In describing Adolph Eichmann, a Nazi officer who dutifully accounted for the genocide of nearly uncountable victims of Hitler’s Nazi terror and extermination, author Hannah Arendt famously coined the phrase “the banality of evil”. In Arendt’s evaluation, Eichmann was not an enthusiastic Nazi true believer,... Continue
Public Citizen
When asked if he were a pessimist or an optimist, the brilliant Bucky Fuller - inventor of the geodesic dome, prefab dymaxion house, and coiner of the phrase ‘Spaceship Earth’ - replied, “Neither. I’m a realist.” His answer was predictably Zen, which is to say... Continue
I grew up being told that democracy is messy; the events of this year certainly prove it. The freedom to vote is not - and has not been - a “human right;” rather it’s a privilege bestowed upon particular groups of people deemed eligible. As... Continue
During my many years in local politics and as a community activist, I’ve been subject to plenty of criticism, some of it in print and some of it in person; it’s the price I pay for speaking out and taking action. I’ve been called a... Continue
Our cultural narratives, and every culture has them, contain doctrines of belief. These doctrines vary, just as the original languages of separated cultures vary, including vocabulary, word meanings, idioms, and implications. As each of us is born into a culture, so too are we indoctrinated,... Continue
History is a living thing; the way we think about today may not be the same way people think about it in the future. We’re only human, after all, and the decisions we make are sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and sometimes terrible. None... Continue
I understand why people invented god. Life is full of surprises, many of them terrible. Searching for answers about why we suffer is mostly a fool’s errand. Shit happens. Yet despite the challenging uncertainties of living, the world’s religions, whether Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or... Continue
Back in the days of Tim Leary, Bucky Fuller, Abbie Hoffman, and Jefferson Airplane, conversations veered into talk about consciousness, raised and otherwise. In the mind-expanding 60s and 70s it seemed as if humanity had finally woken up, had come to understand the precariousness and... Continue
Deplorable things have been said about supporters of Measure W to preserve Sonoma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), and about the residents of Sonoma overall. Vocal opponents of the measure have descended into shaming, personal attacks, impugning the integrity and intentions of Measure W supporters on... Continue
Before Sonoma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) was established in 2000 with voter approval of about 65%, large tracts of agricultural land at the city's southern border were being rapidly developed. The risk of sprawl was obvious; we'd all seen what had happened to the likes... Continue