – even though he admitted his support during on Candidate forum. (Which shines light on another major problem – You can’t trust Kampe to tell the truth.) Don’t believe this – ask Kampe two questions (but do NOT tell him your views first): Why did he vote to keep the Hotel off the ballot, and Will he vote YES on Measure F ?

* Kampe Opposes Fixing Illegal Pensions – Which means he’s fighting against saving us $45 million dollars and saving the City from Bankruptcy

* Kampe wants to get rid of our Historical Review Board – who protect our Historical buildings
* Kampe wants to eliminate our Architectural Review Board – who provide some architectural consistency
* Kampe even wants to get rid of our Planning Commission – which shows how radical and wrong he is. Which raises the question: Why did Kampe move here if he wants Pacific Grove to look like Silicon Valley and Seaside Strip Malls ?

* Kampe Voted for the Golf Course Clubhouse which violates our City Open Space Zoning Laws

* Incredibly thin-skinned Kampe Hates Public participation, thrives on secret opaque (vs transparent) government and censorship. He works hard to chop off Public Comment even when he is not Mayor constantly interfering with public comment and even interrupting Council discussion by wrongly raising “Point of Order.” His objections are typically ruled as wrong by the City Attorney. Not hard to imagine how bad he’ll be if he gets elected.

* Kampe Campaign Fraud? – Residents report that he intentionally mislead them that he is currently Mayor by telling them “I’m Pacific Grove’s Mayor pro-tem”.
(In his first campaign for Council he told people he’d lived here for 5 years – when he’d only lived here for 1 year – but owned his house for 5 years.)

Do you want a Mayor who eagerly tells “fish stories” and misleads the public when he wants something ?

Pacific Grove Voters have a good opportunity to retire Kampe from politics before he does any more damage.

PG: Yes – Carmelita Garcia (Mayor): STRONG Point — She’s NOT Kampe !

We disagree on several issues, but she’s sincere and has worked longer than any other elected official to reverse the Illegal Pensions – which should save us $45 million dollars !
Ms. Garcia generally supports Transparent government, and has tried to get Public Records Access increased but is always blocked by Kampe, Huitt and the City Mangler Frutchey. She runs a fair meeting — never cutting off citizens in mid-sentence as Mayors Cort and Costello did (and Kampe will do in spades if elected).
She did get a bird nesting protection period (a few months) into the new Tree Destruction ordinance. Sadly, the rest of the Tree Destruction ordinance makes that meaningless; it means anyone including city staff can destroy trees for a maximum penalty of $100. (The permit can cost 20 times that amount)

PG – Casey Lucius = NO !

Casey Lucius is alarmingly hostile to the health of our Trees and Wildlife (and our City’s Budget) – while touting her vegetarian lifestyle. Those seemingly contradictory positions are not ordinarily Republican values.

Casey Lucius stunningly admitted “The Environment is NOT a criteria I use in making decisions – and it never will be.” – When interviewed by Pacific Grove Neighbors, Spring 2012

Similarly stunning was her lonely defense of the astronomical salaries and retirement benefits of Pacific Grove Safety employees. Those inflated salaries and retirement are breaking the back of the City budget. (Shouldn’t have been a surprise when some Fire Department employees wearing clothes with Official looking uniform logos were caught campaigning for Lucius, going door to door. And now the “Monterey Firefighters Association” is officially sending out Mailers for Ms. Lucius. Say, isn’t campaigning by city employees prohibited by law? ahhh actually yes it is.)

Lucius Opposes Fixing Illegal Pensions – She sold her “Defined Benefit Plan” to Weak Coastly but “forgot” to mention that it would cost $50 million dollars – right FIFTY MILLION dollars.

Like always, because Weak Coastly never attends any Council (or any other) Pacific Grove meetings – they weren’t smart enough to ask Lucius to explain the costs. They don’t have a single clue about what is really, physically going on in Pacific Grove because they get all their “facts” from their advertisers. Bradley Zeve’s breathtakingly ignorant potshots at Pacific Grove politics from Seaside bear remarkable resemblance to drive-by shootings. It makes sense when you realize he hired fiction writer Kera Abraham to masquerade as a reporter⁽¹⁾ — even though its still two weeks till Halloween.

Bailing out the City from Lucius’ misguided idea will cost you even more big bucks at Property Tax time than you already pay. Can you spell “Rent Rise?”

I like Mrs Lucius personally, she’s a kind person. However, her political values have such a sharp conflict with public interests. Perhaps that is why she is so heavily supported by the business community. I pondered for a while if she could be educated to support public interests including protecting our environment and concluded No. I base this on her jaw-dropping misunderstanding of the Pension crisis after spending at least an hour with a leading expert.

PG: Huitt – No.

* Robert Huitt is still Hostile to Public Participation in Council meetings and decisions – even after getting rebuked by the whole town a decade ago for trying to put public comment at the end of Council meetings.
* Huitt made the Motion and voted to eliminate City Tree Protection law just last Month.
* Huitt voted for the Golf Course Clubhouse which violates our City Open Space Zoning Laws

And of course Huitt Opposes Fixing the Illegal Pensions

If Kampe, Huitt and Lucius get elected and keep the current City Mangler Frutchey – it will be time to batten down the hatches for residents and wildlife alike. There will be nothing left of Pacific Grove to be proud of when they get through.

PG: Yes – Dan Miller (incumbent) Sincere, Life-long resident of Pacific Grove, immense deep knowledge of local issues. While we often disagree – Dan truly cares about our town.

PG: Yes – Mary Norton – Sincere, Caring and Thoughtful.

PG: Yes – Bob Pacelli – Sincere, made good efforts to protect Monarch Habitat when no one else would do anything.

Seaside: Rubio – No ! Always votes for development.

Monterey: No – Smith, supported by the “Machine.” Opposes staff retirement reform.

Monterey: Yes – Alan Haffa – MPC Prof – well respected, thoughtful.

Monterey: Yes – Bill McCrone – Change of Heart in recent years, now works to protect our public interests.

Marina Coast Water District: Tom Moore

County Supervisor: Del Piero or Potter?

Voting for either of the two supervisor candidates is a even more of a Hobson’s Choice than most races: Would you prefer to be shot or poisoned ?

I do not want either. Neither will make a solidly good Supervisor like Jane Parker, but then when was the last time you got to vote FOR someone who would make a good elected official ? Only a handful come to mind for me over the past 30 years.

However since we will be subject to one of them, of the two, I believe Del Piero may do the least damage – in the near term.

Of the self-serving harm to our community that each has committed, I feel Potter’s is dramatically more egregious, much worse. In addition, Potter now loathes the public, and when he does show up for a meeting his votes are patently and reliably terrible. He reliably votes to harm forests due to his indentured service to the Pebble Beach Company and notorious Land-use lawyer Tony Lombardo.

For more details see –

Dave Potter’s Anti-Environmental Voting Record

Several have documented Del Piero’s self-serving acts to get water for his family’s projects related to the Pajaro water District. (Herald article Oct 14, 2012)

However, Del Piero’s other work has resulted in a major good deed for our state’s environment. Del Piero did indeed have a central part in creating California’s Public Trust Doctrine (other states including Washington have no such protection for natural phenomena such as wildlife and ecosystems), though he might be slightly overselling his role.

Potter has no accomplishment that can hold a candle to that. Though he can pat himself on the back for helping save Carmel Valley Village’s Rippling River from some way out-of-control staffocrats.

I wouldn’t turn my political back on either politician (of course thats a good rule in general).

However, Del Piero is at least a gentleman (its hard not to like him personally) while doing his “politics,” as contrasted with Potter who is typically just gratuitously rude and mean.

I’ll never forget how Potter refused to meet with Girl Scouts who care about forests – twice. Then when they explained this at a Board of Supervisors meeting – he couldn’t help attacking them politically. You got that right – Potter attacked young girls and their mother for exposing his refusal to meet with them.

Since I’ve been watching from the beginning of Potter’s political career in Monterey, and have seen almost every vote he’s cast since he became Supervisor it remains a mystery how Potter obtained his false reputation of caring about our environment.

Ending Potter’s ugly political Career would be a very good thing.

All that adds up to my certain vote against Potter which translates into a vote “for” Marc Del Piero.

PG: No on Measure A: What ?

Schools are our investment in civilization. We all support schools right ? Of course.

Sadly the Pacific Grove School Board has a history of poor judgment and squandered our good will playing “Bait and Switch” with our tax dollars.

For example, with the money from Measure D, the district spent $6.8 million for a new Football stadium. This exceeded the total estimated costs for the Forest Grove ($1.6 million) and Robert Down ($4.2 million) school modernization projects. Weren’t we promised Measure D money was going for classrooms ?

And it spent $2.6 million for the high school “sub gym lobby.” This exceeds, by $1 million, the estimated costs for the entire Forest Grove modernization project.

The School Board destroyed magnificent huge Monterey pine trees – for a temporary building – that goes unused; the historic landmark Geodesic Dome at the Junior High / Middle School was bulldozed without any public notice and they are leasing land for huge Microwave antennas at Lighthouse School – directly next to children’s classes and playgrounds.

Moreover, even if the governor’s tax proposal fails, PGUSD will lose only $455 per student. That is only a 3.35% reduction per student. Such a small number does not justify a new parcel tax.

No on Measure A – because we can’t trust the Pacific Grove School Board.

So who and what do we vote for ? OK – Here you go . . .

===================

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Prop 37 = Will Require GMO (Genetically Modified) Food to carry Labels The only organized opposition to labeling our food is Monsanto and the other GMO manufacturers.

Prop 35 = Ban on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery. You’re right its already illegal, but this will help law enforcement stop the people really responsible.

Prop 34: End Death Penalty What a novel idea. Sure lets bring California into the idea of Modern Civilization now that we’re a decade into the 21rst Century.

Yes on Prop 39 – Currently Out-of-state businesses have a tax advantage over our local businesses. Prop 39 will make it all fair and could generate a billion dollars in state revenue.

San Francisco

San Francisco’s Measure F = YES – So We Can Restore the Second Yosemite Valley ! “F” would fund a study of alternative water sources.

Remember the title – Take it or Leave it!

You are welcome to forward this to friends.

With my best wishes – because we’re going to need them,
David Dilworth

+—————————————————————————–+
| Trees Consumed to Produce this Issue: Zero. |
+—————————————————————————–+

Notes:
1. Weak Coastly favoring the Holman-strosity, the gigantic Holman’s hotel, shows you how they are no longer hiding their hostility to Pacific Grove residents and how they only listen to Craig Riddell (paid shill for Holman’s Developer Nader Agha), the always anti-public interest Commerce Chamber head Moe Ammar and former Mayor and EcoFraud Dan Cort.

Even as a Fiction writer, the Weakly’s Kera Abraham had a hard time painting disgraced Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort as an environmentalist. The problem she had to disguise is Cort’s actual substantive votes and words as Mayor directly contradicted that fanciful notion to anyone who watched him at Council meetings. Cort showed his reliable hostility to protecting Pacific Grove’s environment by his votes, his “rationale,” (and power to keep things off the Council agenda). All the while trying to distract everyone from the flat out fact that — Cort is a Developer ! — a Developer from STOCKTON – the Poster Child for “Bankrupt City.” Cort was only pretending he wanted our environment protected so he could get elected. That worked – until he had to cast his votes in public.

You who genuinely care about our Planet’s health should take Warning: Its amazing how far an Eco-Fraud can get with the most trivial effort. A developer merely needs to utter “sustainable” three times in public while pointing at a tree and more than a few superficial-enviros like Weak Coastly’s Bradley Zeve will worship at their feet. With a bit more effort Eco-Frauds can catch bigger fish. Even Robert Redford was fooled by the Rancho San Carlos massively deceptive Public Relations effort.PG: “F – NO !” Measure F -

Welcome to Pacific Stump – Thanks to Bill Kampe and Robert Huitt

David — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:15:11 +0000

Gentlemen . . . Start Your ChainSaws !

Stumps – Pacific Grove’s Newest Industry Thanks to Bill Kampe
Pacific Grove has lost about half of its trees since 1986 – which is just short while ago.

You might think a town with reverence for trees in its very own name would try to stop that crisis. But no, Pacific Grove is now joining Seaside in the race to see which town can remove all trace of trees first.

Half of Pacific Grove’s evaporating forest canopy was chainsawed down since 1986. (The canopy was already down to only 33% in 1986 because the first two-thirds were chopped down in the previous 100 years.) This is because more than 700 trees a year are cut down every year. Few are planted; fewer still survive.

Kampe - Gets Tree Hater Award
But that wasn’t enough for tree haters like Councilman Bill Kampe. With Kampe cleverly trying to hide his effort (because he’s running for Mayor) – the PG Council just unanimously weakened the city ordinance so that giant trees on private property can be cut without any permit — possibly as soon as next month.

1. For more than half a Century all trees on residential land in Pacific Grove were protected. Now only native trees are protected – and oh by the way the Council specifically excluded our native Redwoods from the definition of native trees.

You know those giant Eucalyptus at the Post Office? And the beautiful giant Redwoods all over town? Owners won’t even need a permit to chop them down if Kampe gets his way.

2. It gets even Worse. If the tree destruction ordinance gets a second approval it will be far cheaper to cut a tree down without a permit (only a $100 fine) – than to pay for a permit. Plus if you don’t get caught – its free !

3. Councilman Huitt demonstrated his immunity to reason and rationality with a giant logical fallacy. He tried to persuade himself that somehow by allowing more trees to get cut (than the 700+ trees we lose every year) and eliminating penalties for logging without a permit — the new ordinance “should improve our forest.” If by “improve” he means “destroy” or “eliminate” – well then Huitt would be correct.

Huitt’s “reasoning” is the same as “People are mad to get a ticket for running stop signs. So we should improve our traffic by stopping fewer people and removing the penalties for running stop signs.”

4. Councilman Rudy Fisher is so uncomfortable with trees he wanted to reduce the goal of restoring our Canopy from 33 percent to 25 percent. He doesn’t even want the city to try to restore our forest. Wish he’d admitted that when he was running for Council.

5. Bill Kampe did admit (but only recently) that he ran for Council so he could delete our Tree ordinance. Tonight he got his goal. Robert Huitt made the motion to destroy our tree ordinance; Kampe Seconded it. Only Councilman Miller and Mayor Garcia raised any questions, but in the end everyone voted for it.

If you love trees – you can return their favors – Vote Against Kampe and Huitt in the Election.

Thankfully this law has to be voted on once more before it takes effect. You can let the rest of the City Council know you don’t want this harmful law passed.

Pine Lit with Sunset

Further Reading: Pacific Grove Tree Protection Getting Chainsawed – by Bill Kampe and Ken Cuneo

Priscilla Nesbitt — Lover of trees, wild animals, caring people and books.

David — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:42:29 +0000

Carmel lost a great character this morning.

Priscilla Nesbitt Laughing at my poor Pun – at 100, Arriving at Carmel Library Friends Book Sale

Priscilla Nesbitt passed away quietly after leading a life of vibrant curiosity and deeply held passion for trees and wildlife, for caring people and knowledge.

You get an insight into Priscilla’s spirit with how she described her doctor to me. “Dr Kennedy is a tree hugger. I adore him.” I’m not sure she ever knew how much that endeared her to me.

I knew her as a lover of animals, trees and forests, and wild places topped off with a gentle but firm courteous demeanor.

Many, now mature, locals knew her as a no nonsense elementary teacher at River School with a seemingly unlimited understanding of, and passion for, our natural world.

She also loved books. When Priscilla learned her beloved Thunderbird

Priscilla Nesbitt – Inimitable

bookstore was closing she uncharacteristically exclaimed “Oh Shit.” Because I shared that passion, for the past 25 years we had a standing date to attend the fabulous Book sale for Carmel Library. We had almost as much fun standing in line with all the other book lovers as we did browsing the tables groaning with wonderful weighty words and inspiring photographs.

She had a great set of retired live-in friends — Roscoe, Shadow, Lucia, and Trouve (to name just a few) whom most of us would call cats. As Priscilla put it they were “treasures.”

Her daughter Penelope put on a fabulous 90th birthday celebration, to which kindhearted friends and family arrived from far and wide. Such a wonderful caring group of people tells me volumes about the person who drew them there.

At one time she and husband John (a celebrated Radio personality) owned Big Sur’s Big Creek “ranch” that I believe extended South to include where the Camaldolese Hermitage is today. Priscilla gave Malcolm Millard credit for saving Big Creek in Big Sur after husband John died. She described Malcolm as a man with “great integrity and a sense of humanity.” That set of values probably tells you more about her character than she would have wanted you to know.

Many others will recognize her name as a prolific and passionate letter writer to the newspapers, mostly aimed to protecting wild animals and our local forests. She knew important elected officials and some of their parents were her close friends including Fred Farr and Bill Monning’s mother. So some trembled when they knew she’d discovered they’d done something bad for wildlife or wild places.

A few short years ago she announced “I’m 98 and completely healthy and independent.” Growing up with relatives with vigor and mental ability at that longevity, it seemed normal for me. But reflecting on so many other friends lost at earlier ages, makes me realize how special that is.

Born in 1911, on September 5, she allowed me the honor of spending a few moments with her a couple weeks ago on her 101st birthday. She was surrounded with overflowing cards and photographs. We held hands reminiscing about books and trees and animals we’ve known and loved, picnics at her Big Sur cabin and her dear friends and family.

I already miss her warm kind caring spirit for, deeply insightful thoughts and vast knowledge of — our natural world.

—————

Priscilla’s beautifully written official Obituary at Legacy.comstrong

Bush vs. Obama: Who is More Wrong-Wing ?

David — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:00:18 +0000

Who is More Wrong-Wing — Bush or Obama ?
(c) Copyright 2012 David Dilworth

If George W. Bush was “the worst US President” – Why is Barack Obama continuing, and even increasing, many of Bush’s most repulsive actions of Preemptive War, Secrecy, and attacks on Civil Rights, Human Rights, Personal Privacy and our Environment ?

This article is limited to fundamental Health and Safety topics. It does not include financial or social topics.

War vs Justice and Peace
"War is Peace" - George Orwell, in the classic book "1984"

(Blue=good acts)
(Red=bad acts) Bush Obama

Iraq War
(4,429 US soldiers killed in Iraq as of Nov 2010) Started War. Reluctantly lowered troop levels. "Ended War" Oct 2011. Removed some "combat" Troops in 2010, but he leaves more than 50,000 US Troops and 86,000 private military contractors (Pentagon estimate); such as Blackhawk.(Ref: NPR)
Killed Reuters reporter and civilians from a US helicopter. (Ref: Wikileaks video)

Afghanistan War (At least 10,000 civilians killed) Started War. Added 30,000 Troops the week before he received Nobel "Peace" prize.

Pakistan War Though no official "War" he created a program that killed Pakistani civilians starting in 2004. he Started or continued Bush's "War." Quadrupled use of pilotless drones, killed 700 civilians in 2009, including children at a wedding.

Libya War 2011 None Started War with "humanitarian" excuse and cover from a UN resolution, with no Congressional authorization or reauthorization - before or after the 60 day legal limit).

Honduras Military Coup June 28, 2009 including kidnapping of President Zelaya Unknown Obama said he was deeply concerned, yet Provided political support with full acknowledgement that it was "illegal and unconstitutional." (Wikileaks, Truth-out.org, and Black Left)

Murderous Indonesian Government
Accepted Ban on funding training for murderous Special Forces called Kopassus. Strongly endorsed the Indonesian military government by lifting a 12 year ban on funding training for their Special Forces called Kopassus that murders civilians.

Pilot-less Bombers (Drones) Created program, killed Pakistani civilians starting in 2004. Continues program. Quadrupled use of Military Drones since Bush. Killed 700+ Pakistani civilians from 2009 - 2010. (Not including the Granai Massacre in Afghanistan.)

Haiti's elected President Aristide Kidnapped, Assisted by US -CIA Authorized Kidnapping Assistance Fought to stop democratically elected President Aristide returning to Haiti through March 2011

"Well, the US Military-Industrial Complex will have to
come up with another permanent threat."
-David Walton in 1989, upon learning of the Berlin Wall removal ending the "Cold-war."

Electing Obama just "Traded One War Monger for Another" - Tim Gatto

Rule of Law
"We must be governed by the force of law, not by the law of force."
-- William Sloane Coffin

"Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins." -- John Locke

Guilty Until Proven Innocent. (Legal Burden / Responsibility Turned Upside Down) Anyone Bush didn't like. Prior to any trial, Obama declared the guilt of 1) accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning, 2) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and 3) anyone present in Pakistan disputed areas who were killed by Obama's drones, and of course 4) Osama bin Laden - who was never charged with any crime related to 9/11. Arranged Muammar Gaddafi's murder, though a native Libyan fired the bullet Oct 2011.

Assassination and Murder. Claiming "James Bond" authority to target and murder American citizens outside combat zone. Asserted Executive Right to Assassinate Foreign Nationals, not Americans. Ordered the Assassination of at least one American Citizen and probably others, despite an Executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and several international laws of war
Obama killed hundreds, and as many as 1,629 foreign civilians, using US military drones outside "War" zone. Osama bin Laden was assassinated.

Fighting to assert this authority. (Ref: ACLU.org/ofac)

Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda Founder and Leader Remarkably unsuccessful Invaded a Foreign Country (that we were not engaging in war) to kill him without a trial or any formal charges in May 2011.

CIA Kidnappings
(Doublespeak: "Extraordinary Rendition" means Kidnapping) Refused to Prosecute and blocked Italian Prosecution of CIA Kidnapping an innocent man. Refused to Prosecute any of CIA's criminal acts including kidnapping innocent civilians. Blocked Italian Prosecution of CIA Kidnapping an innocent man.

Military Tribunals Used them to evade higher legal standards of US Judicial System and Open Courts Intends to keep using them, though implying they have ended. "Obama will resume military commission trials of Guantanamo detainees" - Daily Kos. Gitmo prisoner treatment is little changed since G.W. Bush.

Torture by Military including Rumsfield and Cheney who gave the Directions "The Torture President" Refused to Prosecute all except lowest level staff. Refused to Prosecute anyone. Then arm-twisted Spain and Germany to prevent international prosecution of Bush officials. (Motherjones.com and WikiLeaks)

Guantanamo Bay "GiTMO" - Offshore Prison to permanently keep accused away from American Courts Opened and defended this facility noted for torture and abuse. Prison still holds 172 prisoners as of February 2011 even though Obama pledged to close it by 2010.

DisHonest Science Bush "suppresses, distorts and manipulates" scientific work. - Union of Concerned Scientists Released a Scientific Integrity Directive in 2010. However,
25% of US scientists complain that they were required to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information" in spite of Obama's Inaugural speech promise to "restore science to its rightful place".
(See "We're waiting, Mr President", December 2010 by Peter Aldhous in NewScientist about Research by Union of Concerned Scientists)

Signing Statements Objected to 1,200 sections of laws passed by Congress (1,200 provisions in about 150 bills). Continues use of Signing Statements after condemning them during campaign.

Human Rights and Civil Rights
"Badges? We don't need no stinking Badges."
- Film: Treasure of the Sierra Madre

CIA Kidnapping (sometimes wholly innocent) people to Secret Prisons by "Extraordinary Rendition"
Created this crime. Prisons in Romaina and a Lithuania Horse Arena. See also Wikipedia article Falsely claims to have closed this program.
New York Times reports in 2009 on the Bagram "Black" US Prison in Afghanistan. They argue the CIA Order does not apply because the prison is run by military Special Operations. Plus, an official (but secret) Obama policy allows detainees kept at black jails for 2 weeks.
(See Extraordinary rendition brief by Frontline. and Wikipedia on Black Sites.

Torture "Enhanced Interrogation" including Waterboarding Water Boarding crimes admitted Executive Order stops torture in theory (Jan 22, 09), but "your mileage may vary" Obama keeps secret the information on interrogation and confinement of terrorists. In 2009 Obama's "Justice" Dept. argued in a civil case that the "illegality of torture was not clearly established" when the innocent prisoners were tortured.

Force Feeding Guantanamo Inmates Began program Continues program. (Ref: "Food Fight brews at Gitmo", NewScientist July 28, 2009)

"Patriot" Act Created this broad and deep systematic Constitutional violation program allowing the FBI to search telephone, email, medical records and financial records without a court order. The FBI obtained more than one million financial, credit, employment records this way. Obama signed two extensions, to continue the program, minus only those parts rejected by courts.
He is trying to get a 3 year extension (Feb 2011)

Secret Home Searches, "Sneak and Peek" Created this program with the Patriot Act. Continues program, wants it extended.

Wire Tapping phone calls (and faxes) unrelated to Terrorism of all Americans domestically and without Court warrant. Created this criminal program. Continuing Program; expanding the international parts, & "adamantly" defending Bush's wiretapping !
(Ref: Court Case in SF Federal Court, July 15, 2009)

Allow DNA analysis for defendants (Supreme Ct case Osborne in Alaska, June 09) Created this position to Oppose allowing Defendants to Prove their Innocence with DNA analysis. Continues program to Oppose allowing Defendants to Prove their Innocence with DNA analysis.

Mail - Postal "Service" now Records all data on outside of all US mail "and more." Program created in 1998, during Clinton Term. Continued program,
First exposed in 2008
Continues program

Miranda Rights Did not weaken these. In fact, FBI agents read Miranda rights to several detainees overseas and got blasted by pundits. Suspended Miranda Rights for "Domestic Terrorists"

Open v Secret Government

Freedom of Information Requests Hid essentially everything from Public requiring the media and interested people to go to court. Theory: "Adopt a presumption in favor" of releasing information
Reality: See the next items for how Obama is still fiercely hiding vital info.
(Ref:January 21, 2009 Executive Order # 13489 titled "Transparency and Open Government")

Torture program documents
Refused to disclose any part of programs - even after media reports. On Sept 1, 09 Obama's CIA refused to release torture program documents.

Torture Photos Secret, Hid them until leaked. Keeps them Secret (after promising to release them)

Attacking / Prosecuting the Messenger (Media) - Ignoring Murderers Never prosecuted Cheney or Rumsfeld. Massive Attack on Media (State Dept doesn't want students discussing Wikileaks.). No meaningful investigation of Murders of Iraqi Civilians and Reuters staff from US Military Helicopter "Collateral Murder" - video published by Wikileaks.

Hiding Photographs of US dead soldiers coming back from war. Started this PR practice with Iraq to prevent American sympathy from growing. Obama allows photos of coffins, but prohibits images of dead or wounded; plus Obama had Congress adopt a specific Exemption for these photos. (October 2009)

Bush / Cheney Documents All Hidden from Public Hides Bush/Cheney documents and the same documents from his own administration.

White House Visitor Logs Secret (Energy Execs.) Providing White House Visitor Logs, after a year of keeping them secret, but only after being sued by CREW using FOIA. Obama Explicitly exempts "Presidential records" Financial Execs, "Health" execs as "not federal records"
(Ref: Lawsuit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, July 2009)

Secret Laws Secret laws prevent American citizens understanding what laws Bush's strategies for interrogation, detention, surveillance and prosecution are operating under. Obama's secret Awlaki memo prevents American citizens understanding what laws they are operating under.

Civilian Death Reports of Afghanistan & Pakistan Unknown Secret (but news of dead civilians at weddings and picnics leaked out)

Trying to Censor and damage WikiLeaks Bush never bothered Wikileaks. Using Pentagon and Secret Agencies (CIA, NSA) to attack WikiLeaks, investigate & try to prosecute them.

Secret Government Monitoring of Private Web Communication "Created?" and increased a system that copies and stores all emails, phone calls and faxes passing through ATT to the CIA. Continues Bush ATT program, AND
Obama backed a bill that prohibits any communication that is encrypted and cannot be read by the US government. Oct 2010

State Secrets broad Abuse, Keeping secrecy evidence and decision out of courts' jurisdiction. Bush Started this outrageous program Did set up Justice Dept review committee. "Just trust us" model - BUT Obama / Holder continues Bush practices (Sept 30, 09) even though he criticized it during campaign.

Our Environment

Improved Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards (first improvement in 32 years) Began Program Signed Bill into Law

Tongass Wilderness Logging Started Program Gave Final Clear-Cut Logging Approval July 15, 2009

Western Oregon / Washington (WOPR) Logging Escalation Created it and fought it all the way to court.
Canceled Program July 16, 2009, but did it illegally. Now logging corporations can overturn it in court.

Nuclear Energy Program Supportive, but no serious effort put into it. "We're trying to re-start it." - Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Nov 28, 2010. Even though Obama campaigned not to push Nuclear energy until waste problems were solved. (Waste problems are not solved: There is still is no place to put waste as of Fall 2012)

Polar Bear Extinction Overruled Polar Bear's imperiled situation from limiting oil drilling. Continued Bush Policy in 2009. Polar Bears are on their own; get no protection from oil drilling.

Deepwater drilling permits with no environmental review. (Gulf Oil Spill) Issued Deepwater drilling permits in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico with no environmental review. Issued new, 2011, Deepwater drilling permits in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico with no environmental review.
Obama authorized use of toxic dispersants for oil spills – Bush didn’t.

Offshore Oil Drilling Allowed Drilling with Faulty and Non-existent Environmental Review Trying to Increase Drilling as of May 2011

Air Pollution Worked Hard to Weaken Clean Air Protection, but pretended to be making them stronger. Killed plans to Reduce Smog, Sept 2011

Obama's generally anti-environmental record is a dramatic contrast with the strong environmental protection record of the Congressional Black Caucus

Pacific Grove Newspaper Publisher Admits Deliberate Censorship

David — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 04:13:38 +0000

Pacific Grove newspaper Cedar Street Times’ Publisher Marge Jameson Censors all letters from a reasonable middle of the road citizen. Sends him two emails refusing to publish any of his letters to the editor.

Censor Kitty Denies Access

Growing up here, I blindly trusted local newspapers. It never once crossed my mind whether they would do anything other than give us the whole story. And of course if they overlooked an important fact or useful way of looking at our local issues – a simple letter to the editor could easily correct it.

Sounds good right ?

Well that was my unarticulated understanding – until I got into politics.

“Well, the difference between theory and practice
is a lot bigger in practice than in theory.”

Its been an eye-opening and hard won lesson that leading Monterey Peninsula newspapers viscerally detest some opinions that oppose theirs. So they flat out censor those letters with views held by lots of local folks and the unarguable facts that support them. They employ all kinds of bogus excuses that are far more creative than “the dog ate it” – but just as counterfeit.

“But,” you respond, “newspapers are obligated to report your point of view and publish your letter to the editor – aren’t they?”

Nope. Flat out No.

A newspaper is a private for-profit business that has absolutely no legal obligation to print anything they don’t like.

No legal obligation. Period.

However they do have a moral and ethical obligation to print opposing views – because the community expects it. It’s just that emotions overtake their sense of community. And since advertising dollars are the lifeblood of local newspapers, when local advertisers call up and yell at them (they really do) in spite of their denials – editors fold as fast their cheap suits.

Because of my long history of exposing improper practices of local government wrong-doing you might expect my letters or commentaries to get censored – and they are (more about that later).

But I never thought I’d see the day when censorship happened to an everyday reasonable fellow.

Here’s how it happened.

Until recently Pacific Grove had two newspapers – the Hometown Bulletin and the smaller Cedar Street Times owned by Marge Jameson. This summer the Cedar Street Times bought the Hometown Bulletin and consolidated it so now there’s only one Pacific Grove paper.

Agha’s Holmonstrosity Facing our LIbrary

In the meantime along comes controversial developer Nader Agha and his buddy from Texas who want to put a giant hotel where Holmans now stands – except five times larger in volume. A seventy-five foot high monolithic structure from Lighthouse Ave to the Library, from Fountain Ave to Grand Avenue – block to block, street to street.

That huge Holman hotel proposal prompted a reasonable letter of concern to the Cedar Street Times editor from a local citizen Vince Tuminello (1).

Here’s the verbatim reply he got back from the Cedar Street Times editor Marge Jameson:

“Go away. I will not have your name in my paper.”

And when he inquired further, she emailed back –

“Don’t you understand, I’m not going to run this letter or anything else from you?”

While this sentiment is normal for most local papers (with some sterling exceptions like Paul Laub’s since closed “Freedom of Speech”) – catching them putting it in writing happens about as often as Big Foot sightings. Editors usually just toss the letters and ignore people and ideas they don’t like.

Censorship – Protecting You From Reality

Paul Miller’s Pine Cone not only censors letters to the editor (the only commentaries he allows are his own) – Miller actively campaigns FOR censorship of people he can’t adequately debate (2).

Then there’s the Herald’s Cowardly Lion and Royal Letter Censor named Calkins who is so cranky he should have retired a decade ago. He once yelled at me that he would never print anything from me (3). (He yells at lots of people)

Then he lied to his boss about it. He had the arrogance to yell at me, but not enough to tell his boss the truth. It got worse – a week later Calkins unleashed everything at his command to attack me personally.

More about this later.

So after censoring Mr. Tuminello’s reasonable letter this same week Cedar Street Times published a letter from the Texas developer of the Gigantic new Holmans Hotel named Leddy (along with an ad and an article) – but no letters opposing the Nader Agha / Leddy hotel.

There’s something seriously wrong here.

That’s patently unethical. Its even a financial conflict of interest (not the same as a bribe) because apparently Nader Agha / Leddy paid for an ad in the same issue Jameson fawned all over him and his project.

What I intend to do about it is explicitly avoid any business that advertises in the Cedar Street Times – and let them know why.

References:

1. Full text of Censored Letter to Cedar Street Times –

Dear Editor:

In the past decade there have been four large controversial buildings erected in Pacific Grove by other mayors without voter approval. There is the expensive oversized city hall, the ill conceived golf club house, the four story expansion of Forest Hill Manor, and the housing project near Lovers Point. Residents should be happy this time it is different.

Kudos to Mayor Carmelita Garcia and her faithful council majority for presenting the proposed hotel project to the voters. She has consistently represented the will and best interests of the residents. I know she is waiting for your decision.

Please register and vote.

Vince Tuminello
Pacific Grove

2. Carmel Pine Cone Publisher Paul Miller advocates for person-specific Censorship in publishing “The Dilworth Phenomena” (Miller then Censored HOPE’s letter to the editor fully correcting and rebutting so many of the grossly false claims made by Paul Miller in that editorial. Here’s our censored letter “Pine Cone turns American Dream Upside Down“)

3. Part I: Was the Herald’s Letter-Editor Royal Calkins Caught Censoring & BlackListing, then Lying to Cover it up?

Pacific Grove Council Begins Unwinding Pension Gifts Granted Illegally in 2002

David — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:50:58 +0000

A Giant Snowball has finally left the Building and is gathering speed.

(c) Copyright 2012 David Dilworth

Last evening Pacific Grove’s City Council unanimously took a strong step forward to correcting a great wrong — which is currently costing the city tens of millions of dollars and pushing it towards bankruptcy.

Former Pacific Grove City Manager Ross Hubbard had Council Adopt Illegal Pensions – Is Now Long Gone
In 2002, the former City Manager Ross Hubbard put a raise for the police and firemen on the City Council’s consent Agenda – meaning there is no Council discussion and no public comment on the topic. It dramatically increased police and fire department retirement benefits. But Hubbard assured the Council that it would only cost the city some 51 thousand dollars.

In fact City Manager Hubbard knew it would cost some 15 times more, some 800 thousand dollars that first year alone, because Hubbard had the legally required report from an Actuary, but he hid it from the Council – who merrily adopted the retirement raise (called “3 at 50″) without any discussion.

Of course it is horrible that Hubbard hid the actual cost, but it turns out he and the City Council seriously violated a state law in approving it.

Ever since that time the City has been in a financial mess, shutting the Library on many days, giving away our City Museum, cutting the number of police from 30 to 20, eliminating the Recreation Department, neglecting watering trees, neglecting potholes, neglecting sewer replacement required by court agreements, and on and on.

As of today the whole Cal-Pers pension mess, of which this is a large portion, is going to cost Pacific Grove taxpayers some 45 million dollars (an estimate a few months ago was 78 million), several times the City’s annual budget of $16 million – 20 million dollars.

After 3 years of badgering by Concerned Citizens, led by John Moore and Dan Davis, the Council agreed to appoint a subcommittee to look into this a few months ago. The subcommittee met many times and was aghast at what they found and so they wrote a report.

Last evening the subcommittee explained the report and suggested the 2002 ordinance authorizing the (“3% at age 50″) excess retirements be rescinded. Councilman Cuneo made a marvelous clear presentation using an analogy of failing to disclose problems when buying a home – and how that can invalidate a contract.

A parade of Concerned Citizens supported them including four former council people Dan Davis, Lisa Bennett, Terrence Zito, and Susan Nilmeier. They were joined by John Moore, Vince Tuminello, Jeff Becom, Sally Aberg, Diana Dennis and myself “Leadership is not about doing the easy thing, its about doing the right thing.”

The only advocate for ignoring this expensive law violation was Council candidate Casey Lucius. She was joined by those who directly financially benefit from the illegally huge pensions — the Police Officers Association (who threatened a lawsuit), recently retired PG Police Chief Dairus Engles and Steve Gorman, a local businessman who is apparently a PG Reserve Police Officer.

The Police Officers Association (POA) was criticized by several speakers including Councilman Dan Miller for threatening the City instead of standing up for the law and for trying to help the city solve the problem.

After a reasonable discussion the Pacific Grove City Council unanimously took a step forward to correcting a great wrong.

Led by Ken Cuneo they unanimously agreed to accept the report, send it to Cal-Pers (the pension agency) and to meet with the Police Associations and other employee groups to discuss the problem and then bring this back for further action in about a month.

Commentary:
For context this took place at the end of an eight year Mayorship of Sandy Koffman where employee raises were on almost every agenda and always granted. After 8 years, most people who were concerned about excessive employee pay, including (now Councilman) Dan Miller and the Heregott sisters Pat and Sally had realized the Koffman Council was never going to reject an employee raise, so they can be excused for missing this hidden time bomb.

Mayor Carmelita Garcia has worked to get this problem fixed for at least 3 years, since 2009, when she had Councilwoman Lisa Bennett’s support.

Councilman Ken Cuneo had a commendable reversal in his position on this issue from a year ago when he tried to ignore it with “a previous council looked into it and dismissed it.” This time he led the discussion and the motion, improving it 3 times with helpful suggestions from other council people.

The City Attorney David Laredo and current City Manager Frutchey who have both fought against having the Council look at this issue, tried to inject themselves in the process to “merely answer questions raised by the report.”

Their un-credible biased answers will likely be trumped by the response from CalPers who is legally responsible for correcting this expensive mistake.

Councilmen Kampe and Huitt espoused the remarkable position – they won’t vote to rescind the illegally granted pensions until they know the consequences.

That means they are only willing to correct an illegal act – if there aren’t consequences.

How odd, I thought laws had to be followed – no matter what the consequences.

So apparently if Kampe and Huitt were running the IRS which overcharged you by a thousand dollars (1), before they’d refund your money – they’d have to see if the IRS needed the money for anything.

Well, there will be financial consequences, the police and fire dept staff who have improperly benefited from this will not get as much retirement money. However, it is next to impossible for me to feel much sympathy for people getting more than $100,000 per year in retirement – that you and I have to write checks for – every year.

There are also positive financial consequences that the City will not have to pay tens of millions in excess retirement money. This could be big enough to let Pacific Grove avoid bankruptcy. There’s even a remote chance (very remote) you might get a tax refund.

It was a surreal moment to hear the Police representative not merely telling the Council to ignore a law that was broken, but that our Police would sue us, the City of Pacific Grove, if the Council tried to correct the serious violation of law.

The person most responsible for this mess, former City Manager Ross Hubbard – is long gone. Hubbard didn’t even attend the Council meeting that fateful eve in 2002 – trying to keep his fingerprints off it? If so, it worked for 10 years.

I wonder if the statute of limitations is still running . . . Could Hubbard and his insurance company be liable for this ? I suspect the Police Officer’s Association will want to know . . .

In the meantime, we all owe the Council appreciation, particularly Mayor Garcia, Dan Miller, Ken Cuneo and Rudy Fisher. Alan Cohen seconded the motion. You might thank them personally for helping steer Pacific Grove back towards a healthy track.

Stay tuned.

Notes:
(1) The thousand dollars is my very rough seat-of-the-pants estimate what each homeowner (and indirectly each renter) has paid in property taxes for excess police and fire retirement benefits since 2002. It could be more, its not likely far less. We should get a better idea when we get CalPers response.

Further reading:

Results and Recommendation, Fact Finding CalPERS (Pacific Grove City Council) Subcommittee (Large file ~10 megabytes)

How City Bankruptcy Benefits Pacific Grove Residents

New World Record? Six Logical Fallacies with a Single Sentence promoting Genetically Modified Food

David — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:10:18 +0000

(c) Copyright 2012 David Dilworth
This is an article about an Analysis(1) of a web article that is a hypocrisy enriched assault on Informed Consent, Food Safety proponents, and the possibility of harm from Genetically Modified (GMO) food. It shows admittedly “mad scientist” and genetic researcher Michael Eisen’s impressive use of fallacious reasoning(2) while ironically brandishing the banner of “Science.”

(And No, contrary to his claims, Eisen did not provide any evidence of a war or attack on science by Food Safety proponents; nor did he show GMOs can be proven harmless.)

______________________________________“Well I’m angry, making sense gets in the way.”(3)
“Coupling” British TV comedy series

Hypocrisy Meter — Pegged

An article on Genetically modified (GMO) food entitled “The anti-GMO campaign’s dangerous war on science“(4) is written by an admittedly “infuriated” genetic researcher in California named Michael Eisen claiming to support Open Science.

Eisen’s article initially attracted me because I’ve been helping work for good science for a few decades, I’m aware of real attacks on science philosophy and its credibility, and I’m a bit familiar with environmental impacts — so sounds good right ?

Wow, was I ever in for a disturbing surprise.

With deeply profound irony the admittedly angry Eisen claims he’s fighting to defend science (“My vested interest here is science, and what I write here, I write to defend it”).

Instead his article pummels and batters science reasoning and logic so relentlessly I had to set it aside for a few days to recover from my shocked dismay.

Wildfire demonstrating Eisen’s False Claims

The article’s overarching theme is based on attacking GMO Food Safety proponents for not meeting a set of standards (presumably “science reasoning”) – and to do so Eisen transgresses those same standards. In short — well . . . hypocrisy.

His article attacks Informed Consent, GMO Food Harm, and Food Safety proponents themselves, with a non-stop blast of logical fallacies (meaning they prove nothing) and demonstrably misleading and false science “facts.” My analysis turned up more than two dozen fallacies that mortify rational discourse and science reasoning – including a single sentence that commits six (6) logical fallacies !(5)

Commentary: What disturbs me most is how his article ignites a wildfire of false claims about GMO harm using numerous serious logical and factual errors – while fiercely and falsely proclaiming he is doing so in the name of Science with a capital “S”. — Ouch.

Eisen never mentions (or realizes?) that he and Food Safety proponents might each embrace science but have different philosophies or values. Not a different view of science methods, reasoning or facts, but different judgments on how to apply scientifically generated facts to potential harm from GMOs to the real world, to real people, to real farmers who don’t want GMOs, and to actual living animals and ecosystems.

That’s not a conflict with science methodology or facts, its just another political dispute between different values for harm and benefit. Eisen apparently sees all benefits and no possible harm from GMO food, and Food Safety people presumably find serious potential harm and little to no benefits.

Here’s what I found after carefully reviewing his article.

Red-Herring or Distraction Fallacy

Contrary to the article’s inflammatory title, it provides no evidence of war or attack on science by Food Safety proponents

Monsanto and other Seed makers have threatened Researchers investigating GMO harms with lawsuits if they merely publish their findings(6)

GMOs cannot be proven harmless

The article provided no fallacy-free pro-GMO arguments, and

Eisen should support labeling foods as GMOs so he can avoid GMO-free food.

What really makes me uncomfortable is when Eisen claims high authority as spokesperson for “Science,” then he’s purporting to speak for me and anyone else who cares about science.

In that case he darn well better have his logical ducks in a row.

But, he doesn’t.

Not even close.

If you enjoy a logical puzzle – before you read my analysis, see if you can identify the sentence with the six logical fallacies in Eisen’s article “The anti-GMO campaign’s dangerous war on science“. Warning note: Eisen’s article contains two other sentences with at least three logical fallacies each – this guy is a marvel.

Here is the entire analysis in PDF format: “Michael Eisen’s Angry, Hypocrisy Drenched Assault on Informed Consent using Massive Fallacious Reasoning while Ironically Brandishing the Banner of ‘Science’“

# # #

Next, lets have a Contest to see who can find the most logical fallacies in any single sentence that was intended as a public statement.

The best answers will get a copy of Darrell Huff’s book “How to Lie with Statistics.”

To enter – just write up your findings in a reply.

_______________________

Here are the Notes and References for this article:

1. Click here for the full Analysis (in PDF) “Michael Eisen’s Angry, Hypocrisy Drenched Assault on Informed Consent using Massive Fallacious Reasoning while Ironically Brandishing the Banner of “Science””

2. Fallacy Resources: Logically Fallacious, by Bo Bennett, Wikipedia’s list of logical fallacies, a ~~“Master List of Logical Fallacies” courtesy of the University of Texas~~, and a (sometimes hilarious) list of wonderfully ironic examples of fallacies.

3. Susan in “Patrick’s Love Cupboard” episode

4. Michael Eisen’s article “The anti-GMO campaign’s dangerous war on science”

5. Full (Award Nominated) quote of sentence with six logical fallacies —

“For the backers of the initiative to claim otherwise as a finding of fact is an outright lie, and an outlandish attack on science.”

6. “Do Seed Companies Control GM Crop Research?”, Scientific American, August 13, 2009

“Scientists must ask corporations for permission before publishing independent research on genetically modified crops. That restriction must end”

___________________________________________

David Dilworth is the editor of likely the largest database of environmental impacts which compiles the best available science, experiment based research, on over 1,000 different kinds of environmental harms, mitigations, and thoughtful, reasonable alternatives to avoid those harms.

	Boston Marathon Bomb April 15, 2013	Texas Fertilizer Explosion April 17, 2013	Deaths by Doctors & Hospitals April 15, 2013
Killed	3	14	120-600 See references 1, 2 and 3)
News Coverage	Massive, worldwide	Widespread	None.
Presidential acknowledgement of the deaths.	Yes, Attended and Spoke at Memorial Service	Yes "A tight-knit community has been shaken, and good, hard-working people have lost their lives,"	Silent. Zero acknowledgment.
Presidential Visit	Yes	No	No
President On Those Responsible	"Yes we will find you, and yes, you will face justice…"	Silent about the West Fertilizer Co. plant Owners	Silent about the Doctors and Hospitals

War vs Justice and Peace "War is Peace" - George Orwell, in the classic book "1984"
(Blue=good acts) (Red=bad acts)	Bush	Obama
Iraq War (4,429 US soldiers killed in Iraq as of Nov 2010)	Started War. Reluctantly lowered troop levels.	"Ended War" Oct 2011. Removed some "combat" Troops in 2010, but he leaves more than 50,000 US Troops and 86,000 private military contractors (Pentagon estimate); such as Blackhawk.(Ref: NPR) Killed Reuters reporter and civilians from a US helicopter. (Ref: Wikileaks video)
Afghanistan War (At least 10,000 civilians killed)	Started War.	Added 30,000 Troops the week before he received Nobel "Peace" prize.
Pakistan War	Though no official "War" he created a program that killed Pakistani civilians starting in 2004. he	Started or continued Bush's "War." Quadrupled use of pilotless drones, killed 700 civilians in 2009, including children at a wedding.
Libya War 2011	None	Started War with "humanitarian" excuse and cover from a UN resolution, with no Congressional authorization or reauthorization - before or after the 60 day legal limit).
Honduras Military Coup June 28, 2009 including kidnapping of President Zelaya	Unknown	Obama said he was deeply concerned, yet Provided political support with full acknowledgement that it was "illegal and unconstitutional." (Wikileaks, Truth-out.org, and Black Left)
Murderous Indonesian Government	Accepted Ban on funding training for murderous Special Forces called Kopassus.	Strongly endorsed the Indonesian military government by lifting a 12 year ban on funding training for their Special Forces called Kopassus that murders civilians.
Pilot-less Bombers (Drones)	Created program, killed Pakistani civilians starting in 2004.	Continues program. Quadrupled use of Military Drones since Bush. Killed 700+ Pakistani civilians from 2009 - 2010. (Not including the Granai Massacre in Afghanistan.)
Haiti's elected President Aristide Kidnapped, Assisted by US -CIA	Authorized Kidnapping Assistance	Fought to stop democratically elected President Aristide returning to Haiti through March 2011
"Well, the US Military-Industrial Complex will have to come up with another permanent threat." -David Walton in 1989, upon learning of the Berlin Wall removal ending the "Cold-war." Electing Obama just "Traded One War Monger for Another" - Tim Gatto

Rule of Law "We must be governed by the force of law, not by the law of force." -- William Sloane Coffin "Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins." -- John Locke
Guilty Until Proven Innocent. (Legal Burden / Responsibility Turned Upside Down)	Anyone Bush didn't like.	Prior to any trial, Obama declared the guilt of 1) accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning, 2) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and 3) anyone present in Pakistan disputed areas who were killed by Obama's drones, and of course 4) Osama bin Laden - who was never charged with any crime related to 9/11. Arranged Muammar Gaddafi's murder, though a native Libyan fired the bullet Oct 2011.
Assassination and Murder. Claiming "James Bond" authority to target and murder American citizens outside combat zone.	Asserted Executive Right to Assassinate Foreign Nationals, not Americans.	Ordered the Assassination of at least one American Citizen and probably others, despite an Executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and several international laws of war Obama killed hundreds, and as many as 1,629 foreign civilians, using US military drones outside "War" zone. Osama bin Laden was assassinated. Fighting to assert this authority. (Ref: ACLU.org/ofac)
Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda Founder and Leader	Remarkably unsuccessful	Invaded a Foreign Country (that we were not engaging in war) to kill him without a trial or any formal charges in May 2011.
CIA Kidnappings (Doublespeak: "Extraordinary Rendition" means Kidnapping)	Refused to Prosecute and blocked Italian Prosecution of CIA Kidnapping an innocent man.	Refused to Prosecute any of CIA's criminal acts including kidnapping innocent civilians. Blocked Italian Prosecution of CIA Kidnapping an innocent man.
Military Tribunals	Used them to evade higher legal standards of US Judicial System and Open Courts	Intends to keep using them, though implying they have ended. "Obama will resume military commission trials of Guantanamo detainees" - Daily Kos. Gitmo prisoner treatment is little changed since G.W. Bush.
Torture by Military including Rumsfield and Cheney who gave the Directions	"The Torture President" Refused to Prosecute all except lowest level staff.	Refused to Prosecute anyone. Then arm-twisted Spain and Germany to prevent international prosecution of Bush officials. (Motherjones.com and WikiLeaks)
Guantanamo Bay "GiTMO" - Offshore Prison to permanently keep accused away from American Courts	Opened and defended this facility noted for torture and abuse.	Prison still holds 172 prisoners as of February 2011 even though Obama pledged to close it by 2010.
DisHonest Science	Bush "suppresses, distorts and manipulates" scientific work. - Union of Concerned Scientists	Released a Scientific Integrity Directive in 2010. However, 25% of US scientists complain that they were required to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information" in spite of Obama's Inaugural speech promise to "restore science to its rightful place". (See "We're waiting, Mr President", December 2010 by Peter Aldhous in NewScientist about Research by Union of Concerned Scientists)
Signing Statements	Objected to 1,200 sections of laws passed by Congress (1,200 provisions in about 150 bills).	Continues use of Signing Statements after condemning them during campaign.

Human Rights and Civil Rights "Badges? We don't need no stinking Badges." - Film: Treasure of the Sierra Madre
CIA Kidnapping (sometimes wholly innocent) people to Secret Prisons by "Extraordinary Rendition"	Created this crime. Prisons in Romaina and a Lithuania Horse Arena. See also Wikipedia article	Falsely claims to have closed this program. New York Times reports in 2009 on the Bagram "Black" US Prison in Afghanistan. They argue the CIA Order does not apply because the prison is run by military Special Operations. Plus, an official (but secret) Obama policy allows detainees kept at black jails for 2 weeks. (See Extraordinary rendition brief by Frontline. and Wikipedia on Black Sites.
Torture "Enhanced Interrogation" including Waterboarding	Water Boarding crimes admitted	Executive Order stops torture in theory (Jan 22, 09), but "your mileage may vary" Obama keeps secret the information on interrogation and confinement of terrorists. In 2009 Obama's "Justice" Dept. argued in a civil case that the "illegality of torture was not clearly established" when the innocent prisoners were tortured.
Force Feeding Guantanamo Inmates	Began program	Continues program. (Ref: "Food Fight brews at Gitmo", NewScientist July 28, 2009)
"Patriot" Act	Created this broad and deep systematic Constitutional violation program allowing the FBI to search telephone, email, medical records and financial records without a court order. The FBI obtained more than one million financial, credit, employment records this way.	Obama signed two extensions, to continue the program, minus only those parts rejected by courts. He is trying to get a 3 year extension (Feb 2011)
Secret Home Searches, "Sneak and Peek"	Created this program with the Patriot Act.	Continues program, wants it extended.
*Wire Tapping phone calls (and faxes) unrelated to Terrorism of all Americans domestically* and without Court warrant.**	Created this criminal program.	Continuing Program; expanding the international parts, & "adamantly" defending Bush's wiretapping ! (Ref: Court Case in SF Federal Court, July 15, 2009)
Allow DNA analysis for defendants (Supreme Ct case Osborne in Alaska, June 09)	Created this position to Oppose allowing Defendants to Prove their Innocence with DNA analysis.	Continues program to Oppose allowing Defendants to Prove their Innocence with DNA analysis.
Mail - Postal "Service" now Records all data on outside of all US mail "and more." Program created in 1998, during Clinton Term.	Continued program, First exposed in 2008	Continues program
Miranda Rights	Did not weaken these. In fact, FBI agents read Miranda rights to several detainees overseas and got blasted by pundits.	Suspended Miranda Rights for "Domestic Terrorists"

Open v Secret Government
Freedom of Information Requests	Hid essentially everything from Public requiring the media and interested people to go to court.	Theory: "Adopt a presumption in favor" of releasing information Reality: See the next items for how Obama is still fiercely hiding vital info. (Ref:January 21, 2009 Executive Order # 13489 titled "Transparency and Open Government")
Torture program documents	Refused to disclose any part of programs - even after media reports.	On Sept 1, 09 Obama's CIA refused to release torture program documents.
Torture Photos	Secret, Hid them until leaked.	Keeps them Secret (after promising to release them)
Attacking / Prosecuting the Messenger (Media) - Ignoring Murderers	Never prosecuted Cheney or Rumsfeld.	Massive Attack on Media (State Dept doesn't want students discussing Wikileaks.). No meaningful investigation of Murders of Iraqi Civilians and Reuters staff from US Military Helicopter "Collateral Murder" - video published by Wikileaks.
Hiding Photographs of US dead soldiers coming back from war.	Started this PR practice with Iraq to prevent American sympathy from growing.	Obama allows photos of coffins, but prohibits images of dead or wounded; plus Obama had Congress adopt a specific Exemption for these photos. (October 2009)
Bush / Cheney Documents	All Hidden from Public	Hides Bush/Cheney documents and the same documents from his own administration.
White House Visitor Logs	Secret (Energy Execs.)	Providing White House Visitor Logs, after a year of keeping them secret, but only after being sued by CREW using FOIA. Obama Explicitly exempts "Presidential records" Financial Execs, "Health" execs as "not federal records" (Ref: Lawsuit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, July 2009)
Secret Laws	Secret laws prevent American citizens understanding what laws Bush's strategies for interrogation, detention, surveillance and prosecution are operating under.	Obama's secret Awlaki memo prevents American citizens understanding what laws they are operating under.
Civilian Death Reports of Afghanistan & Pakistan	Unknown	Secret (but news of dead civilians at weddings and picnics leaked out)
Trying to Censor and damage WikiLeaks	Bush never bothered Wikileaks.	Using Pentagon and Secret Agencies (CIA, NSA) to attack WikiLeaks, investigate & try to prosecute them.
Secret Government Monitoring of Private Web Communication	"Created?" and increased a system that copies and stores all emails, phone calls and faxes passing through ATT to the CIA.	Continues Bush ATT program, AND Obama backed a bill that prohibits any communication that is encrypted and cannot be read by the US government. Oct 2010
State Secrets broad Abuse, Keeping secrecy evidence and decision out of courts' jurisdiction.	Bush Started this outrageous program	Did set up Justice Dept review committee. "Just trust us" model - BUT Obama / Holder continues Bush practices (Sept 30, 09) even though he criticized it during campaign.

Our Environment
Improved Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards (first improvement in 32 years)	Began Program	Signed Bill into Law
Tongass Wilderness Logging	Started Program	Gave Final Clear-Cut Logging Approval July 15, 2009
Western Oregon / Washington (WOPR) Logging Escalation	Created it and fought it all the way to court.	Canceled Program July 16, 2009, but did it illegally. Now logging corporations can overturn it in court.
Nuclear Energy Program	Supportive, but no serious effort put into it.	"We're trying to re-start it." - Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Nov 28, 2010. Even though Obama campaigned not to push Nuclear energy until waste problems were solved. (Waste problems are not solved: There is still is no place to put waste as of Fall 2012)
Polar Bear Extinction	Overruled Polar Bear's imperiled situation from limiting oil drilling.	Continued Bush Policy in 2009. Polar Bears are on their own; get no protection from oil drilling.
Deepwater drilling permits with no environmental review. (Gulf Oil Spill)	Issued Deepwater drilling permits in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico with no environmental review.	Issued new, 2011, Deepwater drilling permits in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico with no environmental review. Obama authorized use of toxic dispersants for oil spills – Bush didn’t.
Offshore Oil Drilling	Allowed Drilling with Faulty and Non-existent Environmental Review	Trying to Increase Drilling as of May 2011
Air Pollution	Worked Hard to Weaken Clean Air Protection, but pretended to be making them stronger.	Killed plans to Reduce Smog, Sept 2011
Obama's generally anti-environmental record is a dramatic contrast with the strong environmental protection record of the Congressional Black Caucus