The Bully Pulpit

Horse dollops and trampled purple flowers — it's Eureka's Rhododendron detritus.

On one hand, it's the pinnacle of absurdity. A parade held every year in honor of a flower that no one I know even cares to look at. The rhododendron? C'mon — might as well have a truckers' parade at Christmas.

They are generic flowers for generic yards, and they leak their pollen paint all over the sidewalks and shrubberies of Humboldt County.

On the other hand, I know my deceased grandmother-in-law will be smiling down from above on the Shriners in their little cars, and on the atonal middle school marching bands. Sometimes, tradition trumps good taste.

Posted by James Faulk at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I pushed and prodded all three of my kids out onto the back porch last night so we could catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse. It was pretty spectacular.

According to some online resources, it will be two years before the next one hits the night-time skies. Last year, there were two, but the next isn't predicted until Dec. 20, 2010.

For those of you who don't know, a total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes into Earth's shadow and is blocked from the sun's rays. During an eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, leaving what seems to be an almost blood-stained satellite.

My nine-year-old was especially riveted by the display. He's at the age where things like this hold the kind of wonder that most of us lose as adults. It would be a worthwhile mission in life to retain even a tenth of that imaginative power. He makes it fun to corral all the kids onto the porch for these kinds of things.

Update:

Shaky video filmed by Jen Morey, of the Times-Standard:

Posted by James Faulk at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This just came in from Editor Glenn Franco Simmons of the Eureka Reporter, in response to my last entry. It should be pointed out that the Times-Standard has had several articles and columns that mention Economic Fuel over the past several years.

It's a mouthful, certainly, but a name is a name is a name.

James,

I haven’t read your blog because I don’t read blogs, but someone mentioned it to me. You may print this on your blog if you like, but please include it all.

You might, for accuracy’s sake, say that in my e-mails to John Driscoll and your publisher, I gave credit to the Times-Standard for its efforts and apologized for the fact that we left out the fact that the T-S got the transcripts released. We should give credit where credit is deserved, I agree. It was not an intentional omission. It was simply a mistake and we will credit the T-S as appropriate in all other stories as it relates to this subject. To do otherwise would be unethical and unprofessional.

I wasn’t on duty last night nor did I see the story prior to publication, but all the T-S had to do was to e-mail me or phone me this morning to tell me of the omission and I would have taken care of it. Instead, John Driscoll sent off another one of his insulting and arrogant e-mails to me and the reporter without knowing the facts.

In my subsequent e-mails to John Driscoll and your publisher, I stand by what I wrote — which was strongly worded, I admit. In those e-mails, I asked your publisher why the Times-Standard doesn’t cover The Eureka Reporter’s Economic Fuel, but your publisher refused to comment on this subject despite me asking him twice to comment on it.

It’s interesting that you expect recognition for something you did that was good and that you want it so stated in our paper, which it surely will be, but when we have an endeavor that is also good and communitywide, you ignore it and your publisher refuses to comment on it. That seems to be a bit hypocritical to me.

At least our omission was a mistake. Your omission is deliberate despite the fact the Economic Fuel helps the entire community.

Sincerely,

Glenn

Posted by James Faulk at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

In case you weren't aware, the Times-Standard over the past several weeks has been fighting a legal battle for your right to know.

Remember the Grand Jury that voted to indict former Eureka Police Chief Dave Douglas and Lt. Tony Zanotti? Those proceedings generated transcripts, and officials within the court system here in Humboldt County were doing their darndest to keep those documents under wraps.

But the old T-S wouldn't stand by for the fleecing of the masses. Under the direction of Kimberly Wear, city editor, as well as senior reporter John Driscoll and staff writer Thad Greenson, the T-S and its lawyers conducted a low-profile legal battle that ended Tuesday with the transcripts being released.

Enter the Eureka Reporter.

They conducted no battle for the transcripts or for your need to know what went on behind the Grand Jury's veil of secrecy. But conveniently they still managed, somehow, to get a hold of the documents roughly at the same time we did. Fine. As they say in the newspaper war, that's fair game.

But then they write a story quoting from the legal arguments used against us, and seem to go to great pains never to mention our attorneys, and who hired them, presumably because it would credit us with doing something they failed to do.

The ER was in the courtroom, heard the arguments from our side and the opposition, and somehow managed to write a story that completely omitted our involvement.

Then old GF Simmons, editor and chief of the five-day paper, lambasted one of our reporters by e-mail, criticizing his journalism skills, and said it was all an oversight. Wow ... that's some oversight. How do you forget to name the case from which you're quoting? How do you forget to name the parties involved? And you are criticizing our reporters?

That's pure comedy.

Such criticism is in fact the highest praise. We here in the Times-Standard's newsroom — the heart of the North Coast only DAILY newspaper — should thank you and yours for clinging to the sinking ship that is the Eureka Reporter.

It is next to you and your newspaper than we shine brightest by comparison.

Update: The string of vitriolic e-mails continue ... GFS now says the omission of our involvement is no worse than the T-S not covering the Economic Fuel contest sponsored by the Eureka Reporter, or the T-S willfully covering up events at the Arkley Center. Ouch, Glenn, you got us. Right through the heart.

Posted by James Faulk at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Love this site ... new space images every day. Buck Rogers, eat your heart out. Here's the latest:

I don't know what it is about space, but for me it kindles the imagination in a way nothing else does. I know we have problems here on The Rock that cause grief, conundrums that could use the money we spend on space. But exploration is hardwired into the human genetic code, and the distance we reach out into space is a monument to that aspect of our nature.

Posted by James Faulk at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm not saying Gunderson did it — give the accused the right defend themselves, right? — but something has been stinky about law enforcement in Blue Lake for years.

A couple of years ago, I attended a City Council meeting where scores crowded into the old store there in Blue Lake to decry the Police Department and Chief Dave Gunderson. Consider me naive, but that doesn't happen in my opinion unless there's a reason.

We here at the newspaper have received numerous tips alleging all sorts of things, and the latest flap just seems to make the point that stink follows poop.

Posted by James Faulk at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So yesterday was the big day when Anonymous took on the Scientologists with protests across the world. The LA Times covers it here: 'Anonymous' takes anti-Scientology to the streets'

I take issue with one aspect of the Times's reporting: it says it is only alleged that Scientology demands payment for spiritual clarity. WRONG: To receive any religious service whatsoever within the church requires payment. That's not allegation, that's fact. Ask Tom Cruise.

Posted by James Faulk at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can't believe what people believe. I like science fiction, but the mythology behind scientology goes a little bit far for my taste.

Here's my experience from scientology. As a naturally curious 12-year-old, I read Dianetics thought it could be an answer to all my problems. I called the number on the back page for more information, and was promptly told that to take more classes, and receive more info, I needed more money. The operator then told me to get my parent's credit card and come back to the phone.

Curious, but not stupid, I asked my dad if I could use his card. When he found out why, he got on the horn and yelled few words I can repeat here at the the scientologist on the other end. That was the end of my relationship with scientology.

But I read with interest now that a number of computer geeks and hackers have declared war on the "religion," saying they will remove the Tom Cruises of the world from the Internet. Can they do that? Can they even say that? Well, they are. And they've put out a spooky little manifesto video to boot:

Life get curiouser and curiouser.

Posted by James Faulk at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Damn, it's cool. Have you seen the new T-S web site? It's spankier than spank. It's a definite improvement over the old site, which seemed circa 1995, and it has all the trappings of the modern Internet. I encourage you to check it out and let me know if you have any issues. Some bugs will continue to be worked out, obviously, but I'm eager to hear people's constructive feedback. So, if you work at the Reporter and only have destructive things to say, don't bother.

Posted by James Faulk at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)