Help us
I and my community need your help. We are suffering from what is a basic human rights issue.
We have no water. Or, when you live at or below the poverty line and pay $14.65 per CCF plus another almost $100 in fees you might as well have no water.
We’re not talking about not being able to afford to fill the pool, have a lush garden or lawn or even being able to wash your car in the driveway. We’re talking about not taking showers, doing laundry or flushing the toilet.
But nobody cares. I live in a place that puts profit above the basic human right of water. I live in Lucerne, an unincorporated community of Lake County, and have water provided by a ‘for profit’ company called California Water Service (CWS).
Just to put it into perspective, before I moved here I paid less than $2 per CCF and roughly $40 in fees. I’ve spoken with California Water Service (CWS) regarding the rates and fees we pay and was told it was very expensive to produce our water even though all the other communities around the lake pay about a quarter of what we do.
For being so hard pressed to provide our water at a reasonable rate, CWS is doing very well for itself and its investors according to their first quarter earnings.
I’ve emailed County Supervisor Jim Steele , Assemblyman Bill Dodd, State Senator Mike McGuire and even Governor Brown. I did at least get a response from one of Assemblyman Dodd’s aides saying that he was trying to get a better discount for lower income people. That was it.
Capitalism is fine and all, but how is it legal to harm entire communities for what is a basic human need? There’s plenty of law and code that says we should have accessible, affordable, healthful water, so where does that leave the community of Lucerne?
Good question. Apparently capitalism and profit are above the law. The lack of any response at all (excepting Assemblyman Dodd’s office), let alone the shocked indignation one would expect upon hearing about our situation, tell me that laws, codes, and simply what’s right are superseded by the almighty dollar.
In a nutshell, all these pretty words and intentions put forth in all these declarations and laws mean absolutely nothing if they can’t be implemented.
Because of our water prices and fees businesses have closed and people are moving. Yards are dead. Many people who are on fixed incomes are stuck because they can’t afford to move. These are the people who wear dark clothes because they show less dirt and can be worn longer. These are the people who can’t shower or flush their toilets on a regular basis. This is how most of my community lives. In the United States of America no less.
When I shower or flush my toilet I try to imagine the shareholder that’s profiting, or wonder how much of CWS’s CEO Mr. Kropelnicki’s 2.8 million dollar salary I’m paying.
We need help. We need relief. We need justice.
Lisa Carter, Lucerne
Claim
I know that most people work hard, come home to the family, watch TV and generally struggle through the pressures and demands of modern life.
So, they get their news mostly from the TV. Let us assume that TV news is objective. The TV news would give you late breaking events, but, since it is always a “snapshot” in time, and rarely reports events in historical context, it is not very helpful toward giving you an understanding of the world.
I have the advantage of not owning a TV and being semi-retired, and a library hugger. So, for instance, I have read thirteen books on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the surrounding area. From my reading, I claim that I have discovered what is wrong with American foreign policy: It has been unsuccessful internationally, and is destroying us domestically.
Foreign policy is taught in terms of “self-interest,” sometimes called Machiavellian, or “Realpolitik” but the basic tenet is that “The ends justify the means.” This is not to say that countries don’t sometimes act altruistically, but that when self-interest conflicts with morality, self-interest always trumps morality.
Let us leave aside the question of whose “self-interest,” because the argument could be made that the self-interest of giant corporations is different from the self-interest of say, middle-class people.
Let me take an egregious example to illustrate my point (and there are scores of others): The United States Government conspired with the British to overthrow the democratically elected of Iran in the early fifties. There was no cover story about democracy, or defending our freedom, or Communism, or Fundamentalism, or some other reason they give you to explain why they are murdering people or sending your children to die. They just wanted the oil.
However, as you probably know, there was a consequence to this nefarious act, called by the author Chalmers Johnson in his book by the same name, “Blowback.” That is why Iran became our enemy. We started it, and that, you will never hear on the evening news. So, the point is that sometimes these Machiavellian schemes backfire, and we thus we get “blowback.”
However, one could make an argument that sometimes these naked “self-interest” moves have succeeded, but on balance, they are a wash. In fact, considering all of the wars that are continuing and the five trillion we a have spent on them, and the staggering debt that we have acquired (Hell, we owe China over a trillion dollars!), it would probably be easier to argue that naked self-interest is a large negative.
But, that is not my claim. My claim is that this policy of the “ends justify the means” has cost us the moral high ground, and that we have lost the strength, albeit intangible, that comes from belief in ideals that keep us bound together and strong.
Take a look at the symptoms: We are heading to bankruptcy from being sick, and the consequent health bills. If current trends continue, half the country will be obese (based on BMI) and a hundred million people will have diabetes by the year 2020. People that have a passion for life and strong beliefs don’t eat themselves to death.
Another indicator that we are rotting from the inside out is that what used to be a crime is no longer punished, and poor people are filling the prisons for petty offenses (See “The Divide,” by Matt Taibbi, available at the library).
A good example of how things have changed is the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s (Read “Inside Job,” also available through our library). A thousand people in the industry went to jail. In the exponentially worse scandal of 2008, almost no one has gone to jail. It is against the law to torture people, and yet the authors and perpetrators of torture are walking free, and in fact, thriving. Now, torture is okay. This is not what I was taught to believe; not in school and not in religious services.
So, my claim is that amorality has failed and, further, that our salvation will be found in returning to the old dispensations, so that we can love our country and love ourselves.
Nelson Strasser, Lakeport
In defense
Bill Kettenhoffen (RB 5/20/15) appears to have successfully defended the apocalyptic Jesus. However there are several other verses. How about:
John 5:25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Luke 9:27 But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Mathew 16:28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Mark 9:1 And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Luke 10:9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (thru to 15)
On second thought, I am sure he will be able to defend all of these as that is what he believes.
Kevin Bracken, Kelesyville
Thank you, supervisors
I want to commend the Lake County Supervisors for putting Larry Anderson’s request to audit the county land records on the agenda for May 19. While the supervisors did not take action, a letter written by Larry received May 19 is specific and focused, with actual records of action taken by supervisors in San Francisco.
“The San Francisco audit was only about 28 pages, and was indeed turned over to the SFDA (San Francisco District Attorney) according to the recorded BOS minutes. The results were the SF BOS placed a moratorium on foreclosures as well as implementing wide ranging programs to assist home owners and tenants.”
While Ford had estimated the cost of an audit, Anderson writes that “Cost recovery and other benefits were not mentioned by Mr. Ford.” Lake County could actually make money by doing things right.
According to Anderson, “Mr. Ford completely ignores a massive amount of recent legal cases which I have provided which indicates that forgery is a criminal offense and new case law is rapidly changing in favor of home owners, which will benefit Lake County.”
When this item comes again on the agenda, I would ask it to be a timed item, and that Mr. Anderson be allowed to show his DVD the same way every one on the timed agenda showed theirs.
Joan Moss, Kelseyville
Special treatment
It seems to me that many of the various groups who are screaming about “equal rights” are, in fact, demanding special treatment. It is also my observation that, with more and more women being elected into Congress, it’s no wonder they can’t make up their minds about anything.
John Smith, Kelseyville
The wrong way
The hypocrisy of the left is sickening. Take Baltimore where the focus is on one black man killed by the police, when 49 other blacks were killed in black on black crimes. Baltimore has been run by Democrats for over 60 years and yet they want to blame it on Republicans. You Dems made the problem, now take responsibility for the problem. Tax payers have thrown $17 trillion at the war on poverty over the last 20 years and nothing has changed.
Somebody is getting rich and it sure isn’t the poor. Just remember poverty in this country would be called prosperity in a large portion of the world. And for those of you who consider these truths as hate speech, you wait until the Clinton machine gets cranked up for this election, this will be the nastiest campaign you have ever seen. You will see non stop hate speech. And don’t you call me a racist because I was 100 percent behind the people of the small town in Bell, California, for bringing the corrupt city council to prosecution and they were white. Crime is crime, period. And all races are prone to crime. And as far as I am concerned, those people couldn’t serve enough time.
The Clinton Foundation is under scrutiny, yet you Dems have nothing to say about it. The Clintons, with all of their scandals over the past 20 years, are still the darlings of the Dem Party and worthy of higher office. Put an R behind the Clinton name (for Republican) and let’s see what you say now. Let me ask you if your financial advisor was in and out of court on questionable practices, would you keep him just because he is a Democrat?
The Democrat Party is bankrupt just like Detroit because if Hillary or the Clinton name falters you have failed. You made your bed now lie in it and you have nothing to fall back on.
Why is it that major cities like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit are major crime and poverty centers, and have been run by Democrats for decades? You Dems always tell us just vote for us we have all the answers. And why do Dems burn down their own cities and businesses (like Ferguson)? And we can go way back when Dems stood in front of schools to deny education reform. With a resume like this, it’s a wonder that you still get elected.
But yet 40 percent of you Dems will blindly follow the Clintons and the Democrat Party off the cliff like lemmings. Did George Bush have to go before the TV cameras and say “I did not have sex with that woman,” no! I rest my case.
When asked by Ed Henry will you now answer questions? Hillary said, “I will think about it,” as if she doesn’t have to answer questions. What a way to vet a President.
Mac McKay, Lakeport
