Someone got kinda mad at me for writing about Paul Gallegos winning the Humboldt County Attorney’s race, an online writer named Rose who is virulently anti-Gallegos. On December 5, a week after I wrote the post about Gallegos’ win, Rose threw down cranky, ad hominem, gritty sandpaper neener epithets, which were pretty funny.

Despicable propagandist

is snappy, fer shur. But not as cool (nor anywhere as accurate) as when I was called a

voodoo hussy.

And that was to my face, in real life.

Still, nice use of the Word-of-the Day Calendar! Frankly I think

propagandista

would have been a lot cleverer. And one must keep in mind that propaganda is in the eyes of both the creator/creatrix and the reader/s.

Because this article was up on FDL, Rose wrote

It really must be about right vs left after all. /(sarc)

I covered Gallegos because there things he supports that I support, things I like about him–for instance,  he says he’s heard of Big Flats, and he also says he’s never surfed the mythic surf spot, nor does he claim to know where it is. And that means something to a lot of folks in Humboldt.

Rose  complained that the comments were closed on my post. Well, the comments on all my posts close after a certain amount of time. That’s just what happens.

So anyway, Rose does allow comments on her page:

Post a Comment

Comment moderation is enabled. This means your comment won’t show up unless or until it is approved. Shoulda done this years ago. This is primarily to limit the attacks on other posters. If you have something to add to the topic at hand, you should have no trouble. Thanks – and weigh in…

Gosh yeah, within moments someone did have something to add which was approved–someone who was more comfy posting anonymously:

Anonymous said…
She swallows. And i don’t mean koolaid.

Now that’s some weighing in on the topic at hand. Thar she blows!

(And when is swallowing a bad thing?)

Rose then posted her disdain for my lack of a university degree, making fun of my not having graduated college; mocked me like having had jobs and stuff; though by their fruits ye shall know them…grapes of thorns, figs of thistles? So Rose, seriously whatever.

My link alert, which is not super timely, and a friend in Humboldt who doesn’t really monitor watchpaul.org regularly, directed me over to Rose’s site Wednesday night, Dec 7.  I wrote what I thought was a very nice response, somewhat belatedly, but still…

Hi Rose. Posts on FDL close automatically after 48 hours; nothing cowardly about it, simply a way to prevent spammers and bots. Sorry you missed the window, but thanks for the linkage!

I find your views intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. You can read more of my despicable propaganda at http://lafiga.firedoglake.com.

which showed up after a mere three minutes.

And I posted about all of this on my Facebook page which got a lot of comments.  I thought in light of the current kerfuffle over anonymous/Anonymous, DDoS, WikiLeaks and Assange it would be timely on Thursday day to use Rose’s anonymous poster to illustrate a point about online anonymity.

Rose had posted the two following remarks after 9pm Wednesday night:

Rose said…

Lisa Derrick, You’re a tool. You got used here. You don’t know jack about the subject. You do your readers and yourself a disservice.

If this article is any indication of the accuracy of your writing, you ought to find another profession.

Did they pay you?

12/08/2010 9:08 PM

A few minutes later,

Rose said…

Tell you what, Lisa – open up your comments on that post. I’ll post the real facts. Then your readers can actually get a fair honest picture and make up their own minds – maybe they’ll prefer the fairy tale. But at least they’ll know the Emperor isn’t wearing any fine robes. Whaddya say?
12/08/2010 9:22 PM

Assange and personal commitments kept me away from watchpaul.org until Thursday night, December 9 when I responded between 6 and 7 pm, politely saying that again comments close automatically, but that I had made sure that people were getting directed to her blog as it is important to gain a variety of perspectives.

And then I asked her to define the “they” to whom she was referring. Because I’d love to know.

You’d think cooking foil companies would be subsidizing some bloggers–all that hat making!

My most recent response to Rose hasn’t shown up yet as of 12:27 am Saturday, nor have those responses from people who wrote me Wednesday and Thursday letting me know they have sent Rose their own views.

It strikes me that if one is going to moderate comments–especially after making an queried accusation of a sordid, scurrilous, damaging and  wrong nature–one should be monitoring and moderating comments for replies.

And if one is going to allow anonymous (yet accurate, though caged as a derogatory slam) remarks about a subject’s sexual behavior, one should allow for equally as rapid replies from those who use their names, pseudonyms and Anonymous covering.

Otherwise the blog in question just seems like despicable propaganda. But hey, it’s the holiday season and I’m sure Rose is really busy getting her picket signs ready for the AntiWin rally outside the Gallegos victory party.

Oh and Anonymous #1  of watchpaul.org: You’ll never have the pleasure.

For the record: No one I have ever written about has paid me to write about about them and junkets, tee shirts, meals, etc. don’t sway me. I did once write a piece about U2, Negativland, Fair Use and copyright. A while later I was paid before it was repurposed into a press release; the essay has also been excerpted elsewhere without recompense.

There is supposedly a crime problem involved with pot growing. And not just because some of the people growing it here in Humboldt are growing more than their legal limit. No, with a pound of pot worth $3,000 to $4,000, there is a problem with theft. Grow houses get ripped off. Drugs deals go bad. And people will steal plants out of the ground.

Or at least try too. A grower told me about the one time a rip-off was tried at his place several years ago. He and his buddy had guns, a shot was fired into the air, the perps screeched off the property,  and the crop–which was too well rooted to get yanked out–was saved, end of story.

Crime as a side effect of indoor grows are an issue in this November’s Humboldt County District Attorney’s race.

In an interview with Eureka’s local paper, the Times/Standard, DA candidates Allison Jackson and Paul Hagen said:

home invasion robberies and fires associated with grows in residential neighborhoods are out of control, and that something needs to be done to rein in abuse of Proposition 215.

Jackson felt that the county’s recently overturned 99-plant limit, an ordinance drafted by incumbent Paul Gallegos,

brought a massive influx of people from outside the county, outside the state and outside the country into this community. And, it’s made residential neighborhoods unsafe.

Gallegos disputes Jackson’s assessment about home invasion robberies, calling them drug deals gone bad and said with regards to
non-medical pot growing and sales:

Illegal marijuana is accessible to anyone who wants it — that’s how successful the war on drugs is.

Opponent Paul Hagen–the only candidate who supports Prop 19 and said he will vote for the measure which will legalize marijuana– has a solution:

If we make it legal, we can finally control it above board. You’re never going to get rid of it.

If the initiative passes, the DA will be plenty busy, since there could be a new wave of local controls, regulations and ordinances. And then there’s the economic side effects.

According to reporting in the Los Angeles Times,

Humboldt State economists guess that marijuana accounts for between $500 million and $700 million of the county’s $3.6 billion economy.

I stopped at gas station and went in to buy a pack of double-A batteries for my camera. I asked the cashier which he preferred for my $4 purchase, a debit card or a $100 bill.

Either

he replied with a smile–everyone in Humboldt is really, really nice and friendly and smiles all the time–so I gave him the C-note since I wanted change, and he didn’t even check to see if it was counterfeit. What a change from LA where many businesses have signs posted saying

No bills over $20

and a fake-bill checking pen resides in the cash drawer. It’s like they see them all the time.

Oh wait, they do…