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Double column again!!!
DATELINE Monday November 10, 2014
and
Monday November 17, 2014
LETS MEET HERE ONE YEAR FROM NOW. With David Terrazas, Richelle Noroyan and Cynthia Chase being on the City Council now… lets all meet here in one year and see what this dynamic trio has accomplished. More specifically Terrazas and Naroyan. I predict that neither of these two office holders will introduce even one motion or issue of any significance. I’ll bet they both follow Cynthia Mathews and city manager Martin Bernal’s leads completely. More than that, I’m saying neither of them will ever be on the minority side of any vote all year. Cynthia Chase on the other hand, appears to have the experience and intelligence to vote her conscience. Keep reading every week, but we’ll check up in one year. P.S. Bruce Van Allen and Leonie Sherman kept not just my name from their printed lists of endorsers but they chose not to include Gary Patton’s either, That says something!!!
AIRD and GRATZ ON ELECTIONS. John Aird activist, long time community member and out spoken critic said of the City Council 2014 election… The Council election campaign across the board seemed to lack a well-defined, well-articulated compelling rationale for change…..and therefore most folks seemed to see no action (not voting) or sticking with same-old/same-old as just fine. This seems to be reflected in the fact that only 34.5% of eligible voters voted, a number that suggests that the electorate was at large unenthusiastic, uninterested, and unengaged overall. So what to think? Well here’s one thought If there’s a silver-lining in all of this for those of us who did want to see a change in council composition, it’s probably the fact that for every 1 vote that each of “the winners” individually received, there were another 4 votes for someone else. Not exactly a mandate or ringing endorsement of any kind! So we need not to get down, but just to keep on plugging*. Sooner or later, it will pay off. *Certainly, this particularly applies to the work of Water Supply Advisory Committee and how critical will be its ultimate recommendations.
PAUL GRATZ ADDS..Sweeping the election with nearly 60% of the vote last Tuesday, the busine$$-as-usual conservative city council majority remains firmly in charge. This trend would seem to raise serious questions about the state of progressivism, especially concerning the environment, sustainable growth, UCSC expansion, and social and economic vitality/equity. Moreover, the willingness of the status quo brokers to pour unlimited money into holding power and to employ effective smear/red baiting attacks coupled with extensive vandalism of campaign signs is extremely sobering as to what is at stake.
LEON “SNITCH” PANETTA ON HIS 3 BOSSES !!!!
Way back when times were different and Bruce McPherson and Leon Panetta were Republicans Leon wrote his first SNITCH book telling us about his former boss Richard Nixon. Wikipedia says, ” Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal education laws over the objection of President Nixon, who wanted enforcement to move slowly.[11] Robert Finch and Assistant Secretary John Veneman supported Panetta and refused to fire Panetta, threatening to resign if forced to do so.[12] Eventually forced out of office in 1970, Panetta resigned and left Washington to work as Executive Assistant for John Lindsay, the then-Republican Mayor of New York City (Lindsay would switch parties the following year.) He wrote about this experience in his 1971 book Bring Us Together. Here’s a link to that book and Nixon’s reaction to it. http://nixontapes.org/panetta.html .
LEST WE FORGET BILL CLINTON!!! In June 1995: Monica Lewinsky, 21, came to the White House as an unpaid intern in the office of Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
From U.S. News Nov. 15, 2014, “Panetta recalled his concerns about Monica Lewinsky hanging around during a government shutdown. “The president always had an eye for attractive women,” Panetta said”. From the L.A. Times Jan. 8, 1995, “An indication of the Clintons’ confidence in Panetta can be seen in how the First Lady has reduced her behind-the-scenes administrative role. In the last days of Panetta’s predecessor, Thomas F. (Mack) McLarty, Mrs. Clinton held her own planning meetings on Saturday, fearing that otherwise the work would not get done. Now “she’s pulled back,” according to an aide. A boyhood friend, McLarty has a relationship with Clinton that is as comfortable as an old sofa. In contrast, Panetta’s relationship with Clinton, though congenial, is carried on at a greater distance. Only infrequently do they see each other in relaxed settings; Panetta has been invited–but apparently has never gone–to the Friday evening screenings at the White House theater that Clinton usually reserves for his closest friends. Panetta himself says that their relationship isn’t as close as, for example, the Arkansans’. “There’s a depth of knowledge there,” he says, “that’s sometimes hard to replace by a few months of working with him,”.
President Clinton’s former top aide Leon Panetta said yesterday that “obviously there was something more here” than the president has disclosed regarding his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky and called on Clinton to come forward and explain it to the American public. Leon E. Panetta, who served as White House chief of staff until January 1997, said he accepts Clinton’s assertion that he never had sexual relations with Lewinsky and never told her to lie under oath. But Panetta added that it is increasingly clear that Clinton had some sort of relationship with Lewinsky. “I take him at his word and I think the American people take him at his word. They’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Panetta said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But I also think that at some point he’s got to tell the American people the truth of what was behind this relationship. Obviously, there was something more here. And it’s got to be explained to the American people.” Later in the article it says, “Shortly after the Lewinsky story broke, Panetta suggested the possibility of resignation, if the allegations were true”.
Lastly, we have the Wall Street Journal’s review of Panettas newest book where once againhe SNITCHES on his former boss Pres. Obama.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-worthy-fights-by-leon-panetta-1412636702
Mr. Panetta goes into some detail on the controversies surrounding the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which Mr. Obama banned early in his presidency after publicly characterizing them as “torture.” He recounts how, in congressional hearings, he expressed opposition to those techniques but left open the possibility of their use in a “ticking time bomb scenario.” Unlike many critics, Mr. Panetta notes that enhanced interrogation yielded “important, even critical intelligence,” including intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden . He diplomatically adds: “What we’ll never know is whether those were the only ways to elicit that information.”
Elsewhere, Mr. Panetta faults Mr. Obama for “failing to lead the Congress out of” sequestration—the across-the-board spending cuts triggered in January 2013 by a congressional supercommittee’s failure to reach a budget compromise. Mr. Panetta calls out the rest of Mr. Obama’s cabinet for failing to warn the nation of sequestration’s dangers, as he himself was doing at the time. The other cabinet members, he says, “waited for permission” from Mr. Obama to oppose the plan, and permission never came. This evidence suggests that Mr. Obama, though often denouncing sequestration, actually wanted it to occur—in part as a means of gutting the defense budget. As it turned out, sequestration took a huge bite of defense spending, putting it on a trajectory to fall below 3% of GDP for the first time since the 1930s.
More pointedly, Mr. Panetta takes Mr. Obama to task for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011. Mr. Panetta and others who supported retaining troops came to believe, he says, that the White House was “so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.” According to Mr. Panetta, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deserves some of the blame for his insistence that Iraq’s Parliament approve a continuing U.S. presence”. Summing it all up who else can Leon snitch on…let’s hope Leon’s wife Sylvia living on their 12 acre ranch in Carmel Valley is prepared. Next week in BrattonOnline …LEON PANETTA GOES TO CHURCH.
Oh Those Kids….watch this one…and think about our local schooling arts program!!! Click here to view.
MOTORCYCLES ON PACIFIC. I’ve written it many times before but why wont our City Council direct our City police to stop the motorcycle noise menace on Pacific Avenue …especially on weekends, and especially in front of Starbucks??? They had no problem in ruining the experience of having street performers entertain shoppers and visitors, but they keep away from motorcycles…why? Lets see what, if anything, our “new” council can or will do. And speaking of which have you ever seen any motorcycle driver who was six feet or taller?? Are they all short? What’s that about??
ARANA GULCH UPDATE. Jean Brocklebank brings us up to date on this now-blighted area.
(be very sure to click on the links to the Friends of Arana Gulch website to see the reality of what was promised to be an environmental “bike path” across what used to be nature).
| VOCAL HISTORY. The history of music sung in minutes…just gorgeous. |
“A year since the now infamous bike “path” (sic) construction started, the project is nearing its end. There is a flurry of activity to finish the work so the City can have its ribbon cutting on December 3rd. Benches, signs, and cattle fence posts are being installed. The entrance at Agnes Street has been gentrified. The bridges are not complete, however, and construction corridors remain a blight on the once living soil. Unfinished work aside, Broadway Brommer, rationalized to “save the tarplant” is almost done. Some glitches remain. Of course. Friends of Arana Gulch alerted Public Works to a hazardous situation with the retaining wall along Brommer St. Ext. Click HERE to see. Might get fixed by ribbon-cutting time. Might not.
No surprise to readers of this column, Broadway Brommer’s $6.5 million short cut for bicyclists required the industrial overhaul of land outside the greenbelt also. City property off Frederick Street, used for years as a parking lot by the Santa Cruz Bible Church, had to be excavated to a depth of about a foot and a half, to match the lower height of the new bike road asphalt. We’re thinking this is another one of those expensive extras. Of course, the Church will have to purchase the parking lot property from the City, so perhaps the City plans to recoup its extra in that way. Click HERE for pictures. Where did the truck loads of that removed parking lot go? How much fossil fuel has been expended in the year of this outrageous construction project toward People Power’s goal to “get people out of their cars and reduce greenhouse gases?” How much water was used for this project? A lot of energy and water is the answer to those questions”. More next week!!!
WHIPLASH HAS LOCAL MOVIE CREDIT Melanie Paizis Jones is the daughter of Suzanne Paizis who ran for Calif. State Senate in 1972 and was one of the former owners of the historic Castro Adobe in Aptos. Melanie was the production designer/set decorator on Whiplash. J.K. Simmons really is superior in this role. You’ll hate him and respect him at the same time.Without meaning to do it, the film demonstrates exactly how jazz has changed since the mid-60″s into academic, sterilized nearly mechanical scoring. Long gone are the spontaneous, smoke- filled, creative, jazz-from- the- heart sessions. Jazz seems now to be all composed, tight, methodical and nearly symphonic. But go see Whiplash it’s a good film.
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT ELECTION RESULTS STILL NOT FINAL
At least one and perhaps more contests are still to be resolved. More that 20,000 ballots were still being counted, and not expected to be finalized until possibly December 2. We should all be grateful for our County Elections Department headed by Gail Pellerin and her staff for
their dedication to getting the votes counted properly. We can all be grateful for the small number of registered voters who actually took the time to vote. There should have been a lot more. The majority of us that live within the Soquel Creek Water District were happy to see incumbents Jaffe and Meyer re-elected, repudiating the slate of challengers that tried to paint them as being out of touch with their customers. The number three open seat on the Board has turned into a real close election. Carla Christensen holds a 12 vote lead ( AS OF 11/17) over Aptos Chamber of Commerce slate member Bill Mc Gowan. Whether McGowan pulls it out or Christensen pulls off the huge upset, the message to Chamber slate supporters should be clear. “Don’t try to take over control of our water supply”. (Paul Elerick is co-chair with Peter Scott of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , and he’s a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about them there dwelling units or ADU’s and says, “When permitted, ADUs often provide affordable housing opportunities, but there are those potential neighborhood impacts. Tomorrow, the Santa Cruz City Council is going to debate proposed changes to current ADU regulations in the City, and will decide whether ADUs should be permitted on lots where there is no owner occupant. Such a change could have a major impact on residential neighborhoods. He goes on to report on a Caltrans meeting in Monterey. He mentions Lincoln Taiz’s talk on Wednesday night at UCSC. Then there’s news about a new tunnel being proposed alos in Monterey. He plugs Jerry Manders talk at Kresge College on Thursday.And he ends the week with NOPOC Neighbors Organized to Protect Our Property” against P.G.&E. bigger, newly proposing, power lines. Gary says about NOPOC….” Organized community participation makes a difference! In other words, if you care about something, getting personally involved, and getting organized with others who feel the same, is definitely worth your time!” Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net
SURVIVORS OF SUICIDE DAY. People who have lost someone to suicide will be gathering at conference sites around the country and around the world on Nov. 22nd. This event is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and is a chance for people to gather together and to try to make some sense out of their loss, and to share in some healing. There is a local conference site in La Selva Beach, that’s November 22nd, 10:00AM-12:00PM
La Selva Beach Community Church 26 Florido Ave. La Selva Beach, CA 95076 Contact:Lucas Willey lucaswilley@comcast.net 831.239.6040 For in depth materials and background on suicide, please see this link to AFSP .
CLASSICAL DeCINZO.DeCinzo says volumes about our banks and money…scroll below.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Two Eagans this week… he “warms up to the latest news” and casts a “ROVEing” eye on world money issues. See downwards just a page or three..
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Interested in retold fairy tales? Or just looking for a great read for a chilly autumn night? How much fun is Jewel Theatre Company’s pre-holiday musical Enter the Guardsman? Is Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic Interstellar a voyage worth taking? Check out my review of Kate Forsyth’s splendid, Rapunzel-inspired historical novel, Bitter Greens, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS CONCERT. The Chamber Players present “Triple Play: A Diverse Trio of Trios” with music by Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Debussy. Featuring Brian Johnston, artistic director, violin, and viola withAude Castagna, cello. Vlada Volkova-Moran, piano. Kathleen Purcell, flute. Jennifer Cass, harp. Their program says, ” it features three outstanding and varied works for trios composed over the span of about 75 years. Mendelssohn’s Trio in D minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, is a passionately romantic piece constructed in the classical sonata-allegro format employed so successfully by Beethoven and his predecessors. Next, we present Dvor(ák’s celebrated “Dumky” trio for the same instruments. For Dvor(ák, this piece represents a break from the sonata format he used for his first three trios; it is a kind of fantasia in six movements, alternating deep pathos with exuberant and sunny sections. Our final work is Debussy’s lovely trio of 1915, which moves beyond not only the sonata form, but also much of conventional harmonic structure”. The concert will be Saturday, November 22, 8 pm and Sunday, November 23, 3 pm at Christ Lutheran Church 10707 Soquel Drive in Aptos up behind the CHP office just off Freedom Blvd. turnoff .
THAT IS THE QUESTION
(IN ORDER OF PERFECTION)
CITIZEN FOUR. This is Laura Poitras’ mesmerizing, courageous, and 100% scary documentary of Edward Snowden and his battle for free speech. If you’ve ever used Amazon, You Tube, Facebook,Google, or communicate online in any way, the government has collected all your data…and continues to do so. You’ll like Snowden, he appears as friendly and honest as we all want him to be. It should be mandatory viewing for every citizen. Many screenings have been sold out…get there as rapidly as possoible.
WHIPLASH. J.K. Simmons will get big Oscar time press for his role as Mr. Nasty and newcomer Miles Teller is honestly impressive as the young wanna be drummer in this New York City jazz orchestra contest extravaganza. See above for Aptos connection to this film., it’s very good.
ROSEWATER TV personality Jon Stewart wrote and directed this prison drama. Gael Garcia Bernal plays a journalist born in Tehran who lives in Canada and gets captured by some official and dumb jerks in Iran., and torture him. It’s boring in places, pointless and repetitive in others, and still makes a point.
THE GOOD LIE. Reese Witherspoon in what could be called by us locals “Lost Boys 2”. Actually it’s about some refugees from the Sudan and how they made it to America…some of them anyways. It’s way too sappy,cutesy, laughing at “cute savages” reacting to the commercial world. You could stay home and think more about why you hate Christmas.(leaves 11/20)
PELICAN DREAMS. Because we see so many pelicans flying along our coast this documentary simply has to interest you, and it will. It’s not great, the naration is nerve wracking and poorly done. The photography is passable. Only if you want to know more about pelicans should you go for this one.
BEYOND THE LIGHTS. If you’re deep ino Beyonce or her type of show biz you might like this Hollywood saga. Danny Glover is in it and it’s great to see him working again. The same goes for Minnie Driver. It’s one of those tacky, trite, and very old plots…”will the kid make it in show biz?” Yes, of course she does, again. Save your money.
FORCE MAJUERE. A Swedish family faces an avalanche and even larger personal forces in this fine film that will undoubtedly win awards around the world. Go see it, it’s beautiful and perfectly acted. (leaves 11/20)
LAGGIES. Keira Knightly is about 98% of this coming of age movie. Sam Rockwell and Chloe Grace Moretz do good acting jobs, but you’ll wonder just what was that movie all about?? It’s about Keira’s growing pains and indecision and choices. But you’ll forget it all by the time you leave the theatre. (leaves 11/20)
STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US
FROM BEST TO REALLY BAD
BIRDMAN. Great cast with Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, and Lindsay Duncan. Keaton is always good and here he plays an ex Batman/Birdman who tries to make it back to fame in a Broadway play. This is not a simple Hollywood flick!!! Don’t expect some cheap laughs, and takeoffs on Batman movies. It’s a complicated psychological look at egos, fame, friendship, family. It’s a very fine film, worth your going to see by all means. It’s just deeper than the previews make you think.
NIGHT CRAWLER. Wow and damn, this got an incredible 93% on Rotten Tomatoes!!! It is excellently done and Jake Gyllenhaal is near perfect in the lead role as a creepy wanna be TV news cameraman.Bill Paxton is hardly in it at all, that’s too bad, but Rene Russo still has some (not all) of her acting talent left.It’s a fine movie. You won’t forget it, and you’ll think about our visual news media and what we put up with, and pay for…and still call it news!!!
AWAKE. Paramahansa Yogananda was one of India’s first yogis to come to America he was born in 1893 and died in Los Angeles. This film is really a near hard sell for the Self Realization Fellowship that P.Y. started. It’s full of Phillip Glass music (a clue right there). If, and only if, you’re into yoga, meditation, bliss, go see this “documentary”- forward slash- promotion.(leaves 11/20)
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE. As we’ve been reading, this is a satire. I couldn’t figure where and when the satire started or stopped. The direction is by a first time director and it shows. Every scene is exactly the same. No emphasis, no subtly, and the acting is sincere, and developing, but lousy. They say nigger and nigga a lot, which means it must be a satire. I never caught on at all.
INTERSTELLAR. This over hyped piece-of- crap movie starring Mathew McConaughey, Michael Caine and Anne Hathway should refund every admsssion dollar it takes in. It’s pretentious, full of phoney intelligence, and uses such concepts as black holes, three dimensions and even five dimensions and voices from “them” who exist beyond Saturn. It’s not as bad as UCSC’s current production of Birth Of Stars ..but almost. Once in a great while I’ll look up other critics to see who’s with me in disliking (or seeing) a film the way I do. Here’s what Critic David Thomson of the New Republic wrote…check it out
JOHN WICK. I saw this Keanu Reeves ex-agent/killer flick last week and forgot to write about it. That should be a clue right there. He’s not an ex CIA agent but some kinda Russian spy agent thing. Anyways some jerks steal Keanu’s sports car and kill his new puppy. That’s the entire plot right there. Keanu just kills everybody in the film then it’s over. Sometimes he goes back and shoots them again. Then it’s really over. Stay home and stuff your turkey instead.
ST.VINCENT. The world agrees that Bill Murray is a great actor, he just makes many, many, bad movies. This one has him as a mean, drunken, nasty, bitter and fat man. He’s supposed to have a heart of gold (see film title). It’s not even worth renting even though Naomi Watts plays a pregnant Russian hooker and Melissa McCarthy does a fine acting job. Forget you ever heard of it.
| UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE RADIO PROGRAM KZSC 88.1 FM or live online at www.KZSC.ORG TUESDAYS 7-8 P.M. |
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Bookshop Santa Cruz’s Young Writers Contest winners return and read on Nov. 18 for the full hour. On November 25 UCSC Professor Emeritus Lincoln Taiz talks about Population Growth and Climate Change followed by Social Media strategist Lydia Snider who’ll give us internet hints on Nov. 25. Then December 2has Ashlyn Adams owner of Westside Video telling film and video rental secrets.. She’s followed by Sentinel’s restaurant reviewer Ann Parker talking about eating out during the holidays. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here http://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “Earth is a great funhouse without the fun”, Jeff Berner. “I saw the bathroom fixtures as a kind of American Trinity”, Claes Oldenburg, “A society based on cash and self interest is not a society at all, but a state of war”, William Morris
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.
