Misogyne of Steve Forrester

It appears that ever since the death of his mother, Eleanor Aldrich Forrester, the editor and publisher of Clatsop County's one and only daily hard copy has run editorials and news stories degrading strong women in politics. Weak, ineffectual women earn his praises, in a paternal sort of way, but the strong willed, self-driven women continue to be debased and destroyed in his editorials and news articles.

The smear campaigns Forrester has led against Ann Samuelson adds one more woman to the bedpost above his desk. Like the college boys of old time frat houses, competing in acquiring the most trophies to show their power over the "lessor" sex, Forrester mops the floor with the lives of the women who appear to have more power than he will ever wield. Both Forrester and fhe old time frats use their weakest, and most unbending, member to thrust the most degrading acts they can fathom on those they consider impotent to stop them.

Now that he has finished raping the integrity of Ann Samuelson Forrester will set his phallic pen once again on Commissioner Roberts. Although men, too, sat on the NOAH board and it was in trouble before Roberts, as liaison from the County board, volunteered to serve on it, Forrester will train all of his venom and misplaced oedipal tendencies on Roberts.

It is sad to see the hatred this man apparently had for his mother played out in the public arena. And hatred it must be. One can only imagine how it felt to be out shined by a mother with the journalistic talent, innate abilities and focused drive of Eleanor Forrester. To be reigned in, corrected and edited, continuously, by her must have been a burning gall that, with her death, raged loose to match any tsunami that has ever hit this coast.

While it is with pity we watch a man embroiled in his own need for revenge lash out at the living , perhaps for the imagined acts of a departed mother, as a community we cannot and should not tolerate it.

Obviously, no one is left at the East Oregonian to reign in this man for his own good. For the good of the community its leaders must say "Enough is Enough!" We have lost too many fine women from public service. Too few are left in public office to allow the blatant smear campaigns to continue. The only thing that Forrester will understand is money. Cancel and refuse to advertise until he gets the psychological help he needs and the newspaper is no longer a tool used by a sick man bent on striking out, especially at a woman already dead.

Liar, liar, community on fire

Tomorrow evening a little over 8,000 voters make a decision for the rest of the county. Two commissioners who have committed no crime are in an election for a recall.

What are they charged with? The main complaint: "Not listening to the majority of their constituents" based on a broad, interpretive, statistical, reading of last year's referendum on a land use decision. The County Board voted 4-1 on a conditional land use decision permitting a pipeline to cross an acre of a private landowner's property that had been zoned OPR, which previously didn't permit pipelines.

Clatsop County's land use law permits pipelines through wetlands, through forests, through farmlands, but does not mention (or didn't until last year) OPR lands. Based on the fact that pipelines were allowed, conditionally, through such fragile systems as wetlands, the Board felt that conditionally allowing it through any other lands would be acceptable. The key word in this is "conditional".

Those opposing LNG howled. It is completely fine that they howled their disagreement. Disagreement is acceptable, it is even needed in order to maintain a balanced society. What isn't fine, what isn't balanced, is when lies are told that damage communities.

The lies started with telling people that pipelines could and would be put in parks where children played and people camped. Allowing conditional permits in certain zones would not allow that, and the person orchestrating the campaign knew it well enough since he had sat on the planning commission and currently sits on the recreational lands board. Auerbach's deliberate lies earn him nothing but disdain in the eyes of any honorable person in this debate.

They continued to lie to the voters by telling them that the issue had nothing to do with the Bradwood Project nor would it have any impact on the project adding, "Even people for LNG are against pipelines in parks." Within 10 days of the referendum being defeated Columbia Riverkeepers was writing to Federal and State departments demanding that the project be shut down because of the referendum vote, stating that the project would have to be altered now that an alternative pipeline route would have to be found. They wanted the permitting process to completely start over.

They lied to the voters when LUBA returned its decision. They promised voters that the Board was committing illegal or unethical acts in approving multiple land use decisions for the property owner's development. Columbia Riverkeepers challenged 23 of the decisions, another entity challenged 8 decisions for a total of 31 decisions that were asked to be overturned. On the day LUBA made its decision, upholding 29 of the decisions in favor of the Board, these people published a press release stating they had won and LUBA had overturned the Board's land use decision! A blatant lie. The newspaper refused to publish the truth that LUBA had merely remanded two decisions. A remand is for clarification. 50,000 pages of documentation had been done over a four year process and these people continue to say that the process was rushed through and decisions made were sloppy and without due process. Lies.

They continue to lie when they tell people that 67% of the county is against LNG, or even when they say 67% of the voters are against it. In reality, barely 39% of the voting population cast a ballot against the referendum and many of them thought it was merely about pipelines in parks, just as was shoved at them.

What makes these liars truly despicable is the total disregard they have for their fellow citizens. It would be different if these people were to give the voter the truth so that they could make up their own minds as to whether or not they want to sacrifice their money, their livelihoods, or their homes for the ideals that these people hold, but they don't give them that choice to freely make.

If the voter wants to pay higher prices for energy (and all that energy provides), now, in the hopes that everyone, including the renewables themselves, are wrong and that solar, wind and wave is a mere five years away (instead of a minimum 15 years for a mere 15% -or less- of the energy needs, as predicted) then that should be their choice. All of our choice. They should know the truth. We all deserve the truth. LNG isn't dangerous, dangerous pipelines will never be placed in children's playgrounds. Simply, in some people's opinions using LNG will delay people investing in renewable energy development.

But these people parading in red, wearing fish on their heads and shaking green signs have little respect for the intelligence of the average voter. They have been taught in their seminars that the average voter is too stupid to understand the "implications" of each land use decision. Too ignorant to comprehend the long term effect of a "bridge" to renewable energy. That the only way to make them understand is through emotion and the strongest emotion to hit them with at the ballot box is fear. Through fear mongering they want to pressure investors to pour money into renewable energy technology. They want their way and the end justifies the means.

If that is true then what the "average" voter should fear in this election is proving to these people that they are right. If these two commissioners are recalled these people will be coming for Warrenton City Council next and after that the Port. With each entity they will use fear and intimidation and pretty soon one group of people will be completely satisfied with life in Clatsop County. A fraction of 39% will be living the life they knew they could, they knew they deserved, when they moved here.

And the rest of us will be serving them.

Monday morning breaks with the knowledge that 8,403 people decide the fate of Clatsop County, tomorrow, whether they voted or not. More in this election then at any other time in the history of Clatsop County, every vote counts. Don't throw that ballot in the garbage. If you live in District 1 or 5 and go to work on Wednesday, don't be the one that says you didn't care to vote. This one IS relying on you. In last year's November elections two people won with a difference of under 5 votes. Think about it. Scrape the potato peelings off the ballot, slip it into an envelope (or go down to the election office at 820 Exchange St for a new one) and vote.

Der Kampf In Klatsop

Ludwig Richter – Fight with the Dragon

While many are defined by what they support, there are a few that are known, almost exclusively, by what they oppose.

Fascist: noun, defined by what s/he opposes, namely individualism, rationalism, capitalism, criticism and conservatism.

Opposes: corporations, industries, individual endeavor.

Supports: significant government control over business, labor, media, individual liberties.

Strives for: the common good, the greater good, as defined by them.

Watching it in action: on the steps of public building and in the classroom, where Fascists accost one and all with a litany of lies, speaking to press they can control, savagely attacking opposing ideas.

When in the middle of a "war" the theory is to make the "other" subhuman. By doing so it becomes "okay" to viciously attack those who are not as "human" as you are. After all, they "deserve" to be attacked, they aren't human.

Fascists are humans. They do not deserve to be viciously attacked. They deserve to be identified. The public deserves to be fully informed and deserves to know information is being kept from them. No allusions to conspiracies, nor vague hints of scandal or gossip. Proof of actual information illegally kept from the public eye.

One local paper has done its utmost to turn public servants into subhumans, leading the charge of allusions. It is okay to viciously attack public servants at any level because, after all, they are not really human. It is okay to allude to a vague something, fill in the blank spots with whatever heinous crime a public official may have ever committed, because they aren't like you and I. They aren't really "human".

With a dearth of evidence "shenanigans" is repeatedly screeched across headlines and in news stories. Retracted later, small print, page 15. Fascist point made, who reads page 15?

Don't fascist support government? Why are they attacking these people? Fascist love only their own. All else must be destroyed or controlled. This is for the common good, the greater good. The good that only they have the capacity to understand and through their leadership it will save us all.

Saved to live in their world. Heaven or hell? No worries, Fascists will also tell you how you should feel about it.

It IS shenanigans!

The second favorite word in the handbook of Daily Astorian typesetters, right behind "grassroots" as many can attest, is shenanigans. Everyone, according to the paper, is up to shenanigans, and the word must be used in a minimum of a half dozen stories a day.

It is a convenient word, since to most it just means "up to something" and after all, isn't everyone "up to something"? Doesn't news sell better if the reader gets the inside on what those "shenanigans" are? Does it matter to anyone that the shenanigans usually end up being nothing? Is there a breaking point when people say, "enough" and is the paper prodding until that point is found?

Amusingly, earlier this summer the self-righteous editor of the paper wrote an editorial criticizing people who turn to blogs for their news. According to Webb, bloggers don't have fact checkers, such as himself, to hold accountable for the content of what they publish.

Hold themselves accountable? Fact checker? Shenanigans!!! Does he recall that word? A word that his reporter, in his newspaper, supposedly quoted one Eric Schmidt of saying in reference to our board of county commissioners. A word Eric Schmidt, with the Association of Oregon Counties, vehemently denied using and which the Daily Astorian, finally and with great reluctance, buried a retraction deep on a back page. Maybe those aren't the kind of "facts" Webb bothers himself with.

Does his boss do any better? According to a port commissioner Forrester supposedly found out, through his reliable sources and connections, that NOAA would never leave Seattle and that the port should quit throwing good money down the drain chasing a pipe dream.

Relying on the newspaperman's expertise for digging up the "truth" doing his homework and all his "fact checking" CEDR recommended to the port to back off going after the NOAA contract. After sinking $35,000 or so in consultant fees to get the project off the ground the port dropped the idea of bringing the NOAA fleet to Astoria, how can you fight with reason? If NOAA will never leave the taxpayer is going to be plenty pissed at seeing all that money spent.

And then the contract goes to Newport! Opportunity sails right past the mouth of the Columbia River, once again. Now where's the shout of SHENANIGANS? Oh the paper shouts it! Shenanigans, look over there! It was the county board that lost the NOAA deal, and mostly just the commissioners who are looking at a recall. Shenanigans! Look over there at NOHA and lets blame that on a commissioner! Shenanigans! One of the commissioners is challenging the petitioners on her recall. Oh, damn, they can only get a picture of her sitting on a bench and talking to people when they come up to her.

BUT WHERE'S THE REAL SHENANIGANS??? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when a newspaper editor and publisher lies to keep a fleet out of the town, in fear that it might bring in another daily paper? Where's the headlines of SHENANIGANS when the same man continues to lie to his readers to keep out any industry that may allow the area to grow and prosper?

Can one man be so petty and small to keep a region destitute solely so he can maintain his own sense power? Maybe, for once, his shenanigans have gone too far and given the choice of his paper of lies or no paper at all people will choose: no news is good news.

Sheriff Bergin to Arrest District Attorney Marquis according to Daily Astorian

That is, according to the Daily Astorian anyone who is doing something illegal can suffer legal sanctions, no one is above the law and if a district attorney is doing something illegal he can expect to be arrested by a sheriff in any county, even Clatsop.

So what if the rest of the story isn’t as interesting as the headline, it got people to stop, take a look, read the article and maybe slap down seventy-five cents for the paper. At least, that is what the Daily Astorian is betting on. While its stories have little content and can only win an award if running against its sister newspapers in competitions that its owner contributes monetarily to, the Daily A can boast of its superfluous headlines, causing one to look twice and even give it a hard third blink before a slow wag of the head shakes off the incredulous realization that the editors are once again trying to pass off their words as a full blown “news” story.

Kroger says LNG can be stopped … if the company transporting it does something illegal. That's it. A big, "Do you think?" to the Daily Astorian and a logical conclusion that one would think that Kroger’s argument is pretty weak as he goes in front of the Ninth Circuit Court. One would think Kroger would say something like going through the Ninth Circuit would delay the construction which could put the Bradwood project in a permanent downward spin, investors dropping out. But Kroger didn’t say anything like that. Wonder why?

Sidebar: Could be that going to the Ninth Circuit doesn’t stop anything. Appealing the FERC permit doesn’t stop Bradwood. The permit stands as granted until the end of the trial. The time line for appeals is notoriously long. In Raich vs Ashcroft, Raich appealed in March 2003. While the Ninth Circuit had a decision by December of 2003 their decision was appealed, first for reconsideration and then to the Supreme Court with a decision in July 2005.

How many headlines do you think the Daily A can pull out of a long recess like that? Kroger takes on USA? Kroger fights the good fight while economy tanks? What headlines will look the best to a governor wannabe? If Marquis becomes the next US Attorney for Oregon will he continue writing for the Daily Astorian? Some say he'll have to given what he'll be making. When VandenHuevel took over for Foster the quality of articles went down in the Daily Astorian regarding LNG. VandenHuevel doesn’t do quite the job Foster did but Webb is the same old sloppy editor never catching poor research or letting little white lies slip through in the interest of saving a headline.

What kind of headlines do we have to look forward to in the future? Astoria Set to Slide Into River (if the Cascadia subduction zone starts shaking things up). Clatsop County will burn to the ground (if predictions for rising temperatures hold true). Webb’s fingertips must itch at all the stories he has had to bypass because of his paper’s commitment to Forrester’s warped philosophies and debts.

DA Uses Pubic Office to Oust County Commissioner was a headline that Webb had to have wept at passing up. Sheriff’s Secret Service Keep Dossiers, Private Citizens Probed by Agents, another one he had to let go. Democrats Paranoid Elite Control the Party Line, No one’s crossing; Jewell Witch Hunt: Season Open; Sheriff Closes Shelter, tells freeloaders to go home; the list of real headlines that Webb passed on is immeasurable.

Truth is more bizarre than fiction. The stories the Daily Astorian is keeping in its vault are much more interesting and factual than the sensational lies they make up to keep control over the local populace and vote. Too bad for those who want to know the truth, too bad for those revolted by human hubris, too bad for those whose lives have been destroyed by lies. But what the hell, it’s all just entertainment.

Kulongoski's Duplicity

Governor Kulongoski must be called out on his duplicity. Any responsible editor, any responsible politician, any responsible citizen of Oregon would take the time to call this man on the carpet for his consistent duplicity in dealing with the public on the subject of energy.

In one breath he tells the media that they must take on the responsibility of educating the public. The media needs to be in the forefront at giving the public the information of where Oregon is really at in regards to how much energy is consumed, where that energy is coming from, what energy is immediately available, what energy resources will be available in the immediate future and long term. His goal, according to Kulongoski, is affordable, reliable, energy. In the next breath, Kulongoski cowers and hides behind his own lies.

Kulongoski’s goal is politically motivated. Pure and simple. Whether or not he wants to run for governor again, his allegiance is to his party and not to the people of Oregon. His mouth says whatever is convenient for the moment. He has allowed the working class of Oregon to be taken political hostage by groups of ecological extremists whose philosophies will be Oregon’s downfall. Ecological extremists who use Oregon as their playground while their business interests, their incomes, their other homes, are elsewhere. In states that have realistic energy plans, realistic business opportunities, realistic land use laws, realistic growth.

It takes courage to stand up to the extremist groups, the shrill voices that feel it is their right to misinform as many people as they want, as often as they want. Kulongoski chooses, instead, to champion their cause. He wants to ensure that their right to misinform is respected. While Bradwood Landing has gone through one of the most vigorous and open hearing processes in the history of siting an LNG terminal, Kulongoski has misinformed the public that FERC has rushed the process, and he publicly calls for a "full rehearing."

Can this man be so ignorant? Can he ignore 54,000+ pages of notes detailing the process that has gone into getting the permits for siting the terminals at Bradwood Landing? Calling this amount of work “rushed” when he tells the people of Oregon that he will ensure that they have reliable and affordable energy is a blatant example of his duplicity. It is an example of how he will enable the extremists to hold the working class of Oregon hostage in the political power struggle over energy.

While Oregon very well could have been in the forefront showing how a nation moves gradually, and, therefore, smoothly, purposefully and steadily towards renewable energy from a heavy reliance on fossil fuel it will now be in the forefront of the nation on how extremists use political terror to manipulate a governor while crushing the working class. Oregon will be the welfare state, with all either relying on state subsidies to keep the renewable energy plants operating or food stamps to keep themselves going.

The Internet Connection

Click above to see our first newsletter.
Print it out, take it to work, mail it to your friends.

Occasionally we will put together a newletter. Our half-assed attempt at bringing you some hardcopy, REAL news, representing a range of topics that are traveling the blogosphere.

This one is about, yep, LNG! Get the lowdown that the Daily Astorian doesn't have the brains to tell you, the Signal doesn't have the man power and the Gazette doesn't even know we're in the same county!

Print it out, bring it to work, mail it to a friend. You never know if your blog's in it!

Remember to think about it. Do you want to leave your land use options open, or do you want to limit your land use rights even more? Do you want a strong transmission infrastructure for energy and technology, or do you want one so encumbered by land use laws no energy company, green, reusable, or otherwise will never want to come here? Do you understand what the job of the Board of County Commissioners is, as a quasi-judicial "court" and what your vote is doing to that process? Think about this. We're voting yes, make your vote COUNT!