I've been speaking to the local & county politians about
renewable energy.. They have been very receptive, and they know I present intellegent arguments. Now I give myself, as a 50th birthday present, presentations on why Humboldt County is #1 in California in:

suicides
drug overdoses
sexual preditors

Law Enforcement is so punitive, even according to the Supreme Court
Slum lords are so bad, one's had a tenant move in before he removed a corpse, anotheher tenant got 28 days on lies from the landlords cronies, after he won two habitability hearings
and rent are so high, the homeless can't afford to rent

There simply is no incentive for people to recover from their problems.

Now there's discussion of stopping a food program by ordinance, that I don't think they're even paying for.

I'm quite disgusted by the way they exaserbate their problems, then scapegoat the poor.

I just hope I can present my points calmly, I want to scream and wave my fists. The way they do things here are about as stupidly and expensively as possible. I don't want my anger to put them on the defensive, and I hope that they are sincere about making this town a decent place, not one where the poor are to be crashed and scapegoated.

A Course In Miracles says that teachers often learn more than students.

In this case, both seem to have learned plenty.

There was no revocation of the kitchen, the guy who said he was going to show up to reprent them didn't (so I guess he knew)

The Eureka council adopted an ordinance to deal with abusive slumlords, with both myself and the Chief of Police voicing agreement. My comment was that this dealt with real problems, instead of profiling the homeless.

I brought up an ordinace that does profile the homeless, although a reasonable person could think otherwise. I heard a sigh, and a look of sadness and remorse on a city councilwoman's face, who probably voted for that resolution. Although I haven't talked with her much, when I have, she seemed a sweet, kind person. Honest mistakes, I forgive.

I work real hard to come in both prepared and peaceful into those meetings, and while of course some politcians (like the ones in Washington) are hopeless, some of the people in power are.

Prayer certainly makes me see problems from the spiritual dimension. This time, it was nessarsary to find the answer. The swing voter on the city council is somewhat Conservative, she sees things from a buisness bottom line perspective, edging out the metally ill and homeless, but as a person she's sweet as a puppy. I've looked into her eyes several times and I'm convinced that's the way she wants everything to be, but hasn't believed governace can be done that way. Part of our rapport is we genuinely like each other, and I'm capible of seeing her as a friend, instead of an powerful person, which has basically negative connotations for me. It's actually a joy to show her how nurturance can be good even for the rich.

My prayers have been answered. It took me a long time to realise this was one way they could be, given seemingly opposite results. The Eureka city Council, who were the main object of my prayers have moved towards the reich, and at coffeeshops we refer to them as "Satan's team", the Arcata city council has become conservative, too. The good news is my ACLU attorney and I have almost completed a landmark case, which will probably make The New York Times, and in conjuction with a Ninth Circuit decision reverberate around the country. All I was hoping for was to help one city!