Journalist, Plaintiff Chris Hedges Hails “Monumental” Ruling Blocking NDAA Indefinite Detention

From Democracy Now, an interview with journalist Chris Hedges, about the importance of federal Judge Katherine Forrest’s ruling that the indefinite detention provision of the National Defense Authorization Act likely violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.

 
In the following excerpt from the transcript of the interview above, Hedges wonders who — in the face of high opposition to the NDAA both from the public and from Democrats as well as Republicans within the government — continues to push this legislation, and why:

None of the Pentagon, the FBI, as you—Mueller and everyone else, as you pointed out—none of them supported the bill, even to the extent where Mueller and others were testifying before Congress that it would make their work more difficult. And yet it passes anyway. And it is a kind of—I think it’s a kind of mystery to the rest of us as to what are the forces that—when you have the security establishment publicly opposing it, what are the forces that are putting it in place? And I can only suppose that what they’re doing is setting up a kind of legal mechanism to criminalize any kind of dissent. And Bruce can speak to this a little more. But in the course of the trial, with Alexa O’Brien, US Day of Rage, that WikiLeaks dump of five million emails of the public security firm Stratfor, we saw in those email correspondence an attempt to link US Day of Rage with al-Qaeda. Once they link you with a terrorist group, then these draconian forms of control can be used against legitimate forms of protest, and particularly the Occupy movement.

Baby Goat “Vanilla,” Born Lame in Both Front Legs

This is a baby goat (named “Vanilla”) born about two weeks ago, born lame in both front legs, on the farm of a friend of ours. If our friend hadn’t checked on the progress of mama goat’s labor at about 3 AM, Vanilla might not have made it through the night, being unable to get right up and walk and nurse within minutes of her birth, like her sibling.

Our friend has now rigged her up with splints, hinged at the knee. It is too soon to tell whether she will grow out of her infirmity, so her fate is quite uncertain.

In the meantime, as you can see from the short video below, she has the spunk and energy and the the soaring ambition of the healthiest of goats: much to our surprise, she tried hopping as we were taking this video!

Chauncey Poston on Disclosure Law, and the Idaho-Maryland Mine

We attended a workshop at the Miner’s Foundry last weekend that included an interesting presentation by local realtor (and longtime citizen activist) Chauncey Poston, on the subject of “disclosure law.”

During the question period, I asked him whether, in his view, the current application by Emgold Corporation to re-open the Idaho-Maryland Mine would be considered an important fact to disclose to potential buyers of property in Nevada County.

He replied that he has been disclosing that fact to prospective buyers for at least the last six years.

A day or so later, in response to a follow-up question I sent him via email (asking whether he believed his local colleagues in the real estate business are following the same practice) he sent me this clarification:

Don:

The answer to your question is “I would hope so.” The subject of the mine re-opening is common knowledge to any person with a heart beat living in western Nevada county. Using the excuse “I didn’t know” would be indefensible. You simply can not get around that conclusion. Any Realtor listing or selling property in the area around the mine would be foolish not to discuss the mine with sellers, convincing them to disclose, and informing buyers (disclose) of the possibility of the mine re-opening. In a perfect world, the mine would be a topic of discussion between the buyer and his agent upon first visiting the property. In the end, disclosure of the mine would come from three entities: the seller, the listing agent, and the buyers agent.

The big problem, as I see it, is to determine just how wide a swath from the mine location should disclosure be important. Impacts from the mine could be far reaching. An example, wells up on Banner Mountain have the potential of going dry if the water table in corrupted. Traffic and noise have the potential of causing disturbance far away from the mine site. Just how far do we need to go with disclosure? That is the million dollar question.

Only a full and brutally honest EIR will come close to answering those questions as well as the hundred more questions uncovered by an adequate EIR.

Sincerely,

Chauncey.”

My reply to Chauncey included these remarks:

I see your point about the million dollar question. Even hydrologists who’ve studied the first DEIR admit that they can’t predict with any certainty how widespread the impact of dewatering on wells might be.

I believe that local citizens generally don’t fully appreciate how massive this project would be: the underground extent of IMM goes from directly under the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, under Brunswick Basin and all the way out to the Y intersection of Brusnwick and 174. It encompasses almost as many square acres underground as does the entire incorporated city limits of Grass Valley.

Grass Valley Police Investigating Another Suspicious Death

I just received this alert from the Grass Valley Police Department:

Advisory: GRASS VALLEY POLICE INVESTIGATING ANOTHER SUSPICIOUS DEATH

…

GRASS VALLEY, CA – The Grass Valley Police Department is investigating a report of a body found in Memorial Park earlier this morning.

Police Dispatch received a call shortly after 7:00am today advising of a body found in Memorial Park located on the city’s southeast side.

Preliminary investigation confirmed the finding of an unclothed body of a Caucasian female, approximately 45 to 55 years of age, having been discovered near a pair of dumpster located in the general parking lot.

The Grass Valley Police have requested the assistance of the California Department of Justice in processing the scene. Additionally, the Nevada County District Attorney’s Office and Special Investigators are assisting with the investigation.

Anyone who may have information regarding this incident or other crime in the city is encouraged to contact the Grass Valley Police Department at 530.477.4600.

##
Contact Information:
Captain Rex Marks
Case#12-001207
530-477-4600
Rmarks@gvpd.net

UPDATE (4:11 PM): Police have positively identified the body found this morning as that of LEANN JANE SHUFFIELD: 49 Yrs, of Grass Valley.

An autopsy is planned with the Nevada County Coroner’s Office to determine the cause of death. The circumstances leading up to Ms. Shuffield’s death remains under investigation at this time.

You Probably Don’t “Have Time” for this Maurice Sendak Interview

Terry Gross of NPR’s “Fresh Air” interviewed Maurice Sendak four times over several decades, the first time in the mid-1980s and most recently several months ago. Her show yesterday was a compilation of all those interviews, a full hour dedicated to Sendak.

Radio is not so fashionable these days, and most of us don’t “have time” to listen to interviews, but I have to say this is the finest work Terry Gross has ever done. You get a real sense of Sendak’s tortured and in the end joyful and completely realized life as an artist and as a human being.

In one of the interviews, Sendak explains to Gross why he stopped doing book signings for children, and why he stopped visiting kids in their classrooms: he realized that he had become one of those frightening and problematic adults that many of his monsters were meant to depict!

One little boy who had been standing in line with his copy of “Where The Wild Things Are” — upon being pushed forward by his father for Sendak’s signature — defiantly and bravely screamed “Don’t crap-up my book!!!”

Sendak loved this kid, and took the father aside to plead mercy for him.

In the course of these four interviews over the years, he developed a trust in Terry Gross and clearly a fondness for her. In the last interview several months ago, Sendak — who had always been obsessed with death (in a good Buddhist way, it seems to me, although he was actually a secular jew and a dedicated atheist) — in the last interview he told Terry “I’ll cry my way to the grave,” and a little later, “I’m not afraid of death” and a little after that “I’ll probably die before you, which is good because I won’t have to cry over you.”

Sendak, a very very sweet man. RIP.

Listen to the compilation of the Terry Gross interviews with Maurice Sendak here if you … “have time:”

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