A true hypocrite
I recently read Sean Hannity’s “Deliver Us From Evil,” circa 2004. In it he tries to convince us that George W Bush is the only candidate that can lead us through the next four years. He points out that Democrats are appeasers, do things only for partisan reasons and are multinationalists when sometimes we must do things on our own.
He starts out with World War II, stating that Neville Chamberlain was an appeaser and gave in to Hitler (evil) which started Hitler on the road to the war. What he failed to mention was that Chamberlain was the leader of the British conservative party. He mentions F. D. Roosevelt three times but never says that FDR was a liberal democrat that covertly supported the allies before the US entered the war. He tells us that evil does exist and that the “Axis of Evil” did contain three evil leaders, one of which Bush had just kicked out. These leaders are evil because they are totalitarian and nothing good can come from totalitarian leaders. He then tells us the Shah of Iran (a totalitarian leader and in Hannity’s words ‘not a perfect ruler’) was a key player in the middle east and former President Carter was wrong to cause his downfall, because he was “… for over three decades: a powerful American ally.”
I’m not sure how this relates to his statement that authoritarianism is illegitimate, inherently unjust and inevitably leads to abuse.
He also tells us of the collapse of the Soviet Union. How it was caused by the economic implosion from the huge military buildup in the late ‘70s. Then, while assassinating the characters of previous Democratic Presidents, he castigates Carter for allowing the Soviets to build up their military. This is so he can give the credit for the Soviet fall to Reagan? Which he does. This sounds ‘Fair and Balanced’ to me.
On to multinationalism. He discredits the Democratic Presidents for using this to not take action against Saddam. Then he complains that Saddam ignored one UN resolution after another. So what are we to make of this newsman? He does not appear to be fair and balanced. He withholds information that would contradict his points. He appears to be very selective in his memory of past events, and he is quite the hypocrite when stating his views are non-partisan. When Sean Hannity tells me something I would give it a 10 percent chance of being right. Do you think I am being too generous?
Kevin Bracken, Kelseyville
We need a stage
First off, I want to apologize for this letter. It is not about either politics or religion, so it is likely to lack any of the colorful language that arises around those subjects. What I am writing about is the desperate need that Lake County has for a viable venue for theater.
These last two weekends I attended performances of the Lake County Theatre Company’s current offering, consisting of a number of one-act plays of varying styles and subjects. I saw one performance at the Gard Street School in Kelseyville, and one in the Old Schoolhouse Museum in Lower Lake. Both performances were excellent and demonstrated a number of the qualities that our community theater group has, which I could go on and on about, for they are many. But I want to talk here about the facilities and locales available for theatrical use in Lake County.
The Gard Street School facility has been available in a rather uncomfortable way to the LCTC for a bit over a year. At first it looked as though the theater group might be able to settle in for a bit, without always looking for the next little stage, but it seems that was a misunderstanding. Access to the bathrooms was pulled months ago. The LCTC has to have all of its stuff out of there by the end of the month, I gather. It’s not at all a good house for dramatic productions, in any case.
The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum auditorium is much more appropriate to the presentation of theater. It has a curtain, a proscenium arch, a good restroom, and it can be lit without too much trouble. More importantly, it has been the location for many productions in the past. All the actors love the place, but it is very small, up a steep staircase, far from most of the artistic action in Lake County. It’s a pretty good house, but so small that it won’t be able to pull in the crowds needed to finance buying a property and building a theater.
There are other venues with serious problems of one sort or another. The Little Theater on the Lake County Fairgrounds is expensive. It has uncomfortable seating on a flat floor, which means that only the first row or two can really see the stage.
Many of the granges have stages, small ones. They have none of the structural and electric elements that help the actors do that magic.
The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is a comfortable hall, and fulfills its purpose wonderfully, but it is misnamed. It should be called the Soper-Reese Music Hall, or the Soper-Reese Concert Hall. When Mister Soper donated the first $300,000 so that the Arts Council could buy the old movie theater, it was understood that he was doing it so that the Lake County Concert Orchestra would have a home. The Lakeport Players thought that a Community Theatre would have theater in it, but they were disabused of that idea.
The Soper-Reese depends on a flow of acts on its stage, there is no time for rehearsal and no room to build sets. The lighting, sound system and stage curtain are very well adapted to concert use, but are not suitable for drama, or any sort of theatrical presentation. The storage spaces of the Soper-Reese are stuffed with LC Orchestra material. It seems too that the two organizations, the Soper-Reese and the Lake County Theatrical Company, cannot get along. But that’s just an added hassle; the real thing is that the S-R is a successful concert hall, and theater is an awkward fit.
So basically, Lake County does not have any suitable and available stage that is conducive to theatrical excellence and profit.
The best solution is for the LCTC to own or lease a theater, a good one that could attract an audience from out of the county. So what is needed for a good hall for theatrics?
The bare minimum is a stage, a stage curtain, a proscenium arch, supports for lights and raked seating in the auditorium. Behind the back of the stage there has to be communication between stage left and right. Clean restrooms, dressing rooms, and a “green room” are necessary too. Access to parking areas a big plus. Somewhere, not necessarily in the same place, the company needs space suitable for building and storing sets and costumes.
If some genius real-estate speculator gave the LCTC an abandoned supermarket, all of this could be built into it. There are a lot of talents and skills to be found in the LCTC, including designing, building and finishing a theater. It would probably take several years to complete, paying for materials and so on out of ticket sales. If an angel wanted to pay for everything, it would probably cost at least a million. There are also grants aimed at organizations doing that kind of thing.
If this not-really-extreme dream were to be in the end created, it would bring many benefits to Lake County, including drawing people from both ends of Hwy 20 and from the wine country to the south. Good theater draws them in. They eat at restaurants and sleep in rooms along the lake. It would take years of hard work to get to this point, perhaps. Fortunately, the LCTC has the capability. Perhaps someone reading this has the intelligence and vision to match the fungibles in the bank to such a project.
Xian Yeagan, Lakeport
About us
We all have enjoyed so many new things developed over the past 20 or 30 years. But I have to say, after watching an evening of today’s television programs and spending a hour in WalMart, when the history folks name this era we live in at the present, it has to be named the Ridiculous Era. Hands down
Jim Hall, Clearlake Oaks
The ruling doctrine
Our state sponsored religion is Humanism. The Supreme Court has ruled that Humanism is indeed a religion. Its doctrine is the only one allowed in our public schools or universities. If you wish to teach a different view you must find your own funding and still financially support the state religion. Our taxes pay for its propaganda in Lake County on our billboards and in full page newspaper ads. Its censorship ability is seen in the public library.
Funny, I don’t hear anyone complaining about the separation of religion and the state. The faithful would gladly eliminate the Bill of Rights to have all converted.
Stacey Salvadori, Hidden Valley Lake
